 Preface to A Catechism of Familiar Things. A Catechism of Familiar Things, their history and the events which led to their discovery. This book, a reprint of a successful English publication, has been so enlarged as to be to all intents and purposes new. It has been carefully revised by a reverend gentleman who for some time filled the chair of physics and chemistry in one of our colleges. Recent inventions and improvements are described in a simple, popular style so as to be easily understood by all and short notices are given of prominent inventors and scientists. The paragraphs relating to doctrinal matters conform in every respect to the teachings of the church. A feature which will commend the book to every teacher is the definitions of difficult words and terms following the paragraphs in which such words occur. Technical language is avoided as much as possible so as to enable young pupils to become familiarly acquainted with the various phenomena of nature, the leading characteristics and general history of the objects of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, and the fundamental truths of the arts and sciences. The illustrations are of a superior order and a very complete index which will be appreciated by every teacher supplements the book. In a word no pains have been spared to enhance the value of the work and render it an important auxiliary in the dissemination of useful and entertaining knowledge. The publishers beg to acknowledge their obligations to the Sisters of Mercy, Loretto, Pennsylvania, to whose kindness they are indebted for many valuable suggestions. In the hope that the book may be found suited to the accomplishment of its aim, it is respectfully submitted to schools and instructors of youth who are the best judges of its merits. And of Preface Recording by Paul Williams Dew, water, rain, snow, hail, atmosphere, wind, lightning, thunder, electricity, twilight, and the aurora borealis. What is dew? Moisture collected from the atmosphere by the action of cold. During the day the powerful heat of the sun causes to arise from the earth and water a moist vapor which after the sun sinks below the horizon is condensed by the cold and falls in the form of dew. Dews are more copious in the spring and autumn than in any other season in warm countries that in cold ones because of the sudden changes of temperature. Egypt abounds in dews all the summer for the air being too hot to condense the vapors in the daytime. They never gather into clouds and form rain. Horizon, the line which bounds the view on all sides so that the earth and sky appear to meet. A Greek word from the verb signifying to mark boundaries. Temperature, degree of heat or cold. Condense, to cause the particles of a body to approach or unite more closely. What are its uses? It cools and refreshes the vegetable creation and prevents it from being destroyed by the heat of the sun. All hot countries where there is little or no rain are therefore blessed with this provision by the all-bountiful creator to render them luxuriant and inhabitable. And the dews which fall are so copious that the earth is as deeply soaked with them during the night as if a heavy rain had fallen. For this reason also it is that we so often read in the Bible of the dew of heaven being promised to the Israelites as a signal favor. Luxuriant, fertile, flourishing. Signal, remarkable, eminent. From what does the vapor originate? Vapor is water combined with a still greater quantity of caloric, that is an imponderable and subtle form of matter which causes the sensation of heat and which driving asunder the particles of the water renders it aeriform. Imponderable, without sensible weight. Subtle, thin, not dense or compact. Particle, a small portion of matter. Aeriform, having the form of air. What is water? The fluid which covers more than three-fifths of the surface of our globe and which is necessary for the life and health of the animal and vegetable creation. For without water there would be neither rain nor dew and everything would perish. It is likewise a necessary beverage for man and the inferior animals. Beverage, drink, liquor for drinking. In how many states do we find water? In four. First, solid, as in ice, snow, hail, etc. Second, fluid, as in its common form. Third, aeriform, as in steam. And fourth, in a state of union with other matter. Its most simple state is that of ice, which is water deprived of a certain portion of its caloric. Crystallization then takes place and the water becomes solid and is called ice. Crystallization, the process by which the parts of a solid body separated by solution or fusion are again brought into the solid form. If the process is slow, the figure assumed is regular and bounded by plain and smooth surfaces. Solution, the diffusion of a solid through some liquid. Fusion, melting or rendering fluid by heat. From what cause is the water deprived of its caloric? From the coldness of the atmosphere. Underneath the poles of our globe it is mostly solid. There it is similar to the hardest rocks and may be cut with a chisel like stone or marble. The great solidity is occasioned by the low temperature of the surrounding air and in very cold countries ice may be ground so fine as to be blown away by the wind and will still be ice. Poles, the extremities or ends of the axis and imaginary line supposed to be drawn through the center of the earth or when applied to the heavens the two points directly over them. Is ice the only instance of water existing in a state of solidity? No, it is found in a solid state in many minerals as in marble etc. and it is then called water of crystallization. It is essential in many cases to their solidity and transparency. Essential, necessary. Transparency, clearness, the power of transmitting light. Does nature decompose water in any of our operations? Yes, every living vegetable has the power of decomposing water by a secret process peculiar to itself. Fish too and all cold blooded amphibious animals are gifted with the same power. Decomposing, separating a mixed body into its several parts. Amphibious, able to live both in water and out of it. Of what use is this power to vegetables? The water which they decompose affords them nourishment for the support of their vital juices and enables them by combining the fluid gases which compose it with those of the air and the soil to form their different products. While the superfluous gas is abundantly given out by their leaves to refresh the spent air and render it wholesome for the animals that breathe it. Vital, belonging to life necessary to existence. Superfluous, unnecessary not wanted. What is rain? The condensed aqueous vapors raised in the atmosphere by the sun and wind converted into clouds which fall in rain, snow, hail or mist. They're falling as occasioned by their own weight in a collision produced by contrary currents of wind. From the clouds passing into a colder part of the air or by electricity. If the vapors are more copious and rise a little higher they form a mist or fog which is visible to the eye. Higher still they produce rain. Hence we may account for the changes of the weather why a cold summer is always a wet one. A warm a dry one. Aqueous, watery consisting of water. Collision, a striking together, a clash, a meeting. Electricity, a natural agent existing in all bodies. What seasons are more liable to rain than others? The spring and autumn are generally the most rainy seasons. The vapors rise more plentifully in spring and in the autumn as the sun recedes from us and the cold increases the vapors which lingered above us during the summer heats fall more easily. Receive to fall back to retreat. What is snow? Rain congealed by cold in the atmosphere which causes it to fall to the earth in white flakes. Snow fertilizes the ground by defending the roots of plants from the intense cold of the air and the piercing winds. Congealed, turned by the force of cold from a fluid to a solid state, hardened. Fertilize to render fruitful. Intenser, raised to a higher degree, more powerful. What is hail? Drops of rain frozen in their past through cold air. Hail assumes various figures according to the degrees of heat or cold through which it passes, being sometimes round, flat, etc. What is the atmosphere? The mass of air form fluid which encompasses the earth on all sides. It extends about 50 miles above its surface. Air is the elastic fluid of which it is composed. Elastic, having the power of springing back. Or recovering its former figure after the removal of any external pressure which has altered that figure. When the force which compresses the air is removed, it expands and resumes its former state. What are the uses of air? It is necessary to the well-being of man, since without it neither he nor any animal or vegetable could exist. If it were not for atmospheric air, we should be unable to converse with each other. We should know nothing of sound or smell, or of the pleasures which arise from the variegated prospects which surround us. It is to the presence of air and carbonic acid that water owes its agreeable taste. Boiling deprives it of the greater part of these, and renders it insipid. Variegated. Diversified, changed, adorned with different colors. Insipid. Tasteless. What is wind? Air in motion with any degree of velocity. What is lightning? The effect of electricity in the clouds. A flash of lightning is simply a stream of the electric fluid passing from the clouds to the earth, from the earth to the clouds, or from one cloud to another. Lightning usually strikes the highest and most pointed objects as high hills, trees, spires, masts of ships, etc. What is thunder? The report which accompanies the electrical union of the clouds, or the echoes of the report between them and the earth. Thunder is caused by a sudden discharge of electrical matter collected in the air, by which vibrations are produced, which give rise to the sound. What is electricity? One of those agents passing through the earth and all substances without giving any outward signs of its presence when it rests. Yet when active, often producing violent and destructive effects, it is supposed to be a highly elastic fluid capable of moving through matter. Clouds owe their form and existence probably to