BAPTISTS. 



BAROMETER. 



189 



of slavery, with its consequences, on account 

 of which that war must be braved." 



Upon the continent of Europe the organiza- 

 tion of Regular Baptist churches is of recent 

 origin, but they have met with extraordinary 

 success. In Germany, where Rev. Mr. Oucken, 

 who is still living, established the first mission, 

 in 1834, they had in December, 1861, 538,067 

 members, 53 churches, and 819 stations and out- 

 stations. In connection with the German Mis- 

 sion are, in Denmark, 16 churches, with 1,670 

 members; in Switzerland, 1 church, with 201 

 members ; in France, 1 church, with 100 mem- 

 bers ; in Poland, 1 church, with 332 members. 

 The last accounts from Germany represent 

 their progress as being still very rapid, not- 

 withstanding they were subject to a fierce per- 

 secution in several States, especially in Meck- 

 lenburg. Still more remarkable is the progress 

 of the Baptists in Sweden, where, in spite of a 

 law threatening with exile every seceder from 

 the State Church, their number has increased 

 so rapidly that, on January 1, 1862, they count- 

 ed 7 associations, 150 churches, and 4,865 mem- 

 bers. With four exceptions, all these churches 

 originated through the labors of colporteurs 

 employed by the American Baptist Publication 

 Society. In Russia and Poland they have only 

 recently commenced to labor, but there also, 

 notwithstanding the persecution which they 

 are suffering, at the instigation of the Lu- 

 theran clergy, great success seems to await 

 them. In Corn-land, nearly two hundred have 

 been baptized ; in the Crimea, the first seces- 

 sion from the State Church has taken place ; in 

 Poland, two churches have been formed, and 

 twenty-four preaching stations. 



In France, Baptist missions were established 

 about twenty years ago by the American 

 Baptist Missionary Union, and a few of them 

 have become self-supporting. In October, 



1861, the Executive Committee of the Mis- 

 sionary Union found it necessary, in conse- 

 quence of its financial condition, to suspend pe- 

 cuniary aid to the missions. This announce- 

 ment was received by the Baptist missionaries 

 with profound sorrow, but also with an un- 

 wavering determination to persevere in their 

 work. The report made of the French churches 

 at the anniversary of the Missionary Union, in 



1862, showed that the aggregate membership 

 had increased from 304 to 319, and the pecu- 

 niary contributions were larger than during 

 the preceding year. The missions are, however, 

 still in their infancy, numbering, as yet, only 

 four preachers and two colporteurs. The " An- 

 nuaire Protestant " for 1863 gives the names of 

 nine churches. The Baptists do not yet enjoy 

 full religious toleration, and one of their cha- 

 pels has been for several years, and still is, 

 under the interdict of the civil authorities. 

 Yet it is possible that freedom of worship will 

 ere long be fully enjoyed. Besides these mis- 

 sionary congregations established in France by 

 the American Baptist Union there are some 

 remnants of the Baptist churches of the six- 



teenth century, especially in the departments 

 of Doubs, Haut-Rhin, and Vosges. Little is 

 known about their statistics. The names of four 

 congregations, one of which has a membership 

 of 300, are given by the ' : Annuaire Protestant." 



Among the missionary churches which have 

 been established by the Baptists of America 

 and England, those of Farther India have been 

 especially successful . Some tribes of the Karen 

 have been almost wholly Christianized, and are 

 beginning to form the nucleus of a Christian 

 nation. During the past year the converts 

 have increased by scores and even hundreds. 

 The desire and efforts of the Karen churches 

 to establish schools, not only for the training of 

 native preachers and teachers, but in all their 

 villages, for the general instruction and eleva- 

 tion of their people, and especially of the fe- 

 males, indicates a marked growth, and in a di- 

 rection that promises to yield permanent and 

 abundant fruit. The progress among the Bur- 

 mans during the past year, as heretofore, has 

 been comparatively slow. A new mission has 

 been commenced to the Shans, who are proba- 

 bly the most numerous of the many subordinate 

 tribes that make up the population of Burmah, 

 though no accurate statistics of their numbers 

 have thus far been ascertained. Like the 

 Burmans and Karens, they are Buddhists, but 

 they are a race distinct from either, and speak 

 a different language. They have long been 

 settled in the territory of Upper Burmah, but 

 a few years ago about ten thousand emigrated 

 to the British provinces, and settled in the vi- 

 cinity of Toungoo. There the first Baptist 

 mission was commenced among them in 1861, 

 and the first church organized in 1862. The 

 mission in Siam continues to enjoy the full tol- 

 eration of the enlightened king. Altogether 

 the membership in the Baptist churches in 

 Farther India amounted, in 1862, to 17.739. 



Other missionary churches have been estab- 

 lished by the American Baptist Missionary 

 Union and the Southern Baptist Missionary So- 

 ciety, in China ; by the American Free-Will 

 Baptists, the English Baptist Missionary So- 

 ciety, and the English General Baptist Mission- 

 ary Society, in India ; by the Southern Baptist 

 Missionary Society and the English Baptist 

 Missionary Society, in Africa. In 1860, the 

 missions in India and China had a membership 

 of about 2,600 : those in Africa of about 1,400. 



The number of Baptists in Australia was es- 

 timated, in 1862, at about 10,000. 



BAROMETER. In the common or mercurial 

 barometer, as is well known, the pressure of the 

 atmosphere takes effect directly on the surface 

 of mercury in a cup, or upon a mass of mercury 

 through the walls of a reservoir which are 

 made flexible in some part. The height at 

 which the pressure thus exerted suffices to 

 sustain the column of mercury hi the barometer 

 tube, serves, conversely, as a convenient meas- 

 ure of the pressure itself. But as the density 

 of the air diminishes at increased heights in a 

 ratio which, in the average, is fixed and known, 



