Excerpt from Elements of Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical: Adapted to the Use of Schools, and to Private Study By its very nature it furnishes the means of developing the reasoning faculties, from the time of their first begin ning to expand, and of habituating them to correctness and precision. It therefore gives the human mind the power and disposition to reason upon sound and correct Principles. It is therefore the duty of the faithful teacher of youth, (not the mere teacher for his own private emolument, ) to take advantage of this property of arithmetic, and apply it to cultivate the mind, and enlighten the understanding of his scholars, by a proper reasoning in this elementary sci ence; he should not make it the object of the memory alone; a method that leaves no impression upon the mind, whose results are in consequence lost again as soon as the school is dismissed. To neglect to take this advantage of the study of arith metic, is either a proof of ignorance, or an actual derelie tion of duty. This may appear strong to many people, but strength is the essential property of truth. I can safe ly appeal to those who have in early youth been taught by the negligent method of mere rules, and have at a later period attained scientific eminence, to decide between this and any contrary assertion. 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.