he is also 574,000 miles nearer to the earth.

The Moon is new on the 1st, at thirtynine minutes past eight in the morning, and sets on the 6th, at forty-eight minutes past eight in the evening. On the 13th she rises at forty-three minutes after three in the afternoon, and is full on the 15th, at six in the evening. On the 20th she rises at twenty-three minutes after seven in the evening; and on the 30th it is again new moon at a quarter past seven in the evening. On the 4th, the young moon will be near to both Jupiter and Venus.

Mercury will be again favourably situated for observation about the 22nd, on the horizon, in the south-west by west, when he will set fifty minutes after the sun. Venus and Jupiter approach very near together at the beginning of the month. On the 8th they set nearly at the same time, about two hours after the Sun. After this period, Venus becomes longer visible after sundown, while the opportunities for observing Jupiter rapidly diminish. Both are moving eastward among the stars, but the motion of Venus is much swifter, and she accordingly increases her apparent distance from the western horizon at sunset, while Jupiter sets earlier every evening, and will be wholly lost to sight in the superior radiance of the sun next month.

Mars is visible throughout the night after half-past eleven, and is near to Regulus on the 10th.

Saturn is well-situated for observation, rising at half-past five on the 1st, at sunset on the 22nd, and at half-past three on the 30th. His position in the sign Taurus is still very conspicuous.

Natural History.

NOTICES FOR NOVEMBER, 1853. BY SAMUEL HEREMAN.

THE season of flowers is now over. A few of the remnants of summer beauty are still seen, but they look languid and sickly as though they too were ready to vanish. The trees are rapidly losing their leaves; not because those leaves are simply weakened and dead, for when leaves die upon withered branches they tenaciously adhere to their position. For a natural fall of the leaf" the branches must retain their life, and the leaves die and fall because the buds to which they were attached have received their quota of nourishment, elaborated through the instrumentality of the leaves. The hawthorn, mountain ash, and Pyracantha, however, assist to enliven the landscape with their shining red berries.

66

In this month when there are few plants seen with showy flowers, those of a flowerless kind are the chief objects of interest, and will furnish sufficient employment and gratification to those who love to examine the wonderfully varied forms of these very singular productions.

The mosses (Musci), clothed in vivid green, and exhibiting an army of delicate fruit-stems, are found on banks, stones, rocks, trees, walls, on the borders of slow brooks, and in stagnant waters. The liver-, worts (Hepatica) are also worthy of attention. Some of them, as Marchantia polymorpha, are found in moist, shady places; overrunning the ground in neglected portions of the garden, and covering the soil of garden-pots. The scale mosses (Jungermannice) are also found on the bark of trees, in damp places, and in many shady places. The lichens (Lichenes) are almost universally distributed, as there is scarcely a tree, a stone, or a wall-if exposed to the weather for a few weeks-but becomes covered with some species or other of this interesting and useful tribe of plants. The weather tints of old buildings consist for the most part of Rinodina atra. The rich yellow patches on walls and trees, &c., are the plants of Parmelia parietina. The blue-grey scales, found so abundantly in the same situations as the last, and looking like a number of crimson warts, are the Scyphophorus pyxidatus. The rein-deer moss (Cladonia rangiferina), the food of those valuable animals in the cold regions of the world, now curls up its dark edges on most old closely-mown lawns, and also on moors and common lands, in almost all parts of this country and Ireland; and the Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica), so well known as yielding a nutritive jelly, is now found most abundantly in the mountain districts, both in the north of England, in Wales, in Scotland, and Ireland. Fungi are generally abundant at this season of the year; but the present time is an exception, on account of the great quantity of wet which fell in spring preventing the tender fibrous roots striking through the soil. Several coloured kinds however stud the landscape. The common toadstool (Agaricus comatus) grows in abundance in all waste places. On dead sticks numbers of scarlet warts are seen; these are plants of Tubercularia vulgaris. On nettle stems grow Peziza nivea in the form of mouldiness; and Peziza fruticina studs the outside covering of beech nuts, acorns, and chestnuts; whilst the dying cones of the Scotch fir are covered with Hydnum auriscalpium, a species peculiar to that tree.

The large shell snail (Helix pomatia) now closes up the mouth of its horny

dwelling, preparatory to winter; having first assembled in groups, beneath large stones, or warm banks, where they have sufficient shelter during their season of repose. This is the snail which the ancient Romans fed for table, and when cooked, it was considered a dainty; this, too, is most likely the species mentioned by Sallust, as instrumental in the capture of the castle near the river Malaga, in Spain, which terminated the war with Jugurtha.

Queen wasps, and humble bees, of different species, have retired to their winter quarters, in the ground or amongst heaps of dead leaves, and remain torpid until spring. Nearly all late-hatched caterpillars are gone into the pupa state, and will appear in the forms of butterflies and moths next spring and summer; their chrysalids are found fastened to window frames, against the branches of trees, or buried in the ground.