it, and it passes through all substances, but more easily through metals, water, the human body, etc., which are called conductors, than through air, glass, and silk, which are called non-conductors. When bodies are not surrounded with non-conductors, the electricity escapes quickly into the earth. To what part of bodies is electricity confined? To their surfaces, as the outside may be electric, and the inside in a state of neutrality. The heat produced by an electric shock is very powerful, but is only accompanied by light when the fluid is obstructed in its passage. The production and condensation of vapor is a great source of the atmospheric electricity. Condensation. The act of making any body dense or compact, that is, of bringing its parts into closer union. In what other sense is the term electricity employed? This term is also employed to designate that important branch of knowledge which relates to the properties shown by certain bodies when rubbed against or otherwise brought in contact with each other, to attract substances and emit sparks of fire. Designate. To point out by some particular token. Emit. To send forth. To throw out. Whence is the word derived? From electron, the Greek word for amber, a yellow transparent substance remarkable for its electrical power when rubbed. Amber is of a resinous nature, and is collected from the seashore or dug from the earth in many parts of the world. It is employed in the manufacture of beads and other toys, on account of its transparency, is of some use in medicine and in the making of varnishes. Prinsparent. Clear, capable of being seen through. Resinous. Containing resin, a gummy vegetable juice. Name a few substances possessing this remarkable property. Silks of all kinds, the hair and fur of animals, paper, sulfur, and some other minerals. Most of the precious stones, the paste of which false gems are made, and many other substances used by us in the Common Affairs of Life, are susceptible of electrical excitement. Among domestic animals, the cat furnishes a remarkable instance. When dry and warm, the back of almost any full grown cat, the darker its color the better, can be excited by rubbing it with the hand in the direction of the hair. A process which is accompanied with a slight snapping noise, and in the dark by flashes of pale blue light. When a piece of glass is rubbed with silk, or a stick of red ceiling wax with woolen cloth, each substance is acquired as the property of attracting and repelling feathers, straws, threads of cotton, and other light substances. The substances just mentioned as highly electric are, however, merely specimens. All objects without exception, most probably are capable of being electrically excited, but some require more complicated contrivances to produce it than others. Electric. Having the properties of electricity. Susceptible. Disposed to admit easily. Repelling. The act of driving back. Complicated. Formed by the union of several parts in one. Is there not a machine by which we are enabled to obtain large supplies of electric power at pleasure? Yes, the electrical machine. It is made of different forms and sizes. For common purposes, those of the simplest forms are the best. A common form of the machine consists of a circular plate of glass, which can be turned about a horizontal axis by means of a suitable handle. This plate turns between two supports, and near its upper and lower edges are two pairs of cushions, usually made of leather, stuffed with horse hair and coated with a mixture of zinc, tin, and mercury, called an amalgam. These cushions are the rubbers for producing friction, and are connected with the earth by means of a metal chain or rod. Two large hollow cylinders of brass with globular ends, each supported by two glass pillars, constitute the reservoir for receiving the electricity. They are called the prime conductors, and are supplied with U-shaped rods of metal, furnished with points along their sides called combs, for the purpose of receiving the electricity from the glass plate, the arms of the U being held upon either side. The other ends of the conductors are connected by a rod from the middle of which projects another rod, terminating in a knob, for delivering the spark. On turning the plate, a faint snapping sound is heard, and when the room is darkened, a spark is seen to be thrown out from the knob projecting from the prime conductors. Many curious and interesting experiments may be performed by the means of the machine, illustrating the general properties of electricity. For instance, a person standing on an insulated bench, that is, a bench with glass legs, or having the legs resting on glass, and having one hand on the conductor, can send sparks, with the other hand, to everything and everybody about. This illustrates communication of electricity by contact. A wooden head, covered with long hairs when placed on the conductor, illustrates electrical repulsion by the hair standing on end. If the hand is held to the knob, sparks will pass from it in rapid succession, causing in the hand a sensation of pain. This is called an electric shock, and is caused by the electric fluid occasioning a sudden motion by the contraction of the muscles through which it passes. The force of the shock is in proportion to the power of the machine. What are the muscles? Bundles of thin fleshy fibers or threads fasten to the bones of animals, the contraction and expansion of which moves the bones, or perform the organic functions of life. Organic, relating to organs or natural instruments by which some process is carried on. Functions, employments or offices of any part of the body. Contraction, drawing in or shortening. Expansion, extending or spreading out. What is twilight? The light from the first dawning of day to the rising of the sun, and again between its setting and the last remains of the day. Without twilight the sun's light would appear at its rising and disappear at its setting, instantaneously, and we should experience a sudden transition from the brightest sunshine to the profoundest obscurity. The duration of twilight is different in different climates, and in the same places it varies at different periods of the year. Instantaneously, done in an instant in a moment's time. Obscurity, darkness, want of light. How is it produced? By the sun's refraction, that is the variation of the rays of light from their direct course, occasioned by the difference of density in the atmosphere. Variation, change. Density, closeness of parts, compactness. What is the poetical name for the morning twilight? Aurora, the goddess of the morning and harbinger of the rising sun, whom poets and artists represent as drawn by white horses in a rose-colored chariot, unfolding with her rosy fingers the portals of the east, pouring reviving dew upon the earth, and reanimating plants and flowers. Harbinger, forerunner. Portals, gates, doors of entrance. Reanimating, invigorating with new life. What remarkable phenomenon is afforded to the inhabitants of the polar regions? Theorora borealis, or northern lights, a luminous appearance in the northern parts of the heavens, seen mostly during the winter or in frosty weather, and clear evenings. It assumes a variety of forms and hues, especially in the polar regions, where it appears in its perfection, and proves a great solace to the inhabitants amidst the gloom of their long winter's night, which lasts from one to six months, while the summer's day, which exceeds it, lasts in like manner for the same period of time. Of what nature is theorora borealis? It is decidedly an electrical phenomenon which takes place in the higher regions of the atmosphere. It is somehow connected with the magnetic poles of the earth, and generally appears in form of a luminous arch, from east to west, but never from north to south. Phenomenon, an extraordinary appearance, the word is from a Greek one, signifying to show or appear. Magnetic, belonging to the magnet or lodestone. Luminous, bright, shining. In what country is it seen constantly from October to Christmas? In Siberia, where it is remarkably bright. On the western coast of Hudson's Bay, the sun no sooner disappears than the orora borealis diffuses a thousand different lights and colors with such dazzling beauty that even the full moon cannot eclipse it. End of chapter 1 Recording by Kalinda in Raymond, New Hampshire on December 20, 2007 Chapter 2 of a Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jonathan Horneblo. A Catechism of Familiar Things Their history and the events which led to their discovery by Benziger Brothers. Chapter 2 Corn, barley, pearl barley, oats, rye, potatoes, tea, coffee and chocolate. What is corn? Corn signifies a race of plants which produce grain in an ear or head fit for bread the food of man or the grain or seed of the plant separated from the ear. What is generally meant by corn? In this country maize or Indian corn is generally meant but in a more comprehensive sense the term is applied to several other kinds of grain such as wheat, rye, barley, oats etc. Where was corn first used? It is uncertain. The Athenians pretend that it was amongst them that it was first used. The Cretans, Sicilians and Egyptians also lay claim to the same. From the accounts in the Bible we find that its culture engaged a large share of the attention of the ancient Hebrews. Culture, growth, cultivation. Hebrews, the children of Israel, the Jews. Who were the Athenians? Inhabitants of Athens, the capital city of Greece. Who were the Cretans? The inhabitants of Crete, an island of the archipelago. Who were the Sicilians? Inhabitants of Sicily, the largest island of the Mediterranean Sea, now a part of Italy and separated from the mainland by the Strait of Messina. Where did the Egyptians dwell? In Egypt, a country of Africa. It is extremely fertile producing great quantities of corn. In ancient times it was called the dry nurse of Rome and Italy from its furnishing with corn a considerable part of the Roman Empire. And we are informed, both from sacred and profane history, that it was anciently the most fertile in corn of all countries in the world. The corn of Syria has always been very superior and by many classed above that of Egypt. For what is barley generally used? It is very extensively