Manual Of Useful Information | by J. C Thomas

More than 100,000 facts, figures and fancies, drawn from every land and language, and carefully classified for the ready reference of teachers, students and the family circle.

Title	Manual Of Useful Information
Author	J. C Thomas
Publisher	The Werner Company
Year	1895
Copyright	1893, The Werner Company
Amazon	Manual of useful Information

Compiled Under Direction Of J. C Thomas, With An Introduction By Frank A. Fitzpatrick, Superintendent City Schools, Omaha, Neb Chicago.

Publishers' Preface: The aim of this Manual is to present in accessible form facts and figures of general interest to teachers and scholars; to the man of affairs, the student and the people at large. It contains not one ...

The Working Teachers' Library - Comprises: Five Standard, Reliable and Comparatively Inexpensive Volumes, covering in the most successful manner the whole field of the actual needs of the Public School Teacher: I The Complete Writings Of...

Introduction: The teacher, more than the member of any other profession, is expected to answer any question that may be propounded by the outside world. This requirement, added to the special technical knowledge ne...

Facts About Our Country: Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said -This is my own - my native land! - Scott. ...

Points Of Peculiar Interest: It was Thursday, July 4th, 1776 ! The first Atlantic cable operated in 1858. The first steamer crossed the Atlantic in 1819. Leif Ericsson was the Columbus of the Northmen. Gas was first u...

Points Of Peculiar Interest. Part 2: Luray cavern, a cave, not large, but remarkable for the vast number and extraordinary shapes of its stalactites, is close to Luray village, Virginia (ninety miles from Richmond). Many of these wonderf...

Points Of Peculiar Interest. Part 3: Pilgrim Fathers is the name given to the one hundred and two Puritans who came to this country in 1620, in a ship called the Mayflower, and colonized what are now the Northeastern States, called N...

Historic Minor Political Parties: The minor American parties which have appeared and disappeared during our century and over of national life are the following: Anti-Renters, a New York party which flourished about 1841. They resisted...

Passenger List Of The Mayflower: The following is a complete list of the male passengers landed at Plymouth from the Mayflower: Isaac Allerton. Jno. Alden. Jno. Allerton. William Bradford. William Brewster John Billington. Peter B...

Mean Annual Temperature, Fahrenheit, At Places Named: Alabama Mobile 66 Mississippi....... Jackson 64 Alaska Sitka............... 46 ...

Our State And Territorial Capitals: Alabama, Montgomery; Arizona, Phoenix; Arkansas, Little Rock; California, Sacramento; Colorado, Denver; Connecticut, Hartford; North Dakota, Bismarck; South Dakota, Pierre; Delaware, Dover; Florida, T...

Population And Area Center: The center of area of the United States, excluding Alaska, is in Northern Kansas, in approximate latitude 39 55', and approximate longitude 98 50'. The center of population is in latitude 39...

Figures Of National Importance: The last census of the United States, taken in 1890, and the results of which were announced in 1891, shows that we have a population of 62,-622,250. The census of 1880 counted 50,155,783, of whom 17,...

Where Illiteracy Prevails: The United States compares very favorably with most of the European countries in the method of education. The preponderance of illiterates in the Southern States is largely owing to the presence of a ...

Origin Of State Names: Alabama - Indian; meaning Here we rest. Arkansas - Kansas, the Indian name for smoky water, with the French prefix arc, bow or bend in the principal river. California - Caliente Fornalla...

Mottoes Of The States: Arkansas - Regnantpopuli: The peoples rule. California - Eureka: I have found it. Colorado - Nil sine numine: Nothing without the Divinity. Connecticut - Qui transtulit sustinet: He who has t...

Nicknames Of States, Cities And People: Alabama, Cotton State; Arkansas, Toothpick and Bear State; California, Eureka and Golden State; Colorado, Centennial State; Connecticut, Land of Steady Habits, Freestone State and Nutm...

Noted National Nicknames: Pupils in United States history and the general reader, who is at times puzled to know who is meant, will take interest in the following list: The Father of his Country.Washingion. ...

Wonders Of American Railroading: 1. There are in the United States 150,600 miles of railway - about half the mileage of the world. 2. The estimated cost is $9,000,000,000. 3. The number of people employed by American railways is more...

Our Coal Fields: This country has an area of between three and four hundred thousand square miles of known coal fields, from which one million tons are mined yearly - enough to belt the earth at the equator with a rin...

Immigration Into The United States, 1820-1892: Year. Total Alien Passengers. 1820 ........ 8,385 1821..... ...... 9,127 1822...... ......

Nationality Of Immigrants During Forty Years (Compiled By The Superintendent Of The Census): Countries. 1851 to 1860. 1861 to 1870. 1871 to 1880. 1881 to 1890. England......................................................

Growth Of Our Fifty Chief Cities: Rank. Cities. Popula- tion, 1890 Rank. Population, 1880 1 New York.............. 1,513,501 1...

The Succession Of The Presidents: Name. Native State. Ancestry. Residence. Inaugurated Politics. Place of Death. Year. Agr. ...

Generals Commanding The U. S. Army: From To George Washington 1775 1783 Henry Knox 1783 1784 Josiah Harm...

Wars Oe The United States. Statement Of The Number Of United States Troops Engaged: Wars. From. To. Regulars. Militia and Volunteers. Total. War of the Revolution Apr. 17,1775 ...

Guide To The Civil Service: The officials and clerks - over one hundred and twenty thousand in all - by whom the people's business in the administration of government is carried on, constitute the Civil Service. About five thous...

Government Salary List: The salary of the President of the United States is $50,000 a year, the Vice-President, $8,000; Cabinet officers, $8,000. Senators receive $5,000 and mileage. Congressmen, $5,000 and mileage. The Chie...

Ways And Work Of The Patent Office: Applications for United States patents must be addressed to the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C., and signed and sworn to by the inventor. The invention must not have been in public use or on...

United States Land Measure And Homestead Law: A township is thirty-six sections, each a mile square. A section is six hundred and forty acres. A quarter section, half a mile square, is one hundred and sixty acres. An eighth section, half a mile l...

Alien Holders Of Our Lands: The following is a table of the leading alien holders of lands in the United States, with amount of holdings in acres: An English syndicate, No. 3, in Texas................................

Public Land Grants And Forfeits: Canal Grants. May 26, 1824, to June 30, 1891. Acres. Wisconsin 325,431 Michigan 1,...

Titles To The Public Lands - How Acquired: The public lands of the United States still unsold and open to settlement are divided into two classes, one class being sold by the Government for $1.25 per acre as the minimum price, the other at $2....

Public Lands Still Vacant In The United States: Acres. Alabama................................ 807,947 Arizona................................. 54,608.531 ...

Indians And Their Reservations: The entire extent of territory now in a state of reservation for Indian purposes, including all portions of the Indian Territory, whether in fact occupied or unoccupied by Indians, is 112,413,440 acre...

Indians In United States, 1890: Total number Indians in the United States, 249,273 (exclusive of Alaska, but including 32,567, taxed or taxable and self-sustaining, counted in general census). On reservations or at schools under con...

Slavery In The United States: Year. Number. 1790................................ 697,900 1800................................ 893,040 ...

Serfdom In Russia: There were 47,932,000 serfs in Russia in 1861, as follows: Crown serfs, 22,851,000; appanage, 3,326,000; held by nobles, 21,755,000. The cost of redemption was, in round numbers, about $325,000,000, a...

Austrian Servitude (1840): Value.. Labor (two days per week)................................................ .$175,000,000 Tithe of crops, etc...................

Public Debt Of The Union: 1855 Julyl................. . $35,586,858.56 1856 ,,................. . 31,972,537.90 1857 ,,.....

Official Debt Statement Of December 1, 1892: Interest-Bearing Debt. Funded loan of 1891..... $25,364,500.00 Funded loan of 1907......... 559,592,050.00 Re...

Armies Of The CIVIL War, 1861-65: Number Of Men In The Union Army, Furnished By Each State And Territory, From April 15, 1861, To Close Of War States And Territories. Number Of Men Furnish'D ...

The World's Fair In A Nutshell: The World's Columbian Exposition, or the World's Fair, was created by an act of Congress, approved April 25, 1890, entitled An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the dis...

The World's Fair In A Nutshell. Continued: State Buildings Nearly all the States and Territories of the United States have made appropriations toward the expense of special exhibits at the Exposition, and most of them have characteristic bu...

Government: The following are the officers of the World's Columbian Commission: President, Thomas W. Palmer; Secretary, John T. Dickinson; Director-General, George R. Davis. Department Chiefs Agricultu...

World's Congress Auxiliary: A series of world's congresses in all departments of thought are a feature during the Exposition season. This work is divided into seventeen great departments, as follows: Agriculture, Art, Commerce a...

Essence Of The Constitution: Congress must meet at least once a year. One State cannot undo the acts of another. Congress may admit as many new States as desired. One State must respect the laws and legal decisions of an...

A Dozen American Wonders: Croton Aqueduct, in New York City. City Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The largest park in the world. Lake Superior, the largest lake in the world. Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. Niagara Fa...

The American Nobility: Whoe'er amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty, and virtue Displays distinguished merit, is a noble Of Nature's own creating. Thomson. ...

Time And Its Landmarks: Time's the king of men -For he's their parent, and he is their grave, And gives them what he will, not what they crave. - Shakspeare. ...

Dates And Facts To Remember: Twenty-four hour clock time is gaining in favor. Fifteen degress of longitude represent one hour of time. All over Western Canada 4 p. m. is called sixteen o'clock. The axial rotation of th...

Standard Time: What is known as the new standard time was adopted by agreement by all the principal railroads of the United States, at 12 o'clock, noon, on November 18, 1883. The system divides the continent into...

Where The Sun Jumps A Day: Chatham Island, lying off the coast of New Zealand, in the South Pacific Ocean, is peculiarly situated, as it is one of the habitable points of the globe where the day of the week changes. It is just ...

Harvest Months Of The World: January The greater part of Chili, portions of the Argentine Republic Australia and New Guinea. February To March The East Indies. April Mexico, Egypt, Persia and Syria. May Japan...

Ship's Time: On shipboard time is kept by means of Bells, though there is but one bell on the ship, and to strike the clapper properly against the bell requires some skill. First, two strokes of the clapper a...

French Republican Calendar: I. The Months, beginning September 22. Each month 30 days. Year I. From September 22 1792, to September ...

The Chief Christian Festivals: Christian Feasts are (a) Fixed; (b) Movable. (a) The Fixed Christian Festivals are: All Saints or All Hallows, November 1. All Souls in honor of all the faithful dead, whether canonized or not, Nov...

The Calendars Of History: The Jewish Calendar dates all the years downwards from the creation, which it reckons at 3760 years and 2 months before the Christian era. The civil year begins with the month Tisri, the ecclesiastica...

The Months And Their Names: January, the first month of the year, was among the Romans held sacred to Janus, from whom it derived its name, and was added to the calendar along with February by Numa in 713 B.C. It was not till th...

The Origin Of The Days Of The Week: The names of these are derived from Saxon idolatry. The Saxons had seven deities more particularly adored than the rest, namely: The Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga and Saeter. Sunday being ...

The Historic Ages: The Age of the Bishops, according to Hallam, was the ninth century. The Age of the Popes, according to Hallam, was the twelfth century. Varo recognizes Three Ages: 1st. From the beginning of man...

Legal Holidays In The Various States: January 1. New Year's Day: In all the States except Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. January 8. Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans: In Louisiana. January 19. Lee's Birthday: ...

The Adjustment Of The Calendar: The Chaldeans, Egyptians and Indians, and indeed almost all the nations of antiquity, originally estimated the year, or the periodical return of summer and winter, by 12 lunations; a period equal to 3...

