  | Page | | CHAPTER I. | | IRON AND STEEL. | | Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry—Sir Henry Bessemer—Sir William Siemens—Werner von Siemens—The Krupps of Essen | 9 |
CHAPTER II. | | POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. | | Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware—Worcester Porcelain | 51 |
CHAPTER III. | | THE SEWING MACHINE. | | Thomas Saint—Thimonnier—Hunt—Elias Howe—Wilson—Morey—Singer | 72 |
CHAPTER IV. | | WOOL AND COTTON. | | Wool.—What is Wool?—Chemical Composition—Fibre—Antiquity of Shepherd Life—Varieties of Sheep—Introduction into Australia—Spanish Merino—Wool Wealth of Australia—Imports and Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce—Woollen Manufacture | 81 | | Cotton.—Cotton Plant in the East—Mandeville's Fables about Cotton—Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt—Columbus finds Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492—In Africa—Manufacture of Cloth in England—The American Cotton Plant | 91 |
CHAPTER V. | | GOLD AND DIAMONDS. | | Gold.—How widely distributed—Alluvial Gold-mining—Vein Gold-mining—Nuggets—Treatment of Ore and Gold in the Transvaal—Story of South African Gold-fields—Gold-production of the World—Johannesburg the Golden City—Coolgardie Gold-fields—Bayley's discovery of Gold there | 102 | | Diamonds.—Composition—Diamond-cutting—Diamond-mining—Famous Diamonds—Cecil J. Rhodes and the Kimberley Mines | 135 |
CHAPTER VI. | | BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION. | | Woolwich Arsenal—Enfield Small-arms Factory—Lord Armstrong and the Elswick Works—Testing Guns at Shoeburyness—Hiram S. Maxim and the Maxim Machine Gun—The Colt Automatic Gun—Ironclads—Submarine Boats | 152 |
CHAPTER VII. | | THE EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE. | | In praise of Cycling—Number of Cycles in Use—Medical Opinions—Pioneers in the Invention—James Starley—Cycling Tours | 192 |
CHAPTER VIII. | | STEAMERS AND SAILING-SHIPS. | | Early Shipping—Mediterranean Trade—Rise of the P. and O. and other Lines—Transatlantic Lines—India and the East—Early Steamships—First Steamer to cross the Atlantic—Rise of Atlantic Shipping Lines—The Great Eastern and the New Cunarders Campania and Lucania compared—Sailing-ships | 205 |
CHAPTER IX. | | POST-OFFICE—TELEGRAPH—TELEPHONE—PHONOGRAPH. | | Rowland Hill and Penny Postage—A Visit to the Post-office—The Post-office on Wheels—Early Telegraphs—Wheatstone and Morse—The State and the Telegraphs—Atlantic Cables—Telephones—Edison and the Phonograph | 247 |
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