PLAN OF THE BOOK 



THERE are so many good text-books published to-day 

 on all school subjects that whenever a new one comes 

 from the press all persons interested examine it eagerly 

 to see what new features it may contain. The reasons 

 why this text was written are given in brief in the 

 following paragraphs. 



Sequence of Topics. In any science the order in 

 which the various subjects are brought to the learner's 

 mind is a matter of the utmost consequence. Unless 

 the various topics are presented in a logical or natural 

 order, the pupils fail to grasp the connection between 

 them. In texts where each chapter is complete in 

 itself, and need have little relation with what has pre- 

 ceded or with what follows, the pupils may learn much 

 that is valuable and useful, but this knowledge must 

 always remain scrappy, disconnected, and unorganized. 



The logical arrangement of subject-matter has long 

 been regarded as an essential feature of a good text- 

 book. In this book an attempt is made to present the 

 subject in such a way that the pupil shall see the rela- 

 tion which the various tcpics sustain to each other and 

 to the entire body of knowledge. In other words, the 



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