Burnt brick was known to have been used in building the Tower of Babel.

They were introduced into England by the Romans.

The most remarkable echo known is that in the castle of Simonetta, two miles from Milan. It repeats the echo of a pistol sixty times.

The largest volcano in the world is Etna. Its base is 90 miles in circ.u.mference; its cone 11,000 feet high. Its first eruption occurred 474 B.C.

The largest tree in the world, as yet discovered, is in Tulare County, California. It is 275 feet high and 106 feet in circ.u.mference at its base.

The largest desert is Sahara, in Northern Africa. Its length is 3,000 miles and breadth 900 miles; having an area of 2,000,000 square miles.

The largest suspension bridge is in Brooklyn. The length of the main span is 1,595 feet 6 inches. The entire length of the bridge is 5,989 feet.

The first deaf and dumb asylum was founded in England by Thomas Braidwood, 1760; and the first in the United States was at Hartford, 1817.

The largest diamond in the world is the Braganza, being a part of the Portuguese jewels. It weighs 1,880 carats. It was found in Brazil in 1741.

The grade of t.i.tles in Great Britain stands in the following order from the highest: A Prince, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Baronet, Knight.

The largest number of cattle ever received in one year was that of Chicago in the year 1884, being 1,874,984 beeves, 30,223 calves, 5,640,625 hogs, 749,917 sheep and 15,625 horses. It required 9,000 trains of 31 cars each, which, if coupled together, would reach 2,146 miles.

The "Valley of Death," in the island of Java, is simply the crater of an extinct volcano, filled with carbonic-acid gas. It is half a mile in circ.u.mference.

The city of Amsterdam, Holland, is built upon piles driven into the ground. It is intersected by numerous ca.n.a.ls, crossed by nearly three hundred bridges.

Coal was used as fuel in England as early as 852, and in 1234 the first charter to dig for it was granted by Henry III. to the inhabitants of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Tobacco was discovered in San Domingo in 1496; afterwards by the Spaniards in Yucatan in 1520. It was introduced in France in 1560, and into England in 1583.

The present national colors of the United States were not adopted by Congress until 1777. The flag was first used by Washington at Cambridge, January 1, 1776.

Paris was known as Lutetia until 1184, when the name of the great French capital was changed to that which it has borne ever since.

The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India over the river Ristuah. It is over 6,000 feet, and is stretched between two hills 1,200 feet high.

The largest library in the world is in Paris, founded by Louis XIV. It contains 1,400,000 volumes, 175,000 ma.n.u.scripts, 300,000 maps and charts, and 150,000 coins and medals.

The tallest man was John Hale, of Lancashire, England, who was nine feet six inches in height. His hand was seventeen inches long and eight and one-half inches broad.

In round numbers, the weight of $1,000,000 in standard gold coin is 1-3/4 tons; standard silver coin, 26-3/4 tons; subsidiary silver coin, 25 tons; minor coins, 5-cent nickel, 100 tons.

The largest stationery engine in the world is at the zinc mines at Friedenville, Pa. The number of gallons of water raised every minute is 17,500. The driving wheels are 35 feet diameter and weigh 40 tons each.

The cylinder is 110 inches in diameter.

The part of United States territory most recently acquired is the island of San Juan, near Vancouver's Island. It was evacuated by England at the close of November, 1873.

The highest monument in the world is the Washington monument, being 555 feet. The highest structure of any kind is the Eiffel Tower, Paris, finished in 1889 and 989 feet high.

It is claimed that crows, eagles, ravens and swans live to be 100 years old; herons, 59; parrots, 60; pelicans and geese, 50; skylarks, 30; sparrow hawks, 40; peac.o.c.ks, canaries and cranes, 24.

The greatest cataract in the world is Niagara, the height of the American falls being 165 feet. The highest fall of water in the world is that of the Yosemite in California, being 2,550 feet.

The most ancient catacombs are those of the Theban kings, begun 4,000 years ago. The catacombs of Rome contain the remains of about 6,000,000 human beings; those of Paris, 3,000,000.

The quickest pa.s.sage ever made across the Atlantic was that of the steamer Lucania, of the Cunard line, being 5 days 7 hours and 23 minutes from New York to Queenstown; the distance being 2,850 miles.

There has been no irregularity in the recurrence of leap year every four years since 1800, and will be none until 1900, which will be a common year, although it will come fourth after the preceding leap year.

The first English newspaper was the _English Mercury_, issued in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet.

The _Gazette_ of Venice was the original model of the modern newspaper.

The Mormon Church in Utah shows a membership of 127,294--23,000 families. The church has 12 apostles, 58 patriarchs, 3,885 seventies, 3,153 high priests, 11,000 elders, 1,500 bishops and 4,400 deacons, being an office for each six persons.

A "monkey wrench" is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, but "Moncky." Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $2,000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, King's County, N.Y., where he now lives.

The Union arch of the Washington Aqueduct is the largest in the world, being 220 feet; 20 feet in excess of the Chester arch across the Dee in England, 68 feet longer than that of the London bridge; 92 feet longer than that at Neuilly on the Seine, and 100 feet longer than that of Waterloo bridge. The height of the Washington arch is 100 feet.

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 Maxwell, 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 600 feet; breadth, 118 feet; total weight when launched 12,000 tons. Her first trip of any consequence was made to New York in 1859-60.

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 Pottsdam, which is 5,500 feet in depth. The deepest coal mines in England are the Dunkirk colleries 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.

FATE OF THE APOSTLES.--The following brief history of the fate of the Apostles may be new to those whose reading has not been evangelical:

St. Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom or was slain with the sword at the 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 cauldron of boiling oil at Rome and escaped death. He afterward 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 Hieropolis, 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 unto the people until he expired.

St. Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Caromandel, in the East Indias.

St. Jude was shot to death with arrows.

St. Simon Zealot was crucified in Persia.