rt* 
PREFACE. 
TO 
THE SIXTH EDITION. 
To AVOID unwieldiness of bulk this edition of the "Frag- 
ments " is published in one volume, instead, of as heretofore, 
in two. 
The first part deals almost exclusively with the laws and 
phenomena of matter. The second trenches upon questions 
in which the phenomena of matter interlace more or less 
with those of mind. 
New Essays have been added, while old ones have been 
revised, and in part recast. To be clear, without being 
superficial, has been my aim throughout. 
In neither part have I aspired to sit in the seat of 
the scornful, but rather to treat the questions touched 
upon with a tolerance, if not a reverence, befitting their 
difficulty and weight. 
Holding, as I do, the nebular hypothesis, I am logically 
bound to deduce the life of the world from forces inherent 
in the nebula. With this view, it seemed but fair to asso- 
ciate the reasons which cause me to conclude that every 
attempt made in our day to generate life independently of 
antecedent life has utterly broken down. 
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