EXPLORATIONS AT JERUSALEM.

"On Friday, having arrived at a depth of seventy-nine feet, the men were breaking up a stone at the bottom of the shaft. Suddenly the ground gave way, down went the stone and the hammer, the men barely saving themselves. They at once rushed up, and told the sergeant they had found the bottomless pit. I went down to the spot and examined it, and in order that you may have an idea of the extent of our work, I will give you a description of our descent.

"The shaft mouth is on the south side of the Sanctuary wall, near the south-west angle, among the prickly pears; beside it, to the east, lying against the Sanctuary wall, is a large mass of rubbish that has been brought up; while over the mouth itself is a triangular gin, with iron wheel attached, with guy, for running up the excavated soil. Looking down the shaft, one sees that it is lined for the first twenty feet with frames four feet six inches in the clear; further down, the Sanctuary wall and soil cut through are seen, and a man standing at what appears to be the bottom. An order is given to this man, who repeats it, and then, faintly, is heard a sepulchral voice answering, as it were from another world. Reaching down to the man who is visible is a thirty-fourfeet rope ladder; and, on descending by it, one finds he is standing on a ledge which the ladder does not touch by four feet. This ledge is the top of a wall running north and south, and abutting on the Sanctuary wall; its east face just cuts the centre of the shaft, which has to be canted off about two feet toward the east, just where some large loose stones jut out in the most disagreeable manner. Here five more frames have been fixed to keep these stones steady. On peering down from this ledge one sees the Sanctuary wall, with its projecting courses, until they are lost in the darkness below; observing also, at the same time, that two sides of the shaft are cut through the soil, and are self-supporting. Now to descend this second drop the ladder is again required; accordingly, having told the man at the bottom to get under cover, it is lowered to the ledge, from whence it is found that it does not reach to the bottom by several feet. It is therefore lowered to the required distance, and one has to reach it by climbing down hand over hand for about twelve feet. On passing along one notes the marvellous joints of the Sanctuary wall stones, and also, probably, gets a few blows on skull and knuckles from falling pebbles. Just on reaching the bottom one recollects there is still a pit of unknown depth to be explored, and cautiously straddles across it.

DISCOVERIES BY ACCIDENT.

Then can be seen that one course of the Sanctuary wall, near the bottom, is quite smooth all over, the stone being finely dressed, all other courses being only well-dressed around the drafts; one also sees two stout boards lying against the Sanctuary wall, under which the men retire whenever an accidental shower of stones renders their position dangerous. One is now at a depth of seventy-nine feet from the surface, and from here we commence the exploring of the bottomless pit.' After dropping a rope down, we found that it was only six feet deep, though it looked black enough for anything."

Further explorations disclosed a subterranean passage, perhaps originally constructed to carry off the overflow from the Temple; and the intrepid investigator crawled on his hands and feet four hundred feet along this slimy drain through the mud, the passage at times becoming so narrow that he could barely squeeze through, and the air so foul as to threaten suffocation. The difficulty of his position is indicated by the fact that he had to back out two hundred feet before he could get to a point where he could turn his head.

DISCOVERIES BY ACCIDENT.

NOT a few discoveries in the arts and sciences have been made or suggested by accident. The use of the pendulum, suggested by the vibrating of a chandelier in a cathedral; the power of steam, intimated by the oscillating of the lid of a tea kettle; the utility of coal gas for light, experimented upon by an ordinary tobaccopipe of white clay; the telescope, stumbled upon by an optician's apprentice while holding spectacle glasses between his thumb and finger,-are well-known instances in proof of the fact.

Galvanism was discovered by accident. Professor Galvani, of Bologna, in Italy, gave his name to the operation, but his wife is considered as actually entitled to the credit of the discovery. She being in bad health, some frogs were ordered for her. As they lay upon the table, skinned, she noticed that their limbs became strongly convulsed when near an electrical conductor. She called her husband's attention to the fact; he instituted a series of experiments, and in 1789 the galvanic battery was invented. Eleven years later, with that discovery for his basis, Professor Allessandro Volta, also an Italian, announced his discovery of the voltaic pile.

DISCOVERIES BY ACCIDENT.

The discovery of glass-making was effected by seeing the sand vitrified upon which a fire had been kindled. Blancort says the making of plate-glass was suggested by the fact of a workman happening to break a crucible filled with melted glass. The fluid ran under one of the large flagstones with which the floor was paved. On raising the stone to recover the glass, it was found in the form of a plate, such as could not be produced by the ordinary process of blowing.

Glass pearls, though among the most beautiful, inexpensive, and common ornaments worn by the ladies, are produced by a very singular process. In 1656, a Venetian named Jaquin discovered that the scales of a fish, called bleakfish, possessed the property of communicating a pearly hue to the water. He found, by experimenting, that beads dipped into this water assumed, when dried, the appearance of pearls. It proved, however, that the pearly coat, when placed outside, was easily rubbed off, and the next improvement was to make the beads hollow. The making of these beads is carried on to this day in Venice. The beads are all blown separately. By means of a small tube the insides are delicately coated with the pearly liquid, and a waxed coating is placed over that. It requires the scales of four thousand fish to produce half a pint of the liquid, to which a small quantity of sal ammonia and isinglass is afterward added to improve its colour.

