done, that in 1848 it was very generally credited that
the Pope was prepared to sanction a relaxation of the laws of the church
in this respect. For this belief, however, there could have been no
just foundation, since Pius IX. is the reputed author of the official
reply, made while he was but a priest, to the Brazilian Archbishop
Feijo, upon this very subject, in which it was alleged that such a
relaxation of discipline would be an abandonment of the "integrity of
the church." Yet without something of the kind, it is thought that a
very extensive schism in catholic Germany will be inevitable.

* * * * *

_Der Mensch im Spiegel der Natur_ (Man in the Mirror of Nature), is an
excellent little work for popular use, by Mr. E. A. Rossmaessler,
published at Leipzic, in two neat volumes, with wood-cuts. It sets
forth, in the most attractive form, the elementary facts of science,
they being ingeniously interwoven into a narrative of the journeys,
friendships, and adventures of the author. The work well deserves a
translation into English.

* * * * *

A work of extreme interest to geologists is the _Gaea Norwegica_, edited
by Professor KEILHAU of the Christiana University, and published at that
place. The first volume is just completed. No country of Europe is more
important in respect of geological science than Norway, and the labors
of Professor Keilhau and his associates are of the most thorough and
solid kind. The volume contains 516 pages folio. Cost in America $4.50.

* * * * *

A GERMAN nobleman lately wrote to the French Academy, offering to give
that body a yearly income of 10,000 francs to be spent in two prizes,
one of 5,000 francs for the best essay in defence of Catholicism, and
another of the same sum for the best essay in defence of Absolutism. The
Academy declined the offer.

* * * * *

A SYSTEM of _Christian Ethics_ has lately been published at Regensburg,
by Dr. WERNER, Professor in the Catholic Theological Seminary of St.
Polten. The writer holds that all virtue flows from the mystic fountain
of regeneration, and is confirmed and supported solely by the sacraments
of the church.

* * * * *

WILHELM MEINHOLD, author of the _Amber Witch_, lately the pastor of a
parish in Pomerania, is now in Berlin, preparing for admission into the
Roman Catholic