China. The roots and wood of the tree are chopped up and boiled with water in an iron vessel, to which an earthen head containing straw is adapted, and the camphor sublimes and condenses upon the straw. In China, the chopped branches are boiled in water till the camphor begins to adhere to the stirrer; the liquor is then strained, and the camphor concretes on standing; it is afterward mixed with a finely-powdered

3. More than 15,000 have been received as communicants.

4. More than 500 natives, exclusive of schoolmasters, have become Christian teachers to their countrymen.

5. More than 41,000 boys in the mission schools are receiving a Christian education.

6. More than 11,000 girls have already been rescued from that gross ignorance and deep degradation to which so many millions of their sex in India seem to be hopelessly condemned.

In addition to these results we may reckon the important work of planting Churches, of translation, and of the production and growth of a Christian literature. When we compare these results with the scantiness of the agencies and the short time they have been employed, they convey to us confident assurance of the ultimate triumph of the Gospel in those regions of the valley of the shadow of death.

WASHINGTON IRVING.-This distinguished author, for so many years identified with the literary history of his country, died at his residence at Sunnyside on the Hudson river, November 28, 1859. His disease was an affection of the heart, and his death was sudden. He was nearly seventy-seven years of age, having been born April 3, 1783. His literary career began when he was scarcely twenty; and from that time till within two or three years his contributions to the press have been uninterrupted. Such was the geniality and freshness of his writings that we never could think of him as an old man; and his last workThe Life of Washington-exhibits as much vigor and more polish than even the best efforts of his earlier manhood. Much of his life was spent abroad, and a number of his works made their first appearance in England. In 1830 he received one of the two fiftyguinea gold medals provided for by George IV, for eminence in historical composition; and the University of Oxford soon after conferred upon him their rarest honor, the degree of doctor of laws. Wash ington Irving, more than any one else, perhaps, has contributed to bring our American literature into repute and circulation abroad; and the proud question of the Edinburgh Review, "Who reads an American book?" may now be replaced by the more astonished query, "Who does not read an American book?"

CAMPHOR. This substance is the produce of the laurus camphora, or camphor laurel, of Japan and

other. Two kinds of unrefined or crude camphor are known in commerce, Dutch or Japan camphor, and China camphor. It is chiefly produced in the island of Formosa and conveyed in junks to Canton, whence the foreign markets are supplied. Crude camphor very much resembles moist sugar before it is cleaned. It is refined and converted into the beautiful, wellknown article sold in the shops, by sublimation. This process is carried on in spheroidal vessels called bamboloes. They are made of thin flint glass, and weigh about one pound each, and measure about twelve inches across. Each vessel has a short neck. When filled with crude camphor they are imbedded in a sand bath and heated to a temperature of from 250 degrees to 280 degrees, which is afterward raised to between 300 degrees and 400 degrees. About two per cent. of quick-lime and two parts bone-black, in fine powder, are added to the melted camphor, and the heat raised so as to boil the liquid. The vapor condenses in the upper part of the vessel. As the sublimation proceeds, the hight of the sand around the vessel is diminished. The process is completed in about forty hours. The vessel being removed from the sand bath, the mouth is closed with tow, and in this hot state water is sprinkled over them and they crack. When quite cold the cake of camphor, weighing about eleven pounds, is removed and trimmed, by paring and scraping into the form of large hemispherical cakes, perforated in the middle. In this process the lime retains the impurities and a portion of the camphor; the latter is recovered by heating the mixture in an iron pot, with a head to it, and the product is refined by a second sublimation. The factory where camphor is refined has its temperature maintained at about 150 degrees, and the atmosphere is generally charged with camphor vapor. The sand baths are, therefore, heated in baths of fusible metal, kept at a proper temperature from a furnace outside. Each bambolo or flask is covered with a glass shade to prevent the escape of as much vapor as possible, and also to exclude the air, which would render the camphor opaque. There is also an essential oil contained in the crude camphor, which is driven off before sublimation.

