{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68705/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68705","id":"gutenberg_68705","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68705","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Theosophy"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\nObvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations\nin hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and\npunctuation remains unchanged with the exception of Greek and Hebrew\nwhich have been extensively corrected. The corrections are listed at\nthe end of the book. The index appears only in Volume 2 of this work.\nA copy was added to this volume for the convenience of readers.\n\nItalics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus ~bold~ and\nsuperscripts thus y^{en}.\n\n\n[Illustration: Head and shoulders drawing of the author]\n\n\n\n\n ISIS UNVEILED:\n\n A MASTER-KEY\n\n TO THE\n\n MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN\n\n SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.\n\n BY\n\n H. P. BLAVATSKY,\n\n CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.\n\n \u201cCecy est un livre de bonne Foy.\u201d\u2014MONTAIGNE.\n\n\n VOL. I.\u2014_SCIENCE._\n\n\n FOURTH EDITION.\n\n NEW YORK:\n\n J. W. BOUTON, 706 BROADWAY.\n\n LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH.\n\n 1878.\n\n\n COPYRIGHT, BY\n J. W. BOUTON.\n 1877.\n\n\n TROW\u2019S\n PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO.,\n PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS,\n _205-213 East 12th. St._,\n NEW YORK.\n\n\n THE AUTHOR\n\n Dedicates these Volumes\n\n TO THE\n\n _THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY_,\n\n WHICH WAS FOUNDED AT NEW YORK, A.D. 1875,\n\n TO STUDY THE SUBJECTS ON WHICH THEY TREAT.\n\n\n\n\n TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n PREFACE v\n\n BEFORE THE VEIL\n\n Dogmatic assumptions of modern science and theology ix\n\n The Platonic philosophy affords the only middle ground xi\n\n Review of the ancient philosophical systems xv\n\n A Syriac manuscript on Simon Magus xxiii\n\n Glossary of terms used in this book xxiii\n\n\n Volume first.\n\n _THE \u201cINFALLIBILITY\u201d OF MODERN SCIENCE._\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n OLD THINGS WITH NEW NAMES.\n\n The Oriental Kabala 1\n\n Ancient traditions supported by modern research 3\n\n The progress of mankind marked by cycles 5\n\n Ancient cryptic science 7\n\n Priceless value of the Vedas 12\n\n Mutilations of the Jewish sacred books in translation 13\n\n Magic always regarded as a divine science 25\n\n Achievements of its adepts and hypotheses of their modern\n detractors 25\n\n Man\u2019s yearning for immortality 37\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n\n PHENOMENA AND FORCES.\n\n The servility of society 39\n\n Prejudice and bigotry of men of science 40\n\n They are chased by psychical phenomena 41\n\n Lost arts 49\n\n The human will the master-force of forces 57\n\n Superficial generalizations of the French _savants_ 60\n\n Mediumistic phenomena, to what attributable 67\n\n Their relation to crime 71\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n\n BLIND LEADERS OF THE BLIND.\n\n Huxley\u2019s derivation from the _Orohippus_ 74\n\n Comte, his system and disciples 75\n\n The London materialists 85\n\n Borrowed robes 89\n\n Emanation of the objective universe from the subjective 92\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n\n THEORIES RESPECTING PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.\n\n Theory of de Gasparin 100\n\n \u201c of Thury 100\n\n \u201c of des Mousseaux, de Mirville 100\n\n \u201c of Babinet 101\n\n \u201c of Houdin 101\n\n \u201c of MM. Royer and Jobart de Lamballe 102\n\n The twins\u2014\u201cunconscious cerebration\u201d and \u201cunconscious\n ventriloquism.\u201d 105\n\n Theory of Crookes 112\n\n \u201c of Faraday 116\n\n \u201c of Chevreuil 116\n\n The Mendeleyeff commission of 1876 117\n\n Soul blindness 121\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n\n THE ETHER, OR \u201cASTRAL LIGHT.\u201d\n\n One primal force, but many correlations 126\n\n Tyndall narrowly escapes a great discovery 127\n\n The impossibility of miracle 128\n\n Nature of the primordial substance 133\n\n Interpretation of certain ancient myths 133\n\n Experiments of the fakirs 139\n\n Evolution in Hindu allegory 153\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n\n PSYCHO-PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.\n\n The debt we owe to Paracelsus 163\n\n Mesmerism\u2014its parentage, reception, potentiality 165\n\n \u201cPsychometry\u201d 183\n\n Time, space, eternity 184\n\n Transfer of energy from the visible to the invisible universe 186\n\n The Crookes experiments and Cox theory 195\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n\n THE ELEMENTS, ELEMENTALS, AND ELEMENTARIES.\n\n Attraction and repulsion universal in all the kingdoms of nature 206\n\n Psychical phenomena depend on physical surroundings 211\n\n Observations in Siam 214\n\n Music in nervous disorders 215\n\n The \u201cworld-soul\u201d and its potentialities 216\n\n Healing by touch, and healers 217\n\n \u201cDiakka\u201d and Porphyry\u2019s bad demons 219\n\n The quenchless lamp 224\n\n Modern ignorance of vital force 237\n\n Antiquity of the theory of force-correlation 241\n\n Universality of belief in magic 247\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n\n SOME MYSTERIES OF NATURE.\n\n Do the planets affect human destiny? 253\n\n Very curious passage from Hermes 254\n\n The restlessness of matter 257\n\n Prophecy of Nostradamus fulfilled 260\n\n Sympathies between planets and plants 264\n\n Hindu knowledge of the properties of colors 265\n\n \u201cCoincidences\u201d the panacea of modern science 268\n\n The moon and the tides 273\n\n Epidemic mental and moral disorders 274\n\n The gods of the Pantheons only natural forces 280\n\n Proofs of the magical powers of Pythagoras 283\n\n The viewless races of ethereal space 284\n\n The \u201cfour truths\u201d of Buddhism 291\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n\n CYCLIC PHENOMENA.\n\n Meaning of the expression \u201ccoats of skin\u201d 293\n\n Natural selection and its results 295\n\n The Egyptian \u201ccircle of necessity\u201d 296\n\n Pre-Adamite races 299\n\n Descent of spirit into matter 302\n\n The triune nature of man 309\n\n The lowest creatures in the scale of being 310\n\n Elementals specifically described 311\n\n Proclus on the beings of the air 312\n\n Various names for elementals 313\n\n Swedenborgian views on soul-death 317\n\n Earth-bound human souls 319\n\n Impure mediums and their \u201cguides\u201d 325\n\n Psychometry an aid to scientific research 333\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n\n THE INNER AND OUTER MAN.\n\n P\u00e8re F\u00e9lix arraigns the scientists 338\n\n The \u201cUnknowable\u201d 340\n\n Danger of evocations by tyros 342\n\n Lares and Lemures 345\n\n Secrets of Hindu temples 350\n\n Re\u00efncarnation 351\n\n Witchcraft and witches 353\n\n The sacred soma trance 357\n\n Vulnerability of certain \u201cshadows\u201d 363\n\n Experiment of Clearchus on a sleeping boy 365\n\n The author witnesses a trial of magic in India 369\n\n Case of the Cevennois 371\n\n\n CHAPTER XI.\n\n PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL MARVELS.\n\n Invulnerability attainable by man 379\n\n Projecting the force of the will 380\n\n Insensibility to snake-poison 381\n\n Charming serpents by music 383\n\n Teratological phenomena discussed 385\n\n The psychological domain confessedly unexplored 407\n\n Despairing regrets of Berzelius 411\n\n Turning a river into blood a vegetable phenomenon 413\n\n\n CHAPTER XII.\n\n THE \u201cIMPASSABLE CHASM.\u201d\n\n Confessions of ignorance by men of science 417\n\n The Pantheon of nihilism 421\n\n Triple composition of fire 423\n\n Instinct and reason defined 425\n\n Philosophy of the Hindu Ja\u00efns 429\n\n Deliberate misrepresentations of Lempri\u00e8re 431\n\n Man\u2019s astral soul not immortal 432\n\n The re\u00efncarnation of Buddha 437\n\n Magical sun and moon pictures of Thibet 441\n\n Vampirism\u2014its phenomena explained 449\n\n Bengalese jugglery 457\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII.\n\n REALITIES AND ILLUSION.\n\n The rationale of talismans 462\n\n Unexplained mysteries 466\n\n Magical experiment in Bengal 467\n\n Chibh Chondor\u2019s surprising feats 471\n\n The Indian tape-climbing trick an illusion 473\n\n Resuscitation of buried fakirs 477\n\n Limits of suspended animation 481\n\n Mediumship totally antagonistic to adeptship 487\n\n What are \u201cmaterialized spirits\u201d? 493\n\n The _Shud\u00e2la M\u00e2dan_ 495\n\n Philosophy of levitation 497\n\n The elixir and alkahest 503\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV.\n\n EGYPTIAN WISDOM.\n\n Origin of the Egyptians 515\n\n Their mighty engineering works 517\n\n The ancient land of the Pharaohs 521\n\n Antiquity of the Nilotic monuments 529\n\n Arts of war and peace 531\n\n Mexican myths and ruins 545\n\n Resemblances to the Egyptian 551\n\n Moses a priest of Osiris 555\n\n The lessons taught by the ruins of Siam 563\n\n The Egyptian Tau at Palenque 573\n\n\n CHAPTER XV.\n\n INDIA THE CRADLE OF THE RACE.\n\n Acquisition of the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d 575\n\n Two relics owned by a Pali scholar 577\n\n Jealous exclusiveness of the Hindus 581\n\n Lydia Maria Child on Phallic symbolism 583\n\n The age of the Vedas and Manu 587\n\n Traditions of pre-diluvian races 589\n\n Atlantis and its peoples 593\n\n Peruvian relics 597\n\n The Gobi desert and its secrets 599\n\n Thibetan and Chinese legends 600\n\n The magician aids, not impedes, nature 617\n\n Philosophy, religion, arts and sciences bequeathed by Mother\n India to posterity 618\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE. {v}\n\n\nThe work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat\nintimate acquaintance with Eastern adepts and study of their science.\nIt is offered to such as are willing to accept truth wherever it may\nbe found, and to defend it, even looking popular prejudice straight\nin the face. It is an attempt to aid the student to detect the vital\nprinciples which underlie the philosophical systems of old.\n\nThe book is written in all sincerity. It is meant to do even justice,\nand to speak the truth alike without malice or prejudice. But it shows\nneither mercy for enthroned error, nor reverence for usurped authority.\nIt demands for a spoliated past, that credit for its achievements which\nhas been too long withheld. It calls for a restitution of borrowed\nrobes, and the vindication of calumniated but glorious reputations.\nToward no form of worship, no religious faith, no scientific hypothesis\nhas its criticism been directed in any other spirit. Men and parties,\nsects and schools are but the mere ephemera of the world\u2019s day. TRUTH,\nhigh-seated upon its rock of adamant, is alone eternal and supreme.\n\nWe believe in no Magic which transcends the scope and capacity of\nthe human mind, nor in \u201cmiracle,\u201d whether divine or diabolical, if\nsuch imply a transgression of the laws of nature instituted from all\neternity. Nevertheless, we accept the saying of the gifted author\nof _Festus_, that the human heart has not yet fully uttered itself,\nand that we have never attained or even understood the extent of its\npowers. Is it too much to believe that man should be developing new\nsensibilities and a closer relation with nature? The logic of evolution\nmust teach as much, if carried to its legitimate conclusions. If,\nsomewhere, in the line of ascent from vegetable or ascidian to the\nnoblest man a soul was evolved, gifted with intellectual qualities,\nit cannot be unreasonable to infer and believe that a faculty of\nperception is also growing in man, enabling him to descry facts and\ntruths even beyond our ordinary ken. Yet we do not hesitate to accept\nthe assertion of Biff\u00e9, that \u201cthe essential is forever the same.\nWhether we cut away the marble inward that hides the statue in the {vi}\nblock, or pile stone upon stone outward till the temple is completed,\nour NEW result is only an _old idea_. The latest of all the eternities\nwill find its destined other half-soul in the earliest.\u201d\n\nWhen, years ago, we first travelled over the East, exploring\nthe penetralia of its deserted sanctuaries, two saddening and\never-recurring questions oppressed our thoughts: _Where_, WHO, WHAT\n_is_ GOD? _Who ever saw the_ IMMORTAL SPIRIT _of man, so as to be able\nto assure himself of man\u2019s immortality_?\n\nIt was while most anxious to solve these perplexing problems that\nwe came into contact with certain men, endowed with such mysterious\npowers and such profound knowledge that we may truly designate them as\nthe sages of the Orient. To their instructions we lent a ready ear.\nThey showed us that by combining science with religion, the existence\nof God and immortality of man\u2019s spirit may be demonstrated like a\nproblem of Euclid. For the first time we received the assurance that\nthe Oriental philosophy has room for no other faith than an absolute\nand immovable faith in the omnipotence of man\u2019s own immortal self.\nWe were taught that this omnipotence comes from the kinship of man\u2019s\nspirit with the Universal Soul\u2014God! The latter, they said, can never be\ndemonstrated but by the former. Man-spirit proves God-spirit, as the\none drop of water proves a source from which it must have come. Tell\none who had never seen water, that there is an ocean of water, and he\nmust accept it on faith or reject it altogether. But let one drop fall\nupon his hand, and he then has the fact from which all the rest may be\ninferred. After that he could by degrees understand that a boundless\nand fathomless ocean of water existed. Blind faith would no longer be\nnecessary; he would have supplanted it with KNOWLEDGE. When one sees\nmortal man displaying tremendous capabilities, controlling the forces\nof nature and opening up to view the world of spirit, the reflective\nmind is overwhelmed with the conviction that if one man\u2019s spiritual\n_Ego_ can do this much, the capabilities of the FATHER SPIRIT must be\nrelatively as much vaster as the whole ocean surpasses the single drop\nin volume and potency. _Ex nihilo nihil fit_; prove the soul of man by\nits wondrous powers\u2014you have proved God!\n\nIn our studies, mysteries were shown to be no mysteries. Names and\nplaces that to the Western mind have only a significance derived from\nEastern fable, were shown to be realities. Reverently we stepped in\nspirit within the temple of Isis; to lift aside the veil of \u201cthe\none that is and was and shall be\u201d at Sa\u00efs; to look through the rent\ncurtain of the Sanctum Sanctorum at Jerusalem; and even to interrogate\nwithin the crypts which once existed beneath the sacred edifice, the\nmysterious Bath-Kol. The _Filia Vocis_\u2014the daughter of the divine {vii}\nvoice\u2014responded from the mercy-seat within the veil,[1] and science,\ntheology, every human hypothesis and conception born of imperfect\nknowledge, lost forever their authoritative character in our sight.\nThe one-living God had spoken through his oracle\u2014man, and we were\nsatisfied. Such knowledge is priceless; and it has been hidden only\nfrom those who overlooked it, derided it, or denied its existence.\n\nFrom such as these we apprehend criticism, censure, and perhaps\nhostility, although the obstacles in our way neither spring from the\nvalidity of proof, the authenticated facts of history, nor the lack\nof common sense among the public whom we address. The drift of modern\nthought is palpably in the direction of liberalism in religion as well\nas science. Each day brings the reactionists nearer to the point where\nthey must surrender the despotic authority over the public conscience,\nwhich they have so long enjoyed and exercised. When the Pope can go\nto the extreme of fulminating anathemas against all who maintain the\nliberty of the Press and of speech, or who insist that in the conflict\nof laws, civil and ecclesiastical, the civil law should prevail, or\nthat any method of instruction solely secular, may be approved;[2]\nand Mr. Tyndall, as the mouthpiece of nineteenth century science,\nsays, \u201c... the impregnable position of science may be stated in a few\nwords: we claim, and we shall wrest from theology, the entire domain of\ncosmological theory\u201d[3]\u2014the end is not difficult to foresee.\n\nCenturies of subjection have not quite congealed the life-blood of men\ninto crystals around the nucleus of blind faith; and the nineteenth is\nwitnessing the struggles of the giant as he shakes off the Liliputian\ncordage and rises to his feet. Even the Protestant communion of England\nand America, now engaged in the revision of the text of its _Oracles_,\nwill be compelled to show the origin and merits of the text itself. The\nday of domineering over men with dogmas has reached its gloaming.\n\nOur work, then, is a plea for the recognition of the Hermetic\nphilosophy, the anciently universal Wisdom-Religion, as the only\npossible key to the Absolute in science and theology. To show that we\ndo not at all conceal from ourselves the gravity of our undertaking,\nwe may say in advance that it would not be strange if the following\nclasses should array themselves against us:\n\nThe Christians, who will see that we question the evidences of the {viii}\ngenuineness of their faith.\n\nThe Scientists, who will find their pretensions placed in the same\nbundle with those of the Roman Catholic Church for infallibility, and,\nin certain particulars, the sages and philosophers of the ancient world\nclassed higher than they.\n\nPseudo-Scientists will, of course, denounce us furiously.\n\nBroad Churchmen and Freethinkers will find that we do not accept what\nthey do, but demand the recognition of the whole truth.\n\nMen of letters and various _authorities_, who hide their real belief in\ndeference to popular prejudices.\n\nThe mercenaries and parasites of the Press, who prostitute its more\nthan royal power, and dishonor a noble profession, will find it easy to\nmock at things too wonderful for them to understand; for to them the\nprice of a paragraph is more than the value of sincerity. From many\nwill come honest criticism; from many\u2014cant. But we look to the future.\n\nThe contest now going on between the party of public conscience and the\nparty of reaction, has already developed a healthier tone of thought.\nIt will hardly fail to result ultimately in the overthrow of error and\nthe triumph of Truth. We repeat again\u2014we are laboring for the brighter\nmorrow.\n\nAnd yet, when we consider the bitter opposition that we are called\nupon to face, who is better entitled than we upon entering the arena\nto write upon our shield the hail of the Roman gladiator to C\u00e6sar:\nMORITURUS TE SALUTAT!\n\n _New York, September, 1877._\n\n\n\n\n BEFORE THE VEIL. {ix}\n\n _Joan._\u2014Advance our waving colors on the walls!\n \u2014_King Henry VI._ Act IV.\n\n \u201cMy life has been devoted to the study of man, his destiny and his\n happiness.\u201d\u2014J. R. BUCHANAN, M.D., _Outlines of Lectures on\n Anthropology_.\n\n\nIt is nineteen centuries since, as we are told, the night of Heathenism\nand Paganism was first dispelled by the divine light of Christianity;\nand two-and-a-half centuries since the bright lamp of Modern Science\nbegan to shine on the darkness of the ignorance of the ages. Within\nthese respective epochs, we are required to believe, the true moral\nand intellectual progress of the race has occurred. The ancient\nphilosophers were well enough for their respective generations, but\nthey were illiterate as compared with modern men of science. The\nethics of Paganism perhaps met the wants of the uncultivated people\nof antiquity, but not until the advent of the luminous \u201cStar of\nBethlehem,\u201d was the true road to moral perfection and the way to\nsalvation made plain. Of old, brutishness was the rule, virtue and\nspirituality the exception. Now, the dullest may read the will of God\nin His revealed word; men have every incentive to be good, and are\nconstantly becoming better.\n\nThis is the assumption; what are the facts? On the one hand an\nunspiritual, dogmatic, too often debauched clergy; a host of sects, and\nthree warring great religions; discord instead of union, dogmas without\nproofs, sensation-loving preachers, and wealth and pleasure-seeking\nparishioners\u2019 hypocrisy and bigotry, begotten by the tyrannical\nexigencies of respectability, the rule of the day, sincerity and real\npiety exceptional. On the other hand, scientific hypotheses built\non sand; no accord upon a single question; rancorous quarrels and\njealousy; a general drift into materialism. A death-grapple of Science\nwith Theology for infallibility\u2014\u201ca conflict of ages.\u201d\n\nAt Rome, the self-styled seat of Christianity, the putative successor\nto the chair of Peter is undermining social order with his invisible\nbut omnipresent net-work of bigoted agents, and incites them to\nrevolutionize Europe for his temporal as well as spiritual supremacy.\nWe see him who calls himself the \u201cVicar of Christ,\u201d fraternizing\nwith the anti-Christian Moslem against another Christian nation,\npublicly invoking the blessing of God upon the arms of those who\nhave for centuries withstood, with fire and sword, the pretensions {x}\nof his Christ to Godhood! At Berlin\u2014one of the great seats of\nlearning\u2014professors of modern _exact_ sciences, turning their backs on\nthe boasted results of enlightenment of the post-Galileonian period,\nare quietly snuffing out the candle of the great Florentine; seeking,\nin short, to prove the heliocentric system, and even the earth\u2019s\nrotation, but the dreams of deluded scientists, Newton a visionary, and\nall past and present astronomers but clever calculators of unverifiable\nproblems.[4]\n\nBetween these two conflicting Titans\u2014Science and Theology\u2014is\na bewildered public, fast losing all belief in man\u2019s personal\nimmortality, in a deity of any kind, and rapidly descending to the\nlevel of a mere animal existence. Such is the picture of the hour,\nillumined by the bright noon-day sun of this Christian and scientific\nera!\n\nWould it be strict justice to condemn to critical lapidation the most\nhumble and modest of authors for _entirely rejecting the authority\nof both these combatants_? Are we not bound rather to take as the\ntrue aphorism of this century, the declaration of Horace Greeley: \u201cI\naccept _unreservedly_ the views of no man, living or dead\u201d?[5] Such,\nat all events, will be our motto, and we mean that principle to be our\nconstant guide throughout this work.\n\nAmong the many phenomenal outgrowths of our century, the strange creed\nof the so-called Spiritualists has arisen amid the tottering ruins of\nself-styled revealed religions and materialistic philosophies; and yet\nit alone offers a possible last refuge of compromise between the two.\nThat this unexpected ghost of pre-Christian days finds poor welcome\nfrom our sober and positive century, is not surprising. Times have\nstrangely changed; and it is but recently that a well-known Brooklyn\npreacher pointedly remarked in a sermon, that could Jesus come back and\nbehave in the streets of New York, as he did in those of Jerusalem, he\nwould find himself confined in the prison of the Tombs.[6] What sort\nof welcome, then, could Spiritualism ever expect? True enough, the\nweird stranger seems neither attractive nor promising at first sight.\nShapeless and uncouth, like an infant attended by seven nurses, it is\ncoming out of its teens lame and mutilated. The name of its enemies is\nlegion; its friends and protectors are a handful. But what of that?\nWhen was ever truth accepted _\u00e0 priori_? Because the champions of\nSpiritualism have in their fanaticism magnified its qualities, and\nremained blind to its imperfections, that gives no excuse to doubt\nits reality. A forgery is impossible when we have no model to forge\nafter. The fanaticism of Spiritualists is itself a proof of the {xi}\ngenuineness and possibility of their phenomena. They give us facts\nthat we may investigate, not assertions that we must believe without\nproof. Millions of reasonable men and women do not so easily succumb to\ncollective hallucination. And so, while the clergy, following their own\ninterpretations of the _Bible_, and science its self-made _Codex_ of\npossibilities in nature, refuse it a fair hearing, _real_ science and\n_true_ religion are silent, and gravely wait further developments.\n\nThe whole question of phenomena rests on the correct comprehension of\nold philosophies. Whither, then, should we turn, in our perplexity, but\nto the ancient sages, since, on the pretext of superstition, we are\nrefused an explanation by the modern? Let us ask them what they know of\ngenuine science and religion; not in the matter of mere details, but in\nall the broad conception of these twin truths\u2014so strong in their unity,\nso weak when divided. Besides, we may find our profit in comparing this\nboasted modern science with ancient ignorance; this improved modern\ntheology with the \u201cSecret doctrines\u201d of the ancient universal religion.\nPerhaps we may thus discover a neutral ground whence we can reach and\nprofit by both.\n\nIt is the Platonic philosophy, the most elaborate compend of the\nabstruse systems of old India, that can alone afford us this middle\nground. Although twenty-two and a quarter centuries have elapsed since\nthe death of Plato, the great minds of the world are still occupied\nwith his writings. He was, in the fullest sense of the word, the\nworld\u2019s interpreter. And the greatest philosopher of the pre-Christian\nera mirrored faithfully in his works the spiritualism of the Vedic\nphilosophers who lived thousands of years before himself, and its\nmetaphysical expression. Vyasa, Djeminy, Kapila, Vrihaspati, Sumati,\nand so many others, will be found to have transmitted their indelible\nimprint through the intervening centuries upon Plato and his school.\nThus is warranted the inference that to Plato and the ancient Hindu\nsages was alike revealed the same wisdom. So surviving the shock of\ntime, what can this wisdom be but divine and eternal?\n\nPlato taught justice as subsisting in the soul of its possessor and his\ngreatest good. \u201cMen, in proportion to their intellect, have admitted\nhis transcendent claims.\u201d Yet his commentators, almost with one\nconsent, shrink from every passage which implies that his metaphysics\nare based on a solid foundation, and not on ideal conceptions.\n\nBut Plato could not accept a philosophy destitute of spiritual\naspirations; the two were at one with him. For the old Grecian sage\nthere was a single object of attainment: REAL KNOWLEDGE. He considered\nthose only to be genuine philosophers, or students of truth, who\npossess the knowledge of the really-existing, in opposition to the mere {xii}\nseeing; of the _always-existing_, in opposition to the transitory; and\nof that which exists _permanently_, in opposition to that which waxes,\nwanes, and is developed and destroyed alternately. \u201cBeyond all finite\nexistences and secondary causes, all laws, ideas, and principles,\nthere is an INTELLIGENCE or MIND [\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, _nous_, the spirit], the first\nprinciple of all principles, the Supreme Idea on which all other ideas\nare grounded; the Monarch and Lawgiver of the universe; the ultimate\nsubstance from which all things derive their being and essence, the\nfirst and efficient Cause of all the order, and harmony, and beauty,\nand excellency, and goodness, which pervades the universe\u2014who is\ncalled, by way of pre\u00ebminence and excellence, the Supreme Good, the\nGod (\u1f41 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2) \u2018the God over all\u2019 (\u1f41 \u03b5\u03c0\u03b9 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2).\u201d[7] He is not the\ntruth nor the intelligence, but \u201cthe father of it.\u201d Though this eternal\nessence of things may not be perceptible by our physical senses, it\nmay be apprehended by the mind of those who are not wilfully obtuse.\n\u201cTo you,\u201d said Jesus to his elect disciples, \u201cit is given to know the\nmysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to them [the \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u1f76] it is not\ngiven; ... therefore speak I to them in parables [or allegories];\nbecause they seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do\nthey understand.\u201d[8]\n\nThe philosophy of Plato, we are assured by Porphyry, of the\nNeo-platonic School was taught and illustrated in the MYSTERIES. Many\nhave questioned and even denied this; and Lobeck, in his _Aglaophomus_,\nhas gone to the extreme of representing the sacred orgies as little\nmore than an empty show to captivate the imagination. As though Athens\nand Greece would for twenty centuries and more have repaired every\nfifth year to Eleusis to witness a solemn religious farce! Augustine,\nthe papa-bishop of Hippo, has resolved such assertions. He declares\nthat the doctrines of the Alexandrian Platonists were the original\nesoteric doctrines of the first followers of Plato, and describes\nPlotinus as a Plato resuscitated. He also explains the motives of the\ngreat philosopher for veiling the interior sense of what he taught.[9]\n\nAs to the _myths_, Plato declares in the _Gorgias_ and the _Ph\u00e6don_ {xiii}\nthat they were the vehicles of great truths well worth the seeking.\nBut commentators are so little _en rapport_ with the great philosopher\nas to be compelled to acknowledge that they are ignorant where \u201cthe\ndoctrinal ends, and the mythical begins.\u201d Plato put to flight the\npopular superstition concerning magic and d\u00e6mons, and developed\nthe exaggerated notions of the time into rational theories and\nmetaphysical conceptions. Perhaps these would not quite stand the\ninductive method of reasoning established by Aristotle; nevertheless\nthey are satisfactory in the highest degree to those who apprehend the\nexistence of that higher faculty of insight or intuition, as affording\na criterion for ascertaining truth.\n\nBasing all his doctrines upon the presence of the Supreme Mind,\nPlato taught that the _nous_, spirit, or rational soul of man, being\n\u201cgenerated by the Divine Father,\u201d possessed a nature kindred, or\neven homogeneous, with the Divinity, and was capable of beholding\nthe eternal realities. This faculty of contemplating reality in a\ndirect and immediate manner belongs to God alone; the aspiration for\nthis knowledge constitutes what is really meant by _philosophy_\u2014the\nlove of wisdom. The love of truth is inherently the love of good;\nand so predominating over every desire of the soul, purifying it\nand assimilating it to the divine, thus governing every act of the\nindividual, it raises man to a participation and communion with\nDivinity, and restores him to the likeness of God. \u201cThis flight,\u201d says\nPlato in the _The\u00e6tetus_, \u201cconsists in becoming like God, and this\nassimilation is the becoming just and holy with wisdom.\u201d\n\nThe basis of this assimilation is always asserted to be the\npre\u00ebxistence of the spirit or _nous_. In the allegory of the chariot\nand winged steeds, given in the _Ph\u00e6drus_, he represents the psychical\nnature as composite and two-fold; the _thumos_, or _epithumetic_\npart, formed from the substances of the world of phenomena; and the\n\u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u03ad\u03c2, _thumoeides_, the essence of which is linked to the eternal\nworld. The present earth-life is a fall and punishment. The soul dwells\nin \u201cthe grave which we call _the body_,\u201d and in its incorporate state,\nand previous to the discipline of education, the no\u00ebtic or spiritual\nelement is \u201casleep.\u201d Life is thus a dream, rather than a reality. Like\nthe captives in the subterranean cave, described in _The Republic_, the\nback is turned to the light, we perceive only the shadows of objects,\nand think them the actual realities. Is not this the idea of _Maya_, {xiv}\nor the illusion of the senses in physical life, which is so marked a\nfeature in Buddhistical philosophy? But these shadows, if we have not\ngiven ourselves up absolutely to the sensuous nature, arouse in us the\nreminiscence of that higher world that we once inhabited. \u201cThe interior\nspirit has some dim and shadowy recollection of its antenatal state of\nbliss, and some instinctive and proleptic yearnings for its return.\u201d It\nis the province of the discipline of philosophy to disinthrall it from\nthe bondage of sense, and raise it into the empyrean of pure thought,\nto the vision of eternal truth, goodness, and beauty. \u201cThe soul,\u201d says\nPlato, in the _The\u00e6tetus_, \u201ccannot come into the form of a man if\nit has never seen the truth. This is a recollection of those things\nwhich our soul formerly saw when journeying with Deity, despising the\nthings which we now say _are_, and looking up to that which REALLY IS.\nWherefore the _nous_, or spirit, of the philosopher (or student of the\nhigher truth) alone is furnished with wings; because he, to the best\nof his ability, keeps these things in mind, of which the contemplation\nrenders even Deity itself divine. By making the right use of these\nthings remembered from the former life, by constantly perfecting\nhimself in the perfect mysteries, a man becomes truly perfect\u2014an\ninitiate into the diviner wisdom.\u201d\n\nHence we may understand why the sublimer scenes in the Mysteries were\nalways in the night. The life of the interior spirit is the death\nof the external nature; and the night of the physical world denotes\nthe day of the spiritual. Dionysus, the night-sun, is, therefore,\nworshipped rather than Helios, orb of day. In the Mysteries were\nsymbolized the pre\u00ebxistent condition of the spirit and soul, and the\nlapse of the latter into earth-life and Hades, the miseries of that\nlife, the purification of the soul, and its restoration to divine\nbliss, or re\u00fcnion with spirit. Theon, of Smyrna, aptly compares the\nphilosophical discipline to the mystic rites: \u201cPhilosophy,\u201d says he,\n\u201cmay be called the initiation into the true arcana, and the instruction\nin the genuine Mysteries. There are five parts of this initiation:\nI., the previous purification; II., the admission to participation in\nthe arcane rites; III., the epoptic revelation; IV., the investiture\nor enthroning; V.\u2014the fifth, which is produced from all these, is\nfriendship and interior communion with God, and the enjoyment of that\nfelicity which arises from intimate converse with divine beings....\nPlato denominates the _epopteia_, or personal view, the perfect\ncontemplation of things which are apprehended intuitively, absolute\ntruths and ideas. He also considers the binding of the head and\ncrowning as analogous to the authority which any one receives from\nhis instructors, of leading others into the same contemplation. The\nfifth gradation is the most perfect felicity arising from hence, and, {xv}\naccording to Plato, an assimilation to divinity as far as is possible\nto human beings.\u201d[10]\n\nSuch is Platonism. \u201cOut of Plato,\u201d says Ralph Waldo Emerson, \u201ccome\nall things that are still written and debated among men of thought.\u201d\nHe absorbed the learning of his times\u2014of Greece from Philolaus to\nSocrates; then of Pythagoras in Italy; then what he could procure from\nEgypt and the East. He was so broad that all philosophy, European and\nAsiatic, was in his doctrines; and to culture and contemplation he\nadded the nature and qualities of the poet.\n\nThe followers of Plato generally adhered strictly to his psychological\ntheories. Several, however, like Xenocrates, ventured into bolder\nspeculations. Speusippus, the nephew and successor of the great\nphilosopher, was the author of the _Numerical Analysis_, a treatise\non the Pythagorean numbers. Some of his speculations are not found in\nthe written _Dialogues_; but as he was a listener to the unwritten\nlectures of Plato, the judgment of Enfield is doubtless correct, that\nhe did not differ from his master. He was evidently, though not named,\nthe antagonist whom Aristotle criticised, when professing to cite the\nargument of Plato against the doctrine of Pythagoras, that all things\nwere in themselves numbers, or rather, inseparable from the idea of\nnumbers. He especially endeavored to show that the Platonic doctrine of\nideas differed essentially from the Pythagorean, in that it presupposed\nnumbers and magnitudes to exist apart from things. He also asserted\nthat Plato taught that there could be no _real_ knowledge, if the\nobject of that knowledge was not carried beyond or above the sensible.\n\nBut Aristotle was no trustworthy witness. He misrepresented Plato,\nand he almost caricatured the doctrines of Pythagoras. There is a\ncanon of interpretation, which should guide us in our examinations of\nevery philosophical opinion: \u201cThe human mind has, under the necessary\noperation of its own laws, been compelled to entertain the same\nfundamental ideas, and the human heart to cherish the same feelings\nin all ages.\u201d It is certain that Pythagoras awakened the deepest\nintellectual sympathy of his age, and that his doctrines exerted a\npowerful influence upon the mind of Plato. His cardinal idea was\nthat there existed a permanent principle of unity beneath the forms,\nchanges, and other phenomena of the universe. Aristotle asserted that\nhe taught that \u201cnumbers are the first principles of all entities.\u201d\nRitter has expressed the opinion that the formula of Pythagoras should\nbe taken symbolically, which is doubtless correct. Aristotle goes on\nto associate these _numbers_ with the \u201cforms\u201d and \u201cideas\u201d of Plato. He\neven declares that Plato said: \u201cforms are numbers,\u201d and that \u201cideas {xvi}\nare substantial existences\u2014real beings.\u201d Yet Plato did not so teach.\nHe declared that the final cause was the Supreme Goodness\u2014\u03c4\u03bf \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03cc\u03bd.\n\u201cIdeas are objects of pure conception for the human reason, and they\nare attributes of the Divine Reason.\u201d[11] Nor did he ever say that\n\u201cforms are numbers.\u201d What he did say may be found in the _Tim\u00e6us_: \u201cGod\nformed things as they first arose according to forms and numbers.\u201d\n\nIt is recognized by modern science that all the higher laws of nature\nassume the form of quantitative statement. This is perhaps a fuller\nelaboration or more explicit affirmation of the Pythagorean doctrine.\nNumbers were regarded as the best representations of the laws of\nharmony which pervade the cosmos. We know too that in chemistry the\ndoctrine of atoms and the laws of combination are actually and, as\nit were, arbitrarily defined by numbers. As Mr. W. Archer Butler\nhas expressed it: \u201cThe world is, then, through all its departments,\na living arithmetic in its development, a realized geometry in its\nrepose.\u201d\n\nThe key to the Pythagorean dogmas is the general formula of unity in\nmultiplicity, the one evolving the many and pervading the many. This\nis the ancient doctrine of emanation in few words. Even the apostle\nPaul accepted it as true. \u201c\u0395\u03be \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a, \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u03b9\u1fbd \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6, \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u1f70\n\u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u201d\u2014Out of him and through him and in him all things are. This, as\nwe can see by the following quotation, is purely Hindu and Brahmanical:\n\n\u201cWhen the dissolution\u2014Pralaya\u2014had arrived at its term, the great\nBeing\u2014Para-Atma or Para-Purusha\u2014the Lord existing through himself,\nout of whom and through whom all things were, and are and will be ...\nresolved to emanate from his own substance the various creatures\u201d\n(_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, book i., slokas 6 and 7).\n\nThe mystic Decad 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10 is a way of expressing this idea.\nThe One is God, the Two, matter; the Three, combining Monad and Duad,\nand partaking of the nature of both, is the phenomenal world; the\nTetrad, or form of perfection, expresses the emptiness of all; and the\nDecad, or sum of all, involves the entire cosmos. The universe is the\ncombination of a thousand elements, and yet the expression of a single\nspirit\u2014a chaos to the sense, a cosmos to the reason.\n\nThe whole of this combination of the progression of numbers in the idea\nof creation is Hindu. The Being existing through himself, Swayambhu\nor Swayambhuva, as he is called by some, is one. He emanates from\nhimself the _creative faculty_, Brahma or Purusha (the divine male),\nand the one becomes _Two_; out of this Duad, union of the purely {xvii}\nintellectual principle with the principle of matter, evolves a third,\nwhich is Viradj, the phenomenal world. It is out of this invisible\nand incomprehensible trinity, the Brahmanic Trimurty, that evolves\nthe second triad which represents the three faculties\u2014the creative,\nthe conservative, and the transforming. These are typified by Brahma,\nVishnu, and Siva, but are again and ever blended into one. _Unity_,\nBrahma, or as the _Vedas_ called him, Tridandi, is the god triply\nmanifested, which gave rise to the symbolical _Aum_ or the abbreviated\nTrimurty. It is but under this trinity, ever active and tangible to all\nour senses, that the invisible and unknown Monas can manifest itself\nto the world of mortals. When he becomes _Sarira_, or he who puts on\na visible form, he typifies all the principles of matter, all the\ngerms of life, he is Purusha, the god of the three visages, or triple\npower, the essence of the Vedic triad. \u201cLet the Brahmas know the sacred\nSyllable (Aum), the three words of the Savitri, and read the _Vedas_\ndaily\u201d (_Manu_, book iv., sloka 125).\n\n\u201cAfter having produced the universe, He whose power is incomprehensible\nvanished again, absorbed in the Supreme Soul.... Having retired into\nthe primitive darkness, the great Soul remains within the unknown, and\nis void of all form....\n\n\u201cWhen having again re\u00fcnited the subtile elementary principles, it\nintroduces itself into either a vegetable or animal seed, it assumes at\neach a new form.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is thus that, by an alternative waking and rest, the Immutable\nBeing causes to revive and die eternally all the existing creatures,\nactive and inert\u201d (_Manu_, book i., sloka 50, and others).\n\nHe who has studied Pythagoras and his speculations on the Monad, which,\nafter having emanated the Duad retires into silence and darkness, and\nthus creates the Triad can realize whence came the philosophy of the\ngreat Samian Sage, and after him that of Socrates and Plato.\n\nSpeusippus seems to have taught that the psychical or thumetic soul\nwas immortal as well as the spirit or rational soul, and further\non we will show his reasons. He also\u2014like Philolaus and Aristotle,\nin his disquisitions upon the soul\u2014makes of \u00e6ther an element; so\nthat there were five principal elements to correspond with the five\nregular figures in Geometry. This became also a doctrine of the\nAlexandrian school.[12] Indeed, there was much in the doctrines of\nthe _Philaletheans_ which did not appear in the works of the older\nPlatonists, but was doubtless taught in substance by the philosopher\nhimself, but with his usual reticence was not committed to writing as\nbeing too arcane for promiscuous publication. Speusippus and Xenocrates\nafter him, held, like their great master, that the _anima mundi_, or {xviii}\nworld-soul, was not the Deity, but a manifestation. Those philosophers\nnever conceived of the One as an _animate nature_.[13] The original One\ndid not _exist_, as we understand the term. Not till he had united with\nthe many\u2014emanated existence (the monad and duad) was a being produced.\nThe \u03c4\u03af\u03bc\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, honored\u2014the something manifested, dwells in the centre as\nin the circumference, but it is only the reflection of the Deity\u2014the\nWorld-Soul.[14] In this doctrine we find the spirit of esoteric\nBuddhism.\n\nA man\u2019s idea of God, is that image of blinding light that he sees\nreflected in the concave mirror of his own soul, and yet this is not,\nin very truth, God, but only His reflection. His glory is there, but,\nit is the light of his own Spirit that the man sees, and it is all he\ncan bear to look upon. _The clearer the mirror, the brighter will be\nthe divine image._ But the external world cannot be witnessed in it\nat the same moment. In the ecstatic Yogin, in the illuminated Seer,\nthe spirit will shine like the noon-day sun; in the debased victim of\nearthly attraction, the radiance has disappeared, for the mirror is\nobscured with the stains of matter. Such men deny their God, and would\nwillingly deprive humanity of soul at one blow.\n\nNO GOD, NO SOUL? Dreadful, annihilating thought! The maddening\nnightmare of a lunatic\u2014Atheist; presenting before his fevered vision,\na hideous, ceaseless procession of sparks of cosmic matter created by\n_no one_; self-appearing, self-existent, and self-developing; this\nSelf _no_ Self, for it is _nothing_ and _nobody_; floating onward\nfrom _nowhence_, it is propelled by no Cause, for there is none, and\nit rushes _nowhither_. And this in a circle of Eternity blind, inert,\nand\u2014CAUSELESS. What is even the erroneous conception of the Buddhistic\nNirvana in comparison! The Nirvana is preceded by numberless spiritual\ntransformations and metempsychoses, during which the entity loses not\nfor a second the sense of its own individuality, and which may last for\nmillions of ages before the Final _No_-thing is reached.\n\nThough some have considered Speusippus as inferior to Aristotle, the\nworld is nevertheless indebted to him for defining and expounding many\nthings that Plato had left obscure in his doctrine of the Sensible and\nIdeal. His maxim was \u201cThe Immaterial is known by means of scientific\nthought, the Material by scientific perception.\u201d[15]\n\nXenocrates expounded many of the unwritten theories and teachings of\nhis master. He too held the Pythagorean doctrine, and his system of\nnumerals and mathematics in the highest estimation. Recognizing but\nthree degrees of knowledge\u2014_Thought_, _Perception_, and _Envisagement_\n(or knowledge by _Intuition_), he made the former busy itself with all {xix}\nthat which is _beyond_ the heavens; Perception with things in the\nheavens; Intuition with the heavens themselves.\n\nWe find again these theories, and nearly in the same language in the\n_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, when speaking of the creation of man: \u201cHe (the\nSupreme) drew from his own essence the immortal breath which _perisheth\nnot in the being_, and to this soul of the being he gave the Ahancara\n(conscience of the _ego_) sovereign guide. Then he gave to that soul of\nthe being (man) the intellect formed of _the three qualities_, and the\nfive organs of the outward perception.\u201d\n\nThese three qualities are Intelligence, Conscience, and Will; answering\nto the Thought, Perception, and Envisagement of Xenocrates. The\nrelation of numbers to Ideas was developed by him further than by\nSpeusippus, and he surpassed Plato in his definition of the doctrine of\nInvisible Magnitudes. Reducing them to their ideal primary elements, he\ndemonstrated that every figure and form originated out of the smallest\nindivisible line. That Xenocrates held the same theories as Plato\nin relation to the human soul (supposed to be a number) is evident,\nthough Aristotle contradicts this, like every other teaching of this\nphilosopher.[16] This is conclusive evidence that many of Plato\u2019s\ndoctrines were delivered orally, even were it shown that Xenocrates\nand not Plato was the first to originate the theory of indivisible\nmagnitudes. He derives the Soul from the first Duad, and calls it\na self-moved number.[17] Theophrastus remarks that he entered and\neliminated this Soul-theory more than any other Platonist. He built\nupon it the cosmological doctrine, and proved the necessary existence\nin every part of the universal space of a successive and progressive\nseries of animated and thinking though spiritual beings.[18] The\nHuman Soul with him is a compound of the most spiritual properties of\nthe Monad and the Duad, possessing the highest principles of both.\nIf, like Plato and Prodicus, he refers to the Elements as to Divine\nPowers, and calls them gods, neither himself nor others connected\nany anthropomorphic idea with the appellation. Krische remarks that\nhe called them gods only that these elementary powers should not be\nconfounded with the d\u00e6mons of the nether world[19] (the Elementary\nSpirits). As the Soul of the World permeates the whole Cosmos, even\nbeasts must have in them something divine.[20] This, also, is the\ndoctrine of Buddhists and the Hermetists, and Manu endows with a living\nsoul even the plants and the tiniest blade of grass.\n\nThe d\u00e6mons, according to this theory, are intermediate beings between {xx}\nthe divine perfection and human sinfulness,[21] and he divides them\ninto classes, each subdivided in many others. But he states expressly\nthat the individual or personal soul is the leading guardian d\u00e6mon\nof every man, and that no d\u00e6mon has more power over us than our own.\nThus the _Daimonion_ of Socrates is the god or Divine Entity which\ninspired him all his life. It depends on man either to open or close\nhis perceptions to the Divine voice. Like Speusippus he ascribed\nimmortality to the \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7, psychical body, or irrational soul. But\nsome Hermetic philosophers have taught that the soul has a separate\ncontinued existence only so long as in its passage through the spheres\nany material or earthly particles remain incorporated in it; and\nthat when absolutely purified, the latter are _annihilated_, and the\nquintessence of the soul alone becomes blended with its _divine_ spirit\n(the _Rational_), and the two are thenceforth one.\n\nZeller states that Xenocrates forbade the eating of animal food, not\nbecause he saw in beasts something akin to man, as he ascribed to\nthem a dim consciousness of God, but, \u201cfor the opposite reason, lest\nthe irrationality of animal souls might thereby obtain a certain\ninfluence over us.\u201d[22] But we believe that it was rather because,\nlike Pythagoras, he had had the Hindu sages for his masters and\nmodels. Cicero depicted Xenocrates utterly despising everything\nexcept the highest virtue;[23] and describes the stainlessness and\nsevere austerity of his character.[24] \u201cTo free ourselves from the\nsubjection of sensuous existence, to conquer the Titanic elements in\nour terrestrial nature through the Divine one, is our problem.\u201d Zeller\nmakes him say:[25] \u201cPurity, even in the secret longings of our heart,\nis the greatest duty, and only philosophy and the initiation into the\nMysteries help toward the attainment of this object.\u201d\n\nCrantor, another philosopher associated with the earliest days of\nPlato\u2019s Academy, conceived the human soul as formed out of the primary\nsubstance of all things, the Monad or _One_, and the Duad or the _Two_.\nPlutarch speaks at length of this philosopher, who like his master\nbelieved in souls being distributed in earthly bodies as an exile and\npunishment.\n\nHerakleides, though some critics do not believe him to have strictly\nadhered to Plato\u2019s primal philosophy,[26] taught the same ethics.\nZeller presents him to us imparting, like Hicetas and Ecphantus, the\nPythagorean doctrine of the diurnal rotation of the earth and the\nimmobility of the fixed stars, but adds that he was ignorant of the {xxi}\nannual revolution of the earth around the sun, and of the heliocentric\nsystem.[27] But we have good evidence that the latter system was taught\nin the Mysteries, and that Socrates died for _atheism_, _i. e._,\nfor divulging this sacred knowledge. Herakleides adopted fully the\nPythagorean and Platonic views of the human soul, its faculties and its\ncapabilities. He describes it as a luminous, highly ethereal essence.\nHe affirms that souls inhabit the milky way before descending \u201cinto\ngeneration\u201d or sublunary existence. His d\u00e6mons or spirits are airy and\nvaporous bodies.\n\nIn the _Epinomis_ is fully stated the doctrine of the Pythagorean\nnumbers in relation to created things. As a true Platonist, its author\nmaintains that wisdom can only be attained by a thorough inquiry into\nthe occult nature of the creation; it alone assures us an existence of\nbliss after death. The immortality of the soul is greatly speculated\nupon in this treatise; but its author adds that we can attain to this\nknowledge only through a complete comprehension of the numbers; for\nthe man, unable to distinguish the straight line from a curved one\nwill never have wisdom enough to secure a mathematical demonstration\nof the _invisible_, _i. e._, we must assure ourselves of the objective\nexistence of our soul (astral body) before we learn that we are in\npossession of a divine and immortal spirit. Iamblichus says the same\nthing; adding, moreover, that it is a secret belonging to the highest\ninitiation. The Divine Power, he says, always felt indignant with those\n\u201cwho rendered manifest the composition of the _icostagonus_,\u201d viz., who\ndelivered the method of inscribing in a sphere the dodecahedron.[28]\n\nThe idea that \u201cnumbers\u201d possessing the greatest virtue, produce always\nwhat is good and never what is evil, refers to justice, equanimity\nof temper, and everything that is harmonious. When the author speaks\nof every star as an individual soul, he only means what the Hindu\ninitiates and the Hermetists taught before and after him, viz.: that\nevery star is an independent planet, which, like our earth, has a soul\nof its own, every atom of matter being impregnated with the divine\ninflux of the soul of the world. It breathes and lives; it feels\nand suffers as well as enjoys life in its way. What naturalist is\nprepared to dispute it on good evidence? Therefore, we must consider\nthe celestial bodies as the images of gods; as partaking of the divine\npowers in their substance; and though they are not immortal in their\nsoul-entity, their agency in the economy of the universe is entitled\nto divine honors, such as we pay to minor gods. The idea is plain, and\none must be malevolent indeed to misrepresent it. If the author of\n_Epinomis_ places these fiery gods higher than the animals, plants,\nand even mankind, all of which, as earthly creatures, are assigned by {xxii}\nhim a lower place, who can prove him wholly wrong? One must needs go\ndeep indeed into the profundity of the abstract metaphysics of the old\nphilosophies, who would understand that their various embodiments of\ntheir conceptions are, after all, based upon an identical apprehension\nof the nature of the First Cause, its attributes and method.\n\nAgain when the author of _Epinomis_ locates between these highest and\nlowest gods (embodied souls) three classes of d\u00e6mons, and peoples the\nuniverse with invisible beings, he is more rational than our modern\nscientists, who make between the two extremes one vast hiatus of being,\nthe playground of blind forces. Of these three classes the first\ntwo are invisible; their bodies are pure ether and fire (_planetary\nspirits_); the d\u00e6mons of the third class are clothed with vapory\nbodies; they are usually invisible, but sometimes making themselves\nconcrete become visible for a few seconds. These are the earthly\nspirits, or our astral souls.\n\nIt is these doctrines, which, studied analogically, and on the\nprinciple of correspondence, led the ancient, and may now lead the\nmodern Philaletheian step by step toward the solution of the greatest\nmysteries. On the brink of the dark chasm separating the spiritual from\nthe physical world stands modern science, with eyes closed and head\naverted, pronouncing the gulf impassable and bottomless, though she\nholds in her hand a torch which she need only lower into the depths to\nshow her her mistake. But across this chasm, the patient student of\nHermetic philosophy has constructed a bridge.\n\nIn his _Fragments of Science_ Tyndall makes the following sad\nconfession: \u201cIf you ask me whether science has solved, or is likely in\nour day to solve the problem of this universe, I must shake my head\nin doubt.\u201d If moved by an afterthought, he corrects himself later,\nand assures his audience that experimental evidence has helped him to\ndiscover, in the opprobrium-covered matter, the \u201cpromise and potency\nof every quality of life,\u201d he only jokes. It would be as difficult for\nProfessor Tyndall to offer any ultimate and irrefutable proofs of what\nhe asserts, as it was for Job to insert a hook into the nose of the\nleviathan.\n\nTo avoid confusion that might easily arise by the frequent employment\nof certain terms in a sense different from that familiar to the reader,\na few explanations will be timely. We desire to leave no pretext\neither for misunderstanding or misrepresentation. Magic may have one\nsignification to one class of readers and another to another class. We\nshall give it the meaning which it has in the minds of its Oriental\nstudents and practitioners. And so with the words _Hermetic Science_,\n_Occultism_, _Hierophant_, _Adept_, _Sorcerer_, etc.; there has been\nlittle agreement of late as to their meaning. Though the distinctions {xxiii}\nbetween the terms are very often insignificant\u2014merely ethnic\u2014still, it\nmay be useful to the general reader to know just what that is. We give\na few alphabetically.\n\n\u00c6THROBACY, is the Greek name for walking or being lifted in the air;\n_levitation_, so called, among modern spiritualists. It may be either\nconscious or unconscious; in the one case, it is magic; in the other,\neither disease or a power which requires a few words of elucidation.\n\nA symbolical explanation of \u00e6throbacy is given in an old Syriac\nmanuscript which was translated in the fifteenth century by one\nMalchus, an alchemist. In connection with the case of Simon Magus, one\npassage reads thus:\n\n\u201cSimon, laying his face upon the ground, whispered in her ear, \u2018O\nmother Earth, give me, I pray thee, some of thy breath; and I will give\nthee mine; _let me loose_, O mother, that I may carry thy words to the\nstars, and I will return faithfully to thee after a while.\u2019 And the\nEarth strengthening her status, none to her detriment, sent her genius\nto breathe of her _breath_ on Simon, _while he breathed on her_; and\nthe stars rejoiced to be visited by the mighty One.\u201d\n\nThe starting-point here is the recognized electro-chemical principle\nthat bodies similarly electrified repel each other, while those\ndifferently electrified mutually attract. \u201cThe most elementary\nknowledge of chemistry,\u201d says Professor Cooke, \u201cshows that, while\nradicals of opposite natures combine most eagerly together, two metals,\nor two closely-allied metalloids, show but little affinity for each\nother.\u201d\n\nThe earth is a magnetic body; in fact, as some scientists have found,\nit is one vast magnet, as Paracelsus affirmed some 300 years ago. It\nis charged with one form of electricity\u2014let us call it positive\u2014which\nit evolves continuously by spontaneous action, in its interior or\ncentre of motion. Human bodies, in common with all other forms of\nmatter, are charged with the opposite form of electricity\u2014negative.\nThat is to say, organic or inorganic bodies, if left to themselves will\nconstantly and involuntarily charge themselves with, and evolve the\nform of electricity opposed to that of the earth itself. Now, what is\nweight? Simply the attraction of the earth. \u201cWithout the attractions of\nthe earth you would have no weight,\u201d says Professor Stewart;[29] \u201cand\nif you had an earth twice as heavy as this, you would have double the\nattraction.\u201d How then, can we get rid of this attraction? According to\nthe electrical law above stated, there is an attraction between our\nplanet and the organisms upon it, which holds them upon the surface\nof the ground. But the law of gravitation has been counteracted in\nmany instances, by levitations of persons and inanimate objects; how {xxiv}\naccount for this? The condition of our physical systems, say theurgic\nphilosophers, is largely dependent upon the action of our will. If\nwell-regulated, it can produce \u201cmiracles;\u201d among others a change of\nthis electrical polarity from negative to positive; the man\u2019s relations\nwith the earth-magnet would then become repellent, and \u201cgravity\u201d for\nhim would have ceased to exist. It would then be as natural for him to\nrush into the air until the repellent force had exhausted itself, as,\nbefore, it had been for him to remain upon the ground. The altitude\nof his levitation would be measured by his ability, greater or less,\nto charge his body with positive electricity. This control over the\nphysical forces once obtained, alteration of his levity or gravity\nwould be as easy as breathing.\n\nThe study of nervous diseases has established that even in ordinary\nsomnambulism, as well as in mesmerized somnambulists, the weight\nof the body seems to be diminished. Professor Perty mentions a\nsomnambulist, Koehler, who when in the water could not sink, but\nfloated. The seeress of Prevorst rose to the surface of the bath and\ncould not be kept seated in it. He speaks of Anna Fleisher, who being\nsubject to epileptic fits, was often seen by the Superintendent to\nrise in the air; and was once, in the presence of two trustworthy\nwitnesses (two deans) and others, raised two and a half yards from\nher bed in a horizontal position. The similar case of Margaret Rule\nis cited by Upham in his _History of Salem Witchcraft_. \u201cIn ecstatic\nsubjects,\u201d adds Professor Perty, \u201cthe rising in the air occurs much\nmore frequently than with somnambulists. We are so accustomed to\nconsider gravitation as being a something absolute and unalterable,\nthat the idea of a complete or partial rising in opposition to it seems\ninadmissible; nevertheless, there are phenomena in which, by means\nof material forces, gravitation is overcome. In several diseases\u2014as,\nfor instance, nervous fever\u2014the weight of the human body seems to be\nincreased, but in all ecstatic conditions to be diminished. And there\nmay, likewise, be other forces than material ones which can counteract\nthis power.\u201d\n\nA Madrid journal, _El Criterio Espiritista_, of a recent date, reports\nthe case of a young peasant girl near Santiago, which possesses a\npeculiar interest in this connection. \u201cTwo bars of magnetized iron held\nover her horizontally, half a metre distant, was sufficient to suspend\nher body in the air.\u201d\n\nWere our physicians to experiment on such levitated subjects, it\nwould be found that they are strongly charged with a similar form\nof electricity to that of the spot, which, according to the law\nof gravitation, ought to _attract_ them, or rather prevent their\nlevitation. And, if some physical nervous disorder, as well as\nspiritual ecstasy produce unconsciously to the subject the same {xxv}\neffects, it proves that if this force in nature were properly studied,\nit could be regulated at will.\n\nALCHEMISTS.\u2014From _Al_ and _Chemi_, fire, or the god and patriarch,\n_Kham_, also, the name of Egypt. The Rosicrucians of the middle ages,\nsuch as Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), Paracelsus, Thomas\nVaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Van Helmont, and others, were all\nalchemists, who sought for the _hidden spirit_ in every inorganic\nmatter. Some people\u2014nay, the great majority\u2014have accused alchemists\nof charlatanry and false pretending. Surely such men as Roger Bacon,\nAgrippa, Henry Kunrath, and the Arabian Geber (the first to introduce\ninto Europe some of the secrets of chemistry), can hardly be treated\nas impostors\u2014least of all as fools. Scientists who are reforming the\nscience of physics upon the basis of the atomic theory of Demokritus,\nas restated by John Dalton, conveniently forget that Demokritus,\nof Abdera, was an alchemist, and that the mind that was capable\nof penetrating so far into the secret operations of nature in one\ndirection must have had good reasons to study and become a Hermetic\nphilosopher. Olaus Borrichias says, that the cradle of alchemy is to be\nsought in the most distant times.\n\nASTRAL LIGHT.\u2014The same as the _sidereal light_ of Paracelsus and other\nHermetic philosophers. Physically, it is the ether of modern science.\nMetaphysically, and in its spiritual, or occult sense, ether is a great\ndeal more than is often imagined. In occult physics, and alchemy, it\nis well demonstrated to enclose within its shoreless waves not only\nMr. Tyndall\u2019s \u201c_promise_ and potency of every quality of life,\u201d but\nalso the _realization_ of the potency of every quality of spirit.\nAlchemists and Hermetists believe that their astral, or sidereal ether,\nbesides the above properties of sulphur, and white and red magnesia,\nor _magnes_, is the _anima mundi_, the workshop of Nature and of all\nthe cosmos, spiritually, as well as physically. The \u201cgrand magisterium\u201d\nasserts itself in the phenomenon of mesmerism, in the \u201clevitation\u201d of\nhuman and inert objects; and may be called the ether from its spiritual\naspect.\n\nThe designation _astral_ is ancient, and was used by some of the\nNeo-platonists. Porphyry describes the celestial body which is always\njoined with the soul as \u201cimmortal, luminous, and star-like.\u201d The root\nof this word may be found, perhaps, in the Scythic _aist-aer_\u2014which\nmeans star, or the Assyrian _Istar_, which, according to Burnouf has\nthe same sense. As the Rosicrucians regarded the real, as the direct\nopposite of the apparent, and taught that what seems light to _matter_,\nis darkness to _spirit_, they searched for the latter in the astral\nocean of invisible fire which encompasses the world; and claim to have\ntraced the equally invisible divine spirit, which overshadows every man\nand is erroneously called _soul_, to the very throne of the Invisible {xxvi}\nand Unknown God. As the great cause must always remain invisible and\nimponderable, they could prove their assertions merely by demonstration\nof its effects in this world of matter, by calling them forth from the\nunknowable down into the knowable universe of effects. That this astral\nlight permeates the whole cosmos, lurking in its latent state even\nin the minutest particle of rock, they demonstrate by the phenomenon\nof the spark from flint and from every other stone, whose spirit\nwhen forcibly disturbed springs to sight spark-like, and immediately\ndisappears in the realms of the unknowable.\n\nParacelsus named it the _sidereal light_, taking the term from the\nLatin. He regarded the starry host (our earth included) as the\n_condensed_ portions of the astral light which \u201cfell down into\ngeneration and matter,\u201d but whose magnetic or spiritual emanations kept\nconstantly a never-ceasing intercommunication between themselves and\nthe parent-fount of all\u2014the astral light. \u201cThe stars attract from us to\nthemselves, and we again from them to us,\u201d he says. The body is wood\nand the life is fire, which comes like the light from the stars and\nfrom heaven. \u201cMagic is the philosophy of alchemy,\u201d he says again.[30]\nEverything pertaining to the spiritual world must come to us through\nthe stars, and if we are in friendship with them, we may attain the\ngreatest _magical_ effects.\n\n\u201cAs fire passes through an iron stove, so do the stars pass through\nman with all their properties and go into him as the rain into the\nearth, which gives fruit out of that same rain. Now observe that the\nstars _surround_ the whole earth, _as a shell does the egg_; through\nthe shell comes the air, and penetrates to the centre of the world.\u201d\nThe human body is subjected as well as the earth, and planets, and\nstars, to a double law; it attracts and repels, for it is saturated\nthrough with double magnetism, the influx of the astral light.\nEverything is double in nature; magnetism is positive and negative,\nactive and passive, male and female. Night rests humanity from the\nday\u2019s activity, and restores the equilibrium of human as well as of\ncosmic nature. When the mesmerizer will have learned the grand secret\nof polarizing the action and endowing his fluid with a bi-sexual force\nhe will have become the greatest magician living. Thus the astral\nlight is androgyne, for equilibrium is the resultant of two opposing\nforces eternally reacting upon each other. The result of this is LIFE.\n_When the two forces are expanded and remain so long inactive, as to\nequal one another and so come to a complete rest, the condition is_\nDEATH. A human being can blow either a hot or a cold breath; and can\nabsorb either cold or hot air. Every child knows how to regulate the {xxvii}\ntemperature of his breath; but how to protect one\u2019s self from either\nhot or cold air, no physiologist has yet learned with certainty. The\nastral light alone, as the chief agent in magic, can discover to us\nall secrets of nature. The astral light is identical with the Hindu\n_ak\u00e2sa_, a word which we will now explain.\n\nAK\u00c2SA.\u2014Literally the word means in Sanscrit _sky_, but in its mystic\nsense it signifies the _invisible_ sky; or, as the Brahmans term it in\nthe Soma-sacrifice (the _Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma_), the god Ak\u00e2sa, or\ngod Sky. The language of the _Vedas_ shows that the Hindus of fifty\ncenturies ago ascribed to it the same properties as do the Thibetan\nlamas of the present day; that they regarded it as the source of\nlife, the reservoir of all energy, and the propeller of every change\nof matter. In its latent state, it tallies exactly with our idea of\nthe universal ether; in its active state it became the Ak\u00e2sa, the\nall-directing and omnipotent god. In the Brahmanical sacrificial\nmysteries it plays the part of Sadasya, or superintendent over the\nmagical effects of the religious performance, and it had its own\nappointed Hotar (or priest), who took its name. In India, as in other\ncountries in ancient times, the priests are the representatives on\nearth of different gods; each taking the name of the deity in whose\nname he acts.\n\nThe Ak\u00e2sa is the indispensable agent of every Krity\u00e2, (magical\nperformance) either religious or profane. The Brahmanical expression\n\u201cto stir up the Brahma\u201d _Brahma jinvati_\u2014means to stir up the power\nwhich lies latent at the bottom of every such magical operation, for\nthe Vedic sacrifices are but ceremonial magic. This power is the Ak\u00e2sa\nor the _occult_ electricity; the alkahest of the alchemists in one\nsense, or the universal solvent, the same _anima mundi_ as the astral\nlight. At the moment of the sacrifice, the latter becomes imbued with\nthe spirit of Brahma, and so for the time being is Brahma himself. This\nis the evident origin of the Christian dogma of transubstantiation. As\nto the most general effects of the Ak\u00e2sa, the author of one of the most\nmodern works on the occult philosophy, _Art-Magic_, gives for the first\ntime to the world a most intelligible and interesting explanation of\nthe Ak\u00e2sa in connection with the phenomena attributed to its influence\nby the fakirs and lamas.\n\nANTHROPOLOGY\u2014the science of man; embracing among other things:\n\n\n_Physiology_, or that branch of natural science which discloses the\nmysteries of the organs and their functions in men, animals, and\nplants; and also, and especially,\n\n_Psychology_, or the great, and in our days, so neglected science {xxviii}\nof the soul, both as an entity distinct from the spirit and in its\nrelations with the spirit and body. In modern science, psychology\nrelates only or principally to conditions of the nervous system, and\nalmost absolutely ignores the psychical essence and nature. Physicians\ndenominate the science of insanity _psychology_, and name the lunatic\nchair in medical colleges by that designation.\n\nCHALDEANS, or Kasdim.\u2014At first a tribe, then a caste of learned\nkabalists. They were the savants, the magians of Babylonia, astrologers\nand diviners. The famous Hillel, the precursor of Jesus in philosophy\nand in ethics, was a Chaldean. Franck in his _Kabbala_ points to the\nclose resemblance of the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d found in the _Avesta_ and\nthe religious metaphysics of the Chaldees.\n\nDACTYLS (_daktulos_, a finger).\u2014A name given to the priests attached to\nthe worship of _Kybel\u00e9_ (Cybel\u00e8). Some arch\u00e6ologists derive the name\nfrom \u03b4\u03ac\u03ba\u03c4\u03c5\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, finger, because they were ten, the same in number as the\nfingers of the hand. But we do not believe the latter hypothesis is the\ncorrect one.\n\nD\u00c6MONS.\u2014A name given by the ancient people, and especially the\nphilosophers of the Alexandrian school, to all kinds of spirits,\nwhether good or bad, human or otherwise. The appellation is often\nsynonymous with that of gods or angels. But some philosophers tried,\nwith good reason, to make a just distinction between the many classes.\n\nDEMIURGOS, or Demiurge.\u2014Artificer; the Supernal Power which built the\nuniverse. Freemasons derive from this word their phrase of \u201cSupreme\nArchitect.\u201d The chief magistrates of certain Greek cities bore the\ntitle.\n\nDERVISHES, or the \u201cwhirling charmers,\u201d as they are called. Apart from\nthe austerities of life, prayer and contemplation, the Mahometan\ndevotee presents but little similarity with the Hindu fakir. The latter\nmay become a sannyasi, or saint and holy mendicant; the former will\nnever reach beyond his second class of occult manifestations. The\ndervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never voluntarily\nsubmit to the abominable and almost incredible self-punishment which\nthe fakir invents for himself with an ever-increasing avidity, until\nnature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. The most\ndreadful operations, such as flaying the limbs alive; cutting off the\ntoes, feet, and legs; tearing out the eyes; and causing one\u2019s self to\nbe buried alive up to the chin in the earth, and passing whole months\nin this posture, seem child\u2019s play to them. One of the most common\ntortures is that of Tshiddy-Parv\u00e2dy.[31] It consists in suspending the\nfakir to one of the mobile arms of a kind of gallows to be seen in {xxix}\nthe vicinity of many of the temples. At the end of each of these arms\nis fixed a pulley over which passes a rope terminated by an iron hook.\nThis hook is inserted into the bare back of the fakir, who inundating\nthe soil with blood is hoisted up in the air and then whirled round\nthe gallows. From the first moment of this cruel operation until he is\neither unhooked or the flesh of his back tears out under the weight\nof the body and the fakir is hurled down on the heads of the crowd,\nnot a muscle of his face will move. He remains calm and serious and as\ncomposed as if taking a refreshing bath. The fakir will laugh to scorn\nevery imaginable torture, persuaded that the more his outer body is\nmortified, the brighter and holier becomes his _inner_, spiritual body.\nBut the Dervish, neither in India, nor in other Mahometan lands, will\never submit to such operations.\n\nDRUIDS.\u2014A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul.\n\nELEMENTAL SPIRITS.\u2014The creatures evolved in the four kingdoms of earth,\nair, fire, and water, and called by the kabalists gnomes, sylphs,\nsalamanders, and undines. They may be termed the forces of nature, and\nwill either operate effects as the servile agents of general law, or\nmay be employed by the disembodied spirits\u2014whether pure or impure\u2014and\nby living adepts of magic and sorcery, to produce desired phenomenal\nresults. Such beings never become men.[32]\n\nUnder the general designation of fairies, and fays, these spirits of\nthe elements appear in the myth, fable, tradition, or poetry of all\nnations, ancient and modern. Their names are legion\u2014peris, devs, djins,\nsylvans, satyrs, fauns, elves, dwarfs, trolls, norns, nisses, kobolds,\nbrownies, necks, stromkarls, undines, nixies, salamanders, goblins,\nponkes, banshees, kelpies, pixies, moss people, good people, good\nneighbors, wild women, men of peace, white ladies\u2014and many more. They\nhave been seen, feared, blessed, banned, and invoked in every quarter\nof the globe and in every age. Shall we then concede that all who have\nmet them were hallucinated?\n\nThese elementals are the principal agents of disembodied but _never {xxx}\nvisible_ spirits at seances, and the producers of all the phenomena\nexcept the subjective.\n\nELEMENTARY SPIRITS.\u2014Properly, the disembodied _souls_ of the\ndepraved; these souls having at some time prior to death separated\nfrom themselves their divine spirits, and so lost their chance for\nimmortality. Eliphas Levi and some other kabalists make little\ndistinction between elementary spirits who have been men, and those\nbeings which people the elements, and are the blind forces of nature.\nOnce divorced from their bodies, these souls (also called \u201castral\nbodies\u201d) of purely materialistic persons, are irresistibly attracted to\nthe earth, where they live a temporary and finite life amid elements\ncongenial to their gross natures. From having never, during their\nnatural lives, cultivated their spirituality, but subordinated it to\nthe material and gross, they are now unfitted for the lofty career\nof the pure, disembodied being, for whom the atmosphere of earth is\nstifling and mephitic, and whose attractions are all away from it.\nAfter a more or less prolonged period of time these material souls\nwill begin to disintegrate, and finally, like a column of mist, be\ndissolved, atom by atom, in the surrounding elements.\n\nESSENES\u2014from _Asa_, a healer. A sect of Jews said by Pliny to have\nlived near the Dead Sea \u201c_per millia s\u00e6culorum_\u201d for thousands of ages.\nSome have supposed them to be extreme Pharisees; and others\u2014which\nmay be the true theory\u2014the descendants of the _Benim nabim_ of the\n_Bible_, and think they were \u201cKenites\u201d and \u201c_Nazarites_.\u201d They had many\nBuddhistic ideas and practices; and it is noteworthy that the priests\nof the _Great Mother_ at Ephesus, Diana-Bhavani with many breasts, were\nalso so denominated. Eusebius, and after him De Quincey, declared them\nto be the same as the early Christians, which is more than probable.\nThe title \u201cbrother,\u201d used in the early Church, was Essenean: they were\na fraternity, or a _koinobion_ or community like the early converts. It\nis noticeable that only the Sadducees, or Zadokites, the priest-caste\nand their partisans, persecuted the Christians; the Pharisees were\ngenerally scholastic and mild, and often sided with the latter. James\nthe Just was a Pharisee till his death; but Paul or _Aher_ was esteemed\na schismatic.\n\nEVOLUTION.\u2014The development of higher orders of animals from the\nlower. Modern, or so-called _exact_ science, holds but to a one-sided\nphysical evolution, prudently avoiding and ignoring the higher or\nspiritual evolution, which would force our contemporaries to confess\nthe superiority of the ancient philosophers and psychologists over\nthemselves. The ancient sages, ascending to the UNKNOWABLE, made\ntheir starting-point from the first manifestation of the unseen, the\nunavoidable, and from a strict logical reasoning, the absolutely {xxxi}\nnecessary creative Being, the Demiurgos of the universe. Evolution\nbegan with them from pure spirit, which descending lower and lower\ndown, assumed at last a visible and comprehensible form, and became\nmatter. Arrived at this point, they speculated in the Darwinian method,\nbut on a far more large and comprehensive basis.\n\nIn the _Rig-Veda-Sanhita_, the oldest book of the World[33] (to which\neven our most prudent Indiologists and Sanscrit scholars assign an\nantiquity of between two and three thousand years B.C.), in the first\nbook, \u201cHymns to the Maruts,\u201d it is said:\n\n\u201c_Not-being_ and _Being_ are in the highest heaven, in the birthplace\nof Daksha, in the lap of Aditi\u201d (_Mandala_, i., S\u00fbkta 166).\n\n\u201cIn the first age of the gods, Being (the comprehensible Deity) was\nborn from Not-being (whom no intellect can comprehend); after it were\nborn the Regions (the invisible), from them Utt\u00e2napada.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom Utt\u00e2napad the Earth was born, the Regions (those that are\nvisible) were born from the Earth. Daksha was born of Aditi, and Aditi\nfrom Daksha\u201d (Ibid.).\n\nAditi is the Infinite, and Daksha is _d\u00e1ksha-pitarah_, literally\nmeaning _the father of gods_, but understood by Max M\u00fcller and\nRoth to mean _the fathers of strength_, \u201cpreserving, possessing,\ngranting faculties.\u201d Therefore, it is easy to see that \u201cDaksha, born\nof Aditi and Aditi from Daksha,\u201d means what the moderns understand\nby \u201ccorrelation of forces;\u201d the more so as we find in this passage\n(translated by Prof. M\u00fcller):\n\n\u201cI place Agni, the source of all beings, the father of strength\u201d\n(iii., 27, 2), a clear and identical idea which prevailed so much\nin the doctrines of the Zoroastrians, the Magians, and the medi\u00e6val\nfire-philosophers. Agni is god of fire, of the Spiritual Ether, the\nvery substance of the divine essence of the Invisible God present\nin every atom of His creation and called by the Rosicrucians the\n\u201cCelestial Fire.\u201d If we only carefully compare the verses from this\nMandala, one of which runs thus: \u201cThe Sky is your father, the Earth\nyour mother, Soma your brother, Aditi your sister\u201d (i., 191, 6),[34]\nwith the inscription on the _Smaragdine Tablet_ of Hermes, we will find\nthe same substratum of metaphysical philosophy, the identical doctrines!\n\n\u201cAs all things were produced by the mediation of one being, so all\nthings were produced from this one thing by adaptation: \u2018Its father\nis the sun; its mother is the moon\u2019 ... etc. Separate the earth from {xxxii}\nthe fire, the _subtile from the gross_.... What I had to say about the\noperation of the _sun_ is completed\u201d (_Smaragdine Tablet_).[35]\n\nProfessor Max M\u00fcller sees in this _Mandala_ \u201cat last, something like\na theogony, though full of contradictions.\u201d[36] The alchemists,\nkabalists, and students of mystic philosophy will find therein a\nperfectly defined system of Evolution in the Cosmogony of a people who\nlived a score of thousands of years before our era. They will find in\nit, moreover, a perfect identity of thought and even doctrine with the\nHermetic philosophy, and also that of Pythagoras and Plato.\n\nIn Evolution, as it is now beginning to be understood, there is\nsupposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher form\u2014a\nsupposition clearly expressed by Manu and other Hindu philosophers\nof the highest antiquity. The philosopher\u2019s tree illustrates it in\nthe case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the followers\nof this school and the Emanationists may be briefly stated thus: The\nEvolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of \u201cthe Unknowable;\u201d\nthe Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved\u2014or, as the\nword means, unwombed or born\u2014except it has first been involved, thus\nindicating that life is from a spiritual potency above the whole.\n\nFAKIRS.\u2014Religious devotees in East India. They are generally attached\nto Brahmanical pagodas and follow the laws of Manu. A strictly\nreligious fakir will go absolutely naked, with the exception of a\nsmall piece of linen called _dhoti_, around his loins. They wear their\nhair long, and it serves them as a pocket, as they stick in it various\nobjects\u2014such as a pipe, a small flute called _vagudah_, the sounds of\nwhich throw the serpents into a cataleptic torpor, and sometimes their\nbamboo-stick (about one foot long) with _the seven mystical knots_ on\nit. This magical stick, or rather _rod_, the fakir receives from his\nguru on the day of his initiation, together with the three _mantrams_,\nwhich are communicated to him \u201cmouth to ear.\u201d No fakir will be seen\nwithout this powerful adjunct of his calling. It is, as they all\nclaim, the divining rod, the cause of every occult phenomenon produced {xxxiii}\nby them.[37] The Brahmanical fakir is entirely distinct from the\nMussulman mendicant of India, also called fakirs in some parts of the\nBritish territory.\n\nHERMETIST.\u2014From Hermes, the god of Wisdom, known in Egypt, Syria, and\nPh\u0153nicia as Thoth, Tat, Adad, Seth, and Sat-an (the latter _not to be\ntaken_ in the sense applied to it by Moslems and Christians), and in\nGreece as Kadmus. The kabalists identify him with Adam _Kadmon_, the\nfirst manifestation of the Divine Power, and with Enoch. There were two\nHermes: the elder was the Trismegistus, and the second an emanation, or\n\u201cpermutation\u201d of himself; the friend and instructor of Isis and Osiris.\nHermes is the god of the priestly wisdom, like Mazeus.\n\nHIEROPHANT.\u2014Discloser of sacred learning. The Old Man, the Chief of\nthe Adepts at the initiations, who explained the arcane knowledge to\nthe neophytes, bore this title. In Hebrew and Chaldaic the term was\n_Peter_, or opener, discloser; hence, the Pope, as the successor of\nthe hierophant of the ancient Mysteries, sits in the Pagan chair of\n\u201cSt. Peter.\u201d The vindictiveness of the Catholic Church toward the\nalchemists, and to arcane and astronomical science, is explained by the\nfact that such knowledge was the ancient prerogative of the hierophant,\nor representative of Peter, who kept the mysteries of life and death.\nMen like Bruno, Galileo, and Kepler, therefore, and even Cagliostro,\ntrespassed on the preserves of the Church, and were accordingly\nmurdered.\n\nEvery nation had its Mysteries and hierophants. Even the Jews had\ntheir Peter\u2014Tana\u00efm or Rabbin, like Hillel, Akiba,[38] and other famous\nkabalists, who alone could impart the awful knowledge contained in the\n_Merkaba_. In India, there was in ancient times one, and now there\nare several hierophants scattered about the country, attached to the\nprincipal pagodas, who are known as the Brahma-\u00e2tmas. In Thibet the\nchief hierophant is the Dalay, or Taley-Lama of Lha-ssa.[39] Among\nChristian nations, the Catholics alone have preserved this \u201cheathen\u201d\ncustom, in the person of their Pope, albeit they have sadly disfigured\nits majesty and the dignity of the sacred office.\n\nINITIATES.\u2014In times of antiquity, those who had been initiated into the\narcane knowledge taught by the hierophants of the Mysteries; and in\nour modern days those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic\nlore into the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of\nages, has yet a few real votaries on earth.\n\nKABALIST, from \u05e7\u05d1\u05dc\u05d4, KABALA; an unwritten or oral tradition. The {xxxiv}\nkabalist is a student of \u201csecret science,\u201d one who interprets the\nhidden meaning of the Scriptures with the help of the symbolical\n_Kabala_, and explains the real one by these means. The Tana\u00efm were the\nfirst kabalists among the Jews; they appeared at Jerusalem about the\nbeginning of the third century before the Christian era. The Books of\n_Ezekiel_, _Daniel_, _Henoch_, and the _Revelation_ of St. John, are\npurely kabalistical. This secret doctrine is identical with that of the\nChaldeans, and includes at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or\n\u201cmagic.\u201d\n\nLAMAS.\u2014Buddhist monks belonging to the Lamaic religion of Thibet, as,\nfor instance, friars are the monks belonging to the Popish or Roman\nCatholic religion. Every lama is subject to the grand Taley-Lama, the\nBuddhist pope of Thibet, who holds his residence at Lha-ssa, and is a\nre\u00efncarnation of Buddha.\n\nMAGE, or _Magian_; from _Mag_ or _Maha_. The word is the root of the\nword magician. The Maha-\u00e2tma (the great Soul or Spirit) in India\nhad its priests in the pre-Vedic times. The Magians were priests of\nthe fire-god; we find them among the Assyrians and Babylonians, as\nwell as among the Persian fire-worshippers. The three magi, also\ndenominated kings, that are said to have made gifts of gold, incense,\nand myrrh to the infant Jesus, were fire-worshippers like the rest,\nand astrologers; for they saw his star. The high priest of the Parsis,\nat Surat, is called _Mobed_, others derived the word from Megh; Meh-ab\nsignifying something grand and noble. Zoroaster\u2019s disciples were called\n_Meghestom_, according to Kleuker.\n\nMAGICIAN.\u2014This term, once a title of renown and distinction, has come\nto be wholly perverted from its true meaning. Once the synonym of\nall that was honorable and reverent, of a possessor of learning and\nwisdom, it has become degraded into an epithet to designate one who is\na pretender and a juggler; a charlatan, in short, or one who has \u201csold\nhis soul to the Evil One;\u201d who misuses his knowledge, and employs it\nfor low and dangerous uses, according to the teachings of the clergy,\nand a mass of superstitious fools who believe the magician a sorcerer\nand an enchanter. But Christians forget, apparently, that Moses was\nalso a magician, and Daniel, \u201c_Master_ of the magicians, astrologers,\nChaldeans, and soothsayers\u201d (_Daniel_, v. 11).\n\nThe word magician then, scientifically speaking, is derived from\n_Magh_, _Mah_, Hindu or _Sanscrit_ Maha\u2014great; a man well versed in the\nsecret or esoteric knowledge; properly a sacerdote.\n\nMANTICISM, or mantic frenzy. During this state was developed the\ngift of prophecy. The two words are nearly synonymous. One was as\nhonored as the other. Pythagoras and Plato held it in high esteem, and {xxxv}\nSocrates advised his disciples to study Manticism. The Church Fathers,\nwho condemned so severely the _mantic frenzy_ in Pagan priests and\nPythi\u00e6, were not above applying it to their own uses. The Montanists,\nwho took their name from Montanus, a bishop of Phrygia, who was\nconsidered divinely inspired, rivalled with the \u03bc\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 (manteis) or\nprophets. \u201cTertullian, Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, were\nof the number,\u201d says the author of _Prophecy, Ancient and Modern_.\n\u201cThe Montanists seem to have resembled the _Bacchantes_ in the wild\nenthusiasm that characterized their orgies,\u201d he adds. There is a\ndiversity of opinion as to the origin of the word _Manticism_. There\nwas the famous Mantis the Seer, in the days of Melampus and Pr\u0153tus,\nKing of Argos; and there was Manto, the daughter of the prophet of\nThebes, herself a prophetess. Cicero describes prophecy and mantic\nfrenzy by saying that \u201cin the inner recesses of the mind is divine\nprophecy hidden and confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns\nmore vividly is called furor\u201d (frenzy, madness).\n\nBut there is still another etymology possible for the word _mantis_,\nand to which we doubt if the attention of the philologists was ever\ndrawn. The mantic frenzy may, perchance, have a still earlier origin.\nThe two sacrificial cups of the Soma-mystery used during the religious\nrites, and generally known as grah\u00e2s, are respectively called _Sukra_\nand _Manti_.[40]\n\nIt is in the latter manti or manthi cup that Brahma is said to be\n\u201cstirred up.\u201d While the initiate drinks (albeit sparingly) of this\nsacred soma-juice, the Brahma, or rather his \u201cspirit,\u201d personified\nby the god Soma, enters into the man and takes _possession_ of him.\nHence, ecstatic vision, clairvoyance, and the gift of prophecy. Both\nkinds of divination\u2014the natural and the artificial\u2014are aroused by\nthe Soma. The _Sukra_-cup awakens that which is given to every man\nby nature. It unites both spirit and soul, and these, from their own\nnature and essence, which are divine, have a foreknowledge of future\nthings, as dreams, unexpected visions, and presentiments, well prove.\nThe contents of the other cup, the _manti_, which \u201cstirs the Brahma,\u201d\nput there by the soul in communication not only with the minor gods\u2014the\nwell-informed but not omniscient spirits\u2014but actually with the highest\ndivine essence itself. The soul receives a direct illumination from the\npresence of its \u201cgod;\u201d but as it is not allowed to remember certain\nthings, well known only in heaven, the initiated person is generally\nseized with a kind of sacred frenzy, and upon recovering from it, only\nremembers that which is allowed to him. As to the other kind of seers {xxxvi}\nand diviners\u2014those who make a profession of and a living by it\u2014they\nare usually held to be possessed by a _gandharva_, a deity which is\nnowhere so little honored as in India.\n\nMANTRA.\u2014A _Sanskrit_ word conveying the same idea as the \u201cIneffable\nName.\u201d Some mantras, when pronounced according to magical formula\ntaught in the _Atharva-Veda_, produce an instantaneous and wonderful\neffect. In its general sense, though, a mantra is either simply a\nprayer to the gods and powers of heaven, as taught by the Brahmanical\nbooks, and especially Manu, or else a magical charm. In its esoteric\nsense, the \u201cword\u201d of the mantra, or mystic speech, is called by the\nBrahmans _V\u00e2ch_. It resides in the mantra, which literally means those\nparts of the sacred books which are considered as the _Sruti_, or\ndirect divine revelation.\n\nMARABUT.\u2014A Mahometan pilgrim who has been to Mekka; a saint, after\nwhose death his body is placed in an open sepulchre built on the\nsurface, like other buildings, but in the middle of the streets and\npublic places of populated cities. Placed inside the small and only\nroom of the tomb (and several such public sarcophagi of brick and\nmortar may be seen to this day in the streets and squares of Cairo),\nthe devotion of the wayfarers keeps a lamp ever burning at his head.\nThe tombs of some of these marabuts have a great fame for the miracles\nthey are alleged to perform.\n\nMATERIALIZATION.\u2014A word employed by spiritualists to indicate the\nphenomenon of \u201ca spirit clothing himself with a material form.\u201d The\nfar less objectionable term, \u201cform-manifestation,\u201d has been recently\nsuggested by Mr. Stainton-Moses, of London. When the real nature of\nthese apparitions is better comprehended, a still more appropriate\nname will doubtless be adopted. To call them materialized spirits is\ninadmissible, for they are not spirits but animated portrait-statues.\n\nMAZDEANS, from (Ahura) Mazda. (See Spiegel\u2019s _Yasna_, xl.) They were\nthe ancient Persian nobles who worshipped Ormazd, and, rejecting\nimages, inspired the Jews with the same horror for every concrete\nrepresentation of the Deity. \u201cThey seem in Herodotus\u2019s time to have\nbeen superseded by the Magian religionists. The Parsis and Ghebers\n(\u05d2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd _geberim_, mighty men, of _Genesis_ vi. and x. 8) appear to be\nMagian religionists.... By a curious muddling of ideas, Zoro-Aster\n(_Zero_, a circle, a son or priest, Aster, Ishtar, or Astart\u00e8\u2014in\nAryan dialect, a star), the title of the head of the Magians and\nfire-worshippers, or Surya-ishtara, the sun-worshipper, is often\nconfounded in modern times with Zara-tustra, the reputed Mazdean\napostle\u201d (Zoroaster).\n\nMETEMPSYCHOSIS.\u2014The progress of the soul from one stage of existence\nto another. Symbolized and vulgarly believed to be rebirths in animal\nbodies. A term generally misunderstood by every class of European and {xxxvii}\nAmerican society, including many scientists. The kabalistic axiom,\n\u201cA stone becomes a plant, a plant an animal, an animal a man, a man\na spirit, and a spirit a god,\u201d receives an explanation in Manu\u2019s\n_Manava-Dharma-Sastra_, and other Brahmanical books.\n\nMYSTERIES.\u2014Greek _teletai_, or finishings, as analogous to _teleuteia_\nor death. They were observances, generally kept secret from the profane\nand uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation\nand other methods, the origin of things, the nature of the human\nspirit, its relations to the body, and the method of its purification\nand restoration to higher life. Physical science, medicine, the\nlaws of music, divination, were all taught in the same manner. The\nHippocratic oath was but a mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest\nof Asklepios, some of whose writings chanced to become public. But\nthe Asklepiades were initiates of the \u00c6sculapian serpent-worship, as\nthe Bacchantes were of the Dionysia; and both rites were eventually\nincorporated with the Eleusinia. We will treat of the Mysteries fully\nin the subsequent chapters.\n\nMYSTICS.\u2014Those initiated. But in the medi\u00e6val and later periods the\nterm was applied to men like B\u0153hm\u00e9n the Theosophist, Molinos the\nQuietist, Nicholas of Basle, and others who believed in a direct\ninterior communion with God, analogous to the inspiration of the\nprophets.\n\nNABIA.\u2014Seership, soothsaying. This oldest and most respected of\nmystic phenomena, is the name given to prophecy in the _Bible_, and\nis correctly included among the spiritual powers, such as divination,\nclairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while\nenchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in\nthe Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nabia appear as the special\ngifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed _Epoptai_, the\nGreek word for seers, clairvoyants; after which they were designated\nas _Nebim_, \u201cthe plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom.\u201d The\nkabalist distinguishes between the _seer_ and the _magician_; one is\npassive, the other active; _Nebirah_, is one who looks into futurity\nand a clairvoyant; _Nebi-poel_, he who possesses _magic powers_. We\nnotice that Elijah and Apollonius resorted to the same means to isolate\nthemselves from the disturbing influences of the outer world, viz.:\nwrapping their heads entirely in a woolen mantle: from its being an\nelectric non-conductor we must suppose.\n\nOCCULTIST.\u2014One who studies the various branches of occult science.\nThe term is used by the French kabalists (See Eliphas Levi\u2019s works).\nOccultism embraces the whole range of psychological, physiological,\ncosmical, physical, and spiritual phenomena. From the word _occult_\nhidden or secret; applying therefore to the study of the _Kabala_,\nastrology, alchemy, and all arcane sciences.\n\nPAGAN GODS.\u2014This term gods is erroneously understood by most of the {xxxviii}\nreading public, to mean idols. The idea attached to them is _not_ that\nof something objective or anthropomorphical. With the exception of\noccasions when \u201cgods\u201d mean either divine planetary entities (angels),\nor disembodied spirits of pure men, the term simply conveys to the mind\nof the mystic\u2014whether Hindu Hotar, Mazdean Mage, Egyptian hierophant,\nor disciple of the Greek philosophers\u2014the idea of a visible or cognized\nmanifestation of an invisible potency of nature. And such occult\npotencies are invoked under the appellation of various gods, who, for\nthe time being, are personating these powers. Thus every one of the\nnumberless deities of the Hindu, Greek, and Egyptian Pantheons, are\nsimply Powers of the \u201cUnseen Universe.\u201d When the officiating Brahman\ninvokes Aditya\u2014who, in her cosmic character, is the goddess-sun\u2014he\nsimply _commands_ that potency (personified in some god), which, as\nhe asserts, \u201cresides in the Mantra, as the sacred _V\u00e2ch_.\u201d These\ngod-powers are allegorically regarded as the divine _Hotars_ of\nthe Supreme One; while the priest (Brahman) is the human Hotar who\nofficiates on earth, and representing that particular Power becomes,\nambassador-like, invested with the very potency which he personates.\n\nPITRIS.\u2014It is generally believed that the Hindu term _Pitris_ means\nthe spirits of our direct ancestors; of disembodied people. Hence\nthe argument of some spiritualists that fakirs, and other Eastern\nwonder-workers, are _mediums_; that they themselves confess to being\nunable to produce anything without the help of the _Pitris_, of whom\nthey are the obedient instruments. This is in more than one sense\nerroneous. The _Pitris_ are not the ancestors of the present living\nmen, but those of the human kind or Adamic race; the spirits of _human_\nraces which, on the great scale of descending evolution, preceded our\nraces of men, and were physically, as well as spiritually, far superior\nto our modern pigmies. In _Manava-Dharma-Sastra_ they are called the\n_Lunar_ ancestors.\n\nPYTHIA, or Pythoness.\u2014Webster dismisses the word very briefly by saying\nthat it was the name of one who delivered the oracles at the Temple\nof Delphi, and \u201cany female supposed to have the spirit of divination\nin her\u2014_a witch_,\u201d which is neither complimentary, exact, nor just.\nA Pythia, upon the authority of Plutarch, Iamblichus, Lamprias, and\nothers, was a nervous sensitive; she was chosen from among the poorest\nclass, young and pure. Attached to the temple, within whose precincts\nshe had a room, secluded from every other, and to which no one but the\npriest, or seer, had admittance, she had no communications with the\noutside world, and her life was more strict and ascetic than that of a\nCatholic nun. Sitting on a tripod of brass placed over a fissure in the\nground, through which arose intoxicating vapors, these subterranean {xxxix}\nexhalations penetrating her whole system produced the prophetic mania.\nIn this abnormal state she delivered oracles. She was sometimes called\n_ventriloqua vates_,[41] the ventriloquist-prophetess.\n\nThe ancients placed the astral soul of man, \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7, or his\nself-consciousness, in the pit of the stomach. The Brahmans shared this\nbelief with Plato and other philosophers. Thus we find in the fourth\nverse of the second _N\u00e2bh\u00e2nedishtha Hymn_ it is said: \u201cHear, O sons\nof the gods (spirits) one who speaks through his navel (n\u00e2bh\u00e2) for he\nhails you in your dwellings!\u201d\n\nMany of the Sanscrit scholars agree that this belief is one of the most\nancient among the Hindus. The modern fakirs, as well as the ancient\ngymnosophists, unite themselves with their \u00c2tman and the Deity by\nremaining motionless in contemplation and concentrating their whole\nthought on their navel. As in modern somnambulic phenomena, the navel\nwas regarded as \u201cthe circle of the sun,\u201d the seat of internal divine\nlight.[42] Is the fact of a number of modern somnambulists being\nenabled to read letters, hear, smell, and see, through that part of\ntheir body to be regarded again as a simple \u201ccoincidence,\u201d or shall we\nadmit at last that the old sages knew something more of physiological\nand psychological mysteries than our modern Academicians? In modern\nPersia, when a \u201cmagician\u201d (often simply a mesmerizer) is consulted\nupon occasions of theft and other puzzling occurrences, he makes his\nmanipulations over the pit of his stomach, and so brings himself into\na state of clairvoyance. Among the modern Parsis, remarks a translator\nof the _Rig-vedas_, there exists a belief up to the present day that\ntheir adepts have a flame in their navel, which enlightens to them\nall darkness and discloses the spiritual world, as well as all things\nunseen, or at a distance. They call it the lamp of _the Deshtur_, or\nhigh priest; the light of the Dikshita (the initiate), and otherwise\ndesignate it by many other names.\n\nSAMOTHRACES.\u2014A designation of the Fane-gods worshipped at Samothracia\nin the Mysteries. They are considered as identical with the Kabeiri,\nDioskuri, and Korybantes. Their names were mystical\u2014denoting Pluto,\nCeres or Proserpina, Bacchus, and \u00c6sculapius or Hermes.\n\nSHAMANS, or Samaneans.\u2014An order of Buddhists among the Tartars,\nespecially those of Siberia. They are possibly akin to the {xl}\nphilosophers anciently known as _Brachmanes_, mistaken sometimes for\nBrahmans.[43] They are all _magicians_, or rather sensitives or mediums\nartificially developed. At present those who act as priests among\nthe Tartars are generally very ignorant, and far below the fakirs in\nknowledge and education. Both men and women may be Shamans.\n\nSOMA.\u2014This Hindu sacred beverage answers to the Greek ambrosia or\nnectar, drunk by the gods of Olympus. A cup of kykeon was also quaffed\nby the mysta at the Eleusinian initiation. He who drinks it easily\nreaches _Bradhna_, or place of splendor (Heaven). The soma-drink known\nto Europeans is not the _genuine_ beverage, but its substitute; for\nthe initiated priests alone can taste of the real soma; and even kings\nand rajas, when sacrificing, receive the substitute. Haug shows by his\nown confession, in his _Aytareya Brahmanan_, that it was not the Soma\nthat he tasted and found nasty, but the juice from the roots of the\nNyagradha, a plant or bush which grows on the hills of Poona. We were\npositively informed that the majority of the sacrificial priests of the\nDekkan have lost the secret of the true soma. It can be found neither\nin the ritual books nor through oral information. The true followers\nof the primitive Vedic religion are very few; these are the alleged\ndescendants from the _Rishis_, the real Agnih\u00f4tris, the initiates of\nthe great Mysteries. The soma-drink is also commemorated in the Hindu\nPantheon, for it is called the King-Soma. He who drinks of it is made\nto participate in the heavenly king, because he becomes filled with it,\nas the Christian apostles and their converts became filled with the\nHoly Ghost, and purified of their sins. The soma makes a new man of\nthe initiate; he is reborn and transformed, and his spiritual nature\novercomes the physical; it gives the divine power of inspiration,\nand develops the clairvoyant faculty to the utmost. According to the\nexoteric explanation the soma is a plant, but, at the same time it is\nan angel. It forcibly connects the _inner_, highest \u201cspirit\u201d of man,\nwhich spirit is an angel like the mystical soma, with his \u201cirrational\nsoul,\u201d or astral body, and thus united by the power of the magic drink,\nthey soar together above physical nature, and participate during life\nin the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven.\n\nThus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that\nthe Eucharistic supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By {xli}\nmeans of the sacrificial prayers\u2014the mantras\u2014this liquor is supposed\nto be transformed on the spot into real soma\u2014or the angel, and even\ninto Brahma himself. Some missionaries have expressed themselves very\nindignantly about this ceremony, the more so that, generally speaking,\nthe Brahmans use a _kind of spirituous liquor_ as a substitute. But do\nthe Christians believe less fervently in the transubstantiation of the\ncommunion-wine into the blood of Christ, because this wine happens to\nbe more or less spirituous? Is not the idea of the symbol attached to\nit the same? But the missionaries say that this hour of soma-drinking\nis the golden hour of Satan, who lurks at the bottom of the Hindu\nsacrificial cup.[44]\n\nSPIRIT.\u2014The lack of any mutual agreement between writers in the use\nof this word has resulted in dire confusion. It is commonly made\nsynonymous with _soul_; and the lexicographers countenance the usage.\nThis is the natural result of our ignorance of the other word, and\nrepudiation of the classification adopted by the ancients. Elsewhere we\nattempt to make clear the distinction between the terms \u201cspirit\u201d and\n\u201csoul.\u201d There are no more important passages in this work. Meanwhile,\nwe will only add that \u201cspirit\u201d is the \u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 of Plato, the immortal,\nimmaterial, and purely _divine_ principle in man\u2014the crown of the human\n_Triad_; whereas,\n\nSOUL is the \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7, or the _nephesh_ of the _Bible_; the vital principle,\nor the breath of life, which every animal, down to the infusoria,\nshares with man. In the translated _Bible_ it stands indifferently\nfor _life_, blood, and soul. \u201cLet us _not kill_ his nephesh,\u201d says\nthe original text: \u201clet us not kill _him_,\u201d translate the Christians\n(_Genesis_ xxxvii. 21), and so on.\n\nTHEOSOPHISTS.\u2014In the medi\u00e6val ages it was the name by which were known\nthe disciples of Paracelsus of the sixteenth century, the so-called\nfire-philosophers or _Philosophi per ignem_. As well as the Platonists\nthey regarded the soul (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7) and the divine spirit, _nous_ (\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2), as\na particle of the great Archos\u2014a fire taken from the eternal ocean of\nlight.\n\nThe Theosophical Society, to which these volumes are dedicated by the\nauthor as a mark of affectionate regard, was organized at New York\nin 1875. The object of its founders was to experiment practically in\nthe occult powers of Nature, and to collect and disseminate among\nChristians information about the Oriental religious philosophies.\nLater, it has determined to spread among the \u201cpoor benighted heathen\u201d {xlii}\nsuch evidences as to the practical results of Christianity as will\nat least give both sides of the story to the communities among which\nmissionaries are at work. With this view it has established relations\nwith associations and individuals throughout the East, to whom it\nfurnishes authenticated reports of the ecclesiastical crimes and\nmisdemeanors, schisms and heresies, controversies and litigations,\ndoctrinal differences and biblical criticisms and revisions, with\nwhich the press of Christian Europe and America constantly teems.\nChristendom has been long and minutely informed of the degradation\nand brutishness into which Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Confucianism\nhave plunged their deluded votaries, and many millions have been\nlavished upon foreign missions under such false representations. The\nTheosophical Society, seeing daily exemplifications of this very\nstate of things as the sequence of Christian teaching and example\u2014the\nlatter especially\u2014thought it simple justice to make the facts known in\nPalestine, India, Ceylon, Cashmere, Tartary, Thibet, China, and Japan,\nin all which countries it has influential correspondents. It may also\nin time have much to say about the conduct of the missionaries to those\nwho contribute to their support.\n\nTHEURGIST.\u2014From \u0398\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2, god, and \u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd, work. The first school of\npractical theurgy in the Christian period was founded by Iamblichus\namong the Alexandrian Platonists; but the priests attached to the\ntemples of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, and who took an active part\nin the evocations of the gods during the Sacred Mysteries, were known\nby this name from the earliest archaic period. The purpose of it was to\nmake spirits visible to the eyes of mortals. A theurgist was one expert\nin the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all the great countries.\nThe Neo-platonists of the school of Iamblichus were called theurgists,\nfor they performed the so-called \u201cceremonial magic,\u201d and evoked the\n\u201cspirits\u201d of the departed heroes, \u201cgods,\u201d and Daimonia (\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1\ndivine, spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the presence of\na _tangible_ and _visible_ spirit was required, the theurgist had\nto furnish the weird apparition with a portion of his own flesh and\nblood\u2014he had to perform the _theop\u00e6a_, or the \u201ccreation of gods,\u201d by\na mysterious process well known to the modern fakirs and initiated\nBrahmans of India. This is what is said in the _Book of Evocations_\nof the pagodas. It shows the perfect identity of rites and ceremonial\nbetween the oldest Brahmanic theurgy and that of the Alexandrian\nPlatonists:\n\n\u201cThe Brahman Grihasta (the evocator) must be in a state of complete\npurity before he ventures to call forth the Pitris.\u201d\n\nAfter having prepared a lamp, some sandal, incense, etc., and having\ntraced the magic circles taught to him by the superior guru, in order\nto keep away _bad_ spirits, he \u201cceases to breathe, and calls _the fire_ {xliii}\nto his help to disperse his body.\u201d He pronounces a certain number of\ntimes the sacred word, and \u201chis soul escapes from his body, and his\nbody disappears, and the soul of the evoked spirit descends into the\n_double_ body and animates it.\u201d Then \u201cHis (Grihasta\u2019s) soul re\u00ebnters\ninto his body, whose subtile particles have again been aggregating,\nafter having formed of their emanations an a\u00ebrial body to the spirit he\nevoked.\u201d\n\nAnd now, that he has formed for the Pitri a body with the particles\nthe most essential and pure of his own, the grihasta is allowed, after\nthe ceremonial sacrifice is over, to \u201cconverse with the souls of the\nancestors and the Pitris, and offer them questions on the mysteries of\nthe _Being_ and the transformations of the _imperishable_.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen after having blown out his lamp he must light it again, and set\nat liberty the bad spirits shut out from the place by the magical\ncircles, and leave the sanctuary of the Pitris.\u201d[45]\n\nThe school of Iamblichus was distinct from that of Plotinus and\nPorphyry, who were strongly against ceremonial magic and practical\ntheurgy as dangerous, though these two eminent men firmly believed in\nboth. \u201cThe _theurgic_ or _benevolent_ magic, the Go\u00ebtic, or dark and\nevil necromancy, were alike in pre\u00ebminent repute _during the first\ncentury_ of the Christian era.\u201d[46] But never have any of the highly\nmoral and pious philosophers, whose fame has descended to us spotless\nof any evil deed, practiced any other kind of magic than the theurgic,\nor _benevolent_, as Bulwer-Lytton terms it. \u201cWhoever is acquainted with\nthe nature _of divinely luminous appearances_ (\u03c6\u03b1\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1) knows also on\nwhat account it is requisite to abstain from all birds (animal food),\nand especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial\nconcerns and to be established with the celestial gods,\u201d says\nPorphyry.[47]\n\nThough he refused to practice theurgy himself, Porphyry, in his _Life\nof Plotinus_, mentions a priest of Egypt, who, \u201cat the request of a\ncertain friend of Plotinus (which friend was perhaps Porphyry himself,\nremarks T. Taylor), exhibited to Plotinus, in the temple of Isis at\nRome, the familiar daimon, or, in modern language, the _guardian angel_\nof that philosopher.\u201d[48]\n\nThe popular, prevailing idea was that the theurgists, as well as the\nmagicians, worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the\nheroes and gods, and doing other thaumaturgic works by supernatural\npowers.\n\nYAJNA.\u2014\u201cThe Yajna,\u201d say the Brahmans, exists from eternity, for it {xliv}\nproceeded forth from the Supreme One, the _Brahma-Prajap\u00e2ti_, in whom\nit lay dormant from \u201c_no_ beginning.\u201d It is the key to the TRAIVIDYA,\nthe thrice sacred science contained in the Rig verses, which teaches\nthe Yagus or sacrificial mysteries. \u201cThe Yajna\u201d exists as an invisible\nthing at all times; it is like the latent power of electricity in\nan electrifying machine, requiring only the operation of a suitable\napparatus in order to be elicited. It is supposed to extend from the\n_Ahavaniya_ or sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or\nladder by means of which the sacrificer can communicate with the world\nof gods and spirits, and even ascend when alive to their abodes.[49]\n\nThis _Yajna_ is again one of the forms of the Ak\u00e1sa, and the mystic\nword calling it into existence and pronounced mentally by the initiated\nPriest is the _Lost Word_ receiving impulse through WILL-POWER.\n\nTo complete the list, we will now add that in the course of the\nfollowing chapters, whenever we use the term _Archaic_, we mean before\nthe time of Pythagoras; when _Ancient_, before the time of Mahomet; and\nwhen _Medi\u00e6val_, the period between Mahomet and Martin Luther. It will\nonly be necessary to infringe the rule when from time to time we may\nhave to speak of nations of a pre-Pythagorean antiquity, and will adopt\nthe common custom of calling them \u201cancient.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nBefore closing this initial chapter, we venture to say a few words in\nexplanation of the plan of this work. Its object is not to force upon\nthe public the personal views or theories of its author; nor has it the\npretensions of a scientific work, which aims at creating a revolution\nin some department of thought. It is rather a brief summary of the\nreligions, philosophies, and universal traditions of human kind, and\nthe exegesis of the same, in the spirit of those secret doctrines, of\nwhich none\u2014thanks to prejudice and bigotry\u2014have reached Christendom\nin so unmutilated a form, as to secure it a fair judgment. Since the\ndays of the unlucky medi\u00e6val philosophers, the last to write upon these\nsecret doctrines of which they were the depositaries, few men have\ndared to brave persecution and prejudice by placing their knowledge\nupon record. And these few have never, as a rule, written for the\npublic, but only for those of their own and succeeding times who\npossessed the key to their jargon. The multitude, not understanding\nthem or their doctrines, have been accustomed to regard them _en\nmasse_ as either charlatans or dreamers. Hence the unmerited contempt\ninto which the study of the noblest of sciences\u2014that of the spiritual\nman\u2014has gradually fallen.\n\nIn undertaking to inquire into the assumed infallibility of Modern {xlv}\nScience and Theology, the author has been forced, even at the risk of\nbeing thought discursive, to make constant comparison of the ideas,\nachievements, and pretensions of their representatives, with those\nof the ancient philosophers and religious teachers. Things the most\nwidely separated as to time, have thus been brought into immediate\njuxtaposition, for only thus could the priority and parentage of\ndiscoveries and dogmas be determined. In discussing the merits of\nour scientific contemporaries, their own confessions of failure in\nexperimental research, of baffling mysteries, of missing links in\ntheir chains of theory, of inability to comprehend natural phenomena,\nof ignorance of the laws of the causal world, have furnished the\nbasis for the present study. Especially (since Psychology has been\nso much neglected, and the East is so far away that few of our\ninvestigators will ever get there to study that science where alone it\nis understood), we will review the speculations and policy of noted\nauthorities in connection with those modern psychological phenomena\nwhich began at Rochester and have now overspread the world. _We wish\nto show how inevitable were their innumerable failures, and how they\nmust continue until these pretended authorities of the West go to the\nBrahmans and Lamaists of the far Orient, and respectfully ask them to\nimpart the alphabet of true science._ We have laid no charge against\nscientists that is not supported by their own published admissions, and\nif our citations from the records of antiquity rob some of what they\nhave hitherto viewed as well-earned laurels, the fault is not ours but\nTruth\u2019s. No man worthy of the name of philosopher would care to wear\nhonors that rightfully belong to another.\n\nDeeply sensible of the Titanic struggle that is now in progress between\nmaterialism and the spiritual aspirations of mankind, our constant\nendeavor has been to gather into our several chapters, like weapons\ninto armories, every fact and argument that can be used to aid the\nlatter in defeating the former. Sickly and deformed child as it now is,\nthe materialism of To-Day is born of the brutal Yesterday. Unless its\ngrowth is arrested, it may become our master. It is the bastard progeny\nof the French Revolution and its reaction against ages of religious\nbigotry and repression. To prevent the crushing of these spiritual\naspirations, the blighting of these hopes, and the deadening of that\nintuition which teaches us of a God and a hereafter, we must show our\nfalse theologies in their naked deformity, and distinguish between\ndivine religion and human dogmas. Our voice is raised for spiritual\nfreedom, and our plea made for enfranchisement from all tyranny,\nwhether of SCIENCE or THEOLOGY.\n\n\n\n\n THE VEIL OF ISIS. {1}\n\n\n\n\n _PART ONE.\u2014SCIENCE._\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n \u201cEgo sum qui sum.\u201d\n\n \u2014_An axiom of Hermetic Philosophy._\n\n \u201cWe commenced research where modern conjecture closes its\n faithless wings. And with us, these were the common elements of\n science which the sages of to-day disdain as wild chimeras, or\n despair of as unfathomable mysteries.\u201cBULWER\u2019S \u201cZANONI.\u201d\n\n\nThere exists somewhere in this wide world an old Book\u2014so very old that\nour modern antiquarians might ponder over its pages an indefinite time,\nand still not quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which it\nis written. It is the only original copy now in existence. The most\nancient Hebrew document on occult learning\u2014the _Siphra Dzeniouta_\u2014was\ncompiled from it, and that at a time when the former was already\nconsidered in the light of a literary relic. One of its illustrations\nrepresents the Divine Essence emanating from ADAM[50] like a luminous\narc proceeding to form a circle; and then, having attained the highest\npoint of its circumference, the ineffable Glory bends back again, and\nreturns to earth, bringing a higher type of humanity in its vortex. As\nit approaches nearer and nearer to our planet, the Emanation becomes\nmore and more shadowy, until upon touching the ground it is as black as\nnight.\n\nA conviction, founded upon _seventy_ thousand years of experience,[51]\nas they allege, has been entertained by hermetic philosophers of all\nperiods that matter has in time become, through sin, more gross and\ndense than it was at man\u2019s first formation; that, at the beginning, {2}\nthe human body was of a half-ethereal nature; and that, before the\nfall, mankind communed freely with the now unseen universes. But since\nthat time matter has become the formidable barrier between us and the\nworld of spirits. The oldest esoteric traditions also teach that,\nbefore the mystic Adam, many races of human beings lived and died\nout, each giving place in its turn to another. Were these precedent\ntypes more perfect? Did any of them belong to the _winged_ race of men\nmentioned by Plato in _Ph\u00e6drus_? It is the special province of science\nto solve the problem. The caves of France and the relics of the stone\nage afford a point at which to begin.\n\nAs the cycle proceeded, man\u2019s eyes were more and more opened, until\nhe came to know \u201cgood and evil\u201d as well as the Elohim themselves.\nHaving reached its summit, the cycle began to go downward. When the arc\nattained a certain point which brought it parallel with the fixed line\nof our terrestrial plane, the man was furnished by nature with \u201ccoats\nof _skin_,\u201d and the Lord God \u201cclothed them.\u201d\n\nThis same belief in the pre-existence of a far more spiritual race\nthan the one to which we now belong can be traced back to the earliest\ntraditions of nearly every people. In the ancient Quich\u00e9 manuscript,\npublished by Brasseur de Bourbourg\u2014the _Popol Vuh_\u2014the first men are\nmentioned as a race that could reason and speak, whose sight was\nunlimited, and who knew all things at once. According to Philo Jud\u00e6us,\nthe air is filled with an invisible host of spirits, some of whom are\nfree from evil and immortal, and others are pernicious and mortal.\n\u201cFrom the sons of EL we are descended, and sons of El must we become\nagain.\u201d And the unequivocal statement of the anonymous Gnostic who\nwrote _The Gospel according to John_, that \u201cas many as received Him,\u201d\n_i.e._, who followed practically the esoteric doctrine of Jesus, would\n\u201cbecome the sons of God,\u201d points to the same belief. (i., 12.) \u201cKnow ye\nnot, ye are _gods_?\u201d exclaimed the Master. Plato describes admirably\nin _Ph\u00e6drus_ the state in which man once was, and what he will become\nagain: before, and after the \u201closs of his wings;\u201d when \u201che lived among\nthe gods, a god himself in the airy world.\u201d From the remotest periods\nreligious philosophies taught that the whole universe was filled with\ndivine and spiritual beings of divers races. From one of these evolved,\nin the course of time, ADAM, the primitive man.\n\nThe Kalmucks and some tribes of Siberia also describe in their legends\nearlier creations than our present race. These beings, they say, were\npossessed of almost boundless knowledge, and in their audacity even\nthreatened rebellion against the Great Chief Spirit. To punish their\npresumption and humble them, he imprisoned them _in bodies_, and so {3}\nshut in their senses. From these they can escape but through long\nrepentance, self-purification, and development. Their _Shamans_, they\nthink, occasionally enjoy the divine powers originally possessed by all\nhuman beings.\n\nThe Astor Library of New York has recently been enriched by a\nfac-simile of an Egyptian Medical Treatise, written in the sixteenth\ncentury B.C. (or, more precisely, 1552 B.C.), which, according to\nthe commonly received chronology, is the time when Moses was just\ntwenty-one years of age. The original is written upon the inner bark\nof _Cyperus papyrus_, and has been pronounced by Professor Schenk, of\nLeipsig, not only genuine, but also the most perfect ever seen. It\nconsists of a single sheet of yellow-brown papyrus of finest quality,\nthree-tenths of a metre wide, more than twenty metres long, and\nforming one roll divided into one hundred and ten pages, all carefully\nnumbered. It was purchased in Egypt, in 1872-3, by the arch\u00e6ologist\nEbers, of \u201ca well-to-do Arab from Luxor.\u201d The New York _Tribune_,\ncommenting upon the circumstance, says: The papyrus \u201cbears internal\nevidence of being one of the six _Hermetic Books on Medicine_, named by\nClement of Alexandria.\u201d\n\nThe editor further says: \u201cAt the time of Iamblichus, A.D. 363, the\npriests of Egypt showed forty-two books which they attributed to Hermes\n(Thuti). Of these, according to that author, thirty-six contained the\nhistory of all human knowledge; the last six treated of anatomy, of\npathology, of affections of the eye, instruments of surgery, and of\nmedicines.[52] The _Papyrus Ebers_ is indisputably one of these ancient\nHermetic works.\u201d\n\nIf so clear a ray of light has been thrown upon ancient Egyptian\nscience, by the accidental (?) encounter of the German arch\u00e6ologist\nwith one \u201cwell-to-do Arab\u201d from Luxor, how can we know what sunshine\nmay be let in upon the dark crypts of history by an equally accidental\nmeeting between some other prosperous Egyptian and another enterprising\nstudent of antiquity!\n\n_The discoveries of modern science do not disagree with the oldest\ntraditions which claim an incredible antiquity for our race._ Within\nthe last few years geology, which previously had only conceded that\nman could be traced as far back as the tertiary period, has found\nunanswerable proofs that human existence antedates the last glaciation\nof Europe\u2014over 250,000 years! A hard nut, this, for Patristic Theology\nto crack; but an accepted fact with the ancient philosophers.\n\nMoreover, fossil implements have been exhumed together with human {4}\nremains, which show that man hunted in those remote times, and knew how\nto build a fire. But the forward step has not yet been taken in this\nsearch for the origin of the race; science comes to a dead stop, and\nwaits for future proofs. Unfortunately, anthropology and psychology\npossess no Cuvier; neither geologists nor arch\u00e6ologists are able to\nconstruct, from the fragmentary bits hitherto discovered, the perfect\nskeleton of the triple man\u2014physical, intellectual, and spiritual.\nBecause the fossil implements of man are found to become more rough\nand uncouth as geology penetrates deeper into the bowels of the earth,\nit seems a proof to science that the closer we come to the origin of\nman, the more savage and brute-like he must be. Strange logic! Does\nthe finding of the remains in the cave of Devon prove that there\nwere no contemporary races then who were highly civilized? When the\npresent population of the earth have disappeared, and some arch\u00e6ologist\nbelonging to the \u201ccoming race\u201d of the distant future shall excavate the\ndomestic implements of one of our Indian or Andaman Island tribes, will\nhe be justified in concluding that mankind in the nineteenth century\nwas \u201cjust emerging from the Stone Age?\u201d\n\nIt has lately been the fashion to speak of \u201cthe untenable conceptions\nof an uncultivated past.\u201d _As though it were possible to hide behind\nan epigram the intellectual quarries out of which the reputations of\nso many modern philosophers have been carved!_ Just as Tyndall is\never ready to disparage ancient philosophers\u2014for a dressing-up of\nwhose ideas more than one distinguished scientist has derived honor\nand credit\u2014so the geologists seem more and more inclined to take for\ngranted that all of the archaic races were contemporaneously in a state\nof dense barbarism. But not all of our best authorities agree in this\nopinion. Some of the most eminent maintain exactly the reverse. Max\nM\u00fcller, for instance, says: \u201cMany things are still unintelligible to\nus, and the hieroglyphic language of antiquity records but half of the\nmind\u2019s unconscious intentions. Yet more and more the image of man, in\nwhatever clime we meet him, rises before us, noble and pure from the\nvery beginning; even his errors we learn to understand, even his dreams\nwe begin to interpret. As far as we can trace back the footsteps of\nman, even on the lowest strata of history, we see the divine gift of\na sound and sober intellect belonging to him from the very first, and\nthe idea of a humanity emerging slowly from the depths of an animal\nbrutality can never be maintained again.\u201d[53]\n\nAs it is claimed to be unphilosophical to inquire into first causes, {5}\nscientists now occupy themselves with considering their physical\neffects. The field of scientific investigation is therefore bounded by\nphysical nature. When once its limits are reached, enquiry must stop,\nand their work be recommenced. With all due respect to our learned\nmen, they are like the squirrel upon its revolving wheel, for they\nare doomed to turn their \u201cmatter\u201d over and over again. Science is a\nmighty potency, and it is not for us pigmies to question her. But the\n\u201c_scientists_\u201d are not themselves science embodied any more than the\nmen of our planet are the planet itself. We have neither the right to\ndemand, nor power to compel our \u201cmodern-day philosopher\u201d to accept\nwithout challenge a geographical description of the dark side of the\nmoon. But, if in some lunar cataclysm one of her inhabitants should be\nhurled thence into the attraction of our atmosphere, and land, safe and\nsound, at Dr. Carpenter\u2019s door, he would be indictable as recreant to\nprofessional duty if he should fail to set the physical problem at rest.\n\nFor a man of science to refuse an opportunity to investigate any new\nphenomenon, whether it comes to him in the shape of a man from the\nmoon, or a ghost from the Eddy homestead, is alike reprehensible.\n\nWhether arrived at by the method of Aristotle, or that of Plato, we\nneed not stop to inquire; but it is a fact that both the inner and\nouter natures of man are claimed to have been thoroughly understood by\nthe ancient andrologists. Notwithstanding the superficial hypotheses\nof geologists, we are beginning to have almost daily proofs in\ncorroboration of the assertions of those philosophers.\n\n_They divided the interminable periods of human existence on this\nplanet into cycles, during each of which mankind gradually reached\nthe culminating point of highest civilization and gradually relapsed\ninto abject barbarism._ To what eminence the race in its progress had\nseveral times arrived may be feebly surmised by the wonderful monuments\nof old, still visible, and the descriptions given by Herodotus of\nother marvels of which no traces now remain. Even in his days the\ngigantic structures of many pyramids and world-famous temples were\nbut masses of ruins. Scattered by the unrelenting hand of time, they\nare described by the Father of History as \u201cthese venerable witnesses\nof the long bygone glory of departed ancestors.\u201d He \u201cshrinks from\nspeaking of divine things,\u201d and gives to posterity but an imperfect\ndescription from hearsay of some marvellous subterranean chambers of\nthe Labyrinth, where lay\u2014and now lie\u2014concealed, the sacred remains of\nthe King-Initiates.\n\nWe can judge, moreover, of the lofty civilization reached in some {6}\nperiods of antiquity by the historical descriptions of the ages of the\nPtolemies, yet in that epoch the arts and sciences were considered to\nbe degenerating, and the secret of a number of the former had been\nalready lost. In the recent excavations of Mariette-Bey, at the foot of\nthe Pyramids, statues of wood and other relics have been exhumed, which\nshow that long before the period of the first dynasties the Egyptians\nhad attained to a refinement and perfection which is calculated to\nexcite the wonder of even the most ardent admirers of Grecian art.\nBayard Taylor describes these statues in one of his lectures, and tells\nus that the beauty of the heads, ornamented with eyes of precious\nstones and copper eyelids, is unsurpassed. Far below the stratum of\nsand in which lay the remains gathered into the collections of Lepsius,\nAbbott, and the British Museum, were found buried the tangible proofs\nof the hermetic doctrine of cycles which has been already explained.\n\nDr. Schliemann, the enthusiastic Hellenist, has recently found, in his\nexcavations in the Troad, abundant evidences of the same gradual change\nfrom barbarism to civilization, and from civilization to barbarism\nagain. Why then should we feel so reluctant to admit the possibility\nthat, if the antediluvians were so much better versed than ourselves in\ncertain sciences as to have been perfectly acquainted with important\narts, which we now term _lost_, they might have equally excelled in\npsychological knowledge? Such a hypothesis must be considered as\nreasonable as any other until some countervailing evidence shall be\ndiscovered to destroy it.\n\nEvery true _savant_ admits that in many respects human knowledge is yet\nin its infancy. Can it be that our cycle began in ages comparatively\nrecent? _These cycles_, according to the Chaldean philosophy, _do\nnot embrace all mankind at one and the same time_. Professor Draper\npartially corroborates this view by saying that the periods into which\ngeology has \u201cfound it convenient to divide the progress of man in\ncivilization are not abrupt epochs which hold good simultaneously for\nthe whole human race;\u201d giving as an instance the \u201cwandering Indians of\nAmerica,\u201d who \u201care only at the present moment emerging from the stone\nage.\u201d Thus more than once scientific men have unwittingly confirmed the\ntestimony of the ancients.\n\nAny Kabalist well acquainted with the Pythagorean system of numerals\nand geometry can demonstrate that the metaphysical views of Plato were\nbased upon the strictest mathematical principles. \u201cTrue mathematics,\u201d\nsays the _Magicon_, \u201cis something with which all higher sciences are\nconnected; common mathematics is but a deceitful phantasmagoria, whose\nmuch-praised infallibility only arises from this\u2014that materials, {7}\nconditions, and references are made its foundation.\u201d Scientists who\nbelieve they have adopted the Aristotelian method only because they\ncreep when they do not run from demonstrated particulars to universals,\nglorify this method of inductive philosophy, and reject that of Plato,\nwhich they treat as unsubstantial. Professor Draper laments that\nsuch speculative mystics as Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus should have\ntaken the place \u201cof the severe geometers of the old museum.\u201d[54] He\nforgets that geometry, of all sciences the only one which proceeds from\nuniversals to particulars, was precisely the method employed by Plato\nin his philosophy. As long as exact science confines its observations\nto physical conditions and proceeds Aristotle-like, it certainly cannot\nfail. But notwithstanding that the world of matter is boundless for\nus, it still is finite; and thus materialism will turn forever in\nthis vitiated circle, unable to soar higher than the circumference\nwill permit. The cosmological theory of numerals which Pythagoras\nlearned from the Egyptian hierophants, is alone able to reconcile the\ntwo units, matter and spirit, and cause each to demonstrate the other\nmathematically.\n\nThe sacred numbers of the universe in their esoteric combination solve\nthe great problem and explain the theory of radiation and the cycle of\nthe emanations. The lower orders before they develop into higher ones\nmust emanate from the higher spiritual ones, and when arrived at the\nturning-point, be reabsorbed again into the infinite.\n\nPhysiology, like everything else in this world of constant evolution,\nis subject to the cyclic revolution. As it now seems to be hardly\nemerging from the shadows of the lower arc, so it may be one day proved\nto have been at the highest point of the circumference of the circle\nfar earlier than the days of Pythagoras.\n\nMochus, the Sidonian, the physiologist and teacher of the science of\nanatomy, flourished long before the Sage of Samos; and the latter\nreceived the sacred instructions from his disciples and descendants.\nPythagoras, the pure philosopher, the deeply-versed in the profounder\nphenomena of nature, the noble inheritor of the ancient lore, whose\ngreat aim was to free the soul from the fetters of sense and force it\nto realize its powers, must live eternally in human memory.\n\n_The impenetrable veil of arcane secrecy was thrown over the sciences\ntaught in the sanctuary._ This is the cause of the modern depreciating\nof the ancient philosophies. Even Plato and Philo Jud\u00e6us have been\naccused by many a commentator of absurd inconsistencies, whereas the {8}\ndesign which underlies the maze of metaphysical contradictions so\nperplexing to the reader of the _Tim\u00e6us_, is but too evident. But has\nPlato ever been read understandingly by one of the expounders of the\nclassics? This is a question warranted by the criticisms to be found in\nsuch authors as Stalba\u00fcm, Schleirmacher, Ficinus (Latin translation),\nHeindorf, Sydenham, Buttmann, Taylor and Burges, to say nothing of\nlesser authorities. The covert allusions of the Greek philosopher to\nesoteric things have manifestly baffled these commentators to the last\ndegree. They not only with unblushing coolness suggest as to certain\ndifficult passages that another phraseology was evidently intended, but\nthey audaciously make the changes! The Orphic line:\n\n \u201cOf the song, the order of the _sixth race_ close\u201d\n\nwhich can only be interpreted as a reference to the _sixth_ race\nevolved in the consecutive evolution of the spheres,[55] Burges says: \u201c\n... was evidently taken from a cosmogony _where man was feigned to be\ncreated the last_.\u201d[56]\u2014Ought not one who undertakes to edit another\u2019s\nworks at least understand what his author means?\n\nIndeed, the ancient philosophers seem to be generally held, even by the\nleast prejudiced of our modern critics, to have lacked that profundity\nand thorough knowledge in the exact sciences of which our century is\nso boastful. It is even questioned whether they understood that basic\nscientific principle: _ex nihilo nihil fit_. If they suspected the\nindestructibility of matter at all,\u2014say these commentators\u2014it was not\nin consequence of a firmly-established formula but only through an\nintuitional reasoning and by analogy.\n\nWe hold to the contrary opinion. The speculations of these philosophers\nupon matter were open to public criticism: but their teachings in\nregard to spiritual things were profoundly esoteric. Being thus sworn\nto secrecy and religious silence upon abstruse subjects involving the\nrelations of spirit and matter, they rivalled each other in their\ningenious methods for concealing their real opinions.\n\nThe doctrine of _Metempsychosis_ has been abundantly ridiculed by men\nof science and rejected by theologians, yet if it had been properly\nunderstood in its application to the indestructibility of matter and\nthe immortality of spirit, it would have been perceived that it is\na sublime conception. Should we not first regard the subject from {9}\nthe standpoint of the ancients before venturing to disparage its\nteachers? The solution of the great problem of _eternity_ belongs\nneither to religious superstition nor to gross materialism. The harmony\nand mathematical equiformity of the double evolution\u2014spiritual and\nphysical\u2014are elucidated only in the universal numerals of Pythagoras,\nwho built his system entirely upon the so-called \u201cmetrical speech\u201d\nof the Hindu _Vedas_. It is but lately that one of the most zealous\nSanskrit scholars, Martin Haug, undertook the translation of the\n_Aitareya Brahmana_ of the _Rig-Veda_. It had been till that time\nentirely unknown; these explanations indicate beyond dispute the\nidentity of the Pythagorean and Brahmanical systems. In both, the\nesoteric significance is derived from the number: in the former,\nfrom the mystic relation of every number to everything intelligible\nto the human mind; in the latter, from the number of syllables\nof which each verse in the _Mantras_ consists. Plato, the ardent\ndisciple of Pythagoras, realized it so fully as to maintain that the\nDodecahedron was the geometrical figure employed by the _Demiurgus_\nin constructing the universe. Some of these figures had a peculiarly\nsolemn significance. For instance _four_, of which the Dodecahedron\nis the trine, was held sacred by the Pythagoreans. It is the perfect\nsquare, and neither of the bounding lines exceeds the other in length,\nby a single point. It is the emblem of moral justice and divine equity\ngeometrically expressed. All the powers and great symphonies of\nphysical and spiritual nature lie inscribed within the perfect square;\nand the ineffable name of Him, which name otherwise, would remain\nunutterable, was replaced by this sacred number ~4~ the most binding\nand solemn oath with the ancient mystics\u2014the _Tetractys_.\n\nIf the Pythagorean metempsychosis should be thoroughly explained\nand compared with the modern theory of evolution, it would be found\nto supply every \u201cmissing link\u201d in the chain of the latter. But who\nof our scientists would consent to lose his precious time over the\nvagaries of the ancients. Notwithstanding proofs to the contrary, they\nnot only deny that the nations of the archaic periods, but even the\nancient philosophers had any positive knowledge of the Heliocentric\nsystem. The \u201cVenerable Bedes,\u201d the Augustines and Lactantii appear to\nhave smothered, with their dogmatic ignorance, all faith in the more\nancient theologists of the pre-Christian centuries. But now philology\nand a closer acquaintance with Sanskrit literature have partially\nenabled us to vindicate them from these unmerited imputations. In the\n_Vedas_, for instance, we find positive proof that so long ago as 2000\nB.C., the Hindu sages and scholars must have been acquainted with the\nrotundity of our globe and the Heliocentric system. Hence, Pythagoras\nand Plato knew well this astronomical truth; for Pythagoras obtained {10}\nhis knowledge in India, or from men who had been there, and Plato\nfaithfully echoed his teachings. We will quote two passages from the\n_Aitareya Brahmana_:\n\nIn the \u201c_Serpent-Mantra_,\u201d[57] the _Brahmana_ declares as follows:\nthat this _Mantra_ is that one which was seen by the Queen of the\nSerpents, _Sarpa-r\u00e2jni_; because the earth (_iyam_) is the Queen of the\nSerpents, as she is the mother and queen of all that moves (_sarpat_).\nIn the beginning she (the earth) was but one head (round), without\nhair (_bald_), _i.e._, without vegetation. She then perceived this\n_Mantra_ which confers upon him who knows it, the power of assuming\nany form which he might desire. She \u201cpronounced the _Mantra_,\u201d _i.e._,\nsacrificed to the gods; and, in consequence, immediately obtained a\nmotley appearance; she became variegated, and able to produce any form\nshe might like, _changing one form into another_. This _Mantra_ begins\nwith the words: \u201c_Ayam ga\u00fbh pris\u2019nir akram\u00eet_\u201d (x., 189).\n\nThe description of the earth in the shape of a _round_ and _bald_ head,\nwhich was _soft_ at first, and became _hard_ only from being breathed\nupon by the god V\u00e2yu, the lord of the air, forcibly suggests the idea\nthat the authors of the sacred Vedic books knew the earth to be _round_\nor spherical; moreover, that it had been a _gelatinous_ mass at first,\nwhich gradually cooled off under the influence of the air and time. So\nmuch for their knowledge about our globe\u2019s sphericity; and now we will\npresent the testimony upon which we base our assertion, that the Hindus\nwere perfectly acquainted with the Heliocentric system, at least 2000\nyears B.C.\n\nIn the same treatise the _Hotar_, (priest), is taught how the\n_Shastras_ should be repeated, and how the phenomena of sunrise and\nsunset are to be explained. It says: \u201cThe Agnishtoma is that one (that\ngod) who burns. The sun _never sets nor rises_. When people think the\nsun is setting, it is _not so_; they are mistaken. For after having\narrived at the end of the day, it produces two opposite effects, making\nnight to what is below, and day to what is on the other side. When\nthey (the people) believe it rises in the morning, the sun only does\nthus: having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two\nopposite effects, making day to what is below, and night to what is on\nthe other side. In fact the sun never sets; nor does it set for him who\nhas such a knowledge....\u201d[58]\n\nThis sentence is so conclusive, that even the translator of the\n_Rig-Veda_, Dr. Haug, was forced to remark it. He says this passage\ncontains \u201cthe _denial_ of the existence of sunrise and sunset,\u201d\nand that the author supposes the sun \u201cto remain always in its high\nposition.\u201d[59]\n\nIn one of the earliest _Nivids_, Rishi Kutsa, a Hindu sage of the {11}\nremotest antiquity, explains the allegory of the first laws given to\nthe celestial bodies. For doing \u201cwhat she ought not to do,\u201d An\u00e2hit\n(Ana\u00eftis or Nana, the Persian Venus), representing the earth in\nthe legend, is sentenced to turn round the sun. The _Sattras_, or\nsacrificial sessions[60] prove undoubtedly that so early as in the\neighteenth or twentieth century B.C., the Hindus had made considerable\nprogress in astronomical science. The _Sattras_ lasted one year, and\nwere \u201cnothing but an imitation of the sun\u2019s yearly course. They were\ndivided, says Haug, into two distinct parts, each consisting of six\nmonths of thirty days each; in the midst of both was the _Vishuvan_\n(equator or central day), cutting the whole _Sattras_ into two halves,\netc.\u201d[61] This scholar, although he ascribes the composition of the\nbulk of the _Brahmanas_ to the period 1400-1200 B.C., is of opinion\nthat the oldest of the hymns may be placed at the very commencement of\nVedic literature, between the years 2400-2000, B.C. He finds no reason\nfor considering the _Vedas_ less ancient than the sacred books of the\nChinese. As the _Shu-King_ or _Book of History_, and the sacrificial\nsongs of the _Shi-King_, or _Book of Odes_, have been proved to have\nan antiquity as early as 2200, B.C., our philologists may yet be\ncompelled before long to acknowledge, that in astronomical knowledge,\nthe antediluvian Hindus were their masters.\n\nAt all events, there are facts which prove that certain astronomical\ncalculations were as correct with the Chaldeans in the days of Julius\nC\u00e6sar as they are now. When the calendar was reformed by the Conqueror,\nthe civil year was found to correspond so little with the seasons, that\nsummer had merged into the autumn months, and the autumn months into\nfull winter. It was Sosigenes, the Chaldean astronomer, who restored\norder into the confusion, by putting back the 25th of March ninety\ndays, thus making it correspond with the vernal equinox; and it was\nSosigenes, again, who fixed the lengths of the months _as they now\nremain_.\n\nIn America, it was found by the Motezuman army, that the calendar of\nthe Aztecs gave an equal number of days and weeks to each month. The\nextreme accuracy of their astronomical calculations was so great,\nthat _no error_ has been discovered in their reckoning by subsequent\nverifications; while the Europeans, who landed in Mexico in 1519, were,\nby the Julian calendar, nearly eleven days in advance of the exact time.\n\nIt is to the priceless and accurate translations of the Vedic Books,\nand to the personal researches of Dr. Haug, that we are indebted for {12}\nthe corroboration of the claims of the hermetic philosophers. That the\nperiod of Zarathustra Spitama (Zoroaster) was of untold antiquity, can\nbe easily proved. The _Brahmanas_, to which Haug ascribes four thousand\nyears, describe the religious contest between the ancient Hindus, who\nlived in the pre-Vedic period, and the Iranians. The battles between\nthe _Devas_ and the _Asuras_\u2014the former representing the _Hindus_ and\nthe latter the Iranians\u2014are described at length in the sacred books.\nAs the Iranian prophet was the first to raise himself against what\nhe called the \u201cidolatry\u201d of the Brahmans, and to designate them as\nthe _Devas_ (devils), how far back must then have been this religious\ncrisis?\n\n\u201cThis contest,\u201d answers Dr. Haug, \u201cmust have appeared to the authors of\nthe _Brahmanas_ as old as the feats of King Arthur appear to English\nwriters of the nineteenth century.\u201d\n\nThere was not a philosopher of any notoriety who did not hold to this\ndoctrine of metempsychosis, as taught by the Brahmans, Buddhists, and\nlater by the Pythagoreans, in its esoteric sense, whether he expressed\nit more or less intelligibly. Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus,\nSynesius and Chalcidius, all believed in it; and the Gnostics, who are\nunhesitatingly proclaimed by history as a body of the most refined,\nlearned, and enlightened men,[62] were all believers in metempsychosis.\nSocrates entertained opinions identical with those of Pythagoras; and\nboth, as the penalty of their divine philosophy, were put to a violent\ndeath. The rabble has been the same in all ages. Materialism has been,\nand will ever be blind to spiritual truths. These philosophers held,\nwith the Hindus, that God had infused into matter a portion of his own\nDivine Spirit, which animates and moves every particle. They taught\nthat men have _two souls_, of separate and quite different natures:\nthe one perishable\u2014the Astral Soul, or the inner, fluidic body\u2014the\nother incorruptible and immortal\u2014the _Augoeides_, or portion of the\nDivine Spirit; that the mortal or Astral Soul perishes at each gradual\nchange at the threshold of every new sphere, becoming with every\ntransmigration more purified. The astral man, intangible and invisible\nas he might be to our mortal, earthly senses, is still constituted\nof matter, though sublimated. Aristotle, notwithstanding that for\npolitical reasons of his own he maintained a prudent silence as to\ncertain esoteric matters, expressed very clearly his opinion on the\nsubject. It was his belief that human souls are emanations of God, that\nare finally reabsorbed into Divinity. Zeno, the founder of the Stoics,\ntaught that there are \u201ctwo eternal qualities throughout nature: the\none active; or male, the other passive, or female: that the former {13}\nis pure, subtile ether, or Divine Spirit; the other entirely inert in\nitself till united with the active principle. That the Divine Spirit\nacting upon matter produced fire, water, earth, and air; and that it is\nthe sole efficient principle by which all nature is moved. The Stoics,\nlike the Hindu sages, believed in the final absorption. St. Justin\nbelieved in the emanation of these souls from Divinity, and Tatian,\nthe Assyrian, his disciple, declared that \u201cman was as immortal as God\nhimself.\u201d[63]\n\nThat profoundly significant verse of the _Genesis_, \u201cAnd to every beast\nof the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that\ncreepeth upon the earth, I gave _a living soul_, ...\u201d should arrest the\nattention of every Hebrew scholar capable of reading the Scripture in\nits original, instead of following the erroneous translation, in which\nthe phrase reads, \u201cwherein _there is life_.\u201d[64]\n\nFrom the first to the last chapters, the translators of the Jewish\nSacred Books misconstrued this meaning. They have even changed the\nspelling of the name of God, as Sir W. Drummond proves. Thus _El_,\nif written correctly, would read _Al_, for it stands in the original\n\u05d0\u05dc\u2014Al, and, according to Higgins, this word means the god Mithra, the\n_Sun_, the preserver and savior. Sir W. Drummond shows that _Beth-El_\nmeans the House of the _Sun_ in its literal translation, and not of\nGod. \u201c_El_, in the composition of these Canaanite names, does not\nsignify _Deus_, but _Sol_.\u201d[65] Thus Theology has disfigured ancient\nTheosophy, and Science ancient Philosophy.[66]\n\nFor lack of comprehension of this great philosophical principle, the\nmethods of modern science, however exact, must end in nullity. In\nno one branch can it demonstrate the origin and ultimate of things.\nInstead of tracing the effect from its primal source, its progress is\nthe reverse. Its higher types, as it teaches, are all evolved from\nantecedent lower ones. It starts from the bottom of the cycle, led on\nstep by step in the great labyrinth of nature by a thread of matter.\nAs soon as this breaks and the clue is lost, it recoils in affright {14}\nfrom the Incomprehensible, and confesses itself _powerless_. Not\nso did Plato and his disciples. With him _the lower types were but\nthe concrete images of the higher abstract ones_. The soul, which\nis immortal, has an arithmetical, as the body has a geometrical,\nbeginning. This beginning, as the reflection of the great universal\nARCH\u00c6US, is self-moving, and from the centre diffuses itself over the\nwhole body of the microcosm.\n\nIt was the sad perception of this truth that made Tyndall confess\nhow powerless is science, even over the world of matter. \u201cThe first\nmarshalling of the atoms, on which all subsequent action depends,\nbaffles a keener power than that of the microscope.\u201d \u201cThrough pure\nexcess of complexity, and long before observation can have any voice\nin the matter, the most highly trained intellect, the most refined\nand disciplined imagination, _retires in bewilderment from the\ncontemplation of the problem_. We are struck dumb by an astonishment\nwhich no microscope can relieve, doubting not only the power of our\ninstrument, but even whether we ourselves possess the intellectual\nelements which will ever enable us to grapple with the ultimate\nstructural energies of nature.\u201d\n\nThe fundamental geometrical figure of the Kabala\u2014that figure which\ntradition and the esoteric doctrines tell us was given by the Deity\nitself to Moses on Mount Sinai[67]\u2014contains in its grandiose, because\nsimple combination, the key to the universal problem. This figure\ncontains in itself all the others. For those who are able to master it,\nthere is no need to exercise imagination. No earthly microscope can be\ncompared with the keenness of the spiritual perception.\n\nAnd even for those who are unacquainted with the GREAT SCIENCE, the\ndescription given by a well-trained child-psychometer of the genesis of\na grain, a fragment of crystal, or any other object\u2014is worth all the\ntelescopes and microscopes of \u201cexact science.\u201d\n\nThere may be more truth in the adventurous pangenesis of Darwin\u2014whom\nTyndall calls a \u201csoaring speculator\u201d than in the cautious, line-bound\nhypothesis of the latter; who, in common with other thinkers of his\nclass, surrounds his imagination \u201cby the firm frontiers of reason.\u201d The\ntheory of a microscopic germ which contains in itself \u201ca world of minor\ngerms,\u201d soars in one sense at least into the infinite. It oversteps the\nworld of matter, and begins unconsciously busying itself in the world\nof spirit.\n\nIf we accept Darwin\u2019s theory of the development of species, we find\nthat his starting-point is placed in front of an open door. We are at\nliberty with him, to either remain within, or cross the threshold, {15}\nbeyond which lies the limitless and the incomprehensible, or rather\nthe _Unutterable_. If our mortal language is inadequate to express what\nour spirit dimly foresees in the great \u201c_Beyond_\u201d while on this earth\u2014it\n_must_ realize it at some point in the timeless Eternity.\n\nNot so with Professor Huxley\u2019s theory of the \u201cPhysical Basis of\nLife.\u201d Regardless of the formidable majority of \u201cnays\u201d from his\nGerman brother-scientists, he creates a universal _protoplasm_ and\nappoints its cells to become henceforth the sacred founts of the\nprinciple of all _life_. By making the latter identical in living man,\n\u201cdead mutton,\u201d a nettle-sting, and a lobster; by shutting in, in the\nmolecular cell of the protoplasm, the life-principle, and by shutting\nout from it the divine influx which comes with subsequent evolution, he\ncloses every door against any possible escape. Like an able tactician\nhe converts his \u201c_laws_ and _facts_\u201d into sentries whom he causes to\nmount guard over every issue. The standard under which he rallies them\nis inscribed with the word \u201cnecessity;\u201d but hardly is it unfurled\nwhen he mocks the legend and calls it \u201can empty shadow of my own\nimagination.\u201d[68]\n\nThe fundamental doctrines of spiritualism, he says, \u201clie outside the\nlimits of philosophical inquiry.\u201d We will be bold enough to contradict\nthis assertion, and say that they lie a great deal more within such\ninquiry than Mr. Huxley\u2019s protoplasm. Insomuch that they present\nevident and palpable facts of the existence of _spirit_, and the\nprotoplasmic cells, _once dead_, present none whatever of being the\noriginators or the bases of life, as this one of the few \u201cforemost\nthinkers of the day\u201d wants us to believe.[69]\n\nThe ancient Kabalist rested upon no hypothesis till he could lay its\nbasis upon the firm rock of recorded experiment.\n\nBut the too great dependence upon physical facts led to a growth of\nmaterialism and a decadence of spirituality and faith. At the time of\nAristotle, this was the prevailing tendency of thought. And though the\nDelphic commandment was not as yet completely eliminated from Grecian\nthought; and some philosophers still held that \u201cin order to know what\nman _is_, we ought to know what man _was_\u201d\u2014 still materialism had already\nbegun to gnaw at the root of faith. The Mysteries themselves had\ndegenerated in a very great degree into mere priestly speculations and\nreligious fraud. Few were the true adepts and initiates, the heirs and\ndescendants of those who had been dispersed by the conquering swords of\nvarious invaders of Old Egypt.\n\nThe time predicted by the great Hermes in his dialogue with \u00c6sculapius {16}\nhad indeed come; the time when impious foreigners would accuse Egypt\nof adoring monsters, and naught but the letters engraved in stone\nupon her monuments would survive\u2014enigmas incredible to posterity.\nTheir sacred scribes and hierophants were wanderers upon the face of\nthe earth. Obliged from fear of a profanation of the sacred mysteries\nto seek refuge among the Hermetic fraternities\u2014known later as the\n_Essenes_\u2014their esoteric knowledge was buried deeper than ever. The\ntriumphant brand of Aristotle\u2019s pupil swept away from his path of\nconquest every vestige of a once pure religion, and Aristotle himself,\nthe type and child of his epoch, though instructed in the secret\nscience of the Egyptians, knew but little of this crowning result of\nmillenniums of esoteric studies.\n\nAs well as those who lived in the days of the Psammetics, our\npresent-day philosophers \u201clift the Veil of Isis\u201d\u2014for Isis is but the\nsymbol of nature. But, they see only her physical forms. The soul\nwithin escapes their view; and the Divine Mother has no answer for\nthem. There are anatomists, who, uncovering to sight no indwelling\nspirit under the layers of muscles, the net-work of nerves, or the\ncineritious matter, which they lift with the point of the scalpel,\nassert that man has no soul. Such are as purblind in sophistry as\nthe student, who, confining his research to the cold letter of the\nKabala, dares say it has no vivifying spirit. To see the true man who\nonce inhabited the subject which lies before him, on the dissecting\ntable, the surgeon must use other eyes than those of his body. So,\nthe glorious truth covered up in the hieratic writings of the ancient\npapyri can be revealed only to him who possesses the faculty of\nintuition\u2014which, if we call reason the eye of the mind, may be defined\nas the eye of the soul.\n\nOur modern science acknowledges a Supreme Power, an Invisible\nPrinciple, but denies a Supreme Being, or Personal God.[70] Logically,\nthe difference between the two might be questioned; for in this case\n_the Power and the Being are identical_. Human reason can hardly\nimagine to itself an Intelligent Supreme Power without associating\nit with the idea of an Intelligent Being. The masses can never be\nexpected to have a clear conception of the omnipotence and omnipresence\nof a Supreme God, without investing with those attributes a gigantic\nprojection of their own personality. But the kabalists have never\nlooked upon the invisible EN-SOPH otherwise than as a _Power_.\n\nSo far our modern positivists have been anticipated by thousands of\nages, in their cautious philosophy. What the hermetic adept claims to\ndemonstrate is, that simple common sense precludes the possibility {17}\nthat the universe is the result of mere chance. Such an idea appears\nto him more absurd than to think that the problems of Euclid were\nunconsciously formed by a monkey playing with geometrical figures.\n\nVery few Christians understand, if indeed they know anything at all,\nof the Jewish Theology. The _Talmud_ is the darkest of enigmas even\nfor most Jews, while those Hebrew scholars who do comprehend it do\nnot boast of their knowledge. Their kabalistic books are still less\nunderstood by them; for in our days more Christian than Jewish students\nare engrossed in the elimination of their great truths. How much less\nis definitely known of the Oriental, or the universal Kabala! Its\nadepts are few; but these heirs elect of the sages who first discovered\n\u201cthe starry truths which shone on the great Shema\u00efa of the Chaldean\nlore\u201d[71] have solved the \u201cabsolute\u201d and are now resting from their\ngrand labor. They cannot go beyond that which is given to mortals of\nthis earth to know; and no one, not even these elect, can trespass\nbeyond the line drawn by the finger of the Divinity itself. Travellers\nhave met these adepts on the shores of the sacred Ganges, brushed\nagainst them in the silent ruins of Thebes, and in the mysterious\ndeserted chambers of Luxor. Within the halls upon whose blue and golden\nvaults the weird signs attract attention, but whose secret meaning is\nnever penetrated by the idle gazers, they have been seen but seldom\nrecognized. Historical memoirs have recorded their presence in the\nbrilliantly illuminated _salons_ of European aristocracy. They have\nbeen encountered again on the arid and desolate plains of the Great\nSahara, as in the caves of Elephanta. They may be found everywhere, but\nmake themselves known only to those who have devoted their lives to\nunselfish study, and are not likely to turn back.\n\nMaimonides, the great Jewish theologian and historian, who at one\ntime was almost deified by his countrymen and afterward treated as a\nheretic, remarks, that the more absurd and void of sense the _Talmud_\nseems the more sublime is the secret meaning. This learned man has\nsuccessfully demonstrated that the Chaldean Magic, the science of Moses\nand other learned thaumaturgists was wholly based on an extensive\nknowledge of the various and now forgotten branches of natural science.\nThoroughly acquainted with all the resources of the vegetable, animal,\nand mineral kingdoms, experts in occult chemistry and physics,\npsychologists as well as physiologists, why wonder that the graduates\nor adepts instructed in the mysterious sanctuaries of the temples,\ncould perform wonders, which even in our days of enlightenment would {18}\nappear supernatural? It is an insult to human nature to brand magic\nand the occult science with the name of imposture. To believe that for\nso many thousands of years, one-half of mankind practiced deception and\nfraud on the other half, is equivalent to saying that the human race\nwas composed only of knaves and incurable idiots. Where is the country\nin which magic was not practiced? At what age was it wholly forgotten?\n\nIn the oldest documents now in our possession\u2014the _Vedas_ and the\nolder laws of Manu\u2014we find many magical rites practiced and permitted\nby the Brahmans.[72] Thibet, Japan and China teach in the present age\nthat which was taught by the oldest Chaldeans. The clergy of these\nrespective countries, prove moreover what they teach, namely: that the\npractice of moral and physical purity, and of certain austerities,\ndevelopes the vital soul power of self-illumination. Affording to man\nthe control over his own immortal spirit, it gives him truly magical\npowers over the elementary spirits inferior to himself. In the West we\nfind magic of as high an antiquity as in the East. The Druids of Great\nBritain practiced it in the silent crypts of their deep caves; and\nPliny devotes many a chapter to the \u201cwisdom\u201d[73] of the leaders of the\nCelts. The Semothees,\u2014the Druids of the Gauls, expounded the physical\nas well as the spiritual sciences. They taught the secrets of the\nuniverse, the harmonious progress of the heavenly bodies, the formation\nof the earth, and above all\u2014the immortality of the soul.[74] Into their\nsacred groves\u2014natural academies built by the hand of the Invisible\nArchitect\u2014the initiates assembled at the still hour of midnight to\nlearn about what man once was and what he will be.[75] They needed\nno artificial illumination, nor life-drawing gas, to light up their\ntemples, for the chaste goddess of night beamed her most silvery rays\non their oak-crowned heads; and their white-robed sacred bards knew how\nto converse with the solitary queen of the starry vault.[76]\n\nOn the dead soil of the long bygone past stand their sacred oaks,\nnow dried up and stripped of their spiritual meaning by the venomous\nbreath of materialism. But for the student of occult learning, their\nvegetation is still as verdant and luxuriant, and as full of deep\nand sacred truths, as at that hour when the arch-druid performed his\nmagical cures, and waving the branch of misletoe, severed with his\ngolden sickle the green bough from its mother oak-tree. _Magic is as\nold as man._ It is as impossible to name the time when it sprang {19}\ninto existence as to indicate on what day the first man himself was\nborn. Whenever a writer has started with the idea of connecting its\nfirst foundation in a country with some historical character, further\nresearch has proved his views groundless. Odin, the Scandinavian priest\nand monarch, was thought by many to have originated the practice of\nmagic some seventy years B.C. But it was easily demonstrated that the\nmysterious rites of the priestesses called _Vo\u00eflers_, _Valas_, were\ngreatly anterior to his age.[77] Some modern authors were bent on\nproving that Zoroaster was the founder of magic, because he was the\nfounder of the Magian religion. Ammianus Marcellinus, Arnobius, Pliny,\nand other ancient historians demonstrated conclusively that he was but\na reformer of Magic as practiced by the Chaldeans and Egyptians.[78]\n\nThe greatest teachers of divinity agree that nearly all ancient books\nwere written symbolically and in a language intelligible only to the\ninitiated. The biographical sketch of Apollonius of Tyana affords an\nexample. As every Kabalist knows, it embraces the whole of the Hermetic\nphilosophy, being a counterpart in many respects of the traditions left\nus of King Solomon. It reads like a fairy story, but, as in the case of\nthe latter, sometimes facts and historical events are presented to the\nworld under the colors of a fiction. The journey to India represents\nallegorically the trials of a neophyte. His long discourses with the\nBrahmans, their sage advice, and the dialogues with the Corinthian\nMenippus would, if interpreted, give the esoteric catechism. His visit\nto the empire of the wise men, and interview with their king Hiarchas,\nthe oracle of Amphiara\u00fcs, explain symbolically many of the secret\ndogmas of Hermes. They would disclose, if understood, some of the\nmost important secrets of nature. Eliphas Levi points out the great\nresemblance which exists between King Hiarchas and the fabulous Hiram,\nof whom Solomon procured the cedars of Lebanon and the gold of Ophir.\nWe would like to know whether modern Masons, even \u201cGrand Lecturers\u201d\nand the most intelligent craftsmen belonging to important lodges,\nunderstand who the _Hiram_ is whose death they combine together to\navenge?\n\nPutting aside the purely metaphysical teachings of the _Kabala_, if one\nwould devote himself but to physical occultism, to the so-called branch\nof therapeutics, the results might benefit some of our modern sciences;\nsuch as chemistry and medicine. Says Professor Draper: \u201cSometimes, {20}\nnot without surprise, we meet with ideas _which we flatter ourselves\noriginated in our own times_.\u201d This remark, uttered in relation to the\nscientific writings of the Saracens, would apply still better to the\nmore secret _Treatises_ of the ancients. Modern medicine, while it\nhas gained largely in anatomy, physiology, and pathology, and even in\ntherapeutics, has lost immensely by its narrowness of spirit, its rigid\nmaterialism, its sectarian dogmatism. One school in its purblindness\nsternly ignores whatever is developed by other schools; and all unite\nin ignoring every grand conception of man or nature, developed by\nMesmerism, or by American experiments on the brain\u2014every principle\nwhich does not conform to a stolid materialism. It would require a\nconvocation of the hostile physicians of the several different schools\nto bring together what is now known of medical science, and it too\noften happens that after the best practitioners have vainly exhausted\ntheir art upon a patient, a mesmerist or a \u201chealing medium\u201d will effect\na cure! The explorers of old medical literature, from the time of\nHippocrates to that of Paracelsus and Van Helmont, will find a vast\nnumber of well-attested physiological and psychological facts and of\nmeasures or medicines for healing the sick which modern physicians\nsuperciliously refuse to employ.[79] Even with respect to surgery,\nmodern practitioners have humbly and publicly confessed the total\nimpossibility of their approximating to anything like the marvellous\nskill displayed in the art of bandaging by ancient Egyptians. The many\nhundred yards of ligature enveloping a mummy from its ears down to\nevery separate toe, were studied by the chief surgical operators in\nParis, and, notwithstanding that the models were before their eyes,\nthey were unable to accomplish anything like it.\n\nIn the Abbott Egyptological collection, in New York City, may be seen\nnumerous evidences of the skill of the ancients in various handicrafts;\namong others the art of lace-making; and, as it could hardly be\nexpected but that the signs of woman\u2019s vanity should go side by side {21}\nwith those of man\u2019s strength, there are also specimens of artificial\nhair, and gold ornaments of different kinds. The New York _Tribune_,\nreviewing the contents of the _Ebers Papyrus_, says:\u2014\u201cVerily, there\nis no new thing under the sun.... Chapters 65, 66, 79, and 89 show\nthat hair-invigorators, hair dyes, pain-killers, and flea-powders were\ndesiderata 3,400 years ago.\u201d\n\nHow few of our recent alleged discoveries are in reality new, and how\nmany belong to the ancients, is again most fairly and eloquently though\nbut in part stated by our eminent philosophical writer, Professor John\nW. Draper. His _Conflict between Religion and Science_\u2014a great book\nwith a very bad title\u2014swarms with such facts. At page 13, he cites a\nfew of the achievements of ancient philosophers, which excited the\nadmiration of Greece. In Babylon was a series of Chaldean astronomical\nobservations, ranging back through nineteen hundred and three\nyears, which Callisthenes sent to Aristotle. Ptolemy, the Egyptian\nking-astronomer possessed a Babylonian record of eclipses going back\nseven hundred and forty-seven years before our era. As Prof. Draper\ntruly remarks: \u201cLong-continued and close observations were necessary\nbefore some of these astronomical results that have reached our times\ncould have been ascertained. Thus, the Babylonians had fixed the length\nof a tropical year within twenty-five seconds of the truth; their\nestimate of the sidereal year was barely two minutes in excess. They\nhad detected the precession of the equinoxes. They knew the causes of\neclipses, and, by the aid of their cycle, called _saros_, could predict\nthem. Their estimate of the value of that cycle, which is more than\n6,585 days, was within nineteen and a half minutes of the truth.\u201d\n\n\u201cSuch facts furnish incontrovertible proof of the patience and skill\nwith which astronomy had been cultivated in Mesopotamia, and that, with\nvery inadequate instrumental means, it had reached no inconsiderable\nperfection. These old observers had made a catalogue of the stars, had\ndivided the zodiac into twelve signs; they had parted the day into\ntwelve hours, the night into twelve. They had, as Aristotle says, for\na long time devoted themselves to observations of star-occultations by\nthe moon. They had correct views of the structure of the solar system,\nand knew the order of emplacement of the planets. They constructed\nsundials, clepsydras, astrolabes, gnomons.\u201d\n\nSpeaking of the world of eternal truths that lies \u201cwithin the world\nof transient delusions and unrealities,\u201d Professor Draper says: \u201cThat\nworld is not to be discovered through the vain traditions that have\nbrought down to us the opinion of men who lived in the morning of\ncivilization, nor in the _dreams of mystics_ who thought that they were\ninspired. It is to be discovered by the investigations _of geometry, {22}\nand by the practical interrogations of nature_.\u201d\n\nPrecisely. The issue could not be better stated. This eloquent writer\ntells us a profound truth. He does not, however, tell us _the whole_\ntruth, because he does not know it. He has not described the nature or\nextent of the knowledge imparted in the Mysteries. No subsequent people\nhas been so proficient in geometry as the builders of the Pyramids and\nother Titanic monuments, antediluvian and postdiluvian. On the other\nhand, none has ever equalled them in the practical interrogation of\nnature.\n\nAn undeniable proof of this is the significance of their countless\nsymbols. _Every one of these symbols is an embodied idea,\u2014combining the\nconception of the Divine Invisible with the earthly and visible._ The\nformer is derived from the latter strictly through analogy according\nto the hermetic formula\u2014\u201cas below, so it is above.\u201d Their symbols show\ngreat knowledge of natural sciences and a practical study of cosmical\npower.\n\nAs to practical results to be obtained by \u201cthe investigations of\ngeometry,\u201d very fortunately for students who are coming upon the\nstage of action, we are no longer forced to content ourselves with\nmere conjectures. In our own times, an American, Mr. George H. Felt,\nof New York, who, if he continues as he has begun, may one day be\nrecognized as the greatest geometer of the age, has been enabled, by\nthe sole help of the premises established by the ancient Egyptians, to\narrive at results which we will give in his own language. \u201cFirstly,\u201d\nsays Mr. Felt, \u201cthe fundamental diagram to which all science of\nelementary geometry, both plane and solid, is referable; to produce\narithmetical systems of proportion in a geometrical manner; to identify\nthis figure with all the remains of architecture and sculpture, in\nall which it had been followed in a marvellously exact manner; to\ndetermine that the Egyptians had used it as the basis of all their\nastronomical calculations, on which their religious symbolism was\nalmost entirely founded; to find its traces among all the remnants of\nart and architecture of the Greeks; to discover its traces so strongly\namong the Jewish sacred records, as to prove conclusively that it was\nfounded thereon; to find that the whole system had been discovered\nby the Egyptians after researches of tens of thousands of years into\nthe laws of nature, and that it might truly be called the science of\nthe Universe.\u201d Further it enabled him \u201cto determine with precision\nproblems in physiology heretofore only surmised; to first develop such\na Masonic philosophy as showed it to be conclusively the first science\nand religion, as it will be the last;\u201d and we may add, lastly, to prove\nby ocular demonstrations that the Egyptian sculptors and architects {23}\nobtained the models for the quaint figures which adorn the fa\u00e7ades\nand vestibules of their temples, not in the disordered fantasies of\ntheir own brains, but from the \u201cviewless races of the air,\u201d and other\nkingdoms of nature, whom he, like them, _claims_ to make visible by\nresort to their own chemical and kabalistical processes.\n\nSchweigger proves that the symbols of all the mythologies have a\nscientific foundation and substance.[80] It is only through recent\ndiscoveries of the physical electro-magnetical powers of nature\nthat such experts in Mesmerism as Ennemoser, Schweigger and Bart,\nin Germany, Baron Du Potet and Regazzoni, in France and Italy, were\nenabled to trace with almost faultless accuracy the true relation which\neach _Theomythos_ bore to some one of these powers. The Id\u00e6ic finger,\nwhich had such importance in the magic art of healing, means an iron\nfinger, which is attracted and repulsed in turn by magnetic, natural\nforces. It produced, in Samothrace, wonders of healing by restoring\naffected organs to their normal condition.\n\nBart goes deeper than Schweigger into the significations of the old\nmyths, and studies the subject from both its spiritual and physical\naspects. He treats at length of the Phrygian Dactyls, those \u201cmagicians\nand exorcists of sickness,\u201d and of the Cabeirian Theurgists. He says:\n\u201cWhile we treat of the close union of the Dactyls and magnetic forces,\nwe are not necessarily confined to the magnetic stone, and our views\nof nature but take a glance at magnetism in its whole meaning. Then it\nis clear how the initiated, who called themselves _Dactyls_, created\nastonishment in the people through their magic arts, working as they\ndid, miracles of a healing nature. To this united themselves many\nother things which the priesthood of antiquity was wont to practice;\nthe cultivation of the land and of morals, the advancement of art and\nscience, mysteries, and secret consecrations. All this was done by the\npriestly Cabeirians, and _wherefore not guided and supported by the\nmysterious spirits of nature_?\u201d[81] Schweigger is of the same opinion,\nand demonstrates that the phenomena of ancient Theurgy were produced by\nmagnetic powers \u201cunder the guidance of spirits.\u201d\n\nDespite their apparent Polytheism, the ancients\u2014those of the educated\nclass at all events\u2014were entirely monotheistical; and this, too, ages\nupon ages before the days of Moses. In the _Ebers Papyrus_ this fact is\nshown conclusively in the following words, translated from the first\nfour lines of Plate I.: \u201cI came from Heliopolis with the great ones {24}\nfrom Het-aat, the Lords of Protection, the masters of eternity and\nsalvation. I came from Sais with the Mother-goddesses, who extended\nto me protection. _The Lord of the Universe_ told me how to free the\ngods from all murderous diseases.\u201d _Eminent men were called gods by\nthe ancients._ The deification of mortal men and supposititious gods\nis no more a proof against their monotheism than the monument-building\nof modern Christians, who erect statues to their heroes, is proof of\ntheir polytheism. Americans of the present century would consider\nit absurd in their posterity 3,000 years hence to classify them as\nidolaters for having built statues to their god Washington. So shrouded\nin mystery was the Hermetic Philosophy that Volney asserted that the\nancient peoples worshipped their gross material symbols as divine in\nthemselves; whereas these were only considered as representing esoteric\nprinciples. Dupuis, also, after devoting many years of study to the\nproblem, mistook the symbolic circle, and attributed their religion\nsolely to astronomy. Eberhart (_Berliner Monatschriff_) and many other\nGerman writers of the last and present centuries, dispose of magic\nmost unceremoniously, and think it due to the Platonic mythos of the\n_Tim\u00e6us_. But how, without possessing a knowledge of the mysteries,\nwas it possible for these men or any others not endowed with the finer\nintuition of a Champollion, to discover the esoteric half of that which\nwas concealed, behind the veil of Isis, from all except the adepts?\n\nThe merit of Champollion as an Egyptologist none will question. He\ndeclares that everything demonstrates the ancient Egyptians to have\nbeen profoundly monotheistical. The accuracy of the writings of the\nmysterious Hermes Trismegistus, whose antiquity runs back into the\nnight of time, is corroborated by him to their minutest details.\nEnnemoser also says: \u201cInto Egypt and the East went Herodotus, Thales,\nParmenides, Empedocles, Orpheus, and Pythagoras, to instruct themselves\nin Natural Philosophy and Theology.\u201d There, too, Moses acquired his\nwisdom, and Jesus passed the earlier years of his life.\n\nThither gathered the students of all countries before Alexandria was\nfounded. \u201cHow comes it,\u201d Ennemoser goes on to say, \u201cthat so little has\nbecome known of these mysteries? through so many ages and amongst so\nmany different times and people? The answer is that it is owing to the\nuniversally strict silence of the initiated. Another cause may be found\nin the destruction and total loss of all the written memorials of the\nsecret knowledge of the remotest antiquity.\u201d Numa\u2019s books, described by\nLivy, consisting of treatises upon natural philosophy, were found in\nhis tomb; but they were not allowed to be made known, lest they should\nreveal the most secret mysteries of the state religion. The senate and {25}\nthe tribune of the people determined that the books themselves should\nbe burned, which was done in public.[82]\n\n_Magic was considered a divine science which led to a participation\nin the attributes of Divinity itself._ \u201cIt unveils the operations\nof nature,\u201d says Philo Jud\u00e6us, \u201cand leads to the contemplation of\ncelestial powers.\u201d[83] In later periods its abuse and degeneration into\nsorcery made it an object of general abhorrence. We must therefore\ndeal with it only as it was in the remote past, during those ages when\nevery true religion was based on a knowledge of the occult powers\nof nature. It was not the sacerdotal class in ancient Persia that\nestablished magic, as it is commonly thought, but the Magi, who derive\ntheir name from it. The Mobeds, priests of the Parsis\u2014the ancient\nGhebers\u2014are named, even at the present day, _Mago\u00ef_, in the dialect of\nthe Pehlvi.[84] _Magic appeared in the world with the earlier races of\nmen._ Cassien mentions a treatise, well-known in the fourth and fifth\ncenturies, which was accredited to Ham, the son of Noah, who in his\nturn was reputed to have received it from Jared, the fourth generation\nfrom Seth, the son of Adam.[85]\n\nMoses was indebted for his knowledge to the mother of the Egyptian\nprincess, Thermuthis, who saved him from the waters of the Nile. The\nwife of Pharaoh,[86] Batria, was an initiate herself, and the Jews owe\nto her the possession of their prophet, \u201clearned in all the wisdom\nof the Egyptians, and mighty in words and deeds.\u201d[87] Justin Martyr,\ngiving as his authority Trogus Pompeius, shows Joseph as having\nacquired a great knowledge in magical arts with the high priests of\nEgypt.[88]\n\n_The ancients knew more concerning certain sciences than our modern\nsavants have yet discovered._ Reluctant as many are to confess as\nmuch, it has been acknowledged by more than one scientist. \u201cThe degree\nof scientific knowledge existing in an early period of society was\nmuch greater than the moderns are willing to admit;\u201d says Dr. A. Todd\nThomson, the editor of _Occult Sciences_, by Salverte; \u201cbut,\u201d he adds,\n\u201cit was confined to the temples, carefully veiled from the eyes of the\npeople and opposed only to the priesthood.\u201d Speaking of the _Kabala_,\nthe learned Franz von Baader remarks that \u201cnot only our salvation and\nwisdom, but our science itself came to us from the Jews.\u201d But why not\ncomplete the sentence and tell the reader from whom the Jews got their\nwisdom?\n\nOrigen, who had belonged to the Alexandrian school of Platonists, {26}\ndeclares that Moses, besides the teachings of the covenant,\ncommunicated some very important secrets \u201cfrom the hidden depths of the\nlaw\u201d to the seventy elders. These he enjoined them to impart only to\npersons whom they found worthy.\n\nSt. Jerome names the Jews of Tiberias and Lydda as the only teachers of\nthe mystical manner of interpretation. Finally, Ennemoser expresses a\nstrong opinion that \u201cthe writings of Dionysius Areopagita have palpably\nbeen grounded on the Jewish _Kabala_.\u201d When we take in consideration\nthat the Gnostics, or early Christians, were but the followers of the\nold Essenes under a new name, this fact is nothing to be wondered at.\nProfessor Molitor gives the _Kabala_ its just due. He says:\n\n\u201cThe age of inconsequence and shallowness, in theology as well as in\nsciences, is past, and since that revolutionary rationalism has left\nnothing behind but its own emptiness, after having destroyed everything\npositive, it seems now to be the time to direct our attention anew\nto that mysterious revelation which is the living spring whence our\nsalvation must come ... the Mysteries of ancient Israel, which contain\nall secrets of modern Israel, would be particularly calculated to ...\nfound the fabric of theology upon its deepest theosophical principles,\nand to gain _a firm basis_ to all ideal sciences. It would open a\nnew path ... to the obscure labyrinth of the myths, mysteries and\nconstitutions of primitive nations.... In these traditions alone are\ncontained the system of the schools of the prophets, which the prophet\nSamuel did not found, _but only restored_, whose end was no other than\nto lead the scholars to wisdom and the highest knowledge, and when they\nhad been found worthy, to induct them _into deeper mysteries_. Classed\nwith these mysteries was _magic_, which was of a double nature\u2014divine\nmagic, and evil magic, or the black art. Each of these is again\ndivisible into two kinds, the active and seeing; in the first, man\nendeavors to place himself _en rapport_ with the world to learn hidden\nthings; in the latter he endeavors to gain power over spirits; in the\nformer, to perform _good and beneficial_ acts; in the latter to do all\nkinds of diabolical and unnatural deeds.\u201d[89]\n\nThe clergy of the three most prominent Christian bodies, the Greek,\nRoman Catholic, and Protestant, discountenance every spiritual\nphenomenon manifesting itself through the so-called \u201cmediums.\u201d A\nvery brief period, indeed, has elapsed since both the two latter\necclesiastical corporations burned, hanged, and otherwise murdered\nevery helpless victim through whose organism spirits\u2014and sometimes\nblind and as yet unexplained forces of nature\u2014manifested themselves. {27}\nAt the head of these three churches, pre-eminent stands the Church\nof Rome. Her hands are scarlet with the innocent blood of countless\nvictims shed in the name of the Moloch-like divinity at the head of her\ncreed. She is ready and eager to begin again. But she is bound hand\nand foot by that nineteenth century spirit of progress and religious\nfreedom which she reviles and blasphemes daily. The Gr\u00e6co-Russian\nChurch is the most amiable and Christ-like in her primitive, simple,\nthough blind faith. Despite the fact that there has been no practical\nunion between the Greek and Latin Churches, and that the two parted\ncompany long centuries ago, the Roman Pontiffs seem to invariably\nignore the fact. They have in the most impudent manner possible\narrogated to themselves jurisdiction not only over the countries within\nthe Greek communion but also over all Protestants as well. \u201cThe Church\ninsists,\u201d says Professor Draper, \u201cthat the state has no rights over any\nthing which it declares to be within its domain, and that Protestantism\nbeing a mere rebellion, has no rights at all; that even in Protestant\ncommunities the Catholic bishop _is the only lawful_ spiritual\npastor.\u201d[90] Decrees unheeded, encyclical letters unread, invitations\nto ecumenical councils unnoticed, excommunications laughed at\u2014all these\nhave seemed to make no difference. Their persistence has only been\nmatched by their effrontery. In 1864, the culmination of absurdity\nwas attained when Pius IX. excommunicated and fulminated publicly his\nanathemas against the Russian Emperor, as a \u201c_schismatic_ cast out from\nthe bosom of the Holy Mother Church.\u201d[91] Neither he nor his ancestors,\nnor Russia since it was Christianized, a thousand years ago, have ever\nconsented to join the Roman Catholics. Why not claim ecclesiastical\njurisdiction over the Buddhists of Thibet, or the shadows of the\nancient Hyk-Sos?\n\nThe mediumistic phenomena have manifested themselves at all times in\nRussia as well as in other countries. This force ignores religious\ndifferences; it laughs at nationalities; and invades unasked any\nindividuality, whether of a crowned head or a poor beggar.\n\nNot even the present Vice-God, Pius IX., himself, could avoid the\nunwelcome guest. For the last fifty years his Holiness has been known\nto be subject to very extraordinary fits. Inside the Vatican they are\ntermed _Divine visions_; outside, physicians call them epileptic fits;\nand popular rumor attributes them to an obsession by the ghosts of\nPeruggia, Castelfidardo, and Mentana!\n\n \u201cThe lights burn blue: it is now dead midnight, {28}\n Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh,\n Methought the souls of all that I caused to be murdered\n Came....\u201d[92]\n\nThe Prince of Hohenlohe, so famous during the first quarter of our\ncentury for his healing powers, was himself a great medium. Indeed,\nthese phenomena and powers belong to no particular age or country. They\nform a portion of the psychological attributes of man\u2014the Microcosmos.\n\nFor centuries have the _Klikouchy_,[93] the _Yourodevo\u00ff_,[94] and other\nmiserable creatures been afflicted with strange disorders, which the\nRussian clergy and the populace attribute to possession by the devil.\nThey throng the entrances of the cathedrals, without daring to trust\nthemselves inside, lest their self-willed controlling demons might\nfling them on the ground. Voroneg, Kiew, Kazan, and all cities which\npossess the thaumaturgical relics of canonized saints, abound with such\nunconscious mediums. One can always find numbers of them, congregating\nin hideous groups, and hanging about the gates and porches. At certain\nstages of the celebration of the mass by the officiating clergy, such\nas the appearance of the sacraments, or the beginning of the prayer and\nchorus, \u201c_Ejey Cherouvim_,\u201d these half-maniacs, half-mediums, begin\ncrowing like cocks, barking, bellowing and braying, and, finally, fall\ndown in fearful convulsions. \u201cThe _unclean one_ cannot bear the holy\nprayer,\u201d is the pious explanation. Moved by pity, some charitable souls\nadminister restoratives to the \u201cafflicted ones,\u201d and distribute alms\namong them. Occasionally, a priest is invited to exorcise, in which\nevent he either performs the ceremony for the sake of love and charity,\nor the alluring prospect of a twenty-copeck silver bit, according\nto his Christian impulses. But these miserable creatures\u2014who are\nmediums, for they prophesy and see visions sometimes, when the fit is\ngenuine[95]\u2014are never molested because of their misfortune. Why should\nthe clergy persecute them, or people hate and denounce them as damnable\nwitches or wizards? Common sense and justice surely suggest that if\nany are to be punished it is certainly not the victims who cannot help\nthemselves, but the demon who is alleged to control their actions. The\nworst that happens to the patient is, that the priest inundates him or\nher with holy water, and causes the poor creature to catch cold. This\nfailing in efficacy, the _Klikoucha_ is left to the will of God, and {29}\ntaken care of in love and pity. Superstitious and blind as it is, a\nfaith conducted on such principles certainly deserves some respect, and\ncan never be offensive, either to man or the _true_ God. Not so with\nthat of the Roman Catholics; and hence, it is they, and secondarily,\nthe Protestant clergy\u2014with the exception of some foremost thinkers\namong them\u2014that we purpose questioning in this work. We want to know\nupon what grounds they base their right to treat Hindus and Chinese\nspiritualists and kabalists in the way they do; denouncing them, in\ncompany with the infidels\u2014creatures of their own making\u2014as so many\nconvicts sentenced to the inextinguishable fires of hell.\n\nFar from us be the thought of the slightest irreverence\u2014let alone\nblasphemy\u2014toward the Divine Power which called into being all things,\nvisible and invisible. Of its majesty and boundless perfection we dare\nnot even think. It is enough for us to know that _It_ exists and that\n_It_ is all wise. Enough that in common with our fellow creatures we\npossess a spark of _Its_ essence. The supreme power whom we revere is\nthe boundless and endless one\u2014the grand \u201cCENTRAL SPIRITUAL SUN\u201d by\nwhose attributes and the visible effects of whose inaudible WILL we\nare surrounded\u2014the God of the ancient and the God of modern seers. His\nnature can be studied only in the worlds called forth by his mighty\nFIAT. His revelation is traced with his own finger in imperishable\nfigures of universal harmony upon the face of the Cosmos. It is the\nonly INFALLIBLE gospel we recognize.\n\nSpeaking of ancient geographers, Plutarch remarks in _Theseus_, that\nthey \u201ccrowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which\nthey do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that\nbeyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts _full of wild beasts_ and\n_unapproachable bogs_.\u201d Do not our theologians and scientists do the\nsame? While the former people the invisible world with either angels\nor devils, our philosophers try to persuade their disciples that where\nthere is no _matter_ there is _nothing_.\n\nHow many of our inveterate skeptics belong, notwithstanding their\nmaterialism, to Masonic Lodges? The brothers of the Rosie-Cross,\nmysterious practitioners of the medi\u00e6val ages, still live\u2014but in name\nonly. They may \u201cshed tears at the grave of their respectable Master,\nHiram Abiff;\u201d but vainly will they search for the true locality, \u201cwhere\nthe sprig of myrtle was placed.\u201d The dead letter remains alone, the\nspirit has fled. They are like the English or German chorus of the\nItalian opera, who descend in the fourth act of _Ernani_ into the crypt\nof Charlemagne, singing their conspiracy in a tongue utterly unknown\nto them. So, our modern knights of the Sacred Arch may descend every {30}\nnight if they choose \u201cthrough the nine arches into the bowels of the\nearth,\u201cthey \u201cwill never discover the sacred Delta of Enoch.\u201d The \u201cSir\nKnights in the South Valley\u201d and those in \u201cthe North Valley\u201d may try\nto assure themselves that \u201cenlightenment dawns upon their minds,\u201d and\nthat as they progress in Masonry \u201cthe veil of superstition, despotism,\ntyranny\u201d and so on, no longer obscures the visions of their minds. But\nthese are all empty words so long as they neglect their mother Magic,\nand turn their backs upon its twin sister, Spiritualism. Verily, \u201cSir\nKnights of the Orient,\u201d you may \u201cleave your stations and sit upon the\nfloor in attitudes of grief, with your heads resting upon your hands,\u201d\nfor you have cause to bewail and mourn your fate. Since Phillipe le\nBel destroyed the Knights-Templars, not one has appeared to clear up\nyour doubts notwithstanding all claims to the contrary. Truly, you\nare \u201cwanderers from Jerusalem, seeking the lost treasure of the holy\nplace.\u201d Have you found it? Alas, no! for the holy place is profaned;\nthe pillars of wisdom, strength and beauty are destroyed. Henceforth,\n\u201cyou must wander in darkness,\u201d and \u201ctravel in humility,\u201d among the\nwoods and mountains in search of the \u201clost word.\u201d \u201cPass on!\u201cyou will\nnever find it so long as you limit your journeys to _seven_ or even\nseven times seven; because you are \u201ctravelling in darkness,\u201d and this\ndarkness can only be dispelled by the light of the blazing torch of\ntruth which alone the right descendants of Ormazd carry. They alone can\nteach you the true pronunciation of the name revealed to Enoch, Jacob\nand Moses. \u201cPass on!\u201d Till your R. S. W. shall learn to multiply 333,\nand _strike_ instead 666\u2014the number of the Apocalyptic Beast, you may\njust as well observe prudence and act \u201c_sub rosa_.\u201d\n\nIn order to demonstrate that the notions which the ancients entertained\nabout dividing human history into cycles were not utterly devoid of a\nphilosophical basis, we will close this chapter by introducing to the\nreader one of the oldest traditions of antiquity as to the evolution of\nour planet.\n\nAt the close of each \u201cgreat year,\u201d called by Aristotle\u2014according to\nCensorinus\u2014the _greatest_, and which consists of six _sars_[96] our\nplanet is subjected to a thorough physical revolution. The polar and\nequatorial climates gradually exchange places; the former moving slowly\ntoward the Line, and the tropical zone, with its exuberant vegetation\nand swarming animal life, replacing the forbidding wastes of the icy {31}\npoles. This change of climate is necessarily attended by cataclysms,\nearthquakes, and other cosmical throes.[97] As the beds of the ocean\nare displaced, at the end of every decimillennium and about one neros,\na semi-universal deluge like the legendary Noachian flood is brought\nabout. This year was called the _Heliacal_ by the Greeks; but no one\noutside the sanctuary knew anything certain either as to its duration\nor particulars. The winter of this year was called the Cataclysm or the\nDeluge,\u2014the Summer, the Ecpyrosis. The popular traditions taught that\nat these alternate seasons the world was in turn burned and deluged.\nThis is what we learn at least from the _Astronomical Fragments_\nof Censorinus and Seneca. So uncertain were the commentators about\nthe length of this year, that none except Herodotus and Linus, who\nassigned to it, the former 10,800, and the latter 13,984, came near\nthe truth.[98] According to the claims of the Babylonian priests,\ncorroborated by Eupolemus,[99] \u201cthe city of Babylon, owes its\nfoundation to those who were saved from the catastrophe of the deluge;\n_they were the giants_ and they built the tower which is noticed in\nhistory.\u201d[100] These giants who were great astrologers and had received\nmoreover from their fathers, \u201cthe sons of God,\u201d every instruction\npertaining to secret matters, instructed the priests in their turn, and\nleft in the temples all the records of the periodical cataclysm that\nthey had witnessed themselves. This is how the high priests came by\nthe knowledge of the _great_ years. When we remember, moreover, that\nPlato in the _Tim\u00e6us_ cites the old Egyptian priest rebuking Solon for\nhis ignorance of the fact that there were several such deluges as the\ngreat one of Ogyges, we can easily ascertain that this belief in the\n_Heliakos_ was a doctrine held by the initiated priests the world over.\n\nThe Neroses, the Vrihaspati, or the periods called yugas or kalpas,\nare life-problems to solve. The Satya-yug and Buddhistic cycles of\nchronology would make a mathematician stand aghast at the array of\nciphers. The Maha-kalpa embraces an untold number of periods far back {32}\nin the antediluvian ages. Their system comprises a kalpa or grand\nperiod of 4,320,000,000 years, which they divide into four lesser\nyugas, running as follows:\n\n 1st.\u2014Satya-yug 1,728,000 years.\n 2d.\u2014Tr\u00eatya yug 1,296,000 \u201c\n 3d.\u2014Dv\u00e2pa yug 864,000 \u201c\n 4th.\u2014Kali yug 432,000 \u201c\n \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n Total 4,320,000\n\nwhich make one divine age or Maha-yug; seventy-one Maha-yugs make\n306,720,000 years, to which is added a sandhi (or the time when day and\nnight border on each other, morning and evening twilight), equal to\na Satya-yug, 1,728,000, make a manwantara of 308,448,000 years;[101]\nfourteen manwantaras make 4,318,272,000 years; to which must be added a\nsandhi to begin the kalpa, 1,728,000 years, making the kalpa or grand\nperiod of 4,320,000,000 of years. As we are now only in the Kali-yug of\nthe twenty-eighth age of the seventh manwantara of 308,448,000 years,\nwe have yet sufficient time before us to wait before we reach even half\nof the time allotted to the world.\n\nThese ciphers are not fanciful, but founded upon actual astronomical\ncalculations, as has been demonstrated by S. Davis.[102] Many a\nscientist, Higgins among others, notwithstanding their researches,\nhas been utterly perplexed as to which of these was the _secret_\ncycle. Bunsen has demonstrated that the Egyptian priests, who made the\ncyclic notations, kept them always in the profoundest mystery.[103]\nPerhaps their difficulty arose from the fact that the calculations of\nthe ancients applied equally to the spiritual progress of humanity\nas to the physical. It will not be difficult to understand the close\ncorrespondence drawn by the ancients between the cycles of nature\nand of mankind, if we keep in mind their belief in the constant and\nall-potent influences of the planets upon the fortunes of humanity.\nHiggins justly believed that the cycle of the Indian system, of\n432,000, is the true key of the secret cycle. But his failure in trying\nto decipher it was made apparent; for as it pertained to the mystery\nof the creation, this cycle was the most inviolable of all. It was\nrepeated in symbolic figures only in the Chaldean _Book of Numbers_, {33}\nthe original of which, if now extant, is certainly not to be found in\nlibraries, as it formed one of the most ancient Books of Hermes,[104]\nthe number of which is at present undetermined.\n\nCalculating by the secret period of the Great Neros and the Hindu\nKalpas, some kabalists, mathematicians and arch\u00e6ologists who knew\nnaught of the secret computations made the above number of 21,000 years\nto be 24,000 years, for the length of the great year, as it was to the\nrenewal only of our globe that they thought the last period of 6,000\nyears applied. Higgins gives as a reason for it, that it was anciently\nthought that the equinoxes preceded only after the rate of 2,000, not\n2,160, years in a sign; for thus it would allow for the length of the\ngreat year four times 6,000 or 24,000 years. \u201cHence,\u201d he says, \u201cmight\narise their immensely-lengthened cycles; because, it would be the same\nwith this great year as with the common year, till it travelled round\nan immensely-lengthened circle, when it would come to the old point\nagain.\u201d He therefore accounts for the 24,000 in the following manner:\n\u201cIf the angle which the plane of the ecliptic makes with the plane of\nthe equator had decreased gradually and regularly, as it was till very\nlately supposed to do, the two planes would have coincided in about ten {34}\nages, 6,000 years; in ten ages, 6,000 years more, the sun would have\nbeen situated relatively to the Southern Hemisphere as he is now to the\nNorthern; in ten ages, 6,000 years more, the two planes would coincide\nagain; and, in ten ages, 6,000 years more, he would be situated as he\nis now, after a lapse of about twenty-four or twenty-five thousand\nyears in all. When the sun arrived at the equator, the ten ages or six\nthousand years would end, and the world would be destroyed _by fire_;\nwhen he arrived at the southern point, it would be destroyed by water.\nAnd thus, it would be destroyed at the end of every 6,000 years, or ten\nneroses.\u201d[105]\n\nThis method of calculating by the _neroses_, without allowing any\nconsideration for the secrecy in which the ancient philosophers, who\nwere exclusively of the sacerdotal order, held their knowledge, gave\nrise to the greatest errors. It led the Jews, as well as some of the\nChristian Platonists, to maintain that the world would be destroyed\nat the end of six thousand years. Gale shows how firmly this belief\nwas rooted in the Jews. It has also led modern scientists to discredit\nentirely the hypothesis of the ancients. It has given rise to the\nformation of different religious sects, which, like the Adventists of\nour century, are always living in the expectation of the approaching\ndestruction of the world.\n\nAs our planet revolves once every year around the sun and at the same\ntime turns once in every twenty-four hours upon its own axis, thus\ntraversing minor circles within a larger one, so is the work of the\nsmaller cyclic periods accomplished and recommenced, within the Great\nSaros.\n\nThe revolution of the physical world, according to the ancient\ndoctrine, is attended by a like revolution in the world of\nintellect\u2014the spiritual evolution of the world proceeding in cycles,\nlike the physical one.\n\nThus we see in history a regular alternation of ebb and flow in the\ntide of human progress. The great kingdoms and empires of the world,\nafter reaching the culmination of their greatness, descend again, in\naccordance with the same law by which they ascended; till, having\nreached the lowest point, humanity reasserts itself and mounts up once\nmore, the height of its attainment being, by this law of ascending\nprogression by cycles, somewhat higher than the point from which it had\nbefore descended.\n\nThe division of the history of mankind into Golden, Silver, Copper and\nIron Ages, is not a fiction. We see the same thing in the literature of\npeoples. An age of great inspiration and unconscious productiveness is\ninvariably followed by an age of criticism and consciousness. The one\naffords material for the analyzing and critical intellect of the other.\n\nThus, all those great characters who tower like giants in the history\nof mankind, like Buddha-Sidd\u00e2rtha, and Jesus, in the realm of {35}\nspiritual, and Alexander the Macedonian and Napoleon the Great, in\nthe realm of physical conquests, were but reflexed images of human\ntypes which had existed ten thousand years before, in the preceding\ndecimillennium, reproduced by the mysterious powers controlling the\ndestinies of our world. There is no prominent character in all the\nannals of sacred or profane history whose prototype we cannot find in\nthe half-fictitious and half-real traditions of bygone religions and\nmythologies. As the star, glimmering at an immeasurable distance above\nour heads, in the boundless immensity of the sky, reflects itself\nin the smooth waters of a lake, so does the imagery of men of the\nantediluvian ages reflect itself in the periods we can embrace in an\nhistorical retrospect.\n\n\u201c_As above, so it is below. That which has been, will return again. As\nin heaven, so on earth._\u201d\n\nThe world is always ungrateful to its great men. Florence has built\na statue to Galileo, but hardly even mentions Pythagoras. The former\nhad a ready guide in the treatises of Copernicus, who had been obliged\nto contend against the universally established Ptolemaic system. But\nneither Galileo nor modern astronomy discovered the emplacement of the\nplanetary bodies. Thousands of ages before, it was taught by the sages\nof Middle Asia, and brought thence by Pythagoras, not as a speculation,\nbut as a demonstrated science. \u201cThe numerals of Pythagoras,\u201d says\nPorphyry, \u201cwere hieroglyphical symbols, by means whereof he explained\n_all_ ideas concerning the nature of all things.\u201d[106]\n\nVerily, then, to antiquity alone have we to look for the origin of all\nthings. How well Hargrave Jennings expresses himself when speaking\nof Pyramids, and how true are his words when he asks: \u201cIs it at all\nreasonable to conclude, at a period when knowledge was at the highest,\nand when the human powers were, in comparison with ours at the present\ntime, prodigious, that all these indomitable, _scarcely believable_\nphysical effects\u2014that such achievements as those of the Egyptians\u2014were\ndevoted to a mistake? that the myriads of the Nile were fools laboring\nin the dark, and that all the magic of their great men was forgery,\nand that we, in despising that which we call their superstition and\nwasted power, are alone the wise? No! there is much more in these\nold religions than probably\u2014in the audacity of modern denial, in the\nconfidence of these superficial-science times, and in the derision\nof these days without faith\u2014is in the least degree supposed. We do\nnot understand the old time.... Thus we see how classic practice and\nheathen teaching may be made to reconcile\u2014how even the Gentile and the {36}\nHebrew, the mythological and the Christian doctrine harmonize in the\ngeneral faith founded on Magic. That Magic is indeed possible is the\nmoral of this book.\u201d[107]\n\nIt is possible. Thirty years ago, when the first rappings of Rochester\nawakened slumbering attention to the reality of an invisible world;\nwhen the gentle shower of raps gradually became a torrent which\noverflowed the whole globe, spiritualists had to contend but against\ntwo potencies\u2014theology and science. But the theosophists have, in\naddition to these, to meet the world at large and the spiritualists\nfirst of all.\n\n\u201cThere is a _personal_ God, and there is a _personal_ Devil!\u201d thunders\nthe Christian preacher. \u201cLet him be anathema who dares say nay!\u201d\n\u201cThere is no personal God, except the gray matter in our brain,\u201d\ncontemptuously replies the materialist. \u201cAnd there is no Devil. Let him\nbe considered thrice an idiot who says aye.\u201d Meanwhile the occultists\nand _true_ philosophers heed neither of the two combatants, but keep\nperseveringly at their work. None of them believe in the absurd,\npassionate, and fickle God of superstition, but all of them believe\nin good and evil. Our human reason, the emanation of our finite\nmind, is certainly incapable of comprehending a divine intelligence,\nan endless and infinite entity; and, according to strict logic,\nthat which transcends our understanding and would remain thoroughly\nincomprehensible to our senses cannot exist for us; hence, it does\n_not_ exist. So far finite reason agrees with science, and says: \u201cThere\nis no God.\u201d But, on the other hand, our _Ego_, that which lives and\nthinks and feels independently of us in our mortal casket, does more\nthan believe. It _knows_ that there exists a God in nature, for the\nsole and invincible Artificer of all lives in us as we live in Him.\nNo dogmatic faith or exact science is able to uproot that intuitional\nfeeling inherent in man, when he has once fully realized it in himself.\n\n_Human nature is like universal nature in its abhorrence of a vacuum._\nIt feels an intuitional yearning for a Supreme Power. Without a God,\nthe cosmos would seem to it but like a soulless corpse. Being forbidden\nto search for Him where alone His traces would be found, man filled\nthe aching void with the personal God whom his spiritual teachers\nbuilt up for him from the crumbling ruins of heathen myths and hoary\nphilosophies of old. How otherwise explain the mushroom growth of new\nsects, some of them absurd beyond degree? Mankind have one innate,\nirrepressible craving, that _must_ be satisfied in any religion\nthat would supplant the dogmatic, undemonstrated and undemonstrable\ntheology of our Christian ages. This is the yearning after the proofs\nof immortality. As Sir Thomas Browne has expressed it: ... \u201cit is the {37}\nheaviest stone that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him that\nhe is at the end of his nature, or that there is no future state to\ncome, unto which this seems progressive, and otherwise made in vain.\u201d\nLet any religion offer itself that can supply these proofs in the shape\nof scientific facts, and the established system will be driven to the\nalternative of fortifying its dogmas with such facts, or of passing out\nof the reverence and affection of Christendom. Many a Christian divine\nhas been forced to acknowledge that there is _no authentic_ source\nwhence the assurance of a future state could have been derived by man.\nHow could then such a belief have stood for countless ages, were it not\nthat among all nations, whether civilized or savage, man _has been_\nallowed the demonstrative proof? Is not the very existence of such a\nbelief an evidence that thinking philosopher and unreasoning savage\nhave both been compelled to acknowledge the testimony of their senses?\nThat if, in isolated instances, spectral illusion may have resulted\nfrom physical causes, on the other hand, in thousands of instances,\napparitions of persons have held converse with several individuals at\nonce, who saw and heard them collectively, and could not all have been\ndiseased in mind?\n\nThe greatest thinkers of Greece and Rome regarded such matters as\ndemonstrated facts. They distinguished the apparitions by the names of\n_manes_, _anima_ and _umbra_: the _manes_ descending after the decease\nof the individual into the Underworld; the _anima_, or pure spirit,\nascending to heaven; and the restless _umbra_ (earth-bound spirit),\nhovering about its tomb, because the attraction of matter and love of\nits earthly body prevailed in it and prevented its ascension to higher\nregions.\n\n \u201cTerra legit _carnem_ tumulum circumvolet _umbra_,\n Orcus habet _manes_, _spiritus_ astra petit,\u201d\n\nsays Ovid, speaking of the threefold constituents of souls.\n\nBut all such definitions must be subjected to the careful analysis\nof philosophy. Too many of our thinkers do not consider that the\nnumerous changes in language, the allegorical phraseology and evident\nsecretiveness of old Mystic writers, who were generally under an\nobligation never to divulge the solemn secrets of the sanctuary,\nmight have sadly misled translators and commentators. The phrases\nof the medi\u00e6val alchemist they read literally; and even the veiled\nsymbolology of Plato is commonly misunderstood by the modern scholar.\nOne day they may learn to know better, and so become aware that the\nmethod of extreme necessarianism was practiced in ancient as well as\nin modern philosophy; that from the first ages of man, the fundamental\ntruths of all that we are permitted to know on earth was in the safe\nkeeping of the adepts of the sanctuary; that the difference in creeds {38}\nand religious practice was only external; and that those guardians of\nthe primitive divine revelation, who had solved every problem that is\nwithin the grasp of human intellect, were bound together by a universal\nfreemasonry of science and philosophy, which formed one unbroken chain\naround the globe. It is for philology and psychology to find the end of\nthe thread. That done, it will then be ascertained that, by relaxing\none single loop of the old religious systems, the chain of mystery may\nbe disentangled.\n\nThe neglect and withholding of these proofs have driven such eminent\nminds as Hare and Wallace, and other men of power, into the fold\nof modern spiritualism. At the same time it has forced others,\ncongenitally devoid of spiritual intuitions, into a gross materialism\nthat figures under various names.\n\nBut we see no utility in prosecuting the subject further. For, though\nin the opinion of most of our contemporaries, there has been but one\nday of learning, in whose twilight stood the older philosophers, and\nwhose noontide brightness is all our own; and though the testimony\nof scores of ancient and medi\u00e6val thinkers has proved valueless to\nmodern experimenters, as though the world dated from A.D. 1, and all\nknowledge were of recent growth, we will not lose hope or courage. The\nmoment is more opportune than ever for the review of old philosophies.\nArch\u00e6ologists, philologists, astronomers, chemists and physicists\nare getting nearer and nearer to the point where they will be forced\nto consider them. Physical science has already reached its limits of\nexploration; dogmatic theology sees the springs of its inspiration\ndry. Unless we mistake the signs, the day is approaching when the\nworld will receive the proofs that only ancient religions were in\nharmony with nature, and ancient science embraced all that can be\nknown. Secrets long kept may be revealed; books long forgotten and\narts long time lost may be brought out to light again; papyri and\nparchments of inestimable importance will turn up in the hands of men\nwho pretend to have unrolled them from mummies, or stumbled upon them\nin buried crypts; tablets and pillars, whose sculptured revelations\nwill stagger theologians and confound scientists, may yet be excavated\nand interpreted. Who knows the possibilities of the future? An era of\ndisenchantment and rebuilding will soon begin\u2014nay, has already begun.\nThe cycle has almost run its course; a new one is about to begin, and\nthe future pages of history may contain full evidence, and convey full\nproof that\n\n \u201cIf ancestry can be in aught believed,\n Descending spirits have conversed with man,\n And told him secrets of the world unknown.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II. {39}\n\n \u201cPride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence\n And fills up all the mighty void of sense....\u201d\n \u2014POPE.\n\n \u201cBut why should the operations of nature be changed? There\n may be a deeper philosophy than we dream of\u2014a philosophy that\n discovers the secrets of nature, _but does not alter, by\n penetrating them, its course_.\u201d\u2014BULWER.\n\n\nIs it enough for man to know that he exists? Is it enough to be formed\na human being to enable him to deserve the appellation of MAN? It\nis our decided impression and conviction, that to become a genuine\nspiritual entity, which that designation implies, man must first\n_create_ himself anew, so to speak\u2014_i.e._, thoroughly eliminate from\nhis mind and spirit, not only the dominating influence of selfishness\nand other impurity, but also the infection of superstition and\nprejudice. The latter is far different from what we commonly term\n_antipathy_ or _sympathy_. We are at first irresistibly or unwittingly\ndrawn within its dark circle by that peculiar influence, that powerful\ncurrent of magnetism which emanates from ideas as well as from physical\nbodies. By this we are surrounded, and finally prevented through moral\ncowardice\u2014fear of public opinion\u2014from stepping out of it. It is rare\nthat men regard a thing in either its true or false light, accepting\nthe conclusion by the free action of their own judgment. Quite the\nreverse. The conclusion is more commonly reached by blindly adopting\nthe opinion current at the hour among those with whom they associate.\nA church member will not pay an absurdly high price for his pew any\nmore than a materialist will go twice to listen to Mr. Huxley\u2019s talk\non evolution, because they think that it is right to do so; but merely\nbecause Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so have done it, and these personages are\nTHE S\u2014AND S\u2014\u2019S.\n\nThe same holds good with everything else. If psychology had had its\nDarwin, the descent of man as regards moral qualities might have been\nfound inseparably linked with that of his physical form. Society in\nits servile condition suggests to the intelligent observer of its\nmimicry a kinship between the Simia and human beings even more striking\nthan is exhibited in the external marks pointed out by the great {40}\nanthropologist. The many varieties of the ape\u2014\u201cmocking presentments of\nourselves\u201d appear to have been evolved on purpose to supply a certain\nclass of expensively-dressed persons with the material for genealogical\ntrees.\n\nScience is daily and rapidly moving toward the great discoveries in\nchemistry and physics, organology, and anthropology. Learned men ought\nto be free from preconceptions and prejudices of every kind; yet,\nalthough thought and opinion are now free, scientists are still the\nsame men as of old. An Utopian dreamer is he who thinks that man ever\nchanges with the evolution and development of new ideas. The soil may\nbe well fertilized and made to yield with every year a greater and\nbetter variety of fruit; but, dig a little deeper than the stratum\nrequired for the crop, and the same earth will be found in the subsoil\nas was there before the first furrow was turned.\n\nNot many years ago, the person who questioned the infallibility of some\ntheological dogma was branded at once an iconoclast and an infidel. _V\u00e6\nvictis!_ ... Science has conquered. But in its turn the victor claims\nthe same infallibility, though it equally fails to prove its right.\n\u201c_Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis_,\u201d the saying of the good\nold Lotharius, applies to the case. Nevertheless, we feel as if we had\nsome right to question the high-priests of science.\n\nFor many years we have watched the development and growth of that\napple of discord\u2014MODERN SPIRITUALISM. Familiar with its literature\nboth in Europe and America, we have closely and eagerly witnessed its\ninterminable controversies and compared its contradictory hypotheses.\nMany educated men and women\u2014heterodox spiritualists, of course\u2014have\ntried to fathom the Protean phenomena. The only result was that they\ncame to the following conclusion: whatever may be the reason of these\nconstant failures\u2014whether such are to be laid at the door of the\ninvestigators themselves, or of the secret Force at work\u2014it is at least\nproved that, in proportion as the psychological manifestations increase\nin frequency and variety, the darkness surrounding their origin becomes\nmore impenetrable.\n\n_That phenomena are actually witnessed, mysterious in their\nnature\u2014generally and perhaps wrongly termed spiritual\u2014it is now idle\nto deny._ Allowing a large discount for clever fraud, what remains is\nquite serious enough to demand the careful scrutiny of science. \u201c_E\npur se muove_,\u201d the sentence spoken ages since, has passed into the\ncategory of household words. The courage of Galileo is not now required\nto fling it into the face of the Academy. Psychological phenomena are\nalready on the offensive.\n\nThe position assumed by modern scientists is that even though the\noccurrence of certain mysterious phenomena in the presence of the {41}\nmediums be a fact, there is no proof that they are not due to some\nabnormal nervous condition of those individuals. The possibility that\nthey may be produced by returning human spirits need not be considered\nuntil the other question is decided. Little exception can be taken to\nthis position. Unquestionably, the burden of proof rests upon those\nwho assert the agency of spirits. If the scientists would grapple\nwith the subject in good faith, showing an earnest desire to solve\nthe perplexing mystery, instead of treating it with undignified and\nunprofessional contempt, they would be open to no censure. True, the\ngreat majority of \u201cspiritual\u201d communications are calculated to disgust\ninvestigators of even moderate intelligence. Even when genuine they\nare trivial, commonplace, and often vulgar. During the past twenty\nyears we have received through various mediums messages purporting\nto be from Shakspere, Byron, Franklin, Peter the Great, Napoleon and\nJosephine, and even from Voltaire. The general impression made upon us\nwas that the French conqueror and his consort seemed to have forgotten\nhow to spell words correctly; Shakspere and Byron had become chronic\ninebriates; and Voltaire had turned an imbecile. Who can blame men\ntrained to habits of exactitude, or even simply well-educated persons,\nfor hastily concluding that when so much palpable fraud lies upon\nthe surface, there could hardly be truth if they should go to the\nbottom? The huckstering about of pompous names attached to idiotic\ncommunications has given the scientific stomach such an indigestion\nthat it cannot assimilate even the great truth which lies on the\ntelegraphic plateaux of this ocean of psychological phenomena. They\njudge by its surface, covered with froth and scum. But they might with\nequal propriety deny that there is any clear water in the depths of\nthe sea when an oily scum was floating upon the surface. Therefore, if\non one hand we cannot very well blame them for stepping back at the\nfirst sight of what seems really repulsive, we do, and have a right to\ncensure them for their unwillingness to explore deeper. Neither pearls\nnor cut diamonds are to be found lying loose on the ground; and these\npersons act as unwisely as would a professional diver, who should\nreject an oyster on account of its filthy and slimy appearance, when by\nopening it he might find a precious pearl inside the shell.\n\nEven the just and severe rebukes of some of their leading men are of\nno avail; and the fear on the part of men of science to investigate\nsuch an unpopular subject, seems to have now become a general panic.\n\u201c_The phenomena chase the scientists, and the scientists run away from\nthe phenomena_,\u201d very pointedly remarks M. A. N. Aksakof in an able\narticle on Mediumism and the St. Petersburg Scientific Committee. The {42}\nattitude of this body of professors toward the subject which they had\npledged themselves to investigate was throughout simply disgraceful.\nTheir premature and _prearranged_ report was so evidently partial and\ninconclusive as to call out a scornful protest even from unbelievers.\n\nThe inconsistency of the logic of our learned gentlemen against the\nphilosophy of spiritualism proper is admirably pointed out by Professor\nJohn Fisk\u2014one of their own body. In a recent philosophical work,\n_The Unseen World_, while showing that from the very definition of\nthe terms, _matter_ and _spirit_, the existence of spirit cannot be\ndemonstrated to the senses, and that thus no theory is amenable to\n_scientific tests_, he deals a severe blow at his colleagues in the\nfollowing lines:\n\n\u201cThe testimony in such a case,\u201d he says, \u201cmust, under the conditions\nof the present life, be forever inaccessible. It lies wholly outside\nthe range of experience. However abundant it may be, we cannot expect\nto meet it. And, accordingly, our failure to produce it does not raise\neven the slightest presumption against our theory. When conceived in\nthis way, the belief in the future life is without scientific support,\nbut at the same time it is placed beyond the need of scientific\nsupport and the range of scientific criticism. It is a belief which\nno imaginable future advance of physical discovery can in any way\nimpugn. It is a belief which is in no sense irrational, and which may\nbe logically entertained without in the least affecting our scientific\nhabit of mind, or influencing our scientific conclusions.\u201d \u201cIf now,\u201d\nhe adds, \u201cmen of science will accept the position that spirit is\nnot matter, nor governed by the laws of matter, and refrain from\nspeculations concerning it restricted by their knowledge of material\nthings, they will withdraw what is to men of religion, at present,\ntheir principal cause of irritation.\u201d\n\nBut, they will do no such thing. They feel incensed at the brave,\nloyal, and highly commendable surrender of such superior men as\nWallace, and refuse to accept even the prudent and restrictive policy\nof Mr. Crookes.\n\n_No other claim is advanced for a hearing of the opinions contained\nin the present work than that they are based upon many years\u2019 study\nof both ancient magic and its modern form, Spiritualism._ The former,\neven now, when phenomena of the same nature have become so familiar\nto all, is commonly set down as clever jugglery. The latter, when\noverwhelming evidence precludes the possibility of truthfully declaring\nit charlatanry, is denominated an universal hallucination.\n\nMany years of wandering among \u201cheathen\u201d and \u201cChristian\u201d magicians,\noccultists, mesmerisers and the _tutti quanti_ of white and black\nart, ought to be sufficient, we think, to give us a certain right {43}\nto feel competent to take a practical view of this doubted and very\ncomplicated question. We have associated with the fakirs, the holy\nmen of India, and seen them when in intercourse with the _Pitris_. We\nhave watched the proceedings and _modus operandi_ of the howling and\ndancing dervishes; held friendly communications with the marabouts\nof European and Asiatic Turkey; and the serpent-charmers of Damascus\nand Benares have but few secrets that we have not had the fortune to\nstudy. Therefore, when scientists who have never had an opportunity\nof living among these oriental jugglers and can judge at the best but\nsuperficially, tell us that there is naught in their performances but\nmere tricks of prestidigitation, we cannot help feeling a profound\nregret for such hasty conclusions. That such pretentious claims should\nbe made to a thorough analysis of the powers of nature, and at the\nsame time such unpardonable neglect displayed of questions of purely\nphysiological and psychological character, and astounding phenomena\nrejected without either examination or appeal, is an exhibition of\ninconsistency, strongly savoring of timidity, if not of moral obliquity.\n\nIf, therefore, we should ever receive from some contemporaneous\nFaraday the same fling that that gentleman made years since, when,\nwith more sincerity than good breeding, he said that \u201cmany _dogs_\nhave the power of coming to much more logical conclusions than some\nspiritualists,\u201d[108] we fear we must still persist. Abuse is not\nargument, least of all, proof. Because such men as Huxley and Tyndall\ndenominate spiritualism \u201ca degrading belief\u201d and oriental magic\n\u201cjugglery,\u201d they cannot thereby take from truth its verity. Skepticism,\nwhether it proceeds from a scientific or an ignorant brain, is unable\nto overturn the immortality of our souls\u2014if such immortality is a\nfact\u2014and plunge them into _post-mortem_ annihilation. \u201cReason is\nsubject to error,\u201d says Aristotle; so is opinion; and the personal\nviews of the most learned philosopher are often more liable to be\nproved erroneous, than the plain common sense of his own illiterate\ncook. In the _Tales of the Impious Khalif_, Barrachias-Hassan-Oglu,\nthe Arabian sage holds a wise discourse: \u201cBeware, O my son, of\nself-incense,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is the most dangerous, on account of its\nagreeable intoxication. Profit by thy own wisdom, but learn to respect\nthe wisdom of thy fathers likewise. And remember, O my beloved, that\nthe light of Allah\u2019s truth will often penetrate much easier an empty\nhead, than one that is so crammed with learning that many a silver\nray is crowded out for want of space; ... such is the case with our\nover-wise Kadi.\u201d\n\nThese representatives of modern science in both hemispheres seem never {44}\nto have exhibited more scorn, or to have felt more bitterly toward the\nunsolvable mystery, than since Mr. Crookes began the investigation of\nthe phenomena, in London. This courageous gentleman was the first to\nintroduce to the public one of those alleged \u201cmaterialized\u201d sentries\nthat guard the forbidden gates. Following after him, several other\nlearned members of the scientific body had the rare integrity, combined\nwith a degree of courage, which, in view of the unpopularity of the\nsubject, may be deemed heroic, to take the phenomena in hand.\n\nBut, alas! although the spirit, indeed, was willing, the mortal flesh\nproved weak. Ridicule was more than the majority of them could bear;\nand so, the heaviest burden was thrown upon the shoulders of Mr.\nCrookes. An account of the benefit this gentleman reaped from his\ndisinterested investigations, and the thanks he received from his own\nbrother scientists, can be found in his three pamphlets, entitled,\n_Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism_.\n\nAfter a while, the members appointed on the Committee of the\nDialectical society and Mr. Crookes, who had applied to his mediums\nthe most crucial tests, were forced by an impatient public to report\nin so many plain words what they had seen. But what could they say,\nexcept the truth? Thus, they were compelled to acknowledge: 1st. That\nthe phenomena which _they_, at least, had witnessed, were genuine,\nand impossible to simulate; thus showing that manifestations produced\nby some unknown force, could and did happen. 2d. That, whether the\nphenomena were produced by disembodied spirits or other analogous\nentities, they could not tell; but that manifestations, thoroughly\nupsetting many preconceived theories as to natural laws, did happen\nand were undeniable. Several of these occurred in their own families.\n3d. That, notwithstanding all their combined efforts to the contrary,\nbeyond the indisputable fact of the reality of the phenomena, \u201cglimpses\nof natural action not yet reduced to law,\u201d[109] they, to borrow the\nexpression of the Count de Gabalis, \u201ccould make neither head nor tail\non\u2019t.\u201d\n\nNow this was precisely what a skeptical public had not bargained for.\nThe discomfiture of the believers in spiritualism had been impatiently\nanticipated before the conclusions of Messrs. Crookes, Varley, and\nthe Dialectical Society were announced. Such a confession on the part\nof their brother-scientists was too humiliating for the pride of even\nthose who had timorously abstained from investigation. It was regarded\nas really too much, that such vulgar and repulsive manifestations of {45}\nphenomena which had always, by common consent of educated people, been\nregarded as nursery tales, fit only to amuse hysterical servant-girls\nand afford revenue to professional somnambulists\u2014that manifestations\nwhich had been consigned by the Academy and Institute of Paris to\noblivion, should so impertinently elude detection at the hands of\nexperts in physical sciences.\n\nA tornado of indignation followed the confession. Mr. Crookes depicts\nit in his pamphlet on _Psychic Force_. He heads it very pointedly\nwith the quotation from Galvani: \u201cI am attacked by two very opposite\nsects\u2014the scientists and the _know-nothings_, yet I know that I have\ndiscovered one of the greatest forces in nature....\u201d He then proceeds:\n\n\u201cIt was taken for granted that the results of my experiments would\nbe in accordance with their preconceptions. What they really desired\nwas not _the truth_, but an additional witness in favor of their\nown foregone conclusions. When they found the facts which that\ninvestigation established could not be made to fit those opinions, why,\n... so much the worse for the facts. They try to creep out of their\nown confident recommendations of the inquiry, by declaring \u2018that Mr.\nHome is a clever conjurer who has duped us all.\u2019 \u2018Mr. Crookes might,\nwith equal propriety, examine the performances of an Indian juggler.\u2019\n\u2018Mr. Crookes must get better witnesses before he can be believed.\u2019\n\u2018The thing is too absurd to be treated seriously.\u2019 \u2018It is impossible,\nand therefore can\u2019t be.\u2019 ... (I never said it was impossible, I only\nsaid it was true.) \u2018The observers have all been biologized, and fancy\nthey saw things occur which really _never_ took place,\u2019 etc., etc.,\netc.\u201d[110]\n\nAfter expending their energy on such puerile theories as \u201cunconscious\ncerebration,\u201d \u201cinvoluntary muscular contraction,\u201d and the sublimely\nridiculous one of the \u201ccracking knee-joints\u201d (_le muscle craqueur_);\nafter meeting ignominious failures by the obstinate survival of the\nnew force, and finally, after every desperate effort to compass its\nobliteration, these _filii diffidenti\u00e6_\u2014as St. Paul calls their\nclass\u2014thought best to give up the whole thing in disgust. Sacrificing\ntheir courageously persevering brethren as a holocaust on the altar\nof public opinion, they withdrew in dignified silence. Leaving the\narena of investigation to more fearless champions, these unlucky\nexperimenters are not likely to ever enter it again.[111] It is\neasier by far to deny the reality of such manifestations from a\nsecure distance, than find for them a proper place among the classes {46}\nof natural phenomena accepted by exact science. And how can they,\nsince all such phenomena pertain to psychology, and the latter, with\nits occult and mysterious powers, is a _terra incognita_ for modern\nscience. Thus, powerless to explain that which proceeds directly from\nthe nature of the human soul itself\u2014the existence of which most of them\ndeny\u2014unwilling at the same time to confess their ignorance, scientists\nretaliate very unjustly on those who believe in the evidence of their\nsenses without any pretence to science.\n\n\u201cA kick from thee, O Jupiter! is sweet,\u201d says the poet Tretiakowsky,\nin an old Russian tragedy. Rude as those Jupiters of science may be\noccasionally toward us credulous mortals, their vast learning\u2014in less\nabstruse questions, we mean\u2014if not their manners, entitles them to\npublic respect. But unfortunately it is not the gods who shout the\nloudest.\n\nThe eloquent Tertullian, speaking of Satan and his imps, whom he\naccuses of ever mimicking the Creator\u2019s works, denominates them the\n\u201cmonkeys of God.\u201d It is fortunate for the philosophicules that we have\nno modern Tertullian to consign them to an immortality of contempt as\nthe \u201cmonkeys of science.\u201d\n\nBut to return to genuine scientists. \u201cPhenomena of a merely\nobjective character,\u201d says A. N. Aksakof, \u201cforce themselves upon the\nrepresentatives of exact sciences for investigation and explanation;\nbut the high-priests of science, in the face of apparently such a\nsimple question ... are totally disconcerted! This subject seems to\nhave the privilege of forcing them to betray, not only the highest code\nof morality\u2014truth, but also the supreme law of science\u2014_experiment_!...\nThey feel that there is something too serious underlying it. The cases\nof Hare, Crookes, de Morgan, Varley, Wallace, and Butleroff create a\npanic! They fear that as soon as they concede one step, they will have\nto yield the whole ground. Time-honored principles, the contemplative\nspeculations of a whole life, of a long line of generations, are all\nstaked on a single card!\u201c[112]\n\nIn the face of such experience as that of Crookes and the Dialectical\nSociety, of Wallace and the late Professor Hare, what can we\nexpect from our luminaries of erudition? Their attitude toward\nthe undeniable phenomena is in itself another phenomenon. It is\nsimply incomprehensible, unless we admit the possibility of another\npsychological disease, as mysterious and contagious as hydrophobia.\nAlthough we claim no honor for this new discovery, we nevertheless\npropose to recognize it under the name of _scientific psychophobia_.\n\nThey ought to have learned by this time, in the school of bitter {47}\nexperience, that they can rely on the self-sufficiency of the positive\nsciences only to a certain point; and that, so long as there remains\none single unexplained mystery in nature, the word \u201d_impossible_\u201d is a\ndangerous word for them to pronounce.\n\nIn the _Researches on the Phenomena of Spiritualism_, Mr. Crookes\nsubmits to the option of the reader eight theories \u201cto account for the\nphenomena observed.\u201d\n\nThese theories run as follows:\n\n\u201c_First Theory._\u2014The phenomena are all the result of tricks, clever\nmechanical arrangements, or legerdemain; the mediums are impostors, and\nthe rest of the company fools.\n\n\u201c_Second Theory._\u2014The persons at a seance are the victims of a sort of\nmania, or delusion, and imagine phenomena to occur which have no real\nobjective existence.\n\n\u201c_Third Theory._\u2014The whole is the result of conscious or unconscious\ncerebral action.\n\n\u201c_Fourth Theory._\u2014The result of the spirit of the medium, perhaps in\nassociation with the spirits of some or all of the people present.\n\n\u201c_Fifth Theory._\u2014The actions of evil spirits, or devils, personifying\nwhom or what they please, in order to undermine Christianity, and ruin\nmen\u2019s souls. (Theory of our theologians.)\n\n\u201c_Sixth Theory._\u2014The actions of a separate order of beings living\non this earth, but invisible and immaterial to us. Able, however,\noccasionally to manifest their presence, known in almost all countries\nand ages as demons (not necessarily bad), gnomes, fairies, kobolds,\nelves, goblins, Puck, etc. (One of the claims of the kabalists.)\n\n\u201c_Seventh Theory._\u2014The actions of departed human beings. (The spiritual\ntheory par excellence.)\n\n\u201c_Eighth Theory._\u2014(The psychic force) ... an adjunct to the fourth,\nfifth, sixth, and seventh theories.\u201c\n\nThe first of these theories having been proved valid only in\nexceptional, though unfortunately still too frequent cases, must be\nruled out as having no material bearing upon the phenomena themselves.\nTheories the _second_ and the _third_ are the last crumbling\nentrenchments of the guerilla of skeptics and materialists, and remain,\nas lawyers say, \u201d_Adhuc sub judice lis est_.\u201d Thus, we can deal in this\nwork but with the four remaining ones, the last, eighth, theory being\naccording to Mr. Crookes\u2019s opinion, but \u201ca necessary adjunct\u201d of the\nothers.\n\nHow subject even a scientific opinion is to error, we may see, if we\nonly compare the several articles on spiritual phenomena from the able {48}\npen of that gentleman, which appeared from 1870 to 1875. In one of the\nfirst we read: ... \u201cthe increased employment of scientific methods will\npromote exact observations and greater love of truths among inquirers,\nand will produce a race of observers _who will drive the worthless\nresiduum of spiritualism hence into the unknown limbo of magic and\nnecromancy_.\u201d And in 1875, we read, over his own signature, minute\nand most interesting descriptions of the materialized spirit\u2014Katie\nKing![113]\n\nIt is hardly possible to suppose that Mr. Crookes could be under\nelectro-biological influence or hallucination for two or three\nconsecutive years. The \u201cspirit\u201d appeared in his own house, in his\nlibrary, under the most crucial tests, and was seen, felt, and heard by\nhundreds of persons.\n\nBut Mr. Crookes denies that he ever took Katie King for a disembodied\nspirit. What was it then? If it was not Miss Florence Cook, and his\nword is our sufficient guarantee for it\u2014then it was either the spirit\nof one who had lived on earth, or one of those that come directly under\nthe sixth theory of the eight the eminent scientist offers to the\npublic choice. It must have been one of the classes named: \u201cFairies,\nKobolds, Gnomes, Elves, Goblins, or a Puck.\u201d[114]\n\nYes; Katie King must have been a fairy\u2014a Titania. For to a fairy only\ncould be applied with propriety the following poetic effusion which Mr.\nCrookes quotes in describing this wonderful spirit:\n\n \u201cRound her she made an atmosphere of life;\n The very air seemed lighter from her eyes;\n They were so soft and beautiful and rife\n With all we can imagine of the skies;\n Her overpowering presence makes you feel\n It would _not be idolatry to kneel_!\u201d[115]\n\nAnd thus, after having written, in 1870, his severe sentence against\nspiritualism and magic; after saying that even at that moment he\nbelieved \u201cthe whole affair a superstition, or, at least, an unexplained\ntrick\u2014a delusion of the senses;\u201d[116] Mr. Crookes, in 1875, closes\nhis letter with the following memorable words:\u2014\u201cTo imagine, I say,\nthe Katie King of the last three years to be the result of imposture\ndoes more violence to one\u2019s reason and common sense than to believe\nher to be what she herself affirms.\u201d[117] This last remark, moreover, {49}\nconclusively proves that: 1. Notwithstanding Mr. Crookes\u2019s full\nconvictions that the somebody calling herself Katie King was neither\nthe medium nor some confederate, but on the contrary an unknown\nforce in nature, which\u2014like love\u2014\u201claughs at locksmiths;\u201d 2. That\nthat hitherto unrecognized form of Force, albeit it had become with\nhim \u201cnot a matter of opinion, but of absolute knowledge,\u201cthe eminent\ninvestigator still did not abandon to the last his skeptical attitude\ntoward the question. In short, he firmly believes in the phenomenon,\nbut cannot accept the idea of its being the human spirit of a departed\n_somebody_.\n\nIt seems to us, that, as far as _public prejudice goes_, Mr. Crookes\nsolves one mystery by creating a still deeper one: the _obscurum per\nobscurius_. In other words, rejecting \u201c_the worthless residuum of\nspiritualism_,\u201d the courageous scientist fearlessly plunges into his\nown \u201c_unknown limbo of magic_ and _necromancy_!\u201d\n\nThe recognized laws of physical science account for but a few of the\nmore objective of the so-called spiritual phenomena. While proving the\nreality of certain visible effects of an unknown force, they have not\nthus far enabled scientists to control at will even this portion of the\nphenomena. The truth is that the professors have not yet discovered the\nnecessary conditions of their occurrence. They must go as deeply into\nthe study of the triple nature of man\u2014physiological, psychological,\nand _divine_\u2014as did their predecessors, the magicians, theurgists,\nand thaumaturgists of old. Until the present moment, even those who\nhave investigated the phenomena as thoroughly and impartially as Mr.\nCrookes, have set aside the cause as something not to be discovered\nnow, if ever. They have troubled themselves no more about that than\nabout the first cause of the cosmic phenomena of the correlation of\nforces, whose endless effects they are at such pains to observe and\nclassify. Their course has been as unwise as that of a man who should\nattempt to discover the sources of a river by exploring toward its\nmouth. It has so narrowed their views of the possibilities of natural\nlaw that very simple forms of occult phenomena have necessitated\ntheir denial that they can occur unless miracles were possible; and\nthis being a scientific absurdity the result has been that physical\nscience has latterly been losing prestige. If scientists had studied\nthe so-called \u201cmiracles\u201d instead of denying them, many secret laws of\nnature comprehended by the ancients would have been again discovered.\n\u201cConviction,\u201d says Bacon, \u201ccomes not through arguments but through\nexperiments.\u201d\n\nThe ancients were always distinguished\u2014especially the Chaldean\nastrologers and Magians\u2014for their ardent love and pursuit of knowledge\nin every branch of science. They tried to penetrate the secrets of {50}\nnature in the same way as our modern naturalists, and by the only\nmethod by which this object can be obtained, namely: by experimental\nresearches and reason. If our modern philosophers cannot apprehend the\nfact that they penetrated deeper than themselves into the mysteries of\nthe universe, this does not constitute a valid reason why the credit\nof possessing this knowledge should be denied them or the imputation\nof superstition laid at their door. Nothing warrants the charge; and\nevery new arch\u00e6ological discovery militates against the assumption.\nAs chemists they were unequalled, and in his famous lecture on _The\nLost Arts_, Wendell Phillips says: \u201cThe chemistry of the most ancient\nperiod had reached a point which _we have never even approached_.\u201d The\nsecret of the malleable glass, which, \u201cif supported by one end by its\nown weight, in twenty hours dwindles down to a fine line that you can\ncurve around your wrist,\u201d would be as difficult to rediscover in our\ncivilized countries as to fly to the moon.\n\nThe fabrication of a cup of glass which was brought by an exile to\nRome in the reign of Tiberius,\u2014a cup \u201cwhich he dashed upon the marble\npavement, and it was not crushed nor broken by the fall,\u201d and which, as\nit got \u201cdented some\u201d was easily brought into shape again with a hammer,\nis a historic fact. If it is doubted now it is merely because the\nmoderns cannot do the same. And yet, in Samarkand and some monasteries\nof Thibet such cups and glassware may be found to this day; nay,\nthere are persons who claim that they can make the same by virtue of\ntheir knowledge of the much-ridiculed and ever-doubted _alkahest_\u2014the\nuniversal solvent. This agent that Paracelsus and Van Helmont maintain\nto be a certain fluid in nature, \u201ccapable of reducing all sublunary\nbodies, as well homogeneous as mixed, into their _ens primum_, or\nthe original matter of which they are composed; or into an uniform,\nequable, and potable liquor, that will unite with water, and the\njuices of all bodies, and yet retain its own radical virtues; and, if\nagain mixed with itself will thereby be converted into pure elementary\nwater: \u201cwhat impossibilities prevent our crediting the statement? Why\nshould it not exist and why the idea be considered Utopian? Is it\nagain because our modern chemists are unable to produce it? But surely\nit may be conceived without any great effort of imagination that all\nbodies must have originally come from some first matter, and that this\nmatter, according to the lessons of astronomy, geology and physics,\nmust have been a fluid. Why should not gold\u2014of whose genesis our\nscientists know so little\u2014have been originally a primitive or _basic\nmatter of gold_, a ponderous fluid which, as says Van Helmont, \u201cfrom\nits own nature or a strong cohesion between its particles, acquired {51}\nafterward a solid form?\u201d There seems to be very little absurdity to\nbelieve in a \u201cuniversal _ens_ that resolves all bodies into their _ens\ngenitale_.\u201d Van Helmont calls it \u201cthe highest and most successful of\nall salts; which having obtained the supreme degree of simplicity,\npurity, subtilty, enjoys alone the faculty of remaining unchanged\nand unimpaired by the subjects it works upon, and of dissolving the\nmost stubborn and untractable bodies; as stones, gems, glass, earth,\nsulphur, metals, etc., into red salt, equal in weight to the matter\ndissolved; and this with as much ease as hot water melts down snow.\u201d\n\nIt is into this fluid that the makers of malleable glass claimed,\nand now claim, that they immersed common glass for several hours, to\nacquire the property of malleability.\n\nWe have a ready and palpable proof of such possibilities. A foreign\ncorrespondent of the Theosophical Society, a well-known medical\npractitioner, and one who has studied the occult sciences for upward\nof thirty years, has succeeded in obtaining what he terms the \u201ctrue\noil of gold,\u201d _i.e._, the primal element. Chemists and physicists have\nseen and examined it, and were driven to confess that they neither knew\n_how_ it was obtained nor could they do the same. That he desires his\nname to remain unknown is not to be wondered at; ridicule and public\nprejudice are more dangerous sometimes than the inquisition of old.\nThis \u201cAdamic earth\u201d is next-door neighbor to the alkahest, and one of\nthe most important secrets of the alchemists. No Kabalist will reveal\nit to the world, for, as he expresses it in the well-known jargon:\n\u201cit would explain _the eagles_ of the alchemists, and how the eagles\u2019\nwings are clipped,\u201d a secret that it took Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius\nPhilalethes) twenty years to learn.\n\nAs the dawn of physical science broke into a glaring daylight, the\nspiritual sciences merged deeper and deeper into night, and in their\nturn they were denied. So, now, these greatest masters in psychology\nare looked upon as \u201cignorant and superstitious ancestors;\u201d as\nmountebanks and jugglers, because, forsooth, the sun of modern learning\nshines to-day so bright, it has become an axiom that the philosophers\nand men of science of the olden time knew nothing, and lived in a night\nof superstition. But their traducers forget that the sun of to-day will\nseem dark by comparison with the luminary of to-morrow, whether justly\nor not; and as the men of our century think their ancestors ignorant,\nso will perhaps their descendants count them for _know-nothings_. The\nworld moves in cycles. The coming races will be but the reproductions\nof races long bygone; as we, perhaps, are the images of those who\nlived a hundred centuries ago. The time will come when those who {52}\nnow in public slander the hermetists, but ponder in secret their\ndust-covered volumes; who plagiarize their ideas, assimilate and give\nthem out as their own\u2014will receive their dues. \u201cWho,\u201d honestly exclaims\nPfaff\u2014\u201cwhat man has ever taken more comprehensive views of nature than\nParacelsus? He was the bold creator of chemical medicines; the founder\nof courageous parties; victorious in controversy, belonging to those\nspirits who have created amongst us a new mode of thinking on the\nnatural existence of things. What he scattered through his writings on\nthe philosopher\u2019s stone, on pigmies and spirits of the mines; on signs,\non homunculi, and the elixir of life, and which are employed by many to\nlower his estimation, cannot extinguish our grateful remembrance of his\ngeneral works, nor our admiration of his free, bold exertions, and his\nnoble, intellectual life.\u201d[118]\n\nMore than one pathologist, chemist, homoeopathist, and magnetist has\nquenched his thirst for knowledge in the books of Paracelsus. Frederick\nHufeland got his theoretical doctrines on infection from this medi\u00e6val\n\u201cquack,\u201d as Sprengel delights in calling one who was immeasurably\nhigher than himself. Hemman, who endeavors to vindicate this great\nphilosopher, and nobly tries to redress his slandered memory, speaks\nof him as the \u201c_greatest_ chemist of his time.\u201d[119] So do Professor\nMolitor,[120] and Dr. Ennemoser, the eminent German psychologist.[121]\nAccording to their criticisms on the labors of this Hermetist,\nParacelsus is the most \u201cwondrous intellect of his age,\u201d a \u201cnoble\ngenius.\u201d But our modern lights assume to know better, and the ideas\nof the Rosicrucians about the elementary spirits, the goblins and the\nelves, have sunk into the \u201climbo of magic\u201d and fairy tales for early\nchildhood.[122]\n\nWe are quite ready to concede to skeptics that one-half, and even\nmore, of seeming phenomena, are but more or less clever fraud. Recent\nexposures, especially of \u201cmaterializing\u201d mediums, but too well prove\nthe fact. Unquestionably numerous others are still in store, and this {53}\nwill continue until tests have become so perfect and spiritualists so\nreasonable as no longer to furnish opportunity to mediums or weapons to\nadversaries.\n\nWhat should sensible spiritualists think of the character of _angel_\nguides, who after monopolizing, perhaps for years, a poor medium\u2019s\ntime, health and means, suddenly abandon him when he most needs\ntheir help? None but creatures _without soul or conscience_ would be\nguilty of such injustice. Conditions?\u2014Mere sophistry. What sort of\nspirits must they be who would not summon if necessary an army of\nspirit-friends (if such there be) to snatch the innocent medium from\nthe pit dug for his feet? Such things happened in the olden time, such\nmay happen now. _There were apparitions before modern spiritualism, and\nphenomena like ours in every previous age._ If modern manifestations\nare a reality and palpable facts, so must have been the so-called\n\u201cmiracles\u201d and thaumaturgic exploits of old; or if the latter are but\nfictions of superstition so must be the former, for they rest on no\nbetter testimony.\n\nBut, in this daily-increasing torrent of occult phenomena that rushes\nfrom one end of the globe to the other, though two-thirds of the\nmanifestations are proved spurious, what of those which are proved\ngenuine beyond doubt or cavil? Among these may be found communications\ncoming through non-professional as well as professional mediums, which\nare sublime and divinely grand. Often, through young children, and\nsimple-minded ignorant persons, we receive philosophical teachings and\nprecepts, poetry and inspirational orations, music and paintings that\nare fully worthy of the reputations of their alleged authors. Their\nprophecies are often verified and their moral disquisitions beneficent,\nthough the latter is of rarer occurrence. Who are those spirits, what\nthose powers or intelligences which are evidently _outside_ of the\nmedium proper and entities _per se_? These _intelligences_ deserve the\nappellation; and they differ as widely from the generality of spooks\nand goblins that hover around the cabinets for physical manifestations,\nas day from night.