METHODISTS. 



539 



curve of thunder storms is the reverse over the 

 open sea of what obtains on land. The second 

 part of the report deals with monthly and an- 

 nual phenomena. The distribution of atmos- 

 pheric pressure is shown to be determined 

 by the geographical distribution of land and 

 water in their relations to the varying heat of 

 the sun through the months of the year; and 

 since the relative pressure determines the direc- 

 tion and force of the prevailing winds, and these 

 in their turn determine the temperature, moist- 

 ure, rainfall, and in a very great degree the surface 

 currents of the ocean, it is evident that there is 

 here a principle applicable not merely to the 

 present state of the earth, but also to the dif- 

 ferent distributions of land and water in past 

 times. 



Climatic Changes. Prof. Winslow Upton 

 introduced the subject of supposed recent 

 changes of climate, at the annual meeting of the 

 New England Meteorological Society, by allud- 

 ing to the forces at work to produce climate, and 

 to the fact that the slow changes going on would 

 be apparent in climatic changes only after a long 

 period of years. The sun's heat, however, the 

 prime source of climate, is probably subject to 

 fluctuation, resulting from the well-known fluct- 

 uation in the solar activity, but it was not yet es- 

 tablished whether any of the observed fluctua- 

 tions in climate could be directly traced to 

 that cause. The records at Providence and 

 New Bedford had been specially studied, and 

 showed great fluctuations in different years, with 

 some indications of periodicity, but no progress- 

 ive change. How, then, can the universal popu- 

 lar belief, that the climate is changing, be ac- 

 counted for I It is, for instance, widely believed 

 in southern New England that the winters are 

 milder and there is less snowfall than formerly. 

 These and similar beliefs can be explained by the 

 short and defective memories of people who re- 

 call a few seasons only, and who exaggerate the 

 frequency of some special event ; by a change of 

 residence, the person forgetting that there are 

 great differences in localities separated by a 

 short distance ; by the fact that the fluctuations 

 are large, and often in the same direction for 

 several successive years ; or by the difference be- 

 tween the impressions of the child and the adult. 

 Citations were made from the records of many 

 places, which showed generally considerable 

 fluctuations, some of them apparent periodicity, 

 but none of them advance in any particular di- 

 rection, and their lack of uniformity or the di- 

 versity of the conditions under which they were 

 made was so great that no general conclusions 

 could be deduced from them. 



METHODISTS. I. Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. The following is a summary of the 

 numerical returns of this Church for 1890, as 

 given in the Methodist Year-Book for 1891: 

 Number of annual conferences and missions, 

 129 : of traveling preachers, 14,792, of whom 

 1,866 are on trial, 1,067 supernumerary, 1,803 

 superannuated, 61 located, and 10,056 effective; 

 of local preachers, 14.072 ; of lay members, 

 2,283,154, of whom 219,233 are " probationers " ; 

 of baptisms during the year, 77,661 of children 

 and 89,452 of adults ; of Sunday-schools, 26,889, 

 with 296,253 officers and teachers, and 2,264,852 

 pupils; of churches, 22,833, having a probable 



value of $96,350,482 ; of parsonages, 8,563, valued 

 at $14,450,264. Amount of benevolent contribu- 

 tions : For the Missionary Society, $1,135,272 ; 

 for Church extension, $185,993 ; for the Freed- 

 men's Aid and Southern Education Society, 

 $266,684 ; for the Sunday-school Union, $25,206 

 for the Tract Society, $23,125 ; for the Woman's 

 Foreign Missionary Society, $220,340; for the 

 Woman's Home Missionary Society, $112,970; 

 for the Board of Education, $69,368 ; for the 

 American Bible Society, $34,965 ; contribu- 

 tions for ministerial support, $9,367,826; for 

 superannuated preachers, $234,149; for church 

 building and improvements, $5,327,366 ; for in- 

 debtedness on church property, $1,489,744 ; leav- 

 ing as the present indebtedness, $8,597,561 ; for 

 current expenses, $2,466,468. 



The General Committee of Church Extension 

 met in New York city, Nov. 7. The report of 

 the board, besides an account of the year's trans- 

 actions, embodied a review of the first quarter of 

 a century of the society's history, which was 

 completed with this meeting. The entire re- 

 ceipts from the beginning had been $4,017,978. 

 The whole number of churches aided had been 

 7,399, of which 573 had been aided during the 

 year just passed. The receipts for the past fiscal 

 year had been $185,992 on the general fund, and 

 $113,295 on the Loan fund in all, $299,287, 

 showing a net increase during the year of $22,- 

 809. The Loan fund had grown steadily and 

 had secured a cash capital of $678,926, besides 

 property valued at $20,615. Of this amount 

 there were now subject to annuities $409,030. 

 The amount of loans outstanding was $680,605. 

 Thirty frontier churches had been procured dur- 

 ing the year, making the whole number 464. 



The annual meeting of the Board of Educa- 

 tion was held in New York Dec. 3. The receipts 

 from cash collections had been $52,500. Includ- 

 ing returned loans, etc., the total income for the 

 year was $69,338. The invested fund amounted 

 to $226,000. The entire amount of the collec- 

 tions is now disbursed among the several con- 

 ferences in home and foreign fields. The amount 

 disbursed in the past school year had been $42,- 

 174 to students in 100 different colleges, theo- 

 logical schools, and academies. The number of 

 beneficiaries for the year was 935. The average 

 amount loaned to each beneficiary for the year 

 was $45.68. The whole number of beneficiaries 

 to the end of the last school year was 3,207. The 

 sum of $50,000 was appropriated for the ensuing 

 school year. 



The twenty-fourth anniversary of the Freed- 

 men's Aid and Southern Education Society was 

 held in Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 25, 26, and 27. 

 The receipts during the year, including returned 

 loans and the credit balance at the beginning of 

 the year, had been $300,052. Of this sum, $45,- 

 634, or $10,393 more than in any other year, had 

 been derived from students for tuition and room 

 rent. The schools included 8 collegiate institu- 

 tions, 1 theological seminary, and 12 academical 

 institutions, with 4 biblical departments, 4 med- 

 ical, dental, or pharmaceutical departments, and 

 12 industrial departments among colored people : 

 and 3 collegiate schools, 1 biblical department, 

 and 16 academical schools among the whites. 

 Connected with these were 206 teachers and 

 5,658 pupils in the colored schools, and 109 



