cherish them by a course of conduct similar to that which acquired them, or they will vanish like the morning's mists. They also are held by a spiritual tenure, a tenure whose very terms imply the existence of that spiritual nature which education implies and science ignores. Science is right in ignoring it, for it does not come within her sphere. She is the student of nature. To determine "man's place in nature" is her function, and her representatives very properly resent the interference of the devotees of philosophy or theology or politics with that function. And she is doing no disservice when she points out the analogies in the transmission of political insight and social capacity to what is seen in the transmission of the simplest and humblest experiences of the lower forms of life. But to determine "man's place above nature" is the work of the philosopher,-a work which is as much preliminary to political as to theological science. If man have no such place, then Haeckel and his confrèrès are right, and Democracy is a delusion and a snare.

EVERY now and then the churches and the religious newspapers lift up their voices in protest against the laxity of the divorce laws in this or that State, the burden of the complaint being that the Legislatures of Christian communities do not enforce the Christian law upon the subject and forbid all divorces upon grounds not allowed by the New Testament as valid. It seems to me absurd to expect any community to enact the restrictions laid down in the New Testament, and to hold every marriage binding until it is dissolved by death or adultery; for those restrictions were never meant to become part of the law of any land. They are addressed, not to civil communities, but to the conscience of the individual Christian; they are part of that law of Christ which is binding upon all professed Christians, and their proper mode of enforcement is by exclusion of offenders from the fellowship of the church. For look at the connection in which they occur. They are part of the sermon on the Mount, whose adoption as part of the law of the land would forbid prosecutions for assault and petty larceny, and leave the faces and the garments of the community open to the assaults of any rogue who chose to make free with them. Where the laws of the State leave, as do those of Indiana, openings for gross deceptions on the part of the wife or husband who sues for a divorce, they ought to be amended and that speedily. But it is not the duty of any State to confound

sins with crimes, nor to stamp the marriage with more sanctity than any other contract, except on the ground that the general interests of society demand restrictions upon its dissolution.

The true reason for this absurd outcry is found in the absence of church discipline from nearly all the denominations. The old Protestant divines, applying to the church the words of the Apocalypse "the city lieth four-square," used to say that the four walls were Doctrine, Worship, Government and Discipline; but the fourth wall is now in most instances leveled to the very ground. In few of our churches is there any means of bringing to book a public offender against morality, unless he be a clergyman; and the few that do possess such means are greatly cramped in exercising them, because an offending member need only transfer his church connection to some other quarter to be received with open arms. In the Episcopal church for instance, there exists as much sensitiveness and conscientiousness on this subject among the clergy as anywhere; but no clergyman of that church has the power to exclude from the communion a person who has obtained a divorce on the most trifling grounds, and has at once remarried; nor can the minister refuse to read over this or a much grosser offender the burial service which speaks of the deceased as one of whose immediate and complete glorification there is no doubt.

The practical importance of this remissness is found in the fact that a community in a formative and transitional state cannot afford to dispense with any of the weakest and slightest safeguards of social morality. If the churches really and uniformly exercised a supervision of the lives and morals of their members, the result would be felt most beneficially throughout the community. It would then make little difference whether the State was lax or stringent on such subjects as divorce, for the churches would soon set up a standard of social ethics which those outside as well as inside their membership would have to conform to.

J. D.

THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.

At a mean height of 7,212 feet above the level of the sea, and in the central plateau of the Mexican Republic, are found the fertile tracts of land which constitute the valley of Mexico.

In this locality nature has assembled with unusual prodigality those accessories which the conception of the artist associates in a beautiful landscape with the grandest effect; the most picturesque lakes, fertile fields, and mountains crowned with perpetual snow, decorate this privileged spot. The presence of so many beauties could not but detain here the descendants of those travelers who in the year 1160 had parted from Aztlan, their country, in search of the place which their oracles and their necessities indicated to them, in order to establish their encampments and found their habitations. The Aztecs made a fit selection in that charming valley, after having traversed a great part of the territory which now belongs to the Republic of Mexico.

The surface of land, which more properly ought to be called the "Valley of Mexico," is situated between 19°5' and 19°46′ north latitude, and between 0°13′ longitude to the east and west of the meridian that passes through the City of Mexico.

Beautiful and elevated cordilleras of mountains surround the valley. On the east is seen the Sierra Nevada, some of its summits reaching above the snow-line. In all seasons the Popocatepetl and the Yxtacihuatl show their white tops, and in winter some other companions are also covered with the white garb.

