Excerpt from The Dynamic Foundation of Knowledge IT is now a long time since the writer of the follow ing pages first thought of a dynamical interpreta tion of the concept of Matter. After some years of consideration and discussion he expressed his views in print in an essay entitled Matter and Energy Are there two Real Things in the Physical Universe? This essay was published in 1887. A second essay was published in 1897 under the title, The Doctrine of Energy: A Theory of Reality. In these essays he maintained that the scientific concept of energy adequately explains the pheno mena of nature, and that the inconsistent concept of material reality should be finally abandoned. The question referred to has made great apparent progress since the date first mentioned above. The foolish abuse with which in certain quarters such ideas were then greeted has disappeared. They might now almost be called popular. In philosophical journals they are constantly referred to, whilst as integral parts of scientific theory they are accepted and employed by many high authorities. The successors of some who looked upon them with dislike and derision seem even disposed to claim them as their own. The present writer might perhaps regard these facts as indicating that he started his speculative journey along the right road. Possibly it may also be thought that there is now no further need for continuing the inquiry. To him it seems that such a view would be erroneous. We cannot say that the goal has yet been reached or that a foundation of definite concepts has yet been surely laid for physical knowledge. The elusive developments of recent scientific theory in various directions appear rather to render the task of seeking such a foundation more imperative than ever. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.