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| Transcriptions used: italic and bold texts are transcribed between |
| underscores and equal signs respectively: _text_ and =text=. Texts |
| printed in small capitals are transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. |
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[Illustration: HOW COLOR PRINTING IS DONE
A plate is made for each of the three printing colors, yellow, red
and blue, as explained on page 382. First, yellow is printed, then
red on the yellow, and last, blue on the yellow and red combination.
Combinations of these three colors in various proportions produce all
the other tints which appear in the original subject. Above are shown
the separate plates and also the combined result of all three. Extreme
care is necessary to make all the plates register exactly together.]
THE WONDER BOOK
OF KNOWLEDGE
THE MARVELS OF MODERN INDUSTRY AND INVENTION
THE INTERESTING STORIES OF COMMON THINGS
THE MYSTERIOUS PROCESSES OF NATURE
SIMPLY EXPLAINED
COMPILED AND EDITED
BY
HENRY CHASE HILL
WITH THE CO-OPERATION OF EXPERTS
REPRESENTING EACH INDUSTRY
Illustrated with
780 Photographs and Drawings
PHILADELPHIA
THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1921
BY L. T. MYERS
COPYRIGHT, 1917-19
Preface
This book is presented to those, both young and old, who wish to have a
non-technical account of the history, evolution and production of some
of the every-day wonders of the modern industrial age; coupled with
occasional glimpses of the wonderful object-lessons afforded by nature
in her constructive activities in the animal, vegetable and mineral
kingdoms; and simple, understandable answers to the myriad puzzling
questions arising daily in the minds of those for whom the fascination
of the “Why” and “How” is always engrossing.
Although not intended primarily as a child’s book, the
interest-compelling pictures and clear, illuminating answers to the
constant avalanche of questions suggested by the growing mind, unite in
making far happier children in the home and brighter children at school.
Parents and teachers will also recognize the opportunity to watch for
subjects by which the child’s interest appears to be more than
ordinarily attracted, and, in so doing, will be enabled to guide the
newly-formed tendencies into the proper channels. With the greatest
thinkers of the age advocating vocational training, and leading
educators everywhere pointing out that the foundation of a practical
education for life must be laid in the home, thoughtful parents will not
overlook the fact that a book which both entertains and instructs is of
supreme importance in the equipment of their children.
In the preparation of this book its function has been considered as that
of gathering up some of the multitudinous bits of information of
interest, both to the inquiring child and the older reader, and putting
them in shape to be digested by the ordinary searcher after knowledge.
The book is intended, not for a few technical specialists, but for the
larger number of men, women and children who are not interested in
exhaustive treatises, but who are seeking to gain some fair idea about
the numberless every-day subjects that arise in ordinary conversation,
or that they meet with in reading and about which they desire some
definite and satisfactory information.
Most of us realize that we live in a world of wonders and we recognize
progress in industries with which we come in personal contact, but the
daily routine of our lives is ordinarily so restricted by circumstances
that many of us fail to follow works which do not come within our own
experience or see beyond the horizon of our own specific paths.
The workman who tends the vulcanizer in the rubber factory has come to
take his work as a matter of course; the man who assembles a watch, or a
camera, is not apt to appreciate the fact that there have been marvelous
developments in his line of manufacturing; the operator of a shoe
machine, or of an elevator, does not see anything startling or absorbing
in the work--and so we find it almost throughout the entire list of
industries.
The tendency of the seemingly almost imperceptible movement marking
onward development in the work that is familiar is to dull the mind
toward opportunities for improvement in the accustomed task. With the
exception of the man who is at times impressed with the remarkable
advances made in some strikingly spectacular industry, because such
knowledge comes to him suddenly, the average workman is often too much
inclined to regard himself as a machine, and performs his duties more or
less automatically, without attempting to exercise imagination or those
powers of adaptation upon which all progress has been builded.
A single volume is of necessity too limited a space for anything
approximating a complete record of the vast progress which has been made
in American Industry. Consequently it has only been possible to select
the more characteristic features of the twentieth century and point out
the strides by which some of the prominent industries have advanced to
their present proportions. If the hitherto undisputed maxim that “the
more the individual knows the more he is worth to himself and his
associates” still prevails, the chronicling of the developments in some
fields should stimulate thought and experiment toward the adaptation of
similar methods in others. It is to that end that authorities in each of
the industries presented have co-operated in the compilation of this
interesting and instructive volume.