the blow and with spirits which are chastened by the realization of our own limitations and impotence.  The world has paid a fearful price for its schooling.  Hardly yet have we learned the full tale of disaster, but the destruction by fire of New York, of Orleans, and of Brighton constitutes in itself one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our race.  When the account of the railway and shipping accidents has been completed, it will furnish grim reading, although there is evidence to show that in the vast majority of cases the drivers of trains and engineers of steamers succeeded in shutting off their motive power before succumbing to the poison.  But the material damage, enormous as it is both in life and in property, is not the consideration which will be uppermost in our minds to-day.  All this may in time be forgotten.  But what will not be forgotten, and what will and should continue to obsess our imaginations, is this revelation of the possibilities of the universe, this destruction of our ignorant self-complacency, and this demonstration of how narrow is the path of our material existence and what abysses may lie upon either side of it.  Solemnity and humility are at the base of all our emotions to-day.  May they be the foundations upon which a more earnest and reverent race may build a more worthy temple.”