Decline of Science in Englandby Charles BabbageREFLECTIONS ON THE DECLINE OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND,AND ON SOME OF ITS CAUSES.DEDICATION.HAD I INTENDED TO DEDICATE THIS VOLUME, I SHOULD HAVE INSCRIBED IT TO A NOBLEMAN WHOSE EXERTIONS IN PROMOTING EVERY OBJECT THAT CAN ADVANCE SCIENCE REFLECT LUSTRE UPON HIS RANK. BUT THE KINDNESS OF HIS NATURE MIGHT HAVE BEEN PAINED AT HAVING HIS NAME CONNECTED WITH STRICTURES, PERHAPS TOO SEVERELY JUST. I SHALL, THEREFORE, ABSTAIN FROM MENTIONING THE NAME OF ONE WHO WILL FEEL THAT HE HAS COMMANDED MY ESTEEM AND RESPECT.C. BABBAGE.DORSET STREET, MANCHESTER SQUARE, 29th April, 1830.PREFACE.Of the causes which have induced me to print this volume I have little 　

THE VISION SPLENDIDTHE VISIONSPLENDIDWilliam MacLeod Raine1- Page 2-THE VISION SPLENDIDCHAPTER 1Of all the remote streams of influence that pour both before and afterbirth into the channel of our being, what an insignificant fewand theseonly the more obviousare traceable at all. We swim in a sea ofenvironment and heredity, are tossed hither and thither by we know notwhat cross currents of Fate, are tugged at by a thousand eddies of whichwe never dream. The sum of it all makes Life, of which we know so little...　

A Discourse on MethodDISCOURSE ON THE METHOD OF RIGHTLY CONDUCTING THE REASON, AND SEEKING TRUTH IN THE SCIENCESby Rene DescartesPREFATORY NOTE BY THE AUTHORIf this Discourse appear too long to be read at once, it may be divided into six Parts: and, in the first, will be found various considerations touching the Sciences; in the second, the principal rules of the Method which the Author has discovered, in the third, certain of the rules of Morals which he has deduced from this Method; in the fourth, the reasonings by which he establishes the existence of God and of the Human Soul, which are the foundations of his Metaphysic; in the fifth, the order of the Physical questi　

The Call of the Canyonby Zane GreyCHAPTER IWhat subtle strange message had come to her out of the West? Carley Burch laid the letter in her lap and gazed dreamily through the window.It was a day typical of early April in New York, rather cold and gray, with steely sunlight. Spring breathed in the air, but the women passing along Fifty-seventh Street wore furs and wraps. She heard the distant clatter of an L train and then the hum of a motor car. A hurdy-gurdy jarred into the interval of quiet."Glenn has been gone over a year," she mused, "three months over a year and of all his strange letters this seems the strangest yet."She lived again, for the thousandth time, the last moments she had s　

A LOST OPPORTUNITY."Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brothersin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" . . . ."So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if yefrom your hearts forgive not every one his brother theirtrespasses."ST. MATTHEW xviii., 21-35.In a certain village there lived a peasant by the name of IvanScherbakoff. He was prosperous, strong, and vigorous, and wasconsidered the hardest worker in the whole village. He had threesons, who supported themselves by their own labor. The eldestwas married, the second about to be married, and the youngesttook care of the horses and occasionally attended to the...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING THREE-QUARTERby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleWe were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at BakerStreet, but I have a particular recollection of one which reached uson a gloomy February morning, some seven or eight years ago, andgave Mr. Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour. It wasaddressed to him, and ran thus:Please await me. Terrible misfortune. Right wing three-quartermissing, indispensable to-morrow.OVERTON."Strand postmark, and dispatched ten thirty-six," said Holmes,...　

Minna von Barnhelmby Gotthold Ephraim LessingTranslated By Ernest BellINTRODUCTORY NOTEGotthold Ephraim Lessing was born at Kamenz, Germany, January 22, 1729, the son of a Lutheran minister. He was educated at Meissen and Leipzic, and began writing for the stage before he was twenty. In 1748 he went to Berlin, where he met Voltaire and for a time was powerfully influenced by him. The most important product of this period was his tragedy of "Miss Sara Samson," a modern version of the story of Medea, which began the vogue of the sentimental middle-class play in Germany. After a second sojourn in Leipzic (1755-1758), during which he wrote criticism, lyrics, and fables, Lessin　

Man and SupermanA COMEDY AND A PHILOSOPHYBy George Bernard ShawEPISTLE DEDICATORY TO ARTHUR BINGHAM WALKLEYMy dear Walkley:You once asked me why I did not write a Don Juan play. The levitywith which you assumed this frightful responsibility has probablyby this time enabled you to forget it; but the day of reckoninghas arrived: here is your play! I say your play, because quifacit per alium facit per se. Its profits, like its labor, belongto me: its morals, its manners, its philosophy, its influence onthe young, are for you to justify. You were of mature age whenyou made the suggestion; and you knew your man. It is hardlyfifteen years since, as twin pioneers of the New Journalism of...　

MOTHER HOLLEONCE upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters;one of them was pretty and clever, and the other ugly andlazy. But as the ugly one was her own daughter, she liked her farthe best of the two, and the pretty one had to do all the work of thehouse, and was in fact the regular maid of all work. Every day shehad to sit by a well on the high road, and spin till her fingers wereso sore that they often bled. One day some drops of blood fell onher spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, asluck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in. Sheran weeping to her stepmother, and told her what had happened,...　

HIS DOGHIS DOGBy ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE 19221- Page 2-HIS DOGCHAPTER I. The DerelictLink Ferris was a fighter. Not by nature, nor by choice, but to keepalive.His battleground covered an area of forty acresbroken, scrubby,uncertain side-hill acres, at that. In brief, a worked-out farm among themountain slopes of the North Jersey hinterland; six miles from the nearest...　

AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONSby Adam Smith1776BOOK TWOOF THE NATURE, ACCUMULATION, AND EMPLOYMENT OF STOCKINTRODUCTIONIN that rude state of society in which there is no divisionof labour, in which exchanges are seldom made, and in which everyman provides everything for himself, it is not necessary that anystock should be accumulated or stored up beforehand in order tocarry on the business of the society. Every man endeavours tosupply by his own industry his own occasional wants as theyoccur. When he is hungry, he goes to the forest to hunt; when his...　

Zanoniby Edward Bulwer LyttonDEDICATORY EPISTLEFirst prefixed to the Edition of 1845TOJOHN GIBSON, R.A., SCULPTOR.In looking round the wide and luminous circle of our great livingEnglishmen, to select one to whom I might fitly dedicate thiswork,one who, in his life as in his genius, might illustratethe principle I have sought to convey; elevated by the idealwhich he exalts, and serenely dwelling in a glorious existencewith the images born of his imagination,in looking round forsome such man, my thoughts rested upon you. Afar from ourturbulent cabals; from the ignoble jealousy and the sordid strife...