- The World as known shortly before the sailing of Columbus
The World as known shortly before the sailing of Columbus - The woodsman and the soldier
The woodsman and the soldier - The Wedding Ring
Young lady trying wedding ring on her right hand - The walking-fish or mud-skipper (Periophthalmus)
It skips about by means of its strong pectoral fins on the mud-flats; it jumps from stone to stone hunting small shore-animals; it climbs up the roots of the mangrove-trees. The close-set eyes protrude greatly and are very mobile. The tail seems to help in respiration. - The Turkish way of making love
The Turkish way of making love - The Steel Boat 'Advance'
Messrs. Forest and Son received a design and order for the construction of a steel boat 28 ft. long, 6 ft. beam, and 2 ft. 6 in. deep. It was to be built of Siemens steel galvanized, and divided into twelve sections, each weighing about 75 lbs. The fore and aft sections were to be decked and watertight, to give buoyancy in case of accident. - The Spectroscope, an Instrument for Analysing Light
This pictorial diagram illustrates the principal of Spectrum Analysis, showing how sunlight is decomposed into its primary colours. What we call white light is composed of seven different colours. The diagram is relieved of all detail which would unduly obscure the simple process by which a ray of light is broken up by a prism into different wave-lengths. The spectrum rays have been greatly magnified. - The Skull and Brain-Case of Pithecanthropus
The java ape-man, as restored. By J. H. Mcgregor from the scanty remains The restoration shows the low, retreating forehead and the prominent eyebrow ridges. - The seaplane shoots off the catapult
The seaplane shoots off the catapult - The recital
The recital - The rebab
Unfortunately we possess no exact descriptions of the Persian and Arabian instruments between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, otherwise we should probably have earlier accounts of some instrument of the violin kind in Persia. Ash-shakandi, who lived in Spain about A.D. 1200, mentions the rebab, which may have been in use for centuries without having been thought worthy of notice on account of its rudeness. Persian writers of the fourteenth century speak of two instruments of the violin class, viz., the rebab and the kemangeh. As regards the kemangeh, the Arabs themselves assert that they obtained it from Persia, and their statement appears all the more worthy of belief from the fact that both names, rebab and kemangeh, are originally Persian. We engrave the rebab from an example at South Kensington. - The Queen's first baby
Drawn and Etched by Her Majesty the Queen. [Queen Victoria] - The Prisoner
Prisoner standing in the dock - The Planets, Showing their Relative Distances and Dimensions
(Drawn approximately to scale) The isolation of the Solar System is very great. On the above scale the nearest star (at a distance of 25 trillions of miles) would be over one half mile away. The hours, days, and years are the measures of time as we use them; that is: Jupiter's "Day" (one rotation of the planet) is made in ten of our hours; Mercury's "Year" (one revolution of the planet around the Sun) is eighty-eight of our days. Mercury's "Day" and "Year" are the same. This planet turns always the same side to the Sun. - The pawnbroker
- The Old Shol
Shol One of the most influential personages of the neighbouring race of the Lao was a woman, already advanced in years, of the name of Shol. She played an important part as a sort of chief of the Meshera, her riches, according to the old patriarchal fashion, consisting of cattle. As wealthy as cattle copuld make her, she would long since have been a prey to the Nubians, who carry on their ravages principally in those regions, if it had not chanced that the intruders needed her for a friend. They required a convenient and secure landing-place, and the paramount necessity of having this induced them to consider plunder a secondary matter. Shol, on her part, uses all her influence to retain her tribe on friendly terms with the strangers. The smallest conflict might involve the entire loss of her property. - The old English 'crowd'
A player on the crwth or crowd (a crowder) from a bas-relief on the under part of the seats of the choir in Worcester cathedral dates from the twelfth or thirteenth century - The Natural Waist and the Effects of Lacing
The Natural Waist The ribs of large curve; the lungs large and roomy; the liver stomach and bowels in their normal position; all with abundant room. Effects of Lacing The ribs bent almost to angles; the lungs contracted; the liver, stomach and intestines forced down into the pelvis, crowding the womb seriously. - The minstrels’ gallery, at Exeter cathedral