\n\nWe must confess that the situation appears to be very grave. The\ncontrol of mediums by such unprincipled and lying \u201cspirits\u201d is\nconstantly becoming more and more general; and the pernicious effects\nof _seeming_ diabolism constantly multiply. Some of the best mediums\nare abandoning the public rostrum and retiring from this influence;\nand the movement is drifting churchward. We venture the prediction\nthat unless spiritualists set about the study, of ancient philosophy\nso as to learn to discriminate between spirits and to guard themselves\nagainst the baser sort, twenty-five years more will not elapse\nbefore they will have to fly to the Romish communion to escape these\n\u201cguides\u201d and \u201ccontrols\u201d that they have fondled so long. The signs of\nthis catastrophe already exhibit themselves. At a recent convention {54}\nat Philadelphia, it was seriously proposed to organize a sect of\n_Christian_ Spiritualists! This is because, having withdrawn from\nthe church and learned nothing of the philosophy of the phenomena,\nor the nature of their spirits, they are drifting about on a sea of\nuncertainty like a ship without compass or rudder. They cannot escape\nthe dilemma; they must choose between Porphyry and Pio Nono.\n\nWhile men of genuine science, such as Wallace, Crookes, Wagner,\nButlerof, Varley, Buchanan, Hare, Reichenbach, Thury, Perty, de Morgan,\nHoffmann, Goldschmidt, W. Gregory, Flammarion, Sergeant Cox and many\nothers, firmly believe in the current phenomena, many of the above\nnamed reject the theory of departed spirits. Therefore, it seems but\nlogical to think that if the London \u201cKatie King,\u201d the only materialized\n_something_ which the public is obliged more or less to credit out\nof respect to science,\u2014is not the spirit of an ex-mortal, then it\nmust be the astral solidified shadow of either one of the Rosicrucian\nspooks\u2014\u201cfantasies of superstition\u201d or of some as yet unexplained force\nin nature. Be it however a \u201cspirit of health or goblin damn\u2019d\u201d it is\nof little consequence; for if it be once proved that its organism is\nnot solid matter, then it must be and is a \u201cspirit,\u201d an apparition,\na _breath_. It is an intelligence which acts outside our organisms\nand therefore must belong to some existing even though unseen race\nof beings. But what is it? What is this something which thinks and\neven speaks but yet is not human; that is impalpable and yet not\na disembodied spirit; that simulates affection, passion, remorse,\nfear, joy, but yet feels neither? What is this canting creature which\nrejoices in cheating the truthful inquirer and mocking at sacred human\nfeeling? For, if not Mr. Crookes\u2019s Katie King, other similar creatures\nhave done all these. Who can fathom the mystery? The true psychologist\nalone. And where should he go for his text-books but to the neglected\nalcoves of libraries where the works of despised hermetists and\ntheurgists have been gathering dust these many years.\n\nSays Henry More, the revered English Platonist, in his answer to an\nattack on the believers of spiritual and magic phenomena by a skeptic\nof that age, named Webster:[123] \u201cAs for that other opinion, that the {55}\ngreater part of the reformed divines hold, that it was the Devil that\nappeared in Samuel\u2019s shape, it is beneath contempt; for though I do\nnot doubt but that in many of these necromantic apparitions, they are\n_ludicrous spirits, not the souls of the deceased that appear_, yet I\nam clear for the appearing of the soul of Samuel, and as clear that\nin other necromancies, it may be such kinds of spirits, as Porphyrius\nabove describes, \u2018that change themselves into omnifarious forms and\nshapes, and one while act the parts of d\u00e6mons, another while of angels\nor gods, and another while _of the souls of the departed_.\u2019 And I\nconfess such a spirit as this might _personate_ Samuel here, for\nanything Webster alleged to the contrary, for his arguments indeed are\nwonderfully weak and wooden.\u201d\n\nWhen such a metaphysician and philosopher as Henry More gives such\ntestimony as this, we may well assume our point to have been well\ntaken. Learned investigators, all very skeptical as to spirits in\ngeneral and \u201cdeparted human spirits\u201d in particular, during the last\ntwenty years have taxed their brains to invent new names for an old\nthing. Thus, with Mr. Crookes and Sergeant Cox, it is the \u201cpsychic\nforce.\u201d Professor Thury of Geneva calls it the \u201cpsychode\u201d or _ectenic_\nforce; Professor Balfour Stewart, the \u201celectro-biological power;\u201d\nFaraday, the \u201cgreat master of experimental philosophy in physics,\u201d\nbut apparently a novice in psychology, superciliously termed it an\n\u201cunconscious muscular action,\u201d an \u201cunconscious cerebration,\u201d and what\nnot? Sir William Hamilton, a \u201clatent thought;\u201d Dr. Carpenter, \u201cthe\nideo-motor principle,\u201d etc., etc. So many scientists\u2014so many names.\n\nYears ago the old German philosopher, Schopenhauer, disposed of this\nforce and matter at the same time; and since the conversion of Mr.\nWallace, the great anthropologist has evidently adopted his ideas.\nSchopenhauer\u2019s doctrine is that the universe is but the manifestation\nof the will. Every force in nature is also an effect of will,\nrepresenting a higher or lower degree of its objectiveness. It is the\nteaching of Plato, who stated distinctly that everything visible was\ncreated or evolved out of the invisible and eternal WILL, and after\nits fashion. Our Heaven\u2014he says\u2014was produced according to the eternal\npattern of the \u201cIdeal World,\u201d contained, as everything else, in the\ndodecahedron, the geometrical model used by the Deity.[124] With Plato,\nthe Primal Being is an emanation of the Demiurgic Mind (_Nous_), which\ncontains from the eternity the \u201c_idea_\u201d of the \u201cto be created world\u201d\nwithin itself, and which idea he produces out of himself.[125] The laws\nof nature are the established relations of this _idea_ to the forms {56}\nof its manifestations; \u201cthese forms,\u201d says Schopenhauer, \u201care time,\nspace, and causality. Through time and space the idea varies in its\nnumberless manifestations.\u201d\n\nThese ideas are far from being new, and even with Plato they were not\noriginal. This is what we read in the _Chaldean Oracles_:[126] \u201cThe\nworks of nature co-exist with the intellectual [\u03bd\u03bf\u03ad\u03c1\u1ff3], spiritual Light\nof the Father. For it is the soul [\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7] which adorned the great\nheaven, and which adorns it after the Father.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in\nthe Divine Reason,\u201d says Philo,[127] who is erroneously accused of\nderiving his philosophy from Plato\u2019s.\n\nIn the _Theogony_ of Mochus, we find \u00c6ther first, and then the air;\nthe two principles from which Ulom, the _intelligible_ [\u03bd\u03bf\u03ae\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2] God (the\nvisible universe of matter) is born.[128]\n\nIn the Orphic hymns, the Eros-Phanes evolves from the Spiritual Egg,\nwhich the \u00c6thereal winds impregnate, Wind[129] being \u201cthe spirit of\nGod,\u201d who is said to move in \u00c6ther, \u201cbrooding over the Chaos\u201d the Divine\n\u201cIdea.\u201d In the Hindu _Katakopanis\u00e2d_, Purusha, the Divine Spirit,\nalready stands before the original matter, from whose union springs the\ngreat Soul of the World, \u201cMaha=Atma, Brahm, the Spirit of Life;\u201d[130]\nthese latter appellations are identical with the Universal Soul, or\n_Anima Mundi_, and the Astral Light of the theurgists and kabalists.\n\nPythagoras brought his doctrines from the eastern sanctuaries, and\nPlato compiled them into a form more intelligible than the mysterious\nnumerals of the sage\u2014whose doctrines he had fully embraced\u2014to the\nuninitiated mind. Thus, the _Cosmos_ is \u201cthe Son\u201d with Plato, having\nfor his father and mother the Divine Thought and Matter.[131]\n\n\u201cThe Egyptians,\u201d says Dunlap,[132] \u201cdistinguish between an older and\nyounger Horus, the former the _brother_ of Osiris, the latter the _son_\nof Osiris and Isis.\u201d The first is the _Idea_ of the world remaining\nin the Demiurgic Mind, \u201cborn in darkness before the creation of the\nworld.\u201d The second Horus is this \u201cIdea\u201d going forth from the _Logos_,\nbecoming clothed with matter, and assuming an actual existence.[133]\n\n\u201cThe mundane God, eternal, boundless, young and old, of winding\nform,\u201d[134] say the _Chaldean oracles_.\n\nThis \u201cwinding form\u201d is a figure to express the vibratory motion of\nthe Astral Light, with which the ancient priests were perfectly well {57}\nacquainted, though they may have differed in views of ether, with\nmodern scientists; for in the \u00c6ther they placed the Eternal Idea\npervading the Universe, or the _Will_ which becomes _Force_, and\ncreates or organizes _matter_.\n\n\u201cThe will,\u201d says Van Helmont, \u201cis the first of all powers. For through\nthe will of the Creator all things were made and put in motion....\nThe will is the property of all spiritual beings, and displays itself\nin them the more actively the more they are freed from matter.\u201d And\nParacelsus, \u201cthe divine,\u201d as he was called, adds in the same strain:\n\u201c_Faith_ must confirm the imagination, for faith establishes the\n_will_.... Determined will is a beginning of all magical operations....\nBecause men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result, is that\nthe arts are uncertain, while they might be perfectly certain.\u201d\n\nThe opposing power alone of unbelief and skepticism, if projected in a\ncurrent of equal force, can check the other, and sometimes completely\nneutralize it. Why should spiritualists wonder that the presence of\nsome strong skeptics, or of those who, feeling bitterly opposed to the\nphenomenon, unconsciously exercise their will-power in opposition,\nhinders and often stops altogether the manifestations? If there is no\n_conscious_ power on earth but sometimes finds another to interfere\nwith or even counterbalance it, why wonder when the _unconscious_,\npassive power of a medium is suddenly paralyzed in its effects by\nanother opposing one, though it also be as unconsciously exercised?\nProfessors Faraday and Tyndall boasted that their presence at a circle\nwould stop at once every manifestation. This fact alone ought to have\nproved to the eminent scientists that there was some force in these\nphenomena worthy to arrest their attention. As a scientist, Prof.\nTyndall was perhaps pre-eminent in the circle of those who were present\nat the seance; as a shrewd observer, one not easily deceived by a\ntricking medium, he was perhaps no better, if as clever, as others in\nthe room, and if the manifestations were but a fraud so ingenious as to\ndeceive the others, they would not have stopped, even on _his_ account.\nWhat medium can ever boast of such phenomena as were produced by Jesus,\nand the apostle Paul after him? Yet even Jesus met with cases where the\nunconscious force of resistance overpowered even his so well directed\ncurrent of will. \u201cAnd he did not many mighty works there, because of\ntheir unbelief.\u201d\n\nThere is a reflection of every one of these views in Schopenhauer\u2019s\nphilosophy. Our \u201cinvestigating\u201d scientists might consult his works\nwith profit. They will find therein many a strange hypothesis founded\non old ideas, speculations on the \u201cnew\u201d phenomena, which may prove\nas reasonable as any, and be saved the useless trouble of inventing {58}\nnew theories. The psychic and ectenic forces, the \u201cideo-motor\u201d and\n\u201celectro-biological powers;\u201d \u201clatent thought\u201d and even \u201cunconscious\ncerebration\u201d theories, can be condensed in two words: the kabalistic\nASTRAL LIGHT.\n\nThe bold theories and opinions expressed in Schopenhauer\u2019s works\ndiffer widely with those of the majority of our orthodox scientists.\n\u201cIn reality,\u201d remarks this daring speculator, \u201cthere is neither\n_matter_ nor _spirit_. The tendency to gravitation in a stone is as\nunexplainable as thought in human brain.... If matter can\u2014no one knows\nwhy\u2014fall to the ground, then it can also\u2014no one knows why\u2014think.... As\nsoon, even in mechanics, as we trespass beyond the purely mathematical,\nas soon as we reach the inscrutable, adhesion, gravitation, and so on,\nwe are faced by phenomena which are to our senses as mysterious as the\nWILL and THOUGHT in man\u2014we find ourselves facing the incomprehensible,\nfor such is every force in nature. Where is then that _matter_ which\nyou all pretend to know so well; and from which\u2014being so familiar with\nit\u2014you draw all your conclusions and explanations, and attribute to\nit all things?... That, which can be fully realized by our reason and\nsenses, is but the superficial: they can never reach the true inner\nsubstance of things. Such was the opinion of Kant. If you consider that\nthere is in a human head some sort of a _spirit_, then you are obliged\nto concede the same to a stone. If your dead and utterly passive matter\ncan manifest a tendency toward gravitation, or, like electricity,\nattract and repel, and send out sparks\u2014then, as well as the brain, it\ncan also think. In short, every particle of the so-called spirit, we\ncan replace with an equivalent of matter, and every particle of matter\nreplace with spirit.... Thus, it is not the Cartesian division of all\nthings into matter and spirit that can ever be found philosophically\nexact; but only if we divide them into _will_ and _manifestation_,\nwhich form of division has naught to do with the former, for it\nspiritualizes every thing: all that, which is in the first instance\nreal and objective\u2014body and matter\u2014it transforms into a representation,\nand every manifestation into will.\u201d[135]\n\nThese views corroborate what we have expressed about the various names\ngiven to the same thing. The disputants are battling about mere words.\nCall the phenomena force, energy, electricity or magnetism, will, or\nspirit-power, it will ever be the partial manifestation of the _soul_,\nwhether disembodied or imprisoned for a while in its body\u2014of a portion\nof that intelligent, omnipotent, and individual WILL, pervading all\nnature, and known, through the insufficiency of human language to\nexpress correctly psychological images, as\u2014GOD.\n\nThe ideas of some of our schoolmen about matter are, from the {59}\nkabalistic standing-point, in many a way erroneous. Hartmann calls\ntheir views \u201can _instinctual_ prejudice.\u201d Furthermore, he demonstrates\nthat no experimenter can have anything to do with matter properly\ntermed, but only with the forces into which he divides it. The visible\neffects of matter are but the effects of force. He concludes thereby,\nthat that which is now called matter is nothing but the aggregation of\natomic forces, to express which the word _matter_ is used: outside of\nthat, for science matter is but a word void of sense. Notwithstanding\nmany an honest confession on the part of our specialists\u2014physicists,\nphysiologists and chemists\u2014that they know nothing whatever of\nmatter,[136] _they deify it_. Every new phenomenon which they find\nthemselves unable to explain, is triturated, compounded into incense,\nand burned on the altar of the goddess who patronizes modern scientists.\n\nNo one can better treat his subject than does Schopenhauer in his\n_Parerga_. In this work he discusses at length animal magnetism,\nclairvoyance, sympathetic cures, seership, magic, omens, ghost-seeing,\nand other spiritual matters. \u201cAll these manifestations,\u201d he says, \u201care\nbranches of one and the same tree, and furnish us with irrefutable\nproofs of the existence of a chain of beings which is based on\nquite a different order of things than that nature which has at its\nfoundation laws of space, time and adaptability. This other order of\nthings is far deeper, for it is the original and the direct one; in\nits presence the common laws of nature, which are simply formal, are\nunavailing; therefore, under its immediate action neither time nor\nspace can separate any longer the individuals, and the separation\nimpendent on these forms presents no more insurmountable barriers for\nthe intercourse of thoughts and the immediate action of the will. In\nthis manner changes may be wrought by quite a different course than\nthe course of physical causality, _i.e._, through an action of the\nmanifestation of the will exhibited in a peculiar way and outside\nthe individual himself. Therefore the peculiar character of all the\naforesaid manifestations is the _visioin distante et actio in distante_\n(vision and action at a distance) in its relation to time as well as\nin its relation to space. Such an action at a distance is just what\nconstitutes the fundamental character of what is called _magical_; for\nsuch is the immediate action of our will, an action liberated from the\ncausal conditions of physical action, viz., contact.\u201d\n\n\u201cBesides that,\u201d continues Schopenhauer, \u201cthese manifestations present\nto us a substantial and perfectly logical contradiction to materialism,\nand even to naturalism, because in the light of such manifestations, {60}\nthat order of things in nature which both these philosophies seek to\npresent as absolute and the only genuine, appears before us on the\ncontrary purely phenomenal and superficial, and containing at the\nbottom of it a substance of things _\u00e0 parte_ and perfectly independent\nof its own laws. That is why these manifestations\u2014at least from a\npurely philosophical point of view\u2014among all the facts which are\npresented to us in the domain of experiment, are beyond any comparison\nthe most important. Therefore, it is the duty of every scientist to\nacquaint himself with them.\u201d[137]\n\nTo pass from the philosophical speculations of a man like Schopenhauer\nto the superficial generalizations of some of the French Academicians,\nwould be profitless but for the fact that it enables us to estimate\nthe intellectual grasp of the two schools of learning. What the German\nmakes of profound psychological questions, we have seen. Compare with\nit the best that the astronomer Babinet and the chemist Boussingault\ncan offer by way of explaining an important spiritualistic phenomenon.\nIn 1854-5 these distinguished specialists presented to the Academy\na _memoire_, or monograph, whose evident object was to corroborate\nand at the same time make clearer Dr. Chevreuil\u2019s too complicated\ntheory in explanation of the turning-tables, of the commission for the\ninvestigation of which he was a member.\n\nHere it is _verbatim_: \u201cAs to the movements and oscillations _alleged_\nto happen with certain tables, they can have no cause other than the\n_invisible_ and involuntary vibrations of the experimenter\u2019s muscular\nsystem; the extended contraction of the muscles manifesting itself\nat such time by a series of vibrations, and becoming thus a _visible\ntremor_ which communicates to the object a circumrotary motion. This\nrotation is thus enabled to manifest itself with a considerable\nenergy, by a gradually quickening motion, or by a strong resistance,\nwhenever it is required to stop. Hence the physical explanation\nof the phenomenon becomes clear and does not offer the slightest\ndifficulty.\u201d[138]\n\nNone whatever. This scientific hypothesis\u2014or demonstration shall we\nsay?\u2014is as clear as one of M. Babinet\u2019s nebul\u00e6 examined on a foggy\nnight.\n\nAnd still, clear as it may be, it lacks an important feature, _i.e._,\ncommon sense. We are at a loss to decide whether or not Babinet accepts\n_en desespoir de cause_ Hartmann\u2019s proposition that \u201cthe visible\n_effects of matter_ are nothing but the _effects of a force_,\u201d and,\nthat in order to form a clear conception of matter, one must first form\none of force. The philosophy to the school of which belongs Hartmann, {61}\nand which is partly accepted by several of the greatest German\nscientists, teaches that the problem of matter can only be solved by\nthat invisible Force, acquaintance with which Schopenhauer terms the\n\u201cmagical knowledge,\u201d and \u201cmagical effect or action of Will.\u201d Thus,\nwe must first ascertain whether the \u201cinvoluntary vibrations of the\nexperimenter\u2019s muscular system,\u201d which are but \u201cactions of matter,\u201d are\ninfluenced by a will _within_ the experimenter or _without_. In the\nformer case Babinet makes of him an unconscious epileptic; the latter,\nas we will further see, he rejects altogether, and attributes all\nintelligent answers of the tipping or rapping tables to \u201cunconscious\nventriloquism.\u201d\n\nWe know that every exertion of will results in _force_, and that,\naccording to the above-named German school, the manifestations\nof atomic forces are individual actions of will, resulting in\nthe unconscious rushing of atoms into the concrete image already\nsubjectively created by the will. Democritus taught, after his\ninstructor Leucippus, that the first principles of all things contained\nin the universe were atoms and a _vacuum_. In its kabalistic sense, the\n_vacuum_ means in this instance the _latent_ Deity, or latent force,\nwhich at its first manifestation became WILL, and thus communicated\nthe first impulse to these atoms\u2014whose agglomeration, is matter. This\nvacuum was but another name for chaos, and an unsatisfactory one, for,\naccording to the Peripatetics \u201cnature abhors a vacuum.\u201d\n\nThat before Democritus the ancients were familiar with the idea of\nthe indestructibility of matter is proved by their allegories and\nnumerous other facts. Movers gives a definition of the Ph\u0153nician idea\nof the ideal sunlight as a spiritual influence issuing from the highest\nGod, IAO, \u201cthe light conceivable only by intellect\u2014the physical and\nspiritual Principle of all things; out of which the soul emanates.\u201d It\nwas the male Essence, or Wisdom, while the primitive matter or _Chaos_\nwas the female. Thus the two first principles\u2014co-eternal and infinite,\nwere already with the primitive Ph\u0153nicians, spirit and matter.\nTherefore the theory is as old as the world; for Democritus was not the\nfirst philosopher who taught it; and intuition existed in man before\nthe ultimate development of his reason. But it is in the denial of the\nboundless and endless Entity, possessor of that invisible Will which\nwe for lack of a better term call GOD, that lies the powerlessness\nof every materialistic science to explain the occult phenomena. It\nis in the rejection _a priori_ of everything which might force them\nto cross the boundary of exact science and step into the domain of\npsychological, or, if we prefer, metaphysical physiology, that we find\nthe secret cause of their discomfiture by the manifestations, and their\nabsurd theories to account for them. The ancient philosophy affirmed\nthat it is in consequence of the manifestation of that Will\u2014termed by\nPlato _the Divine Idea_\u2014that everything visible and invisible sprung {62}\ninto existence. As that Intelligent Idea, which, by directing its\nsole will-power toward a centre of localized forces called objective\nforms into being, so can man, the microcosm of the great Macrocosm,\ndo the same in proportion with the development of his will-power.\nThe imaginary atoms\u2014a figure of speech employed by Democritus, and\ngratefully seized upon by the materialists\u2014are like automatic workmen\nmoved inwardly by the influx of that Universal Will directed upon\nthem, and which, manifesting itself as force, sets them into activity.\nThe plan of the structure to be erected is in the brain of the\nArchitect, and reflects his will; abstract as yet, from the instant of\nthe conception it becomes concrete through these atoms which follow\nfaithfully every line, point and figure traced in the imagination of\nthe Divine Geometer.\n\nAs God creates, so man can create. Given a certain intensity of will,\nand the shapes created by the mind become subjective. Hallucinations,\nthey are called, although to their creator they are real as any visible\nobject is to any one else. Given a more intense and intelligent\nconcentration of this will, and the form becomes concrete, visible,\nobjective; the man has learned the secret of secrets; he is a MAGICIAN.\n\nThe materialist should not object to this logic, for he regards thought\nas matter. Conceding it to be so, the cunning mechanism contrived by\nthe inventor; the fairy scenes born in the poet\u2019s brain; the gorgeous\npainting limned by the artist\u2019s fancy; the peerless statue chiselled\nin ether by the sculptor; the palaces and castles built in air by the\narchitect\u2014all these, though invisible and subjective, must exist, for\nthey are matter, shaped and moulded. Who shall say, then, that there\nare not some men of such imperial will as to be able to drag these\nair-drawn fancies into view, enveloped in the hard casing of gross\nsubstance to make them tangible?\n\nIf the French scientists reaped no laurels in the new field of\ninvestigation, what more was done in England, until the day when Mr.\nCrookes offered himself in atonement for the sins of the learned\nbody? Why, Mr. Faraday, some twenty years ago, actually condescended\nto be spoken to once or twice upon the subject. Faraday, whose name\nis pronounced by the anti-spiritualists in every discussion upon\nthe phenomena, as a sort of scientific charm against the evil-eye\nof Spiritualism, Faraday, who \u201cblushed\u201d for having published his\nresearches upon such a degrading belief, is now proved on good\nauthority to have never sat at a tipping table himself at all! We\nhave but to open a few stray numbers of the _Journal des Debats_,\npublished while a noted Scotch medium was in England, to recall\nthe past events in all their primitive freshness. In one of these\nnumbers, Dr. Foucault, of Paris, comes out as a champion for the\neminent English experimenter. \u201cPray, do not imagine,\u201d says he, \u201cthat {63}\nthe grand physicist had ever himself condescended so far as to sit\nprosaically at a jumping table.\u201d Whence, then, came the \u201cblushes\u201d\nwhich suffused the cheeks of the \u201cFather of Experimental Philosophy?\u201d\nRemembering this fact, we will now examine the nature of Faraday\u2019s\nbeautiful \u201cIndicator,\u201d the extraordinary \u201cMedium-Catcher,\u201d invented by\nhim for the detection of mediumistic fraud. That complicated machine,\nthe memory of which haunts like a nightmare the dreams of dishonest\nmediums, is carefully described in Comte de Mirville\u2019s _Question des\nEsprits_.\n\nThe better to prove to the experimenters the reality of their own\nimpulsion, Professor Faraday placed several card-board disks, united to\neach other and stuck to the table by a half-soft glue, which, making\nthe whole adhere for a time together, would, nevertheless, yield to\na continuous pressure. Now, the table having turned\u2014yes, actually\n_having dared to turn before Mr. Faraday_, which fact is of some value,\nat least\u2014the disks were examined; and, as they were found to have\ngradually displaced themselves by slipping in the same direction as the\ntable, it thus became an unquestionable proof that the experimenters\nhad _pushed_ the tables themselves.\n\nAnother of the so called scientific tests, so useful in a phenomenon\nalleged to be either spiritual or psychical, consisted of a small\ninstrument which immediately warned the witnesses of the slightest\npersonal impulsion on their part, or rather, according to Mr. Faraday\u2019s\nown expression, \u201cit warned them when they changed from the passive to\nthe active state.\u201d This needle which betrayed the active motion proved\nbut one thing, viz.: the action of a force which either emanated from\nthe sitters or controlled them. And who has ever said that there is\nno such force? Every one admits so much, whether this force passes\nthrough the operator, as it is generally shown, or acts independently\nof him, as is so often the case. \u201cThe whole mystery consisted in the\ndisproportion of the force employed by the operators, who pushed\nbecause they were forced to push, with certain effects of rotation, or\nrather, of a really marvellous race. In the presence of such prodigious\neffects, how could any one imagine that the Lilliputian experiments\nof that kind could have any value in this newly discovered Land of\nGiants?\u201d[139]\n\nProfessor Agassiz, who occupied in America nearly the same eminent\nposition as a scientist which Mr. Faraday did in England, acted with a\nstill greater unfairness. Professor J. R. Buchanan, the distinguished\nanthropologist, who has treated Spiritualism in some respects more\nscientifically than any one else in America, speaks of Agassiz, in a {64}\nrecent article, with a very just indignation. For, of all other men,\nProfessor Agassiz ought to believe in a phenomenon to which he had been\na subject himself. But now that both Faraday and Agassiz are themselves\n_disembodied_, we can do better by questioning the living than the dead.\n\nThus a force whose secret powers were thoroughly familiar to the\nancient theurgists, is denied by modern skeptics. The antediluvian\nchildren\u2014who perhaps played with it, using it as the boys in\nBulwer-Lytton\u2019s _Coming Race_, use the tremendous \u201c_vril_\u201d called it the\n\u201cWater of Phtha;\u201d their descendants named it the _Anima Mundi_, the\nsoul of the universe; and still later the medi\u00e6val hermetists termed it\n\u201csidereal light,\u201d or the \u201cMilk of the Celestial Virgin,\u201d the \u201cMagnes,\u201d\nand many other names. But our modern learned men will neither accept\nnor recognize it under such appellations; for it pertains to _magic_,\nand magic is, in their conception, a disgraceful superstition.\n\nApollonius and Iamblichus held that it was not \u201cin the knowledge of\nthings _without_, but in the perfection of the soul _within_, that lies\nthe empire of man, aspiring to be more than men.\u201d[140] Thus they had\narrived at a perfect cognizance of their godlike souls, the powers of\nwhich they used with all the wisdom, outgrowth of esoteric study of\nthe hermetic lore, inherited by them from their forefathers. But our\nphilosophers, tightly shutting themselves up in their shells of flesh,\ncannot or dare not carry their timid gaze beyond the _comprehensible_.\nFor them there is no future life; there are no godlike dreams, they\nscorn them as unscientific; for them the men of old are but \u201cignorant\nancestors,\u201d as they express it; and whenever they meet during their\nphysiological researches with an author who believes that this\nmysterious yearning after spiritual knowledge is inherent in every\nhuman being, and cannot have been given us utterly in vain, they regard\nhim with contemptuous pity.\n\nSays a Persian proverb: \u201cThe darker the sky is, the brighter the stars\nwill shine.\u201d Thus, on the dark firmament of the medi\u00e6val ages began\nappearing the mysterious Brothers of the Rosie Cross. They formed no\nassociations, they built no colleges; for, hunted up and down like\nso many wild beasts, when caught by the Christian Church, they were\nunceremoniously roasted. \u201cAs religion forbids it,\u201d says Bayle, \u201cto\nspill blood,\u201d therefore, \u201cto elude the maxim, _Ecclesia non novit\nsanguinem_, they burned human beings, as burning a man does not _shed\nhis blood_!\u201d\n\nMany of these mystics, by following what they were taught by some\ntreatises, secretly preserved from one generation to another, achieved\ndiscoveries which would not be despised even in our modern days of\nexact sciences. Roger Bacon, the friar, was laughed at as a quack, {65}\nand is now generally numbered among \u201cpretenders\u201d to magic art; but\nhis discoveries were nevertheless accepted, and are now used by those\nwho ridicule him the most. Roger Bacon belonged by right if not by\nfact to that Brotherhood which includes all those who study the occult\nsciences. Living in the thirteenth century, almost a contemporary,\ntherefore, of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, his discoveries\u2014such\nas gunpowder and optical glasses, and his mechanical achievements\u2014were\nconsidered by every one as so many miracles. He was accused of having\nmade a compact with the Evil One.\n\nIn the legendary history of Friar Bacon, as \u201cwell as in an old play\nwritten by Robert Green, a dramatist in the days of Queen Elizabeth,\nit is recounted, that, having been summoned before the king, the friar\nwas induced to show\u201d some of his skill before her majesty the queen.\nSo he waved his hand (_his wand_, says the text), and \u201cpresently was\nheard such excellent music, that they all said they had never heard the\nlike.\u201d Then there was heard a still louder music and four apparitions\nsuddenly presented themselves and danced until they vanished and\ndisappeared in the air. Then he waved his wand again, and suddenly\nthere was such a smell \u201cas if all the rich perfumes in the whole world\nhad been there prepared in the best manner that art could set them\nout.\u201d Then Roger Bacon having promised a gentleman to show him his\nsweetheart, he pulled a hanging in the king\u2019s apartment aside and every\none in the room saw \u201ca kitchen-maid with a basting-ladle in her hand.\u201d\nThe proud gentleman, although he recognized the maiden who disappeared\nas suddenly as she had appeared, was enraged at the humiliating\nspectacle, and threatened the friar with his revenge. What does the\nmagician do? He simply answers: \u201cThreaten not, lest I do you more\nshame; and do you take heed how you give _scholars_ the lie again!\u201d\n\nAs a commentary on this, the modern historian[141] remarks: \u201cThis may\nbe taken as a sort of exemplification of the class of exhibitions\nwhich were probably the result of a _superior knowledge_ of natural\nsciences.\u201d No one ever doubted that it was the result of precisely such\na knowledge, and the hermetists, magicians, astrologers and alchemists\nnever claimed anything else. It certainly was not their fault that the\nignorant masses, under the influence of an unscrupulous and fanatical\nclergy, should have attributed all such works to the agency of the\ndevil. In view of the atrocious tortures provided by the Inquisition\nfor all suspected of either black or white magic, it is not strange\nthat these philosophers neither boasted nor even acknowledged the fact\nof such an intercourse. On the contrary, their own writings prove that {66}\nthey held that magic is \u201cno more than the application of natural\nactive causes to passive things or subjects; by means thereof, many\ntremendously surprising but yet natural effects are produced.\u201d\n\nThe phenomena of the mystic odors and music, exhibited by Roger Bacon,\nhave been often observed in our own time. To say nothing of our\npersonal experience, we are informed by English correspondents of the\nTheosophical Society that they have heard strains of the most ravishing\nmusic, coming from no visible instrument, and inhaled a succession of\ndelightful odors produced, as they believed, by spirit-agency. One\ncorrespondent tells us that so powerful was one of these familiar\nodors\u2014that of sandal-wood\u2014that the house would be impregnated with\nit for weeks after the seance. The medium in this case was a member\nof a private family, and the experiments were all made within the\ndomestic circle. Another describes what he calls a \u201c_musical_ rap.\u201d\nThe potencies that are now capable of producing these phenomena must\nhave existed and been equally efficacious in the days of Roger Bacon.\nAs to the apparitions, it suffices to say that they are evoked now\nin spiritualistic circles, and guarantied by scientists, and their\nevocation by Roger Bacon is thus made more probable than ever.\n\nBaptista Porta, in his treatise on _Natural Magic_, enumerates a\nwhole catalogue of secret formul\u00e6 for producing extraordinary effects\nby employing the occult powers of nature. Although the \u201cmagicians\u201d\nbelieved as firmly as our spiritualists in a world of invisible\nspirits, none of them claimed to produce his effects under their\ncontrol or through their sole help. They knew too well how difficult\nit is to keep away the elementary creatures when they have once found\nthe door wide open. Even the magic of the ancient Chaldeans was but\na profound knowledge of the powers of simples and minerals. It was\nonly when the theurgist desired _divine_ help in spiritual and earthly\nmatters that he sought direct communication through religious rites,\nwith pure spiritual beings. With them, even, those spirits who remain\ninvisible and communicate with mortals through their awakened inner\nsenses, as in clairvoyance, clairaudience and trance, could only be\nevoked _subjectively_ and as a result of purity of life and prayer. But\nall physical phenomena were produced simply by applying a knowledge of\nnatural forces, although certainly not by the method of legerdemain,\npracticed in our days by conjurers.\n\nMen possessed of such knowledge and exercising such powers patiently\ntoiled for something better than the vain glory of a passing fame.\nSeeking it not, they became immortal, as do all who labor for the\ngood of the race, forgetful of mean self. Illuminated with the light\nof eternal truth, these rich-poor alchemists fixed their attention\nupon the things that lie beyond the common ken, recognizing nothing\ninscrutable but the First Cause, and finding no question unsolvable. {67}\nTo dare, to know, to will, and REMAIN SILENT, was their constant\nrule; to be beneficent, unselfish, and unpretending, were, with them,\nspontaneous impulses. Disdaining the rewards of petty traffic, spurning\nwealth, luxury, pomp, and worldly power, they aspired to knowledge as\nthe most satisfying of all acquisitions. They esteemed poverty, hunger,\ntoil, and the evil report of men, as none too great a price to pay for\nits achievement. They, who might have lain on downy, velvet-covered\nbeds, suffered themselves to die in hospitals and by the wayside,\nrather than debase their souls and allow the profane cupidity of those\nwho tempted them to triumph over their sacred vows. The lives of\nParacelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, and Philalethes are too well known to\nrepeat the old, sad story.\n\nIf spiritualists are anxious to keep strictly dogmatic in their notions\nof the \u201cspirit-world,\u201d they must not set _scientists_ to investigate\ntheir phenomena in the true experimental spirit. The attempt would\nmost surely result in a partial re-discovery of the magic of old\u2014that\nof Moses and Paracelsus. Under the deceptive beauty of some of their\napparitions, they might find some day the sylphs and fair Undines of\nthe Rosicrucians playing in the currents of _psychic_ and _odic_ force.\n\nAlready Mr. Crookes, who fully credits the _being_, feels that under\nthe fair skin of Katie, covering a simulacrum of heart borrowed\npartially from the medium and the circle, there is _no soul_! And\nthe learned authors of _The Unseen Universe_, abandoning their\n\u201celectro-biological\u201d theory, begin to perceive in the universal ether\nthe _possibility_ that it is a photographic album of EN-SOPH\u2014the\nBoundless.\n\nWe are far from believing that all the spirits that communicate at\ncircles are of the classes called \u201cElemental,\u201d and \u201cElementary.\u201d\nMany\u2014especially among those who control the medium subjectively to\nspeak, write, and otherwise act in various ways\u2014are human, disembodied\nspirits. Whether the majority of such spirits are good or _bad_,\nlargely depends on the private morality of the medium, much on the\ncircle present, and a great deal on the intensity and object of their\npurpose. If this object is merely to gratify curiosity and to pass\nthe time, it is useless to expect anything serious. But, in any case,\nhuman spirits can _never_ materialize themselves in _propria person\u00e2_.\nThese can never appear to the investigator clothed with warm, solid\nflesh, sweating hands and faces, and grossly-material bodies. The most\nthey can do is to project their \u00e6thereal reflection on the atmospheric\nwaves, and if the touch of their hands and clothing can become upon\nrare occasions objective to the senses of a living mortal, it will\nbe felt as a passing breeze gently sweeping over the touched spot,\nnot as a human hand or material body. It is useless to plead that the\n\u201cmaterialized spirits\u201d that have exhibited themselves with beating {68}\nhearts and loud voices (with or without a trumpet) are _human_ spirits.\nThe voices\u2014if such sound can be termed a voice at all\u2014of a spiritual\napparition once heard can hardly be forgotten. That of a pure spirit is\nlike the tremulous murmur of an \u00c6olian harp echoed from a distance; the\nvoice of a suffering, hence impure, if not utterly bad spirit, may be\nassimilated to a human voice issuing from an empty barrel.\n\nThis is not _our_ philosophy, but that of the numberless generations\nof theurgists and magicians, and based upon their practical\nexperience. The testimony of antiquity is positive on this subject:\n\u201c\u0394\u03b1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c6\u03c9\u03bd\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f04\u03bd\u03b1\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c3\u03af....\u201d[142] The voices of spirits are not\narticulated. The spirit-voice consists of a series of sounds which\nconveys the impression of a column of compressed air ascending from\nbeneath upward, and spreading around the living interlocutor. The\nmany eye-witnesses who testified in the case of Elizabeth Eslinger,\nnamely:[143] the deputy-governor of the prison of Weinsberg, Mayer,\nEckhart, Theurer, and Knorr (sworn evidence), D\u00fcttenh\u00f6fer, and Kapff,\nthe mathematician, testified that they saw the apparition _like a\npillar of clouds_. For the space of eleven weeks, Doctor Kerner and\nhis sons, several Lutheran ministers, the advocate Fraas, the engraver\nD\u00fcttenh\u00f6fer, two physicians, Siefer and Sicherer, the judge Heyd, and\nthe Baron von Hugel, with many others, followed this manifestation\ndaily. During the time it lasted, the prisoner Elizabeth prayed with\na loud voice uninterruptedly; therefore, as the \u201cspirit\u201d was talking\nat the same time, it could be no ventriloquism; and that voice, they\nsay,\u201chad nothing _human_ in it; no one could imitate its sounds.\u201d\n\nFurther on we will give abundant proofs from ancient authors concerning\nthis neglected truism. We will now only again assert that no spirit\nclaimed by the spiritualists to be human was ever proved to be such\non sufficient testimony. The influence of the _disembodied_ ones\ncan be felt, and communicated _subjectively_ by them to sensitives.\nThey can produce _objective_ manifestations, but they cannot produce\n_themselves_ otherwise than as described above. They can control the\nbody of a medium, and express their desires and ideas in various modes\nwell known to spiritualists; but not _materialize_ what is matterless\nand purely spiritual\u2014their _divine essence_. Thus every so-called\n\u201cmaterialization\u201d when genuine\u2014is either produced (_perhaps_) by the\nwill of that spirit whom the \u201cappearance\u201d is claimed to be but can\nonly personate at best, or by the elementary goblins themselves, which\nare generally too stupid to deserve the honor of being called devils.\nUpon rare occasions the spirits are able to subdue and control these {69}\nsoulless beings, which are ever ready to assume pompous names if left\nto themselves, in such a way that the mischievous spirit \u201cof the air,\u201d\nshaped in the real image of the _human_ spirit, will be moved by the\nlatter like a marionette, and unable to either act or utter other words\nthan those imposed on him by the \u201cimmortal soul.\u201d But this requires\nmany conditions generally unknown to the circles of even spiritualists\nmost in the habit of regularly attending seances. Not every one can\nattract _human_ spirits who likes. One of the most powerful attractions\nof our departed ones is their strong affection for those whom they have\nleft on earth. It draws them irresistibly, by degrees, into the current\nof the Astral Light vibrating between the person sympathetic to them\nand the Universal Soul. Another very important condition is harmony,\nand the magnetic purity of the persons present.\n\nIf this philosophy is wrong, if all the \u201cmaterialized\u201d forms emerging\nin _darkened_ rooms from still _darker_ cabinets, are spirits of men\nwho once lived upon this earth, why such a difference between them\nand the _ghosts_ that appear unexpectedly\u2014_ex abrupto_\u2014without either\ncabinet or medium? Who ever heard of the apparitions, unrestful\n\u201csouls,\u201d hovering about the spots where they were murdered, or coming\nback for some other mysterious reasons of their own, with \u201cwarm hands\u201d\nfeeling _like living flesh_, and but that they are known to be dead and\nburied, not distinguishable from living mortals? We have well-attested\nfacts of such apparitions making themselves suddenly visible, but\nnever, until the beginning of the era of the \u201cmaterializations,\u201d did\nwe see anything like them. In the _Medium and Day Break_, of September\n8, 1876, we read a letter from \u201ca lady travelling on the continent,\u201d\nnarrating a circumstance that happened in a haunted house. She says: \u201c\n... A strange sound proceeded from a darkened corner of the library ...\non looking up she perceived a _cloud or column of luminous vapor_; ...\nthe earth-bound spirit was hovering about the spot rendered accursed by\nhis evil deed....\u201d As this spirit was doubtless a _genuine_ elementary\napparition, which made itself visible of its own free will\u2014in short,\nan _umbra_\u2014it was, as every respectable shadow should be, visible but\nimpalpable, or if palpable at all, communicating to the feeling of\ntouch the sensation of a mass of water suddenly clasped in the hand, or\nof condensed but cold steam. It was _luminous_ and _vapory_; for aught\nwe can tell it might have been the real personal umbra of the \u201cspirit,\u201d\npersecuted, and earth-bound, either by its own remorse and crimes or\nthose of another person or spirit. The mysteries of after-death are\nmany, and modern \u201cmaterializations\u201d only make them cheap and ridiculous\nin the eyes of the indifferent.\n\nTo these assertions may be opposed a fact well known among\nspiritualists: _The writer has publicly certified to having seen such\nmaterialized forms_. We have most assuredly done so, and are ready to {70}\nrepeat the testimony. We have recognized such figures as the visible\nrepresentations of acquaintances, friends, and even relatives. We have,\nin company with many other spectators, heard them pronounce words in\nlanguages unfamiliar not only to the medium and to every one else\nin the room, except ourselves, but, in some cases, to almost if not\nquite every medium in America and Europe, for they were the tongues\nof Eastern tribes and peoples. At the time, these instances were\njustly regarded as conclusive proofs of the genuine mediumship of the\nuneducated Vermont farmer who sat in the \u201ccabinet.\u201d But, nevertheless,\nthese figures were _not_ the forms of the persons they appeared to be.\nThey were simply their portrait statues, constructed, animated and\noperated by the elementaries. If we have not previously elucidated this\npoint, it was because the spiritualistic public was not then ready to\neven listen to the fundamental proposition that there are elemental and\nelementary spirits. Since that time this subject has been broached and\nmore or less widely discussed. There is less hazard now in attempting\nto launch upon the restless sea of criticism the hoary philosophy of\nthe ancient sages, for there has been some preparation of the public\nmind to consider it with impartiality and deliberation. Two years of\nagitation have effected a marked change for the better.\n\nPausanias writes that four hundred years after the battle of Marathon,\nthere were still heard in the place where it was fought, the _neighing\nof horses_ and the shouts of shadowy soldiers. Supposing that the\nspectres of the slaughtered soldiers were their genuine spirits, they\nlooked like \u201cshadows,\u201d not materialized men. Who, then, or what,\nproduced the neighing of horses? _Equine_ \u201cspirits?\u201d And if it be\npronounced untrue that horses have spirits\u2014which assuredly no one among\nzo\u00f6logists, physiologists or psychologists, or even spiritualists, can\neither prove or disprove\u2014then must we take it for granted that it was\nthe \u201cimmortal souls\u201d of men which produced the neighing at Marathon to\nmake the historical battle scene more vivid and dramatic? The phantoms\nof dogs, cats, and various other animals have been repeatedly seen,\nand the world-wide testimony is as trustworthy upon this point as\nthat with respect to human apparitions. Who or _what_ personates, if\nwe are allowed such an expression, the ghosts of departed animals? Is\nit, again, human spirits? As the matter now stands, there is no side\nissue; we have either to admit that animals have surviving spirits and\nsouls as well as ourselves, or hold with Porphyry that there are in the\n_invisible_ world a kind of tricky and malicious demons, intermediary\nbeings between living men and \u201cgods,\u201d spirits that delight in appearing\nunder every imaginable shape, beginning with the human form, and ending\nwith those of multifarious animals.[144]\n\nBefore venturing to decide the question whether the spectral animal {71}\nforms so frequently seen and attested are the returning spirits of dead\nbeasts, we must carefully consider their reported behavior. Do these\nspectres act according to the habits and display the same instincts, as\nthe animals during life? Do the spectral beasts of prey lie in wait for\nvictims, and timid animals flee before the presence of man; or do the\nlatter show a malevolence and disposition to annoy, quite foreign to\ntheir natures? Many victims of these obsessions\u2014notably, the afflicted\npersons of Salem and other historical witchcrafts\u2014testify to having\nseen dogs, cats, pigs, and other animals, entering their rooms, biting\nthem, trampling upon their sleeping bodies, and _talking_ to them;\n_often inciting them to suicide and other crimes_. In the well-attested\ncase of Elizabeth Eslinger, mentioned by Dr. Kerner, the apparition of\nthe ancient priest of Wimmenthal[145] was accompanied by a large black\ndog, which he called _his father_, and which dog in the presence of\nnumerous witnesses jumped on all the beds of the prisoners. At another\ntime the priest appeared with a lamb, and sometimes with two lambs.\nMost of those accused at Salem were charged by the seeresses with\nconsulting and plotting mischief with yellow birds, which would sit on\ntheir shoulder or on the beams overhead.[146] And unless we discredit\nthe testimony of thousands of witnesses, in all parts of the world,\nand in all ages, and allow a monopoly of seership to modern mediums,\nspectre-animals do appear and manifest all the worst traits of depraved\nhuman nature, without themselves being human. What, then, can they be\nbut elementals?\n\nDescartes was one of the few who believed and dared say that to occult\nmedicine we shall owe discoveries \u201cdestined to extend the domain of\nphilosophy;\u201d and Brierre de Boismont not only shared in these hopes but\nopenly avowed his sympathy with \u201csupernaturalism,\u201d which he considered\nthe universal \u201cgrand creed\u201d \u201c ... We think with Guizot,\u201d he says,\n\u201cthat the existence of society is bound up in it. It _is in vain_ that\nmodern reason, which, notwithstanding its _positivism_, cannot explain\nthe intimate cause of any phenomena, _rejects the supernatural_; it is\nuniversal, and at the root of all hearts. The most elevated minds are\nfrequently its most ardent disciples.\u201d[147]\n\nChristopher Columbus discovered America, and Americus Vespucius reaped\nthe glory and usurped his dues. Theophrastus Paracelsus rediscovered\nthe occult properties of the magnet\u2014\u201cthe bone of Horus\u201d which, twelve\ncenturies before his time, had played such an important part in the\ntheurgic mysteries\u2014and he very naturally became the founder of the {72}\nschool of magnetism and of medi\u00e6val magico-theurgy. But Mesmer, who\nlived nearly three hundred years after him, and as a disciple of his\nschool brought the magnetic wonders before the public, reaped the glory\nthat was due to the fire-philosopher, while the great master died in a\nhospital!\n\nSo goes the world: new discoveries, evolving from old sciences; new\nmen\u2014the same old nature!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III. {73}\n\n \u201cThe mirror of the soul cannot reflect both earth and heaven;\n and the one vanishes from its surface, as the other is glassed\n upon its deep.\u201d\n\n ZANONI.\n\n \u201cQui, donc, t\u2019a donn\u00e9 la mission d\u2019annoncer au peuple que la\n Divinit\u00e9 n\u2019existe pas\u2014quel avantage trouves tu \u00e0 persuader \u00e0\n l\u2019homme qu\u2019une force aveugle pr\u00e9side \u00e0 ses destin\u00e9es et frappe\n au hazard le crime et la vertu?\u201d\n\n ROBESPIERRE (Discours), May 7, 1794.\n\n\nWe believe that few of those physical phenomena which are genuine\nare caused by disembodied human spirits. Still, even those that\nare produced by occult forces of nature, such as happen through a\nfew genuine mediums, and are consciously employed by the so-called\n\u201cjugglers\u201d of India and Egypt, deserve a careful and serious\ninvestigation by science; especially now that a number of respected\nauthorities have testified that in many cases the hypothesis of\nfraud does not hold. No doubt, there are professed \u201cconjurors\u201d who\ncan perform cleverer tricks than all the American and English \u201cJohn\nKings\u201d together. Robert Houdin unquestionably could, but this did not\nprevent his laughing outright in the face of the academicians, when\nthey desired him to assert in the newspapers, that he could make a\ntable move, or rap answers to questions, _without contact of hands_,\nunless the table was a prepared one.[148] The fact alone, that a now\nnotorious London juggler refused to accept a challenge for \u00a31,000\noffered him by Mr. Algernon Joy,[149] to produce such manifestations\nas are usually obtained through mediums, unless he was left _unbound_\nand _free_ from the hands of a committee, negatives his _expos\u00e9_ of\nthe occult phenomena. Clever as he may be, we defy and challenge him\nto reproduce, under the _same conditions_, the \u201ctricks\u201d exhibited\neven by a common Indian _juggler_. For instance, the spot to be\nchosen by the investigators at the moment of the performance, and the\njuggler to know nothing of the choice; the experiment to be made in\nbroad daylight, without the least preparations for it; without any\nconfederate but a boy absolutely naked, and the juggler to be in a\ncondition of semi-nudity. After that, we should select out of a variety\nthree _tricks_, the most common among such public jugglers, and that\nwere recently exhibited to some gentlemen belonging to the suite of {74}\nthe Prince of Wales: I. To transform a rupee\u2014firmly clasped in the\nhand of a skeptic\u2014into a living cobra, the bite of which would prove\nfatal, as an examination of its fangs would show. 2. To cause a seed\nchosen at random by the spectators, and planted in the first semblance\nof a flower-pot, furnished by the same skeptics, to grow, mature, and\nbear fruit in less than a quarter of an hour. 3. To stretch himself\non three swords, stuck perpendicularly in the ground at their hilts,\nthe sharp points upward; after that, to have removed first one of the\nswords, then the other, and, after an interval of a few seconds, the\nlast one, the juggler remaining, finally, lying on _nothing_\u2014on the\nair, miraculously suspended at about one yard from the ground. When any\nprestidigitateur, to begin with Houdin and end with the last trickster\nwho has secured gratuitous advertisement by attacking spiritualism,\ndoes _the same_, then\u2014but only then\u2014we will train ourselves to believe\nthat mankind has been evolved out of the hind-toe of Mr. Huxley\u2019s\nEocene _Orohippus_.\n\nWe assert again, in full confidence, that there does not exist a\nprofessional wizard, either of the North, South or West, who can\ncompete with anything approaching success, with these untutored,\nnaked sons of the East. These require no Egyptian Hall for their\nperformances, nor any preparations or rehearsals; but are ever ready,\nat a moment\u2019s notice, to evoke to their help the hidden powers\nof nature, which, for European prestidigitateurs as well as for\nscientists, are a closed book. Verily, as Elihu puts it, \u201cgreat men\nare not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment.\u201d[150]\nTo repeat the remark of the English divine, Dr. Henry More, we may\nwell say: \u201c ... indeed, if there were any modesty left in mankind, the\nhistories of the Bible might abundantly assure men of the existence\nof angels and spirits.\u201d The same eminent man adds, \u201cI look upon it as\na special piece of Providence that ... fresh examples of apparitions\nmay awaken our benumbed and lethargic minds into an assurance that\nthere are other intelligent beings besides those that are clothed in\nheavy earth or clay ... for this evidence, showing that there are bad\nspirits, will necessarily open a door to the belief that there are\ngood ones, and lastly, that there is a God.\u201d The instance above given\ncarries a moral with it, not only to scientists, but theologians. Men\nwho have made their mark in the pulpit and in professors\u2019 chairs, are\ncontinually showing the lay public that they really know so little of\npsychology, as to take up with any plausible schemer who comes their\nway, and so make themselves ridiculous in the eyes of the thoughtful\nstudent. Public opinion upon this subject has been manufactured by\njugglers and self-styled savants, unworthy of respectful consideration.\n\nThe development of psychological science has been retarded far more {75}\nby the ridicule of this class of pretenders, than by the inherent\ndifficulties of its study. The empty laugh of the scientific nursling\nor of the fools of fashion, has done more to keep man ignorant of his\nimperial psychical powers, than the obscurities, the obstacles and the\ndangers that cluster about the subject. This is especially the case\nwith spiritualistic phenomena. That their investigation has been so\nlargely confined to incapables, is due to the fact that men of science,\nwho might and would have studied them, have been frightened off by the\nboasted exposures, the paltry jokes, and the impertinent clamor of\nthose who are not worthy to tie their shoes. There are moral cowards\neven in university chairs. The inherent vitality of modern spiritualism\nis proven in its survival of the neglect of the scientific body, and\nof the obstreperous boasting of its pretended exposers. If we begin\nwith the contemptuous sneers of the patriarchs of science, such as\nFaraday and Brewster, and end with the professional (?) _expos\u00e9s_ of\nthe successful mimicker of the phenomena,\u2014\u2014, of London, we will not\nfind them furnishing one single, well-established argument against\nthe occurrence of spiritual manifestations. \u201cMy theory is,\u201d says this\nindividual, in his recent _soi-disant \u201cexpos\u00e9,\u201d_ \u201cthat Mr. Williams\ndressed up and personified John King and Peter. Nobody can prove that\nit wasn\u2019t so.\u201d Thus it appears that, notwithstanding the bold tone of\nassertion, it is but a theory after all, and spiritualists might well\nretort upon the exposer, and demand that he should prove that it is so.\n\nBut the most inveterate, uncompromising enemies of Spiritualism are a\nclass very fortunately composed of but few members, who, nevertheless,\ndeclaim the louder and assert their views with a clamorousness worthy\nof a better cause. These are the _pretenders_ to science of young\nAmerica\u2014a mongrel class of pseudo-philosophers, mentioned at the\nopening of this chapter, with sometimes no better right to be regarded\nas scholars than the possession of an electrical machine, or the\ndelivery of a puerile lecture on insanity and mediomania. Such men\nare\u2014if you believe them\u2014profound thinkers and physiologists; there is\nnone of your metaphysical nonsense about them; they are Positivists\u2014the\nmental sucklings of Auguste Comte, whose bosoms swell at the thought\nof plucking deluded humanity from the dark abyss of superstition, and\nrebuilding the cosmos on improved principles. Irascible psychophobists,\nno more cutting insult can be offered them than to suggest that they\nmay be endowed with immortal spirits. To hear them, one would fancy\nthat there can be no other souls in men and women than \u201cscientific\u201d or\n\u201cunscientific souls;\u201d whatever that kind of soul may be.[151]\n\nSome thirty or forty years ago, in France, Auguste Comte\u2014a pupil {76}\nof the _Ecole Polytechnique_, who had remained for years at that\nestablishment as a _repetiteur_ of Transcendant Analysis and\nRationalistic Mechanics\u2014awoke one fine morning with the very irrational\nidea of becoming a prophet. In America, prophets can be met with at\nevery street-corner; in Europe, they are as rare as black swans. But\nFrance is the land of novelties. Auguste Comte became a prophet; and\nso infectious is fashion, sometimes, that even in sober England he was\nconsidered, for a certain time, the Newton of the nineteenth century.\n\nThe epidemic extended, and for the time being, it spread like wildfire\nover Germany, England, and America. It found adepts in France, but the\nexcitement did not last long with these. The prophet needed money: the\ndisciples were unwilling to furnish it. The fever of admiration for a\nreligion without a God cooled off as quickly as it had come on; of all\nthe enthusiastic apostles of the prophet, there remained but one worthy\nany attention. It was the famous philologist Littr\u00e9, a member of the\nFrench Institute, and a _would-be_ member of the Imperial Academy of\nSciences, but whom the archbishop of Orleans maliciously prevented from\nbecoming one of the \u201cImmortals.\u201d[152]\n\nThe philosopher-mathematician\u2014the high-priest of the \u201creligion of the\nfuture\u201d taught his doctrine as do all his brother-prophets of our modern\ndays. He deified \u201cwoman,\u201d and furnished her with an altar; but the\ngoddess had to pay for its use. The rationalists had laughed at the\nmental aberration of Fourier; they had laughed at the St. Simonists;\nand their scorn for Spiritualism knew no bounds. The same rationalists\nand materialists were caught, like so many empty-headed sparrows, by\nthe bird-lime of the new prophet\u2019s rhetoric. A longing for some kind of\ndivinity, a craving for the \u201cunknown,\u201d is a feeling congenital in man;\nhence the worst atheists seem not to be exempt from it. Deceived by the\noutward brilliancy of this _ignus fatuus_, the disciples followed it\nuntil they found themselves floundering in a bottomless morass.\n\nCovering themselves with the mask of a pretended erudition, the\nPositivists of this country have organized themselves into clubs and\ncommittees with the design of uprooting Spiritualism, while pretending\nto impartially investigate it.\n\nToo timid to openly challenge the churches and the Christian doctrine,\nthey endeavor to sap that upon which all religion is based\u2014man\u2019s faith\nin God and his own immortality. Their policy is to ridicule that which\naffords an unusual basis for such a faith\u2014phenomenal Spiritualism. {77}\nAttacking it at its weakest side, they make the most of its lack of\nan inductive method, and of the exaggerations that are to be found in\nthe transcendental doctrines of its propagandists. Taking advantage\nof its unpopularity, and displaying a courage as furious and out of\nplace as that of the errant knight of La Mancha, they claim recognition\nas philanthropists and benefactors who would crush out a monstrous\nsuperstition.\n\nLet us see in what degree Comte\u2019s boasted religion of the future is\nsuperior to Spiritualism, and how much less likely its advocates are\nto need the refuge of those lunatic asylums which they officiously\nrecommend for the mediums whom they have been so solicitous\nabout. Before beginning, let us call attention to the fact that\nthree-fourths of the disgraceful features exhibited in modern\nSpiritualism are directly traceable to the materialistic adventurers\npretending to be spiritualists. Comte has fulsomely depicted the\n\u201cartificially-fecundated\u201d woman of the future. She is but elder sister\nto the Cyprian ideal of the free-lovers. The immunity against the\nfuture offered by the teachings of his moon-struck disciples, has\ninoculated some pseudo-spiritualists to such an extent as to lead\nthem to form communistic associations. None, however, have proved\nlong-lived. Their leading feature being generally a materialistic\nanimalism, gilded over with a thin leaf of Dutch-metal philosophy and\ntricked out with a combination of hard Greek names, the community could\nnot prove anything else than a failure.\n\nPlato, in the fifth book of the _Republic_, suggests a method for\nimproving the human race by the elimination of the unhealthy or\ndeformed individuals, and by coupling the better specimens of both\nsexes. It was not to be expected that the \u201cgenius of our century,\u201d even\nwere he a prophet, would squeeze out of his brain anything entirely new.\n\nComte was a mathematician. Cleverly combining several old utopias, he\ncolored the whole, and, improving on Plato\u2019s idea, materialized it, and\npresented the world with the greatest monstrosity that ever emanated\nfrom a human mind!\n\nWe beg the reader to keep in view, that we do not attack Comte as a\nphilosopher, but as a professed reformer. In the irremediable darkness\nof his political, philosophical and religious views, we often meet\nwith isolated observations and remarks in which profound logic and\njudiciousness of thought rival the brilliancy of their interpretation.\nBut then, these dazzle you like flashes of lightning on a gloomy\nnight, to leave you, the next moment, more in the dark than ever. If\ncondensed and repunctuated, his several works might produce, on the\nwhole, a volume of very original aphorisms, giving a very clear and\nreally clever definition of most of our social evils; but it would be\nvain to seek, either through the tedious circumlocution of the six\nvolumes of his _Cours de Philosophie Positive_, or in that parody on {78}\npriesthood, in the form of a dialogue\u2014_The Catechism of the Religion\nof Positivism_\u2014any idea suggestive of even provisional remedies for\nsuch evils. His disciples suggest that the sublime doctrines of their\nprophet were not intended _for the vulgar_. Comparing the dogmas\npreached by Positivism with their practical exemplifications by its\napostles, we must confess the possibility of some very achromatic\ndoctrine being at the bottom of it. While the \u201chigh-priest\u201d preaches\nthat \u201cwoman must cease to be the _female_ of the man;\u201d[153] while\nthe theory of the positivist legislators on marriage and the family,\nchiefly consists in making the woman the \u201cmere companion of man by\nridding her of every maternal function;\u201d[154] and while they are\npreparing against the future a substitute for that function by applying\n\u201cto the _chaste_ woman\u201d \u201ca _latent force_,\u201d[155] some of its lay\npriests openly preach polygamy, and others affirm that their doctrines\nare the quintessence of spiritual philosophy.\n\nIn the opinion of the Romish clergy, who labor under a chronic\nnightmare of the devil, Comte offers his \u201cwoman of the future\u201d to\nthe possession of the \u201cincubi.\u201d[156] In the opinion of more prosaic\npersons, the _Divinity_ of Positivism, must henceforth be regarded as a\nbiped broodmare. Even Littr\u00e9 made prudent restrictions while accepting\nthe apostleship of this marvellous religion. This is what he wrote in\n1859:\n\n\u201cM. Comte not only thought that he found the principles, traced the\noutlines, and furnished the method, but that he had deduced the\nconsequences and constructed the social and religious edifice of the\nfuture. It is in this _second_ division that we make our reservations,\ndeclaring, at the same time, that we accept as an inheritance, the\nwhole of the first.\u201d[157]\n\nFurther, he says: \u201cM. Comte, in a grand work entitled the _System\nof the Positive Philosophy_, established the basis of a philosophy\n[?] which must finally supplant every theology and the whole of\nmetaphysics. Such a work necessarily contains a direct application\nto the government of societies; as it _has nothing arbitrary in it_\n[?] and as we find therein a _real science_ [?], my adhesion to the\nprinciples involves my adhesion to the essential consequences.\u201d\n\nM. Littr\u00e9 has shown himself in the light of a true son of his prophet.\nIndeed the whole system of Comte appears to us to have been built on\na play of words. When they say \u201c_Positivism_\u201d read _Nihilism_; when\nyou hear the word _chastity_, know that it means _impudicity_; and so {79}\non. Being a religion based on a theory of negation, its adherents can\nhardly carry it out practically without saying white when meaning black!\n\n\u201cPositive Philosophy,\u201d continues Littr\u00e9, \u201cdoes not accept atheism, for\nthe atheist is not a really-emancipated mind, but is, in his own way, a\ntheologian still; he gives his explanation about the essence of things;\n_he knows_ how they begun!... Atheism is Pantheism; this system is\nquite theological yet, and thus belongs to the ancient party.\u201d[158]\n\nIt really would be losing time to quote any more of these paradoxical\ndissertations. Comte attained to the apotheosis of absurdity and\ninconsistency when, after inventing his philosophy, he named it a\n\u201cReligion.\u201d And, as is usually the case, the disciples have surpassed\nthe reformer\u2014in absurdity. Supposititious philosophers, who shine in\nthe American academies of Comte, like a _lampyris noctiluca_ beside a\nplanet, leave us in no doubt as to their belief, and contrast \u201cthat\nsystem of thought and life\u201d elaborated by the French apostle with the\n\u201cidiocy\u201d of Spiritualism; of course to the advantage of the former.\n\u201cTo destroy, you must replace;\u201d exclaims the author of the _Cathechism\nof the Religion of Positivism_, quoting Cassaudiere, by the way,\nwithout crediting him with the thought; and his disciples proceed to\nshow by what sort of a loathsome system they are anxious to replace\nChristianity, Spiritualism, and even Science.\n\n\u201cPositivism,\u201d perorates one of them, \u201cis an _integral_ doctrine. It\nrejects completely all forms of theological and metaphysical belief;\nall forms of supernaturalism, and thus\u2014Spiritualism. The true positive\nspirit consists in substituting the study of the invariable laws of\nphenomena for that of their so-called causes, whether proximate or\nprimary. On this ground it equally rejects atheism; _for the atheist is\nat bottom a theologian_,\u201d he adds, plagiarizing sentences from Littr\u00e9\u2019s\nworks: \u201cthe atheist does not reject the problems of theology, only the\nsolution of these, and so he is illogical. We _Positivists_ reject the\nproblem in our turn on the ground that it is utterly inaccessible to\nthe intellect, and we would only waste our strength in a vain search\nfor first and final causes. As you see, Positivism gives a complete\nexplanation [?] of the world, of man, his duty and destiny....\u201d![159]\n\nVery brilliant this; and now, by way of contrast, we will quote what a\nreally great scientist, Professor Hare, thinks of this system. \u201cComte\u2019s\npositive philosophy,\u201d he says, \u201cafter all, is merely negative. It is\nadmitted by Comte, that he knows nothing of _the sources_ and _causes_\nof nature\u2019s laws; that their origination is so perfectly inscrutable as {80}\nto make it idle to take up time in any scrutiny for that purpose....\nOf course his doctrine makes him avowedly a thorough ignoramus, as to\nthe causes of laws, or the means by which they are established, and can\nhave no basis but the _negative_ argument above stated, in objecting\nto the facts ascertained in relation to the spiritual creation. Thus,\nwhile allowing the atheist his material dominion, Spiritualism will\nerect within and above the same space a dominion of an importance as\nmuch greater as eternity is to the average duration of human life, and\nas the boundless regions of the fixed stars are to the habitable area\nof this globe.\u201d[160]\n\nIn short, Positivism proposes to itself to destroy Theology,\nMetaphysics, Spiritualism, Atheism, Materialism, Pantheism, and\nScience, and it must finally end in destroying itself. De Mirville\nthinks that according to Positivism, \u201corder will begin to reign in\nthe human mind only on the day when psychology will become a sort of\n_cerebral physics_, and history a kind of social physics.\u201d The modern\nMohammed first disburdens man and woman of God and their own soul, and\nthen unwittingly disembowels his own doctrine with the too sharp sword\nof metaphysics, which all the time he thought he was avoiding, thus\nletting out every vestige of philosophy.\n\nIn 1864, M. Paul Janet, a member of the Institute, pronounced a\ndiscourse upon Positivism, in which occur the following remarkable\nwords:\n\n\u201cThere are some minds which were brought up and fed on exact and\npositive sciences, but which feel nevertheless, a sort of instinctive\nimpulse for philosophy. They can satisfy this instinct but with\nelements that they have already on hand. Ignorant in psychological\nsciences, having studied only the rudiments of metaphysics, they\nnevertheless are determined to fight these same metaphysics as well as\npsychology, of which they know as little as of the other. After this is\ndone, they will imagine themselves to have founded a Positive Science,\nwhile the truth is that they have only built up a new mutilated and\nincomplete metaphysical theory. They arrogate to themselves the\nauthority and infallibility properly belonging alone to the true\nsciences, those which are based on experience and calculations; but\nthey lack such an authority, for their ideas, defective as they may be,\nnevertheless belong to the same class as those which they attack. Hence\nthe weakness of their situation, the final ruin of their ideas, which\nare soon scattered to the four winds.\u201d[161]\n\nThe Positivists of America have joined hands in their untiring efforts\nto overthrow Spiritualism. To show their impartiality, though, they\npropound such novel queries as follows: \u201c ... how much rationality {81}\nis there in the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception, the Trinity\nand Transubstantiation, if submitted to the tests of physiology,\nmathematics, and chemistry?\u201d and they \u201cundertake to say, that the\nvagaries of Spiritualism do not surpass in absurdity these eminently\nrespectable beliefs.\u201d Very well. But there is neither theological\nabsurdity nor spiritualistic delusion that can match in depravity\nand imbecility that positivist notion of \u201cartificial fecundation.\u201d\nDenying to themselves all thought on primal and final causes, they\napply their insane theories to the construction of an impossible woman\nfor the worship of future generations; the living, immortal companion\nof man they would replace with the Indian female fetich of the Obeah,\nthe wooden idol that is stuffed every day with serpents\u2019 eggs, to be\nhatched by the heat of the sun!\n\nAnd now, if we are permitted to ask in the name of common-sense, why\nshould Christian mystics be taxed with credulity or the spiritualists\nbe consigned to Bedlam, when a _religion_ embodying such revolting\nabsurdity finds disciples even among Academicians?\u2014when such insane\nrhapsodies as the following can be uttered by the mouth of Comte and\nadmired by his followers: \u201cMy eyes are dazzled;\u2014they open each day more\nand more to the increasing coincidence between the social advent of\nthe _feminine mystery_, and the mental decadence of the eucharistical\nsacrament. Already the Virgin has dethroned God in the minds of\nSouthern Catholics! Positivism realizes the Utopia of the medi\u00e6val\nages, by representing all the members of the great family as the issue\nof a _virgin mother without a husband_....\u201d And again, after giving\nthe _modus operandi_: \u201cThe development of the _new process_ would soon\ncause to spring up a caste without heredity, better adapted than vulgar\nprocreation to the recruitment of spiritual chiefs, or even temporal\nones, whose authority would then rest upon an origin truly superior,\nwhich would not _shrink from an investigation_.\u201d[162]\n\nTo this we might inquire with propriety, whether there has ever\nbeen found in the \u201cvagaries of Spiritualism,\u201d or the mysteries of\nChristianity, anything more preposterous than this ideal \u201ccoming race.\u201d\nIf the tendency of materialism is not grossly belied by the behavior\nof some of its advocates, those who publicly preach polygamy, we fancy\nthat whether or not there will ever be a sacerdotal stirp so begotten,\nwe shall see no end of progeny,\u2014the offspring of \u201cmothers without\nhusbands.\u201d\n\nHow natural that a philosophy which could engender such a caste of\ndidactic incubi, should express through the pen of one of its most\ngarrulous essayists, the following sentiments: \u201cThis is a sad, a very {82}\nsad age,[163] full of dead and dying faiths; full of idle prayers sent\nout in vain search for the departing gods. But oh! it is a glorious\nage, full of the golden light which streams from the ascending sun\nof science! What shall we do for those who are shipwrecked in faith,\n_bankrupt in intellect_, but ... who seek comfort in the _mirage of\nspiritualism_, the delusions of transcendentalism, or the _will o\u2019 the\nwisp_ of mesmerism?...\u201d\n\nThe _ignis fatuus_, now so favorite an image with many dwarf\nphilosophers, had itself to struggle for recognition. It is not so long\nsince the now familiar phenomenon was stoutly denied by a correspondent\nof the London _Times_, whose assertions carried weight, till the work\nof Dr. Phipson, supported by the testimony of Beccaria, Humboldt, and\nother naturalists, set the question at rest.[164] The Positivists\nshould choose some happier expression, and follow the discoveries of\nscience at the same time. As to mesmerism, it has been adopted in many\nparts of Germany, and is publicly used with undeniable success in more\nthan one hospital; its occult properties have been proved and are\nbelieved in by physicians, whose eminence, learning, and merited fame,\nthe self-complacent lecturer on mediums and insanity cannot well hope\nto equal.\n\nWe have to add but a few more words before we drop this unpleasant\nsubject. We have found Positivists particularly happy in the delusion\nthat the _greatest scientists_ of Europe were Comtists. How far their\nclaims may be just, as regards other _savants_, we do not know, but\nHuxley, whom all Europe considers one of her greatest scientists,\nmost decidedly declines that honor, and Dr. Maudsley, of London,\nfollows suit. In a lecture delivered by the former gentleman in 1868,\nin Edinburg, on _The Physical Basis of Life_, he even appears to be\nvery much shocked at the liberty taken by the Archbishop of York, in\nidentifying him with Comte\u2019s philosophy. \u201cSo far as I am concerned,\u201d\nsays Mr. Huxley, \u201cthe most reverend prelate might dialectically hew\nMr. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I would not attempt to stay\nhis hand. In so far as my study of what specially characterizes the\npositive philosophy has led me, I find, therein, little or nothing\nof any scientific value, and a great deal which is _as thoroughly\nantagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in ultramontane\nCatholicism_. In fact, Comte\u2019s philosophy in practice might be\ncompendiously described as _Catholicism minus Christianity_.\u201d Further,\nHuxley even becomes wrathful, and falls to accusing Scotchmen of\ningratitude for having allowed the Bishop to mistake Comte for the\nfounder of a philosophy which belonged by right to Hume. \u201cIt was {83}\nenough,\u201d exclaims the professor, \u201cto make David Hume turn in his\ngrave, that here, almost within earshot of his house, an interested\naudience should have listened, without a murmur, whilst his most\ncharacteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty\nyears later date, in whose _dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the\nvigor of thought and the clearness of style_....\u201d[165]\n\nPoor Comte! It appears that the highest representatives of his\nphilosophy are now reduced, at least in this country, to \u201cone\nphysicist, one physician who has made a specialty of nervous diseases,\nand one lawyer.\u201d A very witty critic nicknamed this desperate trio,\n\u201c_an anomalistic triad_, which, amid its arduous labors, finds no time\nto acquaint itself with the principles and laws of their language.\u201d[166]\n\nTo close the question, the Positivists neglect no means to overthrow\nSpiritualism in favor of their _religion_. Their high priests are\nmade to blow their trumpets untiringly; and though the walls of no\nmodern Jericho are ever likely to tumble down in dust before their\nblast, still they neglect no means to attain the desired object. Their\nparadoxes are unique, and their accusations against spiritualists\nirresistible in logic. In a recent lecture, for instance, it was\nremarked that: \u201cThe exclusive exercise of _religious_ instinct is\nproductive of sexual immorality. Priests, monks, nuns, saints, _media_,\necstatics, and devotees are famous for their impurities.\u201d[167]\n\nWe are happy to remark that, while Positivism loudly proclaims itself\na religion, Spiritualism has never pretended to be anything more than\na science, a growing philosophy, or rather a research in hidden and\nas yet unexplained forces in nature. The objectiveness of its various\nphenomena has been demonstrated by more than one genuine representative\nof science, and as ineffectually denied by her \u201cmonkeys.\u201d\n\nFinally, it may be remarked of our Positivists who deal so\nunceremoniously with every psychological phenomenon, that they are like\nSamuel Butler\u2019s rhetorician, who\n\n \u201c ... could not ope\n His mouth, but out there flew a _trope_.\u201d\n\nWe would there were no occasion to extend the critic\u2019s glance beyond\nthe circle of triflers and pedants who improperly wear the title of {84}\nmen of science. But it is also undeniable that the treatment of new\nsubjects by those whose rank is high in the scientific world but\ntoo often passes unchallenged, when it is amenable to censure. The\ncautiousness bred of a fixed habit of experimental research, the\ntentative advance from opinion to opinion, the weight accorded to\nrecognized authorities\u2014all foster a conservatism of thought which\nnaturally runs into dogmatism. The price of scientific progress is too\ncommonly the martyrdom or ostracism of the innovator. The reformer\nof the laboratory must, so to speak, carry the citadel of custom\nand prejudice at the point of the bayonet. It is rare that even a\npostern-door is left ajar by a friendly hand. The noisy protests and\nimpertinent criticisms of the little people of the antechamber of\nscience, he can afford to let pass unnoticed; the hostility of the\nother class is a real peril that the innovator must face and overcome.\nKnowledge does increase apace, but the great body of scientists are not\nentitled to the credit. In every instance they have done their best to\nshipwreck the new discovery, together with the discoverer. The palm\nis to him who has won it by individual courage, intuitiveness, and\npersistency. Few are the forces in nature which, when first announced,\nwere not laughed at, and then set aside as absurd and unscientific.\nHumbling the pride of those who had not discovered anything, the just\nclaims of those who have been denied a hearing until negation was no\nlonger prudent, and then\u2014alas for poor, selfish humanity! these very\ndiscoverers too often became the opponents and oppressors, in their\nturn, of still more recent explorers in the domain of natural law!\nSo, step by step, mankind move around their circumscribed circle of\nknowledge, science constantly correcting its mistakes, and readjusting\non the following day the erroneous theories of the preceding one. This\nhas been the case, not merely with questions pertaining to psychology,\nsuch as mesmerism, in its dual sense of a physical and spiritual\nphenomenon, but even with such discoveries as directly related to exact\nsciences, and have been easy to demonstrate.\n\nWhat can we do? Shall we recall the disagreeable past? Shall we point\nto medi\u00e6val scholars conniving with the clergy to deny the Heliocentric\ntheory, for fear of hurting an ecclesiastical dogma? Must we recall\nhow learned conchologists once denied that the fossil shells, found\nscattered over the face of the earth, were ever inhabited by living\nanimals at all? How the naturalists of the eighteenth century declared\nthese but mere _fac-similes_ of animals? And how these naturalists\nfought and quarrelled and battled and called each other names, over\nthese venerable mummies of the ancient ages for nearly a century,\nuntil Buffon settled the question by proving to the negators that they\nwere mistaken? Surely an oyster-shell is anything but transcendental,\nand ought to be quite a palpable subject for any exact study; and if {85}\nthe scientists could not agree on that, we can hardly expect them to\nbelieve at all that evanescent forms,\u2014of hands, faces, and whole bodies\nsometimes\u2014appear at the seances of spiritual mediums, when the latter\nare honest.\n\nThere exists a certain work which might afford very profitable reading\nfor the leisure hours of skeptical men of science. It is a book\npublished by Flourens, the Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy,\ncalled _Histoire des Recherches de Buffon_. The author shows in it how\nthe great naturalist combated and finally conquered the advocates of\nthe _fac-simile_ theory; and how they still went on denying everything\nunder the sun, until at times the learned body fell into a fury, an\nepidemic of negation. It denied Franklin and his refined electricity;\nlaughed at Fulton and his concentrated steam; voted the engineer\nPerdonnet a strait-jacket for his offer to build railroads; stared\nHarvey out of countenance; and proclaimed Bernard de Palissy \u201cas stupid\nas one of his own pots!\u201d\n\nIn his oft-quoted work, _Conflict between Religion and Science_,\nProfessor Draper shows a decided propensity to kick the beam of the\nscales of justice, and lay all such impediments to the progress\nof science at the door of the clergy alone. With all respect and\nadmiration due to this eloquent writer and scientist, we must protest\nand give every one his just due. Many of the above-enumerated\ndiscoveries are mentioned by the author of the _Conflict_. In every\ncase he denounces the bitter resistance on the part of the clergy, and\nkeeps silent on the like opposition invariably experienced by every new\ndiscoverer at the hands of science. His claim on behalf of science that\n\u201cknowledge is power\u201d is undoubtedly just. But abuse of power, whether\nit proceeds from excess of wisdom or ignorance is alike obnoxious in\nits effects. Besides, the clergy are silenced now. Their protests\nwould at this day be scarcely noticed in the world of science. But\nwhile theology is kept in the background, the scientists have seized\nthe sceptre of despotism with both hands, and they use it, like the\ncherubim and flaming sword of Eden, to keep the people away from the\ntree of immortal life and within this world of perishable matter.\n\nThe editor of the London _Spiritualist_, in answer to Dr. Gully\u2019s\ncriticism of Mr. Tyndall\u2019s fire-mist theory, remarks that if the entire\nbody of spiritualists are not roasting alive at Smithfield in the\npresent century, it is to science alone that we are indebted for this\ncrowning mercy. Well, let us admit that the scientists are indirectly\npublic benefactors in this case, to the extent that the burning of\nerudite scholars is no longer fashionable. But is it unfair to ask\nwhether the disposition manifested toward the spiritualistic doctrine\nby Faraday, Tyndall, Huxley, Agassiz, and others, does not warrant the\nsuspicion that if these learned gentlemen and their following had the {86}\nunlimited power once held by the Inquisition, spiritualists would not\nhave reason to feel as easy as they do now? Even supposing that they\nshould not roast believers in the existence of a spirit-world\u2014it being\nunlawful to cremate people alive\u2014would they not send every spiritualist\nthey could to Bedlam? Do they not call us \u201cincurable monomaniacs,\u201d\n\u201challucinated fools,\u201d \u201cfetich-worshippers,\u201d and like characteristic\nnames? Really, we cannot see what should have stimulated to such extent\nthe gratitude of the editor of the London _Spiritualist_, for the\nbenevolent tutelage of the men of science. We believe that the recent\nLankester-Donkin-Slade prosecution in London ought at last to open the\neyes of hopeful spiritualists, and show them that stubborn materialism\nis often more stupidly bigoted than religious fanaticism itself.\n\nOne of the cleverest productions of Professor Tyndall\u2019s pen is his\ncaustic essay upon _Martineau and Materialism_. At the same time it\nis one which in future years the author will doubtless be only too\nready to trim of certain unpardonable grossnesses of expression. For\nthe moment, however, we will not deal with these, but consider what he\nhas to say of the phenomenon of consciousness. He quotes this question\nfrom Mr. Martineau: \u201cA man can say \u2018I feel, I think, I love;\u2019 but how\ndoes consciousness infuse itself into the problem?\u201d And thus answers:\n\u201cThe passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding facts\nof consciousness is unthinkable. Granted that a definite thought and a\nmolecular action in the brain occur simultaneously; we do not possess\nthe intellectual organ nor apparently any rudiments of the organ, which\nwould enable us to pass by a process of reasoning from one to the\nother. They appear together, but _we do not know why_. Were our minds\nand senses so expanded, strengthened and illuminated, as to enable us\nto see and feel the very molecules of the brain; were we capable of\nfollowing all their motions, all their groupings, all their electric\ndischarges, if such there be; and were we intimately acquainted with\nthe corresponding states of thought and feeling, we should be as far\nas ever from the solution of the problem, \u2018How are these physical\nprocesses connected with the facts of consciousness?\u2019 The chasm\nbetween the two classes of phenomena would still remain intellectually\nimpassable.\u201d[168]\n\nThis chasm, as impassable to Professor Tyndall as the fire-mist where\nthe scientist is confronted with his unknowable cause, is a barrier\nonly to men without spiritual intuitions. Professor Buchanan\u2019s\n_Outlines of Lectures on the Neurological System of Anthropology_,\na work written so far back as 1854, contains suggestions that, if {87}\nthe sciolists would only heed them, would show how a bridge can be\nthrown across this dreadful abyss. It is one of the bins in which the\nthought-seed of future harvests is stored up by a frugal present.\nBut the edifice of materialism is based entirely upon that gross\nsub-structure\u2014the reason. _When they have stretched its capabilities\nto their utmost limits, its teachers can at best only disclose to\nus an universe of molecules animated by an occult impulse._ What\nbetter diagnosis of the ailment of our scientists could be asked\nthan can be derived from Professor Tyndall\u2019s analysis of the mental\nstate of the Ultramontane clergy by a very slight change of names.\nFor \u201cspiritual guides\u201d read \u201cscientists,\u201d for \u201cprescientific past\u201d\nsubstitute \u201cmaterialistic present,\u201d say \u201cspirit\u201d for \u201cscience,\u201d and in\nthe following paragraph we have a life portrait of the modern man of\nscience drawn by the hand of a master:\n\n\u201c ... Their spiritual guides live so exclusively in the prescientific\npast, that even the really strong intellects among them are reduced to\natrophy as regards scientific truth. Eyes they have and see not; ears\nthey have and hear not; for both eyes and ears are taken possession\nof by the sights and sounds of another age. In relation to science,\nthe Ultramontane brain, through lack of exercise, is virtually the\nundeveloped brain of the child. And thus it is that as children in\nscientific knowledge, but as potent wielders of spiritual power among\nthe ignorant, they countenance and enforce practices sufficient to\nbring the blush of shame to the cheeks of the more intelligent among\nthemselves.\u201d[169] The Occultist holds this mirror up to science that it\nmay see how it looks itself.\n\nSince history recorded the first laws established by man, there never\nwas yet a people, whose code did not hang the issues of the life and\ndeath of its citizens upon the testimony of two or three credible\nwitnesses. \u201cAt the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall\nhe that is worthy of death be put to death,\u201d[170] says Moses, the\nfirst legislator we meet in ancient history. \u201cThe laws which put to\ndeath a man on the deposition of one witness are fatal to freedom\u201d says\nMontesquieu. \u201cReason claims there should be two witnesses.\u201d[171]\n\nThus the value of evidence has been tacitly agreed upon and accepted\nin every country. But the scientists will not accept the evidence\nof the million against one. In vain do hundreds of thousands of men\ntestify to facts. _Oculos habent et non vident!_ They are determined\nto remain blind and deaf. Thirty years of practical demonstrations and\nthe testimony of some millions of believers in America and Europe are\ncertainly entitled to some degree of respect and attention. Especially {88}\nso, when the verdict of twelve spiritualists, influenced by the\nevidence testified to by any two others, is competent to send even\na scientist to swing on the gallows for a crime, perhaps committed\nunder the impulse supplied by a commotion among the cerebral molecules\nunrestrained by a consciousness of future moral RETRIBUTION.\n\nToward science as a whole, as a divine goal, the whole civilized world\nought to look with respect and veneration; for science alone can enable\nman to understand the Deity by the true appreciation of his works.\n\u201cScience _is the understanding of truth or facts_,\u201d says Webster; \u201cit\nis an investigation of truth _for its own sake_ and a pursuit of pure\nknowledge.\u201d If the definition be correct, then the majority of our\nmodern scholars have proved false to their goddess. \u201cTruth for its own\nsake!\u201d And where should the keys to every truth in nature be searched\nfor, unless in the hitherto unexplored mystery of psychology? Alas!\nthat in questioning nature so many men of science should daintily sort\nover her facts and choose only such for study as best bolster their\nprejudices.\n\nPsychology has no worse enemies than the medical school denominated\n_allopathists_. It is in vain to remind them that of the so-called\nexact sciences, medicine, confessedly, least deserves the name.\nAlthough of all branches of medical knowledge, psychology ought more\nthan any other to be studied by physicians, since without its help\ntheir practice degenerates into mere guess-work and chance-intuitions,\nthey almost wholly neglect it. The least dissent from their promulgated\ndoctrines is resented as a heresy, and though an unpopular and\nunrecognized curative method should be shown to save thousands,\nthey seem, as a body, disposed to cling to accepted hypotheses and\nprescriptions, and decry both innovator and innovation until they get\nthe mint-stamp of _regularity_. Thousands of unlucky patients may die\nmeanwhile, but so long as professional honor is vindicated, this is a\nmatter of secondary importance.\n\nTheoretically the most benignant, at the same time no other school of\nscience exhibits so many instances of petty prejudice, materialism,\natheism, and malicious stubbornness as medicine. The predilections\nand patronage of the leading physicians are scarcely ever measured\nby the usefulness of a discovery. Bleeding, by leeching, cupping,\nand the lancet, had its epidemic of popularity, but at last fell\ninto merited disgrace; water, now freely given to fevered patients,\nwas once denied them, warm baths were superseded by cold water, and\nfor a while hydropathy was a mania. Peruvian bark\u2014which a modern\ndefender of biblical authority seriously endeavors to identify with\nthe paradisiacal \u201cTree of Life,\u201d[172] and which was brought to Spain {89}\nin 1632\u2014was neglected for years. The Church, for once, showed more\ndiscrimination than science. At the request of Cardinal de Lugo,\nInnocent X. gave it the prestige of his powerful name.\n\nIn an old book entitled _Demonologia_, the author cites many instances\nof important remedies which being neglected at first afterward rose\ninto notice through mere accident. He also shows that most of the new\ndiscoveries in medicine have turned out to be no more than \u201cthe revival\nand re\u00e4doption of very ancient practices.\u201d During the last century,\nthe root of the male fern was sold and widely advertised as a secret\nnostrum by a Madame Nouffleur, a female quack, for the effective cure\nof the tapeworm. The secret was bought by Louis XV. for a large sum of\nmoney; after which the physicians discovered that it was recommended\nand administered in that disease by Galen. The famous powder of the\nDuke of Portland for the gout, was the _diacentaureon_ of C\u00e6lius\nAurelianus. Later it was ascertained that it had been used by the\nearliest medical writers, who had found it in the writings of the old\nGreek philosophers. So with the _eau medicinale_ of Dr. Husson, whose\nname it bears. This famous remedy for the gout was recognized under\nits new mask to be the _Colchicum autumnale_, or meadow saffron, which\nis identical with a plant called _Hermodactylus_, whose merits as a\ncertain antidote to gout were recognized and defended by Oribasius,\na great physician of the fourth century, and \u00c6tius Amidenus, another\neminent physician of Alexandria (fifth century). Subsequently it was\nabandoned and fell into disfavor only because it was _too old_ to be\nconsidered good by the members of the medical faculties that flourished\ntoward the end of the last century!\n\nEven the great Magendie, the wise physiologist, was not above\ndiscovering that which had already been discovered and found good\nby the oldest physicians. His proposed remedy against consumption,\nnamely, the use of prussic acid, may be found in the works of Lum\u00e6us,\n_Amenitates Academic\u00e6_, vol. iv., in which he shows distilled laurel\nwater to have been used with great profit in pulmonary consumption.\nPliny also assures us that the extract of almonds and cherry-pits had\ncured the most obstinate coughs. As the author of _Demonologia_ well\nremarks, it may be asserted with perfect safety that \u201call the various\nsecret preparations of opium which have been lauded as the discovery of\nmodern times, may be recognized in the works of ancient authors,\u201d who\nsee themselves so discredited in our days.\n\nIt is admitted on all hands that from time immemorial the distant\nEast was the land of knowledge. Not even in Egypt were botany and\nmineralogy so extensively studied as by the savants of archaic Middle\nAsia. Sprengel, unjust and prejudiced as he shows himself in everything\nelse, confesses this much in his _Histoire de la M\u00e9decine_. And yet, {90}\nnotwithstanding this, whenever the subject of magic is discussed, that\nof India has rarely suggested itself to any one, for of its general\npractice in that country less is known than among any other ancient\npeople. With the Hindus it was and is more esoteric, if possible,\nthan it was even among the Egyptian priests. So sacred was it deemed\nthat its existence was only half admitted, and it was only practiced\nin public emergencies. _It was more than a religious matter, for it\nwas considered divine._ The Egyptian hierophants, notwithstanding the\npractice of a stern and pure morality, could not be compared for one\nmoment with the ascetical Gymnosophists, either in holiness of life\nor miraculous powers developed in them by the supernatural adjuration\nof everything earthly. By those who knew them well they were held in\nstill greater reverence than the magians of Chaldea. Denying themselves\nthe simplest comforts of life, they dwelt in woods, and led the life\nof the most secluded hermits,[173] while their Egyptian brothers at\nleast congregated together. Notwithstanding the slur thrown by history\non all who practiced magic and divination, it has proclaimed them as\npossessing the greatest secrets in medical knowledge and unsurpassed\nskill in its practice. Numerous are the volumes preserved in Hindu\nconvents, in which are recorded the proofs of their learning. To\nattempt to say whether these Gymnosophists were the real founders of\nmagic in India, or whether they only practiced what had passed to them\nas an inheritance from the earliest Rishis[174]\u2014the seven primeval\nsages\u2014would be regarded as a mere speculation by exact scholars. \u201cThe\ncare which they took in educating youth, in familiarizing it with\ngenerous and virtuous sentiments, did them peculiar honor, and their\nmaxims and discourses, as recorded by historians, prove that they were\nexpert in matters of philosophy, metaphysics, astronomy, morality, and\nreligion,\u201d says a modern writer. They preserved their dignity under the\nsway of the most powerful princes, whom they would _not_ condescend to\nvisit, or to trouble for the slightest favor. If the latter desired\nthe advice or the prayers of the holy men, they were either obliged\nto go themselves, or to send messengers. To these men no secret power\nof either plant or mineral was unknown. They had fathomed nature to\nits depths, while psychology and physiology were to them open books,\nand the result was that science or machagiotia that is now termed, so\nsuperciliously, _magic_.\n\nWhile the miracles recorded in the Bible have become accepted facts {91}\nwith the Christians, to disbelieve which is regarded as infidelity, the\nnarratives of wonders and prodigies found in the _Atharva-Veda_,[175]\neither provoke their contempt or are viewed as evidences of\ndiabolism. And yet, in more than one respect, and notwithstanding the\nunwillingness of certain Sanscrit scholars, we can show the identity\nbetween the two. Moreover, as the Vedas have now been proved by\nscholars to antedate the Jewish _Bible_ by many ages, the inference is\nan easy one that if one of them has borrowed from the other, the Hindu\nsacred books are not to be charged with plagiarism.\n\nFirst of all, their cosmogony shows how erroneous has been the opinion\nprevalent among the civilized nations that Brahma was ever considered\nby the Hindus their chief or Supreme God. Brahma is a secondary deity,\nand like Jehovah is \u201ca _mover of the waters_.\u201d He is the _creating_\ngod, and has in his allegorical representations four heads, answering\nto the four cardinal points. He is the demiurgos, the _architect_ of\nthe world. \u201cIn the primordiate state of the creation,\u201d says Polier\u2019s\n_Mythologie des Indous_, \u201cthe rudimental universe, submerged in water,\nreposed in the bosom of the Eternal. Sprang from this chaos and\ndarkness, Brahma, the architect of the world, poised on a lotus-leaf\nfloated (moved?) upon the waters, unable to discern anything but water\nand darkness.\u201d This is as identical as possible with the Egyptian\ncosmogony, which shows in its opening sentences Athtor[176] or Mother\nNight (which represents illimitable darkness) as the primeval element\nwhich covered the infinite abyss, animated by water and the universal\nspirit of the Eternal, dwelling alone in Chaos. As in the Jewish\nScriptures, the history of the creation opens with the spirit of God\nand his creative emanation\u2014another Deity.[177] Perceiving such a\ndismal state of things, Brahma soliloquizes in consternation: \u201cWho\nam I? Whence came I?\u201d Then he hears a voice: \u201cDirect your prayer to\nBhagavant\u2014the Eternal, known, also, as Parabrahma.\u201d Brahma, rising from\nhis natatory position, seats himself upon the lotus in an attitude\nof contemplation, and reflects upon the Eternal, who, pleased with\nthis evidence of piety, disperses the primeval darkness and opens\nhis understanding. \u201cAfter this Brahma issues from the universal\negg\u2014(infinite chaos) as _light_, for his understanding is now opened,\nand he sets himself to work; he _moves_ on the eternal waters, with the\nspirit of God within himself; in his capacity of _mover_ of the waters\nhe is _Narayana_.\u201d\n\nThe lotus, the sacred flower of the Egyptians, as well as the Hindus,\nis the symbol of Horus as it is that of Brahma. No temples in Thibet {92}\nor Nepaul are found without it; and the meaning of this symbol is\nextremely suggestive. The sprig of _lilies_ placed in the hand of the\narchangel, who offers them to the Virgin Mary, in the pictures of\nthe \u201cAnnunciation,\u201d have in their esoteric symbolism precisely the\nsame meaning. We refer the reader to Sir William Jones.[178] With the\nHindus, the lotus is the emblem of the productive power of nature,\nthrough the agency of fire and water (spirit and matter). \u201cEternal!\u201d\nsays a verse in the _Bhagaveda Gita_, \u201cI see Brahma the creator\nenthroned in _thee_ above the lotus!\u201d and Sir W. Jones shows that the\nseeds of the lotus contain\u2014even before they germinate\u2014perfectly-formed\nleaves, the miniature shapes of what one day, as perfected plants,\nthey will become; or, as the author of _The Heathen Religion_,\nhas it\u2014\u201cnature thus giving us a specimen of _preformation_ of its\nproductions;\u201d adding further that \u201cthe seed of all _ph\u0153nogamous_\nplants bearing _proper_ flowers, contain _an embryo plantlet ready\nformed_.\u201d[179]\n\nWith the Buddhists, it has the same signification. Maha-Maya, or\nMaha-Deva, the mother of Gautama Bhudda, had the birth of her son\nannounced to her by Bh\u00f4dis\u00e2t (the spirit of Buddha), who appeared\nbeside her couch with a _lotus_ in his hand. Thus, also, Osiris and\nHorus are represented by the Egyptians constantly in association with\nthe lotus-flower.\n\nThese facts all go to show the identical parentage of this idea in\nthe three religious systems, Hindu, Egyptian and Judaico-Christian.\nWherever the mystic water-lily (lotus) is employed, it signifies the\nemanation of the objective from the concealed, or subjective\u2014the\neternal thought of the ever-invisible Deity passing from the abstract\ninto the concrete or visible form. For as soon as darkness was\ndispersed and \u201cthere was light,\u201d Brahma\u2019s understanding was opened, and\nhe saw in the ideal world (which had hitherto lain eternally concealed\nin the Divine thought) the archetypal forms of all the infinite future\nthings that would be called into existence, and hence become visible.\nAt this first stage of action, Brahma had not yet become the architect,\nthe builder of the universe, for he had, like the architect, to first\nacquaint himself with the plan, and realize the ideal forms which were\nburied in the bosom of the Eternal One, as the future lotus-leaves\nare concealed within the seed of that plant. And it is in this idea\nthat we must look for the origin and explanation of the verse in the\nJewish cosmogony, which reads: \u201cAnd God said, Let the earth bring\nforth ... the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, _whose seed is\nin itself_.\u201d In all the primitive religions, the \u201cSon of the Father\u201d\nis the creative God\u2014_i.e._, His thought made visible; and before the\nChristian era, from the Trimurti of the Hindus down to the three {93}\nkabalistic heads of the Jewish-explained scriptures, the triune godhead\nof each nation was fully defined and substantiated in its allegories.\nIn the Christian creed we see but the artificial engrafting of a new\nbranch upon the old trunk; and the adoption by the Greek and Roman\nchurches of the lily-symbol held by the archangel at the moment of\nthe Annunciation, shows a thought of precisely the same metaphysical\nsignificance.\n\nThe lotus is the product of fire (heat) and water, hence the dual\nsymbol of spirit and matter. The God Brahma is the second person of the\nTrinity, as are Jehovah (Adam-Kadmon) and Osiris, or rather Pimander,\nor the Power of the Thought Divine, of Hermes; for it is Pimander who\nrepresents the root of all the Egyptian Sun-gods. The Eternal is the\nSpirit of Fire, which stirs up and fructifies and develops into a\nconcrete form everything that is born of water or the primordial earth,\nevolved out of Brahma; but the universe is itself Brahma, and he is the\nuniverse. This is the philosophy of Spinoza, which he derived from that\nof Pythagoras; and it is the same for which Bruno died a martyr. How\nmuch Christian theology has gone astray from its point of departure,\nis demonstrated in this historical fact. Bruno was slaughtered for the\nexegesis of a symbol that was adopted by the earliest Christians, and\nexpounded by the apostles! The sprig of water-lilies of Bh\u00f4dis\u00e2t, and\nlater of Gabriel, typifying fire and water, or the idea of creation\nand generation, is worked into the earliest dogma of the baptismal\nsacrament.\n\nBruno\u2019s and Spinoza\u2019s doctrines are nearly identical, though the words\nof the latter are more veiled, and far more cautiously chosen than\nthose to be found in the theories of the author of the _Causa Principio\net Uno_, or the _Infinito Universo e Mondi_. Both Bruno, who confesses\nthat the source of his information was Pythagoras, and Spinoza, who,\nwithout acknowledging it as frankly, allows his philosophy to betray\nthe secret, view the First Cause from the same standpoint. With them,\nGod is an Entity totally _per se_, an Infinite Spirit, and the only\nBeing utterly free and independent of either effects or other causes;\nwho, through that same Will which produced all things and gave the\nfirst impulse to every cosmic law, perpetually keeps in existence and\norder everything in the universe. As well as the Hindu Sw\u00e2bh\u00e1vikas,\nerroneously called Atheists, who assume that all things, men as well as\ngods and spirits, were born from Swabh\u00e2va, or their own nature,[180] {94}\nboth Spinoza and Bruno were led to the conclusion that _God is to\nbe sought for within nature and not without_. For, creation being\nproportional to the power of the Creator, the universe as well as its\nCreator must be infinite and eternal, one form emanating from its own\nessence, and creating in its turn another. The modern commentators\naffirm that Bruno, \u201c_unsustained by the hope of another and better\nworld_, still surrendered his life rather than his convictions;\u201d\nthereby allowing it to be inferred that Giordano Bruno had no belief in\nthe continued existence of man after death. Professor Draper asserts\nmost positively that Bruno did not believe in the immortality of the\nsoul. Speaking of the countless victims of the religious intolerance\nof the Popish Church, he remarks: \u201cThe passage from this life to the\nnext, though through a hard trial, was the passage from a transient\ntrouble to eternal happiness.... On his way through the dark valley,\nthe martyr believed that there was an invisible hand that would\nlead him.... For Bruno there was no such support. The philosophical\nopinions, for the sake of which he surrendered his life, could give him\nno consolation.\u201d[181]\n\nBut Professor Draper seems to have a very superficial knowledge of\nthe true belief of the philosophers. We can leave Spinoza out of the\nquestion, and even allow him to remain in the eyes of his critics an\nutter atheist and materialist; for the cautious reserve which he placed\nupon himself in his writings makes it extremely difficult for one who\ndoes not read him between the lines, and is not thoroughly acquainted\nwith the hidden meaning of the Pythagorean metaphysics, to ascertain\nwhat his real sentiments were. But as for Giordano Bruno, if he adhered\nto the doctrines of Pythagoras he must have believed in another life,\nhence, he could not have been an atheist whose philosophy offered him\nno such \u201cconsolation.\u201d His accusation and subsequent confession, as\ngiven by Professor Domenico Berti, in his _Life of Bruno_, and compiled\nfrom original documents recently published, prove beyond doubt what\nwere his _real_ philosophy, creed and doctrines. In common with the\nAlexandrian Platonists, and the later Kabalists, he held that Jesus\nwas a magician in the sense given to this appellation by Porphyry and\nCicero, who call it the _divina sapientia_ (divine knowledge), and by\nPhilo Jud\u00e6us, who described the Magi as the most wonderful inquirers\ninto the hidden mysteries of nature, not in the degrading sense given\nto the word magic in our century. In his noble conception, _the Magi\nwere holy men, who, setting themselves apart from everything else on\nthis earth, contemplated the divine virtues and understood the divine\nnature of the gods and spirits, the more clearly; and so, initiated {95}\nothers into the same mysteries, which consist in one holding an\nuninterrupted intercourse with these invisible beings during life_. But\nwe will show Bruno\u2019s inmost philosophical convictions better by quoting\nfragments from the _accusation_ and his _own confession_.\n\nThe charges in the denunciation of Mocenigo, his accuser, are expressed\nin the following terms:\n\n\u201cI, Zuane Mocenigo, son of the most illustrious Ser Marcantonio,\ndenounce to your very reverend fathership, by constraint of my\nconscience and by order of my confessor, that I have heard say by\nGiordano Bruno, several times when he discoursed with me in my\nhouse, that it is great blasphemy in Catholics to say that the bread\ntransubstantiates itself into flesh; that he is opposed to the Mass;\nthat no religion pleases him; that Christ was a wretch (_un tristo_),\nand that if he did wicked works to seduce the people he might well\npredict that He ought to be impaled; that there is no distinction of\npersons in God, and that it would be imperfection in God; that the\nworld is eternal, and that there are infinite worlds, and that God\nmakes them continually, because, he says, He desires all He can; that\nChrist did apparent miracles and was _a magician_, and so were the\napostles, and that he had a mind to do as much and more than they did;\nthat Christ showed an unwillingness to die, and shunned death all He\ncould; that there is no punishment of sin, and that souls created by\nthe operation of nature pass from one animal to another, and that as\nthe brute animals are born of corruption, so also are men when after\ndissolution they come to be born again.\u201d\n\nPerfidious as they are, the above words plainly indicate the belief of\nBruno in the Pythagorean metempsychosis, which, misunderstood as it is,\nstill shows a belief in the _survival_ of man in one shape or another.\nFurther, the accuser says:\n\n\u201cHe has shown indications of wishing to make himself the author of a\nnew sect, under the name of \u2018_New Philosophy_.\u2019 He has said that the\nVirgin could not have brought forth, and that our Catholic faith is all\nfull of blasphemies against the majesty of God; that the monks ought\nto be deprived of the right of disputation and their revenues, because\nthey pollute the world; that they are all asses, and that our opinions\nare doctrines of asses; that we have no proof that our faith has merit\nwith God, and that not to do to others what we would not have done to\nourselves suffices for a good life, and that he laughs at all other\nsins, and wonders how God can endure so many heresies in Catholics. He\nsays that he means to apply himself to the art of divination, and make\nall the world run after him; that St. Thomas and all the Doctors knew\nnothing to compare with him, and that he could ask questions of all the\nfirst theologians of the world that they could not answer.\u201d\n\nTo this, the accused philosopher answered by the following profession {96}\nof faith, which is that of every disciple of the ancient masters:\n\n\u201cI hold, in brief, to an infinite universe, that is, an effect of\ninfinite divine power, because I esteemed it a thing unworthy of divine\ngoodness and power, that, being able to produce besides this world\nanother and infinite others, it should produce a finite world. Thus I\nhave declared that there are infinite particular worlds similar to this\nof the earth, which, with Pythagoras, I understand to be a star similar\nin nature with the moon, the other planets, and the other stars, which\nare infinite; and that all those bodies are worlds, and without number,\nwhich thus constitute the infinite universality in an infinite space,\nand this is called the infinite universe, in which are innumerable\nworlds, so that there is a double kind of infinite greatness in the\nuniverse, and of a multitude of worlds. Indirectly, this may be\nunderstood to be repugnant to the truth according to the true faith.\n\n\u201cMoreover, I place in this universe a universal Providence, by virtue\nof which everything lives, vegetates and moves, and stands in its\nperfection, and I understand it in two ways; one, in the mode in which\nthe whole soul is present in the whole and every part of the body, and\nthis I call nature, the shadow and footprint of divinity; the other,\nthe ineffable mode in which God, by essence, presence, and power, is in\nall and above all, not as part, not as soul, but in mode inexplicable.\n\n\u201cMoreover, I understand all the attributes in divinity to be one and\nthe same thing. Together with the theologians and great philosophers,\nI apprehend three attributes, power, wisdom, and goodness, or, rather,\nmind, intellect, love, with which things have first, being, through\nthe mind; next, ordered and distinct being, through the intellect; and\nthird, concord and symmetry, through love. Thus I understand being in\nall and over all, as there is nothing without participation in being,\nand there is no being without essence, just as nothing is beautiful\nwithout beauty being present; thus nothing can be free from the divine\npresence, and thus by way of reason, and not by way of substantial\ntruth, do I understand distinction in divinity.\n\n\u201cAssuming then the world caused and produced, I understand that,\naccording to all its being, it is dependent upon the first cause, so\nthat it did not reject the name of creation, which I understand that\nAristotle also has expressed, saying, \u2018God is that upon whom the world\nand all nature depends,\u2019 so that according to the explanation of St.\nThomas, whether it be eternal or in time, it is, according to all its\nbeing, dependent on the first cause, and nothing in it is independent.\n\n\u201cNext, in regard to what belongs to the true faith, not speaking\nphilosophically, to come to individuality about the divine persons, {97}\nthe wisdom and the son of the mind, called by philosophers intellect,\nand by theologians the word, which ought to be believed to have taken\non human flesh. But I, abiding in the phrases of philosophy, have not\nunderstood it, but have doubted and held it with inconstant faith, not\nthat I remember to have shown marks of it in writing nor in speech,\nexcept indirectly from other things, something of it may be gathered as\nby way of ingenuity and profession in regard to what may be proved by\nreason and concluded from natural light. Thus, in regard to the Holy\nSpirit in a third person, I have not been able to comprehend, as ought\nto be believed, but, according to the Pythagoric manner, in conformity\nto the manner shown by Solomon, I have understood it as the soul of\nthe universe, or adjoined to the universe according to the saying of\nthe wisdom of Solomon: \u2018The spirit of God filled all the earth, and\nthat which contains all things,\u2019 all which conforms equally to the\nPythagoric doctrine explained by Virgil in the text of the _\u00c6neid_\u201d:\n\n Principio c\u0153lum ac terras camposque liquentes,\n Lucentemque globum Lun\u00e6, Titaniaque astra\n Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus\n Mens agitat molem;\n\nand the lines following.\n\n\u201cFrom this spirit, then, which is called the life of the universe, I\nunderstand, in my philosophy, proceeds life and soul to everything\nwhich has life and soul, which, moreover, I understand to be immortal,\nas also to bodies, which, as to their substance, are all immortal,\nthere being no other death than division and congregation, which\ndoctrine seems expressed in _Ecclesiastes_, where it is said that\n\u2018there is nothing new under the sun; that which is is that which was.\u2019\u201d\n\nFurthermore, Bruno confesses his inability to comprehend the doctrine\nof three persons in the godhead, and his doubts of the incarnation\nof God in Jesus, but firmly pronounces his belief in the _miracles_\nof Christ. How could he, being a Pythagorean philosopher, discredit\nthem? If, under the merciless constraint of the Inquisition, he, like\nGalileo, subsequently recanted, and threw himself upon the clemency of\nhis ecclesiastical persecutors, we must remember that he spoke like a\nman standing between the rack and the fagot, and human nature cannot\nalways be heroic when the corporeal frame is debilitated by torture and\nimprisonment.\n\nBut for the opportune appearance of Berti\u2019s authoritative work, we\nwould have continued to revere Bruno as a martyr, whose bust was\ndeservedly set high in the Pantheon of Exact Science, crowned with\nlaurel by the hand of Draper. But now we see that their hero of an {98}\nhour is neither atheist, materialist, nor positivist, but simply\na Pythagorean who taught the philosophy of Upper Asia, and claimed\nto possess the powers of the magicians, so despised by Draper\u2019s own\nschool! Nothing more amusing than this _contretemps_ has happened\nsince the supposed statue of St. Peter was discovered by irreverent\narch\u00e6ologists to be nothing else than the Jupiter of the Capitol, and\nBuddha\u2019s identity with the Catholic St. Josaphat was satisfactorily\nproven.\n\nThus, search where we may through the archives of history, we find that\nthere is no fragment of modern philosophy\u2014whether Newtonian, Cartesian,\nHuxleyian or any other\u2014but has been dug from the Oriental mines. Even\nPositivism and Nihilism find their prototype in the exoteric portion\nof Kapila\u2019s philosophy, as is well remarked by Max M\u00fcller. It was the\ninspiration of the Hindu sages that penetrated the mysteries of Pragu\u00e2\nP\u00e2ramit\u00e2 (perfect wisdom); their hands that rocked the cradle of the\nfirst ancestor of that feeble but noisy child that we have christened\nMODERN SCIENCE.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV. {99}\n\n \u201cI choose the nobler part of Emerson, when, after various\n disenchantments, he exclaimed, \u2018I covet Truth.\u2019 The gladness of\n true heroism visits the heart of him who is really competent to\n say this.\u201d\n \u2014TYNDALL.\n\n \u201cA testimony is sufficient when it rests on:\n\n 1st. A great number of very sensible witnesses who agree in having\n seen well.\n 2d. Who are sane, bodily and mentally.\n 3d. Who are impartial and disinterested.\n 4th. Who unanimously agree.\n 5th. Who solemnly certify to the fact.\u201d\u200b\u2014VOLTAIRE, _Dictionnaire\n Philosophique_.\n\n\nThe Count Agenor de Gasparin is a devoted Protestant. His battle with\ndes Mousseaux, de Mirville and other fanatics who laid the whole of\nthe spiritual phenomena at the door of Satan, was long and fierce.\nTwo volumes of over fifteen hundred pages are the result, proving the\n_effects_, denying the _cause_, and employing superhuman efforts to\ninvent every other possible explanation that could be suggested rather\nthan the true one.\n\nThe severe rebuke received by the _Journal des D\u00e9bats_ from M. de\nGasparin, was read by all civilized Europe.[182] After that gentleman\nhad minutely described numerous manifestations that he had witnessed\nhimself, this journal very impertinently proposed to the authorities\nin France to send all those who, after having read the _fine_ analysis\nof the \u201cspiritual hallucinations\u201d published by Faraday, should insist\non crediting this delusion, to the lunatic asylum for _Incurables_.\n\u201cTake care,\u201d wrote de Gasparin in answer, \u201cthe representatives of the\nexact sciences are on their way to become ... the _Inquisitors_ of our\ndays.... Facts are stronger than Academies. Rejected, denied, mocked,\nthey nevertheless are facts, and _do_ exist.\u201d[183]\n\nThe following affirmations of physical phenomena, as witnessed by\nhimself and Professor Thury, may be found in de Gasparin\u2019s voluminous\nwork.\n\n\u201cThe experimenters have often seen the legs of the table _glued_, so\nto say, to the floor, and, notwithstanding the excitement of those\npresent, refuse to be moved from their place. On other occasions\nthey have seen the tables levitated in quite an energetic way. They {100}\nheard, with their own ears, loud as well as gentle raps, the former\nthreatening to shatter the table to pieces on account of their\nviolence, the latter so soft as to become hardly perceptible.... As to\nLEVITATIONS WITHOUT CONTACT, we found means to produce them easily,\nand with success.... And such levitations do not pertain to isolated\nresults. We have reproduced them over THIRTY times.[184] ... One day\nthe table will turn, and lift its legs successively, its weight being\naugmented by a man weighing eighty-seven _kilogrammes_ seated on it;\nanother time it will remain motionless and _immovable_, notwithstanding\nthat the person placed on it weighs but sixty.[185] ... On one occasion\nwe willed it to turn upside down, and it turned over, with its legs in\nthe air, notwithstanding that our fingers _never touched it once_.\u201d[186]\n\n\u201cIt is certain,\u201d remarks de Mirville, \u201cthat a man who had repeatedly\nwitnessed such a phenomenon, could not accept the _fine_ analysis of\nthe English physicist.\u201d[187]\n\nSince 1850, des Mousseaux and de Mirville, uncompromising Roman\nCatholics, have published many volumes whose titles are cleverly\ncontrived to attract public attention. They betray on the part of the\nauthors a very serious alarm, which, moreover, they take no pains to\nconceal. Were it possible to consider the phenomena spurious, the\nchurch of Rome would never have gone so much out of her way to repress\nthem.\n\nBoth sides having agreed upon the facts, leaving skeptics out of the\nquestion, people could divide themselves into but two parties: the\nbelievers in the direct agency of the devil, and the believers in\ndisembodied and other spirits. The fact alone, that theology dreaded\na great deal more the revelations which might come through this\nmysterious agency than all the threatening \u201cconflicts\u201d with Science\nand the categorical denials of the latter, ought to have opened the\neyes of the most skeptical. The church of Rome has never been either\ncredulous or cowardly, as is abundantly proved by the Machiavellism\nwhich marks her policy. Moreover, she has never troubled herself much\nabout the clever prestidigitateurs whom she _knew_ to be simply adepts\nin juggling. Robert Houdin, Comte, Hamilton and Bosco, slept secure in\ntheir beds, while she persecuted such men as Paracelsus, Cagliostro,\nand Mesmer, the Hermetic philosophers and mystics\u2014and effectually\nstopped every genuine manifestation of an occult nature by killing the\nmediums.\n\nThose who are unable to believe in a personal devil and the dogmas of\nthe church must nevertheless accord to the clergy enough of shrewdness {101}\nto prevent the compromising of her reputation for infallibility by\nmaking so much of manifestations which, if fraudulent, must inevitably\nbe some day exposed.\n\nBut the best testimony to the reality of this force was given by Robert\nHoudin himself, the king of jugglers, who, upon being called as an\nexpert by the Academy to witness the wonderful _clairvoyant_ powers and\noccasional mistakes of a table, said: \u201cWe jugglers never make mistakes,\nand my second-sight never failed me yet.\u201d\n\nThe learned astronomer Babinet was not more fortunate in his selection\nof Comte, the celebrated ventriloquist, as an expert to testify\nagainst the phenomena of direct voices and the rappings. Comte, if\nwe may believe the witnesses, laughed in the face of Babinet at\nthe bare suggestion that the raps were produced by \u201c_unconscious\nventriloquism_!\u201d The latter theory, worthy twin-sister of \u201c_unconscious\ncerebration_,\u201d caused many of the most skeptical academicians to blush.\nIts absurdity was too apparent.\n\n\u201cThe problem of the supernatural,\u201d says de Gasparin, \u201csuch as it was\npresented by the middle ages, and as it stands now, is not among the\nnumber of those which we are permitted to despise; its breadth and\ngrandeur escape the notice of no one.... Everything is profoundly\nserious in it, both the evil and the remedy, the superstitious\nrecrudescency, and the physical fact which is destined to conquer the\nlatter.\u201d[188]\n\nFurther, he pronounces the following decisive opinion, to which he\ncame, conquered by the various manifestations, as he says himself\u2014\u201cThe\nnumber of facts which claim their place in the broad daylight of\ntruth, has so much increased of late, that of two consequences one\nis henceforth inevitable: either the domain of natural sciences must\nconsent to expand itself, or the domain of the supernatural will become\nso enlarged as to have no bounds.\u201d[189]\n\nAmong the multitude of books against spiritualism emanating from\nCatholic and Protestant sources, none have produced a more appalling\neffect than the works of de Mirville and des Mousseaux: _La Magie\nau XIXme Siecle_\u2014_M\u0153urs et Pratiques des Demons_\u2014_Hauts Ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes\nde la Magie_\u2014_Les Mediateurs de la Magie_\u2014_Des Esprits et de leurs\nManifestations_, etc. They comprise the most cyclop\u00e6dic biography of\nthe devil and his imps that has appeared for the private delectation of\ngood Catholics since the middle ages.\n\nAccording to the authors, _he_ who was \u201ca liar and murderer from the\nbeginning,\u201d was also the principal motor of spiritual phenomena. He had\nbeen for thousands of years at the head of pagan theurgy; and it was {102}\nhe, again, who, encouraged by the increase of heresies, infidelity, and\natheism, had reappeared in our century. The French Academy lifted up\nits voice in a general outcry of indignation, and M. de Gasparin even\ntook it for a personal insult. \u201cThis is a declaration of war, a \u2018lev\u00e9e\nof shields\u2019\u201d\u2014wrote he in his voluminous book of refutations. \u201cThe work\nof M. de Mirville is a real _manifesto_.... I would be glad to see in\nit the expression of a strictly individual opinion, but, in truth, it\nis _impossible_. The success of the work, these solemn adhesions, the\nfaithful reproduction of its theses by the journals and writers of\nthe party, the solidarity established throughout between them and the\nwhole body of catholicity ... everything goes to show a work which _is\nessentially an act, and has the value of a collective labor_. As it is,\nI felt that I had a duty to perform.... I felt obliged to pick up the\nglove, ... and lift high the Protestant flag against the Ultramontane\nbanner.\u201d[190]\n\nThe medical faculties, as might have been expected, assuming the part\nof the Greek chorus, echoed the various expostulations against the\ndemonological authors. The _Medico-Psychological Annals_, edited by\nDrs. Brierre de Boismont and Cerise, published the following: \u201cOutside\nthese controversies of antagonistical parties, never in our country\ndid a writer dare to face, with a more aggressive serenity, ... the\nsarcasms, the scorn of what we term common sense; and, as if to defy\nand challenge at the same time thundering peals of laughter and\nshrugging of shoulders, the author strikes an attitude, and placing\nhimself with effrontery before the members of the Academy ... addresses\nto them what he modestly terms his _M\u00e9moire on the Devil_!\u201d[191]\n\nThat was a cutting insult to the Academicians, to be sure; but ever\nsince 1850 they seem to have been doomed to suffer in their pride\nmore than most of them can bear. The idea of asking the attention of\nthe forty \u201cImmortals\u201d to the pranks of the Devil! They vowed revenge,\nand, leaguing themselves together, propounded a theory which exceeded\nin absurdity even de Mirville\u2019s demonolatry! Dr. Royer and Jobart de\nLamballe\u2014both celebrities in their way\u2014formed an alliance and presented\nto the Institute a German whose cleverness afforded, according to\nhis statement, the key to all the knockings and rappings of both\nhemispheres. \u201cWe blush\u201d remarks the Marquis de Mirville\u2014\u201cto say that\nthe whole of the trick consisted simply in the reiterated displacement\nof one of the muscular tendons of the legs. Great demonstration of the\nsystem in full sitting of the Institute\u2014and on the spot ... expressions\nof Academical gratitude for this _interesting_ communication, and, a\nfew days later, a full assurance given to the public by a professor of {103}\nthe medical faculty, that, scientists having pronounced their opinion,\nthe mystery was at last unravelled!\u201c[192]\n\nBut such _scientific_ explanations neither prevented the phenomenon\nfrom quietly following its course, nor the two writers on demonology\nfrom proceeding to expound their strictly orthodox theories.\n\nDenying that the Church had anything to do with his books, des\nMousseaux gravely gave the Academy, in addition to his _M\u00e9moire_, the\nfollowing interesting and profoundly philosophical thoughts on Satan:\n\n\u201c_The Devil is the chief pillar of Faith._ He is one of the grand\npersonages whose life is closely allied to that of the church; and\nwithout his speech which issued out so triumphantly from the mouth of\nthe Serpent, _his medium_, the fall of man could not have taken place.\nThus, if it was not for him, the Saviour, the Crucified, the Redeemer,\nwould be but the most ridiculous of supernumeraries, and the Cross an\ninsult to good sense!\u201d[193]\n\nThis writer, be it remembered, is only the faithful echo of the church,\nwhich anathematizes equally the one who denies God and him who doubts\nthe objective existence of Satan.\n\nBut the Marquis de Mirville carries this idea of God\u2019s partnership with\nthe Devil still further. According to him it is a regular commercial\naffair, in which the senior \u201csilent partner\u201d suffers the active\nbusiness of the firm to be transacted as it may please his junior\nassociate, by whose audacity and industry he profits. Who could be of\nany other opinion, upon reading the following?\n\n\u201cAt the moment of this spiritual invasion of 1853, so slightingly\nregarded, we had dared to pronounce the word of a \u2018threatening\ncatastrophe.\u2019 The world was nevertheless at peace, but history showing\nus the same symptoms at all disastrous epochs, we had a presentiment of\nthe sad effects of a law which Go\u00ebrres has formulated thus: [vol. v.,\np. 356.] \u2018These mysterious apparitions have invariably indicated the\nchastening hand of God on earth.\u2019\u201d[194]\n\nThese guerilla-skirmishes between the champions of the clergy and the\nmaterialistic Academy of Science, prove abundantly how little the\nlatter has done toward uprooting blind fanaticism from the minds of\neven very educated persons. _Evidently science has neither completely\nconquered nor muzzled theology._ She will master her only on that day\nwhen she will condescend to see in the spiritual phenomenon something\nbesides mere hallucination and charlatanry. But how can she do it\nwithout investigating it thoroughly? Let us suppose that before the {104}\ntime when electro-magnetism was publicly acknowledged, the Copenhagen\nProfessor Oersted, its discoverer, had been suffering from an attack\nof what we call _psychophobia_, or _pneumatophobia_. He notices that\nthe wire along which a voltaic current is passing shows a tendency to\nturn the magnetic needle from its natural position to one perpendicular\nto the direction of the current. Suppose, moreover, that the professor\nhad heard much of certain superstitious people who used that kind of\nmagnetized needles to converse with unseen intelligences. That they\nreceived signals and even held correct conversations with them by means\nof the tippings of such a needle, and that in consequence he suddenly\nfelt a scientific horror and disgust for such an ignorant belief, and\nrefused, point-blank, to have anything to do with such a needle. What\nwould have been the result? Electro-magnetism might not have been\ndiscovered till now, and our experimentalists would have been the\nprincipal losers thereby.\n\nBabinet, Royer, and Jobert de Lamballe, all three members of the\nInstitute, particularly distinguished themselves in this struggle\nbetween skepticism and supernaturalism, and most assuredly have reaped\nno laurels. The famous astronomer had imprudently risked himself on the\nbattlefield of the phenomenon. He had _explained_ scientifically the\nmanifestations. But, emboldened by the fond belief among scientists\nthat the new epidemic could not stand close investigation nor outlive\nthe year, he had the still greater imprudence to publish two articles\non them. As M. de Mirville very wittily remarks, if both of the\narticles had but a poor success in the scientific press, they had, on\nthe other hand, none at all in the daily one.\n\nM. Babinet began by accepting _a priori_, the rotation and movements of\nthe furniture, which fact he declared to be \u201d_hors de doute_.\u201d \u201cThis\nrotation,\u201d he said, \u201cbeing able to manifest itself with a considerable\nenergy, either by a very great speed, or by a strong resistance when it\nis desired that it should stop.\u201d[195]\n\nNow comes the explanation of the eminent scientist. \u201cGently pushed\nby little concordant impulsions of the hands laid upon it, the table\nbegins to oscillate from right to left.... At the moment when, after\nmore or less delay, a nervous trepidation is established in the hands\nand the little individual impulsions of all the experimenters have\nbecome harmonized, the table is set in motion.\u201d[196]\n\nHe finds it very simple, for \u201call muscular movements are determined\nover bodies by levers of the third order, in which the fulcrum is\nvery near to the point where the force acts. This, consequently, {105}\ncommunicates a great speed to the mobile parts for the very\nlittle distance which the motor force has to run.... Some persons\nare astonished to see a table subjected to the action of several\nwell-disposed individuals in a fair way to _conquer powerful\nobstacles_, even break its legs, when suddenly stopped; but that is\n_very simple_ if we consider the power of the _little concordant\nactions_.... Once more, the physical explanation offers no\ndifficulty.\u201d[197]\n\nIn this dissertation, two results are clearly shown: the reality of the\nphenomena proved, and the scientific explanation made ridiculous. But\nM. Babinet can well afford to be laughed at a little; he knows, as an\nastronomer, that dark spots are to be found even in the sun.\n\nThere is one thing, though, that Babinet has always stoutly denied,\nviz.: the levitation of furniture without contact. De Mirville\ncatches him proclaiming that such levitation is impossible: \u201csimply\n_impossible_,\u201d he says, \u201cas impossible as perpetual motion.\u201d[198]\n\nWho can take upon himself, after such a declaration, to maintain that\nthe word _impossible_ pronounced by science is infallible?\n\nBut the tables, after having waltzed, oscillated and turned,\nbegan tipping and rapping. The raps were sometimes as powerful\nas pistol-detonations. What of this? Listen: \u201cThe witnesses and\ninvestigators are _ventriloquists_!\u201d\n\nDe Mirville refers us to the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, in which is\npublished a very interesting dialogue, invented by M. Babinet speaking\nof himself to himself, like the Chaldean En-Soph of the Kabalists:\n\u201cWhat can we finally say of all these facts brought under our\nobservation? Are there such raps produced? Yes. Do such raps answer\nquestions? Yes. Who produces these sounds? The mediums. By what means?\n_By the ordinary acoustic method of the ventriloquists._ But we were\ngiven to suppose that these sounds might result from the _cracking of\nthe toes and fingers_? No; for then they would always proceed from the\nsame point, and such is not the fact.\u201d[199]\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d asks de Mirville, \u201cwhat are we to believe of the Americans, and\ntheir _thousands of mediums_ who produce the same raps before millions\nof witnesses?\u201d \u201c_Ventriloquism_, to be sure,\u201d answers Babinet. \u201cBut how\ncan you explain such an impossibility?\u201d The easiest thing in the world;\nlisten only: \u201cAll that was necessary to produce the first manifestation\nin the _first house_ in America was, a street-boy knocking at the door\nof a mystified citizen, perhaps with a leaden ball attached to a {106}\nstring, and if Mr. Weekman (the first believer in America) (?)[200]\nwhen he watched for the third time, heard no shouts of laughter in the\nstreet, it is because of the essential difference which exists between\na French street-Arab, and an English or Trans-Atlantic one, the latter\nbeing amply provided with what we call a _sad merriment_, \u201d_gait\u00e9\ntriste_.\u201d[201]\n\nTruly says de Mirville in his famous reply to the attacks of de\nGasparin, Babinet, and other scientists: \u201cand thus according to our\ngreat physicist, _the tables turn_ very quickly, very energetically,\nresist likewise, and, as M. de Gasparin has proved, they _levitate\nwithout contact_. Said a minister: \u2018With three words of a man\u2019s\nhandwriting, I take upon myself to have him hung.\u2019 With the above three\nlines, we take upon ourselves, in our turn, to throw into the greatest\nconfusion the physicists of all the globe, or rather to revolutionize\nthe world\u2014if at least, M. de Babinet had taken the precaution of\nsuggesting, like M. de Gasparin, some yet unknown law or force. For\nthis would cover the whole ground.\u201d[C]\n\nBut it is in the notes embracing the \u201cfacts and physical theories,\u201d\nthat we find the acme of the consistency and logic of Babinet as an\nexpert investigator on the field of Spiritualism.\n\nIt would appear, that M. de Mirville in his narrative of the wonders\nmanifested at the _Presbytere de Cideville_,[202] was much struck\nby the marvellousness of some facts. Though authenticated before\nthe inquest and magistrates, they were of so miraculous a nature\nas to force the demonological author himself to shrink from the\nresponsibility of publishing them.\n\nThese facts were as follows: \u201cAt the precise moment _predicted_ by\na _sorcerer_\u201d a case of revenge\u2014\u201ca violent clap of thunder was heard\nabove one of the chimneys of the presbytery, after which the _fluid_\ndescended with a formidable noise through that passage, threw down\nbelievers as well as skeptics (as to the power of the sorcerer) who\nwere warming themselves by the fire; and, having filled the room with a\nmultitude of _fantastic animals_, returned to the chimney, and having\nreascended it, disappeared, after producing the same terrible noise.\u201d\n\u201cAs,\u201d adds de Mirville, \u201cwe were already but too rich in facts, we\nrecoiled before this new enormity added to so many others.\u201d[203]\n\nBut Babinet, who in common with his learned colleagues had made such\nfun of the two writers on demonology, and who was determined, moreover,\nto prove the absurdity of all like stories, felt himself obliged to {107}\ndiscredit the above-mentioned fact of the Cideville phenomena, by\npresenting one still more incredible. We yield the floor to M. Babinet,\nhimself.\n\nThe following circumstance which he gave to the Academy of Sciences, on\nJuly 5, 1852, can be found _without further commentary_, and merely as\nan instance of a _sphere-like lightning_, in the \u201c\u0152uvres de F. Arago,\u201d\nvol. i. p. 52. We offer it _verbatim_.\n\n\u201cAfter a strong clap of thunder,\u201d says M. Babinet, \u201cbut not immediately\nfollowing it, a tailor apprentice, living in the Rue St. Jacques, was\njust finishing his dinner, when he saw the paper-screen which shut\nthe fireplace fall down as if pushed out of its place by a moderate\ngust of wind. Immediately after that he perceived a globe of fire, as\nlarge as the head of a child, come out _quietly_ and _softly_ from\nwithin the grate and slowly move about the room, without touching the\nbricks of the floor. The aspect of this fire-globe was that of a _young\ncat_, of middle size ... moving itself without the use of its paws.\nThe fire-globe was rather brilliant and luminous than hot or inflamed,\nand the tailor had no sensation of warmth. This globe approached his\nfeet like a young cat which wishes to play and rub itself against the\nlegs, as is habitual to these animals; but the apprentice withdrew\nhis feet from it, and moving with great caution, avoided contact with\nthe _meteor_. The latter remained for a few seconds moving about his\nlegs, the tailor examining it with great curiosity and bending over\nit. After having tried several excursions in opposite directions, but\nwithout leaving the centre of the room, the fire-globe elevated itself\nvertically to the level of the man\u2019s head, who to avoid its contact\nwith his face, threw himself backward on his chair. Arrived at about a\nyard from the floor the fire-globe slightly lengthened, took an oblique\ndirection toward a hole in the wall over the fireplace, at about the\nheight of a _metre_ above the mantelpiece.\u201d This hole had been made for\nthe purpose of admitting the pipe of a stove in winter; but, according\nto the expression of the tailor, \u201c_the thunder could not see it_, for\nit was papered over like the rest of the wall. The fire-globe went\ndirectly to that hole, _unglued the paper without damaging it_, and\nreascended the chimney ... when it arrived at the top, which it did\nvery slowly ... at least sixty feet above ground ... it produced a most\nfrightful explosion, which partly destroyed the chimney, ...\u201d etc.\n\n\u201cIt seems,\u201d remarks de Mirville in his review, \u201cthat we could apply to\nM. Babinet the following remark made by a very witty woman to Raynal,\n\u2018If you are not a Christian, it is not for lack of faith.\u2019\u201d[204]\n\nIt was not alone believers who wondered at the credulity displayed by {108}\nM. Babinet, in persisting to call the manifestation a _meteor_; for Dr.\nBoudin mentions it very seriously in a work on _lightning_ he was just\nthen publishing. \u201cIf these details are exact,\u201d says the doctor, \u201cas\nthey seem to be, since they are admitted by MM. Babinet and Arago, it\nappears very difficult for the phenomenon to retain its appellation of\n_sphere-shaped lightning_. However, we leave it to others to explain,\nif they can, the _essence of a fire-globe emitting no sensation of\nheat, having the aspect of a cat, slowly promenading in a room, which\nfinds means to escape by reascending the chimney through an aperture in\nthe wall covered over with a paper which it unglues without damaging\nit_!\u201d[205]\n\n\u201cWe are of the same opinion,\u201d adds the marquis, \u201cas the learned doctor,\non the difficulty of an exact definition, and we do not see why we\nshould not have in future lightning in the shape of a dog, of a monkey,\netc., etc. One shudders at the bare idea of a whole meteorological\n_menagerie_, which, thanks to _thunder_, might come down to our rooms\nto promenade themselves at will.\u201d\n\nSays de Gasparin, in his monster volume of refutations: \u201cIn questions\nof testimony, certitude must absolutely cease the moment we cross the\nborders of the supernatural.\u201d[206]\n\nThe line of demarcation not being sufficiently fixed and determined,\nwhich of the opponents is best fitted to take upon himself the\ndifficult task? Which of the two is better entitled to become the\npublic arbiter? Is it the party of superstition, which is supported\nin its testimony by the evidence of many thousands of people? For\nnearly two years they crowded the country where were daily manifested\nthe unprecedented miracles of Cideville, now nearly forgotten among\nother countless spiritual phenomena; shall we believe them, or shall\nwe bow to science, represented by Babinet, who, on the testimony of\n_one_ man (the tailor), accepts the manifestation of the fire-globe,\nor the _meteor-cat_, and henceforth claims for it a place among the\nestablished facts of _natural_ phenomena?\n\nMr. Crookes, in his first article in the _Quarterly Journal of\nScience_, October 1, 1871, mentions de Gasparin and his work _Science_\nv. _Spiritualism_. He remarks that \u201cthe author finally arrived at\nthe conclusion that all these phenomena are to be accounted for by\nthe action of natural causes, and do not require the supposition of\nmiracles, nor the intervention of spirits and diabolical influences!\nGasparin considers it as a fact fully established by his experiments,\nthat _the will, in certain states of organism, can act at a distance {109}\non inert matter_, and most of his work is devoted to ascertaining the\nlaws and conditions under which this action manifests itself.\u201d[207]\n\nPrecisely; but as the work of de Gasparin called forth numberless\n_Answers_, _Defenses_, and _Memoirs_, it was then demonstrated by his\nown work that as he was a Protestant, in point of religious fanaticism,\nhe was as little to be relied upon as des Mousseaux and de Mirville.\nThe former is a profoundly pious Calvinist, while the two latter are\nfanatical Roman Catholics. Moreover, the very words of de Gasparin\nbetray the spirit of partisanship:\u2014\u201cI feel I have a duty to perform....\nI lift high the Protestant flag against the Ultramontane banner!\u201d\netc.[208] In such matters as the nature of the so-called spiritual\nphenomena, no evidence can be relied upon, except the disinterested\ntestimony of cold _unprejudiced_ witnesses and science. Truth is one,\nand Legion is the name for religious sects; every one of which claims\nto have found the unadulterated truth; as \u201cthe Devil is the chief\npillar of the (Catholic) Church,\u201d so all supernaturalism and miracles\nceased, in de Gasparin\u2019s opinion, \u201cwith apostleship.\u201d\n\nBut Mr. Crookes mentioned another eminent scholar, Thury, of Geneva,\nprofessor of natural history, who was a brother-investigator with\nGasparin in the phenomena of Valleyres. This professor contradicts\npoint-blank the assertions of his colleague. \u201cThe first and\nmost necessary condition,\u201d says Gasparin, \u201cis the _will_ of the\nexperimenter; without the will, one would obtain nothing; you can form\nthe chain (the circle) for twenty-four hours consecutively, without\nobtaining the least movement.\u201d[209]\n\nThe above proves only that de Gasparin makes no difference between\nphenomena purely magnetic, produced by the persevering will of the\nsitters among whom there may be not even a single medium, developed\nor undeveloped, and the so-called spiritual ones. While the first can\nbe produced _consciously_ by nearly every person, who has a firm and\ndetermined will, the latter overpowers the sensitive very often against\nhis own consent, and always acts independently of him. _The mesmerizer\nwills a thing, and if he is powerful enough, that thing is done. The\nmedium_, even if he had an honest purpose to succeed, _may get no\nmanifestations at all; the less he exercises his will, the better the\nphenomena: the more he feels anxious, the less he is likely to get\nanything_; to mesmerize requires a positive nature, to be a medium a\nperfectly passive one. This is the Alphabet of Spiritualism, and no\nmedium is ignorant of it.\n\nThe opinion of Thury, as we have said, disagrees entirely with {110}\nGasparin\u2019s theories of will-power. He states it in so many plain words,\nin a letter, in answer to the invitation of the count to modify the\nlast article of his _m\u00e9moire_. As the book of Thury is not at hand, we\ntranslate the letter as it is found in the _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ of de Mirville\u2019s\n_Defense_. Thury\u2019s article which so shocked his religious friend,\nrelated to the possibility of the existence and intervention in those\nmanifestations \u201cof _wills_ other than those of men and animals.\u201d\n\n \u201cI feel, sir, the justness of your observations in relation to\n the last pages of this _m\u00e9moire_: they may provoke a very bad\n feeling for me on the part of scientists in general. I regret\n it the more as my determination seems _to affect you so much_;\n nevertheless, I persist in my resolution, because I think it a\n duty, to shirk which would be a kind of treason.\n\n \u201cIf, _against all expectations_, there were some truth in\n Spiritualism, by abstaining from saying on the part of science,\n as I conceive it to be, _that the absurdity of the belief\n in the intervention of spirits is not as yet demonstrated\n scientifically_ (for such is the _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_, and the thesis of\n the past pages of my _m\u00e9moire_), by abstaining from saying it\n to those who, after having read my work, will feel inclined\n to experiment with the phenomena, I might risk to entice such\n persons on a path many issues of which are very _equivocal_.\n\n \u201d_Without leaving the domain of science_, as I esteem it, I\n will pursue my duty to the end, without any reticence to the\n profit of my own glory, and, to use your own words, \u2018as the\n great scandal lies there,\u2019 I do not wish to assume the shame\n of it. I, moreover, insist that \u2018_this is as scientific as\n anything else_.\u2019 If I wanted to sustain now the theory of the\n intervention of disembodied spirits, I would have no power\n for it, for the facts which are made known are not sufficient\n for the demonstration of such a hypothesis. As it is, and in\n the position I have assumed, I feel I am strong against every\n one. Willingly or not, all the scientists must learn, through\n experience and their own errors, to suspend their judgment as\n to things which they have not sufficiently examined. The lesson\n you gave them in this direction cannot be lost.\n\n \u201cGENEVA, _21 December, 1854_.\u201d\n\nLet us analyze the above letter, and try to discover what the writer\nthinks, or rather what he does not think of this new force. One thing\nis certain, at least: Professor Thury, a distinguished physicist\nand naturalist, admits, and even scientifically proves that various\nmanifestations take place. Like Mr. Crookes, he does not believe that\nthey are produced by the interference of spirits or disembodied men who {111}\nhave lived and died on earth; for he says in his letter that nothing\nhas demonstrated this theory. He certainly believes no more in the\nCatholic devils or demons, for de Mirville, who quotes this letter as\na triumphant proof against de Gasparin\u2019s naturalistic theory, once\narrived at the above sentence, hastens to emphasize it by a foot-note,\nwhich runs thus: \u201cAt Valleyres\u2014_perhaps_, but everywhere else!\u201d[210]\nshowing himself anxious to convey the idea that the professor only\nmeant the manifestations of Valleyres, when denying their being\nproduced by demons.\n\nThe contradictions, and we are sorry to say, the absurdities in\nwhich de Gasparin allows himself to be caught, are numerous. While\nbitterly criticizing the pretensions of the learned Faradaysiacs, he\nattributes things which he declares _magical_, to causes perfectly\nnatural. \u201cIf,\u201d he says, \u201cwe had to deal but with such phenomena (as\nwitnessed and explained (?) by the great physicist), we might as well\nhold our tongues; but we have passed _beyond_, and what good can\nthey do now, I would ask, these apparatus which demonstrate that an\n_unconscious pressure_ explains the whole? It explains _all_, and the\ntable resists pressure and guidance! It explains _all_, and a piece of\nfurniture which _nobody touches_ follows the fingers pointed at it; it\n_levitates_ (without contact), and it turns itself _upside down_!\u201d[211]\n\nBut for all that, he takes upon himself to _explain_ the phenomena.\n\n\u201cPeople will be advocating miracles, you say\u2014magic! Every new law\nappears to them as a prodigy. Calm yourselves; I take upon myself the\ntask to quiet those who are alarmed. In the face of such phenomena, we\ndo not cross at all the boundaries of natural law.\u201d[212]\n\nMost assuredly, we do not. But can the scientists assert that they have\nin their possession the keys to such law? M. de Gasparin thinks he has.\nLet us see.\n\n\u201cI do not risk myself to explain anything; _it is no business of\nmine_.(?) To authenticate simple facts, and maintain a truth which\nscience desires to smother, is all I pretend to do. Nevertheless, I\ncannot resist the temptation to point out to those who would treat\nus as so many _illuminati_ or sorcerers, that the manifestation in\nquestion affords an interpretation which agrees with _the ordinary laws\nof science_.\n\n\u201cSuppose a fluid, emanating from the experimenters, and chiefly from\n_some of them_; suppose that the will determined the direction taken by\nthe fluid, and you will readily understand the rotation and levitation\nof that one of the legs of the table toward which is ejected with every\naction of the will an excess of fluid. Suppose that the glass causes {112}\nthe fluid to escape, and you will understand how a tumbler placed on\nthe table can interrupt its rotation, and that the tumbler, placed on\none of its sides, causes the accumulation of the fluid in the opposite\nside, which, in consequence of that, _is lifted_!\u201d\n\nIf every one of the experimenters were clever mesmerizers, the\nexplanation, _minus_ certain important details, might be acceptable. So\nmuch for the power of _human will_ on inanimate matter, according to\nthe learned minister of Louis Philippe. But how about the intelligence\nexhibited by the table? What explanation does he give as to answers\nobtained through the agency of this table to questions? answers which\ncould not possibly have been the \u201creflections of the brain\u201d of those\npresent (one of the favorite theories of de Gasparin), for their own\nideas were quite the reverse of the very _liberal_ philosophy given by\nthis wonderful table? On this he is silent. Anything but _spirits_,\nwhether human, satanic, or elemental.\n\nThus, the \u201csimultaneous concentration of thought,\u201d and the\n\u201caccumulation of fluid,\u201d will be found no better than \u201cthe unconscious\ncerebration\u201d and \u201cpsychic force\u201d of other scientists. We must try\nagain; and we may predict beforehand that the thousand and one theories\nof science will prove of no avail until they will confess that this\nforce, far from being a projection of the accumulated wills of the\ncircle, is, on the contrary, a force which is abnormal, foreign to\nthemselves, and _supra-intelligent_.\n\nProfessor Thury, who denies the theory of departed human spirits,\nrejects the Christian devil-doctrine, and shows himself unwilling\nto pronounce in favor of Crookes\u2019s theory (the 6th), that of the\nhermetists and ancient theurgists, adopts the one, which, he says in\nhis letter, is \u201c_the most prudent_, and makes him feel strong against\nevery one.\u201d Moreover, he accepts as little of de Gasparin\u2019s hypothesis\nof \u201cunconscious will-power.\u201d This is what he says in his work:\n\n\u201cAs to the announced phenomena, such as the _levitation without\ncontact_, and the displacement of furniture by invisible hands\u2014unable\nto demonstrate their impossibility, _a priori_, no one has the right to\ntreat as absurd the serious evidences which affirm their occurrence\u201d\n(p. 9).\n\nAs to the theory proposed by M. de Gasparin, Thury judges it very\nseverely. \u201cWhile admitting that in the experiments of Valleyres,\u201d\nsays de Mirville, \u201cthe seat of the _force_ might have been in the\n_individual_\u2014and we say that it was intrinsic and extrinsic at the\nsame time\u2014and that the will might be generally necessary (p. 20), he\nrepeats but what he had said in his preface, to wit: \u2018M. de Gasparin\npresents us with crude facts, and the explanations following he offers\nfor what they are worth. _Breathe on them_, and not many will be found {113}\nstanding after this. No, very little, if anything, will remain of his\nexplanations. As to facts, they are _henceforth demonstrated_\u2019\u201d (p. 10).\n\nAs Mr. Crookes tells us, Professor Thury refutes \u201call these\nexplanations, and considers the effects due to a peculiar substance,\nfluid, or agent, pervading in a manner similar to the luminiferous\nether of the scientists, all matter, nervous, organic or inorganic,\nwhich he terms _psychode_. He enters into full discussion as to the\nproperties of this state, or form, or matter, and proposes the term\n_ectenic_ force ... for the power exerted when the mind acts at a\ndistance through the influence of the psychode.\u201d[213]\n\nMr. Crookes remarks further, that \u201cProfessor Thury\u2019s _ectenic_ force,\nand his own \u2018psychic force\u2019 are evidently equivalent terms.\u201d\n\nWe certainly could very easily demonstrate that the two forces are\nidentical, moreover, the astral or _sidereal_ light as explained by\nthe alchemists and Eliphas Levi, in his _Dogme et Rituel de la Haute\nMagie_; and that, under the name of AKASA, or life-principle, this\nall-pervading force was known to the gymnosophists, Hindu magicians,\nand adepts of all countries, thousands of years ago; and, that it is\nstill known to them, and used at present by the Thibetan lamas, fakirs,\nthaumaturgists of all nationalities, and even by many of the Hindu\n\u201cjugglers.\u201d\n\nIn many cases of trance, artificially induced by mesmerization, it\nis also quite possible, even quite probable, that it is the \u201cspirit\u201d\nof the subject which acts under the guidance of the operator\u2019s will.\nBut, if the medium remains conscious, and psycho-physical phenomena\noccur which indicate a directing intelligence, then, unless it be\nconceded that he is a \u201cmagician,\u201d and can project his double, physical\nexhaustion can signify nothing more than nervous prostration. The\nproof that he is the passive instrument of unseen entities controlling\noccult potencies, seems conclusive. Even if Thury\u2019s _ectenic_ and\nCrookes\u2019s _psychic_ force are substantially of the same derivation,\nthe respective discoverers seem to differ widely as to the properties\nand potencies of this force; while Professor Thury candidly admits\nthat the phenomena are often produced by \u201cwills _not_ human,\u201d and so,\nof course, gives a qualified endorsement to Mr. Crookes\u2019s theory No.\n6, the latter, admitting the genuineness of the phenomena, has as yet\npronounced no definite opinion as to their cause.\n\nThus, we find that neither M. Thury, who investigated these\nmanifestations with de Gasparin in 1854, nor Mr. Crookes, who conceded\ntheir undeniable genuineness in 1874, have reached anything definite.\nBoth are chemists, physicists, and very learned men. Both have given\nall their attention to the puzzling question; and besides these two {114}\nscientists there were many others who, while coming to the same\nconclusion, have hitherto been as unable to furnish the world with\na final solution. It follows then, that in twenty years none of the\nscientists have made a single step toward the unravelling of the\nmystery, which remains as immovable and impregnable as the walls of an\nenchanted castle in a fairy tale.\n\nWould it be too impertinent to surmise that perhaps our modern\nscientists have got in what the French term _un cercle vicieux_? That,\nhampered by the weight of their materialism, and the insufficiency of\nwhat they name \u201cthe exact sciences\u201d to demonstrate to them tangibly the\nexistence of a spiritual universe, peopled and inhabited much more than\nour visible one, they are doomed forever to creep around _inside_ that\ncircle, unwilling rather than unable to penetrate beyond its enchanted\nring, and explore it in its length and breadth? It is but prejudice\nwhich keeps them from making a compromise with well-established facts\nand seek alliance with such expert magnetists and mesmerizers as were\nDu Potet and Regazzoni.\n\n\u201cWhat, then, is produced from death?\u201d inquired Socrates of Cebes.\n\u201c_Life_,\u201d was the reply.[214] ... Can the soul, since it is immortal,\nbe anything else than imperishable?[215] The \u201cseed cannot develop\nunless it is in part consumed,\u201d says Prof. Lecomte; \u201cit is not\nquickened unless it die,\u201d says St. Paul.\n\nA flower blossoms; then withers and dies. It leaves a fragrance behind,\nwhich, long after its delicate petals are but a little dust, still\nlingers in the air. Our material sense may not be cognizant of it, but\nit nevertheless exists. Let a note be struck on an instrument, and the\nfaintest sound produces an eternal echo. A disturbance is created on\nthe invisible waves of the shoreless ocean of space, and the vibration\nis never wholly lost. Its energy being once carried from the world of\nmatter into the immaterial world will live for ever. And man, we are\nasked to believe, man, the living, thinking, reasoning entity, the\nindwelling deity of our nature\u2019s crowning masterpiece, will evacuate\nhis casket and be no more! Would the principle of continuity which\nexists even for the so-called _inorganic_ matter, for a floating atom,\nbe denied to the spirit, whose attributes are consciousness, memory,\nmind, LOVE! Really, the very idea is preposterous. The more we think\nand the more we learn, the more difficult it becomes for us to account\nfor the atheism of the scientist. We may readily understand that a\nman ignorant of the laws of nature, unlearned in either chemistry\nor physics, may be fatally drawn into materialism through his very {115}\nignorance; his incapacity of understanding the philosophy of the exact\nsciences, or drawing any inference by analogy from the _visible_ to\nthe _invisible_. A natural-born metaphysician, an ignorant dreamer,\nmay awake abruptly and say to himself: \u201cI dreamed it; I have no\ntangible proof of that which I imagined; it is all illusion,\u201d etc.\nBut for a man of science, acquainted with the characteristics of the\nuniversal energy, to maintain that _life_ is merely a phenomenon of\nmatter, a species of energy, amounts simply to a confession of his own\nincapability of analyzing and properly understanding the alpha and the\nomega even of that\u2014matter.\n\nSincere skepticism as to the immortality of man\u2019s soul is a malady; a\nmalformation of the physical brain, and has existed in every age. As\nthere are infants born with a caul upon their heads, so there are men\nwho are incapable to their last hour of ridding themselves of that\nkind of caul evidently enveloping their organs of spirituality. But\nit is quite another feeling which makes them reject the possibility\nof spiritual and magical phenomena. The true name for that feeling\nis\u2014_vanity_. \u201cWe can neither produce nor explain it\u2014hence, it _does\nnot_ exist, and moreover, could _never_ have existed.\u201d Such is the\nirrefutable argument of our present-day philosophers. Some thirty years\nago, E. Salverte startled the world of the \u201ccredulous\u201d by his work,\n_The Philosophy of Magic_. The book claimed to unveil the whole of the\nmiracles of the Bible as well as those of the Pagan sanctuaries. Its\n_resum\u00e9_ ran thus: Long ages of observation; a great knowledge (for\nthose days of ignorance) of natural sciences and philosophy; imposture;\nlegerdemain; optics; phantasmagoria; exaggeration. Final and logical\nconclusion: Thaumaturgists, prophets, magicians, rascals, and knaves;\nthe rest of the world, fools.\n\nAmong many other conclusive proofs, the reader can find him offering\nthe following: \u201cThe enthusiastic disciples of Iamblichus affirmed that\nwhen he prayed, he was raised to the height of ten cubits from the\nground; and _dupes_ to the same metaphor, although Christians, have had\nthe simplicity to attribute a similar miracle to St. Clare, and St.\nFrancis of Assisi.\u201d[216]\n\nHundreds of travellers claimed to have seen fakirs produce the same\nphenomena, and they were all thought either liars or hallucinated.\nBut it was but yesterday that the same phenomenon was witnessed\nand endorsed by a well-known scientist; it was produced under test\nconditions; declared by Mr. Crookes to be genuine, and to be _beyond_\nthe possibility of an illusion or a trick. And so was it manifested\nmany a time before and attested by numerous witnesses, though the\nlatter are now invariably disbelieved.\n\nPeace to thy scientific ashes, O credulous Eusebe Salverte! Who knows {116}\nbut before the close of the present century popular wisdom will have\ninvented a new proverb: \u201cAs incredibly credulous as a scientist.\u201d\n\nWhy should it appear so impossible that when the spirit is once\nseparated from its body, it may have the power to animate some\nevanescent form, created out of that magical \u201cpsychic\u201d or \u201cectenic\u201d or\n\u201cethereal\u201d force, with the help of the elementaries who furnish it with\nthe sublimated matter of their own bodies? The only difficulty is, to\nrealize the fact that surrounding space is not an empty void, but a\nreservoir filled to repletion with the models of all things that ever\nwere, that are, and that will be; and with beings of countless races,\nunlike our own. Seemingly supernatural facts\u2014supernatural in that they\nopenly contradict the demonstrated natural laws of gravitation, as\nin the above-mentioned instance of levitation\u2014are recognized by many\nscientists. Every one who has dared to investigate with thoroughness\nhas found himself compelled to admit their existence; only in their\nunsuccessful efforts to account for the phenomena on theories based\non the laws of such forces as were already known, some of the highest\nrepresentatives of science have involved themselves in inextricable\ndifficulties!\n\nIn his _Resum\u00e9_ de Mirville describes the argumentation of these\nadversaries of spiritualism as consisting of five paradoxes, which he\nterms _distractions_.\n\n_First distraction_: that of Faraday, who explains the table\nphenomenon, by the table which _pushes_ you \u201cin consequence of the\nresistance which _pushes it back_.\u201d\n\n_Second distraction_: that of Babinet, explaining all the\ncommunications (by raps) which are produced, as he says, \u201cin good faith\nand with perfect conscientiousness, correct in every way and sense\u2014by\n_ventriloquism_,\u201d the use of which faculty implies of necessity\u2014_bad\nfaith_.\n\n_Third distraction_: That of Dr. Chevreuil, explaining the faculty of\nmoving furniture _without_ contact, by the preliminary acquisition of\nthat faculty.\n\n_Fourth distraction_: that of the French Institute and its members, who\nconsent to accept the miracles, on condition that the latter will not\ncontradict in any way those natural laws with which they are acquainted.\n\n_Fifth distraction_: that of M. de Gasparin, introducing as a very\n_simple_ and perfectly _elementary_ phenomenon that which every one\nrejects, precisely because no one ever saw the like of it.[217]\n\nWhile the great, world-known scientists indulge in such fantastic\ntheories, some less known neurologists find an explanation for occult {117}\nphenomena of every kind in an abnormal effluvium resulting from\nepilepsy.[218] Another would treat mediums\u2014and poets, too, we may\ninfer\u2014with assaf\u0153tida and ammonia,[219] and declare every one of the\nbelievers in spiritual manifestations lunatics and hallucinated mystics.\n\nTo the latter lecturer and professed pathologist is commended that\nsensible bit of advice to be found in the New Testament: \u201cPhysician,\nheal thyself.\u201d Truly, no sane man would so sweepingly charge insanity\nupon four hundred and forty-six millions of people in various parts of\nthe world, who believe in the intercourse of spirits with ourselves!\n\nConsidering all this, it remains to us but to wonder at the\npreposterous presumption of these men, who claim to be regarded\nby right of learning as the high priests of science, to classify\na phenomenon they know nothing about. Surely, several millions of\ntheir countrymen and women, if deluded, deserve at least as much\nattention as potato-bugs or grasshoppers! But, instead of that, what\ndo we find? The Congress of the United States, at the demand of the\nAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, enacts statutes\nfor organization of National Insect Commissions; chemists are busying\nthemselves in boiling frogs and bugs; geologists amuse their leisure\nby osteological surveys of armor-plated _ganoids_, and discuss the\nodontology of the various species of _dinichtys_; and entomologists\nsuffer their enthusiasm to carry them to the length of supping on\ngrasshoppers boiled, fried, and in soup.[220] Meanwhile, millions\nof Americans are either losing themselves in the maze of \u201ccrazy\ndelusions,\u201d according to the opinion of some of these very learned\nencyclop\u00e6dists, or perishing physically from \u201cnervous disorders,\u201d\nbrought on or brought out by mediumistic diathesis.\n\nAt one time, there was reason to hope that Russian scientists would\nhave undertaken the task of giving the phenomena a careful and\nimpartial study. A commission was appointed by the Imperial University\nof St. Petersburg, with Professor Mendeleyeff, the great physicist,\nat its head. The advertised programme provided for a series of\nforty seances to test mediums, and invitations were extended to all\nof this class who chose to come to the Russian capital and submit\ntheir powers to examination. As a rule they refused\u2014doubtless from\na prevision of the trap that had been laid for them. After _eight_\nsittings, upon a shallow pretext, and just when the manifestations\nwere becoming interesting, the commission prejudged the case, and\npublished a decision adverse to the claims of mediumism. Instead of\npursuing dignified, scientific methods, they set spies to peep through {118}\nkey-holes. Professor Mendeleyeff declared in a public lecture that\nspiritualism, or any such belief in our souls\u2019 immortality, was a\nmixture of _superstition_, _delusion_, and _fraud_; adding that every\n\u201cmanifestation\u201d of such nature\u2014including mind-reading, trance, and\nother psychological phenomena, we must suppose\u2014could be, and _was_\nproduced by means of clever apparatus and machinery concealed under the\nclothing of mediums!\n\nAfter such a public exhibition of ignorance and prejudice, Mr.\nButlerof, Professor of Chemistry at the St. Petersburg University, and\nMr. Aksakof, Counsellor of State in the same city, who had been invited\nto assist on the committee for mediums, became so disgusted that they\nwithdrew. Having published their protests in the Russian papers, they\nwere supported by the majority of the press, who did not spare either\nMendeleyeff or his officious committee with their sarcasms. The public\nacted fairly in that case. One hundred and thirty names, of the most\ninfluential persons of the best society of St. Petersburg, many of\nthem no spiritualists at all, but simply investigators, added their\nsignatures to the well-deserved protest.\n\nThe inevitable result of such a procedure followed; universal attention\nwas drawn to the question of spiritualism; private circles were\norganized throughout the empire; some of the most liberal journals\nbegan to discuss the subject; and, as we write, a new commission is\nbeing organized to finish the interrupted task.\n\nBut now\u2014as a matter of course\u2014they will do their duty less than ever.\nThey have a better pretext than they ever had in the pretended _expos\u00e9_\nof the medium Slade, by Professor Lankester, of London. True, to\nthe evidence of one scientist and his friend,\u2014Messrs. Lankester and\nDonkin\u2014the accused opposed the testimony of Wallace, Crookes, and a\nhost of others, which totally nullifies an accusation based merely on\ncircumstantial evidence and prejudice. As the _London Spectator_ very\npertinently observes:\n\n\u201cIt is really a pure superstition and nothing else to assume that we\nare so fully acquainted with the laws of nature, that even carefully\nexamined facts, attested by an experienced observer, ought to be cast\naside as utterly unworthy of credit, only because they do not, at\nfirst sight, seem to be in keeping with what is most clearly known\nalready. To assume, as Professor Lankester appears to do, that because\nthere are fraud and credulity in plenty to be found in connection with\nthese facts\u2014as there is, no doubt, in connection with all nervous\ndiseases\u2014fraud and credulity will account for all the carefully\nattested statements of accurate and conscientious observers, is to saw\naway at the very branch of the tree of knowledge on which inductive\nscience necessarily rests, and to bring the whole structure toppling to\nthe ground.\u201d\n\nBut what matters all this to scientists? The torrent of superstition, {119}\nwhich, according to them, sweeps away millions of bright intellects\nin its impetuous course, cannot reach them. The modern deluge called\nspiritualism is unable to affect their strong minds; and the muddy\nwaves of the flood must expend their raging fury without wetting\neven the soles of their boots. Surely it must be but traditional\nstubbornness on the part of the Creator that prevents him from\nconfessing what a poor chance his miracles have in our day in blinding\nprofessed scientists. By this time even He ought to know and take\nnotice that long ago they decided to write on the porticoes of their\nuniversities and colleges:\n\n Science commands that God shall not\n Do miracles upon this spot![221]\n\nBoth the infidel spiritualists and the orthodox Roman Catholics\nseem to have leagued themselves this year against the iconoclastic\npretensions of materialism. Increase of skepticism has developed of\nlate a like increase of credulity. The champions of the Bible \u201cdivine\u201d\nmiracles rival the panegyrist\u2019s mediumistic phenomena, and the middle\nages revive in the nineteenth century. Once more we see the Virgin\nMary resume her epistolary correspondence with the faithful children\nof her church; and while the \u201cangel friends\u201d scribble messages to\nspiritualists through their mediums, the \u201cmother of God\u201d drops letters\ndirect from heaven to earth. The shrine of Notre Dame de Lourdes has\nturned into a spiritualistic cabinet for \u201cmaterializations,\u201d while\nthe cabinets of popular American mediums are transformed into sacred\nshrines, into which Mohammed, Bishop Polk, Joan of Arc and other\naristocratic spirits from over the \u201cdark river,\u201d having descended,\n\u201cmaterialize\u201d in full light. And if the Virgin Mary is seen taking\nher daily walk in the woods about Lourdes in full human form, why\nnot the Apostle of Islam, and the late Bishop of Louisiana? Either\nboth \u201cmiracles\u201d are possible, or both kinds of these manifestations,\nthe \u201cdivine\u201d as well as the \u201cspiritual,\u201d are arrant impostures. Time\nalone will prove which; but meanwhile, as science refuses the loan of\nher magic lamp to illuminate these mysteries, common people must go\nstumbling on whether they be mired or not.\n\nThe recent \u201cmiracles\u201d at Lourdes having been unfavorably discussed in\nthe London papers, Monsignor Capel communicates to the _Times_ the\nviews of the Roman Church in the following terms:\n\n\u201cAs to the miraculous cures which are effected, I would refer your {120}\nreaders to the calm, judicious work, _La Grotte de Lourdes_, written\nby Dr. Dozous, an eminent resident practitioner, inspector of epidemic\ndiseases for the district, and medical assistant of the Court of\nJustice. He prefaces a number of detailed cases of miraculous cures,\nwhich he says he has studied with great care and perseverance, with\nthese words: \u2018I declare that these cures effected at the Sanctuary of\nLourdes by means of the water of the fountain, have established their\nsupernatural character in the eyes of men of good faith. I ought to\nconfess that without these cures, my mind, little prone to listen to\nmiraculous explanations of any kind, would have had great difficulty\nin accepting even this fact (the apparition), remarkable as it is from\nso many points of view. But the cures, of which I have been so often\nan ocular witness, have given to my mind a light which does not permit\nme to ignore the importance of the visits of Bernadette to the Grotto,\nand the reality of the apparitions with which she was favored.\u2019 The\ntestimony of a distinguished medical man, who has carefully watched\nfrom the beginning Bernadette, and the miraculous cures at the Grotto,\nis at least worthy of respectful consideration. I may add, that the\nvast number of those who come to the Grotto do so to repent of their\nsins, to increase their piety, to pray for the regeneration of their\ncountry, to profess publicly their belief in the Son of God and his\nImmaculate Mother. Many come to be cured of bodily ailments; and on\nthe testimony of eye-witnesses several return home freed from their\nsickness. To upbraid with non-belief, as does your article, those who\nuse also the waters of the Pyrenees, is as reasonable as to charge\nwith unbelief the magistrates who inflict punishment on the peculiar\npeople for neglecting to have medical aid. Health obliged me to pass\nthe winters of 1860 to 1867 at Pau. This gave me the opportunity of\nmaking the most minute inquiry into the apparition at Lourdes. After\nfrequent and lengthened examinations of Bernadette and of some of the\nmiracles effected, I am convinced that, _if facts are to be received\non human testimony, then has the apparition at Lourdes every claim to\nbe received as an undeniable fact_. It is, however, no part of the\nCatholic faith, and may be accepted or rejected by any Catholic without\nthe least praise or condemnation.\u201d\n\nLet the reader observe the sentence we have italicized. This makes\nit clear that the Catholic Church, despite her infallibility and her\nliberal postage convention with the Kingdom of Heaven, is content to\naccept even the validity of _divine_ miracles upon human testimony. Now\nwhen we turn to the report of Mr. Huxley\u2019s recent New York lectures\non evolution, we find him saying that it is upon \u201chuman historical\nevidence that we depend for the greater part of our knowledge for the {121}\ndoings of the past.\u201d In a lecture on Biology, he has said \u201c ... every\nman who has the interest of truth at heart must earnestly desire that\nevery well-founded and just criticism that can be made should be made;\nbut it is essential ... that the critic should know what he is talking\nabout.\u201d An aphorism that its author should recall when he undertakes\nto pronounce upon psychological subjects. Add this to his views, as\nexpressed above, and who could ask a better platform upon which to meet\nhim?\n\nHere we have a representative materialist, and a representative\nCatholic prelate, enunciating an identical view of the sufficiency\nof _human testimony_ to prove facts that it suits the prejudices of\neach to believe. After this, what need for either the student of\noccultism, or even the spiritualist, to hunt about for endorsements\nof the argument they have so long and so persistently advanced, that\nthe psychological phenomena of ancient and modern thaumaturgists being\nsuperabundantly proven upon human testimony must be accepted as facts?\nChurch and College having appealed to the tribunal of human evidence,\nthey cannot deny the rest of mankind an equal privilege. One of the\nfruits of the recent agitation in London of the subject of mediumistic\nphenomena, is the expression of some remarkably liberal views on\nthe part of the secular press. \u201cIn any case, we are for admitting\nspiritualism to a place among tolerated beliefs, and letting it alone\naccordingly,\u201d says the London _Daily News_, in 1876. \u201cIt has many\nvotaries who are as intelligent as most of us, and to whom any obvious\nand palpable defect in the evidence meant to convince must have been\nobvious and palpable long ago. Some of _the wisest men in the world\nbelieved in ghosts_, and would have continued to do so even though\nhalf-a-dozen persons in succession had been convicted of frightening\npeople with sham goblins.\u201d\n\nIt is not for the first time in the history of the world, that the\ninvisible world has to contend against the materialistic skepticism of\nsoul-blind Sadducees. Plato deplores such an unbelief, and refers to\nthis pernicious tendency more than once in his works.\n\nFrom Kapila, the Hindu philosopher, who many centuries before Christ\ndemurred to the claim of the mystic Yogins, that in ecstasy a man\nhas the power of seeing Deity face to face and conversing with the\n\u201chighest\u201d beings, down to the Voltaireans of the eighteenth century,\nwho laughed at everything that was held sacred by other people, each\nage had its unbelieving Thomases. Did they ever succeed in checking the\nprogress of truth? No more than the ignorant bigots who sat in judgment\nover Galileo checked the progress of the earth\u2019s rotation. No exposures\nwhatever are able to vitally affect the stability or instability of a\nbelief which humanity inherited from the first races of men, those, {122}\nwho\u2014if we can believe in the evolution of spiritual man as in that of\nthe physical one\u2014had the great truth from the lips of their ancestors,\nthe _gods of their fathers_, \u201cthat were on the other side of the\nflood.\u201d The identity of the Bible with the legends of the Hindu sacred\nbooks and the cosmogonies of other nations, must be demonstrated at\nsome future day. _The fables of the mythop\u0153ic ages will be found to\nhave but allegorized the greatest truths of geology and anthropology._\nIt is in these ridiculously expressed fables that science will have to\nlook for her \u201cmissing links.\u201d\n\nOtherwise, whence such strange \u201ccoincidences\u201d in the respective\nhistories of nations and peoples so widely thrown apart? Whence\nthat identity of primitive conceptions which, fables and legends\nthough they are termed now, contain in them nevertheless the kernel\nof historical facts, of a truth thickly overgrown with the husks of\npopular embellishment, but still a truth? Compare only this verse of\n_Genesis_ vi.: \u201cAnd it came to pass, when _men began to multiply_ on\nthe face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the\nsons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they\ntook them wives of all which they chose.... There were _giants in the\nearth in those days_,\u201d etc., with this part of the Hindu cosmogony, in\nthe _Vedas_, which speaks of the descent of the Brahmans. The first\nBrahman complains of being _alone_ among all his brethren without a\nwife. Notwithstanding that the Eternal advises him to devote his days\nsolely to the study of the Sacred Knowledge (_Veda_), the _first-born_\nof mankind insists. Provoked at such ingratitude, the eternal gave\nBrahman a wife of the race of the _Daints_, or _giants_, from whom\nall the Brahmans maternally descend. Thus the entire Hindu priesthood\nis descended, on the one hand, from the _superior_ spirits (the sons\nof God), and from _Daintany_, a daughter of the earthly giants, the\nprimitive men.[222] \u201cAnd they bare children to them; the same became\nmighty men which were of old; men of renown.\u201d[223]\n\nThe same is found in the Scandinavian cosmogonical fragment. In\nthe _Edda_ is given the description to Gangler by Har, one of the\nthree informants (Har, Jafuhar, and Tredi) of the first man, called\nBur, \u201cthe father of B\u00f6r, who took for wife Besla, a daughter of the\ngiant B\u00f6lthara, of the race of the primitive giants.\u201d The full and\ninteresting narrative may be found in the _Prose Edda_, sects. 4-8, in\nMallett\u2019s _Northern Antiquities_.[224]\n\nThe same groundwork underlies the Grecian fables about the Titans; and\nmay be found in the legend of the Mexicans\u2014the four successive races\nof _Popol-Vuh_. It constitutes one of the many ends to be found in {123}\nthe entangled and seemingly inextricable skein of mankind, viewed as a\npsychological phenomenon. Belief in supernaturalism would be otherwise\ninexplicable. To say that it sprang up, and grew and developed\nthroughout the countless ages, without either cause or the least firm\nbasis to rest upon, but merely as an empty fancy, would be to utter as\ngreat an absurdity as the theological doctrine that the universe sprang\ninto creation out of nothing.\n\nIt is too late now to kick against an evidence which manifests itself\nas in the full glare of noon. Liberal, as well as Christian papers,\nand the organs of the most advanced scientific authorities, begin to\nprotest unanimously against the dogmatism and narrow prejudices of\nsciolism. The _Christian World_, a religious paper, adds its voice to\nthat of the unbelieving London press. Following is a good specimen of\nits common sense:\n\n\u201cIf a medium,\u201d it says,[225] \u201ccan be shown ever so conclusively to\nbe an impostor, we shall still object to the disposition manifested\nby persons of some authority in scientific matters, to pooh-pooh and\nknock on the head all careful inquiry into those subjects of which Mr.\nBarrett took note in his paper before the British Association. Because\nspiritualists have committed themselves to many absurdities, that is\nno reason why the phenomena to which they appeal should be scouted\nas unworthy of examination. They may be mesmeric, or clairvoyant, or\nsomething else. But let our wise men tell us what they are, and not\nsnub us, as ignorant people too often snub inquiring youth, by the easy\nbut unsatisfactory apothegm, \u201cLittle children should not ask questions.\u201d\n\nThus the time has come when the scientists have lost all right to be\naddressed with the Miltonian verse, \u201cO thou who, for the testimony\nof truth, hast borne universal reproach!\u201d Sad degeneration, and one\nthat recalls the exclamation of that \u201cdoctor of physic\u201d mentioned one\nhundred and eighty years ago by Dr. Henry More, and who, upon hearing\nthe story told of the drummer of Tedworth and of Ann Walker, \u201c_cryed_\nout presently, _If this be true, I have been in a wrong box all this\ntime, and must begin my account anew_.\u201d[226]\n\nBut in our century, notwithstanding Huxley\u2019s endorsement of the value\nof \u201chuman testimony,\u201d even Dr. Henry More has become \u201can enthusiast and\na visionary, both of which, united in the same person, constitute a\n_canting madman_.\u201d[227]\n\nWhat psychology has long lacked to make its mysterious laws better {124}\nunderstood and applied to the ordinary as well as extraordinary affairs\nof life, is not facts. These it has had in abundance. The need has\nbeen for their recording and classification\u2014for trained observers and\ncompetent analysts. From the scientific body these ought to have been\nsupplied. If error has prevailed and superstition run riot these many\ncenturies throughout Christendom, it is the misfortune of the common\npeople, the reproach of science. The generations have come and gone,\neach furnishing its quota of martyrs to conscience and moral courage,\nand psychology is little better understood in our day than it was when\nthe heavy hand of the Vatican sent those brave unfortunates to their\nuntimely doom and branded their memories with the stigma of heresy and\nsorcery.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V. {125}\n\n \u201cIch bin der geist der stets verneint.\u201d\n (I am the spirit which still denies.)\n \u2014(_Mephisto_ in FAUST.)\n\n \u201cThe Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it\n seeth Him not; neither knoweth Him.\u201d\u2014_Gospel according to John_,\n xiv. 17.\n\n \u201cMillions of spiritual creatures walk the earth\n Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.\u201d\n \u2014MILTON.\n\n \u201cMere intellectual enlightenment cannot recognize the\n spiritual. As the sun puts out a fire, so spirit puts out the\n eyes of mere intellect.\u201d\u2014W. HOWITT.\n\n\nThere has been an infinite confusion of names to express one and the\nsame thing.\n\nThe chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the\n_Antusbyrum_ of the Parsees; the Hermes-fire; the Elmes-fire of\nthe ancient Germans; the lightning of Cybel\u00e8; the burning torch of\nApollo; the flame on the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in\nthe temple on the Acropolis, and in that of Vesta; the fire-flame of\nPluto\u2019s helm; the brilliant sparks on the hats of the Dioscuri, on the\nGorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of Mercury; the \u03c0\u03cd\u03c1\n\u1f04\u03c3\u03b2\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2; the Egyptian Phtha, or Ra; the Grecian _Zeus Cataibates_\n(the descending);[228] the pentacostal fire-tongues; the burning\nbush of Moses; the pillar of fire of the _Exodus_, and the \u201cburning\nlamp\u201d of Abram; the eternal fire of the \u201cbottomless pit;\u201d the Delphic\noracular vapors; the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the AKASA of\nthe Hindu adepts; the Astral light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve-aura and\nthe fluid of the magnetists; the _od_ of Reichenbach; the fire-globe,\nor meteor-_cat_ of Babinet; the _Psychod_ and ectenic force of Thury;\nthe psychic force of Sergeant Cox and Mr. Crookes; the atmospheric\nmagnetism of some naturalists; galvanism; and finally, electricity, are\nbut various names for many different manifestations, or effects of the\nsame mysterious, all-pervading cause\u2014the Greek _Archeus_, or \u0391\u03c1\u03c7\u03b1\u1fd6\u03bf\u03c2.\n\nSir E. Bulwer-Lytton, in his _Coming Race_, describes it as the\nVRIL,[229] used by the subterranean populations, and allowed his {126}\nreaders to take it for a fiction. \u201cThese people,\u201d he says, \u201cconsider\nthat in the vril they had arrived at the unity in natural energic\nagencies;\u201d and proceeds to show that Faraday intimated them \u201cunder the\nmore cautious term of correlation,\u201d thus:\n\n\u201cI have long held an opinion, almost amounting to a conviction, in\ncommon, I believe, with many other lovers of natural knowledge, that\nthe various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest,\nHAVE ONE COMMON ORIGIN; or, in other words, are so directly related and\nnaturally dependent, that they are convertible, as it were, into one\nanother, and possess equivalents of power in their action.\u201d\n\nAbsurd and unscientific as may appear our comparison of a fictitious\n_vril_ invented by the great novelist, and the primal force of the\nequally great experimentalist, with the kabalistic astral light, it\nis nevertheless the true definition of this force. Discoveries are\nconstantly being made to corroborate the statement thus boldly put\nforth. Since we began to write this part of our book, an announcement\nhas been made in a number of papers of the supposed discovery of a new\nforce by Mr. Edison, the electrician, of Newark, New Jersey, which\nforce seems to have little in common with electricity, or galvanism,\nexcept the principle of conductivity. If demonstrated, it may remain\nfor a long time under some pseudonymous scientific name; but,\nnevertheless, it will be but one of the numerous family of children\nbrought forth from the commencement of time by our kabalistic mother,\nthe _Astral Virgin_. In fact, the discoverer says that, \u201cit is as\ndistinct, and has as regular laws as heat, magnetism, or electricity.\u201d\nThe journal which contains the first account of the discovery adds\nthat, \u201cMr. Edison thinks that it exists in connection with heat, and\nthat it can also be generated by independent and _as yet undiscovered\nmeans_.\u201d\n\nAnother of the most startling of recent discoveries, is the possibility\nof annihilating distance between human voices\u2014by means of the\n_telephone_ (distance-sounder), an instrument invented by Professor A.\nGraham Bell. This possibility, first suggested by the little \u201clovers\u2019\ntelegraph,\u201d consisting of small tin cups with vellum and drug-twine\napparatus, by which a conversation can be carried on at a distance of\ntwo hundred feet, has developed into the telephone, which will become\nthe wonder of this age. A long conversation has taken place between\nBoston and Cambridgeport by telegraph; \u201cevery word being distinctly\nheard and perfectly understood, and the modulations of voices being\nquite distinguishable,\u201d according to the official report. _The voice\nis seized upon_, so to say, _and held in form by a magnet, and the\nsound-wave transmitted by electricity acting in unison and co-operating\nwith the magnet_. The whole success depends upon a perfect control of {127}\nthe electric currents and the power of the magnets used, with which\nthe former must co-operate. \u201cThe invention,\u201d reports the paper, \u201cmay\nbe rudely described as a sort of trumpet, over the bell-mouth of which\nis drawn a delicate membrane, which, when the voice is thrown into the\ntube, swells outward in proportion to the force of the sound-wave. To\nthe outer side of the membrane is attached a piece of metal, which, as\nthe membrane swells outward, connects with a magnet, and this, with the\nelectric circuit, is controlled by the operator. By some principle, not\nyet fully understood, the electric current transmits the sound-wave\njust as delivered by the voice in the trumpet, and the listener at the\nother end of the line, with a twin or fac-simile trumpet at his ear,\nhears every word distinctly, and readily detects the modulations of the\nspeaker\u2019s voice.\u201d\n\nThus, in the presence of such wonderful discoveries of our age, and\nthe further magical possibilities lying latent and yet undiscovered\nin the boundless realm of nature, and further, in view of the great\nprobability that Edison\u2019s Force and Professor Graham Bell\u2019s Telephone\nmay unsettle, if not utterly upset all our ideas of the imponderable\nfluids, would it not be well for such persons as may be tempted\nto traverse our statements, to wait and see whether they will be\ncorroborated or refuted by further discoveries.\n\nOnly in connection with these _discoveries_, we may, perhaps, well\nremind our readers of the many hints to be found in the ancient\nhistories as to a certain secret in the possession of the Egyptian\npriesthood, who could instantly communicate, during the celebration of\nthe Mysteries, from one temple to another, even though the former were\nat Thebes and the latter at the other end of the country; the legends\nattributing it, as a matter of course, to the \u201cinvisible tribes\u201d of\nthe air, which carry messages for mortals. The author of _Pre-Adamite\nMan_ quotes an instance, which being given merely on his own authority,\nand he seeming uncertain whether the story comes from Macrinus or\nsome other writer, may be taken for what it is worth. He found\ngood evidence, he says, during his stay in Egypt, that \u201cone of the\nCleopatras (?) sent news by a wire to all the cities, from Heliopolis\nto Elephantine, on the Upper Nile.\u201d[230]\n\nIt is not so long since Professor Tyndall ushered us into a new world,\npeopled with airy shapes of the most ravishing beauty.\n\n\u201cThe discovery consists,\u201d he says, \u201cin subjecting the vapors of\nvolatile liquids to the action of concentrated sunlight, or to the\nconcentrated beam of the electric light.\u201d The vapors of certain\nnitrites, iodides, and acids are subjected to the action of the light\nin an _experimental tube_, lying horizontally, and so arranged that {128}\nthe axis of the tube and that of the parallel beams issuing from the\nlamp are coincident. The vapors form clouds of gorgeous tints, and\narrange themselves into the shapes of vases, of bottles and cones, in\nnests of six or more; of shells, of tulips, roses, sunflowers, leaves,\nand of involved scrolls. \u201cIn one case,\u201d he tells us, \u201cthe cloud-bud\ngrew rapidly into a serpent\u2019s head; a mouth was formed, and from the\ncloud, a cord of cloud resembling a tongue was discharged.\u201d Finally, to\ncap the climax of marvels, \u201conce it positively assumed the form of a\nfish, with eyes, gills, and feelers. The twoness of the animal form was\ndisplayed throughout, and no _disk, coil, or speck existed on one side\nthat did not exist on the other_.\u201d\n\nThese phenomena may possibly be explained in part by the mechanical\naction of a beam of light, which Mr. Crookes has recently demonstrated.\nFor instance, it is a supposable case, that the beams of light may have\nconstituted a horizontal axis, about which the disturbed molecules\nof the vapors gathered into the forms of globes and spindles. But\nhow account for the fish, the serpent\u2019s head, the vases, the flowers\nof different varieties, the shells? This seems to offer a dilemma to\nscience as baffling as the meteor-cat of Babinet. We do not learn\nthat Tyndall ventured as absurd an explanation of his extraordinary\nphenomena as that of the Frenchman about his.\n\nThose who have not given attention to the subject may be surprised to\nfind how much was known in former days of that all-pervading, subtile\nprinciple which has recently been baptized THE UNIVERSAL ETHER.\n\nBefore proceeding, we desire once more to enunciate in two categorical\npropositions, what was hinted at before. These propositions were\ndemonstrated laws with the ancient theurgists.\n\nI. The so-called miracles, to begin with Moses and end with Cagliostro,\nwhen genuine, were as de Gasparin very justly insinuates in his\nwork on the phenomena, \u201cperfectly in accordance with natural law;\u201d\nhence\u2014no miracles. Electricity and magnetism were unquestionably\nused in the production of some of the prodigies; but now, the same\nas then, they are put in requisition by every sensitive, who is made\nto use _unconsciously_ these powers by the peculiar nature of his\nor her organization, which serves as a conductor for some of these\nimponderable fluids, as yet so imperfectly known to science. This force\nis the prolific parent of numberless attributes and properties, many,\nor rather, most of which, are as yet unknown to modern physics.\n\nII. The phenomena of natural magic to be witnessed in Siam, India,\nEgypt, and other Oriental countries, bear no relationship whatever to\nsleight of hand; the one being an absolute physical effect, due to the\naction of occult natural forces, the other, a mere deceptive result {129}\nobtained by dexterous manipulations supplemented with confederacy.[231]\n\nThe thaumaturgists of all periods, schools, and countries, produced\ntheir wonders, because they were perfectly familiar with the\nimponderable\u2014in their effects\u2014but otherwise perfectly tangible waves\nof the astral light. They controlled the currents by guiding them with\ntheir will-power. The wonders were both of physical and psychological\ncharacter; the former embracing effects produced upon material objects,\nthe latter the mental phenomena of Mesmer and his successors. This\nclass has been represented in our time by two illustrious men, Du Potet\nand Regazzoni, whose wonderful powers were well attested in France and\nother countries. Mesmerism is the most important branch of magic; and\nits phenomena are the effects of the universal agent which underlies\nall magic and has produced at all ages the so-called miracles.\n\nThe ancients called it _Chaos_; Plato and the Pythagoreans named\nit _the Soul of the World_. According to the Hindus, the Deity in\nthe shape of \u00c6ther pervades all things. It is the invisible, but,\nas we have said before, too tangible Fluid. Among other names this\nuniversal Proteus\u2014or \u201cthe nebulous Almighty,\u201d as de Mirville calls\nit in derision\u2014was termed by the theurgists \u201cthe living fire,\u201d[232]\nthe \u201cSpirit of Light,\u201d and _Magnes_. This last appellation indicates\nits magnetic properties and shows its magical nature. For, as truly\nexpressed by one of its enemies\u2014\u03bc\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 and \u03bc\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 are two branches\ngrowing from the same trunk, and shooting forth the same resultants.\n\nMagnetism is a word for the derivation of which we have to look to an\nincredibly early epoch. The stone called _magnet_ is believed by many\nto owe its name to Magnesia, a city or district in Thessaly, where\nthese stones were found in quantity. We believe, however, the opinion\nof the Hermetists to be the correct one. The word _Magh_, _magus_,\nis derived from the Sanskrit _Mahaji_, the _great_ or _wise_ (the\nanointed by the divine wisdom). \u201cEumolpus is the _mythic_ founder {130}\nof the Eumolpid\u00e6 (priests); the priests traced their own wisdom to\nthe Divine Intelligence.\u201d[233] The various cosmogonies show that the\nArch\u00e6al Universal Soul was held by every nation as the \u201cmind\u201d of the\nDemiurgic Creator, the _Sophia_ of the Gnostics, or _the Holy Ghost as\na female principle_. As the Magi derived their name from it, so the\nMagnesian stone or Magnet was called in their honor, for they were\nthe first to discover its wonderful properties. Their temples dotted\nthe country in all directions, and among these were some temples of\nHercules,[234]\u2014hence the stone, when it once became known that the\npriests used it for their curative and magical purposes, received\nthe name of the Magnesian or Heraclean stone. Socrates, speaking of\nit, remarks: \u201cEuripides calls it the Magnesian stone, but the common\npeople, the Heraclean.[235]\u201d It was the country and stone which were\ncalled after the Magi, not the Magi after one or the other. Pliny\ninforms us that the wedding-ring among the Romans was magnetized by the\npriests before the ceremony. The old Pagan historians are careful to\nkeep silent on certain Mysteries of the \u201cwise\u201d (Magi) and Pausanias was\nwarned in a dream, he says, not to unveil the holy rites of the temple\nof Demeter and Persephoneia at Athens.[236]\n\nModern science, after having ineffectually denied _animal magnetism_,\nhas found herself forced to accept it as a fact. It is now a recognized\nproperty of human and animal organization; as to its psychological,\noccult influence, the Academies battle with it, in our century, more\nferociously than ever. It is the more to be regretted and even wondered\nat, as the representatives of \u201cexact science\u201d are unable to either\nexplain or even offer us anything like a reasonable hypothesis for the\nundeniable mysterious potency contained in a simple magnet. We begin to\nhave daily proofs that these potencies underlie the theurgic mysteries,\nand therefore might perhaps explain the occult faculties possessed by\nancient and modern thaumaturgists as well as a good many of their most\nastounding achievements. Such were the gifts transmitted by Jesus to {131}\nsome of his disciples. At the moment of his miraculous cures, the\nNazarene felt a _power_ issuing from him. Socrates, in his dialogue\nwith Theages,[237] telling him of his familiar god (demon), and his\npower of either imparting his (Socrates\u2019) wisdom to his disciples or\npreventing it from benefiting those he associates with, brings the\nfollowing instance in corroboration of his words: \u201cI will tell you,\nSocrates,\u201d says Aristides, \u201ca thing incredible, indeed, by the gods,\nbut true. I made a proficiency when I associated with you, even if\nI was only in the same house, though not in the same room; but more\nso, when I _was in the same room_ ... and much more when I _looked at\nyou_.... But I made by far the greatest proficiency when I sat near you\nand _touched you_.\u201d\n\nThis is the modern magnetism and mesmerism of Du Potet and other\nmasters, who, when they have subjected a person to their _fluidic_\ninfluence, can impart to them all their thoughts even at a distance,\nand with an irresistible power force their subject to obey their\n_mental_ orders. But how far better was this psychic force known\nto the ancient philosophers! We can glean some information on that\nsubject from the earliest sources. Pythagoras taught his disciples\nthat God is the universal _mind_ diffused through all things, and\nthat this mind by the sole virtue of its universal sameness could be\ncommunicated from one object to another and be made to create all\nthings by the sole will-power of man. With the ancient Greeks, _Kurios_\nwas the god-Mind (_Nous_). \u201cNow Koros (Kurios) signifies the pure\nand unmixed nature of intellect\u2014wisdom,\u201d says Plato.[238] Kurios is\nMercury, the Divine Wisdom, and \u201cMercury is the Sol\u201d (Sun),[239] from\nwhom Thaut\u2014Hermes\u2014received this divine wisdom, which, in his turn,\nhe imparted to the world in his books. Hercules is also the Sun\u2014the\ncelestial storehouse of the universal magnetism;[240] or rather\nHercules is the magnetic light which, when having made its way through\nthe \u201copened eye of heaven,\u201d enters into the regions of our planet and\nthus becomes the Creator. Hercules passes through the twelve labors,\nthe valiant Titan! He is called \u201cFather of All\u201d and \u201cself-born\u201d {132}\n\u201c(_autophues_).\u201d[241] Hercules, the Sun, is killed by the Devil,\nTyphon,[242] and so is Osiris, who is the father and brother of Horus,\nand at the same time is identical with him; and we must not forget\nthat the magnet was called the \u201cbone of Horus,\u201d and iron the \u201cbone of\nTyphon.\u201d He is called \u201cHercules _Invictus_,\u201d only when he descends to\nHades (the subterranean garden), and plucking the \u201cgolden apples\u201d from\nthe \u201ctree of life,\u201d slays the dragon.[243] The rough Titanic power, the\n\u201clining\u201d of every sun-god, opposes its force of blind matter to the\ndivine magnetic spirit, which tries to harmonize everything in nature.\n\nAll the sun-gods, with their symbol, the visible sun, are the\ncreators of _physical_ nature only. The _spiritual_ is the work of\nthe Highest God\u2014the Concealed, the Central, Spiritual SUN, and of his\nDemiurge\u2014the Divine Mind of Plato, and the Divine Wisdom of Hermes\nTrismegistus[244]\u2014the wisdom effused from Oulom or Kronos.\n\n\u201cAfter the distribution of pure Fire, in the Samothracian Mysteries,\na new life began.\u201d[245] This was the \u201cnew birth,\u201d that is alluded to\nby Jesus, in his nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus. \u201cInitiated\ninto the most blessed of all Mysteries, being ourselves pure ... we\nbecome just and holy with wisdom.\u201d[246] \u201cHe _breathed_ on them and\nsaith unto them, \u2018Take the Holy Pneuma.\u2019\u201d[247] And this simple act of\nwill-power was sufficient to impart vaticination in its nobler and most\nperfect form if both the initiator and the initiated were worthy of\nit. To deride this gift, even in its present aspect, \u201cas the corrupt\noffspring and lingering remains of an ignorant age of superstition,\nand hastily to condemn it as unworthy of sober investigation, would\nbe as unphilosophical as it is wrong,\u201d remarks the Rev. J. B. Gross.\n\u201cTo remove the veil which hides our vision from the future, has been\nattempted\u2014in all ages of the world; and therefore the propensity to pry\ninto the lap of time, contemplated as one of the faculties of human\nmind, comes recommended to us under the sanction of God.... Zuinglius,\nthe Swiss reformer, attested the comprehensiveness of his faith in the\nprovidence of the Supreme Being, in the cosmopolitan doctrine that the\nHoly Ghost was not entirely excluded from the more worthy portion of {133}\nthe heathen world. Admitting its truth, we cannot easily conceive a\nvalid reason why a heathen, thus favored, should not be capable of true\nprophecy.\u201d[248]\n\nNow, what is this mystic, primordial substance? In the book of\n_Genesis_, at the beginning of the first chapter, it is termed the\n\u201cface of the waters,\u201d said to have been incubated by the \u201cSpirit of\nGod.\u201d Job mentions, in chap. xxvi., 5, that \u201cdead things are formed\nfrom under the waters, and inhabitants thereof.\u201d In the original text,\ninstead of \u201cdead things,\u201d it is written dead _Rephaim_ (giants, or\nmighty primitive men), from whom \u201cEvolution\u201d may one day trace our\npresent race. In the Egyptian mythology, Kneph the Eternal _unrevealed_\nGod is represented by a snake-emblem of eternity encircling a\nwater-urn, with his head hovering over the waters, which it incubates\nwith his breath. In this case the serpent is the Agathodaimon, the\ngood spirit; in its opposite aspect it is the Kakothodaimon\u2014the bad\none. In the Scandinavian _Eddas_, the honey-dew\u2014the food of the gods\nand of the creative, busy Yggdrasill\u2014bees\u2014falls during the hours of\nnight, when the atmosphere is impregnated with humidity; and in the\nNorthern mythologies, as the passive principle of creation, it typifies\nthe creation of the universe _out of water_; this dew is the astral\nlight in one of its combinations and possesses creative as well as\ndestructive properties. In the Chaldean legend of Berosus, O\u00e4nnes or\nDagon, the man-fish, instructing the people, shows the infant world\ncreated out of _water_ and all beings originating from this _prima\nmateria_. Moses teaches that only earth and _water_ can bring a living\nsoul; and we read in the Scriptures that herbs could not grow until\nthe Eternal caused it to _rain_ upon earth. In the Mexican _Popol-Vuh_\nman is created out of _mud_ or clay (_terre glaise_), taken from under\nthe water. Brahma creates Lomus, the great Muni (or first man), seated\non his lotus, only after having called into being, _spirits_, who\nthus enjoyed among mortals a priority of existence, and he creates\nhim out of water, air, and earth. Alchemists claim that primordial\nor pre-Adamic earth when reduced to its first substance is in its\n_second_ stage of transformation like clear-water, the first being the\n_alkahest_[249] proper. This primordial substance is said to contain\nwithin itself the essence of all that goes to make up man; it has not\nonly all the elements of his physical being, but even the \u201cbreath of\nlife\u201d itself in a latent state, ready to be awakened. This it derives\nfrom the \u201cincubation\u201d of the Spirit of God upon the face of the\nwaters\u2014chaos; in fact, this substance is chaos itself. From this it was\nthat Paracelsus claimed to be able to make his \u201chomunculi;\u201d and this {134}\nis why Thales, the great natural philosopher, maintained that _water_\nwas the principle of all things in nature.\n\nWhat is the primordial Chaos but \u00c6ther? The _modern_ Ether; not such\nas is recognized by our scientists, but such as it _was_ known to the\nancient philosophers, long before the time of Moses; Ether, with all\nits mysterious and occult properties, containing in itself the germs\nof universal creation; Ether, the celestial virgin, the spiritual\nmother of every existing form and being, from whose bosom as soon as\n\u201cincubated\u201d by the Divine Spirit, are called into existence Matter\nand Life, Force and Action. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and\nchemical action are so little understood even now that fresh facts\nare constantly widening the range of our knowledge. Who knows where\nends the power of this protean giant\u2014Ether; or whence its mysterious\norigin?\u2014Who, we mean, that denies the spirit that works in it and\nevolves out of it all visible forms?\n\nIt is an easy task to show that the cosmogonical legends all over\nthe world are based on a knowledge by the ancients of those sciences\nwhich have allied themselves in our days to support the doctrine of\nevolution; and that further research may demonstrate that they were\nfar better acquainted with the fact of evolution itself, embracing\nboth its physical and spiritual aspects, than we are now. With the\nold philosophers, evolution was a universal theorem, a doctrine\nembracing the _whole_, and an established principle; while our modern\nevolutionists are enabled to present us merely with speculative\ntheoretics; with _particular_, if not wholly _negative_ theorems. It is\nidle for the representatives of our modern wisdom to close the debate\nand pretend that the question is settled, merely because the obscure\nphraseology of the Mosaic account clashes with the definite exegesis of\n\u201cexact science.\u201d\n\nOne fact at least is proved: there is not a cosmogonical fragment, to\nwhatever nation it may belong, but proves by this universal allegory\nof water and the spirit brooding over it, that no more than our modern\nphysicists did any of them hold the universe to have sprung into\nexistence out of nothing; for all their legends begin with that period\nwhen nascent vapors and Cimmerian darkness lay brooding over a fluid\nmass ready to start on its journey of activity at the first flutter\nof the breath of Him, who is the Unrevealed One. Him they felt, if\nthey saw Him not. Their spiritual intuitions were not so darkened by\nthe subtile sophistry of the forecoming ages as ours are now. If they\ntalked less of the Silurian age slowly developing into the Mammalian,\nand if the Cenozoic time was only recorded by various allegories of the\nprimitive man\u2014the Adam of _our_ race\u2014it is but a negative proof after\nall that their \u201cwise men\u201d and leaders did not know of these successive {135}\nperiods as well as we do now. In the days of Democritus and Aristotle,\nthe cycle had already begun to enter on its downward path of progress.\nAnd if these two philosophers could discuss so well the atomic theory\nand trace the atom to its material or physical _point_, their ancestors\nmay have gone further still and followed its genesis far beyond that\nlimit where Mr. Tyndall and others seem rooted to the spot, not daring\nto cross the line of the \u201cIncomprehensible.\u201d The _lost arts_ are a\nsufficient proof that if even their achievements in physiography are\nnow doubted, because of the unsatisfactory writings of their physicists\nand naturalists,\u2014on the other hand their practical knowledge in\nphytochemistry and mineralogy far exceeded our own. Furthermore, they\nmight have been perfectly acquainted with the physical history of our\nglobe without publishing their knowledge to the ignorant masses in\nthose ages of religious Mysteries.\n\n[Illustration: Possibly a _fac-simile_ of some amulets ]\n\nTherefore, it is not only from the Mosaic books that we mean to adduce\nproof for our further arguments. The ancient Jews got all their\nknowledge\u2014religious as well as profane\u2014from the nations with which\nwe see them mixed up from the earliest periods. Even the oldest of\nall sciences, their kabalistic \u201csecret doctrine,\u201d may be traced in\neach detail to its primeval source, Upper India, or Turkestan, far\nbefore the time of a distinct separation between the Aryan and Semitic\nnations. The King Solomon so celebrated by posterity, as Josephus the\nhistorian says,[250] for his magical skill, got his secret learning\nfrom India through Hiram, the king of Ophir, and perhaps Sheba. His\nring, commonly known as \u201cSolomon\u2019s seal,\u201d so celebrated for the potency\nof its sway over the various kinds of genii and demons, in all the\npopular legends, is equally of Hindu origin. Writing on the pretentious\nand abominable skill of the \u201cdevil-worshippers\u201d of Travancore, the Rev.\nSamuel Mateer, of the London Missionary Society, claims at the same\ntime to be in possession of a very old manuscript volume of magical\nincantations and spells in the Malay\u00e2lim language, giving directions\nfor effecting a great variety of purposes. Of course he adds, that\n\u201cmany of these are _fearful_ in their malignity and obscenity,\u201d\nand gives in his work the _fac-simile_ of some amulets bearing the\nmagical figures and designs on them. We find among them one with\nthe following legend: \u201cTo remove trembling arising from demoniacal {136}\npossession\u2014write this figure on a plant that has milky juice, and drive\na nail through it; the trembling will cease.\u201d[251] The figure is the\nidentical Solomon\u2019s _seal_, or double triangle of the Kabalists. Did\nthe Hindu get it from the Jewish kabalist, or the latter from India, by\ninheritance from their great king-kabalist, the wise Solomon?[252] But\nwe will leave this trifling dispute to continue the more interesting\nquestion of the astral light, and its unknown properties.\n\nAdmitting, then, that this mythical agent is Ether, we will proceed to\nsee what and how much of it is known to science.\n\nWith respect to the various effects of the different solar rays, Robert\nHunt, F.R.S., remarks, in his _Researches on Light in its Chemical\nRelations_, that:\n\n\u201cThose rays which give the _most_ light\u2014the yellow and the orange\nrays\u2014will not produce change of color in the chloride of silver;\u201d while\n\u201cthose rays which have the _least_ illuminating power\u2014the blue and\nviolet\u2014produce the greatest change, and in exceedingly short time.... {137}\nThe yellow glasses obstruct scarcely any light; the blue glasses may\nbe so dark as to admit of the permeation of a very small quantity.\u201d\n\nAnd still we see that under the _blue_ ray both vegetable and animal\nlife manifest an inordinate development, while under the yellow ray it\nis proportionately arrested. How is it possible to account for this\nsatisfactorily upon any other hypothesis than that both animal and\nvegetable life are differently modified electrico-magnetic phenomena,\nas yet unknown in their fundamental principles?\n\nMr. Hunt finds that the undulatory theory does not account for the\nresults of his experiments. Sir David Brewster, in his _Treatise on\nOptics_, showing that \u201cthe colors of vegetable life arise ... from a\nspecific attraction which the particles of these bodies exercise over\nthe differently-colored rays of light,\u201d and that \u201cit is by the light\nof the sun that the colored juices of plants are elaborated, that the\ncolors of bodies are changed, etc....\u201d remarks that it is not easy\nto allow \u201cthat such effects can be produced by the mere vibration of\nan ethereal medium.\u201d And he is _forced_, he says, \u201cby this class of\nfacts, to reason as if light was _material_(?).\u201d Professor Josiah P.\nCooke, of Harvard University, says that he \u201ccannot agree ... with those\nwho regard the wave-theory of light as an established principle of\nscience.\u201d[253] Herschel\u2019s doctrine, that the intensity of light, in\neffect of each undulation, \u201cis inversely as the square of the distance\nfrom the luminous body,\u201d if correct, damages a good deal if it does not\nkill the undulatory theory. That he is right, was proved repeatedly by\nexperiments with photometers; and, though it begins to be much doubted,\nthe undulatory theory is still alive.\n\nAs General Pleasanton, of Philadelphia, has undertaken to combat this\nanti-Pythagorean hypothesis, and has devoted to it a whole volume, we\ncannot do any better than refer the reader to his recent work on the\n_Blue Ray_, etc. We leave the theory of Thomas Young, who, according to\nTyndall, \u201cplaced on an immovable basis the undulatory theory of light,\u201d\nto hold its own if it can, with the Philadelphia experimenter.\n\nEliphas Levi, the modern magician, describes the astral light in the\nfollowing sentence: \u201cWe have said that to acquire magical power, two\nthings are necessary: to disengage the will from all servitude, and to\nexercise it in control.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe sovereign will is represented in our symbols by the woman who\ncrushes the serpent\u2019s head, and by the resplendent angel who represses\nthe dragon, and holds him under his foot and spear; the great magical\nagent, the dual current of light, the living and astral _fire_ of the\nearth, has been represented in the ancient theogonies by the serpent {138}\nwith the head of a bull, a ram, or a dog. It is the double serpent of\nthe _caduceus_, it is the Old Serpent of the _Genesis_, but it is also\nthe _brazen serpent of Moses_ entwined around the _tau_, that is to\nsay, the generative _lingha_. It is also the goat of the witch-sabbath,\nand the Baphomet of the Templars; it is the _Hyl\u00e9_ of the Gnostics; it\nis the double-tail of serpent which forms the legs of the solar cock of\nthe Abraxas; finally, it is the Devil of M. Eudes de Mirville. But in\nvery fact it is the blind force which souls have to conquer to liberate\nthemselves from the bonds of the earth; for if their will does not\nfree \u201cthem from this _fatal attraction_, they will be absorbed in the\ncurrent by the force which has produced them, and _will return to the\ncentral and eternal fire_.\u201d\n\nThis last kabalistic figure of speech, notwithstanding its strange\nphraseology, is precisely the one used by Jesus; and in his mind it\ncould have had no other significance than the one attributed to it\nby the Gnostics and the Kabalists. Later the Christian theologians\ninterpreted it differently, and with them it became the doctrine of\nHell. Literally, though, it simply means what it says\u2014the astral light,\nor the generator and destroyer of all forms.\n\n\u201cAll the magical operations,\u201d continues Levi, \u201cconsist in freeing one\u2019s\nself from the coils of the Ancient Serpent; then to place the foot on\nits head, and lead it according to the operator\u2019s will. \u2018I will give\nunto thee,\u2019 says the Serpent, in the Gospel myth, \u2018all the kingdoms\nof the earth, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.\u2019 The initiate\nshould reply to him, \u2018I will not fall down, but thou shalt crouch at\nmy feet; thou wilt give me nothing, but I will make use of thee and\ntake whatever I wish. For _I am thy Lord and Master_!\u2019 This is the real\nmeaning of the ambiguous response made by Jesus to the tempter....\nThus, the Devil is not an Entity. It is an errant force, as the name\nsignifies. An _odic or magnetic current_ formed by a chain (a circle)\nof pernicious wills must create this evil spirit which the Gospel\ncalls _legion_, and which forces into the sea a herd of swine\u2014another\nevangelical allegory showing how base natures can be driven headlong by\nthe blind forces set in motion by error and sin.\u201d[254]\n\nIn his extensive work on the mystical manifestations of human nature,\nthe German naturalist and philosopher, Maximilian Perty, has devoted\na whole chapter to the _Modern forms of Magic_. \u201cThe manifestations\nof magical life,\u201d he says in his Preface, \u201cpartially repose on quite\nanother order of things than the nature in which we are acquainted with\ntime, space, and causality; these manifestations can be experimented\nwith but little; they cannot be called out at our bidding, but may be {139}\nobserved and carefully followed whenever they occur in our presence;\nwe can only group them by analogy under certain divisions, and deduce\nfrom them general principles and laws.\u201d Thus, for Professor Perty,\nwho evidently belongs to the school of Schopenhauer, the possibility\nand _naturalness_ of the phenomena which took place in the presence\nof Kavindasami, the fakir, and are described by Louis Jacolliot, the\nOrientalist, are fully demonstrated on that principle. The fakir was a\nman who, through the entire subjugation of the matter of his corporeal\nsystem has attained to that state of purification at which the spirit\nbecomes nearly freed from its prison,[255] and can produce wonders.\nHis _will_, nay, a simple desire of his has become creative force,\nand he can command the elements and powers of nature. His body is no\nmore an impediment to him; hence he can converse \u201cspirit to spirit,\nbreath to breath.\u201d Under his extended palms, a seed, unknown to him\n(for Jacolliot has chosen it at random among a variety of seeds, from a\nbag, and planted it himself, after _marking_ it, in a flower pot), will\ngerminate instantly, and push its way through the soil. Developing in\nless than two hours\u2019 time to a size and height which, perhaps, under\nordinary circumstances, would require several days or weeks, it grows\nmiraculously under the very eyes of the perplexed experimenter, and\nmockingly upsets every accepted formula in Botany. Is this a miracle?\nBy no means; it may be one, perhaps, if we take Webster\u2019s definition,\nthat a miracle is \u201cevery event contrary to the _established_\nconstitution and course of things\u2014a deviation from the _known_ laws of\nnature.\u201d But are our naturalists prepared to support the claim that\nwhat they have once _established_ on observation is infallible? Or that\n_every_ law of nature is known to them? In this instance, the \u201cmiracle\u201d\nis but a little _more_ prominent than the now well-known experiments\nof General Pleasanton, of Philadelphia. While the vegetation and\nfruitage of his vines were stimulated to an incredible activity by the\nartificial violet light, the magnetic fluid emanating from the hands\nof the fakir effected still more intense and rapid changes in the\nvital function of the Indian plants. It attracted and concentrated the\n_akasa_, or life-principle, on the germ.[256] His magnetism, obeying {140}\nhis will, drew up the _akasa_ in a concentrated current through the\nplant towards his hands, and by keeping up an unintermitted flow for\nthe requisite space of time, the life-principle of the plant built\nup cell after cell, layer after layer, with preternatural activity,\nuntil the work was done. The life-principle is but a blind force\nobeying a controlling influence. In the ordinary course of nature the\nplant-protoplasm would have concentrated and directed it at a certain\nestablished rate. This rate would have been controlled by the prevalent\natmospheric conditions; its growth being rapid or slow, and, in stalk\nor head, in proportion to the amount of light, heat, and moisture\nof the season. But the fakir, coming to the help of nature with his\npowerful will and spirit purified from the contact with matter,[257]\ncondenses, so to speak, the essence of plant-life into its germ,\nand forces it to maturity ahead of its time. This blind force being\ntotally submissive to his will, obeys it with servility. If he chose\nto _imagine_ the plant as a monster, it would as surely become such,\nas ordinarily it would grow in its natural shape; for the concrete\nimage\u2014slave to the subjective model outlined in the imagination of the\nfakir\u2014is forced to follow the original in its least detail, as the hand\nand brush of the painter follow the image which they copy from his\nmind. The will of the fakir-conjurer forms an invisible but yet, to it,\nperfectly objective matrix, in which the vegetable matter is caused to\ndeposit itself and assume the fixed shape. The will creates; for the\nwill in motion is _force_, and force produces _matter_.\n\nIf some persons object to the explanation on the ground that the fakir {141}\ncould by no means create the model in his imagination, since he was\nkept ignorant by Jacolliot of the kind of seed he had selected for the\nexperiment; to these we will answer that the spirit of man is like that\nof his Creator\u2014omniscient in its essence. While in his natural state\nthe fakir did _not_, and _could not_ know whether it was a melon-seed,\nor seed of any other plant; once entranced, _i.e._, bodily dead to all\noutward appearance\u2014the spirit, for which there exist neither distance,\nmaterial obstacle, nor space of time, experienced no difficulty in\nperceiving the melon-seed, whether as it lay deeply buried in the\nmud of the flower-pot, or reflected in the faithful picture-gallery\nof Jacolliot\u2019s brain. Our visions, portents, and other psychological\nphenomena, all of which exist in nature, are corroborative of the above\nfact.\n\nAnd now, perhaps, we might as well meet at once another impending\nobjection. Indian _jugglers_, they will tell us, do the same, and\nas well as the fakir, if we can believe newspapers and travellers\u2019\nnarratives. Undoubtedly so; and moreover these strolling jugglers are\nneither pure in their modes of living nor considered holy by any one;\nneither by foreigners nor their own people. _They are generally_ FEARED\n_and despised by the natives_, for they are _sorcerers_; men practising\nthe _black art_. While such a holy man as Kavindasami requires but the\nhelp of his own divine soul, closely united with the astral spirit, and\nthe help of a few familiar _pitris_\u2014pure, ethereal beings, who rally\naround their elect brother in flesh\u2014the sorcerer can summon to his\nhelp but that class of spirits which we know as the elementals. Like\nattracts like; and greed for money, impure purposes, and selfish views,\ncannot attract any other spirits than those that the Hebrew kabalists\nknow as the _klippoth_, dwellers of _Asiah_, the fourth world, and the\nEastern magicians as the _afrits_, or elementary spirits of error, or\nthe _devs_.\n\nThis is how an English paper describes the astounding _trick_ of\nplant-growth, as performed by Indian _jugglers_:\n\n\u201cAn empty flower-pot was now placed upon the floor by the juggler, who\nrequested that his comrades might be allowed to bring up some garden\nmould from the little plot of ground below. Permission being accorded,\nthe man went, and in two minutes returned with a small quantity of\nfresh earth tied up in a corner of his chudder, which was deposited\nin the flower-pot and lightly pressed down. Taking from his basket a\ndry mango-stone, and handing it round to the company that they might\nexamine it, and satisfy themselves that it was really what it seemed\nto be, the juggler scooped out a little earth from the centre of the\nflower-pot and placed the stone in the cavity. He then turned the earth\nlightly over it, and, having poured a little water over the surface, {142}\nshut the flower-pot out of view by means of a sheet thrown over a\nsmall triangle. And now, amid a full chorus of voices and rat-tat-tat\naccompaniment of the tabor, the stone germinated; presently a section\nof the cloth was drawn aside, and gave to view the tender shoot,\ncharacterized by two long leaves of a blackish-brown color. The cloth\nwas readjusted, and the incantation resumed. Not long was it, however,\nbefore the cloth was a second time drawn aside, and it was then seen\nthat the two first leaves had given place to several green ones, and\nthat the plant now stood nine or ten inches high. A third time, and the\nfoliage was much thicker, the sapling being about thirteen to fourteen\ninches in height. A fourth time, and the little miniature tree, now\nabout eighteen inches in height, had ten or twelve mangoes about the\nsize of walnuts hanging about its branches. Finally, after the lapse of\nthree of four minutes, the cloth was altogether removed, and the fruit,\nhaving the perfection of size, though not of maturity, was plucked\nand handed to the spectators, and, on being tasted, was found to be\napproaching ripeness, being sweetly acid.\u201d\n\nWe may add to this, that we have witnessed the same experiment in\nIndia and Thibet, and that more than once we provided the flower-pot\nourselves, by emptying an old tin box of some Liebig extracts. We\nfilled it with earth with our own hands, and planted in it a small root\nhanded to us by the conjurer, and until the experiment was ended never\nonce removed our eyes from the pot, which was placed _in our own room_.\nThe result was invariably the same as above described. Does the reader\nimagine that any prestidigitator could produce the same manifestation\nunder the same conditions?\n\nThe learned Orioli, Corresponding Member of the Institute of France,\ngives a number of instances which show the marvellous effects produced\nby the will-power acting upon the invisible Proteus of the mesmerists.\n\u201cI have seen,\u201d says he, \u201ccertain persons, who simply by pronouncing\ncertain words, arrest wild bulls and horses at headlong speed, and\nsuspend in its flight the arrow which cleaves the air.\u201d Thomas\nBartholini affirms the same.\n\nSays Du Potet: \u201cWhen I trace upon the floor with chalk or charcoal this\nfigure ... a _fire_, a _light_ fixes itself on it. Soon it attracts to\nitself the person who approaches it; it detains and fascinates him ...\nand it is useless for him to try to cross the line. A _magic_ power\ncompels him to stand still. At the end of a few moments he yields,\nuttering sobs.... _The cause is not in me_, it is in this entirely\nkabalistic sign; in vain would you employ violence.\u201d[258]\n\nIn a series of remarkable experiments made by Regazzoni in the {143}\npresence of certain well-known French physicians, at Paris, on the 18th\nof May, 1856, they assembled on one night together, and Regazzoni,\nwith his finger, traced an imaginary kabalistic line upon the floor,\nover which he made a few rapid passes. It was agreed that the mesmeric\nsubjects, selected by the investigators and the committee for the\nexperiments, and all strangers to him, should be brought blindfold into\nthe room, and caused to walk toward the line, without a word being\nspoken to indicate what was expected of them. The subjects moved along\nunsuspiciously till they came to the invisible barrier, when, as it\nis described, \u201ctheir feet, _as if they had been suddenly seized and\nriveted_, adhere to the ground, while their bodies, carried forward by\nthe rapid impulse of the motion, fall and strike the floor. The sudden\nrigidity of their limbs was like that of a frozen corpse, and their\nheels were rooted with mathematical precision upon the fatal line!\u201d[259]\n\nIn another experiment it was agreed that upon one of the physicians\ngiving a certain signal by a glance of the eye, the blindfolded girl\nshould be made to fall on the ground, as if struck by lightning, by\nthe magnetic fluid emitted by Regazzoni\u2019s will. She was placed at a\ndistance from the magnetizer; the signal was given, and instantly\nthe subject was felled to the earth, without a word being spoken or\na gesture made. Involuntarily one of the spectators stretched out\nhis hand as if to catch her; but Regazzoni, in a voice of thunder,\nexclaimed, \u201cDo not touch her! Let her fall; a magnetized subject is\nnever hurt by falling.\u201d Des Mousseaux, who tells the story, says that\n\u201cmarble is not more rigid than was her body; her head did not touch the\nground; one of her arms remained stretched in the air; one of her legs\nwas raised and the other horizontal. She remained in this unnatural\nposture an indefinite time. Less rigid is a statue of bronze.\u201d[260]\n\nAll the effects witnessed in the experiments of public lecturers upon\nmesmerism, were produced by Regazzoni in perfection, and without one\nspoken word to indicate what the subject was to do. He even by his\nsilent will produced the most surprising effects upon the physical\nsystems of persons totally unknown to him. Directions whispered by the\ncommittee in Regazzoni\u2019s ear were immediately obeyed by the subjects,\nwhose ears were stuffed with cotton, and whose eyes were bandaged.\nNay, in some cases it was not even necessary for them to express to\nthe magnetizer what they desired, for their own mental requests were\ncomplied with with perfect fidelity.\n\nExperiments of a similar character were made by Regazzoni in England,\nat a distance of three hundred paces from the subject brought to him. {144}\nThe _jettatura_, or evil eye, is nothing but the direction of this\ninvisible fluid, charged with malicious will and hatred, from one\nperson to another, and sent out with the intention of harming him. It\nmay equally be employed for a good or evil purpose. _In the former case\nit is magic; in the latter, sorcery._\n\nWhat is the WILL? Can \u201cexact science\u201d tell? What is the nature of that\nintelligent, intangible, and powerful something which reigns supreme\nover all inert matter? The great Universal Idea willed, and the cosmos\nsprang into existence. I _will_, and my limbs obey. I _will_, and, my\nthought traversing space, which does not exist for it, envelops the\nbody of another individual who is not a part of myself, penetrates\nthrough his pores, and, superseding his own faculties, if they are\nweaker, forces him to a predetermined action. It acts like the fluid\nof a galvanic battery on the limbs of a corpse. The mysterious effects\nof attraction and repulsion are the _unconscious_ agents of that will;\nfascination, such as we see exercised by some animals, by serpents over\nbirds, for instance, is a _conscious_ action of it, and the result\nof thought. Sealing-wax, glass, and amber, when rubbed, _i.e._, when\nthe latent heat which exists in every substance is awakened, attract\nlight bodies; they exercise unconsciously, _will_; for inorganic as\nwell as organic matter possesses a particle of the _divine_ essence in\nitself, however infinitesimally small it may be. And how could it be\notherwise? Notwithstanding that in the progress of its evolution it may\nfrom beginning to end have passed through millions of various forms,\nit must ever retain its germ-point of that _pre\u00ebxistent matter_, which\nis the first manifestation and emanation of the Deity itself. What is\nthen this inexplicable power of attraction but an atomical portion of\nthat essence that scientists and kabalists equally recognize as the\n\u201cprinciple of life\u201d the _akasa_? Granted that the attraction exercised\nby such bodies may be blind; but as we ascend higher the scale of the\norganic beings in nature, we find this principle of life developing\nattributes and faculties which become more determined and marked with\nevery rung of the endless ladder. Man, the most perfect of organized\nbeings on earth, in whom matter and spirit\u2014_i.e._, _will_\u2014are the most\ndeveloped and powerful, is alone allowed to give a conscious impulse to\nthat principle which emanates from him; and only he can impart to the\nmagnetic fluid opposite and various impulses without limit as to the\ndirection. \u201cHe wills,\u201d says Du Potet, \u201cand _organized_ matter obeys. It\nhas _no poles_.\u201d\n\nDr. Brierre de Boismont, in his volume on _Hallucinations_, reviews a\nwonderful variety of visions, apparitions, and ecstasies, generally\ntermed hallucinations. \u201cWe cannot deny,\u201d he says, \u201cthat in certain\ndiseases we see developed a great surexcitation of sensibility, which {145}\nlends to the senses a prodigious acuteness of perception. Thus, some\nindividuals will perceive at considerable distances, others will\nannounce the approach of persons who are really on their way, although\nthose present can neither hear nor see them coming.\u201d[261]\n\nA lucid patient, lying in his bed, announces the arrival of persons\nto see whom he must possess _transmural vision_, and this faculty is\ntermed by Brierre de Boismont\u2014_hallucination_. In our ignorance, we\nhave hitherto innocently supposed that in order to be rightly termed a\n_hallucination_, a vision must be subjective. It must have an existence\nonly in the delirious brain of the patient. But if the latter announces\nthe visit of a person, miles away, and this person arrives at the very\nmoment predicted by the _seer_, then his vision was no more subjective,\nbut on the contrary perfectly _objective_, for he saw that person in\nthe act of coming. And how could the patient see, through solid bodies\nand space, an object shut out from the reach of our mortal sight, if he\nhad not exercised his _spiritual_ eyes on that occasion? Coincidence?\n\nCabanis speaks of certain nervous disorders in which the patients\neasily distinguished with the naked eye infusoria and other\nmicroscopical beings which others could only perceive through powerful\nlenses. \u201cI have met subjects,\u201d he says, \u201cwho saw in Cimmerian darkness\nas well as in a lighted room; ...\u201d others \u201cwho followed persons,\ntracing them out like dogs, and recognizing by the smell objects\nbelonging to such persons or even such as had been only touched by\nthem, with a sagacity which was hitherto observed only in animals.\u201d[262]\n\nExactly; because reason, which, as Cabanis says, develops only at the\nexpense and loss of natural instinct, is a Chinese wall slowly rising\non the soil of sophistry, and which finally shuts out man\u2019s spiritual\nperceptions of which the instinct is one of the most important\nexamples. Arrived at certain stages of physical prostration, when mind\nand the reasoning faculties seem paralyzed through weakness and bodily\nexhaustion, instinct\u2014the spiritual _unity_ of the five senses\u2014sees,\nhears, feels, tastes, and smells, unimpaired by either time or space.\nWhat do we know of the exact limits of mental action? How can a\nphysician take upon himself to distinguish the imaginary from the\nreal senses in a man who may be living a spiritual life, in a body so\nexhausted of its usual vitality that it actually is unable to prevent\nthe soul from _oozing_ out from its prison?\n\nThe divine light through which, unimpeded by matter, the soul {146}\nperceives things past, present, and to come, as though their rays\nwere focused in a mirror; the death-dealing bolt projected in an\ninstant of fierce anger or at the climax of long-festering hate; the\nblessing wafted from a grateful or benevolent heart; and the curse\nhurled at an object\u2014offender or victim\u2014all have to pass through that\nuniversal agent, which under one impulse is the breath of God, and\nunder another\u2014the venom of the devil. It was _discovered_ (?) by Baron\nReichenbach and called OD, whether intentionally or otherwise we cannot\nsay, but it is singular that a name should have been chosen which is\nmentioned in the most ancient books of the Kabala.\n\nOur readers will certainly inquire what then is this invisible _all_?\nHow is it that our scientific methods, however perfected, have never\ndiscovered any of the magical properties contained in it? To this we\ncan answer, that it is no reason because modern scientists are ignorant\nof them that it should not possess all the properties with which the\nancient philosophers endowed it. Science rejects many a thing to-day\nwhich she may find herself forced to accept to-morrow. A little less\nthan a century ago the Academy denied Franklin\u2019s electricity, and, at\nthe present day, we can hardly find a house without a conductor on its\nroof. Shooting at the barn-door, the Academy missed the barn itself.\nModern scientists, by their wilful skepticism and learned ignorance, do\nthis very frequently.\n\nEmepht, the supreme, first principle, produced an egg; by brooding\nover which, and permeating the substance of it with its own vivifying\nessence, the germ contained within was developed; and _Phtha_, the\nactive creative principle proceeded from it, and began his work.\nFrom the boundless expanse of cosmic matter, which had formed itself\nunder his breath, or _will_, this cosmic matter\u2014astral light, \u00e6ther,\nfire-mist, principle of life\u2014it matters not how we may call it, this\ncreative principle, or, as our modern philosophy terms it, law of\nevolution, by setting in motion the potencies latent in it, formed\nsuns and stars, and satellites; controlled their emplacement by the\nimmutable law of harmony, and peopled them \u201cwith every form and\nquality of life.\u201d In the ancient Eastern mythologies, the cosmogonic\nmyth states that there was but water (the father) and the prolific\nslime (the mother, _Ilus_ or _Hyl\u00e8_), from which crept forth the\nmundane snake-_matter_. It was the god _Phanes_, the revealed one,\nthe Word, or _logos_. How willingly this myth was accepted, even by\nthe Christians who compiled the New Testament, may be easily inferred\nfrom the following fact: Phanes, the revealed god, is represented in\nthis snake-symbol as a _protogonos_, a being furnished with the heads\nof a _man_, a hawk or an eagle, a bull\u2014_taurus_, and a lion, with\nwings on both sides. The heads relate to the zodiac, and typify the\nfour seasons of the year, for the _mundane_ serpent is the _mundane_ {147}\nyear, while the serpent itself is the symbol of Kneph, the hidden,\nor _unrevealed_ deity\u2014God the Father. Time is winged, therefore the\nserpent is represented with wings. If we remember that each of the four\nevangelists is represented as having near him one of the described\nanimals\u2014grouped together in Solomon\u2019s triangle in the pentacle of\nEzekiel, and to be found in the four cherubs or sphinxes of the sacred\narch\u2014we will perhaps understand the secret meaning, as well as the\nreason why the early Christians adopted this symbol; and how it is\nthat the present Roman Catholics and the Greeks of the Oriental Church\nstill represent these animals in the pictures of their evangelists\nwhich sometimes accompany the four _Gospels_. We will also understand\nwhy Iren\u00e6us, Bishop of Lyons, had so insisted upon the necessity of\nthe _fourth_ gospel; giving as a reason that there could not be less\nthan four of them, as there were _four_ zones in the world, and four\nprincipal winds coming from the four cardinal points, etc.[263]\n\nAccording to one of the Egyptian myths, the phantom-form of the isle of\nChemmis (_Chemi_, ancient Egypt), which floats on the ethereal waves\nof the empyrean sphere, was called into being by Horus-Apollo, the\nsun-god, who caused it to evolve out of the mundane egg.\n\nIn the cosmogonical poem of _V\u00f6luspa_ (the song of the prophetess),\nwhich contains the Scandinavian legends of the very dawn of ages,\nthe phantom-germ of the universe is represented as lying in the\n_Ginnunga-gap_\u2014or the cup of illusion, a boundless and void abyss.\nIn this world\u2019s matrix, formerly a region of night and desolation,\n_Nebelheim_ (the Mist-place) dropped a ray of cold light (\u00e6ther),\nwhich overflowed this cup and froze in it. Then the Invisible blew a\nscorching wind which dissolved the frozen waters and cleared the mist.\nThese waters, called the streams of _Eliv\u00e2gar_, distilled in vivifying\ndrops which, falling down, created the earth and the giant _Ymir_, who\nonly had \u201cthe semblance of man\u201d (male principle). With him was created\nthe cow, _Audhumla_[264] (female principle), from whose udder flowed\n_four_ streams of milk,[265] which diffused themselves throughout space\n(the astral light in its purest emanation). The cow Audhumla produces a\n_superior_ being, called _Bur_, handsome and powerful, by licking the\nstones that were covered with _mineral salt_.\n\nNow, if we take into consideration that this mineral was universally {148}\nregarded by ancient philosophers as one of the chief formative\nprinciples in organic creation; by the alchemists as the universal\nmenstruum, which, they said, was to be wrought from water; and by every\none else, even as it is regarded now by science as well as in the\npopular ideas, to be an indispensable ingredient for man and beast;\nwe may readily comprehend the hidden wisdom of this allegory of the\ncreation of man. Paracelsus calls salt \u201cthe centre of water, wherein\nmetals ought to die,\u201d etc., and Van Helmont terms the _Alkahest_,\n\u201c_summum et felicissimum omnium salium_,\u201d the most successful of all\nsalts.\n\nIn the _Gospel according to Matthew_, Jesus says: \u201cYe are the _salt of\nthe earth_: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it\nbe salted?\u201d and following the parable he adds: \u201cYe are _the light_ of\nthe world\u201d (v. 14). This is more than an allegory; these words point\nto a direct and unequivocal meaning in relation to the spiritual and\nphysical organisms of man in his dual nature, and show, moreover, a\nknowledge of the \u201csecret doctrine,\u201d the direct traces of which we find\nequally in the oldest ancient and current popular traditions, in both\nthe Old and New Testaments, and in the writings of the ancient and\nmedi\u00e6val mystics and philosophers.\n\nBut to return to our _Edda_-legend. Ymir, the giant, falls asleep, and\nsweats profusely. This perspiration causes the pit of his left arm to\ngenerate out of that place a man and a woman, while his foot produces\na son for them. Thus, while the mythic \u201ccow\u201d gives being to a race\nof superior spiritual men, the giant Ymir begets a race of evil and\ndepraved men, the Hrimthursen, or frost-giants. Comparing notes with\nthe Hindu _Vedas_, we find it then, with slight modifications, the\nsame cosmogonic legend in substance and details. Brahma, as soon as\nBhagaveda, the Supreme God, endows him with creative powers, produces\nanimated beings, wholly spiritual at first. The Dejotas, inhabitants\nof the Surg\u2019s (the celestial) region, are unfit to live on earth,\ntherefore Brahma creates the Daints (giants, who become the dwellers of\nthe Patals, the lower regions of space), who are also unfit to inhabit\nMirtlok (the earth). To palliate the evil, the creative power evolves\n_from his mouth_ the first Brahman, who thus becomes the progenitor\nof our race; from his right arm Brahma creates Raettris, the warrior,\nand from his left Shaterany, the wife of Raettris. Then their son\nBais springs from the right foot of the creator, and his wife Basany\nfrom the left. While in the Scandinavian legend Bur (the son of the\ncow Audhumla), a _superior_ being, marries Besla, a daughter of the\ndepraved race of giants, in the Hindu tradition the first Brahman\nmarries Daintary, also a daughter of the race of the giants; and in\n_Genesis_ we see the sons of God taking for wives the daughters of men, {149}\nand likewise producing mighty men of old; the whole establishing an\nunquestionable identity of origin between the Christian inspired Book,\nand the heathen \u201cfables\u201d of Scandinavia and Hindustan. The traditions\nof nearly every other nation, if examined, will yield a like result.\n\nWhat modern cosmogonist could compress within so simple a symbol as the\nEgyptian serpent in a circle such a world of meaning? Here we have, in\nthis creature, the whole philosophy of the universe: matter vivified by\nspirit, and the two conjointly evolving out of chaos (Force) everything\nthat was to be. To signify that the elements are fast bound in this\ncosmic matter, which the serpent symbolizes, the Egyptians tied its\ntail _into a knot_.\n\nThere is one more important emblem connected with the sloughing of\nthe serpent\u2019s skin, which, so far as we are aware, has never been\nheretofore noticed by our symbolists. As the reptile upon casting\nhis coat becomes freed from a casing of gross matter, which cramped\na body grown too large for it, and resumes its existence with\nrenewed activity, so _man, by casting off the gross material body,\nenters upon the next stage of his existence with enlarged powers and\nquickened vitality_. Inversely, the Chaldean Kabalists tell us that\nprimeval man, who, contrary to the Darwinian theory was purer, wiser,\nand far more spiritual, as shown by the myths of the Scandinavian\nBur, the Hindu Dejotas, and the Mosaic \u201csons of God,\u201cin short, of a\nfar higher nature than the man of the present Adamic race, became\n_despiritualized_ or tainted with matter, and then, for the first\ntime, was given the _fleshly body_, which is typified in _Genesis_ in\nthat profoundly-significant verse: \u201cUnto Adam also and to his wife did\nthe Lord God _make coats of skin_, and clothed them.\u201d[266] Unless the\ncommentators would make of the First Cause a _celestial tailor_, what\nelse can the apparently absurd words mean, but that the spiritual man\nhad reached, through the progress of involution, to that point where\nmatter, predominating over and conquering spirit, had transformed him\ninto the physical man, or the second Adam, of the second chapter of\n_Genesis_?\n\nThis kabalistical doctrine is much more elaborated in the _Book of\nJasher_.[267] In chapter vii., these garments of skin are taken by Noah\ninto the ark, he having obtained them by inheritance from Methuselah\nand Enoch, who had them from Adam and his wife. Ham steals them from {150}\nhis father Noah; gives them \u201cin secret\u201d to Cush, who conceals them from\nhis sons and brothers, and passes them to Nimrod.\n\nWhile some Kabalists, and even arch\u00e6ologists say that \u201cAdam, Enoch,\nand Noah might, in outward appearance, be different men, but they were\nreally the self-same divine person.\u201d[268] Others explain that between\nAdam and Noah there intervened several cycles. That is to say, that\nevery one of the antediluvian patriarchs stood as the representative of\na race which had its place in a succession of cycles; and each of which\nraces was less spiritual than its predecessor. Thus Noah, though a good\nman, could not have borne comparison with his ancestor, Enoch, who\n\u201cwalked with God and did not die.\u201d Hence the allegorical interpretation\nwhich makes Noah have this coat of skin by inheritance from the second\nAdam and Enoch, but not wear it himself, for if otherwise, Ham could\nnot have stolen it. But Noah and his children bridged the flood; and\nwhile the former belonged to the old and still spiritual antediluvian\ngeneration, insomuch as he was selected from all mankind for his\npurity, his children were _post_-diluvian. The coat of skin worn by\nCush \u201cin secret,\u201c_i. e._, when his spiritual nature began to be tainted\nby the material\u2014is placed on Nimrod, the most powerful and strongest\nof physical men on this side of the flood\u2014the last remnant of the\nantediluvian giants.[269]\n\nIn the Scandinavian legend, Ymir, the giant, is slain by the sons of\nBur, and the streams of blood flowing from his wounds were so copious\nthat the flood drowned the whole race of ice and frost giants, and\nBergelmir alone of that race was saved, with his wife, by taking refuge\nin a bark; which fact permitted him to transmit a new branch of giants\nfrom the old stock. But all the sons of Bur remained untouched by the\nflood.[270]\n\nWhen the symbolism of this diluvian legend is unravelled, one perceives\nat once the real meaning of the allegory. The giant Ymir typifies\nthe primitive rude organic _matter_, the blind cosmical forces, in\ntheir chaotic state, before they received the intelligent impulse of\nthe Divine Spirit which set them into a regular motion dependent on\nimmovable laws. The progeny of Bur are the \u201csons of God,\u201d or the minor\ngods mentioned by Plato in the _Tim\u00e6us_, and who were intrusted, as\nhe expresses it, with the creation of men; for we see them taking the\nmangled remains of Ymir to the Ginnunga-gap, the chaotic abyss, and\nemploying them for the creation of our world. His blood goes to form\noceans and rivers; his bones, the mountains; his teeth, the rocks and {151}\ncliffs; his hair, the trees, etc.; while his skull forms the heavenly\nvault, supported by four pillars representing the four cardinal points.\nFrom the eyebrows of Ymir was created the future abode of man\u2014Midgard.\nThis abode (the earth), says the _Edda_, in order to be correctly\ndescribed in all its minute particulars, must be conceived as _round\nas a ring_, or as a disk, floating in the midst of the Celestial\nOcean (Ether). It is encircled by Y\u00f6rmungand, the gigantic Midgard\nor Earth Serpent, holding its tail in its mouth. This is the mundane\nsnake, matter and spirit, combined product and emanation of Ymir, the\ngross rudimental matter, and of the spirit of the \u201csons of God,\u201d who\nfashioned and created all forms. This emanation is the astral light of\nthe Kabalists, and the as yet problematical, and hardly known, \u00e6ther,\nor the \u201chypothetical agent of great elasticity\u201d of our physicists.\n\nHow sure the ancients were of this doctrine of man\u2019s trinitarian nature\nmay be inferred from the same Scandinavian legend of the creation\nof mankind. According to the _V\u00f6luspa_, Odin, H\u00f6nir, and Lodur, who\nare the progenitors of our race, found in one of their walks on the\nocean-beach, two sticks floating on the waves, \u201cpowerless and without\ndestiny.