fication to what
was intended. Another is, the insinuation of suggestions, which,
although they do not directly assert falsehood, engender wrong opinions
towards those of whom they are made. Another is, the utterance of
oblique and covert reflections, which, while they do not expressly
amount to an accusation of evil, convey the impression that something is
seriously defective. Another is, the imputation to a man's practice,
judgment, profession, or words, consequences which have no connection
with them, so as to deteriorate him in the estimation of others.
Another is, the repetition of any rumour or story concerning a man
likely to injure his character in society. Another is, being accessory
to or encouraging slander in any sense or degree.

The Apostle James speaks of slander as "poison." "The deadliest
poisons," says the Rev. F. W. Robertson, in a sermon on this passage,
"are those for which no test is known; there are poisons so destructive
that a single drop insinuated into the veins produces death in three
seconds, and yet no chemical science can separate that virus from the
contaminated blood and show the metallic particles of poison glittering
palpably, and say, 'Behold, it is here.'

"In the drop of venom which distils from the sting of the smallest
insect, or the spike of the nettle leaf, there is concentrated the
quintessence of a poison so subtle that the microscope cannot
distinguish it, and yet so virulent that it can inflame the blood,
irritate the whole constitution, and convert day and night into restless
misery.

"Thus it is with some forms of slander. It drops from tongue to tongue;
goes from house to house, in such ways and degrees, that it would
sometimes be difficult to take it up and detect the falsehood. You could
not evaporate the truth in the slow process of the crucible, and then
show the residuum of falsehood glittering and visible. You could not
fasten upon any word or sentence, and say that it was calumny; for in
order to constitute slander, it is not necessary that the words spoken
should be false--half truths are often more calumnious than whole
falsehoods. It is not even necessary that a word should be distinctly
uttered; a dropped lip, an arched eyebrow, a shrugged shoulder, a
significant look, an incredulous expression of countenance, nay, even an
emphatic silence, may do the work; and when the light and trifling thing
which has done the mischief has fluttered off, the venom is left