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Ascertained   /ˌæsərtˈeɪnd/   Listen
Ascertained

adjective
1.
Discovered or determined by scientific observation.  Synonyms: discovered, observed.  "The discovered behavior norms" , "Discovered differences in achievement" , "No explanation for the observed phenomena"






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"Ascertained" Quotes from Famous Books



... very embarrassing, but not to laugh was impossible. After it was ascertained that our own vehicle could not convey us, and that the mail had not even room for two, we decided upon walking to the next village, a distance, fortunately, of only two miles, and awaiting there the repair of the wheel. We immediately set off, ...
— Domestic Manners of the Americans • Fanny Trollope

... coronation a considerable crowd assembled about her Majesty's house in South Audley Street soon after four o'clock. As soon as it was ascertained that her Majesty's coach was making ready in the yard, the crowd, both in South Audley Street and in Hill Street, became very great. The wall opposite to her Majesty's house in Hill Street was soon covered with spectators, who announced to the crowd below each successive step of preparation. ...
— Coronation Anecdotes • Giles Gossip

... Warwick ascertained that Edward had fled, he turned toward London, with nothing now to impede his progress. He entered London in triumph. Clarence joined him, and entered London in his train; for Clarence, though he had gone to ...
— Richard III - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott

... the citizen alone had been once entitled to assume over the conquests of his fathers. The first Caesars had scrupulously guarded the distinction of ingenuous and servile birth, which was decided by the condition of the mother; and the candor of the laws was satisfied if her freedom could be ascertained during a single moment between the conception and the delivery. The slaves who were liberated by a generous master immediately entered into the middle class of libertines or freedmen; but they could never be enfranchised from the duties of obedience and gratitude: whatever were the fruits ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 4 • Various

... reached by the various railroads now in operation, are five other mining districts, at Colville, Okanagan, Kootenai, Metaline, and Pend d'Oreille. They are in various stages of development, but their wealth and availability have been clearly ascertained. Spokane's population, in a degree greater than that of most all these new cities, consists of young men and young women from the New England and Middle States. They have enjoyed a remarkable and wholly uninterrupted ...
— Oregon, Washington and Alaska; Sights and Scenes for the Tourist • E. L. Lomax

... coming abroad, very speedily led to the disinterment of the remains of the murdered slave-girl. A coroner's jury was assembled, who decided that the girl had come to her death by severe beating. It was ascertained that the offense for which this girl was thus hurried out of the world, was this: she had been set that night, and several preceding nights, to mind Mrs. Hicks's baby, and having fallen into a sound ...
— My Bondage and My Freedom • Frederick Douglass

... be connected with Drone; but this can only be ascertained from the period and the people by whom ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 22., Saturday, March 30, 1850 • Various

... West, and winning some money from a man from Kansas City, some smart Aleck told him that I had cheated him, so he made up his mind to kill me on sight. I made some inquiries, and ascertained that he was a desperate man and had already killed his two men. Accordingly I put my gun in my pocket and staid about the town, just keeping my eyes on the lookout, and at ...
— Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi • George H. Devol

... hairs on his bare arms, waiting. He had long to wait, for it was difficult to get the man under the anaesthetic. Many cans of ether were used, which went to prove that the patient was a drinking man. Whether he had acquired the habit of hard drink before or since the war could not be ascertained; the war had lasted a year now, and in that time many habits may be formed. As the Medecin Major stood there, patiently fingering the hairs on his hairy arms, he calculated the amount of ether ...
— The Backwash of War - The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an - American Hospital Nurse • Ellen N. La Motte

... to which clay was able to unite with ammonia, or other alkaline bases; and it soon became evident that the idea of the clay as a whole, being the cause of the absorptive property, was inconsistent with all the ascertained laws of chemical combination." ...
— Talks on Manures • Joseph Harris

... delusion to suppose there is anything in the experience or wisdom of the past, the ascertained results of which can only be communicated from beneath the cloak and mask of mystery.... Explanation is the Soul of Science. They will tell you we cannot have their knowledge without living their life.... Public experimental research, the printing press, and a free-thought platform, ...
— Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky • H. P. Blavatsky

... now, was material, not religious. The Whiteboys of the south and west were the counterparts of the Protestant Steelboys and Oakboys of the north, and even in the south and west there were Protestant as well as Catholic Whiteboys. Lord Charlemont, the Protestant Irish statesman, denying this now well-ascertained fact, was nevertheless explicit enough about the cause of the disorders. "The real causes," he said, "were ... exorbitant rents, low wages, want of employment, farms of enormous extent let by their ...
— The Framework of Home Rule • Erskine Childers

... were no atmospheric resistance. The atmospheric resistance is at the rate of 12 lbs. a ton, with a load of 110 tons, equal to 1,320 lbs., moving at a speed of 30 miles an hour, which, when reduced, becomes 105.8 horses power, and this, added to 97.3, makes 203.1, instead of 200 horses power, as ascertained by a reference to the evaporative power of the boiler. This amount of atmospheric resistance, however, exceeds the average, and in some of the experiments for ascertaining the atmospheric resistance, a part of the resistance due to ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne

... continued to hold the post. The old order for arming of members was called up, and all were required to comply with the condition at once; a particular pattern of revolvers was specially recommended, and it was ascertained that the members were in almost every instance, fully armed. A young man named R.T. Semmes, who was said to be a near relative to the commander of the rebel pirate Alabama, was appointed to deliver an address before ...
— The Great North-Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details • I. Windslow Ayer