\u201d Odin breathed in them the breath of life; H\u00f6nir endowed\nthem with soul and motion; and Lodur with beauty, speech, sight,\nand hearing. The man they called _Askr_\u2014the ash,[271] and the woman\n_Embla_\u2014the alder. These first men are placed in Midgard (mid-garden,\nor Eden) and thus inherit, from their creators, matter or inorganic\nlife; mind, or soul; and pure spirit; the first corresponding to that\npart of their organism which sprung from the remains of Ymir, the\ngiant-matter, the second from the _\u00c6sir_, or gods, the descendants\nof Bur, and the third from the _Vanr_, or the representative of pure\nspirit.\n\nAnother version of the _Edda_ makes our visible universe spring from\nbeneath the luxuriant branches of the mundane tree\u2014the Yggdrasill, the\ntree with the _three_ roots. Under the first root runs the fountain\nof life, Urdar; under the second is the famous well of Mimer, in\nwhich lie deeply buried Wit and Wisdom. Odin, the Alfadir, asks for\na draught of this water; he gets it, but finds himself obliged to\npledge one of his eyes for it; the eye being in this case the symbol\nof the Deity revealing itself in the wisdom of its own creation; for\nOdin leaves it at the bottom of the deep well. The care of the mundane\ntree is intrusted to three maidens (the Norns or Parc\u00e6), Urdhr,\nVerdandi, and Skuld\u2014or the Present, the Past, and the Future. Every {152}\nmorning, while fixing the term of human life, they draw water from the\nUrdar-fountain, and sprinkle with it the roots of the mundane tree,\nthat it may live. The exhalations of the ash, Yggdrasill, condense,\nand falling down upon our earth call into existence and change of\nform every portion of the inanimate matter. This tree is the symbol\nof the _universal_ Life, organic as well as inorganic; its emanations\nrepresent the spirit which vivifies every form of creation; and of\nits three roots, one extends to heaven, the second to the dwelling of\nthe magicians\u2014giants, inhabitants of the _lofty mountains_\u2014and at the\nthird, under which is the spring Hvergelmir, gnaws the monster Nidh\u00f6gg,\nwho constantly leads mankind into evil. The Thibetans have also their\nmundane tree, and the legend is of an untold antiquity. With them\nit is called _Zampun_. The first of its three roots also extends to\nheaven, to the top of the highest mountains; the second passes down to\nthe lower region; the third remains midway, and reaches the east. The\nmundane tree of the Hindus is the _Aswatha_.[272] Its branches are the\ncomponents of the visible world; and its leaves the _Mantras_ of the\nVedas, symbols of the universe in its intellectual or moral character.\n\nWho can study carefully the ancient religious and cosmogonic myths\nwithout perceiving that this striking similitude of conceptions, in\ntheir exoteric form and esoteric spirit, is the result of no mere\ncoincidence, but manifests a concurrent design? It shows that already\nin those ages which are shut out from our sight by the impenetrable\nmist of tradition, human religious thought developed in uniform\nsympathy in every portion of the globe. Christians call this adoration\nof nature in her most concealed verities\u2014Pantheism. But if the latter,\nwhich worships and reveals to us God in space in His only possible\nobjective form\u2014that of visible nature\u2014perpetually reminds humanity of\nHim who created it, and a religion of theological dogmatism only serves\nto conceal Him the more from our sight, which is the better adapted to\nthe needs of mankind?\n\nModern science insists upon the doctrine of evolution; so do human\nreason and the \u201csecret doctrine,\u201d and the idea is corroborated by\nthe ancient legends and myths, and even by the Bible itself when it\nis read between the lines. We see a flower slowly developing from\na bud, and the bud from its seed. But whence the latter, with all\nits predetermined programme of physical transformation, and its\ninvisible, therefore _spiritual_ forces which gradually develop its\nform, color, and odor? The word _evolution_ speaks for itself. The\ngerm of the present human race must have pre\u00ebxisted in the parent {153}\nof this race, as the seed, in which lies hidden the flower of next\nsummer, was developed in the capsule of its parent-flower; the parent\nmay be but _slightly_ different, but it still differs from its future\nprogeny. The antediluvian ancestors of the present elephant and lizard\nwere, perhaps, the mammoth and the plesiosaurus; why should not the\nprogenitors of our human race have been the \u201cgiants\u201d of the _Vedas_,\nthe _V\u00f6luspa_, and the Book of _Genesis_? While it is positively\nabsurd to believe the \u201ctransformation of species\u201d to have taken place\naccording to some of the more materialistic views of the evolutionists,\nit is but natural to think that each genus, beginning with the mollusks\nand ending with monkey-man, has modified from its own primordial\nand distinctive form. Supposing that we concede that \u201canimals have\ndescended from at most only four or five progenitors;\u201d[273] and that\neven _\u00e0 la rigueur_ \u201call the organic beings which have ever lived\non _this earth_ have descended from some one primordial form;\u201d[274]\nstill no one but a stone-blind materialist, one utterly devoid of\nintuitiveness, can seriously expect to see \u201cin the distant future ...\npsychology based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement\nof each mental power and capacity by gradation.\u201d[275]\n\nPhysical man, as a product of evolution, may be left in the hands\nof the man of exact science. None but he can throw light upon the\n_physical_ origin of the race. But, we must positively deny the\nmaterialist the same privilege as to the question of man\u2019s psychical\nand spiritual evolution, for he and his highest faculties _cannot_ be\nproved on any conclusive evidence to be \u201cas much products of evolution\nas the humblest plant or the lowest worm.\u201d[276]\n\nHaving said so much, we will now proceed to show the\nevolution-hypothesis of the old Brahmans, as embodied by them in the\nallegory of the mundane tree. The Hindus represent their mythical\ntree, which they call _Aswatha_, in a way which differs from that of\nthe Scandinavians. It is described by them as growing in a reversed\nposition, the branches extending downward and the roots upward; the\nformer typifying the external world of sense, _i.e._, the visible\ncosmical universe, and the latter the invisible world of spirit,\nbecause the roots have their _genesis_ in the heavenly regions where,\nfrom the world\u2019s creation, humanity has placed its invisible deity.\nThe creative energy having originated in the primordial point, the\nreligious symbols of every people are so many illustrations of this\nmetaphysical hypothesis expounded by Pythagoras, Plato, and other {154}\nphilosophers. \u201cThese Chaldeans,\u201d says Philo,[277] \u201cwere of opinion that\nthe Kosmos, among the things that exist, is a single point, either\nbeing itself God (Theos) or that in it is God, comprehending the soul\nof all the things.\u201d\n\nThe Egyptian Pyramid also symbolically represents this idea of the\nmundane tree. Its apex is the mystic link between heaven and earth, and\nstands for the root, while the base represents the spreading branches,\nextending to the four cardinal points of the universe of matter. It\nconveys the idea that all things had their origin in spirit\u2014evolution\nhaving originally begun from above and proceeded downward, instead\nof the reverse, as taught in the Darwinian theory. In other words,\nthere has been a gradual materialization of forms until a fixed\nultimate of debasement is reached. This point is that at which the\ndoctrine of modern evolution enters into the arena of speculative\nhypothesis. Arrived at this period we will find it easier to understand\nHaeckel\u2019s _Anthropogeny_, which traces the pedigree of man \u201cfrom its\nprotoplasmic root, sodden in the mud of seas which existed before\nthe oldest of the fossiliferous rocks were deposited,\u201d according to\nProfessor Huxley\u2019s exposition. We may believe man evolved \u201cby gradual\nmodification of a mammal of ape-like organization\u201d still easier when we\nremember that (though in a more condensed and less elegant, but still\nas comprehensible, phraseology) the same theory was said by Berosus\nto have been taught many thousands of years before his time by the\nman-fish Oannes or Dagon, the semi-demon of Babylonia.[278] We may add,\nas a fact of interest, that this ancient theory of evolution is not\nonly embalmed in allegory and legend, but also depicted upon the walls\nof certain temples in India, and, in a fragmentary form, has been found\nin those of Egypt and on the slabs of Nimroud and Nineveh, excavated by\nLayard.\n\nBut what lies back of the Darwinian line of descent? So far as he is\nconcerned nothing but \u201cunverifiable hypotheses.\u201d For, as he puts it,\nhe views all beings \u201cas the lineal descendants of some few beings\nwhich lived long before the first bed of the Silurian system was\ndeposited.\u201d[279] He does not attempt to show us who these \u201cfew beings\u201d\nwere. But it answers our purpose quite as well, for in the admission of\ntheir existence at all, resort to the ancients for corroboration and\nelaboration of the idea receives the stamp of scientific approbation.\nWith all the changes that our globe has passed through as regards\ntemperature, climate, soil, and\u2014if we may be pardoned, in view of\nrecent developments\u2014its electro-magnetic condition, he would be bold {155}\nindeed who dare say that anything in present science contradicts the\nancient hypothesis of ante-Silurian man. The flint-axes first found by\nBoucher de Perthes, in the valley of the S\u00f4mme, prove that men must\nhave existed at a period so remote as to be beyond calculation. If we\nbelieve B\u00fcchner, man must have lived even during and before the glacial\nepoch, a subdivision of the quaternary or diluvial period probably\nextending very far back in it. But who can tell what the next discovery\nhas in store for us?\n\nNow, if we have indisputable proof that man has existed so long as\nthis, there must have been wonderful modifications of his physical\nsystem, corresponding with the changes of climate and atmosphere. Does\nnot this seem to show by analogy that, tracing backward, there may have\nbeen other modifications, which fitted the most remote progenitors of\nthe \u201cfrost-giants\u201d to live even contemporaneously with the Devonian\nfishes or the Silurian mollusks? True, they left no flint-hatchets\nbehind them, nor any bones or cave-deposits; but, if the ancients are\ncorrect, the races at that time were composed not only of giants,\nor \u201cmighty men of renown,\u201d but also of \u201csons of God.\u201d If those who\nbelieve in the evolution of _spirit_ as firmly as the materialists\nbelieve in that of _matter_ are charged with teaching \u201cunverifiable\nhypotheses,\u201d how readily can they retort upon their accusers by saying\nthat, by _their_ own confession, their physical evolution is still\n\u201can unverified, if not actually an unverifiable hypothesis.\u201d[280] The\nformer have at least the inferential proof of legendary myth, the vast\nantiquity of which is admitted by both philologists and arch\u00e6ologists;\nwhile their antagonists have nothing of a similar nature, _unless they\nhelp themselves to a portion of the ancient picture-writings, and\nsuppress the rest_.\n\nIt is more than fortunate that, while the works of some men of\nscience\u2014who have justly won their great reputations\u2014will flatly\ncontradict our hypotheses, the researches and labors of others not\nless eminent seem to fully confirm our views. In the recent work of\nMr. Alfred R. Wallace, _The Geographical Distribution of Animals_, we\nfind the author seriously favoring the idea of \u201csome slow process of\ndevelopment\u201d of the present species from others which have preceded\nthem, his idea extending back over an innumerable series of cycles.\nAnd if animals, why not animal man, preceded still farther back by a\nthoroughly \u201cspiritual\u201d one\u2014a \u201cson of God\u201d?\n\nAnd now, we may once more return to the symbolology of the olden times,\nand their physico-religious myths. Before we close this work, we hope\nto demonstrate more or less successfully how closely the conceptions of\nthe latter were allied with many of the achievements of modern science {156}\nin physics and natural philosophy. Under the emblematical devices and\npeculiar phraseology of the priesthood of old lie latent hints of\nsciences as yet undiscovered during the present cycle. Well acquainted\nas may be a scholar with the hieratic writing and hieroglyphical\nsystem of the Egyptians, he must first of all learn to sift their\nrecords. He has to assure himself, compasses and rule in hand, that\nthe picture-writing he is examining fits, to a line, certain fixed\ngeometrical figures which are the hidden keys to such records, before\nhe ventures on an interpretation.\n\nBut there are myths which speak for themselves. In this class we may\ninclude the double-sexed first creators, of every cosmogony. The Greek\nZeus-Z\u0113n (\u00e6ther), and Chthonia (the chaotic earth) and Metis (the\nwater), his wives; Osiris and Isis-Latona\u2014the former god representing\nalso ether\u2014the first emanation of the Supreme Deity, Amun, the primeval\nsource of light; the goddess earth and water again; Mithras,[281] the\nrock-born god, the symbol of the male mundane-fire, or the personified\nprimordial light, and Mithra, the fire-goddess, at once his mother and\nhis wife; the pure element of fire (the active, or male principle)\nregarded as light and heat, in conjunction with earth and water, or\nmatter (female or passive elements of cosmical generation). Mithras\nis the son of Bordj, the Persian mundane mountain,[282] from which he\nflashes out as a radiant ray of light. Brahma, the fire-god, and his\nprolific consort; and the Hindu _Unghi_, the refulgent deity, from\nwhose body issue a thousand streams of glory and _seven_ tongues of\nflame, and in whose honor the Sagniku Brahmans preserve to this day\na _perpetual_ fire; Siva, personated by the mundane mountain of the\nHindus\u2014the _Meru_ (Himalaya). This terrific fire-god, who is said in\nthe legend to have descended from heaven, like the Jewish Jehovah, _in\na pillar of fire_, and a dozen of other archaic, double-sexed deities,\nall loudly proclaim their hidden meaning. And what can these dual\nmyths mean but the physico-chemical principle of primordial creation?\nThe first revelation of the Supreme Cause in its triple manifestation\nof spirit, force, and matter; the divine _correlation_, at its\nstarting-point of evolution, allegorized as the marriage of _fire_\nand water, products of electrifying spirit, union of the male active\nprinciple with the female passive element, which become the parents of\ntheir tellurian child, cosmic matter, the _prima materia_, whose spirit\nis ether, the ASTRAL LIGHT!\n\nThus all the world-mountains and mundane eggs, the mundane trees, and\nthe mundane snakes and pillars, may be shown to embody scientifically {157}\ndemonstrated truths of natural philosophy. All of these mountains\ncontain, with very trifling variations, the allegorically-expressed\ndescription of primal cosmogony; the mundane trees, that of subsequent\nevolution of spirit and matter; the mundane snakes and pillars,\nsymbolical memorials of the various attributes of this double evolution\nin its endless correlation of cosmic forces. Within the mysterious\nrecesses of the mountain\u2014the matrix of the universe\u2014the gods (powers)\nprepare the atomic germs of organic life, and at the same time the\nlife-drink, which, when tasted, awakens in man-matter the man-_spirit_.\nThe soma, the sacrificial drink of the Hindus, is that sacred beverage.\nFor, at the creation of the _prima materia_, while the grossest\nportions of it were used for the physical embryo-world, the more\ndivine essence of it pervaded the universe, invisibly permeating and\nenclosing within its ethereal waves the newly-born infant, developing\nand stimulating it to activity as it slowly evolved out of the eternal\nchaos.\n\nFrom the poetry of abstract conception, these mundane myths gradually\npassed into the concrete images of cosmic symbols, as arch\u00e6ology now\nfinds them. The snake, which plays such a prominent part in the imagery\nof the ancients, was degraded by the absurd interpretation of the\nserpent of the Book of _Genesis_ into a synonym of Satan, the Prince\nof Darkness, whereas it is the most ingenious of all the myths in its\nvarious symbolisms. For one, as _agathodaimon_, it is the emblem of\nthe healing art and of the immortality of man. It encircles the images\nof most of the sanitary or hygienic gods. The _cup of health_, in the\nEgyptian Mysteries, was entwined by serpents. As evil can only arise\nfrom an extreme in good, the serpent, under some other aspects, became\ntypical of matter; which, the more it recedes from its primal spiritual\nsource, the more it becomes subject of evil. In the oldest Egyptian\nimagery, as in the cosmogonic allegories of Kneph, the mundane snake,\nwhen typifying matter, is usually represented as contained within a\ncircle; he lies straight across its equator, thus indicating that the\nuniverse of astral light, out of which the physical world evolved,\nwhile bounding the latter, is itself bound by Emepht, or the Supreme\nFirst Cause. _Phtha_ producing _Ra_, and the myriad forms to which he\ngives life, are shown as creeping out of the mundane egg, because it\nis the most familiar form of that in which is deposited and developed\nthe germ of every living being. When the serpent represents eternity\nand immortality, it encircles the world, biting its tail, and thus\noffering no solution of continuity. It then becomes the astral light.\nThe disciples of the school of Pherecydes taught that ether (Zeus or\nZ\u0113n) is the highest empyrean heaven, which encloses the supernal world,\nand its light (the astral) is the concentrated primordial element.\n\nSuch is the origin of the serpent, metamorphosed in Christian ages {158}\ninto Satan. It is the _Od_, the _Ob_, and the _Aour_ of Moses and the\nKabalists. When in its passive state, when it acts on those who are\nunwittingly drawn within its current, the astral light is the _Ob_, or\nPython. Moses was determined to exterminate all those who, sensitive\nto its influence, allowed themselves to fall under the easy control\nof the vicious beings which move in the astral waves like fish in the\nwater; beings who surround us, and whom Bulwer-Lytton calls in _Zanoni_\n\u201cthe dwellers of the threshold.\u201d It becomes the _Od_, as soon as it is\nvivified by the _conscious efflux_ of an immortal soul; for then the\nastral currents are acting under the guidance of either an adept, a\npure spirit, or an able mesmerizer, who is pure himself and knows how\nto direct the blind forces. In such cases even a high Planetary Spirit,\none of the class of beings that have never been embodied (though there\nare many among these hierarchies who have lived on our earth), descends\noccasionally to our sphere, and purifying the surrounding atmosphere\nenables the _subject_ to see, and opens in him the springs of true\ndivine prophecy. As to the term _Ao\u00fbr_, the word is used to designate\ncertain occult properties of the universal agent. It pertains more\ndirectly to the domain of the alchemist, and is of no interest to the\ngeneral public.\n\nThe author of the _Homoiomerian_ system of philosophy, Anaxagoras\nof Clazomen\u00e8, firmly believed that the spiritual prototypes of all\nthings, as well as their elements, were to be found in the boundless\nether, where they were generated, whence they evolved, and whither they\nreturned from earth. In common with the Hindus who had personified\ntheir Akas\u2019a (sky or ether) and made of it a deific entity, the Greeks\nand Latins had deified \u00c6ther. Virgil calls Zeus, _pater omnipotens\n\u00e6ther_;[283] _Magnus_, the great god, Ether.\n\nThese beings above alluded to are the elemental spirits of the\nKabalists,[284] whom the Christian clergy denounce as \u201cdevils,\u201d the\nenemies of mankind.\n\n\u201cAlready Tertullian,\u201d gravely remarks Des Mousseaux, in his chapter on {159}\nthe devils, \u201chas _formally_ discovered the secret of their cunning.\u201d\n\nA priceless discovery, that. And now that we have learned so much of\nthe mental labors of the holy fathers and their achievements in astral\nanthropology, need we be surprised at all, if, in the zeal of their\nspiritual explorations, they have so far neglected their own planet as\nat times to deny not only its right to motion but even its sphericity?\n\nAnd this is what we find in Langhorne, the translator of _Plutarch_:\n\u201cDionysius of Halicarnassus [L. ii.] is of opinion that Numa built\nthe temple of Vesta in a _round_ form, to represent the figure of the\nearth, for by Vesta they meant the earth.\u201d Moreover, Philola\u00fcs, in\ncommon with all other Pythagoreans, held that the element of fire was\nplaced in the centre of the universe; and Plutarch, speaking on the\nsubject, remarks of the Pythagoreans that \u201cthe earth they suppose not\nto be without motion, _nor_ situated in the centre of the world, but to\nmake its revolution round the sphere of fire, being neither one of the\nmost valuable, nor principal parts of the great machine.\u201d Plato, too,\nis reported to have been of the same opinion. It appears, therefore,\nthat the Pythagoreans anticipated Galileo\u2019s _discovery_.\n\nThe existence of such an invisible universe being once admitted\u2014as\nseems likely to be the fact if the speculations of the authors of the\n_Unseen Universe_ are ever accepted by their colleagues\u2014many of the\nphenomena, hitherto mysterious and inexplicable, become plain. It acts\non the organism of the magnetized mediums, it penetrates and saturates\nthem through and through, either directed by the powerful will of a\nmesmerizer, or by unseen beings who achieve the same result. Once that\nthe silent operation is performed, the astral or sidereal phantom of\nthe mesmerized subject quits its paralyzed, earthly casket, and, after\nhaving roamed in the boundless space, alights at the threshold of the\nmysterious \u201cbourne.\u201d For it, the gates of the portal which marks the\nentrance to the \u201csilent land,\u201d are now but partially ajar; they will\nfly wide open before the soul of the entranced somnambulist only on\nthat day when, united with its higher immortal essence, it will have\nquitted forever its mortal frame. Until then, the seer or seeress\ncan look but through a chink; it depends on the acuteness of the\nclairvoyant\u2019s spiritual sight to see more or less through it.\n\nThe trinity in unity is an idea which all the ancient nations held in {160}\ncommon. The three Dejotas\u2014the Hindu Trimurti; the _Three Heads_ of the\nJewish Kabala.[285] \u201cThree heads are hewn in one another and over one\nanother.\u201d The trinity of the Egyptians and that of the mythological\nGreeks were alike representations of the first triple emanation\ncontaining two male and one female principles. It is the union of\nthe male _Logos_, or wisdom, the revealed Deity, with the female\n_Aura_ or _Anima Mundi_\u2014\u201cthe holy _Pneuma_,\u201d which is the _Sephira_\nof the Kabalists and the _Sophia_ of the refined Gnostics\u2014that\nproduced all things visible and invisible. While the true metaphysical\ninterpretation of this universal dogma remained within the sanctuaries,\nthe Greeks, with their poetical instincts, impersonated it in many\ncharming myths. In the _Dionysiacs_ of Nonnus, the god Bacchus, among\nother allegories, is represented as in love with the soft, genial\nbreeze (the Holy Pneuma), under the name of _Aura Placida_.[286] And\nnow we will leave Godfrey Higgins to speak: \u201cWhen the _ignorant_\nFathers were constructing their calendar, they made out of this gentle\nzephyr two Roman Catholic saints!!\u201d SS. Aura and Placida;\u2014nay, they\neven went so far as to transfer the jolly god into St. Bacchus, and\nactually _show his coffin and relics at Rome_. The festival of the two\n\u201cblessed saints,\u201d Aura and Placida, occurs on the 5th of October, close\nto the festival of St. Bacchus.[287]\n\nHow far more poetical, and how much greater the religious spirit to\nbe found in the \u201cheathen\u201d Norse legends of creation! In the boundless\nabyss of the mundane pit, the Ginnunga-gap, where rage in blind fury\nand conflict cosmic matter and the primordial forces, suddenly blows\nthe thaw-wind. It is the \u201cunrevealed God,\u201d who sends his beneficent\nbreath from Muspellheim, the sphere of empyreal fire, within whose\nglowing rays dwells this great Being, far beyond the limits of the\nworld of matter; and the _animus_ of the Unseen, the Spirit brooding\nover the dark, abysmal waters, calls order out of chaos, and once\nhaving given the impulse to all creation the FIRST CAUSE retires, and\nremains for evermore in _statu abscondito_![288]\n\nThere is both religion and science in these Scandinavian songs of\nheathendom. As an example of the latter, take the conception of Thor,\nthe son of Odin. Whenever this Hercules of the North would grasp the\nhandle of his terrible weapon, the thunderbolt or electric hammer,\nhe is obliged to put on his _iron_ gantlets. He also wears a magical {161}\nbelt known as the \u201c_girdle of strength_,\u201d which, whenever girded about\nhis person, greatly augments his celestial power. He rides upon a car\ndrawn by two rams with silver bridles, and his awful brow is encircled\nby a wreath of stars. His chariot has a pointed iron pole, and the\nspark-scattering wheels continually roll over rumbling thunder-clouds.\nHe hurls his hammer with resistless force against the rebellious\nfrost-giants, whom he dissolves and annihilates. When he repairs to the\nUrdar fountain, where the gods meet in conclave to decide the destinies\nof humanity, he alone goes on foot, the rest of the deities being\nmounted. He walks, for fear that in crossing Bifrost (the rainbow), the\nmany-hued \u00c6sir-bridge, he might set it on fire with his thunder-car, at\nthe same time causing the Urdar waters to boil.\n\nRendered into plain English, how can this myth be interpreted but as\nshowing that the Norse legend-makers were thoroughly acquainted with\nelectricity? Thor, the euhemerization of electricity, handles his\npeculiar element only when protected by gloves of _iron_, which is its\nnatural conductor. His belt of strength is a closed circuit, around\nwhich the isolated current is compelled to run instead of diffusing\nitself through space. When he rushes with his car through the clouds,\nhe is electricity in its _active_ condition, as the sparks scattering\nfrom his wheels and the rumbling thunder of the clouds testify. The\npointed iron pole of the chariot is suggestive of the lightning-rod;\nthe two rams which serve as his coursers are the familiar ancient\nsymbols of the male or generative power; their silver bridles typify\nthe female principle, for silver is the metal of Luna, Astart\u00e8, Diana.\nTherefore in the ram and his bridle we see combined the active and\npassive principles of nature in opposition, one rushing forward,\nand the other restraining, while both are in subordination to the\nworld-permeating, electrical principle, which gives them their impulse.\nWith the electricity supplying the impulse, and the male and female\nprinciples combining and recombining in endless correlation, the\nresult is\u2014evolution of visible nature, the crown-glory of which is\nthe planetary system, which in the mythic Thor is allegorized by the\ncirclet of glittering orbs which bedeck his brow. When in his active\ncondition, his awful thunderbolts destroy everything, even the lesser\nother Titanic forces. But he goes afoot over the rainbow bridge,\nBifrost, because to mingle with other less powerful gods than himself,\nhe is obliged to be in a _latent_ state, which he could not be in his\ncar; otherwise he would set on fire and annihilate all. The meaning of\nthe Urdar-fountain, that Thor is afraid to make boil, and the cause\nof his reluctance, will only be comprehended by our physicists when\nthe reciprocal electro-magnetic relations of the innumerable members\nof the planetary system, now just suspected, shall be thoroughly\ndetermined. Glimpses of the truth are given in the recent scientific {162}\nessays of Professors Mayer and Sterry Hunt. The ancient philosophers\nbelieved that not only volcanos, but boiling springs were caused by\nconcentrations of underground electric currents, and that this same\ncause produced mineral deposits of various natures, which form curative\nsprings. If it be objected that this fact is not distinctly stated by\nthe ancient authors, who, in the opinion of our century were hardly\nacquainted with electricity, we may simply answer that not all the\nworks embodying ancient wisdom are now extant among our scientists. The\nclear and cool waters of Urdar were required for the daily irrigation\nof the mystical mundane tree; and if they had been disturbed by Thor,\nor active electricity, they would have been converted into mineral\nsprings unsuited for the purpose. Such examples as the above will\nsupport the ancient claim of the philosophers that _there is a logos in\nevery mythos_, or a groundwork of truth in every fiction.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI. {163}\n\n \u201cHermes, who is of my ordinances ever the bearer ...\n Then taking his staff, with which he the eyelids of mortals\n Closes at will, and the sleeper, at will, reawakens.\u201d\u2014_Odyssey_,\n Book V.\n\n \u201cI saw the Samothracian rings\n Leap, and steel-filings boil in a brass dish\n So soon as underneath it there was placed\n The magnet-stone; and with wild terror seemed\n The iron to flee from it in stern hate....\u201d\u2014_Lucretius_, Book VI.\n\n \u201cBut that which especially distinguishes the Brotherhood is\n their marvellous knowledge of the resources of the medical art.\n They work not by charms but by simples.\u201d\n (_MS. Account of the Origin and Attributes of the True\n Rosicrucians._)\n\n\nOne of the truest things ever said by a man of science is the remark\nmade by Professor Cooke in his _New Chemistry_. \u201cThe history of Science\nshows that the age must be prepared before scientific truths can take\nroot and grow. The barren premonitions of science have been barren\nbecause these seeds of truth fell upon unfruitful soil; and, as soon as\nthe fulness of the time has come, the seed has taken root and the fruit\nhas ripened ... every student is surprised to find how very little is\nthe share of new truth which even the greatest genius has added to the\nprevious stock.\u201d\n\nThe revolution through which chemistry has recently passed, is well\ncalculated to concentrate the attention of chemists upon this fact;\nand it would not be strange, if, in less time than it has required\nto effect it, the claims of the alchemists would be examined with\nimpartiality, and studied from a rational point of view. To bridge over\nthe narrow gulf which now separates the _new_ chemistry from _old_\nalchemy, is little, if any harder than what they have done in going\nfrom dualism to the law of Avogadro.\n\nAs Amp\u00e8re served to introduce Avogadro to our contemporary chemists, so\nReichenbach will perhaps one day be found to have paved the way with\nhis OD for the just appreciation of Paracelsus. It was more than fifty\nyears before molecules were accepted as units of chemical calculations;\nit may require less than half that time to cause the superlative merits\nof the Swiss mystic to be acknowledged. The warning paragraph about\nhealing mediums,[289] which will be found elsewhere, might have been {164}\nwritten by one who had read his works. \u201cYou must understand,\u201d he says,\n\u201cthat the magnet is that spirit of life in man which the infected\nseeks, as both unite themselves with chaos from without. And thus the\nhealthy are infected by the unhealthy through magnetic attraction.\u201d\n\nThe primal causes of the diseases afflicting mankind; the secret\nrelations between physiology and psychology, vainly tortured by men\nof modern science for some clew to base their speculations upon; the\nspecifics and remedies for every ailment of the human body\u2014all are\ndescribed and accounted for in his voluminous works. Electro-magnetism,\nthe so-called _discovery_ of Professor Oersted, had been used by\nParacelsus three centuries before. This may be demonstrated by\nexamining critically his mode of curing disease. Upon his achievements\nin chemistry there is no need to enlarge, for it is admitted by fair\nand unprejudiced writers that he was one of the greatest chemists of\nhis time.[290] Brierre de Boismont terms him a \u201cgenius\u201d and agrees with\nDeleuze that he created a new epoch in the history of medicine. The\nsecret of his successful and, as they were called, magic cures lies in\nhis sovereign contempt for the so-called learned \u201cauthorities\u201d of his\nage. \u201cSeeking for truth,\u201d says Paracelsus, \u201cI considered with myself\nthat if there were no teachers of medicine in this world, how would\nI set to learn the art? No otherwise than in the great open book of\nnature, written with the finger of God.... I am accused and denounced\nfor not having entered in at the right door of art. But which is the\nright one? Galen, Avicenna, Mesue, Rhasis, or honest nature? I believe,\nthe last! Through this door I entered, and the light of nature, and no\napothecary\u2019s lamp directed me on my way.\u201d\n\nThis utter scorn for established laws and scientific formulas, this\naspiration of mortal clay to commingle with the spirit of nature, and\nlook to it alone for health, and help, and the light of truth, was the\ncause of the inveterate hatred shown by the contemporary pigmies to\nthe fire-philosopher and alchemist. No wonder that he was accused of\ncharlatanry and even drunkenness. Of the latter charge, Hemmann boldly\nand fearlessly exonerates him, and proves that the foul accusation\nproceeded from \u201cOporinus, who lived with him some time in order to\nlearn his secrets, but his object was defeated; hence, the evil reports\nof his disciples and apothecaries.\u201d He was the founder of the School\nof Animal Magnetism and the discoverer of the occult properties of the\nmagnet. He was branded by his age as a sorcerer, because the cures\nhe made were marvellous. Three centuries later, Baron Du Potet was\nalso accused of sorcery and demonolatry by the Church of Rome, and of {165}\ncharlatanry by the academicians of Europe. As the fire-philosophers\nsay, it is not the chemist who will condescend to look upon the \u201cliving\nfire\u201d otherwise than his colleagues do. \u201cThou hast forgotten what thy\nfathers taught thee about it\u2014or rather, thou hast never known ... it is\n_too loud_ for thee!\u201d[291]\n\nA work upon magico-spiritual philosophy and occult science would\nbe incomplete without a particular notice of the history of animal\nmagnetism, as it stands since Paracelsus staggered with it the\nschoolmen of the latter half of the sixteenth century.\n\nWe will observe briefly its appearance in Paris when imported from\nGermany by Anton Mesmer. Let us peruse with care and caution the old\npapers now mouldering in the Academy of Sciences of that capital,\nfor there we will find that, after having rejected in its turn every\ndiscovery that was ever made since Galileo, the _Immortals_ capped\nthe climax by turning their backs upon magnetism and mesmerism. They\nvoluntarily shut the doors before themselves, the doors which led to\nthose greatest mysteries of nature, which lie hid in the dark regions\nof the psychical as well as the physical world. The great universal\nsolvent, the Alkahest, was within their reach\u2014they passed it by; and\nnow, after nearly a hundred years have elapsed, we read the following\nconfession:\n\n\u201cStill it is true that, beyond the limits of direct observation, our\nscience (chemistry) is not infallible, and our theories and systems,\nalthough they _may_ all contain a kernel of truth, undergo frequent\nchanges, and are often revolutionized.\u201d[292]\n\nTo assert so dogmatically that mesmerism and animal magnetism are\nbut hallucinations, implies that it can be proved. But where are\nthese proofs, which alone ought to have authority in science?\nThousands of times the chance was given to the academicians to assure\nthemselves of its truth; but, they have invariably declined. Vainly\ndo mesmerists and healers invoke the testimony of the deaf, the lame,\nthe diseased, the dying, who were cured or restored to life by simple\nmanipulations and the apostolic \u201claying on of hands.\u201d \u201cCoincidence\u201d\nis the usual reply, when the fact is too evident to be absolutely\ndenied; \u201cwill-o\u2019-the-wisp,\u201d \u201cexaggeration,\u201d \u201cquackery,\u201d are favorite\nexpressions, with our but too numerous Thomases. Newton, the well-known\nAmerican healer, has performed more instantaneous cures than many a\nfamous physician of New York City has had patients in all his life;\nJacob, the Zouave, has had a like success in France. Must we then\nconsider the accumulated testimony of the last forty years upon this\nsubject to be all illusion, confederacy with clever charlatans, and {166}\nlunacy? Even to breathe such a stupendous fallacy would be equivalent\nto a self-accusation of lunacy.\n\nNotwithstanding the recent sentence of Leymarie, the scoffs of the\nskeptics and of a vast majority of physicians and scientists, the\nunpopularity of the subject, and, above all, the indefatigable\npersecutions of the Roman Catholic clergy, fighting in mesmerism\nwoman\u2019s traditional enemy, so evident and unconquerable is the truth\nof its phenomena that even the French magistrature was forced tacitly,\nthough very reluctantly, to admit the same. The famous _clairvoyante_,\nMadame Roger, was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses,\nin company with her mesmerist, Dr. Fortin. On May 18th, 1876, she\nwas arraigned before the _Tribunal Correctionnel_ of the Seine.\nHer witness was Baron Du Potet, the grand master of mesmerism in\nFrance for the last fifty years; her advocate, the no less famous\nJules Favre. Truth for once triumphed\u2014the accusation was abandoned.\nWas it the extraordinary eloquence of the orator, or bare facts\nincontrovertible and unimpeachable that won the day? But Leymarie,\nthe editor of the _Revue Spirite_, had also facts in his favor; and,\nmoreover, the evidence of over a hundred respectable witnesses,\namong whom were the first names of Europe. To this there is but one\nanswer\u2014the magistrates dared not question the facts of mesmerism.\nSpirit-photography, spirit-rapping, writing, moving, talking, and even\nspirit-materializations can be simulated; there is hardly a physical\nphenomenon now in Europe and America but could be imitated\u2014with\napparatus\u2014by a clever juggler. The wonders of mesmerism and subjective\nphenomena alone defy tricksters, skepticism, stern science, and\ndishonest mediums; _the cataleptic state it is impossible to feign_.\nSpiritualists who are anxious to have their truths proclaimed and\nforced on science, cultivate the mesmeric phenomena. Place on the stage\nof Egyptian Hall a somnambulist plunged in a deep mesmeric sleep. Let\nher mesmerist send her freed spirit to all the places the public may\nsuggest; test her clairvoyance and clairaudience; stick pins into any\npart of her body which the mesmerist may have made his passes over;\nthrust needles through the skin below her eyelids; burn her flesh and\nlacerate it with a sharp instrument. \u201cDo not fear!\u201d exclaim Regazzoni\nand Du Potet, Teste and Pierrard, Puysegur and Dolgorouky\u2014\u201ca mesmerized\nor entranced subject _is never hurt_!\u201d And when all this is performed,\ninvite any popular wizard of the day who thirsts for puffery, and is,\nor pretends to be, clever at mimicking every spiritual phenomenon, to\nsubmit _his_ body to the same tests![293]\n\nThe speech of Jules Favre is reported to have lasted an hour and a {167}\nhalf, and to have held the judges and the public spellbound by its\neloquence. We who have heard Jules Favre believe it most readily;\nonly the statement embodied in the last sentence of his argument was\nunfortunately premature and erroneous at the same time. \u201cWe are in the\npresence of a phenomenon which _science admits_ without attempting\nto explain. _The public may smile at_ it, but our most illustrious\nphysicians regard it with gravity. Justice can no longer ignore what\n_science has acknowledged_!\u201d\n\nWere this sweeping declaration based upon fact and had mesmerism\nbeen impartially investigated by many instead of a few true men of\nscience, more desirous of questioning nature than mere expediency, the\npublic would _never_ smile. The public is a docile and pious child,\nand readily goes whither the nurse leads it. It chooses its idols and\nfetishes, and worships them in proportion to the noise they make; and\nthen turns round with a timid look of adulation to see whether the\nnurse, old Mrs. Public Opinion, is satisfied.\n\nLactantius, the old Christian father, is said to have remarked that\nno skeptic in his days would have dared to maintain before a magician\nthat the soul did not survive the body, but died together with it; \u201cfor\nhe would refute them on the spot by calling up the souls of the dead,\nrendering them visible to human eyes, and making them foretell future\nevents.\u201d[294] So with the magistrates and bench in Madame Roger\u2019s\ncase. Baron Du Potet was there, and they were _afraid_ to see him\nmesmerize the somnambulist, and so force them not only to believe in\nthe phenomenon, but to acknowledge it\u2014which was far worse.\n\nAnd now to the doctrine of Paracelsus. His incomprehensible, though\nlively style must be read like the biblio-rolls of Ezekiel, \u201c_within\nand without_.\u201d The peril of propounding heterodox theories was great\nin those days; the Church was powerful, and sorcerers were burnt by\nthe dozens. For this reason, we find Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Eugenius\nPhilalethes as notable for their pious declarations as they were\nfamous for their achievements in alchemy and magic. The full views\nof Paracelsus on the occult properties of the magnet are explained\npartially in his famous book, _Archidaxarum_, in which he describes the {168}\nwonderful tincture, a medicine extracted from the magnet and called\n_Magisterium Magnetis_, and partially in the _De Ente Dei_, and _De\nEnte Astrorum_, Lib. I. But the explanations are all given in a diction\nunintelligible to the profane. \u201cEvery peasant sees,\u201d said he, \u201cthat a\nmagnet will attract iron, but a wise man must inquire for himself....\nI have discovered that the magnet, besides this visible power, that of\nattracting iron, possesses another _and concealed_ power.\u201d\n\nHe demonstrates further that in man lies hidden a \u201c_sidereal_ force,\u201d\nwhich is that emanation from the stars and celestial bodies of which\nthe spiritual form of man\u2014the astral spirit\u2014is composed. This identity\nof essence, which we may term the spirit of cometary matter, always\nstands in direct relation with the stars from which it was drawn, and\nthus there exists a mutual attraction between the two, both being\nmagnets. The identical composition of the earth and all other planetary\nbodies and man\u2019s terrestrial body was a fundamental idea in his\nphilosophy. \u201cThe body comes from the elements, the [astral] spirit from\nthe stars.... Man eats and drinks of the elements, for the sustenance\nof his blood and flesh; from the stars are the intellect and thoughts\nsustained in his spirit.\u201d _The spectroscope has made good his theory\nas to the identical composition of man and stars; the physicists now\nlecture to their classes upon the magnetic attractions of the sun and\nplanets._[295]\n\nOf the substances known to compose the body of man, there have been\ndiscovered in the stars already, hydrogen, sodium, calcium, magnesium\nand iron. In all the stars observed, numbering many hundreds, hydrogen\nwas found, except in two. Now, if we recollect how they have deprecated\nParacelsus and his theory of man and the stars being composed of like\nsubstances; how ridiculed he was by astronomers and physicists, for his\nideas of chemical affinity and attraction between the two; and then\nrealize that the spectroscope has vindicated one of his assertions at\nleast, is it so absurd to prophesy that in time all the rest of his\ntheories will be substantiated?\n\nAnd now, a very natural question is suggested. How did Paracelsus\ncome to learn anything of the composition of the stars, when, till a\nvery recent period\u2014till the discovery of the spectroscope in fact\u2014the\nconstituents of the heavenly bodies were utterly unknown to our learned {169}\nacademies? And even now, notwithstanding tele-spectroscope and other\nvery important modern improvements, except a few elements and a\nhypothetical chromosphere, everything is yet a mystery for them in the\nstars. Could Paracelsus have been so sure of the nature of the starry\nhost, unless he had means of which science knows nothing? Yet knowing\nnothing she will not even hear pronounced the very names of these\nmeans, which are\u2014hermetic philosophy and alchemy.\n\nWe must bear in mind, moreover, that _Paracelsus was the discoverer\nof hydrogen, and knew well all its properties and composition_ long\nbefore any of the orthodox academicians ever thought of it; that he had\nstudied astrology and astronomy, as all the fire-philosophers did; and\nthat, if he did assert that man is in a direct affinity with the stars,\nhe knew well what he asserted.\n\nThe next point for the physiologists to verify is his proposition that\nthe nourishment of the body comes not merely through the stomach,\n\u201cbut also imperceptibly through the magnetic force, which resides in\nall nature and by which every individual member draws its specific\nnourishment to itself.\u201d Man, he further says, draws not only health\nfrom the elements when in equilibrium, but also disease when they are\ndisturbed. Living bodies are subject to the laws of attraction and\nchemical affinity, as science admits; the most remarkable physical\nproperty of organic tissues, according to physiologists, is the\nproperty of _imbibition_. What more natural, then, than this theory\nof Paracelsus, that this absorbent, attractive, and chemical body of\nours gathers into itself the astral or sidereal influences? \u201cThe sun\nand the stars attract from us to themselves, and we again from them to\nus.\u201d What objection can science offer to this? What it is that we give\noff, is shown in Baron Reichenbach\u2019s discovery of the odic emanations\nof man, which are identical with flames from magnets, crystals, and in\nfact from all vegetable organisms.\n\nThe unity of the universe was asserted by Paracelsus, who says that\n\u201cthe human body is possessed of primeval stuff (or cosmic matter); the\nspectroscope has proved the assertion by showing that the same chemical\nelements which exist upon earth and in the sun, are also found in all\nthe stars. The spectroscope does more: it shows that all the stars are\n_suns_, similar in constitution to our own;[296] and as we are told by\nProfessor Mayer,[297] that the magnetic condition of the earth changes\nwith every variation upon the sun\u2019s surface, and is said to be \u201cin {170}\nsubjection to _emanations_ from the sun,\u201d the stars being suns must\nalso give off emanations which affect us in proportionate degrees.\n\n\u201cIn our dreams,\u201d says Paracelsus, \u201cwe are like the plants, which have\nalso the elementary and vital body, but possess not the spirit. In our\nsleep the astral body is free and can, by the elasticity of its nature,\neither hover round in proximity with its sleeping vehicle, or soar\nhigher to hold converse with its starry parents, or even communicate\nwith its brothers at great distances. Dreams of a prophetic character,\nprescience, and present wants, are the faculties of the astral spirit.\nTo our elementary and grosser body, these gifts are not imparted, for\nat death it descends into the bosom of the earth and is reunited to the\nphysical elements, while the several spirits return to the stars. The\nanimals,\u201d he adds, \u201chave also their presentiments, for they too have an\nastral body.\u201d\n\nVan Helmont, who was a disciple of Paracelsus, says much the same,\nthough his theories on magnetism are more largely developed, and still\nmore carefully elaborated. The _Magnale Magnum_, the means by which\nthe secret magnetic property \u201cenables one person to affect another\nmutually, is attributed by him to that universal sympathy which exists\nbetween all things in nature. The cause produces the effect, the\neffect refers itself back to the cause, and both are reciprocated.\n\u201cMagnetism,\u201d he says, \u201cis an unknown property of a heavenly nature;\nvery much resembling the stars, and not at all impeded by any\nboundaries of space or time.... Every created being possesses his own\ncelestial power and is closely allied with heaven. This magic power of\nman, which thus can operate externally, lies, as it were, hidden in\nthe inner man. This magical wisdom and strength thus sleeps, but, by\na mere suggestion is roused into activity, and becomes more living,\nthe more the outer man of flesh and the darkness is repressed ... and\nthis, I say, the kabalistic art effects; it brings back to the soul\nthat magical yet natural strength which like a startled sleep had left\nit.\u201d[298]\n\nBoth Van Helmont and Paracelsus agree as to the great potency of the\nwill in the state of ecstasy; they say that \u201cthe spirit is everywhere\ndiffused; and the spirit is the medium of magnetism;\u201d that pure\nprimeval magic does not consist in superstitious practices and vain\nceremonies but in the imperial will of man. \u201cIt is not the spirits of\nheaven and of hell which are the masters over physical nature, but\nthe soul and spirit of man which are concealed in him as the fire is\nconcealed in the flint.\u201d\n\nThe theory of the sidereal influence on man was enunciated by all the\nmedi\u00e6val philosophers. \u201cThe stars consist equally of the elements {171}\nof earthly bodies,\u201d says Cornelius Agrippa, \u201cand therefore the ideas\nattract each other.... Influences only go forth through the help of the\nspirit; but this spirit is diffused through the whole universe and is\nin full accord with the human spirits. The magician who would acquire\nsupernatural powers must possess _faith_, _love_, and _hope_.... In\nall things there is a secret power concealed, and thence come the\nmiraculous powers of magic.\u201d\n\nThe modern theory of General Pleasanton[299] singularly coincides\nwith the views of the fire-philosophers. His view of the positive and\nnegative electricities of man and woman, and the mutual attraction\nand repulsion of everything in nature seems to be copied from that\nof Robert Fludd, the Grand Master of the Rosicrucians of England.\n\u201cWhen two men approach each other,\u201d says the fire-philosopher, \u201ctheir\nmagnetism is either passive or active; that is, positive or negative.\nIf the emanations which they send out are broken or thrown back, there\narises antipathy. But when the emanations pass through each other from\nboth sides, then there is positive magnetism, for the rays proceed from\nthe centre to the circumference. In this case they not only affect\nsicknesses but also moral sentiments. This magnetism or sympathy is\nfound not only among animals but also in plants and in animals.\u201d[300]\n\nAnd now we will notice how, when Mesmer had imported into France his\n\u201cbaquet\u201d and system based entirely on the philosophy and doctrines of\nthe Paracelsites\u2014the great psychological and physiological discovery\nwas treated by the physicians. It will demonstrate how much ignorance,\nsuperficiality, and prejudice can be displayed by a scientific body,\nwhen the subject clashes with their own cherished theories. It is the\nmore important because, to the neglect of the committee of the French\nAcademy of 1784 is probably due the present materialistic drift of the\npublic mind; and certainly the gaps in the atomic philosophy which we\nhave seen its most devoted teachers confessing to exist. The committee\nof 1784 comprised men of such eminence as Borie, Sallin, d\u2019Arcet,\nand the famous Guillotin, to whom were subsequently added, Franklin,\nLeroi, Bailly, De Borg and Lavoisier. Borie died shortly afterward\nand Magault succeeded him. There can be no doubt of two things, viz.:\nthat the committee began their work under strong prejudices and only\nbecause peremptorily ordered to do it by the king; and that their\nmanner of observing the delicate facts of mesmerism was injudicious\nand illiberal. Their report, drawn by Bailly, was intended to be a\ndeath-blow to the new science. It was spread ostentatiously throughout\nall the schools and ranks of society, arousing the bitterest feelings {172}\namong a large portion of the aristocracy and rich commercial class,\nwho had patronized Mesmer and had been eye-witnesses of his cures.\nAnt. L. de Jussieu, an academician of the highest rank, who had\nthoroughly investigated the subject with the eminent court-physician,\nd\u2019Eslon, published a counter-report drawn with minute exactness, in\nwhich he advocated the careful observation by the medical faculty of\nthe therapeutic effects of the magnetic fluid and insisted upon the\nimmediate publication of their discoveries and observations. His demand\nwas met by the appearance of a great number of memoirs, polemical\nworks, and dogmatical books developing new facts; and Thouret\u2019s works\nentitled _Recherches et Doutes sur le Magnetisme Animal_, displaying\na vast erudition, stimulated research into the records of the past,\nand the magnetic phenomena of successive nations from the remotest\nantiquity were laid before the public.\n\nThe doctrine of Mesmer was simply a restatement of the doctrines of\nParacelsus, Van Helmont, Santanelli, and Maxwell, the Scotchman; and\nhe was even guilty of copying texts from the work of Bertrand, and\nenunciating them as his own principles.[301] In Professor Stewart\u2019s\nwork,[302] the author regards our universe as composed of atoms with\nsome sort of medium between them as the machine, and the laws of energy\nas the laws working this machine. Professor Youmans calls this \u201ca\nmodern doctrine,\u201d but we find among the twenty-seven propositions laid\ndown by Mesmer, in 1775, just one century earlier, in his _Letter to a\nForeign Physician_, the following:\n\n_1st. There exists a mutual influence between the heavenly bodies, the\nearth, and living bodies._\n\n_2d. A fluid, universally diffused and continued, so as to admit no\nvacuum, whose subtility is beyond all comparison, and which, from its\nnature, is capable of receiving, propagating, and communicating all the\nimpressions of motion, is the medium of this influence._\n\nIt would appear from this, that the theory is not so modern after all.\nProfessor Balfour Stewart says, \u201cWe may regard the universe in the\nlight of a vast physical machine.\u201d And Mesmer:\n\n_3d. This reciprocal action is subject to mechanical laws, unknown up\nto the present time._\n\nProfessor Mayer, reaffirming Gilbert\u2019s doctrine that the earth is a\ngreat magnet, remarks that the mysterious variations in the intensity\nof its force seem to be in subjection to emanations from the sun,\n\u201cchanging with the apparent daily and yearly revolutions of that orb, {173}\nand pulsating in sympathy with the huge waves of fire which sweep over\nits surface.\u201d He speaks of \u201cthe constant fluctuation, the ebb and flow\nof the earth\u2019s directive influence.\u201d And Mesmer:\n\n_4th._ \u201c_From this action result alternate effects which may be\nconsidered a flux and reflux._\u201d\n\n_6th. It is by this operation (the most universal of those presented to\nus by nature) that the relations of activity occur between the heavenly\nbodies, the earth, and its constituent parts._\n\nThere are two more which will be interesting reading to our modern\nscientists:\n\n_7th. The properties of matter, and of organized body, depend on this\noperation._\n\n_8th. The animal body experiences the alternate effects of this agent;\nand it is by insinuating itself into the substance of the nerves, that\nit immediately affects them._\n\nAmong other important works which appeared between 1798 and 1824, when\nthe French Academy appointed its second commission to investigate\nmesmerism, the _Annales du Magnetisme Animal_, by the Baron d\u2019Henin\nde Cuvillier, Lieutenant-General, Chevalier of St. Louis, member of\nthe Academy of Sciences, and correspondent of many of the learned\nsocieties of Europe, may be consulted with great advantage. In 1820\nthe Prussian government instructed the Academy of Berlin to offer a\nprize of three hundred ducats in gold for the best thesis on mesmerism.\nThe Royal Scientific Society of Paris, under the presidency of His\nRoyal Highness the Duc d\u2019Angoul\u00eame, offered a gold medal for the\nsame purpose. The Marquis de la Place, peer of France, one of the\n_Forty_ of the Academy of Sciences, and honorary member of the learned\nsocieties of all the principal European governments, issued a work\nentitled _Essai Philosophique sur les Probabilit\u00e9s_, in which this\neminent scientist says: \u201cOf all the instruments that we can employ\nto know the imperceptible agents of nature, the most sensitive are\nthe nerves, especially when exceptional influences increase their\nsensibility.... The singular phenomena which result from this extreme\nnervous sensitiveness of certain individuals, have given birth to\ndiverse opinions as to the existence of a new agent, which has\nbeen named animal magnetism.... We are so far from knowing all the\nagents of nature and their various modes of action that it would be\nhardly philosophical to deny the phenomena, simply because they are\ninexplicable, in the actual state of our information. It is simply our\nduty to examine them with an attention as much more scrupulous as it\nseems difficult to admit them.\u201d\n\nThe experiments of Mesmer were vastly improved upon by the Marquis\nde Puysegur, who entirely dispensed with apparatus and produced {174}\nremarkable cures among the tenants of his estate at Busancy. These\nbeing given to the public, many other educated men experimented with\nlike success, and in 1825 M. Foissac proposed to the Academy of\nMedicine to institute a new inquiry. A special committee, consisting of\nAdelon, Parisey, Marc, Burdin, sen., with Husson as reporter, united\nin a recommendation that the suggestion should be adopted. They make\nthe manly avowal that \u201cin science no decision whatever is absolute\nand irrevocable,\u201d and afford us the means to estimate the value which\nshould be attached to the conclusions of the Franklin committee of\n1784, by saying that \u201cthe experiments on which this judgment was\nfounded appeared to have been conducted without the simultaneous and\nnecessary assembling together of all the commissioners, and _also with\nmoral predispositions_, which, according to the principles of the\nfact which they were appointed to examine, _must cause their complete\nfailure_.\u201d\n\nWhat they say concerning magnetism as a secret remedy, has been said\nmany times by the most respected writers upon modern Spiritualism,\nnamely: \u201cIt is the duty of the Academy to study it, to subject it to\ntrials; finally, to take away the use and practice of it from persons\nquite strangers to the art, who abuse this means, and make it an object\nof lucre and speculation.\u201d\n\nThis report provoked long debates, but in May, 1826, the Academy\nappointed a commission which comprised the following illustrious\nnames: Leroux, Bourdois de la Motte, Double, Magendie, Guersant,\nHusson, Thillaye, Marc, Itard, Fouquier, and Gu\u00e9nau de Mussy. They\nbegan their labors immediately, and continued them five years,\ncommunicating, through Monsieur Husson, to the Academy the results\nof their observations. The report embraces accounts of phenomena\nclassified under thirty-four different paragraphs, but as this work is\nnot specially devoted to the science of magnetism, we must be content\nwith a few brief extracts. They assert that neither contact of the\nhands, frictions, nor passes are invariably needed, since, on several\noccasions, the will, fixedness of stare, have sufficed to produce\nmagnetic phenomena, even without the knowledge of the magnetized.\n\u201cWell-attested and therapeutical phenomena\u201d depend on magnetism alone,\nand are not reproduced without it. The state of somnambulism exists\nand \u201coccasions the development of new faculties, which have received\nthe denominations of _clairvoyance_, intuition, internal prevision.\u201d\nSleep (the magnetic) has \u201cbeen excited under circumstances where those\nmagnetized could not see, and were entirely ignorant of the means\nemployed to occasion it. The magnetizer, having once controlled his\nsubject, may \u201cput him completely into somnambulism, take him out of\nit without his knowledge, out of his sight, at a certain distance,\nand through closed doors.\u201d The external senses of the sleeper seem {175}\nto be completely paralyzed, and a duplicate set to be brought into\naction. \u201cMost of the time they are entirely strangers to the external\nand unexpected noise made in their ears, such as the sound of copper\nvessels, forcibly struck, the fall of any heavy substance, and so\nforth.... One may make them respire hydrochloric acid or ammonia\nwithout inconveniencing them by it, or without even a suspicion on\ntheir part.\u201d The committee could \u201ctickle their feet, nostrils, and the\nangles of the eyes by the approach of a feather, pinch their skin so\nas to produce ecchymosis, prick it under the nails with pins plunged\nto a considerable depth, without the evincing of any pain, or by sign\nof being at all aware of it.\u201d In a word, we have seen one person who\nwas insensible to one of the most painful operations of surgery, and\nwhose countenance, pulse, or respiration did not manifest the slightest\nemotion.\u201d\n\nSo much for the external senses; now let us see what they have to say\nabout the internal ones, which may fairly be considered as proving a\nmarked difference between man and a mutton-protoplasm. \u201cWhilst they\nare in this state of somnambulism,\u201d say the committee, \u201cthe magnetized\npersons we have observed, retain the exercise of the faculties which\nthey have whilst awake. Their memory even appears to be more faithful\nand more extensive.... We have seen two somnambulists distinguish,\nwith their eyes shut, the objects placed before them; they have told,\nwithout touching them, the color and value of the cards; they have\nread words traced with the hand, or some lines of books opened by\nmere chance. This phenomenon took place, even when the opening of the\neyelids was accurately closed, by means of the fingers. We met, in two\nsomnambulists, the power of foreseeing acts more or less complicated of\nthe organism. One of them announced several days, nay, several months\nbeforehand, the day, the hour, and the minute when epileptic fits would\ncome on and return; the other declared the time of the cure. Their\nprevisions were realized with remarkable exactness.\u201d\n\nThe commission say that \u201cit has collected and communicated facts\nsufficiently important to induce it to think that the Academy should\nencourage the researches on magnetism as a very curious branch of\npsychology and natural history.\u201d The committee conclude by saying that\nthe facts _are so extraordinary_ that they scarcely imagine that the\nAcademy will concede their reality, but protest that they have been\nthroughout animated by motives of a lofty character, \u201cthe love of\nscience and by the necessity of justifying the hopes which the Academy\nhad entertained of our zeal and our devotion.\u201d\n\nTheir fears were fully justified by the conduct of at least one\nmember of their own number, who had absented himself from the\nexperiments, and, as M. Husson tells us, \u201cdid not deem it right to {176}\nsign the report.\u201d This was Magendie, the physiologist, who, despite\nthe fact stated by the official report that he had not \u201cbeen present\nat the experiments,\u201d did not hesitate to devote four pages of his\nfamous work on _Human Physiology_ to the subject of mesmerism, and\nafter summarizing its alleged phenomena, without endorsing them as\nunreservedly as the erudition and scientific acquirements of his fellow\ncommittee-men would seem to have exacted, says: \u201cSelf-respect and the\ndignity of the profession demand circumspection on these points. He\n(the well-informed physician) will remember how readily mystery glides\ninto charlatanry, and how apt the profession is to become degraded even\nby its semblance when countenanced by respectable practitioners.\u201d No\nword in the context lets his readers into the secret that he had been\nduly appointed by the Academy to serve on the commission of 1826; had\nabsented himself from its sittings; had so failed to learn the truth\nabout mesmeric phenomena, and was now pronouncing judgment ex parte.\n\u201cSelf-respect and the dignity of the profession\u201d probably exacted\nsilence!\n\nThirty-eight years later, an English scientist, whose specialty is\nthe investigation of physics, and whose reputation is even greater\nthan that of Magendie, stooped to as unfair a course of conduct. When\nthe opportunity offered to investigate the spiritualistic phenomena,\nand aid in taking it out of the hands of ignorant or dishonest\ninvestigators, Professor John Tyndall avoided the subject; but in his\n_Fragments of Science_, he was guilty of the ungentlemanly expressions\nwhich we have quoted in another place.\n\nBut we are wrong; he made one attempt, and that sufficed. He tells\nus, in the _Fragments_, that he once got under a table, to see how\nthe raps were made, and arose with a despair for humanity, such as he\nnever felt before! Israel Putnam, crawling on hand and knee to kill the\nshe-wolf in her den, partially affords a parallel by which to estimate\nthe chemist\u2019s courage in groping in the dark after the ugly truth; but\nPutnam killed his wolf, and Tyndall was devoured by his! \u201c_Sub mensa\ndesperatio_\u201d should be the motto on his shield.\n\nSpeaking of the report of the committee of 1824, Dr. Alphonse Teste, a\ndistinguished contemporaneous scientist, says that it produced a great\nimpression on the Academy, but few convictions: \u201cNo one could question\nthe veracity of the commissioners, whose good faith as well as great\nknowledge were undeniable, but they were suspected of having been\ndupes. In fact, _there are certain unfortunate truths which compromise\nthose who believe in them, and those especially who are so candid as\nto avow them publicly_.\u201d How true this is, let the records of history,\nfrom the earliest times to this very day, attest. When Professor\nRobert Hare announced the preliminary results of his spiritualistic {177}\ninvestigations, he, albeit one of the most eminent chemists and\nphysicists in the world, was, nevertheless, regarded as a dupe. When he\nproved that he was not, he was charged with having fallen into dotage;\nthe Harvard professors denouncing \u201chis insane adherence to the gigantic\nhumbug.\u201d\n\nWhen the professor began his investigations in 1853, he announced that\nhe \u201cfelt called upon, as an act of duty to his fellow-creatures, to\nbring whatever influence he possessed to the attempt to stem the tide\nof popular madness, which, in defiance of reason and science, was fast\nsetting in favor of the _gross delusion_ called Spiritualism.\u201d Though,\naccording to his declaration, he \u201centirely coincided with Faraday\u2019s\ntheory of table-turning,\u201d he had the true greatness which characterizes\nthe princes of science to make his investigation thorough, and then\ntell the truth. How he was rewarded by his life-long associates, let\nhis own words tell. In an address delivered in New York, in September,\n1854, he says that \u201che had been engaged in scientific pursuits for\nupwards of half a century, and his accuracy and precision had never\nbeen questioned, until he had become a spiritualist; while his\nintegrity as a man had never in his life been assailed, until the\nHarvard professors fulminated their report against that which _he knew_\nto be true, and which they _did not know_ to be false.\u201d\n\nHow much mournful pathos is expressed in these few words! An old man\nof seventy-six\u2014a scientist of half a century, deserted for telling the\ntruth! And now Mr. A. R. Wallace, who had previously been esteemed\namong the most illustrious of British scientists, having proclaimed\nhis belief in spiritualism and mesmerism, is spoken of in terms of\ncompassion. Professor Nicholas Wagner, of St. Petersburg, whose\nreputation as a z\u00f6ologist is one of the most conspicuous, in his turn\npays the penalty of his exceptional candor, in his outrageous treatment\nby the Russian scientists!\n\nThere are scientists and _scientists_; and if the occult sciences\nsuffer in the instance of modern spiritualism from the malice of one\nclass, nevertheless, they have had their defenders at all times among\nmen whose names have shed lustre upon science itself. In the first\nrank stands Isaac Newton, \u201cthe light of science,\u201d who was a thorough\nbeliever in magnetism, as taught by Paracelsus, Van Helmont, and by\nthe fire-philosophers in general. No one will presume to deny that\nhis doctrine of universal space and attraction is purely a theory of\nmagnetism. If his own words mean anything at all, they mean that he\nbased all his speculations upon the \u201csoul of the world,\u201d the great\nuniversal, magnetic agent, which he called the _divine sensorium_.[303] {178}\n\u201cHere,\u201d he says, \u201cthe question is of a very subtile spirit which\npenetrates through all, even the hardest bodies, and which is concealed\nin their substance. Through the strength and activity of this\nspirit, bodies attract each other, and adhere together when brought\ninto contact. Through it, electrical bodies operate at the remotest\ndistance, as well as near at hand, attracting and repelling; through\nthis spirit the light also flows, and is refracted and reflected, and\nwarms bodies. All senses are excited by this spirit, and through it the\nanimals move their limbs. But these things cannot be explained in few\nwords, and we have not yet sufficient experience to determine fully the\nlaws by which this universal spirit operates.\u201d\n\nThere are two kinds of magnetization; the first is purely _animal_,\nthe other transcendent, and depending on the will and knowledge of the\nmesmerizer, as well as on the degree of spirituality of the subject,\nand his capacity to receive the impressions of the astral light. But\nnow it is next to ascertain that clairvoyance depends a great deal more\non the former than on the latter. To the power of an adept, like Du\nPotet, the most _positive_ subject will have to submit. If his sight\nis ably directed by the mesmerizer, magician, or spirit, the light\nmust yield up its most secret records to our scrutiny; for, if it is a\nbook which is ever closed to those \u201cwho see and do not perceive,\u201d on\nthe other hand it is ever opened for one who _wills_ to see it opened.\nIt keeps an unmutilated record of all that was, that is, or ever will\nbe. The minutest acts of our lives are imprinted on it, and even our\nthoughts rest photographed on its eternal tablets. It is the book which\nwe see opened by the angel in the _Revelation_, \u201cwhich is the Book of\nlife, and out of which the dead are judged according to their works.\u201d\nIt is, in short, the MEMORY of GOD!\n\n\u201cThe oracles assert that the impression of thoughts, characters, men,\nand other divine visions, appear in the \u00e6ther.... In this the things\nwithout figure are figured,\u201d says an ancient fragment of the _Chaldean\nOracles_ of Zoroaster.[304]\n\nThus, ancient as well as modern wisdom, vaticination and science,\nagree in corroborating the claims of the kabalists. It is on the\nindestructible tablets of the astral light that is stamped the\nimpression of every thought we think, and every act we perform; and\nthat future events\u2014effects of long-forgotten causes\u2014are already\ndelineated as a vivid picture for the eye of the seer and prophet\nto follow. Memory\u2014the despair of the materialist, the enigma of\nthe psychologist, the sphinx of science\u2014is to the student of\nold philosophies merely a name to express that power which man {179}\nunconsciously exerts, and shares with many of the inferior animals\u2014to\nlook with inner sight into the astral light, and there behold the\nimages of past sensations and incidents. Instead of searching the\ncerebral ganglia for \u201cmicrographs of the living and the dead, of scenes\nthat we have visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part,\u201d[305]\nthey went to the vast repository where the records of every man\u2019s life\nas well as every pulsation of the visible cosmos are stored up for all\nEternity!\n\nThat flash of memory which is traditionally supposed to show a drowning\nman every long-forgotten scene of his mortal life\u2014as the landscape\nis revealed to the traveller by intermittent flashes of lightning\u2014is\nsimply the sudden glimpse which the struggling soul gets into the\nsilent galleries where his history is depicted in imperishable colors.\n\nThe well-known fact\u2014one corroborated by the personal experience of\nnine persons out of ten\u2014that we often recognize as familiar to us,\nscenes, and landscapes, and conversations, which we see or hear for\nthe first time, and sometimes in countries never visited before, is a\nresult of the same causes. Believers in re\u00efncarnation adduce this as\nan additional proof of our antecedent existence in other bodies. This\nrecognition of men, countries, and things that we have never seen, is\nattributed by them to flashes of soul-memory of anterior experiences.\nBut the men of old, in common with medi\u00e6val philosophers, firmly held\nto a contrary opinion.\n\nThey affirmed that though this psychological phenomenon was one of the\ngreatest arguments in favor of immortality and the soul\u2019s pre\u00ebxistence,\nyet the latter being endowed with an individual memory apart from that\nof our physical brain, it is no proof of re\u00efncarnation. As Eliphas Levi\nbeautifully expresses it, \u201cnature shuts the door after everything that\npasses, and pushes life onward\u201d in more perfected forms. The chrysalis\nbecomes a butterfly; the latter can never become again a grub. In the\nstillness of the night-hours, when our bodily senses are fast locked\nin the fetters of sleep, and our elementary body rests, the astral\nform becomes free. It then _oozes_ out of its earthly prison, and as\nParacelsus has it\u2014\u201cconfabulates with the outward world,\u201d and travels\nround the visible as well as the invisible worlds. \u201cIn sleep,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cthe astral body (soul) is in freer motion; then it soars to\nits parents, and holds converse with the stars.\u201d Dreams, forebodings,\nprescience, prognostications and presentiments are impressions left\nby our astral spirit on our brain, which receives them more or less\ndistinctly, according to the proportion of blood with which it is\nsupplied during the hours of sleep. The more the body is exhausted, the\nfreer is the spiritual man, and the more vivid the impressions of our\nsoul\u2019s memory. In heavy and robust sleep, dreamless and uninterrupted, {180}\nupon awakening to outward consciousness, men may sometimes remember\nnothing. But the impressions of scenes and landscapes which the astral\nbody saw in its peregrinations are still there, though lying latent\nunder the pressure of matter. They may be awakened at any moment,\nand then, during such flashes of man\u2019s inner memory, there is an\ninstantaneous interchange of energies between the visible and the\ninvisible universes. Between the \u201cmicrographs\u201d of the cerebral ganglia\nand the photo-scenographic galleries of the astral light, a current is\nestablished. And a man who knows that he has never visited in body,\nnor seen the landscape and person that he recognizes may well assert\nthat still has he seen and knows them, for the acquaintance was formed\nwhile travelling in \u201cspirit.\u201d To this the physiologists can have but\none objection. They will answer that in natural sleep\u2014perfect and\ndeep, \u201chalf of our nature which is volitional is in the condition of\ninertia;\u201d hence unable to travel; the more so as the existence of any\nsuch individual astral body or soul is considered by them little else\nthan a poetical myth. Blumenbach assures us that in the state of sleep,\nall intercourse between mind and body is suspended; an assertion which\nis denied by Dr. Richardson, F. R. S., who honestly reminds the German\nscientist that \u201cthe precise limits and connections of mind and body\nbeing unknown\u201d it is more than should be said. This confession, added\nto those of the French physiologist, Fourni\u00e9, and the still more recent\none of Dr. Allchin, an eminent London physician, who frankly avowed,\nin an address to students, that \u201cof all scientific pursuits which\npractically concern the community, there is none perhaps which rests\nupon so uncertain and insecure a basis as medicine,\u201d gives us a certain\nright to offset the hypotheses of ancient scientists against those of\nthe modern ones.\n\nNo man, however gross and material he may be, can avoid leading a\ndouble existence; one in the visible universe, the other in the\ninvisible. The life-principle which animates his physical frame is\nchiefly in the astral body; and while the more animal portions of\nhim rest, the more spiritual ones know neither limits nor obstacles.\nWe are perfectly aware that many learned, as well as the unlearned,\nwill object to such a novel theory of the distribution of the\nlife-principle. They would prefer remaining in blissful ignorance and\ngo on confessing that no one knows or can pretend to tell whence and\nwhither this mysterious agent appears and disappears, than to give one\nmoment\u2019s attention to what they consider old and exploded theories.\nSome might object on the ground taken by theology, that dumb brutes\nhave no immortal souls, and hence, can have no astral spirits; for\n_theologians as well as laymen labor under the erroneous impression\nthat soul and spirit are one and the same thing_. But if we study {181}\nPlato and other philosophers of old, we may readily perceive that while\nthe \u201c_irrational_ soul,\u201d by which Plato meant our astral body, or the\nmore ethereal representation of ourselves, can have at best only a more\nor less prolonged continuity of existence beyond the grave; the divine\nspirit\u2014wrongly termed _soul_, by the Church\u2014is immortal by its very\nessence. (Any Hebrew scholar will readily appreciate the distinction\nwho comprehends the difference between the two words \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 _ruah_ and \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\n_nephesh_.) If the life-principle is something apart from the astral\nspirit and in no way connected with it, why is it that the intensity of\nthe clairvoyant powers depends so much on the bodily prostration of the\nsubject? The deeper the trance, the less signs of life the body shows,\nthe clearer become the spiritual perceptions, and the more powerful are\nthe soul\u2019s visions. The soul, disburdened of the bodily senses, shows\nactivity of power in a far greater degree of intensity than it can in a\nstrong, healthy body. Brierre de Boismont gives repeated instances of\nthis fact. The organs of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing are\nproved to become far acuter in a mesmerized subject deprived of the\npossibility of exercising them bodily, than while he uses them in his\nnormal state.\n\nSuch facts alone, once proved, ought to stand as invincible\ndemonstrations of the continuity of individual life, at least for a\ncertain period after the body has been left by us, either by reason\nof its being worn out or by accident. But though during its brief\nsojourn on earth our soul may be assimilated to a light hidden\nunder a bushel, it still shines more or less bright and attracts\nto itself the influences of kindred spirits; and when a thought\nof good or evil import is begotten in our brain, it draws to it\n_impulses_ of like nature as irresistibly as the magnet attracts\niron filings. This attraction is also proportionate to the intensity\nwith which the thought-impulse makes itself felt in the ether; and\nso it will be understood how one man may impress himself upon his\nown epoch so forcibly, that the influence may be carried\u2014through the\never-interchanging currents of energy between the two worlds, the\nvisible and the invisible\u2014from one succeeding age to another, until it\naffects a large portion of mankind.\n\nHow much the authors of the famous work entitled the _Unseen Universe_\nmay have allowed themselves to think in this direction, it would be\ndifficult to say; but that they have not told _all_ they might will be\ninferred from the following language:\n\n\u201cRegard it as you please, there can be no doubt that the properties of\nthe ether are of a much higher order in the arena of nature _than those\nof tangible matter_. And, as even the high priests of science still\nfind the latter _far beyond_ their comprehension, except in numerous {182}\nbut minute and often isolated particulars, it would not become us to\nspeculate further. It is sufficient for our purpose to know from what\nthe ether certainly does, that _it is capable of vastly more than any\nhas yet ventured to say_.\u201d\n\nOne of the most interesting discoveries of modern times, is that of the\nfaculty which enables a certain class of sensitive persons to receive\nfrom any object held in the hand or against the forehead impressions\nof the character or appearance of the individual, or any other object\nwith which it has previously been in contact. Thus a manuscript,\npainting, article of clothing, or jewelry\u2014no matter how ancient\u2014conveys\nto the sensitive, a vivid picture of the writer, painter, or wearer;\neven though he lived in the days of Ptolemy or Enoch. Nay, more; a\nfragment of an ancient building will recall its history and even the\nscenes which transpired within or about it. A bit of ore will carry\nthe soul-vision back to the time when it was in process of formation.\nThis faculty is called by its discoverer\u2014Professor J. R. Buchanan,\nof Louisville, Kentucky\u2014_psychometry_. To him, the world is indebted\nfor this most important addition to Psychological Sciences; and to\nhim, perhaps, when skepticism is found felled to the ground by such\naccumulation of facts, posterity will have to elevate a statue. In\nannouncing to the public his great discovery, Professor Buchanan,\nconfining himself to the power of psychometry to delineate human\ncharacter, says: \u201cThe mental and physiological influence imparted to\nwriting appears to be imperishable, as the oldest specimens I have\ninvestigated gave their impressions with a distinctness and force,\nlittle impaired by time. Old manuscripts, requiring an antiquary to\ndecipher their strange old penmanship, were easily interpreted by the\npsychometric power.... The property of retaining the impress of mind\nis not limited to writing. Drawings, paintings, everything upon which\nhuman contact, thought, and volition have been expended, may become\nlinked with that thought and life, so as to recall them to the mind of\nanother when in contact.\u201d\n\nWithout, perhaps, really knowing, at the early time of the grand\ndiscovery, the significance of his own prophetic words, the Professor\nadds: \u201cThis discovery, in its application to the arts and to history,\nwill open a mine of interesting knowledge.\u201d[306]\n\nThe existence of this faculty was first experimentally demonstrated\nin 1841. It has since been verified by a thousand psychometers in\ndifferent parts of the world. It proves that every occurrence in\nnature\u2014no matter how minute or unimportant\u2014leaves its indelible impress\nupon physical nature; and, as there has been no appreciable molecular {183}\ndisturbance, the only inference possible is, that these images have\nbeen produced by that invisible, universal force\u2014Ether, or astral light.\n\nIn his charming work, entitled _The Soul of Things_, Professor Denton\nthe geologist,[307] enters at great length into a discussion of this\nsubject. He gives a multitude of examples of the psychometrical power,\nwhich Mrs. Denton possesses in a marked degree. A fragment of Cicero\u2019s\nhouse, at Tusculum, enabled her to describe, without the slightest\nintimation as to the nature of the object placed on her forehead, not\nonly the great orator\u2019s surroundings, but also the previous owner of\nthe building, Cornelius Sulla Felix, or, as he is usually called, Sulla\nthe Dictator. A fragment of marble from the ancient Christian Church of\nSmyrna, brought before her its congregation and officiating priests.\nSpecimens from Nineveh, China, Jerusalem, Greece, Ararat, and other\nplaces all over the world brought up scenes in the life of various\npersonages, whose ashes had been scattered thousands of years ago.\nIn many cases Professor Denton verified the statements by reference\nto historical records. More than this, a bit of the skeleton, or a\nfragment of the tooth of some antediluvian animal, caused the seeress\nto perceive the creature as it was when alive, and even live for a\nfew brief moments its life, and experience its sensations. Before the\neager quest of the psychometer, the most hidden recesses of the domain\nof nature yield up their secrets; and the events of the most remote\nepochs rival in vividness of impression the flitting circumstances of\nyesterday.\n\nSays the author, in the same work: \u201cNot a leaf waves, not an insect\ncrawls, not a ripple moves, but each motion is recorded by a thousand\nfaithful scribes in infallible and indelible scripture. This is just as\ntrue of all past time. From the dawn of light upon this infant globe,\nwhen round its cradle the steamy curtains hung, to this moment, nature\nhas been busy photographing everything. What a picture-gallery is hers!\u201d\n\nIt appears to us the height of impossibility to imagine that scenes\nin ancient Thebes, or in some temple of prehistoric times should be\nphotographed only upon the substance of certain atoms. The images\nof the events are imbedded in that all-permeating, universal, and\never-retaining medium, which the philosophers call the \u201cSoul of the\nWorld,\u201d and Mr. Denton \u201cthe Soul of Things.\u201d The psychometer, by\napplying the fragment of a substance to his forehead, brings his\n_inner-self_ into relations with the inner soul of the object he\nhandles. It is now admitted that the universal \u00e6ther pervades all\nthings in nature, even the most solid. It is beginning to be admitted, {184}\nalso, that this preserves the images of all things which transpire.\nWhen the psychometer examines his specimen, he is brought in contact\nwith the current of the astral light, connected with that specimen,\nand which retains pictures of the events associated with its history.\nThese, according to Denton, pass before his vision with the swiftness\nof light; scene after scene crowding upon each other so rapidly, that\nit is only by the supreme exercise of the will that he is able to hold\nany one in the field of vision long enough to describe it.\n\nThe psychometer is clairvoyant; that is, he sees with the inner\neye. Unless his will-power is very strong, unless he has thoroughly\ntrained himself to that particular phenomenon, and his knowledge of\nthe capabilities of his sight are profound, his perceptions of places,\npersons, and events, must necessarily be very confused. But in the case\nof mesmerization, in which this same clairvoyant faculty is developed,\nthe operator, whose will holds that of the subject under control, can\nforce him to concentrate his attention upon a given picture long enough\nto observe all its minute details. Moreover, under the guidance of an\nexperienced mesmerizer, the seer would excel the natural psychometer in\nhaving a prevision of future events, more distinct and clear than the\nlatter. And to those who might object to the possibility of perceiving\nthat which \u201cyet is not,\u201d we may put the question: Why is it more\nimpossible to see that which will be, than to bring back to sight that\nwhich is gone, and is no more? According to the kabalistic doctrine,\nthe future exists in the astral light in embryo, as the present existed\nin embryo in the past. While man is free to act as he pleases, the\nmanner in which he _will_ act was foreknown from all time; not on\nthe ground of fatalism or destiny, but simply on the principle of\nuniversal, unchangeable harmony; and, as it may be foreknown that, when\na musical note is struck, its vibrations will not, and cannot change\ninto those of another note. Besides, eternity can have neither past\nnor future, but only the present; as boundless space, in its strictly\nliteral sense, can have neither distant nor proximate places. Our\nconceptions, limited to the narrow area of our experience, attempt to\nfit if not an end, at least a beginning of time and space; but neither\nof these exist in reality; for in such case time would not be eternal,\nnor space boundless. The past no more exists than the future, as we\nhave said, only our memories survive; and our memories are but the\nglimpses that we catch of the reflections of this past in the currents\nof the astral light, as the psychometer catches them from the astral\nemanations of the object held by him.\n\nSays Professor E. Hitchcock, when speaking of the influences of light\nupon bodies, and of the formation of pictures upon them by means of\nit: \u201cIt seems, then, that this photographic influence pervades all\nnature; nor can we say where it stops. We do not know but it may {185}\nimprint upon the world around us our features, as they are modified by\nvarious passions, and thus fill nature with daguerreotype impressions\nof all our actions; ... it may be, too, that there are tests by which\nnature, more skilful than any photographist, can bring out and fix\nthese portraits, so that _acuter_ senses than ours shall see them as\non a great canvas, spread over the material universe. _Perhaps_, too,\nthey may never fade from that canvas, but become specimens in the great\npicture-gallery of eternity.\u201d[308]\n\nThe \u201cperhaps\u201d of Professor Hitchcock is henceforth changed by the\ndemonstration of psychometry into a triumphant certitude. Those who\nunderstand these psychological and clairvoyant faculties will take\nexception to Professor Hitchcock\u2019s idea, that acuter senses than ours\nare needed to see these pictures upon his supposed cosmic canvas, and\nmaintain that he should have confined his limitations to the external\nsenses of the body. _The human spirit, being of the Divine, immortal\nSpirit, appreciates neither past nor future, but sees all things as in\nthe present._ These daguerreotypes referred to in the above quotation\nare imprinted upon the astral light, where, as we said before\u2014and,\naccording to the Hermetic teaching, the first portion of which is\nalready accepted and demonstrated by science\u2014is kept the record of all\nthat was, is, or ever will be.\n\nOf late, some of our learned men have given a particular attention\nto a subject hitherto branded with the mark of \u201csuperstition.\u201d They\nbegin speculating on hypothetical and invisible worlds. The authors\nof the _Unseen Universe_ were the first to boldly take the lead, and\nalready they find a follower in Professor Fiske, whose speculations\nare given in the _Unseen World_. Evidently the scientists are probing\nthe insecure ground of materialism, and, feeling it trembling under\ntheir feet, are preparing for a less dishonorable surrender of arms in\ncase of defeat. Jevons confirms Babbage, and both firmly believe that\nevery thought, displacing the particles of the brain and setting them\nin motion, scatters them throughout the universe, and think that \u201ceach\nparticle of the existing matter must be a register of all that has\nhappened.\u201d[309] On the other hand, Dr. Thomas Young, in his lectures\non natural philosophy, most positively invites us to \u201cspeculate with\nfreedom on the possibility of independent worlds; some existing in\ndifferent parts, others _pervading each other, unseen and unknown_, in\nthe same space, and others again to which space may not be a necessary\nmode of existence.\u201d\n\nIf scientists, proceeding from a strictly scientific point of\nview, such as the possibility of energy being transferred into the\ninvisible universe\u2014and on the principle of continuity, indulge in such\nspeculations, why should occultists and spiritualists be refused the {186}\nsame privilege? Ganglionic impressions on the surface of polished\nmetal, are registered and may be preserved for an indefinite space\nof time, according to science; and Professor Draper illustrates the\nfact most poetically. \u201cA shadow,\u201d says he, \u201cnever falls upon a wall\nwithout leaving thereupon a permanent trace, a trace which might be\nmade visible by resorting to proper processes.... The portraits of our\nfriends, or landscape-views, may be hidden on the sensitive surface\nfrom the eye, but they are ready to make their appearance, as soon as\nproper developers are resorted to. A spectre is concealed on a silver\nor glassy surface, until, by our necromancy, we make it come forth\ninto the visible world. Upon the walls of our most private apartments,\nwhere we think the eye of intrusion is altogether shut out, and our\nretirement can never be profaned, there exist the vestiges of all our\nacts, silhouettes of whatever we have done.\u201d[310]\n\nIf an indelible impression may be thus obtained on inorganic matter,\nand if nothing is lost or passes completely out of existence in the\nuniverse, why such a scientific levee of arms against the authors\nof the _Unseen Universe_? And on what ground can they reject the\nhypothesis that \u201c_Thought, conceived to affect the matter of another\nuniverse simultaneously with this, may explain a future state_?\u201d[311]\n\nIn our opinion, if psychometry is one of the grandest proofs of the\nindestructibility of matter, retaining eternally the impressions of\nthe outward world, the possession of that faculty by our inner sight\nis a still greater one in favor of the immortality of man\u2019s individual\nspirit. Capable of discerning events which took place hundreds of\nthousands of years ago, why would it not apply the same faculty to a\nfuture lost in the eternity, in which there can be neither past nor\nfuture, but only one boundless present?\n\nNotwithstanding the confessions of stupendous ignorance in some things,\nmade by the scientists themselves, they still deny the existence of\nthat mysterious spiritual force, lying beyond the grasp of the ordinary\nphysical laws. They still hope to be able to apply to living beings the\nsame laws which they have found to answer in reference to dead matter.\nAnd, having discovered what the kabalists term \u201cthe gross purgations\u201d\nof Ether\u2014light, heat, electricity, and motion\u2014they have rejoiced over\ntheir good fortune, counted its vibrations in producing the colors\nof the spectrum; and, proud of their achievements, refuse to see any\nfurther. Several men of science have pondered more or less over its\nprotean essence, and unable to measure it with their photometers,\ncalled it \u201can _hypothetical_ medium of great elasticity and extreme {187}\ntenuity, _supposed_ to pervade all space, the interior of solid bodies\nnot excepted;\u201d and, \u201cto be the medium of transmission of light and\nheat\u201d (Dictionary). Others, whom we will name \u201cthe will-o\u2019-the-wisps\u201d\nof science\u2014her pseudo-sons\u2014examined it also, and even went to the\ntrouble of scrutinizing it \u201cthrough powerful glasses,\u201d they tell us.\nBut perceiving neither spirits nor ghosts in it, and failing equally\nto discover in its treacherous waves anything of a more scientific\ncharacter, they turned round and called all believers in immortality in\ngeneral, and spiritualists in particular, \u201cinsane fools\u201d and \u201cvisionary\nlunatics;\u201d[312] the whole, in doleful accents, perfectly appropriate to\nthe circumstance of such a sad failure.\n\nSay the authors of the _Unseen Universe_:\n\n\u201cWe have driven the operation of that mystery called _Life_ out of\nthe objective universe. The mistake made, lies in imagining that by\nthis process they completely get rid of a thing so driven before them,\nand that it disappears from the universe altogether. It does no such\nthing. It only disappears from that _small circle_ of light which we\nmay call the universe of _scientific perception_. Call it the trinity\nof mystery: mystery of matter, the mystery of life and\u2014the mystery of\nGod\u2014and these three are _One_.\u201d[313]\n\nTaking the ground that \u201cthe visible universe must _certainly, in\ntransformable energy, and probably in matter_, come to an end,\u201d and\n\u201cthe principle of continuity ... still demanding a continuance of the\nuniverse...\u201d the authors of this remarkable work find themselves forced\nto believe \u201cthat there is something _beyond_ that which is visible[314]\n... and that the visible system is not the whole universe but only, it\nmay be, a very small part of it.\u201d Furthermore, looking back as well\nas forward to the origin of this visible universe, the authors urge\nthat \u201cif the visible universe is _all_ that exists then the first\nabrupt manifestation of it is as truly a break of continuity as its\nfinal overthrow\u201d (Art. 85). Therefore, as such a break is against\nthe accepted law of continuity, the authors come to the following\nconclusion:\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, is it not natural to imagine, that a universe of this nature,\n_which we have reason to think exists_, and is connected by bonds of\nenergy with the visible universe, is also capable of receiving energy\nfrom it?... May we not regard Ether, or the medium, as not merely a {188}\nbridge[315] between one order of things and another, forming as it\nwere a species of cement, in virtue of which the various orders of\nthe universe are welded together and made into one? In fine, what we\ngenerally called Ether, may be not a mere medium, but a medium _plus_\nthe invisible order of things, so that when the motions of the visible\nuniverse are transferred into Ether, part of them are conveyed as by\na _bridge_ into the invisible universe, and are there made use of and\nstored up. Nay, is it even necessary to retain the conception of a\nbridge? May we not at once say that when energy is carried from matter\ninto Ether, it is carried from the visible into the invisible; and\nthat when it is carried from Ether to matter it is carried from the\ninvisible into the visible?\u201c(Art. 198, _Unseen Universe_.)\n\nPrecisely; and were Science to take a few more steps in that direction\nand fathom more seriously the \u201chypothetical medium\u201d who knows but\nTyndall\u2019s impassable chasm between the physical processes of the brain\nand _consciousness_, might be\u2014at least intellectually\u2014passed with\nsurprising ease and safety.\n\nSo far back as 1856, a man considered a savant in his days\u2014Dr. Jobard\nof Paris,\u2014had certainly the same ideas as the authors of the _Unseen\nUniverse_, on ether, when he startled the press and the world of\nscience by the following declaration: \u201cI hold a discovery which\nfrightens me. There are two kinds of electricity; one, brute and blind,\nis produced by the contact of metals and acids;\u201d (the gross purgation)\n... \u201cthe other is intelligent and CLAIRVOYANT!... Electricity has\nbifurcated itself in the hands of Galvani, Nobili, and Matteuci. The\nbrute force of the current has followed Jacobi, Bonelli, and Moncal,\nwhile the intellectual one was following Bois-Robert, Thilorier, and\nthe Chevalier Duplanty. The electric ball or globular electricity\ncontains a thought which disobeys Newton and Mariotte to follow its own\nfreaks.... We have, in the annals of the Academy, thousands of proofs\n_of the_ INTELLIGENCE _of the electric bolt_.... But I remark that I\nam permitting myself to become indiscreet. A little more and _I should\nhave disclosed_ to you the key which is about to discover to us the\nuniversal spirit.\u201d[316]\n\nThe foregoing, added to the wonderful confessions of science and what\nwe have just quoted from the _Unseen Universe_, throw an additional\nlustre on the wisdom of the long departed ages. In one of the preceding\nchapters we have alluded to a quotation from Cory\u2019s translation of\n_Ancient Fragments_, in which it appears that one of the _Chaldean\nOracles_ expresses this self-same idea about ether, and in language {189}\nsingularly like that of the authors of the _Unseen Universe_. It\nstates that from \u00e6ther have come all things, and to it all will\nreturn; that the images of all things are indelibly impressed upon it;\nand that it is the storehouse of the germs or of the remains of all\nvisible forms, and even ideas. It appears as if this case strangely\ncorroborates our assertion that whatever discoveries may be made in our\ndays will be found to have been anticipated by many thousand years by\nour \u201csimple-minded ancestors.\u201d\n\nAt the point at which we are now arrived, the attitude assumed by the\nmaterialists toward psychical phenomena being perfectly defined, we may\nassert with safety that were this key lying loose on the threshold of\nthe \u201cchasm\u201d not one of our Tyndalls would stoop to pick it up.\n\nHow timid would appear to some kabalists these tentative efforts to\nsolve the GREAT MYSTERY of the universal ether! Although so far in\nadvance of anything propounded by contemporary philosophers, what the\nintelligent explorers of the _Unseen Universe_ speculate upon, was to\nthe masters of hermetic philosophy familiar science. To them ether\nwas not merely a bridge connecting the seen and unseen sides of the\nuniverse, but across its span their daring feet followed the road that\nled through the mysterious gates which modern speculators either will\nnot or _cannot_ unlock.\n\nThe deeper the research of the modern explorer, the more often he\ncomes face to face with the discoveries of the ancients. Does Elie\nde Beaumont, the great French geologist, venture a hint upon the\nterrestrial circulation, in relation to some elements in the earth\u2019s\ncrust, he finds himself anticipated by the old philosophers. Do we\ndemand of distinguished technologists, what are the most recent\ndiscoveries in regard to the origin of the metalliferous deposits?\nWe hear one of them, Professor Sterry Hunt, in showing us how water\nis a _universal solvent_, enunciating the doctrine held and taught\nby the old Thales, more than two dozen centuries ago, that water was\nthe principle of all things. We listen to the same professor, with de\nBeaumont as authority, expounding the terrestrial circulation, and\nthe chemical and physical phenomena of the material world. While we\nread with pleasure that he is \u201cnot prepared to concede that we have in\nchemical and physical processes _the whole secret of organic life_,\u201d we\nnote with a still greater delight the following honest confession on\nhis part: \u201cStill we are, in many respects, approximating the phenomena\nof the organic world to those of the mineral kingdom; and we at the\nsame time learn that these so far interest and depend upon each other\nthat _we begin to see a certain truth_ underlying the notion of those\nold philosophers, who extended to the mineral world the notion of a\nvital force, which led them to speak of the earth as a great _living_\norganism, and to look upon the various changes of its air, its waters,\nand its rocky depths, as processes belonging to the life of our\nplanet.\u201d\n\nEverything in this world must have a beginning. Things have latterly {190}\ngone so far with scientists in the matter of prejudice, that it is\nquite a wonder that even so much as this should be conceded to ancient\nphilosophy. The poor, honest primordial elements have long been exiled,\nand our ambitious men of science run races to determine who shall add\none more to the fledgling brood of the sixty-three or more elementary\nsubstances. Meanwhile there rages a war in modern chemistry about\nterms. We are denied the right to call these substances \u201cchemical\nelements,\u201d for they are not \u201cprimordial principles or self-existing\nessences out of which the universe was fashioned.\u201d[317] Such ideas\nassociated with the word _element_ were good enough for the \u201cold Greek\nphilosophy,\u201d but modern science rejects them; for, as Professor Cooke\nsays, \u201cthey are unfortunate terms,\u201d and experimental science will have\n\u201cnothing to do with any kind of essences except those which it can see,\nsmell, or taste.\u201d It must have those that can be put in the eye, the\nnose, or the mouth! It leaves others to the metaphysicians.\n\nTherefore, when Van Helmont tells us that, \u201cthough a homogeneal part of\nelementary earth may be artfully (artificially) converted into water,\u201d\nthough he still denies \u201cthat the same can be done by nature alone;\nfor no natural agent is able to transmute one element into another,\u201d\noffering as a reason that the elements always remain the same, we\nmust believe him, if not quite an ignoramus, at least an unprogressed\ndisciple of the mouldy \u201cold Greek philosophy.\u201d Living and dying in\nblissful ignorance of the future sixty-three _substances_, what could\neither he or his old master, Paracelsus, achieve? Nothing, of course,\nbut _metaphysical_ and crazy speculations, clothed in a meaningless\njargon common to all medi\u00e6val and ancient alchemists. Nevertheless,\nin comparing notes, we find in the latest of all works upon modern\nchemistry, the following: \u201cThe study of chemistry has revealed a\nremarkable class of substances, from no one of which a second substance\nhas ever been produced by any chemical process which weighs less\nthan the original substance ... by no chemical process whatever can\nwe obtain from iron a substance weighing less than the metal used in\nits production. In a word, we can _extract_ from iron nothing but\niron.\u201d[318] Moreover, it appears, according to Professor Cooke, that\n\u201c_seventy-five years ago_ men did not know there was any difference\u201d\nbetween elementary and compound substances, for in old times alchemists\n_had never conceived_ \u201cthat _weight is the measure of material_, and\nthat, as thus measured, no material is ever lost; but, on the contrary,\nthey imagined that in such experiments[319] as these the substances\ninvolved underwent a _mysterious transformation_.... Centuries,\u201d in {191}\nshort, \u201cwere wasted in vain attempts to transform the baser metals\ninto gold.\u201d\n\nIs Professor Cooke, so eminent in modern chemistry, equally proficient\nin the knowledge of what the alchemists did or did not know? Is he\nquite sure that he understands the meaning of the alchemical diction?\nWe are not. But let us compare his views as above expressed with but\nsentences written in plain and good, albeit old English, from the\ntranslations of Van Helmont and Paracelsus. We learn from their own\nadmissions that the alkahest induces the following changes:\n\n\u201c(1.) The alkahest never destroys the _seminal virtues_ of the bodies\nthereby dissolved: for instance, gold, by its action, is reduced to\na _salt_ of gold, antimony to _a salt of antimony_, etc., of the\nsame seminal virtues, or characters with the original concrete. (2.)\nThe _subject exposed_ to its operation is converted into its three\nprinciples, salt, sulphur, and mercury, and afterwards into salt alone,\nwhich then becomes volatile, and at length is wholly turned into\nclear water. (3.) Whatever it dissolves may be rendered volatile by\na sand-heat; and if, after volatilizing the solvent, it be distilled\ntherefrom, the body is left pure, insipid water, but always _equal in\nquantity to its original self_.\u201d Further, we find Van Helmont, the\nelder, saying of this salt that it will dissolve the most untractable\nbodies into substances of the same seminal virtues, \u201c_equal in weight\nto the matter dissolved_;\u201d and he adds, \u201cThis salt, by being several\ntimes cohobated with Paracelsus, _sal circulatum_, loses all its\nfixedness, and at length becomes an insipid water, _equal in quantity_\nto the salt it was made from.\u201d[320]\n\nThe objection that might be made by Professor Cooke, in behalf of\nmodern science, to the hermetic expressions, would equally apply to\nthe Egyptian hieratic writings\u2014they hide that which was meant to be\nconcealed. If he would profit by the labors of the past, he must employ\nthe cryptographer, and not the satirist. Paracelsus, like the rest,\nexhausted his ingenuity in transpositions of letters and abbreviations\nof words and sentences. For example, when he wrote _sutratur_ he meant\ntartar, and _mutrin_ meant nitrum, and so on. There was no end to the\npretended explanations of the meaning of the alkahest. Some imagined\nthat it was an alkaline of salt of tartar salatilized; others that it\nmeant _algeist_, a German word which means all-spirit, or spirituous.\nParacelsus usually termed salt \u201cthe centre of water wherein metals\nought to die.\u201d This gave rise to the most absurd suppositions, and\nsome persons\u2014such as Glauber\u2014thought that the alkahest was the spirit\nof salt. It requires no little hardihood to assert that Paracelsus and\nhis colleagues were ignorant of the natures of elementary and compound {192}\nsubstances; they may not be called by the same names as are now in\nfashion, but that they were known is proved by the results attained.\nWhat matters it by what name the gas given off when iron is dissolved\nin sulphuric acid was called by Paracelsus, since he is recognized,\neven by our standard authorities, as the discoverer of _hydrogen_?[321]\nHis merit is the same; and though Van Helmont may have concealed, under\nthe name \u201cseminal virtues,\u201d his knowledge of the fact that elementary\nsubstances have their original properties, which the entering into\ncompounds only temporarily modifies\u2014never destroys\u2014he was none the less\nthe greatest chemist of his age, and the peer of modern scientists. He\naffirmed that the _aurum potabile_ could be obtained with the alkahest,\nby converting the whole body of gold into salt, retaining its seminal\nvirtues, and being soluble in water. When chemists learn what he meant\nby _aurum potabile_, alkahest, salt, and seminal virtues\u2014what he really\nmeant, not what he said he meant, nor what was thought he meant\u2014then,\nand not before, can our chemists safely assume such airs toward the\nfire-philosophers and those ancient masters whose mystic teachings\nthey reverently studied. One thing is clear, at any rate. Taken merely\nin its exoteric form, this language of Van Helmont shows that he\nunderstood the solubility of metallic substances in water, which Sterry\nHunt makes the basis of his theory of metalliferous deposits. We would\nlike to see what sort of terms would be invented by our scientific\ncontempories to conceal and yet half-reveal their audacious proposition\nthat man\u2019s \u201conly God is the cineritious matter of his brain,\u201d if in the\nbasement of the new Court House or the cathedral on Fifth Avenue there\nwere a torture-chamber, to which judge or cardinal could send them at\nwill.\n\nProfessor Sterry Hunt says in one of his lectures:[322] \u201cThe alchemists\nsought in vain for a universal solvent; but we now know that water,\naided in some cases by heat, pressure, and the presence of certain\nwidely-distributed substances, such as carbonic acid and alkaline\ncarbonates and sulphides, will dissolve the most insoluble bodies; so\nthat it may, after all, be looked upon as the long-sought for alkahest\nor universal menstruum.\u201d\n\nThis reads almost like a paraphrase of Van Helmont, or Paracelsus\nhimself! They knew the properties of water as a solvent as well\nas modern chemists, and what is more, made no concealment of the\nfact; which shows that this was not _their_ universal solvent. Many\ncommentaries and criticisms of their works are still extant, and one\ncan hardly take up a book on the subject without finding at least one {193}\nof their speculations of which they never thought of making a mystery.\nThis is what we find in an old work on alchemists\u2014a satire, moreover\u2014of\n1820, written at the beginning of our century when the new theories on\nthe chemical potency of water were hardly in their embryonic state.\n\n\u201cIt may throw some light to observe, that Van Helmont, as well as\nParacelsus, _took water for the universal instrument (agent?) of\nchymistry_ and natural philosophy; and earth for the unchangeable basis\nof all things\u2014that fire was assigned as the sufficient cause of all\nthings\u2014that seminal impressions were lodged in the mechanism of the\nearth\u2014that water, by dissolving and fermenting with this earth, as\nit does by means of fire, brings forth everything; whence originally\nproceeded animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms.\u201d[323]\n\nThe alchemists understand well this universal potency of water. In the\nworks of Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Philalethes, Pantatem, Tachenius, and\neven Boyle, \u201cthe great characteristic of the alkahest,\u201d \u201cto dissolve\nand change all sublunary bodies\u2014_water alone excepted_,\u201d is explicitly\nstated. And is it possible to believe that Van Helmont, whose private\ncharacter was unimpeachable, and whose great learning was universally\nrecognized, should most solemnly declare himself possessed of the\nsecret, were it but a vain boast![324]\n\nIn a recent address at Nashville, Tennessee, Professor Huxley laid\ndown a certain rule with respect to the validity of human testimony\nas a basis of history and science, which we are quite ready to\napply to the present case. \u201cIt is impossible,\u201d he says, \u201cthat one\u2019s\npractical life should not be more or less influenced by the views\nwhich we may hold as to what has been the past history of things.\nOne of them is _human testimony_ in its various shapes\u2014all testimony\nof eye-witnesses, traditional testimony from the lips of _those who\nhave been eye-witnesses_, and the testimony of those who have put\ntheir impressions into writing and into print.... If you read C\u00e6sar\u2019s\n_Commentaries_, wherever he gives an account of his battles with the\nGauls, you place a certain amount of confidence in his statements. You\ntake his testimony upon this. _You feel that C\u00e6sar would not have made\nthese statements unless he had believed them to be true._\u201d\n\nNow, we cannot in logic permit Mr. Huxley\u2019s philosophical rule to be\napplied in a one-sided manner to C\u00e6sar. Either that personage was\nnaturally truthful or a natural liar; and since Mr. Huxley has settled\nthat point to his own satisfaction as regards the facts of military\nhistory in his favor, we insist that C\u00e6sar is also a competent witness {194}\nas to augurs, diviners, and psychological facts. So with Herodotus,\nand all other ancient authorities, unless they were by nature men\nof truth, they should not be believed even about civil or military\naffairs. _Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus._ And equally, if they are\ncredible as to physical things, they must be regarded as equally so as\nto spiritual things; for as Professor Huxley tells us, human nature was\nof old just as it is now. Men of intellect and conscience did not lie\nfor the pleasure of bewildering or disgusting posterity.\n\nThe probabilities of falsification by such men having been defined\nso clearly by a man of science, we feel free from the necessity of\ndiscussing the question in connection with the names of Van Helmont\nand his illustrious but unfortunate master, the much-slandered\nParacelsus. Deleuze, though finding in the works of the former many\n\u201cmythic, illusory ideas\u201d perhaps only because he could not understand\nthem\u2014credits him nevertheless with a vast knowledge, \u201can acute\njudgment,\u201d and at the same time with having given to the world \u201cgreat\ntruths.\u201d \u201cHe was the first,\u201d he adds, \u201cto give the name of _gas_ to\naerial fluids. Without him it is probable that steel would have given\nno new impulse to science.\u201d[325] By what application of the doctrine\nof chances could we discover the likelihood that experimentalists,\ncapable of resolving and recombining chemical substances, as they\nare admitted to have done, were ignorant of the nature of elementary\nsubstances, their combining energies, and the solvent or solvents, that\nwould disintegrate them when wanted? If they had the reputation only of\ntheorists the case would stand differently and our argument would lose\nits force, but the chemical discoveries grudgingly accorded to them,\nby their worst enemies, form the basis for much stronger language than\nwe have permitted ourselves, from a fear of being deemed over partial.\nAnd, as this work, moreover, is based on the idea that there is a\nhigher nature of man, that his moral and intellectual faculties should\nbe judged _psychologically_, we do not hesitate to reaffirm that since\nVan Helmont asserted, \u201cmost solemnly,\u201d that he was possessed of the\nsecret of the alkahest, no modern critic has a right to set him down\nas either a liar or a visionary, until something more certain is known\nabout the nature of this alleged _universal menstruum_.\n\n\u201cFacts are stubborn things,\u201d remarks Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his preface\nto _Miracles and Modern Spiritualism_. Therefore,[326] as facts must {195}\nbe our strongest allies, we will bring as many of these forward as\nthe \u201cmiracles\u201d of antiquity and those of our modern times will furnish\nus with. The authors of the _Unseen Universe_ have _scientifically_\ndemonstrated the possibility of certain alleged psychological\nphenomena through the medium of the universal ether. Mr. Wallace has\nas scientifically proved that the whole catalogue of assumptions to\nthe contrary, including the sophisms of Hume, are untenable if brought\nface to face with strict logic. Mr. Crookes has given to the world\nof skepticism his own experiments, which lasted above three years\nbefore he was conquered by the most undeniable of evidence\u2014that of his\nown senses. A whole list could be made up of men of science who have\nrecorded their testimony to that effect; and Camille Flammarion, the\nwell-known French astronomer, and author of many works which, in the\neyes of the skeptical, should send him to the ranks of the \u201cdeluded,\u201d\nin company with Wallace, Crookes, and Hare, corroborates our words in\nthe following lines:\n\n\u201cI do not hesitate to affirm my conviction, based on a personal\nexamination of the subject, that any scientific man who declares the\nphenomena denominated \u2018magnetic,\u2019 \u2018somnambulic,\u2018 \u2018mediumic,\u2019 and others\nnot yet explained by science, to be impossible, is one who speaks\nwithout knowing what he is talking about, and also any man accustomed,\nby his professional avocations, to scientific observations\u2014provided\nthat his mind be not biassed by preconceived opinions, nor his mental\nvision blinded by that opposite kind of illusion, unhappily too common\nin the learned world, which consists in _imagining that the laws of\nNature are already known to us_, and that everything which appears to\noverstep the limit of our present formulas is impossible, may require a\nradical and absolute certainty of the reality of the facts alluded to.\u201d\n\nIn Mr. Crookes\u2019 _Notes of an Enquiry into the Phenomena called\nSpiritual_, on p. 101, this gentleman quotes Mr. Sergeant Cox, who\nhaving named this unknown force, _psychic_, explains it thus: \u201cAs\nthe organism is itself moved and directed within the structure by a\nforce\u2014which either is, or is not controlled by\u2014the soul, spirit, or\nmind ... which constitutes the individual being we term \u2018the man,\u2019 it\nis an equally reasonable conclusion that the force which causes the\nmotions beyond the limits of the body _is the same force that produces\nmotion within the limits of the body_. And, as the external force is\noften directed by intelligence, it is an equally reasonable conclusion\nthat the directing intelligence of the external force is the same\nintelligence that directs the force internally.\u201d\n\nIn order to comprehend this theory the better, we may as well divide it\nin four propositions and show that Mr. Sergeant Cox believes:\n\n1. That the force which produces physical phenomena proceeds _from_\n(consequently is generated _in_) the medium.\n\n2. That the intelligence directing the force for the production of the {196}\nphenomena (_a_) _may_ sometimes be other than the intelligence of the\nmedium; but of this the \u201cproof\u201d is \u201cinsufficient;\u201d therefore, (_b_) the\ndirecting intelligence is probably that of the medium himself. This Mr.\nCox calls \u201ca reasonable conclusion.\u201d\n\n3. He assumes that the force which moves the table is identical with\nthe force which moves the medium\u2019s body itself.\n\n4. He strongly disputes the spiritualistic theory, or rather assertion,\nthat \u201cspirits of the dead are the _sole_ agents in the production of\n_all_ the phenomena.\u201d\n\nBefore we fairly proceed on our analysis of such views we must remind\nthe reader that we find ourselves placed between two extreme opposites\nrepresented by two parties\u2014the believers and unbelievers in this agency\nof human spirits. Neither seem capable of deciding the point raised\nby Mr. Cox; for while the spiritualists are so omnivorous in their\ncredulity as to believe every sound and movement in a _circle_ to be\nproduced by _disembodied_ human beings, their antagonists dogmatically\ndeny that anything can be produced by \u201cspirits,\u201d for there are none.\nHence, neither class is in a position to examine the subject without\nbias.\n\nIf they consider that force which \u201cproduces motion within the body\u201d and\nthe one \u201cwhich causes the motion beyond the limits of the body\u201d to be\nof _the same essence_, they may be right. But the identity of these two\nforces stops here. The life-principle which animates Mr. Cox\u2019s body is\nof the same nature as that of his medium; nevertheless he is not the\nmedium, nor is the latter Mr. Cox.\n\nThis force, which, to please Mr. Cox and Mr. Crookes we may just as\nwell call _psychic_ as anything else, proceeds _through_ not _from_ the\nindividual medium. In the latter case this force would be generated in\nthe medium and we are ready to show that it cannot be so; neither in\nthe instances of levitation of human bodies, the moving of furniture\nand other objects without contact, nor in such cases in which the force\nshows reason and intelligence. It is a well-known fact to both mediums\nand spiritualists, that the more the former is passive, the better\nthe manifestations; and every one of the above-mentioned phenomena\nrequires a _conscious_ predetermined _will_. In cases of levitation,\nwe should have to believe that this self-generated force would raise\nthe inert mass off the ground, direct it through the air, and lower it\ndown again, avoiding obstacles and thereby showing intelligence, and\nstill act automatically, the medium remaining all the while _passive_.\nIf such were the fact, the medium would be a conscious magician, and\nall pretence for being a passive instrument in the hands of invisible\nintelligences would become useless. As well plead that a quantity of {197}\nsteam sufficient to fill, without bursting, a boiler, will raise the\nboiler; or a Leyden jar, full of electricity, overcome the inertia of\nthe jar, as such a mechanical absurdity. All analogy would seem to\nindicate that the force which operates in the presence of a medium upon\nexternal objects comes from a source back of the medium himself. We may\nrather compare it with the hydrogen which overcomes the inertia of the\nballoon. The gas, under the control of an intelligence, is accumulated\nin the receiver in sufficient volume to overcome the attraction of\nits combined mass. On the same principle this force moves articles of\nfurniture, and performs other manifestations; and though identical\nin its essence with the astral spirit of the medium, it cannot be\nhis spirit only, for the latter remains all the while in a kind of\ncataleptic torpor, when the mediumship is genuine. Mr. Cox\u2019s first\npoint seems, therefore, not well taken; it is based upon an hypothesis\nmechanically untenable. Of course our argument proceeds upon the\nsupposition that levitation is an observed fact. The theory of psychic\nforce, to be perfect, must account for all \u201cvisible motions ... in\nsolid substances,\u201d and among these is levitation.\n\nAs to his second point, we deny that \u201cthe proof is insufficient\u201d that\nthe force which produces the phenomena is sometimes directed by other\nintelligences than the mind of the \u201cpsychic.\u201d On the contrary there is\nsuch an abundance of testimony to show that the mind of the medium,\nin a majority of cases, has nothing to do with the phenomena, that we\ncannot be content to let Mr. Cox\u2019s bold assertion go unchallenged.\n\nEqually illogical do we conceive to be his third proposition; for if\nthe medium\u2019s body be not the generator but simply the channel of the\nforce which produces the phenomena\u2014a question upon which Mr. Cox\u2019s\nresearches throw no light whatever\u2014then it does not follow that because\nthe medium\u2019s \u201csoul, spirit, or mind\u201d directs the medium\u2019s organism,\ntherefore this \u201csoul, spirit, or mind,\u201d lifts a chair or raps at the\ncall of the alphabet.\n\nAs to the fourth proposition, namely, that \u201cspirits of the dead are\nthe sole agents in the production of all the phenomena,\u201d we need not\njoin issue at the present moment, inasmuch as the nature of the spirits\nproducing mediumistic manifestations is treated at length in other\nchapters.\n\nThe philosophers, and especially those who were initiated into the\nMysteries, held that the astral soul is the impalpable duplicate of\nthe gross external form which we call body. It is the _perisprit_\nof the Kardecists and the _spirit-form_ of the spiritualists. Above\nthis internal duplicate, and illuminating it as the warm ray of the {198}\nsun illuminates the earth, fructifying the germ and calling out to\nspiritual vivification the latent qualities dormant in it, hovers the\ndivine spirit. The astral _perisprit_ is contained and confined within\nthe physical body as ether in a bottle, or magnetism in magnetized\niron. It is a centre and engine of force, fed from the universal supply\nof force, and moved by the same general laws which pervade all nature\nand produce all cosmical phenomena. Its inherent activity causes the\nincessant physical operations of the animal organism and ultimately\nresults in the destruction of the latter by overuse and its own\nescape. It is the prisoner, not the voluntary tenant, of the body. It\nhas an attraction so powerful to the external universal force, that\nafter wearing out its casing it finally escapes to it. The stronger,\ngrosser, more material its encasing body, the longer is the term of its\nimprisonment. Some persons are born with organizations so exceptional,\nthat the door which shuts other people in from communication with the\nworld of the astral light, can be easily unbarred and opened, and their\nsouls can look into, or even pass into that world, and return again.\nThose who do this consciously, and at will, are termed magicians,\nhierophants, seers, adepts; those who are made to do it, either through\nthe fluid of the mesmerizer or of \u201cspirits,\u201d are \u201cmediums.\u201d The astral\nsoul, when the barriers are once opened, is so powerfully attracted by\nthe universal, astral magnet, that it sometimes lifts its encasement\nwith it and keeps it suspended in mid-air, until the gravity of matter\nre\u00e4sserts its supremacy, and the body redescends again to earth.\n\nEvery objective manifestation, whether it be the motion of a living\nlimb, or the movement of some inorganic body, requires two conditions:\nwill and force\u2014plus _matter_, or that which makes the object so moved\nvisible to our eye; and these three are all convertible forces, or the\nforce-correlation of the scientists. In their turn they are directed\nor rather overshadowed by the Divine intelligence which these men so\nstudiously leave out of the account, but without which not even the\ncrawling of the smallest earth-worm could ever take place. The simplest\nas the most common of all natural phenomena,\u2014the rustling of the\nleaves which tremble under the gentle contact of the breeze\u2014requires\na constant exercise of these faculties. Scientists may well call them\ncosmic laws, immutable and unchangeable. Behind these laws we must\nsearch for the intelligent cause, which once having created and set\nthese laws in motion, has infused into them the essence of its own\nconsciousness. Whether we call this the first cause, the universal\nwill, or God, it must always bear intelligence.\n\nAnd now we may ask, how can a will manifest itself intelligently and\nunconsciously at the same time? It is difficult, if not impossible, to\nconceive of intellection apart from consciousness. By consciousness {199}\nwe do not necessarily imply physical or corporeal consciousness.\n_Consciousness is a quality of the sentient principle, or, in other\nwords, the soul; and the latter often displays activity even while the\nbody is asleep or paralyzed._ When we lift our arm mechanically, we\nmay imagine that we do it unconsciously because our superficial senses\ncannot appreciate the interval between the formulation of the purpose\nand its execution. Latent as it seemed to us, our vigilant will evolved\nforce, and set our matter in motion. There is nothing in the nature\nof the most trivial of mediumistic phenomena to make Mr. Cox\u2019s theory\nplausible. If the intelligence manifested by this force is no proof\nthat it belongs to a disembodied spirit, still less is it evidence that\nit is unconsciously given out by the medium; Mr. Crookes himself tells\nus of cases where the intelligence could not have emanated from any\none in the room; as in the instance where the word \u201chowever,\u201d covered\nby his finger and unknown even to himself, was correctly written by\nplanchette.[327] No explanation whatever can account for this case; the\nonly hypothesis tenable\u2014if we exclude the agency of a spirit-power\u2014is\nthat the clairvoyant faculties were brought into play. But scientists\ndeny clairvoyance; and if, to escape the unwelcome alternative of\naccrediting the phenomena to a spiritual source, they concede to us the\nfact of clairvoyance, it then devolves upon them to either accept the\nkabalistic explanation of what this faculty is, or achieve the task\nhitherto impracticable of making a new theory to fit the facts.\n\nAgain, if for the sake of argument it should be admitted that Mr.\nCrookes\u2019 word \u201chowever\u201d might have been clairvoyantly read, what shall\nwe say of mediumistic communications having a prophetic character? Does\nany theory of mediumistic impulse account for the ability to foretell\nevents beyond the possible knowledge of both speaker and listener? Mr.\nCox will have to try again.\n\nAs we have said before, the modern psychic force, and the ancient\noracular fluids, whether terrestrial or sidereal, are identical in\nessence\u2014simply a blind force. So is air. And while in a dialogue the\nsound-waves produced by a conversation of the speakers affect the same\nbody of air, that does not imply any doubt of the fact that there\nare two persons talking with each other. Is it any more reasonable\nto say that when a common agent is employed by medium and \u201cspirit\u201d\nto intercommunicate, there must necessarily be but one intelligence\ndisplaying itself? As the air is necessary for the mutual exchange\nof audible sounds, so are certain currents of astral light, or ether\ndirected by an _Intelligence_, necessary for the production of the\nphenomena called spiritual. Place two interlocutors in the exhausted {200}\nreceiver of an air-pump, and, if they could live, their words would\nremain inarticulate thoughts, for there would be no air to vibrate, and\nhence no ripple of sound would reach their ears. Place the strongest\nmedium in such isolating atmosphere as a powerful mesmerizer, familiar\nwith the properties of the magical agent, can create around him, and no\nmanifestations will take place until some opposing intelligence, more\npotential than the will-power of the mesmerizer, overcomes the latter\nand terminates the astral inertia.\n\nThe ancients were at no loss to discriminate between a blind\nforce acting spontaneously and the same force when directed by an\nintelligence.\n\nPlutarch, the priest of Apollo, when speaking of the oracular vapors\nwhich were but a subterranean gas, imbued with intoxicating magnetic\nproperties, shows its nature to be dual, when he addresses it in these\nwords: \u201cAnd who art thou? without a God who creates and ripens thee;\nwithout a d\u00e6mon [spirit] who, acting under the orders of God, directs\nand governs thee; thou canst do nothing, thou art _nothing_ but a\nvain breath.\u201d[328] Thus without the indwelling soul or intelligence,\n\u201cPsychic Force\u201d would be also but a \u201cvain breath.\u201d\n\nAristotle maintains that this gas, or astral emanation, escaping from\ninside the earth, is the sole _sufficient cause_, acting from within\noutwardly for the vivification of every living being and plant upon the\nexternal crust. In answer to the skeptical negators of his century,\nCicero, moved by a just wrath, exclaims: \u201cAnd what can be more divine\nthan the exhalations of the earth, which affect the human soul so as to\nenable her to predict the future? And could the hand of time evaporate\nsuch a virtue? Do you suppose you are talking of some kind of wine or\nsalted meat?\u201d[329] Do modern experimentalists claim to be wiser than\nCicero, and say that this eternal force has evaporated, and that the\nsprings of prophecy are dry?\n\nAll the prophets of old\u2014inspired sensitives\u2014were said to be uttering\ntheir prophecies under the same conditions, either by the direct\noutward efflux of the astral emanation, or a sort of damp fluxion,\nrising from the earth. It is this astral matter which serves as a\ntemporary clothing of the souls who form themselves in this light.\nCornelius Agrippa expresses the same views as to the nature of these\nphantoms by describing it as moist or humid: \u201c_In spirito turbido_\nHUMIDOQUE.\u201d[330]\n\nProphecies are delivered in two ways\u2014consciously, by magicians who are\nable to look into the astral light; and unconsciously, by those who {201}\nact under what is called inspiration. To the latter class belonged\nand belong the Biblical prophets and the modern trance-speakers. So\nfamiliar with this fact was Plato, that of such prophets he says: \u201cNo\nman, when in his senses, attains prophetic truth and inspiration ...\nbut only when demented by some distemper or possession ...\u201d (by a\ndaimonion or spirit).[331] \u201cSome persons call them prophets; they do\nnot know that they are only _repeaters_ ... and are not to be called\nprophets at all, but only _transmitters_ of vision and prophecy,\u201che\nadds.\n\nIn continuation of his argument, Mr. Cox says: \u201cThe most ardent\nspiritualists practically admit the existence of psychic force, under\nthe very inappropriate name of magnetism (to which it has no affinity\nwhatever), for they assert that the spirits of the dead can only do the\nacts attributed to them by using the magnetism (that is, the psychic\nforce) of the mediums.\u201d[332]\n\nHere, again, a misunderstanding arises in consequence of different\nnames being applied to what may prove to be one and the same\nimponderable compound. Because electricity did not become a science\ntill the eighteenth century, no one will presume to say that this\nforce has not existed since the creation; moreover, we are prepared\nto prove that even the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with it. But,\nmerely because exact science did not happen before 1819 to stumble\nover the discovery which showed the intimate connection existing\nbetween magnetism and electricity, it does not at all prevent these two\nagents being identical. If a bar of iron can be endowed with magnetic\nproperties, by passing a current of voltaic electricity over some\nconductor placed in a certain way close to the bar, why not accept,\nas a provisional theory, that a medium may also be a _conductor_,\nand nothing more, at a seance? Is it unscientific to say that the\nintelligence of \u201cpsychic force,\u201d drawing currents of electricity from\nthe waves of the ether, and employing the medium as a conductor,\ndevelops and calls into action the latent magnetism with which the\natmosphere of the seance-room is saturated, so as to produce the\ndesired effects? The word _magnetism_ is as appropriate as any other,\nuntil science gives us something more than a merely hypothetical agent\nendowed with conjectural properties.\n\n\u201cThe difference between the advocates of psychic force and the\nspiritualists consists in this,\u201d says Sergeant Cox, \u201cthat we contend\nthat there is as yet insufficient proof of any other directing agent\nthan the intelligence of the medium, and _no proof whatever_ of the\nagency of the \u2018spirits\u2019 of the dead.\u201d[333]\n\nWe fully agree with Mr. Cox as to the lack of proof that the agency {202}\nis that of the spirits of the dead; as for the rest, it is a very\nextraordinary deduction from \u201ca wealth of facts,\u201d according to the\nexpression of Mr. Crookes, who remarks further, \u201cOn going over my\nnotes, I find ... such a superabundance of evidence, so overwhelming\na mass of testimony ... that I could fill several numbers of the\n_Quarterly_.\u201d[334]\n\nNow some of these facts of an \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d are as follows:\n1st. The movement of heavy bodies with contact, but without mechanical\nexertion. 2d. The phenomena of percussive and other sounds. 3d. The\nalteration of weight of bodies. 4th. Movements of heavy substances\n_when at a distance from the medium_. 5th. The rising of tables and\nchairs off the ground, _without contact with any person_. 6th. THE\nLEVITATION OF HUMAN BEINGS.[335] 7th. \u201cLuminous apparitions.\u201d Says\nMr. Crookes, \u201cUnder the strictest conditions, I have seen a solid\nself-luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey\u2019s egg,\nfloat noiselessly about the room, at one time higher than any one could\nreach on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible\nfor more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the\ntable three times with a sound like that of a hard, solid body.\u201d[336]\n(We must infer that the egg was of the same nature as M. Babinet\u2019s\nmeteor-cat, which is classified with other natural phenomena in Arago\u2019s\nworks.) 8th. The appearance of hands, either self-luminous or visible\nby ordinary light. 9th. \u201cDirect writing\u201d by these same luminous hands,\ndetached, and evidently endowed with intelligence. (Psychic force?)\n10th. \u201cPhantom-forms and faces.\u201d In this instance, the psychic force\ncomes \u201cfrom a corner of the room\u201d as a \u201cphantom form,\u201d takes an\naccordeon in its hand, and then glides about the room, playing the\ninstrument; Home, the medium, being in full view at the time.[337] The\nwhole of the preceding Mr. Crookes witnessed and tested at his own\nhouse, and, having assured himself scientifically of the genuineness of\nthe phenomenon, reported it to the Royal Society. Was he welcomed as {203}\nthe discoverer of natural phenomena of a new and important character?\nLet the reader consult his work for the answer.\n\nIn addition to these freaks played on human credulity by \u201cpsychic\nforce,\u201d Mr. Crookes gives another class of phenomena, which he terms\n\u201cspecial instances,\u201d which _seem_ (?) to point to the agency of an\n_exterior_ intelligence.[338]\n\n\u201cI have been,\u201d says Mr. Crookes, \u201cwith Miss Fox when she has been\nwriting a message automatically to one person present, whilst a message\nto another person, on _another_ subject, was being given alphabetically\nby means of \u2018raps,\u2019 and the whole time she was conversing freely with\na third person, on a subject totally different from either.... During\na seance with Mr. Home, a small lath moved across the table to me,\n_in the light_, and delivered a message to me by tapping my hand; I\nrepeating the alphabet, and the lath tapping me at the right letters\n... being at a distance from Mr. Home\u2019s hands.\u201d The same lath, upon\nrequest of Mr. Crookes, gave him \u201ca telegraphic message through the\nMorse alphabet, by taps on my hand\u201d (the Morse code being quite unknown\nto any other person present, and but imperfectly to himself), \u201cand,\u201d\nadds Mr. Crookes, \u201cit convinced me that there was a good Morse operator\nat the other end of the line, WHEREVER THAT MIGHT BE.\u201d[339] Would it be\nundignified in the present case to suggest that Mr. Cox should search\nfor the operator in his private principality\u2014Psychic Land? But the same\nlath does more and better. In full light in Mr. Crookes\u2019 room _it_\nis asked to give a message, \u201c ... a pencil and some sheets of paper\nhad been lying on the centre of the table; presently the _pencil rose\non its point_, and after advancing by hesitating jerks to the paper,\nfell down. It then rose, and again fell.... After three unsuccessful\nattempts, a small wooden lath\u201d (the Morse operator) \u201cwhich was lying\nnear upon the table, _slid towards the pencil_, and _rose_ a few inches\nfrom the table; the pencil rose again, _and propping itself against the\nlath_, the two together made an effort to mark the paper. It fell, and\nthen _a joint effort_ was made again. After a third trial the lath gave\nit up, and _moved back to its place_; the pencil lay as it fell across\nthe paper, and an alphabetic message told us: \u201cWe have tried to do as\nyou asked, but _our power_ is exhausted.\u201d[340] The word _our_, as the\njoint intelligent efforts of the friendly lath and pencil, would make\nus think that there were _two_ psychic forces present.\n\nIn all this, is there any proof that the directing agent was \u201cthe\nintelligence of the medium\u201d? Is there not, on the contrary, every\nindication that the movements of the lath and pencil were directed\nby spirits \u201cof the dead,\u201d or at least of those of some other unseen {204}\nintelligent entities? Most certainly the word magnetism explains in\nthis case as little as the term _psychic force_; howbeit, there is more\nreason to use the former than the latter, if it were but for the simple\nfact that the _transcendent_ magnetism or mesmerism produces phenomena\nidentical in effects with those of spiritualism. The phenomenon of the\n_enchanted_ circle of Baron Du Potet and Regazzoni, is as contrary\nto the accepted laws of physiology as the rising of a table without\ncontact is to the laws of natural philosophy. As strong men have often\nfound it impossible to raise a small table weighing a few pounds, and\nbroken it to pieces in the effort, so a dozen of experimenters, among\nthem sometimes, academicians, were utterly unable to step across a\nchalk-line drawn on the floor by Du Potet. On one occasion a Russian\ngeneral, well known for his skepticism, persisted until he fell on the\nground in violent convulsions. In this case, the magnetic fluid which\nopposed such a resistance was Mr. Cox\u2019s psychic force, which endows the\ntables with an extraordinary and supernatural weight. If they produce\nthe same psychological and physiological effects, there is good reason\nto believe them more or less identical. We do not think the deduction\ncould be very reasonably objected to. Besides, were the fact even\ndenied, this is no reason why it should not be so. Once upon a time,\nall the Academies in Christendom had agreed to deny that there were\nany mountains in the moon; and there was a certain time when, if any\none had been so bold as to affirm that there was life in the superior\nregions of the atmosphere as well as in the fathomless depths of the\nocean, he would have been set down as a fool or an ignoramus.\n\n\u201cThe Devil affirms\u2014it must be a lie!\u201d the pious Abb\u00e9 Almiguana used\nto say, in a discussion with a \u201cspiritualized table.\u201d We will soon be\nwarranted in paraphrasing the sentence and making it read\u2014\u201cScientists\ndeny\u2014then it must be true.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII. {205}\n\n \u201cThou great First Cause, least understood.\u201d\u2014POPE.\n\n \u201cWhence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,\n This longing after immortality?\n Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror\n Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul\n Back on herself, and startles at destruction?\n \u2019Tis the divinity that stirs within us;\n \u2019Tis heaven itself that points out our hereafter\n And intimates eternity to man.\n\n ETERNITY! Thou pleasing, dreadful thought!\u201d\u2014ADDISON.\n\n \u201cThere is another and a better world.\u201d\u2014KOTZEBUE: _The Stranger_.\n\n\nAfter according so much space to the conflicting opinions of our men\nof science about certain occult phenomena of our modern period, it\nis but just that we give attention to the speculations of medi\u00e6val\nalchemists and certain other illustrious men. Almost without exception,\nancient and medi\u00e6val scholars believed in the arcane doctrines of\nwisdom. These included Alchemy, the Chaldeo-Jewish Kabala, the esoteric\nsystems of Pythagoras and the old Magi, and those of the later Platonic\nphilosophers and theurgists. We also propose in subsequent pages to\ntreat of the Indian gymnosophists and the Chaldean astrologers. We\nmust not neglect to show the grand truths underlying the misunderstood\nreligions of the past. The four elements of our fathers, earth, air,\nwater, and fire, contain for the student of alchemy and ancient\npsychology\u2014or as it is now termed, _magic_\u2014many things of which our\nphilosophy has never dreamed. We must not forget that what is now\ncalled _Necromancy_ by the Church, and _Spiritualism_ by modern\nbelievers, and that includes the evoking of departed spirits, is a\nscience which has, from remote antiquity, been almost universally\ndiffused over the face of the globe.\n\nAlthough neither an alchemist, magician, nor astrologer, but simply\na great philosopher, Henry More, of Cambridge University\u2014a man\nuniversally esteemed, may be named as a shrewd logician, scientist, and\nmetaphysician. His belief in witchcraft was firm throughout his life.\nHis faith in immortality and able arguments in demonstration of the\nsurvival of man\u2019s spirit after death are all based on the Pythagorean\nsystem, adopted by Cardan, Van Helmont, and other mystics. The infinite {206}\nand uncreated spirit that we usually call GOD, a substance of the\nhighest virtue and excellency, produced everything else by _emanative\ncausality_. God thus is the primary substance, the rest, the secondary;\nif the former created matter with a power of moving itself, he, the\nprimary substance, is still the cause of that motion as well as of the\nmatter, and yet we rightly say that it is matter which moves itself.\n\u201cWe may define this kind of spirit we speak of to be a substance\nindiscernible, that can move itself, that can penetrate, contract, and\ndilate itself, and can also penetrate, move, and alter matter,\u201d[341]\nwhich is the third emanation. He firmly believed in apparitions,\nand stoutly defended the theory of the individuality of every soul\nin which \u201cpersonality, memory, and conscience will surely continue\nin the future state.\u201d He divided the astral spirit of man after its\nexit from the body into two distinct entities: the \u201ca\u00ebrial\u201d and the\n\u201c\u00e6thereal vehicle.\u201d During the time that a disembodied man moves in its\na\u00ebrial clothing, he is subject to _Fate_\u2014_i. e._, evil and temptation,\nattached to its earthly interests, and therefore is not utterly pure;\nit is only when he casts off this garb of the first spheres and becomes\nethereal that he becomes sure of his immortality. \u201cFor what shadow\ncan that body cast that is a pure and transparent light, such as the\nethereal vehicle is? And therefore that oracle is then fulfilled, when\nthe soul has ascended into that condition we have already described, in\nwhich alone it is out of the reach of fate and mortality.\u201d He concludes\nhis work by stating that this transcendent and divinely-pure condition\nwas the only aim of the Pythagoreans.\n\nAs to the skeptics of his age, his language is contemptuous and severe.\nSpeaking of Scot, Adie, and Webster, he terms them \u201cour new inspired\nsaints ... sworn advocates of the witches, who thus madly and boldly,\nagainst all sense and reason, against all antiquity, all interpreters,\nand against the Scripture itself, will have even no Samuel in the\nscene, but a confederate knave! Whether the Scripture, or these inblown\nbuffoons, puffed up with nothing but ignorance, vanity, and stupid\ninfidelity, are to be believed, let any one judge,\u201d he adds.[342]\n\nWhat kind of language would this eminent divine have used against our\nskeptics of the nineteenth century?\n\nDescartes, although a worshipper of matter, was one of the most devoted\nteachers of the magnetic doctrine and, in a certain sense, even of\nAlchemy. His system of physics was very much like that of other great\nphilosophers. Space, which is infinite, is composed, or rather filled\nup with a fluid and elementary matter, and is the sole fountain of all {207}\nlife, enclosing all the celestial globes and keeping them in perpetual\nmotion. The magnet-streams of Mesmer are disguised by him into the\nCartesian vortices, and both rest on the same principle. Ennemoser does\nnot hesitate to say that both have more in common \u201cthan people suppose,\nwho have not carefully examined the subject.\u201d[343]\n\nThe esteemed philosopher, Pierre Poiret Naud\u00e9, was the warmest defender\nof the doctrines of occult magnetism and its first propounders,[344]\nin 1679. The magico-theosophical philosophy is fully vindicated in his\nworks.\n\nThe well-known Dr. Hufeland has written a work on magic[345] in which\nhe propounds the theory of the universal magnetic sympathy between men,\nanimals, plants, and even minerals. The testimony of Campanella, Van\nHelmont, and Servius, is confirmed by him in relation to the sympathy\nexisting between the different parts of the body as well as between the\nparts of all organic and even inorganic bodies.\n\nSuch also was the doctrine of Tenzel Wirdig. It may even be found\nexpounded in his works, with far more clearness, logic, and vigor,\nthan in those of other mystical authors who have treated of the same\nsubject. In his famous treatise, _The New Spiritual Medicine_, he\ndemonstrates, on the ground of the later-accepted fact of universal\nattraction and repulsion\u2014now called \u201cgravitation\u201d that the whole nature\nis _ensouled_. Wirdig calls this magnetic sympathy \u201cthe accordance\nof spirits.\u201d Everything is drawn to its like, and converges with\nnatures congenial to itself. Out of this sympathy and antipathy\narises a constant movement in the whole world, and in all its parts,\nand uninterrupted communion between heaven and earth, which produces\nuniversal harmony. Everything lives and perishes through magnetism;\none thing affects another one, even at great distances, and its\n\u201ccongenitals\u201d may be influenced to health and disease by the power\nof this sympathy, at any time, and notwithstanding the intervening\nspace.[346] \u201cHufeland,\u201d says Ennemoser, \u201cgives the account of a nose\nwhich had been cut from the back of a porter, but which, when the\nporter died, died too and fell off from its artificial position. A\npiece of skin,\u201d adds Hufeland, \u201ctaken from a living head, had its\nhair turn gray at the same time as that on the head from which it was\ntaken.\u201d[347]\n\nKepler, the forerunner of Newton in many great truths, even in that of\nthe universal \u201cgravitation\u201d which he very justly attributed to magnetic\nattraction, notwithstanding that he terms astrology \u201cthe insane\ndaughter of a most wise mother\u201d Astronomy, shares the kabalistic belief {208}\nthat the spirits of the stars are so many \u201cintelligences.\u201d _He firmly\nbelieves that each planet is the seat of an intelligent principle,\nand that they are all inhabited by spiritual beings, who exercise\ninfluences over other beings inhabiting more gross and material spheres\nthan their own and especially_ our earth.[348] As Kepler\u2019s _spiritual_\nstarry influences were superseded by the vortices of the more\nmaterialistic Descartes, whose atheistical tendencies did not prevent\nhim from believing that he had found out a diet that would prolong his\nlife five hundred years and more, so the vortices of the latter and his\nastronomical doctrines may some day give place to the _intelligent_\nmagnetic streams which are directed by the _Anima Mundi_.\n\nBaptista Porta, the learned Italian philosopher, notwithstanding his\nendeavors to show to the world the groundlessness of their accusations\nof magic being a superstition and sorcery, was treated by later critics\nwith the same unfairness as his colleagues. This celebrated alchemist\nleft a work on _Natural Magic_,[349] in which he bases all of the\noccult phenomena possible to man upon the world-soul which binds all\nwith all. He shows that the astral light acts in harmony and sympathy\nwith all nature; that it is the essence out of which our spirits are\nformed; and that by acting in unison with their parent-source, our\nsidereal bodies are rendered capable of producing magic wonders. The\nwhole secret depends on our knowledge of kindred elements. He believed\nin the philosopher\u2019s stone, \u201cof which the world hath so great an\nopinion of, which hath been bragged of in so many ages and _happily\nattained unto by some_.\u201d Finally, he throws out many valuable hints as\nto its \u201cspiritual meaning.\u201d In 1643, there appeared among the mystics\na monk, Father Kircher, who taught a complete philosophy of universal\nmagnetism. His numerous works[350] embrace many of the subjects merely\nhinted at by Paracelsus. His definition of magnetism is very original,\nfor he contradicted Gilbert\u2019s theory that the earth was a great magnet.\nHe asserted that although every particle of matter, and even the\nintangible invisible \u201cpowers\u201d were magnetic, they did not themselves\nconstitute a magnet. _There is but one_ MAGNET _in the universe, and\nfrom it proceeds the magnetization of everything existing._ This {209}\nmagnet is of course what the kabalists term the central Spiritual\nSun, or God. The sun, moon, planets, and stars he affirmed are highly\nmagnetic; but they have become so by induction from living in the\nuniversal magnetic fluid\u2014the Spiritual light. He proves the mysterious\nsympathy existing between the bodies of the three principal kingdoms\nof nature, and strengthens his argument by a stupendous catalogue of\ninstances. Many of these were verified by naturalists, but still more\nhave remained unauthenticated; therefore, according to the traditional\npolicy and very equivocal logic of our scientists, they are denied.\nFor instance, he shows a difference between mineral magnetism and\nzo\u00f6magnetism, or animal magnetism. He demonstrates it in the fact that\nexcept in the case of the lodestone all the minerals are magnetized by\nthe higher potency, the animal magnetism, while the latter enjoys it as\nthe direct emanation from the first cause\u2014the Creator. A needle can be\nmagnetized by simply being held in the hand of a strong-willed man, and\namber develops its powers more by the friction of the human hand than\nby any other object; therefore man can impart his own life, and, to a\ncertain degree, _animate_ inorganic objects. This, \u201cin the eyes of the\nfoolish, is sorcery.\u201d \u201cThe sun is the most magnetic of all bodies,\u201d he\nsays; thus anticipating the theory of General Pleasonton by more than\ntwo centuries. \u201cThe ancient philosophers never denied the fact,\u201d he\nadds; \u201cbut have at all times perceived that the sun\u2019s emanations were\nbinding all things to itself, and that it imparts this binding power to\neverything falling under its direct rays.\u201d\n\nAs a proof of it he brings the instance of a number of plants being\nespecially attracted to the sun, and others to the moon, and showing\ntheir irresistible sympathy to the former by following its course\nin the heavens. The plant known as the _Githymal_,[351] faithfully\nfollows its sovereign, even when it is invisible on account of the\nfog. The acacia uncloses its petals at its rising, and closes them at\nits setting. So does the Egyptian lotos and the common sunflower. The\nnightshade exhibits the same predilection for the moon.\n\nAs examples of antipathies or sympathies among plants, he instances the\naversion which the vine feels for the cabbage, and its fondness toward\nthe olive-tree; the love of the ranunculus for the water-lily, and of\nthe rue for the fig. The antipathy which sometimes exists even among\nkindred substances is clearly demonstrated in the case of the Mexican\npomegranate, whose shoots, when cut to pieces, repel each other with\nthe \u201cmost extraordinary ferocity.\u201d\n\nKircher accounts for every feeling in human nature as results of\nchanges in our magnetic condition. Anger, jealousy, friendship, love, {210}\nand hatred, are all modifications of the magnetic atmosphere which\nis developed in us and constantly emanates from us. Love is one of\nthe most variable, and therefore the aspects of it are numberless.\nSpiritual love, that of a mother for her child, of an artist for\nsome particular art, love as pure friendship, are purely magnetic\nmanifestations of sympathy in congenial natures. _The magnetism of\npure love is the originator of every created thing._ In its ordinary\nsense love between the sexes is electricity, and he calls it _amor\nfebris species_, the fever of species. There are two kinds of magnetic\nattraction: sympathy and fascination; the one holy and natural, the\nother evil and unnatural. To the latter, fascination, we must attribute\nthe power of the poisonous toad, which upon merely opening its mouth,\nforces the passing reptile or insect to run into it to its destruction.\nThe deer, as well as smaller animals, are attracted by the breath\nof the boa, and are made irresistibly to come within its reach. The\nelectric fish, the torpedo, repels the arm with a shock that for a\ntime benumbs it. To exercise such a power for beneficent purposes, man\nrequires three conditions: 1, nobility of soul; 2, strong will and\nimaginative faculty; 3, a subject weaker than the magnetizer; otherwise\nhe will resist. A man free from worldly incentives and sensuality, may\ncure in such a way the most \u201cincurable\u201d diseases, and his vision may\nbecome clear and prophetic.\n\nA curious instance of the above-mentioned universal attraction between\nall the bodies of the planetary system and everything organic as well\nas inorganic pertaining to them, is found in a quaint old volume of\nthe seventeenth century. It contains notes of travel and an official\nreport to the King of France, by his Ambassador, de la Loub\u00e8re, upon\nwhat he has seen in the kingdom of Siam. \u201cAt Siam,\u201d he says, \u201cthere are\ntwo species of fresh-water fish, which they respectively call _pal-out_\nand _pla-cadi_ fish. Once salted and placed uncut (whole) in the pot,\nthey are found to exactly follow the flux and reflux of the sea,\ngrowing higher and lower in the pot as the sea ebbs or flows.\u201d[352] De\nla Loub\u00e8re experimented with this fish for a long time, together with\na government engineer, named Vincent, and, therefore, vouches for the\ntruth of this assertion, which at first had been dismissed as an idle\nfable. So powerful is this mysterious attraction that it affected the\nfishes even when their bodies became totally rotten and fell to pieces.\n\nIt is especially in the countries unblessed with civilization that\nwe should seek for an explanation of the nature, and observe the\neffects of that subtile power, which ancient philosophers called the {211}\n\u201cworld\u2019s soul.\u201d In the East only, and on the boundless tracts of\nunexplored Africa, will the student of psychology find abundant food\nfor his truth-hungering soul. The reason is obvious. The atmosphere\nin populous neighborhoods is badly vitiated by the smoke and fumes of\nmanufactories, steam-engines, railroads, and steamboats, and especially\nby the miasmatic exhalations of the living and the dead. Nature is as\ndependent as a human being upon conditions before she can work, and\nher mighty breathing, so to say, can be as easily interfered with,\nimpeded, and arrested, and the correlation of her forces destroyed in\na given spot, as though she were a man. Not only climate, but also\noccult influences daily felt not only modify the physio-psychological\nnature of man, but even alter the constitution of so-called inorganic\nmatter in a degree not fairly realized by European science. Thus the\nLondon _Medical and Surgical Journal_ advises surgeons not to carry\nlancets to Calcutta, because it has been found by personal experience\n\u201cthat English steel could not bear the atmosphere of India;\u201d so a\nbunch of English or American keys will be completely covered with rust\ntwenty-four hours after having been brought to Egypt; while objects\nmade of native steel in those countries remain unoxidized. So, too, it\nhas been found that a Siberian Shaman who has given stupendous proofs\nof his occult powers among his native Tschuktschen, is gradually and\noften completely deprived of such powers when coming into smoky and\nfoggy London. Is the inner organism of man less sensitive to climatic\ninfluences than a bit of steel? If not, then why should we cast doubt\nupon the testimony of travellers who may have seen the Shaman, day\nafter day, exhibit phenomena of the most astounding character in his\nnative country, and deny the possibility of such powers and such\nphenomena, only because he cannot do as much in London or Paris? In\nhis lecture on the _Lost Arts_, Wendell Phillips proves that beside\nthe psychological nature of man being affected by a change of climate,\nOriental people have physical senses far more acute than the Europeans.\nThe French dyers of Lyons, whom no one can surpass in skill, he says,\n\u201chave a theory that there is a certain delicate shade of blue that\nEuropeans _cannot see_.... And in Cashmere, where the girls make\nshawls worth $30,000, they will show him (the dyer of Lyons) three\nhundred distinct colors, which he not only cannot make, but _cannot\neven distinguish_.\u201d If there is such a vast difference between the\nacuteness of the external senses of two races, why should there not be\nthe same in their psychological powers? Moreover, the eye of a Cashmere\ngirl is able to see _objectively_ a color which does exist, but which\nbeing inappreciable by the European, is therefore non-existent for him.\nWhy then not concede, that some peculiarly-endowed organisms, which\nare thought to be possessed of that mysterious faculty called _second {212}\nsight_, see their pictures as objectively as the girl sees the colors;\nand that therefore the former, instead of mere objective hallucinations\ncalled forth by imagination are, on the contrary, reflections of real\nthings and persons impressed upon the astral ether, as explained by the\nold philosophy of the _Chaldean Oracles_, and surmised by those modern\ndiscoverers, Babbage, Jevons, and the authors of the _Unseen Universe_?\n\n\u201cThree spirits live and actuate man,\u201d teaches Paracelsus; \u201cthree\nworlds pour their beams upon him; but all three only as the image and\necho of one and the same all constructing and uniting principle of\nproduction. The first is the spirit of the elements (terrestrial body\nand vital force in its brute condition); the second, the spirit of the\nstars (sidereal or astral body\u2014the soul); the third is the _Divine_\nspirit (_Augoeid\u00e9s_).\u201d Our human body, being possessed of \u201cprimeval\nearth-stuff,\u201d as Paracelsus calls it, we may readily accept the\ntendency of modern scientific research \u201cto regard the processes of both\nanimal and vegetable life as simply physical and chemical.\u201d This theory\nonly the more corroborates the assertions of old philosophers and the\n_Mosaic Bible_, that from the dust of the ground our bodies were made,\nand to dust they will return. But we must remember that\n\n \u201c\u2018Dust thou art, to dust returnest,\u2019\n Was not spoken of the soul.\u201d\n\nMan is a little world\u2014a microcosm inside the great universe. Like a\nf\u0153tus, he is suspended, by all his _three_ spirits, in the matrix\nof the macrocosmos; and while his terrestrial body is in constant\nsympathy with its parent earth, his astral soul lives in unison with\nthe sidereal _anima mundi_. He is in it, as it is in him, for the\nworld-pervading element fills all space, and _is_ space itself, only\nshoreless and infinite. As to his third spirit, the divine, what is it\nbut an infinitesimal ray, one of the countless radiations proceeding\ndirectly from the Highest Cause\u2014the Spiritual Light of the World?\nThis is the trinity of organic and inorganic nature\u2014the spiritual and\nthe physical, which are three in one, and of which Proclus says that\n\u201cThe first monad is the Eternal God; the second, eternity; the third,\nthe paradigm, or pattern of the universe;\u201d the three constituting the\nIntelligible Triad. Everything in this visible universe is the outflow\nof this Triad, and a microcosmic triad itself. And thus they move in\nmajestic procession in the fields of eternity, around the spiritual\nsun, as in the heliocentric system the celestial bodies move round the\nvisible suns. The Pythagorean _Monad_, which lives \u201cin solitude and\ndarkness,\u201d may remain on this earth forever invisible, impalpable,\nand undemonstrated by experimental science. Still the whole universe\nwill be gravitating around it, as it did from the \u201cbeginning of time,\u201d {213}\nand with every second, man and atom approach nearer to that solemn\nmoment in the eternity, when the Invisible Presence will become clear\nto their spiritual sight. When every particle of matter, even the\nmost sublimated, has been cast off from the last shape that forms the\nultimate link of that chain of double evolution which, throughout\nmillions of ages and successive transformations, has pushed the entity\nonward; and when it shall find itself reclothed in that primordial\nessence, identical with that of its Creator, then this once impalpable\norganic atom will have run its race, and the sons of God will once more\n\u201cshout for joy\u201d at the return of the pilgrim.\n\n\u201cMan,\u201d says Van Helmont, \u201cis the mirror of the universe, and his triple\nnature stands in relationship to all things.\u201d The will of the Creator,\nthrough which all things were made and received their first impulse,\nis the property of every living being. Man, endowed with an additional\nspirituality, has the largest share of it on this planet. It depends on\nthe proportion of matter in him whether he will exercise its magical\nfaculty with more or less success. Sharing this divine potency in\ncommon with every inorganic atom, he exercises it through the course\nof his whole life, whether consciously or otherwise. In the former\ncase, when in the full possession of his powers, he will be the master,\nand the _magnale magnum_ (the universal soul) will be controlled and\nguided by him. In the cases of animals, plants, minerals, and even\nof the average of humanity, this ethereal fluid which pervades all\nthings, finding no resistance, and being left to itself, moves them as\nits impulse directs. Every created being in this sublunary sphere, is\nformed out of the _magnale magnum_, and is related to it. Man possesses\na double celestial power, and is allied to heaven. This power is \u201cnot\nonly in the outer man, but to a degree also in the animals, and perhaps\nin all other things, as all things in the universe stand in a relation\nto each other; or, at least, God is in all things, as the ancients\nhave observed it with a worthy correctness. It is necessary that the\nmagic strength should be awakened in the outer as well as in the inner\nman.... And if we call this a magic power, the uninstructed only can\nbe terrified by the expression. But, if you prefer it, you can call it\na spiritual power\u2014_spirituale robur vocitaveris_. There is, therefore,\nsuch magic power in the inner man. But, as there exists a certain\nrelationship between the inner and the outer man, this strength must be\ndiffused through the whole man.\u201d[353]\n\nIn an extended description of the religious rites, monastic life, and\n\u201csuperstitions\u201d of the Siamese, de la Loub\u00e8re cites among other things\nthe wonderful power possessed by the _Talapoin_ (the monks, or the {214}\nholy men of Buddha) over the wild beasts. \u201cThe Talapoin of Siam,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cwill pass whole weeks in the dense woods under a small awning\nof branches and palm leaves, and never make a fire in the night to\nscare away the wild beasts, as all other people do who travel through\nthe woods of this country.\u201d The people consider it a miracle that no\nTalapoin is ever devoured. The tigers, elephants, and rhinoceroses\u2014with\nwhich the neighborhood abounds\u2014respect him; and travellers placed in\nsecure ambuscade have often seen these wild beasts lick the hands and\nfeet of the sleeping Talapoin. \u201cThey all use magic,\u201d adds the French\ngentleman, \u201cand think all nature animated (ensouled);[354] they believe\nin tutelar geniuses.\u201d But that which seems to shock the author most is\nthe idea which prevails among the Siamese, \u201cthat all that man was in\nhis bodily life, he will be after death.\u201d \u201cWhen the Tartar, which now\nreigns at China,\u201d remarks de la Loub\u00e8re, \u201cwould force the Chinese to\nshave their hair after the Tartarian fashion, several of them chose\nrather to suffer death, than to go, they said, into the other world and\nappear before their ancestors without hair; imagining that they shaved\nthe head of the soul also!\u201d[355] \u201cNow, what is altogether impertinent,\u201d\nadds the Ambassador, \u201cin this absurd opinion is, that the Orientals\nattribute the human figure rather than any other to the soul.\u201d Without\nenlightening his reader as to the particular shape these benighted\nOrientals ought to select for their disembodied souls, de la Loub\u00e8re\nproceeds to pour out his wrath on these \u201csavages.\u201d Finally, he attacks\nthe memory of the old king of Siam, the father of the one to whose\ncourt he was sent, by accusing him of having foolishly spent over two\nmillion livres in search of the philosopher\u2019s stone. \u201cThe Chinese,\u201d he\nsays, \u201creputed so wise, have for three or four thousand years had the\nfolly of believing in the existence, and of seeking out a universal\nremedy by which they hope to exempt themselves from the necessity of\ndying. They base themselves on some foolish traditions, concerning\nsome _rare_ persons that are reported to have made gold, and to have\nlived some ages; there are some very strongly established facts among\nthe Chinese, the Siamese, and other Orientals, concerning those that\nknow how to render themselves immortal, either absolutely, or in such\na manner that they can die no otherwise than by violent death.[356]\nWherefore, they name some persons who have withdrawn themselves from\nthe sight of men to enjoy free and peaceable life. They relate wonders\nconcerning the knowledge of these pretended immortals.\u201d\n\nIf Descartes, a Frenchman and a scientist, could, in the midst of\ncivilization, firmly believe that such a universal remedy had been {215}\nfound, and that if possessed of it he could live at least five hundred\nyears, why are not the Orientals entitled to the same belief? The\nmaster-problems of both life and death are still unsolved by occidental\nphysiologists. Even sleep is a phenomenon about whose cause there is a\ngreat divergence of opinion among them. How, then, can they pretend to\nset limits to the possible, and define the impossible?\n\nFrom the remotest ages the philosophers have maintained the singular\npower of music over certain diseases, especially of the nervous\nclass. Kircher recommends it, having experienced its good effects in\nhimself, and he gives an elaborate description of the instrument he\nemployed. It was a harmonica composed of five tumblers of a very thin\nglass, placed in a row. In two of them were two different varieties of\nwine; in the third, brandy; in the fourth, oil; in the fifth, water.\nHe extracted five melodious sounds from them in the usual way, by\nmerely rubbing his finger on the edges of the tumblers. The sound has\nan attractive property; it draws out disease, which streams out to\nencounter the musical wave, and the two, blending together, disappear\nin space. Asclepiades employed music for the same purpose, some twenty\ncenturies ago; he blew a trumpet to cure sciatica, and its prolonged\nsound making the fibres of the nerves to palpitate, the pain invariably\nsubsided. Democritus in like manner affirmed that many diseases could\nbe cured by the melodious sounds of a flute. Mesmer used this very\nharmonica described by Kircher for his magnetic cures. The celebrated\nScotchman, Maxwell, offered to prove to various medical faculties that\nwith certain magnetic means at his disposal, he would cure any of the\ndiseases abandoned by them as incurable; such as epilepsy, impotence,\ninsanity, lameness, dropsy, and the most obstinate fevers.[357]\n\nThe familiar story of the exorcism of the \u201cevil spirit from God\u201d that\nobsessed Saul, will recur to every one in this connection. It is thus\nrelated: \u201cAnd it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon\nSaul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: _so Saul was\nrefreshed, and was well_, and the evil spirit departed from him.\u201d[358]\n\nMaxwell, in his _Medicina Magnetica_, expounds the following\npropositions, all which are the very doctrines of the alchemists and\nkabalists.\n\n\u201cThat which men call the world-soul, is a life, as fire, spiritual,\nfleet, light, and ethereal as light itself. It is a life-spirit\neverywhere, and everywhere the same.... All matter is destitute of\naction, except as it is ensouled by this spirit. This spirit maintains\nall things in their peculiar condition. It is found in nature free from {216}\nall fetters; and he who understands how to unite it with a harmonizing\nbody, possesses a treasure which exceeds all riches.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis spirit is the common bond of all quarters of the earth, and lives\nthrough and in all\u2014_adest in mundo quid commune omnibus mextis, in quo\nipsa permanent_.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who knows this universal life-spirit and its application can\nprevent all injuries.\u201d[359]\n\n\u201cIf thou canst avail thyself of this spirit and fix it on some\nparticular body thou wilt perform the mystery of magic.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe who knows how to operate on men by this universal spirit, can heal,\nand this at any distance that he pleases.\u201d[360]\n\n\u201cHe who can invigorate the particular spirit through the universal one,\n_might continue his life to eternity_.\u201d[361]\n\n\u201cThere is a blending together of spirits, or of emanations, even when\nthey are far separated from each other. And what is this blending\ntogether? It is an eternal and incessant outpouring of the rays of one\nbody into another.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the meantime,\u201d says Maxwell, \u201cit is not _without danger_ to treat\nof this. Many abominable abuses of this may take place.\u201d\n\nAnd now let us see what are these abuses of mesmeric and magnetic\npowers in some healing mediums.\n\nHealing, to deserve the name, requires either faith in the patient,\nor robust health united with a strong will, in the operator. _With\nexpectency supplemented by faith, one can cure himself of almost any\nmorbific condition._ The tomb of a saint; a holy relic; a talisman; a\nbit of paper or a garment that has been handled by the supposed healer;\na nostrum; a penance, or a ceremonial; the laying on of hands, or a\nfew words impressively pronounced\u2014either will do. It is a question of\ntemperament, imagination, self-cure. In thousands of instances, the\ndoctor, the priest, or the relic has had credit for healings that were\nsolely and simply due to the patient\u2019s unconscious will. The woman with\nthe bloody issue who pressed through the throng to touch the robe of\nJesus, was told that her \u201cfaith\u201d had made her whole.\n\nThe influence of mind over the body is so powerful that it has effected\nmiracles at all ages.\n\n\u201cHow many unhoped-for, sudden, and prodigious cures have been effected\nby imagination,\u201d says Salverte. \u201cOur medical books are filled with\nfacts of this nature which would easily pass for miracles.\u201d[362]\n\nBut, if the patient has no faith, what then? If he is physically {217}\nnegative and receptive, and the healer strong, healthy, positive,\ndetermined, the disease may be extirpated by the imperative will of the\noperator, which, consciously or unconsciously, draws to and reinforces\nitself with the universal spirit of nature, and restores the disturbed\nequilibrium of the patient\u2019s aura. He may employ as an auxiliary, a\ncrucifix\u2014as Gassner did; or impose the hands and \u201cwill,\u201d like the\nFrench Zouave Jacob, like our celebrated American, Newton, the healer\nof many thousands of sufferers, and like many others; or like Jesus,\nand some apostles, he may cure by the word of command. The process in\neach case is the same.\n\nIn all these instances, the cure is radical and real, and without\nsecondary ill-effects. But, when one who is himself physically\ndiseased, attempts healing, he not only fails of that, but often\nimparts his illness to his patient, and robs him of what strength he\nmay have. The decrepit King David reinforced his failing vigor with the\nhealthy magnetism of the young Abishag;[363] and the medical works tell\nus of an aged lady of Bath, England, who broke down the constitutions\nof two maids in succession, in the same way. The old sages, and\nParacelsus also, removed disease by applying a healthy organism to the\nafflicted part, and in the works of the above-said fire-philosopher,\ntheir theory is boldly and categorically set forth. If a diseased\nperson\u2014medium or not\u2014attempts to heal, his force may be sufficiently\nrobust to displace the disease, to disturb it in the present place,\nand cause it to shift to another, where shortly it will appear; the\npatient, meanwhile, thinking himself cured.\n\nBut, what if the healer be morally diseased? The consequences may\nbe infinitely more mischievous; for it is easier to cure a bodily\ndisease than cleanse a constitution infected with moral turpitude. The\nmystery of Morzine, Cevennes, and that of the Jansenists, is still as\ngreat a mystery for physiologists as for psychologists. If the gift\nof prophecy, as well as hysteria and convulsions, can be imparted by\n\u201cinfection,\u201d why not every vice? The healer, in such a case, conveys\nto his patient\u2014who is now his victim\u2014the moral poison that infects\nhis own mind and heart. His magnetic touch is defilement; his glance,\nprofanation. Against this insidious taint, there is no protection for\nthe passively-receptive subject. The healer holds him under his power,\nspellbound and powerless, as the serpent holds a poor, weak bird. The\nevil that one such \u201chealing medium\u201d can effect is incalculably great;\nand such healers there are by the hundred.\n\nBut, as we have said before, there are real and God-like healers,\nwho, notwithstanding all the malice and skepticism of their bigoted {218}\nopponents, have become famous in the world\u2019s history. Such are the\nCur\u00e9 d\u2019Ars, of Lyons, Jacob, and Newton. Such, also, were Gassner, the\nclergyman of Klorstele, and the well-known Valentine Greatrakes, the\nignorant and poor Irishman, who was endorsed by the celebrated Robert\nBoyle, President of the Royal Society of London, in 1670. In 1870,\nhe would have been sent to Bedlam, in company with other healers, if\nanother president of the same society had had the disposal of the case,\nor Professor Lankester would have \u201csummoned\u201d him under the _Vagrant\nAct_ for practicing upon Her Majesty\u2019s subjects \u201cby _palmistry_ or\notherwise.\u201d\n\nBut, to close a list of witnesses which might be extended indefinitely,\nit will suffice to say that, from first to last, from Pythagoras down\nto Eliphas Levi, from highest to humblest, every one teaches _that\nthe magical power is never possessed by those addicted to vicious\nindulgences_. Only the pure in heart \u201csee God,\u201d or exercise divine\ngifts\u2014only such can heal the ills of the body, and allow themselves,\nwith relative security, to be guided by the \u201cinvisible powers.\u201d Such\nonly can give peace to the disturbed spirits of their brothers and\nsisters, for the healing waters come from no poisonous source; grapes\ndo not grow on thorns, and thistles bear no figs. But, for all this,\n\u201cmagic has nothing supernal in it;\u201d it is a science, and even the power\nof \u201ccasting out devils\u201d was a branch of it, of which the Initiates made\na special study. \u201cThat skill which expels demons out of human bodies,\nis a science useful and sanative to men,\u201d says Josephus.[364]\n\nThe foregoing sketches are sufficient to show why we hold fast to\nthe wisdom of the ages, in preference to any new theories that may\nhave been hatched from the occurrences of our later days, respecting\nthe laws of intermundane intercourse and the occult powers of man.\nWhile phenomena of a physical nature may have their value as a means\nof arousing the interest of materialists, and confirming, if not\nwholly, at least inferentially, our belief in the survival of our\nsouls and spirits, it is questionable whether, under their present\naspect, the modern phenomena are not doing more harm than good. Many\nminds, hungering after proofs of immortality, are fast falling into\nfanaticism; and, as Stow remarks, \u201cfanatics are governed rather by\nimagination than judgment.\u201d\n\nUndoubtedly, believers in the modern phenomena can claim for themselves\na diversity of endowments, but the \u201cdiscerning of spirits\u201d is evidently\nabsent from this catalogue of \u201cspiritual\u201d gifts. Speaking of the\n\u201cDiakka,\u201d whom he one fine morning had discovered in a shady corner of\nthe \u201cSummer Land,\u201d A. J. Davis, the great American seer, remarks: \u201cA\nDiakka is one who takes insane delight in _playing parts_, in juggling {219}\n_tricks_, in _personating_ opposite characters; to whom prayer and\nprofane utterances are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for\nlyrical narrations; ... morally deficient, he is without the active\nfeelings of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection. He knows\nnothing of what men call the sentiment of gratitude; the ends of hate\nand love are the same to him; his motto is often fearful and terrible\nto others\u2014SELF is the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation\n_the end of all private life_.[365] Only yesterday, one said to a\nlady medium, signing himself _Swedenborg_, this: \u201cWhatsoever is, has\nbeen, will be, or may be, _that_ I AM; and private life is but the\naggregative phantasms of thinking throblets, rushing in their rising\nonward to the central heart of eternal death!\u201d[366]\n\nPorphyry, whose works\u2014to borrow the expression of an irritated\nphenomenalist\u2014\u201care mouldering like every other antiquated trash in the\nclosets of oblivion,\u201d speaks thus of these Diakka\u2014if such be their\nname\u2014rediscovered in the nineteenth century: \u201cIt is with the direct\nhelp of these bad demons, that every kind of sorcery is accomplished\n... it is the result of their operations, and men who injure their\nfellow-creatures by enchantments, usually pay great honors to these bad\ndemons, and especially to their chief. These spirits pass their time in\ndeceiving us, with a great display of cheap prodigies and _illusions_;\ntheir ambition is to be taken for gods, and their leader demands to be\nrecognized as the supreme god.\u201d[367]\n\nThe spirit signing himself Swedenborg\u2014just quoted from Davis\u2019s\n_Diakka_, and hinting that he is the I AM, singularly resembles this\nchief leader of Porphyry\u2019s bad demons.\n\nWhat more natural than this vilification of the ancient and experienced\ntheurgists by certain mediums, when we find Iamblichus, the expositor\nof spiritualistic theurgy, strictly forbidding all endeavors to procure\nsuch phenomenal manifestations; unless, after a long preparation of\nmoral and physical purification, and under the guidance of experienced\ntheurgists. When, furthermore, he declares that, with very few\nexceptions, for _a person_ \u201c_to appear elongated or thicker, or\nbe borne aloft in the air_,\u201d is a sure mark of obsession by _bad_\ndemons.[368]\n\nEverything in this world has its time, and truth, however based upon\nunimpeachable evidence, will not root or grow, unless, like a plant, it\nis thrown into soil in its proper season. \u201cThe age must be prepared,\u201d {220}\nsays Professor Cooke; and some thirty years ago this humble work would\nhave been doomed to self-destruction by its own contents. But the\nmodern phenomenon, notwithstanding the daily _expos\u00e9s_, the ridicule\nwith which it is crowned at the hand of every materialist, and its own\nnumerous errors, grows and waxes strong in facts, if not in wisdom and\nspirit. What would have appeared twenty years ago simply preposterous,\nmay well be listened to now that the phenomena are endorsed by great\nscientists. Unfortunately, if the manifestations increase in power\ndaily, there is no corresponding improvement in philosophy. The\ndiscernment of spirits is still as wanting as ever.\n\nPerhaps, among the whole body of spiritualist writers of our day, not\none is held in higher esteem for character, education, sincerity, and\nability, than Epes Sargent, of Boston, Massachusetts. His monograph\nentitled _The Proof Palpable of Immortality_, deservedly occupies a\nhigh rank among works upon the subject. With every disposition to be\ncharitable and apologetic for mediums and their phenomena, Mr. Sargent\nis still compelled to use the following language: \u201cThe power of spirits\nto reproduce simulacra of persons who have passed from the earth-life,\nsuggests the question\u2014How far can we be assured of the identity\nof _any_ spirit, let the tests be what they may? We have not yet\narrived at that stage of enlightenment that would enable us to reply\nconfidently to this inquiry.... There is much that is yet a puzzle in\nthe language and action of this class of materialized spirits.\u201d As\nto the intellectual calibre of most of the spirits which lurk behind\nthe physical phenomena, Mr. Sargent will unquestionably be accepted\nas a most competent judge, and he says, \u201cthe great majority, as in\nthis world, are of the unintellectual sort.\u201d If it is a fair question,\nwe would like to ask why they should be so lacking in intelligence,\nif they are human spirits? Either intelligent human spirits _cannot_\nmaterialize, or, the spirits that do materialize have not human\nintelligence, and, therefore, by Mr. Sargent\u2019s own showing, they may\njust as well be \u201celementary\u201d spirits, who have ceased to be human\naltogether, or those demons, which, according to the Persian Magi and\nPlato, hold a middle rank between gods and disembodied men.\n\nThere is good evidence, that of Mr. Crookes for one, to show that many\n\u201cmaterialized\u201d spirits talk in an audible voice. Now, we have shown,\non the testimony of ancients, that the voice of human spirits is not\nand _cannot_ be articulated; being, as Emanuel Swedenborg declares, \u201ca\ndeep suspiration.\u201d Who of the two classes of witnesses may be trusted\nmore safely? Is it the ancients who had the experience of so many ages\nin theurgical practices, or modern spiritualists, who have had none\nat all, and who have no facts upon which to base an opinion, except\nsuch as have been communicated by \u201cspirits,\u201d whose identity they have {221}\nno means of proving? There are mediums whose organisms have called\nout sometimes hundreds of these would-be \u201chuman\u201d forms. And yet we\ndo not recollect to have seen or heard of one expressing anything\nbut the most commonplace ideas. This fact ought surely to arrest the\nattention of even the most uncritical spiritualist. If a spirit can\nspeak at all, and if the way is opened to intelligent as well as to\nunintellectual beings, why should they not sometimes give us addresses\nin some remote degree approximating in quality to the communications\nwe receive through the \u201cdirect writing?\u201d Mr. Sargent puts forward a\nvery suggestive and important idea in this sentence. \u201cHow far they\nare limited in their mental operations and in their recollections by\nthe act of materialization, or how far by the intellectual horizon of\nthe medium is still a question.\u201d[369] If the same kind of \u201cspirits\u201d\nmaterialize that produce the direct writing, and both manifest through\nmediums, and the one talk nonsense, while the other often give us\nsublime philosophical teachings, why should their mental operations be\nlimited \u201cby the intellectual horizon of the medium\u201d in the one instance\nmore than in the other? The materializing mediums\u2014at least so far as\nour observation extends\u2014are no more uneducated than many peasants and\nmechanics who at different times have, under supernal influences, given\nprofound and sublime ideas to the world. The history of psychology\nteems with examples in illustration of this point, among which that of\nBoehm\u00e8, the inspired but ignorant shoemaker, and our own Davis, are\nconspicuous. As to the matter of unintellectuality we presume that no\nmore striking cases need be sought than those of the child-prophets\nof Cevennes, poets and seers, such as have been mentioned in previous\nchapters. When spirits have once furnished themselves with vocal organs\nto speak at all, it surely ought to be no more difficult for them to\ntalk as persons of their assumed respective education, intelligence,\nand social rank would in life, instead of falling invariably into one\nmonotonous tone of commonplace and, but too often, platitude. As to Mr.\nSargent\u2019s hopeful remark, that \u201cthe science of Spiritualism being still\nin its infancy, we may hope for more light on this question,\u201d we fear\nwe must reply, that _it is not through \u201cdark cabinets\u201d that this light\nwill ever break_.[370]\n\nIt is simply ridiculous and absurd to require from every investigator\nwho comes forward as a witness to the marvels of the day and\npsychological phenomena the diploma of a master of arts and sciences.\nThe experience of the past forty years is an evidence that it is not\nalways the minds which are the most \u201cscientifically trained\u201d that are\nthe best in matters of simple common sense and honest truth. Nothing {222}\nblinds like fanaticism, or a one sided view of a question. We may\ntake as an illustration Oriental magic or ancient spiritualism, as\nwell as the modern phenomena. Hundreds, nay thousands of perfectly\ntrustworthy witnesses, returning from residence and travels in the\nEast, have testified to the fact that uneducated fakirs, sheiks,\ndervishes, and lamas have, in their presence, without confederates\nor mechanical appliances, produced wonders. They have affirmed that\nthe phenomena exhibited by them were in contravention of all the\n_known_ laws of science, and thus tended to prove the existence of\nmany yet unknown occult potencies in nature, seemingly directed by\npreterhuman intelligences. What has been the attitude assumed by our\nscientists toward this subject? How far did the testimony of the\nmost \u201cscientifically\u201d trained minds make impression on their own?\nDid the investigations of Professors Hare and de Morgan, of Crookes\nand Wallace, de Gasparin and Thury, Wagner and Butlerof, etc., shake\nfor one moment their skepticism? How were the personal experiences\nof Jacolliot with the fakirs of India received, or the psychological\nelucidations of Professor Perty, of Geneva, viewed? How far does the\nloud cry of mankind, craving for palpable and demonstrated signs of\na God, an individual soul, and of eternity, affect them; and what is\ntheir response? They pull down and destroy every vestige of spiritual\nthings, but they erect nothing. \u201cWe cannot get such signs with either\nretorts or crucibles,\u201d they say; \u201chence, it\u2019s all but a delusion!\u201d In\nthis age of cold reason and prejudice, even the Church has to look to\nscience for help. Creeds built on sand, and high-towering but rootless\ndogmas, crumble down under the cold breath of research, and pull down\n_true_ religion in their fall. But the longing for some outward sign of\na God and a life hereafter, remains as tenaciously as ever in the human\nheart. In vain is all sophistry of science; it can never stifle the\nvoice of nature. Only her representatives have poisoned the pure waters\nof simple faith, and now humanity mirrors itself in waters made turbid\nwith all the mud stirred up from the bottom of the once pure spring.\nThe anthropomorphic God of our fathers is replaced by anthropomorphic\nmonsters; and what is still worse, by the reflection of humanity itself\nin these waters, whose ripples send it back the distorted images of\ntruth and facts as evoked by its misguided imagination. \u201cIt is not a\nmiracle that we want,\u201d writes the Reverend Brooke Herford, \u201cbut to find\npalpable evidence of the spiritual and the divine. It is not to the\nprophets that men cry for such a \u201csign,\u201d but rather to the scientists.\nMen feel as if all that groping about in the foremost verge or\ninnermost recesses of creation should bring the investigator at length\nclose to the deep, underlying facts of all things, to some unmistakable\nsigns of God.\u201d The signs are there, and the scientists too; what can {223}\nwe expect more of them, now that they have done so well their duty?\nHave they not, these Titans of thought, dragged down God from His\nhiding-place, and given us instead a _protoplasm_?\n\nAt the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, in 1871, Sir\nWilliam Thomson said: \u201cScience is bound by the everlasting law of\nhonor to face fearlessly every problem which can fairly be presented\nto it.\u201d In his turn, Professor Huxley remarks: \u201cWith regard to the\nmiracle-question, I can only say that the word \u2018impossible\u2019 is not,\nto my mind, applicable to matters of philosophy.\u201d The great Humboldt\nremarks that \u201ca presumptuous skepticism that rejects facts without\nexamination of their truth is, in some respects, more injurious than\nunquestioning credulity.\u201d\n\nThese men have proved untrue to their own teachings. The opportunity\nafforded them by the opening of the Orient, to investigate for\nthemselves the phenomena alleged by every traveller to take place\nin those countries, has been rejected. Did our physiologists and\npathologists ever so much as think of availing themselves of it to\nsettle this most momentous subject of human thought? Oh, no; for\nthey would never dare. It is not to be expected that the principal\nAcademicians of Europe and America should undertake a joint journey\nto Thibet and India, and investigate the fakir marvel on the spot!\nAnd were one of them to go as a solitary pilgrim and witness all the\nmiracles of creation, in that land of wonders, who, of his colleagues,\ncould be expected to believe his testimony?\n\nIt would be as tedious as superfluous to begin a restatement of facts,\nso forcibly put by others. Mr. Wallace and W. Howitt,[371] have\nrepeatedly and cleverly described the thousand and one absurd errors\ninto which the learned societies of France and England have fallen,\nthrough their blind skepticism. If Cuvier could throw aside the fossil\nexcavated in 1828 by Bou\u00e9, the French geologist, only because the\nanatomist thought himself wiser than his colleague, and would not\nbelieve that human skeletons could be found eighty feet deep in the mud\nof the Rhine; and if the French Academy could discredit the assertions\nof Boucher de Perthes, in 1846, only to be criticised in its turn in\n1860, when the truth of de Perthes\u2019 discoveries and observations was\nfully confirmed by the whole body of geologists finding flint weapons\nin the drift-gravels of northern France; and if McEnery\u2019s testimony, in\n1825, to the fact that he had discovered worked flints, together with\nthe remains of extinct animals, in Kent\u2019s Hole Cavern[372] was laughed {224}\nat; and that of Godwin Austen to the same effect, in 1840, ridiculed\nstill more, if that were possible; and all that excess of scientific\nskepticism and merriment could, in 1865, finally come to grief, and\nbe shown to have been entirely uncalled for; when\u2014says Mr. Wallace\n\u201call the previous reports for forty years were confirmed and shown to\nbe even less wonderful than the reality;\u201cwho can be so credulous as\nto believe in the infallibility of our science? And why wonder at the\nexhibition of such a lack of moral courage in individual members of\nthis great and stubborn body known as modern science?\n\nThus fact after fact has been discredited. From all sides we hear\nconstant complaints. \u201cVery little is known of psychology!\u201d sighs\none F. R. S. \u201cWe must confess that we know little, if anything, in\nphysiology,\u201d says another. \u201cOf all sciences, there is none which rests\nupon so uncertain a basis as medicine,\u201d reluctantly testifies a third.\n\u201cWhat do we know about the presumed nervous fluids?... Nothing, as\nyet,\u201d puts in a fourth one; and so on in every branch of science. And,\nmeanwhile, phenomena, surpassing in interest all others of nature, and\nto be solved only by physiology, psychology, and the \u201cas yet unknown\u201d\nfluids, are either rejected as delusions, or, if even true, \u201cdo not\ninterest\u201d scientists. Or, what is still worse, when a _subject_, whose\norganism exhibits in itself the most important features of such occult\nthough natural potencies, offers his person for an investigation,\ninstead of an honest experiment being attempted with him he finds\nhimself entrapped by a scientist (?) and paid for his trouble with a\nsentence of three months\u2019 imprisonment! This is indeed promising.\n\nIt is easy to comprehend that a fact given in 1731, testifying to\nanother fact which happened during the papacy of Paul III., for\ninstance, is disbelieved in 1876. And when scientists are told that\nthe Romans preserved lights in their sepulchres for countless years\nby the _oiliness of gold_; and that one of such ever-burning lamps\nwas found brightly burning in the tomb of Tullia, the daughter of\nCicero, notwithstanding that the tomb had been shut up fifteen hundred\nand fifty years,[373]\u2014they have a certain right to doubt, and even\ndisbelieve the statement, until they assure themselves, on the evidence\nof their own senses, that such a thing is possible. In such a case they\ncan reject the testimony of all the ancient and medi\u00e6val philosophers.\nThe burial of living fakirs and their subsequent resuscitation, after\nthirty days of inhumation, may have a suspicious look to them. So also\nwith the self-infliction of mortal wounds, and the exhibition of their\nown bowels to the persons present by various lamas, who heal such\nwounds almost instantaneously.\n\nFor certain men who deny the evidence of their own senses as to {225}\nphenomena produced in their own country, and before numerous witnesses,\nthe narratives to be found in classical books, and in the notes of\ntravellers, must of course seem absurd. But what we will never be able\nto understand is the collective stubbornness of the Academies, in the\nface of such bitter lessons in the past, to these institutions which\nhave so often \u201cdarkened counsel by words without knowledge.\u201d Like the\nLord answering Job \u201cout of the whirlwind,\u201d magic can say to modern\nscience: \u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?\ndeclare, if thou hast understanding!\u201d And, who art thou who dare say to\nnature, \u201cHitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy\nproud waves be stayed?\u201d\n\nBut what matters it if they do deny? Can they prevent phenomena\ntaking place in the four corners of the world, if their skepticism\nwere a thousand times more bitter? Fakirs will still be buried and\nresuscitated, gratifying the curiosity of European travellers; and\nlamas and Hindu ascetics will wound, mutilate, and even disembowel\nthemselves, and find themselves all the better for it; and the denials\nof the whole world will not blow sufficiently to extinguish the\nperpetually-burning lamps in certain of the subterranean crypts of\nIndia, Thibet, and Japan. One of such lamps is mentioned by the Rev.\nS. Mateer, of the London Mission. In the temple of Trevandrum, in the\nkingdom of Travancore, South India, \u201cthere is a deep well inside the\ntemple, into which immense riches are thrown year by year, and in\nanother place, in a hollow covered by a stone, a great golden lamp,\nwhich was lit over 120 years ago, still continues burning,\u201d says this\nmissionary in his description of the place. Catholic missionaries\nattribute these lamps, as a matter of course, to the obliging services\nof the devil. The more prudent Protestant divine mentions the fact,\nand makes no commentary. The Abb\u00e9 Huc has seen and examined one of\nsuch lamps, and so have other people whose good luck it has been to\nwin the confidence and friendship of Eastern lamas and divines. No\nmore can be denied the wonders seen by Captain Lane in Egypt; the\nBenares experiences of Jacolliot and those of Sir Charles Napier;\nthe levitations of human beings in broad daylight, and which can be\naccounted for only on the explanation given in the Introductory chapter\nof the present work.[374] Such levitations are testified to\u2014besides Mr.\nCrookes\u2014by Professor Perty, who shows them produced in open air, and\nlasting sometimes twenty minutes; all these phenomena and many more\nhave happened, do, and will happen in every country of this globe, and\nthat in spite of all the skeptics and scientists that ever were evolved\nout of the Silurian mud.\n\nAmong the ridiculed claims of alchemy is that of the _perpetual_ lamps. {226}\nIf we tell the reader that we have seen such, we may be asked\u2014in\ncase that the sincerity of our personal belief is not questioned\u2014how\nwe can tell that the lamps we have observed are perpetual, as the\nperiod of our observation was but limited? Simply that, as we know the\ningredients employed, and the manner of their construction, and the\nnatural law applicable to the case, we are confident that our statement\ncan be corroborated upon investigation in the proper quarter. What that\nquarter is, and from whom that knowledge can be learned, our critics\nmust discover, by taking the pains we did. Meanwhile, however, we will\nquote a few of the 173 authorities who have written upon the subject.\nNone of these, as we recollect, have asserted that these sepulchral\nlamps would burn perpetually, but only for an indefinite number of\nyears, and instances are recorded of their continuing alight for many\ncenturies. It will not be denied that, if there is a natural law by\nwhich a lamp can be made without replenishment to burn ten years,\nthere is no reason why the same law could not cause the combustion to\ncontinue one hundred or one thousand years.\n\nAmong the many well-known personages who firmly believed and\nstrenuously asserted that such sepulchral lamps burned for several\nhundreds of years, and would have continued to burn _may be_ forever,\nhad they not been extinguished, or the vessels broken by some accident,\nwe may reckon the following names: Clemens Alexandrinus, Hermolaus\nBarbarus, Appian, Burattinus, Citesius, C\u0153lius, Foxius, Cost\u00e6us,\nCasalius, Cedrenus, Delrius, Ericius, Gesnerus, Jacobonus, Leander,\nLibavius, Lazius, P. de la Mirandolla, Philalethes, Licetus, Maiolus,\nMaturantius, Baptista Porta, Pancirollus, Ruscellius, Scardonius,\nLudovicus Vives, Volateranus, Paracelsus, several Arabian alchemists,\nand finally, Pliny, Solinus, Kircher, and Albertus Magnus.\n\nThe discovery is claimed by the ancient Egyptians, those sons of the\nLand of Chemistry.[375] At least, they were a people who used these\nlamps far more than any other nation, on account of their religious\ndoctrines. The astral soul of the mummy was believed to be lingering\nabout the body for the whole space of the three thousand years of\nthe circle of necessity. Attached to it by a magnetic thread, which\ncould be broken but by its own exertion, the Egyptians hoped that the\never-burning lamp, symbol of their incorruptible and immortal spirit,\nwould at last decide the more material soul to part with its earthly\ndwelling, and unite forever with its divine SELF. Therefore lamps were\nhung in the sepulchres of the rich. Such lamps are often found in the {227}\nsubterranean caves of the dead, and Licetus has written a large folio\nto prove that in his time, whenever a sepulchre was opened, a burning\nlamp was found within the tomb, but was instantaneously extinguished\non account of the _desecration_. T. Livius, Burattinus, and Michael\nSchatta, in their letters to Kircher,[376] affirm that they found many\nlamps in the subterranean caves of old Memphis. Pausanias speaks of\nthe golden lamp in the temple of Minerva at Athens, which he says was\nthe workmanship of Callimachus, and burnt a whole year. Plutarch[377]\naffirms that he saw one in the temple of Jupiter Amun, and that the\npriests assured him that it had burnt continually for years, and though\nit stood in the open air, neither wind nor water could extinguish it.\nSt. Augustine, the Catholic authority, also describes a lamp in the\nfane of Venus, of the same nature as the others, unextinguishable\neither by the strongest wind or by water. A lamp was found at Edessa,\nsays Kedrenus, \u201cwhich, being hidden at the top of a certain gate,\nburned 500 years.\u201d But of all such lamps, the one mentioned by Olybius\nMaximus of Padua is by far the more wonderful. It was found near\nAttest\u00e8, and Scardeonius[378] gives a glowing description of it: \u201cIn a\nlarge earthen urn was contained a lesser, and in that a burning lamp,\nwhich had continued so for 1500 years, by means of a most pure liquor\ncontained in two bottles, one of gold and the other of silver. These\nare in the custody of Franciscus Maturantius, and are by him valued at\nan exceeding rate.\u201d\n\nTaking no account of exaggerations, and putting aside as mere\nunsupported negation the affirmation by modern science of the\nimpossibility of such lamps, we would ask whether, in case these\ninextinguishable fires are found to have really existed in the ages\nof \u201cmiracles,\u201d the lamps burning at Christian shrines and those of\nJupiter, Minerva, and other Pagan deities, ought to be differently\nregarded. According to certain theologians, it would appear that the\nformer (for Christianity also claims such lamps) have burned by a\n_divine_, miraculous power, and that the light of the latter, made by\n\u201cheathen\u201d art, was supported by the wiles of the devil. Kircher and\nLicetus show that they were ordered in these two diverse ways. The lamp\nat Antioch, which burned 1500 years, in an open and public place, over\nthe door of a church, was preserved by the \u201c_power of God_,\u201d who \u201chath\nmade so infinite a number of stars to burn with perpetual light.\u201d As\nto the Pagan lamps, St. Augustine assures us they were the work of the\ndevil, \u201cwho deceives us in a thousand ways.\u201d What more easy for Satan\nto do than represent a flash of light, or a bright flame to them who {228}\nfirst enter into such a subterranean cave? This was asserted by all\ngood Christians during the Papacy of Paul III., when upon opening a\ntomb in the Appian Way, at Rome, there was found the entire body of a\nyoung girl swimming in a bright liquor which had so well preserved it,\nthat the face was beautiful and like life itself. At her feet burned\na lamp, whose flame vanished upon opening the sepulchre. From some\nengraved signs it was found to have been buried for over 1500 years,\nand supposed to have been the body of Tulliola, or Tullia, Cicero\u2019s\ndaughter.[379]\n\nChemists and physicists deny that perpetual lamps are possible,\nalleging that whatever is resolved into vapor or smoke cannot be\npermanent, but must consume; and as the oily nutriment of a lighted\nlamp is exhaled into a vapor, hence the fire cannot be perpetual\nfor want of food. Alchemists, on the other hand, deny that all the\nnourishment of kindled fire must of necessity be converted into\nvapor. They say that there are things in nature which will not only\nresist the force of fire and remain inconsumable, but will also prove\ninextinguishable by either wind or water. In an old chemical work\nof the year 1700, called \u039d\u0395\u039a\u03a1\u039f\u039a\u0397\u0394\u0395\u0399\u0391, the author gives a number of\nrefutations of the claims of various alchemists. But though he denies\nthat a fire can be made to burn _perpetually_, he is half-inclined to\nbelieve it possible that a lamp should burn several hundred years.\nBesides, we have a mass of testimony from alchemists who devoted years\nto these experiments and came to the conclusion that it was possible.\n\nThere are some peculiar preparations of gold, silver, and mercury;\nalso of naphtha, petroleum, and other bituminous oils. Alchemists also\nname the oil of camphor and amber, the _Lapis asbestos seu Amianthus_,\nthe _Lapis Carystius_, _Cyprius_, and _Linum vivum seu Creteum_, as\nemployed for such lamps. They affirm that such matter can be prepared\neither of gold or silver, reduced to fluid, and indicate that gold is\nthe fittest _pabulum_ for their wondrous flame, as, of all metals, gold\nwastes the least when either heated or melted, and, moreover, can be\nmade to re\u00e4bsorb its oily humidity as soon as exhaled, so continuously\nfeeding its own flame when it is once lighted. The Kabalists assert\nthat the secret was known to Moses, who had learned it from the\nEgyptians; and that the lamp ordered by the \u201cLord\u201d to burn on the\ntabernacle, was an inextinguishable lamp. \u201cAnd thou shalt command the\nchildren of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil-olive beaten for the\nlight, _to cause the lamp to burn always_\u201d (Exod. xxvii. 20).\n\nLicetus also denies that these lamps were prepared of metal, but on {229}\npage 44 of his work mentions a preparation of quicksilver filtrated\nseven times through white sand by fire, of which, he says, lamps were\nmade that would burn perpetually. Both Maturantius and Citesius firmly\nbelieve that such a work can be done by a purely chemical process. This\nliquor of quicksilver was known among alchemists as _Aqua Mercurialis_,\n_Materia Metallorum_, _Perpetua Dispositio_, and _Materia prima Artis_,\nalso _Oleum Vitri_. Tritenheim and Bartolomeo Korndorf both made\npreparations for the inextinguishable fire, and left their recipes for\nit.[380]\n\nAsbestos, which was known to the Greeks under the name of \u0391\u03c3\u03b2\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, or\n_inextinguishable_, is a kind of stone, which once set on fire cannot {230}\nbe quenched, as Pliny and Solinus tell us. Albertus Magnus describes it\nas a stone of an iron color, found mostly in Arabia. It is generally\nfound covered with a hardly-perceptible oleaginous moisture, which\nupon being approached with a lighted candle will immediately catch\nfire. Many were the experiments made by chemists to extract from it\nthis indissoluble oil, but they are alleged to have all failed. But,\nare our chemists prepared to say that the above operation is utterly\nimpracticable? If this oil could once be extracted there can be no\nquestion but it would afford a perpetual fuel. The ancients might\nwell boast of having had the secret of it, for, we repeat, there\nare experimenters living at this day who have done so successfully.\nChemists who have vainly tried it, have asserted that the fluid or\nliquor chemically extracted from that stone was more of a watery\nthan oily nature, and so impure and feculent that it could not burn;\nothers affirmed, on the contrary, that the oil, as soon as exposed\nto the air, became so thick and solid that it would hardly flow, and\nwhen lighted emitted no flame, but escaped in dark smoke; whereas the\nlamps of the ancients are alleged to have burned with the purest and\nbrightest flame, without emitting the slightest smoke. Kircher, who\nshows the practicability of purifying it, thinks it so difficult as to\nbe accessible only to the highest adepts of alchemy.\n\nSt. Augustine, who attributes the whole of these arts to the Christian\nscape-goat, the devil, is flatly contradicted by Ludovicus Vives,[381]\nwho shows that all such would-be magical operations are the work\nof man\u2019s industry and deep study of the hidden secrets of nature,\nwonderful and miraculous as they may seem. Podocattarus, a Cypriote\nknight,[382] had both flax and linen made out of another asbestos,\nwhich _Porcacchius_ says[383] he saw at the house of this knight. Pliny\ncalls this flax _linum vinum_, and Indian flax, and says it is done\nout of _asbeston sive asbestinum_, a kind of flax of which they made\ncloth that was to be cleaned by throwing it in the fire. He adds that\nit was as precious as pearls and diamonds, for not only was it very\nrarely found but exceedingly difficult to be woven, on account of the\nshortness of the threads. Being beaten flat with a hammer, it is soaked\nin warm water, and when dried its filaments can be easily divided into\nthreads like flax and woven into cloth. Pliny asserts he has seen some\ntowels made of it, and assisted in an experiment of purifying them by\nfire. Baptista Porta also states that he found the same, at Venice,\nin the hands of a Cyprian lady; he calls this discovery of Alchemy a\n_secretum optimum_.\n\nDr. Grew, in his description of the curiosities in Gresham College {231}\n(seventeenth century), believes the art, as well as the use of such\nlinen, altogether lost, but it appears that it was not quite so, for\nwe find the Museum Septalius boasting of the possession of thread,\nropes, paper, and net-work done of this material as late as 1726;\nsome of these articles made, moreover, by the own hand of Septalius,\nas we learn in Greenhill\u2019s _Art of Embalming_, p. 361. \u201cGrew,\u201d says\nthe author, \u201cseems to make _Asbestinus Lapis_ and _Amianthus_ all\none, and calls them in English the thrum-stone;\u201d he says it grows in\nshort threads or thrums, from about a quarter of an inch to an inch in\nlength, parallel and glossy, as fine as those small, single threads\nthe silk-worms spin, and very flexible like to flax or tow. That the\nsecret is not altogether lost is proved by the fact that some Buddhist\nconvents in China and Thibet are in possession of it. Whether made\nof the fibre of one or the other of such stones, we cannot say, but\nwe have seen in a monastery of female Talapoins, a yellow gown, such\nas the Buddhist monks wear, thrown into a large pit, full of glowing\ncoals, and taken out two hours afterward as clear as if it had been\nwashed with soap and water.\n\nSimilar severe trials of asbestos having occurred in Europe and\nAmerica in our own times, the substance is being applied to various\nindustrial purposes, such as roofing-cloth, incombustible dresses and\nfire-proof safes. A very valuable deposit on Staten Island, in New York\nharbor, yields the mineral in bundles, like dry wood, with fibres of\nseveral feet in length. The finer variety of asbestos, called \u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\n(undefiled) by the ancients, took its name from its white, satin-like\nlustre.\n\nThe ancients made the wick of their perpetual lamps from another stone\nalso, which they called _Lapis Carystius_. The inhabitants of the city\nof Carystos seemed to have made no secret of it, as _Matth\u00e6us Raderus_\nsays in his work[384] that they \u201ckemb\u2019d, spun, and wove this downy\nstone into mantles, table-linen, and the like, which when foul they\npurified again with fire instead of water.\u201d Pausanias, in _Atticus_,\nand Plutarch[385] also assert that the wicks of lamps were made from\nthis stone; but Plutarch adds that it was no more to be found in his\ntime. Licetus is inclined to believe that the perpetual lamps used by\nthe ancients in their sepulchres had no wicks at all, as very few have\nbeen found; but Ludovicus Vives is of a contrary opinion and affirms\nthat he has seen quite a number of them.\n\nLicetus, moreover, is firmly persuaded that a \u201cpabulum for fire may be\ngiven with such an equal temperament as cannot be consumed but after\na long series of ages, and so that neither the matter shall exhale {232}\nbut strongly resist the fire, nor the fire consume the matter, but be\nrestrained by it, as it were with a chain, from flying upward.\u201d To\nthis, Sir Thomas Brown,[386] speaking of lamps which have burned many\nhundred years, included in small bodies, observes that \u201cthis proceeds\nfrom the purity of the oil, which yields no fuliginous exhalations to\nsuffocate the fire; for if air had nourished the flame, then it had not\ncontinued many minutes, for it would certainly in that case have been\nspent and wasted by the fire.\u201d But he adds, \u201cthe art of preparing this\ninconsumable oil is lost.\u201d\n\nNot quite; and time will prove it, though all that we now write should\nbe doomed to fail, like so many other truths.\n\nWe are told, in behalf of science, that she accepts no other mode of\ninvestigation than observation and experiment. Agreed; and have we\nnot the records of say three thousand years of observation of facts\ngoing to prove the occult powers of man? As to experiment, what better\nopportunity could have been asked than the so-called modern phenomena\nhave afforded? In 1869, various scientific Englishmen were invited by\nthe London Dialectical Society to assist in an investigation of these\nphenomena. Let us see what our philosophers replied. Professor Huxley\nwrote: \u201cI have no time for such an inquiry, which would involve much\ntrouble and (unless it were unlike all inquiries of that kind I have\nknown) much annoyance.... I take no interest in the subject ... but\nsupposing the phenomena to be genuine\u2014they do not interest me.\u201d[387]\nMr. George H. Lewes expresses a wise thing in the following sentence:\n\u201cWhen any man says that phenomena are produced by no known physical\nlaws, he declares he knows the laws by which they are produced.\u201d[388]\nProfessor Tyndall expresses doubt as to the possibility of good results\nat any seance which he might attend. His presence, according to the\nopinion of Mr. Varley, throws everything in confusion.[389] Professor\nCarpenter writes, \u201cI have satisfied myself by personal investigation,\nthat, whilst a great number of what pass as such (_i. e._, spiritual\nmanifestations) are the results of intentional imposture, and many\nothers of self-deception, there are certain phenomena which are quite\ngenuine, and must be considered as fair subjects of scientific study\n... the source of these phenomena does not lie in any communication\n_ab-extra_, but depend upon the _subjective_ condition of the\nindividual which operates according to certain recognized physiological\nlaws ... the process to which I have given the name \u2018_unconscious\ncerebration_\u2019 ... performs a large part in the production of the {233}\nphenomena known as spiritualistic.\u201d[390]\n\nAnd it is thus that the world is apprised through the organ of exact\nscience, that _unconscious cerebration_ has acquired the faculty of\nmaking the guitars fly in the air and forcing furniture to perform\nvarious clownish tricks!\n\nSo much for the opinions of the English scientists. The Americans\nhave not done much better. In 1857, a committee of Harvard University\nwarned the public against investigating this subject, which \u201ccorrupts\nthe morals and degrades the intellect.\u201d They called it, furthermore,\n\u201ca contaminating influence, which surely tends to lessen the truth of\nman and the purity of woman.\u201d Later, when Professor Robert Hare, the\ngreat chemist, defying the opinions of his contemporaries, investigated\nspiritualism, and became a believer, he was immediately declared _non\ncompos mentis_; and in 1874, when one of the New York daily papers\naddressed a circular letter to the principal scientists of this\ncountry, asking them to investigate, and offering to pay the expenses,\nthey, like the guests bidden to the supper, \u201cwith one consent, began to\nmake excuses.\u201d\n\nYet, despite the indifference of Huxley, the jocularity of Tyndall,\nand the \u201cunconscious cerebration\u201d of Carpenter, many a scientist as\nnoted as either of them, has investigated the unwelcome subject,\nand, overwhelmed with the evidence, become converted. And another\nscientist, and a great author\u2014although not a spiritualist\u2014bears this\nhonorable testimony: \u201cThat the spirits of the dead occasionally revisit\nthe living, or haunt their former abodes, has been in all ages, in\nall European countries, a fixed belief, not confined to rustics, but\nparticipated in by the intelligent.... If human testimony on such\nsubjects can be of any value, there is a body of evidence reaching from\nthe remotest ages to the present time, as _extensive and unimpeachable\nas is to be found_ in support of anything whatever.\u201d[391]\n\nUnfortunately, human skepticism is a stronghold capable of defying any\namount of testimony. And to begin with Mr. Huxley, our men of science\naccept of but so much as suits them, and no more.\n\n \u201cOh shame to men! devil with devil damn\u2019d\n Firm concord holds,\u2014_men_ only disagree\n Of creatures rational....\u201d[392]\n\nHow can we account for such divergence of views among men taught out of\nthe same text-books and deriving their knowledge from the same source? {234}\nClearly, this is but one more corroboration of the truism that no two\nmen see the same thing exactly alike. This idea is admirably formulated\nby Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, in a letter to the Dialectical Society.\n\n\u201cI have long,\u201d says he, \u201cbeen convinced, by the experience of my\nlife as a pioneer in several heterodoxies which are rapidly becoming\northodoxies, that nearly all truth is temperamental to us, or given\nin the affections and intuitions, and that discussion and inquiry do\nlittle more than feed temperament.\u201d\n\nThis profound observer might have added to his experience that of\nBacon, who remarks that \u201c ... a _little_ philosophy inclineth a man\u2019s\nmind to atheism, but _depth_ in philosophy bringeth man\u2019s mind about to\nreligion.\u201d\n\nProfessor Carpenter vaunts the advanced philosophy of the present day\nwhich \u201cignores no fact however strange that can be attested by valid\nevidence;\u201d and yet he would be the first to reject the claims of the\nancients to philosophical and scientific knowledge, although based\nupon evidence quite \u201cas valid\u201d as that which supports the pretensions\nof men of our times to philosophical or scientific distinction. In\nthe department of science, let us take for example the subjects of\nelectricity and electro-magnetism, which have exalted the names of\nFranklin and Morse to so high a place upon our roll of fame. Six\ncenturies before the Christian era, Thales is said to have discovered\nthe electric properties of amber; and yet the later researches of\nSchweigger, as given in his extensive works on Symbolism, have\nthoroughly demonstrated that all the ancient mythologies were based\non the science of natural philosophy, and show that the most occult\nproperties of electricity and magnetism were known to the theurgists\nof the earliest Mysteries recorded in history, those of Samothrace.\nDiodorus, of Sicily, Herodotus, and Sanchoniathon, the Ph\u0153nician\u2014the\noldest of historians\u2014tell us that these Mysteries originated in the\nnight of time, centuries and probably thousands of years prior to\nthe historical period. One of the best proofs of it we find in a\nmost remarkable picture, in Raoul-Rochette\u2019s _Monuments d\u2019Antiquit\u00e9\nFigur\u00e9s_, in which, like the \u201cerect-haired Pan,\u201d all the figures have\ntheir hair streaming out in every direction\u2014except the central figure\nof the Kabeirian Demeter, from whom the power issues, and one other,\na kneeling man.[393] The picture, according to Schweigger, evidently\nrepresents a part of the ceremony of initiation. And yet it is not\nso long since the elementary works on natural philosophy began to\nbe ornamented with cuts of _electrified_ heads, with hair standing {235}\nout in all directions, under the influence of the electric fluid.\nSchweigger shows that a _lost natural philosophy of antiquity_ was\nconnected with the most important religious ceremonies. He demonstrates\nin the amplest manner, that _magic_ in the prehistoric periods had a\npart in the mysteries and that the greatest phenomena, the so-called\nmiracles\u2014whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian\u2014rested in fact on the\narcane knowledge of the ancient priests of physics and all the branches\nof chemistry, or rather alchemy.\n\nIn chapter xi., which is entirely devoted to the wonderful achievements\nof the ancients, we propose to demonstrate our assertions more fully.\nWe will show, on the evidence of the most trustworthy classics, that\nat a period far anterior to the siege of Troy, the learned priests of\nthe sanctuaries were thoroughly acquainted with electricity and even\nlightning-conductors. We will now add but a few more words before\nclosing the subject.\n\nThe theurgists so well understood the minutest properties of magnetism,\nthat, without possessing the lost key to their arcana, but depending\nwholly upon what was known in their modern days of electro-magnetism,\nSchweigger and Ennemoser have been able to trace the identity of the\n\u201ctwin brothers,\u201d the Dioskuri, with the polarity of electricity and\nmagnetism. Symbolical myths, previously supposed to be meaningless\nfictions, are now found to be \u201cthe cleverest and at the same time most\nprofound expressions of a strictly scientifically defined truth of\nnature,\u201d according to Ennemoser.[394]\n\nOur physicists pride themselves on the achievements of our century\nand exchange antiphonal hymns of praise. The eloquent diction\nof their class-lectures, their flowery phraseology, require but\na slight modification to change these lectures into melodious\nsonnets. Our modern Petrarchs, Dantes, and Torquato Tassos rival\nwith the troubadours of old in poetical effusion. In their unbounded\nglorification of matter, they sing the amorous commingling of the\nwandering atoms, and the loving interchange of protoplasms, and lament\nthe coquettish fickleness of \u201cforces\u201d which play so provokingly at\nhide-and-seek with our grave professors in the great drama of life,\ncalled by them \u201cforce-correlation.\u201d Proclaiming matter sole and\nautocratic sovereign of the Boundless Universe, they would forcibly\ndivorce her from her consort, and place the widowed queen on the great\nthrone of nature made vacant by the exiled spirit. And now, they try to\nmake her appear as attractive as they can by incensing and worshipping\nat the shrine of their own building. Do they forget, or are they {236}\nutterly unaware of the fact, that in the absence of its legitimate\nsovereign, this throne is but a whitened sepulchre, inside of which\nall is rottenness and corruption! That matter without the spirit which\nvivifies it, and of which it is but the \u201cgross purgation,\u201d to use a\nhermetic expression, is nothing but a soulless corpse, whose limbs, in\norder to be moved in predetermined directions, require an intelligent\noperator at the great galvanic battery called LIFE!\n\nIn what particular is the knowledge of the present century so superior\nto that of the ancients? When we say knowledge we do not mean that\nbrilliant and clear definition of our modern scholars of particulars\nto the most trifling detail in every branch of exact science; of that\ntuition which finds an appropriate term for every detail insignificant\nand microscopic as it may be; a name for every nerve and artery in\nhuman and animal organisms, an appellation for every cell, filament,\nand rib in a plant; but the philosophical and ultimate expression of\nevery truth in nature.\n\nThe greatest ancient philosophers are accused of shallowness and a\nsuperficiality of knowledge of those details in exact sciences of\nwhich the moderns boast so much. Plato is declared by his various\ncommentators to have been utterly ignorant of the anatomy and functions\nof the human body; to have known nothing of the uses of the nerves\nto convey sensations; and to have had nothing better to offer than\nvain speculations concerning physiological questions. He has simply\ngeneralized the divisions of the human body, they say, and given\nnothing reminding us of anatomical facts. As to his own views on the\nhuman frame, the microcosmos being in his ideas the image in miniature\nof the macrocosmos, they are much too transcendental to be given the\nleast attention by our exact and materialistic skeptics. The idea of\nthis frame being, as well as the universe, formed out of triangles,\nseems preposterously ridiculous to several of his translators. Alone\nof the latter, Professor Jowett, in his introduction to the _Tim\u00e6us_,\nhonestly remarks that the modern physical philosopher \u201chardly allows\nto his notions the merit of being \u2018the dead men\u2019s bones\u2019 out of which\nhe has himself risen to a higher knowledge;\u201d[395] forgetting how much\nthe metaphysics of olden times has helped the \u201cphysical\u201d sciences of\nthe present day. If, instead of quarrelling with the insufficiency\nand at times absence of terms and definitions strictly scientific in\nPlato\u2019s works, we analyze them carefully, the _Tim\u00e6us_, alone, will\nbe found to contain within its limited space the germs of every new\ndiscovery. The circulation of the blood and the law of gravitation are\nclearly mentioned, though the former fact, it may be, is not so clearly\ndefined as to withstand the reiterated attacks of modern science; for {237}\naccording to Prof. Jowett, the specific discovery that the blood flows\nout at one side of the heart through the arteries, and returns through\nthe veins at the other, was unknown to him, though Plato was perfectly\naware \u201cthat blood is a fluid in constant motion.\u201d\n\nPlato\u2019s method, like that of geometry, was to descend from universals\nto particulars. Modern science vainly seeks a first cause among the\npermutations of molecules; the former sought and found it amid the\nmajestic sweep of worlds. For him it was enough to know the great\nscheme of creation and to be able to trace the mightiest movements\nof the universe through their changes to their ultimates. The petty\ndetails, whose observation and classification have so taxed and\ndemonstrated the patience of modern scientists, occupied but little of\nthe attention of the old philosophers. Hence, while a fifth-form boy\nof an English school can prate more learnedly about the little things\nof physical science than Plato himself, yet, on the other hand, the\ndullest of Plato\u2019s disciples could tell more about great cosmic laws\nand their mutual relations, and demonstrate a familiarity with and\ncontrol over the occult forces which lie behind them, than the most\nlearned professor in the most distinguished academy of our day.\n\nThis fact, so little appreciated and never dwelt upon by Plato\u2019s\ntranslators, accounts for the self-laudation in which we moderns\nindulge at the expense of that philosopher and his compeers. Their\nalleged mistakes in anatomy and physiology are magnified to an\ninordinate extent to gratify our self-love, until, in acquiring the\nidea of our own superior learning, we lose sight of the intellectual\nsplendor which adorns the ages of the past; it is as if one should,\nin fancy, magnify the solar spots until he should believe the bright\nluminary to be totally eclipsed.\n\nThe unprofitableness of modern scientific research is evinced in\nthe fact that while we have a name for the most trivial particle of\nmineral, plant, animal, and man, the wisest of our teachers are unable\nto tell us anything definite about the vital force which produces the\nchanges in these several kingdoms. It is necessary to seek further\nfor corroboration of this statement than the works of our highest\nscientific authorities themselves.\n\nIt requires no little moral courage in a man of eminent professional\nposition to do justice to the acquirements of the ancients, in the\nface of a public sentiment which is content with nothing else than\ntheir abasement. When we meet with a case of the kind we gladly lay a\nlaurel at the feet of the bold and honest scholar. Such is Professor\nJowett, Master of Balliol College, and Regius Professor of Greek in\nthe University of Oxford, who, in his translation of Plato\u2019s works,\nspeaking of \u201cthe physical philosophy of the ancients as a whole,\u201d {238}\ngives them the following credit: 1. \u201cThat the nebular theory was the\nreceived belief of the early physicists.\u201d Therefore it could not have\nrested, as Draper asserts,[396] upon the telescopic discovery made\nby Herschel I. 2. \u201cThat the development of animals out of frogs who\ncame to land, and of man out of the animals, was held by Anaximenes\nin the sixth century before Christ.\u201d The professor might have added\nthat this theory antedated Anaximenes by some thousands of years,\nperhaps; that it was an accepted doctrine among Chaldeans, and that\nDarwin\u2019s evolution of species and monkey theory are of an antediluvian\norigin. 3. \u201c ... that, even by Philolaus and the early Pythagoreans,\nthe earth was held to be a body like the other stars revolving in\nspace.\u201d[397] Thus Galileo, studying some Pythagorean fragments, which\nare shown by Reuchlin to have yet existed in the days of the Florentine\nmathematician;[398] being, moreover, familiar with the doctrines of\nthe old philosophers, but re\u00e4sserted an astronomical doctrine which\nprevailed in India at the remotest antiquity. 4. The ancients \u201c\n... thought that there was a sex in plants as well as in animals.\u201d\nThus our modern naturalists had but to follow in the steps of their\npredecessors. 5. \u201cThat musical notes depended on the relative length or\ntension of the strings from which they were emitted, and were measured\nby ratios of number.\u201d 6. \u201cThat mathematical laws pervaded the world\nand even qualitative differences were supposed to have their origin\nin number;\u201d and 7, \u201cthe annihilation of matter was denied by them,\nand held to be a _transformation_ only.\u201d[399] \u201cAlthough one of these\ndiscoveries might have been supposed to be a happy guess,\u201d adds Mr.\nJowett, \u201cwe can hardly attribute them all to mere coincidences.\u201d[400]\n\nIn short, the Platonic philosophy was one of order, system, and\nproportion; it embraced the evolution of worlds and species, the\ncorrelation and conservation of energy, the transmutation of material\nform, the indestructibility of matter and of spirit. Their position in\nthe latter respect being far in advance of modern science, and binding {239}\nthe arch of their philosophical system with a keystone at once perfect\nand immovable. If science has made such colossal strides during these\nlatter days\u2014if we have such clearer ideas of natural law than the\nancients\u2014why are our inquiries as to the nature and source of life\nunanswered? If the modern laboratory is so much richer in the fruits\nof experimental research than those of the olden time, how comes it\nthat we make no step except on paths that were trodden long before the\nChristian era? How does it happen that the most advanced standpoint\nthat has been reached in our times only enables us to see in the dim\ndistance up the Alpine path of knowledge the monumental proofs that\nearlier explorers have left to mark the plateaux they had reached and\noccupied?\n\nIf modern masters are so much in advance of the old ones, why do they\nnot restore to us the lost arts of our postdiluvian forefathers? Why do\nthey not give us the unfading colors of Luxor\u2014the Tyrian purple; the\nbright vermilion and dazzling blue which decorate the walls of this\nplace, and are as bright as on the first day of their application? The\nindestructible cement of the pyramids and of ancient aqueducts; the\nDamascus blade, which can be turned like a corkscrew in its scabbard\nwithout breaking; the gorgeous, unparalleled tints of the stained glass\nthat is found amid the dust of old ruins and beams in the windows of\nancient cathedrals; and the secret of the true malleable glass? And\nif chemistry is so little able to rival even with the early medi\u00e6val\nages in some arts, why boast of achievements which, according to strong\nprobability, were perfectly known thousands of years ago? The more\narch\u00e6ology and philology advance, the more humiliating to our pride are\nthe discoveries which are daily made, the more glorious testimony do\nthey bear in behalf of those who, perhaps on account of the distance\nof their remote antiquity, have been until now considered ignorant\nflounderers in the deepest mire of superstition.\n\nWhy should we forget that, ages before the prow of the adventurous\nGenoese clove the Western waters, the Ph\u0153nician vessels had\ncircumnavigated the globe, and spread civilization in regions now\nsilent and deserted? What arch\u00e6ologist will dare assert that the same\nhand which planned the Pyramids of Egypt, Karnak, and the thousand\nruins now crumbling to oblivion on the sandy banks of the Nile, did\n_not_ erect the monumental Nagkon-Wat of Cambodia? or trace the\nhieroglyphics on the obelisks and doors of the deserted Indian village,\nnewly discovered in British Columbia by Lord Dufferin? or those on the\nruins of Palenque and Uxmal, of Central America? Do not the relics we\ntreasure in our museums\u2014last mementos of the long \u201clost arts\u201d speak\nloudly in favor of ancient civilization? And do they not prove, over\nand over again, that nations and continents that have passed away have {240}\nburied along with them arts and sciences, which neither the first\ncrucible ever heated in a medi\u00e6val cloister, nor the last cracked by a\nmodern chemist have revived, nor will\u2014at least, in the present century.\n\n\u201cThey were not without some knowledge of optics,\u201d Professor Draper\nmagnanimously concedes to the ancients; others positively deny to them\neven that little. \u201cThe convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they\nwere not unacquainted with magnifying instruments.\u201d[401] Indeed? If\nthey were not, all the classical authors must have lied. For, when\nCicero tells us that he had seen the entire _Iliad_ written on skin\nof such a miniature size, that it could easily be rolled up inside a\nnut-shell, and Pliny asserts that Nero had a ring with a small glass\nin it, through which he watched the performance of the gladiators at\na distance\u2014could audacity go farther? Truly, when we are told that\nMauritius could see from the promontory of Sicily over the entire\nsea to the coast of Africa, with an instrument called _nauscopite_,\nwe must either think that all these witnesses lied, or that the\nancients were more than slightly acquainted with optics and magnifying\nglasses. Wendell Phillips states that he has a friend who possesses an\nextraordinary ring \u201cperhaps three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and\non it is the naked figure of the god Hercules. By the aid of glasses,\nyou can distinguish the interlacing muscles, and _count every separate\nhair on the eyebrows_.... Rawlinson brought home a stone about twenty\ninches long and ten wide, containing an entire treatise on mathematics.\nIt would be perfectly illegible without glasses.... In Dr. Abbott\u2019s\nMuseum, there is a ring of Cheops, to which Bunsen assigns 500 B.C. The\nsignet of the ring is about the size of a quarter of a dollar, and the\nengraving is _invisible_ without the aid of glasses.... At Parma, they\nwill show you a gem once worn on the finger of Michael Angelo, of which\nthe engraving is 2,000 years old, and on which there are the figures of\n_seven_ women. You must have the aid of powerful glasses in order to\ndistinguish the forms at all.... So the microscope,\u201d adds the learned\nlecturer, \u201cinstead of dating from our time, finds its brothers in the\nBooks of Moses\u2014and these are infant brothers.\u201c\n\nThe foregoing facts do not seem to show that the ancients had merely\n\u201c_some_ knowledge of optics.\u201d Therefore, totally disagreeing in this\nparticular with Professor Fiske and his criticism of Professor Draper\u2019s\n_Conflict_ in his _Unseen World_, the only fault we find with the\nadmirable book of Draper is that, as an historical critic, he sometimes\nuses his own optical instruments in the wrong place. While, in order\nto magnify the atheism of the Pythagorean Bruno, he looks through {241}\nconvex lenses; whenever talking of the knowledge of the ancients, he\nevidently sees things through _concave_ ones.\n\nIt is simply worthy of admiration to follow in various modern works\nthe cautious attempts of both pious Christians and skeptical, albeit\nvery learned men, to draw a line of demarcation between what we are\nand what we are not to believe, in ancient authors. No credit is ever\nallowed them without being followed by a qualifying caution. If Strabo\ntells us that ancient Nineveh was forty-seven miles in circumference,\nand his testimony is accepted, why should it be otherwise the moment\nhe testifies to the accomplishment of Sibylline prophecies? Where is\nthe common sense in calling Herodotus the \u201cFather of History,\u201d and\nthen accusing him, in the same breath, of silly gibberish, whenever he\nrecounts marvellous manifestations, of which he was an eye-witness?\nPerhaps, after all, such a caution is more than ever necessary, now\nthat our epoch has been christened the Century of Discovery. The\ndisenchantment may prove too cruel for Europe. Gunpowder, which has\nlong been thought an invention of Bacon and Schwartz, is now shown\nin the school-books to have been used by the Chinese for levelling\nhills and blasting rocks, centuries before our era. \u201cIn the Museum\nof Alexandria,\u201d says Draper, \u201cthere was a machine invented by Hero,\nthe mathematician, a little more than 100 years B.C. It revolved by\nthe agency of steam, and was of the form that we should now call a\nreaction-engine.... Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the\nmodern steam-engine.\u201d[402] Europe prides herself upon the discoveries\nof Copernicus and Galileo, and now we are told that the astronomical\nobservations of the Chaldeans extend back to within a hundred years of\nthe flood; and Bunsen fixes the flood at not less than 10,000 years\nbefore our era.[403] Moreover, a Chinese emperor, more than 2,000 years\nbefore the birth of Christ (_i. e._, before Moses) put to death his two\nchief astronomers for not predicting an eclipse of the sun.\n\nIt may be noted, as an example of the inaccuracy of current notions as\nto the scientific claims of the present century, that the discoveries\nof the indestructibility of matter and force-correlation, especially\nthe latter, are heralded as among our crowning triumphs. It is \u201cthe\nmost important discovery of the present century,\u201d as Sir William\nArmstrong expressed it in his famous address as president of the\nBritish Association. But, this \u201cimportant discovery\u201d is no discovery\nafter all. Its origin, apart from the undeniable traces of it to be\nfound among the old philosophers, is lost in the dense shadows of {242}\nprehistoric days. Its first vestiges are discovered in the dreamy\nspeculations of Vedic theology, in the doctrine of emanation and\nabsorption, the nirvana in short. John Erigena outlined it in his bold\nphilosophy in the eighth century, and we invite any one to read his _De\nDivisione Natur\u00e6_, who would convince himself of this truth. Science\ntells that when the theory of the indestructibility of matter (also\na very, very old idea of Demokritus, by the way) was demonstrated,\nit became necessary to extend it to force. No material particle can\never be lost; no part of the force existing in nature can vanish;\nhence, force was likewise proved indestructible, and its various\nmanifestations or forces, under divers aspects, were shown to be\nmutually convertible, and but different modes of motion of the material\nparticles. And thus was rediscovered the force-correlation. Mr. Grove,\nso far back as 1842, gave to each of these forces, such as heat,\nelectricity, magnetism, and light, the character of convertibility;\nmaking them capable of being at one moment a cause, and at the next an\neffect.[404] But whence come these forces, and whither do they go, when\nwe lose sight of them? On this point science is silent.\n\nThe theory of \u201cforce-correlation,\u201d though it may be in the minds of\nour contemporaries \u201cthe greatest discovery of the age,\u201d can account\nfor neither the beginning nor the end of one of such forces; neither\ncan the theory point out the cause of it. Forces may be convertible,\nand one may produce the other, still, no exact science is able to\nexplain the alpha and omega of the phenomenon. In what particular\nare we then in advance of Plato who, discussing in the _Tim\u00e6us_ the\nprimary and secondary qualities of matter,[405] and the feebleness of\nhuman intellect, makes Tim\u00e6us say: \u201cGod knows the original qualities\nof things; man can only hope to attain to probability.\u201d We have but\nto open one of the several pamphlets of Huxley and Tyndall to find\nprecisely the same confession; but they improve upon Plato by not\nallowing even God to know more than themselves; and perhaps it may\nbe upon this that they base their claims of superiority? The ancient\nHindus founded their doctrine of emanation and absorption on precisely\nthat law. The \u03a4\u1f78 \u1f48\u03bd the primordial point in the boundless circle,\n\u201cwhose circumference is nowhere, and the centre everywhere,\u201d emanating\nfrom itself all things, and manifesting them in the visible universe\nunder multifarious forms; the forms interchanging, commingling, and,\nafter a gradual transformation from the pure spirit (or the Buddhistic\n\u201c_nothing_\u201d), into the grossest matter, beginning to recede and as\ngradually re-emerge into their primitive state, which is the absorption\ninto Nirvana[406]\u2014what else is this but correlation of forces?\n\nScience tells us that heat may be shown to develop electricity, {243}\nelectricity produce heat; and magnetism to evolve electricity, and\n_vice versa_. Motion, they tell us, results from motion itself, and so\non, _ad infinitum_. This is the A B C of occultism and of the earliest\nalchemists. The indestructibility of matter and force being discovered\nand proved, the great problem of eternity is solved. What need have\nwe more of spirit? its uselessness is henceforth scientifically\ndemonstrated!\n\nThus modern philosophers may be said not to have gone one step beyond\nwhat the priests of Samothrace, the Hindus, and even the Christian\nGnostics well knew. The former have shown it in that wonderfully\ningenious mythos of the Dioskuri, or \u201cthe sons of heaven;\u201d the twin\nbrothers, spoken of by Schweigger, \u201cwho constantly die and return\nto life together, while it is absolutely necessary _that one should\ndie that the other may live_.\u201d They knew as well as our physicists,\nthat when a force has disappeared it has simply been converted into\nanother force. Though arch\u00e6ology may not have discovered any ancient\napparatus for such special conversions, it may nevertheless be affirmed\nwith perfect reason and upon analogical deductions that nearly all\nthe ancient religions were based on such indestructibility of matter\nand force\u2014plus the emanation of the whole from an ethereal, spiritual\nfire\u2014or the central sun, which is God or spirit, on the knowledge of\nwhose potentiality is based ancient theurgic magic.\n\nIn the manuscript commentary of Proclus on magic he gives the following\naccount: \u201cIn the same manner as lovers gradually advance from that\nbeauty which is apparent in sensible forms, to that which is divine;\nso the ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain\nalliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things\nmanifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist\nin all, they fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy\nand similarity. Thus they recognized things supreme in such as are\nsubordinate, and the subordinate in the supreme; in the celestial\nregions, terrene properties subsisting in a causal and celestial\nmanner; and in earth celestial properties, but according to a terrene\ncondition.\u201d\n\nProclus then proceeds to point to certain mysterious peculiarities {244}\nof plants, minerals, and animals, all of which are well known to our\nnaturalists, but none of which are explained. Such are the rotatory\nmotion of the sunflower, of the heliotrope, of the lotos\u2014which, before\nthe rising of the sun, folds its leaves, drawing the petals within\nitself, so to say, then expands them gradually, as the sun rises,\nand draws them in again as it descends to the west\u2014of the sun and\nlunar stones and the helioselenus, of the cock and lion, and other\nanimals. \u201cNow the ancients,\u201d he says, \u201chaving contemplated this mutual\nsympathy of things (celestial and terrestrial) applied them for occult\npurposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which,\nthrough a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues into this\ninferior abode.... All things are full of divine natures; terrestrial\nnatures receiving the plenitude of such as are celestial, but celestial\nof _super_celestial essences, while every order of things proceeds\ngradually in a beautiful descent from _the highest to the lowest_.[407]\nFor whatever particulars are collected into one above the order of\nthings, are afterwards dilated in descending, _various souls being\ndistributed under their various ruling divinities_.\u201d[408]\n\nEvidently Proclus does not advocate here simply a superstition, but\nscience; for notwithstanding that it is occult, and unknown to our\nscholars, who deny its possibilities, magic is still a science. It is\nfirmly and solely based on the mysterious affinities existing between\norganic and inorganic bodies, the visible productions of the four\nkingdoms, and the invisible powers of the universe. That which science\ncalls gravitation, the ancients and the medi\u00e6val hermetists called\nmagnetism, attraction, affinity. It is the universal law, which is\nunderstood by Plato and explained in _Tim\u00e6us_ as the attraction of\nlesser bodies to larger ones, and of similar bodies to similar, the\nlatter exhibiting a magnetic power rather than following the law of\ngravitation. The anti-Aristotelean formula that _gravity causes all\nbodies to descend with equal rapidity, without reference to their\nweight_, the difference being caused by some other _unknown_ agency,\nwould seem to point a great deal more forcibly to _magnetism_ than to\ngravitation, the former attracting rather in virtue of the substance\nthan of the weight. A thorough familiarity with the occult faculties\nof everything existing in nature, visible as well as invisible; their\nmutual relations, attractions, and repulsions; the cause of these,\ntraced to the _spiritual_ principle which pervades and animates all\nthings; the ability to furnish the best conditions for this principle\nto manifest itself, in other words a profound and exhaustive knowledge\nof natural law\u2014this _was_ and _is_ the basis of magic.\n\nIn his notes on _Ghosts and Goblins_, when reviewing some facts adduced {245}\nby certain illustrious defenders of the spiritual phenomena, such\nas Professor de Morgan, Mr. Robert Dale Owen, and Mr. Wallace among\nothers\u2014Mr. Richard A. Proctor says that he \u201ccannot see any force in\nthe following remarks by Professor Wallace: \u2018How is such evidence as\nthis,\u2019 he (Wallace) says, speaking of one of Owen\u2019s stories, \u2018refuted\nor explained away? Scores, and even hundreds, of equally-attested facts\nare on record, but no attempt is made to explain them. They are simply\nignored, and in many cases admitted to be inexplicable.\u2019\u201d To this\nMr. Proctor jocularly replies that as \u201cour philosophers declare that\nthey have long ago decided these ghost stories to be all delusions;\n_therefore_ they need only be ignored; and they feel much \u2018worritted\u2019\nthat fresh evidence should be adduced, and fresh converts made, some of\nwhom are so unreasonable as to ask for a new trial on the ground that\nthe former verdict was contrary to the evidence.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll this,\u201d he goes on to say, \u201caffords excellent reason why the\n\u2018converts\u2019 should not be ridiculed for their belief; but something more\nto the purpose must be urged before \u2018the philosophers\u2019 can be expected\nto devote much of their time to the inquiry suggested. It ought to\nbe shown that _the well-being of the human race is to some important\ndegree concerned in the matter_, whereas the trivial nature of all\nghostly conduct hitherto recorded is admitted even by converts!\u201d\n\nMrs. Emma Hardinge Britten has collected a great number of\nauthenticated facts from secular and scientific journals, which show\nwith what serious questions our scientists sometimes replace the vexed\nsubject of \u201cGhosts and Goblins.\u201d She quotes from a Washington paper a\nreport of one of these solemn conclaves, held on the evening of April\n29th, 1854. Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, the venerable chemist, who\nwas so universally respected for his individual character, as well as\nfor his life-long labors for science, \u201cwas _bullied_ into silence\u201d by\nProfessor Henry, as soon as he had touched the subject of spiritualism.\n\u201cThe impertinent action of one of the members of the \u2018American\nScientific Association,\u2019\u201d says the authoress, \u201cwas sanctioned by the\nmajority of that distinguished body and subsequently endorsed by all\nof them in their proceedings.\u201d[409] On the following morning, in the\nreport of the session, the _Spiritual Telegraph_ thus commented upon\nthe events:\n\n\u201cIt would seem that a subject like this\u201d (presented by Professor Hare)\nwas one which would lie peculiarly within the domain of \u2018science.\u2019 But\nthe \u2018American Association for the Promotion of Science\u2019,[410] decided {246}\nthat it was either unworthy of their attention or dangerous for them to\nmeddle with, and so they voted to put the invitation on the table....\nWe cannot omit in this connection to mention that the \u2018American\nAssociation for _the Promotion of Science_\u2019 held a very learned,\nextended, grave, and profound discussion at the same session, _upon the\ncause why \u2018roosters crow between twelve and one o\u2019clock at night_!\u2019\nA subject worthy of philosophers; and one, moreover, which must have\nbeen shown to effect \u201cthe well-being of the human race\u201d in a _very_\n\u201c_important_ degree.\u201d\n\nIt is sufficient for one to express belief in the existence of a\nmysterious sympathy between the life of certain plants and that\nof human beings, to assure being made the subject of ridicule.\nNevertheless, there are many well-authenticated cases going to show\nthe reality of such an affinity. Persons have been known to fall sick\nsimultaneously with the uprooting of a tree planted upon their natal\nday, and dying when the tree died. Reversing affairs, it has been\nknown that a tree planted under the same circumstances withered and\ndied simultaneously with the person whose twin brother, so to speak,\nit was. The former would be called by Mr. Proctor an \u201ceffect of the\nimagination;\u201d the latter a \u201ccurious coincidence.\u201d\n\nMax M\u00fcller gives a number of such cases in his essay _On Manners and\nCustoms_. He shows this popular tradition existing in Central America,\nin India, and Germany. He traces it over nearly all Europe; finds it\namong the Maori Warriors, in British Guiana, and in Asia. Reviewing\nTyler\u2019s _Researches into the Early History of Mankind_, a work in\nwhich are brought together quite a number of such traditions, the\ngreat philologist very justly remarks the following: \u201cIf it occurred\nin Indian and German tales only, we might consider it as ancient Aryan\nproperty; but when we find it again in Central America, nothing remains\nbut either to admit a later communication between European settlers and\nnative American story-tellers ... or to inquire whether there is not\nsome intelligible and truly human element in this supposed sympathy\nbetween the life of flowers and the life of man.\u201d\n\nThe present generation of men, who believe in nothing beyond the\nsuperficial evidence of their senses, will doubtless reject the very\nidea of such a sympathetic power existing in plants, animals, and even\nstones. The caul covering their inner sight allows them to see but that\nwhich they cannot well deny. The author of the _Asclepian Dialogue_\nfurnishes us with a reason for it, that might perhaps fit the present\nperiod and account for this epidemic of unbelief. In our century, as {247}\nthen, \u201cthere is a lamentable departure of divinity from man, when\nnothing worthy of heaven or celestial concerns is heard or believed,\nand when every divine voice is by a _necessary_ silence dumb.\u201d[411] Or,\nas the Emperor Julian has it, \u201cthe _little_ soul\u201d of the skeptic \u201cis\nindeed acute, but sees nothing with a vision healthy and sound.\u201d\n\n_We are at the bottom of a cycle and evidently in a transitory state._\nPlato divides the intellectual progress of the universe during every\ncycle into fertile and barren periods. In the sublunary regions, the\nspheres of the various elements remain eternally in perfect harmony\nwith the divine nature, he says; \u201cbut their parts,\u201d owing to a too\nclose proximity to earth, and their commingling with the _earthly_\n(which is matter, and therefore the realm of evil), \u201care sometimes\naccording, and sometimes contrary to (divine) nature.