178 Miscellanies. 
The ever-pointed pencils are first cut into thin slabs, then into 
square pieces, by means of a steel guage. They are then passed 
through three small holes, armed with rubies, which last about three 
or four days. Steel does not last above as many hours. Six of 
these ever-pointed pencils may be had for 2s, 6d. If they are 
cheaper than this, we may be sure that they are adulterated. 
In Paris, when you’ buy a sheet of paper in a stationer’s shop, 
some of these pencils are added to the purchase. Now these are 
formed of a mixture of plumbago, fuller’s earth, and vermicelli. 
Genuine cedar pencils must cost 6d. each. If they are sold ata 
lower price, they must be formed from a mixture, not from pure 
plumbago. Pencils are, however, sold as low as 44d. a dozen.— Rec. 
of Gen. Sc. June, 1836. 
2. A comparative and chronological table of the largest Libraries 
' in the world. 
Pa Founded in Contains vols. Manuscripts. 
Paris: Royal Library, ~ 1595 626,000 80,000 
Munich: Royal Lib. - 1595 540,000 16,000 
St. Petersburg: Imperial Lib. 1728 432,000 15,000? 
mhagen: Royal Lib. - 1648 410,000 16,000? 
Vienna: Imperial Lib. - 1440 284,000 16,000 
Berlin: Royal Lib. - 1661 280,000 5,000 
Pekin: Imperial Lib. - 280,000 
Dresden: Royal Lib. - 1556 260,000 2,700 
Gottingen: University Lib. 1736 250,000 5,000 
London: Lib. of the Brit.Museum,1759 220,000 22,000 
‘Oxford: Bodleian Lib. - 1480 200,000 25,000 
Wolfenbuttel : Ducal Lib. - 1604 200,000 ? 4,500 
Madrid : Royal Lib. * 1712 200,000 2,500? 
Paris: Lib. at the Arsenal, 186,000 5,000. 
Stuttgart: Royal Lib.  - 1765 174,000 1,800 
Milan: Brera Lib. - 1763 169,000 1,000 
Naples : L. of the Bourbon Mus’m, 165,000 3,000 
Florence: Magliabecchian Lib. 1714 150,000 12,000 
Breslau: University Lib. - 
Munich: University Lib. - 1595 150,000 2,000 ? 
Edinburgh : : - 1682 150,000 ~—«6,000 
Jedo: Lib. of the Sjogoun, - 150,000 ? 
Miako: Lib. of Mikado, - 150,000? 
Bib. Univ. Geneva, Oct. 1835. 
