strained to receive the faith of the canons, but without the taking of an oath. Curcellæus perceiving that our opinion would be rejected, which he had not yet submitted to the test of Scripture, and that the Remonstrants would be condemned as guilty of schism, whom he believed to be the least worthy of this accusation, and that conscience would be bound by the establishment of men when it belonged to God, alone declared himself unable by hand or mind to yield assent to it; and soon after he resigned his office, appealing to the National Synod, soon to be celebrated at Carenton, which he did by the advice of his friends and relations, influenced by some trickery in the synod, who threatened that unless he should do this of his own free-will that the synod would brand him with the severer mark of ignominy; but when this synod was held, affairs were grievously disturbed in this our Belgium; neither was there a place of refuge either by sea or land, nor a gleaming hope of happier times. Some likewise instilled a doubt in his mind concerning the foreknowledge of God, upon which he was not entirely settled, and from which stronghold they were attempting to overthrow the idea of God's predestination. His relations, friends, advisers, and other importunate interferers, added their influence, and urged his wavering and doubtful mind that he should surrender his own conscience, with his own handwriting, into servitude to certain sacred canons, but with these reservations in the conditions: first, that he should not be held as condemning the Remonstrants, an act to which he expressed himself very averse; second, that he could not wholly approve those canons in which our opinion was rejected; the remaining ones, which they called affirmative, in which their opinion was expressed, he could not be held to approve in the same sense as the partisans of Dort; for the synod having omitted the former published the latter under this title: Articles adopted at the National Synod of the Reformed Church of France, held at Charenton. Printed at Paris. Finally, he declared that from Canon XV, cap. 1, it seemed that God is the author of sin; nevertheless, inasmuch as a certain explanation or rather softening, which, as it then seemed, was not absurd, was given, he acquiesced. He was then immediately promoted to the pastorship of a country Church in the town of Helmauru, and, on account of his age or some other reason, was placed

over Samuel Maresius; not long after he was called to a city Church at Vitriacum, the most celebrated and numerously attended in all Campania, in which station he persevered for ten years, till the thirty-fourth year of the present century.

TAKES REFUGE IN BELGIUM.

In the mean time no slight wound remained upon his mind, because, on account of suggested scruples not sufficiently weighty and difficulties hardly insuperable, he had suffered himself to be or to seem to be moved by any compact whatever, either from the most precious possession and most free profession of truth; but especially his mind was stung by this fact, that he had submitted his conscience, accountable to God alone and the Holy Scriptures, to a slavery to men and the statutes of men. All things, even those which he said with the best intentions, were perverted by the sinister suggestions of certain men into a suspicion of heresy. A work on predestination by Herman Herbert, pastor at Gouda, published in Belgic and translated into French, which he had happened to lend to a very near neighbor, was the most fruitful cause of strife both with private men and the synod itself. His own mind was then harassed with a wavering and anxious deliberation upon every side; for what could a man of so advanced an age do, his estate and means of support being small? Should he remain in France? But there there was no hope of liberty. Or should he betake himself hither? But what protection to a stranger or a foreigner in regions where he feared himself to be little acceptable to any body? Yet you may see, my excellent auditors, how great is the force of conscience, especially in manlier minds; for what did our Curcellæus do, what counsel did he take, being placed in this trouble, unsustained by a single friend? Listening no more to friends and relations, but delivering himself to the guidance and rule of the Holy Spirit, he left his country, kinsmen, and friends; he fled from an inferior and terrene country as Abraham, and he took that path which he knew would render his journey to that higher and celestial world safer and more unimpeded. He fled as Jacob, and he finally came to rest in this country, in which he saw the ladder by which was his entrance into heaven.

ART. VI.-THE HEARING EAR.

"THE hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made even both of them." He who wrote more wisely than any other proverb writer names the ear first in his mention of two of heaven's choicest bestowments. It is one of the "five gateways to knowledge." Who shall say that any organ opens the way to knowledge more varied and important than the ear? The connection of its organism with the senses, and the senses with it, is a perpetual miracle.

THE EXTERNAL EAR.

