The author's method of measuring cloud altitudes differs from other methods in that he uses the sun as a reference point.

In seeking an explanation of the aurora borealis, Gustav Wendt observes that oxygen is a paramagnetic element, and assumes polarity by the presence of the earth as a permanent magnet. Hence near the magnetic pole, the magnetic attraction occasions the descent of paramagnetic matter, especially of oxygen or condensed oxygen, and also of dust of all kinds, including occasionally dust of meteoric iron, etc. The northern lights may therefore be regarded as an electrical phenomenon arising when oxygen and other paramagnetic matter are continuously drawn down from the higher regions of the atmosphere with the effect of setting up electric currents. If, as a large series of accurate analyses indicates, the air of the mountains and moors of the Scottish highlands generally contains 21 per cent. of oxygen while in large towns, especially in fogs, the oxygen, content sinks to 20.8 per cent., and in deep mines to 20.2 per cent., the fact may be explained by the circumstance that, besides the general diffusion, the magnetic attraction is brought into play. Every large mountain must possess the mountain magnetism in a larger or smaller degree. The agreeable sensation felt in lofty yet protected regions is usually owing to the presence of condensed oxygen drawn downward in consequence of the mountain magnetism."

fell

A sandstorm from the Sahara, which occurred at the Canary Islands about the middle of February, appears to have been felt over a wide area. On Feb. 15, when, in latitude 22.5° north, longitude 17.25° west, the steamer "Roslyn Castle" passed through the storm, large quantities of fine sand upon the deck and adhered to the sails and rigging. The steamer entered the dust cloud between five and ten miles off Cape Blanco, and continued in it for nearly two days. It extended many miles out to sea, and was so dense that objects on deck could not be clearly distinguished, and officers and men suffered great discomfort in their eyes. The vessel was in considerable danger passing through the Canaries. On Feb. 15, at Funchal, the sun had the appearance of the moon, and what seemed a fog of unusual and unprecedented character hung over the island. The dust penetrated everywhere. Although a gale was blowing at Madeira, there was no wind when passing through the dust. A sample of the dust was analyzed by Dr. Leonard Dobson, who publishes the results of his examination in the "Chemical News" of March 18, 1898.

The directors of the high- and the low-level observatories at Ben Nevis, in announcing that they would have to be closed for want of funds, in October, 1898, declared that by the establishment of those observatories, and the unique observations made at them, a great experiment had been carried out with signal success, and that in a large sense the objects aimed at had been attained. A long series of hourly observations had been obtained by night and by day without a break over a period of fifteen years, including eye and other observations made outside in the severe climate of Ben Nevis. These formed a unique series of observations, nothing like them having been as yet made at any other high-level observatory in the world. Funds were fortunately supplied a few days after the announcement referred to was made, and the necessity of closing the observatories has been avoided. METHODISTS. I. Methodist Episcopal Church.-The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as given in the "Methodist Yearbook" for 1899. In a few of the conferences meeting near the end of 1898 the statistical reports had not been completed at the time the Year

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book" went to press. For these the figures are taken from the reports for 1897. There will therefore be some slight differences between the totals in this table and those which will appear in the book of "Minutes of the Annual Conferences." which was to appear later and include all their later returns: Whole number of annual conferences, 147; which are classified as conferences, 124; mission conferences (including the newly organized Congo and South Japan mission conferences), 11, and missions, 12; number of ministers in full connection and on trial (including supernumeraries and superannuates), 17,500; of local preachers, 14,610; of lay members (full members and probationers), 2,886,189; of Sunday schools, 31,666, with 349,026 officers and teachers and 2,676,297 pupils; of churches, 26,657, valued at $113,781,905; of parsonages, 10,604, having a probable value of $17,832,092. The increase of members and probationers during the year is estimated at 33,000.

The receipts of the Board of Education for the year covered by its report for 1898 were $93,308. The receipts from returned loans were $15,261, a larger sum than in any previous year. The board had aided with its funds 1,825 students of 27 different nationalities. Of these, 1,129 were preparing for the ministry or for missionary work, and 279 of them were women. The whole number of students aided from the beginning of the board's work in 1873 to July, 1898, was 8,909. The Sunday-school Children's fund, instituted in 1866, has become a very important feature in the work of the Church. The collections for it, taken annually on the second Sunday in June, reached $84,000 on the second year after its institution, and the amount has since been largely increased. The educational institutions of the Church include 26 theological institutions, 53 colleges and universities, 63 classical seminaries, 8 institutions exclusively for women, 99 foreign mission schools, and 4 missionary institutes and Bible training schools; making a total, after deducting 23 schools duplicated, of 230 schools, or 3 more than in 1897. These institutions have grounds and buildings valued at $17,132,501, endowments aggregating $12,299,601, of which $10,149,375 are productive; are in debt $1,924,815, and return 3,143 professors and 46,708 students.

