T will be seen that the attractions offered by this new science are wonderful and quite comprehensive. Its field includes all other sciences. It is like the care of souls, scientia scientiarum, the science of sciences. Considering the state of the community it ought to have a great vogue, and enlist under its banner every earnest social worker. Since we began writing on it, we see that it has possibilities open to no other hygiene movement of the present day. And hygiene itself, like germs, is in the air. It has infected everybody. Therefore, we boastfully proclaim a great future for this new science. As soon as its value becomes known, public exhibitions will be held showing the disastrous effects of bad books and irresponsible newspapers. The wealthy who have funds at their command, and who are so interested in the real welfare of society, will endow the movement. Public bodies will take it up and further it. Boards of Education will require a special course on it from teachers, and appropriate money for textbooks in this new science. Class instructions will be given in our schools. Wonderful and most happy will be the result when all have taken up the new crusade, and enrolled themselves as members in the new society to be called "The National League for the Promotion of Book Hygiene." THE 'HE General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, recently in session in this city, enacted legislation and made some notable pronouncements that are of interest outside their own communion. We had hoped to give our readers, in this number of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, a well-considered article, pointing out the condition and trend of thought and affairs in that denomination; but the Episcopalian weeklies arrived too late for our purpose. Our readers may look for the article in our next issue. WE WE reprint here a letter from the late author of The Triumph of Failure, which one of our readers has sent to us. The portion of it which we give will show how consistently Father Sheehan applied to his own private life the truths which he so ably presented in his books. DEAR MR. R—: DONERAILE, COUNTY CORK, March 25, 1905. Your letter has just now reached my hands; and, amongst the many interesting communications which my books have elicited from correspondents everywhere, I assure you that yours most deeply touched me. If an author has any earthly reward for his labor, and the many cares and anxieties of authorship, it is assuredly the consciousness that he has spoken to many kindred souls, separated widely from him by space and association; but brought very close by community of sentiment and ideals. Have you seen enough of life to be able to understand that the only thing worth a moment's consideration to a thoughtful soul, is to make our individual lives noble, and to separate our higher being from the accidents and environments of life? I speak as one who knows, when I say that success and failure, honor and obscurity, and all other contrary elements in this mysterious life of ours, are empty words, devoid of all meaning. It is the experience of all men that, in middle life, we take the just view of human things; and that to all, especially to those who are called to a life of higher thought, there remains but one certainty, namely, that, surrounded as we are by mysteries, mysteries that deepen as we advance in life, there is one certainty of faith-that is, the teaching of a Divinely-appointed Church; and one certainty of action, that is, the duty nearest to hand. And that all speculations, surmises, doubts, perplexities, are solved by action-the performance of the duty that calls on us for the moment. Our futures are in God's hands: we can neither make nor mar them. The present only is ours. Fear not. You are in the hands of the Father. He will make your pathway very clear and bright. With all kindliest assurances, I am, dear Mr. R———, (Signed) Yours faithfully, P. A. SHEEHAN, P.P. HE classes of Confraternity of Christian Doctrine have grown out of a present-day need for an organized body of Catholic Sundayschool teachers to work in our Catholic Settlement centres, and in those parishes where lay teachers are required. Their aim is to instruct young men and young women in the elements of pedagogy, and to promote the efficient teaching of the