SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY.

THE

TRANSFORMISTIC THEORIES.*

A. DE QUATREFAGES.

Journal des Savants, Paris, January.

'HE doctrine of transformism, that is, the doctrine of descent with modification according to accepted principles of evolution, commands the assent of a majority of biologists. There is, however, a minority which defends transformism in a way which cannot be accepted, and which tends to bring the doctrine itself into contempt with many reflecting minds. Of this minority an illustrious representative is d'Omalius d'Halloy, who, born in 1783 and dying in 1875, was one of those men who confer most honor on their country. From 1804 to 1815 he was exclusively occupied with geology, and may justly be regarded as one of the founders of that science. In 1810 he was appointed to prepare a geological map of the French Empire, every part of which he visited in the performance of his duties. As a result of the events of 1815, he accepted an appointment in the kingdom of the Netherlands and was made Governor of the province of Namur. The revolution of 1830 caused him to return to private life, whereupon he resumed his scientific labors and joined to the study of geology that of anthropology and biology.

D'Omalius is one of the veterans of transformism. He tells us himself that he adopted this doctrine in 1831. He did not. however, explain his ideas on that subject in any special work, but they are scattered through various memoirs and addresses.

Although coming after Lamarck, and also being able to profit by the words of Darwin, d'Omalius has nothing in common with those two chiefs of modern transformism save the general idea of the transmutation and affiliation of species. He disagrees with them on fundamental points. He does not believe in spontaneous generation; he limits considerably the part played by natural selection; he rejects absolutely the thought that all beings descend from a monad. The facts shown by paleontology semed to d'Omalius to demonstrate that all the great types appeared when life was manifested on the earth, and that they were the result of the will of an omnipotent Being. Our savant was a Roman Catholic believer, and practiced what he believed. Nevertheless, he made formal reservations in favor of science. Among other passages, I cite a very significant one: "We must take the Sacred Books for what they really are, that is, as a means of making us acquainted with the great principles as well as the bases of our religious beliefs, and not at all as treatises on natural sciences."

In the most of his writings the Belgian savant endeavors to show the agreement which he thinks exists between science and dogma. It is at this double point of view that he places himself when he discusses transformism. He opposes the theories of successive direct creations, by planting himself on the number of fossil species, which he estimates at thirty thousand. "I find it hard to believe," he says, "that the omnipotent Being Whom I consider to be the author of nature, has, at different epochs, caused all living being to perish, in order to give Himself the pleasure of creating new beings, which, with the same general plans, present successive differences. It appears to me much more probable and more conformable to the great wisdom of the Creator to admit that, just as He has given to living beings the power of reproducing themselves, so He has also endowed them with the property of modifying themselves according to circumstances-a phenomenon of which nature still gives examples."

I am not able to admit that this argument is scientific, an argument which rests on a feeling essentially personal. More

* This is probably the last production of the pen of this illustrious writer, who died, at a great age, about a month ago.-[ED. The LITERARY DIGEST.]

over,

I have always thought such language at least singular in the mouth or from the pen of a man as religious as d'Omalius. It appears to me very bold to constitute one's self a judge as to what does or does not suit the wisdom of the Creator. Is not such talk exactly like that of Alphonso the Wise, when he said that, if God had consulted him on the day when the world was created he could have given the Creator good advice?

I have dwelt so long on d'Omalius, because he is the most authoritative representative of a state of mind frequently met with in our day. In the face of the multiplicity of theories proposed in order to explain the past and present of the organic world, in the face of the often evident incompatibility of these theories, more than one enthusiast has felt his old convictions crumble to pieces; more than one has reached the point of saying that he is no longer a disciple of Geoffroy, of Lamarck, or of Darwin, but that none the less he continues faithful to the doctrine of descent and remains a transformist. Thus, while giving up any attempt to indicate the nature and succession of the phenomena from which transmutation could result, those to whom I allude declare that they accept transmutation itself as real. In reality, they assert that causes impossible to specify have produced a result which has never been observed, which they themselves declare can never be proved, and the existence of which is denied in the name of everything which experience and observation teach us on this point. To act in this way is evidently to abandon the paths of positive science in order to give one's self up to the suggestions of a sentiment wholly personal. Whether people speak in the name of dogma or in that of free thought, in the present state of our knowledge to call one's self a transformist in a general and vague manner, is not to formulate a scientific opinion, but to perform an act of faith.