A few moths, however, are natural to this season, as the December moth (Poecilocumpa populi), which generally appears at the end of this month, and may be seen dancing about warm and sheltered banks; the winter beauty (Phigalia pilosaria), and the flat-bodied moths (Geometra applana) are now also to be seen in almost every direction on mild days. Those caterpillars which feed on trees in society, and were hatched too late to become full fed and enter into the pupa state, now spin for themselves a warm winter nest, in which they can repose safely until spring; amongst these are the gold-tailed and brown-tailed moths, so destructive to fruit trees in

some seasons.

As the winter is now setting in, woodcocks flock to the coast; the large fieldfares and the redwings feed upon the mountain ash and hawthorn berries. Bullfinches resort to gardens, to feed upon the buds of fruit trees. The hawk-owl (Stryx brachiata) arrives from the north in the beginning of the month. The dotterell (Charadrius monnellus) may be seen occasionally as it migrates towards the south. The Jack-snipe (Scolopax gallinula) now arrives; and the ptarmigan (Tetrao lagopus) now assumes its winter dress of white. Flocks of siskins feed on the seeds of alder and birch; bramble finches and snow flecks resort to farmyards and associate with chaffinches and sparrows; and twites now chatter in flocks on the naked hedges and low trees. Robins boldly enter our dwellings; and ducks, of various species visit our ponds and rivers; and the various species of tits, with their merry see-saws, may be seen near our houses, feeding amongst bones.

Bats take shelter in warm outhouses

and barns for the winter; and squirrels and dormice retire to their storehouses to sleep until finer weather returns.

The weather, this month, is proverbially dull and foggy; the heavy mists in and around London, by condensing the smoke and dust, produce a darkness which sometimes obscures the sun and renders the night doubly dark.

The temperature is now low, the rain generally abundant, and evaporation greatly diminished.

Sacred Botany.

THE RUSH, BULRUSH, AND

PAPER-REED.

BY S. HEREMAN.

THE rush, bulrush, reed, and paperreed are several times mentioned in Holy Writ, as well as by nearly all ancient Eastern writers. The Hebrew word (goma), generally used in Scripture, has been variously rendered: in Exodus ii. 3, the word is rendered bulrush; in Job viii. 11, and ix. 26, it is translated rush; in Job xl. 21, and Isaiah xix. 6, it is called a reed; in Isaiah xix. 7 it is termed paper-reed; by the Arabians it is called El Babir, and by the modern Egyptians it is named El Berdi. These various names apply to only one species of plant, called by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and the seventy Greek translators, Пavpos (papyros). These last made their translation in Egypt, and most probably wrote it on the very article they were describing. Their words are-Μη θαλλεὶ παπυρος ανευ υδαίος, "Can the papyros flourish without water?" Job ix. 26. It is also the papyrus of Pliny, whence we derive our name paper. Herodotus, Strabo, and some other authors state that it was called Bußloc (byblos), and the old Latins made use of the same name, whence came our word Bible.

This plant is known to modern botanists by the appellation of paper-reed (Papyrus antiquorum, fig. 1), so named on account of its being the material with which the ancient Egyptians (supposed to be Copts) manufactured the greater part of their paper. The plant formerly grew abundantly in all the marshes and stagnant waters of Egypt; it even occasionally flourished in the currents of the Nile, where the depth did not exceed three feet; but whenever found in such situations one of the angles of the stem always met the running stream, so as to break its force, and prevent the slender stalks being destroyed. In the present day it is much less common than

by Theophrastus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Lucan, Pliny, Plutarch, and many others amongst the ancients; and Shaw, Bruce, and others amongst the moderns.

The first mention made of this plant in the Bible is in Exodus ii. 3, where it is introduced to our notice in connection with that most interesting incident of parental affection, and the constant care of a kind and watchful Providence-the preservation of the infant Moses; whose parents, when they could conceal him no longer, resorted to a means for preserving his life that could only have been devised by the tenderest affection, and executed in humble dependence and strong faith towards God. With the paper-reeds (goma) of the Nile they made a closely-woven basket or hamper, and having filled up the interstices with slime and pitch, to prevent the moisture from penetrating, they "put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink," where it would probably be concealed from merely casual observation by the abundant and tall paperreeds, though no doubt exposed to great danger from the swarms of crocodiles with which the reedy swamps of the Nile were infested. In the providence of God the infant deliverer of his people was rescued from the jaws of the river dragon, and placed for protection and training in the family of the very tyrant by whose decree all of his sex and nation had been doomed to destruction. Pharaoh's daughter, by whose instrumentality this was effected, is variously called Bithiah and Thermutis, and the incident occurred nearly 1,600 years before the Christian era, showing at how early a period the papyrus was made useful in the arts of life.

(To be continued.)

Authors and Books.

The Escaped Slave; An Autobiography of Charles Freeman, with a Preface by the Rev. J. Whitby, Ipswich. London: Partridge and Oakey.

AN interesting narrative related with much simplicity; and showing how Charles, the slave, after undergoing the privations consequent on his condition, escaped from the land of bondage to happy England, and became a freeman; and having fallen into good hands was by their kindness educated, and is now filling a respectable situation in London The generous publishers have agreed, after paying the bare cost, to apply all

*Chron. iv. 18.

the profit towards a fund for the benefit of the author.

