lence of its soul rather than the formation
of its body, that the inquirer will succeed in understanding it.
Properly speaking, I have only applied to Mr Bergson the method which
he himself justifiably prescribes in a recent article ("Revue de
Metaphysique et de Morale", November 1911), the only method, in fact,
which is in all senses of the word fully "exact." I shall none the less
be glad if these brief pages can be of any interest to professional
philosophers, and have endeavoured, as far as possible, to allow them
to trace, under the concise formulae employed, the scheme which I have
refused to develop.

It has become evident to me that even today the interpretation of Mr
Bergson's position is in many cases full of faults, which it would
undoubtedly be worth while to assist in removing. I may or may not have
succeeded in my attempt, but such, at any rate, is the precise end I had
in view.

In conclusion, I may say that I have not had the honour of being Mr
Bergson's pupil; and, at the time when I became acquainted with his
outlook, my own direct reflection on science and life had already
produced in me similar trains of thought. I found in his work
the striking realisation of a presentiment and a desire. This
"correspondence," which I have not exaggerated, proved at once a help
and a hindrance to me in entering into the exact comprehension of so
profoundly original a doctrine. The reader will thus understand that I
think it in place to quote my authority to him in the following lines
which Mr Bergson kindly wrote me after the publication of the articles
reproduced in this volume: "Underneath and beyond the method you have
caught the intention and the spirit...Your study could not be more
conscientious or true to the original. As it advances, condensation
increases in a marked degree: the reader becomes aware that the
explanation is undergoing a progressive involution similar to the
involution by which we determine the reality of Time. To produce this
feeling, much more has been necessary than a close study of my works: it
has required deep sympathy of thought, the power, in fact, of rethinking
the subject in a personal and original manner. Nowhere is this sympathy
more in evidence than in your concluding pages, where in a few words you
point out the possibilities of further developments of the doctrine. In
this direction I should myself say exactly what you have said."

Paris, 28th March 1912.

CONTENTS

Pr