Quotes4study

It was only by the keener wind that met them and the jerks given by the side horses who pulled harder--ever increasing their gallop--that one noticed how fast the troyka was flying. Nicholas looked back. With screams squeals, and waving of whips that caused even the shaft horses to gallop--the other sleighs followed. The shaft horse swung steadily beneath the bow over its head, with no thought of slackening pace and ready to put on speed when required.

Leo Tolstoy     War and Peace

My sister's bringing up had made me sensitive. In the little world in which children have their existence whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice. It may be only small injustice that the child can be exposed to; but the child is small, and its world is small, and its rocking-horse stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter. Within myself, I had sustained, from my babyhood, a perpetual conflict with injustice. I had known, from the time when I could speak, that my sister, in her capricious and violent coercion, was unjust to me. I had cherished a profound conviction that her bringing me up by hand gave her no right to bring me up by jerks. Through all my punishments, disgraces, fasts, and vigils, and other penitential performances, I had nursed this assurance; and to my communing so much with it, in a solitary and unprotected way, I in great part refer the fact that I was morally timid and very sensitive.

Charles Dickens     Great Expectations

Tea-time, and Miss Pross making tea, with another fit of the jerks upon her, and yet no Hundreds of people. Mr. Carton had lounged in, but he made only Two.

Charles Dickens     A Tale of Two Cities

Doctor Manette received him kindly, and so did Lucie. But, Miss Pross suddenly became afflicted with a twitching in the head and body, and retired into the house. She was not unfrequently the victim of this disorder, and she called it, in familiar conversation, "a fit of the jerks."

Charles Dickens     A Tale of Two Cities

Yet even when his eyes were opened on the mist and rain, on the moving patch of light from the lamps, and the hedge at the roadside retreating by jerks, the night shadows outside the coach would fall into the train of the night shadows within. The real Banking-house by Temple Bar, the real business of the past day, the real strong rooms, the real express sent after him, and the real message returned, would all be there. Out of the midst of them, the ghostly face would rise, and he would accost it again.

Charles Dickens     A Tale of Two Cities

So I; with whose advice all, quick, complied. But Scylla I as yet named not, (that woe Without a cure) lest, terrified, my crew Should all renounce their oars, and crowd below. Just then, forgetful of the strict command Of Circe not to arm, I cloath'd me all In radiant armour, grasp'd two quiv'ring spears, And to the deck ascended at the prow, Expecting earliest notice there, what time The rock-bred Scylla should annoy my friends. But I discern'd her not, nor could, although To weariness of sight the dusky rock I vigilant explored. Thus, many a groan Heaving, we navigated sad the streight, For here stood Scylla, while Charybdis there With hoarse throat deep absorb'd the briny flood. Oft as she vomited the deluge forth, Like water cauldron'd o'er a furious fire The whirling Deep all murmur'd, and the spray On both those rocky summits fell in show'rs. But when she suck'd the salt wave down again, Then, all the pool appear'd wheeling about Within, the rock rebellow'd, and the sea Drawn off into that gulph disclosed to view The oozy bottom. Us pale horror seized. Thus, dreading death, with fast-set eyes we watch'd Charybdis; meantime, Scylla from the bark Caught six away, the bravest of my friends. With eyes, that moment, on my ship and crew Retorted, I beheld the legs and arms Of those whom she uplifted in the air; On me they call'd, my name, the last, last time Pronouncing then, in agony of heart. As when from some bold point among the rocks The angler, with his taper rod in hand, Casts forth his bait to snare the smaller fry, He swings away remote his guarded line, Then jerks his gasping prey forth from the Deep, So Scylla them raised gasping to the rock, And at her cavern's mouth devour'd them loud- Shrieking, and stretching forth to me their arms In sign of hopeless mis'ry. Ne'er beheld These eyes in all the seas that I have roam'd, A sight so piteous, nor in all my toils.

