Ella Lyle.
Answer.—The dimensions of St. Peter’s at Rome, the largest cathedral in the world, are as follows: Length of the interior, 613½ English feet; of transept, 446½ feet; height of nave, 152½ feet; and the diameter of cupola, 193 feet. The height of the dome from the pavement to the top of the cross is 448 feet. Cologne cathedral is 511 feet long, and 231 feet broad. The towers are 511 feet high. This famous building, founded by Archbishop Conrad, designed by Architect Gerhard von Riehl, and commenced Aug. 15, 1248, was not completed until Aug. 14, 1880. It was solemnly opened with august ceremonies, Oct. 15, of the same year.
ORIGIN OF CHESS.
Farmington, Minn.
Please state the origin of the game of chess.
O. H. Baker.
Answer.—Chess is such an ancient game that its origin is unknown. Many of the most learned Oriental scholars have written upon the subject, appealing to history and philology to support their theories. It has been ascribed to a Chinese mandarin by the name of Han-Sing, who, it is said, invented it as an amusement for his soldiers when in winter quarters, about 174 B. C. They call it “the play of the science of war.” Sir William Jones, the great Sanscrit scholar, claimed that Hindu traditions, the names of the pieces, and other particulars indicate that chess was played in India in the earliest times. He writes that a learned Brahmin assured him that it was mentioned in several of the oldest books of India, where it was declared that it was invented by the wife of one of the most ancient kings of Ceylon to amuse that monarch while Rama was besieging his metropolis. This, by their reckoning, was 2,000 to 3,000 years before the commencement of our era. On the other hand, several later scholars of Sanscrit think it was invented in India by Buddhists some time between the third and ninth centuries, A. D., a theory inconsistent with the unwarlike nature of Buddhism and the fact that the Hindu name of the game, “chaturanga,” is a military name, signifying the game of armies, corresponding with the Chinese name for chess, given above. Others have ascribed this game to the Babylonians, Persians, Scythians, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, or Romans, according to their several theories, but the weight of evidence is in favor of its being of Indian or Chinese origin, and this is now the generally accepted belief.
STATE SECRETARIES.