It is estimated that the amount of gold in circulation throughout the world is about $170,000,000-less than 1,000 tons.

The loftiest mining city in the world,-Leadville, Col.,-now boasts of having the largest ice palace ever built. The work occupied the month of December, the laborers working in two shifts, night and day. Toward the completion of the building the force of men numbered over two hundred. The palace is built on the summit of the great continental divide, 10,000 feet above tide level.

The palace is designed in the old Norman style of architecture. It cost $25,000 and required in its construction fifteen million pounds of ice.

A bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to incorporate the Lake Erie and Ohio River Ship Canal and to authorize it to issue first mortgage bonds to the amount of $20,000,000 to carry out the work.

The object of building this canal is to enable the iron ores of Lake Superior to be brought to Pittsburg at less expense than at present. Mr. Carnegie and others have told the Western Pennsylvanians that the iron industry will have to move from Pittsburg and its vicinity unless this is done, as otherwise competition with towns on the great lakes, which get their ore by

EVENTS OF THE MONTH

Tuesday, December 17.-President Cleveland sends to Congress a special message vigorously asserting the Monroe doctrine as applicable to the Venezuelan situation and suggesting that Congress provide for a commission to inquire into the merits of the case, with distinct intimation that the United States will unhesitatingly maintain the Monroe American ground; also publication of Lord Salisbury's letters in reply to Secretary Olney; instant and nearly universal uprising of American feeling in support of the President; excessive English indignation... Strike of Union Traction Company's men stops almost every street car in Philadelphia; riotous proceedings on the part of street mobs. . . Further details of Turkish outrage. Fifteenth annual ball of Young Men's Hebrew Charity Association of Chicago yields over $20,000. . . Mrs. F. A. W. Shimer provides for giving to Chicago University the Mount Carroll Female Seminary at Mount Carroll, Ill., with property valued at $100,000, and $150,000 additional as endowment.

Wednesday, December 18.-The Lower House of Congress unanimously votes appropriation of $100,000 in support of President Cleveland's suggestion of a Venezuelan commission. . . Teuth annual ball of the Chicago Knights Templar. Thursday, December 19.-Death of Charles B. Atwood, eminent American architect and

water, and have no railroad freights to pay, will be impossible.

A bill has been introduced in the Virginia Legislature appropriating $1,000 a year for ten years, to be devoted to the preservation of the historic landmarks at Jamestown, Va., "the place from which the Star of Empire rose in the Western World." Congress appropriated $10,000 for the purpose, but that fund has already been exhausted, and the encroachments of the James River are endangering much of the work already done toward preserving the most valuable relics of the first English settlement in what it is now the United States.

The Cape Times says that a peculiar experience befell a local cyclist, Donald Menzies, recently. He was riding along the main road from Cape Town to Somerset West Strand, when an ostrich, attracted apparently by what was in his eyes a novel vehicle, commenced to waltz around the bicycle. After a few preliminary antics the bird took it into his head to pace Mr. Menzies, and so long as it abstained from using its wings the cyclist and the ostrich managed a dead heat. However, after covering about half a mile in this way the ostrich utillized its stumpy wings, and spurted away at record-breaking pace, leaving the cyclist far behind.

designer... The Pan-American Republics uphold Monroe Americanism. . . Coal-mine explosion at Cumnock, N. C., with death of forty-three persons. . . Indications that Russia is friendly to America against England.

Friday, December 20.-Two days and two nights of heavy rain occasion flood in Chicago and vicinity. . . The United States Senate, by unanimous vote, passes the Venezuelan Commission House bill supporting President Cleveland's attitude. . . President Cleveland sends a special financial message to Congress. . . Explosion in the Nelson mine, near Dayton, Tenn., with loss of twenty-nine lives. . . The great Philadelphia strike approaches settlement... A brokers' panic in Wall street.

Saturday, December 21.-Big Hebrew fair of New York closes, with over $150,000 available for charity. . . Vigorous renewal of Philadelphia strike.

Sunday, December 22.-Russian organs express sympathy with America; also English sympathizers with America are heard from.

