CHILDREN NURTURED BY WOLVES.-Le Loyer, an old writer on Demonology, relates a story of a child nurtured by wolves remarkably similar to those which have been recently brought from the kingdom of Oude. This account is, that in the reign of the Emperor Louis of Bavaria-1313-47-a child was taken in a forest of Hesse who walked on his hands and feet, and in this manner was able to run faster than any wild animal. After a time they succeeded in taming him, and he was taught to walk upright by tying his hands to sticks. He related that, at the age of about three years, he had been carried away by wolves, which had removed him to their den, without doing him any harm. The wolves shared their food with him, and lay round him in winter in order to protect him from the cold. They forced him to walk and run like themselves, on his hands and feet; and he became so perfect in this mode of progression, that there was no wolf in the forest which could run faster, or leap a ditch better than he could. This boy was presented to Prince Henry, Landgrave of Hesse, and he often said that he would have preferred to remain with the wolves, so far had his life in the woods become a second nature. (Histoire de Spectres, etc., p. 140.) Concerning this writer, see Bayle, Dict., art. "Loyer." He was born in 1540, and died in 1634, at the age of ninety-four.

This narrative has a close resemblance to Indian stories about children nurtured by wolves, and is liable to the same suspicions as to its veracity. A child of three years old carried off by wolves would not retain a clear recollection of the event. It is inconceivable that any practice should enable a boy to run upon all-fours as fast as a wolf. The formation of the human body excludes the possibility of such a performance. Even if the wolf who carried off the child were disposed to spare its life, and, what is still more marvelous, to feed it, and to supply its want of clothes by their warmth in winter, yet the other wolves in the same forest would not be likely to be equally humane and tender. The story seems to represent the boy as the general friend and associate of the wolves in the forest. In winter, moreover, when the ground is covered with snow, wolves become ravenous, and wander to great distances from their usual haunts in search of food. What happened to the wolf-boy at such a season as this? Altogether the story is irreconcilable with either human or lupine nature.

It should be added that the time when Le Loyer wrote was removed by more than two centuries from the occurrence of the event described.

Marvelous tales of this kind received no proper investigation in the fourteenth or even in the sixteenth century; but the Indian stories, being recent, might, when the tranquillity of Oude is restored, be sifted by some

scientific naturalist.

COMPOSITION OF THE HUMAN BODY.-The living animal is made up for the most part of water. A man of 154 lbs. weight contains 116 lbs. of water, and only 38 lbs. of dry matter. From his skin and from his lungs water is continually evaporating. Were the air around him perfectly dry his skin would become parched and shriveled, and thirst would oppress his feverish frame.

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The air which he breathes from his lungs is loaded with moisture. Were that which he draws in entirely free from watery vapor, he would soon breathe out the fluids which fill up his tissues, and would dry up into a withered and ghastly mummy. It is because the simoom and other hot winds of the desert approach to this state of dryness, that they are so fatal to those who travel on the arid waste.-Johnson's Chemistry of Common Life.

Professor Quetelet states that of the 38 pounds of dry matter in the model man, 24 pounds are flesh and fat, and 14 pounds bone; 28 pounds are organic matter-combustible-10 pounds mineral matter-incombustible. If a hundred pounds of human blood be rendered perfectly dry, by a heat not much exceeding that of boiling water, it will be reduced in weight to somewhat less than twentytwo pounds. It loses about 78% per cent. of water. The blood weighs, in the liquid state, nearly twenty pounds in a healthy full-grown average man, and it consists very nearly of 15% pounds of water and 4% pounds of solid matter. The blood contains by weight only oneeighth of the dry matter of the body, so that the strength of the latter could be sustained only for a very short period without supplies from other sources. And yet an

animal does not die of starvation till it has lost twofifths of its weight, and more than a third of its heat.

