Volume 183001

Mechanics / By Henry Kater and Dionysius Lardner.

  • Henry Kater
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mechanics / By Henry Kater and Dionysius Lardner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    interwoven with the language of science, that it is im- possible to avoid the frequent use of it. Thus, we say, “the magnet attracts iron;” the expression attract intimating the cause of the observed effect. In such cases, however, we must be understood to mean the effect itself, finding it less inconvenient to continue the use of the received phrases, modifying their signifi- cation, than to introduce new ones. Force, when manifested by the mutual approach or cohesion of bodies, is also called attraction, and it is variously denominated, according to the circumstances under which it is observed to act. Thus, the force which holds together the atoms of solid bodies is called cohesive attraction. The force which draws bodies to the surface of the earth, when placed above it, is called the attraction of gravitation. 'The force which is exhi- bited by the mutual approach, or adhesion, of the load- stone and iron, is called magnetie attraction, and so on. When force is manifested by the remotion of bodies from each other, it is called repulsion. Thus, if a piece of glass, having been briskly rubbed with a silk handkerchief, touch successively two feathers, these feathers, if brought near each other, will move asunder. This effect is called re- pulsion, and the feathers are said to repel each other. (9.) The influence which forces have upon the form, state, arrangement, and motions of material substances is the principal object of physical science. In its strict sense, Mecuanics is a term of very extensive signifi- cation. According to the more popular usage, however, it has been generally applied to that part of physical science which includes the investigation of the pheno- mena of motion and rest, pressure and other effects de-« veloped by the mutual action of solid masses. The consideration of similar phenomena, exhibited in bodies of the liquid form, is consigned to Hyprosrarics, and that of aeriform fluids to Pyeumarics.
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