ded; we may even hope that
the progress of the work in the future will be still more rapid, as the
Company has lately added to its ranks P. C. de Smedt, one of the most
learned and laborious ecclesiastical historians in the Roman
Communion.[9]

After this sketch of the history of the Bollandists, which the literary
student can easily supplement from the various memoirs of deceased
members scattered through the volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum," we
proceed to a consideration of the results of labours so long, so varied,
and so strenuous. We shall now describe the plan of the work, the helps
all too little known towards the effective use thereof, and then offer
some specimens illustrating its critical value. When an ordinary reader
takes up a volume of the "Acta Sanctorum,"' he is very apt to find
himself utterly at sea. The very pagination is puzzling, two distinct
kinds being used in all of the volumes, and even three in some. Then
again lists, indexes, dissertations, acts of Saints, seem mingled
indiscriminately. This apparent confusion, however, is all on the
surface, as the reader will at once see, if he take the trouble to read
the second chapter of the general preface prefixed to the first volume
of the "January Saints,"' where the plan of the work is elaborately set
forth. Let us briefly analyze a volume. The daily order of the Roman
martyrology was taken as the basis of Bolland's scheme. Our author first
of all arranged the saints of each day in chronological order,
discussing them accordingly. A list of the names belonging to it is
prefixed to the portion of the volume devoted to each separate day, so
that one can see at a glance the lives belonging to that day and the
order in which they are taken. A list then follows of those rejected or
postponed to other days. Next come prefaces, prolegomena, and "previous
dissertations," examining the lives, actions, and miracles of the
Saints, authorship and history of the manuscripts, and other literary
and historical questions. Then appear the lives of the Saints in the
original language, if Latin; if not, then a Latin version is given;
while of the Greek _menologion_, which the Bollandists discovered during
their Roman journey, we have both the Greek original and a Latin
translation. Appended to the lives are annotations, explaining any
difficulties therein; while no less than five or six indexes adorn each
volume: the first an alphabetical list of Saints discussed; the s