\u201d When those\ncirculations\u2014which Eliphas Levi calls \u201ccurrents of the astral light\u201d in\nthe universal ether which contains in itself every element, take\nplace in harmony with the divine spirit, our earth and everything\npertaining to it enjoys a fertile period. The occult powers of\nplants, animals, and minerals magically sympathize with the \u201csuperior\nnatures,\u201d and the divine soul of man is in perfect intelligence with\nthese \u201cinferior\u201d ones. But during the barren periods, the latter lose\ntheir magic sympathy, and the spiritual sight of the majority of\nmankind is so blinded as to lose every notion of the superior powers\nof its own divine spirit. We are in a barren period: the eighteenth\ncentury, during which the malignant fever of skepticism broke out so\nirrepressibly, has entailed unbelief as an hereditary disease upon the\nnineteenth. The divine intellect is veiled in man; his animal brain\nalone _philosophizes_.\n\n_Formerly, magic was a universal science, entirely in the hands of\nthe sacerdotal savant._ Though the focus was jealously guarded in the\nsanctuaries, its rays illuminated the whole of mankind. Otherwise, how\nare we to account for the extraordinary identity of \u201csuperstitions,\u201d\ncustoms, traditions, and even sentences, repeated in popular proverbs\nso widely scattered from one pole to the other that we find exactly\nthe same ideas among the Tartars and Laplanders as among the southern\nnations of Europe, the inhabitants of the steppes of Russia, and the\naborigines of North and South America? For instance, Tyler shows one of\nthe ancient Pythagorean maxims, \u201cDo not stir the fire with a sword,\u201d\nas popular among a number of nations which have not the slightest\nconnection with each other. He quotes De Plano Carpini, who found\nthis tradition prevailing among the Tartars so far back as in 1246. A\nTartar will not consent for any amount of money to stick a knife into\nthe fire, or touch it with any sharp or pointed instrument, for fear {248}\nof cutting the \u201chead of the fire.\u201d The Kamtchadal of North-eastern\nAsia consider it a great sin so to do. The Sioux Indians of North\nAmerica dare not touch the fire with either needle, knife, or any sharp\ninstrument. The Kalmucks entertain the same dread; and an Abyssinian\nwould rather bury his bare arms to the elbows in blazing coals than\nuse a knife or axe near them. All these facts Tyler also calls \u201csimply\ncurious coincidences.\u201d Max M\u00fcller, however, thinks that they lose much\nof their force by the fact \u201cof the Pythagorean doctrine being at the\nbottom of it.\u201d\n\nEvery sentence of Pythagoras, like most of the ancient maxims, has\na dual signification; and, while it had an occult physical meaning,\nexpressed literally in its words, it embodied a moral precept, which\nis explained by Iamblichus in his _Life of Pythagoras_. This \u201cDig\nnot fire with a sword,\u201d is the ninth symbol in the _Protreptics_ of\nthis Neo-platonist. \u201cThis symbol,\u201d he says, \u201cexhorts to prudence.\u201d It\nshows \u201cthe propriety of not opposing sharp words to a man full of fire\nand wrath\u2014not contending with him. For frequently by uncivil words\nyou will agitate and disturb an ignorant man, and you will suffer\nyourself.... Herakleitus also testifies to the truth of this symbol.\nFor, he says, \u2018It is difficult to fight with anger, for whatever is\nnecessary to be done redeems the soul.\u2019 And this he says truly. For\nmany, by gratifying anger, have changed the condition of their soul,\nand have made death preferable to life. But by governing the tongue\nand being quiet, friendship is produced from strife, the fire of anger\nbeing extinguished, and you yourself will not appear to be destitute of\nintellect.\u201d[412]\n\nWe have had misgivings sometimes; we have questioned the impartiality\nof our own judgment, our ability to offer a respectful criticism upon\nthe labors of such giants as some of our modern philosophers\u2014Tyndall,\nHuxley, Spencer, Carpenter, and a few others. In our immoderate love\nfor the \u201cmen of old\u201d the primitive sages\u2014we were always afraid to\ntrespass the boundaries of justice and refuse their dues to those who\ndeserve them. Gradually this natural fear gave way before an unexpected\nreinforcement. We found out that we were but the feeble echo of public\nopinion, which, though suppressed, has sometimes found relief in able\narticles scattered throughout the periodicals of the country. One of\nsuch can be found in the _National Quarterly Review_ of December,\n1875, entitled \u201cOur Sensational Present-Day Philosophers.\u201d It is a\nvery able article, discussing fearlessly the claims of several of\nour scientists to new discoveries in regard to the nature of matter,\nthe human soul, the mind, the universe; how the universe came into\nexistence, etc. \u201cThe religious world has been much startled,\u201d the\nauthor proceeds to say, \u201cand not a little excited by the utterances {249}\nof men like Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, Proctor, and a few others of the\nsame school.\u201d Admitting very cheerfully how much science owes to each\nof those gentlemen, nevertheless the author \u201cmost emphatically\u201d denies\nthat they have made any discoveries at all. There is nothing new in\nthe speculations, even of the most advanced of them; nothing which was\nnot known and taught, in one form or another, thousands of years ago.\nHe does not say that these scientists \u201cput forward their theories as\ntheir own discoveries, but they leave the fact to be implied, and the\nnewspapers do the rest.... The public, which has neither time nor the\ninclination to examine the facts, adopts the faith of the newspapers\n... and wonders what will come next! ... The supposed originators of\nsuch startling theories are assailed in the newspapers. Sometimes the\nobnoxious scientists undertake to defend themselves, but we cannot\nrecall a single instance in which they have candidly said, \u2018Gentlemen,\nbe not angry with us; we are merely _revamping_ stories which are\nnearly as old as the mountains.\u2019\u201d This would have been the simple\ntruth; \u201cbut even scientists or philosophers,\u201d adds the author, \u201care not\nalways proof against the weakness of encouraging any notion which they\nthink may secure niches for them among the immortal ones.\u201d[413]\n\nHuxley, Tyndall, and even Spencer have become lately the great oracles,\nthe \u201cinfallible popes\u201d on the dogmas of protoplasm, molecules,\nprimordial forms, and atoms. They have reaped more palms and laurels\nfor their great discoveries than Lucretius, Cicero, Plutarch, and\nSeneca had hairs on their heads. Nevertheless, the works of the\nlatter teem with ideas on the protoplasm, primordial forms, etc., let\nalone the atoms, which caused Demokritus to be called the _atomic_\nphilosopher. In the same _Review_ we find this very startling\ndenunciation:\n\n\u201cWho, _among the innocent_, has not been astonished, even within the\nlast year, at the wonderful results accomplished by oxygen? What\nan excitement Tyndall and Huxley have created by proclaiming, in\ntheir own ingenious, oracular way, just the very doctrines which we\nhave just quoted from Liebig; yet, as early as 1840, Professor Lyon\nPlayfair translated into English the most \u2018advanced\u2019 of Baron Liebig\u2019s\nworks.\u201d[414]\n\n\u201cAnother recent utterance,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich startled a large number\nof innocent and pious persons, is, that every thought we express,\nor attempt to express, produces a certain wonderful change in the\nsubstance of the brain. But, for this and a good deal more of its\nkind, our philosophers had only to turn to the pages of Baron Liebig. {250}\nThus, for instance, that scientist proclaims: \u201cPhysiology has\nsufficiently decisive grounds for the opinions, that _every thought,\nevery sensation_ is accompanied by a change in the composition of the\n_substance of the brain_; that every motion, every manifestation of\nforce is the result of a transformation of the structure or of its\nsubstance.[415]\n\nThus, throughout the sensational lectures of Tyndall, we can trace,\nalmost to a page, the whole of Liebig\u2019s speculations, interlined now\nand then with the still earlier views of Demokritus and other Pagan\nphilosophers. A potpourri of old hypotheses elevated by the great\nauthority of the day into quasi-demonstrated formulas, and delivered\nin that pathetic, picturesque, mellow, and thrillingly-eloquent\nphraseology so pre-eminently his own.\n\nFurther, the same reviewer shows us many of the identical ideas and\nall the material requisite to demonstrate the great discoveries of\nTyndall and Huxley, in the works of Dr. Joseph Priestley, author of\n_Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit_, and even in Herder\u2019s _Philosophy\nof History_.\n\n\u201cPriestley,\u201d adds the author, \u201cwas not molested by government, simply\nbecause he had no ambition to obtain fame by proclaiming his atheistic\nviews from the house-top. This philosopher ... was the author of from\nseventy to eighty volumes, and the discoverer of oxygen.\u201d It is in\nthese works that \u201che puts forward those identical ideas which have\nbeen declared so \u2018startling,\u2019 \u2018bold,\u2019 etc., as the utterances of our\npresent-day philosophers.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur readers,\u201d he proceeds to say, \u201cremember what an excitement has\nbeen created by the utterances of some of our modern philosophers as\nto the origin and nature of ideas, but those utterances, like others\nthat preceded and followed them, contain nothing new.\u201d \u201cAn idea,\u201d\nsays Plutarch, \u201cis a _being_ incorporeal, which has no subsistence by\nitself, but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter, and _becomes\nthe cause of its manifestation_\u201d (_De Placitio Philosophorum_).\n\nVerily, no modern atheist, Mr. Huxley included, can outvie Epicurus in\nmaterialism; he can but mimic him. And what is his \u201cprotoplasm,\u201d but a\n_rechauff\u00e9_ of the speculations of the Hindu Sw\u00e2bh\u00e2vikas or Pantheists,\nwho assert that all things, the gods as well as men and animals, are\nborn from Sw\u00e2bh\u00e2va or their own nature?[416] As to Epicurus, this\nis what Lucretius makes him say: \u201cThe soul, thus produced, must be\n_material_, because we trace it issuing from a material source; because\nit exists, and exists alone in a material system; is nourished by\nmaterial food; grows with the growth of the body; becomes matured with\nits maturity; declines with its decay; and hence, whether belonging to {251}\nman or brute, must die with its death.\u201d Nevertheless, we would remind\nthe reader that Epicurus is here speaking of the _Astral Soul_, not of\nDivine Spirit. Still, if we rightly understand the above, Mr. Huxley\u2019s\n\u201cmutton-protoplasm\u201d is of a very ancient origin, and can claim for its\nbirthplace, Athens, and for its cradle, the brain of old Epicurus.\n\nFurther, still, anxious not to be misunderstood or found guilty of\ndepreciating the labor of any of our scientists, the author closes\nhis essay by remarking, \u201cWe merely want to show that, at least,\nthat portion of the public which considers itself intelligent and\nenlightened should cultivate its memory, or remember the \u2018advanced\u2019\nthinkers of the past much better than it does. Especially should those\ndo so who, whether from the desk, the rostrum, or the pulpit, undertake\nto instruct all willing to be instructed by them. There would then be\nmuch less groundless apprehension, much less charlatanism, and above\nall, much less plagiarism, than there is.\u201d[417]\n\nTruly says Cudworth that the greatest ignorance of which our\nmodern wiseacres accuse the ancients is their belief in the soul\u2019s\nimmortality. Like the old skeptic of Greece, our scientists\u2014to use\nan expression of the same Dr. Cudworth\u2014are afraid that if they admit\nspirits and apparitions they must admit a God too; and there is\nnothing too absurd, he adds, for them to suppose, in order to keep\nout the existence of God. The great body of ancient materialists,\nskeptical as they now seem to us, thought otherwise, and Epicurus,\nwho rejected the soul\u2019s immortality, believed still in a God, and\nDemokritus fully conceded the reality of apparitions. The pre\u00ebxistence\nand God-like powers of the human spirit were believed in by most all\nthe sages of ancient days. The magic of Babylon and Persia based upon\nit the doctrine of their _machagistia_. The _Chaldean Oracles_, on\nwhich Pletho and Psellus have so much commented, constantly expounded\nand amplified their testimony. Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Epicharmus,\nEmpedocles, Kebes, Euripides, Plato, Euclid, Philo, Bo\u00ebthius, Virgil,\nMarcus Cicero, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Proclus, Psellus, Synesius,\nOrigen, and, finally, _Aristotle_ himself, far from denying our\nimmortality, support it most emphatically. Like Cardon and Pompanatius,\n\u201cwho were no friends to the soul\u2019s immortality,\u201d as says Henry More,\n\u201cAristotle expressly concludes that the rational soul is both a\ndistinct being from the soul of the world, though of the same essence,\nand that \u201cit does pre\u00ebxist before it comes into the body.\u201d[418]\n\nYears have rolled away since the Count Joseph De Maistre wrote a\nsentence which, if appropriate to the Voltairean epoch in which {252}\nhe lived, applies with still more justice to our period of utter\nskepticism. \u201cI have heard,\u201d writes this eminent man, \u201cI have heard and\nread of myriads of good jokes on the ignorance of the ancients, who\nwere always seeing spirits everywhere; methinks that we are a great\ndeal more imbecile than our forefathers, in never perceiving any such\nnow, anywhere.\u201d[419]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII. {253}\n\n \u201cThink not my magic wonders wrought by aid\n Of Stygian angels summoned up from Hell;\n Scorned and accursed by those who have essay\u2019d\n Her gloomy Divs and Afrites to compel.\n But by perception of the secret powers\n Of mineral springs, in nature\u2019s inmost cell,\n Of herbs in curtain of her greenest bowers,\n And of the moving stars o\u2019er mountain tops and towers.\u201d\n \u2014TASSO, Canto XIV., xliii.\n\n \u201cWho dares think _one_ thing and _another_ tell\n My heart detests him as the gates of Hell!\u201d\u2014POPE.\n\n \u201cIf man ceases to exist when he disappears in the grave, you\n must be compelled to affirm that he is the only creature in\n existence whom nature or providence has condescended to deceive\n and cheat by capacities for which there are no available\n objects.\u201d\u2014BULWER-LYTTON: _Strange Story_.\n\n\nThe preface of Richard A. Proctor\u2019s latest work on astronomy, entitled\n_Our Place among Infinities_, contains the following extraordinary\nwords: \u201cIt was their ignorance of the earth\u2019s place among infinities,\nwhich led the ancients to regard the heavenly bodies as ruling\nfavorably or adversely the fates of men and nations, and to dedicate\nthe days in sets of seven to the seven planets of their astrological\nsystem.\u201d\n\nMr. Proctor makes two distinct assertions in this sentence: 1. That\nthe ancients were ignorant of the earth\u2019s place among infinities; and\n2, That they regarded the heavenly bodies as ruling, favorably or\nadversely, the fates of men and nations.[420] We are very confident\nthat there is at least good reason to suspect that the ancients were\nfamiliar with the movements, emplacement, and mutual relations of the\nheavenly bodies. The testimony of Plutarch, Professor Draper, and\nJowett, are sufficiently explicit. But we would ask Mr. Proctor how it\nhappens, if the ancient astronomers were so ignorant of the law of the\nbirth and death of worlds that, in the fragmentary bits which the hand\nof time has spared us of ancient lore there should be\u2014albeit couched in\nobscure language\u2014so much information which the most recent discoveries\nof science have verified? Beginning with the tenth page of the work {254}\nunder notice, Mr. Proctor sketches for us the theory of the formation\nof our earth, and the successive changes through which it passed until\nit became habitable for man. In vivid colors he depicts the gradual\naccretion of cosmic matter into gaseous spheres surrounded with \u201ca\nliquid non-permanent shell;\u201d the condensation of both; the ultimate\nsolidification of the external crust; the slow cooling of the mass;\nthe chemical results following the action of intense heat upon the\nprimitive earthy matter; the formation of soils and their distribution;\nthe change in the constitution of the atmosphere; the appearance of\nvegetation and animal life; and, finally, the advent of man.\n\nNow, let us turn to the oldest written records left us by the\nChaldeans, the Hermetic _Book of Numbers_,[421] and see what we\nshall find in the allegorical language of Hermes, Kadmus, or Thuti,\nthe thrice great Trismegistus. \u201cIn the beginning of time the great\ninvisible one had his holy hands full of celestial matter which he\nscattered throughout the infinity; and lo, behold! it became balls of\nfire and balls of clay; and they scattered like the moving metal[422]\ninto many smaller balls, and began their ceaseless turning; and some\nof them which were balls of fire became balls of clay; and the balls\nof clay became balls of fire; and the balls of fire were waiting their\ntime to become balls of clay; and the others envied them and bided\ntheir time to become balls of pure divine fire.\u201d\n\nCould any one ask a clearer definition of the cosmic changes which Mr.\nProctor so elegantly expounds?\n\nHere we have the distribution of matter throughout space; then its\nconcentration into the spherical form; the separation of smaller\nspheres from the greater ones; axial rotation; the gradual change of\norbs from the incandescent to the earthy consistence; and, finally,\nthe total loss of heat which marks their entrance into the stage of\nplanetary death. The change of the balls of clay into balls of fire\nwould be understood by materialists to indicate some such phenomenon\nas the sudden ignition of the star in Cassiopeia, A.D. 1572, and the\none in Serpentarius, in 1604, which was noted by Kepler. But, do the\nChaldeans evince in this expression a profounder philosophy than of\nour day? Does this change into balls of \u201cpure divine fire\u201d signify a {255}\ncontinuous planetary existence, correspondent with the spirit-life\nof man, beyond the awful mystery of death? If worlds have, as the\nastronomers tell us, their periods of embryo, infancy, adolescence,\nmaturity, decadence, and death, may they not, like man, have their\ncontinued existence in a sublimated, ethereal, or spiritual form? The\nmagians so affirm. They tell us that the fecund mother Earth is subject\nto the same laws as every one of her children. At her appointed time\nshe brings forth all created things; in the fulness of her days she\nis gathered to the tomb of worlds. Her gross, material body slowly\nparts with its atoms under the inexorable law which demands their\nnew arrangement in other combinations. Her own perfected vivifying\nspirit obeys the eternal attraction which draws it toward that central\nspiritual sun from which it was originally evolved, and which we\nvaguely know under the name of GOD.\n\n\u201cAnd the heaven was visible in seven circles, and the planets appeared\nwith all their signs, in star-form, and the stars were divided and\nnumbered with the rulers that were in them, and their _revolving_\ncourse was bounded with _the air_, and borne with a circular course,\nthrough the agency of the divine SPIRIT.\u201d[423]\n\nWe challenge any one to indicate a single passage in the works of\nHermes which proves him guilty of that crowning absurdity of the Church\nof Rome which assumed, upon the geocentric theory of astronomy, that\nthe heavenly bodies were made for our use and pleasure, and that it\nwas worth while for the only son of God to descend upon this cosmic\nmote and die in expiation for our sins! Mr. Proctor tells us of a\nliquid non-permanent shell of uncongealed matter enclosing a \u201cviscous\nplastic ocean,\u201d within which \u201cthere is another interior _solid globe_\nrotating.\u201d We, on our part, turn to the _Magia Adamica_ of Eugenius\nPhilalethes, published in 1650, and at page 12, we find him quoting\nfrom Trismegistus in the following terms: \u201cHermes affirmeth that in\nthe _Beginning_ the earth was a quackmire or quivering kind of jelly,\nit being nothing else but _water congealed_ by the incubation and heat\nof the divine spirit; _cum adhuc_ (sayeth he) _Terra tremula esset,\nLucente sole compacta esto_.\u201d\n\nIn the same work, Philalethes, speaking in his quaint, symbolical way,\nsays, \u201cThe earth is invisible ... on my soul it is so, and which is\nmore, the _eye_ of _man_ never _saw_ the _earth_, nor can it be _seen_\nwithout _art_. To make this _element invisible_, is the _greatest\nsecret_ in _magic_ ... as for this _f\u0153culent_, gross _body_ upon _which\nwe walk_, it is a _compost_, and no earth _but it hath earth in it_,\n... in a word all the _elements_ are _visible_ but _one_, namely the\n_earth_, and when thou hast attained to so much _perfection_ as to {256}\nknow why _God_ hath placed the _earth in abscondito_,[424] thou hast\nan excellent figure whereby to know _God Himself_, and how He is\n_visible_, how _invisible_.\u201d[425]\n\nAges before our savants of the nineteenth century came into existence,\na wise man of the Orient thus expressed himself, in addressing the\ninvisible Deity: \u201cFor thy Almighty Hand, that made the world of\n_formless matter_.\u201d[426]\n\nThere is much more contained in this language than we are willing\nto explain, but we will say that the secret is worth the seeking;\nperhaps in this formless matter, the _pre_-Adamite earth, is contained\na \u201cpotency\u201d with which Messrs. Tyndall and Huxley would be glad to\nacquaint themselves.\n\nBut to descend from universals to particulars, from the ancient {257}\ntheory of planetary evolution to the evolution of plant and animal\nlife, as opposed to the theory of special creation, what does Mr.\nProctor call the following language of Hermes but an anticipation of\nthe modern theory of evolution of species? \u201cWhen God had filled his\npowerful hands with those things which are in nature, and in that which\ncompasseth nature, then shutting them close again, he said: \u2018Receive\nfrom me, O holy earth! that art ordained to be the _mother of all_,\nlest thou shouldst want anything;\u2019 when presently opening such hands\nas it becomes a God to have, he poured down all that was necessary\nto the constitution of things.\u201d Here we have primeval matter imbued\nwith \u201cthe promise and potency of every future form of life,\u201d and the\nearth declared to be the predestined mother of everything that should\nthenceforth spring from her bosom.\n\nMore definite is the language of Marcus Antoninus in his discourse to\nhimself. \u201cThe nature of the universe delights not in anything so much\nas to alter all things, and present them under another form. This is\nher conceit to play one game and begin another. Matter is placed before\nher like a piece of wax and she shapes it to all forms and figures. Now\nshe makes _a bird, then out of the bird a beast_\u2014now a _flower_, then a\nfrog, and she is pleased with her own magical performances as men are\nwith their own fancies.\u201d[427]\n\nBefore any of our modern teachers thought of evolution, the ancients\ntaught us, through Hermes, that nothing can be abrupt in nature; that\nshe never proceeds by jumps and starts, that everything in her works is\nslow harmony, and that there is nothing sudden\u2014not even violent death.\n\nThe slow development from pre\u00ebxisting forms was a doctrine with\nthe Rosicrucian Illuminati. The _Tres Matres_ showed Hermes the\nmysterious progress of their work, before they condescended to reveal\nthemselves to medi\u00e6val alchemists. Now, in the Hermetic dialect,\nthese three mothers are the symbol of light, heat, and electricity,\nor magnetism, the two latter being as convertible as the whole of\nthe forces or agents which have a place assigned them in the modern\n\u201cForce-correlation.\u201d Synesius mentions books of stone which he found in\nthe temple of Memphis, on which was engraved the following sentence:\n\u201cOne _nature_ delights in another, one nature overcomes another, one\nnature overrules another, and the whole of them are _one_.\u201d\n\nThe inherent restlessness of matter is embodied in the saying of\nHermes: \u201cAction is the life of Phta;\u201d and Orpheus calls nature\n\u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03ae\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1, \u201cthe mother that makes many things,\u201d or the\ningenious, the contriving, the inventive mother.\n\nMr. Proctor says: \u201cAll that _that is upon and within the earth, all {258}\nvegetable forms and_ all animal forms, our bodies, our brains, are\nformed of materials which have been drawn in from those depths of\nspace surrounding us on all sides.\u201d The Hermetists and the later\nRosicrucians held that all things visible and invisible were produced\nby the contention of light with darkness, and that every particle\nof matter contains within itself a spark of the divine essence\u2014or\nlight, _spirit_\u2014which, through its tendency to free itself from its\nentanglement and return to the central source, produced motion in the\nparticles, and from motion forms were born. Says Hargrave Jennings,\nquoting Robertus di Fluctibus: \u201cThus all minerals in this spark of life\nhave the rudimentary possibility of plants and growing organisms; thus\nall plants have rudimentary sensations which might (in the ages) enable\nthem to perfect and transmute into locomotive new creatures, lesser or\nhigher in their grade, or nobler or meaner in their functions; thus all\nplants, and all vegetation might pass off (by side roads) into more\ndistinguished highways as it were, of independent, completer advance,\nallowing their original spark of light to expand and thrill with higher\nand more vivid force, and to urge forward with more abounding, informed\npurpose, all wrought by planetary influence directed by the unseen\nspirits (or workers) of the great original architect.\u201d[428]\n\n_Light_\u2014the first mentioned in _Genesis_, is termed by the kabalists,\nSephira, or the Divine _Intelligence_, the mother of all the Sephiroth,\nwhile the _Concealed Wisdom_ is the father. Light is the first\nbegotten, and the first emanation of the Supreme, and Light is Life,\nsays the evangelist. Both are electricity\u2014the life-principle, the\n_anima mundi_, pervading the universe, the electric vivifier of all\nthings. Light is the great Protean magician, and under the Divine\nWill of the architect, its multifarious, omnipotent waves gave birth\nto every form as well as to every living being. From its swelling,\nelectric bosom, springs _matter_ and _spirit_. Within its beams lie\nthe beginnings of all physical and chemical action, and of all cosmic\nand spiritual phenomena; it vitalizes and disorganizes; it gives life\nand produces death, and from its primordial point gradually emerged\ninto existence the myriads of worlds, visible and invisible celestial\nbodies. It was at the ray of this _First_ mother, one in three, that\nGod, according to Plato, \u201clighted a fire, which we now call the\nsun,\u201d[429] and, which is _not_ the cause of either light or heat, but\nmerely the focus, or, as we might say, the lens, by which the rays of\nthe primordial light become materialized, are concentrated upon our\nsolar system, and produce all the correlations of forces.\n\nSo much for the first of Mr. Proctor\u2019s two propositions; now for the {259}\nsecond.\n\nThe work which we have been noticing, comprises a series of twelve\nessays, of which the last is entitled _Thoughts on Astrology_. The\nauthor treats the subject with so much more consideration than is\nthe custom of men of his class, that it is evident he has given it\nthoughtful attention. In fact, he goes so far as to say that, \u201cIf\nwe consider the matter aright, we must concede ... that of all the\nerrors into which men have fallen in their desire to penetrate into\nfuturity, astrology is the most respectable, we may even say the most\nreasonable.\u201d[430]\n\nHe admits that \u201cThe heavenly bodies _do_ rule the fates of men and\nnations in the most unmistakable manner, seeing that without the\ncontrolling and beneficent influences of the chief among those orbs\u2014the\nsun\u2014every living creature on the earth must perish.\u201c[431] He admits,\nalso, the influence of the moon, and sees nothing strange in the\nancients reasoning by analogy, that if two among these heavenly bodies\nwere thus potent in terrestrial influences, it was \u201d ... natural that\nthe other moving bodies known to the ancients, should be thought to\npossess also their special powers.\u201d[432] Indeed, the professor sees\nnothing unreasonable in their supposition that the influences exerted\nby the slower moving planets \u201cmight be even more potent than those of\nthe sun himself.\u201d Mr. Proctor thinks that the system of astrology \u201cwas\nformed gradually and perhaps tentatively.\u201d Some influences may have\nbeen inferred from observed events, the fate of this or that king or\nchief, guiding astrologers in assigning particular influences to such\nplanetary aspects as were presented at the time of his nativity. Others\nmay have been invented, and afterward have found general acceptance,\nbecause confirmed by some _curious coincidences_.\n\nA witty joke may sound very prettily, even in a learned treatise, and\nthe word \u201ccoincidence\u201d may be applied to anything we are unwilling to\naccept. But a sophism is not a truism; still less is it a mathematical\ndemonstration, which alone ought to serve as a beacon\u2014to astronomers,\nat least. Astrology is a science _as infallible_ as astronomy itself,\nwith the condition, however, that its interpreters must be equally\ninfallible; and it is this condition, _sine qua non_, so very difficult\nof realization, that has always proved a stumbling-block to both.\nAstrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact physiology.\nIn astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the visible world of\nmatter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit. It is the old\nstruggle between the Platonic and Aristotelean schools, and it is not {260}\nin our century of Sadducean skepticism that the former will prevail\nover the latter. Mr. Proctor, in his professional capacity, is like the\nuncharitable person of the Sermon on the Mount, who is ever ready to\nattract public attention to the mote in his despised neighbor\u2019s eye,\nand overlook the beam in his own. Were we to record the failures and\nridiculous blunders of astronomers, we are afraid they would outnumber\nby far those of the astrologers. Present events fully vindicate\nNostradamus, who has been so much ridiculed by our skeptics. In an old\nbook of prophecies, published in the fifteenth century (an edition of\n1453), we read the following, among other astrological predictions:[433]\n\n \u201cIn twice two hundred years, the Bear\n The Crescent will assail;\n But if the Cock and Bull unite,\n The Bear will not prevail.\n In twice ten years again\u2014\n Let Islam know and fear\u2014\n The Cross shall stand, the Crescent wane,\n Dissolve, and disappear.\u201d\n\nIn just twice two hundred years from the date of that prophecy, we\nhad the Crimean war, during which the alliance of the Gallic Cock and\nEnglish Bull interfered with the political designs of the Russian Bear.\nIn 1856 the war was ended, and Turkey, or the Crescent, closely escaped\ndestruction. In the present year (1876) the most unexpected events of a\npolitical character have just taken place, and _twice ten years_ have\nelapsed since peace was proclaimed. Everything seems to bid fair for a\nfulfilment of the old prophecy; the future will tell whether the Moslem\nCrescent, which seems, indeed, to be _waning_, will irrevocably \u201cwane,\ndissolve, and disappear,\u201d as the outcome of the present troubles.\n\nIn explaining away the heterodox facts which he appears to have\nencountered in his pursuit of knowledge, Mr. Proctor is obliged more\nthan once in his work, to fall back upon these \u201ccurious coincidences.\u201d\nOne of the most curious of these is stated by him in a foot-note (page\n301) as follows: \u201cI do not here dwell on the curious coincidence\u2014if,\nindeed, Chaldean astrologers had not discovered the ring of Saturn\u2014that\nthey showed the god corresponding within a ring and _triple_.... Very\nmoderate optical knowledge\u2014such, indeed, as we may fairly infer from {261}\nthe presence of optical instruments among Assyrian remains\u2014might\nhave led to the discovery of Saturnal rings and Jupiter\u2019s moons....\nBel, the Assyrian Jupiter,\u201d he adds, \u201cwas represented sometimes with\nfour star-tipped wings. _But it is possible that these are mere\ncoincidences._\u201d\n\nIn short, Mr. Proctor\u2019s theory of coincidence becomes finally more\nsuggestive of miracle than the facts themselves. For coincidences our\nfriends the skeptics appear to have an unappeasable appetite. We have\nbrought sufficient testimony in the preceding chapter to show that the\nancients must have used as good optical instruments as we have now.\nWere the instruments in possession of Nebuchadnezzar of such moderate\npower, and the knowledge of his astronomers so very contemptible,\nwhen, according to Rawlinson\u2019s reading of the tiles, the Birs-Nimrud,\nor temple of Borsippa, had seven stages, symbolical of the concentric\ncircles of the seven spheres, each built of tiles and metals to\ncorrespond with the color of the ruling planet of the sphere typified?\nIs it a coincidence again, that they should have appropriated to each\nplanet the color which our latest telescopic discoveries show to be\nthe real one?[434] Or is it again a coincidence, that Plato should\nhave indicated in the _Tim\u00e6us_ his knowledge of the indestructibility\nof matter, of conservation of energy, and correlation of forces? \u201cThe\nlatest word of modern philosophy,\u201d says Jowett, \u201cis continuity and\ndevelopment, but to Plato _this is the beginning and foundation of\nscience_.\u201d[435]\n\nThe radical element of the oldest religions was essentially\n_sabaistic_; and we maintain that their myths and allegories\u2014if once\ncorrectly and thoroughly interpreted, will dovetail with the most exact\nastronomical notions of our day. We will say more; there is hardly a\nscientific law\u2014whether pertaining to physical astronomy or physical\ngeography\u2014that could not be easily pointed out in the ingenious\ncombinations of their fables. They allegorized the most important as\nwell as the most trifling causes of the celestial motions; the nature\nof every phenomenon was personified; and in the mythical biographies\nof the Olympic gods and goddesses, one well acquainted with the\nlatest principles of physics and chemistry can find their causes,\ninter-agencies, and mutual relations embodied in the deportment and\ncourse of action of the fickle deities. The atmospheric electricity\nin its neutral and latent states is embodied usually in demi-gods and\ngoddesses, whose scene of action is more limited to earth and who, in\ntheir occasional flights to the higher deific regions, display their\nelectric tempers always _in strict proportion with the increase of\ndistance from the earth\u2019s surface_: the weapons of Hercules and Thor {262}\nwere never more mortal than when the gods soared into the clouds. We\nmust bear in mind that before the time when the Olympian Jupiter was\nanthropomorphized by the genius of Pheidias into the Omnipotent God,\nthe _Maximus_, the God of gods, and thus abandoned to the adoration of\nthe multitudes, in the earliest and abstruse science of symbology he\nembodied in his person and attributes the whole of the cosmic forces.\nThe Myth was less metaphysical and complicated, but more truly eloquent\nas an expression of natural philosophy. Zeus, the male element of the\ncreation with Chthonia\u2014Vesta (the earth), and Metis (the water) the\nfirst of the Oceanides (the feminine principles)\u2014was viewed according\nto Porphyry and Proclus as the _z\u014d\u014fn-ek-z\u014d\u014dn_, the chief of living\nbeings. In the Orphic theology, the oldest of all, metaphysically\nspeaking, he represented both the _potentia_ and _actus_, the\nunrevealed _cause_ and the Demiurg, or the active creator as an\nemanation from the invisible potency. In the latter demiurgic capacity,\nin conjunction with his consorts, we find in him all the mightiest\nagents of cosmic evolution\u2014chemical affinity, atmospheric electricity,\nattraction, and repulsion.\n\nIt is in following his representations in this physical qualification\nthat we discover how well acquainted were the ancients with all the\ndoctrines of physical science in their modern development. Later, in\nthe Pythagorean speculations, Zeus became the metaphysical trinity;\nthe monad evolving from its invisible SELF the _active_ cause, effect,\nand intelligent will, the whole forming the _Tetractis_. Still later\nwe find the earlier Neo-platonists leaving the primal monad aside,\non the ground of its utter incomprehensibleness to human intellect,\nspeculating merely on the _demiurgic triad_ of this deity as visible\nand intelligible in its effects; and thus the metaphysical continuation\nby Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus, and other philosophers of this view of\nZeus the father, Zeus _Poseidon_, or _dunamis_, the son and power, and\nthe spirit or _nous_. This triad was also accepted as a whole by the\nIren\u00e6ic school of the second century; the more substantial difference\nbetween the doctrines of the Neo-platonists and the Christians being\nmerely the forcible amalgamation by the latter of the incomprehensible\nmonad with its actualized creative trinity.\n\nIn his astronomical aspect Zeus-Dionysus has his origin in the zodiac,\nthe ancient solar year. In Libya he assumed the form of a ram, and is\nidentical with the Egyptian Amun, who begat Osiris, the taurian god.\nOsiris is also a personified emanation of the Father-Sun, and himself\nthe Sun in Taurus. The Parent-Sun being the Sun in Aries. As the\nlatter, Jupiter, is in the guise of a ram, and as Jupiter-Dionysus or\nJupiter-Osiris, he is the bull. This animal is, as it is well known,\nthe symbol of the creative power; moreover the Kabala explains, through {263}\nthe medium of one of its chief expounders, Simon-Ben-Iochai,[436] the\norigin of this strange worship of the bulls and cows. It is neither\nDarwin nor Huxley\u2014the founders of the doctrine of evolution and its\nnecessary complement, the transformation of species\u2014that can find\nanything against the rationality of this symbol, except, perhaps, a\nnatural feeling of uneasiness upon finding that they were preceded by\nthe ancients even in this particular modern discovery. Elsewhere, we\nwill give the doctrine of the kabalists as taught by Simon-Ben-Iochai.\n\nIt may be easily proved that from time immemorial Saturn or Kronos,\nwhose ring, most positively, _was_ discovered by the Chaldean\nastrologers, and whose symbolism is no \u201ccoincidence,\u201d was considered\nthe father of Zeus, before the latter became himself the father of\nall the gods, and was the highest deity. He was the Bel or Baal of\nthe Chaldeans, and originally imported among them by the Akkadians.\nRawlinson insists that the latter came from Armenia; but if so, how can\nwe account for the fact that Bel is but a Babylonian personification\nof the Hindu Siva, or Bala, the fire-god, the omnipotent creative, and\nat the same time, destroying Deity, in many senses higher than Brahma\nhimself?\n\n\u201cZeus,\u201d says an Orphic hymn, \u201cis the first and the last, the head, and\nthe extremities; from him have proceeded all things. He is a man and an\nimmortal nymph (male and female element); the soul of all things; and\nthe principal motor in fire; he is the sun and the moon; the fountain\nof the ocean; the demiurgus of the universe; one power, one God; the\nmighty creator and governor of the cosmos. Everything, fire, water,\nearth, ether, night, the heavens, Metis, the primeval architecturess\n(the Sophia of the Gnostics, and the Sephira of the Kabalists), the\nbeautiful Eros, Cupid, all is included within the vast dimensions of\nhis glorious body!\u201d[437]\n\nThis short hymn of laudation contains within itself the groundwork of\nevery mythop\u0153ic conception. The imagination of the ancients proved\nas boundless as the visible manifestations of the Deity itself which\nafforded them the themes for their allegories. Still the latter,\nexuberant as they seem, never departed from the two principal ideas\nwhich may be ever found running parallel in their sacred imagery;\na strict adherence to the physical as well as moral or spiritual\naspect of natural law. Their metaphysical researches never clashed\nwith scientific truths, and their religions may be truly termed the\npsycho-physiological creeds of the priests and scientists, who built\nthem on the traditions of the infant-world, such as the unsophisticated\nminds of the primitive races received them, and on their own\nexperimental knowledge, hoary with all the wisdom of the intervening\nages.\n\nAs the sun, what better image could be found for Jupiter emitting {264}\nhis golden rays than to personify this emanation in Diana, the\nall-illuminating virgin Artemis, whose oldest name was Diktynna,\nliterally the emitted _ray_, from the word _dikein_. The moon is\nnon-luminous, and it shines only by the reflected light of the\nsun; hence, the imagery of his daughter, the goddess of the moon,\nand herself, Luna, Astart\u00e8, or Diana. As the Cretan Diktynna, she\nwears a wreath made of the magic plant _diktamnon_, or _dictamnus_,\nthe evergreen shrub whose contact is said, at the same time, to\ndevelop somnambulism and cure finally of it; and, as Eilithyia and\nJuno Pronuba, she is the goddess who presides over births; she\nis an \u00c6sculapian deity, and the use of the dictamnus-wreath, in\nassociation with the moon, shows once more the profound observation\nof the ancients. This plant is known in botany as possessing strongly\nsedative properties; it grows on Mount Dicte, a Cretan mountain, in\ngreat abundance; on the other hand, the moon, according to the best\nauthorities on animal magnetism, acts upon the juices and ganglionic\nsystem, or nerve-cells, the seat from whence proceed all the\nnerve-fibres which play such a prominent part in mesmerization. During\nchildbirth the Cretan women were covered with this plant, and its\nroots were administered as best calculated to soothe acute pain, and\nallay the irritability so dangerous at this period. They were placed,\nmoreover, within the precincts of the temple sacred to the goddess,\nand, if possible, under the direct rays of the resplendent daughter of\nJupiter\u2014the bright and warm Eastern moon.\n\nThe Hindu Brahmans and Buddhists have complicated theories on the\ninfluence of the sun and moon (the male and female elements), as\ncontaining the negative and positive principles, the opposites of the\nmagnetic polarity. \u201cThe influence of the moon on women is well known,\u201d\nwrite all the old authors on magnetism; and Ennemoser, as well as Du\nPotet, confirm the theories of the Hindu seers in every particular.\n\nThe marked respect paid by the Buddhists to the sapphire-stone\u2014which\nwas also sacred to Luna, in every other country\u2014may be found based\non something more scientifically exact than a mere groundless\nsuperstition. They ascribed to it a sacred magical power, which every\nstudent of psychological mesmerism will readily understand, for its\npolished and deep-blue surface produces extraordinary somnambulic\nphenomena. The varied influence of the prismatic colors on the growth\nof vegetation, and especially that of the \u201cblue ray,\u201d has been\nrecognized but recently. The Academicians quarrelled over the unequal\nheating power of the prismatic rays until a series of experimental\ndemonstrations by General Pleasonton, proved that under the blue ray,\nthe most electric of all, animal and vegetable growth was increased to {265}\na magical proportion. Thus Amoretti\u2019s investigations of the electric\npolarity of precious stones show that the diamond, the garnet, the\namethyst, are -E., while the sapphire is +E.[438] Thus, we are enabled\nto show that the latest experiments of science only corroborate that\nwhich was known to the Hindu sages before any of the modern academies\nwere founded. An old Hindu legend says that Brahma-Prajap\u00e2ti, having\nfallen in love with his own daughter, _Ush\u00e2s_ (Heaven, sometimes the\nDawn also), assumed the form of a buck (_ris\u2019ya_) and Ush\u00e2s that\nof a female deer (_r\u00f4hit_) and thus committed the first sin.[439]\nUpon seeing such a desecration, the gods felt so terrified, that\nuniting their most fearful-looking bodies\u2014each god possessing as many\nbodies as he desires\u2014they produced Bh\u00fbtavan (the spirit of evil),\nwho was created by them on purpose to destroy the _incarnation_ of\nthe first sin committed by the Brahma himself. Upon seeing this,\nBrahma-Hiranyagarbha[440] repented bitterly and began repeating the\nMantras, or prayers of purification, and, in his grief, dropped on\nearth a tear, the _hottest_ that ever fell from an eye; and from it was\nformed the first sapphire.\n\nThis half-sacred, half-popular legend shows that the Hindus knew which\nwas the most electric of all the prismatic colors; moreover, the\nparticular influence of the sapphire-stone was as well defined as that\nof all the other minerals. Orpheus teaches how it is possible to affect\na whole audience by means of a lodestone; Pythagoras pays a particular\nattention to the color and nature of precious stones; while Apollonius\nof Tyana imparts to his disciples the secret virtues of each, and\nchanges his jewelled rings daily, using a particular stone for every\nday of the month and according to the laws of judicial astrology. The\nBuddhists assert that the sapphire produces peace of mind, equanimity,\nand chases all evil thoughts by establishing a healthy circulation in\nman. So does an electric battery, with its well-directed fluid, say\nour electricians. \u201cThe sapphire,\u201d say the Buddhists, \u201cwill open barred\ndoors and dwellings (for the spirit of man); it produces a desire for\nprayer, and brings with it more peace than any other gem; but he who\nwould wear it must lead a pure and holy life.\u201d[441]\n\nDiana-Luna is the daughter of Zeus by Proserpina, who represents\nthe Earth in her active labor, and, according to Hesiod, as Diana {266}\nEilythia-Lucina she is Juno\u2019s daughter. But Juno, devoured by Kronos or\nSaturn, and restored back to life by the Oceanid Metis, is also known\nas the Earth. Saturn, as the evolution of Time, swallows the earth\nin one of the ante-historical cataclysms, and it is only when Metis\n(the waters) by retreating in her many beds, frees the continent, that\nJuno is said to be restored to her first shape. The idea is expressed\nin the 9th and 10th verses of the first chapter of _Genesis_. In the\nfrequent matrimonial quarrels between Juno and Jupiter, Diana is always\nrepresented as turning her back on her mother and smiling upon her\nfather, though she chides him for his numerous frolics. The Thessalian\nmagicians are said to have been obliged, during such eclipses, to\ndraw her attention to the earth by the power of their spells and\nincantations, and the Babylonian astrologers and magi never desisted\nin their spells until they brought about a reconciliation between the\nirritated couple, after which Juno \u201cradiantly smiled on the bright\ngoddess\u201d Diana, who, encircling her brow with her crescent, returned to\nher hunting-place in the mountains.\n\nIt seems to us that the fable illustrates the different phases of the\nmoon. We, the inhabitants of the earth, never see but one-half of our\nbright satellite, who thus turns _her back_ to her mother Juno. The\nsun, the moon, and the earth are constantly changing positions with\nrelation to each other. With the _new_ moon there is constantly a\nchange of weather; and sometimes the wind and storms may well suggest\na quarrel between the sun and earth, especially when the former is\nconcealed by grumbling thunder-clouds. Furthermore, the new moon, when\nher dark side is turned toward us, is invisible; and it is only after a\n_reconciliation_ between the sun and the earth, that a bright crescent\nbecomes visible on the side nearest to the sun, though this time Luna\nis not illuminated by sunlight _directly_ received, but by sunlight\nreflected from the earth to the moon, and by her reflected back to us.\nHence, the Chaldean astrologers and the magicians of Thessaly, who\nprobably watched and determined as accurately as a Babinet the course\nof the celestial bodies, were said by their enchantments to force the\nmoon to descend on earth, _i.e._, to show her crescent, which she could\ndo but after receiving the \u201cradiant smile\u201d from her mother-earth, who\nput it on after the conjugal reconciliation. Diana-Luna, having adorned\nher head with her crescent, returns back to hunt in _her mountains_.\n\nAs to calling in question the intrinsic knowledge of the ancients\non the ground of their \u201c_superstitious_ deductions from natural\nphenomena,\u201d it is as appropriate as it would be if, five hundred years\nhence, our descendents should regard the pupils of Professor Balfour\nStewart as _ancient_ ignoramuses, and himself a shallow philosopher.\nIf modern science, in the person of this gentleman, can condescend to {267}\nmake experiments to determine whether the appearance of the spots on\nthe sun\u2019s surface is in any way connected with the potatoe disease,\nand finds _it is_; and that, moreover, \u201cthe earth is very seriously\naffected by what takes place in the sun,\u201d[442] why should the ancient\nastrologers be held up as either fools or arrant knaves? There is the\nsame relation between natural and judicial or judiciary astrology, as\nbetween physiology and psychology, the physical and the moral. If in\nlater centuries these sciences were degraded into charlatanry by some\nmoney-making impostors, is it just to extend the accusation to those\nmighty men of old who, by their persevering studies and holy lives,\nbestowed an immortal name upon Chaldea and Babylonia? Surely those who\nare now found to have made correct astronomical observations ranging\nback to \u201cwithin 100 years from the flood,\u201d from the top observatory\nof the \u201ccloud-encompassed Bel,\u201d as Prof. Draper has it, can hardly be\nconsidered impostors. If their mode of impressing upon the popular\nminds the great astronomical truths differed from the \u201csystem of\neducation\u201d of our present century and appears ridiculous to some, the\nquestion still remains unanswered: which of the two systems was the\nbest? With them science went hand in hand with religion, and the idea\nof God was inseparable from that of his works. And while in the present\ncentury there is not one person out of ten thousand who knows, if he\never knew the fact at all, that the planet Uranus is _next_ to Saturn,\nand revolves about the sun in eighty-four years; and that Saturn is\n_next_ to Jupiter, and takes twenty-nine and a half years to make one\ncomplete revolution in its orbit; while Jupiter performs his revolution\nin twelve years; the uneducated masses of Babylon and Greece, having\nimpressed on their minds that Uranus was the father of Saturn, and\nSaturn that of Jupiter, considering them furthermore deities as well as\nall their satellites and attendants, we may perhaps infer from it, that\nwhile Europeans only discovered Uranus in 1781, a curious coincidence\nis to be noticed in the above myths.\n\nWe have but to open the most common book on astrology, and compare the\ndescriptions embraced in the _Fable of the Twelve Houses_ with the\nmost modern discoveries of science as to the nature of the planets\nand the elements in each star, to see that without any spectroscope\nthe ancients were perfectly well acquainted with the same. Unless\nthe fact is again regarded as \u201ca coincidence,\u201d we can learn, to a\ncertain extent, of the degree of the solar heat, light, and nature of\nthe planets by simply studying their symbolic representations in the\nOlympic gods, and the twelve signs of the zodiac, to each of which in\nastrology is attributed a particular quality. If the goddesses of our {268}\nown planet vary in no particular from other gods and goddesses, but\nall have a like physical nature, does not this imply that the sentinels\nwho watched from the top of Bel\u2019s tower, by day as well as by night,\nholding communion with the euhemerized deities, had remarked, before\nourselves, the physical unity of the universe and the fact that the\nplanets above are made of precisely the same chemical elements as our\nown. The sun in Aries, Jupiter, is shown in astrology as a masculine,\ndiurnal, cardinal, equinoctial, easterly sign, hot and dry, and\nanswers perfectly to the character attributed to the fickle \u201cFather\nof the gods.\u201d When angry Zeus-Akrios snatches from his fiery belt the\nthunderbolts which he hurls forth from heaven, he rends the clouds and\ndescends as Jupiter _Pluvius_ in torrents of rain. He is the greatest\nand highest of gods, and his movements are as rapid as lightning\nitself. The planet Jupiter is known to revolve on its axis so rapidly\nthat the point of its equator turns at the rate of 450 miles a minute.\nAn immense excess of centrifugal force at the equator is believed to\nhave caused the planet to become extremely flattened at the poles; and\nin Crete the personified god Jupiter was represented without ears. The\nplanet Jupiter\u2019s disk is crossed by dark belts; varying in breadth,\nthey appear to be connected with its rotation on its axis, and are\nproduced by disturbances in its atmosphere. The face of Father Zeus,\nsays Hesiod, became spotted with rage when he beheld the Titans ready\nto rebel.\n\nIn Mr. Proctor\u2019s book, astronomers seem especially doomed by Providence\nto encounter all kinds of curious \u201ccoincidences,\u201d for he gives us\nmany cases out of the \u201cmultitude,\u201d and even of the \u201c_thousands_ of\nfacts [sic].\u201d To this list we may add the army of Egyptologists and\narch\u00e6ologists who of late have been the chosen pets of the capricious\n_Dame Chance_, who, moreover, generally selects \u201cwell-to-do Arabs\u201d\nand other Eastern gentlemen, to play the part of benevolent _genii_\nto Oriental scholars in difficulties. Professor Ebers is one of the\nlatest favored ones. It is a well-known fact, that whenever Champollion\nneeded important links, he fell in with them in the most various and\nunexpected ways.\n\nVoltaire, the greatest of \u201cinfidels\u201d of the eighteenth century, used\nto say, that if there were no God, people would have to invent one.\nVolney, another \u201cmaterialist,\u201d nowhere throughout his numerous writings\ndenies the existence of God. On the contrary, he plainly asserts\nseveral times that the universe is the work of the \u201cAll-wise,\u201d and is\nconvinced that there is a Supreme Agent, a universal and identical\nArtificer, designated by the name of God.[443] Voltaire becomes, toward\nthe end of his life, Pythagorical, and concludes by saying: \u201cI have {269}\nconsumed forty years of my pilgrimage ... seeking the philosopher\u2019s\nstone called truth. I have consulted all the adepts of antiquity,\nEpicurus and Augustine, Plato and Malebranche, and I still remain in\nignorance.... All that I have been able to obtain by comparing and\ncombining the system of Plato, of the tutor of Alexander, Pythagoras,\nand the Oriental, is this: _Chance is a word void of sense_. The world\nis arranged according to mathematical laws.\u201d[444]\n\nIt is pertinent for us to suggest that Mr. Proctor\u2019s stumbling-block is\nthat which trips the feet of all materialistic scientists, whose views\nhe but repeats; he confounds the physical and spiritual operations of\nnature. His very theory of the probable inductive reasoning of the\nancients as to the subtile influences of the more remote planets, by\ncomparison with the familiar and potent effects of the sun and moon\nupon our earth, shows the drift of his mind. Because science _affirms_\nthat the sun imparts physical _heat_ and _light_ to us, and the moon\naffects the tides, he thinks that the ancients must have regarded the\nother heavenly bodies as exerting the same kind of influence upon us\nphysically, and indirectly upon our fortunes.[445] And here we must\npermit ourselves a digression.\n\nHow the ancients regarded the heavenly bodies is very hard to\ndetermine, for one unacquainted with the esoteric explanation of their\ndoctrines. While philology and comparative theology have begun the\narduous work of analysis, they have as yet arrived at meagre results.\nThe allegorical form of speech has often led our commentators so far\nastray, that they have confounded causes with effects, and _vice\nversa_. In the baffling phenomenon of force-correlation, even our\ngreatest scientists would find it very hard to explain which of these\nforces is the cause, and which the effect, since each may be both by\nturns, and convertible. Thus, if we should inquire of the physicists,\n\u201cIs it light which generates heat, or the latter which produces\nlight?\u201d we would in all probability be answered that it is certainly\nlight which creates heat. Very well; but how? did the great Artificer\nfirst produce light, or did He first construct the sun, which is said\nto be the sole dispenser of light, and, consequently, heat? These\nquestions may appear at first glance indicative of ignorance; but,\nperhaps, if we ponder them deeply, they will assume another appearance.\nIn _Genesis_, the \u201cLord\u201d first creates _light_, and three days and\nthree nights are alleged to pass away before He creates the sun, the\nmoon, and the stars. This gross blunder against _exact_ science has\ncreated much merriment among materialists. And they certainly would\nbe warranted in laughing, if their doctrine that our light and heat {270}\nare derived from the sun were unassailable. Until recently, nothing\nhas happened to upset this theory, which, for lack of a better one,\naccording to the expression of a preacher, \u201creigns sovereign in the\nEmpire of Hypothesis.\u201d The ancient sun-worshippers regarded the Great\nSpirit as a nature-god, identical with nature, and the sun as the\ndeity, \u201cin whom the Lord of life dwells.\u201d Gama is the sun, according\nto the Hindu theology, and \u201cThe sun is the source of the souls and of\n_all life_.\u201d[446] Agni, the \u201cDivine Fire,\u201d the deity of the Hindu,\nis the sun,[447] for the fire and sun are the same. Ormazd is light,\nthe Sun-God, or the Life-giver. In the Hindu philosophy, \u201cThe souls\nissue from the soul of the world, and return to it as sparks to the\nfire.\u201d[448] But, in another place, it is said that \u201c_The Sun_ is the\nsoul _of all things_; all has proceeded out of it, and will return to\nit,\u201d[449] which shows that the sun is meant allegorically here, and\nrefers to the _central_, invisible sun, GOD, whose first manifestation\nwas Sephira, the emanation of En-Soph\u2014Light, in short.\n\n\u201cAnd I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great\ncloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it,\u201d\nsays Ezekiel (i. 4, 22, etc.), \u201c ... and the likeness of a throne ...\nand as the appearance of a man above upon it ... and I saw as it were\nthe appearance _of fire_ and it had brightness round about it.\u201d And\nDaniel speaks of the \u201cancient of days,\u201d the kabalistic En-Soph, whose\nthrone was \u201cthe fiery flame, his wheels burning fire.... A fiery stream\nissued and came forth from before him.\u201d[450] Like the Pagan Saturn, who\nhad his castle of flame in the seventh heaven, the Jewish Jehovah had\nhis \u201ccastle of fire over the seventh heavens.\u201d[451]\n\nIf the limited space of the present work would permit we might easily\nshow that none of the ancients, the sun-worshippers included, regarded\nour visible sun otherwise than as an emblem of their metaphysical\ninvisible central sun-god. Moreover, they did _not_ believe what our\nmodern science teaches us, namely, that light and heat proceed from\n_our_ sun, and that it is this planet which imparts all life to our\nvisible nature. \u201cHis radiance is undecaying,\u201d says the _Rig-Veda_,\n\u201cthe intensely-shining, all-pervading, unceasing, undecaying rays of\nAgni desist not, neither night nor day.\u201d This evidently related to the\nspiritual, central sun, whose rays are all-pervading and unceasing, the\neternal and boundless life-giver. HE the _Point_; the centre (which is\neverywhere) of the circle (which is nowhere), the ethereal, spiritual\nfire, the soul and spirit of the all-pervading, mysterious ether; the\ndespair and puzzle of the materialist, who will some day find that that {271}\nwhich causes the numberless cosmic forces to manifest themselves in\neternal correlation is but a divine electricity, or rather _galvanism_,\nand that the sun is but one of the myriad _magnets_ disseminated\nthrough space\u2014a reflector\u2014as General Pleasonton has it. That the\nsun has no more heat in it than the moon or the space-crowding host\nof sparkling stars. That there is no _gravitation_ in the Newtonian\nsense,[452] but only magnetic attraction and repulsion; and that it\nis by their magnetism that the planets of the solar system have their\nmotions regulated in their respective orbits by the still more powerful\nmagnetism of the sun, not by their weight or gravitation. This and much\nmore they may learn; but, until then we must be content with being\nmerely laughed at, instead of being burned alive for impiety, or shut\nup in an insane asylum.\n\nThe laws of Manu are the doctrines of Plato, Philo, Zoroaster,\nPythagoras, and of the Kabala. The esoterism of every religion may\nbe solved by the latter. The kabalistic doctrine of the allegorical\nFather and Son, or \u03a0\u03b1\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 and \u039b\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 is identical with the groundwork of\nBuddhism. Moses could not reveal to the multitude the sublime secrets\nof religious speculation, nor the cosmogony of the universe; the whole\nresting upon the Hindu _Illusion_, a clever mask veiling the _Sanctum\nSanctorum_, and which has misled so many theological commentators.[453]\n\nThe kabalistic heresies receive an unexpected support in the heterodox {272}\ntheories of General Pleasonton. According to his opinions (which he\nsupports on far more unimpeachable facts than orthodox scientists\ntheirs) the space between the sun and the earth must be filled with a\nmaterial medium, which, so far as we can judge from his description,\nanswers to our kabalistic astral light. The passage of light through\nthis must produce enormous friction. Friction generates electricity,\nand it is this electricity and its correlative magnetism which forms\nthose tremendous forces of nature that produce in, on, and about our\nplanet the various changes which we everywhere encounter. He proves\nthat terrestrial heat _cannot_ be directly derived from the sun, for\nheat _ascends_. The force by which heat is effected is a repellent\none, he says, and as it is associated with positive electricity, it is\nattracted to the upper atmosphere by its negative electricity, always\nassociated with cold, which is opposed to positive electricity. He\nstrengthens his position by showing that the earth, which when covered\nwith snow cannot be affected by the sun\u2019s rays, is warmest where the\nsnow is deepest. This he explains upon the theory that the radiation of\nheat from the interior of the earth, positively electrified, meeting at\nthe _surface_ of the earth with the snow in contact with it, negatively\nelectrified, produces the heat.\n\nThus he shows that it is not at all to the sun that we are indebted for\nlight and heat; that light is a creation _sui generis_, which sprung\ninto existence at the instant when the Deity _willed_, and uttered the\nfiat: \u201cLet there be light;\u201d and that it is this independent material\nagent which produces heat _by friction_, on account of its enormous\nand incessant velocity. In short, it is the first kabalistic emanation\nto which General Pleasonton introduces us, that Sephira or divine\n_Intelligence_ (the female principle), which, in unity with En-Soph,\nor divine wisdom (male principle) produced every thing visible and\ninvisible. He laughs at the current theory of the incandescence of the\nsun and its gaseous substance. The reflection from the photosphere\nof the sun, he says, passing through planetary and stellar spaces,\nmust have thus created a vast amount of electricity and magnetism.\nElectricity, by the union of its opposite polarities, evolves heat and\nimparts magnetism to all substances capable of receiving it. The sun,\nplanets, stars, and nebul\u00e6 are all magnets, etc.\n\nIf this courageous gentleman should prove his case, future generations\nwill have but little disposition to laugh at Paracelsus and his\nsidereal or astral light, and at his doctrine of the magnetic influence {273}\nexercised by the stars and planets upon every living creature, plant,\nor mineral of our globe. Moreover, if the Pleasonton hypothesis is\nestablished, the transcendent glory of Professor Tyndall will be\nrather obscured. According to public opinion, the General makes a\nterrible onslaught on the learned physicist, for attributing to the sun\ncalorific effects experienced by him in an Alpine ramble, that were\nsimply due to his own vital electricity.[454]\n\nThe prevalence of such revolutionary ideas in science, embolden us\nto ask the representatives of science whether they can explain _why_\nthe tides follow the moon in her circling motion? The fact is, they\ncannot demonstrate even so familiar a phenomenon as this, one that has\nno mystery for even the neophytes in alchemy and magic. We would also\nlike to learn whether they are equally incapable of telling us why the\nmoon\u2019s rays are so poisonous, even fatal, to some organisms; why in\nsome parts of Africa and India a person sleeping in the moonlight is\noften made insane; why the crises of certain diseases correspond with\nlunar changes; why somnambulists are more affected at her full; and\nwhy gardeners, farmers, and woodmen cling so tenaciously to the idea\nthat vegetation is affected by lunar influences? Several of the mimos\u00e6\nalternately open and close their petals as the full moon emerges from\nor is obscured by clouds. And the Hindus of Travancore have a popular\nbut extremely suggestive proverb which says: \u201cSoft words are better\nthan harsh; the sea is attracted by the cool moon and not by the hot\nsun.\u201d Perhaps the one man or the many men who launched this proverb on\nthe world knew more about the cause of such attraction of the waters\nby the moon than we do. Thus if science cannot explain the cause of\nthis physical influence, what can she know of the moral and occult\ninfluences that may be exercised by the celestial bodies on men and\ntheir destiny; and why contradict that which it is impossible for her\nto prove false? If certain aspects of the moon effect tangible results\nso familiar in the experience of men throughout all time, what violence\nare we doing to logic in assuming the possibility that a certain\ncombination of sidereal influences may also be more or less potential?\n\nIf the reader will recall what is said by the learned authors of {274}\nthe _Unseen Universe_, as to the positive effect produced upon the\nuniversal ether by so small a cause as the evolution of thought in a\nsingle human brain, how reasonable will it not appear that the terrific\nimpulses imparted to this common medium by the sweep of the myriad\nblazing orbs that are rushing through \u201cthe interstellar depths,\u201d should\naffect us and the earth upon which we live, in a powerful degree? If\nastronomers cannot explain to us the occult law by which the drifting\nparticles of cosmic matter aggregate into worlds, and then take their\nplaces in the majestic procession which is ceaselessly moving around\nsome central point of attraction, how can any one assume to say what\nmystic influences may or may not be darting through space and affecting\nthe issues of life upon this and other planets? Almost nothing is known\nof the laws of magnetism and the other imponderable agents; almost\nnothing of their effects upon our bodies and minds; even that which is\nknown and moreover perfectly demonstrated, is attributed to chance, and\ncurious _coincidences_. But we do know, by these coincidences,[455]\nthat \u201cthere are periods when certain diseases, propensities, fortunes,\nand misfortunes of humanity are more rife than at others.\u201d There are\ntimes of epidemic in moral and physical affairs. In one epoch \u201cthe\nspirit of religious controversy will arouse the most ferocious passions\nof which human nature is susceptible, provoking mutual persecution,\nbloodshed, and wars; at another, an epidemic of resistance to\nconstituted authority will spread over half the world (as in the year\n1848), rapid and simultaneous as the most virulent bodily disorder.\u201d\n\nAgain, the _collective character_ of mental phenomena is illustrated\nby an anomalous psychological condition invading and dominating\nover thousands upon thousands, depriving them of everything but\nautomatic action, and giving rise to the popular opinion of demoniacal\npossession, an opinion in some sense justified by the satanic passions,\nemotions, and acts which accompany the condition. At one period, the\naggregate tendency is to retirement and contemplation; hence, the\ncountless votaries of monachism and anchoretism; at another the mania\nis directed toward _action_, having for its proposed end some utopian\nscheme, equally impracticable and useless; hence, the myriads who have\nforsaken their kindred, their homes, and their country, to seek a land\nwhose stones were gold, or to wage exterminating war for the possession\nof worthless cities and trackless deserts.[456]\n\nThe author from whom the above is quoted says that \u201cthe seeds of vice {275}\nand crime appear to be sown under the surface of society, and to\nspring up and bring forth fruit with appalling rapidity and paralyzing\nsuccession.\u201d\n\nIn the presence of these striking phenomena science stands speechless;\nshe does not even attempt to conjecture as to their cause, and\nnaturally, for she has not yet learned to look outside of this ball\nof dirt upon which we live, and its heavy atmosphere, for the hidden\ninfluences which are affecting us day by day, and even minute by\nminute. But the ancients, whose \u201cignorance\u201d is assumed by Mr. Proctor,\nfully realized the fact that the reciprocal relations between the\nplanetary bodies is as perfect as those between the corpuscles of the\nblood, which float in a common fluid; and that each one is affected\nby the combined influences of all the rest, as each in its turn\naffects each of the others. As the planets differ in size, distance,\nand activity, so differ in intensity their impulses upon the ether or\nastral light, and the magnetic and other subtile forces radiated by\nthem in certain aspects of the heavens. Music is the combination and\nmodulation of sounds, and sound is the effect produced by the vibration\nof the ether. Now, if the impulses communicated to the ether by the\ndifferent planets may be likened to the tones produced by the different\nnotes of a musical instrument, it is not difficult to conceive that\nthe Pythagorean \u201cmusic of the spheres\u201d is something more than a mere\nfancy, and that certain planetary aspects may imply disturbances in\nthe ether of our planet, and certain others rest and harmony. Certain\nkinds of music throw us into frenzy; some exalt the soul to religious\naspirations. In fine, there is scarcely a human creation which does\nnot respond to certain vibrations of the atmosphere. It is the same\nwith colors; some excite us, some soothe and please. The nun clothes\nherself in black to typify the despondency of a faith crushed under the\nsense of original sin; the bride robes herself in white; red inflames\nthe anger of certain animals. If we and the animals are affected\nby vibrations acting upon a very minute scale, why may we not be\ninfluenced in the mass by vibrations acting upon a grand scale as the\neffect of combined stellar influences?\n\n\u201cWe know,\u201d says Dr. Elam, \u201cthat certain pathological conditions\nhave a tendency to become epidemic, _influenced by causes not yet\ninvestigated_.... We see how strong is the tendency of opinion once\npromulgated to run into an epidemic form\u2014no opinion, no delusion, is\ntoo absurd to assume this collective character. We observe, also,\nhow remarkably the same ideas reproduce themselves and _reappear in\nsuccessive ages_; ... no crime is too horrible to become popular,\nhomicide, infanticide, suicide, poisoning, or any other diabolical {276}\nhuman conception. ... In epidemics, the cause of the rapid spread at\nthat particular period _remains a mystery_!\u201d\n\nThese few lines contain an undeniable _psychological_ fact, sketched\nwith a masterly pen, and at the same time a _half_-confession of utter\nignorance\u2014\u201c_Causes not yet investigated_.\u201d Why not be honest and add at\nonce, \u201c_impossible_ to investigate with present scientific methods?\u201d\n\nNoticing an epidemic of incendiarism, Dr. Elam quotes from the _Annales\nd\u2019Hygiene Publique_ the following cases: \u201cA girl about seventeen years\nof age was arrested on suspicion ... she confessed that twice she had\nset fire to dwellings by _instinct_, by _irresistible necessity_.... A\nboy about eighteen committed many acts of this nature. He was not moved\nby any passion, but the bursting-out of the flames excited a profoundly\npleasing emotion.\u201d\n\nWho but has noticed in the columns of the daily press similar\nincidents? They meet the eye constantly. In cases of murder, of every\ndescription, and of other crimes of a diabolical character, the act\nis attributed, in nine cases out of ten, by the offenders themselves,\nto _irresistible obsessions_. \u201c_Something_ whispered constantly in\nmy ear.... _Somebody_ was incessantly pushing and leading me on.\u201d\nSuch are the too-frequent confessions of the criminals. Physicians\nattribute them to hallucinations of disordered brains, and call the\nhomicidal impulse temporary _lunacy_. But is lunacy itself well\nunderstood by any psychologist? Has its cause ever been brought under a\nhypothesis capable of withstanding the challenge of an uncompromising\ninvestigator? Let the controversial works of our contemporary alienists\nanswer for themselves.\n\nPlato acknowledges man to be the toy of the element of necessity, which\nhe enters upon in appearing in this world of matter; he is influenced\nby external causes, and these causes are _daimonia_, like that of\nSocrates. Happy is the man physically pure, for if his _external_\nsoul (body) is pure, it will strengthen the second one (astral body),\nor the soul which is termed by him the _higher mortal soul_, which\nthough liable to err from its own motives, will always side with reason\nagainst the animal proclivities of the body. The lusts of man arise in\nconsequence of his perishable material body, so do other diseases; but\nthough he regards crimes as _involuntary_ sometimes, for they result\nlike bodily disease from external causes, Plato clearly makes a wide\ndistinction between these _causes_. The fatalism which he concedes\nto humanity, does not preclude the possibility of avoiding them, for\nthough pain, fear, anger, and other feelings are given to men by\n_necessity_, \u201cif they conquered these they would live righteously,\nand if they were conquered by them, _unrighteously_.\u201d[457] The {277}\n_dual_ man, _i. e._, one from whom the divine _immortal_ spirit has\ndeparted, leaving but the animal form and astral body (Plato\u2019s higher\n_mortal_ soul), is left merely to his _instincts_, for he was conquered\nby all the evils entailed on matter; hence, he becomes a docile\ntool in the hands of the _invisibles_\u2014beings of sublimated matter,\nhovering in our atmosphere, and ever ready to inspire those who are\ndeservedly deserted by their _immortal_ counsellor, the Divine Spirit,\ncalled by Plato \u201cgenius.\u201d[458] According to this great philosopher\nand initiate, one \u201cwho lived well during his appointed time would\nreturn to the habitation _of his star_, and there have a blessed and\nsuitable existence. But if he failed in attaining this in the second\ngeneration he would pass _into a woman_\u2014become helpless and weak as\na woman;[459] and should he not cease from evil in that condition,\nhe would be changed into some brute, which resembled him in his evil\nways, and would not cease from his toils and transformations until he\nfollowed the original principle of sameness and likeness within him,\nand overcame, by the help of reason, the latter secretions of turbulent\nand irrational _elements_ (elementary d\u00e6mons) composed of fire and air,\nand water and earth, and returned to the form of his first and better\nnature.\u201d[460]\n\nBut Dr. Elam thinks otherwise. On page 194 of his book, _A Physician\u2019s\nProblems_, he says that the cause of the rapid spread of certain\nepidemics of disease which he is noticing \u201cremains a mystery;\u201d but as\nregards the incendiarism he remarks that \u201cin all this we find nothing\nmysterious,\u201d though the epidemic is strongly developed. Strange\ncontradiction! De Quincey, in his paper, entitled _Murder Considered as\nOne of the Fine Arts_, treats of the epidemic of assassination, between\n1588 and 1635, by which seven of the most distinguished characters of {278}\nthe time lost their lives at the hands of assassins, and neither he,\nnor any other commentator has been able to explain the mysterious cause\nof this homicidal mania.\n\nIf we press these gentlemen for an explanation, which as pretended\nphilosophers they are bound to give us, we are answered that it is a\ngreat deal more _scientific_ to assign for such epidemics \u201cagitation of\nthe mind,\u201d \u201c ... a time of political excitement (1830)\u201c \u201d ... imitation\nand impulse,\u201c \u201d ... excitable and idle boys,\u201c and \u201d_hysterical_ girls,\u201d\nthan to be absurdly seeking for the verification of superstitious\ntraditions in a hypothetical astral light. It seems to us that if,\nby some providential fatality, _hysteria_ were to disappear entirely\nfrom the human system, the medical fraternity would be entirely at a\nloss for explanations of a large class of phenomena now conveniently\nclassified under the head of \u201cnormal symptoms of certain pathological\nconditions of the nervous centres.\u201d Hysteria has been hitherto the\nsheet-anchor of skeptical pathologists. Does a dirty peasant-girl begin\nsuddenly to speak with fluency different foreign languages hitherto\nunfamiliar to her, and to write poetry\u2014\u201chysterics!\u201d Is a medium\nlevitated, in full view of a dozen of witnesses, and carried out of one\nthird-story window and brought back through another\u2014\u201cdisturbance of the\nnervous centres, followed by a _collective_ hysterical delusion.\u201d[461]\nA Scotch terrier, caught in the room during a manifestation, is hurled\nby an invisible hand across the room, breaks to pieces, in his _salto\nmortali_, a chandelier, under a ceiling eighteen feet high, to fall\ndown killed[462]\u2014\u201c_canine hallucination_!\u201d\n\n\u201cTrue science has no belief,\u201d says Dr. Fenwick, in Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s\n_Strange Story_; \u201ctrue science knows but three states of mind: denial,\nconviction, and the vast interval between the two, which is not belief,\nbut the _suspension of judgment_.\u201d Such, perhaps, was true science in\nDr. Fenwick\u2019s days. But the true science of our modern times proceeds\notherwise; it either denies point-blank, without any preliminary\ninvestigation, or sits in the interim, between denial and conviction,\nand, dictionary in hand, invents new Gr\u00e6co-Latin appellations for\nnon-existing kinds of hysteria!\n\nHow often have powerful clairvoyants and adepts in mesmerism\ndescribed the epidemics and _physical_ (though to others invisible)\nmanifestations which science attributes to epilepsy, h\u00e6mato-nervous\ndisorders, and what not, of _somatic origin_, as their lucid vision\nsaw them in the astral light. They affirm that the \u201celectric waves\u201d\nwere in violent perturbation, and that they discerned a direct relation\nbetween this ethereal disturbance and the mental or physical epidemic {279}\nthen raging. But science has heeded them not, but gone on with her\nencyclop\u00e6dic labor of devising new names for old things.\n\n\u201cHistory,\u201d says Du Potet, the prince of French mesmerists, \u201ckeeps but\ntoo well the sad records of sorcery. These facts were but too real, and\nlent themselves but too readily to dreadful malpractices of the art, to\nmonstrous abuse!... But how did I come to find out that art? Where did\nI learn it? In my thoughts? no; it is _nature_ herself which discovered\nto me the secret. And how? By producing before my own eyes, without\nwaiting for me to search for it, indisputable facts of sorcery and\nmagic.... What is, after all, somnambulistic sleep? _A result of the\npotency of magic._ And what is it which determines these attractions,\nthese _sudden impulses_, these raving epidemics, rages, antipathies,\ncrises;\u2014these convulsions which _you can make durable_?... what is it\nwhich determines them, if not the _very principle_ we employ, the agent\n_so decidedly well known to the ancients_? What you call nervous fluid\nor _magnetism_, the men of old called _occult power_, or the potency of\nthe soul, subjection, MAGIC!\u201d\n\n\u201cMagic is based on the existence of a mixed world placed _without_, not\n_within_ us; and with which we can enter in communication by the use of\ncertain arts and practices.... An element _existing in nature_, unknown\nto most men, gets hold of a person and withers and breaks him down,\nas the fearful hurricane does a bulrush; it scatters men far away, it\nstrikes them in a _thousand places_ at _the same time_, without their\nperceiving the invisible foe, or being able to protect themselves ...\nall this is _demonstrated_; but that this element could choose friends\nand select _favorites_, obey their _thoughts_, answer to the human\nvoice, and understand the meaning of _traced signs_, that is what\npeople cannot realize, and _what their reason rejects_, and that is\n_what I saw_; and I say it here most emphatically, that for me it is a\nfact and _a truth_ demonstrated for ever.\u201d[463]\n\n\u201cIf I entered into greater details, one could readily understand that\nthere do exist _around_ us, _as in ourselves_, mysterious beings who\nhave _power_ and _shape_, who enter and go out at will, notwithstanding\nthe well-closed doors.\u201d[464] Further, the great mesmerizer teaches\nus that the faculty of directing this fluid is a \u201cphysical property,\nresulting from our organization ... it passes through all bodies ...\neverything can be used as a conductor for magical operations, and\nit will retain the power of producing effects in its turn.\u201d This is\nthe theory common to all hermetic philosophers. Such is the power of\nthe fluid, \u201cthat _no chemical or physical forces are able to destroy\nit_.... There is very little analogy between the imponderable fluids {280}\nknown to physicists and this animal magnetic fluid.\u201d[465]\n\nIf we now refer to medi\u00e6val ages, we find, among others, Cornelius\nAgrippa telling us precisely the same: \u201cThe ever-changing universal\nforce, the \u2018soul of the world,\u2019 can fecundate anything by infusing in\nit its own celestial properties. Arranged according to the formula\ntaught by _science_, these objects receive the gift of communicating\nto us their virtue. It is sufficient to wear them, to feel them\nimmediately operating on the soul as on the body.... Human soul\npossesses, from the fact of its being of the same essence as all\ncreation, a _marvellous power_. One who possesses the secret is enabled\nto rise in science and knowledge as high as his imagination will carry\nhim; but he does that only on the condition of becoming closely united\nto this universal force.... Truth, even the future, can be then made\never present to the eyes of the soul; and this fact has been many\ntimes demonstrated by things coming to pass as they were seen and\ndescribed beforehand ... time and space vanish before the eagle eye of\nthe immortal soul ... her power becomes boundless ... she can shoot\nthrough space and envelop with her presence a man, _no matter at what\ndistance_; she can plunge and penetrate him through, and make him hear\nthe voice of the person she belongs to, as if that person were in the\nroom.\u201d[466]\n\nIf unwilling to seek for proof or receive information from\nmedi\u00e6val, hermetic philosophy, we may go still further back into\nantiquity, and select, out of the great body of philosophers of the\npre-Christian ages, one who can least be accused of superstition and\ncredulity\u2014Cicero. Speaking of those whom he calls _gods_, and who are\neither human or atmospheric spirits, \u201cWe know,\u201d says the old orator,\n\u201cthat of all living beings man is the best formed, and, as the gods\nbelong to this number, they must have a human form.... I do not mean\nto say that the gods have body and blood in them; but I say that they\n_seem_ as if they had bodies with blood in them.... Epicurus, for whom\nhidden things were as tangible as if he had touched them with his\nfinger, teaches us that gods are not generally visible, but that they\nare _intelligible_; that they are not bodies having a certain solidity\n... but that we can recognize them by their _passing_ images; that\nas there are _atoms_ enough in the infinite space _to produce such\nimages_, these are produced before us ... and make us realize what are\nthese happy, immortal beings.\u201d[467]\n\n\u201cWhen the initiate,\u201d says Levi, in his turn, \u201chas become quite {281}\n_lucide_, he communicates and directs at will the _magnetic_\nvibrations in the mass of astral light.... Transformed in human light\nat the moment of the conception, _it_ (the light) becomes the _first\nenvelope of the soul_; by combination with the subtlest fluids it\nforms an ethereal body, or the _sidereal phantom_, which is entirely\ndisengaged _only_ at the moment of death.\u201d[468] To project this\nethereal body, at no matter what distance; to render it more objective\nand tangible by condensing over its fluidic form the waves of the\nparent essence, is the great secret of the adept-_magician_.\n\nTheurgical magic is the last expression of occult psychological\nscience. The Academicians reject it as the hallucination of diseased\nbrains, or brand it with the opprobrium of charlatanry. We deny to them\nmost emphatically the right of expressing their opinion on a subject\nwhich they have never investigated. They have no more right, in their\npresent state of knowledge, to judge of magic and Spiritualism than\na Fiji islander to venture his opinion about the labors of Faraday\nor Agassiz. About all they can do on any one day is to correct the\nerrors of the preceding day. Nearly three thousand years ago, earlier\nthan the days of Pythagoras, the ancient philosophers claimed that\nlight was ponderable\u2014hence _matter_, and that light was force. The\ncorpuscular theory, owing to certain Newtonian failures to account for\nit, was laughed down, and the undulatory theory, which proclaimed light\n_imponderable_, accepted. And now the world is startled by Mr. Crookes\n_weighing_ light with his radiometer! The Pythagoreans held that\nneither the sun nor the stars were the _sources_ of light and heat,\nand that the former was but an agent; but the modern schools teach the\ncontrary.\n\nThe same may be said respecting the Newtonian law of gravitation.\nFollowing strictly the Pythagorean doctrine, Plato held that\ngravitation was not merely a law of the magnetic attraction of\nlesser bodies to larger ones, but a magnetic repulsion of similars\nand attraction of dissimilars. \u201cThings brought together,\u201d says he,\n\u201ccontrary to nature, are naturally at war, and repel one another.\u201d[469]\nThis cannot be taken to mean that repulsion occurs of necessity between\nbodies of dissimilar properties, but simply that when naturally\nantagonistic bodies are brought together they repel one another. The\nresearches of Bart and Schweigger leave us in little or no doubt\nthat the ancients were well acquainted with the mutual attractions\nof iron and the lodestone, as well as with the positive and negative\nproperties of electricity, by whatever name they may have called it. {282}\nThe reciprocal magnetic relations of the planetary orbs, which are\nall magnets, was with them an accepted fact, and a\u00ebrolites were not\nonly called by them magnetic stones, but used in the Mysteries for\npurposes to which we now apply the magnet. When, therefore, Professor\nA. M. Mayer, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, in 1872, told the\nYale Scientific Club that the earth is a great magnet, and that \u201con\nany sudden agitation of the sun\u2019s surface the magnetism of the earth\nreceives a profound disturbance in its equilibrium, causing fitful\ntremors in the magnets of our observatories, and producing those grand\noutbursts of the polar lights, whose lambent flames dance in rhythm to\nthe quivering needle,\u201d[470] he only restated, in good English, what\nwas taught in good Doric untold centuries before the first Christian\nphilosopher saw the light.\n\nThe prodigies accomplished by the priests of theurgical magic are\nso well authenticated, and the evidence\u2014if human testimony is worth\nanything at all\u2014is so overwhelming, that, rather than confess that the\nPagan theurgists far outrivalled the Christians in miracles, Sir David\nBrewster piously concedes to the former the greatest proficiency in\nphysics, and everything that pertains to natural philosophy. Science\nfinds herself in a very disagreeable dilemma. She must either confess\nthat the ancient physicists were superior in knowledge to her modern\nrepresentatives, or that there exists something in nature beyond\nphysical science, and that _spirit_ possesses powers of which our\nphilosophers never dreamed.\n\n\u201cThe mistake we make in some science we have specially cultivated,\u201d\nsays Bulwer-Lytton, \u201cis often only to be seen by the light of a\nseparate science as especially cultivated by another.\u201d[471]\n\nNothing can be easier accounted for than the highest possibilities of\nmagic. By the radiant light of the universal magnetic ocean, whose\nelectric waves bind the cosmos together, and in their ceaseless\nmotion penetrate every atom and molecule of the boundless creation,\nthe disciples of mesmerism\u2014howbeit insufficient their various\nexperiments\u2014intuitionally perceive the alpha and omega of the great\nmystery. Alone, the study of this agent, which is the divine breath,\ncan unlock the secrets of psychology and physiology, of cosmical and\nspiritual phenomena.\n\n\u201cMagic,\u201d says Psellus, \u201cformed the last part of the sacerdotal science.\nIt investigated the nature, power, and quality of everything sublunary;\nof the elements and their parts, of animals, all various plants and\ntheir fruits, of stones and herbs. In short, it explored the essence\nand power of everything. From hence, therefore, it produced its {283}\neffects And it formed _statues_ (magnetized) which procure health, and\nmade all various figures and things (talismans) which could equally\nbecome the instruments of disease as well as of health. Often, too,\ncelestial fire is made to appear through magic, and then statues laugh\nand lamps are spontaneously enkindled.\u201d[472]\n\nIf Galvani\u2019s modern discovery can set in motion the limbs of a dead\nfrog, and force a dead man\u2019s face to express, by the distortion of\nits features, the most varied emotions, from joy to diabolical rage,\ndespair, and horror, the Pagan priests, unless the combined evidence\nof the most trustworthy men of antiquity is not to be relied upon,\naccomplished the still greater wonders of making their stone and metal\nstatues to sweat and laugh. The _celestial_, pure fire of the Pagan\naltar was electricity drawn from the astral light. Statues, therefore,\nif properly prepared, might, without any accusation of superstition,\nbe allowed to have the property of imparting health and disease by\ncontact, as well as any modern galvanic belt, or overcharged battery.\n\nScholastic skeptics, as well as ignorant materialists, have greatly\namused themselves for the last two centuries over the _absurdities_\nattributed to Pythagoras by his biographer, Iamblichus. The Samian\nphilosopher is said to have persuaded a she-bear to give up eating\nhuman flesh; to have forced a white eagle to descend to him from\nthe clouds, and to have subdued him by stroking him gently with the\nhand, and by talking to him. On another occasion, Pythagoras actually\npersuaded an ox to renounce eating beans, by merely whispering in the\nanimal\u2019s ear![473] Oh, ignorance and superstition of our forefathers,\nhow ridiculous they appear in the eyes of our enlightened generations!\nLet us, however, analyze this absurdity. Every day we see unlettered\nmen, proprietors of strolling menageries, taming and completely\nsubduing the most ferocious animals, merely by the power of their\nirresistible will. Nay, we have at the present moment in Europe several\nyoung and physically-weak girls, under twenty years of age, fearlessly\ndoing the same thing. Every one has either witnessed or heard of the\nseemingly magical power of some mesmerizers and psychologists. They are\nable to subjugate their patients for any length of time. Regazzoni,\nthe mesmerist who excited such wonder in France and London, has\nachieved far more extraordinary feats than what is above attributed to\nPythagoras. Why, then, accuse the ancient biographers of such men as\nPythagoras and Apollonius of Tyana of either wilful misrepresentation\nor absurd superstition? When we realize that the majority of those {284}\nwho are so skeptical as to the magical powers possessed by the ancient\nphilosophers, who laugh at the old theogonies and the fallacies of\nmythology, nevertheless have an implicit faith in the records and\ninspiration of their Bible, hardly daring to doubt even that monstrous\nabsurdity that Joshua arrested the course of the sun, we may well\nsay _Amen_ to Godfrey Higgins\u2019 just rebuke: \u201cWhen I find,\u201d he says,\n\u201clearned men believing _Genesis literally_, which the ancients, with\nall their failings, had too much sense to receive except allegorically,\nI am tempted to doubt the reality of the improvement of the human\nmind.\u201d[474]\n\nOne of the very few commentators on old Greek and Latin authors,\nwho have given their just dues to the ancients for their mental\ndevelopment, is Thomas Taylor. In his translation of Iamblichus\u2019 _Life\nof Pythagoras_, we find him remarking as follows: \u201cSince Pythagoras,\nas Iamblichus informs us, was initiated in all the Mysteries of Byblus\nand Tyre, in the sacred operations of the Syrians, and in the Mysteries\nof the Ph\u0153nicians, and also that he spent two and twenty years in the\nadyta of temples in Egypt, associated with the magians in Babylon, and\nwas instructed by them in their venerable knowledge, it is not at all\nwonderful that he was skilled in magic, or theurgy, and was therefore\nable to perform things which surpass merely human power, and which\nappear to be perfectly incredible to the vulgar.\u201d[475]\n\nThe universal ether was not, in their eyes, simply a something\nstretching, tenantless, throughout the expanse of heaven; it was a\nboundless ocean peopled like our familiar seas with monstrous and minor\ncreatures, and having in its every molecule the germs of life. Like the\nfinny tribes which swarm in our oceans and smaller bodies of water,\neach kind having its _habitat_ in some spot to which it is curiously\nadapted, some friendly and some inimical to man, some pleasant and\nsome frightful to behold, some seeking the refuge of quiet nooks and\nland-locked harbors, and some traversing great areas of water, the\nvarious races of the _elemental_ spirits were believed by them to\ninhabit the different portions of the great ethereal ocean, and to be\nexactly adapted to their respective conditions. If we will only bear in\nmind the fact that the rushing of planets through space must create as\nabsolute a disturbance in this plastic and attenuated medium, as the\npassage of a cannon shot does in the air or that of a steamer in the\nwater, and on a cosmic scale, we can understand that certain planetary\naspects, admitting our premises to be true, may produce much more\nviolent agitation and cause much stronger currents to flow in a given\ndirection, than others. With the same premises conceded, we may also\nsee why, by such various aspects of the stars, shoals of friendly or {285}\nhostile \u201celementals\u201d might be poured in upon our atmosphere, or some\nparticular portion of it, and make the fact appreciable by the effects\nwhich ensue.\n\nAccording to the ancient doctrines, the soulless elemental spirits\nwere evolved by the ceaseless motion inherent in the astral light.\nLight is force, and the latter is produced by the _will_. As this will\nproceeds from an intelligence which cannot err, for it has nothing of\nthe material organs of _human_ thought in it, being the superfine pure\nemanation of the highest divinity itself\u2014(Plato\u2019s \u201cFather\u201d) it proceeds\nfrom the beginning of time, according to immutable laws, to evolve the\nelementary fabric requisite for subsequent generations of what we term\nhuman races. All of the latter, whether belonging to this planet or to\nsome other of the myriads in space, have their earthly bodies evolved\nin the matrix out of the bodies of a certain class of these elemental\nbeings which have passed away in the invisible worlds. In the ancient\nphilosophy there was no missing link to be supplied by what Tyndall\ncalls an \u201ceducated imagination;\u201d no hiatus to be filled with volumes\nof materialistic speculations made necessary by the absurd attempt\nto solve an equation with but one set of quantities; our \u201cignorant\u201d\nancestors traced the law of evolution throughout the whole universe. As\nby gradual progression from the star-cloudlet to the development of the\nphysical body of man, the rule holds good, so from the universal ether\nto the incarnate human spirit, they traced one uninterrupted series\nof entities. These evolutions were from the world of spirit into the\nworld of gross matter; and through that back again to the source of all\nthings. The \u201cdescent of species\u201d was to them a descent from the spirit,\nprimal source of all, to the \u201cdegradation of matter.\u201d In this complete\nchain of unfoldings the elementary, spiritual beings had as distinct\na place, midway between the extremes, as Mr. Darwin\u2019s missing-link\nbetween the ape and man.\n\nNo author in the world of literature ever gave a more truthful or more\npoetical description of these beings than Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton, the\nauthor of _Zanoni_. Now, himself \u201ca thing not of matter\u201d but an \u201cIdea\nof joy and light,\u201d his words sound more like the faithful echo of\nmemory than the exuberant outflow of mere imagination.\n\n\u201cMan is arrogant in proportion of his ignorance,\u201d he makes the wise\nMejnour say to Glyndon. \u201cFor several ages he saw in the countless\nworlds that sparkle through space like the bubbles of a shoreless\nocean, only the petty candles ... that Providence has been pleased to\nlight for no other purpose but to make the night more agreeable to\nman.... Astronomy has corrected this delusion of human vanity, and man\nnow reluctantly confesses that the stars are worlds, larger and more\nglorious than his own.... Everywhere, then, in this immense design, {286}\nscience brings new life to light.... Reasoning, then, by evident\nanalogy, if not a leaf, if not a drop of water, but is, no less than\nyonder star, a habitable and breathing world\u2014nay, if even man himself,\nis a world to other lives, and millions and myriads dwell in the rivers\nof his blood, and inhabit man\u2019s frame, as man inhabits earth\u2014common\nsense (if our schoolmen had it) would suffice to teach that the\ncircumfluent infinite which you call space\u2014the boundless impalpable\nwhich divides earth from the moon and stars\u2014is filled also with its\ncorrespondent and appropriate life. Is it not a visible absurdity to\nsuppose that being is crowded upon every leaf, and yet absent from\nthe immensities of space! The law of the great system forbids the\nwaste even of an atom; it knows no spot where something of life does\nnot breathe.... Well, then, can you conceive that space, which is the\ninfinite itself, is alone a waste, is alone lifeless, is less useful to\nthe one design of universal being ... than the peopled leaf, than the\nswarming globule? The microscope shows you the creatures on the leaf;\n_no mechanical tube is yet invented to discover the nobler and more\ngifted things that hover in the illimitable air_. Yet between these\nlast and man is a mysterious _and terrible affinity_.... But first,\nto penetrate this barrier, the soul with which you listen must be\nsharpened by intense enthusiasm, purified from all earthly desires....\nWhen thus prepared, science can be brought to aid it; the sight itself\nmay be rendered more subtile, the nerves more acute, the spirit more\nalive and outward, and the element itself\u2014the air the space\u2014may be\nmade, by certain secrets of the higher chemistry, more palpable and\nclear. And this, too, is not _magic_ as the credulous call it; as I\nhave so often said before, magic (a science that violates nature)\nexists not; it is _but the science by which nature can be controlled_.\nNow, in space there are millions of beings, _not literally spiritual_,\nfor they have all, like the animalcula unseen by the naked eye, certain\nforms of matter, though matter so delicate, air-drawn, and subtile,\nthat it is, as it were, but a film, a gossamer, that clothes the\nspirit.... Yet, in truth, these races differ most widely ... some of\nsurpassing wisdom, some of horrible malignity; some hostile as fiends\nto men, others gentle as messengers between earth and heaven.... Amid\nthe dwellers of the threshold is one, too, surpassing in malignity and\nhatred all her tribe; one whose eyes have paralyzed the bravest, and\nwhose power increases over the spirit precisely in proportion to its\nfear.\u201d[476]\n\nSuch is the insufficient sketch of elemental beings void of divine\nspirit, given by one whom many with reason believed to know more than\nhe was prepared to admit in the face of an incredulous public.\n\nIn the following chapter we will contrive to explain some of the {287}\nesoteric speculations of the initiates of the sanctuary, as to\nwhat man was, is, and may yet be. The doctrines they taught in the\nMysteries\u2014the source from which sprung the Old and partially the New\nTestament, belonged to the most advanced notions of morality, and\nreligious _revelations_. While the literal meaning was abandoned to\nthe fanaticism of the unreasoning lower classes of society, the higher\nones, the majority of which consisted of _Initiates_, pursued their\nstudies in the solemn silence of the temples, and their worship of the\n_one_ God of Heaven.\n\nThe speculations of Plato, in the _Banquet_, on the creation of the\nprimordial men, and the essay on Cosmogony in the _Tim\u00e6us_, must be\ntaken allegorically, if we accept them at all. It is this hidden\nPythagorean meaning in _Tim\u00e6us_, _Cratylus_, and _Parmenides_, and a\nfew other trilogies and dialogues, that the Neo-platonists ventured to\nexpound, as far as the theurgical vow of secresy would allow them. The\nPythagorean doctrine that _God is the universal mind diffused through\nall things_, and the dogma of the soul\u2019s immortality, are the leading\nfeatures in these apparently incongruous teachings. His piety and the\ngreat veneration Plato felt for the MYSTERIES, are sufficient warrant\nthat he would not allow his indiscretion to get the better of that\ndeep sense of responsibility which is felt by every adept. \u201cConstantly\nperfecting himself in perfect MYSTERIES, a man in them alone becomes\ntruly perfect,\u201d says he in the _Ph\u00e6drus_.[477]\n\nHe took no pains to conceal his displeasure that the Mysteries had\nbecome less secret than formerly. Instead of profaning them by putting\nthem within the reach of the multitude, he would have guarded them\nwith jealous care against all but the most earnest and worthy of\nhis disciples.[478] While mentioning the gods, on every page, his\nmonotheism is unquestionable, for the whole thread of his discourse\nindicates that by the term _gods_ be means a class of beings far\nlower in the scale than deities, and but one grade higher than men.\nEven Josephus perceived and acknowledged this fact, despite the\nnatural prejudice of his race. In his famous onslaught upon Apion,\nthis historian says:[479] \u201cThose, however, among the Greeks who\nphilosophized _in accordance with truth_, were not ignorant of anything\n... nor did they fail to perceive the chilling superficialities of the {288}\nmythical allegories, on which account they justly despised them....\nBy which thing Plato, being moved, says it is not necessary to admit\nany one of the other poets into \u2018the Commonwealth,\u2019 and _he dismisses\nHomer_ blandly, after having crowned him and pouring unguent upon\nhim, in order that indeed he should not destroy, by _his myths_, the\n_orthodox belief respecting one God_.\u201d\n\nThose who can discern the true spirit of Plato\u2019s philosophy, will\nhardly be satisfied with the estimate of the same which Jowett lays\nbefore his readers. He tells us that the influence exercised upon\nposterity by the _Tim\u00e6us_ is partly due to a misunderstanding of the\ndoctrine of its author by the Neo-platonists. He would have us believe\nthat the hidden meanings which they found in this _Dialogue_, are\n\u201cquite at variance with the spirit of Plato.\u201d This is equivalent to the\nassumption that Jowett understands what this spirit really was; whereas\nhis criticism upon this particular topic rather indicates that he did\nnot penetrate it at all. If, as he tells us, the Christians seem to\nfind in his work their trinity, the word, the church, and the creation\nof the world, in a Jewish sense, it is because all this _is_ there, and\ntherefore it is but natural that they should have found it. The outward\nbuilding is the same; but the spirit which animated the dead letter\nof the philosopher\u2019s teaching has fled, and we would seek for it in\nvain through the arid dogmas of Christian theology. The Sphinx is the\nsame now, as it was four centuries before the Christian era; but the\n\u0152dipus is no more. He is slain because he has given to the world that\nwhich the world was not ripe enough to receive. He was the embodiment\nof truth, and he had to die, as every grand truth has to, before, like\nthe Ph\u0153nix of old, it revives from its own ashes. Every translator of\nPlato\u2019s works remarked the strange similarity between the philosophy of\nthe esoterists and the Christian doctrines, and each of them has tried\nto interpret it in accordance with his own religious feelings. So Cory,\nin his _Ancient Fragments_, tries to prove that it is but an outward\nresemblance; and does his best to lower the Pythagorean Monad in the\npublic estimation and exalt upon its ruins the later anthropomorphic\ndeity. Taylor, advocating the former, acts as unceremoniously with the\nMosaic God. Zeller boldly laughs at the pretensions of the Fathers\nof the Church, who, notwithstanding history and its chronology, and\nwhether people will have it or not, insist that Plato and his school\nhave robbed Christianity of its leading features. It is as fortunate\nfor us as it is unfortunate for the Roman Church that such clever\nsleight-of-hand as that resorted to by Eusebius is rather difficult\nin our century. It was easier to pervert chronology \u201cfor the sake\nof making synchronisms,\u201d in the days of the Bishop of C\u00e6sarea, than\nit is now, and while history exists, no one can help people knowing\nthat Plato lived 600 years before Iren\u00e6us took it into his head to {289}\nestablish a _new_ doctrine from the ruins of Plato\u2019s older Academy.\n\nThis doctrine of God being the universal mind diffused through all\nthings, underlies all ancient philosophies. The Buddhistic tenets\nwhich can never be better comprehended than when studying the\nPythagorean philosophy\u2014its faithful reflection\u2014are derived from this\nsource as well as the Brahmanical religion and early Christianity.\nThe purifying process of transmigrations\u2014the metempsychoses\u2014however\ngrossly anthropomorphized at a later period, must only be regarded as\na supplementary doctrine, disfigured by theological sophistry with\nthe object of getting a firmer hold upon believers through a popular\nsuperstition. Neither Gautama Buddha nor Pythagoras intended to teach\nthis purely-metaphysical allegory _literally_. Esoterically, it is\nexplained in the \u201cMystery\u201d of the _Kounboum_,[480] and relates to\nthe purely spiritual peregrinations of the human soul. It is not in\nthe dead letter of Buddhistical sacred literature that scholars may\nhope to find the true solution of its metaphysical subtilties. The\nlatter weary the power of thought by the inconceivable profundity of\nits ratiocination; and the student is never farther from truth than\nwhen he believes himself nearest its discovery. The mastery of every\ndoctrine of the perplexing Buddhist system can be attained only by\nproceeding strictly according to the Pythagorean and Platonic method;\nfrom universals down to particulars. The key to it lies in the refined\nand mystical tenets of the spiritual influx of divine life. \u201cWhoever is\nunacquainted with my law,\u201d says Buddha, \u201cand dies in that state, must\nreturn to the earth till he becomes a perfect Samanean. To achieve this\nobject, he must destroy within himself the trinity of _Maya_.[481] He\nmust extinguish his passions, unite and identify himself with _the law_\n(the teaching of the secret doctrine), and comprehend the religion of\n_annihilation_.\u201d\n\nHere, annihilation refers but to _matter_, that of the visible as\nwell as of the invisible body; for the astral soul (_perisprit_) is\nstill matter, however sublimated. The same book says that what Fo\n(Buddha) meant to say was, that \u201cthe primitive substance is eternal\nand unchangeable. Its highest revelation is the pure, luminous ether,\nthe boundless infinite space, not a void resulting from the absence\nof forms, but, on the contrary, _the foundation of all forms_, and\nanterior to them. \u201cBut the very presence of _forms_ denotes it to be\nthe creation of _Maya_, and all her works are as nothing before the\n_uncreated_ being, SPIRIT, in whose profound and sacred repose all\nmotion must cease forever.\u201d\n\nThus _annihilation_ means, with the Buddhistical philosophy, only a {290}\ndispersion of matter, in whatever form or _semblance_ of form it may\nbe; for everything that bears a shape was created, and thus must sooner\nor later perish, _i.e._, change that shape; therefore, as something\ntemporary, though seeming to be permanent, it is but an illusion,\n_Maya_; for, as eternity has neither beginning nor end, the more or\nless prolonged duration of some particular form passes, as it were,\nlike an instantaneous flash of lightning. Before we have the time to\nrealize that we have seen it, it is gone and passed away for ever;\nhence, even our astral bodies, pure ether, are but illusions of matter,\nso long as they retain their terrestrial outline. The latter changes,\nsays the Buddhist, according to the merits or demerits of the person\nduring his lifetime, and this is metempsychosis. When the spiritual\n_entity_ breaks loose for ever from every particle of matter, then\nonly it enters upon the eternal and unchangeable Nirvana. He exists in\nspirit, in _nothing_; as a form, a shape, a semblance, he is completely\n_annihilated_, and thus will die no more, for spirit alone is no\n_Maya_, but the only REALITY in an illusionary universe of ever-passing\nforms.\n\nIt is upon this Buddhist doctrine that the Pythagoreans grounded the\nprincipal tenets of their philosophy. \u201cCan that spirit, which gives\nlife and motion, and partakes of the nature of light, be reduced to\nnonentity?\u201d they ask. \u201cCan that sensitive spirit in brutes which\nexercises memory, one of the rational faculties, die, and become\nnothing?\u201d And Whitelock Bulstrode, in his able defence of Pythagoras,\nexpounds this doctrine by adding: \u201cIf you say, they (the brutes)\nbreathe their spirits into the air, and there vanish, that is all\nI contend for. The air, indeed, is the proper place to receive\nthem, being, according to Laertius, full of souls; and, according\nto Epicurus, full of atoms, the principles of all things; for even\nthis place wherein we walk and birds fly has so much of a spiritual\nnature, that it is invisible, and, therefore, may well be the receiver\nof forms, since the forms of all bodies are so; we can only see and\nhear its effects; the air itself is too fine, and above the capacity\nof the age. What then is the ether in the region above, and what are\nthe influences or forms that descend from thence?\u201d The _spirits_ of\ncreatures, the Pythagoreans hold, who are emanations of the most\nsublimated portions of ether, emanations, BREATHS, _but not forms_.\nEther is incorruptible, all philosophers agree in that; and what is\nincorruptible _is so far from being annihilated_ when it gets rid of\nthe _form_, that it lays a good claim to IMMORTALITY. \u201cBut what is that\nwhich has no body, no _form_; which is imponderable, invisible and\nindivisible; that which exists and yet _is not_?\u201d ask the Buddhists.\n\u201cIt is Nirvana,\u201d is the answer. It is NOTHING, not a region, but rather {291}\na state. When once Nirvana is reached, man is exempt from the effects\nof the \u201cfour truths;\u201d for an effect can only be produced through a\ncertain cause, and every cause is _annihilated_ in this state.\n\nThese \u201cfour truths\u201d are the foundation of the whole Buddhist doctrine\nof Nirvana. They are, says the book of _Pradju\u00e2 P\u00e2ramit\u00e2_,[482] 1.\nThe existence of pain. 2. The production of pain. 3. The annihilation\nof pain. 4. The way to the annihilation of pain. What is the source\nof pain?\u2014Existence. Birth existing, decrepitude and death ensue; for\nwherever there is a form, there is a _cause_ for pain and suffering.\n_Spirit_ alone has no form, and therefore _cannot be said to exist_.\nWhenever man (the ethereal, inner man) reaches that point when he\nbecomes utterly spiritual, hence, formless, he has reached a state of\nperfect bliss. MAN as an objective being becomes annihilated, but the\nspiritual entity with its subjective life, will live for ever, for\nspirit is incorruptible and immortal.\n\nIt is by the spirit of the teachings of both Buddha and Pythagoras,\nthat we can so easily recognize the identity of their doctrines.\nThe all-pervading, universal soul, the _Anima Mundi_, is Nirvana;\nand Buddha, as a generic name, is the anthropomorphized _monad_ of\nPythagoras. When resting in Nirvana, the final bliss, Buddha is the\nsilent monad, dwelling in darkness and silence; he is also the formless\nBrahm, the sublime but _unknowable_ Deity, which pervades invisibly the\nwhole universe. Whenever it is manifested, desiring to impress itself\nupon humanity in a shape intelligent to our intellect, whether we call\nit an _avatar_, or a King Messiah, or a _permutation_ of Divine Spirit,\n_Logos_, Christos, it is all one and the same thing. In each case it\nis \u201cthe Father,\u201d who is in the _Son_, and the Son in \u201cthe Father.\u201d The\nimmortal spirit overshadows the mortal man. It enters into him, and\npervading his whole being, makes of him a god, who descends into his\nearthly tabernacle. Every man may become a Buddha, says the doctrine.\nAnd so throughout the interminable series of ages we find now and then\nmen who more or less succeed in _uniting_ themselves \u201cwith God,\u201d as the\nexpression goes, with their _own spirit_, as we ought to translate. The\nBuddhists call such men _Arhat_. An Arhat is next to a Buddha, and none\nis equal to him either in _infused_ science, or _miraculous_ powers.\nCertain fakirs demonstrate the theory well in practice, as Jacolliot\nhas proved.\n\nEven the so-called _fabulous_ narratives of certain Buddhistical\nbooks, when stripped of their allegorical meaning, are found to be the\nsecret doctrines taught by Pythagoras. In the Pali Books called the\n_Jutak\u00e2s_, are given the 550 incarnations or metempsychoses of Buddha. {292}\nThey narrate how he has appeared in every form of animal life, and\nanimated every sentient being on earth, from infinitesimal insect to\nthe bird, the beast, and finally man, the microcosmic image of God on\nearth. Must this be taken _literally_; is it intended as a description\nof the _actual_ transformations and existence of one and the same\nindividual immortal, divine spirit, which by turns has animated every\nkind of sentient being? Ought we not rather to understand, with\nBuddhist metaphysicians, that though the individual human spirits are\nnumberless, collectively they are one, as every drop of water drawn out\nof the ocean, metaphorically speaking, may have an individual existence\nand still be one with the rest of the drops going to form that ocean;\nfor each human spirit is a scintilla of the one all-pervading light?\nThat this divine spirit animates the flower, the particle of granite on\nthe mountain side, the lion, the man? Egyptian Hierophants, like the\nBrahmans, and the Buddhists of the East, and some Greek philosophers,\nmaintained originally that the same spirit that animates the particle\nof dust, lurking latent in it, animates man, manifesting itself in him\nin its highest state of activity. The doctrine, also, of a gradual\nrefusion of the human _soul_ into the essence of the primeval parent\nspirit, was universal at one time. But this doctrine never implied\nannihilation of the higher spiritual _ego_\u2014only the dispersion of the\n_external forms_ of man, after his terrestrial death, as well as during\nhis abode on earth. Who is better fitted to impart to us the mysteries\nof after-death, so erroneously thought impenetrable, than those men\nwho having, through self-discipline and purity of life and purpose,\nsucceeded in uniting themselves with their \u201cGod,\u201d were afforded _some_\nglimpses, however imperfect, of the great truth.[483] And these seers\ntell us strange stories about the _variety_ of forms assumed by\ndisembodied astral souls; forms of which each one is a spiritual though\nconcrete reflection of the abstract state of the mind, and thoughts of\nthe once living man.\n\nTo accuse Buddhistical philosophy of rejecting a Supreme Being\u2014God,\nand the soul\u2019s immortality, of atheism, in short, on the ground that\naccording to their doctrines, Nirvana means _annihilation_, and\n_Svabh\u00e2v\u00e2t is_ NOT _a person, but nothing_, is simply absurd. The En\n(or Ay\u00een) of the Jewish En-Soph, also means _nihil_ or _nothing_, that\nwhich is not (_quo ad nos_); but no one has ever ventured to twit the\nJews with atheism. In both cases the real meaning of the term _nothing_\ncarries with it the idea that God is _not a thing_, not a concrete or\nvisible Being to which a name expressive of _any_ object known to us on\nearth may be applied with propriety.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX. {293}\n\n \u201cThou can\u2019st not call that madness of which thou art proved to\n know nothing.\u201d\u2014TERTULLIAN: _Apology_\n\n \u201cThis is not a matter of to-day,\n Or yesterday, but hath been from all times;\n And none hath told us whence it came or how!\u201d\u2014SOPHOCLES.\n\n \u201cBelief in the supernatural is a fact natural, primitive,\n universal, and constant in the life and history of the human\n race. Unbelief in the supernatural begets materialism;\n materialism, sensuality; sensuality, social convulsions, amid\n whose storms man again learns to believe and pray.\u201d\u2014GUIZOT.\n\n \u201cIf any one think these things incredible, let him keep his\n opinions to himself, and not contradict those who, by such\n events, are incited to the study of virtue.\u201d\u2014JOSEPHUS.\n\n\nFrom the Platonic and Pythagorean views of matter and force, we\nwill now turn to the kabalistic philosophy of the origin of man,\nand compare it with the theory of natural selection enunciated by\nDarwin and Wallace. It may be that we shall find as much reason to\ncredit the ancients with originality in this direction as in that\nwhich we have been considering. To our mind, no stronger proof of the\ntheory of cyclical progression need be required than the comparative\nenlightenment of former ages and that of the Patristic Church, as\nregards the form of the earth, and the movements of the planetary\nsystem. Even were other evidence wanting, the ignorance of Augustine\nand Lactantius, misleading the whole of Christendom upon these\nquestions until the period of Galileo, would mark the eclipses through\nwhich human knowledge passes from age to age.\n\nThe \u201ccoats of skin,\u201d mentioned in the third chapter of _Genesis_ as\ngiven to Adam and Eve, are explained by certain ancient philosophers\nto mean the fleshy bodies with which, in the progress of the cycles,\nthe progenitors of the race became clothed. They maintained that the\ngodlike physical form became grosser and grosser, until the bottom of\nwhat may be termed the last spiritual cycle was reached, and mankind\nentered upon the ascending arc of the first human cycle. Then began\nan uninterrupted series of cycles or _yogas_; the precise number of\nyears of which each of them consisted remaining an inviolable mystery\nwithin the precincts of the sanctuaries and disclosed only to the\ninitiates. As soon as humanity entered upon a new one, the stone age,\nwith which the preceding cycle had closed, began to gradually merge\ninto the following and next higher age. With each successive age, or {294}\nepoch, men grew more refined, until the acme of perfection possible in\nthat particular cycle had been reached. Then the receding wave of time\ncarried back with it the vestiges of human, social, and intellectual\nprogress. Cycle succeeded cycle, by imperceptible transitions;\nhighly-civilized flourishing nations, waxed in power, attained the\nclimax of development, waned, and became extinct; and mankind, when the\nend of the lower cyclic arc was reached, was replunged into barbarism\nas at the start. Kingdoms have crumbled and nation succeeded nation\nfrom the beginning until our day, the races alternately mounting to\nthe highest and descending to the lowest points of development. Draper\nobserves that there is no reason to suppose that any one cycle applied\nto the whole human race. On the contrary, while man in one portion of\nthe planet was in a condition of retrogression, in another he might be\nprogressing in enlightenment and civilization.\n\nHow analogous this theory is to the law of planetary motion, which\ncauses the individual orbs to rotate on their axes; the several systems\nto move around their respective suns; and the whole stellar host to\nfollow a common path around a common centre! Life and death, light and\ndarkness, day and night on the planet, as it turns about its axis and\ntraverses the zodiacal circle representing the lesser and the greater\ncycles.[484] Remember the Hermetic axiom:\u2014\u201cAs above, so below; as in\nheaven, so on earth.\u201d\n\nMr. Alfred R. Wallace argues with sound logic, that the development\nof man has been more marked in his mental organization than in his\nexternal form. Man, he conceives to differ from the animal, by\nbeing able to undergo great changes of conditions and of his entire\nenvironment, without very marked alterations in bodily form and\nstructure. The changes of climate he meets with a corresponding\nalteration in his clothing, shelter, weapons, and implements of\nhusbandry. His body may become less hairy, more erect, and of a\ndifferent color and proportions; \u201cthe head and face is immediately\nconnected with the organ of the mind, and as being the medium,\nexpressing the most refined motions of his nature,\u201d alone change with\nthe development of his intellect. There was a time when \u201che had not yet\nacquired that wonderfully-developed brain, the organ of the mind, which\nnow, even in his lowest examples, raises him far above the highest\nbrutes, at a period when he had the form, but hardly the nature of\nman, when he neither possessed human speech nor sympathetic and moral\nfeelings.\u201d Further, Mr. Wallace says that \u201cMan may have been\u2014indeed, {295}\nI believe _must have been_, once a homogeneous race ... in man, the\nhairy covering of the body has almost entirely disappeared.\u201c Of the\ncave men of Les Eyzies, Mr. Wallace remarks further \u201d ... the great\nbreadth of the face, the enormous development of the ascending ramus of\nthe lower jaw ... indicate enormous muscular power and the habits of a\nsavage and brutal race.\u201d\n\nSuch are the glimpses which anthropology affords us of men, either\narrived at the bottom of a cycle or starting in a new one. Let\nus see how far they are corroborated by clairvoyant psychometry.\nProfessor Denton submitted a fragment of fossilized bone to his wife\u2019s\nexamination, without giving Mrs. Denton any hint as to what the\narticle was. It immediately called up to her pictures of people and\nscenes which he thinks belonged to the stone age. She saw men closely\nresembling monkeys, with a body very hairy, and \u201cas if the natural\nhair answered the purpose of clothing.\u201d \u201cI question whether he can\nstand perfectly upright; his hip-joints appear to be so formed, he\ncannot,\u201d she added. \u201cOccasionally I see part of the body of one of\nthose beings that looks comparatively smooth. I can see the skin, which\nis lighter colored ... I do not know whether he belongs to the same\nperiod.... At a distance the face seems flat; the lower part of it\nis heavy; they have what I suppose would be called prognathous jaws.\nThe frontal region of the head is low, and the lower portion of it is\nvery prominent, forming a round ridge across the forehead, immediately\nabove the eyebrows.... Now I see a face that looks like that of a human\nbeing, though there is a monkey-like appearance about it. All these\nseem of that kind, having long arms and hairy bodies.\u201d[485]\n\nWhether or not the men of science are willing to concede the\ncorrectness of the Hermetic theory of the physical evolution of man\nfrom higher and more spiritual natures, they themselves show us how\nthe race has progressed from the lowest observed point to its present\ndevelopment. And, as all nature seems to be made up of analogies, is\nit unreasonable to affirm that the same progressive development of\nindividual forms has prevailed among the inhabitants of the _unseen_\nuniverse? If such marvellous effects have been caused by evolution upon\nour little insignificant planet, producing reasoning and intuitive men\nfrom some higher type of the ape family, why suppose that the boundless\nrealms of space are inhabited only by disembodied _angelic_ forms?\nWhy not give place in that vast domain to the spiritual duplicates\nof these hairy, long-armed and half-reasoning ancestors, their\npredecessors, and all their successors, down to our time? Of course,\nthe spiritual parts of such primeval members of the human family would {296}\nbe as uncouth and undeveloped as were their physical bodies. While\nthey made no attempt to calculate the duration of the \u201cgrand cycle,\u201d\nthe Hermetic philosophers yet maintained that, according to the cyclic\nlaw, the living human race must inevitably and collectively return\none day to that point of departure, where man was first clothed with\n\u201ccoats of skin;\u201d or, to express it more clearly, the human race must,\nin accordance with the law of evolution, be finally _physically_\nspiritualized. Unless Messrs. Darwin and Huxley are prepared to prove\nthat the man of our century has attained, as a physical and moral\nanimal, the acme of perfection, and evolution, having reached its apex,\nmust stop all further progress with the modern genus, _Homo_, we do not\nsee how they can possibly confute such a logical deduction.\n\nIn his lecture on _The Action of Natural Selection on Man_, Mr.\nAlfred R. Wallace concludes his demonstrations as to the development\nof human races under that law of selection by saying that, if his\nconclusions are just, \u201cit must inevitably follow that the higher\u2014the\nmore intellectual and moral\u2014must displace the lower and more degraded\nraces; and the power of \u2018natural selection,\u2019 still acting on his mental\norganization, must ever lead to the more perfect adaptation of man\u2019s\nhigher faculties to the condition of surrounding nature, and to the\nexigencies of the social state. While his external form will probably\never remain unchanged, except in the development of that perfect beauty\n... refined and ennobled by the highest intellectual faculties and\nsympathetic emotions, his mental constitution may continue to advance\nand improve, till the world is again inhabited by a single, nearly\nhomogeneous race, no individual of which will be inferior _to the\nnoblest specimens of existing humanity_.\u201d Sober, scientific methods and\ncautiousness in hypothetical possibilities have evidently their share\nin this expression of the opinions of the great anthropologist. Still,\nwhat he says above clashes in no way with our kabalistic assertions.\nAllow to ever-progressing nature, to the great law of the \u201csurvival of\nthe fittest,\u201d one step beyond Mr. Wallace\u2019s deductions, and we have in\nfuture the possibility\u2014nay, the assurance of a race, which, like the\nVril-ya of Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s _Coming Race_, will be but one remove from\nthe primitive \u201cSons of God.\u201d\n\nIt will be observed that this philosophy of cycles, which was\nallegorized by the Egyptian Hierophants in the \u201ccircle of necessity,\u201d\nexplains at the same time the allegory of the \u201cFall of man.\u201d According\nto the Arabian descriptions, each of the seven chambers of the\nPyramids\u2014those grandest of all cosmic symbols\u2014was known by the name of\na planet. The peculiar architecture of the Pyramids shows in itself\nthe drift of the metaphysical thought of their builders. The apex is\nlost in the clear blue sky of the land of the Pharaohs, and typifies {297}\nthe primordial point lost in the unseen universe from whence started\nthe first race of the spiritual prototypes of man. Each mummy, from\nthe moment that it was embalmed, lost its physical individuality\nin one sense; it symbolized the human race. Placed in such a way\nas was best calculated to aid the exit of the \u201csoul,\u201d the latter\nhad to pass through the seven planetary chambers before it made its\nexit through the symbolical apex. Each chamber typified, at the same\ntime, one of the seven spheres, and one of the seven higher types of\nphysico-spiritual humanity alleged to be above our own. Every 3,000\nyears, the soul, representative of its race, had to return to its\nprimal point of departure before it underwent another evolution into a\nmore perfected spiritual and physical transformation. We must go deep\nindeed into the abstruse metaphysics of Oriental mysticism before we\ncan realize fully the infinitude of the subjects that were embraced at\none sweep by the majestic thought of its exponents.\n\nStarting as a pure and perfect spiritual being, the Adam of the second\nchapter of _Genesis_, not satisfied with the position allotted to him\nby the Demiurgus (who is the eldest first-begotten, the Adam-Kadmon),\nAdam the second, the \u201cman of dust,\u201d strives in his pride to become\nCreator in his turn. Evolved out of the androgynous Kadmon, this\nAdam is himself an androgyn; for, according to the oldest beliefs\npresented allegorically in Plato\u2019s _Tim\u00e6us_, the prototypes of our\nraces were all enclosed in the microcosmic tree which grew and\ndeveloped within and under the great mundane or macrocosmic tree.\nDivine spirit being considered a unity, however numerous the rays of\nthe great spiritual sun, man has still had his origin like all other\nforms, whether organic or otherwise, in this one Fount of Eternal\nLight. Were we even to reject the hypothesis of an androgynous man, in\nconnection with physical evolution, the significance of the allegory\nin its spiritual sense, would remain unimpaired. So long as the first\ngod-man, symbolizing the two first principles of creation, the dual\nmale and female element, had no thought of good and evil he could\nnot hypostasize \u201cwoman,\u201d for she was in him as he was in her. It was\nonly when, as a result of the evil hints of the serpent, _matter_,\nthe latter condensed itself and cooled on the spiritual man in its\ncontact with the elements, that the fruits of the man-tree\u2014who is\nhimself that tree of knowledge\u2014appeared to his view. From this moment\nthe androgynal union ceased, man evolved out of himself the woman as a\nseparate entity. They have broken the thread between pure spirit and\npure matter. Henceforth they will create no more _spiritually_, and\nby the sole power of their will; man has become a physical creator,\nand the kingdom of spirit can be won only by a long imprisonment in\nmatter. The meaning of Gogard, the Hellenic tree of life, the sacred {298}\noak among whose luxuriant branches a serpent dwells, and _cannot_ be\ndislodged,[486] thus becomes apparent. Creeping out from the primordial\n_ilus_, the mundane snake grows more material and waxes in strength and\npower with every new evolution.\n\nThe Adam Primus, or Kadmon, the Logos of the Jewish mystics, is the\nsame as the Grecian Prometheus, who seeks to rival with the divine\nwisdom; he is also the Pimander of Hermes, or the POWER OF THE THOUGHT\nDIVINE, in its most spiritual aspect, for he was less hypostasized by\nthe Egyptians than the two former. These all create men, but fail in\ntheir final object. Desiring to endow man with an immortal spirit, in\norder that by linking the trinity in one, he might gradually return to\nhis primal spiritual state without losing his individuality, Prometheus\nfails in his attempt to steal the _divine_ fire, and is sentenced to\nexpiate his crime on Mount Kazbeck. Prometheus is also the _Logos_ of\nthe ancient Greeks, as well as Herakles. In the _Codex Nazar\u00e6us_[487]\nwe see Bahak-Zivo deserting the heaven of his father, confessing that\nthough he is the father of the genii, he is unable to \u201cconstruct\ncreatures,\u201d for he is equally unacquainted with Orcus as with \u201cthe\nconsuming fire which is wanting in light.\u201d And Fetahil, one of the\n\u201cpowers,\u201d sits in the \u201cmud\u201d (matter) and wonders why the living fire is\nso changed.\n\nAll of these _Logoi_ strove to endow man with the immortal spirit,\nfailed, and nearly all are represented as being punished for the\nattempt by severe sentences. Those of the early Christian Fathers\nwho like Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus, were well versed in Pagan\nsymbology, having begun their careers as philosophers, felt very much\nembarrassed. They could not deny the anticipation of their doctrines in\nthe oldest myths. The latest _Logos_, according to their teachings, had\nalso appeared in order to show mankind the way to immortality; and in\nhis desire to endow the world with eternal life through the Pentecostal\nfire, had lost his life agreeably to the traditional programme. Thus\nwas originated the very awkward explanation of which our modern clergy\nfreely avail themselves, that all these mythic types show the prophetic\nspirit which, through the Lord\u2019s mercy, was afforded even to the\nheathen idolaters! The Pagans, they assert, had presented in their\nimagery the great drama of Calvary\u2014hence the resemblance. On the other\nhand, the philosophers maintained, with unassailable logic, that the\npious fathers had simply helped themselves to a ready-made groundwork,\neither finding it easier than to exert their own imagination, or\nbecause of the greater number of ignorant proselytes who were attracted {299}\nto the new doctrine by such an extraordinary resemblance with\ntheir mythologies, at least as far as the outward form of the most\nfundamental doctrines goes.\n\nThe allegory of the Fall of man and the fire of Prometheus is also\nanother version of the myth of the rebellion of the proud Lucifer,\nhurled down to the bottomless pit\u2014Orcus. In the religion of the\nBrahmans, Moisasure, the Hindu Lucifer, becomes envious of the\nCreator\u2019s resplendent light, and at the head of a legion of inferior\nspirits rebels against Brahma, and declares war against him. Like\nHercules, the faithful Titan, who helps Jupiter and restores to him his\nthrone, Siva, the third person of the Hindu trinity, hurls them all\nfrom the celestial abode in Honderah, the region of eternal darkness.\nBut here the fallen angels are made to repent of their evil deed,\nand in the Hindu doctrine they are all afforded the opportunity to\nprogress. In the Greek fiction, Hercules, the Sun-god, descends to\nHades to deliver the victims from their tortures; and the Christian\nChurch also makes her incarnate god descend to the dreary Plutonic\nregions and overcome the rebellious ex-archangel. In their turn the\nkabalists explain the allegory in a semi-scientific way. Adam the\nsecond, or the first-created race which Plato calls gods, and the Bible\nthe Elohim, was not triple in his nature like the earthly man: _i.e._,\nhe was not composed of soul, spirit, and body, but was a compound of\nsublimated astral elements into which the \u201cFather\u201d had breathed an\nimmortal, divine spirit. The latter, by reason of its godlike essence,\nwas ever struggling to liberate itself from the bonds of even that\nflimsy prison; hence the \u201csons of God,\u201d in their imprudent efforts,\nwere the first to trace a future model for the cyclic law. But, man\nmust not be \u201clike one of us,\u201d says the Creative Deity, one of the\nElohim \u201cintrusted with the fabrication of the lower animal.\u201d[488] And\nthus it was, when the men of the first race had reached the summit of\nthe first cycle, they lost their balance, and their second envelope,\nthe grosser clothing (astral body), dragged them down the opposite arc.\n\nThis kabalistic version of the sons of God (or of light) is given in\nthe _Codex Nazar\u00e6us_. Bahak-Zivo, the \u201cfather of genii, is ordered to\n\u2018construct creatures.\u2019\u201d But, as he is \u201cignorant of Orcus,\u201d he fails to\ndo so and calls in Fetahil a still purer spirit to his aid, who fails\nstill worse.\n\nThen steps on the stage of creation the \u201cspirit\u201d[489] (which properly\nought to be translated \u201csoul,\u201d for it is the _anima mundi_, and which {300}\nwith the Nazarenes and the Gnostics was _feminine_), and perceiving\nthat for Fetahil,[490] the _newest man_ (the latest), the splendor\nwas \u201cchanged,\u201d and that for splendor existed \u201cdecrease and damage,\u201d\nawakes Karabtanos,[491] \u201cwho was frantic and _without sense and\njudgment_,\u201d and says to him: \u201cArise; see, the splendor (light) of the\n_newest_ man (Fetahil) has failed (to produce or create men), the\ndecrease of this splendor is visible. Rise up, come with thy MOTHER\n(the _spiritus_) and free thee from limits by which thou art held,\nand those more ample than the whole world.\u201d After which follows the\nunion of the frantic and blind matter, guided by the insinuations of\nthe spirit (not the _Divine_ breath, but the _Astral_ spirit, which\nby its double essence is already tainted with matter) and the offer\nof the MOTHER being accepted the Spiritus conceives \u201cSeven Figures,\u201d\nwhich Iren\u00e6us is disposed to take for the seven _stellars_ (planets)\nbut which represent the seven _capital sins_, the progeny of an astral\nsoul separated from its divine source (spirit) and _matter_, the blind\ndemon of concupiscence. Seeing this, Fetahil extends his hand toward\nthe abyss of matter, and says: \u2018Let the earth exist, just as the abode\nof the powers has existed.\u2019\u201d Dipping his hand in the chaos, which he\ncondenses, he creates our planet.[492]\n\nThen the _Codex_ proceeds to tell how Bahak-Zivo was separated from\nthe Spiritus, and the genii, or angels, from the rebels.[493] Then\nMano[494] (the greatest), who dwells with the _greatest_ FERHO, calls\nKebar-Zivo (known also by the name of Nebat-Iavar bar Iufin-Ifafin),\nHelm and _Vine_ of the food of life,[495] he being the _third life_,\nand, commiserating the rebellious and foolish genii, on account of the\nmagnitude of their ambition, says: \u201cLord of the genii[496] (\u00c6ons),\nsee what the genii, the rebellious angels do, and about what they are\nconsulting.[497] They say, \u201cLet us call forth the world, and let us\ncall the \u2018powers\u2019 into existence. The genii are the _Principes_, the\n\u2018sons of Light,\u2019 but thou art the \u2018_Messenger of Life_.\u2019\u201d[498]\n\nAnd in order to counteract the influence of the seven \u201cbadly disposed\u201d {301}\nprinciples, the progeny of _Spiritus_, CABAR ZIO, the mighty Lord\nof Splendor, procreates _seven other lives_ (the cardinal virtues)\nwho shine in their own form and light \u201cfrom on high\u201d[499] and thus\nre\u00ebstablishes the balance between good and evil, light and darkness.\n\nBut this creation of beings, without the requisite influx of divine\npure breath in them, which was known among the kabalists as the \u201cLiving\nFire,\u201d produced but creatures of matter and astral light.[500] Thus\nwere generated the animals which preceded man on this earth. The\nspiritual beings, the \u201csons of light,\u201d those who remained faithful to\nthe great _Ferho_ (the First Cause of all), constitute the celestial or\nangelic hierarchy, the Adonim, and the legions of the _never-embodied_\nspiritual men. The followers of the rebellious and foolish genii, and\nthe descendants of the \u201cwitless\u201d seven spirits begotten by \u201cKarabtanos\u201d\nand the \u201cspiritus,\u201d became, in course of time, the \u201cmen of our\nplanet,\u201d[501] after having previously passed through every \u201ccreation\u201d\nof every one of the elements. From this stage of life they have been\ntraced by Darwin, who shows us how our _highest_ forms have been\nevolved out of the _lowest_. Anthropology dares not follow the kabalist\nin his metaphysical flights _beyond_ this planet, and it is doubtful if\nits teachers have the courage to search for the _missing link_ in the\nold kabalistic manuscripts.\n\nThus was set in motion the _first cycle_, which in its rotations\n_downward_, brought an infinitesimal part of the created _lives_ to our\nplanet of _mud_. Arrived at the lowest point of the arc of the cycle\nwhich directly preceded life on this earth, the pure divine spark still\nlingering in the Adam made an effort to separate itself from the astral\nspirit, for \u201cman was falling gradually into generation,\u201d and the fleshy\ncoat was becoming with every action more and more dense.\n\nAnd now comes a mystery, a _Sod_;[502] a secret which Rabbi {302}\nSimeon[503] imparted but to very few initiates. It was enacted once\nevery seven years during the Mysteries of Samothrace, and the records\nof it are found self-printed on the leaves of the Thibetan sacred tree,\nthe mysterious KOUNBOUM, in the Lamasery of the holy adepts.[504]\n\nIn the shoreless ocean of space radiates the central, spiritual,\nand _Invisible_ sun. The universe is his body, spirit and soul; and\nafter this ideal model are framed ALL THINGS. These three emanations\nare the three lives, the three degrees of the gnostic _Pleroma_,\nthe three \u201cKabalistic Faces,\u201d for the ANCIENT of the ancient, the\nholy of the aged, the great En-Soph, \u201chas a form and then he has no\nform.\u201d The invisible \u201cassumed a form when he called the universe into\nexistence,\u201d[505] says the _Sohar_, the Book of splendor. The _first_\nlight is His soul, the Infinite, Boundless, and Immortal breath; under\nthe efflux of which the universe heaves its mighty bosom, infusing\n_Intelligent_ life throughout creation. The _second_ emanation\ncondenses cometary matter and produces forms within the cosmic circle;\nsets the countless worlds floating in the electric space, and infuses\nthe _unintelligent_, blind life-principle into every form. The third,\nproduces the whole universe of physical matter; and as it keeps\ngradually receding from the Central Divine Light its brightness wanes\nand it becomes DARKNESS and the BAD\u2014pure matter, the \u201cgross purgations\nof the celestial fire\u201d of the Hermetists.\n\nWhen the Central Invisible (the Lord Ferho) saw the efforts of the\ndivine _Scintilla_, unwilling to be dragged lower down into the\ndegradation of matter, to liberate itself, he permitted it to shoot\nout from itself a _monad_, over which, attached to it as by the finest\nthread, the Divine Scintilla (the soul) had to watch during its\nceaseless peregrinations from one form to another. Thus the monad was\nshot down into the first form of matter and became encased in stone;\nthen, in course of time, through the combined efforts of _living fire_\nand _living water_, both of which shone their _reflection_ upon the\nstone, the monad crept out of its prison to sunlight as a lichen. From\nchange to change it went higher and higher; the monad, with every\nnew transformation borrowing more of the radiance of its parent,\n_Scintilla_, which approached it nearer at every transmigration.\nFor \u201cthe First Cause, had willed it to proceed in this order;\u201d and\ndestined it to creep on higher until its physical form became once more\nthe Adam _of dust_, shaped in the image of the Adam Kadmon. Before\nundergoing its last earthly transformation, the external covering of\nthe monad, from the moment of its conception as an embryo, passes in\nturn, once more, through the phases of the several kingdoms. In its {303}\nfluidic prison it assumes a vague resemblance at various periods of the\ngestation to plant, reptile, bird, and animal, until it becomes a human\nembryo.[506] At the birth of the future man, the monad, radiating with\nall the glory of its immortal parent which watches it from the seventh\nsphere, becomes _senseless_.[507] It loses all recollection of the\npast, and returns to consciousness but gradually, when the instinct of\nchildhood gives way to reason and intelligence. After the separation\nbetween the life-principle (astral spirit) and the body takes place,\nthe liberated soul\u2014Monad, exultingly rejoins the mother and father\nspirit, the radiant Augoeides, and the two, merged into one, forever\nform, with a glory proportioned to the spiritual purity of the past\nearth-life, the Adam who has completed the circle of necessity, and is\nfreed from the last vestige of his physical encasement. Henceforth,\ngrowing more and more radiant at each step of his upward progress, he\nmounts the shining path that ends at the point from which he started\naround the GRAND CYCLE.\n\nThe whole Darwinian theory of natural selection is included in the\nfirst six chapters of the book of _Genesis_. The \u201cMan\u201d of chapter i.\nis radically different from the \u201cAdam\u201d of chapter ii., for the former\nwas created \u201cmale and female\u201d that is, bi-sexed\u2014and in the image of God;\nwhile the latter, according to verse seven, was formed of the dust of\nthe ground, and became \u201ca living soul,\u201d after the Lord God \u201cbreathed\ninto his nostrils the breath of life.\u201d Moreover, _this Adam_ was a\nmale being, and in verse twenty we are told that \u201cthere was not found\na helpmeet for him.\u201d The Adonai, being pure spiritual entities, had no\nsex, or rather had both sexes united in themselves, like their Creator;\nand the ancients understood this so well that they represented many of\ntheir deities as of dual sex. The Biblical student must either accept\nthis interpretation, or make the passages in the two chapters alluded\nto absurdly contradict each other. It was such literal acceptance of\npassages that warranted the atheists in covering the Mosaic account\nwith ridicule, and it is the dead letter of the old text that begets\nthe materialism of our age. Not only are these two races of beings thus\nclearly indicated in _Genesis_, but even a third and a fourth one are\nushered before the reader in chapter iv., where the \u201csons of God\u201d and\nthe race of \u201cgiants\u201d are spoken of.\n\nAs we write, there appears in an American paper, _The Kansas City\nTimes_, an account of important discoveries of the remains of a\nprehistorical _race of giants_, which corroborates the statements of\nthe kabalists and the Bible allegories at the same time. It is worth\npreserving:\n\n\u201cIn his researches among the forests of Western Missouri, Judge E. {304}\nP. West has discovered a number of conical-shaped mounds, similar\nin construction to those found in Ohio and Kentucky. These mounds\nare found upon the high bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, the\nlargest and more prominent being found in Tennessee, Mississippi, and\nLouisiana. Until about three weeks ago it was not suspected that the\nmound builders had made this region their home in the prehistoric\ndays; but now it is discovered that this strange and extinct race once\noccupied this land, and have left an extensive graveyard in a number of\nhigh mounds upon the Clay County bluffs.\n\n\u201cAs yet, only one of these mounds has been opened. Judge West\ndiscovered a skeleton about two weeks ago, and made a report to other\nmembers of the society. They accompanied him to the mound, and not far\nfrom the surface excavated and took out the remains of two skeletons.\nThe bones are very large\u2014so large, in fact, when compared with an\nordinary skeleton of modern date, they appear to have formed part of\na giant. The head bones, such as have not rotted away, are monstrous\nin size. The lower jaw of one skeleton is in a state of preservation,\nand is double the size of the jaw of a civilized person. The teeth in\nthis jaw-bone are large, and appear to have been ground down and worn\naway by contact with roots and carnivorous food. The jaw-bone indicates\nimmense muscular strength. The thigh-bone, when compared with that of\nan ordinary modern skeleton, looks like that of a horse. The length,\nthickness, and muscular development are remarkable. But the most\npeculiar part about the skeleton is the frontal bone. It is very low,\nand differs radically from any ever seen in this section before. It\nforms one thick ridge of bone about one inch wide, extending across the\neyes. It is a narrow but rather heavy ridge of bone which, instead of\nextending upward, as it does now in these days of civilization, receded\nback from the eyebrows, forming a flat head, and thus indicates a very\nlow order of mankind. It is the opinion of the scientific gentlemen\nwho are making these discoveries that these bones are the remains of\na prehistoric race of men. They do not resemble the present existing\nrace of Indians, nor are the mounds constructed upon any pattern or\nmodel known to have been in use by any race of men now in existence in\nAmerica. The bodies are discovered in a sitting posture in the mounds,\nand among the bones are found stone weapons, such as flint knives,\nflint scrapers, and all of them different in shape to the arrow-heads,\nwar-hatchets, and other stone tools and weapons known to have been\nin use by the aboriginal Indians of this land when discovered by the\nwhites. The gentlemen who have these curious bones in charge have\ndeposited them with Dr. Foe, on Main street. It is their intention\nto make further and closer researches in the mounds on the bluffs {305}\nopposite this city. They will make a report of their labors at the next\nmeeting of the Academy of Science, by which time they expect to be\nable to make some definite report as to their opinions. It is pretty\ndefinitely settled, however, that the skeletons are those of a race of\nmen not now in existence.\u201d\n\nThe author of a recent and very elaborate work[508] finds some cause\nfor merriment over the union of the sons of God with the \u201cdaughters of\nmen,\u201d who _were fair_, as alluded to in _Genesis_, and described at\ngreat length in that wonderful legend, the _Book of Enoch_. More is\nthe pity, that our most learned and liberal men do not employ their\nclose and merciless logic to repair its one-sidedness by seeking\nthe true spirit which dictated these allegories of old. This spirit\nwas certainly more _scientific_ than skeptics are yet prepared to\nadmit. But with every year some new discovery may corroborate their\nassertions, until the whole of antiquity is vindicated.\n\nOne thing, at least, has been shown in the Hebrew text, viz.: that\nthere was one race of purely physical creatures, another purely\nspiritual. The evolution and \u201ctransformation of species\u201d required to\nfill the gap between the two has been left to abler anthropologists.\nWe can only repeat the philosophy of men of old, which says that the\nunion of these two races produced a third\u2014the Adamite race. Sharing\nthe natures of both its parents, it is equally adapted to an existence\nin the material and spiritual worlds. Allied to the physical half of\nman\u2019s nature is reason, which enables him to maintain his supremacy\nover the lower animals, and to subjugate nature to his uses. Allied\nto his spiritual part is his _conscience_, which will serve as his\nunerring guide through the besetments of the senses; for conscience is\nthat instantaneous perception between right and wrong, which can only\nbe exercised by the spirit, which, being a portion of the Divine Wisdom\nand Purity, is absolutely pure and wise. Its promptings are independent\nof reason, and it can only manifest itself clearly, when unhampered by\nthe baser attractions of our dual nature.\n\nReason being a faculty of our physical brain, one which is justly\ndefined as that of deducing inferences from premises, and being\nwholly dependent on the evidence of other senses, cannot be a quality\npertaining directly to our divine spirit. The latter _knows_\u2014hence,\nall reasoning which implies discussion and argument would be useless.\nSo an entity, which, if it must be considered as a direct emanation\nfrom the eternal Spirit of wisdom, has to be viewed as possessed of {306}\nthe same attributes as the essence or the whole of which it is a\npart. Therefore, it is with a certain degree of logic that the ancient\ntheurgists maintained that the _rational_ part of man\u2019s soul (spirit)\nnever entered wholly into the man\u2019s body, but only overshadowed him\nmore or less through the _irrational_ or astral soul, which serves\nas an intermediatory agent, or a medium between spirit and body. The\nman who has conquered matter sufficiently to relieve the direct light\nfrom his shining _Augoeides_, feels truth intuitionally; he could not\nerr in his judgment, notwithstanding all the sophisms suggested by\ncold reason, for he is ILLUMINATED. Hence, prophecy, vaticination,\nand the so-called Divine inspiration are simply the effects of this\nillumination from above by our own immortal spirit.\n\nSwedenborg, following the mystical doctrines of the Hermetic\nphilosophers, devoted a number of volumes to the elucidation of\nthe \u201cinternal sense\u201d of _Genesis_. Swedenborg was undoubtedly a\n\u201cnatural-born magician,\u201d a seer; he was _not_ an _adept_. Thus, however\nclosely he may have followed the apparent method of interpretation\nused by the alchemists and mystic writers, he partially failed; the\nmore so, that the model chosen by him in this method was one who,\nalbeit a great alchemist, was no more of an adept than the Swedish\nseer himself, in the fullest sense of the word. Eugenius Philalethes\nhad never attained \u201cthe highest pyrotechny,\u201d to use the diction of the\nmystic philosophers. But, although both have missed the whole truth in\nits details, Swedenborg has virtually given the same interpretation\nof the first chapter of _Genesis_ as the Hermetic philosophers.\nThe seer, as well as the initiates, notwithstanding their veiled\nphraseology, clearly show that the first chapters of _Genesis_ relate\nto the _regeneration_, or a new birth of man, not to the creation of\nour universe and its crown work\u2014MAN. The fact that the terms of the\nalchemists, such as _salt_, _sulphur_, and _mercury_ are transformed by\nSwedenborg into _ens_, _cause_, and _effect_,[509] does not affect the\nunderlying idea of solving the problems of the Mosaic books by the only\npossible method\u2014that used by the Hermetists\u2014that of correspondences.\n\nHis doctrine of correspondence, or Hermetic symbolism, is that\nof Pythagoras and of the kabalists\u2014\u201cas above, so below.\u201d It is\nalso that of the Buddhist philosophers, who, in their still more\nabstract metaphysics, inverting the usual mode of definition\ngiven by our _erudite_ scholars, call the invisible types the\nonly reality, and everything else the effects of the causes, or\nvisible prototypes\u2014_illusions_. However contradictory their various\nelucidations of the _Pentateuch_ may appear _on their surface_, every\none of them tends to show that the sacred literature of every country,\nthe _Bible_ as much as the _Vedas_ or the Buddhist _Scriptures_, can {307}\nonly be understood and thoroughly sifted by the light of Hermetic\nphilosophy. The great sages of antiquity, those of the medi\u00e6val ages,\nand the mystical writers of our more modern times also, were all\n_Hermetists_. Whether the light of truth had illuminated them through\ntheir faculty of intuition, or as a consequence of study and regular\ninitiation, virtually, they had accepted the method and followed the\npath traced to them by such men as Moses, Gautama-Buddha, and Jesus.\nThe truth, symbolized by some alchemists as _dew from heaven_, had\ndescended into their hearts, and they had all gathered it upon the\n_tops of mountains_, after having spread CLEAN _linen cloths_ to\nreceive it; and thus, in one sense, they had secured, each for himself,\nand in his own way, the _universal solvent_. How much they were allowed\nto share it with the public is another question. That veil, which is\nalleged to have covered the face of Moses, when, after descending from\nSinai, he taught his people the Word of God, cannot be withdrawn at\nthe will of the teacher only. It depends on the listeners, whether\nthey will also remove the veil which is \u201cupon their hearts.\u201d Paul says\nit plainly; and his words addressed to the Corinthians can be applied\nto every man or woman, and of any age in the history of the world. If\n\u201ctheir minds are blinded\u201d by the shining skin of divine truth, whether\nthe Hermetic veil be withdrawn or not from the face of the teacher, it\ncannot be taken away from their heart unless \u201cit _shall turn to the\nLord_.\u201d But the latter appellation must not be applied to either of the\nthree anthropomorphized personages of the Trinity, but to the \u201cLord,\u201d\nas understood by Swedenborg and the Hermetic philosophers\u2014the Lord, who\nis Life and MAN.\n\nThe everlasting conflict between the world-religions\u2014Christianity,\nJudaism, Brahmanism, Paganism, Buddhism, proceeds from this one source:\nTruth is known but to the few; the rest, unwilling to withdraw the\nveil from their own hearts, imagine it blinding the eyes of their\nneighbor. The god of every exoteric religion, including Christianity,\nnotwithstanding its pretensions to mystery, is an idol, a fiction,\nand cannot be anything else. Moses, _closely-veiled_, speaks to\nthe stiff-necked multitudes of Jehovah, the cruel, anthropomorphic\ndeity, as of the highest God, burying deep in the bottom of his\nheart that truth which cannot be \u201ceither spoken of or revealed.\u201d\nKapila cuts with the sharp sword of his sarcasms the Brahman-Yoggins,\nwho in their mystical visions pretend to see the HIGHEST _one_.\nGautama-Buddha conceals, under an impenetrable cloak of metaphysical\nsubtilties, the verity, and is regarded by posterity as _an atheist_.\nPythagoras, with his allegorical mysticism and metempsychosis, is\nheld for a clever impostor, and is succeeded in the same estimation\nby other philosophers, like Apollonius and Plotinus, who are\ngenerally spoken of as visionaries, if not charlatans. Plato, whose {308}\nwritings were never read by the majority of our _great_ scholars but\nsuperficially, is accused by many of his translators of absurdities\nand puerilities, and even of being ignorant of his own language;[510]\nmost likely for saying, in reference to the Supreme, that \u201ca matter\nof that kind cannot be expressed by words, like other things to be\nlearned;\u201d[511] and making Protagoras lay too much stress on the use\nof \u201cveils.\u201d We could fill a whole volume with names of misunderstood\nsages, whose writings\u2014only because our materialistic critics feel\nunable to lift the \u201cveil,\u201d which shrouds them\u2014pass off in a current\nway for mystical absurdities. The most important feature of this\nseemingly imcomprehensible mystery lies perhaps in the inveterate\nhabit of the majority of readers to judge a work by its words and\ninsufficiently-expressed ideas, leaving the spirit of it out of\nthe question. Philosophers of quite different schools may be often\nfound to use a multitude of different expressions, some dark and\nmetaphorical\u2014all figurative, and yet treating of the same subject.\nLike the thousand divergent rays of a globe of fire, every ray leads,\nnevertheless, to the central point, so every mystic philosopher,\nwhether he be a devotedly pious enthusiast like Henry More; an\nirascible alchemist, using a Billingsgate phraseology\u2014like his\nadversary, Eugenius Philalethes; or an _atheist_ (?) like Spinoza,\nall had one and the same object in view\u2014MAN. It is Spinoza, however,\nwho furnishes perhaps the truest key to a portion of this unwritten\nsecret. While Moses forbids \u201cgraven images\u201d of Him whose name is not\nto be taken in vain, Spinoza goes farther. He clearly infers that God\nmust not be so much as _described_. Human language is totally unfit to\ngive an idea of this \u201cBeing\u201d who is altogether unique. Whether it is\nSpinoza or the Christian theology that is more right in their premises\nand conclusion, we leave the reader to judge for himself. Every attempt\nto the contrary leads a nation to anthropomorphize the deity in whom\nit believes, and the result is that given by Swedenborg. Instead of\nstating that God made man after his own image, we ought in truth to say\nthat \u201cman _imagines_ God after his image,\u201d[512] forgetting that he has\nset up his own reflection for worship.\n\nWhere, then, lies the true, real secret so much talked about by the\nHermetists? That there was and there is a secret, no candid student\nof esoteric literature will ever doubt. Men of genius\u2014as many of the\nHermetic philosophers undeniably were\u2014would not have made fools of\nthemselves by trying to fool others for several thousand consecutive\nyears. That this great secret, commonly termed \u201cthe philosopher\u2019s\nstone,\u201d had a spiritual as well as a physical meaning attached to\nit, was suspected in all ages. The author of _Remarks on Alchemy\nand the Alchemists_ very truly observes that the subject of the {309}\nHermetic art is MAN, and the object of the art is the perfection of\nman.[513] But we cannot agree with him that only those whom he terms\n\u201cmoney-loving sots,\u201d ever attempted to carry a purely _moral_ design\n(of the alchemists) into the field of physical science. The fact\nalone that man, in their eyes, is a trinity, which they divide into\n_Sol_, water of _mercury_, and _sulphur_, which is the _secret fire_,\nor, to speak plain, into _body_, _soul_, and _spirit_, shows that\nthere is a physical side to the question. Man is the philosopher\u2019s\n_stone_ spiritually\u2014\u201c_a triune or trinity in unity_,\u201d as Philalethes\nexpresses it. But he is also that stone physically. The latter is but\nthe effect of the cause, and the cause is the universal solvent of\neverything\u2014divine spirit. Man is a correlation of chemical physical\nforces, as well as a correlation of spiritual powers. The latter react\non the physical powers of man in proportion to the development of the\nearthly man. \u201cThe work is carried to perfection according to the virtue\nof a body, soul, and spirit,\u201d says an alchemist; \u201cfor the body would\nnever be penetrable were it not for the _spirit_, nor would the spirit\nbe permanent in its supra-perfect _tincture_, were it not for the body;\nnor could these two act one upon another without the soul, _for the\nspirit is an invisible thing_, nor doth it ever appear without another\nGARMENT, which garment is the SOUL.\u201d[514]\n\nThe \u201cphilosophers by fire\u201d asserted, through their chief, Robert\nFludd, that sympathy is the offspring of light, and \u201cantipathy hath\nits beginning from darkness.\u201d Moreover, they taught, with other\nkabalists, that \u201ccontrarieties in nature doth proceed from one eternal\nessence, or from the root of all things.\u201d Thus, the first cause is the\nparent-source of good as well as of evil. The creator\u2014who is _not_\nthe Highest God\u2014is the father of matter, which is _bad_, as well as\nof spirit, which, emanating from the highest, invisible cause, passes\nthrough him like through a vehicle, and pervades the whole universe.\n\u201cIt is most certain,\u201d remarks Robertus di Fluctibus (Robert Fludd),\n\u201cthat, as there are an infinity of _visible_ creatures, so there\nis an endless variety of invisible ones, of divers natures, in the\nuniversal machine. Through the mysterious name of God, which Moses was\nso desirous of him (Jehova) to hear and know, when he received from\nhim this answer, _Jehova is my everlasting name_. As for the other\nname, it is so pure and simple that it _cannot be articulated, or\ncompounded, or truly expressed by man\u2019s voice_ ... all the other names\nare wholly comprehended within it, for it contains the property as well\nof _Nolunty_ as _volunty_, of privation as position, of death as life,\nof cursing as blessing, of evil as good (though nothing ideally is {310}\nbad in him), of hatred and discord, and consequently of sympathy and\nantipathy.\u201d[515]\n\nLowest in the scale of being are those invisible creatures called by\nthe kabalists the \u201celementary.\u201d There are three distinct classes of\nthese. The highest, in intelligence and cunning, are the so-called\nterrestrial spirits, of which we will speak more categorically in other\nparts of this work. Suffice to say, for the present, that they are the\n_larv\u00e6_, or shadows of those who have lived on earth, have refused\nall spiritual light, remained and died deeply immersed in the mire of\nmatter, and from whose sinful souls the immortal spirit has gradually\nseparated. The second class is composed of the invisible antitypes of\nthe men _to be_ born. No form can come into objective existence\u2014from\nthe highest to the lowest\u2014before the abstract ideal of this form\u2014or, as\nAristotle would call it, the _privation_ of this form\u2014is called forth.\nBefore an artist paints a picture every feature of it exists already in\nhis imagination; to have enabled us to discern a watch, this particular\nwatch must have existed in its abstract form in the watchmaker\u2019s mind.\nSo with future men.\n\nAccording to Aristotle\u2019s doctrine, there are three principles of\nnatural bodies: privation, matter, and form. These principles may be\napplied in this particular case. The privation of the child which is to\nbe we will locate in the invisible mind of the great Architect of the\nUniverse\u2014privation not being considered in the Aristotelic philosophy\nas a principle in the composition of bodies, but as an external\nproperty in their production; for the production is a change by which\nthe matter passes from the shape it has not to that which it assumes.\nThough the privation of the unborn child\u2019s form, as well as of the\nfuture form of the unmade watch, is that which is neither substance\nnor extension nor quality as yet, nor any kind of existence, it is\nstill something which _is_, though its outlines, in order to be, must\nacquire an objective form\u2014the abstract must become concrete, in short.\nThus, as soon as this privation of matter is transmitted by energy to\nuniversal ether, it becomes a material form, however sublimated. If\nmodern science teaches that _human_ thought \u201caffects the matter of\nanother universe simultaneously with this,\u201d how can he who believes in\nan Intelligent First Cause, deny that the divine thought is equally\ntransmitted, by the same law of energy, to our common mediator, the\nuniversal ether\u2014the world-soul? And, if so, then it must follow that\nonce there the divine thought manifests itself objectively, energy\nfaithfully reproducing the outlines of that whose \u201cprivation\u201d was first\nborn in the divine mind. Only it must not be understood that this\n_thought_ creates matter. No; it creates but the design for the future {311}\nform; the matter which serves to make this design having always been\nin existence, and having been prepared to form a human body, through\na series of progressive transformations, as the result of evolution.\nForms pass; ideas that created them and the material which gave them\nobjectiveness, remain. These models, as yet devoid of immortal spirits,\nare \u201celementals,\u201cproperly speaking, _psychic embryos_\u2014which, when\ntheir time arrives, die out of the invisible world, and are born into\nthis visible one as human infants, receiving in _transitu_ that divine\nbreath called spirit which completes the perfect man. This class cannot\ncommunicate _objectively_ with men.\n\nThe third class are the \u201celementals\u201d proper, which never evolve into\nhuman beings, but occupy, as it were, a specific step of the ladder\nof being, and, by comparison with the others, may properly be called\nnature-spirits, or cosmic agents of nature, each being confined to its\nown element and never transgressing the bounds of others. These are\nwhat Tertullian called the \u201cprinces of the powers of the air.\u201d\n\nThis class is believed to possess but one of the three attributes of\nman. They have neither immortal spirits nor tangible bodies; only\nastral forms, which partake, in a distinguishing degree, of the element\nto which they belong and also of the ether. They are a combination\nof sublimated matter and a rudimental mind. Some are changeless, but\nstill have no separate individuality, acting collectively, so to say.\nOthers, of certain elements and species, change form under a fixed law\nwhich kabalists explain. The most solid of their bodies is ordinarily\njust immaterial enough to escape perception by our physical eyesight,\nbut not so unsubstantial but that they can be perfectly recognized by\nthe inner, or clairvoyant vision. They not only exist and can all live\nin ether, but can handle and direct it for the production of physical\neffects, as readily as we can compress air or water for the same\npurpose by pneumatic and hydraulic apparatus; in which occupation they\nare readily helped by the \u201chuman elementary.\u201d More than this; they can\nso condense it as to make to themselves tangible bodies, which by their\nProtean powers they can cause to assume such likeness as they choose,\nby taking as their models the portraits they find stamped in the memory\nof the persons present. It is not necessary that the sitter should be\nthinking at the moment of the one represented. His image may have faded\nmany years before. The mind receives indelible impression even from\nchance acquaintance or persons encountered but once. As a few seconds\nexposure of the sensitized photograph plate is all that is requisite to\npreserve indefinitely the image of the sitter, so is it with the mind.\n\nAccording to the doctrine of Proclus, the uppermost regions from the\nzenith of the universe to the moon belonged to the gods or planetary {312}\nspirits, according to their hierarchies and classes. The highest among\nthem were the twelve _\u016dper-ouranioi_, or supercelestial gods, having\nwhole legions of subordinate demons at their command. They are followed\nnext in rank and power by the _egkosmioi_, the intercosmic gods, each\nof these presiding over a great number of demons, to whom they impart\ntheir power and change it from one to another at will. These are\nevidently the personified forces of nature in their mutual correlation,\nthe latter being represented by the third class or the \u201celementals\u201d we\nhave just described.\n\nFurther on he shows, on the principle of the Hermetic axiom\u2014of types,\nand prototypes\u2014that the lower spheres have their subdivisions and\nclasses of beings as well as the upper celestial ones, the former\nbeing always subordinate to the higher ones. He held that the four\nelements are all filled with _demons_, maintaining with Aristotle\nthat the universe is full, and that there is no void in nature.\nThe demons of the earth, air, fire, and water are of an elastic,\nethereal, semi-corporeal essence. It is these classes which officiate\nas intermediate agents between the gods and men. Although lower in\nintelligence than the _sixth_ order of the higher demons, these beings\npreside directly over the elements and organic life. They direct\nthe growth, the inflorescence, the properties, and various changes\nof plants. They are the personified ideas or virtues shed from the\nheavenly _ul\u00ea_ into the inorganic matter; and, as the vegetable\nkingdom is one remove higher than the mineral, these emanations from\nthe celestial gods take form and being in the plant, they become _its\nsoul_. It is that which Aristotle\u2019s doctrine terms the _form_ in the\nthree principles of natural bodies, classified by him as privation,\nmatter, and form. His philosophy teaches that besides the original\nmatter, another principle is necessary to complete the triune nature\nof every particle, and this is form; an invisible, but still, in an\nontological sense of the word, a substantial being, really distinct\nfrom matter proper. Thus, in an animal or a plant, besides the bones,\nthe flesh, the nerves, the brains, and the blood, in the former, and\nbesides the pulpy matter, tissues, fibres, and juice in the latter,\nwhich blood and juice, by circulating through the veins and fibres,\nnourishes all parts of both animal and plant; and besides the animal\nspirits, which are the principles of motion; and the chemical energy\nwhich is transformed into vital force in the green leaf, there must be\na substantial form, which Aristotle called in the horse, the _horse\u2019s\nsoul_; Proclus, the _demon_ of every mineral, plant, or animal, and the\nmedi\u00e6val philosophers, the _elementary spirits_ of the four kingdoms.\n\nAll this is held in our century as metaphysics and gross superstition.\nStill, on strictly ontological principles, there is, in these old\nhypotheses, some shadow of probability, some clew to the perplexing {313}\n\u201cmissing links\u201d of exact science. The latter has become so dogmatical\nof late, that all that lies beyond the ken of _inductive_ science\nis termed imaginary; and we find Professor Joseph Le Conte stating\nthat some of the best scientists \u201cridicule the use of the term \u2018vital\nforce,\u2019 or vitality, as a remnant _of superstition_.\u201d[516] De Candolle\nsuggests the term \u201cvital movement,\u201d instead of vital force;[517]\nthus preparing for a final scientific leap which will transform the\nimmortal, thinking man, into an automaton with a clock-work inside him.\n\u201cBut,\u201d objects Le Conte, \u201ccan we conceive of movement without force?\nAnd if the movement is peculiar, so also is _the form of force_.\u201d\n\nIn the Jewish _Kabala_, the nature-spirits were known under the\ngeneral name of _Shedim_ and divided into four classes. The Persians\ncalled them all _devs_; the Greeks, indistinctly designated them as\n_demons_; the Egyptians knew them as _afrites_. The ancient Mexicans,\nsays Kaiser, believed in numerous spirit-abodes, into one of which the\nshades of innocent children were placed until final disposal; into\nanother, situated in the sun, ascended the valiant souls of heroes;\nwhile the hideous spectres of incorrigible sinners were sentenced to\nwander and despair in subterranean caves, held in the bonds of the\nearth atmosphere, unwilling and unable to liberate themselves. They\npassed their time in communicating with mortals, and frightening those\nwho could see them. Some of the African tribes know them as _Yowahoos_.\nIn the Indian Pantheon there are no less than 330,000,000 of various\nkinds of spirits, including elementals, which latter were termed by\nthe Brahmans the Daityas. These beings are known by the adepts to be\nattracted toward certain quarters of the heavens by something of the\nsame mysterious property which makes the magnetic needle turn toward\nthe north, and certain plants to obey the same attraction. The various\nraces are also believed to have a special sympathy with certain human\ntemperaments, and to more readily exert power over such than others.\nThus, a bilious, lymphatic, nervous, or sanguine person would be\naffected favorably or otherwise by conditions of the astral light,\nresulting from the different aspects of the planetary bodies. Having\nreached this general principle, after recorded observations extending\nover an indefinite series of years, or ages, the adept astrologer\nwould require only to know what the planetary aspects were at a given\nanterior date, and to apply his knowledge of the succeeding changes in\nthe heavenly bodies, to be able to trace, with approximate accuracy,\nthe varying fortunes of the personage whose horoscope was required, {314}\nand even to predict the future. The accuracy of the horoscope would\ndepend, of course, no less upon the astrologer\u2019s knowledge of the\noccult forces and races of nature, than upon his astronomical erudition.\n\nEliphas Levi expounds with reasonable clearness, in his _Dogme et\nRituel de la Haute Magie_, the law of reciprocal influences between\nthe planets and their combined effect upon the mineral, vegetable, and\nanimal kingdoms, as well as upon ourselves. He states that the astral\natmosphere is as constantly changing from day to day, and from hour\nto hour, as the air we breathe. He quotes approvingly the doctrine\nof Paracelsus that every man, animal, and plant bears external and\ninternal evidences of the influences dominant at the moment of germinal\ndevelopment. He repeats the old kabalistic doctrine, that nothing is\nunimportant in nature, and that even so small a thing as the birth\nof one child upon our insignificant planet has its effect upon the\nuniverse, as the whole universe has its own re\u00e4ctive influence upon him.\n\n\u201cThe stars,\u201d he remarks, \u201care linked to each other by attractions which\nhold them in equilibrium and cause them to move with regularity through\nspace. This net-work of light stretches from all the spheres to all\nthe spheres, and there is not a point upon any planet to which is not\nattached one of these indestructible threads. The precise locality, as\nwell as the hour of birth, should then be calculated by the true adept\nin astrology; then, when he shall have made the exact calculation of\nthe astral influences, it remains for him to count the chances of his\nposition in life, the helps or hindrances he is likely to encounter ...\nand his natural impulses toward the accomplishment of his destiny.\u201d He\nalso asserts that the individual force of the person, as indicating his\nability to conquer difficulties and subdue unfavorable propensities,\nand so carve out his fortune, or to passively await what blind fate may\nbring, must be taken into account.\n\nA consideration of the subject from the standpoint of the ancients,\naffords us, it will be seen, a very different view from that taken\nby Professor Tyndall in his famous Belfast address. \u201cTo supersensual\nbeings,\u201d says he, \u201cwhich, however potent and invisible, were nothing\nbut species of _human creatures_, perhaps raised from among mankind,\nand retaining all human passions and appetites, were handed over the\nrule and governance of natural phenomena.\u201d\n\nTo enforce his point, Mr. Tyndall conveniently quotes from Euripides\nthe familiar passage in Hume: \u201cThe gods toss all into confusion, mix\neverything with its reverse, that all of us, from our ignorance and\nuncertainty, may pay them the more worship and reverence.\u201d Although\nenunciating in _Chrysippus_ several Pythagorean doctrines, Euripides\nis considered by every ancient writer as heterodox, therefore the {315}\nquotation proceeding from this philosopher does not at all strengthen\nMr. Tyndall\u2019s argument.\n\nAs to the _human_ spirit, the notions of the older philosophers and\nmedi\u00e6val kabalists while differing in some particulars, agreed on the\nwhole; so that the doctrine of one may be viewed as the doctrine of the\nother. The most substantial difference consisted in the location of the\nimmortal or divine spirit of man. While the ancient Neo-platonists held\nthat the Augoeides never descends hypostatically into the living man,\nbut only sheds more or less its radiance on the inner man\u2014the astral\nsoul\u2014the kabalists of the middle ages maintained that the spirit,\ndetaching itself from the ocean of light and spirit, entered into man\u2019s\nsoul, where it remained through life imprisoned in the astral capsule.\nThis difference was the result of the belief of Christian kabalists,\nmore or less, in the dead letter of the allegory of the fall of man.\nThe soul, they said, became, through the fall of Adam, contaminated\nwith the world of matter, or Satan. Before it could appear with its\nenclosed divine spirit in the presence of the Eternal, it had to\npurify itself of the impurities of darkness. They compared \u201cthe spirit\nimprisoned within the soul to a drop of water enclosed within a capsule\nof gelatine and thrown in the ocean; so long as the capsule remains\nwhole the drop of water remains isolated; break the envelope and the\ndrop becomes a part of the ocean\u2014its individual existence has ceased.\nSo it is with the spirit. As long as it is enclosed in its plastic\nmediator, or soul, it has an individual existence. Destroy the capsule,\na result which may occur from the agonies of withered conscience,\ncrime, and moral disease, and the spirit returns back to its original\nabode. Its individuality is gone.\u201d\n\nOn the other hand, the philosophers who explained the \u201cfall into\ngeneration\u201d in their own way, viewed spirit as something wholly\ndistinct from the soul. They allowed its presence in the astral capsule\nonly so far as the spiritual emanations or rays of the \u201cshining\none\u201d were concerned. Man and soul had to conquer their immortality\nby ascending toward the unity with which, if successful, they were\nfinally linked, and into which they were absorbed, so to say. The\nindividualization of man after death depended on the spirit, not on\nhis soul and body. Although the word \u201cpersonality,\u201d in the sense in\nwhich it is usually understood, is an absurdity, if applied literally\nto our immortal essence, still the latter is a distinct entity,\nimmortal and eternal, _per se_; and, as in the case of criminals beyond\nredemption, when the shining thread which links the spirit to the\nsoul, from the moment of the birth of a child, is violently snapped,\nand the disembodied entity is left to share the fate of the lower\nanimals, to gradually dissolve into ether, and have its individuality\nannihilated\u2014even then the spirit remains a distinct being. It becomes {316}\na planetary spirit, an angel; for _the gods of the Pagan or the\narchangels of the Christian_, the direct emanations of the First Cause,\nnotwithstanding the hazardous statement of Swedenborg, _never were or\nwill be men_, on our planet, at least.\n\nThis specialization has been in all ages the stumbling-block of\nmetaphysicians. The whole esoterism of the Buddhistical philosophy\nis based on this mysterious teaching, understood by so few persons,\nand so totally misrepresented by many of the most learned scholars.\nEven metaphysicians are too inclined to confound the effect with the\ncause. A person may have won his immortal life, and remain the same\n_inner-self_ he was on earth, throughout eternity; but this does not\nimply necessarily that he must either remain the Mr. Smith or Brown he\nwas on earth, or lose his individuality. Therefore, the astral soul and\nterrestrial body of man may, in the dark Hereafter, be absorbed into\nthe cosmical ocean of sublimated elements, and cease to feel his _ego_,\nif this _ego_ did not deserve to soar higher; and the divine spirit\nstill remain an unchanged entity, though this terrestrial experience of\nhis emanations may be totally obliterated at the instant of separation\nfrom the unworthy vehicle.\n\nIf the \u201cspirit,\u201d or the divine portion of the soul, is pre\u00ebxistent as\na distinct being from all eternity, as Origen, Synesius, and other\nChristian fathers and philosophers taught, and if it is the same, and\nnothing more than the metaphysically-objective soul, how can it be\notherwise than eternal? And what matters it in such a case, whether man\nleads an animal or a pure life, if, do what he may, he can never lose\nhis individuality? This doctrine is as pernicious in its consequences\nas that of vicarious atonement. Had the latter dogma, in company with\nthe false idea that we are all immortal, been demonstrated to the\nworld in its true light, humanity would have been bettered by its\npropagation. Crime and sin would be avoided, not for fear of earthly\npunishment, or of a ridiculous hell, but for the sake of that which\nlies the most deeply rooted in our inner nature\u2014the desire of an\nindividual and distinct life in the hereafter, the positive assurance\nthat we cannot win it unless we \u201ctake the kingdom of heaven by\nviolence,\u201d and the conviction that neither human prayers nor the blood\nof another man will save us from individual destruction after death,\nunless we firmly link ourselves during our terrestrial life with our\nown immortal spirit\u2014our GOD.\n\nPythagoras, Plato, Tim\u00e6us of Locris, and the whole Alexandrian school\nderived the soul from the universal World-Soul; and the latter was,\naccording to their own teachings\u2014ether; something of such a fine nature\nas to be perceived only by our inner sight. Therefore, it cannot be the\nessence of the Monas, or _cause_, because the _anima mundi_ is but the\neffect, the objective emanation of the former. Both the human spirit {317}\nand soul are pre\u00ebxistent. But, while the former exists as a distinct\nentity, an individualization, the soul exists as pre\u00ebxisting matter, an\nunscient portion of an intelligent whole. Both were originally formed\nfrom the Eternal Ocean of Light; but as the theosophists expressed\nit, there is a visible as well as invisible spirit in fire. They\nmade a difference between the _anima bruta_ and the _anima divina_.\nEmpedocles firmly believed all men and animals to possess two souls;\nand in Aristotle we find that he calls one the reasoning soul\u2014\u03bd\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2,\nand the other, the animal soul\u2014\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae. According to these philosophers,\nthe reasoning soul comes from _without_ the universal soul, and the\nother from _within_. This divine and superior region, in which they\nlocated the invisible and supreme deity, was considered by them (by\nAristotle himself) as a fifth element, purely spiritual and divine,\nwhereas the _anima mundi_ proper was considered as composed of a\nfine, igneous, and ethereal nature spread throughout the universe, in\nshort\u2014ether. The Stoics, the greatest materialists of ancient days,\nexcepted the Invisible God and Divine Soul (Spirit) from any such a\ncorporeal nature. Their modern commentators and admirers, greedily\nseizing the opportunity, built on this ground the supposition that the\nStoics believed in neither God nor soul. But Epicurus, whose doctrine\nmilitating directly against the agency of a Supreme Being and gods,\nin the formation or government of the world, placed him far above the\nStoics in atheism and materialism, taught, nevertheless, that the soul\nis of a fine, tender essence, formed from the smoothest, roundest, and\nfinest atoms, which description still brings us to the same sublimated\nether. Arnobius, Tertullian, Iren\u00e6us, and Origen, notwithstanding their\nChristianity, believed, with the more modern Spinoza and Hobbes, that\nthe soul was corporeal, though of a very fine nature.\n\nThis doctrine of the possibility of losing one\u2019s soul and, hence,\nindividuality, militates with the ideal theories and progressive ideas\nof some spiritualists, though Swedenborg fully adopts it. They will\nnever accept the kabalistic doctrine which teaches that it is only\nthrough observing the law of harmony that individual life hereafter can\nbe obtained; and that the farther the inner and outer man deviate from\nthis fount of harmony, whose source lies in our divine spirit, the more\ndifficult it is to regain the ground.\n\nBut while the spiritualists and other adherents of Christianity have\nlittle if any perception of this fact of the possible death and\nobliteration of the human personality by the separation of the immortal\npart from the perishable, the Swedenborgians fully comprehend it. One\nof the most respected ministers of the New Church, the Rev. Chauncey\nGiles, D.D., of New York, recently elucidated the subject in a public\ndiscourse as follows: Physical death, or the death of the body, was a {318}\nprovision of the divine economy for the benefit of man, a provision\nby means of which he attained the higher ends of his being. But there\nis another death which is the interruption of the divine order and\nthe destruction of every human element in man\u2019s nature, and every\npossibility of human happiness. This is the spiritual death, which\ntakes place before the dissolution of the body. \u201cThere may be a vast\ndevelopment of man\u2019s natural mind without that development being\naccompanied by a particle of love of God, or of unselfish love of\nman.\u201d When one falls into a love of self and love of the world, with\nits pleasures, losing the divine love of God and of the neighbor, he\nfalls from life to death. The higher principles which constitute the\nessential elements of his humanity perish, and he lives only on the\nnatural plane of his faculties. Physically he exists, spiritually\nhe is dead. To all that pertain to the higher and the only enduring\nphase of existence he is as much dead as his body becomes dead to all\nthe activities, delights, and sensations of the world when the spirit\nhas left it. This spiritual death results from disobedience of the\nlaws of spiritual life, which is followed by the same penalty as the\ndisobedience of the laws of the natural life. But the spiritually dead\nhave still their delights; they have their intellectual endowments and\npower, and intense activities. All the animal delights are theirs, and\nto multitudes of men and women these constitute the highest ideal of\nhuman happiness. The tireless pursuit of riches, of the amusements and\nentertainments of social life; the cultivation of graces of manner,\nof taste in dress, of social preferment, of scientific distinction,\nintoxicate and enrapture these dead-alive; but, the eloquent preacher\nremarks, \u201cthese creatures, with all their graces, rich attire, and\nbrilliant accomplishments, are dead in the eye of the Lord and the\nangels, and when measured by the only true and immutable standard have\nno more genuine life than skeletons whose flesh has turned to dust.\u201d A\nhigh development of the intellectual faculties does not imply spiritual\nand true life. Many of our greatest scientists are but animate\ncorpses\u2014they have no spiritual sight because their spirits have left\nthem. So we might go through all ages, examine all occupations, weigh\nall human attainments, and investigate all forms of society, and we\nwould find these _spiritually dead_ everywhere.\n\nPythagoras taught that the entire universe is one vast system\nof mathematically correct combinations. Plato shows the deity\n_geometrizing_. The world is sustained by the same law of equilibrium\nand harmony upon which it was built. The centripetal force could not\nmanifest itself without the centrifugal in the harmonious revolutions\nof the spheres; all forms are the product of this dual force in\nnature. Thus, to illustrate our case, we may designate the spirit as\nthe centrifugal, and the soul as the centripetal, spiritual energies. {319}\nWhen in perfect harmony, both forces produce one result; break or\ndamage the centripetal motion of the earthly soul tending toward the\ncentre which attracts it; arrest its progress by clogging it with a\nheavier weight of matter than it can bear, and the harmony of the\nwhole, which was its life, is destroyed. Individual life can only be\ncontinued if sustained by this two-fold force. The least deviation from\nharmony damages it; when it is destroyed beyond redemption the forces\nseparate and the form is gradually annihilated. After the death of the\ndepraved and the wicked, arrives the critical moment. If during life\nthe ultimate and desperate effort of the inner-self to reunite itself\nwith the faintly-glimmering ray of its divine parent is neglected; if\nthis ray is allowed to be more and more shut out by the thickening\ncrust of matter, the soul, once freed from the body, follows its\nearthly attractions, and is magnetically drawn into and held within the\ndense fogs of the material atmosphere. Then it begins to sink lower\nand lower, until it finds itself, when returned to consciousness, in\nwhat the ancients termed _Hades_. The annihilation of such a soul is\nnever instantaneous; it may last centuries, perhaps; for nature never\nproceeds by jumps and starts, and the astral soul being formed of\nelements, the law of evolution must bide its time. Then begins the\nfearful law of compensation, the _Yin-youan_ of the Buddhists.\n\nThis class of spirits are called the \u201cterrestrial\u201d or \u201c_earthly_\nelementary,\u201d in contradistinction to the other classes, as we have\nshown in the introductory chapter. In the East they are known as the\n\u201cBrothers of the Shadow.\u201d Cunning, low, vindictive, and seeking to\nretaliate their sufferings upon humanity, they become, until final\nannihilation, vampires, ghouls, and prominent actors. These are the\nleading \u201cstars\u201d on the great spiritual stage of \u201cmaterialization,\u201d\nwhich phenomena they perform with the help of the more intelligent of\nthe genuine-born \u201celemental\u201d creatures, which hover around and welcome\nthem with delight in their own spheres. Henry Kunrath, the great German\nkabalist, has on a plate of his rare work, _Amphitheatri Sapienti\u00e6\n\u00c6tern\u00e6_, representations of the four classes of these human \u201celementary\nspirits.\u201d Once past the threshold of the sanctuary of initiation, once\nthat an adept has lifted the \u201cVeil of Isis,\u201d the mysterious and jealous\ngoddess, he has nothing to fear; but till then he is in constant danger.\n\nAlthough Aristotle himself, anticipating the modern physiologists,\nregarded the human mind as a material substance, and ridiculed the\nhylozo\u00efsts, nevertheless he fully believed in the existence of a\n\u201cdouble\u201d soul, or spirit and soul.[518] He laughed at Strabo for\nbelieving that any particles of matter, _per se_, could have life {320}\nand intellect in themselves sufficient to fashion by degrees such a\nmultiform world as ours.[519] Aristotle is indebted for the sublime\nmorality of his Nichomachean Ethics to a thorough study of the\n_Pythagoric Ethical Fragments_; for the latter can be easily shown to\nhave been the source at which he gathered his ideas, though he might\nnot have sworn \u201cby him who the tetractys found.\u201d[520] Finally, what\ndo we know so certain about Aristotle? His philosophy is so abstruse\nthat he constantly leaves his reader to supply by the imagination\nthe missing links of his logical deductions. Moreover, we know that\nbefore his works ever reached our scholars, who delight in his\nseemingly atheistical arguments in support of his doctrine of fate,\nthese works passed through too many hands to have remained immaculate.\nFrom Theophrastus, his legator, they passed to Neleus, whose heirs\nkept them mouldering in subterranean caves for nearly 150 years;[521]\nafter which, we learn that his manuscripts were copied and much\naugmented by Apellicon of Theos, who supplied such paragraphs as had\nbecome illegible, by conjectures of his own, probably many of these\ndrawn from the depths of his inner consciousness. Our scholars of the\nnineteenth century might certainly profit well by Aristotle\u2019s example,\nwere they as anxious to imitate him practically as they are to throw\nhis inductive method and materialistic theories at the head of the\nPlatonists. We invite them to collect _facts_ as carefully as he did,\ninstead of denying those they know nothing about.\n\nWhat we have said in the introductory chapter and elsewhere, of mediums\nand the tendency of their mediumship, is not based upon conjecture,\nbut upon actual experience and observation. There is scarcely one\nphase of mediumship, of either kind, that we have not seen exemplified\nduring the past twenty-five years, in various countries. India, Thibet,\nBorneo, Siam, Egypt, Asia Minor, America (North and South), and other\nparts of the world, have each displayed to us its peculiar phase of\nmediumistic phenomena and magical power. Our varied experience has\ntaught us two important truths, viz.: that for the exercise of the\nlatter personal purity and the exercise of a trained and indomitable\nwill-power are indispensable; and that spiritualists can never assure\nthemselves of the genuineness of mediumistic manifestations, unless\nthey occur in the light and under such reasonable test conditions as\nwould make an attempted fraud instantly noticed.\n\nFor fear of being misunderstood, we would remark that while, as a rule,\nphysical phenomena are produced by the nature-spirits, of their own {321}\nmotion and to please their own fancy, still good disembodied human\nspirits, under _exceptional_ circumstances, such as the aspiration\nof a pure heart or the occurrence of some favoring emergency, can\nmanifest their presence by any of the phenomena _except personal\nmaterialization_. But it must be a mighty attraction indeed to draw a\npure, disembodied spirit from its radiant home into the foul atmosphere\nfrom which it escaped upon leaving its earthly body.\n\nMagi and theurgic philosophers objected most severely to the \u201cevocation\nof souls.\u201d \u201cBring her (the soul) not forth, lest in departing she\nretain something,\u201d says Psellus.[522]\n\n \u201cIt becomes you not to behold them _before your body is initiated_,\n Since, by always alluring, they seduce the souls of the uninitiated,\u201d\n\nsays the same philosopher, in another passage.[523]\n\nThey objected to it for several good reasons. 1. \u201cIt is extremely\ndifficult to distinguish a good d\u00e6mon from a bad one,\u201d says Iamblichus.\n2. If a human soul succeeds in penetrating the density of the earth\u2019s\natmosphere\u2014always oppressive to her, often hateful\u2014still there is a\ndanger the soul is unable to come into proximity with the material\nworld without that she cannot avoid; \u201cdeparting, she _retains_\nsomething,\u201d that is to say, contaminating her purity, for which she\nhas to suffer more or less after her departure. Therefore, the true\ntheurgist will avoid causing any more suffering to this pure denizen\nof the higher sphere than is absolutely required by the interests of\nhumanity. It is only the practitioner of black magic who compels the\npresence, by the powerful incantations of necromancy, of the tainted\nsouls of such as have lived bad lives, and are ready to aid his selfish\ndesigns. Of intercourse with the Augoeides, through the mediumistic\npowers of _subjective_ mediums, we elsewhere speak. The theurgists\nemployed chemicals and mineral substances to chase away evil spirits.\nOf the latter, a stone called \u039c\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03bd was one of the most powerful\nagents.\n\n \u201cWhen you shall see a _terrestrial_ demon approaching,\n Exclaim, and sacrifice the stone Mnizurin,\u201d\n\nexclaims a Zoroastrian oracle (_Psel._, 40).\n\nAnd now, to descend from the eminence of theurgico-magian poetry to the\n\u201cunconscious\u201d magic of our present century, and the prose of a modern\nkabalist, we will review it in the following:\n\nIn Dr. Morin\u2019s _Journal de Magn\u00e9tisme_, published a few years since {322}\nin Paris, at a time when the \u201ctable-turning\u201d was raging in France, a\ncurious letter was published.\n\n\u201cBelieve me, sir,\u201d wrote the anonymous correspondent, \u201cthat there are\nno spirits, no ghosts, no angels, no demons _enclosed in a table_; but,\nall of these can be found there, nevertheless, for that depends on _our\nown wills_ and our imaginations.... This MENSAbulism[524] is an ancient\nphenomenon ... misunderstood by us moderns, but natural, for all that,\nand which pertains to physics and psychology; unfortunately, it had\nto remain incomprehensible until the discovery of electricity and\nheliography, as, to explain a fact of spiritual nature, we are obliged\nto base ourselves on a corresponding fact of a material order....\n\n\u201cAs we all know, the daguerreotype-plate may be impressed, not only\nby objects, but also by their reflections. Well, the phenomenon in\nquestion, which ought to be named _mental photography_, produces,\nbesides _realities_, the dreams of our imagination, with such a\nfidelity that very often we become unable to distinguish a copy taken\nfrom _one present_, from a negative obtained of an _image_....\n\n\u201cThe _magnetization_ of a table or of a person is absolutely identical\nin its results; it is the saturation of a foreign body by either the\n_intelligent_ vital electricity, or the thought of the magnetizer and\nthose present.\u201d\n\nNothing can give a better or a more just idea of it than the electric\nbattery gathering the fluid on its conductor, to obtain thereof a\n_brute_ force which manifests itself in sparks of light, etc. Thus,\nthe electricity accumulated on an isolated body acquires a power\nof reaction equal to the action, either for charging, magnetizing,\ndecomposing, inflaming, or for discharging its vibrations far away.\nThese are the visible effects of the _blind_, or crude electricity\nproduced by blind elements\u2014the word blind being used by the table\nitself in contradistinction to the _intelligent_ electricity. But there\nevidently exists a corresponding electricity produced by the cerebral\npile of man; this _soul-electricity_, this spiritual and universal\nether, which is the _ambient, middle nature of the metaphysical\nuniverse_, or rather of the _incorporeal_ universe, has to be studied\nbefore it is admitted by science, which, having no idea of it, will\nnever know anything of the great phenomenon of life until she does.\n\n\u201cIt appears that to manifest itself the cerebral electricity requires\nthe help of the ordinary statical electricity; when the latter is\nlacking in the atmosphere\u2014when the air is very damp, for instance\u2014you\ncan get little or nothing of either tables or mediums....\n\n\u201cThere is no need for the ideas to be formulated very precisely in the {323}\nbrains of the persons present; the _table_ discovers and formulates\nthem _itself_, in either prose or verse, but always correctly; the\ntable requires time to compose a verse; it begins, then it erases a\nword, corrects it, and sometimes sends back the epigram to our address\n... if the persons present are in sympathy with each other, _it_ jokes\nand laughs with us as any living person could. As to the things of the\nexterior world, it has to content itself with conjectures, as well as\nourselves; _it_ (the table) composes little philosophical systems,\ndiscusses and maintains them as the most cunning rhetorician might. In\nshort, it creates itself a conscience and a reason properly belonging\nto itself, but with the materials it finds in us....\n\n\u201cThe Americans are persuaded that they talk with their dead; some think\n(more truly) that these are _spirits_; others take them for angels;\nothers again for devils ... (the _intelligence_) assuming the shape\nwhich fits the conviction and preconceived opinion of every one; so\ndid the initiates of the temples of Serapis, of Delphi, and other\ntheurgico-medical establishments of the same kind. They were convinced\nbeforehand that they would communicate with their gods; and _they_\nnever failed.\n\n\u201cWe, who well know the value of the phenomenon ... are perfectly sure\nthat after having charged the table with our magnetic _efflux_, we have\ncalled to life, or created an intelligence analogous to our own, which\nlike ourselves is endowed with a free will, can talk and discuss with\nus, with a degree of superior lucidity, considering that the resultant\nis stronger than the individual, or rather the whole is larger than a\npart of it.... We must not accuse Herodotus of telling us fibs when he\nrecords the most extraordinary circumstances, for we must hold them to\nbe as true and correct as the rest of historical facts which are to be\nfound in all the Pagan writers of antiquity....\n\n\u201cThe phenomenon is as old as the world.... The priests of India and\nChina practiced it before the Egyptians and the Greeks. The savages\nand the Esquimaux know it well. It is the phenomenon of Faith, sole\nsource of every prodigy,\u201d and it will be done to you according to _your\nfaith_. The one who enunciated this profound doctrine was verily the\nincarnated word of Truth; he neither deceived himself, nor wanted to\ndeceive others; he expounded an axiom which we now repeat, without much\nhope of seeing it accepted.\n\n\u201cMan is a microcosm, or a little world; he carries in him a fragment of\nthe great _All_, in a chaotic state. The task of our half-gods is to\ndisentangle from it the share belonging to them by an incessant mental\nand material labor. They have their task to do, the perpetual invention\nof new products, of new moralities, and the proper arrangement of the\ncrude and formless material furnished them by the Creator, who created {324}\nthem in His own image, that they should create in their turn and so\ncomplete here the work of the Creation; an immense labor which can be\nachieved only when the _whole_ will become so perfect, that it will be\nlike unto God Himself, and thus able to survive to itself. We are very\nfar yet from that final moment, for we can say that everything is to be\ndone, to be undone, and _outdone_ as yet on our globe, institutions,\nmachinery, and products.\n\n \u201c_Mens non solum agitat sed creat molem._\n\n\u201cWe live in this life, in an ambient, intellectual centre, which\nentertains between human beings and things a necessary and perpetual\nsolidarity; every brain is a ganglion, a station of a universal\n_neurological_ telegraphy in constant rapport with the central and\nother stations by the vibrations of thought.\n\n\u201cThe spiritual sun shines for souls as the material sun shines for\nbodies, for the universe _is double_ and follows the law of couples.\nThe ignorant operator interprets erroneously the divine dispatches, and\noften delivers them in a false and ridiculous manner. Thus study and\ntrue science alone can destroy the superstitions and nonsense spread by\nthe ignorant interpreters placed at the _stations of teaching_ among\nevery people in this world. These blind interpreters of the _Verbum_,\nthe WORD, have always tried to impose on their pupils the obligation to\nswear to everything without examination in _verba magistri_.\n\n\u201cAlas! we could wish for nothing better were they to translate\ncorrectly the _inner_ voices, which voices never deceive but those who\nhave _false spirits_ in them. \u2018It is our duty,\u2019 they say, \u2018to interpret\noracles; it is we who have received the exclusive mission for it from\nheaven, _spiritus flat ubi vult_, and it blows on us alone....\u2019\n\n\u201cIt blows _on every one_, and the rays of the spiritual light\nilluminate every conscience; and when all the bodies and all the minds\nwill reflect equally this dual light, people will see a great deal\nclearer than they do now.\u201d\n\nWe have translated and quoted the above fragments for their great\noriginality and truthfulness. We know the writer; fame proclaims him a\ngreat kabalist, and a few friends know him as a truthful and honest man.\n\nThe letter shows, moreover, that the writer has well and carefully\nstudied the chameleon-like nature of the intelligences presiding over\nspiritual circles. That they are of the same kind and race as those\nso frequently mentioned in antiquity, admits of as little doubt as\nthat the present generation of men are of the same nature as were\nhuman beings in the days of Moses. Subjective manifestations proceed, {325}\nunder harmonious conditions, from those beings which were known as\nthe \u201cgood demons\u201d in days of old. Sometimes, but rarely, the planetary\nspirits\u2014beings of another race than our own\u2014produce them; sometimes the\nspirits of our translated and beloved friends; sometimes nature-spirits\nof one or more of the countless tribes; but most frequently of all\nterrestrial elementary spirits, disembodied evil men, the Diakka of A.\nJackson Davis.\n\nWe do not forget what we have elsewhere written about _subjective_ and\n_objective_ mediumistic phenomena. We keep the distinction always in\nmind. There are good and bad of both classes. An impure medium will\nattract to his impure inner self, the vicious, depraved, malignant\ninfluences as inevitably as one that is pure draws only those that are\ngood and pure. Of the latter kind of medium where can a nobler example\nbe found than the gentle Baroness Adelma von Vay, of Austria (born\nCountess Wurmbrandt), who is described to us by a correspondent as \u201cthe\nProvidence of her neighborhood?\u201d She uses her mediumistic power to heal\nthe sick and comfort the afflicted. To the rich she is a phenomenon;\nbut to the poor a ministering angel. For many years she has seen and\nrecognized the nature-spirits or cosmic elementaries, and found them\nalways friendly. But this was because she was a pure, good woman. Other\ncorrespondents of the Theosophical Society have not fared so well at\nthe hands of these apish and impish beings. The Havanna case, elsewhere\ndescribed, is an example.\n\nThough spiritualists discredit them ever so much, these nature-spirits\nare realities. If the gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines\nof the Rosicrucians existed in their days, they must exist now.\nBulwer-Lytton\u2019s _Dweller of the Threshold_, is a modern conception,\nmodelled on the ancient type of the _Sulanuth_[525] of the Hebrews and\nEgyptians, which is mentioned in the _Book of Jasher_.[526]\n\nThe Christians call them \u201cdevils,\u201d \u201cimps of Satan,\u201d and like\ncharacteristic names. They are nothing of the kind, but simply\ncreatures of ethereal matter, irresponsible, and neither good nor bad,\nunless influenced by a superior intelligence. It is very extraordinary {326}\nto hear devout Catholics abuse and misrepresent the nature-spirits,\nwhen one of their greatest authorities, Clement the Alexandrinian,\ndisposed of them, by describing these creatures as they really are.\nClement, who perhaps had been a theurgist as well as a Neo-platonist,\nthus arguing upon good authority, remarks, that it is absurd to call\nthem devils,[527] for they are only _inferior_ angels, \u201cthe powers\nwhich inhabit elements, move the winds and distribute showers, and\nas such are agents and subject to God.\u201d[528] Origen, who before he\nbecame a Christian also belonged to the Platonic school, is of the same\nopinion. Porphyry describes these d\u00e6mons more carefully than any one\nelse.\n\nWhen the possible nature of the manifesting intelligences, which\nscience believes to be a \u201cpsychic force,\u201d and spiritualists the\nidentical spirits of the dead, is better known, then will academicians\nand believers turn to the old philosophers for information.\n\nLet us for a moment imagine an intelligent orang-outang or some African\nanthropoid ape disembodied, _i. e._, deprived of its physical and in\npossession of an astral, if not an immortal body. We have found in\nspiritual journals many instances where apparitions of departed pet\ndogs and other animals have been seen. Therefore, upon spiritualistic\ntestimony, we must think that such animal \u201cspirits\u201d do appear although\nwe reserve the right of concurring with the ancients that the forms\nare but tricks of the elementals. Once open the door of communication\nbetween the terrestrial and the spiritual world, what prevents the\nape from producing physical phenomena such as he sees human spirits\nproduce. And why may not these excel in cleverness of ingenuity many of\nthose which have been witnessed in spiritual circles? Let spiritualists\nanswer. The orang-outang of Borneo is little, if any, inferior to the\nsavage man in intelligence. Mr. Wallace and other great naturalists\ngive instances of its wonderful acuteness, although its brains are\ninferior in cubic capacity to the most undeveloped of savages. These\napes lack but speech to be men of low grade. The sentinels placed by\nmonkeys; the sleeping chambers selected and built by orang-outangs;\ntheir prevision of danger and calculations, which show more than\ninstinct; their choice of leaders whom they obey; and the exercise of\nmany of their faculties, certainly entitle them to a place at least\non a level with many a flat-headed Australian. Says Mr. Wallace, \u201cThe\nmental requirements of savages, and the faculties actually exercised by\nthem, are very little above those of the animals.\u201d\n\nNow, people assume that there can be no apes in the other world,\nbecause apes have no \u201csouls.\u201d But apes have as much intelligence, it {327}\nappears, as some men; why, then, should these men, in no way superior\nto the apes, have immortal spirits, and the apes none? The materialists\nwill answer that neither the one nor the other has a spirit, but that\nannihilation overtakes each at physical death. But the spiritual\nphilosophers of all times have agreed that man occupies a step one\ndegree higher than the animal, and is possessed of that something\nwhich it lacks, be he the most untutored of savages or the wisest of\nphilosophers. The ancients, as we have seen, taught that while man is a\ntrinity of body, astral spirit, and immortal soul, the animal is but a\nduality\u2014a being having a physical body and an astral spirit animating\nit. Scientists can distinguish no difference in the elements composing\nthe bodies of men and brutes; and the kabalists agree with them so\nfar as to say that the astral bodies (or, as the physicists would\ncall it, \u201cthe life-principle\u201d) of animals and men are _identical_ in\nessence. Physical man is but the highest development of animal life.\nIf, as the scientists tell us, even _thought_ is matter, and every\nsensation of pain or pleasure, every transient desire is accompanied\nby a disturbance of ether; and those bold speculators, the authors of\nthe _Unseen Universe_ believe that thought is conceived \u201cto affect the\nmatter of another universe simultaneously with this;\u201d why, then, should\nnot the gross, brutish thought of an orang-outang, or a dog, impressing\nitself on the ethereal waves of the astral light, as well as that of\nman, assure the animal a continuity of life after death, or \u201ca future\nstate?\u201d\n\nThe kabalists held, and now hold, that it is unphilosophical to admit\nthat the astral body of man can survive corporeal death, and at the\nsame time assert that the astral body of the ape is resolved into\nindependent molecules. That which survives as an _individuality_\nafter the death of the body is the _astral soul_, which Plato, in the\n_Tim\u00e6us_ and _Gorgias_, calls the _mortal_ soul, for, according to\nthe Hermetic doctrine, it throws off its more material particles at\nevery progressive change into a higher sphere. Socrates narrates to\nCallicles[529] that this _mortal_ soul retains all the characteristics\nof the body after the death of the latter; so much so, indeed, that a\nman marked with the whip will have his astral body \u201cfull of the prints\nand scars.\u201d The astral spirit is a faithful duplicate of the body,\nboth in a physical and spiritual sense. The Divine, the highest and\n_immortal_ spirit, can be neither punished nor rewarded. To maintain\nsuch a doctrine would be at the same time absurd and blasphemous, for\nit is not merely a flame lit at the central and inexhaustible fountain\nof light, but actually a portion of it, and of identical essence. It\nassures immortality to the individual astral being in proportion to the\nwillingness of the latter to receive it. So long as the _double_ man, {328}\n_i. e._, the man of flesh and spirit, keeps within the limits of the\nlaw of spiritual continuity; so long as the divine spark lingers in\nhim, however faintly, he is on the road to an immortality in the future\nstate. But those who resign themselves to a materialistic existence,\nshutting out the divine radiance shed by their spirit, at the beginning\nof the earthly pilgrimage, and stifling the warning voice of that\nfaithful sentry, the conscience, which serves as a focus for the light\nin the soul\u2014such beings as these, having left behind conscience and\nspirit, and crossed the boundaries of matter, will of necessity have to\nfollow its laws.\n\nMatter is as indestructible and eternal as the immortal spirit itself,\nbut only in its particles, and not as organized forms. The body of\nso grossly materialistic a person as above described, having been\ndeserted by its spirit before physical death, when that event occurs,\nthe plastic material, astral soul, following the laws of blind matter,\nshapes itself thoroughly into the mould which vice has been gradually\npreparing for it through the earth-life of the individual. Then, as\nPlato says, it assumes the form of that \u201canimal to which it resembled\nin its evil ways\u201d[530] during life. \u201cIt is an ancient saying,\u201d he tells\nus, \u201cthat the souls departing hence exist in Hades and return hither\nagain and _are produced from the dead_[531].... But those who are found\nto have lived an eminently holy life, these are they who arrive at the\npure abode ABOVE and DWELL ON THE UPPER PARTS of the earth\u201d[532] (the\nethereal region). In _Ph\u00e6drus_, again, he says that when man has ended\nhis _first_ life (on earth), some go to places of punishment _beneath_\nthe earth.[533] This region _below_ the earth, the kabalists do not\nunderstand as a place inside the earth, but maintain it to be a sphere,\nfar inferior in perfection to the earth, and far more material.\n\nOf all the modern speculators upon the seeming incongruities of the\n_New Testament_, alone the authors of the _Unseen Universe_ seem to\nhave caught a glimpse of its kabalistic truths, respecting the gehenna\nof the universe.[534] This gehenna, termed by the occultists the\n_eighth_ sphere (numbering inversely), is merely a planet like our\nown, _attached to the latter and following it in its penumbra_; a kind\nof dust-hole, a \u201cplace where all its garbage and filth is consumed,\u201d\nto borrow an expression of the above-mentioned authors, and on which\nall the dross and scorification of the cosmic matter pertaining to our\nplanet is in a continual state of remodelling.\n\nThe secret doctrine teaches that man, if he wins immortality, will\nremain forever the trinity that he is in life, and will continue so {329}\nthroughout all the spheres. The astral body, which in this life is\ncovered by a gross physical envelope, becomes\u2014when relieved of that\ncovering by the process of corporeal death\u2014in its turn the shell of\nanother and more ethereal body. This begins developing from the moment\nof death, and becomes perfected when the astral body of the earthly\nform finally separates from it. This process, they say, is repeated\nat every new transition from sphere to sphere. But the immortal\nsoul, \u201cthe silvery spark,\u201d observed by _Dr. Fenwick_ in _Margrave\u2019s_\nbrain,[535] and not found by him in the animals, never changes, but\nremains indestructible \u201cby aught that shatters its tabernacle.\u201d The\ndescriptions by Porphyry and Iamblichus and others, of the spirits of\nanimals, which inhabit the astral light, are corroborated by those of\nmany of the most trustworthy and intelligent clairvoyants. Sometimes\nthe animal forms are even made visible to every person present at a\nspiritual circle, by being materialized. In his _People from the Other\nWorld_, Colonel H. S. Olcott describes a materialized squirrel which\nfollowed a spirit-woman into the view of the spectators, disappeared\nand reappeared before their eyes several times, and finally followed\nthe spirit into the cabinet.\n\nLet us advance another step in our argument. If there is such a thing\nas existence in the spiritual world after corporeal death, then it\nmust occur in accordance with the law of evolution. It takes man from\nhis place at the apex of the pyramid of matter, and lifts him into a\nsphere of existence where the same inexorable law follows him. And if\nit follows him, why not everything else in nature? Why not animals and\nplants, which have all a life-principle, and whose gross forms decay\nlike his, when that life-principle leaves them? If his astral body\nbecomes more ethereal upon attaining the other sphere, why not theirs?\nThey, as well as he, have been evolved out of condensed cosmic matter,\nand our physicists cannot see the slightest difference between the\nmolecules of the four kingdoms of nature, which are thus specified by\nProfessor Le Conte:\n\n 4. _Animal Kingdom._\n 3. Vegetable Kingdom.\n 2. Mineral Kingdom.\n 1. Elements.\n\nThe progress of matter from each of these planes to the plane above is\ncontinuous; and, according to Le Conte, there is no force in nature {330}\ncapable of raising matter at once from No. 1 to No. 3, or from No. 2\nto No. 4, without stopping and receiving an accession of force of a\ndifferent kind on the intermediate plane.\n\nNow, will any one presume to say that out of a given number of\nmolecules, _originally and constantly homogeneous, and all energized\nby the same principle of evolution_, a certain number can be carried\nthrough those four kingdoms to the final result of evolving immortal\nman, and the others not be allowed to progress beyond planes 1, 2, and\n3? Why should not _all_ these molecules have an equal future before\nthem; the mineral becoming plant, the plant, animal, and the animal,\nman\u2014if not upon _this_ earth, at least somewhere in the boundless\nrealms of space? The harmony which geometry and mathematics\u2014the only\nexact sciences\u2014demonstrate to be the law of the universe, would be\ndestroyed if evolution were perfectly exemplified in man alone and\nlimited in the subordinate kingdoms. What logic suggests, psychometry\nproves; and, as we said before, it is not unlikely that a monument will\none day be erected by men of science to Joseph R. Buchanan, its modern\ndiscoverer. If a fragment of mineral, fossilized plant, or animal form\ngives the psychometer as vivid and accurate pictures of their previous\nconditions, as a fragment of human bone does of those of the individual\nto which it belonged, it would seem as if the same subtile spirit\npervaded all nature, and was inseparable from organic or inorganic\nsubstances. If anthropologists, physiologists, and psychologists are\nequally perplexed by primal and final causes, and by finding in matter\nso much similarity in all its forms, but in spirit such abysses of\ndifference, it is, perhaps, because their inquiries are limited to our\nvisible globe, and that they cannot, or dare not, go beyond. The spirit\nof a mineral, plant, or animal, may begin to form here, and reach its\nfinal development millions of ages hereafter, on other planets, known\nor unknown, visible or invisible to astronomers. For, who is able to\ncontrovert the theory previously suggested, that the earth itself will,\nlike the living creatures to which it has given birth, ultimately, and\nafter passing through its own stage of death and dissolution, become an\netherealized astral planet? \u201cAs above, so below;\u201d harmony is the great\nlaw of nature.\n\nHarmony in the physical and mathematical world of sense, is _justice_\nin the spiritual one. Justice produces harmony, and injustice, discord;\nand discord, on a cosmical scale, means chaos\u2014annihilation.\n\nIf there is a developed immortal spirit in man, it must be in every\nthing else, at least in a latent or germinal state, and it can only be\na question of time for each of these germs to become fully developed.\nWhat gross injustice it would be for an impenitent criminal man, the\nperpetrator of a brutal murder when in the exercise of his free will, {331}\nto have an immortal spirit which in time may be washed clean of\nsin, and enjoying perfect happiness, while a poor horse, innocent of\nall crime, should toil and suffer under the merciless torture of his\nmaster\u2019s whip during a whole life, and then be annihilated at death?\nSuch a belief implies a brutal injustice, and is only possible among\npeople taught in the dogma that everything is created for man, and he\nalone is the sovereign of the universe;\u2014a sovereign so mighty that to\nsave him from the consequences of his own misdeeds, it was not too much\nthat the God of the universe should die to placate his own just wrath.\n\nIf the most abject savage, with a brain \u201cvery little inferior to that\nof a philosopher\u201d[536] (the latter developed physically by ages of\ncivilization), is still, as regards the actual exercise of his mental\nfaculties, very little superior to an animal, is it just to infer\nthat both he and the ape will not have the opportunity to become\nphilosophers; the ape in this world, the man on some other planet\npeopled equally with beings created in _some other image_ of God?\n\nSays Professor Denton, when speaking of the future of psychometry:\n\u201cAstronomy will not disdain the assistance of this power. As new forms\nof organic being are revealed, when we go back to the earlier geologic\nperiods, so new groupings of the stars, new constellations, will be\ndisplayed, when the heavens of those early periods are examined by the\npiercing gaze of future psychometers. An accurate map of the starry\nheavens during the Silurian period may reveal to us many secrets that\nwe have been unable to discover.... Why may we not indeed be able to\nread the history of the various heavenly bodies ... their geological,\ntheir natural, and, perchance, their human history?... I have good\nreason to believe that trained psychometers will be able to travel from\nplanet to planet, and read their present condition minutely, and their\npast history.\u201d[537]\n\nHerodotus tells us that in the eighth of the towers of Belus, in\nBabylon, used by the sacerdotal astrologers, there was an uppermost\nroom, a sanctuary, where the prophesying priestesses slept to receive\ncommunications from the god. Beside the couch stood a table of gold,\nupon which were laid various stones, which Manetho informs us were all\na\u00ebrolites. The priestesses developed the prophetic vision in themselves\nby pressing one of these sacred stones against their heads and bosoms.\nThe same took place at Thebes, and at Patara, in Lycia.[538]\n\nThis would seem to indicate that psychometry was known and extensively\npracticed by the ancients. We have somewhere seen it stated that the {332}\nprofound knowledge possessed, according to Draper, by the ancient\nChaldean astrologers, of the planets and their relations, was obtained\nmore by the divination of the betylos, or the meteoric stone, than\nby astronomical instruments. Strabo, Pliny, Helancius\u2014all speak of\nthe electrical, or electro-magnetic power of the betyli. They were\nworshipped in the remotest antiquity in Egypt and Samothrace, as\nmagnetic stones, \u201ccontaining souls which had fallen from heaven;\u201d and\nthe priests of Cybel\u00e8 wore a small betylos on their bodies. How curious\nthe coincidence between the practice of the priests of Belus and the\nexperiments of Professor Denton!\n\nAs Professor Buchanan truthfully remarks of psychometry, it will enable\nus \u201c ... to detect vice and crime. No criminal act ... can escape the\ndetection of psychometry, when its powers are properly brought forth\n... the sure detection of guilt by psychometry (no matter how secret\nthe act) will nullify all concealment.\u201d[539]\n\nSpeaking of the elementary, Porphyry says: \u201cThese invisible beings\nhave been receiving from men honors as gods ... a universal belief\nmakes them capable of becoming very malevolent: it proves that their\nwrath is kindled against those who neglect to offer them a legitimate\nworship.\u201d[540]\n\nHomer describes them in the following terms: \u201cOur _gods_ appear to us\nwhen we offer them sacrifice ... _sitting themselves at our tables,\nthey partake of our festival meals_. Whenever they meet on his travels\na solitary Ph\u0153nician, they _serve to him as guides_, and otherwise\nmanifest their presence. We can say that _our piety_ approaches us\nto them as much as crime and bloodshed unite the Cyclopes and the\nferocious race of giants.\u201d[541] The latter proving that these gods were\nkind and beneficent _d\u00e6mons_, and that, whether they were _disembodied_\nspirits or elementary beings, they were no _devils_.\n\nThe language of Porphyry, who was himself a direct disciple of\nPlotinus, is still more explicit as to the nature of these spirits.\n\u201cDemons,\u201d he says, \u201care invisible; but they know _how to clothe\nthemselves_ with forms and configurations subjected to numerous\nvariations, which can be explained by their nature _having much of the\ncorporeal in itself_. Their abode is in the neighborhood of the earth\n... and _when they can escape the vigilance of the good d\u00e6mons, there\nis no mischief they will not dare commit_. One day they will employ\nbrute force; another, cunning.\u201d[542] Further, he says: \u201cIt is a child\u2019s {333}\nplay for them to arouse in us vile passions, to impart to societies\nand nations turbulent doctrines, provoking wars, seditions, and other\npublic calamities, and then tell you \u2018that all of these is the work of\nthe gods.\u2019 ... These spirits pass their time in cheating and deceiving\nmortals, creating around them illusions and prodigies; _their greatest\nambition_ is to pass as _gods_ and _souls_ (disembodied spirits).\u201d[543]\n\nIamblichus, the great theurgist of the Neo-platonic school, a man\nskilled in sacred magic, teaches that \u201cgood d\u00e6mons appear to us _in\nreality_, while the bad ones can manifest themselves but under the\n_shadowy forms of phantoms_.\u201d Further, he corroborates Porphyry, and\ntells that \u201c ... the _good ones fear not the light_, while the wicked\n_ones require darkness_.... The sensations they excite in us make us\nbelieve in the presence and reality of things they show, though these\nthings be absent.\u201d[544]\n\nEven the most practiced theurgists found danger sometimes in their\ndealings with certain elementaries, and we have Iamblichus stating\nthat, \u201cThe gods, the angels, and the d\u00e6mons, as well as the _souls_,\nmay be summoned through evocation and prayer.... But when, during\ntheurgic operations, a mistake is made, beware! Do not imagine that\nyou are communicating with beneficent divinities, who have answered\nyour earnest prayer; no, for they are bad d\u00e6mons, only under the guise\nof good ones! For the elementaries often clothe themselves with the\nsimilitude of the good, and assume a rank very much superior to that\nthey really occupy. Their boasting betrays them.\u201d[545]\n\nSome twenty years since, Baron Du Potet, disgusted with the\nindifference of the scientists, who persisted in seeing in the greatest\npsychological phenomena only the result of clever trickery, gave vent\nto his indignation in the following terms:\n\n\u201cHere am I, on my way, I may truly say, to the land of marvels! I am\npreparing to shock every opinion, and provoke laughter in our most\nillustrious scientists ... for I am convinced that _agents of an\nimmense potency_ exist _outside of us_; that they can _enter in us_;\nmove our limbs and organs; and use us as they please. It was, after\nall, the belief of our fathers and of the whole of antiquity. Every\nreligion admitted the reality of _spiritual agents_.... Recalling\ninnumerable phenomena which I have produced in the sight of thousands\nof persons, seeing the _beastly indifference_ of _official_ science, in\npresence of a discovery which transports the mind into the regions of\nthe unknown [sic]; an old man, at the very _moment when I ought to be {334}\njust being born_.... I am not sure if it would not have been better\nfor me to have shared the common ignorance.\n\n\u201cI have suffered calumnies to be written without refuting them....\nAt one time it is simple ignorance which speaks, and I am silent; at\nanother still, superficiality, raising its voice, makes a bluster, and\nI find myself hesitating whether or not to speak. Is this indifference\nor laziness? Has fear the power to paralyze my spirit? No; none of\nthese causes affect me; I know simply that it is necessary to prove\nwhat one asserts, and this restrains me. For, in justifying my\nassertions, in showing the living FACT, which proves my sincerity and\nthe truth, I translate OUTSIDE THE PRECINCTS OF THE TEMPLE the sacred\ninscription, WHICH NO PROFANE EYE SHOULD EVER READ.\n\n\u201cYou doubt sorcery and magic? O, truth! thy possession is a heavy\nburden!\u201d[546]\n\nWith a bigotry which one might search for in vain outside the church in\nwhose interest he writes, des Mousseaux quotes the above language, as\nproof positive that this devoted savant, and all who share his belief,\nhave given themselves over to the dominion of the _Evil One_!\n\nSelf-complacency is the most serious obstacle to the enlightenment\nof the modern spiritualist. His thirty years\u2019 experience with the\nphenomena seem to him sufficient to have established intermundane\nintercourse upon an unassailable basis. His thirty years have not only\nbrought to him the conviction that the dead communicate and thus prove\nthe spirit\u2019s immortality, but also settled in his mind an idea that\nlittle or nothing can be learned of the other world, except through\nmediums.\n\nFor the spiritualists, the records of the past either do not exist,\nor if they are familiar with its gathered treasures, they regard\nthem as having no bearing upon their own experiences. And yet, the\nproblems which so vex them, were solved thousands of years ago by the\ntheurgists, who have left the keys to those who will search for them\nin the proper spirit and with knowledge. Is it possible that nature\nhas changed her work, and that we are encountering different spirits\nand different laws from those of old? Or can any spiritualist imagine\nthat he knows more, or even as much about mediumistic phenomena or\nthe nature of various spirits, as a priest-caste who spent their\nlives in theurgical practice, which had been known and studied for\ncountless centuries? If the narratives of Owen and Hare, of Edmonds,\nand Crookes, and Wallace are credible, why not those of Herodotus,\nthe \u201cFather of History,\u201d of Iamblichus, and Porphyry, and hundreds of {335}\nother ancient authors? If the spiritualists have their phenomena under\ntest-conditions, so had the old theurgists, whose records, moreover,\nshow that they could produce and vary them at will. The day when\nthis fact shall be recognized, and profitless speculations of modern\ninvestigators shall give place to patient study of the works of the\ntheurgists, will mark the dawn of new and important discoveries in the\nfield of psychology.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X. {336}\n\n \u03a4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03ac\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u1fb6\u03bd \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u1f74\u03c1\u2014\u1f10\u03ba\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03b5.\n \u2014TAY.: _Lyd. de Mens._, 20.\n\n \u201cThe more powerful souls perceive truth through themselves, and\n are of a more inventive nature. Such souls are saved through\n their own strength, according to the oracle.\u201d\u2014PROCLUS in 1 Alc.\n\n \u201cSince the soul perpetually runs and _passes through all\n things_ in a certain space of time, which being performed, it\n is presently compelled to run back again through all things,\n and unfold the same web of generation in the world ... for\n as often as the same causes return, the same effects will in\n like manner be returned.\u201d\u2014FICIN. _de Im. An._, 129, _Chaldean\n Oracles_.\n\n \u201cIf not to some peculiar end assign\u2019d,\n Study\u2019s the specious trifling of the mind.\u201d\u2014YOUNG.\n\n\nFrom the moment when the f\u0153tal embryo is formed until the old man,\ngasping his last, drops into the grave, neither the beginning nor the\nend is understood by scholastic science; all before us is a blank,\nall after us chaos. For it there is no evidence as to the relations\nbetween spirit, soul, and body, either before or after death. The mere\nlife-principle itself presents an unsolvable enigma, upon the study\nof which materialism has vainly exhausted its intellectual powers.\nIn the presence of a corpse the skeptical physiologist stands dumb\nwhen asked by his pupil whence came the former tenant of that empty\nbox, and whither it has gone. The pupil must either, like his master,\nrest satisfied with the explanation that protoplasm made the man, and\nforce vitalized and will now consume his body, or he must go outside\nthe walls of his college and the books of its library to find an\nexplanation of the mystery.\n\nIt is sometimes as interesting as instructive to follow the two great\nrivals, science and theology, in their frequent skirmishes. Not all\nof the sons of the Church are as unsuccessful in their attempts at\nadvocacy as the poor Abb\u00e9 Moigno, of Paris. This respectable, and no\ndoubt well-meaning divine, in his fruitless attempt to refute the\nfree-thinking arguments of Huxley, Tyndall, Du Bois-Raymond, and many\nothers, has met with a sad failure. In his antidotal arguments his\nsuccess was more than doubtful, and, as a reward for his trouble, the\n\u201cCongregation of the Index\u201d forbids the circulation of his book among\nthe faithful.\n\nIt is a dangerous experiment to engage in a single-handed duel with\nscientists on topics which are well demonstrated by experimental\nresearch. In what they do _know_ they are unassailable, and until the\nold formula is destroyed by their own hands and replaced by a more\nnewly-discovered one, there is no use fighting against Achilles\u2014unless, {337}\nindeed, one is fortunate enough to catch the swift-footed god by his\nvulnerable heel. This heel is\u2014what they confess they do not know!\n\nThat was a cunning device to which a certain well-known preacher\nresorted to reach this mortal part. Before we proceed to narrate the\nextraordinary though well authenticated facts with which we intend\nto fill this chapter, it will be good policy to show once more how\nfallible is modern science as to every fact in nature which can\nbe tested neither by retort nor crucible. The following are a few\nfragments from a series of sermons by F. Felix, of Notre Dame, entitled\n_Mystery and Science_. They are worthy to be translated for and quoted\nin a work which is undertaken in precisely the same spirit as that\nexhibited by the preacher. For once the Church silenced for a time\nthe arrogance of her traditional enemy, in the face of the learned\nacademicians.\n\nIt was known that the great preacher, in response to the general\ndesire of the faithful, and perhaps to the orders of ecclesiastical\nsuperiors, had been preparing himself for a great oratorical effort,\nand the historic cathedral was filled with a monster congregation.\nAmid a profound silence he began his discourse, of which the following\nparagraphs are sufficient for our purpose:\n\n\u201cA portentous word has been pronounced against us to confront progress\nwith Christianity\u2014SCIENCE. Such is the formidable evocation with\nwhich they try to appall us. To all that we can say to base progress\nupon Christianity, they have always a ready response: that is not\n_scientific_. We say revelation; revelation is not scientific. We say\nmiracle; a miracle is not scientific.\n\n\u201cThus antichristianism, faithful to its tradition, and now more than\never, pretends to kill us by science. Principle _of darkness_, it\nthreatens us with light. It proclaims itself the light....\n\n\u201cA hundred times I asked myself, What is, then, that terrible science\nwhich is making ready to devour us?... Is it mathematical science?...\nbut we also have our mathematicians. Is it physics? Astronomy?\nPhysiology? Geology? But we number in Catholicism astronomers,\nphysicists, geologists,[547] and physiologists, who make somewhat of\na figure in the scientific world, who have their place in the Academy\nand their name in history. It would appear that what is to crush us is\nneither this nor that science, but science in general.\n\n\u201cAnd why do they prophesy the overthrow of Christianity by science?\nListen: ... we must perish by science because we teach mysteries, and\nbecause the Christian mysteries are in radical antagonism with modern {338}\nscience.... Mystery is the negation of common sense; science repels it;\nscience condemns it; she has spoken\u2014Anathema!\n\n\u201cAh! you are right; if Christian mystery is what you proclaim it, then\nin the name of science hurl the anathema at it. Nothing is antipathetic\nto science like the absurd and contradictory. But, glory be to the\ntruth! such is not the mystery of Christianity. If it were so, it\nwould remain for you to explain the most inexplicable of mysteries:\nhow comes it that, during nearly 2,000 years, so many superior minds\nand rare geniuses have embraced our mysteries, without thinking to\nrepudiate science or abdicate reason?[548] Talk as much as you like\nof your modern science, modern thought, and modern genius, there were\nscientists before 1789.\n\n\u201cIf our mysteries are so manifestly absurd and contradictory, how is it\nthat such mighty geniuses should have accepted them without a single\ndoubt?... But God preserve me from insisting upon demonstrating that\nmystery implies no contradiction with science!... Of what use to prove,\nby metaphysical abstractions, that science can reconcile itself with\nmystery, when all the realities of creation show unanswerably that\nmystery everywhere baffles science? You ask that we should show you,\nbeyond doubt, that exact science cannot admit mystery; I answer you\ndecidedly that she cannot escape it. Mystery is the FATALITY of science.\n\n\u201cShall we choose our proofs? First, then, look around at the purely\nmaterial world, from the smallest atom to the most majestic sun. There,\nif you try to embrace in the unity of a single law all these bodies\nand their movements, if you seek the word which explains, in this vast\npanorama of the universe, this prodigious harmony, where all seems to\nobey the empire of a single force, you pronounce a word to express it,\nand say _Attraction_!... Yes, attraction, this is the sublime epitome\nof the science of the heavenly bodies. You say that throughout space\nthese bodies recognize and attract each other; you say that they\nattract in proportion to their mass, and in inverse ratio with the\nsquares of their distances. And, in fact, until the present moment,\nnothing has happened to give the lie to this assertion, but everything\nhas confirmed a formula which now reigns sovereign in the EMPIRE OF\nHYPOTHESIS, and therefore it must henceforth enjoy the glory of being\nan invincible truism.\n\n\u201cGentlemen, with all my heart I make my scientific obeisances to the\nsovereignty of attraction. It is not I who would desire to obscure a\nlight in the world of matter which reflects upon the world of spirits. {339}\nThe empire of attraction, then, is palpable; it is sovereign; it\nstares us in the face!\n\n\u201cBut, what is this attraction? who has seen attraction? who has met\nattraction? who has touched attraction? How do these mute bodies,\n_intelligent_, insensible, exercise upon each other unconsciously\nthis reciprocity of action and reaction which holds them in a common\nequilibrium and unanimous harmony? _Is this force_ which draws sun\nto sun, and atom to atom, an invisible mediator which goes from one\nto another? And, in such case what is this mediator? whence comes to\nitself this force which mediates, and this power which embraces, from\nwhich the sun can no more escape than the atom. But is this force\nnothing different from the elements themselves which attract each\nother?... Mystery! Mystery!\n\n\u201cYes, gentlemen, this attraction which shines with such brightness\nthroughout the material world, remains to you at bottom an impenetrable\nmystery.... Well! because of its mystery, will you deny its reality,\nwhich touches you, and its domination, which subjugates you?... And\nagain, remark if you please, mystery is so much at the foundation of\nall science that if you should desire to exclude mystery, you would\nbe compelled to suppress science itself. _Imagine whatever science\nyou will_, follow the magnificent sweep of its deductions ... when\nyou arrive at its parent source, you come face to face with the\n_unknown_.[549]\n\n\u201cWho has been able to penetrate the secret of the formation of a body,\nthe generation of a single atom? What is there I will not say at the\ncentre of a sun, but at the centre of an atom? who has sounded to the\nbottom the abyss in a grain of sand? The grain of sand, gentlemen,\nhas been studied four thousand years by science, she has turned and\nreturned it; she divides it and subdivides it; she torments it with\nher experiments; she vexes it with her questions to snatch from it\nthe final word as to its secret constitution; she asks it, with an\ninsatiable curiosity: \u2018Shall I divide thee infinitesimally?\u2019 Then,\nsuspended over this abyss, science hesitates, she stumbles, she feels\ndazzled, she becomes dizzy, and, in despair says: I DO NOT KNOW!\n\n\u201cBut if you are so fatally ignorant of the genesis and hidden nature of\na grain of sand, how should you have an intuition as to the generation\nof a single living being? Whence in the living being does life come?\nWhere does it commence? What is the life-principle?\u201d[550]\n\nCan the scientists answer the eloquent monk? Can they escape from his {340}\npitiless logic? Mystery certainly does bound them on every side; and\nthe _Ultima Thule_, whether of Herbert Spencer, Tyndall, or Huxley, has\nwritten upon the closed portals the words INCOMPREHENSIBLE, UNKNOWABLE.\nFor the lover of metaphor, science may be likened to a twinkling\nstar shining with resplendent brightness through rifts in a bank of\ndensely-black clouds. If her votaries cannot define that mysterious\nattraction which draws into concrete masses the material particles\nwhich form the smallest pebble on the ocean-beach, how can they define\nthe limits at which the possible stops and the impossible begins?\n\nWhy should there be an attraction between the molecules of matter, and\nnone between those of spirit? If, out of the material portion of the\nether, by virtue of the inherent restlessness of its particles, the\nforms of worlds and their species of plants and animals can be evolved,\nwhy, out of the spiritual part of the ether, should not successive\nraces of beings, from the stage of monad to that of man, be developed;\neach lower form unfolding a higher one until the work of evolution is\ncompleted on our earth, in the production of immortal man? It will be\nseen that, for the moment, we entirely put aside the accumulated facts\nwhich prove the case, and submit it to the arbitrament of logic.\n\nBy whatsoever name the physicists may call the energizing principle\nin matter is of no account; it is a subtile something apart from the\nmatter itself, and, as it escapes their detection, it must be something\nbesides matter. If the law of attraction is admitted as governing the\none, why should it be excluded from influencing the other? Leaving\nlogic to answer, we turn to the common experience of mankind, and there\nfind a mass of testimony corroborative of the immortality of the soul,\nif we judge but from analogies. But we have more than that\u2014we have\nthe unimpeachable testimony of thousands upon thousands, that there\nis a regular science of the soul, which, notwithstanding that it is\nnow denied the right of a place among other sciences, _is_ a science.\nThis science, by penetrating the arcana of nature far deeper than our\nmodern philosophy ever dreamed possible, teaches us how to force the\n_invisible_ to become visible; the existence of elementary spirits; the\nnature and magical properties of the astral light; the power of living\nmen to bring themselves into communication with the former through\nthe latter. Let them examine the proofs with the lamp of experience,\nand neither the Academy nor the Church, for which Father Felix so\npersuasively spoke, can deny them.\n\nModern science is in a dilemma; it must concede our hypothesis to be\ncorrect, or admit the possibility of miracle. To do so, is to say\nthat there can be an infraction of natural law. If this can happen {341}\nin one case, what assurance have we that it may not be repeated\nindefinitely, and so destroy that fixity of law, that perfect balance\nof forces by which the universe is governed. This is a very ancient\nand an unanswerable argument. To deny the appearance, in our midst,\nof supersensual beings, when they have been seen, at various times\nand in various countries, by not merely thousands, but millions of\npersons, is unpardonable obstinacy; to say that, in any one instance,\nthe apparition has been produced by a miracle, fatal to the fundamental\nprinciple of science. What will they do? What can they do, when they\nshall have awakened from the benumbing stupor of their pride, but\ncollect the facts, and try to enlarge the boundaries of their field of\ninvestigations?\n\nThe existence of spirit in the common mediator, the ether, is denied\nby materialism; while theology makes of it a personal god, the\nkabalist holds that both are wrong, saying that in ether, the elements\nrepresent but matter\u2014the blind cosmic forces of nature; and Spirit, the\nintelligence which directs them. The Hermetic, Orphic, and Pythagorean\ncosmogonical doctrines, as well as those of Sanchoniathon and Berosus,\nare all based upon one irrefutable formula, viz.: that the ether and\nchaos, or, in the Platonic language, mind and matter, were the two\nprimeval and eternal principles of the universe, utterly independent of\nanything else. The former was the all-vivifying intellectual principle;\nthe chaos, a shapeless, liquid principle, without \u201cform or sense,\u201d from\nthe union of which two, sprung into existence the universe, or rather,\nthe universal world, the first androgenous deity\u2014the chaotic matter\nbecoming its body, and ether the soul. According to the phraseology of\na _Fragment of Hermias_, \u201cchaos, from this union with spirit, obtaining\n_sense_, shone with pleasure, and thus was produced the _Protogonos_\n(the first-born) light.\u201d[551] This is the universal trinity, based\non the metaphysical conceptions of the ancients, who, reasoning by\nanalogy, made of man, who is a compound of intellect and matter, the\nmicrocosm of the macrocosm, or great universe.\n\nIf we now compare this doctrine with the speculations of science, which\ncomes to a full stop at the Borderland of the unknown, and, while\nincompetent to solve the mystery, will allow no one else to speculate\nupon the subject; or, with the great theological dogma, that the world\nwas called into existence by a heavenly trick of prestidigitation; we\ndo not hesitate to believe that, in the absence of better proof, the\nHermetic doctrine is by far the more reasonable, highly metaphysical\nas it may appear. The universe is there, and we know that we exist;\nbut how did it come, and how did we appear in it? Denied an answer {342}\nby the rpresentatives of physical learning, and excommunicated and\nanathematized for our blasphemous curiosity by the spiritual usurpers,\nwhat can we do, but turn for information to the sages who meditated\nupon the subject ages before the molecules of our philosophers\naggregated in ethereal space?\n\nThis visible universe of spirit and matter, they say, is but the\nconcrete image of the ideal abstraction; it was built on the model\nof the first divine IDEA. Thus our universe existed from eternity in\na latent state. The soul animating this purely spiritual universe is\nthe central sun, the highest deity itself. It was not himself who\nbuilt the concrete form of his idea, but his first-begotten; and as it\nwas constructed on the geometrical figure of the dodecahedron,[552]\nthe first-begotten \u201cwas pleased to employ twelve thousand years in\nits creation.\u201d The latter number is expressed in the Tyrrhenian\ncosmogony,[553] which shows man created in the sixth millennium. This\nagrees with the Egyptian theory of 6,000 \u201cyears,\u201d[554] and with the\nHebrew computation. Sanchoniathon,[555] in his _Cosmogony_, declares\nthat when the wind (spirit) became enamored of its own principles (the\nchaos), an intimate union took place, which connection was called\n_pothos_, and from this sprang the seed of all. And the chaos knew not\nits own production, for it was _senseless_; but from its embrace with\nthe wind was generated m\u00f4t, or the ilus (mud).[556] From this proceeded\nthe spores of creation and the generation of the universe.\n\nThe ancients, who named but four elements, made of \u00e6ther a fifth one.\nOn account of its essence being made divine by the unseen presence\nit was considered as a medium between this world and the next. They\nheld that when the directing intelligences retired from any portion of\nether, one of the four kingdoms which they are bound to superintend,\nthe space was left in possession of _evil_. An adept who prepared to\nconverse with the \u201cinvisibles,\u201d had to know well his ritual, and be\nperfectly acquainted with the conditions required for the perfect\nequilibrium of the four elements in the astral light. First of all, he\nmust purify the essence, and within the circle in which he sought to\nattract the pure spirits, equilibrize the elements, so as to prevent\nthe ingress of the elementaries into their respective spheres. But woe\nto the imprudent inquirer who ignorantly trespasses upon forbidden\nground; danger will beset him at every step. He evokes powers that he\ncannot control; he arouses sentries which allow only their masters to\npass. For, in the words of the immortal Rosicrucian, \u201cOnce that thou\nhast resolved to become a co\u00f6perator with the spirit of the _living_ {343}\nGod, take care not to hinder Him in His work; for, if thy heat exceeds\nthe natural proportion thou hast stirr\u2019d the wrath of the _moyst[557]\nnatures_, and they will stand up against the _central fire_, and the\ncentral fire against them, and there will be a terrible division in\nthe _chaos_.\u201d[558] The spirit of harmony and union will depart from\nthe elements, disturbed by the imprudent hand; and the currents of\nblind forces will become immediately infested by numberless creatures\nof matter and instinct\u2014the bad d\u00e6mons of the theurgists, the devils\nof theology; the gnomes, salamanders, sylphs, and undines will assail\nthe rash performer under multifarious a\u00ebrial forms. Unable to invent\nanything, they will search your memory to its very depths; hence the\nnervous exhaustion and mental oppression of certain sensitive natures\nat spiritual circles. The elementals will bring to light long-forgotten\nremembrances of the past; forms, images, sweet mementos, and familiar\nsentences, long since faded from our own remembrance, but vividly\npreserved in the inscrutable depths of our memory and on the astral\ntablets of the imperishable \u201cBOOK OF LIFE.\u201d\n\nEvery organized thing in this world, visible as well as invisible,\nhas an element appropriate to itself. The fish lives and breathes in\nthe water; the plant consumes carbonic acid, which for animals and\nmen produces death; some beings are fitted for rarefied strata of\nair, others exist only in the densest. Life, to some, is dependent on\nsunlight, to others, upon darkness; and so the wise economy of nature\nadapts to each existing condition some living form. These analogies\nwarrant the conclusion that, not only is there no unoccupied portion of\nuniversal nature, but also that for each thing that has life, special\nconditions are furnished, and, being furnished, they are necessary.\nNow, assuming that there is an invisible side to the universe, the {344}\nfixed habit of nature warrants the conclusion that this half is\noccupied, like the other half; and that each group of its occupants\nis supplied with the indispensable conditions of existence. It is as\nillogical to imagine that identical conditions are furnished to all,\nas it would be to maintain such a theory respecting the inhabitants of\nthe domain of visible nature. That there are spirits implies that there\nis a diversity of spirits; for men differ, and human spirits are but\ndisembodied men.\n\nTo say that all spirits are alike, or fitted to the same atmosphere, or\npossessed of like powers, or governed by the same attractions\u2014electric,\nmagnetic, odic, astral, it matters not which\u2014is as absurd as though\none should say that all planets have the same nature, or that all\nanimals are amphibious, or all men can be nourished on the same food.\nIt accords with reason to suppose that the grossest natures among the\nspirits will sink to the lowest depths of the spiritual atmosphere\u2014in\nother words, be found nearest to the earth. Inversely, the purest would\nbe farthest away. In what, were we to coin a word, we should call the\n_Psychomatics_ of Occultism, it is as unwarrantable to assume that\neither of these grades of spirits can occupy the place, or subsist in\nthe conditions, of the other, as in hydraulics it would be to expect\nthat two liquids of different densities could exchange their markings\non the scale of Beaume\u2019s hydrometer.\n\nG\u00f6rres, describing a conversation he had with some Hindus of the\nMalabar coast, reports that upon asking them whether they had ghosts\namong them, they replied, \u201cYes, but we know them to be _bad spirits_\n... good ones can hardly ever appear at all. They are principally\nthe spirits of _suicides_ and _murderers_, or of those who die\nviolent deaths. They constantly flutter about and appear as phantoms.\nNight-time is favorable to them, they seduce the feeble-minded and\ntempt others in a thousand different ways.\u201d[559]\n\nPorphyry presents to us some hideous facts whose verity is\nsubstantiated in the experience of every student of magic. \u201cThe\n_soul_,\u201d[560] says he, \u201chaving even after death a certain affection for\nits body, an affinity proportioned to the violence with which their\nunion was broken, we see many spirits hovering in despair about their\nearthly remains; we even see them eagerly seeking the putrid remains\nof other bodies, but above all freshly-spilled blood, which seems to\nimpart to them for the moment some of the faculties of life.\u201d[561]\n\nLet spiritualists who doubt the theurgist, try the effect of about half {345}\na pound of freshly-drawn human blood at their next materializing seance!