The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is 3.1416 nearly ➡ 34 nearly. The circumference of a circle diameter X 3.1416. The area of a circle the square of the diameter X .7854 SIZES OF FLAT WRITING PAPERS, CARD-BOARD, ETC. INCHES, Double Elephant 26 X 33 Antiquarian......... ............... 31 X 53 The various sizes of ordinary printed books are usually designated by the number of folds in a sheet of paper 19 X 24 inches, as follows: When other sizes of paper are used, as in blank books, diaries, etc., the name repre senting the size of paper is prefixed to that designating the number of folds, as Cap 8vo., Crown Quarto, Demy, Folio, etc. COUNTERFEIT MONEY. Rules for Detecting.-Examine the form and features of all human figures on the notes. If the forms are graceful, and features distinct, examine the drapery-see if the folds lie natural; and the hair of the head should be observed, and see if the fine strands can be seen. Examine the lettering, the title of the bank, or the round handwriting on the face of the note. On all genuine bills, the work is done with great skill and perfect. ness, and there has never been a counterfeit but was defective in the lettering. Be careful to observe the imprint, or engraver's name, the great perfection of the different company names, in the evenness and shape of the fine letters. Counterfeiters never get the imprint perfect. The shading in the background of the vignette, or over or around the letters forming the name of the bank, on a good bill is even and perfect, on a counterfeit is irregular and imperfect. Examine well the figures on the other parts of the note, containing the denomination, also the letters. Examine well the die work around the figures which stand for the denomination, to see if it is of the same character as that which forms the ornamental work surrounding it. Never take a bill that is deficient in any of the above points, and if your impression is bad when you first see it, you had better be careful how you become convinced to change your mind-whether your opinion is not altered as you become confused in looking into the texture of the workmanship of the bill, Examine the name of the State, name of the ban", and name of the town, where it is located. If it has been altered from a broken bank, the defects can plainly be seen. HOW TO CHANGE YOUR NAME. Any person has the right to change his name as he may see fit, without receiving authority to do so, either from the courts or the Legislature, and without formality or notice of any kind. At the same time there are two methods of changing names that are expressly provided by law, and that may be resorted to at the option of persons desiring to take such a step; one being by an order of the county court, or, in this city, of the Court of Common Pleas, granted upon affidavits setting forth the reason for which the change is desired, and the other by act of the Legislature, usually passed in response to a petition from the person interested. The proceeding by order of court is the simpler and more expeditious, and is much more frequently resorted to. STANDARD TIME-24 O'CLOCK. In an effort to obviate the inconveniences caused by differing standards of time, the railroad officials of the country are about to adopt a system of time that shall be uniform everywhere. This will be called "Standard Time," and will involve the use of 12 o'clock to 24 o'clock, and the abolishing of "A. M." and "P. M." The General Principles Governing the Plan Proposed.-That the same standard should govern as many railroads as possible. That the standard should not extend over so large an area of territory as to cause standard time to differ by more than about thirty minutes from local time. That each standard should vary from the adjacent standards by the most readily calculated difference, that of an even hour. That changes from one standard to another should be made at well-known points of departure. That these changes should be made at the termini of roads, where changes now occur, except on the trans-continental lines and in a few other unavoidable cases, where they can be made at the ends of divisions. That the 75th meridian west from Greenwich, being almost precisely the central meridian for the system of roads now using standards based upon the time of eastern cities, and the 90th meridian being equally central for the roads now running by the time of western cities, the time of those meridians should be adopted for the territory which includes nearly 90 per cent. of the whole railway system. The hour meridians east and west of those above named are equally well adapted as central meridians for the roads in the sections of country adjacent thereto. That by the adoption of this system all necessity for translating railroad time into local time will be avoided. All railroads now using Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Toronto, Hamilton, Washington, Portland, Providence, New