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  THE

  REASON WHY:

  A CAREFUL

  COLLECTION OF MANY HUNDREDS OF REASONS FOR THINGS WHICH, THOUGH
  GENERALLY BELIEVED, ARE IMPERFECTLY UNDERSTOOD.

  A BOOK OF CONDENSED SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE FOR THE MILLION.

  By THE AUTHOR OF "INQUIRE WITHIN."

  This collection of useful information on "Common Things" is put in
  the interesting form of "Why and Because," and comprehends a familiar
  explanation of many subjects which occupy a large space in the
  philosophy of Nature, relating to air, animals, atmosphere, caloric,
  chemistry, ventilation, materia medica, meteorology, acoustics,
  electricity, light, zoölogy, etc.

  NEW YORK:

  DICK & FITZGERALD, PUBLISHERS,

  No. 18 ANN STREET.




PREFACE.


We are all children of one Father, whose Works it should be our delight
to study. As the intelligent child, standing by his parent's knee,
asks explanations alike of the most simple phenomena, and of the most
profound problems; so should man, turning to his Creator, continually
ask for knowledge. Not because the profession of letters has, in these
days, become a fashion, and that the man of general proficiency can
best work out his success in worldly pursuits; but because knowledge is
a treasure which gladdens the heart, dignifies the mind, and ennobles
the soul.

The occupation of the mind, by the pursuit of knowledge, is of itself
a good, since it diverts from evil, and by elevating and refining the
mind, and strengthening the judgment, it fortifies us for the hour of
temptation, and surrounds us with barriers which the powers of sin
cannot successfully assail.

It is not contended that the mere acquisition of knowledge will either
ensure a good moral nature, or convey religious truth. But both
religion and morals will find in the diffusion of knowledge a ground
work upon which their loftier temples may discover an acceptable
foundation.

The man who comprehends the order of Nature, and the immutability
of Divine law, must of necessity bring himself in some degree into
accordance with that order, and under submission to the law: hence the
_tendency_ of knowledge will always be found to harmonise the fragment
with the mass, and to subvert the evil to the good.

The troubles of the world have arisen from the want of knowledge,
not from the possession of it. And in proportion as man becomes an
intelligent and reflective being, he will be a better creature in all
the relations of life. If these benefits, vast and incalculable as they
are, be the real tendency and result of knowledge, why is ignorance
allowed to remain, and why is the world still distracted by error?

It is because the moral and intellectual qualities of man are, like all
creations and gifts of God, the subjects of development, whose law is
progression.

We can aid human improvement, but we cannot unduly hasten it. Whenever
man has sprung too rapidly to a conclusion, he has alighted upon error,
and has had to retrace his steps.

The greatest philosophers have been those who have clung to the
demonstrative sciences, and have held that a simple truth well
ascertained, is greater than the grandest theory founded upon
questionable premises. Newton made more scientific revelations to
mankind than any other philosopher; and his discoveries have borne the
searching test of time, because he snatched at nothing, leaped over
no chasm to establish a favourite dogma; but, by the slowest steps,
and by regarding the merest trifles, as well as the highest phenomena,
he learnt to read Nature correctly. He discovered that her atoms were
letters, her blades of grass were words, her phenomena were sentences,
and her complete volume a grand poem, teaching on every page the wisdom
and the power of an Almighty Creator.

When he observed an apple fall to the ground, he asked the "Reason
Why;" and in answer to that enquiry, there came one of the grandest
discoveries that has ever been recorded upon the book of science. With
that discovery a flood of light burst upon the human mind, illustrating
in a far higher degree than had ever previously been conceived, the
vastness of Almighty Power.

Why should not each of us enquire the "Reason Why" regarding everything
that we observe? Why should we mentally _grope_ about, when we may
_see_ our way? When addressed in a foreign tongue, we hear a number
of articulated sounds, to which we can attach no meaning; they convey
nothing to the mind, make no impression upon the in-dwelling soul.
When those sounds are interpreted to us, in