C.
894, B.C. Gold and silver money first coined at Argos, in Greece.
274, A.D. Silk first imported from India.
664, A.D. Glass first invented in England by O. Benalt, a monk.
1284, A.D. The Alphonsine Astronomical Tables constructed, under the
patronage of Alphonso X. of Laon and Castile.
1337, A.D. The first comet described with astronomical precision.
The first diving bell we read of was a very large kettle suspended by
ropes with the mouth downwards, and planks fixed in the middle of its
concavity. Two Greeks at Toledo in 1583, made an experiment with it
before Charles V. They descended in it with a lighted candle to a great
depth.
The Odyssey was written upon the skin of a serpent.
Formerly pennies were marked with a double cross and crease, so that it
might easily be broken into two or four parts.
HALBERT H.
* * * * *
THE SKETCH-BOOK
* * * * *
SKETCH OF THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
_By an officer engaged._
The Leander, fitted for the flag of Rear-Admiral Milne, was at Spithead,
in June, 1816, when Lord Exmouth arrived with a squadron from the
Mediterranean, where a dispute had arisen between the Dey of Algiers and
his lordship, in consequence of a massacre that took place at Bona, on
the persons of foreigners, then under the protection of the British flag.
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