BARKHAM BURROUGHS' ENCYCLOPAEDIA
OF
ASTOUNDING FACTS
AND
USEFUL INFORMATION
1889

Universal Assistant and Treasure-House of Information to be Consulted on Every Question That Arises in Everyday Life by Young and Old Alike!

Including: 521 Recipes * 236 Remedies * 150 Themes for Debate * How to Be Handsome * Mother Shipton's Prophesy * The Cure for Baldness * How to Distinguish Death * PLUS 20,000 Things Worth Knowing, and Much Much More.

HOW POOR BOYS BECOME SUCCESSFUL MEN, 6

THE ART OF PENMANSHIP, 7

ORNAMENTAL PENMANSHIP, 18

HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS LETTER, 19

ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN BUSINESS, 28

DETECTING COUNTERFEIT MONEY, 32

HOW TO ADVERTISE, 37

HOW TO BE HANDSOME, 39

MULTUM IN PARVO. (110 MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS), 41

HOUSEHOLD RECIPES, 71

HOW TO DESTROY HOUSEHOLD PESTS, 73

ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES (236 ITEMS), 75

THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN, 83

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, 93

MASTERPIECES OF ELOQUENCE, 94

SUNDRY BRIEF ITEMS OF INTEREST, 95

PHYSICIAN'S DIGESTION TABLE, 95

THEMES FOR DEBATE (150), 95

COOKERY RECIPES (521), 98

HOW TO COOK FISH, 106

HOW TO CHOOSE AND COOK GAME, 108

HOW TO MAKE ICE CREAMS, WATER ICES AND JELLIES, 109

HOW TO SELECT AND COOK MEATS, 111

HOW TO MAKE PIES, 113

HOW TO MAKE PRESERVES, 114

HOW TO BOIL, BAKE AND STEAM PUDDINGS, 116

HOW TO PUT UP PICKLES AND MAKE CATSUPS, 119

HOW TO ROAST, BROIL OR BOIL POULTRY, 121

SAUCES FOR MEATS AND FISH, 121

HOW TO MAKE SOUPS AND BROTH, 123

HOW TO COOK VEGETABLES, 125

HOW TO CALCULATE, 128

20,000 THINGS WORTH KNOWING (20,000 ITEMS), 130

You want some good advice. Rise early. Be abstemious. Be frugal. Attend to your own business and never trust it to another. Be not afraid to work, and diligently, too, with your own hands. Treat every one with civility and respect. Good manners insure success. Accomplish what you undertake. Decide, then persevere. Diligence and industry overcome all difficulties. Never be mean—rather give than take the odd shilling. Never postpone till to-morrow what can be done to-day. Never anticipate wealth from any source but labor. Honesty is not only the best policy, but the only policy. Commence at the first round and keep climbing. Make your word as good as your bond. Seek knowledge to plan, enterprise to execute, honesty to govern all. Never overtrade. Never give too large credit. Time is money. Reckon the hours of the day as so many dollars, the minutes as so many cents. Make few promises. Keep your secrets. Live within your income. Sobriety above all things. Luck is a word that does not apply to a successful man. Not too much caution—slow but sure is the thing. The highest monuments are built piece by piece. Step by step we mount the pyramids. Be bold—be resolute when the clouds gather, difficulties are surmounted by opposition. Self-confidence, self-reliance is your capital. Your conscience the best monitor. Never be over-sanguine, but do not underrate your own abilities. Don't be discouraged. Ninety-nine may say no, the hundredth, yes: take off your coat: roll up your sleeves, don't be afraid of manual labor! America is large enough for all—strike out for the west. The best letter of introduction is your own energy. Lean on yourself when you walk. Keep good company. Keep out of politics unless you are sure to win—you are never sure to win, so look out.

The subject of the importance of good writing is as broad as its use. Reaching out in every direction, and pervading every corner of civilized society, from the humblest up to the highest employments, it is a servant of man, second only in importance to that of speech itself. In the world of business its value is seen, from the simplest record or memorandum, up to the parchment which conveys a kingdom. Without it, the wheels of commerce could not move a single hour. At night it has recorded the transactions of the Bank of England during the day; of London; of the whole world.

Through the art of writing, the deeds of men live after them, and we may surround ourselves with the companionship of philosophers, scientists, historians, discoverers and poets; and their discoveries, and reasonings and imaginings become ours. In the amenities of social life, through the medium of the pen, heart speaks to heart, though ocean rolls between. Thoughts of tenderness and affection live when we are gone, and words and deeds of kindness are not preserved by monuments alone. What fountains of grief or joy have been opened in the hearts of those who have read the records of the pen! The pen has recorded the rapturous emotions of love reciprocated. The pen has written the message of sadness which has covered life's pilgrimage with gloom. The pen has traced the record of noble and useful lives, spent in humanity's cause. The songs of the poet, the beautiful tints of his imagination, the flights of the orator in the realms of fancy, and the facts of history, would all perish as the dew of morning, without this noble art of writing.

As a means of livelihood, there is perhaps no other department of education which affords such universal and profitable employment, as writing. From the mere copyist, up to the practical accountant, and onward into that department of penmanship designated as a fine art, the remuneration is always very ample, considering the time and effort required in its acquisition.

Teachers, editors, farmers, doctors and all persons should possess a practical and substantial knowledge of writing, and should be ready with the pen. Business men must of course be ready writers, and hence, in a treatise on business, designed for the education and advancement of the youth of the country, it seems eminently fitting to first make the way clear to a plain, practical handwriting. Neatness and accuracy should characterize the handwriting of every one. Botch-work and bungling are inexcusable, as well in writing as in the transaction of business. No person has a right to cause a tinge of shame to their correspondent, by sending a letter addressed in a stupid and awkward manner, nor to consume the time of another in deciphering the illegible hooks and scrawls of a message. Every one should have the ambition to write respectably as well as to appear respectable on any occasion.

Having a suitable desk or table, arranged with reference to light, in order to learn to write, it is necessary to be provided with proper materials. Writing materials [pg 8] are so abundant and so cheap in these times that no excuse is afforded for using an inferior or worthless quality. The materials consist of Pens, Ink and Paper.

Steel pens are considered the best. Gold pens have the advantage of always producing the same quality of writing, while steel pens, new or old, produce finer or courser lines. Notwithstanding this advantage in favor of the gold pen, steel pens adhere to the paper, and produce a better line. The pen should be adapted to the hand of the writer. Some persons require a coarse pen, and some fine. Elastic pens in the hand of one writer may produce the best results, while a less flexible pen may suit the hand of others best. Pens are manufactured of almost an infinite grade and quality, in order to suit the requirements of all. About the only rule that can be given in selecting pens, is to write a few lines, or a page, with each of the pens on trial, and then compare the writing. If it be shaded too heavily, select a less flexible pen, if the hair lines are too delicate, select a coarser pen.

Black ink is always preferable. That which is free from sediment and flows well, should be selected. Use an inkstand with broad base as being less liable to upset. With persons in learning to write it is perhaps best to have a quality of ink which is perfectly black when put on the paper, in order that they may see the results of their labor at once. Business men and accountants prefer a fluid ink, however, which, although not black at first, continues to grow black, and becomes a very bright and durable black, notwithstanding the action of light and heat. Avoid the use of fancy colored inks, especially the more gaudy, such as blue, red or green, in writing all documents which you desire to command attention and respect.

There are almost as many grades of paper to be found in the stationery stores, as there are of pens. For practicing penmanship, nothing is more suitable than foolscap, which may be easily sewed into book-form, with cover of some different color, and thus serves every requirement. The paper should have a medium surface, neither rough and coarse, or too fine and glazed. Have a few extra sheets beside the writing book, for the purpose of practicing the movement exercises and testing the pens. Be provided at all times with a large-sized blotter, and when writing, keep this under the hand. Do not attempt to write with a single sheet of paper on a bare table or desk; there should be many sheets of paper underneath, in order to make an elastic surface.

Aimless, indifferent, or careless practice, never made a good writer, and never will. In order to succeed in this, as in other things, there must be will and determination to succeed, and then persevering and studious effort. Study the models until their forms are fixed in the mind.

No one can execute that which he does not clearly conceive. The artist must first see the picture on the white canvas, before he can paint it, and the sculptor must be able to see in the rough and uninviting stone, the outlines of the beautiful image which he is to carve. In writing, a clear idea of the formation of the different letters, and their various proportions, must become familiar by proper study, examination and analysis. Study precedes practice. It is, of course, not necessary, nor even well, to undertake the mastery of all the forms in writing, by study, until some have been executed. It is best that each form should, as it is taken up, be first measured and analyzed and then practiced at once.

It is the act which crowns the thought. After study, careful and earnest practice can hardly fail to make a good writer of any one. Some persons secure a good style of penmanship with less labor than others, and attain to the elegant, and beautiful formation. But it is only fair to presume that no greater diversity of talent exists in this direction than in the study of other things. All do not learn arithmetic or history with like ease, but no one will assert that all who will, may not learn arithmetic or history. And so, all who will put forth the proper exertion in study and practice may learn to write a good business style, while many of the number will attain to the elegant. The conditions of practice in writing are, Positions of the Body, Position of the Hand an Pen, and Movement.

Sitting squarely fronting the desk, with feet placed firmly on the floor, and both arms on the desk, is, as a rule, the best position for practice in writing, or correspondence. The right side, may, however, be placed to the desk, with the right arm, only, resting thereon, and some persons prefer this position. Avoid crossing the feet, sitting on the edge of the chair, or assuming any careless attitude. The body should be erect, but slightly inclined forward, in order that the eye may follow the pen closely. This position will never cause curvature of the spine. The body should never be allowed to settle down into a cramped and unhealthy position with the face almost on the paper. By thus compressing the lungs and the digestive organs they are soon injured, and if the stomach lose its tone, the eyesight is impaired, there is such a close sympathy between these organs of the body. The practice of writing should be, and properly is, a healthful exercise, and injurious effects result only from improper positions of the body, at variance with good writing as well as good health.

When wearied by sitting and the effort at writing, lay aside paper and pen, arise from the chair, and take exercise and rest by walking about the room or in the open air. Then come back refreshed, and vigorous, for the practice of writing.

In general, the light should fall on the paper from the left side, thus enabling a writer to clearly see the ruled lines, and render the labor of writing easier and more rapid. If one writes left-handed, of course He will sit so as to get his light from the right side, or over the right shoulder.

As a beautifier of the handwriting, by causing a diversity of light and shade among the letters, shading has its value; but in the practical handwriting for business purposes, it should, as a rule, be classed with flourishing, and left out. Requiring time and effort, to bring down the shades on letters, business men, clerks and telegraph operators find a uniform and regular style of writing, without shade, the best, even though it may not be as artistic.

A most necessary element in all good penmanship is uniformity. In the slope of the letters and words which form a written page there must be no disagreement. With the letters leaning about in various directions, writing is presented in its most ridiculous phase. Uniformity in the size of letters, throughout the written page; how greatly it conduces to neatness and beauty. All letters resting on the line, and being of uniform hight, adds another condition towards good penmanship. This essential element of uniformity may be watched and guarded closely and cultivated by any learner in his own practice.

As said before, it matters not so much what angle of slant is adopted in writing, provided it is made uniform, and all letters are required to conform exactly to the same slant. Writing which is nearest perpendicular is most legible, and hence is preferable for business purposes. The printed page of perpendicular type; how legible it is. But for ease in execution, writing should slant. It follows then that writing should be made as perpendicular as is consistent with ease of execution. The slant of writing should not be less than sixty degrees from the horizontal.

The practical book-keeper finds it advantageous to do his writing while standing; in fact, where large books are in use, and entries are to be transferred from one to another, the work of the book-keeper can hardly be performed otherwise than in a standing position, free to move about his office. Cumbrous books necessitate a different position at the desk, from that of the correspondent, or the learner. Since large books must lie squarely on the desk, the writer, in order to have the proper position thereto, must place his left side to the desk. The body thus has the same relative position, as if squarely fronting the desk with the paper or book placed diagonally. In other words, the writer, while engaged in writing in large, heavy books, must adjust himself to the position of the books. Should the correspondent or bill clerk perform his work while standing, he would assume the same as the sitting position—squarely fronting the desk.

Children, in learning to write, are apt to sacrifice all other good qualities of beauty, regularity and grace, for the quality of legibility, or plainness. With some older persons this legibility is considered of very little consequence, and is obscured by all manner of meaningless flourishes, in which the writer takes pride. In the estimation of the business man, writing is injured by shades and flourishes. The demand of this practical time is a plain, regular style that can be written rapidly, and read at a glance.

By a careless habit, which many persons allow themselves to fall into, they omit to attend to the little things in writing. Good penmanship consists in attention to small details, each letter and word correctly formed, makes the beautiful page. By inattention to the finish of one letter, or part of a letter of a word, oftentimes the word is mistaken for another, and the entire meaning changed. Particular attention should be devoted to the finish of some of the small letters, such as the dotting of the i, or crossing of the t. Blending the lines which form a loop, often causes the letter to become a stem, similar to the t or d, or an e to become an i. In many of the capital letters, the want of attention to the finish of the letter converts it into another or destroys its identity, such, for instance, as the small cross on the capital F, which, if left off, makes the letter a T. The W often becomes an M, or vice versa, and the I a J. Mistakes in this regard are more the result of carelessness and inattention than anything else. By careful practice a person will acquire a settled habit of giving a perfection to each letter and word, and then it is no longer a task, but is performed naturally and almost involuntarily, while the difference in the appearance of the written page, as well as the exactness and certainty of the meaning conveyed, may be incalculably great.

While practicing penmanship, or while endeavoring to correct a careless habit in writing, the mind must be upon the work in hand, and not be allowed to wander into fields of thought or imagination; by thus confining the attention, any defect or imperfection in the formation of letters may be soon mastered or corrected.

The right arm should rest on the muscles just below the elbow, and wrist should be elevated so as to move free from paper and desk. Turn the hand so that the wrist will be level, or so that the back of the hand will face the ceiling. The third and fourth fingers turned slightly underneath the hand will form its support, and the pen, these fingers and the muscles of the arm near the elbow form the only points of rest or contact on desk or paper. The pen should point over the shoulder, and should be so held that it may pass the root of the nail on the second finger, and about opposite the knuckle of the hand. An unnatural or cramped position of the hand, like such a position of the body, is opposed to good writing, and after many years of observation and study, all teachers concur in the one position above described, as being the most natural, easy and graceful for the writer, and as affording the most freedom and strength of movement.

Avoid getting the hand in an awkward or tiresome position, rolling it over to one side, or drawing the fore finger up into a crooked shape. Hold the pen firmly but lightly, not with a grip as if it were about to escape from service. Do not say, "I can't" hold the pen correctly. Habits are strong, but will may be stronger, and if you hold the pen correctly in spite of old habits, for a few lessons, all will then be easy, and the pen will take its position at each writing exercise, with no effort whatever. Everything being in readiness, and the proper position assumed, the writer must now obtain complete control of hand and pen, by practice in movement.

One of the essentials of a practical business style of writing must be rapidity of execution, in order to be of any avail in the necessities and press of a business position. The demand of the merchant is, that his clerk shall not only write well, but with rapidity, and the volume of letters to be answered, bills to be made out, or items to be entered on the books of account, compel the clerk to move the pen with dexterity and rapidity, as well as skill. While there is great diversity among persons as to the rapidity as well as quality of their penmanship, some being naturally more alert and active than others, yet by securing the proper position of the hand, arm and body, favorable to ease and freedom of execution, then following this with careful practice in movement, until all the varied motions necessary in writing are thoroughly mastered, the person may, with suitable effort, acquire the quality of rapidity in writing, gradually increasing the speed until the desired rate is accomplished.

In the handwriting, as in other things, beauty is largely a matter of taste and education. To the man of business, the most beautiful handwriting is that which is written with ease, and expresses plainly and neatly the thought of the writer. To the professional or artistic taste, while such a hand may be regarded as "a good business hand," it would not be considered as beautiful, because it conforms to no rule as to proportion, shade, and spacing. In the practical art of writing, it is not very unfair to measure its beauty largely by its utility.

Finger movement, or writing by the use of the fingers as the motive power, is entirely inadequate to the requirements of business. The fingers soon become tired, the hand becomes cramped, the writing shows a labored effort, and lacks freedom and ease so essential to good business penmanship. In the office or counting-room, where the clerk or correspondent must write from morning till night, the finger movement of course cannot be used.

What is designated by writing teachers as the Whole Arm, or Free Arm Movement, in which the arm is lifted free from the desk and completes the letter with a dash or a swoop, is necessary in ornamental penmanship and flourishing, but has no place in a practical style of business writing. The man of business would hardly stop, in the midst of his writing, to raise the arm, and execute an "off-hand capital," while customers are waiting.

But adapted to the practical purposes of business is the muscular movement, in which the arm moves freely on the muscles below the elbow, and in cases of precise writing, or in the more extended letters, such as f, is assisted by a slight movement of the fingers. The third and fourth fingers may remain stationary on the paper, and be moved from time to time, or between words, where careful and accurate writing is desired, but in more rapid, free and flowing penmanship, the fingers should slide over the paper.

Having everything in readiness, the student may begin his practice on movement exercises, the object of which is to obtain control of the pen and train the muscles. Circular motion, as in the capital O, reversed as in the capital W, vertical movement as in f, long s and capital J, and the lateral motion as in small letters, must each be practiced in order to be able to move the pen in any direction, up, down, or sidewise.

The simplest exercise in movement. Try to follow around in the same line as nearly as possible. Do not shade.

The same exercise, only with ovals drawn out and and slight shade added to each down stroke.

Sides of ovals should be even, forming as nearly a straight line as possible. Reverse the movement as in third form.

The following three exercises embrace the essential elements in capital letters, and should at first be made large for purposes of movement:

Capital O, down strokes parallel.

Capital stem. Down stroke a compound curve. Shade low. Finish with a dash.

Capital loop. Curves parallel. First curve highest.

Having succeeded to some extent with these exercises, the learner may next undertake the vertical movement. In order to obtain the lateral movement, which enables one to write long words without lifting the pen, and move easily and gracefully across the page, exercises like the following should be practiced:

Down strokes straight. Even and resting on line.

In all movement exercises the third and fourth fingers should slide on the paper, and the finger movement should be carefully avoided. The different movements having been practiced, they may now be combined in various forms

Lateral and rolling movement combined. Vertical movement and rolling movement combined.

Do not shade the circles. Lines should be parallel.

Movement exercises may be multiplied almost indefinitely by studying the forms used in writing and their combinations. Repeating many of the small letters, such as m, u, e, r, s, a, d, h and c, also capitals D, J, P, etc., forms an excellent exercise for the learner.

In order to enable the learner to examine, analyze and criticise his writing, the following principles are given as his standards of measurements and form. By combining them in various ways the essential part of all letters in the alphabet may be formed.

The principles must be first carefully studied, and separated into the primary lines which compose them and the form of each principle well understood. The student may then form a scale like the one following, by [pg 14] dividing the distance between the blue lines on the paper into four equal spaces, with a lightly ruled line. The letters of the small alphabet should then be placed in the scale and the height of each letter fixed in the mind.

Notice that the contracted letters, or those which occupy only one space, as a, m, n, o, s, v, w and e, and that part of d, g, h, q and y, found in the first space, are all well rounded and developed. These letters and parts of letters, found in the first space, form the essential part of all writing, and therefore deserve especial care. Also notice that the loop letters, above the line, such as b, f, h, k and l, extend two and one-half spaces above the blue line, while the loop below the line, such as g, f, j, q, y and z, extend one and one-half spaces below the blue line, thus two and one-half and one and one-half making the four spaces of the scale, and the upper loops on one line will just meet the lower loops of the line above, but never conflict, to the destruction of neat body writing. Notice the type of the printer. The extensions above the shorter letters are quite insignificant, and are only used to save the letter from resembling some other letter of the alphabet. They never conflict, and how legible they are.

Besides, to make long loops, requires more time, and more power with the pen, while shorter loops are in every way easier to acquire, quicker, and better. Telegraph operators, some of whom are among our best business penmen, make all extended letters very short, while accountants, and business men, favor the style of short loops, well developed letters, and small capitals.

In order to practice capital letters to advantage, as well as to study them, collect in a group or family all those letters which have some one form or principle as an essential part. Take first the 6th principle, or oval, and we group the letters as follows:

The excellence of an oval depends largely on its fullness and roundness. No corners or flat sides.

In the capital loop, or 8th principle, another oval may be made within the large turn at the top, but for practical purposes the letter is perhaps better without it, and may be simplified even more, as in the N below.

Make figures small, neat, and of form exact. Each figure must show for itself, and cannot be known by those which precede or follow it, as is the case with letters. The common tendency is to make figures too large and coarse. Mind the ovals in figures and have them full and round. The chief excellence of the zero lies in its roundness; the 3, 5, 6 or 9, without care in making the ovals, may degenerate into a straight line, or simply a meaningless hook, which it would hardly be safe to use in expressing sums of money, ordering goods, or the transaction of other business.

Having proceeded thus far in the study and practice of writing, and having obtained the proper control of the pen through the movement exercises, all that is necessary now in order to secure a good handwriting, is continued and well-directed practice.

Charming and fascinating are the graceful and harmonious curves produced, when, wielded by some trained and skillful hand, the pen becomes an instrument of beauty. As by the power of speech, men may pass from the common tone of conversation up to the melodious strains of music, or may soar in flights of oratory into the sublime, until the multitude is entranced; so the capabilities of the pen are not limited to the common uses of life, but may take on forms of beauty in elegant outlines of bird, or landscape, or graceful swan or bounding stag.

Ornamental writing is not a practical art, and has no connection whatever with the practical business of life. It is in the realm of poetry. The imagery of graceful outlines must first be seen by a poetic imagination. While the great masses may acquire a good style of plain, practical penmanship, few have the necessary conception of mind, combined with the skill and dexterity of hand to become successful ornamental penmen.

The ornamental pages which follow are given, not as models for imitation or practice by the learner, but merely to show the possibilities of the pen in the hand of a master, and as a fitting closing to this, our chapter on penmanship.

To any one who may have an artistic quality of mind, and delights in beautiful lines and harmonious curves, these pages of ornamental penmanship will serve as models for practice and imitation, and every attempt at such an exercise as the one on this, or the following pages, will give greater strength and freedom of movement, and better command of the pen, so that it will conduce to an easy, flowing and elegant style of plain business writing, while affording a most pleasant and profitable employment in the cultivation of the taste.

Various beautiful designs or pictures may be made with the pen, in the hands of one that possesses the skill of a penman and the eye of an artist.

Considering the vast amount of business transacted by correspondence between the parties, Letter Writing seems only second in importance to bookkeeping. The merchant of the smaller cities or towns, perhaps in the far west, desires to order articles of merchandise from the wholesale house in New York or Boston. Possibly a remittance is to be sent. It may be that an error has occurred and needs correction. Credit is to be asked, references given, and a multitude of other matters call for adjustment through correspondence. To write every conceivable variety and shade of meaning, expressing the proper thought in the most fitting and appropriate language, is indeed a rare and valuable accomplishment. And when the proper language takes on the graceful and businesslike air of the well written letter, with its several parts harmoniously arranged, it is a combination of brain and skill which can hardly be overestimated.

This subject, therefore, naturally divides itself into two parts: The Mechanical Structure, and the Literature of a Letter. The former of these being the less difficult will be first considered.

Consists in the arrangement of its several parts, with a view to the most harmonious effect. Excellent penmanship is very desirable, but not absolutely essential. The penmanship may indeed be poor, but the arrangement of the several parts of the letter, the neatness, and finish, may be such as to give it an attractive appearance, while on the other hand, the letter may be clothed in the most elegant penmanship, and yet the construction be such as to stamp its author as a careless and indifferent person, devoid of precision and order.

No one great thing, but many little things carefully watched, and attentively practiced, make up the structure and dress of a business letter, and give it a businesslike air. The penmanship should be a neat, strong hand, very plain and legible, and devoid of all flourish.

The paper and envelopes used in business correspondence should be of a good, durable quality, and a white color is preferable. Cheap materials are not only unsatisfactory to the writer, but may give the reader an unfavorable impression, which would be an injury far exceeding the cost of the best stationery for a life time. Persons form impressions from very little things sometimes.

The size of a letter sheet in business correspondence should be about 8x10 inches. This sheet affords a sufficient space for a communication of ordinary length to be written on one side only, which is essential in case the letter is copied in a letter press. A sheet of paper, note size, (5x8) is oftentimes used for brief communications of no special importance, and not designed to be filed for future reference. Among professional men the commercial note sheet is more extensively used, but with business men the letter size is considered preferable.

The envelope should correspond in size to that of the letter sheet, and should be a trifle longer than one-half the length of the sheet. Thus in a sheet eight by ten inches, one-half the length of the sheet is five inches, and this requires the length of the envelope to be about five and a quarter inches. Its width is usually about three inches. Avoid the use of fancy colored and fancy shaped paper and envelopes. These may not be objectionable in social correspondence among ladies, but the gravity of business affairs does not admit of such display.

With most firms engaged in business it has become a custom to have the business advertisement placed at the head of the letter page, together with street, number and city. Thus leaving only the date to be inserted to complete the heading.

In case the heading of the letter is to be entirely written, it should be placed so as to occupy the right hand half of the first two lines at the top of the page. If, however, the letter is to be a very brief one, occupying only three or four lines, the heading may then be placed lower down on the sheet, so as to bring the body of the letter about the center of the sheet.

Writing from a large city the heading should contain the street and number. Your correspondent, in directing his answer will rely on the address given in the heading of your letter. Never be guilty of the blunder committed by ignorant persons of placing a part of the heading under the signature.

The second line of the heading should begin a little farther to the right than the first line, as seen above.

If the writer has a box at the Post Office and wishes his mail delivered there, he may head his letter, as on the following page:

Writing from the principal cities of the United States it is not necessary to make the name of the state a part of the heading, as that is supposed to be known and understood, but with smaller cities the name of the state also, should be given. Thus, there is a Quincy in Illinois, and also in Massachusetts, and unless the state were mentioned a person answering a letter from Quincy, would not know which state to direct his reply to. In writing from an obscure town or village, not only the state should be given, but the county as well.

The punctuation of the heading and other parts of the letter, is of great importance in the estimation of cultivated persons, and something which can be learned by a little attention on the part of anyone, in examining the forms here given.

A margin three-quarters of an inch in width should be left, on the side of the letter, as shown in the diagram. This is convenient for any mark or memorandum which your correspondent may desire to make concerning anything contained in the letter, but its greater value lies in the open, airy, and cheerful dress which it imparts to the letter. A margin too narrow conveys the idea of stinginess, as if to economize paper, while an irregular or zigzag margin conveys the idea of carelessness or want of precision. On a sheet of note paper the margin may be only one-half inch in width, thus making its width proportionate to the size of the sheet.

On the next line below the heading, that is the third line from the top of the sheet, and beginning at the left margin, should be placed the Address, which consists of the name of the person to whom the letter is written, together with his titles, if any, and his place of residence or business. The letter is not complete without all this, in the estimation of the business man. It does not fully explain itself, if the place of residence is not down as well as the name, and in preserving a letter press copy, this is quite essential for future reference.

Or if the letter is written to a person living or doing business in a large city, thus:

The names and residence should not be allowed to extend further to the right than about the center of the sheet, thus leaving an open space between this and the heading of your letter. In case the names or place of residence should be so long as to require it, they may be placed thus:

The words Dear Sir or Gentlemen are sometimes placed farther to the left, as in the above example, but most business men in their correspondence place this complimentary address with reference to the words above them, about three-quarters of an inch farther to the right, as shown below.

The custom of placing the address beneath the body instead of at the beginning of the letter, is not much in vogue in business circles in this country, most business men preferring to place the name and address at the head of the sheet, and then write at it as if they were talking to the person himself. When, however, the address is placed below the letter it should occupy the same position as to the margin, etc., as if placed at the beginning. The custom is borrowed from the English, and its use is confined mostly to government officials and professional men.

This constitutes the written message. It should begin on the same line with the words Dear Sir, or [pg 22] leaving after these words a small space. In case the place of residence or business is not written in the address, then the complimentary address of Dear Sir or Gentlemen will be placed on the next line under the name, or fourth line from the top of the sheet, and the letter will begin on the fifth line from the top, thus:

Sometimes for the sake of convenience, and the saving of time and labor, the letter head has printed in the left corner, above the address, a blank form of memorandum as follows:

and after this introduction the writer is able speedily to get at the marrow of his letter, without acknowledging the receipt of a former communication.

The body of the letter should be divided into as many paragraphs as there are distinct subjects in the letter, or a new paragraph should be commenced at every change of the subject. The habit which some persons have of tacking one subject to the end of another, and thus making a letter one continuous paragraph of mixed up information, instructions and requests, is extremely objectionable. It destroys the force of what is said, instead of fixing each thought clearly on the mind of the reader; it leaves him confused, and he reads a second time and tries to get his ideas fixed and systematized, or he throws aside the letter until he has more time in which to study it and get the meaning clear.

If the letter is long and is really concerning only one subject, then it may properly be divided into paragraphs by separating the different divisions of the subject, and giving a paragraph to each. These should be arranged in their logical order. Wherever the letter is to contain numerous paragraphs to avoid omitting any of the items, it is best to jot them down on a slip of paper, then embody them in the letter in their natural order.

The first word of each paragraph should be indented, or moved in from the margin, usually about the width of the margin. Thus if the margin is three-fourths of an inch in width, the paragraph should begin three-fourths of an inch from the margin. Some writers, however, prefer to commence the first word of the paragraph an inch from the margin, and it is really not so essential what the distance is, as that it should be uniform, and all the paragraphs begin alike. A little attention is necessary here. In ordering goods make each article a separate paragraph.

The complimentary closing consists of such words as Yours truly, Respectfully, etc., and should be placed on the next line beneath the last one occupied by the body of the letter, commencing a little to the right of the middle. The signature should be placed underneath the words of respect, and begin still a little farther to the right. Thus the conclusion of the letter will correspond in position and arrangement with the heading.

The language of the complimentary closing should be governed by the relation between the parties, and should correspond with the complimentary address. The first letter between strangers should commence with Sir and end with the word Respectfully. After the exchange of a few letters and a sort of business acquaintance may be said to exist between the correspondents,then Dear Sir, and Yours truly, may properly be introduced. A little more cordial would be such a conclusion as the following:

The man of business is apt, however, to have one stereotyped beginning and ending to all his letters, and seldom stops to discriminate between strangers and old customers in this respect. Often the conclusion may be connected to the closing paragraph with perfect grace and ease thus:

In the signature of a letter, especial care should be exercised. Bear in mind that names of persons are not governed by the rules of spelling, and words which precede or follow, proper names will not aid us in deciphering them if they are poorly written.

The young person who would learn to write a good business letter, should, with pen, ink and suitable paper, sit down and practice faithfully after the above model. Write and re-write it a dozen times or more, until your letter resembles it closely. Then take any of the models for letters given near the close of this chapter, and with this matter, write a letter which will conform with the foregoing model in appearance and dress. Write the same matter over again, and improve it in its defects. Criticise each line and word. See that no words or letters are omitted, and that the punctuation is according to the models in this book. Eliminate all ungainly letters, shorten the loops, see that each letter rests on the line, and that, withal your page is clean and regular.

The person who will thus devote a little earnest study and practice, may early acquire the valuable accomplishment of writing a pleasing business letter, so far as the mechanical structure goes.

After the letter is finished, and while it yet lies open before you, the Envelope should be addressed. As before stated, the directions on the envelope must conform to the address at the beginning of the letter, hence the necessity for addressing the envelope before the letter is folded.

The first line of the address of the envelope should consist of the name of the person or firm to whom the letter is written, together with any appropriate titles, and should be written across or a little below the middle of the envelope, but never above it, beginning [pg 24] the left edge. The space between this first line and the bottom of the envelope should be about equally divided among the other lines, each of which begins still farther to the right than the one above, thus:

When writing to a person in a large city the number and street should be a part of the address, and may be placed as in the above form, or in the left hand lower corner as follows:

In case the letter is addressed in care of any one this should be placed in the lower left corner. If a letter of introduction, the words Introducing Mr. John Smith, or similar words, should be placed in this corner.

Letters addressed to small towns or villages should bear the name of the county as follows:

Or the name of the county may be placed in the lower left corner. The Post Office box number is usually placed in the lower left corner.

Having written an excellent letter, and faultlessly addressed the envelope, all may be easily stamped as unbusiness-like, and spoiled, by improperly performing so simple a part as the folding. Remember that excellent rule that, whatever is worth doing should be well done.

With the letter sheet lying before you, turn the bottom edge up so that it lies along with the top edge, thus making a fold in the middle, which press down with the thumb nail or with a paper folder. Then fold the right edge over so that it falls two-thirds the distance across the sheet, and press down the edge. Next fold the left edge of the sheet over to the right, breaking the fold at the edge of the part folded over just before.

In case a check, note, draft, bill or currency is to be sent by letter, it should be placed on the upper half of the sheet as it lies open, and then the letter should be folded the same as if it were not there. This will fold the paper or document in the letter so that it will be difficult to extract it while being transmitted in the mails, and so that it will not be dropped or lost in opening the letter.

The letter is now folded so that it will be of equal thickness in every part of the envelope. Insert the last broken or folded edge in the envelope first, with [pg 25] original edges of the sheet at the end of the envelope which the stamp is on; when taken from the envelope the letter will then be proper side up.

To be able to compose a letter requires more ability than to give it the proper arrangement and mechanical dress. A mind well stored with useful knowledge as well as command of language, is necessary in writing a letter on general subjects. The strictly business letter requires a thorough understanding of the facts concerning which the letter is written, and these facts to be set forth in plain and unmistakable language. All display of rhetoric or flourish of words is entirely out of place in the sober, practical letter of business. The proper use of capital letters, punctuation, and correct spelling are essential to the well written letter, and with a little care and striving may be easily acquired.

As stated before, each item or subject in a letter should be embraced in a separate paragraph. These should be arranged in the order in which they would naturally come, either in point of time, importance, or as regards policy. Never begin a letter abruptly with a complaint, but rather bring in all unpleasant subjects toward the close. If an answer to a letter of inquiry, take up the questions as they are asked, indicate first what the question is, and then state clearly the answer. The first paragraph should acknowledge the receipt of the communication now to be answered, giving date and indicating its nature and contents, thus:

Your letter of the 10th instant concerning damaged goods is received, etc.

The closing paragraph usually begins with such words as Hoping, Trusting, Awaiting, Thanking, or similar expressions, and is complimentary in its tone and designed as a courtesy.

Business letters should be brief and to the point. The best letter states clearly all the facts in the fewest words. Brevity is not inconsistent with a long letter, as so much may need to be said as to require a long letter, but all repetitions, lengthy statements and multiplication of words should be avoided. Use short sentences, and make every word mean something. Short sentences are more forcible, and more easily understood or remembered, than long drawn out utterances.

Style refers to the tone, air, or manner of expression. Dignity and strength should characterize the style of the business letter. No ornament of expression or eloquence of language is necessary or appropriate in a correspondence between business men. Come to your meaning at once. State the facts. Let every sentence bristle with points.

The successful business man must possess energy, decision, and force, and these qualities should be conspicuous in his correspondence in order to command respect. Never use loose or slang expressions. The business man should be a gentleman. Indulge in no display of superior knowledge or education, but temper each paragraph with respect and deference to others. The learner who would aspire to write a good letter, should, after having finished his attempt, go over each sentence carefully and wherever the pronoun I occurs, modify the expression so as to leave this out.

In ordering goods of any kind, care should be used to state very explicitly the color, size, quality, and quantity of the articles desired. If manufactured goods, the name of the manufacturer, or his trade mark or brand should be given. Also state when you desire the goods shipped and in what way. If by freight or express, state what Freight line or Express Company.

Paper currency should seldom be trusted to pass through the mails, as the liability to loss is too great. Better send draft or P. O. money order, and in every case the amount of the remittance should be stated in the letter, and also whether by draft or otherwise sent. The letter may become important evidence in regard to payment at some future time.

In giving instructions to agents, manufacturers and others, let each order occupy a separate paragraph. State in unmistakable language the instructions desired to be conveyed. If possible a diagram or plan should be enclosed in the letter. Cautions and complaints, if any, should be clearly set forth in paragraphs near the close of the letter.

State when the debt was contracted, its amount, the fact of it having been long past due, the necessity for immediate payment, and any other facts depending on [pg 26] the peculiarities of the case, which it may seem best to make use of, such as promises to pay, which have not been met; the inconvenience as well as injury and distrust caused by such irregularities, etc.

Be just and truthful, avoiding any stereotyped form in letters of introduction. Never give a letter of introduction unless you have entire confidence in the person to whom it is given; it may reflect on your character or be used against you. Be very guarded that no expressions may be construed into a letter of credit, thus making the writer liable for payment. Use no unfounded statements or assertions, over-estimating your friend, as these may prove untrue.

Willing to extend a favor to a friend by giving a letter of introduction, do not be guilty of introducing him to any one in whom he may not place confidence, as he might be a loser by such.

128 Jackson Street,
RICHMOND, VA., May 24, 18——.

Messrs. JONES & SMITH,
867 Market St., Philadelphia.

Gentlemen: Please ship me by Fast Freight as soon as possible the following goods:

3 hhds. N. O. Molasses.
1 bbl. Granulated Sugar.
5 chests English Breakfast Tea.
2 sacks Mocha Coffee, wanted not ground.
5 boxes Colgate's Toilet Soap.

I will remit the amount of the invoice immediately upon the receipt of the goods.

Yours respectfully,

JAMES C. ADAMS.

RICHMOND, IND., Dec. 29, 18——.

Messrs. MARSHALL FIELD & Co.,
Chicago, Ill.

Gentlemen: Please forward me by American Express at once

1 Lancaster Spread, 3.50
12 yds. Gingham, small check. (15c.) 1.80
3 doz. Napkins ($3.00), 9.00

————

$14.30

For which I inclose P.O. Money order.

Hoping to receive the goods without delay, I am,

Respectfully,

WILLIAM L. MILLER.

DAYTON, OHIO, Oct. 12, 18——.

Messrs. HOLMES & WILSON,
Detroit, Mich.

Gentlemen: Having recently established myself in the retail Hardware trade in this city, with fair prospects of success, and being in need of new goods from time to time, would like to open an account with your highly respectable house.

My capital is small, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that what little I possess is the fruit of my own industry and saving. I can refer you to the well known firm of Smith, Day & Co., of this city, as to my character and standing.

Should my reference prove satisfactory, please forward me at once by U.S. Express,

2 Butchers' Bow Saws
1/2 doz. Mortise Locks, with Porcelain Knobs.
2 kegs 8d Nails,

and charge to my account.

Hoping that my order may receive your usual prompt attention, I am,

Yours respectfully,

HENRY M. BARROWS.

LEXINGTON, KY., June 25, 18——.

Messrs. DODGE, MANOR & DEVOE,
New York City.

Gentlemen: Please allow the bearer of this, Mr. James Curtis, a credit for such goods as he may select, not exceeding One Thousand dollars, and if he does not pay for them, I will.

Please notify me in case he buys, of the amount, and when due, and if the account is not settled promptly according to agreement, write me at once.

Yours truly,

HIRAM DUNCAN.

125 Lake Street,
CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 18——.

SAMUEL D. PRENTICE, Esq.,
Vevay, Ind.

Dear Sir: Inclosed please find invoice of goods amounting to $218.60, shipped you this day by the B. & O. Express, as per your order of the 11th inst.

Hoping that the goods may prove satisfactory, and that we may be favored with further orders, we remain,

Yours truly,

SIBLEY, DUDLEY & CO.

168 Olive Street,
ST. LOUIS, June 4, 18——.

HENRY M. BLISS, Esq.,
Boston.

Dear Sir: This will introduce to you the bearer, Mr. William P. Hainline, of this city who visits Boston, for the purpose of engaging in the Hat, Cap and Fur trade.

He is a young man of energy and ability, and withal, a gentlemen in every sense.

Any assistance you may render him by way of introduction to your leading merchants or otherwise, in establishing his new enterprise will be duly appreciated by both himself and

Yours truly,

JAMES W. BROOKING.

MILWAUKEE, WIS., Feb. 18, 18——.

Messrs. ARNOLD, CONSTABLE & Co.,
New York.

Gentlemen: The goods ordered of you on the 3d inst. have been received and are entirely satisfactory in both reality and price.

Enclosed please find New York exchange for $816.23, the amount of your bill.

Thanking you for your promptness in filling my order, I am,

Yours respectfully,

HENRY GOODFELLOW.

NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 18——.

Messrs. WEBSTER & DUNN,
Cairo, Ill.

Gentlemen: Inclosed we hand you Draft at 30 days for acceptance for $928.15, the amount of balance due from you to us to the present date. We shall feel obliged by your accepting the same, and returning it by due course of mail.

Awaiting further favors, we are,

Very truly yours,

DODGE, HOLMES & CO.

CHICAGO, March 1, 18——.

Messrs. CHASE & HOWARD,
South Bend, Ind.

Gentlemen: Inclosed please find a statement of your account for the past three months, which we believe you will find correct.

We shall feel obliged by your examining the same at your earliest convenience, and shall be happy to receive your check for the amount or instructions to draw on you in the ordinary course.

We are, gentlemen,

Yours truly,

J.V. FARWELL & CO.

DENVER, COL., June 30, 18——.

JAMES C. ADAMS, Esq.,
Great Bend, Kansas.

Dear Sir: Allow me to remind you that your account with me has been standing for several months unsettled.

I should not even now have called your attention to it, were it not that in a few days I must meet a heavy bill, and must rely in part on your account to furnish me the means.

I would, therefore, esteem it a great favor if you would let me have either the whole, or at least the greater part of your account in the course of a week or ten days.

Thanking you for past favors, I remain, Sir,

Yours truly,

A.R. MORGAN.

Paste the Advertisement at the head of the sheet, and write as follows:

124 Fayette Street,
SYRACUSE, N. Y., Sept. 17, 18——

JOURNAL OFFICE,
City.

Dear Sir: In reply to the above advertisement I would respectfully offer my services.

I am 19 years of age, have a good education, and have had some experience in business, having assisted my father in his grocery store. I am not afraid of work, and never allow myself to be idle when there is work to be done. I can refer you as to my character, to Mr. J.H. Trout, president of the Gas Company, who has known me all my life.

In reference to salary, I leave that with you, but feel certain that I could earn five dollars per week for you.

Hoping to have the pleasure of an interview, I remain,

Respectfully,

HENRY OTIS.

SYRACUSE, N. Y., Sept. 17, 18——.

J.H. TROUT, Esq.,

Dear Sir:

I beg to inform you that in applying for a situation this morning, advertised in the Journal, I took the liberty of using your name as a reference. The length of time I have been honored with your acquaintance, and the words of encouragement which you have given me heretofore, lead me to hope you would speak favorably in this instance, adding this to the numerous obligations already conferred upon

Your obedient servant,

HENRY OTIS.

NEWARK, OHIO, June 15, 18——.

Mr. J.D. SHAYLOR,
Denver, Col.

My Dear Sir: As I told you a year ago, I have been thinking seriously of disposing of my small business here and locating in some live and promising city out west, where I can grow up with the country as you are doing.

Will you have the kindness to sit down and write me at your convenience, full information in regard to the prospects of business, price of rents, cost of living, etc., in your city, and any other information, especially in regard to the hardware trade.

If you will thus kindly give me the facts on which I can base a calculation, and all is favorable, I will probably visit Denver this fall, and eventually become your neighbor.

Yours very truly,

J.O. GOODRICH.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich., May 17, 18——.

To WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Mr. Henry McPherson, who is now leaving our employ, has been in our office for the past two years, during which time he has faithfully attended to his duties, proving himself to be industrious and thoroughly reliable. He is a good penman, correct accountant, and acquainted with correspondence.

We shall at any time cheerfully respond to all applications we may have regarding his character and abilities, and wish him every success.

Yours truly,

WOOD & HILL.

DAVENPORT, IA., Dec. 10, 18——.

JAS. L. BINGHAM & CO.,
Cedar Rapids, Ia.

Gentlemen: On the 1st of January next the partnership for the past ten years existing between Geo. H. Clark and Henry Webster, wholesale grocers in this City, will expire by limitation of the contract.

The firm takes this opportunity to thank its customers and friends for their generous patronage and support, whereby the business of the house grew to such large proportions.

After the first of January the business will be carried on at the old stand, Nos. 76 and 78 Main St., by Henry Webster and Cyrus D. Bradford, under the firm name of Webster & Bradford. We are, gentlemen,

Your obedient servants,

CLARK & WEBSTER.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, Dec. 15, 18——.

TO THE PUBLIC:

It is with some feeling of regret that we announce our retirement from the business on the beginning of the new year. Our stock and premises will then be transferred to Messrs. Franklin and Warren, whom we cheerfully present to your notice, and feel it our duty to recommend them for a continuance of that liberal confidence and patronage which you have bestowed on us during the past twenty years.

Both these young gentlemen have been clerks of ours for several years past, and are in every way efficient and capable to continue the business.

We are

Respectfully,

JOHNSON & FOX

In order to succeed in business life, it is necessary to cultivate and develop certain qualities and traits of character. These are a portion of the capital of the successful man, and a more essential portion than money or goods.

"Sharp practice" may bring a temporary gain but in the long run of life that man will be far ahead who deals squarely and honestly at all times. A thoroughly honest clerk will command a higher salary than one of equivocal habits, while the merchant who has a reputation for honesty and truthfulness in regard to the quality and value of his goods, will on this account he favored with a considerable custom. The business man whose "word is as good as his bond" can in any emergency, control large amounts of capital, the use of which brings him a rich return, while the man who sells his neighbor's good opinion for a temporary gain, will find that he has discounted his future success, but taking an advantage at the cost of ten tines its value.

No other quality can take the place of this, and no talents of mind, however excellent, will bring success without labor; persistent systematic labor. The young man who expects to find some royal road to success with little or no effort, or who imagines that his mental abilities will compensate for a lack of application, cheats and ruins himself. Horace Greeley probably never said a grander thing than this: "The saddest hour in any man's career is that wherein he, for the first time, fancies there is an easier was of gaining a dollar than by squarely earning it." and Horace Greeley was himself an example of success through industry.

It is not genius, but the great mass of average people, who work, that make the successes in life. Some toil with the brain, and others toil with the hand, but [pg 29] all must toil. Industry applies to hours in business and out of business. It means not only to perform all required work promptly, but to occupy spare moments usefully, not to idle evenings, and to rise early in the morning.

An employee should not confine himself to his mere obligatory duties. He should be ready to work sometimes over hours or in other departments if it is desired of him. Willingness to work is one of the finest qualities in a character, and will compensate for many other deficiencies.

This faculty, always so useful, is pre-eminently so to the business man. It must be both retentive and quick. By proper training this faculty may be so cultivated that names, dates and events to a surprising number may be readily recalled. The ability to greet a customer by calling him by name is considered very valuable in any class of business. It makes a very agreeable impression when a man who has not seen us but once or twice, and who is not expecting us, meets us promptly as we enter his store, with, "Why, Mr. ——, how do you do? Glad to see you. When did you leave Newark?" We feel as if we had occupied that man's thoughts since we saw him before. He appreciates us, and we feel like patronizing him. Whereas, on the other hand to meet a customer with a blank, inquiring expression, and greet him with, "Your face is familiar, but I can't recall your name." is unpleasant and tends to drive away custom. Every hotel keeper knows the value of this greeting of customers. Facts, figures and dates are very necessary to remember in business, and these often form the basis of a business transaction or venture by which large profits are made. Superior ability in remembering prices and their fluctuations has been the secret of more than one brilliant success.

Desultory reading injures the memory, while close application to a subject, recalling the various points therein, tends greatly to improve this faculty. The clerk or employe in receiving instructions from his principal should endeavor to impress every point clearly on his mind, and retain them there until they are carried out in action. Carelessness and forgetfulness often causes the discharge of otherwise worthy and competent young persons, as employers do not like to repeat their orders.

A very essential element in the character of the business man is promptness. Filling all engagements at exactly the appointed time, answering letters or forwarding goods with promptness, the man of business finds that much more can be accomplished and with far greater accuracy, than by a loose system of putting off till to-morrow, or according to convenience. Not only so, but competition in business is such that the merchant or tradesman who does not deal with promptness can hardly expect to hold his custom. Young men starting out in the world should form the resolution of doing everything on time. Better to be ahead in the performance of duties than behind. This promptness then acts as a stimulant in itself, and is oftentimes the means of winning success in an enterprise.

A thing that is worth the doing, ought to be done quickly when the time is ripe for it. A prompt man or woman is valued, as he respects his word and has due regard for the convenience of others.

Wavering, timid and uncertain, the man without executive ability never achieves distinction in active life. Intelligence to decide on any measure, firmness in adhering to the decision, and force of will in carrying it out, constitute executive ability, and are as essential to the business man as his stock in trade.

The timid man never makes up his mind until after the opportunity is past, or decides, then recalls his decision, and feels incapable of promptly estimating all the facts in the case. This weakness is oftentimes natural, but more frequently it is a bad habit which should be broken up.

Rashness is to decide and act without taking the trouble to weigh intelligently the facts in the case. This is inexcusable folly, and always brings serious trouble sooner or later.

Through executive ability the labor or services of one man may be made to produce largely, or without proper direction such services may be almost worthless; and in the case of many employes under one executive head, the results of this combined labor may be great success, or where executive ability is wanting, a great failure.

The successful farmer, merchant, manufacturer, banker, and professional man must have this combination of ability, firmness, and will power.

Those who put their minds on their work, whatever kind that may be, and persist in its thorough execution; who get interested in something for their own advancement, that they may become more capable as men and women of sense and tact; such persons have a lively appreciation of the fact that success is never more certain to be gained by any other course.

These people have a just pride in learning the best methods of giving expression to the faculties and powers they possess, and which they desire to make the most of. It is incumbent that they do all in their power for their own and other people's good. Feeling this, an ever present incentive keeps them employed, and they are never idle.

If one does not succeed from persisting in doing the best he knows how, he may conclude that the ministry of failure is better for him than any worldly success would be.

Good behavior is an essential element of our civilization. It should be displayed every day through courteous acts and becoming manners.

Politeness is said to be the poetry of conduct; and like poetry, it has many qualities. Let not your politeness he too florid, but of that gentle kind which indicates a refined nature.

In his relations with others, one should never forget his good breeding. It is a general regard for the feelings of others that springs from the absence of all selfishness. No one should behave in the presence of others as though his own wishes were bound to be gratified or his will to control.

In the more active sphere of business, as in the larger localities where there is close competition, the small merchant frequently outstrips his more powerful rival by one element of success, which may be added to any stock without cost, but cannot be withheld without loss. That element is civility. A kind and obliging manner carries with it an indescribable charm. It must not be a manner that indicates a mean, groveling, timeserving spirit, but a plain, open, and agreeable demeanor that seems to desire to oblige for the pleasure of doing so, and not for the sake of squeezing an extra penny out of a customer's purse.

The sole reliance of a business man should be in the integrity of his transactions, and in the civility of his demeanor. He should make it the interest and the pleasure of a customer to come to his office or store. If he does this, he will form the very best "connections," and so long as he continues this system of business, they will never desert him.

No real business man will take advantage of a customer's ignorance, nor equivocate nor misrepresent. If he sells goods, he will have but one price and a small profit. He will ere long find all the most profitable customers—the cash ones—or they will find him.

If such a man is ever deceived in business transactions, he will never attempt to save himself by putting the deception upon others; but submit to the loss, and be more cautious in future. In his business relations, he will stick to those whom he finds strictly just in their transactions, and shun all others even at a temporary disadvantage.

The word of a business man should be worth all that it expresses and promises, and all engagements should be met with punctilious concern. An indifferent or false policy in business is a serious mistake. It is fatal to grasp an advantage at ten times its cost; and there is nothing to compensate for the loss of a neighbor's confidence or good will.

The long-established customs and forms of business, which in these times are assumed to be legitimate, already have within them enough of the elements of peculiarity, commonly termed "tricks of trade," or, in the sense of any particular business, "tricks of the trade." Therefore it does not behoove any active man to make gratuitous additions of a peculiar nature to the law of business. On the contrary, all should strive to render business transactions less peculiar than they are.

One may rest in the assurance that industry and economy will be sure to tell in the end. If in early life these habits become confirmed, no doubt can exist as to the ultimate triumph of the merchant in attaining a competency.

There should be no antagonism between economy and a generous business policy. Narrow selfishness is to be avoided in the use of money or means. In buying goods, one should not take advantage of another's necessities to beat him down to a figure which leaves him little or no profit, perhaps a loss, because he must [pg 31] have money. This is against manhood and is a ruinous policy, because it tends to picayunishness and chicanery. A sacred regard for the principles of justice forms the basis of every transaction, and regulates the conduct of the upright man of business.

If economy is wealth, it is not so because of a niggardly and parsimonious policy. Perhaps the simplest, fewest and best rules for economical business are these, by observance of which a noted merchant amassed a large fortune: 1. Obtain the earliest and fullest information possible in regard to the matter in hand. 2. Act rapidly and promptly upon it. 3. Keep your intentions and means secret. 4. Secure the best employees you can obtain, and reward them liberally.

Proprietors of institutions will early discover that order, and neatness, are necessary as economical agents in prosecuting a successful business. And the youth who would grow up to become well-to-do, to gain complete success, to be a valuable member and assume a position in society, should take pains to acquire habits of cleanliness, of order, and of business.

To this effect each one may early learn the simple rules of health and good order by paying reasonable attention to those so-called minor details, which pertain to the well-being of the person, and which must be faithfully observed in order to avoid failure and win success.

A person, young or old, in or out of business, may keep a memorandum-book in his pocket, in which he notes every particular relative to appointments, addresses, and petty cash matters. An accurate account of personal expenses should be kept, which should be balanced each week. By this means each individual will be more careful and economical in his expenditures, and generally live within his income. He must be reasonable in spending, or his memorandum or record-book, if it be honestly kept, will stand to his discredit.

A well-kept memorandum-book is often very useful, as it is very convenient, and sometimes serves to settle a troublesome query, arising in other minds, by which the possessor is absolved from the prejudice of doubt. Young people who expect to labor with their hands for what they have of this world's goods, or rise by their own efforts, should by all means acquire habits of economy, learn to save, form correct habits, and no time will be required overcoming these. So surely as they do this, so surely will they be in a situation to ask no special favors. Every man wants to learn to look out for himself and rely upon himself. Every man needs to feel that he is the peer of every other man, and he cannot do it if he is penniless. Money is power, and those who have it exert a wider influence than the destitute. Hence it should be the ambition of all young men to acquire it, as well as to store their minds with useful knowledge.

In seeking a situation, it is always best to appear in person if practicable. A business man who requires the services of a salesman or clerk, a bookkeeper, stenographer, or some one to remain in his employ a considerable time, usually prefers to see an applicant and have a few words with him about the work that is to be done.

If an application has to be made by letter, it should be done in the handwriting of the applicant. It may be brief, and should include references.

It is best for a young man to learn a trade. In this country the trades offer more stable means of subsistence than do other departments of active life. His knowledge of a trade will form no bar to any effort he may afterward make to rise to a higher or more congenial calling.

When a position has been obtained by an applicant, he should at once proceed to render himself indispensable to his employer by following up the details of his work in a conscientious and agreeable manner. Thus he will gain confidence and grow in favor with men who are quick to recognize merit, and who respond to that which contributes to the success of a meritorious man.

There is always room in every business for an honest, hard-worker. It will not do to presume otherwise; nor should one sit down to grumble or concoct mischief. The most perilous hour of one's life is when he is tempted to despond. He who loses, his courage loses all. There are men in the world who would rather work than be idle at the same price. Imitate them. Success is not far off. An honorable and happy life is before you. Lay hold of it.

The desire to accumulate property is one of the noblest that nature has implanted in man, and it is through the successful results of this desire, we are enabled to point with unerring certainty to the disembarking line, which so surely characterizes the advanced educated, refined and civilized man from that of the wild savage, whose highest desire is to slay and rob his fellow men, and proudly exhibit their scalps, or the plunder he has acquired, as evidence of his cunning or courage.

It is through this inborn desire to accumulate that man is willing to labor, toil, suffer, and forego present gratifications for the hope of future greater satisfactions; that has resulted in the building and equiping the mighty ships of commerce, whose white, spreading canvas dots every sea where commerce may be known, or where the interests of God's creatures may best be served. It is through this desire, coupled with unremitting toil, that we owe everything of permanent enjoyment, of enlightenment and of prosperity. The millions of dollars of paper money which is handled every day as the natural fruit of toil and saving through the many and diversified transactions in the vast, illimitable and ever rapidly developing field of commerce, is but the representative of ownership of property.

If this representative is what it purports on its face to be, each and every one who receives it in exchange for services or commodities, owns not merely a piece of paper, with designs, words and promises printed or engraved thereon, but an interest or an undivided whole in a farm, a block of buildings or a store well stocked with merchandise, which, in his estimation, at least, is more desirable to him than the labor or commodity for which he has voluntarily made the exchange; but, if on the contrary, it is other than what it purports on its face to be, he finds that he is the owner of a piece of paper whose value is nil.

There is, at the present writing, 1884, nearly eight hundred million dollars of paper currency in the United States, consisting of greenbacks and national currency, a great portion of which is in actual circulation, and it has been estimated by eminent authorities, who occupy positions of trust in the various departments through which the financial machinery of this vast sea of paper money is daily circulated, that there is in circulation nearly one-fifth of this amount in counterfeit money, or about one hundred and sixty million dollars; and not one dollar of this counterfeit money owes its circulation to any excellence of the work in its manufacture, but wholly to the general ignorance of those who handle it, as to what is required to constitute a genuine bill. The time will come when the United States will redeem all of its issue of paper money, when those who are holding any of this counterfeit money will have to stand the loss to the extent of the sum in their possession. To all of those who are willing to take a small portion of their time each day for a few weeks in learning just what it takes to constitute a genuine bill, there need be no necessity of ever losing anything by counterfeiters, as it is impossible for them to make bills which will in any way approach the beauty and exactness of the genuine ones. There is not at the present time, nor has there ever been in the past, nor will there ever be in the future, a counterfeit bill made that cannot be detected at sight; and the positive knowledge of how to know at all times when a bill is genuine and when not is within the reach of all those who may have the privilege of reading the following information or infallible [pg 33] rules with a genuine desire to be benefitted thereby.

Various devices are resorted to by a numerous gang or body of persons, to get on in the world without turning their attention to legitimate and useful employments. This class includes many that are not engaged in the practice of counterfeiting and putting forth bad money, but who make themselves felt in various ways through vain tricks and schemes, which are, to all intents and purposes, frauds.

Business men are generally apt at detecting and turning off petty schemes, but they find it best to have the means with which they may deal successfully as against regular swindlers, forgers and counterfeiters.

As indicated above, counterfeit notes are issued and put into the channels of circulation in abundance every year by those engaged in the practice of counterfeiting. These notes are often such good imitations of the genuine that it is quite difficult to discern the difference.

That he may protect himself, each business man should have some definite knowledge of a genuine bank-note.

The engraving of a genuine bank note, in most all of its parts, is done by machinery, and it is more exact and perfect. On the contrary, most all parts of counterfeit notes are done by hand.

Counterfeiters cannot afford to purchase machinery, such as is used for the production of genuine notes. The cost of such machinery is between $100,000, and $150,000, and if it were in wrong hands it would be always liable to seizure and confiscation.

In order to prevent the forgery of bank-notes, a great deal of ingenuity and art has been expended on their production. The principal features of the manufacture are described as a peculiar kind of paper and water mark; an elaborate design, printed with a peculiar kind of ink, and certain private marks, known only by the bank officials.

The work of counterfeiters can never equal that of the makers of genuine notes, whose skill and facilities for producing the highest grade of work known to the art, are the best that the world affords.

Unless one is somewhat learned as to the quality of engraving, that he may be able to distinguish a fine specimen of the art when he sees it, he is likely to become a victim of the counterfeiter's operations.

When the genuineness of a bank-note is doubted, the Lathe Work on the note should first be closely scrutinized. The several letters of denomination, circles, ovals, and shadings between and around the letters in the words, etc., are composed of numberless extremely fine lines—inclusive of lines straight, curved and network. These are all regular and unbroken, never running into each other, and may be traced throughout with a magnifying glass.

Without the skill or machinery, by which the genuine is produced, the same quality of work cannot be done. Therefore, in a counterfeit, the lines are imperfect, giving the paper a dull or hazy aspect, that may be all the better appreciated by comparing it with the genuine. The lines in the counterfeit will be found now and then irregular in size, and broken: not uniform in course, sometimes heavy, sometimes light: no two stamps or dies on the same note being exactly alike.

The fine, uniform, shade-lines, with which the letters on the genuine are embellished, are wrought by a machine that cannot be reproduced by counterfeiters, nor used for other than legitimate purposes, by authority.

The fine line is the characteristic of the various and beautiful figures which are seen on a genuine note. This line is produced by what is called the Geometrical Lathe. The patterns made by the geometrical lathe are of every variety of form. They are not engraved directly upon the bank-note plate, but on pieces of soft steel plate, which are afterwards hardened. The impressions are then transferred to a soft steel roller, which, in its turn, is also hardened, and the impressions remain there, in relief. This roller is then capable of transferring the same designs to the bank-note plate by means of the transfer press.

In counterfeit engraving, the design is made directly upon the plate, and not by transfer, as in the production [pg 34] of plates for genuine notes. The essential difference between the two methods of production is, the counterfeit is made by hand, and is inexact and imperfect, while the genuine is made on geometrical principles, and is therefore exact, artistic and beautiful.

In all the government issues the geometric lathe work is liberally used. This should be studied carefully, as it constitutes the chief test of genuineness.

Fine lines, of unerring exactness, never broken, are seen on the genuine medallion heads, or shields, upon which the designation of the note is sometimes stamped. This nicety cannot be given by hand, or with the use of imperfect machinery. By close scrutiny the lines will be found to break off in the pattern, or appear forked, irregular in size, and not well defined throughout.

On most counterfeits the vignettes are not well engraved, and the portraits have a dull appearance; the letters are usually wanting in clearness; the printing is sometimes faulty, by which some features of the note are obscured.

In Ruling Engine Work, as it is called, the fine line is present, also. The engraving is produced and transferred in the same way as the geometrical lathe work. In this they are parallel and not in circles. Those which constitute the shading of letters are so fine that they form a perfectly even gray shade. They may be printed so that the shading will appear darker, but the aspect will be uniform. The spaces between lines are exact, whether the lines be horizontal or diagonal. The lines are also made crooked or wave-like, not absolutely parallel. Ruling engine work is generally used for shading of names of banks, and also for the names of town, state, etc.

While lathe work and that of the ruling engine are invariably machine work, and therefore cannot be successfully reproduced by counterfeiters, the Vignettes are chiefly the work of the hands. In all genuine work they are made by first class artists, who are well paid for their services, and who therefore have no incentive to exercise their skill for illegitimate purposes.

Sometimes water and sky are done with the ruling engine, and when they are, no counterfeiter can successfully imitate them. Fine vignettes are seldom seen on counterfeit notes. If the lathe and ruling engine work be genuine, an ordinary vignette cannot make a note counterfeit, and if that be counterfeit, no vignette can make the note genuine.

The vignettes on genuine notes are executed by men at the head of their vocation, and are very life-like and beautiful. Counterfeit vignettes usually have a sunken and lifeless appearance. Genuine vignettes, as seen upon government issues, consist of out-door scenes, portraits, historical pictures, and allegorical figures. They are all exceedingly beautiful, and it is not likely that such work will ever be successfully imitated.

The lettering, or solid print, in genuine work is done by a first-class artist, who makes that kind of work his exclusive concern. The name of the engraving company is always engraved with great pains and is very accurate. It will be seen on the upper and lower margin of the note. This, in counterfeits, is not quite uniform or even. The words "one dollar," as on the one dollar greenbacks, are to be considered as a sample of solid print.

Bank-notes are printed upon paper composed of linen, the qualify of which is not always the same, and it varies in thickness. Therefore, the paper is not always a sure test, but it is important. The manufacture of this paper is a profound secret, as carefully kept as the combinations to the great vaults where the government's millions lie awaiting further river and harbor bills. It is made only at the Dalton mill, which dates back almost to colonial days. What its combinations are nobody knows except those intimately connected with its manufacture. The secret of the paper-making is jealously guarded, as is also the paper itself. From the moment it is made until it gets into the treasury vaults it is carefully guarded. It goes there in small iron safes, the sheets carefully counted, and all precautions against its loss being taken both by the government officials and by the express companies which carry it.

Sometimes genuine notes are stolen before they are signed; then the only thing about them made counterfeit is the signatures. Those who are familiar with the signatures of the officers of the bank where notes are purloined, may not be lead into error, as such signatures usually appear more or less cramped or unsteady; but there is no sure protection against a counterfeit of this kind for those who do not have special knowledge of the signatures.

Bank-notes are altered in two ways, namely: raising the denomination, and changing the name of a broken to that of a responsible bank.

First, in altering a note, it is scraped until thin: then figures of larger denomination are pasted over. A pasted note may be detected by holding it up to the light, when the pasted parts will appear darker, as they are thicker.

Second, the denomination of a note is raised by taking out a low one with an acid, and printing in a higher one with a counterfeit stamp. The ink used in genuine bank-note printing is a peculiar kind, and not easily to be obtained by counterfeiters: therefore, their printing will not appear as clear and bright as that of the government, which is done with ink of the finest quality. If the ink is black, it gives a clear and glossy impression, without any of that smutty appearance, as is sometimes seen in counterfeit bank-notes. It is almost impossible to imitate the green ink that is used by the government, and it is nearly as difficult to imitate the red and other colors. Counterfeit inks look dull and muddy, while genuine inks have a glossy appearance.

In the case of a note altered by the use of acid, it may be noticed that the acid, by spreading more than was intended by the counterfeiter, has injured parts of other letters, and the paper will appear more or less stained by the acid.

A counterfeit should be compared with one that is genuine, in order to familiarize one's self with the distinguishing features which have already been indicated.

It is best to acquire the habit of giving each note as received a searching glance, turning it over to see the back, and if there be any defect, it will probably catch the eye. If there be the least suspicion, a critical [pg 36] examination of all its parts should be made.

In case of doubt, the lathe work should be carefully examined, and it may be compared with a perfectly good bill; then examine the shading around the letters, and search for any sign of alteration in the title or denomination of the note. If there are any medallion heads or shields, notice the lines; if there is any red letter work, designed to appear on both sides, look at the character of the work on the face, then turn the note and examine the back. If the printing is not exactly alike on both sides, but varies in any part the note is counterfeit. Then observe the vignettes and portraits, to see whether their style and perfection compare well with the work on genuine notes. Then examine the solid print and engravers' names, as well as the printing, ink, and paper. By such thorough examination, one can hardly be at a loss to determine the status of the note.

Good magnifying glasses are necessary, in most instances, to bring out the fine lines on bank-notes. Sometimes a microscope of great power is required to discern the genuine line.

Counterfeiters sometimes make ten bills of nine by what is termed piecing. Thus, a counterfeit note is cut into ten pieces by the counterfeiter, and these pieces are used in piecing nine genuine bills, from each of which a piece has been cut. The nine genuine pieces, thus obtained, are then pasted together, and with the tenth counterfeit piece added, make a tenth bill, which is the gain.

Piecing bank-bills is not a very successful practice. One who possesses such information as here given, can readily detect the difference between the counterfeit and the genuine. This difference is, however, made less apparent by the counterfeiter, who defaces the counterfeit part, so as to give the note a worn appearance. Counterfeiting is rendered very difficult in consequence of the remarkable excellence of the work on the government and national currency, as also from the difficulty of imitating the green. But this currency, if successfully imitated by counterfeiters, will repay large outlay and care, as the greenbacks pass anywhere in the nation, and a counterfeit may be carried to other states or sections as it becomes known in any particular locality. National bank currency may be counterfeited by preparing a plate, and then with simple change in the name of the bank the counterfeit can be adapted to the various towns where banks are located. This much is written, not to lessen the value of or confidence in the issues of the government, but to admonish the public against the dangers of a false security.

Volumes might be written on the necessity of, and the various methods employed for, advertising. Many prosperous men owe their success in life to judicious and liberal advertising. In this age of strong competition in the various avenues of trade, he who does not advertise his wares will probably be outdone by a more ambitious dealer, with perhaps a poorer article, who advertises liberally. People go where they are invited, and the merchant who advertises freely, places his store and windows in attractive order, and leaves the door open, will do far more business than he who does not cater to the public, is indifferent about appearances, gruff, and complaining of hard times.

Horace Greeley laid it down as a rule that a merchant should advertise equal to his rent. This, like all good rules, ought to have exceptions. An old and well established business would not require so much, while a new enterprise would require more than this amount expended judiciously in advertising. The merchant should decide at the beginning of the year about, what amount he may expend in advertising during the year, and then endeavor to place that amount in the best possible manner before the public.

An advertiser should not be discouraged too soon. Returns are often slow and inadequate. Time is required to familiarize the public with a new article or new name. Some men have given up in despair, when just on the eve of reaping a harvest of success by this means. Many of the most prosperous and wealthy business men in this country have at times been driven hard to meet their advertising bills, but they knew that this was their most productive outlay, and by persistently continuing it they weathered the storm.

Select the newspaper which circulates among the class of persons desired to reach. Do not advertise a special article or business designed for a limited class of customers, in a general newspaper. Almost all trades and occupations in these latter days have their special journals, and these afford the best means of reaching that class of persons. The purpose of the advertiser then should be to discover, first, the character of a paper's circulation, and second, the extent of its circulation. On these two essentials may then be based an estimate of its value as an advertising medium. The character of a paper's circulation is easily determined by the quality of the reading matter which the paper contains, and the general tone imparted to it by its conductors. The extent of a paper's circulation bears chiefly on the rates of advertising, which, other things being equal, should have a direct ratio to it. The extent of circulation is a matter of almost constant misrepresentation on the part of publishers or their agents.

As a rule, the most prominent and costly part of the paper is the best. In country weeklies the "local items," or next to them, is preferable. In city journals containing a large amount of reading matter, a well displayed advertisement on the outside pages is perhaps the best for most classes of business.

Place the advertisement before the public at the proper time, just when people are beginning to feel the need of such as the article advertised, as furs, when winter sets in. An advertisement may, however, profitably be kept before the public constantly, and increased or diminished as occasion requires.

There are many well established firms who will not advertise in the newspapers at all. They believe that the same amount of money spent in circulars, catalogues, etc., sent direct to the persons whom they desire to reach, pays better than newspaper advertising. This is more direct, and affords the advertiser the opportunity of setting forth his claims more fully. Circulars, cards, catalogues, etc., also afford a means for the display of taste in their typographical arrangement and appearance, and often times this has as much to do in making an impression on the person who receives it, as the reading matter contained therein. The printed circular goes out to the public as the representative of the house; it should, therefore, in order to command attention and respect, have about it, an air of appropriateness and attraction. Such a circular will perhaps be carefully preserved for years, while another which was of not enough importance, apparently, to the proprietor or firm issuing it, to command their taste and skill, will soon be thrown aside as of no importance to the person receiving it.

Several circulars must often be sent in order to command the attention and secure the custom of a person. Where circulars referring to the same article are repeatedly sent out, the attention of the person who receives them is likely to be arrested at last, and his response may be made in the form of an order.

Perhaps thereafter he becomes a constant customer, buying himself, and recommending his friends to do likewise.

An important idea in advertising is to enlist the services of others, by making it to their interest to advertise your business. This is often done by sending out charts, calendars, etc., containing useful information, together with the advertisement. These, when properly arranged and prepared in an attractive manner, will be placed in a conspicuous place in the store, office, or home of the person receiving them. Railway, insurance, and other corporations have vied with each other in the elegance and attractiveness of their charts, etc., until they have gone into the fine arts, and spared no expense to captivate the public.

More effectual than circulars, and nearest a personal interview, is a personal letter. As an advertisement the letter impresses itself upon the mind of the person receiving it, in an unusual way. A prominent firm employed clerks, and had written several thousand letters, at many times the cost of printed circulars, which they mailed throughout the country, calling especial attention to their line of goods. Even the two cent postage stamp, and the envelope being sealed, impresses the person receiving it with the thought that it is of importance, and one of the largest dry goods houses in Chicago, when issuing any circular which they regard as special, seal the envelope and place a two cent stamp thereon. They consider that this gives their circulars a preference over ordinary printed matter. Certain it is, that the public accept advertisements largely at the value and importance attached to them by their owners.

Personal effort exceeds all other means of advertising, and competition in many branches of business has become so strong in these times, and the facilities for travel so excellent, that large numbers of solicitors and agents traverse the country. Good personal address, a thorough understanding of the business, a knowledge of human nature, together with social qualities, constitute a good drummer.

Before writing an advertisement, one should always place before his mind what is the most important thing to impress upon the public. If he is advertising an article of established trade, it is the name and location of the house selling it which must be the more prominent, or at least equally so with any other part; but if he be introducing some new article, or seeking to extend the sale of something little known or rare, these items are of far less importance, and the name of the article itself should be more prominent. The advertisement should be so constructed as to claim the attention of the reader, and retain that attention until he has read it through. "Excite but never satisfy," is the principle pursued by many successful advertisers.

The advertisement should never contain anything repugnant to refined taste, and nothing grotesque or ridiculous. The most meaning should be condensed into the fewest possible words. The wording should often be changed, and an attractive typography should be used. It is well to choose an attractive heading, followed by fairly spaced paragraphs, with appropriate sub-heads.

Where is the woman who would not be beautiful? If such there be—but no, she does not exist. From that memorable day when the Queen of Sheba made a formal call on the late lamented King Solomon until the recent advent of the Jersey Lily, the power of beauty has controlled the fate of dynasties and the lives of men. How to be beautiful, and consequently powerful, is a question of far greater importance to the feminine mind than predestination or any other abstract subject. If women are to govern, control, manage, influence and retain the adoration of husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers or even cousins, they must look their prettiest at all times.

All women cannot have good features, but they can look well, and it is possible to a great extent to correct deformity and develop much of the figure. The first step to good looks is good health, and the first element of health is cleanliness. Keep clean—wash freely, bathe regularly. All the skin wants is leave to act, and it takes care of itself. In the matter of baths we do not strongly advocate a plunge in ice-cold water; it takes a woman with clear grit and a strong constitution to endure it. If a hot bath be used, let it come before retiring, as there is less danger of taking cold afterwards; and, besides, the body is weakened by the ablution and needs immediate rest. It is well to use a flesh-brush, and afterwards rinse off the soap-suds by briskly rubbing the body with a pair of coarse toilet gloves. The most important part of a bath is the drying. Every part of the body should be rubbed to a glowing redness, using a coarse crash towel at the finish. If sufficient friction can not be given, a small amount of bay rum applied with the palm of the hand will be found efficacious. Ladies who have ample leisure and who lead methodical lives, take a plunge or sponge bath three times a week, and a vapor or sun bath every day. To facilitate this very beneficial practice, a south or east apartment is desirable. The lady denudes herself, takes a seat near the window, and takes in the warm rays of the sun. The effect is both beneficial and delightful. If, however, she be of a restless disposition, she may dance, instead of basking, in the sunlight. Or, if she be not fond of dancing, she may improve the shining hours by taking down her hair and brushing it, using sulphur water, pulverized borax dissolved in alcohol, or some similar dressing. It would be surprising to many ladies to see her carefully wiping the separate locks on a clean, white towel until the dust of the previous day is entirely removed. With such care it is not necessary to wash the head, and the hair under this treatment is invariably good.

One of the most useful articles of the toilet is a bottle of ammonia, and any lady who has once learned its value will never be without it. A few drops in the water takes the place of the usual amount of soap, and cleans out the pores of the skin as well as a bleach will do. Wash the face with a flesh-brush, and rub the lips well to tone their color. It is well to bathe the eyes before putting in the spirits, and if it is desirable to increase their brightness, this may be done by dashing soapsuds into them. Always rub the eyes, in washing, toward the nose. If the eyebrows are inclined to spread irregularly, pinch the hairs together where thickest. If they show a tendency to meet, this contact may be avoided by pulling out the hairs every morning before the toilet.

The dash of Orientalism in costume and lace now turns a lady's attention to her eyelashes, which are worthless if not long and drooping. Indeed, so prevalent is the desire for this beautiful feature that hair-dressers and ladies' artists have scores of customers under treatment for invigorating their stunted eyelashes and eyebrows. To obtain these fringed curtains, anoint the roots with a balsam made of two drachms of nitric oxid of mercury mixed with one of leaf lard. After an application wash the roots with a camel's hair brush dipped in warm milk. Tiny scissors are used, with which the lashes are carefully but slightly trimmed every other day. When obtained, refrain from rubbing or even touching the lids with the finger-nails. There is more beauty in a pair of well-kept eyebrows and full, sweeping eyelashes than people are aware of, and a very inattractive and lusterless eye assumes new beauty when it looks out from beneath elongated fringes. Many ladies have a habit of rubbing the corners of their eyes to remove the dust that will frequently accumulate there. Unless this operation is done with little friction it will be found that the growth of hair is very spare, and in that case it will become necessary to pencil the barren corners. Instead of putting cologne water on the handkerchief, which has come to be considered a vulgarism among ladies of correct tastes, the perfume is spent on the eyebrows and lobes of the ears.

If commenced in youth, thick lips may be reduced by compression, and thin linear ones are easily modified by suction. This draws the blood to the surfaces, and produces at first a temporary and, later, a permanent inflation. It is a mistaken belief that biting the lips reddens them. The skin of the lips is very thin, rendering them extremely susceptible to organic derangement, and if the atmosphere does not cause chaps or parchment, the result of such harsh treatment will develop into swelling or the formation of scars. Above all things, keep a sweet breath.

Everybody can not have beautiful hands, but there is no plausible reason for their being ill kept. Red hands may be overcome by soaking the feet in hot water as often as possible. If the skin is hard and dry, use tar or oat-meal soap, saturate them with glycerine, and wear gloves in bed. Never bathe them in hot water, and wash no oftener than is necessary. There are dozens of women with soft, white hands who do not put them in water once a month. Rubber gloves are worn in making the toilet, and they are cared for by an ointment of glycerine and rubbed dry with chamois-skin or cotton flannel. The same treatment is not unfrequently applied to the face with the most successful results. If such methods are used, it would be just as well to keep the knowledge of it from the gentlemen. We know of one beautiful lady who has not washed her face for three years, yet it is always clean, rosy, sweet and kissable. With some of her other secrets she gave it to her lover for safe keeping. Unfortunately, it proved to be her last gift to that gentleman, who declared in a subsequent note that "I can not reconcile my heart and my manhood to a woman who can get along without washing her face."

There is as much a "fashion" in complexion as there is in bonnets or boots. Sometimes nature is the mode, sometimes art. Just now the latter is in the ascendant, though, as a rule, only in that inferior phase which has not reached the "concealment of art"—the point where extremes meet and the perfection of artifice presents all the appearance of artlessness. No one of an observant turn of mind, who is accustomed to the sight of English maids and matrons, can deny that making-up, as at present practiced, partakes of the amateurish element. Impossible reds and whites grow still more impossibly red and white from week to week under the unskilled hands of the wearer of "false colors," who does not like to ask for advice on so delicate a subject, for, even were she willing to confess to the practice, the imputation of experience conveyed in the asking for counsel might be badly received, and would scarcely be in good taste.

The prevalent and increasing short-sightedness of our times is, perhaps, partly the cause of the excessive use of rouge and powder. The wielder of the powder puff sees herself afar off, as it were. She knows that she cannot judge of the effect of her complexion with her face almost touching its reflection in the glass, and, standing about a yard off, she naturally accentuates her roses and lilies in a way that looks very pleasing to her, but is rather startling to any one with longer sight. Nor can she tone down her rouge with the powdered hair that softened the artificial coloring of her grandmother when she had her day. Powder is only occasionally worn with evening dress, and it is by daylight that those dreadful bluish reds and whites look their worst.

On the other hand, there are some women so clever at making up their faces that one feels almost inclined to condone the practice in admiration of the result. These are the small minority, and are likely to remain so, for their secret is of a kind unlikely to be shared. The closest inspection of these cleverly managed complexions reveals no trace of art.

Notwithstanding the reticence of these skilled artists, an occasional burst of confidence has revealed a few of their means of accomplishing the great end of looking pretty. "Do you often do that?" said one of those clever ones, a matron of 37, who looked like a girl of 19, to a friend who was vigorously rubbing her cheeks with a course towel after a plentiful application of cold water.

"Yes, every time I come in from a walk, ride or drive. Why?"

"Well, no wonder you look older than you are. You are simply wearing your face out!"

"But I must wash?"

"Certainly, but not like that. Take a leaf out of my book; never wash you face just before going out into the fresh air, or just after coming in. Nothing is more injurious to the skin. Come to the glass. Do you notice a drawn look about your eyes and a general streakiness in the cheeks? That is the result of your violent assault upon your complexion just now. You look at this moment ten years older than you did twenty minutes ago in the park."

"Well, I really do. I look old enough to be your mother; but then, you are wonderful. You always look so young and fresh!"

"Because I never treat my poor face so badly as you do yours. I use rain-water, and if I cannot get that, I have the water filtered. When I dress for dinner I always wash my face with milk, adding just enough hot water to make it pleasant to use. A very soft sponge and very fine towel take the place of your terrible huckaback arrangement."

Two or three years ago a lady of Oriental parentage on her father's side spent a season in London society. Her complexion was brown, relieved by yellow, her features large and irregular, but redeemed by a pair of lovely and expressive eyes. So perfect was her taste in dress that she always attracted admiration wherever she went. Dressed in rich dark brown or dullest crimsons or russets, so that no one ever noticed much what she wore, she so managed that suggestions and hints—no more—of brilliant amber or pomegranate scarlet should appear just where they imparted brilliancy to her deep coloring, and abstract the yellow from her skin. A knot of old gold satin under the rim of her bonnet, another at her throat, and others in among the lace at her wrists, brightened up the otherwise subdued tinting of her costume, so that it always looked as though it had been designed expressly for her by some great colorist. Here rouge was unnecessary. The surroundings were arranged to suit the complexion, instead of the complexion to suit the surroundings. There can be no doubt as to which is the method which best becomes the gentlewoman.

In addition to the disagreeable sensation of making-up, it must be remembered that the use of some of the white powders eventually destroys the texture of the skin, rendering it rough and coarse. Rimmel, the celebrated perfumer, in his "Book of Perfumes," says that rouge, being composed of cochineal and saffron, is harmless, but that white cosmetics consist occasionally of deleterious substances which may injure the health. He advises actors and actresses to choose cosmetics, especially the white, with the greatest care, and women of the world, who wish to preserve the freshness of their complexion, to observe the following recipe: Open air, rest, exercise and cold water.

In another part of this pleasant book the author says that schonada, a cosmetic used among the Arabs, is quite innocuous and at the same time effectual. "This cream, which consists of sublimated benzoin, acts upon the skin as a slight stimulant, and imparts perfectly natural colors during some hours without occasioning the inconveniences with which European cosmetics may justly be reproached." It is a well-known fact that bismuth, a white powder containing sugar of lead, injures the nerve-centers when constantly employed, and occasionally causes paralysis itself.

In getting up the eyes, nothing is injurious that is not dropped into them. The use of kohl or kohol is quite harmless, and, it must be confessed, very effective when applied—as the famous recipe for salad dressing enjoins with regard to the vinegar—by the hand of a miser. Modern Egyptian ladies make their kohol of the smoke produced by burning almonds. A small bag holding the bottle of kuhol, and a pin, with a rounded point with which to apply it, form part of the toilet paraphernalia of all the beauties of Cairo, who make the immense mistake of getting up their eyes in an exactly similar manner, thus trying to reduce the endless variety of nature to one common pattern, a mistake that may be accounted for by the fact that the Arabs believe kohol to be a sovereign specific against ophthalmia. Their English sisters often make the same mistake without the same excuse. A hairpin steeped in lampblack is the usual method of darkening the eyes in England, retribution following sooner or later in the shape of a total loss of the eyelashes. Eau de Cologne is occasionally dropped into the eyes, with the effect of making them brighter. The operation is painful, and it is said that half a dozen drops of whisky and the same quantity of Eau de Cologne, eaten on a lump of sugar, is quite as effective.

A lady looks infinitely taller and slimmer in a long dress than she does in a short costume, and there is always a way of showing the feet, if desired, by making the front quite short, which gives, indeed, a more youthful appearance to a train dress. The greatest attention must, of course, be paid to the feet with these short dresses, and I may here at once state that high heels are absolutely forbidden by fashion. Doctors, are you content? Only on cheap shoes and boots are they now made, and are only worn by common people. A good bootmaker will not make high heels now, even if paid double price to do so. Ladies—that is, real ladies—now wear flat-soled shoes and boots, a la Cinderella. For morning walking, boots or high Moliere shoes are worn.

If you wear boots you may wear any stockings you like, for no one sees them. But if you wear shoes you must adapt your stockings to your dress. Floss silk, Scotch thread, and even cotton stockings are worn for walking, silk stockings have returned into exclusively evening wear. Day stockings should be of the same color as the dress, but they may be shaded, or stripped, or dotted, just as you please. White stockings are absolutely forbidden for day wear—no one wears them—no one dares wear them under fashion's interdiction.

The whole secret of standing and walking erect consists in keeping the chin well away from the breast. This throws the head upward and backward, and the shoulders will naturally settle backward and in their true position. Those who stoop in walking generally look downward. The proper way is to look straight ahead, upon the same level with your eyes, or if you are inclined to stoop, until that tendency is overcome, look rather above than below the level. Mountaineers are said to be as "straight as an arrow," and the reason is because they are obliged to look upward so much. It is simply impossible to stoop in walking if you will heed and practice this rule. You will notice that all round-shouldered persons carry the chin near the breast and pointed downward. Take warning in time, and heed grandmother's advice, for a bad habit is more easily prevented than cured. The habit of stooping when one walks or stands is a bad habit and especially hard to cure.

The Bibles of the world are the koran of the Mohammedans, the tripitaka of the Buddhists, the five kings of the Chinese, the three vedas of the Hindoos, the zendavesta of the Parsees and the scriptures of the Christians. The koran, says the Chicago Times, is the most recent, dating from the seventh century after Christ. It is a compound of quotations from both the Old and the New Testaments and from the talmud. The tripitaka contain sublime morals and pure aspirations. Their author lived and died in the sixth century before Christ.

The sacred writings of the Chinese are called the five kings, the word "king" meaning web of cloth. From this it is presumed that they were originally written on five rolls of cloth. They contain wise sayings from the sages on the duties of life, but they can not be traced further back than the eleventh century before our era. The vedas are the most ancient books in the language of the Hindoos, but they do not, according to late commentators, antedate the twelfth before the Christian era. The zendaveata of the Parsees, next to our Bible, is reckoned among scholars as being the greatest and most learned of the sacred writings. Zoroaster, whose sayings it contains, lived and worked in the twelfth century before Christ. Moses lived and wrote the pentateuch 1,500 years before the birth of Jesus, therefore that portion of our Bible is at least 300 years older than the most ancient of other sacred writings. The eddas, a semi-sacred work of the Scandinavians, was first given to the world in the fourteen century A.D.

Limpid.—Diamond, Sapphire, Topaz, Rock-Crystal.

Blue.—Sapphire, Topaz, Indicolite, Turquoise, Spinel, Aquamarine, Kaynite.

Green.—Oriental Emerald, Chrysoberyl, Amazon Stone, Malachite, Emerald, Chrysoprase, Chrysolite.

Yellow.—Diamond, Topaz, Fire-Opal.

Red.—Sapphire-Ruby, Spinel-Ruby, Rubellite, Garnet, Brazilian-Topaz, Hyacinth, Carnelian.

Violet.—Oriental-Amethyst, Amethyst.

Black and Brown.—Diamond, Tourmaline, Hyacinth, Garnet.

Rule: 1st. Measure the length, breadth and height of the crib inside the rail; multiply them together and divide by two, the result is the number of bushels of shelled corn.

2d. Level the corn so that it is of equal depth throughout, multiply the length, breath and depth together, and this product by four, and cut off one figure to the right of the product; the other will represent the number of bushels of shelled corn.

3d. Multiply length by height, and then by width, add two ciphers to the result and divide by 124; this gives the number of bushels of ear corn.

The art of dressmaking in America has been of late years so simplified that almost anyone with a reasonable degree of executive ability can manufacture a fashionable costume by using an approved pattern and following the directions printed upon it, selecting a new pattern for each distinct style; while in Europe many ladies adhere to the old plan of cutting one model and using it for everything, trusting to personal skill or luck to gain the desired formation. However, some useful hints are given which are well worth offering after the paper pattern has been chosen.

The best dressmakers here and abroad use silk for lining, but nothing is so durable or preserves the material as well as a firm slate twill. This is sold double width and should be laid out thus folded: place the pattern upon it with the upper part towards the cut end, the selvedge for the fronts. The side pieces for the back will most probably be got out of the width, while the top of the back will fit in the intersect of the front. A yard of good stuff may be often saved by laying the pattern out and well considering how one part cuts into another. Prick the outline on to the lining; these marks serve as a guide for the tacking.

In forming the front side plaits be careful and do not allow a fold or crease to be apparent on the bodice beyond where the stitching commences. To avoid this, before beginning stick a pin through what is to be the top of the plait. The head will be on the right side, and holding the point, one can begin pinning the seam without touching the upper part of the bodice. To ascertain the size of the buttonholes put a piece of card beneath the button to be used and cut it an eighth of an inch on either side beyond. Having turned down the piece in front on the buttonhole side run a thread a sixteenth of an inch from the extreme edge, and again another the width of the card. Begin to cut the first buttonhole at the bottom of the bodice; and continue at equal distances. The other side of the bodice is left wide enough to come well under the buttonholes. The buttonholes must be laid upon it and a pin put through the center of each to mark where the button is to be placed. In sewing on the buttons put the stiches in horizontally; if perpendicularly they are likely to pucker that side of the bodice so much that it will be quite drawn up, and the buttons will not match the buttonholes.

Observe the extra fatigue which is insured to every woman in merely carrying a tray upstairs, from the skirts of the dress. Ask any young women who are studying to pass examinations whether they do not find loose clothes a sine qua non while poring over their books, and then realize the harm we are doing ourselves and the race by habitually lowering our powers of life and energy in such a manner. As a matter of fact it is doubtful whether any persons have ever been found who would say that their stays were at all tight; and, indeed, by a muscular contraction they can apparently prove that they are not so by moving them about on themselves, and thus probably believe what they say. That they are in error all the same they can easily assure themselves by first measuring round the waist outside the stays; then take them off, let them measure while they take a deep breath, with the tape merely laid on the body as if measuring for the quantity of braid to go round a dress, and mark the result. The injury done by stays is so entirely internal that it is not strange that the maladies caused by wearing them should be attributed to every reason under the sun except the true one, which is, briefly, that all the internal organs, being by them displaced, are doing their work imperfectly and under the least advantageous conditions: and are, therefore, exactly in the state most favorable to the development of disease, whether hereditary or otherwise.—Macmillan's Magazine.

As to sleeves. Measure from the shoulder to the elbow and again from elbow to the wrist. Lay these measurements on any sleeve patterns you may have, and lengthen and shorten accordingly. The sleeve is cut in two pieces, the top of the arm and the under part, which is about an inch narrower than the outside. In joining the two together, if the sleeve is at all tight, the upper part is slightly fulled to the lower at the elbow. The sleeve is sewn to the armhole with no cordings now, and the front seam should be about two inches in front of the bodice.

Bodices are now worn very tight-fitting, and the French stretch the material well on the cross before beginning to cut out, and in cutting allow the lining to be slightly pulled, so that when on, the outside stretches to it and insures a better fit. An experienced eye can tell a French-cut bodice at once, the front side pieces being always on the cross. In dress cutting and fitting, as in everything else, there are failures and discouragements, but practice overrules these little matters, and "trying again" brings a sure reward in success.

A sensible suggestion is made in regard to the finish in necks of dresses for morning wear. Plain colors have rather a stiff appearance, tulle or crepe lisse frilling are expensive and frail, so it is a good idea to purchase a few yards of really good washing lace, about an inch and a half in depth; quill or plait and cut into suitable lengths to tack around the necks of dresses. This can be easily removed and cleaned when soiled. A piece of soft black Spanish lace, folded loosely around the throat close to the frillings, but below it, looks very pretty; or you may get three yards of scarf lace, trim the ends with frillings, place it around the neck, leaving nearly all the length in the right hand, the end lying upon the left shoulder being about half a yard long. Wind the larger piece twice around the throat, in loose, soft folds, and festoon the other yard and a half, and fasten with brooch or flower at the side.—Philadelphia Times.

It was on the 19th day of January, 1848, that James W. Marshall, while engaged in digging a race for a saw-mill at Coloma, about thirty-five miles eastward from Sutter's Fort, found some pieces of yellow metal, which he and the half-dozen men working with him at the mill supposed to be gold. He felt confident that he had made a discovery of great importance, but he knew nothing of either chemistry or gold-mining, so he could not prove the nature of the metal nor tell how to obtain it in paying quantities. Every morning he went down to the race to look for the bits of metal; but the other men at the mill thought Marshall was very wild in his ideas, and they continued their labors in building the mill, and in sowing wheat and planting vegetables. The swift current of the mill-race washed away a considerable body of earthy matter, leaving the coarse particles of gold behind; so Marshall's collection of specimens continued to accumulate, and his associates began to think there might be something in his gold mines after all. About the middle of February, a Mr. Bennett, one of the party employed at the mill, went to San Francisco for the purpose of learning whether this metal was precious, and there he was introduced to Isaac Humphrey, who had washed for gold in Georgia. The experienced miner saw at a glance that [pg 43] he had the true stuff before him, and, after a few inquiries, he was satisfied that the diggings must be rich. He made immediate preparation to visit the mill, and tried to persuade some of his friends to go with him; but they thought it would be only a waste of time and money, so he went with Bennett for his sole companion.

He arrived at Coloma on the 7th of March, and found the work at the mill going on as if no gold existed in the neighborhood. The next day he took a pan and spade, and washed some of the dirt in the bottom of the mill-race in places where Marshall had found his specimens, and, in a few hours, Humphrey declared that these mines were far richer than any in Georgia. He now made a rocker and went to work washing gold industriously, and every day yielded to him an ounce or two of metal. The men at the mill made rockers for themselves, and all were soon busy in search of the yellow metal. Everything else was abandoned; the rumor of the discovery spread slowly. In the middle of March Pearson B. Reading, the owner of a large ranch at the head of the Sacramento valley, happened to visit Sutter's Fort, and hearing of the mining at Coloma, he went thither to see it. He said that if similarity of formation could be taken as a proof, there must be gold mines near his ranch; so, after observing the method of washing, he posted off, and in a few weeks he was at work on the bars of Clear Creek, nearly two hundred miles northwestward from Coloma. A few days after Reading had left, John Bidwell, now representative of the northern district of the State in the lower House of Congress, came to Coloma, and the result of his visit was that, in less than a month, he had a party of Indians from his ranch washing gold on the bars of Feather River, twenty-five miles northwestward from Coloma. Thus the mines were opened at far distant points.

The first printed notice of the discovery of gold was given in the California newspaper published in San Francisco on the 10th of March. On the 29th of May the same paper, announcing that its publication would be suspended, says: "The whole country, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resound the sordid cry of gold! gold! gold! while the field is left half planted, the house half built and everything neglected but the manufacture of pick and shovels, and the means of transportation to the spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-eight dollars' worth of the real stuff in one day's washing; and the average for all concerned, is twenty dollars per diem. The first to commence quartz mining in California were Capt. Win. Jackson and Mr. Eliason, both Virginians, and the first machine used was a Chilian mill.

The Reid Mine, in North Carolina, was the first gold mine discovered and worked in the United States, and the only one in North America from which, up to 1825, gold was sent to the Mint.

The following oroid or imitation gold is sometimes sold for the genuine article which it closely resembles. Pure copper, 100 parts by weight, is melted in a crucible, and then 6 parts of magnesia, 3.6 of sal-ammoniac, 1.8 of quicklime and 9. of tartar are added separately and gradually in the form of powder. The whole is then stirred for about half an hour, and 17 parts of zinc or tin in small grains are thrown in and thoroughly mixed. The crucible is now covered and the mixture kept melted for half an hour longer, when it is skimmed and poured out.

Any imitation of gold may be detected by its weight, which is not one-half of what it should be, and by its dissolving in nitric acid while pure gold is untouched.

There is a good deal of amusement in the following magical table of figures. It will enable you to tell how old the young ladies are. Just hand this table to a young lady, and request her to tell you in which column or columns her age is contained, and add together the figures at the top of the columns in which her age is found, and you have the great secret. Thus, suppose her age to be 17, you will find that number in the first and fifth columns; add the first figures of these two columns.

Here is the magic table:

 1   2   4   8 16 32
 3   3   5   9 17 33
 5   6   6 10 18 34
 7   7   7 11 19 35
 9 10  12 12 20 36
11 11 13 13 21 37
13 14 14 14 22 38
15 15 15 15 23 39
17 18 20 24 24 40
19 19 21 25 25 41
21 22 22 26 26 42
23 23 23 27 27 43
25 26 28 28 28 44
27 27 29 29 29 45
29 30 30 30 30 46
31 31 31 31 31 47
33 34 36 40 48 48
35 35 37 41 49 49
37 38 38 42 50 50
39 39 39 43 51 51
41 42 44 44 52 52
43 43 45 45 53 53
45 46 46 46 54 54
47 47 47 47 55 55
49 50 52 56 56 56
51 51 53 57 57 57
53 54 54 58 58 58
55 55 55 59 59 59
57 58 60 60 60 60
59 59 61 61 61 61
61 62 62 62 62 62
63 63 63 63 63 63

Salary of President, $50,000; additional appropriations are about $75,000. A total of $125,000. The President has the following corps of assistants: Private Secretary, $3,250; Assistant Private Secretary, $2,250; Stenographer, $1,800; five Messengers, $1,200 each, $6,000; Steward—; two Doorkeepers, $1,200 each, $2,400; two Ushers, $1,200, $1,400, $2,600; Night Usher, $1,200; Watchman, $900, and a few other minor clerks and telegraph operators.

SUNDRIES.—Incidental expenses, $8,000; White House repairs—carpets and refurnishing, $12,500; fuel, $2,500; green-house, $4,000; gas, matches and stable, $15,000.

These amounts, with others of minor importance, consume the entire appropriations.

Ignorance of the law excuses no one. It is a fraud to conceal a fraud. The law compels no one to do impossibilities. An agreement without consideration is void. Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. A receipt for money paid is not legally conclusive. The acts of one partner bind all the others. Contracts made on Sunday cannot be enforced. A contract made with a minor is void. A contract made with a lunatic is void. Principals are responsible for the acts of their agents.

Agents are responsible to their principals for errors. Each individual in a partnership is responsible for the whole amount of the debts of the firm. A note given by a minor is void. Notes bear interest only when so stated. It is legally necessary to say on a note "for value received." A note drawn on Sunday is void. A note obtained by fraud, or from a person in a state of intoxication, cannot be collected. If a note be lost or stolen, it does not release the maker; he must pay it. An endorser of a note is exempt from liability if not served with notice of its dishonor within twenty-four hours of its non-payment.

A sun bath is of more worth than much warming by the fire.

Books exposed to the atmosphere keep in better condition than if confined in a book-case. Pictures are both for use and ornament. They serve to recall pleasant memories and scenes; they harmonize with the furnishing of the rooms. If they serve neither of these purposes they are worse than useless; they only help fill space which would look better empty, or gather dust and make work to keep them clean.

A room filled with quantities of trifling ornaments has the look of a bazaar and displays neither good taste nor good sense. Artistic excellence aims to have all the furnishings of a high order of workmanship combined with simplicity, while good sense understands the folly of dusting a lot of rubbish.

A poor book had best be burned to give place to a better, or even to an empty shelf, for the fire destroys its poison, and puts it out of the way of doing harm.

Better economize in the purchasing of furniture or carpets than scrimp in buying good books or papers.

Our sitting-rooms need never be empty of guests or our libraries of society if the company of good books is admitted to them.

The sun's average distance from the earth is about 91,500,000 miles. Since the orbit of the earth is elliptical, and the sun is situated at one of its foci, the earth is nearly 3,000,000 miles further from the sun in aphelion than in perihelion. As we attempt to locate the heavenly bodies in space, we are immediately startled by the enormous figures employed. The first number, 91,500,000 miles, is far beyond our grasp. Let us try to comprehend it. If there were air to convey a sound from the sun to the earth, and a noise could be made loud enough to pass that distance it would require over fourteen years for it to come to us. Suppose a railroad could be built to the sun. An express train traveling day and night at the rate of thirty miles an hour, would require 341 years to reach its destination. Ten generations would be born and would die; the young men would become gray haired, and their great-grandchildren would forget the story of the beginning of that wonderful journey, and could find it only in history, as we now read of Queen Elizabeth or of Shakespeare; the eleventh generation would see the solar depot at the end of the route. Yet this enormous distance of 91,500,000 miles is used as the unit for expressing celestial distances—as the foot-rule for measuring space; and astronomers speak of so many times the sun's distance as we speak of so many feet or inches.

SIGNS OF STORMS APPROACHING.—A ring around the sun or moon stands for an approaching storm, its near or distant approach being indicated by its larger or smaller circumference. When the sun rises brightly and immediately afterward becomes veiled with clouds, the farmer distrusts the day. Rains which begin early in the morning often stop by nine in place of "eleven," the hour specified in the old saw, "If it rains before seven."

On a still, quiet day, with scarcely the least wind afloat, the ranchman or farmer can tell the direction of impending storm by cattle sniffing the air in the direction whence it is coming. Lack of dew in summer is a rain sign. Sharp white frosts in autumn and winter precede damp weather, and we will stake our reputation as a prophet that three successive white frosts are an infallible sign of rain. Spiders do not spin their webs out of doors before rain. Previous to rain flies sting sharper, bees remain in their hives or fly but short distances, and almost all animals appear uneasy.

1st. It is neither of a pale pink color nor of a deep purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease, and the latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute fever.

2d. It has a marked appearance from the ramifications of little veins of fat among the muscles.

3d. It should be firm and elastic to the touch and should scarcely moisten the fingers—bad meat being wet and sodden and flabby with the fat looking like jelly or wet parchment.

4th. It should have little or no odor, and the odor should not be disagreeable, for diseased meat has a sickly cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. This is very discoverable when the meat is chopped up and drenched with warm water.

5th. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking.

6th. It should not run to water or become very wet on standing for a day or two, but should, on the contrary, dry upon the surface.

7th. When dried at a temperature of 212 deg., or thereabouts, it should not lose more than from 70 to 74 per cent. of its weight, whereas bad meat will often lose as much as 80 per cent. The juice of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test paper.

People who think of Finland as a sub-arctic country of bleak and forbidding aspect maybe surprised to hear that several railroads have already made a large part of the region accessible. A new line, 160 miles long, has just been opened to the heart of the country in the midst of great forests and perhaps the most wonderful lake region in the world. Sportsmen are now within less than a day's journey from St. Petersburg of central Finland, where there is the best of hunting and fishing and twenty hours of sunlight every summer day. The most unique of railroads, however, is still the little line in Norway, north of the arctic circle, carrying the product of far northern mines to the sea, and famous as the only railroad that has yet invaded the polar regions.

The following comparison between the size of Noah's ark and the Great Eastern, both being considered in point of tonnage, after the old law for calculating the tonnage of a vessel, exhibits a remarkable similarity. The cubit of the Bible, according to Sir Isaac Newton, is 20-1/2 inches, [pg 45] or, to be exact, 20.625 inches. Bishop Wilkins makes the cubit 20.88 inches. According to Newton the dimensions of the ark were: Length between perpendiculars, 515.62 feet; breadth, 84.94 feet; depth, 51.56 feet; keel, or length for tonnage, 464.08 feet. Tonnage, according to old law, 18,231 58-94. The measurements of the ark, according to Wilkins' calculations were: Length, 54700 feet; breadth, 91.16 feet; depth, 54.70 feet; keel, 492.31 feet. Tonnage, 21,761. Notice how surprisingly near the Great Eastern came to being constructed after the same plan: Length, 680 feet; breadth, 83 feet; depth, 60 feet; keel, 630 feet. Tonnage, 23,092.

A white mark on the nail bespeaks misfortune.

Pale or lead-colored nails indicate melancholy people.

Broad nails indicate a gentle, timid, and bashful nature.

Lovers of knowledge and liberal sentiments have round nails.

People with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome.

Small nails indicate littleness of mind, obstinacy and conceit.

Choleric, martial men, delighting in war, have red and spotted nails.

Nails growing into the flesh at the points or sides indicate luxurious tastes.

People with very pale nails are subject to much infirmity of the flesh and persecution by neighbors and friends.

A curious accident, which happened recently in Paris, points out a possible danger in the wearing of combs and bracelets of celluloid. A little girl sat down before the fire to prepare her lessons. Her hair was kept back by a semi-circle comb of celluloid. As her head was bent forward to the fire this became warm, and suddenly burst into flames. The child's hair was partly burned off, and the skin of the head was so injured that several months after, though the burn was healed, the cicatrix formed a white patch on which no hair would grow. The burning point of celluloid is about 180 degrees, and the comb worn by the girl had attained that heat as it was held before the fire.

Grecian shoes were peculiar in reaching to the middle of the legs.

The present fashion of shoes was introduced into England in 1633.

In the ninth and tenth centuries the greatest princes of Europe wore wooden shoes.

Slippers were in use before Shakespeare's time, and were originally made "rights" and "lefts."

Shoes among the Jews were made of leather, linen, rush or wood; soldiers' shoes were sometimes made of brass or iron.

In the reign of William Rufus of England, in the eleventh century, a great beau, "Robert, the Horned," used shoes with sharp points, stuffed with tow, and twisted like rams' horns.

The Romans made use of two kinds of shoes—the solea, or sandal, which covered the sole of the foot, and was worn at home and in company, and the calceus, which covered the whole foot and was always worn with the toga when a person went abroad.

In the reign of Richard II., shoes were of such absurd length as to require to be supported by being tied to the knees with chains, sometimes of gold and silver. In 1463 the English parliament took the matter in hand and passed an act forbidding shoes with spikes more than two inches in length being worn and manufactured.

A man walks 3 miles per hour or 4 feet per second.
A horse trots 7 miles per hour or 10 feet per second.
A horse runs 20 miles per hour or 29 feet per second.
Steamboat runs 20 miles per hour or 26 feet per second.
Sailing vessel runs 10 miles per hour or 14 feet per second.
Rapid rivers flow 3 miles per hour or 4 feet per second.
A moderate wind blows 7 miles per hour or 10 feet per second.
A storm moves 36 miles per hour or 52 feet per second.
A hurricane moves 80 miles per hour or 117 feet per second.
A rifle ball 1000 miles per hour or 1466 feet per second.
Sound 743 miles per hour or 1142 feet per second.
Light, 192,000 miles per second.
Electricity, 288,000 miles per second.

Heath & Miligan quote the following figures. They are color manufacturers:

100 parts (weight) White Lead require 12 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Zinc White require 14 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Green Chrome require 15 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Chrome Yellow require 19 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Vermilion require 25 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Light Red require 31 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Madder Lake require 62 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Yellow Ochre require 66 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Light Ochre require 72 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Camels Brown require 75 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Brown Manganese require 87 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Terre Verte require 100 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Parisian Blue require 106 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Burnt Terreverte require 112 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Berlin Blue require 112 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Ivory Black require 112 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Cobalt require 125 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Florentine Brown require 150 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Burnt Terra Sienna require 181 parts of oil.
100 parts (weight) Raw Terra Sienna require 140 parts of oil.

According to this table, a hundred parts of the quick drying white lead are ground with 12 parts of oil, and on the other hand slow drying ivory black requires 112 parts of oil.

1 gallon Priming Color will cover 50 superficial yards.
1 gallon White Zinc will cover 50 superficial yards.
1 gallon White Paint will cover 44 superficial yards.
1 gallon Lead Color will cover 50 superficial yards.
1 gallon Black Paint will cover 50 superficial yards.
1 gallon Stone Color will cover 44 superficial yards.
1 gallon Yellow Paint will cover 44 superficial yards.
1 gallon Blue Color will cover 45 superficial yards.
1 gallon Green Paint will cover 45 superficial yards.
1 gallon Bright Emerald Green will cover 25 superficial yards.
1 gallon Bronze Green will cover 45 superficial yards.

One pound of paint will cover about four superficial yards the first coat, and about six yards each additional coat.

Retail merchants, in buying goods by wholesale, buy a great many articles by the dozen, such as boots and shoes, hats and caps, and notions of various kinds; now the merchant, in buying, for instance, a dozen hats, knows exactly what one of these hats will retail for in the market where [pg 46] he deals; and unless he is a good accountant, it will often take him some time to determine whether he can afford to purchase the dozen hats and make a living profit by selling them by the single hat; and in buying his goods by auction, as the merchant often does, he has not time to make the calculation before the goods are bid off. He therefore loses the chance of making good bargains by being afraid to bid at random, or if he bids, and the goods are cried off, he may have made a poor bargain by bidding thus at a venture. It then becomes a useful and practical problem to determine instantly what per cent. he would gain if he retailed the hat at a certain price, to tell what an article should retail for to make a profit of 20 per cent.

Rule.—Divide what the articles cost per dozen by 10. which is done by removing the decimal point one place to the left.

For instance, if hats cost $17.50 per dozen, remove the decimal point one place to the left, making $1.75, what they should be sold for apiece to gain 20 per cent, on the cost. If they cost $31.00 per dozen, they should be sold at $3.10 apiece, etc.

Pyramids of Egypt.

Tower, Walls and Terrace Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Statue of Jupiter Olympus, on the Capitoline Hill, at Rome.

Temple of Diana, at Ephesus.

Pharos, or watch-tower, at Alexandria, Egypt.

Colossus of Rhodes, a statue 105 feet high; overthrown by an earthquake 224 B.C.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, a Grecian-Persian city in Asia Minor.

Degrees of heat above zero at which substances melt:—Wrought iron, 3,980 degrees; cast iron, 3,479; platinum, 3,080; gold, 2,590; copper, 2,548; steel, 2,500; glass, 2,377; brass, 1,900; silver, 1,250; antimony, 951; zinc, 740; lead, 594; tin, 421; arsenic, 365; sulphur, 226; beeswax, 151; gutta percha, 145; tallow, 97; lard, 95; pitch, 91; ice, 33. Degrees of heat above zero at which substances boil:—Ether, 98 degrees; alcohol, 173; water, 212; petroleum, 306; linseed oil, 640; blood heat, 98; eggs hatch, 104.

Wheat, 1-1/2 to 2 bu.; rye, 1-1/2 to 2 bu.; oats, 3 bu.; barley, 2 bu.; buckwheat, 1/2 bu.; corn, broadcast, 4 bu.; corn, in drills, 2 to 3 bu.; corn, in hills, 4 to 8 qts.; broom corn, 1/2 bu.; potatoes, 10 to 15 bu.; rutabagas, 3/4 lbs.; millet, 1/4 bu.; clover, white, 4 qts.; clover, red, 8 qts.; timothy, 6 qts.; orchard grass, 2 qts.; red top, 1 to 2 pks.: blue grass, 2 bu,; mixed lawn grass, 1/2 bu.; tobacco, 2 ozs.

Instead of the old-fashioned method of using wax for polishing floors, etc., soluble glass is now employed to great advantage. For this purpose the floor is first well cleaned, and then the cracks well filled up with a cement of water-glass and powdered chalk or gypsum. Afterward, a water-glass of 60° to 65°, of the thickness of syrup, is applied by means of a stiff brush. Any desired color may be imparted to the floor in a second coat of the water-glass, and additional coats are to be given until the requisite polish is obtained. A still higher finish may be given by pummicing off the last layer, and then putting on a coating of oil.

A horse will travel 400 yards in 4-1/2 minutes at a walk, 400 yards in 2 minutes at a trot, and 400 yards in minute at a gallop. The usual work of a horse is taken at 22,500 lbs. raised 1 foot per minute, for 8 hours per day. A horse will carry 250 lbs. 25 miles per day of 8 hours. An average draught-horse will draw 1600 lbs. 23 miles per day on a level road, weight of wagon included. The average weight of a horse is 1000 lbs.; his strength is equal to that of 5 men. In a horse mill moving at 3 feet per second, track 25 feet diameter, he exerts with the machine the power of 4-1/2 horses. The greatest amount a horse can pull in a horizontal line is 900 lbs.; but he can only do this momentarily, in continued exertion, probably half of this is the limit. He attains his growth in 5 years, will live 25, average 16 years. A horse will live 25 days on water, without solid food, 17 days without eating or drinking, but only 5 days on solid food, without drinking.

A cart drawn by horses over an ordinary road will travel 1.1 miles per hour of trip. A 4-horse team will haul from 25 to 30 cubic feet of lime stone at each load. The time expended in loading, unloading, etc., including delavs, averages 35 minutes per trip. The cost of loading and unloading a cart, using a horse cram at the quarry, and unloading by hand, when labor is $1.25 per day, and a horse 75 cents, is 25 cents per perch—24.75 cubic feet. The work done by an animal is greatest when the velocity with which he moves is 1/8 of the greatest with which he can move when not impeded, and the force then exerted .45 of the utmost force the animal can exert at a dead pull.

It has been proved by actual test that a single tow-boat can transport at one trip from the Ohio to New Orleans 29,000 tons of coal, loaded in barges. Estimating in this way the boat and its tow, worked by a few men, carries as much freight to its destination as 3,000 cars and 100 locomotives, manned by 600 men, could transport.

Glycerine does not agree with a dry skin.

If you use powder always wash it off before going to bed.

When you give your cellar its spring cleaning, add a little copperas water and salt to the whitewash.

A little ammonia and borax in the water when washing blankets keeps them soft and prevents shrinkage.

Sprinkling salt on the top and at the bottom of garden walls is said to keep snails from climbing up or down.

For relief from heartburn or dyspepsia, drink a little cold water in which has been dissolved a teaspoonful of salt.

For hoarseness, beat a fresh egg and thicken it with fine white sugar. Eat of it freely and the hoarseness will soon be relieved.

If quilts are folded or rolled tightly after washing, then beaten with a rolling pin or potato masher, it lightens up the cotton and makes them seem soft and new.

Chemists say that it takes more than twice as much sugar to sweeten preserves, sauce, etc., if put in when they begin to cook as it does to sweeten after the fruit is cooked.

Tar may be removed from the hands by rubbing with the outside of fresh, orange or lemon peel and drying immediately. The volatile oils dissolve the tar so that it can be rubbed off.

Moths or any summer flying insects may be enticed to destruction by a bright tin pan half filled with kerosene set in a dark corner of the room. Attracted by the bright pan, the moth will meet his death in the kerosene.

It may be worth knowing that water in which three or four onions have been boiled, applied with a gilding brush to the frames of pictures and chimney glasses, will prevent flies from lighting on them and will not injure the frames.

It is believed by many that if a child cries at its birth and lifts up only one hand, it is born to command. It is thought very unlucky not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. When first dressed the clothes should not be put on over the head, but drawn on over the feet, for luck. When first taken from the room in which it was born it must be carried up stairs before going down, so that it will rise in the world. In any case it must be carried up stairs or up the street, the first time it is taken out. It is also considered in England and Scotland unlucky to cut the baby's nails or hair before it is twelve months old. The saying:

Born on Monday, fair in the face;
Born on Tuesday, full of God's grace;
Born on Wednesday, the best to be had;
Born on Thursday, merry and glad;
Born on Friday, worthily given;
Born on Saturday, work hard for a living;
Born on Sunday, shall never know want,

is known with various changes all over the Christian world; one deviation from the original makes Friday's child "free in giving." Thursday has one very lucky hour just before sunrise.

The child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and good and gay,

While

He who is born on New Year's morn
Will have his own way as sure as you're born.

And

He who is born on Easter morn
Shall never know care, or want, or harm.

Put the oil of rhodium on the bait, when fishing with a hook, and you will always succeed.

Take the juice of smallage or lovage, and mix with any kind of bait. As long as there remain any kind of fish within yards of your hook, you will find yourself busy pulling them out.

Take of sulphate of iron 5 grains, magnesia 10 grains, peppermint water 11 drachms, spirits of nutmeg 1 drachm. Administer this twice a day. It acts as a tonic and stimulant and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and moral prostration that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks.

For use in stamping any desired pattern upon goods for needle work, embroidery, etc. Draw pattern upon heavy paper, and perforate with small holes all the lines with some sharp instrument, dust the powder through, remove the pattern and pass a warm iron over the fabric, when the pattern will become fixed. Any desired color can be used, such as Prussian blue, chrome green, yellow, vermilion, etc. Fine white rosin, 2 ounces; gum sandarach, 4 ounces; color, 2 ounces. Powder very fine, mix, and pass through a sieve.

President, Vice-President and Cabinet.—President, $50,000; Vice-President, $8,000; Cabinet Officers, $8,000 each.

United States Senators.—$5,000, with mileage.

Congress.—Members of Congress, $5,000, with mileage.

Supreme Court.—Chief Justice, $10,500; Associate Justices, $10,000.

Circuit Courts.—Justices of Circuit Courts, $6,000.

Heads of Departments.—Supt. of Bureau of Engraving and Printing, $4,500; Public Printer, $4,500; Supt. of Census, $5,000; Supt. of Naval Observatory, $5,000; Supt. of the Signal Service, $4,000; Director of Geological Surveys, $6,000; Director of the Mint, $4,500; Commissioner of General Land Office, $4,000; Commissioner of Pensions, $3,600; Commissioner of Agriculture, $3,000; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, $3,000; Commissioner of Education $3,000; Commander of Marine Corps, $3,500; Supt. of Coast and Geodetic Survey, $6,000.

United States Treasury.—Treasurer, $6,000; Register of Treasury, $4,000; Commissioner of Customs, $4,000.

Internal Revenue Agencies.—Supervising Agents, $12 per day; 34 other agents, per day, $6 to $8.

Postoffice Department, Washington.—Three Assistant Postmaster-Generals, $3,500; Chief Clerk, $2,200.

Postmasters.—Postmasters are divided into four classes. First class, $3,000 to $4,000 (excepting New York City, which is $8,000); second class, $2,000 to $3,000; third class, $1,000 to $2,000; fourth class, less than $1,000. The first three classes are appointed by the President, and confirmed by the Senate; those of fourth class are appointed by the Postmaster-General.

Diplomatic appointments.—Ministers to Germany, Great Britain, France and Russia, $17,500; Ministers to Brazil, China, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Japan and Spain, $12,000; Ministers to Chili, Peru and Central Amer., $10,000; Ministers to Argentine Confederation, Hawaiian Islands, Belgium, Hayti, Columbia, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and Venezuela, $7,500; Ministers to Switzerland, Denmark, Paraguay, Bolivia and Portugal, $5,000; Minister to Liberia, $4,000.

Army Officers.—General, $13,500; Lieut.-General, $11,000; Major-General, $7,500; Brigadier-General, $5,500; Colonel, $3,500; Lieutenant-Colonel, $3,000; Major, $2,500; Captain, mounted, $2,000; Captain, not mounted, $1,800; Regimental Adjutant, $1,800; Regimental Quartermaster, $1,800; 1st Lieutenant, mounted, $1,600; 1st Lieutenant, not mounted, $1,500; 2d Lieutenant, mounted, $1,500; 2d Lieutenant, not mounted, $1,400; Chaplain, $1,500.

Navy Officers.—Admiral, $13,000; Vice-Admiral, $9,000; Rear-Admirals, $6,000; Commodores, $5,000; Captains, $45,000; Commanders, $3,500; Lieut.-Commanders, $2,800; Lieutenants, $2,400; Masters, $1,800; Ensigns, $1,200; Midshipmen, $1,000; Cadet Midshipmen, $500; Mates, $900; Medical and Pay Directors and Medical and Pay Inspectors and Chief Engineers, $4,400; Fleet Surgeons, Fleet Paymasters and Fleet Engineers, $4,400; Surgeons and Paymasters, $2,800; Chaplains, $2,500.

The weight of the male infant at birth is 7 lbs. avoirdupois; that of the female is not quite 6-1/2 lbs. The maximum weight (140-1/2 lbs.) of the male is attained at the age of 40; that of the female (nearly 124 lbs.) is not attained until 50; from which ages they decline afterward, the male to 127-1/4 lbs., the female to 100 lbs., nearly a stone. The full-grown adult is 20 times as heavy as a new-born infant. In the first year he triples his weight, afterwards the growth proceeds in geometrical progression, so that if 50 infants in their first year weigh 1,000 lbs., they will in the second weigh 1,210 lbs.; in the third 1,331: in the fourth 1464 lbs.; the term remaining very constant up to the ages of 11-12 in females, and 12-13 in males, where it must be nearly doubled; afterwards it may be continued, and will be found very nearly correct up to the age of 18 or 19, when the growth proceeds very slowly. At an equality of age the male is generally heavier than the female. Towards the age of 12 years only an individual of each sex has the same weight. The male attains the maximum weight at about the age of 40, and he begins to lose it very sensibly toward 60. At 80 he loses about 13.2328 lbs., and the stature is diminished 2.756 inches. Females attain their maximum weight at about 50. The mean weight of a mature man is 104 lbs., and of an average woman 94 lbs. In old age they lose about 12 or 14 lbs. Men weigh most at 40, women at 50, and begin to lose weight at 60. The mean weight of both sexes in old age is that which they had at 19.

When the male and female have assumed their complete development they weigh almost exactly 20 times as much as at birth, while the stature is about 3-1/2 times greater. Children lose weight during the first three days after birth; at the age of a week they sensibly increase; after one year they triple their weight; then they require six years to double their weight, and 13 to quadruple it.

It has been computed that nearly two years' sickness is experienced by every person before he is 70 years old, and therefore that 10 days per annum is the average sickness of human life. Till 40 it is but half, and after 50 it rapidly increases. The mixed and fanciful diet of man is considered the cause of numerous diseases from which animals are exempt. Many diseases have abated with changes of diet, and others are virulent in particular countries, arising from peculiarities.

Human Longevity.—Of 100,000 male and female children, in the first month they are reduced to 90,396, or nearly a tenth. In the second, to 87,936. In the third, to 86,175. In the fourth, to 84,720. In the fifth, to 83,571. In the sixth, to 82,526, and at the end of the first year to 77,528, the deaths being 2 to 9. The next four years reduce the 77,528 to 62,448, indicating 37,552 deaths before the completion of the fifth year.

At 25 years the 100,000 are half, or 49,995; at 52, one-third. At 58-1/2, a fourth, or 25,000; at 67, a fifth; at 76, a tenth; at 81, a twentieth, or 5,000; and ten attain 100. Children die in large proportions because their diseases cannot be explained, and because the organs are not habituated to the functions of life. The mean of life varies in [pg 49] different countries from 40 to 45. A generation from father to son is about 30 years; of men in general five-sixths die before 70, and fifteen-sixteenths before 80. After 80 it is rather endurance than enjoyment. The nerves are blunted, the senses fail, the muscles are rigid, the softer tubes become hard, the memory fails, the brain ossifies, the affections are buried, and hope ceases. The remaining one-sixteenth die at 80; except a one-thirty-third, at 90. The remainder die from inability to live, at or before 100.

About the age of 36 the lean man usually becomes fatter and the fat man leaner. Again, between the years of 43 and 50 his appetite fails, his complexion fades, and his tongue is apt to be furred on the least exertion of body or mind. At this period his muscles become flabby, his joints weak; his spirits droop, and his sleep is imperfect and unrefreshing. After suffering under these complaints a year, or perhaps two, he starts afresh with renewed vigor, and goes on to 61 or 62, when a similar change takes place, but with aggravated symptoms. When these grand periods have been successively passed, the gravity of incumbent years is more strongly marked, and he begins to boast of his age.

In Russia, much more than in any other country, instances of longevity are numerous, if true. In the report of the Holy Synod, in 1827, during the year 1825, and only among the Greek religion, 848 men had reached upward of 100 years of age; 32 had passed their 120th year, 4 from 130 to 135. Out of 606,818 men who died in 1826, 2,765 were above 90; 1,432 above 95, and 848 above 100 years of age. Among this last number 88 were above 115; 24 more than 120; 7 above 125, and one 130. Riley asserts that Arabs in the Desert live 200 years.

On the average, men have their first-born at 30 and women at 28. The greatest number of deliveries take place between 25 and 35. The greatest number of deliveries take place in the winter months, and in February, and the smallest in July, i.e., to February, as 4 to 5 in towns and 3 to 4 in the country. The night births are to the day as 5 to 4.

Human Strength.—In Schulze's experiments on human strength, he found that men of five feet, weighing 126 lbs., could lift vertically 156 lbs. 8 inches; 217 lbs. 1.2 inches. Others, 6.1 feet, weighing 183 lbs., 156 lbs. 13 inches, and 217 lbs. 6 inches; others 6 feet 3 inches, weighing 158 lbs., 156 lbs. 16 inches, and 217 lbs. 9 inches. By a great variety of experiments he determined the mean human strength at 30 lbs., with a velocity of 2.5 feet per second; or it is equal to the raising half a hogshead 10 feet in a minute.

"Words ending in e drop that letter before the termination able, as in move, movable; unless ending in ce or ge, when it is retained, as in change, changeable, etc.

Words of one syllable, ending in a consonant, with a single vowel before it, double the consonants in derivatives; as, ship, shipping, etc. But if ending in a consonant with a double vowel before it, they do not double the consonant in derivatives; as, troop, trooper, etc.

Words of more than one syllable, ending in a consonant preceded by a single vowel, and accented on the last syllable, double that consonant in derivatives; as, commit, committed; but except chagrin, chagrined.

All words of one syllable ending in l, with a single vowel before it, have ll at the close; as mill, sell. All words of one syllable ending in l, with a double vowel before it, have only one l at the close; as mail, sail.

The words foretell, distill, instill and fulfill, retain the ll of their primitives. Derivatives of dull, skill, will and full also retain the ll when the accent falls on these words; as dullness, skillfull, willfull, fullness.

Words of more than one syllable ending in l have only one l at the close; as delightful, faithful; unless the accent falls on the last syllable; as befall, etc.

Words ending in l, double the letter in the termination ly.

Participles ending in ing, from verbs ending in e, lose the final e; as have, having; make, making, etc; but verbs ending in ee retain both; as see, seeing. The word dye, to color, however, must retain the e before ing. All verbs ending in ly, and nouns ending in ment, retain the e final of the primitives; as brave, bravely; refine, refinement; except words ending in dge; as, acknowledge, acknowledgment.

Nouns ending in y, preceded by a vowel, form their plural by adding s; as money, moneys; but if y is preceded by a consonant, it is changed to ies in the plural; as bounty, bounties.

Compound words whose primitives end in y, change the y into i; as beauty, beautiful.

Every entire sentence should begin with a capital.

Proper names, and adjectives derived from these, should begin with a capital.

All appellations of the Deity should begin with a capital. Official and honorary titles should begin with a capital.

Every line of poetry should begin with a capital.

Titles of books and the heads of their chapters and divisions are printed in capitals.

The pronoun I and the exclamation O are always capitals.

The days of the week and the months of the year begin with capitals.

Every quotation should begin with a capital letter.

Names of religious denominations begin with capitals.

In preparing accounts each item should begin with a capital.

Any word of very special importance may begin with a capital.

1. Rice Soup, Baked Pike, Mashed Potatoes, Roast of Beef, Stewed Corn, Chicken Fricassee, Celery Salad, Compote of Oranges, Plain Custard, Cheese, Wafers, Coffee.

2. Mutton Soup, Fried Oysters, Stewed Potatoes, Boiled Corn Beef, Cabbage, Turnips, Roast Pheasants, Onion Salad, Apple Pie, White Custard, Bent's Water Crackers, Cheese, Coffee.

3. Oyster Soup, Roast Mutton, Baked Potatoes, Breaded Veal Cutlets, Tomato Sauce, Baked Celery, Cabbage Salad, Apple Custard, Sponge Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

4. Macaroni Soup, Boiled Chicken, with Oysters, Mutton Chops, Creamed Potatoes, Stewed Tomatoes, Pickled Beets, Peaches and Rice, Plain Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

5. Tapioca Soup, Boiled Halibut, Duchesse Potatoes, Roast Beef Tongue, Canned Peas, Baked Macaroni, with Gravy, Fried Sweet Potatoes, Beet Salad, Cornstarch Pudding, Jelly Tarts, Cheese, Wafers, Coffee.

6. Vegetable Soup, Boiled Trout, Oyster Sauce, Roast Veal, with Dressing, Boiled Potatoes, Stewed Tomatoes, Corn, Egg Salad, Snow Cream, Peach Pie, Sultana Biscuit, Cheese, Coffee.

7. Potato Soup, Oyster Patties, Whipped Potatoes, Roast Mutton, with Spinach, Beets, Fried Parsnips, Egg [pg 50] Sauce, Celery Salad, Boiled Custard, Lemon Tarts, White Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

8. Veal Soup, Boiled Shad, Caper Sauce, Porterhouse Steak, with Mushrooms, Pigeon Pie, Mashed Potatoes, Pickles, Rice Sponge Cakes, Cheese, Canned Apricots with Cream, Coffee.

9. Giblet Soup, Scalloped Clams, Potato Cakes, Lamb Chops, Canned Beans, Tomatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Salmon Salad, Charlotte Rasse, Apricot Tarts, Cheese, Coffee.

10. Vermicelli Soup, Fried Small Fish, Mashed Potatoes, Roast Beef, Minced Cabbage, Chicken Croquettes, Beet Salad, Stewed Pears, Plain Sponge Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

11. Oxtail Soup, Fricasseed Chicken with Oysters, Breaded Mutton Chops, Turnips, Duchesse Potatoes, Chow-chow Salad, Chocolate Pudding, Nut Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

12. Barley Soup, Boiled Trout, Creamed Potatoes, Roast Loin of Veal, Stewed Mushrooms, Broiled Chicken, Lettuce Salad, Fig Pudding, Wafers, Cheese, Coffee.

13. Noodle Soup, Salmon, with Oyster Sauce, Fried Potatoes, Glazed Beef, Boiled Spinach, Parsnips, with Cream Sauce, Celery, Plain Rice Pudding, with Custard Sauce, Current Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

14. Lobster Soup, Baked Ribs of Beef, with Browned Potatoes, Boiled Duck, with Onion Sauce, Turnips, Stewed Tomatoes, Lettuce, Delmonico Pudding, Cheese, Sliced Oranges, Wafers, Coffee.

15. Chicken Broth, Baked Whitefish, Boiled Potatoes, Canned Peas, Mutton Chops, Tomatoes, Beets, Celery Salad, Apple Trifle, Lady Fingers, Cheese. Coffee.

10. Sago Soup, Boiled Leg of Mutton, Caper Sauce, Stewed Potatoes, Canned Corn, Scalloped Oysters, with Cream Sauce, Celery and Lettuce Salad, Marmalade Fritters, Apple Custard, Cheese Cakes, Coffee.

17. Vegetable Soup, Broiled Shad, Lyonnaise Potatoes, Pork Chops, with Sage Dressing, Parsnip Fritters, Macaroni and Gravy, Cauliflower Salad, Rhubarb Tarts, Silver Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

18. Chicken Soup, with Rice, Codfish, Boiled, with Cream Sauce, Roast Veal, Tomatoes, Oyster Salad, Boiled Potatoes, Asparagus, Orange Jelly, White Cake, Cheese, Coffee.

19. Macaroni Soup, Fried Shad, Tomato Sauce, Roast Mutton, Mashed Potatoes, Boiled Tongue, with Mayonnaise Dressing, Fried Parsnips, Canned Beans, Lemon Puffs, Cheese Cakes, Fruit, Coffee.

20. Scotch Broth, Baked Halibut, Boiled Potatoes, Breaded Mutton Chops, Tomato Sauce, Spinach, Bean Salad, Asparagus and Eggs, Peach Batter Pudding, with Sauce, Wafers, Cheese, Coffee.

Anthelmintics are medicines which have the power of destroying or expelling worms from the intestinal canal.

Antiscorbutics are medicines which prevent or cure the scurvy.

Antispasmodics are medicines given to relieve spasm, or irregular and painful action of the muscles or muscular fibers, as in Epilepsy, St. Vitus' Dance, etc.

Aromatics are medicines which have, a grateful smell and agreeable pungent taste.

Astringents are those remedies which, when applied to the body, render the solids dense and firmer.

Carminatives are those medicines which dispel flatulency of the stomach and bowels.

Cathartics are medicines which accelerate the action of the bowels, or increase the discharge by stool.

Demulcents are medicines suited to prevent the action of acrid and stimulating matters upon the mucous membranes of the throat, lungs, etc.

Diaphoretics are medicines that promote or cause perspirable discharge by the skin.

Diuretics are medicines which increase the flow of urine by their action upon the kidneys.

Emetics are those medicines which produce vomiting.

Emmenagogues are medicines which promote the menstrual discharge.

Emollients are those remedies which, when applied to the solids of the body, render them soft and flexible.

Errhines are substances which, when applied to the lining membrane of the nostrils, occasion a discharge of mucous fluid.

Epispastices are those which cause blisters when applied to the surface.

Escharotics are substances used to destroy a portion of the surface of the body, forming sloughs.

Expectorants are medicines capable of facilitating the excretion of mucous from the chest.

Narcotics are those substances having the property of diminishing the action of the nervous and vascular systems, and of inducing sleep.

Rubefacients are remedies which excite the vessels of the skin and increase its heat and redness.

Sedatives are medicines which have the power of allaying the actions of the systems generally, or of lessening the exercise of some particular function.

Sialagogues are medicines which increase the flow of the saliva.

Stimulants are medicines capable of exciting the vital energy, whether as exerted in sensation or motion.

Tonics are those medicines which increase the tone or healthy action, or strength of the living system.

Pure atmospheric air is composed of nitrogen, oxygen and a very small proportion of carbonic acid gas. Air once breathed has lost the chief part of its oxygen, and acquired a proportionate increase of carbonic acid gas. Therefore, health requires that we breathe the same air once only.

The solid part of our bodies is continually wasting and requires to be repaired by fresh substances. Therefore, food, which is to repair the loss, should be taken with due regard to the exercise and waste of the body.

The fluid part of our bodies also wastes constantly; there is but one fluid in animals, which is water. Therefore, water only is necessary, and no artifice can produce a better drink.

The fluid of our bodies is to the solid in proportion as nine to one. Therefore, a like proportion should prevail in the total amount of food taken.

Light exercises an important influence upon the growth and vigor of animals and plants. Therefore, our dwellings should freely admit the sun's rays.

Decomposing animal and vegetable substances yield various noxious gases, which enter the lungs and corrupt the blood. Therefore, all impurities should be kept away from our abodes, and every precaution be observed to secure a pure atmosphere.

Warmth is essential to all the bodily functions. Therefore, an equal bodily temperature should be maintained by exercise, by clothing or by fire.

Exercise warms, invigorates and purifies the body; clothing preserves the warmth the body generates; fire imparts warmth externally. Therefore, to obtain and preserve warmth, exercise and clothing are preferable to fire.

Fire consumes the oxygen of the air, and produces noxious gases. Therefore, the air is less pure in the presence of candles, gas or coal fire, than otherwise, and the deterioration should be repaired by increased ventilation. The skin is a highly-organized membrane, full of minute pores, cells, blood-vessels, and nerves; it imbibes moisture or throws it off according to the state of the atmosphere or the temperature of the body. It also "breathes," like the lungs (though less actively). All the internal organs sympathize with the skin. Therefore, it should be repeatedly cleansed.

Late hours and anxious pursuits exhaust the nervous system and produce disease and premature death. Therefore, the hours of labor and study should be short.

Mental and bodily exercise are equally essential to the general health and happiness. Therefore, labor and study should succeed each other.

Man will live most happily upon simple solids and fluids, of which a sufficient but temperate quantity should be taken. Therefore, over-indulgence in strong drinks, tobacco, snuff, opium, and all mere indulgences, should be avoided.

Sudden alternations of heat and cold are dangerous (especially to the young and the aged). Therefore, clothing, in quantity and quality, should be adapted to the alternations of night and day, and of the seasons. And therefore, also, drinking cold water when the body is hot, and hot tea and soups when cold are productive of many evils.

Never visit a sick person (especially if the complaint be of a contagious nature) with an empty stomach, as this disposes the system more readily to receive the contagion. And in attending a sick person, place yourself where the air passes from the door or window to the bed of the diseased; not between the diseased person and any fire that is in the room, as the heat of the fire will draw the infectious vapor in that direction.

MOTHER SHIPTON'S PROPHECY .—The lines known as "Mother Shipton's Prophecy" were first published in England in 1485, before the discovery of America, and, of course, before any of the discoveries and inventions mentioned therein. All the events predicted have come to pass except that in the last two lines.

Carriages without horses shall go,
And accidents fill the world with woe
Around the world thoughts shall fly
In the twinkling of an eye.
Waters shall yet more wonders do,
Now strange, yet shall be true.
The world upside down shall be,
And gold be found at root of tree.
Through hills man shall ride,
And no horse nor ass be at his side.
Under water man shall walk,
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk.
In the air men shall be seen
In white, in black, in green.
Iron in the water shall float,
As easy as a wooden boat.
Gold shall be found 'mid stone,
In a land that's now unknown.
Fire and water shall wonders do,
England shall at last admit a Jew.
And this world to an end shall come
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.

CAPTAIN KIDD, a notorious American pirate, was born about 1650. In 1696 he was entrusted by the British Government with the command of a privateer, and sailed from New York, for the purpose of suppressing the numerous pirates then infesting the seas. He went to the East Indies, where he began a career of piracy, and returned to New York in 1698 with a large amount of booty. He was soon after arrested, sent to England for trial, and executed in 1701.

VALUE OF OLD AMERICAN COINS.—1793—Half cent, 75 cents; one cent, $2. 1794—Half cent, 20 cents, one cent, 10 cents; five cents, $1.25; fifty cents, $3; one dollar, $10. 1795—Half cent, 5 cents; one cent, 5 cents; five cents, 25 cents; fifty cents, 55 cents; one dollar, $1.25. 1796—Half cent, $5; one cent, 10 cents; five cents $1; ten cents, 50 cents; twenty-five cents, $1; fifty cents, $10; one dollar, $1.50. 1797—Half cent, 5 cents; one cent, 5 cents; five cents, 50 cents; ten cents, $1; fifty cents, $10; one dollar, $1.50. 1798—One cent, 5 cents; ten cents, $1; one dollar, $1.50. 1799—One cent, $5; one dollar, $1.60. 1800—Half cent, 5 cents; one cent, 3 cents; five cents, 25 cents; ten cents, $1; one dollar, $1.10. 1801—One cent, 3 cents; five cents, $1; ten cents, $1; fifty cents, $2; one dollar, $1.25. 1802—Half cent, 50 cents; one cent, 2 cents; ten cents, $1; fifty cents, $2; one dollar, $1.25. 1803—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 2 cents; five cents, $10; ten cents, $1; one dollar, $1.10. 1804—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, $2; five cents, 75 cents; ten cents, $2; twenty-five cents, 75 cents; one dollar, $100. 1805—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 3 cents; five cents, $1.50; ten cents, 25 cents. 1806—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 3 cents. 1807—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 3 cents; ten cents, 25 cents. 1808—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 5 cents. 1809—Half cent, 1 cent; one cent, 25 cents; ten cents, 50 cents. 1810—Half cent, 5 cents; one cent, 5 cents. 1811—Half cent, 25 cents; one cent, 10 cents; ten cents, 50 cents. 1812—One cent, 2 cents. 1813—One cent, 5 cents. 1815—Fifty cents, $5. 1821—One cent, 5 cents. 1822—Ten cents, $1. 1823—One cent, 5 cents; twenty-five cents, $10. 1824—Twenty-five cents, 40 cents. 1825—Half cent, 2 cents. 1826—Half cent, 2 cents; one cent, 50 cents. 1827—One cent, 3 cents; twenty-five cents, $10. 1828—Half cent, 1 cent; twenty-five cents, 30 cents. 1829—Half cent, 2 cents. 1830—Half cent, 2 cents. 1832-'33-'34—Half cent, 2 cents. 1835—Half cent, 1 cent. 1836—Fifty cents, $3; one dollar, $3. 1838—Ten cents, 25 cents. 1839—One dollar, $10. 1846 —Five cents, 50 cents. 1849-'50—Half cent, 5 cents. 1851—Half cent, 1 cent; twenty-five cents, 30 cents; one dollar, $10.90. 1852—Twenty-five cents, 30 cents; fifty cents, $2; one dollar, $10. 1853—Half cent, 1 cent; twenty cents (with no arrows), $2.50; one dollar, $1.25. 1854—Half cent, 2 cents; one dollar, $2. 1855-'57—Half cent, 5 cents; one dollar, $1.50. 1856—Half cent, 5 cents; one dollar. $1.50. 1858—One dollar, $10. 1863-'4-'5—Three cents, 95 cents. 1866—Half cent, 6 cents; three cents, 25 cents; five cents, 10 cents; twenty-five cents, 30 cents. 1867—Three cents, 25 cents; five cents, 10 cents. 1868-'9—Three cents, 25 cents. 1870—Three cents, 15 cents. 1871—Two cents, 10 cents; three cents, 25 cents. 1873—Two cents, 50 cents; three cents. 50 cents. 1877-'8—Twenty cents, $1.50. These prices are for good ordinary coins without holes. Fine specimens are worth more.

LEANING TOWER OF PISA.—The leaning tower of Pisa was commenced in 1152, and was not finished till the fourteenth century. The cathedral to which this belongs was erected to celebrate a triumph of the Pisans in the harbor of Palermo in 1063, when allied with the Normans to drive the Saracens out of Sicily. It is a circular building, one hundred feet in diameter and 179 feet in extreme height, and has fine mosaic pavements, elaborately carved columns, and numerous bas-reliefs. The building is of white marble. The tower is divided into eight stories, each having an outside gallery of seven feet projection, and the topmost story overhangs the base about sixteen feet, though, as the center of gravity is still ten feet within the base, the building is perfectly safe. It has been supposed that this inclination was intentional, but the opinion that the foundation has sunk is no doubt correct. It is most likely that the defective foundation became perceptible before the tower had reached one-half its height, as at that elevation the unequal length of the columns exhibits an endeavor to restore the perpendicular, and at about the same place the walls are strengthened with iron bars.

What causes the water to flow out of an artesian well?—The theoretical explanation of the phenomenon is easily understood. The secondary and tertiary geological formations often present the appearance of immense basins, the boundary or rim of the basin having been formed by an upheaval of adjacent strata. In these formations it often happens that a porous stratum, consisting of sand, sandstone, chalk or other calcareous matter, is included between two impermeable layers of clay, so as to form a flat porous U tube, continuous from side to side of the valley, the outcrop on the surrounding hills forming the mouth of the tube. The rain filtering down through the porous layer to the bottom of the basin forms there a subterranean pool, which, with the liquid or semi-liquid column pressing upon it, constitutes a sort of huge natural hydrostatic bellows. Sometimes the pressure on the superincumbent crust is so great as to cause an upheaval or disturbance of the valley. It is obvious, then, that when a hole is bored down through the upper impermeable layer to the surface of the lake, the water will be forced up by the natural law of water seeking its level to a height above the surface of the valley, greater or less, according to the elevation of the level in the feeding column, thus forming a natural mountain on precisely the same principle as that of most artificial fountains, where the water supply comes from a considerable height above the jet.

HOW MANY CUBIC FEET THERE ARE IN A TON OF COAL.—There is a difference between a ton of hard coal and one of soft coal. For that matter, coal from different mines, whether hard or soft, differs in weight, and consequently in cubic measure, according to quality. Then there is a difference according to size. To illustrate, careful measurements have been made of Wilkes-barre anthracite, a fine quality of hard coal, with the following results:

For soft coal the following measures may be taken as nearly correct; it is simply impossible to determine any exact rule, even for bituminous coal of the same district: Briar Hill coal, 44.8 cubic feet per ton of 2,240 pounds; Pittsburgh, 47.8; Wilmington, Ill., 47; Indiana block coal, 42 to 43 cubic feet.

The dimensions of the great wall of China and of what it is built.—It runs from a point on the Gulf of Liantung, an arm of the Gulf of Pechili in Northeastern China, westerly to the Yellow River; thence makes a great bend to the south for nearly 100 miles, and then runs to the northwest for several hundred miles to the Desert of Gobi. Its length is variously estimated to be from 1,250 to 1,500 miles. For the most of this distance it runs through a mountainous country, keeping on the ridges, and winding over many of the highest peaks. In some places it is only a formidable rampart, but most of the way it is composed of lofty walls of masonry and concrete, or impacted lime and clay, from 12 to 16 feet in thickness, and from 15 to 30 or 35 feet in height. The top of this wall is paved for hundreds of miles, and crowned with crenallated battlements, and towers 30 to 40 feet high. In numerous places the wall climbs such steep declivities that its top ascends from height to height in flights of granite steps. An army could march on the top of the wall for weeks and even months, moving in some places ten men abreast.

Limits of Natural Vision.—This question is too indefinite for a specific answer. The limits of vision vary with elevation, conditions of the atmosphere, intensity of illumination, and other modifying elements in different cases. In a clear day an object one foot above a level plain may be seen at the distance of 1.31 miles; one ten feet high, 4.15 miles; one twenty feet high, 5.86 miles; one 100 feet high, 13.1 miles; one a mile high, as the top of a mountain, 95.23 miles. This allows seven inches (or, to be exact, 6.99 inches) for the curvature of the earth, and assumes that the size and illumination of the object are sufficient to produce an image. Five miles may be taken as the extreme limit at which a man is visible on a flat plain to an observer on the same level.

THE NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE.—For seven miles below the falls, Niagara river flows through a gorge varying in width from 200 to 400 yards. Two miles below the falls the river is but 350 feet wide, and it is here that the great suspension bridge, constructed in 1855 by Mr. Roebling, crosses the gorge, 245 feet above the water. The length of the span, from tower to tower, is 821 feet, and the total length of the bridge is 2,220 feet. The length of the span, which is capable of sustaining a strain of 10,000 tons, is 821 feet from tower to tower, and the total length of the bridge is 2,220 feet. It is used both for railway and wagon traffic, the wagon-road and foot-way being directly under the railway bed. There is another suspension bridge across the Niagara river at a distance of only about fifty rods from the falls, on the American side. This is only for carriages and foot travel. It was finished in 1869. It is 1,190 feet long from cliff to cliff, 1,268 feet from tower to tower, and 190 feet above the river, which at this point is a little over 900 feet in width.

THE SPEED OF SOUND.—It has been ascertained that a full human voice, speaking in the open air, calm, can be heard at a distance of 400 feet; in an observable breeze a powerful human voice with the wind is audible at a distance of 15,840 feet; the report of a musket, 16,000 feet; a drum, 10,560 feet; music, a strong brass band, 15,840 feet; very heavy cannonading, 575,000 feet, or 90 miles. In the Arctic regions conversation has been maintained over water a distance of 6,766 feet. In gases the velocity of sound increases with the temperature; in air this increase is about two feet per second for each degree centigrade. The velocity of sound in oxygen gas at zero C. is 1,040 feet; in carbonic acid, 858 feet; in hydrogen, 4,164 feet. In 1827 Colladon and Sturm determined experimentally the velocity of sound in fresh water; the experiment was made in the Lake of Geneva, and it was found to be 4,174 feet per second at a temperature of 15 degrees C. [pg 53] The velocity of sound in alcohol at 20 degrees C. is 4,218 feet; in ether at zero, 3,801; in sea water at 20 degrees C., 4,768. By direct measurements, carefully made, by observing at night the interval which elapses between the flash and report of a cannon at a known distance, the velocity of sound has been about 1,090 per second at the temperature of freezing water.

DESCRIPTION OF THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.—The Yellowstone National Park extends sixty-five miles north and south, and fifty-five miles east and west, comprising 3,575 square miles, and is all 6,000 feet or more above sea-level. Yellowstone Lake, twenty miles by fifteen, has an altitude of 7,788 feet. The mountain ranges which hem in the valleys on every side rise to the height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and are always covered with snow. This great park contains the most striking of all the mountains, gorges, falls, rivers and lakes in the whole Yellowstone region. The springs on Gardiner's River cover an area of about one square mile, and three or four square miles thereabout are occupied by the remains of springs which have ceased to flow. The natural basins into which these springs flow are from four to six feet in diameter and from one to four feet in depth. The principal ones are located upon terraces midway up the sides of the mountain. The banks of the Yellowstone River abound with ravines and canons, which are carved out of the heart of the mountains through the hardest of rocks. The most remarkable of these is the canon of Tower Creek and Column Mountain. The latter, which extends along the eastern bank of the river for upward of two miles, is said to resemble the Giant's Causeway. The canon of Tower Creek is about ten miles in length and is so deep and gloomy that it is called "The Devil's Den." Where Tower Creek ends the Grand Canon begins. It is twenty miles in length, impassable throughout, and inaccessible at the water's edge, except at a few points. Its rugged edges are from 200 to 500 yards apart, and its depth is so profound that no sound ever reaches the ear from the bottom. The Grand Canon contains a great multitude of hot springs of sulphur, sulphate of copper, alum, etc. In the number and magnitude of its hot springs and geysers, the Yellowstone Park surpasses all the rest of the world. There are probably fifty geysers that throw a column of water to the height of from 50 to 200 feet, and it is stated that there are not fewer than 5,000 springs; there are two kinds, those depositing lime and those depositing silica. The temperature of the calcareous springs is from 160 to 170 degrees, while that of the others rises to 200 or more. The principal collections are the upper and lower geyser basins of the Madison River, and the calcareous springs on Gardiner's River. The great falls are marvels to which adventurous travelers have gone only to return and report that they are parts of the wonders of this new American wonderland.

DESIGNATIONS OF GROUPS OF ANIMALS.—The ingenuity of the sportsman is, perhaps, no better illustrated than by the use he puts the English language to in designating particular groups of animals. The following is a list of the terms which have been applied to the various classes:

A covey of patridges, A nide of pheasants, A wisp of snipe, A flight of doves or swallows, A muster of peacocks, A siege of herons, A building of rooks, A brood of grouse, A plump of wild fowl, A stand of plovers, A watch of nightingales, A clattering of choughs, A flock of geese, A herd or bunch of cattle, A bevy of quails, A cast of hawks, A trip of dottrell, A swarm of bees, A school of whales, A shoal of herrings, A herd of swine, A skulk of foxes, A pack of wolves, A drove of oxen, A sounder of hogs, A troop of monkeys, A pride of lions, A sleuth of bears, A gang of elk.

THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.—The monument is a square shaft, built of Quincy granite, 221 feet high, 31 feet square at the base and 15 at the top. Its foundations are inclosed 12 feet under ground. Inside the shaft is a round, hollow cone, 7 feet wide at the bottom and 4 feet 2 inches at the top, encircled by a winding staircase of 224 stone steps, which leads to a chamber immediately under the apex, 11 feet in diameter. The chamber has four windows, which afford a wide view of the surrounding country, and contains two cannons, named respectively Hancock and Adams, which were used in many engagements during the war. The corner-stone of the monument was laid on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, June 17, 1825, by Lafayette, who was then visiting America, when Webster pronounced the oration. The monument was completed, and June 17, 1843, was dedicated, Webster again delivering the oration.

THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF GREECE.—The names generally given are Solon, Chilo, Pittacus, Bias, Periander (in place of whom some give Epimenides), Cleobulus, and Thales. They were the authors of the celebrated mottoes inscribed in later days in the Delphian Temple. These mottoes were as follows:

"Know thyself."—Solon.

"Consider the end."—Chilo.

"Know thy opportunity."—Pittacus.

"Most men are bad."—Bias.

"Nothing is impossible to industry."—Periander.

"Avoid excesses."—Cleobulus.

"Suretyship is the precursor of ruin."—Thales.

FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.—Nicholas J. Roosevelt was the first to take a steamboat down the great river. His boat was built at Pittsburgh, in the year 1811, under an arrangement with Fulton and Livingston, from Fulton's plans. It was called the "New Orleans," was about 200 tons burden, and was propelled by a stern-wheel, assisted, when the wind was favorable, by sails carried on two masts. The hull was 138 feet long, 30 feet beam, and the cost of the whole, including engines, was about $40,000. The builder, with his family, an engineer, a pilot, and six "deck hands," left Pittsburgh in October, 1811, reaching Louisville in about seventy hours (steaming about ten miles an hour), and New Orleans in fourteen days, steaming from Natchez.

THE EXPLORATIONS OF FREMONT.—- Among the earliest efforts of Fremont, after he had tried and been sickened by the sea, were his experiences as a surveyor and engineer on railroad lines from Charleston to Augusta, Ga., and Charleston to Cincinnati. Then he accompanied an army detachment on a military reconnoissance of the mountainous Cherokee country in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, made in the depth of winter. In 1838-9 he accompanied M. Nicollet in explorations of the country between the Missouri and the British line, and his first detail of any importance, after he had been commissioned by President Van Buren, was to make an examination of the river Des Moines, then on the Western frontier. In 1841 he projected his first trans-continental expedition, and left Washington May 2, 1842, and accomplished the object of his trip, examined the South Pass, explored the Wind River mountains, ascended in August, the highest peak of that range, now known as Fremont's Peak, and returned, after an absence of four months. His report of the expedition attracted great attention in the United States and abroad. Fremont began to plan another and a second expedition. He determined to extend his explorations across the continent; and in May, 1843, commenced his journey with thirty-nine men, and September 6, after traveling over 1,700 miles, arrived at the Great Salt Lake; there made some important discoveries, and then pushed [pg 54] the upper Columbia, down whose valley he proceeded to Fort Vancouver, near its mouth. On Nov. 10, he set out to return East, selecting a southeasterly course, leading from the lower part of the Columbia to the upper Colorado, through an almost unknown region, crossed by high and rugged mountains. He and his party suffered incredible hardships in crossing from the Great Basin to Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento; started from there March 24, proceeded southward, skirted the western base of the Sierra Nevada, crossed that range through a gap, entered the Great Basin; again visited the Great Salt Lake, from which they returned through the South Pass to Kansas, in July, 1844, after an absence of fourteen months. In the spring of 1845 Fremont set out on a third expedition to explore the Great Basin and the maritime region of Oregon and California; spent the summer examining the headwaters of the rivers whose springs are in the grand divide of the continent; in October camped on the shores of the Great Salt Lake: proceeded to explore the Sierra Nevada, which he again crossed in the dead of winter; made his way into the Valley of the San Joaquin; obtained permission, at Monterey, from the Mexican authorities there, to proceed with his expedition, which permission was almost immediately revoked, and Fremont peremptorily ordered to leave the country without delay, but he refused, and a collision was imminent, but was averted, and Fremont proceeded toward San Joaquin. Near Tlamath Lake, Fremont met, May 9, 1846, a party in search of him, with dispatches from Washington, ordering him to watch over the interests of the United States in California, as there was reason to believe that province would be transferred to Great Britain. He at once returned to California; General Castro was already marching against our settlements; the settlers rose in arms, flocked to Fremont's camp, and, with him as leader, in less than a month, all Northern California was freed from Mexican authority; and on July 4 Fremont was elected Governor of California by the American settlers. Later came the conflict between Commodore Stockton and General Kearney; and Fremont resigned his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, to which he had been promoted. In October, 1848, he started across the continent on a fourth expedition, outfitted at his own expense, to find a practicable route to California. In attempting to cross the great Sierra, covered with snow, his guide lost his way, and the party encountered horrible suffering from cold and hunger, a portion of them being driven to cannibalism; he lost all his animals (he had 120 mules when he started), and one-third of his men (he had thirty-three) perished, and he had to retrace his steps to Santa Fe. He again set out, with thirty men, and, after a long search, discovered a secure route, which led to the Sacramento, where he arrived in the spring of 1840. He led a fifth expedition across the continent in 1853, at his own expense, and found passes through the mountains in the line of latitude 38 deg., 39 min., and reached California after enduring great hardships; for fifty days his party lived on horse-flesh, and for forty-eight hours at a time without food of any kind. These are the barest outlines of five expeditions of which many volumes have been written, but will hint at Fremont's work in the West which entitled him to the name of the "Pathfinder."

CHINESE PROVERBS.—The Chinese are indeed remarkably fond of proverbs. They not only employ them in conversation—and even to a greater degree than the Spaniards, who are noted among Europeans for the number and excellence of their proverbial sayings—but they have a practice of adorning their reception rooms with these sententious bits of wisdom, inscribed on decorated scrolls or embroidered on rich crapes and brocades. They carve them on door-posts and pillars, and emblazon them on the walls and ceilings in gilt letters. The following are a few specimens of this sort of literature: As a sneer at the use of unnecessary force to crush a contemptible enemy, they say: "He rides a fierce dog to catch a lame rabbit." Similar to this is another, "To use a battle-ax to cut off a hen's head." They say of wicked associates: "To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger; if not well-fed he will devour you." Here are several others mingling wit with wisdom: "To instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching a monkey to climb trees;" "To catch fish and throw away the net," which recalls our saying, "Using the cat's paw to pull the chestnuts out of the fire;" "To climb a tree to catch a fish" is to talk much to no purpose; "A superficial scholar is a sheep dressed in a tiger's skin;" "A cuckoo in a magpie's nest," equivalent to saying, "he is enjoying another's labor without compensation;" "If the blind lead the blind they will both fall into the pit;" "A fair wind raises no storm;" "Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never satisfied;" "The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable;" "He seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him;" "He who looks at the sun is dazzled; he who hears the thunder is deafened." i. e., do not come too near the powerful; "Prevention is better than cure;" "Wine and good dinners make abundance of friends, but in adversity not one of them is to be found." "Let every man sweep the snow from before his own door, and not trouble himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles." The following one is a gem of moral wisdom: "Only correct yourself on the same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same principles on which you excuse yourself." "Better not be, than be nothing." "One thread does not make a rope; one swallow does not make a summer." "Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts." "The horse's back is not so safe us the buffalo's"—the former is used by the politician, the latter by the farmer. "Too much lenity multiplies crime." "If you love your son give him plenty of the rod; if you hate him cram him with dainties." "He is my teacher who tells me my faults, he my enemy who speaks my virtues." Having a wholesome dread of litigation, they say of one who goes to law, "He sues a flea to catch a bite." Their equivalent for our "coming out at the little end of the horn" is, "The farther the rat creeps up (or into) the cow's horn, the narrower it grows." The truth of their saying that "The fame of good deeds does not leave a man's door, but his evil acts are known a thousand miles off," is illustrated in our own daily papers every morning. Finally, we close this list with a Chinese proverb which should be inscribed on the lintel of every door in Christendom: "The happy-hearted man carries joy for all the household."

MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.—Mason and Dixon's line is the concurrent State line of Maryland and Pennsylvania. It is named after two eminent astronomers and mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were sent out from England to run it. They completed the survey between 1703 and 1707, excepting thirty-six miles surveyed in 1782 by Colonel Alex. McLean and Joseph Neville. It is in the latitude of 39 deg. 43 min. 26.3 sec.

GREAT FIRES OF HISTORY.—The loss of life and property in the willful destruction by fire and sword of the principal cities of ancient history—Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Carthage, Palmyra, and many others—is largely a matter of conjecture. The following is a memorandum of the chief conflagrations of the current era:

In 64, A. D., during the reign of Nero, a terrible fire raged in Rome for eight days, destroying ten of the fourteen wards. The loss of life and destruction of property is not known.

A. D., Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and a large part of it given to the torch, entailing an enormous destruction of life and property.

In 1106 Venice, then a city of immense opulence, was almost, wholly consumed by a fire, originating in accident or incendiarism.

In 1212 the greater part of London was burned.

In 1606 what is known as the Great Fire of London raged in the city from September 2 to 6, consuming 13,200 houses, with St. Paul's Church, 86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Guild Hall, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, 52 companies halls, many hospitals, libraries and other public edifices. The total destruction of property was estimated at $53,652,500. Six lives were lost, and 436 acres burnt over.

In 1679 a fire in Boston burned all the warehouses, eighty dwellings, and vessels in the dock-yards; loss estimated at $1,000,000.

In 1700 a large part of Edinburgh was burned; loss unknown. In 1728 Copenhagen was nearly destroyed; 1,650 houses burned.

In 1736 a fire in St. Petersburg burned 2,000 houses.

In 1729 a fire in Constantinople destroyed 12,000 houses, and 7,000 people perished. The same city suffered a conflagration in 1745, lasting five days; and in 1750 a series of three appalling fires: one in January, consuming 10,000 houses; another in April destroying property to the value of $5,000,000, according to one historian, and according to another, $15,000,000; and in the latter part of the year another, sweeping fully 10,000 houses more out of existence. It seemed as if Constantinople was doomed to utter annihilation.

In 1751 a fire in Stockholm destroyed 1,000 houses and another fire in the same city in 1759 burned 250 houses with a loss of $2,420,000.

In 1752 a fire in Moscow swept away 18,000 houses, involving an immense loss.

In 1758 Christiania suffered a loss of $1,250,000 by conflagration. In 1760 the Portsmouth (England) dock yards were burned, with a loss of $2,000,000.

In 1764 a fire in Konigsburg, Prussia, consumed the public buildings, with a loss of $3,000,000; and in 1769 the city was almost totally destroyed.

In 1763 a fire in Smyrna destroyed 2,600 houses, with a loss of $1,000,000; in 1772 a fire in the same city carried off 3,000 dwellings and 3,000 to 4,000 shops, entailing a loss of $20,000,000; and in 1796 there were 4,000 shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned.

In 1776, six days after the British seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of New York city, from Broadway to the river.

In 1771 a fire in Constantinople burned 2,500 houses; another in 1778 burned 2,000 houses; in 1782 there were 600 houses burned in February, 7,000 in June, and on August 12 during a conflagration that lasted three days, 10,000 houses, 50 mosques, and 100 corn-mills, with a loss of 100 lives. Two years later a fire, on March 13, destroyed two-thirds of Pera, the loveliest suburb of Constantinople, and on August 5 a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned 10,000 houses. In this same fire-scourged city, in 1791, between March and July, there were 32,000 houses burned, and about as many more in 1795; and in 1799 Pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of 13,000 houses, including many buildings of great magnificence.

In 1784 a fire and explosion in the dock yards, Brest, caused a loss of $5,000,000.

But the greatest destruction of life and property by conflagration, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. Of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $3,000,000 and upward:

From the above it appears that the five greatest fires on record, reckoned by destruction of property, are:

Taking into account, with the fires of Paris and Chicago, the great Wisconsin and Michigan forest fires of 1871, in which it is estimated that 1,000 human beings perished and property to the amount of over $3,000,000 was consumed, it is plain that in the annals of conflagrations that year stands forth in gloomy pre-eminence.

WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES PER CAPITA.—The following statistics represent the amount of taxable property, real and personal, in each State and Territory, and also the amount per capita:

TABLE FOR MEASURING AN ACRE.—To measure an acre in rectangular form is a simple question in arithmetic. One has only to divide the total number of square yards in an acre, 4,840, by the number of yards in the known side or breadth to find the unknown side in yards. By this process it appears that a rectangular strip of ground—

  5 yards wide by 968 yards long is 1 acre.
10 yards wide by 484 yards long is 1 acre.
20 yards wide by 242 yards long is 1 acre.
40 yards wide by 121 yards long is 1 acre.

80 yards wide by 60-1/2 yards long is 1 acre.
70 yards wide by 69-1/2 yards long is 1 acre.
60 yards wide by 80-3/8 yards long is 1 acre.

THE LANGUAGE OF GEMS.—The language of the various precious stones is as follows:

Moss Agate—Health, prosperity and long life.
Amethyst—Prevents violent passions.
Bloodstone—Courage, wisdom and firmness in affection.
Chrysolite—Frees from evil passions and sadness.
Emerald—Insures true love, discovers false.
Diamonds—Innocence, faith and virgin purity, friends.
Garnet—Constancy and fidelity in every engagement.
Opal—Sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor.
Pearl—Purity; gives clearness to physical and mental sight.
Ruby—Corrects evils resulting from mistaken friendship.
Sapphire—Repentance; frees from enchantment.
Sardonyx—Insures conjugal felicity.
Topaz—Fidelity and friendship; prevents bad dreams.
Turquoise—Insures prosperity in love.

GREAT SALT LAKE AND THE DEAD SEA.—Great Salt Lake is a shallow body of water, its average depth being but a little more than three feet, while in many parts it is much less. The water is transparent, but excessively salt; it contains about 22 per cent of common salt, slightly mixed with other salts, and forming one of the purest and most concentrated brines in the world. Its specific gravity is 1.17. The water is so buoyant that a man may float in it at full length upon his back, having his head and neck, his legs to the knee, and both arms to the elbow, entirely out of water. If he assumes a sitting posture, with his arms extended, his shoulders will rise above the water. Swimming, however, is difficult as the lower limbs tend to rise above the surface, and the brine is so strong that to swallow even a very little of it will cause strangulation. The waters of the Dead Sea, on the other hand, are nearly black, and contain much sulphur and bitumen, as well as salt. It is also very deep, varying from thirteen feet near the south end of the lake to more than 1,300 feet in the northern part. Its buoyancy is quite equal to that of Great Salt Lake, for travelers say that a man can float prone upon the surface for hours without danger of sinking, and in a sitting position is held breast-high above the water.

SOME FAMOUS WAR SONGS.—The slavery war developed several Union song-writers whose stirring verses have kept on singing themselves since the close of that great struggle. Two among them are best remembered nowadays, both men who wrote the words and composed the music to their own verses. Chicago lays claim to one, Dr. George F. Root, and Boston to the other, Henry C. Work. The song "Marching Through Georgia," as every one knows, was written in memory of Sherman's famous march from Atlanta to the sea, and words and music were the composition of Henry C. Work, who died not many months ago (in 1884). The first stanza is as follows:

Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song—
Sing it with spirit that will start the world along—
Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.

Chorus—

"Hurrah! hurrah! we bring the jubilee!
Hurrah! hurrah! the flag that makes you free!"
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.

Among the other songs of Work the following are best known: "Kingdom Coming," or "Say, Darkey, Hab You Seen de Massa?" "Babylon is Fallen," "Grafted into [pg 57] Army" and "Corporal Schnapps." This record would be incomplete were we to fail to mention some of the many ringing songs of George F. Root, songs which have made the name of Root famous in thousands upon thousands of households in the West. Some of these songs are: "Battle Cry of Freedom," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," "On, on, on, the Boys Came Marching," "Just Before the Battle, Mother," "Just After the Battle," "Lay Me Down and Save the Flag," "Stand Up for Uncle Sam, My Boys." The well known song, "Wrap the Flag Around Me, Boys," was composed by R. Stewart Taylor, and "When Johnny Cones Marching Home" by Louis Lambert.

THE COST OF ROYALTY IN ENGLAND.—Her Majesty:

SOME GREAT RIVERS.—From Haswell's little work for engineers and mechanics the following figures are taken, showing the lengths of the largest rivers on the various continents:

The figures as to the length of the Nile are estimated. The Amazon, with its tributaries (including the Rio Negro and Madeira), drains an area of 2,330,000 square miles; the Mississippi and Missouri, 1,726,000 square miles; the Yeneisy (or Yenisei, as it is often written) drains about 1,000,000 square miles; the Volga, about 500,000. In this group of great rivers the St. Lawrence is the most remarkable. It constitutes by far the largest body of fresh water in the world. Including the lakes and streams, which it comprises in its widest acceptation, the St. Lawrence covers about 73,000 square miles; the aggregate, it is estimated, represents not less than 9,000 solid miles—a mass of water which would have taken upward of forty years to pour over Niagara at the computed rate of 1,000,000 cubic feet in a second. As the entire basin of this water system falls short of 300,000 square miles, the surface of the land is only three times that of the water.

HOW THE UNITED STATES GOT ITS LANDS.—The United States bought Louisiana, the vast region between the Mississippi River, the eastern and northern boundary of Texas (then belonging to Spain), and the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, together with what is now Oregon, Washington Territory, and the western parts of Montana and Idaho, from France for $11,250,000. This was in 1803. Before the principal, interest, and claims of one sort and another assumed by the United States were settled, the total cost of this "Louisiana purchase," comprising, according to French construction and our understanding, 1,171,931 square miles, swelled to $23,500,000, or almost $25 per section—a fact not stated in cyclopedias and school histories, and therefore not generally understood. Spain still held Florida and claimed a part of what we understood to be included in the Louisiana purchase—a strip up to north latitude 31—and disputed our boundary along the south and west, and even claimed Oregon. We bought Florida and all the disputed land east of the Mississippi and her claim to Oregon, and settled our southwestern boundary dispute for the sum of $6,500,000. Texas smilingly proposed annexation to the United States, and this great government was "taken in" December 29, 1845, Texas keeping her public lands and giving us all her State debts and a three-year war (costing us $66,000,000) with Mexico, who claimed her for a runaway from Mexican jurisdiction. This was a bargain that out-yankeed the Yankees, but the South insisted on it and the North submitted. After conquering all the territory now embraced in New Mexico, a part of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California, we paid Mexico $25,000,000 for it—$15,000,000 for the greater part of it and $10,000,000 for another slice, known as the "Gadsden purchase." In 1867 we bought Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. All the several amounts above named were paid long ago. As for all the rest of our landed possessions, we took them with us when we cut loose from mother Britain's apron string, but did not get a clear title until we had fought ten years for it—first in the Revolutionary War, costing us in killed 7,343 reported—besides the unreported killed—and over 15,000 wounded, and $135,193,103 in money; afterward in the War of 1812-15, costing us in killed 1,877, in wounded 3,737, in money $107,159,003. We have paid everybody but the Indians, the only real owners, and, thanks to gunpowder, sword, bayonet, bad whisky, small-pox, cholera and other weapons of civilization, there are not many of them left to complain. Besides all the beads, earrings, blankets, pots, kettles, brass buttons, etc., given them for land titles in the olden times, we paid them, or the Indian agents, in one way and another, in the ninety years from 1791 to 1881, inclusive, $193,672,697.31, to say nothing of the thousands of lives sacrificed and many millions spent in Indian wars, from the war of King Philip to the last fight with the Apaches.

ILLUSTRIOUS MEN AND WOMEN.—It is not likely that any two persons would agree as to who are entitled to the first fifty places on the roll of great men and great women. Using "great" in the sense of eminence in their professions, of great military commanders the following are among the chief: Sesostris, the Egyptian conqueror, who is represented as having subdued all Asia to the Oxus and the Ganges, Ethiopia, and a part of Europe; Cyrus the Great; Alexander the Great; Hannibal; Che-Hwanti, who reduced all the kingdoms of China and Indo-China to one empire, and constructed the Great Wall; Cæsar; Genghis Khan, the Tartar chief, who overran all Asia and a [pg 58] part of Europe; Napoleon Bonaparte; Ulysses S. Grant, and General Von Moltke. Among the most illustrious benefactors of mankind, as statesmen, lawgivers and patriots, stand Moses, David, Solon, Numa Pompilius, Zoroaster, Confucius, Justinian, Charlemagne, Cromwell, Washington and Lincoln. Eminent among the philosophers, rhetoricians and logicians stand Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, the two Catos, and Lord Bacon; among orators, Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero, Mirabeau, Burke, Webster and Clay; among poets, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare; among painters and sculptors, Phidias, Parrhasius, Zenxis, Praxiteles, Scopas, Michael Angelo, Raphael and Rubens; among philanthropists, John Howard; among inventors, Archimedes, Watt, Fulton, Arkwright, Whitney and Morse; among astronomers, Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho Brahe, Newton, La Place and the elder Herschel. Here are sixty names of distinguished men, and yet the great religious leaders, excepting Moses and Zoroaster, have not been named. Among these stand Siddhartha or Buddha, Mahomet, Martin Luther, John Knox and John Wesley. Then the great explorers and geographers of the world have not been noticed, among whom Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Vasco de Gama, Columbus and Humboldt barely lead the van.

Of eminent women there are Seling, wife of the Emperor Hwang-ti, B. C. 2637, who taught her people the art of silk-raising and weaving; Semiramis, the Assyrian Queen; Deborah, the heroic warrior prophetess of the Israelites; Queen Esther, who, with the counsel of her cousin, Mordecai, not only saved the Jews from extermination, but lifted them from a condition of slavery into prosperity and power; Dido, the founder of Carthage; Sappho, the eminent Grecian poetess; Hypatia, the eloquent philosopher; Mary, the mother of Christ; Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra; the mother of St. Augustine; Elizabeth of Hungary; Queen Elizabeth of England; Queen Isabella of Spain; the Empress Maria Theresa; Margaret the Great of Denmark; Catherine the Great of Russia, Queen Victoria; Florence Nightingale; Mme. de Stael: Mrs. Fry, the philanthropist; among authoresses, Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Browning, "George Sand," "George Eliot," and Mrs. Stowe; and among artists, Rosa Bonheur, and our own Harriet Hosmer.

THE SUEZ CANAL.—The Suez Canal was begun in 1,858 and was formally opened in November, 1869. Its cost, including harbors, is estimated at $100,000,000. Its length is 100 miles, 75 of which were excavated; its width is generally 325 feet at the surface, and 75 feet at the bottom, and its depth 26 feet. The workmen employed were chiefly natives, and many were drafted by the Khedive. The number of laborers is estimated at 30,000. The British government virtually controls the canal as it owns most of the stock.

SENDING VESSELS OVER NIAGARA FALLS.—There have been three such instances. The first was in 1827. Some men got an old ship—the Michigan—which had been used on lake Erie, and had been pronounced unseaworthy. For mere wantonness they put aboard a bear, a fox, a buffalo, a dog and some geese and sent it over the cataract. The bear jumped from the vessel before it reached the rapids, swam toward the shore, and was rescued by some humane persons. The geese went over the falls, and came to the shore below alive, and, therefore, became objects of great interest, and were sold at high prices to visitors at the Falls. The dog, fox, and buffalo were not heard of or seen again. Another condemned vessel, the Detroit, that had belonged to Commodore Perry's victorious fleet, was started over the cataract in the winter of 1841, but grounded about midway in the rapids, and lay there till knocked to pieces by the ice. A somewhat more picturesque instance was the sending over the Canada side of a ship on fire. This occurred in 1837. The vessel was the Caroline, which had been run in the interest of the insurgents in the Canadian rebellion. It was captured by Colonel McNabb, an officer of the Canada militia, and by his orders it was set on fire then cut loose from its moorings. All in flames, it went glaring and hissing down the rapids and over the precipice, and smothered its ruddy blaze in the boiling chasm below. Thia was witnessed by large crowds on both sides of the falls, and was described as a most magnificent sight. Of course there was no one on board the vessel.

OLD TIME WAGES IN ENGLAND.—The following rates of daily wages "determined" by the Justices of Somerset, in 1685, answer this question very fairly. Somerset; being one of the average shires of England. The orthography is conformed to original record:

The shilling is about 24 cents and the penny 2 cents.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNERS.—The following is the list of names appended to that famous document, with the colony which each represented in Congress:

New Hampshire—Josiah Bartlett; William Whipple, Matthew Thornton.

Massachusetts—John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine.

Rhode Island—Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery.

Connecticut—Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

New York—William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris.

New Jersey—Richard Hockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark.

Pennsylvania—Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross.

Delaware—Caesar Rodney, George Reed, Thomas McKean.

Maryland—Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.

Virginia—George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

North Carolina—William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn.

South Carolina—Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton.

Georgia—Button Gwinntet, Lyman Hall, George Walton.

LIFE OF ETHAN ALLEN.—Colonel Ethan Allan was captured in an attack upon Montreal, September 25, 1775. He was sent as prisoner to Great Britain, ostensibly for trial, but in a few months was sent back to America, and [pg 59] in prison ships and jails at Halifax and New York till May 3, 1778, when he was exchanged. During most of his captivity he was treated as a felon and kept heavily ironed, but during 1777 was allowed restricted liberty on parole. After his exchange he again offered his services to the patriot army, but because of trouble in Vermont was put in command of the militia in that State. The British authorities were at that time making especial efforts to secure the allegiance of the Vermonters, and it was owing to Allen's skillful negotiations that the question was kept open until the theater of war was changed, thus keeping the colony on the American side, but avoiding the attacks from the British that would certainly have followed an open avowal of their political preferences. Allen died at Burlington, Vt., February 13, 1789.

BURIAL CUSTOMS.—Among the early Christians the dead were buried with the face upward and the feet toward the east, in token of the resurrection at the coming again of the Sun of Righteousness. It cannot be said, however, that the custom was first used by the Christians. It was in practice among early pagan nations also, and is regarded as a survival of the ideas of the fire-worshipers. The sun, which was the impersonation of deity to many primitive races, had his home in their mythology in the east, and out of respect for him the dead were placed facing this quarter, among certain tribes always in a sitting posture. It may also be remarked that among other races the position was reversed, the dead body being placed with its feet toward the west, because the region of sunset was the home of the departed spirits.

THE SURRENDER OF LEE TO GRANT.—The surrender of General Lee was made at the house of a farmer named McLean, in Appomattox village, that house having been selected by General Lee himself at General Grant's request for the interview. General Grant went thither, and was met by General Lee on the threshold. The two went into the parlor of the house, a small room, containing little furnishing but a table and several chairs. About twenty Union officers besides General Grant were present, among them the members of the General's staff. The only Confederate officer with General Lee was Colonel Marshall, who acted as his secretary. General Lee, as well as his aid, was in full uniform, and wore a burnished sword which was given him by the State of Virginia; General Grant was in plain uniform, without a sword. After a brief conversation, relative to the meeting of the two generals while soldiers in Mexico, General Lee adverted at once to the object of the interview by asking on what terms the surrender of his army would be received. General Grant replied that officers and men must become prisoners of war, giving up of course all munitions, weapons and supplies, but that a parole would be accepted. General Lee then requested that the terms should be put in writing, that he might sign them. General Badeau says that while General Grant was writing the conditions of surrender he chanced to look up and his eye caught the glitter of General Lee's sword, and that this sight induced him to insert the provision that the "officers should be allowed to retain their side-arms, horses and personal property." This historian thinks that General Lee fully expected to give up his sword, and that General Grant omitted this from the terms of surrender out of consideration for the feelings of a soldier. Badeau says that General Lee was evidently much touched by the clemency of his adversary in this regard. The Confederate chief now wrote his acceptance of the terms offered and signed them. lie further requested that the cavalry and artillery soldiers might be allowed to retain their horses as well as the officers, to which General Grant consented, and asked that a supply train left at Danville might be allowed to pass on, as his soldiers were without food. The reply of General Grant to this was an order that 25,000 rations should be immediately issued from the commissariat of the National army to the Army of Northern Virginia. The formal papers were now drawn up and signed, and the interview which ended one of the greatest wars of modern times was over.

COLORED POPULATION AT EACH CENSUS.—The following will show the white and colored population of the United States, from 1790 to 1880, inclusive:

ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.—From 1496 to 1857 there were 134 voyages and land journeys undertaken by governments and explorers of Europe and America to investigate the unknown region around the North Pole. Of these, sixty-three went to the northwest, twenty-nine via Behring Straits, and the rest to the northeast or due north. Since 1857 there have been the notable expeditions of Dr. Hayes, of Captain Hall, those of Nordenskjold, and others sent by Germany, Russia and Denmark; three voyages made by James Lament, of the Royal Geographical Society, England, at his own expense; the expeditions of Sir George Nares, of Leigh Smith, and that of the ill-fated Jeannette; the search expeditions of the Tigress, the Juniata, and those sent to rescue Lieutenant Greely; further, all the expeditions fitted out under the auspices of the Polar Commission—in which the Greely expedition was included—and a number of minor voyages, making a sum total of some sixty exploring journeys in these twenty-seven years.

THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.—The battle of Waterloo was fought June 18, 1815, between the allied British, Netherland and German troops under Wellington and the French under Napoleon. On June 16 Napoleon had attacked the Prussians under Blucher at Ligny and forced them to retreat toward Wavre, and Marshal Noy at the same time attacked the British and Dutch forces at Quatre Bras, but was forced to retire after an engagement of five hours. Napoleon's object, however, which was to prevent a union of the Prussians with Wellington's main army, was partially gained. The latter commander, having learned the next morning of Blucher's repulse, moved on to Waterloo expecting that the Prussian commander, according to previous arrangement, would join him there as speedily as possible. On June 17 Napoleon also moved toward Waterloo with the main body of his army, having directed Marshal Grouchy with 34,000 men and ninety-six guns to pursue Blucher's command toward Wavre. Both armies bivouacked on the field of Waterloo, and the next morning Napoleon, confident that Grouchy would prevent the arrival of the Prussians, delayed attack until the ground should become dry, a heavy shower having fallen on the day previous. The forces under Wellington occupied a semi-circular ridge a mile and a half in length, and the French were on an opposite ridge, the two being separated by a valley about 500 yards wide. The plan of Napoleon was to turn the allied left, force it back upon center, and gain possession of the enemy's line of retreat. To draw off Wellington's attention to his right, French troops were sent about 11 o'clock to attack the chateau of Houguemont, which the English had fortified. After a [pg 60] more than two hours this was still in the possession of its defenders. About 1 o'clock a Prussian corps under Bulow was seen approaching on the French right, and Napoleon, finding it necessary to send 10,000 men to check their advance, was obliged to change the plan of battle. He therefore ordered a fierce attack upon the allied center. Wellington massed his troops there, and the battle was obstinately maintained for five hours, with varying success to the participants, both commanders hourly expecting re-enforcements. Wellington was waiting for Blucher and Napoleon for Grouchy. The French at last were gaining ground; the allied troops in the center were wavering under Ney's impetuous onslaughts, General Durutte had forced back the left, and Bulow's troops on the right had been forced to yield the position they had taken. Now, however, there were rumors that Blucher's army was approaching and the allies again rallied. At 7 o'clock Napoleon, despairing of the approach of Grouchy, determined to decide the day by a charge of the Old Guard, which had been held in reserve. At this stage the advance of Prussian horse on the allied left forced back General Durutte's troops, and the Old Guard formed in squares to cover this retreat. Ney's division surrounded, made a gallant struggle—their brave leader still unwounded, though five horses had been shot under him, heading them on foot, sword in hand—but were forced to give way. The Old Guard held their ground against overwhelming numbers. Finally, when five squares were broken, the Emperor gave the order to "fall back." The cry "The Guard is repulsed" spread consternation through the French army and threatened to turn retreat into precipitate flight. Napoleon, seeing this, reformed the Guard in order to give a rallying point for the fugitives. Failing in this, he declared that he would die within the square, but Marshal Soult hurried him away. The heroic band, surrounded, was bidden to surrender. "The Old Guard dies, but never surrenders" is the reply popularly attributed to General Cambronne, and with the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" the remnant of the Guard made a last charge upon the enemy and perished almost to a man. The forces of Blucher being now upon the field, the rout of the French was complete, and the Prussians pursued the fleeing troops, capturing guns and men. There is no doubt that the failure of Grouchy to come upon the field caused Napoleon to lose his last great battle. It was subsequently asserted that this marshal was bribed, but there seems to be no real foundation for so base a charge. The trouble was that he had been ordered by Napoleon to follow the Prussians toward Wavre and thought it necessary to follow the strict letter of his instructions. Before he reached the village the main body of the Prussian force was on its way to Waterloo, but one division had been left there to occupy his attention. Engaged in skirmishing with this, he paid no attention to the advice of his subordinate generals who, hearing the terrible cannonading at Waterloo, besought him to go to the aid of the army there. Napoleon believing that he was either holding back Blucher's forces or was hotly pursuing them, did not recall him to the main army, and the decisive battle was lost. Grouchy was summoned before a council of war, but the court declared itself incompetent to decide his case, and nothing further came of it.

OUR NATIONAL CEMETERIES.—National Cemeteries for soldiers and sailors may be said to have originated in 1850, the army appropriation bill of that year appropriating money for a cemetery near the City of Mexico, for the interment of the remains of soldiers who fell in the Mexican War. The remains of Federal soldiers and sailors who fell in the war for the Union have been buried in seventy-eight cemeteries exclusive of those interred elsewhere, a far greater number.

In the subjoined list are given the names and locations of the National Cemeteries with the number therein buried, known and unknown. We have no means of knowing what cemeteries also contain the bodies of Southern soldiers:

THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS.—The so-called catacombs of Paris were never catacombs in the ancient sense of the word, and were not devoted to purposes of sepulture until 1784. In that year the Council of State issued a decree for clearing the Cemetery of the Innocents, and for removing its contents, as well as those of other graveyards, into the quarries which had existed from the earlier times under the city of Paris and completely undermined the southern part of the city. Engineers and workmen were sent to examine the quarries and to prop up their roofs lest the weight of buildings above should break them in. April 7, 1786, the consecration of the catacombs was performed with great solemnity, and the work of removal from the cemeteries was immediately begun. This work was all performed by night; the bones were brought in funeral cars, covered with a pall, and followed by priests chanting the service of the dead, and when they reached the catacombs the bones were shot down the shaft. As the cemeteries were cleared by order of the government, their contents were removed to this place of general deposit, and these catacombs further served as convenient receptacles for those who perished in the revolution. At first the bones were heaped up without any kind of order except that those from each cemetery were kept separate, but in 1810 a regular system of arranging them was commenced, and the skulls and bones were built up along the wall. From the main entrance to the catacombs, which is near the barriers d'Enfer, a flight of ninety steps descends, at whose foot galleries are seen branching in various directions. Some yards distant is a vestibule of octagonal form, which opens into a long gallery lined with bones from floor to roof. The arm, leg and thigh bones are in front, closely and regularly piled, and their uniformity is relieved by three rows of skulls at equal distances. Behind these are thrown the smaller bones. This gallery conducts to several rooms resembling chapels, lined with bones variously arranged. One is called the "Tomb of the Revolution." another the "Tomb of Victims," the latter containing the relics of those who perished in the early period of the revolution and in the "Massacre of September." It is estimated that the remains of 3,000,000 human beings lie in this receptacle. Admission to these catacombs has for years been strictly forbidden on account of the unsafe condition of the roof. They are said to comprise an extent of about 3,250,000 square yards.

HISTORY OF THE TELEPHONE.—The principle of the telephone, that sounds could be conveyed to a distance by a distended wire, was demonstrated by Robert Hook in 1667, but no practical application was made of the discovery until 1821, when Professor Wheatstone exhibited his "Enchanted Lyre," in which the sounds of a music-box were conveyed from a cellar to upper rooms. The first true discoverer of the speaking telephone, however, was Johaun Philipp Reis, a German scientist and professor in the institute at Friedrichsdorf. April 25, 1861, Reis exhibited his telephone at Frankfort. This contained all the essential features of the modern telephone, but as its commercial value was not at all comprehended, little attention was paid to it. Reis, after trying in vain to arouse the interest of scientists in his discovery, died in 1874, without having reaped any advantage from it, and there is no doubt that his death was hastened by the distress of mind caused by his continual rebuffs. Meanwhile, the idea was being worked into more practical shape by other persons, Professor Elisha Gray and Professor A.G. Bell, and later by Edison. There is little doubt that Professor Gray's successful experiments considerably antedated those of the others, but Professor Bell was the first to perfect his patent. February 12, 1877, Bell's articulating telephone was tested by experiments at Boston and Salem, Mass., and was found to convey sounds distinctly from one place to the other, a distance of eighteen miles. This telephone was exhibited widely in this country and in Europe during that year, and telephone companies were established to bring it into general use. Edison's carbon "loud-speaking" telephone was brought out in 1878. It is not worth while to go into details of the suits on the subject of priority of invention. The examiner of patents at Washington, July 21, 1883, decided that Professor Bell was the first inventor, because he was the first to complete his invention and secure a full patent. Since 1878 there have been many improvements in the different parts of the telephone, rendering it now nearly perfect in its working.

SECESSION AND READMISSION OF REBEL STATES.—

THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-12.—The earthquake shocks felt on the shores of the Lower Mississippi in the years 1811-12 are recorded as among the most remarkable phenomena of their kind. Similar instances where earth disturbances have prevailed, severely and continuously, far from the vicinity of a volcano, are very rare indeed. In this instance, over an extent of country stretching for 300 miles southward from the mouth of the Ohio river, the ground rose and sank in great undulations, and lakes were formed and again drained. The shocks were attended by loud explosions, great fissures—generally traveling from northeast to southwest, and sometimes more than half a mile in length—were opened in the earth, and from these openings mud and water were thrown often to the tops of the highest trees. Islands in the Mississippi were sunk, the current of the river was driven back by the rising of its bed, and overflowed the adjacent lands. More than half of New Madrid county was permanently submerged. The inhabitants noticed that these earth movements were sometimes vertical and sometimes horizontal, the former being by far the most serious in their effects. These disturbances ceased March 26, 1812, simultaneously with the great earthquake which destroyed the city of Caracas, South America.

THE DARK DAYS IN NEW ENGLAND.—On May 19, 1780, there was a remarkable darkening of the sky and atmosphere over a large part of New England, which caused [pg 62] much alarm among those who witnessed it. The darkness began between ten and eleven o'clock on the day named, and continued in some places through the entire day, and was followed by an unusually intense degree of blackness during the ensuing night. This phenomenon extended from the northeastern part of New England westward as far as Albany, and southward to the coast of New Jersey. The most intense and prolonged darkness, however, was confined to Massachusetts, especially to the eastern half of the State. It came up from the southwest, and overhung the country like a pall. It was necessary to light candles in all the houses, and thousands of good people, believing that the end of all things terrestrial had come, betook themselves to religious devotions. One incident of the occasion has been woven into verse with excellent effect by the poet Whittier. The Connecticut Legislature was in session on that day, and as the darkness came on and grew more and more dense, the members became terrified, and thought that the day of judgment had come; so a motion was made to adjourn. At this, a Mr. Davenport arose and said: "Mr. Speaker, it is either the day of judgment, or it is not. If it is not, there is no need of adjourning. If it is, I desire to be found doing my duty. I move that candles be brought and that we proceed to business." Mr. Davenport's suggestion was taken, candles were brought in, and business went on as usual. As to the explanation of this phenomenon, scientists have been much puzzled. It was plain from the falling of the barometer that the air was surcharged with heavy vapor. The darkness then, it might be said, was only the result of a dense fog, but the question of the cause of so remarkable a fog was still unanswered. Omitting this unascertained primary cause, then, Professor Williams, of Harvard College, who subsequently made a thorough investigation of the matter, gave it as his opinion that this unprecedented quantity of vapor had gathered in the air in layers so as to cut off the rays of light, by repeated refraction, in a remarkable degree. He thought that the specific gravity of this vapor must have been the same as that of the air, which caused it to be held so long in suspension in the atmosphere. In this case the extent of the darkness would coincide with the area of the vapor, and it would continue until a change in the gravity of the air caused the vapors to ascend or descend. In some places when the darkness cleared it was as if the vapor was lifted and borne away by the wind like a dark pall, and in others, after a period of intense darkness the atmosphere gradually lightened again. In our day, a phenomenon of this kind would be thoroughly investigated to its most remote possible cause; but then owing to the sparse settlement of the country and the difficulties of travel, the investigation of distant causes could not be made. Large fires may have prevailed that spring in the forests of Western New York and Pennsylvania—a region then an absolute wilderness—the smoke of which was borne through the upper regions of the atmosphere, to fall when it came to a locality of less buoyant air, down to the lower strata. We say these fires may have recently preceded this day, and served as its sufficient cause, but we have only presumptive evidence that they did occur. Had Professor Williams entertained a supposition of the previous existence of such fires, he had then no means of verifying it, and long before the advent of railroads and telegraphs, or even of stage lines, the scientific theories of the dark day had passed from the general memory.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY BELL.—In 1751 the Pennsylvania Assembly authorized a committee to procure a bell for their State House. November 1st of that year an order was sent to London for "a good bell of about 2,000 pounds weight." To this order were added the following directions: "Let the bell be cast by the best workmen and examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following words well shaped in large letters around it, viz.: 'By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House, in the city of Philadelphia, 1752.' And underneath, 'Proclaim Liberty Through All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.—Levit. xxv. 10.'" In due time, in the following year, the bell reached Philadelphia, but when it was hung, early in 1753, as it was being first rung to test the sound, it cracked without any apparent reason, and it was necessary to have it recast. It was at first thought to be necessary to send it back to England for the purpose, but some "ingenious workmen" in Philadelphia wished to do the casting and were allowed to do so. In the first week of June, 1753, the bell was again hung in the belfry of the State House. On July 4, 1776, it was known throughout the city that the final decision on the question of declaring the colonies independent of Great Britain was to be made by the Continental Congress, in session at the State House. Accordingly the old bellman had been stationed in the belfry on that morning, with orders to ring the bell when a boy waiting at the door of the State House below should signal to him that the bill for independence had been passed. Hour after hour the old man stood at his post. At last, at 2 o'clock, when he had about concluded that the question would not be decided on that day at least, the watchman heard a shout from below, and looking down saw the boy at the door clapping his hands and calling at the top of his voice: "Ring! ring!" And he did ring, the story goes, for two whole hours, being so filled with excitement and enthusiasm that he could not stop. When the British threatened Philadelphia, in 1777, the precious bell was taken down and removed to the town of Bethlehem for safety. In 1778 it was returned to the State House and a new steeple built for it. Several years after it cracked, for some unknown reason, under a stroke of the clapper, and its tone was thus destroyed. An attempt was made to restore its tone by sawing the crack wider, but without success. This bell was sent to New Orleans during the winter to be exhibited in the World's Fair there. The Pullman Company gave one of their handsomest cars for the transit. It was in the charge of three custodians appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia, who did not leave it night or day, and guarded it as fully as possible against accident. A pilot engine preceded the train carrying the bell over the entire route. It left Philadelphia Jan. 24, 1885, and returned in June.

THE ANTARCTIC POLAR REGIONS.—The climate of the southern polar regions is much more severe than that at the north pole, the icefields extending in degrees nearer the equator from the south than from the north. Within the arctic circle there are tribes of men living on the borders of the icy ocean on both the east and west hemispheres, but within the antarctic all is one dreary, uninhabitable waste. In the extreme north the reindeer and the musk-ox are found in numbers, but not a single land quadruped exists beyond 50 degrees of southern latitude. Flowers are seen in summer by the arctic navigator as far as 78 degrees north, but no plant of any description, not even a moss or a lichen, has been observed beyond Cockburn Island, in 64 degrees 12 minutes south latitude. In Spitzbergen, 79 degrees north, vegetation ascends the mountain slopes to a height of 3,000 feet, but on every land within or near the antarctic circle the snow-line descends to the water's edge. The highest latitude ever reached at the south is 78 degrees 10 minutes, while in the north navigators have penetrated to 84 degrees. The reason for this remarkable difference is the predominance of [pg 63] large tracts of land in the northern regions, while in the south is a vast expanse of ocean. In the north continental masses form an almost continuous belt around the icy sea, while in the southern hemisphere the continents taper down into a broad extent of frigid waters. In the north the plains of Siberia and of the Hudson's Bay territories, warmed by the sunbeams of summer, become at that season centers of radiating heat, while the antarctic lands, of small extent, isolated in the midst of a polar ocean and chilled by cold sea winds, act at every season as refrigerators of the atmosphere. Further in the north the cold currents of the polar sea, having but two openings of any estent through which they can convey drift ice, have their chilly influence confined to comparatively narrow limits, but the cold currents of the antarctic seas have scope to branch out freely on all sides and carry their ice even into temperate waters. Finally, at the northern hemisphere, the Gulf Stream conveys warmth even to the shores of Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, while on the opposite regions of the globe no traces of warm currents have been observed beyond 55 degrees of south latitude.

THE LANGUAGE USED BY CHRIST.—The language used by Christ was the Aramaic, the dialect of Northern Syria. The Israelites were much in contact with Aramæan populations, and some words from that tongue became incorporated into the Hebrew at a very early date. At the time of Hezekiah, Aramaic had become the official language of both Judea and Assyria: that is, the language spoken at the courts. After the fall of Samaria the Hebrew inhabitants of Northern Israel were largely carried into captivity, and their place was taken by colonists from Syria, who probably spoke Aramaic as their mother tongue. The fall of the Jewish Kingdom hastened the decay of Hebrew as a spoken language—not that the captives forgot their own language, as is generally assumed, but after the return to Judea the Jews found themselves, a people few in number, among a large number of surrounding populations using the Aramaic tongue. When the latest books of the Old Testament were written, Hebrew, though still the language of literature, had been supplanted by Aramaic as the language of common life. From that time on the former tongue was the exclusive property of scholars, and has no history save that of a merely literary language.

HOW ANCIENT TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT.—This is beyond modern conjecture, so imperfect is our understanding of the extent of the mechanical knowledge of the ancients. Their appliances are believed to have been of the simplest order, and their implements exceedingly crude, and yet they were able to convey these enormous blocks of stones for vast distances, over routes most difficult, and having accomplished this, to raise them to great height, and fit them in place without the aid of either cement or mortar to cover up the errors of the stonecutter. How all this was done is one of the enigmas of modern science. It has been generally believed that inclined planes of earth were used to enable the workmen to raise the huge stones to their places, the earth being cleared away afterward. But it is possible that the ancients had a more extended knowledge of mechanical powers than we usually give them credit for, and that they made use of machinery very like that employed by moderns for lifting great weights. Large cavities are found in some of the stones in the pyramids, which may have been worn by the foot of a derrick turning in them. That there were enormous numbers of men employed in the building of these ancient structures is well known; these results of their great aggregated strength we see, but they left no record of the means by which this strength was focused and brought most effectually to bear on their mighty tasks.

THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE.—As early as 1842 Professor Morse declared a submarine cable connection between America and Europe to be among the possibilities, but no attempt toward this great achievement was made until 1854, when Cyrus Field established a company, which secured the right of landing cables in Newfoundland for fifty years. In 1858 soundings between Ireland and Newfoundland were completed, showing a maximum depth of 4,400 meters. Having succeeded in laying a cable between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Mr. Field secured the co-operation of English capitalists in his enterprise. The laying of the cable was begun August 7, 1857, from the port of Valencia, Ireland, but on the third day it broke, and the expedition had to return. Early in the following year another attempt was made. The cable was laid from both ends at the same time, was joined in mid-ocean, but in lowering it was broken. Again, in the same year, the attempt was made, and this time connection was successfully made. The first message over the line was sent August 7, 1858. The insulation of this cable, however, was defective, and by September 4th had quite failed. Some time was now spent in experiments, conducted by scientists, to secure a more perfect cable. A new company was formed, and in 1865 the work again began. The Great Eastern was employed to lay the cable, but when it was partly laid serious defects in the line were discovered and in repairing these it broke. The apparatus for recovering the wire proving insufficient the vessel returned to England. A new company, called the Anglo-American, was formed in 1865, and again the Great Eastern was equipped for the enterprise. The plan of the new expedition was not only to lay a new cable, but also to take up the end of the old one and join it to a new piece, thus obtaining a second telegraph line. The vessel sailed from Valencia July 13, 1866, and July 27 the cable was completely laid to Heart's Content, Newfoundland, and a message announcing the fact sent over the wire to Lord Stanley. Queen Victoria sent a message of congratulation to President Buchanan on the 28th. September 2d the lost cable of 1865 was recovered and its laying completed at Newfoundland September 8, 1866.

ENGRAVING ON EGGS.—The art of engraving on eggs is very puzzling to the uninitiated, but in reality it is very simple. It merely consists in writing upon the egg-shell with wax or varnish, or simply with tallow, and then immersing the egg in some weak acid, such, for example, as vinegar, dilute hydrochloric acid, or etching liquor. Wherever the varnish or wax has not protected the shell, the lime of the latter is decomposed and dissolved in the acid, and the writing or drawing remains in relief. In connection with this art a curious incident is told in history. In the month of August, 1808, at the time of the Spanish war, there was found in a church in Lisbon an egg, on which was plainly foretold the utter destruction of the French, who then had control of the city. The story of the wonderful prophecy spread through the town, causing the greatest excitement among the superstitious populace, and a general uprising was expected. This, however, the French commander cleverly thwarted by causing a counter-prophecy, directly denying the first, to be engrossed on several hundred eggs, which were then distributed in various parts of the city. The astonished Portuguese did not know what to think of this new phenomenon, but its "numerousness," if we may so call it, caused it to altogether outweigh the influence of the first prediction, and there were no further symptoms of revolt against the French.

CAYENNE PEPPER.—The name of the plant genus from which cayenne pepper is obtained is capsicum, a name also given to the product of the plant. This genus belongs to [pg 64] the solanaceæ, or night shade family, and has no relation to the family piperaceæ, which produces the shrub yielding black pepper. The plant which yields cayenne pepper is identical with the common red pepper of our gardens. It is an annual, a native of tropical countries, where it thrives luxuriantly even in the dryest soils, but it is also cultivated in other parts of the world. It grows to the height of two or three feet, and bears a fruit in the shape of a conical pod or seed-vessel, which is green when immature, but bright scarlet or orange when ripe. This pod, with its seeds, has a very pungent taste, and is used when green for pickling, and when ripe and dried is ground to powder to make cayenne pepper, or is used for medicine. This powder has a strongly stimulating effect, and is believed to aid digestion. It is also employed externally to excite the action of the skin.

THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.—There are several groves of Big Trees in California, the most famous of which are the Calaveras grove and the Mariposa grove. The Calaveras grove occupies what may be described as a band or belt 3,200 feet long and 700 in width. It is between two slopes, in a depression in the mountains, and has a stream winding through it, which runs dry in the summer time. In this grove the Big Trees number ninety-three, besides a great many smaller ones, which would be considered very large if it were not for the presence of these monarchs of the forest. Several of the Big Trees have fallen since the grove was discovered, one has been cut down, and one had the bark stripped from it to the height 116 feet from the ground. The highest now standing is the "Keystone State," 325 feet high and 45 feet in circumference; and the largest and finest is the "Empire State." There are four trees over 300 feet in height, and 40 to 61 feet in circumference. The tree which was cut down occupied five men twenty-two days, which would be at the rate of one man 110 days, or nearly four months' work, not counting Sundays. Pump augers were used for boring through the giant. After the trunk was severed from the stump it required five men with immense wedges for three days to topple it over. The bark was eighteen inches thick. The tree would have yielded more than 1,000 cords of four-foot wood and 100 cords of bark, or more than 1,100 cords in all. On the stump of the tree was built a house, thirty feet in diameter, which the Rev. A.H. Tevis, an observant traveler, says contains room enough in square feet, if it were the right shape, for a parlor 12x10 feet, a dining-room 10x12, a kitchen 10x12, two bed-rooms 10 feet square each, a pantry 4x8, two clothes-presses 1-1/2 feet deep and 4 feet wide, and still have a little to spare! The Mariposa grove is part of a grant made by Congress to be set apart for public use, resort and recreation forever. The area of the grant is two miles square and comprises two distinct groves about half a mile apart. The upper grove contains 365 trees, of which 154 are over fifteen feet in diameter, besides a great number of smaller ones. The average height of the Mariposa trees is less than that of the Calaveras, the highest Mariposa tree being 272 feet; but the average size of the Mariposa is greater than that of Calaveras. The "Grizzly Giant," in the lower grove, is 94 feet in circumference and 31 feet in diameter; it has been decreased by burning. Indeed, the forests at times present a somewhat unattractive appearance, as, in the past, the Indians, to help them in their hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and thus disfigured many of these splendid trees by burning off nearly all the bark. The first branch of the "Grizzly Giant" is nearly two hundred feet from the ground and is six feet in diameter. The remains of a tree, now prostrate, indicate that it had reached a diameter of about forty feet and a height of 400 feet; the trunk is hollow and will admit of the passage of three horsemen riding abreast. There are about 125 trees of over forty feet in circumference. Besides these two main groves there are the Tolumne grove, with thirty big trees; the Fresno grove, with over eight hundred spread over an area of two and a half miles long and one to two broad; and the Stanislaus grove, the Calaveras group, with from 700 to 800. There should be named in this connection the petrified forest near Calitoga, which contains portions of nearly one hundred distinct trees of great size, scattered over a tract of three or four miles in extent: the largest of this forest is eleven feet in diameter at the base and sixty feet long. It is conjectured that these prostrate giants were silicified by the eruption of the neighboring Mount St. Helena, which discharged hot alkaline waters containing silica in solution. This petrified forest is considered one of the great natural wonders of California.

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.—The earliest name of Jerusalem appears to have been Jebus, or poetically, Salem, and its king in Abraham's time was Melchizedek. When the Hebrews took possession of Canaan, the city of Salem was burned, but the fortress remained in the hands of the Jebusites till King David took it by storm and made it the capital of his kingdom. From that time it was called Jerusalem. During the reigns of David and Solomon it attained its highest degree of power. When ten of the Jewish tribes seceded under Jeroboam they made Shechem (and later Samaria) the capital of their kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem remained the capital of the smaller but more powerful kingdom of Judah. The city was taken by Shishak, King of Egypt, in 971 B.C., was later conquered and sacked by Joash, King of Israel, and in the time of Ahaz, the King of Syria came against it with a large force, but could not take it. The city was besieged in Hezekiah's reign, by the army of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, but was saved by the sudden destruction of the invading army. After the death of Josiah, the city was tributary for some years to the King of Egypt, but was taken after repeated attempts by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., and was left a heap of ruins. The work of rebuilding it began by order of King Cyrus about 538 B.C., who allowed the Jewish people who had been carried into captivity to return for this purpose. From this time Jerusalem enjoyed comparative peace for several hundred years and grew to be an important commercial city. When Alexander invaded Syria it submitted to him without resistance. After his death it belonged for a time to Egypt and in 198 B.C., passed with the rest of Judea under the rule of Syria. Antiochus the Great ruled it with mildness and justice, but the tyranny of his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, brought about the revolt, headed by the Maccabees, through which Jerusalem gained a brief independence. In 63 B.C., Pompey the Great took the city, demolished the walls and killed thousands of the people, but did not plunder it. However, nine years later Crassus robbed the temple of all its treasures. The walls were soon after rebuilt under Antipater, the Roman procurator, but when Herod came to rule over the city with the title of King, given him by the Roman Senate, he was resisted and only took possession after an obstinate siege, which was followed by the massacre of great numbers of the people. Herod improved and enlarged the city, and restored the temple on a more magnificent scale than in Solomon's time. Jerusalem is said at this time to have had a population of over 200,000. This period of wealth and prosperity was also rendered most, memorable for Jerusalem by the ministry and crucifixion of Christ. About A.D. 66, the Jews, goaded to desperation by the tyranny of the Romans, revolted, garrisoned Jerusalem, and defeated a Roman army sent against [pg 65] them. This was the beginning of the disastrous war which ended with the destruction of the city. It was taken by Titus, in the year 70, after a long siege, all the inhabitants were massacred, or made prisoners, and the entire city left a heap of ruins. The Emperor Hadrian built on the site of Jerusalem a Roman city, under the name of Elia Capitolina, with a temple of Jupiter, and Jews were forbidden to enter the city under pain of death. Under Constantine it was made a place of pilgrimage for Christians, as the Emperor's mother, Helena, had with much pains located the various sites of events in the history of Christ. The Emperor Julian, on the contrary, not only allowed the Jews to return to their city, but also made an attempt, which ended in failure, to rebuild their temple. In 614 the Persian Emperor Chosroes invaded the Roman empire. The Jews joined his army, and after conquering the northern part of Palestine, the united forces laid siege to and took Jerusalem. The Jews wreaked vengeance on the Christians for what they had been forced to endure, and 20,000 people were massacred. The Persians held rule in the city for fourteen years; it was then taken by the Romans again, but in 636 the Caliph Omar beseiged it. After four months the city capitulated. It was under the rule of the Caliphs for 400 years, until the Seljuk Turks in 1077 invaded Syria and made it a province of their empire. Christian pilgrims had for many years kept up the practice of visiting the tomb of Christ, as the Caliphs did not interfere with their devotions any further than by exacting a small tribute from each visitor. But the cruelties practiced upon the pilgrims by the Turks were many, and report of them soon roused all Europe to a pitch of indignation, and brought about that series of holy wars, which for a time restored the holy sepulcher into Christian hands. Jerusalem was stormed and taken July 15, 1099, and 50,000 Moslems were slaughtered by their wrathful Christian foes. The new sovereignty was precariously maintained until 1187, when it fell before the power of Saladin. Jerusalem, after a siege of twelve days, surrendered. Saladin, however, did not put his captives to death, but contented himself with expelling them from the city. Jerusalem passed into the hands of the Franks by treaty, in 1229, was retaken by the Moslems in 1239, once more restored in 1243, and finally conquered in 1244 by a horde of Kharesmian Turks. In 1517 Palestine was conquered by Sultan Selin I., and since then has been under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, except for a brief period—from 1832 to 1840, when it was in the hands of Mahomet Ali Pasha of Egypt, and his son Ibrahim had his seat of government in Jerusalem.

THE BLACK DEATH.—- This great plague, known as the "Black Death," was the most deadly epidemic ever known. It is believed to have been an aggravated outburst of the Oriental plague, which from the earliest records of history has periodically appeared in Asia and Northern Africa. There had been a visitation of the plague in Europe in 1342; the Black Death, in terrible virulence, appeared in 1348-9; it also came in milder form in 1361-2, and again in 1369. The prevalence and severity of the pestilence during this century is ascribed to the disturbed conditions of the elements that preceded it. For a number of years Asia and Europe had suffered from mighty earthquakes, furious tornadoes, violent floods, clouds of locusts darkening the air and poisoning it with their corrupting bodies. Whether these natural disturbances were the cause of the plague is not certainly known, but many writers on the subject regard the connection as both probable and possible. The disease was brought from the Orient to Constantinople, and early in 1347 appeared in Sicily and several coast towns of Italy. After a brief pause the pestilence broke out at Avignon in January, 1348; advanced thence to Southern France, Spain and Northern Italy. Passing through France and visiting, but not yet ravaging, Germany, it made its way to England, cutting down its first victims at Dorset, in August, 1348. Thence it traveled slowly, reaching London early in the winter. Soon it embraced the entire kingdom, penetrating to every rural hamlet, so that England became a mere pest-house. The chief symptoms of the disease are described as "spitting, in some cases actual vomiting, of blood, the breaking out of inflammatory boils in parts, or over the whole of the body, and the appearance of those dark blotches upon the skin which suggested its most startling name. Some of the victims died almost on the first attack, some in twelve hours, some in two days, almost all within the first three days." The utter powerlessness of medical skill before the disease was owing partly to the physicians' ignorance of its nature, and largely to the effect of the spirit of terror which hung like a pall over men's minds. After some months had passed, the practice of opening the hard boils was adopted, with very good effect, and many lives were thus saved. But the havoc wrought by the disease in England was terrible. It is said that 100,000 persons died in London, nearly 60,000 in Norwich, and proportionate numbers in other cities. These figures seem incredible, but a recent writer, who has spent much time in the investigation of records, asserts that at least half the population, or about 2,500,000 souls, of England perished in this outbreak. The ravages of the pestilence over the rest of the world were no less terrible. Germany is said to have lost 1,244,434 victims; Italy, over half the population. On a moderate calculation, it may be assumed that there perished in Europe during the first appearance of the Black Death, fully 25,000,000 human beings. Concerning the Orient we have less reliable records, but 13,000,000 are said to have died in China, and 24,000,000 in the rest of Asia and adjacent islands. The plague also ravaged Northern Africa, but of its course there little is known. The horrors of that dreadful time were increased by the fearful persecutions visited on the Jews, who were accused of having caused the pestilence by poisoning the public wells. The people rose to exterminate the hapless race, and killed them by fire and torture wherever found. It is impossible for us to conceive of the actual horror of such times.

MIGHTY HAMMERS.—An authority on scientific subjects give the weights of the great hammers used in the iron works of Europe, and their date of manufacture, as follows: At the Terni Works, Italy, the heaviest hammer weighs 50 tons, and was made in 1873; one at Alexandrovski, Russia, was made the following year of like weight. In 1877, one was finished at Creusot Works, France, weighing 80 tons; in 1885, one at the Cockerill Works, Belgium, of 100 tons, and in 1880, at the Krupp Works, Essen, Germany, one of 150 tons. The latter being the heaviest hammer in the world.

ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD.—July 2, 1881, at 9:25 A.M., as President Garfield was entering the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad depot at Washington, preparatory to taking the cars for a two weeks' jaunt in New England, he was fired upon and severely wounded by Charles Jules Guitean, a native of Illinois, but of French descent. The scene of the assassination was the ladies' reception-room at the station. The President and Mr. Blaine, arm in arm, were walking slowly through the aisle between two rows of benches on either side of the room; when Guitean entered by a side door on the left of the gentlemen, passed quickly around the back of the benches till directly behind the President, and fired the shot that struck his arm. Mr. Garfield walked about ten feet to the end of the aisle, and was in the act of turning to face his assailant when the second shot struck him in [pg 66] small of the back, and he fell. The assassin was immediately seized and taken to jail. The wounded president was conveyed in an ambulance to the White House. As he was very faint, the first fear was of internal hemorrhage, which might cause speedy death. But as he rallied in a few hours, this danger was thought to be averted and inflammation was now feared. But as symptoms of this failed to appear, the surgeons in attendance concluded that no important organ had been injured, that the bullet would become encysted and harmless, or might possibly be located and successfully removed. By the 10th of July, the reports were so favorable, that the president's recovery was regarded as certain, and public thanksgivings were offered in several of the States, by order of the governors, for his deliverance. The first check in the favorable symptoms occurred on July 18, and July 23 there was a serious relapse, attended with chills and fever. The wound had been frequently probed but without securing any favorable result. The induction balance was used to locate the ball, and was regarded as a success, though subsequently its indications were known to have been altogether erroneous. The probings, therefore, in what was assumed to be the track of the ball, only increased the unfavorable symptoms. During the entire month of August these reports were alternately hopeful and discouraging, the dangerous indications being generally on the increase. By August 25, his situation was understood to be very critical, though an apparent improvement on the 26th and 28th again aroused hope. At his own earnest desire the president was removed, September 6, to Elberon Park, near Long Branch. N.J., in the hope that the cooler air of the seaside might renew his strength more rapidly. However, the improvement hoped for did not appear. On September 16, there was a serious relapse, with well-marked symptoms of blood poisoning, and September 19, the president died. A post-mortem examination showed that the ball, after fracturing one of the ribs, had passed through the spinal column, fracturing the body of one of the vertebra, driving a number of small fragments of bone into the soft parts adjacent, and lodging below the pancreas, where it had become completely encysted. The immediate cause of death was hemorrhage from one of the small arteries in the track of the ball, but the principal cause was the poisoning of the blood from suppuration.

COINS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—The following carefullv prepared summary indicates the coins in use in the various countries, taking their names in alphabetical order:

Argentine Republic—Gold coins: 20 peso piece, $19.94; 10 pesos, $9.97; 5 pesos, $4.98. Silver: 1 peso, 99 cents. The copper coin of the country is the centisimo, 100 of which make a peso or dollar.

Austria—Gold coins: 8 gulden piece, $3.86; 4 gulden, $1.93. Silver: Marie Theresa thaler, $1.02; 2 gulden, 96 cents; 1 gulden, 48 cents; 1/4 gulden, 12 cents; 20 kreutzer, 10 cents; 10 kreutzer, 5 cents. Of the small copper coin current, known as the kreutzer, 100 make a gulden.

Brazil—Gold coins: 20 milrei piece, $10.91; 10 milreis, $5.45. Silver: 2 milreis, $1.09; 1 milreis, 55 cents; 1/2 milreis, 27 cents. The Portuguese rei is used for copper money, worth about 1/8 of a cent.

Chili—Gold coin: 10 pesos (or 1 condor), $9.10; 5 pesos, $4.55: 2 pesos, $1.82. Silver: 1 peso, 91 cents; 50 centavos, 45 cents; 20 centavos, 18 cents; 10 centavos, 9 cents; 5 centavos, 4 cents. The copper coin is 1 centavo, 100th of a peso.

Colombia—Gold coins: Twenty peso piece, $19.30; 10 pesos, $9.65; 5 pesos, $4.82; 2 pesos, $1.93. Silver: 1 peso, 96 cents; 20 centavos, 19 cents; 10 centavos, 10 cents; 5 centavos, 5 cents. The copper centavo of Colombia is identical in value with our cent. (The currency of Coloumbia is also used in Venezuela.)

Denmark—Gold coins: Twenty kroner piece, $5.36; 10 kroner, $2.68. Silver: Two kroner, 53 cents; 1 krone, 27 cents; 50 ore, 13 cents; 40 ore, 10 cents; 25 ore, 6-1/2 cents; 10 ore, 2-1/2 cents. One hundred of the copper ore make one krone.

France—Gold coins: One hundred franc piece, $19.30; 50 francs. $9.65; 20 francs, $3.85; 10 francs, $1.93; 5 francs, 96 cents. Silver: Five francs, 96 cents; 2 francs, 38 cents; 1 franc, 19 cents; 50 centimes, 10 cents: 20 centimes, 4 cents. The copper coins are the sou, worth about 9-1/2 mills, and the centime, 2 mills.

Germany—Gold coins: Twenty-mark piece, $4.76; 10 marks, $2.38; 5 marks, $1.19. Silver: Five marks, $1.19; 2 marks, 48 cents; 1 mark, 24 cents; 50 pfennige, 12 cents; 20 pfennige, 5 cents. One hundred copper pfennige make one mark.

Great Britain—Gold coins: Pound or sovereign, $4.86; guinea, $5.12. Silver: Five shillings or crown, $1.25; half crown, 62-1/2 cents; shilling, 25 cents; sixpence, 12-1/2 cents. Also a three-penny piece and a four-penny piece, but the latter is being called in, and is nearly out of circulation. The copper coins of Great Britain are the penny, half-penny and farthing.

India—Gold coins: Thirty rupees or double mohur, $14.58; 15 rupees or mohur, $7.29; 10 rupees, $4.86; 5 rupees, $2.43. Silver: One rupee, 48 cents, and coins respectively of the value of one-half, one-fourth and one-eighth rupee. In copper there is the pie, one-fourth of a cent; the pice, 3/4 of a cent; the ana, 3 cents.

Japan—Gold coins: Twenty yen, $19.94; 10 yen, $9.97; 5 yen, $4.98; 2 yen, $1.99; 1 yen, 99 cents. Silver: The 50, 20, 10 and 5 sen pieces, answering respectively to 50, 20, 10 and 5 cents. In copper there is the sen, answering to 1 cent.

Mexico—Gold coins: Sixteen dollar piece, $15.74; 8 dollars, $7.87; 4 dollars, $3.93; 2 dollars, $1.96; 1 dollar, 98 cents. Silver: 1 dollar, 98 cents; 50-cent piece, 49 cents; 25 cents, 24 cents. The Mexican cent, like our own, equals one-hundreth of a dollar.

Netherlands—Gold coins: Ten-guilder piece, $4.02; 5 guilders, $2.01. Silver: 2-1/2 guilders, $1; 1 guilder, 40 cents; half-guilder, 20 cents; 25 cents, 10 cents; 10 cents, 4 cents; 5 cents, 2 cents. The Dutch copper cent is one-hundreth of the guilder.

Peru—Gold coins: Twenty-sol piece, $19.30; 10 sol, $9.65; 5 sol, $4.82; 2 sol. $1.93; 1 sol, 96 cents. Silver: 1 sol, 96 cents; 50 centesimos, 48 cents; 20, 10 and 5 centesimos, worth respectively 19, 10 and 5 cents. It will be noted that the Peruvian coinage is almost identical with that of Colombia. It is also used in Bolivia.

Portugal—Gold coin: Crown, $10.80; half-crown, $5.40; one-fifth crown, $2.16; one-tenth crown, $1.08. These gold pieces are also known respectively as 10, 5, 2 and 1 dollar pieces. The silver coins are the 500, 200, 100 and 50 reis coins, worth respectively 54, 21, 11 and 5 cents. One thousand reis are equal to one crown.

Russia—Gold coins: Imperial or 10-ruble piece, $7.72; 5 rubles, $3.86; 3 rubles, $2.31. Silver: ruble, 77 cents; half-ruble, 38 cents; quarter-ruble, 19 cents; 20 copecks, 15 cents; 10 copecks, 7 cents; 5 copecks, 4 cents; 100 copecks are worth 1 ruble.

Turkey—Gold coins: Lira or medjidie, $4.40; half-lira, $2.20; quarter-lira, $1.10. The silver unit is the piastre, worth 4 cents of our currency, and silver coins of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 piastres are current.

The currency of Denmark is also in use in Norway and Sweden, these three countries forming the Scandinavian [pg 67] Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Roumania, Servia, Spain and Switzerland are united in the Latin Union, and use the French coinage. The units in the different States are, it is true, called by different names; as in France, Belgium and Switzerland, franc and centime; in Italy, lira and centesimo; in Greece, drachm and lepta; in Roumania, lei and bani: in Servia, dinar and para; in Spain, peseta and centesimo; but in all cases the value is the same.

The similarity in the coinage of different countries is worth notice. A very slight change in the percentage of silver used would render the half-guilder of Austria, the krone of the Scandinavian Union, the franc of the Latin Union, the mark of Germany, the half-guilder of Holland, the quarter-ruble of Russia, the 200-reis piece of Portugal, the 5-piastre piece of Turkey, the half-milreis of Brazil and the half-rupee of India, all interchangeable with the English shilling, and all of them about the value of the quarter-dollar of North and South American coinage. With the exception of Brazil, the other South American States, as well as Mexico and the Central American countries, are all rapidly approximating a uniform coinage, which the needs of commerce will unquestionably soon harmonize with that of the United States. Curiously enough, the great force that is assimilating the alien branches of the human race is not Christianity but trade.

A HISTORY OF THE PANIC OF 1857.—The cause of the panic of 1857 was mainly the rage for land speculation which had run through the country like an epidemic. Paper cities abounded, unproductive railroads were opened, and to help forward these projects, irresponsible banks were started, or good banks found themselves drawn into an excessive issue of notes. Every one was anxious to invest in real estate and become rich by an advance in prices. Capital was attracted into this speculation by the prospect of large gains, and so great was the demand for money that there was a remarkable advance in the rates of interest. In the West, where the speculative fever was at its highest, the common rates of interest were from 2 to 5 per cent. a month. Everything was apparently in the most prosperous condition, real estate going up steadily, the demand for money constant, and its manufacture by the banks progressing successfully, when the failure of the "Ohio Life and Trust Company," came, August 24, 1857, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. This was followed by the portentous mutterings of a terrible coming storm. One by one small banks in Illinois, Ohio, and everywhere throughout the West and South went down. September 25-26 the banks of Philadelphia suspended payment, and thus wrecked hundreds of banks in Pennsylvania, Maryland and adjoining States. October 13-14, after a terrible run on them by thousands of depositors, the banks of New York suspended payment. October 14 all the banks of Massachusetts went down, followed by a general wreckage of credit throughout New England. The distress which followed these calamities was very great, tens of thousands of workmen being unemployed for months. The New York banks resumed payment again December 12, and were soon followed by the banks in other cities. The darkest period of the crisis now seemed past, although there was much heart rending suffering among the poor during the winter which followed. The commercial reports for the year 1857 showed 5,123 commercial failures, with liabilities amounting to $291,750,000.

THE HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK.—A flat rock near the vicinity of New Plymouth is said to have been the one on which the great, body of the Pilgrims landed from the Mayflower. The many members of the colony, who died in the winter of 1620-21, were buried near this rock. About 1738 it was proposed to build a wharf along the shore there. At this time there lived in New Plymouth an old man over 90 years of ago named Thomas Faunce, who had known some of the Mayflower's passengers when a lad, and by them had been shown the rock on which they had landed. On hearing that it was to be covered with a wharf the old man wept, and it has been said that his tears probably saved Plymouth Rock from oblivion. After the Revolution it was found that the rock was quite hidden by the sand washed upon it by the sea. The sand was cleared away, but in attempting to take up the rock it was split in two. The upper half was taken to the village and placed in the town square. In 1834 it was removed to a position in front of Pilgrim Hall and enclosed in an iron railing. In September, 1880, this half of the stone was taken back to the shore and reunited to the other portion. A handsome archway was then built over the rock, to protect it in part from the depredations of relic hunters.

GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.—General Grant embarked on a steamer at the Philadelphia wharf for his tour around the world May 17, 1877. He arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, May 27. Thence he went to Liverpool, Manchester, and on to London. He remained in that city several weeks, and was made the recipient of the most brilliant social honors. July 5th he went to Belgium, and thence made a tour through Germany and Switzerland, He then visited Denmark, and August 25 returned to Great Britain, and until October spent the time in visiting the various cities of Scotland and England. October 24th he started for Paris, where he remained a month, then went on to Lyons, thence to Naples, and subsequently with several friends he made a trip on the Mediterranean, visiting the islands of Sicily, Malta and others. Thence going to Egypt, the pyramids and other points of note were visited, and a journey made up the Nile as far as the first cataract. The programme of travel next included a visit to Turkey and the Holy Land, whence, in March, the party came back to Italy through Greece, revisited Naples, went to Turin and back to Paris. After a few weeks spent in the social gayeties of that city, the Netherlands was chosen as the next locality of interest, and The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam were visited in turn. June 26, 1878, the General and his party arrived in Berlin. After staying there some weeks they went to Christiana and Stockholm, then to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw, and back over German soil to Vienna. Another trip was now made through Switzerland, and, then returning to Paris, a start was made for a journey through Spain and Portugal, in which Victoria, Madrid, Lisbon, Seville and other important towns were visited. A trip was also made from Cadiz to Gibraltar by steamer. After another brief visit to Paris, General Grant went to Ireland, arriving at Dublin January 3, 1879; visited several points of interest in that country, then, by way of London and Paris, went to Marseilles, whence he set sail by way of the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal for India. He reached Bombay February 13th. Thence visited Allahabad, Agra and rode on an elephant to Amber; also went to Benares, Delhi. Calcutta and Rangoon, spent a week in Siam, then went by steamer to China. After spending some time at Canton, Pekin and other places he went to Japan for a brief visit. He went to Nagasaki, Tokio and Yokahama, and at last, September 3, 1879, set sail from Tokio on his return to the United States. September 20th he arrived in the harbor of San Francisco. After some weeks spent in visiting the points of interest in California and Oregon he returned to his home in the Eastern States.

HISTORY OF VASSAR COLLEGE.—- Vassar College is on the east bank of the Hudson, near Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It was founded in 1861. In that year Matthew Vassar, a wealthy [pg 68] of Poughkeepsie, gave to an incorporated board of trustees the sum of $108,000 and 200 acres of land for the endowment of a college for women. The building was constructed from plans approved by him, at a cost of about $200,000. The college was opened in September, 1865, with eight professors and twenty other instructors, and 300 students. The first president of the college was Professor Milo P. Jewett; the second Dr. John H. Raymond; the third the Rev. Samuel Caldwell. The college has a fine library, with scientific apparatus and a museum of natural history specimens.

THE ORIGINS OF CHESS.—So ancient is chess, the most purely intellectual of games, that its origin is wrapped in mystery. The Hindoos say that it wad the invention of an astronomer, who lived more than 5,000 years ago, and was possessed of supernatural knowledge and acuteness. Greek historians assert that the game was invented by Palamedes to beguile the tedium of the siege of Troy. The Arab legend is that it was devised for the instruction of a young despot, by his father, a learned Brahman, to teach the youth that a king, no matter how powerful, was dependent upon his subjects for safety. The probability is that the game was the invention of some military genius for the purpose of illustrating the art of war. There is no doubt, that it originated in India, for a game called by the Sanskrit name of Cheturanga—which in most essential points strongly resembles modern chess, and was unquestionably the parent of the latter game—is mentioned in Oriental literature as in use fully 2,000 years before the Christian area. In its gradual diffusion over the world the game has undergone many modifications and changes, but marked resemblances to the early Indian game are still to be found in it. From India, chess spread into Persia, and thence into Arabia, and the Arabs took it to Spain and the rest of Western Europe.

THE DARK AGES.—The Dark Ages is a name often applied by historians to the Middle Ages, a term comprising about 1,000 years, from the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century to the invention of printing in the fifteenth. The period is called "dark" because of the generally depraved state of European society at this time, the subservience of men's minds to priestly domination, and the general indifference to learning. The admirable civilization that Rome had developed and fostered, was swept out of existence by the barbarous invaders from Northern Europe, and there is no doubt that the first half of the medieval era, at least, from the year 500 to 1000, was one of the most brutal and ruffianly epochs in history. The principal characteristic of the middle ages were the feudal system and the papal power. By the first the common people were ground into a condition of almost hopeless slavery, by the second the evolution of just and equitable governments by the ruling clashes was rendered impossible through the intrusion of the pontifical authority into civil affairs. Learning did not wholly perish, but it betook itself to the seclusion of the cloisters. The monasteries were the resort of many earnest scholars, and there were prepared the writings of historians, metaphysicians and theologians. But during this time man lived, as the historian Symonds says, "enveloped in a cowl." The study of nature was not only ignored but barred, save only as it ministered in the forms of alchemy and astrology to the one cardinal medieval virtue—- credulity. Still the period saw many great characters and events fraught with the greatest importance to the advancement of the race.

THE GREATEST DEPTH OF THE OCEAN NEVER MEASURED.—The deepest verified soundings are those made in the Atlantic Ocean, ninety miles off the island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, 3,875 fathoms, or 23,250 feet Deeper water has been reported south of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, over 27,000 feet in depth, but additional soundings in that locality did not corroborate this. Some years ago, it was claimed that very deep soundings, from 45,000 to 48,000 feet, had been found off the coast of South America, but this report was altogether discredited on additional investigation in these localities. The ship Challenger, which in 1872-74 made a voyage round the globe for the express purpose of taking deep sea soundings in all the oceans, found the greatest depth touched in the Pacific Ocean less than 3,000 fathoms, and the lowest in the Atlantic 3,875 fathoms, as given above.

THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION.—It is not positively known how many men from the colonies served in the war. The official tabular statement indicates a total off recorded years of enlistment and not a total of the the men who served. Hence, a man who served from April 19, 1775, until the formal cessation of hostilities, April 19, 1783 counted as eight men in the aggregate. In this basis of enlisted years, the following table gives the contribution various States: New Hampshire, 12,497; Massachusetts, 69,907; Rhode Island, 5,908; Connecticut, 31,939; New York, 17,781; New Jersey, 10,726; Pennsylvania, 25,678; Delaware, 2,386; Maryland, 13,912; Virginia, 26,678; North Carolina, 7,263; South Carolina, 6,417; Georgia, 2,679; Total, 233,771.

THE WORLD'S DECISIVE BATTLES.—The fifteen decisive battles of the world from the fifth century before Christ to the beginning of the nineteenth century of the present era, are as follows:

The battle of Marathon, in which the Persian hosts were defeated by the Greeks under Miltiades, B.C. 490.

The defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413.

The battle of Arhela, in which the Persians under Darius were defeated by the invading Greeks under Alexander the Great, B.C. 331.

The battle of the Metanrus, in which the Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal were overthrown by the Romans, B.C. 207. Victory of the German tribes under Arminins over the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 9. (The battle was fought in what is now the province of Lippe, Germany, near the source of the river Ems.)

Battle of Chalons, where Attila the terrible King of the Huns, was repulsed by the Romans under Aetius, A.D. 451

Battle of Tours, in which the Saracen Turks invading Western Europe were utterly overthrown by the Franks under Charles Martel, A.D. 732.

Battle of Hastings, by which William the Conqueror became the ruler of England, Oct. 14, 1066.

Victory of the French under Joan of Arc over the English at Orleans, April 29, 1429.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English naval force, July 29 and 30, 1588.

Battle of Blenheim, in which the French and Bavarians were defeated by the allied armies of Great Britain and Holland under the Duke of Marlborough, Aug. 2, 1704.

Battle of Pultowa, the Swedish army under Charles XII, defeated by the Russians under Peter the Great, July 8, 1709. Victory of the American army under General Gates over the British under General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777.

Battle of Valmy where the allied armies of Prussia and Austria were defeated by the French under Marshal Kellerman. Sept. 20, 1792.

Battle of Waterloo, the allied forces of the British and Prussians defeated the French under Napoleon, the final overthrow of the great commander, June 18, 1815.

These battles are selected as decisive, because of the important consequences that followed them. Few students of history, probably, would agree with Prof. Creasy, in restricting the list as he does. Many other conflicts might be noted, fraught with great importance to the human race, and unquestionably "decisive" in their nature; as, for instance, the victory of Sobieski over the Turkish army at Vienna, Sept. 12, 1683. Had the Poles and Austrians been defeated there, the Turkish general might readily have fulfilled his threat "to stable his horses in the Church of St. Peter's at Rome," and all Western Europe would, no doubt, have been devastated by the ruthless and bloodthirsty Ottomans. Of important and decisive battles since that of Waterloo we may mention in our own Civil War those of Gettysburg, by which the invasion of the North was checked, and at Chattanooga, Nov. 23 and 25, 1863, by which the power of the Confederates in the southwest received a deadly blow.

THE WANDERING JEW.—There are various versions of the story of "The Wandering Jew," the legends of whom have formed the foundation of numerous romances, poems and tragedies. One version is that this person was a servant in the house of Pilate, and gave the Master a blow as He was being dragged out of the palace to go to His death. A popular tradition makes the wanderer a member of the tribe of Naphtali, who, some seven or eight years previous to the birth of the Christ-child left his father to go with the wise men of the East whom the star led to the lowly cot in Bethlehem. It runs, also, that the cause of the killing of the children can be traced to the stories this person related when he returned to Jerusalem of the visit of the wise men, and the presentation of the gifts they brought to the Divine Infant, when He was acknowledged by them to be the king of the Jews, He was lost sight of for a time, when he appeared as a carpenter who was employed in making the cross on which the Saviour was to be lifted up into the eyes of all men. As Christ walked up the way to Calvary, He had to pass the workshop of this man, and when He reached its door, the soldiers, touched by the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, besought the carpenter to allow Him to rest there for a little, but he refused, adding insult to a want of charity. Then it is said that Christ pronounced his doom, which was to wander over the earth until the second coming. Since that sentence was uttered, he has wandered, courting death, but finding it not, and his punishment, becoming more unbearable as the generations come and go. He is said to have appeared in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even as recently as the eighteenth century, under the names of Cartaphilus, and Ahasuerus, by which the Wandering Jew has been known. One of the legends described him as a shoemaker of Jerusalem, at whose door Christ desired to rest on the road to Calvary, but the man refused, and the sentence to wander was pronounced.

SOME MEMORABLE DARK DAYS.—During the last hundred years there have been an unusually large number of dark days recorded. As has been suggested by several writers, this may have been the result of the careful scientific observations of modern times, as well as of the frequency of these phenomena. The dark day in the beginning of this century about which so much has been said and written occurred Oct. 21, 1816. The first day of the same month and year is also represented as "a close dark day." Mr. Thomas Robie, who took observations at Cambridge, Mass., has this to offer in regard to the phenomenon. "On Oct. 21 the day was so dark that people were forced to light candles to eat their dinners by; which could not he from an eclipse, the solar eclipse being the fourth of that month." The day is referred to by another writer as "a remarkable dark day in New England and New York," and it is noted, quaintly by a third, that "in October, 1816, a dark day occurred after a severe winter in New England." Nov. 26, 1816, was a dark day in London, and is described "in the neighborhood of Walworth and Camberwell so completely dark that some of the coachmen driving stages were obliged to get down and lead their horses with a lantern." The famous dark day in America was May 19, 1780. The phenomenon began about 10 o'clock in the forenoon. The darkness increased rapidly, and "in many places it was impossible to read ordinary print." There was widespread fear. Many thought that the Day of Judgment was at hand. At that time the Legislature of Connecticut was in session at Hartford. The House of Representatives, being unable to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the council was under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel Davenport was asked, he answered: "I am against an adjournment. The day of judgment is approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment: if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish, therefore, that candles may be brought." In Whittier's "Tent on the Beach" is given a beautiful poetical version of this anecdote. It is suggested by several authorities that the cause of the dark day in 1780 should be attributed simply to the presence of ordinary clouds of very unusual volume and density. These instances are, of course, grouped with phenomena of which not a great deal is known, and can in no way be classed with those occurrances occasioned by the smoke from extensive forest tires, volcanic eruptions, or fogs.

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF CHARLIE ROSS.—Charlie Ross was the son of Christian K. Ross of Germantown, Pa., and at the time of his disappearance was a little over 4 years of age. The child and a brother 6 years old were playing July 1, 1874, in the streets of Germantown, when a couple of men drove up in a buggy and persuaded the children, with promises of toys and candies, to get in and ride with them in the vehicle. After driving around the place for a little time, the older brother, Walter Ross, was put out of the conveyance, and the strangers gave him 25 cents, telling him to go to a store near at hand and buy some candy and torpedoes for himself and Charlie. Walter did as he was told, but when he came out of the store the men with Charlie and the vehicle had disappeared. It was believed at first by the relatives and friends of the missing boy that he would be returned in a short time, as they supposed he might have been taken by some drunken men. Time passed, however, but no trace of the child had been discovered. In a few weeks a letter was received by Mr. Ross to the effect that if he would pay $20,000 his son would be returned, but, that the parent need not search for Charlie, as all efforts to find the abducted boy or his captors would only be attended with failure; and it was stated that if this amount was not paid, Charlie would be killed. The father answered this and a long correspondence ensued, while the search was prosecuted in all directions. Mr. Ross wanted the child delivered at the time the money was paid, but to this the abductors refused to agree. It is stated that more than $50,000 were expended to recover the child. At one time two gentlemen were two days in Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, with the $20,000 ransom money to be given to the child-thieves, but they did not appear. The search was continued, and the officers of the law were looking up any and all evidence, until they had located the two men. These were found Dec. 4, 1874, committing a burglary in the house of Judge Van Brunt, Bay Ridge, L.I.; the burglary was discovered, the burglars seen and shot by persons residing in an adjoining residence. One of the men was killed instantly, the [pg 70] lived several hours, and confessed that he and his companion had abducted Charlie Ross, but that the dead thief, Mosher by name, was the one who knew where the boy was secreted. Walter Ross identified the burglars as the men who had enticed him and Charlie into the buggy. There the case rested. No new fact has been developed. The missing child has never been found. Many times have children been reported who resembled Charlie, and Mr. Ross has traveled far and near in his endless search, only to return sadly and report that his boy was still missing. No case in recent years has excited such universal sympathy as that of Charlie Ross.

THE BLUE LAWS ON SMOKING.—There were some very stringent laws in Massachusetts against the use of tobacco in public, and while the penalties were not so heavy, yet they were apparently rigidly enforced for a time. We quote from a law passed in October, 1632, as follows: "It is ordered that noe person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under paine of punishment; also that every one shall pay 1d. for every time hee is convicted of takeing tobacco in any place, and that any Assistant shall have power to receave evidence and give order for levyeing of it, as also to give order for the levyeing of the officer's charge. This order to begin the 10th of November next." In September, 1634, we discover another law on the same article: "Victualers, or keepers of an Ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco to be taken in their howses, under the penalty of 5s. for every offence, to be payde by the victuler, and 12d. by the party that takes it. Further, it is ordered, that noe person shall take tobacco publiquely, under the penalty of 2s. 6d., nor privately, in his owne house, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it togeather, anywhere, under the aforesaid penalty for every offence." In November, 1637, the record runs: "All former laws against tobacco are repealed, and tobacco is sett at liberty;" but in September, 1638, "the [General] Court, finding that since the repealing of the former laws against tobacco, the same is more abused then before, it hath therefore ordered, that no man shall take any tobacco in the fields, except in his journey, or at meale times, under paine of 12d. for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in (or so near) any dwelling house, barne, corne or hay rick, as may likely indanger the fireing thereof, upon paine of 10s. for every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in any inne or common victualing house, except in a private roome there, so as neither the master of the same house nor any other guests there shall take offence thereat, which if they do, then such person is fourthwith to forbeare, upon paine of 12s. 6d. for every offence. Noe man shall kindle fyre by gunpowder, for takeing tobacco, except in his journey, upon paine of 12d. for every offence."

THE REMARKABLE CAVES—WYANDOTTE AND MAMMOTH.—Wyandotte Cave is in Jennings township, Crawford county, Ind., near the Ohio river. It is a rival of the great Mammoth Cave in grandeur and extent. Explorations have been made for many miles. It excels the Mammoth Cave in the number and variety of its stalagmites and stalactites, and in the size of several of its chambers. One of these chambers is 350 feet in length, 245 feet in height, and contains a hill 175 feet high, on which are three fine stalagmites. Epsom salts, niter and alum have been obtained from the earth of the cave. The Mammoth Cave is in Edmondson county, near Green River, about seventy-five miles from Louisville. Its entrance is reached by passing down a wild, rocky ravine through a dense forest. The cave extends some nine miles. To visit the portions already traversed, it is said, requires 150 to 200 miles of travel. The cave contains a succession of wonderful avenues, chambers, domes, abysses, grottoes, lakes, rivers, cataracts and other marvels, which are too well known to need more than a reference. One chamber—the Star—is about 500 feet long, 70 feet wide, 70 feet high, the ceiling of which is composed of black gypsum, and is studded with innumerable white points, that by a dim light resemble stars, hence the name of the chamber. There are avenues one and a half and even two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful formations, and present the appearance of enchanted palace halls. There is a natural tunnel about three-quarters of a mile long, 100 feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock 45 feet high. There is a chamber having an area of from four to five acres, and there are domes 200 and 300 feet high. Echo River is some three-fourths of a mile in length, 200 feet in width at some points, and from 10 to 30 in depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about 15 feet high, while the Styx, another river, is 450 feet long, from 15 to 40 feet wide, and from 30 to 40 feet deep, and is spanned by a natural bridge. Lake Lethe has about the same length and width as the river Styx, varies in depth from 3 to 40 feet, lies beneath a ceiling some 90 feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of 60 feet. There is also a Dead Sea, quite a somber body of water. There are several interesting caves in the neighborhood, one three miles long and three each about a mile in length.

THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.—The "South Sea Bubble," as it is generally called, was a financial scheme which occupied the attention of prominent politicians, communities, and even nations in the early part of the eighteenth century. Briefly the facts are: In 1711 Robert Hartley, Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, proposed to fund a floating debt of about £10,000,000 sterling, the interest, about $600,000, to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines, tobacco, wrought silks, etc. Purchasers of this fund were to become also shareholders in the "South Sea Company," a corporation to have the monopoly of the trade with Spanish South America, a part of the capital stock of which was to be the new fund. But Spain, after the treaty of Utrecht, refused to open her commerce to England, and the privileges of the "South Sea Company" became worthless. There were many men of wealth who were stockholders, and the company continued to flourish, while the ill success of its trading operations was concealed. Even the Spanish War of 1718 did not shake the popular confidence. Then in April, 1720, Parliament, by large majorities in both Houses, accepted the company's plan for paying the national debt, and after that a frenzy of speculation seized the nation, and the stock rose to £300 a share, and by August had reached £1,000 a share. Then Sir John Blunt, one of the leaders, sold out, others followed, and the stock began to fall. By the close of September the company stopped payment and thousands were beggared. An investigation ordered by Parliament disclosed much fraud and corruption, and many prominent persons were implicated, some of the directors were imprisoned, and all of them were fined to an aggregate amount of £2,000,000 for the benefit of the stockholders. A great part of the valid assets was distributed among them, yielding a dividend of about 33 per cent.

AREA OF NORTH AMERICA.—The following figures show the extent of the United States as compared with the British possessions in North America: United States, 3,602,884 square miles. British possessions—Ontario, 121,26O; Quebec, 210,020; Nova Scotia, 18,670; New Brunswick, 27,037; British Columbia, 233,000; Manitoba, 16,000; N.W. and Hudson Bay Territories, 2,206,725; Labrador and Arctic Ocean Islands, make a total of 3,500,000.

Axle Grease.—1. Water, 1 gallon; soda, 1/3 pound; palm oil, 10 pounds. Mix by heat, and stir till nearly cold.

2. Water, rape oil, of each 1 gallon; soda, 1/3 pound; palm oil, 1/4 pound.

3. Water, 1 gallon; tallow, 3 pounds; palm oil, 6 pounds; soda, 1/2 pound. Heat to 210 deg. Fahrenheit and stir until cool.

4. Tallow, 8 pounds; palm oil, 10 pounds; plumbago, 1 pound. Makes a good lubricator for wagon axles.

How to Shell Beans Easy.—Pour upon the pods a quantity of scalding water, and the beans will slip very easily from the pod. By pouring scalding water on apples the skin may be easily slipped off, and much labor saved.

How to Clean Bed-Ticks.—Apply Poland starch, by rubbing it on thick with a cloth. Place it in the sun. When dry, rub it if necessary. The soiled part will be clean as new.

How to Wash Carpets.—Shake and beat it well; lay it upon the floor and tack it firmly; then with a clean flannel wash it over with a quart of bullock's gall mixed with three quarts of soft, cold water, and rub it off with a clean flannel or house-cloth. Any particular dirty spot should be rubbed with pure gall.

How to Clean Carpets.—Before proceeding to sweep a carpet a few handfuls of waste tea-leaves should be sprinkled over it. A stiff hair broom or brush should be employed, unless the carpet is very dirty, when a whisk or carpet-broom should be used, first followed by another made of hair, to take off the loose dust. The frequent use of a stiff carpet-broom soon wears off the beauty of the best carpet. An ordinary clothes brush is best adapted for superior carpets. When carpets are very dirty they should be cleaned by shaking and beating.

Beat it well with a stick in the usual manner until all the dust is removed, then take out the stains, if any, with lemon or sorrel-juice. When thoroughly dry rub it all over with the crumb of a hot wheaten loaf, and if the weather is very fine, let hang out in the open air for a night or two. This treatment will revive the colors, and make the carpet appear equal to new.

How to Remove Spots on Carpets.—A few drops of carbonate of ammonia, and a small quantity of warm rain water, will prove a safe and easy antacid, etc., and will change, if carefully applied, discolored spots upon carpets, and indeed, all spots, whether produced by acids or alkalies. If one has the misfortune to have a carpet injured by whitewash, this will immediately restore it.

How to Remove Ink Spots on Carpets.—As soon as the ink has been spilled, take up as much as you can with a sponge, and then pour on cold water repeatedly, still taking up the liquid; next rub the place with a little wet oxalic acid or salt of sorrel, and wash it off immediately with cold water, and then rub on some hartshorn.

Cleaning and Scouring of Cloth.—The common method of cleaning cloth is by beating and brushing, unless when very dirty, when it undergoes the operation of scouring. This is best done on the small scale, as for articles of wearing apparel, etc., by dissolving a little curd soap in water, and after mixing it with a little ox-gall, to touch over all the spots of grease, dirt, etc., with it, and to rub them well with a stiff brush, until they are removed, after which the article may be well rubbed all over with a brush or sponge dipped into some warm water, to which the previous mixture and a little more ox-gall has been added. When this has been properly done, it only remains to thoroughly rinse the article in clean water until the latter passes off uncolored, when it must be hung up to dry. For dark, colored cloths the common practice is to add some Fuller's-earth to the mixture of soap and gall. When nearly dry the nap should be laid right and the article carefully pressed, after which a brush, moistened with a drop or two of olive oil, is passed several times over it, which will give it a superior finish.

Cloth may also be cleaned in the dry way, as follows: First remove the spots, as above, and when the parts have dried, strew clean, damp sand over it, and beat it in with a brush, after which brush the article with a hard brush when the sand will readily come out, and bring the dirt with it. Black cloth which is very rusty should receive a coat of reviver after drying, and be hung up until the next day, when it may be pressed and finished off as before. Scarlet cloth requires considerable caution. After being thoroughly rinsed, it should be repeatedly passed through cold spring water, to which a tablespoonful or two of solution of tin has been added. If much faded, it should be dipped in a scarlet dye-bath. Buff cloth is generally cleansed by covering it with a paste made with pipe-clay and water, which, when dry,-is rubbed and brushed off.

Renovation of Cloth.—The article undergoes the process of scouring before described, and, after being well rinsed and drained, it is put on a board, and the thread-bare parts rubbed with a half-worn hatter's card, filled with flocks, or with a teazle or a prickly thistle, until a nap is raised. It is next hung up to dry, the nap laid the right way with a hard brush, and finished as before. When the cloth is much faded, it is usual to give it a dip, as it is called, or to pass it through a dye-bath, to freshen up the color.

How to Revive the Color of Black Cloth.—If a coat, clean it well, then boil from two to four ounces of logwood in your copper, or boiler, for half an hour; dip your coat in warm water, and squeeze it as dry as you can, then put it into the copper and boil it for half an hour. Take it out, and add a piece of green copperas, about the size of a horse-bean; boil it another half hour, then draw it, and hang it in the air for an hour or two; take it down; rinse it in two or three cold waters; dry it, and let it be [pg 72] brushed with a soft brush, over which a drop or two of the oil of olives has been rubbed, then stroke your coat regularly over.

How to Restore Crape.—Skimmed milk and water, with a little bit of glue in it, made scalding hot, is excellent to restore rusty Italian crape. If clapped and pulled dry like muslin, it will look as good as new; or, brush the veil till all the dust is removed, then fold it lengthwise, and roll it smoothly and tightly on a roller. Steam it till it is thoroughly dampened, and dry on the roller.

How to Cleanse Feather Beds.—When feather beds become soiled and heavy they may be made clean and light by being treated in the following manner: Rub them over with a stiff brush, dipped in hot soap-suds. When clean lay them on a shed, or any other clean place where the rain will fall on them. When thoroughly soaked let them dry in a hot sun for six or seven successive days, shaking them up well and turning them over each day. They should be covered over with a thick cloth during the night; if exposed to the night air they will become damp and mildew. This way of washing the bed-ticking and feathers makes them very fresh and light, and is much easier than the old-fashioned way of emptying the beds and washing the feathers separately, while it answers quite as well. Care must be taken to dry the bed perfectly before sleeping on it. Hair mattresses that have become hard and dirty can be made nearly as good as new by ripping them, washing the ticking, and picking the hair free from bunches and keeping it in a dry, airy place several days. Whenever the ticking gets dry fill it lightly with the hair, and tack it together.

How to Cut Up and Cure Pork.—Have the hog laid on his back on a stout, clean bench; cut off the head close to the base. If the hog is large, there will come off a considerable collar, between head and shoulders, which, pickled or dried, is useful for cooking with vegetables. Separate the jowl from the face at the natural joint; open the skull lengthwise and take out the brains, esteemed a luxury. Then with a sharp knife remove the back-bone the whole length, then the long strip of fat underlying it, leaving about one inch of fat covering the spinal column.

The leaf lard, if not before taken out for the housewife's convenience, is removed, as is also the tenderloin—a fishy-shaped piece of flesh—often used for sausage, but which makes delicious steak. The middling or sides are now cut out, leaving the shoulders square-shaped and the hams pointed, or they may be rounded to your taste. The spare-ribs are usually wholly removed from the sides, with but little meat adhering. It is the sides of small, young hogs cured as hams that bear the name of breakfast bacon, The sausage meat comes chiefly in strips from the backbone, part of which may also be used as steak. The lean trimmings from about the joints are used for sausage, the fat scraps rendered up with the backbone lard.

The thick part of the backbone that lies between the shoulders, called griskin or chine, is separated from the tapering, bony part, called backbone by way of distinction, and used as flesh. The chines are smoked with jowls, and used in late winter or spring.

When your meat is to be pickled it should be dusted lightly with saltpetre sprinkled with salt, and allowed to drain twenty-four hours; then plunge it into pickle, and keep under with a weight. It is good policy to pickle a portion of the sides. They, after soaking, are sweeter to cook with vegetables, and the grease fried from them is much more useful than that of smoked meat.

If your meat is to be dry salted, allow one teaspoonful of pulverized saltpetre to one gallon of salt, and keep the mixture warm beside you. Put on a hog's ear as a mitten, and rub each piece of meat thoroughly. Then pack skin side down, ham upon ham, side upon side, strewing on salt abundantly. It is best to put large and small pieces in different boxes for the convenience of getting at them to hang up at the different times they will come into readiness. The weather has so much to do with the time that meat requires to take salt that no particular time can be specified for leaving it in.

The best test is to try a medium-sized ham; if salt enough, all similar and smaller pieces are surely ready, and it is well to remember that the saltness increases in drying. Ribs and steaks should be kept in a cold, dark place, without salting, until ready for use. If you have many, or the weather is warm, they keep better in pickle than dry salt. Many persons turn and rub their meat frequently. We have never practiced this, and have never lost any.

When the meat is ready for smoking, dip the hocks of the joints in ground black pepper and dust the raw surface thickly with it. Sacks, after this treatment, may be used for double security, and I think bacon high and dry is sweeter than packed in any substance. For sugar-cured hams we append the best recipe we have ever used, though troublesome.

English Recipe for Sugar-Curing Hams.—So soon as the meat comes from the butcher's hand rub it thoroughly with the salt. Repeat this four days, keeping the meat where it can drain. The fourth day rub it with saltpetre and a handful of common salt, allowing one pound of saltpetre to seventy pounds of meat. Now mix one pound of brown sugar and one of molasses, rub over the ham every day for a fortnight, and then smoke with hickory chips or cobs. Hams should be hung highest in meat-houses, because there they are less liable to the attacks of insects, for insects do not so much infest high places—unlike human pests.

Pickle.—Make eight gallons of brine strong enough to float an egg; add two pounds of brown sugar or a quart of molasses, and four ounces of saltpetre; boil and skim clean, and pour cold on your meat. Meat intended for smoking should remain in pickle about four weeks. This pickle can be boiled over, and with a fresh cup of sugar and salt used all summer. Some persons use as much soda as saltpetre. It will correct acidity, but we think impairs the meat.

Washing Preparation.—Take a 1/4 of a pound of soap, a 1/4 of a pound of soda, and a 1/4 of a pound of quicklime. Cut up the soup and dissolve it in 1 quart of boiling water; pour 1 quart of boiling water over the soda, and 3 quarts of boiling water upon the quicklime. The lime must be quick and fresh; if it is good it will bubble up on pouring the hot water upon it. Each must be prepared in separate vessels. The lime must settle so as to leave the water on the top perfectly clear; then strain it carefully (not disturbing the settlings) into the washboiler with the soda and soap; let it scald long enough to dissolve the soap, then add 6 gallons of soap water. The clothes must be put to soak over night, after rubbing soap upon the dirtiest parts of them. After having the above in readiness, wring out the clothes which have been put in soak, put them on to boil, and let each lot boil half an hour; the same water will answer for the whole washing. After boiling each lot half an hour drain them from the boiling water put them in a tub and pour upon them two or three pailsful of clear, hot water; after this they will want very little rubbing; then rinse through two waters, blueing the last. When dried they will be a beautiful white. After washing the cleanest part of the white clothes, take two pails of the suds in which they have been washed, put it over the fire and scald, and this will wash all the flannels and colored clothes without any extra soap. The white flannels, after being well washed in the suds, will require to be scalded by turning on a teakettle of boiling water.

How to Destroy Ants.—Ants that frequent houses or gardens may he destroyed by taking flower of brimstone half a pound and potash four ounces; set them in an iron or earthen pan over the fire till dissolved and united; afterward beat them to a powder, and infuse a little of this powder in water; and wherever you sprinkle it the ants will die or fly the place.

How to Destroy Black Ants.—A few leaves of green wormwood, scattered among the haunts of these troublesome insects, is said to be effectual in dislodging them.

How to Destroy Red Ants.—The best way to get rid of ants, is to set a quantity of cracked walnuts or shell-barks on plates, and put them in the closet or places where the ants congregate. They are very fond of these, and will collect on them in myriads. When they have collected on them make a general auto-da-fe, by turning nuts and ants together into the fire, and then replenish the plates with fresh nuts. After they have become so thinned off as to cease collecting on plates, powder some camphor and put in the holes and crevices, whereupon the remainder of them will speedily depart. It may help the process of getting them to assemble on shell-barks, to remove all edibles out of their way for the time.

How to Destroy Black Bees.—Place two or three shallow vessels—the larger kind of flower-pot saucers will do—half filled with water, on the floors where they assemble, with strips of cardboard running from the edge of the vessel to the floor, at a gentle inclination; these the unwelcome guests will eagerly ascend, and so find a watery grave.

How to Destroy Bed-Bugs.—1. When they have made a lodgement in the wall, fill all the apertures with a mixture of soft soap and Scotch snuff. Take the bedstead to pieces, and treat that in the same way. 2. A strong decoction of red pepper applied to bedsteads will either kill the bugs or drive them away. 3. Put the bedstead into a close room and set fire to the following composition, placed in an iron pot upon the hearth, having previously closed up the chimney, then shut the door, let them remain a day: Sulphur nine parts; saltpetre, powdered, one part. Mix. Be sure to open the door of the room five or six hours before you venture to go into it a second time. 4. Rub the bedstead well with lampoil; this alone is good, but to make it more effectual, get ten cents worth of quicksilver and add to it. Put it into all the cracks around the bed, and they will soon disappear. The bedsteads should first be scalded and wiped dry, then put on with a feather. 5. Corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint. Mix. For the decoction of tobacco boil one ounce of tobacco in a 1/2 pint of water. The mixture must be applied with a paint brush. This wash is deadly poison. 6. Rub the bedsteads in the joints with equal parts of spirits of turpentine and kerosene oil, and the cracks of the surbase in rooms where there are many. Filling up all the cracks with hard soap is an excellent remedy.

March and April are the months when bedsteads should be examined to kill all the eggs. 7. Mix together two ounces spirits of turpentine, one ounce corrosive sublimate, and one pint alcohol. 8. Distilled vinegar, or diluted good vinegar, a pint; camphor one-half ounce; dissolve. 9. White arsenic, two ounces; lard, thirteen ounces; corrosive sublimate, one-fourth ounce; venetian red, one-fourth ounce. (Deadly poison.) 10. Strong mercurial ointment one ounce; soft soap one ounce; oil of turpentine, a pint 11. Gasoline and coaloil are both excellent adjuncts, with cleanliness, in ridding a bed or house of these pests.

How to Destroy Caterpillars.—Boil together a quantity of rue, wormwood, and any cheap tobacco (equal parts) in common water. The liquid should be very strong. Sprinkle it on the leaves and young branches every morning and evening during the time the fruit is ripening.

How to Destroy Cockroaches and Beetles.—1. Strew the roots of black hellebore, at night, in the places infested by these vermin, and they will be found in the morning dead or dying. Black hellebore grows in marshy grounds, and may be had at the herb shops. 2. Put about a quart of water sweetened with molasses in a tin wash basin or smooth glazed china bowl. Set it at evening in a place frequented by the bugs. Around the basin put an old piece of carpet that the bugs can have easy access to the top. They will go down in the water, and stay till you come. 3. Take pulverized borax, 4 parts, flour 1 part, mix intimately and distribute the mixture in cupboards which are frequented by the roaches, or blow it, by means of a bellows, into the holes or cracks that are infested by them. 4. By scattering a handful of fresh cucumber parings about the house. 5. Take carbonic acid and powdered camphor in equal parts; put them in a bottle; they will become fluid. With a painter's brush of the size called a sash-tool, put the mixture on the cracks or places where the roaches hide; they will come out at once. Then kill. 6. Mix up a quantity of fresh burned plaster of paris (gypsum, such as is used for making molds and ornaments), with wheat flour and a little sugar, and distribute on shallow plates and box boards, and place in the corners of the kitchen and pantry where they frequent. In the darkness they will feast themselves on it. Whether it interferes with their digestion or not, is difficult to ascertain, but after three or four nights renewal of the preparation, no cockroaches will be found on the premises.

How to Destroy Crickets.—Sprinkle a little quick lime near to the cracks through which they enter the room. The lime may be laid down overnight, and swept away in the morning. In a few days they will most likely all be destroyed. But care must be taken that the children do not meddle with the lime, as a very small portion of it getting into the eye, would prove exceedingly hurtful. In case of such an accident the best thing to do would be to wash the eye with vinegar and water.

How to get Rid of Fleas.—Much of the largest number of fleas are brought into our family circles by pet dogs and cats. The oil of pennyroyal will drive these insects off: but a cheaper method, where the herb flourishes, is to throw your cats and dogs into a decoction of it once a week. When the herb cannot be got, the oil can be procured. In this case, saturate strings with it and tie them around the necks of the dogs and cats. These applications should be repeated every twelve or fifteen days. Mint [pg 74] freshly cut, and hung round a bedstead, or on the furniture, will prevent annoyance from bed insects; a few drops of essential oil of lavender will be more efficacious.

How to Destroy Flies.—1. Take an infusion of quassia, one pint; brown sugar, four ounces, ground pepper, two ounces. To be well mixed together, and put in small shallow dishes where required. 2. Black pepper (powdered), one drachm; brown sugar, one drachm; milk or cream, two drachms. Mix, and place it on a plate or saucer where the flies are most troublesome. 3. Pour a little simple oxymel (an article to be obtained at the druggists), into a common tumbler glass, and place in the glass a piece of cap paper, made into the shape of the upper part of a funnel, with a hole at the bottom to admit the flies. Attracted by the smell, they readily enter the trap in swarms, and by the thousands soon collected prove that they have not the wit or the disposition to return. 4. Take some jars, mugs, or tumblers, fill them half full with soapy water; cover them as jam-pots are covered, with a piece of paper, either tied down or tucked under the rim. Let this paper be rubbed inside with wet sugar, molasses, honey, or jam, or any thing sweet; cut a small hole in the center, large enough for a fly to enter. The flies settle on the top, attracted by the smell of the bait; they then crawl through the hole, to feed upon the sweets beneath. Meanwhile the warmth of the weather causes the soapy water to ferment, and produces a gas which overpowers the flies, and they drop down into the vessel. Thousands may be destroyed this way, and the traps last a long time.

Fly Paper.—Melt resin, and add thereto while soft, sufficient sweet oil, lard, or lamp oil to make it, when cold about the consistency of honey. Spread on writing paper, and place in a convenient spot. It will soon be filled with ants, Hies, and other vermin.

How to Expel Insects.—All insects dread pennyroyal: the smell of it destroys some, and drives others away. At the time that fresh pennyroyal cannot be gathered, get oil of pennyroyal; pour some into a saucer, and steep in it small pieces of wadding or raw cotton, and place them in corners, closet-shelves, bureau drawers, boxes, etc., and the cockroaches, ants, or other insects will soon disappear. It is also well to place some between the mattresses, and around the bed. It is also a splendid thing for brushing off that terrible little insect, the seed tick.

How to Destroy Mice.—1. Use tartar emetic mingled with some favorite food. The mice will leave the premises. 2. Take one part calomel, five parts of wheat flour, one part sugar, and one-tenth of a part of ultramarine. Mix together in a fine powder and place it in a dish. This is a most efficient poison for mice.

3. Any one desirous of keeping seeds from the depredations of mice can do so by mixing pieces of camphor gum in with the seeds. Camphor placed in drawers or trunks will prevent mice from doing them injury. The little animal objects to the odor and keeps a good distance from it. He will seek food elsewhere.

4. Gather all kinds of mint and scatter about your shelves, and they will forsake the premises.

How to Drive Away Mosquitoes.—1. A camphor bag hung up in an open casement will prove an effectual barrier to their entrance. Camphorated spirits applied as perfume to the face and hands will prove an effectual preventive; but when bitten by them, aromatic vinegar is the beat antidote.

2. A small amount of oil of pennyroyal sprinkled around the room will drive away the mosquitoes. This is an excellent recipe.

3. Take of gum camphor a piece about half the size of an egg, and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and holding it over a lamp or candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and expel the mosquitoes.

How to Preserve Clothing from Moths.—1. Procure shavings of cedar wood and enclose in muslin bags, which should be distributed freely among clothes. 2. Procure shavings of camphor wood, and enclose in bags. 3. Sprinkle pimento (allspice) berries among the clothes. 4. Sprinkle the clothes with the seeds of the musk plant. 5. An ounce of gum camphor and one of the powdered shell of red pepper are macerated in eight ounces of strong alcohol for several days, then strained. With this tincture the furs or cloths are sprinkled over, and rolled up in sheets. 6. Carefully shake and brush woolens early in the spring, so as to be certain that no eggs are in them; then sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslin, into each bundle, or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. No moth will approach while the smell of the camphor continues. When the gum is evaporated, it must be renewed. Enclose them in a moth-proof box with camphor, no matter whether made of white paper or white pine, before any eggs are laid on them by early spring moths. The notion of having a trunk made of some particular kind of wood for this purpose, is nonsense. Furs or woolens, put away in spring time, before moth eggs are laid, into boxes, trunks, drawers, or closets even, where moths cannot enter, will be safe from the ravages of moth-worms, provided none were in them that were laid late in the autumn, for they are not of spontaneous production.

How to Kill Moths in Carpets.—Wring a coarse crash towel out of clear water, spread it smoothly on the carpet, iron it dry with a good hot iron, repeating the operation on all parts of the carpet suspected of being infected with moths. No need to press hard, and neither the pile nor color of the carpet will he injured, and the moths will be destroyed by the heat and steam.

How to Destroy Rats.—1. When a house is invested with rats which refuse to be caught by cheese and other baits, a few drops of the highly-scented oil of rhodium poured on the bottom of the cage will be an attraction which they cannot refuse. 2. Place on the floor near where their holes are supposed to be a thin layer of moist caustic potash. When the rats travel on this, it will cause their feet to become sore, which they lick, and their tongues become likewise sore. The consequence is, that they shun this locality, and seem to inform all the neighboring rats about it, and the result is that they soon abandon a house that has such mean floors. 3. Cut some corks as thin as wafers, and fry, roast, or stew them in grease, and place the same in their track; or a dried sponge fried or dipped in molasses or honey, with a small quantity of bird lime or oil of rhodium, will fasten to their fur and cause them to depart. 4. If a live rat can be caught and smeared over with tar or train oil, and afterwards allowed to escape in the holes of other rats, he will cause all soon to take their departure. 5. If a live rat be caught, and a small bell be fastened around his neck, and allowed to escape, all of his brother rats as well as himself will very soon go to some other neighbor's house. 6. Take a pan, about twelve inches deep, and half fill it with water; then sprinkle some bran on the water and set the pan in a place where the rats most frequent. In the morning you will find several rats in the pan. 7. Flour, three parts; sugar, one-half part; sulphur, two parts, and phosphorus, two parts. Smear on meat, and place near where the rats are most troublesome. 8. Squills are an excellent poison for rats. The powder should be mixed with some fatty substance, and spread upon slices of bread. The pulp of [pg 75] is also very good. Rats are very fond of either. 9. Take two ounces of carbonate of barytes, and mix with one pound of suet or tallow, place a portion of this within their holes and about their haunts. It is greedily eaten, produces great thirst, and death ensues after drinking. This is a very effectual poison, because it is both tasteless and odorless. 10. Take one ounce of finely powdered arsenic, one ounce of lard; mix these into a paste with meal, put it about the haunts of rats. They will eat of it greedily. 11. Make a paste of one ounce of flour, one-half gill of water, one drachm of phosphorus, and one ounce of flour. Or, one ounce of flour, two ounces of powdered cheese crumbs, and one-half drachm of phosphorus; add to each of these mixtures a few drops of the oil of rhodium, and spread this on thin pieces of bread like butter; the rats will eat of this greedily, and it is a sure poison. 12. Mix some ground plaster of paris with some sugar and Indian meal. Set it about on plates, and leave beside each plate a saucer of water. When the rats have eaten the mixture they will drink the water and die. To attract them toward it, you may sprinkle on the edges of the plates a little of the oil of rhodium. Another method of getting rid of rats is, to strew pounded potash on their holes. The potash gets into their coats and irritates the skin, and the rats desert the place. 13. The Dutch method: this is said to be used successfully in Holland; we have, however, never tried it. A number of rats are left together to themselves in a very large trap or cage, with no food whatever; their craving hunger will, at last, cause them to fight and the weakest will be eaten by the others; after a short time the fight is renewed, and the next weakest is the victim, and so it goes on till one strong rat is left. When this one has eaten the last remains of any of the others, it is set loose; the animal has now acquired such a taste for rat-flesh that he is the terror of ratdom, going round seeking what rat he may devour. In an incredibly short time the premises are abandoned by all other rats, which will not come back before the cannibal rat has left or has died. 14. Catch a rat and smear him over with a mixture of phosphorus and lard, and then let him loose. The house will soon be emptied of these pests.

Vermin, in Water.—Go to the river or pond, and with a small net (a piece of old mosquito bar will do) collect a dozen or more of the small fishes known as minnows, and put them in your cistern, and in a short time you will have clear water, the wiggle-tails and reddish-colored bugs or lice being gobbled up by the fishes.

As accidents are constantly liable to occur, the importance of knowing how best to meet the various emergencies that may arise can hardly be over-estimated. In all cases, and under all circumstances, the best help to assist a party in this trying moment is presence of mind.

Harvest Bug-Bites.—The best remedy is the use of benzine, which immediately kills the insect. A small drop of tincture of iodine has the same effect.

Bites and Stings of Insects.—Such as bees, wasps, hornets, etc., although generally painful, and ofttimes causing much disturbance, yet are rarely attended with fatal results. The pain and swelling may generally be promptly arrested by bathing freely with a strong solution of equal parts of common salt and baking soda, in warm water; or by the application of spirits of hartshorn; or of volatile liniment (one part of spirits of hartshorn and two of olive oil). In the absence of the other articles, warm oil may be used; or, if this is not at hand, apply a paste made from fresh clay-earth. If the sting of the insect is left in the wound, as is frequently the case, it should always be extracted. If there is faintness, give some stimulant; as, a tablespoonful or two of brandy and water, or brandy and ammonia.

Mad Dog Bites.—1. Take immediately warm vinegar or tepid water; wash the wound clean therewith and then dry it; pour upon the wound, then, ten or twelve drops of muriatic acid. Mineral acids destroy the poison of the saliva, by which means the evil effects of the latter are neutralized. 2. Many think that the only sure preventive of evil following the bite of a rabid dog is to suck the wound immediately, before the poison has had time to circulate with the blood. If the person bit cannot get to the wound to suck it, he must persuade or pay another to do it for him. There is no fear of any harm following this, for the poison entering by the stomach cannot hurt a person. A spoonful of the poison might be swallowed with impunity, but the person who sucks the place should have no wound on the lip or tongue, or it might be dangerous. The precaution alluded to is a most important one, and should never be omitted prior to an excision and the application of lunar caustic in every part, especially the interior and deep-seated portions. No injury need be anticipated if this treatment is adopted promptly and effectively. The poison of hydrophobia remains latent on an average six weeks; the part heals over, but there is a pimple or wound, more or less irritable; it then becomes painful; and the germ, whatever it is, ripe for dissemination into the system, and then all hope is gone. Nevertheless, between the time of the bite and the activity of the wound previous to dissemination, the caustic of nitrate of silver is a sure preventive; after that it is as useless as all the other means. The best mode of application of the nitrate of silver is by introducing it solidly into the wound.

Serpents Bites.—The poison inserted by the stings and bites of many venomous reptiles is so rapidly absorbed, and of so fatal a description, as frequently to occasion death before any remedy or antidote can be applied; and they are rendered yet more dangerous from the fact that these wounds are inflicted in parts of the country and world where precautionary measures are seldom thought of, and generally at times when people are least prepared to meet them. 1. In absence of any remedies, the first best plan to adopt on being bitten by any of the poisonous snakes is to do as recommended above in Mad Dog Bites—viz., to wash off the place immediately; if possible get the mouth to the spot, and forcibly suck out all the poison, first applying a ligature above the wound as tightly as can be borne. 2. A remedy promulgated by the Smithsonian Institute is [pg 76] 30 grs. iodide potassium, 30 grs. iodine, 1 oz. water, to be applied externally to the wound by saturating lint or batting—the same to be kept moist with the antidote until the cure be effected, which will be in one hour, and sometimes instantly. 3. An Australian physician has tried and recommends carbolic acid, diluted and administered internally every few minutes until recovery is certain. 4. Another Australian physician, Professor Halford, of Melbourne University, has discovered that if a proper amount of dilute ammonia be injected into the circulation of a patient suffering from snake-bite, the curative effect is usually sudden and startling, so that, in many cases, men have thus been brought back, as it were, by magic, from the very shadow of death.

Bleeding at the Nose.—1. Roll up a piece of paper, and press it under the upper lip. 2. In obstinate cases blow a little gum Arabic up the nostrils through a quill, which will immediately stop the discharge; powdered alum is also good. 3. Pressure by the finger over the small artery near the ala (wing) of the nose, on the side where the blood is flowing, is said to arrest the hemorrhage immediately.

Bleeding from the Lungs.—A New York physician has related a case in which inhalation of very dry persulphate of iron, reduced to a palpable powder, entirely arrested bleeding from the lungs, after all the usual remedies, lead, opium, etc., had failed. A small quantity was administered by drawing into the lungs every hour during part of the night and following day.

Bleeding from the Bowels.—The most common cause of this, when not a complication of some disease, is hemorrhoids or piles. Should serious hemorrhage occur, rest and quiet, and cold water poured slowly over the lower portion of the belly, or cloths wet with cold water, or better, with ice water applied over the belly and thighs, and to the lower end of the bowels, will ordinarily arrest it. In some cases it may be necessary to use injections of cold water, or even put small pieces of ice in the rectum.

Bleeding from the Mouth.—This is generally caused by some injury to the cheeks, gums or tongue, but it sometimes occurs without any direct cause of this kind, and no small alarm may be caused by mistaking it for bleeding from the lungs. Except when an artery of some size is injured, bleeding from the mouth can generally be controlled by gargling and washing the mouth with cold water, salt and water, or alum and water, or some persulphate of iron may be applied to the bleeding surface. Sometimes obstinate or even alarming bleeding may follow the pulling of a tooth. The best remedy for this is to plug the cavity with lint or cotton wet with the solution of persulphate of iron, and apply a compress which may be kept in place by closing the teeth on it.

Bleeding from the Stomach.—Vomiting blood.—Hemorrhage from the stomach is seldom so serious as to endanger life; but as it may be a symptom of some dangerous affection, it is always best to consult a physician concerning it. In the meantime, as in all other varieties of hemorrhage, perfect quiet should be preserved. A little salt, or vinegar, or lemon juice, should be taken at intervals, in a small glass of fresh cool water, or ice-water, as ice may be swallowed in small pieces, and cloths wet with ice-water, or pounded ice applied over the stomach.

Bleeding from Varicose Veins.—Serious and even fatal hemorrhage may occur from the bursting of a large varicose or "broken" vein. Should such an accident occur, the bleeding may be best controlled, until proper medical aid can be procured, by a tight bandage; or a "stick tourniquet," remembering that the blood comes toward the heart in the veins, and from it in the arteries. The best thing to prevent the rupture of varicose or broken veins is to support the limb by wearing elastic stockings, or a carefully applied bandage.

Burns and Scalds.—There is no class of accidents that cause such an amount of agony, and none which are followed with more disastrous results.

1. By putting the burned part under cold water, milk, or other bland fluid, instantaneous and perfect relief from all pain will be experienced. On withdrawal, the burn should be perfectly covered with half an inch or more of common wheaten flour, put on with a dredging-box, or in any other way, and allowed to remain until a cure is effected, when the dry, caked flour will fall off, or can be softened with water, disclosing a beautiful, new and healthy skin, in all cases where the burns have been superficial. 2. Dissolve white lead in flaxseed oil to the consistency of milk, and apply over the entire burn or scald every five minutes. It can be applied with a soft feather. This is said to give relief sooner, and to be more permanent in its effects, than any other application. 3. Make a saturated solution of alum (four ounces to a quart of hot water). Dip a cotton cloth in this solution and apply immediately on the burn. As soon as it becomes hot or dry, replace it by another, and continue doing so as often as the cloth dries, which at first will be every few minutes. The pain will immediately cease, and after twenty-four hours of this treatment the burn will be healed; especially if commenced before blisters are formed. The astringent and drying qualities of the alum will entirely prevent their formation. 4. Glycerine, five ounces; white of egg, four ounces; tincture of arnica, three ounces. Mix the glycerine and white of egg thoroughly in a mortar, and gradually add the arnica. Apply freely on linen rags night, and morning, washing previously with warm castile soap-suds. 5. Take one drachm of finely powdered alum, and mix thoroughly with the white of two eggs and one teacup of fresh lard; spread on a cloth, and apply to the parts burnt. It gives almost instant relief from pain, and, by excluding the air, prevents excessive inflammatory action. The application should be changed at least once a day. 6. M. Joel, of the Children's Hospital, Lausanne, finds that a tepid bath, containing a couple of pinches of sulphate of iron, gives immediate relief to young children who have been extensively burned. In a case of a child four years old, a bath repeated twice a day—twenty minutes each bath—the suppuration decreased, lost its odor, and the little sufferer was soon convalescent. 7. For severe scalding, carbolic acid has recently been used with marked benefit. It is to be mixed with thirty parts of the ordinary oil of lime water to one part of the acid. Linen rags satured in the carbolic emulsion are to be spread on the scalded parts, and kept moist by frequently smearing with the feather dipped in the liquid. Two advantages of this mode of treatment are, the exclusion of air, and the rapid healing by a natural restorative action without the formation of pus, thus preserving unmarred and personal appearance of the patient—a matter of no small importance to some people.

Choking.—In case of Choking, a violent slap with the open hand between the shoulders of the sufferer will often effect a dislodgment. In case the accident occurs with a child, and the slapping process does not afford instant relief, it should be grasped by the feet, and placed head downwards, and the slapping between the shoulders renewed; but in case this induced violent suffocative paroxysms it must not be repeated. If the substance, whatever it maybe, has entered the windpipe, and the coughing and inverting the body fails to dislodge it, it is probable that nothing but cutting open the windpipe will be of any [pg 77] and for this the services of a surgeon should always be procured. If food has stuck in the throat or gullet, the forefinger should be immediately introduced; and if lodged at the entrance of the gullet, the substance may be reached and extracted, possibly, with the forefinger alone, or may be seized with a pair of pincers, if at hand, or a curling tongs, or anything of the kind. This procedure may be facilitated by directing the person to put the tongue well out, in which position it may be retained by the individual himself, or a bystander by grasping it, covered with a handkerchief or towel. Should this fail, an effort should be made to excite retching or vomiting by passing the finger to the root of the tongue, in hopes that the offending substance may in this way be dislodged; or it may possibly be effected by suddenly and unexpectedly dashing in the face a basin of cold water, the shock suddenly relaxing the muscular spasm present, and the involuntary gasp at the same time may move it up or down. If this cannot be done, as each instant's delay is of vital importance to a choking man, seize a fork, a spoon, a penholder, pencil, quill, or anything suitable at hand, and endeavor to push the article down the throat. If it be low down the gullet, and other means fail, its dislodgment may sometimes be effected by dashing cold water on the spine, or vomiting may be induced by an emetic of sulphate of zinc (twenty grains in a couple of tablespoonfuls of warm water), or of common salt and mustard in like manner, or it may be pushed into the stomach by extemporizing a probang, by fastening a small sponge to the end of a stiff strip of whalebone. If this cannot he done, a surgical operation will be necessary. Fish bones or other sharp substances, when they cannot be removed by the finger or forceps, may sometimes be dislodged by swallowing some pulpy mass, as masticated bread, etc. Irregularly shaped substances, a plate with artificial teeth for instance, can ordinarily be removed only by surgical interference.

Colic.—Use a hot fomentation over the abdomen, and a small quantity of ginger, pepermint or common tea. If not relieved in a few minutes, then give an injection of a quart of warm water with twenty or thirty drops of laudanum, and repeat it if necessary. A half teaspoonful of chloroform, in a tablespoonful of sweetened water, with or without a few drops of spirits of lavender or essence of peppermint, will often give prompt relief.

Convulsions.—In small children convulsions frequently happen from teething, sometimes from worms or from some irritating substance within the stomach or bowels, and sometimes from some affection of the brain.

When a child has convulsions, place it immediately in a warm or hot bath, and sponge its head with cold water. Then apply a hot mustard plaster to the wrists, ankles and soles of the feet, or, in case a plaster cannot be obtained, apply a cloth wrung out of hot mustard water. Allow these to remain until the skin reddens, and use care that the same do not blister. After the fit has subsided, use great care against its return by attention to the cause which gave rise to it.

Convulsions in adults must be treated in accordance with the manner which gave rise to them. During the attack great care should be taken that the party does not injure himself, and the best preventive is a cork or a soft piece of wood, or other suitable substance, placed between the teeth to prevent biting the tongue and cheeks: tight clothing must be removed or loosened; mustard poultices should be applied to the extremities and over the abdomen; abundance of fresh air should be secured by opening windows and doors, and preventing unnecessary crowding of persons around; cold water may be dashed on the face and chest; and if there be plethora, with full bounding pulse, with evidence of cerebral or other internal congestion, the abstraction of a few ounces of blood may be beneficial.

Cramp.—Spasmodic or involuntary contractions of the muscles generally of the extremities, accompanied with great pain. The muscles of the legs and feet are the most commonly affected with cramp, especially after great exertion. The best treatment is immediately to stand upright, and to well rub the part with the hand. The application of strong stimulants, as spirits of ammonia, or of anodines, as opiate liniments, has been recommended. When cramp occurs in the stomach, a teaspoonful of sal volatile in water, or a dram glassful of good brandy, should be swallowed immediately. When cramp comes on during cold bathing, the limb should be thrown out as suddenly and violently as possible, which will generally remove it, care being also taken not to become flurried nor frightened, as presence of mind is very essential to personal safety on such an occasion. A common cause of cramp is indigestion, and the use of acescent liquors; these should be avoided.

Cuts.—In case the flow of blood is trifling, stop the bleeding by bringing the edges of the wound together, If the flow of blood is great, of a bright vermillion color, and flows in spurts or with a jerk, an artery is severed, and at once should pressure be made on the parts by the finger (between the cut and the heart), until a compress is arranged by a tight ligature above the wounded part. Then the finger may be taken off, and if the blood still flows, tighten the handkerchief or other article that forms the ligature, until it ceases. If at this point the attendance of a physician or surgeon cannot be secured, take strong silk thread, or wax together three or four threads and cut them into lengths of about a foot long. Wash the parts with warm water, and then with a sharp hook or small pair of pincers in your hand, fix your eye steadfastly upon the wound, and directing the ligature to be slightly released, you will see the mouth of the artery from which the blood springs. At once seize it, draw it out a little while an assistant passes a ligature round it, and ties it up tight with a double knot. In this way take up in succession every bleeding vessel you can see or get hold of. If the wound is too high up in a limb to apply the ligature do not lose your presence of mind. If it is the thigh, press firmly on the groin; if in the arm, with the band-end or ring of a common door-key make pressure above the collar bone, and about its middle, against its first rib, which lies under it. The pressure should be continued until assistance is procured and the vessel tied up. If the wound is on the face, or other place where pressure cannot effectually be made, place a piece of ice directly over the wound allowing it to remain there until the blood coagulates, when it may be removed, and a compress and bandage be applied.

After the bleeding is arrested the surrounding blood should be cleared away, as well as any extraneous matter then bring the sides of the wound into contact throughout the whole depth, in order that they may grow together as quickly as possible, retaining them in their position by strips of adhesive plaster. If the wound be deep and extensive, the wound itself and the adjacent parts must be supported by proper bandages. The position of the patient should be such as will relax the skin and muscles of the wounded part. Rest, low and unstimulating diet, will complete the requirements necessary to a speedy recovery.

How to Distinguish Death.—As many instances occur of parties being buried alive, they being to all appearance dead, the great importance of knowing how to distinguish real from imaginary death need not be explained. The appearances which mostly accompany death, are an entire [pg 78] of breathing, of the heart's action; the eyelids are partly closed, the eyes glassy, and the pupils usually dilated; the jaws are clenched, the fingers partially contracted, and the lips and nostrils more or less covered with frothy mucus, with increasing pallor and coldness of surface, and the muscles soon become rigid and the limbs fixed in their position. But as these same conditions may also exist in certain other cases of suspended animation, great care should be observed, whenever there is the least doubt concerning it, to prevent the unnecessary crowding of the room in which the corpse is, or of parties crowding around the body; nor should the body be allowed to remain lying on the back without the tongue being so secured as to prevent the glottis or orifice of the windpipe being closed by it; nor should the face be closely covered; nor rough usage of any kind be allowed. In case there is great doubt, the body should not be allowed to be inclosed in the coffin, and under no circumstances should burial be allowed until there are unmistakable signs of decomposition.

Of the numerous methods proposed as signs for real death, we select the following: 1. So long as breathing continues, the surface of a mirror held to the mouth and nostrils will become dimmed with moisture. 2. If a strong thread or small cord be tied tightly round the finger of a living person, the portion beyond the cord or thread will become red and swollen—if dead, no change is produced. 3. If the hand of a living person is held before a strong light a portion of the margin or edges of the fingers is translucent—if dead, every part of it is opaque. 4. A coal of fire, a piece of hot iron, or the flame of a candle, applied to the skin, if life remains, will blister—if dead it will merely sear. 5. A bright steel needle introduced and allowed to remain for half an hour in living flesh will be still bright—if dead, it will be tarnished by oxydation. 6. A few drops of a solution of atropia (two grains to one-half ounce of water) introduced into the eye, if the person is alive, will cause the pupils to dilate—if dead, no effect will be produced. 7. If the pupil is already dilated, and the person is alive, a few drops of tincture of the calabar bean will cause it to contract—if dead, no effect will be produced.

Dislocations.—These injuries can mostly be easily recognized; 1. By the deformity that the dislocation gives rise to by comparing the alteration in shape with the other side of the body. 2. Loss of some of the regular movements of the joints. 3. In case of dislocation, surgical aid should be procured at once. While waiting the arrival of a physician, the injured portion should be placed in the position most comfortable to the patient, and frequent cold bathing or cloths wrung out of cold water, applied to the parts affected, so as to relieve suffering and prevent inflammation.

Foreign Bodies in Ears.—Great care should be taken in removing foreign bodies from the ear, as serious injury may be inflicted. Most foreign bodies, especially those of small size, can be easily removed by the use of a syringe with warm water, and in most cases no other means should be used. Should the first efforts fail, repeat the operation. A syringe throwing a moderately small and continuous stream is the best adapted for the purpose, and the removal may generally be facilitated by inclining the ear downward while using the syringe. Severe inflammation may be excited, and serious injury done, by rash attempts to seize a foreign body in the ear, with a forceps or tweezers, or trying to pick it out with a pin or needle, or with an ear scoop. Should it be necessary from any cause to use instruments, great care should be observed, and but very little force exerted. It has lately been recommended, when foreign bodies cannot be removed by syringing the ear, to introduce a small brush or swab of frayed linen or muslin cloth, or a bit of sponge, moistened with a solution of glue, and keep it in contact with the foreign body until the glue adheres, when the body may be easily removed.

Insects in the Ear.—Insects in the ear may be easily killed by pouring oil in the ear, after which remove by syringing. (See foreign bodies in ear.)

To Remove Hardened Ear Wax.—Hardened car wax may be softened by dropping into the ear some oil or glycerine, and then syringing. (See foreign bodies in ear.)

Foreign Bodies in Eye.—To remove small particles from the eye, unless they have penetrated the globe, or become fixed in the conjunctiva, do as follows:

Grasp the upper lid between the thumb and forefinger, lift it from the eyeball, and having drawn it down as far as possible outside the lower lid, let it slide slowly back to its place, resting upon the lower lid as it goes back; and then wipe the edges of the lids with a soft handkerchief to remove the foreign substance. This may be repeated a number of times, if necessary, without injury. Should this means fail, evert the lids and remove the foreign substance, by touching it lightly with the fold of a handkerchief, or with the point of a roll of paper made like a candle-lighter; or, if necessary, with a small pair of forceps. A drop of sweet oil instilled in the eye, while perfectly harmless, provokes a flow of tears that will frequently wash away any light substance.

Bits of metal, sharp pieces of sand, etc. sometimes penetrate the globe of the eye, and, unless removed, may excite so much inflammation as to destroy the eye. They should he removed by a competent surgeon.

Fainting.—Lay the person who has fainted in a current of air, or in such a position that the air from an open window or door will have full play upon the face. Do not allow parties to crowd closely around, but give the sufferer plenty of room. Recovery will take place in a few minutes. The clothes also may be opened, and cold water sprinkled upon the face, hands and chest; and some pungent substance, as smelling salts, camphor, aromatic vinegar, etc., may be applied to the nostrils; and as soon as able to swallow, a little fresh water, or spirits and water, may be given. Persons who faint easily should avoid crowded rooms and places where the air is close.

Fits.—See Convulsions.

Clothing on Fire.—If a woman's clothes catch on fire, let her instantly roll herself over and over on the ground. In case any one be present, let them throw her down and do the like, and then wrap her up in a table-cloth, rug, coat, or the first woolen article that can be found.

Fractures.—As we can only give general rules for treating the various fractures, we would advise any one suffering from such to immediately apply to the nearest surgeon, and not rely upon an inexperienced party.

Frost-Bite.—Place the party suffering in a room without fire, and rub the frozen or frosted parts with snow, or pour ice-water over them until sensation begins to return. As soon as a stinging pain is felt, and a change of color appears, then cease the rubbing, and apply clothes wet with ice-water, and subsequently, if active inflammation follow and suppuration results, a solution of carbolic acid in water, one part to thirty, should be applied. If mortification set in, amputation is generally necessary. Where persons suffer from the constitutional effects of cold, hot stimulants should be given internally, and the body rubbed briskly with the hands and warm flannel.

Poisons, Their Symptoms and Antidotes.—When a person has taken poison, the first thing to do is to compel the patient to vomit, and for that purpose give any emetic that can be most readily and quickly obtained, and which is prompt and energetic, but safe in its action.

For this purpose there is, perhaps, nothing better than a large teaspoonful of ground mustard in a tumblerful of warm water, and it has the advantage of being almost always at hand. If the dry mustard is not to be had, use mixed mustard from the mustard pot. Its operation may generally be facilitated by the addition of a like quantity of common table salt. If the mustard is not at hand, give two or three teaspoonfuls of powdered alum in syrup or molasses, and give freely of warm water to drink; or give ten to twenty grains of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol), or twenty to thirty grains of ipecac, with one or two grains of tartar emetic, in a large cup of warm water, and repeat every ten minutes until three or four doses are given, unless free vomiting is sooner produced. After vomiting has taken place, large draughts of warm water should be given the patient, so that the vomiting will continue until the poisonous substances have been thoroughly evacuated, and then suitable antidotes should be given. If vomiting cannot be produced, the stomach-pump should be used. When it is known what particular kind of poison has been swallowed, then the proper antidote for that poison should be given, but when this cannot be ascertained, as is often the case, give freely of equal parts of calcined magnesia, pulverized charcoal, and sesquioxide of iron, in sufficient quantity of water. This is a very harmless mixture, and is likely to be of great benefit, as the ingredients, though very simple, are antidotes for the most common and active poisons. In case this mixture cannot be obtained, the stomach should be soothed and protected by the free administration of demulcent, mucilaginous or oleaginous drinks, such as the whites of eggs, milk, mucilage of gum arabic, or slippery elm bark, flaxseed tea, starch, wheat, flour, or arrow-root mixed in water, linseed or olive oil, or melted butter or lard. Subsequently the bowels should be moved by some gentle laxative, as a tablespoonful or two of castor oil, or a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia; and pain or other evidence of inflammation must be relieved by the administration of a few drops of laudanum, and the repeated application of hot poultices, fomentations and mustard plasters. The following are the names of the articles that may give rise to poisoning, most commonly used, and their antidote:

Mineral Acids—Sulphuric Acid (Oil of Vitriol), Nitric Acid (Aqua Fortis), Muriatic Acid (Spirits of Salts).—Symptoms: Acid, burning taste in the mouth, acute pain in the throat, stomach and bowels; frequent vomiting, generally bloody, mouth and lips excoriated, shriveled, white or yellow; hiccough, copious stools, more or less bloody, with great tenderness in the abdomen; difficult breathing, irregular pulse, excessive thirst, while drink increases the pain and rarely remains in the stomach; frequent but vain efforts to urinate; cold sweats, altered countenance; convulsions generally preceding death; nitric acid causes yellow stains; sulphuric acid, black ones. Treatment: Mix calcined magnesia in milk or water to the consistence of cream, and give freely to drink a glassful every couple of minutes, if it can be swallowed. Common soap (hard or soft), chalk, whiting, or even mortar from the wall mixed in water, may be given, until magnesia can be obtained. Promote vomiting by tickling the throat, if necessary, and when the poison is got rid of, flaxseed or elm tea, gruel, or other mild drinks. The inflammation which always follows wants good treatment to save the patient's life.

Vegetable Acids—Acetic, Citric, Oxalic, Tartaric.—Symptoms: Intense burning pain of mouth, throat and stomach; vomiting blood which is highly acid, violent purging, collapse, stupor, death.

Oxalic Acid is frequently taken in mistake for Epsom salts, to which in shops it often bears a strong resemblance. Treatment: Give chalk or magnesia in a large quantity of water, or large draughts of lime water. If these are not at hand, scrape the wall or ceiling, and give the scrapings, mixed with water.

Prussic or Hydrocyanic Acid—Laurel Water, Cyanide of Potassium, Bitter Almond Oil, etc.—Symptoms: In large doses almost invariably instantaneously fatal, when not immediately fatal, sudden loss of sense and control of the voluntary muscles; the odor of the poison generally susceptible on the breath. Treatment: Chlorine, in the form of chlorine water, in doses of from one to four fluid drachms, diluted. Weak solution of chloride lime of soda; water of ammonia (spirits of hartshorn) largely diluted may be given, and the vapor of it cautiously inhaled. Cold affusion, and chloroform in half to teaspoonful doses in glycerine or mucilage, repeated every few minutes, until the symptoms are ameliorated. Artificial respiration.

Aconite—Monkshood, Wolfsbane.—Symptoms: Numbness and tingling in the mouth and throat, and afterwards in other portions of the body, with sore throat, pain over the stomach, and vomiting; dimness of vision, dizziness, great prostration, loss of sensibility and delirium. Treatment: An emetic and then brandy in tablespoonful doses, in ice-water, every half hour; spirits of ammonia in half teaspoonful doses in like manner; the cold douche over the head and chest, warmth to the extremities, etc.

Alkalies and their Salts—Concentrated Lye, Woodash Lye, Caustic Potash, Ammonia, Hartshorn.—Symptoms: Caustic, acrid taste, excessive heat in the throat, stomach and intestines; vomiting of bloody matter, cold sweats, hiccough, purging of bloody stools.—Treatment: The common vegetable acids. Common vinegar being always at hand, is most frequently used. The fixed oils, as castor, flaxseed, almond and olive oils form soaps with the alkalies and thus also destroy their caustic effect. They should be given in large quantity.

Alcohol, Brandy, and other Spirituous Liquors.—Symptoms: Confusion of thought, inability to walk or stand, dizziness, stupor, highly flushed or pale face, noisy breathing.—Treatment: After emptying the stomach, pour cold water on the head and back of the neck, rub or slap the wrists and palms, and the ankles and soles of the feet, and give strong, hot coffee, or aromatic spirits of hartshorn, in teaspoonful doses in water. The warmth of the body must be sustained.

Antimony, and its Preparations. Tartar Emetic, Antimonial Wine, Kerme's Mineral.—Symptoms: Faintness and nausea, soon followed by painful and continued vomiting, severe diarrhoea, constriction and burning sensation in the throat, cramps, or spasmodic twitchings, with symptoms of nervous derangement, and great prostration of strength, often terminating in death.—Treatment: If vomiting has not been produced, it should be effected by tickling the fauces, and administering copious draughts of warm water. Astringment infusions, such as of gall, oak bark, Peruvian bark, act as antidotes, and should be given promptly. Powdered yellow bark may be used until the infusion is prepared, or very strong green tea should be given. To stop the vomiting, should it continue, blister over the stomach by applying a cloth wet with strong spirits of hartshorn, and then sprinkle on the one-eighth to one-fourth of a grain of morphia.

Arsenic and its Preparations—Ratsbane, Fowler's Solution, etc.—Symptoms: Generally within an hour pain and heat are felt in the stomach, soon followed [pg 80] vomiting, with a burning dryness of the throat and great thirst; the matters vomited are generally colored, either green yellow, or brownish, and sometimes bloody. Diarrhoea or dysentery ensues, while the pulse becomes small and rapid, yet irregular. Breathing much oppressed; difficulty in vomiting may occur, while cramps, convulsions, or even paralysis often precede death, which sometimes takes place within five or six hours after arsenic has been taken.—Treatment: Give a prompt emetic, and then hydrate of peroxide of iron (recently prepared) in tablespoonful doses every ten or fifteen minutes until the urgent symptoms are relieved. In the absence of this, or while it is being prepared, give large draughts of new milk and raw eggs, limewater and oil, melted butter, magnesia in a large quantity of water, or even if nothing else is at hand, flour and water, always, however, giving an emetic the first thing, or causing vomiting by tickling the throat with a feather, etc. The inflammation of the stomach which follows must be treated by blisters, hot fomentations, mucilaginous drinks, etc., etc.

Belladonna or Deadly Night Shade.—Symptoms: Dryness of the mouth and throat, great thirst, difficulty of swallowing, nausea, dimness, confusion or loss of vision, great enlargement of the pupils, dizziness, delirium and coma.—Treatment: There is no known antidote. Give a prompt emetic and then reliance must be placed on continual stimulation with brandy, whisky, etc., and to necessary artificial respiration. Opium and its preparations, as morphia, laudanum, etc., are thought by some to counteract the effect of belladonna, and may be given in small and repeated doses, as also strong black coffee and green tea.

Blue Vitriol, or Blue Stone.—See Copperas.

Cantharides (Spanish or Blistering Fly) and Modern Potato Bug.—Symptoms: Sickening odor of the breath, sour taste, with burning heat in the throat, stomach, and bowels; frequent vomiting, often bloody; copious bloody stools, great pain in the stomach, with burning sensation in the bladder and difficulty to urinate, followed with terrible convulsions, delirium and death.—Treatment excite vomiting by drinking plentifully of sweet oil or other wholesome oils, sugar and water, milk. or slippery elm tea; give injections of castor oil and starch, or warm milk. The inflammatory symptoms which generally follow must, be treated by a medical man. Camphorated oil or camphorated spirits should be rubbed over the bowels, stomach and thighs.

Caustic Potash.—See Alkalies.

Cobalt, or Fly-Powder.—Symptoms: Heat and pain in the. throat and stomach, violent retching and vomiting, cold and clammy skin, small and feeble pulse, hurried and difficult breathing, diarrhoea, etc.—Treatment: An emetic, followed by the free administration of milk, eggs, wheat flour and water, and mucilaginous drinks.

Copper—Blue Vitriol, Verdigris or Pickles or Food Cooked in Soul Copper Vessels.—Symptoms: General inflammation of the alimentary canal, suppression of urine; hiccough, a disagreeable metallic taste, vomiting, violent colic, excessive thirst, sense of tightness of the throat, anxiety; faintness, giddiness, and cramps and convulsions generally precede death.—Treatment: Large doses of simple syrup as warm as can be swallowed, until the stomach rejects the amount it contains. The whites of eggs and large quantities of milk. Hydrated peroxide of iron.

Copperas.—See Iron.

Creosote.—Carbolic Acid.—Symptoms: Burning pain. acrid, pungent taste, thirst, vomiting, purging, etc.—Treatment: An emetic, and the free administration of albumen, as the whites of eggs, or in the absence of these, milk, or flour and water.

Corrosive Sublimate.—See Mercury.

Deadly Night-Shade.—See Belladonna.

Fox-Glove, or Digitalis.—Symptoms: Loss of strength, feeble, fluttering pulse, faintness, nausea, and vomiting and stupor; cold perspiration, dilated pupils, sighing, irregular breathing, and sometimes convulsions.—Treatment: After vomiting, give brandy and ammonia in frequently repeated doses, apply warmth to the extremities, and if necessary resort to artificial respiration.

Gases—Carbonic Acid, Chlorine, Cyanogen, Hydrosulphuric Acid, etc.—Symptoms: Great drowsiness, difficult respiration, features swollen, face blue as in strangulation.—Treatment: Artificial respirations, cold douche, frictions with stimulating substances to the surface of the body. Inhalation of steam containing preparations of ammonia. Cupping from nape of neck. Internal use of chloroform.

Green Vitriol.—See Iron.

Hellebore, or Indian Poke.—Symptoms: Violent vomiting and purging, bloody stools, great anxiety, tremors, vertigo, fainting, sinking of the pulse, cold sweets and convulsions.—Treatment: Excite speedy vomiting by large draughts of warm water, molasses and water, tickling the throat with the finger or a feather, and emetics; give oily and mucilaginous drinks, oily purgatives, and clysters, acids, strong coffee, camphor and opium.

Hemlock (Conium).—Symptoms: Dryness of the throat, tremors, dizziness, difficulty of swallowing, prostration and faintness, limbs powerless or paralyzed, pupils dilated, pulse rapid and feeble; insensibility and convulsions sometimes precede death.—Treatment: Empty the stomach and give brandy in tablespoonful doses, with half teaspoonful of spirits of Ammonia, frequently repeated, and if much pain and vomiting, give bromide of ammonium in five-grain doses every half hour. Artificial respiration may be required.

Henbane or Hyoscyamus.—Symptoms: Muscular twitching, inability to articulate plainly, dimness of vision and stupor; later, vomiting and purging, small, intermittent pulse, convulsive movement of the extremities and coma. Treatment: Similar to Opium Poisoning, which see.

Iodine.—Symptoms: Burning pain in throat, lacerating pain in the stomach, fruitless effort to vomit, excessive tenderness of the epigastrium. Treatment: Free emesis, prompt administration of starch, wheat flour, or arrowroot, beat up in water.

Lead.—Acetate of Lead, Sugar of Lead, Dry White Lead, Red Lead, Litharge, or Pickles, Wine, or Vinegar, Sweetened by Lead.—Symptoms: When taken in large doses, a sweet but astringent metallic taste exists, with constriction in the throat, pain in the region of the stomach, painful, obstinate, and frequently bloody vomitings, hiccough, convulsions or spasms, and death. When taken in small but long-continued doses, it produces colic, called painter's colic; great pain, obstinate constipation, and in extreme cases paralytic, symptoms, especially wrist-drop, with a blue line along the edge of the gums. Treatment: To counteract the poison, give alum in water, one and a half ounce to a quart; or, better still, Epsom salts or Glauber salts, an ounce of either in a quart of water; or dilute sulphuric acid, a teaspoonful in a quart of water. If a large quantity of sugar of lead has been recently taken, empty the stomach by an emetic of sulphate of zinc (one drachm in a quart of water), giving one-fourth [pg 81] to commence, and repeating smaller doses until free vomiting is produced; castor oil should be given to clear the bowels, and injections of oil and starch freely administered. If the body is cold, use the warm bath.

Meadow Saffron.—See Belladonna.

Laudanum.—See Opium.

Lunar Caustic.—See Silver.

Lobelia.—Indian Poke.—Symptoms: Excessive vomiting and purging, pains in the bowels, contraction of the pupils, delirium, coma, and convulsions. Treatment: Mustard over the stomach, and brandy and ammonia.

Mercury.—Corrosive Sublimate (bug poisons frequently contain this poison), Red Precipitate, Chinese or English Vermillion.—Symptoms: Acrid, metallic taste in the mouth, immediate constriction and burning in the throat, with anxiety and tearing pains in both stomach and bowels, sickness, and vomiting of various colored fluids, and sometimes bloody and profuse diarrhoea, with difficulty and pain in urinating; pulse quick, small and hard; faint sensations, great debility, difficult breathing, cramps, cold sweats, syncope and convulsions. Treatment: If vomiting does not already exist, emetics must be given immediately—albumen of eggs in continuous large doses, and infusion of catechu afterwards, sweet milk, mixtures of flour and water in successive cupfuls, and to check excessive salivation put a half ounce of chlorate of potash in a tumbler of water, and use freely as a gargle, and swallow a tablespoonful every hour or two.

Monkshood.—See Arnica.

Morphine.—See Opium.

Nitrate of Silver (Lunar Caustic.)—Symptoms: Intense pain and vomiting and purging of blood; mucus and shreds of mucus membranes; and if these stand they become dark. Treatment: Give freely of a solution of common salt in water, which decomposes the poison, and afterwards flax-seed or elm bark tea, and after a while a dose of castor oil.

Nux Vomica.—See Strychnine.

Opium and all its Preparations—Morphine, Laudanum, Paregoric, etc.—Symptoms: Giddiness, drowsiness, increasing to stupor, and insensibility; pulse usually, at first, quirk and irregular, and breathing hurried, and afterwards pulse slow and feeble, and respiration slow and noisy; the pupils are contracted and the eyes and face congested, and later, as death approaches, the extremities become cold, the surface is covered with cold, clammy perspiration, and the sphincters relax. The effects of opium and its preparations, in poisonous doses, appear in from a half to two hours from its administration. Treatment: Empty the stomach immediately with an emetic or with the stomach pump. Then give very strong coffee without milk; put mustard plasters on the wrist and ankles; use the cold douche to the head and chest, and if the patient is cold and sinking give brandy, or whisky and ammonia. Belladonna is thought by many to counteract the poisonous effects of opium, and may be given in doses of half to a teaspoonful of the tincture, or two grains of the extract, every twenty minutes, until some effect is observed in causing the pupils to expand. Use warmth and friction, and if possible prevent sleep for some hours, for which purpose the patient should be walked about between two persons, and if necessary a bunch of switches may be freely used. Finally, as a last resort, use artificial respiration, and a persistance in it will sometimes be rewarded with success in apparently hopeless cases. Galvanism should also be tried.

Oxalic Acid.—See Acids.

Phosphorus—Found in Lucifer Matches and some Rat Poisons.—Symptoms: Symptoms of irritant poisoning; pain in the stomach and bowels; vomiting; diarrhoea; tenderness and tension of the abdomen. Treatment: An emetic is to be promptly given; copious draughts containing magnesia in suspension: mucilaginous drinks. General treatment for inflammatory symptoms.

Poisonous Fish.—Symptoms: In an hour or two—often in much shorter time—after the fish has been eaten, a weight at the stomach comes on, with slight vertigo and headache; sense of heat about the head and eyes; considerable thirst, and often an eruption of the skin. Treatment: After full vomiting, an active purgative should be given to remove any of the noxious matter from the intestines. Vinegar and water may be drunk after the above remedies have operated, and the body may be sponged with the same. Water made very sweet with sugar, with aromatic spirits of ammonia added, may be drunk freely as a corrective. A solution of cholorate of potash, or of alkali, the latter weak, may be given to obviate the effect of the poison. If spasms ensue after evacuation, laudanum in considerable doses it necessary. If inflammation should occur, combat in the usual way.

Poisonous Mushrooms.—- Symptoms: Nausea, heat and pains in the stomach and bowels; vomiting and purging, thirst, convulsions and faintings, pulse small and frequent, dilated pupil and stupor, cold sweats and death.

Treatment: The stomach and bowels are to be cleared by an emetic of ground mustard or sulphate of zinc, followed by frequent doses of Glauber of Epsom salts, and large stimulating clysters. After the poison is evacuated, either may be given with small quantities of brandy and water. But if inflammatory symptoms manifest themselves, such stimuli should be avoided, and these symptoms appropriately treated.

Potash.—See Alkali.

Prussic Acid, Hydrocyanic.—See Acids.

Poison Ivy.—Symptoms. Contact with, and with many persons the near approach to the vine, gives rise to violent erysipelatous inflammation, especially of the face and hands, attended with itching, redness, burning and swelling, with watery blisters.

Treatment: Give saline laxatives, and apply weak lead and laudanum, or limewater and sweet oil, or bathe the parts freely with spirits of nitre. Anointing with oil will prevent poisoning from it.

Saltpetre, Nitrate of Potash.—Symptoms. Only poisonous in large quantities, and then causes nausea, painful vomiting, purging, convulsions, faintness, feeble pulse, cold feet and hands, with tearing pains in stomach and bowels.

Treatment: Treat just as is directed for arsenic, for there is no antidote known, and emptying the stomach and bowels with mild drinks must be relied on.

Savine.—Symptoms: Sharp pains in the bowels, hot skin, rapid pulse, violent vomiting and sometimes purging, with great prostration. Treatment: Mustard and hot fomentations over the stomach and bowels, and ice only allowed in the stomach until the inflammation ceases. If prostration comes on, food and stimulants must be given by injection.

Stramonium, Thorn-apple or Jamestown Weed.—Symptoms: Vertigo, headache, perversion of vision, slight delirium, sense of suffocation, disposition to sleep, bowels relaxed and all secretions augmented. Treatment: Same as Belladonna.

Strychnine and Nux Vomica.—Symptoms: Muscular twitching, constriction of the throat, difficult breathing and oppression of the chest; violent muscular spasms then occur, continuous in character like lock-jaw, with the body [pg 82] backwards, sometimes like a bow. Treatment: Give, if obtainable, one ounce or more of bone charcoal mixed with water, and follow with an active emetic; then give chloroform in teaspoonful doses, in flour and water or glycerine, every few minutes while the spasms last, and afterwards brandy and stimulants, and warmth of the extremities if necessary. Recoveries have followed the free and prompt administration of oils or melted butter or lard. In all cases empty the stomach if possible.

Sulphate of Zinc, White Vitriol.—See Zinc.

Tin—Chloride of Tin, Solution of Tin (Used by Dyers), Oxide of Tin or Putty Powder.—Symptoms: Vomiting, pains in the stomach, anxiety, restlessness, frequent pulse, delirium, etc. Treatment: Empty the stomach, and give whites of eggs in water, milk in large quantities, or flour beaten, up in water, with magnesia or chalk.

Tartar Emetic.—See Antimony.

Tobacco.—Symptoms: Vertigo, stupor, fainting, nausea, vomiting, sudden nervous debility, cold sweat, tremors, and at times fatal prostration. Treatment: After the stomach is empty apply mustard to the abdomen and to the extremities, and give strong coffee, with brandy and other stimulants, with warmth to the extremities.

Zinc—Oxide of Zinc, Sulphate of Zinc, White Vitriol, Acetate of Zinc.—Symptoms: Violent vomiting, astringent taste, burning pain in the stomach, pale countenance, cold extremities, dull eyes, fluttering pulse. Death seldom ensues, in consequence of the emetic effect. Treatment: The vomiting may be relieved by copious draughts of warm water. Carbonate of soda, administered in solution, will decompose the sulphate of zinc. Milk and albumen will also act as antidotes. General principles to be observed in the subsequent treatment.

Woorara.—Symptoms: When taken into the stomach it is inert; when absorbed through a wound it causes sudden stupor and insensibility, frothing at the mouth and speedy death. Treatment: Suck the wound immediately, or cut it out and tie a cord around the limb between the wound and the heart. Apply iodine, or iodide of potassium, and give it internally, and try artificial respiration.

Scalds.—See Burns and Scalds.

Sprains.—The portions most frequently implicated are the wrist and ankle; no matter which portion it may be, however, rest and quietness is a very important part of the treatment, and, when possible, in an elevated position. If the wrist is sprained it should be carried in a sling; if the ankle, it should be supported on a couch or stool. Cold lotions (see Bruises) should be freely applied, and irrigation by pouring water from a pitcher or tea-kettle resorted to several times a day to prevent inflammation. Later, frictions with opodeldoc, or with some stimulating liniment, and supporting the parts by pressure made with a flannel roller, or laced stocking when the ankle is involved, will be useful to restore tone; or strips of adhesive plaster properly applied will be useful for the same purpose. Recovery from severe sprains is always tedious. It is an old saying "that a bad sprain is worse than a broken bone."

Stings of Bees and Wasps.—See Bites and Stings.

Suffocation from Noxious Gases, Foul Air, Fire Damp, Etc.—Remove to fresh air and dash cold water over the head, neck and chest; carefully apply hartshorn, or smelling salts to the nostrils, and when the breathing is feeble or has ceased, resort immediately to artificial respiration (see Asphyxia and Drowning). Keep up the warmth of the body, and as soon as the patient can swallow give stimulants in small quantities.

Sunstroke.—This is caused by long exposure in great heat, especially when accompanied with great fatigue and exhaustion. Though generally happening from exposure to the sun's rays, yet precisely similar effects may be and are produced from any undue exposure to great and exhaustive heat, such as workmen are exposed to in foundries, gas factories, bakeries, and other similar employments. Its first symptom is pain in the head and dizziness, quickly followed by loss of consciousness, and resulting in complete prostration: sometimes, however, the attack is sudden, as in apoplexy. The head is generally burning hot, the face, dark and swollen, the breathing labored and snoring, and the feet and hands cold. Remove the patient at once to a cool and shady place, and lay him down with his head a little raised; apply ice or iced water to the head and face; loosen all cloths around the neck or waist; bathe the chest with cold water, apply mustard plasters, or cloths wetted with turpentine, to the calves and soles of the feet, and as soon as the patient can swallow, give weak brandy or whisky and water.

The following receipts written by DR. J. H. GUNN will be found of great value, especially in emergencies:

Asthma.—Take hyssop water and poppy water, of each ten ounces; oxymel of squills, six ounces; syrup of maiden hair, two ounces. Take one spoonful when you find any difficulty in breathing.

Ague in the Breast.—Take one part of gum camphor, two parts yellow bees-wax, three parts clean lard; let all melt slowly, in any vessel [earthen best], on stove. Use either cold or warm; spread very thinly on cotton or linen cloths, covering those with flannel. No matter if the breast is broken, it will cure if persevered in. Do not, no matter how painful, cease from drawing milk from the breast that is affected.

Ague, Mixture.—Mix twenty grains quinine with one pint diluted gin or port wine, and add ten grains subcarbonate of iron. Dose, a wine-glass each hour until the ague is broken, and then two or three times a day until the whole has been used.

2. Take Peruvian bark, two ounces; wild cherry tree bark, 1 ounce; cinnamon, one drachm; powdered capsicum, one teaspoonful; sulphur, one ounce; port wine, two quarts. Let it stand a day or two. Dose, a wine-glassful every two or three hours until the disease is broken, and then two or three times a day until all is taken.

Sprained Ankle.—Wash the ankle frequently with cold salt and water, which is far better than warm vinegar or decoctions of herbs. Keep your foot as cold as possible to prevent inflammation, and sit with it elevated on a cushion. Live on very low diet, and take every day some cooling medicine. By obeying these directions only, a sprained ankle has been cured in a few days.

Apoplexy.—Occurs only in the corpulent or obese, and the gross or high livers. To treat, raise the head to a nearly upright position; unloose all tight clothes, strings, etc., and apply cold water to the head and warm water and warm cloths to the feet. Have the apartment cool and well ventilated. Give nothing by the mouth until the breathing is relieved, and then only draughts of cold water.

Preparation for the Cure of Baldness.—Rum, one pint; alcohol, one ounce; distilled water, one ounce, tincture of cantharides, a half drachm; carbonate of potash, a half drachm; carbonate of ammonia, one drachm. Mix the liquids after having dissolved the salts, and filter. After the skin of the head has been wetted with this preparation for several minutes, it should be washed with water.

Bilious Colic.—Mix two tablespoonfuls of Indian meal in half a pint of cold water; drink it at two draughts.

Bilious Complaints.—Take the root and branch of dandelion, and steep it in soft water a sufficient length of time to extract all the essence; then strain the liquor and simmer until it becomes quite thick. Dose: From one to three glasses a day may be taken with good effect.

Blackberry Cordial.—To one quart blackberry juice add one pound white sugar, one tablespoonful each cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Boil together fifteen minutes, and add a wine-glass of whisky, brandy or rum. Bottle while hot, cork tight and seal. Used in diarrhea and dysentery. Dose, a wine-glassful for an adult, half that quantity for a child. It can be taken three or four times a day if the case is severe.

Blisters.—- On the feet, occasioned by walking, are cured by drawing a needleful of worsted thread through them; clip it off at both ends and leave it till the skin peals off.

Raising Blood.—Make a tea of white oak bark, and drink freely during the day; or take half a pound of yellow dock root, boil in new milk, say one quart: drink one gill three times a day, and take one pill of white pine pitch every day.

How to Stop Blood.—Take the fine dust of tea, or the scrapings of the inside of tanned leather. Bind it upon the wound closely, and blood will soon cease to flow.

Boils.—Make a poultice of ginger and flour, and lay it on the boil. This will soon draw it to a head.

Swelled Bowels in Children.—Bathe the stomach of the child with catnip steeped, mixed with fresh butter and sugar.

Chilblains.—Dr. Fergus recommends sulphurous acid in this affection. It should be applied with a camel's hair brush, or by means of a spray producer. One application of this effects a cure. The acid should be used pure. A good wash for hands or feet affected with chilblains is sulphurous acid, three parts; glycerine, one part, and water one part. The acid will be found particularly useful in the irritating, tormenting stage of chilblains.

Chilblains and Chapped Hands.—When chilblains manifest themselves, the best remedy not only for preventing their ulcerating, but overcoming the tingling, itching pain, and stimulating the circulation of the part to healthy action, is the liniment of belladona, two drachms; the liniment of aconite, one drachm; carbolic acid, ten drops; collodion flexile, one ounce; painted with a camel's hair pencil over their surface. When the chilblains vesicate, ulcerate or slough, it is better to omit the aconite and apply the other components of the liniment without it. The collodion [pg 84] forms a coating or protecting film, which excludes the air, while the sedative liniments allay the irritation, generally of no trivial nature. For chapped hands we advise the free use of glycerine and good oil, in the proportion of two parts of the former to four of the latter; after this has been well rubbed into the hands and allowed to remain for a little time, and the hands subsequently washed with Castile soap and water, we recommend the belladonna and collodion flexile to be painted on, and the protective film allowed to remain permanently. These complaints not unfrequently invade persons of languid circulation and relaxed habit, who should be put on a generous regimen, and treated with ferruginous tonics. Obstinate, cases are occasionally met with which no local application will remedy, unless some disordered state of the system is removed, or the general condition of the patient's health improved. Chapped lips are also benefited by the stimulating form of application we advocate, but the aconite must not be allowed to get on the lips, or a disagreeable tingling results.

Chilblain Balm.—Boil together ten fluid ounces olive oil, two fluid ounces Venice turpentine, and one ounce yellow wax; strain, and while still warm add, constantly stirring, two and a half drachms balsam of Peru and ten grains camphor.

Cure for Chilblain.—Make a strong lye by boiling wood ashes in water. Put your feet in a small tub and cover them with the lye as hot as you can bear it. Gradually add more lye, hotter and hotter. Keep them in half an hour, bathing and rubbing them continually, and being very careful to keep the lye hot.

Chilblain Lotion.—Dissolve one ounce muriate of ammonia in one-half pint cider vinegar, and apply frequently. One-half pint of alcohol may be added to this lotion with good effects.

Chilblain Ointment.—Take mutton tallow and lard, of each three-fourths of a pound avoirdupois; melt, in an iron vessel, and add hydrated oxide of iron, two ounces, stirring continually with an iron spoon until the mass is of a uniform black color; when nearly cool add Venice turpentine, two ounces; Armenian bole, one ounce; oil of bergamot, one drachm; rub up the bole with a little olive oil before putting it in. Apply several times daily by putting it upon lint or linen. It heals the worst cases in a few days.

Russian Remedy for Chilblains.—Slices of the rind of fully ripe cucumbers, dried with the soft parts attached. Previous to use they are softened by soaking them in warm water, and are then bound on the sore parts with the inner side next them, and left on all night. This treatment is said to be adopted for both broken and unbroken chilblains.

How to Cure Itching Chilblains.—Take hydrochloric acid, one part, and water, eight parts; mix. Apply on going to bed. This must not be used if the skin is broken. Sal ammoniac, two ounces; rum, one pint; camphor, two drachms. The affected part is wetted night and morning, and when dry is touched with a little simple ointment of any kind—cold cream or pomatum.

Oil of turpentine, four ounces; camphor, six drachms; oil of cajeput, two drachms. Apply with friction.

How to Cure Broken Chilblains.—Mix together four fluid ounces collodion, one and a half fluid ounces Venice turpentine, and one fluid ounce castor oil.

How to Cure Corns.—Take equal parts of mercurial and galbanum ointments; mix them well together, spread on a piece of soft leather, and apply it to the corns morning and evening. In a few days benefit will be derived. Take two ounces of gum ammoniac, two ounces of yellow wax, and six ounces of verdigris; melt them together, and spread the composition on soft leather; cut away as much of the corn as you can, then apply the plaster, and renew it every fortnight till the corn is away. Get four ounces of white diachylon plaster, four ounces of shoemaker's wax, and sixty drops of muriatic acid or spirits of salt. Boil them for a few minutes in an earthen pipkin, and when cold roll the mass between the hands, and apply it on a piece of white leather. Soak the feet well in warm water, then with a sharp instrument pare off as much of the corn as can be done without pain, and bind up the part with a piece of linen or muslin thoroughly saturated with sperm oil, or, which is better, the oil which floats upon the surface of the herring or mackerel. After three or four days the dressing may be removed by scraping, when the new skin will be found of a soft and healthy texture, and less liable to the formation of a new corn than before. Corns may be prevented by wearing easy shoes. Bathe the feet frequently in lukewarm water, with a little salt or potashes dissolved in it. The corn itself will be completely destroyed by rubbing it often with a little caustic solution of potash till the soft skin is formed. Scrape to a pulp sufficient Spanish garlic, and bind on the corn over night, after first soaking it well in warm water, and scrape off as much as possible of the hardened portion in the morning. Repeat the application as required.

How to Cure Soft Corns.—Scrape a piece of common chalk, and put a pinch to the soft corn, and bind a piece of linen rag upon it.

How to Cure Tender Corns.—A strong solution of tannic acid is said to be an excellent application to tender feet as well as a preventive of the offensive odor attendant upon their profuse perspiration. To those of our readers who live far away in the country, we would suggest a strong decoction of oak bark as a substitute.

Caustic for Corns.—Tincture of iodine, four drachms: iodide of iron, twelve grains; chloride of antimony, four drachms; mix, and apply with a camel's hair brush, after paring the corn. It is said to cure in three times.

How to Relieve Corns.—Bind them up at night with a cloth wet with tincture of arnica, to relieve the pain, and during the day occasionally moisten the stocking over the corn with arnica if the shoe is not large enough to allow the corn being bound up with a piece of linen rag.

Remedy for Corns.—1. The pain occasioned by corns may be greatly alleviated by the following preparation: Into a one-ounce vial put two drachms of muriatic acid and six drachms of rose-water. With this mixture wet the corns night and morning for three days. Soak the feet every evening in warm water without soap. Put one-third of the acid into the water, and with a little picking the corn will be dissolved. 2. Take a lemon, cut off a small piece, then nick it so as to let in the toe with the corn, tie this on at night so that it cannot move, and in the morning you will find that, with a blunt knife, you may remove a considerable portion of the corn. Make two or three applications, and great relief will be the result.

How to Cure Solvent Corns.—Expose salt of tartar (pearlash) in a wide-mouth vial in a damp place until it forms an oil-like liquid, and apply to the corn.

How to Cure Cholera.—Take laudanum, tincture cayenne, compound tincture rhubarb, peppermint, and camphor, of each equal parts. Dose, ten to thirty drops. In plain terms, take equal parts tincture of opium, red pepper, rhubarb, peppermint and camphor, and mix them for use. In case of diarroea, take a dose of ten to twenty drops in three or four teaspoonfuls of water. No one who has this by him, and takes it in time, will ever have the cholera.

Signs of Disease in Children.—In the case of a baby not yet able to talk, it must cry when it is ill. The colic [pg 85] baby cry loud, long, and passionately, and shed tears—stopping for a moment and beginning again.

If the chest is affected, it gives one sharp cry, breaking off immediately, as if crying hurt it.

If the head is affected, it cries in sharp, piercing shrieks, with low moans and wails between. Or there may be quiet dozing, and startings between.

It is easy enough to perceive, where a child is attacked by disease, that there has some change taken place; for either its skin will be dry and hot, its appetite gone; it is stupidly sleepy, or fretful or crying; it is thirsty, or pale and languid, or in some way betrays that something is wrong. When a child vomits, or has a diarrhoea, or is costive and feverish, it is owing to some derangement, and needs attention. But these various symptoms may continue for a day or two before the nature of the disease can be determined. A warm bath, warm drinks, etc., can do no harm, and may help to determine the case. On coming out of the bath, and being well rubbed with the hand, the skin will show symptoms of rash, if it is a skin disease which has commenced. By the appearance of the rash, the nature of the disease can be learned. Measles are in patches, dark red, and come out first about the face. If scarlet fever is impending, the skin will look a deep pink all over the body, though most so about the neck and face. Chicken-pox shows fever, but not so much running at the nose, and appearances of cold, as in measles, nor is there as much of a cough. Besides, the spots are smaller, and do not run much together, and are more diffused over the whole surface of the skin; and enlarge into blisters in a day or two.

How to Cure Consumption.—Take one tablespoonful of tar, and the yolks of three hen's eggs, beat them well together. Dose, one tablespoonful morning, noon and night.

Croup, Remedy for in One Minute.—This remedy is simply alum. Take a knife or grater, and shave or grate off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum; mix it with about twice its quantity of sugar, to make it palatable, and administer as quickly as possible. Its effects will be truly magical, as almost instantaneous relief will be afforded.

Cholera Remedy, Hartshorne's.—Take of chloroform, tincture of opium, spirits of camphor, and spirits of aromatic ammonia, each one and one-half fluid drachms; creosote, three drops; oil of cinnamon, eight drops; brandy, two fluid drachms. Dilute a teaspoonful with a wine-glass of water, and give two teaspoonfuls every five minutes, followed by a lump of ice.

Cure for Dandruff.—Good mild soap is one of the safest remedies, and is sufficient in ordinary cases; carbonate of potash or soda is too alkaline for the skin. Every application removes a portion of the cuticle, as you may observe by the smoothness of the skin of your hands after washing them with it. Borax is recommended; but this is also soda combined with a weak acid, boracic acid, and may by protracted use also injuriously act on the scalp. Soap is also soda or potash combined with the weak, fatty acids; and when the soap contains an excess of the alkalies or is sharp, it is as injurious as the carbonate of potash. All that injures the scalp injures the growth of the hair. One of the best applications from the vegetable kingdom is the mucilaginous decoction of the root of the burdock, called bardane in French (botanical name, Lappa Minor). In the mineral kingdom the best remedy is a solution of flowers of sulphur in water, which may be made by the addition of a very small portion of sulphide of potassium, say ten or twenty grains to the pint. This solution is shaken up with the sulphur, and the clear liquid remaining on the top is used. This recipe is founded on the fact that sulphur is a poison for inferior vegetable or animal growth, like dandruff, itch, etc., and is not at all a poison for the superior animal like man.

How to Cure Diphtheria.—A French physician expresses his preference for lemon juice, as a local application in diphtheria, to chlorate of potash, nitrate of silver, perchloride of lime water. He uses it by dipping a little plug of cottonwood, twisted around a wire, in the juice, and pressing it against the diseased surface four or five times daily.

How to Cure Bad Breath.—Bad or foul breath will be removed by taking a teaspoonful of the following mixture after each meal: One ounce liquor of potassa, one ounce chloride of soda, one and one-half ounces phosphate of soda, and three ounces of water.

2. Chlorate of potash, three drachms; rose-water, four ounces. Dose, a tablespoonful four or five times daily.

How to Cure Bunions.—A bunion is a swelling on the ball of the great toe, and is the result of pressure and irritation by friction. The treatment for corns applies also to bunions; but in consequence of the greater extension of the disease, the cure is more tedious. When a bunion is forming it may be stopped by poulticing and carefully opening it with a lancet.

How to Cure Burns and Scalds.—Take half a pound of powdered alum, dissolve it in a quart of water; bathe the burn or scald with a linen rag, wetted with this mixture, then bind the wet rag on it with a strip of linen, and moisten the bandage with the alum water frequently, without removing it during two or three days.

Tea Leaves for Burns.—Dr. Searles, of Warsaw, Wis., reports the immediate relief from pain in severe burns and scalds by the application of a poultice of tea leaves.

How to Cure Cancer.—Boil down the inner bark of red and white oak to the consistency of molasses; apply as a plaster, shifting it once a week; or, burn red-oak bark to ashes; sprinkle it on the sore till it is eaten out; then apply a plaster of tar; or, take garget berries and leaves of stramonium; simmer them together in equal parts of neatsfoot oil and the tops of hemlock; mix well together, and apply it to the parts affected; at the same time make a tea of winter-green (root and branch); put a handful into two quarts of water; add two ounces of sulphur and drink of this tea freely during the day.

Castor Oil Mixture.—Castor oil, one dessert spoonful; magnesia, one dessert spoonful. Rub together into a paste. By this combination, the taste of the oil is almost entirely concealed, and children take it without opposition.

How to Disguise Castor Oil.—Rub up two drops oil of cinnamon with an ounce of glycerine and add an ounce of castor oil. Children will take it as a luxury and ask for more.

Castor Oil Emulsions.—Take castor oil and syrup, each one ounce; the yolk of an egg, and orange flower water, one-half ounce. Mix. This makes a very pleasant emulsion, which is readily taken by adults as well as children.

How to Cure Catarrh.—Take the bark of sassafras root, dry and pound it, use it as a snuff, taking two or three pinches a day.

How to Cure Chilblains.—Wash the parts in strong alum water, apply as hot as can be borne.

How to Cure Cold.—Take three cents' worth of liquorice, three of rock candy, three of gum arabic, and put them into a quart of water; simmer them till thoroughly [pg 86] then add three cents' worth paregoric, and a like quantity of antimonial wine.

How to Cure Corns.—Boil tobacco down to an extract, then mix with it a quantity of white pine pitch, and apply it to the corn; renew it once a week until the corn disappears.

Good Cough Mixture.—Two ounces ammonia mixture; five ounces camphor mixture; one drachm tincture of digitalis (foxglove); one-half ounce each of sweet spirits of nitre and syrup of poppies; two drachms solution of sulphate of morphia. A tablespoonful of this mixture is to be taken four times a day.

2. Tincture of blood-root, one ounce; sulphate of morphia, one and a half grains; tincture of digitalis, one-half ounce; wine of antimony, one-half ounce; oil of wintergreen, ten drops. Mix. Dose from twenty to forty drops twice or three times a day. Excellent for a hard, dry cough.

3. Common sweet cider, boiled down to one-half, makes a most, excellent syrup for colds or coughs for children, is pleasant to the taste, and will keep for a year in a cool cellar. In recovering from an illness, the system has a craving for some pleasant drink. This is found in cider which is placed on the fire as soon as made, and allowed to come to a boil, then cooled, put in casks, and kept in a cool cellar.

4. Roast a large lemon very carefully without burning; when it is thoroughly hot, cut and squeeze into a cup upon three ounces of sugar candy. finely powdered: take a spoonful whenever your cough troubles you. It is as good as it is pleasant.

Cure for Deafness.—Take ant's eggs and union juice. Mix and drop them into the ear. Drop into the ear, at night, six or eight drops of hot sweet oil.

Remedies for Diarrhoea.—1. Take one teaspoonful of salt, the same of good vinegar, and a tablespoonful of water; mix and drink. It acts like a charm on the system, and even one dose will generally cure obstinate cases of diarrhoea, or the first stages of cholera. If the first does not bring complete relief, repeat the dose, as it is quite harmless. 2. The best rhubarb root, pulverized, 1 ounce; peppermint leaf, 1 ounce, capsicum, 1/8 ounce; cover with boiling water and steep thoroughly, strain, and add bicarbonate of potash and essence of cinnamon, of each 1/2 ounce; with brandy (or good whisky); equal in amount to the whole, and loaf sugar, four ounces. Dose—for an adult, 1 or 2 tablespoons; for a child, 1 to 2 teaspoons, from 3 to 6 times per day, until relief is obtained. 3. To half a bushel of blackberries; well mashed, add a quarter of a pound of allspice, 2 ounces of cinnamon, 2 ounces of cloves; pulverize well, mix and boil slowly until properly done; then strain or squeeze the juice through home-spun or flannel, and add to each pint of the juice 1 pound of loaf sugar, boil again for some time, take it off, and while cooling, add half a gallon of the best Cognac brandy.

Cure for Chronic Diarroea.—Rayer recommends the association of cinchona, charcoal and bismuth in the treatment of chronic diarrh a, in the following proportions: Subnitrate of bismuth, one drachm; cinchona, yellow, powdered, one-half drachm; charcoal, vegetable, one drachm. Make twenty powders and take two or three a day during the intervals between meals.

Cures for Dysentery.—Tincture rhubarb, tincture of capsicum, tincture of camphor, essence of ginger and laudanum, equal parts. Mix; shake well and take from ten to twenty drops every thirty minutes, until relief is obtained. This is a dose for an adult. Half the amount for a child under twelve years of age. 2. Take some butter off the churn, immediately after being churned, just as it is, without being salted or washed: clarify it over the fire like honey. Skim off all the milky particles when melted over a clear fire. Let the patient (if an adult) take two tablespoonfuls of the clarified remainder, twice or thrice within the day. This has never failed to effect a cure, and in many cases it has been almost instantaneous. 3. In diseases of this kind the Indians use the roots and leaves of the blackberry bush—- a decoction of which, in hot water, well boiled down, is taken in doses of a gill before each meal, and before retiring to bed. It is an almost infallible cure. 4. Beat one egg in a teacup; add one tablespoonful of loaf sugar and half a teaspoonful of ground spice; fill the cup with sweet milk. Give the patient one tablespoonful once in ten minutes until relieved. 5. Take one tablespoonful of common salt, and mix it, with two tablespoonfuls of vinegar and pour upon it a half pint of water, either hot or cold (only let it be taken cool.) A wine glass full of this mixture in the above proportions, taken every half hour, will he found quite efficacious in curing dysentery. If the stomach be nauseated, a wine-glass full taken every hour will suffice. For a child, the quantity should be a teaspoonful of salt and one of vinegar in a teacupful of water.

Dropsy.—Take the leaves of a currant bush and make into tea, drink it.

Cure for Drunkenness.—- The following singular means of curing habitual drunkenness is employed by a Russian physician. Dr. Schreiber, of Brzese Litewski: It consists in confining the drunkard in a room, and in furnishing him at discretion with his favorite spirit diluted with two-thirds of water; as much wine, beer and coffee as he desires, but containing one-third of spirit: all the food—the bread, meat, and the legumes are steeped in spirit and water. The poor devil is continually drunk and dort. On the fifth day of this regime he has an extreme disgust for spirit; he earnestly requests other diet: but his desire must not be yielded to until the poor wretch no longer desires to eat or drink: he is then certainly cured of his penchant for drunkenness. He acquires such a disgust for brandy or other spirits that he is ready to vomit at the very sight of it.

Cure for Dyspepsia.—1. Take bark of white poplar root, boil it thick, and add a little spirit, and then lay it on the stomach.

2. Take wintergreen and black cherry-tree bark and yellow dock: put into two quarts of water; boil down to three pints; take two or three glasses a day.

Here are two remedies for dyspepsia, said by those who "have tried them" to be infallible. 1. Eat onions. 2. Take two parts of well-dried and pounded pods of red pepper, mixed with one part of ground mustard, and sift it over everything you eat or drink.

How to Cure Earache.—Take a small piece of cotton batting or cotton wool, make a depression in the center with the finger, and then fill it up with as much ground pepper as will rest on a five-cent piece; gather it into a ball and tie it up; dip the ball into sweet oil and insert it in the ear, covering the latter with cotton wool, and use a bandage or cap to retain it in its place. Almost instant relief will be experienced; and the application is so gentle that an infant, will not get injured by it, but experience relief as well as adults. Roast a piece of lean mutton, squeeze out the juice and drop it info the ear as hot as it can be borne. Roast an onion and put into the ear as hot as it can be borne.