Curiosities for the Ingenious: Selected from the Most Authentic Treasures of Nature, Science and Art, Biography, History, and General Literature

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Ash and Mason, 1825 - Curiosities and wonders - 192 pages

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Page 138 - Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, but now I know it, with what more you may think proper.
Page 116 - I then went to the windward side, where they began to form ; and there the oil, though not more than a teaspoonful, produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it reached the lee side, making all that quarter of the pond, perhaps half an acre, as smooth as a looking-glass.
Page 117 - Now I imagine that the wind, blowing over water thus covered with a film of oil, cannot easily catch upon it, so as to raise the first wrinkles, but slides over it, and leaves it smooth as it finds it.
Page 17 - Lancashire, where it was manufactured into yarn; from Manchester it was sent to Paisley, where it was woven; it was sent to Ayrshire next, where it was tamboured...
Page 90 - If it begin to rain from the South, with a high wind for two or three hours, and the wind falls, but the rain continues, it is likely to rain twelve hours or more, and does usually rain till a strong North wind clears the air. These long rains...
Page 46 - ... steadfastly upon them, and in all probability he will see the singular spectacle of his own shadow extending to the length of five or six hundred feet at the distance of about two miles before him. This is one of the most agreeable phenomena I ever had an opportunity of remarking on the great observatory of Germany.
Page 64 - ... the publican, to show that he had a license, put out that mark as part of his sign. But, unfortunately for both solutions, unfortunately for the honors of Arundel, Sir W. Hamilton presented, some time ago, to the Society of Antiquaries, a view of a street in Pompeii, in which we find that shops with the sign of the chequers were common among the Romans! The real origin of this emblem is still involved in obscurity. The wittiest, though certainly not the most genuine, explanation of it was that...
Page 62 - I'm amazed at the signs, As I pass through the town : To see the odd mixture, A Magpye and Crown, The Whale and the Crow...
Page 110 - Phipps set sail in a ship of two hundred tons, having previously engaged to divide the profits according to the twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. At first all his labours proved fruitless ; but at last, when he seemed almost to despair...
Page 22 - At the commencement of a game, the automaton moves its head, as if taking a view of the board ; the same motion occurs at the close of a game. In making a move, it slowly raises its left arm from the cushion placed under it, and directs it towards the square of the piece to be moved. Its hand and fingers open on touching the piece, which it takes up, and conveys to any proposed square. The arm then returns with a natural motion to the cushion, upon which it usually rests. In taking...

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