Ar a recent meeting of the London Asiatic Society, Professor Wilson delivered a lecture on the Vedas-the sacred writings of the ancient Hindoos. The lecturer proceeded to notice the labor of Europeans on the Vedas, and the means taken to make their contents known to the world. It appears that of the four Vedas, the texts of three, and the translations of two, are either printed or in course of publication. The Vedas consist of two parts,-the Mantra and Brahmana, or the practical and speculative, the former consisting of hymns, and the latter chiefly of directions for the application of the hymns to the principal religious ceremonies. The metaphysical treatises called Upanishads are included in the Brahmanas. The whole of the hymns, as grouped together, form what is called the Sanhita of the Veda: that of the Rigveda contains about ten thousand stanzas; and the shortest, that of the Sama or third Veda, about sixteen hundred. Of the four Vedas, the Rigveda is certainly the most ancient, for parts of it are found in each of the others. The hymns of the Mantras are more ancient than the Brahmanas; and the Upanishads, though always considered an integral part of the Veda, belong to a totally different era and system. The chief value of the Vedas depends upon their high antiquity; the most remarkable result of our acquaintance with these works is, the discovery that no warrant is found in them for any of the principal dogmas and institutions of modern Hinduism.

Several letters written by the "Great Cor neille," as the French call their principal poet,

have been discovered in the collection of manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Sainte Genevieve at Paris. These letters were addressed to the

Reverend Father Boulard, Deputy-Abbot of the Monastery of St. Genevieve, and are dated from 1652 to 1656. They refer to his translation into verse of the famous "Imitation of Jesus Christ." This remarkable work is generally, and now certainly, ascribed to Thomas à Kempis; but many very learned Churchmen, and other persons, have labored hard to prove that it was written by John Gerson, at one time Chancelor of the Benedictine Order. In these newly-discovered letters of the poet there is great caution in speaking of the rival claims of à Kempis and Gerson. The chiefs of the Benedictines and the

chiefs of the Genovefains, both were extremely anxious to get him to declare himself on their side in the great controversy, thinking, naturally, that such an authority would not only have immense weight of itself, but would be virtually decisive if proclaimed in his poetical translation of the "Imitation."

At a late meeting of the London Royal Society,

it was announced that the late Rev. C. Turnor, F. R. S., had bequeathed to the Royal Society his very valuable and interesting collection of memorials and relics of Sir Isaac Newton, with $1,000 to complete the collection.

The University of Oxford have voted in Convocation the sum of $2,500, as a donation to the funds of the great educational institute to be

established as a testimonial to the Duke of Wellington, the late Chancelor of the University.

At a recent session of the French Academy, daughter of Condorcet, four manuscript volumes M. Arago presented from Mad. O'Connor, the in quarto, that have long remained unknown, in volume is a Treatise on the Integral Calculus, the family mansion, near Montargri. The first written by Condorcet in his early life. The fourth volume contains a large quantity of autograph letters from d'Alembert, Lagrange, Laplace, and other mathematicians.

Among the five thousand volumes of Neander's Library, now in this country, is a complete set of the Church Fathers, such as Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, &c. The works of the earliest scholars of middle ages may also be found,-among which are those of the "Venerable Bede," and his pupil Alcuin, who, under the patronage of Charlemagne, became the father of theological and liberal learning in France. From the schools which he there founded in the eighth century, sprang the schoolmen of the ninth century and onward. Here we find the works of John Scotus, Anselm of Canterbury, Abelard, Roscellinus, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, &c. Twelve hundred volumes of the writings of the Reformation, in the original editions, may be found. Of the more modern works on Church History and its literature, are,-the great work of Baronius and his continuators, Petz's Monumenta, and Niebuhr's Byzantine on Ecclesiastical History, Petz's Thesaurus,

Historians.

"The Revival of the French Emperorship anticipated from the Necessity of Prophecy," is the title of a new work, by Mr. G. S. Faber, an English writer, who has long had the prophecies of the Bible under consideration. Mr. Faber undertakes to show that Napoleon the First was the "seventh head" of the Beast, mentioned in the Revelation, while Napoleon III. is the "eighth head."

Dr. Hedren, bishop of one of the Swedish dioceses, has lately presented to the Library of the Gymnasium, at Linkoping, Sweden, (the largest Gymnasial book collection of that land,) a copy of the Missale Ecclesia Upsaliensis, Basilee, per Magistrum J. de Pfordtzheim, 1513. Only five copies of this book are in existence.

The Cross of the Legion of Honor has been given by Louis Napoleon to M. Huc, the traveler in

Thibet and Tartary.

La Ruche Litteraire, the Literary Hive, is the title of a new magazine which has been started in Montreal, under the direction of Mr. G. H. Cherrier.

The Prussian booksellers are, it is said, about to establish a grand book-fair at Berlin, in order to be independent of that at Leipsic.