SALTNESS OF THE SEA.-The sea is supposed to have acquired its saline principle when the globe was in the act of subsiding from a gaseous state. The density of sea water depends upon the quantity of saline matter it contains the proportion is generally about three or four per cent., though it varies in different places; the ocean contains more salt in the southern than in the northern hemisphere, the Atlantic more than the Pacific. The greatest proportion of salt in the Pacific is in the paraldegrees south latitude: near the equator it is less; and lels of twenty-two degrees north latitude and seventeen in the polar seas it is least, from the melting of the ice. The saltness varies with the seasons in these regions, and the fresh water, being lighter, is uppermost. Rain makes the surface of the sea fresher than the interior parts, and the influx of rivers renders the ocean less salt at their estuaries: the Atlantic is brackish three hundred miles from the mouth of the Amazon. Deep seas are more saline than those that are shallow, and inland seas communicating with the main are less salt, from the rivers that flow into them: to this, however, the Mediterranean is an exception, occasioned by the great evaporation and the influx of salt currents from the Black Sea and the Atlantic. The water in the Straits of Gibraltar, at the depth of six hundred and seventy fathoms, is four times as salt as that at the surface. Fresh water freezes at the temperature of thirty-two degrees of Fahrenheit; the point of congelation of salt water is lower. As the specific gravity of the water of the Greenland Sea is about 1.02664, it does not freeze till its temperature is reduced to twenty-eight and a half degrees of Fahrenheit; so that the saline principle preserves the sea in a liquid state to a much higher latitude than if it had been fresh, while it is better suited for navigation by its greater buoyancy. The healthfulness of the sea is ascribed to

of Protestantism is in the province of Finland, with a population of 1,636,000, all of whom belong to the Lutheran Church, with the exception of 65,000 members of the Greek Church, and in three Baltic provinces, Esland, Livonia, and Courland, where the German language still prevails.

SALARIES IN ENGLAND.-Cabinet ministers, $25,000; Lord Chancellor, $50,000; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, $100,000; Vice Chancellors, $30,000; Judge of Appeals, $400,000; Chief Justice, $400,000; Judge of Queen's Bench, $27,500; Judge of Common Pleas, $35,000; Judges, generally, from $25,000 to $40,000.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD ONTONAGON.-Our readers are aware that it has been proposed to form a new state by taking that part of Michigan lying along the southern shores of Lake Superior, and uniting with it a slice from the northern part of Wisconsin, bounded by a line running due west from the mouth of the Menomonee river. "Ontonagon" is the name proposed for the new state. Ontonagon is an Indian name, and bears the unmixed English translation of a "wooden bowl." It became attached to the river which empties its waters into Lake Superior, from the following incident:

"Many years ago, in the early settlement of that country, a gentleman who has since represented that district in the Legislature of Michigan, was traveling through that country in company with a party of Indians, and encamped for the night on the banks of the river. In the morning the party were regaling themselves on roasted fish and muskrat chowder, which was served up in a large wooden bowl, belonging to one of the females of the crowd, and in which, while on the trail, she carried her infant. Now, the aforesaid gentleman has never been known to be wanting in that thing called a most voracious appetite, and on this occasion was making sad havoc with the chowder, much to the fears and discomfiture of the balance of the party, who had often been on the verge of famine while their white friend was with them.

"A rush was made for the bowl, and in the melee which ensued it was kicked into the river. The dusky beauty, seeing this indispensable article of her household, which served the double purpose of soup tureen and infant's cradle, floating away, rushed to her white friend and throwing her arms around his neck, with tears in her eyes, said, 'Ne-ne-mo-sha, Ab, in-yaw! ne-guynsdon Onto-na-gon!' which in English means, 'Dearest Abner, save, O! save, my wooden bowl!'