QU

INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS.

JOSEPH JASTROW, PH.D.

Popular Science Monthly, New York, April.

UITE a number of delusions find a common point of origin in the widespread belief that our thoughts and actions are to be completely explained by reference to what our consciousness tells us and what our will directs. The equally important realm of the unconscious and the involuntary is too apt to be overlooked. We are ready to admit that, in some unusual and semi-morbid conditions, persons will show those untoward phenomena; but we are slow to believe that they have any bearing upon the soundly reasoned and skillfully directed actions of our own intelligence. Sense-deceptions, faulty observation, exaggeration, neglect, fallacy, illusion, and error abound on all sides and emphasize the need of a calm judgment, a well-equipped intellect, a freedom from haste and prejudice, an appreciation of details and nice distinctions, in the determination of truth and the maintenance of mental health.

For these and other reasons, it is important to demonstrate experimentally the readiness with which normal individuals may be made to yield evidence of unconscious and involuntary processes. When, some years ago, the American public was confronted with the striking phenomena of muscle-reading, wild speculations were indulged in regarding its true modus operandi, and the suggestion that it was to unconscious indications, skillfully interpreted, was ridiculed. For a time, the view that mind-reading was muscle-reading rested upon rather indirect evidence, and upon modes of reasoning that do not carry great conviction to the ordinary mind. To supplement this evidence by a clear exposition of the naturalness and regularity of these involuntary movements is our present task.

Inasmuch as the movements in question are often very slight, delicate apparatus is necessary. There is first a strong wooden frame, holding a heavy plate glass fifteen inches square and

mounted upon legs with screw adjustments, by means of which the plate may be kept perfectly level. Upon the plate glass are placed in the form of a triangle three very perfectly turned and polished brass balls, and upon the balls rests a thin crystal plate glass fourteen inches square, set in a light wooden frame. Covering the upper glass is a sheet of paper, upon which the subject of the experiment lightly rests the fingertips of one hand. When all is properly adjusted and glass and balls are rubbed smooth with oil, it is quite impossible.to, hold the upper plate still for more than a few seconds. If one with a hand upon the plate closes his eyes and thinks intently of something, he readily forms the conviction that the glass remains quiet, while a bystander is equally convinced that it moves. The other part of the apparatus records these move

ments.

results, with varying grades of success, from complete failure to an accurate localizing of the object. Thinking of a building or locality makes an interesting experiment.

The results go sufficiently far, perhaps, to indicate how readily one may obtain permanent records of involuntary movements, and how closely related these are to processes upon which the success of the muscle-reader depends.

RUSSIAN ARCHAIC RESEARCHES ADJACENT TO
KOREA, AND KOREAN STONE IMPLEMENTS.
D. J. MACGOWAN, M.D.

IT

Korean Repository, Seoul, January.

T is well known that shell-mounds exist in some portions of the coasts of Japan, which abound in stone implements that were employed in prehistoric ages, and it is not a matter of surprise that similar monuments of antiquity have been discovered on the littoral of the Continent.

Various means may be employed to hold the attention of the subject in a definite direction, and in all he is instructed to think as little as possible of his hand, making an effort, if he chooses, to keep it from moving. A large screen is interposed between the subject and the recording apparatus, so that he may not get indirect knowledge from that of any movement of his hand. On the wall facing him, some eight feet distant, are some small patches of color, the names of which he is asked to give. These patches are so small as to necessitate close attention in their distinction, and the record of the hand, after the subject has been employed in this way for a minute or two, is usually quite significant. In an average result, the hand moves clearly and directly towards the wall where the colors hang; the movement is at times halting and uncertain, but its general trend is unmistakable. The result cannot generally be anticipated, because of the marked difference between individuals in the manifestation of involuntary movements, and also because the intensity of the attention and the momentary condition of the subject are important and variable characters in the result. With very good subjects, however, it becomes quite safe to predict the general nature of the result, and different tracings of the same subject bear a family resemblance.

