acteristics became thoroughly familiar to me, I finally ignited it upon platinum in order to destroy any organic matter which might be present; a microscopic examination then showed the filaments, the flat plates, and the amorphous accretions of glassy matter quite unchanged. Having then done with the dust, and supposing that more could readily be obtained if needed, I brushed it away; a sad mistake. "Three days later, thinking to collect enough of this dust for a chemical analysis, I gathered from a field near my house a large quantity of snow, but the dust derived from its melting was mostly trash. The wind had been blowing from all directions: anthracite dust and ashes from my chimmeys, vegetal matter from the trees and other stuff had fallen upon the snow, and so swamped and concealed what volcanic glass may have been present that, after ignition to destroy the organic matter, only one or two scraps of filament and a few flat fragments seemed to me to be such glass. "But the arrival at Philadelphia last week of the ship, J. E. Ridgway, from Manilla via the Straits of Sunda, brings a new element into the discussion. At 10 P.M., nautical time, on October 27th, 1883, as I to-day read on that ship's logbook, she being then in latitude 7.57 degrees S., longitude 100.54 degrees E., or about 500 miles W. S. W. from the scene of the Javan eruptions, the Ridg. way encountered vast fields of floating pumice, through which she sailed until 7 A. M., October 29th. "So abundant was this pumice that the ship's speed was constantly reduced, as it became more and more compact, from 9 knots when she entered it, to 2 knots at 6 P. M., October 28th; after continuing for several hours at that rate her speed gradually increased as the pumice became less dense to 8 and 9 knots. It was just like the ice they met in coming up the Delaware river,' the steward said. "That this pumice proceeded from the eruptions at and near Kraikotoa can scarcely be doubted, and of this pumice I procured specimens directly from the hands of the mate and the steward of the Ridgway, and from their lockers; no ashes had fallen upon the ship's deck. "Now, on placing under my microscope small crumbs of that pumice and such fila ments as I could pick out from its crevices, I recognized just such transparent flat scraps or plates, and ragged vitreous accretions as existed in the snow dust of January 20th, while the filaments, though less varied and interesting than those then collected, were For Friends' Intelligencer. NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES. In my studies of natural things I cannot help noticing the fact that there are entire races of both animals and plants whose sole purpose in life appears to be the infliction of pain on others. Reluctantly will some persons admit this fact, but I deem it not manly to turn aside from any investigation, however unwelcome the result may be. Coming from living things, all over the world, I hear the cry of murder and the overfreighted with suffering, until I often grinding of bones. Humanity, especially, is wonder that so many saints are found among the living. Parallel with a deep, disturbing ache, afflicting the loathno doctrine we hold or ceremonies or sacrifices some and the lovely alike; no station in life, we perform, bring slightest exemption from the law. every latitude runs More than fifty species of animals live and find highest development only within human. bodies, while an equal number make painful and necessary depredations on human skin, in order that they may live. One egg of any species of Tania finds entrance to the human intestine on any food we eat. Soon the embryo escapes from the hard shell and rapidly passes through a series of changes sufficiently curious and complex to do full honor to its host. Finally it thrusts scores of sharp hooklets into the sensitive wall of the intestine, and thus securely anchored in another life, grows out into thousands of segments, each one a distinct, agamic, reproductive individual, filled with millions of eggs, which are extruded to pass their ear lier phases of life often in some lower animal, | a cause. And yet these things are in the but their highest development culminates usual course of nature-of that nature which only in us. Here, as everywhere, we see the I and you, dear reader, have loved so well. prodigal superfluity of nature in providing for continuation of species, whether that species shall sing us sweetest bird-notes, or tear our intestines with hooklets of bone. The Trichina Spiralis finds entrance into human stomachs in the flesh of animals we eat. There, warmed by a higher life, they hatch into wriggling worms, which penetrate the intestinal walls in all directions, seeking the muscles of animal life, wherein they become encysted after inflicting such agony as words cannot tell. I have seen human muscle so thickly filled with these parasites as to resemble sandstone when held in some lights. And all these things are in the order of nature. Tender childhood, even, is not exempt. The babe in the cradle, where only innocence is found among humanity, suffers appalling reflex nervous spasms, and sometimes lifelong perverted functions from animal parasites within the body. It is needless to write in detail the lesions and lingering agony coming from such causes. Moreover, a large flora of microscopic plants lives and flourishes best only within or upon our bodies, obstructing every function of every organ in turn, or plowing the skin of saint and sinner alike with poisoned my celial threads, whose net of torture makes life often too terrible to bear. And these and more are in the order of nature. Visit our large general hospitals-and thousands, overflowing, are in the land-add all this suffering