... was rising when I left him; and the cold waves, as they rippled against his body, had restored him to animation. In this state he was found by his servant, not many minutes before the flood would have covered him, for he had not strength to remove out of its way. I ascertained also that the ball had entered his liver, and had passed out without doing ...
— Frank Mildmay • Captain Frederick Marryat

... somewhat relieved at finding that the loss was, after all, not very large. He placed confidence in Rollo's account of the facts, and having thus ascertained how the case stood, he began to consider what was ...
— Rollo's Museum • Jacob Abbott

... attractions that can call off the fancy from its pursuits; and whilst in these pursuits it can find interest and occupation, it wants no outward aid to cheer it. My father, I believe, rather wondered at my choice." The principle ascertained, ...
— Literary Character of Men of Genius - Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions • Isaac D'Israeli

... in conjunction with the ascertained facts of Raspe's career, his undoubted acquaintance with the Baron Munchausen of real life and the first appearance of the work in 1785, when Raspe was certainly in England, there seems to be little difficulty in accepting his authorship as a positive fact. There is ...
— The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen • Rudolph Erich Raspe

... rights and interests of his people. I trust, therefore, Sir, that by rejecting this most incorrect and inadequate Address—as unworthy of the House as it is of the occasion; an Address contradictory in some parts to itself: in more, to the established facts of the case; and in all to the ascertained sense of the country; and by adopting, in its room, the amendment moved by the honourable member for Yorkshire, and seconded by the member for London, the House will stamp the policy which the King's Ministers have pursued—feebly perhaps, ...
— Selected Speeches on British Foreign Policy 1738-1914 • Edgar Jones

... Byron's poetry by heart. He was a deep critic, often writing down his criticisms in a lengthy journal which he kept. He could write quickly, and with understanding; and I may declare that men at his office had already ascertained that he was no fool. He knew his business, and could do it,—as many men failed to do who were much less foolish before the world. And as to that matter of cowardice, he would have thought it the greatest blessing in the ...
— The Small House at Allington • Anthony Trollope

... numerous points along the eastern seaboard. To this Council Donald was attached as head of Intelligence for the Eastern Division. Yet all this availed little unless the location of the Invisible Empire could be ascertained, and, despite telegraphic reports that came in hourly, alleging to have discovered its headquarters, nothing had been ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 • Various

... to a reader. This is the fact that, in common with the rest of the mind-readers, they had no names. Every one had, indeed, an arbitrary sign for his designation in records, but it has no sound value. A register of these names is kept, so they can at any time be ascertained, but it is very common to meet persons who have forgotten titles which are used solely for biographical and official purposes. For social intercourse names are of course superfluous, for these people accost one another merely by a mental act of attention, and refer to third ...
— To Whom This May Come - 1898 • Edward Bellamy

... exaggerated information on the then new divorce laws which Beaucock imparted to his listener was the result of ignorance, and how much of dupery, was never ascertained. But he related such a plausible story of the ease with which Grace could become a free woman that her father was irradiated with the project; and though he scarcely wetted his lips, Melbury never knew how he came out of the inn, or when or where he mounted his gig to pursue his way homeward. ...
— The Woodlanders • Thomas Hardy

... in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained into separate and independent States from time to time as the numbers and circumstances of the people ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 1 (of 2) of Volume 3: Andrew Jackson (Second Term) • James D. Richardson

... and bushes, recognized by the rags with which they are festooned. Should be photographed and mapped, and their legends ascertained, subject to the cautions given above under ...
— How to Observe in Archaeology • Various

... against the theory of carrying James to Logan's impregnable keep of Fastcastle, that only one question, in our papers, is asked as to the provisioning of Fastcastle, and that merely as to the supply of drink! Possibly this had been ascertained in Sprot's earlier and unrecorded examinations (April 19-July 5). One poor hogshead of wine (a trifle to Logan) had been sent in that summer; so Matthew Logan deponed. As Logan had often used Fastcastle before, for treasonable purposes, he was not (it may be supposed) ...
— James VI and the Gowrie Mystery • Andrew Lang

... of a Work—that is, sufficiently so for all general purposes; and the comparison may be extended to any Work of any kind thus—having first selected a Work in Print, which it is desired that in Manuscript should resemble, the Number of Words in a Line, and of Lines in a Page of each, being ascertained, if the disparity between them shall be in any specific ratio, as in the instance above, a Page of Manuscript being equal to a Page and a half of Print, the result will be immediately apparent; but should it be otherwise, a different ...
— The Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant • Frederick Saunders

... sophist, and made money, as of course he would some day or other; and in the meantime, something might turn up—things were always turning up for those whom the gods favoured; and besides, he had fully ascertained that on the day on which he first met Philammon, the planets were favourable, the Mercury being in something or other, he forgot what, with Helios, which portended for Philammon, in his opinion, a similar career with that of the glorious ...
— Hypatia - or, New Foes with an Old Face • Charles Kingsley

... sisters. This removed Jane's anxiety with respect to the increased expense which must be incurred by Isabella's London advantages. Still she was afraid that Charles denied himself necessary comforts, and was not satisfied till Isabella had seen his lodgings, and ascertained by close examination that his self-denial was not too severe. His little parlour was found to be the picture of comfort. His sisters had compelled him to accept a share of the beautiful books with which Mr Rathbone had presented them, ...
— Principle and Practice - The Orphan Family • Harriet Martineau

