SCIENTIFIC GOSSIP.

REMARKABLE EXHIBITION OF THOUGHT READING.

" Thought-reading " is the name given to a new manifestation of the class of psychological phenomena known as mesmeric or spiritual. The possession of the gift is claimed by Mr Washington Irving Bishop, a young American, resident in London. He is so far from being a spiritist or professional medium that he has been distinguishing himself as a lecturer on the other side, denouncing and exposing the frauds of the spiritual fraternity. The occasion on which he introduced himself was a private meeting of scientific celebrities whose names are so well known as to impart confidence to the outside world that they would not be parties to a deception, and to warrant the ex pectation that they would not spare any pains to get to the bottom of any mystery presented to them. Amongst those present were Sir John Lubbock, Dr Lyon Playfair, Professor Burdon Sanderson, Mr Francis Galton, Professor Croom Robertson, Professor Charlton Bastian, Dr Andrew Clark, Professor Ray Lancaster, and Mr Moncure Conway. There is not the slightest suspicion that either fraud or collusion could have been brought into play. The powers of Mr Bishop may be inferred from an experi ment conducted by Dr Lyon Playfair. The thought-reader was required to leave the room while the professor hida small object, to return blindfolded and to find the thing hidden. Before retiring, Mr Bishop stroked down the back of Dr Playfair's left hand. He then left the room under strict surveillance. During his absence the professor hid a small object in one place, and then removed it to another —a locality not at all likely to be suspected even by. a person even with his eyes wide open.. The thought reader returned with his eyes bandaged, and took Dr Playfair's left hand, pressed the back of it to his forehead, and kept it firmly there while he dragged its owner wildly round the room in search of the thing hidden, all the while seemingly in a condition of mental ecstacy. When he approached the spot, or "got warm" asjthe children say when playing at a similar game, he laid his finger within an inch of the hiding place, and then proceeded to root out the object. A second experiment conducted by the doctor was quite as successful, although less wonderful. The Chairman of Committees thought of a word, and Mr Bishop guessed it, but the word was "Speaker," the selection of which by the catechist showed his simplicity. If he had thought of almost any other word the task would have been more difficult. But "Speaker!" why, of course, it must be con tinually in his mind, and the guess may be regarded as showing that Mr Bishop is as much of a humorist as of a thought-reader. Professor Ray Lancaster tried an experiment of a dif ferent kind. He thought of a local pain, and asked where it was. The guesser laid his hand on the professor's jaw, and he was right, for the thought was of the toothache. Several of the experiments failed, but it is a noteworthy fact that many of those present regarded the failures as even more convincing than the suc cesses, the disturbing elements being so obvious that the exceptions proved the rule. He failed in four guesses out of ten, Dr Pye Smith and Professors Bastian and Croom Robertson having baffled him, but the last named was so impressed with what he had seen that next day he wrote to Mr Bishop, telling him that "the distraction caused by a miscellaneous talking crowd seemed to give no fair play after the first few minutes," and asking for the favor of a less crowded seance. This request has been granted, and no doubt- the particulars respecting it will be published in due course. The opinions of the assembled savans were of course diverse. One supposes that Mr Bishop is not a thought-reader, but a muscle-reader; that while grasping the hand of the person who has hid the object he is un consciously guided to the place of its deposit Another imagines that he reduces himself to the condition of a hypnotised subject, or like one who is obedient to the will of an electro biologist, and becomes a passive instrument in the hands of the experimenter. Others suppose that he is a picture-reader, or a sensation reader ; but these are meaningless phrases. It does not matter how he may be designated, the phenomena remain not the less wonderful.

The Pitiless Outrages on the Jews in Russia.

