by processes of liquefaction, maceration, disinfection, dilution, and equalizing of the temperature of all substances swallowed. "The fundus of the stomach is entirely different physiologically from the pylorus. The fundus is principally a receptacle for food. Its digestive capacity is slight. But the pylorus has considerable importance as a motor. It is also stated, in passing, that pure water remains in the stomach for a shorter period of time than any other known fluid.

Everything which produces gastric irritation retards the motive force of the stomach. Food substances of this kind, contrary to what might be expected, remain longer in the stomach than harmless ones.

"Vomiting is explained by the newer gastrologists in this way: If the stomach is unable to prepare food properly for intestinal digestion, a reversal of musculo-motor activity takes place and the ingesta are rejected. This explanation strikes us about as forcibly as that of the boy who said he had to throw up 'because he felt so dreadfully sick at the stomach.' Meanwhile we may be permitted to prophesy that, if experimentally-inclined clinicians shall continue to supply us with information of such revolutionary character, our text-books of physiology will have to be radically revised."

ENGLAND'S BACKWARDNESS IN SCIENTIFIC MANUFACTURING.

E

NGLAND has been waking up of late to the fact that some other countries have been outstripping her in certain branches of manufacture, especially those most closely connected with scientific research, such as the various chemical industries. While the Germans, for instance, highly skilled in methods of laboratory research, have spared neither time, labor, nor money to discover improved processes and new products, the English, satisfied with a so-called "practical" knowledge of the subject, have been plodding along in old ways. Thus Germany, the United States, and even such countries as Japan, are taking higher rank in certain lines. The remedy, as has been pointed out many times of late by far-sighted Englishmen of science, is an improvement in technical education. England's plight is not without its lesson for those among us who decry technical scientific education, and would have us rely on the "practical" work of apprentices, as our grandfathers did. Fortunately this country is well provided with scientific schools of the first rank, and we are not likely to go back to the methods of a past age. Where England stands to-day may be realized by reading the following paragraphs which we quote from an article by Prof. H. E. Armstrong on "The Place of Research in Education," published in Science Progress, London, January. His words will be likely to surprise many who have been accustomed to regard England as the manufacturing nation of the world par excellence. Says the Professor:

"Our policy is the precise reverse of that followed in Germany. Our manufacturers generally do not know what the word 'research' means; they place their business under the control of practical men, often admirable men in their way, possessed of much native wit, but untrained and therefore too often and necessarily unprogressive; and such men as a rule actually resent the introduction into the works of scientifically trained assistants. Hence there is no demand here for men who have been carefully trained as investigators; consequently our schools do not seriously attempt to train investigators; in this country such people are only born and grow spontaneously, the high-class manufactured article is made in Germany alone. We elect to sacrifice at the altars of the examination Fiend, for God he can not be called, and do our best to discourage the development of originality.

'Recently I met a friend who has not only distinguished himself by his intelligent criticism of a particular industry, but has become so interested in it that, having means at his disposal, he has himself become a manufacturer, affording a rare illustration of enterprise. I said: 'I trust you are going to work on German lines and engage a good chemist to systematically study your material, and so ascertain how its properties vary with its composition; for I have reason to think from direct experience that

much is to be learnt in this way which will make it possible to put the manufacture on a scientific basis.' His ready answer was: 'Oh, I've got to make the business a commercial success!' Of course I understood what he meant, while I felt that he could not fathom my meaning-he was too much an Englishman to do that. No doubt he will place his business in the sole charge of a practical man, and as long as it suffices to look only at the surface he will succeed; but then, not improbably, the Japanese will come in and beat him, for they have shown the world that they can organize as well as appreciate scientific method."

The writer narrates a story told by Mr. Lafoue, M.P., of an American customer who was in the habit of buying large quantities of a particular kind of leather in England, of then taking it to America and manufacturing it, returning the goods to England for sale. This man had remarked to Mr. Lafoue "that he had seen all the English works and did not care a fig for their competition-for they had not even begun to know how to make the best." Professor Armstrong concludes as follows:

"If the English nation is to do even its fair share of the work of the world in the future, its attitude must be entirely changed— it must realize that steam and electricity have brought about a complete revolution, that the application of scientific principles and methods is becoming so universal elsewhere, that all here who wish to succeed must adopt them and therefore understand them. It rests with our schools to make the change possible."

