Mende Natural History Vocabulary

Excerpt from Mende Natural History Vocabulary, Vol. 1 This vocabulary, which was compiled at Sekondi on the Gold Coast, consists of a list of the names of as many animals, plants, &c., as the author has been able to observe personally or to obtain a description of. It does not profess to be a scientific Natural History Guide either to the Mende country or to the locality where it was compiled. It may, however, be found useful to those who, without any zoological or botanical knowledge, wish to know something of the Bush, and it can of course be used in any part of West Africa if the assistance of an intelligent Mende can be obtained. The vocabulary is divided into sections for convenience of reference, and alphabetical order has been set aside when a grouping seemed likely to be more useful. Most of the objects named have come under the author's personal oh servation; but amongst the exceptions, which are from description only, must be included, besides nearly all the fish and the varieties of rice, many if not most of the larger animals. To the author's great regret, the neighbourhood of Sekondi is deficient in the larger fauna. Where appears against a name it means that the word appears in Schoen's Vocabulary of the Mende Language, 1884, but no confirmation has been forthcoming. The Mendes' own country is in the colony of Sierra Leone; but they are to be found scattered throughout the whole length of the coast-line of West Africa, working chiefly as labourers or carriers, from as far as Dakar on the north to Benguela on the south. In the Gold Coast at the present time they possibly number about 1500, and their recognition of plants there at least bears witness to the range of those plants over the intervening territory. 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.

This volume provides the origins and meanings of the names of genera and species of extant vascular plants, with the genera arranged alphabetically from R to Z.

This volume provides the origins and meanings of the names of genera and species of extant vascular plants, with the genera arranged alphabetically from M to Q.

How encounters with strongly electric fish informed our grasp of electricity. Spark from the Deep tells the story of how human beings came to understand and use electricity by studying the evolved mechanisms of strongly electric fish. These animals can shock potential prey or would-be predators with high-powered electrical discharges. William J. Turkel asks completely fresh questions about the evolutionary, environmental, and historical aspects of people’s interest in electric fish. Stimulated by painful encounters with electric catfish, torpedos, and electric eels, people learned to harness the power of electric shock for medical therapies and eventually developed technologies to store, transmit, and control electricity. Now we look to these fish as an inspiration for engineering new sensors, computer interfaces, autonomous undersea robots, and energy-efficient batteries. Praise for Spark from the Deep “This beautifully written and exhaustively researched book traces the links between experiments on strongly electric fish and scientific understanding of electricity . . . Turkel’s book is a joy to read; it will entertain and educate scientists, historians, and anyone with an interest in the natural world.” —Choice “Turkel’s book convincingly reminds us that all the laptops and gadgets we surround ourselves with are remixes; altered versions of strongly electric fish. For that strange and insightful observation, this book ought to be widely read and enjoyed.” —Chris Conway, Endeavour “[I]t is refreshing to explore a book which takes seriously ancient encounters with manifestations of natural electricity as precursors to more recent innovations.” —James F. Stark, The British Journal for the History of Science

Contains 3,500 entries, representing almost 700 African languages and over 200 dialects, spanning over 400 years of African lexicographical writing and research.