THE PHYSICAL LAW OF MATTER 161 



on the work of investigation of the large collection of 

 already recorded observations and experimental data, 

 lying ready to hand and capable of affording what is 

 required for absolute proof, and general acceptance, in 

 the deduction, and formulation, of its theoretical "manners 

 and methods," while, to some extent, assisting the elabora- 

 tion of its practical benefits, in their application to the 

 wants of everyday medicine, and surgery. 



The recording of the order and sequence of the various 

 parts of this attempt at somewhat widening the boundaries 

 of knowledge must, to a great extent, be left in the mean- 

 time irregular and arbitrary inasmuch as the materials of 

 the record represent the everyday mental collections of a 

 lifetime, together with roughly assorted scientific data which 

 have not been arranged, or elaborated, primarily, with a 

 view to publication, but rather with the view of affording 

 a means, whereby we could from time to time take stock 

 of the " manner, and matter," of our daily thoughts, and 

 beliefs, amid the work, and worry, of our everyday life. 



Friends having advised the publication of these efforts 

 at scientific work, recurring and therefore, necessarily 

 scattered, and, for the most part, the carelessly written 

 records of broken studies, their advice has at last been 

 taken, in the hope that some parts, or fragments, of these 

 studies, at least, might resist the crucial tests of criticism. 

 We, moreover, feel constrained to submit ourselves to the 

 tests dictated by the requirements of special knowledge, 

 even in this specially unprepared fashion, believing that it 

 is better to know what is true in them, and wishing what 

 is untrue to be sifted out of them, so that, if there be 

 any grains of truth left, they can be made available for 

 what they are worth, both, as additions to abstract 

 science, " pure and simple," and as, not unneeded, 

 additions to the beneficent agencies of applied science. 



Chronological sequence of production will, therefore, to some 

 extent, interfere with that strict continuity of treatment 

 and detail of subject which is so essential for the obtaining 

 of a complete " grasp " of the meaning and purport of 

 what we want to convey ; and this may lead to faults, 

 both of omission and commission, and to the occurrence 

 both of gaps, and repetitions. 



