Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:42

Excerpt #1, from Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life, by Knox

…and other precious metals, and I would not be surprised if a thorough exploration led to valuable discoveries. As the boat struggled against the current in this mountain passage I spent most of the time on deck. The tortuous course of the river added much to the scenic effect. Almost every minute the picture changed. Hill, forest, cliff, and valley assumed different aspects as we wound our sinuous way up the defile. Here and there were tiny cascades breaking over the steep rocks to the edge of the river, and occasionally a little meadow peeped out from the mountain valleys. Some features of the scenery reminded me of the Highlands of the Hudson, or the Mississippi above Lake Pepin. At times we seemed completely enclosed in a lake from which there was no escape save by climbing the hills. Frequently it was impossible to discover any trace of an opening half a mile in our front. Had we been ascending an unexplored river I should have half expected to find it issuing like a huge spring from the base of a high mountain. The Russian villages in these mountains are located in the valleys of streams flowing to the Amoor. In one bend we found a solitary house newly-erected and waiting its occupants who should, keep the post-station in winter. We sent a Cossack ashore in a skiff at this point, and he came near falling into the river while descending the…

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Excerpt #2, from Champions of the Fleet, by Edward Fraser

…the mercy on us as He has had, for we made five ships strike to the ship has I am in. We had 125 killed and wounded, and 1500 in the English fleet killed and wounded, and the enemy 12,000; so I shall leave you to judge how your country fight for the religion you enjoy, the laws you possess, and on the other hand how Bounaparte has trampt them causes down in the places he has had concern with, for nothing but torment is going forward. So never think it is disgrace to having brothers in service; but I have had pretty well on it, and when you write to our mother, give my love to my sister Betty and my poor mother, and send me word about her and you shall have your loving brother’s thanks. So must conclude with hoping this will bring you peace and love and unity. Then you and me and our dear mother will meet together to enjoy the fruits of the island as I have been fighting for. My dear, I shall just give you a description of Lord Nelson. He is a man about five feet seven, very slender, of an affable temper; but a rare man for his country, and has been in 123 actions and skrimmages, and got wounded with a small ball, but it was mortal. It was his last words, that it was his lot for me to go, but I am going to heaven, but never haul down your colours to France, for your men will stick to…

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Excerpt #3, from A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…these accomplishments, and discovering a calling which needs them all,” I said to myself, “I may as well give up the attempt at once.” I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn’s Lieder, and other favourites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon my patience. During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced,…

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Excerpt #4, from Radioisotopes and Life Processes (Revised), by Baserga and Kisieleski

…in Figure 8, the isotope ¹H, or ordinary hydrogen, consists of a nucleus containing a proton (charge: +1; mass: 1) around which revolves an electron (charge: -1; mass: negligible); ²H, known as deuterium, contains an additional nuclear particle, a neutron (charge: 0; mass: 1); ³H, or tritium, contains two neutrons. Since the chemical behavior of an element depends upon the number of its electrons, these three atoms, although differing in weight, behave identically in chemical reactions. For convenience, the atomic weight is written as a superscript to the left of the element’s symbol. For instance ¹⁴C is the isotope of carbon with an atomic weight of 14 (ordinary carbon is the isotope with an atomic weight of 12, and it is written ¹²C). [Illustration: Figure 8 Isotopes of hydrogen.] Hydrogen (¹H) Deuterium (²H) Tritium (³H) Practically all elements have more than one isotope. There are two general classes of isotopes, stable and radioactive. Stable isotopes have no distinguishing characteristic other than their mass; radioactive isotopes not only differ from their brothers in mass but also are characterized by unstable nuclei. When the nucleus of an atom is unstable, because of an unbalanced number of protons and neutrons, a…

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Excerpt #5, from The British Navy Book, by Cyril Field

