The felt hat is as old as Homer. The Greeks made them in skull-caps, conical, truncated, narrow- or broad-brimmed. The Phrygian bonnet was an elevated cap without a brim, the apex turned over in front. It is known as the “cap of liberty.” An ancient figure of Liberty in the times of Antonius Livius, A.D. 115, holds the cap in the right hand. The Persians wore soft caps; plumed hats were the headdress of the Syrian corps of Xerxes; the broad-brim was worn by the Macedonian kings. Castor means a beaver. The Armenian captive wore a plug hat. The merchants of the fourteenth century wore a Flanders beaver. Charles VII, in 1469, wore a felt hat lined with red, and plumed. The English men and women in 1510 wore close woolen or knitted caps; two centuries ago hats were worn in the house. Pepys, in his diary, wrote: “September, 1664, got a severe cold because I took off my hat at dinner”; and again, in January, 1665, he got another cold by sitting too long with his head bare, to allow his wife’s maid to comb his hair and wash his ears; and Lord Clarendon, in his essay, speaking of the decay of respect due the aged, says “that in his younger days he never kept his hat on before those older than himself, except at dinner.” In the thirteenth century Pope Innocent IV allowed the cardinals the use of the scarlet cloth hat. The hats now in use are the cloth hat, leather hat, paper hat, silk hat, opera hat, spring-brim hat, and straw hat. What Is the Hottest Spot on Earth? The hottest regions on earth is said to be along the Persian Gulf, where little or no rain falls. At Bahrein the arid shore has no fresh water, yet a comparatively numerous population contrive to live there, thanks to the copious springs which break forth from the bottom of the sea. The fresh water is got by diving. The diver, sitting in his boat, winds a great goat-skin bag around his left arm, the hand grasping its mouth; then he takes in his right hand a heavy stone, to which is attached a strong line, and thus equipped he plunges in, and quickly reaches the bottom. Instantly opening the bag over the strong jet of fresh water, he springs up the ascending current, at the same time closing the bag, and is helped aboard. The stone is then hauled up, and the diver, after taking breath, plunges in again. The source of the copious submarine springs is thought to be in the green hills of Osman, some 500 or 600 miles distant. Where Do We Get Ivory?