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Article « THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN."* Page 1 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
« Things Not Generally Known."*
« THINGS NOT GENEBALLY KNOWN . " *
In the making of books , of which Solomon declares there to be no end , that author is the best economist of human life who enables his readers to gain much knowledge by a short extent of reading . The book-makers of the last century greatly encouraged authors of this class ; but , in our time , since the steam-engine has been applied to printing , the great aim seems , to have been to cover paper , without
due regard to the worth of the information conveyed . This naturally led to ovex-produetion , and publishers and book-buyers have now discovered that it is better to reproduce a good book of a former age than to print matter which has the questionable . recommendation of being " original " , without novelty . Tears ago , a great moralist said , though somewhat cynically , to the writers of his day , " You come too late—all is said ; " which , by the way , is much more applicable to the present age than the last century , when it was enunciated .
The book above named has suggested these remarks by the great number and variety of the things or facts which it contains . It is as full of information as the tail of a lobster is full of food ; or , as a wit said the other day , as a pomegranate is full of seed . And , what is better , the information here conveyed is upon subjects of inquiry and doubt , about which the mass of the people are anxious to be
enlightened . ^ In table conversation and fireside chat , how often a discussion arises as to the origin of some household word , or custom , which the disputants agree shall be settled by a book ; but a multiplicity of books is bewildering , even if they are at hand , and the search is rarely thought to be worth the time it takes . Now , the little book before us is the finder of such matters ; for , in its service , it resembles the astronomical instrument known as the finder , that is , a smaller
telescope attached to a larger telescope , for the purpose of finding an object more readily . The " Things " are classed under some twenty heads , and it will show their complexion to name a few . Thus , in the first section we find discussed , whether the sun is inhabited ? Is there danger from comets ? What is the age of the world ? and what will be its end . How solemn is this speculation—the Doom of our World : —
" What this change is to be , we dare not even conjecture ; but we see in the heavens themselves some traces of destructive elements , and some indications of their power . The fragments of broken planets—the descent of meteoric stonoH upon our globe—the wheeling comets welding their loose materials at the solar furnace—the volcanic eruptions of our own satellite—the appearance of new stars , and the disappearance of others—are all foreshadows of that impending convulsion to which the system of the world is doomed . Thus placed on a planet which is to he burnt up , and under heavens which are to pass away ; thus treading , as
* " Things not generally Known , familiarly Explained ; a . "Book for Old and Young . " 'B y John Tiinbs , author of " Curiosities of London . " IWue .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
« Things Not Generally Known."*
« THINGS NOT GENEBALLY KNOWN . " *
In the making of books , of which Solomon declares there to be no end , that author is the best economist of human life who enables his readers to gain much knowledge by a short extent of reading . The book-makers of the last century greatly encouraged authors of this class ; but , in our time , since the steam-engine has been applied to printing , the great aim seems , to have been to cover paper , without
due regard to the worth of the information conveyed . This naturally led to ovex-produetion , and publishers and book-buyers have now discovered that it is better to reproduce a good book of a former age than to print matter which has the questionable . recommendation of being " original " , without novelty . Tears ago , a great moralist said , though somewhat cynically , to the writers of his day , " You come too late—all is said ; " which , by the way , is much more applicable to the present age than the last century , when it was enunciated .
The book above named has suggested these remarks by the great number and variety of the things or facts which it contains . It is as full of information as the tail of a lobster is full of food ; or , as a wit said the other day , as a pomegranate is full of seed . And , what is better , the information here conveyed is upon subjects of inquiry and doubt , about which the mass of the people are anxious to be
enlightened . ^ In table conversation and fireside chat , how often a discussion arises as to the origin of some household word , or custom , which the disputants agree shall be settled by a book ; but a multiplicity of books is bewildering , even if they are at hand , and the search is rarely thought to be worth the time it takes . Now , the little book before us is the finder of such matters ; for , in its service , it resembles the astronomical instrument known as the finder , that is , a smaller
telescope attached to a larger telescope , for the purpose of finding an object more readily . The " Things " are classed under some twenty heads , and it will show their complexion to name a few . Thus , in the first section we find discussed , whether the sun is inhabited ? Is there danger from comets ? What is the age of the world ? and what will be its end . How solemn is this speculation—the Doom of our World : —
" What this change is to be , we dare not even conjecture ; but we see in the heavens themselves some traces of destructive elements , and some indications of their power . The fragments of broken planets—the descent of meteoric stonoH upon our globe—the wheeling comets welding their loose materials at the solar furnace—the volcanic eruptions of our own satellite—the appearance of new stars , and the disappearance of others—are all foreshadows of that impending convulsion to which the system of the world is doomed . Thus placed on a planet which is to he burnt up , and under heavens which are to pass away ; thus treading , as
* " Things not generally Known , familiarly Explained ; a . "Book for Old and Young . " 'B y John Tiinbs , author of " Curiosities of London . " IWue .