ASSYRIAN SCULPTURES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.The latest importation of the Ninevitish slabs have been arranged in the Assyrian collection at the British Museum, and now claim attention among the chief ornaments of that unique gallery. These sculptures represent, as usual, a superabundant number of

battle scenes and mythological groups; but number a very fair proportion of pictures representing the pursuits of the chase, lion-hunting in chariots, and lionbaiting with dogs. The drawing is in many cases of exquisite beauty. One of these slabs, indeed, portraying the pursuit of wild asses or quaggas, and another in which numerous antelopes especially figure, altogether surpass any thing we have yet seen, and furnish most favorable testimony to the excellence of the Assyrian artists. A valuable collection of mosaics from Carthage, recently excavated, have been sent home by the Rev. Nathan Davis. They belong to the Roman period. Two exquisite fulllength female figures-one of a dancing girl, the other in a careless and graceful attitude of repose, in a standing posture and holding the spray of a flower in her hand-deserve the highest encomium that can be bestowed upon them. Besides the mosaics, Mr. Davis has sent home a number of fragments of statuary, etc., of rude workmanship, but many of them most valuable in a philosophical point of view, as containing Phoenician inscriptions.

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA.-The missionaries in conference with the Bishop of Victoria have under consideration a plan for locating in the district cities a native deacon or catechist under the supervision of an itinerating European missionary. The Rev. Canon Stowell narrates the following discourse by a Chinese tailor with reference to the relative merits of Confueiusism, Buddhism, and Christianity: "A man had fallen into a deep, dark pit, and lay in its miry bottom groaning and utterly unable to move. Confucius, walking by, approached the edge of the pit and said: Poor fellow, I am sorry for you; why were you such a fool as to get in there? Let me give you a piece of advice-if you ever get out, do n't get in again.' 'I can't get out,' groaned the man. A Buddhist priest next came by and said: 'Poor fellow, I am very much pained to see you there; I think if you could scramble up two-thirds of the way, or even half, I could reach you and lift you up the rest.' But the man in the pit was entirely helpless and unable to rise. Next the Savior came by, and hearing his cries, went to the very brink of the pit, stretched down and laid hold of the poor man, brought him up, and said, 'Go and sin no more."" It must be admitted that this allegory possesses the merit of much originality, while the simplicity of its details renders it easy of general comprehension.

LIFE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.-The United States ship Vincennes, in its recent explorations off the coast of Kamschatka, obtained bottom at the depth of 1,700 fathoms-10,200 feet-with the line, and took up some very minute specimens of sea-worms on it. These, when submitted to the microscope, appeared to have been living but a few moments before, and were supposed to have died when brought near the surface, and relieved from the immense pressure of the superincumbent water. These worms, or infusoria, give evidence that they were designed to live under circumstances which, heretofore, have been supposed fatal to all organisms. The manner in which they were taken was as follows: Bands of four goose quills, open at both extremities, were inserted in the

end of the iron rod which pierces the bottom; a small valve permitted the water to flow through them as they went down, but closed as they came up. The quills pierced the bottom, and were filled with the adhesive fine clay of the ocean containing the minute organisms.

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK.-There is in the town of Nantucket, Mass., an astronomical clock, made by Hon. Walter Folger, when he was only twenty-two years of age. The plan of the whole of its machinery was matured and completed in his mind before he commenced to put it together. It keeps the correct date of the year, and the figures change as the year changes. The sun and moon, represented by balls, appear to rise and set on the face of the clock, with all their variations and phases, as in the heavens. It also indicates the sun's place in the ecliptic, keeps an account of the motion of the moon's nodes around the ecliptic, and the sun and moon's declination.

