fine pores of the globe, covering its surface like drops of dew. But the most interesting instances of the porosity of bodies will be found in organic life, both vegetable and animal. Thus bone is a tissue of cells and partitions, as little solid as a heap of pillboxes, or a pile of packing-cases. Wood is a congeries of parallel tubes, like bundles of organ-pipes, or a cluster of fluted columns. A piece of wood, sunk to a great depth in the ocean, by the pressure that there acts upon it, has its porcs so filled with water, that it becomes as heavy as a stone, and will no longer float in the sea. Greenland whalers have had their boat dragged down to great depths by the wounded whale, and on drawing the boat up again, it has been as heavy, from the some cause, as if a huge piece of rock were attached to it. Light and porous as cork is, if sunk more than 200 feet under water, it will never rise again by its own buoy

ancy.

Density is the quantity of atoms existing in a given space, and is but another modification of attraction. It differs greatly in different substances. Mercury is thirteen and a half times heavier than an equal bulk of water. A cubic inch of lead is forty times heavier than a cubic inch of cork.

A weight, placed upon an upright rod or pillar, shortens it by bringing its parts into closer approximation; but if the weight be suspended from the bottom, the rod is lengthened, the attraction of cohesion being to that extent overcome. When a plank or rod is bent, the atoms on the concave side approximate, and those on the convex side are drawn somewhat more apart.

Bronze is a composition of tin and copper, and occupies, by one-fifteenth, less space than the two metals of which it is composed do separately,-proving that the atoms of one are partially received into the vacant spaces of the other. Other mixtures present similar condensation.

A

pound of water and a pound of salt make two pounds of brine; but thus mixed they occupy much less space than when separate. It will be found that similar results take place if sugar be dissolved in water.

In æriform bodies the atoms are very distant from each other, and therefore compression may be carried to a much greater extent than in fluids. A hundred pints of common air may be compressed into a pint vessel, as is done in the chamber of an airgun. Strange as it may appear, the compression may be carried to such a degree that the atoms of air collapse, and form an oily liquid!

Equal bulks of different bodies being weighed, the comparative weights are called their specific gravities. In thus comparing different bodies, it was necessary to choose

a standard of comparison. Water has been selected for this purpose. Platinum, the heaviest of metals, is about twenty-two times as heavy as an equal bulk of water; gold, nineteen times; lead, eleven; iron, eight and a half; copper, eight; common stones, about two and a half; woods, from a half to one and a half; cork, one quarter.

The hardness of a body is generally mea sured by its capability of scratching another, though it is remarkable that the powder of a softer body will often aid in wearing down or polishing one that is harder. Hardness is not proportioned to the density of bodies. Gold, for instance, though soft compared with the diamond, is four times heavier than that precious stone; and mercury, which every one knows is a fluid, is nearly twice as dense as the hardest steel Diamonds are the hardest of known substances, and will scratch every other known body. They are generally polished by means of their own dust. Glaziers use the point of a diamond as a glass-knife for dividing and shaping their panes.

Steel may either be soft, like pure iron, or by being suddenly cooled in the process termed tempering, may become nearly as hard as the diamond itself. No discovery of science has perhaps been of more conse quence to society and civilization than this. It has enabled man to give to his edge-tools and cutting instruments their greatest power. A savage, with fire and sharp stones, will work for months in felling a tree, and giving it the shape of a canoe. A carpen ter, with our improved edge-tools, would do it all in fewer days.

Civilization and taste have derived another advantage from the property of steel being either soft or hard, as the artizan may will. Engravings are now made on plates of soft steel instead of copper. The engraved plates are then tempered to the hardness necessary for their use, as type or die, transferring the engraving, not to paper, but to other plates of soft steel or copper, each of which is thus made equal in value to an original engraving. In this way the works of the artist, instead of being limited to a few copies and a few individuals, can be multiplied to any amount; and by the increased cheapness, without any depreciation of the merit of the work of art, engravings of the most distinguished artists find their way to the houses of men of moderate means, as well as to the mansions and palaces of the wealthy.

