proportion of the two metals is maintained, the gold which covers the
surface of the fine thread thus produced consists only of the 180th
part of its whole weight. Therefore the gold which covers one foot is
only the 720,000th part of an ounce, and consequently the gold which
covers an inch will be the 8,640,000th part of an ounce. If this inch
be again divided into 100 equal parts, each part will be distinctly
visible without the aid of a microscope, and yet the gold which covers
such visible part will be only the 864,000,000th part of an ounce. But
we need not stop even here. This portion of the wire may be viewed
through a microscope which magnifies 500 times; and by these means,
therefore, its 500th part will become visible.--_Lardner's Handbook_.




CHEAP LIVING.


In the interior of Bulgaria and Upper Moesia, the low price of
provision and cattle of every description is almost fabulous compared
with the prices of Western Europe. A fat sheep or lamb usually costs
from 1s. 6d. to 2s.; an ox, 40s.; cows, 30s.; and a horse, in the best
possible travelling condition, from L.4 to L.5 sterling; wool, hides,
tallow, wax, and honey, are equally low. In the towns and hans by the
road-side everything is sold by weight: you can get a pound of meat
for a halfpenny, a pound of bread for the same, and wine, which is
also sold by weight, costs about the same money. In Servia, pigs
everywhere form the staple commodity of the country. I have seen some
that, would weigh from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. or more offered for sale
at 300 Turkish piastres the dozen; in the neighbourhood of the Danube