from accident and sickness to the swelling sum. Dare we venture, even in thought, into the abodes of the insane? Enter the wild wards. Walk watchfully now. The air is electric with peril. Look into those glaring orbs, if you dare! Once they, too, looked tenderly and serenely into loving eyes of wife or little ones at home; but from their burning depths reason has forever fled, even this side of death. Search for only a trace of the divine likeness which man is said to inherit, or for a little loving, redeeming tenderness, in the features of these awful cerebral wrecks. Grasp the hand-for he is still a brother, never more truly than now-beware, hold tightly till you feel the thrill of his boiling nerves, rasped by fancies wilder than mortal ever felt before. Now roll home in cushioned carriage or on luxurious railway, happy if no axle break, and meditate on the goodness of God to you. There are ninety thousand such in our land, supplemented by seventy-five thousand idiots, and one thousand annual suicides, and yet intolerable felicity has never been written as Two men seek shelter from the storm be neath some protecting tree-one, theist, the other, thief. The lightning falls; theist is killed, thief escapes. A saintly and wearied mother returns from her errand of mercy to feed and clothe some needy family. Within sight of her own dear home some wind-god hurls an overhanging branch upon her head. What do such things mean? Overfreighted with such things, the world still rolls around her orbit, and without a jar. Side by side with these hard facts is placed the theory of an almighty, all-merciful, all-loving God. Which can the people accept? Some, who assume to know, tell us a moral purpose underlies and runs through all things. It may be so, although at times difficult to discover. I will return to this idea in a following paper; there is not room now. The view limited by this paper is too partial to warrant a judgment. But I am ashamed that in this Christian age the teachers of the people on these subjects have not formulated a thought which shall embrace and express this apparent contradiction. Children are asking for bread; their diet, too often, is stones, and the best among them have discovered such food to be innutritious. J. G. H. Philadelphia, Second mo., 1884. For Friends' Intelligencer. THE PLANETS IN OUR EVENING SKY. The appearance of the heavens in the early evening is now rendered unusually brilliant by the presence of the four brightest planets. On the evening of Third month 1st, Venus will be in the western part of the sky about 40 degrees from the Sun at the time he sets. Near the meridian towards the South is Saturn, now close to the bright star group the Hyades; while further to the eastward in the Constellation Cancer are to be seen the two planets Jupiter and Mars about 12 degrees apart. As these planets and the Moon lie very nearly in the Sun's path through the heavens their presence enables us easily to sketch out in the celestial vault the line that he will traverse in the next half year. During the first two mouths of the present year Venus has been moving rapidly to the eastward, passing away from the Sun. The distance will increase until Fifth month 2d, when the interval between the two will be so great that Venus will remain above the horizon until nearly four hours'after sunset. Then the planet commences to move towards the Sun; at first slowly, but afterwards with greater rapidity, so that after Sixth month 18th it appears to move westward as compared with the stars. On Seventh month 11th it comes between the Earth and the Sun; and for the rest of the year will be visible as morning star. Venus will obtain its greatest brilliancy about Sixth month 2d and Eighth month 18th. The rapidity with which it travels eastward through the heavens causes it during the present year to pass the other planets, except Mars, overtaking Saturn Fourth month 12th, and Jupiter Tenth month 6th. Since Second month 3d, Saturn has been moving forward and will continue to do so until Tenth month 5th, in that interval of eight months traversing a space in the heavens of about 20 degrees. This comparatively slow motion is very readily to be seen by observing its position with reference to the star group of the Hyades near which it now is. Jupiter and Mars are both moving backwards through the stars. As the motion of the latter is the more rapid the distance between them will uudergo a slight decrease until Third month 12th, when Mars will begin its forward movement, and its greater speed will rapidly increase the space between it and Jupiter. While each of the planets is often seen, it is not usual to have the four presented to our view at one time; the present opportunity then is an excellent one for comparing the appearance of the planets. About Fourth month 25th Mercury will be evening star; and that occasion will be of unusual interest, as all of the planets visible to the unassisted eye will be above the horizon at once, and their brightness will not be dimmed by moonlight. By tracing the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets through the stars, we can more satisfactorily than in any other way form a clear mental picture of the relation that the Earth bears to the solar system of which it is a part. JOHN M. CHILD. Second mo. 27th, 1884. ITEMS. ON the 18th, 19th and 20th of Second month, cyclones passed through portions of four Southern States and caused much destruction of life and property. A CONVENTION of citizens of Southern Dakota was recently held at Pierre, D. T., and memorialized Congress for the opening of the Sioux reservation to settlement. According to reports the memorial is very temperate and unobjectionable, even recommending that Congress make additional provision for the Indians over and above the specifications of the treaty. THE Government of Denmark has issued the following regulations with reference to intemperance: 1. The number of public houses is to be reduced from thirteen hundred and fifty to three hundred. 