PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY-SPRINGS.

23

water is considerable, and proceeds from tube or sand, it will rise no higher, bea great depth, the temperature of the cause it is only by the attraction of the spring corresponds with the mean an- parts above that the fluid rises. Therenual temperature of the place of ob- fore, though the waters of the sea may servation. But from this uniformity of be drawn into the substance of the earth temperature many springs exhibit very by attraction, yet it can never be raised great deviations, and some even reach by this means into a cistern or cavity, so the temperature of boiling water. The as to become the source of springs. The hot springs of La Tinchera, situated third hypothesis is that of the great three leagues from Valencia, form a naturalist, Dr. Halley, who supposes the rivulet, which, in seasons of the greatest true sources of springs to be melted drought, is two feet deep, and eighteen snow, rain-water, dew, and vapours confeet wide. Eggs placed in the Trinchera densed. The Doctor found that every springs are boiled in four minutes; ten square inches of the surface of the while at a distance of forty feet only ocean yield a cubic inch of water in from them there are other springs en- vapour per day; every square mile, tirely cold. Rocks are frequently formed 6,914 tons; and every square degree, or by depositions from the waters of hot 69 English miles, 33 millions of tons. springs. The well-known hot springs of Now, if we suppose the Mediterranean Don Philippo, in Tuscany, have formed to be 40 degrees long, and 4 broad, its a hill of calcareous rifa, in many places surface will be 160 square degrees, from as compact and hard as limestone. The whence there will evaporate 5,280 milancient temples, and the gorgeous palaces lions of tons per day in the summer and churches of Rome, and indeed the season. The Mediterranean receives whole of the streets and squares of the water from nine great rivers, viz., the once Mistress of the World, are built of Ebro, the Rhine, the Po, the Danube, conchonary masses, which, according to the Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don, Professor Jamieson, have been deposited and the Nile; all the rest being small by hot springs. There are cold springs and inconsiderable. Suppose now, that also, which throw out great quantities each of these rivers conveys ten times as of calcareous matter,-one in particular much water to the sea as the Thames, may be found at Starlyburn, in Fifeshire. which yields daily 76,032,000 cubic feet, There are a variety of opinions held in or 203 millions of tons; all the nine reference to the origin of springs; but rivers will produce 18,270 millions of we will give a few which we deem the tons, which is little more than one-third most deserving notice, and which, we of the quantity evaporated each day from think, cannot fail to please any one who the sea. The enormous quantity remainis interested in the matter. Some saying the Doctor allows to rains which fall that the sea-water is conveyed through again into the seas, and for the uses of subterraneous ducts or canals, to the vegetation. Now, the manner in which places where the springs flow out of the these waters are collected, so as to form earth; but, as it is impossible that the reservoirs for the multitudes of springs water should be thus conveyed to the tops which exist, seem to be this.-The tops of mountains, the law of gravitation pre- of most mountains abound with cavities venting it rising higher than the bulk and subterraneous caverns, formed by of the water itself, some have supposed nature to serve as reservoirs, and their it is caused by subtarranean heats, by pointed summits rising into the clouds, which being rarefied, it ascends in va- attract the vapours of the atmosphere, pours through the cavities of mountains, which are in consequence precipitated from which it again flows in its original in water, and by their gravity easily peneform. Others advance the capillary hy-trate through beds of sand and lighter pothesis, or suppose the water to rise from the depths of the sea, through porous parts of the earth; but they too seem to lose sight of one principal property of this kind of attraction, for, though the water rises to the top of the

earth, till they are stopped in their descent by more dense strata, as beds of clay, stone, &c., where they form a basin or cavern, and, working a passage horizontally, issue out of the sides of the mountains.

THE THREE GREAT SHAMS OF EUROPE-THE POPE-RUSSIA-
AND THE TIMES NEWSPAPER.

