Preface 



XVll 



not to be found, but M. Bergson has most kindly 

 allowed me to print his reply, which suggests its 

 contents. 



For the rest, to attempt even an outline of the 

 concluding chapter which my brother left unwritten 

 would be manifestly useless. I have thought that 

 the best thing I could do was to gather together those 

 of his papers, whether published or unpublished, 

 which throw light on his thought and explain his 

 point of view. In the Collection of Notes and Extracts 

 (vide p. 104) I have put first in order those notes 

 which were made whilst the book was in progress 

 and which have a direct bearing upon it. The scien- 

 tific papers are arranged chronologically. As a 

 record of his thought the whole is in one way ab- 

 surdly incomplete. For except under compulsion he 

 wrote little. He did his thinking in his head, and 

 his papers and lectures, especially in recent years, 

 were given ex tempore, often without any notes at 

 all. He was always loath to set down conclusions, 

 for his mind was alive and growing, and conclusions 

 were after all, perhaps, what he never hoped to 

 reach. For all its incompleteness, then, this book 

 may give in some degree a true picture of bis mind. 



I wish to thank the following for their courtesy 

 in allowing me to reprint papers of my brother's : 

 The Editor of Nature, the Editor of The English 

 Review, the publisher of Science Progress, the Editor 

 of The Times Literary Supplement, the Council 

 of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 

 the Committee of the Manchester University Biological 

 Society, the Editor of the Manchester University 



