1,850 miles from north to south. Its area is 2,984,287 square miles. The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India, over the river Kistnah, between Bezorah and Sectynagrum. It is over 6,000 feet in length, or more than one mile, and 1,200 feet high. The largest ship in the world is the Great Eastern. It is 680 feet long, 83 feet broad, and 60 feet deep; being 28,627 tons burden, 18,915 gross, and 13,344 net register. It was built at Millwall-on-theThames, and was launched Jan. 31, 1857. Ox The largest university is Oxford, in England, in the city of Oxford, 55 miles from London. It consists of 21 colleges and 5 halls. ford was a seat of learning as early as the time of Edward the Confessor, 1041. University College claims to have been founded by Alfred (849-900). The largest body of fresh water on the globe is Lake Superior, 400 miles long, 160 wide at its greatest breadth, and having an area of 32,000 square miles. Its mean depth is 900 feet, and its greatest depth is said to be about 200 fathoms, or 1,200 feet. Its surface is about 635 feet above the sea level. The largest cavern is the Mammoth Cave, in Edmonson County, Ky. It is near Green River, about 6 miles from Cave City, and 28 miles from Bowling Green. The cave consists of a succession of irregular chambers, some of which are large, situated on different levels. Some of these are traversed by navigable branches of the subterranean Echo River. Blind fish are found in its waters. The longest tunnel in the world is that of St. Gothard, on the line of the railroad between Lucerne and Milan. The summit of the tunnel is 900 feet below the surface at Andermatt, and 6,600 feet beneath the peak of Kastelhorn, of the St. Gothard group. The tunnel is 261⁄2 feet wide, 18 feet 10 inches from the floor to the crown of the arched roof. It is 91⁄2 miles long, and 15% miles longer than Mt. Cenis tunnel.. The largest trees in the world are the "mammoth " of California. One of a group in Tulare county, according to measurements made by the State geological survey, was shown to be 276 feet in hight, 108 feet in circumference at the base, and 76 feet at a point 12 feet from the ground. Some of the trees are 276 feet high, and 34 feet in diameter. Some of the largest that have been felled indicate an age of from 2,000 to 2,500 years. The largest library is the Bibliotheque National in Paris, founded by Louis XIV. It contains 1,400,000 volumes, 300,000 pamphlets, 175,000 manuscripts, 300,000 maps and charts, 150,000 coins and medals. The collection of engravings exceeds 1,300,000, contained in some 10,000 vols. The portraits number 100,000 vols. The building which contains these treasures is situated on the Rue Richelieu. Its length is 540 feet, its breadth 130 feet. The largest library in New York is, in respect to separate works, the Astor. It contains about 200,000 volumes. The largest desert is Sahara, a vast region of Northern Africa, extending from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the valley of the Nile on the east. The length from east to west is about 3,000 miles, its average breadth about 900 miles, and its area 2,000,000 square miles. Rains fall in torrents in the Sahara at intervals of 5, 10, and 20 years. In summer the heat during the day is excessive, but the nights are cold. In winter the temperature is sometimes below freezing point. The largest pyramid is that of Cheops, one of the three pyramids forming the Memphis group, situated upon a plateau about 137 feet above the level of the highest rise of the Nile. Its dimensions have been reduced by the removal of the outer portions to furnish stone for the city of Cairo. Its masonry consisted originally of 89,028,000 cubic feet, but still it amounts to 82,111,000 cubic feet. The present vertical hight 450 feet, against 479 originally. Total weight of the stone is estimated at 6,316,000 tons. Some of the measurements and estimates vary by different computors. It is said to have given employment to 100,000 persons, and that 20 years wereconsumed in its construction. The largest inland sea is the Caspian, lying between Europe and Asia. Its greatest length is 760 miles, and its area 180,000 square miles. Great Salt Lake, in Utah, which may properly be termed an inland sea, is about 90 miles long, and has a varying breadth of from 20 to 26 miles. Its surface is 4,200 feet above the sea level, whereas the surface of the Caspian Sea is 84 feet below the sea level. The largest empire in the world is that of Great Britain, compris. ing 8,557,558 square miles, more than one-sixth part of the land of the globe, and embracing under its rule nearly one-sixth part of the population of the world. In territorial extent the United States ranks third, containing 3,580,242 square miles, including Alaska; in population it ranks fourth, with its 50,000,000 people. Russia ranks second in territorial extent, having 8,351,940 square miles. The highest monolith is the obelisk at Karnak, in Egypt. Karnak is on the east bank of the Nile, near Luxor, and occupies a part of the site of ancient Thebes. The obelisk is ascribed to Hatasu, sister of Pharaoh Thothmes III, who reigned about 1,600 B. C. The entire length is 122 feet, and its weight 400 tons. Its hight without pedestal is 108 feet 10 inches. The hight of the obelisk in Central Park, without pedestal is 68 feet 11 inches, and its weight about 168 tons. The largest bell in the world is the great bell at Moscow, at the foot of the