AT a noisy discussion-class in the City, a
short time since, a rough orator, well
known for his extreme news, said that
the world was full of shams, that every-
body was a sham, and to be consistent
with himself he was forced to confess
that he himself was a sham. Now had
he said so because he was a sham,
everybody else was one also in his
way of thinking; he most likely would
have stated the truth. No doubt
he measured other people by himself,
and consequently came to the sorry con-
clusion he did. Though the appellation
is not a very polished or sublime one, we
are afraid it may be used towards a great
many persons and things in the world;
and it is our intention to treat of two or
three of the master shams now in Europe.
And at the present moment, first and
foremost stands the Pope of Rome. Now
we do not say this with any feeling of
prejudice, as we cannot but think that
this personage has been most unjustly
used of late. Bad as he is, or rather
bad as is the system which he represents,
neither he nor it deserves all the blame
and opprobrium which has been heaped
upon him.
We think nothing is got by
trying to prove too much, or by exagge-
rated statements. We have no dispo-
sition to be apologists for the pope, but
let him, say we, be treated fairly; do not
attribute to him that which belongs to
human nature. Humanity was fallen
and sinful before popes came, and we
are afraid it will be so after popes are
gone. Many errors of Roman Catho-
licism are traceable to other causes than
the inherent imperfections, follies and
absurdities of its doctrines. Religious
systems whatever they may be, or
wherever they may exist, are sure to be
modified, shaped, and coloured by the
prevailing opinions, social habits, and
political institutions of society. Men
who have hitherto been in the habit of
attributing all the errors, crimes, and
vices of men to the inherent corruption
of their own hearts, have really in their
strong hatred of Roman Catholicism,
forgotten their own opinions and doc-
rines, and, put to the account of that

religion, what was before laid to the
charge of Eve and the original de-
pravity of the heart. This, to say the
best of it, is unmanly; neither is there
any necessity for it. In saying this
much we have no desire to shelter
popery. What we say now we could
have said before the hurricane swept
over the nation, and we shall in all like-
lihood hold the same opinions, when it
shall have subsided. It certainly is not
to be wondered at that such a religion
as Roman Catholicism should be guilty
of enormous crimes in uneducated ages
and nations, if such enlightened reli-
gionists as our own could ripen into a
paroxysm of rage, because an Italian
priest divided our country into eccle-
siastical dioceses, and placed over them
titular dignitaries. England boasts of
being an exceedingly intelligent and
practical nation: its people do not take
a step forward and wish to recede; it
took a step forward in emancipating the
Catholics, and it has ever since been
the glory and boast of its statesmen and
writers, and well it should be.
But now
when the Catholics have taken advan-
tage of the rights yielded to them, and
taken a step to enjoy those rights, a
large proportion of the people boil over
with anger, and keep up, as the Spectator
calls it, "one steady blast of indig.
nation." The agitation against the im-
prudent assumption of the pope, has
hitherto been objectless and chaotic.
But though it has lacked the elements
of consistency and practicability, it has
been surcharged with bigotry and un-
charitableness. This is a great pity, as
it goes to shew that men with purer
faith, and in an advanced position, can
make mistakes; and men who are ca-
pable of making such mistakes them-
selves should have a little compassion
for those that have gone before them,
and for others who now live in less
privileged conditions than they do.

But one of the great mistakes committed by this wild agitation is the lifting popery to a higher position than it really deserves, and investing the pope with a power and an authority which he

THE THREE GREAT SHAMS OF EUROPE.

does not possess. This wrong estimation of the institution has really in creased its influence and fortified its position. Talk about earthquakes, and earthquakes of some sort will come. Children sometimes see ghosts and hobgoblins, because they fancy they see them. They picture the unearthly figure in the dark, and start and scream as if it were a reality. They fear the evil, and they see it, and run away from it: and so it is sometimes with men. In the present instance, millions have shaken with fear at Roman Catholicism, because the pope has put forth certain pretensions; they have spoken and acted as if they lived in the middle ages, or as if that which was strong in its manhood would be equally strong in its old age. Because the papal power reigned triumphant in past ages, when ignorance prevailed in the world it must also be triumphant again, when knowledge is spreading everywhere. This is a mistake, and will prove a very injurious one. The pope and the cardinals must know that their day of domination and power is past; they know that their empire is diminishing daily, and that it is necessary to assume a power, and pursue an aggressive policy in England, or somewhere else, to make a noise in the world. If they do not know it, men with their eyes open may see it. Roman Catholicism must either alter or perish. It cannot alter they say, because it is founded on the rock of ages. If it altered it would show its fallibility, and consequently give the lie to its past pretensions and its whole history. If it does not alter it must suffer the same fate. All human institutions are perpetually changing; external organizations are modified or thrown off in obedience to the internal force of things. What is an elaborate system of doctrines, forms, and ceremonies, but the product of the ages that called it into being? and when those ages are departed, and when new thoughts, higher truths, and loftier conceptions of duty, faith, worship, and God take possession of the minds of men, then creeds, formularies, practices, and elaborated systems change also. Roman Catholicism, as it is said, being unchangeable, must be left behind in a world of change; and it is

