about taxation. "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, for in heaven they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God," he replied to the lawyers who sought to entangle Him on the question of marriage and divorce. "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of," He admonished James and John when they wished to punish the usurpers. "My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight," He told Pilate, when the Roman Governor challenged Him to defend Himself.

This seems to have been always one of the hardest things to understand about the kingdom. It was in Christ's day. Hence, no doubt, the frequent and explicit reiteration of the truth by Jesus. The persistent failure, even by His disciples, to grasp the point, often vexed His soul. He was obliged, of course, as the artist is, to employ the things and experiences of this life as his materials. Like the artist that He was, He spake to them in parables, and without a parable spake He not unto them. But their lack of understanding often made Him impatient. Thus, when he admonished his disciples in the boat to "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," they said among themselves, "It is because we did not bring any bread," and He sighed, "Oh slow of heart, how is it that ye do not understand?" It was as though a preRaphaelite artist should have painted a mystical picture, using a sheaf of wheat as a motif, and someone should have exclaimed, "Ah, how true to life! Must we not all eat?"

I cannot truthfully lay the defection of the Church in this matter at the door of nineteenthcentury rationalism. I have already said that it seems to have been always the Church's stumbling-block. But it was not until the Church undertook to revise herself to conform with nineteenth-century rationalism that she deliberately let down the bars to the error and incorporated it in her constitution.

It was such a subtle point, and lent itself so winningly to the rationalistic plea. Here, at last, there seemed to be a genuine point of contact between rationalism and Christianity; a place where the two sides could honestly and conscientiously meet. "Certainly," said the rationalist, "if religion means anything, it means the idealizing of human life! We may have differences of opinion about the supernatural; there are none about the natural. Divinity? Every man and woman can be made divine; your own religion teaches that. Heaven and hell? They are here, in this lifestates of mind. The fatherhood of God? That is another term for the brotherhood of man." And so on, down through the entire gamut of

plausible and (one must concede) sincere arguments.

Although she does not even yet seem to realize it, this was the most costly compromise the Church ever made; it has shorn her of all her authority, and robbed her of more than half her vitalizing power.

What is the evidence of Jesus as to our positive statement of the function of religion? I am afraid I must admit that there is not one recorded utterance in the whole testament which categorically states that His mission is to put us in living touch with the unseen world. Yet can anyone doubt that that is, in effect, the sum and substance of all that He said and did?

The supreme evidence, so far as Jesus is concerned, is Jesus Himself. If all that He said about Himself, and all that his apostles said about Him, is to be accepted as evidence of anything at all, it surely testifies to the fact that He belonged to another, different world than this, and that He was the exponent of that other world to men. He spoke of a Father in heaven, and walked and talked with His unseen Father as though He was more real than the people around Him. He told of a house of many mansions, to which He was going, to prepare a place for men. He referred, with equal simplicity and without the slightest apology, to a devil, who had power to destroy body and soul in hell. He spoke to His disciples of having meat to eat that they knew not of. When he was betrayed in the garden, He asked, with the utmost ingenuousness, "Think ye that I could not pray my Father, and He would presently send me a legion of angels?" And if His modern followers have explained away the literalness of all these things, there is no suggestion that Jesus Himself meant anything else than just what He said.

His childish stories, and His own childish faith in them brought on Him the contempt of the moral and cultured men of His day. They thought Him a lunatic. They looked upon Him as we might regard a man who should go about solemnly teaching Mother Goose rhymes as though they were literal truths. And when they twitted Him with His foolishness, He did not attempt to explain it on the ground that it was profound allegory, but calmly told them the fault was in them-they were not childish enough to receive it. And the fact is, the common people did hear Him gladly, just as the children and the childish-minded know that fairy tales are true.

In days gone by the Church believed implicitly in this wonder-world of Jesus, and taught it in

its simple literalness, without any labored effort at justifying it to the rational mind. She preached a personal God and a personal devil; a literal heaven and a literal hell; with fadeless flowers in the one and quenchless fire in the other; guardian angels to watch over the faithful and avenging spirits to punish the guilty; answers to prayer and healing of the sick; in short, a spiritworld, lying around this material world, filled with all sorts of miraculous beings, good and bad, and in which all sorts of marvelous things might happen, and to which the laws that governed this world had no application. In all respects a counterpart of the fairy-world that lies about every normal child. To all of which the Church demanded an equally literal assent as an essential condition of salvation.

