16 SCIENCE PRIMERS. [NATURE AND 



learned the order of nature in these matters, they 

 make arrangements for sowing and reaping accord- 

 ingly ; they cannot make the wind blow, but when it 

 does blow they take advantage of its known powers 

 and probable direction to sail ships and turn wind- 

 mills ; they cannot arrest the lightning, but they can 

 make it harmless by means of conductors, the con- 

 struction of which implies a knowledge of some of the 

 laws of that electricity, of which lightning is one of 

 the manifestations. Forewarned is forearmed, says 

 the proverb ; and knowledge of the laws of nature is 

 forewarning of that which we may expect to happen, 

 when we have to deal with natural objects. 



ii. Science: the Knowledge of the Laws 

 of Nature obtained by Observation, Experi- 

 ment, and Reasoning. 



No line can be drawn between common knowledge 

 of things and scientific knowledge ; nor between com- 

 mon reasoning and scientific reasoning. In strictness 

 all accurate knowledge is Science ; and all exact 

 reasoning is scientific reasoning. The method of 

 observation and experiment by which such great 

 results are obtained in science, is identically the same 

 as that which is employed by every one, every day of 

 his life, but refined and rendered precise. If a child 

 acquires a new toy, he observes its characters and ex- 

 periments upon its properties ; and we are all of us 

 constantly making observations and experiments upon 

 one thing or another. 



But those who have never tried to observe accu- 

 rately will be surprised to find how difficult a business 

 it is. There is not one person in a hundred who can 