TRACT SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS.-During the past year the American Tract Society printed 682,250 volumes, 11,857,000 publications, 243,507,000 pages. Since its formation, the Society has circulated 13,757,285 volumes, 199,645,362 publications, 4,984,293,Baxter's 953 pages, including 151,713 volumes. Saint's Rest has had a circulation of 222,394 volumes; Call to the Unconverted, 425,133; Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 325,416; Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety, 138,472; Guide to Young Disciples, 110,253; Doddridge's Rise and Progress, 165,949; Edwards's Sabbath Manual, in various forms, 589,545; Temperance Manual, 177,375; Alleine's Alarm, 232,927; Songs for the Little Ones, 194,000; Tract Primer, 552,000; Advice to a Married Couple, 137,043; Peep of Day Series-three books-183,000; Abbott's Mother and Child at Home, 197,221; Young Christian, 57,733; of Flavel's works-six volumes-419,885 volumes have been put into circulation, 1,258,552 Pocket Manuals, of fourteen kinds, have been circulated, as also 147,074 bound volumes of tracts.

RAILROAD PROGRESS.-The first railroad constructed in the United States was the Quincy road, built in 1827. The first passénger railroad was the Baltimore and Ohio, which was opened with horse power for fifteen miles in 1830. The Mohawk and Hudson river road was opened for public travel with horse power in the summer of 1831. Locomotives were first used in this country in 1831, on the Mohawk and Hudson railroad, and in 1832 upon the Baltimore and Ohio, and on the South Carolina railroad. In 1828 there were but three miles of railroad in the United States; now there are twenty-one thousand, five hundred miles!

BRITISH TAXATION.-The taxation which the British Parliament imposes this year for the support of the Government amounts to the enormous sum of £69,000,000 sterling, or $345,000,000. Of this sum over £28,000,000 sterling go to pay interest on the national debt, and over £26,000,000 sterling are required for the army and navy. This taxation, it is said, exceeds the cost of our General Government and of all the state and municipal governments in the Union combined.

Literary

(1.) PRONOUNCING BIBLE.-This is a valuable addition to our Book-Room publications. It has evidently been prepared with much care, and is a desirable companion for every Bible reader. In addition to the inspired text, it contains copious references to parallel passages; also, various chronological, historical, geographical, and archæological tables, besides several colored maps. Indeed, we discover nothing wanting to the completeness of the volume.

(2.) GERALD AND PHILIP; or, Patience to Work and to Wait. 18mo. 272 pp.

Notices.

will interest the young. We earnestly recommend parents to put works of this character into the hands of their children, instead of the trashy novels with which the land is flooded.

(10.) BIBLE STORIES is sent forth by the American Tract Society, and on sale as above.

(11.) THE VIRGINIANS, A Tale of the Last Century. 8vo. By W. M. Thackeray. 411 pp., double column, illustrated. New York: Harper & Brothers. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.-"Thackeray's Virginians" has been drawing its slow length along in Har

(4.) SYLVIA AUSTIN AND BENNY BLUBBER; or, the Girl who Stole a Cent and the Crying Boy. 18mo. 130 pp.

(5.) MILES LAWSON; or, the Family at the Yews. 18mo. 140 pp.-These are choice additions to our already extended Sunday School Library.

ence. cents.

50

(6.) ELECTION TIMES; or, Social and Domestic InfluBy Mrs. E. S. N. Payne. 12mo. 251 pp. Cincinnati: American Reform Tract and Book Society. This volume contains a series of narratives or stories drawn, as the author says, "from real life." Certainly they are life-like; and will not fail to warn the young against the perils of that most stormy and at the same time most pestilent of all seas, namely, that of political life. The work, scattered broadcast among the lads and young men of our land, would achieve immense good.

(7.) THE DIARY OF A SAMARITAN. By a Member of the Howard Association of New Orleans. New York: Harper & Brothers. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co. 12mo. 324 pp.-This is a volume of touching incidents. It will do the heart good to read it.

(8.) THE PRAIRIE TRAVELERr. A Hand-Book for Overland Expeditions, with Maps, Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. By Randolph B. Marcy, Captain United States Army. Published by authority of the War Department. 18mo. New York: Harper & Brothers. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.-We suppose this work is in every respect authentic and reliable. The overland emigrant will find it invaluable. It is of a size convenient for the pocket, is well supplied with maps and engravings, and embodies all the information on every subject connected with journeying on the plains. At the same time, it is quite interesting as a reading

book.

now, and is before us in book form. We have not read it entire. We are acquainted with no one who has read it, unless, possibly, one of the editors of the aforesaid monthly. We have no doubt it combines some of the best qualities as well as the greatest defects of its author.

