The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1920-06-17

by being frozen if the frost is drawn but
gradually. Apples will carry safely in
refrigerating car while the mercury is re-
gistering fully 20 degrees below zero.
Potatoes, being so largely composed of
water, are easily frozen. Once touched
by frost they are ruined.
Municipal authorities do not always
know when they have got hold of good
thing. A picture was presented to Coven-
try, England, in 1855, but so little was it
valued, and it was so big and clumsy
IS feet long, and 10 feet high that the
City Council and aldermen of Coventry
tried to give it away! Even the councils
dustman seems to have declined the gift.
Yet today it is one of the gories of Coven-
try, being in fact Giordano's "Bacchus
Springing from his Car at Sight of
Ariadne," and is valued at tens of thou
sands of dollars.
Mexico is not the only place where
earthquake and volcanic disturbances
bring ruin and devastation in their train.
Samutra is fertile ground for active era
tiers and volcanic chasms. The Boekit
Barisan, series of mountain ranges run
ming the whole length of the island, near
the western coast, splits in the north into
parallel chains which encircle the broad
-Karo-Batak plateau and the vast area of
Toba Lake. In these partially explored
ranges, there have already been discovered
ninety volcanoes, twelve of which are now
active, the constructive and destructive
forces of Sumatra's formation.
Opals have recently been found in the
form of fossilized trees which grew and
Aourished thousands of years ago, in what
is now the state of Nevada. These opals
are described by one who saw them as
clear, glass-like fragments of former trees,
which send out a rich ultramarine glow
like pool of light. Other pieces flash with
brilliant red, orange, blue, and green,
shifting and varying with every change
of position. Broad sheets of colors and
harlequinade-like shadings contrast. A
unique specimen is of dark, smoky color,
which, when it catches the light at the
right angle, reflects back dull glow of
red and orange, almost as if there still
burned in it some of the fires of the extinct
volcanoes which were probably the first
factors in its metamorphosis.
The three tallest trees in the world are
believed to be two eucalypti in Victoria,
Australia, estimated to be 435 and $50
feet respectively. The lake which has the
highest elevation of any in the world is
Green Lake, Colorado. Its surface is
10,252 feet above the level of the sea. In
some places it is over 800 feet deep. The
greatest depth of the ocean is 1880 feet.
The largest sheet or pane of glass in the
world is set in the front of building in
Cincinnati, Ohio. 1t was made in Mar
settles, France, and measures 1856 by 104
inches. At Allegheny City, Pennsylvania,
there was recently rolled steel spring
six inches wide, one-quarter of an inch
thick, and $40 feet long. 1t is the largest
coiled spring ever rolled.
A giant gorilla was killed after a ter
rife fight in the forest of Bambio in Afri-
ca. The brute had height of about
nine feet, and even after the internal
organs had been removed the frame
weighed over $50 pounds. One of his
hands alone weighed more than eleven
pounds. The animal is the 6ercest and
strongest of the monkey tribe and can
easily tear a man apart with his bare
hands. The death of the gorilla was an
occasion of great rejoicing, and feast
lasting several days took place, to which
members of the tribe came from far and
near The gorilla ;s a trouh1esoroe ne;oh