468 
VARIETIES. 
Pastils. 
There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  origin  of  the  use  of  pastils,  or  pas- 
tilles, as  they  are  more  frequently  called  from  the  French,  has  been  derived 
from  the  use  of  incense  at  the  altars  of  the  temples  during  the  religious  ser 
vices  : — "  According  to  the  custom  of  the  priest's  office,  his  lot  (Zacharias's) 
was  to  burn  incense  when  he  went  into  the  temple  of  the  Lord."  (Luke  i,  9.) 
"  And  thou  shalt  make  an  altar  to  burn  incense  upon.  .  .  And 
Aaron  shall  burn  thereon  sweet  incense  every  morning  when  he  dresseth 
the  lamps,  and  at  even  when  he  lighteth  the  lamps  he  shall  burn  incense 
upon  it."    (Exodus  xxx.) 
An  analogous  practice  is  in  use  to  the  present  day  in  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic churches,  but  instead  of  being  consumed  upon  an  altar,  the  incense  is 
burned  in  a  censer,  as  doubtless  many  of  our  readers  have  seen.  As  soon 
as  the  signal  was  given  by  the  chief  priest,  the  incense  was  kindled,  the 
holy  place  was  filled  with  perfume,  and  the  congregation  without  joined 
in  prayers," — Carpenter's  Temple  Service  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  Censer. 
The  Censer,  as  used  in  the  "  holy  places,"  is  composed  either  of  brass. 
German  silver,  or  the  precious  metals  ;  its  form  somewhat  resembles  a  sau- 
cer, and  an  inverted  cup,  which  latter  is  perforated,  to  allow  the  escape  of 
the  perfume.  In  the  outer  saucer  is  placed  an  inner  one  of  copper,  which 
can  be  taken  out  and  filled  with  ignited  charcoal  When  in  use,  the  ig- 
nited carbon  is  placed  in  the  censer,  and  is  then  covered  with  the  incense  ; 
the  heat  rapidly  volatilizes  it  in  visible  fumes.  The  effect  is  assisted  by  the 
incense  bearer  swinging  the  censer,  attached  to  three  long  chains,  in  the 
air.  The  manner  of  swinging  the  censer  varies  slightly  in  the  churches 
in  Rome,  in  France,  and  in  England,  some  holding  it  above  the  head.  At 
the  Madeline  the  method  is  always  to  give  the  censer  a  full  swing  at  the 
greatest  length  of  the  chains  with  the  right  hand,  and  catch  it  up  short 
with  the  left  hand. 
Several  samples  of  "  incense  prepared  for  altar  service,"  as  sent  out  by 
Mr.  Martin,  of  Liverpool,  appear  to  be  nothing  more  than  gum  olibanum, 
of  indifferent  quality,  and  not  at  all  like  the  composition  as  especially  com- 
manded by  our  Lord,  the  form  for  which  is  given  in  full  in  Exodus. 
The  pastils  of  the  moderns  are  really  but  a  very  slight  modification  of  the 
incense  of  the  ancients.  For  many  years  they  were  called  osselets  of  Cy- 
prus. In  the  old  books  on  Pharmacy,  a  certain  mixture  of  the  then  known 
gum  resins  was  called  suffitus,  which  being  thrown  upon  hot  ashes  produced 
a  vapor  which  was  considered  to  be  salutary  in  many  diseases. 
It  is  under  the  same  impression  that  pastils  are  now  used,  or  at  least  to 
cover  the  mal  odeur  of  the  sick  chamber. 
There  is  not  much  variety  in  the  formula  of  the  pastils  that  are  now  in 
use  ;  we  have  first  the 