Where the subject's attention was fixed upon colors on the wall arranged in three rows, the first being read from left to right, the second from right to left, etc., the record plainly indicates where the change of direction of reading took place; the correspondence between the movements of the hand and of the attention are perfect, whilst the movements are direct and extensive,

We may substitute reading from a printed page and obtain a very similar result; or the attention may be directed to a sound, as counting the strokes of a metronome. To obtain the results of visual impression a silently swinging pendulum is used. Thinking of a hidden object also produces striking

Kitchen-middens have been found, not far from the Tumen Ula-the boundary between the southern portion of the Siberian province, Primorsk, and the Korean province, Hamkyeng

and skulls, and grave-tumuli have been discovered in various places in the south-eastern part of Korea, containing, besides pottery and stone implements, rings of copper, heavily gilded, and parts of horse-trappings, such as buckles and ornaments. Hitherto Kitchen-middens have not been discovered in Korea; Korean archæological contributions have been derived from grave-tumuli, and are chiefly mortuary earthen vessels.

Not less interesting to archæologists are the primitive Korean stone culinary vessels that were used before the invention of the potter's wheel. None of them seem to have been dug from the tombs. These are found in the palaces, in the houses of the nobles, sometimes in temples, and curio-shops.

Those here catalogued represent the entire stock on hand in the shops of Seoul which have been almost emptied by foreign connoisseurs.

1. FURNACE WITH HANDLES AND COVER. Height, 7 inches; diameter across top, 9 inches; weight, 81⁄2 lbs. This represents what for lack of a better term might be called a covered saucepan with a fireplace, not underneath, but in the centre, the viands being placed in the space around it. The same vessel, made of earthernware, is often seen on festive occasions in southern China. It probably suggested the samovar, so indispensable to Russian socia! existence.

2. VESSEL FOR COOKING RICE. Depth, 34 inches; diameter, across ears, 17 inches; weight, 61⁄2 lbs.

3. OCTAGONAL FURNACE. Height, 71⁄2 inches; diameter, across top, 7 inches.

4. VESSEL. Height, 34 inches; diameter, across top, 10 inches; across mouth of bowl, 5%1⁄2 inches; depth of bowl, 24 inches. Some say that the hollow of these vessels with broad rims is used for charcoal fire; meat, fish, etc., being placed on the rim,

5. A CIRCULAR BOX WITH COVER. Height, 4 inches; diameter, 4 inches.

6. A SMALL FURNACE. Height, 5 inches; diameter, 434 inches.

7. FURNACE WITH HANDLES. Height, 8 inches; diameter, across top, 84 inches.

8. TEA-POT. Height, 4 inches; diameter, at base, 5 inches; weight, 3 lbs.; thickness, '/, of an inch. This tea-pot has the hammer of Thor (of Norse mythology) or the Indian swastika (myriad), in distinct relief.

9. INCENSE-BURNER. Height, 4% inches; diameter, 5 inches. 10. A SMALL BOX FOR HOLDING INCENSE.

At first glance the tea-pot vessels might be taken as evidence that the article was fabricated since the introduction of tea

drinking, but as a matter of fact Koreans do not use tea. Vessels of this description are made for infusing gentian and other herbs.

These utensils are a steatitic mineral, which from exposure to fire and oil assumed a bright black as if polished. They were all hewn from solid rock, one of the largest of them, is only one-fifth of an inch thick and being so thin exhibits great skill in chiseling.

ure.

Pots are met with having the capacity of over a peck measOne of this size, a present from the King of Korea to Dr. Allen, is in the museum of the Smithsonian Institute. It is circular, with projecting octagonal rim just below its mouth, has a rounded bottom, without legs, and was evidently constructed to be placed on an earthen or stone furnace. It is all hewn out of a single rock.

In the northern part of Korea, where this mineral is found, the octagonal pipes are cut with knives out of stone. Boxes for holding tobacco show, as well as tobacco-pipes, that stoneware working is not a lost art.

It is remarkable that while in the West tradition of an age of stone had been obliterated, and is known only by the discoveries of stone implements, tradition in Korea is explicit touching the use of stone anterior to the use of metals.

To return to Siberian archaic and ethnic researches. Apart from these prehistoric monuments, numerous discoveries have been made of cities that existed in the Usuri valleys and on the coast within the Pohai kingdom-coterminous with Korea -which flourished during the Tang epoch. Many of these have been described by M. Sheveleff, a painstaking Chinese scholar. Before I quitted Vladivostock, Prince Krapotkin informed me of another city, the remains of which he had just discovered. Thus the Repository will be probably the first in the field to make this known to English-speaking readers.