"The waves were cold and the current stormy, but this appeal to his love, duty, and gallantry was irresistible, and the chivalrous gentleman stripping off his 'breechcloth,' rushed to the rescue. The struggle was short, but victory perched on the wet and dripping banner of our hero, who stood, Hyperion-like, on the rocky shore, shaking aloft the wooden bowl and shouting, 'On-to-na-gon!' From this heroic exploit the river derived its name, and it is that which is now sought as the title of a new state." PETRIFYING WELLS.-In the village of Matlock, Derbyshire, England, are the world-famous petrifying wells. Here are the Hights of Abraham and the towering rock of High Tor; between them flows the river Derwent. From the sides of these rocks little streams issue, and every thing this water runs over turns to stone! If you take a favorite rose-bush, and so place it as to allow the stream to drip down its thorny side, it will, in the course

of twelve moons, become petrified-a rock of beauty, in fact, defying the sculptor's art. The favorite things to petrify are birds' nests and eggs, which are very beautiful. Toys, once the favorite playthings of a now departed child, are here petrified; and thus they become a real treasure.

The petrifying springs that trickle out of the perpendicular sides of Mount Abraham and High Tor, at Matlock, are highly charged with lime; on exposure to the air a large portion of the water evaporates and the lime remains; whatever this reduced quantity of water trickles over, therefore, soon becomes coated with a thin film of lime, which, increasing in substance, partakes of the property of limestone. Woody fiber, that will absorb the water, will have lime deposited within its cells, and which, hardening to the consistence of stone, imparts at length that solidity which we call petrifaction.

DEATH OF REV. GEORGE COLES.-Rev. George Coles, for twelve years editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, died in New York city, May 1st, aged sixtyseven years. He was born in Stewkley, England, January 2, 1792; was converted at the age of thirteen; began preaching at twenty-two, and emigrated to America in 1818. Few men are so much beloved. He was the author of several publications, among which may be mentioned, The Antidote, a Treatise against Infidelity; Lectures to Children, in several volumes; A Concordance of the Holy Scriptures; My Youthful Days; My First Years in America; Later Years; Heroines of Methodism; and various tracts and smaller publications.

The following peculiarity in reference to his social character we find stated in an article in Zion's Herald: "His fondness for the society of children, and his faculty of interesting and instructing them was extraordinary. Wherever he went, after a short acquaintance, they clustered about him as a father, and, not by anecdote, of which he had no great fund, but by original conceptions and by questions and by quaint remarks fitted to their capacity, he always succeeded in controlling their attention."

Though troubled very much in regard to the subject of death, some two weeks before his departure, yet as the day drew on he acquired the victory and died, as our ministers always die, "well."

THE ALABAMA RESOLUTION.-The resolution of the Alabama conference, calling for the expunging from the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church South a rule relating to the buying of men, women, and children, was presented to all the annual conferences of the Church South, except the Kansas Mission and the Indian conferences. The Pacific took no action. There were in the conferences that voted on the question 1,160 concurring votes, being 160 over the constitutional majority. The subject was debated at great length by the General conference, and finally it was resolved to strike out by a vote of 140 ayes to 8 nays. Four years ago the General conference of the Church South defined the General Rule to have reference exclusively to the African slave-trade.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.-The increase of the Baptist Church in the United States during the last ten years has been 178,000, chiefly in the west and south. It is estimated that some 15,000 have been added to the Church on profession of faith and by baptism during the current year, making the grand total of membership at present in our country 903,000.

NEW BOOKS.

ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE. History of Europe, from the Fall of Napoleon, in 1815, to the Accession of Louis Napoleon, in 1852. By Sir Archibald Alison, Bart. Vols. I, II, and III. Octavo, pp. 441, 479, and 449. New York: Harper & Brothers.-Some years have passed since we first made our acquaintance with Mr. Alison as a historian. His four volumes on the History of Europe have won for themselves an honorable place among the classic productions of the English language. The second series will comprise five volumes, three of which are before us. The author thus speaks of their historic era, "The periods which have passed over during the thirty-seven years of European national peace-from the fall of Napoleon, in 1815, to the accession of Louis Napoleon, in 1852-are not so vividly marked as those which occurred during the wars of the French Revolution, but they have a distinctness of their own, and the changes in which they terminated were not less important. The resumption of cash payments in England in 1819 was not, to outward appearance, so striking an event as the battle of Austerlitz, but it was followed by results of equal permanent importance. The Reform Bill was not the cause of so visible a change in human affairs as the battle of Wagram, but it was attended with consequences equally grave and lasting. Without pretending to have discerned with perfect accuracy, as yet, the most important of the many important events which have signalized this memorable era, it may be stated that it naturally divides itself into five periods.

