7th.  When dried at a temperature of 212 deg., or thereabouts, it should not lose more than from 70 to 74 per cent. of its weight, whereas bad meat will often lose as much as 80 per cent.  The juice of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test paper.

RAILROADS IN FINLAND.

People who think of Finland as a sub-arctic country of bleak and forbidding aspect maybe surprised to hear that several railroads have already made a large part of the region accessible.  A new line, 160 miles long, has just been opened to the heart of the country in the midst of great forests and perhaps the most wonderful lake region in the world.  Sportsmen are now within less than a day’s journey from St. Petersburg of central Finland, where there is the best of hunting and fishing and twenty hours of sunlight every summer day.  The most unique of railroads, however, is still the little line in Norway, north of the arctic circle, carrying the product of far northern mines to the sea, and famous as the only railroad that has yet invaded the polar regions.

COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE ARK AND THE GREAT EASTERN.

The following comparison between the size of Noah’s ark and the Great Eastern, both being considered in point of tonnage, after the old law for calculating the tonnage of a vessel, exhibits a remarkable similarity.  The cubit of the Bible, according to Sir Isaac Newton, is 20-1/2 inches, or, to be exact, 20.625 inches.  Bishop Wilkins makes the cubit 20.88 inches.  According to Newton the dimensions of the ark were:  Length between perpendiculars, 515.62 feet; breadth, 84.94 feet; depth, 51.56 feet; keel, or length for tonnage, 464.08 feet.  Tonnage, according to old law, 18,231 58-94.  The measurements of the ark, according to Wilkins’ calculations were:  Length, 54700 feet; breadth, 91.16 feet; depth, 54.70 feet; keel, 492.31 feet.  Tonnage, 21,761.  Notice how surprisingly near the Great Eastern came to being constructed after the same plan:  Length, 680 feet; breadth, 83 feet; depth, 60 feet; keel, 630 feet.  Tonnage, 23,092.

FINGER NAILS AS AN INDICATION OF CHARACTER.

A white mark on the nail bespeaks misfortune.

Pale or lead-colored nails indicate melancholy people.

Broad nails indicate a gentle, timid, and bashful nature.

Lovers of knowledge and liberal sentiments have round nails.

People with narrow nails are ambitious and quarrelsome.

Small nails indicate littleness of mind, obstinacy and conceit.

Choleric, martial men, delighting in war, have red and spotted nails.

Nails growing into the flesh at the points or sides indicate luxurious tastes.

People with very pale nails are subject to much infirmity of the flesh and persecution by neighbors and friends.