bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of dark circles of the lower eyelid: comparison between reflectance meters and image processing and involvement of dermal thickness in appearance
Authors: Ohshima Hiroshi , Takiwaki Hirotsugu
Published: July 2007

Background/aims: Dark circles of the lower eyelid (DCLE) represent a well‐known beauty problem. The pathogenesis of DCLE is obscure, although stasis and hyperpigmentation of the eyelids have been considered to be involved. One reason for the small number of studies on DCLE may be the difficulty in measuring such soft and curved skin as the eyelids using bulky reflectance meters. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively analyze DCLE using various bioengineering methods.

Methods: The lower eyelid and cheek areas of 14 subjects with DCLE and 28 without DCLE were examined using two kinds of reflectance meters and image analysis to measure erythema index (EI), melanin index (MI), and oxygenation index (OX). Ultrasound echo images were also recorded to evaluate the thickness and echo density of the dermis. An in vitro model using collagen gel and hemoglobin solution was also examined as a phantom of eyelid skin.

Results: When contact‐type reflectance meters were used, no significant differences in EI, MI, and OX were found between groups with and without DCLE. However, mean values of both MI and EI at eyelids were significantly higher in subjects with DCLE on image analysis, paralleling the results of inspection. Mean dermal thickness was significantly smaller in subjects with DCLE.

Conclusion: Evaluation of EI and MI by image processing methods seems suitable for quantitative evaluation of DCLE, since inadequate contact of the measuring head with the skin is avoided. Whether stasis or hyperpigmentation is more responsible for DCLE remains uncertain. Dermal thickness of eyelid skin may be involved in the appearance of DCLE.
Fluorescent image analysis for evaluating the condition of facial sebaceous follicles
Authors: Son Taeyoon , Han Byungkwan , Jung Byungjo , Nelson J. Stuart
Published: July 2007

Background/purpose: Conventional methods, such as ‘Sebutape’ and ‘Sebumeter,’ can provide quantitative information on sebum excretion but cannot reflect the condition of sebaceous follicles that can be indirectly evaluated with fluorescent colors of sebum. The images of sebum excretion can be obtained with an ultraviolet‐A light that is generally called ‘Wood's Lamp.’ In this study, we describe fluorescent image analysis methods for the detection of sebum and the color segmentation of sebum to evaluate the condition of sebaceous follicles.

Methods/results: For subject‐dependent automatic image analysis, we extracted calibrated image analysis methods that were optimized for digital fluorescent images acquired from our imaging system. The calibrated subjective threshold values for sebum detection were determined by statistically analyzing the number of sebum detected by the automatic threshold value method and the subjective threshold value method (R=0.947, the number of volunteers: 29). In fluorescent color analysis of sebum, the calibrated reference color markers for the red and white colors were extracted with a coefficient of variance of <10%.

Conclusion: We are confident that such calibrated image analysis methods in combination with our imaging system can provide useful quantitative diagnostic information for sebum‐related skin pathologies.
Activation of T Cells by Cross‐Linking Qa‐2, the Ped Gene Product, Requires Fyn
Authors: De Fazio Sally R. , Warner Carol M.
Published: July 2007

Problem

Qa‐2, the product of the Ped (preimplantation development) gene, regulates the rate of cell division of preimplantation mouse embryos by an unknown mechanism. Due to the limited availability of preimplantation embryos, T cells were used as a model system to assess the possible roles of Fyn and Lck, and two downstream effectors, PI‐3 kinase and Akt, in Qa‐2 induced cell proliferation.

Method of study

Resting T cells were stimulated to proliferate by treating with mouse anti‐Qa‐2 antibody, cross‐linking with anti‐mouse immunoglobulin, and adding PMA. The effects of kinase inhibitors on this proliferation were studied. Co‐immunoprecipitates of T‐cell lysates were analyzed for possible associations between Qa‐2 and Fyn or Lck. Fyn knockout mice (Fyn−/−) were used to determine whether Fyn is required for T‐cell activation induced by cross‐linking Qa‐2.

Results

An inhibitor of Src family kinases and inhibitors of PI‐3 kinase and Akt suppressed proliferation of resting T cells induced by cross‐linking Qa‐2. Fyn, but not Lck, co‐immunoprecipitated with Qa‐2. Fyn−/− T cells failed to proliferate in response to Qa‐2 cross‐linking.

Conclusion

Fyn, PI‐3 kinase, and Akt are required for the activation of T cells by cross‐linking Qa‐2.
Elevated Th1/Th2 Cell Ratios in a Pregnant Woman with a History of RSA, Secondary Sjögren’s Syndrome and Rheumatoid Arthritis Complicated with One Fetal Demise of Twin Pregnancy
Authors: Kwak‐Kim Joanne , Lee Sung‐Ki , Gilman‐Sachs Alice
Published: July 2007

Problem

Elevated Th1/Th2 cytokine producing CD3+/CD4+ cell ratios were reported in women with a history of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and multiple implantation failures. We report, significantly elevated Th1/Th2 cell ratios were noticed in a pregnant woman with twin pregnancies complicated with one fetal demise, who had a history of RSA, secondary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), and rheumatoid arthritis.

