The most extensive mines in the world are those of Freiberg, Saxony. They were begun in the twelfth century, and in 1835 the galleries, taken collectively, had reached the unprecedented length of 123 miles. A new gallery, begun in 1838, had reached a length of eight miles at the time of the census of 1878. The deepest perpendicular mining shaft in the world is located at Prizilram, Bohemia. It is a lead mine; it was begun 1832. January, 1880, it was 3,280 feet deep. The deepest coal mine in the world is near Tourney, Belgium; it is 3,542 feet in depth, but, unlike the lead mine mentioned above, it is not perpendicular. The deepest rock-salt bore in the world is near Berlin, Prussia; it is 4,185 feet deep. The deepest hole ever bored into the earth is the artesian well at Potsdam, which is 5,500 feet in depth. The deepest coal mines in England are the Dunkirk collieries of Lancashire, which are 2,824 feet in depth. The deepest coal shaft in the United States is located at Pottsville, Pa. In 1885 it had reached a depth of 1,576 feet. From this great depth 400 cars, holding four tons each, are hoisted daily. The deepest silver mine in the United States is the Yellow Jacket, one of the great Comstock system at Virginia City, Nevada; the lower levels are 2,700 feet below the hoisting works.

The largest locomotive ever constructed prior to 1880 was that made at the Baldwin Locomotive Works during the early part of 1879. It was turned out ready for use April 10th of that year and named Uncle Dick. Uncle Dick weighed 130,000 pounds; was sixty feet from headlight to the rear end of the tender. He is now at work on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road. During the year 1883 the same works that constructed Uncle Dick turned out several locomotives for the Northern Pacific railroad, each weighing 180,000 pounds. During the same year, as if to overshadow the Baldwin works, the Central Pacific company caused to be built at their shops in Sacramento, Cal., what are really the largest locomotives in the world. They have eight drive-wheels each, the cylinders are 19 inches in diameter, and the stroke three feet. These engines weigh, with the tender, as Uncle Dick's weight was given, almost 190,000 pounds. The Baldwin Works, in 1889, completed for the Northern Pacific an engine weighing, with tender, 225,000 pounds.

66

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 is said to be a likeness of his mother. Eight years of time were consumed in the construction of this gigantic brazen image. Its weight is 440,000 pounds, of which 146,000 pounds are copper, the remainder iron and steel. The major part of the iron and steel was used in constructing the skeleton frame work for the inside. The mammoth electric light held in the hand of the giantess is 305 feet above tide-water. The height of the figure is 1521⁄2 feet; the pedestal 91 feet, and the foundation 52 feet and 10 inches. Forty persons can find standing-room within the mighty head, which is 141⁄2 feet in diameter. six-foot man standing on the lower lip could hardly reach the eyes. The index finger is eight feet in length and the nose 334 feet. The Colossus of Rhodes was a pigmy compared with this latter day wonder.

A

The largest stone bridge on the face of the earth is that finished in May, 1885, at Lagang, China. Chinese engineers had sole control of its construction. It crosses an arm of the China Sea, is nearly six miles in length, is composed entirely of stone, and has 300 arches, each 70 feet high. It is the most colossal structure ever reared by man, yet we sneer at the "heathen Chinee." The largest truss iron bridge in the world crosses the Firth of Tay, Scotland. It is 18,612 feet in length and composed of eightyfive spans. The longest wooden bridge in the world is that crossing Lake Ponchartrain, near New Orleans, La. It is a trestle-work twenty-one miles in length, built of cypress piles which have been saturated with creosote oil to preserve them. The highest bridge in the United States is over Kinzina Creek, near Bradford, Pa. It was built in 1882, has a total span of 2,051 feet and is 301 feet above the creek bed.

seen.

The "Centennial ox," bred by Samuel Barkley of Somerset County, Pa., was the largest specimen of the bovine the world has ever He weighed 4,900 pounds the day he arrived in Philadelphia. This mountain of beef was of mixed stock, being short-horn, native, "scrub,” and Ayrshire, the short-horn predominating. After the exhibition was ended the giant ox was butchered and exhibited as "show beef" at Philadelphia during the holidays of 1876. A short-horn steer weighing 4,100 pounds was slaughtered at Detroit in 1874. A. N. Meal of Moberly, Mo., formerly owned the largest cow in the world. Mr. Meal disposed of her in 1883, the Cole Circus Company being the purchasers. She weighed the day of sale 3,296 pounds. Mr. John Pratt of Chase County, Kan., was formerly the owner of a cow weighing 3,200 pounds. She was of the common "scrub" stock and stood nineteen hands high.