THER

THE AURORA BOREALIS. EDGARD HAUDIÉ.

Journal de Physique Théorique et Appliquée, Paris, February. HERE are two well-distinguished kinds of aurora borealis. When the phenomenon is feeble it appears simply in the form of glimmerings or of luminous clouds. When the aurora borealis is more strongly marked it takes the shape of an arc. These arcs may present various forms known by the names of curtains, bands, zones, and crowns. Auroras in zones and crowns, doubtless, do not differ from each other; the differences in appearance are due to a variation in the orientation of the crown in its position in respect to the observer. Auroras in the form of curtains or draperies are of great extent in length and height, but have no sensible thickness. They may go downward to within 600 metres from the ground. On the contrary, auroras in the form of zones and crowns, are always found at extremely great heights, sometimes exceeding 320 kilometres from the ground.

Thus, in the south of Greenland, the locality in which auroras are manifested extends from the most elevated regions of the atmosphere to the surface of the ground, while, in temperate countries the phenomenon occurs in the upper regions of the air only. If, then, the electrical nature of the phenomenon be admitted, this electrical current circulates in low latitudes in the highest regions of the atmosphere, and there produces discharges which have the appearance of rarefied gas, while the current descends to the surface of the ground in that part of the world which may be called the proper zone of the aurora borealis. The vertical direction of this current in Arctic countries, added to the variations in the density of the layers of air traversed by the current, must be the cause of the different appearances of the phenomenon in Arctic countries, and temperate regions of the globe.

The ordinary color of the aurora borealis is white with a slight tint of green or yellow. The cloudy forms have a more

greyish color. The edges of the draperies are often momentarily colored in red or green.

An important contribution to our knowledge of the aurora borealis is the observations of Mr. Adam F. W. Paulsen, made at Godthaab in the south of Greenland, during the winter of 1882-1883. Mr. Paulsen was a member of the Danish expedition sent to the Polar regions in the years named. It is only just now, however, that he has published the journal of his observations.

At Godthaab the maximum of daily auroral activity is at nine o'clock in the evening and the maximum of the year is about the time of the winter solstice. The series of Greenland observations shows a maximum of frequency when the number of solar spots is a minimum and inversely.

The law laid down by Mr. Tromholt, according to which the auroral zone changes its place in the course of twenty-four hours, in such a manner that during the night, it is directed towards the north, seems clearly contradicted by the observations of Mr. Paulsen.

Finally there has been observed a direct opposition between the maximum of frequency of auroras in Arctic countries and temperate regions. If this fact is general, it proves that a more active evolution of the phenomena of aurora borealis in low latitudes enfeebles the auroral activity in that part of the globe which may properly be called the zone of auroras.

THE EFFECT OF GAS AT HIGH PRESSURE IN SUBTERRANEAN REGIONS.

THE

M. DAUBRÉE.

Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, Paris.

HE mechanical power at work in subterranean regions, and which produces the external phenomena of volcanoes, has not yet been submitted to direct studies, and at first blush it does not appear to be of a nature that can be the subject of experiments. It is not impossible, however, it seems to me, to realize conditions, or something approaching them, which reproduce some of the natural laboratories to which I have alluded, and for this end it appeared to me that I might have recourse to the energetic production of force which explosives develop.

In my experiments I employed sometimes cotton-powder sometimes dynamite-gum. A little casemate, very solidly built, in which the explosions were produced, protected the operators from all injury.

Among the different questions which I attempted to solve by my experiments are:

1. The opening of vertical and cylinder-like chimneys, with which the crust of the earth is perforated in various regions, and especially in the diamond-producing country of Southern Africa, in most volcanic districts and elsewhere.

2. The breaking up of rocks and particularly the production of volcanic dust, the geological role of which gains wider, recognition every day.

3. The apparent plasticity of rocks, under the influence of mechanical efforts analogous to those of which we have innumerable examples, in the masses of matter which have been dislodged in various regions.

4. The working of the diamond mines of Southern Africa has revealed, among other important facts, a particular way in which the crust of the earth has been broken. This way

is by vertical canals, the remarkable characters of which have been exactly proved by the working of numerous mines. It would be difficult to see how any agent save a motive gas could produce the round and vertical perforations of which I have spoken. My experiments, however, seem to prove indubitably that these perforations are due to the action of compressed gas alone.