used for making malt, from which are prepared beer, ale, porter, etc. In Scotland it is a common ingredient in broths, for which reason its consumption is very considerable, barley broth being a dish very frequent there. Ingredient, a separate part of a body consisting of different materials. What is pearl barley? Barley freed from the husk by a mill. What are oats? A valuable grain serving as a food for horses. Oats are also eaten by the inhabitants of many countries after being ground into meal and made into oat cakes. Oatmeal also forms a wholesome drink for invalids by steeping it in boiling water. What are the uses of rye? In this and some other countries it is much used for bread either alone or mixed with wheat. In England principally as food for cattle, especially for sheep and lambs where other food is scarce in winter. Rye yields a strong spirit when distilled. Distilled, subjected to distillation the operation of extracting spirit from a substance by evaporation and condensation. Of what country is the potato a native? Potatoes grew wild in Peru, a country of South America, whence they were transplanted to other parts of the American continent and afterwards to Europe. The honour of introducing this useful vegetable into England is divided between Sir Francis Drake in 1580 and Sir Walter Rowley in 1586, some ascribing it to the former and others to the latter. It is certain that they were obtained from Virginia in the time of Rowley. They were cultivated only in the gardens of the nobility and were reckoned a great delicacy. They now constitute a principal article of food in most of the countries of Europe and America. In Ireland they have long furnished nearly four-fifths of the entire food of the people. What part of the plant is eaten? The root, which, when roasted or boiled, affords a wholesome and agreeable meal. What is tea? The leaves of an evergreen shrub, a native of China and Japan, in which countries alone it is extensively cultivated for use. The tea plant was at one time introduced into South Carolina, where its culture appears to have been attended with but little success. It may yet become a staple production of some portions of the United States. Evergreen, retaining its leaves fresh and green through all seasons. How is it prepared for use? By carefully gathering the leaves one by one while they are yet small, young and juicy. They are then spread on large flat iron pans and placed over a small furnace, when they are constantly shifted by hand till they become too hot to be borne. What is next done? They are then removed with a kind of shovel resembling a fan and poured on mats, whence they are taken in small quantities and rolled in the palm of the hand, always in one direction, until they cool and retain the curl. How often is this operation repeated? Two or three times, the furnace each time being made less hot. The tea is then placed in the storehouses or packed in chests and sent to most of the countries in Europe and America. Describe the appearance of the tea tree. The tea tree, when arrived at its full growth, which it does in about seven years, is about a man's height. The green leaves are narrow and jagged all round. The flower resembles that of a wild rose but is smaller. The shrub loves to grow in valleys at the foot of mountains and on the banks of rivers, where it enjoys a southern exposure to the sun. Though it endures considerable variation of heat and cold, as it flourishes in the northern climate of Peking, where the weather is often severe, and also about Canton, where the heat is sometimes very great. The best tea, however, grows in a temperate climate. The country about Nanking produced better tea than either Peking or Canton, between which two places it is situated. What produces the difference between green and Bohia or black? There are varieties of the plant and the differences of the tea arises from the mode of preparation. What nation first introduced it into Europe? The Dutch in 1610. It was introduced into England in 1650. What is coffee? The berry of the coffee tree, a native of Arabia. The coffee tree is an evergreen and makes a beautiful appearance at all times of the year, but especially when in flower, and when the berries are red, which is usually during the winter. It is also cultivated in Persia, the East Indies, Liberia on the coast of Africa, the West Indies, Brazil, and other parts of South America, as well as in most tropical climates. Tropical, being within the tropics, that is, the Torrid Zone. Who was the original discoverer of coffee for the drink of man? It is not exactly known. The earliest written accounts of the use of coffee are by Arabian writers in the 15th century. It appears that in the city of Aden it became, in the latter half of that century, a very popular drink, first with lawyers, studious persons, and those whose occupation required wakefulness at night, and soon after, with all classes. Its use gradually extended to other cities, and to those on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Towards the end of the 17th century, it was carried to Batavia, where it soon extensively planted, and at last young trees were sent to the botanical garden at Amsterdam. Who introduced it into France and England? Thevenot, a traveller, brought it into France, and a Greek servant named Pasqua, taken to England by Mr Daniel Edwards, a turkey merchant in 1862 to make his coffee, first set up the profession of coffee man, and introduced the drink among the English. How is it prepared? The berries are roasted in a revolving metal cylinder, till they are of a deep brown colour, and then ground to powder and boiled. Metallic, consisting of metal. What is chocolate? A kind of cake or paste made of the kernel of the cacao nut. Describe the cacao nut tree. It resembles the cherry tree, and grows to the height of 15 or 16 feet. The cacao nut tree bears leaves, flowers and fruit all the year through. Where does it grow? In tropical regions, where it is largely cultivated. Of what form is the fruit? It is somewhat like a cucumber, about 3 inches round, and of a yellowish red colour. It contains from 10 to 40 seeds, each covered with a little rind of a violet colour, when this is stripped off the kernel of which they make the chocolate is visible. How do they make it into a drink? By boiling it with water or milk. There are various newly invented ways of preparing chocolate, so that it may be made in a few minutes, by only pouring boiling water upon it. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of A Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schellenberg. A Catechism of Familiar Things, their history and the events which led to their discovery by Benziger Brothers. Chapter 3 Calico, cotton, cloth, wool, bays, linen, flax, hemp, diaper, holland, canvas and flannel. What is Calico? A kind of printed cotton cloth of different colours. From what place did it take its name? From Calico, a city on the coast of Malabar where it was first made, much is now manufactured in the United States, England and many other countries. What is cotton? A downy or wooly substance enclosed in the pod or seed vessel of the cotton plant. The commercial classification of cotton is determined, one by cleanliness or freedom from sand, dry leaf and other impurities, two by absence of colour, both subject also to character of staple, length and strength and fineness of fibre. These together determine relative value. There are two general classifications, long stapled and short stapled. Of the former the best is the sea island cotton of the United States. The short staple cotton grows in the middle and upper country. The long staple is cultivated in the lower country near the sea and on the islands near the coasts. How is it cultivated? The seeds are sown in ridges made with the plough or hoe. When the plants are mature the pods open and the cotton is picked from them. Where did cotton anciently grow and for what was it used? In Egypt where it was used by the priests and sacrifices for a very singular kind of garment worn by them alone. In what manufacture is it now used? It is woven into muslins, dimities, cloths, calicoes etc. and is also joined with silks and flax in the composition of other stuffs and in working with the needle. How is the cotton separated from the seed? By machines called cotton gins of which there are two kinds the roller gin and the saw gin. In the former the cotton just as gathered from the plant is drawn between two rollers placed so closely together as to permit the passage of the cotton but not of the seeds which are consequently left behind. In the saw gin the cotton is placed in a receiver one side of which consists of a grating of parallel wires about an eighth of an inch apart. Circular saws revolving on a common axis between these wires entangle in their teeth the cotton and draw it from the seeds which are too large to pass between the wires. How is it made into calicoes etc.? The cotton having been separated from the seed is spun by a machine for the purpose. It is next woven then dressed and printed. What is cloth? The word in its general sense includes all kinds of stuffs woven in the loom whether the threads be of wool, cotton, hemp or flax. To what is it more particularly applied? To a web or tissue of woolen threads. Web anything woven? What is wool? The covering or hair of sheep. To prepare it for the weaver it is first shorn, washed and dried then carded or combed by machinery into fibers or threads. Formerly this was always performed by the hand by means of an instrument called a comb with several rows of pointed teeth. This, though not much used now, is still occasionally employed except in large factories. This combing is repeated two or three times till it is sufficiently smooth and even for spinning. Spinning or converting wool or cotton, silk etc. into thread was anciently performed by the distaff and spindle. These we find mentioned in sacred history and they have been used in all ages and in all countries yet discovered. The natives of India and of some other parts of the world still employ this simple invention. What was the next improvement? The invention of the hand wheel. In 1767 a machine called the spinning Jenny was invented by a weaver named Hargreaves. But