Pickings For Students: There are said to be 2,754 languages. Rhetoric, as an art, dates from 466 B. C. A poet terms words the soul's embassadors. The rude speech of fishwives is called Billingsgate. Lyric poet...

Pickings For Students. Continued: The Brogue (Irish and Gaelic brog) is a light shoe formed of one piece of hide or half-tanned leather, gathered round the ankle, which was formerly much in use among the native Irish and the Scottish ...

Chief Languages Of The World: Some estimate that there are over three thousand languages in the world; and above a thousand different religions, including what are called sects. English is spoken by above one hundred and thirty ...

How To Speak Correctly: There are several kinds of errors in speaking. The most objectionable are those in which words are employed that are unsuitable to convey the meaning intended. Thus, a person wishing to express his in...

How To Speak Correctly. Part 2: Hence, whence and thence, denoting departure, etc., may be used without the word from. The idea of from is included in the word whence - therefore it is unnecessary to say, From whence. Hither, t...

How To Speak Correctly. Part 3: Instead of You was out when I called, say You were out when I called. Instead of I thought I should have won this game, say I thought I should win this game. Instead of This much is cer...

The Art Of Letter-Writing: A business letter should be clear, explicit and concise. Figures should be written out, except dates; sums of money should be both in writing and figures. Copies of all business letters should b...

Punctuation As It Should Be: A period (.) after every declarative and every imperative sentence; as, It is true. Do right. A period after every abbreviation; as, Dr., Mr., Capt. An interrogation point (?) after every questi...

The Use Of Capitals: 1. Every entire sentence should begin with a capital. 2. Proper names, and adjectives derived from these, should begin with a capital. 3. All appellations of the Deity should begin with a capita...

Analysis Of Volapuk: Numerous efforts have been made for two centuries past to found a universal language, but these have all seemed to lack some important particular of success. The most recent attempt in this line is mu...

The Meaning Of Christian Names of Men: To trace the origin of names is always a pleasing and interesting task. We have prepared for our readers the subjoined list of Christian or first names of men: Aaron, Hebrew, a mountain, a loft. ...

The Meaning Of Christian Names of Women: To trace the origin of names is always a pleasing and interesting task. We have prepared for our readers the subjoined list of Christian or first names of women: Ada, German, same as Edith, q. v. ...

A Pliable Language: The flexibility of the English language is in no way better illustrated than by the use made of it by sportsmen in designating particular groups of animals. The following is a list of the terms which ...

Guide To Correct Pronunciation: Accent is a particular stress or force of the voice upon certain syllables or words. This mark in printing denotes the syllable upon which the stress or force of the voice should be placed. A word ...

Rules Of Pronunciation: C before a, o, and u, and in some other situations, is a close articulation, like k. Before e, i, and y, c is precisely equivalent to s in same, this; as in cedar, civil, cypress, capacity. E final...

Common Errors Of Speech: Again, usually pronounced a-gen, not as spelled. Alien, ale-yen, not a-li-en. Antipodes, an-tip-o-dees. Apostle, as a-pos'l, without the t. Arch, artch in compounds of our own language, as...

Common Errors Of Speech. Continued: - En, Not N, As Sudden, Not Suddn Burden, burthen, garden, lengthen, seven, strengthen, often, and a few others, have the e silent. - ence, not unce, as influence, not influ-unce. - es, not i...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms: No two words in the English language have exactly the same significance, but to express the precise meaning that one intends to convey, and to avoid repetition, it is often desirable to have at hand a...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 2: Amend, improve, correct, better, mend. (Impair.) Anger, ire, wrath, indignation, resentment. (Good nature.) Appropriate, assume, ascribe, arrogate, usurp. Argue, debate, dispute, reason upon. Arise, f...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 3: Danger, hazard, peril. (Safety.) Dark, dismal, opaque, obscure, dim. (Light.) Deadly, fatal, destructive, mortal. Dear, beloved, precious, costly, expensive. (Despised, cheap.) Death, departure, decea...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 4: Dispute, v., argue, contest, contend, question, impugn. (Assent.) Dispute, n., argument.de-bate, controversy, quarrel, disagreement. (Harmony.) Dissent, disagree, differ, vary. (Assent.) Distinct, cle...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 5: Extend, reach, stretch. (Abridge.) Extravagant, lavish, profuse, prodigal. (Parsimonious.) Fable, apologue, novel, romance, tale. Face, visage, countenance. Facetious, pleasant, jocular, jocose. (S...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 6: Genteel, refined, polished, fashionable, polite, well-bred. (Boorish.) Gentle, placid, mild, bland, meek, tame, docile. (Rough, uncouth.) Genuine, real, true, unaffected, sincere. (False.) Gesture, at...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 7: Immediately, instantly, forthwith, directly, presently. Immense, vast, enormous, huge, prodigious, monstrous. Immunity, privilege, prerogative, exemption. Impair, injure, diminish, decrease. Impart, r...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 8: Intrumental, conducive, assistant, helping, ministerial. Insufficiency, inadequacy, incompetency, incapability, deficiency, lack. Insult, affront,outrage, indignity, blasphemy. (Honor.) Insulting, ins...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 9: Mark, v., impress, print, stamp, engrave, note, designate. Marriage, wedding, nuptials, matrimony, wedlock. Martial, military, warlike, soldier-like. Marvel, wonder, miracle, prodigy. Marvelous, wondr...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 10: Novel, modern, new, fresh, recent, unused, strange, rare. (Old.) Noxious, hurtful, deadly, poisonous, deleterious, baneful. (Beneficial.) Nullify, annul, vacate, invalidate, quash, cancel, repeal. (Af...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 11: Rabid, mad, furious, raging, frantic. (Rational.) Race, course, match, pursuit, career, family, clan, house, ancestry, lineage, pedigree. Rack, agonize, wring, torture, excruciate, distress, harass. (...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 12: Shallow, superficial, flimsy, slight. (Deep, thorough.) Shame, disgrace, dishonor. (Honor.) Shameful, degrading, scandalous, disgraceful, outrageous. (Honorable.) Shameless, immodest, impudent, ind...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 13: Ugly, unsightly, plain, homely, ill-favored, hideous. (Beautiful.) Umbrage, offence, dissatisfaction, displeasure, resentment. Umpire, referee, arbitrator, judge, arbiter. Unanimity, accord, agreement...

Twelve Thousand Synonyms And Antonyms. Part 14: Wait, await, expect, look for, wait for. Wakeful, vigilant, watchful. (Sleepy.) Wander, range, ramble, roam, rove, stroll. Want, lack, need. (Abundance.) Wary, circumspect, cautious. (Foolhardy.) Wash...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted: Including Quotations From Living And Dead Languages While it is not considered good form to interlard one's discourse with phrases culled from foreign languages, there are many cases wherein a thou...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted. Part 2: Cacoeihes scnbendi, L., an itch for writing. Ccetera desunt, L., the remainder wanting. Ceteris paribus, L., other things being equal. Candida pax, L., white-robed peace. Caput, L., head. ...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted. Part 3: Dum vivimus, vivamus, L., while we live, let us live. Eau de Cologne, F., a perfumed liquid; Cologne water. Eau de vie, F., water of life; brandy. Ecce homo, L., behold the man. (Applied to a...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted. Part 4: Fronti nulla fides, L., no faith in appearance; there is no trusting to appearancesFuit Ilium, L., Troy has been. Fulmen brutum, L., a harmless thunderbolt. Fundus officio, L., having discharged...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted. Part 5: Lis sub judice, L., a case not yet decided. Lite pendente, L., the law-suit hanging; during the trial. Liter a scripta manet, L., the written letter remains. Loci communes, L., common places. Locos y ...

Foreign Phrases Interpreted. Part 6: Petitio principri, L., begging the question. Petite, F., small; little - fern. Piece de resistance, F., a joint of meat. Pinxit, L., he (or she) painted it. Pis alter, F., a last expedient...

A Handful Of Useful Abbreviations: Abbreviations are devices used in writing and printing to save time and space, consisting usually of curtailments effected in words and syllables by the removal of some letters, often of the whole of ...

Stray Hints For Writers: That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time. Sidney Smith once remarked, After you have written an article, take your pen and strike out half o...

Poetry And General Literature: The past but lives in words: a thousand ages Were blank, if books had not evoked their ghosts, And kept the pale, unbodied shades to warn us From fleshless lips. - BulwEr ...

Books, Authors And Titles: The term Bible means The Book. Homer is called the Father of poetry. Thackeray's first success was Vanity Fair. Even Milton stumbled into mixed metaphor. Boswell has been termed the ...

Books, Authors And Titles. Part 2: The Trouveres were the minstrels of the north of France in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The language they employed was the Walloon or Langue d'oil. The themes they sang were s...

Books, Authors And Titles. Part 3: Verse without rhyme is called blank verse. The term is especially applied to the heroic verse used in English dramatic and epic poetry, unrhymed iambic pentameter. Milton's Paradise Lost is a most n...

Books, Authors And Titles. Part 4: The Fiery Cross was a blazing torch in the form of a cross, carried from hill to hill to summon the clans to battle. Sir Walter Scott speaks of it in The Lady of the Lake. He says the chaplain slew ...

Books, Authors And Titles. Part 5: Lady Godiva is the famous patroness of Coventry, England, who built herself an everlasting name by an unexampled deed of magnanimity and devotion. About the year 1040 Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lord ...

Vanity Of The Scholastics: It was much the fashion, especially with German and Dutch authors who wrote in Latin, to convert their names into a Greek or Latin equivalent, or to give them a classic turn as: The real name of Ag...

Copyright And International Copyright: Copyright is the exclusive right to multiply copies of a written or printed composition, or of a work of art. Such rights were claimed by authors even before the introduction of printing. After the in...

How Literature Pays: Goldsmith received $300 for the Vicar of Wakefield; Moore, $15,-000 for Lalla Rookh; Victor Hugo, $12,000 for Hernani; Chateaubriand, $110,000 for his works; Lamartine, $16,000 for Travels in P...

Literary Pseudonyms: Pseudonyms are false names adopted by an author to conceal his identity. Originally pseudonymous was used of works deliberately published under a false name, so as to induce people to believe them t...

The Forty Immortals Of The French Academy: Year Elected. Name. Born. Predecessor. 1 1855... Ernest Wilfred Gabriel Bap-tiste Legouve ............ ...

Some Large Libraries: Statistics of twenty leading libraries in this country show that of over $500,000 spent, a little more than $170,000 was devoted to books, while other expenses consumed $358,000. In the Mercantile Lib...

Honors Among Books: I. The first book printed in German (1461) was the Edelstein, (or precious stone) by Ulrich Boner - a collection of fables, tales, and maxims in reproof of evil ways and for the encouragement of p...

Books We Hear About: The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan: Pt. i., 1678; pt. ii., 1684. This is supposed to be a dream, and to allegorize the life of a Christian, from his conversion to his death. His doubts are giant...

Mythology And Folk-Lore: 'Tis a history-Handed from ages down; a nurse's tale. Which children, open ey'd and mouth'd devour, And thus, as garrulous ignorance relates, We learn it and believe. - Southey. ...

Vagaries Of Human Belief: Chinese history, or fable, begins 2205 b. c. Orion was a giant hunter, noted for his beauty. Puck and Robin Goodfellow. are identical myths. The Ogri were giants said to feed on human flesh. ...

Vagaries Of Human Belief. Part 2: Cuneiform is a term descriptive of a form of writing of which the component parts resemble a wedge. It was used by the peoples of Babylonia, Assyria and other ancient nations, and was inscribed upon s...

