The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton: Inventor of the Spinning Machine Called the Mule. E-book. Formato PDF Gilbert J. French   -  Forgotten Books, 2017  - 

It became the duty of the author, as President of the Bolton Mechanics' Institution, to make arrangements for the delivery of a series of lectures to the members during the winter session of 1858-9. These members are for the most part working men, a greater proportion of them being Operative mechanics than is usually met with in other similar institutions. The funds, however, did not permit the engagement of paid lecturers, and the President was therefore obliged to solicit the gratuitous services of some personal friends, and other gentlemen connected with the borough or its neighbourhood. His appeal was heartily responded to, and resulted in the delivery of the following series of lectures, all of which were numerously attended by gratified and grateful audiences.

An Attempt to Explain the Origin and Meaning of the Early Interlaced Ornamentation: Found on the Ancient Sculptured Stones of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. E-book. Formato PDF Gilbert J. French   -  Forgotten Books, 2017  - 

Many of the purposes to which the ancient Briton applied his manufacture of baskets were singularly useful, and so well were they adapted to their peculiar purposes that they are employed almost unchanged even to the present day. The coracle of basket and hide is still used by sportsmen and poachers on the waters of North Wales.(2) The bothies of the Scottish Highlanders are yet constructed of wattles; and even in the cottages of a better kind the doors and sleeping cribs are frequently of the same fabric: so also are their rude little sledges and carts; and until of late their horse harness also.(3) Modern civilization does not now disdain to use for drags, dog-carts, and German waggons the same strong yet light and elastic materials which the ancient Briton probably employed for his formidable war-chariot; and our ancestors of the last century knew well the value of the stage-coach basket as a convenient means of convey ance over their rough roads.