(12.) CAROLINA SPORTS BY LAND AND WATER; including incidents of Devil-Fishing, Wild- Cat, Deer, and Bear-Hunting, etc. By the Hon. William Elliott, of South Carolina. With six illustrations. 12mo. New York: Derby & Jackson. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co., and Robert Clarke & Co.-Mr. Elliott's sketches of adventure by water and by land, can hardly fail to carry the reader along with the writer, and make him a partaker of his sports and adventures. "DevilFishing" will open a new chapter to many readers.

(13.) FISHER'S RIVER (North Carolina) SCENES AND CHARACTERS. By "Skitt," "who was raised thar." Illustrated by John M'Lenan. 16mo. New York: Harper & Brothers. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.This work contains some coarse wit, and deals largely in the marvelous. It may interest the inhabitants of the benighted region where its scenes are laid, and we recommend it to their respectful consideration.

(14.) PREACHERS AND PREACHING. By Nicholas Murray, D. D., author of "Kirwan's Letters to Bishop Hughes," "Romanism at Rome," "Men and Things in Europe." New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. 12mo. Pp. 303. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.Whatever "Kirwan" writes is pretty sure to find readers. Like Dr. Cumming, of London, however, he has written too much. This volume is marked by shrewdness of observation and felicity of expression, rather than by any thing profound or original. The author thus truthfully discourses upon the method of

securing notoriety in the pulpit: "The surest and shortest way of securing notoriety is to become queer or peculiar, or to become fanatical on some of the isms. Lorenzo Dow obtained much of his fame by his blanket, and by now and then throwing one leg over the pulpit, when it was low enough to admit of it. The scarlet coat, the breeches, and stockings of a famous preacher in his day were his only attractions, and these drew multitudes to hear him. The

florid nonsense of Maffitt often left such men as Mason, and Spring, and Romeyn, to preach to almost empty churches. Mappin, with his shilling razors, and Moses, with his cheap trowsers, have taught many preachers the path of fame. That is not the quiet way by which the acorn grows up to the towering oak, but the noisy way of drum and trumpet, by which mountebanks attract a crowd."

With

(15.) THE FOOL OF QUALITY; or, History of Henry, Earl of Moreland. By Henry Brooke, Esq. New and revised edition. Introduction by Dr. Strickland. a Biographical Preface by the Rev. Charles Kingsley. New York: Derby & Jackson. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. 2 vols. 404 and 379 pp.-A cotem"This novel unquestionably enjoys porary says: 'the benefit of clergy.' They are its ushers. They vouch for it, praise it, and historically environ it with venerable literary facts, in themselves novel now, because they happened so long ago. Curiously enough, it is said that the saintly John Wesley, in his advanced age, prepared a revised and expurgated edition of the Fool of Quality, for circulation among the Methodists." He might have added that even this edition is sent forth with an Introduction from a

grave Doctor of Divinity. (All D. D.'s are grave!) We recognize in this work an old acquaintance of our boyhood. Strangely enough, Mr. Wesley's edition, an abridgment, came to our hand, and was the pastime of many a pleasant hour. Even now we recognize it as an antidote to dyspepsia and the blues. Nay, it is more than that. We agree with Mr. Wesley that it continually strikes at the heart-aiming to inspire right affections, and to instill gratitude to God and benevolence to man. Of course, it is quaint in style as it wears the garb of a former century; but it somehow takes hold upon the reader, and he will not willingly let it drop.

(16.) BABY NIGHT CAPS is the singular title of a book which contains some good stories for the little ones. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.

(17.) NIGHT CAPS is an older sister of the above.

