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, zoölogy, 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