Nature's Teachings : Human Invention Anticipated by Nature (Paperback)

Preface; Part I. Nautical: 1. The raft; 2. The oar, the paddle and the screw; 3. Subsidiary appliances; 4. Subsidiary appliances (continued); 5. Subsidiary appliances (continued); Part II. War and hunting: 1. The pitfall, the club, the sword, the spear and the dagger; 2. Poison, animal and vegetable; 3. Projectile weapons and the sheath; 4. The net, etc.; 5. Reverted spikes and their modifications, etc.; 6. The hook, defensive armour, the fort; 7. Scaling instruments, defence of fort, imitation, the fall-trap; 8. Concealment, disguise, the trench, power of gravity, miscellanea; Part III. Architecture: 1. Hut, tropic and polar; 2. Walls, double and single; 3. The window; 4. Lighthouses; Part IV. Tools: 1. The digging-stick; 2. The saw and its varieties; 3. Boring tools; 4. Polishing tools; Part V. Optics: 1. The missions of history; 2. The water-telescope; Part VI. Useful arts: 1. Primitive man and his needs; 2. Crushing instruments; 3. Cloth-dressing; 4. The stopper; 5. The principle of the spring; 6. Spiral and ringed tissues; 7. Food and comfort; 8. Domestic comfort; 9. Artificial warmth; 10. Water, and means of procuring it; 11. Aerostatics; 12. The cassava press etc.; 12. Telescopic tubes; 14. Paper and its many uses; 15. Electricity; 16. Tillage; 17. Oscillation; Part VII. Acoustics: 1. Percussion.