the Christian Brothers - Les Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes. It recalled our ten-cent investment of last February, and is so interesting, especially to all who are mathematically inclined, that we translate it.

In bank-notes of one thousand francs, the weight of each note being estimated at two grams,* the five milliards in paper would weigh ten thousand kilograms; † in gold, one million six hundred and twelve thousand nine hundred; in silver, twentyfive millions; in copper, five hundred millions. It would take one hundred men to carry the five milliards in bank-notes of one thousand francs each, allowing one hundred kilograms to each man; sixteen thousand one hundred and twenty-nine, in gold; two hundred and fifty thousand, in silver; five million, in copper. It would take a man to count the five milliards, at the rate of ten hours per day, and counting every minute sixty notes of one thousand francs-fifty pieces of twenty francs, sixty pieces of one franc, sixty pieces of five centimes-to count the notes, four months and nineteen days; the gold, nineteen years and ten days; the silver, three hundred and eighty years, six months, and eight days; the copper, seven thousand six hundred and ten years, four months, and seven days.

To remove this great sum of money in bank-bills one wagon would suffice, it being capable of bearing ten thousand kilograms; in gold, one hundred and sixty-one and one-third

*Nearly equal to fifteen and one-half grains Troy.

+ Equal to two pounds three ounces and 4.65 drams.

wagons; in silver, two thousand five hundred; in copper, fifty thousand. Allowing ten metres* to each wagon, those carrying the gold would extend sixteen hundred and ten metres; the silver, twenty-five thousand metres; the copper, five hundred thousand metres.

Placing the notes of one thousand francs one upon another, and giving each one a space of one tenth of a millimetre,† they would ascend to a height of five hundred metres. The diameter of the five-franc piece being equal to thirty-seven millimetres, the five milliards placed in the same direction, side to side, would form a chain thirty-seven millions of metres in length-almost the circumference of the earth, which is forty millions. With one-franc pieces placed as the preceding, they would encircle the globe twice and seveneighths; with fifty centimes-tencent pieces-four times and one-half; with sous cents-sixty-two times and one-half!

The Franco-Prussian war did not commence till July, 1870. Inside of three years the greatest of modern battles have been lost and won, and the heaviest fine ever laid upon a nation paid, and without interfering with the commercial classes or any important interest or branch of business in the fair land. Great in science, in war, in religion, she has given the world a proof of her magnificent resources, and that her children are still proud of la belle France, and filled with the "sacré amour de la patrie."

The metre is equal to 39.37 inches. + The thousandth part of a metre.

LOUISE LATEAU OF BOIS D'HAINE: HER LIFE, HER ECSTASIES, AND HER STIG MATA. A Medical Study. By Dr. F. Lefebvre, Professor of General Pathology and Therapeutics in the Catholic University of Louvain, Honorary Physician to the Lunatic Establishment in that town, Titular Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium. Edited by J. Spencer Northcote, D.D. London: Burns & Oates. 1873. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication Society.)

We enjoy very much the chagrin and discomfiture of sceptical physicians, scientists, and other materialists, both learned and vulgar, in view of the great number of preternatural facts, both divine and diabolical, which have been thrust upon their unwilling sight during this present half-century. Heaven and hell appear to rival each other in startling the shallow self-complacency and incredulity of the hard-headed set who have filled the world with their boastful pretence to have overcome the superstitions of ages by their experiments and inductions. They have tried hard to ignore all the supernatural or preternatural facts and phenomena of the mystic

order which have multiplied around them and challenged their investigation. But this proves to be a signal failure. Especially when men who belong to their own professional fraternity, whose learning and ability in their own class of sciences are undoubted, exhibit the results of careful study and investigation by means of experiment and induction from observed facts, as proving, on their own principles, the folly of their stubborn unbelief, do they cut a very sorry figure by persisting in ignoring and giving the transeat to that which will not be ignored or passed over. The puerile banalities in vogue, such as “manifest imposture," "unscientific absurdity," "something which no intelligent person can believe," merely show to what straits the individuals are reduced who are forced to use them. They are like allusions to the color of an opponent's hair, or the shape of his nose, or the behavior of his rela tives.

The effort at some kind of scientific explanation of the strange phenomena of spiritism, or the wonders of the divine mystical order which the former class of manifestations ape, which is occasionally attempted, fares no better. It breaks

down at a certain point. Up to that point there is a common ground of physiology, psychology, and the higher spiritual science; and many things which appear to be beyond natural power or law may be explained and accounted for without supposing preternatural causes. But, ill-defined and uncertain as the boundary line may be, there is one, and one cannot pass it very far without being aware of the fact. We do not complain of scientists for being critical and difficult in respect to facts and evidence. We do not, in reference to the present case, inculpate their refusal to believe on motives of pure faith. The charge against them is that they are recreant to their own avowed method of investigation by experiment, observation, and induction.

No one can prove this so conclusively, or rout them so completely on their own ground, as one of themselves, who is conversant with physics, and at the same time has some logic, philosophy, and sound theology in his head; in a word, is, what they are not, a completely educated man. The volume before us is a specimen of what we are speaking of. We need not enlarge on the case of Louise Lateau, of which we have spoken before, and which is generally known. Sufficient to say that the book before us is a treatise on her remarkable ecstasies and stigmata by a physician, and written after the method of medical science, which establishes beyond a doubt their miraculous cause and origin.

THE HOLY MASS: The Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead. By Michael Müller, Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. New York and Cincinnati: F. Pustet. 1874.