The great pyramid of Ghizeh 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 the highest point 488 feet; it covers four acres, one rood, and twenty-two perches of ground and has been estimated by an eminent English architect to have cost not less than £30,000,000, which in United States currency would be about $145,200,Internal evidence proves that the great pyramid was begun about the year 2170 B.C., about the time of the birth of Abraham. It is estimated that about 5,000,000 tons of hewn stone were used in its construction, and the evidence points to the fact that these stones were brought a distance of about 700 miles from quarries in Arabia.

The largest and grandest temple of worship in the world is the St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome. It stands on the site of Nero's circus, in the northwest part of the city, and is built in form of a Latin cross. The total length of the interior is 612% English feet; transept, 4461⁄2 feet; height of nave, 152 feet; diameter of cupalo, 193 feet; height of dome from pavement to top of cross, 448 feet. The great bell alone without the hammer or clapper weighs 18,600 pounds, or over 94 tons. The foundation was laid in 1450 A.D. Forty-three Popes lived and died during the time the work was in progress. It was dedicated in the year 1826, but not entirely finished until the year 1880. The cost, in round numbers, is set down at $70,000,000. The Capitol building at Washington, D. C., is the largest building in the United States. The corner stone was laid December 18th, 1793, by President Washington, assisted by other Masons. It was partially destroyed by the British in 1814. The present dome was begun in 1855 and finished in 1863. The flag of the United States first floated from it December 12th, 1863. The cost of the entire building has been something over $13,000,000. Its length is 715 feet 4 inches; width, 324 feet. It covers 3/2 acres of ground. The distance from the ground to the top of the dome is 3072 feet; diameter of the dome, 1351⁄2 feet-making fifth as to size with the greatest domes of the world.

The largest and costliest private mansion in the world is that belonging to Lord Bute, called Montstuart, and situated near Rothesay, England. It covers nearly two acres; is built in gothic style; the walls, turrets and balconies are built of stone. The immense tower in the center of the building is 120 feet high, with a balcony around the top. The halls are constructed entirely of marble and alabaster, and the rooms are finished in mahogany, rosewood and walnut. The fire-places are all carved marbles of antique design. The exact cost of this fairy palace is not known, but it has never been estimated at less than $8,000,000.

The largest body of fresh water in the world is Lake Superior. It is 400 miles long and 180 miles wide; its circumference, including the windings of its various bays, has been estimated at 1,800 miles. Its area in square miles is 32,000, which is greater than the whole of New England, leaving out Maine. The greatest depth of this inland sea is 200 fathoms, or 1,200 feet. Its average depth is about 160 fathoms. It is 636 feet above sea level.

The corner stone of the Washington monument, the highest n the United States, and until 1889 the highest in the world, was laid July 4th, 1848. Robert E. Winthrop, then the Speaker of the House, delivered the oration. Work progressed steadily for about six years, until the funds of the monumental society became exhausted. At that time the monument was about 175 feet high. From 1854 until 1879 nothing to speak of was done on the building. In the year last above named Congress voted an appropriation of $200,000 to complete the work. From that time forward work progressed at a rapid rate until December 6th, 1884, when the aluminum apex was set at 555 feet 51⁄2 inches from the foundation and the work declared finished. The foundation is 1462 feet square; number of stones used above the 130-foot level, 9,163; total weight stone used in work, 81,120

tons.

The famous Corliss engine, the largest ever constructed, and the one used to drive the machinery in the great hall at the Centennial of 1876, is now in the shops of the Pullman Car Company at Pullman, near Chicago, Ill. The writer is aware that this differs from other_statements that have been made, it being generally supposed that the Emperor of Brazil bought the engine and removed it to his own country. He did tall: of buying it, but the bargain was never consummated. This tireless giant works in an upright position, is over 40 feet high, of 1,400 horse-power, and has two 40-inch cylinders and a 10-foot stroke.

The largest ferry-boat ever constructed was named the Solano, and is now in use daily conveying trains across the Straits of Carquinez, between Benecia and Port Costa. The Solano is 460 feet long, 116 feet wide, and 20 foot depth of hold. She has eight steel boilers, four rudders, and a tonage of 3,841 tons. On her decks are four railway tracks, with capacity for 48 ordinary freight cars and two locomotives, or 28 passenger coaches of the largest build.

