PREFACE. 



TO 



THE SIXTH EDITION. 



To AVOID unwieldiness of bulk this edition of the " Frag- 

 ments " is published iu 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. 