Equally established appears the theory that the canals of volcanoes are due to the same cause. The energy of the

mechanical power which resides in the interior of the globe, and which is an inseparable quality of elastic fluids under high pressure, is manifested clearly by volcanic phenomena.

In case of eruptions these elastic fluids spout forth violently and give evidence of their great tension by the height which they reach, a height rendered visible by the dust that they transport. This immense transportation of dust was especially noteworthy in the eruption of Cotopaxi in 1877, in the explosion of Krakatau in 1883, and the one which took place at New Zealand in 1886. This expansive force is clearly shown, moreover, by the throwing up of immense blocks, as has happened at Vesuvius, where gigantic fragments have been hurled, we are told, 1,200 metres above the summit, and have fallen to the ground 4,000 metres from the axis of the volcano. At Etna, the lava which often rises to the very top of this singular pyramid, rendered so imposing by its isolation, and to which the Arabians have given the name of Djebel (the mountain par excellence), comes from a reservoir certainly situated much below the level of the sea; it thus gives evidence, as Elie de Beaumont remarked, of a pressure of more than a thousand atmospheres.

THE ORIGIN OF THE VALLEY OF THE RHINE. A. DE LAPPARENT.

Comptes Rendus des Séances de la Société de Géographie, Paris, February.

R

ECENTLY Mr. Irénée Chiron undertook to demonstrate at a meeting of this Society, that hitherto we have been grossly mistaken in regard to the character of the chain of the Vosges Mountains; that these are not, as was thought, a line of heights parallel to the Rhine, but a succession of chains running from southwest to northeast, a succession proved by alternate bands of primary rocks, of granite, and of crystalline schists; that these chains were prolonged as far as the Black Forest, and that, if the valley of the Rhine broke their continuity, it was not by reason of a gap, but because the waters descending at a prehistoric epoch from the Vosges and the Jura cut a trench which was progressively deepened by the work of erosion.

This theory of Mr. Chiron is of a nature to cause geologists some surprise. The chain running in the direction from southwest to northeast, which that gentleman thinks he has discovered, is well known to geologists. Mr. Marcel Bertrand, in his work on the ancient orography of Europe, described it and gave it the name of the Hercynian Chain.

The mountains in question, after having had in all probability a height equal to that of the Alps which we know, were so thoroughly worn away at the beginning of the Secondary Period that of the Vosges there remained but one island, and when this last had furnished by its destruction the elements of the conglomerate known as Vosgian Grit, that part of the Hercynian Chain disappeared altogether.

Later there was an elevation of the land, but this time in a direction conformable to that of the present Vosges, engendering at the Jurassic epoch, at least a chain of islands, to the base of which came the polyps who built up the beautiful calcareous masses of Lorraine. The emersion of the Vosges was complete at the Cretaceous epoch and lasted until the middle of the Tertiary Period. Then only, and doubtless as the result of a wrinkling more and more accentuated, the key of the arch, which had already given more than one sign of weakness, broke and the whole mass tumbled to pieces. Then was born that linear ditch in which the Rhine flows to-day, but which before was an arm of the sea, connecting the Oligocene basin of Switzerland with that of Mayence.

Not only did the waters "of prehistoric times" find the valley of the Rhine all made; but at the epoch when this valley did not exist, and when the mass of the Vosges and of the

Black Forest stood at its extreme height, the sea occupied the place of Switzerland, and the Vosgian waters emptied into it. When, a long time after the digging out of the Rhine valley, the Alps were elevated in their turn, the great glaciers which were formed on them descended as far as Basle, and threw into the ditch of the Rhine the product of their fusion. Then, in the alternations of the Glacial Period this ditch was sometimes heaped up with alluvial matter, sometimes emptied by torrential waters; and thus were formed on its sides the terraces which Mr. Chiron has taken for a progressive hollowing of hard rocks. When, however, the work of the running waters formed these terraces, the ditch of the Rhine had existed for a long time and was even deeper than the valley through which the Rhine flows in our time.

EVOLUTION ACCORDING TO THEOSOPHY. HERBERT CORYN, F.T.S., M. R. C.S. ETC.