the greatest improvement in the art of spinning was affected by Mr. Arkwright in 1768. These two inventions were combined and again improved upon in 1776 so that by the new plan the material can be converted into thread in a considerably shorter space of time than in the ancient mode. Leaving to man merely to feed the machine and join the threads when they break. The sheep whose wool forms the material for nearly all woolen clothing came originally from Africa. Does weaving differ according to the material used? The principle of weaving is the same in every kind of fabric and consists in forming any kind of thread into a flat web or cloth by interlacing one thread with another. Various appearances of the manufacture arise as much from the modes in which the threads are interwoven as from the difference of material. Is not the employment of wool in the manufacture of clothing of great antiquity? In the earliest records we possess of the arts of mankind wool is mentioned as forming a chief article in the manufacture of clothing. It is spoken of in the Bible as a common material for cloth as early as the time of Moses. The ancient Greeks and Romans are well known to have possessed this art. At the beginning of the 13th century the manufacture was established in many parts of Europe particularly in Spain from which country had extended itself to France and Italy. There is no doubt that it was introduced into England by its conquerors the Romans a manufactory being established at Winchester sufficiently large to supply the Roman army. Manufactory a place where things are made or manufactured derived from the Latin manus a hand and the verb facchio to do or make. What circumstance contributed to the progress of this manufacture among the English? In 1330 the English being desirous of improving their woolen manufacture invited over the Flemings by the offer of various privileges to establish manufactories there. The skill of these people soon affected a great improvement in the English fabrics so that there no longer remained any occasion for the exportation of English wool into Flanders to be manufactured into fine cloth and a law was passed by the government to forbid it. Both the cotton and woolen manufactures have, of late years, arisen to great importance in the United States. What country affords the best wool? The wool of Germany is most esteemed at the present day. That of Spain was formerly the most valuable but the Spanish breed of sheep having been introduced into Germany succeeded better there than in Spain and increased so rapidly that the Spanish wool trade has greatly diminished. Australia is one of the principal wool growing countries in the world for the breed of sheep sent out to that country and Tasmania has succeeded remarkably well. What part of the world is meant by Australia? A British island in the South Pacific Ocean comprising the colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. It is the principal of the group of large islands in the Oriental Archipelago. Tasmania is another of the same group separated from New South Wales by a channel called Basses Strait and also belongs to Great Britain. What is meant by an archipelago? A part of a sea studded with numerous islands but the term is more particularly applied to that lying between Europe and Asia which contains the Greek islands. The word is a corruption from the Greek signifying the Aegean Sea. Is the wool of the sheep all of one quality? No, it varies according to the species of sheep, the soil on which they are fed and the part of the animal from which it is taken. The chief distinction is between the long and the short wool. The long wool is employed in the manufacture of carpets, crepes, blankets, etc., and the finer and shorter sorts for hosiery, broadcloths, etc. Where were carpets originally made? Carpets are of oriental origin and are made of different sorts of stuffs. They are woven in a variety of ways. Persian and turkey carpets are most esteemed. They are woven in a piece in looms of a very simple construction. Formerly the manufacture of these carpets was confined to Persia and Turkey but they are now successfully made both in Europe and the United States, etc. Great Britain is the principal seat of the carpet manufacture of the world. Brussels, Wilton, and Kitterminster carpets derive their names from the places where they were invented. Is not the art of weaving very ancient? It appears to have been known from a period as early as the time of Abraham and Jacob. Its inventor is not known but it is possible that men took a lesson from the ingenious spider which weaves its web after the same manner. The ancient Egyptians appear to have brought it to great perfection and were even acquainted with the art of interweaving colors after the manner of the Scottish plaid. What is bays? A coarse open woollen stuff with a long nap. It is chiefly made in the United States, England, France, etc. What is linen? There are various kinds of linen made from cotton, flax, and hemp but the term is chiefly applied to that woven with the last two mentioned. Linen means cloth of flax, hence its derivation from the Latin word, linum, flax. What is flax? An annual plant, the fibers of which are beaten into threads, spun, and afterwards woven into linen. It is extensively cultivated in the United States, Russia, and some other countries of Europe. Hemp is a plant of a similar nature, equally used with flax, in the manufacture of linens. Russian hemp is cultivated to a larger extent than that of any other country and is considered the best that has grown. How long has the use of hemp and flax been known? Those plants are said to be natives of Persia and introduced from some parts of the East into Europe, over which it is now widely distributed. It existed both in a wild and cultivated state in some parts of Russia as early as five centuries before Christ. These products form a considerable article of exportation besides the quantity used in Russia itself. A considerable part is wrought into linens, diapers, canvas, and other manufacturers. And even the seeds are exported, both in their natural state and as oil. In various parts of Russia hemp seed oil and flax seed, or linseed oil, are prepared in very large quantities. What is diaper? A sort of linen cloth woven in flowers and other figures, it is said to have received its name from Depère, now Ypres, a town of Belgium, situated on a river of the same name where it was first made. What is Holland? A fine, close, even linen cloth used for sheets, etc. It obtained its name from being principally made in Holland. What is canvas? A hempen cloth, so loosely woven as to leave interstices between the threads in little squares. It is used for working in patterns upon it with wools, etc., by painters for a groundwork on which they draw their pictures, for tents, sails, and many other purposes. There are several sorts varying in the fineness of their texture. What is damask? A sort of silken stuff having some parts raised on its surface to represent flowers or figures. It took its name from Damascus in Syria whence it was first brought. Is there not another sort of damask? Yes, made from linen and so called because its large flowers resemble those of damask roses. It was first made in Flanders and is used for table linen, etc. What is flannel? A slight, loose, woolen stuff used for warm clothing. It was originally made in Wales where it still continues to be manufactured in great perfection. End of Chapter 3 Read by Kara Schallenberg, www.kray.org, on October 19, 2007, in Oceanside, California. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jonathan Horneblo. A catechism of familiar things, their history, and the events which led to their discovery by Benziger Brothers. Chapter 4 Coco, Toddy, Cherries, Bark, Cork, Cochoneal, Cloves, Cinnamon and Cassia Of what form is the tree which bears those large nuts, called coconuts? It is tall and straight without branches and generally about 30 or 40 feet high. At the top are 12 leaves, 10 feet long and half a foot broad. Above the leaves grows a large excrements in the form of a cabbage. Excellent to eat, but taking it off kills the tree. The cocoa is a species of palm. Is not the Indian liquor called Toddy produced from the cocoa tree? Yes, between the leaves and the top arise several shoots about the thickness of a man's arm, which, when cut, distill a white, sweet and agreeable liquor. While this liquor exudes, the tree yields no fruit, but when the shoots are allowed to grow, it puts out a large cluster or branch on which the coconuts hang, to the number of 10 or 12. To still, to let fall in drops, exude, to force or throw out. How often does this tree produce nuts? Three times a year, the nuts being about the size of a man's head and of an oval form. Of what countries is it a native? Of Asia, the Indies, Africa, Arabia, the islands of the Southern Pacific and the hottest parts of America. What are the uses of this tree? The leaves of the tree are made into baskets. They also used for thatching houses. The fibrous bark of the nut and the trunk of the tree are made into cordage, sails and cloth. The shell into drinking bowls and cups. The kernel affords a wholesome food, and the milk contained in the shell a cooling liquor. From what country was the cherry tree first bought? From Ceresus, a city of Pontus in Asia, on the southern borders of the Black Sea, from which place this tree was brought to Rome in the year of that city, 680, by Lucilus it was conveyed 120 years after into Great Britain, AD 55. What is the meaning of AD? A short way of writing Anno Domini, Latin words for in the year of our Lord. Who was Lucilus? A renowned Roman general. Is the wood of the cherry tree useful? It is used in cabinet making for boxes and other articles. What is bark? The exterior part of trees which serves them as a skin or covering. Exterior the outside. Does it not undergo some change during the year? Each year the bark of a tree divides and distributes itself two contrary ways. The outer part gives towards the skin till it becomes skin itself and at length falls off. The inner part is added to the wood. The bark is to the body of the tree what the skin of our body is to the flesh. Of what use is bark? Bark is useful for many