The minstrels’ gallery of Exeter cathedral dates from the fourteenth century. The front is divided into twelve niches, each of which contains a winged figure or an angel playing on an instrument of music. The instruments are so much dilapidated that some of them cannot be clearly recognized; but, as far as may be ascertained, they appear to be as follows:—1. The cittern. 2. The bagpipe. 3. The clarion, a small trumpet having a shrill sound. 4. The rebec. 5. The psaltery. 6. The syrinx. 7. The sackbut. 8. The regals. 9. The gittern, a small guitar strung with catgut. 10. The shalm. 11. The timbrel; resembling our present tambourine, with a double row of gingles. 12. Cymbals. The shalm, or shawm, was a pipe with a reed in the mouth-hole. The wait was an English wind instrument of the same construction. If it differed in any respect from the shalm, the difference consisted probably in the size only. The wait obtained its name from being used principally by watchmen, or waights, to proclaim the time of night. Such were the poor ancestors of our fine oboe and clarinet. - The Merchant with the golden bowl
The Merchant with the golden bowl - The Merchant throws the bowl on the ground
The Merchant throws the bowl on the ground - The Locust
Sometimes millions of locusts come upon the wind, and devour every green thing, so that nothing is left for man or beast. - The Lion
The Lion - The Last Hours of Lincoln
The Last Hours of Lincoln 1 Pres. LINCOLN. 2 Mrs. LINCOLN. 3 Vice Pres. JOHNSON. 4 Maj. RATHBONE. 5 Mr. ARNOLD. M.C. 6 P.M. Gen. DENNISON. 7 Sec. WELLES. 8 Atty Gen. SPEED. 9 Dr. HALL. 10 Dr. LEIBERMANN. 11 Secy. USHER. 12 Secy. McCOLLOCH. 13 Gov. OGLESBY. 14 Speaker COLFAX. 15 Dr. STONE. 16 Surg. Gen. BARNES. 17 Mrs. Sen. DIXON. 18 Dr. TODD. 19 Asst. Surg. LEALE. 20 Asst. Surg. TAFT. 21 Asst. Secy OTTO. 22 Gen. FARNSWORTH. M. C. 23 Sen. SUMNER. 24 Surg. CRANE. 25 Gen. TODD. 26 ROBT. LINCOLN. 27 Rev. Dr. GURLEY. 28 Asst. Secy FIELD. 29 Adjt Gen. HAYNIE. 30 Maj. FRENCH. 31 Gen. AUGER. 32 Col. VINCENT. 33 Gen. HALLECK. 34 Secy. STANTON. 35 Col. RUTHERFORD. 36 Asst. Secy. ECKERT. 37 Col. PELOUSE. 38 Maj. HAY. 39 Gen. MEIGS. 40 Maj. ROCKWELL. 41 Ex Gov. FARWELL. 42 Judge CARTTER. 43 Mr. ROLLINS, M. C. 44 Gen. MARSTON. M. C. 45 Mrs. KINNEY. 46 Miss KINNEY. 47 Miss HARRIS. - The King and the turtle
The King and the turtle - The Horseshoe Fall from Goat Island
A more correct estimate of the cataract than either of the preceding is that of M. Charlevoix, sent to Madame Maintenon, in 1721. After referring to the inaccurate accounts of Hennepin and La Hontan, he says: "For my own part, after having examined it on all sides, where it could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined to think we cannot allow it [the height] less than one hundred and forty or fifty feet." As to its figure, "it is in the shape of a horseshoe, and it is about four hundred paces in circumference. It is divided in two exactly in the center by a very narrow island, half a quarter of a league long." In relation to the noise of the falling water, he says: "You can scarce hear it at M. de Joncaire's [Fort Schlosser], and what you hear in this place [Lewiston] may possibly be the whirlpools, caused by the rocks which fill up the bed of the river as far as this." - The Geese and the turtle
The Geese and the turtle - The French Crout
Copy of an illumination from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque royale at Paris of the eleventh century. The player wears a crown on his head; and in the original some musicians placed at his side are performing on the psalterium and other instruments. These last are figured with uncovered heads; whence M. de Coussemaker concludes that the crout was considered 95by the artist who drew the figures as the noblest instrument. It was probably identical with the rotta of the same century on the continent. - The Flipper of a Whale compared to the hand of man
In the bones and in their arrangement there is a close resemblance in the two cases, yet the outcome is very different. The multiplication of finger joints in the whale is a striking feature. - The fifteen joys of marriage
Illustration from 'LES QUINZE JOIES DE MARIAGE,' PARIS, TREPEREL, C. 1500. - The Elephant, and its young
The Elephant, and its young - The Dude of the 17th Century
Avoid what is called the "ruffianly style of dress" or the slouchy appearance of a half-unbottoned vest, and suspenderless pantaloons. That sort of affectation is, if possible, even more disgusting than the painfully elaborate frippery of the dandy or dude. - The Doctors Visit
Man and woman sitting down talking - The depth bomb destroys a U-Boat
The depth bomb destroys a U-Boat - The Crwth
