Sea Prayer: An Illustrated Literary Narration on the Afflictions of Refugees

Children have been the most sought-after artist, sculptors, creators, innovators, poets, builders, and are likely to practice many professions and become one. As curious learners from their toddler life, they try to grab any object that is around and make some sense out of them. For instance, playing on a heap of sand they construct their dream homes, getting hold of their dad’s stethoscope they try to feel the ‘lub dub’ beat on the chest of their parents; playing with the cooking vessels that they stealthily take it from their mother’s kitchen and play the role of a cook and chef by heating water on a toy gas stove etc. These little incidents in their life, as little ones, have given a giant leap for mankind in the field of discovery and inventions. Many scientists like James Watt (watching the boiling kettle in his mother’s cottage), Archimedes (incident in his bathing tub), Isaac Newton (falling apple) and many other such scientists have invented something or the other, through observations and experiences. These inventions are taught to children in their science classes according to their syllabus that are graded by the education department and syllabus makers. This article will make an attempt to cater interest among students to get into the picturesque and fascinating world of children’s Nursery Rhymes to understand and learn many scientific and engineering concepts from it. Through the pictorial representations found in the nursery rhymes, many engineering concepts can be taught to children between the ages of six to fifteen. This can be seen as one of the innovative methods of revealing the great wonders of science through the Nursery Rhymes.

Environmental Battlegrounds

This chapter opens by revisiting the Tellico Dam/snail darter controversy that pitted environmental activism against the rising tide of conservative anti-regulatory fervor. Union members joined anti-environmentalists in blaming regulation as the cause of the nation’s economic woes, especially rampant inflation. On one side, you had increasingly radical environmental groups such as Earth First!, and on the other, the Sage Brush/Wise Use rebellion that found a welcome in the Reagan administration. The Spotted Owl controversy epitomized the growing rift. Reagan appointed such arch Sage Brush rebels as James Watt as secretary of the interior and Anne Gorsuch (mother of the Supreme Court nominee) at EPA to dismantle the programs they were charged to enforce. While the Wise Use movement emerged in the Western states, it had strong followings in the East as well, as conservatives fought regulations in the Adirondacks Park, zoning in Vermont, and preservation of clean water in the Delaware River Gap. Nimbys represented a new source of activism. These were often women fighting against local pollution and other threats to their families, homes, and communities. Lois Gibbs from Love Canal and Penny Newman from California were two of the most effective leaders to emerge. Other groups such as the Clamshell and Abalone Alliances opposed new nuclear power plants.

Glasgow as a Centre for the Arts, Science and Medicine

This chapter showcases Glasgow as a truly important, often central, hub of the Scottish Enlightenment. Beginning with Francis Hutcheson’s revolutionary ideas and teaching style, the chapter traces the activities of the Foulis brothers, William Cullen, William Hunter, Tobias Smollett, and James Watt.

“This Precious Heritage of Desert”

The Sagebrush Rebellion erupted in 1979 out of anger over changing federal land law and management. In particular, many westerners were frustrated by expanding restrictions on grazing and road access, which threatened economic development. The Nevada State Legislature launched the rebellion when it passed legislation claiming ownership of all unreserved federal lands within its boundaries. Other western states followed Nevada. The Sagebrush Rebellion helped elected Ronald Reagan to the White House, and his first interior secretary, James Watt, gave considerably more control over federal land management to the states, thereby effectively ending the rebellion.

“Alkaline Doctor” and “A Dangerous Innovator”

In 1795 Barker read Lavoisier’s chemistry, experimented on tainted meat made edible by soaking in alkalis, and began using alkaline therapy such a limewater. He wrote about this to Samuel Mitchill and Benjamin Rush, telling them that he had been called a “dangerous innovator.” A brief history of the acid/alkali debates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries includes information about Otto Tachenius, John Colbatch, Hermann Boerhaave, George Ernst Stahl, William Cullen, Joseph Black, and Antoine Lavoisier. Barker wrote about his experiments, azotic air (nitrogen), and his difficulty understanding the mechanism of this apparently successful therapy. His results were published in the Medical Repository, beginning a correspondence with Samuel Latham Mitchill, professor of chemistry at Columbia University. Contributors to the discussion of alkalis included David Hosack, Thomas Beddoes and James Watt, Humphry Davy, and Matthew Carey. Comments by Charles Rosenberg, John Harley Warner, Lester King, and others help us make sense of medical science and the acid/alkali battle.