THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Aravsr 1, 1864. 



2 OS THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES WHICH FORM 



Putting asule, then, all questions of Beauty, Morality, or Philosophy, 

 we are to consider where man can acquire the knowledge which will 

 give his body the victory in the daily battle of life. The problem which 

 lie has to solve is a vast one ; so vast, indeed, that instead of attempting 

 to enumerate the items which make it up, I will say, in one word, that 

 his capital to begin with is one wise head and ten skilful fingers ; and 

 with these he must build such a Crystal Palace as the world saw in 1851, 

 and stock it with all its wondrous contents. To solve this problem, he 

 must fall back upon the sciences which reveal the properties of matter, 

 and the modes of altering it; 



The sciences in question are familiarly divided into Natural History, 

 on the one hand, and Experimental Physics, including Chemistry, on the 

 other. Natural History, on this view, is the science of all those objects, 

 phenomena, and laws, which physical nature spontaneously presents to 

 our view ; whilst Experimental Physics is the science of all the addi- 

 tional objects, phenomena, and laws, which our interference with nature 

 enables us to bring under our scrutiny. 



Such a twofold division, however, is not sufficient for us. All the 

 sciences observe and register the phenomena and laws which nature 

 presents within the circle allotted to each ; and are therefore portions of 

 Natural History, or Naturalistic. All the sciences, also, but Astronomy, 

 experiment upon, or subject to trial, the objects presented by nature to 

 each ; and are therefore Experimental. The difference, accordingly, 

 between the majority of the sciences which are observational, and those 

 which are experimental, is one only of degree. A distinction of a much 

 deeper kind lies in the fact, that the experiments which the one charac- 

 teristically makes are simply more precise observations of what nature 

 presents ; -whilst those which the other characteristically makes, imply 

 the transformation or transmutation of natural objects, and the study 

 thereafter of the results of such transformations. 



In addition, however, there is a third class of experiments, neither 

 simply observational nor transformational, but registrative and directive, 

 in modes which I shall presently consider. And, further, Biology, the 

 science of Plant-Lite and Animal-Life, must have a place to itself, from 

 the peculiarity of the subject-matter with which it deals. 



I would arrange the physical sciences, accordingly, as related to 

 Technology, in three groups. 



I. Naturalistic, Observational, and Kegistrative sciences, of which the 

 chief are Astronomy and Geology, including Meteorology, Hydrology, 

 Physical Geography, and Mineralogy, as well as descriptive Botany and 

 Zoology. 



II. Experimental, Transformational, and Directive sciences, of which 

 the chief are Chemistry and Mechanics, as well as Heat, Optics, Elec- 

 tricity, and Magnetism. 



III. Organic sciences : namely, Functional or Physiological Botany, 

 which treats of the plant-life of non-sentient organisms ; and Functional 



