_Dr. Arnott's Elements of Physics._

Vol. ii. Part I.


We are warm friends to the diffusion of knowledge, and accordingly
receive the present portion of Dr. Arnott's work with much satisfaction.
We believe the sale of the first volume to have been almost
unprecedentedly rapid, (a _fourth_ edition being called for within two
years) in comparison with the usual slow sale of _scientific_ works.
This success may easily be traced. The title of the work is not
extraordinarily inviting, illustration, not embellishment, is attempted
in a few outline diagrams, and the only external inducement to read, is
a plain, legible type, to suit all sights. Looking further, we find the
great cause in the manner as well as the matter of the volume, which is
throughout a text-book of _plain-spoken philosophy_, or as the author
says in his title-page, "independently of technical mathematics." Again,
in his introductory chapter on "Imponderable Substances," he says, "To
understand the subjects as far as men yet usefully understand them, and
sufficiently for a vast number of most useful purposes, it is only
necessary to classify important phenomena, so that their nature and
resemblances may be clearly perceived." The main error of most people
who write on philosophical subjects, or the stumbling-block of all
students, has been that of the writer presuming too much upon the
cultivated understanding of his reader. Thus, in the midst of very
familiar explanations we have often seen technicalities which must
operate as a wet blanket on the enthusiasm of the reader; and break up
the charm which the subject had hitherto created. Upon this principle,
treatise upon treatise has been published without effecting the primary
object. The matter of Dr. Arnott's work, however, appears to us to be in