Lucifer, London, March.

HE fact is this. Man, as regards the type of his present

common type, which no longer exists, although science is aware of its nature. The various species of animals that now exist exhibit some tendency to vary, to ascend in the scale of adaptation. These branched out from earlier forms, and these from still earlier ones, and so on. But if we press back far enough we get behind science, to a type which to science reveals no traces, because all matter was then in a very "unscientific astral state. Therefore their fossils remain on that plane for the astral clairvoyant only. Perhaps one day, not distant, science will be astonished to find that its extra-sensif tive photographic plates are impressed with certain strange and unexpected pictures. Follow, then, the animal types back to the time when all matter was of astral tenuity. We know from The Secret Doctrine, that the very earliest life-type on this globe, that of man, was circular, oval, or formless, masses of fluidic astral jelly. These men of the first Races had no parts or structure-filmy "cells " of astral vapor. This, condensed into a small compass, would solidify into matter as we know it, the objective protoplasm, and-in its clear, gelatinous appearance, its shapelessness, tending to sphericity, its mobility, uniformity of structure, and properties—would closely resemble the present lowest unicellular organisms. And this is what happened, for the man of the first two Races was an expanded protozoön, an immense cell of astral jelly, which was and is eternal, propagating its like then in early man, as now in the protozoon by simply dividing into two. There neither was nor is death; it is the physical coat that dies, the secreted externalized body. Primeval man was the spherical cell from which sprouted the trunk of the biological tree. It was inhabited by a monad that had become human in the preceding Rounds, and whose astral coat was supplied for it by the Lunar Pitris. And just as the Pitris supplied the human monad with an astral coat of their own making, so man supplied from his astral envelope a coat for the less progressed animal monads. These, each in its coating, and modifying it in accordance with their inner potentialities and needs, assumed the primordial types of the animal kingdoms. These varying infinitely, with material solidification, gave rise to the branches whose first twigs are the fossils found to-day, and whose terminals are the types of to-day. Thus the Theosophic view, that the animal forms are derived from man, and not vice versa is as well able to account for the facts as any other view.

It may be asked whether Theosophy admits of the possibil ity of the monads now encased in animal organisms becoming human, and the reply is Yes, that is their destiny, but not in this Round. They are a Round behind us in consciousness, and must complete a whole septenary Round as animals before taking rank as man.

THE

RELIGIOUS.

THE RELIGIOUS SECTS OF RUSSIA. B. ESTLANDER.

Finsk Tidskrift, Helsingfors, February.

I.

HE most remarkable among the religious sects of Russia are the Raskols, the Molokans, and the Dukoborts. The Raskols were prominent as far back as the time of Peter the Great, but were at that time the Old Russian party of opposition against West European ideas. In this century, they changed entirely, and in the direction of liberality. They were a highly respected community, industrious, moral, and reliable; they did not use strong drink nor tobacco. Their distinguishing feature was culture. They could read, and were instructed in the Bible and other religious books; they established schools for the people; in education and religious matters they reckoned woman equal to man; they sought the real religious element behind the symbolic form. In our day, the Raskols are divided into many sects: the "priestly" are the most conservative; the "non-priestly," who are divided among themselves, are more progressive. But the sect does not now exercise the same great influence as before. The many new movements which have sprung up in southern Russia have pushed the older sects to the wall.

Among the new sects the Stundists are the most remarkable. They have spread with great rapidity throughout the land. The cause of their rapid progress is not to be found in one or more remarkable and strong personalities. It is, so to say, a movement without leaders. From the data obtained at the many Stundist trials, it appears that their progress is partly due to the incapacity of the orthodox priests to satisfy the peasants' spiritual needs, and partly to the oppression and daily sufferings of the people. Ratushin says: "When they cast me into prison, everybody was surprised that it was done, because I read the Scriptures. They, therefore, all read the New Testament. And the Scriptures set them free. When I was cast into prison the second time, still more people began to read. Thus have our doctrines been propagated, but not by anyone's preaching."

The doctrinal "system" of the Stunḍists is very indefinite. They reject all dogma; they make much of Christian love, which they preach and practice. Stadling says: "" The Stundists avoid deep philosophical speculations and endeavor to exercise practical Christianity on the foundation of the New Testament." As with the Raskols, so with these people, education and knowledge is highly esteemed.