Monday, December 23.-Final settlement of the Philadelphia strike. . . Death of Stepniak, Russian exile in London. Capture by the Turks of Zeitoun, with fierce fighting and reported massacre of Armenians. . . New York peace meeting overwhelmed with demonstrations in support of Ameicanism.

Wednesday, December 25.-Report of losses on the great lakes for 1895, shows aggregate of $2,096,697... Report that Russia would make a friendly loan to the United States of gold to any amount required.

Thursday, December 26.—Mr. Dingley, chairman of the ways and means committee, reports a bill to provide $40,000,000 additional revenue... Terrific gale sweeps the North Atlantic coast.

Friday, December 27.-Explosion of 2,000 pounds of dynamite on Illinois Drainage Canal communicates concussion a distance of twenty miles in every direction. . . Panic in a Baltimore theater causes the trampling to death of twenty-four persons. . . Chicago women attempt to raise $25,000 in aid of Armenia. .. Havana nearly in a stage of siege. Queen Victoria reported as disapproving Lord Salisbury's dealing with America.. Failure of Leslie Combs, of Lexington, Ky., the largest tobacco grower in the world.

Saturday, December 28.-Edison suggests electrical means of effective defense of American ports against battle-ships.

Sunday, December 29.-Immigration statistics for 1895 show arrival in New York of nearly 230,000, an increase for the year of over 60,000... Lynchers in Marion County, Ky., effect the burning alive in a house of a man and woman against whom they sought revenge. Ninth annual report of the Inter-State Commerce Commission made public at Washington.

Monday, December 30.-Meeting held in Boston, Mass., to initiate Armenian relief work in charge of Clara Barton and the Red Cross Society... Definite steps taken toward an electric street car line between Chicago and Milwaukee... Republicans successfully reorganize the U. S. Senate. . . Notable speech of Senator Lodge on the Monroe doctrine. . . Acute political crisis in the South African Republic through the plotting of the English, German and other non-Dutch population, who are now in majority, to obtain the franchise and full political rights; promises trouble for England.

Tuesday, December 31.-Chicago's 10th annual charity ball; unexampled success. Mr. Labouchere's London Truth comes out in support of President Cleveland's attitude on the Venezuela question. . . Chicago death rate per thousand, for 1895, 15.11; lower than

that of any other large city in the world. New York experiences one of the roughest wind and rain storms on record. . . Report of invasion of the Transvaal by British South African Company's force of 800 men under Dr. Jamieson in response to an appeal from the large non-Dutch population of Johannesburg. . . The appointment announced in Londou of Alfred Austin as poet laureate. . . Cuban insurgents steadily successful. . . Close of the Atlanta Exposition. . . Senator Sherman offers a resolution for restoring and protecting the gold reserve.

Wednesday,

January 1, 1896.- President Cleveland names for a Venezuelan commission Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer, District of Columbia Court of Appeals Chief Justice Richard H. Alvey, Daniel C. Gilman, president John Hopkins University, with Frederick R. Coudert and Andrew D. White, of New York. . . The emperor of Germany promises to support the Transvaal Boers. . . British Colonial Secretary Chamberlain repudiates Dr, Jamieson's invasion of the Transvaal. Governor Levi P. Morton of New York proposes to stand as a Republican candidate for the presidency. . . The Cunard line steamer Cephalonia strikes on a reef and is beached near Hollyhead. . . The New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland legislatures opened.

Thursday, January 2.-Complete defeat by the Boers of Dr. Jamieson's invading force. .. Thirteenth convocation of the University of Chicago; the address by Ex-Governor William E. Russell, of Massachusetts; President Harper's report; students in attendance during quarter 1,109. . . Miss Clara Barton addresses Chicago women at a private reception. . . The Schwaben Verein of Chicago arrange to erect a Goethe monument in Lincoln Park.

Friday, January 3.-Great consternation in London in consequence of reports from the Transvaal. . . Speech by Senator Sherman in the United States Senate in support of his resolution for restoring and protecting the gold reserve. . . Commercial failures for 1895 numbering 13,197 aggregate liabilities of $173, 196,000. The National Cycle Exhibition Company opens an immense display at Tattersall's in Chicago. Continental dispatches indicate intense feeling everywhere against England. . . Very severe cold wave throughout the Northwest. . . Plan to bore a tunnel through the solid granite of Pike's Peak in order to bring water for Colorado Springs from Beaver Creek.

