Revieu: of Revifwt, IjlllOO. 



Leading Articles. 



591 



POPE PIUS X. 



His Crusade against Intellect and Civilisation. 

 The National Rcviciv devotes considerable space 

 in " The Episodes of the Month " to an account of 

 what it describes as the Pope's crusade against 

 thought. It declares that nothing can be more false 

 than the — 



legend lepresentingr Pius X. " as a liberal and enlightened 

 Pontiff of progressive views." Cardinal Sarto's early life in 

 an Italian seminarj-. where he was immured until he re- 

 ceived priest's orders at the age of twenty-four, has made it 

 almost impossible for the Pope to be other than he is. His 

 Encyclical of Februarj- 2nd, 1904. " in which he states quite 

 simply and literally that the Hebrew patriaichs were ac- 

 quainted with tlie doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, 

 and found consolation in the thought of Mary at various 

 crises in their lives," BhowB its author to be unable to under- 

 stand contemporary religious problems, however pure his 

 motives and lofty his character. Indeed, his whole-souled 

 piety and transparent sincerity add to the hopelessness of 

 the situation. Pius X. is bound by his principles " on purely 

 theological, and not on merely worldly grounds, to aim at 

 sucli a domination over the civil power as was aimed at. and 

 in part achieved, bv Gregory VII., Innocent m.. or Boniface 

 VIII." 



This revival of medieval pretensions has gradually brought 

 Rome into acute conflict with intellectual Catliolicism in 

 France and Italy, and threatens to exasperate the faithful in 

 Spain, while it must ultimately complicate the position of 

 British Catholics. There have already been several ominous 

 manifestations of what is nothing less than a crusade 

 against thought during the present Papacy. 



The attitude of Pius X. towards Biblical questions is,- need- 

 less to say. obscurantist. The Biblical Commission appoint- 

 ed by Leo XIII. has been completely diverted from its ori- 

 ginal purpose, and its expert members have been swamped by 

 bigots, whose sole qualification is their hostility to all criti- 

 cism. This Biblical Commission has recently decided that 

 Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. It is apparently 

 still open to Catholics " to believe that he may have dictated 

 parts of it to secretaries, and that additions may have been 

 made to it in later times: but the composite authorship, now 

 accepted by all Biblical critics without exception, was utterly 

 repudiated." We are told that this amazing decree, worthy 

 to rank witli the condemnation of Galileo, has alienated 

 even the most moderate critical scholars, some of whom 

 '■ were perfectly willing that M. Loisy should be condemned, 

 but are less pleased at a decree which involves themselves, 

 and implicitly condemns such works as those of Pere Lag- 

 range. O.P.. and the little book on 'The Tradition of Scrip- 

 ture.' by Dr. William Barry, which has recently been pub- 

 lislied with the imprimntur of the Archbishop of AVestrain- 

 ster." 



Worse still remains behind. A new Syllabus is 

 said to be in preparation, whose 



" object is to purge the Church of the ' intellectuals.' It 

 seems likely to be successful." The publication of the Syl- 

 labus is expected to be accompanied by the condemnation of 

 several Catholic periodicals, and possibly by a decree of the 

 Index or the Holy Office condemning certain Catholic writers, 

 including some of the beat known English Catholic laymen. 



Mr. HnroM .1. Slipustoiu- lin.s an iiitorcsting iirticle 

 in tlio liiiiiii^ of SeptonilxT oil th<^ Desort'.s Natural 

 Wat<.r Supply. [11 it ln' doscrilios various cactus 

 plantes now Krcnvii in tlu' l<'ai' West <if Aniorica. Mr 

 Lntlicr Hurhiuk has <'Hininat<>tl tlic tlionit.; and im- 

 pr(iv(xl tho fruit of tli<j prickly poar aft*^ ton yeai's 

 of patient iiulu.strv, and two profcK.snr.s of modicine 

 arc at work tostiiis; tlic medicinal value of tlio cactus 

 in a special lahoratory. 



THE ATHLETES FACE DURING CONTESTS. 



In Fi-v's Magazine, Mr. C. B. Fry contributes a 

 verv original paper on " Facial Expression and 

 Physical Effort." It is illustrated by a great num- 

 ber of instantaneous photographs, showing the faces- 

 of four eminent batsmen, three well-known fielders, 

 four lawn tennis champions, three golfers and three 

 footballers in their moment of most intense effort. 

 In all cases the facial expression is a distortion sug- 

 gestive rather of pain than delight, in the case of 

 winners as well as in the case of losers. Facial ex- 

 pression is " nothing more than sympathy between 

 the facial muscles and the muscular tension in other 

 parts of the body incidental to concentrated effort." 



MENTAL CONCENTKATION. 



A valuable addition to the psychology of sport is 

 afforded by Mr. Fry when he speaks of the con- 

 centration of will and attention of mind required in. 

 athletic feats : — 



From personal experience I can affirm that if a long jum- 

 per, either during his run-up or at tlie moment of taking 

 off, lets his mind wander ever so slightly from concentra- 

 tion on the effort, he knocks from two feet to a yard off his- 

 jump—he does 20 feet or 21 feet instead of the 23 feet of 

 which he is capable. I go so far as to say that the great 

 ditliculty of long and high jumping is to concentrate the 

 will. Much the same holds good of sprinting. A runner only 

 realises the full speed of which he is capable by an intense, 

 concentrated, and sustained effort of will. If during the 

 race he allows his mind to wander a hair'.s-breadth off the 

 single idea of reaching the tape, his speed falls off. 



Mr. Fry gives a signal example of this truth. At 

 one of the inter- 'Varsity sports he says : — 



G. L. Jordan and I were the Oxford representatives. He 

 was about a yard the faster over the distance with an equal 

 start. I had a bruised heel, and we expected to win with 

 Jordan or not at all— in tact, I was only an " off chance." 

 In the race, as luck had it, the other three got very bad 

 starts and I a very good one. and in consequence I received 

 as a gift such a lead that, going unexpectedly sound, I could 

 not have been caught. About thirty yards from home I sud- 

 denly took my mind off the effort of speed, and wondered 

 where Jordan was, and with tlie momentary relaxation of 

 mind my speed tell off and the others came up and passed 

 me in a flash. Jordan won. so it was all right. But my 

 lapse of attention cost me a two yards' lead and another 

 yard to the bad. This proves how rigid and concentrated 

 is, or should be. the mental attention in sprinting, and I 

 am quite sure that the tension of the muscles of the face is 

 partly expressive of this mental tension. 



However distorted the face of the winner, Mr. 

 Frv says there is absolutely no mistake about the 

 pleasure. He thinks that the facial distortion of the 

 athlete proves how extraordinarily difficult it is to 

 oljtain the ideal balance of muscle which consists of 

 contracting only those muscles which, separateh tir 

 in combination, are really needed for effectne 

 action at the moment. It is necessary to remember 

 that the contracted and therefore rigid muscle which 

 is doing no work is so much against the desired 



-tion, and is also absorbing energy. "We ought 



aci 



-it to make faces. 



