THE solution of the Mormon problem is not difficult if the proper means are employed and those watching events will be patient. The secret of the matter is this: Utah must be allowed to work out her own salvation. She can do it quicker and better than anybody else. The nation can get out of the difficulties in relation to Utah affairs by granting to this Territory what she is justly entitled to and what she is qualified to receive, viz, statehood. She would then be brought in closer contact with other States, with their social customs, and in that contact is it unreasonable to believe that the fittest would survive? The social customs of Utah would have many disadvantages to begin with, among which would be the unpopularity of their system and the extra care and anxiety it carries with it. With these disadvantages those who laud the virtue of modern social customs must have little faith in the virtues they praise if they fear polygamy would menace the monogamic home. Those professedly interested in the destruction of the Mormon marriage system might not be willing to leave this question to the arbitration of time and the influence of contact with other customs. That course would not be suffi ciently heroic to suit their warlike natures, but those forces are the only legitimate ones that can be brought to bear in this controversy. As to church interference with state, it is something which exists only in the diseased minds of sectarian bigots, needy editors, interested politicians, and those who have been blinded by their misrepresentations. Leading men in the Mormon priesthood have influence in political affairs, but it is because they have been men of sense and thought. They are the ones who led the people to these valleys. It was their advice-call it "counsel" if you will-that directed the people in their labors. They laid out the towns and villages, many of which have since grown to be large and prosperous. They taught the people who came from the factories, the foundries, the mills, the coal and iron mines of the old world, how to till the soil, how to care for their stock-how, in short, to furnish their own hands and the hands of their sons and daughters with employment, which at last led to independence. Is it any wonder, then, that they have influence with the people? These leading men in the Mormon priesthood have been an infinite blessing to Utah, and that man is a fool who thinks they won't have and don't desire the implicit confidence of the people. Men who have labored for the interest of the people as they have done, being true to them under all circumstances, as the leading men among the Mormons have, would have influence with the people, even though they had no badge of priesthood. Oily-tongued editors of infamous sheets and sweet-lipped, insinuating, hyp. ocritical priests, together with foul-mouthed, swaggering demagogues, may foam out their own rage, but it will be impotent. The people of Utah know the leading men in the Mormon priesthood are their friends. Those men are enshrined in the memories of the people, and the unworthy efforts of those jealous of the respect and honor paid to them will only increase the love of the people for them.

Chicago Inter-Ocean (Rep.), May 12.

SLOWLY the work of forcing polygamy to surrender goes on. By a process so gradual as to resemble growth the loop-holes of escape are being closed, and the alternative seems imminent, either give up or get out. Last week the Mormons appeared by counsel before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives in opposition to the pending Edmunds bill, but without making any apparent impression. The indications are that the bill will pass and become a law. And now the Supreme Court of the United States has opened the week with a decision which can hardly fail to materially facilitate the enforcement of the existing antipolygamy legislation of Congress. Wherever they turn for sympathy and succor the upholders of the great abomination are checkmated and baffled. The decision just rendered is to the effect that not simply plural marriage is criminal, but that the first wife, so long as she be alive and the matrimonial bond undissolved, is the lawful wife. In the case appealed the convicted polygamist put away his real wife and clove to a younger woman to whom he had been "sealed," and thought thus to evade the penalties of the law. The lower or Territorial court convicted him and the Supreme Court sustained the conviction. Several other cases now pending hinged upon this appeal and the decision rendered. Now that the obstruction of that appeal has been removed the work of enforcement should be resumed. Some of the leaders, besides George Q. Cannon, have fled the country, but there are enough left to keep the machinery of justice reasonably busy for some time yet. The great thing is not so much to swell the number of arrests and imprisonment as to convince the Mormons that the Government is thoroughly in earnest, and that the impediments in the way of executing the law have at last been removed. This enemy of decency and domestic virtue is situated now very much as General Lee was when General Grant resolved to " fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." It took not only that summer but the next fall and winter to fight it out, but the line was so drawn that the enemy could neither resist nor run away, and utter collapse was only a question of time. A few months, more or less, cut very

little figure in the case. So whether the overthrow of polygamy be swift or slow is not important. The point to be kept in mind is certainty, and if the local authorities of Utah will only follow up the advantage of the decision just rendered there can be no doubt about the result.

St. Paul Pioneer-Press (Rep.), May 12.

THE general satisfaction of decent people and the chagrin of Mormondom at the recent decision of the Supreme Court, holding that the first woman married by a "saint" is his legal and only wife, although he may have subsequently put her away and may be living with but one woman at the present time, must be tempered by a remembrance of the fact that the Mormon system still appears to have a powerful ally in the House of Representatives. All the other branches of the Government are in accord upon the subject of polygamy. The United States courts have sustained the constitutionality of the Edmunds bill and the legality of proceedings under it in every case. Their rulings have been uniformly favorable to the prompt suppression of the dirty nuisance through the orderly forms of law. The sympathies and wishes of the President are outspoken. He took early occasion to express his opinion that polygamy should be sternly put down, and recommended this course in a most emphatic part of his message. The Senate has done its share of the work. The new anti-polygamy bill originated and passed by that body would, it is morally certain, put an end to the matter for all time Its provisions are so stringent and sweeping that, with the assistance of the courts which we have seen would be forthcoming, the practice of polygamy must necessarily cease. That bill is now kept in the pigeon-holes of a House committee. There has been ample time for a report upon it, there is little open opposition, and the law might have been in force for weeks if the ordinary course had been followed. But the Mormon lobby has been quartered in Washington to some purpose. It has placed its arguments and inducements where they will do the most good; and, while the country is rejoicing at an anti-polygamic judicial decision, the House is engaged in smothering an effective anti-polygamy law. Public attention will not forsake the guilty parties. It is time that the new Edmunds bill was reported and passed. The people demand it. It can hardly be possible that this phenomenally worthless House intends to fill out the measure of its offenses by deliberately making itself the champion and protector of the vile system which now relies upon it alone for preservation from final ruin.