London, Montreal, Albany, Richmond or Charleston time, will then be governed by the 75th Meridian, or Eastern time (four minutes slower than New York). All roads now using Columbus, Savannah, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago, Jefferson City, St. Paul, Kansas City, Macon, Rome, Nashville, Selma, Mobile, St. Louis, Vicksburg, Dubuque, Minneapolis, St. Joseph, Galveston, Houston or Omaha time, will then be run by the goth Meridian time, to be called Central Time. which will be one hour slower than Eastern time (nine minutes slower than Chicago time). West of this last section the roads will be run by 105th and 120th Meridians' times respectively, two and three hours slower than Eastern time. With the adoption of Standard Time the hours will be run from 1 o'clock (1 A. M.) to 24 o'clock (12 midnight). This will bring 12 o'clock at noon, and 6 P. M. at 18 o'clock. This will prevent any confusion in the printing of time tables, and tend to render trav eling a much more simple operation than it is now. SOMETHING ABOUT DRESSMAKING. Before commencing to cut there are several things to be noticed about the goods. Goods which have an up and down in the pattern should be kept right side up. Heavy flannels and coat cloths have the fold on the wrong side; all other materials have it upon the right side. Plaids should match. Especial care should be taken in the backs and fronts of the basques. In small plaids or checks less care can be taken. If the ruffles are straight, have the same plaid all round the skirt. Velvets and short-pile plushes are cut against the nap. A long plush looks better with the nap running down. Silks and satins can be cut any way, unless brocaded; then cut according to pattern. To cut a plain short skirt, which will do for the foundation for any kind of trimming, take four lengths of ordinarily wide goods-twenty inches is an average width of the required length; fold one of these in the centre, and cut a gore four inches wide at the top; this is the front width. Take two more lengths from the back edge of each of these, take a similar gore as the one taken from the front, unless the skirt will be too narrow. In that case add the gores taken from the front breadth to the back edge of the side widths. Sew the straight edges of the sides to the gored edges of the front width. The remaining breadth is for the back; in case this should not be wide enough, add a straight piece of the required width to the back. For facing silk, velvet and cloth, tack a piece of wigging about four inches wide round the inside of the skirt; catch this to the foundation without turning the edge. Have the facing of alpaca and cut to fit the skirt. Sew this around the bottom, so that when turned the seams will be next the lining, and hem round the top edge. Run the braid on the right side, turn over and hem down on the wrong. For tucked skirts cut off three or four lengths as required for fullness, making allowance in length for tucks and hem. Stitch the widths together as far as will be needed for the hem and tucks. After it is tucked, gore the front and sides as in an ordinary skirt. For basques, polonaises, etc., buy two yards of good silesia, cut it by a good paper sacque pattern. Take it to a dressmaker who can fit well. Have it fitted and basted; have the sleeves to fit perfectly and comfortably, and have them basted in. From this silesia pattern can be cut any tight-fitting garment, and any loose one if the darts are not lost and the under-arm seams left wide enough to allow for the fullness over the hips neces sary in a loose garment. There are two fronts with two darts in each side, two under arm pieces, two side forms, and two backs. For stout persons four under-arm pieces will make a better fit, as then the backs and side forms need not be altered. Keep the waist Jine by putting a piece of tape around the waist and carefully marking where it comes in the centre of the back and under the arm. This mark should lie on the cross threads of the goods in cutting. Take one-half of the silesia basque apart, cut the basting threads, do not pull them, as the material is always liable to stretch. Leave the other half with the sleeve in, to refer to. Cut the fronts first, baste them together on to the silesia, sew through the marks where the darts are, so that they may be exactly alike. Fold the fronts through the marks made by pinning them together. This line is the exact place for the buttons. Have this line half inch back from selvedge for button fly. On the button-hole side fold the hem a quarter inch nearer the selvedge; this will leave an edge beyond the button-holes. If there are plaits in the skirt of the basque lay the pattern on the goods so that centre back seam lies five inches from fold of goods, and the next form piece goes to the selvedge. Leave the whole width of goods up to a point