Although naturalists very properly demand a full explanation of every difficulty from those who believe in the mutability of species, on their own side they ignore the whole subject of the first appearance of species in what they consider reverent silence.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

The ends of the big paddles descend as far as the bottom of the blades of the little paddles.
— from Little Folks (September 1884) A Magazine for the Young by Various

The conjecture is confirmed by the observation that in Wales a real sprig of mistletoe gathered on Midsummer Eve is similarly placed under the pillow to induce prophetic dreams; and further the mode of catching the imaginary bloom of the oak in a white cloth is exactly that which was employed by the Druids to catch the real mistletoe when it dropped from the bough of the oak, severed by the golden sickle.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

[4] times than ours: times like those in which Buddha appeared, for instance, in which the people themselves, after centuries of sectarian quarrels, had sunk so deeply into the abyss of philosophical dogmas, as, from time to [Pg 27] time, European people have done in regard to the fine points of religious dogma.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

For I see another meaning, which should keep us from believing that a restoration of the primitive days and former years of the legal sacrifices could have been promised to us by the prophet as a great boon.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

After a little while, Tom, who had wandered to a window and become interested in the life and movement of the great highway beyond the palace gates—and not idly interested, but longing with all his heart to take part in person in its stir and freedom—saw the van of a hooting and shouting mob of disorderly men, women, and children of the lowest and poorest degree approaching from up the road.
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

But before I proceed with my narrative, I must here remark, that it is not for want of deference on my part, that I barely give the names of the noblemen who were our commanding officers, without adding their titles and describing their several escutcheons, but shall simply call them thus, Pedro de Alvarado, Francisco de Montejo, and Alonso de Avila.
— from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

The company being small, Johnson was not in such spirits as he had been the preceding day, and for a considerable time little was said.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

A little lower down they met a man riding bareback on a pony, driving a flock of sheep before him.
— from The Black Diamond by Francis Brett Young

A Law Dictionary, of constant use as a repertory of established rules and principles, defines a “freeman” as “one in the possession of the civil rights enjoyed by the people generally.”
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 19 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

Gonorrhoea is an inflammation of the urethra (water passage) characterized by redness, swelling, smarting pain on the passing of water, and accompanied by thick purulent (poisonous) discharge, at first creamy in color, and later a greenish yellow.
— from What Every Girl Should Know by Margaret Sanger

On that night Constantine Kanaris, a sea-captain from Psara, drove a fire-ship into the midst of the Turkish fleet.
— from A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year. Volume 2 (of 3) by Edwin Emerson

Dionysius Petavius died; a French Jesuit of great erudition, and an author.
— from The Every Day Book of History and Chronology Embracing the Anniversaries of Memorable Persons and Events in Every Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time by Joel Munsell

July 8, 1533, Ariosto, the celebrated Italian poet, died at Ferrara: he was born in 1474, at the castle of Reggio in Lombardy.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3) or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone

For a moment after I let myself in by the partition door and found your room empty I didn't know where to turn; but fortunately your moans guided me in the right direction, and here I am.
— from Cleek, the Master Detective by Thomas W. Hanshew