INTRODUCTION. In presenting this little volume to our readers we ask them to accept it, not as fiction, but as divine truth as to the laws herein revealed. Not a statement is made that is not possible to the divine will of man. Although it can not be proven to your outward knowledge, do not reject and declare it is not true. History will teach you there actually existed a "Temple of Isis," and... more...

P R E F A C E. ---o0o---                     IF it is of importance to study by what means a nation may acquire wealth and power, it is not less so to discover by what means wealth and power, when once acquired, may be preserved.                     The latter inquiry is, perhaps, the more important of the two; for many nations have remained, during a long period,... more...

CHAPTER I. A BEDROOM OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY On a winter's night, about two in the morning, the Comtesse Jeanne d'Herouville felt such violent pains that in spite of her inexperience, she was conscious of an approaching confinement; and the instinct which makes us hope for ease in a change of posture induced her to sit up in her bed, either to study the nature of these new sufferings, or to... more...

CHAPTER I. The Dodds were dead. For twenty year they had slept under the green graves of Kittery churchyard. The townfolk still spoke of them kindly. The keeper of the alehouse, where David had smoked his pipe, regretted him regularly, and Mistress Kitty, Mrs. Dodd's maid, whose trim figure always looked well in her mistress's gowns, was inconsolable. The Hardins were in America. Raby was... more...

The Wedding Ring. THE CHOICE OF A WIFE. "Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?"—Judges 14:3. Samson, the giant, is here asking consent of his father and mother to marriage with one whom they thought unfit for him. He was wise in asking their counsel, but not wise in rejecting it.... more...

STUDY OF A WOMAN The Marquise de Listomere is one of those young women who have been brought up in the spirit of the Restoration. She has principles, she fasts, takes the sacrament, and goes to balls and operas very elegantly dressed; her confessor permits her to combine the mundane with sanctity. Always in conformity with the Church and with the world, she presents a living image of the present day,... more...

CHAPTER I METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS—HEAT TREATMENT THE METALS Iron.—Iron, in its pure state, is a soft, white, easily worked metal. It is the most important of all the metallic elements, and is, next to aluminum, the commonest metal found in the earth. Mechanically speaking, we have three kinds of iron: wrought iron, cast iron and steel. Wrought iron is very nearly pure iron; cast iron contains... more...

The Duchess "The story of my first novel" My first novel! Alas! for that first story of mine—the raven I sent out of my ark and never see again! Unlike the proverbial curse, it did not come home to roost, it stayed where I had sent it. The only thing I ever heard of it again was a polite letter from the editor in whose office it lay, telling me I could have it back if I enclosed stamps for... more...

PREFACE. In no department of Pathology has advance been so fitful and interrupted as in that dealing with blood changes in various forms of disease, though none now offers a field that promises such an abundant return for an equal expenditure of time and labour. Observations of great importance were early made by Wharton Jones, Waller, and Hughes Bennett in this country, and by Virchow and Max Schultze... more...

Abattoirs, 128Aberbrothwick. The Abbey of, 13Aboriginal Races of America. The, 151Accidents:—Fall of a Hotel in Sydney, N.S.W., 184“ “ “ Scaffold, 104“ “ St. Louis Academy of Music, 66“ “ the Roof of the Flora Hall, Hamburg, 196Agreement between Architect and Client, 30Albany Capitol. Defective Gutters on the, 97Aluminium from Bauxite, 194Alva. Statue of the Duke of, 74America. The... more...