The situation of the Stundists became very much embarrassed in the seventies, when the nihilistic propaganda was on the increase. The reaction got the upper hand, and in ecclesiastical matters the power of Pobedonostzeff, the General Procurator of the Holy Synod, was unlimited, particularly after .the regicide in 1881. In 1884 the Bishop of Mohileff reported to the Synod that 'the influence of the Stundists is very injurious to the people's religious faith, and that they create discontent among the people against the existing authorities of the State." He further says that if the State does not step in to take radical measures, "the movement will be the ruin of the Russian Church."

The same year, 1884, is remarkable in the history of the Russian sects for the discovery of an evangelical movement in St. Petersburg under the leadership of Pashkoff. It is specially remarkable because it began among the fashionable people and spread from them to the lower classes. For the first time in Russia is seen a spiritual union between the higher and the lower strata of society. Pashkoffism works mainly in the direction of evangelical benevolence, the distribution of Bibles, Testaments, and religious pamphlets.

In April, 1884, there was a general convention in St. Peters

burg of delegates from the Pashkoffites, the Stundists, the Molokans, and the Baptists. On the last day of the conven tion several delegates were elected; Pashkoff and Count Korf, the presiding officers, were banished from Russia; the depots of the Bible Society was confiscated, and all distributions of Bibles forbidden. Since that time nothing has been heard of Pashkoffism.

But new movements have been started in spite of the Church and the State, particularly, Christian communistic societies. Socialism and communism is nothing new among the Russian sects, but never before have they appeared in so definite forms as lately among the Shalaputs and the Sutajeffs. The latter sect is most interesting on account of its influence upon Leo Tolstoï.

His

Sutajeff was fifty years old when he began to teach. peculiar religious views originated in the contemplation of the misery he saw around him, and its contrast to the teachings of the New Testament. He read in Acts that the first Christians worked with their own hands, that they had everything in common, and he was startled by the actual condition of Christendom, as he saw it. His conscience reproved him; he sold his business and gave his earnings, 5,000 marks, to the poor. After that he returned to his homestead, and began to work in the fields.

Sutajeff's break with the Orthodox Church came gradually. He was dissatisfied with its ceremonies, and regarded them as lacking in moral power. We bear," he said, "the cross of Christ upon our breast, but we do nothing for the cause of Christ and His truth." It was never his purpose to form a new sect. There is but one religion, and that is love. We believe in the Trinity; God the Father is love, and Jesus Christ proclaimed love, and the Holy Ghost taught us the same by the Apostles. Our doctrine is that there must be no plundering of one another, no war, no usury, no trade, and no money." Such notions are preached by Sutajeff and his friends. The primitive Christian brotherly love is their principle, and it must be manifested in this life, "for we do not know what there is on the other side." When the tax-collector comes around, he allows him to satisfy himself from his property, but he will not pay him. When he is sentenced by a law court, he suffers his punishment, but he does not recognize the authority of the court. When his sons were taken to be soldiers, they suffered all kinds of torture, but would not take the arms, and were finally liberated. He has no locks for his barns and storehouses. Once, when he at night surprised some thieves on his property, he himself helped them to get off with their plunder. The next day, however, they returned the stolen property and repented their sin,

A

(To be continued.)

THE NESTORIAN CHRISTIANS.
FRIEDRICH VON HELLWALD.

Ausland, Stuttgart, No. 7, 1892.

MONG the relics and remnants of the historic churches of

the East, the Nestorian Christians constitute an interesting and important element. One section is found in Kourdistan, a wild country inhabited chiefly by a still wilder race of Mohammedans, who persecute and plunder their Christian neighbors without mercy. In a deep valley, surrounded by almost inaccessible mountains, lies Dshulamerk, their chief city, and the seat of the Patriarch. Their territory extends from the Tigris river, along the southern border of Armenia and into Persia for 450 kilometres, extending thence westward the same distance, and embracing the mountains and plains of ancient Assyria as far as Mossul, on the site of old Nineveh. In the east the territory includes a number of the most fertile plains of Persia. The name Nestorians they do not like, calling themselves Nasrani, by which appellation they are also known among their neighbors. Nasrani is the ordinary Arabic term for Christian, being derived from the word