away with them anything except what is their own personal property. "Under the same circumstances, however, an ambulance preserves its matériel.

"Art. 5. Inhabitants of the country who give help to the wounded are respected and remain free. The generals of the belligerent powers are called upon to forewarn the inh.bitants of the call made upon their humanity, and of the neutrality consequent thereupon.

Any wounded man taken into a house will be its safe-guard. Any inhabitant whọ has taken in the wounded will not be billeted upon or submitted to war contributions.

Art. 6. The wounded or sick are taken care of, no matter to what nation they belong.

"Those will be sent back to their homes, who, after being cured, are deemed incapable of further service. "The others may also be sent home, but on the condition of not resuming arms during the war.

"The escorts on this service are to be respected as neutrals.

"The Commanders-in-Chief have the power to hand over to the enemy's outposts the wounded during the combat when circumstances permit it, and with the consent of both parties.

"Art. 7. A distinct flag and uniform is adopted for the hospitals, ambulances, and escorts. On all occasions the national flag must accompany it.

"A badge may also be allowed to denote a neutral, to be granted only by the military authorities.

"The flag and badge will bear a red cross on a white ground.

"Art. 8. The general details of these regulations will be settled by the commanding officers of the belligerent Powers, according to the instructions from their Governments."

Article 9 calls the attention of other Governments to this Convention, inviting them to join it. Article 10 states that the ratification of the Convention is to take place at Berne within four months, and earlier if possible.

La Femme dans l'Inde antique: Études morales et littéraires, par Mademoiselle Clarisse Bader, de la Société Asiatique de Paris. 8vo. Paris. Benjamin Duprat.-Mademoiselle Clarisse Bader has just published a book, which we purpose considering briefly in the present article, because the subject of it is exceedingly interesting, whether we examine it from a merely literary or from a religious point of view. What was the condition of woman

What social How far did

in heathen antiquity? rights did she enjoy? her influence extend? To these several questions answers have already been given by moralists and divines; but these answers refer, generally speaking, to the civilization of Greece and of Rome. Mademoiselle Bader takes us farther, and invites us to wander along with her on the banks of the Ganges. Woman in India is the theme of her volume. The first chapter treats of the

Hindu religion, and shows us how fond the Aryan tribes were of symbolizing under the features of woman the principal forces of nature. Adik, corresponding to the Cybele of the Greeks, and Niirik, the incarnation of evil, are goddesses. The prayers of men are represented as becoming the wives of the gods; the sacrificial rites have for their presiding deities true goddesses. In the earliest times of Hindu civilization, women had the privilege, not only of offering sacrifices in their own name, but also of composing the hymns used in the ceremonies of religion. Some of the sacred poems contained in the RigVeda are the productions of women; and, however we may interpret the names of the goddesses which designate most of them, "one thing," our authoress remarks," is certain; the Aryans admitted, both as readers and as participators in the duties of worship, a sex which at a later period was debarred by law from even reading the hymns and practising the simplest acts of religion."

Between the Vedic and the Brahminical periods occurred a kind of transitional epoch, during which women still enjoyed, in the expression of their religious feelings, a certain liberty. The literary monuments belonging to that epoch are the Brahmanas and the Sutras; and, by way of illustrating their character, Mademoiselle Bader has inserted an eloquent dialogue, in which the grand problem of the immortality of the soul is discussed. Maitreyi, whom her husband Yajnavalkya judged capable of understanding such difficult questions, could not have been a solitary case; but it is evident from the observations of Professor Max Müller, ("History of Ancient Sanscrit Literature,") that already at that time the Hindus saw with jealousy women devoting their attention to metaphysical speculations. The laws of Menu appeared, society became thoroughly classified, and,

as a religious being, woman was placed on a level with the Sudras, "plus près encore," says Mademoiselle Bader, “de la brute дне de l'homme." We shall not follow our authoress in her description, however interesting, of Hindu mythology as it was transformed by the influence of Brahminism. The destiny of woman during that period was one of the grossest degradation; and we must come to the religious reform brought about by the Budha Sakya-Muni, if we would find anything like improvement in this respect. "Budhism," to quote from Mademoiselle Bader, "that expression of revolt on the part of the three inferior castes against the system of oppression long practised by the Brahmins, could not, in its work of liberation, forget a sex which Brahminism had deprived of its individuality in the presence of the Deity. Accordingly, women received with enthusiasm the Budha-that liberator who is also their own. The most ardent disciples he has, the most faithful followers of his doctrine, are his aunt and his wife. During the voluntary exile he spends in the forests, women minister to his wants. When he is engaged upon the work, sometimes so arduous, of his teaching, he finds the gates of Bhadramkara shut against him; and the inhabitants of that city have vowed to their Brahmin rulers, that they will resist the appeals of him who wishes to rescue them from the degraded state to which they are reduced. But, in the general resistance, one woman sets all obstacles, all dangers, at defiance; she leaves the city, goes to throw herself at the feet of the reformer, and, by her example, finally persuades her fellowcountrymen. When Sakya-Muni explains the religious system contained in the Lotus of the Good Law,' he has amongst his congrega tion six thousand women, whom he allows to embrace the duties and

