It’s like that pond I skated on when I was a kid—from a distance, the ice looked so shiny and smooth, until you got close enough to it, and suddenly all the uneven edges and crisscrossed skate marks became visible. That’s me, I guess. Covered with skate marks that nobody ever seems to notice.
There once was this swami who lived above a delicatessan. Seems one day he decided to stop in downstairs for some fresh liver. Well, the owner of the deli was a bit of a cheap-skate, and decided to pick up a little extra change at his customer's expense. Turning quietly to the counterman, he whispered, "Weigh down upon the swami's liver!"
And it works. There have now been many studies of elite performers—international violinists, chess grand masters, professional ice-skaters, mathematicians, and so forth—and the biggest difference researchers find between them and lesser performers is the cumulative amount of deliberate practice they’ve had. Indeed, the most important talent may be the talent for practice itself. K. Anders Ericsson, a cognitive psychologist and expert on performance, notes that the most important way in which innate factors play a role may be in one’s willingness to engage in sustained training.
DARTMOUTH, a town in Halifax county, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the north-eastern side of Halifax harbour, connected by a steam ferry with Halifax, of which it is practically a suburb. Pop. (1901) 4806. It contains a large sugar refinery, foundries, machine shops, saw mills, skate, rope, nail, soap and sash factories. Entry: DARTMOUTH
In the time of the counts the wealth of Gouda was mainly derived from brewing and cloth-weaving; but at a later date the making of clay tobacco pipes became the staple trade, and, although this industry has somewhat declined, the churchwarden pipes of Gouda are still well known and largely manufactured. In winter-time it is considered a feat to skate hither from Rotterdam and elsewhere to buy such a pipe and return with it in one's mouth without its being broken. The mud from the Ysel furnishes the material for large brick-works and potteries; there are also a celebrated manufactory of stearine candles, a yarn factory, an oil refinery and cigar factories. The transit and shipping trade is considerable, and as one of the principal markets of South Holland, the round, white Gouda cheeses are known throughout Europe. Boskoop, 5 m. N. by W. of Gouda on the Gouwe, is famous for its nursery gardens; and the little old-world town of Oudewater as the birthplace of the famous theologian Arminius in 1560. The town hall (1588) of Oudewater contains a picture by Dirk Stoop (d. 1686), commemorating the capture of the town by the Spaniards in 1575 and the subsequent sack and massacre. Entry: GOUDA
The character of the relics shows that in some cases the settlements have been the dwellings of a people using no materials but stone, bone and wood for their implements, ornaments and weapons; in others, of a people using bronze as well as stone and bone; and in others again the occasional use of iron is disclosed. But, though the character of the relics is thus changed, there is no corresponding change in the construction and arrangements of the dwellings. The settlement in the Lake of Moosseedorf, near Bern, affords the most perfect example of a lake dwelling of the Stone age. It was a parallelogram 70 ft. long by 50 ft. wide, supported on piles, and having a gangway built on faggots connecting it with the land. The superstructure had been destroyed by fire. The implements found in the relic bed under it were axe-heads of stone, with their haftings of stag's horn and wood; a flint saw, set in a handle of fir wood and fastened with asphalt; flint flakes and arrow-heads; harpoons of stag's horn with barbs; awls, needles, chisels, fish-hooks and other implements of bone; a comb of yew wood 5 in. long; and a skate made out of the leg bone of a horse. The pottery consisted chiefly of roughly-made vessels, some of which were of large size, others had holes under the rims for suspension, and many were covered with soot, the result of their use as culinary vessels. Burnt wheat, barley and linseed, with many varieties of seeds and fruits, were plentifully mingled with the bones of the stag, the ox, the swine, the sheep and the goat, representing the ordinary food of the inhabitants, while remains of the beaver, the fox, the hare, the dog, the bear, the horse, the elk and the bison were also found. Entry: LAKE