... but they might be spared to him, with her and the boy. A sort of chill doubt that somebody might have breathed into her ear that suggestion about Bice's parentage did indeed cross his mind; but ever since he had ascertained that this fear was a delusion, it had seemed to him the most ridiculous idea in the world. It had not seemed so before; it had appeared probable enough, nay, with many coincidences in its favour. And he had even been conscious of something ...
— Sir Tom • Mrs. Oliphant

... stores, and sick, in the face of a superior foe." He took position, first, at North Castle Heights, which he deemed impregnable; but after a few days the British left for the Hudson, with the purpose (as was afterward ascertained, and at the time divined by Washington) of attacking forts Washington and Lee and invading New Jersey. In anticipation of this move Putnam was detached with about four thousand men and ordered into New Jersey. Crossing the Hudson, he penetrated inland as far as Hackensack, ...
— "Old Put" The Patriot • Frederick A. Ober

... sister, and having raised her clothes, he separated her legs and soon ascertained that her cunt was delightfully moist and hot. Bringing his prick to the mark, he slowly inserted it, and then pushed gently backwards ...
— The Power of Mesmerism - A Highly Erotic Narrative of Voluptuous Facts and Fancies • Anonymous

... all this wickedness. Yet, in spite of this agreement, Max Muller, if I understand him aright, would not have us infer the identity of the two stories until we have taken each one separately and ascertained its primitive mythical significance. Otherwise, for aught we can tell, the resemblance may be purely accidental, like that of the French words for "mouse" ...
— Myths and Myth-Makers - Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology • John Fiske

... hopelessly muddled. Of course, ignorance and carelessness were, as they always are, at the bottom of it all. Nothing would have been easier than to have sent a commissioner from England to Red River, while the negotiations for transfer were pending, who would have ascertained the feelings and wishes of the people of the country relative to' the transfer, and would have guaranteed them the exercise of their rights and liberties under any and every new arrangement that might be entered ...
— The Great Lone Land - A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America • W. F. Butler

... many in Maine, especially where your influence was felt. In the course of this conversation you stated something else, which you will remember, and for fear, or something else, that it would not be believed, you said you could prove it by certain persons whom you named. I have since ascertained that these persons neither know, nor have ever known, or have intimated any such thing. Now, I ask, how much your confessions are worth in Boston or any where else. In the name of my Master, I here warn the little flock to beware of your ...
— A Vindication of the Seventh-Day Sabbath • Joseph Bates

... terrible war that is to last for twenty-three years; according to him, "there is more money than is needed for it."[2206] In actual fact, the guarantee of assignats is used up and the taxes do not come in. They live only on the paper money they issue. The assignats lose forty per centum, and the ascertained deficit for 1792 is four hundred millions.[2207] But this revolutionary financier relies upon the confiscations which he instigates in France, and which are to be set agoing in Belgium; here lies all his invention, a systematic robbery on a grand ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 3 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 2 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few minutes, one part, with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered solution, no precipitation will ensue ...
— A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons • Fredrick Accum

... schools, that this mistake is actually made in so familiar an instance as that of the eyesight. There is nothing of which we appear to ourselves to be more directly conscious than the distance of an object from us. Yet it has long been ascertained, that what is perceived by the eye, is at most nothing more than a variously colored surface; that when we fancy we see distance, all we really see is certain variations of apparent size, and degrees of faintness of color; that ...
— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... o'clock he and Sir James were pottering and smoking in the garden. A long case in which Chide had been engaged had come to an end the preceding day. The great lawyer sent word to his chambers that he was not coming up to town; Ferrier ascertained that he was only half an hour from a telegraph office, made a special arrangement with the local post as to a mid-day delivery of letters, and then gave himself up for the morning to rest, ...
— The Testing of Diana Mallory • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... sides. The interiors of the compartments were upholstered with drab-colored cashmere, and each accommodated eight passengers. The conductor and engineer had each a silver whistle. After the former had ascertained the destination of each passenger and collected the necessary fare, he would close the car doors, climb to his place in a cab at the top of the coach, and whistle to the engineer as a signal for starting. The engineer, who was protected by ...
— Bay State Monthly, Vol. I, No. 3, March, 1884 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various

... long time and much discussion, that someone accidentally weighed a fish, when it was found there was no difference. The question of expression, however, could not be decided in that way, expression being imponderable; and it was pretty generally acknowledged that the truth could not be ascertained and must therefore remain a matter of opinion. But that did not stop the talk. Once, indeed, someone declared positively that the state of a man's feelings at the moment would influence his perceptions, and make the chimes sound glad when he was glad, and mournful ...
— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand

... unsuspicious of its being, for us at least, a false and impossible one. His outward Biography, therefore, which, at the Blumine Lover's-Leap, we saw churned utterly into spray-vapor, may hover in that condition, for aught that concerns us here. Enough that by survey of certain "pools and plashes," we have ascertained its general direction; do we not already know that, by one way and other, it has long since rained down again into a stream; and even now, at Weissnichtwo, flows deep and still, fraught with the Philosophy of Clothes, and visible ...
— Sartor Resartus - The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh • Thomas Carlyle

