principles, as they thus operate, at the same moment, through the vast mechanism of Nature and in the minute contrivances of man; to see that, while they assist in wheeling planets and suns through their mighty and "unshaken rounds," they are, at the same moment, performing for men the humblest offices of service! fit emblems of that Being, for whom nothing is too vast, nothing too minute! of that Jesus, who, while charged with a world's deliverance from sin and death, could still condescend to manufacture wine for the marriagefeast of the poor, and to wash the feet of his lowly disciples !

Independent, however, of the interest which this subject must possess, for every liberal and inquiring mind, it has claims of a more urgent nature. It is a fact, generally overlooked, but none the less true, that hardly any branch of science can be studied, nor any profession prosecuted with advantage, without some acquaintance with the theory, economy, and history, of the Useful Arts. Take the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, for example. As generally studied by the young, they present to the mind little else than abstractions; principles, which seem too vague and too farfetched, to be brought down to the "business and bosoms of men." Hence, the lassitude with which they are pursued, and the sad facility with which they are forgotten. How different would it be, if the pupil were early accustomed to trace these principles to their practical applications; if, from the school or lecture-room, he were conducted to the shop or the manufactory, and were there to see these principles toiling in man's service, and becoming most efficient contributors to his welfare! This course is actually adopted, in many of the schools of Germany and France; and the consequence is seen in the quickened interest, the increased precision, and stronger grasp, of the pupil's mind. He sees, hears, feels, that these Laws of Nature are no barren generalities, but are most powerful and useful agents; that art succeeds only so far as she observes

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and respects these Laws; and that the highest and most benignant triumphs of human industry are equally the triumphs of Nature, and of that science, whose province it is to interpret Nature.

Does the student weary, then, over the theorems of his Euclid, or the formulæ of his Algebra? Let him be taught how these very theorems and formulæ are employed by the engineer, in his nice adjustments and calculations; by the mariner, as he shapes his unerring course across the trackless sea; by the astronomer, as he passes the limits of this little earth, seems to set his foot on the most distant planet, and takes measure of its size, its density, and the span of its orbit. A single property of similar triangles, which, to the mere student of the Elements, looks like matter only for trivial curiosity, is found, by the student of the arts, to be the seminal and prolific principle, out of which has grown the whole theory of trigonometrical measurement, whether applied to common surveying, to the measurement of an arc of the meridian, or to determining those vast distances which separate us from the remotest and most erratic members of the solar system. It is the same with Chemistry and Mechanical Philosophy. Instruct them in their uses, as well as in their theory, and they will no longer seem but a tissue of hard names and dreary abstractions. They will be seen to shed their concentrated light over the humblest processes of the artisan, and to open before him prospects of improvement, as interminable, in extent, as they are animating, in their influence.

Nor is it only to the student of physical and mathematical science, that the study of the useful arts offers this advantage. If, from the study of Nature you turn your attention to the constitution of society, to the laws which regulate its progress and welfare, you will find, even there, that acquaintance with the economy and history of the useful arts is beneficial, both in guarding the mind from error, and in revealing the true principles which have governed the past, and must inevi

tably control the future. Is it, for instance, Political Economy that you would master,-the causes which regulate the production, distribution, and consumption, of wealth? Would you ever bear in mind, too, that the ultimate end of a sound and benevolent economy is not so much wealth, as welfare; not so much the accumulation of material products, as the multiplication of all those means and appliances which tend to raise man in the scale, as well of moral and intellectual, as of physical, being; that wealth is not an end, but only one of the means, of national, as it is of individual, improvement; and that the industrious classes, being the most numerous, in a State, and therefore the most important, their advancement is to be the great object of the statesman's policy? Yes? Would you write deep upon your minds and hearts these great but neglected principles? Go to the forge and the workshop. Study, in their economy and theory, and also in their history, those arts which are the real agents in producing and distributing wealth. See where other nations have erred in fostering them, leaving men to decay, if the arts could but flourish; taxing labor, instead of capital, the necessaries, instead of the luxuries, of life; and degrading the human soul, with all its intelligence and immortality, into a mere appendage to machinery. Learn how the artisan is to be protected against the evils incident to inventions and improvement, while, at the same time, you teach him that his permanent welfare is promoted by these very inventions; that his interests are bound up with those of the wealthiest capitalist; and that he needs nothing but intelligence and virtue, to enable him, in this land of freedom, to reap his rightful share of profit and advancement.