Hartford Courant (Rep.), May 12.

Lo

For the offense (under Gentile law) of having at least six wives too many, renzo Snow was prosecuted before the district court at Salt Lake City, was convicted, and was sentenced to the penitentiary. On appeal the Territorial supreme court affirmed the judgment of the court below. The case was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. This tribunal now decides that it has no jurisdiction in the case on the facts shown; hence Lorenzo must serve out his sentence with such philosophy as he can command. This must be a painful surprise to his counsel, the gifted George Ticknor Curtis, who had assured the court that the Mormons had an unquestionable right under the Constitution to practice their religion, that the Edmunds act (so called) was clearly and palpably unconstitutional, and that his client was the victim of a " persecution." It will also be unwelcome news to Presidents John Taylor and George Q. Cannon, who are themselves "wanted by the United States marshal. In their epistle of last month to the general annual conference of the Latter-Day Saints of Provo, they referred to the persecution of Mr. George Ticknor Curtis's client in the terms following:

The officials here have gone far beyond the letter and spirit of the law itself and strained it for the purpose of inflicting punishment; this was conspicuously so in the case of Elder Lorenzo Snow, one of the Twelve Apostles, whose trial upon the evidence presented would undoubtedly have resulted in his acquittal had he been tried before a righteous judge and an unbiased jury. If any one fact was more clearly established than another at his trial, it was that he was innocent of any violation of the law as charged against him. But he is a prominent man-one of the Twelve Apostles-and could not be permitted to escape. His case is now on appeal to the United States Supreme Court at Washington. In order to have it put forward on the calendar, he surrendered himself to the officers, and is now in the penitentiary. The court has fixed a day when his case will be heard; and, as in every case that has gone to Washington, we hope, notwithstanding previous disappointments, that this will receive favorable consideration. He bears his imprisonment with equanimity and fortitude; and so far as we know all of the Apostles feel cheerful and full of faith, and determined to magnify their calling. Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette (Rep.), May 15.

MR. WEST, the newly-appointed Governor of Utah, has adopted a mistaken policy if he thinks he can win the Mormons over by promising Executive clemency to the convicted and imprisoned polygamists. Whether he is acting on his own judgment or in accordance with suggestions from Washington can only be matter for conjecture, but it is hardly likely that the Governor would visit the penitentiary and promise the polygamous convicts a pardon unless he had been prompted to do so by the President or some one authorized to speak for him. However that may be, the result of the visit was well calculated to convince the Governor that he had made a serious blunder in attempting to purchase Mormon obedience to the laws by promising clemency to the chief law-breakers. The answer of Apostle Snow, that he would not promise to obey the laws even for a pardon, may be accepted as the answer of all his fellow-convicts. They place the Mormon church above the law of the land, and must either maintain their attitude of hostility to the Government or abjure their religious professions. This they cannot safely do without endangering their power over the Mormon masses. Ex-governor Murray, who is a much better judge of the Mormon character than Governor West, insists that what is most needed is a Territorial Legislature composed of Americans-men who will bear allegiance to the United States, and who will not use every means in their power to defeat the execution of the anti-polygamy laws. In a word, the Mormon church has been running the Legislature in its own interest and against the national authority, and the President could not adopt a worse policy than to sanction such treasonable proceedings.

Salt Lake Cor. Chicago Herald (Ind.), May 17.

THE position of the Mormons in this agitation may be restated as submission to

what they deem "persecution" in connection with the rigorous enforcement of the Edmunds law against polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. They indulge in no threats of retaliation. Every public utterance of their teachers has a tendency to allay undue excitement and to make them regard the execution of the law as a visitation from God to chasten and purify them for future glory. As to the proposed test oath and the appointment of Federal trustees for the church property, the leaders intend to fight such measures as unconstitutional and calculated, if passed, perhaps not to arouse in the people a spirit of violent resentment, but to lead to a species of oppression and spoliation never equaled on the globe since Henry VIII of England and some of his infamous successors laid their hands violently upon the property and rights of the church. These issues are clearly defined. A disposition is evinced in some quarters to conceal the real aim of pending measures, but it needs only a few moments' consideration to prove that such grave constitutional principles are involved and to understand the position of the church in the present fight.

Chicago Herald (Ind.), May 12.

