The gimlet-pointed screw has produced more wealth than most silver mines, and the Connecticut man who first thought of putting copper tips on the toes of children's shoes, is as well off as if he had inherited $1,000,000, for that's the amount his idea has realized for him.

The largest bells in the world are the following, their weight being given in tons: Moscow, 216; Burmah,117; Pekin, 53; Novgorod, 31; Notre Dame, 18; Rouen, 18; Olmutz, 18; Vienna, 18; St. Paul's, 16; Westminster, 14; Montreal, 12; Cologne, 11; Oxford, 8; St. Peter's, 8.

The Chicopee works near Springfield, Mass., started in 1829, and began to manufacture cutlery, and also cast the first American statuary, such as the gates of the Capitol at Washington, the statue of Washington in New York, and that of De Witt Clinton in Greenwood Cemetery.

French ingenuity has contrived an improved stone-cutting saw of remarkable efficiency-a circular saw having its edge set with black diamonds in the same way as the straight blades; but as the strain on the diamond is all in one direction, the setting can be made much firmer.

Umbrellas commenced to be made on a large scale in this country in 1820 by the Wrights, who are still at it, and who were four brothers, all from Oxfordshire, England. For ten years they made only one hundred umbrellas a day, and by the time of the civil war made three thousand a day.

A hot water fountain is in operation in Paris. The water that feeds the fountain passes through a coil of copper tubing three hundred feet long. By dropping a sou in a slot jets of gas are turned on and ignited. By this means the water is heated. For each sou one is entitled to eight liters. It is expected that this fountain will be of great assistance to the poor.

The catamaran is a raft formed usually of three pieces of wood lashed together, the middle piece being longer than the others, and serving as a keel; on this the rower kneels or squats, and works a paddle. These simple vessels are used by the natives of Madras to maintain communication between ships and the shore, ordinary boats being rendered unsafe by the surf.

Many things we used to have in perfection we see no more. For instance, paper collars in 1853 were being manufactured by the million. Bismarck says that as late as the war of 1870, Burnside came to camp with another American, who wore a paper collar. But celluloid has replaced paper, and linen and cotton have become so cheap that it hardly pays to wear the poor article.

Vellum is the name originally given to a fine variety of parchment, made of calfskin. Vellum is prepared from the skins of kids, lambs, and young calves. Some of the earliest printed books were done on vellum, and some of the best of the early miniature portraits were painted on a specially fine quality of vellum prepared from the skins of calves prematurely born.

The Union arch of the Washington Aqueduct is the largest in the world, being two hundred and twenty feet; twenty feet in excess of the Chester arch across the Dee in England, sixty-eight feet longer than that of the London Bridge; ninety-two feet longer than that at Neuilly on the Seine, and one hundred feet longer than that of Waterloo Bridge. The height of the Washington arch is one hundred feet.

A diamond cut at Antwerp is, with one exception, the largest in the world. It weighed 474 carats, but has lost 275 in the cutting. It will still, however, hold its place as second largest cut stone, being exceeded only by the Persian Great Mogul, which weighs 280 carats. The Kohi-noor weighs only 1021⁄2 carats. The Antwerp diamond is about as large as a pigeon's egg, and measures .786 inches each way.

The pretty trinkets called Bog Oak Ornaments are turned or carved from the trunks of the black oak, which is especially suitable for the purpose, the yew, fir and other woods, which are often found, of a dark color and well preserved, in the peat bogs of Great Britain, Ireland and other countries. The trade originated in the reign of George IV. The annual value of such goods sold in Dublin has been estimated at $100,000.

In shipping the caisson is an apparatus for lifting a vessel out of the water for repairs or inspection. It is usually a hollow structure, sunk by letting water into it. There is an air chamber inside, which allows it to sink only to a certain depth. In that state it is hauled under the ship's bottom, the traps or openings are closed, the water is pumped out, and the caisson rises with the ship upon it. Pontoon is another term for the

same apparatus.

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 paper into position, crimps it into two lines, then, at a single push, passes the pins through the paper and sets them in position. The machine almost seems to think as it works, and to examine the paper to see if it is properly folded before pushing the pins into place.

