bridge were practically unknown in Russia. It is so recently that education has been in the reach of everybody in this country that its value is more appreciated than elsewhere.
"The library contains more than sixty thousand volumes, and there is a good scientific collection in the museum. The students have the privilege of visiting the Academy of Sciences, under certain restrictions, where
LOWER RECITATION ROOM.
they have access to a library of one hundred and fifty thousand volumes and an extensive museum. The latter has an Asiatic department, which contains many objects of great interest to students of matters pertaining to Asia. We went to the museum after seeing the university and looked at the remains of the Siberian mammoths, which were found embedded in the ice where they had lain for thousands of years.
"Another educational institution of St. Petersburg is the School of Mines, which is supported by the Government and has about three hundred students. Its collection of minerals is said to be the finest in the world. There are single nuggets of gold worth thousands of dollars, great masses of solid silver, platinum, copper, and other metals, together with topaz, beryl, aquamarine, quartz, and other crystals in great variety and of unusual size and beauty. One crystal of beryl weighs five pounds and is valued at twenty-five thousand dollars.
