PREFACE 



IT is not necessary, in this period of the making of high 

 school curricula, to show that, for the first year of a high 

 school, a general course in science is better than a year's 

 study of one branch of science. Without discussion of the 

 advisability of a general course, therefore, the author would 

 state her reasons for the wide choice of subjects considered 

 in this book. 



For pupils who complete a high school course, the study 

 of general science should be an introduction to any ordinary 

 high school work in biology, physics, chemistry, geology, 

 and astronomy. No pupil can study all of these subjects, but 

 he can learn that they are not separate sciences but branches 

 of science. Whatever branch he studies later, he will find 

 that the course in general science has given him the elements 

 of the other divisions which dovetail into that branch. 



To suit the needs of pupils who are not able to finish 

 a high school course, this first year science course must pre- 

 sent a comprehensive view, though with no attempt to be 

 complete. 



"The proper study of mankind" for the pupil at the age of 

 twelve to fourteen years seems to be the world of which he 

 is a part. The fact that the earth, important as it is to 

 man, is not the only nor the greatest body in the universe; 

 that it is not an independent body sufficient unto itself; 

 and that its influence extends to other bodies these are 

 some of the subjects taken up in the first chapters. 



Before studying the ever-changing surface of the earth 

 and its life, there must be a study of matter in the mass 

 and of the forces which act upon it from without; also of 



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