Though, owing to the growth of Sydney and other outports, it no longer monopolizes the foreign trade of the province, Halifax is still a thriving town, and has the largest export trade of the Dominion in fish and fish products, the export of fish alone, in 1904, amounting to over three-fifths that of the entire Dominion. Lumber (chiefly spruce deals) and agricultural products (especially apples) are also exported in large quantities. The chief imports are manufactures from Great Britain and the United States, and sugar, molasses, rum and fruit from the West Indies. Its industrial establishments include foundries, sugar refineries, manufactures of furniture and other articles of wood, a skate factory and rope and cordage works, the produce of which are all exported. It is the Atlantic terminus of the Intercolonial, Canadian Pacific and several provincial railways, and the chief winter port of Canada, numerous steamship lines connecting it with Great Britain, Europe, the West Indies and the United States. The public gardens, covering 14 acres, and Point Pleasant Park, left to a great extent in its natural state, are extremely beautiful. Behind the city is an arm of the sea (known as the North-West Arm), 5 m. in length and 1 m. in breadth, with high, well-wooded shores, and covered in summer with canoes and sailing craft. The educational institutions include a ladies' college, several convents, a Presbyterian theological college and Dalhousie University, with faculties of arts, law, medicine and science. Established by charter in 1818 by the earl of Dalhousie, then lieutenant governor, and reorganized in 1863, it has since become much the most important seat of learning in the maritime provinces. Other prominent buildings are Government House, the provincial parliament and library, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. St Paul's church (Anglican) dates from 1750, and though not striking architecturally, is interesting from the memorial tablets and the graves of celebrated Nova Scotians which it contains. The city is the seat of the Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and of the Roman Catholic bishop of Halifax. Entry: HALIFAX
_Fauna._--The fauna includes leopards, panthers, hyenas, Potto lemurs, jackals, antelopes, buffaloes, wild-hogs and many kinds of monkey, including the chimpanzee and the _Colobus vellerosus_, whose skin, with long black silky hair, is much prized in Europe. The elephant has been almost exterminated by ivory hunters. The snakes include pythons, cobras, horned and puff adders and the venomous water snake. Among the lesser denizens of the forest are the squirrel and porcupine. Crocodiles and in fewer numbers manatees and otters frequent the rivers and lagoons and hippopotami are found in the Volta. Lizards of brilliant hue, tortoises and great snails are common. Birds, which are not very numerous, include parrots and hornbills, kingfishers, ospreys, herons, crossbills, curlews, woodpeckers, doves, pigeons, storks, pelicans, swallows, vultures and the spur plover (the last-named rare). Shoals of herrings frequent the coast, and the other fish include mackerel, sole, skate, mullet, bonito, flying fish, fighting fish and shynose. Sharks abound at the mouths of all the rivers, edible turtle are fairly common, as are the sword fish, dolphin and sting ray (with poisonous caudal spine). Oysters are numerous on rocks running into the sea and on the exposed roots of mangrove trees. Insect life is multitudinous; beetles, spiders, ants, fireflies, butterflies and jiggers abound. The earthworm is rare. The mosquitos include the _Culex_ or ordinary kind, the _Anopheles_, which carry malarial fever, and the _Stegomyia_, a striped white and black mosquito which carries yellow-fever. Entry: GOLD
_Osseous or Bony Skeleton._--The most ancient type of bony skeleton appears to be represented in the _placoid_ elements such as are seen in the skin of the Selachian (fig. 21). Each placoid element consists of a spine with a broadly expanded base embedded in the dermis. The base is composed of bone: the spine of the somewhat modified bone known as dentine. Ensheathing the tip of the spine is a layer of extremely hard enamel formed by the inner surface of the ectoderm which originally covered it. Such typical placoid scales are well seen on any ordinary skate. In the groups of fishes above the Selachians, the coating of placoid elements shows various modifications. The spines disappear, though they may be present for a time in early development. The bony basal plates tend to undergo fusion--in certain cases they form a continuous bony cuirass (various Siluroids, trunk-fishes) formed of large plates jointed together at their edges. More usually the plates are small and regular in size. In Crossopterygians and _Lepidosteus_ and in many extinct forms the scales are of the ganoid type, being rhomboidal and having their outer layer composed of hard glistening ganoine. In other Teleostomes the scales are as a rule thin, rounded and overlapping--the so-called cycloid type (fig. 22, A); where the posterior edge shows toothlike projections the scale is termed ctenoid (fig. 22, B). In various Teleosts the scales are vestigial (eel); in others (as in most electric fishes) they have completely disappeared. Entry: FIG
