Earlier text: Paradise and the Tree of LifeThe Cause in Iowa.
By D. T. Bourdeau
AGREEABLY to previous appointments, we have held meetings at Waukon and West Union since our meeting at Waterloo. We stopped at Waukon over two Sabbaths and first days, held eight meetings with the church, besides attending a prayer and social meeting. Gave six discourses, and had a good time attending to the ordinances. As the result of our efforts in this place, one backslider was reclaimed, one united with the church, the brethren and sisters generally, were revived in the message, six subscribed for the Health Reformer, and one took stock in the Health Institution. It was remarkable to see how the cloud removed from the church and light and freedom broke in upon them, as they acknowledged the Health Reform as a part of the message, and decided to adopt it and carry it out more fully. This experience, which has been so often repeated in connection with our labors, is additional evidence that God wants us to consider the subject of health at this stage of the message, and that we must make the Health Reform a point in our experience. It is with us in this respect as it was when Systematic Benevolence and organization came up. We were shut up to these subjects until we took a proper stand with reference to them; and then light broke in upon us, and we felt that God had mercifully led us, and that we could not get along without the truth in relation to these subjects. So it will be when we shall have come up to these truths on the Health Reform. But we must enlighten our minds on this subject, and not act as though we knew it all, when we have not fully learned its first principles. Those who know but little about this subject are sometimes apt to lead out against those who have made it their study for years; while those who know the most about it, think that they know but little in comparison with what they should know. The subject is so vast, that they get overwhelmed in its contemplation, and see that there is still much for them to learn. And how adapted the Health Reformer is to meet our wants here, to instruct us on this grand theme, and remind us of our duty. It should be received into every family of Sabbath-keepers, that the brethren and sisters may post up on health, and save preachers the unpleasant task of teaching them what they should learn by reading. Brethren and sisters, shall we make this duty a matter of conscience? Unless we do we shall be backward. We cannot be said to make a sacrifice in taking the Reformer at one dollar per year. We are a thousand times repaid, by being led in the way of health and life. And we should manifest our pity and benevolence for suffering humanity by making it a point to introduce the Reformer to those who do not take it, whether they are believers or not; for health is a blessing that all need and have an interest in. If there is a blessedness realized in making others happy, we should not be negligent in attending to this duty. And thank God, there is a general coming up on this subject among us, and that the cause of Health Reform is prospering beyond our most sanguine expectations. While at Waukon, we could not visit much, as our time between the meetings was employed in writing for the Review, at Bro. Geo. I. Butler's, where we were treated with all the kindness that we could desire, as pilgrims and strangers on this earth. As Bro. and sister Butler were formerly from Vermont, our native State, we could easily imagine ourselves at home, and in the enjoyments of by-gone days, among parents, other relatives, and dear friends. And though this afforded us pleasure, we knew it to be partly imaginary, and looked forward beyond our toils to our happy meeting in our eternal home. At West Union, our meetings were good. We spoke three times with freedom; had a good social meeting in which forty-two spoke in about thirty minutes; held a business meeting in which four were added to the church, three subscribed for the Reformer, and four shares were pledged for the Health Institution. The following resolution was also adopted by the church: Resolved, That the church clerk be instructed to remind those who have received letters of commendation, but have not joined sister churches, that, agreeably to an action taken at the last session of the General Conference, they still belong to this church, and that they, as well as those who have not received letters of commendation and live at a distance, be requested to report themselves to the church once in three months. These were also invited to renew their pledges on Systematic Benevolence. We have traveled some two hundred miles by private conveyance since we left Waterloo. We have now labored with all the churches in the State, and have had opportunity to canvass the field and learn where labor can be bestowed in new fields to advantage. I truly realize that the fields are white and ready to harvest, and that there will yet be a richer harvest of souls in Iowa than has yet been seen. God send more faithful laborers into his vineyard. I see not why efforts could not be made to advantage in new fields next summer and onward. Anamosa, Iowa, Jan. 25, 1867. Meetings in the Western District, Mich.