things. Of the bark of willows and linden trees, ropes are sometimes made. The Siamese made their cordage of the cocoa tree bark as do most of the Asiatic and African nations. In the East Indies, they made the bark of a certain tree into a kind of cloth. Some are used in medicines as the Peruvian bark for quinine, others in dyeing, as that of the older, others in spicery, a cinnamon, etc. The oak, in tanning, that of a kind of birch is used by the Indians for making canoes. What are canoes? Boats used by savages. They are made chiefly of trunks of trees dug hollow and sometimes of pieces of bark fastened together. How do the savages guide them? With paddles or oars they seldom carry sails and the loading is laid in the bottom. Are not the savages very dexterous Yes, extremely so. They strike the paddles with such regularity that their canoes seem to fly along the surface of the water at the same time balancing the vessels with their bodies to prevent their overturning. Dexterous Expert Nimble Do they leave their canoes in the water on their return from a voyage? No. They draw them ashore, hang them up by the two ends and try. They are generally so light as to be easily carried from place to place. Were not books once made of bark? Yes. The ancients wrote their books on the barks of many trees as on those of the ash and the lime tree etc. Which part did they use? Not the exterior or outer bark but the inner and finer which is of so durable a texture that there are manuscripts written on it which are still extant although more than a thousand years old. Is it not used in manure? Yes, especially that of the oak but the best oak bark is used in tanning. What is cork? A thick, spongy, external bark of the corked tree a species of oak. There are two varieties of this tree the broadleaved and the narrow. It is an evergreen and grows to the height of 30 feet. The cork tree attains to a very great age. Where is the tree found? In Spain, Italy, France and many other countries the true cork is the produce of the broadleaved tree. What are its uses? Cork is employed in various ways but especially for stopping vessels containing liquid and on account of its buoyancy in water in the construction of lifeboats. It is also used in the manufacture of life preservers and cork jackets. The greatest quantities are bought from Catalonia in Spain. The uses of cork were well known to the ancients. What are its uses? Cork is employed in various ways but especially for stopping vessels containing liquids and on account of its buoyancy in water in the construction of lifeboats. It is also used in the manufacture of life preservers and cork jackets. To what particular use did the Egyptians put it? They made coffins of it lined with a resinous composition which preserved the bodies of the dead uncorrupted. What is cochineal? A drug used by the dyers for dyeing crimson and scarlets and for making carmine a brilliant red used in painting and several of the arts. Is it a plant? No, it is an insect. The form of the cochineal is oval. It is about the size of a small pea and has six legs armed with claws and a trunk by which it sucks its nourishment. What is its habitation? It breeds in a fruit resembling a pear. The plant which bears it is about five or six feet high. At the top of the fruit grows a red flower which, when full blown, falls upon it. The fruit then appears full of little red insects having very small wings. These are the cochineals. How are they caught? By spreading a cloth under the plant and shaking it with poles till the insects quit it and fly about which they cannot do many minutes but soon tumble down dead into the cloth where they are left till quite dry. Does the insect change its colour when it is dead? When the insect flies it is red when it is fallen, black and when it is first dried it is greyish but afterwards it changes to a purplish grey powdered over with a kind of white dust. From what countries is the cochineal bought? From the West Indies, Jamaica, Mexico and other parts of America. What are cloves? The dried flower buds of the clove tree anciently a native of the mollicus but afterwards transplanted by the Dutch who traded in them to other islands particularly that of Ternate. It is now found in most of the East Indian islands. Describe the clove tree. It is a large, handsome tree of the myrtle kind. Its leaves resemble those of the laurel though the clove tree is cultivated to a great extent yet so easily does the fruit on falling take root and multiplies itself in many instances without the trouble of culture. The clove when it first begins to appear is white, then green and at last hard and red. When dried it turns yellow and then dark brown. What are its qualities? The clove is the hottest and most accurate of aromatic substances one of our most wholesome spices and of great use in medicine. It also yields an abundance of oil which is much used by perfumers and in medicine. Acrid of a hot biting taste aromatic fragrant having an agreeable odor. What is cinnamon? An agreeable aromatic spice the bark of a tree of the laurel kind. The cinnamon tree grows in the southern parts of India but most abundantly in the island of Ceylon which is extensively cultivated. Its flowers are white resembling those of the lilac in form and a very fragrant they are born in large clusters. The tree sends up numerous shoots the third or fourth year after it has been planted these shoots are planted out when nearly an inch in thickness. How is the bark procured? By stripping it off from these shoots after they've been cut down the trees planted for the purpose of obtaining cinnamon throw out a great number of branches apparently from the same root and are not allowed to rise higher than 10 feet but in its native and cultivated state the cinnamon tree usually rises to the height of 20 or 30 feet. How is the cinnamon tree cultivated? By seed sown during the rains from shoots cut from large leaves and by transplanting old stumps the cinnamon tree in its wild state is said to be propagated by means of a kind of pigeons and its fruit in carrying which to their nests the seeds fall out and dropping in various places take root, spring up and become trees propagated, spread extended, multiplied What else is obtained from this tree? The bark besides being used as a spice yields an oil highly esteemed both as a medicine and as a perfume which by boiling also produces an oil used by the natives for burning in lamps as soon it hardens it becomes a solid substance like wax and is formed into candles camphor is extracted from the root cassia is a cinnamon of inferior kind End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of A Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This reading by Kara Schellenberg A Catechism of Familiar Things Their History and the events which led to their discovery by the Benziger Brothers Chapter 5 Bombazine, crepe, camelot, cambrick, lace silk, velvet and mohair What is Bombazine? A stuff composed of silk and cotton together in a loom It was first made at Milan and thence sent abroad Great quantities are now made in England and other countries Where is Milan situated? In Italy and is noted for its cathedral For what is Bombazine used? For dresses Black Bombazine is worn entirely for morning The original Bombazine has however become much less used than formerly on account of the numerous newly invented fabrics and quantities composed of the same materials mixed in various degrees as Mussolindelaine, Chalice, etc. What is crepe? A light, transparent stuff resembling gauze made of raw silk very loosely woven or of wool By raw silk is meant silk in the state in which it is taken from the silkworm Where was crepe first made? At Bologna a city of Italy What city of France and its manufacture? Lyon the second city of France where there are large silk manufacturers Great quantities are also made in England principally in the city of Norwich which has long been distinguished for the beauty of its crepes What is Camelot? A stuff made sometimes of wool sometimes of silk and hair especially that of goats The Oriental Camelot is made of the pure hair of a sort of goat the European Camelots are made of a mixture of wool and thread and hair What countries are most noted for them? England, France, Holland and Flanders The city of Brussels in Belgium exceeds them all in the beauty and quality of its Camelots Those of England are the next What is Cambric? A species of linen made of flax it is very fine and white From whence did it take its name? From Cambrae a large and celebrated city of French Flanders where it was first made It is now made at other places in France and also in England, Scotland, Ireland the United States, etc. What is lace? A work composed of many threads of fine linen or silk interwoven one with another according to some particular pattern Belgium, France and England are the principal countries in which this manufacture is carried on vast quantities of the finest laces were formerly made in Flanders From what is silk produced? From the silk worm an insect not more remarkable for the precious matter it furnishes than for the many forms it assumes before and after it envelops itself in the beautiful ball the silk and threads of which form the elegant texture which is so much worn texture a web or substance woven What are the habits of this insect and on what does it feed? After bursting from the egg it becomes a large worm or caterpillar of a yellowish white color which is its first state This caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree till arriving at maturity it winds itself up in a silk and bag or case called a cocoon about the size and shape of a pigeon's egg and becomes a chrysalis in which state it lies without signs of life in about ten days it eats its way out of its case a perfect butterfly which lays a number of eggs and then dies in the warmth of the summer weather these eggs are hatched and become worms as their parents did at first maturity, ripeness, perfection How much silk is each ball said to contain? Each ball consists of a very fine soft bright delicate thread which being wound off extends in length six miles What is meant by chrysalis? The second state into which the insect passes before it comes to be a butterfly the maggot or