25

left behind. It is nothing at the present moment but a magnificent wreck on the margin of the stream of Time. It is grown tottering and imbecile with age; it has seen the day of its glory and strength, and it is now overtaken with years; it is only the shadow of what it once was; and it cannot be substantially strong again, unless humanity gets into its dotage; but humanity is like nature, it never gets old; but the garments which it wears do get old, and when they get old and useless they are thrown into the limbo of the past. Roman Catholicism was the religious garment of the middle ages, and from the commencement of the sixteenth century it has gradually been getting wore threadbare and more rotten.

Roman Catholicism is strong nowhere but in history; it is weak in its own native dominions. Look at the present condition of the papal provinces in Italy, where the pope reigns supreme. No man who watches the signs of the times would give ten years purchase for the kingship of the pope in Italy; and let his temporal power be taken from him there, and he will lose character and strength throughout the world. If the papal power were strong at home, if that nation where it has been fostered, developed, and strengthened, were in a united, consolidated, and prosperous state; if its inhabitants were ready to die in defence of the holy father, the brotherhood of cardinals and priests, and the entire temporal and ecclesiastical constitution of the papacy, if one great patriotic and religious idea moved the nation, and if that idea was the subjugation of humanity to the Roman Catholic faith, then fears might be entertained; but it is not so; the pope does not sway in his own dominions; he has but little native power in Rome itself; he is not sustained by any national feeling; he could not rally the young, the ardent, the generous of his own people around his throne; but with these very people he is suspected, feared, and hated; and if the suffrages of the Romans could be taken to-morrow, the pope and his party would be in the minority. The pope on the other hand fears and suspects the mass of citizens who inhabit the Eternal City, or why did

he fly from them in disguise, and depend | finds that he has passed from a lower to on foreign bayonets for his re-establish- a higher grade of civilization. On the ment in position. The Roman popu- other side of the Atlantic the same law lace who enthusiastically welcomed a prevails. The Protestants of the United republic, and almost unanimously rallied States have left far behind them the around Mazzini, and the triumvirate, and Roman Catholics of Mexico, Peru, and who only were conquered by the treachery Brazil. The Roman Catholics of Lower and the superior military power of the Canada remain inert, while the whole French, would rejoice again in the stealthy continent round them is in a ferment departure of the pope and the establish- with Protestant activity and enterprize ment of the republic. Yes, the pope is The French have doubtless shown an weak at home, and so far need not be energy and an intelligence which, even feared by England; and he is also weak when misdirected, have justly entitled in Spain, in Austria, in Ireland, and in them to be called a great people. But Mexico. Listen to the words of Macau- this apparent exception, when examined, lay in his history of England. will be found to confirm the rule; for in no country that is called Roman Catholic has the Roman Catholic Church, during several generations, possessed so little authority as in France."

So we see that Roman Catholicism is not only falling, but it is pulling nations after it. But if, in those nations where its faith predominates, prosperity abounded, it would as certainly fall, as the oak-tree which had lived its thousand years-its years of pride and strength

"From the time when the barbarians overran the Western Empire to the revival of letters, the influence of the Church of Rome has been generally favourable to science, to civilization, and to good government. But during the last three centuries, to stunt the growth of the human mind has been her chief object. Throughout Christendom, whatever advance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth, and in the arts of life, has been made in spite of must decay. Because the oak-tree her, and has everywhere been in inverse lived; because it put forth its verdure in proportion to her power. The loveliest spring-time, and its glory in autumn; and most fertile provinces of Europe because the birds and beasts took shelter have, under her rule, ben sunk in po- under its branches; and because it reverty, in political servitude, and in insisted the winter-blast for several centutellectual torpor, while Protestant coun- ries, is no reason that it must do so tries, once proverbial for sterility and through all coming time, or several centuries barbarism, have been turned by skill and more. But because it lived in strength industry into gardens, and can boast of a and glory it must also die. It is the long list of heroes and statesmen, phi- same with Roman Catholicism. Because losophers and poets. Whoever, knowing what Italy and Scotland naturally are, ages since it awed nations into submisand what, four hundred years ago, they to its feet; because it kicked about crowns sion, and brought haughty kings humiliated actually were, shall now compare the like foot-balls, and held empires by the country round Rome with the country round Edinburgh, will be able to form reins, is no reason that it must do so some judgment as to the tendency of again. Papal domination. The descent of Spain, once the first among monarchies, to the lowest depths of degradation, the elevation of Holland, in spite of many natural disadvantages, to a condition such as no commonwealth so small has ever reached, teach the same lesson. Whoever passes in Germany from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant principality, in Switzerland from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant canton, in Ireland from a Roman Catholic to a Protestant country,

