HISTORY OF THE TELEPHONE.—The principle of the telephone, that sounds could be conveyed to a distance by a distended wire, was demonstrated by Robert Hook in 1667, but no practical application was made of the discovery until 1821, when Professor Wheatstone exhibited his "Enchanted Lyre," in which the sounds of a music-box were conveyed from a cellar to upper rooms. The first true discoverer of the speaking telephone, however, was Johaun Philipp Reis, a German scientist and professor in the institute at Friedrichsdorf. April 25, 1861, Reis exhibited his telephone at Frankfort. This contained all the essential features of the modern telephone, but as its commercial value was not at all comprehended, little attention was paid to it. Reis, after trying in vain to arouse the interest of scientists in his discovery, died in 1874, without having reaped any advantage from it, and there is no doubt that his death was hastened by the distress of mind caused by his continual rebuffs. Meanwhile, the idea was being worked into more practical shape by other persons, Professor Elisha Gray and Professor A.G. Bell, and later by Edison. There is little doubt that Professor Gray's successful experiments considerably antedated those of the others, but Professor Bell was the first to perfect his patent. February 12, 1877, Bell's articulating telephone was tested by experiments at Boston and Salem, Mass., and was found to convey sounds distinctly from one place to the other, a distance of eighteen miles. This telephone was exhibited widely in this country and in Europe during that year, and telephone companies were established to bring it into general use. Edison's carbon "loud-speaking" telephone was brought out in 1878. It is not worth while to go into details of the suits on the subject of priority of invention. The examiner of patents at Washington, July 21, 1883, decided that Professor Bell was the first inventor, because he was the first to complete his invention and secure a full patent. Since 1878 there have been many improvements in the different parts of the telephone, rendering it now nearly perfect in its working.

SECESSION AND READMISSION OF REBEL STATES.—

Seceded.Readmitted.
South CarolinaDec. 20,1860June 11, 1868.
MississippiJan. 9, 1861Feb. 3, 1870.
AlabamaJan. 11, 1861June 11, 1868.
FloridaJan. 11, 1861June 11, 1868.
GeorgiaJan. 19, 1861April 20, 1870.
LouisianaJan. 26, 1861June 11, 1868.
TexasFeb. 1, 1861Mar. 15, 1870.
VirginiaApril 16, 1861Jan. 15, 1870.
ArkansasMay 6, 1861June 20, 1868.
North CarolinaMay 21, 1861June 11, 1868.
TennesseeJune 24, 1861July, 1866.

THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-12.—The earthquake shocks felt on the shores of the Lower Mississippi in the years 1811-12 are recorded as among the most remarkable phenomena of their kind. Similar instances where earth disturbances have prevailed, severely and continuously, far from the vicinity of a volcano, are very rare indeed. In this instance, over an extent of country stretching for 300 miles southward from the mouth of the Ohio river, the ground rose and sank in great undulations, and lakes were formed and again drained. The shocks were attended by loud explosions, great fissures—generally traveling from northeast to southwest, and sometimes more than half a mile in length—were opened in the earth, and from these openings mud and water were thrown often to the tops of the highest trees. Islands in the Mississippi were sunk, the current of the river was driven back by the rising of its bed, and overflowed the adjacent lands. More than half of New Madrid county was permanently submerged. The inhabitants noticed that these earth movements were sometimes vertical and sometimes horizontal, the former being by far the most serious in their effects. These disturbances ceased March 26, 1812, simultaneously with the great earthquake which destroyed the city of Caracas, South America.