By Joseph Bates
AFTER a peaceful Sabbath in Battle Creek, Dec. 29, I left there the 31st and held three interesting meetings with the church in Greenbush, Clinton Co., Jan. 2, 3, 1867. They are much interested in the Health Reform. Sr. O. B. Seavy’s little child was literally covered with sores. After various unavailing trials to relieve it of its sufferings, she finally decided to feed it on Graham pudding alone, three times in twenty-four hours, reducing it very soon to two meals a day. The little sufferer was soon relieved, and satisfied with the mother’s treatment, and is now well! Jan. 4, came to Ithaca, Gratiot Co., with Bro. William Hall, who had come with his team eighteen miles for me. Here I spent Sabbath and Sunday, Jan. 5 and 6. Brethren from Alma, St. Louis, and other places came together in conference, and held six interesting meetings in their new meeting-house, and were much blessed in celebrating the ordinances. From thence, Bro. Nelson of Alma, kindly provided a way for me to Seville, where I held three good meetings on the 8th and 9th inst. The brethren were much104pleased to see so many of their neighbors interested to hear the precious truths in which they believed. From thence I came to Alma, and on Sabbath and Sunday, the 12th and 13th, held seven meetings, and celebrated the ordinances of the Lord’s house. Here, as in Ithaca, the brethren from Seville, St. Louis, and Ithaca, came together and bore their united testimony to their love for the precious truths which they had been learning from the three angels’ messages. We esteemed it a privilege to become acquainted with the dear brethren and sisters in Gratiot Co., and hope and pray that they may not be found behind their brethren in other places in dress and Health Reform, and perfect readiness to meet their coming Lord. Bro. Garrett’s team brought me twenty-eight miles to Bro. M. Richmond’s, who kindly conveyed me to St. Johns where I took the cars and came to Matherston. Fair Plains, Montcalm Co., Jan. 25, 1867. Fulfillments of the Visions.
To the truthfulness of the statements made by Bro. Loughborough in his article headed, Remarkable fulfillments of the Visions, in Review No. 5, the following certificates have been furnished: This certifies that I have read the article in Review No. 5, present volume, concerning Mrs. A. I was living in Vergennes at the time of the meeting mentioned, when Bro. and sister White, Bro. Loughborough and Cornell, were present. As far as I can recollect, the statements made concerning Mrs. A.'s course in Vergennes and the admission of Mrs. P. concerning the vision relating to him and Mrs. A., is a correct statement. And further, Mrs. A., when questioned at my house concerning said vision relating to her and Mr. P., said to my wife that she “did not dare say anything against that vision for fear she should be found fighting against God.” My father, now dead, is the Bro. G. named in that article, who embraced the truth after the above meeting. Orleans, Mich., Jan. 20, 1867. We hereby certify that we have read Bro. Loughborough's article concerning Mrs A.'s visit to our house, and her saying she “did not dare say anything against the vision concerning her, for fear she should fight against God.” The statements are correct to the best of our memory, save that it was Bro. Salhin who came in and made the remark, “Mrs A. is here,” &c, although Bro. Bates was in the place at the time, as specified. BERSEY WILSON.
FIDELIA A. MAYNARD.
AMELIA A. WILSON. Greenville, Mich., Jan. 24, 1867. Neglecting Duty.
By H. C. MILLER
“I do not know but I am neglecting a duty in that direction,” was the remark of one while conversing with regard to writing articles for the Review. There is no doubt but this is the case with many. But it seems to me that, with the present arrangement of the paper, there need be no excuse for any one's not writing. There is the “Sermon” department. Probably the ministers will attend to that. There is the Editorial, at present well filled. There is the “Commentary” in which many may speak. There is the “News and Miscellany,” ready for anything pointed. And there is the “Conference” for those who daily bear the cross after Jesus, and have an experience or an exhortation. Surely all seventh-day Adventists ought to be able to write something for some one of these departments. But lest there should be some slighted, some to whom no opportunity should be offered, there is the “Business Department.” Oh, what good subjects are there already given to write about! First, there is “For the Review.” Nearly all can write under that head, two fifty, or three dollars. And perhaps even now on your paper is the evidence that you ought to write under that title immediately, more or less, as the case requires. “Subscriptions at the rate of three dollars” is a worthy theme; also “Books sent by mail” (to lend to your neighbors you know). “General Conference