The third International Convention of the Epworth League was held in Toronto, Ontario, July 15 to 18, and was attended by an estimated number of 20,000 persons, 15,000 of whom were registered. The discussions held during the four days were participated in by about 236 readers and speakers. Resolutions were adopted upholding temperance and Sabbath observance; declaring it a Christian duty to participate in all matters that concern the national, State, and municipal government; and expressing a desire for the establishment of arbitration in the settlement of international questions and perpetual peace between the United States and Great Britain.

The General Committee of Church Extension met in Boston, Mass., Nov. 3. The receipts of the year had been $173,720 for the general fund and $188,653 for the Loan fund. While the receipts to the general fund had decreased $3,419, the joint accounts of both funds showed a net increase of $14,011. The total sum of $172,337 had been authorized to be given out, of which the board had paid $80,656 and promised $72,222, while the balance would be carried forward into the new year. The plan of procuring new churches by special gifts of $250 had invited contributors to select this special work. During the year 18 churches had been added to the number previously reported as secured in this way, making in all 623, of an average cost, when dedicated, of more than $2,000 each. Many of

Missionary Society in 1894, $117,559 had been paid, while the remainder was provided for by subscriptions not yet matured. The publishing house had done a business within the quadrennium aggregating $1,378,858, and afforded a dividend of $60,000 for the superannuated preachers. Its plant was out of debt, and was valued at $895,000. A commission was instituted to ascertain and report to the next session of the General Conference what is the constitution of the Church, and also, separately, such amendments as they may recommend to render it symmetrical in form and substance, in order that the next General Conference may, if it see fit, send the same around to the several annual Conferences for ratification and adoption. Rules were adopted requiring inquiry to be made into the character of candidates for Church membership before they are received; and that local ministers coming to the Church from other churches be subjected to examination, excepting traveling preachers from the British Wesleyan and Canadian conferences. The sense of the General Conference was expressed, by resolution, "that our Methodism has never recognized or encouraged any such spirit as candidacy for the various connectional or other offices of the Church; that we do hereby enter our serious protest against the publication of any article, either editorial or communication, in any of our Church organs or other Church periodicals, and against any other methods which tend to foster in any measure an unwarranted rivalry for official preferment." A rule was adopted "that any traveling or local preacher who shall hold public religious services within the bounds of any mission, circuit, or station, when requested by the preacher in charge not to hold such services, shall be deemed guilty of imprudent conduct, and shall be dealt with as the law provides in such cases.' The Conference approved and adopted the acts passed by the Joint Commission on Federation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, and agreed to recognize them as in force when they shall have been adopted by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The committee on this subject was reappointed, with continued power. A committee was appointed to co-operate in preparing a complete doctrinal catechism for both churches, a work in which other Methodist churches were invited to join. Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald was requested to prepare an autobiographical volume concerning the times in which he had lived and the men of those times. Presiding elders were advised to see that missionary institutes be held once a year in their respective districts; that each one of them preach at least one sermon a year on missions in each of the charges of his district; and that at least one missionary meeting be held in each charge during the year. An attempt was decided upon to raise $1,500,000 during the year 1900 for educational purposes; 76 per cent. of the money raised to be retained by the annual conferences, 18 per cent. to be applied to the theological department of Vanderbilt University, and 6 per cent, to be used as a general fund. Two new bishops were elected, viz., the Rev. Warren A. Chandler, D. D., and the Rev. Henry C. Morrison, D.D. The Conference indorsed the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in all its temperance work, and bid it godspeed in all its efforts to extirpate the liquor traffic. The Sabbath resolution reaffirmed the faith of the Conference in the Sabbath as divinely instituted, and declared the conviction "that it is unlawful for individuals, corporations, or governments to nullify it or set it aside for gain, convenience, or pleasure, and that we will resist every effort to wrest the day from its legitimate place in God's economy and discourage its

desecration by those who buy and sell, and do ordinary work therein, all of which we believe to be contrary to the spirit and letter of God's law; that we will remain faithful in the observance of the holy Sabbath, and both by word and example testify to its sanctity, and also to its utility as a day of recuperation of body, mind, and spiritual strength.' A petition to the President of the United States was approved of, asking him to forbid the transmission of any mails on Sunday, and to order the closing of all post offices throughout the United States on that day; or, if not empowered so to do, to ask authority from Congress to order the same. The Book Committee were authorized to established a publishing house in Shanghai, China.