This is a work written in the true spirit of S. Alphonsus. It is not a reprint of the work entitled The Holy Eucharist our Greatest Treasure, by the same author, but an entirely new treatise. Its theology is sound and solid, its spirit most devout, and its style simple and popular. It is surprising that so hardworking a priest as F. Müller has been able to write so many excellent and edifying books, in a language, too, which is to him a foreign tongue. Every pious Catholic who reads this book will be charmed with it, and will find it most instructive and profitable. We are happy to be able to give it our unqualified

commendation, and to recommend it in the most earnest manner to all the faithful, as well as to Protestants who are seeking for the truth.

THE LIFE OF THE VEN. ANNA MARIA TAIGI. Edited by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A. London: Burns & Oates; New York: F. Pustet. 1874. Mr. Thompson's biographies are of the first class in every respect. This one has a special interest on account of the relation which the life and prophecies of the venerable Roman matron sustain to recent and pending events of the greatest moment in human history. It is unfortunate that a most meagre and imperfect life of Anna Maria Taigi, which contains serious misstatements, afterwards discovered and regretted by the author, Mgr. Leuquet, has been already translated and circulated in this country. That life states that its subject fell into a grievous sin against her marriage vows, and remained without confession for a considerable time afterwards. This is proved to be false, and the fact is fully established that Anna Maria was pious and irreproachable throughout her whole life, and especially so during her whole career as a wife and the mother of a large family.

Apart from her supernatural gifts, the sanctity and virtue displayed by this wonderful and admirable matron, in a laborious and humble sphere, present a most beautiful picture and a most engaging example to woman in the married

state.

The extraordinary graces granted to Anna Maria Taigi, her supernatural knowledge, and her remarkable predictions, have made her name famous throughout the world. This part of his subject Mr. Thompson has treated fully and judiciously. The exact fulfilment of the predictions she is known to have made of events already passed, especially those relating to Pius IX., who was elevated to the pontifical throne nine years after her death, has awakened a most intense curiosity respecting some others attributed to her regarding the present time and the approaching future. These are under the hands of the commission engaged with the process of her beatification, and have not been officially published. Those which are certainly known are inserted in the Life, and others, which are probably genuine, are added in the appendix.

The appendix closes with the following very apposite remarks, extracted from an extremely able and interesting article on modern current prophecies which appeared some time ago in the Civiltà Cattolica:

"It cannot be denied that the agreement of so many and various presages in divining events the expectation of which is in the hearts of the greater number of Catholics, possesses a persuasive force, and is a kind of seal of high probability, if not certainty. Wise Christians are unanimous in admitting that the church is a prey to a diabolical and universal persecution hitherto unexampled; wherefore God must come to her aid with succors proportioned to the need, that is extraordinary. We find ourselves in this extreme case that the salvation of society, no less than of the church, requires an unaccustomed intervention of Omnipotent power. If this be so, how should we not believe that come it will ?"

PLEADINGS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. From the French, with Introduction by a Catholic Priest. New York The Catholic Publication Society. 1874.

This little work bears the imprimatur of Cardinal Cullen. The introduction states the devotion to the Sacred Heart succinctly. The work itself consists of a reading for every day in the month. Each reading contains an instruction followed by a "reflection "and a" practice," together with a suitable example. Everything is excellent. We most warmly recommend the book to all who have or wish to acquire true devotion to the Sacred Heart.

LENTEN SERMONS. By Paul Segneri, of the Society of Jesus. Vol. II. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1874.

The present volume seems to us to contain a better selection of sermons than the one published two years ago. Those on "Avoiding the Occasions of Sin," on "Gaining a Brother," on "The Love of God in Afflicting us," on "The Cure of Disquieting Thoughts about Predestination," and "Encouragement to the Greatest Sinners to become the Greatest Saints," are perhaps especially remarkable. A translation necessarily labors under some disadvantages, but we think that the work has really been

well done in the present case, and that small blemishes and misconceptions of the author's meaning are not more frequent than must always be expected when a work is rendered from one language into another. The English style of the book is good.

All those who have the first volume will, we think, desire to supply themselves with the second; and those who get the second will no doubt send for the first also. Another volume, to complete the set, will, we believe, be prepared.

THE DOVE OF THE TABERNACLE; or, The Love of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. By Rev. T. H. Kinane, C.C., Templemore. With a Preface by His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel. New York: P. M. Haverty. 1874.

Though several very good manuals of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament have lately appeared, this little book will not be a superfluity. It seems to us the most practical of them all, and the best calculated to induce the faithful to frequently hear Mass and worthily receive Holy Communion. In these latter days of the world and of the church, the sacraments are more than ever the special channels of God's grace, and every word tending to increase devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist is peculiarly valuable.

MEMORIAL OF THOMAS EWING OF OHIO. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1873.

Without being a formal biography, this book presents us with the leading and many of the minor incidents in the life of an eminent statesman and jurist covering a period of over fourscore years. The scope of the work embraces an autobiography, a brief biography by the Hon. Henry Stanbery, and a judicious collocation of original letters and selections from current journals, thus enabling the reader to trace with little difficulty the various stages of a remarkable career, and form an estimate of an equally remarkable character. The value of the volume is enhanced by some delicate sketches, original and selected, prepared by the daughter of the subject, and editor of the Memorial, Mrs. Ellen Ewing Sherman, wife of Gen. W. T. Sherman.

The life of Thomas Ewing furnishes a very interesting study to the rising youth of our country, showing, as it does, how