Non-Classifiable Books

CHAPTER I. A few years ago I received from a friend to whom they had been addressed a collection of my own letters, written during a period of forty years, and amounting to thousands—a history of my life. The passion for universal history (i.e. any and every body's story) nowadays seems to render any thing in the shape of personal recollections good enough to be printed and read; and as the... more...

Doctors lay by your Irksome Books And all ye Petty-Fogging Rookes Leave Quacking; and Enucleate The vertues of our Chocolate. Let th’ Universall Medicine (Made up of Dead-mens Bones and Skin,)Be henceforth Illegitimate,And yeild to Soveraigne-Chocolate. Let Bawdy-Baths be us’d no more;Nor Smoaky-Stoves but by the whoreOf Babilon: since Happy-Fate Hath Blessed us with Chocolate. Let old Punctæus... more...

Sleep walking or night wandering, known also by its Latin name of noctambulism, is a well-known phenomenon. Somnambulism is not so good a term for it, since that signifies too many things. In sleep walking a person rises from his bed in the night, apparently asleep, walks around with closed or half opened eyes, but without perceiving anything, yet performs all sorts of apparently purposeful and often... more...

I: A Gesture and a Quest Telemachus had wandered so far in search of his father he had quite forgotten what he was looking for. He sat on a yellow plush bench in the café El Oro del Rhin, Plaza Santa Ana, Madrid, swabbing up with a bit of bread the last smudges of brown sauce off a plate of which the edges were piled with the dismembered skeleton of a pigeon. Opposite his plate was a similar plate his... more...

THE SAGA OF OLAFTRYGGVASON, CMLXVIII-M OW it befell in the days of King Tryggvi Olafson that the woman he had wedded was Astrid & she was the daughter of Eirik Biodaskalli, a wealthy man who dwelt at Oprostad. ¤ When the downfall of Tryggvi had been accomplished, Astrid fled away bearing with her what chattels she might. And with her went her foster-father Thorolf Louse-Beard, who never left her,... more...

CHAPTER I The following narrative is a record of my experiences during the late memorable war between China and Japan. Without going into any detailed account of my earlier life, some few facts concerning myself are probably necessary for the better understanding of the circumstances which led up to the events here presented. It will be obvious that I can make no claim to literary skill; I have simply... more...

GELLED FUEL-AIR EXPLOSIVE METHOD 1. Field of the Invention 5 This invention relates to fuels for fuel air explosive weapons. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for causing an explosion comprising the steps of dispersing a cloud of liquid fuel in the air and detonating the cloud wherein the cloud is composed of particles of 10 gelled or ungelled 1,2-butylene oxide. 1. Description of... more...

I. Discovery of the species. The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king. In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of... more...

Tractatus de Hermaphroditis: OR, A TREATISE OF HERMAPHRODITES. he Secrets of Nature have in all Ages been particularly examin'd by Anatomists and others, and this of Hermaphrodites is so very wonderful, that I am perfectly assur'd my present Enquiry will be entirely acceptable to all Lovers of curious Discoveries; and as it is my immediate Business to trace every Particular for an ample... more...

PREFACE The history of the publication of the Journal to Stella is somewhat curious. On Swift's death twenty-five of the letters, forming the closing portion of the series, fell into the hands of Dr. Lyon, a clergyman who had been in charge of Swift for some years. The letters passed to a man named Wilkes, who sold them for publication. They accordingly appeared in 1766 in the tenth volume of Dr.... more...