in the form of a pair of stays, about 1500. Armor ceased to reach below the knees in the time of Charles I., 1625.

Artillery. The first piece was a small one, contrived by Schwartz, a German cordelier, soon after the invention of gunpowder in 1330. Artillery was used, it is said, by the Moors at Algeciras in Spain, in the siege of 1341; it was used, according to historians, at the battle of Cressy, in 1346, when Edward III. had four pieces of cannon, which gained him the battle. Artillery was used at the siege of Calais, 1347. The Venetians first employed artillery against the Genoese at sea, 1377. Cast in England, together with mortars for bombshells, by Flemish artists in Sussex, 1543. Made of brass, 1635. From this time forward the improvement in field artillery has been rapid and important.

Astronomy.—The earliest accounts we have of this science are those of Babylon, about 2234 B. C. The study of astronomy was much advanced in Chaldea under Nabonassur; it was known to the Chinese about 1100 B. C.; some say many centuries before. Lunar eclipses were observed at Babylon with exceeding accuracy, 720 B. C. Spherical form of the earth, and the true cause of lunar eclipses, taught by Thales, 640 B. C. Further discoveries by Pythagoras, who taught the doctrine of celestial motions, and believed in the plurality of habitable worlds, 500 B. C. Hipparchus began his observations at Rhodes, 167 B. C., began his new cycle of the moon in 143, and made great advances in the science, 140 B. C. The procession of the equinoxes confirmed, and the places and distances of the planets discovered, by Ptolemy, A. D. 130. After the elapse of nearly seven centuries, during which time astronomy was neglected, it was resumed by the Arabs about 800; and was afterwards brought into Europe by the Moors of Barbary and Spain, but not sooner than 1201, when they also introduced geography. True laws of the planetary motions discovered by Kepler 1619; the discoveries of Galileo were made about 1631. Newton's Principia published and the system as now taught incontrovertibly established, A. D. 1687; Mecanique Celeste, published by La Place, 1796.

and wheat as far back as there are any written records regarding them. Tacitus tells us that beer was a common beverage of the Germans when he wrote, in the first century. We learn from Pliny that " The people of Spain, in particular, brew this liquor so well that it will keep a long time." He describes it as made from corn and water. The earliest of Greek writers speak of wine made from barley, and of the art of making it as derived from the Egyptians. It is believed that Archilochus, the Parian poet, who lived about 700 B. C., referred to beer drinking when he depicted the follies and vicious indulgences of his time. In the ancient writings of China reference is made to a fermented drink called “ sam-shoo, made from rice. When it was first invented is unknown, but it was probably long before the Christian Era.

Blood, Circulation of. The true theory regarding the circulation of blood was discovered by the celebrated English physiologist, William Harvey, about 1616. He received his diploma as Doctor of Medicine from the University of Padua in 1602, and in 1615 was made Lecturer at the College of Physicians in London, an appointment which he held for forty years. It is generally supposed that he expounded his views regarding blood circulation in his first course of lectures. died at London June 3, 1657.

He

Bonnet. The English bonnet, which was superseded in the early part of the sixteenth century by the hat, was made of cloth, silk, or velvet, less or more ornamented, according to the taste or means of the wearer. In Scotland, however, bonnets were universally worn for a century or two later, and they still are, to a certain extent, a national characteristic. The bonnet worn by the Lowland Scottish peasantry was of a broad, round, and flat shape, overshadowing the face and neck, and of a darkblue color, excepting a red tuft like a cherry on the top. It was made of thick milled woolen, and with reasonable care would last a man his whole life. From having been worn, till comparatively late times, by small rural proprietors - such as owners of a cottage and an acre or two of land-it gave to these local notabilities the distinctive appellation of Bonnet Ax-Wedge. These instruments, with the Lairds. The bonnets worn by the Highlandlever, and various others of a coarse construc-ers were made of the same fabric, but rise to a tion and still in common use, are said to have been invented by Dædalus, an artificer of Athens, to whom also is ascribed the invention of masts and sails for ships, 1240 B. C. Many tools are represented on the Egyptian monuments.

Beer, Origin of. The Germans, Gauls, and Bretons manufactured beer from barley

point in front and are without any rim. From time immemorial these various kinds of Scots bonnets have been manufactured at Stewarton, a small town in Ayrshire. Formerly the Stewarton bonnet makers formed a corporation, which, like other old guilds, was governed by regulations conceived in a narrow and often amusingly absurd spirit; one of the rules of

of the fraternity, however, can be spoken of| only with commendation, for it enforced a certain weight of material in each bonnet, as well as durability in the color.