The book agents reported to the Book Committee for the year ending March 31 that the total business of the publishing house in all departments amounted to $336,804 and the total assets to $898.858; while the liabilities were $3,313, leaving the net capital $895,545.

The Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission Society reported to the General Conference that since its foundation, ten years previously, 1,735 parsonages had been built in Southern Methodism, being two thirds of the number accumulated during a whole century prior to its organization. Of this number the society had aided 717. The whole number of parsonages in the Church was 3,765, and their total value was estimated to be $4,193,782. The sending of supplies to the families of preachers inadequately supported had been systematically carried on. The total amount contributed during the quadrennium, in goods and cash, was estimated at $15,948.

The Board of Missions met at Nashville, Tenn., and appropriated $201,916 for the support of the missions during the year, of which $30,400 were for the Brazil mission: $27.279 for the China mission; $5,497 for Korea; $31,536 for Japan; $46,927 for the mission conferences of Mexico and the Mexican border; $12,948 for the Indian Mission Conference; and the remainder for missionary work in the United States.

In promoting the passage of a bill through Congress awarding the sum of $288.000 to the Book Concern of this Church as compensation for the occupation of the premises of the publication house for military purposes during the civil war, the book agents employed a lobbyist, to whom a considerable proportion of the sum awarded was paid. This was done, as was afterward shown, without consultation with any other officers of the Church, and without the knowledge of the General Conference or of the Church at large; and the fact that any portion of the money was to be paid to a lobby agent was not communicated to the members of the Senate. The fact was learned, however, after the bill had been passed, and some of the Senators stated on the floor of the Senate that they had voted for the bill under a misapprehension, supposing that the Church was to receive the entire benefit of the award. The case was inquired into by a committee of the Senate, who reported July 8, relating the facts as they had found them, and declaring, in conclusion, that they deemed it proper to state "that no censure should rest upon the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the acts of its book agent. The Church has been injured by the misconduct of its agents, but for such misconduct it is held utterly blameless. The committee has not thought proper to suggest to the Senate any action concerning the matter, it appearing to the committee that the governing authorities of the Church must be allowed to take such measures as it may think proper after it has been fully acquainted

with the facts concerning the passage of the bill and the final disposition of the money appropriated under it." The bishops of the Church, July 4, adopted a resolution which was duly communicated to the president of the Senate, declaring that, "while reaffirming the justness of our claim, payment of which has been sought for twenty-five years, we insist that the Church can not afford to accept it as a gratuity, or on conditions that reflect upon its honor. Inasmuch, therefore, as some Senators have affirmed on the floor of the Senate that they were induced to support the claim by misleading statements on the part of representatives of the Church-statements, however, which did not affect the merits of our claim-we hereby give this assurance: That if the Senate, by affirmative action, declares that the passage of the bill was due to such misleading statements, we will take the proper steps to have the entire amount returned to the Government. (Signed) Robert K. Hargrove, Secretary of the College of Bishops."

This letter was regarded as making it appropriate that there should be an expression of opinion on the part of the Senate in response to the conditional proposition to tender to the Government the money paid to the book agents under the terms of the act of March 31, 1898. The committee reported that no new facts had come to its knowledge since its report had been laid before the Senate, and submitted the following resolution, which was adopted: "That the report of the committee made July 8, 1898, be approved, and that no censure should rest upon the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the misstatements and concealments of the book agents in connection with the passage of the bill for the payment of the claim referred to in the letter of the bishops now under consideration; that the injury resulting there from affected only the beneficiaries of the fund and not the United States; and the Senate should take no further action in the matter."