The Popocatepetl, seen from the capital of Mexico, appears like an enormous cone of a blue color at its base and silver-white at the apex. This effect is more noticeable at night when the moon, with its pale light, intensifies the brilliancy and whiteness of the snow, and when the blue color of the mountain is mingled with that of the horizon; the cusp appears then like a silvery cloud hanging in the air.

The Yxtacihuatl is smaller than the Popocatepetl, but its summit also towers to the region of snow. The elongated figure which it forms, and the situation of its most noticeable accessories, gave to it that expressive name, which in Aztec language means White Lady,

because the most elevated crest of the mountain looks very like a human body lying horizontal and covered with a white tunic.

The whiteness of the snow in these mountains mingled with the tints of the twilight makes a fine effect; and at sunset they take the color and metallic splendor of polished copper. The Popocatepetl has a height of 17,716 feet, and the Yxtacihuatl 15,702 feet, above the level of the sea.

The cordilleras of the southern portion of the valley are also very picturesque and lofty, but only in winter the snow appears on their principal cone, which is known under the name of "Cerro de Ajusco." In other parts of the valley are found only eminences of less importance, but generally covered with oaks and other large trees, as is the case in the cordilleras of the west.

The ground which forms the valley in various directions is flat, and in others declines gently. The most conspicuous accessories are generally of little importance, with the exception, perhaps, of some prominences and porphyry hills that are seen there.

A carpet, of a beautiful emerald green color, formed by various kinds of grasses, at all seasons covers the wet grounds and the flanks and talwegs of the mountains, where the tillable land exists. In summer, a new generation of plants spring up, and their flowers adorn, in a great degree, the grass-plot. The brilliant corollas of the Synanthera and the Malvacea form the most varied and beautiful groups, which shine upon the green part of the field like the stars upon the blue sky; and the Cosmos and the Helianthus show their brilliant flowers constantly directed towards the sun during the daylight.

If the terrestrial Flora of the valley of Mexico is rich and varied, that which belongs to the lakes, to the canals, and to the other deposites of water, is not less so. The Nymphæa, or white Nenuthar, extends its wide and brilliant leaves and opens its elegant flowers upon the surface of the water; and the Sagittaria and other plants are found almost constantly associated with it.

In the orchards and gardens of the city of Mexico, and in other places in the valley, are always multitudes of flowers, and the trees are covered with leaves all the year round. It can be said that there the effects of winter are not felt, or that they are so insignificant as to scarcely interrupt in any way the growth of vegetation. The period of repose in some plants is excessively short: the

Fraxinus and other trees, which lose their foliage in the month of December, recover it at the end of January or in February.

Summer, likewise, is not rigorous in the valley: the climate is temperate, and it can be said without exaggeration that an eternal Spring reigns there; for while the latitude of the valley corresponds to that of the warm climates, the great height at which it is found above the level of the sea modifies its effects and establishes a convenient compensation. The mean temperature of the City of Mexico, which is also that of the valley, is in summer 65° F., and in winter 40° F.

The principal lakes of the valley of Mexico are five: Texcoco, Chalco, Xochimilco, San Christobal and Xaltocan; their presence embellishes to a still greater degree those fertile lands. In some of them, as in some of the canals that traverse the suburbs of the capital of Mexico, are seen multitudes of canoes, which carry the products of the vicinity to the markets of the city. The great number of flowers which are used there during Spring, come from the gardens situated on the borders of the lakes: the flowers are also carried to market in the canoes, and these floating piles of roses moving upon the bosom of the waters present a beautiful spectacle.

In the waters of the lakes are multitudes of fishes, and in the borders live species of aquatic birds. These waters are generally saltish, and from them are extracted various salts of soda, which also exist in abundance in the north-eastern portion of the valley. Vegetation is rare, or is altogether wanting, only in those places in which the salts of soda are abundant.

Quite a number of picturesque villages, some important towns and great "calzadas" (causeways) covered with magnificent trees, fully occupy the valley.

The Castle of Chapultepec is situated three miles from the city of Mexico towards the west, and stands upon an eminence composed of red porphyry. It is surrounded with beautiful and gigantic sabines (Taxodium Distichum) which were witnesses of the reign of Montezuma the Second.

The Tillandsia, that parasitic plant which hangs from the branches of the trees, gives the latter a more venerable aspect, forming large and oscillating masses of a whitish gray color. All the trees of the forest of Chapultepec present this character, which corresponds with. their colossal height, and their actual old age.