The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal: Exhibiting a View of the Progressive Discoveries and Improvements in the Sciences and the Arts, Volume 14

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A. and C. Black, 1833 - Science
 

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Page 253 - ... the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the...
Page 252 - ... arduous task. But when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit.
Page 95 - The pitch lake is situated on the side of a hill, 80 feet above the level of the sea, from which it is distant three quarters of a mile ; a gradual ascent leads to it, which is covered with pitch in a hardened state, and trees and vegetation flourish upon it. The road leading to the lake runs through a wood, and on emerging from it, the spectator stands on the borders of what at...
Page 253 - A pair of these little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a necked bough^ perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed. But a hot sunny season coming on before the brood was half fledged, the reflection of the wall became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed...
Page 397 - Forbes f published the statement that the order of conducting powers of the metals for heat and for electricity is the same. He states, as a general conclusion, "that the arrangement of metallic conductors of heat does not differ more from that of those of electricity than either arrangement does alone under the hands of different observers.
Page 207 - Edinburgh, manufacturer, for an improved method or manufacture which facilitates the production of regular figures or patterns on different fabrics, particularly velvets, velvet pile, and Brussels, Wilton, and Turkey carpets...
Page 149 - The larger animals are never supported laterally; their limbs are always in a position nearly vertical : as we descend in the scale of size the lateral support becomes more frequent, till we find whole tribes of insects resting on limbs laid almost horizontally. The slightest consideration will convince any one that lateral or horizontal limbs would be quite inadequate to support the weight of the larger animals. Conceive a spider to increase till his body weighed as much as that of a man, and then...
Page 254 - ... to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, while, with wings expanded, and mouths gaping for breath, they screened off the heat from their suffering offspring.
Page 146 - On these facts, the most important which geometry presents, my after remarks are mostly to be founded. All machines consist of moveable parts, sliding or turning on others which are bound together by bands, or supported by props. To the frame work I shall first direct my attention. In the case of a simple prop, destined to sustain the mere weight of some part of the machine, the strength is estimated at so many hundred weights per square inch of cross section.
Page 214 - The celebrated Cuvier owed much of his success as a comparative anatomist to this organ. De Candolle mentions that "his memory was particularly remarkable in what related to forms, considered in the widest sense of the word ; the figure of an animal, seen in reality or in drawing, never left his mind, and served him as a point of comparison for all similar objects.

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