_Fisheries._--The fishing industry of the Netherlands may be said to have been in existence already in the 13th century, and in the following century received a considerable impetus from the discovery how to cure herring by William Beukelszoon, a Zeeland fisherman. It steadily declined during the 17th and 18th centuries, however, but again began to revive in the last half of the 19th century. The fisheries are commonly divided into four particular fishing areas, namely, the "deep-sea" fishery of the North Sea, and the "inner" (_binnengaatsch_) fisheries of the Wadden, the Zuider Zee, and the South Holland and Zeeland waters. The deep-sea fishery may be farther divided into the so-called "great" or "salt-herring" fishery, mainly carried on from Vlaardingen and Maasluis during the summer and autumn, and the "fresh-herring" fishery, chiefly pursued at Scheveningen, Katwijk and Noordwijk. The value of the herring fisheries is enhanced by the careful methods of smoking and salting, the export of salted fish being considerable. In the winter the largest boats are laid up and the remainder take to line-fishing. Middelharnis, Pernis and Zwartewaal are the centres of this branch of fishery, which yields halibut, cod, ling and haddock. The trawl fisheries of the coast yield sole, plaice, turbot, brill, skate, &c., of which a large part is brought alive to the market. In the Zuider Zee small herring, flat fish, anchovies and shrimps are caught, the chief fishing centres being the islands of Texel, Urk and Wieringen, and the coast towns of Helder, Bunschoten, Huizen, Enkhuizen, Vollendam, Kampen, Harderwyk, Vollenhove. The anchovy fishing which takes place in May, June and July sometimes yields very productive results. Oysters and mussels are obtained on the East Scheldt, and anchovies at Bergen-op-Zoom; while salmon, perch and pike are caught in the Maas, the Lek and the New Merwede. The oyster-beds and salmon fisheries are largely in the hands of the state, which lets them to the highest bidder. Large quantities of eels are caught in the Frisian lakes. The fisheries not only supply the great local demand, but allow of large exports. Entry: HOLLAND
Sea angling is attended by almost as many refinements of tackle and method as fresh-water angling. The chief differences are differences of locality and the habits of the fish. To a certain extent sea angling may also be divided into three classes--fishing on the surface with the fly, at mid-water with spinning or other bait, and on the bottom; but the first method is only practicable at certain times and in certain places, and the others, from the great depths that often have to be sounded and the heavy weights that have to be used in searching them, necessitate shorter and stouter rods, larger reels and stronger tackle than fresh-water anglers employ. Also, of course, the sea-fisherman is liable to come into conflict with very large fish occasionally. In British waters the monster usually takes the form of a skate or halibut. A specimen of the former weighing 194 lb has been landed off the Irish coast with rod and line in recent years. In American waters there is a much greater opportunity of catching fish of this calibre. Entry: METHODS
4. _Plantagenet (1154-1485)._--Henry II. appears to have been to a certain extent prejudiced against the citizens of London on account of their attitude towards his mother, and he treated them with some severity. In 1176 the rebuilding of London Bridge with stone was begun by Peter of Colechurch. This was the bridge which was pulled down early in the 19th century. It consisted of twenty stone arches and a drawbridge. There was a gatehouse at each end and a chapel or crypt in the centre, dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury, in which Peter of Colechurch was buried in 1205. The large amount of building at this time proves that the citizens were wealthy. Fitzstephen, the monk of Canterbury, has left us the first picture of London. He speaks of its wealth, commerce, grandeur and magnificence--of the mildness of the climate, the beauty of the gardens, the sweet, clear and salubrious springs, the flowing streams, and the pleasant clack of the watermills. Even the vast forest of Middlesex, with its densely wooded thickets, its coverts of game, stags, fallow deer, boars and wild bulls is pressed into the description to give a contrast which shall enhance the beauty of the city itself. Fitzstephen tells how, when the great marsh that washed the walls of the city on the north (Moorfields) was frozen over, the young men went out to slide and skate and sport on the ice. Skates made of bones have been dug up in this district. This sport was allowed to fall into disuse, and was not again prevalent until it was introduced from Holland after the Restoration. Entry: 4
