Chapter 34
Section 34 of 1000 Things Worth Knowing. 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 Adele Pooley.
1000 Things Worth Knowing by Nathaniel C. Fowler Jr. Perpetual motion. Scientists, particularly early ones, made frantic and continuous endeavors to invent what was supposed to be perpetual motion. That is, a machine which will keep perpetually in motion without being replenished or supplied
with outside energy. About 60 years ago, scientific bodies refused to consider it, as it was proved to be impossible. The scientific American, many years ago, likened perpetual motion to an energy which will permit a man to lift himself by his bootstraps. Petroleum industry.
The annual production is considerably more than 9 billion gallons a year. Philippine Islands. The Philippine Islands consist of over 3000 islands, having an area of about 115,000 square miles. The population exceeds 7,500,000, and the density of population is about 67 to the square
mile, as against 26 to the square mile in the United States. The climate is tropical. Piano forte. The piano, or pianoforte, is said to have been invented in Italy and to have appeared in 1714.
Germany, however, claims the honour of its invention. It was introduced into England in 1766. Plate glass. The sand, out of which glass is made, is melted until it is of about the consistency of molasses. It is then poured into a casting trough or a table mounted on wheels so it can be run
close to the mouth of the furnace. The molten glass is poured into the trough through a sluiceway, and before it hardens, heavy rollers pass over it, reducing it to the required thickness. It is rolled to about 9 16th of an inch, and then by further rolling and polishing, it is reduced to the required thickness.
It further passes through a smelting oven, which thoroughly hardens it. Then it is again polished. Playing cards. The origin is unknown, although they appeared in Europe in 1350. It is claimed that the Arabs used playing cards at a much earlier date.
It is estimated that over 16 million packs of playing cards are made annually in the United States. Pole star. This is a star of the second magnitude, found at the extremity of the handle of the little dipper.
End of section 34.
