AN ELEMENTARY TEXT- 

 BOOK OF THEORETICAL 

 MECHANICS 



By GEORGE A. MERRILL, B.S., Principal of the 

 California School of Mechanical Arts, and Director of 

 the Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts, San Francisco 



MERRILL'S MECHANICS is intended for the upper 

 classes in secondary schools, and for the two lower 

 classes in college. Only a knowledge of elementary 

 algebra, plane geometry, and plane trigonometry is required 

 for a thorough comprehension of the work. 

 *|J By presenting only the most important principles and 

 methods, the book overcomes many of the difficulties now 

 encountered by students in collegiate courses who take up 

 the study of analytic mechanics, without previously having 

 covered it in a more elementary form. It treats the subject 

 without the use of the calculus, and consequently does not 

 bewilder the beginner with much algebraic matter, which 

 obscures the chief principles. 



^j The book is written from the standpoint of the student 

 in the manner that experience has proved to be the one 

 most easily grasped. Therefore, beyond a constant endeavor 

 to abide by the fundamental precepts of teaching, no one 

 method of presentation has been used to the exclusion of 

 others. The few necessary experiments are suggested and 

 outlined, but a more complete laboratory course can easily be 

 supplied by the instructor. 



^| The explanation of each topic is followed by a few well- 

 chosen examples to fix and apply the principles involved. A 

 number of pages are devoted to the static treatment of force, 

 with emphasis on the idea of action and reaction. Four- 

 place tables of the natural trigonometric functions are included. 



AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



(73) 