But, having surrendered to nineteenth-century rationalism on the ground of superstition, the Church could no longer require a belief in fairytales as a part of her constitution. She might, and did, and still does, retain it in her general creed, for those to accept who choose, or whose intellectual dignity will allow; but she could, and did, no longer make it an essential, obligatory factor. And that is her position today. The attitude of the average Christian of today is that he wistfully regrets he has not the simple, credulous faith of his fathers, but reassures himself that, after all, the religion of today is a much more practical and efficient affair than it used to be. 斑斑

Far be it from me to belittle or pooh-pooh any of the things which I have just been insisting do not constitute religion, any more than I would speak in contempt of beauty and culture simply because they are not Art. It would be the height of silliness at this time of day to rail against moral and social order, and education, and material good of all kinds. It is not a question of what is or is not good, after its kind, but what is or is not religion.

While I do not belittle the value of beauty and culture, in their place, I do most emphatically insist that, of themselves, they are not sufficient to save the world of sense, i. e., to vivify and rejuvenate it and keep it wholesome and virile. The paramount proof of the proposition is that they have never done so. On the contrary, every age and every nation where they alone have dominated has ended in stagnation and death.

By the same token, and on the same showing, while I concede the value of moral order and education, in their place, I assert that they, of themselves, cannot save a man's soul, nor the soul of humanity.

The basic reason is in each case the same. All these things-beauty and order and morals and

culture pertain to this world; rather, let us say, to the stratum of life represented by man and his experiences; and it is a biologic truism that any stratum of life which is isolated within itself, and insulated by its own circumference, tends to death, no matter how finely organized. Indeed, organization leads to death; from the moment that an organism or a species begins to organize it begins to die. The only way to vitalize it is to keep open a point of contact between it and another sphere of life. And this is the function of religion, as taught by Jesus and represented by the Church.

Instead of shying at the charge of superstition, and attempting to explain away her childish mysticism, the Church should have frankly admitted it, and boldly declared that very thing to be her special function, lacking which the world must perish. Instead of compromising with rationalism, she should have withstood the rationalist to his face, and fearlessly told him that, so far from his morality and his culture being religious, saving forces, he must, for the salvation of his soul, turn aside from these agencies and become as a little child, with a child's faith in the supernatural world lying around this natural one. And this is precisely what the Church should, and must, reaffirm if she wishes to rehabilitate the authority and revive the power which rightfully belong to her.

Superstition? Is not the whole system of Christianity one stupendous pageant of superstition, from the moment that the Son of God left His Father's throne, down through the Immaculate Conception, through the Temptation, the Miracles, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, to the time when he reached the throne again? Is not the entire Christian creed one shameless manifesto of superstition, from "I believe in God the Father Almighty" to "the Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting, Amen?" Is there a single item in either the system or the creed that does not clash with rationalism? Is there a single thing upon which moral order or intellectual culture sheds any illumination? Is not the whole message of Jesus one ravishing, childish fairy-tale, beside which the tales of Grim and Andersen fade into dullness? Does classified knowledge or technical education help anyone to receive it? Does not Jesus' great interpreter, Paul, repeatedly declare that the gospel is "foolishness" to those that do not believe?

life of me see how she can consistently sidestep the "superstition" with which she has been taunted and of which she has apparently been so eager to purge herself. On the other hand, I do not see how she can fail to perceive that this very "superstition" which has been flaunted as her weakness is in truth her strength-the very life-cordial which she holds in fee for the world -or why she does not rise in the power of her divine right and assert the supremacy of this very function?

I repeat, Jesus did not come to formulate a code of morals, or to establish a system of philosophy. It needs no divine Messiah to do that. Morals are evolved by natural selection; philosophies are deduced by human intellects. And whatever one may precisely understand by the divinity of Jesus (that is relatively unimportant), it is certain that the idea expressed in His divinity is inseparable from any sort of faith in Him. This was His mission, if He had any at all-to bring the other world to this, to teach that the other was the real world, this one but the shadow, and to wean men away from this world to become citizens, by faith, in His; to seek and to save a lost world which, in its worldly-wisdom, had become blind to the visions of the Homeland and deaf to its fairy voices.

"Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing,

The voice of Jesus sounds o'er land and sea, And burdened souls, by thousands meekly stealing,

Kind Shepherd, turn their weary steps to Thee.

Onward we go, for still we hear them singing, Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come; And through the gloom its echoes sweetly ringing, The music of the gospel calls us Home.

This, and no other, is the function of religion; the function of the Church on earth. She is the custodian of the sublimest fairy-lore that ever was committed to mortal keeping. It is her business to make this immortal fairy realm, with all its magic, burningly and unceasingly real to men; to make children of them again.

斑

Last Christmas, in the church of which I am a member, the children were given for their entertainment a moving-picture film of Cinderella. After the film the pastor was on the program for an address. What an opportunity, I thought, to lead all these youngsters a little step forward, and all the overgrown children a little step backward, through this old-world fairy-tale, into the larger, grander Cinderella story of Christmas! Instead of which we were treated to an approved modern dissertation on the making of a man. It

was characteristic of the error of the modern Church. It is not the function of the gospel to make children into men; on the contrary, it is its business to make men into children.

