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NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 453 spread that Leo XIII. was going to condemn Atomism, or to do something in that way ; but these rumours were repeatedly denied from head-quarters. In the beginning of autumn 1878, the students of the French college, to which I have before referred 1 only give details of what I person- ally know were in an unusually excited state. It was known that the Rector had received letters from Rome, and it was confidently be- lieved, both by Thomists and ultra-Thomists, that these letters had to do with the doctrine of Tvlatter and Form. They were, however, only a personal reply from the Father General to the effect that Leo XIII. had, in recommending the study of St. Thomas to the Society of Jesus, avoided any particular commentary or hint as to a change of doctrine in any direction whatever ; that consequently the situation was exactly the same as at the time of his former letters, of which he mentioned the date and contents. I feel convinced that the Society had no intention to choose, of its own accord, any decided position as regards this most difficult problem ; but if it be true, as I heard it confidently asserted, that the ques- tion whether Atomism ( !) ought not to be made a doctrine of the Society was mooted in the councils of the Order, and almost resolved in the affirmative, 1 the sequel shows that they acted very wisely in not adopting that system. For about two or three days after the letter I mentioned had been received, a bell called the scholars one afternoon, at an unusual hour, into the lecture-room. The professors were present. The Rector read another letter from Father Beckx : it stated simply that he had been desired to render the teaching of the Society more in harmony with that of St. Thomas ; and that, having inquired of the person who brought that communication from the Pope in what direction that modification was to be made, he had been answered, ' In the question of the ultimate consti- tution of matter'. Thereupon, following the direction of Pope Leo XIIL, he gave orders that in future the real distinction of matter and form should be taught in all colleges of the Society, and concluded with a short exhorta- tion to the partisans of the different schools, advising humility on the one hand and submission on the other. The letter was worded with extra- ordinary care, so as to show entire personal neutrality in the matter, and seemed rather to be the notification of Leo XIII.'s will than a decree for which Father Beckx was himself responsible. The effect was, of course, instantaneous. All disputes from member to member were stopped at once. Many of the most determined partisans of Atomism now turned d la minute into Ultra-Thomists. thereby affording considerable amusement to the vanquished and as much annoyance to the victorious party, who very rightly considered their sudden conversion as too strange to be anything but a joke. Others took the matter more seriously, and refused to budge one inch from their old positions. What was true before F. Beckx's letter was just as true afterwards ; the worst that 1 Father Beckx was not a philosophical but a practical mind. He understood the necessity of unity in teaching, and, whilst he allowed full liberty of opinion to all, watched carefully which way the tide of public opinion was setting amongst the philosophers of the Society. When he saw that the majority was decidedly in favour of Atomism, he set to work prudently and slowly, eliminating those professors who were opposed to it; so much so, that all the teachers at the Roman college were at last Atomists. Hence the rivalry with the Dominicans who professed the opposite doc- trines ; and hence it is certain that Leo XIII.'s ' gentle hint' was intended, by those who counselled it, to be a blow at the Society, which could not honourably refuse to take the hint, although it was ao much opposed to the opinion of the best minds among them.