APPLIED MECHANICS. 



THE science of Engineering, which is another term for applied 

 mechanics, has for its aim the " direction of the great sources of 

 power in nature for the use and convenience of man ;" and the 

 subjects for illustration are so extensive and varied that it has 

 been thought necessary to limit the present collection to a certain 

 number of selected models and diagrams, which may suggest his- 

 torical reminiscences of the progress of discovery in this branch of 

 science, and may further prove valuable as indicating the manner 

 in which both the teacher and the student may improve their 

 knowledge of the application of mechanical principles. 



And it may be well, in the first instance, to refer to the change 

 which has been wrought within the last few years not only in 

 respect of the nature and scope of the matters necessary to be 

 understood by the student of mechanics, but also in respect of the 

 methods of guidance and instruction which should aid and advance 

 him in his labours. 



It is not merely that since the introduction of the steam engine 

 that masterpiece of inventive genius new and distinct branches 

 of mechanical engineering have been called into existence which 

 have taxed to the utmost the skill and powers of those engaged in 

 controlling anew " the sources of power in nature ;" but it is that 

 a desire for practical knowledge, and for the means of understand- 

 ing, not the results merely, but the exact manner in which the 

 successive improvers or inventors have toiled step by step up to 



