THE chief design of the writer, in compiling the present work, was to supply a School Book at a low price, which might contain a series of Readings on Scientific subjects, as well as a selection of Poetry calculated for Elocutionary Exercises.
It had been for a considerable time a subject of regret amongst the scholastic profession, that while Scientific and Literary Societies are so universal, and afford adults such opportunities for acquiring information, there was no school book of cheap price, whose object was to initiate the more juvenile part of society into the science of Natural Philosophy. The "SCIENTIFIC READER," it is presumed, will form this desideratum; so that while the pupil is acquiring a correct method of reading, he will at the same time become acquainted with the principal facts and general phenomena of Philosophical Science.
The writer begs to acknowledge, that in drawing up the Scientific Readings, he has availed himself of assistance wherever he could obtain it; his principal aim has been to condense as much information in as few words as possible, and in language which cannot but be understood.