Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Useful Arts, Considered in Connexion With the Applications of Science, Vol. 1 of 2: With Numerous Engravings
The degree of interest, which was formerly taken in the Lectures alluded to, led the author to believe, that the subject is, in itself, peculiarly capable of exciting the at tention and curiosity of students. There can be no doubt, that the knowledge, which this study is intended to fur nish, is of great use in the common affairs of life; and, probably, its advancement has contributed, more than that of any other science, to the improved condition of the present age.
A certain degree of acquaintance with the theory and scientific principles of the common arts is found so gen erally important, that most educated men, in the course of an ordinary practical life, are obliged to obtain it from some source, or to suffer inconvenience, for the want of it. He who builds a house, or buys an estate, if he would avoid disappointment and loss, must know some thing of the arts, which render them appropriate and ten entable. He who travels abroad, to instruct himself, or enlighten his countrymen, finds, in the works of art, the most commanding objects of his attention and interest. He who remains at home, and limits his ambition to the more humble object of keeping his apartment warm, and himself comfortable, can only succeed, through the instru mentality of the arts.
There has, probably, never been an age, in which the practical applications of science have employed so large a portion of the talent and enterprise of the community, as in the present; nor one, in which their cultivation has yielded such abundant rewards. And it is not the least of the distinctions of our own country, to have contribu ted to the advancement of this branch of improvement, by many splendid instances of inventive genius, and success ful perseverance.
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