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102 BOOK REVIEWS English of those phrases that everyone said had to be left in Latin. The rendering of the first part of the important text, q. 81, a. 1, is a good example. The Latin goes " Et ideo alia via procedendum est, dicendo quod omnes homines qui nascuntur ex Adam possunt considerari ut unu/1' homo, in quantum conveniunt in natura quam a primo parente accipiunt; secundum quod in civilibus omnes qui sunt unius communitatw reputantur quasi unum corpus, et tota communitas quasi unus homo. O'Brien translates: "Another approach, therefore, should be made. It is this. All who are born of Adam can be considered as one man by reason of sharing the one nature inherited from the first parent, even as in political matters all belonging to one community are reckoned to be like one body, and the whole community like one person." By dropping the dicendo quod completely and substituting, It is thw, O'Brien makes clean English out of Latin. The in quantum was always rendered ina.ymuch as; O'Brien's by reason of is better; so also is his even as for secundum quod, which used to be rendered according to which. Finally, person for homo is a creative touch, probably inspired by the use of the term " moral person " in our literature today. The rest of the translation is like that. If the other volumes in this series stay to current problems and to the new work being done in scripture, if they are as deft in the handling of the Latin and as thorough with the historical data, if in a word they use Father O'Brien's text as a kind of working model, then we shall have in the Gilby-O'Brien Summa the chief instrument for the handing on of the solid doctrine of St. Thomas to our generation. It shall prove as nothing else can prove the resilience and youth of Thomism to skeptical and critical men. A final word of praise to McGraw-Hill Book Company: their taste has been impeccable. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. THOMAS R. HEATH, 0. P. Comparative Miracles. By RoBERT D. SMITH. St. Louis, B. Herder Book Co., 1965. pp. 184. $5.95. Are Christian miracles unique, or is there, in fact, no gulf between Christian miracles and the prodigies of other faiths? The author, operating within the sphere of comparative religion, attempts an answer to this question by comparing the prodigies of history to see if any pre-eminence need be granted to the Christian miracles. Hence he does not attempt to prove the possibility of miracles, nor that God exists from the fact of miracles, but rather undertakes an historical survey of sigm meant to signify the favor of some ' superhuman ' intervention. BOOK REVIEWS 103 In order to pass judgment upon these signs, or better, prodigies, the author begins with the principle that any prodigy can be valid as long as it is worked in the light of some truth. This openminded approach must be tempered, however, by the inclusion of a number of critical measures which assist in judging both the historical veracity of the accounts of the prodigies and the ' superhumannesss ' of the event. With competence, the author uses these measures, such as the instantaneity of a cure, the visibility of a mystical event relative to cures, the doctor's diagnosis, evidence of an organic disease, and a cure surpassing the medical science of the time. With such stringent demands upon the prodigies of history by the author, very few come out as complete signs, that is, as signs of a superhuman intervention beyond any reasonable doubt. These few are the miracles of Christ. The work is divided into three broad categories, the first being those signs contained under the general title of ' mystical ' phenomena, the second being cures, and the third, wonder-workers themselves. The conclusion of the investigation of mystical phenomena, such as ecstasy, occultists' tricks, visions, stigmata, inedia, levitation, bilocation, and the like, is that they all leave room for reasonable doubt and therefore do not constitute a complete sign. After examining pagan cures, Christian-Science cures, the cures of other more...

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