Method of study

Case report.

Results

Peripheral blood Th1/Th2 cell ratios were significantly elevated 3 weeks prior to a fetal demise of twin pregnancies at 20 week gestation. Two weeks after fetal demise, the ratio of intracellular tumor necrosis factor‐α/interleukin‐10 producing CD3+/CD4+ cells in peripheral blood was further increased to three times higher than prior ratio. Elevated Th1/Th2 ratio was down regulated after increasing dose of IVIg treatment. The patient gave birth to a male baby weighing 2650 g at 36 weeks gestation. No serious complications were found in the patient or the baby.

Conclusion

Systemic inflammatory immune response pre‐exists prior to a fetal demise and the degree of inflammatory immune response got worse with a presence of fetal demise in utero. We infer that the placenta is not an immunological barrier to maternal Th1/Th2 immune responses.
Combined treatment with reboxetine in depressed patients with no response to venlafaxine: a 6-week follow-up study
Authors: Álamo Cecilio , López-Muñoz Francisco , Rubio Gabriel , García-García Pilar , Pardo Antonio
Published: July 2007

Objective:

The purpose of present study was to evaluate the efficacy of the addition of reboxetine in patients that had not previously responded, or had done so only partially, over 6 weeks of conventional pharmacological treatment with venlafaxine.

Methods:

This open-label, prospective and multicentric study included 40 outpatients diagnosed with major depressive disorder according to the DSM-IV criteria. Efficacy was assessed using the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I). Safety was evaluated by recording spontaneously reported adverse events. Data were analysed on an intent-to-treat basis, using the last-observation-carried-forward method.

Results:

Mean HAMD reduction was 34.9% (P < 0.0001). The percentages of responders (≥50% reduction in HAMD) and patients considered as benefiting from complete remission (HAMD ≤ 10 points) at week 6 were 27.5 and 12.5%, respectively. By the end of the treatment, the score of CGI-I decreased 24.8% (P < 0.0001). Percentage of patient improving (CGI < 4 points) was 47.5%. The most common non-serious adverse events were constipation, nervousness, anxiety and insomnia.

Conclusion:

These findings suggest that the combined treatment of reboxetine and venlafaxine, in venlafaxine-resistant patients, may be an effective and well-tolerated strategy.
Are obstetric complications related to adult schizophrenia? A case-control study
Authors: Amore Mario , Pisani Francesco , Balista Chiara , Sarchiapone Marco , McCreadie Robin
Published: July 2007

Background:

Early environmental events may be relevant to the etiology of schizophrenia. Among such events, interest has focused especially on obstetric complications (OCs).

Objective:

Aims of the study were to compare the incidence of OCs in patients, siblings and normal controls and to examine the relationship between OCs and later schizophrenia.

Method:

One hundred and thirteen patients with schizophrenia were recruited, as were 140 patients’ siblings and 113 controls without schizophrenia. The OCs history of patients, their sibs and controls was obtained through interviews with patients’ and controls’ mothers.

Results:

The results highlighted that more patients than sibs had at least one definite OC and a higher mean number of OCs; more patients had premature rupture of membranes, threatened abortion and a labor of more than 36 h.

Conclusions:

Our data provide some evidence for a link between OCs and later schizophrenia. Furthermore, this study highlights how OCs, which may cause fetal distress through a hypoxic-ischemic mechanism, could increase the risk of schizophrenia interacting with genetic susceptibility.
Heroin-dependent patients attempting and not attempting suicide: a comparison
Authors: Kalyoncu Ayhan , Mırsal Hasan , Pektaş Özkan , Tan Devran , Beyazyürek Mansur
Published: July 2007

Objective:

Heroin dependence is a serious illness associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviour. There are many risk factors associated with heroin dependence. The current study examined the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of a number of young adult heroin-dependent patients who had attempted suicide.

Methods:

We studied a group of 108 young adult heroin-dependent patients in our in-patient clinics. All diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I-II Disorders (SCID-I, II). The age range of patients was 18–24 years. Their substance abuse histories were assessed by semistructured interview. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was administered to all the patients. Serum total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were routinely measured. In the statistical analyses, Student’s t test, and chi-squared tests were applied.