... vex you, it's something to have some fresh young life of your blood to break in upon your chilly old age and cheer you. So the great doctor called a few days later at Herminia's lodgings, and having first ascertained that Herminia herself was out, had five minutes' conversation alone ...
— The Woman Who Did • Grant Allen

... the use to which I ascertained they might be applied are worthy of special comment, as they played a very important part in all the expositions that were made of the Medium Slade's manifestations. The slot under the table into which ...
— Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University • The Seybert Commission

... Blounts, De Lacys, Powers, and Russels. John of Argyll was made admiral of the western fleet, and was asked to conciliate the Islesmen, who, under Angus Og, were rallying to Bruce. The numbers of men engaged on either side in this war cannot be ascertained. Each kingdom had a year within which ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... he wore on the present occasion he was quite unlike Spooner of Spoon Hall, whose only pride in regard to clothes had hitherto been that he possessed more pairs of breeches than any other man in the county. It was ascertained afterwards, when the circumstances came to be investigated, that he had sent a man all the way across to Spoon Hall for that coat and the coloured neck-handkerchief on the previous day; and some one, most maliciously, told the story abroad. ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope

... now ascertained that the Corn they were discussing was Hot Corn at lunch. A feeling of greater ...
— Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870 • Various

... first look at the "Secesh," as we then called them. It was only a small batch, about a hundred or so. They were under guard, and on the after part of the lower deck, along the sides and the stern of the boat. We ascertained that they were about the last installment of the Fort Donelson prisoners, and were being shipped to a northern military prison. Naturally, we scanned them with great curiosity, and the boys soon began to joke and chaff them in a perfectly good natured way. They took ...
— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell

... The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin

... Latin, not one of them, so that my comrade could not converse with them. They took us to the library where there was nothing particular. We looked over it a little. They presented us with a glass of wine. This is all we ascertained there. The minister of the place goes there morning and evening to make prayer, and has charge over them; besides him, the students are under tutors or masters.[426] Our visit was soon over, and we left them to go and look at the land about ...
— Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 • Jasper Danckaerts

... bread-corn in this capital has, on an average, been computed at twenty-four millions of bushels. But it is not the consumption only that it is useful to know: the most material point to be ascertained, is the method of providing effectually for it; so that, from a succession of unfavourable harvests, or any other cause, the regular supplies may not experience even a momentary interruption. When it is considered that Paris contains ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon

... his energy would have risen to its highest pitch. It was a slight task to hold the enemy for a few hours. Before ordering the columns back, Hooker should have gone in person to Sykes's front. Here he would have shortly ascertained that Jackson was moving around his right. What easier than to leave a strong enough force at the edge of the Wilderness, and to move by his left towards Banks's Ford, where he already had Meade's heavy column? This would have kept his line of communication with ...
— The Campaign of Chancellorsville • Theodore A. Dodge

... let it drop. After supper he cornered Pete in the bunk-house, and following some wordy fencing, ascertained that Pete was going to Tucson for the winter to get an education. Pete blushingly admitted that that was his sole intent, swore Andy to secrecy, and told him that he had discussed the subject with Ma Bailey, who had advised him ...
— The Ridin' Kid from Powder River • Henry Herbert Knibbs

... whereabouts of a recent wreck, he discovered at the bottom from eighty to one hundred large guns, mostly 24- and 32-pounders, and two big anchors. As no appliance for raising them was at hand, they were not brought up, and their nationality has not been ascertained. It is supposed that they belonged to a line-of-battle ship, which sank in the Peninsular war, possibly ...
— Little Folks (November 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... something, notwithstanding the satirical manner in which Peter delivered this speech, calculated to make a more favorable impression upon Sybil than his previous conduct had inspired her with; and, having ascertained from Luke to what his speech referred, she extended her hand to him, yet not without a shudder, as it was enclosed in his skinny grasp. It was like the fingers of Venus in the ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth

... say of this tale I have not as yet ascertained; but the people of the valley all assert that the people of the pueblo believe in it,—that they even affirmed that Montezuma was born at Pecos; that he wore golden shoes, and left for Mexico, where, for the sake of these valuable brogans, he was ruthlessly slaughtered. They further say that, when ...
— Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos • Adolphus Bandelier

... for fully half an hour. By that time it was ascertained that every one had gotten off of the ice or out of the water in safety. Those who had gone down were rushed to shelter, so that they might not catch cold. Gradually the crowd dispersed, and then Professor Brice had danger signs placed at various points on the ice, so that there should ...
— The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island - or, The Old Lumberman's Treasure Box • Edward Stratemeyer

... him without the help of Aguilar. But at first they were both necessary, and by their aid Cortes learned that his visitors were subjects of Montezuma, the great Aztec emperor, and were governed by Tenhtlile, one of his nobles. Cortes having ascertained that there was abundance of gold in the interior, dismissed them, loaded with presents, to acquaint their governor with his desire for an interview. The next morning he landed on the mainland with all his ...
— The True Story Book • Andrew Lang

... came out beautifully and the supper promised to be a great success. Mother had zealously ascertained Rev. MacGill's favourite dishes, and was flushed but triumphant; she came of a devout family that loved to feed preachers well. And everyone was in fine spirits; only Missy, at the first, had a few bad moments. WOULD he mention ...
— Missy • Dana Gatlin