Elasticity is another modification of attraction. It is the property, in certain bodies, whereby they restore themselves to. their natural figure, after any force which has altered their form is withdrawn. Elastic bodies vary greatly as to the extent to which they will bend without breaking,

and as to the degree to which, when the disturbing force is withdrawn, they return to their exact former figure. Caoutchouc, or Indian-rubber, is extensively but not perfectly elastic; for though it will yield much, yet if stretched often and to a great extent, it becomes permanently elongated. Glass is perfectly elastic, for it will retain no permanent bend; though, unless in very thin plates, it will not bend far without breaking. When drawn into threads, however, it can be twisted up like skeins of silk, as the visitor at the Panopticon, in Leicester-square, or at the Polytechnic, in Regent-street, may see for himself, and buy a specimen for twopence.

All hard bodies, as steel and ivory, are elastic; so are many soft ones, as silk thread and harp-strings. Eriform bodies are perfectly elastic, and so are liquids, but to a much smaller extent. A good steel sword may be bent until its two ends meet, and will then resume its former straightness. Bad steel breaks in bending, or retains the bend. An ivory ball, falling on a marble slab, rebounds by its perfect elasticity nearly to the height from which it fell, leaving no mark either on itself or on the marble. If, however, the slab is wet, it will be seen that the ivory has been considerably flattened at the point of contact-for a circular spot on the surface of the marble will be found dried by the blow. A marble chimney-piece, long supported by its ends, bends down. wards in the middle, and the bend is permanent. A steel watch-spring, though so often and so much bent, will, after having been in use for a century, resume its original form.

Owing to other modifications of attraction, bodies are brittle, or broken by a very slight change in the position of their atoms; malleable, or reducible into thin leaves by hammering; ductile, or capable of being drawn into wire; tenacious, or having strength to endure pulling.

The tenacity of various substances is of great importance to society, as is seen in the thread of the silkworm, distinguished by the strength and flexibility of its fibre; in the ligaments and tendons of animals, displaying as they do such admirable strength, elasticity, and pliancy in animal motion, and furnishing, when dried, the bow-strings of the English archers, who, at Cressy and Poictiers, gave fame to their country. All the beautiful textures of the hand-loom and of the power-loom owe their value to this modification of the power of attraction, as well as the harmonious sounds of the harp and the violin, that rival in strength and uniformity the steel wires of keyed instruments.

But for this property of matter, Britain had never been the Queen of the Ocean.

Her merchant-vessels, conveying thousands of tons of valuable cargo, would have been mere sloops; and her Navy, proudly led forth by three-deckers, pierced by 130 guns, would hardly have presented a gun-boat for the defence of her shores and her commerce; for what would twisted canes and strips of bamboo have been for cordage, had not hemp been discovered as a means of furnishing the rigging and cables necessary for vessels of the magnitude of British shipping? And what a scene to contemplate are the Menai Straits, with the Suspension and Tubular Bridges, over and through which large processions and heavily-laden railroad-trains pass; while beneath them vessels in full sail are borne along by the tide, or hurried by the wind; and all this owing to the tenacity which belongs to the metal wires and metal plates, of which these marvellous triumphs of engineering skill and enterprize consist!

INDICATIONS OF WEATHER, AS SHOWN BY ANIMALS, INSECTS, AND PLANTS.

MIGRATORY birds in the spring, if the season is to be windy, thatch the straw and leaves on the inside of the nest, between the twigs and the lining; and if it be very windy, they get pliant twigs and bind the nest firmly to the limb, securing all the small twigs with their saliva. If they fear the approach of a rainy season, they build their nests so as to be sheltered from the weather; but if a pleasant one, they build in the fair, open place, without taking any of those extra precautions. Snails do not drink, but imbibe moisture in their bodies during a rain. At regular periods after the rain they exude this moisture from their bodies, but are careful not to exude more than is necessary at a time. They are seen abroad about two days before a rain, when they ascend the stems of plants and the bark of trees. If it be a long and hard rain, they get on the sheltered side of the leaf, but if a short one they get on the outside. Some species of these insects also change their colour after a rain, growing lighter coloured as they exude the moisture. The leaves of trees are even good barometers; most of them for a short light rain will turn up so as to receive their fill of water; but for a long rain they are so doubled as to conduct the water away. The rana, bufo, and hyla are also sure indicators of rain; for, as they do not drink water, but absorb it into their bodies, they are sure to be found out the time they expect rain. The locusta and the gryllus are also good indicators of a storm. A few hours before the rain they are to be found under the leaves of trees in the hollow trunks.

