| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/popularbooksonna00bernrich |
Transcriber's note:
There is an error in the calculation on page 16.The calculation is left unedited.
Inconsistent hyphenation is left as in the original.
CONTENTS:
THE WEIGHT OF THE EARTH—VELOCITY—NUTRITION—LIGHTAND DISTANCE—THE WONDERS OF ASTRONOMY—METEOROLOGY—THEFOOD PROPER FOR MAN.
New York:
CHR. SCHMIDT, PUBLISHER, 39 CENTRE STREET.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
CHR. SCHMIDT,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the SouthernDistrict of New York.
"In primis, hominis est propria VERI inquisitio atque investigatio.Itaque cum sumus negotiis necessariis, curisque vacui, tum avemusaliquid videre, audire, ac dicere, cognitionemque rerum, aut occultarumaut admirabilium, ad benè beatéque vivendum necessariamducimus;—ex quo intelligitur, quod VERUM, simplex, sincerumqe sit,id esse naturæ hominis aptissimum. Huic veri videndi cupiditatiadjuncta est appetitio quædam principatûs, ut nemini parere animusbenè a naturâ, informatus velit, nisi præcipienti, aut docenti,aut utilitatis causâ justè et legitimè imperanti: ex quo animi magnitudoexistit, et humanarum rerum contemtio."
Cicero, de Officiis, Lib. 1. § 13.
Before all other things, man is distinguished by his pursuit andinvestigation of TRUTH. And hence, when free from needful businessand cares, we delight to see, to hear, and to communicate, andconsider a knowledge of many admirable and abstruse things necessaryto the good conduct and happiness of our lives: whence it isclear that whatsoever is TRUE, simple, and direct, the same is mostcongenial to our nature as men. Closely allied with this earnestlonging to see and know the truth, is a kind of dignified and princelysentiment which forbids a mind, naturally well co