Vagaries Of Human Belief. Part 3: The name of Bucentaur was that of the state-galley in which the former Doges of Venice used to sail out every year on Ascension Day, amid great festivities, in order, by sinking a ring into the sea, t...

Story Of The Nibelungen Lied: This famous historic poem, which is called the Iliad of Germany, was produced about 1210, and is divided into two parts, and thirty-two lieds or cantos. The first part ends with the death of Siegfried...

The Sagas of The Norsemen: Edda was the name of the Bible of the ancient Scandinavians. A saga is a book of instruction, generally, but not always, in the form of a tale,like a Welsh mabinogi. In the Edda there are numero...

Rip Van Winkle And Other Sleepers: Almost all nations have a tradition about some sleeper, who will wake after a long period of dormancy. Of these the best known to us is Rip Van Winkle, who, according to the legend (Washington Irving'...

Indian Folk Lore: As a specimen of the folk-lore of our own aborigines none can surpass in interest the story of Hiawatha, the prophet-teacher, son of Mud-jekeewis (the west wind) and Wenonah daughter of Nokomis. He re...

The Language Of Gems: Amethyst Peace of mind. Regarded by the ancients as having the power to dispel drunkenness. Bloodstone I mourn your absence. Worn by the ancients as an amulet or charm, on account of the medi...

The Gift Of Second Sight: Second-sight, a gift of prophetic vision, was long supposed in the Scottish Highlands and elsewhere to belong to particular persons. The most common form it took was to see the wraith, fetch, or shado...

Olympian Deities And Heroes: Acha'tes. The trusty friend of Aeneas. Ach'eron. The son of Sol and Terra, changed by Jupiter into a river of hell. Used also for hell itself. Achil'les. A Greek who signalized himself in the wa...

Olympian Deities And Heroes. Part 2: Daed'alus. A most ingenious artificer of Athens, who formed the Cretan labyrinth and invented the auger, axe, glue, plumb-line, saw, and masts and sails for ships. Dana'ideS, or Be'Lides. The fifty...

Olympian Deities And Heroes. Part 3: Hydra. A celebrated monster, or serpent, with seven, or, according to some, fifty heads, which infested the Lake Lerna. It was killed by Hercules. Hymen. Son of Bacchus and Venus, and god of marria...

Elysium And Hades: Elysium, among the Greeks and Romans, was the regions inhabited by the blessed after death. They are placed by Homer at the extremities of the earth, by Plato at the antipodes, and by others in the Fo...

Industry And Commerce: Each climate needs what other climes produce, And offers something to the general use; No land but listens to the common call, And in return receives supply from all. - Cowper. ...

Facts And Channels Of Trade: Envelopes were first used in 1839. The first lucifer match was made in 1829. First steamer crossed the Atlantic in 1819. The first horse railroad was built in 1826-7. The first newspaper a...

Facts And Channels Of Trade. Part 2: Customs duties are the portion of the revenue derived from a tax on imports. In some countries, customs duties are imposed on certain exports also. Customs is the general term applying to the service ...

Facts And Channels Of Trade. Part 3: Curacoa is a well known and esteemed liqueur, usually made in Holland with the dried peel of the Curacoa orange, the peel being macerated with water, and then distilled with spirit and water. The resu...

Facts And Channels Of Trade. Part 4: India rubber is obtained mostly from the Seringueros of the Amazon, who sell it for about 12 cents a pound to the merchants of Para, but its value on reaching England or the United States is over 50 c...

Railway Mileage Of The World: The dates of the opening of the first railways, and the mileage in 1891, of the principal countries are as under: Austria-Hungary 20th September,1828 16,467 ...

Around The World In Eighty-Two Days: This will be of interest to those tourists who contemplate the girdling of the earth! Start from any of the Atlantic cities to Omaha, Neb., via the regular trunk lines of railway - about 1,400 ...

Theory Of Auctions: One of the most convenient modes of offering property for sale is correctly indicated by the name Auction, which means an arrangement for increasing the price by exciting competition amongst purchas...

Curious By-Products Of Coal: There are a good many products from coal, of which the majority of people know nothing. Their number will go into the thousands, and research into this particular branch of inorganic chemistry is brin...

Coal Production Of The United States: Compiled from the Report of the Eleventh Census, covering product of 1889. Weight expressed in short tons of 2,000 pounds: States Tons Alabama.......... ...

The World's Coal-Fields: Area In Square Miles China and Japan, 200,000; United States, 194,000; India, 35,000; Russia, 27,000; Great Britain, 9,000; Germany, 3,600; France, 1,800; Belgium, Spain, and other countries, 1,400...

The World's Finest Harbors: San Francisco may fairly claim to have the most capacious natural harbor of any of the world's great trading marts. It is also one of the very safest. It is entered through the Golden Gate, a passage ...

Condensed Postal Information: Local, or Drop Letters, two cents for each ounce at all letter car-rier offices, and at other offices 1 cent. Letters to any part of the United States or the Dominion of Canada, 2 cents for each ou...

Handicraft And Invention: Toiling - rejoicing - sorrowing, Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begun, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose! ...

Longfellow Triumphs Of Skill And Genius: Telescopes were invented in 1590. The first steel pen was made in 1830. The telephone was invented in 1861. The Chinese invented paper, 170 B. C. Ben Franklin used the first lightning rods...

Longfellow Triumphs Of Skill And Genius. Part 2: Out of Sussex Co., Eng., William Penn took seven hundred of the best mechanics, millwrights, carpenters etc., and brought them to the United States. The first county he struck, at the mouth of the Del...

Longfellow Triumphs Of Skill And Genius. Part 3: One of the cleverest inventions ever passed on by the patent office is the machine for sticking common pins in the papers in which they are sold. The contrivance brings up the pins in rows, draws the ...

Longfellow Triumphs Of Skill And Genius. Part 4: The largest and costliest private mansion in the world is that belonging to Lord Bute, called Mountstuart, and situated near Rothesay. It covers nearly two acres; is built in gothic style; the walls, ...

Durability Of Different Woods: Experiments have been lately made by driving sticks, made from different woods, each two feet long and one and one-half inches square, into the ground, only one-half an inch projecting outward. It was...

The World's Noted Bridges: The Sublician bridge at Rome is the oldest wooden bridge in existence. It was built in the seventh century. The old London Bridge was the first stone bridge. It was built in 1176. The first cast iron ...

Selected Hints For Artisans: Furniture Polish For French polishing cabinet-makers use: Pale shellac, 1 pound; mastic, l2/5 ounces; alcohol of 90 per cent standard, 1 to \\ pints. Dissolve cold, with frequent stirring. Cemen...

Selected Hints For Artisans. Continued: To Make Cloth Waterproof There have been various devices for rendering cloth waterproof without the use of India rubber. The most successful of these, no doubt, is the Stenhouse patent. This consis...

Harmony And Relations Of Colors: Most persons have observed that colors, when brought together, mutually set each other off to advantage, while others have altogether a different effect. This must be carefully attended to by every pa...

The Phonograph: The phonograph was discovered accidentally. Mr. T. A. Edison was at work on an apparatus for recording a telegraphic message, by having an armature (with a needle fastened in one end) of the sounder m...

Synopsis Of Great Inventions: Invention. Inventor. Date. Air Gun Marin ........1595 Air Pump Otto von Guericke ...

Money And Finance: Mammon, the least-erected spirit that fell From heaven; for e'en in heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold, Than aught,...

Facts And Definitions Pecuniary: Gold was first discovered in California in 1848. Exchanges originated in the commercial cities of Italy. Money simply means a common medium of exchange. The first currency used in this coun...

Facts And Definitions Pecuniary. Continued: The Clearing House is an organized system by which bankers effect, at one central establishment, the collection and interchange of their bills, checks and other obligations; the result is a great dimi...

A Lesson To Borrowers: Peter Cooper was one of the most successful, careful and prudent business men of his time. He was strongly opposed to the methods of many merchants who launched out into extravagant enterprises on bor...

National Debts Of The World: Argentine Republic...... $611,415,880 Australian Colonies..................... 787,692,605 Austria-Hungary........ 2,...

Gold And Silver Production In Five Hundred Years: Gold. Silver. Countries. Tons. Value. Ratio. Tons. Value. ...

The Standard Silver Dollar: The coinage of the standard silver dollar was first authorized by Act of April 2, 1792. Its weight was to be 416 grains standard silver; fineness, 892.4; which was equivalent to 3711/4 grains of fine ...

Great Financial Panics: The most remarkable crises since the beginning of the present century have been as follows: 1814. England, two hundred and forty banks suspended. 1824. Manchester, failures, two millions sterlin...

A "Penny-Wise" Table: The way to accumulate money is to save small sums with regularity. A small sum saved daily for fifty years will grow at the following rate: Daily Savings. Result. ...

Merchants' Cost And Price Marks: All merchants use private cipher marks to note cost or selling price of goods. The cipher is usually made up from some short word or sentence of nine or ten letters, as: Cornelius, A. 123456789 0. ...

Average Import Duties In Various Countries: Ratio To Imports Per Cent. Great Britain .. 51/2 France 61/2 Germany 6 ...

The Bankrupt Laws: Properly speaking, the Bankrupt Law is a thing of the past. Laws have been enacted, however, in nearly all the States for the purpose of distributing the property of an insolvent debtor proportiona...

Short Interest Rules: To find the interest on a given sum for any number of days, at any rate of interest, multiply the principal by the number of days and divide as follows: At 3 per cent, by 120...

About Trade Discounts: Wholesale houses usually invoice their goods to retailers at list prices. List prices were once upon a time supposed to be retail prices, but of late a system of long list prices has come into vo...

Wonders Of Compound Interest - Time In Which Money Doubles: Per Cent. Simple Interest. Compound Int. Per Cent. Simple Interest. Compound Int. 2 50 years...

Terms Of The Stock Broker: Accommodation Paper Notes or bills not representing an actual sale or trade transaction, but merely drawn to be discounted for the benefit of drawer, acceptor or indorser, or all combined. Balan...

Our Banking System Explained: The present system, known as the National Bank-note System of the United States, was devised - first, to secure in the most effective way a sure market for United States bonds, whose issue was rendere...

Coins, Weights And Measures: I praise not those Who in their petty dealings pilfer not, But him whose conscience spurns at secret fraud, When he might plunder and defy surprise. - Cumberland. ...

Home And Foreign Standards: A stone weight in England is fourteen pounds. Counterfeiting was formerly treason under British law. Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold. Ninety coins per minute is fa...

All About An Acre: An acre is a measure of ground approximately adopted by most nations, which in America and England is 4,840 square yards. The chain with which land is measured is 22 yards long, and a square chain wil...

Capacity Of A Ten-Ton Freight Car: Whisky.................. .......60 barrels. Salt...................... ......70 ,, Lime......................

Money Of The World: Brass money is spoken of by Homer as early as 1184 b. c. Gold and silver were coined by Pheidon, of Argos, 862 b. c. Coins were made sterling in 1216. New silver coinage struck, 1816; Jubilee coins st...

The Value Of Foreign Coins: Country. Monetary Unit. Standard. Value In U. S. Money. Standard Coin. Austria...... Florin Silver........

Weights Of Metals Without Weighing: Wrought Iron Find the number of cubic inches in the piece; multiply them by .2816. The product will be in pounds. Cast Iron Multiply the number of cubic inches by .2607. Copper. - Multiply th...

Domestic Weights And Measures: One quart of wheat flour is one pound. One quart of corn meal weighs eighteen ounces. One quart of butter, soft, weights fourteen to sixteen ounces. One quart of brown sugar weighs from a pound to a p...