Catechism. UND * NDER the auspices of the Confraternity, the Free Lecture Bureau of the Alumni Society of the New York Training School for Catechists offers illustrated lectures free of charge for any evening or for Sunday afternoons, to any church society desiring its services. The screens, slides, lanterns, and operators are furnished free on `condition that no admission fee be charged. * AMONG the subjects offered are MONG the subjects offered are "Frédéric Ozanam," " 'Joan of Arc," "The Vatican," "The Saints in Art," "St. Peter's," "Isle La Motte," and " English Shrines" for adults. "The Saints in Art and Story," "Life of Our Lord," "Life of the Blessed Virgin," and "Stones from the Old Testament" for children. Applications for lectures must be made two weeks in advance to Mr. Walter R. P. Smith, 514 57th Street, Brooklyn. BOOKS RECEIVED. BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York: The Epistle to the Ephesians. By Rev. G. S. Hitchcock, D.D. $2.50 net. The Life of Mother Mary of Jesus. By Rev. P. Suau, S.J. $2.00 net. The Children of the Log Cabin. By H. E. Delamare. 85 cents. The Pearl of Great Price. By V. Riccardi-Cubitt. Dame Clare's Story-Telling. By E. Schmidt. Worldlyman. By P. Fitzgerald. 90 cents net. In Quest of the Golden Chest. By G. Barton. $1.15. By the Blue River. By I. Clarke. $1.35 net. Roma; Ancient, Subterranean, and Modern Rome. Part I. By Rev. A. Kuhn, O.S.B. 35 cents. The Fairy of the Snows. By F. J. Finn, S.J. 85 cents. The Chief Sufferings of Life and Their Remedies. By Abbé Duhaut. $1.25 net. The Holy Child Seen by His Saints. By M. M. Kennedy. 75 cents net. Meditations Without Methods. By W. D. Strappini, S.J. $1.25 net. P. J. KENEDY & SONS, New York: The Coming Storm. By F. D. Hoyt. $1.25. Selected Poems. By J. B. O'Reilly. $1.35 postpaid. THE DEVIN-ADAIR Co., New York: The Eighth Year. By P. Gibbs. $1.25 net. The Widow's Necklace. By E. Davies. $1.35 net. E. P. DUTTON & Co., New York: France To-Day; Its Religious Orientation. By P. Sabatier. Translated from the French by H. B. Binns. $2.00 net. LONGMANS, GREEN & Co., New York: Old Testament Rhymes. By Robert Hugh Benson. 75 cents net. The Life of the Viscountess de Bonnault d'Houet. By Rev. Father Stanislaus, F. M. Capuchin. $2.50 net. Vincent de Paul: Priest and Philanthropist, 1576-1660. By E. K. Sanders. $4.00 net. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York: Court of Masques of James I. By M. Sullivan, Ph.D. $2.50 net. THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS, New York: The Nativity. By John Bunker. 50 cents net. MT. CARMEL GUILD, Buffalo, New York: Catholic Calendar, 1914. 50 cents; by mail 60 cents. ST. BERNARD'S SEMINARY, Rochester, New York: The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. By Rev. J. J. Baierl. ARLEN & Co., Boston: Arlen's Chart of Irish History. By C. R. Arlen. J. B. LIPPINCOTT Co., Philadelphia: $3.00. Lightships and Lighthouses. By F. A. Talbot. $1.50 net. PETER REILLY, Philadelphia: A Divine Friend. By H. C. Schuyler, S.T.L. $1.00 net. B. HERDER, St. Louis: 50 cents. A Loyal Life; a Biography of Henry Livingston Richards. By J. H. Richards. $2.00 net. First Notions on Social Service. Edited by Mrs. Philip Gibbs. 20 cents net. Luther. By H. Grisar, S.J. Vol. II. $3.25 net. Soteriology. By Rev. J. Pohle, Ph.D. $1.00 net. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius. By J. C. Joy, S.J. 35 cents net. A Group of Nation Builders. By Rev. P. M. MacSweeney. 35 cents net. The Life on Earth of Our Blessed Lord. 60 cents net. Spiritism Unveiled. By D. I. Mrs. Fairlie's Granddaughters. By F. Noble. 75 cents net. Memoirs of Baron Hyde de Neuville. Translated by F. Jackson. 2 Vols. $6.00 net. For Children. By Grace Keon. PERRIN ET CIE, Paris: Les Conventionnels des Règicides d'après des documents officiels et inédits. Par P. Blaird. 5 frs. GABRIEL BEAUCHESNE, Paris: Dieu; Existence et Cognoscibilité. Par S. Belmond. 4 frs. L'Edit de Calliste. Par A. d'Alès. 7 frs. 50. PIERRE TEQUI, Paris: L'Esclave des Nègres. Par J. Charruau. 2 frs. Armelle Nicolas dite la Bonne Armelle. Par Le Gouvello. 3 frs 50. Méditations sur le Mystère de L'Agonie de N.-S. Jesus Christ. Par N. Laux. 1 fr. EUGENE FIGUIERE ET CIE, Paris: Abel. Par G. Fanton. 3 frs. 50. THE CATHOLIC WORLD. VOL. XCVIII. JANUARY, 1914. No. 586. THE EARLIEST MEN. BY SIR BERTRAM C. A. WINDLE, M.D., SC.