Lundy Foot, the celebrated snuff manufacturer, originally kept a small tobacconist shop at Limerick. One night his house, which was uninsured, burned to the ground. As he contemplated the smoking ruins on the following morning, in a state bordering on despair, some of the poor neighbours, groping among the embers for what they could find, stumbled upon several canisters of unconsumed but half-baked snuff, which they tried, and found it so pleasant to their noses that they loaded their waistcoat pockets with it. Lundy Foot, aroused from his stupor, imitated their example, and took a pinch of his own property; when he was struck by the superior pungency and flavour it had acquired from the great heat to which it had been exposed. Acting upon the hint, he took another house in a place called Black Yard, erected ovens, and set about the manufacture of that high-dried commodity which soon became widely known as Black Yard snuff. Eventually he took a larger house in Dublin, and making his customers pay liberally through the nose, amassed a great fortune for having been ruined.

POETRY.-ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Poetry.

THE OLD WASHERWOMAN.

WITH busy hands the linen folding,

Though very old and gray of hair,
Her washerwoman state still holding,
On to her six and seventieth year.
She steadily, through pain and fear,
With zeal and almost holy pleasure,
Doth fill to perfect round the sphere
That God's decree to her did measure.

Long years ago, a winsome maiden,

She loved, she hoped, was won and wed;

A woman's lot on her was laden,

With heavy cares aye cumberéd.
Her babies' father weak and ill,

Her own poor little ones she cherished,
Then laid him in the grave; yet still
For her nor faith nor hope had perished.

Her children all alone to nourish

She gave herself right cheerfully, And made in her abode to flourish Order and honest industry.

For better fate in far-off lands

She let these dearly loved ones leave her;

Now on life's verge alone she stands,

Yet brave and busy now as ever.

With saving hand and heart resolving,
She hath bought flax, and through the
night,

With music of her wheels revolving,

Hath spun the thread so soft and light.
The weaver wove the fabric fair,

With scissors then and needle plying,
Her own hand did the garb prepare
To wear when cold in death she's lying.
This linen is her one dear treasure;
Preserved as in a sacred shrine,
She holds it life's supremest pleasure
To keep this raiment white and fine.
When Sabbath comes, God's word to hear,
She puts it on, with thoughts of dying,
Then lays it by, with pious fear,

To wear when in her last rest lying.

Oh, when life's evening shades draw round

me,

Would that I might, like her, be sure, That all the circling lines that bound me Were filled with work as good and pure. I would that I at life's full fount

Had drunk, like her, my cup's deep

measure,

On death with equal peace could count,
Could see my shroud with equal pleasure.

Anecdotes and Selections.

"ARE YOU FULL?"-Two Christian men were conversing at the table. One of them was bearing witness to the blessedness of a holy life, and the other, who had long been a labourer in the Christian work, was speaking of the impossibility of his ever attaining to such a state of blessing and rest. When he had finished his objections, the other turned, and fixing his eyes on him, said, "Brother, you are a little vessel, but are you full? Are you full?" The question went to the doubter's heart, and he found no rest till he sought "the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." Christian readers, here is a question for you.

It is not as to your knowledge or capacity, your capabilities,

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

or talents-it is not "How large is the vessel?"-but "Is it full?" Is your joy full? Are you "filled with the Spirit ?" Are you "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith?" A cup, though very small, may be full. And it matters not how little, or how weak, or how feeble, a Christian is, if he is only full. And if he is full to-day he may be full to-morrow; for while God enlarges his heart to praise His name, He will also increase the tide of blessing to fill the renewed soul. It is for us to inquire today, Are we doing all that God requires, and receiving all that He is ready to impart? Are we living up to the full measure of to-day's duties and to-day's privileges? The great question of salvation is to be settled here. It should not be left till hereafter. We are to be saved now. "To-day is the day of salvation;" and if we are saved to-day, we shall be saved in death, judgment, and eternity.

"TALK TO ME OF JESUS."-"Talk to me of Jesus," said an aged Christian who hovered yet on the banks of the river that was soon to bear him away. "Tell me of Him whom my soul loveth, and of the 'many mansions' where He dwells with 'His own,' in ineffable glory, and where I shall soon 'see Him as He is.' It is news of the Master's household I long to hear, of the trophies won to His blessed name, of the advancement of His cause, and the progress of his kingdom. Do not tell me of the things that are passing away-I care not for them. This world and all its possessions must soon be burned up, and wherefore should they dwell in my affections? I have a home that fire cannot touch, a kingdom and a crown that fade not away, and why should I be concerned about the affairs of the day?" "Talk to me of Jesus," said the same aged man to me on my next visit, as I inquired of his condition. "Talk to me of Jesus, of His great love-His tender, patient, forbearing love towards His wayward, erring children—of His merits, His atonement, His precious blood shed for me, His robe of perfect righteousness, and plenteous redemption. I am weary of my own poor, miserable, sinful self, and I would lose myself utterly in Him. "Talk to me of Jesus," once again spoke the dying saint, as now, almost over the river, he could only in feeble and broken utterances breathe forth the longings of his soul. "Talk to me of Jesusthat precious name alone is the balm for every wound, the antidote of every pain." "Talk to me of Jesus while any sound reaches my mortal ear; let it be the last on this side Jordan, and the first to greet me on the other bank. Jesus in life, Jesus in death, and Jesus through all eternity. All I want I find perfected in Him. With this dear friend ever at my side, life has been pleasant, and death is a joy unutterable, because it bears me to His unveiled presence, and without Him heaven itself would be no heaven to my longing soul."

AUNT JANE'S EXPERIENCE.-The other evening, in our prayer meeting, Aunt Jane rose to tell her experience. It was, manifestly, an honest experience. No one in the church would ever question Aunt Jane's honesty, and yet every one was astonished at Aunt Jane's expe