Weights And Measures: Troy Weight - 24 grains make 1 pennyweight, 20 pennyweights make 1 ounce. By this weight, gold, silver and jewels only are weighed. The ounce and pound in this are same as in Apothecaries' weight. ...

Ratio Of Apothecaries' And Imperial Measure: Apothecaries. Imperial. 1 gallon equals.................... 6 pints, 13 ounces, 2 ...

Handy Metric Tables: The following tables give the equivalents of both the metric and common systems, and will be found convenient for reference: Approximate Equivalent. Accurate Equivale...

Sundry Weights And Measures: To find the number of bushels of apples, potatoes, etc., in a bin, multiply the length, breadth and thickness together; then multiply by eight and point off one figure in the answer for decimals. T...

The Area Of A Circle: Of all plane figures the circle is the most capacious, or has the greatest area within the same limits. It is geometrically demonstrable that it has the same area as a right-angled triangle with a bas...

Coal Weighed By Measure: 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 ...

Trade Sizes Of Books: The name indicates the number of pages in the sheet, thus: in folio book, 4 pages or 2 leaves = 1 sheet; a quarto, or 4to., has 8 pages or 4 leaves to a sheet; an octavo, or 8vo., 16 pages or 8 leaves...

Value Of Diamonds: Diamonds averaging one-half carat each, $60 per carat. Diamonds averaging three-quarters carat each, $80 per carat. Diamonds averaging one carat each, $100 per carat. Diamonds averaging one a...

Valuable Calculations: To Measure Bulk Wood To measure a pile of wood, multiply the length by the width, and that product by the height, which will give the number of cubic feet. Divide that product by 128, and the quoti...

The Story Of Our Coinage: Among the North American Indians. strings of beads made from shells were used as currency. They were called wampum. In Colonial times the general court of Massachusetts soon recognized this money and ...

Numismatics As A Study: Besides its bearing upon the history, the religion, the manners, and the arts of the nations which have used money, the science of numismatics has a special modern use in relation to art. Displaying t...

War And Its Appliances: Is it, O man, with such discordant noises, With such accursed instruments as these, Thou drownest nature's sweet and kindly voices, And jarrest the celestial harmonies ? ...

Longfellow Armies, Arms And Armor: Julius Caesar invaded Britain, 55 b. c. French Revolution, 1789; Reign of Terror, 1793. Bunker Hill and Lexington were fought in 1775. A rifle ball moves at one thousand miles per hour. Wa...

Longfellow Armies, Arms And Armor. Part 2: The temporary suspension of hostilities between two armies or two nations at war, by mutual agreement, constitutes an armistice. It takes place sometimes when both are exhausted, and at other times wh...

Longfellow Armies, Arms And Armor. Part 3: . The Wars of the Roses is the name given to the wars between the house of York and that of Lancaster. It began with the battle of St. Albans, May 23, 1455, and ended with the battle of Bosworth Field...

Longfellow Armies, Arms And Armor. Part 4: The famous bashi-bazouks are irregular troopers in the pay of the Sultan. Very few of them are Europeans; they are mostly Asiatics from some or other of the provinces in Asiatic Turkey. They are wild,...

Ratio Of Loss In Great Battles: The number placed hors-de-combat in battle is not relatively so large as formerly, as the table below will show: Men Engaged. Hors-de-combat. Ratio. ...

Chief Battles Of The CIVIL War: (From Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, by William F.Fox,lieutenant-Colonel, U.S.V.) As to the loss in the Union armies, the greatest battles in the war were: Date. ...

Blood And Treasure Cost In Recent Wars: The cost of recent wars, according to figures furnished by the London Peace Society: is as follows: Crimean war $1,700,000,000 Italian war 1859 ...

American Dockyards: The navy yards of the United States are eight in number. They are Portsmouth, Portsmouth, N. H., Charlestown, Boston, Mass., New York, Brooklyn, N. Y., League Island, Philadelphia, Pa., Washington, Wa...

Decisive Battles Of History: Actium, B. c. 31. The combined fleets of Antony and Cleopatra defeated by Octavius, and imperialism established in the person of Octavius. Philippi, b. c. 42. Brutus and Cassius defeated by Octaviu...

Recent Desperate Wars: Indian Mutiny. General disaffection from a variety of real or supposed grievances had been for a long time smoldering amongst the Sepoys, who were the flower of the British East India Company's forces...

Recent Desperate Wars. Continued: Russo-Turkish Wars. Of the many wars between the Muscovite and Mohammedan powers, we cite the two latest: (1) The first arose from a demand on the part of Nicholas, the Czar of Russia, of a protectora...

The Latest Explosive: It begins to look as if the days of gunpowder as a charge for the guns in the British navy were numbered. Recent experiments at the government proof butts, Woolwich, appear to prove the decided super...

Creeds Of The World: Happy the man who sees a God employed In all the good and ill that checker life! Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme. - ...

Notes On Faith And Worship: Apollo was worshipped on Mt. Parnassus. The name diabolos means a slanderer. There is no definition of religion in the Bible. The first altar mentioned was that raised by Noah. The cro...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 2: The primary meaning of Chapel was a chest containing relics or their shrine. Now it is a place of worship subordinate to a cathedral or large church, or connected with a castle, university or other in...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 3: Ultramontane, meaning beyond the mountains, originally referred to the Alps - namely, in relation to France. Later it had reference to that party in the Church of Rome which assigns the greatest wei...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 4: The word bull is derived from the Latin bulla, a bubble of water, and then a round ball of any kind. In the middle ages it came to signify the capsule of the seal appended to letters from emperors...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 5: There is no date from beginning to end in the Bible. It comprises some sixty documents, and is supposed to have been written by about forty men; fifty-four miracles are recorded in the Old and fifty-o...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 6: Theosophy is a name often applied to the systems of the speculative mystics of the mediaeval and later times, as Eckhart, Bonn, Schelling and others. The term is now applied to the tenets of the Theos...

Notes On Faith And Worship. Part 7: There '11 be twa winters in the year. The Wahabees is the name of a reforming Mahommedan sect founded by Abd-el-Wahhab (1691-1787), a renowned Oriental scholar of the province of Nejd, in Arabia, w...

The Seven Bibles Of The World: Are the Koran of the Mahommedans, the Eddas of the Scandinavians, the Try Pitikes of the Buddhists, the Five Kings of the Chinese, the Three Vedas of the Hindoos, the Zendavesta, and the Scriptures of...

Nationality Of The Popes: The various nations of Europe are represented in the list of Popes as follows: English, 1; Dutch, 1; Swiss, 1; Portuguese, 1; African, 2; Austrian, 2; Spanish, 5; German, 6; Syrian, 8; Greek, 14; Fren...

Fate Of The Apostles: The following brief history of the fate of the Apostles may be new to those whose reading has not been evangelical: St. Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom or was slain with the sword at...

The Name Of God In Forty-Eight Languages: Hebrew Eleah,Jehovah Chaldaic ...........Eiliah Assyrian ...........Eleah Syrian and Turkish ...

The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army is a missionary organization set on foot in England by William Booth, who was called the General of the army. The plan of operation is for a company to march about cities, towns, ...

Worship Of The Human Family: The following estimates, by M. Fournier de Flaix, are the latest that have been made by a competent authority. (See Quarterly of the American Statistical Association for March, 1892.) C...

The Great Councils: A council or synod, is an assembly of ecclesiastics met to regulate doctrine or discipline. We first hear of such assemblies during the Mon-tanist controversy, about 150 A. d. (Ecumenical councils are...

Mormons And Their "Book": The Mormons or Latter Day Saints, are a religious sect founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, of Vermont, who declared that he received his mission from an angel in 1823. This angel told him where to find c...

Creeds Of The Presidents: Washington, Garfield and Harrison were the only Presidents who were church members, but all, one excepted, were men who revered Christianity. Adams married a minister's daughter, and was inclined to U...

Religious Bodies In The United States (According To Reports Of Census Of 1890): Denominations. Organizations. Church Edifices. Communicants. Adventists 1,756 744 60,491 ...

What Is A State Religion?: A state religion and a national religion are two different things. A nation may, with more or less universal concurrence, accept a certain type of religion - as the people of the United States for the...

An Omitted Psalm: Your Bible, if it is of the regulation sort, closes the Book of Psalms with the 150th. In the Greek Bible, however, there is another entitled A Psalm of David After He Had Slain Goliath. Athanasius ...

Religion As A Science: A religion is a group or whole of religious phenomena - of religious beliefs, practices and institutions - so closely connected with one another as to be thereby differentiated from those of any other...

The Testimony Of Literature: To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant and which is animated only by Faith and Hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind, unless it be invigorated and reimpresse...

Jottings In Science: Go abroad Upon the paths of nature, and when all Its voices whisper, and its silent things Are breathing the deep beauty of the world, Kneel at its simple altar. - N. P. Willis. ...

Answers To Many Queries: Newton was born in 1642. The word philosophy means I love wisdom. Astrology rightly means the science of the stars. Galileo constructed the first refracting telescope. The term science ...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 2: Army worm is a name sometimes given to the grubs of a small black fly, very common in some European forests. In the United States the name is given to a voracious moth, common everywhere, which collec...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 3: In Mercator's Projection the maps are so constructed that the lines of longitude are straight and not curved. This device of representing a globe in perspective on a flat surface is due to Edward Wrig...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 4: The analysis of the spectrum, which is an image of white light passed through a prism, and refracted and decomposed into various colors of light is what scientists mean by the term spectrum analysis. ...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 5: Alchemy, a pseudo chemistry, the precursor, in the middle ages, of the modern science, had for its primary object the transmutation of metals into gold and silver by the discovery of a universal solve...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 6: Eureka! or rather Heureka! (I have discovered it!) was the exclamation of Archimedes, the Syracusan philosopher, when he found out how to test the purity of Hiero's crown. The tale is that Hiero sus...

Answers To Many Queries. Part 7: The system of philosophy known as positivism, taught by Auguste Comte (1799-1857), discarding the possibility of knowing the beginning and the end of anything, concerns itself only with what lies betw...

The Largest River Systems: River. Area of Basin, sq. m. Length Miles. Amazon 2,230,000 3,400 Congo 1,540,000 2,...

The Zodiac And Its Signs: Zodiac was the name given by the ancients to an imaginary band extending round the celestial sphere, having as its mesial line the ecliptic or apparent path of the sun. It was fixed at about 16 i...

Specific Gravity Of Substances: A gallon of water or. wine weighs 10 lbs., and this is taken as the basis of the following table: Liquids. Water 100 Sea Water ...

Precious Stones: Emerald.................... 277.5| Crystal.................... 265.3| Diamond............ 353.0 ...

Sundries: Indigo........... 77 Gun powder............. 93 Butter............... 94 Ice................ ...

Selected Weights: Lbs. per Cub. Ft. Cork.................. .... 15 Cedar............. .... 36 Beech.............. ...

The Solar System: Name. Mean Distance From Earth in Millions of Miles. Mean Distance From Sun, Millions of Miles. Sidereal Period, Days. O...

Some Great Waterfalls: Waterfalls occur most frequently in mountainous countries, where the streams from the mountain sides enter the valleys. These mountain waterfalls, however, are generally rather curious and picturesque...

Lightning Conductors: Copper is the best material for conductors. When circumstances are not such as to promote corrosion iron may be used, but of larger dimensions. Its conductivity is about one-fifth that of copper. C...

Latitude And Longitude: A Table showing the number of miles in degree of longitude at each degree of latitude. Lat. Miles. Lat. Miles. Lat. Miles. ...

The Thermometer: The thermometer is an instrument for measuring the heat or temperature of bodies by the regular expansion of mercury or alcohol in a graduated glass tube. Halley proposed the substitution of mercury f...

