One Thousand Secrets of Wise and Rich Men Revealed Part 18

Envelopes were first used in 1839.

Telescopes were invented in 1590.

Iron horseshoes were made in 481.

A barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds.

A hand (horse measure) is four inches.

A rifle ball moves 1,000 miles per hour.

First steamer crossed the Atlantic, 1819.

a.s.sa.s.sination of Lincoln, April 14, 1865.

German empire re-established, Jan. 18, 1871.

Storm clouds move thirty-six miles an hour.

First subscription library, Philadelphia, 1731.

Dark Ages, from the 6th to the 14th century.

The Latin tongue became obsolete about 580.

The great London fire occurred Sept. 26, 1666.

The value of a ton of pure gold is $602,799.21.

Ether was first used for surgical purposes in 1844.

Ignatius Loyola founded the order of Jesuits, 1541.

First authentic use of organs, 755; in England, 951.

The first newspaper advertis.e.m.e.nt appeared in 1652.

Cork is the bark taken from a species of the oak tree.

Benjamin Franklin used the first lightning rods, 1752.

Gla.s.s windows (colored) were used in the 8th century.

Authentic history of China commenced 3,000 years B.C.

Introduction of h.o.m.oepathy into the United States, 1825.

Spectacles were invented by an Italian in the 13th century.

Medicine was introduced into Rome from Greece, 200 B.C.

First electric telegraph, Paddington to Brayton, Eng., 1835.

The Chaldeans were the first people who worked in metals.

First life insurance, in London, 1772; in America, Philadelphia, 1812.

Egyptian pottery is the oldest known; dates from 2,000 B.C.

Julius Caesar invaded Britain, 55 B.C.; a.s.sa.s.sinated, 44 B.C.

Soap was first manufactured in England in the 16th century.

The largest free territorial government is the United States.

First photographs produced in England, 1802; perfected, 1841.

First marine insurance, A.D. 533; England, 1598; America, 1721.

Professor Oersted, Copenhagen, discovered electro-magnetism, in 1819.

First American express, New York to Boston--W. F. Harnden.

Gla.s.s windows were first introduced into England in the 8th century.

Chicago is little more than fifty years old, and is the eighteenth city of the world.

Gla.s.s was made in Egypt, 3000 B.C.; earliest date of transparent gla.s.s, 719 B.C.

First public schools in America were established in the New England States about 1642.

The largest inland sea is the Caspian, between Europe and Asia, being 700 miles long and 270 miles wide.

The term "Almighty Dollar" originated with Washington Irving, as a satire on the American love for gain.

The highest natural bridge in the world is at Rockbridge, Virginia, being 200 feet high to the bottom of the arch.

The largest circulation of paper money is that of the United States, being 700 millions, while Russia has 670 millions.

The largest insurance company in the world is the Mutual Life of New York City, having cash a.s.sets of $108,000,000.

The largest empire in the world is that of Great Britain, being 8,557,658 square miles, and more than a sixth part of the globe.

The first electrical signal ever transmitted between Europe and America pa.s.sed over the Field submarine cable on Aug. 5, 1858.

The longest tunnel in the world is St. Gothard, on the line of the railroad between Luzerne and Milan, being nine and one-half miles in length.

The loftiest active volcano is Popocatapetl. It is 17,784 feet high, and has a crater three miles in circ.u.mference and 1,000 feet deep.