Botanic Gardens.- In 1309 A. D., the first approach to a botanic garden was made in the garden of Matthæus Salvaticus, at Salerno, botanic science, however, being merely subservient to medicine; and it was not until 1533 that the first true botanic garden was formed. This was made for Gaspar de Gabrieli, a wealthy Tuscan noble at Padua, and was followed by similar gardens at Pisa, Florence, Bologna, and Rome, the first public garden being that at Pisa. In 1545 a public garden was established at Padua by decree of the Republic of Venice. In 1580 the Elector of Saxony established a public botanic garden at Leipzig, which was soon followed by others. There was no botanic garden in France till Louis XIII. established the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, which was completed in 1634. The first public botanic garden was established in England at Oxford by the Earl of Danby, although numerous private gardens had existed in England for the greater part of a century. The botanic garden at Edinburgh, the first in Scotland, was founded about 1680. The botanic garden at Kew occupies a high place among British national institutions, and possesses one of the richest collections of plants in the world. The gardens connected with the imperial palace at Schönbrunn, in Austria, and that of Berlin, are the greatest in Germany. The Jardin des Plantes in Paris undoubtedly may be regarded as holding the first place on the continent of Europe, both with reference to the strictly scientific study of botany and to the care bestowed upon the introduction and diffusion of useful or beautiful plants from all parts of the world. In the United States the botanic gardens of New York and Philadelphia are the most worthy of notice.

Brain.— The latest classification of races, according to Bastian and other experts, shows weight of brain, in ounces, as follows: Scotch, 50.0; Germans, 49.6; English, 49.5; French, 47.9; Zulus, 47.5; Chinese, 47.2; Pawnees, 47.1; Italians, 46.9; Hindoo, 45.1; Gypsy, 44.8; Bushmen, 44.6; Esquimaux, 43.9. Compared with size of body, the brain of the Esquimau is as heavy as the Scotchman's.

The measurement of that part of the skull which holds the brain is stated in cubic inches thus: Anglo-Saxon, 105; German, 105; Negro, 96; Ancient Egyptian, 93; Hottentot, 58; Australian native, 58.

In all races the male brain is about 10 per cent. heavier than the female. The highest class of apes has only 16 oz. of brain.

A man's brain, it is estimated, consists of 300,000,000 nerve cells, of which over 3,000 are disintegrated and destroyed every minute. Every one, therefore, has a new brain once in sixty days. But excessive labor, or the lack of sleep, prevents the repair of the tissues, and the brain gradually wastes away. Diversity of occupation, by calling upon different portions of the mind or body, successively affords, in some measure, the requisite repose to each. But in this age of overwork there is no safety except in that perfect rest which is the only natural restorative of exhausted power. It has been noticed by observant physicians in their European travels that the German people, who, as a rule, have no ambition and no hope to rise above their inherited station, are peculiarly free from nervous diseases; but in America, where the struggle for advancement is sharp and incessant, and there is nothing that will stop an American but death, the period of life is usually shortened five, ten, or twenty years by the effects of nervous exhaustion.

After the age of 50 the brain loses an ounce every ten years. Cuvier's weighed 65, Byron's 79, and Cromwell's 90 ounces, but the last was diseased. Post-mortem examinations in France give an average of 55 to 60 ounces for the brains of the worst class of criminals.

Beds. The ancients slept on skins. Beds were afterwards of loose rushes, heather, or straw. The Romans are said to have been the first to use feathers. An air-cushion is said to have been used by Heliogabalus, 218-222; air beds were in use in the sixteenth century. Feather beds were used in England in the reign of Henry VIII. The bedsteads of the Egyptians and later Greeks, like modern couches, became common among the Roman upper classes.

Bells were used among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans. The responses of the Dodonean oracle were in part conveyed by bells. The monument of Porsenna was decorated with pinnacles, each surmounted by bells. Said to have been introduced by Paulinus, bishop of Nole, in Campagna, about 400; and first known in France in 550. The army of Clothaire II., king of France, was frightened from the siege of Sens by the ringing of the bells of St. Stephen's church.

Bells were used in churches by order of Pope John IX., about 900. as a defense, by ringing them, against thunder and lightning. Bells are mythically said to have been cast by Turketul, Abbot of England, about 941. His successor improved the invention, and caused the first tunable set to be put up at Croyland Abbey, 960. In most Catholic states, bells are baptized as we do ships, but with religious solemnity.

