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CHAPTER I. 



EARLIEST STAGES OF MECHANICS AND HYDRO- 

 STATICS. 



Sect. 1. Mechanics. 



A STRONOMY is a science so ancient that we 

 _L\_ can hardly ascend to a period when it did not 

 exist ; Mechanics, on the other hand, is a science 

 which did not begin to be till after the time of 

 Aristotle ; for Archimedes must be looked upon as 

 the author of the first sound knowledge on this 

 subject. What is still more curious, and shows 

 remarkably how little the continued progress of 

 science follows inevitably from the nature of man, 

 this department of knowledge, after the right road 

 had been fairly entered upon, remained absolutely 

 stationary for nearly two thousand years ; no single 

 step was made, in addition to the propositions esta- 

 blished by Archimedes, till the time of Galileo 

 and Stevinus. This extraordinary halt will be a 

 subject of attention hereafter; at present we must 

 consider the original advance. 



The great step made by Archimedes in Mecha- 

 nics was the establishing, upon true grounds, the 

 general proposition concerning a straight lever, 

 loaded with two heavy bodies, and resting upon a 



VOL. i. H 



