GENERAL NOTIONS 



ON 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



LESSON I. 



The. Natural Sciences and their Divisions Definition of 

 Zoology General knowledge necessary to its successful study 

 The structure of animals, and enumeration of their principal 

 oryans Classification of the. functions of animals. 



1. The Natural Sciences have for their object, the study of 

 those beings, the assemblage of which compose the universe. 



This study is divided into many distinct branches ; but these 

 branches are all so linked, one to the other, as to afford a mutual 

 support. 



2. Tbn different branches of the Natural Sciences are: Physics, 

 Chemistry, Astronomy, Meteorology, and Natural History. 



3. The name physics is given to that science which embraces 

 the consideration of the general properties of matter ; which 

 studies the motions of bodies, as well as Heat, Light, Electricity, 

 Attraction, and which applies the knowledge thus acquired to the 

 explanation of the great phenomena of nature. 



4. Chemistry has for its object, the knowledge of the intimate 

 composition of bodies, and the various combinations which may 

 be made from them. It teaches us what are the forming elements 

 of different bodies, and how these elements, by combining in 

 various ways, may give rise to other bodies and enables us to 

 understand the properties of all these substances. 



5. Natural History, taken in its most general acceptation, 

 should include the study of the form, of the structure, and of the 

 mode of existence of all the bodies of nature, individually consi- 

 dered ; but, by common consent, the domain of this science is 



1. What is the object of .the natural sciences ? 



2. What are the different branches of the natural sciences? 



3. What does the science of physics embrace the study of? 



4. What has chemistry for its object ? what does it teach ? 



5. In the most general acceptation of the tenn, what is included under 

 the name of natural history ? 