worm having ceased to eat fixes itself in some place till its skin separates and discovers a horny oblong body which is the chrysalis Where was silk first made? The culture and manufacture of silk is now known The culture and manufacture of silk was originally confined to China The Greeks, under Alexander the Great brought home, among other eastern luxuries wrought silk from Persia about 323 BC It was not long unknown to the Romans although it was so rare that it was even sold weight for weight with gold The emperor Aurelian who died in 275 BC refused the Empress his wife a suit of silk which she solicited with much earnestness merely on account of its dearness Helio Gabolus the emperor who died a half century before Aurelian was the first who wore a holocericum or garment all of silk who introduced the silkworm itself into Europe Two monks engaged as missionaries in China obtained a quantity of silkworm's eggs which they concealed in a hollow cane and conveyed in safety to Constantinople in 552 The eggs were hatched in the proper season by the warmth of manure and the worms fed with the leaves of the wild mulberry tree These worms in due time spun their silk and propagated under the care of the monks who also instructed the Romans in the whole process of manufacturing their production From the insects thus produced proceeded all the silkworms which have since been reared in Europe and the western parts of Asia The mulberry tree was then eagerly planted and on this their natural food they were successfully reared in Greece and the manufacture was established at Thebes, Athens and Corinth in particular The Venetians soon after this time commencing a trade with the Greeks supplied all the western parts of Europe with silks for many centuries Where were the cities of Thebes and Athens situated? Thebes was an ancient city of Biosia in Greece founded by Cadmus of Phoenician though of Egyptian parentage Sailing from the coast of Phoenicia he arrived in Biosia and built the city, calling it Thebes from the city of that name in Egypt To this prince is ascribed the invention of 16 letters of the Greek alphabet Athens was the capital of Attica founded by Secrops and Egyptian It was the seat of learning and the arts of Orators, poets and sculptors in the world Since the emancipation of Greece from the cruel bondage of its conquerors the Turks, who had oppressed it for three centuries Athens has been chosen as its capital and is still a considerable town adorned with splendid ruins of the beautiful buildings it once possessed Thebes and Corinth another celebrated city are now only villages Warrior, a soldier a public speaker Poet, one who composes poetry Sculptor, one who cuts figures in stone, marble or ivory Who were the Venetians? Inhabitants of Venice a city of Italy Did this manufacture continue to be confined to the Greeks and Venetians? By no means the rest of Italy and Spain by degrees learnt the art from some manufactories in Sicily Since the first the French became masters of it It however long remained a rarity their king, Henry II is supposed to have worn the first pair of knit silk stockings The fourth Henry encouraged the planting of mulberry trees His successors also did the same and the produce of silk in France is now very considerable When was the manufacture of silk introduced into England? There was a company of silk women in England as early as the year 1455 but they probably were merely employed in needlework of silk and thread for Italy supplied England with the broad manufacture during the chief part of the 15th century The great advantage for this new manufacture afforded made King James the first very desirous for its introduction into England particularly in 1608 when it was recommended in very earnest terms to plant mulberry trees in silkworms but unhappily without effect However, towards the latter end of this reign the broad silk manufacture was introduced and with great success The revocation of the Edict of Nantes contributed greatly to its promotion by the number of French workmen who took refuge in England To them the English are indebted for the art of manufacturing many elegant kinds of silks satins, velvets, etc. which had formerly been imported in 1818 The silk manufacture has also been successfully introduced into some portions of the United States Revocation Act of Recalling Repeal Imported Brought into What was the Edict of Nantes? A law made in favour of the Protestants the repealing of which drove many of their most skillful workmen to take refuge in England They were kindly received in flourishing and ingenious manufacture Were the attempts to rear silkworms in England successful? No, after many trials all of which failed attention was directed to the establishments for procuring both raw and wrought silks in the settlements in India belonging to Britain This was attended with complete success the climate being extremely favourable and the price of labour cheap Raw silk is imported in quantities from India, China, Italy, etc. How is the silk taken from the worm? The people who are employed in the care of these insects collect the golden balls from off the mulberry trees to the leaves of which the insects glue their silk and put them into warm water that the threads may unfasten and wind off more easily Having taken off the coarse woolly part which covers the balls they take 12 or 14 threads at a time and wind them off into skeins In order to prepare this beautiful material for the hand of the weaver to be wrought into silks, stuffs, brocades, satins, velvet, ribbons, etc. it is spun, reeled, milled, bleached, and dyed milled, worked in a kind of mill bleached, whitened What is velvet? A rich kind of stuff all silk covered on the outside with a close, short, fine, soft shag being very strong and close The principal number and the best velvets were made in France and Italy others in Holland they are now brought to great perfection in England An inferior kind is made by mixing cotton with the silk Velvet has long been known in Europe for some centuries but its manufacture was long confined to some of the chief cities of Italy From that country the French learned the art and greatly improved it Whence is the word velvet derived? It is the word velutto signifying velvet which comes from vellus, hair, or fleece What is mohair? The hair of a kind of goat common about Angora in Turkey it is used in the manufacture of various kinds of stuffs shawls, etc. Is there not another animal much celebrated for the material it furnishes in the making of shawls? Yes, the Tibet goat the wool is sent to cashmere where it has spun and died cashmere is situated in the northwest extremity of India and has long been celebrated for the beautiful and valuable shawls bearing its name which are manufactured there The goats are beautiful creatures with long, fine, wavy hair reaching nearly to the ground so as almost to conceal their legs The material of which the shawls are made is a fine, silky down which grows under the long hair next to the skin Chapter 5 Read on November 5th, 2007 in Oceanside, California Chapter 6 of a Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A Catechism of Familiar Things the history and the events which led to their discovery by Benzika Brothers Chapter 6 Sugar, Sugar Candy, etc. and Sago, Millet, Ginger, Nutmeg, Mace, Pimento or Allspice, Pepper and Cayenne Pepper What are currants? A kind of small raisin or dried grapes Whence are they brought? From several islands of the Archipelago particularly Zanti and Cephalonia and from the Estimus of Corinth in Greece Do they grow on bushes No on vines like other grapes except that the leaves are somewhat thicker and the grapes much smaller they have no pips and are of a deep red or rather black colour When are they gathered and how are they dried? They are gathered in August and laid on the ground in heaps till dry Then they are cleaned and put onto magazines from which they are taken and packed in barrels for exportation What do you mean by exportation? The act of conveying goods for sale from one country to another What are raisins? Grapes prepared by drying them in the sun or by the heat of an oven Raisins of Damascus so called from the capital city of Syria near which they are cultivated are very large, flat and wrinkled on the surface soft and juicy inside and nearly an inch long Raisins of the sun or jar raisins so called from being imported in jars are all dried by the heat of the sun They are of a reddish blue colour and are the produce of Spain whence the finest and best raisins are brought There are several other sorts named either from the place in which they grow or the kind of grape of which they are made as those of Malaga, Valentia etc In what manner are they dried? The common way of drying grapes for raisins is to tie two or three bunches of them together while yet on the vine and dip them into a lye made of hot wood ashes mixed in with a little olive oil This makes them shrink and wrinkle After this they are cut from the branches which supported them but left on the vine for three or four days separated on sticks in an upright position to dry at leisure Different modes however are adopted according to the quality of the grape The commonest kinds are dried in hot ovens but the best way is that in which the grapes are cut when fully ripe and dried by the heat of the sun on a floor of hard earth or stone Lye a liquor made from wood ashes of great use in medicine bleaching, sugar works etc What are figs? A soft, luscious fruit the produce of the fig tree The best figs are brought from Turkey but they are also imported from Italy, Spain and the southern part of France The islands of the archipelago yield an inferior sort in great abundance In this country they are sometimes planted in a warm situation in gardens but being difficult to ripen they do not arrive at perfection The figs sent from abroad are dried by the heat of the sun or in furnaces for the purpose Luscious sweet to excess What is rice? A useful and nutritious grain cultivated in immense quantities in India, China and most eastern countries in the West Indies, Central America and the United States and in Southern Europe It forms the principal food of the people of the eastern and southern Asia and is more extensively consumed