ARTS. CHAPTER IV. THE STOPPER, OR CORK.—THE FILTER.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER VI. SPIRAL AND RINGED TISSUES.—VARIOUS SPRINGS IN NATURE AND ART.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER VII. FOOD AND COMFORT.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER VIII. DOMESTIC COMFORT.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER IX. ARTIFICIAL WARMTH.—RING AND STAPLE.—THE FAN.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER X. WATER, AND MEANS OF PROCURING IT.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER XI. AËROSTATICS.—WEIGHT OF AIR.—EXPANSION BY HEAT.
Means and Appliances (continued) .
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER XVI. TILLAGE.—DRAINAGE.—SPIRAL PRINCIPLE.—CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.
USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER XVII. OSCILLATION.—UNITED STRENGTH.—THE DOME.
ACOUSTICS. CHAPTER I. PERCUSSION.—THE STRING AND REED.—THE TRUMPET.—EAR-TRUMPET.—STETHOSCOPE.
PREFACE.
A GLANCE at almost any page of this work will denote its object. It is to show the close connection between Nature and human inventions, and that there is scarcely an invention of man that has not its prototype in Nature. And it is worthy of notice that the greatest results have been obtained from means apparently the most insignificant.
There are two inventions, for example, which have changed the face of the earth, and which yet sprang from sources that were despised by men, and thought only fit for the passing sport of childhood. I allude, of course, to Steam and Electricity, both of which had been child’s toys for centuries before the