…This invention may be said to have sealed the fate of the heavy breech-loading gun for some centuries, though the system remained in vogue for small pieces for another 200 years. A cast-iron or brass muzzle-loading gun could be made so much more easily, rapidly, and cheaply than a built-up wrought-iron breech-loader of the same calibre that with the growing demand for guns afloat there is little wonder that the former drove the more expensive weapon clean out of the field. It must be remembered, too, that the casting of bronze guns had already reached great perfection on the Continent. What is known as “Queen Elizabeth’s pocket pistol” at Dover is a standing witness to this. It is supposed to have been cast at Utrecht, and to have been presented to Henry VIII by the Emperor Charles V in 1544. It is 24 feet long, and is a very fine piece of workmanship. Its bore is 58 calibres long–that is to say, it is fifty-eight times as long as its diameter, a proportion not very unlike that upon which some of our most modern weapons are designed. [Illustration: Early Breech-loading Cannon The first was an Armada weapon. This type of gun remained in use afloat well into the eighteenth century] But to return to our early naval cannon. As I have already pointed out, the casting of bronze guns in Germany and Flanders had reached a great…

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Excerpt #6, from The Bacchae of Euripides, by Euripides

…The God of the joy-cry; O Bacchanals, come! With pealing of pipes and with Phrygian clamour, On, where the vision of holiness thrills, And the music climbs and the maddening glamour, With the wild White Maids, to the hills, to the hills! Oh, then, like a colt as he runs by a river, A colt by his dam, when the heart of him sings, With the keen limbs drawn and the fleet foot a-quiver, Away the Bacchanal springs! Enter TEIRESIAS. He is an old man and blind, leaning upon a staff and moving with slow stateliness, though wearing the Ivy and the Bacchic fawn-skin. TEIRESIAS. Ho, there, who keeps the gate?–Go, summon me Cadmus, Agênor’s son, who crossed the sea From Sidon and upreared this Theban hold. Go, whosoe’er thou art. See he be told Teiresias seeketh him. Himself will gauge Mine errand, and the compact, age with age, I vowed with him, grey hair with snow-white hair, To deck the new God’s thyrsus, and to wear…

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Excerpt #7, from Principles of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell

…proposed for the origin of Monte Nuovo, Von Buch supposes that the present cone of Vesuvius was formed in the year 79, not by eruption, but by upheaval. It was not produced by the repeated superposition of scoriæ and lava cast out or flowing from a central source, but by the uplifting of strata previously horizontal. The entire cone rose at once, such as we now see it, from the interior and middle of Somma, and has since received no accession of height, but, on the contrary, has ever since been diminishing in elevation.[529] Although I consider this hypothesis of Von Buch to be quite untenable, I may mention some facts which may at first sight seem to favor it. These are recorded by M. Abich in his account of the Vesuvian eruptions of 1833 and 1834, a work illustrated by excellent engravings of the volcanic phenomena which he witnessed.[530] It appears that, in the year 1834, the great crater of Vesuvius had been filled up nearly to the top with lava, which had consolidated and formed a level and unbroken plain, except that a small cone thrown up by the ejection of scoriæ rose in the middle of it like an island in a lake. At length this plain of lava was broken by a fissure which passed from N. E. to S. W., and along this line a great number of minute cones emitting vapor were formed. The first act of formation of these minor cones is said to have consisted of a partial upheaval of beds of lava previously horizontal, and which had…

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Excerpt #8, from Winnie the Pooh, by A. A. Milne

…year." “Your birthday?” said Pooh in great surprise. “Of course it is. Can’t you see? Look at all the presents I have had.” He waved a foot from side to side. “Look at the birthday cake. Candles and pink sugar.” Pooh looked–first to the right and then to the left. “Presents?” said Pooh. “Birthday cake?” said Pooh. “Where?” “Can’t you see them?” “No,” said Pooh. “Neither can I,” said Eeyore. “Joke,” he explained. “Ha ha!” Pooh scratched his head, being a little puzzled by all this. “But is it really your birthday?” he asked. “It is.” “Oh! Well, Many happy returns of the day, Eeyore.” “And many happy returns to you, Pooh Bear.” “But it isn’t my birthday.” “No, it’s mine.” “But you said ‘Many happy returns’—-” “Well, why not? You don’t always want to be miserable on my birthday, do you?” “Oh, I see,” said Pooh….

