fluence of cold, and hastened by exposing it to an elevated temperature. Those who rear the animal for pecuniary advantage frequently avail themselves of this principle. The number of eggs laid by one female is estimated at four hundred. Our insect is prolific enough, one would think, yet it does not compare, in this respect, with many butterflies, whose eggs are reckoned by thousands.

The new-born larva is one tenth of an inch in length, and of a dark color. Under favorable circumstances, it grows rapidly, and puts on a lighter hue. When artificially reared, it is fed four times daily upon the young and tender leaves of the mulberry. It devours its meal in an hour and a half. On the fourth or fifth day it undergoes its first moulting. In four or five days more it changes again. As the animal increases in size its allowance of food should be more liberal, although little need be given at the period of the moultings.

The silk-worm sheds its skin four or five times. The intervals between the several moults are nearly equal, and each change occupies from two to four days. When about to cast its skin, the caterpillar presents certain phenomena which indicate to the practiced eye that the event is approaching. It loses its appetite, holds its head stiffly erect, and appears sick; the new head is visible through the transparent skin, behind the old one; and finally, by dint of much twisting and wriggling, the animal makes good its escape from the old skin, through a longitudinal opening along the back.

Within eight or ten days after its last moult, the larva attains its maturity. It is now three inches long. It becomes shining and golden yellow. The body feels soft, like dough, and assumes the translucency of a ripe plum. The animal seems dissatisfied with its situation, and crawls slowly along the edges of the receptacle in which it has been confined, as if seeking a change of place. It is now ready to spin its cocoon.

Little cells, made of writing paper, about as large as the thumb, open at one end and closed at the other, are prepared, and pinned to lines crossing the apartment, the cells being so arranged as to touch each other, by which means an economy of space is secured. The worms are placed in these cells, in the order in which they

commence spinning. After attaching a few loose threads to the sides of the cell, the larva begins to form an oval ball of silk, which is suspended in the center of the cell. In the interior of this ball it continues working about five days. five days more the cocoon is complete, and fit for reeling.

In

The cocoon, having been removed from the cell, is divested of the waste silk upon its exterior, until a single thread is found, which runs by itself. This operation is much assisted by dipping the cocoon in warm water from time to time. The single threads of half a dozen cocoons being thus found, they may be guided with one hand on a small reel, which may be turned with the other hand. While this process is going on, the cocoons should be floated on the surface of warm water, contained in an appropriate vessel. The silk can be wound off with surprising rapidity by a person to whom considerable practice has given the requisite dexterity. When so much of the silk has been reeled, that the remainder appears thin, pale, and inferior in quality, the thread should be broken, and the remaining portion of the cocoon put aside, so as not to become mingled with the others. Previously to the reeling of the silk, the cocoons are sometimes baked in order to kill the chrysalis. But, as a general rule, this is probably unnecessary.

In a fortnight or three weeks subsequently to the winding of the silk, one of the extremities of the cocoon is seen to be wet. This moist condition is produced by a liquid which is disgorged by the moth within, and is the signal that the perfect animal is about to make its exit. An aperture is soon effected, and the moth emerges. It presents itself as a sluggish creature, of a pale buff color. It lives only ten or twelve days. The female soon lays its eggs-the only event of any importance which diversifies its transitory existence.

The leaves of the white mulberry, as already remarked, constitute the appropriate nutriment of the silk-worm. Attempts have frequently been made to make it subsist upon other vegetables, but without success. Dogwood, lettuce, and currant leaves have been ineffectually tried. perfect moth can eat nothing, even if it would, for it has no feeding organs.

The

Silk, which, in Europe and the United

States, is an article of luxury, has been from time immemorial an article of ordinary apparel in Asia. The lowest ranks of the population of China are said to have been clad in "silkeen sheen," centuries

before the Christian era. Du Halde says that the Chinese writers attribute the invention of silk to Silung, one of the women of the Emperor Hoang Fi. The article was highly valued in Rome, where the first silken garment is said to have been worn by the Emperor Heliogabalus.

The eggs of the silk-moth are supposed to have been introduced into Europe, through the efforts of a couple of monks, A. D. 550. They were brought, concealed in hollow canes, to Constantinople, and thence to Italy, which soon became the grand European emporium for silk. The manufacture was subsequently introduced into France by Henri Quatre, and it is now carried on to some extent in Spain, and other parts of Southern Europe, and even as far north as England. Something is done, in this line, in our own country also, but our climate is scarcely genial enough to render large investments in the business consistent with prudence.