Missionary fund,” “Review to Poor,” “Shares in Publishing Association,” “Donations to Association,” etc. And lest the variety might not meet all capacities, the Lord is adding to it. Lately there has been added the subject of the “Western Health Reform Institute,” about which there has been some good and acceptable writing. And now Dr. L. tells us there are one thousand chances more to write, at only $25 per chance. Now those who feel that they are neglecting duty in not writing for the paper, can here get rid of those painful feelings, and that too, without burdening the editor with voluminous articles. And then again, correspondence in this department, carries conviction to the minds of all who read, that the writer loves the cause; which the most finished essay on other subjects might fail to do. Now brethren, you who have, three, twenty-five, one hundred, or one thousand-dollar items, for this department, the withholding of which troubles you, be advised, by this, to perform that neglected duty while God gives you the time and ability. And to all I would say, Come let us see that this department of the Review be the best filled. “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Oh, in that bright kingdom how good to meet sainted ones saved by the blood of Jesus, who learned of the way and were led to the truth by a Review sent, or a tract loaned; and to clasp such in our arms and with them give glory and honor, and praise unto Him who hath loved us. Let us resolve not to be of those who say, “Be ye warmed and clothed, and fed,” but give not the means to do it. Let us not say that we love the cause and the truth while we give not. Jesus will prove our love by our deeds. Let us loosen the purse strings and give our means while time remains to make friends of it. Soon the covetous will be left where no salvation can be his, while the liberal soul will be rejoicing in the Father's house. When we walk the golden streets, when we sing the happy song in glory, our feeble gifts which now look large, will seem very, very, small. “Be not weary in well doing.” —Murders and other outrages by the Indians are reported in Montana. —Of the Fenians confined at Toronto, 22 have been convicted, 20 acquitted, 49 dismissed for want of evidence, 13 discharged on bail, and three remain to be tried; total 107. —The Governor of Nova Scotia, in his message delivered on Thursday, deplores the amount of pauperism existing in the province, and attributes it to the failure of the fisheries and the loss of the potato crop. Extravagance.—The Roman Catholic Bishop of Three Rivers, Lower Canada, in a pastoral letter, expatiates on the intemperance of the men and the extravagance of the women in his diocese. He says, too: “Extravagance leads to what in the sight of God constitutes another crime, namely, the indecent fashions of certain dresses which too great a number of women and girls permit themselves to wear, to the detriment and contempt of Christian modesty and chastity. The modes have certainly made a serious inroad upon the proverbial good manners which our pious ancestors have handed down to us as a legacy.” For these and other sins, he thinks, the incessant rains, the threatened approach of cholera, and the Fenian invasion, have been permitted by Providence. Price of Religious Newspapers.—The National Baptist has the following pertinent paragraph in regard to the price of religious newspapers: “There is no article which has advanced so little on the price prior to the war, as the religious newspapers. The secular papers, which before the war were two cents, are now four; and those who used to pay twelve cents a week for their daily, now pay twenty-four without grumbling. But when an advance not half as large is asked on their religious weekly, why, they do not exactly see the need of it. A religious weekly does not cost the farmer half as much of his produce as it did before the war. In paying his subscription to a religious journal, an honest old farmer said that it used to take two bushels of wheat to pay it, but now it takes but one. That is the right way to look at this matter.” Adulteration.—“Terra Alba. The extent to which this fine white earth is employed in adulterating pulverized sugar, confectionery, flour, prepared cocoa, spices, milk, etc., is incalculable. Dishonesty gives the law to many a traffic and manufacture in these days, and compels those who would rather be honest (so they imagine) to “do as others do.” A chalky taste in the delicate white cracker, a tastelessness in bread, a whitish scum in the tea cup from a spoonful of snowy sugar, with many another uncomprehended indication, betray the presence of the ever-present adulterator. Two-thirds their weight of terra alba has been obtained from lozenges. This comparatively new ingredient is imported from Ireland, and that largely, costing only about one dollar and a quarter per cwt.—Sc. Am. Hell.