The works of Thomas Dick . be expanded, he can enjoy asatisfaction and delight which the wealth of thisworld cannot bestow, and which its frowns andcalamities cannot destroy. Besides the pleasures derived fi*om a contem-plation of the doctrines and the facts of science,—there is a positive gratyicaiion in trtuing thesteps by which the discoveries of sdence have beenmade,—the reasonings and demonstratioTis bywhich its doctrines are suj^orted, and the expert-ments by which th^ are proved and this point of view, the study of severalbranches of mathematical science, however ab-strus
The works of Thomas Dick . be expanded, he can enjoy asatisfaction and delight which the wealth of thisworld cannot bestow, and which its frowns andcalamities cannot destroy. Besides the pleasures derived fi*om a contem-plation of the doctrines and the facts of science,—there is a positive gratyicaiion in trtuing thesteps by which the discoveries of sdence have beenmade,—the reasonings and demonstratioTis bywhich its doctrines are suj^orted, and the expert-ments by which th^ are proved and this point of view, the study of severalbranches of mathematical science, however ab-struse they mayat first sight appear, wUl afforda high degree of gratification to the it is announced as a proposition in geo-metry, that the square described on the hypo-thenuse, or longest side of a right angled tri-angle, is equal to the sum of the squares de-scribed on the other side,*—it is pleasing to • The following figure will convey an. Idaa to the unlearned reader of the meaning of this proposl* A B C Is a right angled triangle, having the rightangle at C, and A B is the hypothenuse, or longestBide. By geometrical rensonlng it can bp demon-strated, that the square D, described on the longestBide A B, is exactly to the sum of the squaresE and F, described on me other two sides.—One ofthe uses of this propositionjwill appear from thefollowing example. Suppose A C the height of awall = 24 feet, B C the width of a trench = 18 feet;it s required to find the length of a ladder B A whichWill reach from the outside of the trench to the topOf the wail. The square of is is 324; the square of24 Is 576, which added together make 900, equal tothe square D j the square root of which is30 = thelength of the ladder. On this principle we can find 56 ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OP KNOWLEDGE. perceive, how every step of the demonstrationproceeds with unerring certainty, and leads themind to perceive the trutli of the conclusion towhich it leads, with as high a degree of
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