Results:

Of the 108 heroin-dependent patients, 40 (37.0%) had histories of attempted suicide. There was a statistically significant difference in the age at which heroin use had commenced between female attempters [mean = 16.82, standard deviation (SD) = 3.06] and nonattempters (mean = 18.32, SD = 2.68, t= 2.25, P < 0.05). Both the male (mean = 33.35, SD = 4.05) and the female (mean = 28.00, SD = 5.36) attempters had significantly higher ASI scores than did the male (mean = 20.16, SD = 3.80) and the female (mean = 18.88, SD = 4.14) nonattempters (t= 14.34, P < 0.001; t= 5.25, P < 0.001, respectively). A significant difference in total cholesterol (mean = 131.8, SD = 19.3; mean = 172.2, SD = 21.3, t= 3.9, P < 0.05) and HDL-C (mean = 30.9, SD = 1.0 and mean = 54.8, SD = 13.7; t= 5.1, P < 0.05) levels between the group of violent and nonviolent suicide attempters was revealed.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that suicide attempts in young adult heroin-dependent patients are associated with more profound biopsychosocial pathology and decreased serum cholesterol levels. In particular, low levels of total cholesterol and HDL-C might indeed be associated with violent suicide attempts in young heroin-dependent patients.
The validity of the 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales as a routine clinical outcome measure
Authors: Ng Felicity , Trauer Tom , Dodd Seetal , Callaly Tom , Campbell Shirley , Berk Michael
Published: July 2007

Objective:

This study aimed to test the validity of the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) as a routine clinical outcome measure in the private in-patient setting. We hypothesized that it would be a suitable routine outcome instrument in this setting.

Method:

All in-patients treated at a private psychiatric hospital over a period of 24 months were included in the study. Data were collected on demographics, service utilization, diagnosis and a set of four routine measures both at admission and discharge. These measures consisted of the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scales, Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), the Mental Health Questionnaire (MHQ-14) and DASS-21. The results of these measures were compared.

Results:

Of 786 admissions in total, the number of fully completed (ie paired admission and discharge) data sets for the DASS-21 depression, anxiety and stress subscales were 337, 328 and 347, respectively. All subscales showed statistically significant reductions in mean scores from admission to discharge (P< 0.001) and were significantly correlated with all MHQ-14 subscales and significantly related to CGI scale categories. The total DASS-21 and total HoNOS scores were also significantly correlated.

Conclusions:

The findings from the present study support the validity of DASS-21 as a routine clinical outcome measure in the private in-patient setting.
Our Aim of Truth
Authors: McNabb Vincent
Published: July 2007

The true speaking absolutely is prior to the good, as appears from two reasons. First because the true is more closely related to being, which is prior to good. . . . Secondly, . . . knowledge naturally precedes appetite.” (Summa, la Qu. 16, Art 4, Eng. trans.)

The object of the intellect (i.e. Truth) “is more simple and more absolute than the object of the will” (i.e. goodness). Therefore the intellect in itself and absolutely is higher and nobler than the will—yet “the love of God is better than the knowledge of God ; but on the contrary, the knowledge of corporeal things is better than the love thereof. Absolutely, however, the intellect is better than the will.” (Ibid., Qu. 82, Part 3.)

These two texts from the Summa of the BLACKFRIAR St. Thomas Aquinas must outline the attitude of Blackfriars towards Truth.
A Note on Economics
Authors: Clayton Joseph
Published: July 2007

The present hue and cry against the profiteer, whose elusive personality escapes arrest, and the discussion vehemently waged on die merits or demerits of “nationalization” divert attention from the root of the matter—the purpose or end of all productive labour.

Ignoring the fundamental, the campaign against profiteering is naturally unsuccessful, and the arguments for and against “nationalization” are frequently irrelevant.

The assumption that the present relations of capital and labour are, subject to slight modification, permanent, or, to put it m another way, that the directing control of labour must remain in the hands of the possessor of capital, commonly sways our minds. And this assumption, made somewhat rashly, largely prevents our clearing up present difficulties, or getting at the question of the purpose of production. Is the purpose private gain and profit? or the convenience and comfort of the community?
The English Medieval Gilds
Authors: Toke Leslie
Published: July 2007

If we attempt to realize with any distinctness the life of the Middle Ages in this country, we are at first baffled by the fact that, while our fundamental human nature, with its passions and weakness, its heroism and its aspirations, remains much the same throughout recorded time, the material framework and the habits of society, the knowledge of nature and the philosophy of belief and conduct, all of which influence our judgment and colour the language in which we express it, have changed enormously. We find it very difficult to grasp the real reasons why men created the institutions under which they lived and clung to them when they seemed to have decayed, to understand why their point of view was so different from our own, or, indeed, to realize at all that the people, who dressed and lodged and bought and sold, and at times acted so differently from ourselves, were men and women like ourselves and, generally, at least, as practical and as keen-witted as we are.

Indeed, the modern English people, ultimately as a result of that orgy of destructive licence which is called the Reformation, and immediately as a mental effect of the unstable and irrational social conditions which have grown out of that revolt, seems to have lost all sense of historic time, as (and, perhaps, because) it has lost most of its popular traditions. To the average modem Englishman fifty years back is ancient history, while five hundred years ago, if he attempts to think of such a distant period at all, is a dim period in which queer, primitive people acted in queer ways from sheer ignorance and barbarism.
Nationalization
Authors: Belloc Hilaire
Published: July 2007

In sundry European countries, but more especially in Britain, because Britain is the most completely Capitalist of all, there has arisen a practical demand for the “ Nationalization “ of certain great industries.

