WOWIO New Releases - Articles & Essays

On Spanish Inquisition and Torture

Sat, 17 May 2008 11:50:30 CST

Henry Smith Williams

“Waterboarding” as a method to obtain information is not a contemporary invention. The ecclesiastical tribunal known as the Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, used simulated drowning as one method to obtain confessions; that is, during the time of the Spanish Inquisition torture was not seen as punishment but as a method to obtain confession from the accused.

The use of torture during the era of the Spanish Inquisition is reviewed in this essay.

Note: Parental discretion is...

The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: Matter and Combustion

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:15:17 CST

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

The transition from one’s interpreting the world through alchemy to utilizing a world view anchored in a perspective based on chemistry took well over a century. Alchemic efforts, like finding cure-alls for disease or transmuting base metals into gold, slowly fell under the flow of scientific discoveries.

The branch of science known as chemistry emerged as empirical study yielded insight into the composition of substances, and of the changes which they undergo in consequence of alterations...

The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: The Combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen into Water

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:12:48 CST

Henry Cavendish

The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: The Discovery of Oxygen

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:09:15 CST

Joseph Priestley

The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: The Discovery of Carbonic Acid Gas

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:06:29 CST

Joseph Black

The Beginning of Scientific Chemistry: The Discovery of Boyle’s Law

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:01:53 CST

Thomas Thorpe

Abraham Lincoln

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:43:01 CST

Henry Watterson

This speech praising Abraham Lincoln was given by Henry Watterson before the Lincoln Club of Chicago, February 12, 1895, and repeated many times thereafter. Watterson’s orations were especially well received in the cities of the South.

Assorted Speeches

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:40:34 CST

Mark Twain

This selection combines six speeches given by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, penname Mark Twain, at assorted breakfast, dinner and banquet events between 1876 and 1882.

The speeches capture the wit and wisdom of Twain—as well as the prejudices and stereotypes of the late 1880’s in the United States.

The speeches include: New England Weather; A "Littery" Episode; The Babies; Unconscious Plagiarism; Mistaken Identity; and Woman, God Bless Her!

On the Mercantile System

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:32:23 CST

Adam Smith

For Adam Smith a nation state was simply the total of the people in it; the state’s wealth was drawn from the labor of its individuals as well as from its natural resources.

In Book IV of his 1776 “Wealth of Nations,” Smith argues for free trade and introduces the notion that many individuals, acting out of their perceived self-interest, are “led by an invisible hand” to promote an end which was not part of their intention. That end generally benefits society as well as individuals, reasons...

On Restraints Upon Importation

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:27:00 CST

Adam Smith

Big Blunders

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:32:24 CST

Thomas Dewitt Talmage

American Presbyterian pastor Thomas Dewitt Talmage gave this popular lecture in the late 1880’s. Starting with a review of a series of blunders that people make in their lives, Talmage takes note of the increasing pace of life in the late 1800s; he points out the importance of a sense of home, while, at the same time, demonstrating a belief in progress, encouraged by enterprise and the advance of civilization and Christianity in the world. Thus, overcoming blunders is part of a person’s...

The Condition of the French People

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:22:35 CST

Arthur Young

English farm owner Arthur Young spent much of his life studying and experimenting in agriculture and publishing accounts of his accomplishments and observations.

Young traveled to visit and study the farms of England and France. He traveled through France from May to November, 1787; again on horseback in 1788, and a third time shortly thereafter.

Young’s writings provide firsthand information about the actual conditions existing among the French people just before the French Revolution...

Submarine Against Submarine

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:56:18 CST

William Sowden Sims

World War I American Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims acknowledges the initial assumption that the most successful hunter of the submarine was the destroyer. He argues post war that the most deadly enemy of the submarine was the submarine itself.

Fighting Submarines from the Air

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:52:37 CST

William Sowden Sims

World War I American Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims describes the impact of airplanes on German submarine activity during that war and their influence of air power in persuading the Germans to acknowledge defeat.

On the Nature of Calculus

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:43:39 CST

Alfred North Whitehead

This essay provides an overview of the mathematical reasoning of calculus, discussing signs, definition of a calculus, equivalence, operations, substitutive schemes, conventional schemes and uninterpretable forms.

