TO W. GARNETT, Esq.

                                                             Glenlair, Dalbeattie, 24th July 1877.

. . . There is a great slur over the word mechanics since a few poets and biologists have misused it. Pratt thought it   a fine word.

     The result of motion without reference to time I call Displacement. Kinematics must involve the idea of time if it    treats of continuous displacements, velocities, and accelerations, though it does not contain within itself materials    for comparing different intervals of time. For this we must go to the science which deals with matter; call it    Kinetics, Dynamics, or Mechanics.

     But I consider that Statics also deserves a place on the same level as Kinematics, as it deals with the equivalence   of different systems of forces. But I do not agree with Whewell that Statics is more elementary than Kinematics. . .