7 SEPTEMBER 1895, Page 25

Studies in Oriental Social Life. By H. Clay Trumbull, D.D.

(Hodder and Stoughton.)—Dr. Trumbull makes a contribution of considerable interest and value to a study which is of prac- tically unlimited extent, the illustrations of the Bible from the facts of modern Eastern life. The titles of some of his chapters will indicate his methods,—" Betrothals and Weddings," " Hos- pitality," " Funerals and Mourning," " Prayers and Praying," ." Food in the Desert." This last is of a somewhat different kind. It is an illustration with a distinctly apologetic object, and sug- gests an answer to the difficulty,—how did the multitude of Israel find food in the desert? In other matters, Dr. Trumbull sometimes seems to claim as Oriental, customs which may be found in other parts of the world.