Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:25:55

Excerpt #1, from Anticipations, by H. G. Wells

…English traffic is concerned, the statement is approximately correct. In the United States, however, there are several trains running now which average over considerable distances more than sixty miles an hour, stoppages included, nor is there much reason why this should not be considerably increased. What especially hampers the development of railways in England–as compared with other countries–is the fact that the rolling-stock templet is too small. Hence carriages in England have to be narrower and lower than carriages in the United States, although both run on the same standard gauge (4 feet 8½ inches). The result is that several things which you describe as not possible at present, such as to ‘write smoothly and easily at a steady table, read papers, have one’s hair cut, and dine in comfort,’ are not only feasible, but actually attained on some of the good American trains. For instance, on the present Empire State Express, running between New York and Buffalo, or on the present Pennsylvania, Limited, running between New York and Chicago, and on others. With the Pennsylvania, Limited, travel stenographers and typewriters, whose services are placed at the disposal of passengers free of charge. But the train on which there is the least vibration of any is probably the new Empire State Express, and on this it is certainly possible to write smoothly and easily at a steady table."…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #2, from Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

…nerest of his Kin; yet it dependeth on his own will, (as hath been said in the precedent chapter,) who shall be his Heyr. If therefore he will have no Heyre, there is no Soveraignty, nor Subjection. The case is the same, if he dye without known Kindred, and without declaration of his Heyre. For then there can no Heire be known, and consequently no Subjection be due. In Case Of Banishment If the Soveraign Banish his Subject; during the Banishment, he is not Subject. But he that is sent on a message, or hath leave to travell, is still Subject; but it is, by Contract between Soveraigns, not by vertue of the covenant of Subjection. For whosoever entreth into anothers dominion, is Subject to all the Lawes thereof; unless he have a privilege by the amity of the Soveraigns, or by speciall licence. In Case The Soveraign Render Himself Subject To Another If a Monarch subdued by war, render himself Subject to the Victor; his Subjects are delivered from their former obligation, and become obliged to the Victor. But if he be held prisoner, or have not the liberty of his own Body; he is not understood to have given away the Right of Soveraigntie; and therefore his Subjects are obliged to yield obedience to the Magistrates formerly placed, governing not in their own name, but in his. For, his Right remaining, the question is only of the…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #3, from Survival at Altitude for Heavy and Very Heavy Bomber Crews

…(b) Night vision impaired early and to a marked degree at comparatively low altitude. HAZARD OF OXYGEN-LACK (1) At 12,000 to 15,000 feet (several hours): fatigue, drowsiness, headache. (2) At 15,000 to 18,000 feet (½ to 1 hour): False sense of well being Overconfidence Narrowing of field of attention Faulty reasoning Poor judgement Loss of self-criticism Clumsy Blurring and double vision Decreased hearing Poor memory May pass out (3) Above 18,000 feet: Symptoms come on faster Loss of muscle control Loss of awareness of lapse of time…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #4, from The King James Version of the Bible

…until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 8:25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 8:26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 8:27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua. 8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. 8:29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day. 8:30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, 8:31 As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #5, from The Chemistry of Plant Life, by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher

…mortar. Cover with acetone, let stand a few moments and then filter on a Büchner funnel. Pour the filtrate into a separatory funnel, add an equal volume of ether and two volumes of water. Shake up once and then allow the ether layer to separate; the pigments will be in this layer. Drain off the water-acetone layer. Now to the etherial solution, add about half its volume of a concentrated solution of potassium hydroxide in methyl alcohol. Shake well and allow to stand until the mixture becomes permanently green. Now add an equal volume of water and a little more ether, until the mixture separates sharply into two layers. The chlorophylls will now be in the lower dilute alcohol layer, and the carotinoids in the upper ether, and may be separated by draining of each layer separately. To separate the carotin from xanthophyll place the ether solution in a small open dish and evaporate to a small volume. Now add about ten volumes of petroleum spirit and an equal volume of methyl alcohol, stir up well, transfer to a separatory funnel and allow the two layers to separate. The carotin will now be in the upper layer of petroleum ether, and the xanthophyll in the lower alcohol layer; these layers may be drained off separately and the solvents evaporated in order to recover the pigments in dry form. =Lycopersicin= (or lycopin) is a hydrocarbon pigment having the same formula as carotin. It is, however, brilliantly red in color, and crystallizes in a different form and has a different adsorption spectrum…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #6, from Ocean Steam Navigation and the Ocean Post, by Thomas Rainey

