Page:The Elements of Euclid for the Use of Schools and Colleges - 1872.djvu/15



offering to students and teachers a new edition of the Elements of Euclid, it will be proper to give some account of the plan on which it has been arranged, and of the advantages which it hopes to present.

Geometry may be considered to form the real foundation of mathematical instruction. It is true that some acquaintance with Arithmetic and Algebra usually precedes the study of Geometry; but in the former subjects a beginner spends much of his time in gaining a practical facility in the application of rules to examples, while in the latter subject he is wholly occupied in exercising his reasoning faculties.

In England the text-book of Geometry consists of the Elements of Euclid; for nearly every official programme of instruction or examination explicitly includes some portion of this work. Numerous attempts have been made to find an appropriate substitute for the Elements of Euclid; but such attempts, fortunately, have hitherto been made in vain. The advantages attending a common standard of reference in such an important subject, can hardly be overestimated; and it is extremely improbable, if Euclid were once abandoned, that any agreement would exist as to the author who should replace him. It cannot be denied that