PREFACE 



The publication, now begun, of a course of Non-tech- 

 nical Lectures on the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 

 delivered by members of the Faculty of the University of 

 Missouri during the winter of 1909-' 10, is the outcome of a 

 wish expressed by many teachers and students of the Uni- 

 versity to see the lectures in print. From unavoidable causes 

 their publication has been greatly delayed, but it has seemed 

 advisable to present them, even at this late date, to those who 

 may still be interested in reading them. 



The course was planned by a committee consisting of 

 Professors Lovejoy, Belden and Davenport, and was designed 

 to be the first of a series of non-technical lectures to be given 

 from year to year by members of the Faculty. It consisted of 

 an introductory lecture on The Unity of Science and eight ad- 

 ditional lectures dealing with special sciences, namely, Math- 

 ematics, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, Botany, 

 Experimental Zoology and Evolutional Zoology. These lec- 

 tures will be published as separate brochures, but in as rapid 

 succession as possible. 



The purpose of the course is best set forth by quoting 

 from the original prospectus issued by the committee to those 

 who had been asked to prepare the lectures: "The course 

 is designed primarily to supplement the specialized work of 

 the regular courses, by helping the student while in college to 

 gain a connected view of the body of organized knowledge, 

 and by exhibiting to him in broad outline, yet concretely and 

 from many points of view, the common principles, presupposi- 

 tions, and methods of contemporary science. To serve this 

 purpose the lectures should bring out clearly the relations be- 