Is it foolish? Certainly it is to the Jews (the moralists) a stumbling-block, to the Greeks (the scholars) foolishness, but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God." In speaking of Art, I said that all children are artists and all artists children; so much so that artists are invariably regarded by the world as a little "off." It is inevitable, because Art deals with things that do not pertain to this world, and which are foolishness to the worldly-wise. But Art does not therefore negate herself, and hasten to compromise with worldly-wisdom. She glories in her foolishness, and presently wealth and power and learning bow humbly at her feet and beg for her secret.

So also is every Christian required to become a fool for Christ's sake. I submit again that this foolishness, this "superstition," this childish faith in the supernatural, is the supreme influence in the universe; so vitally essential that, as a certain brilliant Frenchman said, "if there had been no God it would have been necessary to invent one." This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner; neither is there salvation in any other. "Except ye become as little children ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdam of heaven." This is not a threat; it is a simple statement of inherent impossibility, "for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

I do not raise the question here of the relative values of beauty and order and social morality and culture, and the rest of that ilk. They are not the subjects of discussion. But I affirm, over and over again, that they are not the function of religion, or of the Church. On the contrary, it is part of the function of religion to warn men that in pursuing these things (however good they may be in themselves) they run the risk of losing the childish belief in the magic and lore of God's wonder-land without which their souls must shrivel and die. It is her prime duty to call men forever back from the barren peaks up to which, in their pride, they have climbed, and from the strenuous maelstroms into which, in their strength, they have plunged-back to the shores of the vast sea out of which they drew their own miraculous being, that they may play, like children, on the beach, and hear in the shells the mystical sounds of God's waves.

Indications and Contraindications of Pituitrin. -Skeel, in the Ohio State Journal of Medicine, states that pituitrin has three distinct fields of usefulness in obstetrics: (1) To terminate the second stage of labor when no reason exists for delay except insufficient uterine activity, and provided the head has reached the pelvic floor. This includes the second child in twin labors. (2) Dilatation of the cervix when used before complete dilatation. (3) To limit the bleeding in cases of marginal placenta previa, and in Caesarian section. Its possibilities for harm may be summarized as follows: (a) Rupture of the uterus if obstruction of any nature exists; (b) laceration of the cervix when used before complete dilatation; (c) laceration of the perineum when precipitate labor is caused by a full dose; (d) occasionally its use results in tetanic uterine contractions, somewhat resembling those produced by ergot, with consequent asphyxiation of the child. Before pituitrin is used the following conditions should be fulfilled: (1) Complete cervical dilatation. (2) The membranes must be ruptured. (3) The presentation must be longitudinal. (4) There should be no disproportion. (5) The presenting part must be completely engaged. It is a good plan to use pituritin in fractional doses, 0.33 to 0.5 Cc., and repeat them when the effect wears off. This reduces the risk of uncontrollable action. If pituitrin causes excessive pain, either chloroform or ether should be administered. It has been used as a galactagogue and as a substitute for the catheter in postpartum urinary

Sterilization of Wounds with Chloramine-T.Carrel and Hartman, in Journal of Experimental Medicine, call attention to the fact that the normal process of cicatrization depends upon the nature and extent of the infection. In order to study the process of repair of wounds it was necessary to find a method that would render the wounds sterile. In place of the Dakin hypochlorite solution, a paste was made that was designed gradually to give to the tissues one of Dakin's chloramines. The investigations were undertaken to determine whether this paste would

be able to keep a sterile wound in antiseptic condition, as well as to sterilize an infected wound and whether it would retard tissue repair. The paste used consisted of sodium stearate and four to fifteen parts in 1,000 of chloramine-T. Their investigations showed that the paste should be used only under certain conditions, as in moderately infected wounds which have been carefully washed with sodium oleate and which possess but slight quantities of secretion. Under these conditions the paste causes the complete disappearance of the bacteria and maintains the sterility for as long a time as may be wished. The tissues are not injured nor does the process of cicatrization appear to be affected. It is useless to apply this paste in severely infected wounds on account of the dilution of this substance by secretion and its combinations with the proteins contained in the pus.

* * *

Treatment of Advanced Urethral Stricture Without Perineal Section.-Parmenter, in Urologic and Cutaneous Review, uses the McCarthy urethroscope, which is passed down to the stricture and pressed firmly against it. The stricture is divided with a urethral knife under direct vision. The divided portion is dilated by gradual pressure and the endoscope passed through until the uncut portion of the stricture is again encountered. This procedure is then repeated until the entire strictured area has been cut through. As large a retaining catheter as possible is then inserted in the urethra and fastened. It is left there from three to five days, when it is removed and dilatation is begun three days later. This is continued at three-day intervals for one or two treatments, after which the peroids are lengthened, depending upon the progress of the case. Patients can return to work as soon as the catheter is removed in three to five days.

