BEFORE perusing this work, it is as well that the reader should understand M. Zola's aim in writing it, and his viewsas distinct from those of his charactersupon Lourdes, its Grotto, and its cures. A short time before appeared M. Zola was interviewed upon the subject by his friend and biographer, Mr. Robert H. Sherard, to whom he spoke as follows: "'Lourdes' came to be written by mere accident.