St. Paul’s, could easily stand.  St. Peter’s occupies a space of 240,000 sq. ft., its front is 400 ft. broad, rising to a height of 180 ft.; the length of the interior is 600 ft., its breadth 442 ft.  It is capable of holding 54,000 people, while its piazza, in its widest limits, holds 624,000.  It is only by degrees that one is able to realize its vast size.  St. Peter’s holds 54,000 persons; Milan Cathedral, 37,000; St. Paul’s, Rome, 32,000; St. Paul’s, London, 25,600; St. Petronio, Bologna, 24,400; Florence Cathedral, 24,300; Antwerp Cathedral, 24,000; St. Sophia, Constantinople, 23,000; Notre Dame, Paris, 21,000; Pisa Cathedral, 13,000; St. Stephen’s, Vienna, 12,400; Auditorium, Chicago, 12,000; St. Mark’s, Venice, 7,000.

The Biggest Bell in the World.—­There is a bell in the Temple of Clars, at Kinto, Japan, which is larger than the great bell of Moscow, or any other.  It is covered with Chinese and Sanskrit characters which Japanese scholars have not yet succeeded in translating.  There is no record of its casting.  Its height is 24 ft., and at the rim it has a thickness of 16 in.  It has no clapper, but is struck on the outside by a kind of wooden battering-ram.  We are unable to obtain any more exact particulars as to the dimensions of this bell in order to determine whether or no it really does excel the “Monarch” of Moscow, which weighs about 193 tons, is 19 ft. 3 in. in height, 60 ft. 9 in. in circumference, and 2 ft. thick.  There is another huge bell at Moscow, and those at Amazapoora, in Burmah, and at Pekin are far bigger than any we have in this country.  Our biggest bell is “Great Paul,” which was cast at Loughborough in 1881, and which weighs 17-1/2 tons.  Taking purity, volume, and correctness of note into account, it is probably the finest bell in Europe.

The Oldest Cities in the World.—­They are the following:—­Argos, Athens and Thebes, in Greece; Crotona and Rome, in Italy; Cadiz and Saguntum, in Spain; Constantinople, in Turkey, and Marseilles, in France, which was founded by a colony of Greeks 580 B.C.  The age of these cities varies from twenty-four to twenty-seven centuries.

How to Manufacture Oil of Apple, or Essence of Apple.—­The essence of apple is composed of aldehyde 2 parts; chloroform, acetic ether and nitrous ether and oxalic acid each 1 part; glycerin 4 parts; [Transcriber’s note:  the original text reads:  “amyl valerianice ther10 parts”] amyl valerianic ether 10 parts.

A Formula for the Manufacture of Artificial Cider.—­Imitation cider consists of 25 gallons soft water, 25 pounds New Orleans sugar; 1 pint yeast; two pounds tartaric acid.  Put all the ingredients into a clean cask, and stir them up well after standing twenty-four hours with the bung out.  Then bung the cask up tight, add 3 gallons spirits, and let it stand forty-eight hours, after which time it will be ready for use.  Champagne cider can be prepared by taking 10 gallons of cider, old and clear.  Put this in a strong, iron-bound cask pitched inside (like beer casks); add 2-1/2 pints clarified white plain syrup; then dissolve in it 5 ounces tartaric acid; keep the bung ready in hand, then add 7-1/2 ounces of potassium bicarbonate; bung it as quickly and as well as possible.