A new edition of the poetical works of Milton, with indexes, is being prepared for the press by Mr. Charles D. Cleveland. It is to be

THE fiftieth anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society was recently celebrated in England with appropriate services. The Bible Society, formed in London, in 1803, soon became the parent of many others. At the present time the number of societies in connection with it is eight thousand two hundred and fifty-seven. When the Society was first established, the translations of the Bible, in whole or in part, may have been about fifty; but since then the number has greatly increased. There are now one hundred and forty-eight languages or dialects in which the Society has promoted the distribution, printing, or translation of the Scriptures. During the first four years the number of copies circulated was 81,157. Last year alone, at home and abroad, 1,154,642 were circulated; and the total number from the commencement is computed to be 25,402,309 copies. Assistance has been given to other societies in the distribution of about 18,000,000 more; so that the circulation, by means of these combined societies, cannot be less than 43,000,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part. Thus, within the present oentury, the records of inspired truth have been rendered accessible to about 600,000,000 of the human family.

At the anniversary of the Boston Young Men's Missionary Society, the treasurer reported the sum of $2,110 as the total amount of collection for the current year, showing an increase over last year of $300. The membership of the Churches sustaining this Society is 1,933, making an average in contributions to it alone, during the year, of $1 09 per member.

Mosul, opposite the site of ancient Nineveh,

has been made the centre of a new mission.

A great work is already in progress. The Bible is the acknowledged standard in all religious discussions, and, as the number of readers is increasing, light must necessarily spread. Valuable assistance in the prosecution of the missionary work is rendered by Deacon Jeremiah, an able and earnest advocate of Christianity. Having obtained a saving knowledge of the gospel during a revival among the Nestorians, he is well qualified to be a preacher of Christ, particularly among the Chaldeans, to whom he once belonged. He has already done good service, and his voice has been heard far up the Tigris.

The English Baptist Missionary Association are about sending twenty additional missionaries to Hindostan.

A mission has been recently commenced by converted Sandwich Islanders in the Micronesian group, two thousand miles to the westward of their islands. The Sandwich Islanders contribute liberally to the support of their religious institutions, and also to foreign missions. In no country has Christianity, in modern times, obtained so complete a triumph over heathen idolatry as in the Sandwich Islands. The principles of the gospel have reached every class of society, and form an element in all the

national institutions. The number of common schools in these islands is five hunded and thirty-five, containing fifteen thousand five hundred pupils. The cost of these schools is $26,000; and the whole annual expenditure for education amounts to $60,000, three-fourths of which is paid by the government. The Churches contain upward of twenty thousand members, of whom one thousand four hundred have been admitted during the past year.

Rome has a population of 175,000, and 2,092 monks and members of religious orders, among them are 29 bishops, 1,280 priests, 1,690 nuns, and 537 ecclesiastic pupils.

Kave, Bishop of Lincoln, England, is dead. He wrote "Lectures on Ecclesiastical History," "Remarks on Dr. Wiseman's Lectures," and "Athanasius and the Council of Nice."

The Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, at Alleghany City, Pennsyl vania, now contains 52 students, of whom 20 are in the Junior class.

Rev. Samuel Longfellow (son of an eminent statesman of the Washington school, and brother of the poet, Henry W. Longfellow) has accepted a call from the Second Unitarian Society of Brooklyn, worshiping in the Athenæum Building, corner of Atlantic and Clinton-sts.

At the late session of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church thirty young men were received into the conference, and twenty more are still wanted! An increase of 2,700 members during the past year was reported. The missionary collections for the year amounted to $24,550. All the necessary preliminaries were duly provided for the erection of a metropolitan church in Washington City, and $2,355 subscribed to the object.

There are upon the Western Reserve fourteen Old School Presbyterian Churches, twenty-two New School, sixty-three Congregational Churches connected with the New School Presbyteries, eighty-four Congregational Churches which are not connected with Presbyteries, and three whose relations are unknown. A correspondent of the Central Christian Herald, in speaking of the want of ministers in the New School Presbyterian Church, remarks, that "in Ohio there are one hundred and twenty-eight pastors and stated supplies, and two hundred and thirtytwo Churches. In our four Synods, one hundred and two pastors and stated supplies, and two hundred and twenty-five Churches. In the Synod of Ohio, thirty-five pastors and stated supplies, and seventy-three Churches. In the Presbytery of Franklin, eight pastors and stated supplies, and nineteen Churches."

At the last Board meeting of the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the formation of two conference auxiliaries, one connected with the Baltimore, the other with the California Conference, was announced. Rev. George D. Chenoweth has been appointed the Conference Tract Agent, and also Corresponding Secretary of the Baltimore Conference Auxiliary.