…requires that the steamer shall be docked, however great the expense; and as these accidents are constantly occurring in even the best constructed and best regulated propellers, it follows that they must be constantly on the docks. This species of vessel being built necessarily narrower than the side-wheel, it rolls more, and is found to be an exceedingly disagreeable passenger vessel. Propellers have become deservedly unpopular the world over; and if it were possible for them to be faster than the side-wheel, it is hardly probable that first-class passengers would even then go by them, as they are known to be so exceedingly uncomfortable. The propeller, I have before said, is erroneously supposed to run more cheaply than the side-wheel. I think that I have shown that as a mail packet it will cost more to run it at a given speed. But there are certain cases in which it does run more cheaply; these are, however, only where the speed is low, and the machinery not geared, and where, as a consequence, sail can be used to more advantage than on a side-wheel. The economy is not the result of the application of the power by the screw, as compared with the side-wheel, but of the sail alone; and this economy is more or less, just as canvas is employed more or less in the propulsion. The screw is the better form of steamer for using sail; and the low speed at which propellers…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #7, from The Iliad, by Homer

…Prone fell the giant o’er a length of ground. What then I was, O were your Nestor now! Not Hector’s self should want an equal foe. But, warriors, you that youthful vigour boast, The flower of Greece, the examples of our host, Sprung from such fathers, who such numbers sway, Can you stand trembling, and desert the day?” His warm reproofs the listening kings inflame; And nine, the noblest of the Grecian name, Up-started fierce: but far before the rest The king of men advanced his dauntless breast: Then bold Tydides, great in arms, appear’d; And next his bulk gigantic Ajax rear’d; Oïleus follow’d; Idomen was there,[180] And Merion, dreadful as the god of war: With these Eurypylus and Thoas stand, And wise Ulysses closed the daring band. All these, alike inspired with noble rage, Demand the fight. To whom the Pylian sage: “Lest thirst of glory your brave souls divide, What chief shall combat, let the gods decide….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #8, from From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, by H. P. Blavatsky

…I must not attempt to give a full description of these temples, as this subject must be worked out in a way quite impossible in a newspaper article. So I shall only note that here all the statues, idols, and carvings are ascribed to Buddhist ascetics of the first centuries after the death of Buddha. I wish I could content myself with this statement. But, unfortunately, messieurs les archeologues meet here with an unexpected difficulty, and a more serious one than all the difficulties brought on them by the inconsistencies of all other temples put together. In these temples there are more idols designated Buddhas than anywhere else. They cover the main entrance, sit in thick rows along the balconies, occupy the inner walls of the cells, watch the entrances of all the doors like monster giants, and two of them sit in the chief tank, where spring water washes them century after century without any harm to their granite bodies. Some of these Buddhas are decently clad, with pyramidal pagodas as their head gear; others are naked; some sit, others stand; some are real colossi, some tiny, some of middle size. However, all this would not matter; we may go so far as to overlook the fact of Gautama’s or Siddhartha-Buddha’s reform consisting precisely in his earnest desire to tear up by the roots the Brahmanical idol-worship. Though, of course, we cannot help remembering that his religion remained…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #9, from The Invasion of India, by Alexander the Great as described, by Arrian, Q. Curtius