If the middle ages possessed the spirit and enlightenment of the present, the Pope would be as much a thing of history then as he is at the present moment. And shall England fear a power that has been?-a power that can no more rule and reign again in Europe than Jupiter in Olympus. In saying these strong things of the decay and approaching demise of the Popedom, we are influenced by no bigoted or prejudiced motive. We are only recording the teachings of history, listening to the voice of the present,

THE BOY-HERO OF HAARLEM.

and pointing to the tendencies of the future. And, after an impartial survey of what the Papacy has been and is, and is likely or certain to be, we unhesitatingly say, that so far as its real power of putting its pretensions into real and busy practice, and re-obtaining the empire it has lost over the bodies and souls of men and nations is concerned, that it is a farce-that Roman Catholicism, in its desire and power of re-acquiring universal dominion over humanity, and conquering the future, is a great sham.

27

what burdens and clouds they have made
their way, and we must remember, that
by every new development, they are
brought more into the life-giving, omni-
potent truth and character of Jesus Christ.
It makes me smile to hear immortality
claimed for Catholicism or Protestantism,
or for any past interpretations of Chris-
tianity; as if the human soul had ex-
hausted itself in its infant efforts, or as
if the men of one, or a few generations,
could bind the energy of human thought
and affection for ever. A theology at
war with the laws of physical nature
would be a battle of no doubtful issue.
The laws of our spiritual nature give still
less chance of success to the system
which would thwart or stay them. The
progress of the individual and of society,
which has taken the throne of Rome, is
not an accident, not an irregular spas-
modic effort, but the natural movement
of the soul. Catholicism must fall be-
fore it. In truth, it is very much fallen
already. It exists, and will long exist,
as an outward institution.
But compare
the Catholicism of an intelligent man of
the nineteenth century with what it was in
the tenth. The name, the letter remains

"The great foe of the Romish Church," says Dr. Channing, "is not the theolo gian. He might be imprisoned, chained, burned. It is human nature waking up to a consciousness of its powers, catching a glimpse of the perfection for which it was made, beginning to respect itself, thirsting for free action and development, learning, through a deep consciousness, that there is something diviner than forms, or churches, or creeds, recognising in Jesus Christ its own celestial model, aud claiming kindred with all who have caught any portion of his spiritual life and disinterested love; here, here is the great enemy of Catholicism. I look confidently to the ineradicable, ever-unfold--how changed the spirit! The silent ing principles of human nature for the reform spreading in the very bosom of victory over all superstitions. Reason Catholicism is as important as the Reand conscience, the powers by which we formation of the sixteenth century, and discern the true and the right, are im- in truth more effectual." mortal as their author. Oppressed for ages, they yet live. Like the central fires of the earth, they can heave up mountains. It is encouraging to see under

The other great shams of Europe, Russia and the Times, will be considered in our next Number.

EDITOR.

THE BOY-HERO

Ar an early period in the history of Holland, a boy was born in Haarlem, a town remarkable for its variety of fortune in war, but happily still more so for its manufactures and inventions in peace. His father was a sluicer-that is, one whose employment it was to open and shut the sluices, or large oak gates which, placed at certain regular distances, close the entrance of the canals, and secure Holland from the danger to which it seems exposed, of finding itself

OF HAARLEM.

under water rather than above it. When water is wanted the sluicer raises the sluices, more or less as required, as a cook turns the cock of a fountain, and closes them again carefully at night; otherwise the water would flow into the canals, then overflow them, and inundate the whole country; so that even the little children in Holland are fully aware of the importance of a punctual discharge of the sluicer's duties. The boy was about eight years old, when one day he