THE Jewish agitation continues to occupy the public mind. Proclamations inciting the people against the Jews and thu wealthy classes have been distributed at Moscow and St. Petersburg, and considerable anxiety is felt at the former place, where the number of troops is much less than at the latter. The band of peasants who attacked the Jews at Volocyska consisted of twenty horsemen, well armed, and preceded by a drummer. This party likewise committed excesses at Holochvasty. Disgraceful pro ceedings are reported from Tarnoruda and Stamff. The Jewish houses at Lityn and Mohileff have also been destroyed. At Odessa the houses of the Jews have been plundered, and as far as possible rendered uninhabitable. The troops ultimately interfered, but made a very spare use of their weapons, and did not fire at all. The ringleaders were Moscow working men, and the victims were chiefly small tradespeople. The same day the Jews were attacked at Smiela, which is situated between Tscherkassi and Spola. A company of infantry was quartered there, but appears to have been outnumbered by the peasants, and obliged to remain on the defensive until reinforcements arrived. In this place there were a number of killed and wounded. At Kieff the total amount of damage done may be estimated at from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 roubles. The Kieff periodical, the "Zaria, gives the following particulars in an appeal to the public for relief on behalf of the unfortu nate Jews:—" What I have witnessed to-day defies all description; nor can I find words to express my feelings at the sight of thousands of poor people left without shelter and without means of subsistence—persecuted, hated, and foully treated. At Petschersk, where I was told that the Jews who had been plundered had found a refuge, behind a Lavra Gate, in an enclosure that serves as an ammunition store for the Arsenal, I beheld a truly heart rending sight. Packed together, like ants in an ant-hill, were more than 1,800 Jews with their wives and children—many of them mere infants. They were clad in rags and bare footed. Many of them bore traces of ill-treat ment, and a number of them had bandaged heads. All were ghastly pale and terror stricken. As I approached them I saw a boy of ten dying in terrible agony. His mother sat by him, tearless, as if too deeply afflicted to weep. A little farther on I came across another mourning group. Then I penetrated into their midst. What I saw there was enough to unnerve the strongest man. A heart of stone would have melted. I was told that amongst these wretched beings awful scenes had been witnessed. Mothers had lost their children, and there had been fights and struggles for the limited space allotted to them. All this had taken place at night in bad weather. Many of them told me their tale of woe. One of them said, 'I had 20,000 roubles and a small farm. Now I have nothing but the rags on my back.' Another addressed me thus :' My two brothers were killed in the wood last night, and I do not know what fate has befallen my son.' A third said, They wanted to hang my mother, but she escaped with a rope round her neck.' A fourth stated his case thus:- 'They have robbed us of every thing, even of our clothes, leaving us naked as you see. 3" A deputation of leading Jews resi dent in St. Petersburg, including Baron Guns berg, the banker, has.been.jepejyed by the

Emperor at Gatschina. After Baron Guns« berg had assured his Majesty of the loyalty and devotion of his Jewish subjects, the Emperor allswed the deputation to enter into particulars on the Jewish Question, and finally requested them to draw up a memorial on the subject, to be addressed to Count Ignatief, the Minister of the Interior. The deputation left Gatschina highly pleased with their reception.

How to Increase Potato Crops.

A rROviNcrAL French agricultural journal gives the following interesting and useful hints for itacreasingthe potato crops ; — Let us suppose that the planting has been well carried out with tubercules of medium size in ground which had been well dug and manured with dead leaves during the autumn, and again in the spring, and also that it has not grown potatoes for at least five or six years. It is known that potatoes are not roots, but tubercules—that is to say, a species of under-ground stalks inflated with fecula. These stalks only appear when the exterior stems are almost entirely developed and begin to bloom. It occurs with this as with the branches of trees —whilst the sap flows towards the centre of the branch the eyes at the base do not move, but attempt to bend the branch when in full vegetation, and it will snap at the eye. The cultivators of trees take advantage of this fact to dwarf them. Instead, then, of letting the sap flow freely into the stalks of the potato plants you bend them when they grow above ground the result will be that the sap thus checked above will flow back to the dor mant eyes, and form the tubercules more freely. This is not, however, our method of proceeding. We do just the reverse; and in stead of bending the stalks of our potatoes we earth them up as straight as possible, and thus retard the growth of the tubercules, whilst at the same time we diminish them. The result of our system was a fine crop. A gardener at Couvin, Hainaut, showed us a potato planta tion where the stalks were spread out in a circle, and a strong mound raised in the middle, sustained the arches. It must be owned that spreading out the stems in this fan-like form takes up too much room; we, therefore, only bent them on one side of the line, and arranged the earth so as not to cover the extremities of the stalks, which soon rose up, whilst still fixed down at the surface root. This operation should be performed in fine weather—too soon, it weakens the young shoots ; too late, the sap will be too much reduced, and will produce no perceptible results. The right moment is when the stems are about half the height to which they usually attain, according to their species. The manuring with rotten leaves does not dis pense with the necessity for weeding and second dressing. Potatoes flourish best in a .soil which is often deeply dug.

