TWO LUNG-TESTS. 343 



Babylonians, the Israelites retained their old monthly sabbath, or 

 festival of the new moon, and considered it to be the more impor- 

 tant because the more ancient and national. Whether the monthly 

 sabbath was coincident with the first weekly sabbath wonld de- 

 pend upon whether the seven-day week, as borrowed from the 

 Babylonians, was a civil period or a true subdivision of a lunar 

 month. That the Israelites did borrow the weekly sabbath from 

 the Babylonians there can scarcely be any doubt. We know that 

 the Babylonians observed the seventh day as a day of rest, and 

 the historical books of the Old Testament show that the Israelites 

 had no knowledge of any such observance till after contact with 

 Babylon.* 







TWO LUNG-TESTS. 



By F. L. OSWALD. 



WHEN the would-be reformer Balmaceda ended his blighted 

 career, a correspondent of the Chili Mercurio consoled 

 himself with the thought that " the ruin of his friend, though in 

 some respects an irreparable loss, had at least an experimental 

 value." 



A similar reflection may reconcile American naturalists to the 

 fate of Pat Rooney, the champion chimpanzee of the Cincinnati 

 Zoo. It will be a long time before the pet dealers of this con- 

 tinent get hold of another such marvel, but the manner of his 

 death proves at least the impossibility of preventing lung dis- 

 orders by habitual indoor life. 



Pat's prison was in many respects a model of comfort. He 

 had a rocking-chair and a variety of gymnastic contrivances, a 

 bench and a dinner-table of his own, and could rely on a liberal 

 allowance of well-selected food, served daily at convenient hours. 

 The cage was large enough for extensive romps, and was kept as 



* The sabbath is not, as has been said, anywhere mentioned between Deuteronomy, v, 15, 

 and II Kings, iv, 23, but it is mentioned in Chronicles, which refers to some of the same 

 periods. Chronicles is, however, clearly a compilation from the other books, for it contains 

 genealogies from Genesis, and some of the same occurrences as are narrated in Samuel and 

 Kings. The word sabbath occurs in the following passages : I Chronicles, ix, 32, where 

 certain Levites are appointed to prepare the shew-bread every sabbath. This chapter de- 

 scribes the Israelites as dwelling in Jerusalem in the days of Saul, which we know, from 

 II Samuel, v, 5-9, was not the case. In I Chronicles, xxiii, 31, David appoints Levites to 

 offer sacrifices on sabbaths and new moons ; in II Chronicles, ii, 4, Solomon says he built 

 the temple for the burnt offerings on the sabbaths and new moons ; and in II Chronicles, 

 xxxi, 3, Hezekiah appoints his portion for burnt offerings for the sabbaths and new moons. 

 These are the only cases in which the sabbath is mentioned, and the combinations of sab- 

 baths with new moons, only found in the later books, is additional proof, if further proof 

 be required, that the two books of Chronicles date from post-captivity times. 