THE DARK DAYS IN NEW ENGLAND.—On May 19, 1780, there was a remarkable darkening of the sky and atmosphere over a large part of New England, which caused much alarm among those who witnessed it. The darkness began between ten and eleven o'clock on the day named, and continued in some places through the entire day, and was followed by an unusually intense degree of blackness during the ensuing night. This phenomenon extended from the northeastern part of New England westward as far as Albany, and southward to the coast of New Jersey. The most intense and prolonged darkness, however, was confined to Massachusetts, especially to the eastern half of the State. It came up from the southwest, and overhung the country like a pall. It was necessary to light candles in all the houses, and thousands of good people, believing that the end of all things terrestrial had come, betook themselves to religious devotions. One incident of the occasion has been woven into verse with excellent effect by the poet Whittier. The Connecticut Legislature was in session on that day, and as the darkness came on and grew more and more dense, the members became terrified, and thought that the day of judgment had come; so a motion was made to adjourn. At this, a Mr. Davenport arose and said: "Mr. Speaker, it is either the day of judgment, or it is not. If it is not, there is no need of adjourning. If it is, I desire to be found doing my duty. I move that candles be brought and that we proceed to business." Mr. Davenport's suggestion was taken, candles were brought in, and business went on as usual. As to the explanation of this phenomenon, scientists have been much puzzled. It was plain from the falling of the barometer that the air was surcharged with heavy vapor. The darkness then, it might be said, was only the result of a dense fog, but the question of the cause of so remarkable a fog was still unanswered. Omitting this unascertained primary cause, then, Professor Williams, of Harvard College, who subsequently made a thorough investigation of the matter, gave it as his opinion that this unprecedented quantity of vapor had gathered in the air in layers so as to cut off the rays of light, by repeated refraction, in a remarkable degree. He thought that the specific gravity of this vapor must have been the same as that of the air, which caused it to be held so long in suspension in the atmosphere. In this case the extent of the darkness would coincide with the area of the vapor, and it would continue until a change in the gravity of the air caused the vapors to ascend or descend. In some places when the darkness cleared it was as if the vapor was lifted and borne away by the wind like a dark pall, and in others, after a period of intense darkness the atmosphere gradually lightened again. In our day, a phenomenon of this kind would be thoroughly investigated to its most remote possible cause; but then owing to the sparse settlement of the country and the difficulties of travel, the investigation of distant causes could not be made. Large fires may have prevailed that spring in the forests of Western New York and Pennsylvania—a region then an absolute wilderness—the smoke of which was borne through the upper regions of the atmosphere, to fall when it came to a locality of less buoyant air, down to the lower strata. We say these fires may have recently preceded this day, and served as its sufficient cause, but we have only presumptive evidence that they did occur. Had Professor Williams entertained a supposition of the previous existence of such fires, he had then no means of verifying it, and long before the advent of railroads and telegraphs, or even of stage lines, the scientific theories of the dark day had passed from the general memory.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY BELL.—In 1751 the Pennsylvania Assembly authorized a committee to procure a bell for their State House. November 1st of that year an order was sent to London for "a good bell of about 2,000 pounds weight." To this order were added the following directions: "Let the bell be cast by the best workmen and examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following words well shaped in large letters around it, viz.: 'By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House, in the city of Philadelphia, 1752.' And underneath, 'Proclaim Liberty Through All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.—Levit. xxv. 10.'" In due time, in the following year, the bell reached Philadelphia, but when it was hung, early in 1753, as it was being first rung to test the sound, it cracked without any apparent reason, and it was necessary to have it recast. It was at first thought to be necessary to send it back to England for the purpose, but some "ingenious workmen" in Philadelphia wished to do the casting and were allowed to do so. In the first week of June, 1753, the bell was again hung in the belfry of the State House. On July 4, 1776, it was known throughout the city that the final decision on the question of declaring the colonies independent of Great Britain was to be made by the Continental Congress, in session at the State House. Accordingly the old bellman had been stationed in the belfry on that morning, with orders to ring the bell when a boy waiting at the door of the State House below should signal to him that the bill for independence had been passed. Hour after hour the old man stood at his post. At last, at 2 o'clock, when he had about concluded that the question would not be decided on that day at least, the watchman heard a shout from below, and looking down saw the boy at the door clapping his hands and calling at the top of his voice: "Ring! ring!" And he did ring, the story goes, for two whole hours, being so filled with excitement and enthusiasm that he could not stop. When the British threatened Philadelphia, in 1777, the precious bell was taken down and removed to the town of Bethlehem for safety. In 1778 it was returned to the State House and a new steeple built for it. Several years after it cracked, for some unknown reason, under a stroke of the clapper, and its tone was thus destroyed. An attempt was made to restore its tone by sawing the crack wider, but without success. This bell was sent to New Orleans during the winter to be exhibited in the World's Fair there. The Pullman Company gave one of their handsomest cars for the transit. It was in the charge of three custodians appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia, who did not leave it night or day, and guarded it as fully as possible against accident. A pilot engine preceded the train carrying the bell over the entire route. It left Philadelphia Jan. 24, 1885, and returned in June.