\n\n\u201cThe gods and the angels,\u201d says Iamblichus, \u201cappear to us among peace\nand harmony; the bad demons, in tossing everything in confusion.... As\nto the _ordinary souls_, we can perceive them more rarely, etc.\u201d[562]\n\n\u201cThe human soul (the astral body) is a demon that our language may\nname genius,\u201d says Apuleius.[563] \u201cShe is an _immortal god_, though in\na certain sense she is born at the same time as the man in whom she\nis. Consequently, we may say that she dies in the same way that she is\nborn.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe soul is born in this world upon leaving _another world_ (_anima\nmundi_), in which her existence precedes the one we all know (on\nearth). Thus, the gods who consider her proceedings in all the phases\nof various existences and as a whole, punish her sometimes for sins\ncommitted during an anterior life. She dies when she separates herself\nfrom a body in which she crossed this life as in a frail bark. And this\nis, if I mistake not, the secret meaning of the tumulary inscription,\nso simple for the initiate: \u201c_To the gods manes who lived._\u201d But this\nkind of death does not annihilate the soul, it only transforms it\ninto a _lemure_. Lemures are the manes or ghosts, which we know under\nthe name of lares. When they keep away and _show us a beneficient\nprotection_, we honor in them the protecting divinities of the family\nhearth; but, if their crimes sentence them to err, we call them\n_larv\u00e6_. They become a plague for the wicked, and the _vain terror_ of\nthe good.\u201d\n\nThis language can hardly be called ambiguous, and yet, the\nRe\u00efncarnationists quote Apuleius in corroboration of their theory that\nman passes through a succession of physical human births upon this\nplanet, until he is finally purged from the dross of his nature. But\nApuleius distinctly says that we come upon this earth from another one,\nwhere we had an existence, the recollection of which has faded away. As\nthe watch passes from hand to hand and room to room in a factory, one\npart being added here, and another there, until the delicate machine is\nperfected, according to the design conceived in the mind of the master\nbefore the work was begun; so, according to ancient philosophy, the\nfirst divine conception of man takes shape little by little, in the\nseveral departments of the universal workshop, and the perfect human\nbeing finally appears on our scene.\n\nThis philosophy teaches that nature never leaves her work {346}\nunfinished; if baffled at the first attempt, she tries again. When\nshe evolves a human embryo, the intention is that a man shall be\nperfected\u2014physically, intellectually, and spiritually. His body is\nto grow mature, wear out, and die; his mind unfold, ripen, and be\nharmoniously balanced; his divine spirit illuminate and blend easily\nwith the _inner_ man. No human being completes its grand cycle, or\nthe \u201ccircle of necessity,\u201d until all these are accomplished. As the\nlaggards in a race struggle and plod in their first quarter while the\nvictor darts past the goal, so, in the race of immortality, some souls\noutspeed all the rest and reach the end, while their myriad competitors\nare toiling under the load of matter, close to the starting-point. Some\nunfortunates fall out entirely, and lose all chance of the prize; some\nretrace their steps and begin again. This is what the Hindu dreads\nabove all things\u2014_transmigration_ and _re\u00efncarnation_; only on other\nand inferior planets, never on this one. But there is a way to avoid\nit, and Buddha taught it in his doctrine of poverty, restriction of\nthe senses, perfect indifference to the objects of this earthly vale\nof tears, freedom from passion, and frequent intercommunication with\nthe Atma\u2014soul-contemplation. The cause of re\u00efncarnation is ignorance\nof our senses, and the idea that there is any reality in the world,\nanything except abstract existence. From the organs of sense comes the\n\u201challucination\u201d we call contact; \u201cfrom contact, desire; from desire,\nsensation (which also is a deception of our body); from sensation, the\ncleaving to existing bodies; from this cleaving, reproduction; and from\nreproduction, disease, decay, and death.\u201d\n\nThus, like the revolutions of a wheel, there is a regular succession of\ndeath and birth, the moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing\nobjects, while the instrumental cause is _karma_ (the power which\ncontrols the universe, prompting it to activity), merit and demerit.\n\u201cIt is, therefore, the great desire of all beings who would be released\n_from the sorrows of successive birth_, to seek the destruction of the\nmoral cause, the cleaving to existing objects, or evil desire.\u201d They,\nin whom evil desire is entirely destroyed, are called _Arhats_.[564]\nFreedom from evil desire insures the possession of a _miraculous_\npower. At his death, the Arhat is never re\u00efncarnated; he invariably\nattains Nirvana\u2014a word, by the bye, falsely interpreted by the\nChristian scholars and skeptical commentators. Nirvana is the world\nof _cause_, in which all deceptive effects or delusions of our senses\ndisappear. Nirvana is the highest attainable sphere. The _pitris_ (the\npre-Adamic spirits) are considered as _re\u00efncarnated_, by the Buddhistic\nphilosopher, though in a degree far superior to that of the man of\nearth. Do they not die in their turn? Do not their astral bodies {347}\nsuffer and rejoice, and feel the same curse of illusionary feelings as\nwhen embodied?\n\nWhat Buddha taught in the sixth century, B.C., in India, Pythagoras\ntaught in the fifth, in Greece and Italy. Gibbon shows how deeply the\nPharisees were impressed with this belief in the transmigration of\nsouls.[565] The Egyptian circle of necessity is ineffaceably stamped\non the hoary monuments of old. And Jesus, when healing the sick,\ninvariably used the following expression: \u201cThy sins are forgiven thee.\u201d\nThis is a pure Buddhistical doctrine. \u201cThe Jews said to the blind\nman: Thou wast _altogether born in sins_, and dost thou teach us? The\ndoctrine of the disciples (of Christ) is analogous to the \u2018Merit and\nDemerit\u2019 of the Buddhists; for the sick recovered, _if their sins were\nforgiven_.\u201d[566] But, this _former life_ believed in by the Buddhists,\nis not a life _on this_ planet, for, more than any other people, the\nBuddhistical philosopher appreciated the great doctrine of cycles.\n\nThe speculations of Dupuis, Volney, and Godfrey Higgins on the secret\nmeaning of the cycles, or the _kalpas_ and the yogs of the Brahmans\nand Buddhists, amounted to little, as they did not have the key to the\nesoteric, spiritual doctrine therein contained. No philosophy ever\nspeculated on God as an _abstraction_, but considered Him under His\nvarious manifestations. The \u201cFirst Cause\u201d of the Hebrew Bible, the\nPythagorean \u201cMonad,\u201d the \u201cOne Existence\u201d of the Hindu philosopher,\nand the kabalistic \u201cEn-Soph\u201d the _Boundless_\u2014are identical. The Hindu\nBhagavant does not create; he enters the egg of the world, and\nemanates from it as Brahm, in the same manner as the Pythagorean\nDuad evolves from the highest and solitary Monas.[567] The Monas of {348}\nthe Samian philosopher is the Hindu Monas (mind), \u201cwho has no first\ncause (ap\u00fbrva, or material cause), nor is liable to destruction.\u201d[568]\nBrahma, as Praj\u00e2pati, manifests himself first of all as \u201ctwelve\nbodies,\u201d or attributes, which are represented by the twelve gods,\nsymbolizing 1, Fire; 2, the Sun; 3, Soma, which gives omniscience; 4,\nall living Beings; 5, Vayn, or material Ether; 6, Death, or breath of\ndestruction\u2014Siva; 7, Earth; 8, Heaven; 9, Agni, the Immaterial Fire;\n10, Aditya, the immaterial and female invisible Sun; 11, Mind; 12, the\ngreat Infinite Cycle, \u201cwhich is not to be stopped.\u201d[569] After that,\nBrahma dissolves himself into the Visible Universe, every atom of which\nis himself. When this is done, the not-manifested, indivisible, and\nindefinite Monas retires into the undisturbed and majestic solitude\nof its unity. _The_ manifested deity, a duad at first, now becomes a\ntriad; its triune quality emanates incessantly spiritual powers, who\nbecome immortal gods (souls). Each of these souls must be united in\nits turn with a human being, and from the moment of its consciousness\nit commences a series of births and deaths. An Eastern artist has\nattempted to give pictorial expression to the kabalistic doctrine of\nthe cycles. The picture covers a whole inner wall of a subterranean\ntemple in the neighborhood of a great Buddhistic pagoda, and is\nstrikingly suggestive. Let us attempt to convey some idea of the\ndesign, as we recall it.\n\nImagine a given point in space as the primordial one; then with\ncompasses draw a circle around this point; where the beginning and\nthe end unite together, emanation and reabsorption meet. The circle\nitself is composed of innumerable smaller circles, like the rings\nof a bracelet, and each of these minor rings forms the belt of\nthe goddess which represents that sphere. As the curve of the arc\napproaches the ultimate point of the semi-circle\u2014the nadir of the\ngrand cycle\u2014at which is placed our planet by the mystical painter, the\nface of each successive goddess becomes more dark and hideous than\nEuropean imagination is able to conceive. Every belt is covered with\nthe representations of plants, animals, and human beings, belonging\nto the fauna, flora, and anthropology of that particular sphere.\nThere is a certain distance between each of the spheres, purposely\nmarked; for, after the accomplishment of the circles through various {349}\ntransmigrations, the soul is allowed a time of temporary nirvana,\nduring which space of time the atma loses all remembrance of past\nsorrows. The intermediate ethereal space is filled with strange beings.\nThose between the highest ether and the earth below are the creatures\nof a \u201cmiddle nature;\u201d nature-spirits, or, as the kabalists term it\nsometimes, the elementary.\n\nThis picture is either a copy of the one described to posterity\nby Berosus, the priest of the temple of Belus, at Babylon, or the\noriginal. We leave it to the shrewdness of the modern arch\u00e6ologist\nto decide. But the wall is covered with precisely such creatures\nas described by the semi-demon, or half-god, Oannes, the Chaldean\nman-fish,[570] \u201c ... hideous beings, which were produced of a two-fold\nprinciple\u201d the astral light and the grosser matter.\n\nEven remains of architectural relics of the earliest races have been\nsadly neglected by antiquarians, until now. The caverns of Ajunta,\nwhich are but 200 miles from Bombay, in the Chandor range, and the\nruins of the ancient city of Aurungabad, whose crumbling palaces and\ncurious tombs have lain in desolate solitude for many centuries,\nhave attracted attention but very recently. Mementos of long bygone\ncivilization, they were allowed to become the shelter of wild beasts\nfor ages before they were found worthy of a scientific exploration,\nand it is only recently that the _Observer_ gave an enthusiastic\ndescription of these archaic ancestors of Herculaneum and Pompeii.\nAfter justly blaming the local government which \u201chas provided a\nbungalow where the traveller may find shelter and safety, but that is\nall,\u201d it proceeds to narrate the wonders to be seen in this retired\nspot, in the following words:\n\n\u201cIn a deep glen away up the mountain there is a group of cave-temples\nwhich are the most wonderful caverns on the earth. It is not known at\nthe present age how many of these exist in the deep recesses of the\nmountains; but twenty-seven have been explored, surveyed, and, to some\nextent, cleared of rubbish. There are, doubtless, many others. It is\nhard to realize with what indefatigable toil these wonderful caves have\nbeen hewn from the solid rock of amygdaloid. They are said to have been\nwholly Buddhist in their origin, and were used for purposes of worship\nand asceticism. They rank very high as works of art. They extend over\n500 feet along a high cliff, and are carved in the most curious manner,\nexhibiting, in a wonderful degree, the taste, talent, and persevering\nindustry of the Hindu sculptors.\n\n\u201cThese cave-temples are beautifully cut and carved on the outside; but {350}\ninside they were finished most elaborately, and decorated with a vast\nprofusion of sculptures and paintings. These long-deserted temples have\nsuffered from dampness and neglect, and the paintings and frescoes are\nnot what they were hundreds of years ago. But the colors are still\nbrilliant, and scenes gay and festive still appear upon the walls.\nSome of the figures cut in the rock are taken for marriage-processions\nand scenes in domestic life that are represented as joyful. The female\nfigures are beautiful, delicate, and fair as Europeans. Every one of\nthese representations is artistic, and all of them are unpolluted\nby any grossness or obscenity generally so prominent in Brahmanical\nrepresentations of a similar character.\n\n\u201cThese caves are visited by a great number of antiquarians, who are\nstriving to decipher the hieroglyphics inscribed on the walls and\ndetermine the age of these curious temples.\n\n\u201cThe ruins of the ancient city of Aurungabad are not very far from\nthese caves. It was a walled city of great repute, but is now deserted.\nThere are not only broken walls, but crumbling palaces. They were built\nof immense strength, and some of the walls appear as solid as the\neverlasting hills.\n\n\u201cThere are a great many places in this vicinity where there are Hindu\nremains, consisting of deep caves and rock-cut temples. Many of\nthese temples are surrounded by a circular enclosure, which is often\nadorned with statues and columns. The figure of an elephant is very\ncommon, placed before or beside the opening of a temple, as a sort of\nsentinel. Hundreds and thousands of niches are beautifully cut in the\nsolid rock, and when these temples were thronged with worshippers,\neach niche had a statue or image, usually in the florid style of these\nOriental sculptures. It is a sad truth that almost every image here\nis shamefully defaced and mutilated. It is often said that no Hindu\nwill bow down to an imperfect image, and that the Mahometans, knowing\nthis, purposely mutilated all these images to prevent the Hindus from\nworshipping them. This is regarded by the Hindus as sacrilegious and\nblasphemous, awakening the keenest animosities, which every Hindu\ninherits from his father, and which centuries have not been able to\nefface.\n\n\u201cHere also are the remains of buried cities\u2014sad ruins\u2014generally\nwithout a single inhabitant. In the grand palaces where royalty once\ngathered and held festivals, wild beasts find their hiding-places. In\nseveral places the track of the railway has been constructed over or\nthrough these ruins, and the material has been used for the bed of the\nroad.... Enormous stones have remained in their places for thousands of\nyears, and probably will for thousands of years to come. These rock {351}\ncut temples, as well as these mutilated statues, show a workmanship\nthat no work now being done by the natives can equal.[571] It is very\nevident that hundreds of years since these hills were alive with a vast\nmultitude, where now it is all utter desolation, without cultivation or\ninhabitants, and given over to wild beasts.\n\n\u201cIt is good hunting ground, and, as the English are mighty hunters,\nthey may prefer to have these mountains and ruins remain without\nchange.\u201d\n\nWe fervently hope they will. Enough vandalism was perpetrated in\nearlier ages to permit us the hope that at least in this century of\nexploration and learning, science, in its branches of arch\u00e6ology and\nphilology, will not be deprived of these most precious records, wrought\non imperishable tablets of granite and rock.\n\nWe will now present a few fragments of this mysterious doctrine of\nre\u00efncarnation\u2014as distinct from metempsychosis\u2014which we have from\nan authority. Re\u00efncarnation, _i.e._, the appearance of the same\nindividual, or rather of his astral monad, twice on the same planet,\nis not a rule in nature; it is an exception, like the teratological\nphenomenon of a two-headed infant. It is preceded by a violation of\nthe laws of harmony of nature, and happens only when the latter,\nseeking to restore its disturbed equilibrium, violently throws back\ninto earth-life the astral monad which had been tossed out of the\ncircle of necessity by crime or accident. Thus, in cases of abortion,\nof infants dying before a certain age, and of congenital and incurable\nidiocy, nature\u2019s original design to produce a perfect human being has\nbeen interrupted. Therefore, while the gross matter of each of these\nseveral entities is suffered to disperse itself at death, through\nthe vast realm of being, the immortal spirit and astral monad of the\nindividual\u2014the latter having been set apart to animate a frame and the\nformer to shed its divine light on the corporeal organization\u2014must try\na second time to carry out the purpose of the creative intelligence.\n\nIf reason has been so far developed as to become active and\ndiscriminative, there is no re\u00efncarnation on this earth, for the three\nparts of the triune man have been united together, and he is capable\nof running the race. But when the new being has not passed beyond the\ncondition of monad, or when, as in the idiot, the trinity has not been\ncompleted, the immortal spark which illuminates it, has to re\u00ebnter on\nthe earthly plane as it was frustrated in its first attempt. Otherwise, {352}\nthe mortal or astral, and the immortal or divine, souls, could not\nprogress in unison and pass onward to the sphere above. Spirit follows\na line parallel with that of matter; and the spiritual evolution goes\nhand in hand with the physical. As in the case exemplified by Professor\nLe Conte (vide chap, ix.), \u201cthere is no force in nature\u201d and the rule\napplies to the spiritual as well as to the physical evolution\u2014\u201cwhich\nis capable of raising at once spirit or matter from No. 1 to No. 3, or\nfrom 2 to 4, without stopping and receiving an accession of force of a\ndifferent kind _on the intermediate plane_.\u201d That is to say, the monad\nwhich was imprisoned in the elementary being\u2014the rudimentary or lowest\nastral form of the future man\u2014after having passed through and quitted\nthe _highest_ physical shape of a dumb animal\u2014say an orang-outang,\nor again an elephant, one of the most intellectual of brutes\u2014that\nmonad, we say, cannot skip over the physical and intellectual sphere\nof the terrestrial man, and be suddenly ushered into the spiritual\nsphere above. What reward or punishment can there be in that sphere\nof disembodied human entities for a f\u0153tus or a human embryo which had\nnot even time to breathe on this earth, still less an opportunity to\nexercise the divine faculties of the spirit? Or, for an irresponsible\ninfant, whose senseless monad remaining dormant within the astral and\nphysical casket, could as little prevent him from burning himself as\nanother person to death? Or for one idiotic from birth, the number of\nwhose cerebral circumvolutions is only from twenty to thirty per cent.\nof those of sane persons;[572] and who therefore is irresponsible for\neither his disposition, acts, or the imperfections of his vagrant,\nhalf-developed intellect?\n\nNo need to remark that if even hypothetical, this theory is no more\nridiculous than many others considered as strictly orthodox. We must\nnot forget that either through the inaptness of the specialists or some\nother reason, physiology itself is the least advanced or understood of\nsciences, and that some French physicians, with Dr. Fourni\u00e9, positively\ndespair of ever progressing in it beyond pure hypotheses.\n\nFurther, the same occult doctrine recognizes another possibility;\nalbeit so rare and so vague that it is really useless to mention it.\nEven the modern Occidental occultists deny it, though it is universally\naccepted in Eastern countries. When, through vice, fearful crimes\nand animal passions, a disembodied spirit has fallen to the eighth\nsphere\u2014the allegorical Hades, and the _gehenna_ of the Bible\u2014the\nnearest to our earth\u2014he can, with the help of that glimpse of reason\nand consciousness left to him, repent; that is to say, he can, by\nexercising the remnants of his will-power, strive upward, and like a {353}\ndrowning man, struggle once more to the surface. In the _Magical and\nPhilosophical Precepts_ of Psellus, we find one which, warning mankind,\nsays:\n\n \u201cStoop not down, for a precipice lies below the earth,\n Drawing _under a descent of_ SEVEN _steps_, beneath which\n Is the throne of dire necessity.\u201d[573]\n\nA strong aspiration to retrieve his calamities, a pronounced desire,\nwill draw him once more into the earth\u2019s atmosphere. Here he will\nwander and suffer more or less in dreary solitude. His instincts will\nmake him seek with avidity contact with living persons.... These\nspirits are the invisible but too tangible magnetic vampires; the\n_subjective_ d\u00e6mons so well known to medi\u00e6val ecstatics, nuns, and\nmonks, to the \u201cwitches\u201d made so famous in the _Witch-Hammer_; and to\ncertain sensitive clairvoyants, according to their own confessions.\nThey are the blood-d\u00e6mons of Porphyry, the _larv\u00e6_, and _lemures_ of\nthe ancients; the fiendish instruments which sent so many unfortunate\nand weak victims to the rack and stake. Origen held all the d\u00e6mons\nwhich possessed the demoniacs mentioned in the _New Testament_ to be\n_human_ \u201cspirits.\u201d It is because Moses knew so well what they were,\nand how terrible were the consequences to weak persons who yielded\nto their influence, that he enacted the cruel, murderous law against\nsuch would-be \u201cwitches;\u201d but Jesus, full of justice and divine love to\nhumanity, _healed_ instead of _killing_ them. Subsequently our clergy,\nthe pretended exemplars of Christian principles, followed the law of\nMoses, and quietly ignored the law of Him whom they call their \u201cone\nliving God,\u201d by burning dozens of thousands of such pretended \u201cwitches.\u201d\n\nWitch! mighty name, which in the past contained the promise of\nignominious death; and in the present has but to be pronounced to\nraise a whirlwind of ridicule, a tornado of sarcasms! How is it then\nthat there have always been men of intellect and learning, who never\nthought that it would disgrace their reputation for learning, or lower\ntheir dignity, to publicly affirm the possibility of such a thing as\na \u201cwitch,\u201d in the correct acceptation of the word. One such fearless\nchampion was Henry More, the learned scholar of Cambridge, of the\nseventeenth century. It is well worth our while to see how cleverly he\nhandled the question.\n\nIt appears that about the year 1678, a certain divine, named John\nWebster, wrote _Criticisms and Interpretations of Scripture_, against\nthe existence of witches, and other \u201csuperstitions.\u201d Finding the work\n\u201ca weak and impertinent piece,\u201d Dr. More criticised it in a letter to\nGlanvil, the author of _Sadducismus Triumphatus_, and as an appendix {354}\nsent a treatise on witchcraft and explanations of the word witch,\nitself. This document is very rare, but we possess it in a fragmentary\nform in an old manuscript, having seen it mentioned besides only in an\ninsignificant work of 1820, on _Apparitions_, for it appears that the\ndocument itself was long since out of print.\n\nThe words _witch_ and _wizard_, according to Dr. More, signify no more\nthan a wise man or a wise woman. In the word _wizard_, it is plain at\nthe very sight; and \u201cthe most plain and least operose deduction of the\nname witch, is from _wit_, whose derived adjective might be _wittigh_\nor _wittich_, and by contraction, afterwards witch; as the noun wit is\nfrom the verb to _weet_, which is, to know. So that a witch, thus far,\nis no more than a knowing woman; which answers exactly to the Latin\nword _saga_, according to that of Festus, _sag\u00e6 dict\u00e6 anus qu\u00e6 multa\nsciunt_!\u201d\n\nThis definition of the word appears to us the more plausible, as it\nexactly answers the evident meaning of the Slavonian-Russian names for\nwitches and wizards. The former is called _vy\u00e8dma_, and the latter\n_vy\u00e8dmak_, both from the verb to _know_, _v\u00e9dat_ or _vyed\u00e2t_; the root,\nmoreover, being positively Sanscrit. \u201cVeda,\u201d says Max M\u00fcller, in his\n_Lecture on the Vedas_, \u201cmeans originally knowing, or knowledge. Veda\nis the same word which appears in Greek \u03bf\u1f36\u03b4\u03b1, I know [the digamma,\n_vau_ being omitted], and in the English wise, wisdom, to wit.\u201d[574]\nFurthermore, the Sanscrit word _vidma_, answering to the German _wir\nwissen_, means literally \u201c_we know_.\u201d It is a great pity that the\neminent philologist, while giving in his lecture the Sanscrit, Greek,\nGothic, Anglo-Saxon, and German comparative roots of this word, has\nneglected the Slavonian.\n\nAnother Russian appellation for _witch_ and _wizard_, the former being\npurely Slavonian, is _zn\u00e2h\u00e2r_ and _zn\u00e2harka_ (feminine) from the same\nverb _zn\u00e2t_ to know. Thus Dr. More\u2019s definition of the word, given in\n1678, is perfectly correct, and coincides in every particular with\nmodern philology.\n\n\u201cUse,\u201d says this scholar, \u201cquestionless had appropriated the word to\nsuch a kind of skill and knowledge as was out of the common road or\nextraordinary. _Nor did this peculiarity imply any unlawfulness._ But\nthere was after a further restriction, in which alone now-a-days the\nwords _witch_ and _wizard_ are used. And that is, for one that has the\nknowledge and skill of doing or telling things in an extraordinary\nway, and that in virtue of either an express or implicit sociation or\nconfederacy with some _bad spirits_.\u201d In the clause of the severe law\nof Moses, so many names are reckoned up with that of witch, that it\nis difficult as well as useless to give here the definition of every\none of them as found in Dr. More\u2019s able treatise. \u201cThere shall not be {355}\nfound among you any one that useth divination, or an observer of time,\nor an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar\nspirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer,\u201d says the text. We will show,\nfurther on, the real object of such severity. For the present, we will\nremark that Dr. More, after giving a learned definition of every one\nof such appellations, and showing the value of their real meaning in\nthe days of Moses, proves that there is a vast difference between the\n\u201cenchanters,\u201d \u201cobservers of time,\u201d etc., and a witch. \u201cSo many names\nare reckoned up in this prohibition of Moses, that, as in our common\nlaw, the sense may be more sure, and leave no room to evasion. And that\nthe name of \u2018witch\u2019 is not from any tricks of legerdemain as in common\njugglers, that delude the sight of the people at a market or fair, but\nthat it is the name of such as raise magical spectres to deceive men\u2019s\nsight, and so are most certainly witches\u2014women and men who have a _bad\nspirit_ in them. \u2018Thou shalt not suffer\u2019 \u05de\u05db\u05e9\u05e4\u05d4 _mecassephah_, that is,\n\u2018a witch, to live.\u2019 Which would be a law of extreme severity, or rather\ncruelty, against a poor hocus-pocus for his tricks of legerdemain.\u201d\n\nThus, it is but the sixth appellation, that of a consulter with\nfamiliar spirits or a witch, that had to incur the greatest penalty\nof the law of Moses, for it is only a _witch_ which must _not_ be\nsuffered to live, while all the others are simply enumerated as such\nwith whom the people of Israel were forbidden to communicate on account\nof their idolatry or rather religious views and learning chiefly. This\nsixth word is \u05e9\u05d0\u05d9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d5\u05d1, _shoel aub_, which our English translation\nrenders, \u201ca consulter with familiar spirits;\u201d but which the Septuagint\ntranslates, \u0395\u03b3\u03b3\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03bc\u03c5\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2, one that has a familiar spirit _inside_ him,\none possessed with the spirit of divination, which was considered to\nbe Python by the Greeks, and _obh_ by the Hebrews, the old serpent; in\nits esoteric meaning the spirit of concupiscence and _matter_; which,\naccording to the kabalists, is always an elementary _human_ spirit of\nthe eighth sphere.\n\n\u201c_Shoel obh_, I conceive,\u201d says Henry More, \u201cis to be understood of\nthe witch herself who asks counsel of her or his familiar. The reason\nof the name _obh_, was taken first from that spirit that was in the\nbody of the party, and swelled it to a protuberancy, the voice always\nseeming to come out as from a bottle, for which reason they were named\n_ventriloquists_. _Ob_ signifies as much as _Pytho_, which at first\ntook its name from the _pythii vates_, a spirit that tells hidden\nthings, or things to come. In _Acts_ XVI. 16, \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03cd\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c0\u1f7a\u03b8\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, when\n\u201cPaul being grieved, turned and said to that spirit, I command thee, in\nthe name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and he came out at the\nsame hour.\u201d Therefore, the words obsessed or _possessed_ are synonyms\nof the word _witch_; nor could this _pytho_ of the eighth sphere come {356}\nout of her, unless it was a spirit distinct from her. And so it is that\nwe see in _Leviticus_ XX. 27: \u201cA man also or woman that hath a familiar\nspirit, or that is a wizard (an irresponsible _jidegnoni_) shall surely\nbe put _to death_, they shall stone them with stones, _their blood\nshall be_ upon them.\u201d\n\nA cruel and unjust law beyond doubt, and one which gives the lie to\na recent utterance of \u201cSpirits,\u201d by the mouth of one of the most\npopular _inspirational_ mediums of the day, to the effect that modern\nphilological research proves that the Mosaic law never contemplated\nthe killing of the poor \u201cmediums\u201d or _witches_ of the _Old Testament_,\nbut that the words, \u201cthou shalt not suffer a witch _to live_,\u201d meant\nto live by their mediumship, that is, to gain their livelihood! An\ninterpretation no less ingenius than novel. Certainly, nowhere short\nof the source of such _inspiration_ could we find such philological\nprofundity![575]\n\n\u201cShut the door in the face of the d\u00e6mon,\u201d says the _Kabala_, \u201cand he\nwill keep running away from you, as if you pursued him,\u201d which means,\nthat you must not give a hold on you to such spirits of obsession by\nattracting them into an atmosphere of congenial sin.\n\nThese d\u00e6mons seek to introduce themselves into the bodies of the\nsimple-minded and idiots, and remain there until dislodged therefrom\nby a powerful and _pure_ will. Jesus, Apollonius, and some of the\napostles, had the power to cast out _devils_, by purifying the\natmosphere _within_ and _without_ the patient, so as to force the\nunwelcome tenant to flight. Certain volatile salts are particularly\nobnoxious to them; and the effect of the chemicals used in a saucer,\nand placed under the bed by Mr. Varley, of London,[576] for the purpose {357}\nof keeping away some disagreeable physical phenomena at night, are\ncorroborative of this great truth. Pure or even simply inoffensive\nhuman spirits fear nothing, for having rid themselves of _terrestrial_\nmatter, terrestrial compounds can affect them in no wise; such spirits\nare like a _breath_. Not so with the earth-bound souls and the\nnature-spirits.\n\nIt is for these carnal terrestrial _larv\u00e6_, degraded human spirits,\nthat the ancient kabalists entertained a hope of _re\u00efncarnation_. But\nwhen, or how? At a fitting moment, and if helped by a sincere desire\nfor his amendment and repentance by some strong, sympathizing person,\nor the will of an adept, or even a desire emanating from the erring\nspirit himself, provided it is powerful enough to make him throw off\nthe burden of sinful matter. Losing all consciousness, the once bright\nmonad is caught once more into the vortex of our terrestrial evolution,\nand it repasses the subordinate kingdoms, and again breathes as a\nliving child. To compute the time necessary for the completion of this\nprocess would be impossible. Since there is no perception of time in\neternity, the attempt would be a mere waste of labor.\n\nAs we have said, but few kabalists believe in it, and this doctrine\noriginated with certain astrologers. While casting up the nativities\nof certain historical personages renowned for some peculiarities of\ndisposition, they found the conjunction of the planets answering\nperfectly to remarkable oracles and prophesies about other persons\nborn ages later. Observation, and what would now be termed \u201cremarkable\ncoincidences,\u201d added to revelation during the \u201csacred sleep\u201d of the\nneophyte, disclosed the dreadful truth. So horrible is the thought that\neven those who ought to be convinced of it prefer ignoring it, or at\nleast avoid speaking on the subject.\n\nThis way of obtaining oracles was practiced in the highest antiquity.\nIn India, this sublime lethargy is called \u201cthe sacred sleep of * * *.\u201d\nIt is an oblivion into which the subject is thrown by certain magical\nprocesses, supplemented by draughts of the juice of the soma. The body\nof the sleeper remains for several days in a condition resembling\ndeath, and by the power of the adept is purified of its earthliness and {358}\nmade fit to become the temporary receptacle of the brightness of the\nimmortal Augoeides. In this state the torpid body is made to reflect\nthe glory of the upper spheres, as a burnished mirror does the rays\nof the sun. The sleeper takes no note of the lapse of time, but upon\nawakening, after four or five days of trance, imagines he has slept\nbut a few moments. What his lips utter he will never know; but as it\nis the spirit which directs them they can pronounce nothing but divine\ntruth. For the time being the poor helpless clod is made the shrine\nof the sacred presence, and converted into an oracle a thousand times\nmore infallible than the asphyxiated Pythoness of Delphi; and, unlike\nher mantic frenzy, which was exhibited before the multitude, this holy\nsleep is witnessed only within the sacred precinct by those few of the\nadepts who are worthy to stand in the presence of the ADONAI.\n\nThe description which Isaiah gives of the purification necessary for a\nprophet to undergo before he is worthy to be the mouthpiece of heaven,\napplies to the case in point. In customary metaphor he says: \u201cThen flew\none of the seraphim unto me having a live coal in his hand, which he\nhad taken with the tongs from off the altar ... and he laid it upon my\nmouth and said, Lo! this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is\ntaken away.\u201d\n\nThe invocation of his own Augoeides, by the purified adept, is\ndescribed in words of unparalleled beauty by Bulwer-Lytton in _Zanoni_,\nand there he gives us to understand that the slightest touch of mortal\npassion unfits the hierophant to hold communion with his spotless soul.\nNot only are there few who can successfully perform the ceremony, but\neven these rarely resort to it except for the instruction of some\nneophytes, and to obtain knowledge of the most solemn importance.\n\nAnd yet how little is the knowledge treasured up by these hierophants\nunderstood or appreciated by the general public! \u201cThere is another\ncollection of writings and traditions bearing the title of _Kabala_,\nattributed to Oriental scholars,\u201d says the author of _Art-Magic_; \u201cbut\nas this remarkable work is of little or no value without a key, which\n_can only be furnished by Oriental fraternities_, its transcript would\nbe of no value to the general reader.\u201d[577] And how they are ridiculed\nby every Houndsditch commercial traveller who wanders through India in\npursuit of \u201corders\u201d and writes to the _Times_, and misrepresented by\nevery nimble-fingered trickster who pretends to show by legerdemain, to\nthe gaping crowd, the feats of true Oriental magicians!\n\nBut, notwithstanding his unfairness in the Algerian affair, Robert\nHoudin, an authority on the art of prestidigitation, and Moreau-Cinti, {359}\nanother, gave honest testimony in behalf of the French mediums. They\nboth testified, when cross-examined by the Academicians, that none but\nthe \u201cmediums\u201d could possibly produce the phenomena of table-rapping and\nlevitation without a suitable preparation and furniture adapted for\nthe purpose. They also showed that the so-called \u201clevitations without\ncontact\u201d were feats utterly beyond the power of the _professional_\njuggler; that for them, such levitations, unless produced in a room\nsupplied with secret machinery and concave mirrors, was _impossible_.\nThey added moreover, that the simple apparition of a diaphanous hand,\nin a place in which confederacy would be rendered impossible, the\nmedium having been previously searched, would be a demonstration that\nit was the work _of no human agency_, whatever else that agency might\nbe. The _Si\u00e8cle_, and other Parisian newspapers immediately published\ntheir suspicions that these two professional and very clever gentlemen\nhad become the confederates of the spiritists!\n\nProfessor Pepper, director of the Polytechnic Institute of London,\ninvented a clever apparatus to produce spiritual appearances on the\nstage, and sold his patent in 1863, in Paris, for the sum of 20,000\nfrancs. The phantoms looked real and were evanescent, being but an\neffect produced by the reflection of a highly-illuminated object upon\nthe surface of plate-glass. They seemed to appear and disappear, to\nwalk about the stage and play their parts to perfection. Sometimes one\nof the phantoms placed himself on a bench; after which, one of the\nliving actors would begin quarrelling with him, and, seizing a heavy\nhatchet, would part the head and body of the ghost in two. But, joining\nhis two parts again, the spectre would reappear, a few steps off,\nto the amazement of the public. The contrivance worked marvellously\nwell, and nightly attracted large crowds. But to produce these ghosts\nrequired a stage-apparatus, and more than one confederate. There were\nnevertheless some reporters who made this exhibition the pretext for\nridiculing the _spiritists_\u2014as though the two classes of phenomena had\nthe slightest connection!\n\nWhat the Pepper ghosts pretended to do, genuine disembodied human\nspirits, when their reflection is materialized by the elementals, can\nactually perform. They will permit themselves to be perforated with\nbullets or the sword, or to be dismembered, and then instantly form\nthemselves anew. But the case is different with both cosmic and human\nelementary spirits, for a sword or dagger, or even a pointed stick,\nwill cause them to vanish in terror. This will seem unaccountable to\nthose who do not understand of what a material substance the elementary\nare composed; but the kabalists understand perfectly. The records of\nantiquity and of the middle ages, to say nothing of the modern wonders\nat Cideville, which have been judicially attested for us, corroborate\nthese facts.\n\nSkeptics, and even skeptical spiritualists, have often unjustly accused {360}\nmediums of fraud, when denied what they considered their inalienable\nright to test the spirits. But where there is one such case, there\nare fifty in which spiritualists have permitted themselves to be\npracticed upon by tricksters, while they neglected to appreciate\ngenuine manifestations procured for them by their mediums. Ignorant of\nthe laws of mediumship, such do not know that when an honest medium is\nonce taken possession of by spirits, whether disembodied or elemental,\nhe is no longer his own master. He cannot control the actions of the\nspirits, nor even his own. They make him a puppet to dance at their\npleasure while they pull the wires behind the scenes. The false medium\nmay seem entranced, and yet be playing tricks all the while; while the\nreal medium may appear to be in full possession of his senses, when in\nfact he is far away, and his body is animated by his \u201cIndian guide,\u201d\nor \u201ccontrol.\u201d Or, he may be entranced in his cabinet, while his astral\nbody (double) or _doppelganger_, is walking about the room moved by\nanother intelligence.\n\nAmong all the phenomena, that of _re-percussion_, closely allied with\nthose of bi-location and a\u00ebrial \u201ctravelling,\u201d is the most astounding.\nIn the middle ages it was included under the head of sorcery. De\nGasparin, in his refutations of the miraculous character of the marvels\nof Cideville, treats of the subject at length; but these pretended\nexplanations were all in their turn exploded by de Mirville and des\nMousseaux, who, while failing in their attempt to trace the phenomena\nback to the Devil, did, nevertheless, prove their spiritual origin.\n\n\u201cThe prodigy of re-percussion,\u201d says des Mousseaux, \u201coccurs when a\nblow aimed at the spirit, visible or otherwise, of an absent _living_\nperson, or at the phantom which represents him, strikes this person\nhimself, at the same time, and in the very place at which the spectre\nor his double is touched! We must suppose, therefore, that the blow is\nre-percussed, and that it reaches, as if rebounding, from the image of\nthe living person\u2014his phantasmal[578] duplicate\u2014the original, wherever\nhe may be, in flesh and blood.\n\n\u201cThus, for instance, an individual appears before me, or, remaining\ninvisible, declares war, threatens, and causes me to be threatened with\nobsession. I strike at the place where I perceive his phantom, where I\nhear him moving, where I feel _somebody_, something which molests and\nresists me. I strike; the blood will appear sometimes on this place,\nand occasionally a scream may be heard; _he_ is wounded\u2014perhaps, dead!\nIt is done, and I have explained the fact.\u201d[579]\n\n\u201cNotwithstanding that, at the moment I struck him, his presence in {361}\nanother place is authentically proved; ... I saw\u2014yes, I saw plainly\nthe phantom hurt upon the cheek or shoulder, and this same wound is\nfound precisely on the living person, re-percussed upon his cheek or\nshoulder. Thus, it becomes evident that the facts of re-percussion have\nan intimate connection with those of bi-location or _duplication_,\neither spiritual or corporeal.\u201d\n\nThe history of the Salem witchcraft, as we find it recorded in the\nworks of Cotton Mather, Calef, Upham, and others, furnishes a curious\ncorroboration of the fact of the double, as it also does of the\neffects of allowing elementary spirits to have their own way. This\ntragical chapter of American history has never yet been written in\naccordance with the truth. A party of four or five young girls had\nbecome \u201cdeveloped\u201d as mediums, by sitting with a West Indian negro\nwoman, a practitioner of _Obeah_. They began to suffer all kinds of\nphysical torture, such as pinching, having pins stuck in them, and the\nmarks of bruises and teeth on different parts of their bodies. They\nwould declare that they were hurt by the spectres of various persons,\nand we learn from the celebrated _Narrative of Deodat Lawson_ (London,\n1704), that \u201csome of them confessed that they did afflict the sufferers\n(_i. e._, these young girls), according to the time and manner they\nwere accused thereof; and, being asked what they did to afflict them,\nsome said that they pricked pins into poppets, made with rags, wax,\nand other materials. One that confessed after the signing of her\ndeath-warrant, said she used to afflict them by clutching and pinching\nher hands together, and _wishing_ in what part and after what manner\nshe would have them afflicted, and _it was done_.\u201d[580]\n\nMr. Upham tells us that Abigail Hobbs, one of these girls, acknowledged\nthat she had confederated with the Devil, who \u201ccame to her in the shape\nof a man,\u201d and commanded her to afflict the girls, bringing images\nmade of wood in their likeness, with thorns for her to prick into the\nimages, which she did; whereupon, the girls cried out that they were\nhurt by her.\u201d\n\nHow perfectly these facts, the validity of which was proven by {362}\nunimpeachable testimony in court, go to corroborate the doctrine of\nParacelsus. It is surpassingly strange that so ripe a scholar as Mr.\nUpham should have accumulated into the 1,000 pages of his two volumes\nsuch a mass of legal evidence, going to show the agency of earth-bound\nsouls and tricksy nature-spirits in these tragedies, without suspecting\nthe truth.\n\nAges ago, the old Ennius was made by Lucretius to say:\n\n \u201cBis duo sunt hominis, manes, caro, _spiritus_ umbra;\n Quatuor ista loci bis duo suscipirent;\n Terra tegit carnem;\u2014tumulum circumvolat umbra,\n Orcus habet manes.\u201d\n\nIn this present case, as in every similar one, the scientists, being\nunable to explain the fact, assert that _it cannot exist_.\n\nBut we will now give a few historical instances going to show that\nsome daimons, or elementary spirits, are afraid of sword, knife, or\nany thing sharp. We do not pretend to explain the reason. That is the\nprovince of physiology and psychology. Unfortunately, physiologists\nhave not yet been able to even establish the relations between speech\nand thought, and so, have handed it over to the metaphysicians, who,\nin their turn, according to Fourni\u00e9, have done nothing. Done nothing,\nwe say, but claimed everything. No fact could be presented to some of\nthem, that was too large for these learned gentlemen to at least try\nto stuff into their pigeon-holes, labelled with some fancy Greek name,\nexpressive of everything else but the true nature of the phenomenon.\n\n\u201cAlas, alas! my son!\u201d exclaims the wise Muphti, of Aleppo, to his\nson Ibrahim, who choked himself with the head of a huge fish. \u201cWhen\nwill you realize that your stomach is smaller than the ocean?\u201d Or,\nas Mrs. Catherine Crowe remarks in her _Night-Side of Nature_, when\nwill our scientists admit that \u201ctheir intellects are no measure of God\nAlmighty\u2019s designs?\u201d\n\nWe will not ask which of the ancient writers mention facts of\nseemingly-_supernatural_ nature; but rather which of them does not?\nIn Homer, we find Ulysses evoking the spirit of his friend, the\nsoothsayer Tiresias. Preparing for the ceremony of the \u201cfestival of\nblood,\u201d Ulysses draws his sword, and thus frightens away the thousands\nof phantoms attracted by the sacrifice. The friend himself, the\nso-long-expected Tiresias, dares not approach him so long as Ulysses\nholds the dreaded weapon in his hand.[581] \u00c6neas prepares to descend to\nthe kingdom of the shadows, and as soon as they approach its entrance, {363}\nthe Sibyl who guides him utters her warning to the Trojan hero, and\norders him to draw his sword and clear himself a passage through the\ndense crowd of flitting forms:\n\n \u201c_Tuque invade viam, vagin\u00e2que eripe ferrum._\u201d[582]\n\nGlanvil gives a wonderful narrative of the apparition of the \u201cDrummer\nof Tedworth,\u201d which happened in 1661; in which the _scin-lecca_,\nor double, of the drummer-sorcerer was evidently very much afraid\nof the sword. Psellus, in his work,[583] gives a long story of his\nsister-in-law being thrown into a most fearful state by an elementary\n_daimon_ taking possession of her. She was finally cured by a conjurer,\na foreigner named Anaphalangis, who began by threatening the invisible\noccupant of her body with a _naked sword_, until he finally dislodged\nhim. Psellus introduces a whole catechism of demonology, which he gives\nin the following terms, as far as we remember:\n\n\u201cYou want to know,\u201d asked the conjurer, \u201cwhether the bodies of the\nspirits can be hurt by sword or any other weapon?[584] Yes, they can.\nAny hard substance striking them can make them sensible to pain; and\nthough their bodies be made neither of solid nor firm substance, they\nfeel it the same, for in beings endowed with sensibility it is not\ntheir nerves only which possess the faculty of feeling, but likewise\nalso the spirit which resides in them ... the body of a spirit can be\nsensible in its _whole_, as well as in each one of its parts. Without\nthe help of any physical organism the spirit sees, hears, and if you\ntouch him feels your touch. If you divide him in two, he will feel\nthe pain as would any living man, for he is _matter_ still, though so\nrefined as to be generally invisible to our eye.... One thing, however,\ndistinguishes him from the living man, viz.: that when a man\u2019s limbs\nare once divided, their parts cannot be reunited very easily. But,\ncut a _demon_ in two, and you will see him immediately join himself\ntogether. As water or air closes in behind a solid body[585] passing\nthrough it, and no trace is left, so does the body of a demon condense\nitself again, when the penetrative weapon is withdrawn from the wound.\nBut every rent made in it causes him pain nevertheless. _That is why\ndaimons_ dread the point of a sword or any sharp weapon. Let those who\nwant to see them flee try the experiment.\u201d\n\nOne of the most learned scholars of his century, Bodin, the {364}\nDemonologian, held the same opinion, that both the human and cosmical\nelementaries \u201cwere sorely afraid of swords and daggers.\u201d It is also\nthe opinion of Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Plato. Plutarch mentions\nit several times. The practicing theurgists knew it well and acted\naccordingly; and many of the latter assert that \u201cthe demons suffer from\nany rent made in their bodies.\u201d Bodin tells us a wonderful story to\nthis effect, in his work _On the D\u00e6mons_, p. 292.\n\n\u201cI remember,\u201d says the author, \u201cthat in 1557 an elemental demon, one\nof those who are called _thundering_, fell down _with the lightning_,\ninto the house of Poudot, the shoemaker, and immediately began\nflinging stones all about the room. We picked up so many of them that\nthe landlady filled a large chest full, after having securely closed\nthe windows and doors and locked the chest itself. But it did not\nprevent the demon in the least from introducing other stones into the\nroom, but without injuring any one for all that. Latomi, who was then\n_Quarter-President_,[586] came to see what was the matter. Immediately\nupon his entrance, the spirit knocked the cap off his head and made\nhim run away. It had lasted for over six days, when M. Jean Morgnes,\nCounsellor at the _Presidial_, came to fetch me to see the mystery.\nWhen I entered the house, some one advised the master of it to pray to\nGod with all his heart and to wheel round a sword in the air about the\nroom; he did so. On that following day the landlady told us, that from\nthat very moment they did not hear the least noise in the house; but\nthat during the seven previous days that it lasted they could not get a\nmoment\u2019s rest.\u201d\n\nThe books on the witchcraft of the middle ages are full of such\nnarratives. The very rare and interesting work of Glanvil, called\n_Sadducismus Triumphatus_, ranks with that of Bodin, above mentioned,\nas one of the best. But we must give space now to certain narratives of\nthe more ancient philosophers, who explain at the same time that they\ndescribe.\n\nAnd first in rank for wonders comes Proclus. His list of facts, most\nof which he supports by the citation of witnesses\u2014sometimes well-known\nphilosophers\u2014is staggering. He records many instances in his time of\ndead persons who were found to have changed their recumbent positions\nin the sepulchre, for one of either sitting or standing, which he\nattributes to their being _larv\u00e6_, and which he says \u201cis related by\nthe ancients of Aristius, Epimenides, and Hermodorus.\u201d He gives five\nsuch cases from the history of Clearchus, the disciple of Aristotle.\n1. Cleonymus, the Athenian. 2. Polykritus, an illustrious man among\nthe \u00c6olians. It is related by the historian Nomachius, that Polykritus\ndied, and returned in the ninth month after his death. \u201cHiero, the {365}\nEphesian, and other historians,\u201d says his translator, Taylor, \u201ctestify\nto the truth of this.\u201d 3. In Nicopolis, the same happened to one\nEurinus. The latter revived on the fifteenth day after his burial, and\nlived for some time after that, leading an exemplary life. 4. Rufus, a\npriest of Thessalonica, restored to life the third day after his death,\nfor the purpose of performing certain sacred ceremonies according to\npromise; he fulfilled his engagement, and died again to return no more.\n5. This is the case of one Philon\u00e6a, who lived under the reign of\nPhilip. She was the daughter of Demostratus and Charito of Amphipolos.\nMarried against her wish to one Kroterus, she died soon after. But\nin the sixth month after her death, she revived, as Proclus says:\n\u201cthrough her love of a youth named Machates, who came to her father\nDemostratus, from Pella.\u201d She visited him for many nights successively,\nbut when this was finally discovered, she, or rather the vampire that\nrepresented her, died of rage. Previous to this she declared that she\nacted in this manner according to the will of _terrestrial demons_.\nHer dead body was seen at this second death by every one in the town,\nlying in her father\u2019s house. On opening the vault, where her body had\nbeen deposited, it was found empty by those of her relatives, who being\nincredulous upon that point, went to ascertain the truth. The narrative\nis corroborated by the _Epistles of Hipparchus_ and those of Arrid\u00e6us\nto Philip.[587]\n\nSays Proclus: \u201cMany other of the ancients have collected a history of\nthose that have apparently died, and afterward revived. Among these is\nthe natural philosopher Demokritus. In his writings concerning Hades,\nhe affirms that [in a certain case under discussion] death was not,\nas it seemed, an entire desertion of the whole life of the body, but\na cessation caused by some blow, or perhaps a wound; but the bonds of\nthe soul yet remained rooted about the marrow, and the heart contained\nin its profundity the empyreuma of life; and this remaining, it again\nacquired the life, which had been extinguished, in consequence of being\nadapted to animation.\u201d\n\nHe says again, \u201cThat it is possible for the soul to depart from and\nenter into the body, is evident from him, who, according to Clearchus,\nused a _soul-attracting wand_ on a sleeping boy; and who persuaded\nAristotle, as Clearchus relates in his _Treatise on Sleep_, that the\nsoul may be separated from the body, and that it enters into a body and\nuses it as a lodging. For, striking the boy with the wand, he drew out,\nand, as it were, led his soul, for the purpose of evincing that the {366}\nbody was immovable when the soul (astral body) was at a distance from\nit, and that it was preserved uninjured; but the soul being again led\ninto the body by means of the wand, after its entrance, narrated every\nparticular. From this circumstance, therefore, both the spectators and\nAristotle were persuaded that the soul is separate from the body.\u201d\n\nIt may be considered quite absurd to recall so often the facts of\nwitchcraft, in the full light of the nineteenth century. But the\ncentury itself is getting old; and as it gradually approaches the fatal\nend, it seems as if it were falling into dotage; not only does it\nrefuse to recollect how abundantly the facts of witchcraft were proven,\nbut it refuses to realize what has been going on for the last thirty\nyears, all over the wide world. After a lapse of several thousand\nyears we may doubt the magic powers of the Thessalonian priests and\ntheir \u201csorceries,\u201d as mentioned by Pliny;[588] we may throw discredit\nupon the information given us by Suidas, who narrates Medea\u2019s journey\nthrough the air, and thus forget that magic was the highest knowledge\nof natural philosophy; but how are we to dispose of the frequent\noccurrence of precisely such journeys \u201cthrough the air\u201d when they\nhappen before our own eyes, and are corroborated by the testimony of\nhundreds of apparently sane persons? If the universality of a belief\nbe a proof of its truth, few facts have been better established than\nthat of sorcery. \u201cEvery people, from the rudest to the most refined, we\nmay also add in every age, have believed in the kind of supernatural\nagency, which we understand by this term,\u201d says Thomas Wright, the\nauthor of _Sorcery and Magic_, and a skeptical member of the National\nInstitute of France. \u201cIt was founded on the equally extensive creed,\nthat, besides our own visible existence, we live in an invisible world\nof spiritual beings, by which our actions _and even our thoughts_\nare often guided, and which have a certain degree of power over the\nelements and over the ordinary course of organic life.\u201d Further,\nmarvelling how this mysterious science flourished everywhere, and\nnoticing several famous schools of magic in different parts of Europe,\nhe explains the time-honored belief, and shows the difference between\nsorcery and magic as follows: \u201cThe magician differed from the witch in\nthis, that, _while the latter was an ignorant instrument in the hands\nof the demons, the former had become their master by the powerful\nintermediation of Science_, which was only within reach of the few,\nand which these beings were unable to disobey.\u201d[589] This delineation,\nestablished and known since the days of Moses, the author gives as\nderived from \u201cthe most authentic sources.\u201d\n\nIf from this unbeliever we pass to the authority of an adept in that {367}\nmysterious science, the anonymous author of _Art-Magic_, we find him\nstating the following: \u201cThe reader may inquire wherein consists the\ndifference between a medium and a magician?... The medium is one\nthrough whose astral spirit other spirits can manifest, making their\npresence known by various kinds of phenomena. Whatever these consist\nin, the medium is only a passive agent in their hands. He can _neither\ncommand_ their presence, nor _will_ their absence; can never compel the\nperformance of any special act, nor direct its nature. The magician,\non the contrary, _can summon and dismiss spirits at will_; can perform\nmany feats of occult power through his own spirit; can compel the\npresence and assistance of spirits of lower grades of being than\nhimself, and effect transformations in the realm of nature upon animate\nand inanimate bodies.\u201d[590]\n\nThis learned author forgot to point out a marked distinction in\nmediumship, with which he must have been entirely familiar. Physical\nphenomena are the result of the manipulation of forces through the\nphysical system of the medium, by the unseen intelligences, of\nwhatever class. In a word, physical mediumship depends on a peculiar\norganization of the _physical_ system; spiritual mediumship, which\nis accompanied by a display of subjective, intellectual phenomena,\ndepends upon a like peculiar organization of the _spiritual_ nature\nof the medium. As the potter from one lump of clay fashions a vessel\nof dishonor, and from another a vessel of honor, so, among physical\nmediums, the plastic astral spirit of one may be prepared for a certain\nclass of objective phenomena, and that of another for a different\none. Once so prepared, it appears difficult to alter the phase of\nmediumship, as when a bar of steel is forged into a certain shape,\nit cannot be used for any other than its original purpose without\ndifficulty. As a rule, mediums who have been developed for one class of\nphenomena rarely change to another, but repeat the same performance _ad\ninfinitum_.\n\nPsychography, or the direct writing of messages by spirits, partakes of\nboth forms of mediumship. The writing itself is an objective physical\nfact, while the sentiments it contains may be of the very noblest\ncharacter. The latter depend entirely on the moral state of the medium.\nIt does not require that he should be educated, to write philosophical\ntreatises worthy of Aristotle, nor a poet, to write verses that would\nreflect honor upon a Byron or a Lamartine; but it does require that\nthe soul of the medium shall be pure enough to serve as a channel for\nspirits who are capable of giving utterance to such lofty sentiments.\n\nIn _Art-Magic_, one of the most delightful pictures presented to us {368}\nis that of an innocent little child-medium, in whose presence, during\nthe past three years, four volumes of MSS., in the ancient Sanscrit,\nhave been written by the spirits, without pens, pencils, or ink. \u201cIt\nis enough,\u201d says the author, \u201cto lay the blank sheets on a tripod,\ncarefully screened from the direct rays of light, but still dimly\nvisible to the eyes of attentive observers. The child sits on the\nground and lays her head on the tripod, embracing its supports with her\nlittle arms. In this attitude she most commonly sleeps for an hour,\nduring which time the sheets lying on the tripod are filled up with\nexquisitely formed characters in the ancient Sanscrit.\u201d This is so\nremarkable an instance of psychographic mediumship, and so thoroughly\nillustrates the principle we have above stated, that we cannot refrain\nfrom quoting a few lines from one of the Sanscrit writings, the more so\nas it embodies that portion of the Hermetic philosophy relating to the\nantecedent state of man, which elsewhere we have less satisfactorily\ndescribed.\n\n\u201cMan lives on many earths before he reaches this. Myriads of\nworlds swarm in space where the soul in rudimental states performs\nits pilgrimages, ere he reaches the large and shining planet\nnamed the Earth, the glorious function of which is to confer\n_self-consciousness_. At this point only is he man; at every other\nstage of his vast, wild journey he is but an embryonic being\u2014a\nfleeting, temporary shape of matter\u2014a creature in which a _part_, but\nonly a part, of the high, imprisoned soul shines forth; a rudimental\nshape, with rudimental functions, ever living, dying, sustaining a\nflitting spiritual existence as rudimental as the material shape from\nwhence it emerged; a butterfly, springing up from the chrysalitic\nshell, but ever, as it onward rushes, in new births, new deaths, new\nincarnations, anon to die and live again, but still stretch upward,\nstill strive onward, still rush on the giddy, dreadful, toilsome,\nrugged path, until it awakens once more\u2014once more to live and be a\nmaterial shape, a thing of dust, a creature of flesh and blood, but\nnow\u2014_a man_.\u201d[591]\n\nWe witnessed once in India a trial of psychical skill between a\nholy _gossein_[592] and a sorcerer,[593] which recurs to us in this\nconnection. We had been discussing the relative powers of the fakir\u2019s\nPitris,\u2014pre-Adamite spirits, and the juggler\u2019s invisible allies. A\ntrial of skill was agreed upon, and the writer was chosen as a referee.\nWe were taking our noon-day rest, beside a small lake in Northern\nIndia. Upon the surface of the glassy water floated innumerable aquatic\nflowers, and large shining leaves. Each of the contestants plucked a\nleaf. The fakir, laying his against his breast, folded his hands across {369}\nit, and fell into a momentary trance. He then laid the leaf, with its\nsurface downward, upon the water. The juggler pretended to control the\n\u201cwater-master,\u201d the spirit dwelling in the water; and boasted that\nhe would compel the _power_ to prevent the Pitris from manifesting\nany phenomena upon the fakir\u2019s leaf in _their_ element. He took his\nown leaf and tossed it upon the water, after going through a form\nof barbarous incantation. It at once exhibited a violent agitation,\nwhile the other leaf remained perfectly motionless. After the lapse\nof a few seconds, both leaves were recovered. Upon that of the fakir\nwere found\u2014much to the indignation of the juggler\u2014something that\nlooked like a symmetrical design traced in milk-white characters, as\nthough the juices of the plant had been used as a corrosive writing\nfluid. When it became dry, and an opportunity was afforded to examine\nthe lines with care, it proved to be a series of exquisitely-formed\nSanscrit characters; the whole composed a sentence embodying a high\nmoral precept. The fakir, let us add, could neither read nor write.\nUpon the juggler\u2019s leaf, instead of writing, was found the tracing of\na most hideous, impish face. Each leaf, therefore, bore an impression\nor allegorical reflection of the character of the contestant, and\nindicated the quality of spiritual beings with which he was surrounded.\nBut, with deep regret, we must once more leave India, with its blue sky\nand mysterious past, its religious devotees and its weird sorcerers,\nand on the enchanted carpet of the historian, transport ourselves back\nto the musty atmosphere of the French Academy.\n\nTo appreciate the timidity, prejudice, and superficiality which\nhave marked the treatment of psychological subjects in the past, we\npropose to review a book which lies before us. It is the _Histoire du\nMerveilleux dans les Temps Modernes_. The work is published by its\nauthor, the learned Dr. Figuier, and teems with quotations from the\nmost conspicuous authorities in physiology, psychology, and medicine.\nDr. Calmeil, the well-known director-in-chief of Charenton, the\nfamous lunatic asylum of France, is the robust Atlas on whose mighty\nshoulders rests this world of erudition. As the ripe fruit of the\nthought of 1860 it must forever keep a place among the most curious of\nworks of _art_. Moved by the restless demon of science, determined to\nkill superstition\u2014and, as a consequence, spiritism\u2014at one blow, the\nauthor affords us a summary view of the most remarkable instances of\nmediumistic phenomena during the last two centuries.\n\nThe discussion embraces the Prophets of Cevennes, the Camisards, the\nJansenists, the Abb\u00e9 Paris, and other historical epidemics, which,\nas they have been described during the last twenty years by nearly\nevery writer upon the modern phenomena, we will mention as briefly\nas possible. It is not _facts_ that we desire to bring again under {370}\ndiscussion, but merely the way in which such facts were regarded and\ntreated by those who, as physicians and recognized authorities, had the\ngreater responsibility in such questions. If this prejudiced author is\nintroduced to our readers at this time, it is only because his work\nenables us to show what occult facts and manifestations may expect from\northodox science. When the most world-renowned psychological epidemics\nare so treated, what will induce a materialist to seriously study\nother phenomena as well authenticated and as interesting, but still\nless popular? Let it be remembered that the reports made by various\ncommittees to their respective academies at that time, as well as the\nrecords of the judicial tribunals, are still in existence, and may be\nconsulted for purposes of verification. It is from such unimpeachable\nsources that Dr. Figuier compiled his extraordinary work. We must give,\nat least, in substance, the unparalleled arguments with which the\nauthor seeks to demolish every form of supernaturalism, together with\nthe commentaries of the demonological des Mousseaux, who, in one of his\nworks,[594] pounces upon his skeptical victim like a tiger upon his\nprey.\n\nBetween the two champions\u2014the materialist and the bigot\u2014the unbiassed\nstudent may glean a good harvest.\n\nWe will begin with the Convulsionaires of Cevennes, the epidemic of\nwhose astounding phenomena occurred during the latter part of 1700. The\nmerciless measures adopted by the French Catholics to extirpate the\nspirit of prophecy from an entire population, is historical, and needs\nno repetition here. The fact alone that a mere handful of men, women,\nand children, not exceeding 2,000 persons in number, could withstand\nfor years king\u2019s troops, which, with the militia, amounted to 60,000\nmen, is a miracle in itself. The marvels are all recorded, and the\n_proc\u00e8s verbaux_ of the time preserved in the Archives of France until\nthis day. There is in existence an official report among others, which\nwas sent to Rome by the ferocious Abb\u00e9 Chayla, the prior of Laval, in\nwhich he complains that the _Evil One_ is so powerful, that no torture,\nno amount of inquisitory exorcism, is able to dislodge him from the\nCevennois. He adds, that he closed their hands upon burning coals, and\nthey were not even singed; that he had wrapped their whole persons in\n_cotton soaked with oil, and had set them on fire_, and in many cases\ndid not find one blister on their skins; that balls were shot at them,\nand found flattened between the skin and clothes, without injuring\nthem, etc., etc.\n\nAccepting the whole of the above as a solid groundwork for his\nlearned arguments, this is what Dr. Figuier says: \u201cToward the close\nof the seventeenth century, an old maid imports into Cevennes the {371}\nspirit of prophecy. She communicates it (?) to young boys and girls,\nwho transpire it in their turn, and spread it in the surrounding\natmosphere.... Women and children become the most sensitive to the\ninfection\u201d (vol. ii., p. 261). \u201cMen, women, and _babies_ speak under\ninspiration, not in ordinary _patois_, but in the purest French\u2014a\nlanguage at that time utterly unknown in the country. Children of\ntwelve months, and even less, as we learn from the _proc\u00e8s verbaux_,\nwho previously could hardly utter a few short syllables, spoke\nfluently, and prophesied.\u201d \u201cEight thousand prophets,\u201d says Figuier,\n\u201cwere scattered over the country; doctors and eminent physicians were\nsent for.\u201d Half of the medical schools of France, among others, the\nFaculty of Montpellier, hastened to the spot. Consultations were held,\nand the physicians declared themselves \u201cdelighted, lost in wonder and\nadmiration, upon hearing young girls and boys, ignorant and illiterate,\ndeliver discourses on things _they had never learned_.\u201d[595] The\nsentence pronounced by Figuier against these treacherous professional\nbrethren, for being so delighted with the young prophets, is that they\n\u201cdid not understand, themselves, what they saw.\u201d[596] Many of the\nprophets forcibly communicated their spirit to those who tried to break\nthe spell.[597] A great number of them were _between three and twelve\nyears_ of age; still others _were at the breast_, and spoke French\ndistinctly and correctly.[598] These discourses, which often lasted for\nseveral hours, would have been impossible to the little orators, were\nthe latter in their natural or normal state.[599]\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d asks the reviewer, \u201cwhat was the meaning of such a series of\nprodigies, all of them freely admitted in Figuier\u2019s book? No meaning\nat all! It was nothing,\u201d he says, \u201cexcept the effect of a \u2018momentary\nexaltation of the intellectual faculties.\u2019\u201d[600] \u201cThese phenomena,\u201d he\nadds, \u201care observable in many of the cerebral affections.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Momentary exaltation_, lasting for many hours _in the brains of\nbabies under one year old_, not weaned yet, speaking good French before\nthey had learned to say one word in their own _patois_! Oh, miracle of\nphysiology! _Prodigy_ ought to be thy name!\u201d exclaims des Mousseaux.\n\n\u201cDr. Calmeil, in his work on insanity,\u201d remarks Figuier, \u201cwhen\nreporting on the ecstatic _theomania_ of the Calvinists, concludes\nthat the disease must be attributed \u201cin the simpler cases to HYSTERIA,\nand in those of more serious character to _epilepsy_.... We rather\nincline to the opinion,\u201d says Figuier, \u201cthat it was a disease _sui {372}\ngeneris_, and in order to have an appropriate name for such a disease,\nwe must be satisfied with the one of the Trembling Convulsionaires of\nCevennes.\u201d[601]\n\n_Theomania_ and _hysteria_, again! The medical corporations must\nthemselves be possessed with an incurable _atomomania_; otherwise why\nshould they give out such absurdities for science, and hope for their\nacceptance?\n\n\u201cSuch was the fury for exorcising and _roasting_,\u201d continues Figuier,\n\u201cthat monks saw possessions by demons everywhere when they felt in need\nof miracles to either throw more light on the omnipotency of the Devil,\nor keep their dinner-pot boiling at the convent.\u201d[602]\n\nFor this sarcasm the pious des Mousseaux expresses a heartfelt\ngratitude to Figuier; for, as he remarks, \u201che is _in France_ one of\nthe first writers whom we find, to our surprise, _not denying_ the\nphenomena which have been made long since _undeniable_. Moved by a\nsense of lofty superiority and even disdain for the method used by his\npredecessors. Dr. Figuier desires his readers to know that he does\n_not_ follow the same path as they. \u2018We will not reject,\u2019 says he, \u2018as\nbeing unworthy of credit, _facts_ only because they are embarrassing\nfor our system. On the contrary, we will collect all of the facts that\nthe same historical evidence has transmitted to us ... and which,\nconsequently, are entitled to the same credence, and it is upon the\nwhole mass of such facts that we will base the _natural explanation_,\nwhich we have to offer, in our turn, as a sequel to those of the\nsavants who have preceded us on this subject.\u2019\u201d[603]\n\nThereupon, Dr. Figuier proceeds.[604] He takes a few steps, and,\nplacing himself right in the midst of the Convulsionaires of St.\nMedard, he invites his readers to scrutinize, under his direction,\n_prodigies_ which are for him but simple effects of nature.\n\nBut before we proceed, in our turn, to show Dr. Figuier\u2019s opinion, we\nmust refresh the reader\u2019s memory as to what the Jansenist miracles\ncomprised, according to historical evidence.\n\nAbb\u00e9 Paris was a Jansenist, who died in 1727. Immediately after his\ndecease the most surprising phenomena began to occur at his tomb. The\nchurchyard was crowded from morning till night. Jesuits, exasperated at\nseeing heretics perform wonders in healing, and other works, got from\nthe magistrates an order to close all access to the tomb of the Abb\u00e9.\nBut, notwithstanding every opposition, the wonders lasted for over\ntwenty years. Bishop Douglas, who went to Paris for that sole purpose\nin 1749, visited the place, and he reports that the miracles were\nstill going on among the Convulsionaires. When every endeavor to stop\nthem failed, the Catholic clergy were forced to admit their reality, {373} \nbut screened themselves, as usual, behind the Devil. Hume, in his\n_Philosophical Essays_, says: \u201cThere surely never was so great a number\nof miracles ascribed to one person as those which were lately said to\nhave been wrought in France upon the tomb of the Abb\u00e9 Paris. The curing\nof the sick, giving hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind, were\neverywhere talked of as the effects of the holy sepulchre. But, what\nis more extraordinary, many of the miracles were immediately proved\n_upon the spot_, before judges of unquestioned credit and distinction,\nin a learned age, and on the most eminent theatre that is now in the\nworld ... nor were the Jesuits, though a learned body, supported by the\ncivil magistrates, and determined enemies to those opinions in whose\nfavor the miracles were said to have been wrought, ever able distinctly\nto refute or detect them ... such is historic evidence.\u201d[605] Dr.\nMiddleton, in his _Free Enquiry_, a book which he wrote at a period\nwhen the manifestations were already decreasing, _i. e._, about\nnineteen years after they had first begun, declares that the evidence\nof these miracles is fully as strong as that of the wonders recorded of\nthe Apostles.\n\nThe phenomena so well authenticated by thousands of witnesses before\nmagistrates, and in spite of the Catholic clergy, are among the most\nwonderful in history. Carr\u00e9 de Montgeron, a member of parliament\nand a man who became famous for his connection with the Jansenists,\nenumerates them carefully in his work. It comprises four thick quarto\nvolumes, of which the first is dedicated to the king, under the title:\n\u201c_La Verit\u00e9 des Miracles oper\u00e9s par l\u2019Intercession de M. de Paris,\ndemontr\u00e9e contre l\u2019Archeveque de Sens. Ouvrage dedi\u00e9 au Roi, par M.\nde Montgeron, Conseiller au Parlement._\u201d The author presents a vast\namount of personal and official evidence to the truthfulness of every\ncase. For speaking _disrespectfully_ of the Roman clergy, Montgeron was\nthrown into the Bastile, but his work was accepted.\n\nAnd now for the views of Dr. Figuier upon these remarkable and\nunquestionably historical phenomena. \u201cA Convulsionary bends back into\nan arc, her loins supported by the sharp point of a peg,\u201d quotes the\nlearned author, from the _proc\u00e8s verbaux_. \u201cThe pleasure that she begs\nfor is to be pounded by a stone weighing fifty pounds, and suspended\nby a rope passing over a pulley fixed to the ceiling. The stone, being\nhoisted to its extreme height, falls with all its weight upon the\npatient\u2019s stomach, her back resting all the while on the sharp point of\nthe peg. Montgeron and numerous other witnesses testified to the fact\nthat neither the flesh nor the skin of the back were ever marked in the\nleast, and that the girl, to show she suffered no pain whatever, kept\ncrying out, \u2018Strike harder\u2014harder!\u2019\n\n\u201cJeanne Maulet, a girl of twenty, leaning with her back against a wall, {374}\nreceived upon her stomach one hundred blows of a hammer weighing thirty\npounds; the blows, administered by a very strong man, were so terrible\nthat they shook the wall. To test the force of the blows, Montgeron\ntried them on the stone wall against which the girl was leaning.... He\ngets one of the instruments of the Jansenist healing, called the \u2018GRAND\nSECOURS.\u2019 At the twenty-fifth blow,\u201d he writes, \u201cthe stone upon which I\nstruck, which had been shaken by the preceding efforts, suddenly became\nloose and fell on the other side of the wall, making an aperture more\nthan half a foot in size.\u201d When the blows are struck with violence\nupon an iron drill held against the stomach of a Convulsionaire (who,\nsometimes, is but a weak woman), \u201cit seems,\u201d says Montgeron, \u201cas if\nit would penetrate through to the spine and rupture all the entrails\nunder the force of the blows\u201d (vol. i., p. 380). \u201cBut, so far from that\noccurring, the Convulsionaire cries out, with an expression of perfect\nrapture in her face, \u2018Oh, how delightful! Oh, that does me good!\nCourage, brother; strike twice as hard, if you can!\u2019 It now remains,\u201d\ncontinues Dr. Figuier, \u201cto try to explain the strange phenomena which\nwe have described.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have said, in the introduction to this work, that at the middle of\nthe nineteenth century one of the most famous epidemics of possession\nbroke out in Germany: that of the _Nonnains_, who performed all the\nmiracles most admired since the days of St. Medard, and even some\ngreater ones; who turned summersaults, who CLIMBED DEAD WALLS, and\nspoke FOREIGN LANGUAGES.\u201d[606]\n\nThe official report of the wonders, which is more full than that of\nFiguier, adds such further particulars as that \u201cthe affected persons\nwould stand on their heads for hours together, and correctly describe\ndistant events, even such as were happening in the homes of the\ncommittee-men; as it was subsequently verified. Men and women were held\nsuspended in the air, by an invisible force, and the combined efforts\nof the committee were insufficient to pull them down. Old women climbed\nperpendicular walls thirty feet in height with the agility of wild\ncats, etc., etc.\u201d\n\nNow, one should expect that the learned critic, the eminent physician\nand psychologist, who not only credits such incredible phenomena but\nhimself describes them minutely, and _con amore_, so to say, would\nnecessarily startle the reading public with some explanation so\nextraordinary that his scientific views would cause a real hegira to\nthe unexplored fields of psychology. Well, he does startle us, for to {375}\nall this he quietly observes: \u201cRecourse _was had to marriage_ to bring\nto a stop these disorders of the Convulsionaires!\u201d[607]\n\nFor once des Mousseaux had the best of his enemy: \u201cMarriage, do you\nunderstand this?\u201d he remarks. \u201cMarriage cures them of this faculty\nof climbing dead-walls like so many flies, and of speaking foreign\nlanguages. Oh! the curious properties of marriage in those remarkable\ndays!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt should be added,\u201d continues Figuier, \u201cthat with the fanatics of St.\nMedard, the blows were never administered except during the convulsive\ncrisis; and that, therefore, as Dr. Calmeil suggests, meteorism of\nthe abdomen, the _state of spasm_ of the uterus of women, of the\nalimentary canal in all cases, the state of _contraction, of erethism,\nof turgescence of the carneous envelopes of the muscular coats_ which\nprotect and cover the abdomen, chest, and principal vascular masses and\nthe osseous surfaces, _may have singularly contributed toward reducing,\nand even destroying_, the force of the blows!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe astounding resistance that the skin, the areolar tissue, the\nsurface of the bodies and limbs of the Convulsionaires offered to\nthings which seem as if they ought to have torn or crushed them, is of\na nature to excite more surprise. Nevertheless, it can be explained.\nThis resisting force, this insensibility, seems to partake of the\nextreme changes in sensibility which can occur in the animal economy\nduring a time of great exaltation. Anger, fear, in a word, every\npassion, provided that it be carried to a paroxysmal point, can produce\nthis insensibility.\u201d[608]\n\n\u201cLet us remark, besides,\u201d rejoins Dr. Calmeil, quoted by Figuier, \u201cthat\nfor striking upon the bodies of the Convulsionaires use was made either\nof massive objects with flat or rounded surfaces, or of cylindrical\nand blunt shapes.[609] The action of such physical agents is not to be\ncompared, in respect to the danger which attaches to it, with that of\ncords, supple or flexible instruments, and those having a sharp edge.\nIn fine, the contact and the shock of the blows produced upon the\nConvulsionaires _the effect of a salutary shampooing_, and reduced the\nviolence of the tortures of HYSTERIA.\u201d\n\nThe reader will please observe that this is not intended as a joke, but\nis the sober theory of one of the most eminent of French physicians,\nhoary with age and experience, the Director-in-Chief of the Government\nInsane Asylum at Charenton. Really, the above explanation might lead\nthe reader to a strange suspicion. We might imagine, perhaps, that Dr. {376}\nCalmeil has kept company with the patients under his care a few more\nyears than was good for the healthy action of his own brain.\n\nBesides, when Figuier talks of massive objects, of cylindrical and\nblunt shapes, he surely forgets the sharp swords, pointed iron pegs,\nand the hatchets, of which he himself gave a graphic description on\npage 409 of his first volume. The brother of Elie Marion is shown by\nhim striking his stomach and abdomen with the sharp point of a knife,\nwith tremendous force, \u201chis body all the while resisting as if it were\nmade of iron.\u201d\n\nArrived at this point, des Mousseaux loses all patience, and\nindignantly exclaims:\n\n\u201cWas the learned physician quite awake when writing the above\nsentences?... If, perchance, the Drs. Calmeil and Figuier should\nseriously maintain their assertions and insist on their theory, we are\nready to answer them as follows: \u2018We are perfectly willing to believe\nyou. But before such a superhuman effort of condescension, will you not\ndemonstrate to us the truth of your theory in a more practical manner?\nLet us, for example, develop in you a violent and terrible passion;\nanger\u2014rage if you choose. You shall permit us for a single moment to be\nin your sight irritating, rude, and insulting. Of course, we will be so\nonly at _your request_ and in the interest of science and your cause.\nOur duty under the contract will consist in humiliating and provoking\nyou to the last extremity. Before a public audience, who shall know\nnothing of our agreement, but whom you must satisfy as to your\nassertions, we will insult you; ... we will tell you that your writings\nare an ambuscade to truth, an insult to common sense, a disgrace which\npaper only can bear; but which the public should chastise. We will add\nthat _you lie to science_, you lie to the ears of the ignorant and\nstupid fools gathered around you, open-mouthed, like the crowd around\na peddling quack.... And when, transported beyond yourself, your face\nablaze, and anger _tumefying_, you shall have _displaced your fluids_;\nwhen your fury has reached the point of bursting, we will cause your\n_turgescent_ muscles to be struck with powerful blows; your friends\nshall show us the most insensible places; we will let a perfect shower,\nan avalanche of stones fall upon them ... for so was treated the flesh\nof the convulsed women whose appetite for such blows could never be\nsatisfied. But, in order to procure for you the gratification of a\n_salutary shampooing_\u2014as you deliciously express it\u2014your limbs shall\nonly be pounded with objects having _blunt surfaces and cylindrical\nshapes_, with clubs and sticks devoid of suppleness, and, if you prefer\nit, neatly turned in a lathe.\u201d\n\nSo liberal is des Mousseaux, so determined to accommodate his\nantagonists with every possible chance to prove their theory, that he {377}\noffers them the choice to substitute for themselves in the experiment\ntheir wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, \u201csince,\u201d he says, \u201cyou\nhave remarked that the weaker sex is the strong and resistant sex in\nthese disconcerting trials.\u201d\n\nUseless to remark that des Mousseaux\u2019s challenge remained unanswered.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XI. {378}\n\n \u201cStrange condition of the human mind, which seems to require\n that it should long exercise itself in Error, before it dare\n approach the Truth.\u201d\u2014MAGENDIE.\n\n \u201cLa verit\u00e9 que je defends est empreinte sur tous les monuments\n du pass\u00e9. Pour comprendre l\u2019histoire, il faut etudier les\n symboles anciens, les signes sacr\u00e9s du sacerdoce, et l\u2019art de\n guerir dans les temps primitifs, art oubli\u00e9 aujourd\u2019hui.\u201d\n \u2014BARON DU POTET.\n\n \u201cIt is a truth perpetually, that accumulated facts, lying in\n disorder, begin to assume some order if an hypothesis is thrown\n among them.\u201d\u2014HERBERT SPENCER.\n\n\nAnd now we must search Magical History for cases similar to those\ngiven in the preceding chapter. This insensibility of the human body\nto the impact of heavy blows, and resistance to penetration by sharp\npoints and musket-bullets, is a phenomenon sufficiently familiar in the\nexperience of all times and all countries. While science is entirely\nunable to give any reasonable explanation of the mystery, the question\nappears to offer no difficulty to mesmerists, who have well studied\nthe properties of the fluid. The man, who by a few passes over a limb\ncan produce a local paralysis so as to render it utterly insensible\nto burns, cuts, and the prickings of needles, need be but very little\nastonished at the phenomena of the Jansenists. As to the adepts of\nmagic, especially in Siam and the East Indies, they are too familiar\nwith the properties of the _akasa_, the mysterious life-fluid, to\neven regard the insensibility of the Convulsionaires as a very great\nphenomenon. The astral fluid can be compressed about a person so as\nto form an elastic shell, absolutely non-penetrable by any physical\nobject, however great the velocity with which it travels. In a word,\nthis fluid can be made to equal and even excel in resisting-power,\nwater and air.\n\nIn India, Malabar, and some places of Central Africa, the conjurers\nwill freely permit any traveller to fire his musket or revolver at\nthem, without touching the weapon themselves or selecting the balls.\nIn Laing\u2019s _Travels among Timanni, the Kourankos, and the Soulimas_,\noccurs a description by an English traveller, the first white man to\nvisit the tribe of the Soulimas, near the sources of the Dialliba, of\na very curious scene. A body of picked soldiers fired upon a chief who\nhad nothing to defend himself with but certain talismans. Although\ntheir muskets were properly loaded and aimed, not a ball could strike\nhim. Salverte gives a similar case in his _Philosophy of Occult\nSciences_: \u201cIn 1568, the Prince of Orange condemned a Spanish prisoner\nto be shot at Juliers; the soldiers tied him to a tree and fired, but {379}\nhe was invulnerable. They at last stripped him to see what armor he\nwore, but found only an _amulet_. When this was taken from him, _he\nfell dead at the first shot_.\u201d\n\nThis is a very different affair from the dexterous trickery resorted\nto by Houdin in Algeria. He prepared balls himself of tallow,\nblackened with soot, and by sleight of hand exchanged them for the\nreal bullets, which the Arab sheiks supposed they were placing in the\npistols. The simple-minded natives, knowing nothing but real magic,\nwhich they had inherited from their ancestors, and which consists in\neach case of some one thing that they can do without knowing why or\nhow, and seeing Houdin, as they thought, accomplish the same results\nin a more impressive manner, fancied that he was a greater magician\nthan themselves. Many travellers, the writer included, have witnessed\ninstances of this invulnerability where deception was impossible. A\nfew years ago, there lived in an African village, an Abyssinian who\npassed for a sorcerer. Upon one occasion a party of Europeans, going\nto Soudan, amused themselves for an hour or two in firing at him with\ntheir own pistols and muskets, a privilege which he gave them for a\ntrifling fee. As many as five shots were fired simultaneously, by\na Frenchman named Langlois, and the muzzles of the pieces were not\nabove two yards distant from the sorcerer\u2019s breast. In each case,\nsimultaneously with the flash, the bullet would appear just beyond\nthe muzzle, quivering in the air, and then, after describing a short\nparabola, fall harmlessly to the ground. A German of the party, who was\ngoing in search of ostrich feathers, offered the magician a five-franc\npiece if he would allow him to fire his gun with the muzzle touching\nhis body. The man at first refused; but, finally, after appearing to\nhold conversation with somebody inside the ground, consented. The\nexperimenter carefully loaded, and pressing the muzzle of the weapon\nagainst the sorcerer\u2019s body, after a moment\u2019s hesitation, fired ...\nthe barrel burst into fragments as far down as the stock, and the man\nwalked off unhurt.\n\nThis quality of invulnerability can be imparted to persons both by\nliving adepts and by spirits. In our own time several well-known\nmediums have frequently, in the presence of the most respectable\nwitnesses, not only handled blazing coals and actually placed their\nface upon a fire without singeing a hair, but even laid flaming coals\nupon the heads and hands of by-standers, as in the case of Lord Lindsay\nand Lord Adair. The well-known story of the Indian chief, who confessed\nto Washington that at Braddock\u2019s defeat he had fired his rifle at him\nseventeen times at short range without being able to touch him, will\nrecur to the reader in this connection. In fact, many great commanders\nhave been believed by their soldiers to bear what is called \u201ca charmed {380}\nlife;\u201d and Prince Emile von Sayn-Wittgenstein, a general of the\nRussian army, is said to be one of these.\n\nThis same power which enables one to compress the astral fluid so\nas to form an impenetrable shell around one, can be used to direct,\nso to speak, a bolt of the fluid against a given object, with fatal\nforce. Many a dark revenge has been taken in that way; and in such\ncases the coroner\u2019s inquest will never disclose anything but sudden\ndeath, apparently resulting from heart-disease, an apoplectic fit, or\nsome other natural, but still not veritable cause. Many persons firmly\nbelieve that certain individuals possess the power of the evil eye. The\n_mal\u2019occhio_, or _jettatura_ is a belief which is prevalent throughout\nItaly and Southern Europe. The Pope is held to be possessed\u2014perchance\nunconsciously\u2014of that disagreeable gift. There are persons who can\nkill toads by merely looking at them, and can even slay individuals.\nThe malignance of their desire brings evil forces to a focus, and the\ndeath-dealing bolt is projected, as though it were a bullet from a\nrifle.\n\nIn 1864, in the French province of Le Var, near the little village of\nBrignoles, lived a peasant named Jacques Pelissier, who made a living\nby killing birds by simple _will-power_. His case is reported by the\nwell-known Dr. d\u2019Alger, at whose request the singular hunter gave\nexhibitions to several scientific men, of his method of proceeding. The\nstory is told as follows: \u201cAt about fifteen or twenty paces from us,\nI saw a charming little meadow-lark which I showed to Jacques. \u2018Watch\nhim well, monsieur,\u2019 said he, \u2018he is mine.\u2019 Instantly stretching his\nright hand toward the bird, he approached him gently. The meadow-lark\nstops, raises and lowers his pretty head, spreads his wings, but cannot\nfly; at last he cannot make a step further and suffers himself to\nbe taken, only moving his wings with a feeble fluttering. I examine\nthe bird; his eyes are tightly closed and his body has a corpse-like\nstiffness, although the pulsations of the heart are very distinct; it\nis a true cataleptic sleep, and all the phenomena incontestably prove a\nmagnetic action. Fourteen little birds were taken in this way, within\nthe space of an hour; none could resist the power of Master Jacques,\nand all presented the same cataleptic sleep; a sleep which, moreover,\nterminates at the will of the hunter, whose humble slaves these little\nbirds have become.\n\n\u201cA hundred times, perhaps, I asked Jacques to restore life and movement\nto his prisoners, to charm them only half way, so that they might hop\nalong the ground, and then again bring them completely under the charm.\nAll my requests were exactly complied with, and not one single failure\nwas made by this remarkable Nimrod, who finally said to me: \u2018If you\nwish it, I will kill those which you designate without touching them.\u2019\nI pointed out two for the experiment, and, at twenty-five or thirty {381}\npaces distance, he accomplished in less than five minutes what he had\npromised.\u201d[610]\n\nA most curious feature of the above case is, that Jacques had complete\npower only over sparrows, robins, goldfinches, and meadow-larks; he\ncould sometimes charm skylarks, but, as he says, \u201cthey often escape me.\u201d\n\nThis same power is exercised with greater force by persons known as\nwild beast tamers. On the banks of the Nile, some of the natives can\ncharm the crocodiles out of the water, with a peculiarly melodious,\nlow whistle, and handle them with impunity; while others possess such\npowers over the most deadly snakes. Travellers tell of seeing the\ncharmers surrounded by multitudes of the reptiles which they dispatch\nat their leisure.\n\nBruce, Hasselquist, and Lempri\u00e8re,[611] testify to the fact that they\nhave seen in Egypt, Morocco, Arabia, and especially in the Senaar,\nsome natives utterly disregarding the bites of the most poisonous\nvipers, as well as the stings of scorpions. They handle and play with\nthem, and throw them at will into a state of stupor.\u201cIn vain do the\nLatin and Greek writers,\u201d says Salverte, \u201cassure us that the gift of\ncharming venomous reptiles was hereditary in certain families from time\nimmemorial, that in Africa the same gift was enjoyed by the Psylli;\nthat the Marses in Italy, and the Ophiozenes in Cyprus possessed it.\u201d\nThe skeptics forget that, in Italy, even at the commencement of the\nsixteenth century, men, claiming to be descended from the family of\nSaint Paul, braved, like the Marses, the bites of serpents.\u201d[612]\n\n\u201cDoubts upon this subject,\u201d he goes on to say, \u201cwere removed forever at\nthe time of the expedition of the French into Egypt, and the following\nrelation is attested by thousands of eye-witnesses. The Psylli, who\npretended, as Bruce had related, to possess that faculty ... went\nfrom house to house to destroy serpents of every kind.... A wonderful\ninstinct drew them at first toward the place in which the serpents\nwere hidden; furious, howling, and foaming, they seized and tore them\nasunder with their nails and teeth.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet us place,\u201d says Salverte, inveterate skeptic himself, \u201cto the\naccount of charlatanism, the howling and the fury; still, the instinct\nwhich warned the Psylli of the presence of the serpents, has in it {382}\nsomething more real.\u201d In the Antilles, the negroes discover, by its\nodor, a serpent which they do not see.[613] \u201cIn Egypt, the same tact,\nformerly possessed, is still enjoyed by men brought up to it from\ninfancy, and born as with an assumed hereditary gift to hunt serpents,\nand to discover them even at a distance too great for the effluvia to\nbe perceptible to the dull organs of a European. The principal fact\nabove all others, the faculty of rendering dangerous animals powerless,\nmerely by touching them, remains well verified, and we shall, perhaps,\nnever understand better the nature of this secret, celebrated in\nantiquity, and preserved to our time by the most ignorant of men.\u201d[614]\n\nMusic is delightful to every person. Low whistling, a melodious\nchant, or the sounds of a flute will invariably attract reptiles in\ncountries where they are found. We have witnessed and verified the\nfact repeatedly. In Upper Egypt, whenever our caravan stopped, a\nyoung traveller, who believed he excelled on the flute, amused the\ncompany by playing. The camel-drivers and other Arabs invariably\nchecked him, having been several times annoyed by the unexpected\nappearance of various families of the reptile tribe, which generally\nshirk an encounter with men. Finally, our caravan met with a party,\namong whom were professional serpent-charmers, and the virtuoso was\nthen invited, for experiment\u2019s sake, to display his skill. No sooner\nhad he commenced, than a slight rustling was heard, and the musician\nwas horrified at suddenly seeing a large snake appear in dangerous\nproximity with his legs. The serpent, with uplifted head and eyes fixed\non him, slowly, and, as if unconsciously, crawled, softly undulating\nits body, and following his every movement. Then appeared at a distance\nanother one, then a third, and a fourth, which were speedily followed\nby others, until we found ourselves quite in a select company. Several\nof the travellers made for the backs of their camels, while others\nsought refuge in the _cantinier\u2019s_ tent. But it was a vain alarm. The\ncharmers, three in number, began their chants and incantations, and,\nattracting the reptiles, were very soon covered with them from head\nto foot. As soon as the serpents approached the men, they exhibited\nsigns of torpor, and were soon plunged in a deep catalepsy. Their eyes\nwere half closed and glazed, and their heads drooping. There remained\nbut one recalcitrant, a large and glossy black fellow, with a spotted\nskin. This _meloman_ of the desert went on gracefully nodding and\nleaping, as if it had danced on its tail all its life, and keeping\ntime to the notes of the flute. This snake would not be enticed by the\n\u201ccharming\u201d of the Arabs, but kept slowly moving in the direction of {383}\nthe flute-player, who at last took to his heels. The modern Psyllian\nthen took out of his bag a half-withered plant, which he kept waving\nin the direction of the serpent. It had a strong smell of mint, and as\nsoon as the reptile caught its odor, it followed the Arab, still erect\nupon its tail, but now approaching the plant. A few more seconds, and\nthe \u201ctraditional enemy\u201d of man was seen entwined around the arm of his\ncharmer, became torpid in its turn, and the whole lot were then thrown\ntogether in a pool, after having their heads cut off.\n\nMany believe that all such snakes are prepared and trained for the\npurpose, and that they are either deprived of their fangs, or have\ntheir mouths sewed up. There may be, doubtless, some inferior jugglers,\nwhose trickery has given rise to such an idea. But the _genuine_\nserpent-charmer has too well established his claims in the East, to\nresort to any such cheap fraud. They have the testimony on this subject\nof too many trustworthy travellers, including some scientists, to be\naccused of any such charlatanism. That the snakes, which are charmed\nto dance and to become harmless, are still poisonous, is verified by\nForbes. \u201cOn the music stopping too suddenly,\u201d says he, \u201cor from some\nother cause, the serpent, who had been dancing within a circle of\ncountry-people, darted among the spectators, and inflicted a wound\nin the throat of a young woman, who died in agony, in half an hour\nafterward.\u201d[615]\n\nAccording to the accounts of many travellers the negro women of Dutch\nGuiana, the Obeah women, excel in taming very large snakes called\n_amodites_, or _papa_; they make them descend from the trees, follow,\nand obey them by merely speaking to them.[616]\n\nWe have seen in India a small brotherhood of fakirs settled round a\nlittle lake, or rather a deep pool of water, the bottom of which was\nliterally carpeted with enormous alligators. These amphibious monsters\ncrawl out, and warm themselves in the sun, a few feet from the fakirs,\nsome of whom may be motionless, lost in prayer and contemplation. So\nlong as one of these holy beggars remains in view, the crocodiles are\nas harmless as kittens. But we would never advise a foreigner to risk\nhimself alone within a few yards of these monsters. The poor Frenchman\nPradin found an untimely grave in one of these terrible Saurians,\ncommonly called by the Hindus _Moudela_.[617] (This word should be\n_nihang_ or _ghariy\u0101l_.)\n\nWhen Iamblichus, Herodotus, Pliny, or some other ancient writer tells\nus of priests who caused asps to come forth from the altar of Isis,\nor of thaumaturgists taming with a glance the most ferocious animals, {384}\nthey are considered liars and ignorant imbeciles. When modern\ntravellers tell us of the same wonders performed in the East, they are\nset down as enthusiastic jabberers, or _untrustworthy_ writers.\n\nBut, despite materialistic skepticism, man does possess such a power,\nas we see manifested in the above instances. When psychology and\nphysiology become worthy of the name of sciences, Europeans will be\nconvinced of the weird and formidable potency existing in the human\nwill and imagination, whether exercised consciously or otherwise. And\nyet, how easy to realize such power in _spirit_, if we only think of\nthat grand truism in nature that every most insignificant atom in it\nis moved by _spirit_, which is _one_ in its essence, for the least\nparticle of it represents the _whole_; and that matter is but the\nconcrete copy of the abstract idea, after all. In this connection, let\nus cite a few instances of the imperial power of even the _unconscious_\nwill, to create according to the imagination or rather the faculty of\ndiscerning images in the astral light.\n\nWe have but to recall the very familiar phenomenon of _stigmata_, or\nbirth-marks, where effects are produced by the involuntary agency of\nthe maternal imagination under a state of excitement. The fact that\nthe mother can control the appearance of her unborn child was so well\nknown among the ancients, that it was the custom among wealthy Greeks\nto place fine statues near the bed, so that she might have a perfect\nmodel constantly before her eyes. The cunning trick by which the\nHebrew patriarch Jacob caused ring-streaked and speckled calves to be\ndropped, is an illustration of the law among animals; and Aricante\ntells \u201cof four successive litters of puppies, born of healthy parents,\nsome of which, in each litter, were well formed, whilst the remainder\nwere without anterior extremities and had hair lip.\u201d The works of\nGeoffroi St. Hilaire, Burdach, and Elam, contain accounts of great\nnumbers of such cases, and in Dr. Prosper Lucas\u2019s important volume,\n_Sur l\u2019Heredit\u00e9 Naturelle_, there are many. Elam quotes from Prichard\nan instance where the child of a negro and white was marked with black\nand white color upon separate parts of the body. He adds, with laudable\nsincerity, \u201cThese are singularities of which, in the present state\nof science, no explanation can be given.\u201d[618] It is a pity that his\nexample was not more generally imitated. Among the ancients Empedocles,\nAristotle, Pliny, Hippocrates, Galen, Marcus Damascenus, and others\ngive us accounts quite as wonderful as our contemporary authors.\n\nIn a work published in London, in 1659,[619] a powerful argument is {385}\nmade in refutation of the materialists by showing the potency of\nthe human mind upon the subtile forces of nature. The author, Dr.\nMore, views the f\u0153tus as if it were a plastic substance, which can\nbe fashioned by the mother to an agreeable or disagreeable shape, to\nresemble some person or in part several persons, and to be stamped\nwith the effigies, or as we might more properly call it, _astrograph_,\nof some object vividly presented to her imagination. These effects\nmay be produced by her voluntarily or involuntarily, consciously or\nunconsciously, feebly or forcibly, as the case may be. It depends upon\nher ignorance or knowledge of the profound mysteries of nature. Taking\nwomen in the mass, the marking of the embryo may be considered more\naccidental than the result of design; and as each person\u2019s atmosphere\nin the astral light is peopled with the images of his or her immediate\nfamily, the sensitive surface of the f\u0153tus, which may almost be likened\nto the collodionized plate of a photograph, is as likely as not to be\nstamped with the image of a near or remote ancestor, whom the mother\nnever saw, but which, at some critical moment, came as it were into the\nfocus of nature\u2019s camera. Says Dr. Elam, \u201cNear me is seated a visitor\nfrom a distant continent, where she was born and educated. The portrait\nof a remote ancestress, far back in the last century, hangs upon the\nwall. In every feature, one is an accurate presentment of the other,\nalthough the one never left England, and the other was an American by\nbirth and half parentage.\u201d\n\nThe power of the imagination upon our physical condition, even after\nwe arrive at maturity, is evinced in many familiar ways. In medicine,\nthe intelligent physician does not hesitate to accord to it a curative\nor morbific potency greater than his pills and potions. He calls it\nthe _vis medicatrix natur\u00e6_, and his first endeavor is to gain the\nconfidence of his patient so completely, that he can cause nature\nto extirpate the disease. Fear often kills; and grief has such a\npower over the subtile fluids of the body as not only to derange the\ninternal organs but even to turn the hair white. Ficinus mentions the\n_signature_ of the f\u0153tus with the marks of cherries and various fruits,\ncolors, hairs, and excrescences, and acknowledges that the imagination\nof the mother may transform it into a resemblance of an ape, pig, or\ndog, or any such animal. Marcus Damascenus tells of a girl covered with\nhair and, like our modern Julia Pastrana, furnished with a full beard;\nGulielmus Paradinus, of a child whose skin and nails resembled those of\na bear; Balduinus Rons\u00e6us of one born with a turkey\u2019s wattles; Pareus,\nof one with a head like a frog; and Avicenna, of chickens with hawks\u2019\nheads. In this latter case, which perfectly exemplifies the power of\nthe same imagination in animals, the embryo must have been stamped at\nthe instant of conception when the hen\u2019s imagination saw a hawk either {386}\nin fact or in fancy. This is evident, for Dr. More, who quotes this\ncase on the authority of Avicenna, remarks very appropriately that, as\nthe egg in question might have been hatched a hundred miles distant\nfrom the hen, the microscopic picture of the hawk impressed upon the\nembryo must have enlarged and perfected itself with the growth of the\nchicken quite independently of any subsequent influence from the hen.\n\nCornelius Gemma tells of a child that was born with his forehead\nwounded and running with blood, the result of his father\u2019s threats\ntoward his mother \u201c... with a drawn sword which he directed toward her\nforehead;\u201d Sennertius records the case of a pregnant woman who, seeing\na butcher divide a swine\u2019s head with his cleaver, brought forth her\nchild with his face cloven in the upper jaw, the palate, and upper lip\nto the very nose. In Van Helmont\u2019s _De Injectis Materialibus_, some\nvery astonishing cases are reported: The wife of a tailor at Mechlin\nwas standing at her door and saw a soldier\u2019s hand cut off in a quarrel,\nwhich so impressed her as to bring on premature labor, and her child\nwas born with only one hand, the other arm bleeding. In 1602, the wife\nof Marcus Devogeler, a merchant of Antwerp, seeing a soldier who had\njust lost his arm, was taken in labor and brought forth a daughter\nwith one arm struck off and bleeding as in the first case. Van Helmont\ngives a third example of another woman who witnessed the beheading of\nthirteen men by order of the Duc d\u2019Alva. The horror of the spectacle\nwas so overpowering that she \u201csuddainly fell into labour and brought\nforth a perfectly-formed infant, onely the head was wanting, but the\nneck bloody as their bodies she beheld that had their heads cut off.\nAnd that which does still advance the wonder is, that the _hand_,\n_arme_, and _head_ of these infants were none of them to be found.\u201d[620]\n\nIf it was possible to conceive of such a thing as a miracle in nature,\nthe above cases of the sudden disappearance of portions of the unborn\nhuman body might be designated. We have looked in vain through the\nlatest authorities upon human physiology for any sufficient theory\nto account for the least remarkable of f\u0153tal signatures. The most\nthey can do is to record instances of what they call \u201cspontaneous\nvarieties of type,\u201d and then fall back either upon Mr. Proctor\u2019s\n\u201ccurious coincidences\u201d or upon such candid confessions of ignorance\nas are to be found in authors not entirely satisfied with the sum\nof human knowledge. Magendie acknowledges that, despite scientific\nresearches, comparatively little is known of f\u0153tal life. At page 518\nof the American edition of his _Precis Elementaire de Physiologie_\nhe instances \u201ca case where the umbilical cord was ruptured and {387}\nperfectly cicatrized;\u201d and asks \u201cHow was the circulation carried on\nin this organ?\u201d On the next page, he says: \u201cNothing is at present\nknown respecting the use of digestion in the f\u0153tus;\u201d and respecting\nits nutrition, propounds this query: \u201cWhat, then, can we say of the\nnutrition of the f\u0153tus? Physiological works contain only _vague\nconjectures_ on this point.\u201d On page 520, the following language\noccurs: \u201cIn consequence of some _unknown cause_, the different parts of\nthe f\u0153tus sometimes develop themselves in a preternatural manner.\u201d With\nsingular inconsistency with his previous admissions of the ignorance of\nscience upon all these points which we have quoted, he adds: \u201c_There\nis no reason for believing that the imagination of the mother can have\nany influence in the formation of these monsters_; besides, productions\nof this kind are daily observed in the offspring of other animals and\neven in plants.\u201d How perfect an illustration is this of the methods of\nscientific men!\u2014the moment they pass beyond their circle of observed\nfacts, their judgment seems to become entirely perverted. Their\ndeductions from their own researches are often greatly inferior to\nthose made by others who have to take the facts at second hand.\n\nThe literature of science is constantly furnishing examples of this\ntruth; and when we consider the reasoning of materialistic observers\nupon psychological phenomena, the rule is strikingly manifest.\nThose who are _soul-blind_ are as constitutionally incapable of\ndistinguishing psychological causes from material effects as the\ncolor-blind are to select scarlet from black.\n\nElam, without being in the least a spiritualist, nay, though an enemy\nto it, represents the belief of honest scientists in the following\nexpressions: \u201cit is certainly inexplicable how matter and mind can act\nand react one upon the other; the mystery is acknowledged by all to be\ninsoluble, and will probably ever remain so.\u201d\n\nThe great English authority upon the subject of malformation is _The\nScience and Practice of Medicine_, by Wm. Aitken, M.D., Edinburgh,\nand Professor of Pathology in the Army Medical School; the American\nedition of which, by Professor Meredith Clymer, M.D., of the University\nof Pennsylvania, has equal weight in the United States. At page 233\nof vol. i. we find the subject treated at length. The author says,\n\u201cThe superstition, absurd notions, and strange causes assigned to the\noccurrence of such malformations, are now fast disappearing before\nthe lucid expositions of those famous anatomists who have made the\ndevelopment and growth of the ovum a subject of special study. It is\nsufficient to mention here the names, J. Muller, Rathke, Bischoff,\nSt. Hilaire, Burdach, Allen Thompson, G. & W. Vrolick, Wolff, Meckel,\nSimpson, Rokitansky, and Von Ammon as sufficient evidence that the\ntruths of science will in time dispel the mists of ignorance and {388}\nsuperstition.\u201d One would think, from the complacent tone adopted by\nthis eminent writer that we were in possession if not of the means of\nreadily solving this intricate problem at least of a clew to guide us\nthrough the maze of our difficulties. But, in 1872, after profiting\nby all the labors and ingenuity of the illustrious pathologists above\nenumerated, we find him making the same confession of ignorance as that\nexpressed by Magendie in 1838. \u201cNevertheless,\u201d says he, \u201cmuch mystery\nstill enshrouds the origin of malformation; the origin of them may be\nconsidered in two main issues, namely: 1, are they due to original\nmalformation of the germ? 2, or, are they due to subsequent deformities\nof the embryo by causes operating on its development? With regard\nto the first issue, it is believed that the germ may be originally\nmalformed, or defective, owing to _some influence proceeding either\nfrom the female, or from the male_, as in case of repeated procreation\nof the same kind of malformation by the same parents, deformities on\neither side being transmitted as an inheritance.\u201d\n\nBeing unsupplied with any philosophy of their own to account for the\nlesions, the pathologists, true to professional instinct, resort to\nnegation. \u201cThat such deformity may be produced by mental impressions\non pregnant women there is an absence of positive proof,\u201d they say.\n\u201cMoles, mothers\u2019 marks, and cutaneous spots as ascribed to morbid\nstates of the coats of the ovum.... A very generally-recognized\ncause of malformation consists in impeded development of the f\u0153tus,\n_the cause of which is not always obvious, but is for the most part\nconcealed.... Transient forms of the human f\u0153tus are comparable to\npersistent forms of many lower animals._\u201d Can the learned professor\nexplain why? \u201c_Hence malformations resulting from arrest of development\noften acquire an animal-like appearance._\u201d\n\nExactly; but why do not pathologists inform us why it is so? Any\nanatomist who has made the development and growth of the embryo and\nf\u0153tus \u201ca subject of special study,\u201d can tell, without much brain-work,\nwhat daily experience and the evidence of his own eyes show him, viz.:\nthat up to a certain period, the human embryo is a fac-simile of a\nyoung batrachian in its first remove from the spawn\u2014a tadpole. But\nno physiologist or anatomist seems to have had the idea of applying\nto the development of the human being\u2014from the first instant of its\nphysical appearance as a germ to its ultimate formation and birth\u2014the\nPythagorean esoteric doctrine of metempsychosis, so erroneously\ninterpreted by critics. The meaning of the kabalistic axiom: \u201cA stone\nbecomes a plant; a plant a beast; a beast a man, etc.,\u201d was mentioned\nin another place in relation to the spiritual and physical evolution of\nman on this earth. We will now add a few words more to make the idea\nclearer.\n\nWhat is the primitive shape of the future man? A grain, a corpuscle, {389}\nsay some physiologists; a molecule, an ovum of the ovum, say others.\nIf it could be analyzed\u2014by the spectroscope or otherwise\u2014of what ought\nwe to expect to find it composed? Analogically, we should say, of a\nnucleus of inorganic matter, deposited from the circulation at the\ngerminating point, and united with a deposit of organic matter. In\nother words, this infinitesimal nucleus of the future man is composed\nof the same elements as a stone\u2014of the same elements as the earth,\nwhich the man is destined to inhabit. Moses is cited by the kabalists\nas authority for the remark, that it required earth and water to make a\nliving being, and thus it may be said that man first appears as a stone.\n\nAt the end of three or four weeks the ovum has assumed a plant-like\nappearance, one extremity having become spheroidal and the other\ntapering, like a carrot. Upon dissection it is found to be composed,\nlike an onion, of very delicate lamin\u00e6 or coats, enclosing a liquid.\nThe lamin\u00e6 approach each other at the lower end, and the embryo hangs\nfrom the root of the umbilicus almost like a fruit from the bough. The\nstone has now become changed, by metempsychosis, into a plant. Then the\nembryonic creature begins to shoot out, from the inside outward, its\nlimbs, and develops its features. The eyes are visible as two black\ndots; the ears, nose, and mouth form depressions, like the points of\na pineapple, before they begin to project. The embryo develops into\nan animal-like f\u0153tus\u2014the shape of a tadpole\u2014and like an amphibious\nreptile lives in water, and develops from it. Its monad has not yet\nbecome either human or immortal, for the kabalists tell us that that\nonly comes at the \u201cfourth hour.\u201d One by one the f\u0153tus assumes the\ncharacteristics of the human being, the first flutter of the immortal\nbreath passes through his being; he moves; nature opens the way for\nhim; ushers him into the world; and the divine essence settles in the\ninfant frame, which it will inhabit until the moment of physical death,\nwhen man becomes a spirit.\n\nThis mysterious process of a nine-months formation the kabalists\ncall the completion of the \u201cindividual cycle of evolution.\u201d As the\nf\u0153tus develops from the _liquor amnii_ in the womb, so the earths\ngerminate from the universal ether, or astral fluid, in the womb of\nthe universe. These cosmic children, like their pigmy inhabitants, are\nfirst nuclei; then ovules; then gradually mature; and becoming mothers\nin their turn, develop mineral, vegetable, animal, and human forms.\nFrom centre to circumference, from the imperceptible vesicle to the\nuttermost conceivable bounds of the cosmos, these glorious thinkers,\nthe kabalists, trace cycle merging into cycle, containing and contained\nin an endless series. The embryo evolving in its pre-natal sphere,\nthe individual in his family, the family in the state, the state in {390}\nmankind, the earth in our system, that system in its central universe,\nthe universe in the cosmos, and the cosmos in the First Cause:\u2014the\nBoundless and Endless. So runs their philosophy of evolution:\n\n \u201cAll are but parts of one stupendous whole,\n Whose body Nature is; and God the Soul.\u201d\n\n \u201cWorlds without number\n Lie in this bosom like children.\u201d\n\nWhile unanimously agreeing that physical causes, such as blows,\naccidents, and bad quality of food for the mother, effect the f\u0153tus\nin a way which endangers its life; and while admitting again that\nmoral causes, such as fear, sudden terror, violent grief, or even\nextreme joy, may retard the growth of the f\u0153tus or even kill it, many\nphysiologists agree with Magendie in saying, \u201cthere is no reason for\nbelieving that the imagination of the mother can have any influence\nin the formation of monsters;\u201d and only because \u201cproductions of this\nkind are daily observed in the production of other animals and even in\nplants.\u201d\n\nIn this opinion he is supported by the leading teratologists of our\nday. Although Geoffroi St. Hilaire gave its name to the new science,\nits facts are based upon the exhaustive experiments of Bichat, who, in\n1802, was recognized as the founder of analytical and philosophical\nanatomy. One of the most important contributions to teratological\nliterature is the monograph of G. J. Fisher, M. D., of Sing Sing, N.\nY., entitled _Diploteratology; an Essay on Compound Human Monsters_.\nThis writer classifies monstrous f\u0153tal growths into their genera and\nspecies, accompanying the cases with reflections suggested by their\npeculiarities. Following St. Hilaire, he divides the history of the\nsubject into the fabulous, the positive, and the scientific periods.\n\nIt suffices for our purpose to say that in the present state of\nscientific opinion two points are considered as established: 1, that\nthe maternal, mental condition has no influence in the production of\nmonstrosities; 2, that most varieties of monstrosity may be accounted\nfor on the theory of _arrest_ and _retardation_ of development. Says\nFisher, \u201cBy a careful study of the laws of development and the order\nin which the various organs are evolved in the embryo, it has been\nobserved that monsters by defect or arrest of development, are, to a\ncertain extent, permanent embryos. The abnormal organs merely represent\nthe primitive condition of formation as it existed in an early stage of\nembryonic or f\u0153tal life.\u201d[621]\n\nWith physiology in so confessedly chaotic a state as it is at present, {391}\nit seems a little like hardihood in any teratologist, however great his\nachievements in anatomy, histology, or embryology, to take so dangerous\na position as that the mother has no influence upon her offspring.\nWhile the microscopes of Haller and Prolik, Dareste and Laraboulet have\ndisclosed to us many interesting facts concerning the single or double\nprimitive traces on the vitelline membrane, what remains undiscovered\nabout embryology by modern science appears greater still. If we grant\nthat monstrosities are the result of an arrest of development\u2014nay, if\nwe go farther, and concede that the f\u0153tal future may be prognosticated\nfrom the vitelline tracings, where will the teratologists take us\nto learn the _antecedent_ psychological cause of either? Dr. Fisher\nmay have carefully studied some hundreds of cases, and feel himself\nauthorized to construct a new classification of their genera and\nspecies; but facts are facts, and outside the field of his observation\nit appears, even if we judge but by our own personal experience, in\nvarious countries, that there are abundant attainable proofs that the\nviolent maternal emotions are often reflected in tangible, visible,\nand permanent disfigurements of the child. And the cases in question\nseem, moreover, to contradict Dr. Fisher\u2019s assertion that monstrous\ngrowths are due to causes traceable to \u201cthe early stages of embryonic\nor f\u0153tal life.\u201d One case was that of a Judge of an Imperial Court at\nSaratow, Russia, who always wore a bandage to cover a mouse-mark on\nthe left side of his face. It was a perfectly-formed mouse, whose body\nwas represented in high relief upon the cheek, and the tail ran upward\nacross the temple and was lost in his hair. The body seemed glossy,\ngray, and quite natural. According to his own account, his mother had\nan unconquerable repugnance to mice, and her labor was prematurely\nbrought on by seeing a mouse jump out from her workbox.\n\nIn another instance, of which the writer was a witness, a pregnant\nlady, within two or three weeks of her accouchement, saw a bowl of\nraspberries, and was seized with an irresistible longing for some, but\ndenied. She excitedly clasped her right hand to her neck in a somewhat\ntheatrical manner, and exclaimed that she _must_ have them. The child\nborn under our eyes, three weeks later, had a perfectly-defined\nraspberry on the right side of his neck; to this day, when that fruit\nripens, his birth-mark becomes of a deep crimson, while, during the\nwinter, it is quite pale.\n\nSuch cases as these, which are familiar to many mothers of families,\neither in their personal experience or that of friends, carry\nconviction, despite the theories of all the teratologists of Europe and\nAmerica. Because, forsooth, animals and plants are observed to produce\nmalformations of their species as well as human beings, Magendie and\nhis school infer that the human malformations of an identical character {392}\nare not at all due to maternal imagination, _since the former are\nnot_. If physical causes produce physical effects in the subordinate\nkingdoms, the inference is that the same rule must hold with ourselves.\n\nBut an entirely original theory was broached by Professor Armor,\nof the Long Island Medical College, in the course of a discussion\nrecently held in the Detroit Academy of Medicine. In opposition to\nthe orthodox views which Dr. Fisher represents, Professor Armor\nsays that malformations result from either one of two causes\u20141, a\ndeficiency or abnormal condition in the generative matter from which\nthe f\u0153tus is developed, or 2, morbid influences acting on the _f\u0153tus\nin utero_. He maintains that the generative matter represents in its\ncomposition every tissue, structure, and form, and that there may be\nsuch a transmission of _acquired_ structural peculiarities as would\nmake the generative matter incapable of producing a healthy and\nequally-developed offspring. On the other hand, the generative matter\nmay be perfect in itself, but being subjected to morbid influences\nduring the process of gestation, the offspring will, of necessity, be\nmonstrous.\n\nTo be consistent, this theory must account for diploteratological cases\n(double-headed or double-membered monsters), which seems difficult. We\nmight, perhaps, admit that in defective generative matter, the head\nof the embryo might not be represented, or any other part of the body\nbe deficient; but, it hardly seems as if there could be two, three,\nor more representatives of a single member. Again, if the generative\nmatter have hereditary taint, it seems as if _all_ the resulting\nprogeny should be equally monstrous; whereas the fact is that in many\ncases the mother has given birth to a number of healthy children before\nthe monster made its appearance, all being the progeny of one father.\nNumerous cases of this kind are quoted by Dr. Fisher; among others\nhe cites the case of Catherine Corcoran,[622] a \u201cvery healthy woman,\nthirty years of age and who, previously to giving birth to this monster\nhad born five well-formed children, no two of which were twins ... it\nhad a head at either extremity, two chests, with arms complete, two\nabdominal and two pelvic cavities united end to end, with four legs\nplaced two at either side, where the union between the two occurred.\u201d\nCertain parts of the body, however, were not duplicated, and therefore\nthis cannot be claimed as a case of the growing together of twins.\n\nAnother instance is that of Maria Teresa Parodi.[623] This woman, who\nhad previously given birth to eight well-formed children, was delivered\nof a female infant the upper part of which only was double. Instances {393}\nin which _before_ and _after_ the production of a monster the children\nwere perfectly healthy are numerous, and if, on the other hand, the\nfact that monstrosities are as common with animals as they are with\nmankind is a generally-accepted argument against the popular theory\nthat these malformations are due to the imagination of the mother; and\nthat other fact\u2014that there is no difference between the ovarian cell of\na mammifer and a man, be admitted, what becomes of Professor Armor\u2019s\ntheory? In such a case an instance of an animal-malformation is as good\nas that of a human monster; and this is what we read in Dr. Samuel L.\nMitchell\u2019s paper _On two-headed Serpents_: \u201cA female snake was killed,\ntogether with her whole brood of young ones, amounting to 120, of these\n_three were monsters_. One with two distinct heads; one with a double\nhead and only three eyes; and one with a double skull, furnished with\nthree eyes, and a single lower jaw; this last had two bodies.\u201d[624]\nSurely the _generative matter_ which produced these _three monsters_\nwas identical with that which produced the other 117? Thus the _Armor_\ntheory is as imperfect as all the rest.\n\nThe trouble proceeds from the defective method of reasoning usually\nadopted\u2014_Induction_; a method which claims to collect by _experiment_\nand observation all the facts _within_ its reach, the former being\nrather that of collecting and examining experiments and drawing\nconclusions therefrom; and, according to the author of _Philosophical\nInquiry_, \u201cas this conclusion cannot be extended beyond what is\nwarranted by the experiments, the Induction is an instrument of proof\nand _limitation_.\u201d Notwithstanding this limitation is to be found in\nevery scientific inquiry, it is rarely confessed, but hypotheses are\nconstructed for us as though the experimenters had found them to be\nmathematically-proved theorems, while they are, to say the most, simple\napproximations.\n\nFor a student of occult philosophy, who rejects in his turn the method\nof induction on account of these perpetual limitations, and fully\nadopts the Platonic division of causes\u2014namely, the Efficient, the\nFormal, the Material, and the Final, as well as the Eleatic method of\nexamining any given proposition, it is but natural to reason from the\nfollowing standpoint of the Neo-platonic school: 1. The subject either\n_is_ as it is supposed or _is not_. Therefore, we will inquire: Does\nthe universal ether, known by the kabalists as the \u201castral light,\u201d\ncontain electricity and magnetism, or does it not? The answer must\nbe in the affirmative, for \u201cexact science\u201d herself teaches us that\nthese two convertible agents saturating both the air and the earth,\nthere is a constant interchange of electricity and magnetism between {394}\nthem. The question No. 1 being settled, we will have now to examine\n_what happens_\u20141st. To _it_ with respect to _itself_. 2d. To _it_\nwith respect to _all other_ things. 3d. With all _other things_,\nwith respect _to it_. 4th. To all _other things_ with respect to\n_themselves_.\n\nANSWERS: 1st. With respect to _itself_. That inherent properties\npreviously latent in electricity, become active under favoring\nconditions; and that at one time the form of magnetic force is assumed\nby the subtile, all-pervading agent; at another, the form of electric\nforce is assumed.\n\n2d. With respect to all other things. By all other things for which it\nhas an affinity, it is attracted, by all others repelled.\n\n3d. With all other things with respect to it. It happens that whenever\nthey come in contact with electricity, they receive its impress in\nproportion to their conductivity.\n\n4th. To all other things with respect to themselves. That under the\nimpulse received from the electric force, and in proportion to its\nintensity, their molecules change their relations with each other; that\neither they are wrenched asunder, so as to destroy the object\u2014organic\nor inorganic\u2014which they formed, or, if previously disturbed, are\nbrought into equilibrium (as in cases of disease); or the disturbance\nmay be but superficial, and the object may be stamped with the image of\nsome other object encountered by the fluid before reaching them.\n\nTo apply the above propositions to the case in point: There are\nseveral well-recognized principles of science, as, for instance, that\na pregnant woman is physically and mentally in a highly impressible\nstate. Physiology tells us that her intellectual faculties are\nweakened, and that she is affected to an unusual degree by the most\ntrifling events. Her pores are opened, and she exudes a peculiar\ncutaneous perspiration; she seems to be in a receptive condition for\nall the influences in nature. Reichenbach\u2019s disciples assert that her\n_odic_ condition is very intense. Du Potet warns against incautiously\nmesmerizing her, for fear of affecting the offspring. Her diseases\nare imparted to it, and often it absorbs them entirely to itself; her\npains and pleasures react upon its temperament as well as its health;\ngreat men proverbially have great mothers, and _vice versa_. \u201c_It is\ntrue that her imagination has an influence upon the f\u0153tus_,\u201d admits\nMagendie, thus contradicting what he asserts in another place; and he\nadds that \u201csudden terror may cause the death of the f\u0153tus, _or retard\nits growth_.\u201d[625]\n\nIn the case recently reported in the American papers, of a boy who\nwas killed by a stroke of lightning, upon stripping the body, there\nwas found imprinted upon his breast the faithful picture of a tree {395}\nwhich grew near the window which he was facing at the time of the\ncatastrophe, and which was also felled by the lightning. Now, this\nelectrical photography, which was accomplished by the blind forces\nof nature, furnishes an analogy by which we may understand how the\nmental images of the mother are transmitted to the unborn child. Her\n_pores_ are opened; she exudes an _odic_ emanation which is but another\nform of the _akasa_, the electricity, or life-principle, and which,\naccording to Reichenbach, produces mesmeric sleep, and consequently\nis _magnetism_. Magnetic currents develop themselves into electricity\nupon their exit from the body. An object making a violent impression\non the mother\u2019s mind, its image is instantly projected into the astral\nlight, or the universal ether, which Jevons and Babbage, as well as\nthe authors of the _Unseen Universe_, tell us is the repository of the\n_spiritual_ images of all forms, and even human thoughts. Her magnetic\nemanations attract and unite themselves with the descending current\nwhich already bears the image upon it. It rebounds, and re-percussing\nmore or less violently, impresses itself upon the f\u0153tus, according to\nthe very formula of physiology which shows how every maternal feeling\nreacts on the offspring. Is this kabalistic theory more _hypothetical_\nor incomprehensible than the teratological doctrine taught by the\ndisciples of Geoffroi St. Hilaire? The doctrine, of which Magendie so\njustly observes, \u201cis found convenient and easy from its _vagueness_\nand obscurity,\u201d and which \u201cpretends to nothing less than the creation\nof a new science, the theory of which reposes on certain laws not very\nintelligible, as that of _arresting_, that of _retarding_, that of\n_similar_ or _eccentric_ position, especially the _great law_, as it is\ncalled, of _self for self_.\u201d[626]\n\nEliphas Levi, who is certainly one of the best authorities on certain\npoints among kabalists, says: \u201cPregnant women are, more than others,\nunder the influence of the astral light, which assists in the formation\nof their child, and constantly presents to them the reminiscences of\nforms with which it is filled. It is thus that very virtuous women\ndeceive the malignity of observers by equivocal resemblances. They\noften impress upon the fruit of their marriage an image which has\nstruck them in a dream, and thus are the same physiognomies perpetuated\nfrom age to age.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe kabalistic use of the pentagram can therefore determine the\ncountenance of unborn infants, and an initiated woman might give to her\nson the features of Nereus or Achilles, as well as those of Louis XV.\nor Napoleon.\u201d[627]\n\nIf it should confirm another theory than that of Dr. Fisher, he should\nbe the last to complain, for as he himself makes the confession, which {396}\nhis own example verifies:[628] \u201cOne of the most formidable obstacles\nto the advancement of science ... has ever been a _blind submission\nto authority_.... To untrammel the mind from the influence of mere\nauthority, that it may have free scope in the investigation of facts\nand laws which exist and are established in nature, is the grand\nantecedent necessary to scientific discovery and permanent progress.\u201d\n\nIf the maternal imagination can stunt the growth or destroy the\nlife of the f\u0153tus, why cannot it influence its physical appearance?\nThere are some surgeons who have devoted their lives and fortunes to\nfind the cause for these malformations, but have only reached the\nopinion that they are mere \u201ccoincidences.\u201d It would be also highly\nunphilosophical to say that animals are not endowed with imagination;\nand, while it might be considered the acme of metaphysical speculation\nto even formulate the idea that members of the vegetable kingdom\u2014say\nthe _mimosas_ and the group of insect-catchers\u2014have an instinct and\neven rudimentary imagination of their own, yet the idea is not without\nits advocates. If great physicists like Tyndall are forced to confess\nthat even in the case of intelligent and speaking man they are unable\nto bridge the chasm between mind and matter, and define the powers of\nthe imagination, how much greater must be the mystery about what takes\nplace in the brain of a dumb animal.\n\nWhat is imagination? _Psychologists tell us that it is the plastic or\ncreative power of the soul_; but materialists confound it with fancy.\nThe radical difference between the two, was however, so thoroughly\nindicated by Wordsworth, in the preface to his _Lyrical Ballads_,\nthat it is no longer excusable to interchange the words. Imagination,\nPythagoras maintained to be the remembrance of precedent spiritual,\nmental, and physical states, while fancy is the disorderly production\nof the material brain.\n\nFrom whatever aspect we view and question matter, the world-old\nphilosophy that it was vivified and fructified by the eternal idea,\nor imagination\u2014the abstract outlining and preparing the model for the\nconcrete form\u2014is unavoidable. If we reject this doctrine, the theory\nof a cosmos evolving gradually out of its chaotic disorder becomes an\nabsurdity; for it is highly unphilosophical to imagine inert matter,\nsolely moved by blind force, and directed by intelligence, forming\nitself spontaneously into a universe of such admirable harmony. If the\nsoul of man is really an outcome of the essence of this universal soul,\nan infinitesimal fragment of this first creative principle, it must\nof necessity partake in degree of all the attributes of the demiurgic\npower. As the creator, breaking up the chaotic mass of dead, inactive {397}\nmatter, shaped it into form, so man, if he knew his powers, could,\nto a degree, do the same. As Pheidias, gathering together the loose\nparticles of clay and moistening them with water, could give plastic\nshape to the sublime idea evoked by his creative faculty, so the mother\nwho knows her power can fashion the coming child into whatever form she\nlikes. Ignorant of his powers, the sculptor produces only an inanimate\nthough ravishing figure of inert matter; while the soul of the mother,\nviolently affected by her imagination, blindly projects into the astral\nlight an image of the object which impressed it, and, by re-percussion,\nthat is stamped upon the f\u0153tus. Science tells us that the law of\ngravitation assures us that any displacement which takes place in the\nvery heart of the earth will be felt throughout the universe, \u201cand we\nmay even imagine that the same thing will hold true of those molecular\nmotions which accompany thought.\u201d[629] Speaking of the transmission\nof energy throughout the universal ether or astral light, the same\nauthority says: \u201cContinual photographs of all occurrences are thus\nproduced and retained. A large portion of the energy of the universe\nmay thus be said to be invested in such pictures.\u201d\n\nDr. Fourni\u00e9, of the National Deaf and Dumb Institute of France, in\nchapter ii. of his work,[630] in discussing the question of the f\u0153tus,\nsays that the most powerful microscope is unable to show us the\nslightest difference between the ovarian cell of a mammifer and a man;\nand, respecting the first or last movement of the ovule, asks: \u201cWhat is\nit? has it particular characters which distinguish it from every other\novule?\u201d and justly answers thus: \u201cUntil now, science has not replied to\nthese questions, and, without being a pessimist, I do not think _that\nshe ever will reply_; from the day when her methods of investigation\nwill permit her to surprise the hidden mechanism of the conflict of\nthe principle of life with matter, she will know life itself, and\nbe able to produce it.\u201d If our author had read the sermon of P\u00e8re\nFelix, how appropriately he might utter his Amen! to the priest\u2019s\nexclamation\u2014MYSTERY! MYSTERY!\n\nLet us consider the assertion of Magendie in the light of recorded\ninstances of the power of imagination in producing monstrous\ndeformities, where the question does not involve pregnant women. He\nadmits that these occur daily in the offspring of the lower animals;\nhow does he account for the hatching of chickens with hawk-heads,\nexcept upon the theory that the appearance of the hereditary enemy\nacted upon the hen\u2019s imagination, which, in its turn, imparted to the\nmatter composing the germ a certain motion which, before expanding\nitself, produced the monstrous chicks? We know of an analogous case, {398}\nwhere a tame dove, belonging to a lady of our acquaintance, was\nfrightened daily by a parrot, and in her next brood of young there\nwere two squabs with parrots\u2019 heads, the resemblance even extending to\nthe color of the feathers. We might also cite Columella, Youatt, and\nother authorities, together with the experience of all animal breeders,\nto show that by exciting the imagination of the mother, the external\nappearance of the offspring can be largely controlled. These instances\nin no degree affect the question of heredity, for they are simply\nspecial variations of type artificially caused.\n\nCatherine Crowe discusses at considerable length the question of the\npower of the mind over matter, and relates, in illustration, many\nwell-authenticated instances of the same.[631] Among others, that most\ncurious phenomenon called the _stigmata_ have a decided bearing upon\nthis point. These marks come upon the bodies of persons of all ages,\nand always as the result of exalted imagination. In the cases of the\nTyrolese ecstatic, Catherine Emmerich, and many others, the wounds of\nthe crucifixion are said to be as perfect as nature. A certain Mme. B.\nvon N. dreamed one night that a person offered her a red and a white\nrose, and that she chose the latter. On awaking, she felt a burning\npain in her arm, and by degrees there appeared the figure of a rose,\nperfect in form and color; it was rather raised above the skin. The\nmark increased in intensity till the eighth day, after which it faded\naway, and by the fourteenth, was no longer perceptible. Two young\nladies, in Poland, were standing by an open window during a storm; a\nflash of lightning fell near them, and the gold necklace on the neck of\none of them was melted. A perfect image of it was impressed upon the\nskin, and remained throughout life. The other girl, appalled by the\naccident to her companion, stood transfixed with horror for several\nminutes, and then fainted away. Little by little the same mark of a\nnecklace as had been instantaneously imprinted upon her friend\u2019s body,\nappeared upon her own, and remained there for several years, when it\ngradually disappeared.\n\nDr. Justinus Kerner, the distinguished German author, relates a still\nmore extraordinary case. \u201cAt the time of the French invasion, a Cossack\nhaving pursued a Frenchman into a _cul-de-sac_, an alley without an\noutlet, there ensued a terrible conflict between them, in which the\nlatter was severely wounded. A person who had taken refuge in this\nclose, and could not get away, was so dreadfully frightened, that when\nhe reached home there broke out on his body the very same wounds that\nthe Cossack had inflicted on his enemy!\u201d\n\nIn this case, as in those where organic disorders, and even physical {399}\ndeath result from a sudden excitement of the mind reacting upon the\nbody, Magendie would find it difficult to attribute the effect to\nany other cause than the imagination; and if he were an occultist,\nlike Paracelsus, or Van Helmont, the question would be stripped of\nits mystery. He would understand the power of the human will and\nimagination\u2014the former conscious, the latter involuntary\u2014on the\nuniversal agent to inflict injury, physical and mental, not only\nupon chosen victims, but also, by reflex action, upon one\u2019s self and\nunconsciously. It is one of the fundamental principles of magic, that\nif a current of this subtile fluid is not impelled with sufficient\nforce to reach the objective point, it will react upon the individual\nsending it, as an India-rubber ball rebounds to the thrower\u2019s hand from\nthe wall against which it strikes without being able to penetrate it.\nThere are many cases instanced where _would-be sorcerers_ fell victims\nthemselves. Van Helmont says: \u201cThe imaginative power of a woman vividly\nexcited produces an idea, which is the connecting medium between the\nbody and spirit. This transfers itself to the being with whom the woman\nstands in the most immediate relation, and impresses upon it that image\nwhich the most agitated herself.\u201d\n\nDeleuze has collected, in his _Biblioth\u00e8que du Magn\u00e9tisme_ Animal, a\nnumber of remarkable facts taken from Van Helmont, among which we will\ncontent ourselves with quoting the following as pendants to the case\nof the bird-hunter, Jacques Pelissier. He says that \u201cmen by looking\nsteadfastly at animals _oculis intentis_ for a quarter of an hour may\ncause their death; which Rousseau confirms from his own experience in\nEgypt and the East, as having killed several toads in this manner. But\nwhen he at last tried this at Lyons, the toad, finding it could not\nescape from his eye, turned round, blew itself up, and stared at him so\nfiercely, without moving its eyes, that a weakness came over him even\nto fainting, and he was for some time thought to be dead.\u201d\n\nBut to return to the question of teratology. Wierus tells, in his _De\nPr\u0153stigiis Demonum_, of a child born of a woman who not long before\nits birth was threatened by her husband, he saying that she had the\ndevil in her and that he would kill him. The mother\u2019s fright was such\nthat her offspring appeared \u201cwell-shaped from the middle downward, but\nupward spotted with blackened red spots, with eyes in his forehead, a\nmouth like a Satyr, ears like a dog, and bended horns on its head like\na goat.\u201d In a demonological work by Peramatus, there is a story of a\nmonster born at St. Lawrence, in the West Indies, in the year 1573, the\ngenuineness of which is certified to by the Duke of Medina-Sidonia.\nThe child, \u201cbesides the horrible deformity of its mouth, ears, and\nnose, had two horns on the head, like those of young goats, long hair\non his body, a fleshy girdle about his middle, double, from whence {400}\nhung a piece of flesh like a purse, and a bell of flesh in his left\nhand like those the Indians use when they dance, white boots of flesh\non his legs, doubled down. In brief, the whole shape was horrid and\ndiabolical, and conceived to proceed from some fright the mother had\ntaken from the antic dances of the Indians.\u201d[632] Dr. Fisher rejects\nall such instances as unauthenticated and fabulous.\n\nBut we will not weary the reader with further selections from the\nmultitude of teratological cases to be found recorded in the works\nof standard authors; the above suffice to show that there is reason\nto attribute these aberrations of physiological type to the mutual\nreaction of the maternal mind and the universal ether upon each other.\nLest some should question the authority of Van Helmont, as a man of\nscience, we will refer them to the work of Fourni\u00e9, the well-known\nphysiologist, where (at page 717) the following estimate of his\ncharacter will be found: \u201cVan Helmont was a highly distinguished\nchemist; he had particularly studied a\u00ebriform fluids, and gave them\nthe name of _gaz_; at the same time he pushed his piety to mysticism,\nabandoning himself exclusively to a contemplation of the divinity....\nVan Helmont is distinguished above all his predecessors by connecting\n_the principle of life_, directly and in some sort experimentally, as\nhe tells us, with the most minute movements of the body. It is the\nincessant action of this entity, in no way associated by him with the\nmaterial elements, but forming a distinct individuality, that we cannot\nunderstand. Nevertheless, it is upon this entity that a famous school\nhas laid its principal foundation.\u201d\n\nVan Helmont\u2019s \u201cprinciple of life,\u201d or _arch\u00e6us_, is neither more nor\nless than the astral light of all the kabalists, and the universal\nether of modern science. If the more unimportant signatures of the\nf\u0153tus are not due to the imaginations of the mother, to what other\ncause would Magendie attribute the formation of horny scales, the horns\nof goats and the hairy coats of animals, which we have seen in the\nabove instances marking monstrous progeny? Surely there were no latent\ngerms of these distinguishing features of the animal kingdom capable of\nbeing developed under a sudden impulse of the maternal fancy. In short,\nthe only possible explanation is the one offered by the adepts in the\noccult sciences.\n\nBefore leaving the subject, we wish to say a few words more respecting\nthe cases where the head, arm, and hand were instantly dissolved,\nthough it was evident that in each instance the entire body of the\nchild had been perfectly formed. Of what is a child\u2019s body composed at\nits birth? The chemists will tell us that it comprises a dozen pounds\nof solidified gas, and a few ounces of ashy residuum, some water, {401}\noxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbonic acid, a little lime, magnesia,\nphosphorus, and a few other minerals; that is all! Whence came they?\nHow were they gathered together? How were these particles which Mr.\nProctor tells us are drawn in from \u201cthe depths of space surrounding\nus on all sides,\u201d formed and fashioned into the human being? We have\nseen that it is useless to ask the dominant school of which Magendie\nis an illustrious representative; for he confesses that they know\nnothing of the nutrition, digestion, or circulation of the f\u0153tus; and\nphysiology teaches us that while the ovule is enclosed in the Graafian\nvesicle it participates\u2014forms an integral part of the general structure\nof the mother. Upon the rupture of the vesicle, it becomes almost as\nindependent of her for what is to build up the body of the future\nbeing as the germ in a bird\u2019s egg after the mother has dropped it in\nthe nest. There certainly is very little in the demonstrated facts of\nscience to contradict the idea that the relation of the embryonic child\nto the mother is much different from that of the tenant to the house,\nupon whose shelter he depends for health, warmth, and comfort.\n\nAccording to Demokritus, the soul[633] results from the aggregation of\natoms, and Plutarch describes his philosophy as follows: \u201cThat there\nare substances infinite in number, indivisible, undisturbed, which are\nwithout differences, without qualities, and which move in space, where\nthey are disseminated; that when they approach each other, they unite,\ninterlock, and form by their aggregation water, fire, a plant, or a\nman.\u201d That all these substances, which he calls _atoms_ by reason of\ntheir solidity, can experience neither change nor alteration. \u201cBut,\u201d\nadds Plutarch, \u201cwe cannot make a color of that which is colorless, nor\na substance or soul of that which is without soul and without quality.\u201d\nProfessor Balfour Stewart says that this doctrine, in the hands of\nJohn Dalton, \u201chas enabled the human mind to lay hold of the laws which\nregulate chemical changes, as well as to picture to itself what is\nthere taking place.\u201d After quoting, with approbation, Bacon\u2019s idea that\nmen are perpetually investigating the extreme limits of nature, he then\nerects a standard which he and his brother philosophers would do well\nto measure their behavior by. \u201cSurely we ought,\u201d says he, \u201cto be very\ncautious before we dismiss any branch of knowledge or train of thought\nas essentially unprofitable.\u201d[634]\n\nBrave words, these. But how many are the men of science who put them\ninto practice?\n\nDemokritus of Abdera shows us space crammed with atoms, and our {402}\ncontemporary astronomers allow us to see how these atoms form into\nworlds, and afterward into the races, our own included, which people\nthem. Since we have indicated the existence of a power in the human\nwill, which, by concentrating currents of those atoms upon an objective\npoint, can create a child corresponding to the mother\u2019s fancy, why is\nit not perfectly credible that this same power put forth by the mother,\ncan, by an intense, albeit unconscious reversal of those currents,\ndissipate and obliterate any portion or even the whole of the body of\nher unborn child? And here comes in the question of false pregnancies,\nwhich have so often completely puzzled both physician and patient.\nIf the head, arm, and hand of the three children mentioned by Van\nHelmont could disappear, as a result of the emotion of horror, why\nmight not the same or some other emotion, excited in a like degree,\ncause the entire extinction of the f\u0153tus in so-called false pregnancy?\nSuch cases are rare, but they do occur, and moreover baffle science\ncompletely. There certainly is no chemical solvent in the mother\u2019s\ncirculation powerful enough to dissolve her child, without destroying\nherself. We commend the subject to the medical profession, hoping that\nas a class they will not adopt the conclusion of Fourni\u00e9, who says:\n\u201cIn this succession of phenomena we must confine ourselves _to the\noffice of historian_, as we have not even tried to explain the whys and\nwherefores of these things, for there lie the inscrutable mysteries of\nlife, and in proportion as we advance in our exposition, we will be\nobliged to recognize that this is to us _forbidden ground_.\u201d[635]\n\nWithin the limits of his intellectual capabilities the true philosopher\nknows no forbidden ground, and should be content to accept no mystery\nof nature as inscrutable or inviolable.\n\nNo student of Hermetic philosophy, nor any spiritualist, will object\nto the abstract principle laid down by Hume that a _miracle_ is\nimpossible; for to suppose such a possibility would make the universe\ngoverned through special instead of general laws. This is one of the\nfundamental contradictions between science and theology. The former,\nreasoning upon universal experience, maintains that there is a general\nuniformity of the course of nature, while the latter assumes that the\nGoverning Mind can be invoked to suspend general law to suit special\nemergencies. Says John Stuart Mill,[636] \u201cIf we do not already believe\nin supernatural agencies, no miracle can prove to us their existence.\nThe miracle itself, considered merely as an extraordinary fact, may be\nsatisfactorily certified by our senses or by testimony; but nothing {403}\ncan ever prove that it is a miracle. There is still another possible\nhypothesis, that of its being the result of some unknown natural cause;\nand this possibility cannot be so completely shut out as to leave no\nalternative but that of admitting the existence and intervention of a\nbeing superior to nature.\u201d\n\nThis is the very point which we have sought to bring home to our\nlogicians and physicists. As Mr. Mill himself says, \u201cWe cannot admit\na proposition as a law of nature, and yet believe a fact in real\ncontradiction to it. We must disbelieve the alleged fact, or believe\nthat we were mistaken in admitting the supposed law.\u201d Mr. Hume cites\nthe \u201cfirm and _unalterable_ experience\u201d of mankind, as establishing\nthe laws whose operation _ipso facto_ makes miracles impossible. The\ndifficulty lies in his use of the adjective which is Italicized, for\nthis is an assumption that our experience will never change, and\nthat, as a consequence, we will always have the same experiments and\nobservations upon which to base our judgment. It also assumes that\nall philosophers will have the same facts to reflect upon. It also\nentirely ignores such collected accounts of philosophical experiment\nand scientific discovery as we may have been temporarily deprived of.\nThus, by the burning of the Alexandrian Library and the destruction of\nNineveh, the world has been for many centuries without the necessary\ndata upon which to estimate the real knowledge, esoteric and exoteric,\nof the ancients. But, within the past few years, the discovery of the\nRosetta stone, the Ebers, d\u2019Aubigney, Anastasi, and other _papyri_,\nand the exhumation of the tile-libraries, have opened a field of\narch\u00e6ological research which is likely to lead to radical changes in\nthis \u201cfirm and unalterable experience.\u201d The author of _Supernatural\nReligion_ justly observes that \u201ca person who believes anything\ncontradictory to a complete induction, merely on the strength of an\nassumption which is incapable of proof, is simply credulous; but such\nan assumption cannot affect the real evidence for that thing.\u201d\n\nIn a lecture delivered by Mr. Hiram Corson, Professor of Anglo-Saxon\nLiterature at the Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., before the alumni\nof St. John\u2019s College, Annapolis, in July, 1875, the lecturer thus\ndeservedly rebukes science:\n\n\u201cThere are things,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich Science can never do, and which\nit is arrogant in attempting to do. There was a time when Religion\nand the Church went beyond their legitimate domain, and invaded and\nharried that of Science, and imposed a burdensome tribute upon the\nlatter; but it would seem that their former relations to each other are\nundergoing an entire change, and Science has crossed its frontiers and\nis invading the domain of Religion and the Church, and instead of a\nReligious Papacy, we are in danger of being brought under a Scientific\nPapacy\u2014we are in fact already brought under such a Papacy; and as {404}\nin the sixteenth century a protest was made, in the interests of\nintellectual freedom, against a religious and ecclesiastical despotism,\nso, in this nineteenth century, the spiritual and eternal interests of\nman demand that a protest should be made against a rapidly-developing\nscientific despotism, and that Scientists should not only keep within\ntheir legitimate domain of the phenomenal and the conditioned, but\nshould \u2018re\u00ebxamine their stock in trade, so that we may make sure how\nfar the stock of bullion in the cellar\u2014on the faith of whose existence\nso much paper has been circulating\u2014is really the solid gold of Truth.\u2019\n\n\u201cIf this is not done in science as well as in ordinary business,\nscientists are apt to put their capital at too high a figure, and\naccordingly carry on a dangerously-inflated business. Even since Prof.\nTyndall delivered his Belfast Address, it has been shown, by the many\nreplies it has elicited, that the capital of the Evolution-School of\nPhilosophy to which he belongs, is not near so great as it was before\nvaguely supposed to be by many of the non-scientific but intelligent\nportion of the world. It is quite surprising to a non-scientific\nperson to be made aware of the large purely hypothetical domain which\nsurrounds that of established science, and of which scientists often\nboast, as a part of their settled and available conquests.\u201d\n\nExactly; and at the same time denying the same privilege to others.\nThey protest against the \u201cmiracles\u201d of the Church, and repudiate, with\nas much logic, modern phenomena. In view of the admission of such\nscientific authorities as Dr. Youmans and others that modern science is\npassing through a transitional period, it would seem that it is time\nthat people should cease to consider certain things incredible only\nbecause they are marvellous, and because they seem to oppose themselves\nto what we are accustomed to consider universal laws. There are not a\nfew well-meaning men in the present century who, desiring to avenge\nthe memory of such martyrs of science as Agrippa, Palissy, and Cardan,\nnevertheless fail, through lack of means, to understand their ideas\nrightly. They erroneously believe that the Neo-platonists gave more\nattention to transcendental philosophy than to exact science.\n\n\u201cThe failures that Aristotle himself so often exhibits,\u201d remarks\nProfessor Draper, \u201care no proof of the unreliability of his method, but\nrather of its trustworthiness. They are failures arising from want of a\nsufficiency of facts.\u201d[637]\n\nWhat facts? we might inquire. A man of science cannot be expected\nto admit that these facts can be furnished by occult science, since\nhe does not believe in the latter. Nevertheless, the future may {405}\ndemonstrate this verity. Aristotle has bequeathed his inductive method\nto our scientists; but until they supplement it with \u201cthe universals\nof Plato,\u201d they will experience still more \u201cfailures\u201d than the great\ntutor of Alexander. The universals are a matter of faith only so long\nas they cannot be demonstrated by reason and based on uninterrupted\nexperience. Who of our present-day philosophers can prove by this\nsame inductive method that the ancients did _not_ possess such\ndemonstrations as a consequence of their esoteric studies? Their own\nnegations, unsupported as they are by proof, sufficiently attest that\nthey do not always pursue the inductive method they so much boast of.\nObliged as they are to base their theories, _nolens volens_, on the\ngroundwork of the ancient philosophers, their modern discoveries are\nbut the shoots put forth by the germs planted by the former. And yet\neven these discoveries are generally incomplete, if not abortive. Their\ncause is involved in obscurity and their ultimate effect unforeseen.\u201c\nWe are not,\u201d says Professor Youmans, \u201cto regard past theories as mere\nexploded errors, nor present theories as final. The living and growing\nbody of truth has only mantled its old integuments in the progress\nto a higher and more vigorous state.\u201d[638] This language, applied to\nmodern chemistry by one of the first philosophical chemists and most\nenthusiastic scientific writers of the day, shows the transitional\nstate in which we find modern science; but what is true of chemistry is\ntrue of all its sister sciences.\n\nSince the advent of spiritualism, physicians and pathologists are\nmore ready than ever to treat great philosophers like Paracelsus and\nVan Helmont as superstitious quacks and charlatans, and to ridicule\ntheir notions about the _arch\u00e6us_, or _anima mundi_, as well as the\nimportance they gave to a knowledge of the machinery of the stars. And\nyet, how much of substantial progress has medicine effected since the\ndays when Lord Bacon classed it among the _conjectural_ sciences?\n\nSuch philosophers as Demokritus, Aristotle, Euripides, Epicurus, or\nrather his biographer, Lucretius, \u00c6schylus, and other ancient writers,\nwhom the materialists so willingly quote as authoritative opponents of\nthe dreamy Platonists, were only theorists, not adepts. The latter,\nwhen they did write, either had their works burned by Christian mobs\nor they worded them in a way to be intelligible only to the initiated.\nWho of their modern detractors can warrant that he knows _all_ about\nwhat they knew? Diocletian alone burned whole libraries of works upon\nthe \u201csecret arts;\u201d not a manuscript treating on the art of making\ngold and silver escaped the wrath of this unpolished tyrant. Arts and\ncivilization had attained such a development at what is now termed {406}\nthe archaic ages that we learn, through Champollion, that Athothi,\nthe _second_ king of the _first_ dynasty, wrote a work on anatomy,\nand the king Necho on astrology and astronomy. Blantasus and Cynchrus\nwere two learned geographers of those pre-Mosaic days. \u00c6lian speaks of\nthe Egyptian Iachus, whose memory was venerated for centuries for his\nwonderful achievements in medicine. He stopped the progress of several\nepidemics, merely with certain _fumigations_. A work of Apollonides,\nsurnamed Orapios, is mentioned by Theophilus, patriarch of Antioch,\nentitled the _Divine Book_, and giving the secret biography and origin\nof all the gods of Egypt; and Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of a secret\nwork in which was noted the _precise age of the bull Apis_\u2014a key to\nmany a mystery and cyclic calculation. What has become of all these\nbooks, and who knows the treasures of learning they may have contained?\nWe know but one thing for a certainty, and that is, that Pagan and\nChristian Vandals destroyed such literary treasures _wherever they\ncould find them_; and that the emperor Alexander Severus went all over\nEgypt to collect the sacred books on mysticism and mythology, pillaging\nevery temple; and that the Ethiopians\u2014old as were the Egyptians in\narts and sciences\u2014claimed a priority of antiquity as well as of\nlearning over them; as well they might, for they were known in India\nat the earliest dawn of history. We also know that Plato learned more\nsecrets in Egypt than he was allowed to mention; and that, according\nto Champollion, all that is really good and scientific in Aristotle\u2019s\nworks\u2014so prized in our day by our modern inductionists\u2014is due to his\n_divine_ Master; and that, as a logical sequence, Plato having imparted\nthe profound secrets he had learned from the priests of Egypt to\nhis initiated disciples orally\u2014who in their turn passed it from one\ngeneration to another of adepts\u2014the latter _know more_ of the occult\npowers of nature than our philosophers of the present day.\n\nAnd here we may as well mention the works of Hermes Trismegistus.\nWho, or how many have had the opportunity to read them as they were\nin the Egyptian sanctuaries? In his _Egyptian Mysteries_, Iamblichus\nattributes to Hermes 1,100 books, and Seleucus reckons no less than\n20,000 of his works before the period of Menes. Eusebius saw but\nforty-two of these \u201cin his time,\u201d he says, and the last of the six\nbooks on medicine treated on that art as practiced in the darkest {407}\nages;[639] and Diodorus says that it was the oldest of the legislators\nMnevis, the third successor of _Menes_, who received them from Hermes.\n\nOf such manuscripts as have descended to us, most are but Latin\nretranslations of Greek translations, made principally by the\nNeo-platonists from the original books preserved by some adepts.\nMarcilius Ficinus, who was the first to publish them in Venice, in\n1488, has given us mere extracts, and the most important portions\nseemed to have been either overlooked, or purposely omitted as too\ndangerous to publish in those days of _Auto da f\u00e9_. And so it happens\nnow, that when a kabalist who has devoted his whole life to studying\noccultism, and has conquered the great secret, ventures to remark\nthat the _Kabala_ alone leads to the knowledge of the Absolute in\nthe Infinite, and the Indefinite in the Finite, he is laughed at by\nthose who because they know the impossibility of squaring the circle\nas a physical problem, deny the possibility of its being done in the\nmetaphysical sense.\n\nPsychology, according to the greatest authorities on the subject, is a\ndepartment of science hitherto almost unknown. Physiology, according\nto Fourni\u00e9, one of its French authorities, is in so bad a condition as\nto warrant his saying in the preface to his erudite work _Physiologie\ndu Syst\u00e8me Nerveux_, that \u201cwe perceive at last that not only is the\nphysiology of the brain not worked out, but also that _no physiology\nwhatever of the nervous system exists_.\u201d Chemistry has been entirely\nremodelled within the past few years; therefore, like all new sciences,\nthe infant cannot be considered as very firm on its legs. Geology\nhas not yet been able to tell anthropology how long man has existed.\nAstronomy, the most exact of sciences, is still speculating and\nbewildered about cosmic energy, and many other things as important.\nIn anthropology, Mr. Wallace tells us, there exists a wide difference\nof opinion on some of the most vital questions respecting the nature\nand origin of man. Medicine has been pronounced by various eminent\nphysicians to be nothing better than scientific guess-work. Everywhere\nincompleteness, nowhere perfection. When we look at these earnest men\ngroping around in the dark to find the missing links of their broken\nchains, they seem to us like persons starting from a common, fathomless\nabyss by divergent paths. Each of these ends at the brink of a chasm {408}\nwhich they cannot explore. On the one hand they lack the means to\ndescend into its hidden depths, and on the other they are repulsed at\neach attempt by jealous sentries, who will not let them pass. And so\nthey go on watching the lower forces of nature and from time to time\ninitiating the public into their _great_ discoveries. Did they not\nactually pounce upon vital force and catch her playing in her game of\ncorrelation with chemical and physical forces? Indeed they did. But if\nwe ask them whence this vital force? How is it that they who had so\nfirmly believed, but a short time since, that matter was destructible\nand passed out of existence, and now have learned to believe as firmly\nthat it does not, are unable to tell us more about it? Why are they\nforced in this case as in many others to return to a doctrine taught\nby Demokritus twenty-four centuries ago?[640] Ask them, and they will\nanswer: \u201cCreation or destruction of matter, increase or diminution\nof matter, lies _beyond the domain of science_ ... her domain is\nconfined entirely to the changes of matter ... the domain of science\nlies within the limits of these changes\u2014creation and annihilation lie\noutside of her domain.\u201d[641] Ah! no, they lie only outside the grasp of\nmaterialistic _scientists_. But why affirm the same of science? And if\nthey say that \u201cforce is incapable of destruction, except by the same\npower which created it,\u201d then they tacitly admit the existence of such\na _power_, and have therefore _no right_ to throw obstacles in the way\nof those who, bolder than themselves, try to penetrate _beyond_, and\nfind that they can only do so by _lifting the Veil of Isis_.\n\nBut, surely among all these inchoate branches of science, there must\nbe some one at least complete! It seems to us that we heard a great\nclamor of applause, \u201cas the voice of many waters,\u201d over the discovery\nof protoplasm. But, alas! when we turned to read Mr. Huxley, the\nlearned parent of the new-born infant is found saying: \u201cIn perfect\nstrictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell us _little_\nor _nothing_, directly, of the composition of living matter, and ... it\nis also in strictness, true, that WE KNOW NOTHING about the composition\nof any body whatever, as it is!\u201d\n\nThis is a sad confession, indeed. It appears, then, that the\nAristotelian method of induction is a failure in some cases, after all.\nThis also seems to account for the fact that this model philosopher,\nwith all his careful study of particulars before rising to universals,\ntaught that the earth was _in the centre_ of the universe; while Plato, {409}\nwho lost himself in the maze of Pythagorean \u201cvagaries,\u201d and started\nfrom general principles, was perfectly versed in the heliocentric\nsystem. We can easily prove the fact, by availing ourselves of the\nsaid inductive method for Plato\u2019s benefit. We know that the _Sodalian_\noath of the initiate into the Mysteries prevented his imparting his\nknowledge to the world in so many plain words. \u201cIt was the dream of his\nlife,\u201d says Champollion, \u201cto write a work and record in it in full the\ndoctrines taught by the Egyptian hierophants; he often talked of it,\nbut found himself compelled to abstain on account of the \u2018solemn oath.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd now, judging our modern-day philosophers on the _vice versa_\nmethod\u2014namely, arguing from _universals_ to _particulars_, and laying\naside scientists as individuals to merely give our opinion of them,\nviewed as a whole\u2014we are forced to suspect this highly respectable\nassociation of extremely petty feelings toward their elder, ancient,\nand archaic brothers. It really seems as if they bore always in mind\nthe adage, \u201cPut out the _sun_, and the _stars_ will shine.\u201d\n\nWe have heard a French Academician, a man of profound learning, remark,\nthat he would gladly sacrifice his own reputation to have the record of\nthe many ridiculous mistakes and failures of his colleagues obliterated\nfrom the public memory. But these failures cannot be recalled _too_\noften in considering our claims and the subject we advocate. The time\nwill come when the children of men of science, unless they inherit\nthe soul-blindness of their skeptical parents, will be ashamed of the\ndegrading materialism and narrow-mindedness of their fathers. To use an\nexpression of the venerable William Howitt, \u201cThey hate new truths as\nthe owl and the thief hate the sun.... Mere intellectual enlightenment\ncannot recognize the spiritual. As the sun puts out a fire, so spirit\nputs out the eyes of mere intellect.\u201d\n\nIt is an old, old story. From the days when the preacher wrote, \u201cthe\neye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing,\u201d\nscientists have deported themselves as if the saying were written to\ndescribe their own mental condition. How faithfully Lecky, himself a\nrationalist, unconsciously depicts this propensity in men of science\nto deride all new things, in his description of the manner in which\n\u201ceducated men\u201d receive an account of a miracle having taken place!\n\u201cThey receive it,\u201d says he, \u201cwith an absolute and even derisive\nincredulity, which dispenses with all examination of the evidences!\u201d\nMoreover, so saturated do they become with the fashionable skepticism\nafter once having fought their way into the Academy, that they turn\nabout and enact the role of persecutors in their turn. \u201cIt is a\ncuriosity of science,\u201d says Howitt, \u201cthat Benjamin Franklin, who had\nhimself experienced the ridicule of his countrymen for his attempts {410}\nto identify lightning and electricity, should have been one of the\nCommittee of Savants, in Paris, in 1778, who examined the claims of\nmesmerism, and condemned it as absolute quackery!\u201d[642]\n\nIf men of science would confine themselves to the discrediting of new\ndiscoveries, there might be some little excuse for them on the score\nof their tendency to a conservatism begotten of long habits of patient\nscrutiny; but they not only set up claims to originality not warranted\nby fact, but contemptuously dismiss all allegations that the people of\nancient times knew as much and even more than themselves. Pity that\nin each of their laboratories there is not suspended this text from\n_Ecclesiastes_: \u201cIs there anything whereof it may be said, See, this\n_is_ new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.\u201d[643]\nIn the verse which follows the one here quoted, the wise man says,\n\u201cThere is no remembrance of former things;\u201d so that this utterance\nmay account for every new denial. Mr. Meldrum may exact praise for\nhis meteorological observation of Cyclones in the Mauritius, and Mr.\nBaxendell, of Manchester, talk learnedly of the convection-currents of\nthe earth, and Dr. Carpenter and Commander Maury map out for us the\nequatorial current, and Professor Henry show us how the moist wind\ndeposits its burden to form rivulets and rivers, only to be again\nrescued from the ocean and returned to the hill-tops\u2014but hear what\nKoheleth says: \u201cThe wind goeth toward the south, and _turneth about_\nunto the north; it _whirleth about_ continually, and the wind returneth\nagain according to his circuits.\u201d[644]\n\n\u201cAll the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the\nplace from whence the rivers come, _thither they return again_.\u201d[645]\n\nThe philosophy of the distribution of heat and moisture by means of\nascending and descending currents between the equator and the poles,\nhas a very recent origin; but here has the hint been lying unnoticed\nin our most familiar book, for nearly three thousand years. And even\nnow, in quoting it, we are obliged to recall the fact that Solomon was\na kabalist, and in the above texts, simply repeats what was written\nthousands of years before his time.\n\nCut off as they are from the accumulation of facts in one-half of the\nuniverse, and that the most important, modern scholars are naturally\nunable to construct a system of philosophy which will satisfy\nthemselves, let alone others. They are like men in a coal mine,\nwho work all day and emerge only at night, being thereby unable to\nappreciate or understand the beauty and glory of the sunshine. Life to\nthem measures the term of human activity, and the future presents to {411}\ntheir intellectual perception only an abyss of darkness. No hope of an\neternity of research, achievement, and consequent pleasure, softens the\nasperities of present existence; and no reward is offered for exertion\nbut the bread-earning of to-day, and the shadowy and profitless fancy\nthat their names may not be forgotten for some years after the grave\nhas closed over their remains. Death to them means extinction of the\nflame of life, and the dispersion of the fragments of the lamp over\nboundless space. Said Berzelius, the great chemist, at his last hour,\nas he burst into tears: \u201cDo not wonder that I weep. You will not\nbelieve me a weak man, nor think I am alarmed by what the doctor has to\nannounce to me. I am prepared for all. But I have _to bid farewell to\nscience_; and you ought not to wonder that it costs me dear.\u201d[646]\n\nHow bitter must be the reflections of such a great student of nature\nas this, to find himself forcibly interrupted midway toward the\naccomplishment of some great study, the construction of some great\nsystem, the discovery of some mystery which had baffled mankind for\nages, but which the dying philosopher had dared hope that he might\nsolve! Look at the world of science to-day, and see the atomic\ntheorists, patching the tattered robes which expose the imperfections\nof their separate specialties! See them mending the pedestals upon\nwhich to set up again the idols which had fallen from the places where\nthey had been worshipped before this revolutionary theory had been\nexhumed from the tomb of Demokritus by John Dalton! In the ocean of\nmaterial science they cast their nets, only to have the meshes broken\nwhen some unexpected and monstrous problem comes their way. Its water\nis like the Dead Sea\u2014bitter to the taste; so dense, that they can\nscarcely immerse themselves in it, much less dive to its bottom, having\nno outlet, and no life beneath its waves, or along its margin. It is a\ndark, forbidding, trackless waste; yielding nothing worth the having,\nbecause what it yields is without life and without soul.\n\nThere was a period of time when the learned Academics made themselves\nparticularly merry at the simple enunciation of some marvels which the\nancients gave as having occurred under their own observations. What\npoor dolts\u2014perhaps liars, these appeared in the eyes of an enlightened\ncentury! Did not they actually describe horses and other animals, the\nfeet of which presented some resemblance to the hands and feet of\nmen? And in A.D. 1876, we hear Mr. Huxley giving learned lectures in\nwhich the _protohippus_, rejoicing in a quasi-human fore-arm, and the\n_orohippus_ with his four toes and Eocene origin, and the hypothetical\n_pedactyl equus_, maternal grand-uncle of the present horse, play {412}\nthe most important part. The marvel is corroborated! Materialistic\nPyrrhonists of the nineteenth century avenge the assertions of\nsuperstitious Platonists; the antediluvian _gobe-mouches_. And before\nMr. Huxley, Geoffroi St. Hilaire has shown an instance of a horse which\npositively had fingers separated by membranes.[647] When the ancients\nspoke of a pigmy race in Africa, they were taxed with falsehood. And\nyet, pigmies like these were seen and examined by a French scientist\nduring his voyage in the Tenda Maia, on the banks of the Rio Grande in\n1840;[648] by Bayard Taylor at Cairo, in 1874; and by M. Bond, of the\nIndian Trigonometrical Survey, who discovered a wild dwarfish race,\nliving in the hill-jungles of the western Galitz, to the southwest\nof the Palini Hills, a race, though often heard of, no trace of\nwhich had previously been found by the survey. \u201cThis is a new pigmy\nrace, resembling the African Obongos of du Chaillu, the Akkas of\nSchweinfurth, and the Dokos of Dr. Krapf, in their size, appearance,\nand habits.\u201d[649]\n\nHerodotus was regarded as a lunatic for speaking of a people _who he\nwas told_ slept during a night which lasted six months. If we explain\nthe word \u201cslept\u201d by an easy misunderstanding it will be more than\neasy to account for the rest as an allusion to the night of the Polar\nRegions.[650] Pliny has an abundance of facts in his work, which until\nvery recently, were rejected as fables. Among others, he mentions a\nrace of small animals, the _males_ of which _suckle their young ones_.\nThis assertion afforded much merriment among our _savants_. In his\n_Report of the Geological Survey of the Territories_, for 1872, Mr. C.\nH. Merriam describes a rare and wonderful species of rabbit (_Lepus\nBairdi_) inhabiting the pine-regions about the head-waters of the Wind\nand Yellowstone Rivers, in Wyoming.[651] Mr. Merriam secured five\nspecimens of this animal, \u201cwhich ... are _the first individuals of the\nspecies that have been brought before the scientific world_. One very\ncurious fact is that _all the males have teats_, and _take part in\nsuckling their young_! ... Adult males had large teats full of milk,\nand the hair around the nipple of one was wet, and stuck to it, showing\nthat, when taken, he had been engaged in nursing his young.\u201d In the\nCarthaginian account of the early voyages of Hanno,[652] was found a\nlong description of \u201csavage people ... whose bodies were hairy and whom\nthe interpreters called _gorill\u00e6_;\u201d \u1f04\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f04\u03b3\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9, as the text reads, {413}\nclearly implying thereby that these wild men were monkeys. Until\nour present century, the statement was considered an idle story, and\nDodwell rejected altogether the authenticity of the manuscript and its\ncontents.[653] The celebrated _Atlantis_ is attributed by the latest\nmodern commentator and translator of Plato\u2019s works to one of Plato\u2019s\n\u201cnoble lies.\u201d[654] Even the frank admission of the philosopher, in the\n_Tim\u00e6us_, that \u201c_they say_, that in their time ... the inhabitants\nof this island (Poseidon) preserved _a tradition_ handed down by\ntheir ancestors concerning the existence of the Atlantic island of a\nprodigious magnitude ... etc.\u201d[655] does not save the great teacher\nfrom the imputation of falsehood, by the \u201cinfallible modern school.\u201d\n\nAmong the great mass of peoples plunged deep in the superstitious\nignorance of the medi\u00e6val ages, there were but a few students of the\nHermetic philosophy of old, who, profiting by what it had taught them,\nwere enabled to forecast discoveries which are the boast of our present\nage; while at the same time the ancestors of our modern high-priests of\nthe temple of the Holy Molecule, were yet discovering the hoof-tracks\nof Satan in the simplest natural phenomenon. Says Professor A. Wilder:\n\u201cRoger Bacon (sixteenth century), in his treatise on the _Admirable\nForce of Art and Nature_, devotes the first part of his work to\nnatural facts. He gives us hints of gunpowder and predicts the use of\nsteam as a propelling power. The hydraulic press, the diving bell and\nkaleidoscope are all described.\u201d[656]\n\nThe ancients speak of waters metamorphosed _into blood_; of blood-rain,\nof snow-storms during which the earth was covered to the extent of\nmany miles with snow _of blood_. This fall of crimson particles has\nbeen proved, like everything else, to be but a natural phenomenon. It\nhas occurred at different epochs, but the cause of it remains a puzzle\nuntil the present day.\n\nDe Candolle, one of the most distinguished botanists of this century,\nsought to prove in 1825, at the time when the waters of the lake of\nMorat had apparently turned into a thick blood, that the phenomenon\ncould be easily accounted for. He attributed it to the development of\nmyriads of those half vegetable, half-infusory animals which he terms\n_Oscellatoria rubescens_, and which form the link between animal and\nvegetable organisms.[657] Elsewhere we give an account of the red snow {414}\nwhich Captain Ross observed in the Arctic regions. Many memoirs have\nbeen written on the subject by the most eminent naturalists, but no two\nof them agree in their hypotheses. Some call it \u201cpollen powder of a\nspecies of pine;\u201d others, small insects; and Professor Agardt confesses\nvery frankly that he is at a loss to either account for the cause of\nsuch phenomena, or to explain the nature of the red substance.[658]\n\nThe unanimous testimony of mankind is said to be an irrefutable proof\nof truth; and about what was ever testimony more unanimous than\nthat for thousands of ages among civilized people as among the most\nbarbarous, there has existed a firm and unwavering belief in magic?\nThe latter implies a contravention of the laws of nature only in\nthe minds of the ignorant; and if such ignorance is to be deplored\nin the ancient uneducated nations, why do not our civilized and\n_highly_-educated classes of fervent Christians, deplore it also in\nthemselves? The mysteries of the Christian religion have been no more\nable to stand a crucial test than biblical miracles. Magic alone, in\nthe true sense of the word, affords a clew to the wonders of Aaron\u2019s\nrod, and the feats of the magi of Pharaoh, who opposed Moses; and it\ndoes that without either impairing the general truthfulness of the\nauthors of the _Exodus_, or claiming more for the prophet of Israel\nthan for others, or allowing the possibility of a single instance in\nwhich a \u201cmiracle\u201d can happen in contravention of the laws of nature.\nOut of many \u201cmiracles,\u201d we may select for our illustration that of the\n\u201criver turned into blood.\u201d The text says: \u201cTake thy _rod_ and stretch\nout thine hand (with the _rod_ in it) upon the waters, streams, etc....\nthat they may become blood.\u201d\n\nWe do not hesitate to say that we have seen the same thing repeatedly\ndone on a small scale, the experiment not having been applied to\na river in these cases. From the time of Van Helmont, who, in the\nseventeenth century, despite the ridicule to which he exposed\nhimself, was willing to give the true directions for the so-called\nproduction of eels, frogs, and infusoria of various kinds, down to\nthe champions of spontaneous generation of our own century, it has\nbeen known that such a quickening of germs is possible without calling\nin the aid of miracle to contravene natural law. The experiments of\nPasteur and Spallanzani, and the controversy of the panspermists\nwith the heterogenists\u2014disciples of Buffon, among them Needham\u2014have\ntoo long occupied public attention to permit us to doubt that beings\nmay be called into existence whenever there is air and favorable\nconditions of moisture and temperature. The records of the official\nmeetings of the Academy of Sciences of Paris[659] contain accounts {415}\nof frequent appearances of such showers of blood-red snow and water.\nThese blood-spots were called _lepra vestuum_, and were but these\nlichen-infusoria. They were first observed in 786 and 959, in both\nof which years occurred great plagues. Whether these _zo\u00f6carps_ were\nplants or animals is undetermined to this day, and no naturalist would\nrisk stating as a certainty to what division of the organic kingdom\nof nature they belong. No more can modern chemists deny that such\ngerms can be quickened, in a congenial element, in an incredibly short\nspace of time. Now, if chemistry has, on the one hand, found means of\ndepriving the air of its floating germs, and under opposite conditions\ncan develop, or allow these organisms to develop, why could not the\nmagicians of Egypt do so \u201cwith their _enchantments_?\u201d It is far easier\nto imagine that Moses, who, on the authority of Manetho, had been\nan Egyptian priest, and had learned all the secrets of the land of\n_Chemia_, produced \u201cmiracles\u201d according to natural laws, than that God\nHimself violated the established order of His universe. We repeat that\nwe have seen this sanguification of water produced by Eastern adepts.\nIt can be done in either of two ways: In one case the experimenter\nemployed a magnetic _rod_ strongly electrified, which he passed over a\nquantity of water in a metallic basin, following a prescribed process,\nwhich we have no right to describe more fully at present; the water\nthrew up in about ten hours a sort of reddish froth, which after two\nhours more became a kind of lichen, like the _lepraria kermasina_ of\nBaron Wrangel. It then changed into a blood-red jelly, which made of\nthe water a crimson liquid that, twenty-four hours later, swarmed with\nliving organisms. The second experiment consisted in thickly strowing\nthe surface of a sluggish brook, having a muddy bottom, with the powder\nof a plant that had been dried in the sun and subsequently pulverized.\nAlthough this powder was seemingly carried off by the stream, some\nof it must have settled to the bottom, for on the following morning\nthe water thickened at the surface and appeared covered with what de\nCandolle describes as _Oscellatoria rubescens_, of a crimson-red color,\nand which he believes to be the connecting link between vegetable and\nanimal life.\n\nTaking the above into consideration, we do not see why the learned\nalchemists and physicists\u2014_physicists_, we say\u2014of the Mosaic period\nshould not also have possessed the natural secret of developing in a\nfew hours myriads of a kind of these bacteria, whose spores are found\nin the air, the water, and most vegetable and animal tissues. The _rod_\nplays as important a part in the hands of Aaron and Moses as it did in\nall so-called \u201cmagic mummeries\u201d of kabalist-magicians in the middle\nages, that are now considered superstitious foolery and charlatanism.\nThe rod of Paracelsus (his kabalistic trident) and the famous wands of {416}\nAlbertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, and Henry Kunrath, are no more to be\nridiculed than the graduating-rod of our electro-magnetic physicians.\nThings which appeared preposterous and impossible to the ignorant\nquacks and even learned scientists of the last century, now begin to\nassume the shadowy outlines of probability, and in many cases are\naccomplished facts. Nay, some learned quacks and ignorant scientists\neven begin to admit this truth.\n\nIn a fragment preserved by Eusebius, Porphyry, in his _Letter to\nAnebo_, appeals to Ch\u0153remon, the \u201chierogrammatist,\u201d to prove that\nthe doctrine of the magic arts, whose adepts \u201ccould terrify even the\ngods,\u201d was really countenanced by Egyptian sages.[660] Now, bearing\nin mind the rule of historical evidence propounded by Mr. Huxley,\nin his Nashville address, two conclusions present themselves with\nirresistible force: First, Porphyry, being in such unquestioned repute\nas a highly moral and honorable man, not given to exaggeration in his\nstatements, was incapable of telling a lie about this matter, and\n_did not_ lie; and second, that being so learned in every department\nof human knowledge about which he treats,[661] it was most unlikely\nthat he should be imposed upon as regards the magic \u201carts,\u201d and he was\n_not_ imposed upon. Therefore, the doctrine of chances supporting the\ntheory of Professor Huxley, compels us to believe, 1, That there was\nreally such a thing as magic \u201carts;\u201d and, 2, That they were known and\npracticed by the Egyptian magicians and priests, whom even Sir David\nBrewster concedes to have been men of profound scientific attainments.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XII. {417}\n\n \u201cYou never hear the really philosophical defenders of the\n doctrine of uniformity speaking of _impossibilities_ in\n nature. They never say what they are constantly charged with\n saying, that it is impossible for the Builder of the universe\n to alter his work.... No theory upsets them (the English\n clergy).... Let the most destructive hypothesis be stated _only\n in the language current among gentlemen_, and they look it\n in the face.\u201d\u2014TYNDALL: _Lecture on the Scientific Use of the\n Imagination_.\n\n \u201cThe world will have a religion of some kind, even though\n it should fly for it to the intellectual _whoredom of\n Spiritualism_.\u201d\u2014TYNDALL: _Fragments of Science_.\n\n \u201cBut first on earth as vampire sent\n Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent, ...\n And suck the blood of all thy race.\u201d\u2014LORD BYRON: _Giaour_.\n\n\nWe are now approaching the hallowed precincts of that Janus-god\u2014the\nmolecular Tyndall. Let us enter them barefoot. As we pass the sacred\nadyta of the temple of learning, we are nearing the blazing sun of the\nHuxleyocentric system. Let us cast down our eyes, lest we be blinded.\n\nWe have discussed the various matters contained in this book, with\nsuch moderation as we could command in view of the attitude which the\nscientific and theological world have maintained for centuries toward\nthose from whom they have inherited the broad foundations of all the\nactual knowledge which they possess. When we stand at one side, and, as\na spectator, see how much the ancients knew, and how much the moderns\nthink they know, we are amazed that the unfairness of our contemporary\nschoolmen should pass undetected.\n\nEvery day brings new admissions of scientists themselves, and the\ncriticisms of well-informed lay observers. We find the following\nillustrative paragraph in a daily paper:\n\n\u201cIt is curious to note the various opinions which prevail among\nscientific men in regard to some of the most ordinary natural\nphenomena. The aurora is a notable case in point. Descartes considered\nit a meteor falling from the upper regions of the atmosphere. Halley\nattributed it to the magnetism of the terrestrial globe, and Dalton\nagreed with this opinion. Coates supposed that the aurora was derived\nfrom the fermentation of a matter emanating from the earth. Marion\nheld it to be a consequence of a contact between the bright atmosphere\nof the sun and the atmosphere of our planet. Euler thought the aurora\nproceeded from the vibrations of the ether among the particles of the\nterrestrial atmosphere. Canton and Franklin regarded it as a purely {418}\nelectrical phenomenon, and Parrot attributed it to the conflagration\nof hydrogen-carbonide escaping from the earth in consequence of the\nputrefaction of vegetable substances, and considered the shooting\nstars as the initial cause of such conflagration. De la Rive and\nOersted concluded it to be an electro-magnetic phenomenon, but purely\nterrestrial. Olmsted suspected that a certain nebulous body revolved\naround the sun in a certain time, and that when this body came into the\nneighborhood of the earth, a part of its gaseous material mixed with\nour atmosphere, and that this was the origin of the phenomenon of the\naurora.\u201d And so we might say of every branch of science.\n\nThus, it would seem that even as to the most ordinary natural\nphenomena, scientific opinion is far from being unanimous. There is\nnot an experimentalist or theologian, who, in dealing with the subtile\nrelations between mind and matter, their genesis and ultimate, does not\ndraw a magical circle, the plane of which he calls _forbidden ground_.\nWhere faith permits a clergyman to go, he goes; for, as Tyndall says,\n\u201cthey do not lack the positive element\u2014namely, the love of truth;\nbut the negative element, the fear of error, preponderates.\u201d But the\ntrouble is, that their dogmatic creed weighs down the nimble feet\nof their intellect, as the ball and chain does the prisoner in the\ntrenches.\n\nAs to the advance of scientists, their very learning, moreover,\nis impeded by these two causes\u2014their constitutional incapacity to\nunderstand the spiritual side of nature, and their dread of public\nopinion. No one has said a sharper thing against them than Professor\nTyndall, when he remarks, \u201cin fact, the greatest cowards of the\npresent day are not to be found among the clergy, but within the pale\nof science itself.\u201d[662] If there had been the slightest doubt of the\napplicability of this degrading epithet, it was removed by the conduct\nof Professor Tyndall himself; for, in his Belfast address, as President\nof the British Association, he not only discerned in matter \u201c_the\npromise and potency_ of every form and quality of life,\u201d but pictured\nscience as \u201cwresting from theology the entire domain of cosmological\ntheory;\u201d and then, when confronted with an angry public opinion,\nissued a revised edition of the address in which he had modified his\nexpression, substituting for the words \u201c_every form and quality of\nlife_,\u201d _all terrestrial life_. This is more than cowardly\u2014it is an\nignominious surrender of his professed principles. At the time of\nthe Belfast meeting, Mr. Tyndall had two pet aversions\u2014Theology and\nSpiritualism. What he thought of the former has been shown; the latter\nhe called \u201ca degrading belief.\u201d When hard pressed by the Church for\nalleged atheism, he made haste to disclaim the imputation, and sue for {419}\npeace; but, as his agitated \u201cnervous centres\u201d and \u201ccerebral molecules\u201d\nhad to equilibrate by expanding their force in some direction, he turns\nupon the helpless, because pusillanimous, spiritualists, and in his\n_Fragments of Science_ insults their belief after this fashion: \u201cThe\nworld will have a religion of some kind, even though it should fly for\nit to the intellectual _whoredom of Spiritualism_.\u201d What a monstrous\nanomaly, that some millions of intelligent persons should permit\nthemselves to be thus reviled by a leader in science, who, himself, has\ntold us that \u201cthe thing to be repressed both in science and out of it\nis \u2018dogmatism!\u2019\u201d\n\nWe will not encroach upon space by discussing the etymological value\nof the epithet. While expressing the hope that it may not be adopted\nin future ages by science as a _Tyndallism_, we will simply remind\nthe benevolent gentleman of a very characteristic feature in himself.\nOne of our most intelligent, honorable, and erudite spiritualists,\nan author of no small renown,[663] has pointedly termed this feature\nas \u201chis (Tyndall\u2019s) simultaneous coquetry with opposite opinions.\u201d\nIf we are to accept the epithet of Mr. Tyndall in all its coarse\nsignification, it applies less to spiritualists, who are faithful to\ntheir belief, than to the atheistical scientist who quits the loving\nembraces of materialism to fling himself in the arms of a despised\ntheism; only because he finds his profit in it.\n\nWe have seen how Magendie frankly confesses the ignorance of\nphysiologists as to some of the most important problems of life,\nand how Fourni\u00e9 agrees with him. Professor Tyndall admits that the\nevolution-hypothesis does not solve, does not profess to solve, the\nultimate mystery.\n\nWe have also given as much thought as our natural powers will permit to\nProfessor Huxley\u2019s celebrated lecture _On the Physical Basis of Life_,\nso that what we may say in this volume as to the tendency of modern\nscientific thought may be free from ignorant misstatement. Compressing\nhis theory within the closest possible limits, it may be formulated\nthus: Out of cosmic matter all things are created; dissimilar forms\nresult from different permutations and combinations of this matter;\nmatter has \u201cdevoured spirit,\u201d hence spirit does not exist; thought is\na property of matter; existing forms die that others may take their\nplace; the dissimilarity in organism is due only to varying chemical\naction in the same life-matter\u2014all protoplasm being identical.\n\nAs far as chemistry and microscopy goes, Professor Huxley\u2019s system may\nbe faultless, and the profound sensation caused throughout the world\nby its enunciation can be readily understood. But its defect is that\nthe thread of his logic begins nowhere, and ends in a void. He has\nmade the best possible use of the available material. Given a universe {420}\ncrowded with molecules, endowed with active force, and containing in\nthemselves the principle of life, and all the rest is easy; one set of\ninherent forces impel to aggregate into worlds, and another to evolve\nthe various forms of plant and animal organism. But what gave the\nfirst impulse to those molecules and endowed them with that mysterious\nfaculty of life? What is this occult property which causes the\nprotoplasms of man, beast, reptile, fish, or plant, to differentiate,\neach ever evolving its own kind, and never any other? And after the\nphysical body gives up its constituents to the soil and air, \u201cwhether\nfungus or oak, worm or man,\u201d what becomes of the life which once\nanimated the frame?\n\nIs the law of evolution, so imperative in its application to the method\nof nature, from the time when cosmic molecules are floating, to the\ntime when they form a human brain, to be cut short at that point, and\nnot allowed to develop more perfect entities out of this \u201cpre\u00ebxistent\nlaw of form?\u201d Is Mr. Huxley prepared to assert the impossibility of\nman\u2019s attainment to a state of existence after physical death, in\nwhich he will be surrounded with new forms of plant and animal life,\nthe result of new arrangements of now sublimated matter?[664] He\nacknowledges that he knows nothing about the phenomena of gravitation;\nexcept that, in all human experience, as \u201cstones, unsupported, have\nfallen to the ground, there is no reason for believing that any stone\nso circumstanced will not fall to the ground.\u201d But, he utterly repels\nany attempt to change this probability into a necessity, and in fact\nsays: \u201cI utterly repudiate and anathematize the intruder. Facts I\nknow, and Law I know; but what is this necessity, save an empty shadow\nof my own mind\u2019s throwing?\u201d It is this, only, that everything which\nhappens in nature is the result of necessity, and a law once operative\nwill continue to so operate indefinitely until it is neutralized by\nan opposing law of equal potency. Thus, it is natural that the stone\nshould fall to the ground in obedience to one force, and it is equally\nnatural that it should not fall, or that having fallen, it should\nrise again, in obedience to another force equally potent; which Mr.\nHuxley may, or may not, be familiar with. It is natural that a chair\nshould rest upon the floor when once placed there, and it is equally\nnatural (as the testimony of hundreds of competent witnesses shows) {421}\nthat it should rise in the air, untouched by any visible, mortal hand.\nIs it not Mr. Huxley\u2019s duty to first ascertain the reality of this\nphenomenon, and then invent a new scientific name for the force behind\nit?\n\n\u201cFacts I know,\u201d says Mr. Huxley, \u201cand Law I know.\u201d Now, by what means\ndid he become acquainted with Fact and Law? Through his own senses,\nno doubt; and these vigilant servants enabled him to discover enough\nof what he considers truth to construct a system which he himself\nconfesses \u201cappears almost shocking to common sense.\u201d If his testimony\nis to be accepted as the basis for a general reconstruction of\nreligious belief, when they have produced only a theory after all,\nwhy is not the cumulative testimony of millions of people as to the\noccurrence of phenomena which undermine its very foundations, worthy\nof a like respectful consideration? Mr. Huxley is _not interested_\nin these phenomena, but these millions are; and while he has been\ndigesting his \u201cbread and mutton-protoplasms,\u201d to gain strength for\nstill bolder metaphysical flights, they have been recognizing the\nfamiliar handwriting of those they loved the best, traced by spiritual\nhands, and discerning the shadowy simulacra of those who, having lived\nhere, and passed through the change of death, give the lie to his pet\ntheory.\n\nSo long as science will confess that her domain lies _within_ the\nlimits of these changes of matter; and that chemistry will certify that\nmatter, by changing its form \u201cfrom the solid or liquid, to the gaseous\ncondition,\u201d only changes from the visible to the _invisible_; and\nthat, amid all these changes, the same quantity of matter remains, she\nhas _no right_ to dogmatize. She is incompetent to say either yea or\nnay, and must abandon the ground to persons more intuitional than her\nrepresentatives.\n\nHigh above all other names in his Pantheon of Nihilism, Mr. Huxley\nwrites that of David Hume. He esteems that philosopher\u2019s great service\nto humanity to be his irrefragable demonstration of \u201cthe limits of\nphilosophical inquiry,\u201d outside which lie the fundamental doctrines \u201cof\nspiritualism,\u201d and other \u201c_isms_.\u201d It is true that the tenth chapter of\nHume\u2019s _Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding_ was so highly esteemed\nby its author, that he considered that \u201cwith the wise and learned\u201d it\nwould be an \u201ceverlasting check to all kinds of superstitious delusion,\u201d\nwhich with him was simply a convertible term to represent a belief in\nsome phenomena previously unfamiliar and by him arbitrarily classified\nas miracle. But, as Mr. Wallace justly observes, Hume\u2019s apothegm, that\n\u201ca miracle is a violation of the laws of nature,\u201d is imperfect; for in\nthe first place it assumes that we know all the laws of nature; and,\nsecond, that an unusual phenomenon is a miracle. Mr. Wallace proposes\nthat a miracle should be defined as: \u201cany act or event necessarily {422}\nimplying the existence and agency of superhuman intelligences.\u201d Now\nHume himself says that \u201ca uniform experience amounts to a proof,\u201d and\nHuxley, in this famous essay of his, admits that all we can know of\nthe existence of the law of gravitation is that since, in all human\nexperience, stones unsupported have fallen to the ground, there is no\nreason for believing that the same thing will not occur again, under\nthe same circumstances, but, on the contrary, every reason to believe\nthat it will.\n\nIf it were certain that the limits of human experience could never be\nenlarged, then there might be some justice in Hume\u2019s assumption that\nhe was familiar with all that could happen under natural law, and some\ndecent excuse for the contemptuous tone which marks all of Huxley\u2019s\nallusions to spiritualism. But, as it is evident from the writings of\nboth these philosophers, that they are ignorant of the possibilities of\npsychological phenomena, too much caution cannot be used in according\nweight to their dogmatic assertions. One would really suppose that\na person who should permit himself such rudeness of criticism upon\nspiritualistic manifestations had qualified himself for the office of\ncensor by an adequate course of study; but, in a letter addressed to\nthe London Dialectical Society, Mr. Huxley, after saying that he had no\ntime to devote to the subject, and that it does not interest him, makes\nthe following confession, which shows us upon what slight foundation\nmodern scientists sometimes form very positive opinions. \u201c_The only\ncase of spiritualism_,\u201d he writes, \u201c_I ever had the opportunity of\nexamining into_ for myself, was as gross an imposture as ever came\nunder my notice.\u201d\n\nWhat would this protoplasmic philosopher think of a spiritualist who,\nhaving had but one opportunity to look through a telescope, and upon\nthat sole occasion had had some deception played upon him by a tricky\nassistant at the observatory, should forthwith denounce astronomy as\na \u201cdegrading belief?\u201d This fact shows that scientists, as a rule, are\nuseful only as collectors of physical facts; their generalizations from\nthem are often feebler and far more illogical than those of their lay\ncritics. And this also is why they misrepresent ancient doctrines.\n\nProfessor Balfour Stewart pays a very high tribute to the philosophical\nintuition of Herakleitus, the Ephesian, who lived five centuries before\nour era: the \u201ccrying\u201d philosopher who declared that \u201cfire was the\ngreat cause, and that all things were in a perpetual flux.\u201d \u201cIt seems\nclear,\u201d says the professor, \u201cthat Herakleitus must have had a vivid\nconception of the innate restlessness and energy of the universe, a\nconception allied in character to, and _only less precise_ than that\nof modern philosophers who regard matter as essentially dynamical.\u201d He\nconsiders the expression _fire_ as very vague; and quite naturally, for\nthe evidence is wanting to show that either Prof. Balfour Stewart (who {423}\nseems less inclined to materialism than some of his colleagues) or any\nof his contemporaries understand in what sense the word fire was used.\n\nHis opinions about the origin of things were the same as those of\nHippocrates. Both entertained the same views of a supreme power,[665]\nand, therefore, if their notions of primordial fire, regarded as a\nmaterial force, in short, as one akin to Leibnitz\u2019s _dynamism_, were\n\u201cless precise\u201d than those of modern philosophers, a question which\nremains to be settled yet, on the other hand their metaphysical views\nof it were far more philosophical and rational than the one-sided\ntheories of our present-day scholars. Their ideas of fire were\nprecisely those of the later \u201cfire-philosophers,\u201d the Rosicrucians,\nand the earlier Zoroastrians. They affirmed that the world was created\nof fire, the _divine spirit_ of which was an omnipotent and omniscient\nGOD. Science has condescended to corroborate their claims as to the\nphysical question.\n\nFire, in the ancient philosophy of all times and countries, including\nour own, has been regarded as a triple principle. As water comprises a\nvisible fluid with invisible gases lurking within, and, behind all the\nspiritual principle of nature, which gives them their dynamic energy,\nso, in fire, they recognized: 1st. Visible flame; 2d. Invisible, or\nastral fire\u2014invisible when inert, but when active producing heat,\nlight, chemical force, and electricity, the molecular powers; 3d.\nSpirit. They applied the same rule to each of the elements; and\neverything evolved from their combinations and correlations, man\nincluded, was held by them to be triune. Fire, in the opinion of the\nRosicrucians, who were but the successors of the theurgists, was the\nsource, not only of the material atoms, but also of the forces which\nenergize them. When a visible flame is extinguished it has disappeared,\nnot only from the sight but also from the conception of the\nmaterialist, forever. But the Hermetic philosopher follows it through\nthe \u201cpartition-world of the knowable, across and out on the other side\ninto the unknowable,\u201d as he traces the disembodied human spirit, \u201cvital\nspark of heavenly flame,\u201d into the \u00c6thereum, beyond the grave.[666]\n\nThis point is too important to be passed by without a few words of\ncomment. The attitude of physical science toward the spiritual half of\nthe cosmos is perfectly exemplified in her gross conception of fire.\nIn this, as in every other branch of science, their philosophy does\nnot contain one sound plank: every one is honeycombed and weak. The\nworks of their own authorities teeming with humiliating confessions, {424}\ngive us the right to say that the floor upon which they stand is\nso unstable, that at any moment some new discovery, by one of their\nown number, may knock away the props and let them all fall in a heap\ntogether. They are so anxious to drive spirit out of their conceptions\nthat, as Balfour Stewart says: \u201cThere is a tendency to rush into the\nopposite extreme, and to work physical conceptions to an excess.\u201d\nHe utters a timely warning in adding: \u201cLet us be cautious that, in\navoiding Scylla, we do not rush into Charybdis. For the universe has\nmore than one point of view, and there are possibly regions which will\nnot yield their treasures to the most determined physicists, armed only\nwith kilogrammes and meters and standard clocks.\u201d[667] In another place\nhe confesses: \u201cWe know nothing, or next to nothing, of the ultimate\nstructure and properties of matter, whether organic or inorganic.\u201d\n\nAs to the other great question\u2014we find in Macaulay, a still more\nunreserved declaration: \u201cThe question what becomes of man after\ndeath\u2014we do not see that a highly educated European, left to his\nunassisted reason, is more likely to be in the right than a Blackfoot\nIndian. Not a single one of the many sciences in which we surpass the\nBlackfoot Indians throws the smallest light on the state of the soul\nafter the animal life is extinct. In truth, all the philosophers,\nancient and modern, who have attempted, without the help of revelation,\nto prove the immortality of man, from Plato down to Franklin, appear to\nus to have failed deplorably.\u201d\n\nThere are revelations of the spiritual senses of man which may be\ntrusted far more than all the sophistries of materialism. What was a\ndemonstration and a success in the eyes of Plato and his disciples is\nnow considered the overflow of a spurious philosophy and a failure.\nThe scientific methods are reversed. The testimony of the men of\nold, who were nearer to truth, for they were nearer to the spirit\nof nature\u2014the only aspect under which the Deity will allow itself\nto be viewed and understood\u2014and their demonstrations, are rejected.\nTheir speculations\u2014if we must believe the modern thinkers\u2014are but\nthe expression of a redundance of the unsystematic opinions of men\nunacquainted with the scientific method of the present century. They\nfoolishly based the little they knew of physiology on well-demonstrated\npsychology, while the scholar of our day bases psychology\u2014of which\nhe confesses himself utterly ignorant\u2014on physiology, which to him\nis as yet a closed book, and has not even a method of its own, as\nFourni\u00e9 tells us. As to the last objection in Macaulay\u2019s argument, it\nwas answered by Hippocrates centuries ago: \u201cAll knowledge, all arts {425}\nare to be found in nature,\u201d he says; \u201cif we question her _properly_\nshe will reveal to us the truths to pertain to each of these and to\nourselves. What is nature in operation but the very divinity itself\nmanifesting its presence? How are we to interrogate her; and how is she\nto answer us? We must proceed with _faith_, with the firm assurance\nof discovering at last the whole of the truth; and nature will let us\nknow her answer, through our _inner_ sense, which with the help of our\nknowledge of a certain _art_ or _science_, reveals to us the truth so\nclearly that further doubt becomes impossible.\u201d[668]\n\nThus, in the case in hand, the instinct of Macaulay\u2019s Blackfoot Indian\nis more to be trusted than the most instructed and developed reason,\nas regards man\u2019s _inner_ sense which assures him of his immortality.\nInstinct is the universal endowment of nature by the Spirit of the\nDeity itself; reason the slow development of our physical constitution,\nan evolution of our adult material brain. Instinct, as a divine spark,\nlurks in the unconscious nerve-centre of the ascidian mollusk, and\nmanifests itself at the first stage of action of its nervous system\nas what the physiologist terms the reflex action. It exists in the\nlowest classes of the acephalous animals as well as in those that have\ndistinct heads; it grows and develops according to the law of the\ndouble evolution, physically and spiritually; and entering upon its\nconscious stage of development and progress in the cephalous species\nalready endowed with a sensorium and symmetrically-arranged ganglia,\nthis reflex action, whether men of science term it _automatic_, as in\nthe lowest species, or _instinctive_, as in the more complex organisms\nwhich act under the guidance of the sensorium and the stimulus\noriginating in distinct sensation, is still one and the same thing.\nIt is the _divine instinct_ in its ceaseless progress of development.\nThis instinct of the animals, which act from the moment of their birth\neach in the confines prescribed to them by nature, and which know how,\nsave in accident proceeding from a higher instinct than their own, to\ntake care of themselves unerringly\u2014this instinct may, for the sake of\nexact definition, be termed automatic; but it must have either within\nthe animal which possesses it or _without_, something\u2019s or some one\u2019s\n_intelligence_ to guide it.\n\nThis belief, instead of clashing with the doctrine of evolution and\ngradual development held by eminent men of our day, simplifies and\ncompletes it, on the contrary. It can readily dispense with special\ncreation for each species; for, where the first place must be allowed\nto formless spirit, form and material substance are of a secondary\nimportance. Each perfected species in the physical evolution only\naffords more scope to the directing intelligence to act within the {426}\nimproved nervous system. The artist will display his waves of harmony\nbetter on a royal Erard than he could have done on a spinet of the\nsixteenth century. Therefore whether this _instinctive_ impulse was\ndirectly impressed upon the nervous system of the first insect, or\neach species has gradually had it developed in itself by instinctively\nmimicking the acts of its like, as the more perfected doctrine of\nHerbert Spencer has it, is immaterial to the present subject. The\nquestion concerns _spiritual_ evolution only. And if we reject this\nhypothesis as unscientific and undemonstrated, then will the physical\naspect of evolution have to follow it to the ground in its turn,\nbecause the one is as undemonstrated as the other, and the spiritual\nintuition of man is not allowed to dovetail the two, under the pretext\nthat it is \u201cunphilosophical.\u201d Whether we wish it or not, we will have\nto fall back on the old query of Plutarch\u2019s _Symposiacs_, whether it\nwas the bird or the egg which first made its appearance.\n\nNow that the Aristotelean authority is shaken to its foundations with\nthat of Plato; and our men of science reject every authority\u2014nay hate\nit, except each his own; and the general estimate of human collective\nwisdom is at the lowest discount, mankind, headed by science itself, is\nstill irrepressibly drawing back to the starting-point of the oldest\nphilosophies. We find our idea perfectly expressed by a writer in the\n_Popular Science Monthly_. \u201cThe gods of sects and specialities,\u201d says\nOsgood Mason, \u201cmay perhaps be failing of their accustomed reverence,\nbut, in the mean time, there is dawning on the world, with a softer and\nserener light, the conception, imperfect though it still may be, of a\nconscious, originating, all-pervading active soul\u2014the \u2018Over-Soul,\u2019 the\nCause, the Deity; unrevealed through human form or speech, but filling\nand inspiring every living soul in the wide universe according to its\nmeasure: _whose temple is Nature_, and whose worship is admiration.\u201d\nThis is pure Platonism, Buddhism, and the exalted but just views of\nthe earliest Aryans in their deification of nature. And such is the\nexpression of the ground-thought of every theosophist, kabalist, and\noccultist in general; and if we compare it with the quotation from\nHippocrates, which precedes the above, we will find in it exactly the\nsame thought and spirit.\n\nTo return to our subject. The child lacks reason, it being as yet\nlatent in him; and meanwhile he is inferior to the animal as to\ninstinct proper. He will burn or drown himself before he learns that\nfire and water destroy and are dangerous for him; while the kitten will\navoid both instinctively. The little instinct the child possesses fades\naway as reason, step by step, develops itself. It may be objected,\nperhaps, that instinct cannot be a spiritual gift, because animals\npossess it in a higher degree than man, and animals have _no souls_.\nSuch a belief is erroneous and based upon very insecure foundations.\nIt came from the fact that the inner nature of the animal could be {427}\nfathomed still less than that of man, who is endowed with speech and\ncan display to us his psychological powers.\n\nBut what proofs other than negative have we that the animal is without\na surviving, if not immortal, soul? On strictly scientific grounds\nwe can adduce as many arguments _pro_ as _contra_. To express it\nclearer, neither man nor animal can offer either proof or disproof of\nthe survival of their souls after death. And from the point of view\nof scientific experience, it is impossible to bring that which has no\nobjective existence under the cognizance of any exact law of science.\nBut Descartes and Bois-Raymond have exhausted their imaginations on\nthe subject, and Agassiz could not realize such a thing as a future\nexistence not shared by the animals we loved, and even the vegetable\nkingdom which surrounds us. And it is enough to make one\u2019s feelings\nrevolt against the claimed justice of the First Cause to believe that\nwhile a heartless, cold-blooded villain has been endowed with an\nimmortal spirit, the noble, honest dog, often self-denying unto death;\nthat protects the child or master he loves at the peril of his life;\nthat never forgets him, but starves himself on his grave; the animal in\nwhom the sense of justice and generosity are sometimes developed to an\namazing degree, will be annihilated! No, away with the civilized reason\nwhich suggests such heartless partiality. Better, far better to cling\nto one\u2019s _instinct_ in such a case, and believe with the Indian of\nPope, whose \u201cuntutored mind\u201d can only picture to himself a heaven where\n\n \u201c ... admitted to that equal sky,\n His faithful dog shall bear him company.\u201d\n\nSpace fails us to present the speculative views of certain ancient and\nmedi\u00e6val occultists upon this subject. Suffice it that they antedated\nDarwin, embraced more or less all his theories on natural selection and\nthe evolution of species, and largely extended the chain at both ends.\nMoreover, these philosophers were explorers as daring in psychology as\nin physiology and anthropology. They never turned aside from the double\nparallel-path traced for them by their great master Hermes. \u201cAs above,\nso below,\u201d was ever their axiom; and their physical evolution was\ntraced out simultaneously with the spiritual one.\n\nOn one point, at least, our modern biologists are quite consistent:\nunable, as yet, to demonstrate the existence of a distinct individual\nsoul in animals, they deny it to man. Reason has brought them to\nthe brink of Tyndall\u2019s \u201cimpassable chasm,\u201d between mind and matter;\ninstinct alone can teach them to bridge it. When in their despair of {428}\never being able to fathom the mystery of life, they will have come to\na dead stop, their instinct may re\u00e4ssert itself, and take them across\nthe hitherto fathomless abyss. This is the point which Professor John\nFiske and the authors of the _Unseen Universe_ seem to have reached;\nand Wallace, the anthropologist and ex-materialist, to have been the\nfirst to courageously step over. Let them push boldly on till they\ndiscover that it is not spirit that dwells in matter, but _matter_\nwhich clings temporarily to spirit; and that the latter alone is an\neternal, imperishable abode for all things visible and invisible.\n\nEsoteric philosophers held that everything in nature is but a\nmaterialization of spirit. The Eternal First Cause is latent spirit,\nthey said, and matter from the beginning. \u201cIn the beginning was the\nword ... and the word was God.\u201d While conceding the idea of such a God\nto be an unthinkable abstraction to human reason, they claimed that\nthe unerring human instinct grasped it as a reminiscence of something\nconcrete to it though intangible to our physical senses. With the\nfirst idea, which emanated from the double-sexed and hitherto-inactive\nDeity, the first motion was communicated to the whole universe, and\nthe electric thrill was instantaneously felt throughout the boundless\nspace. Spirit begat force, and force matter; and thus the latent deity\nmanifested itself as a creative energy.\n\nWhen; at what point of the eternity; or how? the question must always\nremain unanswered, for human reason is unable to grasp the great\nmystery. But, though spirit-matter was from all eternity, it was in the\nlatent state; the evolution of our visible universe must have had a\nbeginning. To our feeble intellect, this beginning may seem so remote\nas to appear to us eternity itself\u2014a period inexpressible in figures\nor language. Aristotle argued that the world was eternal, and that it\nwill always be the same; that one generation of men has always produced\nanother, without ever having had a beginning that could be determined\nby our intellect. In this, his teaching, in its exoteric sense, clashed\nwith that of Plato, who taught that \u201cthere was a time when mankind did\nnot perpetuate itself;\u201d but in spirit both the doctrines agreed, as\nPlato adds immediately: \u201cThis was followed by the _earthly human_ race,\nin which the primitive history was gradually forgotten and man sank\ndeeper and deeper;\u201d and Aristotle says: \u201cIf there has been a first man\nhe must have been born without father or mother\u2014which is repugnant to\nnature. For there could not have been a first egg to give a beginning\nto birds, or there should have been a first bird which gave a beginning\nto eggs; for a bird comes from an egg.\u201d The same he held good for all\nspecies, believing, with Plato, that everything before it appeared on\nearth had first its being in spirit.\n\nThis mystery of first creation, which was ever the despair of science, {429}\nis unfathomable, unless we accept the doctrine of the Hermetists.\nThough matter is co\u00ebternal with spirit, that matter is certainly\nnot our visible, tangible, and divisible matter, but its extreme\nsublimation. Pure spirit is but one remove higher. Unless we allow man\nto have been evolved out of this primordial spirit-matter, how can we\never come to any reasonable hypothesis as to the genesis of animate\nbeings? Darwin begins his evolution of species at the lowest point and\ntraces upward. His only mistake may be that he applies his system at\nthe wrong end. Could he remove his quest from the visible universe into\nthe invisible, he might find himself on the right path. But then, he\nwould be following in the footsteps of the Hermetists.\n\nThat our philosophers\u2014positivists\u2014even the most learned among them,\nnever understood the spirit of the mystic doctrines taught by the old\nphilosophers\u2014Platonists\u2014is evident from that most eminent modern work,\n_Conflict between Religion and Science_. Professor Draper begins his\nfifth chapter by saying that \u201cthe Pagan Greeks and Romans believed that\nthe _spirit_ of man resembles his bodily form, varying its appearance\nwith his variations, and growing with his growth.\u201d What the ignorant\nmasses thought is a matter of little consequence, though even they\ncould never have indulged in such speculations taken _\u00e0 la lettre_. As\nto Greek and Roman philosophers of the Platonic school, they believed\nno such thing of the _spirit_ of man, but applied the above doctrine to\nhis soul, or psychical nature, which, as we have previously shown, is\nnot the divine spirit.\n\nAristotle, in his philosophical deduction _On Dreams_, shows this\ndoctrine of the two-fold soul, or soul and spirit, very plainly. \u201cIt\nis necessary for us to ascertain _in what portion_ of the soul dreams\nappear,\u201d he says. All the ancient Greeks believed not only a double,\nbut even a _triple_ soul to exist in man. And even Homer we find\nterming the animal soul, or the astral soul, called by Mr. Draper\n\u201cspirit,\u201d \u03b8\u03cd\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, and the _divine_ one \u03bd\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2\u2014the name by which Plato also\ndesignated the higher spirit.\n\nThe Hindu Jainas conceive the soul, which they call _Jiva_, to have\nbeen united from all eternity to even two sublimated ethereal bodies,\none of which is invariable and consists of the divine powers of the\n_higher_ mind; the other variable and composed of the grosser passions\nof man, his sensual affections, and terrestrial attributes. When the\nsoul becomes purified after death it joins its _Vaycarica_, or divine\nspirit, and becomes a god. The followers of the _Vedas_, the learned\nBrahmins, explain the same doctrine in the _Vedanta_. The soul,\naccording to their teaching, as a portion of the divine universal\nspirit or immaterial mind, is capable of uniting itself with the {430}\nessence of its highest Entity. The teaching is explicit; the _Vedanta_\naffirms that whoever attains the thorough _knowledge of his god_\nbecomes a god while yet in his mortal body, and acquires supremacy over\nall things.\n\nQuoting from the Vedaic theology the verse which says: \u201cThere is in\ntruth but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit; he is of the same nature as\nthe soul of man,\u201d Mr. Draper shows the Buddhistic doctrines as reaching\nEastern Europe through Aristotle. We believe the assertion unwarranted,\nfor Pythagoras, and after him Plato, taught them long before Aristotle.\nIf subsequently the later Platonists accepted in their dialectics the\nAristotelean arguments on emanation, it was merely because his views\ncoincided in some respect with those of the Oriental philosophers.\nThe Pythagorean number of harmony and Plato\u2019s esoteric doctrines on\ncreation are inseparable from the Buddhistic doctrine of emanation; and\nthe great aim of the Pythagorean philosophy, namely, to free the astral\nsoul from the fetters of matter and sense, and make it thereby fit for\nan eternal contemplation of spiritual things, is a theory identical\nwith the Buddhistic doctrine of final absorption. It is the Nirvana,\ninterpreted in its right sense; a metaphysical tenet that just begins\nto be suspected now by our latest Sanscrit scholars.\n\nIf the doctrines of Aristotle have exercised on the later\nNeo-platonists such a \u201cdominating influence,\u201d how is it that neither\nPlotinus, nor Porphyry, nor Proclus ever accepted his theories on\ndreams and prophetic soul-visions? While Aristotle held that most of\nthose who prophesy have \u201cdiseases of madness\u201d[669]\u2014thus furnishing some\nAmerican plagiarists and specialists with a few reasonable ideas to\ndisfigure\u2014the views of Porphyry, hence those of Plotinus, were quite\nthe reverse. In the most vital questions of metaphysical speculations\nAristotle is constantly contradicted by the Neo-platonists.\nFurthermore, either the Buddhistic Nirvana is not the nihilistic\ndoctrine, as it is now represented to be, or the Neo-platonists did\nnot accept it in this sense. Surely Mr. Draper will not take upon\nhimself to affirm that either Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, or any\nother philosopher of their mystic school, did not believe in the soul\u2019s\nimmortality? To say that either of them sought ecstasy as a \u201cforetaste\nof absorption into the universal mundane soul,\u201d in the sense in which\nthe Buddhist Nirvana is understood by every Sanscrit scholar, is to\nwrong these philosophers. Nirvana is _not_, as Mr. Draper has it, a\n\u201cre\u00e4bsorption in the _Universal Force_, eternal rest, and bliss;\u201d but,\nwhen taken literally by the said scholars, means the blowing out, _the\nextinction_, complete _annihilation_, and not absorption.[670] No one, {431}\nso far as we know, has ever taken upon himself to ascertain the _true_\nmetaphysical meaning of this word, which is not to be found, even in\nthe _Lank\u00e2vat\u00e2ra_,[671] which gives the different interpretations\nof the Nirvana by the Brahmans\u2014T\u00eerthakas. Therefore, for one who\nreads this passage in Mr. Draper\u2019s work, and bears in mind but the\nusually-accepted meaning of the Nirvana, will naturally suppose that\nPlotinus and Porphyry were _nihilists_. Such a page in the _Conflict_\ngives us a certain right to suppose that either 1, the learned author\ndesired to place Plotinus and Porphyry on the same plane with Giordano\nBruno, of whom he makes, very erroneously, an atheist; or, 2, that he\nnever took the trouble of studying the lives of these philosophers and\ntheir views.\n\nNow, for one who knows Professor Draper, even by reputation, the\nlatter supposition is simply absurd. Therefore, we must think, with\ndeep regret, that his desire was to misrepresent their religious\naspirations. It is decidedly an awkward thing for modern philosophers,\nwhose sole aim seems to be the elimination of the ideas of God and\nthe immortal spirit from the mind of humanity, to have to treat with\nhistorical impartiality the most celebrated of the Pagan Platonists. To\nhave to admit, on the one hand, their profound learning, their genius,\ntheir achievements in the most abstruse philosophical questions, and\ntherefore their sagacity; and, on the other, their unreserved adhesion\nto the doctrine of immortality, of the final triumph of spirit over\nmatter, and their implicit faith in God and the gods, or spirits; in\nthe return _of the dead_, apparitions, and other \u201cspiritual\u201d matters,\nis a dilemma from which academical human nature could not reasonably be\nexpected to extricate itself so easily.\n\nThe plan resorted to by Lempri\u00e8re,[672] in such an emergency as the\nabove, is coarser than Professor Draper\u2019s, but equally effective. He\ncharges the ancient philosophers with deliberate falsehood, trickery,\nand credulity. After painting to his readers Pythagoras, Plotinus, and\nPorphyry as marvels of learning, morality, and accomplishments; as men\neminent for personal dignity, purity of lives, and self-abnegation\nin the pursuit of divine truths, he does not hesitate to rank \u201cthis\ncelebrated philosopher\u201d (Pythagoras) among impostors; while to Porphyry\nhe attributes \u201ccredulity, lack of judgment, and dishonesty.\u201d Forced\nby the facts of history to give them their just due in the course of\nhis narrative, he displays his bigoted prejudice in the parenthetical\ncomments which he allows himself. From this antiquated writer of the\nlast century we learn that a man may be honest, and at the same time an\nimpostor; pure, virtuous, and a great philosopher, and yet dishonest, a\nliar, and a fool!\n\nWe have shown elsewhere that the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d does not concede {432}\nimmortality to all men alike. \u201cThe eye would never see the sun, if\nit were not of the nature of the sun,\u201d said Plotinus. Only \u201cthrough\nthe highest purity and chastity we shall approach nearer to God, and\nreceive in the contemplation of Him, the true knowledge and insight,\u201d\nwrites Porphyry. If the human soul has neglected during its lifetime to\nreceive its illumination from its Divine Spirit, our _personal_ God,\nthen it becomes difficult for the gross and sensual man to survive for\na great length of time his physical death. No more than the misshapen\nmonster can live long after its physical birth, can the soul, once\nthat it has become _too_ material, exist after its birth into the\nspiritual world. The viability of the astral form is so feeble, that\nthe particles cannot cohere firmly when once it is slipped out of the\nunyielding capsule of the external body. Its particles, gradually\nobeying the disorganizing attraction of universal space, finally fly\nasunder beyond the possibility of reaggregation. Upon the occurrence\nof such a catastrophe, the individual ceases to exist; his glorious\nAugoeides has left him. During the intermediary period between his\nbodily death and the disintegration of the astral form, the latter,\nbound by magnetic attraction to its ghastly corpse, prowls about,\nand sucks vitality from susceptible victims. The man having shut out\nof himself every ray of the divine light, is lost in darkness, and,\ntherefore, clings to the earth and the earthy.\n\nNo astral soul, even that of a pure, good, and virtuous man, is\nimmortal in the strictest sense; \u201cfrom elements it was formed\u2014to\nelements it must return.\u201d Only, while the soul of the wicked vanishes,\nand is absorbed without redemption, that of every other person, even\nmoderately pure, simply changes its ethereal particles for still more\nethereal ones; and, while there remains in it a spark of the _Divine_,\nthe individual man, or rather, his personal _ego_, cannot die. \u201cAfter\ndeath,\u201d says Proclus, \u201cthe soul (the spirit) continueth to linger in\nthe a\u00ebrial body (astral form), till it is entirely purified from all\nangry and voluptuous passions ... then doth it put off by a _second\ndying_ the a\u00ebrial body as it did the earthly one. Whereupon, the\nancients say that there is a celestial body always joined with _the\nsoul_, and which is _immortal_, _luminous_, and _star-like_.\u201d\n\nBut, we will now turn from our digression to further consider the\nquestion of _reason_ and _instinct_. The latter, according to the\nancients, proceeded from the divine, the former from the purely human.\nOne (the instinct) is the product of the senses, a sagaciousness\nshared by the lowest animals, even those who have no reason\u2014it\nis the \u03b1\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd; the other is the product of the reflective\nfaculties\u2014\u03bd\u03bf\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd, denoting judiciousness and human intellectuality.\nTherefore, an animal devoid of reasoning powers has in its inherent\ninstinct an unerring faculty which is but that spark of the divine {433}\nwhich lurks in every particle of inorganic matter\u2014itself materialized\nspirit. In the Jewish _Kabala_, the second and third chapters of\n_Genesis_ are explained thus: When the second Adam is created \u201cout of\nthe dust,\u201d matter has become so gross that it reigns supreme. Out of\nits lusts evolves woman, and Lilith has the best of spirit. The Lord\nGod, \u201cwalking in the garden in _the cool of the day_\u201d (the sunset of\nspirit, or divine light obscured by the shadows of matter) curses not\nonly them who have committed the sin, but even the ground itself, and\nall living things\u2014the tempting serpent-matter above all.\n\nWho but the kabalists are able to explain this seeming act of\ninjustice? How are we to understand this cursing of all created things,\ninnocent of any crime? The allegory is evident. The curse inheres in\nmatter itself. Henceforth, it is doomed to struggle against its own\ngrossness for purification; the latent spark of divine spirit, though\nsmothered, is still there; and its invincible attraction upward compels\nit to struggle in pain and labor to free itself. Logic shows us that\nas all matter had a common origin, it must have attributes in common,\nand as the vital and divine spark is in man\u2019s material body, so it\nmust lurk in every subordinate species. The latent mentality which, in\nthe lower kingdoms is recognized as semi-consciousness, consciousness,\nand instinct, is largely subdued in man. Reason, the outgrowth of the\nphysical brain, develops at the expense of instinct\u2014the flickering\nreminiscence of a once divine omniscience\u2014spirit. Reason, the badge of\nthe sovereignty of physical man over all other physical organisms, is\noften put to shame by the instinct of an animal. As his brain is more\nperfect than that of any other creature, its emanations must naturally\nproduce the highest results of mental action; but reason avails only\nfor the consideration of material things; it is incapable of helping\nits possessor to a knowledge of spirit. In losing instinct, man loses\nhis intuitional powers, which are the crown and ultimatum of instinct.\nReason is the clumsy weapon of the scientists\u2014intuition the unerring\nguide of the seer. Instinct teaches plant and animal their seasons\nfor the procreation of their species, and guides the dumb brute to\nfind his appropriate remedy in the hour of sickness. Reason\u2014the pride\nof man\u2014fails to check the propensities of his matter, and brooks no\nrestraint upon the unlimited gratification of his senses. Far from\nleading him to be his _own_ physician, its subtile sophistries lead him\ntoo often to his own destruction.\n\nNothing is more demonstrable than the proposition that the perfection\nof matter is reached at the expense of instinct. The zo\u00f6phyte attached\nto the submarine rock, opening its mouth to attract the food that\nfloats by, shows, proportionately with its physical structure, more\ninstinct than the whale. The ant, with its wonderful architectural, {434}\nsocial, and political abilities, is inexpressibly higher in the scale\nthan the subtile royal tiger watching its prey. \u201cWith awe and wonder,\u201d\nexclaims du Bois-Raymond, \u201cmust the student of nature regard that\nmicroscopic molecule of nervous substance which is the seat of the\nlaborious, constructive, orderly, loyal, dauntless soul of the ant!\u201d\n\nLike everything else which has its origin in psychological mysteries,\ninstinct has been too long neglected in the domain of science. \u201cWe\nsee what indicated the way to man to find relief for all his physical\nailings,\u201d says Hippocrates. \u201cIt is the instinct of the earlier races,\nwhen cold reason had not as yet obscured man\u2019s inner vision.... Its\nindication must never be disdained, for it is to instinct alone that we\nowe our first remedies.\u201d[673] Instantaneous and unerring cognition of\nan omniscient mind, instinct is in everything unlike the finite reason;\nand in the tentative progress of the latter, the godlike nature of\nman is often utterly engulfed, whenever he shuts out from himself the\ndivine light of intuition. The one crawls, the other flies; reason is\nthe power of the man, intuition the prescience of the woman!\n\nPlotinus, the pupil of the great Ammonius Saccas, the chief founder\nof the Neo-platonic school, taught that human knowledge had three\nascending steps: opinion, science, and _illumination_. He explained\nit by saying that \u201cthe means or instrument of opinion is sense, or\nperception; of science, dialectics; of illumination, _intuition_ (or\ndivine instinct). To the last, _reason is subordinate_; it is absolute\nknowledge founded on the identification of the mind with the object\nknown.\u201d\n\nPrayer opens the spiritual sight of man, for prayer is desire, and\ndesire develops WILL; the magnetic emanations proceeding from the body\nat every effort\u2014whether mental or physical\u2014produce self-magnetization\nand ecstasy. Plotinus recommended solitude for prayer, as the most\nefficient means of obtaining what is asked; and Plato advised those who\nprayed to \u201cremain silent in the presence of the divine ones, till they\nremove the cloud from thy eyes, and enable thee to see _by the light\nwhich issues from themselves_.\u201d Apollonius always isolated himself from\nmen during the \u201cconversation\u201d he held with God, and whenever he felt\nthe necessity for divine contemplation and prayer, he wrapped himself,\nhead and all, in the drapery of his white woolen mantle. \u201cWhen thou\nprayest _enter into thy closet_, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray\nto thy Father in secret,\u201d says the Nazarene, the pupil of the Essenes.\n\nEvery human being is born with the rudiment of the inner sense called\n_intuition_, which may be developed into what the Scotch know as {435}\n\u201csecond sight.\u201d All the great philosophers, who, like Plotinus,\nPorphyry, and Iamblichus employed this faculty, taught the doctrine.\n\u201cThere is a faculty of the human mind,\u201d writes Iamblichus, \u201cwhich is\nsuperior to all which is born or begotten. Through it we are enabled\nto attain union with the superior intelligences, to being transported\nbeyond the scenes of this world, and to partaking the higher life and\npeculiar powers of the heavenly ones.\u201d\n\nWere there no _inner sight_ or intuition, the Jews would never have had\ntheir _Bible_, nor the Christians Jesus. What both Moses and Jesus gave\nto the world was the fruit of their intuition or illumination. What\ntheir subsequent elders and teachers allowed the world to understand\nwas\u2014dogmatic misrepresentations, too often blasphemy.\n\nTo accept the Bible as a \u201crevelation\u201d and nail belief to a literal\ntranslation, is worse than absurdity\u2014it is a blasphemy against the\nDivine majesty of the \u201cUnseen.\u201d If we had to judge of the Deity, and\nthe world of spirits, by its human interpreters, now that philology\nproceeds with giant-strides on the fields of comparative religions,\nbelief in God and the soul\u2019s immortality could not withstand the\nattacks of _reason_ for one century more. That which supports the\nfaith of man in God and a spiritual life to come is _intuition_; that\ndivine outcome of our inner-self, which defies the mummeries of the\nRoman Catholic priest, and his ridiculous idols; the thousand and one\nceremonies of the Brahman and his idols; and the Jeremiads of the\nProtestant preacher, and his desolate and arid creed, with no idols,\nbut a boundless hell and damnation hooked on at the end. Were it not\nfor this intuition, undying though often wavering because so clogged\nwith matter, human life would be a parody and humanity a fraud. This\nineradicable feeling of the presence of some one _outside_ and _inside_\nourselves is one that no dogmatic contradictions, nor external form of\nworship can destroy in humanity, let scientists and clergy do what they\nmay. Moved by such thoughts of the boundlessness and impersonality of\nthe Deity, Gautama-Buddha, the Hindu Christ, exclaimed: \u201cAs the four\nrivers which fall in the Ganges lose their names as soon as they mingle\ntheir waters with the holy river, so all who believe in Buddha cease to\nbe Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and S\u00fbdras!\u201d\n\nThe _Old Testament_ was compiled and arranged from oral tradition; the\nmasses never knew its real meaning, for Moses was ordered to impart the\n\u201chidden truths\u201d but to his seventy elders on whom the \u201cLord\u201d put of the\n_spirit_ which was upon the legislator. Maimonides, whose authority and\nwhose knowledge of the sacred history can hardly be rejected, says:\n\u201cWhoever shall find out the true sense of _the book of Genesis_ ought\nto take care not to divulge it.... If a person should discover _the {436} \ntrue meaning of it_ by himself, or by the aid of another, then he ought\nto be silent; or, if he speaks of it, he ought to speak of it but\nobscurely and in an enigmatical manner.\u201d\n\nThis confession, that what is written in the Holy Writ is but an\nallegory, was made by other Jewish authorities besides Maimonides; for\nwe find Josephus stating that Moses \u201c_philosophized_\u201d (spoke riddles\nin figurative allegory), when writing the book of _Genesis_. Therefore\nmodern science, by neglecting to unriddle the true sense of the\n_Bible_, and by allowing the whole of Christendom to go on believing\nin the dead letter of the Jewish theology, tacitly constitutes herself\nthe confederate of the fanatical clergy. She has no right to ridicule\nthe records of a people who never wrote them with the idea that they\nwould receive such a strange interpretation at the hands of an inimical\nreligion. That their holiest texts should be turned against them and\nthat the dead men\u2019s bones could have smothered the spirit of truth, is\nthe saddest feature of Christianity!\n\n\u201cThe gods exist,\u201d says Epicurus, \u201cbut they are _not_ what the rabble,\n\u03bf\u1f76 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9, suppose them to be.\u201d And yet Epicurus, judged as usual by\nsuperficial critics, is set down and paraded as a materialist.\n\nBut neither the great First Cause nor its emanation\u2014human, immortal\nspirit\u2014have left themselves \u201cwithout a witness.\u201d Mesmerism and modern\nspiritualism are there to attest the great truths. For over fifteen\ncenturies, thanks to the blindly-brutal persecutions of those great\nvandals of early Christian history, Constantine and Justinian, ancient\nwisdom slowly degenerated until it gradually sank into the deepest mire\nof monkish superstition and ignorance. The Pythagorean \u201cknowledge of\nthings that are;\u201d the profound erudition of the Gnostics; the world and\ntime-honored teachings of the great philosophers; all were rejected\nas doctrines of Antichrist and Paganism, and committed to the flames.\nWith the last seven wise men of the Orient, the remnant group of the\nNeo-platonists, Hermias, Priscianus, Diogenes, Eulalius, Damaskius,\nSimplicius and Isidorus, who fled from the fanatical persecutions of\nJustinian, to Persia, the reign of wisdom closed. The books of Thoth,\nor (Hermes Trismegistus), which contain within their sacred pages the\nspiritual and physical history of the creation and progress of our\nworld, were left to mould in oblivion and contempt for ages. They\nfound no interpreters in Christian Europe; the Philaletheians, or\nwise \u201clovers of the truth,\u201d were no more; they were replaced by the\nlight-fleers, the tonsured and hooded monks of Papal Rome, who dread\ntruth, in whatever shape and from whatever quarter it appears, if it\nbut clashes in the least with their dogmas.\n\nAs to skeptics\u2014this is what Professor Alexander Wilder remarks of them {437}\nand their followers, in his sketches on _Neo-platonism and Alchemy_:\n\u201cA century has passed since the compilers of the French _Encyclop\u00e6dia_\ninfused skepticism into the blood of the civilized world, and made\nit disreputable to believe in the actual existence of anything that\ncannot be tested in crucibles or demonstrated by critical reasoning.\nEven now, it requires candor as well as courage to venture to treat\nupon a subject which has been for many years discarded and contemned,\nbecause it has not been well or correctly understood. The person\nmust be bold who accounts the Hermetic philosophy to be other than a\npretense of science, and so believing, demands for its enunciation a\npatient hearing. Yet its professors were once the princes of learned\ninvestigation, and heroes among common men. Besides, nothing is to\nbe despised which men have reverently believed; and disdain for the\nearnest convictions of others is itself the token of ignorance, and of\nan ungenerous mind.\u201d\n\nAnd now, encouraged by these words from a scholar who is neither a\nfanatic nor a conservative, we will recall a few things reported by\ntravellers as having been seen by them in Thibet and India, and which\nare treasured by the natives as practical proofs of the truth of the\nphilosophy and science handed down by their forefathers.\n\nFirst we may consider that most remarkable phenomenon as seen in\nthe temples of Thibet and the accounts of which have reached Europe\nfrom eye-witnesses other than Catholic missionaries\u2014whose testimony\nwe will exclude for obvious reasons. Early in the present century a\nFlorentine scientist, a skeptic and a correspondent of the French\nInstitute, having been permitted to penetrate in disguise to the\nhallowed precincts of a Buddhist temple, where the most solemn of all\nceremonies was taking place, relates the following as having been seen\nby himself. An altar is ready in the temple to receive the resuscitated\nBuddha, found by the initiated priesthood, and recognized by certain\nsecret signs to have re\u00efncarnated himself in a new born infant. The\nbaby, but a few days old, is brought into the presence of the people\nand reverentially placed upon the altar. Suddenly rising into a\nsitting posture, the child begins to utter in a loud, manly voice, the\nfollowing sentences: \u201cI am Buddha, I am his spirit; and I, Buddha, your\nDalai-Lama, have left my old, decrepit body, at the temple of ... and\nselected the body of this young babe as my next earthly dwelling.\u201d Our\nscientist, being finally permitted by the priests to take, with due\nreverence, the baby in his arms, and carry it away to such a distance\nfrom them as to satisfy him that no ventriloquial deception is being\npracticed, the infant looks at the grave academician with eyes that\n\u201cmake his flesh creep,\u201d as he expresses it, and repeats the words he\nhad previously uttered. A detailed account of this adventure, attested\nwith the signature of this eye-witness, was forwarded to Paris, but {438}\nthe members of the Institute, instead of accepting the testimony of a\nscientific observer of acknowledged credibility, concluded that the\nFlorentine _was either suffering under an attack of sunstroke_, or had\nbeen deceived by a clever trick of acoustics.\n\nAlthough, according to Mr. Stanislas Julien, the French translator of\nthe sacred Chinese texts, there is a verse in the Lotus[674] which\nsays that \u201cA Buddha is as difficult to be found as the flowers of\nUdumbara and Pal\u00e2\u00e7a,\u201d if we are to believe several eye-witnesses, such\na phenomenon does happen. Of course its occurrence is rare, for it\nhappens but on the death of every great Dalai-Lama; and these venerable\nold gentlemen live proverbially long lives.\n\nThe poor Abb\u00e9 Huc, whose works of travel in Thibet and China are so\nwell-known, relates the same fact of the resuscitation of Buddha. He\nadds, furthermore, the curious circumstance that the baby-oracle makes\ngood his claim to being an old mind in a young body by giving to those\nwho ask him, \u201cand who knew him in his past life, the most exact details\nof his anterior earthly existence.\u201d\n\nIt is worthy of notice, that des Mousseaux, who expatiates at length\non the phenomenon, attributing it as a matter of course to the Devil,\ngravely remarks of the Abb\u00e9 himself, that the fact that he had been\nunfrocked (_defroqu\u00e9_) \u201cis an accident which I (he) confess scarcely\ntends to strengthen our confidence.\u201d In our humble opinion this little\ncircumstance strengthens it all the more.\n\nThe Abb\u00e9 Huc had his work placed on the _Index_ for the truth he told\nabout the similarity of the Buddhistical rites with the Roman Catholic\nones. He was moreover suspended in his missionary work for being too\n_sincere_.\n\nIf this example of infant prodigy stood alone, we might reasonably\nindulge in some hesitation as to accepting it; but, to say nothing\nof the Camisard prophets of 1707, among whom was the boy of fifteen\nmonths described by Jacques Dubois, who spoke in good French \u201cas though\nGod were speaking through his mouth;\u201d and of the Cevennes babies,\nwhose speaking and prophesying were witnessed by the first savants\nof France\u2014we have instances in modern times of quite as remarkable a\ncharacter. _Lloyd\u2019s Weekly Newspaper_, for March, 1875, contained an\naccount of the following phenomenon: \u201cAt Saar-Louis, France, a child\nwas born. The mother had just been confined, the midwife was holding\nforth garrulously \u2018on the blessed little creature,\u2019 and the friends\nwere congratulating the father on his luck, when somebody asked what\ntime it was. Judge of the surprise of all, on hearing the new-born babe {439}\nreply distinctly \u2018Two o\u2019clock!\u2019 But this was nothing to what followed.\nThe company were looking on the infant, with speechless wonder and\ndismay, when it opened its eyes, and said: \u2018I have been sent into the\nworld to tell you that 1875 will be a good year, but that 1876 will be\na year of blood.\u2019 Having uttered this prophecy it turned on its side\nand expired, aged half-an-hour.\u201d\n\nWe are not aware that this prodigy has received official authentication\nby the civil authority\u2014of course we should look for none from the\nclergy, since no profit or honor was to be derived from it\u2014but even\nif a respectable British commercial journal was not responsible for\nthe story, the result has given it special interest. The year 1876,\njust passed (we write in February, 1877) was emphatically, and, from\nthe standpoint of March, 1875, unexpectedly\u2014a year of blood. In the\nDanubian principalities was written one of the bloodiest chapters of\nthe history of war and rapine\u2014a chapter of outrages of Moslem upon\nChristian that has scarcely been paralleled since Catholic soldiers\nbutchered the simple natives of North and South America by tens of\nthousands, and Protestant Englishmen waded to the Imperial throne\nof Delhi, step by step, through rivers of blood. If the Saar-Louis\nprophecy was but a mere newspaper sensation, still the turn of events\nelevated it into the rank of a fulfilled prediction; 1875 _was_ a year\nof great plenty, and 1876, to the surprise of everybody, a year of\ncarnage.\n\nBut even if it should be found that the baby-prophet never opened\nits lips, the instance of the Jencken infant still remains to puzzle\nthe investigator. This is one of the most surprising cases of\nmediumship. The child\u2019s mother is the famous Kate Fox, its father\nH. D. Jencken, M.R.I., Barrister-at-law, in London. He was born in\nLondon, in 1873, and before he was three months old showed evidences\nof spirit-mediumship. Rappings occurred on his pillow and cradle, and\nalso on his father\u2019s person, when he held the child in his lap and\nMrs. Jencken was absent from home. Two months later, a communication\nof twenty words, exclusive of signature, was written through his hand.\nA gentleman, a Liverpool solicitor, named J. Wason, was present at the\ntime, and united with the mother and nurse in a certificate which was\npublished in the London _Medium and Daybreak_ of May 8th, 1874. The\nprofessional and scientific rank of Mr. Jencken make it in the highest\ndegree improbable that he would lend himself to a deception. Moreover,\nthe child was within such easy reach of the Royal Institution, of which\nhis father is a member, that Professor Tyndall and his associates had\nno excuse for neglecting to examine and inform the world about this\npsychological phenomenon.\n\nThe sacred baby of Thibet being so far away, they find their most\nconvenient plan to be a flat denial, with hints of sunstroke and {440}\nacoustical machinery. As for the London baby, the affair is still\neasier; let them wait until the child has grown up and learned to\nwrite, and then deny the story point-blank!