The steam engine in its present form was the invention of James Watt (1768), whose great improvement consisted in performing condensation in a separate vessel from the cylinder, and in producing both the up and down stroke of the piston by steam. The compound engine, in which the steam receives its expansion is a second and larger cylinder, was the invention of Jonathan Hornblower (1781). The marine engine of Elder (1854) is an adaptation of Hornblower's compound engine.

The Eiffel Tower is a colossal iron structure erected by Gustave Eiffel, a French engineer, on the Champs de Mars. It was completed March 31, 1889. It contains three stories, reached by a series of elevators or lifts, and the platform at the summit is 985 feet above the ground. About seventeen hundred tons of iron were employed in its construction; the cost was about $1,000,000. The London Great Tower now (1893) in process of construction will exceed the Eiffel Tower in height by 200 feet and is to be of polished steel.

The largest and grandest temple of worship in the world is 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 6121⁄2 English feet; transept, 446%; height of nave, 152 feet; diameter of cupola, 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 nine and onefourth 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 1626, but not entirely finished until the year 1880. The cost, in round numbers, is set down at $70,000,000.

In engineering the caisson is a chest used in "laying" the foundations of the piers of bridges, quays and like structures, in deep and rapid rivers. It consists of a very strong platform of timber or metal plates, to which the sides are attached. The site of the pier being leveled by dredging or otherwise, the caisson is brought over the spot, and moored in the proper position. Two or three of the lower courses of masonry are then built upon the platform of the caisson, and the water is slowly admitted by a sluice, in order to cause the caisson to settle into its place.

The annual manufacture of looking glass in Europe is something like eighteen hundred and fifty thousand square yards. In the mirrors of today the light is reflected by a layer of silver or an amalgam of tin, but a proportion of light is lost in the process of reflection, and the image is less luminous than the original. The value of a looking glass is estimated by the thickness of the glass, because the thicker they are the stronger they must be; but, speaking scientifically, thick glasses are defective, because the outlines of the image reflected are less clearly defined.

The largest ship ever built, the Great Eastern, recently broken to pieces and sold to junk dealers, was designed and constructed by Scott Russell at Millwall on the Thames. Work on the giant vessel was commenced in May, 1854. She was successfully launched January 13, 1858. The launching alone occupied the time from November 3, 1857, until the date above given. Her total length was six hundred and ninety-two feet; breadth, eighty-three feet; total weight when launched, twelve thousand tons. Her first trip of any consequence was made to New York in 1859-60.

The problem of silent machinery has been brought a step nearer solution by the introduction in Austria of cog-wheels made of pressed rawhide, which work in conjunction with wheels of cast iron, steel and other metals. The wheels possess great strength. They do not require lubricating, and are, therefore, clean in operation. They substantially reduce the vibration of the machinery in which they are used. They can be had ready-made or in the form of rawhide disks for shaping by the purchaser. They are supported by a wooden framework, and after being cut the wheel is covered with a shellac solution.

As a process of mining and engineering Blasting is the method of loosening or shattering masses of solid fracturable matter by means of explosive compounds. It is an operation of fundamental importance for, without the agency of powerful explosives, many of the greatest undertakings of modern times would have been practically impossible. The greatest blast ever exploded was in the removal of Flood Rock at Hell Gate, in the East River, New York, when 80,166 cubic yards of rock were tunneled out and 270,717 cubic yards were blasted. The resistance offered equalled 500,000 tons of rock and 200,000 tons of water.

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Solomon's Temple was dedicated in the year 1005 B. C. It was eighty cubits in length, by forty cubits in width (cubic eighteen in.) and thirty cubits high, with a porch one hundred and twenty cubits in height. The Holy of Holies was a cube of twenty cubits each way. Two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference, named respectively Joachim and Boaz, were set up in the porch of the temple, and by some critics have been considered obelisks. Three tiers of small chambers were ranged externally to the walls of the Temple on three sides of the building, and were used for the accommodation of the priesthood.