The Hemiptera are especially interesting as an order from the variety of aquatic insects included therein. Some of these--the _Hydrometridae_ or pond-skaters, for example--move over the surface-film, on which they are supported by their elongated, slender legs, the body of the insect being raised clear of the water. They are covered with short hairs which form a velvet-like pile, so dense that water cannot penetrate. Consequently when the insect dives, an air-bubble forms around it, a supply of oxygen is thus secured for breathing and the water is kept away from the spiracles. In many of these insects, while most individuals of the species are wingless, winged specimens are now and then met with. The occasional development of wings is probably of service to the species in enabling the insects to reach new fresh-water breeding-grounds. This family of Hemiptera (the _Hydrometridae_) and the _Saldidae_ contain several insects that are marine, haunting the tidal margin. One genus of _Hydrometridae_ (_Halobates_) is even oceanic in its habit, the species being met with skimming over the surface of the sea hundreds of miles from land. Probably they dive when the surface becomes ruffled. In these marine genera the abdomen often undergoes excessive reduction (fig. 5). Entry: FIG
_Gymnocerata._--This tribe includes some eighteen families of terrestrial, arboreal and marsh-haunting bugs, as well as those aquatic Heteroptera that live on the surface-film of water. The feelers are elongate and conspicuous. The _Pentatomidae_ (shield-bugs), some of which are metallic or otherwise brightly coloured, are easily recognized by the great development of the scutellum, which reaches at least half-way back towards the tip of the abdomen, and in some genera covers the whole of the hind body, and also the wings when these are closed. The _Coreidae_ have a smaller scutellum, and the feelers are inserted high on the head, while in the _Lygaeidae_ they are inserted lower down. These three families have the foot with three segments. In the curious little _Tingidae_, whose integuments exhibit a pattern of network-like ridges, the feet are two-segmented and the scutellum is hidden by the pronotum. The _Aradidae_ have two segmented feet, and a large visible scutellum. The _Hydrometridae_ are a large family including the pond-skaters and other dwellers on the surface-film of fresh water, as well as the remarkable oceanic genus _Halobates_ already referred to. The _Reduviidae_ are a family of predaceous bugs that attack other insects and suck their juices; the beak is short, and carried under the head in a hook-like curve, not--as in the preceding families--lying close against the breast. The _Cimicidae_ have the feet three-segmented and the forewings greatly reduced; most of the species are parasites on birds and bats, but one--_Cimex lectidarius_ (figs. 3, 8)--is the well-known "bed-bug" which abounds in unclean dwellings and sucks human blood (see BUG). The _Anthocoridae_ are nearly related to the _Cimicidae_, but the wings are usually well developed and the forewing possesses cuneus and embolium as well as corium and clavus. The _Capsidae_ are a large family of rather soft-skinned bugs mostly elongate in form with the two basal segments of the feelers stouter than the two terminal. The forewing in this family has a cuneus (fig. 9 cu), but not an embolium. These insects are often found in large numbers on plants whose juices they suck. Entry: FIG
II. Selachii or Chondropterygii, with the skull well developed but without membrane bones, with paired nasal apertures, with median and paired fins, the ventrals bearing prehensile organs (claspers) in the males. Sharks, skates and chimaeras. Entry: II
_British Game Fishes_.--On a much smaller scale are the fishes most esteemed in British waters. The bass (_Labrax lupus_) heads the list as a plucky and rather difficult opponent. A fish of 10 lb is a large one, but fifteen-pounders have been taken. Small or "school" bass up to 3 lb or 4 lb may sometimes be caught with the fly (generally a roughly constructed thing with big wings), and when they are really taking the sport is magnificent. In some few localities it is possible to cast for them from rocks with a salmon rod, but usually a boat is required. In other places bass may be caught from the shore with fish bait used on the bottom in quite shallow water. They may again sometimes be caught in mid-water, and in fact there are few methods and few lures employed in sea angling which will not account for them at times. The pollack (_Gadus pollachius_) and coal-fish (_Gadus virens_) come next in esteem. Both in some places reach a weight of 20 lb or more, and both when young will take a fly. Usually, however, the best sport is obtained by trailing some spinning-bait, such as an artificial or natural sand-eel, behind a boat. Sometimes, and especially for pollack, the bait must be kept near the bottom and heavy weights on the line are necessary; the coal-fish are more prone to come to the surface for feeding. The larger grey mullet (_Mugil capito_) is a great favourite with many anglers, as it is extremely difficult to hook, and when hooked fights strongly. Fishing for mullet is more akin to