684 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



of a powerful light upon a screen the reflection shows the figures that 

 are at the back of the mirror. This peculiarity is explained by the fact 

 that there are irregularities in the convexity of the mirror which cause 

 an irregular reflection of the sun's rays. 



H. H. S. Thompson wrote on the women of Japan. They pride them- 

 selves on the fact that nine of the sovereigns of Japan have been wo- 

 men; that the chief deity in their mythology is a woman, and that the 

 keeper of the "divine regalia" is a virgin priestess. They say the 

 women of the early centuries had great mental and physical vigor, and 

 filled otiices of public trust with dignity and honor. There are many 

 heroines whose names are renowned in Japanese classics, while instances 

 of woman's valor, fortitude under suffering, and greatness in the hour 

 of persecution abound. The Japanese woman has a place all her own 

 in the world of letters. The evils in the position of women in Japan 

 are traceable to Buddhism. 



JEWS AND JUDAISM. 



S. Adler discussed the various forms of benedictions in use in ancient 

 times among the Jews. They fall into three classes : (1) After a physi- 

 cal enjoyment; (2) on special occasion or at particular localities; (3) 

 before fulfillment of a religious duty. 



B. Felsenthal showed that the popular Sabbath hymn Lelia dodi 

 was not composed by Judah ha-Levi, as Heine supposed, but was 

 written by Solomon Alkabitz ha-Levy, who lived in the sixteenth cen- 

 tury and died in the city of Safed, in Northern Palestine. He also 

 showed that the pronunciation of Jehovah for the name of God was first 

 employed in Germany in the sixteenth century. 



A. K. Glover described the Jews of India. They are all ofl'shoots 

 of Judah and not of the ten tribes. He also gave an account of the 

 Jews of the Chinese Empire. 



K. J. H. Gottheil continues his translation of Karpeles's History of 

 Jewish Literature. 



M. Jastrow,jr., treated of several Jewish grammarians of the middle 

 ages. Hayyiig lived about the middle of the tenth century in Cordova, 

 though born in Fez. He wrote two grammatical works on Hebrew 

 verbs. In his studies he started from Arabic principles. From his 

 treatises his pupil, Ibn Ganah, worked out his elaborate grammatical 

 system. Donash ben Labrat's only distinction is that he is the oppo- 

 nent of Saadia Gaon and of Menahem b. Sarug. He is the author of 

 two sharp polemical essays, the one containing a pointed criticism of 

 Saadia's Arabic translation of the Bible, the other an attempt to dis- 

 countenance Menahem's standing as a grammarian. 



Alexander Kohut discussed the etymology of a number of talmudical 

 words. 



H. C. Trumbull, in his history of the origin and development of the 

 Sunday school, devotes the first chapter to a history of the ancient 

 Jewish schools. 