Summer Heat In Various Lands: The following figures show the extreme summer heat in the various countries of the world: Bengal and the African desert, 150 Fahrenheit; Senegal and Guadaloupe, 130; Persia, 125; Calcut...

Historic Cold Weather: 1234. Mediterranean frozen; traffic with carts. 1420. Bosphorus frozen. 1468. Wine at Antwerp sold in blocks. 1658. Swedish artillery crossed the sound. 1766. Snow knee-deep at Naples. ...

Extreme Heat In Europe: In 1303 and 1304 the Rhine, Loire and Seine ran dry. The heat in several French provinces during the summer of 1705 was equal to that of a glass furnace. Meat could be cooked by merely exposing it to ...

Horse Power Of Steam Engines: The unit of nominal power for steam engines, or the usual estimate of dynamical effect per minute of a horse, called by engineers a 'horse power, is thirty-three thousand pounds at a velocity of one ...

Terms In Electricity: The technical terms used in regard to electricity refer to units of various nature. Thus the unit of capacity is one farad; the unit of activity, one watt; the unit of work, one joule; the unit of qua...

Heights Of The Principal Mountain Peaks: Asia. Feet. Everest, Himalayas....................... 29,002 Dapsanjj, Karakorums....................... 28,700 ...

Curious Facts About Fishes: Following are some curious facts about fishes. While naturalists have generally accepted Cuvier's view that the existence of fishes is silent, emotionless and joyless, recent observations tend to show...

The Aurora Borealis: Northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, is the name given to the luminous phenomenon which is seen towards the north of the heavens by the inhabitants of the higher latitudes. During the winter of the no...

The Nebular Hypothesis: The nebular hypothesis, now generally accepted by scientists as explaining, as far as possible by human conception, the genesis of the heavenly bodies, was first suggested by Herschel, and developed b...

Aerolites: B.C. 654, a shower of stone fell on the Alban Mount (Livy.) B.C. 467, a great stone fell at Aegospotami, on the Hellespont (Parian Chronicle). Pliny says it was about the size of a wagon. A.D. 1...

How We Measure The Earth: The circumference of the earth is measured in this way: Suppose two astronomers, A and B, stationed on the same meridian, a certain distance apart, and with accurate instruments, should make careful o...

What Is Ventriloquism?: Ventriloquism is the art of producing tones and words without any motion of the mouth, so that the hearer is induced to refer the sound to some other place. It does not depend on any peculiar structur...

Some Facts In Hydraulics: A gallon of water (U. S. standard) weighs 81/3 pounds and contains 231 cubic inches. A cubic foot of water weighs 621/2 pounds, and contains 1,728 cubic inches or 71/2 gallons. Doubling the diamete...

Genesis Of Heliography: As long ago as 333 years before Christ, Alexander the Great employed mirrors to convey signals by the light of the sun. Since the time of the great warrior the idea has been reduced to a science and c...

The Artesian Well: A most valuable source of water supply are the artesian wells, which are perpendicular borings into the ground, through which water rises from various depths, according to circumstances, above the sur...

The Last Word On Electricity: As to the question of the real nature of electricity, recent experiments and further knowledge of its properties rather open fresh avenues to new hypotheses than point to the truth of any one special ...

Plain Law For Plain People: The lawless science of our law, That codeless myriad of precedent, That wilderness of single instances, Through which a few, by wit or fortune led, May beat a pathway out to wealth and fame. - Tenn...

A Definition With A Purpose: Blackstone defines law as the rules of human action or conduct, but what is commonly understood by the term is the civil or municipal regulations of a nation as applied to a particular country. The fo...

Business Law In Brief: It is a fraud to conceal a fraud. Ignorance of the law excuses no one. A contract made on a Sunday is void. A contract made with a lunatic is void. The act of one partner binds all the oth...

Agreements And Contracts: A contract or agreement is where a promise is made on one side and assented to on the other, or where two or more persons enter into engagement with each other by a promise on either side. In a writte...

Notes And Negotiable Paper: The superstructure of business as it exists today rests on the broad foundation of confidence - the result of what may be called the evolution of commerce, and the principal stages in this evolution a...

Partnership: The general rule is that every person of sound mind, and not otherwise restrained by law, may enter into a contract of partnership. There are several kinds of partners: 1. Ostensible partners, or t...

Agency And Attorney: By agency is meant the substitution of one person by and for another, the former to transact business for the latter. An agency may be established by implication - an express agreement with a person t...

Landlord And Tenant: Leases for one year or less need no written agreement. Leases for more than a year must be in writing; if for life, signed, sealed and witnessed in the same manner as any other important document. ...

Law Relating To Farms, Etc: In a deed to agricultural property the boundaries should be clearly determined. The question, What does the farmer get? is answered by these boundaries, and the deed to a farm always includes the dwel...

Lien Laws: Any one who, as contractor, sub-contractor or laborer, performs any work, or furnishes any materials, in pursuance of, or in conformity with, any agreement or contract with the owner, lessee, agent or...

Deeds - Transfer of Property: A deed is a writing by which lands, tenements or hereditaments are 'conveyed, sealed and delivered. It must be written or printed on parchment or paper; the parties must be competent to contract; ther...

Mortgages: A mortgage is a conveyance of property, either real or personal, to secure payment of a debt. When the debt is paid the mortgage becomes void and of no value. In real estate mortgages the person givin...

Assignments: An assignment is a transfer of property made in writing. In effect it is passing to another person all of one's title or interest in any sort of real or personal property, rights, actions or estates. ...

Inns, Hotels And Boarding-Houses: An inn, or hotel, is a place of entertainment for travelers. If an innkeeper opens his house for travelers, it is an implied engagement to entertain all persons who travel that way, and upon this univ...

Bonds: A written instrument admitting an obligation on the part of the maker to pay a certain sum of money to another specified person at a fixed time, for a valuable consideration, is called a bond. The obl...

Bills Of Sale: A bill of sale is a formal written conveyance of personal property. If the property is delivered when sold, or if part of the purchase money is paid, a written instrument is not necessary to make the ...

Corporations: Several persons joining together for the accomplishment of any business or social purpose can legally organize themselves into a corporation, a form of partnership which combines the resources of all,...

Law Of Finding: The general rule is that the finder has a clear title against every one but the owner. The proprietor of a hotel or a shop has no right to demand property of others found on his premises. Such proprie...

Wills And How To Make Them: Every description of property, whether real or personal, may be given by will. In the case of persons dying owing debts, however, the law gives to the executors sufficient of the personal property of ...

The Right Of Dower: Dower is one-third part of the husband's estate, and in general cannot be destroyed by the mere act of the husband. Hence, in the sale of real estate by the husband, his wife must, with the husband, s...

Marriage And Divorce: Marriage may be entered into by any two persons, with the following exceptions: Idiots, lunatics, persons of unsound mind, persons related by blood or affinity within certain degrees prohibited by law...

Rights Of Married Women: Any and all property which a woman owns at her marriage, together with the rents, issues and profits thereof, and the property that comes to her by descent, devise, bequest, gift or grant, or which sh...

Politics And Statecraft: A politician, Proteus-like, must alter His face and habit; and like water, seem Of the same color that the vessel is That doth contain it, varying his form With the chameleon, at each object's change....

Definitions And Details: The Abolition party was born in 1829. Poll tax was known in England, A.D. 1380. The London Reform Club was established in 1836. A political lampoon was formerly termed a pasquinade. A clos...

Definitions And Details. Part 2: Universal suffrage was adopted in France in 1791, in Germany in 1871, and in Spain in 1890, but in Great Britain, and most European countries, the suffrage is limited by a household or other qualifica...

Definitions And Details. Part 3: The casting vote is the vote by which the chairman or president of a meeting is generally empowered to cast the balance on the one side or the other, where the other votes are equally divided. As the ...

What Is Tammany?: Tammany, Tamendy, or Tammenund was an Indian chief of the Delaware nation who lived about the middle of the seventeenth century. He was a great friend of the whites, and was famous in tradition for so...

When Are You Twenty-One?: The question sometimes arises whether a man is entitled to vote at an election held on the day preceding the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. Blackstone, in his Commentaries, book 1, page 463,...

About State Election: State elections are held in the various States as follows: Alabama and Kentucky, first Monday in August; Arkansas, first Monday in September; Georgia, first Wednesday in October; Louisiana, the Tuesda...

The Australian Ballot System: In the New England colonies the practice of secret voting was in vogue from the very first, and it has now been adopted throughout the United States. It is prevalent also in the self-governing English...

The Presidential Election: The President and Vice-President of the United States are chosen by officials termed Electors in each State, who are, under existing State laws, chosen by the qualified voters thereof by ballot, on...

How To Become A Citizen: The right to vote comes from the State, and is a State gift. Naturalization is a Federal right, and is a gift of the Union, not of any one State. In nearly one half the Union aliens who have declared ...

Lists Of Motions Arranged According To Their Purpose And Effect: [Letters refer to rules below.] Modifying or amending. 8. To amend or to substitute, or to divide the question...... K ...

Lists Of Motions Arranged According To Their Purpose & Effect. Continued: Order Of Precedence The motions above numbered 1 to 9 take precedence over all others in the order given, and any one of them, except to amend or substitute, is in order while a motion of a lower r...

General Rules: No motion is open for discussion until it has been stated by the chair. The maker of a motion cannot modify it or withdraw it after it has been stated by the chair, except by general consent. On...

Woman Suffrage: The following is a statement of the Woman Suffrage movement, corrected to January 1, 1893. Thirty-two States and Territories - a majority of the Union - have given women some form of suffrage. Wyom...

Parties That Elected Presidents: All Parties, 2 - Washington, Monroe. Federal, 2 - John Adams, John Q. Adams. Old Republicans, 2 - Jefferson, Madison. Democrats, 6 - Jackson, Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Cleveland. ...

The Fugitive Slave Law: The constitution of the United States of America having recognized slavery, or service, as it was termed, provided that persons held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, and esc...

Congress And Its Duties: The American Congress is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives, a division which was made because our Government was founded upon the model of England, whose Parliament consists of ...

Music And The Fine Arts: The beings of the mind are not of clay, Essentially immortal, they create And multiply in us a brighter ray, And more belov'd existence. - Byron. ...

Stray Hints On Art And Artists: Byron had no ear for music. Pope preferred a street organ to Handel's Messiah. The piano was unknown before the eighteenth century. Art lies in concealing art, is a phrase credited to Ovid....

Stray Hints On Art And Artists. Part 2: In these great works of the Italian painters it must be borne in mind that the masters furnished the cartoons, while the details were painted by pupils, many of whom in turn became masters. Rembran...

Stray Hints On Art And Artists. Part 3: Castanets is the name of a musical instrument of percussion in the form of two hollow shells of ivory or hard wood, which are bound together by a band fastened on the thumb, and struck by the fingers ...

The Largest Statue On Record: Liberty, Bartholdi's statue, presented to the United States by the French people in 1885, is the largest statue ever built. Its conception is due to the great French sculptor whose name it bears. It...

Some Marvelous Paintings: The following brief notes on a few wonderful creations of the brush will be perused with general interest: Quentin Matsys, the Dutch painter, painted a bee so well that the artist Mandyn thought it...

Story Of The "Art Divine.": The cradle of the divine art was Egypt. The Hebrews took with them to Palestine the songs they had learned there, and many of the hymns of the early Christian Church were necessarily old Temple melodi...

The Portland Vase: The Portland Vase was a celebrated ancient Roman glass vase or cinerary urn found during the pontificate of Urban VIII. (1623-44) in a marble sarcophagus (of Alexander Severus, it is thought, and his ...

