which they can go; that is, till every particle has sunk to its level: now if you apply this to the air, you will find, that where it is driven out of its level it seeks it again, and this causes vibration or movement in it; and when in these vibrations, it meets with a sonorous body, sound is the result.

Emily. Then are there waves in the air as there are in water?

Mamma. Yes, and if you remember the effect which is produced when you throw a stone into the water, (which forms circle after circle, till the large outer one is so faint, that you can scarcely see it) you will understand how the air is similarly affected, and that the undulations in it in proportion to their distance from the place where the sonorous body was struck, are fainter and fainter, and at last no sound is heard-sound travels at the rate of 1130 feet in a second-light travels with much greater rapidity: so that if you stand at a considerable distance from the place where a gun is discharged, you will see the flash long before you hear the report of it.

Frank. I suppose that is the reason why we do not hear thunder and see lightning at the same time? Mamma. It is, and when there is but little space between them, we say that the storm is over-head. The waves, then, of the air are collected by the outer ear; the trumpet-like shape of which conveys the sound to the membrane of the tympanum. Behind this is a cavity containing air, otherwise the membrane would not move backwards and forwards as it does when it is acted upon by external vibrations. Then the chain of bones increases the vibration received on the membrane of the tympanum, and transmits it to the membrane of the foramen ovale. You

remember that in the cavity of the tympanum there were two openings, called the foramen ovale and the foramen rotundum, both of which lead into the labyrinth. The former leads also into the vestibule, and the latter into the cochlea; each of these has a membrane stretched over it. Thence sound passes through the various intricate canals I before described. The soft expansion of the nerve in the three divisions of the labyrinth receives the undulations of the contained fluids, and these motions give to the nerve and brain the sense of hearing.

Franks I think in some respects this is more curious than the account of the construction of the eye, because through the eye we get impressions of things that really exist; but through the ear, of those which come from the minds of others, and go to our brains, and make us feel, and think of things, that we never felt before.

Mamma. Yes, this knowledge reminds us of what the psalmist says: "It is high, I cannot attain unto it." But you must always remember, my dear, that though outward things seem to you more real than those which are merely intellectual, and have only to do with the mind, that it is not so in fact; and by studying the anatomy of the ear we may learn this truth. There is another thing also which I should wish you to observe, and that is, that it is possible for the outward ear to look quite perfect, and to catch all the sounds which the vibrations of the air produce; and yet if the inner and hidden parts of it are diseased or imperfect, no sensation will be communicated to the brain: this is the case withwhom?

Emily. With deaf persons, mamma.

Mamma. Yes, and what scripture truth do you think this teaches us, with regard to ourselves?

Frank. Do you mean, mamma, that merely hearing the gospel will not do us any good unless we receive it into our hearts?

Mamma. Yes, my dear; all the Jews to whom Christ himself preached the gospel, heard him with the outward ear, but what good did some of them get by it? They merely increased their own condemnation ; because seeing, they saw, but did not perceive, and hearing, they heard, but did not understand. Let us therefore take heed how we hear, and remember that it is Christ in the heart, and not Christ in the understanding only, which will do our souls any real good.

M.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN
LADY'S MAGAZINE.

MADAM,

I SHOULD feel indifferent to the doubts expressed by your correspondent G. E. M. of the veracity of the detailed circumstances in the Memoir of Little Annie,' did they not undervalue the consideration of spiritual truths, of too much importance to be disregarded. And as you have become charged with impropriety or indiscretion, for having admitted it into the pages of the Magazine (though that was not the channel of publication contemplated by me), I feel it right and incumbent to give you the fullest assurance of the strict truth of every part of that memoir, and to subjoin, as a credential, the testimony of the favoured parents.

The memoir is neither a fictitious' nor highly wrought narrative, but the simple statement of facts: neither is it a miracle, but an evidence of the extraordinary influential operation of the Holy Spirit of Him who worketh as seemeth him good-the Spirit that bloweth where it listeth. Neither is it a superstitious fancy of a fond imagination, desiring to create a phantom to uphold a system; but an honest detail of a work and manifestation of grace, calculated to quicken parents to a more lively dependence of faith, and a more watchful attention to the answer of prayer,

in readiness to foster the early tokens of divine influence, not grieving the Spirit by indifference.

This was the object of the writer of that memoir : and she assures G. E. M. and those of the same sentiments with her with whom she has conversed, that they commit an error, in forming to themselves a limit of the divine grace, and venturing to make their calculation of a period before which they conceive such a work could not be so evidenced.

The memoir has now been given more generally to the public, and the author earnestly prays that its importance in the truth it displays may be impressed and blessed to all who read it.

I can pardon the temptation to discredit such facts -they are uncommon; but I shrink not, because they are difficult to believe, from declaring such facts, and am thankful for the opportunity of showing forth the grace and promise of that redeeming Lord, who, when he said, "Suffer little children to come unto me," neither prescribed a limited period or age, nor quenched the ardent hope and desire of parental love and duty, by saying when it would be too soon to show the power of grace wrought in their heart.

The hasty criticism of the circumstances has led to further error. I conceive the subject described, Luke i. 41, 44, 80, would most probably be one to develope the earliest influences, as perhaps also Jer. i. 5.

But the remarks respecting that sacred subject of the infantile state of our Emmanuel, the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, however they may sound to cold speculation, are, I am compelled to say, repugnant to my feelings, and offensive to my faith. "The Son of the Highest," Luke i. 32; "That holy thing born of the virgin," 35; "The Son of God," which was