than any other species of grain not even accepting wheat Nutritious Wholesome Good for food Does it not require a great deal of moisture? Yes It is usually planted in moist soils and near rivers where the ground can be overflowed after it has come up The Chinese water their rice fields by means of movable mills placed as occasion requires upon any part of the banks of a river The water is raised in buckets to a proper height for the best in places What is sugar? A sweet, agreeable substance manufactured chiefly from the sugar cane a native of the eastern West Indies, South America and the South Sea Islands It is much cultivated in all tropical countries The earliest authentic accounts of sugar are about from the time of the Crusades when it appears to have been purchased from the Saracens and imported into Europe Note Most of the sugar in Europe is made from beets Authentic True Certain Crusades Holy Wars Saracens Turks or Arabs How is it prepared? The canes are crushed between large rollers in a mill and the juice collected in a large vessel placed to receive it in a bowl when it becomes imperfectly crystallized in which state we use it This is called raw or soft sugar Loaf sugar or the hard white sugar is the raw brown sugar prepared by refining it to all foreign matter is removed Is the sugar cane the only vegetable that produces sugar? All vegetables contain more or less sugar but the plant in which it most abounds is the sugar cane In the United States a large quantity of sugar is prepared from the sap of the sugar maple tree The leaves are tapped at the proper season by a cut being made in the bark and the juice runs into a vessel placed to receive it It is then prepared in the same manner as the juice of the sugar cane What is sugar candy? Sugar purified and crystallized What is sugar barley? Sugar boiled till it is brittle and cast on a stone anointed with the oil of sweet almonds and then formed into twisted sticks What is sago? A substance prepared from the pith of the sago palm which grows naturally in various parts of Africa and the Indies The pith which is even eatable in its natural state is taken from the trunk of the tree and thrown into a vessel placed over a horse hair sieve Water is then thrown over the mass and the finer parts of the pith the liquor thus obtained is left to settle The clear liquor is then drawn off and what remains is formed into grains by being passed through metal dishes with numerous small holes It is next dried by the action of heat and in this state it is exported The sago palm also produces sugar What is millet? and in what countries does it grow? Millet is an escalant grain originally brought in from European countries It is cultivated in many parts of Europe but most extensively in Egypt Syria, China and Hindustan whence we are furnished with it It being rarely cultivated amongst us except as a curiosity Escalant Good for food For what is millet used? It is in great request amongst the Germans for puddings for which it is sometimes used amongst us The Italians make loaves and cakes out of it What is ginger? The root of a plant cultivated in the east and west Indies and in America It is a native of southeastern Asia and the adjoining islands Describe its nature and juice It is a warm aromatic much used in medicine and cookery The Indians eat the root when green as a salad chopping it small with other herbs They also make a candy of it with sugar The ginger sold in the shops here is dried which is done by placing the roots in the heat of the sun or in ovens after being dug out of the ground Quantities not only of the dry root but also of the candied sugar are imported What are nutmegs? A delicate aromatic fruit or spice bought from the east Indies The nutmeg tree greatly resembles our pear tree and produces a kind of nut which bears the same name as the tree What is the appearance of the nutmeg? Its form is round and its smell agreeable The nutmeg is enclosed in four different covers The first, a thick fleshy coat like our walnut which opens of itself when ripe Under this lies a thin reddish network of an agreeable smell and aromatic taste called mace This wraps up the shell which opens as the fruit grows The shell is the third cover which is hard, thin and blackish Under this is a greenish film of no use and in the last you find the nutmeg which is the kernel of the fruit What are its uses? The nutmeg is much used in our food and is of excellent virtue as a medicine It also yields an oil of great fragrance Is the mace used as a spice? Yes It is separated from the shell of the nutmeg and dried in the sun It is brought over in flakes of a yellow colour smooth and net like as you see it in the shops Its taste is warm, bitterish and rather pungent its smell aromatic It is used both in food and medicine as the nutmeg and also yields an oil Pungent with a hot biting taste What is pimento or allspice? The dried unripe berry or fruit of a tree growing in great abundance in Jamaica particularly on the northern side of that island on hilly spots near the coast it is also a native of both Indies The pimento tree is a west Indian species of myrtle It grows to the height of 20 or 30 feet The leaves are all of a deep shining green and the blossom consists of numerous branches of small white aromatic flowers which render its appearance very striking There is scarcely in the vegetable world any tree more beautiful than a young pimento about the month of July when it is in full blossom When is the time to gather the spice? About the month of September not long after the blossoms have fallen the berries are gathered by the hand One labourer on the tree employed in gathering the small branches will give employment to three below who are generally women and children in picking the berries They are then spread out thinly and exposed to the sun as its rising and setting for some days When they begin to dry they are frequently winnowed and laid on cloths to preserve them better from rain and dew By this management they become wrinkled and change from green to deep reddish brown colour Great quantities are annually imported What are its uses? It forms a pleasant addition to flavour food It also yields an agreeable essential oil and is accounted the best and mildest of common spices Essential, pure, extracted so as to contain all the virtues of the spice in a very small compass Why is it called allspice? Because it has been supposed to combine the flavour of cloves, nutmegs and cinnamon The French call it round clove from its round shape and the taste being somewhat like that spice What is pepper? The product of a creeping shrub growing in several parts of the East Indies, Asia and America In what manner does pepper grow and what part of the shrub is used? Pepper is the fruit of this shrub and grows in bunches or clusters At first green as it ripens it becomes reddish until having been exposed for some time to the heat of the sun or probably gathered before a perfectly ripe it becomes black as in the condition we have it There are two sorts the black and the white What is the white pepper? The white pepper is merely the black deprived of its outside skin For this purpose the finest red berries are selected and put in baskets to steep either in running water or in pits dug for the purpose near the banks of rivers Sometimes they are only buried in the ground In any of these situations they swell and burst their skins from which when dry they are carefully separated by rubbing between the hands or fanning What is cayenne pepper? The dried fruit of a plant called birdpepper a native of both indies it is more pungent than the other sorts End of Chapter 6 Recording by Jonathan Horney Blow Chapter 7 of A Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This reading by Kara Schallenberg A Catechism of Familiar Things Their history and the events which led to their discovery by the Benziger Brothers Chapter 7 Glass, Mirrors, Earthenware Porcelain, Needles, Pins, Paper Printing, Parchment and Velum What is glass? A transparent, solid, brittle, fictitious body produced by fusing sand with an alkali. The essential ingredients of glass are silex and potash or soda. A few other substances are sometimes added. Silex is found nearly pure in rock crystal, flint and other varieties of quartz. For the manufacture of the better kinds of glass in this country it is generally obtained from sand especially the white sand of New Jersey. Fictitious, made by art not found in a state of nature What is potash? The saline matter obtained from the ashes of wood by causing water to pass through them. The water imbibes the salt which is then obtained from it by evaporation. When purified by calcination it is termed pearl ash. In countries where there are vast forests as in America and Russia it is manufactured on a very large scale. What can you say of the origin of glass? The period of its invention is quite unknown. Pliny relates that some merchants driven by a storm to the coast of Phoenicia near the river Bellis made a large fire on the sand to dress some food using as fuel some of the plant Kali which grew there in great abundance. An imperfect glass was thus formed by the melting of the sand and ashes together. This production was picked up by a Syrian merchant who examined the cause of its origin and after many attempts succeeded in its manufacture. Who was Pliny? A celebrated Roman naturalist and historian. At what place was glass first made? Some authors mentioned Sidon in Syria which became famous for glass and glass houses but others maintained that the first glass houses noticed in history were built at Tyre and was the only place where glass was made for many ages. It is certain that the art was known to the Egyptians. What is Phoenicia? A subdivision of Syria in Asia. What is an author? A person who writes a book. What is signified by a glass house? A building erected for the making and working of glass. What countries had glass windows first? Italy, then France and England. They began to be common about the year 1180. In what year and where was the making of glass bottles begun? In 1557 in London the first glass plates for mirrors and coach windows were made at Lambeth in 1673. What is a mirror? A body which exhibits the images of objects presented to it by