One of the most famous roads in the world is the "Appian Way," or "The Queen of Roads." It was built by Appius Claudius Cæcus while he was censor, 313 B. C. It is the oldest and most celebrated of all the Roman roads, and with its branches connected Rome with all parts of southern Italy. It had an admirable substructure or foundation, from which all the loose soil had been carefully removed. Above this were various strata cemented with lime; and lastly came the pavement, consisting of large hard hexagonal blocks of stone, composed principally of basaltic lava, and joined together with great nicety, so as to appear one smooth mass.

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, turrets and balconies are built of stone. The immense tower in the center of the building is one hundred and twenty 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 fireplaces 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.

In the rigging of a ship a block is an important part of the apparatas necessary for raising sails and yards, tightening ropes, etc. The block comprises both the frame or shell, and the pulley or pulleys-usually termed "sheaves"-contained within it. In nautical and mechanical language a tackle includes the rope as well as the block through which it works. Ships' blocks vary greatly in size, shape, power, designation, and use, but nearly every block comprises a shell or wooden exterior, a sheave or wheel on which the rope runs, a pin or axle on which the sheave turns, and a strap (of rope or iron) to fasten the block to any particular station.

A Sedan chair is a portable covered vehicle for carrying a single person, borne on two poles by two men. The name is derived from the town of Sedan, where this species of conveyance is said to have been invented. The Duke of Buckingham used one in the reign of James I. The proceeding gave general offence, and it was made a matter of public remark that this royal favorite used his fellow countrymen to do the work of beasts. In September 1634 Sir Sanders Duncombe got a letter patent, granting him the sole right and privilege for fourteen years to use and let for hire within London and Westminster "covered chairs" to prevent the unnecessary use of coaches; according to Evelyn he got the notion from Naples.

The Sarcophagus is any stone receptable for a dead body. The name originated in the property assigned to a species of stone, found at Assos in Troas and used in early times, of consuming the whole body, with the exception of the teeth, within the space of forty days. The oldest known sarcophagi are those of Egypt, some of which are contemporary with the pyramids. The earliest of these are of a square or oblong form, and either plain or ornamented with lotus leaves; the later are of the form of swathed mummies, and bear inscriptions. The pyramids were sepulchral tombs built to contain the sarcophagi of the kings of Egypt; the Phoenician and Persian kings were also buried in sarcophagi. The Roman sarcophagi of the earlier republican period were plain. Sarcophagi were occasionally used in the later republic, although burning had become the more general mode of disposing of the dead.

The great pyramid of Cheops 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 architect to have cost not less than $145,200,000. Internal evidence proves that the great pyramid was begun about the year 2170 B. C., or 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 nearly seven hundred miles from quarries in Arabia.

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 Fé 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 nineteen 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.

The soldering of glass and procelain with metals is a novel French process, and its adaptations are likely to be as numerous as they are valuable. It is also simple. The portion of the tube that is to be soldered is first covered with a thin layer of platinum, this deposit being obtained by covering the slightly heated glass, by means of a brush, with very neutral chloride of platinum, mixed with essential oil of chamomile, the latter being slowly evaporated, and, when the white and odoriferous vapors cease to be given off, the temperature is raised to a red heat; the platinum is then reduced and covers the glass tube with a layer of bright metal. On connecting the tube thus metalized and placed in a bath of sulphate of copper, to the negative pole of a battery of suitable energy, there is deposited on the platinum a ring of copper, which will be malleable and very adhesive if the operation has been properly performed. In this state the glass tube, covered with copper, can be treated like a genuine metalic tube, and be soldered to iron, copper, bronze, platinum, or any metal that can be united with tin solder.

The great Egyptian obelisk in Central Park, New York, is one of the most noted monoliths in the world. It was quarried, carved and erected about the time of Abraham, to commemorate the deeds of an ancient Pharaoh. Five hundred years later the conquering Sesostris, the bad Pharaoh of Scripture, carved on its surface the record of his famous reign. The royal cartouch (or oval) shows that the work was done under the immediate order and sanction of the king. But Sesostris (or Rameses II) reigned one hundred years before the Trojan war; so all the symbols now seen on Cleopatra's Needle were already venerable with age in the days of Priam, Hector, Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles and Ulysses. The Roman poet Horace says there were brave men before Agamemnon, but they lacked a Homer to save their names from oblivion. Sesostris,