FASHIONABLE PHILOSOPHY AND OTHER SKETCHES


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BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT

AUTHOR OF
'PICCADILLY,' 'ALTIORA PETO,' 'MASOLLAM,' ETC.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLXXXVII

PRICE ONE SHILLING




PREFACE.


That railway travel is not, as a rule, conducive to serious thought, may
fairly be inferred from the class of literature displayed on the
bookstalls at the stations. I have therefore refrained from any attempt
to excite the reflective faculties of the reader, excepting in the first
and third of the accompanying sketches, and even in these have only
ventured to suggest ideas, the full scope and pregnancy of which it must
be left to his own idiosyncrasy to appreciate and develop, the more
especially as they bear upon a certain current of investigation which has