Contains instructional essays on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to: the art of making gun flints, the construction of a movable table for the use of engravers, preparing ox-gall, blowing up rocks under water, the manufacture of iron and steel wire and gilt buttons, methods of telegraphic signalling (including smoke signals), and methods for preparing varnishes. Also contains numerous reports on topics such as: spontaneous combustion, the effect of magnetism on time-pieces, the remains of a woolly mammoth, the wines and champagne of France, the construction of theaters (and their acoustical properties), the qualities of rapeseed oil, and many other topics.

Contains instructional essays on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to: the art of making gun flints, the construction of a movable table for the use of engravers, preparing ox-gall, blowing up rocks under water, the manufacture of iron and steel wire and gilt buttons, methods of telegraphic signalling (including smoke signals), and methods for preparing varnishes. Also contains numerous reports on topics such as: spontaneous combustion, the effect of magnetism on time-pieces, the remains of a woolly mammoth, the wines and champagne of France, the construction of theaters (and their acoustical properties), the qualities of rapeseed oil, and many other topics.

Body art meets popular science in this elegant, mind-blowing collection, written by renowned science writer Carl Zimmer. This fascinating book showcases hundreds of eye-catching tattoos that pay tribute to various scientific disciplines, from evolutionary biology and neuroscience to mathematics and astrophysics, and reveals the stories of the individuals who chose to inscribe their obsessions in their skin. Best of all, each tattoo provides a leaping-off point for bestselling essayist and lecturer Zimmer to reflect on the science in question, whether its the importance of an image of Darwins finches or the significance of the uranium atom inked into the chest of a young radiologist.

This volume, by offering a score of new insights derived from a wide variety of recent archaeological and textual sources, bring to life an important overseas trading port in Southeast Asia: Quanzhou. During the Song and Yuan dynasties active official and unofficial engagement in trade had formative effects on the development of the maritime trade of Quanzhou and its social and economic position both regionally and supraregionally. In the first part subjects such as the impact of the Song imperial clan and the local élites on these developments, the economic importance of metals, coins, paper money, and changes in the political economy, are amply discussed. The second part concentrates on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of archaeological data and materials, the investigation of commodities from China, their origins, distribution and final destinations, the use of foreign labour, and the particular role of South Thailand in trade connections, thus supplying the hard data underlying the main argument of the book.