This demand is certain to be pressed in the case of several industries—notably railways and mines—to an issue ; and the effort will probably be a victory for those who demand Nationalization. For these have the power of forcing the victory, and their opponents have no effective defence in action. It behoves us, therefore, to examine the origin, motive, object, and— what is most important of all—probable result of this policy.
The Song of Deborah
Authors: Walker Luke
Published: July 2007

English Catholics are not generally credited with much interest in the Old Testament. Their preference for the Imitation of Christ, say, as spiritual reading is easily intelligible. At the same time one would think that, considered merely as the early history of that unique nation, the Jews, the Old Testament would have a certain claim on the interest of educated people. But it also happens that the history of that nation is equally, for several thousand years, the history of Revelation.

At first sight it is perhaps surprising that in presence of the revelation of the Son of God the religious history of Israel should still keep some element of value. The inevitable tendency to scrap, as far as Christians were concerned, the story of that nation naturally crystallized in a very determined effort. It was made, about the middle of the second century, by that acute heretic, Marcion. Marcion’s theory, says Professor Burkitt in one of his stimulating lectures on The Gospel History and its Transmission “ is a theory of catastrophe : a new God comes down from nowhere, and proclaims true religion for the first time. And closely allied with Marcion’s rejection of the Old Testament history as being in any sense the history of true religion was his denial of the reality of our Lord’s body as being in any sense true flesh and blood.” It is a matter of faith that the Old Testament contains true revelation. “ The Church was determined to maintain its claim to be the true heir of the promises of the Old Testament, the promises made of old to the fathers.
Westminster Cathedral
Authors: Gill Eric
Published: July 2007

What is to be said of Westminster Cathedral? Is it a great building? Is it more than a big building? The almost universal verdict is in the affirmative. It is not petty. It is a work of genius.

Now, genius has been defined as the will and ability to “put the first thing first,” and certainly Bentley did so at Westminster. Whatever others may have said, Bentley did not say : the first thing is to make a big Byzantine Church. The first thing he did was to envisage a great building suitable for Christian worship, and, again putting the first thing first, he did not say it shall rival Beauvais in height or Rheims in sculpture ; he said : this great Christian Church shall be built of massive piers of brick spanned by vaults of concrete—these are the available materials, and I am not crying for the moon of medieval delight. He did not use such words, nor could he have used them. He was an old-fashioned English architect and was not aware of the social problem. He even dreamed of a building covered with a veneer of marble and mosaic ! But though that was his dream, and even partly his achievement, he saw his church as a great building first and only second as a much adorned one.

This is obvious from the accomplished thing and is admitted even by those people who still, in this pagan age, hanker after pointed arches and pinnacles.
The Royal Academy
Authors: Hagreen Philip
Published: July 2007

A few years ago, to speak of the progress of the Royal Academy would have been a contradiction in terms ; but a perusal of this year’s exhibition shows that the apparently impossible has happened. As I had not visited the Academy for six or seven years, the improvement was probably more apparent to me than it would have been to those who consider a regular attendance to be part of their duty as Englishmen. The stirring to life of this stagnant institution is partly due to the enlightenment of its members ; but to a greater extent to a series of accidents.

The chief sign of grace in the Hanging Committee is shown in a definite attempt to exhibit pictures so that they may be seen ; and to limit the number of exhibits to that end. The old way was to stop hanging only when the last inch of wall-space had been covered. Let us hope that the Committee will carry this practice of selection a step further in the future. Before the war the average number of exhibits exceeded 2000 ; this year there are 1477, of which a number cannot be seen properly, and a larger number no one wishes to see. The Augean stables are only very partially cleansed. The exhibition might with advantage be considerably reduced if more good work were not sent in. Rather should the good pictures be spread thinner, than that space should be filled for the amusement of that type of vulgar mind which delights in drunken monks and mawkish sentimentality.
At the Leicester Galleries
Authors: Hagreen Philip
Published: July 2007

It would be interesting if statistics could be obtained showing the relative number of people who attend concerts and of those who visit exhibitions of painting, sculpture, etc. I am always amazed at the fewness of the latter, except in the case of the Royal Academy, when I am equally amazed at their number.

We cannot measure the enjoyment received from music and the graphic arts, but there is an element of adventure in most exhibitions which is almost entirely lacking in a concert. The concert can vary little from its published programme ; in an exhibition every work may be a surprise. I will take the April exhibition at the Leicester Galleries as an example.

