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rise to a science of sciences, to a general synthesis, in a word, to philosophy.

"Sound philosophy sets out from analysis and terminates in synthesis as its natural complement. Philosophy is by definition a knowledge of the totality of things through their highest causes. But is it not evident that before arriving at the highest causes we must pass through those lower ones with which the particular sciences occupy themselves?

"At the present day, when the sciences have become so vast and numerous, how are we to achieve the double task of keeping au courant with them all, and of synthesizing their results? That difficulty is a grave and delicate one.

"Since individual courage feels itself powerless in the presence of the field of observation which goes on widening day by day, association must make up for the insufficiency of the isolated worker; men of analysis and men of synthesis must come together and form, by their daily intercourse and united action, an atmosphere suited to be the harmonious development of science and philosophy alike. Such is the object of the special school of philosophy which Leo XIII, the illustrious restorer of higher studies, has wished to found in our country, and to place under the patronage of St. Thomas of Aquin, that striking incarnation of the spirit of observation united

with the spirit of synthesis, that worker of genius who ever deemed it a duty to fertilize philosophy by science, and to elevate science simultaneously to the heights of philosophy."

During the first years of the Institut Superieur de Philosophie, and the Seminaire Leon XIII, as his school was called, there were but few students. There were, however, many perils and trials from weak and false brethren. But, unafraid, the young professor went on with his work. Whilst he exacted the most intense kind of application from his pupils, and allowed no one to aspire to any degree without first submitting a thesis of real worth, there was none who labored half as sedulously as he himself did. Living with a maiden sister in a small Flemish house just outside the University grounds, his was virtually the life of an ascete. On the second floor of the quaint building was the professor's workshop. As one entered the room, one had to pass four stately tomes of St. Bernard which showed frequent and careful use. St. Bernard and Dante have been the two great extra-philosophical heroes of Mercier. Once within. the large room, one could see over the mantelpiece the favorite motto of the recluse in bold Gothic character, "Labora sicut bonus miles Christi Jesu" (Work as a good soldier of Christ). The floor was bare, the table was of varnished pine, with a crucifix

laid upon it, a large square deal table stood in a corner of the room, nailed down with books. There was a rickety arm-chair, an oil painting of his mother, a plaster bust of St. Thomas, a prie-dieu, in the room -and nothing else except books, thousands of books stacked up from floor to ceiling, on shelves made out of pine wood, without glass doors. His library

evidently was meant to be used.

Mercier must have weeded out his library periodically, for one never saw a novel or a book in lighter vein. No author gained admittance to this retreat simply because he spoke "in the high-sounding words'' of the stylists. It probably will furnish as evident an indication of the Abbe's taste as anything else to know that in his vast library there was only one volume of Cardinal Newman-and that the great Englishman's really philosophical work, "The Grammar of Assent". It was well worn with use and filled with notes in his own characteristic handwriting. In this workshop the professor spent his days all the year round, with the exception of three weeks in the summer, when he allowed himself a little relaxation. He was up every morning at five o'clock for his hour's prayer before Mass, which he celebrated at six. After his regular class work, he always hurried back to this quiet place, where he worked often until late into the

night, as the lamp shining from his window frequently betrayed.

The young professor did not believe in impersonal teaching. His students were always free to come to him and no amount of time was deemed lost so long as there was hope of clearing up a difficulty in some one's mind, or ironing out an ache in some one's soul. His daily walks he always took with his students. During his entire regime as superior of the Institut he preached a day's retreat, or Recollection, on the first Sunday of every month for them. He always appeared on these occasions with a small crucifix in his hands, and the one theme he was never tired of dwelling upon was Soyez apotres Be ye Apostles. The apostleship he advocated was the odor of a good life and the spreading of the light of truth. When he was appointed Archbishop of Malines, it was only in consonance with his professorial career for him to choose for the device on his escutcheon, "Apostolus Jesu Christi." cas

During the years of his professorship he published his class notes in lithograph. These were later on revised and expanded and published in French in five volumes, and have been translated into most modern languages. His volumes on Logic, Ontology, Psychology and General Criteriology have broken entirely new ground in Catholic philosophical re

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search. Whilst not despising the learning of the ancients, nor rejecting their guidance, he knew how to bring the most rigorously established conclusions of modern science into line with them. He has published also two works on psychology, "The Origin of Contemporary Psychology" and the "Relation of Experimental Psychology to Philosophy," and a unique work on language entitled La Parole. It is simply impossible to enumerate the number of magazine articles that came from his pen during these fruitful years, nor the critical reviews of books, which very often took on the nature of compact little treatises on the various subjects. All of these fugitive writings are eminently worth while, and some day, perhaps, some one of his pupils will see the advantage of assembling them in one place for the clarifying of the processes of human thought.

After his accession to the archiepiscopal throne of Malines, he delivered a course of sermons to his seminarians during their annual spiritual retreat. This volume, "To my Students," as also another volume of clerical sermons, "Retreat Preached to Priests,' carrying the sub-title "The Inner Life," show him up admirably from the spiritual angle. They have sold by the thousands, have been translated into most modern vernaculars, and have won the highest commendation from two Popes. The Letters, Allocutions

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