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., K.S.G., President and Professor of Archæology, University College, Cork. UESTIONS respecting the earliest human inhabitants of the earth are not merely engaging the best attention of the learned, but are seriously occupying the thoughts, and sometimes, it would appear, grievously disturbing the minds of those who, without laying any claim to the title of learned, extend their reading beyond the limits of current fiction. No one indeed can read the newspapers with any care without, from time to time as some new discovery is made, having questions of the kind indicated forced upon his attention. There is nothing wonderful in all this, indeed the wonder would be if our attention were not attracted by such questions, so closely related to ourselves and to matters which many of us hold dear and which appear-it is only an appearance, but it seems real to those imperfectly acquainted with the facts-which appear, I repeat, to conflict with those teachings of religion which we so profoundly respect. How long ago is it since man first appeared on this earth? What sort of a person was this far-off ancestor? Did he resemble ourselves, or was he like any of the other races of human beings with whom we are familiar? Or was he a creature whom we should never recognize as a man and a brother if we were able, like Peter Ibbetson and the Duchess of Towers in the story, to dream ourselves backwards until we could in vision behold those far-off days? How did this individual live? What did he make? Had he any ideas about art? About God? About another life? PAUL THE APOSTLE Copyright. 1913. THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF ST. All these and many other questions are constantly being asked, and what is most strange are being asked not without considerable prospect of an answer being returned, and that answer one which, up to a point, we may quite reasonably accept in spite of the remote and shadowy period to which it applies. To sketch very briefly the replies to some of these questions, and to indicate as far as possible the point at which reasonable certainty ceases and surmise-sometimes legitimate, sometimes wholly visionary-commences, is the object of these papers. They are written in order that Catholicswho require such knowledge certainly not less urgently than other people-may know exactly what is established fact and what is mere surmise, what, in other words may, nay must, be believed, and what may be rejected or accepted, according as the wavering balance is inclined this way or the other by fresh pieces of information coming to light. Before attacking the questions indicated, indeed as an essential preliminary to any such attack upon them, it will be necessary to clear our minds as to the fundamentals of chronology, for on an easily understood misconception of those fundamentals depends a great deal of the confusion and, further, of the unsettlement of mind which exists on these questions. We may say, then, that there are: Geological Time; Archæological Time, and Historical Time. And, we may add, that it is important that these three should not be confused with one another. Let us briefly consider each of them. Historical Time is the chronology of recent events capable of being set down in actual, definite, incontrovertible (usually) figures. Thus the Battle of Senlac took place in A. D. 1066, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. With facts of this kind we have nothing to do in these papers, but with certain chronological problems, and notably with that of the so-called Ussherian chronology we shall find ourselves concerned in a later section. Meantime it may not be without interest to consider how far back we can safely go in actual historical chronology. As far as records go, Egypt and Babylonia afford us the best chance, and of these Egypt is perhaps the better known example. Now in the history of that country, we can tread with security as far back as the conquest of Alexander (B. C. 332). But that period, need it be said? is only as yesterday in the long history of this earth, or even of the history of man upon it. From Alexander backwards to the commencement of what is known as the First Dynasty, our path becomes less certain. There is a kind |