Between our minds or consciousness and Nature are our Senses. We feel, we see, we hear, we taste, we smell,—so it is only through the Senses that we can come to any knowledge of the outer world. These attributes, or Senses, act directly upon a certain “primary faculty” called Consciousness, and thus we are enabled to understand what is going on around us. The more this great existing faculty is educated and trained, the more useful it will become. So if we accustom our minds to observation of Nature, we shall find out certain causes and effects, and discover Objects. Now an Object is a thing perceptible both to feeling and sight, and an Object occupies space. Therefore there are objects Artificial as well as Natural. The former are created by man from one or more Natural products. Natural Objects are those such as trees, rocks, plants, and animals. We may also class the heavenly bodies, etc., as Objects, though we cannot touch them, but we can feel their effects, and see them. The PHENOMENA of Nature include those results which are perceptible by only one sense, as thunder; light and sound may also be classed as Phenomena. Take a familiar instance. A stone is a Natural Object. We take it up, open our fingers, and it falls. The _motion_ of that object is a Phenomenon. We know it falls because we see it fall, and it possesses what we term _weight_; but we cannot tell _why_ it possesses weight. [Professor Huxley says: “Stones do not fall to the ground in consequence of a law of nature,” for a law is not a cause. “A law of nature merely tells us what we may expect natural objects will do under certain circumstances.”] A cause of a Phenomenon being independent of human will is called a _Force_, and the stone falls by the force of _Gravitation_, or that natural law which compels every material object to approach every other material object. A single Force may produce a great number of Phenomena. Nature being revealed to us by Objects, and by means of Phenomena, we have got already two Branches of Science extending from such Roots; viz., NATURAL HISTORY, the Science of Objects; and NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, the Science of Phenomena. Both of these Branches have been subdivided thus: { Zoology, referring to Animals } Biology. Natural History { Botany, referring to Plants } { Mineralogy } referring to Minerals, etc. { Geology } { Physics. Phenomena without essential change Natural Philosophy { of the Objects. { Chemistry. Phenomena with change of the Objects. { Physiology. Phenomena of animated Objects. These two great divisions comprehend, in their extended senses, all that is known respecting the material world.