vention. I think we have as full a right now to profess a belief that moderate alcohol drinking is a vice, as moderate opium eating, and a vice which, considering its fatal results, law ought at any rate to discourage, and indirectly repress. Neither branch of the present movement enunciates this,-naturally, because Science was not so advanced when the Societies were founded; but my present belief is that we shall not have final success until we avow that stronger doctrine.-I am, respectfully yours, F. W. NEWMAN.

Choice Selections.

ALPINE ROCKS:

THEIR DISINTEGRATION. WHOEVER has travelled in mountainous regions, with observant eyes, will have noticed the vast changes in the face of nature that must have been brought about by streams, torrents, and atmospheric elements. Deep chasms and gullies, terrific gorges, and extensive valleys, have been formed by water currents; and vast masses of rock have been detached from lofty cliffs and towering peaks, and extended ridges, and have fallen down and scattered themselves in wild confusion below. Such phenomena are common to all mountainous districts.

In Alpine countries these phenomena are seen on a grander scale than in other countries; and there are natural forces in action there that are not found among mountains of lower elevation. The glaciers are a mighty power; and the commoner forces of alternate frost and heat, wind, water, and probably electricity, operate with more intensity, and therefore with more extensive and astonishing results than they do elsewhere.

Extensive valleys and immense plains are covered to a considerable depth with stones, gravel, and sand, that have at some distant period had their places among lofty and widelyextended mountain ranges. The present paper is not intended for the discussion of that subject; but the foregoing remarks are simply intro

ductory to several short extracts from narratives of adventures among the Alps, and of alpine catastrophe, which may both interest and inform the inexperienced reader, as well as refresh the personal recollections of any who have themselves witnessed similar facts and scenes to those here recorded.

An exploring excursion on the west side of Mont Blanc, undertaken in 1856, by a Welsh clergyman and three other gentlemen, and described by one of the party, contains the following account of some of the perils encountered in climbing the Aiguille du Gouté and the Col de Miage.

"The west face of the aiguille, which is the only accessible one, is composed, like the Col de Miage and the upper part of the Finsteraar Horn, of a number of very steep parallel vertical ridges, each ridge being in fact a series of jagged rocks rising one above the other, sometimes alternating with short snow slopes, and the intervals between the ridges being filled with ice or hard snow, thus forming couloirs, or shoots, which run from top to bottom of the aiguille. The ascent is made by following one of these arétes, or ridges; but as the rocks are sometimes overhanging, especially near the top of the aiguille, it is necessary to cross from one ridge to another over the nearly vertical couloirs, which requires caution. The difficulty of this sort of ascent varies extremely with the amount of snow. If there is little snow the rocks are comparatively easy, but the couloirs are bare ice, and more difficult. On the other hand, a coating of snow makes it easier to cross the couloirs, but the rocks are then concealed and slippery. We were on the aiguille three times in the course of our expeditions, but never found it in the same state. Conspicuous on the aiguille, there is one which has acquired the name of the great couloir, which, from the cobane below, may be seen on the face of the aiguille at some distance to the right. The usual course is to ascend a little way up to the arête to the left of this couloir (which may be called aréte No. 1), then to cross the couloir where it is broadest, and just above where it

slopes more steeply out of sight towards the glacier below, and then to ascend the aréte to the right of the couloir (aréte No. 2), which can be followed to the top. On this occasion, however, the wind was exceedingly high, and on nearing the couloir we could see stones and rocks bounding down it; we, therefore, kept to the left, along aréte No. 1, and ascended by it the greater part of the way, till the rocks became overhanging. We then had to cross the couloir, which was here much narrower, and divided into several streams; it was nearly bare ice, no snow having lately fallen. At this height the falling stones were fewer and had less momentum; unfortunately, a small one struck Hoste (an attendant guide) on the arm, disabling him, and we thought the arm was broken. A moment after, a serious slip sent one of the party actually off on the couloir, but he was brought up (brought to) after a yard or two by a projecting stone. We felt much the wart of a rope throughout the day. At last we reached the top of the aiguille, but it was plainly impossible to proceed further; the force of the wind on this exposed and outlying promontory was immense, and the snow seemed to be driven into little round balls like hail, so that we could scarcely stand on it, and one of us was caught by the hair in the act of slipping over the precipice. We could see the Grands Mulets far below us to leeward; but not wishing to be swept over towards them, after a few minutes we retreated, and descended aréte No. 2, till we came to the usual passage of the great couloir. The scene here was one of the most ex