Yankee Dexterity.

(A YANKEE YARN.) It was during the Crimean war that three officers, one an Englishman, one a French man, and the other a Yankee, who had joined the allies, got into a dispute as to which was: the beet swordsman. The dis pute iinally grew bo hot as to end in a chal lenge to mortal combat, the survivor to wear the laurels. As duelling was contrary to army regulations, and the affair coining to the ear of the commanding officer, he at once took measures to put a stop to it; but as all the officers were anxious to witness a trial between these noted experts, he hit upon a plan that would test their skill and at the same time not transgress any of the rules. There were three prisoners under sentence of death, and the commandant decided to let the belligerents act as execu tioners, and the one that would perform the duty with the greatest skill should be de clared the Tictor. So on the day appointed a large number of officers were present to witness the trial of skill. The Englishman was the first one called upon, and singling out his man, drew his sword with a flash, and with a single stroke severed the head from the body; Great applause followed. Then the Frenchman's turn came next. He, drawing a narrow ribbon from his pocket, tied it around the nock of the victim : then, turning his back upon the prisoner, his sword Hew from its scabbard, and turning on his heel at the same time, with one stroke cut the head from his victim, splitting the ribbon through the centre. Tremendous applause followed, and the universal opinion was that he certainly would be the victor. Now came the Yankee's turn. He calmly walked ap to his man, drew his sword with the rapidity of lightning, and giving it a flourish, around his head, sheathed it as quickly, and turning saluted the com mander. Hisses and groans went up from the crowd, and the commander sternly asked him what he meant by such contempt. The Yankee, turning to the man he was to have slain, said, " Will you please to spit, sir ? " The man attempted to comply with the request, when his head rolled off, it having been so quickly severed that he did not know it until he went to move his head. The Yankee wore the belt.

A Visit to Hanlan.

AN Australian who visited Toronto in May last called on the champion sculler, Haulan. Writing to a friend in Sydney he says:— "I found Hanlan at his island home. I saw a young Irish-looking man, about fire feet eight inches, ordinary build, with a physique more suggssthre of activity than than strength, and as I looked at him could not refrain from wondering how inch a littls fellow could beat men like Trickett and Layc-jck. Informed him I w;i3 an Aus tralian. He received me very hospitably, and appears to be a very decent, respectable fellow. He showed me the boats in which he pulled Xrickett and the others, and epoke of Irickett several times as being a gentleman. He also said Trickett pulled very well in the first part of the race, but suddenly gave in, and that he pulled away from Layoock at the start. He said Trick ett was much underrated iv America, and that if he came over they would find out their mistake. Hanlan said that he learnt all his rowing on the lake, and that they had never had any one in Toronto of any note as a puller bsfore his time. This in« creases the difficulty of understanding how he acquired his skill. Toronto is a village even as, compared with Sydney, and is several hundred of miles inland, and distant from the large seaport towns where rowing is practised. It is the same as if a man from Lake Geor&e.in the Goulbourn district,. should suddenly come forth and astonish the world,with the exception that at Lake George he could practise all the year around, whereas at Toronto the lake is frozen during part of the year. Hanlan has only been six years pulling in outriggers, and he said when he went down'to the States to try what he could do, hia neighbours laughed at him, but he won all his rases one after the other. He keeps an hotel on the island —a large wooden place, with 60 rooms—a ■gift to him from his admiring countrymen. It is only open during the season, from end of May to September. I looked in vain to find the extraordinary length of arm he is said to possess. There is nothing of the sort." ■

They stood at the door preparatory to saying good-night. " When shall I call again! he asfedTwith an emotion that made his eyes misty and his voice soft. " When papa returns' she answered calmly. 'And when will that be!" he eagerly added. " WeU, he starts for a voyage round the world to-morrow, and 111 let, you know ween he gete back."

Song of the Decanter.

IN March, 1839, there was seen floating on the Yarra, near the spot whereon is now erected that sweltering pile known as the Melbourne Gas Works, somethij£f resembling a dead body. On being fished ashore it was recognised as the mortal remains of a fast young man named Decourcy, not long out from England, who had been for some weeks previous knocking about the few miserable shanty groggeries —by courtesy called hotels. On being searched there werefoundinthepocketsof the corpse.,an old pipe, a shilling or two, and a lock of hair; and, wrapped up in an inside coat pocket, a flask—empty, .but smelling strongly of the atrocious drinking stuff then vended under the nomenclature of rdm. Glued on to the " pocket pistol" was a slip of vellum, as thin as the finest paper, on which was printed (in-nonpareil type and decanter form) a dirge of the bottle-fiend, whose terrible chanting, though no doubt often conned over by the reckless and ill-fated youth, was evidently dis regarded by him. Of this curious effusion a " facsimile" is here appended :—

SONQ OP THE DECANTER.

