339 
Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 
In addition to the jeweis which may be seen at the School of 
Mines, there are others in various buildings and museums in the 
city, all of which are accessible to visitors. At the Winter Palace 
I saw the collection of Crown jeweis. For size and number the 
display of diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires is perhaps unrivalled in 
any other court in Europe. A large spinel or ruby in the Imperial 
Crown is very conspicuous. The great Orloff diamond, weighing 
194J carats, is also here. It has been suggested by Mr. Tennanr 
that it once formed part of the same stone as the Koh-i-Noor. Its 
brilliancy, however, is not so great as niigkt perhaps be anticipated ; 
but tkis may, in part, be due to the form in which it has been cut. 
Whilst looking at this rieh and varied collection of gems, I was 
forcibly struck with the poor manner in which they are displayed. 
The rooms ave bad, and generally ill lighted ; whilst the cases, which 
were in accordance, afforded no protection whatever to tkeir Con- 
tents. By the taking of your hat and passport at the entrance to 
the building where these valuables are stored, one could not fail to 
remark, that any visitor who wished to make a sudden exodus, either 
from the room or from the Capital, would be sorely inconvenienced. 
In the city numbers of fine buildings meet the eye at every turn. 
Many of these, especially the ckurches and palaces, give some 
wonderful examples of modern masonry. The most conspicuous 
of these is St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Here there are four porches, 
each of which is supported by double rows of tall cylindrical 
columns capped by Corinthian capitals. These columns, which 
are composed of red granite, are each 60 feet high and 7 feet in 
diameter. The steps leading up to these porches, each a single 
mass of granite, are equally striking, from their megalithic pro- 
portions. Inside the building there are many tall columns of 
malachite and several of lapis lazuli. These, however, are only 
columns with an extemal coating of those mineral s ; nevertheless, 
when they are seen, they serve to give an idea of the quality and 
quantity of these substances which have been obtained from Russian 
mines, and also serve to remind one of the insignificance of the 
displays of similar mineral s in our own and other countries. 
Although many monoliths have been used in the building of this 
Cathedral, isolated specimens of stone may be seen which are even 
larger. For example, there is the Alexander Column, which is a 
single shaft of granite 84 feet in keigkt (originally 102 feet), and 
14 feet in diameter. This, standing on a huge pedestal, and with 
its crowning Capital, both of the same material, presents an ap- 
pearance not less imposing than Pompey’s Pillar at Alexandria. 
Besides this column, there is a block of granite on which rests an 
eqnestrian statue of Peter the Great, also remarkable for its size. 
It is calculated to weigh 1500 tons, and its original diraensions were 
45 feet in length, 30 feet in keight, and 25 feet in width. Its 
dimensions have, however, been somewhat reduced. This block, 
and many othei’S which are to be seen in St. Petersburg, occurred 
as erratics in the vicinity of the town, very similar to those which 
1 have referred to as being so plentifully distributed over Finland. 
