recommend this book to all who have been seeking light on the Solesmes methods.

This book, A Grammar of Plainsong, does not differ materially from the other grammars which have been already reviewed at some length in recent issues of this magazine. Perhaps it is not quite so bewildering as some other "clear and concise" grammars of plain chant which have come from the pens of Solesmes experts. But Solesmes notation, psalmody, and rhythm will always be confusing to the beginner; we think that much which is found in Solesmes books about these matters could be profitably omitted. An irrelevant chapter on the pronunciation of Latin consonants ascording to the Italian method is introduced. More instruction on the accompaniment of plain chant might be expected in a manual of this kind, but, withal, the work may be said to be useful, and not altogether unworthy of the school it represents.

Old Times in the Colonies is the latest of the Educational Briefs published by the Superintendent of Parish Schools, Broad and Vine Streets, Philadelphia. The pamphlet was written by the Rev. H. T. Henry, Litt. D., and is reprinted from The Records of the American Catholic Historical Society. It is a criticism on a notoriously unfair book, Old Times in the Colonies. This criticism persuaded Dr. Brooks, Superintendent of the Philadelphia Public Schools, to withdraw the volume from a catalogue of books, proper for reading in the public schools, in which he had placed it. We hope it will persuade others, who read or give advice on what to read, to form a similar judgment. The pamphlet evidences extensive reading by the author, and is a little mine of information. Copies may be had without cost by writing to the Superintendent of Parish Schools at the address given above.

The Report of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Catholic Truth Society includes, besides a general review of the Society's labors for the past year, the complete address on "Truth and its Responsibilities" delivered at the meeting by Very Rev. Edmund T. Shanahan, D.D.

VOL. LXXXII.-9

The Pioneer Forecasters of Hurricanes, by Rev. Walter M Drum, S.J., is an interesting and instructive pamphlet deal1 ing with the astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological work of the Royal College of Belén,' in Havana, since 1857.

We have received from the Northern Pacific Railway Wonderland, a book that reveals in prose and pictures the wonders of the Northwest. The book, we are informed, may be obtained by sending six cents to A. M. Cleland, St. Paul, Minn.

A series of reports worthy of special notice has been sent to us by the Association of Catholic Charities. The reports are encouraging and even inspiring, for they show in a very practical, evident way how Catholic charity extends to every channel of life. Here are included reports from Committees on Prison Work, Settlements, Girls' Clubs, Day Nurseries, Auxiliaries to St. Vincent de Paul Conferences, Hospitals, Sewing Classes, etc. Our own words of praise and encouragement go

out to these enthusiastic workers.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, of Brooklyn, has issued a special Golden Jubilee Report-1855-1905—which tells a most heroic story of charity.

The Union Pacific Railroad Company has issued a copy of the famous photograph "General Grant and Party at Fort Sanders, Wyoming." Its time is 1867. The picture is remarkably good and exceptionally interesting. The Union Pacific offers to present it free to any one who applies for it.

"The Hard-Hearted Man," a play of merit by Seumas MacManus and Thomas O'Concannon, is published by M. H. Gill & Son, of London, in both English and Irish. It will interest English readers, and doubly interest those who are conversant with both English and Gaelic.

The Angel Guardian Press, of Boston, Mass., has issued an attractive hand-book entitled The Christian Maiden. The book is a translation from the German of Matthias von Bremscheid,

by the Young Ladies Sodality of Holy Trinity Church, Boston. The preface is written by Bishop Stang. The volume is particularly suitable for young girls.

The Macmillan Company has published in a small size, yet with large, clear type, an edition of Danish Fairy Tales and Legends, by Hans Christian Andersen. The translation is done by Caroline Peachey and H W. Dulcken; the biographical and introductory notes by Sarah C. Brooks. The same company has issued a similar edition of Longfellow's Hiawatha. This includes extensive biographical and explanatory notes by Elizabeth J. Fleming. Both books are specially edited with a view to make them of educational value to the young.

