Non-Classifiable Books

PREFACE In spite of all that has been done in the way of applying scientific principles to religious ideas, there is much that yet remains to be accomplished. Generally speaking science has only dealt with the subject of religion in its more normal and more regularised forms. The last half-century has produced many elaborate and fruitful studies of the origin of religious ideas, while comparative... more...

CHAPTER ONE FIRE WORSHIP.—FIRE EATING AND HEAT RESISTANCE.—IN THE MIDDLE AGES.—AMONG THE NAVAJO INDIANS.—FIRE-WALKERS OF JAPAN.—THE FIERY ORDEAL OF FIJI. Fire has always been and, seemingly, will always remain, the most terrible of the elements. To the early tribes it must also have been the most mysterious; for, while earth and air and water were always in evidence, fire came and went in a... more...

RECEIPTS.   To dry Angelica. Take the Stalks of Angelica, and boil them tender; then put them to drain, and scrape off all the thin Skin, and put them into scalding Water; keep them close cover’d, and over a slow Fire, not to boil, ’till they are green; then draining them well, put them in a very thick Syrup of the Weight and half of Sugar: Let the Syrup be cold when you put them in, and warm it... more...

SPOOL KNITTING Few elementary exercises have aroused more interest in the child than the toy knitting; due, perhaps, to its simplicity and his power to do it easily and well. To some keen observer the little orb-weaving spider may have suggested this form of occupation. Be this as it may, the child who is a lover of nature will be quick to perceive the strong resemblance he bears to this little insect... more...

The Three Who Came With Columbus. For a while there was no sound save the soft swish-swish of the waves as the "Santa Maria," the flagship of Columbus, ploughed its way through the darkness. The moon had long since disappeared and one by one the stars had left the sky until only the morning star remained to guide Alonzo de la Calle, crouching above his pilot wheel. The man's eyes ached for... more...

FOREWORD At the Church Congress held this autumn at Birmingham I was honoured by an invitation to speak on “Sexual Relationships.” The subject-matter of that speech has aroused widespread interest and some controversy. It is being published in response to numerous requests and because most of the reports, being of necessity condensed, inadequately and even in some instances incorrectly set forth... more...

I.—WACE In the long line of Arthurian chroniclers Geoffrey of Monmouth deservedly occupies the first place. The most gifted and the most original of their number, by his skilful treatment of the Arthurian story in his Historia Regum Britanniae, he succeeded in uniting scattered legends attached to Arthur's name, and in definitely establishing their place in chronicle history in a form... more...

BY WAY OF PROLOGUE "Years of Plenty" was the name an Englishman recently gave to a book of his school days. My own years of secondary school and college were different from his, by far, but no less full. I shall only say by way of preface that they numbered seven. There were two of them at high school, one at a military school on the Hudson, and four at our city's university. Seven in all.... more...

On Two Sides of the Eastern Seas It is three days’ easy journey from Japan to China. It is doubtful whether anywhere in the world another journey of the same length brings with it such a complete change of political temper and belief. Certainly it is greater than the alteration perceived in journeying directly from San Francisco to Shanghai. The difference is not one in customs and modes of life;... more...

INTRODUCTION. Thomas De Quincey is one of the eccentric figures in English literature. Popularly he is known as the English Opium-Eater and as the subject of numerous anecdotes which emphasize the oddities of his temperament and the unconventionality of his habits. That this man of distinguished genius was the victim—pitifully the victim—of opium is the lamentable fact; that he was morbidly shy and... more...