BOOK XII     The Odyssey, by Homer

The seizure is usually preceded by a loud scream or cry, which is not to be ascribed, as was at one time supposed, to terror or pain, but is due to the convulsive action of the muscles of the larynx, and the expulsion of a column of air through the narrowed glottis. If the patient is standing he immediately falls, and often sustains serious injury. Unconsciousness is complete, and the muscles generally are in a state of stiffness or tonic contraction, which will usually be found to affect those of one side of the body in particular. The head is turned by a series of jerks towards one or other shoulder, the breathing is for the moment arrested, the countenance first pale then livid, the pupils dilated and the pulse rapid. This, the first stage of the fit, generally lasts for about half a minute, and is followed by the state of clonic (i.e. tumultuous) spasm of the muscles, in which the whole body is thrown into violent agitation, occasionally so great that bones may be fractured or dislocated. The eyes roll wildly, the teeth are gnashed together, and the tongue and cheeks are often severely bitten. The breathing is noisy and laborious, and foam (often tinged with blood) issues from the mouth, while the contents of the bowels and bladder are ejected. The aspect of the patient in this condition is shocking to witness, and the sight has been known to induce a similar attack in an onlooker. This stage lasts for a period varying from a few seconds to several minutes, when the convulsive movements gradually subside, and relaxation of the muscles takes place, together with partial return of consciousness, the patient looking confusedly about him and attempting to speak. This, however, is soon followed by drowsiness and stupor, which may continue for several hours, when he awakes either apparently quite recovered or fatigued and depressed, and occasionally in a state of excitement which sometimes assumes the form of mania. Entry: EPILEPSY

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 6 "English Language" to "Epsom Salts"     1910-1911

ANT-LION, the name given to neuropterous insects of the family _Myrmeleonidae_, with relatively short and apically clubbed antennae and four large densely reticulated wings in which the apical veins enclose regular oblong spaces. The perfect insects are for the most part nocturnal and are believed to be carnivorous. The best-known species, _Myrmeleon formicarius_, which may be found adult in the late summer, occurs in many countries on the European continent, though like the rest of this group it is not indigenous in England. Strictly speaking, however, the term ant-lion applies to the larval form, which has been known scientifically for over two hundred years, on account of its peculiar and forbidding appearance and its skilful and unique manner of entrapping prey by means of a pitfall. The abdomen is oval, sandy-grey in hue and beset with warts and bristles; the prothorax forms a mobile neck for the large square head, which carries a pair of long and powerful toothed mandibles. It is in dry and sandy soil that the ant-lion lays its trap. Having marked out the chosen site by a circular groove, it starts to crawl backwards, using its abdomen as a plough to shovel up the soil. By the aid of one front leg it places consecutive heaps of loosened particles upon its head, then with a smart jerk throws each little pile clear of the scene of operations. Proceeding thus it gradually works its way from the circumference towards the centre. When the latter is reached and the pit completed, the larva settles down at the bottom, buried in the soil with only the jaws projecting above the surface. Since the sides of the pit consist of loose sand they afford an insecure foothold to any small insect that inadvertently ventures over the edge. Slipping to the bottom the prey is immediately seized by the lurking ant-lion; or if it attempt to scramble again up the treacherous walls of the pit, is speedily checked in its efforts and brought down by showers of loose sand which are jerked at it from below by the larva. By means of similar head-jerks the skins of insects sucked dry of their contents are thrown out of the pit, which is then kept clear of refuse. A full-grown larva digs a pit about 2 in. deep and 3 in. wide at the edge. The pupa stage of the ant-lion is quiescent. The larva makes a globular case of sand stuck together with fine silk spun, it is said, from a slender spinneret at the posterior end of the body. In this it remains until the completion of the transformation into the sexually mature insect, which then emerges from the case, leaving the pupal integument behind. In certain species of _Myrmeleonidae_, such as _Dendroleon pantheormis_, the larva, although resembling that of _Myrmeleon_ structurally, makes no pitfall, but seizes passing prey from any nook or crevice in which it shelters. Entry: ANT

