Part 1 — NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Life of T. Théophane Vénard, Martyr in Tonquin. Translated from the French by Lady Herbert. London: Burns, Oates & Co. 1870. Pp. 215. For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren Street, New York.

China is the land of modern martyrdom. She continues the work of Nero and Diocletian. Within a few days the newspapers have contained a brief account of the latest massacre. These persecutions have been constant since her soil first drank the blood of a Catholic missionary. Incited by their pagan priests, secretly encouraged by government officials, and sustained by the approbation of the mandarins, the ignorant and barbarous mobs of China are only too ready for the murder of those whom they term "Foreign Devils." Throughout the world there is at least partial toleration for the teacher of the Christian religion; in China there is only certain death. Father Vénard, then, went to China with the hope and expectation of martyrdom. This was tempered, indeed, by the thought that he was unworthy of this singular grace, but still it was the constant thought of his life. In early childhood it was his delight to read the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" with his dear sister Mélanie; and once, when he had scarcely reached his ninth year, he was heard to exclaim, "And I too will go to Tonquin; and I too will be a martyr!" Those childish lips were speaking a prophecy. Let twenty-two years pass away, and the little French lad will be found in a wooden cage, the prisoner of barbarians, and awaiting sentence of death. Sweet bird of paradise that he was, it is not strange that even a pagan mob should be touched by his misfortunes. He hears the crowd about his prison saying, "What a pretty boy that European is!" "He is gay and bright, as if he were going to a feast!" "He is come to our country to do us good." "Certainly he can't have done any thing wrong." But in China, as in more civilized nations, popular sympathy has little influence over the authorities who administer the government. Doubtless there was some law to be vindicated, and so, on February 3d, 1860, at the age of thirty-one, Father Vénard was beheaded. His execution was not remarkable for any great tortures, though it was cruel enough. But this was due to an unskilful headsman and a dull sword; and as these accidents are frequent in the execution of our criminals, it would be unjust to make it a reproach to those who caused the death of the young martyr. But his life does not require the heroic endurance of tortures to make it interesting. He wins our love simply because he was so full of love himself. He was a tender and affectionate son, a warm and devoted brother, an unfailing friend. Perhaps the greatest of his sacrifices was made when he left the sister to whom he was so warmly attached that he might labor among the heathen. It may have been a more glorious triumph for the martyr to renounce his idolized relatives than to meet death bravely. We cannot, therefore, see the appropriateness of Lady Herbert's remark, that Vénard "was no ascetic saint, trembling at every manifestation of human or natural feeling." If he did not tremble at human affections, at least he knew how to renounce them; indeed, he saw that perfection could only be gained by their renunciation. But as Lady Herbert's sentence reads, it conveys a reproach to the ascetics. We might imagine that "an ascetic saint trembling at every manifestation of human or natural feeling" was something greatly to be deplored. But when we remember that St. Aloysius was so careful in this matter that he would not raise his eyes to look upon his own mother, we may very fairly question the wisdom of Lady Herbert's insinuation. She has evidently used the word ascetic in a Protestant sense; deriving it from the word similar in sound, but totally different in meaning—acetic. It would be very difficult to assign exactly the part which human affections play in Christian perfection. Perhaps there is no rule which will apply to all. The lives of the saints show that they have looked upon it in very different lights. Some have completely broken all family ties; others have cherished and sanctified the love borne to their relations. It is only fair, then, to conclude that God has directed these souls in different ways. If F. Vénard yields up his life for Christ and the Catholic faith, we will not quarrel with him when he calls his sister "part of his very life," or tells her that she is his "second self." Yet such language could not come from St. Aloysius, or St. Francis Borgia, or St. Ignatius. Their piety was cast in a more austere mould. But coming from this dear martyr of Tonquin, these words do not seem inappropriate. No one would wish them changed. They are the expression of his innocent and childish disposition. They prove our hero, though a priest and a man of thirty, to be the worthy companion of gentle St. Agnes. Of all the martyrs none have resembled her more closely than this heroic priest; all that imagination has painted her will be found in the reality of Father Vénard's life.

Notes on the Physiology and Pathology of the Nervous System. With reference to Clinical Medicine. By Meredith Clymer, M.D., University Pennsylvania; Fellow of the College of Physicians, Philadelphia. D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 53.