\n\nIn addition to other travellers, the Abb\u00e9 Huc gives us an account\nof that wonderful tree of Thibet called the _Kounboum_; that is to\nsay, the tree of the 10,000 images and characters. It will grow in no\nother latitude, although the experiment has sometimes been tried; and\nit cannot even be multiplied from cuttings. The tradition is that it\nsprang from the hair of one of the Avatars (the Lama Son\u2014Ka-pa) one of\nthe incarnations of Buddha. But we will let the Abb\u00e9 Huc tell the rest\nof the story: \u201cEach of its leaves, in opening, bears either a letter or\na religious sentence, written in sacred characters, and these letters\nare, of their kind, of such a perfection that the type-foundries of\nDidot contain nothing to excel them. Open the leaves, which vegetation\nis about to unroll, and you will there discover, on the point of\nappearing, the letters or the distinct words which are the marvel of\nthis unique tree! Turn your attention from the leaves of the plant\nto the bark of its branches, and new characters will meet your eyes!\nDo not allow your interest to flag; raise the layers of this bark,\nand still OTHER CHARACTERS will show themselves below those whose\nbeauty had surprised you. For, do not fancy that these superposed\nlayers repeat the same _printing_. No, quite the contrary; for each\nlamina you lift presents to view its distinct type. How, then, can we\nsuspect jugglery? I have done my best in that direction to discover the\nslightest trace of human trick, and my baffled mind could not retain\nthe slightest suspicion.\u201d\n\nWe will add to M. Huc\u2019s narrative the statement that the characters\nwhich appear upon the different portions of the Kounboum are in the\nSansar (or language of the Sun), characters (ancient Sanscrit); and\nthat the sacred tree, in its various parts, contains _in extenso_ the\nwhole history of the creation, and in substance the sacred books of\nBuddhism. In this respect, it bears the same relation to Buddhism as\nthe pictures in the Temple of Dendera, in Egypt, do to the ancient\nfaith of the Pharaohs. The latter are briefly described by Professor W.\nB. Carpenter, President of the British Association, in his Manchester\nLecture on _Egypt_. He makes it clear that the Jewish book of _Genesis_\nis nothing more than an expression of the early Jewish ideas, based\nupon the pictorial records of the Egyptians among whom they lived.\nBut he does not make it clear, except inferentially, whether, he\nbelieves either the Dendera pictures or the Mosaic account to be an\nallegory or a pretended historical narrative. How a scientist who\nhad devoted himself to the most superficial investigation of the\nsubject can venture to assert that the ancient Egyptians had the same\nridiculous notions about the world\u2019s instantaneous creation as the {441}\nearly Christian theologians, passes comprehension! How can he say\nthat because the Dendera picture happens to represent their cosmogony\nin one allegory, they intended to show the scene as occurring in six\nminutes or six millions of years? It may as well indicate allegorically\nsix successive epochs or \u00e6ons, or eternity, as six days. Besides,\nthe _Books of Hermes_ certainly give no color to the charge, and the\n_Avesta_ specifically names six periods, each embracing thousands of\nyears, instead of days. Many of the Egyptian hieroglyphics contradict\nDr. Carpenter\u2019s theory, and Champollion has avenged the ancients in\nmany particulars. From what is gone before, it will, we think, be made\nclear to the reader that the Egyptian philosophy had no room for any\nsuch crude speculations, if the Hebrews themselves ever believed them;\ntheir cosmogony viewed man as the result of evolution, and his progress\nto be marked by immensely lengthened cycles. But to return to the\nwonders of Thibet.\n\nSpeaking of pictures, the one described by Huc as hanging in a\ncertain Lamasery may fairly be regarded as one of the most wonderful\nin existence. It is a simple canvas without the slightest mechanical\napparatus attached, as the visitor may prove by examining it at his\nleisure. It represents a moon-lit landscape, but the moon is not at all\nmotionless and dead; quite the reverse, for, according to the abb\u00e9, one\nwould say that our moon herself, or at least her living double, lighted\nthe picture. Each phase, each aspect, each movement of our satellite,\nis repeated in her _fac-simile_, in the movement and progress of the\nmoon in the sacred picture. \u201cYou see this planet in the painting\nride as a crescent, or full, shine brightly, pass behind the clouds,\npeep out or set, in a manner corresponding in the most extraordinary\nway with the real luminary. It is, in a word, a most servile and\nresplendent reproduction of the pale queen of the night, which received\nthe adoration of so many people in the days of old.\u201d\n\nWhen we think of the astonishment that would inevitably be felt by one\nof our self-complacent academicians at seeing such a picture\u2014and it is\nby no means the only one, for they have them in other parts of Thibet\nand Japan also, which represent the sun\u2019s movements\u2014when we think, we\nsay, of his embarrassment at knowing that if he ventured to tell the\nunvarnished truth to his colleagues, his fate would probably be like\nthat of poor Huc, and he flung out of the academical chair as a liar or\na lunatic, we cannot help recalling the anecdote of Tycho-Brahe, given\nby Humboldt in his _Cosmos_.[675]\n\n\u201cOne evening,\u201d says the great Danish astronomer, \u201cas, according to my {442}\nusual habit, I was considering the celestial vault, to my indescribable\namazement, I saw, close to the zenith, in Cassiopea, a radiant star\nof extraordinary size. Struck with astonishment, I knew not whether\nI could believe my own eyes. Some time after that, I learned that in\nGermany, cartmen, and other persons of the lower classes had repeatedly\nwarned the scientists that a great apparition could be seen in the sky;\nwhich fact afforded both the press and public one more opportunity to\nindulge in their usual raillery against the men of science, who, in the\ncases of several antecedent comets, had not predicted their appearance.\u201d\n\nFrom the days of the earliest antiquity, the Brahmans were known to\nbe possessed of wonderful knowledge in every kind of magic arts.\nFrom Pythagoras, the first philosopher who studied wisdom with the\nGymnosophists, and Plotinus, who was initiated into the mystery of\nuniting one\u2019s self with the Deity through abstract contemplation,\ndown to the modern adepts, it was well known that in the land of the\nBrahmans and Gautama-Buddha the sources of \u201chidden\u201d wisdom are to be\nsought after. It is for future ages to discover this grand truth, and\naccept it as such, whereas now it is degraded as a low superstition.\nWhat did any one, even the greatest scientists, know of India,\nThibet, and China, until the last quarter of this century? That most\nuntiring scholar, Max M\u00fcller, tells us that before then not a single\noriginal document of the Buddhist religion had been accessible to\nEuropean philologists; that fifty years ago \u201cthere was not a single\nscholar who could have translated a line of the _Veda_, a line of the\n_Zend-Avesta_, or a line of the Buddhist _Tripit\u00e2ka_,\u201d let alone other\ndialects or languages. And even now, that science is in possession of\nvarious sacred texts, what they have are but very incomplete editions\nof these works, and _nothing_, positively nothing of the secret sacred\nliterature of Buddhism. And the little that our Sanscrit scholars have\ngot hold of, and which at first was termed by Max M\u00fcller a dreary\n\u201cjungle of religious literature\u2014the most excellent hiding-place for\nLamas and Dalai-Lamas,\u201d is now beginning to shed a faint light on\nthe primitive darkness. We find this scholar stating that that which\nappeared at the first glance into the labyrinth of the religions of the\nworld, all darkness, self deceit, and vanity begin to assume another\nform. \u201cIt sounds,\u201d he writes, \u201clike a degradation of the very name\nof religion, to apply it to the wild ravings of Hindu Yogins, and\nthe blank blasphemies of Chinese Buddhists.... But, as we slowly and\npatiently wend our way through the dreary prisons, our own eyes seem to\nexpand, _and we perceive a glimmer of light_, where all was darkness at\nfirst.\u201d[676]\n\nAs an illustration of how little even the generation which directly {443}\npreceded our own was competent to judge the religions and beliefs of\nthe several hundred million Buddhists, Brahmans, and Parsees, let the\nstudent consult the advertisement of a scientific work published in\n1828 by a Professor Dunbar, the first scholar who has undertaken to\ndemonstrate that the _Sanscrit is derived from the Greek_. It appeared\nunder the following title:\n\n\u201c_An Inquiry into the structure and affinity of the Greek and Latin\nlanguages; with occasional comparisons of the Sanscrit and Gothic; with\nan Appendix, in which_ THE DERIVATION OF THE SANSCRIT FROM THE GREEK\n_is endeavoured to be established. By George Dunbar, F.R. S.E., and\nProfessor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh. Price, 18s._\u201d[677]\n\nHad Max M\u00fcller happened to fall from the sky at that time, among the\nscholars of the day, and with his present knowledge, we would like\nto have compiled the epithets which would have been bestowed by the\nlearned academicians upon the daring innovator! One who, classifying\nlanguages genealogically, says that \u201cSanscrit, as compared to Greek and\nLatin, is an elder sister ... the earliest deposit of Aryan speech.\u201d\n\nAnd so, we may naturally expect that in 1976, the same criticisms will\nbe justly applied to many a scientific discovery, now deemed conclusive\nand final by our scholars. That which is now termed the superstitious\n_verbiage_ and gibberish of mere heathens and savages, composed many\nthousands of years ago, may be found to contain the master-key to all\nreligious systems. The cautious sentence of St. Augustine, a favorite\nname in Max M\u00fcller\u2019s lectures, which says that \u201cthere is no false\nreligion which does not contain some elements of truth,\u201d may yet be\ntriumphantly proved correct; the more so as, far from being original\nwith the Bishop of Hippo, it was borrowed by him from the works of\nAmmonius Saccas, the great Alexandrian teacher.\n\nThis \u201cgod-taught\u201d philosopher, the _theodidaktos_, had repeated\nthese same words to exhaustion, in his numerous works some 140 years\nbefore Augustine. Acknowledging Jesus as \u201can excellent man, and the\nfriend of God,\u201d he always maintained that his design was not to\nabolish the intercourse with gods and demons (spirits), but simply\nto purify the ancient religions; that \u201cthe religion of the multitude\nwent hand in hand with philosophy, and with her had shared the fate\nof being by degrees corrupted and obscured with mere human conceits,\nsuperstition, and lies: that it ought therefore to be brought back to\nits _original purity_ by purging it of this dross and expounding it {444}\nupon philosophical principles; and that the whole which Christ had in\nview was to reinstate and restore to its primitive integrity the wisdom\nof the ancients.\u201d[678]\n\nIt was Ammonius who first taught that every religion was based on\none and the same truth; which is the wisdom found in the Books of\nThoth (Hermes Trismegistus), from which books Pythagoras and Plato\nhad learned all their philosophy. And the doctrines of the former he\naffirmed to have been identical with the earliest teachings of the\nBrahmans\u2014now embodied in the oldest _Vedas_. \u201cThe name Thoth,\u201d says\nProfessor Wilder, \u201cmeans a college or assembly,\u201d[679] and \u201cit is not\nimprobable that the books were so named as being the collected oracles\nand doctrines of the sacerdotal fraternity of Memphis. Rabbi Wise had\nsuggested a similar hypothesis in relation to the divine utterances\nrecorded in the Hebrew Scripture. But the Indian writers assert, that\nduring the reign of king Kansa, _Yadus_ (_Judeans?_) or sacred tribe\nleft India and migrated to the West, carrying the four _Vedas_ with\nthem. There was certainly a great resemblance between the philosophical\ndoctrines and religious customs of the Egyptians and Eastern Buddhists;\nbut whether the Hermetic books and the four _Vedas_ were identical, is\nnot now known.\u201d\n\nBut one thing is certainly known, and that is, that before the word\nphilosopher was first pronounced by Pythagoras at the court of the\nking of the Philiasians, the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d or wisdom was identical\nin every country. Therefore it is in the oldest texts\u2014those least\npolluted by subsequent forgeries\u2014that we have to look for the truth.\nAnd now that philology has possessed itself of Sanscrit texts which\nmay be boldly affirmed to be documents by far antedating the Mosaic\nBible, it is the duty of the scholars to present the world with truth,\nand _nothing but the truth_. Without regard to either skeptical or\ntheological prejudice, they are bound to impartially examine both\ndocuments\u2014the oldest _Vedas_ and the _Old Testament_, and then decide\nwhich of the two is the original _Sruti_ or _Revelation_, and which but\nthe _Smriti_, which, as Max M\u00fcller shows, only means recollection or\n_tradition_.\n\nOrigen writes that the Brahmans were always famous for the wonderful\ncures which they performed by certain words;[680] and in our own\nage we find Orioli, a learned corresponding member of the French\nInstitute,[681] corroborating the statement of Origen in the third\ncentury, and that of Leonard de Vair of the sixteenth, in which the\nlatter wrote: \u201cThere are also persons, who upon pronouncing a certain\nsentence\u2014a _charm_, walk bare-footed on red, burning coals, and on\nthe points of sharp _knives_ stuck in the ground; and, once poised {445}\non them, _on one toe_, they will lift up in the air a heavy man or\nany other burden of considerable weight. They will tame wild horses\nlikewise, and the most furious bulls, with a single word.\u201d[682]\n\nThis word is to be found in the _Mantras_ of the Sanscrit _Vedas_,\nsay some adepts. It is for the philologists to decide for themselves\nwhether there is such a word in the _Vedas_. So far as human evidence\ngoes, it would seem that such magic words _do_ exist.\n\nIt appears that the reverend fathers of the Order of Jesuits have\npicked up many such tricks in their missionary travels. Baldinger\ngives them full credit for it. The _tschamping_\u2014a Hindu word, from\nwhich the modern word _shampooing_ is derived\u2014is a well-known magical\nmanipulation in the East Indies. The native _sorcerers_ use it with\nsuccess to the present day, and it is from them that the father Jesuits\nderived their wisdom.\n\nCamerarius, in his _Hor\u00e6 Subsceciv\u00e6_, narrates that once upon a\ntime there existed a great rivalry of \u201cmiracles\u201d between the Austin\nFriars and the Jesuits. A disputation having taken place between the\nfather-general of the Austin Friars, who was very learned, and the\ngeneral of the Jesuits, who was very _unlearned_, but full of _magical_\nknowledge, the latter proposed to settle the question by trying their\nsubordinates, and finding out which of them would be the readiest to\nobey his superiors. Thereupon, turning to one of his Jesuits, he said:\n\u201cBrother Mark, our companions are cold; I command you, in virtue of\nthe holy obedience you have sworn to me, to bring here instantly out\nof the kitchen fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they\nmay warm themselves over your hands.\u201d Father Mark instantly obeyed, and\nbrought in both his hands a supply of red, burning coals, and held them\ntill the company present had all warmed themselves, after which he took\nthem back to the kitchen hearth. The general of the Austin Friars found\nhimself crestfallen, for none of his subordinates would obey him so far\nas that. The triumph of the Jesuits was thus accomplished.\n\nIf the above is looked upon as an anecdote unworthy of credence, we\nwill inquire of the reader what we must think of some modern \u201cmediums,\u201d\nwho perform the same while _entranced_. The testimony of several highly\nrespectable and trustworthy witnesses, such as Lord Adair and Mr. S.\nC. Hall, is unimpeachable. \u201cSpirits,\u201d the spiritualists will argue.\nPerhaps so, in the case of American and English _fire-proof_ mediums;\nbut not so in Thibet and India. In the West a \u201csensitive\u201d has to be\nentranced before being rendered invulnerable by the presiding \u201cguides,\u201d\nand we defy any \u201cmedium,\u201d in his or her normal physical state to bury {446}\nthe arms to the elbows in glowing coals. But in the East, whether the\nperformer be a holy lama or a mercenary sorcerer (the latter class\nbeing generally termed \u201cjugglers\u201d) he needs no preparation or abnormal\nstate to be able to handle fire, red-hot pieces of iron, or melted\nlead. We have seen in Southern India these \u201cjugglers\u201d keep their hands\nin a furnace of burning coals until the latter were reduced to cinders.\nDuring the religious ceremony of Siva-R\u00e2tri, or the vigil-night of\nSiva, when the people spend whole nights in watching and praying,\nsome of the Sivaites called in a Tamil juggler, who produced the most\nwonderful phenomena by simply summoning to his help a spirit whom they\ncall _Kutti-S\u00e2ttan_\u2014the little _demon_. But, far from allowing people\nto think he was _guided_ or \u201ccontrolled\u201d by this gnome\u2014for it was a\ngnome, if it was anything\u2014the man, while crouching over his fiery\npit, proudly rebuked a Catholic missionary, who took his opportunity\nto inform the by-standers that the miserable sinner \u201chad sold himself\nto Satan.\u201d Without removing his hands and arms from the burning coals\nwithin which he was coolly refreshing them, the Tamil only turned his\nhead and gave one arrogant look at the flushed missionary. \u201cMy father\nand my father\u2019s father,\u201d he said, \u201chad this \u2018little one\u2019 at their\ncommand. For two centuries the Kutti is a faithful servant in our home,\nand now, sir, you would make people believe that _he_ is my master! But\nthey know better.\u201d After this, he quietly withdrew his hands from the\nfire, and proceeded with other performances.\n\nAs for the wonderful powers of prediction and clairvoyance possessed\nby certain Brahmans, they are well known to every European resident\nof India. If these upon their return to \u201ccivilized\u201d countries, laugh\nat such stories, and sometimes even deny them outright, they only\nimpugn their good faith, not the fact. These Brahmans live principally\nin \u201csacred villages,\u201d and secluded places, principally on the\nwestern coast of India. They avoid populated cities, and especially\nEuropeans, and it is but rarely that the latter can succeed in making\nthemselves intimate with the \u201cseers.\u201d It is generally thought that the\ncircumstance is due to their religious observance of the caste; but we\nare firmly convinced that in many cases this is not so. Years, perhaps\ncenturies, will roll away before the real reason is ascertained.\n\nAs to the lower castes, some of which are termed by the missionaries\ndevil-worshippers, notwithstanding the pious efforts on the part of\nthe Catholic missionaries to spread in Europe heart-rending reports of\nthe misery of these people \u201csold to the Arch-Enemy;\u201d and like efforts,\nperhaps only a trifle less ridiculous and absurd, of Protestant\nmissionaries, the word devil, in the sense understood by Christians,\nis a nonentity for them. They believe in good and bad spirits; but\nthey neither worship nor dread the Devil. Their \u201cworship\u201d is simply a {447}\nceremonial precaution against \u201cterrestrial\u201d and _human_ spirits, whom\nthey dread far more than the millions of elementals of various forms.\nThey use all kinds of music, incense, and perfumes, in their efforts\nto drive away the \u201cbad spirits\u201d (the elementary). In this case, they\nare no more to be ridiculed than the well-known scientist, a firm\nspiritualist, who suggested the keeping of vitriol and powdered nitre\nin the room to keep away \u201cunpleasant spirits;\u201d and no more than he,\nare they wrong in so doing; for the experience of their ancestors,\nextending over many thousands of years has taught them how to proceed\nagainst this vile \u201cspiritual horde.\u201d That they are _human_ spirits is\nshown by the fact that very often they try to humor and propitiate the\n\u201clarv\u00e6\u201d of their own daughters and relatives, when they have reason\nto suspect that the latter did not die in the odor of sanctity and\nchastity. Such spirits they name \u201cKanni,\u201d _bad virgins_. The case was\nnoticed by several missionaries; Rev. E. Lewis,[683] among others.\nBut these pious gentlemen usually insist upon it that they worship\ndevils, whereas, they do nothing of the sort; for they merely try to\nremain on good terms with them in order to be left unmolested. They\noffer them cakes and fruit, and various kinds of food which they liked\nwhile alive, for many of them have experienced the wickedness of these\nreturning \u201cdead ones,\u201d whose persecutions are sometimes dreadful. On\nthis principle likewise they act toward the spirits of all wicked men.\nThey leave on their tombs, if they were buried, or near the place\nwhere their remains were burnt, food and liquors, with the object of\nkeeping them near these places, and with the idea that these vampires\nwill be prevented thereby from returning to their homes. This is no\nworship; it is rather a _spiritualism_ of a practical sort. Until 1861,\nthere prevailed a custom among the Hindus of mutilating the feet of\nexecuted murderers, under the firm belief that thereby the disembodied\nsoul would be prevented from wandering and doing more mischief.\nSubsequently, they were prohibited, by the police, from continuing the\npractice.\n\nAnother good reason why the Hindus should not worship the \u201cDevil\u201d\nis that they have no word to convey such a meaning. They call these\nspirits \u201c_p\u00fbtt\u00e2m_,\u201d which answers rather to our \u201cspook,\u201d or malicious\nimp; another expression they use is \u201c_pey_\u201d and the Sanscrit _pes\u00e2su_,\nboth meaning ghosts or \u201creturning ones\u201d perhaps goblins, in some cases.\nThe _p\u00fbtt\u00e2m_ are the most terrible, for they are literally \u201c_haunting_\nspooks,\u201d who return on earth to torment the living. They are believed\nto visit generally the places where their bodies were burnt. The \u201cfire\u201d\nor \u201cSiva-spirits\u201d are identical with the Rosicrucian _gnomes_ and\n_salamanders_; for they are pictured as dwarfs of a fiery appearance, {448}\nliving in earth and fire. The Ceylonese demon called _Dewel_ is a\nstout smiling female figure with a white Elizabethan frill around the\nneck and a red jacket.\n\nAs Dr. Warton justly observes: \u201cThere is no character more strictly\nOriental than the dragons of romance and fiction; they are intermixed\nwith every tradition of early date and of themselves confer a species\nof illustrative evidence of origin.\u201d In no writings are these\ncharacters more marked, than in the details of Buddhism; these record\nparticulars of the _Nagas_, or kingly snakes, inhabiting the cavities\nunder the earth, corresponding with the abodes of Tiresias and the\nGreek seers, a region of mystery and darkness, wherein revolves much\nof the system of divination and oracular response, connected with\ninflation, or a sort of possession, designating the spirit of Python\nhimself, the dragon-serpent slain by Apollo. But the Buddhists no more\nbelieve in the devil of the Christian system\u2014that is, an entity as\ndistinct from humanity as the Deity itself\u2014than the Hindus. Buddhists\nteach that there are inferior gods who have been men either on this or\nanother planet, but still who were _men_. They believe in the Nagas,\nwho had been _sorcerers_ on earth, _bad people_, and who give the power\nto other bad and yet living men to blight all the fruit they look upon,\nand even human lives. When a Cinghalese has the reputation that if he\nlooks on a tree or on a person both will wither and die, he is said to\nhave the Naga-Raja, or king-serpent on him. The whole endless catalogue\nof bad spirits are not _devils_ in the sense the Christian clergy wants\nus to understand, but merely _spiritually incarnated_ sins, crimes, and\nhuman thoughts, if we may so express it. The blue, green, yellow, and\npurple god-demons, like the inferior gods of Jugandere, are more of\nthe kind of presiding genii, and many are as good and beneficient as\nthe Nat deities themselves, although the Nats reckon in their numbers,\ngiants, evil genii, and the like which inhabit the desert of Mount\nJugandere.\n\nThe true doctrine of Buddha says that the demons, when nature produced\nthe sun, moon, and stars, _were human beings_, but, on account of their\nsins, they fell from the state of felicity. If they commit greater\nsins, they suffer greater punishments, and condemned men are reckoned\nby them among the _devils_; while, on the contrary, _demons who die_\n(elemental spirits) and are born or incarnated as men, and commit no\nmore sin, can arrive at the state of celestial felicity. Which is a\ndemonstration, remarks Edward Upham, in his _History and Doctrine of\nBuddhism_, that all beings, divine as well as human, are subject to\nthe laws of transmigration, which are operative on all, according to a\nscale of moral deeds. This faith then, is a complete test of a code of\nmoral enactments and motives, applied to the regulation and government {449}\nof man an experiment, he adds, \u201cwhich renders the study of Buddhism an\nimportant and curious subject for the philosopher.\u201d\n\nThe Hindus believe, as firmly as the Servians or Hungarians, in\nvampires. Furthermore, their doctrine is that of Pierart, the famous\nFrench spiritist and mesmerizer, whose school flourished some dozen\nyears ago. \u201cThe fact of a spectre returning to suck human blood,\u201d says\nthis Doctor,[684] \u201cis not so inexplicable as it seems, and here we\nappeal to the spiritualists who admit the phenomenon of _bicorporeity_\nor _soul-duplication_. The hands which we have pressed ... these\n\u2018materialized\u2019 limbs, so palpable ... prove clearly _how much is\npossible for astral spectres under favorable conditions_.\u201d\n\nThe honorable physician expresses the theory of the kabalists. The\n_Shadim_ are the lowest of the spiritual orders. Maimonides, who\ntells us that his countrymen were _obliged_ to maintain an intimate\nintercourse with their departed ones, describes the feast of blood they\nheld on such occasions. They dug a hole, and _fresh blood_ was poured\nin, over which was placed a table; after which the \u201cspirits\u201d came and\nanswered all their questions.[685]\n\nPierart, whose doctrine was founded on that of the theurgists, exhibits\na warm indignation against the superstition of the clergy which\nrequires, whenever a corpse is suspected of vampirism, that a stake\nshould be driven through the heart. So long as the astral form is not\nentirely liberated from the body there is a liability that it may be\nforced by magnetic attraction to re\u00ebnter it. Sometimes it will be only\nhalf-way out, when the corpse, which presents the appearance of death,\nis buried. In such cases the terrified astral soul violently re\u00ebnters\nits casket; and then, one of two things happens\u2014either the unhappy\nvictim will writhe in the agonizing torture of suffocation, or, if\nhe had been grossly material, he becomes a vampire. The bicorporeal\nlife begins; and these unfortunate buried cataleptics sustain their\nmiserable lives by having their astral bodies rob the life-blood from\nliving persons. The \u00e6thereal form can go wherever it pleases; and so\nlong as it does not break the link which attaches it to the body, it\nis at liberty to wander about, either visible or invisible, and feed\non human victims. \u201cAccording to all appearance, this \u2018spirit\u2019 then\ntransmits through a mysterious and invisible cord of connection, which\nperhaps, some day may be explained, the results of the suction to the\nmaterial body which lies inert at the bottom of the tomb, aiding it, in\na manner, to perpetuate the state of catalepsy.\u201d[686]\n\nBrierre de Boismont gives a number of such cases, fully authenticated, {450}\nwhich he is pleased to term \u201challucinations.\u201d A recent inquest,\nsays a French paper, \u201chas established that in 1871 two corpses were\nsubmitted to the infamous treatment of popular superstition, at the\ninstigation of the clergy ... O blind prejudice!\u201d But Dr. Pierart,\nquoted by des Mousseaux, who stoutly adheres to vampirism, exclaims:\n\u201cBlind, you say? Yes, blind, as much as you like. But whence sprang\nthese prejudices? Why are they perpetuated in all ages, and in so many\ncountries? After a crowd of facts of vampirism so often proved, should\nwe say that there are no more and that they never had a foundation?\nNothing comes of nothing. Every belief, every custom springs from facts\nand causes which gave it birth. If one had never seen appear, in the\nbosom of families of certain countries, beings clothing themselves in\nthe shape of the familiar dead, coming thus to suck the blood of one\nor of several persons, and if the death of the victims by emaciation\nhad not followed, they would never have gone to disinter the corpses\nin cemeteries; we would never have had attested the incredible fact\nof persons buried for several years being found with the corpse soft,\nflexible, the eyes open, with rosy complexions, the mouth and nose\nfull of blood, and of the blood running in torrents under blows, from\nwounds, and when decapitated.\u201d[687]\n\nOne of the most important examples of vampirism figures in the private\nletters of the philosopher, the Marquis d\u2019Argens; and, in the _Revue\nBritannique_, for March, 1837, the English traveller Pashley describes\nsome that came under his notice in the island of Candia. Dr. Jobard,\nthe anti-Catholic and anti-spiritual Belgian _savant_, testifies to\nsimilar experiences.[688]\n\n\u201cI will not examine,\u201d wrote the Bishop d\u2019Avranches Huet, \u201cwhether the\nfacts of vampirism, which are constantly being reported, are true,\nor the fruit of a popular error; but it is certain that they are\ntestified to by so many authors, able and trustworthy, and _by so many\neye-witnesses_, that no one ought to decide upon the question without a\ngood deal of caution.\u201d[689]\n\nThe chevalier, who went to great pains to collect materials for his\ndemonological theory, brings the most thrilling instances to prove that\nall such cases are produced by the Devil, who uses graveyard corpses\nwith which to clothe himself, and roams at night sucking people\u2019s\nblood. Methinks we could do very well without bringing this dusky\npersonage upon the scene. If we are to believe at all in the return of\nspirits, there are plenty of wicked sensualists, misers, and sinners {451}\nof other descriptions\u2014especially suicides, who could have rivalled\nthe Devil himself in malice in his best days. It is quite enough to be\nactually forced to believe in what we do see, and _know to be a fact_,\nnamely spirits, without adding to our Pantheon of ghosts the Devil\u2014whom\nnobody ever saw.\n\nStill, there are interesting particulars to be gathered in relation\nto vampirism, since belief in this phenomenon has existed in all\ncountries, from the remotest ages. The Slavonian nations, the Greeks,\nthe Wallachians, and the Servians would rather doubt the existence of\ntheir enemies, the Turks, than the fact that there are vampires. The\n_broucol\u00e2k_, or _vourdalak_, as the latter are called, are but too\nfamiliar guests at the Slavonian fireside. Writers of the greatest\nability, men as full of sagacity as of high integrity, have treated of\nthe subject and believed in it. Whence, then, such a _superstition_?\nWhence that unanimous credence throughout the ages, and whence that\nidentity in details and similarity of description as to that one\nparticular phenomenon which we find in the testimony\u2014generally sworn\nevidence\u2014of peoples foreign to each other and differing widely in\nmatters concerning other _superstitions_.\n\n\u201cThere are,\u201d says Dom Calmet, a skeptical Benedictine monk of the last\ncentury, \u201ctwo different ways to destroy the belief in these pretended\nghosts.... The first would be _to explain the_ prodigies of vampirism\nby physical causes. The second way is to _deny totally_ the truth of\nall such stories; and the latter plan would be undoubtedly the most\ncertain, as the most wise.\u201d[690]\n\nThe first way\u2014that of explaining it by physical, though occult causes,\nis the one adopted by the Pierart school of mesmerism. It is certainly\nnot the spiritualists who have a right to doubt the plausibility of\nthis explanation. The second plan is that adopted by scientists and\nskeptics. They deny point-blank. As des Mousseaux remarks, there is\nno better or surer way, and none exacts less of either philosophy or\nscience.\n\nThe spectre of a village herdsman, near Kodom, in Bavaria, began\nappearing to several inhabitants of the place, and either in\nconsequence of their fright or some other cause, every one of them\ndied during the following week. Driven to despair, the peasants\ndisinterred the corpse, and pinned it to the ground with a long stake.\nThe same night he appeared again, plunging people into convulsions of\nfright, and suffocating several of them. Then the village authorities\ndelivered the body into the hands of the executioner, who carried it to\na neighboring field and burned it. \u201cThe corpse,\u201d says des Mousseaux,\nquoting Dom Calmet, \u201chowled like a madman, kicking and tearing as if {452}\nhe had been alive. When he was run through again with sharp-pointed\nstakes, he uttered piercing cries, and vomited masses of crimson blood.\nThe apparitions of this spectre ceased only after the corpse had been\nreduced to ashes.\u201d[691]\n\nOfficers of justice visited the places said to be so haunted; the\nbodies were exhumed, and in nearly every case it was observed that the\ncorpse suspected of vampirism looked healthy and rosy, and the flesh\nwas in no way decaying. The objects which had belonged to these ghosts\nwere observed moving about the house without any one touching them.\nBut the legal authorities generally refused to resort to cremation\nand beheading before they had observed the strictest rules of legal\nprocedure. Witnesses were summoned to appear, and evidence was heard\nand carefully weighed. After that the exhumed corpses were examined;\nand if they exhibited the unequivocal and characteristic signs of\nvampirism, they were handed over to the executioner.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d argues Dom Calmet,[692] \u201cthe principal difficulty consists\nin learning _how_ these vampires can quit their tombs, and how they\nre\u00ebnter them, without appearing _to have disturbed the earth in the\nleast_; how is it that they are seen with their usual clothing; how\ncan they go about, and walk, and _eat_?... If this is all imagination\non the part of those who believe themselves molested by such vampires,\nhow happens it that the accused ghosts are subsequently found in their\ngraves ... exhibiting no signs of decay, full of blood, supple and\nfresh? How explain the cause _of their feet found muddy and covered\nwith dirt on the day following the night_ they had appeared and\nfrightened their neighbors, while nothing of the sort was ever found on\nother corpses buried in the same cemetery?[693] How is it again that\nonce burned they never reappear? and that these cases should happen\n_so often_ in this country that it is found impossible to cure people\nfrom this prejudice; for, instead of being destroyed, daily experience\nonly fortifies the superstition in the people, and increases belief in\nit.\u201d[694]\n\nThere is a phenomenon in nature unknown, and therefore rejected by\nphysiology and psychology in our age of unbelief. This phenomenon is a\nstate of _half-death_. Virtually, the body is dead; and, in cases of\npersons in whom matter does not predominate over spirit and wickedness\nnot so great as to destroy spirituality, if left alone, their astral\nsoul will disengage itself by gradual efforts, and, when the last {453}\nlink is broken, it finds itself separated forever from its earthly\nbody. Equal magnetic polarity will violently repulse the ethereal man\nfrom the decaying organic mass. The whole difficulty lies in that 1,\nthe ultimate moment of separation between the two is believed to be\nthat when the body is declared _dead_ by science; and 2, a prevailing\nunbelief in the existence of either soul or spirit in man, by the same\nscience.\n\nPierart tries to demonstrate that in every case it is dangerous to\nbury people too soon, even though the body may show undoubted signs\nof putrefaction. \u201cPoor dead cataleptics,\u201d says the doctor, \u201cburied\nas if _quite_ dead, in cold and dry spots where _morbid causes are\nincapable to effect the destruction of their bodies_, their (astral)\nspirit enveloping itself with a _fluidic_ body (ethereal) is prompted\nto quit the precincts of its tomb, and to exercise on living beings\nacts peculiar to physical life, especially that of _nutrition_, the\nresult of which, by a mysterious link between soul and body, which\nspiritualistic science will explain some day, is forwarded to the\nmaterial body lying still in its tomb, and the latter thus helped to\nperpetuate its vital existence.\u201d[695] These spirits, in their ephemeral\nbodies, have been often seen _coming out from the graveyard_; they are\nknown to have clung to their living neighbors, and have sucked their\nblood. Judicial inquiry has established that from this resulted an\nemaciation of the victimized persons, which often terminated in death.\n\nThus, following the pious advice of Dom Calmet, we must either go on\ndenying, or, if human and legal testimonies are worth anything, accept\nthe only explanation possible. \u201cThat souls departed are embodied in\na\u00ebrial or \u00e6therial vehicles is most fully and plainly proved by those\nexcellent men, Dr. C. and Dr. More,\u201d says Glanvil, \u201cand they have\nlargely shown that this was the doctrine of the greatest philosophers\nand most ancient and aged fathers.\u201d[696]\n\nG\u00f6rres, the German philosopher, says to the same effect, that \u201cGod\nnever created man as a dead corpse, but as an animal _full of life_.\nOnce He had thus produced him, finding him ready to receive the\nimmortal breath, He breathed him in the face, and thus man became a\ndouble masterpiece in His hands. It is in the centre of life itself\nthat this mysterious insufflation took place in the first man (race?);\nand thence were united the _animal soul_ issued from earth, and the\n_spirit_ emanating from heaven.\u201d[697]\n\nDes Mousseaux, in company with other Roman Catholic writers, exclaims:\n\u201cThis proposition is utterly anti-Catholic!\u201d Well, and suppose it is? {454}\nIt may be archi-anti-Catholic, and still be logic, and offer a solution\nfor many a psychological puzzle. The sun of science and philosophy\nshines for every one; and if Catholics, who hardly number one-seventh\npart of the population of the globe, do not feel satisfied, perhaps the\nmany millions of people of other religions who outnumber them, will.\n\nAnd now, before parting with this repulsive subject of vampirism,\nwe will give one more illustration, without other voucher than the\nstatement that it was given to us by apparently trustworthy witnesses.\n\nAbout the beginning of the present century, there occurred in Russia,\none of the most frightful cases of vampirism on record. The governor of\nthe Province of Tch\u2014\u2014 was a man of about sixty years, of a malicious,\ntyrannical, cruel, and jealous disposition. Clothed with despotic\nauthority, he exercised it without stint, as his brutal instincts\nprompted. He fell in love with the pretty daughter of a subordinate\nofficial. Although the girl was betrothed to a young man whom she\nloved, the tyrant forced her father to consent to his having her marry\nhim; and the poor victim, despite her despair, became his wife. His\njealous disposition exhibited itself. He beat her, confined her to\nher room for weeks together, and prevented her seeing any one except\nin his presence. He finally fell sick and died. Finding his end\napproaching, he made her swear never to marry again; and with fearful\noaths, threatened that, in case she did, he would return from his grave\nand kill her. He was buried in the cemetery across the river; and the\nyoung widow experienced no further annoyance, until, nature getting the\nbetter of her fears, she listened to the importunities of her former\nlover, and they were again betrothed.\n\nOn the night of the customary betrothal-feast, when all had retired,\nthe old mansion was aroused by shrieks proceeding from her room. The\ndoors were burst open, and the unhappy woman was found lying on her\nbed, in a swoon. At the same time a carriage was heard rumbling out\nof the courtyard. Her body was found to be black and blue in places,\nas from the effect of pinches, and from a slight puncture on her neck\ndrops of blood were oozing. Upon recovering, she stated that her\ndeceased husband had suddenly entered her room, appearing exactly as in\nlife, with the exception of a dreadful pallor; that he had upbraided\nher for her inconstancy, and then beaten and pinched her most cruelly.\nHer story was disbelieved; but the next morning, the guard stationed at\nthe other end of the bridge which spans the river, reported that, just\nbefore midnight, a black coach and six had driven furiously past them,\ntoward the town, without answering their challenge.\n\nThe new governor, who disbelieved the story of the apparition, took\nnevertheless the precaution of doubling the guards across the bridge. {455}\nThe same thing happened, however, night after night; the soldiers\ndeclaring that the toll-bar at their station near the bridge would\nrise of itself, and the spectral equipage sweep by them despite their\nefforts to stop it. At the same time every night, the coach would\nrumble into the courtyard of the house; the watchers, including the\nwidow\u2019s family, and the servants, would be thrown into a heavy sleep;\nand every morning the young victim would be found bruised, bleeding,\nand swooning as before. The town was thrown into consternation. The\nphysicians had no explanations to offer; priests came to pass the night\nin prayer, but as midnight approached, all would be seized with the\nterrible lethargy. Finally, the archbishop of the province came, and\nperformed the ceremony of exorcism in person, but the following morning\nthe governor\u2019s widow was found worse than ever. She was now brought to\ndeath\u2019s door.\n\nThe governor was finally driven to take the severest measures to stop\nthe ever-increasing panic in the town. He stationed fifty Cossacks\nalong the bridge, with orders to stop the spectre-carriage at all\nhazards. Promptly at the usual hour, it was heard and seen approaching\nfrom the direction of the cemetery. The officer of the guard, and a\npriest bearing a crucifix, planted themselves in front of the toll-bar,\nand together shouted: \u201cIn the name of God, and the Czar, who goes\nthere?\u201d Out of the coach-window was thrust a well-remembered head,\nand a familiar voice responded: \u201cThe Privy Councillor of State and\nGovernor, C\u2014\u2014!\u201d At the same moment, the officer, the priest, and the\nsoldiers were flung aside as by an electric shock, and the ghostly\nequipage passed by them, before they could recover breath.\n\nThe archbishop then resolved, as a last expedient, to resort to the\ntime-honored plan of exhuming the body, and pinning it to the earth\nwith an oaken stake driven through its heart. This was done with great\nreligious ceremony in the presence of the whole populace. The story\nis that the body was found gorged with blood, and with red cheeks and\nlips. At the instant that the first blow was struck upon the stake,\na groan issued from the corpse, and a jet of blood spurted high into\nthe air. The archbishop pronounced the usual exorcism, the body was\nre\u00efnterred, and from that time no more was heard of the vampire.\n\nHow far the facts of this case may have been exaggerated by tradition,\nwe cannot say. But we had it years ago from an eye-witness; and at\nthe present day there are families in Russia whose elder members will\nrecall the dreadful tale.\n\nAs to the statement found in medical books that there are frequent\ncases of inhumation while the subjects are but in a cataleptic state,\nand the persistent denials of specialists that such things happen,\nexcept very rarely, we have but to turn to the daily press of every {456}\ncountry to find the horrid fact substantiated. The Rev. H. R. Haweis,\nM. A., author of _Ashes to Ashes_,[698] enumerates in his work, written\nin advocacy of cremation, some very distressing cases of premature\nburial. On page forty-six occurs the following dialogue:\n\n\u201cBut do you know of many cases of premature burial?\u201d\n\n\u201cUndoubtedly I do. I will not say that in our temperate climate they\nare frequent, but they do occur. Hardly a graveyard is opened but\ncoffins are found containing bodies not only turned, but skeletons\ncontorted in the last hopeless struggle for life underground. The\nturning may be due to some clumsy shaking of the coffin, _but not the\ncontortion_.\u201d\n\nAfter this he proceeds to give the following recent cases:\n\n\u201cAt Bergerac (Dordogne), in 1842, the patient took a sleeping draught\n... but he woke not.... They bled him, and he woke not.... At last they\ndeclared him to be dead, and buried him. After a few days, remembering\nthe sleeping draught, they opened the grave. The body had turned and\n_struggled_.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe _Sunday Times_, December 30, 1838, relates that at Tonneins, Lower\nGaronne, a man was buried, when an indistinct noise proceeded from\nthe coffin; the reckless grave-digger fled.... The coffin was hauled\nup and burst open. A face stiffened in terror and despair, a torn\nwinding-sheet, contorted limbs, told the sad truth\u2014_too late_.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe _Times_, May, 1874, states that in August of 1873, a young lady\ndied soon after her marriage.... Within a year the husband married\nagain, and the mother of his first bride resolved to remove her\ndaughter\u2019s body to Marseilles. They opened the vault and found the\npoor girl\u2019s body prostrate, her hair dishevelled, her shroud torn to\npieces.\u201d[699]\n\nAs we will have to refer to the subject once more in connection with\nBible miracles, we will leave it for the present, and return to magical\nphenomena.\n\nIf we were to give a full description of the various manifestations\nwhich take place among adepts in India and other countries, we might\nfill volumes, but this would be profitless, as there would remain no\nspace for explanation. Therefore we select in preference such as either\nfind their parallels in modern phenomena or are authenticated by legal\ninquiry. Horst tried to present an idea of certain Persian spirits\nto his readers, and failed; for the bare mention of some of them is\ncalculated to set the brains of a believer in a whirl. There are the\nDevs and their specialities; the Darwands and their gloomy tricks; the\nShadim and Djinnas; the whole vast legion of spirits, demons, goblins, {457}\nand elves of the Persian calendar; and, on the other hand, the Jewish\nSeraphim, Cherubim, Izeds, Amshaspands, Sephiroth, Malachim, Elohim;\nand, adds Horst, \u201cthe millions of astral and elementary spirits, of\nintermediary spirits, ghosts, and imaginary beings of all races and\ncolors.\u201d[700]\n\nBut the majority of these spirits have naught to do with the phenomena\nconsciously and deliberately produced by the Eastern magicians. The\nlatter repudiate such an accusation and leave to sorcerers the help\neven of elemental spirits and the elementary spooks. The adept has an\nunlimited power over both, but he rarely uses it. For the production of\nphysical phenomena he summons the nature-spirits as obedient _powers_,\nnot as intelligences.\n\nAs we always like to strengthen our arguments by testimonies other than\nour own, it may be well to present the opinion of a daily paper, the\nBoston _Herald_, as to phenomena in general and mediums in particular.\nHaving encountered sad failures with some dishonest persons, who may or\nmay not be mediumistic, the writer went to the trouble of ascertaining\nas to some wonders said to be produced in India, and compares them with\nthose of modern thaumaturgy.\n\n\u201cThe medium of the present day,\u201d he says, \u201cbears a closer resemblance,\nin methods and manipulations, to the well-known conjurer of history,\nthan any other representative of the magic art. How far short he still\nremains of the performances of his prototypes is illustrated below. In\n1615 a delegation of highly-educated and distinguished men from the\nEnglish East India Company visited the Emperor Jehangire. While on\ntheir mission they witnessed many most wonderful performances, almost\ncausing them to discredit their senses, and far beyond any hint even of\nsolution. A party of Bengalese conjurers and jugglers, showing their\nart before the emperor, were desired to produce upon the spot, and from\nseed, ten mulberry trees. They immediately planted ten seeds, which,\nin a few minutes produced as many trees. The ground divided over the\nspot where a seed was planted, tiny leaves appeared, at once followed\nby slender shoots, which rapidly gained elevation, putting out leaves\nand twigs and branches, finally spreading wide in the air, budding,\nblossoming and yielding fruit, which matured upon the spot, and was\nfound to be excellent. And this before the beholder had turned away\nhis eyes. Fig, almond, mango, and walnut trees were at the same time\nunder like conditions produced, yielding the fruit which belonged to\neach. Wonder succeeded wonder. The branches were filled with birds of\nbeautiful plumage flitting about among the leaves and singing sweet\nnotes. The leaves turned to russet, fell from their places, branches {458}\nand twigs withered, and finally the trees sank back into the earth,\nout of which they had all sprang within the hour.\n\n\u201cAnother had a bow and about fifty steel-pointed arrows. He shot an\narrow into the air, when, lo! the arrow became fixed in space at a\nconsiderable height. Another and another arrow was sent off, each\nfixing itself in the shaft of the preceding, until all formed a chain\nof arrows in the air, excepting the last shot, which, striking the\nchain, brought the whole to the ground in detachments.\n\n\u201cThey set up two common tents facing each other, and about a bowshot\napart. These tents were critically examined by the spectators, as are\nthe cabinets of the mediums, and pronounced empty. The tents were\nfastened to the ground all around. The lookers-on were then invited to\nchoose what animals or birds they would have issue from these tents to\nengage in a battle. Khaun-e-Jahaun incredulously asked to see a fight\nbetween ostriches. In a few minutes an ostrich came out from each tent,\nrushed to combat with deadly earnestness, and from them the blood soon\nbegan to stream; but they were so nearly matched that neither could\nwin the victory, and they were at last separated by the conjurers\nand conveyed within the tents. After this the varied demands of the\nspectators for birds and animals were exactly complied with, always\nwith the same results.\n\n\u201cA large cauldron was set, and into it a quantity of rice thrown.\nWithout the sign of fire this rice soon began to boil, and out from the\ncauldron was taken more than one hundred platters of cooked rice, with\na stewed fowl at the top of each. This trick is performed on a smaller\nscale by the most ordinary fakirs of the present day.\n\n\u201cBut space fails to give opportunity for illustrating, from the records\nof the past, how the miserably tame performances\u2014by comparison\u2014of the\nmediums of the present day were pale and overshadowed by those of other\ndays and more adroit peoples. There is not a wonderful feature in any\nof the so-called phenomena or manifestations which was not, nay, which\nis not now more than duplicated by other skilful performers, whose\nconnection with earth, and earth alone, is too evident to be doubted,\neven if the fact was not supported by their own testimony.\u201d\n\nIt is an error to say that fakirs or jugglers will always claim that\nthey are helped by spirits. In quasi-religious evocations, such as\nJacolliot\u2019s Kovindasami is described to have produced before this\nFrench gentleman, when the parties desire to see real \u201cspiritual\u201d\nmanifestations, they will resort to Pitris, their disembodied\nancestors, and other _pure_ spirits. These they can evoke but through\nprayer. As to all other phenomena, they are produced by the magician\nand fakir at will. Notwithstanding the state of apparent abjectness in {459}\nwhich the latter lives, he is often an initiate of the temples, and is\nas well acquainted with occultism as his richer brethren.\n\nThe Chaldeans, whom Cicero counts among the oldest magicians, placed\nthe basis of all magic in the inner powers of man\u2019s soul, and by the\ndiscernment of magic properties in plants, minerals, and animals.\nBy the aid of these they performed the most wonderful \u201cmiracles.\u201d\nMagic, with them, was synonymous with religion and science. It is but\nlater that the religious myths of the Magdean dualism, disfigured by\nChristian theology and euhemerized by certain fathers of the Church,\nassumed the disgusting shape in which we find them expounded by such\nCatholic writers as des Mousseaux. The objective reality of the\nmedi\u00e6val incubus and succubus, that abominable superstition of the\nmiddle ages which cost so many human lives, advocated by this author\nin a whole volume, is the monstrous production of religious fanaticism\nand epilepsy. It can have no _objective_ form; and to attribute its\neffects to the Devil is blasphemy: implying that God, after creating\nSatan, would allow him to adopt such a course. If we are forced to\nbelieve in vampirism, it is on the strength of two irrefragable\npropositions of occult psychological science: 1. The astral soul is\na separable distinct entity of our _ego_, and can roam far away from\nthe body without breaking the thread of life. 2. The corpse is not\n_utterly_ dead, and while it can yet be re\u00ebntered by its tenant, the\nlatter can gather sufficient material emanations from it to enable\nitself to appear in a quasi-terrestrial shape. But to uphold, with des\nMousseaux and de Mirville, that the Devil, whom the Catholics endow\nwith a power which, in antagonism, equals that of the Supreme Deity,\ntransforms himself into wolves, snakes, and dogs, to satisfy his lust\nand procreate monsters, is an idea within which lie hidden the germs\nof devil-worship, lunacy, and sacrilege. The Catholic Church, which\nnot only teaches us to believe in this monstrous fallacy, but forces\nher missionaries to preach such a dogma, need not revolt against the\ndevil-worship of some Parsee and South India sects. Quite the reverse;\nfor when we hear the Yezides repeat the well-known proverb: \u201cKeep\nfriends with the demons; give them your property, your blood, your\nservice, and you need not care about God\u2014_He will not harm you_,\u201d we\nfind him but consistent with his belief and reverential to the Supreme;\nhis logic is sound and rational; he reveres God too deeply to imagine\nthat He who created the universe and its laws is able to hurt him, poor\natom; but the _demons_ are there; they are _imperfect_, and therefore\nhe has good reasons to dread them.\n\nTherefore, the Devil, in his various transformations, can be but a\nfallacy. When we imagine that we see, and hear, and feel him, it\nis but too often the reflection of our own wicked, depraved, and\npolluted soul that we see, hear, and feel. Like attracts like, they {460}\nsay; thus, according to the mood in which our astral form oozes out\nduring the hours of sleep, according to our thoughts, pursuits, and\ndaily occupations, all of which are fairly impressed upon the plastic\ncapsule called the _human soul_, the latter attracts around itself\nspiritual beings congenial to itself. Hence some dreams and visions\nthat are pure and beautiful, others fiendish and beastly. The person\nawakes, and either hastens to the confessional, or laughs in callous\nindifference at the thought. In the first case, he is promised final\nsalvation, at the cost of some indulgences (which he has to purchase\nfrom the church), and perhaps a little taste of purgatory, or even\nof hell. What matter? is he not safe to be eternal and immortal, do\nwhat he may? It is the Devil. Away with him, with bell, book, and holy\nsprinkler! But the \u201cDevil\u201d comes back, and often the true believer is\nforced to disbelieve in God, when he clearly perceives that the Devil\nhas the best of his Creator and Master. Then he is left to the second\nemergency. He remains indifferent, and gives himself up entirely to the\nDevil. He dies, and the reader has learned the sequel in the preceding\nchapters.\n\nThe thought is beautifully expressed by Dr. Ennemoser: \u201cReligion did\nnot here [Europe and China] strike root so deeply as among the Hindus,\u201d\nsays he, arguing upon this superstition. \u201cThe spirit of the Greeks\nand Persians was more volatile.... The philosophical idea in the good\nand bad principle, and of the spiritual world ... must have assisted\ntradition in forming visions of heavenly and hellish shapes, and the\nmost frightful distortions, which in India were much more simply\nproduced by a more enthusiastic fanaticism; there the seer _received by\ndivine light_; here he lost himself in a multitude of outward objects,\nwith which he confounded his own identity. Convulsions, accompanied\nby the mind\u2019s absence from the body, in distant countries, were here\ncommon, for the imagination was less firm, and also less spiritual.\n\n\u201cThe outward causes are also different; the modes of life, geographical\nposition, and artificial means producing various modifications. The\nmode of life in Western countries has always been very variable, and\ntherefore disturbs and distorts the occupation of the senses, _and the\noutward life is therefore reflected_ upon the inner dream-world. The\nspirits, therefore, are of endless varieties of shape, and incline men\nto gratify their passions, showing them the means of so doing, and\ndescending even to the minutest particulars, _which was so far below_\nthe elevated natures of Indian seers.\u201d\n\nLet the student of occult sciences make his own nature as pure and his\nthoughts as elevated as those of these Indian seers, and he may sleep\nunmolested by vampire, incubus, or succubus. Around the insensible\nform of such a sleeper the immortal spirit sheds a power divine that\nprotects it from evil approaches, as though it were a crystal wall.\n\n\u201cH\u00e6c murus \u00e6neus esto: nil conscire sibi, nulla pallascere culpa.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIII. {461}\n\n \u201cALCHYMIST. Thou always speakest riddles. Tell me if thou art\n that fountain of which Bernard Lord Trevigan writ?\n\n \u201cMERCURY. I am not that fountain, but I am the water. The\n fountain compasseth me about.\u201d\n \u2014SANDIVOGIUS, _New Light of Alchymy_.\n\n \u201cAll that we profess to do is this: to find out the secrets of\n the human frame, to know why the parts ossify and the blood\n stagnates, and to apply continual preventatives to the effects\n of time. _This is not magic_; it is the art of medicine rightly\n understood.\u201d\u2014BULWER-LYTTON.\n\n \u201cLo, warrior! now the cross of Red\n Points to the grave of the mighty dead;\n Within it burns a wondrous light,\n To chase the spirits that love the night.\n That lamp shall burn unquenchably\n Until the eternal doom shall be.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\n \u201cNo earthly flame blazed e\u2019er so bright.\u201d\u2014SIR WALTER SCOTT.\n\n\nThere are persons whose minds would be incapable of appreciating the\nintellectual grandeur of the ancients, even in physical science, were\nthey to receive the most complete demonstration of their profound\nlearning and achievements. Notwithstanding the lesson of caution which\nmore than one unexpected discovery has taught them, they still pursue\ntheir old plan of denying, and, what is still worse, of ridiculing\nthat which they have no means of either proving or disproving. So, for\ninstance, they will pooh-pooh the idea of talismans having any efficacy\none way or the other. That the seven spirits of the _Apocalypse_\nhave direct relation to the seven occult powers in nature, appears\nincomprehensible and absurd to their feeble intellects; and the\nbare thought of a magician claiming to work wonders through certain\nkabalistic rites convulses them with laughter. Perceiving only a\ngeometrical figure traced upon a paper, a bit of metal, or other\nsubstance, they cannot imagine how any reasonable being should ascribe\nto either any occult potency. But those who have taken the pains to\ninform themselves know that the ancients achieved as great discoveries\nin psychology as in physics, and that their explorations left few\nsecrets to be discovered.\n\nFor our part, when we realize that a pentacle is a synthetic figure\nwhich expresses in concrete form a profound truth of nature, we can\nsee nothing more ridiculous in it than in the figures of Euclid, and\nnothing half so comical as the symbols in a modern work on chemistry.\nWhat to the uninitiated reader can appear more absurd than that the {462}\nsymbol NA\u2082CO\u2083\u2014means soda! and that C\u2082H\u2086O is but another\nway of writing alcohol! How very amusing that the alchemists should\nexpress their Azoth, or creative principle of nature (astral light), by\nthe symbol\n\n T\n \u2502\n \u2502\n O\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500 \u2500\u2500\u2014\u2014A\n \u2502\n \u2502\n R[Transcriber\u2019s note: R upside-down, A sideways]\n\nwhich embraces three things: 1st, The divine hypothesis; 2d, The\nphilosophical synthesis; 3d, The physical synthesis\u2014that is to say, a\nbelief, an idea, and a force. But how perfectly natural that a modern\nchemist who wishes to indicate to the students in his laboratory the\nreaction of a sodic-carbonate with cream-of-tartar in solution, should\nemploy the following symbol:\n\n (Na\u2082CO\u2083 + 2HKC\u2084H\u2084O\u2086 + Aq)=\n (2NaKC\u2084H\u2084O\u2086 + H\u2082O + Aq) + CO\u2082\n\nIf the uninspired reader may be pardoned for looking aghast at this\nabracadabra of chemical science, why should not its teachers restrain\ntheir mirth until they have learned the philosophical value of the\nsymbolism of the ancients? At least they might spare themselves from\nbeing as ridiculous as Monsieur de Mirville, who, confounding the Azoth\nof the Hermetic philosophers with the azote of the chemists, asserted\nthat the former worshipped nitrogen gas![701]\n\nApply a piece of iron to a magnet, and it becomes imbued with its\nsubtile principle and capable of imparting it to other iron in its\nturn. It neither weighs more nor appears different from what it\nwas before. And yet, one of the most subtile potencies of nature\nhas entered into its substance. A talisman, in itself perhaps a\nworthless bit of metal, a scrap of paper, or a shred of any fabric,\nhas nevertheless been imbued by the influence of that greatest of\nall magnets, the human will, with a potency for good or ill just\nas recognizable and as real in its effects as the subtile property\nwhich the iron acquired by contact with the physical magnet. Let\nthe bloodhound snuff an article of clothing that has been worn by\nthe fugitive, and he will track him through swamp and forest to\nhis hiding-place. Give one of Professor Buchanan\u2019s \u201cpsychometers\u201d\na manuscript, no matter how old, and he will describe to you the {463}\ncharacter of the writer, and perhaps even his personal appearance.\nHand a clairvoyant a lock of hair or some article that has been in\ncontact with the person of whom it is desired to know something, and\nshe will come into sympathy with him so intimate that she may trace him\nthrough his whole life.\n\nBreeders tell us that young animals should not be herded with old\nones; and intelligent physicians forbid parents to have young children\noccupy their own beds. When David was old and feeble his vital forces\nwere recruited by having a young person brought in close contact with\nhim so that he could absorb her strength. The late Empress of Russia,\nthe sister of the present German Emperor, was so feeble the last\nyears of her life that she was seriously advised by her physicians\nto keep in her bed at night a robust and healthy young peasant-girl.\nWhoever has read the description given by Dr. Kerner of the Seeress\nof Prevost, Mme. Hauffe, must well remember her words. She repeatedly\nstated that she supported life merely on the atmosphere of the people\nsurrounding her and their _magnetic emanations_, which were quickened\nin an extraordinary way by her presence. The seeress was very plainly\na magnetic _vampire_, who absorbed by drawing to herself the life of\nthose who were strong enough to spare her their vitality in the shape\nof _volatilized_ blood. Dr. Kerner remarks that these persons were all\nmore or less affected by this forcible loss.\n\nWith these familiar illustrations of the possibility of a subtile fluid\ncommunicated from one individual to another, or to substances which he\ntouches, it becomes less difficult to understand that by a determined\nconcentration of the will an otherwise inert object may become imbued\nwith protective or destructive power according to the purpose directing.\n\nA magnetic emanation, unconsciously produced, is sure to be overpowered\nby any stronger one with which it may come into opposition. But when an\nintelligent and powerful will directs the blind force, and concentrates\nit upon a given spot, the weaker emanation will often master the\nstronger. A human _will_ has the same effect on the _Ak\u00e2sa_.\n\nUpon one occasion, we witnessed in Bengal an exhibition of will-power\nthat illustrates a highly interesting phase of the subject. An adept\nin magic made a few passes over a piece of common tin, the inside\nof a dish-cover, that lay conveniently by, and while regarding it\nattentively for a few moments, seemed to grasp the imponderable fluid\nby handfuls and throw it against the surface. When the tin had been\nexposed to the full glare of light for about six seconds, the bright\nsurface was suddenly covered as with a film. Then patches of a darker\nhue began coming out on its surface; and when in about three minutes\nthe tin was handed back to us, we found imprinted upon it a picture, {464}\nor rather a photograph, of the landscape that stretched out before us;\nfaithful as nature itself, and every color perfect. It remained for\nabout forty-eight hours and then slowly faded away.\n\nThis phenomenon is easily explained. The will of the adept condensed\nupon the tin a film of _ak\u00e2sa_ which made it for the time being like a\nsensitized photographic plate. Light did the rest.\n\nSuch an exhibition as this of the potency of the will to effect even\nobjective physical results, will prepare the student to comprehend its\nefficacy in the cure of disease by imparting the desired virtue to\ninanimate objects which are placed in contact with the patient. When we\nsee such psychologists as Maudsley[702] quoting, without contradiction,\nthe stories of some miraculous cures effected by Swedenborg\u2019s\nfather\u2014stories which do not differ from hundreds of other cures by\nother \u201cfanatics\u201d as he calls them\u2014magicians, and natural healers, and,\nwithout attempting to explain their facts, stooping to laugh at the\nintensity of their faith, without asking himself whether the secret of\nthat healing potency were not in the control given by that faith over\noccult forces\u2014we grieve that there should be so much learning and so\nlittle philosophy, in our time.\n\nUpon our word, we cannot see that the modern chemist is any less a\nmagician than the ancient theurgist or Hermetic philosopher, except in\nthis: that the latter, recognizing the duality of nature, had twice as\nwide a field for experimental research as the chemist. The ancients\nanimated statues, and the Hermetists called into being, out of the\nelements, the shapes of salamanders, gnomes, undines, and sylphs, which\nthey did not pretend to create, but simply to make visible by holding\nopen the door of nature, so that, under favoring conditions, they might\nstep into view. The chemist brings into contact two elements contained\nin the atmosphere, and by developing a latent force of affinity,\ncreates a new body\u2014water. In the spheroidal and diaphanous pearls which\nare born of this union of gases, come the germs of organic life, and\nin their molecular interstices lurk heat, electricity, and light, just\nas they do in the human body. Whence comes this life into the drop\nof water just born of the union of two gases? And what is the water\nitself? Have the oxygen and hydrogen undergone some transformation\nwhich obliterates their qualities simultaneously with the obliteration\nof their form? Here is the answer of modern science: \u201cWhether the\noxygen and hydrogen exist as such, in the water, or whether they\nare produced by some unknown and unconceived transformation of its\nsubstance, is a question about which we may speculate, but in regard to\nwhich we have no knowledge.\u201d[703] Knowing nothing about so simple a {465}\nmatter as the molecular constitution of water, or the deeper problem of\nthe appearance of life within it, would it not be well for Mr. Maudsley\nto exemplify his own principle, and \u201cmaintain a _calm acquiescence in\nignorance until light comes_?\u201d[704]\n\nThe claims of the friends of esoteric science, that Paracelsus\nproduced, chemically, _homunculi_ from certain combinations as yet\nunknown to exact science, are, as a matter of course, relegated to the\nstorehouse of exploded humbugs. But why should they? If the _homunculi_\nwere not made by Paracelsus they were developed by other adepts, and\nthat not a thousand years ago. They were produced, in fact, upon\nexactly the same principle as that by which the chemist and physicist\ncalls to life his _animalcula_. A few years ago, an English gentleman,\nAndrew Crosse, of Somersetshire, produced _acari_ in the following\nmanner: \u201cBlack flint burned to redness and reduced to powder was mixed\nwith carbonate of potash, and exposed to a strong heat for fifteen\nminutes; and the mixture was poured into a blacklead crucible in an air\nfurnace. It was reduced to powder while warm, mixed with boiling water;\nkept boiling for some minutes, and then hydrochloric acid was added to\nsupersaturation. After being exposed to voltaic action for twenty-six\ndays, a perfect insect of the _acari_ tribe made its appearance, and\nin the course of a few weeks about a hundred more. The experiment was\nrepeated with other chemical fluids with like results. A Mr. Weeks also\nproduced the _acari_ in ferrocyanide of potassium.\n\nThis discovery produced a great excitement. Mr. Crosse was now accused\nof impiety and aiming at creation. He replied, denying the implication\nand saying he considered \u201d_to create was to form a something out of a\nnothing_.\u201d[705]\n\nAnother gentleman, considered by several persons as a man of great\nscience, has told us repeatedly that he was on the eve of proving that\neven unfructified eggs could be hatched by having a negative electric\ncurrent caused to pass through them.\n\nThe mandrakes (_dudim_ or love-fruit) found in the field by Reuben,\nJacob\u2019s son, which excited the fancy of Rachel, was the kabalistic\n_mandragora_, notwithstanding denial; and the verses which refer to it\nbelong to the _crudest_ passages, in their esoteric meaning, of the\nwhole work. The mandrake is a plant having the rudimentary shape of a\nhuman creature; with a head, two arms, and two legs forming roots. The\nsuperstition that when pulled out of the ground it cries with a human\nvoice, is not utterly baseless. It does produce a kind of squeaking {466}\nsound, on account of the resinous substance of its root, which it is\nrather difficult to extract; and it has more than one hidden property\nin it perfectly unknown to the botanist.\n\nThe reader who would obtain a clear idea of the commutation of forces\nand the resemblance between the life-principles of plants, animals,\nand human beings, may profitably consult a paper on the correlation\nof nervous and mental forces by Professor Alexander Bain, of the\nUniversity of Aberdeen. This mandragora seems to occupy upon earth the\npoint where the vegetable and animal kingdoms touch, as the zo\u00f6phites\nand polypi do in the sea; the boundary being in each case so indistinct\nas to make it almost imperceptible where the one ceases and the other\nbegins. It may seem improbable that there should be _homunculi_, but\nwill any naturalist, in view of the recent expansion of science, dare\nsay it is impossible? \u201cWho,\u201d says Bain, \u201cis to limit the possibilities\nof existence?\u201d\n\nThe unexplained mysteries of nature are many and of those presumably\nexplained hardly one may be said to have become absolutely\nintelligible. There is not a plant or mineral which has disclosed the\nlast of its properties to the scientists. What do the naturalists know\nof the intimate nature of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms? How can\nthey feel confident that for every one of the discovered properties\nthere may not be many powers concealed in the _inner_ nature of the\nplant or stone? And that they are only waiting to be brought in\nrelation with some other plant, mineral, or force of nature to manifest\nthemselves in what is termed a \u201csupernatural manner.\u201d Wherever Pliny,\nthe naturalist, \u00c6lian, and even Diodorus, who sought with such a\nlaudable perseverance to extricate historical truth from its medley of\nexaggerations and fables, have attributed to some plant or mineral an\noccult property unknown to our modern botanists and physicists, their\nassertions have been laid aside without further ceremony as absurd, and\nno more referred to.\n\nIt has been the speculation of men of science from time immemorial\nwhat this vital force or life-principle is. To our mind the \u201csecret\ndoctrine\u201d alone is able to furnish the clew. Exact science recognizes\nonly five powers in nature\u2014one _molar_, and four _molecular_;\nkabalists, seven; and in these two additional ones is enwrapped\nthe whole mystery of life. One of these is immortal spirit, whose\nreflection is connected by invisible links even with inorganic\nmatter; the other, we leave to every one to discover for himself.\nSays Professor Joseph Le Conte: \u201cWhat is the nature of the difference\nbetween the living organism and the dead organism? We can detect\n_none_, physical or chemical. All the physical and chemical forces\nwithdrawn from the common fund of nature, and embodied in the living {467}\norganism, seem to be still embodied in the dead, until little by\nlittle it is returned by decomposition. Yet the difference is immense,\nis inconceivably great. What is the nature of this difference expressed\nin the formula of material science? What is that that is gone, and\nwhither is it gone? There is something here that science cannot yet\nunderstand. Yet it is just this loss which takes place in death, and\nbefore decomposition, which is in the highest sense vital force!\u201d[706]\n\nDifficult, nay impossible, as it seems to science to find out the\ninvisible, universal motor of all\u2014_Life_, to explain its nature, or\neven to suggest a reasonable hypothesis for the same, the mystery\nis but half a mystery, not merely for the great adepts and seers,\nbut even for true and firm believers in a spiritual world. To the\nsimple believer, unblessed with a personal organism, the delicate,\nnervous sensitiveness of which would enable him\u2014as it enables a\nseer\u2014to perceive the visible universe reflected as in a clear glass\nin the Invisible one, and, as it were, objectively, there remains\ndivine _faith_. The latter is firmly rooted in his inner senses; in\nhis unerring intuition, with which cold reason has naught to do, he\n_feels_ it cannot play him false. Let human-born, erroneous dogmas,\nand theological sophistry contradict each other; let one crowd off the\nother, and the subtile casuistry of one creed fell to the ground the\ncrafty reasoning of another one; truth remains one, and there is not a\nreligion, whether Christian or heathen, that is not firmly built upon\nthe rock of ages\u2014God and immortal spirit.\n\nEvery animal is more or less endowed with the faculty of perceiving,\nif not spirits, at least something which remains for the time being\ninvisible to common men, and can only be discerned by a clairvoyant. We\nhave made hundreds of experiments with cats, dogs, monkeys of various\nkinds, and, once, with a tame tiger. A round black mirror, known as the\n\u201cmagic crystal,\u201d was strongly mesmerized by a native Hindu gentleman,\nformerly an inhabitant of Dindigul, and now residing in a more secluded\nspot, among the mountains known as the Western Ghauts. He had tamed\na young cub, brought to him from the Malabar coast, in which part\nof India the tigers are proverbially ferocious; and it is with this\ninteresting animal that we made our experiments.\n\nLike the ancient Marsi and Psylli, the renowned serpent-charmers, this\ngentleman claimed to be possessed of the mysterious power of taming any\nkind of animal. The tiger was reduced to a chronic _mental numbness_,\nso to say; he had become as inoffensive and harmless as a dog. Children\ncould tease and pull him by the ears, and he would only shake himself\nand howl like a dog. But whenever forced to look into the \u201cmagic {468}\nmirror,\u201d the poor animal was instantly excited to a sort of frenzy.\nHis eyes became full of a _human_ terror; howling in despair, unable\nto turn away from the mirror to which his gaze seemed riveted as by\na magnetic spell, he would writhe and tremble till he convulsed with\nfear at some vision which to us remained unknown. He would then lie\ndown, feebly groaning but still gazing in the glass. When it was taken\naway from him, the animal would lie panting and seemingly prostrated\nfor about two hours. What did he see? What spirit-picture from his own\ninvisible, _animal_-world, could produce such a terrific effect on the\nwild and naturally ferocious and daring beast? Who can tell? Perhaps\n_he_ who produced the scene.\n\nThe same effect on animals was observed during spiritual _seances_\nwith some holy mendicants; the same when a Syrian, half-heathen and\nhalf-Christian, from Kunankulam (Cochin State), a reputed sorcerer, who\nwas invited to join us for the sake of experimenting.\n\nWe were nine persons in all\u2014seven men and two women, one of the\nlatter a native. Besides us, there were in the room, the young tiger,\nintensely occupied on a bone; a _w\u00e2nderoo_, or lion-monkey, which,\nwith its black coat and snow-white goatee and whiskers, and cunning,\nsparkling eyes, looked the personification of mischief; and a beautiful\ngolden oriole, quietly cleaning its radiant-colored tail on a perch,\nplaced near a large window of the veranda. In India, \u201cspiritual\u201d\nseances are not held in the dark, as in America; and no conditions,\nbut perfect silence and harmony, are required. It was in the full\nglare of daylight streaming through the opened doors and windows, with\na far-away buzz of life from the neighboring forests, and jungles\nsending us the echo of myriads of insects, birds, and animals. We sat\nin the midst of a garden in which the house was built, and instead of\nbreathing the stifling atmosphere of a seance-room, we were amid the\nfire-colored clusters of the erythrina\u2014the coral tree\u2014inhaling the\nfragrant aromas of trees and shrubs, and the flowers of the bignonia,\nwhose white blossoms trembled in the soft breeze. In short, we were\nsurrounded with light, harmony, and perfumes. Large nosegays of flowers\nand shrubs, sacred to the native gods, were gathered for the purpose,\nand brought into the rooms. We had the sweet basil, the Vishnu-flower,\nwithout which no religious ceremony in Bengal will ever take place; and\nthe branches of the _Ficus religiosa_, the tree dedicated to the same\nbright deity, intermingling their leaves with the rosy blossoms of the\nsacred lotos and the Indian tuberose, profusely ornamented the walls.\n\nWhile the \u201cblessed one\u201d represented by a very dirty, but, nevertheless,\nreally holy fakir\u2014remained plunged in self-contemplation, and some\nspiritual wonders were taking place under the direction of his will, {469}\nthe monkey and the bird exhibited but few signs of restlessness. The\ntiger alone visibly trembled at intervals, and stared around the\nroom, as if his phosphorically-shining green orbs were following some\ninvisible presence as it floated up and down. That which was as yet\nunperceived by human eyes, must have therefore been _objective_ to him.\nAs to the w\u00e2nderoo, all its liveliness had fled; it seemed drowsy,\nand sat crouching and motionless. The bird gave few, if any, signs of\nuneasiness. There was a sound as of gently-flapping wings in the air;\nthe flowers went travelling about the room, displaced by invisible\nhands; and, as a glorious azure-tinted flower fell on the folded paws\nof the monkey, it gave a nervous start, and sought refuge under its\nmaster\u2019s white robe. These displays lasted for an hour, and it would be\ntoo long to relate all of them; the most curious of all, being the one\nwhich closed that season of wonders. Somebody complaining of the heat,\nwe had a shower of delicately-perfumed dew. The drops fell fast and\nlarge, and conveyed a feeling of inexpressible refreshment, drying the\ninstant after touching our persons.\n\nWhen the fakir had brought his exhibition of _white_ magic to a close,\nthe \u201csorcerer,\u201d or conjurer, as they are called, prepared to display\nhis power. We were treated to a succession of the wonders that the\naccounts of travellers have made familiar to the public; showing,\namong other things, the fact that animals naturally possess the\nclairvoyant faculty, and even, it would seem, the ability to discern\nbetween the good and the bad spirits. All of the sorcerer\u2019s feats were\npreceded by fumigations. He burned branches of resinous trees and\nshrubs, which sent up volumes of smoke. Although there was nothing\nabout this calculated to affright an animal using only his natural\neyes, the tiger, monkey, and bird exhibited an indescribable terror.\nWe suggested that the animals might be frightened at the blazing\nbrands, the familiar custom of burning fires round the camp to keep\noff wild beasts, recurring to our mind. To leave no doubt upon this\npoint, the Syrian approached the crouching tiger with a branch of the\nBael-tree[707] (sacred to Siva), and waved it several times over his\nhead, muttering, meanwhile, his incantations. The brute instantly\ndisplayed a panic of terror beyond description. His eyes started\nfrom their sockets like blazing fire-balls; he foamed at the mouth;\nhe flung himself upon the floor, as if seeking some hole in which to\nhide himself; he uttered scream after scream, that awoke a hundred\nresponsive echoes from the jungle and the woods. Finally, taking a\nlast look at the spot from which his eyes had never wandered, he made\na desperate plunge, which snapped his chain, and dashed through the {470}\nwindow of the veranda, carrying a piece of the frame-work with him. The\nmonkey had fled long before, and the bird fell from the perch as though\nparalyzed.\n\nWe did not ask either the fakir or sorcerer for an explanation of\nthe method by which their respective phenomena were effected. If\nwe had, unquestionably they would have replied as did a fakir to a\nFrench traveller, who tells his story in a recent number of a New York\nnewspaper, called the _Franco-Americain_, as follows:\n\n\u201cMany of these Hindu jugglers who live in the silence of the pagodas\nperform feats far surpassing the prestidigitations of Robert Houdin,\nand there are many others who produce the most curious phenomena in\nmagnetism and catalepsy upon the first objects that come across their\nway, that I have often wondered whether the Brahmans, with their occult\nsciences, have not made great discoveries in the questions which have\nrecently been agitated in Europe.\n\n\u201cOn one occasion, while I and others were in a caf\u00e9 with Sir Maswell,\nhe ordered his dobochy to introduce the charmer. In a few moments\na lean Hindu, almost naked, with an ascetic face and bronzed color\nentered. Around his neck, arms, thighs, and body were coiled serpents\nof different sizes. After saluting us, he said, \u2018God be with you, I am\nChibh-Chondor, son of Chibh-Gontnalh-Mava.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018We desire to see what you can do,\u2019 said our host.\n\n\u201c\u2018I obey the orders of Siva, who has sent me here,\u2019 replied the fakir,\nsquatting down on one of the marble slabs.\n\n\u201cThe serpents raised their heads and hissed, but without showing any\nanger. Then taking a small pipe, attached to a wick in his hair,\nhe produced scarcely audible sounds, imitating the _tailapaca_, a\nbird that feeds upon bruised cocoanuts. Here the serpents uncoiled\nthemselves, and one after another glided to the floor. As soon as\nthey touched the ground they raised about one-third of their bodies,\nand began to keep time to their master\u2019s music. Suddenly the fakir\ndropped his instrument and made several passes with his hands over the\nserpents, of whom there were about ten, all of the most deadly species\nof Indian cobra. His eye assumed a strange expression. We all felt an\nundefinable uneasiness, and sought to turn away our gaze from him. At\nthis moment a small shocra[708] (monkey) whose business was to hand\nfire in a small brasier for lighting cigars, yielded to his influence,\nlay down, and fell asleep. Five minutes passed thus, and we felt that\nif the manipulations were to continue a few seconds more we should all\nfall asleep. Chondor then rose, and making two more passes over the\nshocra, said to it: \u2018Give the commander some fire.\u2019 The young monkey\nrose, and without tottering, came and offered fire to its master. {471}\nIt was pinched, pulled about, till there was no doubt of its being\nactually asleep. Nor would it move from Sir Maswell\u2019s side till ordered\nto do so by the fakir.\n\n\u201cWe then examined the cobras. Paralyzed by magnetic influence, they lay\nat full length on the ground. On taking them up we found them stiff\nas sticks. They were in a state of complete catalepsy. The fakir then\nawakened them, on which they returned and again coiled themselves round\nhis body. We inquired whether he could make us feel his influence. He\nmade a few passes over our legs, and instantly we lost the use of these\nlimbs; we could not leave our seats. He released us as easily as he had\nparalyzed us.\n\n\u201cChibh-Chondor closed his seance by experimenting upon inanimate\nobjects. By mere passes with his hands in the direction of the\nobject to be acted upon, and without leaving his seat, he paled and\nextinguished lights in the furthest parts of the room, moved the\nfurniture, including the divans upon which we sat, opened and closed\ndoors. Catching sight of a Hindu who was drawing water from a well in\nthe garden, he made a pass in his direction, and the rope suddenly\nstopped in its descent, resisting all the efforts of the astonished\ngardener. With another pass the rope again descended.\n\n\u201cI asked Chibh-Chondor: \u2018Do you employ the same means in acting upon\ninanimate objects that you do upon living creatures?\u2019\n\n\u201cHe replied, \u2018I have only one means.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018What is it?\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018The will. Man, who is the end of all intellectual and material\nforces, must dominate over all. The Brahmans know nothing besides\nthis.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cSanang Setzen,\u201d says Colonel Yule,[709] \u201cenumerates a variety of the\nwonderful acts which could be performed through the _Dharani_ (mystic\nHindu charms). Such were sticking a peg into solid rock; restoring the\ndead to life; turning a dead body into gold; penetrating everywhere _as\nair does_ (in astral form); flying; catching wild beasts with the hand;\nreading thoughts; making water flow backward; eating tiles; sitting in\nthe air with the legs doubled under, etc.\u201d Old legends ascribe to Simon\nMagus precisely the same powers. \u201cHe made statues to walk; leaped into\nthe fire without being burned; flew in the air; made bread of stones;\nchanged his shape; assumed two faces at once; converted himself into a\npillar; caused closed doors to fly open spontaneously; made the vessels\nin a house move of themselves, etc.\u201d The Jesuit Delrio laments that {472}\ncredulous princes, otherwise of pious repute, should have allowed\n_diabolical_ tricks to be played before them, \u201cas for example, things\nof iron, and silver goblets, or other heavy articles, to be moved by\nbounds, from one end of the table to the other, _without the use of a\nmagnet_, or of any attachment.\u201d[710] We believe WILL-POWER the most\npowerful of magnets. The existence of such magical power in certain\npersons _is proved_, but the existence of the Devil is a fiction, which\nno theology is able to demonstrate.\n\n\u201cThere are certain men whom the Tartars honor above all in the world,\u201d\nsays Friar Ricold, \u201cviz., the _Baxit\u00e6_, who are a kind of idol-priests.\nThese are men from India, persons of deep wisdom, _well-conducted and\nof the gravest morals_. They are usually with magic arts ... they\nexhibit many illusions, and predict future events. For instance, one of\neminence among them was said to fly; but the truth, however, was as it\nproved, that he did not fly, but did walk close to the surface of the\nground without touching it; _and would seem to sit down without having\nany substance to support him_.[711] This last performance was witnessed\nby Ibn Batuta, at Delhi,\u201d adds Colonel Yule, who quotes the friar\nin the _Book of Ser Marco Polo_, \u201cin the presence of Sultan Mahomet\nTughlak; and it was professedly exhibited by a Brahman at Madras in\nthe present century, a descendant doubtless of those Brahmans whom\nApollonius saw walking two cubits from the ground. It is also described\nby the worthy Francis Valentyn, as a performance known and practiced in\nhis own day in India. It is related, he says, that \u201ca man will first\ngo and sit on three sticks put together so as to form a tripod; after\nwhich, first one stick, then a second, then a third shall be removed\nfrom under him, and the man shall not fall but shall still remain\nsitting in the air! Yet I have spoken with two friends who had seen\nthis at one and the same time; and one of them, I may add, mistrusting\nhis own eyes, had taken the trouble to feel about with a long stick\nif there were nothing on which the body rested; yet, as the gentleman\ntold me, he could neither feel nor see any such thing. We have stated\nelsewhere that the same thing was accomplished last year, before the\nPrince of Wales and his suite.\n\nSuch feats as the above are nothing in comparison to what is done by\nprofessed jugglers; \u201cfeats,\u201d remarks the above-quoted author, \u201cwhich\nmight be regarded as simply inventions if told by one author only, but\nwhich seem to deserve _prominent notice_ from being recounted by a\nseries of authors, certainly independent of one another, and writing\nat long intervals of time and place. Our first witness is Ibn Batuta, {473}\nand it will be necessary to quote him as well as the others in full,\nin order to show how closely their evidence tallies. The Arab traveller\nwas present at a great entertainment at the court of the Viceroy of\nKhansa. \u201cThat same night a juggler, who was one of the Khan\u2019s slaves,\nmade his appearance, and the Amir said to him, \u2018Come and show us some\nof your marvels.\u2019 Upon this he took a wooden ball, with several holes\nin it, through which long thongs were passed, and laying hold of one of\nthese, slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it\naltogether.... (We were in the middle of the palace-court.) There now\nremained only a little of the end of a thong in the conjurer\u2019s hand,\nand he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it and\nmount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him also!\nThe conjurer then called to him three times, but, getting no answer,\nhe snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong,\nand disappeared also! By and bye, he threw down one of the boy\u2019s hands,\nthen a foot, then the other hand, and then the other foot, then the\ntrunk, and last of all the head! Then he came down himself, puffing and\npanting, and with his clothes all bloody kissed the ground before the\nAmir, and said something to him in Chinese. The Amir gave some order in\nreply, and our friend then took the lad\u2019s limbs, laid them together in\ntheir places, and gave a kick, when, presto! there was the boy, who got\nup and stood before us! All this astonished me beyond measure, and I\nhad an attack of palpitation like that which overcame me once before in\nthe presence of the Sultan of India, when he showed me something of the\nsame kind. They gave me a cordial, however, which cured the attack. The\nKaji Afkharuddin was next to me, and quoth he, \u2018Wallah! \u2018tis my opinion\nthere has been neither going up nor coming down, neither marring, nor\nmending! \u2019Tis all _hocus-pocus_!\u2019\n\nAnd who doubts but that it is a \u201chocus-pocus,\u201d an illusion, or _Maya_,\nas the Hindus express it? But when such an illusion can be forced on,\nsay, ten thousand people at the same time, as we have seen it performed\nduring a public festival, surely the means by which such an astounding\nhallucination can be produced merits the attention of science! When\nby such _magic_ a man who stands before you, in a room, the doors of\nwhich you have closed and of which the keys are in your hand, suddenly\ndisappears, vanishes like a flash of light, and you see him _nowhere_\nbut hear his voice from different parts of the room addressing you and\nlaughing at your perplexity, surely such an art is not unworthy either\nof Mr. Huxley or Dr. Carpenter. Is it not quite as well worth spending\ntime over, as the lesser mystery\u2014why barnyard cocks crow at midnight?\n\nWhat Ibn Batuta, the Moor, saw in China about the year 1348, Colonel\nYule shows Edward Melton, \u201can Anglo-Dutch traveller,\u201d witnessing in {474}\nBatavia about the year 1670: \u201cOne of the same gang\u201d (of conjurers),\nsays Melton,[712] \u201ctook a small ball of cord, and grasping one end of\nthe cord in his hand slung the other up into the air with such force\nthat its extremity was beyond reach of our sight. He then climbed up\nthe cord with indescribable swiftness.... I stood full of astonishment,\nnot conceiving where he had disappeared; when lo! a leg came tumbling\ndown out of the air. A moment later a hand came down, etc.... In short,\nall the members of the body came successively tumbling from the air and\nwere cast together by the attendant into the basket. The last fragment\nof all was the head, and no sooner had that touched the ground than he\nwho had snatched up all the limbs and put them in the basket, turned\nthem all out again topsy turvy. Then straightway we saw _with these\neyes all those limbs creep together_ again, and, in short, form a whole\nman, who at once could stand and go just as before without showing the\nleast damage!... Never in my life was I so astonished ... and I doubted\nnow no longer that these misguided men did it by the help of the Devil.\u201d\n\nIn the memoirs of the Emperor Jahangire, the performances of seven\njugglers from Bengal, who exhibited before him, are thus described:\n\u201c_Ninth._ They produced a man whom they divided limb from limb,\nactually severing his head from the body. They scattered these\nmutilated members along the ground, and in this state they lay some\ntime. They then extended a sheet over the spot, and one of the men\nputting himself under the sheet, in a few minutes came from below,\nfollowed by the individual supposed to have been cut into joints,\nin perfect health and condition.... _Twenty-third._ They produced a\nchain of fifty cubits in length, and in my presence threw one end of\nit toward the sky, _where it remained as if fastened to something\nin the air_. A dog was then brought forward and being placed at the\nlower end of the chain, immediately ran up, and reaching the other\nend, _immediately disappeared in the air_. In the same manner a hog, a\npanther, a lion, and a tiger were successively sent up the chain, and\nall equally disappeared at the upper end of the chain. At last they\ntook down the chain, and put it into the bag, no one ever discovering\nin what way the different animals were made to vanish into the air in\nthe mysterious manner above described.\u201d[713]\n\nWe have in our possession a picture painted from such a Persian\nconjurer, with a man, or rather the various limbs of what was a minute\nbefore a man, scattered before him. We have seen such conjurers, and\nwitnessed such performances more than once and in various places.\n\nBearing ever in mind that we repudiate the idea of a miracle and {475}\nreturning once more to phenomena more serious, we would now ask what\nlogical objection can be urged against the claim that the re\u00e4nimation\nof the dead was accomplished by many thaumaturgists? The fakir\ndescribed in the _Franco-Americain_, might have gone far enough to say\nthat this will-power of man is so tremendously potential that it can\nre\u00e4nimate a body apparently dead, by drawing back the flitting soul\nthat has not yet quite ruptured the thread that through life had bound\nthe two together. Dozens of such fakirs have allowed themselves to be\nburied alive before thousands of witnesses, and weeks afterward have\nbeen resuscitated. And if fakirs have the secret of this artificial\nprocess, identical with, or analogous to, hibernation, why not allow\nthat their ancestors, the Gymnosophists, and Apollonius of Tyana, who\nhad studied with the latter in India, and Jesus, and other prophets and\nseers, who all knew more about the mysteries of life and death than\nany of our modern men of science, might have resuscitated dead men\nand women? And being quite familiar with that power\u2014that mysterious\n_something_ \u201cthat science cannot yet understand,\u201d as Professor Le Conte\nconfesses\u2014knowing, moreover, \u201cwhence it came and whither it was going,\u201d\nElisha, Jesus, Paul, and Apollonius, enthusiastic ascetics and learned\ninitiates, might have recalled to life with ease any man who \u201cwas not\ndead but sleeping,\u201d and that without any miracle.\n\nIf the molecules of the cadaver are imbued with the physical and\nchemical forces of the living organism,[714] what is to prevent them\nfrom being set again in motion, provided we know the nature of the\nvital force, and who to command it? The materialist can certainly\noffer no objection, for with him it is no question of re\u00efnfusing a\nsoul. For him the soul has no existence, and the human body may be\nregarded simply as a vital engine\u2014a locomotive which will start upon\nthe application of heat and force, and stop when they are withdrawn. To\nthe theologian the case offers greater difficulties, for, in his view,\ndeath cuts asunder the tie which binds soul and body, and the one can\nno more be returned into the other without miracle than the born infant\ncan be compelled to resume its f\u0153tal life after parturition and the\nsevering of the umbilicus. But the Hermetic philosopher stands between\nthese two irreconcilable antagonists, _master of the situation_. He\nknows the nature of the soul\u2014a form composed of nervous fluid and\natmospheric ether\u2014and knows how the vital force can be made active\nor passive at will, so long as there is no final destruction of some\nnecessary organ. The claims of Gaffarilus\u2014which, by the bye, appeared\nso preposterous in 1650[715]\u2014were later corroborated by science. He {476}\nmaintained that every object existing in nature, provided it was not\nartificial, when once burned still retained its form in the ashes, in\nwhich it remained till raised again. Du Chesne, an eminent chemist,\nassured himself of the fact. Kircher, Digby, and Vallemont have\ndemonstrated that the forms of plants could be resuscitated from their\nashes. At a meeting of naturalists in 1834, at Stuttgart, a receipt for\nproducing such experiments was found in a work of Oetinger.[716] Ashes\nof burned plants contained in vials, when heated, exhibited again their\nvarious forms. \u201cA small obscure cloud gradually rose in the vial, took\na defined form, and presented to the eye the flower or plant the ashes\nconsisted of.\u201d \u201cThe earthly husk,\u201d wrote Oetinger, \u201cremains in the\nretort, while the volatile essence ascends, _like a spirit_, perfect in\nform, but void of substance.\u201d[717]\n\nAnd, if the astral form of even a plant when its body is dead still\nlingers in the ashes, will skeptics persist in saying that the soul of\n_man_, the _inner_ ego, is after the death of the grosser form at once\ndissolved, and is no more? \u201cAt death,\u201d says the philosopher, \u201cthe one\nbody exudes from the other, by osmose and through the brain; it is held\nnear its old garment by a double attraction, physical and spiritual,\nuntil the latter decomposes; and if the proper conditions are given\nthe soul can re\u00efnhabit it and resume the suspended life. It does it\nin sleep; it does it more thoroughly in trance; most surprisingly at\nthe command and with the assistance of the Hermetic adept. Iamblichus\ndeclared that a person endowed with such resuscitating powers is \u2018full\nof God.\u2019 All the subordinate spirits of the upper spheres are at his\ncommand, for he is no longer a mortal, but himself a god. In his\n_Epistle to the Corinthians_, Paul remarks that \u2018the spirits of the\nprophets _are subject to the prophets_.\u2019\u201d\n\nSome persons have the natural and some the acquired power of\nwithdrawing the _inner_ from the _outer_ body, at will, and causing it\nto perform long journeys, and be seen by those whom it visits. Numerous\nare the instances recorded by unimpeachable witnesses of the \u201cdoubles\u201d\nof persons having been seen and conversed with, hundreds of miles from\nthe places where the persons themselves were known to be. Hermotimus,\nif we may credit Pliny and Plutarch,[718] could at will fall into a\ntrance and then his _second_ soul proceeded to any distant place he\nchose.\n\nThe Abb\u00e9 Fretheim, the famous author of _Steganographie_, who lived in\nthe seventeenth century, could converse with his friends by the mere\npower of his will. \u201cI can make my thoughts known to the initiated,\u201d {477}\nhe wrote, \u201cat a distance of many hundred miles, without word, writing,\nor cipher, by any messenger. The latter cannot betray me, for he\nknows nothing. If needs be, I can dispense with the messenger. If any\ncorrespondent should be buried in the deepest dungeon, I could still\nconvey to him my thoughts as clearly and as frequently as I chose, and\nthis quite simply, without superstition, without the aid of spirits.\u201d\nCordanus could also send his spirit, or any messages he chose. When\nhe did so, he felt \u201cas if a door was opened, and I myself immediately\npassed through it, leaving the body behind me.\u201d[719] The case of a high\nGerman official, a counsellor Wesermann, was mentioned in a scientific\npaper.[720] He claimed to be able to cause any friend or acquaintance,\nat any distance, to dream of every subject he chose, or see any person\nhe liked. His claims were proved good, and testified to on several\noccasions by skeptics and learned professional persons. He could also\ncause his double to appear wherever he liked; and be seen by several\npersons at one time. By whispering in their ears a sentence prepared\nand agreed upon beforehand by unbelievers, and for the purpose, his\npower to project the double was demonstrated beyond any cavil.\n\nAccording to Napier, Osborne, Major Lawes, Quenouillet, Nikiforovitch,\nand many other modern witnesses, fakirs are now proved to be able,\nby a long course of diet, preparation, and repose, to bring their\nbodies into a condition which enables them to be buried six feet under\nground for an indefinite period. Sir Claude Wade was present at the\ncourt of Rundjit Singh, when the fakir, mentioned by the Honorable\nCaptain Osborne, was buried alive for six weeks, in a box placed in\na cell three feet below the floor of the room.[721] To prevent the\nchance of deception, a guard comprising two companies of soldiers had\nbeen detailed, and four sentries \u201cwere furnished and relieved every\ntwo hours, night and day, to guard the building from intrusion.... On\nopening it,\u201d says Sir Claude, \u201cwe saw a figure enclosed in a bag of\nwhite linen fastened by a string over the head ... the servant then\nbegan pouring warm water over the figure ... the legs and arms of the\nbody were shrivelled and stiff, the face, full, the head reclining\non the shoulder like that of a corpse. I then called to the medical\ngentleman who was attending me, to come down and inspect the body,\nwhich he did, but could discover no pulsation in the heart, the\ntemples, or the arm. There was, however, _a heat about the region of\nthe brain_, which no other part of the body exhibited.\u201d\n\nRegretting that the limits of our space forbid the quotation of the {478}\ndetails of this interesting story, we will only add, that the process\nof resuscitation included bathing with hot water, friction, the removal\nof wax and cotton pledgets from the nostrils and ears, the rubbing of\nthe eyelids with ghee or clarified butter, and, what will appear most\ncurious to many, the application of a hot wheaten cake, about an inch\nthick \u201cto the top of the head.\u201d After the cake had been applied for\nthe third time, the body was violently convulsed, the nostrils became\ninflated, the respiration ensued, and the limbs assumed a natural\nfulness; but the pulsation was still faintly perceptible.\u201c The tongue\nwas then anointed with ghee; the eyeballs became dilated and recovered\ntheir natural color, and the fakir recognized those present and\nspoke.\u201d It should be noticed that not only had the nostrils and ears\nbeen plugged, but the tongue had been thrust back so as to close the\ngullet, thus effectually stopping the orifices against the admission\nof atmospheric air. While in India, a fakir told us that this was done\nnot only to prevent the action of the air upon the organic tissues,\nbut also to guard against the deposit of the germs of decay, which in\ncase of suspended animation would cause decomposition exactly as they\ndo in any other meat exposed to air. There are also localities in which\na fakir would refuse to be buried; such as the many spots in Southern\nIndia infested with the white ants, which annoying termites are\nconsidered among the most dangerous enemies of man and his property.\nThey are so voracious as to devour everything they find except perhaps\nmetals. As to wood, there is no kind through which they would not\nburrow; and even bricks and mortar offer but little impediment to their\nformidable armies. They will patiently work through mortar, destroying\nit particle by particle; and a fakir, however holy himself, and strong\nhis temporary coffin, would not risk finding his body devoured when it\nwas time for his resuscitation.\n\nThen, here is a case, only one of many, substantiated by the testimony\nof two English noblemen\u2014one of them an army officer\u2014and a Hindu Prince,\nwho was as great a skeptic as themselves. It places science in this\nembarrassing dilemma: it must either give the lie to many unimpeachable\nwitnesses, or admit that if one fakir can resuscitate after six\nweeks, any other fakir can also; and if a fakir, why not a Lazarus, a\nShunamite boy, or the daughter of Jairus?[722]\n\nAnd now, perhaps, it may not be out of place to inquire what assurance {479}\ncan any physician have, beyond _external_ evidence, that the body\nis really dead? The best authorities agree in saying that there are\nnone. Dr. Todd Thomson, of London,[723] says most positively that \u201cthe\nimmobility of the body, even its cadaverous aspect, the coldness of\nsurface, the absence of respiration and pulsation, and the sunken state\nof the eye, are no unequivocal evidences that life is wholly extinct.\u201d\nNothing but total decomposition is an irrefutable proof that _life_\nhas fled for ever and that the tabernacle is tenantless. Demokritus\nasserted that there existed no _certain_ signs of real death.[724]\nPliny maintained the same.[725] Asclepiades, a learned physician and\none of the most distinguished men of his day, held that the assurance\nwas still more difficult in the cases of women than in those of men.\n\nTodd Thomson, above quoted, gives several remarkable cases of such\na suspended animation. Among others he mentions a certain Francis\nNeville, a Norman gentleman, who twice apparently died, and was\ntwice in the act of being buried. But, at the moment when the coffin\nwas being lowered in the grave, he spontaneously revived. In the\nseventeenth century, Lady Russell, to all appearance died, and was\nabout to be buried, but as the bell was tolling for her funeral, she\nsat up in her coffin and exclaimed, \u201cIt is time to go to church!\u201d\nDiemerbroese, mentions a peasant who gave no signs of life for three\ndays, but when placed in his coffin, near the grave, revived and lived\nmany years afterward. In 1836, a respectable citizen of Brussels\nfell into a profound lethargy on a Sunday morning. On Monday, as his\nattendants were preparing to screw the lid of the coffin, the supposed\ncorpse sat up, rubbed his eyes, and called for his coffee and a\nnewspaper.[726]\n\nSuch cases of apparent death are not very infrequently reported in\nthe newspaper press. As we write (April, 1877), we find in a London\nletter to the New York _Times_, the following paragraph: \u201cMiss Annie\nGoodale, the actress, died three weeks ago. Up to yesterday she was\nnot buried. The corpse is warm and limp, and the features as soft and\nmobile as when in life. Several physicians have examined her, and have\nordered that the body shall be watched night and day. The poor lady is\nevidently in a trance, but whether she is destined to come to life it\nis impossible to say.\u201d\n\nScience regards man as an aggregation of atoms temporarily united by {480}\na mysterious force called the life-principle. To the materialist, the\nonly difference between a living and a dead body is, that in the one\ncase, that force is active, in the other latent. When it is extinct or\nentirely latent the molecules obey a superior attraction, which draws\nthem asunder and scatters them through space.\n\nThis dispersion must be death, if it is possible to conceive such a\nthing as death, where the very molecules of the dead body manifest an\nintense vital energy. If death is but the stoppage of a digesting,\nlocomotive, and thought-grinding machine, how can death be actual\nand not relative, before that machine is thoroughly broken up and\nits particles dispersed? So long as any of them cling together, the\ncentripetal vital force may overmatch the dispersive centrifugal\naction. Says Eliphas Levi: \u201cChange attests movement, and movement only\nreveals life. The corpse would not decompose if it were dead; all the\nmolecules which compose it are living and struggle to separate. And\nwould you think that the spirit frees itself first of all to exist no\nmore? That thought and love can die when the grossest forms of matter\ndo not die? If the change should be called death, we die and are born\nagain every day, for every day our forms undergo change.\u201d[727]\n\nThe kabalists say that a man is not dead when his body is entombed.\nDeath is never sudden; for, according to Hermes, nothing goes in nature\nby violent transitions. Everything is gradual, and as it required a\nlong and gradual development to produce the living human being, so time\nis required to completely withdraw vitality from the carcass.\u201c Death\ncan no more be an absolute end, than birth a real beginning. Birth\nproves the pre\u00ebxistence of the being, as death proves immortality,\u201d\nsays the same French kabalist.\n\nWhile implicitly believing in the restoration of the daughter of\nJairus, the ruler of the synagogue, and in other Bible-miracles,\nwell-educated Christians, who otherwise would feel indignant at being\ncalled superstitious, meet all such cases as that of Apollonius and the\ngirl said by his biographer to have been recalled to life by him, with\nscornful skepticism. Diogenes La\u00ebrtius, who mentions a woman restored\nto life by Empedocles, is treated with no more respect; and the name of\nPagan thaumaturgist, in the eyes of Christians, is but a synonym for\nimpostor. Our scientists are at least one degree more rational; they\nembrace all Bible prophets and apostles, and the heathen miracle-doers\nin two categories of hallucinated fools and deceitful tricksters.\n\nBut Christians and materialists might, with a very little effort {481}\non their part, show themselves fair and logical at the same time.\nTo produce such a miracle, they have but to consent to understand\nwhat they read, and submit it to the unprejudiced criticism of their\nbest judgment. Let us see how far it is possible. Setting aside the\nincredible fiction of Lazarus, we will select two cases: the ruler\u2019s\ndaughter, recalled to life by Jesus, and the Corinthian bride,\nresuscitated by Apollonius. In the former case, totally disregarding\nthe significant expression of Jesus\u2014\u201c_She is not dead but sleepeth_,\u201d\nthe clergy force their god to become a breaker of his own laws and\ngrant unjustly to one what he denies to all others, and with no better\nobject in view than to produce a useless miracle. In the second case,\nnotwithstanding the words of the biographer of Apollonius, so plain\nand precise that there is not the slightest cause to misunderstand\nthem, they charge Philostratus with deliberate imposture. Who could be\nfairer than he, who less open to the charge of mystification, when, in\ndescribing the resuscitation of the young girl by the Tyanian sage, in\nthe presence of a large concourse of people, the biographer says, \u201cshe\nhad _seemed_ to die.\u201d\n\nIn other words, he very clearly indicates a case of suspended\nanimation; and then adds immediately, \u201cas the rain fell very fast on\nthe young girl,\u201d while she was being carried to the pile, \u201cwith her\nface turned upwards, this, _also_, might have excited her senses.\u201d[728]\nDoes this not show most plainly that Philostratus saw _no_ miracle in\nthat resuscitation? Does it not rather imply, if anything, the great\nlearning and skill of Apollonius, \u201cwho like Asclepiades had the merit\nof distinguishing at a glance between real and apparent death?\u201d[729]\n\nA resuscitation, after the soul and spirit have entirely separated from\nthe body, and the last electric thread is severed, is as impossible as\nfor a once disembodied spirit to re\u00efncarnate itself once more on this\nearth, except as described in previous chapters. \u201cA leaf, once fallen\noff, does not re\u00e4ttach itself to the branch,\u201d says Eliphas Levi. \u201cThe\ncaterpillar becomes a butterfly, but the butterfly does not again\nreturn to the grub. Nature closes the door behind all that passes, and\npushes life forward. Forms pass, thought remains, and does not recall\nthat which it has once exhausted.\u201d[730]\n\nWhy should it be imagined that Asclepiades and Apollonius enjoyed\nexceptional powers for the discernment of actual death? Has any modern\nschool of medicine this knowledge to impart to its students? Let their\nauthorities answer for them. These prodigies of Jesus and Apollonius {482}\nare so well attested that they appear authentic. Whether in either or\nboth cases life was simply suspended or not, the important fact remains\nthat by some power, peculiar to themselves, both the wonder-workers\nrecalled the _seemingly dead_ to life in an instant.[731]\n\nIs it because the modern physician has not yet found the secret which\nthe theurgists evidently possessed that its possibility is denied?\n\nNeglected as psychology now is, and with the strangely chaotic state\nin which physiology is confessed to be by its most fair students,\ncertainly it is not very likely that our men of science will soon\nrediscover the lost knowledge of the ancients. In the days of old,\nwhen prophets were not treated as charlatans, nor thaumaturgists as\nimpostors, there were colleges instituted for teaching prophecy and\noccult sciences in general. Samuel is recorded as the chief of such an\ninstitution at Ramah; Elisha, also, at Jericho. The schools of _hazim_,\nprophets or seers, were celebrated throughout the country. Hillel had a\nregular academy, and Socrates is well known to have sent away several\nof his disciples to study _manticism_. The study of magic, or wisdom,\nincluded every branch of science, the metaphysical as well as the\nphysical, psychology and physiology in their common and occult phases,\nand the study of alchemy was universal, for it was both a physical and\na spiritual science. Therefore why doubt or wonder that the ancients,\nwho studied nature under its double aspect, achieved discoveries which\nto our modern physicists, who study but its dead letter, are a closed\nbook?\n\nThus, the question at issue is not whether a _dead_ body can be\nresuscitated\u2014for, to assert that would be to assume the possibility\nof a miracle, which is absurd\u2014but, to assure ourselves whether the\nmedical authorities pretend to determine the precise moment of death.\nThe kabalists say that death occurs at the instant when both the astral\nbody, or life-principle, and the spirit part forever with the corporeal\nbody. The scientific physician who denies both astral body and spirit,\nand admits the existence of nothing more than the life-principle,\njudges death to occur when life is apparently extinct. When the beating\nof the heart and the action of the lungs cease, and _rigor mortis_ is\nmanifested, and especially when decomposition begins, they pronounce\nthe patient dead. But the annals of medicine teem with examples of {483}\n\u201csuspended animation\u201d as the result of asphyxia by drowning, the\ninhalation of gases and other causes; life being restored in the case\nof drowning persons even after they had been apparently dead for twelve\nhours.\n\nIn cases of somnambulic trance, none of the ordinary signs of death\nare lacking; breathing and the pulse are extinct; animal-heat has\ndisappeared; the muscles are rigid, the eye glazed, and the body is\ncolorless. In the celebrated case of Colonel Townshend, he threw\nhimself into this state in the presence of three medical men; who,\nafter a time, were persuaded that he was really dead, and were about\nleaving the room, when he slowly revived. He describes his peculiar\ngift by saying that he \u201ccould die or expire when he pleased, and yet,\nby an effort, or _somehow_, he could come to life again.\u201d\n\nThere occurred in Moscow, a few years since, a remarkable instance of\napparent death. The wife of a wealthy merchant lay in the cataleptic\nstate seventeen days, during which the authorities made several\nattempts to bury her; but, as decomposition had not set in, the family\naverted the ceremony, and at the end of that time she was restored to\nlife.\n\nThe above instances show that the most learned men in the medical\nprofession are unable to be certain when a person is dead. What they\ncall \u201csuspended animation,\u201d is that state from which the patient\nspontaneously recovers, through an effort of his own spirit, which\nmay be provoked by any one of many causes. In these cases, the astral\nbody has not parted from the physical body; its external functions\nare simply suspended; the subject is in a state of torpor, and the\nrestoration is nothing but a recovery from it.\n\nBut, in the case of what physiologists would call \u201creal death,\u201d but\nwhich is not actually so, the astral body has withdrawn; perhaps local\ndecomposition has set in. How shall the man be brought to life again?\nThe answer is, the interior body must be forced back into the exterior\none, and vitality reawakened in the latter. The clock has run down,\nit must be wound. If death is absolute; if the organs have not only\nceased to act, but have lost the susceptibility of renewed action, then\nthe whole universe would have to be thrown into chaos to resuscitate\nthe corpse\u2014a miracle would be demanded. But, as we said before, the\nman is not dead when he is cold, stiff, pulseless, breathless, and\neven showing signs of decomposition; he is not dead when buried, nor\nafterward, until a certain point is reached. That point is, _when\nthe vital organs have become so decomposed, that if re\u00e4nimated, they\ncould not perform their customary functions_; when the mainspring and\ncogs of the machine, so to speak, are so eaten away by rust, that\nthey would snap upon the turning of the key. Until that point is\nreached, the astral body may be caused, without miracle, to re\u00ebnter {484}\nits former tabernacle, either by an effort of its own will, or under\nthe resistless impulse of the will of one who knows the potencies of\nnature and how to direct them. The spark is not extinguished, but only\nlatent\u2014latent as the fire in the flint, or the heat in the cold iron.\n\nIn cases of the most profound cataleptic clairvoyance, such as obtained\nby Du Potet, and described very graphically by the late Prof. William\nGregory, in his _Letters on Animal Magnetism_, the spirit is so\nfar disengaged from the body that it would be impossible for it to\nre-enter it without an effort of the mesmerizer\u2019s will. The subject\nis practically dead, and, if left to itself, the spirit would escape\nforever. Although independent of the torpid physical casing, the\nhalf-freed spirit is still tied to it by a magnetic cord, which is\ndescribed by clairvoyants as appearing dark and smoky by contrast with\nthe ineffable brightness of the astral atmosphere through which they\nlook. Plutarch, relating the story of Thespesius, who fell from a great\nheight, and lay three days apparently dead, gives us the experience\nof the latter during his state of partial decease. \u201cThespesius,\u201d says\nhe, \u201cthen observed that he was different from the dead by whom he was\nsurrounded.... They were transparent and environed by a radiance, but\nhe seemed to trail after him a dark radiation or line of shadow.\u201d His\nwhole description, minute and circumstantial in its details, appears\nto be corroborated by the clairvoyants of every period, and, so far as\nthis class of testimony can be taken, is important. The kabalists, as\nwe find them interpreted by Eliphas Levi, in his _Science des Esprits_,\nsay that, \u201cWhen a man falls into the last sleep, he is plunged at first\ninto a sort of dream, before gaining consciousness in the other side\nof life. He sees, then, either in a beautiful vision, or in a terrible\nnightmare, the paradise or hell, in which he believed during his mortal\nexistence. This is why it often happens, that the affrighted soul\nbreaks violently back into the terrestrial life it has just left, and\nwhy some who were really dead, _i. e._, who, if left alone and quiet,\nwould have peaceably passed away forever in a state of unconscious\nlethargy, when entombed too soon, re\u00e4wake to life in the grave.\u201d\n\nIn this connection, the reader may perhaps recall the well-known case\nof the old man who had left some generous gifts in his will to his\norphaned nieces; which document, just before his death, he had confided\nto his rich son, with injunctions to carry out his wishes. But, he had\nnot been dead more than a few hours before the son, finding himself\nalone with the corpse, tore the will and burned it. The sight of this\nimpious deed apparently recalled the hovering spirit, and the old man,\nrising from his couch of death, uttered a fierce malediction upon the\nhorror-stricken wretch, and then fell back again, and yielded up his\nspirit\u2014this time forever. Dion Boucicault makes use of an incident of {485}\nthis kind in his powerful drama _Louis XI._; and Charles Kean created\na profound impression in the character of the French monarch, when\nthe dead man revives for an instant and clutches the crown as the\nheir-apparent approaches it.\n\nLevi says that resuscitation is not impossible while the vital\norganism remains undestroyed, and the astral spirit is yet within\nreach. \u201cNature,\u201d he says, \u201caccomplishes nothing by sudden jerks, and\neternal death is always preceded by a state which partakes somewhat\nof the nature of lethargy. It is a torpor which a great shock or the\nmagnetism of a powerful will can overcome.\u201d He accounts in this manner\nfor the resuscitation of the dead man thrown upon the bones of Elisha.\nHe explains it by saying that the soul was hovering at that moment\nnear the body; the burial party, according to tradition, were attacked\nby robbers; and their fright communicating itself sympathetically to\nit, the soul was seized with horror at the idea of its remains being\ndesecrated, and \u201cre\u00ebntered violently into its body to raise and save\nit.\u201d Those who believe in the survival of the soul can see in this\nincident nothing of a supernatural character\u2014it is only a perfect\nmanifestation of natural law. To narrate to the materialist such a\ncase, however well attested, would be but an idle talk; the theologian,\nalways looking beyond nature for a special providence, regards it as a\nprodigy. Eliphas Levi says: \u201cThey attributed the resuscitation to the\ncontact with the bones of Elisha; and worship of relics dates logically\nfrom his epoch.\u201d\n\nBalfour Stewart is right\u2014scientists \u201cknow nothing, or next to nothing,\nof the ultimate structure and properties of matter, whether organic or\ninorganic.\u201d\n\nWe are now on such firm ground, that we will take another step in\nadvance. _The same knowledge and control of the occult forces,\nincluding the vital force which enabled the fakir temporarily to leave\nand then re\u00ebnter his body, and Jesus, Apollonius, and Elisha to recall\ntheir several subjects to life, made it possible for the ancient\nhierophants to animate statues, and cause them to act and speak like\nliving creatures._ It is the same knowledge and power which made it\npossible for Paracelsus to create his homunculi; for Aaron to change\nhis rod into a serpent and a budding branch; Moses to cover Egypt with\nfrogs and other pests; and the Egyptian theurgist of our day to vivify\nhis pigmy Mandragora, which has physical life but no soul. It was no\nmore wonderful that upon presenting the necessary conditions Moses\nshould call into life large reptiles and insects, than that, under like\nfavoring conditions, the physical scientist should call into life the\nsmall ones which he names bacteria.\n\nAnd now, in connection with ancient miracle-doers and prophets, let us\nbring forward the claims of the modern mediums. Nearly every form of\nphenomena recorded in the sacred and profane histories of the world {486}\nwe find them claiming to reproduce in our days. Selecting, among\nthe variety of seeming wonders, levitation of ponderable inanimate\nobjects as well as of human bodies, we will give our attention to the\nconditions under which the phenomenon is manifested. History records\nthe names of Pagan theurgists, Christian saints, Hindu fakirs, and\nspiritual mediums who have been thus levitated, and who remained\nsuspended in the air, sometimes for a considerable time. The phenomenon\nhas not been confined to one country or epoch, but almost invariably\nthe subjects have been religious ecstatics, adepts in magic, or, as\nnow, spiritual mediums.\n\nWe assume the fact to be so well established as to require no labored\neffort on our part at this time to furnish proof that unconscious\nmanifestations of spirit-power, as well as conscious feats of\nhigh magic, have happened in all countries, in all ages, and with\nhierophants as well as through irresponsible mediums. When the present\nperfected European civilization was yet in an inchoate state, occult\nphilosophy, already hoary with age, speculated upon the attributes of\nman by analogy with those of his Creator. Individuals later, whose\nnames will remain forever immortal, inscribed on the portal of the\nspiritual history of man, have afforded in their persons examples of\nhow far could be developed the godlike powers of the _microcosmos_.\nDescribing the _Doctrines and Principal Teachers of the Alexandrian\nSchool_, Professor A. Wilder says: \u201cPlotinus taught that there was in\nthe soul a returning impulse, love, which attracted it inward toward\nits origin and centre, the eternal good. While the person who does not\nunderstand how the soul contains the beautiful within itself will seek\nby laborious effort to realize beauty without, the wise man recognizes\nit within himself, develops the idea by withdrawal into himself,\nconcentrating his attention, and so floating upward toward the divine\nfountain, the stream of which flows within him. The infinite is not\nknown through the reason ... but by a faculty superior to reason, by\nentering upon a state in which the individual, so to speak, ceases to\nbe his finite self, in which state divine essence is communicated to\nhim. This is ECSTASY.\u201d\n\nOf Apollonius, who asserted that he could see \u201cthe present and the\nfuture in a clear mirror,\u201d on account of his abstemious mode of life,\nthe professor very beautifully observes: \u201cThis is what may be termed\n_spiritual photography_. The soul is the camera in which facts and\nevents, future, past, and present, are alike fixed; and the mind\nbecomes conscious of them. Beyond our every-day world of limits, all is\nas one day or state, the past and future comprised in the present.\u201d[732]\n\nWere these God-like men \u201cmediums,\u201d as the orthodox spiritualists {487}\nwill have it? By no means, if by the term we understand those\n\u201csick-sensitives\u201d who are born with a peculiar organization, and who in\nproportion as their powers are developed become more and more subject\nto the irresistible influence of miscellaneous spirits, purely human,\nelementary, or elemental. Unquestionably so, if we consider every\nindividual a medium in whose magnetic atmosphere the denizens of higher\ninvisible spheres can move, and act, and live. In such a sense every\nperson is a medium. Mediumship may be either 1st, self-developed; 2d,\nby extraneous influences; or 3d, may remain latent throughout life.\n_The reader must bear in mind the definition of the term, for, unless\nthis is clearly understood, confusion will be inevitable._ Mediumship\nof this kind may be either active or passive, repellent or receptive,\npositive or negative. Mediumship is measured by the quality of the aura\nwith which the individual is surrounded. This may be dense, cloudy,\nnoisome, mephitic, nauseating to the pure spirit, and attract only\nthose foul beings who delight in it, as the eel does in turbid waters,\nor, it may be pure, crystalline, limpid, opalescent as the morning dew.\nAll depends upon the moral character of the medium.\n\nAbout such men as Apollonius, Iamblichus, Plotinus, and Porphyry, there\ngathered this heavenly nimbus. It was evolved by the power of their own\nsouls in close unison with their spirits; by the superhuman morality\nand sanctity of their lives, and aided by frequent interior ecstatic\ncontemplation. Such holy men pure spiritual influences could approach.\nRadiating around an atmosphere of divine beneficence, they caused evil\nspirits to flee before them. Not only is it not possible for such to\nexist in their aura, but they cannot even remain in that of obsessed\npersons, if the thaumaturgist exercises his will, or even approaches\nthem. This is MEDIATORSHIP, not _mediumship_. Such persons are temples\nin which dwells the spirit of the living God; but if the temple is\ndefiled by the admission of an evil passion, thought or desire, the\nmediator falls into the sphere of sorcery. The door is opened; the pure\nspirits retire and the evil ones rush in. This is still mediatorship,\nevil as it is; the sorcerer, like the pure magician, forms his own aura\nand subjects to his will congenial inferior spirits.\n\nBut mediumship, as now understood and manifested, is a different\nthing. Circumstances, independent of his own volition, may, either\nat birth or subsequently, modify a person\u2019s aura, so that strange\nmanifestations, physical or mental, diabolical or angelic, may take\nplace. Such mediumship, as well as the above-mentioned mediatorship,\nhas existed on earth since the first appearance here of living man.\nThe former is the yielding of weak, mortal flesh to the control\nand suggestions of spirits and intelligences other than one\u2019s own {488}\nimmortal demon. It is literally _obsession_ and _possession_; and\nmediums who pride themselves on being the faithful slaves of their\n\u201cguides,\u201d and who repudiate with indignation the idea of \u201ccontrolling\u201d\nthe manifestations, \u201ccould not very well deny the fact without\ninconsistency. This mediumship is typified in the story of Eve\nsuccumbing to the reasonings of the serpent; of Pandora peeping in the\nforbidden casket and letting loose on the world, sorrow and evil, and\nby Mary Magdalene, who from having been obsessed by \u2018seven devils\u2019 was\nfinally redeemed by the triumphant struggle of her immortal spirit,\ntouched by the presence of a holy mediator, against the dweller.\u201d This\nmediumship, whether beneficent or maleficent, is always _passive_.\nHappy are the pure in heart, who repel unconsciously, by that very\ncleanness of their inner nature, the dark spirits of evil. For verily\nthey have no other weapons of defense but that inborn goodness and\npurity. Mediumism, as practiced in our days, is a more undesirable gift\nthan the robe of Nessus.\n\n\u201cThe tree is known by its fruits.\u201d Side by side with passive mediums\nin the progress of the world\u2019s history, appear active mediators. We\ndesignate them by this name for lack of a better one. The ancient\nwitches and wizards, and those who had a \u201cfamiliar spirit,\u201d generally\nmade of their gifts a trade; and the Obeah woman of En-Dor, so well\ndefined by Henry More, though she may have killed her calf for Saul,\naccepted hire from other visitors. In India, the jugglers, who by\nthe way are less so than many a modern medium, and the _Essaoua_ or\nsorcerers and serpent-charmers of Asia and Africa, all exercise their\ngifts for money. Not so with the mediators, or hierophants. Buddha was\na mendicant and refused his father\u2019s throne. The \u201cSon of Man had not\nwhere to lay his head;\u201d the chosen apostles provided \u201cneither gold, nor\nsilver, nor brass in their purses.\u201d Apollonius gave one half of his\nfortune to his relatives, the other half to the poor; Iamblichus and\nPlotinus were renowned for charity and self-denial; the fakirs, or holy\nmendicants, of India are fairly described by Jacolliot; the Pythagorean\nEssenes and Therapeut\u00e6 believed their hands defiled by the contact of\nmoney. When the apostles were offered money to impart their spiritual\npowers, Peter, notwithstanding that the Bible shows him a coward and\nthrice a renegade, still indignantly spurned the offer, saying: \u201cThy\nmoney perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God\nmay be purchased with money.\u201d These men were mediators, guided merely\nby their own personal spirit, or divine soul, and availing themselves\nof the help of spirits but so far as these remain in the right path.\n\nFar from us be the thought of casting an unjust slur on physical\nmediums. Harassed by various intelligences, reduced by the {489}\noverpowering influence\u2014which their weak and nervous natures are unable\nto shake off\u2014to a morbid state, which at last becomes chronic, they\nare impeded by these \u201cinfluences\u201d from undertaking other occupation.\nThey become mentally and physically unfit for any other. Who can judge\nthem harshly when, driven to the last extremity, they are constrained\nto accept mediumship as a business? And heaven knows, as recent events\nhave too well proved, whether the calling is one to be envied by any\none! It is not mediums, real, _true_, and genuine mediums that we would\never blame, but their patrons, the spiritualists.\n\nPlotinus, when asked to attend public worship of the gods, is said\nto have proudly answered: \u201cIt is for them (the spirits) to come to\nme.\u201d Iamblichus asserted and proved in his own case, that our soul\ncan attain communion with the highest intelligences, with \u201cnatures\nloftier than itself,\u201d and carefully drove away from his theurgical\nceremonies[733] every inferior spirit, or bad d\u00e6mon, which he taught\nhis disciples to recognize. Proclus, who \u201celaborated the entire\ntheosophy and theurgy of his predecessors into a complete system,\u201d[734]\naccording to Professor Wilder, \u201cbelieved with Iamblichus in the\nattaining of a divine power, which, overcoming the mundane life,\nrendered the individual an organ of the Deity.\u201d He even taught that\nthere was a \u201cmystic password that would carry a person from one order\nof spiritual beings to another, higher and higher, till he arrived at\nthe absolute divine.\u201d Apollonius spurned the sorcerers and \u201ccommon\nsoothsayers,\u201d and declared that it was his \u201cpeculiar abstemious mode\nof life\u201d which \u201cproduced such an acuteness of the senses and created\nother faculties, so that the greatest and most remarkable things can\ntake place.\u201d Jesus declared man _the lord of the Sabbath_, and at\nhis command the terrestrial and elementary spirits fled from their\ntemporary abodes; a power which was shared by Apollonius and many of\nthe Brotherhood of the Essenes of Judea and Mount Carmel.\n\nIt is undeniable that there must have been some good reasons why the\nancients persecuted _unregulated_ mediums. Otherwise why, at the time\nof Moses and David and Samuel, should they have encouraged prophecy\nand divination, astrology and soothsaying, and maintained schools and\ncolleges in which these natural gifts were strengthened and developed,\nwhile witches and those who divined by the spirit of _Ob_ were put to\ndeath? Even at the time of Christ, the poor oppressed mediums were\ndriven to the tombs and waste places without the city walls. Why this\napparent gross injustice? Why should banishment, persecution, and\ndeath be the portion of the physical mediums of those days, and whole {490}\ncommunities of thaumaturgists\u2014like the Essenes\u2014be not merely tolerated\nbut revered? It is because the ancients, unlike ourselves, could \u201ctry\u201d\nthe spirits and discern the difference between the good and the evil\nones, the human and the elemental. They also knew that unregulated\nspirit intercourse brought ruin upon the individual and disaster to the\ncommunity.\n\nThis view of mediumship may be novel and perhaps repugnant to many\nmodern spiritualists; but still it is the view taught in the ancient\nphilosophy, and supported by the experience of mankind from time\nimmemorial.\n\nIt is erroneous to speak of a medium having _powers_ developed. A\npassive medium has no power. He has a certain moral and physical\ncondition which induces emanations, or an aura, in which his\ncontrolling intelligences can live, and by which they manifest\nthemselves. He is only the vehicle through which _they_ display their\npower. This aura varies day by day, and, as would appear from Mr.\nCrookes\u2019 experiments, even hour by hour. It is an external effect\nresulting from interior causes. The medium\u2019s moral state determines\nthe kind of spirits that come; and the spirits that come reciprocally\ninfluence the medium, intellectually, physically, and morally.\nThe perfection of his mediumship is in ratio to his passivity,\nand the danger he incurs is in equal degree. When he is fully\n\u201cdeveloped\u201d perfectly passive\u2014his own astral spirit may be benumbed, and\neven crowded out of his body, which is then occupied by an elemental,\nor, what is worse, by a human fiend of the eighth sphere, who proceeds\nto use it as his own. But too often the cause of the most celebrated\ncrime is to be sought in such possessions.\n\nPhysical mediumship depending upon passivity, its antidote suggests\nitself naturally; _let the medium cease being passive_. Spirits never\ncontrol persons of positive character who are determined to resist\nall extraneous influences. The weak and feeble-minded whom they can\nmake their victims they drive into vice. If these miracle-making\nelementals and disembodied devils called elementary were indeed the\nguardian angels that they have passed for, these last thirty years,\nwhy have they not given their faithful mediums at least good health\nand domestic happiness? Why do they desert them at the most critical\nmoments of trial when under accusations of fraud? It is notorious\nthat the best physical mediums are either sickly or, sometimes, what\nis still worse, inclined to some abnormal vice or other. Why do not\nthese healing \u201cguides,\u201d who make their mediums play the therapeutists\nand thaumaturgists to others, give them the boon of robust physical\nvigor? The ancient thaumaturgist and apostle, generally, if not\ninvariably, enjoyed good health; their magnetism never conveyed to the\nsick patient any physical or moral taint; and they never were accused {491}\nof VAMPIRISM, which a spiritual paper very justly charges upon some\nmedium-healers.[735]\n\nIf we apply the above law of mediumship and mediatorship to the subject\nof levitation, with which we opened our present discussion, what\nshall we find? Here we have a medium and one of the mediator-class\nlevitated\u2014the former at a seance, the latter at prayer, or in ecstatic\ncontemplation. The medium being passive must _be lifted_ up; the\necstatic being active must levitate himself. The former is elevated by\nhis familiar spirits\u2014whoever or whatever they may be\u2014the latter, by the\npower of his own aspiring soul. Can both be indiscriminately termed\n_mediums_?\n\nBut nevertheless we may be answered that the same phenomena are\nproduced in the presence of a modern medium as of an ancient saint.\nUndoubtedly; and so it was in the days of Moses; for we believe that\nthe triumph claimed for him in _Exodus_ over Pharaoh\u2019s magicians is\nsimply a national boast on the part of the \u201cchosen people.\u201d That the\npower which produced his phenomena produced that of the magicians also,\nwho were moreover the first tutors of Moses and instructed him in their\n\u201cwisdom,\u201d is most probable. But even in those days they seemed to have\nwell appreciated the difference between phenomena apparently identical.\nThe tutelar national deity of the Hebrews (who is _not_ the Highest\nFather)[736] forbids expressly, in _Deuteronomy_,[737] his people\n\u201cto learn to do after the abominations of other nations.... To pass\nthrough _the fire_, or use _divination_, or be an observer of times or\nan enchanter, or a witch, or a consulter _with familiar spirits_, or a\nnecromancer.\u201d\n\nWhat difference was there then between all the above-enumerated\nphenomena as performed by the \u201cother nations\u201d and when enacted by the\nprophets? Evidently, there was some good reason for it; and we find\nit in John\u2019s _First Epistle_, iv., which says: \u201cbelieve not _every_\nspirit, but _try_ the spirits, whether they are of God, because many\nfalse prophets are gone out into the world.\u201d\n\nThe only standard within the reach of spiritualists and present-day {492}\nmediums by which they can _try_ the spirits, is to judge 1, by their\nactions and speech; 2, by their readiness to manifest themselves;\nand 3, whether the object in view is worthy of the apparition of a\n\u201c_disembodied_\u201d spirit, or can excuse any one for disturbing _the\ndead_. Saul was on the eve of destruction, himself and his sons, yet\nSamuel inquired of him: \u201cWhy hast thou _disquieted_ me, to bring me\nup?\u201d[738] But the \u201cintelligences\u201d that visit the circle-rooms, come at\nthe beck of every trifler who would while away a tedious hour.\n\nIn the number of the _London Spiritualist_ for July 14th, we find a\nlong article, in which the author seeks to prove that \u201cthe marvellous\nwonders of the present day, which belong to so-called modern\nspiritualism, are identical in character with the experiences of the\npatriarchs and apostles of old.\u201d\n\nWe are forced to contradict, point-blank, such an assertion. They\nare identical only so far that the same forces and occult powers of\nnature produce them. But though these powers and forces may be, and\nmost assuredly are, all directed by unseen intelligences, the latter\ndiffer more in essence, character, and purposes than mankind itself,\ncomposed, as it now stands, of white, black, brown, red, and yellow\nmen, and numbering saints and criminals, geniuses and idiots. The\nwriter may avail himself of the services of a tame orang-outang or a\nSouth Sea islander; but the fact alone that he has a servant makes\nneither the latter nor himself identical with Aristotle and Alexander.\nThe writer compares Ezekiel \u201clifted up\u201d and taken into the \u201ceast gate\nof the Lord\u2019s house,\u201d[739] with the levitations of certain mediums,\nand the three Hebrew youths in the \u201cburning fiery furnace,\u201d with other\n_fire-proof_ mediums; the John King \u201cspirit-light\u201d is assimilated\nwith the \u201cburning lamp\u201d of Abraham; and finally, after many such\ncomparisons, the case of the Davenport Brothers, released from the jail\nof Oswego, is confronted with that of Peter delivered from prison by\nthe \u201cangel of the Lord!\u201d\n\nNow, except the story of Saul and Samuel, there is not a case\ninstanced in the _Bible_ of the \u201c_evocation_ of the dead.\u201d As to being\nlawful, the assertion is contradicted by every prophet. Moses issues\na decree of death against those who raise the spirits of the dead,\nthe \u201cnecromancers.\u201d Nowhere throughout the _Old Testament_, nor in\nHomer, nor Virgil is communion with the dead termed otherwise than {493}\nnecromancy. Philo Jud\u00e6us makes Saul say, that if he banishes from the\nland every diviner and necromancer his name will survive him.\n\nOne of the greatest reasons for it was the doctrine of the ancients,\nthat no soul from the \u201cabode of the blessed\u201d will return to earth,\nunless, indeed, upon rare occasions its apparition might be required\nto accomplish some great object in view, and so bring benefit upon\nhumanity. In this latter instance the \u201csoul\u201d has no need to be\n_evoked_. It sent its portentous message either by an evanescent\n_simulacrum_ of itself, or through _messengers_, who could appear in\n_material_ form, and personate faithfully the departed. The souls\nthat could so easily be evoked were deemed neither safe nor useful to\ncommune with. They were the souls, or _larv\u00e6_ rather, from the infernal\nregion of the limbo\u2014the _sheol_, the region known by the kabalists as\nthe eighth sphere, but far different from the orthodox Hell or Hades\nof the ancient mythologists. Horace describes this evocation and the\nceremonial accompanying it, and Maimonides gives us particulars of the\nJewish rite. Every necromantic ceremony was performed on high places\nand hills, and blood was used for the purpose of placating these human\n_ghouls_.[740]\n\n\u201cI cannot prevent the witches from picking up their bones,\u201d says the\npoet. \u201cSee the blood they pour in the ditch to allure the _souls_ that\nwill utter their oracles!\u201d[741] \u201c_Cruor in fossam confusus, ut inde\nmanes elicirent, animas responsa daturas._\u201d\n\n\u201cThe _souls_,\u201d says Porphyry, \u201cprefer, to everything else,\n_freshly-spilt blood_, which seems for a short time to restore to them\nsome of the faculties of life.\u201d[742]\n\nAs for materializations, they are many and various in the sacred\nrecords. But, were they effected under the same conditions as at modern\nseances? Darkness, it appears, was not required in those days of\npatriarchs and magic powers. The three angels who appeared to Abraham\ndrank in the full blaze of the sun, for \u201che sat in the tent-door _in\nthe heat of the day_,\u201d[743] says the book of _Genesis_. The spirits of\nElias and Moses appeared equally in daytime, as it is not probable that\nChrist and the Apostles would be climbing a high mountain during the\nnight. Jesus is represented as having appeared to Mary Magdalene in the\ngarden in the early morning; to the Apostles, at three distinct times,\nand generally by day; once \u201cwhen the morning was come\u201d (_John_ xxi. 4).\nEven when the ass of Balaam saw the \u201cmaterialized\u201d angel, it was in the\nfull light of noon.\n\nWe are fully prepared to agree with the writer in question, that we\nfind in the life of Christ\u2014and we may add in the _Old Testament_, too\u2014 {494}\ntoo\u2014\u201can uninterrupted record of spiritualistic manifestations,\u201d but\nnothing _mediumistic_, of a physical character though, if we except\nthe visit of Saul to Sedecla, the Obeah woman of En-Dor. This is a\ndistinction of vital importance.\n\nTrue, the promise of the Master was clearly stated: \u201cAye, and greater\nworks than these shall ye do\u201d works of mediatorship. According to Joel,\nthe time would come when there would be an outpouring of the divine\nspirit: \u201cYour sons and your daughters,\u201d says he, \u201cshall prophesy, your\nold men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.\u201d The\ntime has come and they do all these things now; Spiritualism has its\nseers and martyrs, its prophets and healers. Like Moses, and David,\nand Jehoram, there are mediums who have direct writings from genuine\nplanetary and human spirits; and the best of it brings the mediums\nno pecuniary recompense. The greatest friend of the cause in France,\nLeymarie, now languishes in a prison-cell, and, as he says with\ntouching pathos, is \u201cno longer a man, but a _number_\u201d on the prison\nregister.\n\nThere are a few, a very few, orators on the spiritualistic platform\nwho speak by inspiration, and if they know what is said at all they\nare in the condition described by Daniel: \u201cAnd I retained no strength.\nYet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his\nwords, then was I in a deep sleep.\u201d[744] And there are mediums, these\nwhom we have spoken of, for whom the prophecy in Samuel might have\nbeen written: \u201cThe spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, thou shalt\nprophesy with them, and shalt be _turned into another man_.\u201d[745]\nBut where, in the long line of Bible-wonders, do we read of flying\nguitars, and tinkling tambourines, and jangling bells being offered in\npitch-dark rooms as evidences of immortality?\n\nWhen Christ was accused of casting out devils by the power of\nBeelzebub, he denied it, and sharply retorted by asking, \u201cBy whom do\nyour sons or disciples cast them out?\u201d Again, spiritualists affirm that\nJesus was a medium, that he was controlled by one or many spirits; but\nwhen the charge was made to him direct he said that he was nothing\nof the kind. \u201cSay we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a\ndevil?\u201d daimonion, an Obeah, or familiar spirit in the Hebrew text.\nJesus answered, \u201cI have not a devil.\u201d[746]\n\nThe writer from whom we have above quoted, attempts also a parallel\nbetween the aerial flights of Philip and Ezekiel and of Mrs. Guppy and\nother modern mediums. He is ignorant or oblivious of the fact that {495}\nwhile levitation occurred as an effect in both classes of cases, the\nproducing causes were totally dissimilar. The nature of this difference\nwe have adverted to already. Levitation may be produced consciously\nor unconsciously to the subject. The juggler determines beforehand\nthat he will be levitated, for how long a time, and to what height;\nhe regulates the occult forces accordingly. The fakir produces the\nsame effect by the power of his aspiration and will, and, except when\nin the ecstatic state, keeps control over his movements. So does the\npriest of Siam, when, in the sacred pagoda, he mounts fifty feet in the\nair with taper in hand, and flits from idol to idol, lighting up the\nniches, self-supported, and stepping as confidently as though he were\nupon solid ground. This, persons have seen and testify to. The officers\nof the Russian squadron which recently circumnavigated the globe, and\nwas stationed for a long time in Japanese waters, relate the fact that,\nbesides many other marvels, they saw jugglers walk in mid-air from\ntree-top to tree-top, without the slightest support.[747] They also\nsaw the pole and tape-climbing feats, described by Colonel Olcott in\nhis _People from the Other World_, and which have been so much called\nin question by certain spiritualists and mediums whose zeal is greater\nthan their learning. The quotations from Col. Yule and other writers,\nelsewhere given in this work, seem to place the matter beyond doubt\nthat these effects are produced.\n\nSuch phenomena, when occurring apart from religious rites, in India,\nJapan, Thibet, Siam, and other \u201cheathen\u201d countries, phenomena a hundred\ntimes more various and astounding than ever seen in civilized Europe\nor America, are never attributed to the spirits of the departed. The\nPitris have naught to do with such public exhibitions. And we have but\nto consult the list of the principal demons or elemental spirits to\nfind that their very names indicate their professions, or, to express\nit clearly, the tricks to which each variety is best adapted. So we\nhave the M\u00e2dan, a generic name indicating wicked elemental spirits,\nhalf brutes, half monsters, for M\u00e2dan signifies one that looks like\na cow. He is the friend of the malicious sorcerers and helps them to\neffect their evil purposes of revenge by striking men and cattle with\nsudden illness and death.\n\nThe _Shud\u00e2la-M\u00e2dan_, or graveyard fiend, answers to our ghouls. He\ndelights where crime and murder were committed, near burial-spots and\nplaces of execution. He helps the juggler in all the fire-phenomena as\nwell as Kutti Sh\u00e2ttan, the little juggling imps. Shud\u00e2la, they say, is\na half-fire, half-water demon, for he received from Siva permission to\nassume any shape he chose, transform one thing into another; and when {496}\nhe is not in fire, he is in water. It is he who blinds people \u201cto see\nthat which _they do not_ see.\u201d _Sh\u00fbla M\u00e2dan_, is another mischievous\nspook. He is the _furnace_-demon, skilled in pottery and baking. If\nyou keep friends with him, he will not injure you; but woe to him who\nincurs his wrath. Sh\u00fbla likes compliments and flattery, and as he\ngenerally keeps underground it is to him that a juggler must look to\nhelp him raise a tree from a seed in a quarter of an hour and ripen its\nfruit.\n\n_Kumil-M\u00e2dan_, is the _undine_ proper. He is an elemental spirit of the\nwater, and his name means _blowing like a bubble_. He is a very merry\nimp; and will help a friend in anything relative to his department; he\nwill shower rain and show the future and the present to those who will\nresort to hydromancy or divination by water.\n\n_Poruth\u00fb M\u00e2dan_, is the \u201cwrestling\u201d demon; he is the strongest of all;\nand whenever there are feats shown in which physical force is required,\nsuch as _levitations_, or taming of wild animals, he will help the\nperformer by keeping him above the soil or will overpower a wild beast\nbefore the tamer has time to utter his incantation. So, every \u201cphysical\nmanifestation\u201d has its own class of elemental spirits to superintend\nthem.\n\nReturning now to levitations of human bodies and inanimate bodies,\nin modern circle-rooms, we must refer the reader to the Introductory\nchapter of this work. (See \u201c\u00c6throbasy.\u201d) In connection with the story\nof Simon the Magician, we have shown the explanation of the ancients as\nto how the levitation and transport of heavy bodies could be produced.\nWe will now try and suggest a hypothesis for the same in relation to\n_mediums, i. e._, persons supposed to be unconscious at the moment of\nthe phenomena, which the believers claim to be produced by disembodied\n\u201cspirits.\u201d We need not repeat that which has been sufficiently\nexplained before. Conscious \u00e6throbasy under magneto-electrical\nconditions is possible only to _adepts_ who can never be overpowered by\nan influence foreign to themselves, but remain sole masters of their\nWILL.\n\nThus levitation, we will say, must always occur in obedience to law\u2014a\nlaw as inexorable as that which makes a body unaffected by it remain\nupon the ground. And where should we seek for that law outside of the\ntheory of molecular attraction? It is a scientific hypothesis that the\nform of force which first brings nebulous or star matter together into\na whirling vortex is electricity; and modern chemistry is being totally\nreconstructed upon the theory of electric polarities of atoms. The\nwaterspout, the tornado, the whirlwind, the cyclone, and the hurricane,\nare all doubtless the result of electrical action. This phenomenon has\nbeen studied from above as well as from below, observations having been\nmade both upon the ground and from a balloon floating above the vortex\nof a thunder-storm.\n\nObserve now, that this force, under the conditions of a dry and warm {497}\natmosphere at the earth\u2019s surface, can accumulate a dynamic energy\ncapable of lifting enormous bodies of water, of compressing the\nparticles of atmosphere, and of sweeping across a country, tearing\nup forests, lifting rocks, and scattering buildings in fragments\nover the ground. Wild\u2019s electric machine causes induced currents of\nmagneto-electricity so enormously powerful as to produce light by which\nsmall print may be read, on a dark night, at a distance of two miles\nfrom the place where it is operating.\n\nAs long ago as the year 1600, Gilbert, in his _De Magnete_, enunciated\nthe principle that the globe itself is one vast magnet, and some of\nour advanced electricians are now beginning to realize that man,\ntoo, possesses this property, and that the mutual attractions and\nrepulsions of individuals toward each other may at least in part find\ntheir explanation in this fact. The experience of attendants upon\nspiritualistic circles corroborates this opinion. Says Professor\nNicholas Wagner, of the University of St. Petersburg: \u201cHeat, or\n_perhaps the electricity of the investigators_ sitting in the circle,\nmust concentrate itself in the table and gradually develop into\nmotions. At the same time, or a little afterward, the psychical force\nunites to assist the two other powers. By _psychical force_, I mean\nthat which evolves itself out of all the other forces of our organism.\nThe combination into one general something of several separate forces,\nand capable, when combined, of manifesting itself in degree, according\nto the individuality.\u201d The progress of the phenomena he considers\nto be affected by the cold or the dryness of the atmosphere. Now,\nremembering what has been said as to the subtler forms of energy which\nthe Hermetists have proved to exist in nature, and accepting the\nhypothesis enunciated by Mr. Wagner that \u201cthe power which calls out\nthese manifestations is centred in the mediums,\u201d may not the medium,\nby furnishing in himself a nucleus as perfect in its way as the system\nof permanent steel magnets in Wild\u2019s battery, produce astral currents\nsufficiently strong to lift in their vortex a body even as ponderable\nas a human form? It is not necessary that the object lifted should\nassume a gyratory motion, for the phenomenon we are observing, unlike\nthe whirlwind, is directed by an intelligence, which is capable\nof keeping the body to be raised within the ascending current and\npreventing its rotation.\n\nLevitation in this case would be a purely mechanical phenomenon. The\ninert body of the passive medium is lifted by a vortex created either\nby the elemental spirits\u2014possibly, in some cases, by human ones, and\nsometimes through purely morbific causes, as in the cases of Professor\nPerty\u2019s sick somnambules. The levitation of the adept is, on the\ncontrary, a magneto-electric effect, as we have just stated. He has {498}\nmade the polarity of his body opposite to that of the atmosphere, and\nidentical with that of the earth; hence, attractable by the former,\nretaining his consciousness the while. A like phenomenal levitation is\npossible, also, when disease has changed the corporeal polarity of a\npatient, as disease always does in a greater or lesser degree. But, in\nsuch case, the lifted person would not be likely to remain conscious.\n\nIn one series of observations upon whirlwinds, made in 1859, in the\nbasin of the Rocky Mountains, \u201ca newspaper was caught up ... to a\nheight of some two hundred feet; and there it oscillated to and fro\nacross the track for some considerable time, whilst accompanying the\nonward motion.\u201d[748] Of course scientists will say that a parallel\ncannot be instituted between this case and that of human levitation;\nthat no vortex can be formed in a room by which a medium could be\nraised; but this is a question of astral light and spirit, which have\ntheir own peculiar dynamical laws. Those who understand the latter,\naffirm that a concourse of people laboring under mental excitement,\nwhich re\u00e4cts upon the physical system, throw off electro-magnetic\nemanations, which, when sufficiently intense, can throw the whole\ncircumambient atmosphere into perturbation. Force enough may actually\nbe generated to create an electrical vortex, sufficiently powerful to\nproduce many a strange phenomenon. With this hint, the whirling of\nthe dervishes, and the wild dances, swayings, gesticulations, music,\nand shouts of devotees will be understood as all having a common\nobject in view\u2014namely, the creation of such astral conditions as favor\npsychological and physical phenomena. The _rationale_ of religious\nrevivals will also be better understood if this principle is borne in\nmind.\n\nBut there is still another point to be considered. If the medium is\na nucleus of magnetism and a conductor of that force, he would be\nsubject to the same laws as a metallic conductor, and be attracted to\nhis magnet. If, therefore, a magnetic centre of the requisite power\nwas formed directly over him by the unseen powers presiding over the\nmanifestations, why should not his body be lifted toward it, despite\nterrestrial gravity? We know that, in the case of a medium who is\nunconscious of the progress of the operation, it is necessary to first\nadmit the fact of such an intelligence, and next, the possibility\nof the experiment being conducted as described; but, in view of the {499}\nmultifarious evidences offered, not only in our own researches, which\nclaim no authority, but also in those of Mr. Crookes, and a great\nnumber of others, in many lands and at different epochs, we shall not\nturn aside from the main object of offering this hypothesis in the\nprofitless endeavor to strengthen a case which scientific men will not\nconsider with patience, even when sanctioned by the most distinguished\nof their own body.\n\nAs early as 1836, the public was apprised of certain phenomena which\nwere as extraordinary, if not more so than all the manifestations\nwhich are produced in our days. The famous correspondence between two\nwell-known mesmerizers, Deleuze and Billot, was published in France,\nand the wonders discussed for a time in every society. Billot firmly\nbelieved in the apparition of spirits, for, as he says, he has both\nseen, heard, and felt them. Deleuze was as much convinced of this truth\nas Billot, and declared that man\u2019s immortality and the return of the\ndead, or rather of their shadows, was the best demonstrated fact in his\nopinion. Material objects were brought to him from distant places by\ninvisible hands, and he communicated on most important subjects with\nthe invisible intelligences. \u201cIn regard to this,\u201d he remarks, \u201cI cannot\nconceive how spiritual beings are able to carry material objects.\u201d More\nskeptical, less intuitional than Billot, nevertheless, he agreed with\nthe latter that \u201cthe question of spiritualism is not one of opinions,\nbut _of facts_.\u201d\n\nSuch is precisely the conclusion to which Professor Wagner, of St.\nPetersburg, was finally driven. In the second pamphlet on _Mediumistic\nPhenomena_, issued by him in December, 1875, he administers the\nfollowing rebuke to Mr. Shkliarevsky, one of his materialistic critics:\n\u201cSo long as the spiritual manifestations were weak and sporadic, we\nmen of science could afford to deceive ourselves with theories of\nunconscious muscular action, or unconscious cerebrations of our brains,\nand tumble the rest into one heap as juggleries.... But now these\nwonders have grown too striking; the spirits show themselves in the\nshape of tangible, materialized forms, which can be touched and handled\nat will by any learned skeptic like yourself, and even be weighed and\nmeasured. We can struggle no longer, for every resistance becomes\nabsurd\u2014it threatens lunacy. Try then to realize this, and to humble\nyourself before the possibility of impossible facts.\u201d\n\nIron is only magnetized temporarily, but steel permanently, by contact\nwith the lodestone. Now steel is but iron which has passed through a\ncarbonizing process, and yet that process has quite changed the nature\nof the metal, so far as its relations to the lodestone are concerned.\nIn like manner, it may be said that the medium is but an ordinary\nperson who is magnetized by influx from the astral light; and as the {500}\npermanence of the magnetic property in the metal is measured by its\nmore or less steel-like character, so may we not say that the intensity\nand permanency of mediumistic power is in proportion to the saturation\nof the medium with the magnetic or astral force?\n\nThis condition of saturation may be congenital, or brought about in\nany one of these ways:\u2014by the mesmeric process; by spirit-agency; or\nby self-will. Moreover, the condition seems hereditable, like any\nother physical or mental peculiarity; many, and we may even say most\ngreat mediums having had mediumship exhibited in some form by one or\nmore progenitors. Mesmeric subjects easily pass into the higher forms\nof clairvoyance and mediumship (now so called), as Gregory, Deleuze,\nPuysegur, Du Potet, and other authorities inform us. As to the process\nof self-saturation, we have only to turn to the account of the priestly\ndevotees of Japan, Siam, China, India, Thibet, and Egypt, as well as of\nEuropean countries, to be satisfied of its reality. Long persistence\nin a fixed determination to subjugate matter, brings about a condition\nin which not only is one insensible to external impressions, but even\ndeath itself may be simulated, as we have already seen. The ecstatic so\nenormously re\u00efnforces his will-power, as to draw into himself, as into\na vortex, the potencies resident in the astral light to supplement his\nown natural store.\n\nThe phenomena of mesmerism are explicable upon no other hypothesis\nthan the projection of a current of force from the operator into\nthe subject. If a man can project this force by an exercise of the\nwill, what prevents his attracting it toward himself by reversing the\ncurrent? Unless, indeed, it be urged that the force is generated within\nhis body and cannot be attracted from any supply without. But even\nunder such an hypothesis, if he can generate a superabundant supply to\nsaturate another person, or even an inanimate object by his will, why\ncannot he generate it in excess for self-saturation?\n\nIn his work on _Anthropology_, Professor J. R. Buchanan notes the\ntendency of the natural gestures to follow the direction of the\nphrenological organs; the attitude of combativeness being downward and\nbackward; that of hope and spirituality upward and forward; that of\nfirmness upward and backward; and so on. The adepts of Hermetic science\nknow this principle so well that they explain the levitation of their\nown bodies, whenever it happens unawares, by saying that the thought\nis so intently fixed upon a point above them, that when the body is\nthoroughly imbued with the astral influence, it follows the mental\naspiration and rises into the air as easily as a cork held beneath\nthe water rises to the surface when its buoyancy is allowed to assert\nitself. The giddiness felt by certain persons when standing upon the\nbrink of a chasm is explained upon the same principle. Young children, {501}\nwho have little or no active imagination, and in whom experience has\nnot had sufficient time to develop fear, are seldom, if ever, giddy;\nbut the adult of a certain mental temperament, seeing the chasm and\npicturing in his imaginative fancy the consequences of a fall, allows\nhimself to be drawn by the attraction of the earth, and _unless the\nspell of fascination_ be broken, his body will follow his thought to\nthe foot of the precipice.\n\nThat this giddiness is purely a temperamental affair, is shown in the\nfact that some persons never experience the sensation, and inquiry will\nprobably reveal the fact that such are deficient in the imaginative\nfaculty. We have a case in view\u2014a gentleman who, in 1858, had so firm\na nerve that he horrified the witnesses by standing upon the coping of\nthe _Arc de Triomphe_, in Paris, with folded arms, and his feet half\nover the edge; but, having since become short-sighted, was taken with\na panic upon attempting to cross a plank-walk over the courtyard of a\nhotel, where the footway was more than two feet and a half wide, and\nthere was no danger. He looked at the flagging below, gave his fancy\nfree play, and would have fallen had he not quickly sat down.\n\nIt is a dogma of science that perpetual motion is impossible; it is\nanother dogma, that the allegation that the Hermetists discovered\nthe elixir of life, and that certain of them, by partaking of it,\nprolonged their existence far beyond the usual term, is a superstitious\nabsurdity. And the claim that the baser metals have been transmuted\ninto gold, and that the universal solvent was discovered, excites\nonly contemptuous derision in a century which has crowned the edifice\nof philosophy with a copestone of protoplasm. The first is declared\na _physical impossibility_; as much so, according to Babinet, the\nastronomer, as the \u201clevitation of an object without contact;\u201d[749]\nthe second, a physiological vagary begotten of a disordered mind; the\nthird, a chemical absurdity.\n\nBalfour Stewart says that while the man of science cannot assert that\n\u201che is intimately acquainted with all the forces of nature, and cannot\nprove that perpetual motion is impossible; for, in truth, he knows very\nlittle of these forces ... he does think _that he has entered into\nthe spirit and design of nature_, and therefore he denies at once the\npossibility of such a machine.\u201d[750] If he has discovered the design of\nnature, he certainly has not _the spirit_, for he denies its existence\nin one sense; and denying spirit he prevents that perfect understanding\nof universal law which would redeem modern philosophy from its thousand\nmortifying dilemmas and mistakes. If Professor B. Stewart\u2019s negation is {502}\nfounded upon no better analogy than that of his French contemporary,\nBabinet, he is in danger of a like humiliating catastrophe. The\nuniverse itself illustrates the actuality of perpetual motion; and the\natomic theory, which has proved such a balm to the exhausted minds of\nour cosmic explorers, is based upon it. The telescope searching through\nspace, and the microscope probing the mysteries of the little world in\na drop of water, reveal the same law in operation; and, as everything\nbelow is like everything above, who would presume to say that when the\nconservation of energy is better understood, and the two additional\nforces of the kabalists are added to the catalogue of orthodox science,\nit may not be discovered how to construct a machine which shall run\nwithout friction and supply itself with energy in proportion to its\nwastes? \u201cFifty years ago,\u201d says the venerable Mr. de Lara, \u201ca Hamburg\npaper, quoting from an English one an account of the opening of the\nManchester and Liverpool Railway, pronounced it a gross fabrication;\ncapping the climax by saying, \u2018even so far extends the credulity of the\nEnglish;\u2019\u201d the moral is apparent. The recent discovery of the compound\ncalled METALLINE, by an American chemist, makes it appear probable that\nfriction can, in a large degree, be overcome. One thing is certain,\nwhen a man shall have discovered the perpetual motion he will be able\nto understand by analogy all the secrets of nature; progress in direct\nratio with resistance.\n\nWe may say the same of the elixir of life, by which is understood\nphysical life, the soul being of course deathless only by reason of\nits divine immortal union with spirit. But _continual_ or _perpetual_\ndoes not mean endless. The kabalists have never claimed that either\nan endless physical life or unending motion is possible. The Hermetic\naxiom maintains that only the First Cause and its direct emanations,\nour spirits (scintillas from the eternal central sun which will be\nre\u00e4bsorbed by it at the end of time) are incorruptible and eternal.\nBut, in possession of a knowledge of occult natural forces, yet\nundiscovered by the materialists, they asserted that both physical\nlife and mechanical motion could be prolonged indefinitely. The\nphilosophers\u2019 stone had more than one meaning attached to its\nmysterious origin. Says Professor Wilder: \u201cThe study of alchemy was\neven more universal than the several writers upon it appear to have\nknown, and was always the auxiliary, if not identical with, the occult\nsciences of magic, necromancy, and astrology; probably from the same\nfact that they were originally but forms of a spiritualism which was\ngenerally extant in all ages of human history.\u201d\n\nOur greatest wonder is, that the very men who view the human body\nsimply as a \u201cdigesting machine,\u201d should object to the idea that if\nsome equivalent for metalline could be applied between its molecules, {503}\nit should run without friction. Man\u2019s body is taken from the earth,\nor dust, according to _Genesis_; which allegory bars the claims of\nmodern analysts to original discovery of the nature of the inorganic\nconstituents of human body. If the author of _Genesis_ knew this, and\nAristotle taught the identity between the life-principle of plants,\nanimals, and men, our affiliation with mother earth seems to have been\nsettled long ago.\n\nElie de Beaumont has recently reasserted the old doctrine of Hermes\nthat there is a terrestrial circulation comparable to that of the blood\nof man. Now, since it is a doctrine as old as time, that nature is\ncontinually renewing her wasted energies by absorption from the source\nof energy, why should the child differ from the parent? Why may not\nman, by discovering the source and nature of this recuperative energy,\nextract from the earth herself the juice or quintessence with which to\nreplenish his own forces? This _may_ have been the great secret of the\nalchemists. Stop the circulation of the terrestrial fluids and we have\nstagnation, putrefaction, death; stop the circulation of the fluids in\nman, and stagnation, absorption, calcification from old age, and death\nensue. If the alchemists had simply discovered some chemical compound\ncapable of keeping the channels of our circulation unclogged, would\nnot all the rest easily follow? And why, we ask, if the surface-waters\nof certain mineral springs have such virtue in the cure of disease and\nthe restoration of physical vigor, is it illogical to say that if we\ncould get the first runnings from the alembic of nature in the bowels\nof the earth, we might, perhaps, find that the fountain of youth was no\nmyth after all. Jennings asserts that the elixir was produced out of\nthe secret chemical laboratories of nature by some adepts; and Robert\nBoyle, the chemist, mentions a medicated wine or cordial which Dr.\nLefevre tried with wonderful effect upon an old woman.\n\n_Alchemy is as old as tradition itself._ \u201cThe first authentic record\non this subject,\u201d says William Godwin, \u201cis an edict of Diocletian,\nabout 300 years after Christ, ordering a diligent search to be made\nin Egypt for all the ancient books which treated of the art of making\ngold and silver, that they might be consigned to the flames. This\nedict necessarily presumes a certain antiquity to the pursuit; and\n_fabulous_ history has recorded Solomon, Pythagoras, and Hermes among\nits distinguished votaries.\u201d\n\nAnd this question of transmutation\u2014this alkahest or universal solvent,\nwhich comes next after the elixir vit\u00e6 in the order of the three\nalchemical agents? Is the idea so absurd as to be totally unworthy of\nconsideration in this age of chemical discovery? How shall we dispose\nof the historical anecdotes of men who actually made gold and gave it\naway, and of those who testify to having seen them do it? Libavius, {504}\nGeberus, Arnoldus, Thomas Aquinas, Bernardus Comes, Joannes Penotus,\nQuercetanus Geber, the Arabian father of European alchemy, Eugenius\nPhilalethes, Baptista Porta, Rubeus, Dornesius, Vogelius, Iren\u00e6us\nPhilaletha Cosmopolita, and many medi\u00e6val alchemists and Hermetic\nphilosophers assert the fact. Must we believe them all visionaries\nand lunatics, these otherwise great and learned scholars? Francesco\nPicus, in his work _De Auro_, gives eighteen instances of gold being\nproduced in his presence by artificial means; and Thomas Vaughan,[751]\ngoing to a goldsmith to sell 1,200 marks worth of gold, when the man\nsuspiciously remarked that the gold was too pure to have ever come\nout of a mine, ran away, leaving the money behind him. In a preceding\nchapter we have brought forward the testimony of a number of authors to\nthis effect.\n\nMarco Polo tells us that in some mountains of Thibet, which he\ncalls _Chingintalas_, there are veins of the substance from which\n_Salamander_ is made: \u201cFor the real truth is, that the salamander is\nno beast, as they allege in our parts of the world, but is a substance\nfound in the earth.\u201d[752] Then he adds that a Turk of the name of\nZurficar, told him that he had been procuring salamanders for the Great\nKhan, in those regions, for the space of three years. \u201cHe said that\nthe way they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found\na certain vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed,\nand, when so treated, it divides, as it were, into fibres of wool,\nwhich they set forth to dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded and\nwashed, so as to leave only the fibres, like fibres of wool. These were\nthen spun.... When first made, these napkins are not very white, but,\nby putting them into the fire for a while, they come out as white as\nsnow.\u201d\n\nTherefore, as several authorities testify, this mineral substance\nis the famous _Asbestos_,[753] which the Rev. A. Williamson says is\nfound in Shantung. But, it is not only incombustible thread which is\nmade from it. An oil, having several most extraordinary properties,\nis extracted from it, and the secret of its virtues remains with\ncertain lamas and Hindu adepts. When rubbed into the body, it leaves no\nexternal stain or mark, but, nevertheless, after having been so rubbed,\nthe part can be scrubbed with soap and hot or cold water, without\nthe virtue of the ointment being affected in the least. The person\nso rubbed may boldly step into the hottest fire; unless suffocated,\nhe will remain uninjured. Another property of the oil is that, when\ncombined with _another substance_, that we are not at liberty to {505}\nname, and left stagnant under the rays of the moon, on certain nights\nindicated by native astrologers, it will breed strange creatures.\nInfusoria we may call them in one sense, but then these grow and\ndevelop. Speaking of Kashmere, Marco Polo observes that they have an\nastonishing acquaintance with the _devilries_ of enchantment, insomuch\nthat they _make their idols to speak_.\n\nTo this day, the greatest magian mystics of these regions may be found\nin Kashmere. The various religious sects of this country were always\ncredited with preternatural powers, and were the resort of adepts and\nsages. As Colonel Yule remarks, \u201cVambery tells us that even in our day,\nthe Kasmiri dervishes are pre\u00ebminent among their Mahometan brethren for\n_cunning_, secret arts, skill in exorcisms and magic.\u201d[754]\n\nBut, all modern chemists are not equally dogmatic in their negation of\nthe possibility of such a transmutation. Dr. Peisse, Desprez, and even\nthe all-denying Louis Figuier, of Paris, seem to be far from rejecting\nthe idea. Dr. Wilder says: \u201cThe possibility of reducing the elements to\ntheir primal form, as they are supposed to have existed in the igneous\nmass from which the earth-crust is believed to have been formed, is not\nconsidered by physicists to be so absurd an idea as has been intimated.\nThere is a relationship between metals, often so close as to indicate\nan original identity. Persons called alchemists may, therefore, have\ndevoted their energies to investigations into these matters, as\nLavoisier, Davy, Faraday, and others of our day have explained the\nmysteries of chemistry.\u201d[755] A learned Theosophist, a practicing\nphysician of this country, one who has studied the occult sciences and\nalchemy for over thirty years, has succeeded in reducing the elements\nto their primal form, and made what is termed \u201cthe pre-Adamite earth.\u201d\nIt appears in the form of an earthy precipitate from pure water, which,\non being disturbed, presents the most opalescent and vivid colors.\n\n\u201cThe secret,\u201d say the alchemists, as if enjoying the ignorance of the\nuninitiated, \u201cis an amalgamation of the salt, sulphur, and mercury\ncombined three times in Azoth, by a triple sublimation and a triple\nfixation.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow ridiculously absurd!\u201d will exclaim a learned modern chemist. Well,\nthe disciples of the great Hermes understand the above as well as a\ngraduate of Harvard University comprehends the meaning of his Professor\nof Chemistry, when the latter says: \u201cWith one hydroxyl group we can\nonly produce monatomic compounds; use two hydroxyl groups, and we can\nform around the same skeleton a number of diatomic compounds. ... {506}\nAttach to the nucleus three hydroxyl groups, and there result triatomic\ncompounds, among which is a very familiar substance\u2014\n\n H H H\n | | |\n H-O-C-C-C-O-H\n | | |\n H H H\n |\n H\n\n _Glycerine_.\u201d\n\n\u201cAttach thyself,\u201d says the alchemist, \u201cto the four letters of the\ntetragram disposed in the following manner: The letters of the\nineffable name are there, although thou mayest not discern them at\nfirst. The incommunicable axiom is kabalistically contained therein,\nand this is what is called the magic arcanum by the masters.\u201d The\narcanum\u2014the fourth emanation of the Ak\u00e2sa, the principle of LIFE, which\nis represented in its third transmutation by the fiery sun, the eye of\nthe world, or of Osiris, as the Egyptians termed it. An eye tenderly\nwatching its youngest daughter, wife, and sister\u2014Isis, our mother\nearth. See what Hermes, the thrice-great master, says of her: \u201cHer\nfather is the sun, her mother is the moon.\u201d It attracts and caresses,\nand then repulses her by a projectile power. It is for the Hermetic\nstudent to watch its motions, to catch its subtile currents, to guide\nand direct them with the help of the _athanor_, the Archimedean lever\nof the alchemist. What is this mysterious athanor? Can the physicist\ntell us\u2014he who sees and examines it daily? Aye, he sees; but does he\ncomprehend the secret-ciphered characters traced by the divine finger\non every sea-shell in the ocean\u2019s deep; on every leaf that trembles in\nthe breeze; in the bright star, whose stellar lines are in his sight\nbut so many more or less luminous lines of hydrogen?\n\n[Illustration: Three geometrical shapes]\n\n\u201cGod _geometrizes_,\u201d said Plato.[756] \u201cThe laws of nature are the {507}\nthoughts of God;\u201d exclaimed O\u00ebrsted, 2,000 years later. \u201cHis\nthoughts are immutable,\u201d repeated the solitary student of Hermetic\nlore, \u201ctherefore it is in the perfect harmony and equilibrium of all\nthings that we must seek the truth.\u201d And thus, proceeding from the\nindivisible unity, he found emanating from it two contrary forces,\neach acting through the other and producing equilibrium, and the\nthree were but one, the Pythagorean Eternal Monad. The primordial\npoint is a circle; the circle squaring itself from the four cardinal\npoints becomes a quaternary, the perfect square, having at each of\nits four angles a letter of the mirific name, the sacred TETRAGRAM.\nIt is the four Buddhas who came and have passed away; the Pythagorean\n_tetractys_\u2014absorbed and resolved by the one eternal NO-BEING.\n\nTradition declares that on the dead body of Hermes, at Hebron, was\nfound by an Isarim, an initiate, the tablet known as the _Smaragdine_.\nIt contains, in a few sentences, the essence of the Hermetic wisdom. To\nthose who read but with their bodily eyes, the precepts will suggest\nnothing new or extraordinary, for it merely begins by saying that it\nspeaks not fictitious things, but that which is true and most certain.\n\n\u201cWhat is below is like that which is above, and what is above is\nsimilar to that which is below to accomplish the wonders of one thing.\n\n\u201cAs all things were produced by the mediation of one being, so all\nthings were produced from this one _by adaptation_.\n\n\u201cIts father is the sun, its mother is the moon.\n\n\u201cIt is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole earth.\n\n\u201cIts power is perfect _if it is changed into earth_.\n\n\u201cSeparate the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross, acting\nprudently and with judgment.\n\n\u201cAscend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then\ndescend again to earth, and unite together the power of things inferior\nand superior; thus you will possess the light of the whole world, and\nall obscurity will fly away from you.\n\n\u201cThis thing has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because _it will\novercome every subtile thing_ and _penetrate every solid thing_.\n\n\u201cBy it the world was formed.\u201d\n\nThis mysterious thing is the universal, magical agent, the astral\nlight, which in the correlations of its forces furnishes the alkahest, {508}\nthe philosopher\u2019s stone, and the elixir of life. Hermetic philosophy\nnames it Azoth, the soul of the world, the celestial virgin, the\ngreat Magnes, etc., etc. Physical science knows it as \u201cheat, light,\nelectricity, and magnetism;\u201d but ignoring its spiritual properties and\nthe occult potency contained in ether, rejects everything it ignores.\nIt explains and depicts the crystalline forms of the snow-flakes, their\nmodifications of an hexagonal prism which shoot out an infinity of\ndelicate needles. It has studied them so perfectly that it has even\ncalculated, with the most wondrous mathematical precision, that all\nthese needles diverge from each other at an angle of 60\u00b0. Can it tell\nus as well the cause of this \u201cendless variety of the most exquisite\nforms,\u201d[757] each of which is a most perfect geometrical figure in\nitself? These frozen, star-like and flower-like blossoms, may be,\nfor all materialistic science knows, a shower of messages snowed by\nspiritual hands from the worlds above for spiritual eyes below to read.\n\nThe philosophical cross, the two lines running in opposite directions,\nthe horizontal and the perpendicular, the height and breadth, which\nthe geometrizing Deity divides at the intersecting point, and which\nforms the magical as well as the scientific quaternary, when it is\ninscribed within the perfect square, is the basis of the occultist.\nWithin its mystical precinct lies the master-key which opens the door\nof every science, physical as well as spiritual. It symbolizes our\nhuman existence, for the circle of life circumscribes the four points\nof the cross, which represent in succession birth, life, death, and\nIMMORTALITY. Everything in this world is a trinity completed by the\nquaternary,[758] and every element is divisible on this same principle.\nPhysiology can divide man _ad infinitum_, as physical science has\ndivided the four primal and principal elements in several dozens of\nothers; she will not succeed in changing either. Birth, life, and death\nwill ever be a trinity completed only at the cyclic end. Even were\nscience to change the longed-for immortality into annihilation, it\nstill will ever be a quaternary; for God \u201cgeometrizes!\u201d\n\nTherefore, perhaps alchemy will one day be allowed to talk of her salt,\nmercury, sulphur, and azoth, her symbols and mirific letters, and\nrepeat, with the exponent of the _Synthesis of Organic Compounds_, that\n\u201cit must be remembered that the grouping is _no play of fancy_, and\nthat a good reason can be given for the position of every letter.\u201d[759]\n\nDr. Peisse, of Paris, wrote in 1863, the following:\n\n\u201cOne word, _a propos_, of alchemy. What must we think of the Hermetic {509}\nart? Is it lawful to believe that we can transmute metals, make\ngold? Well, positive men, _esprits forts_ of the nineteenth century,\nknow that Mr. Figuier, doctor of science and medicine, chemical\nanalyst in the School of Pharmacy, of Paris, does not wish to express\nhimself upon the subject. He doubts, he hesitates. He knows several\nalchemists (for there are such) who, basing themselves upon modern\nchemical discoveries, and especially on the singular circumstance of\nthe equivalents demonstrated by M. Dumas, pretend that metals are\nnot simple bodies, true elements in the absolute sense, and that in\nconsequence they may be produced by the process of decomposition....\nThis encourages me to take a step further, and candidly avow that I\nwould be only moderately surprised to see some one make gold. I have\nonly one reason to give, but sufficient it seems; which is, that gold\nhas not always existed; it has been made by some chemical travail or\nother in the bosom of the fused matter of our globe;[760] perhaps some\nof it may be even now in process of formation. The pretended simple\nbodies of our chemistry are very probably secondary products, in the\nformation of the terrestrial mass. It has been proved so with water,\none of the most respectable elements of ancient physics. To-day, we\ncreate water. Why should we not make gold? An eminent experimentalist,\nMr. Desprez, has made the diamond. True, this diamond is only _a\nscientific diamond_, a philosophical diamond, which would be worth\nnothing; but, no matter, my position holds good. Besides, we are not\nleft to simple conjectures. There is a man living, who, in a paper\naddressed to the scientific bodies, in 1853, has underscored these\nwords\u2014I have discovered the method of producing artificial gold, I\nhave made gold. This adept is Mr. Theodore Tiffereau, ex-preparator of\nchemistry in the _\u00c9cole Professionelle et Sup\u00e9rieure_ of Nantes.\u201d[761]\nCardinal de Rohan, the famous victim of the diamond necklace\nconspiracy, testified that he had seen the Count Cagliostro make both\ngold and diamonds. We presume that those who agree with Professor T.\nSterry Hunt, F.R.S., will have no patience with the theory of Dr.\nPeisse, for they believe that all of our metalliferous deposits are\ndue to the action of organic life. And so, until they do come to some\ncomposition of their differences, so as to let us know for a certainty\nthe nature of gold, and whether it is the product of interior volcanic\nalchemy or surface segregation and filtration; we will leave them to\nsettle their quarrel between themselves, and give credit meanwhile to\nthe old philosophers.\n\nProfessor Balfour Stewart, whom no one would think of classing among {510}\nilliberal minds; who, with far more fairness and more frequently than\nany of his colleagues admits the failings of modern science, shows\nhimself, nevertheless, as biassed as other scientists on this question.\nPerpetual light being only another name for perpetual motion, he\ntells us, and the latter being impossible because we have no means of\nequilibrating the waste of combustible material, a Hermetic light is,\ntherefore, an impossibility.[762] Noting the fact that a \u201cperpetual\nlight was supposed to result from _magical_ powers,\u201d and remarking\nfurther that such a light is \u201ccertainly not of this earth, where light\nand all other forms of superior energy are essentially evanescent,\u201d\nthis gentleman argues as though the Hermetic philosophers had always\nclaimed that the flame under discussion was an ordinary earthly flame,\nresulting from the combustion of luminiferous material. In this the\nphilosophers have been constantly misunderstood and misrepresented.\n\nHow many great minds\u2014unbelievers from the start\u2014after having studied\nthe \u201csecret doctrine,\u201d have changed their opinions and found out how\nmistaken they were. And how contradictory it seems to find one moment\nBalfour Stewart quoting some philosophical morals of Bacon\u2014whom he\nterms the father of experimental science\u2014and saying \u201c ... surely we\nought to learn a lesson from these remarks ... and be very cautious\n_before we dismiss any branch of knowledge_ or train of thought as\nessentially unprofitable,\u201d and then dismissing the next moment, as\n_utterly impossible_, the claims of the alchemists! He shows Aristotle\nas \u201centertaining the idea that light is not any body, or the emanation\nof any body, and that therefore light is an energy or act;\u201d and yet,\nalthough the ancients were the first to show, through Demokritus, to\nJohn Dalton the doctrine of atoms, and through Pythagoras and even the\noldest of the Chaldean oracles, that of ether as a universal agent,\ntheir ideas, says Stewart, \u201cwere not prolific.\u201d He admits that they\n\u201cpossessed great genius and intellectual power,\u201d but adds that \u201cthey\nwere deficient in physical conceptions, and, in consequence, their\nideas were not prolific.\u201d[763]\n\nThe whole of the present work is a protest against such a loose way\nof judging the ancients. To be thoroughly competent to criticise\ntheir ideas, and assure one\u2019s self whether their ideas were distinct\nand \u201cappropriate to the facts,\u201d one must have sifted these ideas to\nthe very bottom. It is idle to repeat that which we have frequently\nsaid, and that which every scholar ought to know; namely, that the\nquintessence of their knowledge was in the hands of the priests, who\nnever wrote them, and in those of the \u201cinitiates\u201d who, like Plato, {511}\n_did not dare_ write them. Therefore, those few speculations on the\nmaterial and spiritual universes, which they did put in writing, could\nnot enable posterity to judge them rightly, even had not the early\nChristian Vandals, the later crusaders, and the fanatics of the middle\nages destroyed three parts of that which remained of the Alexandrian\nlibrary and its later schools. Professor Draper shows that the Cardinal\nXimenes alone \u201cdelivered to the flames in the squares of Granada,\n80,000 Arabic manuscripts, many of them translations of classical\nauthors.\u201d In the Vatican libraries, whole passages in the most rare and\nprecious treatises of the ancients were found erased and blotted out,\nfor the sake of interlining them with absurd psalmodies!\n\nWho then, of those who turn away from the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d as being\n\u201cunphilosophical\u201d and, therefore, unworthy of a scientific thought,\nhas a right to say that he studied the ancients; that he is aware of\nall that they knew, and knowing now far more, knows also that they\nknew little, if anything. This \u201csecret doctrine\u201d contains the alpha\nand the omega of universal science; therein lies the corner and the\nkeystone of all the ancient and modern knowledge; and alone in this\n\u201cunphilosophical\u201d doctrine remains buried the _absolute_ in the\nphilosophy of the dark problems of life and death.\n\n\u201cThe great energies of Nature are known to us only by their effects,\u201d\nsaid Paley. Paraphrasing the sentence, we will say that the great\nachievements of the days of old are known to posterity only by\ntheir effects. If one takes a book on alchemy, and sees in it the\nspeculations on gold and light by the brothers of the Rosie Cross, he\nwill find himself certainly startled, for the simple reason that he\nwill not understand them at all. \u201cThe Hermetic gold,\u201d he may read,\n\u201cis the outflow of the sunbeam, or of light suffused invisibly and\nmagically into the body of the world. Light is sublimated gold, rescued\nmagically by invisible stellar attraction, out of material depths.\nGold is thus the deposit of light, which of itself generates. Light in\nthe celestial world is subtile, vaporous, magically exalted gold, or\n\u2018_spirit of flame_.\u2019 Gold draws inferior natures in the metals, and\nintensifying and multiplying, converts into itself.\u201d[764]\n\nNevertheless, facts are facts; and, as Billot says of spiritualism,\nwe will remark of occultism generally and of alchemy in particular\u2014it\nis not a matter of opinion but of _facts_, men of science call an\ninextinguishable lamp an _impossibility_, but nevertheless persons\nin our own age as well as in the days of ignorance and superstition\nhave found them burning bright in old vaults shut up for centuries; {512}\nand other persons there are who possess the secret of keeping such\nfires for several ages. Men of science say that ancient and modern\nspiritualism, magic, and mesmerism, are charlatanry or delusion; but\nthere are 800 millions on the face of the globe, of perfectly sane men\nand women, who believe in all these. Whom are we to credit?\n\n\u201cDemokritus,\u201d says Lucian,[765] \u201cbelieved in no (miracles) ... he\napplied himself to discover the method by which the theurgists could\nproduce them; in a word, his philosophy brought him to the conclusion\nthat magic was entirely confined to the application and _the imitation_\nof the laws and the works of nature.\u201d\n\nNow, the opinion of the \u201claughing philosopher\u201d is of the greatest\nimportance to us, since the Magi left by Xerxes, at Abdera, were his\ninstructors, and he had studied magic, moreover, for a considerably\nlong time with the Egyptian priests.[766] For nearly ninety years\nof the one hundred and nine of his life, this great philosopher had\nmade experiments, and noted them down in a book, which, according\nto Petronius,[767] _treated of nature_\u2014facts that he had verified\nhimself. And we find him not only disbelieving in and utterly\nrejecting _miracles_, but asserting that every one of those that were\nauthenticated by eye-witnesses, had, and could have taken place; for\nall, even the most _incredible_, was produced according to the \u201c_hidden\nlaws of nature_.\u201d[768]\n\n\u201cThe day will never come, when any one of the propositions of Euclid\nwill be denied,\u201d[769] says Professor Draper, exalting the Aristoteleans\nat the expense of the Pythagoreans and Platonists. Shall we, in such a\ncase, disbelieve a number of well-informed authorities (Lempri\u00e8re among\nothers), who assert that the fifteen books of the _Elements_ are not\nto be wholly attributed to Euclid; and that many of the most valuable\ntruths and demonstrations contained in them owe their existence to\nPythagoras, Thales, and Eudoxus? That Euclid, notwithstanding his\ngenius, was _the first_ who reduced them to order, and only interwove\ntheories of his own to render the whole a complete and connected system\nof geometry? And if these authorities are right, then it is again to\nthat central sun of metaphysical science\u2014Pythagoras and his school,\nthat the moderns are indebted directly for such men as Eratosthenes,\nthe world-famous geometer and cosmographer, Archimedes, and even\nPtolemy, notwithstanding his obstinate errors. Were it not for the\nexact science of such men, and for fragments of their works that they\nleft us to base Galilean speculations upon, the great priests of the {513}\nnineteenth century might find themselves, perhaps, still in the\nbondage of the Church; and philosophizing, in 1876, on the Augustine\nand Bedean cosmogony, the rotation of the canopy of heaven round the\nearth, and the majestic flatness of the latter.\n\nThe nineteenth century seems positively doomed to humiliating\nconfessions. Feltre (Italy) erects a public statue \u201cto _Panfilo\nCastaldi, the illustrious inventor of movable printing types_,\u201d and\nadds in its inscription the generous confession that Italy renders to\nhim \u201c_this tribute of honor too long deferred_.\u201d But no sooner is the\nstatue placed, than the Feltreians are advised by Colonel Yule to \u201cburn\nit _in honest lime_.\u201d He proves that many a traveller beside Marco\nPolo had brought home from China movable wooden types and specimens of\nChinese books, the entire text of which was printed with such wooden\nblocks.[770] We have seen in several Thibetan lamaseries, where they\nhave printing-offices, such blocks preserved as curiosities. They\nare known to be of the greatest antiquity, inasmuch as types were\nperfected, and the old ones abandoned contemporaneously with the\nearliest records of Buddhistic lamaism. Therefore, they must have\nexisted in China before the Christian era.\n\nLet every one ponder over the wise words of Professor Roscoe, in his\nlecture on _Spectrum Analysis_. \u201cThe infant truths must be made useful.\nNeither you nor I, perhaps, can see the _how_ or the _when_, but that\nthe time may come at any moment, when the most obscure of nature\u2019s\nsecrets shall at once be employed for the benefit of mankind, no one\nwho knows anything of science, can for one instant doubt. Who could\nhave foretold that the discovery that a dead frog\u2019s legs jump when they\nare touched by two different metals, should have led in a few short\nyears to the discovery of the electric telegraph?\u201d\n\nProfessor Roscoe, visiting Kirchhoff and Bunsen when they were making\ntheir great discoveries of the nature of the Fraunhoffer lines,\nsays that it _flashed_ upon his mind at once that there is iron in\nthe sun; therein presenting one more evidence to add to a million\npredecessors, that great discoveries usually come with a _flash_,\nand not by induction. There are many more flashes in store for us.\nIt may be found, perhaps, that one of the last sparkles of modern\nscience\u2014the beautiful green spectrum of silver\u2014is nothing new, but was,\nnotwithstanding the paucity \u201cand great inferiority of their optical\ninstruments,\u201d well known to the ancient chemists and physicists. Silver\nand green were associated together as far back as the days of Hermes.\nLuna, or Astart\u00e8 (the Hermetic silver), is one of the two chief symbols\nof the Rosicrucians. It is a Hermetic axiom, that \u201cthe cause of the {514}\nsplendor and variety of colors lies deep in the affinities of nature;\nand that there is a singular and mysterious alliance between color and\nsound.\u201d The kabalists place their \u201cmiddle nature\u201d in direct relation\nwith the moon; and the green ray occupies the centre point between\nthe others, being placed in the middle of the spectrum. The Egyptian\npriests chanted the _seven_ vowels as a hymn addressed to Serapis;[771]\nand at the sound of the _seventh_ vowel, as at the \u201c_seventh_ ray\u201d of\nthe rising sun, the statue of Memnon responded. Recent discoveries have\nproved the wonderful properties of the blue-violet light\u2014the _seventh_\nray of the prismatic spectrum, the most powerfully chemical of all,\nwhich corresponds with the highest note in the musical scale. The\nRosicrucian theory, that the whole universe is a musical instrument,\nis the Pythagorean doctrine of the music of the spheres. Sounds and\ncolors are all spiritual numerals; as the seven prismatic rays proceed\nfrom one spot in heaven, so the seven powers of nature, each of them a\nnumber, are the seven radiations of the Unity, the central, spiritual\nSUN.\n\n\u201cHappy is he who comprehends the spiritual numerals, and perceives\ntheir mighty influence!\u201d exclaims Plato. And happy, we may add, is he\nwho, treading the maze of force-correlations, does not neglect to trace\nthem to this invisible Sun!\n\nFuture experimenters will reap the honor of demonstrating that musical\ntones have a wonderful effect upon the growth of vegetation. And\nwith the enunciation of this unscientific fallacy, we will close the\nchapter, and proceed to remind the patient reader of certain things\nthat the ancients knew, and the moderns _think_ they know.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XIV. {515}\n\n \u201cThe transactions of this our city of Sa\u00efs, are recorded in our\n sacred writings during a period of 8,000 years.\u201d\u2014PLATO: _Tim\u00e6us_.\n\n \u201cThe Egyptians assert that from the reign of Heracles to that\n of Amasis, 17,000 years elapsed.\u201d\u2014HERODOTUS, lib. ii., c. 43.\n\n \u201cCan the theologian derive no light from the pure, primeval\n faith that glimmers from Egyptian hieroglyphics, to illustrate\n the immortality of the soul? Will not the historian deign to\n notice the prior origin of every art and science in Egypt, a\n thousand years before the Pelasgians studded the isles and\n capes of the Archipelago with their forts and temples?\u201d\u2014GLIDDON.\n\n\nHow came Egypt by her knowledge? When broke the dawn of that\ncivilization whose wondrous perfection is suggested by the bits and\nfragments supplied to us by the arch\u00e6ologists? Alas! the lips of Memnon\nare silent, and no longer utter oracles; the Sphinx has become a\ngreater riddle in her speechlessness than was the enigma propounded to\n\u0152dipus.\n\nWhat Egypt taught to others she certainly did not acquire by the\ninternational exchange of ideas and discoveries with her Semitic\nneighbors, nor from them did she receive her stimulus. \u201cThe more we\nlearn of the Egyptians,\u201d observes the writer of a recent article,\n\u201cthe more marvellous they seem!\u201d From whom could she have learned\nher wondrous arts, the secrets of which died with her? She sent no\nagents throughout the world to learn what others knew; but to her\nthe wise men of neighboring nations resorted for knowledge. Proudly\nsecluding herself within her enchanted domain, the fair queen of the\ndesert created wonders as if by the sway of a magic staff. \u201cNothing,\u201d\nremarks the same writer, whom we have elsewhere quoted, \u201cproves that\ncivilization and knowledge then rise and progress with her as in the\ncase of other peoples, but everything seems to be referable, in the\nsame perfection, _to the earliest dates_. That no nation knew as much\nas herself, is a fact demonstrated by history.\u201d\n\nMay we not assign as a reason for this remark the fact that until\nvery recently nothing was known of Old India? That these two nations,\nIndia and Egypt, were akin? That they were the oldest in the group of\nnations; and that the Eastern Ethiopians\u2014the mighty builders\u2014had come\nfrom India as a matured people, bringing their civilization with them, {516}\nand colonizing the perhaps unoccupied Egyptian territory? But we defer\na more complete elaboration of this theme for our second volume.[772]\n\n\u201cMechanism,\u201d says Eusebe Salverte, \u201cwas carried by the ancients to\na point of perfection that has never been attained in modern times.\nWe would inquire if their inventions have been surpassed in our age?\nCertainly not; and at the present day, with all the means that the\nprogress of science and modern discovery have placed in the hands\nof the mechanic, have we not been assailed by numerous difficulties\nin striving to place on a pedestal one of those monoliths that the\nEgyptians forty centuries ago erected in such numbers before their\nsacred edifices.\u201d\n\nAs far back as we can glance into history, to the reign of Menes, the\nmost ancient of the kings that we know anything about, we find proofs\nthat the Egyptians were far better acquainted with hydrostatics and\nhydraulic engineering than ourselves. The gigantic work of turning\nthe course of the Nile\u2014or rather of its three principal branches\u2014and\nbringing it to Memphis, was accomplished during the reign of that\nmonarch, who appears to us as distant in the abyss of time as a\nfar-glimmering star in the heavenly vault. Says Wilkinson: \u201cMenes\ntook accurately the measure of the power which he had to oppose, and\nhe constructed a dyke whose lofty mounds and enormous embankments\nturned the water eastward, and since that time the river is contained\nin its new bed.\u201d Herodotus has left us a poetical, but still accurate\ndescription of the lake M\u0153ris, so called after the Pharaoh who caused\nthis artificial sheet of water to be formed.\n\nThe historian has described this lake as measuring 450 miles in\ncircumference, and 300 feet in depth. It was fed through artificial\nchannels by the Nile, and made to store a portion of the annual\noverflow for the irrigation of the country, for many miles round.\nIts numerous flood gates, dams, locks, and convenient engines were\nconstructed with the greatest skill. The Romans, at a far later period,\ngot their notions on hydraulic constructions from the Egyptians, but\nour latest progress in the science of hydrostatics has demonstrated\nthe fact of a great deficiency on their part in some branches of that\nknowledge. Thus, for instance, if they were acquainted with that which\nis called in hydrostatics the great law, they seem to have been less\nfamiliar with what our modern engineers know as water tight joints.\nTheir ignorance is sufficiently proved by their conveying the water\nthrough large level aqueducts, instead of doing it at a less expense by\niron pipes beneath the surface. But the Egyptians evidently employed\na far superior method in their channels and artificial water-works.\nNotwithstanding this, the modern engineers employed by Lesseps for the {517}\nSuez Canal, who had learned from the ancient Romans all their art could\nteach them, deriving, in their turn, their knowledge from Egypt\u2014scoffed\nat the suggestion that they should seek a remedy for some imperfections\nin their work by studying the contents of the various Egyptian museums.\nNevertheless, the engineers succeeded in giving to the banks of that\n\u201clong and ugly ditch,\u201d as Professor Carpenter calls the Suez Canal,\nsufficient strength to make it a navigable water-way, instead of a\nmud-trap for vessels as it was at first.\n\nThe alluvial deposits of the Nile, during the past thirty centuries,\nhave completely altered the area of the Delta, so that it is\ncontinually growing seaward, and adding to the territory of the\nKhedive. In ancient times, the principal mouth of the river was called\nPelusian; and the canal cut by one of the kings\u2014the canal of Necho\u2014led\nfrom Suez to this branch. After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra,\nat Actium, it was proposed that a portion of the fleet should pass\nthrough the canal to the Red Sea, which shows the depth of water that\nthose early engineers had secured. Settlers in Colorado and Arizona\nhave recently reclaimed large tracts of barren land by a system of\nirrigation; receiving from the journals of the day no little praise\nfor their ingenuity. But, for a distance of 500 miles above Cairo,\nthere stretches a strip of land reclaimed from the desert, and made,\naccording to Professor Carpenter, \u201cthe most fertile on the face of\nthe earth.\u201d He says, \u201cfor thousands of years these branch canals have\nconveyed fresh water from the Nile, to fertilize the land of this long\nnarrow strip, as well as of the Delta.\u201d He describes \u201cthe net-work of\ncanals over the Delta, which dates from an early period of the Egyptian\nmonarchs.\u201d\n\nThe French province of Artois has given its name to the Artesian well,\nas though that form of engineering had been first applied in that\ndistrict; but, if we consult the Chinese records, we find such wells to\nhave been in common use ages before the Christian era.\n\nIf we now turn to architecture, we find displayed before our eyes,\nwonders which baffle all description. Referring to the temples of\nPhiloe, Abu Simbel, Dendera, Edfu, and Karnak, Professor Carpenter\nremarks that \u201cthese stupendous and beautiful erections ... these\ngigantic pyramids and temples\u201d have a \u201cvastness and beauty\u201d which are\n\u201cstill impressive after the lapse of thousands of years.\u201d He is amazed\nat \u201cthe admirable character of the workmanship; the stones in most\ncases being fitted together with astonishing nicety, so that a knife\ncould hardly be thrust between the joints.\u201d He noticed in his amateur\narch\u00e6ological pilgrimage, another of those \u201ccurious coincidences\u201d\nwhich his Holiness, the Pope, may feel some interest in learning. He\nis speaking of the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_, sculptured on the old\nmonuments, and the ancient belief in the immortality of the soul.\n\u201cNow, it is most remarkable,\u201d says the professor, \u201cto see that not only\nthis belief, but the language in which it was expressed in the ancient\nEgyptian times, anticipated that of the Christian Revelation. For, in\nthis _Book of the Dead_, there are used the very phrases we find in the {518}\n_New Testament_, in connection with the day of judgment;\u201d and he admits\nthat this hierogram was \u201cengraved, probably, 2,000 years before the\ntime of Christ.\u201d\n\nAccording to Bunsen, who is considered to have made the most exact\ncalculations, the mass of masonry in the great Pyramid of Cheops\nmeasures 82,111,000 feet, and would weigh 6,316,000 tons. The immense\nnumbers of squared stones show us the unparalleled skill of the\nEgyptian quarrymen. Speaking of the great pyramid, Kenrick says: \u201cThe\njoints are scarcely perceptible, not wider than the thickness of\nsilver paper, and the cement is so tenacious, that fragments of the\ncasing-stones still remain in their original position, notwithstanding\nthe lapse of many centuries, and the violence by which they were\ndetached.\u201d Who, of our modern architects and chemists, will rediscover\nthe indestructible cement of the oldest Egyptian buildings?\n\n\u201cThe skill of the ancients in quarrying,\u201d says Bunsen, \u201cis displayed\nthe most in the extracting of the huge blocks, out of which obelisks\nand colossal statues were hewn\u2014obelisks ninety feet high, and statues\nforty feet high, made out of one stone!\u201d There are many such. They did\nnot blast out the blocks for these monuments, but adopted the following\nscientific method: Instead of using huge iron wedges, which would have\nsplit the stone, they cut a small groove for the whole length of,\nperhaps, 100 feet, and inserted in it, close to each other, a great\nnumber of dry wooden wedges; after which they poured water into the\ngroove, and the wedges swelling and bursting simultaneously, with a\ntremendous force, broke out the huge stone, as neatly as a diamond cuts\na pane of glass.\n\nModern geographers and geologists have demonstrated that these\nmonoliths were brought from a prodigious distance, and have been at\na loss to conjecture how the transport was effected. Old manuscripts\nsay that it was done by the help of portable rails. These rested upon\ninflated bags of hide, rendered indestructible by the same process as\nthat used for preserving the mummies. These ingenious air-cushions\nprevented the rails from sinking in the deep sand. Manetho mentions\nthem, and remarks that they were so well prepared that they would\nendure wear and tear for centuries.\n\nThe date of the hundreds of pyramids in the Valley of the Nile is\nimpossible to fix by any of the rules of modern science; but Herodotus\ninforms us that each successive king erected one to commemorate his {519}\nreign, and serve as his sepulchre. But, Herodotus did not tell all,\nalthough he knew that the _real_ purpose of the pyramid was very\ndifferent from that which he assigns to it. Were it not for his\nreligious scruples, he might have added that, externally, it symbolized\nthe creative principle of nature, and illustrated also the principles\nof geometry, mathematics, astrology, and astronomy. Internally, it was\na majestic fane, in whose sombre recesses were performed the Mysteries,\nand whose walls had often witnessed the initiation-scenes of members\nof the royal family. The porphyry sarcophagus, which Professor Piazzi\nSmyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, degrades into a corn-bin, was the\n_baptismal font_, upon emerging from which, the neophyte was \u201cborn\nagain,\u201d and became an _adept_.\n\nHerodotus gives us, however, a just idea of the enormous labor expended\nin transporting one of these gigantic blocks of granite. It measured\nthirty-two feet in length, twenty-one feet in width, and twelve feet in\nheight. Its weight he estimates to be rising 300 tons, and it occupied\n2,000 men for three years to move it from Syene to the Delta, down the\nNile. Gliddon, in his _Ancient Egypt_, quotes from Pliny a description\nof the arrangements for moving the obelisk erected at Alexandria by\nPtolem\u00e6us Philadelphus. A canal was dug from the Nile to the place\nwhere the obelisk lay. Two boats were floated under it; they were\nweighted with stones containing one cubic foot each, and the weight\nof the obelisk having been calculated by the engineers, the cargo\nof the boats was exactly proportioned to it, so that they should be\nsufficiently submerged to pass under the monolith as it lay across the\ncanal. Then, the stones were gradually removed, the boats rose, lifted\nthe obelisk, and it was floated down the river.\n\nIn the Egyptian section of the Dresden, or Berlin Museum, we forget\nwhich, is a drawing which represents a workman ascending an unfinished\npyramid, with a basket of sand upon his back. This has suggested to\ncertain Egyptologists the idea that the blocks of the pyramids were\nchemically manufactured _in loco_. Some modern engineers believe\nthat Portland cement, a double silicate of lime and alumina, is\nthe imperishable cement of the ancients. But, on the other hand,\nProfessor Carpenter asserts that the pyramids, with the exception of\ntheir granite casing, is formed of what \u201cgeologists call _nummulitic_\nlimestone. This is newer than the old chalk, and is made of the shells\nof animals called nummulites\u2014like little pieces of money about the size\nof a shilling.\u201d However this moot question may be decided, no one, from\nHerodotus and Pliny down to the last wandering engineer who has gazed\nupon these imperial monuments of long-crumbled dynasties, has been\nable to tell us how the gigantic masses were transported and set up {520}\nin place. Bunsen concedes to Egypt an antiquity of 20,000 years. But\neven in this matter we would be left to conjecture if we depended upon\nmodern authorities. They can neither tell us for what the pyramids were\nconstructed, under what dynasty the first was raised, nor the material\nof which they are built. All is conjecture with them.\n\nProfessor Smyth has given us by far the most accurate mathematical\ndescription of the great pyramid to be found in literature. But after\nshowing the astronomical bearings of the structure, he so little\nappreciates ancient Egyptian thought that he actually maintains\nthat the porphyry sarcophagus of the king\u2019s chamber is the unit of\nmeasure for the two most enlightened nations of the earth\u2014\u201cEngland\nand America.\u201d One of the _books_ of _Hermes_ describes certain of the\npyramids as standing upon the sea-shore, \u201cthe waves of which dashed in\npowerless fury against its base.\u201d This implies that the geographical\nfeatures of the country have been changed, and may indicate that\nwe must accord to these ancient \u201cgranaries,\u201d \u201cmagico-astrological\nobservatories,\u201d and \u201croyal sepulchres,\u201d an origin antedating the\nupheaval of the Sahara and other deserts. This would imply rather more\nof an antiquity than the poor few thousands of years, so generously\naccorded to them by Egyptologists.\n\nDr. Rebold, a French arch\u00e6ologist of some renown, gives his readers a\nglimpse of the culture which prevailed 5,000 (?) years b. c., by saying\nthat there were at that time no less than \u201cthirty or forty colleges of\nthe priests who studied occult sciences and practical magic.\u201d\n\nA writer in the _National Quarterly Review_ (Vol. xxxii., No. lxiii.,\nDecember, 1875) says that, \u201cThe recent excavations made among the\nruins of Carthage have brought to light traces of a civilization, a\nrefinement of art and luxury, which must even have outshone that of\nancient Rome; and when the fiat went forth, _Delenda est Carthago_,\nthe mistress of the world well knew that she was about to destroy a\ngreater than herself, for, while one empire swayed the world by force\nof arms alone, the other was the last and most perfect representative\nof a race who had, for centuries before Rome was dreamed of, directed\nthe civilization, the learning, and the intelligence of mankind.\u201d This\nCarthage is the one which, according to Appian, was standing as early\nas B. C. 1234, or fifty years before the taking of Troy, and not the\none popularly supposed to have been built by Dido (Elissa or Astart\u00e8)\nfour centuries later.\n\nHere we have still another illustration of the truth of the doctrine\nof cycles. Draper\u2019s admissions as to the astronomical erudition of\nthe ancient Egyptians are singularly supported by an interesting fact\nquoted by Mr. J. M. Peebles, from a lecture delivered in Philadelphia,\nby the late Professor O. M. Mitchell, the astronomer. Upon the coffin\nof a mummy, now in the British Museum, was delineated the zodiac {521}\nwith the exact positions of the planets at the time of the autumnal\nequinox, in the year 1722 B.C. Professor Mitchell calculated the exact\nposition of the heavenly bodies belonging to our solar system at the\ntime indicated. \u201cThe result,\u201d says Mr. Peebles, \u201cI give in his own\nwords: \u2018To my astonishment ... it was found that on the 7th of October,\n1722 B.C., the moon and planets had occupied the exact points in the\nheavens marked upon the coffin in the British Museum.\u2019\u201d[773]\n\nProfessor John Fiske, in his onslaught on Dr. Draper\u2019s _History of\nthe Intellectual Development of Europe_, sets his pen against the\ndoctrine of cyclical progression, remarking that \u201cwe have never\nknown the beginning or the end of an historic cycle, and have no\ninductive warrant for believing that we are now traversing one.\u201d[774]\nHe chides the author of that eloquent and thoughtful work for the\n\u201codd disposition exhibited throughout his work, not only to refer the\nbest part of Greek culture to an Egyptian source, but uniformly to\nexalt the non-European civilization at the expense of the European.\u201d\nWe believe that this \u201codd disposition\u201d might be directly sanctioned\nby the confessions of great Grecian historians themselves. Professor\nFiske might, with profit, read Herodotus over again. The \u201cFather of\nHistory\u201d confesses more than once that Greece owes everything to Egypt.\nAs to his assertion that the world has never known the beginning or\nthe end of an historical cycle, we have but to cast a retrospective\nglance on the many glorious nations which have passed away, _i.e._,\nreached the end of their great national cycle. Compare the Egypt of\nthat day, with its perfection of art, science, and religion, its\nglorious cities and monuments, and its swarming population, with the\nEgypt of to-day, peopled with strangers; its ruins the abode of bats\nand snakes, and a few Copts the sole surviving heirs to all this\ngrandeur\u2014and see whether the cyclical theory does not re\u00e4ssert itself.\nSays Gliddon, who is now contradicted by Mr. Fiske: \u201cPhilologists,\nastronomers, chemists, painters, architects, physicians, must return\nto Egypt to learn the origin of language and writing; of the calendar\nand solar motion; of the art of cutting granite with a copper chisel,\nand of giving elasticity to a copper sword; of making glass with the\nvariegated hues of the rainbow; of moving single blocks of polished\nsyenite, _nine hundred tons_ in weight, for any distance, by land\nand water; of building arches, rounded and pointed, with masonic\nprecision unsurpassed at the present day, and antecedent by 2,000 years\nto the \u2018Cloaca Magna\u2019 of Rome; of sculpturing a Doric column 1,000 {522}\nyears before the Dorians are known in history; of fresco painting\nin imperishable colors; of practical knowledge in anatomy; and of\ntime-defying pyramid-building.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery craftsman can behold, in Egyptian monuments, the progress of\nhis art 4,000 years ago; and whether it be a wheelwright building a\nchariot, a shoemaker drawing his twine, a leather-cutter using the\nself-same form of knife of old as is considered the best form now,\na weaver throwing the same hand-shuttle, a whitesmith using that\nidentical form of blow-pipe but lately recognized to be the most\nefficient, the seal-engraver cutting, in hieroglyphics, such names as\nSchooho\u2019s, above 4,300 years ago\u2014_all these_, and many more astounding\nevidences of Egyptian priority, now require but a glance at the plates\nof Rossellini.\u201d\n\n\u201cTruly,\u201d exclaims Mr. Peebles, \u201cthese Ramsean temples and tombs were as\nmuch a marvel to the Grecian Herodotus as they are to us!\u201d[775]\n\nBut, even then, the merciless hand of time had left its traces upon\ntheir structures, and some of them, whose very memory would be lost\nwere it not for the _Books of Hermes_, had been swept away into the\noblivion of the ages. King after king, and dynasty after dynasty\nhad passed in a glittering pageant before the eyes of succeeding\ngenerations and their renown had filled the habitable globe. The same\npall of forgetfulness had fallen upon them and their monuments alike,\nbefore the first of our historical authorities, Herodotus, preserved\nfor posterity the remembrance of that wonder of the world, the great\nLabyrinth. The long accepted Biblical chronology has so cramped\nthe minds of not only the clergy, but even our scarce-unfettered\nscientists, that in treating of prehistoric remains in different parts\nof the world, a constant fear is manifested on their part to trespass\nbeyond the period of 6,000 years, hitherto allowed by theology as the\nage of the world.\n\nHerodotus found the Labyrinth already in ruins; but nevertheless his\nadmiration for the genius of its builders knew no bounds. He regarded\nit as far more marvellous than the pyramids themselves, and, as an\neye-witness, minutely describes it. The French and Prussian savants,\nas well as other Egyptologists, agree as to the emplacement, and\nidentified its noble ruins. Moreover, they confirm the account given\nof it by the old historian. Herodotus says that he found therein\n3,000 chambers; half subterranean and the other half above-ground.\n\u201cThe upper chambers,\u201d he says, \u201cI myself passed through and examined\nin detail. In the underground ones (which _may exist till now_, for\nall the arch\u00e6ologists know), the keepers of the building would not\nlet me in, for they contain the sepulchres of the kings who built the\nLabyrinth, and also those of the sacred crocodiles. The upper chambers {523}\nI saw and examined with my own eyes, and found them to excel all other\nhuman productions.\u201d In Rawlinson\u2019s translation, Herodotus is made to\nsay: \u201cThe passages through the houses and the varied windings of the\npaths across the courts, excited in me infinite admiration as I passed\nfrom the courts into the chambers, and from thence into colonnades,\nand from colonnades into other houses, and again into courts unseen\nbefore. The roof was throughout of stone like the walls, and both were\nexquisitely carved all over with figures. Every court was surrounded\nwith a colonnade, which was built of white stones, sculptured most\nexquisitely. At the corner of the Labyrinth stands a pyramid forty\nfathoms high, with large figures engraved on it, and it is entered by a\nvast subterranean passage.\u201d\n\nIf such was the Labyrinth, when viewed by Herodotus, what, in such\na case, was ancient Thebes, the city destroyed far earlier than\nthe period of Psammeticus, who himself reigned 530 years after the\ndestruction of Troy? We find that in his time Memphis was the capital,\nwhile of the glorious Thebes there remained but _ruins_. Now, if we,\nwho are enabled to form our estimate only by the ruins of what was\nalready ruins so many ages before our era\u2014are stupefied in their\ncontemplation, what must have been the general aspect of Thebes in\nthe days of its glory? Karnak\u2014temple, palace, ruins, or whatsoever\nthe arch\u00e6ologists may term it\u2014is now its only representative. But\nsolitary and alone as it stands, fit emblem of majestic empire, as if\nforgotten by time in the onward march of the centuries, it testifies\nto the art and skill of the ancients. He must be indeed devoid of the\nspiritual perception of genius, who fails to feel as well as to see the\nintellectual grandeur of the race that planned and built it.\n\nChampollion, who passed almost his entire life in the exploration of\narch\u00e6ological remains, gives vent to his emotions in the following\ndescriptions of Karnak: \u201cThe ground covered by the mass of remaining\nbuildings is square; and each side measures 1,800 feet. One is\nastounded and _overcome by the grandeur_ of the sublime remnants, the\nprodigality and magnificence of workmanship to be seen everywhere.\u201d No\npeople of ancient or modern times has conceived the art of architecture\nupon a scale so sublime, so grandiose as it existed among the ancient\nEgyptians; and the imagination, which in Europe soars far above our\nporticos, arrests itself _and falls powerless_ at the foot of the\nhundred and forty columns of the hypostyle of Karnak! In one of its\nhalls, the Cathedral of Notre Dame might stand and not touch the\nceiling, but be considered as a small ornament in the centre of the\nhall.\n\nA writer in a number of an English periodical, of 1870, evidently\nspeaking with the authority of a traveller who describes what he has\nseen, expresses himself as follows: \u201cCourts, halls, gateways, pillars {524}\nobelisks, monolithic figures, sculptures, long rows of sphinxes, are\nfound in such profusion at Karnak, that the sight is too much for\nmodern comprehension.\u201d\n\nSays Denon, the French traveller: \u201cIt is hardly possible to believe,\nafter seeing it, in the reality of the existence of so many buildings\ncollected together on a single point, in their dimensions, in the\nresolute perseverance which their construction required, and in the\nincalculable expenses of so much magnificence! It is necessary that the\nreader should fancy what is before him to be a dream, as he who views\nthe objects themselves occasionally yields to the doubt whether he be\nperfectly awake.... There are lakes and mountains _within the periphery\nof the sanctuary_. These two edifices are selected as examples from a\nlist _next to inexhaustible_. The whole valley and delta of the Nile,\nfrom the cataracts to the sea, was covered with temples, palaces,\ntombs, pyramids, obelisks, and pillars. The execution of the sculptures\nis beyond praise. The mechanical perfection with which artists wrought\nin granite, serpentine, breccia, and basalt, is wonderful, according\nto all the experts ... animals and plants look as good as natural, and\nartificial objects are beautifully sculptured; battles by sea and land,\nand scenes of domestic life are to be found in all their _bas-reliefs_.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe monuments,\u201d says an English author, \u201cwhich there strike the\ntraveller, fill his mind with great ideas. At the sight of the\ncolossuses and superb obelisks, which seem to surpass the limits of\nhuman nature, he cannot help exclaiming, \u2018This was the work of man,\u2019\nand this sentiment seems to ennoble his existence.\u201d[776]\n\nIn his turn, Dr. Richardson, speaking of the Temple of Dendera, says:\n\u201cThe female figures are so extremely well executed, that they do all\nbut speak; they have a mildness of feature and expression that never\nwas surpassed.\u201d\n\n_Every one of these stones is covered with hieroglyphics, and the more\nancient they are, the more beautifully we find them chiselled._ Does\nnot this furnish a new proof that history got its first glimpse of the\nancients when the arts were already fast degenerating among them? The\nobelisks have their inscriptions cut two inches, and sometimes more,\nin depth, and they are cut with the highest degree of perfection.\nSome idea may be formed of their depth, from the fact that the\nArabs, for a small fee, will climb sometimes to the very top of an\nobelisk, by inserting their toes and fingers in the excavations of the\nhieroglyphics. That all of these works, in which solidity rivals the\nbeauty of their execution, were done before the days of the Exodus,\nthere remains no historical doubt whatever. (All the arch\u00e6ologists now {525}\nagree in saying that, the further back we go in history, the better and\nfiner become these arts.) These views clash again with the individual\nopinion of Mr. Fiske, who would have us believe that \u201cthe sculptures\nupon these monuments (of Egypt, Hindustan, and Assyria), moreover,\nbetoken a very _undeveloped_ condition of the artistic faculties.\u201d[777]\nNay, the learned gentleman goes farther. Joining his voice in the\nopposition against the claims of learning\u2014which belongs by right to\nthe sacerdotal castes of antiquity\u2014to that of Lewis, he contemptuously\nremarks that \u201cthe extravagant theory of a profound science possessed\nby the Egyptian priesthood from a remote antiquity, and imparted to\nitinerant Greek philosophers, has been utterly destroyed (?) by Sir G.\nC. Lewis[778] ... while, with regard to Egypt and Hindustan, as well as\nAssyria, it may be said that the colossal monuments which have adorned\nthese countries since prehistoric times, bear witness to the former\nprevalence of a barbaric despotism, totally incompatible with social\nnobility, and, therefore, with well sustained progress.\u201d[779]\n\nA curious argument, indeed. If the size and grandeur of public\nmonuments are to serve to our posterity as a standard by which to\napproximately estimate the \u201cprogress of civilization\u201d attained by\ntheir builders, it may be prudent, perhaps, for America, so proud\nof her alleged progress and freedom, to dwarf her buildings at once\nto one story. Otherwise, according to Professor Fiske\u2019s theory, the\narch\u00e6ologists of A.D. 3877 will be applying to the \u201cAncient America\u201d\nof 1877, the rule of Lewis\u2014and say the _ancient_ United States \u201cmay\nbe considered as a great _latifundium_, or plantation, cultivated by\nthe entire population, as the king\u2019s (president\u2019s) slaves.\u201d Is it\nbecause the white-skinned Aryan races were never born \u201cbuilders,\u201d\nlike the Eastern \u00c6thiopians, or dark-skinned Caucasians,[780] and,\ntherefore, never able to compete with the latter in such colossal\nstructures, that we must jump at the conclusion that these grandiose\ntemples and pyramids could only have been erected under the whip of\na merciless despot? Strange logic! It would really seem more prudent\nto hold to the \u201crigorous canons of criticism\u201d laid down by Lewis and\nGrote, and honestly confess at once, that we really know little about\nthese ancient nations, and that, except so far as purely hypothetical\nspeculations go, unless we study in the same direction as the ancient\npriests did, we have as little chance in the future. We only know what\nthey allowed the uninitiated to know, but the little we do learn of {526}\nthem by deduction, ought to be sufficient to assure us that, even in\nthe nineteenth century, with all our claims to supremacy in arts and\nsciences, we are totally unable, we will not say to build anything like\nthe monuments of Egypt, Hindustan, or Assyria, but even to rediscover\nthe least of the ancient \u201c_lost_ arts.\u201d Besides, Sir Gardner Wilkinson\ngives forcible expression to this view of the exhumed treasures of old,\nby adding that, \u201che can trace no _primitive mode_ of life, no barbarous\ncustoms, but a sort of stationary civilization _from the most remote\nperiods_.\u201d Thus far, arch\u00e6ology disagrees with geology, which affirms\nthat the further they trace the remains of men, the more barbarous they\nfind them. It is doubtful if geology has even yet exhausted the field\nof research afforded her in the caves, and the views of geologists,\nwhich are based upon present experience, may be radically modified,\nwhen they come to discover the remains of the ancestors of the people\nwhom they now style the cave-dwellers.\n\nWhat better illustrates the theory of cycles than the following fact?\nNearly 700 years B.C., in the schools of Thales and Pythagoras was\ntaught the doctrine of the true motion of the earth, its form, and the\nwhole heliocentric system. And in 317 A.D., we find Lactantius, the\npreceptor of Crispus C\u00e6sar, son of Constantine the Great, teaching\nhis pupil that the earth was a plane surrounded by the sky, which is\ncomposed of fire and water, and warning him against the heretical\ndoctrine of the earth\u2019s globular form!\n\nWhenever, in the pride of some new discovery, we throw a look into\nthe past, we find, to our dismay, certain vestiges which indicate the\npossibility, if not certainty, that the alleged discovery was not\ntotally unknown to the ancients.\n\nIt is generally asserted that neither the early inhabitants of the\nMosaic times, nor even the more civilized nations of the Ptolemaic\nperiod were acquainted with electricity. If we remain undisturbed in\nthis opinion, it is not for lack of proofs to the contrary. We may\ndisdain to search for a profounder meaning in some characteristic\nsentences of Servius, and other writers; we cannot so obliterate them\nbut that, at some future day, that meaning will appear to us in all\nits significant truths. \u201cThe first inhabitants of the earth,\u201d says he,\n\u201cnever carried fire to their altars, but by their prayers they brought\ndown the heavenly fire.\u201d[781] \u201cPrometheus discovered and revealed to\nman the art of bringing down lightning; and by the method which he\ntaught to them, they brought down fire from the region above.\u201d\n\nIf, after pondering these words, we are still willing to attribute {527} \nthem to the phraseology of mythological fables, we may turn to the\ndays of Numa, the king-philosopher, so renowned for his esoteric\nlearning, and find ourselves more embarrassed to deal with his case.\nWe can neither accuse him of ignorance, superstition, nor credulity;\nfor, if history can be believed at all, he was intently bent on\ndestroying polytheism and idol-worship. He had so well dissuaded the\nRomans from idolatry that for nearly two centuries neither statues nor\nimages appeared in their temples. On the other hand old historians\ntell us that the knowledge which Numa possessed in natural physics was\nremarkable. Tradition says that he was initiated by the priests of the\nEtruscan divinities, and instructed by them in the secret of forcing\nJupiter, the Thunderer, to descend upon earth.[782] Ovid shows that\nJupiter Elicius began to be worshipped by the Romans from that time.\nSalverte is of the opinion that before Franklin discovered his refined\nelectricity, Numa had experimented with it most successfully, and\nthat Tullus Hostilius was the first victim of the dangerous \u201cheavenly\nguest\u201d recorded in history. Titus Livy and Pliny narrate that this\nprince, having found in the _Books of Numa_, instructions on the\nsecret sacrifices offered to Jupiter Elicius, made a mistake, and, in\nconsequence of it, \u201che was struck by lightning and consumed in his own\npalace.\u201d[783]\n\nSalverte remarks that Pliny, in the exposition of Numa\u2019s scientific\nsecrets, \u201cmakes use of expressions which seem to indicate two distinct\nprocesses;\u201d the one obtained thunder (_impetrare_), the other forced\nit to lightning (_cogere_).[784] \u201cGuided by Numa\u2019s book,\u201d says Lucius,\nquoted by Pliny, \u201cTullus undertook to invoke the aid of Jupiter....\nBut having performed the rite imperfectly, he perished, struck by\nthunder.\u201d[785]\n\nTracing back the knowledge of thunder and lightning possessed by the\nEtruscan priests, we find that Tarchon, the founder of the theurgism of\nthe former, desiring to preserve his house from lightning, surrounded\nit by a hedge of the white bryony,[786] a climbing plant which has\nthe property of averting thunderbolts. Tarchon the theurgist was much\nanterior to the siege of Troy. The pointed metallic lightning-rod,\nfor which we are seemingly indebted to Franklin, is probably a\n_re-discovery_ after all. There are many medals which seem to strongly\nindicate that the principle was anciently known. The temple of Juno had\nits roof covered with a quantity of pointed blades of swords.[787]\n\nIf we possess but little proof of the ancients having had any clear {528}\nnotions as to _all_ the effects of electricity, there is very strong\nevidence, at all events, of their having been perfectly acquainted\nwith electricity itself. \u201cBen David,\u201d says the author of _The Occult\nSciences_, \u201chas asserted that Moses possessed some knowledge of the\nphenomena of electricity.\u201d Professor Hirt, of Berlin, is of this\nopinion. Michaelis, remarks\u2014_firstly_: \u201cthat there is no indication\nthat lightning ever struck the temple of Jerusalem, during a thousand\nyears. _Secondly_, that according to Josephus,[788] a forest of points\n... of gold, and very sharp, covered the roof of the temple. _Thirdly_,\nthat this roof communicated with the caverns in the hill upon which the\ntemple was situated, by means of pipes in connection with the gilding\nwhich covered all the exterior of the building; in consequence of which\nthe points would act as conductors.\u201d[789]\n\nAmmianus Marcellinus, a famous historian of the fourth century, a\nwriter generally esteemed for the fairness and correctness of his\nstatements, tells that \u201cThe magii, preserved perpetually in their\nfurnaces fire that they miraculously got from heaven.\u201d[790] There is\na sentence in the Hindu _Oupnek-hat_, which runs thus: \u201cTo know fire,\nthe sun, the moon, and lightning, is three-fourths of the science of\nGod.\u201d[791]\n\nFinally, Salverte shows that in the days of Ktesias, \u201cIndia was\nacquainted with the use of conductors of lightning.\u201d This historian\nplainly states that \u201ciron placed at the bottom of a fountain ... and\nmade in the form of a sword, _with the point upward_, possessed, as\nsoon as it was thus fixed in the ground, the property of averting\nstorms and lightnings.\u201d[792] What can be plainer?\n\nSome modern writers deny the fact that a great mirror was placed in the\nlight-house of the Alexandrian port, for the purpose of discovering\nvessels at a distance at sea. But the renowned Buffon believed in\nit; for he honestly confesses that \u201cIf the mirror really existed,\nas I firmly believe it did, to the ancients belong the honor of the\ninvention _of the telescope_.\u201d[793]\n\nStevens, in his work on the East, asserts that he found railroads\nin Upper Egypt whose grooves were coated with iron. Canova, Powers,\nand other celebrated sculptors of our modern age deem it an honor to\nbe compared with Pheidias of old, and strict truth would, perhaps,\nhesitate at such a flattery.\n\nProfessor Jowett discredits the story of the Atlantis, in the _Tim\u00e6us_; {529}\nand the records of 8,000 and 9,000 years appear to him an ancient\nswindle. But Bunsen remarks: \u201cThere is nothing improbable in itself\nin reminiscences and records of great events in Egypt 9,000 years B.\nC., for ... the Origines of Egypt go back to the ninth millennium\nbefore Christ.[794] Then how about the primitive Cyclopean fortresses\nof ancient Greece? Can the walls of Tiryns, about which, according to\narch\u00e6ological accounts, \u201ceven among the ancients it was reported to\nhave been the work of the Cyclops,\u201d[795] be deemed posterior to the\npyramids? Masses of rock, some equal to a cube of six feet, and the\nsmallest of which, Pausanias says, could never be moved by a yoke of\noxen, laid up in walls of solid masonry twenty-five feet thick and over\nforty feet high, still believed to be the work of men of the races\nknown to our history!\n\nWilkinson\u2019s researches have brought to light the fact that many\ninventions of what we term modern, and upon which we plume ourselves,\nwere perfected by the ancient Egyptians. The newly-discovered papyrus\nof Ebers, the German arch\u00e6ologist, proves that neither our modern\nchignons, skin-beautifying pearl powders, nor _eaux dentifrices_ were\nsecrets to them. More than one modern physician\u2014even among those\nwho advertise themselves as having \u201cmade a speciality of nervous\ndisorders\u201d may find his advantage in consulting the _Medical Books of\nHermes_, which contain prescriptions of real therapeutic value.\n\nThe Egyptians, as we have seen, excelled in all arts. They made paper\nso excellent in quality as to be timeproof. \u201cThey took out the pith\nof the papyrus,\u201d says our anonymous writer, previously mentioned,\n\u201cdissected and opened the fibre, and flattening it by a process\nknown to them, made it as thin as our foolscap paper, but far more\ndurable.... They sometimes cut it into strips and glued it together;\nmany of such written documents are yet in existence.\u201d The papyrus\nfound in the tomb of the queen\u2019s mummy, and another one found in the\nsarcophagus of the \u201cChambre de la Reine,\u201d at Ghizeh, present the\nappearance of the finest glossy white muslin, while it possesses the\ndurability of the best calf-parchment. \u201cFor a long time the _savants_\nbelieved the papyrus to have been introduced by Alexander the Great\u2014as\nthey erroneously imagined a good many more things\u2014but Lepsius found\nrolls of papyri in tombs and monuments of the twelfth dynasty;\nsculptured pictures of papyri were found later, on monuments of the\nfourth dynasty, and now it is proved that the art of writing was known\nand used as early as the days of Menes, the protomonarch;\u201d and thus it {530}\nwas finally discovered that the art and their system of writing were\nperfect and complete _from the very first_.\n\nIt is to Champollion that we owe the first interpretation of their\nweird writing; and, but for his life-long labor, we would till now\nremain uninformed as to the meaning of all these pictured letters,\nand the ancients would still be considered ignorant by the moderns\nwhom they so greatly excelled in some arts and sciences. \u201cHe was the\nfirst to find out what wondrous tale the Egyptians had to tell, for\none who could read their endless manuscripts and records. They left\nthem on every spot and object capable of receiving characters....\nThey engraved, and chiselled, and sculptured them on monuments; they\ntraced them on furniture, rocks, stones, walls, coffins, and tombs,\nas on the papyrus.... The pictures of their daily lives, in their\nsmallest details, are being now unravelled before our dazzled eyes in\nthe most wondrous way.... Nothing, of what we know, seems to have been\noverlooked by the ancient Egyptians.... The history of \u2018Sesostris\u2019\nshows us how well he and his people were versed in the art and\npractice of war.... The pictures show how formidable they were when\nencountered in battle. They constructed war-engines.... Homer says that\nthrough each of the 100 gates of Thebes issued 200 men with horses\nand chariots; the latter were magnificently constructed, and very\nlight in comparison with our modern heavy, clumsy, and uncomfortable\nartillery wagons.\u201d Kenrick describes them in the following terms: \u201cIn\nshort, as all the essential principles which regulate the construction\nand draught of carriages are exemplified in the war-chariots of the\nPharaohs, so there is nothing which modern taste and luxury have\ndevised for their decoration to which we do not find a prototype\nin the monuments of the eighteenth dynasty.\u201d Springs\u2014_metallic_\nsprings\u2014have been found in them, and, notwithstanding Wilkinson\u2019s\nsuperficial investigation in that direction, and description of these\nin his studies, we find proofs that such were used to prevent the\njolting in the chariots in their too rapid course. The bas-reliefs\nshow us certain mel\u00e9es and battles in which we can find and trace\ntheir uses and customs to the smallest details. The heavily-armed men\nfought in coats of mail, the infantry had quilted tunics and felt\nhelmets, with metallic coverings to protect them the better. Muratori,\nthe modern Italian inventor who, some ten years ago, introduced his\n\u201cimpenetrable cuirasse,\u201d has but followed in his invention what he\ncould make out of the ancient method which suggested to him the\nidea. The process of rendering such objects as card-board, felt, and\nother tissues, impenetrable to the cuts and thrusts of any sharp\nweapon, is now numbered among the lost arts. Muratori succeeded but\nimperfectly in preparing such felt cuirasses, and, notwithstanding the\nboasted achievements of modern chemistry he could derive from it no {531}\npreparation adequate to effect his object, and failed.\n\nTo what perfection chemistry had reached in ancient times, may be\ninferred from a fact mentioned by Virey. In his dissertations, he shows\nthat Asclepiadotus, a general of Mithradates, reproduced chemically the\ndeleterious exhalations of the sacred grotto. These vapors, like those\nof Cum\u00e6, threw the Pythoness into the mantic frenzy.\n\nEgyptians used bows, double-edged swords and daggers, javelins,\nspears, and pikes. The light troops were armed with darts and slings;\ncharioteers wielded maces and battle-axes; in siege-operations they\nwere perfect. \u201cThe assailants,\u201d says the anonymous writer, \u201cadvanced,\nforming a narrow and long line, the point being protected by a\ntriple-sided, impenetrable engine pushed before them on a kind of\nroller, by an invisible squad of men. They had covered underground\npassages with trap-doors, scaling ladders, and the art of escalade and\nmilitary strategy was carried by them to perfection.... The battering\nram was familiar to them as other things; being such experts in\nquarrying they knew how to set a mine to a wall and bring it down.\u201d The\nsame writer remarks, that it is a great deal safer for us to mention\nwhat the Egyptians _did_ than what they _did not_ know, for every day\nbrings some new discovery of their wonderful knowledge; \u201cand if,\u201d he\nadds, \u201cwe were to find out that they used Armstrong guns, this fact\nwould not be much more astonishing than many of the facts brought out\nto light already.\u201d\n\nThe proof that they were proficient in mathematical sciences, lies\nin the fact that those ancient mathematicians whom we honor as the\nfathers of geometry went to Egypt to be instructed. Says Professor\nSmyth, as quoted by Mr. Peebles, \u201cthe geometrical knowledge of the\npyramid-builders began where Euclid\u2019s ended.\u201d Before Greece came\ninto existence, the arts, with the Egyptians, were ripe and old.\nLand-measuring, an art resting on geometry, the Egyptians certainly\nknew well, as, according to the _Bible_, Joshua, after conquering\nthe Holy Land, had skill enough to divide it. And how could a people\nso skilled in natural philosophy as the Egyptians were, not be\nproportionately skilled in psychology and spiritual philosophy? The\ntemple was the nursery of the highest civilization, and it alone\npossessed that higher knowledge of magic which was in itself the\nquintessence of natural philosophy. The occult powers of nature\nwere taught in the greatest secresy and the most wonderful cures\nwere performed during the performing of the Mysteries. Herodotus\nacknowledges[796] that the Greeks learned all they knew, including {532}\nthe sacred services of the temple, from the Egyptians, and because of\nthat, their principal temples were consecrated to Egyptian divinities.\nMelampus, the famous healer and soothsayer of Argos, had to use his\nmedicines \u201cafter the manner of the Egyptians,\u201d from whom he had gained\nhis knowledge, whenever he desired his cure to be thoroughly effective.\nHe healed Iphiclus of his impotency and debility by _the rust of iron_,\naccording to the directions of Mantis, his _magnetic sleeper_, or\noracle. Sprengel gives many wonderful instances of such _magical_ cures\nin his _History of Medicine_ (see p. 119).\n\nDiodorus, in his work on the Egyptians (lib. i.), says that Isis has\ndeserved immortality, for all nations of the earth bear witness to\nthe power of this goddess to cure diseases by her influence. \u201cThis is\nproved,\u201d he says, \u201cnot by fable as among the Greeks, but by authentic\nfacts.\u201d Galen records several remedial means which were preserved in\nthe healing wards of the temples. He mentions also a universal medicine\nwhich in his time was called _Isis_.[797]\n\nThe doctrines of several Greek philosophers, who had been instructed in\nEgypt, demonstrates their profound learning. Orpheus, who, according\nto Artapanus, was a disciple of Moyses (Moses),[798] Pythagoras,\nHerodotus, and Plato owe their philosophy to the same temples in which\nthe wise Solon was instructed by the priests. \u201cAntiklides relates,\u201d\nsays Pliny, \u201cthat the letters were invented in Egypt by a person whose\nname was Menon, fifteen years before Phoroneus the most ancient king\nof Greece.\u201d[799] Jablonski proves that the heliocentric system, as\nwell as the earth\u2019s sphericity, were known by the priests of Egypt\nfrom immemorial ages. \u201cThis theory,\u201d he adds, \u201cPythagoras took from\nthe Egyptians, who had it from the Brachmans of India.\u201d[800] F\u00e9nelon,\nthe illustrious Archbishop of Cambray, in his _Lives of the Ancient\nPhilosophers_, credits Pythagoras with this knowledge, and says that\nbesides teaching his disciples that as the earth was round there were\nantipodes, since it was inhabited everywhere, the great mathematician\nwas the first to discover that the morning and evening star was the\nsame. If we now consider that Pythagoras lived in about the 16th\nOlympiad, over 700 years B.C., and taught this fact at such an early\nperiod, we must believe that it was known by others before him. The\nworks of Aristotle, La\u00ebrtius, and several others in which Pythagoras is\nmentioned, demonstrate that he had learned from the Egyptians about the\nobliquity of the ecliptic, the starry composition of the milky way, and\nthe borrowed light of the moon.\n\nWilkinson, corroborated later by others, says that the Egyptians {533}\ndivided time, knew the true length of the year, and the precession of\nthe equinoxes. By recording the rising and setting of the stars, they\nunderstood the particular influences which proceed from the positions\nand conjunctions of all heavenly bodies, and therefore their priests,\nprophesying as accurately as our modern astronomers, meteorological\nchanges, could, _en plus_, astrologize through astral motions. Though\nthe sober and eloquent Cicero may be partially right in his indignation\nagainst the exaggerations of the Babylonian priests, who \u201cassert\nthat they have preserved upon monuments observations extending back\nduring an interval of 470,000 years,\u201d[801] still, the period at which\nastronomy had arrived at its perfection with the ancients is _beyond_\nthe reach of modern calculation.\n\nA writer in one of our scientific journals observes \u201cthat every\nscience in its growth passes through three stages: First, we have the\nstage of observation, when facts are collected and registered by many\nminds in many places. Next, we have the stage of generalization, when\nthese carefully verified facts are arranged methodically, generalized\nsystematically, and classified logically, so as to deduce and elucidate\nfrom them the laws that regulate their rule and order. Lastly, we have\nthe stage of prophecy, when these laws are so applied that events can\nbe predicted to occur with unerring accuracy.\u201d If several thousand\nyears B.C., Chinese and Chaldean astronomers predicted eclipses\u2014the\nlatter, whether by the cycle of Saros, or other means, matters not\u2014the\nfact remains the same. They had reached the last and highest stage of\nastronomical science\u2014they _prophesied_. If they could, in the year 1722\nB.C., delineate the zodiac with the exact positions of the planets\nat the time of the autumnal equinox, and so unerringly as Professor\nMitchell, the astronomer, proved, then they knew the laws that regulate\n\u201ccarefully-verified facts\u201d to perfection, and applied them with as much\ncertainty as our modern astronomers. Moreover, astronomy is said to\nbe in our century \u201cthe only science which has thoroughly reached the\n_last stage_ ... other sciences are yet in various stages of growth;\nelectricity, in some branches, has reached the third stage, but in\nmany branches is still in its infantine period.\u201d[802] This we know, on\nthe exasperating confessions of men of science themselves, and we can\nentertain no doubt as to this sad reality in the nineteenth century,\nas we belong ourselves to it. Not so in relation to the men who lived\nin the days of the glory of Chald\u00e6a, Assyria, and Babylon. Of the\nstages they reached in other sciences we know _nothing_, except that\nin astronomy they stood equal with us, for they had also reached the {534}\n_third_ and last stage. In his lecture on the _Lost Arts_, Wendell\nPhillips very artistically describes the situation. \u201cWe seem to\nimagine,\u201d says he, \u201cthat whether knowledge will die with us or not,\nit certainly began with us.... We have a pitying estimate, a tender\npity for the narrowness, ignorance, and darkness of the bygone ages.\u201d\nTo illustrate our own idea with the closing sentence of the favorite\nlecturer, we may as well confess that we undertook this chapter,\nwhich in one sense interrupts our narrative, to inquire of our men of\nscience, whether they are sure that they are boasting \u201c_on the right\nline_.\u201d\n\nThus we read of a people, who, according to some learned writers,[803]\nhad just emerged from the bronze age into the succeeding age of iron.\n\u201cIf Chaldea, Assyria, and Babylon presented _stupendous and venerable\nantiquities reaching far back into_ the night of time, Persia was not\nwithout her wonders of a later date. The pillared halls of Persepolis\nwere filled with miracles of art\u2014carvings, sculptures, enamels,\nalabaster libraries, obelisks, sphinxes, colossal bulls. Ecbatana,\nin Media, the cool summer retreat of the Persian kings, was defended\nby seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior\nones in succession of increasing height, and of different colors, in\nastrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace was roofed\n_with silver tiles_; its beams were plated with gold. At midnight, in\nits halls, the sun was rivalled by many a row of naphtha cressets.