INTRODUCTION. 



HISTORICAL AND CKITIOAL.* 



THE subject of Graphical Statics has, since the appearance of Culmann's 

 work (Die grapMsche Statik, Zurich, Meyer and Zeller, 1866), excited 

 considerable attention, but an accurate and just estimate of its methods 

 and practical value is still wanting. Thus there are some who oppose it ; 

 others willingly accept it as an efficient and valuable aid in practical inves- 

 tigations of stability ; still others even profess to see in it a future rival of 

 Analytical Statics. This last somewhat remarkable claim seems apparently 

 justified by a passage in Culmann's preface, where it is asserted " that the 

 Graphical Statics will and must extend, as graphical methods find ever 

 wider acceptance but in such case, however, its treatment will soon escape 

 the hands of the practitioner, and it will then be built up by the geometer 

 and mechanic to a symmetrical whole, which shall hold the same relation 

 to the new geometry that analytical mechanics does to the higher analysis." 

 These various and conflicting opinions find their supporters in technical 

 schools and among engineers throughout Germany. 



In the consideration of the subject, we shall endeavor especially to give 

 an objective presentation, but shall also feel at liberty to present our own 

 opinions as well, and generally to venture such reflections as seem suited 

 to throw light upon the matter. For both reasons it will sometimes be 

 necessary to make apparent deviations, in order to point out the various 

 fields in which these new investigations take root, to define their limits, and 

 to decide in what directions and to what extent impulse and sustenance 

 for further development may exist. In such a manner only can we satis- 

 factorily ascertain how far the graphical statics may safely count upon 

 more than a passing recognition and brief existence. 



We have therefore to ask of the reader who wishes to obtain a just and 

 accurate estimate of this new and, as we venture to think, highly important 

 subject, patience for the following general considerations. 



* Ueber die graphische Statik eur Orientirung. By J. I.Weyrauch. Leip- 

 Bg, 1874. 