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo"     1910-1911

It is generally recognized by neurologists that persons who are not the subjects of acquired or hereditary syphilis do not suffer from this disease; and the average time of onset after infection is ten years (see NEUROPATHOLOGY). There are three stages: (1) The preataxic, (2) the ataxic, (3) the bed-ridden paralytic. The duration of the first stage may be from one or two years, up to twenty years or even longer. In this stage various symptoms may arise. The patient usually complains of shooting, lightning-like pains in the legs, which he may attribute to rheumatism. If a physician examines him he will almost certainly find the knee-jerks absent and Argyll Robertson pupils present; probably on inquiry he will ascertain that the patient has had some difficulty in starting urination, or that he is unable to retain his water or to empty his bladder completely. In other cases, temporary or permanent paralysis of one or more muscles of the eyeball (which causes squint and double vision), a failure of sight ending in blindness, attacks of vomiting (or gastric crises), painless spontaneous fractures of bones and dislocations of joints, failing sexual power and impotence, may lead the patient to consult a physician, when this disease will be diagnosed, although the patient may not as yet have had locomotor ataxy. All cases, however, if they live long enough, pass into the second ataxic stage. The sufferer complains now of difficulty of walking in the dark; he sways with his eyes shut and feels as if he would fall (Romberg's symptom); he has the sensation of walking on wool, numbness and formication of the skin, and many sensory disturbances in the form of partial or complete loss of sensibility to pain, touch and temperature. These disturbances affect especially the feet and legs, and around the trunk at the level of the fourth to the seventh ribs, giving rise to a "girdle sensation." There may be a numbed feeling on the inner side of the arm, and muscular incoordination may affect the upper limb as well as the lower, although there is no wasting or any electrical change. The ataxic gait is very characteristic, owing to the loss of reflex tonus in the muscles, and the absence of guiding sensations from all the deep structures of the limbs, muscles, joints, bones, tendons and ligaments, as well as from the skin of the soles of the feet; therefore the sufferer has to be guided by vision as to where and how to place his feet. This necessitates the bending forward of the body, extension of the knees and broadening of the basis of support; he generally uses a walking stick or even two, and he jerks the leg forward as if he were on wires, bringing the sole of the foot down on the ground with a wide stamping action. If the arm be affected, he is unable to touch the tip of his nose with the eyes shut. Sooner or later he passes into the _third_ bed-ridden stage, with muscles wasted and their tonus so much lost that he is in a perfectly helpless condition. Entry: LOCOMOTOR

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 7 "Liquid Gases" to "Logar"     1910-1911

In the Brunsviga, the figure disks are all mounted on a common horizontal axis, the figures being placed on the rim. On the side of each disk and rigidly connected with it lies its A-wheel with which it can turn independent of the others. The B-wheels, all fixed on another horizontal axis, gear directly on the A-wheels. By an ingenious contrivance the teeth are made to appear from out of the rim to any desired number. The carrying mechanism, too, is different, and so arranged that the handle can be turned either way, no special setting being required for subtraction or division. It is extremely handy, taking up much less room than the others. Professor Eduard Selling of Würzburg has invented an altogether different machine, which has been made by Max Ott, of Munich. The B-wheels are replaced by lazy-tongs. To the joints of these the ends of racks are pinned; and as they are stretched out the racks are moved forward 0 to 9 steps, according to the joints they are pinned to. The racks gear directly in the A-wheels, and the figures are placed on cylinders as in the Brunsviga. The carrying is done continuously by a train of epicycloidal wheels. The working is thus rendered very smooth, without the jerks which the ordinary carrying tooth produces; but the arrangement has the disadvantage that the resulting figures do not appear in a straight line, a figure followed by a 5, for instance, being already carried half a step forward. This is not a serious matter in the hands of a mathematician or an operator using the machine constantly, but it is serious for casual work. Anyhow, it has prevented the machine from being a commercial success, and it is not any longer made. For ease and rapidity of working it surpasses all others. Since the lazy-tongs allow of an extension equivalent to five turnings of the handle, if the multiplier is 5 or under, one push forward will do the [v.04 p.0974] same as five (or less) turns of the handle, and more than two pushes are never required. Entry: CALCULATING