\nA paradise, that luxury of the monarchs of the East, was planted in\nthe midst of the city. The Persian empire was truly the garden of the\nworld.... In Babylon there still remained its walls, once more than\nsixty miles in compass and, after the ravages of three centuries and\nthree conquerors, still more than eighty feet in height; there were\nstill the ruins of the temple of the cloud-encompassed Bel; on its top\nwas planted the observatory wherein the weird Chaldean astronomers had\nheld nocturnal communion with the stars; still there were vestiges of\nthe two palaces with their hanging gardens, in which were trees growing\nin mid-air, and the wreck of the hydraulic machinery that had supplied\nthem from the river. Into the artificial lake, with its vast apparatus\nof aqueducts and sluices, the melted snows of the Armenian mountains\nfound their way and were confined in their course through the city by\nthe embankments of the Euphrates. Most wonderful of all, perhaps, was\n_the tunnel under the river-bed_.\u201d[804] In his _First Traces of Man {535}\nin Europe_, Albrecht M\u00fcller proposes a name descriptive of the age\nin which we live, and suggests that \u201cthe age of paper\u201d is perhaps as\ngood as any that can be discussed. We do not agree with the learned\nprofessor. Our firm opinion is, that succeeding generations will term\nours, at best, the age of _brass_; at worst, that of albata or of\noroide.\n\nThe thought of the present-day commentator and critic as to the ancient\nlearning, is limited to and runs round the _exoterism_ of the temples;\nhis insight is either unwilling or unable to penetrate into the solemn\nadyta of old, where the hierophant instructed the neophyte to regard\nthe public worship in its true light. No ancient sage would have taught\nthat man is the king of creation, and that the starry heaven and our\nmother earth were created for his sake. He, who doubts the assertion,\nmay turn to the _Magical and Philosophical Precepts_ of Zoroaster, and\nfind its corroboration in the following:[805]\n\n \u201cDirect not thy mind to the vast measures of the earth;\n For the plant of truth is not upon ground.\n Nor measure the measures of the sun, collecting rules,\n For he is carried by the eternal will of the Father, _not for your\n sake_,\n Dismiss the impetuous course of the moon;\n For she runs always by work of necessity.\n The progression of the stars _was not generated for your sake_.\u201d\n\nA rather strange teaching to come from those who are universally\nbelieved to have worshipped the sun, and moon, and the starry host,\nas gods. The sublime profundity of the Magian precepts being _beyond_\nthe reach of modern materialistic thought, the Chaldean philosophers\nare accused, together with the ignorant masses, of Sabianism and\nsun-worship.\n\nThere was a vast difference between the _true_ worship taught to those\nwho showed themselves worthy, and the state religions. The magians are\naccused of all kinds of superstition, but this is what a _Chaldean\nOracle_ says:\n\n \u201cThe wide a\u00ebrial flight of birds _is not true_,\n Nor the dissections of the entrails of victims; they are all mere toys,\n The _basis of mercenary fraud_; flee from these\n If you would open the sacred paradise of piety\n Where virtue, wisdom, and equity, are assembled.\u201d[806]\n\nSurely, it is not those who warn people against \u201cmercenary fraud\u201d\nwho can be accused of it; and if they accomplished acts which seem {536}\nmiraculous, who can with fairness presume to deny that it was done\nmerely because they possessed a knowledge of natural philosophy and\npsychological science to a degree unknown to our schools?\n\nWhat did they not know? It is a well-demonstrated fact that the true\nmeridian was correctly ascertained before the first pyramid was\nbuilt. They had clocks and dials to measure time; their cubit was\nthe established unit of linear measure, being 1,707 feet of English\nmeasure; according to Herodotus the unit of weight was also known; as\nmoney, they had gold and silver rings valued by weight; they had the\ndecimal and duodecimal modes of calculation from the earliest times,\nand were proficient in algebra. \u201cHow could they otherwise,\u201d says an\nunknown author, \u201cbring into operation such immense mechanical powers,\nif they had not thoroughly understood the philosophy of what we term\nthe mechanical powers?\u201d\n\nThe art of making linen and fine fabrics is also proved to have\nbeen one of their branches of knowledge, for the _Bible_ speaks of\nit. Joseph was presented by Pharaoh with a vesture of fine linen, a\ngolden chain, and many more things. The linen of Egypt was famous\nthroughout the world. The mummies are all wrapped in it and the linen\nis beautifully preserved. Pliny speaks of a certain garment sent 600\nyears B. C., by King Amasis to Lindus, every single thread of which\nwas composed of 360 minor threads twisted together. Herodotus gives us\n(book i.), in his account of Isis and the Mysteries performed in her\nhonor, an idea of the beauty and \u201cadmirable softness of the linen worn\nby the priests.\u201d The latter wore shoes made of papyrus and garments\nof _fine linen_, because this goddess first taught the use of it; and\nthus, besides being called _Isiaci_, or priests of Isis, they were also\nknown as _Linigera_, or the \u201clinen-wearing.\u201d This linen was spun and\ndyed in those brilliant and gorgeous colors, the secret of which is\nlikewise now among the lost arts. On the mummies we often find the most\nbeautiful embroidery and bead-work ornamenting their shirts; several of\nsuch can be seen in the museum of Bulak (Cairo), and are unsurpassable\nin beauty; the designs are exquisite, and the labor seems immense.\nThe elaborate and so much vaunted Gobelins tapestry, is but a gross\nproduction when compared with some of the embroidery of the ancient\nEgyptians. We have but to refer to _Exodus_ to discover how skilful\nwas the workmanship of the Israelitish pupils of the Egyptians upon\ntheir tabernacle and sacred ark. The sacerdotal vestments, with their\ndecorations of \u201cpomegranates and golden bells,\u201d and the thummim, or\njewelled breastplate of the high priest, are described by Josephus as\nbeing of unparalleled beauty and of wonderful workmanship; and yet we\nfind beyond doubt that the Jews adopted their rites and ceremonies, and {537}\neven the special dress of their Levites, from the Egyptians. Clemens\nAlexandrinus acknowledges it very reluctantly, and so does Origen and\nother Fathers of the Church, some of whom, as a matter of course,\nattribute the coincidence to a clever trick of Satan in anticipation\nof events. Proctor, the astronomer, says in one of his books, \u201cThe\nremarkable breastplate worn by the Jewish high priest was derived\ndirectly from the Egyptians.\u201d The word _thummim_ itself is evidently\nof Egyptian origin, borrowed by Moses, like the rest; for further on\nthe same page, Mr. Proctor says that, \u201cIn the often-repeated picture\nof judgment the deceased Egyptian is seen conducted by the god Horus\n(?), while Anubis places on one of the balances a vase supposed to\ncontain his good actions, and in the other is the emblem of truth, a\nrepresentation of Thm\u00e8i, the goddess of truth, which was also worn on\nthe judicial breastplate.\u201d Wilkinson, in his _Manners and Customs of\nthe Ancient Egyptians_, shows that the Hebrew _thummim_ is a plural\nform of the word Thm\u00e8i.[807]\n\nAll the ornamental arts seem to have been known to the Egyptians. Their\njewelry of gold, silver, and precious stones are beautifully wrought;\nso was the cutting, polishing, and setting of them executed by their\nlapidaries in the finest style. The finger-ring of an Egyptian mummy\u2014if\nwe remember aright\u2014was pronounced the most artistic piece of jewelry in\nthe London Exhibition of 1851. Their imitation of precious stones in\nglass is far above anything done at the present day; and the emerald\nmay be said to have been imitated to perfection.\n\nIn Pompeii, says Wendell Phillips, they discovered a room full\nof glass; there was ground-glass, window-glass, cut-glass, and\ncolored-glass of every variety. Catholic priests who broke into China\n200 years ago, were shown a glass, transparent and colorless, which\nwas filled with liquor made by the Chinese, and which appeared to be\ncolorless like water. \u201cThis liquor was poured into the glass, and then\nlooking through, it seemed to be filled with fishes. They turned it out\nand repeated the experiment and again it was filled with fishes.\u201d In\nRome they show a bit of glass, a transparent glass, which they light up\nso as to show you that there is nothing concealed, but in the centre\nof the glass is a drop of colored glass, perhaps as large as a pea,\nmottled like a duck, and which even a miniature pencil could not do\nmore perfectly. \u201cIt is manifest that this drop of liquid glass must\nhave been poured, because there is no joint. This must have been done\nby a greater heat than the annealing process, because that process\nshows breaks.\u201d In relation to their wonderful art of imitating precious\nstones, the lecturer speaks of the \u201ccelebrated vase of the Genoa {538}\nCathedral,\u201d which was considered for long centuries \u201ca solid emerald.\u201d\n\u201cThe Roman Catholic legend of it was that it was one of the treasures\nthat the Queen of Sheba gave to Solomon, and that it was the identical\ncup out of which the Saviour drank at the Last Supper.\u201d Subsequently\nit was found not to be an emerald, but an imitation; and when Napoleon\nbrought it to Paris and gave it to the Institute, the scientists were\nobliged to confess that it _was not a stone_, and that they could not\ntell what it was.\n\nFurther, speaking of the skill of the ancients in metal works, the same\nlecturer narrates that \u201cwhen the English plundered the Summer Palace of\nthe Emperor of China, the European artists were surprised at seeing the\ncuriously-wrought metal vessels of every kind, far exceeding all the\nboasted skill of the workmen of Europe.\u201d African tribes in the interior\nof the country gave travellers _better razors_ than they had. \u201cGeorge\nThompson told me,\u201d he adds, \u201che saw a man in Calcutta throw a handful\nof floss silk into the air, and a Hindu sever it into pieces with his\nsabre of native steel.\u201d He concludes by the apt remark that \u201cthe steel\nis the greatest triumph of metallurgy, and metallurgy is the glory of\nchemistry.\u201d So with the ancient Egyptians and Semitic races. They dug\ngold and separated it with the utmost skill. Copper, lead, and iron\nwere found in abundance near the Red Sea.\n\nIn a lecture delivered in 1873, on the _Cave-Men of Devonshire_, Mr.\nW. Pengelly, F.R.S., stated on the authority of some Egyptologists\nthat the first iron used in Egypt was _meteoric_ iron, as the earliest\nmention of this metal is found in an Egyptian document, in which it\nis called the \u201cstone from heaven.\u201d This would imply the idea that the\nonly iron which was in use in days of old was meteorite. This may\nhave been the case at the commencement of the period embraced in our\npresent geological explorations, but till we can compute with at least\napproximate accuracy the age of our excavated relics, who can tell\nbut that we are making a blunder of possibly several hundred thousand\nyears? The injudiciousness of dogmatizing upon what the ancient\nChaldeans and Egyptians did _not_ know about mining and metallurgy is\nat least partially shown by the discoveries of Colonel Howard Vyse.\nMoreover, many of such precious stones as are only found at a great\ndepth in mines are mentioned in Homer and the Hebrew Scriptures. Have\nscientists ascertained the precise time when mining-shafts were first\nsunk by mankind? According to Dr. A. C. Hamlin, in India, the arts\nof the goldsmith and lapidary have been practiced from an \u201cunknown\nantiquity.\u201d That the Egyptians either knew from the remotest ages\nhow to temper steel, or possessed something still better and more\nperfect than the implement necessary in our days for chiselling, is an\nalternative from which the arch\u00e6ologists cannot escape. How else could\nthey have produced such artistic chiselling, or wrought such sculpture {539}\nas they did? The critics may take their choice of either; according to\nthem, steel tools of the most exquisite temper, or some other means of\ncutting sienite, granite, and basalt; which, in the latter case, must\nbe added to the long catalogue of lost arts.\n\nProfessor Albrecht M\u00fcller says: \u201cWe may ascribe the introduction of\nbronze manufacture into Europe to a great race immigrant from Asia some\n6,000 years ago, called Aryas or Aryans.... Civilization of the East\npreceded that of the West by many centuries.... There are many proofs\nthat a considerable degree of culture existed at its very beginning.\nBronze was yet in use, _but iron as well_. Pottery was not only shaped\non the lathe, but burned a good red. Manufactures in glass, gold, and\nsilver, are found for the first time. In lonely mountain places are\nyet found dross, and the remains of iron-furnaces.... To be sure, this\ndross is sometimes ascribed to volcanic action, but it is met with\nwhere volcanoes never could have existed.\u201d\n\nBut it is in the process of preparing mummies that the skill of this\nwonderful people is exemplified in the highest degree. None but those\nwho have made special study of the subject, can estimate the amount of\nskill, patience, and knowledge exacted for the accomplishment of this\nindestructible work, which occupied several months. Both chemistry and\nsurgery were called into requisition. The mummies, if left in the dry\nclimate of Egypt, seem to be practicably imperishable; and even when\nremoved after a repose of several thousand years, show no signs of\nchange. \u201cThe body,\u201d says the anonymous writer, \u201cwas filled with myrrh,\ncassia, and other gums, and after that, saturated with natron.... Then\nfollowed the marvellous swathing of the embalmed body, so artistically\nexecuted, that professional modern bandagists are lost in admiration at\nits excellency.\u201d Says Dr. Grandville: \u201c ... there is not a single form\nof bandage known to modern surgery, of which _far better and cleverer\nexamples_ are not seen in the swathings of the Egyptian mummies. The\nstrips of linen are found without one single joint, extending to 1,000\n_yards_ in length.\u201d Rossellini, in Kenrick\u2019s _Ancient Egypt_, gives a\nsimilar testimony to the wonderful variety and skill with which the\nbandages have been applied and interlaced. There was not a fracture\nin the human body that could not be repaired successfully by the\nsacerdotal physician of those remote days.\n\nWho but well remembers the excitement produced some twenty-five years\nago by the discovery of an\u00e6sthesia? The nitrous oxide gas, sulphuric\nand chloric ether, chloroform, \u201claughing gas,\u201d besides various other\ncombinations of these, were welcomed as so many heavenly blessings to\nthe suffering portion of humanity. Poor Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford,\nin 1844, was the discoverer, and Drs. Morton and Jackson reaped the {540}\nhonors and benefits in 1846, as is usual in such cases. The an\u00e6sthetics\nwere proclaimed \u201cthe greatest discovery ever made.\u201d And, though the\nfamous _Letheon_ of Morton and Jackson (a compound of sulphuric\nether), the chloroform of Sir James Y. Simpson, and the nitrous oxide\ngas, introduced by Colton, in 1843, and by Dunham and Smith, were\noccasionally checked by fatal cases, it still did not prevent these\ngentlemen from being considered public benefactors. The patients\nsuccessfully put to sleep sometimes awoke no more; what matters that,\nso long as others were relieved? Physicians assure us that accidents\nare now but rarely apprehended. Perhaps it is because the beneficent\nan\u00e6sthetic agents are so parsimoniously applied as to fail in their\neffects one-half of the time, leaving the sufferer paralyzed for a few\nseconds in his external movements, but feeling the pain as acutely as\never. On the whole, however, chloroform and laughing gas are beneficent\ndiscoveries. But, are they the first an\u00e6sthetics ever discovered,\nstrictly speaking? Dioscorides speaks of the stone of Memphis (_lapis\nMemphiticus_), and describes it as a small pebble\u2014round, polished, and\nvery sparkling. When ground into powder, and applied as an ointment\nto that part of the body on which the surgeon was about to operate,\neither with his scalpel or fire, it preserved that part, and _only\nthat part_ from any pain of the operation. In the meantime, it was\nperfectly harmless to the constitution of the patient, who retained\nhis consciousness throughout, in no way dangerous from its effects,\nand acted so long as it was kept on the affected part. When taken in\na mixture of wine or water, all feeling of suffering was perfectly\ndeadened.[808] Pliny gives also a full description of it.[809]\n\nFrom time immemorial, the Brahmans have had in their possession\nsecrets quite as valuable. The widow, bent on the self-sacrifice of\ncon-cremation, called _Sahamaranya_, has no dread of suffering the\nleast pain, for the fiercest flames will consume her, without one pang\nof agony being experienced by her. The holy plants which crown her\nbrow, as she is conducted in ceremony to the funeral pile; the sacred\nroot culled at the midnight hour on the spot where the Ganges and the\nYumna mingle their waters; and the process of anointing the body of the\nself-appointed victim with ghee and sacred oils, after she has bathed\nin all her clothes and finery, are so many _magical_ an\u00e6sthetics.\nSupported by those she is going to part with in body, she walks thrice\naround her fiery couch, and, after bidding them farewell, is cast on\nthe dead body of her husband, and leaves this world without a single\nmoment of suffering. \u201cThe semi-fluid,\u201d says a missionary writer, an {541}\neye-witness of several such ceremonies\u2014\u201cthe ghee, is poured upon the\npile; it is instantly inflamed, and the _drugged_ widow dies quickly of\n_suffocation_ before the fire reaches her body.\u201d[810]\n\nNo such thing, if the sacred ceremony is only conducted strictly after\nthe prescribed rites. The widows are never drugged in the sense we\nare accustomed to understand the word. Only precautionary measures\nare taken against a useless physical martyrdom\u2014the atrocious agony\nof burning. Her mind is as free and clear as ever, and even more so.\nFirmly believing in the promises of a future life, her whole mind is\nabsorbed in the contemplation of the approaching bliss\u2014the beatitude\nof \u201cfreedom,\u201d which she is about to attain. She generally dies with\nthe smile of heavenly rapture on her countenance; and if some one is\nto suffer at the hour of retribution, it is not the earnest devotee\nof her faith, but the crafty Brahmans who know well enough that no\nsuch ferocious rite was ever prescribed.[811] As to the victim, after\nhaving been consumed, she becomes a _sati_\u2014transcendent purity\u2014and is\ncanonized after death.\n\nEgypt is the birthplace and the cradle of chemistry. Kenrick shows\nthe root of the word to be _chemi_ or chem, which was the name of the\ncountry (_Psalms_ cv. 27). The chemistry of colors seems to have been\nthoroughly well known in that country. Facts are facts. Where among our\npainters are we to search for the artist who can decorate our walls\nwith imperishable colors? Ages after our pigmy buildings will have\ncrumbled into dust, and the cities enclosing them will themselves have\nbecome shapeless heaps of brick and mortar, with forgotten names\u2014long\nafter that will the halls of Karnak and Luxor (El-Uxor) be still\nstanding; and the gorgeous mural paintings of the latter will doubtless\nbe as bright and vivid 4,000 years hence, as they were 4,000 years\nago, and are to-day. \u201cEmbalming and fresco-painting,\u201d says our author,\n\u201cwas not a chance discovery with the Egyptians, but brought out from\ndefinitions and maxims like any induction of Faraday.\u201d\n\nOur modern Italians boast of their Etruscan vases and paintings; the {542}\ndecorative borders found on Greek vases provoke the admiration of the\nlovers of antiquity, and are ascribed to the Greeks, while in fact\n\u201cthey were but copies from the Egyptian vases.\u201d Their figures can be\nfound any day on the walls of a tomb of the age of Amunoph I., a period\nat which Greece was not even in existence.\n\nWhere, in our age, can we point to anything comparable to the\nrock-temples of Ipsambul in Lower Nubia? There may be seen sitting\nfigures seventy feet high, carved out of the living rock. The torso of\nthe statue of Rameses II., at Thebes, measures sixty feet around the\nshoulders, and elsewhere in proportion. Beside such titanic sculpture\nour own seems that of pigmies. Iron was known to the Egyptians at least\nlong before the construction of the first pyramid, which is over 20,000\nyears ago, according to Bunsen. The proof of this had remained hidden\nfor many thousands of years in the pyramid of Cheops, until _Colonel\nHoward Vyse found it in the shape of a piece of iron, in one of the\njoints, where it had evidently been placed at the time this pyramid was\nfirst built_. Egyptologists adduce many indications that the ancients\nwere perfectly well acquainted with metallurgy in prehistoric times.\n\u201cTo this day we can find at Sinai large heaps of scori\u00e6, produced\nby smelting.\u201d[812] Metallurgy and chemistry, as practiced in those\ndays, were known as _alchemy_, and were at the bottom of prehistoric\nmagic. Moreover, Moses proved his knowledge of alchemical chemistry by\npulverizing the golden calf, and strewing the powder upon the water.\n\nIf now we turn to navigation, we will find ourselves able to prove,\non good authorities, that Necho II. fitted out a fleet on the Red Sea\nand despatched it for exploration. The fleet was absent above two\nyears and instead of returning through the Straits of Babelmandel, as\nwas wont, sailed back through the Straits of Gibraltar. Herodotus was\nnot at all swift to concede to the Egyptians a maritime achievement\nso vast as this. They had, he says, been spreading the report that\n\u201creturning homewards, they had the sunrise on their right hands; a\nthing which to me is incredible.\u201d \u201cAnd yet,\u201d remarks the author of\nthe heretofore-mentioned article, \u201cthis incredible assertion is now\nproved _incontestable_, as may well be understood by any one who has\ndoubled the Cape of Good Hope. Thus it is proved that the most ancient\nof these people performed a feat which was attributed to Columbus many\nages later. They say they anchored twice on their way; sowed corn,\nreaped it and, sailing away, steered in triumph through the Pillars of\nHercules and eastward along the Mediterranean. \u201cThere was a people,\u201d he {543}\nadds, \u201cmuch more deserving of the term \u2018_veteres_\u2019 than the Romans and\nGreeks. The Greeks, young in their knowledge, sounded a trumpet before\nthese and called upon all the world to admire their ability. Old Egypt,\ngrown gray in her wisdom, was so secure of her acquirements that, she\ndid not invite admiration and cared no more for the opinion of the\nflippant Greek than we do to-day for that of a Feejee islander.\u201d\n\n\u201cO Solon, Solon,\u201d said the oldest Egyptian priest to that sage. \u201cYou\nGreeks are ever childish, having no ancient opinion, no discipline of\nany long standing!\u201d And very much surprised, indeed, was the great\nSolon, when he was told by the priests of Egypt that so many gods and\ngoddesses of the Grecian Pantheon were but the disguised gods of Egypt.\nTruly spoke Zonaras: \u201cAll these things came to us from Chaldea to\nEgypt; and from thence were derived to the Greeks.\u201d\n\nSir David Brewster gives a glowing description of several automata; and\nthe eighteenth century takes pride in that masterpiece of mechanical\nart, the \u201cflute-player of Vaucanson.\u201d The little we can glean of\npositive information on that subject, from ancient writers, warrants\nthe belief that the learned mechanicians in the days of Archimedes,\nand some of them much anterior to the great Syracusan, were in no wise\nmore ignorant or less ingenious than our modern inventors. Archytas, a\nnative of Tarentum, in Italy, the instructor of Plato, a philosopher\ndistinguished for his mathematical achievements and wonderful\ndiscoveries in practical mechanics, constructed a wooden dove. It must\nhave been an extraordinarily ingenious mechanism, as it flew, fluttered\nits wings, and sustained itself for a considerable time in the air.\nThis skilful man, who lived 400 years B.C., invented besides the wooden\ndove, the screw, the crane, and various hydraulic machines.[813]\n\nEgypt pressed her own grapes and made wine. Nothing remarkable in\nthat, so far, but she brewed her own beer, and in great quantity\u2014our\nEgyptologist goes on to say. The Ebers manuscript proves now, beyond\ndoubt, that the Egyptians used beer 2,000 years B.C. Their beer must\nhave been strong and excellent\u2014like everything they did. Glass was\nmanufactured in all its varieties. In many of the Egyptian sculptures\nwe find scenes of glass-blowing and bottles; occasionally, during\narch\u00e6ological researches, glasses and glassware are found, and very\nbeautiful they seem to have been. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says that\nthe Egyptians cut, ground, and engraved glass, and possessed the art\nof introducing gold between the two surfaces of the substance. They\nimitated with glass, pearls, emeralds, and all the precious stones to a\ngreat perfection.\n\nLikewise, the most ancient Egyptians cultivated the musical arts, and {544}\nunderstood well the effect of musical harmony and its influence on the\nhuman spirit. We can find on the oldest sculptures and carvings scenes\nin which musicians play on various instruments. Music was used in the\nHealing Department of the temples for the cure of nervous disorders. We\ndiscover on many monuments men playing in bands in concert; the leader\nbeating time by clapping his hands. Thus far we can prove that they\nunderstood the laws of harmony. They had their sacred music, domestic\nand military. The lyre, harp, and flute were used for the sacred\nconcerts; for festive occasions they had the guitar, the single and\ndouble pipes, and castanets; for troops, and during military service,\nthey had trumpets, tambourines, drums, and cymbals. Various kinds of\nharps were invented by them, such as the lyre, _sambuc_, _ashur_; some\nof these had upward of twenty strings. The superiority of the Egyptian\nlyre over the Grecian is an admitted fact. The material out of which\nwere made such instruments was often of very costly and rare wood, and\nthey were beautifully carved; they imported it sometimes from very\ndistant countries; some were painted, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and\nornamented with colored leather. They used catgut for strings as we\ndo. Pythagoras learned music in Egypt and made a regular science of it\nin Italy. But the Egyptians were generally considered in antiquity as\nthe best music-teachers in Greece. They understood thoroughly well how\nto extract harmonious sounds out of an instrument by adding strings to\nit, as well as the multiplication of notes by shortening the strings\nupon its neck; which knowledge shows a great progress in the musical\nart. Speaking of harps, in a tomb at Thebes, Bruce remarks that, \u201cthey\noverturn all the accounts hitherto given of the earliest state of music\nand musical instruments in the East, and are altogether, in their\nform, ornaments and compass, an incontestable proof, _stronger than\na thousand Greek quotations_, that geometry, drawing, mechanics, and\nmusic were at the greatest perfection when these instruments were made;\nand that the period from which we date the invention of these arts was\nonly _the beginning of the era of their restoration_.\u201d\n\nOn the walls of the palace of Amenoph II. at Thebes, the king is\nrepresented as playing chess with the queen. This monarch reigned long\nbefore the Trojan war. In India the game is known to have been played\nat least 5,000 years ago.\n\nAs to their knowledge in medicine, now that one of the lost _Books\nof Hermes_ has been found and translated by Ebers, the Egyptians can\nspeak for themselves. That they understood about the circulation of\nthe blood, appears certain from the _healing manipulations_ of the\npriests, who knew how to draw blood downward, stop its circulation for {545}\nawhile, etc. A more careful study of their _bas-reliefs_ representing\nscenes taking place in the healing hall of various temples will easily\ndemonstrate it. They had their dentists and oculists, and no doctor\nwas allowed to practice more than one specialty; which certainly\nwarrants the belief that they lost fewer patients in those days than\nour physicians do now. It is also asserted by some authorities that the\nEgyptians were the first people in the world who introduced trial by\njury; although we doubt this ourselves.\n\nBut the Egyptians were not the only people of remote epochs whose\nachievements place them in so commanding a position before the view\nof posterity. Besides others whose history is at present shut in\nbehind the mists of antiquity\u2014such as the prehistoric races of the two\nAmericas, of Crete, of the Tro\u00e4d, of the Lacustrians, of the submerged\ncontinent of the fabled Atlantis, now classed with myths\u2014the deeds of\nthe Ph\u0153nicians stamp them with almost the character of demi-gods.\n\nThe writer in the _National Quarterly Review_, previously quoted, says\nthat the Ph\u0153nicians were the earliest navigators of the world, founded\nmost of the colonies of the Mediterranean, and voyaged to whatever\nother regions were inhabited. They visited the Arctic regions, whence\nthey brought accounts of eternal days without a night, which Homer\nhas preserved for us in the _Odyssey_. From the British Isles they\nimported tin into Africa, and Spain was a favorite site for their\ncolonies. The description of Charybdis so completely answers to the\nma\u00eblstrom that, as this writer says: \u201cIt is difficult to imagine it to\nhave had any other prototype.\u201d Their explorations, it seems, extended\nin every direction, their sails whitening the Indian Ocean, as well\nas the Norwegian fiords. Different writers have accorded to them the\nsettlement of remote localities; while the entire southern coast of\nthe Mediterranean was occupied by their cities. A large portion of\nthe African territory is asserted to have been peopled by the races\nexpelled by Joshua and the children of Israel. At the time when\nProcopius wrote, columns stood in Mauritania Tingitana, which bore the\ninscription, in Ph\u0153nician characters, \u201cWe are those who fled before the\nbrigand Joshua, the son of Nun or Nav\u00e8.\u201d\n\nSome suppose these hardy navigators of Arctic and Antarctic waters\nhave been the progenitors of the races which built the temples and\npalaces of Palenque and Uxmal, of Copan and Arica.[814] Brasseur de\nBourbourg gives us much information about the manners and customs,\narchitecture and arts, and especially of the magic and magicians of\nthe ancient Mexicans. He tells us that Votan, their fabulous hero {546}\nand the greatest of their magicians, returning from a long voyage,\nvisited King Solomon at the time of the building of the temple. This\nVotan appears to be identical with the dreaded Quetzo-Cohuatl who\nappears in all the Mexican legends; and curiously enough these legends\nbear a striking resemblance, insomuch as they relate to the voyages\nand exploits of the Hittim, with the Hebrew _Bible_ accounts of the\nHivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Chanaan. The record tells\nus that Votan \u201cfurnished to Solomon the most valuable particulars\nas to the men, animals, and plants, the gold and precious woods of\nthe Occident,\u201d but refused point-blank to afford any clew to the\nroute he sailed, or the manner of reaching the mysterious continent.\nSolomon himself gives an account of this interview in his _History\nof the Wonders of the Universe_, the chief Votan figuring under the\nallegory of the _Navigating Serpent_. Stephens, indulging in the\nanticipation \u201cthat a key surer than that of the Rosetta-stone will\nbe discovered,\u201d by which the American hieroglyphs may be read,[815]\nsays that the descendants of the Caciques and the Aztec subjects\nare believed to survive still in the inaccessible fastnesses of the\nCordilleras\u2014\u201cwildernesses, which have never yet been penetrated by a\nwhite man, ... living as their fathers did, erecting the same buildings\n... with ornaments of sculpture and plastered; large courts, and lofty\ntowers with high ranges of steps, and still carving on tablets of stone\nthe same mysterious hieroglyphics.\u201d He adds, \u201cI turn to that vast and\nunknown region, untraversed by a single road, wherein fancy pictures\nthat mysterious city seen from the topmost range of the Cordilleras of\nunconquered, unvisited, and unsought aboriginal inhabitants.\u201d\n\nApart from the fact that this mysterious city has been seen from\na great distance by daring travellers, there is no intrinsic\nimprobability of its existence, for who can tell what became of the\nprimitive people who fled before the rapacious brigands of Cortez and\nPizarro? Dr. Tschuddi, in his work on Peru, tells us of an Indian\nlegend that a train of 10,000 llamas, laden with gold to complete the\nunfortunate Inca\u2019s ransom, was arrested in the Andes by the tidings\nof his death, and the enormous treasure was so effectually concealed\nthat not a trace of it has ever been found. He, as well as Prescott and\nother writers, informs us that the Indians to this day preserve their\nancient traditions and sacerdotal caste, and obey implicitly the orders\nof rulers chosen among themselves, while at the same time nominally\nCatholics and actually subject to the Peruvian authorities. Magical\nceremonies practiced by their forefathers still prevail among them, and\nmagical phenomena occur. So persistent are they in their loyalty to the {547}\npast, that it seems impossible but that they should be in relations\nwith some central source of authority which constantly supports and\nstrengthens their faith, keeping it alive. May it not be that the\nsources of this undying faith lie in this mysterious city, with which\nthey are in secret communication? Or must we think that all of the\nabove is again but a \u201ccurious coincidence?\u201d\n\nThe story of this mysterious city was told to Stephens by a Spanish\nPadre, in 1838-9. The priest swore to him that he had seen it with his\nown eyes, and gave Stephens the following details, which the traveller\nfirmly believed to be true. \u201cThe Padre of the little village near the\nruins of Santa Cruz del Quich\u00e8, had heard of the unknown city at the\nvillage of Chajul.... He was then young, and climbed with much labor to\nthe naked summit of the topmost ridge of the sierra of the Cordillera.\nWhen arrived at a height of ten or twelve thousand feet, he looked\nover an immense plain extending to Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and\nsaw, at a great distance, a large city spread over a great space, and\nwith turrets white and glittering in the sun. Tradition says that no\nwhite man has ever reached this city; that the inhabitants speak the\nMaya language, know that strangers have conquered their whole land,\nand murder any white man who attempts to enter their territory....\nThey have no coin; no horses, cattle, mules, or other domestic animals\nexcept fowls, and the cocks they keep underground to prevent their\ncrowing being heard.\u201d\n\nNearly the same was given us personally about twenty years ago, by an\nold native priest, whom we met in Peru, and with whom we happened to\nhave business relations. He had passed all his life vainly trying to\nconceal his hatred toward the conquerors\u2014\u201cbrigands,\u201d he termed them;\nand, as he confessed, kept friends with them and the Catholic religion\nfor the sake of his people, but he was as truly a sun-worshipper in his\nheart as ever he was. He had travelled in his capacity of a _converted_\nnative missionary, and had been at Santa Cruz and, as he solemnly\naffirmed, had been also to see some of his people by a \u201csubterranean\npassage\u201d leading into the mysterious city. We believe his account; for\na man who is about to die, will rarely stop to invent idle stories; and\nthis one we have found corroborated in Stephen\u2019s _Travels_. Besides,\nwe know of two other cities utterly unknown to European travellers;\nnot that the inhabitants particularly desire to hide themselves; for\npeople from Buddhistic countries come occasionally to visit them. But\ntheir towns are not set down on the European or Asiatic maps; and, on\naccount of the too zealous and enterprising Christian missionaries,\nand perhaps for more mysterious reasons of their own, the few natives\nof other countries who are aware of the existence of these two cities\nnever mention them. Nature has provided strange nooks and hiding-places {548}\nfor her favorites; and unfortunately it is but far away from so-called\ncivilized countries that man is free to worship the Deity in the way\nthat his fathers did.\n\nEven the erudite and sober Max M\u00fcller is somehow unable to get rid of\n_coincidences_. To him they come in the shape of the most unexpected\ndiscoveries. These Mexicans, for instance, whose obscure origin,\naccording to the laws of probability, has no connection with the\nAryans of India, nevertheless, like the Hindus, represent an eclipse\nof the moon as \u201cthe moon being devoured by a dragon.\u201d[816] And though\nProfessor M\u00fcller admits that an historical intercourse between the\ntwo people was suspected by Alexander von Humboldt, and he himself\nconsiders it possible, still the occurrence of such a fact he adds,\n\u201cneed not be the result of any historical intercourse. As we have\nstated above, the origin of the aborigines of America is a very\nvexed question for those interested in tracing out the affiliation\nand migrations of peoples.\u201d Notwithstanding the labor of Brasseur de\nBourbourg, and his elaborate translation of the famous _Popol-Vuh_,\nalleged to be written by Ixtlilxochitl, after weighing its contents,\nthe antiquarian remains as much in the dark as ever. We have read the\n_Popol-Vuh_ in its original translation, and the review of the same\nby Max M\u00fcller, and out of the former find shining a light of such\nbrightness, that it is no wonder that the matter-of-fact, skeptical\nscientists should be blinded by it. But so far as an author can be\njudged by his writings, Professor Max M\u00fcller is no unfair skeptic; and,\nmoreover, very little of importance escapes his attention. How is it\nthen that a man of such immense and rare erudition, accustomed as he\nis to embrace at one eagle glance the traditions, religious customs,\nand superstitions of a people, detecting the slightest similarity,\nand taking in the smallest details, failed to give any importance or\nperhaps even suspect what the humble author of the present volume,\nwho has neither scientific training nor erudition, to any extent,\napprehended at first view? Fallacious and unwarranted as to many may\nseem this remark, it appears to us that science loses more than she\ngains by neglecting the ancient and even medi\u00e6val esoteric literature,\nor rather what remains of it. To one who devotes himself to such study\nmany a coincidence is transformed into a natural result of demonstrable\nantecedent causes. We think we can see how it is that Professor M\u00fcller\nconfesses that \u201cnow and then ... one imagines one sees certain periods\nand landmarks, but in the next page all is chaos again.\u201d[817] May it\nnot be barely possible that this chaos is intensified by the fact\nthat most of the scientists, directing the whole of their attention\nto history, skip that which they treat as \u201cvague, contradictory, {549}\nmiraculous, absurd.\u201d Notwithstanding the feeling that there was \u201ca\ngroundwork of noble conceptions which has been covered and distorted\nby an aftergrowth of fantastic nonsense,\u201d Professor M\u00fcller cannot help\ncomparing this nonsense to the tales of the _Arabian Nights_.\n\nFar be from us the ridiculous pretension of criticising a scientist so\nworthy of admiration for his learning as Max M\u00fcller. But we cannot help\nsaying that even among the fantastic nonsense of the _Arabian Nights\u2019\nEntertainments_ anything would be worthy of attention, if it should\nhelp toward the evolving of some historical truth. Homer\u2019s _Odyssey_\nsurpasses in fantastic nonsense all the tales of the _Arabian Nights_\ncombined; and notwithstanding that, many of his myths are now proved\nto be something else besides the creation of the old poet\u2019s fancy.\nThe L\u00e6strygonians, who devoured the companions of Ulysses, are traced\nto the huge cannibal[818] race, said in primitive days to inhabit the\ncaves of Norway. Geology verified through her discoveries some of\nthe assertions of Homer, supposed for so many ages to have been but\npoetical hallucinations. The perpetual daylight enjoyed by this race\nof L\u00e6strygonians indicates that they were inhabitants of the North\nCape, where, during the whole summer, there is perpetual daylight. The\nNorwegian fiords are perfectly described by Homer in his _Odyssey_, x.\n110; and the gigantic stature of the L\u00e6strygonians is demonstrated by\nhuman bones of unusual size found in caves situated near this region,\nand which the geologists suppose to have belonged to a race extinct\nlong before the Aryan immigration. Charybdis, as we have seen, has\nbeen recognized in the ma\u00eblstrom; and the Wandering Rocks[819] in the\nenormous icebergs of the Arctic seas.\n\nIf the consecutive attempts at the creation of man described in the\n_Quich\u00e8 Cosmogony_ suggests no comparison with some Apocrypha, with\nthe Jewish sacred books, and the kabalistic theories of creation, it\nis indeed strange. Even the _Book of Jasher_, condemned as a gross\nforgery of the twelfth century, may furnish more than one clew to\ntrace a relation between the population of Ur of the Kasdeans, where\nMagism flourished before the days of Abraham, and those of Central and\nNorth America. The divine beings, \u201cbrought down to the level of human\nnature,\u201d perform no feats or tricks more strange or incredible than the\nmiraculous performances of Moses and of Pharaoh\u2019s magicians, while many\nof these are exactly similar in their nature. And when, moreover, in\naddition to this latter fact, we find so great a resemblance between\ncertain kabalistic terms common to both hemispheres, there must be\nsomething else than mere accident to account for the circumstance. {550}\nMany of such feats have clearly a common parentage. The story of the\ntwo brothers of Central America, who, before starting on their journey\nto Xibalba, \u201cplant each a cane in the middle of their grandmother\u2019s\nhouse, that she may know by its flourishing or withering whether they\nare alive or dead,\u201d[820] finds its analogy in the beliefs of many\nother countries. In the _Popular Tales and Traditions_, by Sacharoff\n(Russia), one can find a similar narrative, and trace this belief in\nvarious other legends. And yet these fairy tales were current in Russia\nmany centuries before America was discovered.\n\nIn recognizing in the gods of Stonehenge the divinities of Delphos and\nBabylon, one need feel little surprised. Bel and the Dragon, Apollo\nand Python, Osiris and Typhon, are all one under many names, and have\ntravelled far and wide. The Both-al of Ireland points directly to its\nfirst parent, the Batylos of the Greeks and the Beth-el of Chanaan.\n\u201cHistory,\u201d says H. de la Villemarque, \u201cwhich took no notes at those\ndistant ages, can plead ignorance, but the science of languages\naffirms. Philology, with a daily-increasing probability, has again\nlinked together the chain hardly broken between the Orient and the\nOccident.\u201d[821]\n\nNo more remarkable is the discovery of a like resemblance between the\nOriental myths and ancient Russian tales and traditions, for it is\nentirely natural to look for a similarity between the beliefs of the\nSemitic and Aryan families. But when we discover an almost perfect\nidentity between the character of Zarevna Militrissa, with a _moon_\nin her forehead, who is in constant danger of being devoured by _Zme\u00ff\nGorenetch_ (the Serpent or Dragon), who plays such a prominent part\nin all popular Russian tales, and similar characters in the Mexican\nlegends\u2014extending to the minutest details\u2014we may well pause and ask\nourselves whether there be not here more than a simple coincidence.\n\nThis tradition of the Dragon and the Sun\u2014occasionally replaced by the\nMoon\u2014has awakened echoes in the remotest parts of the world. It may be\naccounted for with perfect readiness by the once universal heliolatrous\nreligion. There was a time when Asia, Europe, Africa, and America\nwere covered with the temples sacred to the sun and the dragons. The\npriests assumed the names of their deities, and thus the tradition of\nthese spread like a net-work all over the globe: \u201cBel and the Dragon\nbeing uniformly coupled together, and the priest of the Ophite religion\nas uniformly assuming the name of his god.\u201d[822] But still, \u201cif the {551}\noriginal conception is natural and intelligible ... and its occurrence\nneed not be the result of any historical intercourse,\u201d as Professor\nM\u00fcller tells us, the details are so strikingly similar that we cannot\nfeel satisfied that the riddle is entirely solved. The origin of this\nuniversal symbolical worship being concealed in the night of time, we\nwould have far more chance to arrive at the truth by tracing these\ntraditions to their very source. And where is this source? Kircher\nplaces the origin of the Ophite and heliolatrous worship, the shape\nof conical monuments and the obelisks, with the Egyptian Hermes\nTrismegistus.[823] Where, then, except in Hermetic books, are we to\nseek for the desired information? Is it likely that modern authors can\nknow more, or as much, of ancient myths and cults as the men who taught\nthem to their contemporaries? Clearly two things are necessary: first,\nto find the missing books of Hermes; and second, the key by which to\n_understand_ them, for reading is not sufficient. Failing in this, our\nsavants are abandoned to unfruitful speculations, as for a like reason\ngeographers waste their energies in a vain quest of the sources of the\nNile. Truly the land of Egypt is another abode of mystery!\n\nWithout stopping to discuss whether Hermes was the \u201cPrince of\npostdiluvian magic,\u201d as des Mousseaux calls him, or the antediluvian,\nwhich is much more likely, one thing is certain: The authenticity,\nreliability, and usefulness of the _Books of Hermes_\u2014or rather of\nwhat remains of the thirty-six works attributed to the Egyptian\nmagician\u2014are fully recognized by Champollion, junior, and corroborated\nby Champollion-Figeac, who mentions it. Now, if by carefully looking\nover the kabalistical works, which are all derived from that universal\nstorehouse of esoteric knowledge, we find the fac-similes of many\nso-called miracles wrought by magical art, equally reproduced by the\nQuich\u00e8s; and if even in the fragments left of the original _Popol-Vuh_,\nthere is sufficient evidence that the religious customs of the\nMexicans, Peruvians, and other American races are nearly identical\nwith those of the ancient Ph\u0153nicians, Babylonians, and Egyptians; and\nif, moreover, we discover that many of their religious terms have\netymologically the same origin; how are we to avoid believing that\nthey are the descendants of those whose forefathers \u201cfled before the\nbrigand, Joshua, the son of Nun?\u201d \u201cNu\u00f1ez de la Vega says that Nin, or\nImos, of the Tzendales, was the Ninus of the Babylonians.\u201d[824]\n\nIt is possible that, so far, it may be a coincidence; as the\nidentification of one with the other rests but upon a poor argument.\n\u201cBut it is known,\u201d adds de Bourbourg, \u201cthat this prince, and according {552}\nto others, his father, Bel, or Baal, received, like the Nin of the\nTzendales, the homages of his subjects under the shape of a serpent.\u201d\nThe latter assertion, besides being fantastic, is nowhere corroborated\nin the Babylonian records. It is very true that the Ph\u0153nicians\nrepresented the sun under the image of a dragon; but so did all the\nother people who symbolized their sun-gods. Belus, the first king\nof the Assyrian dynasty was, according to Castor, and Eusebius who\nquotes him, deified, _i. e._, he was ranked among the gods \u201cafter his\ndeath\u201d only. Thus, neither himself nor his son, Ninus, or Nin, could\nhave received their subjects under the shape of a serpent, whatever\nthe Tzendales did. Bel, according to Christians, is Baal; and Baal is\nthe Devil, since the Bible prophets began so designating every deity\nof their neighbors; therefore Belus, Ninus, and the Mexican Nin are\nserpents and devils; and, as the Devil, or father of evil, is one\nunder many forms, therefore, under whatever name the serpent appears,\nit is the Devil. Strange logic! Why not say that Ninus the Assyrian,\nrepresented as husband and victim of the ambitious Semiramis, was\nhigh priest as well as king of his country? That as such he wore on\nhis tiara the sacred emblems of the dragon and the sun? Moreover,\nas the priest generally assumed the name of his god, Ninus was said\nto receive his subject as the representative of this serpent-god.\nThe idea is pre\u00ebminently Roman Catholic, and amounts to very little,\nas all their inventions do. If Nu\u00f1ez de la Vega was so anxious to\nestablish an affiliation between the Mexicans and the biblical\nsun-and serpent-worshippers, why did he not show another and a better\nsimilarity between them without tracing in the Ninevites and the\nTzendales the hoof and horn of the Christian Devil?\n\nAnd to begin with, he might have pointed to the _Chronicles_ of\nFuentes, of the kingdom of Guatemala, and to the _Manuscript_ of\nDon Juan Torres, the grandson of the last king of the Quich\u00e8s.\nThis document, which is said to have been in the possession of the\nlieutenant-general appointed by Pedro de Alvarado, states that\nthe Toltecas themselves descended from the house of Israel, who\nwere released by Moses, and who, after crossing the Red Sea, fell\ninto idolatry. After that, having separated themselves from their\ncompanions, and under the guidance of a chief named Tanub, they set out\nwandering, and from one continent to another they came to a place named\nthe Seven Caverns, in the Kingdom of Mexico, where they founded the\nfamous town of Tula, etc.[825]\n\nIf this statement has never obtained more credit than it has, it is\nsimply due to the fact that it passed through the hands of Father\nFrancis Vasques, historian of the Order of San Francis, and this {553}\ncircumstance, to use the expression employed by des Mousseaux in\nconnection with the work of the poor, unfrocked Abb\u00e9 Huc, \u201cis not\ncalculated to strengthen our confidence.\u201d But there is another point as\nimportant, if not more so, as it seems to have escaped falsification\nby the zealous Catholic padres, and rests chiefly on Indian tradition.\nA famous Toltecan king, whose name is mixed up in the weird legends\nof Utatlan, the ruined capital of the great Indian kingdom, bore the\nbiblical appellation of Balam Acan; the first name being pre\u00ebminently\nChaldean, and reminding one immediately of Balaam and his human-voiced\nass. Besides the statement of Lord Kingsborough, who found such a\nstriking similarity between the language of the Aztecs (the mother\ntongue) and the Hebrew, many of the figures on the bas-reliefs of\nPalenque and idols in _terra cotta_, exhumed in Santa Cruz del Quich\u00e8,\nhave on their heads bandelets with a square protuberance on them, in\nfront of the forehead, very similar to the phylacteries worn by the\nHebrew Pharisees of old, while at prayers, and even by devotees of\nthe present day, particularly the Jews of Poland and Russia. But as\nthis may be but a fancy of ours, after all, we will not insist on the\ndetails.\n\nUpon the testimony of the ancients, corroborated by modern discoveries,\nwe know that there were numerous catacombs in Egypt and Chaldea, some\nof them of a very vast extent. The most renowned of them were the\nsubterranean crypts of Thebes and Memphis. The former, beginning on\nthe western side of the Nile, extended toward the Libyan desert, and\nwere known as the _Serpent\u2019s_ catacombs, or passages. It was there\nthat were performed the sacred mysteries of the _k\u00faklos \u00e0n\u00e1gk\u00e9s_, the\n\u201cUnavoidable Cycle,\u201d more generally known as the \u201ccircle of necessity;\u201d\nthe inexorable doom imposed upon every soul after the bodily death, and\nwhen it had been judged in the Amenthian region.\n\nIn de Bourbourg\u2019s book, Votan, the Mexican demi god, in narrating his\nexpedition, describes a subterranean passage, which ran underground,\nand terminated at the root of the heavens, adding that this passage was\na snake\u2019s hole, \u201c_un ahugero de colubra_;\u201d and that he was admitted to\nit because he was himself \u201ca son of the snakes,\u201d or a serpent.[826]\n\nThis is, indeed, very suggestive; for his description of the _snake\u2019s\nhole_ is that of the ancient Egyptian crypt, as above mentioned. The\nhierophants, moreover, of Egypt, as of Babylon, generally styled\nthemselves the \u201cSons of the Serpent-god,\u201d or \u201cSons of the Dragon;\u201d not\nbecause\u2014as des Mousseaux would have his readers believe\u2014they were the\nprogeny of Satan-incubus, the old serpent of Eden, but because, in the\nMysteries, the serpent was the symbol of WISDOM and immortality. \u201cThe {554}\nAssyrian priest bore always the name of his god,\u201d says Movers.[827] The\nDruids of the Celto-Britannic regions also called themselves snakes.\n\u201cI am a Serpent, I am a Druid!\u201d they exclaimed. The Egyptian Karnak\nis twin-brother to the Carnac of Bretagn\u00e9, the latter Carnac meaning\nthe serpent\u2019s mount. The Dracontia once covered the surface of the\nglobe, and these temples were sacred to the dragon, only because it\nwas the symbol of the sun, which, in its turn, was the symbol of the\nhighest god\u2014the Ph\u0153nician Elon or Elion, whom Abraham recognized as\nEl Elion.[828] Besides the surname of serpents, they were called the\n\u201cbuilders,\u201d the \u201carchitects;\u201d for the immense grandeur of their temples\nand monuments was such, that even now the pulverized remains of them\n\u201cfrighten the mathematical calculations of our modern engineers,\u201d says\nTaliesin.[829]\n\nDe Bourbourg hints that the chiefs of the name of Votan, the\nQuetzo-Cohuatl, or serpent deity of the Mexicans, are the descendants\nof Ham and Canaan. \u201cI am Hivim,\u201d they say. \u201cBeing a Hivim, I am of\nthe great race of the Dragon (snake). I am a snake myself, for I am a\nHivim.\u201d[830] And des Mousseaux, rejoicing because he believes himself\nfairly on the serpent\u2019s, or rather, devil\u2019s trail, hurries to explain:\n\u201cAccording to the most learned commentators of our sacred books, the\nChivim or Hivim, or _Hevites_, descend from Heth, son of Canaan, son of\nHam ... _the accursed_!\u201d[831]\n\nBut modern research has demonstrated, on unimpeachable evidence, that\nthe whole genealogical table of the tenth chapter of _Genesis_ refers\nto imaginary heroes, and that the closing verses of the ninth are\nlittle better than a bit of Chaldean allegory of Sisuthrus and the\nmythical flood, compiled and arranged to fit the Noachian frame. But,\nsuppose the descendants of these Canaanites, \u201cthe accursed,\u201d were to\nresent for once the unmerited outrage? It would be an easy matter\nfor them to reverse the tables, and answer to this fling, based on a\n_fable_, by a _fact_ proved by arch\u00e6ologists and symbologists\u2014namely,\nthat Seth, Adam\u2019s third son, and the forefather of all Israel, the\nancestor of Noah, and the progenitor of the \u201cchosen people,\u201d is but\nHermes, the god of wisdom, called also Thoth, Tat, Seth, Set, and\n_Sat-an_; and that he was, furthermore, when viewed under his bad\naspect, Typhon, the Egyptian Satan, who was also _Set_. For the Jewish\npeople, whose well-educated men, no more than Philo, or Josephus, the {555}\nhistorian, regard their Mosaic books as otherwise than an allegory,\nsuch a discovery amounts to but little. But for Christians, who, like\ndes Mousseaux, very unwisely accept the _Bible_ narratives as literal\nhistory, the case stands very different.\n\nAs far as affiliation goes, we agree with this pious writer; and we\nfeel every day as certain that some of the peoples of Central America\nwill be traced back to the Ph\u0153nicians and the Mosaic Israelites, as we\ndo that the latter will be proved to have as persistently stuck to the\nsame idolatry\u2014if idolatry there is\u2014of the sun and serpent-worship, as\nthe Mexicans. There is evidence\u2014biblical evidence\u2014that two of Jacob\u2019s\nsons, Levi and Dan, as well as Judah, married Canaanite women, and\nfollowed the worship of their wives. Of course, every Christian will\nprotest, but the proof may be found even in the translated _Bible_,\npruned as it now stands. The dying Jacob thus describes his sons:\n\u201cDan,\u201d says he, \u201cshall be a _serpent_ by the way, an _adder_ in the\npath, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall\nbackward.... I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!\u201d Of Simeon and\nLevi, the patriarch (or Israel) remarks that they \u201c ... _are_ brethren;\ninstruments of _cruelty_ are in their habitations. O my soul, come not\nthou into _their secret_; unto _their assembly_.\u201d[832] Now, in the\noriginal, the words \u201ctheir secret,\u201d read\u2014their SOD.[833] And Sod was\nthe name for the great Mysteries of Baal, Adonis, and Bacchus who were\nall sun-gods and had serpents for symbols. The kabalists explain the\nallegory of the fiery serpents by saying, that this was the name given\nto the tribe of Levi, to all the _Levites_ in short, and that Moses was\nthe chief of the _Sodales_.[834] And here is the moment to prove our\nstatements.\n\nMoses is mentioned by several old historians as an Egyptian priest;\nManetho says he was a hierophant of Hieropolis, and a priest of the\nsun-god Osiris, and that his name was Osarsiph. Those moderns, who\naccept it as a fact that he \u201cwas learned in _all_ the wisdom\u201d of\nthe Egyptians, must also submit to the right interpretation of the\nword wisdom, which was throughout the world known as a synonym of {556}\n_initiation_ into the secret mysteries of the _Magi_. Did the idea\nnever strike the reader of the _Bible_, that an alien born and brought\nup in a foreign country _could not_ and _would not_ possibly have been\nadmitted\u2014we will not say to the final initiation, the grandest mystery\nof all, but even to share the knowledge of the minor priesthood,\nthose who belonged to the _lesser_ mysteries? In _Genesis_ xliii. 32,\nwe read, that no Egyptian could seat himself to eat bread with the\nbrothers of Joseph, \u201cfor that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.\u201d\nBut that the Egyptians ate \u201cwith _him_ (Joseph) by themselves.\u201d The\nabove proves two things: 1, that Joseph, whatever he was in his\nheart, had, in appearance at least, changed his religion, married the\ndaughter of a priest of the \u201cidolatrous\u201d nation, and become himself an\nEgyptian; otherwise, the natives would not have eaten bread with him.\nAnd 2, that subsequently Moses, if not an Egyptian by birth, became\none through being admitted into the priesthood, and thus was a SODALE.\nAs an induction, the narrative of the \u201cbrazen serpent\u201d (the Caduceus\nof Mercury or Asclepios, the son of the sun-god Apollo-Python) becomes\nlogical and natural. We must bear in mind that Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, who\nsaved Moses and adopted him, is called by Josephus _Thermuthis_; and\nthe latter, according to Wilkinson, is the name of the _asp_ sacred to\nIsis;[835] moreover, Moses is said to descend from the tribe of _Levi_.\nWe will explain the kabalistic ideas as to the books of Moses and the\ngreat prophet himself more fully in Volume II.\n\nIf Brasseur de Bourbourg and the Chevalier des Mousseaux, had so much\nat heart to trace the identity of the Mexicans with the Canaanites,\nthey might have found far better and weightier proofs than by showing\nboth the \u201caccursed\u201d descendants of Ham. For instance, they might have\npointed to the Nargal, the Chaldean and Assyrian chief of the Magi\n(Rab-Mag) and the Nagal, the chief sorcerer of the Mexican Indians.\nBoth derive their names from Nergal-Sarezer, the Assyrian god, and both\nhave the same faculties, or powers to have an attendant _d\u00e6mon_ with\nwhom they identify themselves completely. The Chaldean and Assyrian\nNargal kept his d\u00e6mon, in the shape of some animal considered sacred,\ninside the temple; the Indian Nagal keeps his wherever he can\u2014in the\nneighboring lake, or wood, or in the house, under the shape of a\nhousehold animal.[836]\n\nWe find the _Catholic World_, newspaper, in a recent number, bitterly\ncomplaining that the old Pagan element of the aboriginal inhabitants of\nAmerica does not seem to be utterly dead in the United States. Even {557}\nwhere tribes have been for long years under the care of Christian\nteachers, heathen rites are practiced in secret, and crypto-paganism,\nor _nagualism_, flourishes now, as in the days of Montezuma. It says:\n\u201cNagualism and voodoo-worship\u201d as it calls these two strange sects\u2014\u201care\ndirect _devil-worship_. A report addressed to the Cortes in 1812, by\nDon Pedro Baptista Pino, says: \u2018All the pueblos have their _artufas_\u2014so\nthe natives call subterranean rooms with only a single door, where\nthey assemble to perform their feasts, and hold meetings. These are\nimpenetrable temples ... and the doors are always closed on the\nSpaniards.\n\n\u201c\u2018All these pueblos, in spite of the sway which religion has had over\nthem, cannot forget a part of the beliefs which have been transmitted\nto them, and which they are careful to transmit to their descendants.\nHence come the adoration they render the sun and moon, and other\nheavenly bodies, the respect they entertain for fire, etc.\n\n\u201c\u2018The pueblo chiefs seem to be at the same time priests; they perform\nvarious simple rites, by which the power of the sun and of Montezuma is\nrecognized, as well as the power (according to some accounts) of the\nGreat Snake, to whom, by order of Montezuma, they are to look for life.\nThey also officiate in certain ceremonies with which they pray for\nrain. There are painted representations of the Great Snake, together\nwith that of a misshapen, red-haired man, declared to stand for\nMontezuma. Of this last there was also, in the year 1845, in the pueblo\nof Laguna, a rude effigy or idol, intended, apparently, to represent\nonly the head of the deity.\u2019\u201d[837]\n\nThe perfect identity of the rites, ceremonies, traditions, and even\nthe names of the deities, among the Mexicans and ancient Babylonians\nand Egyptians, are a sufficient proof of South America being peopled\nby a colony which mysteriously found its way across the Atlantic.\nWhen? at what period? History is silent on that point; but those who\nconsider that there is no tradition, sanctified by ages, without\na certain sediment of truth at the bottom of it, believe in the\n_Atlantis_-legend. There are, scattered throughout the world, a handful\nof thoughtful and solitary students, who pass their lives in obscurity,\nfar from the rumors of the world, studying the great problems of the\nphysical and spiritual universes. They have their secret records in\nwhich are preserved the fruits of the scholastic labors of the long\nline of recluses whose successors they are. The knowledge of their\nearly ancestors, the sages of India, Babylonia, Nineveh, and the\nimperial Thebes; the legends and traditions commented upon by the\nmasters of Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato, in the marble halls of {558}\nHeliopolis and Sa\u00efs; traditions which, in their days, already seemed\nto hardly glimmer from behind the foggy curtain of the past;\u2014all this,\nand much more, is recorded on indestructible parchment, and passed\nwith jealous care from one adept to another. These men believe the\nstory of the Atlantis to be no fable, but maintain that at different\nepochs of the past huge islands, and even continents, existed where now\nthere is but a wild waste of waters. In those submerged temples and\nlibraries the arch\u00e6ologist would find, could he but explore them, the\nmaterials for filling all the gaps that now exist in what we imagine is\n_history_. They say that at a remote epoch a traveller could traverse\nwhat is now the Atlantic Ocean, almost the entire distance by land,\ncrossing in boats from one island to another, where narrow straits then\nexisted.\n\nOur suspicion as to the relationship of the cis-Atlantic and\ntrans-Atlantic races is strengthened upon reading about the wonders\nwrought by Quetzo-Cohuatl, the Mexican magician. His wand must be\nclosely-related to the traditional sapphire-stick of Moses, the stick\nwhich bloomed in the garden of Raguel-Jethro, his father-in-law, and\nupon which was engraved the ineffable name. The \u201cfour men\u201d described as\nthe real four ancestors of the human race, \u201cwho were neither begotten\nby the gods, nor born of woman,\u201d but whose \u201ccreation was a wonder\nwrought by the Creator,\u201d and who were made after three attempts at\nmanufacturing men had failed, equally present some striking points of\nsimilarity with the esoteric explanations of the Hermetists;[838] they\nalso undeniably recall the four sons of God of the Egyptian theogony.\nMoreover, as any one may infer, the resemblance of this myth to the\nnarrative related in _Genesis_, will be apparent to even a superficial\nobserver. These four ancestors \u201ccould reason and speak, their sight\nwas unlimited, and they knew all things at once.\u201d[839] When \u201cthey\nhad rendered thanks to their Creator for their existence, _the gods\nwere frightened_, and they breathed a cloud over the eyes of men that\nthey might see a certain distance only, and not be _like the gods\nthemselves_.\u201d This bears directly upon the sentence in _Genesis_,\n\u201cBehold, _the man is become as one of us_, to know good and evil; and\nnow, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,\u201d\netc. Then, again, \u201cWhile _they were asleep_ God gave them wives,\u201d etc.\n\nWe disclaim the least intention to disrespectfully suggest ideas to {559}\nthose who are so wise as to need no hint. But we must bear in mind that\nauthentic treatises upon ancient magic of the Chaldean and Egyptian\nlore are not scattered about in public libraries, and at auction sales.\nThat such exist is nevertheless a fact for many students of the arcane\nphilosophy. Is it not of the greatest importance for every antiquarian\nto be acquainted at least superficially with their contents? \u201cThe four\nancestors of the race,\u201d adds Max M\u00fcller, \u201cseem to have had a long life,\nand when at last they came to die, they disappeared in a mysterious\nmanner, and left to their sons what is called the _hidden majesty_,\nwhich was never to be opened by human hands. What it was we do not\nknow.\u201d\n\nIf there is no relationship between this hidden majesty and the hidden\nglory of the Chaldean _Kabala_, which we are told was left behind\nhim by Enoch when he was translated in such a mysterious way, then\nwe must discredit all circumstantial evidence. But is it not barely\npossible that these \u201cfour ancestors\u201d of the Quich\u00e8 race typify in\ntheir esoteric sense the four successive progenitors of men, mentioned\nin _Genesis_ i., ii., and vi.? In the first chapter, the first man\nis bi-sexual\u2014\u201cmale and female created he them\u201d and answers to the\nhermaphrodite deities of the subsequent mythologies; the second, Adam,\nmade out of \u201cthe dust of the ground\u201d and uni-sexual and answering to\nthe \u201csons of God\u201d of chapter vi.; the third, the giants, or _nephilim_,\nwho are only hinted at in the _Bible_, but fully explained elsewhere;\nthe fourth, the parents of men \u201cwhose daughters were fair.\u201d\n\nTaking the admitted facts that the Mexicans had their magicians from\nthe remote periods; that the same remark applies to all the ancient\nreligions of the world; that a strong resemblance prevails not only in\nthe forms of their ceremonial worship, but also in the very names used\nto designate certain magical implements; and finally that all other\nclews, in accordance with scientific deductions, have failed (some\nbecause swallowed up in the bottomless pit of coincidences), why should\nwe not turn to the great authorities upon magic, and see whether,\nunder this \u201caftergrowth of fantastic nonsense,\u201d there may not be a\ndeep substratum of truth? Here we are not willing to be misunderstood.\nWe do not send the scientists to the _Kabala_ and the Hermetic books\nto study magic, but to the authorities on magic to discover materials\nfor history and science. We have no idea of incurring the wrathful\ndenunciations of the Academicians, by an indiscretion like that of poor\ndes Mousseaux, when he tried to force them to read his demonological\n_Memoire_ and investigate the Devil.\n\nThe _History of Bernal Diaz de Castilla_, a follower of Cortez, gives\nus some idea of the extraordinary refinement and intelligence of the {560}\npeople whom they conquered; but the descriptions are too long to be\ninserted here. Suffice it to say, that the Aztecs appeared in more than\none way to have resembled the ancient Egyptians in civilization and\nrefinement. Among both peoples magic or the arcane natural philosophy\nwas cultivated to the highest degree. Add to this that Greece,\nthe \u201clater cradle of the arts and sciences,\u201d and India, cradle of\nreligions, were and are still devoted to its study and practice\u2014and who\nshall venture to discredit its dignity as a study, and its profundity\nas a science?\n\nThere never was, nor can there be more than one universal religion;\nfor there can be but one truth concerning God. Like an immense chain\nwhose upper end, the alpha, remains invisibly emanating from a Deity\u2014in\n_statu abscondito_ with every primitive theology\u2014it encircles our globe\nin every direction; it leaves not even the darkest corner unvisited,\nbefore the other end, the omega, turns back on its way to be again\nreceived where it first emanated. On this divine chain was strung the\nexoteric symbology of every people. Their variety of form is powerless\nto affect their substance, and under their diverse ideal types of\nthe universe of matter, symbolizing its vivifying principles, the\nuncorrupted immaterial image of the spirit of being guiding them is the\nsame.\n\nSo far as human intellect can go in the ideal interpretation of the\nspiritual universe, its laws and powers, the last word was pronounced\nages since; and, if the _ideas_ of Plato can be simplified for the\nsake of easier comprehension, the spirit of their substance can\nneither be altered, nor removed without material damage to the truth.\nLet human brains submit themselves to torture for thousands of years\nto come; let theology perplex faith and mime it with the enforcing\nof incomprehensible dogmas in metaphysics; and science strengthen\nskepticism, by pulling down the tottering remains of spiritual\nintuition in mankind, with her demonstrations of its fallibility,\neternal truth can never be destroyed. We find its last possible\nexpression in our human language in the Persian Logos, the _Honover_,\nor the living _manifested_ Word of God. The Zoroastrian _Enoch-Verihe_\nis identical with the Jewish \u201c_I am_;\u201d and the \u201cGreat Spirit\u201d of\nthe poor, untutored Indian, is the manifested Brahma of the Hindu\nphilosopher. One of the latter, Tcharaka, a Hindu physician, who is\nsaid to have lived 5,000 years B. C., in his treatise on the origin of\nthings, called _Usa_, thus beautifully expresses himself: \u201cOur Earth\nis, like all the luminous bodies that surround us, one of the atoms\nof the immense Whole of which we show a slight conception by terming\nit\u2014the Infinite.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is but one light, and there is but one darkness,\u201d says a Siamese\nproverb. _D\u00e6mon est Deus inversus_, the Devil is the shadow of God,\nstates the universal kabalistic axiom. Could light exist but for {561}\nprimeval darkness? And did not the brilliant, sunny universe first\nstretch its infant arms from the swaddling bands of dark and dreary\nchaos? If the Christian \u201c_fulness of Him that filleth all in all_\u201d is\na revelation, then we must admit that, if there is a devil, he must\nbe included in this _fulness_, and be a part of that which \u201cfilleth\nall in all.\u201d From time immemorial the justification of the Deity, and\nHis separation from the existing evil was attempted, and the object\nwas reached by the old Oriental philosophy in the foundation of the\n_theodik\u00e9_; but their metaphysical views on the _fallen spirit_,\nhave never been disfigured by the creation of an anthropomorphic\npersonality of the Devil as was done subsequently by the leading lights\nof Christian theology. A personal fiend, who opposes the Deity, and\nimpedes progress on its way to perfection, is to be sought only on\nearth amid humanity, not in heaven.\n\nThus is it that all the religious monuments of old, in whatever land\nor under whatever climate, are the expression of the same identical\nthoughts, the key to which is in the esoteric doctrine. It would be\nvain, without studying the latter, to seek to unriddle the mysteries\nenshrouded for centuries in the temples and ruins of Egypt and Assyria,\nor those of Central America, British Columbia, and the Nagkon-Wat of\nCambodia. If each of these was built by a different nation; and neither\nnation had had intercourse with the others for ages, it is also certain\nthat all were planned and built under the direct supervision of the\npriests. And the clergy of every nation, though practicing rites and\nceremonies which may have differed externally, had evidently been\ninitiated into the same traditional mysteries which were taught all\nover the world.\n\nIn order to institute a better comparison between the specimens of\nprehistoric architecture to be found at the most opposite points of the\nglobe, we have but to point to the grandiose Hindu ruins of Ellora in\nthe Dekkan, the Mexican Chichen-Itza, in Yucatan, and the still grander\nruins of Copan, in Guatemala. They present such features of resemblance\nthat it seems impossible to escape the conviction that they were built\nby peoples moved by the same religious ideas, and that had reached an\nequal level of highest civilization in arts and sciences.\n\nThere is not, perhaps, on the face of the whole globe, a more imposing\nmass of ruins than Nagkon-Wat, the wonder and puzzle of European\narch\u00e6ologists who venture into Siam. And when we say ruins, the\nexpression is hardly correct; for nowhere are there buildings of such\ntremendous antiquity to be found in a better state of preservation than\nNagkon-Wat, and the ruins of Angkorth\u00f4m, the great temple.\n\nHidden far away in the province of Siamrap\u2014eastern Siam\u2014in the midst of\na most luxuriant tropical vegetation, surrounded by almost impenetrable\nforests of palms, cocoa-trees, and betel-nut, \u201cthe general appearance {562}\nof the wonderful temple is beautiful and romantic, as well as\nimpressive and grand,\u201d says Mr. Vincent, a recent traveller.[840]\n\u201cWe whose good fortune it is to live in the nineteenth century, are\naccustomed to boast of the perfection and pre\u00ebminence of our modern\ncivilization; of the grandeur of our attainments in science, art,\nliterature, and what not, as compared with those whom we call ancients;\nbut still we are compelled to admit that they have far excelled our\nrecent endeavors in many things, and notably in the fine arts of\npainting, architecture, and sculpture. We were but just looking upon a\nmost wonderful example of the two latter, for in style and beauty of\narchitecture, solidity of construction, and magnificent and elaborate\ncarving and sculpture, the Great Nagkon-Wat has no superior, certainly\nno rival standing at the present day. The first view of the ruins is\noverwhelming.\u201d\n\nThus the opinion of another traveller is added to that of many\npreceding ones, including arch\u00e6ologists and other competent critics,\nwho have believed that the ruins of the past Egyptian splendor deserve\nno higher eulogium than Nagkon-Wat.\n\nAccording to our plan, we will allow more impartial critics than\nourselves to describe the place, since, in a work professedly\ndevoted to a vindication of the ancients, the testimony of so\nenthusiastic an advocate as the present writer may be questioned. We\nhave, nevertheless, seen Nagkon-Wat under exceptionally favorable\ncircumstances, and can, therefore, certify to the general correctness\nof Mr. Vincent\u2019s description. He says:\n\n\u201cWe entered upon an immense causeway, the stairs of which were flanked\nwith six huge griffins, each carved from a single block of stone. The\ncauseway is ... 725 feet in length, and is paved with stones each\nof which measures four feet in length by two in breadth. On either\nside of it are artificial lakes fed by springs, and each covering\nabout five acres of ground.... The outer wall of Nagkon-Wat (the city\nof monasteries) is half a mile square, with gateways ... which are\nhandsomely carved with figures of gods and dragons. The foundations are\nten feet in height.... The entire edifice, including the roof, is of\nstone, _but without cement, and so closely fitting are the joints as\neven now to be scarcely discernible_.... The shape of the building is\noblong, being 796 feet in length, and 588 in width, while the highest\ncentral pagoda rises some 250 odd feet above the ground, and four\nothers, at the angles of the court, are each about 150 feet in height.\u201d\n\nThe above underscored lines are suggestive to travellers who have\nremarked and admired the same wonderful mason-work in the Egyptian {563}\nremains. If the same workmen did not lay the courses in both countries\nwe must at least think that the secret of this matchless wall-building\nwas equally known to the architects of every land.\n\n\u201cPassing, we ascend a platform ... and enter the temple itself through\na columned portico, the _fa\u00e7ade_ of which is beautifully carved\nin _basso-relievo_ with ancient mythological subjects. From this\ndoorway, on either side, runs a corridor with a double row of columns,\ncut\u2014base and capital\u2014from single blocks, with a double, oval-shaped\nroof, covered with carving and consecutive sculptures upon the outer\nwall. This gallery of sculptures, which forms the exterior of the\ntemple, consists of over half a mile of continuous pictures, cut in\n_basso-relievo_ upon sandstone slabs six feet in width, and represents\nsubjects taken from Hindu mythology, from the _Ramayana_\u2014the Sanscrit\nepic poem of India, with its 25,000 verses describing the exploits of\nthe god Rama, and the son of the King of Oudh. The contests of the\nKing of Ceylon, and Hanouma,[841] the monkey-god, are graphically\nrepresented. There is _no keystone_ used in the arch of this corridor.\nOn the walls are sculptured the immense number of 100,000 separate\nfigures. One picture from the _Ramay\u00e2na_ ... occupies 240 feet of the\nwall.... In the _Nagkon-Wat_ as many as 1,532 solid columns have been\ncounted, and among the entire ruins of Angkor ... the immense number\nof 6,000, almost all of them hewn from single blocks and artistically\ncarved....\n\n\u201cBut who built _Nagkon-Wat_? and when was it built?\u201d Learned men\nhave attempted to form opinions from studies of its construction,\nand especially \u201cornamentation,\u201d and have failed. \u201cNative Cambodian {564}\nhistorians,\u201d adds Vincent, \u201creckon 2,400 from the building of the\ntemple.... I asked one of them how long _Nagkon-Wat_ had been built....\n\u2018None can tell when.... I do not know; it must have either sprung up\nfrom the ground or been built by giants, or perhaps by the angels\u2019 ...\nwas the answer.\u201d\n\nWhen Stephens asked the native Indians \u201cWho built Copan?... what nation\ntraced the hieroglyphic designs, sculptured these elegant figures and\ncarvings, these emblematical designs?\u201d the dull answer he received was\n\u201c_Quien Sabe?_\u201d who knows! \u201cAll is mystery; dark, impenetrable mystery,\u201d\nwrites Stephens. \u201cIn Egypt, the colossal skeletons of gigantic temples\nstand in all the nakedness of desolation. Here, an immense forest\nshrouded the ruins, hiding them from sight.\u201d[842]\n\nBut there are perhaps many circumstances, trifling for arch\u00e6ologists\nunacquainted with the \u201cidle and fanciful\u201d legends of old, hence\noverlooked; otherwise the discovery might have sent them on a new train\nof thought. One is the invariable presence in the Egyptian, Mexican,\nand Siamese ruined temples, of the monkey. The Egyptian cynocephalus\nassumes the same postures as the Hindu and Siamese Hanoum\u0101; and\namong the sculptured fragments of Copan, Stephens found the remains\nof colossal apes or baboons, \u201cstrongly resembling in outline and\nappearance the four monstrous animals which once stood in front,\nattached to the base of the obelisk of Luxor, now in Paris,[843] and\nwhich, under the name of the cynocephali, were worshipped at Thebes.\u201d\nIn almost every Buddhist temple there are idols of huge monkeys kept,\nand some people have in their houses white monkeys on purpose \u201cto keep\n_bad_ spirits away.\u201d\n\n\u201cWas civilization,\u201d writes Louis de Carn\u00e9,[844] \u201cin the complex meaning\nwe give that word, in keeping among the ancient Cambodians with what\nsuch prodigies of architecture seem to indicate? The age of Pheidias\nwas that of Sophocles, Socrates, and Plato; Michael Angelo and Raphael\nsucceeded Dante. There are luminous epochs during which the human mind,\ndeveloping itself in every direction, triumphs in all, and creates\nmasterpieces _which spring from the same inspiration_.\u201d \u201cNagkon-Wat,\u201d\nconcludes Vincent, \u201cmust be ascribed to other than ancient Cambodians.\nBut to whom?... There exist _no credible_ traditions; _all is absurd\nfable or legend_.\u201d\n\nThe latter sentence has become of late a sort of cant phrase in the\nmouths of travellers and arch\u00e6ologists. When they have found that no {565}\nclew is attainable unless it can be found in popular legends, they\nturn away discouraged, and a final verdict is withheld. At the same\ntime Vincent quotes a writer who remarks that these ruins \u201care as\nimposing as the ruins of Thebes, or Memphis, but more mysterious.\u201d\nMouhot thinks they were erected \u201cby some ancient Michael Angelo,\u201d and\nadds that Nagkon-Wat \u201cis grander than anything left to us by Greece or\nRome.\u201d Furthermore Mouhot ascribes the building again to some of _the\nlost tribes of Israel_, and is corroborated in that opinion by Miche,\nthe French Bishop of Cambodia, who confesses that he is struck \u201cby the\nHebrew character of the faces of many of the savage Sti\u00eans.\u201d Henri\nMouhot believes that, \u201cwithout exaggeration, the oldest parts of Angkor\nmay be fixed at more than 2,000 years ago.\u201d This, then, in comparison\nwith the pyramids, would make them quite modern; the date is the more\nincredible, because the pictures on the walls may be proved to belong\nto those archaic ages when Poseidon and the Kabeiri were worshipped\nthroughout the continent. Had Nagkon-Wat been built, as Dr. Adolf\nBastian[845] will have it, \u201cfor the reception of the learned patriarch,\nBuddhagosa, who brought the holy books of the _Trai-Pidok_ from Ceylon;\nor, as Bishop Pallegoix, who \u201crefers the erection of this edifice to\nthe reign of Phra Pathum Suriving,\u201d when \u201cthe sacred books of the\nBuddhists were brought from Ceylon, and Buddhism became the religion of\nthe Cambodians,\u201d how is it possible to account for the following?\n\n\u201cWe see in this same temple carved images of Buddha, four, and\neven thirty-two-armed, and two and sixteen-headed gods, the Indian\nVishnu, gods _with wings_, Burmese heads, Hindu figures, and Ceylon\nmythology.... You see warriors riding upon elephants and in chariots,\nfoot soldiers with shield and spear, boats, tigers, griffins ...\nserpents, fishes, crocodiles, bullocks ... soldiers of immense physical\ndevelopment, with helmets, and some people with beards\u2014probably Moors.\nThe figures,\u201d adds Mr. Vincent, \u201cstand somewhat like those on the great\nEgyptian monuments, the side partly turned toward the front ... and I\nnoticed, besides, five horsemen, armed with spear and sword, riding\nabreast, like those seen upon the Assyrian tablets in the British\nMuseum.\u201d[846]\n\nFor our part, we may add, that there are on the walls several\nrepetitions of Dagon, the man-fish of the Babylonians, and of the\nKabeirian gods of Samothrace. This may have escaped the notice of\nthe few arch\u00e6ologists who examined the place; but upon stricter\ninspection they will be found there, as well as the reputed father of\nthe Kabeiri\u2014Vulcan with his bolts and implements, having near him a {566}\nking with a sceptre in his hand, which is the counterpart of that of\nCheron\u00e6a, or the \u201csceptre of Agamemnon,\u201d so-called, said to have been\npresented to him by the lame god of Lemnos. In another place we find\nVulcan, recognizable by his hammer and pincers, but under the shape of\na monkey, as usually represented by the Egyptians.\n\nNow, if Nagkon-Wat is essentially a Buddhist temple, how comes it\nto have on its walls _basso-relievos_ of completely an Assyrian\ncharacter; and Kabeirian gods which, though universally worshipped\nas the most ancient of the Asiatic mystery-gods, had already been\nabandoned 200 years B.C., and the Samothracian mysteries themselves\ncompletely altered? Whence the popular tradition concerning the Prince\nof Roma among the Cambodians, a personage mentioned by all the native\nhistorians, who attribute to him the foundation of the temple? Is it\nnot barely possible that even the _Ramay\u00e2na_, itself, the famous epic\npoem, is but the original of Homer\u2019s _Iliad_, as it was suggested some\nyears ago? The beautiful Paris, carrying off Helen, looks very much\nlike R\u00e2vana, king of the giants, eloping with Sita, R\u00e2ma\u2019s wife? The\nTrojan war is a counterpart of the _Ramay\u00e2na_ war; moreover, Herodotus\nassures us that the Trojan heroes and gods date in Greece only from the\ndays of the _Iliad_. In such a case even Hanoum\u0101, the monkey-god, would\nbe but Vulcan in disguise; the more so that the Cambodian tradition\nmakes the founder of Angkor come from _Roma_, which they place at the\nwestern end of the world, and that the Hindu Roma also apportions the\nwest to the descendants of Hanoum\u0101.\n\nHypothetical as the suggestion may now seem, it is worthy of\nconsideration, if even for the sake of being refuted. The Abb\u00e9\nJaquenet, a Catholic missionary in Cochin China, ever ready to\nconnect the least glimmer of historical light with that of Christian\nrevelation, writes, \u201cWhether we consider the commercial relations of\nthe Jews ... when, in the height of their power, the combined fleets\nof Hiram and Solomon went to seek the treasures of Ophir, or whether\nwe come lower down, to the dispersion of the ten tribes who, instead\nof returning from captivity, set out from the banks of the Euphrates,\nand reached the shores of the ocean ... the shining of the light of\nrevelation in the far East is not the less incontestable.\u201d\n\nIt looks certainly \u201cincontestable\u201d enough if we reverse the position\nand admit that all the light that ever shone on the Israelites came\nto them from this \u201cfar East,\u201d passing first through the Chaldeans\nand Egyptians. The first thing to settle, is to find out who were\nthe Israelites themselves; and that is the most vital question. Many\nhistorians seem to claim, with good reason, that the Jews were similar\nor identical with the ancient Ph\u0153nicians, but the Ph\u0153nicians were {567}\nbeyond any doubt an \u00c6thiopian race; moreover, the present race of\nPunjaub are hybridized with the Asiatic \u00c6thiopians. Herodotus traces\nthe Hebrews to the Persian Gulf; and south of that place were the\nHimyarites (the Arabians); beyond, the early Chaldeans and Susinians,\nthe great builders. This seems to establish pretty well their \u00c6thiopian\naffinity. Megasthenes says that the Jews were an Indian sect called\n_Kalani_, and their theology resembled that of the Indians. Other\nauthors also suspect that the colonized Jews or the Judeans were the\nYadus from Afghanistan\u2014the old India.[847] Eusebius tells us that\n\u201cthe \u00c6thiopians came from the river Indus and settled near Egypt.\u201d\nMore research may show that the Tamil Hindus, who are accused by the\nmissionaries of worshipping the Devil\u2014Kutti-Sattan\u2014only honor, after\nall, Seth or Satan, worshipped by the biblical Hittites.\n\nBut if the Jews were in the twilight of history the Ph\u0153nicians, the\nlatter may be traced themselves to the nations who used the old\nSanscrit language. Carthage was a Ph\u0153nician city, hence its name; for\nTyre was equally _Kartha_. In the _Bible_ the words _Kir_, _Kirjath_\nare frequently found. Their tutelar god was styled _Mel-Kartha_ (Mel,\nBaal), or tutelar lord of the city. In Sanscrit a city or communal\nwas a _c\u00fbl_ and its lord was _Heri_.[848] Her-culeus is therefore\nthe translation of Melkarth and Sanscrit in origin. Moreover all\nthe Cyclopean races were Ph\u0153nicians. In the _Odyssey_ the Kuklopes\n(Cyclops) are the Libyan shepherds; and Herodotus describes them as\nminers and great builders. They are the ancient Titans or giants, who\nin Hesiod forge bolts for Zeus. They are the biblical _Zamzummim_ from\nthe land of the giants, the Anakim.\n\nNow it is easy to see that the excavators of Ellora, the builders of\nthe old Pagodas, the architects of Copan and of the ruins of Central\nAmerica, those of Nagkon-Wat, and those of the Egyptian remains\nwere, if not of the same race, at least of the same religion\u2014the one\ntaught in the oldest Mysteries. Besides, the figures on the walls of\nAngkor are purely archaic, and have nothing to do with the images\nand idols of Buddha, who may be of a far later origin. \u201cWhat gives a\npeculiar interest to this section,\u201d says Dr. Bastian, \u201cis the fact\nthat the artist has represented the different nationalities in all\ntheir distinctive characteristic features, from the flat-nosed savage\nin the tasselled garb of the Pnom and the short-haired Lao, to the\nstraight-nosed Rajaput, with sword and shield, and _the bearded Moor_, {568}\ngiving a catalogue of nationalities, like another _column of Trajan_,\nin the predominant physical conformation of each race. On the whole,\nthere is such a prevalence of _Hellenic_ cast in features and profiles,\nas well as in the elegant attitude of the horsemen, that one might\nsuppose Xenocrates of old, after finishing his labors in Bombay, had\nmade an excursion to the East.\u201d\n\nTherefore, if we allow the tribes of Israel to have had a hand in the\nbuilding of Nagkon-Wat, it cannot be as the tribes numbered and sent,\nfrom the wilderness of Paran in search of the land of Canaan, but as\ntheir earlier ancestors, which amounts to the rejection of such tribes,\nas the casting of a reflection of the _Mosaic_ revelation. And where is\nthe outside _historical_ evidence that such tribes were ever heard of\nat all, before the compilation of the _Old Testament_ by Ezra? There\nare arch\u00e6ologists who strongly regard the twelve tribes as utterly\nmythical,[849] for there never was a tribe of Simeon, and that of Levi\nwas a _caste_. There still remains the same problem to solve\u2014whether\nthe Jud\u00e6ans had ever been in Palestine before Cyrus. From the sons of\nJacob, who had all married Canaanites, except Joseph, whose wife was\nthe daughter of an Egyptian Priest of the Sun, down to the legendary\n_Book of Judges_ there was an acknowledged general intermarrying\nbetween the said tribes and the idolatrous races: \u201cAnd the children\nof Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and\nPerizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites; and they took their daughters\nto be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served\ntheir gods,\u201d says the third chapter of _Judges_, \u201c ... and the children\nof Israel forgat their God and served Baalim, and the groves.\u201d This\nBaal was Moloch, M\u2019lch Karta, or Hercules. He was worshipped wherever\nthe Ph\u0153nicians went. How could the Israelites possibly keep together\nas tribes, while, on the authority of the _Bible_ itself, whole\npopulations were from year to year uprooted violently by Assyrian and\nother conquerors? \u201cSo was Israel carried away out of their own land\nto Assyria unto this day. And the king of Assyria brought men from\nBabylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from\nSepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria _instead_ of the\nchildren of Israel\u201d (_2 Kings_, xvii. 23, 24).\n\nIf the language of Palestine became in time Semitic, it is because of\nAssyrian influence; for Ph\u0153nicia had become a dependency as early as\nthe days of Hiram, and the Ph\u0153nicians evidently changed their language\nfrom Hamitic to Semitic. Assyria was \u201cthe land of Nimrod\u201d (from _Nimr_,\nspotted), and Nimrod was Bacchus, with his spotted leopard-skin.\nThis leopard-skin is a sacred appendage of the \u201cMysteries;\u201d it was {569}\nused in the Eleusinian as well as in the Egyptian Mysteries; it is\nfound sculptured on the _basso-relievos_ of Central American ruins,\ncovering the backs of the sacrificers; it is mentioned in the earliest\nspeculations of the Brahmans on the meaning of their sacrificial\nprayers, the _Aytareya Brahmanam_.[850] It is used in the _Agnishtoma_,\nthe _initiation rites_ of the Soma Mystery. When the neophyte is \u201cto be\nborn again,\u201d he is covered with a leopard-skin, out of which he emerges\nas from his mother\u2019s womb. The Kabeiri were also Assyrian gods. They\nhad different names; in the common language they were known as Jupiter\nand Bacchus, and sometimes as Achiochersus, Aschieros, Achiochersa, and\nCadmillus; and even the true number of these deities was uncertain with\nthe people. They had other names in the \u201csacred language,\u201d known but to\nthe hierophants and priests; and \u201cit was not lawful to mention them.\u201d\nHow is it then that we find them reproduced in their Samothracian\n\u201cpostures\u201d on the walls of Nagkon-Wat? How is it again that we find\nthem pronounced\u2014albeit slightly disfigured\u2014as known in that same sacred\nlanguage, by the populations of Siam, Thibet, and India?\n\nThe name Kabeiri may be a derivation from \u05d0\u05d1\u05e8, _Abir_, great; \u05d4\u05d1\u05e8,\n_Ebir_, an astrologer, or \u05d7\u05d1\u05e8, _Chabir_, an associate; and they were\nworshipped at Hebron, the city of the _Anakes_\u2014the giants. The name\nAbraham, according to Dr. Wilder, has \u201ca very Kabeirian look.\u201d The\nword _Heber_, or _Gheber_ may be the etymological root of the Hebrews,\nas applied to Nimrod and the Bible-giants of the sixth chapter of\n_Genesis_, but we must seek for their origin far earlier than the days\nof Moses. The name _Ph\u0153nician_ affords its own proof. They are called\n\u03a6\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b5\u03c2 by Manetho, or _Ph\u2019 Anakes_, which shows that the Anakes or\n_Anakim_ of Canaan, with whom the people of Israel, if not identical\nin race, had, by intermarriage, become entirely absorbed, were the\nPh\u0153nicians, or the problematical Hyk-sos, as Manetho has it, and whom\nJosephus once declared were the direct ancestors of the Israelites.\nTherefore, it is in this jumble of contradictory opinions, authorities,\nand historical _olla podrida_ that we must look for a solution of the\nmystery. So long as the origin of the Hyk-sos is not positively settled\nwe can know nothing certain of the Israelitish people who, either\nwittingly or otherwise, have mixed up their chronology and origin\nin such an inextricable tangle. But if the Hyk-sos can be proved to\nhave been the Pali-Shepherds of the Indus, who partially removed to\nthe East, and came over from the nomadic Aryan tribes of India, then,\nperhaps, it would account for the biblical myths being so mixed up with\nthe Aryan and Asiatic Mystery-gods. As Dunlap says: \u201cThe Hebrews came {570}\nout of Egypt among the Canaanites; they need not be traced beyond\nthe _Exodus_. _That is their historical beginning._ It was very easy\nto cover up this remote event by the recital of mythical traditions,\nand to prefix to it an account of their origin in which the gods\n(patriarchs) should figure as their ancestors.\u201d But it is not _their\nhistorical beginning_ which is the most vital question for the world\nof science and theology. It is their _religious_ beginning. And if we\ncan trace it through the Hyk-sos\u2014Ph\u0153nicians, the \u00c6thiopian builders and\nthe Chaldeans\u2014whether it is to the Hindus that the latter owe their\nlearning, or the Brahmans who owe it to the Chaldeans, we have the\nmeans in hand to trace every so-called _revealed_ dogmatical assertion\nin the _Bible_ to its origin, which we have to search for in the\ntwilight of history, and before the separation of the Aryan and Semitic\nfamilies. And how can we do it better or more surely than through means\nafforded us by arch\u00e6ology? Picture-writing can be destroyed, but if\nit survives it cannot lie; and, if we find the same myths, ideas, and\nsecret symbols on monuments all over the world; and if, moreover, these\nmonuments can be shown to antedate the twelve \u201cchosen\u201d tribes, then we\ncan unerringly show that instead of being a direct divine _revelation_,\nit was but an incomplete recollection or tradition among a tribe which\nhad been identified and mixed up for centuries before the apparition of\nAbraham, with all the three great world-families; namely, the Aryan,\nSemitic, and Turanian nations, if so they must be called.\n\nThe _Teraphim_ of Abram\u2019s father, _Terah_, the \u201cmaker of images,\u201d\nwere the Kabeiri gods, and we see them worshipped by Micah, by the\nDanites, and others.[851] Teraphim were identical with the seraphim,\nand these were serpent-images, the origin of which is in the Sanscrit\n_sarp\u00e2_ (the serpent), a symbol sacred to all the deities as a symbol\nof immortality. _Kiyun_, or the god Kivan, worshipped by the Hebrews in\nthe wilderness, is Siva, the Hindu,[852] as well as Saturn.[853] The\nGreek story shows that Dardanus, the Arcadian, having received them as\na dowry, carried them to Samothrace, and from thence to Troy; and they\nwere worshipped far before the days of glory of Tyre or Sidon, though\nthe former had been built 2760 B.C. From where did Dardanus derive them?\n\nIt is an easy matter to assign an age to ruins on merely the external\nevidence of probabilities; it is more difficult to prove it. Meanwhile\nthe rock-works of Ruad, Perytus, Marathos, resemble those of Petra, {571}\nBaalbek, and other \u00c6thiopian works, even externally. On the other hand\nthe assertions of certain arch\u00e6ologists who find no resemblance between\nthe temples of Central America and those of Egypt and Siam, leave the\nsymbologist, acquainted with the secret language of picture-writing,\nperfectly unconcerned. He sees the landmarks of one and the same\ndoctrine on all of these monuments, and reads their history and\naffiliation in signs imperceptible to the uninitiated scientist.\nThere are traditions also; and one of these speaks of the last of the\nking-initiates\u2014(who were but rarely admitted to the higher orders of\nthe Eastern Brotherhoods), who reigned in 1670. This king of Siam was\nthe one so ridiculed by the French ambassador, de la Loub\u00e8re, as a\nlunatic who had been searching all his life for the philosopher\u2019s stone.\n\nOne of such mysterious landmarks is found in the peculiar structure\nof certain arches in the temples. The author of the _Land of the\nWhite Elephant_ remarks as curious, \u201cthe absence of the keystone in\nthe arches of the building, and the undecipherable inscriptions.\u201d In\nthe ruins of Santa Cruz del Quich\u00e9 an arched corridor was found by\nStephens, equally without a keystone. Describing the desolate ruins of\nPalenque, and remarking that the arches of the corridors were all built\non this model, and the ceilings in this form, he supposes that \u201cthe\nbuilders were evidently ignorant of the principles of the arch, and the\nsupport was made by stones lapping over as they rose; as at Ocosingo,\nand among Cyclopean remains in Greece and Italy.\u201d[854] In other\nbuildings, though they belong to the same group, the traveller found\nthe missing keystone, which is a sufficient proof that its omission\nelsewhere was _premeditated_.\n\nMay we not look for the solution of the mystery in the Masonic manual?\nThe keystone has an esoteric meaning which ought to be, if it is not,\nwell appreciated by high Masons. The most important subterranean\nbuilding mentioned in the description of the origin of Freemasonry,\nis the one built by Enoch. The patriarch is led by the Deity, whom\nhe sees in a vision, into the _nine_ vaults. After that, with the\nassistance of his son, Methuselah, he constructs in the land of Canaan,\n\u201cin the bowels of the mountain,\u201d nine apartments on the models that\nwere shown to him in the vision. Each was roofed with an arch, and\nthe apex of each _formed a keystone_, having inscribed on it the\nmirific characters. Each of the latter, furthermore, represented one\nof the nine names, traced in characters emblematical of the attributes\nby which the Deity was, according to ancient Freemasonry, known to\nthe antediluvian brethren. Then Enoch constructed two deltas of the\npurest gold, and tracing two of the mysterious characters on each, he\nplaced one of them in the deepest arch, and the other entrusted to {572}\nMethuselah, communicating to him, at the same time, other important\nsecrets _now lost to Freemasonry_.\n\nAnd so, among these arcane secrets, now lost to their modern\nsuccessors, may be found also the fact that the keystones were used in\nthe arches only in certain portions of the temples devoted to special\npurposes. Another similarity presented by the architectural remains of\nthe religious monuments of every country can be found in the identity\nof parts, courses, and measurements. All these buildings belong to\nthe age of Hermes Trismegistus, and however comparatively modern or\nancient the temple may seem, their mathematical proportions are found\nto correspond with the Egyptian religious edifices. There is a similar\ndisposition of court-yards, adyta, passages, and steps; hence, despite\nany dissimilarity in architectural style, it is a warrantable inference\nthat like religious rites were celebrated in all. Says Dr. Stukely,\nconcerning Stonehenge: \u201cThis structure was not erected upon any Roman\nmeasure, and this is demonstrated by the great number of fractions\nwhich the measurement of each part, according to European scales,\ngives. On the contrary the figures become even, as soon as we apply to\nit the measurement of the ancient cubic, which was common to the Hebrew\nchildren of Shem, as well as to the Ph\u0153nicians and Egyptians, children\nof Ham (?), and imitators of the monuments of unhewn and oracular\nstones.\u201d\n\nThe presence of the artificial lakes, and their peculiar disposition\non the consecrated grounds, is also a fact of great importance. The\nlakes inside the precincts of Karnak, and those enclosed in the grounds\nof Nagkon-Wat, and around the temples in the Mexican Copan and Santa\nCruz del Quich\u00e8, will be found to present the same peculiarities.\nBesides possessing other significances the whole area was laid out\nwith reference to cyclic calculations. In the Druidical structures\nthe same sacred and mysterious numbers will be found. The circle\nof stones generally consists of either twelve, or twenty-one, or\nthirty-six. In these circles the centre place belongs to Assar, Azon,\nor the god in the circle, by whatever other name he might have been\nknown. The thirteen Mexican serpent-gods bear a distant relationship\nto the thirteen stones of the Druidical ruins. The ~T~ (Tau), and\nthe astronomical cross of Egypt [A circle with a horizontal diameter\nand a vertical radius above] are conspicuous in several apertures of\nthe remains of Palenque. In one of the _basso-relievos_ of the Palace\nof Palenque, on the west side, sculptured on a hieroglyphic, right\nunder the seated figure, is a _Tau_. The standing figure, which leans\nover the first one, is in the act of covering its head with the left\nhand with the veil of initiation; while it extends its right with the\nindex and middle finger pointing to heaven. The position is precisely\nthat of a Christian bishop giving his blessing, or the one in which\nJesus is often represented while at the Last Supper. Even the Hindu {573}\nelephant-headed god of wisdom (or magic learning), Ganesha, may be\nfound among the stucco figures of the Mexican ruins.\n\nWhat explanation can the arch\u00e6ologists, philologists\u2014in short, the\nchosen host of Academicians\u2014give us? None whatever. At best they have\nbut hypotheses, every one of which is likely to be pulled down by its\nsuccessor\u2014a pseudo-truth, perhaps, like the first. The keys to the\nbiblical miracles of old, and to the phenomena of modern days; the\nproblems of psychology, physiology, and the many \u201cmissing links\u201d which\nhave so perplexed scientists of late, are all in the hands of secret\nfraternities. This mystery _must be_ unveiled some day. But till then\ndark skepticism will constantly interpose its threatening, ugly shadow\nbetween God\u2019s truths and the spiritual vision of mankind; and many are\nthose who, infected by the mortal epidemic of our century\u2014hopeless\nmaterialism\u2014will remain in doubt and mortal agony as to whether, when\nman dies, he will live again, although the question has been solved\nby long bygone generations of sages. The answers are there. They may\nbe found on the time-worn granite pages of cave-temples, on sphinxes,\npropylons, and obelisks. They have stood there for untold ages, and\nneither the rude assault of time, nor the still ruder assault of\nChristian hands, have succeeded in obliterating their records. All\ncovered with the problems which were solved\u2014who can tell? perhaps by\nthe archaic forefathers of their builders\u2014the solution follows each\nquestion; and this the Christian could not appropriate, for, except the\ninitiates, no one has understood the mystic writing. The key was in the\nkeeping of those who knew how to commune with the invisible Presence,\nand who had received, from the lips of mother Nature herself, her grand\ntruths. And so stand these monuments like mute forgotten sentinels on\nthe threshold of that _unseen_ world, whose gates are thrown open but\nto a few elect.\n\nDefying the hand of Time, the vain inquiry of profane science, the\ninsults of the _revealed_ religions, they will disclose their riddles\nto none but the legatees of those by whom they were entrusted with the\nMYSTERY. The cold, stony lips of the once vocal Memnon, and of these\nhardy sphinxes, keep their secrets well. Who will unseal them? Who of\nour modern, materialistic dwarfs and unbelieving Sadducees will dare to\nlift the VEIL OF ISIS?\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER XV. {574}\n\n \u201cSTE.\u2014Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon us with\n savages, and men of Inde?\u201d\n _The Tempest_, Act ii., Sc. 2.\n\n \u201cWe have now, so far forth as it is requisite for our design,\n considered the _Nature and Functions of the Soule_; and have\n plainly demonstrated that she is a substance distinct from the\n body.\u201d\n \u2014DR. HENRY MORE: _Immortality of the Soule_. 1659.\n\n \u201cKNOWLEDGE IS POWER; IGNORANCE IS IMBECILITY.\u201d\u2014AUTHOR OF\n \u201cArt-Magic:\u201d _Ghost-Land_.\n\n\nThe \u201csecret doctrine\u201d has for many centuries been like the symbolical\n\u201cman of sorrows\u201d of the prophet Isaiah. \u201cWho hath believed our report?\u201d\nits martyrs have repeated from one generation to another. The doctrine\nhas grown up before its persecutors \u201cas a tender plant and as a root\nout of a dry ground; it hath no form, nor comeliness ... it is despised\nand rejected of men; and they hid their faces from it.... They esteemed\nhim not.\u201d\n\nThere need be no controversy as to whether this doctrine agrees or not\nwith the iconoclastic tendency of the skeptics of our times. It agrees\nwith _truth_ and that is enough. It would be idle to expect that it\nwould be believed by its detractors and slanderers. But the tenacious\nvitality it exhibits all over the globe, wherever there are a group\nof men to quarrel over it, is the best proof that the seed planted by\nour fathers on \u201cthe other side of the flood\u201d was that of a mighty oak,\nnot the spore of a mushroom theology. No lightning of human ridicule\ncan fell to the ground, and no thunderbolts ever forged by the Vulcans\nof science are powerful enough to blast the trunk, or even scar the\nbranches of this world-tree of KNOWLEDGE.\n\nWe have but to leave unnoticed their letter that killeth, and catch the\nsubtile spirit of their hidden wisdom, to find concealed in the _Books\nof Hermes_\u2014be they the model or the copy of all others\u2014the evidences\nof a truth and philosophy which we feel _must_ be based on the eternal\nlaws. We instinctively comprehend that, however finite the powers of\nman, while he is yet embodied, they must be in close kinship with\nthe attributes of an infinite Deity; and we become capable of better\nappreciating the hidden sense of the gift lavished by the _Elohim_ on\n_H\u2019Adam_: \u201cBehold, I have given you everything which is upon the face\nof all the earth ... _subdue it_,\u201d and \u201c_have dominion_\u201d over ALL.\n\nHad the allegories contained in the first chapters of _Genesis_ {575}\nbeen better understood, even in their geographical and historical\nsense, which involve nothing at all esoteric, the claims of its true\ninterpreters, the kabalists, could hardly have been rejected for so\nlong a time. Every student of the _Bible_ must be aware that the first\nand second chapters of _Genesis_ could not have proceeded from the\nsame pen. They are evidently allegories and parables;[855] for the two\nnarratives of the creation and peopling of our earth diametrically\ncontradict each other in nearly every particular of order, time,\nplace, and methods employed in the so-called creation. In accepting\nthe narratives literally, and as a whole, we lower the dignity of the\nunknown Deity. We drag him down to the level of humanity, and endow him\nwith the peculiar personality of man, who needs the \u201ccool of the day\u201d\nto refresh him; who rests from his labors; and is capable of anger,\nrevenge, and even of using precautions against man, \u201clest he put forth\nhis hand, and take also of the tree of life.\u201d (A tacit admission, by\nthe way, on the part of the Deity, that man _could do it_, if not\nprevented by sheer force.) But, in recognizing the allegorical coloring\nof the description of what may be termed historical facts, we find our\nfeet instantly on firm ground.\n\nTo begin with\u2014the garden of Eden as a locality is no myth at all; it\nbelongs to those landmarks of history which occasionally disclose to\nthe student that the _Bible_ is not all mere allegory. \u201cEden, or the\nHebrew \u05d2\u05df\u05be\u05e2\u05d3\u05df GAN-EDEN, meaning the park or the garden of Eden, is\nan archaic name of the country watered by the Euphrates and its many\nbranches, from Asia and Armenia to the Erythraian Sea.\u201d[856] In the\nChaldean _Book of Numbers_, its location is designated in numerals,\nand in the cipher Rosicrucian manuscript, left by Count St. Germain,\nit is fully described. In the Assyrian _Tablets_, it is rendered\n_gan-dunyas_. \u201cBehold,\u201d say the \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd _Eloim_ of Genesis, \u201cthe man is\nbecome as one of us.\u201d The _Eloim_ may be accepted in one sense for\n_gods_ or powers, and taken in another one for the _Aleim_, or priests;\nthe hierophants initiated into the good and the evil of this world;\nfor there was a college of priests called the _Aleim_, while the head\nof their caste, or the chief of the hierophants, was known as _Java\nAleim_. Instead of becoming a neophyte, and gradually obtaining his\nesoteric knowledge through a regular initiation, an _Adam_, or man,\nuses his intuitional faculties, and, prompted by the Serpent\u2014_Woman_\nand matter\u2014tastes of the Tree of Knowledge\u2014the esoteric or secret\ndoctrine\u2014unlawfully. The priests of Hercules, or Mel-Karth, the \u201cLord\u201d\nof the Eden, all wore \u201ccoats of skin.\u201d The text says: \u201cAnd _Java\nAleim_, made for Adam and his wife \u05db\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8, CHITONUTH OUR.\u201d The {576}\nfirst Hebrew word, _chitun_, is the Greek \u03c7\u03b9\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd, _chiton_. It became\na Slavonic word by adoption from the _Bible_, and means a _coat_, an\nupper garment.\n\nThough containing the same substratum of esoteric truth as every\nearly cosmogony, the Hebrew Scripture wears on its face the marks\nof its double origin. Its _Genesis_ is purely a reminiscence of the\nBabylonian captivity. The names of places, men, and even objects, can\nbe traced from the original text to the Chaldeans and the Akkadians,\nthe progenitors and Aryan instructors of the former. It is strongly\ncontested that the Akkad tribes of Chaldea, Babylonia, and Assyria\nwere in any way cognate with the Brahmans, of Hindustan; but there are\nmore proofs in favor of this opinion than otherwise. The Shemite, or\nAssyrian, ought, perchance, to have been called the Turanian, and the\nMongolians have been denominated Scyths. But if the Akkadians ever\nexisted otherwise than in the imagination of some philologists and\nethnologists, they certainly would never have been a Turanian tribe,\nas some Assyriologists have striven to make us believe. They were\nsimply emigrants on their way to Asia Minor from India, the cradle of\nhumanity, and their sacerdotal adepts tarried to civilize and initiate\na barbarian people. Halevy proved the fallacy of the Turanian mania in\nregard to the Akkadian people, whose very name has been changed a dozen\ntimes already; and other scientists have proved that the Babylonian\ncivilization was neither born nor developed in that country. It was\nimported from India, and the importers were Brahmanical Hindus.\n\nIt is the opinion of Professor A. Wilder, that if the Assyrians had\nbeen called Turanians and the Mongolians Scyths, then, in such a case\nthe wars of Iran and Turan, Zohak and Jemshid, or Yima, would have\nbeen fairly comprehended as the struggle of the old Persians against\nthe endeavors of the Assyrian satraps to conquer them, which ended in\nthe overthrow of Nineveh; \u201cthe spider weaving her web in the palace of\nAfrasiab.\u201d[857]\n\n\u201cThe Turanian of Prof. M\u00fcller and his school,\u201d adds our correspondent,\n\u201cwas evidently the savage and nomadic Caucasian, out of whom the\nHamite or \u00c6thiopian builders come; then the Shemites\u2014perhaps a hybrid\nof Hamite and Aryan; and lastly the Aryan\u2014Median, Persian, Hindu; and\nlater, the Gothic and Slavic peoples of Europe. He supposes the Celt\nto have been a hybrid, analogous to the Assyrians\u2014between the Aryan\ninvaders of Europe and the Iberic (probably \u00c6thiopic) population of\nEurope.\u201d In such a case he must admit the possibility of our assertion\nthat the Akkadians were a tribe of the earliest Hindus. Now, whether {577}\nthey were Brahmans, from the Brahmanic planisphere proper (40\u00b0 north\nlatitude), or from India (Hindustan), or, again, from the India of\nCentral Asia, we will leave to philologists of future ages to decide.\n\nAn opinion which with us amounts to certitude, demonstrated by an\ninductive method of our own, which we are afraid will be but little\nappreciated by the orthodox methods of modern science, is based on what\nwill appear to the latter merely circumstantial evidence. For years we\nhave repeatedly noticed that the same esoteric truths were expressed in\nidentical symbols and allegories in countries between which there had\nnever been traced any historical affiliation. We have found the Jewish\n_Kabala_ and the _Bible_ repeating the Babylonian \u201cmyths,\u201d[858] and the\nOriental and Chaldean allegories, given in form and substance in the\noldest manuscripts of the Siamese Talapoin (monks), and in the popular\nbut oldest traditions of Ceylon.\n\nIn the latter place we have an old and valued acquaintance whom we have\nalso met in other parts of the globe, a Pali scholar, and a native\nCingalese, who has in his possession a curious palm leaf, to which,\nby chemical processes, a timeproof durability has been given, and an\nenormous conch, or rather one-half of a conch\u2014for it has been split\nin two. On the leaf we saw the representation of a giant of Ceylonian\nantiquity and fame, blind, and pulling down\u2014with his outstretched\narms, which are embracing the four central pillars of a pagoda\u2014the\nwhole temple on a crowd of armed enemies. His hair is long and reaches\nnearly to the ground. We were informed by the possessor of this curious\nrelic, that the blind giant was \u201cSomona, the Little;\u201d so called in\ncontradistinction with Somona-Kadom, the Siamese saviour. Moreover, the\nPali legend, in its important particulars, corresponds with that of the\nbiblical Samson.\n\nThe shell bore upon its pearly surface a pictorial engraving, divided\nin two compartments, and the workmanship was far more artistic, as\nto conception and execution, than the crucifixes and other religious\ntrinkets carved out of the same material in our days, at Jaffa and\nJerusalem. In the first panel is represented Siva, with all his Hindu\nattributes, sacrificing his son\u2014whether the \u201conly-begotten,\u201d or one\nof many, we never stopped to inquire. The victim is laid on a funeral\npile, and the father is hovering in the air over him, with an uplifted\nweapon ready to strike; but the god\u2019s face is turned toward a jungle\nin which a rhinoceros has deeply buried its horn in a huge tree and is\nunable to extricate it. The adjoining panel, or division, represents {578}\nthe same rhinoceros on the pile with the weapon plunged in its side,\nand the intended victim\u2014Siva\u2019s son\u2014free, and helping the god to kindle\nthe fire upon the sacrificial altar.\n\nNow, we have but to remember that Siva and the Palentinian Baal, or\nMoloch, and Saturn are identical; that Abraham is held until the\npresent day by the Mahometan Arabs as Saturn in the Kaaba;[859] that\nAbraham and Israel were names of Saturn;[860] and that Sanchoniathon\ntells us that Saturn offered his only-begotten son as a sacrifice to\nhis father Ouranos, and even circumcised himself and forced all his\nhousehold and allies to do the same,[861] to trace unerringly the\nbiblical myth to its source. But this source is neither Ph\u0153nician, nor\nChaldean; it is purely Indian, and the original of it may be found in\nthe _Maha-Bharata_. But, whether Brahmanical or Buddhistical, it must\ncertainly be much older than the Jewish _Pentateuch_, as compiled by\nEzra after the Babylonian captivity, and revised by the Rabbis of the\nGreat Synagogue.\n\nTherefore, we are bold enough to maintain our assertion against the\nopinion of many men of learning, whom, nevertheless, we consider far\nmore learned than ourselves. Scientific induction is one thing, and\n_knowledge of facts_, however unscientific they may seem at first, is\nanother. But science has discovered enough to inform us that Sanscrit\noriginals, of Nepaul, were translated by Buddhistic missionaries\ninto nearly every Asiatic language. Likewise Pali manuscripts were\ntranslated into Siamese, and carried to Burmah and Siam; it is easy,\ntherefore, to account for the same religious legends and myths\ncirculating in all these countries. But Manetho tells us also of Pali\nshepherds who emigrated westward; and when we find some of the oldest\nCeylonic traditions in the Chaldean _Kabala_ and Jewish _Bible_, we\nmust think that either Chaldeans or Babylonians had been in Ceylon or\nIndia, or the ancient Pali had the same traditions as the Akkadians,\nwhose origin is so uncertain. Suppose even Rawlinson to be right, and\nthat the Akkadians did come from Armenia, he did not trace them farther\nback. As the field is now opened for any kind of hypothesis, we submit\nthat this tribe might as well have come to Armenia from beyond the\nIndus, following their way in the direction of the Caspian Sea\u2014a part\nwhich was also India, once upon a time\u2014and from thence to the Euxine.\nOr they might have come originally from Ceylon by the same way. It has\nbeen found impossible to follow, with any degree of certitude, the\nwanderings of these nomadic Aryan tribes; hence we are left to judge\nfrom inference, and by comparing their esoteric myths. Abraham himself,\nfor all our scientists can know, might have been one of these Pali\nshepherds who emigrated _West_. He is shown to have gone with his {579}\nfather, Terah, from \u201c_Ur_ of the Chaldees;\u201d and Sir H. Rawlinson found\nthe Ph\u0153nician city of Martu or Marathos mentioned in an inscription at\n_Ur_, and shows it to signify THE WEST.\n\nIf their language seems in one sense to oppose their identity with the\nBrahmans of Hindustan, yet there are other reasons which make good our\nclaims that the biblical allegories of _Genesis_ are entirely due to\nthese nomadic tribes. Their name Ak-ad, is of the same class as Ad-Am,\nHa-va,[862] or Ed-En\u2014\u201cperhaps,\u201d says Dr. Wilder, \u201cmeaning son of _Ad_,\nlike the sons of Ad in ancient Arabia. In Assyrian, _Ak_ is creator and\nAd-ad is AD, the father.\u201d In Aramean Ad also means _one_, and Ad-ad the\n_only-one_; and in the _Kabala Ad-am_ is the only-begotten, the first\nemanation of the unseen Creator. _Adon_ was the \u201cLord\u201d god of Syria\nand the consort of Adar-gat, or Aster-\u2018t,\u2019 the Syrian goddess, who was\nVenus, Isis, Istar, or Mylitta, etc.; and each of these was \u201cmother _of\nall living_\u201d the _Magna Mater_.\n\nThus, while the first, second, and third chapters of _Genesis_ are\nbut disfigured imitations of other cosmogonies, the fourth chapter,\nbeginning at the sixteenth verse, and the fifth chapter to the end\u2014give\npurely historical facts; though the latter were never correctly\ninterpreted. They are taken, word for word, from the secret _Book of\nNumbers_, of the Great Oriental _Kabala_. From the birth of Enoch, the\nappropriated first parent of modern Freemasonry, begins the genealogy\nof the so-called Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic families, if such they\nbe correctly. Every woman is an euhemerized land or city; every man\nand patriarch a race, a branch, or a subdivision of a race. The wives\nof Lamech give the key to the riddle which some good scholar might\neasily master, even without studying the esoteric sciences. \u201cAnd Ad-ah\nbare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and _of\nsuch as have cattle_,\u201d nomadic Aryan race; \u201c ... and his brother was\nJubal; he was the father of all such as _handle the harp and organ_;\n... and Zillah bare Tubal-Cain, an instructor _of every artificer in\nbrass and iron_,\u201d etc. Every word has a significance; but it is no\n_revelation_. It is simply a compilation of the most _historical_\nfacts, although history is too perplexed upon this point to know how\nto claim them. It is from the Euxine to Kashmere, and beyond that we\nmust search for the cradle of mankind and the sons of Ad-ah; and leave {580}\nthe particular garden of Ed-en on the Euphrates to the college of the\nweird astrologers and magi, the Aleim.[863] No wonder that the Northern\nseer, Swedenborg, advises people to search for the LOST WORD among the\nhierophants of Tartary, China, and Thibet; for it is there, and only\nthere now, although we find it inscribed on the monuments of the oldest\nEgyptian dynasties.\n\nThe grandiose poetry of the four _Vedas_; the _Books of Hermes_; the\nChaldean _Book of Numbers_; the _Nazarene Codex_; the _Kabala_ of\nthe Tana\u00efm; the _Sepher Jezira_; the _Book of Wisdom_, of Schlomah\n(Solomon); the secret treatise on _Muhta and Badha_,[864] attributed by\nthe Buddhist kabalists to Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya system;\nthe _Brahmanas_;[865] the _Stan-gyour_,[866] of the Thibetans; all\nthese volumes have the same groundwork. Varying but in allegories they\nteach the same secret doctrine which, when once thoroughly eliminated,\nwill prove to be the Ultima Thul\u00e8 of true philosophy, and disclose what\nis this LOST WORD.\n\nIt is useless to expect scientists to find in these works anything of\ninterest except that which is in direct relation to either philology\nor comparative mythology. Even Max M\u00fcller, as soon as he refers to\nthe mysticism and metaphysical philosophy scattered through the old\nSanscrit literature, sees in it naught but \u201ctheological absurdities\u201d\nand \u201cfantastic nonsense.\u201d\n\nSpeaking of the _Brahmanas_, all full of _mysterious_, therefore, as a\nmatter of course, absurd, meanings, we find him saying: \u201cThe greater\nportion of them is simply twaddle, and what is worse, _theological\ntwaddle_. No person who is not acquainted beforehand with \u201cthe place\nwhich the _Brahmanas_ fill in the history of the Indian mind, could\nread more than ten pages _without being disgusted_.\u201d[867]\n\nWe do not wonder at the severe criticism of this erudite scientist. {581}\nWithout a clew to the real meaning of this \u201ctwaddle\u201d of religious\nconceptions, how can they judge of the esoteric by the exoteric? We\nfind an answer in another of the highly-interesting lectures of the\nGerman savant: \u201cNo Jew, no Roman, no Brahman ever thought of converting\npeople to his own national form of worship. Religion was looked upon as\nprivate or national property. It was to be guarded against strangers.\nThe most sacred names of the gods, the prayers by which their favor\ncould be gained, were kept secret. No religion was more exclusive than\nthat of the Brahmans.\u201d[868]\n\nTherefore, when we find scholars who imagine, because they have learned\nthe meaning of a few exoteric rites from a srotriya, a Brahman priest\ninitiated in the sacrificial mysteries, that they are capable of\ninterpreting all the symbols, and have sifted the Hindu religions, we\ncannot help admiring the completeness of their scientific delusions.\nThe more so, since we find Max M\u00fcller himself asserting that since \u201ca\nBrahman was born\u2014nay, _twice-born_, and could not be made, not even the\nlowest caste, that of the Sudras, would open its ranks to a stranger.\u201d\nHow much less likely that he would allow that stranger to unveil to the\nworld his most sacred religious Mysteries, the secret of which has been\nguarded so jealousy from profanation throughout untold ages.\n\nNo; our scientists do not\u2014nay, cannot understand correctly the old\nHindu literature, any more than an atheist or materialist is able to\nappreciate at their just value the feelings of a seer, a mystic, whose\nwhole life is given to contemplation. They have a perfect right to\nsoothe themselves with the sweet lullaby of their self-admiration,\nand the just consciousness of their great learning, but none at all\nto lead the world into their own error, by making it believe that\nthey have solved the last problem of ancient thought in literature,\nwhether Sanscrit or any other; that there lies not behind the external\n\u201ctwaddle\u201d far more than was ever dreamed of by our modern exact\nphilosophy; or that above and beyond the correct rendering of Sanscrit\nwords and sentences there is no deeper thought, intelligible to some of\nthe descendants of those who veiled it in the morning hours of earth\u2019s\nday, if they are not to the profane reader.\n\nWe do not feel in the least astonished that a materialist, and even\nan orthodox Christian, is unable to read either the old Brahmanical\nworks or their progeny, the _Kabala_, the _Codex_ of Bardesanes, or\nthe Jewish _Scripture_ without disgust at their immodesty and apparent\nlack of what the uninitiated reader is pleased to call \u201ccommon sense.\u201d\nBut if we can hardly blame them for such a feeling, especially in the {582}\ncase of the Hebrew, and even the Greek and Latin literature, and are\nquite ready to agree with Professor Fiske that \u201cit is a mark of wisdom\nto be dissatisfied with imperfect evidence;\u201d on the other hand we have\na right to expect that they should recognize that it is no less a mark\nof honesty to confess one\u2019s ignorance in cases where there are two\nsides to the question, and in the solution of which the scientist may\nas easily blunder as any ignoramus. When we find Professor Draper, in\nhis definition of periods in the _Intellectual Development of Europe_,\nclassifying the time from the days of Socrates, the precursor and\nteacher _of Plato_, to Karneades, as \u201cthe age of faith;\u201d and that from\nPhilo to the destruction of the Neo-platonic schools by Justinian\u2014the\n\u201cage of decrepitude,\u201d we may be allowed to infer that the learned\nprofessor knows as little about the real tendency of Greek philosophy\nand the Attic schools as he understood the true character of Giordano\nBruno. So when we see one of the best of Sanscrit scholars stating\non his own unsupported authority that the \u201cgreater portion of the\n_Brahmanas_ is simply theological twaddle,\u201d we deeply regret to think\nthat Professor M\u00fcller must be far better acquainted with the old\nSanscrit verbs and nouns than with Sanscrit thought; and that a scholar\nso uniformly disposed to do justice to the religions and the men of old\nshould so effectually play into the hands of Christian theologians.\n\u201cWhat is the use of Sanscrit?\u201d exclaims Jacquemont, who alone has\nmade more false statements about the East than all the Orientalists\nput together. At such a rate there would be none indeed. If we are to\nexchange one corpse for another, then we may as well dissect the dead\nletter of the Jewish _Bible_ as that of the _Vedas_. He who is not\nintuitionally vivified by the religious spirit of old, will never see\nbeyond the exoteric \u201ctwaddle.\u201d\n\nWhen first we read that \u201cin the cavity of the cranium of\nMacroposopos\u2014the Long-Face\u2014lies hidden the a\u00ebrial Wisdom which nowhere\nis opened; and it is not discovered, and not opened;\u201d or again, that\n\u201cthe _nose_ of the \u2018ancient of days\u2019 is _Life_ in every part;\u201d we are\ninclined to regard it as the incoherent ravings of a lunatic. And\nwhen, moreover, we are apprized by the _Codex Nazar\u00e6us_ that \u201cshe, the\n_Spiritus_,\u201d invites her son Karabtanos, \u201cwho is frantic and without\njudgment,\u201d to an unnatural crime with his own mother, we are pretty\nwell disposed to throw the book aside in disgust. But is this only\nmeaningless trash, expressed in rude and even obscene language? No\nmore can it be judged by external appearance than the sexual symbols\nof the Egyptian and Hindu religions, or the coarse frankness of\nexpression of the \u201choly\u201d _Bible_ itself. No more than the allegory of\nEve and the tempting serpent of Eden. The ever-insinuating, restless\nspirit, when once it \u201cfalls into matter,\u201d tempts Eve, or Hava, which\nbodily represents chaotic matter \u201cfrantic and without judgment.\u201d For\n_matter_, Karabtanos, is the son of _Spirit_, or the _Spiritus_ of the {583}\nNazarenes, the _Sophia-Achamoth_, and the latter is the daughter of\nthe pure, intellectual spirit, the divine breath. When science shall\nhave effectually demonstrated to us the origin of matter, and proved\nthe fallacy of the occultists\u2019 and old philosophers who held (as their\ndescendants now hold) that matter is but one of the correlations of\nspirit, then will the world of skeptics have a right to reject the\nold Wisdom, or throw the charge of obscenity in the teeth of the old\nreligions.\n\n\u201cFrom time immemorial,\u201d[869] says Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, \u201can emblem\nhas been worshipped in Hindustan as the type of creation, or the origin\nof life. It is the most common symbol of Siva [Bala, or Maha-Deva], and\nis universally connected with his worship.... Siva was not merely the\nreproducer of human forms; he represented the fructifying principle,\nthe generative power that pervades the universe.... Small images of\nthis emblem carved in ivory, gold, or crystal, are worn as ornaments\nabout the neck.... The maternal emblem is likewise a religious\ntype; and worshippers of Vishnu represent it on their forehead by a\nhorizontal mark.... Is it strange that they regarded with reverence the\ngreat mystery of human birth? Were _they_ impure thus to regard it? Or\nare we impure that we do _not_ so regard it? We have travelled far, and\nunclean have been the paths, since those old Anchorites first spoke of\nGod and the soul in the solemn depths of their first sanctuaries. Let\nus not smile at their mode of tracing the infinite and incomprehensible\nCause throughout all the mysteries of nature, lest by so doing we cast\nthe shadow of our own grossness on their patriarchal simplicity.\u201d\n\nMany are the scholars who have tried, to the best of their ability, to\ndo justice to old India. Colebrooke, Sir William Jones, Barthelemy St.\nHilaire, Lassen, Weber, Strange, Burnouf, Hardy, and finally Jacolliot,\nhave all brought forward their testimony to her achievements in\nlegislation, ethics, philosophy, and religion. No people in the world\nhave ever attained to such a grandeur of thought in ideal conceptions\nof the Deity and its offspring, MAN, as the Sanscrit metaphysicians and\ntheologians. \u201cMy complaint against many translators and Orientalists,\u201d\nsays Jacolliot, \u201cwhile admiring their profound knowledge is, that _not\nhaving lived in India_, they fail in exactness of expression and in\ncomprehension of the _symbolical_ sense of poetic chants, prayers, and\nceremonies, and thus too often fall into material errors, whether of\ntranslation or appreciation.\u201d[870] Further, this author who, from a\nlong residence in India, and the study of its literature, is better\nqualified to testify than those who have never been there, tells us\nthat \u201cthe life of several generations would scarce suffice merely {584}\nto read the works that ancient India has left us on history, ethics\n(_morale_), poetry, philosophy, religion, different sciences, and\nmedicine.\u201d And yet Louis Jacolliot is able to judge but by the few\nfragments, access to which had ever depended on the complaisance\nand friendship of a few Brahmans with whom he succeeded in becoming\nintimate. Did they show him _all_ their treasures? Did they explain\nto him _all_ he desired to learn? We doubt it, otherwise he would not\nhimself have judged their religious ceremonies so hastily as he has\nupon several occasions merely upon circumstantial evidence.\n\nStill, no traveller has shown himself fairer in the main or more\nimpartial to India than Jacolliot. If he is severe as to her present\ndegradation, he is still severer to those who were the cause of\nit\u2014the sacerdotal caste of the last few centuries\u2014and his rebuke\nis proportionate to the intensity of his appreciation of her past\ngrandeur. He shows the sources whence proceeded the revelations of\nall the ancient creeds, including the inspired _Books of Moses_, and\npoints at India directly as the cradle of humanity, the parent of\nall other nations, and the hot-bed of all the lost arts and sciences\nof antiquity, for which old India, herself, was lost already in the\nCimmerian darkness of the archaic ages. \u201cTo study India,\u201d he says, \u201cis\nto trace humanity to its sources.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the same way as modern society jostles antiquity at each step,\u201d\nhe adds, \u201cas our poets have copied Homer and Virgil, Sophocles and\nEuripides, Plautus and Terence; as our philosophers have drawn\ninspiration from Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle; as our\nhistorians take Titus Livius, Sallust, or Tacitus, as models; our\norators, Demosthenes or Cicero; our physicians study Hippocrates,\nand our codes transcribe Justinian\u2014so had antiquity\u2019s self also an\nantiquity to study, to imitate, and to copy. What more simple and\nmore logical? Do not peoples precede and succeed each other? Does\nthe knowledge, painfully acquired by one nation, confine itself to\nits own territory, and die with the generation that produced it? Can\nthere be any absurdity in the suggestion that the India of 6,000 years\nago, brilliant, civilized, overflowing with population, impressed\nupon Egypt, Persia, Judea, Greece, and Rome, a stamp as ineffaceable,\nimpressions as profound, as these last have impressed upon us?\n\n\u201cIt is time to disabuse ourselves of those prejudices which represent\nthe ancients as having almost spontaneously-elaborated ideas,\nphilosophic, religious, and moral, the most lofty\u2014those prejudices that\nin their na\u00efve admiration explain all in the domain of science, arts,\nand letters, by the intuition of some few great men, and in the realm\nof religion by revelation.\u201d[871]\n\nWe believe that the day is not far off when the opponents of this {585}\nfine and erudite writer will be silenced by the force of irrefutable\nevidence. And when _facts_ shall once have corroborated his theories\nand assertions, what will the world find? That it is to India, the\ncountry less explored, and less known than any other, that all the\nother great nations of the world are indebted for their languages,\narts, legislature, and civilization. Its progress, impeded for a few\ncenturies before our era\u2014for, as this writer shows, at the epoch of\nthe great Macedonian conqueror, \u201cIndia had already passed the period\nof her splendor\u201d was completely stifled in the subsequent ages. But\nthe evidence of her past glories lies in her literature. What people\nin all the world can boast of such a literature, which, were the\nSanscrit less difficult, would be more studied than now? Hitherto\nthe general public has had to rely for information on a few scholars\nwho, notwithstanding their great learning and trustworthiness, are\nunequal to the task of translating and commenting upon more than a\nfew books out of the almost countless number that, notwithstanding\nthe vandalism of the missionaries, are still left to swell the mighty\nvolume of Sanscrit literature. And to do even so much is the labor of\na European\u2019s lifetime. Hence, people judge hastily, and often make the\nmost ridiculous blunders.\n\nQuite recently a certain Reverend Dunlop Moore, of New Brighton,\nPa., determined to show his cleverness and piety at a single stroke,\nattacked the statement made by a Theosophist in a discourse delivered\nat the cremation of Baron de Palm, that the _Code of Manu_ existed\na thousand years before Moses. \u201cAll Orientalists of any note,\u201d he\nsays, \u201care now agreed that the _Institutes of Manu_ were written at\ndifferent times. _The oldest part of the collection probably dates\nfrom the sixth century before the Christian era._\u201d[872] Whatever other\nOrientalists, encountered by this Pennsylvania pundit, may think, Sir\nWilliam Jones is of a different opinion. \u201cIt is clear,\u201d he says, \u201cthat\nthe _Laws of Manu_, such as we possess them, and which comprise but 680\nslokas, cannot be the work attributed to Soumati, which is probably\nthat described under the name of _Vriddha Manava_, or _Ancient Code of\nManu_, which has not yet been entirely reconstructed, although many\npassages of the book have been preserved by tradition, and are often\ncited by commentators.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe read in the preface to a treatise on legislation by Narada,\u201d says\nJacolliot, \u201cwritten by one of his adepts, a client of Brahmanical\npower: \u2018Manu having written the laws of Brahma, in 100,000 slokas,\nor distichs, which formed twenty-four books and a thousand chapters,\ngave the work to Narada, the sage of sages, who abridged it for the {586}\nuse of mankind to 12,000 verses, which he gave to a son of Brighou,\nnamed Soumati, who, for the greater convenience of man, reduced them to\n4,000.\u2019\u201d\n\nHere we have the opinion of Sir William Jones, who, in 1794, affirmed\nthat the fragments in possession of the Europeans could not be _The\nAncient Code of Manu_, and that of Louis Jacolliot, who, in 1868, after\nconsulting all the authorities, and adding to them the result of his\nown long and patient research, writes the following: \u201cThe Hindu laws\nwere codified by Manu _more than 3,000 years before the Christian era_,\ncopied by the whole of antiquity, and notably by Rome, which alone has\nleft us a written law\u2014the _Code of Justinian_; which has been adopted\nas the basis of all modern legislations.\u201d[873]\n\nIn another volume, entitled _Christna et le Christ_, in a scientific\narraignment of a pious, albeit very learned Catholic antagonist, M.\nTextor de Ravisi, who seeks to prove that the orthography of the name\nChristna is not warranted by its Sanscrit spelling\u2014and has the worst\nof it\u2014Jacolliot remarks: \u201cWe know that the legislator Manu is lost in\nthe night of the ante-historical period of India; and that no Indianist\nhas dared to refuse him the title of the most ancient law-giver in the\nworld\u201d (p. 350).\n\nBut Jacolliot had not heard of the Rev. Dunlop Moore. This is why,\nperhaps, he and several other Indiologists are preparing to prove that\nmany of the Vedic texts, as well as those of Manu, sent to Europe\nby the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, _are not genuine texts at all_,\nbut mostly due to the cunning tentative efforts of certain Jesuit\nmissionaries to mislead science, by the help of apocryphal works\ncalculated at once to throw upon the history of ancient India a cloud\nof uncertainty and darkness, and on the modern Brahmans and pundits a\nsuspicion of systematical interpolation. \u201cThese facts,\u201d he adds, \u201cwhich\nare so well established in India that they are not even brought in\nquestion, _must be revealed to Europe_\u201d (_Christna et le Christ_, p.\n347).\n\nMoreover, the _Code of Manu_, known to European Orientalists as that\none which is commented upon by Brighou, does not even form a part\nof the ancient Manu called the _Vriddha-Manava_. Although but small\nfragments of it have been discovered by our scientists, it does exist\nas a whole in certain temples; and Jacolliot proves that the texts\nsent to Europe disagree entirely with the same texts as found in the\npagodas of Southern India. We can also cite for our purpose Sir William\nJones, who, complaining of Callouca, remarks that the latter seems\nin his commentaries to have never considered that \u201cthe laws of Manu\nare _restricted to the first three ages_\u201d (_Translation of Manu and\nCommentaries_).\n\nAccording to computation we are now in the age of Kali-Yug, the {587}\n_third_, reckoning from that of Satya or Kritayug, first age in which\nHindu tradition establishes the laws of Manu, and the authenticity of\nwhich Sir William Jones implicitly accepted. Admitting all that may be\nsaid as to the enormous exaggerations of Hindu chronology\u2014which, by the\nbye, dovetails far better with modern geology and anthropology than\nthe 6,000 years\u2019 caricature chronology of the Jewish _Scripture_\u2014still\nas about 4,500 years have elapsed since the fourth age of the world,\nor Kali-Yug, began, we have here a proof that one of the greatest\nOrientalists that ever lived\u2014and a Christian in the bargain, not a\nTheosophist\u2014believed that Manu is many thousand years older than Moses.\nClearly one of two things should happen: Either Indian history should\nbe remodelled for the _Presbyterian Banner_, or the writers for that\nsheet should study Hindu literature before trying their hand again at\ncriticism of Theosophists.\n\nBut apart from the private opinions of these reverend gentlemen whose\nviews very little concern us, we find even in the _New American\nCyclop\u00e6dia_ a decided tendency to dispute the antiquity and importance\nof the Hindu literature. The _Laws of Manu_, says one of the writers,\n\u201cdo not date earlier than the third century B.C.\u201d This term is a very\nelastic one. If by the _Laws of Manu_ the writer means the _abridgment_\nof these laws, compiled and arranged by later Brahmans to serve as an\nauthority for their ambitious projects, and with an idea of creating\nfor themselves a rule of domination, then, in such a sense, they may\nbe right, though we are prepared to dispute even that. At all events\nit is as little proper to pass off this abridgment for the genuine\nold laws codified by Manu, as to assert that the Hebrew _Bible_ does\nnot date earlier than the tenth century of our era, because we have\nno Hebrew manuscript older than that, or that the poems of Homer\u2019s\n_Iliad_ were neither known nor written before its first authenticated\nmanuscript was found. There is no Sanscrit manuscript in the possession\nof European scholars much older than four or five centuries,[874] a\nfact which did not in the least restrain them from assigning to the\n_Vedas_ an antiquity of between four or five thousand years. There\nare the strongest possible arguments in favor of the great antiquity\nof the _Books of Manu_, and without going to the trouble of quoting\nthe opinions of various scholars, no two of whom agree, we will bring\nforward our own, at least as regards this most unwarranted assertion of\nthe _Cyclop\u00e6dia_.\n\nIf, as Jacolliot proves, text in hand, the _Code of Justinian_ was\ncopied from the _Laws of Manu_, we have first of all to ascertain the {588}\nage of the former; not as a written and perfect code, but its origin.\nTo answer, is not difficult we believe.\n\nAccording to Varro, Rome was built in 3961 of the Julian period (754\nB.C.). The Roman Law, as embodied by order of Justinian, and known as\nthe _Corpus Juris Civilis_, was not a code, we are told, but a digest\nof the customs of legislation of many centuries. Though nothing is\nactually known of the original authorities, the chief source from\nwhich the _jus scriptum_, or written law, was derived, was the _jus\nnon scriptum_, or the law of custom. Now it is just on this law _of\ncustom_ that we are prepared to base our arguments. The law of the\ntwelve tables, moreover, was compiled about A.U.C. 300, and even this\nas respects private law was compiled _from still earlier sources_.\nTherefore, if these earlier sources are found to agree so well with\nthe _Laws of Manu_, which the Brahmans claim to have been codified in\nthe _Kritayug_, an age anterior to the actual _Kali-yug_, then we must\nsuppose that this source of the \u201cTwelve Tables,\u201d as laws of _custom_\nand tradition, are at least, by several hundred years, older than their\ncopyists. This, alone, carries us right back to more than 1,000 years\nB.C.\n\nThe _Manava Dharma Sastra_, embodying the Hindu system of cosmogony,\nis recognized as next to the _Vedas_ in antiquity; and even Colebrooke\nassigns the latter to the fifteenth century B.C. And, now, what is\nthe etymology of the name of _Manava Dharma Sastra_? It is a word\ncompounded of _Manu_; _d\u2019harma_, institute; and _sastra_, command or\nlaw. How then can Manu\u2019s laws date only since the third century before\nour Christian era?\n\nThe Hindu _Code_ had never laid any claims to be divinely revealed.\nThe distinction made by the Brahmans themselves between the _Vedas_\nand every other sacred book of however respectable an antiquity, is\na proof of it. While every sect holds the _Vedas_ as the direct word\nof God\u2014_sruti_ (revelation)\u2014the _Code of Manu_ is designated by them\nsimply as the _smriti_, a collection of oral traditions. Still these\ntraditions, or \u201crecollections,\u201d are among the oldest as well as the\nmost revered in the land. But, perhaps, the strongest argument in favor\nof its antiquity, and the general esteem in which it is held, lies\nin the following fact. The Brahmans have undeniably remodelled these\ntraditions at some distant period, and made many of the actual laws,\nas they now stand in the _Code of Manu_, to answer their ambitious\nviews. Therefore, they _must have done it at a time when the burning\nof widows (suttee) was neither practiced nor intended to be_, which it\nhas been for nearly 2,500 years. No more than in the _Vedas_ is there\nany such atrocious law mentioned in the _Code of Manu_! Who, unless he\nis completely unacquainted with the history of India, but knows that {589}\nthis country was once on the verge of a religious rebellion occasioned\nby the prohibition of _suttee_ by the English government? The Brahmans\nappealed to a verse from the _Rig-Veda_ which commanded it. But this\nverse has been recently proved to have been falsified.[875] Had the\nBrahmans been the sole authors of the _Code of Manu_, or had they\ncodified it entirely instead of simply filling it with interpolations\nto answer their object not earlier than the time of Alexander, how is\nit possible that they would have neglected this most important point,\nand so imperilled its authority? This fact alone proves that the _Code_\nmust be counted one of their most ancient books.\n\nIt is on the strength of such circumstantial evidence\u2014that of reason\nand logic\u2014that we affirm that, if Egypt furnished Greece with her\ncivilization, and the latter bequeathed hers to Rome, Egypt herself\nhad, in those unknown ages when Menes reigned,[876] received her laws,\nher social institutions, her arts and her sciences, from pre-Vedic\nIndia;[877] and that therefore, it is in that old initiatrix of the\npriests\u2014adepts of all the other countries\u2014we must seek for the key to\nthe great mysteries of humanity.\n\nAnd when we say, indiscriminately, \u201cIndia,\u201d we do not mean the India of\nour modern days, but that of the archaic period. In those ancient times\ncountries which are now known to us by other names were all called\nIndia. There was an Upper, a Lower, and a Western India, the latter of\nwhich is now Persia-Iran. The countries now named Thibet, Mongolia, and\nGreat Tartary, were also considered by the ancient writers as India. We\nwill now give a legend in relation to those places which science now\nfully concedes to have been the cradle of humanity.\n\nTradition says, and the records of the _Great Book_ explain, that\nlong before the days of Ad-am, and his inquisitive wife, He-va, where\nnow are found but salt lakes and desolate barren deserts, there was a\nvast inland sea, which extended over Middle Asia, north of the proud\nHimalayan range, and its western prolongation. An island, which for\nits unparalleled beauty had no rival in the world, was inhabited by\nthe last remnant of the race which preceded ours. This race could live\nwith equal ease in water, air, or fire, for it had an unlimited control\nover the elements. These were the \u201cSons of God;\u201d not those who saw\nthe daughters of men, but the real _Elohim_, though in the Oriental\n_Kabala_ they have another name. It was they who imparted Nature\u2019s\nmost weird secrets to men, and revealed to them the ineffable, and now {590}\n_lost_ \u201cword.\u201d This word, which is no word, has travelled once around\nthe globe, and still lingers as a far-off dying echo in the hearts of\nsome privileged men. The hierophants of all the Sacerdotal Colleges\nwere aware of the existence of this island, but the \u201cword\u201d was known\nonly to the _Java Aleim_, or chief lord of every college, and was\npassed to his successor only at the moment of death. There were many\nsuch colleges, and the old classic authors speak of them.\n\nWe have already seen that it is one of the universal traditions\naccepted by all the ancient peoples that there were many races of men\nanterior to our present races. Each of these was distinct from the one\nwhich preceded it; and each disappeared as the following appeared. In\n_Manu_, six such races are plainly mentioned as having succeeded each\nother.\n\n\u201cFrom this Manu Swayambhouva (the minor, and answering to Adam Kadmon)\nissued from Swayambhouva, or the Being existing through himself,\ndescended six other Manus (men typifying progenitors), each of whom\ngave birth _to a race_ of men.... These Manus, all powerful, of whom\nSwayambhouva is the first, have each, _in his period\u2014autara_\u2014produced\nand directed this world composed of movable and unmovable beings\u201d\n(_Manu_, book i.).\n\nIn the _Siva-Purana_,[878] it runs thus:\n\n\u201cO Siva, thou god of fire, mayest thou destroy my sins, as the\nbleaching-grass of the jungle is destroyed by fire. It is through thy\nmighty Breath that Adhima (the first man) and Heva (completion of life,\nin Sanscrit), _the ancestors of this race of men_ have received life\nand covered the world with their descendants.\u201d\n\nThere was no communication with the fair island by sea, but\nsubterranean passages known only to the chiefs, communicated with it\nin all directions. Tradition points to many of the majestic ruins of\nIndia, Ellora, Elephanta, and the caverns of Ajunta (Chandor range),\nwhich belonged once to those colleges, and with which were connected\nsuch subterranean ways.[879] Who can tell but the lost Atlantis\u2014which {591}\nis also mentioned in the _Secret Book_, but, again, under another\nname, pronounced in the sacred language\u2014did not exist yet in those\ndays? The great lost continent might have, perhaps, been situated south\nof Asia, extending from India to Tasmania?[880] If the hypothesis\nnow so much doubted, and positively denied by some learned authors\nwho regard it as a joke of Plato\u2019s, is ever verified, then, perhaps,\nwill the scientists believe that the description of the god-inhabited\ncontinent was not altogether fable. And they may then perceive that\nPlato\u2019s guarded hints and the fact of his attributing the narrative to\nSolon and the Egyptian priests, were but a prudent way of imparting\nthe fact to the world and by cleverly combining truth and fiction,\nto disconnect himself from a story which the obligations imposed at\ninitiation forbade him to divulge.\n\nAnd how could the name of Atlanta itself originate with Plato at all?\nAtlante is _not_ a Greek name, and its construction has nothing of\nthe Grecian element in it. Brasseur de Bourbourg tried to demonstrate\nit years ago, and Baldwin, in his _Prehistoric Nations and Ancient\nAmerica_, cites the former, who declares that \u201cthe word _Atlas_ and\n_Atlantic_ have no satisfactory etymology in any language known in\nEurope. They are not Greek, and cannot be referred to any known\nlanguage of the Old World. But in the Nahuatl (or Toltec) language we\nfind immediately the radical _a_, _atl_, which signifies water, war,\nand the top of the head. From this comes a series of words, such as\n_atlan_, or the border of or amid the water; from which we have the\nadjective _Atlantic_. We have also _atlaca_, to combat.... A city named\n_Atlan_ existed when the continent was discovered by Columbus, at the\nentrance of the Gulf of Uraha, in Darien, with a good harbor. It is now\nreduced to an unimportant _pueblo_ (village) named Aclo.\u201d[881]\n\nIs it not, to say the least, very extraordinary to find in America a\ncity called by a name which contains a purely local element, foreign\nmoreover to every other country, in the alleged _fiction_ of a\nphilosopher of 400 years B.C.? The same may be said of the name of\n_America_, which may one day be found more closely related to Meru, the\nsacred mount in the centre of the _seven_ continents, according to the\nHindu tradition, then to Americus Vespucius, whose name by the bye,\nwas never Americus at all, but _Albericus_, a trifling difference not\ndeemed worth mentioning till very lately by _exact_ history.[882] We\nadduce the following reasons in favor of our argument:\n\n1st. Americ, Amerrique, or Amerique is the name in Nicaragua for the {592}\nhigh land or mountain range that lies between Juigalpa and Libertad, in\nthe province of Chontales, and which reaches on the one side into the\ncountry of the Carcas Indians, and on the other side into the country\nof the Ramas Indians.\n\n_Ic_ or _ique_, as a terminal, means great, as _cazique_, etc.\n\nColumbus mentions, in his fourth voyage, the village _Cariai_, probably\n_Ca\u00eecai_. The people abounded with sorcerers, or medicine men; and this\nwas the region of the Americ range, 3,000 feet high.\n\nYet he omits to mention this word.\n\nThe name _America Provincia_, first appeared on a map published at\nB\u00e2sle, in 1522. Till that time, the region was believed to be part of\nIndia. That year Nicaragua was conquered by Gil Gonzales de Avida.[883]\n\n2d. \u201cThe Northmen who visited the continent in the tenth century,[884]\na low level coast thickly covered with wood,\u201d called it _Markland_,\nfrom _mark_, a wood. The _r_ had a rolling sound as in _marrick_. A\nsimilar word is found in the country of the Himalayas, and the name of\nthe World-Mountain, Meru, is pronounced in some dialects as MeruAH, the\nletter _h_ being strongly aspirated. The main idea is, however, to show\nhow two peoples could possibly accept a word of similar sound, each\nhaving used it in their own sense, and finding it applied to the same\nterritory.\n\n\u201cIt is most plausible,\u201d says Professor Wilder, \u201cthat the State of\nCentral America, where we find the name _Americ_ signifying (like the\nHindu Meru we may add) great mountain, gave the continent its name.\nVespucius would have used his surname if he had designed to give a\ntitle to a continent. If the Abb\u00e9 de Bourbourg\u2019s theory of _Atlan_\nas the source of Atlas and Atlantic is verified, the two hypotheses\ncould agree most charmingly. As Plato was not the only writer that\ntreated of a world beyond the pillars of Hercules, and as the ocean is\nstill shallow and grows sea-weed all through the tropical part of the\nAtlantic, it is not wild to imagine that this continent projected, or\nthat there was an island-world on that coast. The Pacific also shows\nsigns of having been a populous island-empire of Malays or Javanese\u2014if\nnot a continent amid the North and South. We know that Lemuria in the\nIndian Ocean is a dream of scientists; and that the Sahara and the\nmiddle belt of Asia were perhaps once sea-beds.\u201d\n\nTo continue the tradition, we have to add that the class of {593}\nhierophants was divided into two distinct categories: those who were\ninstructed by the \u201cSons of God,\u201d of the island, and who were initiated\nin the divine doctrine of pure revelation, and others who inhabited\nthe lost Atlantis\u2014if such must be its name\u2014and who, being of another\nrace, were born with a sight which embraced all hidden things, and was\nindependent of both distance and material obstacle. In short, they were\nthe _fourth_ race of men mentioned in the _Popol-Vuh_, whose sight\nwas unlimited and who knew all things at once. They were, perhaps,\nwhat we would now term \u201cnatural-born mediums,\u201d who neither struggled\nnor suffered to obtain their knowledge, nor did they acquire it at\nthe price of any sacrifice. Therefore, while the former walked in the\npath of their divine instructors, and acquiring their knowledge by\ndegrees, learned at the same time to discern the evil from the good,\nthe born _adepts_ of the Atlantis blindly followed the insinuations\nof the great and invisible \u201cDragon,\u201d the King _Thevetat_ (the Serpent\nof _Genesis_?). Thevetat had neither learned nor acquired knowledge,\nbut, to borrow an expression of Dr. Wilder in relation to the\ntempting Serpent, he was \u201ca sort of Socrates who _knew_ without being\ninitiated.\u201d Thus, under the evil insinuations of their demon, Thevetat,\nthe Atlantis-race became a nation of wicked _magicians_. In consequence\nof this, war was declared, the story of which would be too long to\nnarrate; its substance may be found in the disfigured allegories of the\nrace of Cain, the giants, and that of Noah and his righteous family.\nThe conflict came to an end by the submersion of the Atlantis; which\nfinds its imitation in the stories of the Babylonian and Mosaic flood:\nThe giants and magicians \u201c ... and all flesh died ... and every man.\u201d\nAll except Xisuthrus and Noah, who are substantially identical with the\ngreat Father of the Thlinkithians in the _Popol-Vuh_, or the sacred\nbook of the Guatemaleans, which also tells of his escaping in a large\nboat, like the Hindu Noah\u2014Vaiswasvata.\n\nIf we believe the tradition at all, we have to credit the further\nstory that from the intermarrying of the progeny of the hierophants\nof the island and the descendants of the Atlantian Noah, sprang up a\nmixed race of righteous and wicked. On the one side the world had its\nEnochs, Moseses, Gautama-Buddhas, its numerous \u201cSaviours,\u201d and great\nhierophants; on the other hand, its \u201c_natural_ magicians\u201d who, through\nlack of the restraining power of proper spiritual enlightenment,\nand because of weakness of physical and mental organizations,\nunintentionally perverted their gifts to evil purposes. Moses had no\nword of rebuke for those adepts in prophecy and other powers who had\nbeen instructed in the colleges of esoteric wisdom[885] mentioned {594}\nin the _Bible_. His denunciations were reserved for such as either\nwittingly or otherwise debased the powers inherited from their\nAtlantian ancestors to the service of evil spirits, to the injury of\nhumanity. His wrath was kindled against the spirit of _Ob_, not that of\nOD.[886]\n\nThe ruins which cover both Americas, and are found on many West Indian {595}\nislands, are all attributed to the submerged Atlantians. As well as\nthe hierophants of the old world, which in the days of Atlantis was\nalmost connected with the new one by land, the magicians of the now\nsubmerged country had a net-work of subterranean passages running in\nall directions. In connection with those mysterious catacombs we will\nnow give a curious story told to us by a Peruvian, long since dead,\nas we were travelling together in the interior of his country. There\nmust be truth in it; as it was afterward confirmed to us by an Italian\ngentleman who had seen the place and who, but for lack of means and\ntime, would have verified the tale himself, at least partially. The\ninformant of the Italian was an old priest, who had had the secret\ndivulged to him, at confession, by a Peruvian Indian. We may add, {596}\nmoreover, that the priest was compelled to make the revelation, being\nat the time completely under the mesmeric influence of the traveller.\n\nThe story concerns the famous treasures of the last of the Incas. The\nPeruvian asserted that since the well-known and miserable murder of the\nlatter by Pizarro, the secret had been known to all the Indians, except\nthe _Mestitzos_ who could not be trusted. It runs thus: The Inca was\nmade prisoner, and his wife offered for his liberation a room full of\ngold, \u201cfrom the floor up to the ceiling, as high up as his conqueror\ncould reach\u201d before the sun would set on the third day. She kept her\npromise, but Pizarro broke his word, according to Spanish practice.\nMarvelling at the exhibition of such treasures, the conqueror declared\nthat he would not release the prisoner, but would murder him, unless\nthe queen revealed the place whence the treasure came. He had heard\nthat the Incas had somewhere an inexhaustible mine; a subterranean\nroad or tunnel running many miles under ground, where were kept the\naccumulated riches of the country. The unfortunate queen begged for\ndelay, and went to consult the oracles. During the sacrifice, the\nchief-priest showed her in the consecrated \u201cblack mirror\u201d[887] the\nunavoidable murder of her husband, whether she delivered the treasures\nof the crown to Pizarro or not. Then the queen gave the order to close\nthe entrance, which was a door cut in the rocky wall of a chasm. Under\nthe direction of the priest and magicians, the chasm was accordingly\nfilled to the top with huge masses of rock, and the surface covered\nover so as to conceal the work. The Inca was murdered by the Spaniards\nand his unhappy queen committed suicide. Spanish greed overreached\nitself and the secret of the buried treasures was locked in the breasts\nof a few faithful Peruvians.\n\nOur Peruvian informant added that in consequence of certain\nindiscretions at various times, persons had been sent by different\ngovernments to search for the treasure under the pretext of scientific\nexploration. They had rummaged the country through, but without\nrealizing their object. So far this tradition is corroborated by the\nreports of Dr. Tschuddi and other historians of Peru. But there are\ncertain additional details which we are not aware have been made public\nbefore now.\n\nSeveral years after hearing the story, and its corroboration by the {597}\nItalian gentleman, we again visited Peru. Going southward from Lima, by\nwater, we reached a point near Arica at sunset, and were struck by the\nappearance of an enormous rock, nearly perpendicular, which stood in\nmournful solitude on the shore, apart from the range of the Andes. It\nwas the tomb of the Incas. As the last rays of the setting sun strike\nthe face of the rock, one can make out, with an ordinary opera-glass,\nsome curious hieroglyphics inscribed on the volcanic surface.\n\nWhen Cusco was the capital of Peru, it contained a temple of the sun,\nfamed far and near for its magnificence. It was roofed with thick\nplates of gold, and the walls were covered with the same precious\nmetal; the eave-troughs were also of solid gold. In the west wall\nthe architects had contrived an aperture in such a way that when the\nsunbeams reached it, it focused them inside the building. Stretching\nlike a golden chain from one sparkling point to another, they encircled\nthe walls, illuminating the grim idols, and disclosing certain mystic\nsigns at other times invisible. It was only by understanding these\nhieroglyphics\u2014identical with those which may be seen to this day on\nthe tomb of the Incas\u2014that one could learn the secret of the tunnel\nand its approaches. Among the latter was one in the neighborhood of\nCusco, now masked beyond discovery. This leads directly into an immense\ntunnel which runs from Cusco to Lima, and then, turning southward,\nextends into Bolivia. At a certain point it is intersected by a royal\ntomb. Inside this sepulchral chamber are cunningly arranged two doors;\nor, rather, two enormous slabs which turn upon pivots, and close so\ntightly as to be only distinguishable from the other portions of the\nsculptured walls by the secret signs, whose key is in the possession of\nthe faithful custodians. One of these turning slabs covers the southern\nmouth of the Liman tunnel\u2014the other, the northern one of the Bolivian\ncorridor. The latter, running southward, passes through Trapaca\nand Cobijo, for Arica is not far away from the little river called\nPay\u2019quina,[888] which is the boundary between Peru and Bolivia.\n\nNot far from this spot stand three separate peaks which form a curious\ntriangle; they are included in the chain of the Andes. According\nto tradition the only practicable entrance to the corridor leading\nnorthward is in one of these peaks; but without the secret of its\nlandmarks, a regiment of Titans might rend the rocks in vain in the\nattempt to find it. But even were some one to gain an entrance and\nfind his way as far as the turning slab in the wall of the sepulchre, {598}\nand attempt to blast it out, the superincumbent rocks are so disposed\nas to bury the tomb, its treasures, and\u2014as the mysterious Peruvian\nexpressed it to us\u2014\u201ca thousand warriors\u201d in one common ruin. There\nis no other access to the Arica chamber but through the door in the\nmountain near Pay\u2019quina. Along the entire length of the corridor,\nfrom Bolivia to Lima and Cusco, are smaller hiding places filled\nwith treasures of gold and precious stone, the accumulations of many\ngenerations of Incas, the aggregate value of which is incalculable.\n\nWe have in our possession an accurate plan of the tunnel, the\nsepulchre, and the doors, given to us at the time by the old Peruvian.\nIf we had ever thought of profiting by the secret, it would have\nrequired the co\u00f6peration of the Peruvian and Bolivian governments\non an extensive scale. To say nothing of physical obstacles, no one\nindividual or small party could undertake such an exploration without\nencountering the army of smugglers and brigands with which the coast\nis infested; and which, in fact, includes nearly the whole population.\nThe mere task of purifying the mephitic air of the tunnel, which had\nnot been entered for centuries, would also be a serious one. There,\nhowever, the treasure lies, and there the tradition says it will lie\ntill the last vestige of Spanish rule disappears from the whole of\nNorth and South America.\n\nThe treasures exhumed by Dr. Schliemann at Mycen\u00e6, have awakened\npopular cupidity, and the eyes of adventurous speculators are being\nturned toward the localities where the wealth of ancient peoples is\nsupposed to be buried, in crypt or cave, or beneath sand or alluvial\ndeposit. Around no other locality, not even Peru, hangs so many\ntraditions as around the Gobi Desert. In Independent Tartary this\nhowling waste of shifting sand was once, if report speaks correctly,\nthe seat of one of the richest empires the world ever saw. Beneath the\nsurface are said to lie such wealth in gold, jewels, statuary, arms,\nutensils, and all that indicates civilization, luxury, and fine arts,\nas no existing capital of Christendom can show to-day. The Gobi sand\nmoves regularly from east to west before terrific gales that blow\ncontinually. Occasionally some of the hidden treasures are uncovered,\nbut not a native dare touch them, for the whole district is under the\nban of a mighty spell. Death would be the penalty. Bahti\u2014hideous, but\nfaithful gnomes\u2014guard the hidden treasures of this prehistoric people,\nawaiting the day when the revolution of cyclic periods shall again\ncause their story to be known for the instruction of mankind.\n\nAccording to local tradition, the tomb of Ghengiz Khan still exists\nnear Lake Tabasun Nor. Within lies the Mongolian Alexander, as though\nasleep. After three more centuries he will awake and lead his people\nto new victories and another harvest of glory. Though this prophetic {599}\ntradition be received with ever so many grains of salt, we can affirm\nas a fact that the tomb itself is no fiction, nor has its amazing\nrichness been exaggerated.\n\nThe district of the Gobi wilderness and, in fact, the whole area of\nIndependent Tartary and Thibet is jealously guarded against foreign\nintrusion. Those who are permitted to traverse it are under the\nparticular care and pilotage of certain agents of the chief authority,\nand are in duty bound to convey no intelligence respecting places\nand persons to the outside world. But for this restriction, even we\nmight contribute to these pages accounts of exploration, adventure,\nand discovery that would be read with interest. The time will come,\nsooner or later, when the dreadful sand of the desert will yield up\nits long-buried secrets, and then there will indeed be unlooked-for\nmortifications for our modern vanity.\n\n\u201cThe people of Pashai,\u201d[889] says Marco Polo, the daring traveller\nof the thirteenth century, \u201care great adepts in sorceries and the\n_diabolic_ arts.\u201d And his learned editor adds: \u201cThis Pashai, or Udyana,\nwas the native country of Padma Sambhava, one of the chief apostles\nof lamaism, _i. e._, of Thibetan Buddhism, and a great master of\nenchantments. The doctrines of Sakya, as they prevailed in Ud\u00e2yna _in\nold times_, were probably strongly tinged with Siva\u00eftic magic, and the\nThibetans still regard the locality as the classic ground of sorcery\nand witchcraft.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cold times\u201d are just like the \u201cmodern times;\u201d nothing is changed as\nto magical practices except that they have become still more esoteric\nand arcane, and that the caution of the adepts increases in proportion\nto the traveller\u2019s curiosity. Hiouen-Thsang says of the inhabitants:\n\u201cThe men ... are fond of study, but pursue it with no ardor. _The\nscience of magical formul\u00e6 has become a regular professional business\nwith them._\u201d[890] We will not contradict the venerable Chinese\npilgrim on this point, and are willing to admit that in the seventh\ncentury _some_ people made \u201ca professional business\u201d of magic; so,\nalso, do _some_ people now, but certainly not the true adepts. It is\nnot Hiouen-Thsang, the pious, courageous man, who risked his life a\nhundred times to have the bliss of perceiving Buddha\u2019s shadow in the\ncave of Peshawer, who would have accused the holy lamas and monkish\nthaumaturgists of \u201cmaking a professional business\u201d of showing it to\ntravellers. The injunction of Gautama, contained in his answer to King\nPrasenagit, his protector, who called on him to perform miracles, must {600}\nhave been ever present to the mind of Hiouen-Thsang. \u201cGreat king,\u201d\nsaid Gautama, \u201cI do not teach the law to my pupils, telling them\n\u2018go, ye saints, and before the eyes of the Brahmans and householders\nperform, by means of your supernatural powers, miracles greater than\nany man can perform.\u2019 I tell them, when I teach them the law, \u2018Live, ye\nsaints, _hiding your good works, and showing your sins_.\u2019\u201d\n\nStruck with the accounts of magical exhibitions witnessed and recorded\nby travellers of every age who had visited Tartary and Thibet,\nColonel Yule comes to the conclusion that the natives must have had\n\u201cat their command the whole encyclop\u00e6dia of modern \u2018Spiritualists.\u2019\nDuhalde mentions among their sorceries the art of producing by their\ninvocations the figures of Laotsen[891] and their divinities _in the\nair_, and _of making a pencil write answers to questions without\nanybody touching it_.\u201d[892]\n\nThe former invocations pertain to religious mysteries of their\nsanctuaries; if done otherwise, or for the sake _of gain_, they are\nconsidered _sorcery_, necromancy, and strictly forbidden. The latter\nart, that of making a pencil write _without contact_, was known and\npracticed in China and other countries centuries before the Christian\nera. It is the A B C of magic in those countries.\n\nWhen Hiouen-Thsang desired to adore the shadow of Buddha, it was not\nto \u201cprofessional magicians\u201d that he resorted, but to the power of his\nown soul-invocation; the power of prayer, faith, and contemplation. All\nwas dark and dreary near the cavern in which the miracle was alleged to\ntake place sometimes. Hiouen-Thsang entered and began his devotions.\nHe made 100 salutations, but neither saw nor heard anything. Then,\nthinking himself too sinful, he cried bitterly, and despaired. But as\nhe was going to give up all hope, he perceived on the eastern wall a\nfeeble light, but it disappeared. He renewed his prayers, full of hope\nthis time, and again he saw the light, which flashed and disappeared\nagain. After this he made a solemn vow: he would not leave the cave\ntill he had the rapture to see at last the shadow of the \u201cVenerable of\nthe Age.\u201d He had to wait longer after this, for only after 200 prayers\nwas the dark cave suddenly \u201cbathed in light, and the shadow of Buddha,\nof a brilliant white color, rose majestically on the wall, as when the\nclouds suddenly open, and, all at once, display the marvellous image of\nthe \u2018Mountain of Light.\u2019 A dazzling splendor lighted up the features\nof the divine countenance. Hiouen-Thsang was lost in contemplation\nand wonder, and would not turn his eyes away from the sublime and {601}\nincomparable object.\u201d Hiouen-Thsang adds in his own diary, _See-yu\nkee_, that it is only when man prays with sincere faith, and if he\nhas received from above a hidden impression, that he sees the shadow\nclearly, but he cannot enjoy the sight for any length of time.[893]\n\nThose who are so ready to accuse the Chinese of irreligion will do well\nto read Schott\u2019s _Essays on Buddhism in China and Upper Asia_.[894]\n\u201cIn the years _Yuan-yeu_ of the Sung (A.D. 1086-1093) a pious matron\nwith her two servants lived entirely to the Land of Enlightenment. One\nof the maids said one day to her companion: \u2018To-night I shall pass\nover to the Realm of Amita\u2019 (Buddha). The same night a balsamic odor\nfilled the house, and the maid died without any preceding illness.\nOn the following day the surviving maid said to her lady: \u2018Yesterday\nmy deceased companion appeared to me in a dream, and said: \u201cThanks\nto the persevering supplications of our dear mistress, I am become\nan inhabitant of Paradise, and my blessedness is past all expression\nin words.\u201d\u2019 The matron replied: \u2018If she will appear to me also, then\nwill I believe all you say.\u2019 The next night the deceased really\nappeared to her. The lady asked: \u2018May I, for once, visit the Land\nof Enlightenment?\u2019 \u2018Yea,\u2019 answered the blessed soul; \u2018thou hast but\nto follow thine handmaiden.\u2019 The lady followed her (in her dream),\nand soon perceived a lake of immeasurable expanse, overspread with\ninnumerable red and white lotus flowers, of various sizes, some\nblooming, some fading. She asked what those flowers might signify? The\nmaiden replied: \u2018These are all human beings on the Earth whose thoughts\nare turned to the Land of Enlightenment. The very first longing after\nthe Paradise of Amita produces a flower in the Celestial Lake, and this\nbecomes daily larger and more glorious as the self-improvement of the\nperson whom it represents advances; in the contrary case, it loses in\nglory and fades away.\u2019[895] The matron desired to know the name of an\nenlightened one who reposed on one of the flowers, clad in a waving\nand wondrously glistening raiment. Her whilom maiden answered: \u2018That\nis Yang-kie.\u2019 Then asked she the name of another, and was answered: {602}\n\u2018That is Mahu.\u2019 The lady then said: \u2018At what place shall I hereafter\ncome into existence?\u2019 Then the Blessed Soul led her a space further,\nand showed her a hill that gleamed with gold and azure. \u2018Here,\u2019 said\nshe, \u2018is your future abode. You will belong to the first order of the\nblessed.\u2019 When the matron awoke, she sent to inquire for Yang-kie\nand Mahu. The first was already departed; the other still alive and\nwell. And thus the lady learned that the soul of one who advances in\nholiness and never turns back, may be already a dweller in the Land of\nEnlightenment, even though the body still sojourn in this transitory\nworld.\u201d\n\nIn the same essay, another Chinese story is translated, and to the\nsame effect: \u201cI knew a man,\u201d says the author, \u201cwho during his life had\nkilled many living beings, and was at last struck with an apoplexy.\nThe sorrows in store for his sin-laden soul pained me to the heart; I\nvisited him, and exhorted him to call on the Amita; but he obstinately\nrefused. His illness clouded his understanding; in consequence of his\nmisdeeds he had become hardened. What was before such a man when once\nhis eyes were closed? In this life the night followeth the day, and\nthe winter followeth the summer; that, all men are aware of. But that\nlife is followed by death, no man will consider. Oh, what blindness and\nobduracy is this!\u201d (p. 93).\n\nThese two instances of Chinese literature hardly strengthen the\nusual charge of irreligion and total materialism brought against the\nnation. The first little mystical story is full of spiritual charm,\nand would grace any Christian religious book. The second is as worthy\nof praise, and we have but to replace \u201cAmita\u201d with \u201cJesus\u201d to have\na highly orthodox tale, as regards religious sentiments and code of\nphilosophical morality. The following instance is still more striking,\nand we quote it for the benefit of Christian revivalists:\n\n\u201cHoang-ta-tie, of T\u2019anchen, who lived under the Sung, followed the\ncraft of a blacksmith. Whenever he was at his work he used to call,\nwithout intermission, on the name of Amita Buddha. One day he handed to\nhis neighbors the following verses of his own composition to be spread\nabout:\u2014\n\n \u2018Ding dong! The hammer-strokes fall long and fast,\n Until the iron turns to steel at last!\n Now shall the long, long day of rest begin,\n The _Land of Bliss Eternal_ calls me in!\u2019\n\n\u201cThereupon he died. But his verses spread all over Honan, and many\nlearned to call upon Buddha.\u201d[896]\n\nTo deny to the Chinese or any people of Asia, whether Central, Upper, {603}\nor Lower, the possession of any knowledge, or even perception of\nspiritual things, is perfectly ridiculous. From one end to the other\nthe country is full of mystics, religious philosophers, Buddhist\nsaints, and _magicians_. Belief in a spiritual world, full of invisible\nbeings who, on certain occasions, appear to mortals objectively, is\nuniversal. \u201cAccording to the belief of the nations of Central Asia,\u201d\nremarks I. J. Schmidt, \u201cthe earth and its interior, as well as the\nencompassing atmosphere, are filled with spiritual beings, which\nexercise an influence, partly beneficent, partly malignant, on the\nwhole of organic and inorganic nature.... Especially are deserts and\nother wild or uninhabited tracts, or regions in which the influences\nof nature are displayed on a gigantic and terrible scale, regarded as\nthe chief abode or rendezvous of evil spirits. And hence the steppes\nof Turan, and in particular the great sandy Desert of Gobi have been\nlooked on as the dwelling-place of malignant beings, from days of hoary\nantiquity.\u201d\n\nMarco Polo\u2014as a matter of course\u2014mentions more than once in his curious\nbook of _Travels_, these tricky nature-spirits of the deserts. For\ncenturies, and especially in the last one, had his strange stories\nbeen completely rejected. No one would believe him when he said he\nhad witnessed, time and again, with his own eyes, the most wonderful\nfeats of magic performed by the subjects of Kublai-Khan and adepts\nof other countries. On his death-bed Marco was strongly urged to\nretract his alleged \u201cfalsehoods;\u201d but he solemnly swore to the truth\nof what he said, adding that \u201che had not told _one-half_ of what he\nhad really seen!\u201d There is now no doubt that he spoke the truth, since\nMarsden\u2019s edition, and that of Colonel Yule have appeared. The public\nis especially beholden to the latter for bringing forward so many\nauthorities corroborative of Marco\u2019s testimony, and explaining some of\nthe phenomena in the usual way, for he makes it plain beyond question\nthat the great traveller was not only a veracious but an exceedingly\nobservant writer. Warmly defending his author, the conscientious\neditor, after enumerating more than one hitherto controverted and even\nrejected point in the Venetian\u2019s _Travels_, concludes by saying: \u201cNay,\nthe last two years have thrown a promise of light even on what seemed\n_the wildest_ of Marco\u2019s stories, and the bones of a veritable Ruc from\nNew Zealand lie on the table of Professor Owen\u2019s cabinet!\u201d[897]\n\nThe monstrous bird of the _Arabian Nights_, or \u201cArabian Mythology,\u201d\nas Webster calls the _Ruc_ (or Roc), having been identified, the next\nthing in order is to _discover_ and recognize that _Aladdin\u2019s_ magical\nlamp has also certain claims to reality.\n\nDescribing his passage through the great desert of Lop, Marco Polo {604}\nspeaks of a marvellous thing, \u201cwhich is that, when travellers are on\nthe move by night ... they will hear spirits talking. Sometimes the\nspirits will call him by name ... even in the daytime one hears these\nspirits talking. And sometimes you shall hear the sound of a variety of\nmusical instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums.\u201d[898]\n\nIn his notes, the translator quotes the Chinese historian, Matwanlin,\nwho corroborates the same. \u201cDuring the passage of this wilderness you\nhear sounds,\u201d says Matwanlin, \u201csometimes of singing, sometimes of\nwailing; and it has often happened that travellers going aside to see\nwhat those sounds might be, have strayed from their course and been\nentirely lost; for they were voices of spirits and goblins.\u201d[899]\n\u201cThese goblins are not peculiar to the Gobi,\u201d adds the editor, \u201cthough\nthat appears to have been their most favored haunt. _The awe of the\nvast and solitary desert raises them in all similar localities._\u201d\n\nColonel Yule would have done well to consider the possibility of\nserious consequences arising from the acceptance of his theory. If we\nadmit that the weird cries of the Gobi are due to the _awe_ inspired\n\u201cby the vast and solitary desert,\u201d why should the goblins of the\nGadarenes (_Luke_ viii. 29) be entitled to any better consideration?\nand why may not Jesus have been self-deceived as to his objective\ntempter during the forty days\u2019 trial in the \u201cwilderness?\u201d We are\nquite ready to receive or reject the theory enunciated by Colonel\nYule, but shall insist upon its impartial application to all cases.\nPliny speaks of the phantoms that appear and vanish in the deserts\nof Africa;[900] \u00c6thicus, the early Christian cosmographer, mentions,\nthough incredulous, the stories that were told of the voices of singers\nand revellers in the desert; and \u201cMas\u2019udi tells of the _gh\u00fbls_, which\nin the deserts appear to travellers by night and in lonely hours;\u201d and\nalso of \u201cApollonius of Tyana and his companions, who, in a desert near\nthe Indus by moonlight, saw an _empusa_ or gh\u00fbl taking many forms....\nThey revile it, and it goes off uttering shrill cries.\u201d[901] And Ibn\nBatuta relates a like legend of the Western Sahara: \u201cIf the messenger\nbe solitary, the demons sport with him and fascinate him, so that he\nstrays from his course and perishes.\u201d[902] Now if all these matters are\ncapable of a \u201crational explanation;\u201d and we do not doubt it as regards\nmost of these cases, then, the _Bible_-devils of the wilderness deserve\nno more consideration, but should have the same rule applied to them.\nThey, too, are creatures of terror, imagination, and _superstition_; {605}\nhence, the narratives of the _Bible_ must be false; and if one single\nverse is false, then a cloud is thrown upon the title of all the\nrest, to be considered _divine_ revelation. Once admit this, and this\ncollection of canonical documents is at least as amenable to criticism\nas any other book of stories.[903]\n\nThere are many spots in the world where the strangest phenomena have\nresulted from what was later ascertained to be natural physical causes.\nIn Southern California there are certain places on the sea-shore where\nthe sand when disturbed produces a loud musical ring. It is known\nas the \u201cmusical sand,\u201d and the phenomenon is supposed to be of an\nelectrical nature. \u201cThe sound of musical instruments, chiefly of drums,\nis a phenomenon of another class, and is really produced in certain\nsituations among sandhills when the sand is disturbed,\u201d says the editor\nof _Marco Polo_. \u201cA very striking account of a phenomenon of this kind,\n_regarded as supernatural_, is given by Friar Odoric, whose experience\nI have traced to the Reg Ruw\u00e1n or flowing sand north of Kabul. Besides\nthis celebrated example ... I have noted that equally well-known one\nof the _Jibal Nakics_, or \u2018Hill of the Bell\u2019 in the Sinai desert;\n... Gibal-ul-Thab\u00fal, or hill of the drums.... A Chinese narrative of\nthe tenth century mentions the phenomenon as known near Kwachau, on\nthe eastern border of the Lop desert, under the name of \u201cthe singing\nsands.\u201d[904]\n\nThat all these are natural phenomena, no one can doubt. But what of the\nquestions and answers, plainly and audibly given and received? What\nof conversations held between certain travellers and the _invisible_\nspirits, or unknown beings, that sometimes appear to whole caravans\nin tangible form? If so many millions believe in the possibility\nthat spirits may clothe themselves with material bodies, behind the\ncurtain of a \u201cmedium,\u201d and appear to the _circle_, why should they\nreject the same possibility for the elemental spirits of the deserts? {606}\nThis is the \u201cto be, or not to be\u201d of Hamlet. If \u201cspirits\u201d can do all\nthat Spiritualists claim for them, why can they not appear equally to\nthe traveller in the wildernesses and solitudes? A recent scientific\narticle in a Russian journal attributes such \u201cspirit-voices,\u201d in the\ngreat Gobi desert, _to the echo_. A very reasonable explanation, if it\ncan only be demonstrated that these voices simply repeat what has been\npreviously uttered by a living person. But when the \u201csuperstitious\u201d\ntraveller gets intelligent _answers_ to his questions, this Gobi _echo_\nat once shows a very near relationship with the famous echo of the\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre Porte St. Martin at Paris. \u201cHow do you do, sir?\u201d shouts one of\nthe actors in the play. \u201cVery poorly, my son; thank you. I am getting\nold, very ... very old!\u201d politely answers the echo!\n\nWhat incredulous merriment must the _superstitious_ and _absurd_\nnarratives of Marco Polo, concerning the \u201csupernatural\u201d gifts of\ncertain shark and wild-beast charmers of India, whom he terms\n_Abraiaman_, have excited for long centuries. Describing the\npearl-fishery of Ceylon, as it was in his time, he says that the\nmerchants are \u201cobliged also to pay those men who _charm_ the great\nfishes\u2014to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in\nseeking pearls under water\u2014one-twentieth part of all that they take.\nThese fish-charmers are termed Abraiaman (Brahman?), and their charm\nholds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm, so\nthat the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know\nalso how to charm beasts and birds, and every living thing.\u201d\n\nAnd this is what we find in the explanatory notes of Colonel Yule, in\nrelation to this _degrading_ Asiatic \u201csuperstition:\u201d \u201cMarco\u2019s account\nof the pearl-fishery is still substantially correct.... At the diamond\nmines of the northern Circars, Brahmans are employed in the analogous\noffice of propitiating the tutelary genii. The shark-charmers are\ncalled in Tamil, _Kadal-Katti_, \u201csea-binders,\u201d and in Hindustani,\n_Hai-banda_, or \u201cshark-binders.\u201d At Aripo they belong to one family,\nsupposed to have the monopoly of the charm.[905] The chief operator\nis (or was, not many years ago) _paid by the government_, and he also\nreceived ten oysters from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent,\non his visit, found the incumbent of the office to be a _Roman Catholic\nChristian_ (?), but that did not seem to affect the exercise of the\nvalidity of his functions. _It is remarkable that not more than one\nauthenticated accident from sharks had taken place during the whole\nperiod of the British occupation._\u201d[906]\n\nTwo items of fact in the above paragraph are worthy of being placed {607}\nin juxtaposition. 1. The British authorities pay professional\nshark-charmers a stipend to exercise their art; and, 2, only _one\nlife_ has been lost since the execution of the contract. (We have yet\nto learn whether the loss of this _one_ life did not occur under the\nRoman Catholic _sorcerer_.) Is it pretended that the salary is paid\nas a concession to a _degrading_ native superstition? Very well; but\nhow about the sharks? Are they receiving salaries, also, from the\nBritish authorities out of the Secret Service Fund? Every person who\nhas visited Ceylon must know that the waters of the pearl coast swarm\nwith sharks of the most voracious kind, and that it is even dangerous\nto bathe, let alone to dive for oysters. We might go further, if we\nchose, and give the names of British officials of the highest rank\nin the Indian service, who, after resorting to native \u201cmagicians\u201d\nand \u201csorcerers,\u201d to assist them in recovering things lost, or in\nunravelling vexatious mysteries of one kind or another, and being\nsuccessful, and at the time _secretly_ expressing their gratitude,\nhave gone away, and shown their innate cowardice before the world\u2019s\nAreopagus, by publicly denying the truth of magic, and leading the jest\nagainst Hindu \u201csuperstition.\u201d\n\nNot many years ago, one of the worst of _superstitions_ scientists held\nto be that of believing that the murderer\u2019s portrait remained impressed\non the eye of the murdered person, and that the former could be easily\nrecognized by examining carefully the retina. The \u201csuperstition\u201d\nasserted that the likeness could be made still more striking by\nsubjecting the murdered man to certain old women\u2019s fumigations, and the\nlike gossip. And now an American newspaper, of March 26, 1877, says: \u201cA\nnumber of years ago attention was attracted to a theory which insisted\nthat the last effort of vision materialized itself and remained as an\nobject imprinted on the retina of the eye after death. This has been\nproved a fact by an experiment tried in the presence of Dr. Gamgee,\nF.R.S., of Birmingham, England, and Prof. Bunsen, the subject being a\nliving rabbit. The means taken to prove the merits of the question were\nmost simple, the eyes being placed near an opening in a shutter, and\nretaining the shape of the same after the animal had been deprived of\nlife.\u201d\n\nIf, from the regions of idolatry, ignorance, and superstition, as India\nis termed by some missionaries, we turn to the so-called centre of\ncivilization\u2014Paris, we find the same principles of magic exemplified\nthere under the name of _occult_ Spiritualism. The Honorable John\nL. O\u2019Sullivan, Ex-Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to\nPortugal, has kindly furnished us with the strange particulars of a\nsemi-magical s\u00e9ance which he recently attended with several other\neminent men, at Paris. Having his permission to that effect, we print\nhis letter in full.\n\n \u201cNEW YORK, Feb. 7, 1877. {608}\n\n \u201cI cheerfully obey your request for a written statement of\n what I related to you orally, as having been witnessed by me\n in Paris, last summer, at the house of a highly respectable\n physician, whose name I have no authority to use, but whom,\n after the usual French fashion of anonymizing, I will call Dr.\n X.\n\n \u201cI was introduced there by an English friend, well-known in the\n Spiritualist circles in London\u2014Mr. Gledstanes. Some eight or\n ten other visitors were present, of both sexes. We were seated\n in _fauteuils_, occupying half of a long drawing-room, flush\n with a spacious garden. In the other half of the room was a\n grand piano, a considerable open space between it and us, and a\n couple of _fauteuils_ in that space, evidently placed there to\n be occupied by other sitters. A door near them opened into the\n private apartments.\n\n \u201cDr. X. came in, and discoursed to us for about twenty minutes\n with rapid and vehement French eloquence, which I could not\n undertake to report. He had, for over twenty-five years,\n investigated occult mysteries, of which he was about to exhibit\n some phenomena. His object was to attract his brethren of the\n scientific world, but few or none of them came to see for\n themselves. He intended before long to publish a book. He\n presently led in two ladies, the younger one his wife, the\n other (whom I will call Madame Y.) a medium or sensitive, with\n whom he had worked through all that period in the prosecution\n of these studies, and who had devoted and sacrificed her whole\n life to this work with him. Both these ladies had their eyes\n closed, apparently in trance.\n\n \u201cHe stood them at the opposite ends of the long grand piano\n (which was shut), and directed them to put their hands upon\n it. Sounds soon began to issue from its chords, marching,\n galloping, drums, trumpets, rolling musketry, cannon, cries,\n and groans\u2014in one word, a _battle_. This lasted, I should say,\n some five to ten minutes.\n\n \u201cI should have mentioned that before the two mediums were\n brought in I had written in pencil, on a small bit of paper (by\n direction of Mr. Gledstanes, who had been there before), the\n names of three objects, to be known to myself alone, viz., some\n _musical composer_, deceased, a _flower_, and a _cake_. I chose\n _Beethoven_, a _marguerite_ (daisy), and a kind of French cake\n called _plombi\u00e8res_, and rolled the paper into a pellet, which\n I kept in my hand, without letting even my friend know its\n contents.\n\n \u201cWhen the battle was over, he placed Mme. Y. in one of the\n two _fauteuils_, Mme. X. being seated apart at one side of\n the room, and I was asked to hand my folded, or rolled, paper\n to Mme. Y. She held it (unopened) between her fingers, on\n her lap. She was dressed in white merino, flowing from her\n neck and gathered in at the waist, under a blaze of light\n from chandeliers on the right and left. After a while she\n dropped the little roll of paper to the floor, and I picked it\n up. Dr. X. then raised her to her feet and told her to make\n \u201cthe evocation of the dead.\u201d He withdrew the _fauteuils_ and\n placed in her hand a steel rod of about four and half or five\n feet in length, the top of which was surmounted with a short\n cross-piece\u2014the Egyptian _Tau_. With this she traced a circle\n round herself, as she stood, of about six feet in diameter. She\n did not hold the cross-piece as a handle, but, on the contrary,\n she held the rod at the opposite end. She presently handed it\n back to Dr. X. There she stood for some time, her hands hanging\n down and folded together in front of her, motionless, and with\n her eyes directed slightly upward toward one of the opposite\n corners of the long _salon_. Her lips presently began to move,\n with muttered sounds, which after a while became distinct in\n articulation, in short broken sentences or phrases, very much {609}\n like the recitation of a litany. Certain words, seeming to be\n names, would recur from time to time. It sounded to me somewhat\n as I have heard Oriental languages sound. Her face was very\n earnest and mobile with expression, with sometimes a slight\n frown on the brow. I suppose it lasted about fifteen or twenty\n minutes, amidst the motionless silence of all the company,\n as we gazed on the weird scene. Her utterance finally seemed\n to increase in vehemence and rapidity. At last she stretched\n forth one arm toward the space on which her eyes had been\n fixed, and, with a loud cry, almost a scream, she exclaimed:\n \u2018BEETHOVEN!\u2019\u2014and fell backward, prostrate on the floor.\n\n \u201cDr. X. hastened to her, made eager magnetic passes about\n her face and neck, and propped up her head and shoulders on\n cushions. And there she lay like a person sick and suffering,\n occasionally moaning, turning restlessly, etc. I suppose a\n full half-hour then elapsed, during which she seemed to pass\n through all the phases of gradual _death_ (this I was told was\n a re-enacting of the death of Beethoven). It would be long to\n describe in detail, even if I could recall all. We watched as\n though assisting at a scene of real death. I will only say that\n her pulse ceased; no beating of the heart could be perceived;\n her hands first, then her arms became cold, while warmth was\n still to be felt under her arm-pits; even they at last became\n entirely cold; her feet and legs became cold in the same\n manner, and they swelled astonishingly. The doctor invited us\n all to come and recognize these phenomena. The gasping breaths\n came at longer and longer intervals, and feebler and feebler.\n At last came the end; her head fell sidewise, her hands, which\n had been picking with the fingers about her dress, collapsed\n also. The doctor said, \u2018she is now dead;\u2019 and so it indeed\n seemed. In vehement haste he produced (I did not see from\n where) two small _snakes_, which he seemed to huddle about her\n neck and down into her bosom, making also eager transverse\n passes about her head and neck. After a while she appeared\n to revive slowly, and finally the doctor and a couple of men\n servants lifted her up and carried her off into the private\n apartments, from which he soon returned. He told us that this\n was all very critical, but perfectly safe, but that no time was\n to be lost, for otherwise the death, which he said was real,\n would be permanent.\n\n \u201cI need not say how ghastly the effect of this whole scene had\n been on all the spectators. Nor need I remind you that this was\n no trickery of a performer paid to astonish. The scene passed\n in the elegant drawing-room of a respectable physician, to\n which access without introduction is impossible, while (outside\n of the phenomenal facts) a thousand indescribable details of\n language, manner, expression, and action presented those minute\n guarantees of sincerity and earnestness which carry conviction\n to those who witness, though it may be transmitted to those who\n only hear or read of them.\n\n \u201cAfter a time Mme. Y. returned and was seated in one of the\n two _fauteuils_ before mentioned, and I was invited to the\n other by her side. I had still in my hand the unopened pellet\n of paper containing the three words privately written by me,\n of which (Beethoven) had been the first. She sat for a few\n minutes with her open hands resting on her lap. They presently\n began to move restlessly about. \u201cAh, it burns, it burns,\u201d she\n said, and her features contracted with an expression of pain.\n In a few moments she raised one of them, and it contained a\n _marguerite_, the flower I had written as my second word. I\n received it from her, and after it had been examined by the\n rest of the company, I preserved it. Dr. X. said it was of a\n species not known in that part of the country; an opinion in\n which he was certainly mistaken, as a few days afterwards I\n saw the same in the flower-market of the Madeleine. Whether\n this flower was _produced_ under her hands, or was simply an\n _apport_, as in the phenomenon we are familiar with in the\n experiences of Spiritualism, I do not know. It was the one\n or the other, for she certainly did not have it as she sat {610}\n there by my side, under a strong light, before it made its\n appearance. The flower was perfectly fresh in every one of its\n delicate petals.\n\n \u201cThe third word I had written on my bit of paper was the name\n of a cake\u2014_plombi\u00e8res_. She presently began to go through the\n motions of eating, though no cake was visible, and asked me if\n I would not go with her to _Plombi\u00e8res_\u2014the name of the cake I\n had written. This might have been simply a case of mind-reading.\n\n \u201cAfter this followed a scene in which Madame X., the doctor\u2019s\n wife, was said, and seemed to be, possessed by the spirit of\n Beethoven. The doctor addressed her as \u201cMonsieur Beethoven.\u201d\n She took no notice until he called the name aloud in her ear.\n She then responded with polite bows, etc. (You may remember\n that Beethoven was extremely deaf.) After some conversation he\n begged her to play, and she seated herself at the piano and\n performed magnificently both some of his known music and some\n improvisations which were generally recognized by the company\n as in his style. I was told afterwards, by a lady friend of\n Madame X., that in her normal state she was a very ordinary\n amateur performer. After about half an hour spent in music and\n in dialogue in the character of Beethoven, to whom her face in\n expression, and her tumbled hair, seemed to acquire a strange\n resemblance, the doctor placed in her hands a sheet of paper\n and a crayon, and asked her to sketch the face of the person\n she saw before her. She produced very rapidly a profile sketch\n of a head and face resembling Beethoven\u2019s busts, though as\n a younger man; and she dashed off a rapid name under it, as\n though a signature, \u2018Beethoven.\u2019 I have preserved the sketch,\n though how the handwriting may correspond with Beethoven\u2019s\n signature I cannot say.\n\n \u201cThe hour was now late, and the company broke up; nor had I any\n time to interrogate Dr. X. upon what we had thus witnessed. But\n I called on him with Mr. Gledstanes a few evenings afterwards.\n I found that he admitted the action of spirits, and was a\n Spiritualist, but also a great deal more, having studied long\n and deeply into the occult mysteries of the Orient. So I\n understood him to convey, while he seemed to prefer to refer\n me to his book, which he would probably publish in the course\n of the present year. I observed a number of loose sheets on a\n table all covered with Oriental characters unknown to me\u2014the\n work of Madame Y. in trance, as he said, in answer to an\n inquiry. He told us that in the scene I had witnessed, she\n became (_i. e._, as I presumed, was possessed by) _a priestess\n of one of the ancient Egyptian temples_, and that the origin of\n it was this: A scientific friend of his had acquired in Egypt\n possession of the mummy of a priestess, and had given him some\n of the linen swathings with which the body was enveloped, and\n from the contact with this cloth of 2,000 or 3,000 years old,\n the devotion of her whole existence to this occult relation,\n and twenty years seclusion from the world, his medium, as\n sensitive Madame Y., had become what I had seen. The language\n I had heard her speak was the sacred language of the temples\n in which she had been instructed, not so much by inspiration\n but very much as we now study languages, by dictation, written\n exercises, etc., being even chided and punished when she was\n dull or slow. He said that Jacolliot had heard her in a similar\n scene, and recognized sounds and words of the very oldest\n sacred language as preserved in the temples of India, anterior,\n if I remember right, to the epoch of the Sanscrit.\n\n \u201cRespecting the _snakes_ he had employed in the hasty operation\n of restoring her to life, or rather perhaps arresting the last\n consummation of the process of death, he said there was a\n strange mystery in their relation to the phenomena of life and\n death. I understood that they were indispensable. Silence and\n inaction on our part were also insisted upon throughout, and\n any attempt at questioning him at the time was peremptorily,\n almost angrily, suppressed. We might come and talk afterward,\n or wait for the appearance of his book, but he alone seemed {611}\n entitled to exercise the faculty of speech throughout\n all these performances\u2014which he certainly did with great\n volubility, the while, with all the eloquence and precision\n of diction of a Frenchman, combining scientific culture with\n vividness of imagination.\n\n \u201cI intended to return on some subsequent evening, but learned\n from Mr. Gledstanes that he had given them up for the present,\n disgusted with his ill-success in getting his professional\n colleagues and men of science to come and witness what it was\n his object to show them.\n\n \u201cThis is about as much as I can recall of this strange, weird\n evening, excepting some uninteresting details. I have given\n you the name and address of Dr. X. confidentially, because he\n would seem to have gone more or less far on the same path as\n you pursue in the studies of your Theosophical Society. Beyond\n that I feel bound to keep it private, not having his authority\n to use it in any way which might lead to publicity.\n\n \u201cVery respectfully,\n\n \u201cYour friend and obedient servant,\n\n \u201cJ. L. O\u2019SULLIVAN.\u201d\n\nIn this interesting case simple Spiritualism has transcended its\nroutine and encroached upon the limits of magic. The features of\nmediumship are there, in the double life led by the sensitive Madame\nY., in which she passes an existence totally distinct from the normal\none, and by reason of the subordination of her individuality to a\nforeign will, becomes the permutation of a priestess of Egypt; and in\nthe personation of the spirit of Beethoven, and in the unconscious\nand cataleptic state into which she falls. On the other hand, the\nwill-power exercised by Dr. X. upon his sensitive, the tracing of the\nmystic circle, the evocations, the materialization of the desired\nflower, the seclusion and education of Madame Y., the employment of\nthe wand and its form, the creation and use of the serpents, the\nevident control of the astral forces\u2014all these pertain to magic. Such\nexperiments are of interest and value to science, but liable to abuse\nin the hands of a less conscientious practitioner than the eminent\ngentleman designated as Dr. X. A true Oriental kabalist would not\nrecommend their duplication.\n\nSpheres unknown below our feet; spheres still more unknown and still\nmore unexplored above us; between the two a handful of moles, blind to\nGod\u2019s great light, and deaf to the whispers of the invisible world,\nboasting that they lead mankind. Where? Onward, they claim; but we have\na right to doubt it. The greatest of our physiologists, when placed\nside by side with a Hindu fakir, who knows neither how to read nor\nwrite, will very soon find himself feeling as foolish as a school-boy\nwho has neglected to learn his lesson. It is not by vivisecting living\nanimals that a physiologist will assure himself of the existence of\nman\u2019s soul, nor on the blade of the knife can he extract it from a\nhuman body. \u201cWhat sane man,\u201d inquires Sergeant Cox, the President of\nthe London Psychological Society, \u201cwhat sane man who knows nothing of\nmagnetism or physiology, who had never witnessed an experiment nor {612}\nlearned its principles, would proclaim himself _a fool_ by denying\nits facts and denouncing its theory?\u201d The truthful answer to this\nwould be, \u201ctwo-thirds of our modern-day scientists.\u201d The impertinence,\nif truth can ever be impertinent, must be laid at the door of him\nwho uttered it\u2014a scientist of the number of those few who are brave\nand honest enough to utter wholesome truths, however disagreeable.\nAnd there is no mistaking the real meaning of the imputation, for\nimmediately after the irreverent inquiry, the learned lecturer remarks\nas pointedly: \u201cThe chemist takes his electricity from the electrician,\nthe physiologist looks to the geologist for his geology\u2014each would deem\nit an impertinence in the other if he were to pronounce judgment in the\nbranch of knowledge not his own. Strange it is, but true as strange,\nthat this rational rule is wholly set at naught in the treatment of\npsychology. _Physical scientists deem themselves competent to pronounce\na dogmatic judgment upon psychology and all that appertains to it,\nwithout having witnessed any of its phenomena, and in entire ignorance\nof its principles and practice._\u201d[907]\n\nWe sincerely hope that the two eminent biologists, Mr. Mendeleyeff,\nof St. Petersburg, and Mr. Ray Lankester, of London fame, will bear\nthemselves under the above as unflinchingly as their living victims do\nwhen palpitating under their dissecting knives.\n\nFor a belief to have become universal, it must have been founded on\nan immense accumulation of facts, tending to strengthen it, from one\ngeneration to another. At the head of all such beliefs stands magic,\nor, if one would prefer\u2014occult psychology. Who, of those who appreciate\nits tremendous powers even from its feeble, half-paralyzed effects\nin our civilized countries, would dare disbelieve in our days the\nassertions of Porphyry and Proclus, that even inanimate objects, such\nas statues of gods, could be made to move and exhibit a factitious life\nfor a few moments? Who can deny the allegation? Is it those who testify\ndaily over their own signatures that they have seen tables and chairs\nmove and walk, and pencils write, without contact? Diogenes La\u00ebrtius\ntells us of a certain philosopher, Stilpo, who was exiled from Athens\nby the Areopagus, for having dared to deny publicly that the Minerva\nof Pheidias was anything else than a block of marble. But our own age,\nafter having mimicked the ancients in everything possible, even to\ntheir very names, such as \u201csenates,\u201d \u201cprefects,\u201d and \u201cconsuls,\u201d etc.;\nand after admitting that Napoleon the Great conquered three-fourths of\nEurope by applying the principles of war taught by the C\u00e6sars and the\nAlexanders, knows so much better than its preceptors about psychology,\nthat it would vote every believer in \u201canimated tables\u201d into Bedlam.\n\nBe this as it may, _the religion of the ancients is the religion of {613}\nthe future_. A few centuries more, and there will linger no sectarian\nbeliefs in either of the great religions of humanity. Brahmanism and\nBuddhism, Christianity and Mahometanism will all disappear before the\nmighty rush of _facts_. \u201cI will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,\u201d\nwrites the prophet Joel. \u201cVerily I say unto you ... greater works\nthan these shall you do,\u201d promises Jesus. But this can only come\nto pass when the world returns to the grand religion of the past;\nthe _knowledge_ of those majestic systems which preceded, by far,\nBrahmanism, and even the primitive monotheism of the ancient Chaldeans.\nMeanwhile, we must remember the direct effects of the revealed mystery.\nThe only means by which the wise priests of old could impress upon the\ngrosser senses of the multitudes the idea of the Omnipotency of the\nCreative _will_ or FIRST CAUSE; namely, the divine animation of inert\nmatter, the soul infused into it by the potential will of man, the\nmicrocosmic image of the great Architect, and the transportation of\nponderous objects through space and material obstacles.\n\nWhy should the pious Roman Catholic turn away in disgust at the\n\u201cheathen\u201d practices of the Hindu Tamil, for instance? We have witnessed\nthe miracle of San Gennaro in good old Naples, and we have seen the\nsame in N\u00e2rgercoil, in India. Where is the difference? The coagulated\nblood of the Catholic saint is made to boil and fume in its crystal\nbottle, to the gratification of the lazzaroni; and from its jewelled\nshrine the martyr\u2019s idol beams radiant smiles and blessings at the\nChristian congregation. On the other hand, a ball of clay filled with\nwater, is stuffed into the open breast of the god S\u00fbran; and while\nthe padre shakes _his_ bottle and produces his \u201cmiracle\u201d of blood,\nthe Hindu priest plunges an arrow into the god\u2019s breast, and produces\n_his_ \u201cmiracle,\u201d for the blood gushes forth in streams, and the water\nis changed into blood. Both Christians and Hindus fall in raptures\nat the sight of such a miracle. So far, we do not see the slightest\ndifference. But can it be that the Pagan learned the trick from San\nGennaro.\n\n\u201cKnow, O, Asclepius,\u201d says Hermes, \u201cthat as the HIGHEST ONE is the\nfather of the celestial gods, so is man _the artisan of the gods who\nreside in the temples_, and who delight in the society of mortals.\nFaithful to its origin and nature, humanity perseveres in this\nimitation of the divine powers; and, if the Father Creator has made in\nHis image the _eternal gods_, mankind in its turn makes its gods in its\nown image.\u201d \u201cAnd, dost thou speak of statues of gods; O, Trismegistus?\u201d\n\u201cVerily, I do, Asclepius, and however great thy defiance, perceivest\nthou not that these statues are endowed _with reason_, that they are\nanimated with a soul, and that they can operate the greatest prodigies. {614}\nHow can we reject the evidence, when we find these gods possessing\nthe gift of predicting the future, which they are compelled to tell,\nwhen forced to it by magic spells, as through the lips of the divines\nand their visions?... It is the marvel of marvels that man could\nhave invented and created gods.... True, the faith of our ancestors\nhas erred, and in their pride they fell into error as to the precise\nessence of these gods ... but they have still found out that art\nthemselves. Powerless to create soul and spirit, they evoke the souls\nof angels and demons in order to introduce them into the consecrated\nstatues; and so make them preside at their Mysteries, by communicating\nto idols their own faculty to _do good as well as evil_.\u201d\n\nIt is not antiquity alone which is full of evidence that the statues\nand idols of the gods at times exhibited intelligence and locomotive\npowers. Full in the nineteenth century, we see the papers recording the\ncapers played by the statue of the Madonna of Lourdes. This gracious\nlady, the French Notre Dame, runs away several times to the woods\nadjoining her usual residence, the parish church. The sexton is obliged\nto hunt after the runaway, and bring her home more than once.[908]\nAfter this begins a series of \u201cmiracles,\u201d healing, prophesying,\nletter-dropping from on high, and what not. These \u201cmiracles\u201d are\nimplicitly accepted by millions and millions of Roman Catholics;\nnumbers of these belonging to the most intelligent and educated\nclasses. Why, then, should we disbelieve in testimony of precisely the\nsame character, given as to contemporary phenomena of the same kind,\nby the most accredited and esteemed historians\u2014by Titus Livy, for\ninstance? \u201cJuno, would you please abandon the walls of Veii, and change\nthis abode for that of Rome?\u201d inquires of the goddess a Roman soldier,\nafter the conquest of that city. Juno consents, and nodding her head in\ntoken of acquiescence, her statue answers: \u201cYes, I will.\u201d Furthermore,\nupon their carrying off the figure, it seems to instantly \u201c_lose its\nimmense weight_,\u201d adds the historian, and the statue seems rather to\nfollow them than otherwise.[909]\n\nWith _na\u00efvet\u00e9_, and a faith bordering on the sublime, des Mousseaux,\nbravely rushes into the dangerous parallels, and gives a number of\ninstances of Christian as well as \u201cheathen\u201d _miracles_ of that kind.\nHe prints a list of such walking statues of saints and Madonnas, who\nlose their weight, and move about as so many living men and women;\nand presents unimpeachable evidence of the same, from classical\nauthors, who described their _miracles_.[910] He has but one thought,\none anxious and all-overpowering desire\u2014to prove to his readers that {615}\nmagic does exist, and that Christianity beats it flat. Not that the\nmiracles of the latter are either more numerous, or more extraordinary,\nor suggestive than those of the Pagans. Not at all; and he is a fair\nhistorian as to facts and evidence. But, it is his arguments and\nreflections that are priceless: one kind of miracle is produced by\nGod, the other by the Devil; he drags down the Deity and placing Him\nface to face with Satan, allows the arch-enemy to beat the Creator by\nlong odds. Not a word of solid, evident proof to show the substantial\ndifference between the two kinds of wonders.\n\nWould we inquire the reason why he traces in one the hand of God and\nin the other the horn and hoof of the Devil? Listen to the answer:\n\u201cThe Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolical Church declares the miracles\nwrought by her faithful sons produced by the will of God; and all\nothers the work of the spirits of Hell.\u201d Very well, but on what ground?\nWe are shown an endless list of holy writers; of saints who fought\nduring their whole lives with the fiends; and of fathers whose word\nand authority are accepted as \u201cword of God\u201d by the same Church. \u201cYour\nidols, your consecrated statues are the abode of _demons_,\u201d exclaims\nSt. Cyprian. \u201cYes, it is these _spirits_ who inspire your divines, who\nanimate the bowels of your victims, who govern the flight of birds, and\nwho, mixing incessantly falsehood with truth, render oracles, and ...\noperate prodigies, their object being to bring you invincibly to their\nworship.\u201d[911]\n\nFanaticism in religion, fanaticism in science, or fanaticism in any\nother question becomes a hobby, and cannot but blind our senses. It\nwill ever be useless to argue with a fanatic. And here we cannot\nhelp admiring once more the profound knowledge of human nature which\ndictated to Mr. Sergeant Cox the following words, delivered in the same\naddress as before alluded to: \u201cThere is no more fatal fallacy than that\nthe truth will prevail by its own force, that it has only to be seen\nto be embraced. In fact the desire for the actual truth exists in very\nfew minds, and the capacity to discern it in fewer still. When men say\nthat they are seeking the truth, they mean that they are looking for\nevidence to support some prejudice or prepossession. Their beliefs are\nmoulded to their wishes. They see all, and more than all, that seems\nto tell for that which they desire; they are blind as bats to whatever\ntells against them. The scientists are no more exempt from this common\nfailing than are others.\u201d\n\nWe know that from the remotest ages there has existed a mysterious,\nawful science, under the name of _theop\u0153a_. This science taught the\nart of endowing the various symbols of gods with temporary life and {616}\nintelligence. Statues and blocks of inert matter became animated under\nthe potential will of the hierophant. The fire stolen by Prometheus had\nfallen down in the struggle to earth; it embraced the lower regions\nof the sky, and settled in the waves of the universal ether as the\npotential _Ak\u00e2sa_ of the Hindu rites. We breathe and imbibe it into\nour organic system with every mouthful of fresh air. Our organism is\nfull of it from the instant of our birth. But it becomes potential only\nunder the influx of WILL and SPIRIT.\n\nLeft to itself, this life-principle will blindly follow the laws of\nnature; and, according to conditions, will produce health and an\nexuberance of _life_, or cause _death_ and dissolution. But, guided\nby the will of the adept, it becomes obedient; its currents restore\nthe equilibrium in organic bodies, they fill the waste, and produce\nphysical and psychological miracles, well-known to mesmerizers. Infused\nin inorganic and inert matter, they create an appearance of life, hence\nmotion. If to that life an individual intelligence, a personality,\nis wanting, then the operator must either send his _scin-lecca_, his\nown astral spirit, to animate it; or use his power over the region of\nnature-spirits to force one of them to _infuse_ his entity into the\nmarble, wood, or metal; or, again, be helped by human spirits. But the\nlatter\u2014except the vicious, earth-bound class[912]\u2014will _not_ infuse\ntheir essence into these inanimate objects. They leave the lower kinds\nto produce the similitude of life and animation, and only send their\ninfluence through the intervening spheres like a ray of divine light,\nwhen the so-called \u201cmiracle\u201d is required for a good purpose. The\ncondition\u2014and this is a law in spiritual nature\u2014is purity of motive,\npurity of the surrounding magnetic atmosphere, personal purity of the\noperator. Thus is it, that a Pagan \u201cmiracle\u201d may be by far holier than\na Christian one.\n\nWho that has seen the performance of the fakirs of Southern India,\ncan doubt the existence of _theop\u0153a_ in ancient times? An inveterate\nskeptic, though more than anxious to attribute every phenomenon to\njugglery, still finds himself compelled to testify to facts; and facts\nthat are to be witnessed daily if one chooses. \u201cI dare not,\u201d he says,\nspeaking of Chibh-Chondor, a fakir of Jaffna-patnam, \u201cdescribe all\nthe exercises which he performed. There are things one _dares_ not {617}\nsay even after having witnessed them, for fear of being charged with\nhaving been under an inexplicable hallucination! And yet, ten, nay,\ntwenty times, I saw and saw again the fakir obtain similar results\nover inert matter.... It was but child\u2019s play for our \u2018charmer\u2019 to\nmake the flame of candles which had, by his directions, been placed in\nthe remotest corners of the apartment, pale and become extinguished at\nwill; to cause the furniture to move, even the sofas on which we sat,\nthe doors to open and shut repeatedly: and all this without quitting\nthe mat upon which he sat on the floor.\n\n\u201cPerhaps I will be told that I saw imperfectly. Possibly; but I will\nsay that hundreds and thousands of persons have seen and do see what I\nhave, and things more wonderful; has one of all these discovered the\nsecret, or been able to duplicate these phenomena? And I can never\nrepeat too often that all this does not occur on a stage, supplied with\nmechanical contrivances for the use of the operator. No, it is a beggar\ncrouched, naked, on the floor, who thus sports with your intelligence,\nyour senses, and all that which we have agreed among ourselves to style\nthe immutable laws of nature, but which he appears to alter at will!\n\n\u201cDoes he change its course? \u2018No, but he makes it act by using forces\nwhich are yet unknown to us,\u2019 say the believers. However that may be, I\nhave found myself twenty times at similar performances in company with\nthe most distinguished men of British India\u2014professors, physicians,\nofficers. Not one of them but thus summarized his impressions upon\nquitting the drawing-room. \u2018This is something terrifying to human\nintelligence!\u2019 Every time that I saw repeated by a fakir the experiment\nof reducing serpents to a cataleptic state, a condition in which these\nanimals have all the rigidity of the dry branch of a tree, my thoughts\nhave reverted to the biblical fable (?) which endows Moses and the\npriests of Pharaoh with the like power.\u201d[913]\n\nAssuredly, the flesh of man, beast, and bird should be as easily\nendowed with magnetic life-principle as the inert table of a modern\nmedium. Either both wonders are possible and true, or both must fall\nto the ground, together with the miracles of Apostolic days, and those\nof the more modern Popish Church. As for vital proofs furnished to us\nin favor of such possibilities, we might name books enough to fill\na whole library. If Sixtus V. cited a formidable array of spirits\nattached to various talismans, was not his threat of excommunication\nfor all those who practiced the art, uttered merely because he would\nhave the knowledge of this secret confined within the precincts of the\nChurch? How would it do for his \u201cdivine\u201d miracles to be studied and {618}\nsuccessfully reproduced by every man endowed with perseverance, a\nstrong positive magnetic power, and an unflinching will? Recent events\nat Lourdes (of course, supposing them to have been truthfully reported)\nprove that the secret is not wholly lost; and if there is no strong\nmagician-mesmerizer concealed under frock and surplice, then the statue\nof Notre-Dame is moved by the same forces which move every magnetized\ntable at a spiritual seance; and the nature of these \u201cintelligences,\u201d\nwhether they belong to the classes of human, human elementary, or\nelemental spirits depends on a variety of conditions. With one who\nknows anything of mesmerism, and at the same time of the charitable\nspirit of the Roman Catholic Church, it ought not to be difficult to\ncomprehend that the incessant curses of the priests and monks; and the\nbitter anathemas so freely pronounced by Pius IX.\u2014himself a strong\nmesmerizer, and believed to be a _jetattore_ (evil eye)\u2014have drawn\ntogether legions of elementaries and elementals under the leadership\nof the disembodied Torquemadas. These are the \u201cangels\u201d who play pranks\nwith the statue of the Queen of Heaven. Any one who accepts the\n\u201cmiracle\u201d and thinks otherwise blasphemes.\n\nAlthough it would seem as if we had already furnished sufficient proofs\nthat modern science has little or no reason to boast of originality,\nyet before closing this volume we will adduce a few more to place\nthe matter beyond doubt. We have but to recapitulate, as briefly as\npossible, the several claims to new philosophies and discoveries, the\nannouncement of which has made the world open its eyes so wide within\nthese last two centuries. We have pointed to the achievements in arts,\nsciences, and philosophy of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Chaldeans,\nand Assyrians; we will now quote from an author who has passed long\nyears in India studying their philosophy. In the famous and recent work\nof _Christna et le Christ_, we find the following tabulation:\n\n\u201c_Philosophy._\u2014The ancient Hindus have created from the foundation the\ntwo systems of spiritualism and materialism, of metaphysical philosophy\nand of positive philosophy. The first taught in the Vedantic school,\nwhose founder was Vyasa; the second taught in the Sankya school, whose\nfounder was Kapila.\n\n\u201c_Astronomical Science._\u2014They fixed the calendar, invented the zodiac,\ncalculated the precession of the equinoxes, discovered the general laws\nof the movements, observed and predicted the eclipses.\n\n\u201c_Mathematics._\u2014They invented the decimal system, algebra, the\ndifferential, integral, and infinitesimal calculi. They also discovered\ngeometry and trigonometry, and in these two sciences they constructed\nand proved theorems _which were only discovered in Europe as late as\nthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries_. It was the Brahmans in\nfact who first deduced the superficial measure of a triangle from {619}\nthe calculation of its three sides, and calculated the relations of\nthe circumference to the diameter. Furthermore, we must restore to\nthem the square of the hypotenuse and the table so improperly called\nPythagorean, which we find engraved on the _g\u00f4parama_ of the majority\nof great pagodas.\n\n\u201c_Physics._\u2014They established the principle which is still our own\nto-day, that the universe is a harmonious whole, subject to laws which\nmay be determined by observation and experiment. They discovered\nhydrostatics; and the famous proposition that every body plunged in\nwater loses of its own weight a weight equal to the volume which it\ndisplaces, is only a loan made by the Brahmans to the famous Greek\narchitect, Archimedes. The physicists of the pagodas calculated the\nvelocity of light, fixed in a positive manner the laws which it\nfollows in its reflection. And finally, it is beyond doubt, from the\ncalculations of Surya-Sidhenta, that they knew and calculated the force\nof steam.\n\n\u201c_Chemistry._\u2014They knew the composition of water, and formulated\nfor gases the famous law, _which we know only from yesterday, that\nthe volumes of gas are in inverse ratio to the pressures that they\nsupport_. They knew how to prepare sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic\nacids; the oxides of copper, iron, lead, tin, and zinc; the sulphurets\nof iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and arsenic; the sulphates of zinc\nand iron; the carbonates of iron, lead, and soda; nitrate of silver;\nand powder.\n\n\u201c_Medicine._\u2014Their knowledge was truly astonishing. In Tcharaka and\nSousruta, the two princes of Hindu medicine, is laid down the system\nwhich Hippocrates appropriated later. Sousruta notably enunciates the\nprinciples of preventive medicine or hygiene, which he places much\nabove curative medicine\u2014too often, according to him, empyrical. Are\nwe more advanced to-day? It is not without interest to remark that\nthe Arab physicians, who enjoyed a merited celebrity in the middle\nages\u2014Averro\u00e8s among others\u2014constantly spoke of the Hindu physicians,\nand regarded them as the initiators of the Greeks and themselves.\n\n\u201c_Pharmacology._\u2014They knew all the simples, their properties, their\nuse, and upon this point have not yet ceased to give lessons to Europe.\nQuite recently we have received from them the treatment of asthma, with\nthe datura.\n\n\u201c_Surgery._\u2014In this they are not less remarkable. They made the\noperation for the stone, succeeded admirably in the operation for\ncataract, and the extraction of the f\u0153tus, of which all the unusual\nor dangerous cases are described by Tcharaka with an extraordinary\nscientific accuracy.\n\n\u201c_Grammar._\u2014They formed the most marvellous language in the world\u2014the\nSanscrit\u2014which gave birth to the greater part of the idioms of the\nOrient, and of Indo-European countries.\n\n\u201c_Poetry._\u2014They have treated all the styles, and shown themselves {620}\nsupreme masters in all. Sakuntala, Avrita, the Hindu Ph\u00e6dra, Saranga,\nand a thousand other dramas have their superiors neither in Sophocles\nnor Euripides, in Corneille nor Shakspere. Their descriptive poetry has\nnever been equalled. One must read, in the _Megadata_, \u201cThe Plaint of\nan Exile,\u201d who implores a passing cloud to carry his remembrances to\nhis cottage, his relatives and friends, whom he will never see more, to\nform an idea of the splendor to which this style has been carried in\nIndia. Their fables have been copied by all modern and ancient peoples,\nwho have not even given themselves the trouble to color differently the\nsubject of these little dramas.\n\n\u201c_Music._\u2014They invented the gamut with its differences of tones and\nhalf-tones much before Gui d\u2019 Arezzo. Here is the Hindu scale:\n\n Sa\u2014Ri\u2014Ga\u2014Ma\u2014Pa\u2014Da\u2014Ni\u2014Sa.\n\n\u201c_Architecture._\u2014They seem to have exhausted all that the genius of man\nis capable of conceiving. Domes, inexpressibly bold; tapering cupolas;\nminarets, with marble lace; Gothic towers; Greek hemicycles; polychrome\nstyle\u2014all kinds and all epochs are there, betokening the origin and\ndate of the different colonies, which, in emigrating, carried with them\ntheir souvenirs of their native art.\u201d\n\nSuch were the results attained by this ancient and imposing Brahmanical\ncivilization. What have we to offer for comparison? Beside such\nmajestic achievements of the past, what can we place that will seem so\ngrandiose and sublime as to warrant our boast of superiority over an\nignorant ancestry? Beside the discoverers of geometry and algebra, the\nconstructors of human speech, the parents of philosophy, the primal\nexpounders of religion, the adepts in psychological and physical\nscience, how even the greatest of our biologists and theologians seem\ndwarfed! Name to us any modern discovery, and we venture to say, that\nIndian history need not long be searched before the prototype will\nbe found of record. Here we are with the transit of science half\naccomplished, and all our ideas in process of readjustment to the\ntheories of force-correlation, natural selection, atomic polarity, and\nevolution. And here, to mock our conceit, our apprehensions, and our\ndespair, we may read what Manu said, perhaps 10,000 years before the\nbirth of Christ:\n\n\u201cThe first germ of life was developed by water and heat\u201d (_Manu_, book\ni., sloka 8).\n\n\u201cWater ascends toward the sky in vapors; from the sun it descends in\nrain, from the rain are born the plants, and from the plants, animals\u201d\n(book iii., sloka 76).\n\n\u201cEach being acquires the qualities of the one which immediately\nprecedes it, in such a manner that the farther a being gets away from {621}\nthe primal atom of its series, the more he is possessed of qualities\nand perfections\u201d (book i., sloka 20).\n\n\u201cMan will traverse the universe, gradually ascending, and passing\nthrough the rocks, the plants, the worms, insects, fish, serpents,\ntortoises, wild animals, cattle, and higher animals.... Such is the\n_inferior degree_\u201d (Ibid.).\n\n\u201cThese are the transformations declared, from the plant up to Brahma,\nwhich have to take place in his world\u201d (Ibid.).\n\n\u201cThe Greek,\u201d says Jacolliot, \u201cis but the Sanscrit. Pheidias and\nPraxiteles have studied in Asia the chefs-d\u2019\u0153uvre of Daonthia, Ramana,\nand Aryavosta. Plato disappears before Dgeminy and Veda-Vyasa, whom\nhe literally copies. Aristotle is thrown into the shade by the\n_Pourva-Mimansa_ and the _Outtara-Mimansa_, in which one finds all the\nsystems of philosophy which we are now occupied in re-editing, from\nthe Spiritualism of Socrates and his school, the skepticism of Pyrrho,\nMontaigne, and Kant, _down to the positivism of Littr\u00e9_.\u201d\n\nLet those who doubt the exactness of the latter assertion read this\nphrase, extracted textually from the _Outtara-Mimansa_, or _Vedanta_,\nof Vyasa, who lived at an epoch which the Brahmanical chronology fixes\nat 10,400 years before our era:\n\n\u201cWe can only study phenomena, verify them, and hold them to be\nrelatively true, but nothing in the universe, neither by perception\nnor by induction, nor by the senses, nor by reasoning, being able to\ndemonstrate the existence of a Supreme Cause, which could, at a fixed\npoint of time, have given birth to the universe, Science has to discuss\nneither the possibility nor impossibility of this Supreme Cause.\u201d\n\nThus, gradually but surely, will the whole of antiquity be vindicated.\nTruth will be carefully sifted from exaggeration; much that is now\nconsidered fiction may yet be proved fact, and the \u201cfacts and laws\u201d\nof modern science found to belong to the limbo of exploded myths.\nWhen, centuries before our era, the Hindu Bramaheupto affirmed that\nthe starry sphere was immovable, and that the daily rising and\nsetting of stars confirms the motion of the earth upon its axis; and\nwhen Aristarchus of Samos, born 267 years B.C., and the Pythagorean\nphilosopher Nicet\u00e8, the Syracusan, maintained the same, what was\nthe credit given to their theories until the days of Copernicus and\nGalileo? And the system of these two princes of science\u2014a system which\nhas revolutionized the whole world\u2014how long will it be allowed to\nremain as a complete and undisturbed whole? Have we not, at the present\nmoment, in Germany, a learned savant, a Professor Sho\u00ebpfer, who, in his\npublic lectures at Berlin, tries to demonstrate, 1, that the earth is\nimmovable; 2, the sun is but a little bigger than it seems; and 3, that {622}\nTycho-Brahe was perfectly right and Galileo perfectly wrong?[914] And\nwhat was Tycho-Brahe\u2019s theory? Why, that the earth stands immovable in\nthe centre of the universe, and that around it, as around its centre,\nthe whole of the celestial vault gravitates every twenty-four hours;\nand finally, that the sun and moon, apart from this motion, proceed on\ncurved lines peculiar to themselves, while Mercury, with the rest of\nthe planets, describes an epicycloid.\n\nWe certainly have no intention to lose time nor devote space to either\ncombating or supporting this _new_ theory, which suspiciously resembles\nthe _old_ ones of Aristotle and even the Venerable Bede. We will leave\nthe learned army of modern Academicians to \u201cwash their family linen\namong themselves,\u201d to use an expression of the great Napoleon. But we\nwill, nevertheless, avail ourselves of such a good opportunity as this\ndefection affords to demand once more of science her diploma or patents\nof infallibility. Alas! are these, then, the results of her boasted\nprogress?\n\nIt was hardly more than yesterday when, upon the strength of facts\nwithin our own observation, and corroborated by the testimony of\na multitude of witnesses, we timidly ventured the assertion that\ntables, mediums, and Hindu fakirs were occasionally levitated. And\nwhen we added that, if such a phenomenon should happen but once in\na century, \u201cwithout a visible mechanical cause, then that rising is\na manifestation of a natural law of which our scientists are yet\nignorant,\u201d we were called \u201ciconoclastic,\u201d and charged, in our turn, by\nthe newspapers, with ignorance of the law of gravitation. Iconoclastic\nor not, we never thought of charging science with denying the rotation\nof the earth on its axis, or its revolution around the sun. Those two\nlamps, at least, in the beacon of the Academy, we thought would be\nkept trimmed and burning to the end of time. But, lo! here comes a\nBerlin professor and crushes our last hopes that Science should prove\nherself exact in some one particular. The cycle is truly at its lowest\npoint, and a new era is begun. The earth stands still, and Joshua is\nvindicated!\n\nIn days of old\u2014in 1876\u2014the world believed in centrifugal force, and\nthe Newtonian theory, which explained the flattening of the poles by\nthe rotatory motion of the earth around its axis, was orthodox. Upon\nthis hypothesis, the greater portion of the globular mass was believed\nto gravitate toward the equator; and in its turn the centrifugal\nforce, acting on the mass with its mightiest power, forced this mass\nto concentrate itself on the equator. Thus is it that the credulous {623}\nscientists believed the earth to rotate around its axis; for, were it\notherwise, there would exist no centrifugal force, and without this\nforce there could be no gravitation toward the equatorial latitudes. It\nhas been one of the accepted proofs of the rotation of the earth, and\nit is this deduction, with several others, that the Berlin professor\ndeclares that, \u201cin common with many other scientists,\u201d he \u201crejects.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs this not ridiculous, gentlemen,\u201d he concludes, \u201cthat we, confiding\nin what we were taught at school, have accepted the rotation of the\nearth around its axis as a fact fully demonstrated, while there is\nnothing at all to prove it, and it _cannot_ be demonstrated? Is it not\ncause of astonishment that the scientists of the whole educated world,\ncommencing with Copernicus and Kepler, should have begun by accepting\nsuch a movement of our planet, and then three and a half centuries\nlater be searching for such proofs? But, alas! though we search, we\nfind none, as was to be expected. All, all is vain!\u201d\n\nAnd thus it is that at one stroke the world loses its rotation, and the\nuniverse is bereaved of its guardians and protectors, the centrifugal\nand centripetal forces! Nay, ether itself, blown out of space, is but\na \u201cfallacy,\u201d a myth born of a bad habit of using empty words; the sun\nis a pretender to dimensions to which it was never entitled; the stars\nare twinkling dots, and \u201cwere so expressly disposed at considerable\ndistances from one another by the Creator of the universe, probably\nwith the intention that they should simultaneously illumine the vast\nspaces on the face of our globe\u201d says Dr. Sho\u00ebpfer.\n\nAnd is it so that even three centuries and a half have not sufficed\nthe men of exact science to construct one theory that not a single\nuniversity professor would dare challenge? If astronomy, the one\nscience built on the adamantine foundation of mathematics, the one of\nall others deemed as infallible and unassailable as truth itself, can\nbe thus irreverently indicted for false pretences, what have we gained\nby cheapening Plato to the profit of the Babinets? How, then, do they\nventure to flout at the humblest observer who, being both honest and\nintelligent, may say he has seen a mediumistic, or magical phenomenon?\nAnd how dare they prescribe the \u201climits of philosophical inquiry,\u201d to\npass beyond which is not lawful? And these quarrelling hypothesists\nstill arraign as ignorant and superstitious those giant intellects of\nthe past, who handled natural forces like world-building Titans, and\nraised mortality to an eminence where it allied itself with the gods!\nStrange fate of a century boasting to have elevated exact science to\nits _apex of fame_, and now invited to go back and begin its A B C of\nlearning again!\n\nRecapitulating the evidence contained in this work, if we begin with\nthe archaic and unknown ages of the Hermetic Pimander, and come down {624}\nto 1876, we find that one universal belief in magic has run through\nall these centuries. We have presented the ideas of Trismegistus in\nhis dialogue with Asclepius; and without mentioning the thousand and\none proofs of the prevalence of this belief in the first centuries\nof Christianity, to achieve our purpose we have but to quote from an\nancient and a modern author. The first will be the great philosopher\nPorphyry, who several thousand years after the days of Hermes, remarks\nin relation to the prevailing skepticism of his century, the following:\n\u201cWe need not be amazed in seeing the vulgar masses (\u03bf\u1f31 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9) perceive\nin statues merely stone and wood. Thus it is generally with those who,\nignorant in letters, find naught in _styl\u00e6_ covered with inscriptions\nbut stone, and in written books naught but the tissue of the papyrus.\u201d\nAnd 1,500 years later, we see Mr. Sergeant Cox, in stating the case of\nthe shameful prosecution of a medium by just such a blind materialist,\nthus expressing his ideas: \u201cWhether the medium is guilty or guiltless\n... certain it is that the trial has had the unlooked-for effect of\ndirecting the attention of the whole public to the fact that the\nphenomena _are asserted to_ exist, and by a great number of competent\ninvestigators are _declared to be true_, and of the reality of which\nevery person may, if he pleases, satisfy himself by actual inspection,\nthus sweeping away, thus and for ever, _the dark and debasing doctrines\nof the materialists_.\u201d\n\nStill, in harmony with Porphyry and other theurgists, who affirmed the\ndifferent natures of the manifesting \u201cspirits\u201d and the personal spirit\nor will of man, Mr. Sergeant Cox adds, without committing himself\nany further to a personal decision: \u201cTrue, there are differences of\nopinions ... and perhaps ever will be, as to the sources of the power\nthat is exhibited in these phenomena; but whether they are the product\nof the psychic force of the circle ... or, if spirits of the dead be\nthe agents, as others say, or elemental spirits (whatever it may be)\nas asserted by a third party, this fact at least is established\u2014that\nman is not wholly material, that the mechanism of man is moved and\ndirected by some non-material\u2014that is, some non-molecular structure,\nwhich possesses not merely intelligence, but _can exercise also a force\nupon matter_, that something to which, for lack of a better title, we\nhave given the name of soul. These glad tidings have by this trial been\nborne to thousands and tens of thousands, whose happiness here, and\nhopes of a hereafter, have been blighted by the materialists, who have\npreached so persistently that soul was but a superstition, man but an\nautomaton, mind but a secretion, present existence purely animal, and\nthe future\u2014a blank.\u201d\n\n\u201cTruth alone,\u201d says Pimander, \u201cis eternal and immutable; _truth_ is\nthe first of blessings; but truth is not and cannot be on earth: it is\npossible that God sometimes gifts a few men together with the faculty {625}\nof comprehending divine things with that of rightly understanding\ntruth; but nothing is true on earth, for everything has matter on it,\nclothed with a corporeal form subject to change, to alteration, to\ncorruption, and to new combinations. Man is not _the_ truth, for only\nthat which has drawn its essence from itself, and remains itself,\nand unchangeable, is true. How can that which changes so as not to\nfinally be recognized, be ever true? Truth, then, is that only which\nis immaterial and not enclosed within a corporeal envelope, that\nwhich is colorless and formless, exempt from change and alteration;\nthat which is ETERNAL. All of that which perishes is a lie; earth\nis but dissolution and generation; every generation proceeds from a\ndissolution; the things of earth are but _appearances_ and imitations\nof truth; they are what the picture is to reality. The things of\nearth are not the TRUTH!... Death, for some persons, is an evil which\nstrikes them with profound terror. This is ignorance.... Death is the\ndestruction of the body; the being in it _dies not_.... The material\nbody loses its form, which is disintegrated in course of time; the\nsenses which animated it return to their source and resume their\nfunctions; but they gradually lose their passions and their desires,\nand _the spirit_ ascends to heaven to become a HARMONY. In the first\nzone, it leaves behind itself the faculty of increasing and decreasing;\nin the second, the power of doing evil and the frauds of idleness; in\nthe third, deceptions and concupiscence; in the fourth, insatiable\nambition; in the fifth, arrogance, audacity, and temerity; in the\nsixth, all yearning after dishonest acquisitions; and in the seventh,\n_untruthfulness_. The spirit thus purified by the effect on him of the\ncelestial harmonies, returns once more to its primitive state, strong\nof a merit and power self-acquired, and which belongs to it properly;\nand only then he begins to dwell with those that sing eternally their\npraises of the FATHER. Hitherto, he is placed among the powers, and as\nsuch has attained to the supreme blessing of knowledge. He is become a\nGOD!... No, the things of earth are not the truth.\u201d\n\nAfter having devoted their whole lives to the study of the records\nof the old Egyptian wisdom, both Champollion-Figeac and Champollion,\nJunior, publicly declared, notwithstanding many biassed judgments\nhazarded by certain hasty and unwise critics, that the _Books of\nHermes_ \u201ctruly contain a mass of Egyptian traditions which are\nconstantly corroborated by the most authentic records and monuments of\nEgypt of the hoariest antiquity.\u201d[915]\n\nClosing up his voluminous summary of the psychological doctrines of the\nEgyptians, the sublime teachings of the sacred Hermetic books, and {626}\nthe attainments of the initiated priests in metaphysical and practical\nphilosophy, Champollion-Figeac inquires\u2014as he well may, in view of the\nthen attainable evidence\u2014\u201cwhether there ever was in the world another\nassociation or caste of men which could equal them in credit, power,\nlearning, and capability, in the same degree of good or evil? No,\n_never_! And this caste was subsequently _cursed_ and stigmatized only\nby those who, under I know not what kind of modern influences, have\nconsidered it as the enemy of men and\u2014science.\u201d[916]\n\nAt the time when Champollion wrote these words, Sanscrit was, we may\nsay, almost an unknown tongue for science. But little in the way of\na parallel could have been drawn between the respective merits of\nthe Brahmans and the Egyptian philosophers. Since then, however, it\nhas been discovered that the very same ideas, expressed in almost\nidentical language, may be read in the Buddhistic and Brahmanical\nliterature. This very philosophy of the unreality of mundane things and\nthe illusion of the senses\u2014whose whole substance has been plagiarized\nin our own times by the German metaphysicians\u2014forms the groundwork of\nKapila\u2019s and Vyasa\u2019s philosophies, and may be found in Gautama Buddha\u2019s\nenunciation of the \u201cfour truths,\u201d the cardinal dogmas of his doctrine.\nPimander\u2019s expression \u201che is become a god\u201d is epitomized in the one\nword, _Nirvana_, which our learned Orientalists most incorrectly\nconsider as the synonym of _annihilation_!\n\nThis opinion of the two eminent Egyptologists is of the greatest value\nto us if it were only as an answer to our opponents. The Champollions\nwere the first in Europe to take the student of arch\u00e6ology by the\nhand, and, leading him on into the silent crypts of the past, prove\nthat civilization did not begin with our generations; for \u201cthough the\norigins of ancient Egypt are unknown, she is found to have been at the\nmost distant periods within the reach of historical research, with her\ngreat laws, her established customs, her cities, her kings, and gods;\u201d\nand behind, far behind, these same epochs we find ruins belonging\nto other still more distant and higher periods of civilization. \u201cAt\nThebes, portions of ruined buildings allow us to recognize remnants of\nstill anterior structures, the materials of which had served for the\nerection of the very edifices which have now existed for thirty-six\ncenturies!\u201d[917] \u201cEverything told us by Herodotus and the Egyptian\npriests is found to be exact, and has been corroborated by modern\nscientists,\u201d adds Champollion.[918]\n\nWhence the civilization of the Egyptians came, will be shown in volume\nII., and in this respect it will be made to appear that our deductions,\nthough based upon the traditions of the Secret Doctrine, run parallel {627}\nwith those of a number of most respected authorities. There is a\npassage in a well-known Hindu work which may well be recalled in this\nconnection.\n\n\u201cUnder the reign of Viswamitra, first king of the Dynasty of\nSoma-Vanga. in consequence of a battle which lasted five days,\nManu-Vina, heir of the ancient kings, being abandoned by the Brahmans,\nemigrated with all his companions, passing through Arya, and the\ncountries of Barria, till he came to the shores of Masra\u201d (_History of\nIndia_, by Collouca-Batta). Unquestionably this Manu-Vina and Menes,\nthe first Egyptian King, are identical.\n\nArya, is Eran (Persia); Barria, is Arabia, and Masra, was the name of\nCairo, which to this day is called, _Masr_, Musr, and Misro. Ph\u0153nician\nhistory names Maser as one of the ancestors of Hermes.\n\nAnd now we will bid farewell to thaumatophobia and its advocates, and\nconsider thaumatomania under its multifarious aspects. In vol. II.,\nwe intend to review the \u201cmiracles\u201d of Paganism and weigh the evidence\nin their favor in the same scales with Christian theology. There is a\nconflict not merely impending but already begun between science and\ntheology, on the one hand, and spirit and its hoary science, magic, on\nthe other. Something of the possibilities of the latter have already\nbeen displayed, but more is to come. The petty, mean world, for whose\napproving nod scientists and magistrates, priests and Christians\ncompete, have begun their latter-day crusade by sentencing in the same\nyear two innocent men, one in France, the other in London, in defiance\nof law and justice. Like the apostle of circumcision, they are ever\nready to thrice deny an unpopular connection for fear of ostracism\nby their own fellows. The Psychomantics and the Psychophobists must\nsoon meet in fierce conflict. The anxiety to have their phenomena\ninvestigated and supported by scientific authorities has given place\nwith the former to a frigid indifference. As a natural result of so\nmuch prejudice and unfairness as have been exhibited, their respect\nfor scientists is waning fast, and the reciprocal epithets bandied\nbetween the two parties are becoming far from complimentary to either.\nWhich of them is right and which wrong, time will soon show and future\ngenerations understand. It is at least safe to prophesy that the\nUltima Thul\u00e8 of God\u2019s mysteries, and the key to them are to be sought\nelsewhere than in the whirl of Avogadro\u2019s molecules.\n\nPeople who either judge superficially, or, by reason of their natural\nimpatience would gaze at the blazing sun before their eyes are well\nfitted to bear lamp-light, are apt to complain of the exasperating\nobscurity of language which characterizes the works of the ancient\nHermetists and their successors. They declare their philosophical\ntreatises on magic incomprehensible. Over the first class we can afford {628}\nto waste no time; the second, we would beg to moderate their anxiety,\nremembering those sayings of Espagnet\u2014\u201cTruth lies hid in obscurity,\u201d\nand \u201cPhilosophers never write more deceitfully than when plainly, nor\never more truly than when obscurely.\u201d Furthermore, there is a third\nclass, whom it would compliment too much to say that they judge the\nsubject at all. They simply denounce _ex-cathedra_. The ancients they\ntreat as dreamy fools, and though but physicists and thaumatophobic\npositivists, they commonly claim a monopoly of spiritual wisdom!\n\nWe will select Iren\u00e6us Philaletha to answer this latter class. \u201cIn\nthe world our writings shall prove a curious-edged knife; to some\nthey shall carve out dainties, but to others they shall only serve to\ncut their fingers; yet we are not to be blamed, for we do seriously\nadmonish all who shall attempt this work that they undertaketh the\nhighest piece of philosophy in nature; and though we write in English,\nyet our matter will be as hard as Greek to some, who will think,\nnevertheless, that they understand as well, when they misconstrue our\nmeaning most perversely; for is it imaginable that they who are fools\nin nature should be wise in books, which are testimonies unto nature?\u201d\n\nThe few elevated minds who interrogate nature instead of prescribing\nlaws for her guidance; who do not limit her possibilities by the\nimperfections of their own powers; and who only disbelieve because they\ndo not know, we would remind of that apothegm of Narada, the ancient\nHindu philosopher:\n\n\u201cNever utter these words: \u2018I do not know this\u2014therefore it is false.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cOne must study to know, know to understand, understand to judge.\u201d\n\n\n END OF VOLUME I.\n\n\n\n\n FOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Lightfoot assures us that this voice, which had been used in times\npast for a testimony from heaven, \u201cwas indeed performed by magic\nart\u201d (vol. ii., p. 128). This latter term is used as a supercilious\nexpression, just because it was and is still misunderstood. It is the\nobject of this work to correct the erroneous opinions concerning \u201cmagic\nart.\u201d\n\n[2] Encyclical of 1864.\n\n[3] \u201cFragments of Science.\u201d\n\n[4] See the last chapter of this volume, p. 622.\n\n[5] \u201cRecollections of a Busy Life,\u201d p. 147.\n\n[6] Henry Ward Beecher.\n\n[7] Cocker: \u201cChristianity and Greek Philosophy,\u201d xi., p. 377.\n\n[8] Gospel according to Matthew, xiii. 11, 13.\n\n[9] \u201cThe accusations of atheism, the introducing of foreign deities,\nand corrupting of the Athenian youth, which were made against Socrates,\nafforded ample justification for Plato to conceal the arcane preaching\nof his doctrines. Doubtless the peculiar diction or \u2018jargon\u2019 of the\nalchemists was employed for a like purpose. The dungeon, the rack,\nand the fagot were employed without scruple by Christians of every\nshade, the Roman Catholics especially, against all who taught even\nnatural science contrary to the theories entertained by the Church.\nPope Gregory the Great even inhibited the grammatical use of Latin\nas heathenish. The offense of Socrates consisted in unfolding to his\ndisciples the arcane doctrine concerning the gods, which was taught\nin the Mysteries and was a capital crime. He also was charged by\nAristophanes with introducing the new god Dinos into the republic as\nthe demiurgos or artificer, and the lord of the solar universe. The\nHeliocentric system was also a doctrine of the Mysteries; and hence,\nwhen Aristarchus the Pythagorean taught it openly, Cleanthes declared\nthat the Greeks ought to have called him to account and condemned him\nfor blasphemy against the gods,\u201d\u2014(\u201cPlutarch\u201d). But Socrates had never\nbeen initiated, and hence divulged nothing which had ever been imparted\nto him.\n\n[10] See Thomas Taylor: \u201cEleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries,\u201d p. 47. New\nYork: J. W Bouton, 1875.\n\n[11] Cousin, \u201cHistory of Philosophy,\u201d I., ix.\n\n[12] \u201cTheol. Arithme.,\u201d p. 62: \u201cOn Pythag. Numbers.\u201d\n\n[13] Plato: \u201cParmenid.,\u201d 141 E.