Saturday, January 4.-President Cleveland proclaims the admission of Utah as a state in the Union-the forty-fifth... The Transvaal affair causes immense revulsion of feeling in

Europe in favor of the United States. . . Report of great success of Cuban insurgents near Havana. . . The Venezuelan commission sworn in at Washington. . . Liberal Hebrews of Chicago open with auspices of the highest success a new congregation to be known as Isaiah Temple.

Sunday, January 5.-Secretary Carlisle at midnight issues call for a popular loan of $100,000,000. . . Enthusiastic mass meeting at Central Music Hall, Chicago, in support of Red Cross Society scheme of Armenian relief, Clara Barton among the speakers. . . Apostolic Delegate Satolli receives in the cathedral at Baltimore the beretta or crimson cap symbolic of his elevation to the rank of cardinal. Monday, January 6.-Cecil Rhodes, premier of Cape Colony, South Africa, resigns and is succeeded by Sir J. Gordon Sprigg. . . Panic at Havana in consequence of the near approach of insurgent forces. Utah state officers installed at Salt Lake City. . . Death of Thomas Wallace Knox, journalist, author, and war correspondent.

Tuesday, January 7.-Energetic hostility of the German emperor to British course in South Africa. . . General demand in the American press for recognition of the Cuban insurgents as belligerents. . . Immense success of the Chicago Cycle Exhibition.

Wednesday, January 8.-Energetic naval preparations of Great Britain.

Thursday, January 9.-The czar of Russia reported as ready to back Germany against England.. Death of E. B. Wight, prominent Washington newspaper correspondent. . . Nineteenth annual banquet of the Chicago Jewelers' Association. . . Earthquakes in Persia destroy villages over an area of 100 square miles, with loss of more than a thousand lives. General Electric ordinance passed by Chicago City Council 52 to 15; three-cent fare defeated 54 to 14... President Cleveland gives out explicit denial of stories about government relations with syndicate of bankers. . . The Transvaal Republic appeals to the President of the United States for moral support.

Friday, January 10.-Success of the United States bond issue assured. . . Many English indications of desire to come to an understanding with the United States on the basis of arbitration... Chicago homeopathic physicians prepare protest against anti-toxin for diphtheria.

Saturday, January 11.-Close of the Chicago bicycle show. . . Dark English-German war cloud; might give Russia a chance to take Armenia and perhaps Constantinople.

Sunday, January 12.-The veteran Tribune editor, Joseph Medill, installed as president of the Chicago Press Club. . . The Chicago University forms plans for a grandly developed school of biology. . . Report that Spain would like to sell Cuba to England.

Monday, January 13.-The Turkish minister at Washington gives out notice that the Red Cross Society representatives would not be permitted to undertake relief work in Turkey. Famous Polish pianist, Paderewski, heard again in Chicago. Governor Bushnell installed in Ohio. . . Chicago General Electric ordinance vetoed by Mayor Swift and passed over the veto 52 to 15,

Tuesday, January 14.-J. B. Foraker elected United States Senator in Ohio to succeed Calvin S. Brice. . . Utah elects to the United States Senate Frank J. Cannon and Arthur Brown.

Wednesday, January 15.—William B. Allison nominated by Iowa Republicans for a fifth term in the United States Senate, and also for the presidency. . . Second Paderewski recital in Chicago, with receipts of $8,000. . . The Cuban insurgents closing in upon Havana. . . Report given out that Nicola Tesla has invented an apparatus promising to afford curative application of electricity for all diseases. . . A. J. Balfour, Lord Salisbury's leader of the House of Commons, makes a speech at Manchester energetically deprecating war with America. . . New Russian minister, Count Kotzebul, presented at Washington. . . Elections in Manitoba show overwhelming victory for Premier Greenway; thirty-two delegates to four opposision and four independent. . . Circular letter of J. Pierpont Morgan dissolves the bond syndicate on the ground that there is no question as to the success of the loan without the aid of the syndicate. New York city dedicates its new clearing house, a palace of finance erected at the expense of $1,500,000.