NEW ENGLAND publications are vehemently denying an assertion recently made by George Ticknor Curtis that the Mormon women "come of the best blood in New England." Yet, with a little modification, Mr. Curtis spoke the exact truth. The original Mormon women were principally New Englanders, as were the men also. While the Utah church has of late found the majority of its recruits abroad, it was founded and polygamy was adopted by men and women who had the benefit of New England training and civilization. At the time of the alleged revelation they were living in Western New York, but they, like the majority of the people of that State in those days, were of New England stock. In addition to this fact, they were all exceedingly pious people. The more pronounced the religious views of a person might be, the more easily was he prevailed upon to follow the new prophet. Joseph Smith's early adherents were all Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists and Methodists, and some of them had been preachers of those faiths.

Springfield, Mass., Union (Rep.), May 15.

THE last drop of polygamous bliss is snatched from the saints by the refusal of the United States Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the Utah territorial court defining cohabitation. Apostle Snow had defended himself by representing that he had put away all his better halves but one, and was living with her in a lawful manner. But that one was his youngest and prettiest, and the courts quite naturally held that a man could not take his pick in that way, to the disadvantage of the first and only lawful wife. It affirmed also that when several women were publicly known as a man's wives, the fact constituted illegal cohabitation. ticipation of the enactment of the Edmunds bill confiscating the property of the Mormon corporation, the church is converting its assets into cash preparatory to investing them in the names of individuals. As a political power Mormonism has received its death blow, but its baleful social effects will linger in the Great Basin for generations.

Deseret News (Mormon), May 12.

In an

Savannah News (Dem.), May 12.

THERE are signs that the Mormons have actually begun to move into Mexico. Perhaps they will have the foundation of a new colony well laid by the time this country gets too hot to hold them.

Boston Traveller (Rep.), May 14.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE SCIENCE OF SILENCE.—A young man was sent to Socrates to learn oratory. On being introduced to the philosopher, he talked so incessantly that Socrates asked for double fees. 66 'Why charge me double?" asked the young man. "Because," said Socrates, "I must teach you two sciences--the one how to hold your tongue, and the other how to speak." Certainly the first science is quite as valuable as the second, and most people, if they spoke truthfully, would say as Simonides did, that he never regretted holding his tongue, but very often was sorry for having spoken. The simple act of self-denial, in restraining the expression of unpleasant feelings or harsh thoughts, is the foundation stone of happy social intercourse. For nothing draws people so closely together as the constant experience of mutual pleasure; and nothing so quickly drives them asunder as the frequent endurance of pain caused by one another's presence.

Mobile Register (Dem.), May 12.

"One doth not know

I have read somewhere the following arrangement for avoiding quarrels: "You see, sir," said an old man, speaking of a couple who lived in perfect harmony in his neighborhood, "they'd agreed between themselves that whenever he came home a little contrairy and out of temper, he wore his hat on the back of his head, and then she never said a word; and if she came in a little cross and crooked, she threw her shawl over her left shoulder, and then he never said a word." As it takes two to make a quarrel, either the husband or the wife might often prevent one by stepping out of the room at the nick of time; by endeavoring to divert attention and conversation from the burning question; by breathing an instantaneous prayer to God for calmness before making any reply; in a word, by learning to put in practice on certain occasions the science of silence. Robert Burton tells of a woman who, hearing one of her "gossips" complain of her husband's impatience, told her an excellent remedy for it. She gave her a glass of water, which, when he brawled, she should hold still in her mouth. She did so two or three times with great success, and, at length, seeing her neighbor, she thanked her for it, and asked to know the ingredients. She told her that it was "fair water," and nothing more; for it was not the water, but her silence which performed the cure. He who has learned the science of silence may hide ignorance, and even acquire a reputation for knowledge and wisdom. A story is told of the painter Zeuxis, how he reproved a certain high priest of Great Diana of the Ephesians, who discoursed of pictures in the artist's studio with so reckless an audacity of ignorance that the very lads who were grinding colors could not refrain from giggling, whereupon Zeuxis said to his too-eloquent friend, "As long as you kept from talking you were the admiration of these boys, who were all wonder at your rich attire and the number of your servants; but now that you have ventured to expatiate upon the arts of which you know nothing, they are laughing at you outright." Denouncing the vapid verbiage of shallow praters, Carlyle exclaims, "Even Triviality and Imbecility that can sit silent, how respectable are they in comparison!" It was said of one who was taken for a great man so long as he held his peace, "This man might have been a councillor of state till he spoke; but having spoken, not the beadle of a ward."

Indianapolis Journal (Rep.), May 14.

Lord Lytton tells the story of a groom married to a rich lady, and in consequent trepidation of being ridiculed by the guests in his new home. An Oxford clergyman gave him this advice: "Wear a black coat, and hold your tongue." The groom was soon considered the most gentlemanly person in the country.

Silence is an excellent foil for conversation. A clever man makes his talk far more delightful by interposing occasional flashes of silence, as Sydney Smith said Macauley did on his return from India.

But perhaps the science of silence ought to teach us when not to be silent, as well as when to be silent. Certainly there is such a thing as an idle and a wrong silence, and we shall have to give account for it, as well as for our idle words. The "good fellow," whose conversation is so brilliant and charming when with strangers, but who has not a word for the inmates of his home, is guilty of a wicked silence. If a lady is at table as a guest, the gentleman brings some topic of social conversation to entertain her; should he do less when his wife is the only lady present? Should he then sit silent or take a letter or newspaper out of his pocket, and read it himself? A man and wife enjoying a walk together, or a tete-a-tete sweetened by confidential and affectionate conversation, is a sight beautiful before God and man. But too often the picture is reversed. He saunters out with her, careless and uninterested; scarcely, during the walk, uttering a word. Is not this, to say the least, a great abuse of the science of silence?

