SCIENCE, EDUCATION, RELIGION 



723 



department. But usually mechanics ranks 

 with the next fundamental science in order, 

 called physic-. 



Natural philosophy has long been considered 

 the name of a distinct department of science: 

 the designation physics is now more common. 

 Thi- science succeeds mathematics, and precedes 

 chemistry. Of all the fundamental sciences, it 

 lias the least unity, being an aggregate of sub- 

 it h more or less connection. Mechanics, 

 hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics, acoustics, 

 igtronomy. are* all closely related; they repre- 

 sent the phenomenon of movement in mass, as 

 applied to all the three states of matter, solid, 

 liquid, and gas. The remaining subjects 

 heat, light, and electricity together with the 

 attractions and repulsions that determine cohe- 

 sion, crystallisation, etc., are described as relat- 



tnovement in the molecule. We have thus 

 molar phy-ic- and molcular physics; and the 

 tendency is now to treat the two separately. 

 Chemistry lies between physics and biology, 



ig upon the one and supporting the other. 

 It assumes all the physical laws, both molar and 

 molecular, as known, and proceeds to consider 

 tin- -pecial phenomenon of the composition and 

 decomposition of bodies considered as taking 



in definite proportions, and leading to 

 change of properties. The composition of a cup 

 of tea from water, sugar, milk, and infusion of 

 tea-leaf, is physical ; the composition of marble 

 from oxygen, carbon, and calcium, is chemical. 

 In the one case, the properties of the separate 

 ingredients are still discernible; in the other, 



are merged and untraceable. 

 Biology, or the science of living organization, 

 involves mathematical, physical, and chemical 



in company with certain others, called 

 vital. It is most usually expounded under the 



itions vegetable and animal physiology; 

 and in the concrete departments, botany, zool- 

 ogy, and anthropology. 



Psychology, or the science of mind, makes a 

 wide transition, the widest that can be taken 

 within the whole circle of the sciences, from the 

 so-c.-dled material world, to the world of feeling, 

 volition, and intellect. The main source of our 

 knowledge of mind is self-consciousness; and it 

 is only from the intimate connection of mind 

 with a living organism, that the subject is a 

 proper sequel to biology. Not until lately has 

 any insight into mind been obtained through 

 the consideration of the physical organ the 

 brain, so that psychology might nave been 

 placed anywhere, hut for another consideration 

 that helps to determine the order of the sciences 

 \i/: that the discipline, or method, of the 

 simpler M-i-nn-s is a preparation for the more 



. Mathematics and physics esj>ecially 



idmirable training of the intellect fr the 



studies connected with mind proper, although 



the laws of physics may not of themselves 



throw any direct light on the successions of 



ling. 



nces embrace all the funda- 

 mental laus of thf \\..ild. and. if perfect, their 

 application would -ullicr tn account I 

 whole course if nature. To person full \ 

 in them, no phenomenon of the explained uni- 

 verse Can :t; IDge; the concrete . 



and the practical sciences contain nothing 

 fundamentally new. They constitute a liberal 

 scientific education. It is not uncommon, how- 

 ever, to rank sociology, or the laws of man in 

 society, as a sixth primary science following on 

 psychology, of which it is a special development. 



The practical sciences do not admit of any 

 regular classification. They are as numerous 

 as the separate ends of human life that can re- 

 ceive aid from science, or from knowledge scien- 

 tifically constituted. Connected with mind and 

 society, we have ethics, logic, rhetoric, gram- 

 mar, philology, education, law, jurisprudence, 

 politics, political economy, etc. In the manual 

 and mechanical arts, there are navigation, prac- 

 tical mechanics, engineering, civil and military. 

 mining and metallurgy, chemistry applied to 

 dyeing, bleaching, etc. 



The medical department contains medicine, 

 surgery, midwifery, materia medica, medical 

 jurisprudence. A science of living, or of the pro- 

 duction of happiness by a skilled application of 

 all existing resources, would be tne crowning 

 practical science. 



Septuagint (stp'tu-a-fint). A Greek ver- 

 sion of the books of the Old Testament; so 

 called because the translation is supposed to 

 have been made by seventy-two Jews, who, for 

 the sake of round numbers, are usually called 

 the seventy interpreters. It is said to have been 

 made at the request of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 

 King of Egypt, about 280 years B. C. It is that 

 out of which all the citations in the New Testa- 

 ment and the Old are tuken. It was also the 

 ordinary and canonical translation made use of 

 by the Christian Church in the earliest ages; and 

 is still retained in the Churches both of the East 

 and West. According to the chronology of the 

 Septuagint, there were fifteen hundred years 

 more from the creation to Abraham than 

 according to the present Hebrew copies of the 

 Bible. 



Shorthand. An art by which writing is 

 abbreviated, so as to keep pace with speaking. 

 Its great and general utility nas been reci . 

 in every age, and numberless systems have been 

 devised' to facilitate its acquirement. It was 

 practiced by the ancients for its secrecy as well 

 as for its brevity, and a work is extant on the 

 art, which is ascribed to Tiro, the freedman of 

 Cicero. The first English treatise on stenog- 

 raphy. in \\hich mark- represent words, waa 

 published in i:,ss. l.y Timothy I'.right. M. !>., 

 under the title. "Cliaractene : an Art of Short. 

 Swift, and Secret Writing by Character." In 

 1837, appeared Pitman's " Phonography " 

 first really (xipulnr system. Melville Hell, fol- 

 lowing in the path marked out by Pitman. 

 founded his system on the sounds of the lan- 

 guage. The first sketch appeared in 1^ 

 185*2, the first complete edition, under the title 

 i-hy." Shorthand is now largely 

 .d in both the Tnited Slate* and Knglami. 

 ami has extended its benefits to manv cUnes 

 besides that of the i-rote i,,n:: I In 



is due chiefly to the excellence- of Pitman's 



tivity iii disMMiiin.Mt 

 ' 



p'rinciples. ! t.ho 



i ipled for letter writing ami the 



other I ;g the Second, however, l.eing 