... any reduced or enlarged scale, but as it were life-size. Whatever number of inches or decimals of an inch the species varies in any of its parts is marked on the diagrams, so that with the help of an ordinary divided rule or a pair of compasses the variation of the different parts can be ascertained and compared just as if the specimens themselves were before the reader, but with ...
— Darwinism (1889) • Alfred Russel Wallace

... Every attempt at change in such circumstances must be unsatisfactory; and even when improvements are by chance accomplished, they are but partial, and must be stationary.—When, on the contrary, the teacher is directed by ascertained principles, he never can deviate far from the path of success; and even if he should, he has the means in his own power of ascertaining the cause of his failure, and of retracing his steps. He can, therefore, ...
— A Practical Enquiry into the Philosophy of Education • James Gall

... under certain conditions the planting of an apple orchard will prove a profitable venture, and having ascertained that those conditions prevail on your farm, the next step will be to determine the best location on the farm for the orchard. In choosing this location it will be well to keep in mind the relative importance of the orchard in the scheme of farm ...
— Apple Growing • M. C. Burritt

... this singular phenomenon has given rise to many theories and much discussion among naturalists. It was for a time contended that this phosphorescence was a quality of the water itself. But later and more accurate observers ascertained beyond a doubt, that some marine worms and other insects were luminous. On pursuing the investigation it is ascertained that the sea water is far less pure than has been supposed, and is often crowded with ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper

... tradition that at one time all the water in the earth was contained in the body of an immense frog, where nobody could reach it. The spirits held an investigation, and ascertained that if the frog could be made to laugh the water would run out of his mouth when he opened it, and the drought then prevailing would be broken. All the animals of the world gathered together and danced and capered before the frog in order to make him laugh, but ...
— The Land of the Kangaroo - Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through the Great Island Continent • Thomas Wallace Knox

... instinct through the forest. We had gone some distance, when we heard a deep, loud, and long-sustained flute-like note. It was that of a bird. The young Indian stopped, and pointing ahead, uttered the word nira-mimbeu, which I afterwards ascertained meant fife-bird, evidently from the peculiar note we had just heard. The whole party stopped in the attitude of listening, and looking among the branches, we got a good view of a bird a short distance beyond us, with glossy black plumage, perched ...
— On the Banks of the Amazon • W.H.G. Kingston

... favored nation. The latter is an arrangement wholly independent of the treaty of Adrianople, and the former derives much value, not only from the increased security which under any circumstances it would give to the right in question, but from the fact, ascertained in the course of the negotiation, that by the construction put upon that treaty by Turkey the article relating to the passage of the Bosphorus is confined to nations having treaties with the Porte. The most friendly feelings appear to be ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Andrew Jackson • Andrew Jackson

... erected in Bass Strait: Your Committee have the honour to report, that having been favoured with the attendance of Captain Stokes, of her Majesty's ship Beagle, lately returned from a survey of Bass Strait, and ascertained his ideas as to the best position for placing a lighthouse at the western entrance thereof, they are induced to change their opinion as set forth in their Report of the 1st September, 1841, and to coincide with him in thinking that Cape ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 • John Lort Stokes

... strength, two or three times a day, with a spoonful of water. The condition which indicates its medicinal use, is that of a severe catarrh, with chilliness, a heavy head, sneezing, a dry mouth, and general aching, lassitude, with stupor, and heat of face. Its chemical constituents have not been ascertained. In the Isle of Skye it is used for causing salivation, as a vegetable mercury; and per contra for ...
— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie

... sent round a whip signed by twenty members, ten on each side of the House, and Mr. Gladstone had written a letter to Mr. Samuel Smith, that had been circulated as a pamphlet, in which amongst other points he urged that at least it should be ascertained "that the womanly mind of the country was in overwhelming proportion and with deliberate purpose bent on ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... 1796 the Pacific Ocean was by no means as familiar to navigators as it is to-day. Cooke had made his celebrated voyages less than twenty years before, and the accounts of them were then before the world; but even Cooke left a great deal to be ascertained, more especially in the way of details. The first inventor, or discoverer of anything, usually gains a great name, though it is those who come after him that turn his labours to account. Did we know no more of America to-day than was known to Columbus, our knowledge would be very limited, and ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... work, such as harvesting and storing grapes and corn. Cassius has this to say on the subject: 'Select for farm hands those who are fitted for heavy labour, who are not less than twenty-two years of age and have some aptitude for agriculture, which can be ascertained by trying them on several tasks and by enquiring as to what they did for their former master.' Slaves should be neither timid nor overconfident. The foreman should have some little education, a good disposition and economical habits, and it is better that ...
— Roman Farm Management - The Treatises Of Cato And Varro • Marcus Porcius Cato

... and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, ...
— Key-Notes of American Liberty • Various

... which resistance is measured, the resistance is set off to scale as an ordinate value at those speeds. A line passing through these spots forms the "curve of resistance," from which the resistance experienced by the model at the given trial speeds or any intermediate speed can be ascertained. The resistance being known, the power required to overcome resistance and drive the actual ship at any given speed is easily deduced by applying the rule before described as ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 717, September 28, 1889 • Various

... "These inspections are very essential, since they are based on the relief of miserable persons, and in no way can the condition of affairs be fully ascertained unless by means of these inspections; and the most advisable measures can hardly be well understood, if the condition and facts of what ought to be remedied and can be bettered are not known. Hence I again charge you to pay especial attention to these inspections. ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 • Emma Helen Blair