Federation. The Commissioners on Federation appointed by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, met in joint session in Washington, D. C., Jan. 7. A paper was presented as a basis of action by the commissioners of the Methodist Church, South, in which the report on federation adopted by the General Conference of that body in 1894 was referred to, and the declaration and basis of fraternity adopted by the "Cape May commission " in 1876 was cited: "Statutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and their co-ordinate relations as legitimate branches of Episcopal Methodism. Each of said churches is a legitimate branch of Episcopal Methodism in the United States, having a common origin in the Methodist Episcopal Church organized in 1784; and since the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was consummated in 1846, by the voluntary exercise of the right of the Southern annual conferences, ministers, and members to adhere to that communion, it has been an evangelical Church, reared upon scriptural foundations, and its ministers and members, with those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, have constituted one Methodist family, though in distinct ecclesiastical connections." The paper continued: "That commission decided questions concerning conflicting claims to Church property in so just and liberal a spirit as to settle focal contentions and give general satisfaction. The questions which came before this commission relate not to Church property, but to such occupation of the same territory by the two great branches of Episcopal Methodism as tends to promote friction and waste and injury, rather than promote the common cause-namely, the spreading of scriptural

holiness through this and other lands." The commission then discussed, and adopted unanimously, to be presented to the General Conferences of the two bodies, recommendations for the preparation of a common catechism, hymn book, and order of public worship; for the recognition and regulation of the International Epworth League conventions; for the just administration of publishing interests in China and Japan; for the co-operative administration of foreign missions; providing that new work be not organized by either Church when the other is established and supplying the needs of the people, without the consent of the bishops having jurisdiction; and for co-operation in the work of higher education, especially during the years 1900 and 1901; and resolutions commending the American University at Washington for contributions. III. African Methodist Episcopal Church.— The statistics of this Church for the year ending May 1, 1898, published by Bishop B. W. Arnett, Church historian, give the following totals: Number of annual conferences in the United States, 52, with 4 conferences in Africa, 3 in the West Indies, and 3 in British America, making in all 62; of bishops, 9; of general officers, 9; of ministers on the rolls of the annual conferences, 4,825; of presiding elders in America and foreign countries, 242; of local preachers, 8,709; of exhorters, 5,250; of members, 556,289; of probationers, 57,836; of churches, 5,172, valued at $6,150,175; of parsonages, 1,750, valued at $624,423: amount of indebtedness on Church property, $752,964; number of schools, 41, with 160 teachers, 5,257 students, 660 graduates, property valued at $756,475, and an aggregate annual income of $115,560; of Sunday schools, 3,447, with 21,514 officers, 37,916 teachers and 362,421 pupils; amount of benevolent contributions-for missions, $29.938; for publication, $16,745; for Church extension, $17,252; for education, $115,560; for ministerial support, $753,404; for presiding elders, $141,876; in the Sunday-school department, $20,740; whole amount of money raised in the Church, $1,570,329; total amount of all property, $8,104,886. The most noteworthy events of the year were the organization of two annual conferences in South Africa, with 10,800 members, and the formation of a Church in Santiago de Cuba.

At an educational convention of the three annual conferences of this Church in Arkansas, held at Pine Bluff, May 18, under the presidency of Bishop Derrick, questions were discussed relative to the necessity for a higher educational development among the ministers of the State; to what the laymen could do to assist in bringing it about; as to whether, as laymen, they should not be more interested in the general welfare of the Church; whether the spiritual and moral interest of the laity are as strictly watched over as they should be; and whether the laymen should not concentrate their energies and consecrate their lives to the development of the educational interests in the State. Resolutions were adopted expressing the sentiments that prompted these questions, and pledging more energy and greater liberality in the support of educational interests. An organization named the Annual Educational Convention of Laymen was instituted to meet annually, and to consist of delegates invited from each mission circuit and station. The convention advised, also, that a layman be elected from each presiding elder's district as a "district lecturer on education," and to look after educational interests.

A full official report published by Bishop Turner represents that a correspondence had been going on between the " African Methodist Episcopal Church" and the Ethiopian" Church in South Africa, and

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that a delegation had been appointed by that body to visit the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896, and request admission into the Church. The delegation had not been able to reach the United States before the General Conference adjourned; and in the emergency a special session of the Georgia Conference was held, into which the delegates were admitted as members. The Rev. James M. Dwane, chairman of the delegation, was commissioned to act as superintendent in South Africa, and carry on the organization of the Church till a bishop should arrive there. Bishop Turner sailed in February, 1898, and arrived at Cape Town in time to reach Pretoria for a called session of the Transvaal Annual Conference. Thence he went to Queenstown, where he attended the South Africa Annual Confer ence. He also visited Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Bloemfontein, and organized several churches. At the request of the two annual conferences, he appointed Mr. Dwane a vicar bishop, to perform the usual functions of a bishop during the long intervals that must elapse between visits of those officers from the United States. The Transvaal Conference returned, including three churches that were added at Johannesburg during the bishop's visit, 7,175 members and probationers. The South Africa Conference had 3,625 members and probationers. The conferences were independent in position, and did not ask for missionary aid; but they wanted help in building a college or seminary, and desired teachers sent out from America.

