Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/185

Rh with the tone of modern life and thought, and could not have been established in modern times. Nevertheless, they stand firmly on their ancient foundations, and will long continue to stand, more or less altered and repaired in accordance with modern exigencies.

But the Mormon church is an exception; it has been founded in these latter days, and may be said to have introduced a new order of ecclesiastical architecture, although ancient materials have been largely employed. Hence the doctrines and history of this church appear to deserve careful study, for it presents to us a living example of what its mightier predecessors must have been in their early career. The extinct dinornis may be studied in the existing apteryx, and thus (borrowing a fresh metaphor) among the fossils of the past we seem to find one recent specimen, still full of organic life, illustrating the laws of growth, the habits, and the constitution of those species whose dry bones alone remain to us now. The living apteryx seems to be doomed ere long to become like its fossil congeners; if so, the time for study and observation is short.

Even those who have least sympathy with the peculiar doctrines of the Mormons may be willing to enter a protest in their favor, when the issue really lies between religious liberty and persecution. They are the only Christian sect that has suffered in our own days severe persecution at the hands of professing Christians, and their cause on that account demands especial sympathy from all who advocate absolute religious toleration.—Fortnightly Review.



UTTING edges are sometimes doubled, and thus the chisel passes into another group of tools shears. The most common of these is the ordinary household scissors opened and closed by hand; when required for heavier work, then one handle is fixed in a. vise, and both hands can be employed upon the other lengthened arm (see Figs. 1 and 2). At other times this double chisel opens with a spring, and then the workman only employs himself in closing such upon their work (Fig. 3). Compound lever power is sometimes introduced, and, as an example of this, here is a pair of very light shears called the "little giant" (Fig. 4), the mechanical contrivances in which are so adjusted that we can, smoothly and without jar, cut an iron rod one inch wide by one-quarter inch thick. The lightness of the tool and the ease in cutting are very noticeable. It is an American 