Thero was an old decanter, ■ and its i mouth was gaping wide; the rosy . - wine had eb- . - bed away and left its crystal side; and the wind wept hum- mm g — humming, up and down the wind it blew, and through the reed like hollow neck the wildest, note it blew. I placed it in the ■window, where the blast vras

blowing freely, and fancied that ita pale mouth sang the queerest strains to me. " They tell me—puny conquerors! the Plague has slain his ten, and War his hundred thousands of the very best of men; but I"— 'twas thus the Bottle spake—" but I have con quered more than all your famous conquerors, so feared and famed of yore. Then come, yo youths and maidens, come drink from out my cup, the beverage that dulls the brain and burns the Bpirits up; that puts to shame your conquerors that slay their scores below; for this has deluged millions with tho lava-tido of woe. Tho' in the path of battles darkest streams of blood may roll; yet while I killed the body,l have damned the very soul. The cholera, the plague, the sword, such ruin never wrought as I, in mirth or malice, on the innocent have brought. And still I breathe upon them,and they shrink be fore my breath, and year by year my thousands tread the dusty way of death."

Gossip about Queen Victoria.

She never would pay a penny of the Prince of Wales' debts—many of them in curred in dispensing the hospitalities which the Queen shirks. London is never tired about the presents made by the Sovereign. It is a tradition of the East India Company that the monarch is ex officio a member, ot its governing board and receives as an emolument, 100 India shawls a year. The Queen ha* for years utilised these costly fabrics for presents at royal weddings. Whenever the list of pre sents at a royal or aristocratic marriage is printed, this item is always sure to come in: "From Her Majesty.,the Queen, an India shawl." That the shawl don'c come amiss may be judged when it is borne in mind that the donor ha*, on an aver» age, a dozen or more marriages a year in her own family, to say nothing of scores of the nobility, her " cousins," who come in for a token.

Whatever of thrift the Queen didn't in herit was carefully cultivated in her by her husband, Prince Albert. He had lived all his life on the beggarly pittance of a Ger man Prince, and when he became the hus band of the Queen, he thought the glories of Arabia were his on an allowance of §150,000. He thriftily set to work to make his pearls bloom and bear seed. He invented the great exhibition of 1852, and bought up all the land in Kensington , which he foresaw would be indipensable to the city. His inventions all turned out bonanzas, and when he died his richoa were so enor mous that the will was never entrusted to Doctor's Common", where by law .all testaments must be registered. Queen Victoria is the richest woman in Europe, as well as the best paid monarch,

From Bath to Havre.

TWO MEN AND A KITTEN TO CRO3S THE OCEAN IN A DORY FOURTEEN FEET LONG.

MR JOHN TROYNOR, a man about thirty five years' of age, and who has followed the sea for a great many years, recently in the government service on the gunboat Tennessee, and a Swede, named Ivar Olsen, are contemplation an ocean voyage from Bath to Havre, France, in a dory only fourteen f«et long. Mr Williams is now engaged in building the craft in George town Ale. She is to be a common fishing dory of fourteen feet bottom, 5 feet wide and 21 inches deep, and is to be decked over, with the exception of a small place for standing aft. She will be sloop-rigged, carryin« two jibs, a maiusail and a squire sail, and will spread to the wind sixty yards of canvas, and will make ten knots an hour. She will be the smallest boat that ever attempted anything of the kind, and com pares wita the Ureat .Eastern as follows :— Great Eastern, 22,500 tons, 6SO feet long, 80 odd feet wide, carries, 4,000 people; this craft 14 feet long carries two men and a kitten. The provisions taken will be al toze'her ennad goods. Her water tank will coutain sixty gallons of water and a lamp stove w'.ll be taken to make coffee, etc., when, the weather will permit. Over everything in the boat's bottom will be pUced a netting so that if she capsizes the weight will right her at once. Me Traynor e"xpects to make the trip from Bath to Havre, 3,350 miles, ia about two months, and intends to leave about the last of June. He ha? deaided to name his little vessel The City of Bath, and will h*ve the boat on ex hibition there some two weeks before he sails. __^^

The Latest Cremation.

