viii THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE 



vital force — of physical and plasmic mechanics. That 

 this change of view as to the basis of science cannot 

 take place without misunderstanding/ or without giving 

 an opportunity to those who dislike science to decry its 

 weaknesses, is only natural. To change the basis of 

 operations during a campaign always gives a chance to 

 the enemy, but the chance must be risked if thereby we 

 place ourselves permanently in a position of greater 

 strength for offence and defence. If the reader questions 

 whether there is still war between science and dogma, I 

 must reply that there always will be as long as know- 

 ledge is opposed to ignorance. To know requires exertion, 

 and it is intellectually easiest to shirk effort altogether 

 by accepting phrases which cloak the unknown in the 

 undefinable. 



Meanwhile the need for remodelling the fundamental 

 mechanical principles as we find them stated in elementary 

 text-books of physics and dynamics remains as urgent as 

 ever. Professor A. E. H. Love is, indeed, to be con- 

 gratulated in having in his Theoretical Mechanics'" ventured 

 a good way in the right direction, but his work will 

 hardly be used for elementary science teaching, and it is 

 through the latter only that we can hope to give the new 

 and sounder scientific conceptions general currency. For 

 the present the Grammar may yet be of service. After 

 an eight years' life and an issue of some 4000 copies, it 

 reappears in a revised and enlarged form. The chief 

 additions are Chapters X. and XI., dealing with funda- 

 mental conceptions in the field of biological science. The 

 progress in this direction during the last few years 



1 See, for example, Mr. St. George Mivart's attack on the present work as 

 essentially materialistic ! — Fortnightly Review, 1896. 



2 Cambridge University Press, 1897. That a well-known Harvard 

 Professor should have used the Grammar as a basis for the term's discussions 

 in his post-graduate Seviinar is another hopeful sign that many minds are 

 being stirred to reconsider the fundamental concepts of science. 



