long time the
rival of the "Journal des Savants." Under the editorship of Le Pere
Berthier it fought bravely against Diderot, Voltaire, and other heralds of
the French Revolution. It weathered even the fatal year of 1762, but,
after changing its name, and moderating its pretensions, it ceased to
appear in 1782. The long rows of its volumes are now piled up in our
libraries likes rows of tombstones, which we pass by without even stopping
to examine the names and titles of those who are buried in these vast
catacombs of thought.

It was a happy idea that led the Pere P. C. Sommervogel, himself a member
of the order of the Jesuits, to examine the dusty volumes of the "Journal
de Trevoux," and to do for it the only thing that could be done to make it
useful once more, at least to a certain degree, namely, to prepare a
general index of the numerous subjects treated in its volumes, on the
model of the great index, published in 1753, of the "Journal des Savants."
His work, published at Paris in 1865, consists of three volumes. The first
gives an index of the original dissertations; the second and third, of the
works criticised in the "Journal de Trevoux." It is a work of much smaller
pretensions than the index to the "Journal des Savants;" yet, such as it
is, it is useful, and will amply suffice for the purposes of those few
readers who have from time to time to consult the literary annals of the
Jesuits in France.

The title of the "Memoires de Trevoux" was taken from the town of Trevoux,
the capital of the principality of Dombes, which Louis XIV. had conferred
on the Duc de Maine, with all the privileges of a sovereign. Like Louis
XIV., the young prince gloried in the title of a patron of art and
science, but, as the pupil of Madame de Maintenon, he devoted himself even
more zealously to the defense of religion. A printing-office was founded
at Trevoux, and the Jesuits were invited to publish a new journal, "ou
l'on eut principalement en vue la defense de la religion." This was the
"Journal de Trevoux," published for the first time in February, 1701,
under the title of "Memoires pour l'Histoire des Sciences et des Beaux
Arts, recueillis par l'ordre de Son Altesse Serenissime, Monseigneur
Prince Souverain de Dombes." It was entirely and professedly in the hands
of the Jesuits, and we find among its earliest contributors such names as
Catrou, Tournemine, and Hardouin. The opportunities for collecting
literary and other intell