The advertisements announced only that there would be work by Mr. Mark Fisher, R.A., and Miss E. Fortescue-Brickdale, R.W.S. No hint was given as to what the third room would contain nor as to what bronzes, etc., would fill up the odd comers. These unannounced items were a most varied collection of drawings, paintings and sculpture, ranging from Gainsborough to Epstein. The works shown in the window were alone worth a pilgrimage. I will mention a few of the exhibits as they occur to my memory.
“And Suchlike Fooleries”
Authors: Jarrett Bede
Published: July 2007

A literary habit has accustomed us to speak of the Middle Ages as the Ages of Faith ; and it is no doubt our fond hope that future generations will speak of us by contrast as the Age of Reason. But unless future generations are hypnotized by our pretensions, we are much more likely to be known as the Age of Imagination. We are enormously busied over imagination. We have even reached the position in which we are scientifically educating imagination, developing it and with cold deliberation harnessing it to practical purposes. Yes, it is really quite unfair for an age that dabbles in Spiritism, Christian Science, Theosophy, and Pelmanism to pretend to be reasonable. Possibly the ages that lay between medieval times and our own have some right to that name ; but, since, fortunately, both Queen Anne and Queen Victoria are dead, we have no business to be claiming it. Reason is probably all very well in its way, but not in everybody else’s way.

Now imagination has immense powers. It has founded the Daily Mail, canonized Mrs. Eddy, and deceived “eminent scientists” like Oliver Lodge and Arthur Conan Doyle, whom it is not unkind or frivolous to call dazed knights. Of course it hasn’t deceived them in matters where they know more than we do, in science and literature ; but only in matters where we are at least on their level, at the séance. People ask breathlessly whether one’s faith isn’t upset by this earnest belief in spooks publicly professed by our dazed knights.
Mind and Medicine
Authors: Martindale C. C.
Published: July 2007

At the close of a paper read in Oxford by a very successful psycho-therapeutist, experienced largely in shell-shock cases, a critic exclaimed : “So what we must all do is to go to Harley Street and buy a new soul!” The doctor laughed, but half agreed. Afterwards, a Church of England dignitary said to me : “We shall all have to set up confessionals, else everyone will be going to these doctors !” The doctor had, in fact, alluded with envy to the Catholic Confessional, as responsible for happiness else unattainable, and as saving thousands from fear of, or indeed actual, madness. Psycho-analysis is indeed the fashion; almost a fad. Freudian plays are written ; Punch makes limericks on Jung. Hence it will be useful to disengage a few principles. I deliberately eliminate all I can, without, I hope, sacrificing anything essential. Especially I cannot print, without adaptation, the anecdotes I should wish to ; save in a technical paper, I could not well relate what would be most illustrative, at all.
The Meaning of Dividends
Authors: Clayton Joseph
Published: July 2007

The dividends drawn yearly or half-yearly provide incomes for a very considerable number of people, and many by this provision are relieved from the necessity of earning a livelihood. Sometimes these dividends provide incomes for people quite incapable of earning a living for themselves. In other cases they supplement the incomes of hard-working professional men and women.

The incomes from dividends, when sufficiently large, are an assurance to their possessors that the material needs of this life shall be satisfied: that is, that money will be duly forthcoming to pay for necessary food, clothes, and house-room. It may even happen that the income from dividends alone will provide not only the bare necessities of life, but allow us to gratify the desire for pleasant comforts and joyful luxuries, without working.

Small wonder is it then that so great an attention is paid to this matter of dividends.
Disraeli Among the Prophets
Authors: Leslie Shane
Published: July 2007

It has taken two editors and six volumes to complete the biography of Disraeli. The last two volumes enjoy the advantage of the freedom which the war has brought to those who search the faded purples and tinsels of the Victorian ash heap. The love letters of a Premier are not generally disclosed forty years after his death. However, as Lady Beaconsfield was dead, Catholics need only smile at his septuagenarian infatuation for Lady Bradford, illustrated in letters which outcloy even his coy adulation of the Queen. Lady Bradford he could not marry because Lord Bradford lived, and Lady Chesterfield her sister refused to marry him, though they were single, while the Queen, who was both single and devoted to Disraeli, could not have married him without putting Gladstone into office and perhaps their hate of Gladstone was their strongest bond.

Bishop-making is always a fascinating pursuit, even more for the makers than for the made. That Anglican Bishops are elected by the Grace of God and the favour of Downing Street has always added to the piquancy of the pursuit.
The State Family
Authors: Mott Agnes
Published: July 2007

The modem theory of the supremacy of the State in all departments of life disposes of the fundamental principle of the Family as an independent unit of society. Prominent Socialists have pointed out the logical conclusion that State Ownership of Property is State Ownership of the Family. H. G. Wells has publicly said that the State would have no more scruples about taking over the Family than it would in taking over the private gasworks. Hence we have an altogether new conception of Society based on the idea of the State Family. As to how this will work out in practice remains to be seen. The Family is a natural institution, and mankind must inevitably return to it or perish. Meanwhile we can see the beginnings of the new system at work.

