A General Chronological History of the Air

Thomas Short, A General Chronological History of the Air
Title page of 'A General Chronological History of the Air...'

 

General Chronological History of the Air, Weather, Seasons, Meteors, &c. In Sundry Places and different Times; more particularly for the Space of 250 Years. Together with some of their most Remarkable Effects on Animal (especially Human) Bodies, and Vegetables in Two Volumes.

VOL. I.

By Thomas Short, London: T. Longman and A. Millar (1749)

Digital version made available through Google and Harvard College Library. The spelling and formatting is original, although the long s has been removed.

Fact of the Day

There was no greater shame for a Frankish nobleman than to be seen carrying a dog.

Quote of the Day

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history. "
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

On This Day

1579 Thomas Gresham, merchant, financier, and founder of the Royal Exchange, died suddenly, apparently of apoplexy. He bequeathed his estate, after the death of his wife, to the Corporation of London and the Mercers' Company to set up a college to provide free lectures to the public; Gresham College thus became London's first institution of higher education.
1916 The hospital ship Britannic, sister-ship of Titanic, hit a mine and sank, killing 30.
1918 Ten days after the Armistice, the German navy surrendered to the British in the Firth of Forth. 
1920 The assassinations of British intelligence officers ordered by Michael Collins in the Irish War of Independence led to thirty-one dead (from both sides) in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.
1974 21 people were killed and 182 injured when bombs exploded in two Birmingham pubs. The IRA was probably responsible, but the real culprits have never been found. The Birmingham Six, originally convicted of the bombings, were released because of dodgy police practices.
1981 The proceedings of the House of Commons were televised live for the first time.