about every where doing good, but in that other mystic but not less real form, which by a miracle of love ineffable He has contrived for being always amongst us. On that altar the offering of Calvary is each day renewed in the Eucharistic sacrifice. At the foot of that altar may be often seen the religious of the community presenting themselves, to be united with him in the sacred and honoured intimacy of the Eucharistic communion. There at an early hour in the morning, ere yet the tired votaries of pleasure have recovered the effects of their yesterday's amusement, or the busy children of the world are awake for their ordinary duties, they may be seen coming to give to Him in their morning orisons, the first fruit of their thoughts and affections. There too they may be seen frequently at other times presenting themselves, to renew in His divine presence the fervour of their first resolutions. When they are called to the homes of the poor, or the bed of the sick, or the fireside of the sorrowful and afflicted, on whom tribulation have rushed like a tempest, terrible and heartrending in its consequences, they come there too, to beg of Him whose eye is ever mercifully and benignly beaming on them, that their errand may be one of usefulness, and that His hand may guide them on their path and bring them back with safety. Then too on their return they present themselves again, to repeat the offering of their homage, and renew the promise of their fidelity. it strange that hearts so pure, so single-minded, so devoted, so unceasingly sustained and nourished with sustenance from above, should go on in their way rejoicing, and continue for years together with undiminished zeal and undecaying fervour, their glorious and enduring work of mercy?

Is

Mrs. McAuley had the satisfaction of seeing her institute extended during her lifetime to other countries, and of knowing that it was formally and canonically sanctioned by the holy See, in a rescript bearing date the 5th of July 1841. This took place a very short time before her death. The cares and troubles attending the foundation of her several establishments, the many journeys to which she was thereby subjected, and the anxiety of providing all things necessary for the several communities, would have been sufficient to break down a constitution even stronger than her's; on her return from Birmingham, which was the last filiation in which she was engaged, it was seen by her in

creased debility and exhaustion, that the term of her usefulness was near at hand. After struggling with her infirmities for some time, she was at length obliged to confine herself to her room. She never left it again alive. She was desirous to continue still to encourage her spiritual daughters by example, to the punctual fulfilment of their meritorious duties, but her divine Master, by depriving her of the necessary bodily strength, showed that such was not His will. Yet though unable to take a part in their labours, her patience under suffering, and her resignation to God's will, were an example and an instruction. It was natural that she should feel much solicitude for the future welfare of the order that had come into existence under her maternal care, and expressed many an anxious thought for its future prosperity; but she also felt that she was but an instrument in the hands of God, and that if He called her away before it was nurtured into strength, He would Himself preside over its after destinies, and conduct it to a successful termination. She would have wished to witness its course of usefulness, and devote herself with even more than her wonted zeal to the promotion of its objects, and however ardent her desire to be dissolved and to be with God, she was satisfied and anxious, if it were so ordered, to labour for years to come. But the measure of her good works was already full. She had worked well and diligently, and devotedly in the vineyard, and it was time that she should receive the rich reward of her services and fidelity. Though her debility in the last stage of her illness was very great, she does not seem to have suffered much bodily pain; and to the sisters who were in attendance she would often say, "Oh! if this be death, it is very easy indeed." She preserved her faculties unimpaired to the last, and a very short time before her death, was able to transact some business of considerable importance. It was the last act of her mortal life. Some time before, she had received the last rites of the Church, with every mark of the most profound reverence, and having commended herself to God, and taken leave of the afflicted sisterhood, she calmly exchanged this world for a better.

Enclosed within the buildings of the convent is a small cemetery. A few shrubs and evergreens have been planted here and there; and on a fresh morning in the spring or summer, a few flowers set at regular distances, fill the surrounding air with their sweet fragrance. A large

cross is erected in the centre, and some graves are seen in its immediate vicinity. Beneath that cross lie the mortal remains of the holy woman whose virtues and good works we have endeavoured though imperfectly to describe, and in those graves the remains of some who took part in her early labours. Their noblest epitaph is the orphan's prayer. Their most enduring monument, the ORDER OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY.

