The conception of dynamical science continually oc- cupied the mind of Leibnitz, and was the natural tend- ency of his philosophical method. The A eta Erudito- rum for 1695 contained his Specimen Dynamicum ; and in the same year he gave to the world, through the Journal des Sgavans, his Systema de Natura et Commu- nicatione Substantiarum, itemque Unione inter Corpus et Animam intercedente. In the latter he propounded his celebrated dogma of Pre-established Harmony. The con- nection between mind and body, between force and mat- ter, between the natura naturans and the natura nat- nrata, is still an insoluble enigma, after all the specula- tions of transcendental philosojdiv, and all the research- es of modern philosoidiy and modern chemistry. \^'e still grope for life in the dust and ashes of death. The ved of Isis has not been raised. Spencer, and Huxley, and Tj-ndall, et id yeniis omne, are compelled to aclvnowl- edge their inability to penetrate the mysterj' of the con- nection. However untenable, however hazardous, how- ever absurd the Pre-cstabhshed Harmony of Leibnitz may be, it was a beautiful dream, generated in some sort by the atmosphere of the time, and certainly a bold and ingenious attempt to escape fiom the brute mechanism of Des Cartes, the pantheism of Spinoza, the puppetry of Malebranche, and the materialism of the Sensationalists. The doctrine was illustrated, explained, and expanded in the Theodicee, and in many short essays and letters. So much, indeed, of the philosophy of Leibnitz was com- municated only by occasional papers and correspond- ence, so little by sj'stematic works, that it is impossible to trace the course and development of his views in any brief notice. His two formal meta]diysical works be- long to the last ])criod of his life. The Nouvecmx Es- sais, in reply to Locke, answering the English philoso- pher chapter l)y chapter, and section by section, were completed in 1701, but were not published for more than half a century. They were withheld from the press in consequence of Locke's death in that year, and were first published byRaspe in 1763. The Theodicee, which was designed as a refutation of Bayle, and was undertaken at the request of the queen of Prussia, was completed two years after the death of that princess and of Bayle, but w^s not published till 1710, six years before Leib- nitz's own decease. Like the Nouvecmx Essais, it was composed in French, of which language Leibnitz was a perfect master. It is exquisitely written, and is the finest specimen of philosophical literature since the Di- alogues of Plato. A very large portion of the meta- physical and other writings of Leibnitz have been trans- mitted to us only by posthumous publication.
Though Leibnitz composed only these two formal
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treatises, his pliilosopliiral and scientific labors were mul- titiuUufius and multilarious. He was indef'atiiiahle in labor, and his mind ranged with eijiial rapidit\' and s])lendor over the whole domain of knowledfj;e. Noth- in-jc was too vast for his comprehension, too dark for his penetration, too humble for his notice. He correspond- ed with Pclisson on the conciliation and union of the Protestant and Catholic communions, and was thus broui^ht into connection with Bossuet. With Burnet be discussed the project of uniting the Anglicans and the Continental Protestants. He expended much time over the invention of a universal language. He wrote extensively on etymology, and the improvement of the German language, which he so rarely emploj'ed. ]\Ied- icine, botany, and other branches of natural history at- tracted his earnest regards. He addressed a memoir to Louis XIV on the Conquest and Colonization of Egyj)t, with the rietv to establishimj a Supi-emacy over Europe. The age of chivalry and the Crusades was not over with him. He certainly pointed out the road to Napoleon. He was deeply interested in the accounts of the Chi- nese, and in the Jesuit missions for their conversion. He wrote much upon the philosophia Sinenjiis, in accord- ance with the delusion of the age. He engaged in an active but courteous controversy with Samuel Clarke, in which the highest and most abstruse riddles of meta- physics were discussed. From his historical researches he drew the materials for an instructive essay, De Ori- ffiiie Francontm (1715) ; and so various was the range of topics that engaged his attention, that he commented on the political position and rights of English freehold- ers. His mind, like the sun, surveyed all things, and brightened all that it shone upon. This enumeration of his incpiiries gives a very imperfect view of either the number or the variety of his productions. The cata- logue of his writings lills thirty-three pages in the 4to edition of his works by Dutens.
The literary fecundity of Leibnitz was equalled by his activity in promoting the practical interests of intelli- gence. His correspondence linked together the schol- ars of all countries, furnished a bond of connection be- tween all learning and science, and created for the 11. ot time a universal republic of letters. He thus communi- cated an impulse to the dissemination of knowledge not less potent than that given by Bacon's New Atlaiitui, and by the institution of the lioyal Societj' of England. Of that society he was an adjunct member, as he was the chief of the foreign associates of the Academy of Sciences of France. He suggested to the first king of Prussia the foundation of the Koyal Academy of Berlin, aided in its establishment, and became its first jiresident (17011). He proposed a like institution for Dresden, but \\as frustrated by the wars in I'oland, for his zeal for lil)eral studies was contemporaneous with the conquer- ing campaigns of Charles XH of Sweden. When the Berlin Academy was endangered by the death of its royal founder, Leibnitz sought to open a new home for learning l)y establishing a similar society at Vienna (171o). The design was not carried into effect. The exhaustion of the finances by the War of the Spanish Succession, which was scarcely closed, was unfavorable to the scheme. I^eibnitz was warmh' received, was en- couraged by iirince Kugene, was created a baron of the empire, and was appointed aulic counsellor, with a sal- ary of -20110 fiorius. Two years previously he had been consultet! at Torgau, in regard to the civilization of Russia, by Peter the Great, who had made him a coun- sellor of the Russian empire, and had conceded a hand- some jiension to him. All the while he remained histo- riogra|ihcr of Brunswick. It is rejiorted that the elector of linmswick was much dissatisfied with the slow prog- ress of the history of his house. When tlie electorbecame king of England (1714), Leibnitz hastened f;-om Vienna to [lay his court to the monarch, but his new majesty had departed for liis new dominions. He met tlie sovereign, however, on his return to his paternal domain. The years of Leibnitz were now drawing to an end. He suf-