citing possible. The couloir was, perhaps, from fifty to seventy steps across, at an inclination varying from forty to fifty degrees; the whole of this space, together with the adjoining parts of the arête, was swept by a shower of fragments of rock of all sizes, which came whizzing and bounding down the slope, not continuously, or we should never have got over, but ir volleys, the larger blocks breaking up and scattering in all directions as they fell. These stones are almost the only real danger which

it is impossible to guard against; but I never witnessed a similar cannonade to the one we endured on this occasion. The wind and noise were deafening; from time to time a huge block would come flying, apparently over the top of the aiguille, dispersing us for several minutes in utter confusion. It was necessary to cross, however; so our friend the ancien chasseur, with great pluck, went first and cut the steps, taking advantage of lulls in the enemy's fire; and one by one the rest of us left cover and got over. The stones could be seen coming round a corner some distance over head, and, on their appearance, a shout was raised to warn the individual crossing, who, however, could only stand still; for whilst putting one's feet with precaution into the steps, it was impossible to 'dodge,' there being an equal risk of being hit, and of losing one's balance, and so being hurled, in company with the other missiles, over the precipice. We gained the other side, however, in safety. Hoste's arm, fortunately, proved not be broken, and though we had all had some narrow escapes, the adventure was an interesting one."Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers, by Members of the Alpine Club. pp. 61–64.

In a narrative of an expedition From Zermatt to the Val d' Anniviers, by the Trift Pass, accomplished in the latter part of the month of August, 1857, the writer says, "We were just in the full enjoyment of the delicacy (a luscious orange each), when a booming sound, like the discharge of a gun far over our heads, made us all at once glance upwards to the top of the Trifthorn. Close to its craggy summit hung a cloud of dust, like dirty smoke; and in a few seconds another and a larger one burst forth several hundred feet lower. A glance through the telescope showed that a fall of rocks had commenced, and the fragments were leaping down from ledge to ledge in a series of cascades. Each block dashed off others at every point of contact, and the uproar became tremendous; thousands of fragments making every variety of noise, according to their size, and producing the effect of a fire of musketry and artillery combined, thundered down

wards from so great a height that we waited anxiously for some considerable time to see them reach the snowfield below. As nearly as we could estimate the distance, we were 500 yards from the base of the rocks; so we thought that, come what might, we were in a tolerably secure position. At last we saw many of the blocks plunge into the snow, after taking their last fearful leap; presently much larger fragments followed, taking proportionably larger bounds; the noise grew fiercer and fiercer, and huge blocks began to fall so near to us that we jumped to our feet, preparing to dodge them to the best of our ability. 'Look out!' cried some one, and we opened out right and left, at the approach of a monster, evidently of many hundred weight, which was coming right at us, like a huge shell fired from a mortar. It fell, with a heavy thud, not more than twenty feet from us, scattering lumps of snow into the circle where we had just been dining; but scarcely had we begun to recover from our astonishment, when a still larger rock flew exactly over our heads to a distance of 200 yards beyond us. The malice of the Trifthorn now seemed to have done its worst; a few more blocks dropped around us, and then, after an incessant fire for about ten minutes, the falling masses retired in regular gradation till nothing remained in transitu but showers of stones and small débris pouring down the side of the mountain; the thundering noise died away into a tinkling clatter; and, though clouds of dust still obscured the precipice, silence was soon restored."-1bid. pp. 142-3.

In the month of September, 1852, Switzerland was signalised by extensive and destructive inundations, as was also the case towards the end of

last year, 1868. There were heavy rains, in a warm temperature; so that much ice and snow melted, and mingled their flood with that of the rain. A prodigious quantity of water is thus poured down from the mountains and glaciers into the valleys. In such a state of things, Mr. J. Ball says, "I was not at all surprised when, a few days later, in ascending from Sallenches to Chamouny, I

found bridge after bridge swept away

some of them seventy or eighty feet above the usual level of the waterand masses of stone and rubbish brought down, sufficient, in one instance, to bury a house and mill so completely that only a small portion of the latter, and the roof of the building, remained projecting from the surface."-Ibid. p. 270.