... breakfasted early at Falmouth, and before 9 started towards Gwennap. I had ascertained on Thursday that John Williams (the senior of a very wealthy and influential family in this country) was probably returned from London. So we drove first to his house Burntcoose or Barncoose, and found him and his wife at home. (They are Quakers, the rest ...
— Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy • George Biddell Airy

... great thing, and hath its many lights and shadows,' as Phoenix or some body once ascertained. And we trust that Galli Van T. will continue to depict the same ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. II. July, 1862. No. 1. • Various

... lost on him, I ascertained the hour they expected to be finished and went home. Excitement or no excitement, I saw no reason to abandon all routine. My forethought was proven when I returned refreshed in midmorning as the last shovelfuls of dirt came from the tunnel and the explosive ...
— Greener Than You Think • Ward Moore

... to lessen disappointment, that success should be regarded as going less by merit than by influence or good luck. The disappointed man can always soothe himself with the fancy that he deserved to succeed. It would be a desperately mortifying thing to the majority of mankind, if it were distinctly ascertained that each man gets just what he deserves. The admitted fact that the square man, is sometimes put in the round hole, is a cause of considerable consolation to all disappointed men, and to their ...
— The Recreations of A Country Parson • A. K. H. Boyd

... Suddenly his eye caught sight of something not far away, dimly visible through the mist. It looked like a rock. A farther examination showed him that such was the case. It was a rock, and he was drifting towards it. No sooner had he ascertained this, than all his excitement once more awakened. Trembling from head to foot at this sudden prospect of escape, he started to his feet, and watched most eagerly the progress of the boat. It was drifting nearer to the rock. Soon another appeared, and then another. The rocks were black, ...
— Lost in the Fog • James De Mille

... that had called them into being had passed away. A leader of peculiar qualities, aided by favoring circumstances, was able at last to bring about a more permanent union. There is no exact chronology by which the date of this important event can be ascertained; but the weight of evidence fixes it at about the middle of the fifteenth century. [Footnote: The evidence on this point is given in the Appendix, note C. It should be mentioned that some portion ...
— The Iroquois Book of Rites • Horatio Hale

... and civilization, our cemeteries furnishing numerous specimens of artificial or partly artificial caves. As to the motives which have actuated this mode of burial, a discussion would be out of place at this time, except as may incidentally relate to our own Indians, who, so far as can be ascertained, simply adopt caves as ready and convenient resting places for their ...
— A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians • H.C. Yarrow

... She ascertained through one of the prefects that Miss Norton intended to spend her holidays in the Isle of Wight. This again seemed extraordinary, for the teacher notoriously suffered greatly from the heat in summer, and ...
— A Patriotic Schoolgirl • Angela Brazil

... of their comrade's death, and of their own danger, they gave of these roots to the other eight prisoners, who all ate some of them with their dinner: the quantity could not be ascertained. A few minutes after, the remaining two who gathered the plant were seized in the same manner as the first; of which one died: the other was bled, and a vomit forced down, on account of his jaws being as it ...
— The Botanist's Companion, Vol. II • William Salisbury

... our histories in connection with St. Patrick's time; and, that in the latter sense—its application to a reliquary—it only once occurs in all our ancient authorities, namely, in the single reference to the gift to St. Mac-Carthen; no other reliquary in Ireland, as far as can be ascertained, having ever been known by that appellation. And it should also be observed, that all the ancient reliques preserved in Ireland, whether bells, books, croziers, or other remains, have invariably and without ...
— The Hedge School; The Midnight Mass; The Donagh • William Carleton

... fire from her immense pieces of ordnance, and the roar was so great that the explosions of field-guns were fairly drowned. She fired altogether by the direction of the signals, as nothing could be seen of the battle-field from her decks. I ascertained afterward that she played havoc with our own columns as well as the enemy's, but she brought hope to the one, and terror to the other. The very name of gunboat affrighted the Confederates, and they were assured, in this case, that the retreating ...
— Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, - and His Romaunt Abroad During the War • George Alfred Townsend

... Jefferson immediately called his Cabinet together. All were of one mind. The impending order-in-council, it was agreed, left but one alternative. Commerce must be totally suspended until the full scope of these new aggressions could be ascertained. The President took a loose sheet of paper and drafted hastily a message to Congress, recommending an embargo in anticipation of the offensive British order. But the prudent Madison urged that it was better not to refer explicitly to the order and proposed a substitute which simply recommended ...
— Jefferson and his Colleagues - A Chronicle of the Virginia Dynasty, Volume 15 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Allen Johnson

... effective clairvoyance are in a very meagre minority; and the world will cling a little tenaciously to the belief that what cannot be seen, heard, or otherwise realized by the recognized natural senses, cannot be definitely ascertained. Let it not be for one moment supposed, meanwhile, that romances constructed on such bases will be less popular than those which have more reason and probability at the bottom; for the majority of novel-readers desire to be frightened, ...
— Shoulder-Straps - A Novel of New York and the Army, 1862 • Henry Morford

... Scotland, and when he added to each a certain proportion to represent the number of persons under examinable age, he had a fairly accurate statement of the population of the country. He appears to have procured the lists for 1779 as well as those for 1755, and to have ascertained from a comparison of the two that the population of Scotland had remained virtually stationary during that quarter of a century, the increase in the commercial and manufacturing districts being counterbalanced by a diminution in the purely agricultural districts, due to the consolidation of farms. ...
— Life of Adam Smith • John Rae