It is everywhere presumed in modem legislation that the State and not the parent is the final arbiter of the welfare and upbringing of the child. Nowhere, for instance, in our elementary educational system is there any reference to the parent’s wish as to what his children are to be taught. Attendance of children is compulsory and the law is stretched beyond its limits in forcing such attendance contrary even to the parents’ will. Thus frequently a mother may keep a child away from school because it is delicate or because there is some domestic emergency making it necessary for it to be at home.
Medieval Economics
Authors: Clayton Joseph
Published: July 2007

Admirable in its tone and temper, entirely lucid in statement, and very thorough in its examination of the writings relative to the subject, the value of Dr. O’Brien’s work, as a contribution to our knowledge of Catholic teaching in the Middle Ages, can hardly be rated too highly. The value is the greater to-day when the minds of many, their hearts perturbed by the strife of capital and labour, are turned to the ages of faith for light and guidance.

What was the Christian teaching in the Middle Ages on the economic relations of man to man? Wherein did it differ from the political economy taught in schools and colleges in the nineteenth century?

The first thing to note is that scientific economics as such were unknown to the great medieval teachers, for whom economics did not exist as a separate study. Much was written on labour, property, usury, and trade ; but all these things were subject to the laws of justice and charity, and the economic relations of man to man were governed by the Christian teaching on morals. Our modern political economy is something entirely different from this, for it distinctly and definitely excludes the moral question.
Mrs. Meynell in Her Prose
Authors: Page Frederick
Published: July 2007

Having gained permission from the Editor of BLACKFRIARS to contribute an article on Mrs. Meynell’s prose that should, as it were, balance Mr. Osbert Burdett’s recent article on her poetry, I find it well to set myself a wide and easy limit, and not attempt to appraise critically her writing, nor to discuss its technique, and only incidentally to settle the question of her “preciosity.” I am of Francis Thompson’s persuasion and do not know the body of her writing from its soul, and could love it for its very faults—if such were proved in it—so deeply have the beauties of its virtues ensnared me.

My subject, then, is not the prose of Mrs. Meynell, but Mrs. Meynell in her prose, who is its style.

In Miss Winifred Lucas’s Fugitives (1899) there are some lines which may have been intended for their writer’s friend, Mrs. Meynell, and which shall serve me as a text for this paper.

Since in the paths of mental liberty A finished saint,To such as you ‘twere death to be A moment free Of thought’s restraint.
The Reunion of the Churches
Authors: Lagrange M. J.
Published: July 2007

This title is hardly Catholic—“Reunion with the Church” would be more correct. But we have chosen it as nearer to the idea contained in Dr. Headlam’s book : The Doctrine of the Church and Christian Reunion. When we remember that this book is the result of long study carried on with no less sincerity than acuteness, and that it appeared, programme-like, a few weeks before the Lambeth Conference, we shall attribute to it an importance not belied by the reading of it. Especially in England is the Reunion of Churches discussed. Certainly, in the presence of division, Catholics do not feel the sorrow they ought. There was a time when Christendom was uncertain as to the true Pope. There was no dispute as to principles ; it was not doubted that the Church could have but one head. Yet the mere uncertainty as to the person of that head weighed on Christendom like a nightmare. Universities, kings, bishops knew no rest till the day when perfect unity was regained. To-day, after so many centuries of divisions, this deplorable state of things seems to have become accepted. We vaguely trust to time to bring back to the fold the sheep that have strayed, and all the time others are straying and losing all Christian faith, partly owing to these same divisions. The paralysing of the Catholic Apostolate is the only too evident result.
A Catholic Philosophy of History
Authors: Watkin Edward Ingram
Published: July 2007

The spirit of an epoch or even of a civilization is often concentrated in one artistic production, be it a work of art or of literature. Such works offer us short and direct roads into the heart of that epoch or civilization. This representative character may belong to a book as the sovereign achievement of its spiritual environment, the crown of a long development of thought and feeling. Such books were the Divine Comedy and the Summa of St. Thomas. But a book may also be representative as containing and summarizing precisely the average attainment and outlook. Such is the collection of short lives of the Saints made by an Italian Bishop, Petrus de Natalibus. It is true that his Catalogus Sanctorum did not appear till 1493. My edition, a black letter folio copiously illustrated by the quaintest woodcuts, was printed by Petit and Penet of Lyons, in 1534. Nevertheless the book is entirely mediæval. No breath of the Renaissance has reached it. It is a compilation of utmost industry and equal lack of criticism from all the accepted hagiographic sources. In its pages, therefore, will be found in a manageably condensed form the legends popular with the mediæval reader. If you would know what legend made a particular saint interesting to our ancestors, the Catalogus is almost sure to contain it. It is a key to mediæval art. Its illustrations are one in spirit and treatment with the images and pictures of the northern Gothic church. Its virgins are sisters of the thin-lipped maidens, somewhat prim, but always stately, of Norfolk rood-screens.
The Perils of Controversy
Authors: Kent W. H.
Published: July 2007

