Excerpt from Helps to a Correct Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Realism The doings and mysteries in nature invite our search. We see that all earthly things are undergoing change; what changes them? We discover that atoms, bodies, earth, worlds are in motion; what moves them? Does matter move itself? or does something not matter move it? Or is there nothing that is not matter, and is matter all that is? What is matter any how, is there any such thing, or are our thoughts of things as solids mere delusions? What do we know about matter, and how do we know? Do we know even that we are, and what we are? What is man, an atom, a monad, an ephemeron, dust, and nothing more? Are all our thoughts baseless imaginings, and all our hopes delusions? Is there no reality, and does man know nothing? These questions are so plainly answered in the common consciousness of the common world that some of the questions themselves seem absurd; but in philosophic science they are questions, the questions of the day, and questions which are often so answered as to leave before us only a negation, a blank, a void. Where shall we go to find answers to these questions, to books? The books of modern science present to us nature in the garb of some hypotheses. 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.