THE

EVIDENCES OF AN ANTARCTIC CONTINENT. HE Government hydrographers, according to The Scientific American (January 25), have received from mariners many reports that go far toward strengthening the prevailing belief that there exists around the South Pole a great ice-bound continent of considerable elevation. Some of these reports are thus summarized in connection with an ice chart recently issued by the Naval Hydrographer:

"On no other frequented trade-route are vessels so liable to be obstructed by drift ice as in that portion of the South Atlantic lying to the east of Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands. As given by the most reliable authorities, the mean ice limit for this region runs northeastward from Cape Horn through latitude 50° south, longitude 52° west, as far as latitude 42° south, longitude 35° west, the occurrence of ice north of the fortieth parallel being

rare.

The chart shows the limits, according to the numerous reports received by the United States Hydrographic Office, of the enormous ice-fields encountered by mariners in those waters during the exceptionally severe years of 1892 and 1893. All of these reports agree in describing the icebergs seen during these years as colossal in height and extent, and herded so closely together that any attempt to force a passage through the main body of the drift was attended by grave danger, many vessels being more or less damaged by collision, and two lost.

"A remarkable feature of the ice seen during these years was the different age of neighboring bergs, many of them presenting the sharp outline, jagged edge, and perpendicular face of recently detached ice, while others showed evidence of having been long afloat. Earth stains and discolorations upon several showed that at some period they had been in contact with the land.”

AT a special meeting of the Biological Section of the New York Academy of Sciences, held on January 31, to discuss the origin of instinct with reference to the inheritance of acquired character, Principal C. Lloyd Morgan, of Bristol, Eng., says Science," described his interesting experiments with chicks and ducklings, and held that these and other evidence tend to show that instincts are not perfected under the guidance of intelligence and then inherited. A chick will peck instinctively at food, but must be taught to drink. Chicks have learned to drink for countless generations, but the acquired action has not become instinctive."

"ONE of the most important of the suggested applications of the Röntgen light is that which relates to the detection of flaws in metals," says Industries and Iron. "That the light can be utilized for this purpose is stated on the authority' of Prof. Oliver Lodge, who is reported to say that he himself has proved by experiment the use of the light for this purpose. It is exceedingly doubtful, however, that the new photographic discovery will be able to effect anything more than is practicable by the ordinary photographic methods, as, seemingly, every metal except aluminum is as impervious to the rays of one light as to the other."

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD.

IN

A CHARGE AT ISRAEL.

N the course of a very long critical review of a number of recent books by and concerning Jews, a contributor to The Quarterly takes occasion to remark that it is a widespread and perhaps a natural delusion to suppose that the modern Jew regulates his conduct by the Old Testament, diligently read and fervently followed. He asserts that private judgment of this philosophic kind has never had its day in Israel; that the Jews, as a nation, not only do not read the Bible, but are unacquainted with its contents. In this connection he says:

"When Moses Mendelssohn desired to recall his brethren from the hateful or absurd, nay the blasphemous traditions which overspread their Law as with a veil, he found it necessary that the Pentateuch should be rendered into German. In the Hebrew it was to most of them, as Graetz is willing to admit, a strange and even an unintelligible book. The translation was resented

by orthodox leaders, not as being superfluous, but on the ground that to read any German writing whatsoever was a mortal sin. Long ago the proverb ran in Israel that the Bible, compared with the Mishna, 'was as water unto wine.' Erudite rabbis could not have repeated the Ten Commandments; and the commentary was always more inspired than the text."

Common Jewish observances, says the writer, are enough to prove that Judaism is a religion of the letter, casuistically interpreted, abounding in burdens subtle and fantastic, which, by leaving the power of anathema in the hands of the, rabbis, has set up an omnipotent tribunal from which, except at the price of apostasy, there is no escape. What has Jacob created in our day? he asks. The answer is, in part:

"A world of speculation; unbounded facilities of enjoyment for those who know how to gamble skilfully in a rising or a falling market; some light and sensuous music-and that is all. He seems to have taken in earnest the cynical aphorism, 'If you want to make money, be sure not to make anything else.' True it is that he did not invent, he has brought to perfection la réclame, 'the art of puffing,' and la névrose, ‘the malady of the rich.' But in science, physical, biological, metaphysical; in productive industry and the active work of commerce; in exploration of new countries; in mining, railway-making, tunnel-piercing; in the improvement of agriculture, the progress of machinery, the arts of design; in any work which demands the power of patient research, and the gift of combining details into an artistic whole, the Jewsave only where the history and antiquities of his own race are concerned-has done so little that, if his name were blotted from the chronicle of labor wrought with head or hand during the last century, it would not be missed, nor would mankind be visibly the poorer. That is no light statement; it is, however, one which, if untrue, admits of easy refutation. Let the catalog be drawn out, the names inserted of those Hebrew men or women who, apart from the flying squadrons of journalism, have by plans which they did actually invent, by forces physically applied, by intellectual generalizations fruitful in results, and not merely by issuing prospectuses and dealing on 'Change, produced something tangible."

