MISCELLANEOUS FACTS AND FIGURES. 



619 



by nitrogen and other products of chemistry, 

 is thus far the most terrible explosive manu- 

 factured to any extent. Nitro-glycerine by 

 itself is not safe to handle, hence dynamite is 

 preferred. It is extensively made and consumed 

 in the United States under the various names of 

 Giant, Hercules, Jupiter, and Atlas powders, 

 all of which contain anywhere from thirty to 

 eighty per cent, of nitre-glycerine-, the residue 

 of the compound being made up of rotten 

 stone, non-explosive earth, sawdust, charcoal, 

 plaster of paris, black powder, or some other 

 substance that takes up the glycerine and 

 makes a porouSj spongy mass. 



Nitro-glycerine was discovered by Salvero, 

 an Italian chemist, in 1845. Dynamite is pre- 

 pared by simply kneading with the naked 

 hands twenty-five per cent, of infusorial earth 

 and seventy-five per cent, of nitro-glycerine 

 until the mixture assumes a putty condition, 

 not unlike moist brown sugar. Before mix- 

 ing, the infusorial earth is calcined in a fur- 

 nace, in order to burn out all organic matter, 

 and it is also sifted to free it of large grains. 

 While still moist it is squeezed into cartridges, 

 which are prepared of parchment paper, and 

 the firing is done by fulminate of silver in cop- 

 per capsules provided with patent exploders. 



Nitro-glycerine is made of nitric acid one 

 part and sulphuric acid two parts, to which is 

 added ordinary glycerine, and the mixture is 

 well washed with pure water. The infusion 

 is composed of small microscopic silicious 

 shells which have lost their living creatures. 

 The cellular parts receive the nitro-glycerine 

 and hold it by capillary attraction, both in- 

 side and out. The earth is very light. Water 

 is expelled from it by means of a furnace, and 

 then, in the form of a powder, it is mixed 

 with nitro-glycerine. Nitro-glycerine has a 

 sweet, aromatic, pungent taste, and the pecul- 

 iar property of causing a violent headache 

 when placed in a small quantity on the tongue 

 or wrist. It freezes at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, 

 becoming a white, half crystallized mass, which 

 must be melted by the application of water at 

 a temperature about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 



Confederate Soldiers Surrendered 

 at end of War. Army of Northern Virginia, 

 27,805; army of Tennessee, 31,243 ; army of 

 Missouri, 7,978 ; army of Alabama, 42,293 ; 

 army of Trans-Mississippi, 17,680; at Nash- 

 ville and Chattanooga, 5,029 ; paroled in De- 

 partments of Virginia, Cumberland, Maryland, 

 Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Texa's, etc., 42,- 

 1 89 ; Confederate prisoners in Northern pris- 

 ons at the close of the war, 98,802 ; total Con- 

 federate army at close, 273,025. A large and 

 unknown number of Confederate soldiers were 

 not present at surrender. 



Costly Mansion. The largest and cost- 

 liest private mansion in the world is that be- 

 longing to Lord Bute, called Montstuart, and 

 situated near Rothesay, England. It covers 

 nearly two acres ; is built in Gothic style ; the 

 walls, turrets, and balconies are built of stone. 

 The immense tower in the center of the build- 

 ing is 120 feet high, with a balcony around 

 the top. The halls are constructed entirely of 

 marble and alabaster, and the rooms are fin- 

 ished in mahogany, rosewood, and walnut. 

 The fireplaces are all carved marbles of antique 

 designs. The exact cost of this fairy palace is 

 not known, but it has never been estimated at 

 less than $8,000,000. 



Age and Growth of Trees. An oak 

 tree in three years grows 2 feet 10 inches. 

 A larch 3 feet 7 inches ; at seventy years it 

 is. full grown, and a tree of seventy-nine years 

 was 102 feet high and 12 feet girth, contain- 

 ing 253 cubic feet. Another of eighty years 

 was 90 feet and 17 feet, and 300 cubic feet. 

 An elm tree in three years grows 8 feet 3 

 inches. A beech, 1 foot 8 inches. A poplar, 

 6 feet. A willow, 9 feet 3 inches. An elm 

 is fully grown in 150 years, and it lives 500 or 

 600. Ash is full grown in 100, and oak in 

 200. The mahogany is full grown in 200 years 

 to a vast size. A Polish oak 40 feet round had 

 600 circles. An oak in Dorsetshire in 1755 

 was 68 feet round, two near Cranborne Lodge 

 are 38 feet and 36 feet. There are yews from 

 10 to 20 feet in diameter, whose age is from 

 1,000 to 2,000 years. A lime in the Crison* 

 is 51 feet round and about 600 years old. An 

 elm in the Pays de Vaud is 18 feet in diam- 

 eter and 360 years old. The African baobab 

 is the patriarch of living organizations ; one 

 specimen, by its circles, is estimated at 5,700 

 years old by Adamson and Humboldt. The 

 trunk is but 12 or 15 feet to the branches, and 

 often 75 feet round. A cypress in Mexico is 

 120 feet round, and is estimated by De Can- 

 dolleto be older than A damson's baobab. The 

 cypress of Montezuma is 4 1 feet round. Strabo 

 wrote of a cypress in Persia as being 2,500 

 years old. The largest tree in Mexico is 127 

 feet round and 120 high, with branches of 

 30 feet. A chestnut tree on Mount Etna is 106 

 feet round close to the ground, and five of its 

 branches resemble great trees. De Candolle says 

 there are oaks in France 1 ,500 years old. The 

 Wallace oak near Paisley is nearly 800 years 

 old. The yew trees at Fountain's Abbey are 

 about 1,200 years old. That at Crowhurst 

 1,500. Thatat Fortingal, above2,000. That 

 at Braburn, 2,500 to 3,000. Ivies reach 500 or 

 600 years. The larch the same. The lime 600 

 or 700 years. The trunk of a walnut tree 12 

 feet in diameter, hollowed out, and furnished 