"The first, commencing with the entry of the Allies into Paris after the fall of Napoleon, terminates with the passing of the Currency Act of 1819 in England, and the great creation of peers in the democratic interest during the same year in France. The effects of the measures pursued during this period were not perceived at the time, but they are very apparent now. The seeds which produced such decisive results in after times were all sown during its continuance. It forms the subject of the first volume.

"The second period is still more clearly marked; for it begins with the entire establishment of a liberal government and system of administration in France in 1819, and ends with the Revolution which overthrew Charles X in 1830. Foreign transactions begin, during this era, to become of importance; for it embraces the revolutions of Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont in 1820; the rise of Greece as an independent state in the same year, and the important wars of Russia with Turkey and Persia in 1828 and 1829; and the vast conquests of England in India over the Goorkhas and Burmese empire. This period is embraced in the second volume of this History. The topies it embraces are more various and exciting than those in the first, but they are not more important: they are the growth which followed the seeds previously sown. England and France were still the leaders in the movement; the convulsions of the world were but the consequence of the throes in them.

"The third period commences with the great debate on the Reform Bill-of two years' continuance-in England

in 1831, and ends with the overthrow of the Whig ministry, by the election of October, 1841. The great and lasting effects of the change in the Constitution of Great Britain, by the passing of the Reform Act, partially developed themselves during this period; and the return of Sir Robert Peel to power was the first great reaction against them. During the same time, the natural effects of the Revolution in France appeared in the government, unavoidable in the circumstances of mingled force and corruption of Louis Philippe, and the growth of discontent in the inferior classes of society, from the disappointment of their expectations as to the results of the previous convulsion. Foreign episodes of surpassing interest signalize this period; for it contains the heroic effort of the Poles to restore their national independence in 1831; the revolt of Ibrahim Pacha, the bombardment of Acre, and the narrow escape of Turkey from ruin; our invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequent disaster there. This period, so rich in important changes and interesting events, forms the subject of the third volume." Mr. Alison can hardly be called a profound, philosophic historian; nor has he the dramatic power of Macaulay. But he is painstaking as a historian, and has a happy faculty of presenting his facts. In polities he is a Toryusing the term in its English sense-and from this standpoint he views all objects of political interest. Yet this intense feeling is not without its use in giving force and life to his discussions. The progressive democracy of Young America will often feel itself greatly scandalized by the old fogy notions of the author. But the sobersided American will find himself not a little interested in observations on our national history, taken from the stand-point of a British Tory. In the department of statistics Alison shows a wonderful assiduity. This feature, combined with the fullness and precision of the narrative, make his work one of the best for practical reference which we possess in any portion of modern history. Nor is it to be regarded as a mere depository of facts. Sir Archibald has a taste for the legitimate ornaments of historical writing; we can not deny him a gift of lively description which often approaches the borders of the picturesque. His battle scenes, especially, have great vigor and vitality. He loves the sight of serried columns and the sound of martial music. He seems to have gained a clear conception of the operations of the field-often, doubtless, from personal observation of the locality; and succeeds, to a charm, in reproducing them before the mind's eye of the reader. His narrative is frequently varied, moreover, with graphic specimens of character-drawing and with literary criticisms. He is more felicitous, we think, in the former than in the lat ter. The sphere of action is more congenial to his turn of mind than that of literature. He looks with warmer sympathy on the great warrior or the great statesman than on the great author. This is natural enough, as most men are apt to magnify the pursuits which present the greatest contrast with their own. Hence his portraitures of the leading characters in political or military life are usually effective, while his remarks on the productions of literature are characterized neither by apt