Billiards. Invented by the French, by whom, and by the Germans, Dutch, and Italians, they were brought into general vogue throughout Europe. The French ascribe their invention to Henrique Devigne, an artist, in the reign of Charles IX., about 1571. Slate billiard tables were introduced in England in

1827.

Boots, said to have been the invention of the Carians, were mentioned by Homer, 907 B. C., and frequently by the Roman historians. A variety of forms may be seen in Fairholt's "Costume in England." An instrument of torture termed the boot" was used in Scotland upon the Covenanters about 1666.

Bottles in ancient times were made of leather. The art of making glass bottles and drinking-glasses was known to the Romans at least before 79 A. D.; for these articles and other vessels have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. Bottles were made in England about 1558.

and which is said to possess the advantages of cleanliness, rapidity, and uniformity.

Bricks were used in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome; in England by the Romans about 44. Made under the direction of Alfred the Great, about 886. The size regulated by order of Charles I., 1625. Brick machines were invented by Messrs. Cook and Cunningham in 1839; by Messrs. Dixon and Corbett in 1861.

Butter. It was late before the Greeks had any notion of butter, and by the early Romans it was used as a medicine only, never as food. The Christians of Egypt burned butter in their lamps instead of oil, in the third century. In Africa vegetable butter is made from the fruit of the shea tree, and is of richer taste, at Kebba, than any butter made from cow's milk.

Botany.-Aristotle is considered the founder of the philosophy of botany. The Historia Plantarum of Theophrastus was written about 320 B. C. Authors on botany are numerous from the earlier ages of the world to the close of the Calico Printing. The art of calico fifteenth century, when the science became printing was introduced into Europe about the better understood. The study was advanced seventeenth century, although it is believed to by Fuchsius, Bock, Bauhin, Casalpinus, and have been known in India and Egypt as early others, between 1535 and 1600. The system as the first or second centuries. In this early and arrangement of Linnæus, the first bota-period the printing was done by means of nist of modern times, made known about 1750; blocks on which the designs to be transferred Jussieu's system, in 1758. At the time of the to the cloth had been engraved in relief These death of Linnæus, A. D. 1778, the species of were dipped into dye-stuff, and then pressed plants actually described amounted in number upon the material by hand. Later, presses for to 11,800. The number of species of all de- this block-printing were invented, and the use nominations now recorded cannot fall short of of several was introduced so engraved as to fill 100,000. up each other's vacancies, and thus several colors were put into the pattern. About 1770 copper-plate printing was invented in England. By this method the design was cut into plates, the color filled into the sunken parts of the engraving, and the cloths were printed by being pressed upon it. This invention finally led to the introduction of cylinder-printing, the method now in use. The cylinders are of copper, and the design is engraved upon their surface. A separate cylinder is required for each color or shade of color to be used in printing the cloth, and in fine and intricate designs as many as twenty cylinders are sometimes used. These are set in a strong frame against the face of a large central drum made of iron and covered with woolen cloth in several folds, between which and the cylinders the calico is printed as it passes. The color is spread upon the cylinders, as they revolve, by contact with another roller, which dips into a trough containing the coloring-matter properly thickened. This roller is made of an absorbent, elastic material, similar to the roller used in inking a printing press. Each cylinder thus receives its proper color, and imparts it, in revolving, to the calico pressed between its face and that of the fixed drum.. A sharp blade of metal pressing against the copper cylinder removes all

Bread.— Ching-Noung, the successor of Fohi, is reputed to have been the first who taught men (the Chinese) the art of husbandry, and the method of making bread from wheat, and wine from rice, 1998 B. C. Baking of bread was known in the patriarchal ages; it became a profession at Rome, 170 B. C. During the siege of Paris by Henry IV., owing to the famine which then raged, bread, which had been sold whilst any remained for a crown a pound, was at last made from the bones of the charnel-house of the Holy Innocents, A. D. 1594. In the time of James I. the usual bread of the poor was made of barley; in Iceland codfish beaten to powder is made into bread; potato bread is used in Ireland. Bread was made with yeast by the English bakers in 1634. In 1856 and 1857, Dauglish patented a mode of making" aerated bread" in which carbonic acid gas is combined with water and mixed with the flour,

superfluous color from its surface, so that only uneven. A small quantity is used in this conthe design cut in the metal is imprinted in dition for skylights and other purposes where clear outline upon the cloth. The employ- strength is required without transparency. It ment of a number of rollers to make one design is attended with much difficulty, as in passing under them the cloth is in much danger of being displaced and the regularity of the print destroyed. As the cloth leaves the printingmachine it is drawn over rollers through a hot-air chamber, by which it is thoroughly dried, and the colors become fully set.

is known as rough-plate. The greater part of the glass, however, is ground, smoothed, and polished before it leaves the establishment. Few industries offer such fine scenic displays as the pouring of the molten glass.