The essay is part of a larger work on “Universal Algebra” in which Whitehead states: “The ideal of mathematics should be to erect a calculus to facilitate reasoning in connection with every province of thought, or of external experience, in which the succession of thoughts, or of...

Early Indian Legends

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:34:24 CST

Various Authors

Sophie Lee Foster, a State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Georgia in the early 1900s, edited this collection of stories about Indians and Indian legends in the early days of the United States. The general focus is on Georgia; the stories reflect the perceptions and stereotypes at the time they were compiled.

Invention of the Steam Engine

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:31:22 CST

James Watt

James Watt, an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, was tasked to repair a model of a Newcomen steam engine in the late 1750s. This task caused Watt to observe faults in Newcomen’s design and began Watt’s road to his famous invention.

“In Newcomen’s engine, which was used for pumping water from mines, the steam was let into the bottom of a vertical cylinder. This allowed the piston to be pulled up by a counterpoise at the farther end of a beam. Then the boiler was disconnected, the...

The Continuity of the Germ Plasm

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:28:52 CST

August Weismann

An evolutionary theorist, August Weismann took a large part in the unfolding doctrine of evolution that was sparked by Charles Darwin.

In 1876 Weismann made known his theory denying the transmission of acquired characters, thus describing the process of heredity as coming from germ cells.

Weismann explains the principles of his theory in this essay, though DNA discoveries have since proved “germ plasm theory” inaccurate.

Observations on Animalcula

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:26:21 CST

Anthony Von Leeuwenhoeck

Anthony Von Leeuwenhoeck, a lens maker for microscopes, followed a scientific approach to research using the instruments he made. Known as “the Father of Microbiology,” here he describes the “animalcules” or microorganisms he found in his 1675 water samples.

How I Came to Originate Osteopathy

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:24:09 CST

Andrew T. Still

Andrew T. Still describes how his upbringing and experiences led him to develop a system of treating diseases he labeled “osteopathy” and how he consequently founded the American School of Osteopathy.

On Fermentation and on Hydrophobia

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:21:05 CST

Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur in 1863 studied fermentation and demonstrated that it is caused by the growth of bacteria; soon afterward he proved bacteria caused putrefaction. His experiments led to Joseph Lister’s concept of antiseptic surgery and effectively ended the doctrine of spontaneous generation.

Pasteur in 1865 discovered the bacillus which caused silkworm disease. Since the bacillus of anthrax had been discovered in 1863, Pasteur started to experiment to see if there was a possibility of using...

Mercantile Theory

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:18:04 CST

Thomas Mun

Englishman Thomas Mun was a director of the East India Company. This excerpt is from his book “England’s Treasure by Foreign Trade, or the Balance of our Foreign Trade is the Rule of our Treasure,” written about 1630. The book contained the initial clear statement of the theory of the balance of trade.

The excerpt, demonstrating a good example of the views of the prevailing political economy of the time, also reflects the significant, continual influence of the protective theory.

Colors of Stars

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:14:23 CST

Maria Mitchell

Pioneering American astronomer Maria Mitchell recounts her journey from Massachusetts to Colorado to observe the Denver Eclipse of 1878. As part of her essay she observes the state of science in her day and notes that astronomy serves as an ideal occupation for women.

The Chemistry of the Stars

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:09:09 CST

Joseph Norman Lockyer

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer used electromagnetic spectroscopy to learn about the gas composition of bodies in outer space, discovering and naming the element Helium in the process.

In this lecture, presented at the University of Birmingham, Lockyer 1) reviews the work done up to that time regarding the “chemical conditioning of the atmospheres of stars” and 2) encourages support for theoretical science, noting “observations having no immediate practical bearing may yet help on the thought of...

A Sermon on Werewolves

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:05:17 CST

Johann Geiler von Keysersperg

This selection contains a sermon given in 1508 by a German preacher. The sermon’s focus is on real wolves, but the blurred boundary between actual wolf packs and human imagination is evident in the anecdotes provided.