fresh-water fishing than any branch of sea-angling, and indeed can be carried on in almost fresh water, for the fish frequent harbours, estuaries and tidal pools. They can be caught close to the surface, at mid-water and at the bottom, and as a rule vegetable baits, such as boiled macaroni, or ragworms are found to answer best. Usually ground-baiting is necessary, and the finer the tackle used the greater is the chance of sport. Not a few anglers fish with a float as if for river fish. The fish runs up to about 8 lb in weight. The cod (_Gadus morhua_) grows larger and fights less gamely than any of the fish already mentioned. It is generally caught with bait used on the bottom from a boat, but in places codling, or young cod, give some sport to anglers fishing from the shore. The mackerel (_Scomber scomber_) gives the best sport to a bait, usually a strip of fish skin, trailed behind a boat fairly close to the surface, but it will sometimes feed on the bottom. Mackerel on light tackle are game fighters, though they do not usually much exceed 2 lb. Whiting and whiting-pout (_Gadus merlangus_ and _Gadus luscus_) both feed on or near the bottom, do not grow to any great size, and are best sought with fine tackle, usually an arrangement of three or four hooks at intervals above a lead which is called a "paternoster." If one or more of the hooks are on the bottom the tackle will do for different kinds of flat fish as well, flounders and dabs being the two species most often caught by anglers. The bream (_Pagellus centrodontus_) is another bottom-feeder which resembles the fresh-water bream both in appearance and habits. It is an early morning or rather a nocturnal fish, and grows to a weight of 3 lb or 4 lb. Occasionally it will feed in mid-water or even close to the surface. The conger eel (_Conger vulgaris_) is another night-feeder, which gives fine sport, as it grows to a great size, and is very powerful. Strong tackle is essential for conger fishing, as so powerful an opponent in the darkness cannot be given any law. The bait must be on or near the bottom. There are, of course, many other fish which come to the angler's rod at times, but the list given is fairly complete as representing the species which are especially sought. Beside them are occasional (in some waters too frequent) captures such as dog-fish and sharks, skates and rays. Many of them run to a great size and give plenty of sport on a rod, though they are not as a rule welcomed. Lastly, it must be mentioned that certain of the Salmonidae, smelts _(Osmerus eperlanus),_ sea-trout, occasionally brown trout, and still more occasionally salmon can be caught in salt water either in sea-lochs or at the mouths of rivers. Smelts are best fished for with tiny hooks tied on fine gut and baited with fragments of shrimp, ragworm, and other delicacies. Entry: METHODS
The year 1763 was marked by a terrible disaster. Choiseul, the prime minister, having obtained for himself and his cousin Praslin a concession of the country between the Kourou and the Maroni, sent out about 12,000 volunteer colonists, mainly from Alsace and Lorraine. They were landed at the mouth of the Kourou, where no preparation had been made for their reception, and where even water was not to be obtained. Mismanagement was complete; there was (for example) a shop for skates, whereas the necessary tools for tillage were wanting. By 1765 no more than 918 colonists remained alive, and these were a famished fever-stricken band. A long investigation in Paris resulted in the imprisonment of the incompetent leaders of the expedition. Several minor attempts at colonization in Guiana were made in the latter part of the century; but they all seemed to suffer from the same fatal prestige of failure. During the revolution band after band of political prisoners were transported to Guiana. The fate of the royalists, nearly 600 in number, who were exiled on the 18th Fructidor (1797), was especially sad. Landed on the Sinnamary without shelter or food, two-thirds of them perished miserably. In 1800 Victor Hugues was appointed governor, and he managed to put the colony in a better state; but in 1809 his work was brought to a close by the invasion of the Portuguese and British. Entry: A
In many sharks and in sturgeons the spiracle forms a conspicuous opening just behind the eye. In rays and skates, which are modified in correlation with their ground feeding habit, the spiracle is a large opening which during the great widening out of the body during development comes to be situated on the dorsal side, while the branchial clefts come to be ventral in position. In existing Crossopterygians the spiracle is a slit-like opening on the dorsal side of the head which can be opened or closed at will. In Dipneusti, as in the higher Teleostomes, the spiracle is found as an embryonic rudiment, but in this case it gives rise in the adult to a remarkable sense organ of problematical function.[11] Entry: FIG