Quick Excerpts, from a Library of 492 Titles

Generated 2022-07-28 13:26:44

Excerpt #1, from Direct Conversion of Energy, by William R. Corliss

…starts out with heat must ultimately waste some of that energy (Figure 3). [Illustration: Figure 3 A typical heat engine showing heat input, useful power output, and the unavoidable waste heat that must be rejected to the environment. A pressure-volume diagram is shown underneath for a closed gas-turbine cycle. Circled numbers correspond. The energy produced is represented by the shaded area. Similar diagrams can be made for all heat engines as an aid in studying their performance.] A TYPICAL HEAT ENGINE HEAT IN… HEAT SOURCE REACTOR, BOILER ELECTRICITY OUT ENERGY CONVERTER PUMP FLUID PIPE RADIATOR WASTE HEAT OUT PRESSURE-VOLUME DIAGRAM HEAT IN…

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Excerpt #2, from Mr. Punch’s History of the Great War, by Charles L. Graves

…Lord Milner has gone so far in the House of Lords as to say that “such war news as is published has from first to last been seriously misleading.” The Balkan intelligence that is allowed to reach us does not exactly deserve this censure. To call it misleading would be too high praise; it seldom rises beyond a level of blameless irrelevance. It is hardly a burlesque of the facts to say that a cable from Amsterdam informs us that the Copenhagen correspondent of the Echo de Paris learns from Salonika, viâ Lemnos and Nijni Novgorod, that in high official circles in Bukarest it is rumoured that in Constantinople the situation is considered grave; and then we are warned that too much credence must not be given to this report. The number of Censors at the Press Bureau being exactly forty, and their minute knowledge of English literature having been displayed on several occasions, it is said that Sir John Simon contemplates their incorporation as an Academy of “Immortals–for the duration of the War.” [Illustration: PADDY (who has had his periscope smashed by a bullet): “Sure there’s seven years’ bad luck for the poor devil that broke that, anyhow.”] Mr. Punch’s Correspondent “Blanche” sends distressing details of some of the new complaints contracted by smart war workers. These include munition-wrists, shell-makers’ crouch, neuro-committee-itis, and Zeppelin-eye through looking up into the sky too long with a telescope. A great deal depends on what you look at and what you look through. Thus…

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Excerpt #3, from Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt

…the sand to be cleared, thus disclosing the entrances to several rock- cut tombs dating from the Sixth and Twelfth Dynasties, as well as two flights of steps on either side of an inclined plane leading from the Nile bank to the door of one of the tombs. The distance between the two walls is ten feet. The steps are eighteen inches deep, and 250 in number. The steps were for the haulers, the mummies and sarcophagi being dragged up the inclined plane. (See p. 209.)–A.B.E. [33] M. Léfébure has lately produced a superb and elaborate volume on this tomb, with the whole of the texts and the wall decorations faithfully reproduced: Mémoires publiés par les Membres de la Mission du Caire, Vol. II., fasc. I.–A.B.E. [34] We have in this country two very fine specimens of inscribed sarcophagi; namely, that of Seti I., of beautiful alabaster, in the Soane collection (xixth Dyn.), and that of Queen Ankhnesraneferab (xxvith Dyn.) in the British Museum.–A.B.E. CHAPTER IV. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. The statues and bas-reliefs which decorated the temples and tombs of Ancient Egypt were for the most part painted. Coloured stones, such as granite, basalt, diorite, serpentine, and alabaster, sometimes escaped this law of polychrome; but in the case of sandstone, limestone, or wood it was…

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Excerpt #4, from Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

…experiences. He digests his events badly; he never gets “done” with them; and German depth is often only a difficult, hesitating “digestion.” And just as all chronic invalids, all dyspeptics like what is convenient, so the German loves “frankness” and “honesty”; it is so CONVENIENT to be frank and honest!–This confidingness, this complaisance, this showing-the-cards of German HONESTY, is probably the most dangerous and most successful disguise which the German is up to nowadays: it is his proper Mephistophelean art; with this he can “still achieve much”! The German lets himself go, and thereby gazes with faithful, blue, empty German eyes–and other countries immediately confound him with his dressing-gown!–I meant to say that, let “German depth” be what it will–among ourselves alone we perhaps take the liberty to laugh at it–we shall do well to continue henceforth to honour its appearance and good name, and not barter away too cheaply our old reputation as a people of depth for Prussian “smartness,” and Berlin wit and sand. It is wise for a people to pose, and LET itself be regarded, as profound, clumsy, good-natured, honest, and foolish: it might even be–profound to do so! Finally, we should do honour to our name–we are not called the “TIUSCHE VOLK” (deceptive people) for nothing…. 245. The “good old” time is past, it sang itself out in Mozart–how…