There is far more difficulty in demonstrating the organ of hearing than that of seeing. The first is inclosed in a hard, rocklike, bony case, hid from view, and when revealed by the anatomist's saw presents much that is strange and unaccountable. The latter is presented to full view, and operates by laws which are, in part at least, understood. The first is operated upon by sound, which is less appreciable than light, and the laws of which are less understood. In order to describe the ear practically we will divide the subject into the External Ear, or that which we see; the Canal, at the bottom of which is the drum; and the Internal Ear.

The "auricle," which is seen in fig. 1, is not necessary to hearing, although very useful to collect and conduct sounds

into the canal. It is essential to accurate hearing. In a healthy condition it is insensible, being composed of cartilage, or gristle, as is proved by the impunity with which it is pierced from motives of vanity. In ancient times it was slit, cut, and speared as a penalty for civil offenses. It is not, except in a few remarkable instances, under the control of man. The horse, as is well known, turns it in any direction at will. The shape of the auricle in the lower animals indicates their habits, and the mode by which they obtain their food. For example, timid animals, as the rabbit, have the auricle turned backward, and laid flat, so as to hear from behind, and not to impede flight. Pursuing animals have small ears, which are directed forward. The auricle of small wild animals is carefully protected from brushwood by the multitude of pinnæ, or short, stiff hairs, which covers their interior surface. Domestication of animals causes the auricle to become more pendulous.

Although so insensible, the auricle, when it becomes inflamed, is by no means to be trifled with. By the application of poisons, or irritating articles, it becomes frightfully swollen. This is often the case when the organ has been frozen. Inflammation of the auricle is often very obstinate, and refuses to yield to remedies. Generally, however, the prompt removal of the offending cause, and the application of a little sweet oil or unguent, soon induces the healing process. The shape of the auricle is found most desirable for hearing trumpets, thus proving that it is mainly useful to direct sounds into the ears. On a very large scale it was imitated by the tyrant Dionysius. His tyrannical device has outlived the monster who contrived it, and proves that acoustics was to some degree understood even at that far-off period.

EAR OF DIONYSIUS.

In 1840, during several days spent at ancient Syracuse, we visited this remarkable spot. Near the gateway and towers, erected by Archimedes, is a locality called "the quarry," among the rocky chambers of which is found, in a state of perfect preservation, the celebrated prison of Dionysius. If the emperor could return again, as he stood in the artificial cave, he would not perceive that thousands of years had brought any change. It is built in the form of the letter s, and is intended to imitate

the cochlea of the human ear. We observed that it still contained a stone bathing-tub, probably the very same that was used in the execution of prisoners by his order.

The following is a leaf from our private journal, written in the evening of the day that we visited this grotto in the quarry of Syracuse:

It is shaped like the auricle of the human ear. It is so arranged that all sounds concentrate at one single spot. It is fifty-eight feet in height, seventeen feet wide, and two hundred and ten feet deep. The sounds are all conveyed to the tympanum, which communicates with a small private apartment where the curious emperor spent his leisure in hearing what the unfortunate prisoners had to say of him. This apartment we find still preserved. Indeed, all is cut out of solid rock and cannot be destroyed, else the tooth of time would have obliterated all traces of this infamous monarch. The custode fired a small pistol, which caused a tremendous report through the cavern, lasting several seconds. This is very near the spot where Cicero discovered the grave of Archimedes, which was shown us, and has been shown to tourists ever since the time of the great orator. This is one of the oldest historic places in the world that is so well authenticated. These monuments are carved by an ancient people out of granite rock, and will be found just as well preserved when many more centuries shall have rolled by, and will be visited while the name of Archimedes is respected and that of Dionysius execrated.

It will be seen, by referring to fig. 1, that the auricle is set upon the end of a cartilaginous tube, (2) which terminates in a mass of convoluted bones (3) which constitute the organ of hearing. The position of the auricle, in relation to this canal, causes blows upon the ear to be very dangerous to the integrity of the organ. A careless blow upon the ear of a child by a parent or a teacher has often proved a cause of subsequent deafness throughout a whole life.

If the reader will at this moment press with his finger upon that little prominence which stands sentinel on the lower side of the entrance to the canal opposite the auricle he will perceive that pain is produced. Let him increase that pressure, or violently thrust his finger into the entrance to the canal, and he will perceive that the pain is increased, and that it will continue some moments, perhaps a quarter or half an hour. This is an extremely sensitive spot. Nature has taught us instinctively to guard it. If danger threatens a blow, or