three inches below waist line, where the pattern must be followed exactly. Before stitching baste the basque carefully together, make the button-holes, sew on the buttons and stitch up the darts and try on. If too small in the waist or across the bust enlarge from the under-arm piece; do not touch the darts. Clip most of the seams at the waist line to give a spring to the basque. Press all seams in cloth and woollen goods heavily, in silks and satins very lightly, and in velvet and plushes not at all. The darts and under-arm seams are cut open and boned. The bones should be from seven to ten inches long, and a little more than half their length above the waist line. Sew casings of silesia on to the opened seams for the whale bones. The neatest way to finish basque seams is to turn both the edges of the material and of the lining in and overseam them. In cloths bind the seams with ribbon or bias silk or satin. In making the sleeves sew with silk, face them with a straight piece, turn up the edge the width of a seam, hem on top and bottom a straight piece about an inch and a half wide, then trim before sewing the sleeve in. These directions do for polonaises, ulsters, and wrappers, with an additional word about the length; these are often cut basque length in front, with straight seams, or sloped down in front and the skirt stitched on in a plain scam. The coats and ulsters should be made a little larger, especially the sleeves, as a tight sleeve does not look well in an outside wrap. Under waists should have as few seams as possible. If one does a great deal of work it would be an advantage to have a good model on the tailor plan of measurements. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. FATE OF THE APOSTLES. St. Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom, or was put to death by the word, at the city of Ethiopia. St. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in Egypt, till he expired. St. Luke was hanged upon an olive-tree in Greece. St. John was put into a caldron of boiling oil at Rome, and escaped death. He afterwards died a natural death at Ephesus, in Asia. St. James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem. St. James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple, and then beaten to death with a fuller's club. St. Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia. St. Bartholomew was flayed alive by the command of a barbarous king. St. Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to the people till he expired. St. Thomas was run through the body by a lance, near Malibar, in the East Indies. AMERICAN WONDERS. The greatest cataract in the world is the Falls of Niagara, where the water from the great upper lakes forms a river of three-quarters of a mile in width, and then being suddenly contracted, plunges over the rocks in two columns, to the depth of one hundred and seventy feet each. The greatest cave in the world is the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, where any one can make a voyage on the waters of a subterranean river, and catch fish without eyes. The greatest river in the world is the Mississippi, four thousand one hundred miles long. The largest valley in the world is the Valley of the Mississippi. It contains five hundred thousand square miles, and is one of the most fertile and profitable regions of the globe. The greatest City Park in the world is in Philadelphia. It contains over 2,900 acres. The greatest grain port in the world is Chicago. The largest lake in the world is Lake Superior, which is truly an inland sea, being four hundred and thirty miles long, and one thousand feet deep. The longest railroad in the world is the Pacific Railroad, over 3,000 miles in length. The greatest natural bridge in the world is the Natural Bridge over Cedar Creek, in Virginia. It extends across a chasm eighty feet in width and two hundred and fifty feet in depth, at the bottom of which the creek flows. The greatest mass of solid iron in the world is the Iron Mountain of Missouri. It is three hundred and fifty feet high, and two miles in circuit. The best specimen of Grecian architecture in the world is the Girard College for Orphans, Phila. The largest aqueduct in the world is the Croton Aqueduct in New York. Its length is forty miles and a half, and it cost twelve and a half millions of dollars. The largest deposits of anthracite coal in the world are in Pennsylvania, the mines of which supply the market with millions of tons annually, and appear to be inexhaustible. LIMIT OF PERPETUAL SNOW, AND GROWTH OF TREES. On the Andes, in lat. 2 deg., the limit of perpetual snow is 14,760 ft. In Mexico, lat. 19 deg., the limit is 13,800 ft.: on the peak of Teneriffe, 11,454 ft.; on Mount Etna, 9,000 ft. on Caucasus, 9,900 ft.; on the Pyrenees, 8,400 ft.; in Lapland, 3,100 ft.; in Iceland, 2,890 ft. The walnut ceases to grow at an elevation of 3,600 ft.; the yellow pine