Howbeit, the Welsh crwth (Anglo-saxon, crudh; English, crowd) is only known as a species of fiddle closely resembling the rotta, but having a finger-board in the middle of the open frame and being strung with only a few strings; while the rotta had sometimes above twenty strings. As it may interest the reader to examine the form of the modern crwth we give a woodcut of it. Edward Jones, in his “Musical and poetical relicks of the Welsh bards,” records that the Welsh had before this kind of crwth a three-stringed one called “Crwth Trithant,” which was, he says, “a sort of violin, or more properly a rebeck.” The three-stringed crwth was chiefly used by the inferior class of bards; and was probably the Moorish fiddle which is still the favourite instrument of the itinerant bards of the Bretons in France, who call it rébek. The Bretons, it will be remembered, are close kinsmen of the Welsh. - The Corset in the 18th Century
During the 18th century corsets were largely made from a species of leather known as "Bend," which was not unlike that used for shoe soles, and measured nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness. - The comparative sizes of the sun and the planets
(Drawn approximately to scale) On this scale the Sun would be 17½ inches in diameter; it is far greater than all the planets put together. Jupiter, in turn, is greater than all the other planets put together. - The Chief of the Clan
A domestic cat sitting before a picture of a male lion - The Cause of Tides
The tides of the sea are due to the pull of the moon, and, in lesser degree, of the sun. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but the loose and mobile water is more free to obey this pull than is the solid earth, although small tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. The effect which the tides have on slowing down the rotation of the earth is explained in the text. - The Care of New-born infants
The Care of New-born infants - The Butler
- The Bowery night-scene
The Bowery night-scene - The ascension of Montgolfier’s balloon
It was on June 5, 1783 that Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, two French brothers, sent up the first balloon. You can just imagine the amazement it caused when it arose from the ground. - The Archæopteryx
(After William Leche of Stockholm.) A good restoration of the oldest known bird, Archæopteryx (Jurassic Era). It was about the size of a crow; it had teeth on both jaws; it had claws on the thumb and two fingers; and it had a long lizard-like tail. But it had feathers, proving itself a true bird. - The animals running
The animals runing - Tabernacle and Temple, Salt Lake City
- Syrinx
Of the syrinx there are extant some illustrations of the ninth and tenth centuries, which exhibit the instrument with a number of tubes tied together, just like the Pandean pipe still in use. In one specimen engraved from a manuscript of the eleventh century the tubes were inserted into a bowl-shaped box. This is probably the frestele, fretel, or fretiau, which in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was in favour with the French ménétriers. - Surinam Toad (Pipa Americana) with Young Ones Hatching out of Little Pockets on her Back
In the case of the thoroughly aquatic Surinam Toad (Pipa), the male helps to press the eggs, perhaps a hundred in number, on to the back of the female, where each sinks into a pocket of skin with a little lid. By and by fully formed young toads jump out of the pockets. - Surgical instruments of the Arabs
Surgical instruments of the Arabs, according to Abulcasim After plates in Gurlt’s “Geschichte der Chirurgie” 1. A pincher for extracting foreign bodies from the ear 2. An ear syringe for injections 3. A tongue depressor 4. Concave scissors for the removal of tonsils 5. Curved pinchers for foreign bodies in the throat 6 to 29. Instruments for the treatment of the teeth 19 and 20. Forceps 21 to 25. Levers and hooks for the removal of roots 26. Strong pinchers for the same 27. A tooth saw 28 and 29. Files for the teeth - Summer Tanager
Summer Tanager The rosy red plumage of the male Summer Tanager is helpful in identification for he is smaller than the Cardinal and lacks the tuft and black face patch of the latter. Females, which resemble orioles, do not have the sharply pointed bill of the oriole and are richer colored than the female Scarlet Tanager, being almost an orange-yellow below. She is olive-yellow above with no wing bars. The wings are greener than those of her near relative. Young males often show a mottled pattern of reds and yellows before attaining the rosy red hue of the adult. They prefer a rather open forest such as is found on hillsides. A dead treetop makes an ideal perch while singing or catching insects on the wing. The song is a rather melodious series of notes which reminds one of a Robin. Alarm notes are a distinctive series of chippy-tuk-tuk notes. These birds feed rather deliberately thru the trees and destroy many insects and leaf-eating larvae which they encounter. Their nest is usually far out on the limb and at least 10 feet above the ground. They spend winters in South and Central America. The breeding range does not extend as far north as that of the Scarlet Tanager. - Study of a cat from nature
Study of a cat from nature - Stone lion at the entrance to a temple
- Steel Corset worn in Catherine's time.