Our limits do not permit us to enumerate all the respects in which a study of the useful arts is calculated to shed light over other departments of human inquiry. History needs its aid, in tracing the progress of man, from barbarism to civilization; from the darkness of ignorance or tradition, and the coarseness of unbri

dled sensuality, to the benign light of literature and the conscious dignity and refinement of moral freedom. Poetry needs its aid, in supplying illustrations to arrest the ever-varying taste of a busy and excited age; and even theology, though conversant only with high and holy things, need not disdain to borrow lessons from this humble and unpretending source. Yes; let not

him, who is given to sacred studies or devout contemplation, turn away from the useful arts, as though they were silent in the services of God, or "yielded but faint praise." They tell of man's organization, which has fitted him so admirably for the fabrication of instruments and the labors of industry. They tell of that gift, which attests the agency of Infinite wisdom and power; exhaustless ingenuity,-an ingenuity which is ever multiplying expedients to vanquish time and space, to subdue refractory substances, and to transform into useful and pliable agents the wildest and most stormy elements of Nature. They suggest a comparison,— how greatly to the honor of the Creator!-between the mimic processes of human art and those boundless movements which are ever going forward, silently but harmoniously, through the regions of space.

Nor let it be thought that it is the student, alone, who would profit by an acquaintance with this branch of knowledge. To say nothing, in this place, of the mechanic and artisan, where is there a profession, the members of which could not profit by studying the application of science to the arts? The merchant, for example, would evidently be aided, when he traffics in the products of these arts, by understanding the principles which regulate the manufacture of them, the changes and improvement which are making in that manufacture, and the causes which are likely, from time to time, to vary the supply or demand. The lawyer is often called to defend or impugn the validity of patents, to litigate contracts made between mechanics and their employers, or to try causes involving the operations of a machine or the management of a factory. Can he

hope to do justice to his clients or to his own character, unless he can seize with readiness upon the principles and language appropriate to the case, and employ them with judgement and skill? The same thing is yet more strikingly true, in many other pursuits; and I hazard little, in saying, that there is, in the present age, scarcely an employment, to which a man can devote his talents or his capital, that does not call for some acquaintance with the theory, as well as with the practice, of the useful arts.

Entertaining these views of the importance of our subject, we shall endeavor to discuss it, in a manner which will interest all classes of readers. It will be our main object, in the following papers, to exhibit the arts as dependent on principles, as being, in fact, the practical RESULTS of the discoveries which have been made in the various departments of physical science. It is said of Lord Bacon, that, having collected a great number of books on Gardening and Rural affairs, and finding them destitute of the information he sought, he caused them all to be piled up in his court-yard, and set on fire; uttering, at the same time, these memorable words: "In all these books, I find no principles; they can therefore be of no use to any man.' "" To shield this humble Work from condemnation, on such grounds, has been the Author's special aim; and he has also endeavored, by bringing into prominent view the laws, on which processes in the arts depend, to establish the claim of these arts to be ranked among the subjects of liberal and academical study. At the same time, it has been his desire to treat the subject in a manner calculated to interest persons engaged in the various mechanical and chemical arts, and in agricultural pursuits. The time has arrived, when knowledge will more surely command success, than at any former period of the world; and when, without knowledge, no practical man can be secure of permanent success. The Author will have more than attained his object, if, on the one hand, he can succeed in impressing, upon any considerable