the Society maintains agents to direct its opera-
tions. These operations are now conducted on a
scale practically coextensive with the advancing
tide of modern missionary conquest, so that wher-
ever the missionary goes, and sometimes before
he goes, the colporteur is found at his task of
Scripture distribution.
In the principal countries of Europe, including Russia, where it has generally the cordial sup- port of the Russian Church ; in Central Asia, Si- beria, Persia, Turkey, Greece, Egjpt, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Madagascar, the Indian Empire, China. .Tapan, Australia. South and Cen- tral America, British North America — in tine, throughout the whole world its labors are abun- dant and successful.
A controversy concerning the circulation of the books of the Apocrypha along with the ca- nonical Scriptures by the British and Foreign Bible Society (see Apoceypiia) led to a resolu- tion in 1826 that its funds should be devoted, ac- cording to its original design, to the diffusion of the canonical books alone. The Edinburgh Bible Society existed from that time forward as an en- tirely separate society till 1861. when all the Scotch societies amalgamated to form the Nationai, Bible Society of Scotland.
Of the numerous Bible societies of Germany, the most important and extensively ramified is the Prussian Central Bible Society {Hauptbibelge- sellschaft) in Berlin. It was founded in 1814, has branches in all parts of the Prussian domin- ions, and distributes annually about 120,000 Bibles and 50,000 Xew Testaments. There are besides numerous independent Bible societies in other parts of the German Empire, as in Wiirttomberg, Saxony, Bavaria, and Mecklen- burg; but they are of less importance. All these societies unite in supplying the German Army with Bibles and Testaments. They also now circulate the revised Lutheran version. A large number of Bibles are still, however, annually supplied to the people of Germany by the agents of the British and Foreign Bible So- ciety. Bible societies were prohibited by the Austrian Government in 1817, and some which had already been established in Hungary were dissolved. The Rr.ssiAX Bible Society, founded at Saint Petersburg in 1813, through the exer- tions of Dr. Paterson, and under the patronage of the Emperor Alexander I., entered upon a career of great activity and usefulness, cooperat- ing with the British and Foreign Bible Society for the printing of the Scriptures in the numer- ous languages spoken within the Russian domin- ions: but its operations were suspended in 1826 on the accession of the Emperor Nicholas, its stock of Bibles, and the whole concern, being transferred to the Holy Synod, under the claim that the sacred work of supplying the peo- ple with the Holy Scriptures belonged to the Church, and not to a secular society. The Bibles and Testaments in stock were indeed sold, and very large editions were thus disposed of, but the activity of a society which had no equal in Continental Europe was at an end. A Protestant Bible society was then formed for the purpose of providing editions of the Scriptures, and circu- lating them among the Protestants of all parts of the Empire, which now reckons about .300 auxiliary societies. But the action of this society "does not touch the members of the Greek Church, or, if at all, only slightly and inci- dentally, and it makes no provision of the Scrip- tures in the language spoken by the great mass of the people. It is merely designed to meet the wants of colonists and others, who do not use the Russian language." Of the translations of the Scriptures published by the original Russian Bible Society, the greater number have never been reprinted since its suppression. The principal Bible Society in the United States is The American Bible Society. The organization of the American Bible So- ciety was preceded by a period of awakening in- terest in the translation and circulation of the Scriptures. This showed itself in a variety of ways. The first portion of Scripture printed in America was the Xew Testament, translated into the Indian language by John Eliot, and printed at Cambridge, Mass.. in 1661: a translation of the whole Bible followed in 1663. A German Bible was printed at Geimantown, Pa., in 1743. In 1777 the English Xew Testament, and in 1782 the entire Bible, was printed at Philadelphia. This was the first English Bible with an Amer- ican imprint, and it was recommended by Con- gress, after an examination by the chaplains. A petition was presented to the National Congress, asking that'an appropriation of public funds be made for the printing of Bibles during the Revo- lutionary War, and in response thereto Congress directed that 20,000 copies be imported at the public expense. The first Bible Society in the United States was instituted at Philadelphia in 1808; the second, at Hartford; the third, at Boston; the fourth, at Xew York; the fifth, at Princeton, X. .J. — all in 1809. In a few years there were about GO. Delegates from 35 of these societies met in New York, May, 181 G, and or- ganized the American Bible Society, to which the local organizations generally became auxiliary. The number of auxiliaries increased rapidly, and at present amounts to about 1500. In 1841 an act of incorporation for the American Bible So- ciety was obtained with privileges which have since been enlarged. The first place of business was a room 7 feet by 9 ; the next was 20 feet square; the third was in a building erected in Nassau Street on a lot 50 feet by 100, and after- wards enlarged. In 1852 the present Bible House was built, occupying the whole of the ground bounded by Third and Fourth avenues. Astor Place, and Ninth Street, having a peri- phery of more than 700 feet, an open square in the centre, and being six stories high. The structure is of brick, with stone copings, and commands attention by its magnitude, admir- able proportions, and appropriate finish. The working force consists of the executive and manu- facturing departments, the former containing the corresponding secretaries and treasurer; the latter includes printing, electrotyping, proof- reai ing. and other branches of the work. The print- ing is now done on the best modern jiresses. In the bindery, also, the best modern improvements have been introduced. The Society owns 120 sets of stereotype and electrotype plates, from which are printed 20 sizes of English Bibles, and 10 sizes of the Xew Testament; each size i^i boimd in from four to six styles, as there is a demand for Bibles of all sizes in fine bindings, but by far the greater proportion of all issues are in plain styles, and are circulated among the poor. The whole Bible has been stereotyped at great ex- pense in the Boston raised letter for the use of
