The Battle of Dorking


Book Description

The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer is an 1871 novella by George Tomkyns Chesney, starting the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction. Written just after the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War, it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country referred to in oblique terms as The Other Power or The Enemy. Excerpt: "You ask me to tell you, my grandchildren, something about my share in the great events that happened fifty years ago. 'Tis sad work turning back to that bitter page in our history, but you may perhaps take profit in your new homes from the lesson it teaches. For us, in England, it came too late. And yet we had plenty of warnings if we had only made use of them."




On Dryptosaurus Incrassatus (Cope), from the Edmonton Series of the North West Territory (Classic Reprint)


Book Description

Excerpt from On Dryptosaurus Incrassatus (Cope), From the Edmonton Series of the North West Territory Of the skulls from the Red Deer river district, the one found in 1884 on Knee Hills creek is somewhat larger than the other. In this specimen (plates IV and V) the arches are missing with the entire upper part of the cranium from the parietal region forward. The brain case is preserved, with the bones of the palate behind, as well as the posterior lower portion of the maxillxe and the anterior half of the jugals. The two rami of the mandible are almost entire. The specimen is crushed downward, and what remains of the upper part of the skull is distorted to the left, with the two rami of the mandible lying turned over, beneath. The two halves of the Jew have been displaced, posteriorly, so as to partially expose the bones of the back portion of the palate in the space between them. This displacement of the jaw has brought to view the inner surface of the right ramus, which lies, posteriorly, almost in the same plane as the exposed outer surface of the left ramus. From this specimen we gain information regarding the form and con struction of the brain case and the anterior part of the lower or infratemporal arcade, the composition of the palate and the shape of the several elements of the mandible with their relations to each other. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.