Can we not gather a useful moral lesson from the history of the silk-moth? Does it not illustrate the important as well as consoling truth, that an individual, however humble in social position, wealth, talents, or learning, may nevertheless be greatly, widely, and permanently useful to his race? Solomon directed the sluggard to contemplate the habits of the ant, and to learn from that laborious insect the beauty and value of untiring industry. So would we fix upon the silk-moth the attention of those who repine at what they call their ignoble lot, and complain that their opportunities of usefulness are restricted by the humbleness of their position or endowments. The distinction of being eminently virtuous and useful is beneficently placed within the reach of all, even the meanest occupants of the social system. And there are not a few, who, by the conscientious discharge of all the duties appertaining to their lowly sphere, and by discreet and unwearied exertions in behalf of those who surround them, are diffusing a hallowed influence among their fellow-men, and are preparing for themselves, not only a fragrant memory upon earth, but, what is more than all, a felicitous immortality in

heaven.

WE

THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. THE SONS OF NOAH-THE TOWER OF BABEL E left Noah and his family in the ark, while all without perished in the abyss of waters. Let us continue his history, with that of his immediate descendants, down to that memorable era in the world's history-the building of the tower of Babel.

The overwhelming cataract from above, and the rushing torrents from below, the waters from above the firmament, and the waters from the broken fountains of the great deep, continued rushing wildly together for forty successive days and nights, until the whole earth was one vast sea. Fifteen cubits, or twenty-two and a half feet, was the top of the highest mountain submerged beneath the waters. From the end of these forty days, that is, from the 17th of the following January, the flood continued at its height for one hundred and ten days, or, including the first forty, for one hundred and fifty days, until the 6th of May following. At the end of this period God made, says the sacred writer, a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; the fountains also of the deep, and the windows of heaven, were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained.

And the ark rested upon one of the mountains of Ararat.

The situation of this mountain has given rise to much difference of opinion, and many fabulous stories have been related concerning it. The learned Faber, by a logical chain of argument, founded mainly on incidental geographical allusions in the Old Testament, reaches the conclusion that the Ararat alluded to is a mountain still bearing that name, situated near the River Araxes, about the center of Armenia in Asia. It was visited by Sir Robert Ker Porter, who gives a description of it in his Travels, and says:

"It seemed to stand a stupendous link in the history of man, uniting the two races of men before and after the flood. From the spot on which I stood, it appeared as if the hugest mountains of the world had been piled upon each other, to form this one sublime immensity of earth, and rock, and snow. The icy peaks of its double heads rose majestically into the clear and cloudless heavens; the sun blazed bright upon them; and the reflection sent forth a dazBut the zling radiance equal to other suns. mountain, are hardly to be described. My eye, feelings I experienced, while looking on the not able to rest for any length of time upon the

beasts of the field was confirmed to Noah and his sons; and here we read of the first permission given to man to use the flesh of animals for food, it being a fair inference from the permission thus given and recorded, that previous to the deluge man subsisted entirely on the vegetable productions of the earth.

At the same time God gave to Noah the assurance that he would never again destroy the earth by a flood. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease. And I do set my bow in the cloud, he continues, and it shall be a token of a covenant beween me and the earth, and the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. But was there no rainbow previous to the deluge? It has been supposed that there

must have been, as it is the effect of natural causes the rays of the sun falling on spherical drops of water, and being, in their passage through them, refracted and reflected. It seems, however, that in thus hastily settling the question, commentators and scriptural interpreters have overlooked the direct and explicit assertion of the Almighty-I do set my bow in the cloud; language evidently conveying the idea that the rainbow now appeared for the first time. Then, again, as to its being the natural effect of a natural cause, we are ever to bear in mind that the great Supreme controls, and has ever controlled, all nature; that what we call natural effects are brought about, equally with all others, by that superintending power without which not a sparrow falleth to the ground. But, not to dwell on this question, whether the antediluvians ever saw a rainbow or not, when we see it, it reminds us of God's justice in the destruction of the old world, and of his mercy in declaring that never again shall the human race thus perish. It is an ever-returning symbol of the glorious declaration of the psalmist :

was the appearance of the brightness round about. The beloved John, to whom was given a still clearer revelation of the glories of the upper world, uses this remarkable language: Immediately, says he, I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne, and there was a rainbow round about the throne. Indications these, whatever interpretations may be given them, that the God of nature is identical with the God of glory, and that our earthly rainbow has its archetype. in the celestial world. Beautifully is the sentiment expressed by the Quaker poet when, speaking of the storms of life, its afflictions and its trials, he sings:

"When tempest clouds are dark on high,
His bow of love and peace
Shines sweetly in the vaulted sky,

A pledge that storms shall cease."