Abortive Treatment of Acute Gonorrhea.Steiner, in Urologic and Cutaneous Review, states that the chances for success are best if the patient presents himself within the first twelve or twentyfour hours. A reddened meatus with swollen lips and a free discharge of pus are contraindications

to this method of treatment. The treatment consits in cleansing the meatus, after preliminary emptying of the bladder, with a solution of bichloride, followed by 1:3000 permanganate. The anterior urethra is next irrigated with 500 c. c. of the permanganate solution. Then 500 c. c. are injected into the bladder. If the patient is too sensitive. the entire 1,000 c. c. is used in the anterior urethra. Immediately following this, an anterior injection of five c. c. of a ten per cent. argyrol solution is made, the patient holding it in for ten to fifteen minutes. A wick of cotton three-quarters of an inch long is soaked in the argyrol solution and inserted into the meatus; the glans is wrapped up in cotton and tied loosely with a bandage. A suspensory bandage is then applied with a flap which holds the penis horizontally. The patient presents himself for treatment at the end of six hours, not unrinating in the meantime. The second and fourth treatments are the same; the third treatment, six hours after the second, consists of an irrigation with permanganate only. After the fourth treatment he is irrigated with permanganate twice a day. If after three days the discharge exists abortive treatment is abandoned.

Vaccine Therapy in Ozena.-Vicente, in Revista de ciencias medicas de Barcelona, declares that fetid trophic rhinitis is a mixed infection with the speudodiphtheria and ozena bacilli predominating. Vaccines made with these bacteria and with the coccobacillus of Perez are of help in treatment both in typical ozena and in other cases where the microorganisms are found, even in the presence of hypertrophy of the mucous membrane. The prospect of cure is good in proportion to the early stage of atrophy at which the treatment is instituted, and, even in the absence of fetid discharge, bacteriological examination of the nose is of the greatest importance because it may permit of the employment of a specific treatment with vaccines made from the infecting bacteria.

Senile Nephritis.-Thewlis, in Medical Review of Reviews, says that the issuance of a strict diet list to an aged patient is usually distressing and disagreeable, and that best results may be had in dealing with old people by letting them eat anything they wish. This does not apply to acute nephritis; if such patients are not ill in bed he thinks they should have milk, cereals, and the lighter vegetables, while if they are confined to bed he considers an absolute milk diet indispensable. Free catharsis is essential. The administration of from six to twenty tablets of the extract of the kidney of a pig seems to him to give good results clinically and to check the process of

degeneration. Cabinet baths are useful, particularly in corpulent patients and in those who have much headache, but to give these baths to aged patients requires caution and the cases must be selected. The elixir of iron, quinine, and strychnine usually works well as a tonic after the eliminative treatment. Fixed habits should not be tampered with, but it is well to keep old people out of bed and to have them work. Work, he

says, is by far the best remedy for old age. 慌慌慌

A Modification of Evisceration of the Eyeball. -Dimitry, in Southern Medical Journal, advises that after freeing the conjunctiva at the corneoscleral margin and undermining it for a distance great enough to provide for a sliding covering for the eye, the anterior quarter of the globe, with the cornea and cilitary region, is cut away, the incision being started with a knife and completed with scissors. A little V-shaped piece of sclera is then cut out above and below so as to provide for better opposition of the sides and preventing puckering when the sclera is sewed up. The contents of the globe are then removed and the sclera freed from all traces of the uvea, as in evisceration, and hemorrhage is stopped by hot water and pressure. The speculum is then inserted so as to hold the lids and the edges of the scleral wound open. The posterior section of the sclera is seized with toothed forceps and a section made with scissors or knife about at least a fourth of the posterior end of the globe to which the optic nerve is attached. This flap is raised and the optic nerve cut. Hemorrhage is again controlled and the sclera sewed up, eliminating the dead spaces ignored in the simple operation. suture is inserted into the conjunctiva two to four millimetres back of the severed edge, passed from within through the anterior edge of the sclera, made to enter again through the posterior end, passing to the outside, brought out at the anterior end catching up the conjunctiva, and is then tied. This single thread brings the walls together, though more than one may be inserted if necessary. The sutures are usually removed on the third or fourth day. The reaction is not greater than that which follows simple enucleation, and the prosthesis may be inserted in from seven to ten days.

慌慌慌

Tetanus in Home Hospitals.-Bruce, in the Lancet, presents an analysis of his third series of 200 cases to show the influence of treatment. In the first series the mortality was about fiftyseven per cent., in the second about forty-nine per cent., and in the present series only 36.5 per cent. The recommendations for treatment are as follows: Put the patient in a darkened, quiet