REPUTED SITE OF BABEL.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 306, 30 April 1874, Page 2

REPUTED SITE OF BABEL.

Titk Rev Gr. M. G-ordori, writing in the Church Missionary Intelligence, thus describes the reputed site of the Tower of Babel : — A high monnd is surmounted by a ruined and unfinished tower of brick, the summit of which is 235 feet above the plain. An examination of the mound shows that it is composed of the same elements as the mounds of Babylon — masses of brick aud rubbish, interspersed with broken pottery. These bricks are all of them inscribed on one side with cuneiform characters. The -cuneiform is the ancient Assyrian, and is supposed to be the oldest written language in the world. One side, where excavations having been made, you may see walla ot brick ascending tier above tier with masterly ambition. On another, all is convulsion and overturned, yet so solid in their ruin that it is easier to pulverise the brick than to separate it from the mortar. One of these blocks has rolled bodily to the foot of the mound. Others are fused or vitrified by a process that can be none other than electricity or fire. Curiously enough, tho Arabi have a tradition that it has been destroyed by fire from Heaven. The sides of the mound are pierced with holes and strewn with bones, which, plainly indicate the lairs of wild beasts. The new from the summit at sunriie is distant aud varied. Tho broad sheet of Euphrates winds for many anie, till lost in tho distance in a ' sea-like* plain. It is diflieult to lesist the comiction that Birs Nimrod is the Tower of Ribel, tho oldest ruin in the world. Thero are those, who, (like Mr Rich), believe it to be tho tower of Belli*, and icgnrd it as a part of the ruins of Babylon : but I prefer to hold totheolder tradition. And ■urely it ii when on ground like tint that the language of Scripture acqunes a vividness and icahty which rewards the toil of patient investigation, and make the privations of travel forgotten ; and a voice t>eenn to breathe from the reating-place of the prophets bcbiiles these mighty river* which is daily more heard and felt, rebuking the sneers of the scoffer uiul sceptic.

DrDotch states that tallow and laid can be kept from getting rancid by the following process : the tallow or lard is first treated with caibonate of soiia in the proportion of 2 pounds of soda to every 1,000 pounds of lard, and is then subjected to digestion with alum in the following manner : 10 pounds of alum are dissolved in 500 pounds of water, and 1 pound slaked lime added to the solution and boiled.' This solution is stirred well with 1,000 pounds of lard at a temperature of ISOdeg. or 200deg. F^lir. for about half an hour. The liquor is then separated from the lard, and the Lird is treated with the same amount of pure witer again This lard will keep for an exceedingly long time. The factis that the alumina in the alum applied act« very readily in a disinfecting manner npon those compounds which are liable to give rise to rancidity. The lime is added to the alnnr in order to render the alumina more active by its Hiving up some of the acid to the lime. This treatment lias also the advantage!, of restoring tho original fla<om I ami of prodding a la-1 of a greater whiteness. !