—A tract upon “Hell,” by Rev. J. Furniss, a Catholic priest of London, gives more definite information than has hitherto been obtained on the subject. Mr. Furniss states, among other items, that hell is 4000 miles from the surface of the earth; it is a105boundless plain of red hot iron, with an atmosphere of fire and rivers of seething filth and sulphur. The book is specially intended “for children and young people who are often lost for want of being smitten by terror.” “Wonders in Heaven.”—Messrs. Editor: On the night of January 1, 1867, at about 11.15 P. M., I noticed a strange appearance in the heavens. This remarkable phenomenon consisted in a bright bar of light, connecting two stars, which lasted several minutes. On consulting the atlas, I placed the position of the phenomenon in the constellation Eridanus. A star of the fourth magnitude, near Theemin, was connected with another of the same magnitude (about five degrees southwest), by a bright light resembling that of a comet. From the upper one of the two there was a bright light turned off a little more toward the northeast. The color of the light was about the same as that of the star Aldebaran. I wish you would inform me through your columns of the cause of this phenomenon. J. JULIUS CHAMBERS.—Sci. Am. Anything for Gain.—A number of Parisian seamstresses have been suffering from violent colics from putting the silk they use in sewing into their mouths. This is attributed to sulphate of lead, and the presence of that deleterious substance is explained by the fact that, as the silk is sold by weight, some manufacturers mix the sulphate with it to make it heavier. Paris, Jan. 23.—Information is received that the workingmen are riotously assembling in the streets of Madrid. The clamor is for bread. A serious outbreak is anticipated, and the government is taking measures to meet it. How Geologists Differ.—A controversy has arisen between Professor Hall, of the New York State Geological Museum, and Edward Maguire, of Saratoga Springs, touching the bones recently exhumed at Cohoes; the former holding them to be the bones of a mastodon and the other that they are the bones of a large show elephant that died nearly forty years since. Professor Hall thinks the bones have lain in the earth 25,000 years—a slight difference. Quarterly Meetings in N. Y.
By N. Fuller
According to appointments, I attended the Quarterly Meetings in the Western District of N. Y., except in McKean Co., Pa. On account of a heavy storm and high water, I was unable to reach the place of meeting. I held meetings with the church in that County last Sabbath and first-day. The Devil has been worrying and trying to destroy some of the dear saints in that place; but if they press onward and keep in harmony with all points of present truth, the Lord will yet give them victory over the power of Satan. Oct. 27, 28, Eld. J. N. Andrews was with us at Olcott, and bore a pointed testimony to the church. The Spirit of God accompanied the word, and I felt that such testimonies must be effectual in bringing the church where God could use it to his glory. We were blest at Lancaster with the melting power of religion. Many good resolutions were made, I trust not to be broken. One was added to the church; and all seemed encouraged. The meeting at Nile Settlement was well attended. Six were added to the church, such, I trust, as will be saved. I think this church numbers about one hundred members; but shall we all belong to the righteous nation that keep the truth? Shall we all stand upon Mount Zion, having the harps of God? At Farmington the Lord blessed us with the sweet, melting influence of his Spirit, and the church was strengthened. The Lord met with us at Catlin. His melting, searching Spirit was in our midst. The interest without, which had been very low, began to increase. I have had calls to give lectures in some ten or twelve new fields; some were very urgent calls. What is to be done? The Saviour said, “He that hath ears to hear let him hear.” Now will the churches take hold of all the truth, and let those who can, go and bear this last message to perishing souls? It is with the churches to say, whether this truth shall go in power to a perishing world. Instead of the churches waiting upon God, God is waiting for them to take hold of all points of truth and live it out; for then he could work through them in mighty power. Ministers and people need converting anew to this work. Oh! may God renew our commission, and inspire in the hearts of his dear people a zeal that is worthy of a cause so glorious. On account of being worn down by constant labor, care, and anxiety, added to the bitter waters of affliction through which I have been passing, I have not done as much in visiting from house to house among the scattered brethren as I intended. I shall try in future to do more.
N. FULLER.
January 23, 1867. A Voice of Distress from a Popular Pulpit.