In the hour of absence and of solitude, the husband is impressed with a sense of the amiable disposition and demeanor of his wife, of her unwearied endeavors

to promote and perpetuate his happiness, and of its being his bounden duty to show, by the most unequivocal expressions of attachment and of tenderness, his full approbation of her assiduity and faithfulness. But too often these expressions of approbation are not forthcoming, and, with a mistaken silence, he shrinks from honoring his wife, and represses those few words of praise which she so well deserves and would so greatly appreciate. My Master is all very well," said the dog, "but I wish he had a tail to wag when he is pleased."

In politics," said Cavour, "nothing is so absurd as rancour.' In the same way we may say that nothing is so absurd in matrimony as sullen silence. Reynolds, in his" Life and Times," tells of a free and easy person, who passed three festive days at the seat of the Marquis and Marchioness of without any invitation, convinced (as proved to be the case) that, my lord and my lady not being on speaking terms, cach would suppose the other had asked him. A soft answer turns away wrath, and when a wife or a husband is irritated, there is nothing like letting a subject drop. Then silence is indeed golden. But the silence persisted in, is an instrument of deadly torture. "A wise man by his words maketh himself beloved." To this might be added that on certain occasions a fool by his obstinate silence maketh himself hated.

"According to Milton, Eve kept silence in Eden to hear her husband talk,'" said a gentleman to a lady friend; and then added, in a melancholy tone, "Alas! there have been no Eves since." 60 Because," quickly retorted the lady," there have been no husbands worth listening to." Certainly there are too few men who exert themselves to be as agreeable to their wives (their best friends) as they are to the comparative strangers or secret enemies whom they meet at clubs and other places of resort. And yet, if it is true that, "to be agreeable in our family circle is not only a positive duty, but an absolute morality," then every husband and wife should say on their wedding day—

"To balls and routs for fame let others roam,

Be mine the happier lot to please at home."

There is a time to speak as well as a time to be silent, and the best time of all for pleasant conversation is the time of meals. We should have at least three laughs during dinner, and every one is bound to contribute a share of agreeable table talk, good humor, and cheerfulness. Even from a physiological point of view," Better is a dinner of herbs where love is (which will show itself in dispelling sullen silence), than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith."-Rev. J. E. Hardy, in the Quiver.

THE WORLD'S GREAT BRIDGES.-Metal bridges are the invention of British artists. The first bridge of cast-iron ever erected, is that over the Severn, about two miles below Colebrookdale, in Shropshire. The second cast-iron bridge was designed by Thomas Paine, the famous political writer, and was intended for America, but the speculators failing in their payments, the materials were used for the construction of the beautiful bridge over the river Wear, at Bishops, Wearmouth, in the county of Durham. Southwark bridge is constructed of iron. Its length is 700 feet, and its cost was £800,000. It was opened in 1819. The Blackfriars bridge is 1,000 feet long, and cost £300,000. Waterloo bridge is considered the finest in the world. Canover, the sculptor, said it was alone worth a journey from Rome to London to see it. The cost was £1,000,000. Charing Cross is the next bridge on the Thames. It is used by a railway company. Westminster bridge is 1,220 feet long, and cost £400,000. Lambeth bridge is 740 feet, and cost £100,000. Vauxhall bridge is 840 feet long. The first wire suspension bridge was erected at Froilburg, Switzerland, and hangs 300 feet in the air over a deep chasm. Chelsea Chain suspension bridge is 922 feet long, 45 feet wide, and cost £75,000. Hammersmith suspension bridge is 841 feet long, 32 feet wide, and cost £75,000.

Suspension bridges, although held by some persons to be of modern invention, or derived from the rope bridges of South America and the East Indies, were in use in Europe in the time of Scamozzi, early in the seventeenth century. One of the most remarkable suspension brides in existence, is that constructed by Mr. Telford, over the Menai Strait, between the Isle of Anglesea and Cænaroonshire, in Wales. It was finished in 1825. In the United States, there are a number of these bridges; one over the Merrimac, at Newburyport, measures 244 feet. That over the Brandywine, at Wilmington, is 145 feet; that at Brownsville, over the Monongahela, measuring 120 feet. The Wheeling suspension bridge has a span of 1,010 feet. Roebling's railroad bridge, at Niagara, has a span 821 feet, with a deflection of 59 feet; its roadway is 250 feet above the line of the stream. bridge at Cincinnati is 2,220 feet long, with a clear span of 1,057 feet. The Point bridge, at Pittsburgh, is 1,345 feet.

The

The highest bridge in existence at the present day is the Garabit Viaduct, on the railway connecting Marseilles with Neussargues, (France), the height from the water level being 400 feet. Its total length is 1,852 feet.