The highest building in the world, not counting the Eiffel tower and the Washington monument, is the Cologne cathedral. The height from the pavement to the top of the cupola is 511 feet. It is 511 feet long, exactly the same as the height, and 231 feet wide. It was begun August 15th in the year 1248, and was pronounced finished August 14th, 1880, over 600 years after the corner stone was laid.

The highest mountain on the globe is not, as is generally supposed, Mt. Everest, that honor belonging to a lofty peak named Mt. Hercules on the Isle of Papua, New Guinea, discovered by Capt. Lawson in 1881. According to Lawson, this monster is 32,763 feet in height, being 3,781 feet higher than Mt. Everest, which is only 29,002 feet above the level of the Indian ocean.

The largest State in our grand republic is Texas, which contains 274,356 square miles, capable of sustaining 20,000,000 of people, and then it would not be more crowded than Scotland is at present. It has been estimated that the entire population of the globe could be seated upon chairs within the boundary of Texas and each have four feet of elbow room.

The largest anvil is that used in the Woolwich Arsenal, England. It weighs sixty tons. The anvil block upon which it rests weighs 103 tons. Altogether 600 tons of iron were used in the anvil, the block and the foundation work. It is said to have been six months cooling before it was sufficiently hard to stand the shock of the immense hammer.

The Mississippi river, from the source of the Missouri to the Eads jetties, is the longest river in the world. It is 4,300 miles in length and drains an area of 1,726,000 square miles. The Amazon, which is without doubt the widest river in the world, including the Beni, is 4,000 miles in length and drains 2,330,000 square miles of territory.

The largest school in the world is the Jews' free school of Spitalsfield, Eng., which has a daily attendance of 2,800 pupils.

New Orleans boasts the largest custom-house in this or any other land. It was begun in 1848 and over thirty years elapsed before it was finished and ready for use. It is built of Quincy granite, the interior being finished in finest marble. It has 111 rooms; height from the pavement to the top of the cornice is eighty feet, and to the top of the light on the dome 187 feet. The dome itself is 49 feet square and 61 feet high; estimated total cost of building, $4,900,000.

The largest hotel in the United States, and probably the largest in the world, is located at San Francisco, Cal. It is nine stories high and cost $3,500,000. It is named the Palace and has accommodations for 1,500 guests.

Paris claims the finest theater in the world. It is of solid stone, finished with marble floors, and covers about four acres of ground. La Scala, of Milan, has the largest seating capacity, while the Auditorium at Chicago, completed in 1889, seating 7,000 people, ranks second in that respect.

The Name of God in Forty-eight Languages.

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

S

O MUCH has been said about Loisette's memory system, the art has been so widely advertised, and so carefully guarded from all the profane who do not send five or many dollars to the Professor, that a few pages showing how every man may be his own Loisette, may be both interesting and

valuable.

In the first place, the system is a good one, and well worth the labor of mastering, and if the directions are implicitly followed there can be no doubt that the memory will be greatly strengthened and improved, and that mnemonic feats otherwise impossible may be easily performed. Loisette, however, is not an inventor, but an introducer. He stands in the same relation to Dr. Pick that the retail dealer holds to the manufacturer: the one produced the article; the other brings it to the public. Even this statement is not quite fair to Loisette, for he has brought much practical common sense to bear upon Pick's system, and, in preparing the new art of mnemonics for the market, in many ways

he has made it his own.

If each man would reflect upon the method by which he himself remembers things, he would find his hand upon the key of the whole mystery. For instance, the author was once trying to remember the word blythe. There occurred to my mind the words "Bellman,' Belle," and then the verse:

99 66

"Barcarole," "Barrack," and so on until finally the word "blythe presented itself with a strange insistance, long after I had ceased trying to recall it.

On another occasion, when trying to recall the name "Richardson," I got the words "hay-rick," "Robertson,"" Randallstown," and finally "wealthy," from which, naturally, I got "rich" and "Richardson" almost in a breath.

66

99 66

Still another example: trying to recall the name of an old schoolmate," Grady," I got "Brady," "grave," "gaseous," gastronome," gracious," and I finally abandoned the attempt, simply saying to myself that it began with a "G," and there was an "a sound after it. The next morning, when thinking of something entirely different, this name "Grady" came up in my mind with as much distinctness as though someone had whispered it in my ear. This remembering was done without any conscious effort on my part, and was evidently the result of the exertion made the day before when the mnemonic processes were put to work. Every reader must have had a similar experience which he can recall, and which will fall in line with the examples given.