reflection. The word mirror is more peculiarly used to signify a smooth surface tinned and quick-silvered at the back, which reflects the images of objects placed before it. Are they a modern invention? The use of mirrors is very ancient. Mention is made of brazen mirrors or looking glasses in Exodus, the 38th chapter and 8th verse. Some modern commentators will not admit the mirrors themselves to have been made of brass but of glass set or framed in brass. But the most learned among the Jewish rabbins say that in those times the mirrors made use of by the Hebrew women in dressing their heads were of metal and that the devout women mentioned in this passage made presents to Moses of all their mirrors to make the brazen laver for the tabernacle. It might likewise be proved that the ancient Greeks made use of brazen mirrors from many passages in the ancient poets. Commentators, explainers of passages doctors among the Jews, their learned men or teachers. What nation invented the large looking glass plates now in use? The French. What city of Italy excelled all Europe for many years in the making of fine glass? Venice. The manufacture of fine glass was introduced into England by Venetian artists in 1078. Of what is earthenware composed? Of clay and those earths which are capable of being needed into a paste easily receiving any form and acquiring solidity by exposure to fire, sand, chalk, and flint are likewise mixed with clay. In what manner is it formed into such a variety of shapes? The flint or sand and soft clay are mixed together in various proportions for the different kinds of wear. This paste is afterwards beaten and being formed at the wheel into plates, dishes, basins, etc. These are then put into a furnace and baked after which they are glazed. What nation so greatly excelled in the manufacture of a beautiful species of earthenware? The Chinese who, as far as can be ascertained were its inventors. Porcelain is a fine sort of earthenware chiefly made in China whence it was called China and also brought from many parts of the East, especially from Japan, Siam, Surat, and Persia. The art of making porcelain was one of those in which Europe had been excelled by Oriental nations, but for many years past earthenwares have been made in different parts of Europe so like the Oriental that they have acquired the name of porcelain. The first European porcelains have been made in China but each possessing its peculiar character. They are now brought to great perfection in Europe, particularly in England, France, and Prussia. Before the invention of earthenware what supplied its place to the early inhabitants of the world? The more civilized the inhabitants of any country become the more they would perceive the convenience of possessing vessels of various descriptions for holding or preparing larger kinds of shells and in hot climates the hard coverings of the coconut or gourd. In some cases the skins of beasts were used as they still are in the East where they are sewed together and formed into a kind of bottle to hold milk, wine, etc. But the people of colder climates would not be able to avail themselves of these natural productions and would be obliged to make use of other substances. What then would they employ? Which in many countries is found in great abundance from its adhesive property and its retaining its form when dry and becoming insoluble in water after having been baked in the fire would naturally attract the attention of an improving people. From this it arises that the early remains of culinary and other vessels which have been discovered have been formed of this material. Among the remains of ancient Egypt numerous vessels have been found formed of common clay and the workmanship extremely elegant in form. Adhesive, sticky, apt or tending to adhere. Insoluble, not capable of being dissolved. Culinary, belonging to cooking or domestic purposes. Of what are needles made? Of steel and though exceedingly cheap they go through a great number of operations before they are brought to perfection. It was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth that the English learnt the art of making needles. Of what are pins made? Of brass wire blanched with tin. They are manufactured in England, France, the United States and other countries. Though there is scarcely any commodity cheaper than pins there is no other which passes through the hands of a greater number of workmen. More than twenty persons being successively employed in the manufacture of each from the drawing of the brass wire have been made in England about fifteen forty-three or even earlier. Before this art was invented the ladies made use of wooden skewers. Blanched, whitened. Of what is paper made? Of linen and cotton rags beaten to a pulp in water also from straw, wood and many plants. What materials were used for writing before the invention of paper? Different ages and countries contrived to write. Stones, bricks the leaves of herbs and trees and their rinds or barks tablets of wood, wax and ivory plates of lead, silk, linen rolls, etc. At length the Egyptian paper made of the papyrus was invented, then parchment and lastly paper manufactured of cotton or linen rags. There are few sorts of plants which have not at some time for instance the leaves of the telepot. In India the leaves of the palm with which they commonly covered their houses were used for books. In the East Indies the leaves of the plantain tree dried in the sun were used for the same purpose. In China paper is made of the inner bark of the mulberry the bamboo, the elm, the cotton and other trees. What is papyrus? Ancient Egyptians made sails, ropes, mats, blankets and canvas of the stocks and fibres of the papyrus. Their priests also wore shoes made of it and even sugar was extracted from this plant. Moses the deliverer raised by God to rescue the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt was exposed to the Nile in a basket of papyrus. The plant is now however exceedingly scarce. Where was the first paper at Dartford by a German named Spillman in 1588. The only sort made however was the coarse brown and it was not till 1690 when the French Protestant refugees settled in England that their own paper makers began to make white writing and printing paper. The manufacture has been brought to great perfection both for beauty and substance in England and the United States. Here it is more particularly means those French Protestants who quit their homes and sought other countries after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes which deprived them of their religious liberty. Is it known to whom the Apostate of the Monk, Martin Luther because they protested against a decree of Charles the Fifth and applied to a general council? Refugee from Refuge to whom we are indebted for the invention of linen paper? Not exactly. It has long been disputed among the learned when and by whom it was invented. Some authors say it was discovered by the Germans. Others by the Italians. Others ascribe it to some refugee Greeks at Basel who took the idea from the making of cotton paper in their own country. Some at the Arabs for many ages made paper and in some provinces of the same materials as are now used by us in its manufacture. In what place was the art of printing first practised? Who were the inventors of printing? In what city and in what year it was begun has long been a subject of great dispute. Menz, Harlem and Strasburg cities of Germany all lay claim to the invention of metal. What was the first book that was printed from metal types? A copy of the Holy Scriptures which made its appearance between the years 1450 and 1452. Who introduced printing into England? William Caxton, a merchant of London who had acquired a knowledge of it in his travels abroad. Of what does printing consist? Of the art of taking impressions with ink from movable characters upon paper or parchment. What is parchment? Sheep or goat skin prepared after a peculiar manner which renders it proper for several uses especially for writing on and for the covering of books. The ancients seemed to have used the skins of animals as a writing material from a remote period. From what is the word parchment taken? From Pergamena the ancient name of this manufacture taken from the country of Pergamus. And to Eumenes, king of that country its invention is usually ascribed though in reality that print appears to have been the improver rather than the inventor of parchment since some accounts refer its invention to a still earlier period of time. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian who lived about 450 years before Christ relates that the ancient Ionians made use of sheep and goat skins many ages before the time of Eumenes. The Persians of old too wrote all their records on skins and probably such skins were prepared and dressed for that purpose after a manner not unlike our parchment though not so artificially. Who were the Ionians? The inhabitants of Ionia an ancient country in the western part of Asia Minor. In what manner is parchment now prepared? The sheep skins are smeared over with lime on the fleshy side folded, laid in heaps and thus left for some days. They are next stretched very tight on wooden frames after having been washed, drained and half dried. The flesh is then carefully taken off with iron instruments constructed on purpose and the skin cleansed from the remaining hairs that adhere to it. After having gone through several operations till it is perfectly clean and smooth it is fit for writing upon. What are the uses of parchment? Parchment is of great use for writings which are to be preserved on account of its great durability. The writing on it remaining perfect for a great number of years. It is also used for the binding of books and various other purposes. What is vellum? A finer sort of parchment than the former but prepared in the same manner except that it is not passed through the lime pit. It is made of the skins of very young calves. There is also a still finer sort made of the skins of sucking lambs or kids. This is called virgin parchment and is very thin, fine and white and is used for fancy work such as ladies' fans, etc. End of chapter 7 read by Kara Schellenberg www.kare.org on November 8th, 2007 in Oceanside, California.