The True Order of Studies Author:Thomas Hill Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. MATHEMATICS. GEOMETRY. WE have endeavored, in the preceding chapter, to show, that all possible objects of human thought are comprised under o... more »ne or another of these five heads: Mathematics, Physics, History, Psychology and Theology. In making these the objects of study, mathematics must precede physics, because conceptions of form, time and number must precede conceptions of material phenomena. For example, mechanics treats of motion, in straight or curved lines, of the parallelogram of forces, and direction of reflected and refracted motion, of the strength of materials as dependent on form, of the equilibrium of the arch ; and in these and other problems, demands a preliminary knowledge of geometry. Chemistry deals with definite proportions, atomic weights, permutations of combinations, multiples in series, and other matters, necessarily involving a preliminary knowledge of arithmetic. Botany and zoology in their morphology require geometry ; in their physiology, chemistry ; in both departments, mechanics. As mathematics thus necessarily precede physics, so physics must precede history. All that men do inthis world, must be done upon the materials set before us, and under the conditions imposed by physical laws. Our thoughts can find expression only through outward symbols, in things built or made, in imitative arts, or in language; which, when verbal, was all originally figurative, and when musical, is subject to laws of rhythm and elasticity. The history of human thought must also include, as one of its most important chapters, the history of the physical sciences, and thus demand some knowledge of those sciences. Moreover, Psychology can be advantageously studied, only by one acquainted to some extent with physiology, and with history. We know nothing...« less