Excerpt from Natural Philosophy

The following Treatise was originally designed to serve as a handbook or companion to the lectures on Natural Philosophy, delivered to the junior division in the Normal School. Although numerous text-books on the subject were already in existence, it was found that they were either too abstruse and technical for beginners, or too general and superficial to be of much practical use. The aim of the present little work is to occupy a position between these extremes - to present the leading facts of the science in a form so concise as to be readily remembered, and at the same time to give that thorough drilling upon the principles which is absolutely essential to their full comprehension.

As a hand-book to lectures fully illustrated by apparatus, it was not necessary to introduce many wood-cuts, and accordingly they have been given only where absolutely required.

The chief peculiarity of this book consists in the introduction, to a large extent, of problems calculated to impart that intimate and practical knowledge of the facts and principles of Mechanical Science, without which the student's information on the subject is, comparatively speaking, useless. How frequently do we meet with a pupil who has read carefully through one of the common text books on Natural Philosophy without acquiring any very clear or definite ideas of the science!

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