534 



METHODISTS. 



are oxidized to excess in about forty minutes. 

 Magnetic oxide will then be found nearest to 

 the iron, and sesquioxide over all. The air- 

 inlet is next closed entirely, while the gas- valve 

 is left open for twenty minutes, at the end of 

 which time the outside coating of sesquioxide 

 will be reduced, by the action of the combus- 

 tible gases alone, to magnetic oxide. The 

 Bower process is the more energetic of the 

 two. The Barff process is the better one for 

 wrought- iron, and perhaps for polished work 

 of all kinds, while the Bower process is better 

 for cast-iron, especially for that quality of it 

 which contains much carbon. Steel except 

 polished steel, which is better treated in a low- 

 temperature Barff furnace can be equally well 

 treated by both processes. These processes 

 not only protect the metal from rust, but they 

 give it a finely colored coating, which makes 

 articles made of it ready for the market as soon 

 as they are out of the furnace and cool. A ton 

 of small articles can be as cheaply treated by 

 them, save the difference in expense of hand- 

 ling, as a single article of a ton weight. So 

 penetrating are they, that every crevice, even 

 in the most intricate pattern, may be as effect- 

 ively coated by them as the plainest surface. 

 Paint will adhere to the coating as to wood or 

 atone. As a whole, the processes are suitable 

 to make iron available for a thousand purposes 

 for which it is now not adapted, because of its 

 liability to rust. 



METHODISTS. I. METHODIST EPISCOPAL 

 CHURCH. The following is a general summary 

 of the statistics of this Church as they were re- 

 ported in the "Minutes" of the Annual Con- 

 ferences for 1882: Numberof annual confer- 

 ences, 99 ; number of missions not included in 

 annual conferences, 13 ; number of bishops, 11 ; 

 number of itinerant preachers, 11,028 ; num- 

 ber of preachers on trial, 1,337 ; number of lo- 

 cal preachers, 11,967; number of members in 

 full connection, 1,572,177 ; number of proba- 

 tioners, 175,841 ; whole number of lay mem- 

 bers, 1,748,021 ; number of churches, 18,152 ; 

 probable value of the same, $65,467,082 ; num- 

 ber of parsonages, 6,224; probable value of the 

 same, $9,250,288 ; number of Sunday-schools, 

 20,901, with 224,667 officers and teachers, and 

 1,629,358 scholars ; number of baptisms during 

 the year (57,241 of adults and 56,805 of in- 

 fants), 114,046. Amount of benevolent con- 

 tributions: For conference claimants, $167,- 

 693; for the Missionary Society, $624,186; 

 for the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 

 $107,673; for church extension, $110,900; for 

 the Tract Society, $15,320; for the Sunday- 

 School Union, $16,991; for the Freedmen's 

 Aid Society, $56,808; for the Educational Fund, 

 $49,039 ; for the American Bible Society, $29,- 

 209. 



The General Committee of Church Extension 

 met in Philadelphia, Pa., November 2d. The 

 financial report showed that the committee had 

 received during the ten months already past of 

 the current year, $109,895 on general account, 



and $82,881 on loan fund account; in all, $192,- 

 277. It had spent within the same period, 

 $106,085 on general account, and $68,809 on 

 loan fund account; in all, $174,394. With 

 these expenditures, it had aided with gifts or 

 loans, or both, 388 churches. A cash balance 

 of $57,210 was left with the board at the time 

 of making the report, but against this it had 

 made grants, on conditions, of $72,070 to 197 

 churches. Applications were on hand from 43 

 churches, asking for $18,805. Progress was 

 reported on a plan which had been set in op- 

 eration to raise enough by subscriptions of 

 $250 each to build four hundred churches on 

 the frontiers, each of which should receive aid 

 to the amount of $250, as follows : Amount of 

 donations, $32,750 ; of loans, $19,100 ; number 

 of churches built, 131, at a cost of $236,955, hav- 

 ing 34,000 sittings, 4,904 members, and 7,884 

 Sunday-school scholars, and giving church fa- 

 cilities to a population of 144,130. The sub- 

 ject of inviting contributions to the general 

 funds, subject to life annuity, was considered. 



The paid-up capital of the loan fund at the 

 end of 1882 amounted to $500,000. 



The annual meeting of the Board of Edu- 

 cation was held in New York city, November 

 14th. The receipts from collections, legacies, 

 and other sources had been $18,026, against 

 $9,256 in 1881, and $2,079 in 1880. More 

 than $11,000 were to be disbursed during the 

 year in aid of 250 students attending the insti- 

 tutions of the Church in the United States and 

 foreign lands. Ten thousand dollars were ap- 

 propriated for the same purpose in 1883. 



The total receipts of the Freedmen's Aid 

 Society for the year ending July 1, 1882, were 

 $118,070.60. To the 1st day of November of 

 the same year the society had aided in the 

 maintenance among the freedmen of 6 char- 

 tered colleges, 4 theological schools, 1 medi- 

 cal college, and 14 institutions not chartered, 

 in which 95 teachers were employed, and 3,506 

 students were taught. Of these students, 440 

 were in the biblical, 15 in the law, 75 in the 

 medical, 225 in the collegiate, and 1,470 in the 

 normal departments. In accordance with the 

 action of the General Conference of 1880, 14 

 institutions for the whites of the South have 

 been organized, at which 1,827 pupils were 

 taught during the year. 



The General Missionary Committee met in 

 the city of New York in November. The 

 treasurer reported that the total receipts of 

 the society for the year had been $691,666, or 

 $66,002 more than the receipts for the previ- 

 ous year. A decrease of $28,343 in liabilities 

 was reported. 



Appropriations were made in support of mis- 

 sions during the ensuing year, as follow : 



For the foreign missions (in Liberia, South 

 America, China, Germany, and Switzerland, the 

 Scandinavian states, India, Bulgaria, and Tur- 

 key, Italy, Mexico, and Japan), $362,379. For 

 missions in the Territories of Arizona, Dakota, 

 the Indian Territory, Montana, New Mexico, 



