Nature's Teachings
Human Invention Anticipated by Nature

A fascinating Victorian book of popular science describing the parallels between nature and human inventions.

John George Wood (Author)

9781108000710, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

560 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3.2 cm, 0.7 kg

Nature's Teachings, first published in 1877, was one of many books on natural history by J. G. Wood, a Victorian clergyman who was hugely influential in popularising the subject, as well as being the editor of The Boy's Own Magazine. Here he examines the close parallels between nature and human inventions in areas including seafaring (the raft, paddle and oar), war and hunting (barbs, poisons and projectiles), architecture, tools, optics and acoustics, as well as 'useful arts' including sewage disposal. His text contains over 750 figures and illustrations, and he argues that future great discoveries could be made as a result of careful observations of nature. Although a contemporary of Darwin, Wood largely ignored the evolution debates and focused on communicating his enthusiasm for the natural world to a non-scientific audience. His successful publications still make fascinating reading for those interested in Victorian culture and the history of education.

Preface
Part I. Nautical: 1. The raft
2. The oar, the paddle and the screw
3. Subsidiary appliances
4. Subsidiary appliances (continued)
5. Subsidiary appliances (continued)
Part II. War and hunting: 1. The pitfall, the club, the sword, the spear and the dagger
2. Poison, animal and vegetable
3. Projectile weapons and the sheath
4. The net, etc.
5. Reverted spikes and their modifications, etc.
6. The hook, defensive armour, the fort
7. Scaling instruments, defence of fort, imitation, the fall-trap
8. Concealment, disguise, the trench, power of gravity, miscellanea
Part III. Architecture: 1. Hut, tropic and polar
2. Walls, double and single
3. The window
4. Lighthouses
Part IV. Tools: 1. The digging-stick
2. The saw and its varieties
3. Boring tools
4. Polishing tools
Part V. Optics: 1. The missions of history
2. The water-telescope
Part VI. Useful arts: 1. Primitive man and his needs
2. Crushing instruments
3. Cloth-dressing
4. The stopper
5. The principle of the spring
6. Spiral and ringed tissues
7. Food and comfort
8. Domestic comfort
9. Artificial warmth
10. Water, and means of procuring it
11. Aerostatics
12. The cassava press etc.
12. Telescopic tubes
14. Paper and its many uses
15. Electricity
16. Tillage
17. Oscillation
Part VII. Acoustics: 1. Percussion.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB]