The sacred fires of India have not all been extinguished. The most ancient which still exists was con secrated twelve centuries ago, in commemoration of the voyage made by the Parsees when they emigrated from Persia to India. The fire is fed five times every twenty-" four hours with sandal wood and. other fragrant material, combined with very dry fuel.

The longest fence in theworld, it is thought, is one of wire netting in Australia, 1,236 miles long. Its object is to keep rabbits from the cultivated fields.

The world uses at least 170,000,000,000 matches yearly.

I buy for cash only, and always take advantage of a 2 per cent, discount in 10 days where possible to do so, and pay all bills when due. H. C. Davenport in "American Machinist."

Chilled iron is whiter and has a harder surface than iron cast in any other way. It is cast in metal molds called chills, where by reason of the rapid conducting of the heat, the iron cools more quickly on the surface than it would had it been cast in sand.

When mercury is sub-divided minutely, as in stamp-milling, it is said to "floured"; when the globules become coated with grease, fine slime, manganese oxide, etc., so that they will not coalesce, the mercury is saids to be "sickened."

The transmutation of metals is still an enigma, and will doubtless remain so indefinitely. The galvanie battery has shown that alkalies have a metallic base, but it is a vexed question if a precious metal can be manufactured from substances which are believed to contain its ingredients.

In the last 500 years more than $12,000,000,000 worth of gold is estimated to have been dug from the earth. Not much more than one-half of this is definitely known to be in existence in the monetary stocks of the globe.

Pennsylvania alone produced last year nearly three-quarters of a million tons pig iron more than the whole of Great Britain.

Trial of motor "buses in Nottingham, England, has shown that for cheapness of operation and maintenance the street car is far superior to the motor 'bus. The cost of rubber tires for the 'bus is 4 cents a mile, as against 2 1/2 cents per car-mile for rail, a difference which amounts to $500 a year for each vehicle. The cost of motive power is also less for the street car and is placed at 24. cents for a ton weight, while the cost for a petroleum motor vehicle is 80 cents.