Reference Books

THE AMERICAN BUSINESS MAN The business man is the national hero of America, as native to the soil and as typical of the country as baseball or Broadway or big advertising. He is an interesting figure, picturesque and not unlovable, not so dashing perhaps as a knight in armor or a soldier in uniform, but he is not without the noble (and ignoble) qualities which have characterized the tribe of man since... more...

INTRODUCTION The reasons for binding the leaves of a book are to keep them together in their proper order, and to protect them. That bindings can be made, that will adequately protect books, can be seen from the large number of fifteenth and sixteenth century bindings now existing on books still in excellent condition. That bindings are made, that fail to protect books, may be seen by visiting any... more...

ARMOUR PLATES. The earliest recorded proposal to employ armour for ships of war (for body armour, &c., see ) appears to have been made in England by Sir William Congreve in 1805. InThe Timesof the 20thDefence for ships.of February of that year reference is made to Congreve’s designs for an armoured, floating mortar battery which the inventor considered would be proof against artillery fire. Among... more...

A Preface With Some Revised Ideas IT HAS BEEN ten years since I wrote the prefatory "Declaration" to this now enlarged and altered book. Not to my generation alone have many things receded during that decade. To the intelligent young as well as to the intelligent elderly, efforts in the present atmosphere to opiate the public with mere pictures of frontier enterprise have a ghastly unreality.... more...

BEDLAM, or Bethlehem Hospital, the first English lunatic asylum, originally founded by Simon FitzMary, sheriff of London, in 1247, as a priory for the sisters and brethren of the order of the Star of Bethlehem. It had as one of its special objects the housing and entertainment of the bishop and canons of St Mary of Bethlehem, the mother-church, on their visits to England. Its first site was in... more...

EXAMINATION QUESTIONSFIRST SERIES 1. Q. What do you consider essential for your success in regard to the use of ? A. I deem it essential to my success to be as economical in the use of fuel and supplies as is consistent with the work to be performed, exercising good judgment in my work, harmonious co-operation with my engineer, and showing a willingness to learn and practice the best methods in my... more...

PREFACE. his is an honest and earnest little book, if it has no other merit; and has been prepared expressly for the use of the young people of our great Republic, whom it is designed to aid in becoming, what we are convinced they all desire to be, true American ladies and gentlemen. Desiring to make our readers something better than mere imitators of foreign manners, often based on social conditions... more...

BISHÂRÎN (the anc. Ichthyophagi), a nomad tribe of African “Arabs,” of Hamitic origin, dwelling in the eastern part of the Nubian desert. In the middle ages they were known as Beja (q.v.), and they are the most characteristic of the Nubian “Arabs.” With the Abâbda and Hadendoa they represent the Blemmyes of classical writers. Linguistically and geographically the Bishârîn form a connecting... more...

CHÂTELET (from Med. Lat. castella), the word, sometimes also written castillet, used in France for a building designed for the defence of an outwork or gate, sometimes of great strength or size, but distinguished from the château, or castle proper, in being purely defensive and not residential. In Paris, before the Revolution, this word was applied both to a particular building and to the... more...

INITIALS USED IN VOLUME IV. TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUALCONTRIBUTORS, WITH THE HEADINGS OF THEARTICLES IN THIS VOLUME SO SIGNED.A. B. R.Alfred Barton Rendle, F.R.S., F.L.S., M.A., D.Sc.Keeper of the Department of Botany, British Museum.{Botany.A. E. H.A. E. Houghton.Formerly Correspondent of theStandardin Spain. Author ofRestoration of the Bourbons in Spain.{Cabrera.A. E. S.Arthur Everett Shipley, F.R.S.,... more...