THOMAS HOBBES (born in Wiltshire, England, April 5th, 1588) is chiefly celebrated for his “Leviathan,” a curious argument against political liberty in all its forms. He was the author of a number of philosophical works, notably of “Liberty and Necessity,” which appeared in 1654 and gave occasion for the title of “leader of modern rationalism,” with which he has been brevetted. His methods, however, have nothing to do with the processes through which modern science has reached positive results. In his own politics, he was not specially consistent, for he lived as a Cromwellian under Cromwell and as an advocate of absolutism under Charles II. He died December 4th, 1679. He had a clear understanding of the vices of human nature, but he seems to have had no conception of the idea of evolution,—of educating and developing the good in all nature, including human nature, as the only possible way of overcoming the evil.