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 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 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, 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, which is set forth in the 

 second volume, it seemed but fair to associate 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. 



A discourse on the Electric Light winds up the second 

 volume. The incongruity of its position is to be referred 

 to the lateness of its delivery. 



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