Chapter 1

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The book of wonders This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The book of wonders gives plain and simple answers to the thousands of everyday questions that are asked and which all should be able to, but cannot answer... Editor: Rudolph J. Bodmer Release date: April 24, 2025 [eBook #75948] Language: English Original publication: New York: Presbrey Syndicate, Inc, 1914 Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75948 Credits: Charlene Taylor, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF WONDERS *** Transcriber’s Notes Words, letters and phrases printed in boldface or italics in the source document have been transcribed between =equal signs= and _underscores_ respectively. Small capitals have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. Phrases between ~tildes~ represent side notes. ^o stands for a superscript o. More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text. THE BOOK OF WONDERS [Illustration: HOW MAN BURROWS UNDER THE WATER This is a picture of a section of one of the world’s greatest tunnels, showing how man has learned to construct great tubes of steel beneath the surface of the water and land, in which to run the swiftly moving trains which carry him rapidly from place to place.] THE BOOK OF WONDERS GIVES PLAIN AND SIMPLE ANSWERS TO THE THOUSANDS OF EVERYDAY QUESTIONS THAT ARE ASKED AND WHICH ALL SHOULD BE ABLE TO, BUT CANNOT ANSWER FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH HUNDREDS OF EDUCATIONAL PICTURES WHICH STIMULATE THE MIND AND GIVE A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE WONDERS OF NATURE and the WONDERS PRODUCED BY MAN Edited and Arranged by RUDOLPH J. BODMER Fully Indexed 1915 PRESBREY SYNDICATE, INC. 456 Fourth Avenue NEW YORK Copyright, 1914 BY PRESBREY SYNDICATE, Inc.