LONDON: BURNS & OATES, LIMITED.
DUBLIN: M. H. GILL & SON,

NEW YORK: CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY CO.
9, BARCLAY STREET,

1886.

CONTENTS.

ART. I.-NOVELISTS AND NOVELS.

Advantages of fiction; teaching of moral lessons, cultiva-

tion of imagination-Evil of immoral books: an illus-

trative fable-Disadvantages attending novel-reading-

Dangers of realism-Duty of novelists and novel-

readers.

ART. II. THE PROGRESS OF NIHILISM

The progress of Nihilism alarming from its positive side:

has its own beatitudes; is, indeed, a false religion

coming to the birth-Whence come the "new

barbarians" and what they threaten-The Nihilist

suffers from Welt-Schmerz-He hates religion-Is the

movement a matter of races ?-Imperfect education one

of the resources of anarchy-Hatred of the Catholic

Church, the enemy of anarchy; yet, rightly understood,

Catholicism alone has countervailing promises for

suffering society-Present distress due to spiritual

progress not having kept pace with physical progress

-The Gospel for the nineteenth century is the

"Word of Life" in the Treasury of the Church

properly brought home to the multitudes-In what

manner the Church will work in effecting good, and

what the mission of zealous Catholics.

ART. III. THE FUTURE OF PETROLEUM

Petroleum and coal, rivals in the field of usefulness-

Chemical accounts of origin and nature of petroleum ;

the great petroleum deposit zone-The Pitch Lake of

Trinidad-The modern development of rock-oil supply;

how they "struck ile" in Pennsylvania-How the wells

are bored and worked; methods of transport and refining

into various products-The future centre of supply in

the Caucasus; works at Baku-Oil fountains a special

feature of the Caucasus region-Story of the Nobel

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