By F. C. Ross
[BRO. SMITH: I send the following extract from a sermon recently delivered in London by Mr. Spurgeon, thinking it may be as interesting to other readers of the Review, as it has been to me. F. C. ROSS.] What if it be true that within the last twelve months the church of the living God has scarcely made the slightest approach to an advance? What if this be true as respects a far longer period? Let the first sad fact rise before us with its proof. For the last twelve months no apparent increase has been made to the number of professed disciples of the Lord Jesus. Do you ask me for the proofs? I can prove it, alas! too surely. Our own body, the Baptist denomination, is, upon the whole, and all things considered, in as sound and healthy a state as any Christian community now existing; I am persuaded that in some respects it is more sound and more healthy; but do you know what will have been the increase during the twelve months of the entire denomination in England, Scotland, and Ireland, so far as we can ascertain it? Well, with the exception of London, and the County of Glamorgan in Wales, there will be no increase worthy of the name. In many parts of Wales, where we are the strongest, there will be a positive decrease; and I think in fifteen counties of England, we shall have lost numbers instead of making any advance, and when the whole are put together, the good with the bad, and this London of ours, wherein God has greatly blessed us of late, is counted with the rest, our entire increase for all the churches with all their ministers will not make up four thousand souls. It is true that our statistics are not very accurate, but if they were more accurate I believe the result would be more unfavorable. This is the more fearful for me to contemplate, because the increase of the denomination, which by God's grace we might naturally look for merely from the increase of population, should have been very much more than this. If other Christian churches have not increased more, and I am persuaded that most of them have increased less, far less than we have, then I am correct in saying that positively the church of God in Great Britain and Ireland, instead of making any real advance, has, in proportion to the increase of population, absolutely gone back, and I believe it would be accurate and truthful, and could be borne out by statistics, that if at this day there were taken a census of the number of persons who commune at the Lord's table, it would be found to be smaller instead of larger than the number at the corresponding period of last year. As for abroad, what have our missions done? Brethren, if there were but one soul, we ought to rejoice, but the result of missions has been of late so terribly little, as to call for great searchings of heart. Is it not a fact that there are missionaries of ten years standing who have never had a convert? Is it not also a sad fact that the number of members in all our native churches is probably less now than it was twelve months ago? Where is the nation that has been born in a day in this year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six? Where are the kings that have bowed down before King Jesus? Where are the nations that have called him “Blessed?” Is there so much as one little tribe, however insignificant, that has owned Christ during the past year? Not one, not one! There has been no visible advance. The armies of the living God have rather suffered a repulse than gained a victory, and instead of the morning coming and the light arising, and the sun advancing to a noon-day light, it seems as though at the best he stood still, if the light did not even retrograde. Surely, there is a voice from God here, and as I hear, I am afraid. Meanwhile, what kind of an age has this been in which we have lived? Is it so impassive and thoughtless that progress is impossible? Are we living in one of those dark ages in which the mind is rocked to sleep and the soul is stupefied? Has this past year been one in which the somnolence of the human intellect has prevented our presenting the truth to the sons of men? I think not. I believe, brethren, that this year has been one of the most wakeful in the annals of human history. At this moment, London is like the city of which the prophet said, “It is full of stir.” . . . We have indulged the fancy that we have had a general revival, and that our churches are in a healthy state, but is it so? Let our non-success answer the question. In the meantime, while truth slumbereth, the legions of evil spirits cease not their mischievous endeavors. How swiftly have the locusts of priestcraft ascended from the smoke of the bottomless pit and covered the land! While we are compelled to fear that evangelical truth has made no advance, we cannot say this of Ritualism, for its progress has been perfectly astounding. Though a prophet should have told us that this Anglican Popery would have made so great an advance in so short a time, we should have said, “Impossible! England is soundly Protestant; she will never bear to have incense smoking under her nose, and to see the millinery of the Church of Rome flaunted before her face;” but she has borne it, and likes it well. Despite much that has been said concerning Puseyism being non-English, we are inclined to question the statement. Where are the greatest crowds in the Establishment? Are they not at the feet of these priests of Baal? Do not rank and fashion gather most readily in those places where their senses are delighted, while their souls are deluded? Yes. Through the means of our Popish Establishment there has been an onward rush of error which is perfectly appalling. Watchman, when they ask thee, “What of the night?” canst thou say, “The morning cometh?” Ye that love the Saviour, will you open your ears to catch the meaning of all these things? Men dying, men perishing, the church slumbering, and error covering the land—doth not God say something in all this? Do you not hear out of this darkness the voice, saying, “O my people, I have somewhat against you?” Did I not hear the Lord saying, “They shall perish, but their blood will I require at the watchman's hands?” I saw the church of God folding her hands, given to slumber, saying, “I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;” and all the while she was suffering multitudes to perish for lack of knowledge, leaving the banner of truth to be moth-eaten, or to be trailed