hide Matching Documents

The documents where this entity occurs most often are shown below. Click on a document to open it.

Document Max. Freq Min. Freq
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight) 34 0 Browse Search
View all matching documents...

Your search returned 34 results in 12 document sections:

1 2
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), A. (search)
600 B. C.) refers to the arbitrary denominations of the several lines, in a metaphor which compares the different grades of society to the different values of the counters in the several rows. The counters were pebbles, beans, or coins, especially the former. The Greek word for the counters of the abacus was derived from a word signifying a pebble. Pythagoras, the great arithmetician, hated beans, — an antipathy he derived from the Egyptian priests, his instructors. About the same time Daniel was eating pulse in Babylon without grumbling, and Horatius was hewing down the bridge of the Janiculum. The Roman word calculus, from which we derive our word calculate, was the diminutive of calx, a stone, and referred to the pebbles which formed the counters of the abacus. Sometimes the counters were shifted to the right in counting, sometimes to the left. It is stated that the Greek and Roman practices differed in this respect. Several varieties of instruments are represented on
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
street. They were used to awaken the family or call them to meals (Seneca). They were used publicly in the camps and garrisons, on triumphal cars, and Plutarch alludes to their use in the fish-market; they were also carried by the night-watch. They were hung upon horses, cattle, and sheep, as with us, to trace them in case they should stray. According to Pliny, the monument of Porsenna was decorated with bells. Lars Porsenna, of Clusium, he who halted at the Tiber, was contemporary with Daniel. After this statement it seems futile to simply repeat the legends of the introduction of bells into Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries, as if they were then a new thing. Sheep-bells of bronze were used in ancient Italy, and are yet preserved in the Museum of Naples. Then, as now, the sheep made periodical migrations from their lowland winter pastures to their mountain summer pastures, like those subject to the code of laws La Mesta of Spain. See merino. Varro refers to his floc
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), C. (search)
b. Twisted link, flat link, etc. c. Top-chain, curb-chain, surveyor's chain, mooring-chain, etc. Chains in olden times had three purposes. （1.) They were worn as emblems of investiture or badges of office, as in the cases of Joseph and Daniel, in Egypt and Babylon. The idea was preserved in Persia, and blossoms yearly in the civic ceremonies wherein London rejoices that she has found another mayor. （2.) For ornament. Necklaces, girdles, and anklechains were used by various nationhe winter solstice. This complicated the construction of the dial of Ahaz referred to by Hezekiah, and which was probably brought from Damascus by Ahaz; we know that he obtained the pattern of an altar from thence. We read (Daniel IV. 19) that Daniel was astonished for one hour, Chaldean time, which is not astonishing, considering the critical nature of the message he had to deliver. Distinct intimation of the hours is given in connection with the setting up of the dial in the Quirinus at Ro
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), D. (search)
s, each equal to two of our hours. The Japanese divide the solar day in the same manner, but for common customary purposes the period of daylight into six equal parts. The length of the divisional portions of daylight would therefore vary with the season, but extreme accuracy is dispensed with, and the variations are regulated four times in a year upon the average of three months. The earliest mention of hours is perhaps in Daniel IV. 19. when the prophet became astonied for one hour. As Daniel was of the great men, we may assume that his coma lasted about sixty of our minutes, as he probably regarded the horary division of the astrologers, rather than the vulgar and fluctuating term of the populace. It is not insignificant that the word hour occurs but once in the common translation of the Old Testament, sixty-seven times in the New Testament. The weekly period is mentioned in the oldest book in the world (Genesis), and dates from the planting of man upon this sphere. The nom
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), F. (search)
(Music.) An ancient wind instrument which had several forms in ancient times, which it still maintains among savage nations. The NewZealanders play it with a blast through the nose. In some barbarous countries it has two barrels. The mouth-piece is generally at the end, like our clarinet. Captain Speke found one of the native kings of Equatorial Africa proficient after his style. Flutes of ancient Egypt and of Brazil. The instrument called a flute in the translation of the Book of Daniel may have been the pandean pipes, which are very ancient, or it may have been the flute as used in Egypt. The flute is very common in the paintings of the Egyptian tombs. The accompanying cut is from a painting in a tomb near the Pyramids. The action indicates the side position of the mouth-pieces and holes. Of the chromatic scale we may learn more from what Pythagoras has written, for no doubt he derived his information from the Egyptian priests, who were scientific musicians. The f
