Xll CONTENTS. 



Coal in the British Islands. Fruitless and expensive attempts 

 to discover coal, precluded by geological information. Note 

 respecting a practical rule on this subject. Inadvertent use 

 of spurious Oak in ships, arising from the want of knowledge 

 of Botany. Ravages of Timber-eating Insects in the Forests 

 of Germany and in the Parks of London. Means of pre- 

 serving Timber-trees from insects pointed out by Natural 

 History. Ultimate utility of the abstract Philosophical 

 history of nature in the affairs of life p. 34 



4. IMPORTANCE OF COMBINING WITH MATHEMATICAL ACQUIRE- 

 MENTS A KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRINCIPLES AND SUBSTANCES 

 OF THE MATERIAL WORLD. 



Inadequacy of the attention hitherto given to this subject, in 

 School-Education. Its probable cause. Facility of ma- 

 king considerable attainments in pure mathematics without 

 any enlarged acquaintance with the phenomena and history 

 of nature. Injurious consequences of this. Recently al- 

 leged inferiority of Great Britain in the higher walks of sci- 

 ence examined. Mathematical knowledge of the Ancient 

 Egyptians, and their success in the cultivation of certain arts ; 

 the Physical sciences apparently unknown to them . . p. 5 1 



5. GENERAL UTILITY OF COMBINING THE KNOWLEDGE or NA- 

 TURE WITH THE PURSUITS OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE, AND THE 

 ADVANTAGES SPECIFICALLY DERIVABLE FROM THAT KNOW- 

 LEDGE, IN THE MORE PROFOUND CLASS OF INVESTIGATIONS OF 



THE HISTORY, THE LANGUAGES, AND THE ARTS OF CIVILIZED 

 ANTIQUITY. 



The scholastic study of certain Greek and Latin authors an in- 

 dispensable means of acquiring those languages. Allusions 

 to the phaenomena of nature by those authors. Importance 

 of explaining such allusions to the student. The writings of 

 the philosophers and historians of Greece and Rome contain 

 evidence of a more perfect and accurate observation of na- 

 ture than was formerly supposed. Examples. An error in 

 Burgh's Lunar Tables discovered from a statement of Dio- 

 dorus Siculus, by a modern astronomer. Precise and com- 

 plete scientific knowledge required for the elucidation of 

 ancient authors. Exemplified in the history of the inquiries 

 respecting the epoch of the solar eclipse predicted by Thales 

 and recorded by Herodotus that epoch fixed by astrono- 

 mical computation, by Mr. F. Baily. Advantages of uniting 

 classical with scientific attainments in profound literary in- 

 quiries. Splendid and interesting discoveries in Archaeo- 

 logy recently achieved. Rapid and complete success of the 

 late Dr. Young in deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphics. 

 The process employed by him analogous to a profound and 



