The most important and authoritative of the catechisms of the Roman Catholic Church is that of the Council of Trent, which was published in 1566. It was prepared under the superintendance of the archbishop of Milan, by Leonardo Marini, Francisco Fureiro, Aegidius Foscorari, and Mugio Calini; and the style was polished by Pogianus. It is not a catechism in the ordinary sense, for it is not in the interrogative form, and it can scarcely be called elementary. It is, in fact, a very careful and complete system of Roman Catholic doctrine, extending over 500 8vo pages of closely-printed Latin. By command of the council, it was translated into French, German, Spanish, and Italian, and there is also an English version. The earliest of the catechisms of this church appear to be that of Kero, a monk of St Gall, who lived in the 8th century, and that which is ascribed to Otfried, a monk of Weissen burg of the 9th century. Others worthy of mention are the Summa Doctrinarum of Peter Canisius, which was authorized in 1566; that of Bellarmine (1603), and that of Bossuet (1687). In 1870, the Oecumenical Council recommended the general use of the Schema de Parvo, a small catechism, which is little more than an abstract of Bellarmine’s.

Catechisms were also very common among the Christian sects which, during the Middle Ages, opposed themselves to the dominant church, as the Albigenses and the Wickliffites.

The Greek Church has two principal catechisms, the earlier of which is that of Peter Mogilas, patriarch of Kieff, which was published in 1542, and sanctioned by the church in 1572. The other is that of Plato, patriarch of Moscow, of which an abstract has been made for purposes of education. This work is divided into two parts, of which the first treats of natural religion, the second of revealed.

Of the larger Protestant sects, each has a separate catechism. The Lutherans are represented by the two smaller catechisms of their founder, published in 1520 and 1529, and by his larger catechism, published in the latter year. In Switzerland, France, the Low Countries, Hungary, and Scotland, the Geneva Catechism of Calvin (1536) was for some time the standard of the Reformed Church. The Heidelberg Catechism, which appeared in 1563, compiled' by Caspar Olevian and Zacharias Ursinus, and revised by the Synod of Dort, became the standard of the Swiss Church; and upon it was founded the Zurich Catechism (1639). ASocinian catechism appeared at Rakov in 1574.

The first prayer-book of Edward VI., published in the year 1549, contained what now forms the first part of the catechism of the English Church»

ĭt consists of no more than two or three pages, and contains only the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and an expression of the doctrine of baptism held by the English Church. In the reign of James I. an explanation of the Anglican doctrine of the sacraments was added by Bishop Overall.

The first catechism produced by the Scottish Presbyterians was that known as Craig’s, which was laid before the General Assembly in 1592. It embodied, in twelve chapters, the Calvinistic doctrine of the church with regard to original sin, redemption, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical discipline; and after each chapter was a number of questions and answers. This catechism, together with some of those used on the Continent, served the British Presbyterians till 1647. In that year the Westminster Assembly of Divines appointed committees to draw up the famous Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

Besides these catechisms, which profess to be the symbols of various churches, a large number of private catechisms have been published. In the English Church the most important are Cranmer’s and Noel’s (1570). Among the English Protestant dissenters, who, of course, do not possess an authoritative catechism, there have been several, of which the most famous are those of Dr Watts. A considerable number have also been produced by German theologians; but many of the works which they have published under the name have no claim to it whatever.

Ordinary black catechu is usually imported in three different forms. The first and best quality, known as Pegu catechu, is obtained in blocks externally covered with the large leaves of a species of Dipterocarpus ; the second and less pure variety is in masses, which have been moulded in sand; and the third consists of large cubes packed in coarse bags. The wood of the two species of Acacia yielding catechu is taken for the manufacture when the trees have attained a diameter of about 1 foot, The bark is stripped off and used for tanning, and the trunk is split up into small fragments, which are packed into earthenware jars, covered with water, and boiled in the open air. As the liquor becomes thick it is passed into separate vessels in which the evaporation is continued till the proper degree of inspissation is reached. It is then cast into the forms in which it is found in commerce, and further hardened by exposure to the sun. Catechu so prepared is a dark brown, or, in mass, almost black substance, brittle, and having generally a shining lustre. It has a powerfully astringent taste, with a sweetish after-effect. In cold water it disintegrates, and in boiling water, alcohol, acetic acid, and strong caustic alkali it is completely dissolved. Chemically it consists of a mixture of a peculiar variety of tannin termed -catechu-tannic acid with catechin or catechuic acid, and a brown extractiform substance due to the alteration of both these principles. Catechu-tan nie acid is an amorphous body soluble in cold water, while catechin occurs in minute, white, silky, needle-shaped crystals, which do not dissolve in cold water. A very minute proportion of quercetin, a principle yielded by quercitron bark, has been obtained from catechu.

Gambir, which is similar in chemical composition to ordinary catechu, occurs in commerce in the form of cubes of about an inch in size, with a pale brown or yellow colour and an even earthy fracture. For the preparation of this extract the plants above mentioned are stripped of their leaves and young twigs, and these are boiled down in shallow pans. The juice is strained off, evaporated by boiling, and when sufficiently concentrated, poured into vessels for cooling in which it is stirred in a peculiar manner as it cools and thickens. The mass, when it has attained a syrupy consistence is cast into shallow boxes, where, as it hardens and dries, it is cut into small cubes.

Gambir and catechu are extensively employed in dyeing and tanning, and to some extent as astringents in medicine. For dyeing they have been in use in India from the most remote period, but it is only during the present century that they have been placed on the list of European dyeing substances. Catechu is fixed by oxidation of the colouring principle, catechin, on the cloth after dyeing or printing; and treated thus it yields a great variety of most durable tints of drabs, browns, and olives with different mordants. In tanning, catechu is used only for a low class of leather, which, when made into boots, communicates to the stockings a yellow stain. The principal consumption of catechu occurs in the preparation of fibrous substances exposed to water, such as fishing-lines and nets, and for colouring stout canvas used for covering boxes and portmanteaus under the name of tanned canvas. The average annual imports into Great Britain amount to about 5000 tons of catechu, which comes chiefly from Bengal, and 20,000 tons of gambir, coming from the Straits Settlements.