The Wonder Book of Knowledge: The Marvels of Modern Industry and Invention, the Interesting Stories of Common Things, the Mysterious Processes of Nature Simply Explained
History
The Wonder Book of Knowledge: The Marvels of Modern Industry and Invention, the Interesting Stories of Common Things, the Mysterious Processes of Nature Simply Explained
Industrial arts -- History
It is interesting to find that American colonies were not far behind
England in establishing newspapers, and equally interesting to know that
the most remarkable development of the newspaper has been in the United
States, where, in proportion to population, its growth and circulation
has been much greater than in any other country. Practically a half of
all the newspapers published in the world are published in the United
States and Canada.
Every trade, organization, profession and science now has its
representative journal or journals, besides the actual newspapers and
magazines of literary character, and Solomon’s remark might be
paraphrased to read: “To the making of newspapers there is no end.”
The great and rapid presses of recent years, the methods of mechanical
typesetting and the cheapness and excellence of photographic
illustrations, have all been necessary elements of the great sheets and
enormous circulations of the present day, and the twentieth century
newspaper is one of the greatest achievements in the whole field of
human enterprise.
How Did the Cooking of Food Originate?
As soon as man found that he could produce fire by friction, as the
result of rapidly rubbing two sticks together, he began to have
accidents with his fires, just as we do today. And it was probably
because of one of these accidents, in which some food was cooked quite
unintentionally, that primitive man made the great discovery that most
of the meats and fruits and roots that he had been accustomed to eating
raw, were far better if they were put in or near the fire for a while
first.
How Far Away is the Sky-Line?
Unless you happen to be of the same height as the person standing next
to you, the sky-line is a different distance away from each of you, for
it is really just a question of the distance the eye can see from
different heights above the sea-level. A person five feet tall, standing
on the beach at the seaside, is able to see about two and three-quarter
miles away, while one a foot taller can see about a quarter of a mile
further.
A person on the roof of a house a hundred feet high is able to see more
than thirteen miles away, on a clear day, and a forty-two mile view may
be enjoyed from the top of a mountain a thousand feet high. The aviator
who goes up to a level a mile above the sea is able to see everything
within a radius of ninety-six miles and the further up he goes the
larger the earth’s circle becomes to him.
The Story of Rope[7]
Everybody knows what rope is, but everybody does not know how rope is
made or of what kinds of fiber it is manufactured. And very few probably
know the history of rope making, or how it developed from the simple
thread to the great cable which now holds giant vessels to their wharves
or aids to anchor them in ocean storms.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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