Over $300 were raised in behalf of the new tract enterprise in Hagerstown, Maryland, at the late session of the Baltimore Conference. The Board of Managers at New-York have appropriated $100 for the distribution of tracts among the Scandinavians under the direction of Rev. Mr. Hedstrom, of the Swedish mission in this city; $150 to the Baltimore Conference Tract Society; and $300 to Rev. Mr. Jacoby, at Bremen, to aid in printing the publications of the society in the German language at that place. Measures have also been taken by the Board to get up a suitable certificate of lifemembership. The prospects of the Society are very flattering.

The labors of the missionaries of the Rhenish Society in the Island of Borneo have been attended with considerable success. There are in the schools upward of 1,000 scholars; the places for preaching are well attended, and about 100 persons have been baptized. The New Testament has been translated into the Dyak language, and an addition of 1,500 copies, printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, has been distributed by the missionaries. The desire for books is great, and especially for the New Testament, which many of the Dyaks regard as a powerful protector, and carry it with them in all their journeys.

Among the Jews in London there is a great demand for copies of the Old Testament. The subject of their restoration to Palestine, and the nature of the promises on which the expectation is founded, are extensively engaging

their attention.

A remarkable change is said to be in progress among the Jews in almost every country. Rabbinism is rapidly losing its influence; and multitudes are throwing aside the Mishna and the Talmud, and betaking themselves to the study of Moses and the prophets.

The California Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held in the Powellstreet Church, San Francisco, recently. The conference embraces three districts, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Marysville. Thirtyeight traveling preachers are employed within its bounds. The numbers in society were

reported as one thousand two hundred and seventy-four members, and one hundred and fourteen probationers; total one thousand three hundred and eighty-eight, being nearly double the number of the preceding year. The sum of $1,000 was raised for missions during the year and $18 for the Sunday-school Union. This conference has the honor of being the first to take hold of the new Tract enterprise of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in their Minutes they report $59 raised for it.

In the Sabbath schools connected with the Baptist Churches in the city and county of Philadelphia, there are about eight hundred teachers and eight thousand scholars.

The following are the statistics of the Lutheran Church:-Sweden, 3,000,000; Norway, 1,500,000; Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Jutland and Greenland, 2,000,000; France, 500,000; Protestant Germany, 25,000,000; Prussia, 5,000,000; Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and

Moravia, 1,500,000; Poland and Russia, 2,500,000; United States, 1,000,000; West India Islands, 100,000; Brazil, 100,000; South American States, 50,000-total, 42,250,000.

The number of Baptists in the United States, according to the Baptist Register, is 899,038, divided as follows:-Regular Baptists, 772,216; Anti-Mission, 66,507; Free-Will, 51,775; Serenth-Day, 6,351; Six-Principle, 2,189. In the British provinces there are 23,385; in the West Indies and Honduras, 35,058; in Europe, 196,824; in Asia, 12,297; in Africa, 1,242; making a total of 1,167,844.

There are at present thirty churches in San Francisco, Cal. This is about one to each thousand inhabitants. The Methodists have four; the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Baptists two each; the Congregationalists, Roman Catholics, Swedenborgians, and Welsh, one each.

There are eighteen Methodist Churches in Cincinnati, and three thousand five hundred members.

Dr. Wayland, in an address before the Baptist Convention in Boston, alluded to the paucity of Baptist clergymen, and said that statistics would show that there are some four thousand Churches destitute of pastors-some four or five hundred clergymen are needed to supply the vacancies year by year in the ranks of those now effective, leaving the four thousand unprovided for.

There are among the colored people of Phila delphia nineteen places of worship; of which nine are Methodist, five Baptist, three Presbyterian, and two Episcopal. Nearly or quite all these churches have Sunday schools at tached to them; and the aggregate number of colored children in these and other Sunday schools in the city, is about two thousand.

An interesting revival in the Drome, a department in the eastern part of France, is announced. Two hundred persons, of whom fifty are children, have made a profession of the knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins. It has spread into the National Reformed Church, so that the prayer meetings are now held in the churches, under the direction of the Methodist preacher, or the pastor appointed by the government.

The late Hervey Lyon, of Rochester, has made the following liberal bequests: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, $2,000; Home Missionary Society, $2,000; American Tract Society, $2,000; American Bible Society, $2,000; American Sunday-school Union $1,000; American Education Society, $1,000; Rochester Orphan Asylum, (Protestant,) $500; Rochester Female Charitable Society, $300; Home for the Friendless, $200-total $11,000.

There are twenty-one distinct Methodist organizations in the world-twenty-three if we add the French and Australian Churches. Five of these are in England and Ireland; four in Canada; and eleven in the United States. There are one hundred and eight annual conferences; twenty-seven bishops; upward of forty-nine thousand traveling and local preachers; and two million, one hundred and ten thousand communicants.