The Impressionists: Impressionism made its first public appearance in the Salon of 1867. Founded, it is claimed, by Edouard Manet, its aim is to rid art of the trammels of tradition and to look at nature - and to portray...

The Great Masters And Great Schools: The chief schools of painting are the Florentine, founded on the Byzantine school, its principal painters being Cimabue (1240-1300), Giotto (1276-1336), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1520), Michael Angelo B...

The Symbolism Of Colors: White was the emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, faith, joy and life. In the judge, it indicates integrity; in the sick, humility; in the woman, chastity. Red, the ruby, signifies fire, ...

The Organ In America: Until the middle of the nineteenth century little interest was taken in organ-building in America. The erection of the great organ in the Music hall, Boston, by a German builder, Walcker, of Wurtember...

Meanings Of Musical Terms: Accellerando, or Accel. Quicken the time gradually. Adagio. Very slow. Ad Libitum, or Ad Lib. At will. Affettuoso. Affecting, with pathos. Agitato. Agitated. Al Fine. To the end. All...

Side-Lights On History: Here is the moral of all human tales; 'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past, First freedom, and then glory - when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption - barbarism at last, And history, with all her ...

Influences For Good Or Evil: The word Khedive signifies lord. Quebec is termed the Gibraltar of America. Bismarck was called the Boot of Prussia. The life of Napoleon III. was attempted six times. Potsdam has been ...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 2: Jacobins were the members of a political club which exercised a great influence during the French Revolution. It was originally called the Club Breton, and was formed at Versailles, when the States-ge...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 3: Iconoclasts (Gr. eikon, an image, and k/azo, I break), was the name used to designate those in the Church from the eighth century downwards, who have been opposed to the use of sacred images (i. e...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 4: The carmagnole was a revolutionary dress worn in France, especially during the reign of terror. It consisted of a blouse, a red cap, and a tricolored girdle. The term is applied also to a street dance...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 5: Fermiers generaux was the name given in France, before the Revolution of 1789, to a privileged association who farmed the public revenues. It was a shocking jobbery, the fermiers being selected eith...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 6: Guillotine, the instrument of decapitation introduced during the French Revolution by the Convention, and named after its supposed inventor, Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a physician, who, however, was onl...

Influences For Good Or Evil. Part 7: We give the name of autocracy (Gr., sole mastery, ruling by one's self) to that form of government in which the sovereign unites in himself the legislative and the executive powers of the state, a...

The First French Revolution: Its Chief Leaders: Comte de Mirabeau, 1789-1791. Danton, from the death of Mirabeau to 1793. Robespierre, from June, 1793, to July 27, 1794. Next to these three were St. Just, Couthon, Marat, Carri...

Modes Of Executing Criminals: Country. Mode. Publicity. Austria.............. Gallows.................. Public Bavaria.....................

Fathers Of Their Country: Cicero was called Father of his Country by the Roman senate (B.C. 106-43). Julius Caesar was so called after quelling the insurrection in Spain (B.C. 100-43). Augustus Caesar was called Pater atque Pr...

Presidents Of The United States: First stands the lofty Washington, That noble, great immortal one. The elder Adams next we see, And Jefferson comes number three. The fourth is Madison, you know, The fifth one on the l...

The Champ De Mars: The Champ de Mars, or Field of March, was a grand general assembly of Frank warriors, held from time to time in Gaul from the fifth century till the time of Charles le Chauve (877), when all trace o...

Origin Of Some 'Isms: Socialism was primarily a system for the regulation of labor by co-operation without competition. Louis Blanc was the father of the system, and his Organisation du Travail was published in 1840. In ...

Mystic Letters And Numbers: Figures mystical and awful . . . Songs of war and songs of hunting, Songs of medicine and of magic, All were written in these figures, For each figure had its meaning, Each its separate song recorded....

Sundry Odd Pickings: Noah had three sons. Job had three friends. Lightning is three-forked. The Glorious Fourth means July 4, 1776. Hesiod said the half is more than the whole. Jonah remained for three ...

France's Fatal Three: The fatal number to Rome has been six; and three has proved singularly fatal to France. I. Take the kings. The third of any name has been uniformly either worthless or unlucky: Childebert III., Clo...

Dates Of The Second Empire: 1. 1869, the last year of Napoleon's glory; the next year was that of his downfall. As a matter of curiosity, it may be observed that if the day of his birth, or the day of the empress' birth, or the ...

The Apocalyptic Number: The mystical number G66, spoken of in the Book of Revelation (xiii. 18) is called the apocalyptic number. Among the Greeks and Hebrews the letters of the alphabet were used to denote numbers. Hence su...

The Five Wits: An old and curious standard of mentality is that which credits mankind with having five wits: common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory. 1. Common wit is that inward sense which ju...

The Sacred Number: Seven was frequently used as a mystical and symbolical number in the Bible, as well as among the principal nations of antiquity, the Persians, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. The origin is doub...

Lessons Of The Letters: A popular magazine writer professes to have discovered that our lives would surely be happy, as well as useful and meritorious, if we were always careful to avoid: The incessant round of idle pleas...

A Few Curious Anagrams: The anagram is a word or words formed by the transposition of the letters of a sentence or word: e.g., live becomes the Anagram evil. Anagrams were in use among the ancient Greeks, Romans, etc., and m...

Three For A Finish: The line of kings in England never exceeds three reigns without interruption or catastrophe. William I., II., Henry I. - A usurper, Stephen. Henry II., Richard I - A usurper, John. Henry III....

Seven Sleepers: The Seven Sleepers were the heroes of a celebrated legend, which is first related in the West by Gregory of Tours in the close of the sixth century, but the date of which is assigned to the third cent...

"I.": I am not in youth, nor in manhood or age, But in infancy ever am known, I'm a stranger alike to the fool and the sage, And though I'm distinguished on history's page, I always am greatest alone....

Some "Lucky" And "Unlucky" Numbers: Harold's day was October 14. It was his birthday, and also the day of his death. William the Conqueror was born on the same day, and, on October 14, 1066, won England by conquest. October 7, Rienzi...

The Vowels: We are little airy creatures, All of different voice and features; One of us in glass is set, One of us you'll find in jet, T'other you may see in tin, And the fourth a box within, If the fifth you sh...

Masterpieces Of Alliteration: The frequent recurrence of words beginning with the same letters is called, alliteration. A good example of its use is to be found in that famous couplet of Churchill's: Who often, but without succ...

Easy Sums In Arithmetic: Take 15. Multiply that by itself, then multiply the product by itself and proceed until you have thus multiplied 15 products in turn. - It has been said that it will take twenty-five years to solve th...

Honors To Forty: The number forty is very prominent in Bible and Church history: 1. It rained forty days and forty nights in the Flood. - Gen. vii. 12. 2. Moses twice fasted for forty days and forty nights. - Ex...

Curious Misnomers: Arabic figures were not invented by the Arabs, but by the early scholars of India. Cleopatra's needles were not erected by that Queen, neither do they commemorate any event in her history. They wer...

Destiny Of The Stuarts: James III. was killed in flight near Bannockburn, 1488. Mary Stuart was beheaded 1588 (New Style). James II. of England was dethroned 1688. Charles Edward died 1788. *** James Stuart, the ...

The Letter M: M is said to represent the human face without the two eyes. By adding these, we get O m O, the Latin homo, man. Dante, speaking of faces gaunt with starvation, says: Who reads the name For man u...

Try It And Then Explain: Take any printed book and open its pages at random, and select a word within the first ten lines, and within the tenth word from the end of the line. Mark the word. Now double the number of the page, ...

Three Times Three: A wonder is said to last three times three days. The scourge used for criminals is a cat o' nine tails. Possession is nine points of the law, being equal to (1) money to make good a claim, (2) patie...

Famous Persons And Places: Why then doth flesh, a bubble-glass of breath, Hunt after honor and advancement vain, And rear a trophy for devouring death, With so great labor and long-lasting pain As if life's days forever s...

Names That Are Noted: Cathay was the ancient name for China. Twickenham is famous as the home of Pope. The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican was built in 1473. Andrew Jackson rode to his inauguration on horseback. ...

Names That Are Noted. Part 2: The deepest perpendicular mining shaft in the world is located at Prizilram, Bohemia. It is a lead mine; it was begun in 1832. In January, 1880, it was 3,280 feet deep. Isabella of France, wife of ...

Names That Are Noted. Part 3: There is a point near the famous Stony cave, in the Catskill mountains, where ice may be found on any day in the year. This locality is locally known as the Notch, and is walled in on all sides by ste...

Names That Are Noted. Part 4: The Alhambra is a palace and fortress of the Moors, founded about 1253 by Mohammed I. Celebrated as the palace of the kings of Granada, its two courts, that of the Myrtles and that of the Lions, are b...

Names That Are Noted. Part 5: Jack Cade was the ringleader of the insurrection that broke out in Kent, 1450. He was an Irishman, and called himself Mortimer, claiming to be a natural son of the Duke of York. He marched to London a...

Names That Are Noted. Part 6: Among the noted club-rooms of the eighteenth century was Almack's. It was a suite of assembly rooms, built in 1765 in King street, St. James', London, by a tavern-keeper named M'Call, who inverted the...

Names That Are Noted. Part 7: The first proposer of secession in the United States Congress was Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, in 1811, who said that, if Louisiana were admitted into the Union, it will be the right of all and t...

The Truth About Aspasia: One of the most remarkable women of antiquity, Aspasia, was born at Miletus. The circumstance that in Athens marriage with foreign women was illegal, has originated the erroneous notion that Aspasia w...

The Story Of Acadie: Longfellow in his Evangeline has immortalized the sufferings of the French peasantry of Acadie or Acadia. This was the name given by the French settlers to Nova Scotia on its first settlement in 160...

The English Claimant: In 1867 an Englishman in London declared he was Sir Roger Charles Tichborne, and claimed the estates and income of $120,000 a year. The Dowager accepted him, but his claim was resisted on behalf of Si...

Notes On Mammoth Cave: The Mammoth Cave is in Edmonson County, near Green River, about seventy-five miles from Louisville. It was discovered in 1809 by a hunter named Hutchins, while in pursuit of a wounded bear. Its entran...

Famous Ancient Cities: Nineveh was 15 miles long, 8 wide and 40 miles round, with a wall 100 feet high, and thick enough for 3 chariots abreast. Babylon was 50 miles within the walls, which were 87 feet thick and 350 high, ...

The Father Of The Cenobites: St. Antony, surnamed the Great, or Anthony of Thebes, the father of monachism, was born about the year 251 a.d., at Koma, near Heraklea, in Upper Egypt. His parents were both wealthy and pious, and be...

The Colosseum: The Flavian amphitheater at Rome, known as the Colosseum from its colossal size, was begun by Vespasian, and finished by Titus 80 a.d., ten years after the destruction of Jerusalem. It was the largest...

Washington And Education: A fact long lost sight of is that George Washington himself, the Father of his Country was also among the first of its great benefactors to the cause of higher education. Quite recently attention ha...

The World's Seven Wonders: The seven wonders of the world are: The Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the Pharos of Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens at Babylon, the Statue of the Olympian Jove, and the ...

The World's Noblest 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 6,000 feet or more above sea level. Yellowstone lake, t...

Marvels Of Old Egypt: Pyramids - The great pyramid of Gizeh is the largest structure of any kind ever erected by the hand of man. Its original dimensions at the base were 764 feet square, and its perpendicular height in th...

The World And Its Ways: 1 Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, To peep at such a world; to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd: To hear the roar she sends through all her gates, At a safe dista...

A Myriad Questions Answered: Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865. Rome was founded by Romulus, 752 B.C. Gold was discovered in California in 1848. Chinese history begins from the year 3000 B.C. Ignatius Loyola fou...

