Various

“ It is important in dynamics to distinguish between mass and weight. The mass of one pound is the quantity of matter equal to a certain standard quantity (a certain lump of metal) and is quite independent of force. The weight of one pound is the force with which the mass of one pound is attracted to the earth's surface by the force of gravity. Another important term is momentum: the momentum of a body in motion at any instant is the product of the mass of the body and the velocity at that instant. ”

“ Euripides, the latest of the three, is a great poet and a champion of the weak, such as women and slaves; moreover, he sees deeply into men's hearts. He is really the founder of romantic drama, through the Roman Seneca, who imitated him. Of Greek comic poets we [90] only possess one, but he is a host in himself. Aristophanes is a Gargantuan mirth-maker; he bestrides the narrow world like a Colossus. He plays with a master's hand upon every note in the whole comic gamut. His works, owing to the conditions of the old comedy, were very frequently political and highly personal in their tone. ”

“ Devil (Gr., diabolos, a slanderer or accuser) , in theology, the name given to a fallen angel, who is the instigator of evil, and the ruler of darkness. Most of the old religions of the East acknowledge a host of devils. The doctrine of Zoroaster, who adopted an evil principle called Ahriman, opposed to the good principle and served by several orders of inferior spirits, spread the belief in such spirits among the people. The Greek mythology did not distinguish with the same precision between good and bad spirits. ”

“ In the Training Manuals of the British army the word is defined as "the training of the soldier to perform certain movements as a second nature". It follows, therefore, that drill is an essential part of the training of every soldier, more especially in the early days of his training, in that without it, and without the power of movement in obedience to the expressed will of a superior given by it, a body of soldiers would be merely a collection of armed men who, however willing individually, would be incapable of carrying out collectively an order given for the general good. ”

“ The Macedonian conqueror was so struck with the philosopher's self-possession that he went away remarking: "If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes". Of the many stories related of him the majority are probably fictions; many, indeed, are chronologically impossible. Concerned with practical wisdom, Diogenes established no system of philosophy. To gain virtue, he maintained, man must avoid physical pleasure, despise the conventions of society, and adopt a simple and natural life. ”

“ Earl (A.Sax. eorl; Dan. jarl) , a degree of the British nobility between marquess and viscount, the title of highest antiquity in England. The title was made hereditary by William the Conqueror, and for a time was used interchangeably with that of count, the corresponding title on the Continent. The wife of an earl is still called a countess. The earl was the highest in rank of the nobility until Edward III created a duke in 1357, and Richard II a marquess in 1385. The first earl of England is the Earl of Arundel. ”

“ Man is naturally an imitative animal, and some crude form of drama must have been in existence in very early times. We can see the origins of drama in many of the games played by children, where important events such as war, marriage, and sacrifice are represented in song and dance. In Greece, the cradle of drama as of everything that is good, there must have been in prehistoric times war-dances which formed the basis of tragedy, and rough vintage revel dances which formed the basis of comedy. ”

“ For some purposes what is called a temporary domicile is sufficient, but in questions of marriage and succession it is the permanent domicile that determines the decision. A permanent domicile may be constituted by birth, by choice, or by operation of the law. To constitute a domicile by choice both actual residence and the intention to make it the permanent home are required. It is a legal principle that the wife takes the domicile of her husband. As a general rule the old domicile, and especially the domicile of origin, continues till a new one has been acquired. ”

“ During the day the earth both absorbs and emits heat, but by night its supply of warmth is cut off, while it continues, under favouring circumstances, to lose heat by radiation into surrounding space. For any given state of the atmosphere, in respect of the amount of aqueous vapour it contains in a specified volume, there is a certain temperature at which it can hold just that amount and no more in suspension. If it be cooled to that temperature, it begins to deposit its moisture in the liquid form, and if the cooling proceeds further, more and more is deposited. ”

“ That the composite dragon-god is a mixture of several ancient animal-gods is evident by the following description of one class of dragon by a Chinese writer: "His horns resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam, his scales those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a tiger, his ears those of a cow." Dragons may transform themselves into fishes, snakes, crows, dogs, rats, cows, sharks, whales, crocodiles, &c., as well as human beings. ”

“ Though they certainly function to a preponderating extent, it has been shown that gaseous particles can act similarly, particularly when air is ionized. Dust is the main cause of the scattering of the sun's rays which produces twilight, the blue of the sky, the gorgeous red and golden hues of sunrise and sunset, and the purple lights of advancing dusk. After the great Krakatoan eruptions of 1883, dust was carried in the upper atmosphere several times round the earth, and caused extraordinary colour effects. To a lesser degree similar phenomena followed the West Indian eruptions of 1902. ”

“ Roman Drama.—Roman drama is not intrinsically good; it is in many respects a weak imitation of Greek drama, but it has been very much more important in its influence. Early English, French, and Italian dramatists all turned to Seneca as a model for tragedy, and to Plautus and Terence as models for comedy. This was partly due to the fact that though most of them had small Latin, they had less Greek; but it was partly because the Latin writers were easier to imitate. Italy had native farces, known as Atellan Fables, which were not without their influence on the development of comedy. ”

