PREFACE. 



"THE Basic .Outline of Universology " lias been 

 announced by my publisher to appear earlier than 

 the present date. Reconsideration and the advice 

 of scientific friends in whose judgment I have great 

 confidence have resulted in some change in the order 

 of publication. 



It is urged on me by my advisers, who have read 

 and who express their great interest in the success 

 of the larger work, that, while I have regarded it as 

 an Introduction merely to the Science of Universology, 

 it needs , itself, to be introduced ; and not alone by Intro- 

 ductions which speak about the science, descriptively, 

 (" The Basic Outline ' is itself prefaced by several 

 such), but by a smaller work, less technical and 

 elaborate, giving, nevertheless, some real insight into 

 the nature and principles of the science itself, and 

 some intelligible illustrations of the working of those 

 principles, upon so limited a scale as to be accessible 

 by the whole intelligent public. 



It is urged that the larger work, by its bulk and 

 expensiveness, and by the greater difficulty which 

 attaches to its more technical, and consequently less 

 popular form, will be necessarily restricted to a 

 smaller public; that it may even incur neglect, if 

 not misapprehension and a temporary unpopularity, 