The fires in the crematory here were lighted last night, and this morning a corpse arrived from Madison, Ind., for incineration. The body was that of Miss Frank M. B. Kendal, a lady thirty-seven years of age, who died of consumption last Friday. Miss Kendal was a graduate of Glendale (Ohio) Seminary, and then for twelve years acted as principal of the lower seminary at Madi son. Deceased was quite a writer, and known all over Indiana. She had no relatives, except an aunt In New York. Her asheii will be taken back to Madison and deposited in Springdale Cemetery.— " New York Herald, May 23.

Sothern in Handcuff's.

The Long Journey.

ROUGH EXPERIENCE IK A LONDON CROWD. PERHAPS one of the densest crowds that London ever knew assembled to witness the entry of the Prince ol Wales with the Prin cess Alexandra, some years ago. The pro cession having to promenade Fleet-street en route to Temple Bar, the editor of "Punch" issued invitations to a select coterie of artistic and literary friends to assemble at the "Punch" office, to partake of lunch and see the show from the win dows, and a more brilliant assembly of men of genius perhaps rarely met under one roof. Among the persons expected was Sothern, the comedian. The procession was not to move until twelve o'clock, and Lord Dundreary did not leave home until about half-past ten. All was pbin sailing as far an Fleet - street; and, discharging hia carriage at the corner ot a street intersec iag this thoroughfare, he reached Meet street, and by diat of hard squeezing and pushing, prevailing, aud watching every movement of the gigantic crowd, he at last got opposite the ', Punch " office, and there he was compelled to halt. To cross the street was simply impossible. Deeply buried in the denße throng, he stood for quite au hour watching his friends at the windows. "By the gods," mused the comedian, " I'm missing an enormous treat! I must get across the street by hook or by crook—but how ?.: Happy thought! At that moment he .saw a policeman. He worked hia way towards him and said, " Bobby, if you'll manage to take me across the the Btreet to the "Punch' office, 'I'll give you a sovereign.'" The policeman simply smiled, and pointed to the impenetrable throng. " 1 know it will be tough work, aud perhaps I may lose my coat and hat in the struggle, replied Sothern ; " bat it's most important that I should be there with my friends." " I have no doubt of it, sir, but it's impossible. Why, you may as well ask me to take you through the walls of St. Paul's there." "Nonsense." urged Sothern, with irre pressible persistence. "You are a tall, strong man—l am thin aud wiry, if you'll open the way, I'll follow, and it's to be done with little effort. Look here (whisper); get me over, and I'll give you a£s note !" At this offer the policeman shut one eye, rubbed his ear, puckered his lips, elevated his nose, stood on tiptoe, aud surveyed the scene before him. "Brace yourself for n mighty effort." said Sothern, encourag ingly, He made an effort, but without success. The crowd instantly howled with one voice, "Back, back, Bobby, back. Where are you shovin' to ?" At that mo ment Dickens and Shirley Brooks came to the window, each with a glass of cham pagne in his hand, looked out, surveyed the scene, and then retired, radiant with some observation made by the author of " Pick wick." This tableau was too much for Lord Dundreary—to miss all the brilliant talk of that morninsr, to miss being pre sented to some of the most gifted men on earth !he would mako one last effort. "Policeman," whispered he, "have yon got a pair of handcuffs 2 I'll strike you. Arrest me. Shout, 'A pickpocket—Fye got him !' Drag me across—the crowd will take up the cry and make way ; that's the programme, here's the money in advance." The policeman was a hage, stepping mem. ber of the force. It was the work of an instant. Into his pocket went the note ; cut came the handcuffs. Sothern made a plunge at the breast of the man, who literally hurled himself at the crowd, dragging his victim after him. Off went hats, down fell half-a-dozen people not physically gifted, and, after three minutes' hard fighting with the most savage opposi tion, the twain landed on the steps of the " Punch" office. To say that there was a yell of execreation at the policeman for his vigorous '• coup de main" would faintly describe the howl that went up from the crowd. Happily at that moment a loud voice shouted, " The Prince is coming order 1" and the excitement lulled. Sothern kut the show, made some charm ing new acquaintances, partook of his lunch, and utter«d his cry of welcome to the pretty Princes—firmly bound in strong iron bracelets.—" The Theatre."