(18.) MARTHA'S HOOKS AND EYES. 18mo. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cincinnati Rickey, Mallory & Co.-The very young heroine of this oddlynamed little story, by patience and thoughtfulness, was enabled to relieve the distresses of her much afflicted parents. It is an entertaining book for children.

(19.) SPIRIT LIFE AND ITS RELATIONS. By Rev. T. Spicer, D. D. Albany: Munsell & Rowland.-Severely didactic in style, yet fine in arrangement; clear in statement, logical in argument, and sound in doctrinal view.

(22.) HERE AND THERE, or, Earth and Heaven, contains brief Scripture contrasts between the earthly and the heavenly country. It is a choice companion for the closet, and a noble help to communion with God and heaven. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co.

(23.) THE CHRISTIAN LAWYER, being a portraiture of the Life and Character of William George Baker. New York: Carlton & Porter. Cincinnati: Swormstedt & Poe. 12mo. 320 pp.-Mr. Baker was a man of bereavement and sorrow, as well as of piety and integrity. His brief, simple, but sometimes affecting notes constitute the prime value of the memoir. His history and character thoroughly enlist our sympathy. We are thankful to God that we have laymen among us worthy of such noble record.

(24.) FIRST QUARRELS IN MARRIED LIFE. Edited by James H. Burk. 12mo. 291 pp. 75 cents. Cincinnati: Applegate & Co.-The material for this book has not been gathered without great labor. The young married would do well to read it. Indeed, its incidents and narrations are pregnant with valuable suggestions to all persons sustaining the marriage relation. It is a novel subject for a book, but one of great practical utility. We have no hesitation in recommending the book as worthy of a wide circulation. It will prevent as well as heal "quarrels in married life." A copy of it should be put into the hands of every newly-married couple.

(25.) SUNNY HOURS: consisting of Poems on Various Subjects. By J. Wesley Carhart. New York: Pudney & Russell. 12mo. 233 pp.-Mr. Carhart is a member of the Troy annual conference. Our readers will remember him in connection with a few beautiful poems contributed to our columns. Many passages in this volume possess the true poetic spirit. Others are liable to criticism, and would no doubt have been much improved by an observance of the rule prescribed by Horace. We, however, are not disposed to criticise where we find so much pleasing and worthy of commendation. As specimens we quote the author's versification of the twenty-third Psalm:

"The Lord is my shepherd to feed

And lead me where still waters flow;
He giveth me bread when I need;
No want in his fold shall I know.

I lie in green pastures; my soul

He reneweth; the paths which I tread
Are paths where the righteous may stroll,
And rest with the Shepherd, their head.

When walking the shadowy vale,
Where death's awful visage appears,
Thy glorious rod shall prevail,
And banish forever my fears.

A table for me thou hast set

In the face of my deadliest foes
My head with fine oil thou hast wet,
My cup with salvation o'erflows.

Thy goodness, O Lord! shall endure,
Thy mercy shall ever abide;

I'll dwell in thy temple secure
From tempests of life's troubled tide."

We must indulge ourselves in an excerpt from "Baby
Minnie." For beauty of conception and felicity of

expression, it will compare favorably with passages in our best poets:

"Ah, thou happy little stranger,

Welcome now I sing;
Welcome, welcome, little ranger-
Holy pleasures bring!
Welcome, with thy tiny fingers,

And thy loving eyes,

Where thy precious spirit lingers

With a thousand sighs!

Angels brought thee on their pinions,

Through the balmy air,

From the bright and pure dominions
Where the righteous are.

Did they to their bosoms fold thee,
As their glowing song
Sweetly echoed to beguile thee,

As they swept along?

Didst thou steal thy baby sweetness

From the world of bliss?

Didst thou think thou couldst retain it
In a world like this?"

We have not space for further notice. These excerpts will give some idea of the style and genius of the au

thor.