…boasted to have certain memorials of Dionysos. So he went, it is said, to Mount Mêros with the companion cavalry and the body of foot-guards, and found that the mountain abounded with ivy and laurel and umbrageous groves of all manner of trees, and that it had also chases supplied with game of every description. The Macedonians, to whom the sight of the ivy was particularly welcome, as it was the first they had seen for a long time (there being no ivy in the land of the Indians, even where they have the vine), are said to have set themselves at once to weave ivy chaplets, and, accoutred as they were, to have crowned themselves with these, chanting the while hymns to Dionysos and invoking the god by his different names.[72] Alexander, they say, offered while there sacrifice to Dionysos and feasted with his friends. Some even go so far as to allege, if any one cares to believe such things, that many of his courtiers, Macedonians of no mean rank, while invoking Dionysos, and wreathed with ivy crowns, were seized with the inspiration of the god, raised in his honour shouts of Evoi, and revelled like Bacchanals celebrating the orgies. Chapter III—How Eratosthenes views the legends concerning Heraklês and Dionysos—Alexander crosses the Indus Any one who hears these stories is free to believe them or disbelieve them as he chooses. For my own part, I do not altogether agree with…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #10, from Bushido, the Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobe

…grace to manners; but its function does not stop here. For propriety, springing as it does from motives of benevolence and modesty, and actuated by tender feelings toward the sensibilities of others, is ever a graceful expression of sympathy. Its requirement is that we should weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Such didactic requirement, when reduced into small every-day details of life, expresses itself in little acts scarcely noticeable, or, if noticed, is, as one missionary lady of twenty years’ residence once said to me, “awfully funny.” You are out in the hot glaring sun with no shade over you; a Japanese acquaintance passes by; you accost him, and instantly his hat is off–well, that is perfectly natural, but the “awfully funny” performance is, that all the while he talks with you his parasol is down and he stands in the glaring sun also. How foolish!–Yes, exactly so, provided the motive were less than this: “You are in the sun; I sympathize with you; I would willingly take you under my parasol if it were large enough, or if we were familiarly acquainted; as I cannot shade you, I will share your discomforts.” Little acts of this kind, equally or more amusing, are not mere gestures or conventionalities. They are the “bodying forth” of thoughtful feelings for the comfort of others. Another “awfully funny” custom is dictated by our canons of Politeness;…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #11, from Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

…[Hautboys.] FIRST WITCH. Show! SECOND WITCH. Show! THIRD WITCH. Show! ALL. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, so depart! [A show of eight kings appear, and pass over in order, the last with a glass in his hand; Banquo following.] MACBETH. Thou are too like the spirit of Banquo. Down! Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs:—and thy hair, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. A third is like the former.—Filthy hags! Why do you show me this?—A fourth!—Start, eyes! What, will the line stretch out to th’ crack of doom? Another yet!—A seventh!—I’ll see no more:— And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass…

More: Read or Listen on IA →

Excerpt #12, from Mirrors of Moscow, by Louise Stevens Bryant

…soon have such sinister work to do. The last time I met Peters he was living in Tashkent which is the capital of the Province of Turkestan. He had even more sweeping powers than an ordinary governor, since he was the most important revolutionary official in a community not yet settled down to normal life. I also met the new Madame Peters. The English wife divorced him at the time of the terror. The second Madame Peters was a very pretty, redheaded Russian who had been a teacher and who still worked at her profession. They lived in a single room, shared a dining room with twenty others and were poorly dressed. When we discussed this point, Peters bitterly denounced several Soviet officials who, he said, were “living soft.” “A revolutionist cannot expect to force privations on other people if he is not willing to be an example of self-sacrifice,” he declared. He had become known almost as a conservative among the Left-Communists because he had refused to close the Mohammedan bazaars, saying these people were not ready for Communism. His public trials were attended by large crowds and proved of great educational value in a very unenlightened community. I found him much older. He seemed to have lived thirty years in three….

More: Read or Listen on IA →

A production of Friendlyskies.net