A Myriad Questions Answered. Part 2: Rows of arches supported by columns, either having an open space of greater or less width behind them, or in contact with masonry, are called Arcades. The arcade in Gothic corresponds to the colonna...

A Myriad Questions Answered. Part 3: Hue and cry is a phrase derived from the old process of pursuit with horn and voice, used in old English law to describe the pursuit of felons. Whoever arrested the person pursued was protected; and i...

A Myriad Questions Answered. Part 4: The frugal Scottish dish, brose, is made by pouring boiling water, milk, or the liquor in which meat has been boiled, on oatmeal, and mixing the ingredients by immediate stirring. Butter may be added,...

A Myriad Questions Answered. Part 5: Punishment by death was originally the form of punishment for all felonies; it is now restricted to cases of murder. Several attempts have been made in England to abolish it. Capital punishment has be...

A Myriad Questions Answered. Part 6: The rule of the road in the United States is turn to the right, in England it is the reverse. The rule holds in this country in the case where two vehicles going in opposite diections meet. When o...

Titles, Offices And Dignities: The word police comes from polis, a city. Knight in the original Saxon means a boy. Beg, not bey, is the title of a Turkish governor. Oliver Cromwell's title was The Lord Protector. In Scotland the...

Titles, Offices And Dignities. Part 2: A Chatelaine is the wife of the chatelain or commander of a feudal castle. A chaine chatelaine or simply chatelaine, a chain such as a lady chatelaine might wear, is a chain depending from the waist, ...

Titles, Offices And Dignities. Part 3: The grandees of Spain - grandes de Espana de primera clase - are in some sort peers of the kingdom who enjoy certain privileges at court, though they are not, nor have ever been, legislators by righ...

Previous World's Fairs: Year. Where Held. Acres Bldgs. Exhibitors. Admissions. Days Open. 1851 London.................... ...

Remarkable Modern Plagues: Date. Place. Deaths. Weeks. Deaths Per Week. 1656 Naples.............................................. ...

Great Famines Of History: Walford mentions 160 famines since the eleventh century, namely, England, 57; Ireland 34; Scotland, 12; France, 10; Germany, 11; Italy, etc., 36. The worst in modern times have been: Co...

Rulers Of All Nations: Country. Ruler. Born. Acceded. Abyssinia Menelek, Emperor ((or Negus 12 March, 1889 Afg...

Rulers Of All Nations. Continued: Rulers Of All Nations Concluded. Country. Ruler. Born. Acceded. Transvaal (S.A. Republic) S. J. P. Paul Kruger, Preside...

Area And Population Of The Continents: The following table shows the area, population, and density of population in each of the divisions of the earth: Area: square miles. Population. Population...

Salaries Of The Crowned Heads: Austria-Hungary, Emperor of, $3,875,000. Bavaria, King of, $1,412,000. Belgium, King of, $660,000. Denmark, King of, $227,775; and Crown Prince $33 330 Greece King of, $260,000, including $20...

Crossing The Line: The first authentic account of the ordeal observed on board ship dates 1702. One sailor represents Neptune and another his wife Amphitrite; another his barber and the rest his suite. All dress in the ...

Statistics Of All The Chief Countries: Countries. Population. Sq. Miles. Capitals. British Empire............................................ 327,645,000 ...

The Sweating System: As the result of an informal census taken in England in 1884 by the Amalgamated Society of Tailors, it was discovered that fifteen thousand tailors, out of a total of twenty thousand were employed und...

Heights Of Noted Edifices: Feet. Eiffel Tower, Paris 989 Washington Monument.......... 555 Pyramid, Cheops, Egypt............ ...

Language Of Flowers: Around many flowers a consistent and well understood symbolism has gathered, but the Orientals have developed this into a perfect vehicle for communicating sentimental and amatory expressions of all d...

End Of The World: This ought to have occurred, according to Nicolas de Cusa, in 1704. He demonstrates it thus: The Deluge happened in the thirty-fourth jubilee of fifty years from the Creation (a.m. 1700), and therefor...

Great Floods And Inundations: Following is a list of the greatest floods of which modern history makes mention: 684 a.d. Japan; 780 sq. m. of Isle of Shikoku covered by sea. 968. Persian Gulf; many cities destroyed, and new ...

Historic Fires: London, September 2-6, 1666 Eighty-nine churches, many public buildings and 13,200 houses destroyed; 400 streets laid waste; 200,000 persons homeless. The ruins covered 436 acres. New York, Dece...

All Who Ever Lived: According to a recent writer, it is impossible to give any close figures on the number of persons who have lived on this earth. It is generally considered that one person in every thirteen dies each y...

Races And Tribes Of Men: The human race, Of every tongue, of every place, Caucasian, Coptic or Malay, All that inhabit this great earth, Whatever be their rank or worth, Are kindred and allied by birth, And made of t...

Features, Types And Studies: Ethnology treats of races. Medicine studies individuals. Ethnography is the description of peoples. Philology inquires into the language of man. The Guanches were the aborigines of the Can...

Features, Types And Studies. Part 2: The Mahrattas are a native Indian race which founded an empire in Central and Western India, 1674. After 1795, Scindia, Holkar and Berar became independent; the confederacy of Mahratta states came to ...

Features, Types And Studies. Part 3: The Varangians were the Norse vikings, who in the ninth century laid the foundations of the Russian Empire. Many of them entered the service of the Byzantine emperors, and in the days of the Comneni t...

Features, Types And Studies. Part 4: The ancient inhabitants of Samaria were a mixed people, composed of the remnant of Ephraim and Manasseh, and of Assyrian colonists introduced after the captivity of the Ten Tribes (721 B.C.). In the N...

About The Saracens: The term Saracens is of doubtful origin. At first it was applied by the Greeks and Romans to the nomad Arabs, who harassed the frontier of the empire from Egypt to the Euphrates; but afterwards, durin...

Our Nation's Predecessors: Mound Builders is the name given to a vanished race by whose labor the remarkable earth mounds found in the United States were raised. These mounds exist in extraordinary numbers over all the country ...

The Great Human Family: The three primary divisions of man, as indicated by Latham, are the Indo-European, the Mongolian and the African. I. The Indo-European or Caucasic race originally extended from India across Europe,...

The Gypsy Tribes: The word Gypsy is a corruption of Egyptian, but is best understood as applied to a mysterious vagabond race, scattered over the whole of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa, and America. Whence they orig...

The Scattered Nation: The Hebrew race is distributed over the Eastern continent as follows: In Europe there are 5,400,000; in France, 63,000; Germany, 562 000, of which Alsace-Loraine contains 39,000; Austro-Hungary, 1,...

Unity Of The Race: Geology has revealed to us the existence in prehistoric times of animals allied to those which now exist, but with great variation in organization, and differing very considerably in size. Among the f...

Health, Hygiene And Physiology: The surest road to health, say what they will, Is never to suppose we shall be ill: - Most of those evils we poor mortals know From doctors and imagination flow. - Churchill. ...

Medley Of Facts And Counsels: Don't sleep in a draught. Don't go to bed with cold feet. Don't stand over hot-air registers. A bag of hot sand relieves neuralgia. Warm borax water removes dandruff. Salt should be eat...

Medley Of Facts And Counsels. Part 2: A man will die for want of air in five minutes; for want of sleep in ten days; for want of water, in a week; for want of food, at varying intervals, dependent on various circumstances. The human ha...

Medley Of Facts And Counsels. Part 3: Among the most valuable of medicinal agents are blisters, which when applied to the skin; raise the cuticle into vesicles filled with serous fluid. They have for their object the establishing of a cou...

Medley Of Facts And Counsels. Part 4: Seidlitz powders (are so named from the village of Seidlitz or Sed-litz in northern Bohemia, where there is a spring of natural aperient mineral water with similar constituents) and are composed of 12...

Weight And Stature Of Man: Age. Males. Females. Feet. Lbs. Feet. Lbs. 0 Years.....................

Composition And Digestion Of Foods, Fat, Water And Muscle Properties: 100 Parts. Water. Muscle. Fat. 100 Parts. Water. Muscle . Fat. Cucumbers................ ...

Percentage Of Nutrition: Raw cucumbers. 2; raw melons, 3; boiled turnips, 41/2; milk, 7: cabbage, 71/2; currants, 10; whipped eggs, 13; beets, 14; apples, 16; peaches, 20; boiled codfish, 21; broiled venison, 22; potatoes, 22...

Periods Of Digestion: Length of time required for digestion of various foods. Hours. Min. Rice................................................. 1 0...

Bleeding At The Nose: Roll up a piece of paper and press it under the upper lip. In obstinate cases, blow a little gum arabic up the nostril through a quill, which will immediately stop the discharge; powdered alum, dissol...

Neuralgia: Pain may have its seat along the course of any nerve. It receives different names corresponding to the seat of pain. Thus we hear of facial neuralgia, inter-costal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, scia...

The Dreaded Consumption: Of the total number of deaths the percentage traceable to consumption in the several States and Territories is as follows: Alabama, 9.6; Arizona, 6.1; Arkansas, 6.4; California, 15.6; Colorado, 8.2; C...

Insomnia: Insomnia, or sleeplessness, is a symptom common to many nervous diseases, and one which requires prompt attention, as without sleep little good can be accomplished in other directions by treatment. Th...

Colds And Hoarseness: Borax has proved a most effective remedy in certain forms of colds. In sudden hoarseness or loss of voice in public speakers or singers, from colds, relief for an hour or so may be obtained by slowly ...

Asthma: Asthma is caused by a spasm of the muscular fibers of the small bronchial tubes, which obstruct the outward flow of air from the lungs; hence the great distress for want of breath, and the loud wheezi...

Coryza: Coryza, or cold in the head, is an acute inflammation of the lining membrane of the nose. The eyes in this disease are also frequently inflamed and red and the tears flow over the face. The symptoms b...

Catarrh: Catarrh is a name that properly applies to all inflammations or any part of the mucous membrane, such as catarrh of the stomach or of the bladder, but by common usage, unless qualified by another word...

Bronchitis: Bronchitis is an inflammation of the lining membrane of the trachea and bronchial tubes. It may be either acute or chronic. If acute, there will be a slight fever and considerable cough. The treatment...

Typhoid Fever: Typhoid Fever is a disease caused by bad sewerage, the odor from old privy vaults, or drinking water contaminated with human excrement, especially from typhoid-fever patients. It is a low grade of fev...

Lead Colic: Lead colic is caused by the poison from lead. The lead may be taken into the system by many different ways, without the knowledge of the patient. Persons manufacturing paints or working in shot factor...

Rheumatism: Rheumatism is a constitutional disease, characterized by certain local manifestations. These manifestations are due to inflammation, acute or chronic, of the synovial membrane lining the joints, of ce...

Malarial Fever. - Ague: Intermittent fever is one form of malarial fever. It has cold, hot and sweating stages, with a normal interval following. The patient may go through these stages every day, every other day, or every t...

Typhus Fever: Typhus fever is a disease arising from the crowding of human beings into a small space, as in emigrant ships, in prisons and in the poorer quarters of large cities. Typhoid fever is produced from huma...

How To Catch Cold: A great many cannot see why it is they do not take cold when exposed to cold winds and rain. The fact is, and ought to be more generally understood, that nearly every cold is contracted indoors, and i...

Curb Of Felons: Take common rock salt, as used for salting down pork or beef, dry in an oven, then pound it fine and mix with spirits of turpentine in equal parts; put it in a rag and wrap it around the parts affecte...

Prevention Of Cholera: Much may undoubtedly be done to prevent this dreaded disease by attention to cleanliness, and by disinfectants, and none of these things should be omitted. There is, however, in nearly all cases, a...