At another place, after asking the questions: "What true ideas have the Jews broached? What lasting institutions have they founded?" the writer says:

"The Christian state establishes freedom, gives the individual fair play, aims at social justice as the outcome, not so much of law as of character, and opens into a communion of interests which are not simply founded on appetite. To all its enactments, so far as they embody its genuine spirit, immortality and the life to come furnish the preamble. How much it has fallen short of its aim is not now in dispute. The aim itself, thus conceived, gives it a quality which no Positivist, or Agnostic, or mere Jewish Socialism could ever possess. It would be a miracle indeed if the modern Jew, petrified in his Talmud, or revolting against it in a humor no less carnal than its own, should rise into the atmosphere

Again the writer asks a question: "Shall Europe, then, fall back on the Middle Age, stir up the people, set on fire the palaces of Rothschild and Oppenheim, preach with Stöcker, Drumont, Lüger, and the anti-Semites a holy war?" Not, he answers, unless we have ceased to believe in our own. cellent way. The anti-Semite is at one extreme, as the abstract Liberal is at the other. "Israel sits in high places only because Japhet has cast himself down." We quote the conclusion of the article:

There is a more ex

"One step onward brings us to the Christian state, with its long and splendid history of achievements, inspired by the something beyond time, the immortal Spirit, that reveals itself to men as a philosophy incarnate in the gracious figure whom Israel has disowned. As Christendom-rent asunder by the Revolution, pulverized by an atomic Atheism which knows nothing of God and dissolves mankind to its elements-becomes a living soul again, the consciousness will grow within us that economics must be transformed in the light of our ideals. What is the mission of the Jews?' their own writers ask, sadly or scornfully; and no one can answer them. But the mission of Christendom is plain enough. It is not to accumulate money, or to hold the nations to ransom by a cheating commerce, or to buy amusement with the proceeds of speculation. So far as we do thus, we have become worshipers of that Moloch whose effigy is the golden calf. We have yet to learn that there is another value than market-value, a traffic in goods of the mind wherein gold is not the circulating medium. Anti-Semites proclaim that we have need of a Parliament of Christian economics, and a magistracy that shall enforce the decrees-too often a dead-letter-which in the common law of Europe forbid gambling with the necessaries of life, and declare fraudulent contracts to be null and void. It is a just demand. Reasonable, also, it is to take measures lest a close oligarchy, aliens in blood and faith, hold the material resources of these countries in their hands. At last, however, the triumph of Judaism springs from our own disloyalty to the creed in which we were born. Let there be seen a genuine Christian society, determined to live according as it believes, and Israel will cease to usurp those things which he never could have produced, and even now can hardly be said to enjoy. Like a troop of Bedouins, he is encamped on the ruins of Christendom. But he will never be at home except in the Judengasse, or, if he has still the heart of David and Maccabæus, in the city of Zion."

THE Kansas City Star a short time ago gave a very interesting inter view with Bishop Hendrix of the Methodist Church, South, who has just returned after a tour of inspection of the mission-fields of his church in Korea, Japan, and China. In his official palace in Pekin he had an interview with Li Hung Chang, whom he regards as "the greatest living Asiatic." The special interest in the Bishop's conference with the great Chinese statesman appears in his message to the American churches: Say to the American people for me, to send over more men for the schools and hospitals, and I hope to be in a position both to aid and to

protect them."

PRESENT APPEARANCE OF JERUSALEM.

