Show je SOllE SMALL THINGS facts that have been ascertained by science and tha mechanics gold beaters by hammering c n reduce gold leaves to such minute thinness that two hundred and eighty two thousand maist be laid upon each other to produce the thickness of an inch yet each leaf is so perfect and free from holes says the st lods republic them laid on any surface as in gilding gives the appearance of solid gold they are so thin that if formed into a book fifteen hundred would only occupy the space of a single leaf of book paper A single of a gold leaf i book one inch va thickness would have pages as an entire library of 1 fifteen volumes of common books even though the volumes averaged four hundred pages eachl platinum and silver can each be drawn into wire many times smaller than a human hair the former metal has been drawn into wire so fine that twenty seven of them twisted together could ave been inserted in the follow of a hair that is if a human being or a human made machine could be found minute and precise enough for such a delicate undertaking A burning taper uncovered for a single instant during which it does not lose power amounting to the one thou sanath of a grain would fill with light a sphere four miles in diameter so as to be visible from every part of the com th et thread of the silkworm silk worm is so email that an average of forty two of them arc twisted together to form a thread of common sewing silk that of the spider is many diameters smaller two adrams drams of spiderweb spider web by weight would if stretched into a straight line reach from london eng to edinburgh scotland a distance of over four hundred miles in sour paste the milt of a codfish or even in water in which vegetables have been infused the microscope dis covers a so small that millions of them would not equal the size of a grain of wheat and yet nature with a singular prodigality has supplied many of these with organs as complete as those of a whale or an elephant in a single ounce of such matter fc here are anore living creatures than there beings on the face of the globe A grain of carmine or half a grain of aniline will tinge a hogshead of water so that a strong microscope will detect coloring matter in every drop A grain of musk will scent a room for twenty years and at the end of that time will not show that it has diminished in the least the organs of smell in the turkey vulture and carrion crow are so delicate thai they can scent for distance of forty miles |