meal. When the fire went out, they found that the alkali of the sea-weed had combined with the sand and formed glass the basis of all our discoveries in astronomy, and absolutely necessary to our enjoyment. In the days when every astrologer and every chemist was seeking after the philosopher's stone, some monks carelessly making up their materials, by accident invented gunpowder, which has done much to diminish the barbarities of war. Sir Isaac Newton's most important discoveries concerning light and gravitation were the result of accident. His theory and experiments on light were suggested by the soap bubbles of a child; and on gravitation, by the fall of an apple, as he sat in the orchard; and it was by hastily scratching on a stone a memorandum of some articles brought him from the washerwoman's that the idea of lithography first presented itself to the mind of Senefelder. ANSWER TO BIBLE ENIGMA (Page 112). Seeking for Jesus. Search the Scriptures E ternity John v. 39. E noch. F amine S trive Isaiah lvii. 15. Genesis xxv. I. Luke xxii. 3. John iii. 1, 2. Genesis xliii. i. Leviticus xxv. 9-13. O Lord, I'm but a little child, Blest with a spirit meek and mild- Incline Thine ear, and condescend Thy mercy, Lord, is all my plea; Make me sincere in what I ask, And grant me grace to seek Thy face, Thus may I daily live to Thee, And realize in my last hours, S. C. BIBLE ENIGMA. He who was conquered through the name of the Lord. A priest who, by a river, a fast did proclaim. EBBIE. A VERY OLD NEEDLE. T is very likely that some of the children who read this title will guess directly what it means, having heard of the wonderful obelisk called "Cleopatra's Needle," but some others will wonder what this "very old needle" is. First of all, it is not made of steel, like the needles you are all familiar with, but of hard stone, of a rose red colour. The shape of it is seen in the picture, and it is G covered with what the Egyptians used to call writing, but which looks to us like odd marks and badly drawn animals and birds. It is also a very large Needle-sixtyeight feet five inches and a half in height and weighing one hundred and eighty-six tons. Now, the most wonderful thing about this " Needle” is that it is so very old. You think a hundred years a long time; and a thousand years ago, when William the Conqueror was alive, a very long time, but this "Needle ” is older than that-older than Julius Cæsar; older than Peter and Paul and John, whom you read about in the New Testament; it is even older than Moses! When the children of Israel were in Egypt, it used to stand in the city of On, in front of the temple where the Egyptians used to go and pray to their gods, which were made like bulls, birds, insects, and dogs, as perhaps you all know. Well, the "Needle" stood there for one thousand six hundred years, and then in the time of a great but wicked queen, named Cleopatra, it was brought to Alexandria, a city in Egypt, not far from the sea shore, to be put in front of another large building named the Cæsarium, or Temple of Cæsar." It does not appear that it was erected until seven or eight years after her death; but to perpetuate her memory, and being pointed at one end, it gained the name of "Cleopatra's Needle." Many years afterwards it fell down, and in course of time got covered over with sand and rubbish. It was not forgotten, however, for in the year 1801, when the English were fighting in Egypt, the soldiers wanted to bring it home to England, and all gave some money towards it; but we did not understand how to lift heavy weights as well then as we do now. The soldiers, sailors, and a number of Arabs tried for a week to lift it, and only succeeded in moving it six inches. Notwithstanding, last year three English gentlemen* determined to try again, and after spending * Dr. Erasmus Wilson, Mr. John Dixon, and LieutenantGeneral Sir James Alexander. a great deal of money, and taking much trouble, managed to bring it safely to England (though nearly lost in the Bay of Biscay) last January, and it now lies in the Thames waiting to be put up in London. This is the history of " Cleopatra's Needle." But you will like to know, too, what the writing is on it, which is cut so deeply into the stone. Perhaps you think it must be something very wise or very interesting, but it is not so. The animals, birds, and marks of strange shapes, which clever men have been able at last to understand, only tell us, first, in the middle of three sides of the obelisk, the titles and descent of King Thothmes III., and how pleased some of the false gods of Egypt were with him (particularly a god worshipped under the form of a bull); and secondly, on the side spaces of each of these three columns, written two hundred years after, the titles of King Rameses II., some of his doings, and the titles of his father also. The Very likely Rameses II. thought, when he ordered all this to be written on the obelisk, that people would read it many years afterwards, and think what a good and wonderful king he was. But we do not think so. And why? Because Rameses II. was the very same king who oppressed the Israelites and kept them in bondage in Egypt so many years. We read in our Bibles much more about him than the obelisk can tell us, which you know was written by Moses, one of the very people he ordered to be cast into the river. Egyptians at that time were the wisest and cleverest people on the earth. Other nations would copy their laws, their ideas, and their ways, but we care very little about them now, while the parts of the Bible written by Moses are read (in England, at least) by almost everyone. Even the smallest child generally knows something about Moses, and some of the little readers of the GLEANER know all his history as there given. Look in Acts, seventh chapter, and twenty-second verse, and you will see that it says Moses was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." Now, if he had written a book |