The Church Weekly from London, Greater London, England • Page 20

THE CHURCH WEEKLY. JUNE 16, 1899. EVERYONE'S COLUMN. he Editor will not hold himselj responsible for any opinions expressed by Correspondents. This column is open to all, and writers are at perfect liberty to set forth their own views.

The right is, however, retained of rejecting letters which are not of general interest, or which are, in the opinion of the Editor, unsuitable. Letters should be written on one side of the paper only They way be sent anonymously if the writers prefer it, and members of the staff may contribute to this column equally with others. was brought within the reach of the man with money enough to pay the necessary license, and nothing less than special parliamentary legislation will put an end to his hateful mania. I am, Yours truly, JOSEPH COLLINSON. To the Editor of "Church Weekly." Humanitarian League, 53, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.

AVIAN OBITUARIES. how frequently you give publicity to the protests of your readers against the destruction of rare and beautiful birds, I ask space for the purpose of calling attention to some recent acts of avian vandalism which have, I btlieve, been almost entirely overlooked in the Press. In the early part of the winter a very large falcon, measuring four feet across the wings, was seen near London, in a field at the back of Hampstead-heath, and, of course, promptly shot by a Whetstone fowler. If, as is supposed, the specimen is of the jer-falcon (Falco- Icelandicus), the fact that it has fallen a victim to the insatiable lust of the skin huuter is one which will be much deplored by all who love nature and natural history; and I feel it impossible to Fpeak cf such atrocious conduct without bitterness. It has not been positively ascertained that this bird nests in the British Isles, but as its visits are by no means incidental, it is quite possible that it does breed somewhere on our coasts.

In the month of January a bittern (Botaurus stellari?) was killed in the South of England. This interesting to sight and once inhabited this country, and has often paid us visits. He would stay with us if left unmolested but, though most of us have never had the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh, he is ruthlessly shot down whenever he puts in an appearance, and will no doubt vanish entirely unless some energetic steps are taken for his preservation. Another rare mere straggler just been untowardly slaughtered. I refer to the great shrike (Lanius ex- cubitor), a specimen of which has just been obtained in this country.

The bird is not a regular winter migrant, nor does it breed here. His presence at this date is almost unheard of. The species is abundant in Germany, and the one, which has been so religiously killed and stuffed has probably been blown to us by east winds. Many other rare birds, some of them vanishing forms, have fallen victims during the last half-year to the pitiless rapacity of the gun. There is no telling how many of them, if encouraged and protected, might live and breed in our midst.

It is, indeed, a striking characteristic of our inhumanity and insane greed of possession that nothing is to be gained by any appeal to any supposed finer feelings in the destroyers and purveyors of our rare avian fauna. The reception accorded our n.igrant birds has been such ever since tie gun BARON BRAMPTON ON VIVISECTION. view of the great interest taken in the vivisection question by many of your readers, I venture to call attention to the following opinion of a learned judge. The extract is taken from a letter written by Lord Brampton (late Mr. Justice Hawkins) to the Secretary of the London Anti-Vivisection Society.

Nobody can wish your Society perfect success more cordially than I do. I hate the notion of vivisection," his lordship says, and should be glad to see it absolutely and entirely prohibited, unless, indeed, the love of service and the essence of philanthropy should induce some hardy human creatures to offer themselves for experiments, instead of allowing poor helpless creatures to be forcibly or treacherously sacrificed for objects in which they are not concerned." This communication is of much sig nificance at the present juncture, and is well-fitted to show that opposition to vivisection does not necessarily imply the presence of any weak sentimental feeling. Nobody would dream for one moment of calling Lord Brampton a sentimentalist. He is a great opponent of the form of legalised be never under any cir c.umstances ordered a criminal to be flogged, holding that such a punish ment "brutalises the person who suffers it, and tends to brutalise the person inflicting it; that it is cruel and barbarous, and only tends to excite a spirit of dogged revenge in the culprit." But he is strongly in favour of capital punishment. "There is no doubt," he says, that the capital sentence is ab solutely necessary to the well-being of the community." From which it is clear that Lord Brampton looks at this question of on men or the point of view of one who has taken the pains to im- paitially examine the evidence in its favour.

It is to be hoped that all who are alive to the importance of checking the growth of vivisection will write to the office of this Society for copies of a little pamphlet entitled A Cloud of Witnesses," a compilation by Mr. S. G. Trist, giving the opinions of a number of great men, and circulate them among their friends. The price of the publication is post free, and the Secretary's address, 32 Sackville-street, Piccadilly, London.

I am, Yours, SYDNEY BRYANT. June 5. of the variations in respiration and blood pressure produced in anaesthetised dogs by various mutilations, but he gives no information as to the thetic employed, the quantity used, or of the duration of its employment. Curare and morphia were employed in several experiments. We are not told the dose administered, ani whether any other anaesthetic agents were used." Curare is a paralyser of the motor nerves; morphia is a narcotic.

In every case a preliminary tracheotomy was performed in many cases artificial respiration was necessary. The deductions made therefore from the elaborate manometric tracings must be accepted with more reservation than Dr. Crile deems necessary. Again, we are totally unable to conceive what bearing on traumatic shock, as we know it clinically, have the results of pouring boiling water into dogs' internal cavities. Certainly, after smashing the extirpating an eye-ball and roughly manipulating the after crushing thoraces' (chests), and 'roughly handling' various organs for half an hour, Dr.

