The Chemical Constituents of Piper Methysticum or The Chemical Constituents of the Active Principle of The Ava Root is the text of a Master’s Degree thesis presented in June 1915 by Alice A. Ball. Ms. Ball was the first woman and African American to receive a Master’s Degree from the University of Hawaii. Her thesis includes some history of the use of the ava root in the South Pacific islands along with the isolation and analysis of the extracts of the kava root and some preliminary observations of its effects when administered to animals. - Summary by J. M. Smallheer

Prichard’s Researches into the Physical History of Man has been called the most important pre-Darwinian anthropological work in English of the nineteenth century. He is considered by many to be the "Father of Anthropology". The central conclusion of the work is the unity of the human species, which has been acted upon by causes that have since divided it into permanent varieties or races. In his Preface, he writes: "In the course of this essay I have maintained the opinion that all mankind constitute but one race or proceed from a single family"...

This book contains many brief tales from history of commoners pretending to be kings and kings pretending to be commoners. Learn the fate of a Dutch merchant who wanted a kiss from the disguised Peter the Great's wife. Learn how a farmer's daughter born in 1750 in England gained attention and fame in many lands, and why her death was disbelieved. Learn about early vampires and ghosts. Find out the answers to these and other stories within this book.

The present series of legends have all been collected by myself from the Blacks, as were the previous ones. But in this instance, I had much help given to me by friends, who either told or sent me scraps of legends they themselves had seen or heard. On receiving any such I immediately made inquiries amongst the Blacks, and I was often enabled to complete the scraps, gaining through their hints a whole legend.

"M. Nordmann has presented Einstein’s principle in words which lift the average reader over many of the difficulties he must encounter in trying to take it in. Remembering Goethe’s maxim that he who would accomplish anything must limit himself, he has not aimed at covering the full field to which Einstein’s teaching is directed. But he succeeds in making many abstruse things intelligible to the layman." - Summary by from the Preface by Viscount Haldane Giving significant credit to Henri...

Meteorology by Aristotle Translated by Erwin Wentworth Webster before he fell in action in 1917. Book I: The Celestial Sphere, Stars & Precipitation Book II: Seas, Winds & Earthquakes Book III: Halos, Rainbows & Mock Suns Book IV: The Elements & Secondary Qualities On the Universe is attributed to Aristotle but may have been written by Posidonius the Stoic or someone well acquainted with his work. Two candidates for the Alexander addressed in the text are Alexander the Great and Tiberius Claudius Alexander, nephew of Philo Judaeus and Procurator of Judaea, and in A...

As it would be impossible to treat, in the compass of a few hundred pages, all the great engineering feats of modern times without reducing individual accounts to uninteresting brevity, the author has preferred, where selection is possible, to take typical instances of engineering practice, and, by the aid of comparatively detailed descriptions, to place the reader in a position to appreciate them and similar undertakings. - Summary by Adapted from the Preface

Elizabeth Banks was an American journalist who, at about age 23, moved to London. While trying to break into English journalism and to keep the wolf from the door, she struck upon the idea of hiring out as a housemaid in some London household and writing about her experiences. Subsequently, she became a street sweeper, flower-seller, and a laundress. On the flip side, she advertised as an heiress and demonstrated how easy it was for a wealthy American to "buy a pedigree" and entry into the higher social circles...

American naturalist, Winthrop Packard, takes us on a wandering journey into the woods alerting us to the many inhabitants and their habitat. He points out the birds, squirrels, woodchucks, and the variety of trees to be found particularly during the New England autumn, with free flowing narrative that is both informative and entertaining, sometimes dramatic and sometimes poetic - Summary by Larry Wilson

An Introduction to the History and Civilization of Greece from the Coming of the Greeks to the Conquest of Corinth by Rome in 146 B.C. The spirit of a nation is expressed and its history is recorded in three ways: in its political history, in its literature and in its art. The aim of this book has been to use such parts of the political history of the Greeks, of their literature and of their art as seem to have been the outward and visible signs of the spirit that inspired them. - Summary from...

This U.S. National Park Service historical handbook from 1962 introduces the reader to the history, geography, and archaeology of the Aztec Ruins and surrounding area. It explores what has been learned about the early people who settled there and discusses what the ruins were like at the time of publication. - Summary by Verla Viera

In November, 1897, I submitted to the American Academy of Political and Social Science a plan for the study of Negro problems. This work is an essay along the lines there laid down, and is thus part of larger design of observation and research into the history and social conditions of the transplanted Africans. W.E.B. Du Bois At the end of this work are appendices, mainly additional statistics and not included here--the most noteworthy of them being Appendix B, a list of legislation regarding the Philadelphia Negro during this period.

It is not the author's purpose in the present volume to give any instruction in the practice of photography. There are many works dealing with the practical side of the subject. His object is to tell the romantic story of the discovery of this wonderful art, and the steps by which its range has been extended until it can achieve results which only a few years ago would have been thought impossible. A glance at the list of chapters will show what a wide field photography now covers, and what service it renders to man, both in his everyday life and in his most subtle scientific researches. - Summary by The Author

This paper is an attempt to give the most accurate facts obtainable bearing upon the question of colored domestic service in Philadelphia.