“ The hardness of the diamond is such that nothing will scratch it, nor can it be cut but by itself. The value of a diamond is much enhanced by cutting facets upon it inclined at certain angles to each other so as to produce the greatest possible play of colour and lustre. ”

“ During hibernation there is a great decrease of heat in the bodies of the animals, the temperature sometimes sinking to 40° or even 20°F., or in general to a point a little above that of the surrounding atmosphere. The respiration as well as the pulsation of the heart is exceedingly slow, and the irritability of the animal often so low that in some cases it can be awakened only by strong electric shocks. With frogs and other amphibia the dormant state is very common, and if the temperature is kept low by artificial means, they may remain dormant for years. ”

“ Throughout a region extending to 231⁄2° on each side of the equator the sun is directly overhead at any place twice in the year. The circles which bound this region are called the tropics, that in the northern hemisphere being the tropic of Cancer, that in the southern the tropic of Capricorn, while the region between is the torrid zone. The regions between the tropics and the polar circles are respectively the north and south temperate zones.
From the evidence furnished by volcanoes, hot springs, sinking of mines, &c., it is known that the earth has a high internal temperature. ”

“ Death is thus due to suffocation, to the stoppage of breathing, and to the entrance of water into the lungs. When death has been caused by drowning, the skin presents the appearance called goose-skin (cutis anserīna) , the face and surface of the body generally are usually pale, a frothy liquid is found in the lungs and air-passages, and about the lips and nostrils; water may be found in the stomach, and clenched fingers, holding substances grasped at, may serve to show that a struggle has taken place in the water, and that the body was alive at the time of immersion. ”

“ The only alternatives to a great falling off in national wealth are, in their view, either competitive distribution or enforcement of work by a rigid discipline, which would be as hard as the present system, while being less adaptable. ”

“ The transition between the crust and intermediate shell is abrupt, but that between the latter and the central portion is more gradual.
The earth (like the other planets) is believed to have condensed and solidified from a gaseous or nebular condition, and to have once had a far higher temperature than now. If such were the case, the outer surface, losing heat by radiation, would be the first part to cool quickly; while the interior, losing its heat by conduction, would not cool so rapidly, and, therefore, would naturally have a higher temperature than the portion at the surface. ”

“ Descartes, seeing the errors and inconsistencies in which other philosophers had involved themselves, determined to build up a system anew for himself, divesting himself first of all of the beliefs he had acquired by education or otherwise, and resolving to accept as true only what could stand the test of reason. ”

“ G. Bernard Shaw (born 1856) , who combines some of the qualities of a Greek sophist with some of the foibles of a modern Irishman, has written some amusing plays, though others have been spoilt by his tendency to turn them into propaganda. Galsworthy has written plays of great earnestness; in some he has neglected the Aristotelian maxim that every play must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Sir James Barrie has accumulated a large fortune by means of his plays, and in one at least, Peter Pan, he has made a bid for immortality. ”

“ In the mythical history of the East the dragon is the symbol of anarchy and destruction, and the idea was taken over by Christianity, which looked upon the dragon as an emblem of the devil. In Ancient Egypt certain of the deities had serpentine forms, as have still some of the dragons of India, China, and Japan. The Egyptian 'fiery flying serpent' is a dragon, as is also the Apep serpent of night and death, through which the sun-barque of Ra was supposed to pass each night. Biblical references to it as the 'worm' include: "Their worm shall not die" (Is. lxvi, 24) ”

“ The Babylonian dragon Tiamat was the Great Mother of all the deities, and was slain by her descendant Marduk (Merodach) , who formed the earth and sky from her body; her blood ran as the flooded rivers to the sea. In India the drought-demon is a water confiner. When slain by Indra with the thunderbolt, the rainy season ensues. The Naga serpent-gods are dragons who may assume human or half-human, half-reptile forms. ”

“ Wool, silk, and animal substances generally have a direct attraction for colour-bases, and hence these fibres are readily dyed by simple immersion in hot aqueous solutions of the basic dyes. Cotton and linen, on the other hand, are not dyed so readily; they need first to be mordanted or impregnated with the mordant tannic acid. Most of the colours of this class are fugitive to light, and all but one, viz. barberry root, are derived from coal-tar products.
The direct dyes are so called because they dye cotton without the aid of any mordanting process. ”

“ The Senate of the university consists of "the chancellor of the university, or in his absence, of the vice-chancellor, and such doctors or masters of the university as shall have and keep their names on the books of Trinity College". The Senate possesses the right of electing the chancellor of the university; it is also the body which grants degrees. The fellows are appointed for life, after an examination. The scholars are chosen from among the undergraduates, after an examination in mathematics and logic, or in Greek, Latin, and logic. ”