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GYROSCOPE s. (Gr. guros, circle; skopéô, I watch). Phys. A device that is used to demonstrate the existence of the diurnal rotation of the earth: the gyroscope was developed in 1852 by Foucault. The simplest form of gyroscope essentially consists of a disk rotating on pivots in a circle, and bearing on one side, on the line extending its axis, a rod with a conical depression underneath, to hold the tip of a vertical …Read more »

— Let’s go and see your friend, unless you’re ashamed of my company.
— I would certainly be very proud…, but my friend lives in Auteuil. You might not wish to go that way?
— On the contrary, it was precisely to Auteuil that I intended to ride today.
— Well… my friend is sick, said Henri increasingly disconcerted, and perhaps your visit…
— Laubespin, the old man said in a cutting voice, admit that it is not as easy to lie as is commonly imagined.
— Uncle, this is a remark …Read more »

HAKODATE, a city in Japan, in the province of Matsmai, near the southern tip of the Yezo⁽¹⁾ island, on the northern coast of the Strait of Sangar⁽²⁾; by 42° N. Population approximately 50 000. It stretches for nearly 4 km (2.48 miles) at the base of a promontory, whose summit rises above 400 metres (1312 ft) above sea level; it has one of the best harbours in the world. It consists of rows of wide streets, parallel to the …Read more »

We know typhoons are impetuous winds that blow in several directions at the same time and cause terrible disturbances, particularly at sea, where it becomes impossible to steer. The Greek word tuphein, which means burn, ignite, is an image of the effects generated by typhoons, whose name derives from the greek verb.
A typhoon violently hit Caste-to-Peak Bay on the night of 30 September to 1 October. The inland port of Macao has been …Read more »

In the daytime, Europeans stay inside their houses: the sun, whose rays heat up the reddish volcanic dust of the alleys, doesn’t allow them to go for walks. When business calls them to the malaysian city, they get in their palanquin, a long and narrow carriage in which two people only can sit, opposite one another. The palanquin is hitched up to a small persian horse, led by a Hindu who walks, runs or gallops in front or at the side of the carriage. In the evening, when the sun has disappeared from the horizon and the sea breeze rises, Europeans go for rides on horses or in palanquins, on an avenue that runs along the bay or on roads that lead, through various places, to the inner island.
 
Extract from L’Illustration, N° 772 on 12 December 1857.

HADROSAURUS s. (gr. hadros, thick; sauros, lizard). Gigantic dinosaurian fossil reptile that lived in the fields and in the forests …Read more »