638 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



Sun, Evening Express, and Journal of Com- 

 merce, for the purpose of facilitating the col- 

 lection of news.. The general agent of the 

 Association is located in New York, and asso- 

 ciate agents in Chicago, Washington, Cincin- 

 nati, and other news centers. There is also a 

 complete reportorial staff, and the news col- 

 lected is used not only by the syndicate of pa- 

 pers, but is transmitted by telegraph to others 

 in almost every city in the country who have 

 secured the privilege by purchase. 



All Fools' Day. The origin of the cus- 

 tom of April fooling cannot be traced with any 

 degree of certainty. In the literature of the 

 last century there are found many references to 

 it, and yet beyond that it is scarcely possible to 

 go. One suggestion is that the custom of 

 playing tricks on the first day of April was 

 derived from some ancient pagan custom, such 

 as the Hull festival among the Hindoos, or the 

 Roman Feast of the Fools. One fact, how- 

 ever, we do know, and that is that the practice 

 prevails in many countries, under various 

 names, which would seem to indicate that it 

 dates away back to the early history of the race. 



Palmistry. The art of studying the lines 

 in the palm, to discover the character and 

 fortunes of a person, was practiced in ancient 

 India and. Greece. The subject was noticed 

 by Aristotle, Pliny, Paracelsus, Albertus 

 Magnus, and Cardan. A work by Johann 

 llartlieb was published in Augsburg, in 1475. 

 M. le capitaine d'Arpentigny and M. Adrien 

 Dosbarrolles are chief modern authorities. L. 

 Cotton's " Palmistry " was published in 1890, 

 and Dr. Francis Galton published his study of 

 "FingerPrints" in 1893. 



Pavements. The Carthaginians are said 

 to have been the firjt who paved their towns 

 with stones. The Romans, in the time of 

 Augustus, had pavement in many of their 

 streets ; the Appian way. a paved road, was 

 constructed 312 B. C. In England there 

 were few paved streets before the time of 

 Henry VII. London was first paved about 

 1533. It was paved with flagstones between 

 1815 and 1825. Among modern paving 

 materials are brick, stone, wood, asphaltum, 

 and many kinds of concrete. 



Bookkeeping. The system by double 

 entry, called originally Italian bookkeeping, 

 was taken from the course of algebra pub- 

 lished by Burgo, in the fifteenth century, at 

 Venice. John (iowghe, a printer, published 

 a treatise on " Debitor and Creditor," in 

 London, 1543. This was the earliest English 

 work on bookkeeping, and the forerunner of 

 many improvr-.d efforts. 



Democrats, advocates of government 



by the people themselves, is a term first 

 adopted by the French republicans in 1790 ; 

 they termed their opponents aristocrats. The 

 name Democrats was also adopted by the pro- 

 slavery party in the United States, and the 

 abolitionists were called Republicans. Into 

 these two parties a number of smaller ones 

 were absorbed at the presidential election in 

 1856. 



The Twentieth Century began at mid- 

 night of December 31, 1900 ; the year 1901 is 

 therefore the first year of the century. It will 

 contain 25 leap years, and will have 36,525 

 days, which are equal to 5,218 weeks, lacking 

 one day. It began on Tuesday, and will end 

 on Sunday 1 February will have five Sundays 

 in 1920, 1948, and 1976. 



Sizes of Paper. 



FOLDED. 



