PREFACE 



THE present volume contains a selection from the writings 

 of Professor Robertson Smith which are either wholly 

 unpublished or have not yet been collected in book-form. 

 It has not been found possible within the compass even 

 of a large volume to give more than a strictly limited 

 selection from the manuscript material in the hands of the 

 editors, and much that in their opinion is of considerable 

 interest and value must be withheld, at any rate for the 

 present. 



Their main purpose in compiling this volume has been 

 to provide a supplement to Professor Smith s Life and to 

 furnish a series of illustrative documents possessing an 

 intrinsic interest of their own, but also valuable as throw 

 ing light on the development of his mind and of his 

 attitude towards the theological controversies and the 

 scientific inquiries which were the chief concern of his life. 



The Scientific Papers which form the first group now 

 reprinted belong to the period before Professor Smith 

 was definitely settled in his theological career, or at any 

 rate before he was finally embarked on the series of critical 

 inquiries which led to the celebrated heresy case. In 

 their capacity as biographers the editors consider these 

 papers worthy of reproduction as illustrating the remark 

 able acuteness and vivacity of Professor Smith s mental 

 powers as a very young man. They were received with 



