an incidental result which cannot be avoided. In any case, the judgment on the character of the production is to be arrived at with due deliberation and full knowledge. The Pope expresses his intention to be present at sessions of the Congregation when matters of first importance are to be considered. Decisions concerning the works of unquestioned heretics, in regard to books containing direct attacks on the doctrines of the Church, can, however, be disposed of without his counsel and under the Rules of the Index of Trent. The members of the Congregation bind themselves to secrecy as to its proceedings. The secretary is, however, at liberty to give information to the author or the publisher of the book condemned. “The counsellors and examiners of the Congregation are cautioned to proceed with their work with due conservatism. They are by no means to assume that a work submitted is certainly to be condemned but are to assure themselves by diligent investigation whether it may not be possible to declare it fitting for circulation, either in its original form or with certain omissions or emendations. Care is to be taken to place each book in the hands of examiners having expert and scholarly knowledge of the subject-matter. The examiners must free themselves from prejudices of race, native school of thought, or ecclesiastical order. They must keep before them that the essential purpose of their work is the defence of the faith, and the preservation of the doctrines of the Church as set forth by the decrees of the general councils, the constitutions of the popes, and by the teachings of the Fathers and of their learned successors, and the maintenance of the authority of the Church universal. The examiners must bear in mind that it is not possible to judge fairly of the character of a book without reading the entire text, and that the statements in the different divisions of the work must be carefully collated one with another. It is frequently the case that a sentence taken apart from its context may give a wrong impression of the author’s meaning, or that a sentence which taken alone may seem of doubtful purport, will have the thought made clear by comparison with other portions of the text. (Conservative counsel which was by no means always followed by the censors.) In the case of the work of a Catholic author whose orthodoxy is of good repute, it is proper, if a sentence or statement may be open to more than one interpretation, to give to it the most favourable (_i.e._ the most orthodox). There are books which, while quite sound and orthodox in their purpose and teachings, contain references to pernicious writings, or extracts from such writings. The knowledge of the heresies thus referred to may do injury to the faith of innocent readers. Such books call, therefore, for very