STUDY OF HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 221, 17 September 1940, Page 6

STUDY OF HISTORY.

Mr. Justice O'Regan in bis addna at the Catholic Men's Luncheon Club ndi several statements, that are still —Mm to serious controversy. The statMttat that th© supernatural -was the bm important element in man . . . Jg ut held by about 500,000.000 Bnd&fcu. who believe that there is n, X! existence. There are native tribo, abfc' who believe in no supernatural ence. Amongst Nordic people mm millions are non-believers in the saw. natural. Of this considerable aectfaa. there are persons of the highest irt» lectual standing and repute, ecientfctiL biologists and historians. Mr. Ottatu's • reference to Gibbon, author of 'U "Decline and Fall of the Soman Empire," who became a Catholic through leadinr Bossuets "Variations" and theni* • verted to Protestanism, later becomiw a sceptic, is a distinct example 01 tk free play of conviction based imoa factual evidence as Gibbon found It As the "Decline and Fall" still stands as the greatest history extant, then the author had substance for his cootie-S. tions. Mr. O'Regaft illogically woii|> have the young Gibbon reman A Catholic, whereas upon reaching lectual maturity he became a «afe Hie question was asked by Mr. whether the sistere attending lepen *a a Pacific island were inspired fry hfllk motives only. They may not, bnt are many nurses and doctors who tin alleviate human suffering who have at' belief^ in the supernatural, and on# fttt*. standing person is sufficient refefMM - Miss Florence Nightingale, the "£■tf of the Lamp." who was a sceptic: JAMES R. FLANAGAS. ®