... steward, and ascertained that the watch were quietly chatting and smoking forward, whereas the Baron's stateroom was situated aft. The delay enabled von Kerber to collect his thoughts. When he resumed the promised disclosure, his voice was under control, and ...
— The Wheel O' Fortune • Louis Tracy

... ear of the Indian had detected the sound of horses' feet on the prairie. To any ordinary man no sound at all would have been perceptible save the sighing of the night wind. Petawanaquat, however, not only heard the tramp, but could distinguish it from that of buffalo. He rose softly, ascertained that Tony was asleep, turned aside the bushes, and melted into darkness among the trees. Presently he emerged on the plain at the other side of the clump, and there stood still. Patience is one of the red man's characteristics. He did not move hand or foot ...
— The Red Man's Revenge - A Tale of The Red River Flood • R.M. Ballantyne

... you a hint in letter number 12 and a particular account in number 13 of the horrid murders committed in this city. It has been pretty well ascertained from a variety of evidence that all of them have been committed by one man, who was apprehended and put an end to his life in prison. Very horrid attempts at robbery and murder have been very frequent of late in all ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume I. • Samuel F. B. Morse

... of the trouble must be ascertained before treatment is commenced. In the many cases in which the animal is in poor condition (in fact, in all cases) he should have the most nutritive feed and regular exercise. The feed, or box containing it, should be placed ...
— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture

... refutation in student debates is lack of coherence. The student falls into this error when he rebuts a miscellaneous lot of points without having first ascertained the function of each and differentiated the main ideas from the subordinate ones. Instead of looking at the argument as a whole and attacking it with the concerted strength of all his forces, he fires scattering shots, and ...
— Practical Argumentation • George K. Pattee

... the case of any poet contemporary with Shakespeare. Some links in the chain of Shakespeare's career are still missing, and we must wait for the future to disclose them. But, though the clues at present are in some places faint, the trail never altogether eludes the patient investigator. The ascertained facts are already numerous enough to define beyond risk of intelligent doubt the direction that Shakespeare's career followed. Its general outline is, as we have seen, fully established by one source of knowledge alone—one out of many—by ...
— Shakespeare and the Modern Stage - with Other Essays • Sir Sidney Lee

... and Eddington on the "systematic motions of the stars.'' This research will, it is hoped, lead to an understanding of the general law governing the movements of the whole body of stars constituting the visible universe. Taking about eleven hundred stars whose proper motions have been ascertained with an approach to certainty, and which are distributed in all parts of the sky, it has been shown that there exists an apparent double drift, in two independent streams, moving in different and nearly opposed directions. The apex of the motion of ...
— Curiosities of the Sky • Garrett Serviss

... the existence of a covering of great thickness. If, from a point, a (Fig. 3), we wish to strike the point, b, of a scarp, over the crest, c, of the covert-way, it will suffice to pass a parabolic curve through these three points—the unknown data of the problem, and the charge necessary, being ascertained, for any given piece, from the artillery tables. In such cases it is necessary to ascertain the velocity at the impact, since the force of penetration depends upon the live force (mv squared) of the projectile, and the latter will not penetrate masonry unless it have sufficient remanent velocity. ...
— Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XXI., No. 531, March 6, 1886 • Various

... action of an electric current, when, as a consequence of the chemical decomposition of the chloride and the water, the elements in a nascent state form hypochlorite of soda. When the partial or total conversion of the liquid has been effected (this being ascertained by chlorometric tests), the pump, P, is set rapidly in operation, and, as a consequence, draws up the chloride of sodium from the bottom of the vessel, C, to the lower part of the electrolyzer, A. The hypochlorite ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various

... used? A pang of mortal terror shot through me, and then I strove to awaken in my heart a stern endurance, and resolute contempt of death, with, I may now confess, very indifferent success. The woman Jaubert was, I also saw, present; and a man, whom I afterward ascertained to be Martin, was standing near the doorway, with his back toward me. These two, at a brief intimation from Levasseur, went down stairs; and then the fierce exultation of the two escaped convicts—of Levasseur especially—broke ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851 • Various

... It will be expected of him that he will not get drunk, and if he returns home in that state he will be immediately discharged. He will also be immediately discharged, if it is ascertained he is too intimate with ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Georgia Narratives, Part 4 • Works Projects Administration

... the units of chemical change. This conception of the molecules and atoms as the ultimate units of which matter is composed maintained its place until the discovery of radioactivity and its associated phenomena, about 1896; since which time we have definitely ascertained that even the atoms are separable into still smaller units, and that possibly these units are all alike. On this last possibility, it would surely be a most amazing fact if such multitudinous "properties" of bodies could be produced merely by variations in the ...
— Q. E. D., or New Light on the Doctrine of Creation • George McCready Price

... through Kensington Gardens a few days since, I observed at some distance a party consisting of several ladies, a young child, and two men-servants, having in charge a donkey, gayly caparisoned with blue ribbons, and accoutred for the use of the infant." He soon ascertained that the party was the Duchess of Kent and her daughter, the Princess Feodore of Leiningen, and the Princess Alexandrina Victoria. On his approaching them the little one replied to his "respectful recognition" with a pleasant "good-morning," and he noted that she was equally ...
— Queen Victoria, her girlhood and womanhood • Grace Greenwood

