svilu.. iko Filthgrade, was a fÆTAIL. and we have dhe zerori,, as, o mother reigomis Writer & fi aliam Coster a creberry. who write a inor caleet Forus Calcartun.. te Garden of Iwigins." & Joi of information on KADT ALbyjuma mia our populaar eneveansetias of the modern time. the tree over sors titt the plate of information in it was conssiterved to ta the giving of queasure. Vile this worth thes my with Eline and theologica and mystical questions, there are many puvery scenitie passage and mary suits of sety medica infbevest treated.

The He of the Liesss garde is worthy of consideration.. because it iliustrave the potion and Makes it very clear fiat, in spite of the grievoles misunderstanding of their life and wote, 20 common in the muter time, these dic-time religions had most of the interests of the modern time, and parsued them with even more tuar modern zeal and success, very often. tier career illuvates Tery well what the foundation of the benedicetines had done for women. When St. Benedict founded his order for men. his sister, Scholastica, wamed to do a similar work for women. We know that the Benedictine monks saved the old classics for ns. kept burning the light of the intellectua' life. and gave a refuge to men who wanted to devote themselves in leisure and peace to the things of the spirit. whether of this word or the other. We have known much less of the Benedictine nuns unti now the study of their books shows that they provided exactly the same opportunities for women

and furnished a vocation, a home, an occupation of mind, and a satisfaction of spirit for the women who, in every generation, do not feel themselves called to be wives and mothers, but who want to live their lives for others rather than for themselves and their kin, seeking such development of mind and of spirit as may come with the leisure and peace of celibacy.

Hildegarde was born of noble parents at Böckelheim, in the county of Sponheim, about the end of the eleventh century (probably 1098). In her eighth year she went for her education to the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg. When her education was finished, she entered the cloister, of which, at the age of about fifty, she became abbess. Her writings, reputation for sanctity, and her wise saintly rule attracted so many new members to the community that the convent became overcrowded. Accordingly, with eighteen of her nuns, Hildegarde withdrew to a new convent at Rupertsberg, which English and American travellers will remember because it is not far from Bingen on the Rhine. Here she came to be a centre of attraction for most of the world of her time. She was in active correspondence with nearly every important man of her generation. She was an intimate friend of Bernard of Clairvaux, who was himself, perhaps, the most influential man in Europe in this century. She was in correspondence with four Popes, and with the Emperors Conrad and Frederick I, and with many distinguished archbishops, abbots, and abbesses, and teachers and teaching bodies of various kinds. These correspondences were usually begun by her corre

spondents, who consulted her because her advice in difficult problems was considered so raluable.

In spite of all this time-taking correspondence, she found leisure to write a series of books, most of them on mystical subjects, but two of them on medical subjects. The first is called "Liber Simplicis Medicina," and the second Liber Compositæ Medicina." These books were written in order to provide information mainly for the nuns who had charge of the infirmaries of the monasteries of the Benedictines. Almost constantly someone in the large communities, which always contained aged religious, was ailing, and then, besides, there were other calls on the time and the skill of the sister infirmarians. There were no hotels at that time, and no hospitals, except in the large cities. There were always guest houses in connection with monasteries and convents, in which travellers were permitted to pass the night, and given what they needed to eat. There are many people who have had experiences of monastie hospitality even in our own time. Sometimes travellers fell ill. Not infrequently the reason for travelling was to find health in some distant and fabulously health-giving resort, or at the hands of some wonder-working physician. Such high hopes are nearly always set at a distance. This of itself must have given not a little additional need for knowledge of medicine to the infirmarians of convents and monasteries. There were around many of the monasteries, moreover, large estates; often they had been cleared and made valuable by the work of preceding genera

tions of monks, and on these estates peasants came to live. Workingmen and workingwomen from neighboring districts came to help at harvest time, and, after a chance meeting, were married and settled down on a little plot of ground provided for them near the monastery. As these communities grew up, they looked to the monasteries and convents for aid of all kinds, and turned to them particularly in times of illness. The need for definite instruction in medicine on the part of a great many of the monks and nuns can be readily understood, and it was this need that Hildegarde tried to meet in her books. The first of her books that we have mentioned, the "Liber Simplicis Medicinæ," attracted attention rather early in the Renaissance, and was deemed worthy of print. It was edited at the beginning of the sixteenth century by Dr. Schott at Strasburg, under the title, Physica S. Hildegardis." Another manuscript of this part was found in the library of Wolfenbuttel, in 1858, by Dr. Jessen. This gave him an interest in Hildegarde's contributions to medicine, and, in 1859, he noted in the library at Copenhagen a manuscript with the title "Hildegardi Curæ et Causæ." On examination, he was sure that it was the "Liber Compositæ Medicinæ " of the saint. The first work consists of nine books, treating of plants, elements, trees, stones, fishes, birds, quadrupeds, reptiles, and metals, and is printed in Migne's "Patrologia," under the title "Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Libri Novem." The second, in five books, treats of the general diseases of created things, of the human body and its ail