The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing Part 70

[Transcriber's note: The figures from 1 to 90 cents a.s.sume about 5.5% interest. The one dollar amount ($475,208) a.s.sumes about 10% interest.]

SHORT INTEREST RULES.

To find the interest on a given sum for any number of days, at any rate of interest, multiply the princ.i.p.al by the number of days and divide as follows:

At 3 per cent, by 120 At 9 per cent, by 40 At 4 per cent, by 90 At 10 per cent, by 36 At 5 per cent, by 72 At 12 per cent, by 30 At 6 per cent, by 60 At 15 per cent, by 24 At 7 per cent, by 52 At 20 per cent, by 18 At 8 per cent, by 45

TRADE DISCOUNTS.

Wholesale houses usually invoice their goods to retailers at "list"

prices. List prices were once upon a time supposed to be retail prices, but of late a system of "long" list prices has come into vogue in many lines of trade--that is, the list price is made exorbitantly high, so that wholesalers can give enormous discounts. These discounts, whether large or small, are called trade discounts, and are usually deducted at a certain rate per cent from the face of invoice.

The amount of discount generally depends upon size of bill or terms of settlement, or both. Sometimes two or more discounts are allowed. Thus 30% and 5% is expressed 30 and 5 meaning first a discount of 30% and then 5% from the remainder.

30 and 5 is not 35% but 33-1/3%. 10, 5 and 3 off means three successive discounts.

A wholesale house allowing 10, 5 and 3 off gets more for its goods than it would at 18 off.

HOW TO DETECT COUNTERFEIT MONEY.

In the s.p.a.ce at disposal here, it is impossible of course to give a complete ill.u.s.trated counterfeit detector, but the following simple rules, laid down by Bank Note Examiner Geo. R. Baker, will be found extremely valuable:

Examine the form and features of all human figures: if graceful, and features distinct, examine the drapery. Notice whether the folds lie naturally, and observe whether the fine strands of the hair are plain and distinct.

Examine the lettering. In a genuine bill is absolutely perfect. There has never been a counterfeit put out but was more or less defective in the lettering.

Counterfeiters rarely, if ever, get the imprint or engraver's name perfect. The shading in the background of the vignette and over and around the letters forming the name of the bank, on a good bill, is even and perfect; on a counterfeit, it is uneven and imperfect.

The die work around the figures of the denomination should be of the same character as the ornamental work surrounding it.

Never take a bill deficient in any of these points.

Big Trees.--Of ninety-two redwood trees in Calaveras Grove, Cal., ten are over thirty feet in diameter, and eighty-two have a diameter of from fifteen to thirty feet. Their ages are estimated at from 1,000 to 3,500 years. Their height ranges from 150 to 237 feet.

FACTS OF GENERAL INTEREST.

A hawk flies 150 miles per hour; an eider duck 90 miles; a pigeon, 40 miles.

A man's working life is divided into four decades: 20 to 30, bronze; 30 to 40, silver; 40 to 50, gold; 50 to 60, iron. Intellect and judgment are strongest between 40 and 50.

Hair which is lightest in color is also lightest in weight. Light or blond hair is generally the most luxuriant, and it has been calculated that the average number of hairs of this color on an average person's head is 140,000; while the number of brown hairs is 110,000, and black only 103,000.

Goldsmith received $300 for "The Vicar of Wakefield;" Moore, $15,500 for "Lalla Rookh;" Victor Hugo, $12,000 for "Hernani;" Chateaubriand, $110,000 for his works; Lamartine, $16,000 for "Travels in Palestine;"

Disraeli, $50,000 for "Endymion;" Anthony Trollope, $315,000 for forty-five novels; Lingard, $21,000 for his "History of England;" Mrs.

Grant received over $600,000 as royalty from the sale of "The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant."

One woman in 20, one man in 30 is barren--about 4 per cent. It is found that one marriage in 20 is barren--5 per cent. Among the n.o.bility of Great Britain, 21 per cent have no children, owing partly to intermarriage of cousins, no less than 4-1/2 per cent being married to cousins.

