In so collecting these separate papers as to give the reader a fair if not complete view of the discussions in which they form a part; to make them convenient for reference in the future progress of those discussions; and especially to enable them to be preserved as an important part of the history of modern thought,—it is believed that this series will do a service that will be widely appreciated.
Such papers naturally include three classes:—those which by their originality have recently led discussion into altogether new channels; those which have attracted deserved attention as powerful special pleas upon one side or the other in great current questions; and finally, purely critical and analytical dissertations. The series will aim to include the best representatives of each of these classes of expression.
It is designed to arrange the essays included in the Series under such general divisions as the following, to each of which one or more volumes will be devoted:—
| INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, | NATURAL SCIENCE, |
| RECENT ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY, | |
| QUESTIONS OF BELIEF, | |
| ECONOMICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, | |
| HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, | LITERARY TOPICS. |
Among the material selected for the first volume (International Politics), which will be issued immediately, are the following papers:
Archibald Forbes's Essay on "The Russians, Turks, and Bulgarians;" Vsct. Stratford de Redcliffe's "Turkey;" Mr. Gladstone's "Montenegro;" Professor Goldwin Smith's Paper on "The Political Destiny of Canada," and his Essay called "The Slaveholder and the Turk;" Professor Blackie's "Prussia in the Nineteenth Century;" Edward Dicey's "Future of Egypt;" Louis Kossuth's "What is in Store for Europe;" and Professor Freeman's "Relation of the English People to the War."
Among the contents of the second volume (Questions of Belief), are:
The two well-known "Modern Symposia;" the Discussion by Professor Huxley, Mr. Hutton, Sir J. F. Stephen, Lord Selborne, James Martineau, Frederic Harrison, the Dean of St. Paul's, the Duke of Argyll, and others, on "The Influence Upon Morality of a Decline in a Religious Belief;" and the Discussion by Huxley, Hutton, Lord Blatchford, the Hon. Roden Noel, Lord Selborne, Canon Barry, Greg, the Rev. Baldwin Brown, Frederic Harrison, and others, on "The Soul and Future Life." Also, Professor Calderwood's "Ethical Aspects of the Development Theory;" Mr. G. H. Lewes's Paper on "The Course of Modern Thought;" Thomas Hughes on "The Condition and Prospects Of the Church of England;" W. H. Mallock's "Is Life Worth Living?" Frederic Harrison's "The Soul and Future Life;" and the Rev. R. F. Littledale's "The Pantheistic Factor in Christian Thought."
The volumes will be printed in a handsome crown octavo form, and will sell for about $1.50 each.