INTRODUCTION.
HE arts and ſciences have become so extenſive, that to facilitate their acquirement is of as much importance as to extend their boundaries. Illuſtration, if it does not ſhorten the time of ſtudy, will at leaſt make it more agreeable. This Work has a greater aim than mere illuſtration; we do not introduce colours for the purpoſe of entertainment, or to amuſe by certain combinations of tint and form, but to aſſiſt the mind in its reſearches after truth, to increaſe the facilities of inſtruƈtion, and to diffuſe permanent knowledge. If we wanted authorities to prove the importance and uſefulneſs of geometry, we might quote every philoſopher ſince the days of Plato. Among the Greeks, in ancient, as in the ſchool of Peſtalozzi and others in recent times, geometry was adopted as the beſt gymnaſtic of the mind. In faƈt, Euclid's Elements have become, by common conſent, the baſis of mathematical ſcience all over the civilized globe. But this will not appear extraordinary, if we conſider that this ſublime ſcience is not only better calculated than any other to call forth the ſpirit of inquiry, to elevate the mind, and to ſtrengthen the reaſoning faculties, but alſo it forms the beſt introduƈtion to moſt of the uſeful and important vocations of human life. Arithmetic, land-ſurveying, menſuration, engineering, navigation, mechanics, hydroſtatics, pneumatics, optics, physical aſtronomy, &c. are all dependent on the propoſitions of geometry.