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Excerpt #9, from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon

…70 (return) [ Inter Romanos negotia causarum Romanis legibus praecipimus terminari. Such are the words of a general constitution promulgated by Clotaire, the son of Clovis, the sole monarch of the Franks (in tom. iv. p. 116) about the year 560.] 71 (return) [ This liberty of choice has been aptly deduced (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. 2) from the constitution of Lothaire I. (Leg. Langobard. l. ii. tit. lvii. in Codex Lindenbrog. p. 664;) though the example is too recent and partial. From a various reading in the Salic law, (tit. xliv. not. xlv.) the Abbe de Mably (tom. i. p. 290-293) has conjectured, that, at first, a Barbarian only, and afterwards any man, (consequently a Roman,) might live according to the law of the Franks. I am sorry to offend this ingenious conjecture by observing, that the stricter sense (Barbarum) is expressed in the reformed copy of Charlemagne; which is confirmed by the Royal and Wolfenbuttle MSS. The looser interpretation (hominem) is authorized only by the MS. of Fulda, from from whence Heroldus published his edition. See the four original texts of the Salic law in tom. iv. p. 147, 173, 196, 220. * Note: Gibbon appears to have doubted the evidence on which this “liberty of choice” rested. His doubts have been confirmed by the researches of M. Savigny, who has not…

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Excerpt #10, from My Reminiscences, by Rabindranath Tagore

…modern, of which the art-form shows the well-nourished development due to a systematic cultivation of self-control, are not subjects of our study; and so, as it seems to me, we are yet unable to arrive at a correct perception of the true aim and method of literary work. Akshay Babu, who had made the passion in English literature living to us, was himself a votary of the emotional life. The importance of realising truth in the fulness of its perfection seemed less apparent to him than that of feeling it in the heart. He had no intellectual respect for religion, but songs of Shy[=a]m[=a], the dark Mother, would bring tears to his eyes. He felt no call to search for ultimate reality; whatever moved his heart served him for the time as the truth, even obvious coarseness not proving a deterrent. Atheism was the dominant note of the English prose writings then in vogue,–Bentham, Mill and Comte being favourite authors. Theirs was the reasoning in terms of which our youths argued. The age of Mill constitutes a natural epoch in English History. It represents a healthy reaction of the body politic; these destructive forces having been brought in, temporarily, to rid it of accumulated thought-rubbish. In our country we received these in the letter, but never sought to make practical use of them, employing them only as a stimulant to incite ourselves to moral revolt. Atheism was thus for us a mere intoxication….

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Excerpt #11, from The Invasion of 1910, with a full account of the siege of London, by Le Queux

…plainly that the attempt to hold the bridge was utterly hopeless. There were not sufficient riflemen. Then we both ran on–to save our lives. And you know the rest–ruin, disaster, and death reigned in London that night. Our men fought for their lives and homes, but the Germans, angered at our resistance, gave no quarter to those not in uniform. Ah! the slaughter was awful.” CHAPTER VIII GERMANS SACKING THE BANKS Day dawned dismally and wet on September the 21st. Over London the sky was still obscured by the smoke-pall, though as the night passed many of the raging fires had spent themselves. Trafalgar Square was filled with troops, who had piled arms and were standing at their ease. The men were laughing and smoking, enjoying a rest after the last forward movement and the street fighting of that night of horrors. The losses on both sides during the past three days had been enormous; of the number of London citizens killed and wounded it was impossible to calculate. There had, in the northern suburbs, been wholesale butchery everywhere, so gallantly had the barricades been defended. Great camps had now been formed in Hyde Park, in the Green Park between Constitution Hill and Piccadilly, and in St. James’s Park. The Magdeburg…

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Excerpt #12, from The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

…* * * * =PLENTY= A desirable condition that is likely to step out whenever Extravagance steps in. … * * * =PLUM= A fruit that ripens and falls from the Political Tree–but only after careful grafting. … * * * =PLUMB= To ascertain the capacity of. =PLUMBER= One who ascertains the capacity of your purse, soaks you with a piece of lead and gets away with the money–a process vulgarly known as “a lead-pipe cinch.” … * * * =POLE-CAT= A small animal to be killed with a pole, the longer the pole the better. … * * * =POLICEMAN= [Illustration] A never present help in time of trouble. … * * * =POLYGAMY= A thoughtless way of increasing the family expenses. … * * * *

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