Among the most celebrated bridges, built subsequently to the fall of the Roman Empire, are those of the Moors in Spain, who imitated and rivaled the best construction of the Romans. The Bridge of Cordova, over the Guadalquivir is an eminent example of their success. The bridge over the Rhone, at Avignon, is one of the most ancient bridges of modern Europe. It was commenced in 1176, the same year that London bridge was started, and finished in 1178.

France can boast of many fine bridges built during the last two centuries; but to America belongs the greatest triumph in the art of bridge building, the Brooklyn bridge, spanning the East river from New York to Brooklyn, being 5,989 feet long, with a clear span of 1,595 feet over the East river. It is built of steel, at a cost of several millions of dollars; recent descriptions of it, however, rendering a repetition unnecessary. Mrs. F. G. de Fontaine in May Brooklyn Magazine.

ALMANACS.-A comical feature of the almanacs published for use in Belgium has been brought to light. With the exception of two scientific works, whose editions are limited, they are all-495,000 out of a total of 500,000 copies a yearcalculated for Paris. They give the times of the rising of the sun and moon, in which the local difference is often fifteen minutes, for Paris, making at certain seasons the day half an hour longer or shorter than it actually is in Belgium! Eclipses

are calculated in detail for Paris, even if they will not be seen at all in Belgium; and, if such an event should occur as an eclipse visible in Belgium which will not be seen in Paris, the almanac will know nothing about it. The "Grand double Almanach de Liége " does not recognize any of the discoveries that have been made in the solar system during the last three quarters of a century.—Popular Science Monthly.

FECUNDITY OF RATS.-The progeny of one pair of Norway rats, which, by the way, are not of Norwegian but of Chinese origin, during one year will, under favorable conditions, number from three to four hundred. They will produce forty young, and the forty may in turn increase to 360 before the year is ended. But the rat is subject to many uncertainties of life. Every carnivorous animal that is capable of it instinctively kills the rat. The weasel, cat, mink, and Chinaman kill him for food; the Frenchman kills him to make gloves of his skin for American ladies, and the American kills him because he is a thief. Here we have a beautiful and striking illustration of some great truth, but as we have no great truth on hand just at the present which this illustration illustrates, anybody may have it who has use for it.-The Interior.

RELIGIOUS.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM.-Why did it depart and fade away? This is a question difficult to answer. We only know of this ancient faith through these very remote and imperfect records, inscriptions, and liturgies. These express its ideals and hopes and aspirations. Perhaps its followers never lived according to their creed. No doubt the revelation of Osiris was exceedingly vague and shadowy, and probably very soon converted into a sun-myth. How much of it was based on historic fact, no one can say. What we know is that this ancient religion was much encumbered with symbolism, and filled with strange and wild conceits. It lacked the simplicity and humility and reality of Christianity. It did not contain the wonderful humanity and sympathy of the teachings of Galilee. It did not reveal God as a father. It came, too, to a people, shut out from other races, who were trodden down under a relentless despotism and a most powerful hierarchy. It lived longer than Christianity has yet done, but was not adapted to other races, perhaps, from its language-hidden from the multitude-and the mystery thrown around its teachings. The spiritual monotheism probably changed soon into pantheism, and in later times degenerated into polytheism and idolatry. The Egyptian race never even impressed the race of slaves under them-the Hebrews with their most cherished belief-that in immortality. But no doubt the spirituality of the priests touched the mind of Moses and aided his divine inspirations.— New Princeton Review.

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WELCOME! WELCOME! the Christian missionaries! especially welcome those from the United States of America, our neighbor and our first teacher of modern civilization. If Japan become a country full of science, full of philosophy, full of art, full of literature, full of material happiness, where the melodious heart-consecrating church-bells harmonize one another in the serene atmosphere of Japanese morning in every part of the Empire-from the height of the city of Tokio to the heart of every humble village that skirts a lake or that ornaments a mountain sideand the natives and foreigners gather in the same church, and each of them could see happy, joyful faces, that is my hope for Japan. Let the Christian's hope come to every native of Japan, and let it come soon. And when it comes, we can stand and proudly say toward the world that our country is not non-civilized nor half civilized, but wholly civilized.—A Japanese Student in the Christian Union. NOTES. A number of churches, hospitals and convents are now in process of erection in Rome. Rev. Dr. O'Connell, Rector of the American College, lately held a special audience with THE POPE, and presented to him a volume containing the "Acts and Decrees of the Recent Plenary Council held in Baltimore," magnificently bound in snow-white parchment.- -The next General Assembly of Presbyterian churches will contain about 480 commissioners. The income of Trinity Church corporation, New York, last year was $550,000. The Presbyterian Board of Home Missions last year started 195 new churches and 380 Sundayschools.- -The Lutheran Church in Wisconsin outnumbers all other Protestant churches combined, having upward of 90,000 communicants.- -The Pennsylvania Seaman's Friend Society has fitted up libraries in 3,000 ships, the number of books thus used being 45,000.- -The large debt of the Baptist Home Mission Society

