INTRODUCTION. 7 



of Universology itself. The Scientific Men of the 

 Fractional Duismal Stage (the Existing Scientific 

 world; are, for the most part, no better prepared to 

 criticise Universology, than the intelligent public at 

 large ; and, in respect to prejudice, they are far less 

 so. The life-long habits of a mind bent persistently 

 in another direction will require some time to re- 

 adjust themselves to a system of thought claiming 

 to be as much in advance of their stage of Scientific 

 evolution as theirs is in advance of that with which 

 they will tend, and perhaps in some cases endeavor, 

 to confound it. 1 The captains of sailing craft, 



1 I commit no breach of confidence by stating the views of a 

 distinguished and leading scientist on this subject as they were 

 delivered to me in the course of conversation, and as they have 

 been, in part, published by himself, passim, in his writings. Some 

 five or six years ago, and when the discovery of Universology was 

 far less advanced than at present, I called on Prof. Louis Agassiz 

 to request him to listen to some preliminary statement, and to 

 examine certain papers and diagrams in relation to the new 

 science. He had been aware, in part, for some years of the nature 

 of my pursuits, and on other but related subjects had taken a very 

 kindly interest in my labors. 



On this occasion he listened just long enough to ascertain the 

 nature of my request and claims, when he declined to enter upon 

 the subject any farther, saying in substance as follows: I believe in 

 the existence, in the nature of things, of just such a science as you 

 claim to have discovered; and in this I differ from most scientific 

 mer> who seem as yet to have no conception of Unity of Law, and 

 who would therefore regard your whole pretension as Utopian. 

 Farther than this, I believe, that we are, just in this age, on the 

 verge of making the discovery : and that somebody will make it. 

 Whether you have it, or not, I am, of course, unable to say. The 

 presumption is strongly against any individual claimant. To 



