The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-02-17

Sef'aueu tnat the PINK pearl Is Proouccu aiming
Others by one of the porcelaneous or chank shells
nortinea scoiymus. All doubt this head is set NJ
rest by specimen of this shell in the British
Auseum. where fine largo pink pearl has been
caught and embedded in the she'll its aperture.
Just AS it was about to escape.
These pink pearls are also produced by the COM
mon fountain shell of the West Indies. and are
known III commerce as conch pearls. Ceylon alone.
during the last eighty years has realized more than
Sooo,oOo,oo0 from her pearl fisheries. In 1877
6e72O oysters comprised the catch Of the season of
thirty days. From the chapter devoted to amber we
find that there are now no less than fifty distinct
kinds of this precious gum. differing in size color
hardness and clearness 1t is chiefly to Vienna,
London Paris, Moscow and New York. schwarzort.
near Mcneil furnishes the largest supply OF amber.
the yield reaching 1000 pounds annually.
The book is embellished with thirty-two illustra-
hold an important place work of reference upon
the interesting topics of which it treats.
ST. PAUL AT ATHENS
Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons have republished
series OF nine sermons by Rev. Charles Shakespeare,
assistant curate of ST. Stephens Church. Westbourne
Park, with preface by the Rev. Canon Farrar, who
Is recognized as high authority here. well as in
his own country. The course OF sermons deliv-
cred with view of counteractng the prevalent ten
dency to Agnosticism. and to assist those in the
preachers congregation especially who were har-
assed by the schism between their intellectual atti
tude and their devotional feelings. The special aim
with which the sermons were composed and preached
was with the view Of suggesting that the attitude of
what is called Nescience toward spiritual religion
can only justify itself by dropping out of sight
large class of facts exhibited in the development of
our race by refusing to these facts what appears
to the author the only adequate interpretation.
While disclaiming any responsibility for special
phrases and sentiments which in the sermons
Canon Farrar commends the sincerity and integrity of
the author in the following words. which graphically
define the scope and tone Of the discourses :"They
are the work Of one who is competent by learning
and culture to deal with the subjects Of which he
speaks. and of one who in the frmness and modera-
ton of his tone has tried to catch something of the
spirit of that great apostle of whom he is writing.
st. Paul at Ephesus was not blasphemer of the
goddess Artemis; at Athens he uttered fierce
denuncation. of decadent and despairing
philosophy. He strove to overthrow the monstrous
complications of Paganism by preaching with all
love and forbearance the revelation of God in Jesus
Christ and he tried to meet the noblest instincts of
the stole and epcurean by showing them that the
God who had sent him forth to preach Jesus and the
resurrection the unknown God Of their
full search and of their unconscious praise.
Mr.. Shakespeare has the very highest authority for
his fearlessness and for his sympathy: and. in days
when many volumes of sermons find favorable
reception when they very thin in substance
and unorlginal in expression. cannot doubt that
readers will be found to welcome discourses which
have special object and which well adapted
as these to repay thoughtful perusal. On what
ever grounds any one may object to them, one.
think, can possibly say that they nothing more
than ''another wave on the Dead Sea of Common
place" The topics discussed By Mr.. Shakespeare
are Of a wide range of thought. and include:-"The
City and the Apostle" Culture and Faith "Sen-
suous and Spiritual Religion" Plagiarism and
Christianity-First Century, A. D.; Philosophy and
Christianity--First Century. A. D.;' ancient and
Modern Scepticism." "The Epicureans and Modern
Life" "The Stoics and Modern Thought" Human
itY and God"