This brochure fulfils the promise of its learned author in the introduction, in which he "proposes to summarize the recent investigations into the physiology and pathology of the nervous system which have a bearing on clinical medicine."

The labor has been faithfully and skilfully performed, and the history of the scleroses of the brain and spinal cord is carefully collected from the English, German, and French—collated, compared, and analyzed. The summary is one of the utmost importance to physicians, and is interesting to men of general knowledge capable of appreciating this class of subjects.

It is difficult to over-estimate the value to science and society of the investigations and studies into the physiology and pathology of the nervous centres which are being conducted all over the world. Among the students of these interesting subjects Dr. Clymer ranks high as an observer, and chief in this country as annalist and critic. He holds a position in the world of medicine analogous to that held by Brownson in the domain of philosophy and theology, and his services are of inestimable value in correcting the hasty, crude, and ill-advised speculations of men who have neither acquired knowledge nor powers of original observation and reflection.

It is obviously out of place to pursue the subject in its medical aspects in this place, but we commend the pamphlet to physicians, scientists, and jurists, and also to theologians.

From this class of works they can learn the basis on which medicine rests as a science, and the essential immorality of all forms of quackery.

Out of the Past. (Critical and Literary Papers.) By Parke Godwin. New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons. 1870.

This is a collection of nineteen articles written for different magazines—principally for the Democratic Review and Putnam's Monthly—at various periods from 1839 to 1856. The experiment of publishing in book form an author's fugitive essays is seldom successful. True, it was so in the cases of Carlyle and Macaulay. How far Mr. Godwin may resemble them in this respect remains to be seen. Should any reviewer come to the treatment of this book strong in the Vicar of Wakefield's celebrated canon of criticism—that the picture would have been better if the painter had taken more pains—he will find himself disarmed by Mr. Godwin's prefatory apology, that these essays "are more imperfect than they would have been with a larger leisure at my command." The subjects are generally interesting, and their treatment instructive. The style of these essays is excellent, and their author's opinions and criticisms on literature and art generally of a healthy tone. We cannot precisely agree with Mr. Godwin when he credits a certain work of Dutch art (p. 375) with the inspiration of patriotism, but are glad to see with his eyes that Thackeray

"Took no satyr's delight in offensive scenes and graceless characters; that he was even sadder than the reader could be at the horrible prospect before him; that his task was one conscientiously undertaken, with some deep, great, generous purpose; and that, beneath his seeming scoff and mockeries, was to be discovered a more searching wisdom and a sweeter, tenderer pathos than we found in any other living writer. We saw that he chastised in no ill-natured or malicious vein, but in love; that he cauterized only to cure; and that, if he wandered through the dreary circles of Inferno, it was because the spirit of Beatrice, the spirit of immortal beauty, beckoned him to the more glorious paradise."

A Compendium of the History of the Catholic Church. By Rev. Theodore Noethen. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1870. Pp. 587.

A hasty glance through the contents of this work seems to justify these conclusions: The chief merit of the book is its numerous anecdotes. These illustrate the particular customs and dangers of Christians in different nations and centuries. Compendiums usually fatigue the mind with dates and uninteresting details. Father Noethen has carefully avoided this fault. He leads us into the homes and by the hearth-side of the Catholics of former times. Nothing can be more useful than this. History cannot be learned until we imagine ourselves living at that very time and taking our part in the scenes which are described. So the words of a martyr, or a sentence from a letter, or a pious custom will often throw more light upon history than whole pages of detailed facts and speculations. In regard to those more delicate questions which every writer of a church history must solve in some way, Father Noethen appears to have acted with great discretion. We were particularly pleased with the remarks concerning Origen. In this work that illustrious hero of the early church is given the praise which he has so long deserved, but which has been so long denied him. By an oversight, however, there is one unfortunate sentence in this book. It speaks of Constantine as "convening a general council." Without doubt this expression is incorrect; the Christian emperors aided the meeting of œcumenical councils; they never convened them. That power was always reserved to the sovereign pontiff alone. But apart from this clerical error the book is very praiseworthy, and will do good both to Catholics and to Protestants.

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