has been almost cleared off.- -The Bishop of Western Michigan has set forth a form of prayer to be used in each church in the diocese during the present interruption of travel and trade caused by the unhappy feeling existing among the wageworkers. -There are in the American Episcopal Church fourteen sisterhoods and two well-established orders of deaconesses-one in Long Island and one in Alabama.- -The pastor of a United Presbyterian church at Allegheny, Pa., having requested the congregation to attend divine services without wearing "jewelry, seal-skins and plumes," resolutions were passed in accordance to attend church in plain garments."- "Yellow Hawk," ten years ago a painted savage, is now the pastor of a Congregational church in Dakota, living on his own farm of 160 acres, under fence, well stocked and in good cultivation, with garden and flower-beds, his comfortable house and furniture being as civilized as those of most white settlers on the frontier.-In Utah the Congregationalists have four churches, nine ministers and 210 members; the Baptists, two churches, two ministers and 170 members; Catholics, four churches, six priests and 850 members; Episcopalians, four churches, seven ministers and 465 members; Methodists, seven churches, thirteen ministers and 381 members; Presbyterians, twelve churches, fourteen ministers and 382 members; Lutherans, one church, one minister and forty members The English peers control 3,899 church livings.Dr. Newman Hall's church, in London, operates nineteen Sunday-schools, in which are enrolled 5,600 children.In Greenland the United Brethren Mission reports good progress. Two of the

-The

brethren, however, have been lost at sea and two widows frozen to death.Presbyterians have opened a station at Merida, the "only place of Evangelical worship in all the State of Yucatan," although a population of 400,000 has long invited the missionary laborers of the Protestant church.- -The churches connected with the Presbyterian Union in Japan have increased their membership So per cent. in two years. The number is now over 4,000. At this ratio there will be in ten years over 75,000 church members.An attempt at revival of idolatry is reported from the Telugu Islands. The idolators go among the Christian converts bearing on bamboo poles small idol houses. There are forty-two Protestant church edifices in New Mexico, belonging to the different denominations as follows: Methodist Episcopal, 16; Methodist Episcopal South, 7; Presbyterian, 12; Protestant Episcopal, 3; Baptist, 2. Thus in a territory covering an area of 122,580 square miles, larger than the New England States with New York added, with a population of 130,000, there are but forty-two Protestant church edifices.- -A religious movement is creating much excitement in Southern Russia. The "Stundists," who are members of a Lutheran body, now call themselves Evangelical Christians, and are making surprising progress among the peasant class.- -The following are the statistics of Welsh churches: In the year 1881 the population of Wales was 1,571,267; the nonconformists denominations comprise 864,389 of this number, and possesses 4,447 churches; Calvanistic Methodists (Presbyterians), 277,290; Congregationalists, 276,201; Baptists, 195,631; Wesleyan Methodists, 66,438; Primitive Methodists, 19,382; Unitarians, 5,000, and Methodist Free Church, Society of Friends, and Scotch Presbyterians number 1,608.-Sixty-two colored men are studying for the ministry in the theological seminary of Richmond, Va.The number of communicants in the Presbyterian Church in Canada increased last year 3,826.The Presbyterian Mission in Mexico has purchased for its use one of the principal Roman Catholic churches of Zacatecas.- -The census of 1881 showed that there were in Ireland 3,951,888 Roman Catholics, 635,670 Episcopalians. 485,503 Presbyterians, 47,969 Methodists.--Miss Catherine Wolfe, of New York, has given $45,000 toward the purchase of St. Philip's church in that city, to be used as an Italian mission in connection with Grace Protestant Episcopal church. -The Boston Herald is of opinion that things are done in New York even by Evangelical church members which would not be done in Boston by Agnostics.. Prof. Adler has had a grand anniversary celebration of his society.Evangelical clergy of Minneapolis have declined to make a public appeal for the restoration of a Unitarian church which was lately destroyed by a cyclone.Rev. Phillips Brooks, D. D., declines to become Assistant Bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania.- -The Presbyterian Banner tells of a pastor who had to resign his charge because the Sunday-school Superintendent objected to his using a plum-colored silk handkerchief in the pulpit; and the Herald and Presbyter mentions another to whom objection was made because of his wearing of an unbecoming moustache and the practice of rolling up his trousers in wet weather. -Barnum has discharged two of his employes for using profane language.- -The Rev. Henry C. McCook's Tabernacle Presbyterian church, Philadelphia, is dedicated. It cost over $200,000. Five meetings of the Congress of Churches are to be held this year, one at Cleveland and the others at Chicago, Washington, Louisville and St. Louis.- -A Chinaman at Portland, Oregon, named Chan Hen Fan, who came to this country as a coolie, is a regularly ordained preacher of the Methodist church. -An aged man in Central Japan has built a church and a school-house for his townsmen because he wished to imitate what the Pilgrim Fathers did.--There are 600 Protestant churches in France, 40 in Paris, and 40 McAll missions, which reach at least 400,000 people in a year.- -Only one man in twenty-five and one woman in four attends mass once a year. -Dr. Beard says no where in England, Scotland or America are there more ideal homes than in homeless France.- -The M. E. Church North has received 100,000 new members within the last three months.

-The

MEDICAL.

