A History of the Earth and Animated Nature ...: With Numerous Notes from the Works of the Most Distinguished British and Foreign Naturalists, Volume 1Blackie and Son, 1857 - Physical geography |
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Africa animals antelope appear argalis aurora borealis beauty become bezoar bison body bones breed Buffon called caracal carnivorous chamois climate collared peccary colour considered continue covered creature Cuvier deer distance earth eyes feet female flesh fluid fossil globe goat hair head heat herd History of Greenland horns horse hundred inches inhabitants island kind known Lapland legs length leopard less lion live lynx manner miles motion mountains mouth native nature neck never observed ocean Persia prey produced proportion quadrupeds quantity race remarkable resembles rise river rocks round scarcely Scotland seems seen Senegal sheep short side skin sometimes species stag strata strength substances supposed surface tail tain teeth thick tiger tion trade wind vapours variety vegetable weight whole wild wind wool
Popular passages
Page 133 - And it is conceivable, that by long continued opposite currents of air, the charge accumulated in a cloud may be considerable. Now, when two clouds charged, the one with vitreous, and the other with resinous electricity, happen to approach within a certain distance, the thickness of the coating of electricity increases on the two sides of the clouds which are nearest each other. This accumulation of thickness soon becomes so great as to overcome the pressure of the atmosphere, and a discharge takes...
Page 254 - I understand thee perfectly, answered I If thou takest a wrong step in this affair, he will cudgel thee to death Well ! a minute is but a minute, and if it saves a fellow-creature a drubbing, it shall not be set down as ill spent.
Page 73 - All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
Page 96 - The body of the waters that form this whirlpool, are extended in a circle above thirteen miles in circumference.* In the midst of this stands a rock, against which the tide in its ebb is dashed with inconceivable fury. At this time it instantly swallows up all things that come within the sphere of its violence, trees, timber, and shipping.
Page 253 - tis an animal (be in what hurry I may) I cannot bear to strike— there is a patient endurance of sufferings, wrote so unaffectedly in his looks and carriage, which pleads so mightily for him, that it always disarms me; and to that degree, that I do not like to speak unkindly to him: on the contrary, meet him where I will — whether in town or country — in cart...
Page 171 - Edinburgh. He was very subject to have his jaw dislocated ; so that when he opened his mouth wider than ordinary, or when he yawned, he could not shut it again. In the midst of his harangues, therefore,, if any of his pupils began to be tired of his lecture, he had only to gape, or yawn, and the professor instantly caught the sympathetic affection ; so that he thus continued to stand speechless, with his mouth wide open, till his servant, from the next room, was called in to set his jaw again.
Page 59 - Nothing can be finer, or more exact, than Mr, Pope's description of a traveller straining up the Alps. Every mountain he comes to, he thinks will be the last ; he finds, however, an unexpected hill rise before him ; and that being scaled, he finds the highest summit almost at as great a distance as before. Upon quitting the plain, he might have left a green and fertile soil, and a climate warm and pleasing.
Page 191 - He usually took with him four or five of these little choristers on his preaching expeditions; when they approached an inhabited place, one carried the crucifix before them, and they began singing the litany. The savages, like snakes, were won by the voice of the charmer; they received him joyfully, and when he departed with the same ceremony, the children followed the music. He set the catechism, creed, and ordinary prayers to sol, fa; — and the pleasure of learning to sing was such a temptation,...
Page 254 - Jack ! said I, thou hast a bitter breakfast on't, and many a bitter day's labour, and many a bitter blow, I fear, for its. M 2 wages — 'tis all, all bitterness to thee, whatever life is to others. And now thy mouth, if one knew the truth of it, is as bitter, I dare say, as soot...
Page 237 - To have an idea of this noble animal in his native simplicity, we are not to look for him in the pastures or the stables to which he has been consigned by man; but in those wild and extensive plains where he has been originally produced ; where he ranges without control, and riots in all the variety of luxurious nature.