holds good that we as Scotchmen are sweet-toothed.  You can now boast of a steam communication not only on the coast, but over the world.  I had last year the pleasure of a cruise in the Trinity yacht “Galatea,” and does not she speak volumes for what can be done by your citizens? for that vessel was built by Mr. Caird, and even the ship seemed to feel that she came from the beautiful Clyde.  What a difference now to the time of Henry Bell in 1812, who first started a steamer for passengers on the Clyde!  We have now in Great Britain 2523 steamers, registering no less than 766,200 tons.  Have not these improvements shown what means of communication do for body and mind?

Railways.—­Having said this much about steamers, I will turn for a short time to another means of communication for body and mind—­I mean the railways.  Are not they a striking advance in science, and the bringing to bear the power of mind to work on the material that has been provided for our use by an all-wise God?  It is but a few years since, comparatively speaking, they came into existence, and yet, from the time of George Stephenson (and his perseverance largely aided to perfect the railway), see what vast sums of money have been spent, what magnificent and noble structures have been erected, and what speed has been obtained for the communication of body and mind.  Instead of the thirty miles from Manchester to Liverpool in 1830, we now have in Great Britain and Ireland 13,289 miles of railway.  The total capital paid in 1865 was L455,478,000, and this has largely increased since then.  An idea may be formed of the difference of the rate of speed in travelling effected, both before and after the introduction of railways, by such facts as the following:—­Two hundred years ago, King James’s groom rode six days in succession between London and York, and a wonderful feat it was deemed; whilst now, the same distance is performed in five hours.  About 1755 to 1760, the London and Edinburgh coach was advertised to run between these cities in fourteen days in summer, and sixteen in winter, resting one Sunday on the road.  So much for the growing desire for speedy intercourse for mind and body.

Suez Canal.—­There is an all-absorbing topic now before the public, and it is one that brings strikingly before us the thirst for communication of both body and mind to and from distant parts of our globe.  It is one of deep importance to all who take an interest in the advancement of science—­I mean the Suez Canal.  The Red Sea cannot but be familiar to us all—­a sea of the most profound interest, for there did the mighty Jehovah work one of His most stupendous miracles, when He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and at the same time destroyed Pharaoh and all his host.  But in how different a manner did the Lord work!  By a word He caused the waters to go back, leaving a wall on the right hand and on the left, so that the people of Israel went through on dry land.  This was