Excerpt from Practical Treatise of Powers, Vol. 1 of 2 At the close of the Preface to the first edition of this work, the Author pleaded, as an excuse for any inaccuracies in it, the necessity of devoting his time to other labours, from which moments were snatched for this performance. More than a quarter of a century had elapsed since that apology, when the Writer suddenly found himself, for the first time, in possession of - leisure. After some relaxation, not unmindful of the debt which he must ever owe to his Profession, he determined to review this book, and he has done so to the exclusion, for a considerable period, of all other pursuits. He must now trust to some other apology for any errors; but he may be allowed, in fairness to himself, to say, that nothing has been spared to render the work correct and complete, which unceasing labour, devoted to a favourite subject, could accomplish. 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.