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Excerpt #5, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

…There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three miles off. “It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you advise.” We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his cuttings. “Here is an advertisement which will interest you,” said he. “It appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: ‘Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o’clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was dressed in,’ etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I…

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Excerpt #6, from On the Trail of the Space Pirates, by Carey Rockwell

…“Yes, sir,” said Tom. “First we have to figure out what they will do, and then figure out how we’re going to beat them!” “That’s right, Tom,” nodded Strong. “And by the stars, if we don’t beat them, the only safe place left for the credits and securities of the people in the system will be behind rows of paralo-ray guns!” CHAPTER 7 “Attention! Attention! This is Captain Maitland of the rocket cruiser Orion reporting to Captain Strong at Space Academy. Come in, Strong!” High in the Tower of Galileo overlooking Space Academy, the Solar Guard officer, his face showing the strain of the last three-weeks’ futile search for Wallace and Simms, flipped on the teleceiver and replied, “Strong here. Go ahead, Maitland.” Tom, Astro, Roger, and Commander Walters stood behind Strong and waited tensely for the last report to come in. Maintland’s voice crackled through millions of miles of space. “We’ve searched space quadrants A through D, sections twenty-one through one hundred thirty-eight. Constant six-way radar sweep of the area. No sign of Wallace and Simms.” Strong sighed deeply and replied, “All right, Maitland. Thank you. You may return to base. End transmission.” “End transmission!” signaled Maitland, and the crackling static died out…

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Excerpt #7, from Ethics, by Benedictus de Spinoza

…conceive Peter not to have been the sole cause of either emotion. Proof.–This Prop. is evident from the mere definition of love and hatred (III. xiii. note). For pleasure is called love towards Peter, and pain is called hatred towards Peter, simply in so far as Peter is regarded as the cause of one emotion or the other. When this condition of causality is either wholly or partly removed, the emotion towards Peter also wholly or in part vanishes. Q.E.D. PROP. XLIX. Love or hatred towards a thing, which we conceive to be free, must, other conditions being similar, be greater than if it were felt towards a thing acting by necessity. Proof.–A thing which we conceive as free must (I. Def. vii.) be perceived through itself without anything else. If, therefore, we conceive it as the cause of pleasure or pain, we shall therefore (III. xiii. note) love it or hate it, and shall do so with the utmost love or hatred that can arise from the given emotion. But if the thing which causes the emotion be conceived as acting by necessity, we shall then (by the same Def. vii. Part I.) conceive it not as the sole cause, but as one of the causes of the emotion, and therefore our love or hatred towards it will be less. Q.E.D….

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Excerpt #8, from Under the White Ensign: A Naval Story of the Great War, by Percy F. Westerman

…“Otherwise I’ll have you put in irons.” For a brief instant the Hun hesitated. “Der six man, Hans, below is,” he explained. “He vos stop and light a bomb. Ach! You vos do nodings. You promise make to all our lives spare.” The Sub realized that he had been done. It was up to him to do his best, even at the risk of his life, to prevent the destruction of the ship. It was obviously unfair to risk the lives of his men in a task that, but for his precipitate pledge, need never have been undertaken. “Keep those fellows on deck under close arrest. The boarding party will remain here,” he exclaimed, addressing the coxswain petty officer of the cutter. “I’m going below.” Without hesitation Webb descended the ladder into the gloomy depths of the fore hold. Groping until his feet touched the iron floor, he waited while his eyes grew accustomed to the dim light. The place was crowded with cargo, for the most part tiers of barrels. Fore and aft ran a narrow space, terminating at the transverse steel bulkheads. A faint hissing sound was borne to his ears. For’ard a splutter of dim reddish sparks told him that already the time-fuse had been lighted; but the Hun responsible for the firing of the bomb had not…

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Excerpt #9, from Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

