not, in a very extraordinary manner, "see the works of the LORD and his wonders in the deep?" Are not their minds, therefore, though constituted like those of landsmen, differently exercised and directed by the nature of their occupation, the character of their duties, and the trials of their life? While such is their condition, and such their necessary discipline, it seems only just and reasonable, that appropriate provision should be made to direct their devotions in the most profitable manner, and to aid them in "speaking to themselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."(Eph. v. 19-20.)

Every intelligent person, to whom the moral claims of seamen have been referred, has admitted their justice, and the great merits of seamen as a class of the community. Yet only a few, even of the ministers of Christ, have manifested concern for their spiritual welfare. Their character and claims have not been understood. They have been, in a great degree, an unknown class of people. Their separation from the worshipping assemblies, and their occupation on the mighty deep, have occasioned their being forgotten. Our most popular Hymn Books, therefore, with scarcely an exception, contain few hymns appropriate to the peculiar condition of seamen, even if there be found a reference to these men. Though these are admirable for evangelical sentiment and a devotional spirit, containing hymns adapted for all other classes of persons, yet the compilers seem to have forgotten the existence of mariners, though comprising a number, besides their families, amounting to about three hundred thousand of our fellow-Britons!

Seamen demand, as they deserve, aids to their devotion in this respect. And, considering the honour that God has put upon the agency and operations of the "British and Foreign Sailors' Society," since its public origin, when, on the 4th of May, 1818, under the title of the "Port of London Society," it opened the first floating chapel for seamen-and still more since 1833, in an enlarged agency, under its present name, -the Directors have felt called upon, as a duty, to provide a Hymn Book for the use of the increasing numbers of religious mariners.

Reflecting on their responsibility in this matter, in their new work, their design has been to select an adequate number of Psalms and Hymns, containing the richest and most edifying exhibition of the doctrines of Divine Revelation. Sufficient reason for the provision of an appropriate Hymn Book for Seamen will appear from the representation of their condition in their singular occupation, as given by the inspired Psalmist. His description is truly affecting; and we give therefore the paragraph, with the beautiful commentary upon it, as prepared by the pious Bishop Horne:

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. (Heb.- All their wisdom is swallowed up.') Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”— (Ps. cvii. 23-32.)

Landsmen who have never encountered the perils of a foreign voyage can have no adequate idea of the sensations of seamen after such impressive experience. And few are qualified to enter into the peculiar ardour of these men, when become the true disciples of Christ, and reflecting on the good

ness and

mercy of God to them, in such deliverance from raging storms and tempests at sea. Only those who have mingled with pious seamen in their Bethel meetings can truly conceive the character of their social devotions.

Bishop Horne thus remarks on the expressive paragraph of the Psalmist :"The fourth similitude chosen to portray the dangers of our present state, and the goodness of God displayed in our salvation, is taken from that signal instance of the Divine power and providence, the preservation of mariners in a storm at sea. The description which the Psalmist hath given us of such an event admitteth of no comment. Experience alone can illustrate its beauty, evince its truth, and point out the propriety of the circumstances which are selected to furnish us with a full and complete idea of the whole. Few of us, indeed, are ever likely to be in that terrible situation. But then we cannot help reflecting that there is a ship, in which we are all embarked; there is a troubled sea, on which all sail; there are storms, by which we are all frequently overtaken; and there is a haven, which we all desire to behold and to enter. For the church is a ship; the world is a sea; temptations, persecutions, and afflictions are the waves of it; the prince of the power of the air is the stormy wind which raises them; and heaven is the only port of rest and security. Often, during the voyage, for our punishment or our trial, God permitteth us to be thus assaulted. The succession and the violence of our trouble, the elevation and depression of mind and fortune, the uncertainty of our counsels, and our utter inability to help ourselves, are finely represented by the multitude and impetuosity of the waves, the tossings and agitations of the vessel, the confusion, terror, and distress among the sailors. In both cases, prayer is the proper effect, and the only remedy left. With the earnestness of affrighted mariners, who will then be devout, though they never were so before, we should, as it were, 'awake' him, like the disciples, with repetitions of Lord, save us, we perish!' Then will he arise, and rebuke the authors of our tribulation, saying unto them, Peace, be still!' And, at length, he will bring us,' in peace and joy and gladness, to our desired haven,' there to 'exalt him in the congregation' of his chosen, and praise him in the great assembly' of saints and angels." Impressed with the correctness of this view of the oracles of God, as written by the Psalmist, and of the experience of scamen as here described, and with the mind of the Spirit as represented by the evangelical prelate, this new collection of Hymns has been made. And the Directors of the Society have reason to believe that the volume, though small, will be esteemed as a treasure by many mariners, for their use both in private and at their Bethel meetings. They trust that it will also be prized by other classes of Christians, in aiding their devotions.

6

Commending this humble volume, therefore, to the blessing of God in Christ Jesus, who only is able to render it truly useful, they trust that He will be glorified by it, in the edification and the praises of his people, and pour out his Spirit upon our mariners, and those who labour to evangelise them, until the abundance of the sea shall be converted" unto the church of Christ, to the honour and praise of the Divine Redeemer!