Speaking of glaciers, Professor Ramsay says, At the lower end of both the Aar glaciers, the terminal moraines are, for the most part, comparatively small, for in the greater part of these mounds, as fast as matter is supplied, it is attacked by the streams, that, flowing from the glaciers, speedily remove the smaller débris. Considering the great size of many of the blocks that lie on the surface of the ice, one is often surprised how comparatively rare is the occurrence of such masses on the terminal moraines; but this surprise ceases when we consider that in their slow downward progress these blocks are constantly split at the joints and other crevices, and are thus gradually reduced by winter frosts, so that comparatively few reach the terminal moraine in their integrity. When they do get so far, they are then still subject to the same influence, till, in time, many of them get so broken, that they also find their way to lower levels by the power of running water." -1bid. p. 406.

In addition to these extracts may be mentioned the fact, stated in guide books, that in the years 1714 and 1749, three peaks of the Diablerets, 10,000 feet high, in the neighbourhood of Bex, on the Upper Rhone, fell with immense destructiveness, leaving two other peaks in threatening aspect.

Not unfrequently does an avalanche, or a land-slip, fill up a part of a narrow valley, stop the course of a stream, and so dam up an immense body of water, creating a lake; and this sometimes bursts its temporary barrier, and out rushes the water in such volume and with such force as to carry destruction and desolation along with it to the distance of many miles. Sometimes we have illustrations of this in our own country, in

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the bursting of large reservoirs, as in the case of the Bradfield reservoir, above Sheffield, a few years ago, and of the Holmfirth catastrophe a few years previously. In the year 1818, the upper part of the valley of the Bagnes, above Martigny, on the way from the latter place to the Hospice of St. Bernard, was in this manner converted into a temporary lake by avalanches of snow and ice, descending from an elevated glacier into the bed of the Dranse. The lake thus formed was half a league in length, 700 feet wide, and, in some places, 200 feet deep. Great excitement was created among the inhabitants of the valley, because of the danger that this phenomenon threatened, to ward off which prompt measures taken. Half the contents of the lake were quietly and safely drained off by an artificial channel; but at length, on the approach of the hot season, the central portion of the icy barrier gave way with a tremendous crash, and in half an hour the residue of the lake had escaped from its wintry prison. The water poured headlong down the valley with impetuous fury, encountering several gorges, at each of which it rose to a great height, and then burst with increased violence into the basin below, raging along rocks, forests, houses, bridges, and cultivated land. The flood resembled, in the greater part of its course, a moving mass of rock and mud, rather than water. Some fragments of granitic rocks, of enormous magnitude, were torn out of a more ancient alluvion, and borne down for a quarter of a mile. One of these fragments was sixty paces in circumference. The velocity of the water, in the first part of its course, was thirty-three feet per second. It reached the lake of Geneva (Leman), a distance of forty-five miles, in six hours and a half, having decreased in velocity to six feet per second, the descent being gradual along the Rhone.

This flood left behind it, on the plain of Martigny, thousands of trees torn up by the roots, together with the ruins of buildings. Some of the houses in that town were filled with mud up to the second story. After expanding in the plain of Martigny,

it entered the Rhone, and did no further damage.

If part of the lake had not been gradually drained off, the flood would have been nearly double, approaching in volume to some of the largest rivers in Europe. For several months after, the Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually from one side to the other of the valley, carrying away newly-erected bridges, undermining houses, and continuing to be charged with as large a quantity of earthy matter as the fluid could hold in suspension.

are

From the facts here placed before the reader, two general conclusions deducible; namely, that the mountains of the globe, lofty as some of them are, have reared their heads, in a former period of earth's history, to a much greater height than they do now; and that extensive plains are attributable to rivers and floods, in bringing down perpetually the disintegrated materials from the mountains. In this manner, there has been a continual increase of the habitable and productive surface of the planet, and a consequent increase, slowly but steadily maintained, of accommodation for the human race. A great part of Egypt has been formed by what the Nile has brought down from the Albara and other tributaries, derived from the mountains of Abyssinia. Holland owes its existence to the deposits of the Rhine. Lands on a smaller scale, but from similar causes, have become valuable possessions on both sides the Humber; some of them rescued from swamp and marsh within the past forty years. Other parts there are where the sea is making perpetual aggressions upon the land; but, upon the whole, the deposits of seas and rivers elsewhere are more than a compensation for those ravages.

