spider commences to construct a door, which shall effectually cover the chamber. If this be hastily examined it looks like a little disc of mortar, lined inside with web, and hinged to one side of the tubular chamber with a prolongation of the lining mortar; but if carefully looked into it will be found to be composed of no fewer than thirty alternate layers of web and mortar, each layer being imbedded in a smaller, like cups placed within each other; and yet the whole is only the tenth of an inch in thickness. The layers of web are continued so as to form a hinge; and the edge of the door is bevelled inwards like a valve, and has a corresponding bevel in the tube or passage which it covers. This of course makes attack from without difficult, if not impossible; for the door cannot be opened inwards, and when the spider is once in, he can defy any enemy to open it outwards; for the interior of the cover is not smooth, like the other parts of the tube-dwelling, but is pierced with about thirty holes. These are placed just in the position in which a lock would be put by the human builder. Should the Mygale find itself besieged, it pushes its claws into these holes, and fastens the sharp mandibles into the wall of the dwelling. He then contracts his whole body and pulls the door so tightly close as to defy the enemy to open it. On the other hand the door is quite indistinguishable from the rough clay amidst which it is found, and the animal

itself-knowing its position-finds its very roughness an aid in opening it and effecting a rapid retreat.

The habit of this creature is to sleep in its chambered recess during the day, but to slightly raise the valve or cover of its fastness at night for the purpose of watching. Should a cricket or a small animal of any kind come near enough, the Mygale leaps out, seizes its prey, and darts back again with great rapidity.

It is well known that a luminous point, like a piece of lighted wood, if rotated rapidly enough in an ellipse or a circle, produces the effect upon the eye of a continuous ring of light. The circle of light appears to be such if the point of light is made to revolve about ten times in a second this is because it takes about the tenth of a second for a luminous impression on the retina to vanish and therefore the continuity of impression is not broken. M. Lalanne has just shown by experiment that the same is true of tactile impressions-the nerves of touch are affected in exactly the same way. If a body that will not injure the skin by motion upon it be made to revolve round the arm or the leg at the rate of not less than ten turns or revolutions a second, a continuous impression arises like that caused by the pressure of a bracelet or a ring. So that it would appear that all nervous sensibilityluminous, tactile, and-by approximate experiments-acoustic, are dependent upon the same conditions.

The Prayers of St. Paul: Being an Analysis and Exposition of the Devotional Portion of the Apostle's Writings. By W. B. POPE, Theological Tutor, Didsbury College, Manchester. London: Published for the Author at the Wesleyan Conference Office. 1876.

It is no easy matter to write a fresh and solid book on so well-worn a theme as the Epistles of St. Paul. It is far harder to accomplish the task without the aid of controversy, critical discussion, or popular rhetoric. This, however, is what Mr. Pope has done in the volume before us. Leaving the topics of dogmatic theology round which disputes have raged for centuries, undisturbed, though by no means uninstructed, by the more recent strife of criticism, he gives his attention to a part of the Apostle's writings comparatively overlooked by commentators and expositors. The prayers and thanksgivings, the devout wishes and ejaculations of St. Paul, furnish matter alike for the pious meditation of the simple believer and for the closest analysis of the fully equipped student. It is in the combination of these two characters that Mr. Pope stands pre-eminent, and to this is due the originality of his expositions. He applies the most rigid methods of modern exegesis to devotional subjects, with the closeness of a German professor, and in the spirit of a true Methodist preacher.

This is a book for the prayerful private reading of scholars, but not of scholars only. Few will read without benefit, though the full value will be appreciated only by those who are trained to follow close reasoning, to catch the force of wellweighed words, and to see all the meaning of compressed thought. Suggestions abound that will bear much expanding and popularising; and there are few works of recent date more precious to the reader who can make use of a good model, without servile imitation. The whole manner of treatment exhibits to the Bible-student a method of study that must bear rich fruit when applied to other subjects, or even by other minds to the inexhaustible field of the great Apostle's letters. One highly important problem receives much elucidation from these pages, yet still demands further inquiry-What was the practical ideal, and what the average attainment of Christian devotion and holiness in the

earliest times? To determine this question, not vaguely and by deduction from general principles, but accurately and by rigid analysis of evidence, would be of immense service, not only to the historian, but also to the seeker of the religious life. To the reader of Mr. Pope's exposition, it must soon become abundantly apparent how lofty, yet constantly present, is St. Paul's standard of Christian excellence. As a theological defence of the doctrine of Entire Sanctification, showing how the conception pervades the Pauline writings, the present volume is extremely valuable.