PROFESSOR RIETSCHEL is occupied at Dresden upon the monument to Goethe and Schiller, to be erected in Weimar. Reitschel has abandoned entirely the system of clothing modern portrait statues in the flowing folds of ancient Greek and Roman costume; he maintains, that monumental statues should be not only portraits of the individuals meant to be represented, but also tolerably accurate pictures of the costumes of the time. Following out this idea, he has given his two statues of Goethe and Schiller in the ordinary dress of the early part of the present century, and the effect produced is extremely good. The two figures stand side by side, Goethe grasping firmly in his hand a crown of laurels, which Schiller, the younger poet, but lightly touches. Goethe, in accordance with his character, looks calmly and confidently on the great world, whilst Schiller's eyes are raised to heaven as if seeking for inspiration; the figure of Goethe is full of dignity and repose, that of Schiller of emotion and grace.

The Dublin Industrial Exhibition of this year will receive a most valuable contribution from Prussia: a most interesting collection of the works of celebrated living painters, sculptors, and other artists of Prussia; which, together with the élite of Prussian manufacturers, which the Government is now summoning the different Chambers of Commerce to exhibit, will form a complete representation of the present state of the fine arts and industry in that country.

The association of Artists of the province of Prussia have opened the annual exhibition in the royal palace at Konigsberg. The number of works is about five hundred, the greater part of them from Berlin and Dusseldorff. Some Dutch, French, and Bavarian artists, are among the exhibitors. The most attractive are a Godefroy de Bouillon before Jerusalem, by M. Jacobs; and a Dying Adonis, by Professor Kloeber of Berlin.

It is proposed that a bust of Dr Jonathan Pereira, the late eminent pharmaceutist, shall be executed, to be placed in the New College of the London Hospital.

A large statue of the god Apis, found in the lower part of a temple in Egypt, has lately arrived at Marseilles. The French government supplied M. Mariette with funds for making excavations at Memphis and other places, and it is he who has discovered the image of the god. It is destined for the Louvre. The Louvre is likewise about to receive a large head of a woman in marble, (about two yards high,) and recently in the ruins of Carthage-it appears to have served to ornament the façade of a temple, and most probably represents Dido, though the discoverers of it profess themselves

unable to decide.

A suit of Greek Armor, found at Cuma, has just been placed in the Tower of London armory. The suit consists of helmet and breast-plate, (with an embossed head of Medusa and other

ornaments,) back-plate, neck-piece, embossed with a comic mask, belt, knee-pieces, greaves, spearshead and dagger. The helmet is winged, and has spiral ornaments for holding the plumes. It cost $1,000.

A painting of the Descent from the Cross, by Poussin, has just been discovered among some

old lumber in the Church of Notre Dame at

Lamballe, Department of the Cotes du Nord. It is estimated, though somewhat damaged, to be worth $6,000.

Some of our best portraits are from daguerreotypes by Lawrence, 381 Broadway. That of Dr. Tyng in our last is a specimen. One for a future number, a life-like portrait of Dr. Bacon, is another. We can recommend this artist to our readers unreservedly. He ranks among the very best in the country. He received a medal from the World's Fair of 1851. Call in and see his works.

The "Museum of Sovereigns," which Emperor Bonaparte ordered to be formed some time ago in the Louvre at Paris, has been thrown open to the public. It contains things that belonged personally to the sovereigns who have reigned in France. They occupy five rooms, and among them may be noticed the spurs, sceptre, and hand of justice of Charlemagne; the armor and swords of Francis I., Francis II., Henry II., III., and IV.; the prayer-books of Henry II., (a clumsy volume,) Mary Stuart, Henry IV., and Louis XIV.; the stone basin in which Saint Louis was baptized; the simple deal table on which Louis XVIII. was accustomed to write during his exile in England, and which he carefully preserved in the Tuileries after his accession to the throne; the writing-table of Louis Philippe, damaged in the Revolution of February; the coronation robes, some uniforms, swords, &c., of Napoleon, together with a splendid copy, in vellum, of the translation of Ossian-his favorite poet-and the flag which he kissed on taking leave of the army at Fontainbleau. Most of the things collected are curious, and some possess a high historical interest.

At a late meeting of the Institute of British Architects, Mr. Twining described a new drawing instrument, invented by him, and denominated the Artist's Goniometer for measuring the angles of horizontal lines in a landscape or building. This instrument consists of a vertical rod, supporting a horizontal graduated semicircular plate, above which a needle is moved in any direction, so as to be placed parallel with any line to be delineated. The angle indicated by the needle is then transferred to the drawing by means of another graduated semicircular plate, fixed over the upper edge of the drawing-board-the apparatus being placed at a distance from the drawing corres ponding with the width of the latter. Above the plate or dial is placed another in a vertical position, which can be moved vertically round its axis, and serves to mark the elevation or depression of any point above or below the horizon.