Fully and elaborately illustrated publication concerned with introductory-level physics. As the author writes in his preface, "the design of this work is to afford to the student, the artisan, the mechanic, and in fact all who are interested in science... a ready means of acquiring a general knowledge of physics by the experimental method."

Digitization includes select plates depicting various instrumentation such as a gyroscope, hero's fountain, phonograph, polariscope, electric lamp, and an electrical ore finder. It also includes several plates depicting photographic processes.