o INTRODUCTION. 



are ordered by number and weight and measure, 

 " God," as was said by the ancients, " works by 

 geometry:" the legislation of the material uni- 

 verse is necessarily delivered in the language of 

 mathematics ; the stars in their courses are re- 

 gulated by the properties of conic sections, and 

 the winds depend on arithmetical and geometri- 

 cal progressions of elasticity and pressure. 



The constitution of the universe, so far as it 

 can be clearly apprehended by our intellect, thus 

 assumes a shape involving an assemblage of ma- 

 thematical propositions : certain algebraical for- 

 mulae, and the knowledge when and how to ap- 

 ply them, constitute the last step of the physical 

 science to which we can attain. The labour and 

 the endowments of ages have been employed in 

 bringing such science into the condition in which 

 it now exists : and an exact and extensive disci- 

 pline in mathematics, followed by a practical 

 and profound study of the researches of natural 

 philosophers, can alone put any one in possession 

 of all the knowledge concerning the course of the 

 material world, which is at present open to man. 

 The general impression, however, which arises 

 from the view thus obtained of the universe, the 

 results which we collect from the most careful 

 scrutiny of its administration, may, we trust, be 

 rendered intelligible without this technical and 

 laborious study, and to do this is our present 

 object. 