... Basque country they are called Agots, and it is ascertained that, though held in the same aversion as in Bigorre, Navarre, and Bearn, they have no physical defects, nor any difference of manners or appearance to the rest of the natives: they are there also vulgarly said ...
— Barn and the Pyrenees - A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre • Louisa Stuart Costello

... was imperative that some attempt should be made to break the line of redoubts, but it was equally imperative that this attempt should not furnish to the enemy a point of concentration. Accordingly, having ascertained that the weakest point in the line was at Shizugatake, where only fifteen hundred men were posted, Katsuiye instructed his principal general, Sakuma Morimasa, to lead the reserve force of fifteen thousand men against that position, but instructed him at ...
— A History of the Japanese People - From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era • Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi

... large wooden cross, which stood on one of the hills which overlook Goa, was seen by many of the inhabitants of that city, on the 23d of February, to have the perfect figure of a crucified man upon it. The truth of this having been ascertained by the archbishop, he had it taken down, and got made from it a smaller cross, only two spans long, on which was fixed a crucified Jesus of ivory, and the whole surrounded by a golden glory; the rest of the cross being ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr

... conclude a treaty with the popular leaders of Alexandria, by which it was stipulated, that all proceedings and all hostilities should be suspended till the emperor's pleasure had been more distinctly ascertained. By this seeming moderation, the Catholics were deceived into a false and fatal security; while the legions of the Upper Egypt, and of Libya, advanced, by secret orders and hasty marches, to besiege, or rather to surprise, a capital habituated ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon

... were missing from the hospital, and after forty-eight hours someone put two and two together and started investigations. It has been ascertained that Baumer motored down from Bruges after breakfast, and that in the car were two figures taken to be sailors, as they were muffled up in oilskins. This fact was noted by the control sentries, as, though ...
— The Diary of a U-boat Commander • Anon

... soil covered with forest, and beautiful grassy valleys, occupied by a considerable population; and one of the most wonderful waterfalls in the world was brought to light. The peculiar form of the continent was then ascertained to be an elevated plateau, somewhat depressed in the centre, and with fissures in the sides by which the rivers escaped to the sea; and this great fact in physical geography can never be referred to without calling to mind the remarkable hypothesis by which the distinguished ...
— A Popular Account of Dr. Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries • David Livingstone

... disappointment all around when the boys declared their ignorance of "Greenville" and "Bonny Doon," which airs Miss Brown decided were most easy for the children to begin with; but when it was ascertained that the former was the air to "Saw My Leg Off," and the latter was identical with the "Three Black Crows," all friction was removed, and the melodious howling attracted the few remaining boys at the saloon, and brought them up in a body, ...
— Romance of California Life • John Habberton

... lodged both in the science and in the arts ministerial to the science. Thus, in the constellation Cygnus, there is a star gradually changing its relation to our system, whose distance from ourselves (as Dr. Nichol tells us) is ascertained to be about six hundred and seventy thousand times our own distance from the sun: that is, neglecting minute accuracy, about six hundred and seventy thousand stages of one hundred million miles each. This point being known, ...
— Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers • Thomas De Quincey

... there is always room for doubt as to the intention of the minister and the validity of the matter and form employed in the administration of the sacrament. In the case of adults, certainty regarding justification varies in proportion to the measure in which it can be ascertained whether one has complied with all the requirements demanded by God. However, certainty may be so great as to exclude all reasonable doubt. St. Paul says: "I am sure that neither death nor life ... shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in ...
— Grace, Actual and Habitual • Joseph Pohle

... consideration, we shall be apt to plunge into an error, and afterwards persevere in it for the sake of consistency, or because it has become a thing which we regard as our own. In such circumstances, no wonder there are as many 'minds' as 'men.' But when any one can speak on the ground of well-ascertained facts, and after some deliberation on the bearings of the question, he must carry others with him, not by fascination, but by real conviction, and thus greatly reduce the proportion of opinions to men. Very likely, some other man ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 430 - Volume 17, New Series, March 27, 1852 • Various

... murdered person? He had suddenly vanished from the face of the earth. His fate and the place of his interment would probably be suspected and ascertained. Was I sure to escape from the consequences of this deed? Watson had relatives and friends. What influence on their state and happiness his untimely and mysterious fate would possess, it was obvious to inquire. This idea led me to the recollection ...
— Arthur Mervyn - Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 • Charles Brockden Brown

... the streak was in reality what its appearance first suggested to my mind, a body of fine sand continually flowing over the side of the hill, and depositing its volumes in a heap at the base of the mountain. I might perhaps in a windy day have ascertained the correctness of the report, as then the sandy cascade would appear as a cloud of dust, but the weather was calm during the whole time we were in its vicinity. It is called by the natives the Regrow[a]n or flowing sand. ...
— A Peep into Toorkisthhan • Rollo Burslem

... to learn the secret,' he said, 'and if it were my own, you should not pine in ignorance, I assure you; but as it is a young lady's, I am bound to keep it till she chooses to disclose it herself. However, I hope your curiosity will soon be satisfied, for I have ascertained that Mr and Mrs Wentworth are to be in England almost immediately—they have been some time on the continent—and then we shall come to a general understanding. In the meantime, ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 452 - Volume 18, New Series, August 28, 1852 • Various

... ascertained that Jim and his "sister" were strangers, traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared with Lou, and Jim stared with ...
— Anything Once • Douglas Grant



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