…“Wisdom from the hermitage, I suppose! But I see you have left Benares.” Ananta’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction; he yet hoped to secure my pinions in the family nest. “My sojourn in Benares was not in vain! I found there everything my heart had been longing for! You may be sure it was not your pundit or his son!” Ananta joined me in reminiscent laughter; he had had to admit that the Benares “clairvoyant” he selected was a shortsighted one. “What are your plans, my wandering brother?” “Jitendra persuaded me to Agra. We shall view the beauties of the Taj Mahal {FN11-2} here,” I explained. “Then we are going to my newly-found guru, who has a hermitage in Serampore.” Ananta hospitably arranged for our comfort. Several times during the evening I noticed his eyes fixed on me reflectively. “I know that look!” I thought. “A plot is brewing!” The denouement took place during our early breakfast. “So you feel quite independent of Father’s wealth.” Ananta’s gaze was innocent as he resumed the barbs of yesterday’s conversation. “I am conscious of my dependence on God.” "Words are cheap! Life has shielded you thus far! What a plight if you were forced to look to the Invisible Hand for your food and…

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Excerpt #10, from The Radio Amateur’s Hand Book, by A. Frederick Collins

…and the energy of motion would practically offset each other and so the energy would not be used up. But as the spring beats the air the latter is sent out in impulses and the conversion of the vibrations of the spring into waves in the air soon uses up the energy you have imparted to it and it comes to rest. In order to send out continuous waves in the air instead of damped waves as with a flat steel spring you can use an electric driven tuning fork, see C, in which an electromagnet is fixed on the inside of the prongs and when this is energized by a battery current the vibrations of the prongs of the fork are kept going, or are sustained, as shown in the diagram at D. Damped and Sustained Electric Oscillations.–The vibrating steel spring described above is a very good analogue of the way that damped electric oscillations which surge in a circuit set up and send out periodic electric waves in the ether while the electric driven tuning fork just described is likewise a good analogue of how sustained oscillations surge in a circuit and set up and send out continuous electric waves in the ether as the following shows. Now the inductance and resistance of a circuit such as is shown at A in Fig. 35, slows down, and finally damps out entirely, the electric oscillations of the high frequency currents, see B, where these are…

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Excerpt #11, from Middlemarch, by George Eliot

…Mechanics’ Institute. Good-by;” and he went quickly out of the room. Rosamond did not look at her husband, but presently rose and took her place before the tea-tray. She was thinking that she had never seen him so disagreeable. Lydgate turned his dark eyes on her and watched her as she delicately handled the tea-service with her taper fingers, and looked at the objects immediately before her with no curve in her face disturbed, and yet with an ineffable protest in her air against all people with unpleasant manners. For the moment he lost the sense of his wound in a sudden speculation about this new form of feminine impassibility revealing itself in the sylph-like frame which he had once interpreted as the sign of a ready intelligent sensitiveness. His mind glancing back to Laure while he looked at Rosamond, he said inwardly, “Would she kill me because I wearied her?” and then, “It is the way with all women.” But this power of generalizing which gives men so much the superiority in mistake over the dumb animals, was immediately thwarted by Lydgate’s memory of wondering impressions from the behavior of another woman—from Dorothea’s looks and tones of emotion about her husband when Lydgate began to attend him—from her passionate cry to be taught what would best comfort that man for whose sake it seemed as if she must quell every impulse in her except the yearnings of faithfulness and compassion. These revived impressions…

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Excerpt #12, from Psychology and Social Practice, by John Dewey

…When men derive their moral ideals and laws from custom, they also realize them through custom; but when they are in any way divorced from habit and tradition, when they are consciously proclaimed, there must be some substitute for custom as an organ of execution. We must know the method of their operation and know it in detail. Otherwise the more earnestly we insist upon our categorical imperatives, and upon their supreme right of control, the more flagrantly helpless we are as to their actual domination. The fact that conscious, as distinct from customary, morality and psychology have had a historic parallel march is just the concrete recognition of the necessary equivalence between ends consciously conceived, and interest in the means upon which the ends depend. We have the same reality stated twice over: once as value to be realized, and once as mechanism of realization. So long as custom reigns, as tradition prevails, so long as social values are determined by instinct and habit, there is no conscious question as to the method of their achievement, and hence no need of psychology. Social institutions work of their own inertia, they take the individual up into themselves and carry him along in their own sweep. The individual is dominated by the mass life of his group. Institutions and the customs attaching to them take care of society both as to its ideals and its methods. But when once the values come to consciousness, when once a…

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