Fire-drill is the name given by Tylor to the instrument used by Aboriginal peoples around the world, particularly the Australians and Tasmanians, for producing fire. It consists of two pieces of soft dry wood; one a stick about 20 cm long, the other piece flat. The stick is shaped into an obtuse point at one end, and, pressing it upon the flat piece of wood, it is caused to revolve quickly between the hands. The resulting friction causes fire to be produced within two minutes. Research Fire-Drill
Fricative is a term applied to certain letters produced by the friction of the breath issuing through a narrow opening of the organs of articulation, for example f, v, s, z, etc. Research Fricative
A railway is a road made by placing on the ground on a specially prepared track, continuous parallel lines of iron or steel rails, on which carriages with flanged wheels are run with little friction and consequently at high velocity. The necessity for railways originated in the requirements of the coal-traffic of Northumberlandshire, where the first railways were constructed. In 1676 near Newcastle the coals were conveyed from the mines to the banks of the river by laying rails of timber straight and parallel; and bulky carts were made, with four rollers fitting those rails, whereby the carriage was made so easy that one horse could draw four or five chaldrons of coal.
The first railway (railroad) constructed in America was projected by Gridley Bryant in 1825, and extended from Quincy, Massachusetts, to the nearest tide-water. It was four miles long. The second railway extended from mines near Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania to the Lehigh River. It was begun in 1827. Stephenson's locomotive came into use in 1829, and by 1830 there were twenty-three
miles of railway completed in the United States.
Safety matches are matches which can not be ignited by friction alone. In 1847 the Austrian chemist Schrotter discovered that red phosphorus gives off no fumes and is virtually inert; but being mixed with chlorate of potash under slight pressure explodes. In 1855 Bottger of Sweden put red phosphorus on the match box, and on the matches so that the matches could be ignited by rubbing or striking the match against the box, thus forming the forerunner of the modern safety match. Research Safety Matches
The grasshopper or cricket are various leaping insects of the genusGryllus or Acheta, of the order Orthoptera nearly akin to the locusts. They are characterized by long and slender legs, the thighs of the hind legs are large and adapted for leaping; by large and delicate wings and by the wing covers extending far beyond the extremity of the abdomen. They are generally of a greenish colour.
There are several species. The house-grasshopper is the Acheta (Gryllus) domestica; the field-grasshopper is the Acheta (Gryllus) campestris; the mole-grasshopper is the Gryllotalpa vulgaris. The house-grasshopper of Europe is about 25 mm long, with antennae of about 38 mm long, of a pale yellowish colour mixed with brown. By the friction of the peculiarly-formed wing-covers the males produce that stridulous sound by which these insects are so well known, and which has become associated with ideas of cheerful domestic comfort.
They live in holes and crevices near fire places or in other warm situations, whence they come out at night to feed on crumbs and other fragments of food. The field-grasshopper makes a similar noise. The house-grasshopper was introduced into the United States, and there are several species of field-grasshopper there also. Research Grasshopper More pictures of Grasshopper
Andrew Bell was a Scottish clergyman. He was born in 1753 at St Andrews and died in 1832. He was the author of the mutual instruction or 'Madras' system of education. He took orders in the Church of England, and in 1789 went to India, where he became chaplain at FortSt George, Madras, and manager of the institution for the education of the orphan children of European soldiers. Failing to retain the services of properly qualified ushers, he resorted to the expedient of employing the scholars in mutual instruction; and after his return to Britain published a treatise on the monitorial or Madras system of education. Joseph Lancaster, a dissenter, began to work on the system, and a considerable amount of friction and rivalry ensued between the dissenters and the church party. Dr. Andrew Bell lived long enough to witness the introduction of his system into 12,973 national schools, educating 900,000 English children, and to know that it was employed extensively in almost every other civilized country. He latterly became a prebendary of Westminster, and was master of Sherborn Hospital, Durham. At his death he left 120,000 pounds for the erection and maintenance of schools on his favourite system, 60,000 pounds of which was set apart for his native town. Research Andrew Bell
Charles Augustine de Coulomb was a French physicist. He was born in 1736 and died in 1806. He served as a military engineer for France in the West Indies, but retired to Blois, France, at the time of the French Revolution to continue research in magnetism, friction, and electricity. In 1777 he invented the torsionbalance for measuring the force of magnetic and electrical attraction. With this invention, Coulomb was able to formulate the principle, now known as Coulomb's law, governing the interaction between electric charges. In 1779 Coulomb published the treatise 'Théorie des machines simples' (Theory of Simple Machines), an analysis of friction in machinery. After the war ended Coulomb came out of retirement and assisted the new government in devising a metric system of weights and measures. The unit of electrical charge, the coulomb, is named after him. Research Charles Coulomb
George Brinton McClellan was an American soldier, writer and politician. He was born in 1826 at Philadelphia and died in 1885. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and at West Point, after graduating from West Point in 1846 he took a commission in the Engineers and served as a lieutenant under Scott in the Mexican War, and was promoted to captain for his services. After the war he worked as an instructor at West Point, leaving in 1855 and went to Europe to study military affairs, and to follow the course of the Crimean War, and he published as a result, The Armies of Europe.
For a few years he was engineer for the Illinois Central Railroad, and a railroad president. At the outbreak of the American Civil War he was appoinred major-general and entrusted with command in West Virginia and he broke up Garnett's army, and was summoned to Washington after the Bull Run catastrophe. In August, 1861, he became commander of the Army of the Potomac, and in November he succeeded General Scott as commander-in-chief. McClellan's services in organizing the army were invaluable. Excess of caution and friction between the Washington authorities and himself led to disappointments in his achievements against the enemy. He commanded through the Peninsulacampaign, executing his famous 'change of base', was relieved of the command, reappointed on September the 7th, 1862, after Pope's disasters, and commanded in the Antietamcampaign. On November the 7th he was removed and placed on waiting orders. He resigned from the army in 1864, and was the same year the Democratic candidate for President, receiving twenty-one electoral votes. He was Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. 'Little Mac' was phenomenally popular with the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac in spite of outside criticism. Research George B. McClellan
Callosity is any thickened or hardened part of the human skin caused by pressure and friction. The term is also applied to the natural cutaneous thickenings on the buttocks of monkeys. Research Callosity
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Fire-Drill