REID'S LAW OF STORMS.*

This volume contains the foundation and proofs of a remarkable theory. From the evidence obtained it appears highly probable that the action of nature in its atmospheric convulsions is regular, and that tempests move and

*"The Progress of the Development of the Law of Storms, and of the Variable Winds, with the Practical Application of the subject to Navigation." Illustrated by charts and woodcuts. By Lieutenant-Colonel William Reid, C.B., F.R.S., of the Corps of Royal Engineers.-From the "Times."

operate according to a fixed law. The development of this law by means of facts, arranged according to place and time, is the great object of Colonel Reid's endeavours, and it is the success or "progress" of this development up to the present moment which he has communicated to the world in the volume at present under review. The following are the chief conclusions of the theory which have now been strengthened by the experience of eleven years :—

1. Great storms are progressive whirlwinds; that is to say, they are portions of the atmosphere in a state of rapid revolution, and having, besides this motion round their own vortices or centres, a general progressive motion at a variable rate of speed.

2. In tropical latitudes, the first of these motions takes opposite directions on opposite sides of the Equator-that is to say, the whirlwind revolves one way in the northern hemisphere and the opposite way in the southern, from which conclusion it directly follows that such a storm could not pass the Equator without subsiding, as its mode of revolution would be reversed.

3. The progressive motion of these whirlwinds within the tropics is generally from east to west, until they reach the 25th or 30th degree of latitude, and incline towards the poles, when they recurve again to the eastward, in opposite directions, according to the hemisphere in which they are situate. Their rate of speed is found to vary from three to forty-three miles per hour; and it is even thought that at some particular periods, such, for instance, as the moment of recurvature, their progress is below the lowest of these rates. Presuming the whirlwind to be stationary, its figure would be correctly represented by a circle; and such figure indeed approximates so nearly to accuracy, that it is usually employed on the storm charts; but in the case of a progressive whirlwind the figure would of course become cycloidal, or, in other words, it would resemble a common coil of rope somewhat opened out. It is rather difficult to put diagrams into words, as the reader may perhaps discover, but we must do our best to define the fundamental propositions of the theory, and the practical results will soon be found in the highest degree interesting.

According, therefore, to this theory, a storm is a convulsion of a limited portion of the atmosphere, assuming a known configuration, and moving in an ascertainable direction, whence it follows that such storms may be sailed out of, or overtaken and sailed into, and even, under certain circumstances, scientifically avoided, of all which incidents examples have been supplied by actual practice. The subject of inquiry thus becomes twofold; first, as regards the revolution of the whirlwind itself, and next as regards its general progress or track. The discoveries on the former of these points have gone far to elucidate one of the great mysteries of nature in the action of the barometer, and to explain the true cause of the rise and fall of the mercury during a storm. When an extended portion of the atmosphere has been set in a state of revolution a centrifugal action is necessarily created by such movement, and, by consequence, the atmospheric pressure at certain parts of the earth's surface is proportionately diminished. A familiar exemplification of the principle alluded to will be given by a tumbler half full of water in a state of rapid revolution. If the tumbler, while the water is thus revolving, be held up to the light, the surface of the liquid, representing the atmosphere, will be seen to be depressed in the centre of the whirl. An atmospheric whirlwind acts in a similar manner by diminishing, as we have said, the pressure upon the earth's surface, and most of all in the centre of the whirl or storm, so that as the mercury in the barometer feels this diminution of pressure at the approach of a storm it begins to fall, and will be at its lowest when the centre of the storm is passing over the spot, i.e., in the thickest of the tempest, but will again recover itself after this is past, and will gradually rise as the influence of the whirlwind is removed and the atmosphere regains its usual gravity. It will thus be seen, that what the barometer foretells is, emphatically, a storm, for its action is exclusively due to the rotatory motion

distinctive of these convulsions, whereas strong straight-blowing winds may occasionally occur with a very high barometer. But these are not the tempests whose destructive powers are so often recorded. All such visitations, whether termed typhoons, hurricanes, or tornadoes, are progressive revolving gales, and in these the wind veers and the barometer falls.

It is this veering, or gradual changing of the wind, which is so characteristic of a tropical storm. Most readers will recollect that in the narratives of shipwrecks, and such-like catastrophes, which amused their earlier days, it was an almost invariable incident of the story that the wind blew successively from all parts of the compass, and that the waves chopped and crossed each other with inconceivable fury. This was in consequence of the revolving character of the gale, and the same consideration will explain the familiar occurrence of a ship's suddenly righting herself in the midst of a storm, beyond the hopes and apart from the efforts of the crew. There are also two other incidents of great storms which receive an instructive elucidation from this theory. One is that deceptive lull of the wind followed, after a short interval, by a renewal of the gale from an opposite quarter, and which is occasioned by the vessel's passing through the centre of the storm, and then entering its opposite half. The other is that singular phenomenon, termed by Spanish sailors El ojo, or the storm's eye, when in the midst of a black and lurid mass of clouds there appears a luminous circle in the zenith. This is the very centre of the whirlwind, and a remarkable illustration of all the conditions of the case is given in the log of the "Marmion," bound from Liverpool to New York, under an intelligent captain, in the December of last year. It had been blowing with great violence and with a tremendous sea all the morning, till it suddenly began to slacken, and "at noon it was quite moderate, and a beautiful clear, blue sky, and the sun shining beautifully, but this is the treacherous centre. From meridian to about 0.40 it remained quite moderate and clear. At 0.40 there rose up a thick impervious cloud or haze, and it became quite dark, comparatively speaking, though there was no black cloud; and in a very few minutes we were involved in a terrific storm." The readings of the ship's barometer, taken as she passed through the storm's centre, will exemplify very strikingly what we said upon this subject in a preceding paragraph. Between six a.m. and four p.m. these were-28.20, 28.11, 28.03, 27.99, 27.75, 27.70 (this was the storm's centre), 27.70, 27.70, 27.75, 27.95, 28.70.

