(1905-6). The volume is intended as a companion or sequel to those entitled, 'In the Morning of Life' and 'At the Parting of the Ways,' and it is hoped that, like its predecessors, it may prove useful to others besides schoolboys."

THE SPRINGS OF HELICON. A Study in the Progress of English Poetry From Chaucer to Milton. By J. W. Mackail, M. A., LL. D., sometime fellow of Balliol College, professor of poetry in the University of Oxford. 12mo., pp. 204. Longmans, Green & Co., New York.

"The substance of this volume consists of lectures given from the chair of poetry at Oxford in the autumn terms of the years 1906 and 1908. They have been revised and slightly expanded for the purposes of publication. The volume is, as its title states, a study in the progress of English poetry. It forms one chapter in the subject with which the author proposed to deal during his tenure of the chair, that subject being the progress of poetry, or, in other words, the consideration of poetry as a progressive function and continuous interpretation of life."

The author calls the progress of our own poetry, between Chaucer and Milton, a single cycle, and confining himself to it, he deals with Chaucer, Spencer and Milton only in the present volume. The lectures or essays are very interesting and rather full.

THE HOLY SACRIFICE AND ITS CEREMONIES. An Explanation of Its Mystical and Liturgical Meaning. By M. C. Nieuwborn, O. P., S. T. L. Translated from the revised edition by L. M. Bowman. 12mo., pp. 111. London: Burns & Oates. New York: Benziger Brothers.

The author's purpose is "to increase men's love for the Holy Sacrifice by a better understanding of its mysteries; to reveal something of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of which St. Paul speaks (Eph. iii., 8), and to open out a new field to the mind, so that devotion of the heart may gather more abundant fruit, were it only in the souls of a few."

He does not attempt to treat the Mass in an exhaustive manner; it would be impossible in so small a space, but he gives a short, clear explanation of the different parts of the Holy Sacrifice in such a manner as to excite interest and beget devotion in the masses of the people.

SERMONS ON MODERN SPIRITISM. By A. V. Miller, O. S. C. 12mo., pp. xv.+178. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. St. Louis: B. Herder.

;

Six sermons on a subject of ever increasing interest. The author's purpose is to warn his hearers against the practice of

circumstances, and we don't believe their spiritual directors would have allowed them to act that way. We are sure that we have never met nuns of that kind, and we have met a great many of various communities in a quarter of a century. While, then, we commend the story as a story, we cannot refrain from saying that we wish Mr. Crawford had not written it, and we hope that other secular novelists will not follow his example.

A PRIVATE RETREAT FOR RELIGIOUS. Enriched with reflections and select readings taken from the spiritual writings of St. Alphonsus. By Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R. 12mo., cloth. New York: Benziger Brothers.

In presenting this book to the public the author says: "There are many earnest souls working in the vineyard of the Lord, whose labors do not permit them to make the annual public retreat. Many others desire to spend a few days in solitude at the close of the year, or at some other time when their occupation will allow them to do

SO.

There are still others, who, deriving more benefit from a private than a public retreat, prefer to make the spiritual exercises in total seclusion and silence. To all such this 'Private Retreat for Religious' is offered as an aid.

"In making the spiritual exercises, especially in private, some persons experience difficulty in employing the time profitably; others in digesting the truths of the spiritual life, and others again in acquiring the necessary knowledge of themselves. In this our 'Private Retreat' we have tried to remove these difficulties as far as possible, (1) by supplying abundant matter; (2) by working out the entire meditation as far as circumstances will permit; (3) by adding appropriate reading and examinations.

"As the meditations of most religious of our day last but a half hour, we have divided the meditations of this retreat into two parts, and added an appropriate reflection from St. Alphonsus for the benefit of those who may desire to prolong the exercise. Each point of the meditation is divided into 'Considerations and Applications' and 'Affections and Prayers;' the first aims at subjecting the mind, while the other is intended to conform the will to the mind and heart of God. The soul is further aided in acquiring the theory and practice of the spiritual life by daily spiritual reading and examinations and by a systematic interior examination, which will be introduced at the proper stage of the exercises.

"To facilitate the concentration of the mind on the work of the retreat, and to remove all unnecessary anxiety regarding its success, a special end is proposed for each day. By keeping this special end in view day after day the success of the retreat is, humanly speaking,

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THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC

QUARTERLY REVIEW

"Contributors to the QUARTERLY will be allowed all proper freedom in the expression of their thoughts outside the domain of defined doctrines, the REVIEW not holding itself responsible for the individual opinions of its contributors."

(Extract from Salutatory, July, 1890.)

C

VOL. XXXIV. —ОСТОВER, 1909-No. 136.

CLERGYΜΕΝ ΜΑΤHEMATICIANS.

ARDINAL NEWMAN says somewhere, though I have not been able to find the exact passage, that the study of mathematics has a tendency to make men skeptics with regard to matters of faith. It is as if the acceptance of mysteries that the human intellect is unable to understand and indeed cannot hope ever to comprehend must be utterly unsympathetic to the mind accustomed to obtain its knowledge by means of the rigid conclusions of mathematical science. Of course, neither the thought nor the expression originated with the great English Cardinal. Something like it has been said frequently by many others before him and has come to be accepted by many people as almost an axiom. People who themselves are not mathematicians (and I believe that Newman at all times here in his life had very little sympathy with mathematics, though a liking for mathematics and for music are said to go together, and the great Cardinal's fondness for music is known) are prone to consider that a mathematical mind must be very different from their own, and especially must be impatient of the inconclusiveness of our knowledge with regard to the Infinite.

It is curious to see how old this impression with regard to the skeptical quality of the scientific and mathematical mind is, and even Plato has, I believe, a passage in which he calls attention to it. Not long since, in looking over the confessions of Al Ghazzali, which were translated for the first time into English by Claude Field for the "Wisdom of the East Series,"1 I found that this old Moslem