nium is a metal of silvery splendour, and it retains its brightness in air and water. It is exceedingly ductile, and is one of the lightest of metals, having a specific gravity of only 2.56. As it is not acted on by sulphuretted hydrogen, it will make excellent egg-spoons, and it will remain untarnished in our gas-lit apartments. Should the process of reduction be cheap, there need be no end to the supply: seeing there is an ample mine in every brick wall and kitchen-garden. On the 27th of January died at Durham, the venerable Master of Sherburn Hospital, the Rev. George Stanley Faber. He had reached his eightieth year. His "Difficulties of Infidelity," and of "Romanism," have been his most popular publications; but his "Mysteries of the Cabiri," his "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," and his “Calendar of Prophecy," are all works of vast erudition and enduring value. The Lectures to the Young Men's Christian Association are concluded; and on the whole they have been the best course ever given. Mr. Hugh Miller's "Two Records: the Scriptural and the Geological," was not only an original, and, as we think, a successful reconciliation, but it was a charming sketch of the geological domain and its great successive dynasties. Dr. C. J. Vaughan's "Cicero" we have just perused, with much admiration of its noble sentiments, and with longing that we could breathe more frequently that classical atmosphere, whose exquisite afflatus is wafted to our spirits in this truly Tusculan discourse. Dr. Candlish closed the series with a review of the theological system propounded by Mr. Maurice, and we are happy to hear that it is his intention to publish a detailed examination of Mr. Maurice's "Essays." Thanks to the zeal of its publisher, we perceive that a new book of Travels in Syria has reached a second edition. NEW PERIODICALS. TABLE-TURNING. 239 But we question if in his jaunty pages many readers will discover M. de Saulcy's "Discovery of the Site of Sodom and Gomorrah." They will be of service, however, if they lead some careful and sagacious man, like Robinson, to a more accurate exploration of the Dead Sea border. Dr. Joseph Hooker has published, in two profusely illustrated volumes, "Notes of a Naturalist," being his Travels among the Himalayas and Khasia Mountains. We have not had time to read them yet; but from the high standing of the author and from the rich accessions to science which rewarded both his Antarctic and Indian researches, we expect a great treat in their perusal. We are already old enough to be entitled to introduce some younger contemporaries. Of these "The News of the Churches" will be to some of our readers the most welcome. Its object is to supply a monthly abstract of the missionary intelligence and the internal occurrences of the British and Continental Churches, giving the essence of all the denominational newspapers and magazines, and supplementing these from the information of private correspondents. It has made a good beginning. "The Christian Annotator" is the plan of the admirable "Notes and Queries" transferred to theological literature; and it promises to furnish a muchdesired medium of intercommunication to students of Church History, Biblical Criticism, and kindred subjects. In the numbers which have already appeared, several interesting points have received a valuable elucidation. "The Museum of Science and Art" is a most successful attempt to bring within every one's reach the wonders of Natural Philosophy. Judging by the sermons and pamphlets which come in our way, the table-turning mania is not yet extinct. On the principle of the Scottish proverb, "timber to timber," we can understand how, when certain people and certain tables lay their heads together, there should be a powerful sym pathy; in other words, when two wooden heads come together, we expect some striking result: but we were not prepared for this talking. Nor can we understand how demons should find their way into innocent rosewood through the finger-tips of Oxford graduates and lovely young ladies. Had the mediums been blacklegs or Norwood gipsies, our difficulty would have been greatly diminished. In the meanwhile, the grave treatment which this matter has received throws light on mediæval superstition; and no one need wonder that witches were burned by Sir Matthew Hale who finds modern clergymen ascribing these tricks to Satanic agency. At present there is an interesting controversy waging amongst the Jews of England. The Talmudists, including Sir Moses Montefiore, wish to exclude from the Board of Deputies members of the Reformed or Biblical Synagogue: but a party, almost as numerous, and including the Rothschilds and Alderman Salomons, voted for their admission. This circumstance shows that the party which adheres to the Old Testament as the only text-book of the Hebrew faith and practice, is gaining ground. Through private letters from Geneva, we are happy to find that a good work is in progress there. The distribution of tracts and meetings for reading the Scriptures have awakened a spirit of inquiry among the Romanists, and numbers are now receiving regular instruction from Protestant pastors with a view to the public renunciation of Popery. It is expected that about a hundred persons will be received into the Reformed Church in the course of the present month. |