The civil authorities recently dissolved a Mormon congregation near Munich. --President Barrios has forbidden foreign Catholic ecclesiastics to enter Guatemala. The Prime Minister of Hungary is a Presbyterian.The growth of Friends in the West is reported as very large.- -There are 1,500 students now preparing for the Baptist ministry.~ -The Presbytery of Augusta, Ga., will not prefer charges against Dr. Woodrow.- -Count Guicciardini, who became a Protestant nearly fifty years ago from reading a Bible which was given him and for which he has been both imprisoned and banished, is dead.- -The French government employed a corps of short-hand writers to report the Lenten sermons of the clergy. "The Ministry of Public Worship" took this method to discover whether the preachers were opposed to the civil authority.- The Moravian Church was 459 years old May 12.- -The Reformed Episcopalians will build a theological seminary in Philadelphia for which they have received $200,000.- -Not less than seventy-one pastors of Cleveland churches signed the address to the churches urging the citizens to unite in measures to prevent the desecration of the Lord's Day, and calling special attention to the violations, not only of the law of God, but of the law of the land. The signers say in regard to reading Sunday papers: your pastors, our judgment is, that the reading of Sunday papers so surely interferes with the due discharge of religious duties, and the best reception of spiritual blessings, that the safe and wise course is to altogether refrain from such reading."

"As

What are you to do for the acidity? Abstemiousness, and regulation of diet and habits, will entirely banish it, and you will have the pleasure of knowing that its absence is a sign of rejuvenation of the liver.

If you but try a week of the treatment I suggest, I feel convinced you will once more feel a pleasure in life, and an interest in all your surroundings.

But acidity often leads to rheumatism, and on this subject I hope to have more to say another day. I shall be quite satisfied with my present paper if it put a few of my readers on the right road to health, and that can only be got at by seeking for and removing first causes instead of treating symptoms.-The Family Doctor, in Cassell's Family Magazine for June.

A CONGRESS OF AMERICAN PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.-The committee appointed to consider the proposition for the organization of a congress of American physicians and surgeons have reported. The following is an outline of the main points of the report: In view of the fact that there are a number of special medical organizations now in existence in the United States, each having for its aim the advancement of the special department of medicine for which it was organized, and since the members of the said special societies are the representatives of the profession in America, many of whom are at the same time members of several of these special societies, attendance on the meetings require separate trips from home, often with much loss of time. Therefore it appeared necessary that some arrangement should be made with the different societies as to a uniform place and time of meeting. The plan proposed is to unite the followingnamed associations into a congress, to be called a Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons: The American Surgical Association, the American Ophthalmo logical Association, the American Ontological Association, the American Neurological Association, the American Laryngological Association, the American Gynecological Society, the American Dermatological Association, the American Climatological Association, and the American Clinical and Pathological Association The plan of organization embodies the following points: Each society to elect its own officers; hold its own sessions apart from the others at the time and place of meeting; publish its own transactions, and do all other acts which by virtue of its constitution and by-laws it has the inherent right to do, thus preserving its own autonomy; the congress to be composed of these special societies when in convention and its meetings to be held in the city of Washington; the constitution and bylaws of the congress to be formed by a committee of like number from each special society; the opening session of each annual meeting of the congress to be devoted to such general business as might pertain to the interests of the association as a whole; the congress being presided over by a president elected annually, and who must deliver an opening address on the first day of the session; the president to be chosen by a nominating committee of one from each special society; the presidents of the special societies to be ex-officio vice-presidents of the congress; mem

bership in the congress to be acquired only by virtue of fellowship in one or another of the special organizations; the other officers to be elected as determined upon by the convention in session. Any intention of offering an obstacle or opposition to any other organization in America is disclaimed. Simply a plan of uniting in one great body the already existing special societies was proposed, from an honest conviction that such a union would prove of inestimable benefit to them individually and collectively.-Medical Journal, May 15.

A HIGHLY-FAVORED DOCTOR.-About a month ago a London physician had a telegram from the wife of a noble patient at Cannes: "Come for consultation; fee £1,000." The great doctor replied: "Anxious cases; can not come." Her ladyship seems to have thought that this was but a way of making a better bargain, for she increased her offer in four successive telegrams, till the last read: "Come at once-£5,000." While the five telegrams and replies were being sent backward and forward the "anxious cases" considerately died or got better; so our doctor in his last reply wired: "Coming." After he had seen his patient at Cannes, my lady inquired what was the fee. He said: "All the Riviera doctors with English clients met and fixed the fee for a consultation-the consultant coming expressly from London-at £1,000." A check for £1,000 was accordingly presented to him. Calling on his way to his train next day, merely to say good-by and inquire after his patient, the lady handed him an envelope "not to be opened till by and by." The doctor said: "I have had my fee. This visit is not professional, but complimentary;" but being told to put the envelope in his pocket, he did so. Later on he found it contained a check for £500-a sum which had no particular relation to the telegraphic bids. Nor is this all. Four checks came on successive days, their united value being £3,500, all signed by her ladyship; and at the bank letters were received preparing the cashier for their presentation. The doctor wrote, saying he had had his fee and could take no more. He offered to return £4,000 or distribute it among useful institutions. As the money was left in his hands he adopted the latter course, with the result that £1,000 was given to the Medical Examination Hall, 1,000 to each of two hospitals, and 1,000 to one of the

medical institutes.-London Truth.

