DISCOVERY OF THE POOL OF BETHESDA.

" Vi'v, have generally an announcement to make, but not often of so much importance as that of this clay. It is the discovery of the Pool of Bethesda." So writes Mr. Walter Besanfc in the quarterly statement issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund. He is jubilant, as all Palestine enthusiasts are likely to be, that a vexed question in regard to a site is apparently settled for ever. Bethesda is mentioned only by the fourth Evangelist. In the fifth chapter of his gospel, John says : " Now, there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market (or gate) a pool which is called in Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having live porches." Tho word translated " pool" in the authorised version is given by some authorities as "swimming-bath," and the phrase " pool by tho sheep market" is possibly better rendered "sheep pool." Eusebtus explains the. occasional red colour of the water in his "sheep pool" as being a trace of the carcasses ot sheep washed in it before sacrificed; hence the name. They were, according to the Evangelist, live porches or porticos around the pool. These, Dr. (Jeikie thinks, charity builfc for the accommodation of sufferers. It seems to us, however, equally probable that they formed a part of the original scheme for the bath. Five porticos would seem to imply a pentagonal structure ; but this is by no means essential A rectangular pool, with a portico on every side, divided by one across tho middle, would answer the description. " Bethesda" (a Hebrew name which was very probably invented by St. John) may mean either "house of mercy" or "the place of the pouring forth" (of water). At tho north-east of modern Jerusalem, close to St. Stephen's Gate, stands tho Church of St. Anne. At the time of the Crimean war it was a ruined mosque, but when the French came into possession of it they restored the church and handed it over to the Algerian monks. It is near this Church of St. Anne, and in connection with excavations made around it, that the Pool of Bethesda has recently been discovered by Herr Conrad Schick. There is a courtyard to the north-west of the church, which leads through a newly-opened pas-f-age into another courtyard some 50ft square. At the north of this latter courtyard there was at one time u small church. Beneath the floor of this some-time church are vaults, and through tho floor of these vaults a cistern is reached, cut into the rock to a depth of 30ft. The cistern is a portion of the original Pool of Bethesda. There is still water in it, but it is difficult to say whence it comes. This, in brief, is Herr Schick's report of April sth. Since then further excavations have been made, and he has prosecuted more extended inquiries. A twin pool has been discovered. Further examination will bring more- details to light; but it may now fairly be assumed that the two pools, tanks, or cisterns thus discovered really constitutes the Pool of Bethesda, " having five porches," where Christ healed the paralytic of eight and thirty years' standing.—Pall Mall Gazette.