Memorials of the Rev. David Thomas, B.A., of Bristol. Edited by His Son, H. A. Thomas, M.A. Hodder and Stoughton. 1876.

This volume contains ten Sermons by Mr. Thomas, to which a brief Biographical Sketch has been prefixed by his son. The story of the Life of David Thomas, "quiet and uneventful," is soon told, so far as it can be known to the outside world, for he left no diary, nor any papers from which an elaborate biography might be compiled, and his son has done wisely in making his sermons the chief part of these Memorials. Of the sermons themselves it would be difficult to speak too highly. They are calm, earnest, thoughtful, practical, and our only regret in reading them is that so few have been printed. We most heartily wish them a very extensive circulation.

The Church and Liberties of England:

The True Character and Public
Danger of the Present Extreme Move-
ment in the National Church. With
Dedication and Appendices. By
NEVISON LORAINE, Vicar of Grove
Park West, London, Author of "The
Voice of the Prayer-Book," etc.
Introduction by the Very Rev. the
DEAN of CHESTER. London: Smith,
Elder and Co. 1876.

In this small volume, the substance of a single lecture, Mr. Loraine has revealed the great danger to which the English Church is exposed by the covert work of the extreme Ritualistic party. It is almost inconceivable that, under pretence of devotion to the interests of the Anglican Church, any men with common-sense can practise on themselves, or any man with common honesty can practise on others, the deceit which, as this book testifies, is being wrought at the present

time. Mr. Loraine's allegations are based on quotations made from religious manuals and other works openly or secretly circulated by English clergymen. Calmly, but effectually, the writer exposes the wily tricks by which the foundations of Protestant sentiment in this land are being undermined. The practices complained of are as unworthy of English clergymen, as the teachings are irreconcileable with the spirit and the very words of the Book of Common Prayer.

To no class more than to moderate High-Churchmen does this book appeal. It is surely the duty of this section, if of any, to draw the line clearly and without hesitancy, beyond which it will not allow itself to pass; while it is an equally incumbent duty to bear faithful and firm witness against acknowledged error. Only thus is it possible to escape the imputation of connivance which may lapse into the sin of compliance, and to avoid strengthening the hands of dangerous foes. Mr. Loraine's is a timely note of warning which should be sounded throughout the length and breadth of the land.

A Course of Addresses on the Word and Works of God. Delivered to an Evangelical Association of Young Men. By MAURICE LOTHIAN. Edinburgh Johnstone, Hunter and Co. 1876.

After an experience of nearly fifty years in Sunday-school teaching, the author of this book formed an association of young men, with a view to retain the older scholars under further instruction, and to establish them in the profession of a religious life. The Addresses in this volume are selected from those given to this association during the twenty years of its existence. They are written in a good spirit, with a good purpose, and in a plain and homely style. It is no detraction from their utility that nothing original or novel is aimed at. If this is not a book for the theologian, it is, perhaps, therefore the better fitted for the class for whom it was prepared. The Addresses were intended for young men, and designed to establish them in the Christian faith, and to guard them from the assaults of infidels and sceptics. Wisely the

writer has confined himself to beaten paths the old arguments are on the whole the best. The Christian faith rests on independent ground; its positive arguments are its truest defences. Mere replies to opponents, however skilful and conclusive, are not the real supports to faith. It is the wisdom of the young reader to make himself acquainted with the firm basis on which his confidence may repose, and the impregnable defences behind which he may stand, before he ventures forth to battle. Equally is it the wisdom of the teacher of the young to set forth the grounds of belief, before exposing the weakness and error of infidelity. This our author has done.

To Sunday-school superintendents and teachers, this volume may be commended as supplying good examples of addresses to young men ; while young men who are desirous of establishing their faith, both in the authority of the Scriptures and the leading doctrines of the Evangelical Churches, and to provide themselves with arguments against the infidel and the scoffer, may find this a useful and interesting compendium.

The Biblical Museum. By JAMES COMPER GRAY. Old Testament. London: Elliot Stock.

Of this publication we have received the prospectus and the first part. It is constructed upon the same lines as those which were laid down for the New Testament division. Upon each passage explanatory;

are

or notes, critical notes homiletic; notes illustrative; a more or less apt anecdote or quotation; and marginal references, and pithy sentences. Criticism we must reserve till the appearance of the first volume. So far as we can judge from the portion examined, this issue is marked by the same excellencies and defects that have characterised Mr. Gray's previous works, which we have frequently pointed out. The excellencies are many, the defects comparatively few. Mr. Gray combines interest and fulness with brevity and precision, but he is often fanciful and occasionally unscholarly. The "Biblical Museum," however, well deserves, and is likely, to be popular.