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), M. (search)
the eminent domain of water being vested in the sovereign. The Egyptians, says Eustathius, recorded their marches in maps. Plate XXIX. has a representation of the popular idea of the earth in the time of Homer, 900 B. C. It consisted of a strip of land around the Pontus Pelagus, and even the boundaries were not known toward the northwest. Cimmerian darkness brooded upon the deep which surrounded the land. Next is the world as known to Hecateus about 500 B. C., say about the time of Daniel. The borders of the Mediterranean are defined; the Iberi and Celtae are known; the pillars of Hercules on the west and the Caspian on the cast mark the longitudinal extent; back of Asia Minor is a greater Asia, which extends westward to the Nile. In the world of Herodotus, the Caspian was changed from an indentation in the land to a lake. Asia extends to the Atlantic; Libya is a subdivision. Aristogoras, the tyrant of Miletus, showed to King Cleomenes of Sparta a bronze tablet, on wh
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), O. (search)
up the time between the death of Alexander and the absorption of the country by the Romans, and form the history which was so remarkably portrayed in prophency by Daniel several hundred years before. See the 11th chapter of Daniel. While the fir-trees of Senir furnished the planks, and the cedars of Lebanon the masts, the oaksDaniel. While the fir-trees of Senir furnished the planks, and the cedars of Lebanon the masts, the oaks of Bashan contributed the oars of the famous galleys of Phoenicia. Being the great carriers of that day, and having direct dealings with Britain, India, Greece, Spain, Africa, and many ports whose names remain but whose localities are difficult to determine, these princes of the sea and artificers upon the land were in demand wh They were introduced into Italy about 562 B. C., during the reign of Servius Tullius, which was coeval with that of Nebuchadnezzar, and with the prophecies of Daniel. This was nearly 100 years before Marathon. Oil mills and presses. The Phoenician mill is shown at a in the accompanying cut, which is taken from Thompson
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), P. (search)
is believed to have been the tablet presented by the Roman legate Popilius to Antiochus Epiphanes, ordering him to evacuate Egypt, which he did, as prophesied by Daniel 366 years previously (Daniel XI. 29, 30). Make it plain upon tables, that he may run who readeth it (Habakkuk II. 2). An allusion to the old system of relay coin rural fetes on the Continent of Europe, and known as a hackbret (hackboard, or chopping-board, the shape of which it resembles); sackbut, in our translation of Daniel. j, a citole, from a drawing preserved in the British Museum. A citole in hire right hand hadde she. Chaucer. k, a clavicytherium, or keyed cithara, which The mercurial thermometer has been used for temperatures up to 780° Fah, by filling the tube above the column with air under a pressure of four atmospheres. Daniel's pyrometer has a platinum bar inclosed in a blacklead tube, closed at the bottom. When exposed to heat, the platinum expands more than the inclosing cell, and p
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), R. (search)
mall-arms are said to have been in use as far back as 1498; these, however, do not seem to have been rifled in the proper acceptation of the term, the grooves being straight and intended merely to prevent fouling of the bore and facilitate cleaning. The grooves were made spiral by Koster of Birmingham, England, about 1620. In Berlin is a rifled cannon of 1664, with 13 grooves, and one in Munich of perhaps equal antiquity has 8 grooves. The French Carabineers had rifled arms in 1692. Pere Daniel, who wrote in 1693, mentions rifling the barrels of small-arms, and the practice was apparently well known at that time. Rifles were early used by the American settlers in their conflicts with the Indians; and their first successful employment in civilized warfare is said to have been by the colonists in the war of the Revolution. In the Artillery Museum at Paris is a large assortment of old rifles, comprehending a great diversity of grooves and twists. These exhibit straight groov
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), S. (search)
so successful, a number of the vessels being lost. The rate of speed has been gradually increased, the figures being approximately as follows:— Savannah 181926 days. Sirius 183819 days. Great Western 183818 days. Pacific and Baltic 18519 days, 19 hours. Arabia and Persia 1851 to 18619 days, 12 hours. Scotia and City of Paris 1863 to 18668 days, 12 hours. City of Brussels and others1866 to 18737 days, 20 hours. The following are some of the fastest trips on record: The Daniel drew ran from Yonkers to New York, a distance of 14 1/2 miles, in 35′ 45″, or at a rate of over 25 miles per hour. The Chauncey Vibbard ran from New York to Albany, 160 miles, in 6 hours and 40′. In deep water she averaged 24 miles an hour. The Mahroussee, built in England by Samuda, designed by Lang: oscillating engines by Penn, — obtained a speed on her trial trip of 21 1/2 statute miles an hour. Length, 360 feet; breadth, 42 feet; depth, 29 feet; wheels, 33 feet diameter; tonnag
1 2