Kremlin. Its circumference at the bottom is nearly 68 feet, and its hight more than 21 feet. In its stoutest part it is 23 inches thick, and its weight has been computed to be 443,722 pounds. It has never been hung, and was probably cast on the spot where it now stands. A piece of the bell is broken off. The fracture is supposed to have been occasioned by water having been thrown upon it when heated by the building erected over it being on fire. The greatest fortress from a strategical point of view, is the famous stronghold of Gibraltar, belonging to Great Britain, situated upon the most southern point of land upon the coast of south-western Spain. It occupies a rocky peninsula, jutting out into the sea about three miles long, and three-fourths of a mile wide. One central rock rises to a hight of 1,435 feet above the sea level. Its northern face is almost perpendicular, while its east side is full of tremendous precipices. On the south it terminates in what is called Europa Point. The west side is less steep than the east, and between its base and the sea is the narrow, almost level span on which the town of Gibraltar is built. The fortress is considered impregnable to military assault. The regular garrison in time of peace numbers about 7,000. Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, Manchester, N. H., 265 THE END OF THE WORLD. In the prophecies of Nostradamus we read : These mysterious words, when translated, are— "In that year in which Good Friday shall fall upon St. George's Day (April 23), Easter on St. Mark's Day (April 25), and Corpus Christi Day on the Day of St. John the Baptist (June 24), the world shall come to an end." It may be worthy of note that all these coincidences take place in 1886. CAXTON. (From Ashmole's Theatrum chemicum britannicum, London, 1652.) I asked Philosophy how I should She answered me, when I was able To make the Water malliable, Or else the way if I cound finde To measure out a yard of Winde; DJAFAR. ERASMUS DARWIN was born Dec. 12, 1731, at Elton, England; educated at Cambridge and Edinburgh; died April 18, 1802. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin who was born on the 12th of February, 1809, at Shrewsbury, England, his father Robert W. Darwin, F. R. S., being one of three sons of Dr. Erasmus Darwin. Dr. Darwin was above the medium stature, with limbs too large for symmetrical proportion; full, florid countenance pitted sharply with smallpox, and his speech greatly impeded by stammering; but none that knew him became impatient at the loss of time in waiting for his impeded utterances, for they were well paid for the time by the grandeur of his expressions. He was a physician, philosopher, and didactic poet, and distinguished himself by his genial and benevolent disposition, and for his special friendship for any person, and especially a woman traduced, as evidenced in his defence of Madam Ninon de Lenclos, who in connection with the romantic occurrence with her illegitimate son, was charged by many with seducing him by her seductive smiles and winning ways; but the Doctor conclusively refuted the charge by establishing beyond a doubt that the love she lavished upon this son was a fervent maternal love, and that alone. The occurrence was published in Number 28 of The World, which was as follows: ents. "Speaking of the famous Ninon de Lenclos, he says: It was in her fifty-sixth year that the Chevalier de Villiers, a natural son whom she had by the Count de Gerge, arrived at Paris from the provinces, where he had been, without any knowledge of his real parHe saw his mother. He fell in love with her. The increase of the vehemence of his passion gave the greatest disquiet to the affectionate matron. At last when nothing but a discovery of the secret could put a stop to the impetuosity of his attempts, she took him into her bedchamber and pointing to the clock, cried: Rash youth, look there! at that hour two and twenty years ago, I was delivered of you in this very bed!' It is a certain fact, that the importunate, abashed young man, flew into the garden and fell upon his sword." This sad ending of his own life came nigh ending her mortal career, and her truly lamentable condition thus brought on, aroused all the noble and sympathetic in the great heart of Dr. Darwin; and his philosophical application of the collateral circumstances placed her beyond a shadow of blame. An extract from the first canto of his charming poem on the Loves of the Plants, will give afair sample of his poetic powers and style: "Descend, ye hovering Sylphs! Aerial Choirs, And sweep with little hands your silver lyres; What beaux and beauties crowd the gaudy groves, And woo with their vegetable Loves." M.O. WAGGGOER, Toledo. O. Duncan McArthur, Highland Dec. 19, 1826 Dec. 28, 1822 Robert Lucas, Joseph Vance, Wilson Shannon, Thomas Corwin, Wilson Shannon, Thomas W. Bartley, Mordecai Bartley, William Bebb, Seabury Ford, Reuben Wood, William Medill, Richard M. Bishop, Charles Foster, George Hoadly, Pike Dec. Dec. 7, 1832 Champaign Dec. 13, 1836 Butler Dec. 12, 1846 Ross Jan. 12, 1874 Joseph Benson Foraker, Hamilton Jan. 11, 1886 Dec. 16, 1840 Dec. 14, 1842 Apr. 13, 1844 Dec. 3, 1844 Dec. 12, 1846 Jan. 22, 1849 Dec. 12, 1850 July 15, 1853 Jan. 14, 1856 Jan. 9, 1860 Jan. 14, 1 1862 Jan. 12, 1864 Aug. 29, 1865 Mar. 2, 1877 Jan. 12, 1886 Arthur St. Clair, of Ligonier, Pa., was Governor of the, Northwest Territory, of which Ohio was a part, from July 13, 1788 (when the |