Remedies For Croup: Croup, it is said, can be cured in one minute, and the remedy is simply alum and sugar. Take a knife or grater, and shave off in small particles about a teaspoonful of alum; then mix it with twice its...

The Cure Of Earache: Take a bit of cotton batting, put on it a pinch of black pepper, gather it up and tie it, dip it in sweet oil, and insert it in the ear; put a flannel bandage over the head to keep it warm; it often g...

Notes On Food Products: Relative Value of Food (Beef Par) Oysters, 22; milk, 24; lobsters, 50; cream, 56; codfish, 68; eggs, 72; turbot, 84; mutton, 87; venison, 89; veal, 92; fowl, 94; herring, 100; beef, 100; duck, 104;...

Wonders Of The Human Body: The skin contains more than two million openings, which are the outlets of an equal number of sweat-glands. The human skeleton consists of more than two hundred distinct bones. An amount of blood equa...

Gymnastics And Physical Development: The principal methods of developing the physical man now prescribed by trainers are exercise with dumbbells, the bar bell and the chest weight. The rings and horizontal and parallel bars are also used...

Secrets Of Good Health: 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...

Sundry Health Hints: To Ease Swollen Feet. Policemen, mail carriers, and others whose occupation keeps them on their feet a great deal, often are troubled with chafed, sore and blistered feet, especially in extreme hot we...

The Human Pulse: The phenomenon known as the arterial pulse or arterial pulsation is due to the distension of the arteries consequent upon the intermittent injection of blood into their trunks, and the subsequent cont...

The Philosophy Of Eating: Food consists of substances taken into the stomach for the purpose of digestion, or of conversion into blood. Food is rendered necessary by the waste of the system. Food is the primary source of nervo...

What Is Food?: How is it converted into blood ? How does the blood circulate ? And how is the body nourished and kept in health ? Are questions of the greatest importance in their relation to public health and moral...

Does Alcohol Help?: It is almost proverbial, that a dram is good for promoting the digestion; but this is an erroneous notion, for though a dram may give a momentary stimulus to the coats of the stomach, it tends to hard...

Milk: Milk is of very different consistence in different animals; but that of cows being the kind used in diet, is at present the object of our attention. Milk, where it agrees with the stomach, affords exc...

Butter: Some writers inveigh against the use of butter as universally pernicious; but they might with equal reason condemn all vegetable oils, which form a considerable part of diet in the southern climates, ...

Game, Etc: The flesh of birds differs in quality according to the food on which they live. Such as feed upon grain and berries, afford, in general, good nourishment; if we except geese and ducks, which are hard ...

Fish: Fish, though some of them be light and easy of digestion, afford less nourishment than vegetables, or the flesh of quadrupeds, and are, of all the animal tribes, the most disposed to putrefaction. Sal...

Oats, Barley And Rice: Oats, when deprived of the husk, and particularly barley, when properly prepared, are each of them softening, and afford wholesome and cooling nourishment. Rice likewise contains a nutritious mucilage...

Vegetables: Potatoes are an agreeable and wholesome food, and yield nearly as much nourishment as any of the roots used in diet. The farinaceous or mealy kind is in general the most easy of digestion, and they ar...

Fruit: Apples are a wholesome vegetable aliment and in many cases medicinal, particularly in diseases of the breast and complaints arising from phlegm. But, in general, they agree best with the stomach when ...

Tea, Coffee, Etc: Tea by some is condemned in terms the most vehement and unqualified, while others have either asserted its innocence, or gone so far as to ascribe to it salubrious, and even extraordinary virtues. The...

The Vital Fluid: The plasma of the blood is replenished in its nutritive constituents by the food taken at frequent intervals. Water is necessary to render the blood sufficiently fluid, and to hold the other constitue...

Hearth And Home: Far reaching as the earth's remotest span, Widespread as ocean foam, One thought is sacred in the breast of man, It is the thought of home; That little word his human fate shall bind With destin...

Crystals That Form Gentlemen: Never betray a confidence. Do not give a present in hopes of a return. Do not fail to return a friend's call in due time. A compliment that is palpably insincere is no compliment at all. A...

Crystals That Form Gentlemen. Continued: If you are talking to a person of title, do not keep repeating the title. You can express all the deference you desire in voice and manner; it is unnecessary and snobbish to put it in words. Temper...

Uses Of Ammonia: All housekeepers should keep a bottle of liquid ammonia, as it is the most powerful and useful agent for cleaning silks, stuffs and hats, in fact, cleans everything it touches. A few drops of ammonia ...

Management Of Stoves: If the fire in a stove has plenty of fresh coals on top not yet burned through it will need only a little shaking to start it up; but if the fire looks dying and the coals look white, don't shake it. ...

To Destroy Insects And Vermin: Dissolve two pounds of alum in three or four quarts of water. Let it remain over night, till all the alum is dissolved. Then, with a brush, apply, boiling hot, to every joint or crevice in the closet ...

To Remove Ink From Carpets: When freshly spilled, ink can be removed from carpets by wetting in milk. Take cotton batting and soak up all of the ink that it will receive, being careful not to let it spread. Then take fresh cotto...

Incombustible Dresses: By putting an ounce of alum or sal amoniac in the last water in which muslin or cottons are rinsed, or a similar quantity in the starch in which they are stiffened, they will be rendered almost uninfl...

How To Freshen Up Furs: Furs when taken out in the fall are often found to have a mussed, crushed-out appearance. They can be made to look like new, by following these simple directions. Wet the fur with a hair-brush, brushi...

To Wash Feathers: Wash in warm soap-suds and rinse in water a very little blued; if the feather is white, then let the wind dry it. When the curl has come out by washing the feather or getting it damp, place a hot flat...

The Art Of Conversation: The art of expressing one's thoughts in clear, simple, elegant English is one of the first to be attained by those who would mix in good society. You must talk, and talk fairly well, if you would not ...

The Household And Toilet: Toothache Cure Compound tincture benzoin is said to be one of the most certain and speedy cures for toothache; pour a few drops on cotton, and press at once into the diseased cavity, when the pain ...

The Household And Toilet. Part 2: Liquid Shampoo Take bay rum, 2 1/2. pints; water, 1/2 pint; glycerine, 1 ounce; tincture cantharides, 2 drams; carbonate of ammonia, 2 drams; borax, 1/2 ounce; or take of New England rum, 1 1/2 pin...

The Household And Toilet. Part 3: Volatile Salts For Pungents Liquor ammon., fort., 1 pint, oil lavender flowers, 1 dram, oil rosemary, fine, 1 dram, oil bergamot, 1/2 dram, oil peppermint, 10 minims. Mix thoroughly and fill pungen...

The Household And Toilet. Part 4: A Strong Paste A paste that will neither decay nor become moldy. Mix good clean flour with cold water into a thick paste well blended together, then add boiling water, stirring well up until it is ...

The Household And Toilet. Part 5: Paste For Printing Office Take 2 gallons of cold water and 1 quart of wheat flour, rub out all the lumps, then add one-fourth pound of finely pulverized alum and boil the mixture for 10 minutes, or...

The Household And Toilet. Part 6: To Disinfect A Cellar A damp, musty cellar may be sweetened by sprinkling upon the floor pulverized copperas, chloride of lime, or even common lime. The most effective means we have ever used to di...

The Household And Toilet. Part 7: To Remove The Odor From A Vial The odor of its last contents may be removed from a vial by filling it with cold water, and letting it stand in any airy place uncorked for three days, changing the w...

The Household And Toilet. Part 8: To Preserve Brooms Dip them for a minute or two in a kettle of boiling suds once a week and they will last much longer, making them tough and pliable. A carpet wears much longer swept with a broom ...

The Household And Toilet. Part 9: To Destroy Ants Drop some quicklime on the mouth of their nest, and wash it in with boiling water, or dissolve some camphor in spirits of wine, then mix with water, and pour into their haunts, or t...

The Household And Toilet. Part 10: How To Destroy Insects The Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, Washington, sends out the following, for use as insecticides on or about plants, etc.: London purple - To twenty pounds f...

Hearth And Home Accidents And Injuries: Priceless General Rules If an artery is cut, red blood spurts. Compress it above the wound. If a vein is cut, dark blood flows Compress it below and above. If choked, go upon all fours and cough...

Hearth And Home Accidents And Injuries. Part 2: Dirt In The Eye Place your forefinger upon the cheek-bone, having the patient before you; then slightly bend the finger; this will draw down the lower lid of the eye, and you will probably be able ...

Hearth And Home Accidents And Injuries. Part 3: Choking When a person has a fish bone in the throat, insert the forefinger, press upon the root of the tongue, so as to induce vomiting; if this does not do, let him swallow a large piece of potato...

Hearth And Home Accidents And Injuries. Part 4: Suffocation From Noxious Gases, Etc Remove to the fresh air; dash cold vinegar and water in the face, neck and breast; keep up the warmth of the body; if necessary, apply mustard poultices to the s...

Antidotes For Poisons: Always send immediately for a medical men. Save all fluids vomited, and articles of food, cups, glasses, etc., used by the patient before taken ill, and lock them up. This precaution frequently leads ...

How To Carve At Table: We propose to give here a few rules upon the practice of carving, which may be of benefit to the tyro, and help him to acquire that ease and dexterity which is so conducive to peace and comfort around...

Conduct At Table: Seat yourself in an upright position - not too close to nor yet too far from the table. Take your napkin, partially unfold it and lay it across your lap. It is not the correct thing to fasten it to...

George Washington's Rules Of Conduct: Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive. In visiting the sick do not presently play the physician. In the presence of others sing not to yourself with a humming noise,...

Care Of The Person: Cleanliness is the outward sign of inward purity. Cleanliness is health, and health is beauty. The first business of the dressing-room is the bath, and this should be a complete bath, and not simpl...

Etiquette Of The Street: A lady will bow first if she meets a gentleman acquaintance on the street. A lady will not stop on the street to converse with a gentleman. If he wishes to chat with her he will turn and walk by he...

Hints On Traveling: Consider what route you intend taking when you are contemplating a journey, and decide definitely upon it. Go to the ticket office of the road and procure a time-table, where you will find the hour fo...

Success And Its Secrets: While it is impossible, in a world made up of widely differing individuals, to formulate a set of rules by which each could be shown the surest and swiftest way to secure success in life, still it is ...

How To Avoid Failure: It is a common thing, with both the brilliant and the mediocre, when the reward of their exertions and the result of their plans seem unsatisfactory, to blame the ever-ready scapegoat, bad luck, as th...

Choosing An Occupation: Is seldom an easy matter. In some few cases, a young man feels the possession of such an unmistakable bias to some peculiar profession that neither he nor his friends, have any hesitancy in deciding u...

A Sound Body: Is another of the essentials of success in life which are largely attainable by those who lack their possession. Mental as well as physical accomplishment depends largely upon the condition of the wor...

Decision Of Character: Is one of the greatest of God's gifts to man, and, as every man has the germ of this quality, it can be cultivated to great advantage. It outstrips even talent and genius in the race for success in li...

Never Despair: Columbus was the son of a weaver, and a weaver himself. Oliver Cromwell was the son of a brewer. Howard an apprentice to a grocer. Benjamin Franklin, a journeyman printer. Claude Lorraine was bred up ...

Talent And Fact: To excel others is a proof of talent; to know when to conceal superiority is the fruit of tact. Further comparisons of these qualities have been thus set forth by a recent English writer: Talent is...

Headaches Begone! A Systemic Approach To Healing Your Headaches

Don't Let Your Bike Seat Ruin Your Sex Life Book

Manual Of Useful Information | by J. C Thomas

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