584 



METHODISTS. 



water to be evaporated is blackened, and is 

 then exposed to the sun, while the rest of the 

 apparatus is silvered or protected by bright 

 sheets of tin. At sunset, the quantity of water 

 which has distilled over can be read off on the 

 graduated tube by which the vertical tube and 

 lower bulb of the original instrument is re- 

 placed. 



METHODISTS. General Summaries. The fol- 

 lowing are general summaries of the Methodist 

 churches in the United States and other coun- 

 tries, compiled from their several statistical 

 reports for 1884: 



I. Methodist Episcopal Church. The following 

 is a general summary of the statistics of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church, as they were re- 

 ported to the " Fall Conferences " of 1884 and 

 the " Spring Conferences" of 1885 : 



Number of conferences and missions, 116; 

 number of traveling preachers, 11,676, of whom 

 9,122 are returned as " effective," 1,041 as " su- 

 pernumerary," and 1,513 as " superannuated " ; 

 of preachers on trial, 1,349; of local preachers, 

 12,397; of members in society, 1,659,816; of 

 probationers, 196,028; total members and pro- 

 bationers, 1,855,844 ; number of baptisms, 62,- 



848 of children and 73,756 of adults ; number 

 of churches, 19,384, having a probable value 

 of $74,833,142 ; of parsonages, 6,918, having 

 a probable value of $10,600,612 ; number of 

 Sunday schools, 22,246, with 241,859 officers 

 and teachers, and 1,786,919 pupils. Amount ot 

 conference collections : For missions, $654,- 

 653 ; for Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 

 $133,367 ; for Woman's Home Missionary So- 

 ciety, $8,035 ; for church extension, $116,785 ; 

 for the Freedmen's Aid Society, $70,500 ; for 

 education, $180,296; for the American Bible 

 Society, $29,511 ; amount contributed for min- 

 isterial support, $7,792,407 ; for conference 

 claimants, $180, 336 ; amount paid for church- 

 building and improvements, $4,131,831 ; 

 amount paid on old indebtedness on church 

 property, $1,159,948. 



The two " Book Concerns," or publishing- 

 houses the one in New York, and the West- 

 ern Book Concern at Cincinnati returned in 

 their reports, made in February, 1885, a com- 

 bined net capital of $1,748,912 ; profits for the 

 fiscal year, $131,461 ; and total sales for the 

 year, $1,701,027. 



The educational institutions under the care 

 of the Church or its conferences and benevo- 

 lent societies, include 10 theological institu- 

 tions ; 45 colleges and universities ; 61 classical 

 seminaries ; 8 female colleges and seminaries ; 

 and 19 foreign mission schools. They return 

 in all, $7,584,640 of real estate, $7,081,176 of 

 endowment funds, $592,474 of indebtedness, 

 1,405 teachers, 28,591 students for the year, 

 and 413,906 students from the beginning. 



Church Extension. The General Committee 

 of Church Extension met in Philadelphia, Nov. 

 12. The Treasurer of the Board of Church 

 Extension reported that his receipts for the 

 year had been, on general account, including 

 the balance from the previous year, $171,745 ; 

 on the loan-fund account, $114,482 ; and that 

 his disbursements had been, on the general 

 account, $131,346; and on the loan-fund ac- 

 count, $105,100. The board had aided, by 

 donations or loans, or both, 494 churches with 

 $76,275, and had on hand applications asking 

 for $37,150. The estimates adopted for the 

 ensuing year contemplate the collection and 

 application of $180,000. 



Freedmen's Aid Society. The eighteenth 

 anniversary of the Freedmen's Aid Society 

 was held in the city of New York, Nov. 

 The treasurer reported that his total receipts 

 for the year had been $143,752, and his ex- 

 penditures $174,752. The excess of $31,OOC 

 in expenditures had been occasioned mainly 

 by the purchase of grounds for the university 

 at Chattanooga, Tenn. Twenty-two schools 

 had been maintained among the colored pec 

 pie, and eighteen schools among the whites. 

 These schools returned in all, 167 teachers and 

 5,952 pupils, of whom 4,243 were colored and 

 1,709 white. 



Biblical classes were conducted in all the 

 colleges of the society. Two new buildings 



