INTENDED FOR THE INSTRUCTION AND ENTERTAINMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE: IN WHICH THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY ARE FULLY EXPLAINED. VOL. I. OF MECHANICS AND ASTRONOMY. "Conversation, with the habit of explaining the meaning of words and BY THE REV. J. JOYCE. NEW EDITION, CORRECTED AND IMPROVED. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY JOHN GRIGG, THOMAS DESILVER, E. LITTELL, Lydia R. Bailey, Printer. I AM desirous of prefixing your names to these volumes in token of the affectionate attachment to which, from me, you are peculiarly entitled. And I am happy in the opportunity which this publication affords me of bringing to your recollection subjects, in the study of which you successfully engaged at a very early period of life, and which are of acknowledged importance in the pursuits of every well-educated youth. *This young man, the second son of the present Earl Stanhope, chose at an early period the profession of arms. In the year 1807, he was appointed aid-de-camp to general Moore, whom he accompanied to Sicily and Sweden. In the latter end of the year 1808, he was, as major, appointed to the command of the 50th regiment, then in Spain, at the head of which he was shot through the heart, at Corunna, on the 16th of January, 1809. In perusing this little work you must bear in your minds, that it is not intended for proficients in philosophical knowledge, but for noviciates in science; not for yourselves in the present advanced stage of your progress, but for those young persons who are unacquainted with the rudiments of natural and experimental philosophy. I am too well acquainted with the excellence of your dispositions to suppose it necessary for me to apologize for laying before you a work that has no extraordinary claim to your acceptance. You will, I am sure, appreciate its value, not so much by its intrinsic contents, as by the good-will with which it is presented. Before I conclude this short address, permit me to say, that my own happiness will ever be much augmented, by the assurance of the happiness and distinguished usefulness of those with whom I have spent so many years of my life, and to whose permanent interest, I am sure, you will acknowledge I have never been inattentive. Sincerely wishing you, Gentlemen, all the felicity which the honourable exercise of distinguished talents and virtuous minds can confer upon the possessors, I subscribe myself Your very affectionate Friend And obedient Servant, CLAPTON, MAY, 1800. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE THE author of these little volumes feels himself extremely happy in the opportunity which this publication affords him of acknowledging the obligations he is under to the authors of "Practical Education," for the pleasure and instruction which he has derived from that valuable work. To this he is solely indebted for the idea of writing on the subject of Natural Philosophy for the use of children. How far his plan corresponds with that suggested by Mr. Edgeworth in his chapter on Mechanics, must be left with a candid public to decide. The author conceives at least, he shall be justified in asserting, that no introduction to natural and experimental philosophy has been attempted in a method so familiar and easy as that which he now offers to the public:-none which appears to him so properly adapted to the capacities of young people of ten or eleven years of age, a period of life, which, from the author's own experience, he is confident, is by no means too early to induce in children habits of scientific reasoning. In this opinion he is sanctioned by the authority of Mr. Edgeworth. "Parents," says. he, "are anxious that children should be conversant with mechanics, and with what are called the mechanical powers. Certainly no species of knowledge is better suited to the taste and capacity of youth, and yet it sel |
