A Book of Exposition

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A Book of Exposition

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Title: A Book of Exposition
Author: Homer Heath Nugent
Release Date: October 31, 2004 [EBook #13910]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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A BOOK OF EXPOSITION
EDITED BY
HOMER HEATH NUGENT
LAFLIN INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH AT THE RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
1922

PREFACE
It is a pleasure to acknowledge indebtedness to my wife for assistance in editing and to Dr. Ray Palmer Baker, Head of the Department of English at the Institute, for suggestions and advice without which this collection would hardly have been made.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE EXPOSITION OF A MECHANISM THE LEVERS OR THE HUMAN BODY. SIR ARTHUR KEITH
THE EXPOSITION OF A MACHINE THE MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE. PHILIP T. DODGE
THE EXPOSITION OF A PROCESS IN NATURE THE PEA WEEVIL. JEAN HENRI FABRE. Translated by Bernard Miall
THE EXPOSITION OF A MANUFACTURING PROCESS MODERN PAPER-MAKING. J. W. BUTLER PAPER COMPANY
THE EXPOSITION OF AN IDEA THE GOSPEL OF RELAXATION. WILLIAM JAMES SCIENCE AND RELIGION. CHARLES PROTEUS STEINMETZ
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTES

INTRODUCTION
The articles here presented are modern and unhackneyed. Selected primarily as models for teaching the methods of exposition employed in the explanation of mechanisms, processes, and ideas, they are nevertheless sufficiently representative of certain tendencies in science to be of intrinsic value. Indeed, each author is a recognized authority.
Another feature is worthy of mention. Although the material covers so wide a field--anatomy, zo?logy, physics, psychology, and applied science--that the collection will appeal to instructors in every type of college and technical school, the selections are related in such a way as to produce an impression of unity. This relation is apparent between the first selection, which deals with the student's body, and the third, which deals with another organism in nature. The second and fourth selections deal with kindred aspects of modern industry--the manufacture of paper and the Linotype machine, by which it is used. The fifth selection is a protest against certain developments of the industrial regime; the last, an attempt to reconcile the spirit of science with that of religion. While monotony has been avoided, the essays form a distinct unit.
In most cases, selections are longer than usual, long enough in fact to introduce a student to each field. As a result, he can be made to feel that every subject is of importance and to realize that every chapter contains a fund of valuable information. Instead of confusing him by having him read twenty selections in, let us say, six weeks, it is possible by assigning but six in the same period, to impress him definitely with each.
The text-book machinery has been sequestered in the Biographical and Critical Notes at the end of the book. Their character and position are intended to permit instructors freedom of treatment. Some may wish to test a student's ability in the use of reference books by having him report on allusions. Some may wish to explain these themselves. A few may find my experience helpful. For them suggestions are included in the Critical Notes. In general, I have assumed that instructors will prefer their own methods and have tried to leave them unhampered.

THE EXPOSITION OF A MECHANISM
THE LEVERS OF THE HUMAN BODY[1]
Sir Arthur Keith
In all the foregoing chapters we have been considering only the muscular engines of the human machine, counting them over and comparing their construction and their mechanism with those of the internal-combustion engine of a motor cycle. But of the levers or crank-pins through which muscular engines exert their power we have said nothing hitherto. Nor shall we get any help by now spending time on the levers of a motor cycle. We have already confessed that they are arranged in a way which is quite different from that which we find in the human machine. In the motor cycle all the levers are of that complex kind which are called wheels, and the joints at which these levers work are also circular, for the joints of a motor cycle are the surfaces between the axle and the bushes, which have to be kept constantly oiled. No, we freely admit that the systems of levers in the human machine are quite unlike those of a motor cycle. They are more simple, and it is easy to find in our bodies examples of all the three orders of levers. The joints at which bony levers meet and move on each other