In the lecture style there may be and should be as much precision of statement as in the formal statement style, while it is more interesting, because it is the natural mode of communicating knowledge. In this style the facts are ordinarily so stated as to develop principles; while in the other the order is reversed, the principles being first stated and the facts given afterward. One of the most successful books ever used in our colleges—"Paley's Natural Theology"—is in the lecture style, and it is a matter of surprise that this fact has had so little influence with those who have prepared books for instruction.
Whatever may be true of advanced scholars, in teaching the young student in science bare, dry statement should be avoided, and the subjects should be presented in all their attractive features. I would not be understood as advocating the dressing up of science in adventitious charms. This is not necessary. Science possesses in itself an abundance of charms, which need only to be properly developed to attract the young mind; and the lecture style furnishes the best vehicle for such a development.
One grand essential for giving interest to any study is the presentation of the various points in the natural order in which they should enter the mind. They should be so presented that each portion of a book shall make the following portions more interesting and more easily understood. This principle, which is so commonly transgressed, I have endeavored to observe strictly in the preparation of these volumes.
Questions are put at the end of this book for those teachers who desire to use them. There is also an Index.
W. Hooker.
January, 1863.