152 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



instances of the notions possessed by the rural scholars of this 

 district regarding natural history, etc. A few years ago, I extracted 

 from the Barton shales above the Albion mill a large number of 

 Niagara corals (Streptilasma Cornicula), curved specimens not unlike 

 minute cows' horns. I put them aside on the bank and proceeded 

 higher, intending to collect them on my return. Unfortunately, 

 during my absence some young lads detected them. I found when 

 I came back I was not far astray when I concluded they evidently 

 were up to mischief, and so it proved. On coming up I discovered 

 the group contemplating with much satisfaction the fragments of my 

 entire collection. I restrained my indignation until I heard an 

 explanation of the unusual proceeding. The spokesman of the 

 party gravely informed me, " Well, Mister, them things are devil's 

 horns, and we always smash um." I did doubt the truth of what he 

 said, and merely suspected the boys had acquired their knowledge of 

 the devil's decorations at a rural Sunday school. 



We may regret that so little interest in scientific pursuits is 

 shown in this colony. No doubt it will appear here also in its own 

 good time. In the United States recently, a Chicago clergyman 

 offered as an explanation of the so-called Mosaic account of the 

 universal deluge, that it was merely local, confined to that portion of 

 the world then inhabited by mankind, and only domestic animals 

 need have been taken into the ark. The Dr. explains in a chapter 

 subsequently, with regard to the prophet Jonah, the word " whale " 

 is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew term, and he may have 

 been taken in by one of the big sea lizards, an Ichthyosaurus for 

 instance. 



Now since the animals alluded to became extinct countless ages 

 before man's appearance, at least as such, it seems probable that 

 science will hesitate to accept the learned gentleman's correction as 

 entirely satisfactory. On the other hand, we have claims put forth 

 by certain clerics regarding "inspiration/' etc., which would lead 

 one to imagine that the great Creator confided to sensational preach- 

 ers the real interpretations of bible astronomy. 



In a sermon recently published in the United States, the Rev. 

 Dr. Talmage, in protesting against some of his weak-kneed brethren, 

 who expressed a hope that something would be done to distinguish 

 the human from the divine, and errors in mistranslation in the auth- 