(26.) A DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE.-The American Tract Society has issued a most excellent work of this kind. It is accompanied with engravings, maps, and tables, illustrating very fully the work. Every Sunday school and Bible class teacher, and, in fact, every student of the Bible, ought to have this or some kindred work for reference. have examined the work before us as minutely as our circumstances would allow, and feel assured that we can recommend it to our Sunday school teachers as in every respect reliable and worthy of their attention.

We

(27.) EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE; or, Researches among the Minuter Organs and Forms of Animal Life. By Philip Henry Gosse, F. R. S. 12mo. 480 pp. New York: Appleton & Co. Cincinnati Rickey, Mallory & Co.-The telescope reveals the remote and the grand. The microscope opens to our vision a universe-so to speak-equally wonderful and equally marked with wondrous displays of the Creator's skill, in the minute. The revelations and the uses of the microscope are among the most wonderful things of this age of wonders in science and art. The volume before us is rich and beautiful in matter as well as in workmanship.

(28.) LIFE AMONG THE CHOCTAW INDIANS, AND SKETCHES OF THE SOUTH-WEST. By Henry C. Benson, A. M., of the California Conference. Cincinnati: Swormstedt & Poe. 12mo. Pp. 314.-The western Agents have just issued the little book whose title we have given. It contains a good deal of information with regard to the Choctaws and missionary operations among them, and embraces some interesting and thrilling sketches of frontier life and manners. The author was formerly connected with the mission school at Ft. Coffee, and speaks from personal acquaintance with the Indian character and people.

(29.) MARY STAUNTON; or, the Pupils of Marvel Hall. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cincinnati: Rickey,

Mallory & Co. 12mo. Pp. 398.-A girl's life at a fashionable boarding-school has its evils as well as its advantages; and the former are portrayed in this volume. The writer, whom we take to be a lady, evidently speaks from her own experience, and endeavors to show how a fashionable and godless training so famishes the heart and weakens good impulses, that years of patient labor and watching are required to repair the loss.

(30.) PRINCE CHARLIE, THE YOUNG CHEVALIER. By Merideth Johnes. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Cincinnati: Rickey, Mallory & Co. 16mo. Pp. 331.Parents who wish to cultivate in their children a correct taste for reading, will place in their hands brief histories of events whose chief interest centers in a single actor and a single action. Such a history is that of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1745. The leader was Prince Charles, eldest son of the Pretender, James III, and the principal action was on the field of Culloden. The story of the Prince's romantic career, his noble character, his daring valor, his hair-breadth escapes, his sufferings, his exile, and his death, is here told in a pleasant style, and will prove attractive to the young reader.

(31.) HUNTER'S SONGS OF DEVOTION: containing the Most Popular of the published Hymns and Religious Songs of Rev. William Hunter, D. D. Accompanied with Music, arranged by Rev. J. M. Thomas. Pittsburg: J. L. Read. For sale by Methodist Agencies generally. Price, 15 cents.-Charles Adams felicitously styles Charles Wesley "the poet preacher." Mr. Hunter is more nearly entitled to be known as "the poet preacher of American Methodism," than any other man we know of. He has produced soul-stirring strains that will live forever. He sends forth no trash; no low, vulgar religious ditty; no tame or worthless production. We are glad to know that the real merit of his sacred songs has secured for them a wide circulation.

(34.) PAMPHLETS.-1. The Kingdom of Christ; or, Spiritual and Temporal Authority. A Sermon preached in Wesley Chapel, Washington, D. C., on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1859. By B. H. Nadal, D. D.-2. Infant Salvation. A Sermon preached in the Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Alvans, Vt., on the Death of Frank Hamilton Woodward. By Rev. Volney M. Simons.- -3. Minutes of Detroit Conference. Bishop Janes, President. Rev. S. Reed, Secretary. 4. Lawrence University Catalogue. Acting President, Rev. Russell Z. Mason, A. M., assisted by five professors. Students, 298.-5. M' Kendree College. President, Rev. N. E. Cobleigh, D. D., assisted by six professors. Students, 192.- -6. Upper Iowa University. President, Rev. Lucius H. Bugbee, A. M., assisted by seven professors. Students, 288.