at 6,200 ft.; the ash at 4,800 ft.; and the fir at 6,700 ft. The loftiest inhabited spot on the globe is the Port House of Ancomarca, on the Andes, in Peru, 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. The fourteenth peak of the Himalayas, in Asia, 25,695 feet high, is the loftiest mountain in the world. THE LONGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD Is in China. Its roadway is 70 feet wide and 70 feet high. There are 300 arches, and each of the pillars, which are 75 feet apart, bears a pedestal on which is the figure of a lion 21 feet long, and made out of one block of marble. NEWS. The word news is commonly supposed to be derived from the adjective new. It is ssated, however, that its origin is traceable to a custom in former times of placing on the newspapers of the day the initial letters of the cardinal points of the compass, thus: + These letters were intended to indicate that the paper contained intelligence from the four quarters of the globe, but they finally came to assume the form of the word news, from which the term newspaper is derived. THE EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS. The oldest regular newspaper published in England was established by Nathaniel Butter, in 1662. The oldest paper in France was commenced by Theophrastus Renaudot, in 1632, during the reign of Louis XIII. It was called the Gazette de France. The first Dutch newspaper, which is still continued under the name of the Haarlem Courant, is dated January 8, 1656. It was then called De Weeckelycke Courante van Europa, and contained two small folio pages of news. The first Russian newspaper was published in 1703. Peter the Great not only took part personally in its editorial composition, but in correcting proofs, as appears from sheets still in existence in which are marks and alterations in his own hand. There are two complete copies of the first year's edition of this paper in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. The first newspaper established in North America was the Boston News-Letter, com. menced April 24, 1704. It was half a sheet of paper, twelve inches by eight, two columns on a page. B. Green was the printer. It survived till 1776-seventy-two years. It advocated the policy of the British Government at the commencement of the Revolu tion. THE VALUE OF METALS. Following are the names of those metals valued at over $1,000 an avoirdupois pound, the figures given representing the value per pound: Vanadium-A white metal discovered in 1830, $10,000. Rubidium-Aa alkaline metal, so called from exhibiting dark red lines in the spectrum analysis, $9,070. Zirconium-A metal obtained from the mineral zircon and hyacinth in the form of a black powder, $7,200. Lithium-An alkaline metal, the lightest metal known, $7,000. Glucinum -A metal in the form of a grayish-black powder, $5,400. Calcium-The metallic base of lime, $4,500. Strontium-Á malleable metal of a yellowish color, $4,200. Terbium --Obtained from the mineral gadolinte, found in Sweden, $4,080. Yttrium-Discovered in 1828, is of a grayish-black color, and its lustre perfectly metallic, $4,089. Erbium— A metal found associated with yttrium, $3,400. Cerium-A metal of high specific gravity, a grayish-white color, and a lamellar texture, $3,400. Didymium-A metal found associated with cerium, $3,200. Ruthenium-Of a gray color, very hard and brittle; extracted from the ores of platinum, $2,400. Rhodium-Of a white color and metallic lustre, and extremely hard and brittle. It requires the strongest heat that can be produced by a wind furnace for its fusion, $2,300. Niobium-Previously named columbium, first discovered in an ore found at New London, Conn., $2,300. Barium-The metallic base of baryta, $1,800. Palladium-A metal discovered in 1803, and found in very small grains, of a steel-gray color and fibrous structure, $1,400. Osmium-A brittle gray colored metal, found with platinum, $1,300. Iridium-Found native as an alloy with osmium in lead-gray scales, and is the heaviest of known substances, $1,090. DEATH OF ENGLISH KINGS. William the Conqueror died from enormous fat, from drink, and from the violence of his passions. William Rufus died the death of the poor stags which he hunted. Henry 1. died of gluttony. Henry II. died of a broken heart, occasioned by the bad conduct of his children. Richard Coeur de Lion, like the animal from which his heart was named, died by an arrow from an archer. John died, nobody knows how; but it is said from chagrin, which we suppose is another term for a dose of hellebore. Henry III. is said to have "died a natural death." Edward I. is likewise said to have died of a "natural sick. ness"-a sickness which it would puzzle all the College of Physicians to denominate. Edward II. was most barbarously and indecently murdered by ruffians employed by his own mother and her paramour. Edward III. died of dotage, and Richard II. of starvas |