The most complete and convincing illustration, however, of the law of storms, both as regards their revolving character and their progressive motion, is derived from the log of the "Charles Heddle." This vessel was a very fast brig, originally built for a slaver, and very ably commanded. She sailed from the Mauritius on the 21st of February, 1845, and soon fell in with a storm, in the southern hemisphere, before which she scudded for five days. She got within the compass of the whirlwind with the wind at S.S.E., from which it became S. and continued to the brig, constantly veering as she sailed round and round. Thus in the logbook it is next recorded that she scudded N., then N.N.E., next N.E., her course changing to E.N.E., to E., to E.S.E., to S. E., to S.S.E., and then to S., when the wind in the log is marked at N. The logbook then shows that her course was changed from S. to S.W., to W.S.W., to W., to W.N.W., to N.W., and to N.N.W., thus completing her first entire revolution round the vortex of the storm." By this time her sails had blown away, and she was reduced to bare poles, but she still continued changing her course in the same manner, and scudding, until she had made "five complete circuits, wanting only four points of the compass, round the vortex of the storm, by steering always before the wind,"

(To be continued.)

CALCUTTA SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY.

The following is an abridged account of the anniversary of this Society, held in the Town Hall, on Tuesday, January 22nd, 1850.

On the motion of the Honourable John Lowis, seconded by Captain Owen, Mr. Archibald Grant took the chair.

The proceedings were opened with a very appropriate hymn, after which a prayer was offered up by the Rev. Dr. Meiklejohn.

The Rev. J. C. Herdman read the report.

The Rev. J. Morgan, having moved "that the report now read be adopted, and printed for circulation, by the committee," said: - In reference to the moral character of the sailor, vague and undefined opinions are entertained by those who ought to have the deepest interest in the results of that character. Some look upon the sailor as a superstitious, headstrong, childish being, and that any attempt at making him a religious character is sheer nonsense-a hopeless task. We Christians, however, cannot forget certain ancient predictions," the abundance of the sea,' ,""the ships of Tarshish first," and that one distinguished Individual walked in a region where the people dwelt in the shadow of death, who inverted the whole ancient order of thinking and acting, by selecting his first disciples, not from the philosophic schools of Athens and Rome, but from the seamen of the sea of Galilee; He was called the Friend of Sinners, and you, gentlemen, if you can get that appellation, will obtain a title more ennobling and more lasting than all the kings of the earth can confer upon you. There is a peculiarity about the benevolence of our times; there was a period, when certain classes of the community were considered irrecoverably hopeless, beyond the pale of reformation; the relics associated with them were, police, transportation, and the gallows-and with the term sailor, bravery, work, irons, and flogging; on shore drunkenness, debauchery, and their consequences. Now men begin to find that there is a power that can change the lion into a lamb, and for the most abandoned characters churches and chapels are provided. If the light of Christian benevolence has shed its radiance over the dark and pestilential shades of abandoned characters, something ought to be done for the sailor, to whom we entrust our property, our lives, our wives, and children. The power that can make the seaman an estimable man, is the Gospel; the power that will bring his mind in contact with the Gospel, is Christian benevolence. Benevolence has always existed in the world, but only in individuals; it was fitful and irregular in its operations, and too weak to achieve much good; but the benevolence of Christianity is peculiarly obligatory. There is a command to do good to all men, and there is a principle in the Christian's heart that harmonises with that command-the love of God. This love binds men in one mind, for the achievement of a great and mighty purpose; then, indeed, it is like a deep, broad, swelling river, overcoming all opposition, watering the arid desert, and making it to blossom as the garden of the Lord.

Dr. Reed, of the ship Elizabeth, in seconding the resolution, said: - That sailors are now a very important, and may, eventually, become a very influential class of the people of the British empire, will, I think, clearly appear from the consideration, that without them there could be no navigation, and without navigation there could be no trade between the industrious and wealthy inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland, with their colonies and other transmarine countries. But without transmarine commerce the British empire, as it now stands, would not exist,-in other words, the industrious, wealthy, and intelligent inhabitants of Great Britain, Ireland, and their Colonies, would not be able to exercise the influence or possess the empire of the world, which they now do. These statements are so true, that I might