T°

‘O enter Jerusalem by railway truly seems against the fitness of things. Jerusalem has, however, lost the sacred seclusion in which it so long dwelt, and travelers come and go as they do at any other place of interest. A contributor to The Speaker (London) gives a graphic description of the city as it appears today, first telling how the steamers of the different lines which sail along the Syrian coast unload travelers at Jaffa, at which place the great majority of persons going to Jerusalem land. Jerusalem stands about twenty-six hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and the railway thither is therefore constantly rising. We are told that a wilder and more desolate piece of traveling it would be difficult to imagine. The writer says:

"The sacred city, like most Eastern cities, has a splendor of the distance which a closer acquaintance does a good deal to dispel. Seen from the Mount of Olives in the light of the morning sun, it looks fair and beautiful. Its domes, and towers, and bastions stand out clear in the light; and tho it wants the charm which water and foliage alone can give, there is a certain rugged grandeur in the old city with its scarped and rocky wild fields. The city itself is dirty and repulsive; its streets are narrow and squalid. It is true that in these filthy lanes there is a certain quaintness and picturesqueness. The houses are so close that the higher stories sometimes touch, and you have occasional glimpses of pretty bits of ancient or medieval architecture. The people have the color and variety of costume which distinguish an Eastern crowd. Jews and Arabs, Greeks and Armenians, jostle each other in these contracted thoroughfares. The camels make their way through the streets of the city with as much unconcern as if they were traveling in the desert."

The supreme interest of Jerusalem is, of course, its religious feature. Even the "business" of the city is "religion." It has no trade, in the ordinary sense of the word, but it is a prolific manufactory of mementos. Its great buildings are churches and mosques. The shadow of a municipality exists, but nothing can be done without the sanction of the Turkish governor. Dirt and squalor, a bad water-supply, streets without light after sundown, etc., attest the presence and mastery of the Moslem. We quote again :

'As soon as the visitor commences his exploration of Jerusalem, he finds himself involved in disputed questions of topography. Recent explorations have done much to increase our knowledge of the city in the time of Christ, but there is nothing which is not the subject of controversy. The great and crucial question of the site of Calvary is still an unsettled problem. Up till recently no one doubted that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built over the tomb of the Savior and on the hill of Calvary. This is still the universal belief of the Catholics, Greeks, and Armenians in the city itself, and many of them would die rather than surrender it. General Gordon, however, has completely shaken the foundations of the ancient theory. Christ, as we know, suffered 'without the gate.' The Calvary of the Holy Sepulcher is within the present wall, and it is difficult to believe that the wall of the old city was more circumscribed than the existing one. If so, Jerusalem must have been a smaller place than it now is, which, in view of the description of Titus, is difficult to suppose. General Gordon located Calvary on a hill in the north of the city outside the present wall. The hill has some resemblance to a skull, and it has been left almost in its natural state. On the side of the hill there is a tomb cut out of the rock, which, if General Gordon's theory be correct, may have been the true Holy Sepulcher. Some other authorities place the scene of crucifixion on the top of the Temple Mount, over which the Mosque of Omar is now built; but this view finds little support. The passing visitor to Jerusalem is bound to accept the situation, and he therefore makes the round of the holy places, humbly submitting himself to the authoritative declarations of the guides who accompany him. The first thing that strikes one as he enters the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the presence of the Turkish Guard. They are lounging in the divan, smoking and talking with the most absolute indifference to the character of the sacred building. They are not, however, placed there as an evidence

of Moslem power, but solely to prevent the Christians from flying at each other's throats on the very hill of the Crucifixion. The church itself is divided among the different Christian sectsCatholics, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, and Copts. Each has its own chapel, and only the Chapel of the Tomb itself is common to all. Every point of interest within the church is fixed with the most minute accuracy. Here Mary Magdalene stood; there the body of Christ was anointed; at another the angels were seen after the Resurrection; and so on. The central point of interest The

is the Chapel of the Tomb itself. It is only six feet by six. Tomb itself is covered with marble. Forty lamps constantly burning are hung from the roof, and these lamps are carefully divided among the different Christian bodies in proportion to their numbers. A priest is always standing in silent prayer beside the tomb. All the day long devout pilgrims are passing in and out of the Chapel of the Sepulcher.

AN ESSENTIAL TO GENUINE CONVERSION. one who has never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but is living in full harmony with the moral and spiritual light received, says the New York Christian Advocate, it is necessary only that he should hear the Gospel preached, believe that it came from God, and accept it. The new light, together with the infusion of the Holy Ghost, would qualify him as quickly as it did Cornelius to enter upon an active Christian life. The editor continues:

"But before one who, having heard the Gospel, recognized it to be from God, and spent a single day in sin, can take one step, he must be convinced of sin. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin. Without this there is no basis for repentance, much less for faith. The mind and will may make every effort possible, ponder the writings of the wisest teachers, listen to the sermons of the most spiritual preachers, pore over the Bible itself; yet to introduce into the soul the faith which is counted unto one for righteousness, the faith that overcometh the world, the faith that saves, all would be powerless, without repentance; and repentance is impossible without conviction of sin. Conviction of sin is the most unpleasant sensation a human being ever experienced. It breaks down self-conceit, it destroys self-trust, it is misery.

