Being Part I. of _Science for the Young_. By JACOB ABBOTT. Copiously
Illustrated. 12mo, Illuminated Cloth, black and gilt, $1 50.
Perhaps that eminent and ancient gentleman who told his young master
that there was no royal road to science could admit that he was mistaken
after examining one of the volumes of the series "Science for the
Young," which the Harpers are now bringing out. The first of these,
"Heat," by Jacob Abbott, while bringing two or three young travelers
from a New York hotel across the ocean to Liverpool in a Cunarder, makes
them acquainted with most of the leading scientific principles regarding
heat. The idea of conveying scientific instruction in this manner is
admirable, and the method in which the plan is carried out is excellent.
While the youthful reader is skillfully entrapped into perusing what
appears to be an interesting story, and which is really so, he devours
the substance and principal facts of many learned treatises. Surely this
is a royal road for our young sovereigns to travel over. --_World_,
N. Y.
It combines information with amusement, weaving in with a story or
sketch of travel dry rules of mechanics or chemistry or philosophy.
Mr. Abbott accomplishes this object very successfully. The story is a
simple one, and the characters he introduces are natural and agreeable.
Readers of the volume, young and old, will follow it with unabating
interest, and it can not fail to have the intended effect. --_Jewish
Messenger._
It is admirably done. * * * Having tried the book with children, and
found it absolutely fascinating, even to a bright boy of eight, who has
had no special preparation for it, we can speak with entire confidence
of its value. The author has been careful in his statements of facts and
of natural laws to follow the very best authorities; and on some points
of importance his account is more accurate and more useful than that
given in many works of considerable scientific pretensions written
before the true character of heat as what Tyndall calls "a mode of
motion" was fully recognized. * * * Mr. Abbott has, in his "Heat,"
thrown a peculiar charm upon his pages, which makes them at once clear
and delightful to children who can enjoy a fairy tale. --_N. Y. Evening
Post._
* * * Mr. Abbott has avoided the errors so common with writers for
popular effect, that of slurring over the difficulties of the subject
through the desire of making it intelligible and attractive to unlearned
readers. He never tampers with the truth of science, nor attempts to
dodge the solution of a knotty problem behind a cloud of plausible
illustrations. The numerous illustrations which accompany every chapter
are of unquestionable value in the comprehension of the text, and come
next to actual experiment as an aid to the reader. --_N. Y. Tribune._