Category: Children & Young Adult Reading
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes │ │ │ │ │ │ Punctuation has been standardized. │ │ │ │ Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. │ │ │ │ Non-printable characteristics have been given the following │ │...
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes │ │ │ │ │ │ Punctuation has been standardized. │ │ │ │ Characters in small caps have...
2. Part 2Until the last quarter of a century, zinc was but little used, but of late it has taken the place for many useful purposes where lead was formerly used, principally owing to its...
3. Part 3Silk is by far the strongest of the textile fabrics, being nearly three times as strong as flax; it consists of the filaments spun by the silk-worm, _Phalœna Bombyx Anori_. Thes...
4. Part 4Vinegar is produced by fermenting and exposing to the air any liquor which contains sugar, such as wine, infusion of malt, cyder, &c.; by the addition of yeast, this sets up a f...
5. Part 5Gunpowder is a mixture of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal, and the more completely they are mixed, the more finely ground, and the purer they are, the more perfect will be the gunp...
6. Part 6This important article of civilisation is made from rags of various descriptions and qualities, according to the kind of paper to be made, the finest white paper being made of o...
7. Part 7In fig. 1 there is an illustration of the machinery used. It consists of a small vessel holding sulphuric acid, attached to another vessel containing chalk and water kept consta...
8. Part 8These convenient matches, which have completely superseded the old apparatus of flint, steel, and tinder-box, may be looked upon as one of the improvements derived from chemistr...
9. Part 9Steel pens, which have almost superseded quill pens, are made in great quantities, and, like needles and pins, can only be produced at a sufficiently low price to meet the requi...
10. Part 10Many photographic pictures, whether Talbotype or Daguerreotype, are taken double for the “stereoscope” (fig. 5). This is an instrument having two lenses (one for each eye), thro...
11. Part 11Before being printed, it is necessary that all the loose fibres should be removed from the surface of the goods. This is effected by “singeing,” which is done by causing the goo...
12. Part 12By way of experiment, procure two vessels, A and B, fig. 1, in one of them, A, put some dilute sulphuric acid and two plates, one of zinc, Z, the other of copper, _c_, these mus...
13. Part 13The steam-engine consists essentially of a boiler or steam-generator, with a furnace adapted to it, connected by a steam-pipe to a cylinder having a piston working accurately in...
14. Part 14“Ordnance,” or great guns are made of cast-iron or of gun-metal (a mixture of copper and tin), but experiments have lately been made with wrought-iron and cast-steel, with the v...
15. Part 15Syphons are bent tubes for drawing off liquids from cisterns, butts, &c., where there is no tap, and where it would be inconvenient to make any second opening. Fig. 1 gives the...
16. Part 16Any weight attached to a rod or wire so that it can swing freely may be called a “pendulum.” But for the purpose of time-keeping, a much more accurate instrument is required; th...
17. Part 17The construction of the electric telegraph is pretty much the same everywhere, only that modifications of the same agent are used in different countries, and different signals f...
18. Part 18When a small portion of the tunnel is excavated, the casing of brickwork is begun from the mouth of it, and continued a small piece at a time, following closely the excavation....
19. Part 19Locks are barriers or doors constructed so that these artificial rivers may be carried over rising ground and through valleys, without the labour and expense of cutting through...