The Religious Aspect of the Civil War in China. By the Rev. W. H. Rule. London: Partridge and Oakey.

MR. RULE is a bold man, to place himself in antagonism to almost every Protestant in Christendom. While all are looking to China with strong hope, perceiving in the signs of the times the presage of glorious events, the dawn of a bright day, the fruits of a rich harvest, and seeking to discover the points in which the so-called rebels may be said to "know the truth" and in which they "hold the faith," our author betakes himself to the task of trying to prove that there are no reasons for Christian men to congratulate themselves on the religious aspect of affairs: that whatever changes may have taken place have been produced by the underhand efforts of the emissaries of the "man of sin;" that in fact it is all the result of Jesuitical plottings and political manoeuvres; and will end in establishing a power as hostile to the interests of true religion as any thing which has ever existed in the Celestial Empire.

We thank the Editor of the "Wesleyan Methodist Magazine," for his array of facts and the really valuable information which his industrious investigation has enabled him to give us; but we demur to his conclusions, and think, in reference to his charge that it is not proven.

We doubt not but that Jesuits have long been at work in China; their perseverance and devotedness in compassing sea and land to make proselytes, ought to put to shame those who hold a purer faith. Such men cannot but exert an influence; but that it is their creed that the Chinese have adopted, or that their counsels will prevail to the exclusion of evangelical religion, if the rebels prove victorious, we do not believe. We think that the chain which Mr. Rule has been putting together with so much apparent carefulness, not only wants some important connecting links, but that it is also incomplete. He has not got to the end

of it.

Had our space permitted we should have pointed out what we consider discrepancies in his arguments; but, as we cannot do this, we advise those who can to read the pamphlet; for, differ as we may from the author in his conclusions, we again commend his painstaking industry, and hope the work will be extensively read. We cannot conclude this notice without calling the attention of our brethren to the resolution passed at the Aggregate Meeting, in reference to the "million copies of the New

Testament for China." We believe that the Lord is about to do great things for that country; and, if we only use the means in the exercise of faith, and with mighty prayer, "the Desire of Nations" will appear unto them as "the fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely," and they will crown him LORD OF ALL! Let not our supineness permit error and superstition to take the place of truth and righteousness.

The Warning Voice; or, The Penitent Homes of England. With a Recommendatory Notice by Professor Wardlow, D.D. London.

Dr. Wardlow does not say much in his prefatory remarks in praise of the work

which is dedicated to him. In fact he had only read a small portion of it, and appears very much afraid to commit We himself to what he had not seen.

do not think the book contains anything that will offend even the most fastidious. A crying evil is pointed out, and illustrations are given. A remedy is also proposed, and we doubt not but that if attempted in the spirit of sincere sympathy and affection, as suggested by the writer, that remedy will prove effectual in a good degree.

We should have been better pleased had the volume been written with less of the appearance of "puffing off" the establishment referred to. But by "all means" let good be done.

wet

FRIDAY, September 3rd.-A morning. I have not had everything as I could have wished at Killarney. Far otherwise. I arrived on Monday evening, and on Tuesday morning found that I had been pestered with more company than was welcome. The weather being close I opened my room window, a sash without strings and weights. Down it dropped, the upper part catching the fingers of my right hand, taking the skin from three of them and almost breaking the bones. After sleeping two nights in unwelcome company, I got my room changed for a more promising one. Now I found myself cooler in bed than was pleasant, and on rising in the morning discovered that the large sash of my room window was reared in a corner of the room, and that I had slept all night with the window open the whole size of the vacancy thus left. Our accommodation was not in any respect what we had expected; but we no longer wondered at that, when we found out that the inn we were at was an inferior one, called by the name borne by a superior one of the town, just as a decoy for travellers.

I had now been here four nights, and had no more time to spare. My Cork friend had a strong desire for me to go with him to see Dr. Dill, the author of a work on "Ireland's Miseries, their Causes and the Remedy:" but the distance was little short of thirty miles, and there was no public conveyance, so that we had to abandon the project.

My attraction was towards Glengarrift, but my friend would not venture to brave the rain thither, and endeavoured earnestly to dissuade me. I was in a fix. I felt no inclination to return along the dull moorlands and bogs to Mallow, as he must to get back to Cork; I was loath to remain longer at Killarney;and yet the rain fell in torrents. How then could I face the mountains? I thought that as the rain was so abundant, it would probably expend itself by mid-day, and that in receding from the lakes and mountains towards the sea, the chances would be more favourable. Moreover, I never let the weather stop me when I have to preach anywhere; why should I now? What shall I do?

The air has become cool through the wet weather, and I want to travel. I have breakfasted and waited awhile in hope of some favourable atmospheric prognostication. Having put on an extra pair of stockings and my gaiters, I make my way to a drapery shop, and ask for protective fabrics. Waterproof coats are recommended, and my attention is directed to them; but I want something both cheaper and more applicable to several uses. A remnant of oil-cloth is mentioned. It is in the warehouse overhead. Well, fetch it down. Here it is, a yard and half wide, and a yard and three quarters is the length. How much for it? The price is 28. 2d. a yard. The remnant shall go for 3s. 6d. Very well, that will do. The purchase is made.