The aim in the following pages has been to compile a collection of suggestions for the every-day use of the workiug-man, in his shop, about his dwelling, or in his household. The book is not an encyclopaedia of recipes, nor does it make any pretensions to that title; on the contrary, a very large number of formulas have purposely been omitted, because they are, for the most part, attainable in other and more extensive works. Preference has been given to practical hints, and, while the majority of these have been carefully gathered and condensed from the back files of the Scientific American, and more especially from the letters of correspondents of that paper, a goodly proportion are entirely new and fresh, and have been prepared expressly for this book.

For the contribution of a large part of the matter in, and for the general supervision of the department of Mechanics, the editor is indebted to that thorough workman, Mr. Joshua Rose. To Mr. Richard H. Buel (whose articles are signed " B.") similar acknowledgments are owing for valuable papers on boilers, engines, and other topics in the department of Engineering. The general revision of the last-mentioned department has been the labor of Professor R. H. Thurston, of the Stevens Institute, as has the similar overlooking of the department of Technology, that of Professor P. H. Van der Weyde. To both of these distinguished gentlemen, as well as to Messrs. Munn & Co., the publishers of the Scientific American, who have most kindly afforded the facilities for the preparation of this work, the cordial acknowledgments of the editor are due.

New-York, 1877.