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"     1910-1911

In the Ecardines, of which _Lingula_ and _Discina_ may be quoted as examples, the myology is much more complicated. Of the shell or valvular muscles W. King makes out five pairs and an odd one, and individualizes their respective functions as follows:--Three pairs are _lateral_, having their members limited to the sides of the shell; one pair are _transmedians_, each member passing across the middle of the reverse side of the shell, while the odd muscle occupies the umbonal cavity. The _central_ and _umbonal_ muscles effect the direct opening and closing of the shell, the _laterals_ enable the valves to move forward and backward on each other, and the _transmedians_ allow the similar extremities (the rostral) of the valves to turn from each other to the right or the left on an axis subcentrically situated, that is, the medio-transverse region of the dorsal valve. It was long a matter in discussion whether the animal could displace its valves sideways when about to open its shell, but this has been actually observed by Professors K. Semper and E.S. Morse, who saw the animal perform the operation. They mention that it is never done suddenly or by jerks, as the valves are at first always pushed to one side several times and back again on each other, at the same time opening gradually in the transverse direction till they rest opposite to one another and widely apart. Those who have not seen the animal in life, or who did not believe in the possibility of the valves crossing each other with a slight obliquity, would not consent to appropriating any of its muscles to that purpose, and consequently attributed to all the lateral muscles the simple function of keeping the valves in an opposite position, or holding them adjusted. We have not only the observations of Semper and Morse, but the anatomical investigations of King, to confirm the sliding action or lateral divarication of the valves of _Lingula_. Entry: 25

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John"     1910-1911

_Limits compatible with Life._--There are limits both of heat and cold that a warm-blooded animal can bear, and other far wider limits that a cold-blooded animal may endure and yet live. The effect of too extreme a cold is to lessen metabolism, and hence to lessen the production of heat. Both katabolic and anabolic changes share in the depression, and though less energy is used up, still less energy is generated. This diminished metabolism tells first on the central nervous system, especially the brain and those parts concerned in consciousness. Both heart-beat and respiration-number become diminished, drowsiness supervenes, becoming steadily deeper until it passes into the sleep of death. Occasionally, however, convulsions may set in towards the end, and a death somewhat similar to that of asphyxia takes place. In some recent experiments on cats performed by Sutherland Simpson and Percy T. Herring, they found them unable to survive when the rectal temperature was reduced below 16° C. At this low temperature respiration became increasingly feeble, the heart-impulse usually continued after respiration had ceased, the beats becoming very irregular, apparently ceasing, then beginning again. Death appeared to be mainly due to asphyxia, and the only certain sign that it had taken place was the loss of knee jerks. On the other hand, too high a temperature hurries on the metabolism of the various tissues at such a rate that their capital is soon exhausted. Blood that is too warm produces dyspnoea and soon exhausts the metabolic capital of the respiratory centre. The rate of the heart is quickened, the beats then become irregular and finally cease. The central nervous system is also profoundly affected, consciousness may be lost, and the patient falls into a comatose condition, or delirium and convulsions may set in. All these changes can be watched in any patient suffering from an acute fever. The lower limit of temperature that man can endure depends on many things, but no one can survive a temperature of 45° C. (113° F.) or above for very long. Mammalian muscle becomes rigid with heat rigor at about 50° C., and obviously should this temperature be reached the sudden rigidity of the whole body would render life impossible. H.M. Vernon has recently done work on the death temperature and paralysis temperature (temperature of heat rigor) of various animals. He found that animals of the same class of the animal kingdom showed very similar temperature values, those from the Amphibia examined being 38.5° C., Fishes 39°, Reptilia 45°, and various Molluscs 46°. Also in the case of Pelagic animals he showed a relation between death temperature and the quantity of solid constituents of the body, _Cestus_ having lowest death temperature and least amount of solids in its body. But in the higher animals his experiments tend to show that there is greater variation in both the chemical and physical characters of the protoplasm, and hence greater variation in the extreme temperature compatible with life. Entry: ANIMAL