"Even a child that has been conscious of a single wrong act must have conviction of sin, and it must be strong enough to make repentance a setting of the whole mind against sin, and not a mere determination not to do that one thing again. Every socalled conversion not preceded by self-condemnation, as a positive, painful experience, is spurious. Whether the person will be driven almost wild by it depends upon his past history, whether his sins have been of an obvious and dreadful character independently of their sinfulness, and upon his temperament and his surroundings."

But there is no efficacy in misery, says the writer. To work a man up into a condition in which he thinks he is going to drop into perdition is not of the least efficiency. It may be of importance to arouse fear in order to draw his attention to religion, but a sense of "the exceeding sinfulnesss of sin," so that the subject, tho there would be no future punishment, would rejoice with joy unspeakable to be set free from its guilt and power, is the real essence of conviction. To quote again :

"Yet' each year less and less is said about sin, and much of what is said lacks that quality which the New Testament calls 'manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.' It is portentous that genuine solemnity has departed from many so-called revivals. The only explanation is, that for the sense of sin has been substituted the ideas that a person must become a Christian some time, that this is a favorable time, and that the way to become such is to comply with the various propositions that are made. The consequence is that two weeks after the special efforts have ceased the convert has nothing to say, can not give account of any special change, is powerless in explaining to others what has taken place, has no testimony to offer that would interest or create an impression of the reality of conversion. It would be far better to preach the

Testament. In the New Testament we read that Jesus had to put an end to the tumult at the death-bed of the daughter of Jairus (cf., on the whole, Ezek. xxiv. 16-24). It is apparent from the above that the Christians in Palestine have substantially the same funeral customs as observed by the people of the country from the earliest age.

HOW BROWNING MADE A CHRISTIAN.

DR.

R. EDWARD BERDOE, the well-known authority on Browning, tells in the preface of his new book, "Browning and the Christian Faith," how a study of the work of the poet led him from Agnosticism back to Christianity. Twenty years ago, after a long course of reading the works of agnostic teachers, Dr. Berdoe ceased to believe in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. He no longer believed in the God of the Bible, and did not think that any conception of the Supreme Power presented to the mind in any of the religious systems was supported by sufficient evidence to satisfy a scientific thinker. On the whole, such fragments of Buddhism as he had been able to appreciate seemed to be more satisfactory than anything else in the way of religious teaching. Dr. Berdoe goes on to tell that it was his good fortune one day to hear a lecture by Mr. Moncure D. Conway on Browning's "Sordello." Up to that time he had read little of the poet, but on the following day he purchased a set of Browning's works. He says:

"The first poem I read was ‘Saul.' I soon recognized that I was in the grasp of a strong hand, and as I continued to read 'Paracelsus,' 'Men and Women,' and 'A Death in the Desert' the feeling came over me that in Browning I had found my religious teacher, one who could put me right on a hundred points which had troubled my mind for many years, and which had ultimately caused me to abandon the Christian religion. I joined the Browning Society, and in the discussions which followed the reading of the papers I found the opportunity of having my doubts resolved, not by theological arguments, but by those suggested by Browning as 'solving for me all questions in the earth and out of it.' By slow and painful steps I found my way back to the faith I had forsaken."

Roman Catholic Praise of Christian Endeavorers.—Some cordial words of commendation of the Christian Endeavor Society are uttered by The Catholic Review, New York, which wishes that it could transfer a little of the Endeavorers' "enthusiasm and intense zeal and devotion to the tepid, halfhearted portion of our own people who are mere nominal Catholics." Among other things this paper says: "Now, we maintain that there is no use in pooh-poohing, much less in ridiculing this grand moral movement. Their aim and their motives are good.

Of course, like all such movements it is composed of mixed elements, good, bad, and indifferent. What the outcome will be who can predict? As Catholics we know perfectly well where the grand defect-the really weak point lies-the want of a definite, fixed faith and a recognized spiritual authority. No doubt there will be parties, cliques, and cabals, and eventually they may all split up and the energies of the society be dissipated by the ambition of interested and selfish leaders. But for the present they seem to be doing a good work. Any organization of earnest zealous Christian people who aim at stemming the tide of corruption, purifying politics, elevating the moral tone of communities, and encouraging a more decided type of Christian citizenhip certainly is not to be despised. We may well say with the Apostle : 'But what then? So that by all means, whether by occasion or by truth Christ be preached; in this also I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.' Nor need we be ashamed to emulate their zeal, their enterprise, and their aggressive devotion in laboring for the good of their fellow men."