Thursday, January 16.-The Democratic National Convention called to be held in Chicago July 7... Thirteenth annual banquet of the Chicago Real Estate Board. . . General F. M. Drake inaugurated governor of Iowa. . . Havana threatened with famine, due to insurgents cutting off supplies. . . England apparently yielding in regard to arbitration of Venezuela matter... The British Ashantee campaign concluded by Ashantee's acceptance of British terms of peace. . . Russia reported as urging Germany to action against England. . . AngloFrench agreement regarding Siam (signed yesterday) makes the Mekong river the boundary line... The gold reserve in the United States Treasury down to $54,738,115.

A STAR-LESSON FOR FEBRUARY

W

E will begin our study of the stars to-night facing the south, at about 9 o'clock.

The great X-like group of bright stars which we see in midheavens directly in front of us is the constellation Orion.* This is one of the very oldest of the constellations. It is referred to by Homer, and is also mentioned in the Bible, in the Book of Job.

On a celestial chart we may find Orion pictured as a huntsman, or, perhaps, a warrior, with a sword hanging from his belt, his left arm protected by a lion-skin shield, and his right arm raised aloft and swinging a club. He seems to be in a fierce encounter with

some unseen

enemy. It is impossible to find among these stars a figure such as this, and yet it is not difficult to understand how it came to be imagined. It is very easy to make out of these stars a huge human shape, although, to be sure, it is a very crude shape-such a giant as a schoolboy might draw upon his slate.

The head of Orion is formed by a little triangle of three faint stars, very close together, which, if you happen to have an opera-glass, you will find a very pretty object for that instrument. His right shoulder is marked by a star of the first magnitude, which still bears the name given to it by the Arabs, Betelguese (Bét-el-jéu-se), the Shoulder of the Giant. In his left foot-at the lower right-hand corner-is another star of the first magnitude, named Rigel. The star at the upper right-hand corner-in the left shoulder-is Bellatrix (Bel-la-trix). It is of the second magnitude. That at the lower left-hand corner, which as Orion is figured on the chart, is in the knee, is Saiph, and is of the third magnitude.

*Orion, E. B, Vol. XVII. 844.

The three stars which form the belt of Orion are all of the second magnitude. These stars are sometimes called the Three Kings, sometimes Jacob's Staff, and in connection with a fourth star below and to the right of them they form a figure that is sometimes called the Vard L.

The very bright star seen to the left of Orion, not quite so high above the horizon as Rigel, is Sirius, better known as the Dog Star. It is the brightest star in the heavens, being four or five times as bright as an ordinary star of the first magnitude.

You naturally think that so bright a star as this must be pretty near. Astronomers have found that this is the case, although Sirius is not the nearest of the stars, at least two others being nearer than it. To give you some idea of what "pretty near" means, when we are talking about.stars, I will tell you that the distance from the earth to Sirius is about 600,000 times that of the sun. The distance to the sun is 92,500,000 miles. Now take your slate and find out how many miles it is to Sirius, and figure out how long it would take an express train, running day and night at the rate star, provided there was a railway leadof sixty miles an hour, to reach that ing to it and we could employ an engineer who, like the Man-in-the-Moon, could not die.

The stars are so far away that astronomers never reckon their distances in miles. They prefer to reckon a star's distance by computing how long it takes the star's light to reach us. Light travels at the enormous rate of 186,000 miles a second. To reach us from the sun it takes light a little over eight minutes. It reaches us from the moon in about one and a quarter seconds. To flash across the space which separates us from the Dog Star, light requires about ten years. The sun at the distance of that star

Betelgeuse, a large triangle with the sides nearly equal, is Procyon, the Little Dog. It is about an average star of the first magnitude.

Now, starting with Sirius, run a straight line to the belt of Orion, and continue it about as far beyond, and you will strike Aldebaran, sometimes called the Bull's Eye. It is in the head of Taurus, the Bull, and is of the first magnitude.

the color of the stars. They have reason to think that the color of a star indicates in a manner its age. The white stars are thought to be the youngest stars, or suns, for that is what they are,—while the yellow stars are suns in middle life, and the red stars are suns which are approaching extinction as luminaries. our sun could be carried far enough away, it would appear as a yellow star. We

If

S.E.