The original complete Italian text with page-for-page English translation of the famous Magellan's Voyage Around the World, by Pigafetta, is soon to be published by the Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio. The work is translated and edited with extensive notes by James A. Robertson, who assisted also in editing The Jesuit Relations. The advance sheets show careful and painstaking work in the translation and publication of this important historical document.

Foreign Periodicals.

The Tablet (19 Aug.): Dr. Felix de Backer publishes the first of a series of papers entitled: "Lourdes and the Doctors." The writer is a scientist of eminent European distinction. Dr. de Backer introduces his subject with a commentary on the proceedings of the Free-Thought Congress held recently at Rome. The "Miracles of Science" are discussed and the scientific outlook is shown to be most promising. However, in considering the growing man and his increasing glory, the Doctor asks, is man the principal or only the accessory? With La marck, with Bernard, Pasteur, and "all workers who think," he replies: "Naught has any value apart from its maker. The vessel is in the hands of the potter who formed it."The spread of the missionary spirit among the Catholics of the United States is noticed as a welcome indication that a much needed work is being effectively undertaken.

(26 Aug.): An interesting account of the Catholic Missions in the Tonga or Friendly Islands is given by Dom Maternus Spitz, O.S.B. The progress made by the missionaries is shown, also the obstacles placed by a hostile legislation imposed upon the natives by Methodist political agents. Grant the Church full liberty of action, says the writer, and she will tell a story of future victories. Dr. de Backer points out the differences between the miracles of Science and those of Faith. He hails the numerous, convincing, and startling cures performed at Lourdes and takes pleasure in substantiating these facts with medical recognition.

The Month (Sept.): Father Sidney F. Smith concludes his attempt to furnish a solution to the problem of evil.Regarding the Benenden volume of Tudor songs and music, a great part of which is from the pen of Henry VIII., Mr. Rhys Pryce offers a conjectural explanation of how the book got to Benenden, in Kent, where it was discovered; and, in a half serious way, he finds in some of the pieces, an index to Henry's character in the earlier years of his reign, when, though already immoral,

he was still pious. Mr. Karl Cherry gives a slight sketch, based on Father Louis Le Conte's Memoirs and Observations, of the Portuguese Jesuit, Father Verbiest, who, in the palmy days of the Society, became "President of the Mathematick," at the Imperial Court of Pekin,

-The autobiographical paper of the late F. B. Lord, reviewing the path which led him from Anglicanism to Rome, is concluded. The Countess de Courson summarizes the methods pursued in the anti-religious campaign of French Freemasonry, whose power and inclination for evil are such as would scarcely be credited by those "who belong to countries where Freemasonry is a philosophical and philanthropic institution."-The reviewer has some hard things to say about a devotional work on the Blessed Virgin, recently published in New York: "We can," he writes, "conceive hardly anything more likely to tell adversely, in the long run, upon devotion to the Mother of God than books of this class." The Church Quarterly Review (July): An article on the late

Canon Liddon gives an attractive picture of Liddon's candor of mind and earnestnesss of spirituality. He was grievously troubled in his later life by the progress of higher criticism within the Church; although, with characteristic nobility, he recognized the good faith and good will of the men devoted to such views. A study of the fourth Gospel takes issue with Wendt's theory of the composite authorship of the Gospel.—A biographical sketch of Burne-Jones is interesting.--An essay on the early Christian Society discusses the inner life of the first Christian communities. The "breaking of bread" was a "feast of thanksgiving, a Eucharist, and one of the visible signs of the unity of the early Christian body."—The Anglican Church in Ireland, according to another paper, has recently been confronted with a serious financial embarrassment, but the recent formation of an "auxiliary fund" promises to relieve the situation. The other articles are on Anglicanism in Newfoundland, George Ridding, first bishop of Southwell, and on some features of recent English history.

Etudes (20 Aug.): Victor Loiselet tells what the Church thinks of public debates on religious topics. First comes an