Dripread - Book

wide.

A span is ten and seven-eighths inches.

First watches made in Nuremberg, 1476.

Pianoforte invented in Italy about 1710.

The value of a ton of silver is $37,704.84.

French and Indian War in America, 1754.

A hurricane moves eighty miles per hour.

Coaches were first used in England in 1569.

The first horse railroad was built in 1826-7.

Electricity moves 288,000 miles per second.

Modern needles first came into use in 1545.

The average human life is thirty-three years.

French Revolution, 1789; Reign of Terror, 1793.

$1,000,000 gold coin weighs 3,685.8 lb. avoirdupois.

Mormons arrived at Salt Lake Valley, Utah, July 24, 1847.

The largest cavern in the world is the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Experiments in electric lighting, by Thomas A. Edison, 1878-80.

Daguerre and Nieper invented the process of daguerreotype, 1839.

First American library founded at Harvard College, Cambridge, 1638.

First cotton raised in the United States was in Virginia, in 1621; first
exported, 1747.

First sugar-cane cultivated in the United States, near New Orleans,
1751; first sugar-mill, 1758.

First telegraph in operation in America was between Washington and
Baltimore, May 27, 1844.

The largest university is Oxford, in England. It consists of twenty-one
colleges and five halls.

The first illumination with gas was in Cornwall, Eng., 1792; in the
United States, at Boston, 1822.

Printing was known in China in the 6th century; introduced into England
about 1474; America, 1516.

The great wall of China, built 200 B. C. is 1,250 miles in length, 20
feet high, and 25 feet thick at the base.

Glass mirrors first made by Venetians in the 13th century. Polished
metal was used before that time.

Meerschaum means "froth of the sea." It is white and soft when dug from
the earth, but soon hardens.

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 coin, 5-cent nickel, 100 tons.

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.

There has been no irregularity in the recurrence of leap year every four
years since 1800, except in 1900, which was a common year, although it
came fourth after the preceding leap year.

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; peacocks, 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 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 Great Eastern, at one time the greatest steamer afloat, and twice as
long as any other vessel at the time of her launching, in 1858, was 692
feet in length and 118 feet in breadth. She was too large to be handled
profitably with the motive power then available, but proved
indispensable in the laying of the Atlantic cable. She was broken up and
sold as junk, although the Isherwood system, on which she was built, has
since been revived, and is now successfully employed in shipbuilding.

The seven sages flourished in Greece in the 6th century B. C. They were
renowned for their maxims of life, and as the authors of the mottoes
inscribed in the Delphian Temple. Their names are: Solon, Chilo,
Pittacus, Bias, Periander, Cleobolus, and Thales.

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 Williamsburgh, Kings
County, N. Y.

The "Seven Wonders of the World" are seven most remarkable objects of
the ancient world. They are: The Pyramids of Egypt, Pharos of
Alexandria, Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Diana at
Ephesus, the Statue of the Olympian

The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing / A Manual of Ready Reference