And still as Ahab glided over the waves the unpitying sharks accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck to the boat; and so continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged and crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, at almost every dip.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

But mademoiselle was endowed with a fair share of French caution, the quality which kindly Nature supplies to balance French impulse, and she was not going to jeopardize a comfortable and lucrative situation by making a premature move.
— from A Traitor's Wooing by Headon Hill

All six gates of the basal plate triangular, the jugular and cervical a little smaller than the cardinal gates.
— from Report on the Radiolaria Collected by H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-1876, Second Part: Subclass Osculosa; Index Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-76, Vol. XVIII by Ernst Haeckel

Alfonso was indefatigable in his accusations against the Jews and Judaism, and composed a long series of works, in which he introduced arguments partly aggressive, partly defensive of his new faith against the attacks upon it by the Jews.
— from History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6) by Heinrich Graetz

The tree which welled forth milk when struck by the axe was the Ficus elastica —a sort of gigantic vine, as thick as a man's arm, which creeps along the ground, sending forth new roots from the joint, and, climbing at length some lofty tree, expands in branches.
— from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 437 Volume 17, New Series, May 15, 1852 by Various