6. Tell why the author considers coal the "most wonderful substance on earth." Mention substances not named in the selection which we get from coal. (Look up "coal" in one of the references below.) 7. Read the paragraph which helps you to tell what synthetic chemistry is. 8. Explain the last sentence in the selection. 9. Define these words: ingenuity, antiseptic, solidify, substitute, beneficent, resplendent, volatile, synthetic. Before turning to the glossary, name the words whose meaning you think you can guess from the way they are used in the selection. Check up on these words and see how many you guessed correctly. 10. Report topics for volunteers: a. A trip to a glass factory. b. How "high-speed" steel is made. c. By-products of coke. d. Accidents which led to great inventions. CLASS-LIBRARY READINGS USING NATURE'S GIFTS 1. "Chemistry in Overalls," A. D. Little, in Opportunities of To-day for Boys and Girls, 58–66. 2. "The Woman Laboratory Worker," E. Robbins, ibid., 248–250. 3. "Thomas A. Edison, Electrician," in Makers of Our Country, 353– 364. 4. "The Story of Rubber," Wonder Book of Knowledge, 98–119. 5. "The Story of Electricity in the Home," ibid., 200-215. 6. "The Story of the Advance of Electricity," ibid., 273-285. 7. "Story of the Taking of Food from the Air," ibid., 458–466. 8. "Hemp," J. L. Allen, in The Promise of Country Life, 106–113. 9. "The Magic of Test Tube and Retort," Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, 2:710-716. 10. "The Men Who Discovered Electricity's Secrets," ibid., 3:1117– II22. II. "What Fire Is and How It Serves Man," ibid., 3: 1249-1251. 12. "The Invisible Fuel That Cooks Our Meals," ibid., 4: 1406-1408. 13. "The Marvels of Heat, and How Men Have Mastered It," ibid., 4:1617-1621. 14. "How Jamie Watt's Tea-Kettle Turned Into a Steam Engine," ibid., 9:3704-3705; World Book, 7: 5538-5540. 15. “The Story of Coal," World Book, 2:1442–1448; Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, 2:811-815; Book of Knowledge, 3: 799-809. A good reader, as we saw on page 29, brings much to his reading. He is constantly reminded of things he has read, heard, or seen; he reads between the lines. In this selection Doctor Slosson explains with illustrations the three stages in human progress. Read the selection twice the first time for the content as a whole and the second time for the details; as you read, try to think of other examples which illustrate three steps in man's progress. The story of Robinson Crusoe is very much like the story of man. Man is a castaway upon a desert planet, separated from other inhabited worlds if there be any such by millions of miles of space. He is absolutely dependent upon his own efforts, for this world of his has no imports except meteorites and no exports of any kind. Man has no wrecked ship to draw upon for tools and weapons, but must utilize as best he may such materials as he can find. In his conquest of nature there have been three stages. 1. The Appropriative or "Taking" Stage. 3. The Creative or "Making" Stage. These stages overlap, and the human race may be passing into the third stage in one field of human endeavor, while still lingering in the second or the first in some other respect. But in any line of advance this order is followed. The primitive man picks up whatever he can find suitable for his use. His successor in the second stage of culture shapes and develops this crude instrument until it becomes better fitted for his purpose. Then, in the course of time, man often finds that he can make something new which is better than anything he can find in nature. The savage discovers. The barbarian improves. The civilized man invents. The first finds. The second fashions. The third creates. Primitive man sought shelter in any cave that he could find. Later he dug out the cave to make it more roomy and piled up stones at the entrance to keep out the wild beasts. He gradually enlarged this barricade until finally he could build a cave above ground anywhere in the open field from stones he quarried out of the hill. But he was not content with such materials and he now puts up buildings which may be composed of steel, brick, glass and concrete, none of which materials are to be found in nature. The savage might cross a stream astride a floating treetrunk. By-and-by it occurred to him that it would be better to sit inside the log instead of on it, so he hollowed out the log with fire or flint. Later, much later, he built an ocean liner. In the making of clothing the same development can be seen. Primitive man used the skins of animals he had slain to protect his own skin. In the course of time he fastened leaves together or pounded out bark to make garments. Later he plucked fibres from the sheepskin and the cottonball, twisted them together and wove them into cloth. Nowadays he can make a complete suit of clothes, from hat to shoes, of any texture, form, and color, and not include any substance to be found in nature. Imitate Nature? Yes, when we cannot improve upon her. Admire Nature? Possibly, but we must not be blind to her defects. Learn from Nature? We should sit humbly at her feet until we can stand erect and go our own way. Love Nature? Never! She is ever to be watched and conquered, for at any moment and in spite of all our watchfulness she may wipe out the human race by famine, pestilence, or earthquake, and within a few centuries blot out every trace of its achievement. In fact, it is only by conquering nature that man can rise. Some folks are trying to elevate the laboring classes; some are trying to keep them down. The scientist wants to end them by ending physical labor. There is little need any longer for human labor in the sense of physical toil, for the energy necessary to do all kinds of work may be obtained from nature and can be directed and controlled without great difficulty. Man's first effort in this direction was to throw part of his burden upon the horse and the ox or upon other men. But within the last century he has discovered that neither human nor animal toil is necessary to give him leisure for the higher life, for with the machine he can do the work of giants without exhaustion. Man is the tool-using animal, and the machine, that is, the power-driven tool, is his peculiar achievement. It is purely a creation of the human mind. The wheel, the essential feature of the machine, does not exist in nature. The lever, with its to-and-fro motion, we find in the limbs of all animals, but the wheel cannot be formed of bone and flesh. Man as a motive power is a poor thing, but he can make an engine that will do a hundred thousand times as much as he can and do it twice as well. -Adapted. CLASS ACTIVITIES 1. Explain the three chief stages in man's progress from savagery to civilization. Give examples, not mentioned in the selection, which illustrate these three stages. (If you have trouble in doing this, read again "What the Earliest Men Did For Us,” p. 50.) 2. How does the story of man resemble the story of Robinson Cru soe? 3. Read the paragraph in which Slosson tells his attitude toward nature; explain his thought in your own words. 4. It is only by conquering nature that man can rise. Mention facts from preceding selections which seem to prove this statement. 5. The wheel is the essential feature of a machine. Explain. Can you name a machine which has no wheel? 6. What is a lever? Give examples of levers in your body. For what are levers used in industry? Is the lever as valuable as the wheel? 7. Do you agree with what the author says about loving nature? In what two ways may we use the word "nature"? Contrast the way in which it is used in Book One, pp. 187-197, with the way in which it is used in this unit. Name three respects in which we should "conquer" nature; three in which we should "love" her. 8. What is Slosson's attitude toward the laboring classes? Do you agree with him? Explain his statement that there is little need any longer for human labor in the sense of physical toil. 9. Word study: meteorites, barricade, concrete, pestilence, motive. 10. How is this selection illustrated by "New Marvels of Chemistry in Every Day Life," p. 69? 11. Read aloud the stanza in "The Song of Steam," p. 66, which is most like the last paragraph in this selection. 2. WHAT OF THE FUTURE? LEON CARROLL MARSHALL One way to become a good reader is to form the habit of raising questions as you read. This practice will help you to see and to understand what is important in a selection. While reading this article, make a list of seven questions which will test thoroughly your understanding of the author's thought. Coal, Petroleum, and Natural Gas. Our greatest source of power to-day is coal. This coal is stored sunshine of thousands of years ago! The sun enables plants to grow. Every day the earth's plants absorb thousands of tons of carbon from the air. When they decay, they give this carbon back to the air. If, however, a mass of plants should become cov |