2. Girls are not allowed to stand behind bars. 3. Liquor is not to be sold to persons of either sex under eighpersons already visibly intoxicated. teen years old. 4. No liquor is to be sold to 5. A drunken person is to be taken home in a cab or covered carriage at the cost of the landlord in whose house he took the last drink. IN the schools in the Cherokee Nation there are: In the male High School, 4 teachers, 108 scholars and 50 primary scholars. In the female High School, 4 teachers, 113 scholars and 50 primary scholars. In the Orphan Asylum, 6 teachers, 80 boys and 85 girls-165, who are supported at a cost of $19,907. In the Primary Schools there are 103 teachers and 3,863 pupils. Amount appropriated for common schools is $33,945. THE number of letters sent to the Dead Let3,346,357 were not called for at the Post-offices ter office last year was 4,379,198. Of these, addressed; 78,866 were returned from hotels, the departing guests not having left addresses to which they might be sent; 172,718 were insufficiently paid; 1,345 contained forbidden articles, as lottery tickets, etc.; 280,137 were bore no address. Money amounting to $32,erroneously or illegibly addressed; and 11,979 647.23 was found in 15,301 letters; 18,095 contained drafts, checks, money orders, etc., to the amount of $1,381,994.47; while 66,137 others receipts, paid notes or other cancelled obligacontained postage stamps, and 40,125 contained tions. The money thus collected which cannot be returned to the senders is turned into the Treasury, and the goods and merchandize are sold at auction. NOTICES. A Conference of the Yearly Meeting Committee, with Friends generally, to consider the state of Society, will be held at 3 P. M. on First-day, Third month 9th (time of Baltimore Quarterly Meeting), at Lombard Street Meeting-house, in Baltimore. It is especially desired that Friends interested in the welfare of Society make an earnest effort to attend this meeting. 8 o'clock on Seventh-day, 8th prox. A meeting of the Committee will be held at Any Friends feeling a concern to do so, are invited to meet with the Committee at this time. SENECA P. BROOMELL, Clerk of Committee. meet at Upper Springfield, on Seventh-day The Burlington First-day School Union will Third month 8th, at 10 A. M. Interested Friends are invited. Carriages will be in waiting at Jobstown. LAURA NEWBOLD, Clerks. WM. WALTON, "TAKE FAST HOLD OF INSTRUCTION; LET HER NOT GO; KEEP HER; FOR SHE IS THY LIFE." VOL. XLI. PHILADELPHIA, THIRD MONTH 8, 1884. No. 4. EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY AN ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS. 001UNICATIONS MUST BE ADDRESSED AND PAYMENTS MADE TO JOHN COMLY, AGENT, AT PUBLICATION OFFICE, No. 1020 ARCH STREET. TERMS:-TO BE PAID IN ADVANCE. The Paper is issued every week. The FORTY-FIRST Volume commenced on the 16th of Second mouth, 1884, at Two Dollars and Fifty Cents to subscribers receiving it through mail, postage prepaid. SINGLE NUMBERS SIX CENTS. It is desirable that all subscriptions should commence at the beginning of the volume. REMITTANCES by mail should be in CHECKS, DRAFTS, or P. 0. MONEY-ORDERS; the latter preferred. MONEY sent by mail will be at the risk of the person so sending. AGENTS:-Edwin Blackburn, Baltimore, Md. Benj. Strattan, Richmond, Ind. "No man," says Arnold, "can point to the exact moment and manner in which our body of New Testament Scriptures received its authority. But we can point to a moment after which we find our present New Testament Canon in possession of indisputed authority in the Church of the West, and before which we do not." The two Synods of Carthage, one held 397 A. D., and the second in the year 419, were the authorities. The only difference in the dicta of these convocations was in regard to the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was not adopted by the earlier body, but accepted by the later. St. Jerome, who died the year after the second Synod of Carthage, was the most learned and probably the wisest of the Christian fathers of his age. He presented in the year 383 A. D., a corrected Latin version of the four Gospels, containing a prefatory letter to the Pope. He then says of the Epistle to the Hebrews: "The custom of the Latin CONTENTS. The Canon of the New Testament.... Hopefulness.... Correspondence..... Local Information. Scraps from Unpublished Letters. Editorial: Silent Worship... Marriages.. Deaths................. Travels of George Pitt....... The Alcohol Habit.. Notices.. Christians does not receive it among the Canonical Scriptures." Of the Apocalypse, he remarks that the Greek Churches are not united. Of the Second Epistle of Peter he says, it is not believed by most to be his. He also doubts the authenticity of the Epistle of James, and of the Epistle of Jude, and of the Second and Third Epistles attributed to St. John. The Synods of Carthage were not composed of very learned men, and yet their authority was held to be conclusive, because it represented that of the Catholic Church. This continued through all the dark centuries of the Middle Ages, and when the Protestant Reformation came, the New Testament, as a whole, was given to the laity in the vernacular, as the veritable Word of God, and all of equal authority. But in the age before the fifth century there did not exist such universal acceptance. There was a great difference in the relative standing of the books. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans was received as genuine and excellent from the first, while that to the Hebrews had no such standing till after the second Synod of Carthage, when the Catholic Church indorsed it. The authenticity of the Fourth Gospel (John's) has no such security in general consent, as has that of the First (Matthew's) Gospel. The Gospels giving the sayings and doings of Jesus himself, are of the highest importance to the Christian inquirer, and it is of interest to consider how far back we can carry the chain of established consent in favor | the New Testament, and one may say that it of our four canonical Gospels. At the end of the fourth century (the age of Jerome) their canonicity was fairly established. Eusebius, the Semi-Arian, in the early part of the same century, acknowledged their authority. Origen, one of the most learned, eloquent and influential of the Fathers of the third century (he died 254 A. D.) speaks of them as "alone undisputed in the Church of God upon earth." In the second century, Irenæus, a Bishop of Lyons, in France, an author of works yet extant, who is believed to have suffered martyrdom under Septimus Severus, has left this explicit testimony, which is quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History: "Matthew it was who, among the Hebrews, brought out in their own language a written Gospel, when Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome, and founding the Church. Then, after their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, he too delivered to us in writing what Peter preached; and Luke, moreover, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by Paul. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who also lay on his breast, John too published his Gospel, living at that time at Ephesus, in Asia." was within an inch of gaining, and not undeservedly, admission to our Canon." This Clement was the second Bishop of Rome. Eusebius states that he died 100 A. D., hav ing held the episcopal office nine years. He is reckoned among the martyrs, but there is some uncertainty concerning his death. His Epistle, which is still extant, consists of more than fifty chapters. It was highly valued. and was publicly read in the churches as late as the fourth century. His quotations are considered proofs of the genuineness of Matthew's and Luke's Gospels, and several of the Epistles. Another highly valued writer of the early Christian Church was Justin Martyr. He is accounted the earliest and most learned of the Christian Fathers. He was born of Greek parentage at Neapolis in Palestine about 103 A. D., and was educated in the Pagan religion and in the Platonic Philosophy. He embraced Christianity about 132 A. D., and afterwards removed to Rome, where he wrote in Greek his First Apology for the Christian Religion, which was addressed to the Emperor Anto ninus. From this monarch, Justin procured some concessions for the Christians. Second Apology was addressed to Marcus Aurelius, under whom he suffered martyrdom about 165 A. D. His quotations from the earliest Gospels are held to be important evidence of their existence in the first century, and of the value set upon them by the most competent of the Fathers of that age. But neither Clement nor Justin quoted with the literal accuracy which would be expected if these documents were then a part of a body of Canonical Scripture. His This takes us back to the year 180 of our era, and higher than this no great authority gives us assurance of the recognition of these records as authorities. There is evidence that before the middle of the second century, no written documents were considered infallible or inspired, as they were accounted in a later day. We can see that while the first apostles lived, their personal testimony would be preferred to any written authority. And when these first pillars of the Church had passed Concerning the beautiful Fourth Gospel, away, the words of those who had been with attributed to the beloved John, there has been them in their ministry would be held most much modern controversy. It is not practi precious. But many documents were written cal in this brief essay to review it exhaustively, by those who in that age felt impelled to the but we may remark in passing that the rework; some of which were thought edifying markable opening chapter is held to be enin their day, but later were deemed apocry-tirely un-Jewish in its tone, and that in many phal. The fact that the present collection was saved, and acknowledged by general consent of the Fathers, is held to be our present warrant for placing them as we do at the head of all external evidence of the life and words of Jesus, and of the character of the teachings of the first apostles. Matthew Arnold (in "God and the Bible") speaks thus of the Epistle to the Church at Carthage, attributed to Clement, of Rome, a fellow-laborer of St. Paul: "It is, as every one knows, of high antiquity and authority. It probably dates from the end of the first century. Jerome tells us that it was publicly read in church as authorized Scripture. It is included in the Alexandrian manuscript of instances we find statements which it is not likely a Jew would have made. In the year 1740 there was discovered by Muratori, an Italian antiquary, in the monastery of Bobbio, in North Italy, a fragment, said to be of the eighth century, which was called by the first publisher, the "Canon of Muratori. This fragment states that the Pastor of Hermes, a work received as Scripture by many of the early Church, was written "quite lately, in our own times, while Pius, the brother of Hermes, was filling the episcopal chair in Rome." Pius died in the year 157 of our era. The date of the document cannot then be supposed later than the period before the close of the second century, proba |