THE OLDEST ARCHITECTURAL RUINS.
Des Moines, Iowa.
What is the oldest architectural work known to exist?
Scholar.
Answer.—Perhaps it is safe to say, with the editor of the “People’s Cyclopedia,” that it is the remarkable rock-cut temples at Ipsambul of Abousambul, in Nubia, on the left bank of the Nile. The largest temple contains fourteen apartments hewn out of the solid rock. The first and largest of these is 57 feet long and 52 feet broad, and is supported by two rows of massive square pillars, four in each row, and 30 feet high. To each of these pillars is attached a standing colossus, or human figure, of enormous proportions, reaching to the roof, overlaid with a kind of stucco and painted with gaudy colors, apparently as brilliant now, after the lapse of over 4,000 years, as when first laid on. In front of this temple are seated four still larger human figures, two of them being 65 feet in height—presumed to represent Rameses the Great, more frequently termed Sesostris, whose marvelous military exploits are depicted in drawings and paintings on the temple walls.
PRODUCTION OF SPIRITS.
Huron, D. T.
Is the production of spirits increasing or decreasing? Some temperance advocates maintain that it is growing less, owing to the efforts of the various temperance organizations.
Anti-Saloonist.