18 MECHANICS. 



CHAPTER IL 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MECHANICS. 



SECTION I. 

 GENERAL PROPERTIES OF MATTER. 



Having briefly pointed out. some of the advantages 

 to the farmer of understanding the principles of the 

 macliines he constantly uses, we now proceed to an 

 examination of these principles. It will he most con- 

 venient to begin with the simpler truths of the soiencej 

 proceeding, as we advance, to their application in the 

 construction of machines. 



The term matter is applied to whatever composes 

 those substances which we perceive with our external 

 senses ; and when we speak of a " body," we mean 

 any thing composed of matter. Thus, wood, stone, 

 water, and metal are matter ; while the mind and its 

 quahties are not matter. A stone, a block of wood, a 

 bag of sand, and any other mass of matter, are termed 

 bodies. 



DIVISIBILITY. 



Matter possesses several general properties, the ex- 

 amination of which is both useful and interesting. One 

 of these is its divisibility, or capability of being divided 

 into small parts, and again divided, so far as we know, 

 without any limit. Many experiments show the great 

 minuteness to which this division may be carried. For 