It is obvious, however, that Budhism failed, after all, in its endeavours to restore woman to her proper position; and Mademoiselle Bader has pointed out, with great force, the cardinal error of the withering doctrine preached by SakyaMuni. What can we expect from a theory which says that suffering is the only reality; which leaves no place for God, for the soul, for immortality? Can we call by the name of charity a feeling which isolates inan from the world, and makes him annihilate himself without any benefit for his neighbours? Such a state of things led, as a matter of course, to another reaction. Budhism had proposed to itself, as chief object, the destruction of every passion: Krishnaism, on the contrary, encouraged the development of them all; and thus woman was degraded into that low rank which makes of her merely a minister to the indulgences and caprice of her master. So true is it that out of the pale of Christianity there can be no correct appreciation of our nature, our position here, and our destiny hereafter.

Mademoiselle Bader, in endeavouring to describe the social condition of woman on the banks of the Ganges, throughout her various relations as a daughter, a mother, and a wife, has borrowed largely from the rich stores of Sanscrit literature. The laws of Menu, the Vedas, the Mahábhárata, the Ramayana, and the monuments of the Hindu stage, are made in turns to supply illustrations of the most interesting and suggestive character. If we take a general and comprehensive glance at these various productions, we cannot but be struck by the exquisite grace thrown by Hindu poets around the moral features of their heroines. In this respect, the contrast between the Sanscrit epics and the classical

conceptions of Homer is peculiarly striking. One of the best judges of Oriental literature, Professor Monier Williams, remarks, ("Lectures on Indian Epic Poetry,") that "nothing can be more beautiful and touching than the pictures of domestic and social happiness in the Ramayana and the Mahábhárata. Children are dutiful to their parents, and submissive to their superiors; younger brothers are respectful to elder brothers; parents are fondly attached to their children, watchful over their interests, and ready to sacrifice themselves for their welfare; wives are loyal, devoted, and obedient to their husbands, yet show much independence of character, and do not hesitate to express their own opinions; husbands are tenderly affectionate towards their wives, and treat them with respect and courtesy; daughters, and women generally, are virtuous and modest, yet spirited, and, when occasion requires, courageous; love and harmony reign throughout the family circle." The Indian epics, in short, give us a very high idea of the purity and happiness of domestic life; and, at least, they indicate a capacity in Hindu women for the discharge of the most sacred and important social duties.

We wish time allowed us to quote here a few of the passages selected by Mademoiselle Bader as specimens of Sanscrit poetry in its illustration of the feminine character. The following, taken from the Ramayana, is all that we can find space for. The English version is Professor Monier Williams's. Siva thus expresses her firm determination to accompany in his banishment her husband Rama, who has fallen a victim to the spite of his father's second wife :

"A wife must share her husband's fate. My duty is to follow thee Where'er thou goest. Apart from thee,

I would not dwell in heaven itself.

Deserted by her lord, a wife is like a miserable corpse.

Close as thy shadow would I cleave to

thee, in this life and hereafter.

Thou art my king, my guide, my only refuge, my divinity.

It is my fixed resolve to follow thee. If thou must wander forth

Through thorny trackless forests, I will go before thee, treading down The prickly brambles, to make smooth thy path. Walking before thee, I Shall fear no weariness; the forestthorns will seem like silken robes; The bed of leaves, a couch of down. To me the shelter of thy presence Is better far than stately palaces, and paradise itself."

It is well to waive the question, how much this picture owes to the artist. But we must not forget, while we admire the delineation of character throughout the Hindu epics, that they represent a state of things anterior to the establishment of Brahminical society; and therefore it would be wrong to draw any inference from such passages as to the present condition of woman in India. “At a later period," observes Professor Williams, "the pride of Brahminism, and still more recently the influence of Mohammedanism, deprived women of even such freedom as they once enjoyed; so that at the present day no Hindu woman has, in theory, any independence. It is not merely that she is not her own mistress: she is not her own property; and never, under any circumstances, can be. She belongs to her father first, who gives her away to her husband, to whom she belongs for ever. She is not considered capable of so high a form of religion as man; and she does not mix freely in society."

