Girling could not be
immortal.

A SPIRITUAL TEST OF DEATH.--John R. Fowler, an old steamboat man, who
died at Louisville, in January, 1887, made his wife promise to keep
his body three days to see if he would not recover consciousness. On
the third day after his death, the doctor and coroner pronounced him
dead, but his wife sent for a medium, and through her the deceased
husband stated that he was dead, and the happiness of spirit life was
so great that he had no desire to return, but would wait patiently
until his wife joined him.

The most perfect test of death is by Faradic electricity. As a general
rule, three hours after death, the muscles entirely fail to respond to
the Faradic current. When the muscles cannot be affected, death is
established.

A JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.--The community at large is interested
in a new movement to establish in this city a Jewish theological
seminary. The objects of investigation contemplated by the projected
institution are the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, the part
played by the Jews in ancient, mediaeval, and modern history, and the
influence exerted upon thought and research by Jewish philosophers.
The current knowledge of these subjects is almost wholly derived from
the conclusions and opinions of non-Jewish inquirers, and may
therefore be presumed to be more or less affected by prejudice. A role
of such capital importance in civilization as that of the Hebrew
people ought to be examined from all sides, and the friends of truth
will welcome a systematic study of it from the Hebrew point of
view.--_N. Y. Sun_.

NATIONAL DEATH RATES.--In France, 48 per cent of the deaths are of
persons over fifty years of age; and what is more remarkable, 25 per
cent are of persons over seventy years of age. The French present the
best showing, except, perhaps, the Irish, of any nation as regards
long life. Only about 26 per cent of their deaths are of children
under five years. About 6 per cent only are of persons from five to
twenty years.

No nation of Europe is supposed to be more oblivious of sanitary
science than the Irish, and yet a far greater percentage of the people
of Ireland than of any other people, except the French, live to and
beyond the age of seventy years. Nearly five in 100 of the deaths are
of persons over eighty-five years of age! Only about 35 per cent of
the deaths are of persons under twenty years of age. About 42 per cent
of the deaths are of