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The works of the LORD are great; sought out by all them that have pleasure therein." "Lo, these are

parts of his ways." The processes of nature are slow; but they work out the great purposes of God; with whom 66 one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." "The pure in heart see God;" and they see Him everywhere, and in

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everything. His will is that man should "fill the earth and subdue it." His will is being done; and it will go on to be done until time shall be no more.

PULPIT PREPARATION. THAT which I now consider the best mode of preparation for the public ministry of the word, no longer adopted from necessity, on account of want of time, but from deep conviction, and from the experience of God's blessing upon it, both as it regards my own enjoyment, the benefit of the saints, and the conversion of sinners, is as follows:

1. I do not presume to know myself what is best for the hearers, and I therefore ask the Lord, in the first place, that He would graciously be pleased to teach me on what subject I shall speak, or what portion of His word I shall expound. Now sometimes it happens, that, previous to my asking Him, a subject or passage has been in my mind, on which it has appeared well for me to speak. In that case, I ask the Lord, whether I should speak on this subject or passage. If, after prayer, I feel persuaded that I should, I fix upon it; yet so that I would desire to leave myself open to the Lord to change it, if He please. Frequently, however, it is the case that I have no text or subject in my mind before I give myself to prayer for the sake of ascertaining the Lord's will concerning it. In this case, I wait some time on my knees for an answer, trying to listen to the voice of the Spirit to direct me. If, in this case, a passage or subject, whilst I am on my knees, or after I have finished praying for a text, is brought to my mind, I again ask the Lord, and that sometimes repeatedly, especially if, humanly speaking, the subject or text should be a peculiar one, whether it be His will that I should speak on such a subject or passage. If, after prayer, my mind is peaceful about it, I take this to be the text, but still desire to leave myself open to the Lord for direction, should He please to alter it, or should I have been mistaken. Frequently also, in the third place, it is the case that I not only have no text or sub

ject on my mind previous to my praying for guidance in this matter, nor do I get one after once, or twice, or more times praying about it. In this case, I used formerly sometimes to be much perplexed; but during the last years it has pleased the Lord, in general at least, to keep me in peace about it. What I do in this case is, to go on with my regular reading of the scriptures, where I left off the last time, praying (whilst I read) for a text, now and then also laying aside my Bible for prayer, till I get one. Thus it has happened, that I have had to read five, ten, yea, twenty chapters, before it has pleased the Lord to give me a text; yea, at times I have even had to go to the meetinghouse without one, and obtained it perhaps only a few minutes before I was going to speak; but I have never lacked the Lord's assistance at the time of preaching, provided I had earnestly sought it in private. The preacher cannot know the particular state of the various individuals who compose the congregation, nor what they require; but the Lord knows it: and if the preacher renounces his own wisdom, he will be assisted by the Lord; but if he will choose in his own wisdom, then let him not be surprised if he should see little benefit result from his labours.

Before I leave this part of the subject, I would just observe one temptation concerning the choice of a text. We may see a subject to be so very full, that it may strike us it would do for some other occasion. For instance, sometimes a text brought to one's mind for a week-night meeting may appear more suitable for the Lord's day; and, in the second place, we know not whether that very subject may not be especially suitable for some or many individuals present just that week-evening. Thus I was once tempted, after I had been a short time at Teignmouth, to reserve a subject, which had been just opened to me, for the next Lord's-day. But being able, by the grace of God, to overcome the temptation by the above reasons, and preaching about it at once, it pleased the Lord to bless it to the conversion of a sinner, and that, too, an individual who meant to