ADVANCED SERIES. THIRD BOOK. EDITED BY EDWARD HUGHES, F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S. ASSOCIATE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS; HEAD MASTER OF THE ROYAL NAVAL LOWER SCHOOL, GREENWICH HOSPITAL. LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS. EDINBURGH: A. & C. BLACK. DUBLIN: HODGES & SMITH. 1856. The Editor reserves to himself the right of Translating this Work. PREFACE. IN publishing the Third Volume of this series, the Editor gladly takes the opportunity of thanking the public, and more particularly his fellow-labourers, for the liberal support they have given him, in his efforts to introduce a class of useful and instructive readingbooks into our system of education. The success of the two previous volumes has fully equalled his most sanguine expectations, and affords a gratifying proof, that he was not mistaken in supposing, that a work containing sound scientific instruction, written specially for youth by authors of eminence, would be acceptable to all teachers and parents who are alive to the daily increasing necessity for educational progress. The ordinary reading-books, made up of selected extracts, may be well adapted for teaching mechanical or declamatory reading; but the Editor in the present series has endeavoured to do more, and to supply exercise to the mental faculties, and valuable information in the various branches of natural science. In this attempt he is happy to find that he has at least in some measure succeeded. E. H. ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOLS GREENWICH HOSPITAL, January 31, 1856. |