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1     1910-1911

It is impossible to give here detailed descriptions of a fraction of the arc-lamp mechanisms devised, and it must suffice to indicate the broad distinctions between various types. (1) Arc lamps may be either _continuous-current_ or _alternating-current_ lamps. For outdoor public illumination the former are greatly preferable, as owing to the form of the illuminating power-curve they send the light down on the road surface, provided the upper carbon is the positive one. For indoor, public room or factory lighting, _inverted arc_ lamps are sometimes employed. In this case the positive carbon is the lower one, and the lamp is carried in an inverted metallic reflector shield, so that the light is chiefly thrown up on the ceiling, whence it is diffused all round. The alternating-current arc is not only less efficient in mean spherical candle-power per watt of electric power absorbed, but its distribution of light is disadvantageous for street purposes. Hence when arc lamps have to be worked off an alternating-current circuit for public lighting it is now usual to make use of a _rectifier_, which rectifies the alternating current into an unidirectional though pulsating current. (2.) Arc lamps may be also classified, as above described, into _open_ or _enclosed arcs_. The enclosed arc can be made to burn for 200 hours with one pair of carbons, whereas open-arc lamps are usually only able to work, 8, 16 or 32 hours without recarboning, even when fitted with double carbons. (3) Arc lamps are further divided into _focussing_ and _non-focussing_ lamps. In the former the lower carbon is made to move up as the upper carbon moves down, and the arc is therefore maintained at the same level. This is advisable for arcs included in a globe, and absolutely necessary in the case of lighthouse lamps and lamps for optical purposes. (4) Another subdivision is into _hand-regulated_ and _self-regulating_ lamps. In the hand-regulated arcs the carbons are moved by a screw attachment as required, as in some forms of search-light lamp and lamps for optical lanterns. The carbons in large search-light lamps are usually placed horizontally. The self-regulating lamps may be classified into groups depending upon the nature of the regulating appliances. In some cases the regulation is controlled only by a _series coil_, and in others only by a _shunt coil_. Examples of the former are the original Gülcher and Brush clutch lamp, and some modern enclosed arc lamps; and of the latter, the Siemens "band" lamp, and the Jackson-Mensing lamp. In series coil lamps the variation of the current in the coil throws into or out of action the carbon-moving mechanism; in shunt coil lamps the variation in voltage between the carbons is caused to effect the same changes. Other types of lamp involve the use both of shunt and series coils acting against each other. A further classification of the self-regulating lamps may be found in the nature of the carbon-moving mechanism. This may be some modification of the Brush ring clutch, hence called _clutch_ lamps; or some variety of _brake wheel_, as employed in Brockie and Crompton lamps; or else some form of _electric motor_ is thrown into or out of action and effects the necessary changes. In many cases the arc-lamp mechanism is provided with a _dash-pot_, or contrivance in which a piston moving nearly air-tight in a cylinder prevents sudden jerks in the motion of the mechanism, and thus does away with the "hunting" or rapid up-and-down movements to which some varieties of clutch mechanism are liable. One very efficient form is illustrated in the Thomson lamp and Brush-Vienna lamp. In this mechanism a shunt and series coil are placed side by side, and have iron cores suspended to the ends of a rocking arm held partly within them. Hence, according as the magnetic action of the shunt or series coil prevails, the rocking arm is tilted backwards or forwards. When the series coil is not in action the _motion_ is free, and the upper carbon-holder slides down, or the lower one slides up, and starts the arc. The series coil comes into action to withdraw the carbons, and at the same time locks the mechanism. The shunt coil then operates against the series coil, and between them the carbon is fed forwards as required. The control to be obtained is such that the arc shall never become so long as to flicker and become extinguished, when the carbons would come together again with a rush, but the feed should be smooth and steady, the position of the carbons responding quickly to each change in the current. Entry: AC

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 6 "Lightfoot, Joseph" to "Liquidation"     1910-1911