SIMON MAGUS-HIS LIFE AND

CHARACTER.

ACCORDING to Justin Martyr, Simon was a native of Gitton, in Samaria; and this agrees very well with the circumstance of our finding him pursuing his practice among the Samaritans. There is a tradition that he had studied at Alexandria; and those who are acquainted with the dreamy theology of the Alexandrian schools will think this not unlikely, though we have no very certain evidence of the fact. Josephus speaks of a Simon Magus, who was high in the confidence of the Roman governor Felix, and the subservient minister of his will. Neander supposes him to have been the same as this Simon. But to this it is reasonably objected that Josephus makes his Simon a native of Cyprus by birth; whereas Justin, who was himself a native of Shechem in Samaria, and had every opportunity of knowing the native country of Simon, declares him to have been a Samaritan, and could have no possible interest in misrepresenting the truth. Besides, Felix lived too late to allow it to be supposed that Simon Magus could still be actively engaged in those regions where he was procurator; for Simon seems to have early left the East, and to have betaken himself to Rome, the rendezvous for all deceivers of this kind. This Justin affirms; but what he does say, in his First Apology, is so interesting, and has excited so much discussion, that we may give it entire.

"After the return of Christ to heaven, the demons put forth certain men, calling themselves gods; who not only were not persecuted, but honoured by you. Such was Simon, a certain Samaritan, who, during the reign of Claudius Caesar, having performed magical works, through the art and power of demons, in your imperial city of Rome, was accounted a god, which statue has been erected by you in an island in the Tiber, between the two bridges, with this inscription in Latin,-Simoni Deo Sancto; and almost all the Samaritans, and a few also among other nations, acknowledge and worship him as the First God."

Recurring to the subject afterwards, Justin says: "As I have before said, Simon being with you in the imperial city of Rome, during the reign of Claudius Cæsar, he so astonished and deluded the sacred senate and the Roman people as to be accounted a god, and to be honoured with

a statue, as the other gods are honoured by you. Whence I beg that you (the em peror, or the emperor and the Caesars would make the sacred senate and your people acquainted with this our supplica tion; so that if any one be entangled in his doctrines, he may learn the truth, and be able to escape from error. And if it be your pleasure, let the statue be destroyed."

This statement has been repeated by several of the fathers; but it has of late been generally supposed that Justin was misled in this by his imperfect acquaintance with the Latin language and mytho logy, and mistook a statue to the Sabine deity, Semo Sancus, for one to Simon,conclusion which has been conceived to be much confirmed by a piece of marble having been found in an islet of the Tiber, actually bearing the inscription (possibly, it was thought, the very same that Justin saw) Semoni Sanco Deo Fideo Sacrum.

The late learned Dr. Burton, however, in his work on the Heresies of the Apostolic Age, urged some reasons against the supposed certainty that Justin had been mistaken; and more lately, Professor Norton, of New York, has so investigated the subject, as to leave strong grounds for doubt whether Justin's story may not have been too readily set aside. Justin, at the distance of a hundred years, may have been in some error as to the circumstances attending the erection of the statue, and nothing more need be understood than that it was set up with the sanction of the emperor,in whose reign, indeed, it is known that a decree was issued which rendered it impossible that a public statue should be erected without that sanction. It is, however, little likely that Justin should have committed a blunder so egregious as to what he had actually seen; and if he had, it is still less likely but that it would have been pointed out before presentation, by some friend capable of correcting the error in a public document like the Apology, in which the whole body of the Christians were interested.