IV. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America. The tables in the "Independent" give this Church, for 1898, 2,187 ministers, 1,300 churches, and 199,206 communicants.

The ninth General Conference met at Columbia, S. C., May 3. The bishops in their quadrennial address advised against the election of any more persons to their office, and the Conference, after some discussion and efforts to overrule their recommendation, sustained it. An epidemic of smallpox prevailing in the city, the Conference, after a session of six days, was compelled to adjourn for want of a quorum, without having completed any legislative acts. Subsequently a called meeting of the General Board was held at Nashville, Tenn., and took action on several matters of importance. In order to provide a nucleus for the immediate establishment of a Sunday-school department, an assessment of one dollar was laid upon each bishop, presiding elder, and pastor, and of one cent upon each child in Sunday school. The Rev. R. A. Carter was chosen secretary of the Sunday-school and Epworth League departments. Provision was made for the publication of a volume of minutes of the Conference, and of the minutes of all the General Conferences. Resolutions were passed complimentary to the older bishops, and an anniversary meeting was appointed to be held in their honor at the next meeting of the General Board, to be held in Jackson, Tenn., in May, 1899.

At the annual meeting of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, held in May, Bishop Halsey, of this Church, and others, represented their special works. More money had been raised for the current expenses of Paine and Lane Institutes in the past than in any other year except one. The Heywood Memorial Hall fund had realized a considerable amount in cash and subscriptions, and the hall was well under way. The board has money enough to maintain its operations till the fall remittances from the annual conferences shall begin to come in, with no outstand ing obligations. An effort was resolved upon to raise $40,000 for the theological department of Vanderbilt University.

V. Union American Methodist Episcopal Church.-The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church is a branch of an organization formed in 1813 by Peter Spencer as the African Union Methodist Episcopal Church. Subsequently the denomination was divided, one part retaining the old name and the other assuming the name given at the head of this article. The General Conference of this body met at Camden, N. J., Oct. 18. The General Conference was composed of 35 elders and 20 laymen. The law of its constitution was modified, so that in future an elder must travel ten years before he can be eligible as a clerical member in the General Conference, and to be qualified for the office of bishop he must have traveled ten years, and be not less than forty years old. Legislation was adopted concerning the trial of members, a four years' course of study for candidates for the ministry, the organization of a Sunday-school union, and fixing the salaries of the bishops at $1,000 a year each. Besides the general, annual, and quarterly conferences already existing, the District Conference was established. This Church has about 3.500 members, and is divided into three episcopal districts, James W. Wilmore, James C. Cook, and Benjamin T. Ruley being the bishops.

Other colored Methodist churches are the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, with 63 ministers, 61 churches, and 2,675 members; the African Union Methodist Episcopal Church, with 80 ministers, 70 churches, and 7,000 members; and the Congregational Methodist Church (colored), with 5 ministers, 5 churches, and 319 members.

VI. Free Methodist Church.-The statistics published in the combined minutes of this Church for 1898 give the number of members in full connection as 24,875, and of probationers as 3,259, showing a gain of 363 full members and a loss of 364 probationers, as compared with the previous year. The report on Sunday schools shows an increase during the year of about 700 pupils, 267 officers and teachers, and of nearly $1,000 raised for Sunday-school purposes. The total valuation of church and parsonage property is $1,219,816. The comparative summary for the quadrennium closing with the meeting of the General Conference shows a gain during the four years of 2,763 in full members and a decrease of 771 in probationers, or a net gain of 1,992, or a little more than 7 per cent.

The tenth General Conference met in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 12. The pastoral address of the general superintendents was read at the opening of the sessions by Superintendent B. R. Jones, who represented that, during the quadrennium then just 'closed, there had been some increase in members, ministers, and houses of worship, and that 7 new conferences had been organized. The reports of foreign missions showed encouraging improvement at nearly every station. Property had been acquired or title secured in Africa and India; two new missionaries had been sent to India; mission stations had been established in Japan, and 2 societies organized with 35 full members and about twice as many probationers. The receipts for the past quadrennium, $35,513, showed an increase of $14,843 over those of the previous four years. The address spoke also of the orphanages and homes of the Church, the publication house, and the Sunday-school literature furnished by it. Several measures were enacted by the Conference concerning the qualifications of ministers, among which was one recognizing a general desire among the people for a high grade of scholarship among the preachers, in view of which provision was made for the institution of a series of written examinations for preachers in the