Crile is in a position to assure us that clean cuts with a knife produce less shock than rough manipulations and lacerations." Such are the admissions of an avowedly pro vivisectionist medical journal as to the futility and irrelevancy of an exhaustive series of vivisection experiments, the atrocity of which is too flagrant to need ing they display a recklessness of cruelly in affecting to demonstrate truths which to the lay intelligence are self-apparent. I am, Sir, Yours truly, MAURICE L. JOHNSON. 1, Alton Villas, Warwick-road, Gotham, Bristol. possible by a Registrar, and ecclesiastica marriages by Dissenting ministers and Romish priests legal.

MUS. practice mentioned in your letter is one on which ceremonialists would be very likely to disagree. do not feel justified in attempting to settle the matter. In your own case it can affect the question of processions only. M.

H. Latin quotation may be translated boy, thou shalt be chastised with my red sandal. P. character of the inscription over graves may to some extent, we believe, be objected to by a Burial Board. In case of dispute an appeal lies open to the Bishop of the Diocese, so far as consecrated ground is concerned.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH INTO SURGICAL SHOCK. the above title, Dr. G. W. Crile gives the results of experiments which he conducted in London and America, on qne hundred and forty- eifiht degs.

We have little sympathy with those who wish to hamper experimental research," says the Hospital, April 29th, but as a matter of scientific criticism, are bound to comment somewhat unfavourably on Dr. Criles's work." The ground for this stricture, is that Dr. Crile's energies were practically restricted to the observation ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Q. R. the Irish Bishops of St.

Columba's time were consecrated by himself in the monastery of Iona. His apostolic authority was acknowledged by Bede. See his by Reeves. Don't confuse St. Columba with St.

Columban, two very different personages. It was not until the twelfth century that Rome succeeded in establishing her ecclesiastical dominance in Ireland. M. P. will find many such people in the world, these who are frightened at the propounding of a beautiful or sublime idea, because it happens to clash with some preconceived notion of their own, or some inherited or impressed prejudice.

Much of the religious intolerance recently displayed is due to unfounded popular prejudices. A THEOLOGICAL sublime descriptions of creation in Scripture were meant as a protest against the heathen cosmogonies. Science is not indispensable to constitute a Christian, although it has an intimate connection with natural theolcgy. CORNELIUS P. The Plymouth Brethren are strong believers in Calvinistic Predestination and the Millenium.

As with the Society of Friends, any member, male or female, may preach or pray in their meeting-houses, as the occa ion and inclination prompt. F. DANIELL. St. Augustine's Sermons, reflections on the Psalms, and commentaries on St.

John, should all be read, in the original if possible, by a theological student. St. Chrysostom's Homilies and Commentaries should also be studied. V. alteration was made in 1836.

Before that date marriages in England could be performed; only by the clergy of the English Church. The Marriage Law of that date made civil marriages R. B. may safely be affirmed that no philosophical doctrines in ancient times produced such excellent fruits as those of the Stoics, mentioned in Acts 18. Their founder, Zeno, C.

350-252, taught that happiness was only to be found in the practice of virtue; that health, reputation, and riches were not, in themselves, and that poverty, ignominy and pain, were not necessarily evils. But, as Zeno is said never to have experienced any sickness or indisposition whatever, nor ever to have been the victim of pain, reproach, and want, it is allowable to conclude that if he had he would scarcely have taught that such vicissitudes were not evils. THOUGHTLESS IRREVERENCE. Evil is wrought by want of and may not the same be said some, times of irreverence Why is it that some persons, who probably pass as good Christians, sit down, merely inclining their heads a little, during the prayers in Church Did they but spend a little thought in trying to realise that, when praying, they are earthly subjects making a petition to a Divine Sovereign condemned criminals seeking pardon at the Hands of an All- righteous judge nay, more, creatures beseeching the dare they pray otherwise than kneeling not want of thought very often the reason why so many persons sit down during the singing of the anthem in church or cathedral Surely they forget that the anthem is intended as an act of praise to Almighty GOD, and not merely a musical performance for their enjoyment. Last Christmas I was present at an entertainment given by children, the audience consisting almost entirely of adults.

The children opened the proceedings by singing the National Anthem in honour of our Queen, and those present without exception, rose, but when, immediately after, they sang, "Hark! the herald angels sing in honour of the Divine Sovereign, the audience, eave three or four, sat down. It is passing ttrange that professing Christians should pay more respect to an earthly ruler than tbey pay to the Heavenly KiDg of Kings. We need to'think ask ourselves the question: Why do I go to Church And let us not rest content until we can answer truthfully, but withal humbly Not to enjoy the music or ritual; not to hear the most popular preacher of the day; not even to gain spiritual good for ourselves; but to worship God. If this were always our aim in worshhip, public and private, how different our daily life would be; what a halo of beauty would illumine cur daily round and common task! EMILY EDIS. Crinan, belonging toMr.

Poltallocb, was destroyed by tire on in morning of June 7r.