THE MORPHINE HABIT IN FRANCE.-The deplorable habit of using morphine, not to relieve pain, but for the pleasurable sensations the narcotic produces, seems to be spreading in France, in spite of the warning note uttered by medical men, and the terrible consequences that must follow upon the use, or rather abuse, of the drug. During the hearing of a case at Macon recently, the facts that transpired corroborated the assertion made by doctors as to the alarming tendency which prevails. A chemist residing in that town was prosecuted for selling morphine without medical authority to a number of persons, among them being the wife of a doctor, who, quite unknown to her husband, consumed it daily, and in large quantities, by injecting it under the skin. In the course of the trial several physicians came forward to attest that the pernicious habit of morphine injections was spreading greatly-especially among women, to the destruction of their moral and physical health. One of those witnesses-attached to a large hospital at Macon-affirmed that more than a dozen of the day nurses were regularly addicted to the use of morphine, in one shape or another, and habit with them had become a second nature. It is, however, in Paris-and especially in the fashionable world of Paristhat, if all we hear be true, morphine causes the most serious havoc to mind and body.-London Telegraph.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES in New YoRK.-We are indebted to the sanitary bureau of the fourth division of the health department for the following statement of cases and deaths reported during the two weeks ending May 11, 1886:

four-as compared with March, a decrease of one for diphtheria, twelve for scarlet fever, and ten for typhoid fever, and an increase of one for measles. The North Carolina board of health has begun the issue of a monthly "Bulletin." The first number, for April, sets forth the considerations that have led to the publication, and gives a summary of reports from county superintendents, for the month of March. The fortieth meeting of the U. S. Naval Medical Society was held in the library of the Museum of Hygiene, Washington, at 8 o'clock p. m., May 6, 1886, the president, Dr. C. H. White in the chair. A paper by Dr. F. B. Stephenson, on "Arabic and Hebrew in Anatomy," was, in the absence of the author, read by the secretary. Dr. A. M. Moore read a critique on the foregoing paper. A report of the case of the late Surgeon William A. Corwin, U. S. N., by Dr. A. G. Cabell, was read by Dr. C. H. H. Hall. The next regular meeting of the society will be held at the usual place, Thursday evening, June 3, 1886.

STATISTICAL.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.-The area of the United States and Territories, exclusive of Alaska, is, in round numbers, about 1,980,000,000 acres. The extent of the arable area is, say, 990,000,000 acres. Of this amount there were improved in 1880, say, 300,000,000 acres, leaving 690,000,000 acres yet to be improved and made productive.

There are numerous sources of prosperity, as for instance, manufactures, mining, quarries, petroleum and the fisheries. Agriculture, confessedly, stands first in the list. Commerce, transportation, banking, etc., are in a certain sense sources of prosperity, but are of secondary importance. According to the census of 1880, there were in the United States and Territories: 4,008,907 farms with improvements, valued at Farming implements, valued at Live stock, valued at

$10,197,096,776 406,520,055 1,500,464,609

$12,104,081,440

6,040,644,462

$6,063,436,978

DISEASES.

Week ending May 4. Week ending May 11.
Cases. Deaths.
Cases. Deaths.

7,670,493

218,389

3,937

12,501

131,426

4,233,365

3,437,128

Small-pox.

-Medical Journal, May 15.

COLCHICUM AS A Remedy for AnARCHY.—It is reported that eight or more of the Chicago rioters, who, having broken into a drug-store, regaled themselves on wine of colchicum, mistaking it for sherry wine, are dead, and that others are likely to pay the same penalty. There is no reported change in the price of cholchicum in consequence of an increased demand, nor does it seem likely that there will be so long as hemp and lead are abundant and much more speedy in their effects than colchicum or American law-as it is usually administered.-Ibid.

RABIES IN PARIS.-It is officially reported, according to the "Gazette hebdomadaire de médecine et de chirurgie," that during the year 1885, 518 animals were ascertained to be affected with rabies, including 503 dogs, 13 cats, and 2 horses, and 527 were reported as suspected to be suffering with the disease; 64 bites by rabid animals were officially reported, and 19 persons died of rabies.—Ibid.

THE Medicinische Zeitung complains that while London has but one doctor to 3,000 inhabitants, Vienna has one for every 1,500, and its practitioners must put up with smaller fees. Sir Spencer Wells is cited as having received many times $50,000 or $60,000 for a single operation. In Paris, Dr. Pean is mentioned as having a professional income of $140,000, and Dr. Koeberle of Strasburg is stated to have received a fee of $100,000 for attending a Spanish princess.

NOTES.-The College of Physicians and Surgeons held its annual commencement exercises at Steinway Hall on Thursday evening, the 13th inst. An address to the graduating class was delivered by General Horace Porter. According to the monthly summary prepared by the Secretary of the State board of health, Dr. Henry B. Baker, diphtheria was reported during the month of April from forty places, scarlet fever from thirty-one, measles from nine, and typhoid fever from

The number of persons engaged in all kinds of occupations in 1880 amounted to 17,392,099, and as I have shown. 7,670,493 were engaged in agriculture, or 44.1 per cent. of the entire number; and these agriculturists, be it remembered, excepting the contributions of the fishermen, fed not only themselves, but the 43, 085,290 of their countrymen, who were not food producers, and this done, they contributed of their surplus products to feed half of Europe.

The census report for 1880 says there were 284,771,642 acres of improved land in the country; for convenience I have said 300,000,000 acres. These acres in that year produced as follows: Indian corn Wheat.