of the third century AD, a summary of it was made and codified. That summary is known as the Mishnah; it contains sixty-three tractates on various subjects of the law, and in English makes a book of almost 800 pages. Later Jewish scholarship busied itself with making commentaries to explain the Mishnah. These commentaries are known as the Talmuds. Of the Jerusalem Talmud there are twelve printed volumes; and of the Babylonian Talmud there are sixty printed volumes. To strict orthodox Jews, in the