persons over fifty-five years. One half almost of
the deaths are of persons over forty-five years. In England and Wales
only 33 per cent of the deaths are of persons over forty-five years,
while in the United States only 30 per cent are of persons over forty
years of age.--T. S. Sozinksey, M. D., in _Scientific American_.

RELIGIOUS MEDIAEVALISM IN AMERICA.--Twelve miles from Dubuque, Ia.,
there stands in grim isolation, upon a blackened and desolate prairie,
a monastery of the fifteenth century pattern. Every morning at 2
o'clock the monks who occupy this lugubrious dwelling-place arise from
the hard planks which serve them in lieu of beds, and pray in wooden
stalls, so constructed as to compel them either to stand or kneel.
Their devotions completed, the next duty is for each to go into the
yard and dig a part of his own grave, and when they have it once
completed, they fill it up again, and repeat the operation
indefinitely throughout their lives. They are not permitted to speak
to each other except by special dispensation, which is very rarely
given except at the close of a meal, when each one says to the other
"Memento mori"--remember that you are to die. The system resembles, in
all essential respects, that of the Indian fakirs and other religious
enthusiasts who believe that the only way to please God is to make
one's self as miserable as possible.--_Herald_.

BUDDHISM IN AMERICA.--A high caste Brahmin, Mohini Mohun Chatterjee,
has arrived in the United States at New York, who has been teaching in
England and on the continent. He has the approval of the brotherhood
in Thibet, and has a high intellectual reputation. The JOURNAL will
endeavor to discuss this subject hereafter. Buddhism is much nearer
than Christianity to modern agnosticism, but it embodies fine moral
teaching, and is free from intolerance. Mohini represents, it is said,
"that his visit to this country is simply in the capacity of an agent,
sent by the divine Mahatmas to enlighten a materialistic barbarism
with the spiritual wisdom--religion of the East. He represents a
movement which has for its object the uniting of the East and West in
the acceptance of a universal faith. An attempt was at first made to
interest people in the subject by laying some stress upon the minor
phenomena of occult science. Unfortunately, such wonders attracted
disciples who cared more for thaumaturgy than for doctrine, and these
fell away as soon as they discovered