in the mire, and permitting the friends of error to ride rough-shod over all the land. As I saw her thus, I said within my heart, surely the Lord will chasten such a people as this, and I feared that he would send judgments upon his church, and perhaps take away her candlestick out of the place, and give the light unto another people that might serve him more faithfully. Then I felt as Habakkuk did: I heard the voice of the Lord, and I was afraid. I was afraid for my fellow men. . . . I was afraid for the Christian church, lest it should have a name to live and be dead—lest the Lord should give up the church in Britain as he did his church in Shiloh, of which he said, “Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.” I feared lest he might do for the church in Britain as he has to the church in Rome—given it over to become an Antichrist, and an abomination before the eyes of God and men. I was afraid with exceeding great fear for my fellow ministers, for I feared that all this people could not have perished without their being guilty of some of their blood! How could all this ignorance have remained in this land if the preachers had been faithful? I fear that the blood of souls will be required at the hands of many a minister. What do I see? A gathering of ministers. And what is this I see on their garments? I see blood on them. I see blood sprinkled upon gray heads, and alas! I see blood upon the brows of young men who have but lately entered into the work—blood upon them all. Herein do I much fear for myself, lest I also, addressing this multitude so constantly, should have much blood upon my skirts because of my many responsibilities! O God, it is enough to make us afraid! Why, look, my brethren! When God's servants were truly active, as the first twelve were, did the cause stand still? Did they win here and there a soul, and have now and then a conversion? Did the cause of Christ go back, like an army put to the rout? On the contrary, did they not, as soon as ever they received the truth, use it as a firebrand to set the nations on a blaze? They met with persecutions which do not stand in our way; they were assaulted by threats of death which we have not to brave, and yet nothing could stand against their indomitable zeal, the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost rested on them, and they went on conquering and to conquer! And what are we? Oh! we are cold and dead where they were full of fire and life. We are the degenerate sons of glorious fathers. . . . We cannot get on with philosophical gospels: we must bring together all these new geological gospels, and neological gospels, and semi-Pelagian gospels, and do with them as the people of Ephesus did with the books—we must burn them, and let Paul preach again to us. We can do without modern learning, but we cannot do without the ancient gospel. We can do without oratory and eloquence, but we cannot do without Christ crucified. Lord, revive thy work, by giving us the old-fashioned gospel back again in the pulpits. . . . This, however, would not bring back a revival unless there came with it a revival of the gospel spirit. If you read the story of the Reformation, or the later story of the new Reformation under Whitefield and Wesley, you are struck with the singular spirit that went with the preachers. The world said they were mad, the caricaturists drew them as being fanatical beyond all endurance; but there it was, their zeal was their power. Of course the world scoffed at that of which it was afraid. The world fears enthusiasm, enthusiasm which is kindled by the thought of the ruin of men, and by the desire to pluck the firebrands from the flame, the enthusiasm which believes in the Holy Ghost, which believes that God is still present with his church to do wonders; this is what the world dreads, and what the church wants. A Million People, or One-third More than the Entire Population of Michigan, Starved to Death. MR. T. RAVINSHAW, Commissioner of Orissa, has sent to the Bengal Government a report of the famine in that Province. Never has so heart-rending a picture been drawn. An official whose bias, if it exists, must lead him to tone down the horrible facts, estimates the loss of life from want of food and its consequences at from 500,000 to 600,000, and in some places at three-fourths of the whole population. This is among the four and half millions of Orissa alone, where the official reports show the deaths to be still going on at the rate of 150 a day. The mortality was not less severe proportionally in the adjoining district of Midnapore, with its population of more than half a million. In Ganjam, with nearly a million of people, the calamity was comparatively light, but famine, disease and debility swept away thousands. The same is true of Chota Nagpore. We have a reliable record of the deaths of paupers from famine-stricken districts in Calcutta. Add to all these the mortality in the other districts of Bengal from Saugor Island to Patna and the border of Nepaul, and we have a record of the loss of life, which exceeds in horror and extent that of any one of the six great droughts of India during the last century. Before the destroying angel takes his final flight the tale will have mounted up beyond a million known deaths. This is worse than in the great famine which carried off 800,000 people from the north western Doab in 1838. We have reason to believe that the most terrible of all recorded afflictions of this kind, that of 1780, was not more ruthless in its murderous work than this which still demands its daily holocaust. For the greater part of that million of deaths has occurred not over a wide extent of territory, nor among millions of people, but within an area not larger than that of England and Wales, and among a people who do not exceed six millions in number. No plague, no black death, no yellow fever, no great physical convulsion like the most tremendous earthquake on record, has engulfed so many victims. The last famine, of which Baird Smith was the alleviator and historian, carried off half a million, or only a twenty-sixth of the thirteen millions affected, and the starvation price of food was never higher than 7½ seers the rupee. This, ere it closes, will have swallowed up a sixth of the people, among whom rice sometimes was not to be had at all, and for many a long month not lower than 6 seers the rupee.—Friend of India. Diseased Pork—More Loss of Life.