And thus the Moravian, in the hour of dark adversity:

"Glory to God above!

The waters soon will cease, For lo! the swift-returning dove Brings home the sign of peace.

"Though storms his face obscure,
And dangers threaten loud,
Jehovah's covenant is sure-

His bow is in the cloud."

After this occurrence a series of years elapsed, and the next intimation of Noah's character, in whatever light we view it, is far less creditable than any to which our attention has hitherto been directed. The sacred writer, with his usual brevity, and with an unbending impartiality and love of truth, relates that after this Noah planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. In extenuation of this affair, it is urged by some that the intoxicating power of the juice of the grape was hitherto unknown, and that consequently Noah was in this matter blameless. Others argue, with equal, perhaps greater plausibility, that Noah had seen the effects of wine among his antediluvian fellowmen, of whom Christ says, they were eating and drinking until the flood came. is, indeed, possible, though not certain, that drunkenness was one of the prevailing sins in that period when every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. It seems evident that, had Noah been entirely free from blame, the sacred writer would have given

It

some intimation to that effect. He relates it, as I have said, without note or comment; leaving his readers to draw their own inference from the plain statement of the fact; and while he, under the inspiration of Heaven, seeks not to extenuate, I know not that it becomes us to go out of the way to apologize for his conduct. It stands, a blot upon his character, and an impressive warning to him that standeth to take heed lest he fall. It is right to observe here, that soon after this event Noah, under the inspiration of God, utters his memorable prophecy with reference to his three sons. His being endued with the prophetic spirit is evidence that he was now in the favor of God, and that, consequently, he had sought and found forgiveness for the only one act of transgression with which his name stands connected. At length Noah, after the longest life on record, with the exception only of Methuselah, reaches the end of his probationary state. He lived nine hundred and fifty years; and from his time human life gradually decreased in length until it sunk into its present comparatively little measure, from nearly a thousand years to scarcely three score and ten. Of the succeeding history of Noah's sons and their immediate descendants, the Scriptural record is extremely brief, mentioning, for the most part, merely the names of the various heads of families, and intimating that from the death of Noah the human race went on increasing with great rapidity. Of course we pretend not to enter into the regions of fable and conjecture, fully satisfied that nothing certain can be known of that history on which the Spirit of truth has thought proper to be silent. With reference to the partition of the earth among the three sons of Noah, there is perhaps nothing more satisfactory than the opinion of Dr. Hales, founded, as it evidently is, upon the Scriptural statements, and corroborated by circumstantial testimony and ingenious and acute reasoning.

I begin with Japheth, who, although he is usually named third in the order of Noah's sons, was, as we learn from Genesis, x, 21, the eldest son. The name Japheth signifies enlargement, and how wonderfully, says Dr. Hales, did God enlarge the boundaries of Japheth! posterity diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, north

His

of the great range of Taurus, as far as the Eastern Ocean, whence they probably crossed over to America, by Behring's Straits, from Kamskatka; and in the opposite direction, throughout Europe to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, whence also they might have crossed over to America by Newfoundland, where traces of early settlements remain in parts now desert. In the mythology of ancient Greece Japetus, evidently a corruption of Japheth, is called the son of heaven and earth, and is regarded by their poets as their great progenitor. By his descendants, says Moses, were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands. According to Calmet this phrase, the isles of the Gentiles, comprehends all those countries to which the Hebrews were obliged to go by sea, such as Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor.

The name of Noah's second son, Shem, signifies name, or renown, and great, indeed, says the writer already quoted, was his renown both in a temporal and spiritual sense. The finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia were allotted to his family, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, and Persia to the Indus and Ganges, and perhaps to China eastward. chief renown, however, of Shem, was of a spiritual nature. He was destined to be the lineal ancestor of the blessed Seed of the woman, and to this glorious privilege Noah, to whom it was probably revealed, may have alluded in that devout ejaculation, Blessed be the Lord 'the God of Shem.

The

Ham is believed to have been the youngest of the three brothers. His name, says Dr. Hales, signifies burnt or black, and this name was peculiarly significant of the regions allotted to his descendants. To the children of Ham's eldest son, Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia, along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana, and Arabia; to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim, Egypt and Libya in Africa. The descendants of Ham were a sea-faring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and the luxuries of life than their pastoral and agricultural brethren of the other two families. By them were founded the first great empires of Assyria and Egypt, and the republics of Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage were early distinguished for