THE ANTARCTIC POLAR REGIONS.—The climate of the southern polar regions is much more severe than that at the north pole, the icefields extending in degrees nearer the equator from the south than from the north. Within the arctic circle there are tribes of men living on the borders of the icy ocean on both the east and west hemispheres, but within the antarctic all is one dreary, uninhabitable waste. In the extreme north the reindeer and the musk-ox are found in numbers, but not a single land quadruped exists beyond 50 degrees of southern latitude. Flowers are seen in summer by the arctic navigator as far as 78 degrees north, but no plant of any description, not even a moss or a lichen, has been observed beyond Cockburn Island, in 64 degrees 12 minutes south latitude. In Spitzbergen, 79 degrees north, vegetation ascends the mountain slopes to a height of 3,000 feet, but on every land within or near the antarctic circle the snow-line descends to the water's edge. The highest latitude ever reached at the south is 78 degrees 10 minutes, while in the north navigators have penetrated to 84 degrees. The reason for this remarkable difference is the predominance of large tracts of land in the northern regions, while in the south is a vast expanse of ocean. In the north continental masses form an almost continuous belt around the icy sea, while in the southern hemisphere the continents taper down into a broad extent of frigid waters. In the north the plains of Siberia and of the Hudson's Bay territories, warmed by the sunbeams of summer, become at that season centers of radiating heat, while the antarctic lands, of small extent, isolated in the midst of a polar ocean and chilled by cold sea winds, act at every season as refrigerators of the atmosphere. Further in the north the cold currents of the polar sea, having but two openings of any estent through which they can convey drift ice, have their chilly influence confined to comparatively narrow limits, but the cold currents of the antarctic seas have scope to branch out freely on all sides and carry their ice even into temperate waters. Finally, at the northern hemisphere, the Gulf Stream conveys warmth even to the shores of Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, while on the opposite regions of the globe no traces of warm currents have been observed beyond 55 degrees of south latitude.

THE LANGUAGE USED BY CHRIST.—The language used by Christ was the Aramaic, the dialect of Northern Syria. The Israelites were much in contact with Aramæan populations, and some words from that tongue became incorporated into the Hebrew at a very early date. At the time of Hezekiah, Aramaic had become the official language of both Judea and Assyria: that is, the language spoken at the courts. After the fall of Samaria the Hebrew inhabitants of Northern Israel were largely carried into captivity, and their place was taken by colonists from Syria, who probably spoke Aramaic as their mother tongue. The fall of the Jewish Kingdom hastened the decay of Hebrew as a spoken language—not that the captives forgot their own language, as is generally assumed, but after the return to Judea the Jews found themselves, a people few in number, among a large number of surrounding populations using the Aramaic tongue. When the latest books of the Old Testament were written, Hebrew, though still the language of literature, had been supplanted by Aramaic as the language of common life. From that time on the former tongue was the exclusive property of scholars, and has no history save that of a merely literary language.

HOW ANCIENT TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT.—This is beyond modern conjecture, so imperfect is our understanding of the extent of the mechanical knowledge of the ancients. Their appliances are believed to have been of the simplest order, and their implements exceedingly crude, and yet they were able to convey these enormous blocks of stones for vast distances, over routes most difficult, and having accomplished this, to raise them to great height, and fit them in place without the aid of either cement or mortar to cover up the errors of the stonecutter. How all this was done is one of the enigmas of modern science. It has been generally believed that inclined planes of earth were used to enable the workmen to raise the huge stones to their places, the earth being cleared away afterward. But it is possible that the ancients had a more extended knowledge of mechanical powers than we usually give them credit for, and that they made use of machinery very like that employed by moderns for lifting great weights. Large cavities are found in some of the stones in the pyramids, which may have been worn by the foot of a derrick turning in them. That there were enormous numbers of men employed in the building of these ancient structures is well known; these results of their great aggregated strength we see, but they left no record of the means by which this strength was focused and brought most effectually to bear on their mighty tasks.

THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE.—As early as 1842 Professor Morse declared a submarine cable connection between America and Europe to be among the possibilities, but no attempt toward this great achievement was made until 1854, when Cyrus Field established a company, which secured the right of landing cables in Newfoundland for fifty years. In 1858 soundings between Ireland and Newfoundland were completed, showing a maximum depth of 4,400 meters. Having succeeded in laying a cable between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Mr. Field secured the co-operation of English capitalists in his enterprise. The laying of the cable was begun August 7, 1857, from the port of Valencia, Ireland, but on the third day it broke, and the expedition had to return. Early in the following year another attempt was made. The cable was laid from both ends at the same time, was joined in mid-ocean, but in lowering it was broken. Again, in the same year, the attempt was made, and this time connection was successfully made. The first message over the line was sent August 7, 1858. The insulation of this cable, however, was defective, and by September 4th had quite failed. Some time was now spent in experiments, conducted by scientists, to secure a more perfect cable. A new company was formed, and in 1865 the work again began. The Great Eastern was employed to lay the cable, but when it was partly laid serious defects in the line were discovered and in repairing these it broke. The apparatus for recovering the wire proving insufficient the vessel returned to England. A new company, called the Anglo-American, was formed in 1865, and again the Great Eastern was equipped for the enterprise. The plan of the new expedition was not only to lay a new cable, but also to take up the end of the old one and join it to a new piece, thus obtaining a second telegraph line. The vessel sailed from Valencia July 13, 1866, and July 27 the cable was completely laid to Heart's Content, Newfoundland, and a message announcing the fact sent over the wire to Lord Stanley. Queen Victoria sent a message of congratulation to President Buchanan on the 28th. September 2d the lost cable of 1865 was recovered and its laying completed at Newfoundland September 8, 1866.