Home, Henry, Ibrd Kames

Home, Henry, Ibrd Kames a Scotch lawyer and philosopher, was born in 1696 at Kames, Berwickshire. He studied law at the University of Edinburgh, and. became advocate in 1724. By a large number of publications on the subject of jurisprudence, he obtained from the beginning a large clientship; then, in 1752, he secured the post of judge at the court of sessions, and finally, in: 1763, the dignity of a justice of the high court of Scotland. His taste for agriculture and metaphysics gave rise to some of his finest works. There are, among others, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (1751), in which he attempts to prove that the laws which prevail in the conduct of man have their foundation in the constitution of the human being, and are as certain and immutable as the physical laws which govern the whole system of the world: — Elements of Criticism (1762), in which the author tries to connect literary criticism with the principles of philosophy, very much admired, and still read: Sketches of the History of Man (1773): — The Gentleman Farmer (1777), being an attempt to improve agriculture by subjecting it to the test of rational principles: — Loose Hints upon Education (1781), chiefly concerning the culture of the heart. Home died December 27, 1782.