A Hopeful View of Church Union.-"Fundamental to any possibility of church union is the existence of a tolerant theology. As long as Christians feel that their conscience and their religion demands that they be illiberal and intolerant in holding their theological ideas there is no possibility of any draw

ing together of God's people. The greater hope of approaching unity which is abroad to-day is most intimately connected with the broader spirit in the theological thinking which is growing to-day. As men grow in consideration for one another's views they grow in possible cooperation. We used to think that it would be almost wicked to let a Calvinist preach in an Arminian pulpit; it was giving consent unto falsehood. In learning toleration of one another's opinions, we have made possible cooperation in one another's labors. A perception of the freer spirit of thinking abroad in our churches is the reason for the hopeful spirit of prophecy in the matter of church union which dwells in many hearts and is voiced by many pulpits. As long as our churches remained narrow they were necessarily bound to continue isolated one from the other; as we broaden we come together. Indeed, to-day there is evidence that the liberal portion of each sect is prepared to come together. I doubt if it would take long for the liberal Presbyterians, and Congregationalists, and Baptists to get up their system of federation; at heart they are already one. In that spirit, therefore, which is the constantly and necessarily growing spirit in our churches, the tolerant liberal mind and heart in that is a genuine day-star in this matter. It is a brightening prophecy of what is to be.”—The Church Union (Evangelical).

Religious Indulgence in India. The London Missionary Society, or at least some of its missionaries, attributes much of the success attending the work of the Salvation Army in India to the fact that it does not administer either baptism or the Lord's Supper. In that country a man or woman may attend any meeting, and as many of them as they please, but so long as they do not submit to baptism their caste is not broken, and they therefore do not encounter the persecution which befalls those who make a formal profession of Christianity. Whether the Army is wise in disregarding the ordinances of religion, we do not feel called upon to decide, but in so doing they are merely following in the steps of George Fox and his successors. Yet, in view of the unavoidable hardship which is sometimes involved in requiring a polygamous convert to forsake all but his first wife, we are disposed to query whether the ordinary rule should be invariably adhered to. With the growth and development of missionary work, it may be necessary to make exceptions and modifications to the social usages which are inseparable from European Christianity. The matter is important."— The Episcopal Recorder.

RELIGIOUS NOTES.

THE subject of "The Derivation of the Ethics of Buddhism was discussed at the first meeting for the new year of the Victoria Institute of London. A careful examination of the Buddhist writings and of the Ola Testament show that every valuable modern precept inculcated by Buddha and his followers was freely taught by Moses and the prophets centuries before Buddha existed. The ethics of Buddhism were evidently derived from those nations with whom the inhabitants of India had commercial and other relations, including the Jewish, which was in its greatest prosperity. 500 years before Buddha is said to have existed.

A PASTORAL letter on gambling was read from pulpits of the Presby. terian Church of England the last Sunday in January. It was issued in the name and by the authority of the Synod, and in addition to the signature of Dr. J. Monro Gibson, who drew it up, it was signed by Rev. Richard Leich, M. A., Moderator, Rev. Wm. McCaw, D.D., and Rev. W. M. McPhail, M.A.

The Christian Advocate has this to say of freethinkers: "It was the saying of a great man respected alike for his moral character and intellect that 'freethinkers are rarely close-thinkers.' It has been said also by some hot-headed debater that all 'freethinkers' are ready to make and propagate a falsehood against Christianity.''

The Lutheran Observer "takes pleasure" in stating that the Hon. G. L. Wellington, the Senator-elect from Maryland, is a Lutheran of the General Synod type. "He is a member," it says, "of our German church in Cumberland. For years he was the Sunday-school superintendent, and also a member of the council."

EXTENSIVE preparations are now being made in Washington, D. C., to entertain the great Christian Endeavor convention next July. A resolution has already been introduced into the Senate to grant the use of the White Lot and Monument grounds.

The Christian Observer, of Louisville, publishes each year a list of the boys and girls throughout the congregations of the Presbyterian Church, South, who commit and recite Bible verses and the Shorter Catechism, The list for 1895 has just appeared containing nearly 1,800 names.

IT is said that Japanese Buddhists are imitating Christians in organized efforts to extend their religion. They have started Young People's Societies of Buddhist Endeavor, Young Men's Buddhist Associations, etc.