THE LIFE

He enters the Academy at the age of 15.

Mr. Leibniz had barely reached the age of fifteen when he began his course of Academic Studies This refers to his entry into the University of Leipzig, which he entered at an exceptionally young age even for the period. under Jakob Thomasius (a) and Jean Kuhnius, one a Professor of Philosophy and the other of Mathematics, at the University of Leipzig. He soon recognized the difference between these two men and the Masters under whose discipline he had spent his childhood.

Character of Thomasius, his Master.

Thomasius was one of those rare men whom a great clarity of mind, a solid judgment, an eagerness to know everything, and a continual application make equally suited to succeeding in all genres where a certain beauty of imagination is not necessary. His inclination led him first toward the study of Philosophy, which his positions later made a duty. One cannot say that he cultivated all its parts with the same attention, and it appears from the Works he left in great number that, without neglecting the most useful aspects of Mathematics or the most curious aspects of Physics, he had primarily attached himself to the two

(a) Jakob Thomasius died in Leipzig in 1682 at the age of 63. His Life was published in Bayreuth original: "Bareith" in octavo original: "in 8." - a book size indicating the sheet was folded three times to form eight leaves by Gaspard Hagenius, under the title Memoirs of Philosophers and Orators original: "Memoriæ Philosophorum, Oratorum". The Collection of his Prefaces, Orations, and Dissertations, published in Leipzig in 1682, 1683, and 1693, is full of curious research. His Treatise On Literary Plagiarism original: "De Plagio Literario", of which the best edition is from 1692 in quarto original: "in 4." - a book size where the sheet is folded twice to form four leaves, brought him much honor, and is indeed the fruit of great labor.