In his article on the recent Lambeth Conference Father Vincent McNabb, O.P., deprecated the acerbities of controversy, and adopted, for his part, a more pacific and sympathetic attitude towards our Anglican brethren. Naturally enough, this discordant note was somewhat disconcerting to those who are engaged in the war of controversy. And some would seem to fear that the adoption of this friendly line by Catholic writers might have the effect known as giving comfort to the enemy, by encouraging them in maintaining their false position. These alarmists may well remind us of the Government censorship in war time. It seemed only reasonable that the newspapers should be forbidden to publish any information that might be helpful to the enemy. But, not content with this natural precaution, our official censors suppressed the announcement of any progress made by the Germans. It seemed as if they were fearful lest this news might come round to the knowledge of the enemy, who would thus be made aware of his own achievements. And similar fears seem to be aroused when a Catholic writer frankly recognizes the progress made by Anglicans.
The Condition of Ireland
Authors: Jarrett Bede
Published: July 2007

Is it too soon to write on a country after having been in it only a fortnight? Or should we not rather say, if one stayed in a country longer than a fortnight, one would not have enough courage to write about it at all. You see, a fortnight just gives one time to take the most superficial view of things. Later on, mere knowledge brings disconcertment. You might learn too many details, too many contrary instances, to fit in with the generalizations you had first made. Yet after all it is our first impressions that are nearly always truer. Instinct, the illative sense, the intellectus of the Scholastics, the “morning knowledge of the Angels” in the fantastic Africanism of St. Augustine, these are finer than reason, aren’t they? at least more to be trusted? Why it is the very age of instinct! “We feel that we are greater than we know.” So here I shall set down my account of the condition of Ireland after a fortnight in Cork.

Yes, but whom did I see and talk to? Well, there you are. That does, of course, make a great difference. The class, the temperament, the political outlook, must each give a twist to the expression of opinions and help one to know how much to accept and how much to discount. By your leave, however, I shall give no names, for a third-class railway ticket, the conversation of priests and undergraduates, oh, and nuns, why there you have the most perfect instruments whence to hear the music of real public opinion.
The Deadlock in Ireland
Authors: Sykes Edith
Published: July 2007

In order to understand the present deadlock in Ireland it is necessary to study its history and the series of political blunders which has led up to the deplorable situation now prevailing in that unhappy country. For this purpose I would recommend everybody, who has not already done so, to read an article entitled “A Tragedy of Errors” that appeared in The Nation on January 8th, written by Mr. H. L. Hammond. This most admirable article has now been reprinted in pamphlet form and can be obtained in the offices of the “Peace with Ireland Council,” 30 Queen Anne’s Chambers. Also the excellent study of recent Irish history, The Evolution of Sinn Fein, by R. M. Henry, should be read by all.

It is difficult for those who have not been over to Ireland to realize the lamentable effect that the policy of the Government is having upon the Irish people. As soon as you cross the Channel you are in a totally different atmosphere. Everybody is living on the edge of a volcano and the talk is of reprisals, raids, murders, robberies, and the sad and dreadful events that are happening daily in town and countryside.
An Early Anti-Christian Calumny
Authors: Atteridge A. Hilliard
Published: July 2007

Readers of Wiseman’s Fabiola will remember how when Corvinus tries to provoke Pancratius to a quarrel he calls the Christian boy “a cowardly worshipper of an ass’s head.” The author explains in a footnote that this was one of the many calumnies against the Christians that were current in pagan Rome. Now, most lies have some slight foundation in truth. Even the deliberate inventor of a calumny looks round for some reality that can be distorted into a seeming confirmation of his story. And it will sometimes happen that when there is enough ill-will to make men keenly watchful for something that can be made the basis of an accusation, they more or less honestly make mistakes and unconsciously misrepresent and misapply real facts.

There is some reason for believing that the pagans of the early centuries who circulated this story of the worship of an ass’s head by the Christians were thus maliciously blundering. Strange to say, the cultus of an Egyptian god seems to supply the key to an answer for the puzzling question as to how it was that this calumny ever gained credence, not merely among the ignorant crowd, but also amongst the educated men of the time.
New Trumpets and Old Uncertainties
Authors: Keable Robert
Published: July 2007

A good deal of water has flowed under the bridges since the world laughed at the “table-turnings” of the Count de Gasparin in Paris in 1854, or thought that Spiritualism was down and out for good with the exposure of Eusapia Paladino. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is no doubt justified when he claims that vastly more evidence has been collected for the genuineness of certain spiritual phenomena than is required to prove very many other scientific matters which cannot be tested by the majority of us. An investigation like that conducted by Dr. W. J. Crawford with the medium Miss Kathleen Goligher, carried on during three years in Belfast under the most exact and rigid conditions excluding the least possibility of fraud, has demonstrated scientifically the existence of a psychic material in the human body which can be weighed, felt, and photographed, and which takes as real a place in the outfit of the human machine as that of the hand with which I write this article. The census conducted by Mr. Gurney, or that by Prof. Henry and Mrs. Sidgwick, with the fifty odd weighty volumes of evidence collected by the Society for Psychical Research, completely lifts apparitions of the dead out of the world of chance and mere imagination. Lastly, the investigation of such cases as those well set out by Sir William Barrett in his book, On the Threshold of the Unseen, and the work that has been done by such men as Bennett, Crooks, Maxwell, Flammarion, Hyslop, Lodge, Wallace, and scores more, together with those we have already mentioned, simply compels belief in the existence and operation of dis-carnate spiritual powers. Catholics have Mr. J. G. Raupert to confirm them.
Hymns, Original or Translated?
Authors: O'Connor John
Published: July 2007

