320 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Sin 



hypocritical foxes, who imitate the ways of the unsuspecting 

 gulls of the congregation, and simulate a unity with them, 

 simply for the purpose of ruining them. Beware of the fox 

 everywhere ! R. 



Sin's Insidious Attack. 



What a suggestive analogy there is in the contest between a 

 human being grappling with sin, into which he has unexpectedly 

 drifted, and the struggling swimmer in contact, in our seas, with 

 that formidable creature, the Cyance capillata. It is a delight- 

 ful day, and all seems safe to the swimmer. But, with its broad 

 tawny festooned and scalloped disc, often a full foot or even more 

 across, the Cyanoe capillata flaps its way through the yielding 

 waters, and drags after it a long train of riband-like arms and 

 seemingly interminable tails, marking its course when the body 

 is far away from us. Once tangled in its trailing " hair," the 

 unfortunate man who has unintentionally ventured across the 

 graceful monster's path too soon writhes in prickly torture. 

 Every struggle but binds the poisonous threads more firmly 

 round his body, and then there is no escape ; for when the 

 winder of the fatal net finds his course impeded by the terrified 

 human being wrestling in its coils, he, seeking no combat with 

 the mightier biped, casts loose his envenomed arms and swims 

 away. The amputated weapons, severed from their parent body, 

 vent vengeance on him who has caused their destruction, and 

 sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor itself gave the 

 word of attack. N. H. 



The Growth and Action of Besetting Sins. 



A secret sin works insidiously, but with wondrous, quiet 

 power. Its hidden ravages are awful, and the outward revela- 

 tion of their result and existence may be contemporaneous. 

 Until that revelation was made, probably no one ever suspected 

 the presence in the man of anything but a few venial faults 

 which were as mere excrescences on a robust character though 

 these growths were something rude. Oftentimes a large fungus 

 will start from a tree, and in some mysterious manner will sap 