The largest bells are the following, and their weight is given in tons: Moscow, 216: Burmah, 117; Pekin, 53; Novgorod, 31; Notre Dame, 18; Rouen, 18; Olmutz, 18; Vienna, 18; St. Paul's, 16; Westminster, 14; Montreal, 12; Cologne, 11; Oxford, 8; St. Peter's, 8. Bell metal should have 77 parts copper and 23 tin.

American life averages for professions (Boston): Storekeepers, 41.8 years; teamsters, 43.6 years; laborers. 44.6 years; seamen, 46.1 years; mechanics, 47.3 years; merchants, 48.4 years; lawyers, 52.6 years; farmers, 64.2 years.

A camel has twice the carrying power of an ox; with an ordinary load of 400 lb. he can travel 12 to 14 days without water, going 40 miles a day.

Camels are fit to work at 5 years old, but their strength begins to decline at 25, although they live usually till 40.

The checks paid in New York in one year aggregate $77,020,672,494, which is more than nine times the value of all the gold and silver coin in existence.

Pounds of water evaporated by 1 lb. of fuel as follows: Straw. 1.9; wood, 3.1; peat, 3.8; c.o.ke or charcoal. 6.4; coal, 7.9; petroleum, 14.6.

The average elevation of continents above sea level is: Europe, 670 feet; Asia, 1,140 feet; North America. 1,150 feet; South America, 1,100 feet.

A body weighing 140 lb. produces 3 lb. ashes; time for burning, 55 minutes.

The seven largest diamonds in the world weigh, respectively, as follows; Kohinoor, 103 carats; Star of Brazil, 126 carats; Regent of France, 136 carats; Austrian Kaiser, 139 carats; Russian Czar, 195 carats; Rajah of Borneo, 367 carats; Braganza, 1,880 carats. The value of the above is not regulated by size, nor easy to estimate, but none of them is worth less than $500,000.

According to Orfila, the proportion of nicotine in Havana tobacco is 2 per cent; in French, 6 per cent; and Virginia tobacco, 7 per cent. That in Brazilian is still higher.

One horsepower will raise 16-1/2 tons per minute a height of 12 inches, working 8 hours a day. This is about 9,900 foot-tons daily, or 12 times a man's work.

Good clear ice two inches thick will bear men to walk on; four inches thick will bear horses and riders; six inches thick will bear horses and teams with moderate loads.

One pair of rabbits can become multiplied in four years into 1,250,000.

Australia s.h.i.+ps 6,000,000 rabbit skins yearly to England.

The largest of the Pyramids, that of Cheops, is composed of four million tons of stone, and occupied 100,000 men during 20 years, equal to an outlay of $200,000,000. It would now cost $20,000,000 at a contract price of 36 cents per cubic foot.

One tug on the Mississippi can take, in six days, from St. Louis to New Orleans, barges carrying 10,000 tons of grain, which would require 70 railway trains of fifteen cars each.

Comparative Scale of Strength.--Ordinary man, 100; Byron's Gladiator, 173; Farnese Hercules, 362; horse, 750.

A man will die for want of air in five minutes; for want of sleep, in ten days; for want of water, in a week; for want of food, at varying intervals, dependent on various circ.u.mstances.

The average of human life is 33 years. One child out of every four dies before the age of 7 years, and only one-half of the world's population reach the age of 17. One out of 10,000 reaches 100 years. The average number of births per day is about 120,000, exceeding the deaths by about 15 per minute. There have been many alleged cases of longevity in all ages, but only a few are authentic.

The various nations of Europe are represented in the list of Popes as follows: English, 1; Dutch, 1; Swiss, 1; Portuguese, 1; African, 2; Austrian, 2; Spanish, 5; German, 6; Syrian, 8; Greek, 14; French, 16; Italian, 200. Eleven Popes reigned over 20 years; 69, from 10 to 20; 57, from 5 to 10; and the reign of 116 was less than 5 years. The reign of Piux IX was the longest of all, the only one exceeding 25 years.

A knot, in sailor phrase, is a nautical mile, 6,080 feet, or 800 feet more than a land mile.