PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 



To avoid unwieldiness of bulk this edition of the 

 ' Fragments ' is published in two volumes, instead of, 

 as heretofore, in one. 



The first volume deals almost exclusively with the 

 laws and phenomena of matter. The second trenches 

 upon questions in which the phenomena of matter in- 

 terlace 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 volume 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, be- 

 fitting their difficulty and weight. 



Holding, as I do, the nebular hypothesis, I am logi- 

 cally bound to deduce the life of the world from forces 

 inherent in the nebula. With this view, which is set 

 vii 



