322 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



is not, as we might suppose, cleaning his body, 

 but his feet, so that they may the more readily 

 adhere. 



Forks were in use in Europe in the thir- 

 teenth and fourteenth centuries, though this 

 is disputed as being too early. In Moryson's 

 ' itinerary " it is said that at Venice each per- 

 son was served (besides his knife and spoon) 

 with a fork to hold the meat while he cuts it, 

 for there they deem it ill manners that one 

 should touch it with his hand. Thomas Cory- 

 ate, an Englishman, describes with much 

 solemnity, the manner of using forks in Italy, 

 and adds, " I myself have thought it good to 

 imitate the Italian fashion since I came home 

 to England," 1608. Two pronged forks were 

 made at Sheffield soon after. Three pronged 

 forks are more recent. Silver forks, previously 

 only used by the highest classes, came into 

 general use in England about 1814. 



Galvanized Iron is merely ordinary iron 

 which has been dipped in molten zinc and re- 

 tains a surface coating of the zinc when re- 

 moved. It has come to be of great importance 

 and usefulness, as by this simple process any 

 article may be made to combine the strength 

 and cheapness of iron, and yet be entirely free 

 from rust, as the zinc is unaffected by air or 

 water, oxidizing only at a high temperature. 



Gasoline is simply air which has been 

 impregnated with very volatile hydro-carbons. 

 Previous to 1836 it was made by passing air 

 over benzol made from coal tar, but between 

 that year and 1858 numerous machines were 

 patented for its manufacture. The cost of 

 benzol was at first a great obstacle in the 

 manufacture of gasoline, but the discovery of 

 petroleum rendered it possible to make air gas 

 at twenty-five cents per gallon, the former 

 price, when benzol was used, having been 

 $1.50. The machines used for making this 

 gas include a ' ' generator, ' ' a large vessel more 

 or less complicated in construction, in which a 

 quantity of liquid petroleum or naphtha is ex- 

 posed in shallow trays for evaporation. A 

 current of air is introduced, which mingles 

 with the distilled vapor and forms air gas. 

 This is a dangerous substance, as it bursts into 

 flame with a sharp explosion upon contact 

 with fire. If the generator, however, is placed 

 at some distance from the point where the gas- 

 oline is to be used, conveying it thither in air- 

 tight pipes, the danger ig removed. Gasoline 

 is extensively used for the lighting of hotels, 

 factories, and private residences in small 

 towns or rural districts. 



Geography. The first correct record we 

 have of geographical knowledge is from 

 Homer. He describes the shield of Achilles 

 as representing the earth surrounded by the 



sea, and also the countries of Greece, islands 

 of the archipelago, and the site of Troy. The 

 priests taught that the temple of Apollo at 

 Delphos was the center of the world. Anaxi- 

 mander of Miletus was the inventor of geo- 

 graphical maps, about 568 B. C. Hipparchus 

 attempted to reduce geography to a mathe- 

 matical basis, about 135 B. C. Strabo, the 

 Greek geographer, lived 71-14 B. C. Ptolemy 

 flourished about 139 A. D. The science was 

 brought to Europe by the Moors of Barbary 

 and Spain about 1240. Maps and charts were 

 introduced into England by Bartholomew Co- 

 lumbus to illustrate his brother's theory respect- 

 ing a western continent, 1489. Geography is 

 now divided into mathematical, physical, and 

 political, and its study has been greatly pro- 

 moted during the present century by expedi- 

 tions at the expense of various governments 

 and societies. There are in the world about 

 sixty-five geographical societies. 



Geologic Ages, The. There are seven 

 great geologic ages, or divisions of time, 

 known as the Azoic, the Silurian, the Devo- 

 nian, the Carboniferous, the Reptilian, the 

 Mammalian, and the Age of Man. Our 

 knowledge of the plants and animals of the 

 ages preceding the creation of man is derived 

 from their remains dug out of the earth, and 

 called fossils. 



The Azoic Age is the era, as its name im- 

 plies, when there was no life, either vegeta- 

 ble or animal, on the globe. The crystalline 

 minerals and all the igneous rocks date back to 

 this age, and hence they are destitute of fossils. 



During the Silurian Age, the second in 

 antiquity, there was no terrestrial life ; but 

 mollusks animals with soft, fleshy bodies, 

 without any internal skeleton, like the oyster 

 and the snail abounded in the waters. The 

 oldest sandstone and limestone belong to this 

 period. Its plant fossils are sea weeds. 



The Devonian Age was the age of fishes, 

 remarkable for their thick, bony scales. The 

 sea also teemed with shells, corals, and sea 

 weed ; while the land, though yet limited in 

 extent, began to be covered with vegetation. 

 Insects, the earliest of terrestrial animals, 

 now first appeared. 



The Carboniferous Age, or age of coal, is 

 fourth. From colossal tree ferns, leaves, and 

 branches, deposited in successive centuries, 

 were formed, by gradual decomposition under 

 water, those vast coal beds on which the in- 

 dustrial pursuits of the present day so largely 

 depend. The animals of this age consisted 

 mainly of insects of various kinds ; and in- 

 ferior tribes of reptiles. 



The Reptilian Age was marked by the great 

 number, variety, and size of its reptiles, the 