STARTING TOGETHER AFTER A SHORT

SEPARATION. When one of the trains to this city came in at midnight, a few nights ago, an old roan was found sleeping in one of the seats. The conductor flashed his lantern in bis face, the brakeman stirred him up and one or two passengers looked at him carelessly, but no person seemed to belong to him. He was neat and clean.'but thin and wasted by old age or privation. All sorts of troubles were mapped on his clean withered face, but the main think just then was to get him awake and on his feet and out of the car.

" I say, old man," yelled the conductor, " git out of this ;do you hear ? This is Detroit. If you've got any friends they'll be looking for you." He opened his eyes so wide and suddenly that the brakeman, the conductor and the curious passenger fell back on each other in a heap, but only his lips moved. " Where's Gracio ?" " Who ?" askod the conductor, recovering his official voice.

"Little Gracie— grandpa's httle pet. I brought her with me. Is she there 5" " 1 guess he is not wide awake yet," said the curious passengers. "Suppose you help him to his feet. Conductors are experts in helping people to their feet, and this one was no exception to the rule, He took the old man by the coat collar and stood him up, but he sank down the next moment limp and motionless. Just then a depOt hand came in. "The baggage-master wants to know what youer 'going' to do with that little deal box over there. He dont want any of that kind left over, and there ain't no direc tion on it but ' Gracie' —" 1' That's her 1" said the old man, and he stood up feebly. " Take me there. We're going a long journey—Gracie and me ; a long long journey, but it don't seem as if I knew the way right clear." They took him into the depot and laid him on one of the benches and put his carpet-big under bis head, but still he fretted for his " leetle Gracie—his pet," and at last they consoled him by telling him she was resting, was. asleep, and must not be disturbed. " We've a long journey to go," he kept sayiag to himself; " and grandpa's baby mustn'tgettired; it'salonglway; along way.' The little bix, with "Gracie'' written upon it in lead-pencil, was cafe enough with the other " freight," and the old man slept peacefully at last, Some kind soul threw a rug over him near morning, imd asked him what train he was waiting for, but all the answer he made was a feeble "Thankee; call me at sunrise. We're going a lous» journey, Gracie and me." He was called at sunrise by a voice that none may refuse, and when a flood of rosy light shone into the dreary room he was up and away—gone on his long journey. Only the worn-out body was there, and yesterday it was laid away with " little Gracie " in stranger's lot at Mount Elliott, unknown, yet possibly in as " sure hope of a gracious resurrection " as if marked by thirty feet of monumental clay.—" Detroit Post and Tribune,"

An Anecdote of Waterloo.

Many are the anecdote?, many the acts of chivalry, which have never found a place in. books — carent quid vaic sacro. Amongst the facts not made public is the conduct of the Duke of Wellington before the battle of Waterloo. It is generally supposed that during the preceding night (June 17) Wei. lingtoQ quietly supped and elept in the vil lage of Waterloo, some miles distant from the field of battle: the real fact is that, after the British Army had bivouacked on the ground, the destined scene of the next day's fight, Wollington.unatfcended, rode to Bluchers head-quarters, and had an inter view with him. His object was to secure the junction of the Prussians and the British as early as possible next day. Union was most important to the Allies ; while at tack before this union should be effected was most important to Napoleon. Welling ton and Btucher calculated that they could meet on the next clay upon, the field of Waterloo at 12 o'clock. After this inter view Wellington rode back to the village of Waterloo, where he obtained a short' repose. Unfortunately subsequent heavy rains rendered the road so nearly impass able that the junction was not accomplished, until 6in the evening of June 18. During those six hours of deep anxiety, endured by the British chief, how often did ho look at his watch ! and when at length the Prussian guns were heard he involuntarily ex claimed, •' There goes old Blucher at last!" The two officers who alone knew of the midnight interview between Welling, ton and Blucher were Sir Angnstus Fraser, K.A., and Captain (afterwards General) William Bell, R.A., both of whom rode into the field with their chief, and both of whom have now departed this life.—"Broad Arrow."

The New Testament Revision.

