THE materials for this life of Leibnitz are chiefly taken from the éloge of his contemporary Fontenelle.

Godfrey William Leibnitz was born at Leipzic, June 23, 1646. His father was Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of that place he died when his son was only six years old. Leibnitz's education therefore was left to his mother; and the great variety of his studies is traced to his free access to a large collection of books which his father left. He thus became a poet, an orator, an historian, a lawyer, metaphysician, a mathematician, and a theologian. In some of these capacities he would not have escaped oblivion; but every accession to such a mass of titles becomes interesting, when it is remembered how conspicuous he became in more than one of them.

At the age of twenty he applied to the University of Leipzic for the degree of doctor of laws. This was refused, on the plea that he was too young; and he then went to Altdorf, where he maintained a public disputation, and was admitted to the degree which he desired, with unusual distinction. From Altdorf he repaired to Nuremberg, where he heard of a secret society of chemists, or, which was then the same thing, of searchers after the philosopher's stone. Desiring to obtain some insight into their pursuits, he procured some books on chemistry, a subject which he had never studied, and picking out the phrases which seemed hardest, he wrote a letter altogether unintelligible to himself, which he addressed to them as his certificate of qualification. He was admitted with great honour, and was even offered the post of secretary, with a salary; and though he continued his intercourse with them for some time, he kept up his character as an adept to the last.