several cardinals, one of whom is the prefect, and more or less numerous “consultors” and “examiners of books.” An attempt has been made to publish separately the Index Librorum Expurgandorum or Expurgatorius, a catalogue of the works which may be read after the deletion or amending of specified passages; but this was soon abandoned.

With the alteration of social conditions, however, the Rules of Trent ceased to be entirely applicable. Their application to publications which had no concern with morals or religion was no longer conceivable; and, finally, the penalties called for modification. Already, at the Vatican Council, several bishops had submitted requests for a reform of the Index, but the Council was not able to deal with the question. The reform was accomplished by Leo XIII., who, on the 25th of January 1897, published the constitution Officiorum, in 49 articles. In this constitution, although the writings of heretics in support of heresy are condemned as before (No. 1), those of their books which contain nothing against Catholic doctrine or which treat other subjects are permitted (Nos. 2-3). Editions of the text of the Scriptures are permitted for purposes of study; translations of the Bible into the vulgar tongue have to be approved, while those published by non-Catholics are permitted for the use of scholars (Nos. 5-8). Obscene books are forbidden; the classics, however, are authorized for educational purposes (Nos. 9-10). Articles 11-14 forbid books which outrage God and sacred things, books which propagate magic and superstition, and books which are pernicious to society. The ecclesiastical laws relating to sacred images, to indulgences, and to liturgical books and books of devotion are maintained (Nos. 15-20). Articles 21-22 condemn immoral and irreligious newspapers, and forbid writers to contribute to them. Articles 23-26 deal with permissions to read prohibited books; these are given by the bishop in particular cases, and in the ordinary course by the Congregation of the Index. In the second part of the constitution the pope deals with the censorship of books. After indicating the official publications for which the authorization of the divers Roman congregations is required, he goes on to say that the others are amenable to the ordinary of the editor and, in the case of regulars, to their superior (Nos. 30-37). The examination of the books is entrusted to censors, who have to study them without prejudice; if their report is favourable, the bishop gives the imprimatur (Nos. 38-40). All books concerned with the religious sciences and with ethics are submitted to preliminary censorship, and in addition to this ecclesiastics have to obtain a personal authorization for all their books and for the acceptance of the editorship of a periodical (Nos. 41-42). The penalty of excommunication ipso facto is only maintained for reading books written by heretics or apostates in defence of heresy, or books condemned by name under pain of excommunication by pontifical letters (not by decrees of the Index). By the same constitution Leo XIII. ordered the revision of the catalogue of the Index. The new Index, which omits works anterior to 1600 as well as a great number of others included in the old catalogue, appeared in 1900. The encyclical Pascendi of Pius X. (8th September 1907) made it obligatory for periodicals amenable to the ecclesiastical authority to be submitted to a censor, who subsequently makes useful observations. The legislation of Leo XIII. resulted in the better observance of the rules for the publication of books, but apparently did not modify the practice as regards the reading of prohibited books. It is to be regretted that the catalogue does not discriminate among the prohibited works according to the motive of their condemnation and the danger ascribed to reading them. The tendency of the practice among Catholics at large is to reduce these condemnations to the proportions of the moral law.

INDIA,1 a great country and empire of Asia under British rule, inhabited by a congeries of different races, speaking upwards of fifty different languages. The whole Indian empire, including Burma, has an area of 1,766,000 sq. m., and a population of 294 million inhabitants, being about equal to the area and population of the whole of Europe without Russia. The population more than doubles Gibbon’s estimate of 120 millions for all the races and nations which obeyed imperial Rome.

The natives of India can scarcely be said to have a word of their own by which to express their common country. In Sanskrit, it would be called “Bharata-varsha,” from Bharata, a legendary monarch of the Lunar line; but Sanskrit is no more the vernacular of India than Latin is of Europe. The name “Hindustan,” which was at one time adopted by European geographers, is of Persian origin, meaning “the land of the Hindus,” as Afghanistan means “the land of the Afghans.” According to native usage, however, “Hindustan” is limited either to that portion of the peninsula lying north of the Vindhya mountains, or yet more strictly to the upper basin of the Ganges where Hindi is the spoken language. The “East Indies,” as opposed to the “West Indies,” is an old-fashioned and inaccurate phrase, dating from the dawn of maritime discovery, and still lingering in certain parliamentary papers. “India,” the abstract form of a word derived through the Greeks from the Persicized form of the Sanskrit sindhu, a “river,” pre-eminently the Indus, has become familiar since the British acquired the country, and is now officially recognized in the imperial title of the sovereign.

The Country

India, as thus defined, is the middle of the three irregularly shaped peninsulas which jut out southwards from the mainland of Asia, thus corresponding roughly to the peninsula of Italy in the map of Europe. Its form is that of a Position and shape. great triangle, with its base resting upon the Himalayan range and its apex running far into the ocean. The chief part of its western side is washed by the Arabian Sea, and the chief part of its eastern side by the Bay of Bengal. It extends from the 8th to the 37th degree of north latitude, that is to say, from the hottest regions of the equator to far within the temperate zone. The capital, Calcutta, lies in 88° E., so that when the sun sets at six o’clock there, it is just past mid-day in England and early morning in New York. The length of India from north to south, and its greatest breadth from east to west, are both about 1900 m.; but the triangle tapers with a pear-shaped curve to a point at Cape Comorin, its southern extremity. To this compact dominion the British have added Burma, the strip of country on the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal. But on the other hand the