The most extensive and extreme use of the corset occurred in the 16th century, during the reign of Catherine de Medici of France and Queen Elizabeth of England. With Catherine de Medici a thirteen-inch waist measurement was considered the standard of fashion, while a thick waist was an abomination. No lady could consider her figure of proper shape unless she could span her waist with her two hands. To produce this result a strong rigid corset was worn night and day until the waist was laced down to the required size. Then over this corset was placed the steel apparatus shown in the illustration on next page. This corset-cover reached from the hip to the throat, and produced a rigid figure over which the dress would fit with perfect smoothness. - State, War and Navy Departments, Washington, D. C.
- State Street and Capitol, Albany, N. Y.
- Starling
Starling Previous to 1890, this bird was unknown in America. Then a few pairs were released in New York City and now look at them! Starlings are everywhere. When walking around your yard or field he appears to be black with a short tail, pointed wings and a sharp pointed beak which is yellow in summer and brownish-black in winter. On closer inspection you will find that he is a little smaller than a Robin, greenish with speckled plumage in fall and winter, which develops into greenish-purple in spring. In flight he flaps and sails much like a Meadowlark but his short tail and wing pattern are distinctive. The young are brownish with lighter throats. Many of the Starling’s feeding habits are beneficial for he eats many worms and insects which he finds by turning over leaves or probing with his sharp bill. The fact that he likes fruit on occasion is not in his favor for he likes to travel in flocks and it takes a lot of fruit to feed a flock of Starlings. - Spotted Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper Any pond, lake or stream will be visited sooner or later by these little sandpipers. You find them teetering along shores, picking up insects and small crustacea which form the diet. Mud banks, sandy shores, pebbly mountain streams, half-sunken logs, all furnish happy hunting grounds. The teetering tail is distinctive and no other sandpiper has the round black spots on his breast and none has the fluttering flight. They seem to tip-toe thru the air with very short wingbeats. Young and adults in winter plumage do not show the spots but continue to teeter. They often show a white spot just above the bend of the wing when in this plumage. Their usual note is a 2-tone “peet-weet,” which it utters when flushed from its feeding ground. - Spiny Hermione ( Hermione hystrix )
One of the most common species in the Mediterranean. These Worms have a very graceful, glistening appearance, after being rinsed from the dirt, which usually covers their bodies in large quantities, by repeated rinsing. However, the beautiful Hermione's thorns are more fearful than those of the Porcupine ( Hystrix), there barbs hold them back in the skin with which they come into contact. Predatory fish do not care much about these weapons. - Sparrow Hawk
Sparrow Hawk This little falcon, about the size of a Robin, is also known as Kestrel. Calling him a Sparrow-hawk is misleading, for insects and spiders, along with a generous portion of mice, go to make up his daily fare. Grasshoppers seem to be a special delicacy. Like other birds, he feeds on whatever is available. In cities, this includes English Sparrows. The smallest of the hawk family can be found along highways where he uses telephone poles, wires or dead trees, while scanning the fields and fence rows for prey. Dressed in colorful plumage with spotted breast, slate-blue wings, red-brown back and tail, with head showing 2 black lines and a dot, he easily is seen and readily identified. The female is slightly larger, shows more banding on the tail and lacks the blue wings, hers being browner. - South American Juruparis
The engraving represents a kind of trumpet made of wood, and nearly seven feet in length, which Gumilla found among the Indians in the vicinity of the Orinoco. It somewhat resembles the juruparis, a mysterious instrument of the Indians on the Rio Haupés, a tributary of the Rio Negro, south America. The juruparis is regarded as an object of great veneration. Women are never permitted to see it. So stringent is this law that any woman obtaining a sight of it is put to death—usually by poison. No youths are allowed to see it until they have been subjected to a series of initiatory fastings and scourgings. The juruparis is usually kept hidden in the bed of some stream, deep in the forest; and no one dares to drink out of that sanctified stream, or to bathe in its water. At feasts the juruparis is brought out during the night, and is blown outside the houses of entertainment. The inner portion of the instrument consists of a tube made of slips of the Paxiaba palm (Triartea exorrhiza). When the Indians are about to use the instrument they nearly close the upper end of the tube with clay, and also tie above the oblong square hole (shown in the engraving) a portion of the leaf of the Uaruma, one of the arrow-root family. Round the tube are wrapped long strips of the tough bark of the Jébaru (Parivoa grandiflora). This covering descends in folds below the tube. The length of the instrument is from four to five feet. The illustration, which exhibits the juruparis with its cover and without it, has been taken from a specimen in the museum at Kew gardens. The mysteries connected with this trumpet are evidently founded 69on an old tradition from prehistoric Indian ancestors. Jurupari means “demon”; and with several Indian tribes on the Amazon customs and ceremonies still prevail in honour of Jurupari.