Celluloid is made from the cellulose contained in cotton cloth or raw cotton. The cotton is treated to a weak solution of nitric acid. Candles. It was not until the fourteenth This has the effect of making a pulp of cotton century that candles having any resemblance very much like paper pulp. After the acid to those now in use were manufactured. Pre- has acted the pulp is treated to a copious watervious to that time our English ancestors soaked bath that in a large measure washes out the splints of wood in fat or oil to obtain their acid. Then it goes through a partial drying light. The candles used by the Greeks and process, and a large quantity of camphor-gum Romans were rude torches made by dipping is mixed with it, and it is rolled into sheets strips of papyrus or rushes into pitch and then ready for the drying-room, where it is dried on coating them with wax. These candles were hot cylinders, the same as paper is dried. It also in use in Europe during the middle ages, can be softened by steam, but hardens again and were very large and heavy. A dipped when it is dry. Celluloid, when ready for candle made from tallow was introduced in market, burns as readily as ordinary sealingEngland in the fourteenth century, and wax- wax. candles were also made at the same time. These latter were very costly, and were considered great luxuries. In 1484 a company for the manufacture of wax candles was incorporated in London. Mold candles are said to be the invention of the Sieur Le Brez, of Paris. Casting Plate-Glass. The whole operation of casting a plate of glass occupies but a very short time. The casting-tables, the most important pieces of apparatus in plate-glass works, are 19 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 7 inches thick. Each is provided with an iron roller 30 inches in diameter and 15 feet long. Strips of iron on each side of the table afford a bearing for the rollers and determine the thickness of the plate of glass to be cast. The rough plate is commonly 9-16ths of an inch in thickness. After polishing, it is reduced to 6-16ths or 7-16ths. The casting-tables are mounted on wheels, and run on a track that reaches every furnace and annealing-oven in the building. The table having been wheeled as near as possible to the melting-furnace, the pot of molten glass is lifted by means of a crane and its contents quickly poured on the table. The heavy iron roller is then passed from end to end, spreading the glass into a layer of uniform thickness. The cold metal of the table cools the glass rapidly. As soon as possible the door of the annealing-oven is opened and the plate of glass introduced. The floor of the oven is on the same level as the casting-table so the transfer can be conveniently and quickly made. When, after several days, the glass is taken out of the oven, its surface is found to be decidedly rough and

Chess, Origin of.- Although the origin of chess is enshrouded in considerable mystery, there is but little doubt that its birthplace was in India, and that it is an offspring of a game called Chaturanga, which is mentioned in Oriental literature as in use fully 2,000 years before the Christian era. From India chess spread into Persia, and thence into Arabia, and ultimately the Arabs took it to Spain and the rest of Western Europe. The game was in all probability invented for the purpose of illustrating the art of war. The Arab legend upon this point is that it was devised for the instruction of a young despot by his father, a learned Brahman, to teach him that a king, notwithstanding his power, was dependent for safety upon his subjects. The Greek historians credit the invention of the game to Palamedes, who, they claim, devised it to beguile the tedium of the siege of Troy during the Trojan war.

Common Names of Chemical Sub

Aqua Fortis,
Blue Vitriol,
Aqua Regia,
Cream of Tartar,
Calomel,
Chalk,

Salt of Tartar,

Caustic Potassa,
Chloroform,

Common Salt,

stances.

Nitric Acid.
Nitro-Muriatic Acid.
Sulphate of Copper.
Bitartrate Potassium.
Chloride of Mercury.

Carbonate Calcium.
Carbonate of Potassa.

Hydrate Potassium.
Chloride of Gormyle.
Chloride of Sodium.

Bi-Chloride of Mercury.
Pure Carbon.

Sulphate

Aluminum and

Copperas, or Green Vitriol, Sulphate of Iron.
Corrosive Sublimate,
Diamond,
Dry Alum,
Epsom Salts,
Ethiops Mineral,
Galena,

Potassium.

Sulphate of Magnesia.
Black Sulphide of Mercury.
Sulphide of Lead.