Chapter VI: Part 6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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