James Frederick Ferrier, a Scottish metaphysician, born in Edinburgh in November, 1808, died at St. Andrews, June 11,1864. He was a nephew of Miss Ferrier the authoress, graduated at Oxford in 1832, and was admitted the next year to the Soottish bar. He married a daughter of Prof. James Wilson, whose collected works he subsequently edited; and he early contributed toBlackwood'sMagazine" essays on philosophical and literary subjects. In 1842 he was elected professor of history in the university of Edinburgh, and in 1845 of moral philosophy at St. Andrews. His lectures and conversation displayed great learning, independence of thought, and felicity of expression, and he was one of the ornaments of the intellectual circles of Edinburgh. His principal work, Institutes of Metaphysics: the Theory of Knowing and Being." appeared in 1854; and his "Lectures on Greek Philosophy'1 and other philosophical remains were edited by Sir A. Grant and E. L. Lushington (2 vols., 1866). He attempted to construct a system of idealism, which however has found few if any disciples; but he called attention to many vital principles of thought, and Ueber-weg accords to him in his "History of Philosophy a rare preeminence among English philosophical writers.