THE TRICHINE excitement has died out—not so the trichinæ. Victims continue to be reported. Miss Lida Jordan, of Maine, Iowa, recently died of trichiniasis, having eaten of diseased pork last spring. On post-mortem examination, her flesh was found to be filled with the worms. “Hog Cholera” (as the disease is called in the animal) is raging throughout Illinois and northern Kentucky, and defying all remedies. A western carcass apparently healthy and unusually fat, was examined in Oswego, a few days since, revealing millions of trichinæ in a mouthful (!) of fat, varying from atoms scarcely perceptible to worms two inches long. The Palladium describes them as of a greenish yellow color, resembling in shape a needle pointed at both ends. The practice of allowing swine to feed upon the flesh, offal and excrement of animals, is the source of the disease. The trichina egg never develops to a harmful stage while passing naturally through the intestines. It must be eaten, and thus harbored and nourished the second time, in order to reach its boring and destructive stage of growth. It is a penalty of confederate greed and filthiness in swine and their owners.—Scientific American. Five Persons at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, Killed by Eating Diseased Pork.—
One of the most prominent and highly-respected farmers, living in the vicinity of Crab Orchard, whose name we could not, unfortunately, procure, killed for family use a few choice porkers from a drove of hogs that he raised, and sent to a few neighboring families a few splendid hams as presents. Nearly every family to which the pork had been sent partook of what they supposed were savory and delicious morsels. Early in the following day, the members of the several families were taken violently ill, with all the symptoms of cholera. The best medical skill was immediately procured, and every exertion made to relieve the sufferers. The patients suffered, we are told, intensely, and by night five of the number had died. The wife of the owner of the hogs had died, and there are no hopes of his recovery. Several others lie in a very critical condition, and are not likely to survive. The same day on which the families were attacked, the remainder of the drove of hogs were seized with some strange disease, having something of the character of hog cholera, and nearly all have died. The occurrence has caused great excitement in that section of the State, and is likely to extend its influence to others.—Louisville Journal. The Present Status of the Land of the Montezumas.
The restoration of the Mexican Republic is now proceeding with remarkable rapidity. Lately we have had the important news that Juarez has made a triumphant entry into Durango, the capital of the State of the same name, Durango is about equally distant from Chihuahua—which so long served as a place of refuge to Juarez, while nearly the whole of Mexican territory was in the hands of the invaders—and the City of Mexico. But Durango is far from being the Southern frontier of the territory under the actual sway of the Republicans. South of it, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and even Queretaro, which is only 110 miles distant from the City of Mexico, are in undisputed possession of the Liberals. The French have wisely concluded not to leave the country in detachments, but at one time. The losses which they continually suffer even under this new arrangement, clearly show to what dangers they would have been exposed had they left one-third of the army behind for a whole year. As to Maximilian, a glance at the small tract of land that is now held by his partizans, makes it very doubtful whether he will get away at all if he does not leave with the French. The movement of the Imperialist troops against Monterey stands no chance whatever of permanent success. The French themselves clearly indicate by their attitude, that they have no faith in the ability of Maximilian to maintain himself, and, as the official communication from the representative of France to the Mexican people, again indicates, are anxious to decline any responsibility for the defeat and overthrow of the Empire. The star of the Republic is again rising, and there would be good reason for renewed hope if only the deplorable quarrel between Juarez and Ortega could be stopped. This ought now to be the great aim of all Mexican patriots. Sterling patriotism, we should think, might suggest to both the claimants of the Republic, means for settling their rival claims in an amicable manner, by leaving the decision to a new vote of the people. We wish with Ortega that the Mexican Republic may become as prosperous as the United States; but if this aim is to be attained, the leaders of the people must learn to show a greater amount of disinterested love of their country than hitherto.