Excerpt from A Treatise on Special or Elementary Geometry: Including Plane, Solid, and Spherical Geometry, and Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, With the Necessary Tables Tms treatise on the Special or Elementary Geometry consists of four parts. Part I. Is designed as an introduction. In it the student is made familiar with the geometrical concepts, and with the fundamental definitions and facts of the science. The definitions here given, are given once for all. It is thought that the pupil can obtain his first conception of a geometrical fact, as well, at least, from a correct, scientific statement of it, as from some crude, colloquial form, the language of which he will be obliged to replace by better, after the former shall have become so firmly fixed in his mind, as not to be easily eradicated. No attempt at demonstration is made in this part, although most of the fundamental facts of Elementary Plane Geom etty are here presented, and amply and familiarly illustrated. This course has been taken in obedience to the canon of the teacher's art, which prescribes facts before theories. Moreover, su ch has been the historic order of development of this, and most other sciences; viz. The facts have been known, or conjectured, long before men have been able to give any logical account of them. And does not this indicate what may be the natural order in which the individual mind will receive science When the student has become familiar with the things (concepts) about which his mind is to be occupied, and knows some of the more important of their properties and relations, he is better prepared to reason upon them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.