INTERESTING HISTORY OF THE LORD'S PRAYER DOXOLOGY —AUTHORITIES FOR AND AGAINST ITS USE,

While the Baptist Ministers' Conference were filling up a half hour yesterday mom ing until the time for the Kcv. T. E. "Vassal", cf Newark, to read his essay on "Loyola and Jiis Mission," the conversation very naturally turned toward the revised New Testament as the latest book out. The Rev. Dr. Samson was in the chair, and the brethren, as if by one impulse, requested him to express his opinion of it, He did this, however, critically and historically only on one point—namely, the omi3sioa by the revisers of the Doxology from the Lord's Prayer. Dr. Samson said he had spent three or four years in trying to trace tbe history of that Doxology, and all the facts, hu said, wjiich are the reverse of King James's version,are found in the poly glot of Walton, in tne lexicon of Castell, and in the commentary of Poole—three scholars who united under Charlos I. and Cranmer to sustain King James's version. Nearly all the Groek manuscripts o£ their day had the Doxology. The Sinai Peschito (or "literal," as the word implies), pub lished in. the second century, has it; si> have the Arabic and nearly all the versions used in nearly every branch of the Oriental Church. It is in the liturgies of St. Cry soatom and St. Basil, and is used every where in the Oriental Church, among the Copts of Egypt, the Armenians, and throughout Western Asia, and in Greece and Russia. It is found in the modern Greek version published early in the history of the kingdom, and is slill used in Athens and throughout Greece, It is also recog. nised as authoritative in the Russian Church. The Latin version of Jerome of the fifth century omits it. It is not quoted by Tertullian, Cyprian, and other Latin fathers, and is not in the Catholic transla tions, such as the French of Abbd de Lacey and the Spanish of San Miguel. Generally, however, it is found in all the Oriental and Protestant versions, and in liturgies where the people have a share in the public worship. In the Episcopal liturgy it is in the service in which the people join, as, {or instance, the morning and evening prayer and the communiou. In the service of baptism and at the burial of the dead, where the officiating clergy man omits it, it has also been used, The Doxology has always been in tho Gospel of Matthew as part of the Lord's Prayer in the Sermon ou the Mount. It is quite consistent with the condensed statement of that sermon given by Luke that he should omit the Doxology from the Lord's Prayer, as he omits many other things also. And it should be remembered that Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jews, while Luke wrote for the Gentiles,

VALUE OF THE LATER MANUSCKirTS,

Since the accession of Jamei I. thrcfl important manuscripts have been found, namely, the Alexandrian, presented to Charles It, and now in the British Museum ; the Vatican, which was jealously withheld from Protestants until 1851; and the Sinaitic, which was seen by Tischendorf in 1544 .and by a large party of English tra vellers (of whom Dr. Samson was one) in 1848. These, of course, were inaccessible to the revisers of King James's version. Tischendorf picked some forty leaves out of a waste-basket in the Convent of Mount Sinai, and paid the monks a trifle for them. They did not know their value, but in their superstitious fear they looked upon him as an emissary of some enemy, and, gathering up the rest of their old papers, they would have nothing more to do with him. In 1859, however, Tischendorf re turned and purchased the remainder of the manuscript from the monks. (They, how ever, allege that they loaned it to him to to copy, and that he failed to return it.) Scholars are now coming to look upon this Sinaitic manuscript as of little or no value whatever. It was copied and blurred, and interlined and scratched, so as to in dicate the grossest carelessness in the handling. It was so imperfectly copied that whole lines are omitted, one of which is the Doxology to the Lord's Prayer. There are evidences that the copying was done at ten different times and by many different hands. Of course the original from which this copy has been made at different and probably long periods must still be in the convent. This is now the opinion generally accepted by scholars. Scores of those ancient manuscripts are doubtless hidden away in the numerous convents of Egypt and Palestine, but no visitor can see them because of the jealousy with which all visitors are looked upon by the monkg. Bnt no doubt Western civilization and progress will one day: bring forth those treasures to the world, The Alexandrine manuscript has all the pages of Matthew up to chapter xxv., 6, missing, and therefore the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, and many other good things are not found iv it. There can be little doubt that those who copied the Vatican manuscript followed the Latin Vulgate. It is hardly time yet to decide that this too imperfect manuscript may not have been made by men who added to the New Testament Scriptures the writings also of uninspired fathers as of original authority, especially as they have been so imperfectly preserved and copied. Dr. Samson does not believe that the Anglican Church will accept the revision, with this Doxology omitted.

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT.

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