ART. II.-A Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, &c. By WILLIAM STROUDE, M. D. London, Hamilton and Adams, 33, Paternoster Row, 1847.

THE

HE thoughtful work which we have placed at the head of the present article, contains so great a variety of matter, and that of great interest, that it is as well to intimate at once that we purpose to confine our remarks upon it to the physical subject specified in the title page. Our intention is to treat, in the first place, of the Blood, physiologically, and to collect the various discoveries and theories to which modern science has given rise; while we are thus engaged, we shall have little occasion to refer to Dr. Stroude's work, but the physiological consideration of the blood will not, in fact, be an unfit introduction to our observations on the explanation given by Dr. Stroude of the physical cause of the death of our blessed Lord. At the same time, our preliminary remarks will be more particularly scientific, and be therefore, of necessity, expressed in technical language, which may render them less intelligible to those of our readers who have in no sense made a study of physiology. The physical cause of our Lord's death is a subject which will interest all, and we have treated it with less technicality: it is a subject, too, adapted to the season of Lent and Passion-tide, and it will not be other than a recommendation to the view taken by our author, if it proves, that the physical cause which instrumentally effected the consummation of man's redemp

tion was the "natural effect" of the "agony" endured by our Saviour for our sake.

We begin, then, with the Physiology of the Blood.

It is, of course, well known that if fresh blood be stirred with a piece of stick, (1.) the fibrine which exists in it in a free state will adhere to the stick in a colourless stringy mass, and may thus be separated; that the fluid, if filtered, will be divided into (2.) the red corpuscles of the blood, and a transparent fluid, consisting of (3.) water, holding in solution the albumen and the various inorganic substances which exist in the blood; and that from this solution, if treated with an acid, (4.) the albumen will be precipitated. Again, if fresh drawn blood be set by itself in a narrow vessel, it will spontaneously separate into a fluid and a firm mass; the former consisting of the watery solution above mentioned, and called the serum, the latter of the fibrine and the red corpuscles, and called the crassamentum or clot. Once more, in acute inflammation, as in pericarditis or pleuritis, there is effused from the congested blood vessels of the serous membrane that portion of the blood which is capable of escaping through the coats of the blood vessels, viz., the liquor sanguinis or the fluid part, consisting of the water, the albumen, and the fibrine, while the red corpuscles are retained. Here, then, are a variety of topics connected with the blood, which have naturally engaged the attention of physiologists, and on which recent discoveries have thrown much light. We purpose to treat of these in the following order:

1.

The blood in its normal state, both as regards its chemical and physiological parts, and as regards the change which it undergoes, from the bright scarlet colour of the arterial to the dark and almost black colour of the venous blood. 2. We shall take notice of those rare cases in which there has occurred an effusion of the red corpuscles of the blood; and 3. The phenomena of coagulation. And we here make a general acknowledgment of our obligations to Mr. Paget, whose Reports supply most of our materials, and whose words we shall incorporate in

The red corpuscles of the frog's blood will not escape through the pores of fine filtering paper.

what we have to say, when our subject and our readers may gain by our so doing.

1. The Composition of the Blood. As our readers, though acquainted with the analysis of the blood by M. Lecanu, may not have it at hand for reference, we will subjoin it, in order that we may have before our eyes the details which may call for observation. M. Lecanu gives the result of two analyses, and they are as follows:

It is obvious that as the materials from which the various tissues of the body are nourished, are conveyed to them by the blood, we ought to find all these materials in the blood. From an examination of the above analyses this will be found true, and the extremely small quantity in which those substances exist in the system which do not occur in the analyses, will account for their omission. Of the fifty-four or fifty-five simple substances, twenty have been found in the organic world: of these, iodine and bromine occur only in marine animals and plants; aluminium in plants alone, and that, too, rarely: the other simple substances not yet mentioned are, fluorine, manganese, silicium, copper, and lead. The first exists in the ivory and enamel of the teeth; the second and third in the hair; and it is quite recently that the existence of the two last in the human body has been established. They are not found, according to Signor Cattanei di Momo, in the