The Pursuit of Knowledge Under Difficulties: Illustrated by Anecdotes, Volume 2C. Knight, 1831 - 3 pages |
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Page 4
... took advantage of their stew- ardship to embezzle or squander them . Doubtless no one of the celebrated persons we have enumerated would have thrown away his patrimony , if he could have retained it with as little inconvenience as such ...
... took advantage of their stew- ardship to embezzle or squander them . Doubtless no one of the celebrated persons we have enumerated would have thrown away his patrimony , if he could have retained it with as little inconvenience as such ...
Page 7
... took place at last , his singular fortunes had been so much forgotten by all the world that nobody has recorded the date of the event . We read nothing of any remarkable acquirements in literature made by this individual ; but if modera ...
... took place at last , his singular fortunes had been so much forgotten by all the world that nobody has recorded the date of the event . We read nothing of any remarkable acquirements in literature made by this individual ; but if modera ...
Page 14
... took to philosophy , or pedantry , as a refuge from insignificance ; some had caught the love and the habit of study before they had mounted a throne , or had dreamed of mounting one ; above all , most , if not all of them , had been ...
... took to philosophy , or pedantry , as a refuge from insignificance ; some had caught the love and the habit of study before they had mounted a throne , or had dreamed of mounting one ; above all , most , if not all of them , had been ...
Page 24
... took place in the flax - yard at Ishmaeloff , an old seat of the royal family near Moscow . The writer gives us also an account of a great naval show , at which he was himself present , in honour of this celebrat- But the most ...
... took place in the flax - yard at Ishmaeloff , an old seat of the royal family near Moscow . The writer gives us also an account of a great naval show , at which he was himself present , in honour of this celebrat- But the most ...
Page 25
... took place by the emperor's command at St Petersburg , on the 12th of August , 1723. On this occasion the sloop , or ship's boat , as it is here called , having been repaired and beautified , was received by about 200 yachts , and ...
... took place by the emperor's command at St Petersburg , on the 12th of August , 1723. On this occasion the sloop , or ship's boat , as it is here called , having been repaired and beautified , was received by about 200 yachts , and ...
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acquaintance acquired admiration afterwards alchemy Almagest appeared applied Aristotle Arkwright artist astronomy attempt attention Bacon Belzoni burning-glasses called celebrated century character considerable contrivance cotton cultivation cylinder discovery distinguished Dollond early employed Encyclopædia Britannica engaged engine England exertion experiments extraordinary father favourite formed genius History of Lancashire honour hundred immediately improvement ingenuity instruments invention JAMES WATT JOHN DOLLOND labours learned Ledyard letter literary London machine machinery manner manufacture means mechanical ment mentioned merely mind Napier native nature never object observation obtained occasion occupied original painter painting patent person Petersburgh philosopher piston possession principal probably proceeded produced profession pursuit of knowledge racter received refracting refracting telescope regard remarked residence Royal Royal Society Russia says Scotland Sir Richard Arkwright soon steam telescope thing THOMAS PHELPS tion took vacuum vessel Watt weft writer Yakutsk
Popular passages
Page 80 - New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, touching the spring of the air and .its effects.
Page 322 - ... or perplexed with the verbiage of the dull books he perused, or the idle talk to which he listened ; but to have at once extracted, by a kind of intellectual alchemy, all that was worthy of attention, and to have reduced it for his own use, to its true value and to its simplest form. And thus it often happened that a great deal more was learned from his brief and vigorous account of the theories and arguments of tedious writers, than an ordinary student could ever have derived from the most...
Page 157 - I mention it only, as it shows the solicitude and extreme activity which he had about every thing that related to his art; that he wished to have his objects embodied as it were, and distinctly before him; that he neglected nothing which could keep his faculties in exercise, and derived hints from every sort of combination.
Page 321 - ... have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known, that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted too with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together, the metaphysical...
Page 383 - I have known both hunger and nakedness to the utmost extremity of human suffering. I have known what it is to have food given me as charity to a madman ; and I have at times been obliged to shelter myself under the miseries of that character, to avoid a heavier calamity. My distresses have been greater than I have owned, or ever will own, to any man.
Page 53 - Briggs, purposely to be there when these two' so learned persons should meet. Mr. Briggs appoints a certain day when to meet at Edinburgh ; but failing thereof, the Lord Napier was doubtful he would not come. It happened, one day, as John Marr and the Lord Napier were speaking of Mr. Briggs ; ' Ah, John,' said Marchiston, ' Mr. Briggs will not now come.
Page 345 - April, 1785. This being done, I then condescended to see how other people wove ; and you will guess my astonishment when I compared their easy modes of operation with mine. Availing myself, however, of what I then saw, I made a loom in its general principles nearly as they are now made. But it was not till the year 1787 that I completed my invention, when I took out my last weaving patent, August the 1st of that year.
Page 170 - ... little indulgence to others, and a great deal of distrust of ourselves — which are not qualities of a mean spirit, as some may possibly think them, but virtues of a great and noble kind, and such as dignify our nature as much as they contribute to our repose and fortune ; for nothing can be so unworthy of a well-composed soul as to pass away life in bickerings and litigations, in snarling and scuffling with every one about us. Again and again, my dear Barry, we must be at peace with our species,...
Page 315 - Its aliment is coal, wood, charcoal, or other combustible ; it consumes none while idle ; it never tires, and wants no sleep ; it is not subject to malady when originally well made, and only refuses to work when worn out with old age ; it is equally active in all climates, and will do work of any kind ; it is a water-pumper, a miner, a sailor, a cotton-spinner, a weaver, a blacksmith, a miller, etc., etc.
Page 359 - Seathwaite, considering, as he says himself, that the annexation " would be apt to cause a general discontent among the inhabitants of both places, by either thinking themselves slighted, being only served alternately, or neglected in the duty, or attributing it to covetousness in me ; all which occasions of murmuring I would willingly avoid.