There are strange incongruities in the estimation formed of woman's mission by the Hindus; and these incongruities could not escape the attention of so competent a critic as Mademoiselle Bader. "Greatness and degradation," says she, "such is the lot of woman. She is honoured, for from her will come the child

destined to save the memory of his forefathers, and to perpetuate the caste; she is kept under tyrannical subjection, because her mésalliance or her corruption would bring about the ruin of Brahminical society, and snap asunder the bond which connects the dead with the living, the past with the present, the present with the future. When she is a child, her birth is deplored; by her graces and her purity, she becomes the joy and the blessing of the paternal hearth. Arrived at womanhood, she is deprived of her share in religious privileges; she then imposes upon herself the duties from which society debars her. As a wife, she is legally nothing but her husband's slave; she becomes his friend, and advises him. As a widow, she is under the control of her son; and yet she governs him. But there is a prescription beyond which she has ventured. The law had commanded her to merge her existence in that of her husband; she does more, she follows him in his death. Ardent piety, spiritualist and ascetic tendencies, complete abnegation of self, unlimited devotedness to her family, immense craving for affection,-such is the character of woman in India."

Mademoiselle Bader has no difficulty in maintaining that Christianity alone will restore harmony be tween the discordant elements which make up the female portion of Hindu society. We quite agree with her on this very momentous point, and think it would not have been possible to find a more appropriate conclusion to her deeply interesting volume. Let us hope, with Professor Williams, "that Indian women, restored to their ancient liberty, and raised to a still higher position by becoming joint partakers of Christ's religion, may do for our Eastern empire what they have done for Europe-soften, invigorate, and ennoble the character of its people."

Zion's Harfe. Winnenden. 1863. -The Rev. Dr. Lyth has published, with the above title, a collection of German hymns,-some of them old and well-known songs of Zion; others translations from our own Hymn-Book, chiefly of Charles Wesley's lyrics. These translations are excellent, giving the true spirit, and, generally, the very idioms, of the original. The compiler undertook this labour, in order to provide a suitable hymn-book for our congregations in Würtemberg; and he deserves great praise for the manner in which he has accomplished his task.

The Life of the Lord Jesus Christ: a complete critical Examination of the Origin, Contents, and Connexion of the Gospels. Translated from the German of J. P. Lange, D.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Bonn; and Edited, with additional Notes, by the Rev. Marcus Dods, A.M. In Six Volumes. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1864.-Dr. Lange's work, as read in the original, has been justly described as eloquent and thoughtful." By the publish

He

ing of this translation, Messrs. Clark render a service which the most earnest students among us will the most highly estimate. Though our limits of time and space exclude, for the present, a comprehensive review, we are unwilling to defer the announcement of so large and important a contribution to Christian literature. Dr. Lange's aim is to meet the negative and destructive criticism of our times, and to establish the FACTS of the Gospel history. casts much light on the characteristics of each of the four Evangelists; and, availing himself of their harmonious records, draws out, in Book II., a narrative which is at the same time explanatory; the whole being "set," as it has been happily noted, "in a framework of careful research." In the Third Book, he reviews the four historians, each apart; so as to exhibit the different aspects of the Life of Jesus which Inspiration leads us to trace. Erelong, we hope, our readers will go with us to a more adequate inquiry as to the merits of these six volumes.

HOT SPRINGS.-What renders Bath a peculiar point of attraction to the student of natural phenomena is its thermal and mineral waters, to the sanatory powers of which the city has owed its origin and celebrity. The great volume and high temperature of these waters render them not only unique in our island, but perhaps without a parallel in the rest of Europe, when we duly take into account their distance from the nearest region of violent earthquakes, or of active or extinct volcanoes. The spot where they issue, as we learn from the researches of the historian and antiquary, was lonely and desert when the Romans first landed in this island; but in a few years it was converted into one of the chief cities of the newly-conquered province. On the site of the hot springs was a large morass, from which clouds of white vapour rose VOL. X.-FIFTH SERIES.

into the air; and there first was the spacious bath-room built, in a highly ornamental style of architecture, and decorated with columns, pilasters, and tesselated pavements. By its side was erected a splendid temple dedicated to Minerva, of which some statues and altars, with their inscriptions and ornate pillars, are still to be seen in the Museum of this place.

Dr. Daubeny has remarked, that nearly all the most celebrated hot springs of Europe, such as those of Aix-la-Chapelle, Baden-Baden, Naples, Auvergne, and the Pyrenees, have not declined in temperature since the days of the Romans; for many of them still retain as great a heat as is tolerable to the human body; and yet, when employed by the ancients, they do not seem to have required to be first cooled down by artificial means. This

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