[69] Spanish, _actos solenes, i liciones de erudicion_. At Manila, in Chirino's time, there was only what is called _collegium inchoatum_; but in ordinary colleges of the Society, with a complete order of classes, it was the custom, at the _solemnis instauratio studiorum_, for the prefect of studies or the professor of rhetoric to inaugurate the year's work by delivering a "learned discourse," before the whole academic body; and to this function the appreciative public was invited. Sometimes the students gave a public exhibition of their work and proficiency. This "solemn act" might be a dramatic representation--an original play written for the occasion--or it might consist of literary exercises on the part of the scholars, music being also introduced. The technical name for these purely literary exercises was an "academy," or "specimen;" and naturally they would take place during the course of the scholastic year Such was the custom of the age, in Spanish countries.--_Rev. E.I. Devitt, S.J._ [70] Molave is the name of a tree whose wood is very hard and highly valued for building purposes; it is called by the natives "the queen of woods." The name molave is applied to several species of _Vitex_. especially to _V. geniculata_, Bl. [71] _Pina_: a silver design in the form of a pineapple. [72] _i.e._, to scourge themselves, as a voluntary penance--a practice then common among religious devotees. It was probably a survival from the earlier practices of the associations of Flagellants, who publicly scourged themselves, in penitential processions through the streets; they appeared during the period 1260-1420. [73] Cf. the belief of the Winnebago Indians regarding the fate of departed souls (_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xiii, p. 467). [74] _Golo_: "the name of a charm for lovers, used by the ancient Tagals" (Blumentritt, _Dicc. mitologico,_ p. 51). Regarding this book of charms, cf. Retana's _Libro de aniterias_ (Madrid, 1894), which reproduces a similar book, obtained from a Filipino native, with explanations of such words and phrases as are intelligible; it is preceded by extracts from the _Practica_ of Tomas Ortiz, O.S.A. [75] Evidently a reference to the serpents of the genus _Python_, allied to the boa-constrictor. They attain enormous size in the forests, some specimens having been obtained over twenty-two feet long. Young ones are often kept by the natives in their houses to kill the rats; these snakes become tame and harmless. [76] In the printed work, on the margin opposite this and the following sentences, are various references, thus: "Isaiah, 60; Isaiah, 9; Psalm 79; Isaiah, 66; Psalm 35, whereon 'B. Amb. Greg. II. moral. c. 2'"--the last apparently a reference to St. (and Pope) Gregory I's _Moralia in Jobum_ (Basle, 1468?). [77] In the margin of the printed page is a reference to Ezekiel, 8.