Or if it had been presented with the blunder in it, the laughter and derision of the enemies of Christianity, at the ignor ance of the apologist, must have made the fact known, and would effectually have prevented its being repeated for two hun dred years by others, to some of whom it is almost certain that the mistake, if any existed, must have become known. Besides, the inscription on the marble is less

likely, than seems at first view, to have been thus mistaken by a man even more ignorant than Justin is, upon this hypothesis, unjustly supposed to have been; for the words cited are followed by others expressing the name (Sextus Pompeius), and titles of the person by whom it was dedicated. It is far from extraordinary that there should be two inscriptions, one to Semo Sancus, and another to Simon in this place. We know the city swarmed with statues and inscriptions; and Semo Sancus was an ancient well-known god, who had a temple on the Quirinal Hill, and to whom there were several inscriptions in the city. Three besides this one have actually been found, and more are probably buried in the soil; and this reduces the singularity of the coincidence that one should be found in the same island of the Tiber where Justin saw the statue of Simon. With regard to the fact of its existence, with which alone we are concerned, there is no difficulty in supposing it to have been erected at Rome by some of Simon's followers; nor is there anything to render it improbable that they might have obtained liberty to set up a statue of his in Rome, exposed to public view. The deification of contemporaries after death was common in that age. The examples of it in the apotheoses of the Roman emperors, and of those to whom they extended the honour, must be familiar to every one. There is a more affecting illustration of the common conceptions concerning it, in the intention of Cicero to deify his beloved daughter Tullia, and to erect a temple to her memory. Similar honours are said to have been rendered at Parium to Alexander the Paphlagonian, and to Peregrinus Proteus, impostors of the same class with Simon; and at Troas to a certain Neryllinus, of whom we know nothing except that he was probably of like character. The more noted charlatan, Apollonius, of Tyana, was also regarded as a god, and thought worthy to have temples built for his worship. But it is, indeed, quite unnecessary to adduce these facts, since there is no reasonable question that Simon was adored as a god, or as God, by his followers, and therefore no reason to doubt that they might have erected a statue to him with the inscription recorded.

Eusebius reports that Simon continued at Rome in the enjoyment of great reputation until the reign of Nero, when his popularity was seriously endangered by the arrival of Peter; and later writers give a wonderful legend of his destruction at the prayer of the Apostle, joined to that of Paul, when, in a last violent effort to sus

tain his drooping credit, he attempted to fly, with the pretence of ascending to hea ven as Christ had done. If he did this, it scarcely needed any miracle that he should fall to the ground and break both his legs, as he is reported to have done. It is added, that he was carried to Brindes, where, being overwhelmed with shame and grief at his defeat and disaster, he committed suicide by casting himself from the roof of the house in which he lodged. This may, perhaps, be connected with the anecdote which we find in Suetonius, of a man who attempted to fly in presence of the emperor Nero, but who fell to the ground with such violence that his blood spirted up to the gallery in which the emperor sat.

As reported to us, the doctrines taught by Simon resembled those of the Gnostics, of which remarkable sect he is indeed described as the founder; and the accounts which are given of his later pretensions, however extravagant they appear, correspond with the intimation of the sacred historian, that even before his acquaintance with Christianity, he "gave himself out to be some great one," and led the Samaritans to regard him as "the great power of God." It appears, then, that eventually, when he had digested his views into something of a system, he claimed to be nothing less than the incarnate God, and as such became an object of worship to his follow

ers.

His deity consisted of certain Æons, or persons, all of which, collectively and severally, he declared to be manifested in himself. Hence he professed to appear as the Father in respect to the Samaritans, as the Son in respect to the Jews, and as the Holy Ghost in respect to all other religions; but that it was indifferent to him by which of these names he was called. According to Jerome, he declared of himself: "I am the Word of God; I am the Perfection of God; I am the Comforter; I am the Almighty: I am the whole Essence of God." He taught no doctrine of atonement, and denied the resurrection of the body; but admitted the future existence, if not the immortality, of the soul. He did not require purity of life; but taught that actions were in themselves indifferent, and that the distinction of actions, as good or evil, was a delusion, taught by the angels to bring men into subjection. He carried about with him a beautiful female, named Helena, whom he set forth as the first Idea of Deity, and who, in consequence, was also worshipped by his followers. These blasphemous and pernicious tenets sufficiently indicate the character of his teaching; but it may be doubtful how much of this is to be literally interpreted, or how much to

be viewed in the light of the highly allegorical character of all Eastern teachings in his day; and to which, therefore, the beautiful simplicity of the Christian teaching presents the most striking and effectual contrast. The only certain thing is, that Simon was a great impostor, although he may also to some extent have been a selfdeceiver.-Kitto's Daily Bible Illustrations.