As an old “hymn-tinker,” sere if not yellow, may I presume to discuss the subject of hymns? I suppose all hymnodists begin with zeal and end with knowledge, as even I, the least, but I hope not the last, since there is still room on top. There is room chiefly for original hymns. We have too many of the wrong sort and not enough of the right sort, and the career of Father Faber is an expensive object-lesson. For every good hymn he gave us we have three bad ones, and I venture to suggest that all his hymns could well be done without except O Purest of Creatures and Faith of Our Fathers. Perhaps I speak without the book, but even on second thoughts I cannot recall any indispensable hymns of his except that on St. Benedict. Would that he had always wrought up to this standard ! But he set bad headlines for worse men and women than himself. Not only this, but he shelved Caswall and obscured Newman. Now Caswall was our best translator, of distinctly higher quality than Neale (who is not “ours”), and some of his original hymns, e.g. Joy, joy, the Mother comes, are models of what is wanted. I do not for a moment admit that he reaches the heights of Newman, but he is better than anyone else I know of, after Matthew Bridges. And only after Matthew Bridges at his best.
The Rights of the Consumer
Authors: Muir Francis R.
Published: July 2007

The Catholic Social Guild is distinguished by one feature which marks it off from every other of the many Catholic societies which flourish in this country. It seeks to promote its objects not by action so much as by thought. Personal investigation and common discussion are the characteristics of its life. The student and the study-circle are its essential elements. I can go further and boldly assert that the Catholic Social Guild is a University—a Catholic University—the most democratic of all universities if it is judged by its members, and the most aristocratic of all if it is judged by its aspirations. This University of rich and poor, young and old, wise and simple, is naturally growing up everywhere in these our islands, because it has in itself that spontaneous creative spirit of every true University—the love of learning.

It is that same spirit which manifests itself at this very meeting. I have been accorded, not the duty of giving an instruction, but the privilege of initiating a discussion. For the former task I hold no expert qualifications ; but for the latter favour I hold those which belong to every man.
An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Practical Æsthetics
Authors: Gill Eric
Published: July 2007

There are three possible qualities in a work of art. These three qualities are mimicry, intellectual content, and original form. Every work of art must have these three in one degree or another. First of all I will explain what I mean by these terms. By “mimicry” I mean what is called representation, i.e. likeness to something existing in Nature. By “intellectual content” I mean that in the work which expresses the story or anecdote it relates, that is to say, its literary significance apart from its significance as a representation of something. These two qualities are, I suppose, readily understood. Everybody is able to judge as to the degree of likeness to something which artists achieve in their work ; also everybody is able to understand the notion that by means of representation it is possible to tell a story or express a meaning or idea. It is the third quality, which I have called “original form,” which is the most difficult to appreciate, and yet it is original form that is especially the artist’s business, whether he be painter, poet, or potter. For an artist is not so called because he has the ability, in paint, words, or clay, to make things which shall resemble things seen in Nature ; if it were so any kind of imitation would rightly be called a work of art, which is absurd. Neither is a man an artist because he has the ability to present in paint, words, or clay some matter of fact or even of fiction, for were that so every spoken sentence would be a work of art, which again is absurd.
French Opinion on the Irish Situation
Authors: Gwynn Denis
Published: July 2007

Lady Sykes in her paper on The Deadlock in Ireland, in the April issue of Blackfriars, said that the Government, in its Irish policy, is treading a path that “will inevitably, if continued, end in the breaking-up of our great Empire.” A patriotic Irishman, faced with the present attitude of the Government towards Ireland cannot reasonably be expected to grow sentimental about the break-up of the Empire. Any Irishman who cares for the welfare of his own country would gladly assist in the disruption of the Empire if that were the condition of freeing his own land from the present regime of organized violence and persecution. The preservation of the Empire should be the concern of Englishmen : and it is well for Englishmen who are concerned about the Empire to remember that, all over the world, in the Dominions and in the United States, there are Irishmen, not only influential but numerous, who are being provoked by England’s present treatment of Ireland into the desire for active revenge. Englishmen may declare that Ireland is a purely domestic question, but they must realize that, if Irishmen scattered over the face of the globe refuse to stand silently by, it may easily become a world problem that men may try to solve by working for the disruption of the Empire.