I explained to him, as well as I could, the power of the lever of Archimedes, with which he had declared he could move the world, if he had but a point to rest it on; and I promised my son to take the machine to pieces when we were on shore, and explain the mode of operation.

I then told them that God, to compensate for the weakness of man, had bestowed on him reason, invention, and skill in workmanship.

The result of these had produced a science which, under the name of _Mechanics_, taught us to increase and extend our limited powers incredibly by the aid of instruments.
Jack remarked that the jack-screw worked very slowly.
"Better slowly, than not at all," said I."It is a principle in mechanics, that what is gained in time is lost in power.

The jack is not meant to work rapidly, but to raise heavy weights; and the heavier the weight, the slower the operation.

But, can you tell me how we can make up for this slowness ?" "Oh, by turning the handle quicker, to be sure!" "Quite wrong; that would not aid us at all.