JEWISH SECTS IN THE TIME OF CHRIST.

SECTS in religious history are a late growth, the offspring of reflection. Sects come into existence only in the decline of the fresh and vigorous energies of religion in its infancy and its youth. We cannot imagine a sect to have sprung up in the days of Moses. We cannot imagine a sect to have lived near the presence of Christ. Judaism and Christianity must decline before they could tolerate the existence of

sects.

Sects are the offspring of the intellect. When religion has declined in the soul, and "reason" become predominant, then sects are naturally engendered; for then men begin to scrutinize, to doubt, to dispute, to deny. Hence arise diversity of opinions, and diversity of opinions is the immediate parent of sects. Sects, then, are begotten of the intellect in the decline of religious emotion. They are a purely hu man product, springing chiefly from the action of the mind on its own resources. Religion is a divine birth; sects are from below. Spontaneous and loving emotion is the foster-parent of religion; sects we owe to the ungenial processes of reflection, and to the hard and pertinacious individualities which hence ensue.

True to their earthly origin, sects, in course of time, lose religious vitality, and become dry and withered, like pods that have cast their seed. The honour due to religion is now paid to party. Truth, ceasing to be loved for its own sake, is degraded into a weapon of assault. Zeal for God degenerates into zeal for self. Instead of worshipping their Creator, men worship their own creations in the shape of a party and a creed. And as all the lower passions are both general in their prevalence, and powerful in their operation, so sectarianism spreads with rapidity, and exerts tremendous influence. In a religion of deep reality, or when connected with a race of great native powers, sectarianism, borrowing the energy that was meant for better purposes, assumes an efficacy and exerts a sway which unman individuals, and devastate nations. In the purest and the

most powerful religions, sectarianism has been the most baneful. The finest natures it has whipped with the severest scourge. Judaism and Christianity are at the head of the religious world, and, in connection with Judaism and Christianity, has the sectarian spirit inflicted the most terrible evils. Witness the downfall of Jerusalem in the one, and the establishment of the inquisition in the other.

Two great national disasters came upon the people of Israel, as a consequence, and as a punishment of their departing from the living God to worship the idols of their own corrupt understandings. Under the sway of the intellect, they were prepared for and led into the captivity of Babylon. And in the false notions, the disputes, the strifes, the hatreds, which ensued from reason run wild, did the sects of our Lord's day worry and devour each other, until, exhausted and lifeless, they fell a prey to the armies of Rome.

These sects were three in number, corresponding to the three chief directions of the human intellect: first, the Pharisees, representing the positive form of Judaism, with tradition for its source and support; secondly, the Sadducees, representing the negative form of Judaism, having rationalism for its origin, and disputation for its instrument; thirdly, the Essenes, representing the ascetic or monkish tendency of the Jewish mind.

The Pharisees, as their name implies, were distinguished from others by a rigid adherence to the past in all its developments, as well as in its original institutions. Holding the traditions of their ancestors as well as the law of Moses, they had a very miscellaneous creed, and prided themselves on its bulk rather than on its correctness. During the exile in Babylon, the primitive faith of Moses received additions from less pure forms of religious opinion, and specially became corrupted by the speculative fancies supplied by Parsism. The Pharisees committed a great error in receiving human opinions into companionship with divine truths. That error they made worse by allowing what was either speculation or falsity to usurp the authority to which God's word has an exclusive claim. At first, divine truth and human opinions stood on the same level. This was a sad degradation to revealed religion. But it was to suffer a greater dishonour. Reason having raised itself into a co-partnership with revelation, soon began to assume an ascendancy, and at last became supreme. Then the intellect ruled the soul and guided the life as with the prerogatives of God. Error assumed the attri