CHAPTER I. 



^ i 



MATTER, AXD ITS GEXERAL PROPERTIES. 



1. Matter is the general name which has 

 what^s^Mat- \jqqj^ given to that substance which, under an 

 infinite variety of forms, affects our senses. 

 "We apply the term matter to every thing that occupies 

 space, or that has length, breadth, and thickness. 

 How do we ^- ^^ ^^ ^^^y through the agency of our five 

 know that any scuscs (hearins", seeing, smelliniT, tasting, and 



thing exists .' ^ <-" •^' ~' ~ 



feeling), that we are enabled to know that any 

 matter exists. A person deprived of all sensation, could 

 not be conscious that he had any material existence. 

 wTiat is a 3. A BODY is any distinct portion of matter 



body? existing in space. 

 What are the ^- ^^^^ properties, or the qualities of matter, 

 properties of ^j-q ^]^q powcFS belonging to it, which are capa- 

 ble of exciting in our mind certain sensations. 



It is only through the different sensations -which different substances ex- 

 cite in our minds, or, in other -words, it is by means of their different 

 properties, that -we are enabled to distinguish one form or variety of matter 

 from another. 



The forms and combinations of matter seen in the animal, vegetable, and 

 mineral kingdoms of nature, are numberless, yet they are all composed of 

 a very fe-w simple svibstances or elements. 



_. ^. . 5. By a simple substance we mean one 



Wnatisasitn- _ •' i 



pie substance? ivbich has ucvcr been derived from, or sepa- 

 rated into any other kind of matter. 



Gold, silver, iron, oxygen, and hydrogen, are examples of simple sub. 

 stances or elements, because we arc unable to decompose them, convert 

 them into, or create them from, other bodies. 



-^ ^ . ,, 6. The number of the elements or simple 



What 18 the _ ^ 



number of the gubstauces with which we are at present ac- 



elements? ... 



quainted, is sixty-two. '' ^^ 



