PREFACE vii 



MS. of fourteen years earlier I found much of the scientific 

 setting out of date and I found my conception of Holism 

 had also altered in certain respects. I therefore decided once 

 more to make a fresh start with my study of wholes and 

 Holism in nature. The present work is the first-fruits of this 

 fresh effort. The aspects and bearings of Holism in which I 

 am mainly interested are not yet reached in this study, 

 which, as I have said, is of an introductory character. But I 

 feel that unless I now make a determined attempt to pre- 

 pare at least a part of my inquiry for publication, it will 

 in all probability never get beyond the incubation stage in 

 which it has remained so many years. This I would person- 

 ally regret, as I think that in Holism we have an idea which 

 may perhaps prove valuable and fruitful, and which for 

 better or worse should be lifted out of the obscurity in which 

 it has so long remained in my mind. Whether my partiality 

 for the idea, which has been my companion throughout a 

 crowded life, will be shared by others, time alone will show. 

 The work has unfortunately had to be written in some- 

 what of a hurry and amid the pressure of many other calls 

 on my time. Nor in writing it have I had the advantage of 

 consulting any expert friends on details. This must be my 

 excuse for any incidental mistakes or slips which may be 

 found in it. 



J. C. Smuts. 



Irene, Transvaal, 

 September 1925. 