\n\n[14] See Stob\u0153us\u2019 \u201cEcl.,\u201d i., 862.\n\n[15] Sextus: \u201cMath.,\u201d vii. 145.\n\n[16] \u201cMetaph.,\u201d 407, a. 3.\n\n[17] Appendix to \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[18] Stob.: \u201cEcl.,\u201d i., 62.\n\n[19] Krische: \u201cForsch.,\u201d p. 322, etc.\n\n[20] Clem.: \u201cAlex. Stro.,\u201d v., 590.\n\n[21] Plutarch: \u201cDe Isid,\u201d chap. 25, p. 360.\n\n[22] \u201cPlato und die Alt. Akademie.\u201d\n\n[23] \u201cTusc.,\u201d v., 18, 51.\n\n[24] Ibid. Cf. p. 559.\n\n[25] \u201cPlato und die Alt. Akademie.\u201d\n\n[26] Ed. Zeller: \u201cPhilos. der Griech.\u201d\n\n[27] \u201cPlato und die Alt. Akademie.\u201d\n\n[28] One of the five solid figures in Geometry.\n\n[29] \u201cThe Sun and the Earth.\u201d\n\n[30] \u201cDe Ente Spirituali,\u201d lib. iv.; \u201cde Ente Astrorum,\u201d book i.; and\n_opera omnia_, vol. i., pp. 634 and 699.\n\n[31] Or more commonly ch\u0101rkh p\u016bj\u0101.\n\n[32] Persons who believe in the clairvoyant power, but are disposed to\ndiscredit the existence of any other spirits in nature than disembodied\nhuman spirits, will be interested in an account of certain clairvoyant\nobservations which appeared in the _London Spiritualist_ of June 29,\n1877. A thunder-storm approaching, the seeress saw \u201ca bright spirit\nemerge from a dark cloud and pass with lightning speed across the\nsky, and, a few minutes after, a diagonal line of dark spirits in\nthe clouds.\u201d These are the _Maruts_ of the \u201cVedas\u201d (See Max M\u00fcller\u2019s\n\u201cRig-Veda Sanhita\u201d).\n\nThe well-known and respected lecturer, author, and clairvoyant,\nMrs. Emma Hardinge Britten, has published accounts of her frequent\nexperiences with these elemental spirits.\n\n[33] Translated by Max M\u00fcller, Professor of Comparative Philology at\nthe Oxford University, England.\n\n[34] \u201cDyar\u00edh vah pit\u00e2, prithivi m\u00e2t\u00e2 s\u00f4mah bhr\u00e2t\u00e2 \u00e2ditih sv\u00e1s\u00e2.\u201d\n\n[35] As the perfect identity of the philosophical and religious\ndoctrines of antiquity will be fully treated upon in subsequent\nchapters, we limit our explanations for the present.\n\n[36] \u201cRig-Veda-Anhita,\u201d p. 234.\n\n[37] Philostratus assures us that the Brahmins were able, in his time,\nto perform the most wonderful cures by merely pronouncing certain\nmagical words. \u201cThe Indian Brahmans carry a staff and a ring, by means\nof which they are able to do almost anything.\u201d Origenes states the same\n(\u201cContra Celsum\u201d). But if a strong mesmeric fluid\u2014say projected from\nthe eye, and without any other contact\u2014is not added, no magical words\nwould be efficacious.\n\n[38] Akiba was a friend of Aher, said to have been the Apostle Paul of\nChristian story. Both are depicted as having visited Paradise. Aher\ntook branches from the Tree of Knowledge, and so fell from the true\n(Jewish) religion. Akiba came away in peace. See 2d Epistle to the\nCorinthians, chapter xii.\n\n[39] Taley means ocean or sea.\n\n[40] See \u201cAytareya Brahmanan,\u201d 3, 1.\n\n[41] See Pantheon: \u201cMyths,\u201d p. 31; also Aristophanes in \u201cV\u0153stas,\u201d i.,\nreg. 28.\n\n[42] The oracle of Apollo was at Delphos, the city of the \u03b4\u03b5\u03bb\u03c6\u03c5\u03c2, womb\nor abdomen; the place of the temple was denominated the _omphalos_\nor navel. The symbols are female and lunary; reminding us that the\nArcadians were called Proseleni, pre-Hellenic or more ancient than the\nperiod when Ionian and Olympian lunar worship was introduced.\n\n[43] From the accounts of Strabo and Megasthenes, who visited\nPalibothras, it would seem that the persons termed by him Samanean,\nor Brachmane priests, were simply Buddhists. \u201cThe singularly subtile\nreplies of the Samanean or Brahman philosophers, in their interview\nwith the conqueror, will be found to contain the spirit of the Buddhist\ndoctrine,\u201d remarks Upham. (See the \u201cHistory and Doctrine of Buddhism;\u201d\nand Hale\u2019s \u201cChronology,\u201d vol. iii., p. 238.)\n\n[44] In their turn, the heathen may well ask the missionaries what sort\nof a spirit lurks at the bottom of the sacrificial beer-bottle. That\nevangelical New York journal, the \u201cIndependent,\u201d says: \u201cA late English\ntraveller found a simple-minded Baptist mission church, in far-off\nBurmah, using for the communion service, and we doubt not with God\u2019s\nblessing, Bass\u2019s pale ale instead of wine.\u201d Circumstances alter cases,\nit seems!\n\n[45] \u201cBook of Brahmanical Evocations,\u201d part iii.\n\n[46] Bulwer-Lytton: \u201cLast Days of Pompeii,\u201d p. 147.\n\n[47] \u201cSelect Works,\u201d p. 159.\n\n[48] Ibid., p. 92.\n\n[49] \u201cAitareya Brahmanan,\u201d Introduction.\n\n[50] The name is used in the sense of the Greek word \u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n[51] The traditions of the Oriental Kabalists claim their science to be\nolder than that. Modern scientists may doubt and reject the assertion.\nThey _cannot_ prove it false.\n\n[52] Clement of Alexandria asserted that in his day the Egyptian\npriests possessed forty-two Canonical Books.\n\n[53] \u201cChips from a German Work-shop,\u201d vol. ii., p. 7. \u201cComparative\nMythology.\u201d\n\n[54] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d ch. i.\n\n[55] In another place, we explain with some minuteness the Hermetic\nphilosophy of the evolution of the spheres and their several races.\n\n[56] J. Burges: \u201cThe Works of Plato,\u201d p. 207, note.\n\n[57] From the Sanskrit text of the Aitareya Brahmanam. Rig-Veda, v.,\nch. ii., verse 23.\n\n[58] Aitareya Brahmanam, book iii., c. v., 44.\n\n[59] Ait. Brahm., vol. ii., p. 242.\n\n[60] Ait. Brahm., book iv.\n\n[61] Septenary Institutions; \u201cStone him to Death,\u201d p. 20.\n\n[62] See Gibbon\u2019s \u201cDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.\u201d\n\n[63] See Turner; also G. Higgins\u2019s \u201cAnacalypsis.\u201d\n\n[64] Genesis, i., 30.\n\n[65] Sir William Drummond: \u201c\u0152dipus Judicus,\u201d p. 250.\n\n[66] The absolute necessity for the perpetration of such pious frauds\nby the early fathers and later theologians becomes apparent, if we\nconsider that if they had allowed the word _Al_ to remain as in\nthe original, it would have become but too evident\u2014except for the\ninitiated\u2014that the _Jehovah_ of Moses and the sun were identical. The\nmultitudes, which ignore that the ancient hierophant considered our\n_visible_ sun but as an emblem of the central, invisible, and spiritual\nSun, would have accused Moses\u2014as many of our modern commentators have\nalready done\u2014of worshipping the planetary bodies; in short, of actual\nZabaism.\n\n[67] Exodus, xxv., 40.\n\n[68] \u201cThe Physical Basis of Life.\u201d A Lecture by T. H. Huxley.\n\n[69] Huxley: \u201cPhysical Basis of Life.\u201d\n\n[70] Prof. J. W. Draper: \u201cConflict between Religion and Science.\u201d\n\n[71] Bulwer\u2019s \u201cZanoni.\u201d\n\n[72] See the Code published by Sir William Jones, chap. ix., p. 11.\n\n[73] Pliny: \u201cHist. Nat.,\u201d xxx. 1; Ib., xvi., 14; xxv., 9, etc.\n\n[74] Pomponius ascribes to them the knowledge of the highest sciences.\n\n[75] C\u00e6sar, iii., 14.\n\n[76] Pliny, xxx.\n\n[77] Munter, on the most ancient religion of the North before the time\nof Odin. M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Antiquaires de France. Tome ii., p.\n230.\n\n[78] Ammianus Marcellinus, xxvi., 6.\n\n[79] In some respects our modern philosophers, who think they make new\ndiscoveries, can be compared to \u201cthe very clever, learned, and civil\ngentleman\u201d whom Hippocrates having met at Samos one day, describes\nvery good-naturedly. \u201cHe informed me,\u201d the Father of Medicine proceeds\nto say, \u201cthat he had lately discovered an herb never before known in\nEurope or Asia, and that no disease, however malignant or chronic,\ncould resist its marvellous properties. Wishing to be civil in turn, I\npermitted myself to be persuaded to accompany him to the conservatory\nin which he had transplanted the wonderful specific. What I found\nwas one of the commonest plants in Greece, namely, garlic\u2014the plant\nwhich above all others has least pretensions to healing virtues.\u201d\nHippocrates: \u201cDe optima pr\u00e6dicandi ratione item judicii operum magni.\u201d\nI.\n\n[80] Schweigger: \u201cIntroduction to Mythology through Natural History.\u201d\n\n[81] Ennemoser: \u201cHistory of Magic,\u201d i., 3.\n\n[82] \u201cHist. of Magic,\u201d vol. i., p. 9.\n\n[83] Philo Jud.: \u201cDe Specialibus Legibus.\u201d\n\n[84] Zend-Avesta, vol. ii., p. 506.\n\n[85] Cassian: \u201cConference,\u201d i., 21.\n\n[86] \u201cDe Vita et Morte Mosis,\u201d p. 199.\n\n[87] Acts of the Apostles, vii., 22.\n\n[88] Justin, xxxvi., 2.\n\n[89] Molitor: \u201cPhilosophy of History and Traditions,\u201d Howitt\u2019s\nTranslation, p. 285.\n\n[90] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 329.\n\n[91] See \u201cGazette du Midi,\u201d and \u201cLe Monde,\u201d of 3 May, 1864.\n\n[92] Shakspere: \u201cRichard III.\u201d\n\n[93] Literally, the _screaming_ or the howling ones.\n\n[94] The half-demented, the _idiots_.\n\n[95] But such is not always the case, for some among these beggars make\na regular and profitable trade of it.\n\n[96] Webster declares very erroneously that the Chaldeans called\n_saros_, the cycle of eclipses, a period of about 6,586 years, \u201cthe\ntime of revolution of the moon\u2019s node.\u201d Berosus, himself a Chaldean\nastrologer, at the Temple of Belus, at Babylon, gives the duration of\nthe sar, or sarus, 3,600 years; a neros 600; and a sossus 60. (See,\nBerosus from Abydenus, \u201cOf the Chald\u00e6an Kings and the Deluge.\u201d See also\nEusebius, and Cary\u2019s _MS._ Ex. Cod. reg. gall. gr. No. 2360, fol. 154.)\n\n[97] Before scientists reject such a theory\u2014traditional as it is\u2014it\nwould be in order for them to demonstrate why, at the end of the\ntertiary period, the Northern Hemisphere had undergone such a reduction\nof temperature as to utterly change the torrid zone to a Siberian\nclimate? Let us bear in mind that the _helicocentric system came to us\nfrom upper India_; and that the germs of all great astronomical truths\nwere brought thence by Pythagoras. So long as we lack a mathematically\ncorrect demonstration, one hypothesis is as good as another.\n\n[98] Censorinus: \u201cDe Natal Die.\u201d Seneca: \u201cNat. Qu\u00e6st.,\u201d iii., 29.\n\n[99] Euseb.: \u201cPr\u00e6p. Evan.\u201d Of the Tower of Babel and Abraham.\n\n[100] This is in flat contradiction of the Bible narrative, which\ntells us that the deluge was sent for the special destruction of these\n_giants_. The Babylon priests had _no_ object to invent lies.\n\n[101] Coleman, who makes this calculation, allowed a serious error\nto escape the proof-reader; the length of the manwantara is given at\n368,448,000, which is just sixty million years too much.\n\n[102] S. Davis: \u201cEssay in the Asiatic Researches;\u201d and Higgins\u2019s\n\u201cAnacalypsis;\u201d also see Coleman\u2019s \u201cMythology of the Hindus.\u201d Preface,\np. xiii.\n\n[103] Bunsen: \u201cEgypte,\u201d vol. i.\n\n[104] The forty-two Sacred Books of the Egyptians mentioned by Clement\nof Alexandria as having existed in his time, were but a portion of the\nBooks of Hermes. Iamblichus, on the authority of the Egyptian priest\nAbammon, attributes 1200 of such books to Hermes, and Manetho 36,000.\nBut the testimony of Iamblichus as a neo-Platonist and theurgist is of\ncourse rejected by modern critics. Manetho, who is held by Bunsen in\nthe highest consideration as a \u201cpurely historical personage\u201d ... with\nwhom \u201cnone of the later native historians can be compared ...\u201d (see\n\u201cEgypte,\u201d i., p. 97), suddenly becomes a Pseudo-Manetho, as soon as the\nideas propounded by him clash with the scientific prejudices against\nmagic and the occult knowledge claimed by the ancient priests. However,\nnone of the arch\u00e6ologists doubt for a moment the almost incredible\nantiquity of the Hermetic books. Champollion shows the greatest regard\nfor their authenticity and great truthfulness, corroborated as it is\nby many of the oldest monuments. And Bunsen brings irrefutable proofs\nof their age. From his researches, for instance, we learn that there\nwas a line of sixty-one kings before the days of Moses, who preceded\nthe Mosaic period by a clearly-traceable civilization of several\nthousand years. Thus we are warranted in believing that the works of\nHermes Trismegistus were extant many ages before the birth of the\nJewish law-giver. \u201cStyli and inkstands were found on monuments of the\nfourth Dynasty, the oldest in the world,\u201d says Bunsen. If the eminent\nEgyptologist rejects the period of 48,863 years before Alexander, to\nwhich Diogenes Laertius carries back the records of the priests, he\nis evidently more embarrassed with the ten thousand of astronomical\nobservations, and remarks that \u201cif they were actual observations, they\n_must have_ extended over 10,000 years\u201d (p. 14). \u201cWe learn, however,\u201d\nhe adds, \u201cfrom one of their own old chronological works ... that the\ngenuine Egyptian traditions concerning the mythological period, treated\nof _myriads_ of years.\u201d (\u201cEgypte,\u201d i, p. 15).\n\n[105] Higgins: \u201cAnacalypsis.\u201d\n\n[106] \u201cDe Vite Pythag.\u201d\n\n[107] \u201cThe Rosicrucians,\u201d etc., by Hargrave Jennings.\n\n[108] W. Crookes, F.R.S.: \u201cResearches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism.\u201d\n\n[109] W. Crookes: \u201cExperiments on Psychic Force,\u201d page 25.\n\n[110] W. Crookes: \u201cSpiritualism Viewed by the Light of Modern Science.\u201d\nSee \u201cQuarterly Journal of Science.\u201d\n\n[111] A. Aksakof: \u201cPhenomena of Mediumism.\u201d\n\n[112] A. N. Aksakof: \u201cPhenomena of Mediumism.\u201d\n\n[113] \u201cThe Last of Katie King,\u201d pamphlet iii., p. 119.\n\n[114] Ibid., pamp. i., p. 7.\n\n[115] \u201cThe Last of Katie King,\u201d pamp. iii., p. 112.\n\n[116] Ibid., p. 112.\n\n[117] \u201cResearches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism,\u201d p. 45.\n\n[118] Pfaff\u2019s \u201cAstrology.\u201d Berl.\n\n[119] \u201cMedico-Surgical Essays.\u201d\n\n[120] \u201cThe Philosophy of Hist.\u201d\n\n[121] On Theoph. Paracelsus.\u2014Magic.\n\n[122] Kemshead says in his \u201cInorganic Chemistry\u201d that \u201cthe element\n_hydrogen_ was first mentioned in the sixteenth century by Paracelsus,\nbut very little was known of it in any way.\u201d (P. 66.) And why not be\nfair and confess at once that Paracelsus was the _re_-discoverer of\nhydrogen as he was the _re_-discoverer of the hidden properties of\nthe magnet and animal magnetism? It is easy to show that according\nto the strict vows of secrecy taken and faithfully observed by every\nRosicrucian (and especially by the alchemist) he kept his knowledge\nsecret. Perhaps it would not prove a very difficult task for any\nchemist well versed in the works of Paracelsus to demonstrate that\n_oxygen_, the discovery of which is credited to Priestley, was known to\nthe Rosicrucian alchemists as well as hydrogen.\n\n[123] \u201cLetter to J. Glanvil, chaplain to the king and a fellow of\nthe Royal Society.\u201d Glanvil was the author of the celebrated work on\nApparitions and Demonology entitled \u201cSadducismus Triumphatus, or a\nfull and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions,\u201d in two\nparts, \u201cproving partly by Scripture, and partly by a choice collection\nof modern relations, the real existence of apparitions, spirits and\nwitches.\u201c1700.\n\n[124] Plato: \u201cTim\u00e6us Soerius,\u201d 97.\n\n[125] See Movers\u2019 \u201cExplanations,\u201d 268.\n\n[126] Cory: \u201cChaldean Oracles,\u201d 243.\n\n[127] Philo Jud\u00e6us: \u201cOn the Creation,\u201d x.\n\n[128] Movers: \u201cPhoinizer,\u201d 282.\n\n[129] K. O. M\u00fcller, 236.\n\n[130] Weber: \u201cAkad. Vorles,\u201d 213, 214, etc.\n\n[131] Plutarch, \u201cIsis and Osiris,\u201d i., vi.\n\n[132] \u201cSpirit History of Man,\u201d p. 88.\n\n[133] Movers: \u201cPhoinizer,\u201d 268.\n\n[134] Cory: \u201cFragments,\u201d 240.\n\n[135] \u201cParerga,\u201d ii., pp. 111, 112.\n\n[136] See Huxley: \u201cPhysical Basis of Life.\u201d\n\n[137] Schopenhauer: \u201cParerga.\u201d Art. on \u201cWill in Nature.\u201d\n\n[138] \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d Jan. 15, 1855, p. 108.\n\n[139] Comte de Mirville: \u201cQuestion des Esprits.\u201d\n\n[140] Bulwer-Lytton: \u201cZanoni.\u201d\n\n[141] T. Wright: \u201cNarratives of Sorcery and Magic.\u201d\n\n[142] See Des Mousseaux\u2019s \u201cDodone,\u201d and \u201cDieu et les dieux,\u201d p. 326.\n\n[143] \u201cApparitions,\u201d translated by C. Crowe, pp. 388, 391, 399.\n\n[144] \u201cDe Abstinentia,\u201d etc.\n\n[145] C. Crowe: \u201cOn Apparitions,\u201d p. 398.\n\n[146] Upham: \u201cSalem Witchcraft.\u201d\n\n[147] Brierre de Boismont: \u201cOn Hallucinations,\u201d p. 60.\n\n[148] See de Mirville\u2019s \u201cQuestion des Esprits,\u201d and the works on the\n\u201cPh\u00e9nom\u00e8nes Spirites,\u201d by de Gasparin.\n\n[149] Honorary Secretary to the National Association of Spiritualists\nof London.\n\n[150] Job.\n\n[151] See Dr. F. R. Marvin\u2019s \u201cLectures on Mediomania and Insanity.\u201d\n\n[152] Vapereau: \u201cBiographie Contemporaine,\u201d art. Littr\u00e9; and Des\nMousseaux: \u201cLes Hauts Ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes de la Magie,\u201d ch. 6.\n\n[153] A. Comte: \u201cSyst\u00e8me de Politique Positive,\u201d vol. i. p. 203, etc.\n\n[154] Ibid.\n\n[155] Ibid.\n\n[156] See des Mousseaux: \u201cHauts Ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes de la Magie,\u201d chap. 6.\n\n[157] Littr\u00e9: \u201cParoles de Philosophie Positive.\u201d\n\n[158] Littr\u00e9: \u201cParoles de Philosophie Positive,\u201d vii., 57.\n\n[159] \u201cSpiritualism and Charlatanism.\u201d\n\n[160] Prof. Hare: \u201cOn Positivism,\u201d p. 29.\n\n[161] \u201cJournal des D\u00e9bats,\u201d 1864. See also des Mousseaux\u2019s \u201cHauts Ph\u00e9n.\nde la Magie.\u201d\n\n[162] \u201cPhilosophic Positive,\u201d vol. iv., p. 279.\n\n[163] Dr. F. R. Marvin: \u201cLecture on Insanity.\u201d\n\n[164] See Howitt: \u201cHistory of the Supernatural,\u201d vol. ii.\n\n[165] Prof. Huxley: \u201cPhysical Basis of Life.\u201d\n\n[166] Reference is made to a card which appeared some time since in a\nNew York paper, signed by three persons styling themselves as above,\nand assuming to be a scientific committee appointed two years before to\ninvestigate spiritual phenomena. The criticism on the triad appeared in\nthe \u201cNew Era\u201d magazine.\n\n[167] Dr. Marvin: \u201cLecture on Insanity,\u201d N. Y., 1875.\n\n[168] Tyndall: \u201cFragments of Science.\u201d\n\n[169] Tyndall: Preface to \u201cFragments of Science.\u201d\n\n[170] Deuteronomy, chap. xvii., 6.\n\n[171] Montesquieu: Esprit des Lois I., xii., chap. 3.\n\n[172] C. B. Warring.\n\n[173] Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii., 6.\n\n[174] The Rishis were seven in number, and lived in days anteceding\nthe Vedic period. They were known as sages, and held in reverence like\ndemi-gods. Haug shows that they occupy in the Brahmanical religion a\nposition answering to that of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Jewish\nBible. The Brahmans claim to descend directly from these Rishis.\n\n[175] The fourth Veda.\n\n[176] Orthography of the \u201cArchaic Dictionary.\u201d\n\n[177] We do not mean the current or accepted Bible, but the _real_\nJewish one explained kabalistically.\n\n[178] \u201cDissertations Relating to Asia.\u201d\n\n[179] Dr. Gross, p. 195.\n\n[180] Brahma does _not_ create the earth, _Mirtlok_, any more than\nthe rest of the universe. Having evolved himself from the soul of the\nworld, once separated from the First Cause, he emanates in his turn\nall nature out of himself. He does not stand above it, but is mixed up\nwith it; and Brahma and the universe form one Being, each particle of\nwhich is in its essence Brahma himself, who proceeded out of himself.\n[Burnouf: \u201cIntroduction,\u201d p. 118.]\n\n[181] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d 180.\n\n[182] \u201cDes Tables,\u201d vol. i., p. 213.\n\n[183] Ibid., 216.\n\n[184] \u201cDes Tables,\u201d vol. i., p. 48.\n\n[185] Ibid., p. 24.\n\n[186] Ibid., p. 35.\n\n[187] De Mirville: \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d p. 26.\n\n[188] \u201cAvant propos,\u201d pp. 12 and 16.\n\n[189] Vol. i., p. 244.\n\n[190] Vol. ii., p. 524.\n\n[191] \u201cMedico-Psychological Annals,\u201d Jan. 1, 1854.\n\n[192] De Mirville: \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d \u201cConstitutionnel,\u201d June 16, 1854.\n\n[193] Chevalier des Mousseaux: \u201cM\u0153urs et Pratiques des D\u00e9mons,\u201d p. x.\n\n[194] De Mirville: \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d p. 4.\n\n[195] Ibid. \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d January 15, 1854, p. 108.\n\n[196] This is a repetition and variation of Faraday\u2019s theory.\n\n[197] \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d p. 410.\n\n[198] \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d January, 1854, p. 414.\n\n[199] \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d May 1, 1854, p. 531.\n\n[200] We translate _verbatim_. We doubt whether Mr. Weekman was the\nfirst investigator.\n\n[201] Babinet: \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d May 1, 1854, p. 511.\n\n[202] De Mirville: \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d p. 33.\n\n[203] Notes, \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d p. 38.\n\n[204] De Mirville: \u201cFaits et Th\u00e9ories Physiques,\u201d p. 46.\n\n[205] See Monograph: \u201cOf the Lightning considered from the point of\nview of the history of Legal Medicine and Public Hygiene,\u201d by M.\nBoudin, Chief Surgeon of the Military Hospital of Boule.\n\n[206] De Gasparin: vol. i, page 288.\n\n[207] Crookes: \u201cPhysical Force,\u201d page 26.\n\n[208] De Gasparin: \u201cScience _versus_ Spirit,\u201d vol i, p. 313.\n\n[209] Ibid, vol. 1, p. 313.\n\n[210] De Mirville pleads here the devil-theory, of course.\n\n[211] \u201cDes Tables,\u201d vol. i., p. 213.\n\n[212] Vol. i, p. 217.\n\n[213] Crookes: \u201cPsychic Force,\u201d part i., pp. 26-27.\n\n[214] Plato: \u201cPh\u00e6do,\u201d \u00a7 44.\n\n[215] Ibid., \u00a7 128.\n\n[216] \u201cPhilosophy of Magic,\u201d English translation, p. 47.\n\n[217] De Mirville: \u201cDes Esprits,\u201d p. 159.\n\n[218] See F. Gerry Fairfield\u2019s \u201cTen Years with Spiritual Mediums,\u201d New\nYork, 1875.\n\n[219] Marvin: \u201cLecture on Mediomania.\u201d\n\n[220] \u201cScientific American,\u201d N. Y., 1875.\n\n[221]\n\n\u201cDe par le Roi, defense \u00e0 Dieu, De faire miracle, en ces lieux.\u201d\n\nA satire that was found written upon the walls of the cemetery at the\ntime of the Jansenist miracles and their prohibition by the police of\nFrance.\n\n[222] Polier: \u201cMythologie des Indous.\u201d\n\n[223] Genesis vi. 4.\n\n[224] Mallett: \u201cNorthern Antiquities,\u201d Bohn\u2019s edition, pp. 401-405.\n\n[225] In the \u201cQuarterly Review\u201d of 1859, Graham gives a strange account\nof many now deserted Oriental cities, in which the stone doors are\nof enormous dimensions, often seemingly out of proportion with the\nbuildings themselves, and remarks that dwellings and doors bear all of\nthem the impress of an ancient race of giants.\n\n[226] Dr. More: \u201cLetter to Glanvil, author of \u2018Saducismus Triumphatus.\u2019\u201d\n\n[227] J. S. Y.: \u201cDemonologia, or Natural Knowledge Revealed,\u201d 1827, p.\n219.\n\n[228] Pausanias: \u201cEli\u00e6,\u201d lib. i., cap. xiv.\n\n[229] We apprehend that the noble author coined his curious names by\ncontracting words in classical languages. _Gy_ would come from _gune_;\n_vril_ from _virile_.\n\n[230] P. B. Randolph: \u201cPre-Adamite Man,\u201d p. 48.\n\n[231] On this point at least we are on firm ground. Mr. Crookes\u2019s\ntestimony corroborates our assertions. On page 84 of his pamphlet\non \u201cPhenomenal Spiritualism\u201d he says: \u201cThe many hundreds of facts I\nam prepared to attest\u2014facts which to imitate by known mechanics or\nphysical means would baffle the skill of a Houdin, a Bosco, or an\nAnderson, backed with all the resources of elaborate machinery and\nthe practice of years\u2014have all taken place in my own house; at times\nappointed by myself and under circumstances which absolutely precluded\nthe employment of the very simplest instrumental aids.\u201d\n\n[232] In this appellation, we may discover the meaning of the puzzling\nsentence to be found in the Zend-Avesta that \u201cfire gives knowledge\nof the future, science, and amiable speech,\u201d as it develops an\nextraordinary eloquence in some sensitives.\n\n[233] Dunlap: \u201cMusah, His Mysteries,\u201d p. iii.\n\n[234] \u201cHercules was known as the king of the Musians,\u201d says Schwab,\nii., 44; and Musien was the feast of \u201cSpirit and Matter,\u201d Adonis and\nVenus, Bacchus and Ceres. (See Dunlap: \u201cMystery of Adonis,\u201d p. 95.)\nDunlap shows, on the authority of Julian and Anthon (67), \u00c6sculapius,\n\u201cthe Savior of all,\u201d identical with Phtha (the creative Intellect, the\nDivine Wisdom), and with Apollo, Baal, Adonis, and Hercules (ibid., p.\n93), and Phtha is the \u201cAnima mundi,\u201d the Universal Soul, of Plato, the\nHoly Ghost of the Egyptians, and the Astral Light of the Kabalists.\nM. Michelet, however, regards the Grecian Herakles as a different\ncharacter, the adversary of the Bacchic revellings and their attendant\nhuman sacrifices.\n\n[235] Plato: \u201cIon\u201d (Burgess), vol. iv., p. 294.\n\n[236] \u201cAttic.\u201d i., xiv.\n\n[237] Plato: \u201cTheages.\u201d Cicero renders this word \u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, quiddam\ndivinum, a divine something, not anything personal.\n\n[238] \u201cCratylus,\u201d p. 79.\n\n[239] \u201cArnobius,\u201d vi., xii.\n\n[240] As we will show in subsequent chapters, the sun was not\nconsidered by the ancients as the direct cause of the light and heat,\nbut only as an agent of the former, through which the light passes\non its way to our sphere. Thus it was always called by the Egyptians\n\u201cthe eye of Osiris,\u201d who was himself the _Logos_, the First-begotten,\nor light made manifest to the world, \u201cwhich is the mind and divine\nintellect of the Concealed.\u201d It is only that light of which we are\ncognizant that is the Demiurge, the _creator_ of our planet and\neverything pertaining to it; with the invisible and unknown universes\ndisseminated through space, none of the sun-gods had anything to do.\nThe idea is expressed very clearly in the \u201cBooks of Hermes.\u201d\n\n[241] \u201cOrphic Hymn,\u201d xii.; Hermann; Dunlap: \u201cMusah, His Mysteries,\u201d p.\n91.\n\n[242] Movers, 525. Dunlap: \u201cMysteries of Adonis,\u201d 94.\n\n[243] Preller: ii., 153. This is evidently the origin of the Christian\ndogma of Christ descending into hell and overcoming Satan.\n\n[244] This important fact accounts admirably for the gross polytheism\nof the masses, and the refined, highly-philosophical conception of\n_one_ God, which was taught only in sanctuaries of the \u201cpagan\u201d temples.\n\n[245] Anthon: \u201cCabeiria.\u201d\n\n[246] Plato: \u201cPh\u00e6drus,\u201d Cary\u2019s translation.\n\n[247] John xx. 22.\n\n[248] \u201cHeathen Religion,\u201d 104.\n\n[249] Alkahest, a word first used by Paracelsus, to denote the\nmenstruum or universal solvent, that is capable of reducing all things.\n\n[250] Josephus: \u201cAntiquities,\u201d vol. viii., c. 2, 5.\n\n[251] \u201cThe Land of Charity,\u201d p. 210.\n\n[252] The claims of certain \u201cadepts,\u201d which do not agree with those of\nthe students of the purely Jewish _Kabala_, and show that the \u201csecret\ndoctrine\u201d has originated in India, from whence it was brought to\nChaldea, passing subsequently into the hands of the Hebrew \u201cTana\u00efm,\u201d\nare singularly corroborated by the researches of the Christian\nmissionaries. These pious and learned travellers have inadvertently\ncome to our help. Dr. Caldwell, in his \u201cComparative Grammar of the\nDravidian Languages,\u201d p. 66, and Dr. Mateer, in the \u201cLand of Charity,\u201d\np. 83, fully support our assertions that the \u201cwise\u201d King Solomon got\nall his kabalistic lore from India, as the above-given magical figure\nwell shows. The former missionary is desirous to prove that very old\nand huge specimens of the baobab-tree, which is not, as it appears,\nindigenous to India, but belongs to the African soil, and \u201cfound only\nat several ancient sites of foreign commerce (at Travancore), may,\nfor aught we know,\u201d he adds, \u201chave been introduced into India, and\nplanted by the servants of King Solomon.\u201d The other proof is still more\nconclusive. Says Dr. Mateer, in his chapter on the Natural History of\nTravancore: \u201cThere is a curious fact connected with the name of this\nbird (the peacock) which throws some light upon Scripture history. King\nSolomon sent his navy to Tarshish (1 Kings, x. 22), which returned\nonce in three years, bringing \u2018gold and silver, ivory and apes, and\npeacocks.\u2019 Now the word used in the Hebrew Bible for peacock is\n\u2018_tukki_,\u2019 and as the Jews had, of course, no word for these fine birds\ntill they were first imported into Judea by King Solomon, there is no\ndoubt that \u2018tukki\u2019 is simply the old Tamil word \u2018_toki_,\u2019 the name of\nthe peacock. The ape or monkey also is, in Hebrew, called \u2018_koph_,\u2019\nthe Indian word for which is \u2018_kaphi_.\u2019 Ivory, we have seen, is\nabundant in South India, and gold is widely distributed in the rivers\nof the western coast. Hence the \u2018Tarshish\u2019 referred to was doubtless\nthe western coast of India, and Solomon\u2019s ships were ancient \u2018East\nIndiamen.\u2019\u201d And hence also we may add, besides \u201cthe gold and silver,\nand apes and peacocks,\u201d King Solomon and his friend Hiram, of masonic\nrenown, got their \u201cmagic\u201d and \u201cwisdom\u201d from India.\n\n[253] Cooke: \u201cNew Chemistry,\u201d p. 22.\n\n[254] Eliphas Levi: \u201cDogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie.\u201d\n\n[255] Plato hints at a ceremony used in the Mysteries, during the\nperformance of which the neophyte was taught that men are _in\nthis life_ in a kind of prison, and taught _how to escape from it\ntemporarily_. As usual, the too-learned translators disfigured this\npassage, partially because they _could not_ understand it, and\npartially because they _would not_. See _Ph\u00e6do_ \u00a7 16, and commentaries\non it by Henry More, the well-known Mystic philosopher and Platonist.\n\n[256] The _akasa_ is a Sanscrit word which means sky, but it also\ndesignates the imponderable and intangible life-principle\u2014the astral\nand celestial lights combined together, and which two form the _anima\nmundi_, and constitute the soul and spirit of man; the celestial light\nforming his \u03bd\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2, \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1, or divine spirit, and the other his \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7 soul\nor _astral_ spirit. The grosser particles of the latter enter into the\nfabrication of his outward form\u2014the body. _Akasa_ is the mysterious\nfluid termed by scholastic science, \u201cthe all-pervading ether;\u201d it\nenters into all the magical operations of nature, and produces\nmesmeric, magnetic, and spiritual phenomena. _As_, in Syria, Palestine,\nand India, meant the sky, _life_, and the _sun_ at the same time;\nthe sun being considered by the ancient sages as the great magnetic\nwell of our universe. The softened pronunciation of this word was\n_Ah_\u2014says Dunlap, for \u201cthe _s_ continually softens to _h_ from Greece\nto Calcutta.\u201d _Ah_ is Iah, Ao, and Iao. God tells Moses that his name\nis \u201cI am\u201d (_Ahiah_), a reduplication of Ah or Iah. The word \u201cAs\u201d Ah, or\nIah means _life_, _existence_, and is evidently the root of the word\n_akasa_, which in Hindustan is pronounced a_h_asa, the life-principle,\nor Divine life-giving fluid or medium. It is the Hebrew _ruah_, and\nmeans the \u201cwind,\u201d the breath, _the air in motion_, or \u201cmoving spirit,\u201d\naccording to Parkhurst\u2019s _Lexicon_; and is identical with the spirit of\nGod _moving_ on the face of the waters.\n\n[257] Bear in mind that Kavindasami made Jacolliot swear that he would\nneither approach nor _touch_ him during the time he was entranced. The\nleast contact with _matter_ would have paralyzed the action of the\nfreed spirit, which, if we are permitted to use such an unpoetical\ncomparison, would re-enter its dwelling like a frightened snail,\ndrawing in its horns at the approach of any foreign substance. In some\ncases such a _brusque_ interruption and oozing back of the spirit\n(sometimes it may suddenly and altogether break the delicate thread\nconnecting it with the body) kills the entranced _subject_. See the\nseveral works of Baron du Potet and Puysegur on this question.\n\n[258] \u201cLa Magie Devoil\u00e9e,\u201d p. 147.\n\n[259] \u201cMagie au XIXme Si\u00e8cle,\u201d p. 268.\n\n[260] Ibid.\n\n[261] Brierre de Boismont: \u201cDes Hallucinations, ou Histoire raisonn\u00e9e\ndes apparitions, des songes, des visions, de l\u2019extase du Magnetisme,\u201d\n1845, p. 301 (French edition). See also Fairfield: \u201cTen Years Among the\nMediums.\u201d\n\n[262] Cabanis, seventh memoir: \u201cDe l\u2019Influence des Maladies sur la\nFormation des Id\u00e9es,\u201d etc. A respected N. Y. legislator has this\nfaculty.\n\n[263] Iren\u00e6us: Book iii., chap. ii., sec. 8.\n\n[264] The cow is the symbol of prolific generation and of intellectual\nnature. She was sacred to Isis in Egypt; to Christna, in India, and\nto an infinity of other gods and goddesses personifying the various\nproductive powers of nature. The cow was held, in short, as the\nimpersonation of the Great Mother of all beings, both of the mortals\nand of the gods, of physical and spiritual generation of things.\n\n[265] In Genesis the river of Eden was parted, \u201cand became into _four_\nheads\u201d (Gen. ii. 5).\n\n[266] Genesis iii. 21.\n\n[267] This is claimed to be one of the missing books of the sacred\nCanon of the Jews, and is referred to in Joshua and II. Samuel. It\nwas discovered by Sidras, an officer of Titus, during the sack of\nJerusalem, and published in Venice in the seventeenth century, as\nalleged in its preface by the Consistory of Rabbins, but the American\nedition, as well as the English, is reputed by the modern Rabbis, to be\na forgery of the twelfth century.\n\n[268] See Godfrey Higgins: \u201cAnacalypsis,\u201d quoting Faber.\n\n[269] See Cory\u2019s \u201cAncient Fragments.\u201d BEROSUS.\n\n[270] We refer the reader for further particulars to the \u201cProse Edda\u201d\nin Mallett\u2019s \u201cNorthern Antiquities.\u201d\n\n[271] It is worthy of attention that in the Mexican \u201cPopol-Vuh\u201d the\nhuman race is created out of a reed, and in Hesiod out of the ash-tree,\nas in the Scandinavian narrative.\n\n[272] See Kanne\u2019s \u201cPantheum der \u00c6ltesten Philosophie.\u201d\n\n[273] \u201cOrigin of Species,\u201d p. 484.\n\n[274] Ibid. Which latter word we cannot accept unless that \u201cprimordial\nform\u201d is conceded to be the primal concrete form that spirit assumed as\nthe _revealed_ Deity.\n\n[275] Ibid., p. 488.\n\n[276] Lecture by T. H. Huxley, F. R. S.: \u201cDarwin and Haeckel.\u201d\n\n[277] \u201cMigration of Abraham,\u201d \u00a7 32.\n\n[278] Cory: \u201cAncient Fragments.\u201d\n\n[279] \u201cOrigin of Species,\u201d pp. 448, 489, first edition.\n\n[280] Huxley: \u201cDarwin and Haeckel.\u201d\n\n[281] Mithras was regarded among the Persians as the _Theos ek\npetros_\u2014god of the rock.\n\n[282] Bordj is called a fire-mountain\u2014a volcano; therefore it contains\nfire, rock, earth, and water\u2014the male and active, and the female or\npassive elements. The myth is suggestive.\n\n[283] Virgil: \u201cGeorgica,\u201d book ii.\n\n[284] Porphyry and other philosophers explain the nature of the\n_dwellers_. They are mischievous and deceitful, though some of them\nare perfectly gentle and harmless, but so weak as to have the greatest\ndifficulty in communicating with mortals whose company they seek\nincessantly. The former are not wicked through intelligent malice. The\nlaw of spiritual evolution not having yet developed their instinct into\nintelligence, whose highest light belongs but to immortal spirits,\ntheir powers of reasoning are in a latent state and, therefore, they\nthemselves, irresponsible.\n\nBut the Latin Church contradicts the Kabalists. St. Augustine has even\na discussion on that account with Porphyry, the Neo-platonist. \u201cThese\nspirits,\u201d he says, \u201care deceitful, _not by their nature_, as Porphyry,\nthe theurgist, will have it, but through malice. They pass themselves\noff for _gods_ and _for the souls of the defunct_\u201d (\u201cCivit. Dei,\u201d book\nx., ch. 2). So far Porphyry agrees with him; \u201cbut they do not claim\nto be _demons_ [read devils], for they are such in reality!\u201d adds the\nbishop of Hippo. But then, under what class should we place the men\n_without heads_, whom Augustine wishes us to believe he saw himself?\nor the satyrs of St. Jerome, which he asserts were exhibited for a\nconsiderable length of time at Alexandria? They were, he tells us, \u201cmen\nwith the legs and tails of goats;\u201d and, if we may believe him, one of\nthese Satyrs was actually _pickled_ and sent in a cask to the Emperor\nConstantine!\n\n[285] \u201cTria capita exsculpta sunt, una intra alterum, et alterum supra\nalterum\u201d (Sohar; \u201cIdra Suta,\u201d sectio vii.)\n\n[286] Gentle gale (lit.)\n\n[287] Higgins: \u201cAnacalypsis;\u201d also \u201cDupruis.\u201d\n\n[288] Mallett: \u201cNorthern Antiquities,\u201d pp. 401-406, and \u201cThe Songs of a\nV\u00f6luspa\u201d Edda.\n\n[289] From a London Spiritualist Journal.\n\n[290] Hemmann: \u201cMedico-Surgical Essays,\u201d Berl., 1778.\n\n[291] Robert Fludd: \u201cTreatise III.\u201d\n\n[292] Prof. J. P. Cooke: \u201cNew Chemistry.\u201d\n\n[293] In the \u201cBulletin de l\u2019Academie de Medecine,\u201d Paris, 1837, vol.\ni., p. 343 et seq., may be found the report of Dr. Oudet, who, to\nascertain the state of insensibility of a lady in a magnetic sleep,\npricked her with pins, introducing a long pin in the flesh up to its\nhead, and held one of her fingers for some seconds in the flame of\na candle. A cancer was extracted from the right breast of a Madame\nPlaintain. The operation lasted twelve minutes; during the whole time\nthe patient talked very quietly with her mesmerizer, and never felt the\nslightest sensation (\u201cBul. de l\u2019Acad. de Med.,\u201d Tom. ii., p. 370).\n\n[294] Prophecy, Ancient and Modern, by A. Wilder: \u201cPhrenological\nJournal.\u201d\n\n[295] The theory that the sun is an incandescent globe is\u2014as one of the\nmagazines recently expressed it\u2014\u201cgoing out of fashion.\u201d It has been\ncomputed that if the sun\u2014whose mass and diameter is known to us\u2014\u201cwere\na solid block of coal, and sufficient amount of oxygen could be\nsupplied to burn at the rate necessary to produce the effects we see,\nit would be completely consumed in less than 5,000 years.\u201d And yet,\ntill comparatively a few weeks ago, it was maintained\u2014nay, is still\nmaintained, that the sun is a reservoir of vaporized metals!\n\n[296] See Youmans: \u201cChemistry on the Basis of the New System\u2014Spectrum\nAnalysis.\u201d\n\n[297] Professor of Physics in the Stevens Institute of Technology. See\nhis \u201cThe Earth a Great Magnet,\u201ca lecture delivered before the Yale\nScientific Club, 1872. See, also, Prof. Balfour Stewart\u2019s lecture on\n\u201cThe Sun and the Earth.\u201d\n\n[298] \u201cDe Magnetica Vulner Curatione,\u201d p. 722, l. c.\n\n[299] See \u201cOn the Influence of the Blue Ray.\u201d\n\n[300] Ennemoser: \u201cHistory of Magic.\u201d\n\n[301] \u201cDu Magnetisme Animal, en France.\u201d Paris, 1826.\n\n[302] \u201cThe Conservation of Energy.\u201d N. Y., 1875.\n\n[303] \u201cFundamental Principles of Natural Philosophy.\u201d\n\n[304] \u201cSimpl. in Phys.,\u201d 143; \u201cThe Chaldean Oracles,\u201d Cory.\n\n[305] Draper: \u201cConflict between Religion and Science.\u201d\n\n[306] J. R. Buchanan, M.D.: \u201cOutlines of Lectures on the Neurological\nSystem of Anthropology.\u201d\n\n[307] W. and Elizabeth M. F. Denton: \u201cThe Soul of Things; or\nPsychometric Researches and Discoveries.\u201d Boston, 1873.\n\n[308] \u201cReligion of Geology.\u201d\n\n[309] \u201cPrinciples of Science,\u201d vol. ii., p. 455.\n\n[310] J. W. Draper: \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d pp. 132,\n133.\n\n[311] \u201cUnseen Universe,\u201d p. 159.\n\n[312] F. R. Marvin: \u201cLecture on Mediomania.\u201d\n\n[313] \u201cUnseen Universe,\u201d p. 84, et seq.\n\n[314] Ibid., p. 89.\n\n[315] Behold! great scientists of the nineteenth century, corroborating\nthe wisdom of the Scandinavian fable, cited in the preceding chapter.\nSeveral thousand years ago, the idea of a bridge between the visible\nand the invisible universes was allegorized by ignorant \u201cheathen,\u201d in\nthe \u201cEdda-Song of V\u00f6luspa,\u201d \u201cThe Vision of Vala, the Seeress.\u201d For what\nis this bridge of Bifrost, the radiant rainbow, which leads the gods\nto their rendezvous, near the Urdar-fountain, but the same idea as\nthat which is offered to the thoughtful student by the authors of the\n\u201cUnseen Universe?\u201d\n\n[316] \u201cL\u2019Ami des Sciences,\u201d March 2, 1856, p. 67.\n\n[317] Cooke: \u201cNew Chemistry,\u201d p. 113.\n\n[318] Ibid., pp. 110-111.\n\n[319] Ibid., p. 106.\n\n[320] \u201cDe Secretis Adeptorum.\u201d Werdenfelt; Philalethes; Van Helmont;\nParacelsus.\n\n[321] Youmans: \u201cChemistry,\u201d p. 169; and W. B. Kemshead, F. R. A. S.:\n\u201cInorganic Chemistry.\u201d\n\n[322] \u201cOrigin of Metalliferous Deposits.\u201d\n\n[323] John Bumpus: \u201cAlchemy and the Alkahest,\u201d 85, J. S. F., edition of\n1820.\n\n[324] See Boyle\u2019s works.\n\n[325] Deleuze: \u201cDe l\u2019Opinion de Van Helmont sur la Cause, la Nature et\nles Effets du Magnetisme.\u201d Anim. Vol. i., p. 45, and vol. ii., p. 198.\n\n[326] A. R. Wallace: \u201cAn Answer to the Arguments of Hume, Lecky, etc.,\nagainst Miracles.\u201d\n\n[327] CROOKES: \u201cResearches, etc.,\u201d p. 96.\n\n[328] Lucian: \u201cPharsalia,\u201d Book v.\n\n[329] \u201cDe Divinatio,\u201d Book i., chap. 3.\n\n[330] \u201cDe Occulta Philosoph.,\u201d p. 355.\n\n[331] Plato: \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d vol. ii., p. 563.\n\n[332] Crookes: \u201cResearches, etc.,\u201d p. 101.\n\n[333] Ibid., p. 101.\n\n[334] Crookes: \u201cResearches, etc.,\u201d p. 83.\n\n[335] In 1854, M. Foucault, an eminent physician and a member of the\nFrench Institute, one of the opponents of de Gasparin, rejecting the\nmere possibility of any such manifestations, wrote the following\nmemorable words: \u201cThat day, when I should succeed in moving a straw\nunder the action of my will only, I would feel terrified!\u201d The word\nis ominous. About the same year, Babinet, the astronomer, repeated in\nhis article in the \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d the following sentence\nto exhaustion: \u201cThe levitation of a body _without contact_ is as\n_impossible_ as the perpetual motion, because on the day it would be\ndone, _the world would crumble down_.\u201d Luckily, we see no sign as yet\nof such a cataclysm; yet bodies _are_ levitated.\n\n[336] \u201cResearches, etc.,\u201d p. 91.\n\n[337] Ibid., pp. 86-97.\n\n[338] Ibid., p. 94.\n\n[339] Ibid., p. 95.\n\n[340] Ibid., p. 94.\n\n[341] \u201cAntidote,\u201d lib. i., cap. 4.\n\n[342] \u201cLetter to Glanvil, the author of \u2018Sadducismus Triumphatus,\u2019 May\n25, 1678.\u201d\n\n[343] \u201cHistory of Magic,\u201d vol. ii., p. 272.\n\n[344] \u201cApologie pour tous les grands personnages faussement accus\u00e9s de\nmagie.\u201d\n\n[345] Berlin, 1817.\n\n[346] \u201cNova Medicina Spirituum,\u201d 1675.\n\n[347] \u201cHistory of Magic.\u201d\n\n[348] It would be a useless and too long labor to enter here upon the\ndefence of Kepler\u2019s theory of relation between the five regular solids\nof geometry and the magnitudes of the orbits of five principal planets,\nrather derided by Prof. Draper in his \u201cConflict.\u201d Many are the theories\nof the ancients that have been avenged by modern discovery. For the\nrest, we must bide our time.\n\n[349] \u201cMagia Naturalis,\u201d Lugduni, 1569.\n\n[350] Athanasis Kircher: \u201cMagnes sive de arte magnetici, opus\ntripartitum.\u201d Coloni\u00e6, 1654.\n\n[351] Lib. iii., p. 643.\n\n[352] \u201cNotes from a New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam,\u201d by\nde la Loub\u00e8re, French Ambassador to Siam in the years 1687-8. Edition\nof 1692.\n\n[353] Baptist Van Helmont: \u201cOpera Omnia,\u201d 1682, p. 720, and others.\n\n[354] De la Loub\u00e8re: \u201cNotes,\u201d etc. (see _ante_), p. 115.\n\n[355] Ibid., p. 120.\n\n[356] Ibid., p. 63.\n\n[357] See his \u201cConf.,\u201d xiii., l. c. in pr\u00e6fatione.\n\n[358] 1 Samuel, xvi. 14-23.\n\n[359] \u201cAphorisms,\u201d 22.\n\n[360] Ibid., p. 69.\n\n[361] Ibid., p. 70.\n\n[362] \u201cPhilosophie des Sciences Occultes.\u201d\n\n[363] 1 Kings, i. 1-4, 15.\n\n[364] Josephus: \u201cAntiquities,\u201d viii. 2.\n\n[365] \u201cThe Diakka and their Victims; an Explanation of the False and\nRepulsive in Spiritualism.\u201d\n\n[366] See Chapter on the human spirits becoming the denizens of the\n_eighth_ sphere, whose end is generally the _annihilation_ of personal\nindividuality.\n\n[367] Porphyry: \u201cOn the Good and Bad Demons.\u201d\n\n[368] \u201cDe Mysteriis Egyptorum,\u201d lib. iii., c. 5.\n\n[369] Epes Sargent: \u201cProof Palpable of Immortality,\u201d p. 45.\n\n[370] See Matthew xxiv. 26.\n\n[371] See Wallace, \u201cMiracles and Modern Spiritualism,\u201d and W. Howitt,\n\u201cHistory of the Supernatural,\u201d vol. ii.\n\n[372] See Wallace\u2019s paper read before the Dialectical Society, in 1871:\n\u201cAnswer to Hume, etc.\u201d\n\n[373] \u201c\u03a6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2\u201d (Bailey\u2019s), second edition.\n\n[374] See Art. on \u201c\u00c6throbacy.\u201d\n\n[375] Psalm cv. 23. \u201cThe Land of Ham,\u201d or _chem_, Greek \u03c7\u03b7\u03bc\u03b9, whence\nthe terms _alchemy_ and _chemistry_.\n\n[376] \u201c\u0152dipi \u00c6gyptiaci Theatrum Hieroglyphicum,\u201d p. 544.\n\n[377] \u201cLib. de Defectu Oraculorum.\u201c\n\n[378] Lib. i., Class 3, _Cap. ult._\n\n[379] The details of this story may be found in the work of Erasmus\nFranciscus, who quotes from Pflaumerus, Pancirollus, and many others.\n\n[380] \u201d_Sulphur. Alum_ ust. a \u2125 iv.; sublime them into flowers to\n\u2125 ij., of which add of crystalline Venetian borax (powdered) \u2125 j.;\nupon these affuse high rectified spirit of wine and digest it, then\nabstract it and pour on fresh; repeat this so often till the sulphur\nmelts like wax without any smoke, upon a hot plate of brass: this is\nfor the _pabulum_, but the wick is to be prepared after this manner:\ngather the threads or thrums of the _Lapis asbestos_, to the thickness\nof your middle and the length of your little finger, then put them into\na Venetian glass, and covering them over with the aforesaid depurated\nsulphur or aliment, set the glass in sand for the space of twenty-four\nhours, so hot that the sulphur may bubble all the while. The wick\nbeing thus besmeared and anointed, is to be put into a glass like a\nscallop-shell, in such manner that some part of it may lie above the\nmass of prepared sulphur; then setting this glass upon hot sand, you\nmust melt the sulphur, so that it may lay hold of the wick, and when it\nis lighted, it will burn with a perpetual flame and you may set this\nlamp in any place where you please.\u201d\n\nThe other is as follows:\n\n\u201c\u211e _Salis tosti_, lb. j.; affuse over it strong wine vinegar, and\nabstract it to the consistency of oil; then put on fresh vinegar and\nmacerate and distill it as before. Repeat this four times successively,\nthen put into this vinegar _vitr. antimonii subtilis l\u0153vigat_, lb.\nj.; set it on ashes in a close vessel for the space of six hours, to\nextract its tincture, decant the liquor, and put on fresh, and then\nextract it again; this repeat so often till you have got out all the\nredness. Coagulate your extractions to the consistency of oil, and then\nrectify them in Balneo Mari\u00e6 (bain Marie). Then take the antimony,\nfrom which the tincture was extracted, and reduce it to a very fine\nmeal, and so put it into a glass bolthead; pour upon it the rectified\noil, which abstract and cohobate seven times, till such time as the\npowder has imbibed all the oil, and is quite dry. This extract again\nwith spirit of wine, so often, till all the essence be got out of it,\nwhich put into a Venice matrass, well luted with paper five-fold, and\nthen distill it so that the spirit being drawn off, there may remain at\nthe bottom an inconsumable oil, to be used with a wick after the same\nmanner with the sulphur we have described before.\u201d\n\n\u201cThese are the eternal lights of Tritenheimus,\u201d says Libavius, his\ncommentator, \u201cwhich indeed, though they do not agree with the pertinacy\nof naphtha, yet these things can illustrate one another. Naphtha is not\nso durable as not to be burned, for it exhales and deflagrates, but if\nit be fixed by adding the juice of the _Lapis asbestinos_ it can afford\nperpetual fuel,\u201d says this learned person.\n\nWe may add that we have ourselves seen a lamp so prepared, and we are\ntold that since it was first lighted on May 2, 1871, it has not gone\nout. As we know the person who is making the experiment incapable to\ndeceive any one, being himself an ardent experimenter in hermetic\nsecrets, we have no reason to doubt his assertion.\n\n[381] \u201cCommentary upon St. Augustine\u2019s \u2018Treatise de Civitate Dei.\u2019\u201d\n\n[382] The author of \u201cDe Rebus Cypriis,\u201d 1566 A.D.\n\n[383] \u201cBook of Ancient Funerals.\u201d\n\n[384] \u201cComment. on the 77th Epigram of the IXth Book of Martial.\u201d\n\n[385] \u201cDe Defectu Oraculorum.\u201d\n\n[386] \u201cVulgar Errors,\u201d p. 124.\n\n[387] \u201cLondon Dialectical Society\u2019s Report on Spiritualism,\u201d p. 229.\n\n[388] Ibid., p. 230.\n\n[389] Ibid., p. 265.\n\n[390] Ibid., p. 266.\n\n[391] Draper: \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 121.\n\n[392] Milton: \u201cParadise Lost.\u201d\n\n[393] See Ennemoser: \u201cHistory of Magic,\u201d vol. ii., and Schweigger:\n\u201cIntroduction to Mythology through Natural History.\u201d\n\n[394] \u201cHistory of Magic,\u201d vol. ii.\n\n[395] B. Jowett, M. A.: \u201cThe Dialogues of Plato,\u201d vol. ii., p. 508.\n\n[396] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 240.\n\n[397] \u201cPlutarch,\u201d translated by Langhorne.\n\n[398] Some kabalistic scholars assert that the Greek original\nPythagoric sentences of Sextus, which are now said to be lost, existed\nstill, in a convent at Florence, at that time, and that Galileo was\nacquainted with these writings. They add, moreover, that a treatise on\nastronomy, a manuscript by Archytas, a direct disciple of Pythagoras,\nin which were noted all the most important doctrines of their school,\nwas in the possession of Galileo. Had some _Ruffinas_ got hold of\nit, he would no doubt have perverted it, as Presbyter Ruffinas has\nperverted the above-mentioned sentences of Sextus, replacing them with\na fraudulent version, the authorship of which he sought to ascribe to a\ncertain Bishop Sextus. See Taylor\u2019s Introduction to Iamblichus\u2019 \u201cLife\nof Pythagoras,\u201d p. xvii.\n\n[399] Jowett: Introduction to the \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d vol. ii., p. 508.\n\n[400] Ibid.\n\n[401] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 14.\n\n[402] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 311.\n\n[403] \u201cEgypt\u2019s Place in Universal History,\u201d vol. v., p. 88.\n\n[404] W. R. Grove: \u201cPreface to the Correlation of Physical Forces.\u201d\n\n[405] \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d p. 22.\n\n[406] Beginning with Godfrey Higgins and ending with Max M\u00fcller, every\narch\u00e6ologist and philologist who has fairly and seriously studied the\nold religions, has perceived that taken literally they could only lead\nthem on a false track. Dr. Lardner disfigured and misrepresented the\nold doctrines\u2014whether unwittingly or otherwise\u2014in the grossest manner.\nThe _pravritti_, or the existence of nature when alive, in activity,\nand the _nirvritti_, or the rest, the state of non-living, is the\nBuddhistic esoteric doctrine. The \u201cpure nothing,\u201d or non-existence,\nif translated according to the esoteric sense, would mean the \u201cpure\nspirit,\u201d the NAMELESS or something our intellect is unable to grasp,\nhence nothing. But we will speak of it further.\n\n[407] This is the exact opposite of the modern theory of evolution.\n\n[408] Ficinus: See \u201cExcerpta\u201d and \u201cDissertation on Magic;\u201d Taylor:\n\u201cPlato,\u201d vol. i., p. 63.\n\n[409] \u201cModern American Spiritualism,\u201d p. 119.\n\n[410] The full and correct name of this learned Society is\u2014\u201cThe\nAmerican Association for the _Advancement_ of Science.\u201d It is, however,\noften called for brevity\u2019s sake, \u201cThe American Scientific Association.\u201d\n\n[411] See Taylor\u2019s translation of \u201cSelect Works of Plotinus,\u201d p. 553,\netc.\n\n[412] Iamblichus: \u201cDe Vita Pythag.,\u201d additional notes (Taylor).\n\n[413] \u201cThe National Quarterly Review,\u201d Dec., 1875.\n\n[414] Ibid., p. 94.\n\n[415] \u201cForce and Matter,\u201d p. 151.\n\n[416] Burnouf: \u201cIntroduction,\u201d p. 118.\n\n[417] \u201cThe National Quarterly Review,\u201d Dec., 1875, p. 96.\n\n[418] \u201cDe Anima,\u201d lib. i., cap. 3.\n\n[419] De Maistre: \u201cSoir\u00e9es de St. Petersburg.\u201d\n\n[420] We need not go so far back as that to assure ourselves that many\ngreat men believed the same. Kepler, the eminent astronomer, fully\ncredited the idea that the stars and all heavenly bodies, even our\nearth, are endowed with living and thinking souls.\n\n[421] We are not aware that a copy of this ancient work is embraced in\nthe catalogue of any European library; but it is one of the \u201cBooks of\nHermes,\u201d and it is referred to and quotations are made from it in the\nworks of a number of ancient and medi\u00e6val philosophical authors. Among\nthese authorities are Arnoldo di Villanova\u2019s \u201cRosarium philosoph.;\u201d\nFrancesco Arnolphim\u2019s \u201cLucensis opus de lapide,\u201d Hermes Trismegistus\u2019\n\u201cTractatus de transmutatione metallorum,\u201d \u201cTabula smaragdina,\u201d and\nabove all in the treatise of Raymond Lulli, \u201cAb angelis opus divinum de\nquinta essentia.\u201d\n\n[422] Quicksilver.\n\n[423] \u201cHermes,\u201d iv. 6. Spirit here denotes the Deity\u2014Pneuma, \u1f41 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n[424] \u201cMagia Adamica,\u201d p. 11.\n\n[425] _The ignorance of the ancients of the earth\u2019s sphericity is\nassumed without warrant._ What proof have we of the fact? It was only\nthe literati who exhibited such an ignorance. Even so early as the\ntime of Pythagoras, the Pagans taught it, Plutarch testifies to it,\nand Socrates died for it. Besides, as we have stated repeatedly, all\nknowledge was concentrated in the sanctuaries of the temples from\nwhence it very rarely spread itself among the uninitiated. If the\nsages and priests of the remotest antiquity were not aware of this\nastronomical truth, how is it that they represented Kneph, the spirit\nof the _first hour_, with an egg placed on his lips, the egg signifying\nour globe, to which he imparts life by his breath. Moreover, if, owing\nto the difficulty of consulting the Chaldean \u201cBook of Numbers,\u201d our\ncritics should demand the citation of other authorities, we can refer\nthem to Diogenes Laertius, who credits Manetho with having taught that\nthe earth was in the shape of a ball. Besides, the same author, quoting\nmost probably from the \u201cCompendium of Natural Philosophy,\u201d gives the\nfollowing statements of the Egyptian doctrine: \u201cThe beginning is matter\n\u0391\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03bd \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f55\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd \u1f34\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1, and from it the four elements separated....\nThe true form of God is unknown; but the world had a beginning and\nis therefore perishable.... The moon is eclipsed when it crosses\nthe shadow of the earth\u201d (Diogenes Laertius: \u201cPro\u0153in,\u201d \u00a7\u00a7 10, 11).\nBesides, Pythagoras is credited with having taught that the earth was\nround, that it rotated, and was but a planet like any other of these\ncelestial bodies. (See Fenelon\u2019s \u201cLives of the Philosophers.\u201d) In the\nlatest of Plato\u2019s translations (\u201cThe Dialogues of Plato,\u201d by Professor\nJowett), the author, in his introduction to \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d notwithstanding\n\u201can unfortunate doubt\u201d which arises in consequence of the word \u1f35\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9\ncapable of being translated either \u201ccircling\u201d or \u201ccompacted,\u201d feels\ninclined to credit Plato with having been familiar with the rotation\nof the earth. Plato\u2019s doctrine is expressed in the following words:\n\u201cThe earth which is our nurse (compacted or) _circling_ around the\npole which is extended through the universe.\u201d But if we are to believe\nProclus and Simplicius, Aristotle understood this word in \u201cTim\u00e6us\u201d\n\u201cto mean circling or revolving\u201d (De C\u0153lo), and Mr. Jowett himself\nfurther admits that \u201cAristotle attributed to Plato the doctrine of the\nrotation of the earth.\u201d (See vol. ii. of \u201cDial. of Plato.\u201d Introduction\nto \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d pp. 501-2.) It would have been extraordinary, to say\nthe least, that Plato, who was such an admirer of Pythagoras and who\ncertainly must have had, as an initiate, access to the most secret\ndoctrines of the great Samian, should be ignorant of such an elementary\nastronomical truth.\n\n[426] \u201cWisdom of Solomon,\u201d xi. 17.\n\n[427] Eugenius Philalethes: \u201cMagia Adamica.\u201d\n\n[428] Hargrave Jennings: \u201cThe Rosicrucians.\u201d\n\n[429] \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[430] \u201cOur Place among Infinities,\u201d p. 313.\n\n[431] Ibid.\n\n[432] Ibid., p. 314.\n\n[433] The library of a relative of the writer contains a copy of a\nFrench edition of this unique work. The prophecies are given in the\nold French language, and are very difficult for the student of modern\nFrench to decipher. We give, therefore, an English version, which\nis said to be taken from a book in the possession of a gentleman in\nSomersetshire, England.\n\n[434] See Rawlinson, vol. xvii., pp. 30-32, Revised edition.\n\n[435] Jowett: Introduction to \u201cTim\u00e6us,\u201d \u201cDial. of Plato,\u201d vol. i., p.\n509.\n\n[436] N. B.\u2014He lived in the first century B. C.\n\n[437] Stob\u00e6us: \u201cEclogues.\u201d\n\n[438] Kieser: \u201cArchiv.,\u201d vol. iv., p. 62. In fact, many of the old\nsymbols were mere puns on names.\n\n[439] See \u201cRig-Vedas,\u201d the Aitareya-Brahmanan.\n\n[440] Brahma is also called by the Hindu Brahmans Hiranyagarbha or the\n_unit_ soul, while _Amrita_ is the supreme soul, the first cause which\nemanated from itself the creative Brahma.\n\n[441] Marbod: \u201cLiber lapid. ed Beekmann.\u201d\n\n[442] \u201cThe Sun and the Earth,\u201d Lecture by Prof. Balfour Stewart.\n\n[443] \u201cLa Loi Naturelle,\u201d par Volney.\n\n[444] \u201cDiction. Philosophique,\u201d Art. \u201cPhilosophie.\u201d\n\n[445] \u201cBoston Lecture,\u201d December, 1875.\n\n[446] Weber: \u201cInd. Stud.,\u201d i. 290.\n\n[447] Wilson: \u201cRig-Veda Sanhita,\u201d ii. 143.\n\n[448] \u201cDuncker,\u201d vol. ii., p. 162.\n\n[449] \u201cWultke,\u201d ii. 262.\n\n[450] Daniel vii. 9, 10.\n\n[451] Book of Enoch, xiv. 7, ff.\n\n[452] This proposition, which will be branded as _preposterous_, but\nwhich we are ready to show, on the authority of Plato (see Jowett\u2019s\nIntrod. to \u201cthe Tim\u00e6us;\u201d last page), as a Pythagorean doctrine,\ntogether with that other of the sun being but the lens through which\nthe light passes, is strangely corroborated at the present day,\nby the observations of General Pleasonton of Philadelphia. This\nexperimentalist boldly comes out as a revolutionist of modern science,\nand calls Newton\u2019s centripetal and centrifugal forces, and the law of\ngravitation, \u201cfallacies.\u201d He fearlessly maintains his ground against\nthe Tyndalls and Huxleys of the day. We are glad to find such a learned\ndefender of one of the oldest (and hitherto treated as the _most\nabsurd_) of hermetic _hallucinations_ (?) (See General Pleasonton\u2019s\nbook, \u201cThe Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight, and of the Blue\nColor of the Sky, in developing Animal and Vegetable Life,\u201d addressed\nto the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture.)\n\n[453] In no country were the true esoteric doctrines trusted to\nwriting. The Hindu Brahma Maia, was passed from one generation to\nanother by _oral_ tradition. The Kabala was never written; and Moses\nintrusted it orally but to his elect. The primitive pure Oriental\ngnosticism was completely corrupted and degraded by the different\nsubsequent sects. Philo, in the \u201cde Sacrificiis Abeli et Caini,\u201d states\nthat there is a mystery _not to be revealed_ to the uninitiated.\nPlato is silent on many things, and his disciples refer to this\nfact constantly. Any one who has studied, even superficially, these\nphilosophers, on reading the institutes of Manu, will clearly perceive\nthat they all drew from the same source. \u201cThis universe,\u201d says Manu,\n\u201cexisted only _in the first divine idea, yet unexpanded, as if involved\nin darkness_, imperceptible, indefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and\nundiscovered _by revelation_, as if it were wholly immersed in sleep;\nthen the sole self-existing Power himself undiscerned, appeared with\nundiminished glory, _expanding his idea_, or dispelling _the gloom_.\u201d\nThus speaks the first code of Buddhism. Plato\u2019s idea is the _Will_, or\nLogos, the deity which manifests itself. It is the Eternal Light from\nwhich proceeds, as an _emanation_, the visible and _material_ light.\n\n[454] It appears that in descending from Mont Blanc, Tyndall suffered\nseverely from the heat, though he was knee-deep in the snow at the\ntime. The Professor attributed this to the burning rays of the sun, but\nPleasonton maintains that if the rays of the sun had been so intense\nas described, they would have melted the snow, which they did not; he\nconcludes that the heat from which the Professor suffered came from his\nown body, and was due to the electrical action of sunlight upon his\ndark woolen clothes, which had become electrified positively by the\nheat of his body. The cold, dry ether of planetary space and the upper\natmosphere of the earth became negatively electrified, and falling upon\nhis warm body and clothes, positively electrified, evolved an increased\nheat (see \u201cThe Influence of the Blue Ray,\u201d etc., pp. 39, 40, 41, etc.).\n\n[455] The most curious of all \u201ccurious coincidences,\u201d to our mind is,\nthat our men of science should put aside facts, striking enough to\ncause them to use such an expression when speaking of them, instead of\nsetting to work to give us a philosophical explanation of the same.\n\n[456] See Charles Elam, M.D.: \u201cA Physician\u2019s Problems,\u201d London, 1869,\np. 159.\n\n[457] Jowett: \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[458] Ibid.\n\n[459] According to General Pleasonton\u2019s theory of positive and negative\nelectricity underlying every psychological, physiological, and cosmic\nphenomena, the abuse of alcoholic stimulants transforms a man into\na woman and _vice versa_, by changing their _electricities_. \u201cWhen\nthis change in the condition of his electricity has occurred,\u201d says\nthe author, \u201chis attributes (those of a drunkard) become _feminine_;\nhe is irritable, irrational, excitable ... becomes violent, and if\nhe meets his wife, whose normal condition of electricity is like his\npresent condition, positive, they repel each other, become mutually\nabusive, engage in conflict and deadly strife, and the newspapers of\nthe next day announce the verdict of the coroner\u2019s jury on the case....\nWho would expect to find the discovery of the moving cause of all\nthese terrible crimes in the perspiration of the criminal? and yet\nscience has shown that the metamorphoses of _a man into a woman_, by\nchanging the negative condition of his electricity into the _positive_\nelectricity of the woman, with all its attributes, is disclosed by the\ncharacter of his perspiration, superinduced by the use of alcoholic\nstimulants\u201d (\u201cThe Influence of the Blue Ray,\u201d p 119).\n\n[460] Plato: \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[461] Littr\u00e9: \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes.\u201d\n\n[462] See des Mousseaux\u2019s \u201c\u0152uvres des Demons.\u201d\n\n[463] Du Potet: \u201cMagie Devoil\u00e9e,\u201d pp. 51-147.\n\n[464] Ibid., p. 201.\n\n[465] Baron Du Potet: \u201cCours de Magnetisme,\u201d pp. 17-108.\n\n[466] \u201cDe Occulto Philosophi\u00e2,\u201d pp. 332-358.\n\n[467] Cicero: \u201cDe Natura Deorum,\u201d lib. i., cap. xviii.\n\n[468] Eliphas Levi.\n\n[469] \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d Such like expressions made Professor Jowett state in\nhis Introduction that Plato taught the attraction of similar bodies\nto similar. But such an assertion would amount to denying the great\nphilosopher even a rudimentary knowledge of the laws of magnetic poles.\n\n[470] Alfred Marshall Mayer, Ph.D.: \u201cThe Earth a Great Magnet,\u201d a\nlecture delivered before the Yale Scientific Club, Feb. 14, 1872.\n\n[471] \u201cStrange Story.\u201d\n\n[472] See Taylor\u2019s \u201cPausanias;\u201d MS. \u201cTreatise on D\u00e6mons,\u201d by Psellus,\nand the \u201cTreatise on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries.\u201d\n\n[473] Iamblichus: \u201cDe Vita Pythag.\u201d\n\n[474] \u201cAnacalypsis,\u201d vol. i., p. 807.\n\n[475] Iamblichus: \u201cLife of Pythagoras,\u201d p. 297.\n\n[476] Bulwer-Lytton: \u201cZanoni.\u201d\n\n[477] Cory: \u201cPh\u00e6drus,\u201d i. 328.\n\n[478] This assertion is clearly corroborated by Plato himself, who\nsays: \u201cYou say that, in my former discourse, I have not sufficiently\nexplained to you the nature of the _First, I purposely spoke\nenigmatically_, that in case the tablet should have happened with any\naccident, either by land or sea, a person, _without some previous\nknowledge of the subject, might not be able to understand its\ncontents_\u201d (\u201cPlato,\u201d Ep. ii., p. 312; Cory: \u201cAncient Fragments\u201d).\n\n[479] \u201cJosephus against Apion,\u201d ii., p. 1079.\n\n[480] See chapter ix., p.\n\n[481] \u201cIllusion; matter in its triple manifestation in the earthly, and\nthe astral or fontal soul, or the body, and the Platonian dual soul,\nthe rational and the irrational one,\u201d see next chapter.\n\n[482] \u201cPerfection of Wisdom.\u201d\n\n[483] Porphyry gives the credit to Plotinus his master, of having been\nunited with \u201cGod\u201d six times during his life, and complains of having\nattained to it but twice, himself.\n\n[484] Orpheus is said to have ascribed to the grand cycle 120,000 years\nof duration, and Cassandrus 136,000. See Censorinus: \u201cde Natal. Die;\u201d\n\u201cChronological and Astronomical Fragments.\u201d\n\n[485] W. and E. Denton; \u201cThe Soul of Things,\u201d vol. i.\n\n[486] See the \u201cCosmogony of Pherecydes.\u201d\n\n[487] See a few pages further on the quotation from the \u201cCodex of the\nNazarenes.\u201d\n\n[488] See Plato\u2019s \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[489] On the authority of Iren\u00e6us, Justin Martyr, and the \u201cCodex\u201d\nitself, Dunlap shows that the Nazarenes treated their \u201cspirit,\u201d or\nrather soul, as a female and _Evil Power_. Iren\u00e6us, accusing the\nGnostics of heresy, calls Christ and the Holy Ghost \u201cthe _gnostic pair_\nthat produce the \u00c6ons\u201d (Dunlap: \u201cSod, the Son of the Man,\u201d p. 52,\nfoot-note).\n\n[490] Fetahil was with the Nazarenes the king of light, and the\n_Creator_; but in this instance he is the unlucky Prometheus, who fails\nto get hold of the _Living Fire_, necessary for the formation of the\ndivine soul, as he is ignorant of the _secret_ name (the ineffable or\nincommunicable name of the kabalists).\n\n[491] The spirit of matter and concupiscence.\n\n[492] See Franck\u2019s \u201cCodex Nazar\u00e6us\u201d and Dunlap\u2019s \u201cSod, the Son of the\nMan.\u201d\n\n[493] \u201cCodex Nazar\u00e6us,\u201d ii. 233.\n\n[494] This Mano of the Nazarenes strangely resembles the Hindu Manu,\nthe heavenly man of the \u201cRig-Vedas.\u201d\n\n[495] \u201cI am the _true vine_ and my Father is the husbandman\u201d (John xv.\n1).\n\n[496] With the Gnostics, Christ, as well as Michael, who is identical\nin some respects with him, was the \u201cChief of the \u00c6ons.\u201d\n\n[497] \u201cCodex Nazar\u00e6us,\u201d i. 135.\n\n[498] Ibid.\n\n[499] \u201cCodex Nazar\u00e6us,\u201d iii. 61.\n\n[500] The Astral Light, or _anima mundi_, is dual and bi-sexual. The\nmale part of it is purely divine and spiritual; it is the _Wisdom_;\nwhile the female portion (the spiritus of the Nazarenes) is tainted,\nin one sense, with matter, and therefore is evil already. It is the\nlife-principle of every living creature, and furnishes the astral\nsoul, the fluidic _perisprit_ to men, animals, fowls of the air, and\neverything living. Animals have only the germ of the highest immortal\nsoul as a third principle. It will develop but through a series of\ncountless evolutions; the doctrine of which evolution is contained in\nthe kabalistic axiom: \u201cA stone becomes a plant; a plant a beast; a\nbeast a _man_; a man a _spirit_; and the spirit a god.\u201d\n\n[501] See Commentary on \u201cIdra Suta,\u201d by Rabbi Eleashar.\n\n[502] _Sod_ means a religious Mystery. Cicero mentions the _sod_, as\nconstituting a portion of the _Idean_ Mysteries. \u201cThe members of the\n_Priest-Colleges_ were called _Sodales_,\u201d says Dunlap, quoting Freund\u2019s\n\u201cLatin Lexicon,\u201d iv. 448.\n\n[503] The author of the \u201cSohar,\u201d the great kabalistic work of the first\ncentury B.C.\n\n[504] See Abb\u00e9 Huc\u2019s works.\n\n[505] \u201cThe Sohar,\u201d iii. 288; \u201cIdra Suta.\u201d\n\n[506] Everard: \u201cMyst\u00e8res Physiologiques,\u201d p. 132.\n\n[507] See Plato\u2019s \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[508] \u201cSupernatural Religion; an Inquiry into the Reality of Divine\nRevelation,\u201d vol. ii. London, 1875.\n\n[509] See \u201cHeavenly Arcana.\u201d\n\n[510] Burges: Preface.\n\n[511] \u201cSeventh Letter.\u201d\n\n[512] \u201cThe True Christian Religion.\u201d\n\n[513] E. A. Hitchcock: \u201cSwedenborg, a Hermetic Philosopher.\u201d\n\n[514] \u201cRipley Revived,\u201d 1678.\n\n[515] \u201cMosaicall Philosophy,\u201d p. 173. 1659.\n\n[516] \u201cCorrelation of Vital with Chemical and Physical Forces,\u201d by J.\nLe Conte.\n\n[517] \u201cArchives des Sciences,\u201d vol. xlv., p. 345. December, 1872.\n\n[518] Aristotle: \u201cDe Generat. et Corrupt.,\u201d lib. ii.\n\n[519] \u201cDe Part.,\u201d an. lib. i., c. 1.\n\n[520] A Pythagorean oath. The Pythagoreans swore by their master.\n\n[521] See Lempri\u00e8re: \u201cClassical Dictionary.\u201d\n\n[522] Psel. in Alieb: \u201cChaldean Oracles.\u201d\n\n[523] Proc. in 1 \u201cAlieb.\u201d\n\n[524] From the Latin word _mensa_\u2014table. This curious letter is copied\nin full in \u201cLa Science des Esprits,\u201d by Eliphas Levi.\n\n[525] The Sulanuth is described in chap. lxxx., vers. 19, 20, of\n\u201cJasher.\u201d\n\n[526] \u201cAnd when the Egyptians hid themselves on account of the swarm\u201d\n(one of the plagues alleged to have been brought on by Moses) \u201c ...\nthey locked their doors after them, and God ordered the _Sulanuth_ ...\u201d\n(a _sea-monster_, naively explains the translator, in a foot-note)\n\u201cwhich was then in the sea, to come up and go into Egypt ... and she\nhad long arms, ten cubits in length ... and she went upon the roofs\nand uncovered the rafting and cut them ... and stretched forth her arm\ninto the house and removed the lock and the bolt and opened the houses\nof Egypt ... and the swarm of animals destroyed the Egyptians, and it\ngrieved them exceedingly.\u201d\n\n[527] \u201cStrom,\u201d vi., 17, \u00a7 159.\n\n[528] Ibid., vi., 3, \u00a7 30.\n\n[529] \u201cGorgias.\u201d\n\n[530] \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[531] Cory: \u201cPh\u00e6dro,\u201d i. 69.\n\n[532] Ibid., i. 123.\n\n[533] Cory: \u201cPh\u00e6dras;\u201d Cory\u2019s \u201cPlato,\u201d 325.\n\n[534] See \u201cThe Unseen Universe,\u201d pp. 205, 206.\n\n[535] See Bulwer-Lytton: \u201cStrange Story,\u201d p. 76. We do not know where\nin literature can be found a more vivid and beautiful description of\nthis difference between the life-principle of man and that of animals,\nthan in the passages herein briefly alluded to.\n\n[536] A. R. Wallace: \u201cThe Action of Natural Selection on Man.\u201d\n\n[537] W. Denton: \u201cThe Soul of Things,\u201d p. 273.\n\n[538] \u201cHerodotus,\u201d b. i., c. 181.\n\n[539] \u201cAnthropology,\u201d p. 125.\n\n[540] \u201cOf Sacrifices to Gods and D\u00e6mons,\u201d chap. ii.\n\n[541] \u201cOdyssey,\u201d book vii.\n\n[542] Porphyry: \u201cOf Sacrifices to Gods and D\u00e6mons,\u201d chap. ii.\n\n[543] Ibid.\n\n[544] Iamblichus: \u201cDe Mysteriis Egyptorum.\u201d\n\n[545] Ibid.: \u201cOn the Difference between the D\u00e6mons, the Souls, etc.\u201d\n\n[546] Du Potet: \u201cLa Magie Devoil\u00e9e.\u201d\n\n[547] We wonder if Father Felix is prepared to include St. Augustine,\nLactantius, and Bede in this category?\n\n[548] For instance, Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo? For further\nparticulars see the \u201cIndex Expurgatorius.\u201d Verily, wise are such\npopular sayings, as that, \u201cBoldness carries off cities at one shout.\u201d\n\n[549] This statement, neither Herbert Spencer nor Huxley will be likely\nto traverse. But Father Felix seems insensible of his own debt to\nscience; if he had said this in February, 1600, he might have shared\nthe fate of poor Bruno.\n\n[550] \u201cLe Myst\u00e8re et la Science,\u201d conferences, P. Felix de Notre Dame;\ndes Mousseaux: \u201cHauts Phen. Magie.\u201d\n\n[551] Damascius, in the \u201cTheogony,\u201d calls it _Dis_, \u201cthe disposer of\nall things.\u201d Cory: \u201cAncient Fragments,\u201d p. 314.\n\n[552] Plato: \u201cTim\u00e6us.\u201d\n\n[553] \u201cSuidas: v. Tyrrhenia.\u201d\n\n[554] The reader will understand that by \u201cyears\u201d is meant \u201cages,\u201d not\nmere periods of twelve lunar months each.\n\n[555] See the Greek translation by Philo Byblius.\n\n[556] Cory: \u201cAncient Fragments.\u201d\n\n[557] We give the spelling and words of this Kabalist who lived and\npublished his works in the seventeenth century. Generally he is\nconsidered as one of the most famous alchemists among the Hermetic\nphilosophers.\n\n[558] The most positive of materialistic philosophers agree that all\nthat exists was evolved from ether; hence, air, water, earth, and fire,\nthe four primordial elements must also proceed from ether and chaos\nthe first _Duad_; all the imponderables, whether now known or unknown,\nproceed from the same source. Now, if there is a spiritual essence in\nmatter, and that essence forces it to shape itself into millions of\nindividual forms, why is it illogical to assert that each of these\nspiritual kingdoms in nature is peopled with beings evolved out of its\nown material? Chemistry teaches us that in man\u2019s body there are air,\nwater, earth, and heat, or fire\u2014_air_ is present in its components;\n_water_ in the secretions; _earth_ in the inorganic constituents;\nand _fire_ in the animal heat. The Kabalist knows by experience that\nan elemental spirit contains only one, and that each one of the four\nkingdoms has its own peculiar elemental spirits; man being higher than\nthey, the law of evolution finds its illustration in the combination of\nall four in him.\n\n[559] G\u00f6rres: \u201cMystique,\u201d lib. iii., p. 63.\n\n[560] The ancients called \u201cthe soul\u201d the spirits of bad people; the\nsoul was the _larva_ and _lemure_. Good human spirits became gods.\n\n[561] Porphyry: \u201cDe Sacrificiis.\u201d Chapter on the true Cultus.\n\n[562] \u201cMysteries of the Egyptians.\u201d\n\n[563] Second century, A.D. \u201cDu Dieu de Socrate,\u201d Apul. class., pp.\n143-145.\n\n[564] \u201cEastern Monachism,\u201d p. 9.\n\n[565] \u201cDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire,\u201d iv. 385.\n\n[566] Hardy: \u201cManual of Buddhism;\u201d Dunlap: \u201cThe World\u2019s Religions.\u201d\n\n[567] Lempri\u00e8re (\u201cClassical Dictionary,\u201d art. \u201cPythagoras\u201d) says that\n\u201cthere is great reason to suspect the truth of the whole narrative of\nPythagoras\u2019 journey into India,\u201d and concludes by saying that this\nphilosopher had never seen either Gymnosophists or their country. If\nthis be so, how account for the doctrine of the metempsychosis of\nPythagoras, which is far more that of the Hindu in its details than\nthe Egyptian? But, above all, how account for the fact that the name\nMONAS, applied by him to the First Cause, is the identical appellation\ngiven to that Being in the Sanscrit tongue? In 1792-7, when Lempri\u00e8re\u2019s\n\u201cDictionary\u201d appeared, the Sanscrit was, we may say, utterly unknown;\nDr. Haug\u2019s translation of the \u201cAitareya Brahmana\u201d (\u201cRig-Vedas\u201d), in\nwhich this word occurs, was published only about _twenty_ years ago,\nand until that valuable addition to the literature of archaic ages was\ncompleted, and the precise age of the \u201cAitareya\u201d now fixed by Haug at\n2000-2400 B.C.\u2014was a mystery, it might be suggested, as in the case\nof Christian symbols, that the Hindus _borrowed_ it from Pythagoras.\nBut now, unless philology can show it to be a \u201ccoincidence,\u201d and that\nthe word _Monas_ is not the same in its minutest definitions, we have\na right to assert that Pythagoras was in India, and that it was the\nGymnosophists who instructed him in his metaphysical theology. The\nfact alone that \u201cSanscrit, as compared with Greek and Latin, is an\nelder sister,\u201d as Max M\u00fcller shows, is not sufficient to account for\nthe perfect identity of the Sanscrit and Greek words MONAS, in their\nmost metaphysical, abstruse sense. The Sanscrit word Deva (god) has\nbecome the Latin _deus_, and points to a common source; but we see in\nthe Zoroastrian \u201cZend-Avesta\u201d the same word, meaning diametrically the\nopposite, and becoming _da\u00eava_, or evil spirit, from which comes the\nword _devil_.\n\n[568] Haug: \u201cAitareya Brahmanam.\u201d\n\n[569] Ibid.\n\n[570] Berosus: fragment preserved by Alex. Polyhostor; Cory: \u201cOf the\nCosmogony and the Deluge.\u201d\n\n[571] Some writer has employed a most felicitous expression in\ndescribing the majesty of the Hindu archaic monuments, and the\nexquisite finish of their sculpture. \u201cThey built,\u201d says he, \u201clike\ngiants, and finished like jewelers.\u201d\n\n[572] \u201cAnatomie Cerebrale,\u201d Malacorne, Milan.\n\n[573] Psellus, 6, Plet. 2; Cory: \u201cChaldean Oracles.\u201d\n\n[574] See \u201cLecture on the Vedas.\u201d\n\n[575] In order to avoid being contradicted by some spiritualists\nwe give verbatim the language in question, as a specimen of the\nunreliability of the oracular utterances of certain \u201cspirits.\u201d Let them\nbe human or elemental, but spirits capable of such effrontery may well\nbe regarded by occultists as anything but safe guides in philosophy,\nexact science, or ethics. \u201cIt will be remembered,\u201d says Mrs. Cora V.\nTappan, in a public discourse upon the \u201cHistory of Occultism and its\nRelations to Spiritualism\u201d (see \u201cBanner of Light,\u201d Aug. 26, 1876),\n\u201cthat the ancient word witchcraft, or the exercise of it, was forbidden\namong the Hebrews. The translation is that no witch should be allowed\nto live. That has been supposed to be the literal interpretation; and\nacting upon that, your very pious and devout ancestors put to death,\nwithout adequate testimony, numbers of very intelligent, wise, and\nsincere persons, under the condemnation of witchcraft. It has now\nturned out that the interpretation or translation should be, that no\nwitches should be allowed to obtain a living by the practice of their\nart. That is, it should not be made a profession.\u201d May we be so bold\nas to inquire of the celebrated speaker, through _whom or according to\nwhat_ authority such a thing has ever _turned out_?\n\n[576] Mr. Cromwell F. Varley, the well-known electrician of the\nAtlantic Cable Company, communicates the result of his observations, in\nthe course of a debate at the Psychological Society of Great Britain,\nwhich is reported in the \u201cSpiritualist\u201d (London, April 14, 1876, pp.\n174, 175). He thought that the effect of free nitric acid in the\natmosphere was able to drive away what he calls \u201cunpleasant spirits.\u201d\nHe thought that those who were troubled by unpleasant spirits at home,\nwould find relief by pouring one ounce of vitriol upon two ounces of\nfinely-powdered nitre in a saucer and putting the mixture under the\nbed. Here is a scientist, whose reputation extends over two continents,\nwho gives a recipe to drive away bad spirits. And yet the general\npublic mocks as a \u201c_superstition_\u201d the herbs and incenses employed by\nHindus, Chinese, Africans, and other races to accomplish the self-same\npurpose.\n\n[577] \u201cArt-Magic,\u201d p. 97.\n\n[578] This phantom is called _Scin Lecca_. See Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s \u201cStrange\nStory.\u201d\n\n[579] In the Strasbourg edition of his works (1603), Paracelsus writes\nof the wonderful _magical_ power of man\u2019s spirit. \u201cIt is possible,\u201d\nhe says, \u201cthat my spirit, without the help of the body, and through\na fiery will alone, and without a sword, can stab and wound others.\nIt is also possible that I can bring the spirit of my adversary into\nan image, and then double him up and lame him ... the exertion of\nwill is a great point in medicine.... Every imagination of man comes\nthrough the heart, for this is the sun of the microcosm, and out of\nthe microcosm proceeds the imagination into the great world (universal\nether) ... the imagination of man is a seed which is _material_.\u201d (Our\natomical modern scientists have proved it; see Babbage and Professor\nJevons.) \u201cFixed thought is also a means to an end. The magical is a\ngreat _concealed wisdom_, and reason is a great public foolishness. No\narmor protects against magic, for it injures the _inward_ spirit of\nlife.\u201d\n\n[580] \u201cSalem Witchcraft; With an Account of Salem Village,\u201d by C. W.\nUpham.\n\n[581] \u201cOdyssey,\u201d A. 82.\n\n[582] \u201c\u00c6neid,\u201d book vi., 260.\n\n[583] \u201cDe D\u00e6mon,\u201d cap. \u201cQuomodo d\u00e6m occupent.\u201d\n\n[584] Numquid d\u00e6monum corpora pulsari possunt? Possunt sane, atque\ndolere solido quodam _percussa_ corpore.\n\n[585] Ubi secatur, mox in se iterum recreatur et coalescit ... dictu\nvelocius d\u00e6moni cus spiritus in se revertitor.\n\n[586] A magistrate of the district.\n\n[587] This appalling circumstance was authenticated by the Prefect of\nthe city, and the Proconsul of the Province laid the report before the\nEmperor. The story is modestly related by Mrs. Catherine Crowe (see\n\u201cNight-Side of Nature,\u201d p. 335).\n\n[588] Pliny, xxx., 1.\n\n[589] T. Wright, M.A., F.S.A., etc.: \u201cSorcery and Magic,\u201d vol. iii.\n\n[590] \u201cArt-Magic,\u201d pp. 159, 160.\n\n[591] \u201cArt-Magic,\u201d p. 28.\n\n[592] Fakir, beggar.\n\n[593] A juggler so called.\n\n[594] \u201cM\u0153urs et Pratiques des Demons.\u201d\n\n[595] \u201cHistoire du Merveilleux dans les Temps Modernes,\u201d vol. ii., p.\n262.\n\n[596] Ibid.\n\n[597] Ibid., p. 265.\n\n[598] Ibid., pp. 267, 401, 402.\n\n[599] Ibid., pp. 266, etc., 400.\n\n[600] Ibid., p. 403.\n\n[601] \u201cHistoire du Merveilleux,\u201d vol. i., p. 397.\n\n[602] Ibid., pp. 26-27.\n\n[603] Ibid., p. 238.\n\n[604] Des Mousseaux: \u201cMagie au XIXme Si\u00e8cle,\u201d p. 452.\n\n[605] Hume: \u201cPhilosophical Essays,\u201d p. 195.\n\n[606] \u201cHistoire du Merveilleux,\u201d p. 401.\n\n[607] Ibid.\n\n[608] Ibid., vol. ii., pp. 410, 411.\n\n[609] Ibid., p. 407.\n\n[610] Villecroze: \u201cLe Docteur H. d\u2019Alger,\u201d 19 Mars, 1861. Pierrart:\nvol. iv., pp. 254-257.\n\n[611] Bruce: \u201cTravels to Discover the Sources of the Nile,\u201d vol. x.,\npp. 402-447; Hasselquist: \u201cVoyage in the Levant,\u201d vol. i., pp. 92-100;\nLempri\u00e8re: \u201cVoyage dans l\u2019Empire de Maroc, etc., en 1790,\u201d pp. 42-43.\n\n[612] Salverte: \u201cLa Philosophie de la Magie. De l\u2019Influence sur les\nAnimaux,\u201d vol. i.\n\n[613] Thibaut de Chanvallon: \u201cVoyage \u00e0 la Martinique.\u201d\n\n[614] Salverte: \u201cPhilosophy of Magic.\u201d\n\n[615] Forbes: \u201cOriental Memoirs,\u201d vol. i., p. 44; vol. ii., p. 387.\n\n[616] Stedmann: \u201cVoyage in Surinam,\u201d vol. iii., pp. 64, 65.\n\n[617] See \u201cEdinburgh Review,\u201d vol. lxxx., p. 428, etc.\n\n[618] Elam: \u201cA Physician\u2019s Problems,\u201d p. 25.\n\n[619] The \u201cImmortality of the Soul,\u201d by Henry More. Fellow of Christ\u2019s\nCollege, Cambridge.\n\n[620] D^r H. More: \u201cImmortality of the Soul,\u201d p. 393.\n\n[621] \u201cTransactions of the Medical Society of N. Y.,\u201d 1865-6-7.\n\n[622] \u201cDublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science,\u201d vol. xv., p. 263,\n1853.\n\n[623] \u201cRecherches d\u2019Anatomie transcendante et Pathologique, etc.,\u201d\nParis, 1832.\n\n[624] \u201cSilliman\u2019s Journal of Science and Art,\u201d vol. x., p. 48.\n\n[625] \u201cPrecis Elementaire de Physiologie,\u201d p. 520.\n\n[626] Ibid., p. 521.\n\n[627] \u201cDogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie,\u201d p. 175.\n\n[628] \u201cTransactions of Medical Society, etc.,\u201d p. 246.\n\n[629] Fourni\u00e9: \u201cPhysiologie du Syst\u00e8me Nerveux, Cerebro-spinal,\u201d Paris,\n1872.\n\n[630] Ibid.\n\n[631] \u201cNight-Side of Nature,\u201d by Catherine Crowe, p. 434, _et seq._\n\n[632] Henry More: \u201cImmortality of the Soul,\u201d p. 399.\n\n[633] By the word _soul_, neither Demokritus nor the other philosophers\nunderstood the _nous_ or _pneuma_, the divine _immaterial_ soul, but\nthe _psych\u00e8_, or astral body; that which Plato always terms the second\n_mortal_ soul.\n\n[634] Balfour Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S.: \u201cThe Conservation of Energy,\u201d p.\n133.\n\n[635] Fourni\u00e9: \u201cPhysiologie du Syst\u00e8me Nerveux,\u201d p. 16.\n\n[636] \u201cA System of Logic.\u201d Eighth ed., 1872, vol. ii., p. 165.\n\n[637] Draper: \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d p. 22.\n\n[638] Edward L. Youmans, M.D.; \u201cA Class-book of Chemistry,\u201d p. 4.\n\n[639] Sprengel, in his \u201cHistory of Medicine,\u201d makes Van Helmont\nappear as if disgusted with the charlatanry and ignorant presumption\nof Paracelsus. \u201cThe works of this latter,\u201d says Sprengel, \u201cwhich he\n(Van Helmont) had attentively read, aroused in him the spirit of\nreformation; but they alone did not suffice for him, because his\nerudition and judgment were infinitely superior to those of that\nauthor, and he _despised_ this _made egoist_, this ignorant and\nridiculous vagabond, who often seemed to have fallen into insanity.\u201d\nThis assertion is perfectly false. We have the writings of Helmont\nhimself to refute it. In the well-known dispute between two writers,\nGoclenius, a professor in Marburg, who supported the great efficacy of\nthe sympathetic salve discovered by Paracelsus, for the cure of every\nwound, and Father Robert, a Jesuit, who condemned all these cures, as\nhe attributed them to the Devil. Van Helmont undertook to settle the\ndispute. The reason he gave for interfering was that all such disputes\n\u201caffected Paracelsus as their discoverer and _himself as his disciple_\u201d\n(see \u201cDe Magnetica Vulner.,\u201d and l. c., p. 705).\n\n[640] Demokritus said that, as from nothing, nothing could be produced,\nso there was not anything that could ever be reduced _to nothing_.\n\n[641] J. Le Conte: \u201cCorrelation of Vital with Chemical and Physical\nForces,\u201d appendix.\n\n[642] The date is incorrect; it should be 1784.\n\n[643] Ecclesiastes i. 10.\n\n[644] Ibid., i. 6.\n\n[645] Ibid., i. 7.\n\n[646] Siljestr\u00f6m: \u201cMinnesfest \u00f6fver Berzelius,\u201d p. 79.\n\n[647] \u201cS\u00e9ance de l\u2019Academie de Paris,\u201d 13 Ao\u00fbt, 1807.\n\n[648] Mollien: \u201cVoyage dans l\u2019interieur de l\u2019Afrique,\u201d tome ii., p. 210.\n\n[649] \u201cThe Popular Science Monthly,\u201d May, 1876, p. 110.\n\n[650] Malte-Brun, pp. 372, 373; Herodotus.\n\n[651] \u201cThe Popular Science Monthly,\u201d Dec., 1874, p. 252, New York.\n\n[652] The \u201cPeriplus of Hanno.\u201d\n\n[653] The original was suspended in the temple of Saturn, at Carthage.\nFalconer gave two dissertations on it, and agrees with Bougainville in\nreferring it to the sixth century before the Christian era. See Cory\u2019s\n\u201cAncient Fragments.\u201d\n\n[654] Professor Jowett.\n\n[655] \u201cOn the Atlantic Island (from Marcellus) Ethiopic History.\u201d\n\n[656] \u201cAlchemy, or the Hermetic Philosophy.\u201d\n\n[657] See \u201cRevue Encyclop\u00e9dique,\u201d vol. xxxiii., p. 676.\n\n[658] \u201cBulletin de la Soc. Geograph,\u201d vol. vi., pp. 209-220.\n\n[659] See \u201cRevue Encyclop\u00e9dique,\u201d vols. xxxiii. and xxxiv., pp. 676-395.\n\n[660] Porphyry: \u201cEpistola ad Anebo., ap. Euseb. Pr\u00e6p. Evangel,\u201d v. 10;\nIamblichus: \u201cDe Mysteriis \u00c6gypt.; \u201cPorphyrii: \u201cEpistola ad Anebonem\n\u00c6gyptium.\u201d\n\n[661] \u201cPorphyry,\u201d says the \u201cClassical Dictionary\u201d of Lempri\u00e8re, \u201cwas a\nman of universal information, and, according to the testimony of the\nancients, he excelled his contemporaries in the knowledge of history,\nmathematics, music, and _philosophy_.\u201d\n\n[662] \u201cOn the Scientific Use of the Imagination.\u201d\n\n[663] Epes Sargent. See his pamphlet, \u201cDoes Matter do it All?\u201d\n\n[664] In his \u201cEssay on Classification\u201d (sect. xvii., pp. 97-99),\nLouis Agassiz, the great zo\u00f6logist, remarks: \u201cMost of the arguments\nin favor of the immortality of man apply equally to the permanency\nof this principle in other living beings. May I not add that a\nfuture life in which man would be deprived of that great source of\nenjoyment and intellectual and moral improvement, which results from\nthe contemplation of the harmonies of an organic world would involve\na lamentable loss? And may we not look to a spiritual concert of the\ncombined worlds and _all_ their inhabitants in the presence of their\ncreator as the highest conception of paradise?\u201d\n\n[665] \u201cDiog. in Vita.\u201d\n\n[666] See the works of Robertus de Fluctibus; and the \u201cRosicrucians,\u201d\nby Hargrave Jennings.\n\n[667] Professor B. Stewart: \u201cConservation of Energy.\u201d\n\n[668] Cabanis: \u201cHistoire de la Medecine.\u201d\n\n[669] \u201cDe Vatibus in Problemate,\u201d sect. 21.\n\n[670] See Max M\u00fcller: \u201cThe Meaning of Nirvana.\u201d\n\n[671] \u201cThe Lank\u00e2vat\u00e2ra,\u201d transl. by Burnouf, p. 514.\n\n[672] \u201cClassical Dictionary.\u201d\n\n[673] See Cabanis, \u201cHistoire de la Medecine.\u201d\n\n[674] \u201cLe Lotus de la bonne Loi,\u201d by E. Burnouf, translated from the\nSanscrit.\n\n[675] \u201cCosmos,\u201d vol. iii., part i., p. 168.\n\n[676] \u201cLecture on the Vedas.\u201d\n\n[677] \u201cThe Classical Journal,\u201d vol. iv., pp. 107, 348.\n\n[678] See \u201cMosheim.\u201d\n\n[679] \u201cNew Platonism and Alchemy.\u201d\n\n[680] Origen: \u201cContra Celsum.\u201d\n\n[681] \u201cFatti relativi al Mesmerismo,\u201d pp. 88, 93, 1842.\n\n[682] \u201cLeonard de Vair,\u201d l. ii., ch. ii.; \u201cLa Magie au 19me Si\u00e8cle,\u201d p.\n332.\n\n[683] \u201cThe Tinnevelly Shanars,\u201d p. 43.\n\n[684] Pierart: \u201cRevue Spiritualiste,\u201d chapter on \u201cVampirism.\u201d\n\n[685] Maimonides: \u201cAbodah Sarab,\u201d 12 Absh, 11 Abth.\n\n[686] Pierart: \u201cRevue Spiritualiste.\u201d\n\n[687] Dr. Pierart: \u201cRevue Spiritualiste,\u201d vol. iv., p. 104.\n\n[688] See \u201cHauts Phen.,\u201d p. 199.\n\n[689] \u201cHuetiana,\u201d p. 81.\n\n[690] Dom Calmet: \u201cApparitions,\u201d etc. Paris, 1751, vol. ii., p. 47;\n\u201cHauts Phen. de la Magie,\u201d 195.\n\n[691] \u201cHauts Phen.,\u201d p. 196.\n\n[692] Ibid.\n\n[693] See the same sworn testimony in official documents: \u201cDe l\u2019Inspir.\ndes Camis,\u201d H. Blanc, 1859. Plon, Paris.\n\n[694] Dom Calmet: \u201cApparit.,\u201d vol. ii., chap, xliv., p. 212.\n\n[695] Pierart: \u201cRevue Spiritualiste,\u201d vol. iv., p. 104.\n\n[696] \u201cSadducismus Triumphatus,\u201d vol. ii., p. 70.\n\n[697] G\u00f6rres: \u201cComplete Works,\u201d vol. iii., ch. vii., p. 132.\n\n[698] \u201cAshes to Ashes,\u201d London: Daldy, Isbister & Co., 1875.\n\n[699] The author refers all those who may doubt such statements to G.\nA. Walker\u2019s \u201cGatherings from Graveyards,\u201d pp. 84-193, 194, etc.\n\n[700] Horst: \u201cZauber Bibliothek,\u201d vol. v., p. 52.\n\n[701] See Eliphas Levi: \u201cLa Science des Esprits.\u201d\n\n[702] Henry Maudsley: \u201cBody and Mind.\u201d\n\n[703] Josiah Cooke, Jr.: \u201cThe New Chemistry.\u201d\n\n[704] Henry Maudsley: \u201cThe Limits of Philosophical Inquiry,\u201d p. 266.\n\n[705] \u201cScientific American,\u201d August 12, 1868.\n\n[706] Le Conte: \u201cCorrelation of Vital with Chemical and Physical\nForces.\u201d\n\n[707] The wood-apple.\n\n[708] Incorrect; the Hindustani word for monkey is _r\u016bkh-charh\u00e4_.\nProbably _chokra_, a little native servant is meant.\n\n[709] \u201cBook of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., pp. 306, 307.\n\n[710] Delrio: \u201cDisquis. Magic,\u201d pp. 34, 100.\n\n[711] Col. H. Yule: \u201cThe Book of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p. 308.\n\n[712] Edward Melton: \u201cEngelsh Edelmans, Zeldzaame en Geden Kwaardige\nZee en Land Reizen, etc.,\u201d p. 468. Amsterdam, 1702.\n\n[713] \u201cMemoirs of the Emperor Jahangire,\u201d pp. 99, 102.\n\n[714] J. Hughes Bennett: \u201cText Book of Physiology,\u201d Lippincott\u2019s\nAmerican Edition, pp. 37-50.\n\n[715] \u201cCuriosit\u00e9s Inou\u00efes.\u201d\n\n[716] \u201cThoughts on the Birth and Generation of Things.\u201d\n\n[717] C. Crowe: \u201cNight-Side of Nature,\u201d p. 111.\n\n[718] Pliny: \u201cHist. Nat.,\u201d vii., c. 52; and Plutarch: \u201cDiscourse\nconcerning Socrates\u2019 D\u00e6mon,\u201d 22.\n\n[719] \u201cDe Res. Var.,\u201d v. iii., i., viii., c. 43. Plutarch: \u201cDiscourse\nconcerning Socrates\u2019 D\u00e6mon,\u201d 22.\n\n[720] Nasse: \u201cZeitschrift fur Psychische Aerzte,\u201d 1820.\n\n[721] Osborne: \u201cCamp and Court of Rundjit Singh;\u201d Braid: \u201cOn France.\u201d\n\n[722] Mrs. Catherine Crowe, in her \u201cNight-Side of Nature,\u201d p. 118,\ngives us the particulars of a similar burial of a fakir, in the\npresence of General Ventura, together with the Maharajah, and many of\nhis Sirdars. The political agent at Loodhiana was \u201cpresent when he was\ndisinterred, ten months after he had been buried.\u201d The coffin, or box,\ncontaining the fakir \u201cbeing buried in a vault, the earth was thrown\nover it and trod down, after which a crop of barley was sown on the\nspot, and sentries placed to watch it. The Maharajah, however, was so\nskeptical that in spite of all these precautions, he had him, twice in\nthe ten months, dug up and examined, and each time he was found to be\n_exactly in the same state_ as when they had shut him up.\u201d\n\n[723] Todd: Appendix to \u201cOccult Science,\u201d vol. i.\n\n[724] \u201cA Cornel. Cels.,\u201d lib. ii., cap. vi.\n\n[725] \u201cHist. Nat.,\u201d lib. vii., cap. lii.\n\n[726] \u201cMorning Herald,\u201d July 21, 1836.\n\n[727] \u201cLa Science des Esprits.\u201d\n\n[728] \u201cVit. Apollon. Tyan.,\u201d lib. iv., ch. xvi.\n\n[729] Salverte: \u201cSciences Occultes,\u201d vol. ii.\n\n[730] \u201cLa Science des Esprits.\u201d\n\n[731] It would be beneficial to humanity were our modern physicians\npossessed of the same inestimable faculty; for then we would have on\nrecord less horrid deaths _after_ inhumation. Mrs. Catherine Crowe,\nin the \u201cNight-Side of Nature,\u201d records in the chapter on \u201cCases\nof Trances\u201d _five_ such cases, in England alone, and during the\npresent century. Among them is Dr. Walker of Dublin and a Mr. S\u2014\u2014,\nwhose stepmother was accused of poisoning him, and who, upon being\ndisinterred, was found lying on his face.\n\n[732] A. Wilder: \u201cNeo-platonism and Alchemy.\u201d\n\n[733] Iamblichus was the founder of the Neo-platonic theurgy.\n\n[734] See the \u201cSketch of the Eclectic Philosophy of the Alexandrian\nSchool.\u201d\n\n[735] See \u201cMedium and Daybreak,\u201d July 7, 1876, p. 428.\n\n[736] In Volume II., we will distinctly prove that the _Old Testament_\nmentions the worship of more than one god by the Israelites. The\nEl-Shadi of Abraham and Jacob was not the Jehovah of Moses, or the\nLord God worshipped by them for forty years in the wilderness. And the\nGod of Hosts of Amos is not, if we are to believe his own words, the\nMosaic God, the Sina\u00eftic deity, for this is what we read: \u201cI hate, I\ndespise your feast-days ... your meat-offerings, I will not accept\nthem.... Have ye offered unto _me_ sacrifices and offerings in the\nwilderness forty years, O house of Israel?... No, but _ye have borne\nthe tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun_ (Saturn), your images, the\nstar of your god, which ye made to yourselves.... Therefore, will I\ncause you to go into captivity ... saith the _Lord, whose name is The\nGod of hosts_\u201d (Amos v. 21-27).\n\n[737] Chapter xviii.\n\n[738] This word \u201c_up_\u201d from the spirit of a prophet whose abode ought\ncertainly to be in heaven and who therefore ought to have said \u201cto\nbring me down,\u201d is very suggestive in itself to a Christian, who\nlocates paradise and hell at two opposite points.\n\n[739] Ezekiel iii. 12-14.\n\n[740] William Howitt: \u201cHistory of the Supernatural,\u201d vol. ii., ch. i.\n\n[741] Lib. i., Sat. 8.\n\n[742] Porphyry: \u201cOf Sacrifices.\u201d\n\n[743] Genesis xviii. i.\n\n[744] Daniel x. 8.\n\n[745] 1 Samuel, x. 6.\n\n[746] Gospel according to John vii. 20.\n\n[747] Our informant, who was an eye-witness, is Mr. N\u2014\u2014 ff of St.\nPetersburg, who was attached to the flag-ship _Almaz_, if we are not\nmistaken.\n\n[748] \u201cWhat forces were in operation to cause this oscillation of the\nnewspaper?\u201d asks J. W. Phelps, who quotes the case\u2014\u201cThese were the\nrapid upward motion of heated air, the downward motion of cold air,\nthe translatory motion of the surface breeze, and the circular motion\nof the whirlwind. But how could these combine so as to produce the\noscillation?\u201d (Lecture on \u201cForce Electrically Explained.\u201d)\n\n[749] \u201cRevue des Deux Mondes,\u201d p. 414, 1858.\n\n[750] \u201cConservation of Energy,\u201d p. 140.\n\n[751] Eugenius Philalethes.\n\n[752] \u201cBook of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p. 215.\n\n[753] See \u201cSage\u2019s Dictionnaire des Tissus,\u201d vol. ii., pp. 1-12.\n\n[754] \u201cBook of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p. 230.\n\n[755] \u201cAlchemy, or the Hermetic Philosophy,\u201d p. 25.\n\n[756] See Plutarch: \u201cSymposiacs,\u201d viii. 2. \u201cDiogenianas began and said:\n\u2018Let us admit Plato to the conference and inquire upon what account\nhe says\u2014supposing it to be his sentence\u2014that _God always plays the\ngeometer_.\u2018 I said: \u2018This sentence was not plainly set down in any of\nhis books; yet there are good arguments that it is his, and it is very\nmuch like his expression.\u2019 Tyndares presently subjoined: \u2018He praises\ngeometry as a science that takes off men from sensible objects, and\nmakes them apply themselves to the intelligible and Eternal Nature\u2014the\ncontemplation of which is the end of philosophy, as a view of the\nmysteries of initiation into holy rites.\u2019\u201d\n\n[757] Prof. Ed. L. Youmans: \u201cDescriptive Chemistry.\u201d\n\n[758] In ancient nations the Deity was a trine supplemented by a\ngoddess\u2014the _arba-Ih_, or fourfold God.\n\n[759] Josiah Cooke: \u201cThe New Chemistry.\u201d\n\n[760] Prof. Sterry Hunt\u2019s theory of metalliferous deposits contradicts\nthis; but is it right?\n\n[761] Peisse: \u201cLa M\u00e9decine et les M\u00e9decins,\u201d vol. i., pp. 59, 283.\n\n[762] \u201cThe Conservation of Energy.\u201d\n\n[763] Ibid., p. 136.\n\n[764] Extracts from Robertus di Fluctibus in \u201cThe Rosicrucians.\u201d\n\n[765] \u201cPhilopseud.\u201d\n\n[766] Diog. Laert. in \u201cDemokrit. Vit\u00e6.\u201d\n\n[767] \u201cSatyric. Vitrus D. Architect,\u201d lib. ix., cap. iii.\n\n[768] Pliny: \u201cHist. Nat.\u201d\n\n[769] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science.\u201d\n\n[770] \u201cBook of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., pp. 133-135.\n\n[771] \u201cDionysius of Halicarnassus.\u201d\n\n[772] See vol. ii., chap. 8.\n\n[773] J. M. Peebles: \u201cAround the World.\u201c\n\n[774] John Fiske: \u201d The North American Review,\u201d art. The Laws of\nHistory, July 1869.\n\n[775] J. M. Peebles: \u201cAround the World.\u201d\n\n[776] Savary: \u201cLetters on Egypt,\u201d vol. ii., p. 67. London, 1786.\n\n[777] John Fiske: \u201cNorth American Review,\u201d art. The Laws of History,\nJuly, 1869.\n\n[778] Sir G. C. Lewis: \u201cAstronomy of the Ancients.\u201d\n\n[779] J. Fiske: \u201cNorth American Review,\u201d art. The Laws of History.\n\n[780] We shall attempt to demonstrate in Vol. II., chapter viii., that\nthe ancient \u00c6thiopians were never a Hamitic race.\n\n[781] Servius: \u201cVirgil,\u201d Eclog. vi., v. 42.\n\n[782] Ovid: \u201cFast.,\u201d lib. iii., v. 285-346.\n\n[783] \u201cTitus Livius,\u201d lib. i., cap. xxxi.\n\n[784] Pliny: \u201cHist. Nat.,\u201d lib. ii., cap. liii.\n\n[785] Lucius: \u201cPiso;\u201d Pliny: \u201cHist. Nat.,\u201d lib. xxviii., c. ii.\n\n[786] \u201cColumella,\u201d lib. x., vers. 346, etc.\n\n[787] See \u201cNotice sur les Travaux de l\u2019Academie du Gard,\u201d part i., pp.\n304-314, by la Boissi\u00e8re.\n\n[788] \u201cBell. Jud. adv. Roman,\u201d lib. v., cap. xiv.\n\n[789] \u201cMagasin Scientifique de Go\u00ebthingen,\u201d 3me. ann\u00e9e, 5me. cahier.\n\n[790] \u201cAmmian. Marcel.,\u201d lib. xxiii., cap. vi.\n\n[791] \u201cOupnek-hat,\u201d Brahman xi.\n\n[792] \u201cKtesias, in India ap. Photum.,\u201d Bibl. Cod. lxxii.\n\n[793] Buffon: \u201cHistoire Naturelle des Mineraux,\u201d 6me Mem., art. ii.\n\n[794] \u201cEgypt\u2019s Place in Universal History,\u201d vol. iv., p. 462.\n\n[795] \u201cArch\u00e6ologia,\u201d vol. xv., p. 320.\n\n[796] Lib. ii., c. 50.\n\n[797] Galen: \u201cDe Composit. Medec.,\u201d lib. v.\n\n[798] \u201cAncient Fragments:\u201d see chapter on the Early Kings of Egypt.\n\n[799] \u201cPliny,\u201d lib. vii., c. 56.\n\n[800] Jablonski: \u201cPantheon \u00c6gypti.,\u201d ii., Proleg. 10.\n\n[801] Cicero: \u201cDe Divinatione.\u201d\n\n[802] \u201cTelegraphic Journal,\u201d art. Scientific Prophecy.\n\n[803] Professor Albrecht M\u00fcller: \u201cThe First Traces of Man in Europe.\u201d\nSays the author: \u201cAnd this bronze age reaches to _and overlaps_ the\nbeginning of the historic period in some countries, and so includes the\ngreat epochs of the Assyrian and Egyptian Empires, _B.C. circa_ 1500,\nand the earlier eras of the next succeeding age of iron.\u201d\n\n[804] \u201cConflict between Religion and Science,\u201d chap. i.\n\n[805] Psellus: \u201cChaldean Oracles,\u201d 4, cxliv.\n\n[806] Psellus: \u201cZoroast. Oracles,\u201d 4.\n\n[807] Proctor: \u201cSaturn and the Sabbath of the Jews,\u201d p. 309.\n\n[808] Dioscorides: \u201c\u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9 \u1f59\u03bb\u03b7\u03c2 \u0399\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03ba\u1fc6\u03c2,\u201d lib. v., cap. clviii.\n\n[809] Pliny: \u201cHistoire Naturelle,\u201d lib. xxxviii., cap. vii.\n\n[810] Le P. Paulin de St. Barthelemi: \u201cVoyage aux Indes Orientales,\u201d\nvol. i., p. 358.\n\n[811] Max M\u00fcller, Professor Wilson, and H. J. Bushby, with several\nother Sanscrit students, prove that \u201cOriental scholars, both native\nand European, have shown that the rite of widow-burning was not\nonly unsanctionable but imperatively forbidden by the earliest and\nmost authoritative Hindu Scriptures\u201d (\u201cWidow-burning,\u201d p. 21). See\nMax M\u00fcller\u2019s \u201cComparative Mythology.\u201d \u201cProfessor Wilson,\u201d says Max\nM\u00fcller, \u201cwas the first to point out the falsification of the text and\nthe change of \u2018_yonim agre_\u2019 into \u2018_yonim agne_\u2019 (womb of fire)....\nAccording to the hymns of the \u2018Rig-Veda,\u2019 and the Vaidic ceremonial\ncontained in the \u2018Grihya-S\u00fbtras,\u2019 the wife accompanies the corpse of\nthe husband to the funeral pile, but she is there addressed with a\nverse taken from the \u2018Rig-Veda,\u2019 and ordered to leave her husband, and\nto return to the world of the living\u201d (\u201cComparative Mythology,\u201d p. 35).\n\n[812] Hence the story that Moses fabricated there the serpent or seraph\nof brass which the Israelites worshipped till the reign of Hezekiah.\n\n[813] A. Gell: \u201cNoet. Attic.,\u201d lib. x., cap. xiii.\n\n[814] Such is _not_ our opinion. They were probably built by the\nAtlantians.\n\n[815] \u201cIncidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan,\u201d\nvol. ii., p. 457.\n\n[816] Max M\u00fcller: \u201cChips from a German Workshop,\u201d vol. ii., p. 269.\n\n[817] Max M\u00fcller: \u201cPopol-Vuh,\u201d p. 327.\n\n[818] Why not to the sacrifices of men in ancient worship?\n\n[819] \u201cOdyssey,\u201d xii. 71.\n\n[820] \u201cChips from a German Workshop,\u201d p. 268.\n\n[821] Villemarque, Member of the Institute. Vol. lx.; \u201cCollect et\nNouvelle Serie,\u201d 24, p. 570, 1863; \u201cPoesie des Cloitres Celtiques.\u201d\n\n[822] \u201cArch\u00e6ol.,\u201d vol. xxv., p. 220. London.\n\n[823] \u201cArch\u00e6ol.,\u201d vol. xxv., p. 292. London.\n\n[824] Brasseur de Bourbourg: \u201cCartas,\u201d p. 52.\n\n[825] See Stephens: \u201cTravels in Central America,\u201d etc.\n\n[826] \u201cCartas,\u201d 53, 7-62.\n\n[827] \u201cDie Ph\u00f6nizier,\u201d 70.\n\n[828] See Sanchoniaton in \u201cEusebius,\u201d Pr. Ev. 36; Genesis xiv.\n\n[829] \u201cArch\u00e6ological Society of the Antiquaries of London,\u201d vol. xxv.,\np. 220.\n\n[830] \u201cCartas,\u201d 51.\n\n[831] \u201cHauts Ph\u00e9nomenes de la Magie,\u201d 50.\n\n[832] Genesis xlix.\n\n[833] Dunlap, in his introduction to \u201cSOD, the Mysteries of Adonis,\u201d\nexplains the word \u201cSod,\u201d as _Arcanum_; religious mystery on the\nauthority of Shindler\u2019s \u201cPenteglott\u201d (1201). \u201cThe SECRET of the Lord is\nwith them that fear Him,\u201d says Psalm xxv. 14. This is a mistranslation\nof the Christians, for it ought to read \u201c_Sod_ Ihoh (the mysteries of\nIohoh) are for _those who fear Him_\u201d (Dunlap: \u201cMysteries of Adonis,\u201d\nxi.). \u201cAl (El) is terrible in the great Sod of the _Kedeshim_ (the\npriests, the holy, the _Initiated_), Psalm lxxxix. 7\u201d (_Ibid._).\n\n[834] \u201cThe members of the _priest-colleges_ were called _Sodales_,\u201d\nsays Freund\u2019s \u201cLatin Lexicon\u201d (iv. 448). \u201cSODALITIES were constituted\nin the Id\u00e6an Mysteries of the MIGHTY MOTHER,\u201d writes Cicero (\u201cDe\nSenectute,\u201d 13); Dunlap: \u201cMysteries of Adonis.\u201d\n\n[835] See Wilkinson: \u201cAncient Egyptians,\u201d vol. v., p. 65.\n\n[836] Brasseur de Bourbourg: \u201cMexique,\u201d pp. 135-574.\n\n[837] \u201cCatholic World,\u201d N. Y., January, 1877: Article Nagualism,\nVoodooism, etc.\n\n[838] In \u201cHesiod,\u201d Zeus creates his _third_ race of men out of\nash-trees. In \u201cPopol-Vuh,\u201d we are told the _third_ race of men is\ncreated out of the tree \u201ctzite,\u201d and women are made from the marrow of\na reed which was called \u201csibac.\u201d This also is a strange coincidence.\n\n[839] \u201cPopol-Vuh,\u201d reviewed by Max M\u00fcller.\n\n[840] Frank Vincent, Jun.: \u201cThe Land of the White Elephant,\u201d p. 209.\n\n[841] The Hanoum\u0101 is over three feet tall, and black as a coal. The\n_Ramayana_, giving the biography of this sacred monkey, relates that\nHanoum\u0101 was formerly a powerful chieftain, who being the greatest\nfriend of Rama, helped him to find his wife, Sith\u00e2, who had been\ncarried off to Ceylon by R\u00e2vana, the mighty king of the giants. After\nnumerous adventures Hanoum\u0101 was caught by the latter, while visiting\nthe city of the giant as Rama\u2019s spy. For this crime R\u00e2vana had the poor\nHanoum\u0101\u2019s tail oiled and set on fire, and it was in extinguishing\nit that the monkey-god became so black in the face that neither\nhimself nor his posterity could ever get rid of the color. If we have\nto believe Hindu legends this same Hanoum\u0101 was the _progenitor_ of\nthe Europeans; a tradition which, though strictly Darwinian, hence,\nscientific, is by no means flattering to us. The legend states that for\nservices rendered, Rama, the hero and demi-god, gave in marriage to the\nmonkey-warriors of his army the daughters of the giants of Ceylon\u2014the\nB\u00e2kshasas\u2014and granted them, moreover, as a dowry, all western parts of\nthe world. Repairing thence, the monkeys and their giant-wives lived\nhappily and had a number of descendants. The latter are the present\nEuropeans. Dravidian words are found in Western Europe, indicating\nthat there was an original unity of race and language between the\npopulations. May it not be a hint that the traditions are akin, of\nelfin and kobold races in Europe, and monkeys, actually cognate with\nthem in Hindustan?\n\n[842] \u201cIncidents of Travels in Central America, etc.,\u201d vol. i., p. 105.\n\n[843] They stand no more, for the obelisk alone was removed to Paris.\n\n[844] See \u201cThe Land of the White Elephant,\u201d p. 221.\n\n[845] The President of the Royal Geographical Society of Berlin.\n\n[846] \u201cThe Land of the White Elephant,\u201d p. 215.\n\n[847] The Ph\u0153nician Dido is the feminine of David \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3\u202f, \u05d3\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5. Under\nthe name of Astart\u00e8, she led the Ph\u0153nician colonies, and her image was\non the prow of their ships. But David and Saul are names belonging to\nAfghanistan also.\n\n[848] (Prof. A. Wilder.) This arch\u00e6ologist says: \u201cI regard the\n\u00c6thiopian, Cushite and Hamitic races as the building and artistic race\nwho worshipped Baal (Siva), or Bel\u2014made temples, grottos, pyramids, and\nused a language of peculiar type. Rawlinson derives that language from\nthe _Turanians_ in Hindustan.\u201d\n\n[849] Prof. A. Wilder among others.\n\n[850] See Martin Haug\u2019s translation: \u201cThe Aytareya Brahmanam.\u201c\n\n[851] Judges xvii.-xviii., etc.\n\n[852] The Zendic _H_ is _S_ in India. Thus Hapta is Sapta; _Hindu_ is\n_Sindhaya_. (A. Wilder.) \u201d ... the _S_ continually softens to _H_ from\nGreece to Calcutta, from the Caucasus to Egypt,\u201d says Dunlap. Therefore\nthe letters _K_, _H_, and _S_ are interchangeable.\n\n[853] Guignant: \u201cOp. cit.,\u201d vol. i., p. 167.\n\n[854] \u201cIncidents of Travel in Central America, etc.\u201d\n\n[855] See Paul to the Galatians, iv. 24, and Gospel according to\nMatthew, xiii. 10-15.\n\n[856] A. Wilder says that \u201cGan-duniyas,\u201d is a name of Babylonia.\n\n[857] The appropriate definition of the name \u201cTuranian\u201d is, any ethnic\nfamily that ethnologists know nothing about.\n\n[858] See Berosus and Sanchoniathon: Cory\u2019s \u201cAncient Fragments:\u201d Movers\nand others.\n\n[859] Movers, 86.\n\n[860] Ibid.\n\n[861] Sanchon.: in Cory\u2019s \u201cFragments,\u201d p. 14.\n\n[862] In an old Brahmanical book called the \u201cProphecies,\u201d by\nRamatsariar, as well as in the Southern MSS. in the legend of Christna,\nthe latter gives nearly word for word the first two chapters of\nGenesis. He recounts the creation of man\u2014whom he calls _Adima_, in\nSanscrit, the \u2018first man\u2019\u2014and the first woman is called _Heva_, that\nwhich completes life. According to Louis Jacolliot (\u201cLa Bible dans\nl\u2019Inde\u201d), Christna existed, and his legend was written, over 3,000\nyears B. C.\n\n[863] _Adah_ in Hebrew is \u05d2\u05df\u05be\u05e2\u05d3\u05df, and Eden, \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd. The first is a\nwoman\u2019s name; the second the designation of a country. They are closely\nrelated to each other; but hardly to Adam and Akkad\u2014\u05db\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8, which\nare spelled with aleph.\n\n[864] The two words answer to the terms, _Macroprosopos_, or\nmacrocosm\u2014the absolute and boundless, and the _Microprosopos_ of\nthe \u201cKabala,\u201d the \u201cshort face,\u201d or the microcosm\u2014the finite and\nconditioned. It is not translated; nor is it likely to be. The\nThibetean monks say that it is the real \u201cSutr\u00e2s.\u201d Some Buddhists\nbelieve that Buddha was, in a previous existence, Kapila himself. We\ndo not see how several Sanscrit scholars can entertain the idea that\nKapila was an atheist, while every legend shows him the most ascetic\nmystic, the founder of the sect of the Yogis.\n\n[865] The \u201cBrahmanas\u201d were translated by Dr. Haug; see his \u201cAitareya\nBr\u00e2hmanam.\u201d\n\n[866] The \u201cStan-gyour\u201d is full of rules of magic, the study of occult\npowers, and their acquisition, charms, incantations, etc.; and is as\nlittle understood by its lay-interpreters as the Jewish \u201cBible\u201d is by\nour clergy, or the \u201cKabala\u201d by the European Rabbis.\n\n[867] \u201cAitareya Brahmana,\u201d Lecture by Max M\u00fcller.\n\n[868] Ibid., \u201cBuddhist Pilgrims.\u201d\n\n[869] \u201cProgress of Religious Ideas through Successive Ages,\u201d vol. i.,\np. 17.\n\n[870] \u201cLa Bible dans l\u2019Inde.\u201d\n\n[871] \u201cLa Bible dans l\u2019Inde.\u201d\n\n[872] \u201cPresbyterian Banner,\u201d December 20, 1876.\n\n[873] \u201cLa Bible dans l\u2019Inde.\u201d\n\n[874] See Max M\u00fcller\u2019s \u201cLecture on the Vedas.\u201d\n\n[875] See Roth\u2019s \u201cThe Burial in India;\u201d Max M\u00fcller\u2019s \u201cComparative\nMythology\u201d (Lecture); Wilson\u2019s article, \u201cThe Supposed Vaidic Authority\nfor the Burning of Hindu Widows,\u201d etc.\n\n[876] Bunsen gives as the first year of Menes, 3645; Manetho as 3892\nB.C. \u201cEqypt\u2019s Place,\u201d etc., vol. v., 34; Key.\n\n[877] Louis Jacolliot, in \u201cThe Bible in India,\u201d affirms the same.\n\n[878] _Purana_ means ancient and sacred history or tradition. See\nLoiseleur Des-longchamp\u2019s translations of \u201cManu;\u201d also L. Jacolliot\u2019s\n\u201cLa Gen\u00e8se dans l\u2019Humanit\u00e9.\u201d\n\n[879] There are arch\u00e6ologists, who, like Mr. James Fergusson, deny\nthe great antiquity of even one single monument in India. In his\nwork, \u201cIllustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India,\u201d the author\nventures to express the very extraordinary opinion that \u201cEgypt had\nceased to be a nation before the earliest of the cave-temples of India\nwas excavated.\u201d In short, he does not admit the existence of any\ncave anterior to the reign of Asoka, and seems willing to prove that\nmost of these rock-cut temples were executed from the time of that\npious Buddhist king, till the destruction of the Andhra dynasty of\nMaghada, in the beginning of the fifth century. We believe such a claim\nperfectly arbitrary. Further discoveries are sure to show how erroneous\nand unwarranted it was.\n\n[880] It is a strange coincidence that when first discovered, America\nwas found to bear among some native tribes the name of Atlanta.\n\n[881] Baldwin: \u201cPrehistoric Nations,\u201d p. 179.\n\n[882] Alberico Vespuzio, the son of Anastasio Vespuzio or Vespuchy, is\nnow gravely doubted in regard to the naming of the New World. Indeed\nthe name is said to have occurred in a work written several centuries\nbefore. A. Wilder (Notes).\n\n[883] See Thomas Belt: \u201cThe Naturalists in Nicaragua.\u201d London, 1873.\n\n[884] Torf\u00e6us: \u201cHistoria Vinlandi\u00e6 Antiqu\u00e6.\u201d\n\n[885] 2 Kings, xxii. 14; 2 Chronicles, xxxiv. 22.\n\n[886] As we are going to press with this chapter, we have received\nfrom Paris, through the kindness of the Honorable John L. O\u2019Sullivan,\nthe complete works of Louis Jacolliot in twenty-one volumes. They are\nchiefly upon India and its old traditions, philosophy, and religion.\nThis indefatigable writer has collected a world of information from\nvarious sources, mostly authentic. While we do not accept his personal\nviews on many points, still we freely acknowledge the extreme value of\nhis copious translations from the Indian sacred books. The more so,\nsince we find them corroborating in every respect the assertions we\nhave made. Among other instances is this matter of the submergence of\ncontinents in prehistoric days.\n\nIn his \u201cHistoire des Vierges: Les Peuples et les Continents Disparus,\u201d\nhe says: \u201cOne of the most ancient legends of India, preserved in the\ntemples by oral and written tradition, relates that several hundred\nthousand years ago there existed in the Pacific Ocean, an immense\ncontinent which was destroyed by geological upheaval, and the fragments\nof which must be sought in Madagascar, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo,\nand the principal isles of Polynesia.\n\n\u201cThe high plateaux of Hindustan and Asia, according to this hypothesis,\nwould only have been represented in those distant epochs by great\nislands contiguous to the central continent.... According to the\nBrahmans this country had attained a high civilization, and the\npeninsula of Hindustan, enlarged by the displacement of the waters, at\nthe time of the grand cataclysm, has but continued the chain of the\nprimitive traditions born in this place. These traditions give the name\nof _Rutas_ to the peoples which inhabited this immense equinoctial\ncontinent, and from their speech _was derived the Sanscrit_.\u201d (We will\nhave something to say of this language in our second volume.)\n\n\u201cThe Indo-Hellenic tradition, preserved by the most intelligent\npopulation which emigrated from the plains of India, equally relates\nthe existence of a continent and a people to which it gives the name of\nAtlantis and Atlantides, and which it locates in the Atlantic in the\nnorthern portion of the Tropics.\n\n\u201cApart from the fact that the supposition of an ancient continent in\nthose latitudes, the vestiges of which may be found in the volcanic\nislands and mountainous surface of the Azores, the Canaries and Cape\nVerd, is not devoid of geographical probability, the Greeks, who,\nmoreover, never dared to pass beyond the pillars of Hercules, on\naccount of their dread of the mysterious ocean, appeared too late\nin antiquity for the stories preserved by Plato to be anything else\nthan an echo of the Indian legend. Moreover, when we cast a look on a\nplanisphere, at the sight of the islands and islets strewn from the\nMalayan Archipelago to Polynesia, from the straits of Sund to Easter\nIsland, it is impossible, upon the hypothesis of continents preceding\nthose which we inhabit, not to place there the most important of all.\n\n\u201cA religious belief, common to Malacca and Polynesia, that is to say\nto the two opposite extremes of the Oceanic world, affirms \u2018that all\nthese islands once formed two immense countries, inhabited by yellow\nmen and black men, always at war; and that the gods, wearied with their\nquarrels, having charged Ocean to pacify them, the latter swallowed up\nthe two continents, and since, it had been impossible to make him give\nup his captives. Alone, the mountain-peaks and high plateaux escaped\nthe flood, by the power of the gods, who perceived too late the mistake\nthey had committed.\u2019\n\n\u201cWhatever there may be in these traditions, and whatever may have been\nthe place where a civilization more ancient than that of Rome, of\nGreece, of Egypt, and of India was developed, it is certain that this\ncivilization did exist, and that it is highly important for science\nto recover its traces, however feeble and fugitive they may be\u201d (pp.\n13-15).\n\nThis last tradition, translated by Louis Jacolliot from the Sanscrit\nmanuscripts, corroborates the one we have given from the \u201cRecords of\nthe Secret Doctrine.\u201d The war mentioned between the yellow and the\nblack men, relates to a struggle between the \u201csons of God\u201d and the\n\u201csons of giants,\u201d or the inhabitants and magicians of the Atlantis.\n\nThe final conclusion of M. Jacolliot, who visited personally all the\nislands of Polynesia, and devoted years to the study of the religion,\nlanguage, and traditions of nearly all the peoples, is as follows:\n\n\u201cAs to the Polynesian continent which disappeared at the time of the\nfinal geological cataclysms, its existence rests on such proofs that to\nbe logical we can doubt no longer.\n\n\u201cThe three summits of this continent, Sandwich Islands, New Zealand,\nEaster Island, are distant from each other from fifteen to eighteen\nhundred leagues, and the groups of intermediate islands, Viti, Samoa,\nTonga, Foutouna, Ouvea, Marquesas, Tahiti, Poumouton, Gambiers, are\nthemselves distant from these extreme points from seven or eight\nhundred to one thousand leagues.\n\n\u201cAll navigators agree in saying that the extreme and the central groups\ncould never have communicated in view of their actual geographical\nposition, and with the insufficient means they had at hand. It is\nphysically impossible to cross such distances in a pirogue ... without\na compass, and travel months without provisions.\n\n\u201cOn the other hand, the aborigines of the Sandwich Islands, of Viti,\nof New Zealand, of the central groups, of Samoa, Tahiti, etc., _had\nnever known each other, had never heard of each other_ before the\narrival of the Europeans. _And yet, each of these people maintained\nthat their island had at one time formed a part of an immense stretch\nof land which extended toward the West, on the side of Asia._ And all,\nbrought together, were found to speak the same language, to have the\nsame usages, the same customs, the same religious belief. And all to\nthe question, \u2018Where is the cradle of your race?\u2019 for sole response,\n_extended their hand toward the setting sun_\u201d (Ibid., p. 308).\n\n[887] These \u201cmagic mirrors,\u201d generally black, are another proof of\nthe universality of an identical belief. In India these mirrors are\nprepared in the province of Agra and are also fabricated in Thibet and\nChina. And we find them in Ancient Egypt, from whence, according to the\nnative historian quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, the ancestors of the\nQuich\u00e8s brought them to Mexico; the Peruvian sun-worshippers also used\nit. When the Spaniards had landed, says the historian, the King of the\nQuich\u00e8s, ordered his priests to consult the mirror, in order to learn\nthe fate of his kingdom. \u201cThe _demon_ reflected the present and the\nfuture as in a mirror,\u201d he adds (De Bourbourg: \u201cMexique,\u201d p. 184).\n\n[888] Pay\u2019quina, or _Payaquina_, so called because its waves used to\ndrift particles of gold from the Brazil. We found a few specks of\ngenuine metal in a handful of sand that we brought back to Europe.\n\n[889] The regions somewhere about _Udyana_ and _Kashmere_, as the\ntranslator and editor of Marco Polo (Colonel Yule), believes. Vol. i.,\np. 173.\n\n[890] \u201cVoyage des P\u00e8lerins Bouddhistes,\u201d vol. 1.; \u201cHistoire de la Vie\nde Hiouen-Thsang,\u201d etc., traduit du Chinois en fran\u00e7ais, par Stanislas\nJulien.\n\n[891] Lao-tsi, the Chinese philosopher.\n\n[892] \u201cThe Book of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p. 318. See also, in this\nconnection, the experiments of Mr. Crookes, described in chapter vi. of\nthis work.\n\n[893] Max M\u00fcller: \u201cBuddhist Pilgrims.\u201d\n\n[894] Berlin Academy of Sciences, 1846.\n\n[895] Colonel Yule makes a remark in relation to the above Chinese\nmysticism which for its noble fairness we quote most willingly. \u201cIn\n1871,\u201d he says, \u201cI saw in Bond street an exhibition of the (so-called)\n\u2018spirit\u2019 drawings, _i.e._, drawings executed by a \u2018medium\u2019 under\nextraneous and invisible guidance. A number of these extraordinary\nproductions (for extraordinary they were undoubtedly) professed to\nrepresent the \u2018Spiritual Flowers\u2019 of such and such persons; and the\nexplanation of these as presented in the catalogue was in substance\nexactly that given in the text. It is highly improbable that the\nartist had any cognizance of Schott\u2019s Essays, and the coincidence was\ncertainly very striking\u201d (\u201cThe Book of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p.\n444).\n\n[896] Schott: \u201cEssay on Buddhism,\u201d p. 103.\n\n[897] \u201cThe Book of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., Preface to the second\nedition, p. viii.\n\n[898] Ibid., vol. i., p. 203.\n\n[899] \u201cVisdelon,\u201d p. 130.\n\n[900] \u201cPliny,\u201d vii., 2.\n\n[901] \u201cPhilostratus,\u201d book ii., chap. iv.\n\n[902] Ibid., book iv., p. 382; \u201cBook of Ser Marco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p.\n206.\n\n[903] There are pious critics who deny the world the same right to\njudge the \u201cBible\u201d on the testimony of deductive logic as \u201cany other\nbook.\u201d Even exact science must bow to this decree. In the concluding\nparagraph of an article devoted to a terrible onslaught on Baron\nBunsen\u2019s \u201cChronology,\u201d which _does not quite agree_ with the \u201cBible,\u201d\na writer exclaims, \u201cthe subject we have proposed to ourselves is\ncompleted.... We have endeavored to meet Chevalier Bunsen\u2019s charges\nagainst the inspiration of the \u201cBible\u201d on its own ground.... An\ninspired book ... never can, as an expression of its own teaching, or\nas a part of its own record, bear witness to any untrue or ignorant\nstatement of fact, whether in history or doctrine. _If it be untrue\nin its witness of one, who shall trust its truth in the witness of\nthe other_?\u201d (\u201cThe Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record,\u201d\nedited by the Rev. H. Burgess, Oct., 1859, p. 70.)\n\n[904] Remusat: \u201cHistoire du Khotan,\u201d p. 74; \u201cMarco Polo,\u201d vol. i., p.\n206.\n\n[905] Like the _Psylli_, or serpent-charmers of Libya, whose gift is\nhereditary.\n\n[906] \u201cSer Marco Polo,\u201d vol. ii., p. 321.\n\n[907] \u201cThe Spiritualist.\u201d London, Nov. 10, 1876.\n\n[908] Read any of the papers, of the summer and autumn of 1876.\n\n[909] Tite-Livy, v. d\u00e9c. i.,\u2014Val. Max., 1, cap. vii.\n\n[910] See \u201cLes Hauts Ph\u00e9nomenes de la Magie;\u201d \u201cLa Magie au XIXme\nSi\u00e8cle;\u201d \u201cDieu et les Dieux,\u201d etc.\n\n[911] \u201cDe Idol. Vanit.,\u201d lib. i., p. 452.\n\n[912] These, after their bodily death, unable to soar higher,\nattached to terrestrial regions, delight in the society of the kind\nof elementals which by their affinity with vice attract them the\nmost. They identify themselves with these to such a degree that they\nvery soon lose sight of their own identity, and become a part of the\nelementals, the help of which they need to communicate with mortals.\nBut as the nature-spirits are _not_ immortal, so the human elementary\nwho have lost their divine guide\u2014spirit\u2014can last no longer than the\nessence of the elements which compose their astral bodies holds\ntogether.\n\n[913] L. Jacolliot: \u201cVoyage au Pays des Perles.\u201d\n\n[914] \u201cUltimate Deductions of Science; The Earth Motionless.\u201d A lecture\ndemonstrating that our globe does neither turn about its own axis nor\naround the sun; delivered in Berlin by Doctor Sho\u00ebpfer. Seventh Edition.\n\n[915] Champ.-Figeac: \u201cEgypte,\u201d p. 143.\n\n[916] Ibid., p. 119.\n\n[917] Ibid., p. 2.\n\n[918] Ibid., p. 11.\n\n\n\n\n INDEX.\n\n\n Abarbanel, his explanation of the sign of the coming of the Messiah,\n ii. 256\n\n Abracadabra, diabolical, evoked anew, ii. 4\n\n Abraham, his history, ii. 217;\n belongs to the universal mythology, ii. 216;\n _Zeruan_, _ib._;\n Isaac, and Judah, from Brahma, Ikshwaka and Yada, ii. 488;\n and his sons, the story an allegory, ii. 493\n\n Abraiaman, or charmers of fishes and wild beasts in Ceylon, i. 606\n\n Absolution and penance authorized in the Church of England, ii. 544\n\n Absorbed, a state of intimate union, ii. 117\n\n Abuses of magic denounced by the ancients, ii. 97, 99\n\n Abydos, a pre-Menite dynasty, ii. 361\n\n Academicians, French, i. 60;\n reject theurgical magic, i. 281\n\n Academy, French, indignant at the charge of Satanism, i. 101;\n rejected mesmerism, i. 165, 171;\n Committee of 1784, i. 171;\n Committee of 1826, i. 173\n\n Acari, produced by chemical experiments, i. 465\n\n Accuser of Souls at the judgment, ii. 487\n\n Acher (Paul) in the garden of delights, ii. 119;\n \u201cmade depredations,\u201d _ib._\n\n Actions guided by spiritual beings, i. 366\n\n Ad, its meaning, i. 579\n\n Adah, her sons from the Euxine to Kashmere, i. 579\n\n Ad-Am, only-begotten, i. 579\n\n Adam (\u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03c9\u03c2), Divine essence emanating from,\n i. 1;\n the primitive man, i. 2;\n the second, i. 297;\n the same as the \u201cgods,\u201d or Elohim, i. 299;\n of dust, i. 302;\n Kadmon, androgynous, i. 297;\n the first man evolved, _ib._;\n same as the Logos, Prometheus, Pimander, Hermes, and Herakles, i.\n 298;\n of Eden, eat without initiation of the Tree of Knowledge or secret\n doctrine, i. 575;\n invested with the _chitun_, or coat of skin, _ib._;\n the fall, not personal transgression, but a law of dual evolution,\n ii. 277;\n conducted from Hell, ii. 517;\n same as Tamuz, Adonis, and Helios, _ib._;\n sends Seth on an errand to paradise, ii. 520;\n Kadmon, ii. 36;\n Kadmon, i. 93;\n Kadmon, the first race of men his emanations, ii. 276;\n Primus, the Microprosopus, ii. 452\n\n Adamic Earth, i. 51\n\n Adamite, the third race, produced by two races, i. 305\n\n Adanari, the Hindu goddess, ii. 451, 453\n\n Adar-gat, Aster\u2019t, etc., the _Magna Mater_, i. 579\n\n Adept, the first self-made, ii. 317;\n of the highest order, may live indefinitely, ii. 563;\n of the seventh rite, ii. 564\n\n Adepts few, i. 17;\n in Paris and elsewhere ii. 403;\n \u201ctravellers,\u201d _ib._\n\n Adhima and Heva, created by Siva, and ancestors of the present race,\n i. 590\n\n A\u2019di Buddha, the Unknown, ii. 156;\n the father of the Yezidis, ii. 571\n\n Adima and Heva, in the prophecies of Ramatsariar, i. 579\n\n Adonai or Adamites, i. 303\n\n Adonim, i. 301\n\n Adonis, his rites celebrated in the grotto at Bethlehem, ii. 139\n\n Adonis-worship, at the Jordan, ii. 181\n\n Adrian supposed the Christians to worship Serapis, ii. 336\n\n \u00c6bel-Zivo, the Metatron, or Anointed spirit, ii. 154; ii. 236, 247;\n the same as the Angel Gabriel, ii. 247\n\n \u00c6neas drives away ghosts with his sword, i. 362, 363\n\n \u00c6ons, or genii, i. 300\n\n A\u00ebrolites, used in the Mysteries, i. 282;\n in the tower of Belos, ii. 331;\n used to develop prophetic power, _ib._\n\n \u00c6ther, i. 56;\n in that form the Deity pervading all, i. 129;\n the primordial chaos, i. 134;\n the spirit of cosmic matter, i. 156;\n deified, i. 158;\n source whence all things come and whither they will return, i. 189;\n the fifth element, i. 342;\n a medium between this world and the other, _ib._;\n the Breath of the Father, the Holy Ghost, ii. 50\n\n \u00c6thiopia, east of Babylonia, ii. 434\n\n \u00c6thiopians from the Indus, who settled near Egypt, probably Jews, i.\n 567;\n originally an Indian race, ii. 437;\n law of inheritance by the mother, _ib._\n\n Affinity of soul for body, i. 344;\n acknowledged between the _Syllabus_ and the _Koran_, ii. 82\n\n Afrasiah, the King of Assyria, i. 575\n\n Africa, phantoms appearing in the desert, i. 604\n\n Afrits, i. 141;\n nature-spirits, Shedim, demons, i. 313;\n studying antediluvian literature, ii. 29\n\n Agassiz, Prof. L., unfairness of, i. 63;\n his argument in favor of the immortality of all orders of living\n beings, i. 420\n\n Agathodaimon and Kakothodaimon, i. 133\n\n Agathad\u00e6mon, the serpent on a pole, ii. 512\n\n Age of paper, i. 535\n\n Aged of the aged, ii. 244\n\n Ages, golden, silver, copper and iron, no fiction, i. 34;\n or Aions, ii. 144\n\n Agni, the sun-god and fire-god, i. 270\n\n Agrippa, Cornelius, i. 167, 200;\n his remarks on the marvellous power of the human soul, i. 280\n\n Ahab and his sons encouraged by the prophets, ii. 525\n\n Ahaz, his family deposed, ii. 440\n\n Ahijah the prophet instigates Jeroboam to revolt against Solomon, ii.\n 439\n\n Ahriman, his contest with Ormazd, ii. 237;\n to be purified in the fiery lake, ii. 238\n\n Aij-Ta\u00efon, the Supreme God of the Yakuts of Siberia, ii. 568\n\n Ain-Soph, ii. 210\n\n Ajunta, Buddhistic caverns of, i. 349\n\n Ak\u00e2sa, or life-principle, i. 113;\n known to Hindu magicians, _ib._;\n same as Arch\u00e6us, i. 125;\n a designation of astral and celestial lights combined, forming\n the _anima mundi_, and constituting the soul and spirit of man,\n i. 139;\n the will, i. 144\n\n Ak-Ad or Akkad, meaning suggested, i. 579\n\n Akkadians, introduced the worship of Bel or Baal, i. 263;\n progenitors and Aryan instructors of the Chaldeans, i. 576;\n never a Turanian tribe, _ib._;\n a tribe of Hindus, _ib._;\n from Armenia, perhaps from Ceylon, i. 578;\n invented by Lenormant, ii. 423\n\n Akiba in the garden of delights, ii. 119\n\n Aksakof, i. 41, 46; protests against the decision of Prof.\n Mendeleyeff and commission adverse to mediumism, i. 118\n\n Alba petra, or white stone of initiation, ii. 351\n\n Alberico and not Amerigo, the name of Vespucius or Vespuzio, i. 591\n\n Albertus Magnus, ii. 20\n\n Albigenses, descendants of the Gnostics, ii. 502\n\n Albumazar on the identity of the myths, ii. 489\n\n Alchemical principles, i. 191\n\n Alchemists, i. 66, 205\n\n Alchemy, universally studied, i. 502;\n old as tradition, i. 503;\n books destroyed by Diocletian, the Roman Emperor, _ib._\n\n Alchemy and magic prevalent among the clergy, ii. 57\n\n Aleim or Eloim, gods or powers, also priests, i. 575\n\n Alexander of Macedonia, his expedition into India doubtful, ii. 429\n\n Alexandrian library, the most precious rolls preserved, ii. 27;\n learned Copts do not believe it destroyed, ii. 28;\n obtained from the Asiatics, _ib._;\n school, derived the soul from the ether or world-soul, i. 316.\n\n Algebra, i. 536\n\n Alkahest, i. 50;\n the universal solvent clear water, i. 133;\n overlooked by the French Academy, i. 165;\n explained by Van Helmont and Paracelsus, i. 191\n\n Allegory, becomes sacred history, ii. 406;\n reserved for the inner sanctuary, ii. 493\n\n Alligators do not disturb fakirs, i. 383\n\n Allopathists in medicine enemies to psychology, i. 88;\n oppose everything till stamped as regular, _ib._;\n oppose discoveries, _ib._\n\n All things formed after the model, i. 302\n\n \u201cAlmighty, the Nebulous,\u201d i. 129\n\n Al-om-jah, an Egyptian hierophant, ii. 364\n\n Alsatians believe Paracelsus to be only sleeping in his grave, ii. 500\n\n Amasis, King of Egypt, sends a linen garment to Lindus, i. 536\n\n Amazons, their circle-dance in Palestine, ii. 45\n\n Amberley, Viscount, regards Jesus as an iconoclastic idealist, ii.\n 562;\n looks down upon the social plane indicated by the great Sopher,\n _ib._\n\n Amenthes, or Amenti, has no blazing hell, ii. 11\n\n Americ, or great mountain, the name of a range in Central America\n visited by Columbus, i. 592\n\n America, Central, lost cities, i. 239;\n not named from Vespucius, i. 591;\n name found in Nicaragua, i. 592;\n first applied to the continent in 1522, _ib._;\n Markland, _ib._;\n note of A. Wilder, _ib._;\n the conservatory of spiritual sensitives, ii. 19\n\n American lodges know nothing of esoteric Masonry, ii. 376;\n templarism, its three degrees, ii. 383\n\n Americans to join the Catholic Church, ii. 379\n\n Amita or Buddha, his realm, i. 601\n\n Ammonius Sakkas, i. 443;\n dated his philosophy from Hermes, ii. 342\n\n Amrita, the supreme soul, i. 265\n\n Amulet, a soldier made proof by one against bullets, i. 378\n\n Amulets and relics, spells and phylacteries, ii. 352\n\n Amun, i. 262\n\n An, spirits of, ii. 387\n\n An\u00e6sthesia, its discovery by Wells, i. 539;\n the improvements by Morton, Simpson, and Colton, i. 540;\n understood by the Egyptians and Brahmans, _ib._\n\n Anahit, the earth, i. 11\n\n Anathems, a custom original with Christians, ii. 334\n\n Anaxagoras, belief concerning spiritual prototypes, i. 158\n\n Anaximenes held the doctrine of evolution or development, i. 238\n\n Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite a Jesuitical product, ii. 390\n\n Ancient Philosophies, based on the doctrine of God the universal mind\n diffused throughout nature, i. 289;\n books written symbolically, i. 19;\n of the ancient, i. 302;\n Code of Manu, not in our possession, i. 585, 586;\n landmarks of Masonry departed from, ii. 380;\n mysteries hidden only from the profane, ii. 121;\n religions, the wisdom or doctrine, their basis, ii. 99;\n identical as to their secret meaning, ii. 410;\n derived from one primitive worship, ii. 412;\n word, note of Emanuel Swedenborg, ii. 470;\n in Buddhistic Tartary, ii. 471\n\n Ancients, monotheistical before Moses, i. 23;\n knew certain sciences better than modern savants, i. 25;\n regarded the physical sun as only an emblem, i. 270;\n practiced psychometry, i. 331;\n their religion that of the future, i. 613\n\n Anderson, author of the Constitutions of 1723 and 1738, a Masonic\n impostor, ii. 389;\n Steve, his spiritual advisers anxious for his speedy execution lest\n he should fall from grace, ii. 543\n\n Angelo, Michel, his remarkable gem, i. 240\n\n Angkor, figures purely archaic, i. 567\n\n Anglican Church adopting again the Roman usages, ii. 544\n\n Anima, i. 37\n\n Anima Mundi, or world-soul, i. 56, 258;\n same as Nirvana, i. 291;\n feminine with the Gnostics and Nazarenes, i. 300;\n bi-sexual, i. 301;\n same as the astral light, _ib._;\n an igneous, ethereal nature, i. 316, 317;\n the human soul born upon leaving, i. 345\n\n Animals, perhaps immortal, argument of Agassiz, i. 420, 427;\n argument from natural instinct, i. 426, 427;\n shut up in the ark, ii. 447\n\n Animation, suspended, i. 483;\n voluntarily, _ib._;\n in cataleptic clairvoyance, i. 489\n\n Anna, St., going in quest of her daughter Mary, ii. 491;\n the origin of the name, _ib._\n\n Annas and Caiaphas confess Jesus to be the Son of God, ii. 522\n\n Annihilation, the meaning of the Buddhist doctrine, i. 290;\n of the soul, i. 319\n\n Annoia, ii. 282, 286\n\n Anthesteria, the baptism and passage through the gate, ii. 245, 246\n\n Anthropomorphic devil the bottom card, ii. 479\n\n Anti-Christ, a fable invented as a precaution, ii. 535\n\n Antichristianism, seeking to overthrow Christianity by science, i. 337\n\n Anti-Masonic Convention denying the validity of an oath, ii. 373-375\n\n Antipathy, its beginning, i. 309\n\n Antitypes of men to be born, i. 310\n\n Antiquity of human race, over 250,000 years, i. 3;\n of necromancy and spiritualism, remote, i. 205;\n lost natural philosophy, i. 235;\n of optical instruments, gunpowder, the steam-engine, astronomical\n science, i. 240, 241;\n of the flood, i. 241;\n opinion of Aristotle, i. 428\n\n Ape, astral body, i. 327;\n a degenerated man, ii. 278\n\n Apis, the bull, secret book concerning his age, i. 406\n\n Apocryphal Gospels first received and then discarded, ii. 518\n\n Apollo made the prince of demons and lord of the under-world, ii. 488\n\n Apollonius of Tyana, his journey an allegory, i. 19;\n regard for stones, i. 265;\n cast out devils, i. 356;\n his power to witness the present and the future, i. 486;\n beheld an empusa or gh\u00fbl, i. 604;\n testimony of Justin Martyr respecting his powers, ii. 97;\n not a \u201cspirit-medium,\u201d ii. 118;\n his mistake, ii. 341;\n his conjurations when wrapped in a woolen mantle, ii. 344;\n visited Kashmere, ii. 434;\n the faculty of his soul to quit the body, ii. 597;\n vanished from sight and renewal elsewhere, _ib._\n\n Apollyon, his various characters, ii. 511\n\n Apophis, or Apap, the dragon, infests the soul, ii. 368\n\n Apostles, Acts of, rejected, ii. 182;\n Creed a forgery, ii. 514\n\n Apostles of Buddhism, ii. 608\n\n Apparitions of spirits of animals, i. 326\n\n Appleton\u2019s New American Cyclop\u00e6dia misstates the date of the laws of\n Manu, i. 587\n\n Apuleius\u2019 doctrine concerning birth and death of the soul, ii. 345;\n on the beatific vision, ii. 145;\n accused of black magic, ii. 149\n\n Aquinas, Thomas, destroys the brazen oracular head of Albertus\n Magnus, ii. 56\n\n Arabic manuscripts, 80,000 burned at Granada, i. 511\n\n Aralez, Armenian gods who revivify men, ii. 564\n\n Arcane powers in Man, ii. 112;\n knowledge and sorcery, ii. 583\n\n Arch\u00e6us, i. 14;\n same as Chaos, fire, sidereal or astral light, psychic or ektenic\n force, Akasa, etc., i. 125;\n the principle of life, i. 400\n\n Arch\u00e6ologists, their attacks on each other, ii. 471, 472\n\n Archetypal man a spheroid, ii. 469\n\n Architecture of the Egyptian temples, i. 517\n\n Architectural remains in different countries, their remarkable\n identity of parts, i. 572\n\n Archons of this world, ii. 89, 90\n\n Archytas, instructor of Plato, constructed a wooden dove, i. 543;\n invented the screw and crane, _ib._\n\n Arctic regions visited by the Ph\u0153nicians, i. 545\n\n Argha, or ark, ii. 444\n\n Arhat, i. 291;\n reaches Nirvana while on earth, ii. 320\n\n Arhats, free from evil desire, i. 346\n\n Aristotle on the human soul and the world-soul, i. 251;\n three natural principles, i. 310;\n on gas from the earth, i. 200;\n on form, i. 312;\n on the _nous_ and _psuche_, i. 316;\n on the filth element, i. 317;\n believed in the nous and psuche, the reasoning and the animal soul,\n i. 317;\n borrowed doctrines from Pythagoras, i. 319, 320;\n believed in a past eternity of human existence, i. 428;\n doctrine of two-fold soul, i. 429;\n taught the Buddhistic doctrine, i. 430;\n believed light to be itself an energy, i. 510;\n contradicted by the Neo-Platonists, i. 430;\n taught that the earth was the centre of the universe, i. 408;\n obnoxious to Christian theology, ii. 34;\n upon Jon or \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, ii. 302\n\n Ark, what it represents, ii. 444\n\n Armenian tradition of giving life to a slain warrior, ii. 564\n\n Armor, Prof., theory of malformations, i. 392\n\n Arnobius, believed the soul corporeal, i. 317\n\n Artesian well, used in China, i. 517\n\n Articles of faith of the ancient wisdom-religions, ii. 116\n\n Artificial lakes in ancient temples in Egypt, Asia, and America, i.\n 572\n\n Artificially fecundated woman, i. 77, 81\n\n Arts in the archaic ages, i. 405, 406\n\n Artufas, the temples of nagualism, i. 557\n\n Aryan, Median, Persian, and Hindu, also the Gothic and Slavic\n peoples, i. 576;\n nations, had no devil, ii. 10;\n carried bronze manufacture into Europe, i. 539;\n united, 3,000 B.C., ii. 433;\n in the valley of the upper Indus, _ib._;\n did not borrow from the Semites, ii. 426\n\n Asbestos, i. 229;\n thread and oil made from it, i. 504\n\n Asclepiadotus, reproduces chemically the exhalations of the sacred\n oracle-grotto, i. 531\n\n Asdt, \u05d0\u05e9\u05d3\u05ea (_Deut._ xxxiii. 2), signifies emanations, but\n mistranslated, ii. 34\n\n Asg\u00e2rtha, temple in India, ii. 31\n\n Ash-trees, third race of men created from, i. 558\n\n Ashmole, Elias, the Rosicrucian, the first operative Mason of note,\n ii. 349\n\n Asia, middle belt, perhaps once a sea-bed, i. 590, 592\n\n Asideans, or Khasdims, the same as Pharsi or Pharisees, ii. 441\n\n Asmodeus, or \u00c6shma-deva, ii. 482\n\n Asmonean priest-kings promulgated the _Old Testament_ in opposition\n to the Apocrypha, ii. 135;\n first Pharisees, and then Sadducees, _ib._\n\n Asoka and Augustine, ii. 32;\n his missionaries, ii. 42;\n the Buddhist, sent missionaries to other countries, ii. 491\n\n Ass, the form of Typhon, ii. 484;\n its Coptic name, AO, a phonetic of Iao, _ib._;\n head found in the temple, ii. 523\n\n Assyria, the land of Nimrod, or Bacchus, i. 568\n\n Assyrians basso-relievos at Nagkon-Wat, i. 566;\n sphinxes, ii. 451;\n tablets, the flood, ii. 422\n\n Assyrians, their archaic empire, ii. 486\n\n Astral atmosphere, i. 314;\n body or doppelganger, i. 360;\n of the ape, i. 327;\n fire, represented by the serpent, i. 137;\n fluid can be compressed about the body, to protect it from\n violence, i. 378, 380;\n a bolt of it can be directed with fatal force, i. 380;\n form oozing out of the body, i. 179;\n bound to the corpse and infesting the living, i. 432;\n light, i. 56, 156, 247;\n the Ob or Python, i. 158;\n currents, i. 247;\n same as the anima mundi, i. 301;\n dual and bi-sexual, _ib._;\n Soul or Spirit, i. 12;\n divided by H. More into the a\u00ebrial and \u00e6therial vehicles, i. 206;\n said to linger about the body 3,000 years, i. 226;\n doctrine of Epicurus, i. 250;\n the perisprit, composed of matter, i. 289;\n not immortal, i. 432;\n virgin, i. 126\n\n Astrograph, i. 385\n\n Astrologers, Chaldean, i. 205\n\n Astrology, i. 259\n\n Astronomus, the title of the highest initiate, ii. 365\n\n Astronomical calculations of Chaldeans and Egyptians, i. 21;\n of Chaldeans and Aztecs, i. 11, 241;\n of Chinese, i. 241\n\n Aswatha, the Hindu tree of life, i. 152, 153\n\n Athanor, the, the Archimedean lever, i. 506\n\n Atheism, not a Buddhistical doctrine, i. 292\n\n Atharva-Veda, great value, ii. 414, 415\n\n Athbach, ii. 299\n\n Atheists, none among heathen populations, ii. 240;\n none in days of old, ii. 530\n\n Athos, Mount, story of the manuscripts, ii. 52\n\n Athothi, king of Egypt, writes a book on anatomy, i. 406\n\n Athtor, or Mother Night, i. 91\n\n Atlantis, the legend believed, i. 557\n\n Atlantic ocean, once intersected by islands and a continent, i. 557,\n 558;\n mentioned in the _Secret Book_, i. 590;\n perhaps the actual name of the great Southern continent in the\n Indian Ocean, i. 591;\n name not Greek, _ib._;\n probable etymology of the name, _ib._;\n two orders of inhabitants, i. 592, 593;\n their fall, and the submersion of the island, i. 593\n\n Atma, i. 346\n\n Atman, the spiritual self, recognized as God, ii. 566\n\n Atmospheric electricity embodied in demi-gods, i. 261\n\n Atoms, doctrine taught by Demokritus, i. 249\n\n Atonement, origin of the doctrine, ii. 41;\n error of Prof. Draper, _ib._;\n mysteries of initiation, ii. 42\n\n Attraction, the great mystery, i. 338\n\n Audhumla, the cow or female principle, i. 147\n\n Augoeides, or part of the divine spirit, i. 12, 306, 315;\n cannot be communed with by a hierophant with a touch of mortal\n passion, i. 358;\n self-shining vision of the future self, ii. 115;\n the \u00e2tman or self, ii. 317\n\n Augsburgian Jesuits desirous to change the Sabean emblems, ii. 450\n\n Augustine, his accession to Christianity placed theology and science\n at everlasting enmity, ii. 88;\n his directions about the ladies\u2019 toilet, ii. 331;\n scouted the sphericity of the earth, ii. 477;\n affirmed a predestinated state of happiness and predetermined\n reprobation, ii. 546\n\n A U M, meaning of the sacred letters, ii. 31;\n the holy primitive syllable, ii. 39;\n and Tum, ii. 387\n\n Aur, i. 158\n\n Aura Placida, deified into two martyrs, ii. 248\n\n Aureole, from Babylonia, ii. 95\n\n Auricular confession in the Anglican church, ii. 544\n\n Aurora borealis, conjectures concerning it of scientists, i. 417\n\n Aurumgahad, i. 349;\n Buddhistic mementos, i. 349\n\n Austin Friars, or Augustinians, outdone in magic by the Jesuits, i.\n 445\n\n Avany, the Virgin, by whom the first Buddha was incarnated, ii. 322\n\n Avatar, i. 291;\n the earliest, ii. 427\n\n Avatars and emanations, ii. 155, 156;\n of Vishnu, ii. 274;\n they symbolize evolution of races, ii. 275\n\n Avicenna, on chickens with hawks\u2019 heads, i. 385\n\n Azaz-El, or Siva, ii. 302, 303\n\n Azoth, or creative principle, symbol, i. 462;\n blunder of de Mirville, _ib._\n\n Aztecs, of Mexico, their calendar, i. 11;\n resembled the ancient Egyptians, i. 560\n\n\n Baal, prophets danced the circle-dance of the Amazons, ii. 45;\n Tsephon, god of the crypt, ii. 487;\n how his hierophants procured apparitions, ii. 567\n\n Babies speaking good French, i. 371\n\n Babinet on table-turning, i. 60, 101, 104;\n declares levitation impossible and is refuted, i. 105;\n his story of a fire-globe resembling a cat, i. 107\n\n Babylon, built by those who escaped the deluge, i. 31;\n after three conquerors, i. 534;\n the great mother, or Magna Mater, ii. 501\n\n Babylonia, the seat of Sanscrit literature, ii. 428\n\n Babylonian priests, asserted their observations to have extended back\n 470,000 years, i. 533;\n system defined, ii. 170\n\n Bacchic fan, held by Osiris, ii. 494\n\n Bacchus, a saint of the Roman calendar, i. 160;\n worship among the Jews, ii. 128;\n \u201cthe son of God,\u201d ii. 492;\n myth, contains the history of the gods, ii. 527;\n the Prophet-God, ii. 527, 528;\n a saint in the calendar, ii. 528;\n or Dionysus, his Indian origin, ii. 560\n\n Bacon, Roger, miracles, i. 69;\n predicted the use of steam and other modern inventions, i. 413\n\n Badagas, a people of Hindustan who revere and maintain the Todas, ii.\n 613-615\n\n Bad demons, i. 343\n\n Bael-tur, sacred to Siva, i. 469\n\n Baggage from the Pagan mysteries, ii. 334\n\n Bahak-Zivo, i. 298;\n ordered to create, i. 299;\n the creator, ii. 134\n\n Bahira, the Nestorian monk, ii. 54\n\n Balahala, the fifth degree, ii. 365\n\n Balam Acan, a Toltecan king, i. 553\n\n Ban, on spiritualistic writings, ii. 8\n\n Banyan, the tree of knowledge and life, ii. 293\n\n Baphomet, the alleged god of the Templars, ii. 302\n\n Baptism of blood, the slaughter of a hierophant or an animal, ii. 42;\n a general practice, ii. 134\n\n Baptismal font in Egyptian pyramids, i. 519\n\n Baptist preachers\u2019 meeting in New York, ii. 473, 474;\n a warm doctrine, _ib._\n\n Baptista Porta, i. 66\n\n Baptists, ii. 291\n\n Bardesanian system, ii. 224\n\n Barjota, Cur\u00e9 de, his magical powers, ii. 60;\n saves the Pope\u2019s life, _ib._\n\n Barlaam and Josaphat, a ridiculous romance, ii. 580\n\n Barrachias-Hassan-Oglu, i. 43\n\n Barri (Italy), a statue of the Madonna with crinoline, ii. 9\n\n Bart, his testimony in regard to Herakles, ii. 515\n\n Basic matter of gold, i. 50\n\n Basileus, the archon taking charge of the Eleusinians, ii. 90\n\n Basilidean system, the exposition of Iren\u00e6us, ii. 157\n\n Basilides, description of Clement, ii. 123;\n derived his doctrines from the Gospel according to Matthew, ii. 155;\n his doctrines set forth by Tertullian, ii. 189\n\n Bastian, Dr., his conception of the temple of Angkor or Nagkon-Wat,\n i. 567, 568\n\n Batria, the wife of Pharaoh, teacher of Moses, i. 25\n\n Battle of life, ii. 112\n\n Baubo, in the Mysteries, what she directed, ii. 112\n\n Bayle, his testimony on spurious relics, ii. 72\n\n Beads and rosaries, of Buddhistic origin, ii. 95.\n\n Beatific vision or epopteia, testimony of Paul and Apuleius, ii. 146\n\n Beaujeu, Count, his Masonic imposture, ii. 381\n\n Beaumont, Elie de, on terrestrial circulation, i. 503\n\n Beausobre, on the Rasit or Principle, ii. 36\n\n Beel-Zebub (more properly Beel-Zebul, the Baal of the Temple) the\n same as Apollo, the Oracle-God, ii. 481;\n nicknamed Beel-Zebub, a god of flies, ii. 486\n\n Beer made in ancient Egypt, i. 543\n\n Bel, a personification of the Hindu Siva, i. 263;\n and the dragon, i. 550;\n Baal, the Devil, i. 552\n\n Belial, a Diakka, ii. 482\n\n Believers in magic, mesmerism and spiritualism, 800,000,000, i. 512\n\n Bellarmin, Cardinal, his vision about the bottomless pit, ii. 8\n\n Bells before the shrine of Jupiter-Ammon, ii. 95;\n in Jewish and Buddhistic rites, _ib._\n\n Belus, the first Assyrian king, deified, i. 552\n\n Ben Asai, in the garden of delights, ii. 119;\n Zoma, in the garden of delights, ii. 119\n\n Benedict, St., and his black raven, ii. 78\n\n Bengal, magical seance, i. 467\n\n Bengalese conjurers and jugglers, i. 457;\n planting trees, etc., which grew at once, _ib._\n\n Bethlehem, grotto of, temple of Adonis, ii. 139\n\n Beverages to produce visions, ii. 117\n\n Bhagaved-gita, opinion of du Perron, ii. 562;\n reverenced by the Brahmans, _ib._;\n contains the greatest mysteries of the Brahmanic religion, ii. 563;\n reverenced alike by Brahmanists and Buddhists, _ib._\n\n Bhagavant, the same as Parabrahma, i. 91;\n endued Brahma with creative power, i. 90;\n not a creator, i. 347;\n enters the world-egg, _ib._\n\n Bhagaved, i. 148\n\n Bhangulpore, Round Tower, ii. 5\n\n Bhutavan, the Spirit of Evil, created to destroy the incarnation of\n the sin of Brahma, i. 265\n\n Bible, antedated by Vedas, i. 91;\n its allegories repeated in Talapoin and Ceylonese traditions and\n manuscripts, i. 577;\n used as a weapon against the people who furnished it, ii. 96;\n an allegorical screen of the Kabala, ii. 210;\n the great light of modern Masonry, ii. 389;\n four or five times written over, ii. 470;\n when made up, ii. 471;\n a secret volume, _ib._;\n Patriarchs only zodiacal signs, ii. 459\n\n Bilocation, i. 361\n\n Binlang-stone, ii. 234\n\n Biographers of the Devil, ii. 15\n\n Birds, sung a mass for St. Francis, ii. 77\n\n Birs-Nimrud, the temple of seven stages, i. 261\n\n Birth of the human soul, i. 345\n\n Birth-marks, i. 384\n\n Bisexual, the first man, i. 559\n\n Bishops of the fourth century illiterate, ii. 251\n\n Black-faced Christ in India, ii. 532\n\n Black gods worshipped by the Yakuts, ii. 568, 569\n\n Blackguardism of Father Weninger, ii. 379\n\n Black magic practised at the Vatican, ii. 6;\n sorcery and witchcraft, an abuse, ii. 118;\n mirror, i. 596;\n reveals to the Inca queen her husband\u2019s death, _ib._;\n virgins in French cathedrals, figures of Isis, ii. 95\n\n \u201cBleeding Head\u201d of a murdered child employed as an oracle, ii. 56;\n image, ii. 17\n\n Blessed Virgin gives a demoniac a sound thrashing, ii. 76\n\n Blind Force plus intelligence, i. 199;\n psychic force, _ib._\n\n Blood, the baptism, ii. 42;\n of Jesus Christ, a phial of it presented to Henry III. of England,\n ii. 71;\n eagerness of spirits for it, i. 344;\n its circulation understood by the Egyptians, i. 544;\n liquefied at Naples and Nargercoil, in India, i. 613;\n its emanations serve spirits with material for their apparitions,\n ii. 567;\n the universal Proteus and arcanum of life, _ib._;\n -demons, i. 353;\n -evocation by the Yakuts, Bulgarians and Moldavians, ii. 569, 570\n\n Bloody legislation of Protestant countries against witchcraft, ii.\n 503;\n rites in Hayti, ii. 572\n\n Blue, held in aversion as the symbol of evil, ii. 446;\n ray, i. 137, 264;\n -violet, the seventh ray, most responsive of all, i. 514\n\n Body, the sepulchre of the soul, ii. 112;\n how long it may be kept alive, ii. 563;\n of Moses, a symbol for Palestine, ii. 482;\n may be obsessed by spirits during the temporary absence of the\n soul, ii. 589\n\n Boismont, de, Brierre, on hallucinations, i. 144\n\n Boodhasp, the founder of Sabism or baptism, ii. 290, 291\n\n Book of the Dead, Egyptian, i. 517, 518;\n quoted in the Gospel according to Matthew, ii. 548;\n older than Menes, ii. 361;\n of Jasher, i. 549;\n of Jasher, the _Old Testament_ condensed, ii. 399;\n of Numbers, Chaldean, i. 32\n\n Books lost and destroyed, i. 24;\n of Hermes, i. 33;\n of Hermes, attested by the Champollions, i. 625\n\n Births, feast of, supposed to be Bacchic, ii. 44, 45\n\n Bosheth, Israelites consecrated, ii. 130\n\n Both-al, Batylos, and Beth-el, i. 550\n\n Bourbourg, Brasseur de, publishes _Popol Vuh_, i. 2\n\n Boussingault on table-turning, i. 60\n\n Bozrah, the convent there the place where the seed of Islam was sown,\n ii. 54\n\n Brachmans in Greece, ii. 321\n\n Brahm, i. 291\n\n Brahma, a secondary deity, like Jehovah, the demiurgos, i. 91;\n evolved himself, and then brought nature from himself, i. 93;\n creates Lomus, i. 133;\n produces spiritual beings, then daints or giants, and, finally, the\n castes of men, i. 148;\n the name of the universal germ, ii. 261;\n night of, ii. 272, 273, 421;\n manifested as twelve attributes or gods, i. 348;\n day and night, ii. 421\n\n Brahma-Prajapati committed the first sin, i. 265;\n his repentance and the hottest tear, _ib._\n\n Brahm-\u00e2tma, or chief of the initiates, had the two crossed keys, ii.\n 31\n\n Brahman, his astounding declaration to Jacolliot, ii. 585\n\n Brahmanas, ii. 409, 410;\n the key to the Rig-Veda, ii. 415\n\n Brahmanical religion, stated in the doctrine of God as the Universal\n mind diffused through all things, i. 289\n\n Brahmanism, pre-Vedic, identical with Buddhism, ii. 142;\n Buddhism its primitive source, ii. 169\n\n Brahman gods, Siva, Surya, and the Aswins denounced in the _Avesta_,\n ii. 482, 483\n\n Brahman-Yoggins, i. 307;\n story of descent from giants, i. 122;\n theories of the sun and moon, i. 264;\n their powers of prediction and clairvoyance, i. 446;\n possess secrets of an\u00e6sthesia, i. 540;\n widows burned without hurting them, _ib._;\n know that the rite of widow-burning was never prescribed, i. 541;\n their religion exclusive, and not to be disseminated, i. 581;\n dispossessed the Jaina natives of India, ii. 323;\n in Babylonia, ii. 428;\n and Buddhists, their extraordinary probity, ii. 474;\n how it has deteriorated by Christian association, _ib._\n\n Brain, substance changed by thought and sensation, i. 249, 250;\n silvery spark in, i. 329\n\n Brazen serpent, the caduceus of Mercury or Asklepios, i. 556;\n symbol of Esculapius or Iao, ii. 481;\n worshipped by the Israelites, _ib._;\n broken by Hezekiah, ii. 440\n\n Bread-and-mutton protoplasms, i. 421\n\n Bread and wine, a sacrifice of great antiquity, ii. 43, 44, 513\n\n Breath, immortal, infusing life, i. 302\n\n Brighou, the prag\u00e2pati and his patriarchal descendants, ii. 427\n\n Bronze age, i. 534\n\n Bronze introduced into Europe 6,000 years ago by Aryan immigrants, i.\n 539\n\n Brothers of the Shadow, i. 319\n\n Broussard on magnetism and medicine, ii. 610\n\n Bruno, why slaughtered, i. 93;\n Prof. Draper misrepresents him, i. 94;\n held Jesus to be a magician, _ib._;\n accusation against him, i. 95;\n his reply, i. 96;\n declared this world a star, _ib._;\n acknowledged an universal Providence, _ib._;\n doubted the Trinity, i. 97;\n a Pythagorean, i. 98\n\n Brutal force adored by Christendom, ii. 334\n\n Buchanan, Prof. J. R., criticises Agassiz, i. 63;\n his bridge from physical impression to consciousness, i. 87;\n theory of psychometry, i. 182;\n on tendency of gestures to follow the phrenological organs, i. 500\n\n Buddha, the formless Brahm, i. 291;\n the monad, _ib._, 550;\n incarnation, _ib._;\n his lama representative, i. 437, 438;\n appearing of his shadow to Hiouen-Thsang, i. 600;\n never deified by his followers, ii. 240;\n a social rather than a religious reformer, ii. 339;\n tempted and victorious, ii. 513;\n never wrote, ii. 559;\n his lessons to his disciples, _ib._;\n taught the new birth, ii. 566;\n breaks with the old mysteries, _ib._;\n or Sommona-Cadom, the Siamese Saviour, ii. 576;\n changed by the Vatican into St. Josaphat, ii. 579;\n \u201cjust as if he had been a Christian,\u201d ii. 581\n\n Buddha-Sidd\u00e2rtha, i. 34;\n -Gautama, i. 92;\n lived 2,540 years ago, ii. 537;\n teaches how to escape reincarnation, i. 346\n\n Buddhism based on the doctrine of God, the universal Mind diffused\n through all things, i. 289;\n prehistoric, the once universal religion, ii. 123;\n preached by Jesus, ii. 123;\n its ethics, ii. 124;\n identical with pre-Vedic Brahmanism, ii. 142;\n the primitive source of Brahmanism, ii. 169;\n its groundwork the kabalistic doctrine, i. 271;\n its doctrine based on works, ii. 288;\n esoteric doctrines, ii. 319;\n the religion of the earlier Vedas, ii. 436;\n degenerated into Lamaism, ii. 582\n\n Buddhist patriarch of Nangasaki, ii. 79;\n system, how mastered, i. 289;\n monks in Syria and Babylon, ii. 290;\n went so far as Ireland, _ib._;\n theories of sun and moon, i. 264;\n respect for the sapphire-stone, _ib._\n\n Buddhistic element in Gnosticism and missionaries in Greece, ii. 321;\n theology, four schools, ii. 533\n\n Bull the emblem of life everywhere, ii. 235, 236;\n against the comet, ii. 509;\n and syllabus burned by the Bohemians, ii. 560\n\n Bull\u2019s eye in the target of Christianity, ii. 476\n\n Bullets successfully resisted by talismans, i. 378\n\n Bulwer-Lytton, his description of the _vril_, or primal force, i. 64,\n 125;\n elementary beings, i. 285, 289;\n the Vril-ya, or coming race, i. 296\n\n Bunsen, testimony concerning the Origines of Egypt, i. 529;\n description of the Pyramid of Cheops, i. 518;\n account of the Egyptian skill in quarrying, _ib._;\n on the word PTR, ii. 93;\n his opinion respecting Zoroaster and the Baktrian emigration, ii.\n 432;\n his opinion of Khamism, ii. 435;\n on the exodus of the Israelites, ii. 558\n\n Bur, the offspring of Audhumla, i. 147\n\n Burning men to avoid shedding their blood, i. 64;\n scientists about as ready as clergy, i. 85\n\n Buried cities in Hindustan, i. 350\n\n Butlerof, Prof. A., on the facts of spiritualism, ii. 3\n\n\n Cabeirians, i. 23\n\n Cable-tow, the Brahmanical cord, ii. 393\n\n Cadi\u00e8re, Mlle., her seduction by a Jesuit priest, ii. 633, 634\n\n Cagliostro, an Hermetic philosopher, persecuted by the Church of\n Rome, i. 200;\n said to have made gold and diamonds, i. 509\n\n Cain, ancestor of the Hivites, or Serpents, ii. 446;\n and Siva, ii. 448;\n or Kenu, the eldest, ii. 464\n\n Calmeil imputes theomania of the Calvinists to hysteria and epilepsy,\n i. 371;\n his explanation of their extraordinary power of resistance to\n blows, i. 375\n\n Calmet, Dom, on vampires, i. 452\n\n Calvin affirmed election, original sin, and reprobation, ii. 547\n\n Carnac, the serpent\u2019s mount, i. 554\n\n Campanile Column, of St. Mark\u2019s, in Venice, its original, ii. 5\n\n Canals of Egypt, i. 516, 517\n\n Canonical books, enforced eliminations, ii. 143;\n selected by sortilege, ii. 251\n\n Capuchins, their Christmas observances, ii. 365\n\n Carpenter, W. B., lecture on Egypt, i. 440\n\n Carthage more civilized than Rome, i. 520;\n built long before the taking of Troy, _ib._;\n not built by Dido, _ib._\n\n Cataclysms, periodical, i. 31\n\n Catalepsy and vampirism, i. 449, 450\n\n Catherine of Medicis employed a sorcerer, ii. 55;\n her resort to the charm of \u201cthe bleeding head,\u201d ii. 56\n\n Catholic ritual of pagan origin, ii. 85;\n miracle in Poland means revolution, ii. 17;\n must be Ultramontane and Jesuit, ii. 356;\n missionaries becoming Talapoins, ii. 531\n\n Catholicism more fetish-worshipping than Hinduism, ii. 80\n\n Catholics persecute other Christians, ii. 81\n\n Causes, Platonic division, i. 393\n\n Cave-men of Les Eyzies, i. 295\n\n Cave-temples of Ajunta, Buddhistic, i. 349;\n of India, claimed by the Jainas, ii. 323\n\n Caves of Mithras, ii. 491\n\n Celestial Virgin pursued by the Dragon, a mystery and representation\n in the constellations, ii. 490\n\n Celsus, his accusations of the Christians, ii. 51;\n not being refuted, his books burned, ii. 51, 52;\n a copy probably existing at a monastery on Mount Athos, ii. 52;\n his opinion of Jesus, ii. 530\n\n Celebrated vase of the Genoa Cathedral, its material not known, i.\n 537, 538\n\n Celt, probably a hybrid of the Aryan and Iberians of Europe, i. 576\n\n Cement, ancient, i. 239\n\n Cenchrea, Paul shorn and Lucius initiated there, ii. 90\n\n Centenarians, Parr, Jenkins, and others, ii. 564\n\n Central America, her peoples to be traced to the Ph\u0153nicians and\n Mosaic Israelites, i. 555;\n Asia, the face of the country changed, ii. 426;\n Invisible, i. 302\n\n Cerebral electricity, its dependence upon the statical, i. 322\n\n Ceremony of withdrawing the soul, ii. 603\n\n Ceres or Demeter, the female or passive productive principle, ii. 560\n\n Cerinthus, his doctrines described by Iren\u00e6us, ii. 176\n\n Cevennes, prophets of, i. 221;\n the Convulsionaires, miraculous occurrences, i. 370;\n statement by Figuier, i. 370, 371\n\n Chair of St. Fiacre and its prolificating virtue, ii. 332\n\n Chaldean Arba and Christian Four, ii. 171;\n oracles, i. 535;\n denounce augury, _ib._\n\n Chaldeans, their correct astronomical calculations, i. 11;\n their magic, i. 66;\n their theory of magic, i. 459;\n their origin, ii. 46;\n Hebrew Sanscrit, _ib._\n\n Champollion declares the Egyptians monotheists, i. 24;\n his description of Karnak, i. 523;\n synopsis of his discoveries, i. 530\n\n Chandragupta, his exploits, ii. 607, 608\n\n Chaos, the Female Principle, i. 61;\n Arch\u00e6us, Akasa, i. 125;\n the Soul of the World, i. 129;\n and ether, the first two, i. 341\n\n Charlatan only will ever use mercury as a medicine, ii. 621\n\n Charms, the Dharani, their extraordinary powers, i. 471\n\n Charmed life, i. 379\n\n Charmers, their power over beasts and reptiles, i. 381\n\n Charybdis, the ma\u00eblstrom, i. 545\n\n Chemi, or Chem, the ancient name of Egypt, i. 541\n\n Chemical vapors taking forms, i. 127\n\n Chemicals keep away disagreeable physical phenomena, i. 356, 357\n\n Chemist and magician compared, i. 464\n\n Chemistry, ancient proficiency, i. 50;\n revolution, i. 163;\n Egypt its cradle, i. 541;\n called alchemy, i. 542\n\n Cheops, his engraved ring, i. 240;\n pyramid of, its measure and weight, i. 518;\n Prof. Smyth\u2019s descriptions, i. 520\n\n Cherub, one of his nails preserved as a relic, ii. 71;\n of Jeheskiel, ii. 451\n\n Cherubs, the vehans of deity, ii. 231\n\n Chess played in Egypt and India 5,000 years ago, i. 544\n\n Chevalier Ramsay, the Jesuit inventor of the Scottish Rite, ii. 390\n\n Chicago murderers converted in prison, ii. 543\n\n Child, Mrs. Lydia M., remarks on Hindu emblems, i. 583; ii. 445\n\n Child-burning by the Jesuits, ii. 65\n\n Child-medium, Sanscrit written in her presence, i. 368;\n Kate Fox\u2019s son, i. 439\n\n Children, born malformed, wounded, and parts cut away, i. 386;\n may kill their parents, ii. 363;\n sacrificed to Moloch-Hercules, at Tophet, in the valley of Hinnom,\n ii. 11\n\n China, the glass, i. 537;\n metal work, i. 538\n\n Chinese believe in the art of overcoming mortality, i. 214;\n ancient emperor puts two astronomers to death, i. 241\n\n _Chitonuth our_, chitons or coats of skin, a priestly garb, i. 575;\n Adam and his wife invested by \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd, Java Aleim, _ib._\n\n Chrestians before Christians, ii. 323\n\n Chrestos, worshipped many centuries before Christ, ii. 324;\n Christians and Jews alike united, ii. 558\n\n Christ a re\u00efncarnationist, ii. 145;\n destroyed Jehovah-worship, ii. 527;\n a modified Christna, ii. 532;\n a personage rather than a person, ii. 576\n\n Christian spiritualists, i. 54;\n denominations, peculiarity of their deity, ii. 2, 354, 485, 581;\n spent on their buildings, ii. 2;\n the spiritualists in them, ii. 2;\n hatred of spiritualism, ii. 4;\n symbols, presence of phallism, ii. 5;\n Church, with the rites and priestly robes of heathenism, ii. 96;\n doctrines classified, ii. 145;\n doctrines, their origin in Middle Asia, ii. 338;\n Gnostics, ii. 324;\n appeared just as the Essenes disappeared, _ib._;\n Sabbath, its date, ii. 419;\n theology, its origin, ii. 525\n\n Christianity, early, based on the doctrine of God, the universal mind\n diffused through all things, i. 285;\n description of Max M\u00fcller, ii. 10;\n pure heathenism, ii. 80;\n primitive, had secret pass-words and rites, ii. 204;\n doctrines taken from Brahmanism and Buddhism, the ceremonials and\n pageantry from Lamaism, ii. 211;\n its true spirit found only in Buddhism, ii. 240;\n made little change from Roman paganism, ii. 334;\n its doctrines plagiarized, ii. 346;\n and a personal God repudiated by Freemasons at Lausanne, ii. 377;\n bull\u2019s eye in its target, ii. 476;\n theological, the Devil its patron genius, ii. 478;\n its symbols anticipated by the older religions, ii. 557;\n Paul the real founder, ii. 574;\n stripped of every feature to make it acceptable to the Siamese, ii.\n 579\n\n Christians, few understand Jewish theology, i. 17;\n divided into three unequal parties, ii. 3;\n why they quarrelled with the Pagans, ii. 51;\n accepted the worship of the God of the gardens, _ib._;\n Old, called Nazarenes, ii. 151;\n only seven to twelve in each church, ii. 175;\n Pauline and Petrine controversy, _ib._;\n of St. John, or Mend\u00e6ans, ii. 289, 290;\n do not believe in Christ, ii. 290;\n accused of child-murder at their \u201cperfect passover,\u201d ii. 333;\n originally composed of secret societies, ii. 335;\n anciently kept no Sabbaths, ii. 419;\n claim the discovery of the Devil, ii. 477;\n praiseworthy, modified Buddhists, ii. 540;\n Russian and Bulgarian, cursed by the Pope, ii. 560\n\n Christism, before Christ, ii. 32\n\n Christmas festivals of Capuchins, ii. 365\n\n Christna, orthography of the name, i. 586;\n crushing the head of the serpent, ii. 446;\n and his mother with the aureole, ii. 95;\n raises the daughter of Angashuna to life, ii. 241;\n the good shepherd, crushes the serpent Kalinaga, is crucified, ii.\n 447;\n Sakya-muni, and Jesus, three men exalted to deity, ii. 536;\n lived 6,877 years ago (1877), ii. 537;\n his dying words to the hunter, ii. 545, 546;\n his eulogy of works rather than contemplations, ii. 563\n\n Christos or Crestos, ii. 142;\n his entering into the man Jesus at the Jordan, ii. 186;\n the Angel Gabriel, ii. 193;\n from the Sanskrit kris or sacred, ii. 158;\n an aggregation of the emanations, etc., ii. 159\n\n Christs of the pre-Christian ages, ii. 43\n\n Church and priest, benefits if they were to pass away, ii. 586\n\n Church of Rome in 1876, excommunicating and cursing, ii. 6;\n her powerless fury against the Bulgarians and Servians, ii. 7;\n pre-eminent in murderous propensity, i. 27;\n has mightier enemies than \u201cheretics\u201d and \u201cinfidels,\u201d ii. 30;\n believes in magic, ii. 76;\n its maxim to deceive and lie to promote its ends, ii. 303\n\n Churches, their phallic symbols, ii. 5;\n ancient, only seven to twelve in each, ii. 175.\n\n Cicero, on divine exhalations from the earth, i. 200;\n concerning the gods, i. 280\n\n Cipher of the S. P. R. C., the Knight Rosy Cross of Heredom, and of\n the Knights Kadosh, ii. 395;\n Royal Arch, ii. 396\n\n Circle, perfect, decussated, ii. 469;\n of necessity, i. 296;\n of necessity, when completed, i. 346;\n of necessity, the sacred mysteries at Thebes, i. 553;\n of stones, i. 572\n\n Circle-dance or chorus of the Amazons, performed by King David and\n others, ii. 45;\n of the Amazons around a priapic image, a common usage and\n sanctioned by a Catholic priest, ii. 331, 332;\n taught to initiates in the sixth degree, ii. 365\n\n Circulation, terrestrial, i. 503;\n of the blood, understood by the Egyptians, i. 544\n\n City, the mysterious, story of, i. 547\n\n Civilization, ancient, i. 239;\n of the east preceded that of the west, i. 539\n\n Clairvoyance, cataleptic, the subject practically dead, i. 484\n\n Clearchus gives five cases of larv\u00e6 or vampires, i. 364;\n story of the boy whose soul was led away from the body and returned\n again, i. 365, 366\n\n Clear vision obstructed by physical memory, ii. 591\n\n Clemens Alexandrinus, believed in metempsychosis, i. 12;\n denounces the Mysteries, ii. 100\n\n Cleonymus returned after dying, i. 364\n\n Cleopatra sent news by a wire, i. 127\n\n Clergy, Greek, Roman and Protestant, discountenance spiritual\n phenomena, i. 26;\n Roman and Protestant burned and hanged mediums, _ib._;\n Protestant, their hatred of spiritualism, ii. 4;\n their cast-off garb worn by men of science, ii. 8;\n attired in the cast-off garb of the heathen priesthood, _ib._\n\n Clerkship of the Templars, ii. 385\n\n Clermont system, the Scottish Rite, ii. 381\n\n Clinton, De Witt, Grand Master of the first Grand Encampment General,\n ii. 383\n\n Clocks and dials in ancient periods, i. 536\n\n Coats of skin, i. 2, 149;\n explained, i. 293;\n worn by the priests of Hercules, i. 575;\n Adam and his wife so invested, _ib._;\n _Chitonuth our_, ii. 458\n\n Code of Justinian copied from Manu, i. 586\n\n _Codex Nazar\u00e6us_ prohibits the worship of Adonai the Sun-god, ii. 131;\n denounces Jesus, ii. 132\n\n Coffin, from Egypt, dated by astronomical delineations, i. 520, 521\n\n Colenso, Bishop, exiled the _Old Testament_, ii. 4\n\n Colleges for teaching prophecy and occult sciences, i. 482\n\n Collouca-Batta, account of the migrations of Manu-Vina from India to\n Egypt, i. 627\n\n Collyridians asserted Mary to be virgin-born, ii. 110;\n transferred their worship from Astoreth to Mary, ii. 444\n\n Colob, a planet on which the Mormon chief god lives, ii. 2\n\n Colored masonry not acknowledged, ii. 391\n\n Colquhoun, J. C., on the doctrine of a personal devil, ii. 477\n\n Commission, Russian, to investigate spiritual phenomena, i. 117\n\n Communication, subjective, with spirits, ii. 115\n\n Communication, supposed, with the dead, with angels, devils, and\n gods, i. 323\n\n Communion with God, a pagan sentiment, ii. 470\n\n Companions, or Kabalists, ii. 470\n\n Compensation, the law never swerves, ii. 545\n\n Comte, Auguste, i. 76;\n catechism of religion of positivism, i. 78;\n his feminine mystery, i. 81;\n his doctrines repudiated by Huxley, i. 82;\n his philosophy belonging to David Hume, _ib._;\n the ventriloquist, on spiritual phenomena, i. 101\n\n Comtists, or positivists, despised and hated, ii. 3\n\n Conflict between the world-religions, i. 307\n\n Conical monuments imputed to Hermes Trismegistus, i. 551\n\n Conjurers, i. 73\n\n Consciousness a quality of the soul, i. 199\n\n Constitutions, secret, of the Jesuits, ii. 354\n\n Continent, Atlantian, i. 591;\n Lemuria, i. 592;\n Great Equinoctial, i. 594;\n in the Pacific, i. 594;\n inhabited by the Rutas, _ib._\n\n \u201cControl,\u201d i. 360\n\n Convulsionaries cured by marriage, i. 375\n\n Convulsionary, extraordinary resistance to external injury, i. 373\n\n Corcoran, Catherine, malformed child, i. 392\n\n Cordanus, power of leaving his body to go on errands, i. 477\n\n Corinthian bride, resuscitated by Apollonius of Tyana, i. 481\n\n Correspondences, Swedenborg\u2019s doctrine that of Pythagoras and\n Kabalists, i. 306\n\n Corson, Prof., on science and its contests with religion, i. 403\n\n Cory, exceptions to his view of Plato and Pythagoras, i. 288\n\n Cosmo, St., traffic by the Italian clergy in his phallic _ex-votos_,\n ii. 5\n\n Cosmogonical doctrines based on one formula, i. 341\n\n Counterfeit relics palmed off on Prince Radzivil, ii. 72;\n they work miracles, _ib._\n\n Counterfeits in thaumaturgy are proofs of an original, ii. 567\n\n Covercapal, the serpent-god, converted, ii. 509\n\n Cox, Sergeant, proposition concerning the physical phenomena of\n spiritualism, i. 195;\n his denial, i. 201\n\n Creation, doctrine of Hermetists and Rosicrucians, i. 258;\n cycle of, ii. 272, 273;\n Plato\u2019s discourse, ii. 469;\n of mankind, Hindu legend, i. 148;\n Norse legend, i. 146, 151;\n of men from the tree _tzite_ and women from the reed _sibac_, i.\n 558\n\n Creative Principle, proclaimed at Lausanne by the supreme councils of\n Freemasonry, ii. 377;\n denounced by Gen. Pike, _ib._\n\n Creator, not the Highest God, i. 309;\n the father of matter and the bad, _ib._\n\n Credo, as amended by Robert Taylor, ii. 522\n\n Creed, suggested for Protestant and Catholic bodies, ii. 473\n\n Crime of every kind sanctioned by Jesuit doctrine, ii. 353;\n by ecclesiastics in the United States, ii. 573\n\n Crimean war, i. 260\n\n Crook, Episcopal, adopted from the Etrurian augurs, ii. 94\n\n Crookes, Prof., begins to investigate spiritual phenomena, i. 44;\n on psychic force, i. 45;\n theories, i. 47;\n remarks on Prof. Thury, i. 112;\n his experiment with the planchette, i. 199;\n acknowledges the evidence of spiritual phenomena overwhelming, i.\n 202;\n weighing light, i. 281\n\n Cross, philosophical, i. 508;\n or Tau, an ancient symbol, ii. 393;\n Egyptian, found at Palenque, i. 572;\n a sign of recognition, long before the Christian era, ii. 87;\n found on the walls of the Serapeum, ii. 253, 254;\n used in the Mysteries, _ib._;\n of the Zodiac, ii. 452;\n revered by every nation, ii. 453;\n the geometrical basis of religious symbolism, _ib._;\n acknowledged by the Jews, ii. 454\n\n Crosse, Andrew, producing living insects by chemical action, i. 465\n\n Crowe, Catherine, on stigmata or birth marks, i. 396\n\n Crusade of des Mousseaux and de Mirville against the arch-enemy, ii.\n 15\n\n Cryptographs of the Sovereign Princes Rose Croix, ii. 394\n\n Crypts of Thebes and Memphis, i. 553;\n mysteries of the circle of necessity, _ib._\n\n Cults derived from one primitive religion, ii. 412\n\n Cup, consecrated in the Bacchic mysteries, ii. 513\n\n Cures effected at the Egyptian temples, i. 531, 532\n\n Curse inheres in matter, i. 433;\n allegorical, of the earth, ii. 420\n\n Cursing, a Christian, and not a pagan practice, ii. 334;\n prohibited because it will return, ii. 608\n\n Cusco, its temples and hieroglyphics, i. 597;\n tunnel to Lima and Bolivia, _ib._\n\n Cycle, at the bottom, i. 247;\n doctrine demonstrated, i. 348;\n the Unavoidable, the Mysteries, i. 553\n\n Cycles of human existence, i. 5, 6, 247, 293;\n of the universe, ii. 420\n\n Cyclopeans were Ph\u0153nicians, i. 567;\n were shepherds in Libya, miners and builders, and forged bolts for\n Zeus, _ib._;\n same as Anakim, _ib._\n\n Cyclopes, or Cuclo-pos, the Rajpoot race, ii. 438\n\n Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, anthropomorphized Isis as Mary, ii. 41;\n his murder of Hypatia, ii. 53;\n the assassin of Hypatia sold church vessels, etc., ii. 253\n\n Czechs of Bohemia burn the Bull and Syllabus, ii. 560\n\n\n Dactyls, Phrygian, i. 23\n\n Daguerre declared by a physician to be insane because he declared his\n discovery, ii. 619\n\n Daimonion of Socrates the cause of his death, ii. 117\n\n Daimonia, i. 276\n\n Daityas, i. 313\n\n Damiano, St., traffic in Isernia, in his limbs and _ex-voto_, ii. 5\n\n Dam-S\u00e2dhna, a practice of fakirs like the rabbinic method of\n \u201centering paradise,\u201d ii. 590\n\n Danger, the greatest to be feared, ii. 122\n\n Daniel a Babylonian Rabbi, astrologer, and magus, ii. 236\n\n Dardanus received the Kabeiri gods as a dowry, i. 570;\n carried their worship to Samothrace and Troy, _ib._\n\n Darius Hystaspes, teacher of the Mazdean religion, ii. 140;\n put down the magian rites, ii. 142;\n restored the worship of Ormazd, ii. 220;\n added the Brahman to the Magian doctrine, ii. 306;\n the institutor of magism, ii. 502;\n established a Persian colony in Judea, ii. 441\n\n Dark races of Hindustan worshipped Bala-Mahadeva, ii. 434\n\n Darkness and the bad, how produced, i. 302\n\n Darwin, his theory, i. 14\n\n Darwinian line of descent, i. 154;\n theory, in book of Genesis, i. 303\n\n Daughters of Shiloh, their dance, ii. 45\n\n David, King, exorcised the evil spirit of God, i. 215;\n how he reinforced his failing vigor, i. 217;\n danced the circle-dance of the Amazons, ii. 45;\n knew nothing of Moses, _ib._;\n performing a phallic dance before the ark, ii. 79;\n brought the name Jehovah to Palestine, ii. 297;\n established the Sadducean priesthood, _ib._;\n ascends out of hell, ii. 517;\n the Israelitish King Arthur, ii. 439;\n establishes a new religion in Palestine, _ib._\n\n Davis, A. J., on Diakka, i. 218\n\n Day and night of Brahma, ii. 421\n\n Daytha, the Hindu Nimrod, ii. 425\n\n Dead, their ashes assuming their likeness, ii. 663\n\n Death, when it actually occurs, i. 482;\n when resuscitation is possible, i. 485;\n planetary, i. 254;\n no certain signs, i. 479;\n exposition, i. 480;\n language of Pimander, i. 624, 625;\n the penalty for divulging secrets of initiation, ii. 99;\n the Gates, ii. 364;\n the second, ii. 368\n\n Death-symbol at the orgies, ii. 138\n\n Decameron, Boccaccio\u2019s, prudery beside the _Golden Legend_, ii. 79\n\n Decimal notation unknown to Pythagoras, ii. 300;\n known to the Pythagoreans, _ib._\n\n Degeneracy of Christians, ii. 575\n\n Degrees, the three, ii. 364\n\n Deicide, never charged on the Jews by Jesus, ii. 193\n\n Deity, from deva, and devil from daeva, the same etymology, ii. 512;\n represented by three circles in one, ii. 212\n\n Delegatus, ii. 154\n\n Deluge, i. 30;\n Hindu story, ii. 425\n\n Demeter, the Kabeirian, her picture represented with the electrified\n head, i. 234;\n or Ceres, the intellectual soul, ii. 112\n\n Demigod philosophers, ii. 536\n\n Demigods and atmospheric electricity, i. 261\n\n Demiurgic Mind, i. 55\n\n Demiurgos, or architect of the world, Brahma, i. 191;\n Jehovah, _ib._\n\n Democritus, i. 61;\n on death, i. 365;\n on the soul, i. 401;\n a student of the Magi, i. 512;\n his belief concerning magic, _ib._\n\n Demon and Martin Luther, ii. 73;\n of Socrates, ii. 283, 284;\n same as the _nous_, _ib._\n\n Demons, the doctrine of Buddha, i. 448;\n in the Western Sahara, fascinate travellers, i. 604;\n sometimes speak the truth, ii. 71;\n opinion of Proclus, i. 312\n\n Demoniac, sulphurous flames, ii. 75;\n one receives a sound thrashing from the Blessed Virgin, ii. 76\n\n Demonologia, i. 89\n\n Demon-worship and saint-worship substantially the same, ii. 29\n\n Dendera, the temple, the female figures, i. 524\n\n De Negre, Grand Hierophant of the Rite of Memphis, ii. 380\n\n Denon, his description of the ruins of Karnak, i. 524\n\n Dentists in ancient Egypt, i. 545\n\n Denton, Prof., examples of psychometrical power, i. 183;\n illustrates arch\u00e6ology by psychometry, i. 295\n\n Dervish, their initiation, ii. 317\n\n Desatir, or book of Shet, on light, ii. 113\n\n Descartes believed in occult medicine, i. 71;\n his system of physics, i. 206\n\n Descendants, resemblance to ancestors, i. 385\n\n Descent into hell, ii. 177;\n to subdue the rebellious archangel, i. 299;\n how explained by Kabalists, _ib._;\n of spirit to matter, i. 285\n\n Designations of the virgin-mothers, Hindu, Egyptian, and Catholic,\n ii. 209\n\n Des Mousseaux, his reply to Calmeil and Figuier in regard to\n Convulsionaries, i. 375, 376;\n on miracles, magic, etc., i. 614, 615;\n Chevalier, his crusade against the devil, ii. 15;\n proves magic and spiritualism to be twin-sciences, _ib._\n\n Despres made the diamond, i. 509\n\n Destiny, an influence that each man weaves round himself, ii. 593;\n how guided, _ib._\n\n Devas and Asuras, their battles, i. 12\n\n Devs, i. 141;\n nature-spirits, called also shedim, demons, and afrites, i. 313\n\n Devil, memoir of, i. 102;\n the chief pillar of faith, i. 103;\n not an entity, but an errant force, i. 138;\n and deity, words of the same etymology, ii. 512;\n the Shadow of God, i. 560;\n the anthropomorphic, a creation of man, i. 561;\n Aryan nations had none, ii. 10;\n called by des Mousseaux the Serpent of _Genesis_, ii. 15;\n a whole community possessed, ii. 16;\n pesters St. Dominic as a flea and as a monkey, ii. 78;\n Christians claim the discovery, ii. 477;\n the patron genius of theological Christianity, ii. 477;\n to deny him equivalent to denying the Saviour, ii. 478;\n what he is, ii. 480;\n an essential antagonistic force, _ib._;\n the key found in the book of Job, ii. 493;\n the fundamental stone of Christianity, ii. 501;\n origin of the English notions, _ib._;\n the European, ii. 502;\n with horns and hoof, only known in Popish Encyclicals, ii. 503;\n his various delineations by authors, ii. 511\n\n Devils, 15,000 in a man, ii. 75;\n the Fathers made them from the pagan gods, ii. 502\n\n Devil-worshippers of Travancore, i. 135;\n falsely-termed, their practice, i. 446, 447\n\n Dew from heaven, i. 307\n\n Dewel, a demon of Ceylon, i. 448\n\n Dharana, or catalepsy, ii. 590, 591\n\n Dharm-Asoka, the great propagandist of Buddhism, ii. 607\n\n Dhy\u00e2na or perfection, ii. 287\n\n Diabolical manifestations, frowned at by the Roman Church, ii. 4\n\n Diagram of the Nazarenes, ii. 295\n\n Diakka, discovered by A. J. Davis, i. 218;\n what Porphyry said, i. 219\n\n Dialogue of David and the devils, ii. 75\n\n Diamond, made by Desprez, i. 509\n\n Dido, Elissa, or Astarte, the virgin of the sea, ii. 446\n\n Dirghatamas\u2019 hymns, ii. 411\n\n Di Franciscis, Don Pasquale, \u201cprofessor of flunkeyism in things\n spiritual,\u201d ii. 7;\n pious collection of papal fishwoman\u2019s talk, _ib._\n\n Dii minores, or twelve gods, ii. 451\n\n Diktamnos, i. 264\n\n Diobolos (son of Zeus) changed to Diabolos, an accuser, ii. 485\n\n Dionysus, his worship superseded by the rites of Mithras, ii. 491;\n or Bacchus, his Hindu origin, ii. 560\n\n Diploteratology or production of monsters, i. 390\n\n Disbelievers in magic cannot share the faith of the church, ii. 71\n\n Diocletian burned libraries of books upon the secret arts, i. 405\n\n Dionysius Areopagita and the Kabala, i. 26\n\n Dion\u00e8 pursued by Typhon to the Euphrates, ii. 490\n\n Disciples of John, ii. 289, 290;\n do not believe in Christ, ii. 290\n\n Dissimilarities between Buddhism and Christianity, ii. 540, 541\n\n \u201cDistractions\u201d of adversaries of spiritualism, i. 116\n\n Divination by the lot, ii. 20, 21;\n prohibited by the Council of Varres, i. 21;\n devoid of sin, ii. 353\n\n Divine book, i. 406;\n magic, i. 26\n\n Djin reading magic rolls, ii. 29\n\n Docet\u00e6 or illusionists, believed in the Maya, ii. 157\n\n Documents sure to reappear, ii. 26\n\n Dodech\u00e6dron, the geometrical figure of the universe, i. 342\n\n Domes, the reproductions of the lithos, ii. 5\n\n Dominic and the devils, ii. 73, 75;\n receives a rosary from the Virgin Mary, ii. 74;\n most hated by devils, ii. 75;\n and the devil flea and monkey, ii. 78\n\n Dominicans, none in hell, ii. 75\n\n Dodona, priestesses, prophesied by means of the oak, ii. 592\n\n Doppelganger, or astral body, i. 360\n\n Double cross of Chaldea, ii. 453;\n existence, i. 179, 180;\n life of the adept, ii. 564;\n perverted into the offering of human sacrifices, ii. 565\n\n Double-sexed creators, i. 156\n\n Dove, represented Noah, worshipped, ii. 448\n\n Dowager mother alone the mediatrix, ii. 9;\n owes the present Pope for the finest gem in her coronet, _ib._\n\n Dracontia, or temples to the dragon, i. 554\n\n Dragon and the sun, the basis of heliolatrous religion, i. 550;\n sons of, the hierophants, i. 553;\n cured of a sore eye by Simeon Stylites, and adored God, ii. 77;\n Apophis, his influence on the soul, ii. 368;\n Horus piercing his head, ii. 446;\n pursues Thuesis and her son, ii. 490;\n glided over the cradle of Mary, ii. 505;\n of Ceylon, Rawho, ii. 509\n\n Dragons, oriental in character, i. 448\n\n Drama of Job explained, ii. 494, 495\n\n Draper, Prof., on pagan belief concerning the human spirit, i. 429;\n asserts that Aristotle taught the Buddhistic doctrine, i. 430;\n probably meant to misrepresent the Neo-platonic philosophers, i.\n 431;\n defines the \u201cage of faith\u201d and \u201cage of decrepitude,\u201d i. 582;\n on Olympus restored by Constantine, ii. 49;\n on the conflict instituted by Augustine between religion and\n science, ii. 88\n\n Dream produced by the inner ego of a Shaman at the author\u2019s request,\n ii. 628\n\n Dress of the Christian clergy like that of ancient pagans, ii. 94\n\n Druidical structures like other ancient works, i. 572\n\n Druids denominated themselves snakes, i. 554\n\n Drummer of Tedworth, i. 363\n\n Druzes of Mount Lebanon, ii. 306;\n their 80,000 warriors, ii. 308;\n never became Christians, ii. 309;\n their doctrines, ii. 309, 310;\n believe in \u201ctwo souls,\u201d ii. 315;\n their tricks with strangers, _ib._;\n correct and garbled versions of their commandments, ii. 311\n\n Duad or second, i. 212;\n ether and chaos the first, i. 343\n\n Dual evolution represented in Adam, ii. 277;\n taught by Plato and others, ii. 279\n\n Dudim, or mandragora, i. 465\n\n Dunbar, George, endeavor to derive the Sanscrit from the Greek\n language, i. 443\n\n Duomo of Milan, its original, ii. 5\n\n Du Potet, Baron, Grand Master of Mesmerism, i. 166;\n views of sorcery, epidemics, antipathies, magic, i. 279, 333\n\n Dupuis mistook ancient symbolism, i. 24\n\n Durga, the active virtue, or Shekinah, ii. 276\n\n Dust of the earth to become the constituent of living soul, ii. 420\n\n Dynasties, two in India, ii. 437\n\n Dwellers of the threshold, i. 285\n\n\n Early Christian Church invented the doctrine of Second Advent to shut\n off periodical incarnations, ii. 535;\n Christianity itself a heresy, ii. 123;\n its history imparted to the first Knight Templars, ii. 382\n\n Earth, queen of the Serpents, i. 10;\n the goddess Anahit or Venus, i. 11;\n magical exhalations, i. 199, 200;\n a magnet, i. 282\n\n Earths germinate, i. 389\n\n East, the land of knowledge, i. 89;\n its civilization preceded that of the West, i. 539\n\n Eastern \u00c6thiopians an Aryan stock, ii. 435;\n magic, its adepts uniformly in good health, ii. 595;\n requires no \u201cconditions\u201d like mediums, _ib._\n\n Ebers Papyrus in the Astor library, i. 3;\n quoted, i. 23;\n its curious contents, i. 529\n\n Ebionites, ii. 127;\n the first Christians, ii. 180;\n the relatives of Jesus, ii. 181;\n used only the Gospel according to Matthew, ii. 182;\n the Nazarenes their instructors, ii. 190;\n condemned as heretics, ii. 307\n\n Ecbatana, her seven walls and other wonders, i. 534\n\n Echo in the desert of Gobi, i. 606\n\n Ecclesia non novit sanguinem, ii. 58\n\n Eclectic Platonists adopt the inductive method, ii. 34;\n school, its dispersion desired by Christians, ii. 52;\n its groundwork, ii. 342, 343\n\n Ecstasy, power of conversing with Deity, i. 121;\n doctrine of Paracelsus and Van Helmont, i. 170;\n defined by Plotinus, i. 486\n\n Ectenic force, i. 55;\n same as psychic force, i. 113;\n same as the Akasa, _ib._\n\n Eden, the allegory of the Book of Genesis, i. 575\n\n Edison, of Newark, N. J., supposed discovery of a new force, i. 126\n\n Egg, spiritual or mundane, i. 56;\n evolved by Emepht, the supreme, i. 146;\n Isle of Chemmis produced from it, i. 147;\n Bhagavant enters and emerges as Brahma, i. 346;\n and bird, which appeared first?, i. 426, 428\n\n _Egkosmioi_, i. 312\n\n Ego, the sentient soul, inseparable from the brain, ii. 590\n\n Egypt, resort of philosophers, i. 25;\n priests could communicate from temple to temple, i. 127;\n doctrine of evolution taught, i. 154;\n the perpetual lamp discovered there, i. 226;\n taught the secret to Moses, i. 228;\n Pythagoras twenty-two years in the temple, i. 284;\n Hermetic brothers, ii. 307;\n secret biography of its gods, i. 406;\n books before Menes, _ib._;\n did not learn her wisdom from her Semitic neighbors, i. 515;\n akin with India, _ib._;\n probably colonized by the Eastern Ethiopians, _ib._;\n 20,000 years\u2019 antiquity, i. 519;\n the birthplace of chemistry, i. 541;\n dentists and oculists, i. 545;\n no doctor allowed to practice more than one specialty, _ib._;\n trial by jury, _ib._;\n received her laws from pre-Vedic India, i. 589;\n colonized from India in the dynasty of Soma-Vanga, i. 627\n\n Egyptian temples, architecture of, i. 517;\n monuments defeat the efforts of the fathers, ii. 520;\n saints reappearing as a serpent, ii. 490\n\n Egyptians, civilized before the first dynasties, i. 6;\n astronomical calculations, i. 21;\n were monotheists, i. 23;\n knowledge of engineering, i. 516;\n changed the course of the Nile, _ib._;\n their astronomical erudition, i. 520;\n their high civilization disputed, i. 521;\n arts of war, i. 531;\n gods in the Grecian pantheon, i. 543;\n made beer, manufactured glass and imitated gems, i. _ib._;\n the best music-teachers, i. 544;\n understood the circulation of the blood, _ib._;\n their sacred books older than the Genesis, ii. 431;\n ancient Indians, ii. 434;\n the Caucasian race, ii. 436\n\n Eight powers of the soul, ii. 593\n\n Eight hundred million believers in magic, mesmerism, and\n spiritualism, i. 512\n\n Eight-pointed star or double cross, ii. 453\n\n El, i. 13;\n the sun-god, same as Seth, Saturn, Seth, Siva, ii. 524\n\n Elcazar, Rabbi, expelled demons, ii. 350\n\n Electric waves, i. 278\n\n Electrical photography, i. 395\n\n Electricity, personated by Thor in Norse legends, i. 160, 161;\n two kinds, i. 188, 322;\n occult properties anciently understood, i. 234;\n represented at Samothrace by the Kabeirian Demeter, _ib._;\n denoted by the Dioskuri, i. 235;\n the fire on the altar, i. 283;\n blind and intelligent, i. 322;\n cerebral, _ib._;\n developed from magnetic currents, i. 395;\n used anciently to supply fire to the altars, i. 526\n\n Electro-magnetism, i. 103;\n employed by Paracelsus, i. 164\n\n Elion, or Elon, the highest god, i. 554\n\n Eliphas Levi, on resuscitation of the dead, i. 485\n\n Elixir of life regarded as absurd, i. 501;\n possible, i. 502;\n curious accounts, i. 503\n\n Elizabeth, Queen, Jesuitic attempt to murder her, ii. 373\n\n Elemental demon driven away with a sword, i. 364;\n spirits, i. 67, 311;\n inhabit the universal ether, i. 284;\n psychic embryos, i. 311;\n live in the ether, _ib._;\n power to assume tangible bodies, _ib._\n\n Elementary spirits, i. 67;\n three classes, i. 310;\n called demons by Proclus, i. 312;\n terrestrial spirits, i. 319;\n four classes, _ib._;\n peril of evoking them, i. 342;\n afraid of sharp weapons, i. 362\n\n Elephanta, the Mahody, ii. 5\n\n Eleusinian Mysteries, ii. 44\n\n Elihu, the hierophant of Job, ii. 497\n\n Elisha anointed Jehu that he might unite the Israelites, ii. 525\n\n Ellenborough, Lady, her talisman, ii. 255, 256\n\n Elohim inhabiting an island in the ancient inland sea of Middle Asia,\n i. 589, 590, 599\n\n Eloim, gods or powers, priests; also Aleim, i. 575\n\n Emanation of souls from divinity, doctrine of, i. 13\n\n Emanations, doctrine of, ii. 34\n\n Embalming in Thibet, ii. 603\n\n Emanuel, not Christ, but the son of Isaiah, ii. 166;\n the son of the Alma, in whose days Syria and Israel were overcome,\n ii. 440\n\n Embryo, stamped with a resemblance by the imagination of the mother,\n i. 385;\n its nucleus, i. 389\n\n Emepht, the supreme, first principle, i. 146;\n emanation from him of the creative God, ii. 41\n\n Emigration from India to the West, ii. 428\n\n Eminent men called gods, i. 24, 280\n\n Emmerich, Catherine, the Tyrolese ecstatic, i. 398\n\n Empedocles believed in two souls, i. 317;\n restored a woman to life, i. 480;\n arrested a water-spout, ii. 597\n\n Empusa or gh\u00fbl, beheld by Apollonius of Tyana, i. 604\n\n Enmity, everlasting, between theology and science, ii. 88\n\n Ennemoser on seership, etc., in India, i. 460\n\n Enoch, sacred delta of, i. 20;\n Masonic legend, i. 571;\n builds a subterranean structure with nine chambers, _ib._;\n communicates secrets to Methuselah, _ib._;\n the type of the dual man, spiritual and terrestrial, ii. 453;\n and Elias ascending from hell, ii. 517\n\n Enoch-Verihe, i. 560\n\n En-Soph, i. 16, 67, 270, 272;\n means No-Thing, _quo ad non_, the same as nirvana, i. 292;\n the first principle, i. 347;\n within its first emanation, ii. 37\n\n Enthusiastic energy, ii. 591\n\n Ephesus a focus of the universal secret doctrines, ii. 155\n\n Epicurus disbelieved in God, i. 317;\n believed the soul constituted of the roundest, finest atoms, _ib._;\n testimony concerning the gods, i. 436\n\n Epidemic in moral and physical affairs, i. 274, 276, 277;\n of assassination, i. 277;\n of possession in Germany, i. 374\n\n Epimenides, i. 364;\n power to make his soul leave his body and return, ii. 597\n\n Epiphanius, a Gnostic renegade, who betrayed his associates as\n state\u2019s evidence, ii. 249;\n belied the Gnostics, ii. 330\n\n Episcopalian crook adopted from the augurs of Etruria, ii. 94\n\n Epopt, master-builder, adept, ii. 91\n\n Epopt\u00e6, knew nothing of the last and dreaded rite, ii. 563\n\n Epopteia, revelation and clairvoyance, the last stage in initiation,\n ii. 90\n\n Erring spirits, their re-incarnation, i. 357\n\n Eslinger, Elizabeth, the apparition, i. 68\n\n Esoteric catechism, i. 19;\n doctrines never committed to writing, i. 271;\n Masonry not known in American lodges, ii. 376\n\n Essaoua or sorcerers, i. 488\n\n Essenes, hermetic fraternities, i. 16;\n had greater and minor mysteries, ii. 42;\n had the same customs as the Apostles, ii. 196;\n believed in pre-existence, ii. 280;\n declared by Eusebius to have been the first Christians, ii. 323;\n older than the Christians, _ib._;\n never employed oaths, ii. 373;\n probably Buddhists, ii. 491\n\n Eternal torments of hell, why pagans are condemned to them, ii. 8;\n letter of Virgin Mary on the subject, _ib._;\n damnation, the only doctrine invented originally by Christians, ii.\n 334;\n meaning of the word, ii. 12\n\n Eternity, the duad or second, i. 212;\n no Hebrew word to express the idea, ii. 12\n\n Ether, the universal, i. 128, 156, 284;\n properties, i. 181;\n directed by an intelligence, i. 199;\n disturbed by planetary aspects, i. 275;\n influenced by Divine thought, i. 310;\n the universal world-soul, i. 316, 341;\n universal, the womb of the universe, i. 389;\n universal, the repository of the spiritual images of all forms and\n thoughts, i. 395;\n the Orphean doctrine denounced by the early Christians, ii. 35\n\n Ethereal body, i. 281\n\n Ethiopians, eastern, the builders, colonists of Egypt, i. 515\n\n Etruscans understood electricity and employed it in worship, i. 527;\n invented lightning-rods, _ib._\n\n Eucharist, common to many ancient nations, ii. 43\n\n Eurinus returned after dying, i. 365\n\n European science, without the knowledge of the secrets of herbs of\n dreams, ii. 589\n\n Europeans cannot see certain colors, i. 211\n\n Eusebius, Bishop of C\u00e6sarea, perverted chronology, i. 288;\n convicted of mendacity, ii. 327\n\n Evapto, or initiation, same as epopteia, ii. 90, 91\n\n Eve, the name and its affinity with the Tetragrammaton, ii. 299;\n her story told kabalistically, ii. 223-225\n\n Every nation has believed in a God, ii. 121\n\n Evil possessed space as the intelligences retired, i. 342;\n essential to the evolving of the good, ii. 480;\n eye, i. 380;\n Pope Pio Nono said to have the gift, _ib._;\n magic, i. 26\n\n Evocation, of souls, objected to, i. 321;\n of the dead, i. 492;\n the \u201csouls of the blessed\u201d do not come, i. 493;\n blood used for the purpose, _ib._\n\n Evocations, magical, pronounced in a particular dialect, ii. 46;\n a formula, _ib._\n\n Evolution, taught by science, the secret doctrine and the Bible, i.\n 152;\n theory found in India and Assyria, i. 154;\n held by Anaximenes and accepted by the Chaldeans, i. 238;\n taught by Hermes, i. 257;\n doctrine of Robert Fludd, i. 258;\n ancient belief, i. 285, 295;\n doctrine of A. R. Wallace, i. 294;\n operation defined, i. 329, 330;\n spiritual and physical, i. 352;\n theory does not solve the ultimate mystery, i. 419;\n of man out of primordial spirit-matter, i. 429;\n Darwin begins his theory at the wrong end, _ib._;\n as taught by the Bhagavat and Manu, ii. 260;\n by Sanchoniathon and Darwin, ii. 261;\n of our own planet, ii. 420;\n for six days, and one of repose, ii. 422;\n of the universe, ii. 467;\n of man from the highest to lowest, ii. 424\n\n Exorcising a girl in Catalonia, ii. 68\n\n Exorcism, ii. 66;\n new ritual, ii. 69\n\n Exorcist-priest, ii. 66\n\n Exoteric religion, its God an idol or fiction, i. 307\n\n Exposures, pretended, of impostors, i. 75\n\n Extinction at death, those who believe it will commit, in\n consequence, any sin they choose, ii. 566\n\n _Ex votos_, Phallic, traffic by the Roman clergy, ii. 5\n\n Ezekiel\u2019s wheel, a wheel of the Adonai, ii. 451;\n explained, ii. 455;\n exoteric, ii. 461;\n esoteric, ii. 462\n\n Ezra compiled the _Pentateuch_, i. 578\n\n\n Fables, allegorical science and anthropology, i. 122;\n allegorized the gods and natural phenomena, i. 261\n\n Fairfield, Francis Gerry, his testimony in regard to the\n phantom-hand, ii. 594, 595\n\n Faith, the Devil the chief pillar, i. 103;\n its power to heal disease, i. 216;\n phenomena of, i. 323;\n its great power, ii. 597;\n of the Church, disbelievers in magic cannot share, ii. 76;\n omni-perceptive, inside of human credulity, ii. 120\n\n Faithful daughters of the church, ii. 54\n\n Fakir buried six weeks and resuscitated, i. 477;\n and his guru, ii. 105\n\n Fakirs not harmed by alligators, i. 383;\n use the force known as Akasa, i. 113;\n raised from the ground, i. 115, 224\n\n Fall of Adam, not a personal transgression, but an evolution, ii. 277\n\n Fallen angels, hurled by Siva into Onderah, ii. 11\n\n Familiar spirit, those having one, refused initiation, ii. 118\n\n Famines follow missionaries, ii. 531\n\n Faraday, i. 11;\n his medium-catcher, i. 63\n\n Fascination, i. 380, 381;\n at a precipice, i. 501\n\n Fatalism rejected by ancients, ii. 593\n\n Fate, defined by Henry More, i. 206\n\n \u201cFather\u201d of Jesus, the hierophant of the mysteries, ii. 561\n\n Fathers, selected narratives for their saints, from the poets and\n pagan legends, ii. 78\n\n Fauste asserts that the evangeliums or gospels were not written by\n Jesus or the apostles, but by unknown persons, ii. 38\n\n Fav-Atma, or sentient soul, ii. 590\n\n Favre, Jules, counsel for Madam Roger, i. 166\n\n Feast of the dead in Moldavia and Bulgaria, ii. 569, 570\n\n Felix, preacher of Notre Dame, on mystery and science, i. 337\n\n Felt, George H., i. 22\n\n Female trinity, ii. 444\n\n Ferho, the greatest, i. 300;\n first cause, i. 301;\n believed in by Jesus and John, ii. 290\n\n Fessler\u2019s rite, a Jesuitical production, ii. 390\n\n Fetahil, i. 298;\n called to aid in creation, i. 299;\n the newest man and creator, i. 300;\n the \u201cnewest man,\u201d ii. 175\n\n Fiery serpents (_Numbers_, xxi.), a name given to the Levites, i. 555;\n or seraphs, the Levites, or serpent-tribe, ii. 481;\n the allegory explained, ii. 129\n\n Fifteen thousand devils in a man, ii. 75\n\n Fifth degree, ii. 365;\n element, i. 317;\n stage of initiation the most awful and sublime, ii. 101\n\n Fifty millions slaughtered by Christians since Jesus said, \u201cLove your\n enemies,\u201d ii. 479\n\n Fifty-five thousand Protestant clergymen in the United States, ii. 1\n\n Final absorption, i. 12\n\n Finger of the Holy Ghost preserved as a relic, ii. 71\n\n Fiords of Norway described in the Odyssey, i. 549\n\n Fire, living, i. 129;\n on the altar, electric, i. 283;\n its triple potency, i. 423;\n from heaven, always employed by the ancients in the temples, i. 526;\n preserved by the magi, i. 528;\n and brimstone, the lake, ii. 12\n\n Fire-proof mediums, i. 445, 446\n\n F\u016bkara-Yogis, ii. 164\n\n First Air, or anima mundi, ii. 227;\n adept, ii. 317;\n begotten, constructed the world, i. 342;\n cause, denied by Vyasa and Kapila, ii. 261;\n Christians, the Elianites, ii. 180;\n the disciples of Paul, ii. 178;\n cycle, i. 301;\n gods, a hierarchy of higher powers, ii. 451;\n light, i. 302;\n man created bi-sexual, i. 559;\n races of men spiritual, ii. 276;\n direct emanations of the Tikkun or Adam Kadmon, _ib._;\n sin, committed by Brahma-Prag\u00e2pati and his daughter Ushas, i. 265;\n the spirit of evil created to destroy its incarnation, _ib._;\n trinity, i. 341.\n\n Fish displaying magnetic affinity, i. 210\n\n Fish-charming in Ceylon, i. 606\n\n Fisher (Dr. G.) on deploteratology, i. 390\n\n Fishwife, talk of papal discourses, ii. 7\n\n Fiske, Prof. J., i. 42;\n disputes the doctrine of cycles and the high civilization of the\n Egyptians, i. 521;\n declares the theories of profound science in ancient Egypt and the\n East utterly destroyed, i. 525\n\n Five thousand Roman Catholic clergy in the United States, ii. 1\n\n Flammarion the astronomer, his avowal, i. 195;\n Camille, his curious revelation, ii. 450\n\n Flight of the alone to the Alone, ii. 413\n\n Flood, 10,000 years B.C., i. 241;\n as described in the Assyrian tablets, ii. 422;\n Hindu legend, ii. 428;\n the old serpent, ii. 447\n\n Florentine scientist witnessing a re-incarnation of a Dalai-Lama, i.\n 437\n\n \u201cFlowers of Speech,\u201d Mr. Gladstone\u2019s catalogue, ii. 7\n\n Fludd, Robert (_de Fluctibus_), on magnetism, i. 71;\n on minerals as rudimentary of plants, etc., i. 258;\n chief of the \u201cphilosophers by fire,\u201d i. 309;\n on the essence of gold, i. 511\n\n Flute-player of Vaucanson, i. 543\n\n F\u0153tal life, little known about it, i. 386\n\n F\u0153tus, its sensitive surface like a collodionized plate, i. 385;\n its signature, _ib._;\n extinguished, i. 402\n\n Foraisse, M., his story respecting Masonry, ii. 381\n\n Forbidden ground, i. 418\n\n Force, magnetic, body nourished by, i. 169;\n produced by will, i. 285;\n the supreme artist and providence, ii. 40\n\n Force-correlation, i. 235;\n taught in prehistoric time, i. 241, 242;\n the A B C of Occultism, i. 243\n\n Fore-heaven, ii. 534\n\n Fall of man an allegory, and so regarded, ii. 541\n\n Forever, meaning of the word, ii. 12\n\n Forgery the basis of the Church, ii. 329\n\n Former life, i. 347\n\n Forms, images impressed on the ether, i. 395\n\n Formula of an evocation, ii. 46\n\n Formulas, secret, i. 66;\n for inextinguishable fire, i. 229\n\n Four ages or yugs, ii. 275;\n ages of the Bible like those of the nations, ii. 443;\n gospels, their doctrines found elsewhere, ii. 337;\n kingdoms in nature, i. 329;\n men not begotten by the gods, nor born of women, i. 558;\n the gods afraid of them, and give them wives, i. 558;\n races of men, i. 559;\n Tana\u00efm, etc., entered the garden, ii. 119;\n \u201cTruths,\u201d i. 290, 291\n\n Fourni\u00e9, Dr., declares that no physiology of the nervous system\n exists, i. 407;\n remarkable declaration concerning the human ovule, i. 397\n\n Fourth degree, ii. 365;\n race, parents of men \u201cwhose daughters were fair,\u201d i. 559\n\n Fourfold emanations, ii. 272\n\n Francis, St., preached to the birds, ii. 77;\n preached to a wolf till he repented, _ib._\n\n Francke, A., remarks on the transmutations of Christianity, ii. 38;\n the Sephiroth and Providence, ii. 40\n\n Free and Accepted Masons, and the Masonic impostor, Anderson, ii. 389\n\n Free-Masonry, its origin in London, ii. 349;\n proclaims a creative principle as Great Architect, ii. 377\n\n French Revolution, what it achieved for freedom, ii. 22\n\n Fretheim, Abb\u00e9, his faculty of conversing by power of will, i. 476\n\n Friar Pietro presents a demon to Dr. Torralva, ii. 60\n\n Fundamental doctrine identical in all the ancient religions, ii. 99\n\n Funeral ritual of the Egyptians, ii. 367\n\n Future life, better to believe in it, ii. 566;\n self, beheld at the moment of initiation, ii. 115;\n man, primitive shape, i. 388, 389;\n religion of, i. 76;\n woman of, artificially fecundated, i. 77;\n also offered to the incubi, i. 78\n\n\n Gabriel, the same as Christos, ii. 193\n\n Gaffarillus, on the form of a burned plant remaining in the ashes, i.\n 475, 476\n\n Galileo, i. 35;\n anticipated, i. 159, 238\n\n Gall\u00e6us, quotation from, ii. 504\n\n Gan-Duniyas, an Assyrian name of Babylonia, i. 575\n\n Gan-Eden, or garden of Eden, also Ganduniyas, a name of Babylonia, i.\n 575\n\n Ganesor, the elephant-headed god found in Central America, i. 572, 573\n\n Ganges, the paradisiacal river, ii. 30\n\n Gap between Christianity and Judaism, ii. 526\n\n Garden of delight (Eden), the mysterious science, ii. 119;\n of Eden, allegory, i. 575;\n name of Babylonia, _ib._;\n explanation as a sacerdotal college, _ib._\n\n Garibaldi, his testimony concerning priests, ii. 347;\n a Mason, ii. 391\n\n Garlic, story by Hippocrates, i. 20\n\n Gasparin, Count Agenor de, i. 99;\n makes no differences between magnetic phenomena and will-force, i.\n 109;\n his labors, ii. 15\n\n Gate of the House of Life, and of Dionysus, ii. 245, 246\n\n Gates of Death, in the hall of initiation, ii. 364\n\n Gautama-Buddha, his birth announced to Maya his mother by a vision,\n i. 92;\n called an atheist, i. 307;\n his answer to King Prasenagit on miracles, i. 599, 600;\n a disciple of a Jaina guru, ii. 322;\n his legends wrought into the evangelists, ii. 491, 492;\n his history copied into _The Golden Legend_, ii. 579;\n his esoteric doctrines, ii. 319;\n first opened the sanctuary to the pariah, _ib._\n\n Gayatri, its metre, ii. 410\n\n Gegen Chutuktu, late patriarch of Mongolia, an incarnation of Buddha,\n ii. 617\n\n Gehenna, a valley near Jerusalem, where the Israelites immolated\n their children, ii. 11;\n of the universe, or eighth sphere or planet, i. 328;\n repentance possible, i. 352\n\n Gemantria, ii. 298\n\n Gemma, Cornelius, account of a child born wounded, i. 386\n\n Genealogy of the gods, astronomical, i. 267\n\n Generations, fall into, i. 315\n\n Genesis, Book of, a reminiscence of the Babylonish captivity, i. 576;\n first three chapters transcribed from other cosmogonies, the fourth\n and fifth from the secret _Book of Numbers_, the _Kabala_, i.\n 579;\n the introductory chapters do not treat of creation, ii. 421;\n the book later than the invention of the sign Libra, ii. 457\n\n Genghis Khan, his tomb and promised reappearance, i. 598\n\n Genii, or \u00c6ons, lord of, i. 300\n\n Genius, the divine spirit, i. 277\n\n Genoa cathedral, the celebrated vase, i. 537, 538\n\n Geographers in pre-Mosaic days, i. 406\n\n Geometers of the Alexandrian Museum, i. 7\n\n Germany depopulated by the thirty years\u2019 war, ii. 503;\n priestesses, how they hypnotized themselves, ii. 592\n\n Ghosts, unlike materialized spirits, i. 69; i. 345\n\n Ghouls, i. 319;\n or gh\u00fbls, in the deserts, i. 604;\n and vampires, ii. 564\n\n Giants, i. 31;\n progenitors of Brahmans, i. 122;\n remains of a prehistorical race, i. 303, 304\n\n Gibbon, his praise of the Gnostics, ii. 249\n\n Gilbert on magnetism, i. 497\n\n Giles, Rev. Chauncey, on spiritual death, i. 317\n\n Ginnungagap, the cup of illusion, i. 147;\n the boundless abyss of the mundane pit, i. 160\n\n Girard, Father, his employment of sorcery and revolting crimes, ii.\n 633\n\n Gladstone, Hon. W. E., \u201cSpeeches of Pius IX.,\u201d ii. 4;\n catalogue of \u201cflowers of speech\u201d in papal discourses, ii. 7\n\n Glass that would not break, i. 50;\n malleable, i. 239;\n in Pompeii, China, and Genoa, i. 537\n\n Glass-blowing in Egypt, i. 543\n\n Gliddon, George R., description of the moving of an obelisk, i. 519;\n eloquent testimony to Egyptian civilization, i. 521, 522\n\n Glycerine, a compound of three hydroxyl groups, i. 505, 506\n\n Gnosis, the Kabala, or secret knowledge, still existing, ii. 38\n\n Gnostic, wrote _Gospel according to John_, i. 2;\n serpent with the seven vowels, ii. 489\n\n Gnosticism, oriental, i. 271;\n Buddhistic elements, ii. 321\n\n Gnostics, ii. 41;\n believed in metempsychosis, i. 12;\n early Christians and followers of the Essenes, i. 26;\n originated many Christian doctrines, ii. 41, 42;\n their greatest heresies, ii. 155, 156;\n praised by Gibbon, ii. 259;\n their doctrines falsified by the Christian Fathers, ii. 326;\n their view of the Jewish God, ii. 526\n\n Gobi desert, the seat of empire, i. 598;\n jealousy of foreign intrusion, i. 599;\n testimony of Marco Polo, _ib._;\n believed to be inhabited by malignant beings, i. 603\n\n Goblins, elementary, i. 68\n\n God, personal, denied by modern scientists, i. 16;\n an intelligent, omnipotent, individual will, i. 58;\n his existence denied by Comte and the Positivists, i. 76;\n to be sought in nature, and not outside, i. 93;\n belief of Henry More, the English Platonist, i. 205, 206;\n Kircher\u2019s doctrine of the one magnet, i. 208;\n the monad, i. 212;\n doctrines of Voltaire and Volney, i. 268;\n the central sun, i. 270;\n the universal mind, the original doctrine, i. 289;\n is no-thing, not a concrete or visible being like objects, i. 292;\n belief of the Stoics, i. 317;\n of the several Christian denominations, ii. 2;\n the Father, ii. 50;\n of the gardens, his rites adopted by the Fathers, ii. 51;\n each immortal spirit, ii. 153;\n \u201cmanifest in the flesh,\u201d a forged text, ii. 178;\n his actions subject to necessity, ii. 251;\n Masonic testimony, ii. 377;\n the Father, the beguiling serpent, ii. 492;\n prepares hell for priers into his mysteries, ii. 524;\n every man\u2019s, bounded by his own conceptions, ii. 567\n\n God-man, the first man, i. 297\n\n God\u2019s comedy and our tragedy, ii. 534\n\n Godfrey Higgins in error about Roman Catholic esoterism, ii. 121\n\n Gods, eminent men so called, i. 24, 280;\n inferior to deities, i. 287;\n supercelestial and intercosmic, i. 312;\n pagan, Christian archangels, i. 316;\n kind and beneficent demons, i. 332;\n their names kept secret, i. 581;\n not incarnations of the Supreme Being, ii. 153\n\n Gogard, the Hellenic tree of life, i. 297\n\n Gold, basic matter of, i. 50;\n its manufacture asserted, i. 503;\n testimony of Francesco Picos, i. 504;\n assertion of Dr. Peisse, i. 508, 509;\n made by Theodore Tiffereau, i. 509;\n the deposit of light, i. 511\n\n _Golden Legend_, a conservatory of pious lies, ii. 74;\n choice excerpts, ii. 76-79;\n beats the _Decameron_, ii. 79;\n a parodized or plagiarized history of Buddha, ii. 579\n\n Good demons appear, i. 333;\n spirits hardly ever appear, i. 344;\n enough Morgan, ii. 372;\n Shepherd, a Gnostic symbol, ii. 149\n\n Goodale, Miss Annie, death, i. 479\n\n Goodness must be alternated by its opposite, ii. 480\n\n Gorillas mentioned by Hanno, i. 412\n\n Gospel according to Peter, ii. 181;\n fourth, full of Gnostic expressions, ii. 205;\n fourth, blends Christianity with the Gnosis and Kabala, ii. 211\n\n Gospels, their authors and compilers not known, ii. 37, 38\n\n Gossein, fakir, contest with a sorcerer, i. 368\n\n Gr\u00e6co-Russian church never under the Roman Catholics, i. 27\n\n Grand council of the emperors, a Jesuitical production, ii. 390;\n secours, i. 374;\n cycle, Orpheus, i. 294;\n its character, i. 296;\n cycle completed, i. 303\n\n Grandville, Dr., on mummy-bandaging, i. 539\n\n Gravitation, none in the Newtonian sense, i. 271\n\n Gray brain-matter the god, i. 36\n\n Great Dragon, crushed under the foot of the Virgin of the Sea, ii.\n 446;\n Vasaki, casting out a flood of poison which the earth swallows, ii.\n 490;\n equinoctial continent, i. 594;\n Masonic revolution of 1717, ii. 389;\n secret of evocation, ii. 114;\n snake, worshipped by the pueblo-chiefs of Mexico, i. 557;\n spirit of the Indian, the manifested Brahma, i. 560;\n synagogue revised the Pentateuch, i. 578;\n universal soul, absorption into it does not involve loss of\n individuality, ii. 116;\n year, i. 30\n\n Greatest scientists inanimate corpses, i. 318\n\n Greece derived its art from Egypt, i. 521\n\n Gregory VII., pope, a magician, ii. 56, 57;\n of Tours, exposition of sortilege, ii. 20\n\n Gross, T., denounces those opposed to investigation, ii. 96\n\n Grote assimilates the Pythagoreans to the Jesuits, ii. 529\n\n Gunpowder, anciently used by the Chinese, i. 241\n\n Guru-astara, a spiritual teacher, ii. 141\n\n Gymnosophists of India, i. 90;\n knew the Ak\u00e2sa, i. 113\n\n\n Half-death, i. 452\n\n Half-gods, i. 323;\n or mukti, men regenerate on earth, ii. 566\n\n Hierophant, transfer of his life to a candidate, ii. 563\n\n Hakem, the wise one of the Druzes, ii. 310\n\n Haideck, Countess, a Mason, ii. 391\n\n Hall of spirits, ii. 365\n\n Hamites preferred to settle near rivers and oceans, ii. 458\n\n Hamsa, the Messiah of the Druzes, ii. 308;\n the precursor, ii. 310\n\n Hanno, mention of gorillas, i. 412\n\n Hanuma, or Hanuman the sacred monkey, the progenitor of the\n Europeans, i. 563;\n resembles the Egyptian cynocephalus, i. 564;\n endowed with speech, ii. 274\n\n Hare, Prof., i. 38;\n views of Comte\u2019s positive philosophy, i. 79;\n mistreated by Harvard professors, i. 176, 177;\n declared _non compos mentis_, i. 233;\n bullied by Prof. Henry, i. 245\n\n Harmony and justice analagous, i. 330\n\n Hasty burial deprecated, i. 453\n\n Haug, Dr., asserts the affinity of the Zoroastrian, Jewish, and\n Christian religions, ii. 486\n\n Haunted house, i. 69\n\n Hayes, Moses Michael, introduced Royal Arch Masonry into this\n country, ii. 393\n\n Hayti, a centre of secret societies, where infants are immolated, ii.\n 572\n\n Healing art in the temples always magical, ii. 502\n\n Heathen processions and priapic emblems at Easter in France, ii. 332;\n priesthood, their cast-off garb worn by Christian clergy, ii. 8\n\n Heavenly Man, Tikkun, Protogonos, ii. 276\n\n Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible the oldest, ii. 430;\n burned by the Inquisition, _ib._\n\n Hebron, or Kirjath-Arba, city of the four Kabeiri, ii. 171;\n Smaragdine tablet of Hermes found, i. 507\n\n Heliocentric system known by Hindus 2,000 B.C., i. 9;\n denied alike by scholars and the clergy, i. 84;\n known by the priests of Egypt, i. 532\n\n Hel, or Hela, neither a state nor place of punishment, ii. 11;\n cold and cheerless, _ib._\n\n Hell, a German goddess, ii. 11;\n not a place of punishment in Scandinavian mythology, _ib._;\n nowhere so set forth in Egyptian or Hindu mythology, nor in the\n Jewish Scriptures, _ib._;\n the Archimedean lever of Christian theology, _ib._;\n said to be located in the sun, ii. 12;\n denied by Origen, ii. 13;\n hypothesis of Mr. Swinden, _ib._;\n Augustine\u2019s theory of miracles, _ib._;\n eternal torments of, all pagans condemned to, ii. 8;\n Virgin Mary testifying to it with her own signature, _ib._;\n the damned, ii. 25;\n priests there, but no monks, _ib._;\n no Dominicans, _ib._;\n a hallucination, ii. 507;\n never means eternal torment, ii. 507;\n the translation in the Bible a forgery, ii. 506;\n its prince quarrelling with Satan, ii. 515\n\n Hellenic figures at Nagkon-Wat, i. 568\n\n Hell-torments, their perpetuity denied by Origen, ii. 13\n\n Helps, artificial, to clairvoyance, ii. 592\n\n Heptaktis, the seven-rayed god, ii. 417\n\n Herakleitus on fighting with anger, i. 248;\n the Ephesian, his philosophical doctrine of fire and flux, i. 422;\n the spirit of fire, i. 423\n\n Herakles, the Grecian Hercules, the Logos, i. 298;\n disseminated a mild religion, ii. 515;\n the only-begotten, ii. 515;\n the saviour, _ib._;\n ascending from the nether house of Pluto, ii. 517;\n slew the sacrificers of men, ii. 565\n\n Herbs of dreams and enchantments, ii. 589\n\n Her-cules, the Sanscrit form of Mel-Kartha, i. 567\n\n Hercules, the magnet named from him, i. 130;\n not the same as the Grecian Herakles, _ib._;\n creator and father, i. 131;\n killed by the devil, i. 132;\n and Thor, i. 261;\n the first-begotten, Bel, Baal, and Siva, ii. 492;\n the Titan, restores Jupiter or Zeus to his throne, i. 299;\n descends to Hades, _ib._;\n Invictus, his initiation into the Eleusynia and descent into hell,\n ii. 516\n\n Herder places the cradle of mankind in India, ii. 30\n\n Heredom Rosy Cross, ii. 394\n\n Heresies, early Christianity among them, ii. 123;\n secret sects of the Christians, ii. 289;\n one still in existence, ii. 290\n\n Hermas, the pastor of, a book quoting from the _Sohar_, ii. 243, 244\n\n Hermes, the counterpart of the serpent, ii. 508;\n his prediction to Prometheus, ii. 514, 515;\n Trismegistus, 20,000 books written before Menes, i. 406;\n his _Smaragdine Tablet_ or manual of alchemy, i. 507;\n reputed author of serpent-worship and heliolatry, i. 551;\n an evocation of angels and demons to preside at Mysteries, i. 613;\n and Hostanes believed in one God, ii. 88\n\n Hermetic books on medicine, i. 3;\n their antiquity, i. 37;\n Brothers of Egypt, ii. 307;\n doctrine accounts most reasonably for the formation of the world,\n i. 341;\n fraternities, i. 16;\n gold, i. 511;\n philosophers, i. 1\n\n Hermetists\u2019 doctrine of creation, i. 258;\n why they wrote incomprehensibly, i. 627\n\n Hermodorus or Hermotimus, i. 364, 476\n\n Hero invented a steam-engine, i. 241\n\n Herodotus mentioned a night of six months, i. 412;\n testimony concerning the pyramids, i. 518, 519;\n description of the labyrinth, i. 522\n\n Hezekiah, the Redeemer and Messiah, ii. 440, 441;\n the rod or scion from the stem of Jesse, ii. 441;\n a prince from Bethlehem establishes a sacred college and a new\n religion, terminating Baal and serpent-worship, ii. 440;\n succeeded on the extinction of the family of Ahaz, ii. 166\n\n Hiarchus and Hiram, i. 19\n\n Hieroglyph of Knights Kadosh, ii. 391\n\n Hieroglyphics on the stones of the Temple of Dendera, i. 524\n\n Hierophant offered his own life, ii. 42;\n did not allow candidates to see or hear him personally, ii. 93\n\n Hierophants, Egyptian, i. 90\n\n Higgins, Godfrey, i. 33;\n rebuke of skeptics who accept the Bible stories, i. 284;\n had not the key to the esoteric doctrine, i. 347;\n on the Rasit, ii. 35\n\n High Hierophant transferring his life, ii. 564\n\n Highest pyrotechny, i. 306\n\n Hildebrand, the seventh Pope Gregory, a magician, ii. 557\n\n Hindu demigods, ii. 103;\n wonderful appearance seen by Jacolliot, _ib._;\n gods, masks without actors, ii. 261, 262;\n populations in Greece, ii. 428;\n rites belong to a religion older than the present one, ii. 535\n\n Hindus, more susceptible to magnetism, ii. 610;\n and Iranians, battles, i. 12;\n ancient, their philosophy and science, i. 618-620;\n their great probity, ii. 474;\n corrupted by European associations, _ib._\n\n Hindustan, once called \u00c6thiopia, ii. 434;\n dark races worshipped Maha Deva, _ib._\n\n Hiouen-Thsang, his description of the magicians of Peshawer, i. 599;\n his vision of the shade of Buddha, i. 600\n\n Hippocrates, his views like of Herakleitos, i. 423;\n identical with those of the Rosicrucians, _ib._;\n his doctrine of man\u2019s inner sense, i. 425;\n praise of instinct, i. 434\n\n Hiram, i. 19\n\n Hiram Abiff, i. 29\n\n Hitchcock, E. A., exposition of alchemy, i. 308;\n Prof., on psychometric photography, i. 184\n\n Hivim, or Hivites, descendants of the Serpent, i. 554;\n Ophites, or serpent-tribe, Cain their ancestor, ii. 446;\n of Palestine a serpent-tribe, ii. 481\n\n Hobbs, Abigail, confederated with the devil, i. 361\n\n Holy Ghost, the \u00c6ther, the breath of God, ii. 50;\n a bit of his finger kept as a relic, ii. 71.\n\n Holy kiss, and toilet directions of Augustine, ii. 331;\n limbs of Sts. Cosmo and Damiano, phallic symbols, ii. 5;\n syllable, supreme mystery, ii. 114;\n thief ascends out of hell, ii. 517\n\n Homer, the Iliad probably plagiarized, ii. 436\n\n Homunculi of Paracelsus, i. 465\n\n Hononer, the Persian Logos, or living manifested word, i. 560\n\n Horse with fingers, i. 411, 412\n\n Horse-shoe magnet applied to the phantom-hand, ii. 594\n\n Horus piercing the head of the serpent, ii. 446\n\n Hospitals anciently established near temples, ii. 98\n\n Houdin Robert, i. 73, 100;\n testimony in regard to table-rapping and levitation, i. 358, 359;\n suspected of magic, i. 379\n\n House of David deposed by the Israelites, ii. 439\n\n Howitt William, explanation of exorcism, ii. 66\n\n Huc, Abb\u00e9, his testimony concerning the infant Dalai-Lama, i. 438;\n his book placed on the _Index Expurgatorius_, _ib._;\n his account of the marvellous tree, i. 440;\n the picture of the moon, i. 441;\n punishment for his candor, ii. 345, 346;\n his testimony of the Lamaic doctrines, ii. 582;\n his story of the children compelled to swallow mercury, ii. 604.\n\n Hufeland, Dr., theory of magnetic sympathy, i. 207\n\n Human body once half ethereal, i. 1;\n made as a prison of earlier races, i. 2;\n credulity contains inside of it an omni-perceptive faith, ii. 120;\n embryo, evolved, i. 302, 303;\n f\u0153tus, transient forms like those of f\u0153tal animals, i. 388;\n process of development, i. 389;\n race, many before Adam, i. 2;\n imprisoned in bodies, i. 2;\n antiquity more than 250,000 years, i. 3;\n authorities differ in regard to original barbarism, i. 4;\n sacrifices, an ancient practice, ii. 547;\n abolished in Egypt, Africa, and Greece, ii. 568;\n offered to the Virgin Mary as heretics, _ib._;\n soul an immortal god, i. 345;\n is born and dies like man, _ib._;\n spirit, sees all things as in the present, i. 185\n\n Humanity, happy day for it, ii. 586.\n\n Humboldt, Alexander von, suspected intercourse between Mexicans and\n Hindus, i. 548\n\n Humboldt, Alexander, on presumptuous skepticism, i. 223\n\n Hume, David, exalted by Prof. Huxley, i. 421;\n the real founder of the positive philosophy, i. 82;\n testimony in the miracles at the tomb of Abb\u00e9 Paris, i. 373\n\n Hunt, Prof. Sterry, on solutions, i. 192\n\n Huss, John, his memory sacred in Bohemia, ii. 560\n\n Huxley, physical basis of life, i. 15;\n classes spiritualism outside of philosophical inquiry, i. 15;\n repudiates positive philosophy as Catholicism minus Christianity,\n i. 82;\n defines what constitutes proof, i. 121;\n confesses ignorance of matter, i. 408;\n his theory formulated, i. 419\n\n Hyk-sos, or shepherds of Egypt, the ancestors of the earlier\n Israelites, ii. 487\n\n Hymns by Dirghatamas, ii. 411\n\n Hyneman, Leopold, testimony on Masonry becoming sectarian, ii. 380\n\n Hypatia, her atrocious murder by order of St. Cyril, ii. 53;\n letter of Synesius, _ib._;\n why Cyril caused her to be murdered, ii. 253\n\n Hystaspes, Gushtasp, Vistaspa, ii. 141;\n visited Kashmere, ii. 434\n\n Hysteria imputed to the prophets of the Cevennes, i. 371\n\n\n I was, but am no more, ii. 393\n\n I. H. S., in hoc signum, ii. 527\n\n Iachus, an Egyptian physician, i. 406\n\n Iaho, variety of etymologies, ii. 301;\n statement of Aristotle, ii. 302\n\n Iamblichus, i. 33;\n raised ten cubits from the ground, i. 115;\n forbids endeavors to procure phenomena, i. 219;\n explanation of Pythagoras, i. 248, 284;\n on manifestations of demons, etc., i. 333;\n the founder of theurgy, his practice, i. 489;\n his explanation of the objects of the Mysteries, ii. 101\n\n Iao, the male essence of the Ph\u0153nicians, i. 61\n\n Yava, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, the secret name of the mystery-god, ii. 165\n\n Id\u00e6ic finger, i. 23\n\n Identity of all ancient religions and secret fraternities between the\n ancient faiths, ii. 100\n\n Idiots, reborn, i. 351\n\n Iessaens, ii. 190\n\n Ievo, not the same as Iao, ii. 296\n\n Iezedians, came from Basrah, ii. 197\n\n Ignition of stars, i. 254\n\n Ilda-Baoth, the son of Chaos, ii. 183;\n his sons, _ib._;\n creates man, ii. 184;\n punishes him for transgression, ii. 185;\n his abode in the planet Saturn, ii. 236;\n transformed into the Devil, ii. 501\n\n Illuminati and their purposes, ii. 391\n\n Illusion (_Maya_), the veil of the arcana, i. 271\n\n Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, an element of old phallic\n religion, ii. 5;\n why promulgated, ii. 110\n\n Imagination, the plastic power of the soul, i. 396;\n not identical with fancy, _ib._;\n a memory of preceding states, _ib._;\n its power upon physical condition, i. 385;\n its influence on f\u0153tal life doubted by Magendie, i. 390\n\n Immodesty of the _Vedas_ exceeded by that of the Bible, ii. 88\n\n Immoral principles of the Jesuits, ii. 355\n\n Immorality, sexual, said to be produced by religious instinct, i. 83\n\n Ilus or Hyle, the slime or earth-matter, i. 146\n\n Immortal, Chinese, Siamese, etc., believe some know the art of\n becoming, i. 214;\n theory of Maxwell, i. 216;\n breath, i. 302;\n portion of immortal matter, ii. 262\n\n Immortality of the soul, the doctrine as old as the twelfth Egyptian\n dynasty, ii. 361;\n of the spirit, Moksha and Nirvana, ii. 116;\n of all, a false idea, i. 316;\n to be won, _ib._\n\n Imparting the secret to the successor, ii. 671\n\n Impostor-demons, seven, ii. 234\n\n Incarnation explained, ii. 152, 153;\n prophetic star, ii. 454;\n exhibited before the author, ii. 599-602\n\n Incarnations, the five of the Buddhists, ii. 275;\n known in all the old world-religions, ii. 503;\n of the deity, periodical, ii. 535\n\n Incas, the lost treasures, i. 596;\n the story of the last queen, _ib._;\n their tomb, i. 597;\n the tunnel, i. 598\n\n Incendiarism, epidemic, i. 276\n\n India, magic in, i. 89;\n gymnosophists, i. 80;\n of the archaic period, i. 589;\n included Persia, Thibet, Mongolia, and Great Tartary, _ib._;\n the alma mater of the world-religions, ii. 30;\n said to be the cradle of the human race, _ib._;\n derived her rites from some foreign source, ii. 535;\n Southern, the law of inheritance, ii. 437\n\n Indian dynasties, solar and lunar, ii. 437, 438\n\n Indicator, Prof. Faraday, i. 63\n\n Individual life in the future to be won, i. 316;\n existence, how sustained, i. 318, 319;\n existence of the spirit a Hindu doctrine, ii. 534\n\n Individualization depends on the spirit, i. 315\n\n Indranee and her son painted with the aureole, ii. 95\n\n Induction, not the usual mode of great discoveries, i. 513\n\n Ineffable name employed by Jesus, ii. 387\n\n Infant, temporarily animated by the spirit of a lama, ii. 601, 602\n\n Infant-girl burned as a witch, ii. 65\n\n Infant-prophet in France, i. 438\n\n Infants, dying, prematurely born a second time, i. 351;\n unborn, how influenced, i. 395;\n eaten at the sacrifices in Hayti, ii. 572\n\n Initiation, the practice in every ancient religion, ii. 99;\n represented the experience of the soul after death, ii. 494;\n of a Druze, ii. 313\n\n Injunction of secresy, ii. 40\n\n Inman, Dr. Thos., defines greatest curse of a nation, ii. 121, 122;\n on Christian heathenism, ii. 80, 81;\n declares the Atheism imputed to Buddha Sakya not supported, ii. 533;\n comparison of Christians and Buddhists, ii. 540\n\n Inner Man, can withdraw from the body, ii. 588\n\n Inner Sense, doctrine of Hippocrates, i. 424, 425;\n of Iamblichus, i. 435\n\n Innocent III., bull against magic, ii. 69\n\n Innocents of Bethlehem, their massacre, a myth copied from India, ii.\n 199\n\n Inquisition, the slaughter-house of the church, destroyed by Napoleon\n I., ii. 22;\n its atrocious cruelty, ii. 55;\n its bloodshed and human sacrifices unparalleled in paganism, ii. 5,\n 6;\n why invented, ii. 58;\n its origin in Paradise, ii. 59;\n burned Hebrew Bibles, ii. 430\n\n Inquisitors of our days, the scientists, i. 99\n\n Insanity from spiritualism in the United States, ii. 7;\n the obsession by spirits, ii. 589\n\n Inscription on the coffin of Queen Mentuhept, i. 92\n\n Instinct, i. 425;\n its miracles, i. 433\n\n Integral whole, ii. 116\n\n Intelligence of the electric bolt, i. 188;\n ether directed, i. 199\n\n Intelligent electricity, i. 322\n\n Intercosmic gods, i. 312\n\n Interior Man, doctrine of Socrates and Plato, ii. 283\n\n Interview with a young lama re-incarnated Buddha, ii. 598\n\n Intuition the guide of the seer, i. 433;\n a rudiment in every one, i. 434;\n doctrine of Iamblichus, i. 435\n\n Investigation denounced as a criminal labor, ii. 96\n\n Invisible Sun, i. 302\n\n Invocation of ancestors by Moldavian Christians, ii. 570\n\n Invulnerability, can be imparted, i. 379\n\n Iran and Turan, their wars conflicts between Persians and Assyrians\n or Aturians, i. 576\n\n Iren\u00e6us, makes Christ fifty years old, ii. 305;\n on the trine in man, ii. 285;\n and the Gnostics, their contests, ii. 51;\n believed the soul corporeal, i. 317;\n attempted to establish a new doctrine on the basis of Plato, i. 289;\n found guilty of falsehood, ii. 327\n\n Iren\u00e6us Philaletha, explanation of the peculiar style of Hermetic\n writers, i. 628\n\n Ireland visited by Buddhist missionaries, ii. 290, 291\n\n Iron in the sun, i. 513;\n found in the Pyramid of Cheops, i. 542.\n\n Isaiah the prophet, his vision of seraphs, i. 358;\n terminated the direct line of David, ii. 440;\n celebrates the new chief, Hezekiah, _ib._\n\n Isarim or Essenean initiates, ii. 42;\n found the Smaragdine Tablet at Hebron, i. 507\n\n Isernia, worship of the _limbs_ of Saints Cosmo and Damiano, and\n traffic in phallic _ex-votos_, ii. 5\n\n Ishmonia, the petrified city, traditions of books and magic\n literature, ii. 29\n\n Isis, the name of a medicine, i. 532;\n the Virgin Mother of Egypt, ii. 10;\n queen of Heaven, ii. 50;\n immaculate, her titles applied to the Virgin Mary, ii. 95;\n anthropomorphised into Mary, ii. 41;\n the \u201cwoman clothed with the sun,\u201d ii. 489\n\n Isitwa, the divine power, ii. 593\n\n Islam, the minarets, ii. 5\n\n Islamism, the outgrowth of the Nestorian controversy, ii. 54\n\n Island of Middle Asia, inhabited by Elohim, i. 589;\n empire of the Pacific Ocean, i. 592\n\n Israel, what the name means, ii. 401;\n the enumeration of 12 tribes supposed to be purely mythical, i. 568\n\n Israelites, intermarried perpetually with the other nations of\n Palestine, i. 568;\n why their language was Semitic, _ib._;\n their symbols relate to sun-worship, ii. 401;\n the plebeian were Canaanites and Ph\u0153nicians, ii. 134;\n worshipped Baal or Bacchus and the Serpent, ii. 523;\n their prophets disapproved of sacrificial worship, ii. 525;\n offered human sacrifices, ii. 524;\n their prophetesses, _ib._\n\n Israelitish Tabernacle, elegant workmanship, i. 536\n\n Istar, Astoreth, the same as Venus, Queen of Heaven, ii. 444\n\n Isvara, a psychological condition, ii. 591\n\n \u201cItself\u201d met by the disembodied soul at the gates of Paradise, ii. 635\n\n Iurbo Adonai, ii. 185, 189\n\n Ixtlilxochitl, author of the Popul-Vuh, i. 548\n\n\n Jacob, extraordinary fecundity of his family, ii. 558;\n the Zouave, i. 165, 217, 218\n\n Jacob\u2019s pillar a lingham, ii. 445\n\n Jacolliot, Louis, i. 139;\n criticises orientalists, i. 583;\n testimony in regard to theop\u0153ia, i. 616, 617;\n branded as a humbug, ii. 47;\n denounces the theory of Turanians and Semitism, ii. 48;\n on vulgar magic in India, ii. 70;\n description of Brahmanic initiations, ii. 103;\n sees a living spectre, ii. 104, 105;\n on Hindu metaphysics, ii. 262;\n disbelieves in the chastity of Buddhistic monks, ii. 321;\n knew no secrets, ii. 584\n\n Jad\u016bgar or sorcerers in India, ii. 69\n\n Jaga-nath, ii. 297\n\n Jah-Buh-Sun, ii. 348\n\n Jaina sect claims Buddhism, ii. 321;\n owners of the cave-temples, ii. 323\n\n Jains, taught the existence of two ethereal bodies, i. 429\n\n Jairus, resuscitation of his daughter by Jesus, i. 481\n\n James the Just, never called Jesus the Son of God, ii. 202\n\n Japanese, their probity, ii. 573\n\n Jasher, Book of, ii. 399\n\n Java Aleim, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd (Lord-God), head of the priest-caste of\n Eden or Babylonia, i. 575;\n invests man with the coat of skin, _ib._;\n of the Sacerdotal College, ii. 293\n\n Javanese, island empire, i. 592\n\n Jehovah, his castle of fire, i. 270;\n a cruel anthropomorphic deity, i. 307;\n not the sacred name at all, ii. 398;\n only a Masoretic invention, _ib._;\n feminine, ii. 399;\n resembled Siva, ii. 524\n\n Jehovah-Nissi or Iao-Nisi, the same as Osiris or Bacchus the\n Dio-Nysos or Jove of Nysa, ii. 165, 526\n\n Jehovah-worship and Christianity abandoned by Freemasons at Lausanne,\n ii. 377\n\n Jeroboam made the lawful king of the Israelites, ii. 439\n\n Jerome, St., mentions Jews of Lydda and Tiberias as mystic teachers,\n i. 26;\n procured the Gospel of Matthew from the Nazarenes, ii. 181;\n his perverted text of Job, ii. 496\n\n Jerusalem, the temple not so ancient as pretended, ii. 389\n\n Jesuit cryptography, ii. 397\n\n Jesuits, a secret society, now control the Roman Church, ii. 352;\n their magic, ii. 353;\n their secret constitution, ii. 354;\n Mackenzie\u2019s description, ii. 355;\n their profession of faith, ii. 358;\n their expulsion from Venice, _ib._;\n declare Christianity not evidently true, ii. 358, 359;\n sanction the murder of parents, ii. 363;\n disguised as Talapoins, i. 371;\n contest of magic with the Augustinians, i. 445;\n two, desiring to change Sabean for Christian names, ii. 450;\n adopt the institute and habit of Siamese Talapoins, ii. 577;\n set aside Christian doctrines, ii. 578\n\n Jesus, of Renan, Strauss and Viscount Amberley, ii. 562;\n Talmudic story, ii. 201;\n discovered and revealed the occult theology, ii. 202;\n or Nebo, inspired by Mercury, ii. 132;\n and Christna, united to their Chrestos, ii. 558;\n his life a copy of Christna, his character of Buddha, ii. 339;\n preached Buddhism, ii. 123;\n believed in Ferho or Fo, ii. 290;\n did not give any name to the Father, _ib._;\n his true history imparted to the Templars, ii. 382;\n regarded as a brother, _ib._;\n an avatar like Melchizedek, becomes a son of God by baptism, ii.\n 566;\n son of Panther, a high pontiff of the universal secret doctrines,\n ii. 386;\n proclaims himself the Son of God and humanity, _ib._;\n represented by a great serpent, ii. 490;\n an Essene and Nazarene, ii. 131;\n used oil and drank wine, _ib._;\n of the church, the ideal of Iren\u00e6us, ii. 33;\n classified his teachings, ii. 145, 147;\n said to have been a Pharisee, ii. 148;\n said to have been a magician, _ib._;\n the materialized divine spirit, ii. 576;\n deified because of his dramatic death, ii. 339;\n why he died, ii. 545;\n always called a _man_, ii. 239;\n forgave his enemies, ii. 8;\n the heirs of Peter curse theirs, ii. 9;\n cast out devils by purifying the atmosphere, i. 356;\n taught the _Logia_, or secret doctrines, ii. 191;\n transmitted magnetic or theurgical powers, i. 130;\n healed by word of command, i. 217;\n his followers innovators, ii. 132;\n endeavored to give the arcane truth to the many, ii. 561;\n made little impression upon his own century, ii. 335;\n familiar with the Koinoboi, ii. 336;\n who rejected him as the Son of God, ii. 455;\n said to have been hanged and stoned, ii. 255;\n never pronounced the name of Jehovah, ii. 163;\n his doctrines like those of Manu, ii. 164;\n and Buddha never wrote, ii. 559;\n unwilling to die, hence, no self-sacrificing Savior, ii. 545\n\n Jewish colonists of Palestine imbued with Magdean notions, ii. 481;\n people regard the Mosaic books as an allegory, i. 554, 555;\n theology not understood by Christians, i. 17\n\n Jews excluded from Masonic lodges, ii. 390;\n their doubtful origin, ii. 438;\n worshipped Baal or Hercules, ii. 524;\n brought the Persian dualism to Palestine, ii. 500, 501;\n named Ormazd and Ahriman, Satan, ii. 501;\n an Indian sect, the Kaloni, i. 567;\n probably came from Afghanistan or India, _ib._;\n similar or identical with the Ph\u0153nicians, i. 566\n\n Job, book of, Satan or Typhon appears, ii. 483;\n the allegory explained in the Book of the Dead, ii. 493;\n a representation of initiation, ii. 494;\n will give the key to the whole matter of the Devil, ii. 493;\n his trials and vindication, ii. 485;\n seeing God, ii. 485, 486;\n the neophyte, hears God in the whirlwind, ii. 498;\n vindicated by his Redeemer or champion, ii. 499, 500\n\n Jobard, on two kinds of electricity, i. 188\n\n John, Gospel written by a Gnostic, i. 2;\n travelled in Asia Minor and learned of the Mithraic rites, ii. 507;\n the Baptist, his disciples Essenean dissenters, ii. 130;\n disciples of, same as Nazareans or Mend\u00e6ans, do not believe in\n Christ, ii. 290\n\n Jonah, the prophet, the allegory explained, ii. 258\n\n Jones, Sir William, on the laws of Manu, i. 585;\n rules for constructing a purana, ii. 492\n\n Josaphat, St., a transmogrified Buddha, ii. 579\n\n Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Masonry erected on the same\n cosmical myths, i. 405\n\n Joseph, studied in Egypt, i. 25;\n became an Egyptian, i. 566\n\n Josephus, interpolated, ii. 196;\n his passage concerning Jesus, ii. 328\n\n Joshua, fugitives, i. 545\n\n Jowett, translator of Plato, exceptions to his criticism, i. 288\n\n Jud\u00e6ans, whether they were ever in Palestine before Cyrus, a problem,\n i. 568\n\n Jud\u00e6i, the designation of the Jews, an Indian term, ii. 441\n\n Judea, its primitive history a distortion of Indian fable, ii. 471\n\n Judgment of the Dead, ii. 364\n\n Juggernaut, his procession imitated by missionaries in Ceylon, ii. 113\n\n Jugglers of India and Egypt, i. 73;\n walking from tree-top to tree-top, i. 495\n\n Julian, the emperor, a son of God or Mithra by initiation, ii. 566\n\n Juno, her temple covered with pointed blades of swords, i. 527;\n her abandoning of Veii for Rome, i. 614\n\n Jupiter and four moons discovered in Assyria, i. 261;\n his mythological adventures, astronomical phenomena, i. 267, 268;\n or Zeus originally the cosmic force, i. 262;\n also the demiurg, _ib._;\n the chief deity of the Orphic hymn, i. 263\n\n Jury-trial, introduced by the Egyptians, i. 545\n\n Justice and harmony analogous, i. 330\n\n Justin Martyr, criticised for his heretical opinion about Socrates,\n ii. 8;\n his testimony concerning the talismans of Apollonius of Tyana, ii.\n 97;\n on the non-observance of the Sabbath by Christians, ii. 419\n\n Justinian, code of, copied from the code of Manu, i. 586\n\n\n K----, a positivist and skeptic, his experiences in Thibet, ii.\n 599-602\n\n Kabala, its fundamental geometrical figure the key to the problem, i.\n 14;\n Chaldean, not known, i. 17;\n included in the Arcane doctrines, i. 205;\n same as the laws of Manu, i. 271;\n solves esoteric doctrines of every religion, i. 271;\n never written, _ib._;\n concerning _Shedim_, i. 313;\n its system of Sephiroth and emanations, ii. 213;\n repeated in Talapoin manuscripts, i. 577;\n Oriental, or secret Book of Numbers, i. 579\n\n Kabalists, Chaldean, claim science above 70,000 years old, i. 1;\n explanation of the allegory of descent into hell, i. 299\n\n Kabeiri, Assyrian divinities, i. 569;\n differently named and numbered in different places, _ib._;\n reproduced in their Samothracian postures on the walls of\n Nagkon-Wat, _ib._;\n had similar names east as west, _ib._;\n worshipped at Hebron, the city of Beni-Anak or _anakim_, _ib._;\n number hardly known, ii. 478;\n their names, ii. 170\n\n Kabeirian gods represented at Nagkon-Wat, i. 565, 566\n\n Kadeshim, or Galli, in the Hebrew sanctuaries, ii. 45\n\n Kadeshuth, or Nautch-girls in India, ii. 45\n\n Kadosh degree invented at Lyons, ii. 384\n\n Kalani, an Indian sect, progenitors of the Jews, i. 567\n\n Kalavatti, raised from the dead by Christna, ii. 241\n\n Kalmucks, described earlier human races than the present, i. 2\n\n Kalpas, i. 31\n\n Kali, the \u201cfall of man,\u201d ii. 275\n\n Kali-Yug, the designation of the present third yug or age of mankind,\n i. 587;\n began 4,500 years ago, _ib._\n\n Kaliadovki, or Christian mysteries, ii. 119\n\n Kangalins, or witches in India, ii. 69\n\n Kanhari caves at Salsette, the abode of St. Josaphat, ii. 580, 581\n\n Kanni, or bad virgins, ii. 447\n\n Kansa of Madura, commands the murder of Christna and the massacre of\n the infants, ii. 199\n\n Kapila, a skeptic, i. 121; i. 307;\n denied a First Cause, ii. 261\n\n Karabtanos, i. 300\n\n Karnak, the representative of Thebes, its archeological remains, i.\n 523;\n lakes and mountains in its sanctuary, i. 524\n\n Kasbeck, the mountain where Prometheus was punished, i. 298\n\n Katie King, i. 48, 54;\n soulless, i. 67\n\n Kavindisami the fakir, causes a seed to grow miraculously, i. 139\n\n Kebar-Zivo, i. 300\n\n Kepler believed the stars to be intelligences, i. 207, 208, 253\n\n Kerrenhappuch, a mystic name, ii. 496\n\n Kerner, Dr., witnessing case of Elizabeth Eslinger, i. 68;\n account of the encounter of the Cossack and Frenchman, i. 398\n\n Keto or Cetus, the same as Dagon or Poseidon, ii. 258\n\n Key to the Buddhist system, i. 289;\n to the mysteries lost by the Roman Catholic Church, ii. 121;\n G. Higgins mistaken, _ib._\n\n Keys of St. Peter, where they originated, ii. 31;\n cross and fishes, eastern symbols, ii. 255;\n to Masonic ciphers, ii. 394\n\n Keystone, absent at Nagkon-Wat, Santa Cruz del Quich\u00e8, Ocosingo, and\n the Cyclopean structures of Greece and Italy, i. 571;\n has an esoteric meaning, _ib._\n\n Khaldi, worshippers of the moon-god, ii. 48\n\n Khamism, an ancient deposit from Western Asia, ii. 435\n\n Khansa, remarkable juggling trick, i. 473\n\n Kidder, Bishop, remarkable testimony concerning the religion a wise\n man would choose, ii. 240\n\n King, John, i. 75\n\n Kings and statesmen, Jesuit method for assassinating, ii. 373\n\n Kircher, Father, taught universal magnetism, i. 208\n\n Kiyun or Kivan, the same as Siva, i. 570\n\n Klikoucha, i. 28\n\n Klippoth, i. 141\n\n Kneph, his snake-emblem, i. 133;\n producing the mundane egg, ii. 226\n\n Knights Kadosch, cipher, ii. 395;\n hieroglyph, ii. 396;\n Rose Croix, cipher, ii. 395;\n Templars, i. 30;\n Templars, the modern, have no secrets dangerous to the Church, ii.\n 381;\n Templars, French Order, ii. 384, 385;\n the assassination of a Prince, ii. 385\n\n Knowledge, tree of, the pippala, ii. 412;\n arcane, when sorcery and when wisdom, ii. 58\n\n Koheleth, the summary, ii. 476\n\n Koinobi or communists of Egypt, ii. 305\n\n Kol-Arbas, the Tetrad or group of four mistaken for a Gnostic leader,\n ii. 248\n\n Kor\u00e8-Persephon\u00e8, Zeus the Dragon, and their son, ii. 505\n\n Kosmos, regarded as God or comprehending God, i. 154\n\n Kounboum, mystery of, i. 289;\n the Sacred Tree of Thibet, i. 302;\n the wonderful Tree of Thibet with letters and symbols on its\n leaves, i. 440;\n Sanscrit characters on the leaves and bark, ii. 46\n\n Kristophores, or the fourth degree, ii. 365\n\n Kronos, i. 132\n\n Krupte (crypt) the abode of a _teleiotes_, ii. 93\n\n Kublai-Khan, ii. 608;\n why he failed to adopt Christianity, ii. 581, 582;\n reverences Christ, Mahomet, Moses, and Buddha all together, ii. 582;\n his testimony concerning Christians, ii. 583\n\n Kuklopes or Cyclopeans, shepherds, miners, builders, metal-workers,\n and Anakim, i. 567\n\n Kuklos Anangkes, or Circle of Necessity, i. 553\n\n Kukushan, a medicinal plant of extraordinary virtue, ii. 608\n\n Kumil-M\u00e2dan, the undine, an elemental spirit, i. 496\n\n Kurds, affirmed to be Indo-European, ii. 629;\n are Mahometans, magicians, Yezids, and fire-worshippers, ii. 630;\n scene with a sorcerer, ii. 631\n\n Kutchi of Lha-Ssa, magically apprised by a Shaman of the author\u2019s\n helpless condition in the desert, ii. 628\n\n Kutti-Satan, a Tamil spirit, i. 567\n\n\n Labyrinth, the great, description by Herodotus, i. 522\n\n Lactantius on calling up souls, i. 167;\n declared the heliocentric system a heretical doctrine, i. 526;\n rejected the doctrine of the antipodes, ii. 477\n\n L\u00e6strygonians of the _Odyssey_ cannibal races of Norway, i. 549\n\n Laghana-Sastra, a secret sect in India, ii. 315;\n their sacred groves, ii. 316\n\n Lake, mysteries of, ii. 138;\n of fire and brimstone, ii. 12;\n the devil cast in it, with the beast and false prophet, _ib._;\n place of purification of the wicked, ii. 238\n\n Lakes and mountains in the Sanctuary of Karnak, i. 524\n\n Lakshmi or Lakmi, the Damatri Venus or Great Mother, ii. 259, 598\n\n Lama infant, or reincarnated Buddha, interview with him, ii. 598\n\n Lamaic saints at a cave-temple, ii. 599;\n exorcism, ii. 626\n\n Lamaism, the purest Buddhism, ii. 608\n\n Lamas, Thibetan, use the force known as Ak\u00e2sa, i. 113\n\n Lamps, ever-burning, one in the tomb of Cicero\u2019s daughter, i. 224,\n 228;\n in crypts of India, Thibet, and Japan, i. 225;\n in Travancore, _ib._;\n in Egypt, i. 226;\n at Athens, Carthage, Edessa, Antioch, i. 227;\n in the Appian Way and the Mosaic Tabernacle, i. 128;\n mode of preparing, i. 229\n\n Lamp-wicks of stone, i. 231;\n of asbestos, i. 231\n\n Land-measuring, known by the Egyptians, i. 531\n\n Lao-tsi, or Laotsen, his figure produced by magic, i. 600\n\n Lares, i. 345\n\n Larmenius, charter forged, ii. 385\n\n Larva, the soul, i. 344, 345\n\n Larv\u00e6, shadows of men that have once lived, i. 310;\n their reincarnation, i. 357\n\n Last rite, not known by the highest epopt\u00e6, ii. 563\n\n Latin Church, nearly upset by modern research, ii. 6;\n despoiled the kabalists and theurgists, ii. 85;\n preserves the old pagan worship, even to the dress of the clergy,\n ii. 92\n\n Lausanne, declaration of the Supreme Masonic Councils, ii. 377;\n denounced by Gen. Pike, _ib._\n\n Leaping of the prophets of Baal, ii. 45\n\n Leaves, impressions made on, i. 368, 369\n\n Le Comte, Prof., comparison of living and dead organism, i. 466;\n on vital force, i. 313\n\n Lempriere accuses Pythagoras and Porphyry, i. 431\n\n Lemure, i. 345\n\n Lemuria, the last continent of the Indian Ocean, perhaps the same as\n Atlantis, i. 591, 592;\n the Indian legend, i. 594\n\n Lens found at Nineveh, i. 239\n\n Lentulus, his forged letter, ii. 151\n\n Leopard-skin, a sacred appendage of the mysteries, i. 568;\n found sculptured in basso-relievo in Central America, i. 569;\n employed by the Brahmans, _ib._\n\n Lesser mysteries, their meaning and object, ii. 111\n\n Lesser and greater mysteries, accused of indecency, ii. 100\n\n Letter of Father Raulica on magic, ii. 70;\n of Mary Virgin to the Bishop and Church of Messina, ii. 83;\n from a Druze brother to the author, ii. 313\n\n Letters, ii. 83;\n invented in Egypt, i. 532\n\n Levi, a caste rather than a tribe, i. 568\n\n Levi, Eliphas, exposition of the means to acquire magical power, i.\n 137;\n his remark on the ancient Christian malignity, ii. 250\n\n Leviathan, the occult science, ii. 499\n\n Law of compensation never swerves, ii. 545\n\n Levitation discussed, i. 491, 492, 494-498;\n under magnetic conditions practicable, ii. 589\n\n Levitations, i. 100, 225;\n declared impossible, i. 105;\n of Iamblichus, i. 115;\n occasioned by the attraction of the _perisprit_ or astral soul, i.\n 197;\n disapproved by Iamblichus, i. 219\n\n Levites, or serpent-tribe, the seraphs or fiery serpents, ii. 481\n\n Lewis, Sir G. C., opinion adverse to the culture of the ancients, i.\n 525\n\n Liberalia, or St. Patrick\u2019s day, a festival of the Church, ii. 528\n\n Libyan shepherds, Cyclopeans, i. 567\n\n Lichen, produced, i. 302\n\n Life, a phenomenon of matter, i. 115\n\n Life-principle, speculations, i. 466\n\n Life-transfer, ii. 564\n\n Light, chemical relations, i. 136;\n undulatory theory much doubted, i. 137;\n mystical, the Divine Intelligence, i. 258;\n same as electricity, _ib._;\n both matter and a force, i. 281;\n sympathy its offspring, i. 309;\n an energy, not an emanation, the view of Aristotle, i. 510;\n sublimated gold, i. 511\n\n Lightning, conjured down by Prometheus, i. 526;\n fate of Tullius, i. 527\n\n Lightning-photographs, i. 394, 395\n\n Lightning-rods on ancient temples, i. 527, 528;\n used in India, i. 528\n\n Lilith, Adam\u2019s \u201cfirst wife,\u201d ii. 445\n\n Linen of ancient Egypt, i. 536;\n fire-proof, i. 230\n\n Linga, same as the pillars of the patriarchs, ii. 235\n\n Lingham, or emblem of Maha Deva, ii. 5;\n and Yoni in churches, ii. 5\n\n Lithos or phallus, reproduced in steeples, turrets, and domes, ii. 5\n\n Littr\u00e9 on positive philosophy, i. 78\n\n Living acari by chemical experiments, i. 465;\n fire, i. 301\n\n Local gods, ii. 451\n\n Lodestone, its power to affect a whole audience, i. 265\n\n Logia, or secret doctrines taught by Jesus, ii. 191\n\n Logoi, all fail and are punished, i. 298\n\n Logos, i. 131;\n in every mythos, i. 162\n\n \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u0391\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03ae\u03c2, _True Doctrine_ of Celsus, story of the\n book at a convent, ii. 52\n\n Long-face, the Supreme God, ii. 247\n\n Long hair, worn by John the Baptist and Jesus, and denounced by\n Paul, ii. 140\n\n Lord of the Genii, i. 300\n\n Losing one\u2019s soul possible, i. 317\n\n Lost word, where to be sought, i. 580;\n and its substitute, Mac Benac, ii. 349\n\n Lotus, the sacred flower of Egyptians and Hindus, i. 91;\n superseded by the lilies, i. 92\n\n Loub\u00e8re, M. de la, on Buddha and the Buddhists, ii. 576-579\n\n Lourdes, shrine of, materializations of Virgin Mary, i. 119;\n the madonna, her miracles, i. 614, ii. 6;\n the moving of the statue, i. 618\n\n Love, its magnetism the originator of created things, i. 210\n\n Lucifer, i. 299\n\n Luke, the evangelist, reputed an Essene, ii. 144\n\n Lunar dynasties in India, the Chandra Vensa, ii. 438\n\n Lundy, Rev. Dr., what he has proved, ii. 557\n\n Luther and the demon, ii. 73;\n the worst man in Europe, ii. 200;\n his denunciation of the Catholics, ii. 208;\n intolerant, and Calvin bloodthirsty, ii. 503\n\n Lycanthropes, over 600 put to death in the Jura by sentence of a\n judge, ii. 626\n\n Lutherans burned as sorcerers, ii. 61\n\n Luxor, unfading colors, i. 239;\n brotherhood of, ii. 308\n\n\n Macaulay, his criticism of scientists and philosophers, i. 424\n\n Mac Benac, ii. 349\n\n Machagistia, the magic taught in Persia and Babylonia, i. 251;\n the testimony of Plato, ii. 306\n\n Mackenzie, his description of the Jesuits, ii. 355\n\n Macrocosm, i. 62\n\n Macroprosopos or macrocosm, i. 580\n\n Madonna of Barri, with crinoline, ii. 9;\n of Rio de Janeiro, _d\u00e9collet\u00e9e_, with blonde hair and chignon, ii.\n 10\n\n Madras famine made worse by Catholic taxation, ii. 532\n\n Ma\u00eblstrom, the Charybdis of the Odyssey, i. 545.\n\n Magendie, remedy for consumption, i. 89;\n absents himself from experiments instituted by the French Academy\n in 1826, i. 175, 176;\n acknowledges that little is known of f\u0153tal life, i. 386;\n opinion of malformation, i. 388, 390;\n asserts influence of imagination on the f\u0153tus, i. 394\n\n Magi established magic, i. 25;\n taught the birth and decadence of worlds, i. 255;\n Pythagoras, their associate, i. 284;\n objected to the evocation of souls, i. 321;\n three schools, ii. 361;\n Chaldean, the masters of the Jews, _ib._;\n two schools, ii. 128, 306\n\n Magic, based on natural science, i. 17;\n once universally taught, i. 18, 247;\n a divine science, i. 25;\n originally established by Magi, and not by priests, _ib._;\n very ancient, _ib._;\n Moses and Joseph proficients, _ib._;\n two kinds, divine and evil, i. 26;\n neglected by Masons, i. 30;\n spiritualism, its modern form, i. 42;\n profound knowledge of simples and minerals, i. 66;\n likely to be rediscovered by scientists, i. 67;\n esoteric in India, i. 90;\n practised by Gymnosophists, i. 90;\n the _divina sapientia_, i. 94;\n Salverte\u2019s Philosophy of Magic, i. 115;\n mesmerism an important branch, i. 129;\n theory of Eliphas Levi, i. 137;\n modern forms, i. 138;\n doctrine of Paracelsus, Agrippa, and Philalethes, i. 167;\n included in the arcane doctrine of Wisdom, i. 205;\n the power never possessed by those addicted to vicious indulgences,\n i. 218;\n its basis, the occult or spiritual principle, i. 244;\n testimony of Du Potet, i. 279;\n theurgical, i. 281;\n a sacerdotal science, i. 262;\n exemplified in eastern countries of Asia, i. 320;\n adepts understand the akasa or astral fluid, i. 378;\n synonymous with religion and science, i. 459;\n belief of Demokritus; 800,000,000 believers in, i. 512;\n Votan of Ancient America, i. 545;\n cultivated by Aztecs and ancient Egyptians, i. 560;\n studied by the people of Pashai or Peshawer, i. 599;\n seance described by Hon. J. L. O\u2019Sullivan, i. 608-611;\n the church believes in it, ii. 76;\n used to select the canonical books of Holy Scripture, ii. 251;\n denounced, ii. 502;\n the science of man and nature, and its applications in practice,\n ii. 583;\n its principles, ii. 587-590;\n its cornerstone, ii. 589;\n black, practised at the Vatican, ii. 6;\n taught in the lamaseries, ii. 609;\n magnetism its alphabet, ii. 610\n\n Magic arcanum, i. 506;\n crystal, i. 467;\n lamp of Hermes, ii. 417\n\n Magical an\u00e6sthetics of the Brahmans, used in the burning of widows,\n i. 540;\n exhibitions of Tartary and Thibet, testimony of Col. Yule, i. 600;\n moon of Thibet, i. 441;\n evocation a part of the sacerdotal office, ii. 118;\n evocations must be pronounced in a particular dialect, ii. 46\n\n Magician, how different from a witch, i. 366;\n difference from a medium, i. 367;\n can summon and dismiss spirits at will, _ib._\n\n Magism flourished at the Ur of the Kasdeans, i. 549\n\n Magnale magnum, i. 170, 213\n\n Magus, Magh, Mahaji, i. 129\n\n Magnes, i. 64;\n rediscovered by Mesmer, i. 71;\n the living fire or spirit of light, i. 129\n\n Magret, rediscovered by Paracelsus, i. 71;\n the stone, i. 129;\n its concealed power, i. 168;\n Kircher\u2019s doctrine of one magnet in the universe, i. 208;\n the same as the spiritual Sun, or God, i. 209;\n the poles signified in the Mysteries by the Dioskuri, i. 235;\n the sun, i. 271\n\n Magnetic currents develop into electricity, i. 395\n\n Magnetization, two kinds, i. 178;\n of minerals by animal magnetism, i. 209;\n of a table or person, i. 322\n\n Magnetism, i. 129;\n animal, denied by modern science and then accepted, i. 130;\n the magic power of man, i. 170;\n taught by Des Cartes, i. 206;\n by Naud\u00e9, Hufeland, Wirdig, and Kepler, i. 207;\n and by Porta and Father Kircher, i. 209;\n of love, the originator of every created thing, i. 210;\n taught in the Mysteries, i. 234;\n poles represented by the Dioskuri, i. 235;\n the universal law, i. 244;\n the alphabet of magic, ii. 610;\n being true, medicine absurd, _ib._\n\n Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata, antedated the age of Cyrus the great, ii. 428\n\n Maha Deva or Siva, his lingham or emblem in pagodas, ii. 5;\n worshipped by the dark races of Hindustan, ii. 434\n\n Mahady of Elephanta, ii. 5\n\n Mahat, or Prakriti, the external sense-life, ii. 565\n\n Mahomet, his testimony concerning Jews, ii. 480\n\n Mahometan, confession of Faith on the Chair of Peter, ii. 25\n\n Mahometanism, the outgrowth of Christian cruelty, ii. 53, 54;\n making more proselytes than Christians, ii. 239\n\n Maimonides, i. 17\n\n Malagrida, burned for sorcery in 1761, ii. 58\n\n Malays, their island empire, i. 592\n\n Males suckling their young, i. 412\n\n Malformations, opinion of Magendie, i. 388;\n theory of Prof. Armor, i. 392\n\n _Malum in se_, no such principle, ii. 480\n\n Man, once communed with unseen universes, i. 2;\n belief of the Kalmucks, _ib._;\n \u201cas immortal as God,\u201d i. 13;\n how influenced, i. 39;\n composed of like elements as the stars, i. 168;\n magnetism his magic power, i. 170;\n different electric condition of persons and sexes, i. 171;\n possessed of three spirits, i. 212;\n a little world inside the great, _ib._;\n Van Helmont\u2019s theory, i. 213;\n Plato\u2019s theory, i. 276, 297;\n androgynous, i. 497;\n created in the sixth millenium, i. 342;\n possesses arcane powers, ii. 113;\n how he should do, ii. 122;\n the fall an evolution, ii. 277;\n his spirit, if not his soul, pre\u00ebxistent, ii. 280;\n the object of the alchemic, Hermetic, and mystic explorations, i.\n 308;\n the philosopher\u2019s stone and trinity in unity, i. 309;\n a microcosm, i. 323;\n never steps outside of universal life, ii. 343;\n the six principles, ii. 367;\n first appears as a stone, i. 389;\n has power to shape matter, i. 394, 395;\n ante-natal maternal impressions of this character, i. 395;\n seven days on the pillar, ii. 447;\n the story of the fall regarded as an allegory, ii. 546;\n has a natural, a spiritual, and final birth, ii. 565;\n triune, body, soul, and immortal spirit, ii. 588;\n how he becomes an immortal entity, _ib._\n\n Man-tree, i. 297\n\n Mandrakes or Mandragora, a magical plant, i. 465\n\n Manes, i. 37, 345;\n his fate, ii. 208\n\n Manifestations, subjective and objective, i. 68;\n mediumistic, in Asia, i. 320\n\n Mano, ii. 228, 229, 300\n\n Mantheon, a title of Zoroaster, ii. 409\n\n Mantic frenzy produced by exhalations from the earth, i. 531\n\n Manu, laws the same as the doctrines of the sages and Kabala, i. 271;\n doctrine of the universe, _ib._;\n laws of, opinion of Sir William Jones, i. 585;\n the basis of the code of Justinian, i. 581;\n their age, i. 586-588;\n widow-burning not mentioned in them, i. 588;\n on life, evolution, and transformations, i. 620, 621;\n predicts the advent of the Divine One, ii. 50;\n knew nothing of deluge, ii. 427, 428\n\n Manus, six, progenitors of six races of men, i. 590\n\n Manu-Vina or Menes, colonizes Egypt from India, i. 627\n\n Manwantara, i. 32\n\n Marathos or Martu, ancient city and name of Ph\u0153nicia, means _The\n West_, i. 579\n\n Marathon, neighing of horses and shouts of men heard 400 years after\n the battle, i. 70\n\n Marcion distinguished between Judaism and Christianity, ii. 162;\n his doctrines, ii. 103;\n accepted Paul and denied the other apostles, ii. 168;\n the great h\u00e6resiarch, his influence, ii. 159, 160;\n brutally assailed by Tertullian and Epiphanius, _ib._\n\n Marco Polo, on veins of salamander or asbestos, i. 504;\n asserts that in Kashmere images are made to speak, i. 505;\n brought movable types and blocks for printing, from China, i. 513;\n describes Buddha as living like a Christian, ii. 581;\n on the nature-spirits of the deserts, i. 603;\n would not retract his \u201cfalsehoods,\u201d _ib._;\n declaration in regard to hearing spirits talk in the desert, i. 604\n\n Marcosians, their sacrament, ii. 513\n\n Marechale d\u2019Ancre, her trial for sorcery, ii. 60\n\n Mariana, Jesuit, explains the best way to kill a king, ii. 372, 373\n\n Markland, a possible root of name America, i. 592\n\n Marriage cured the convulsionaries, i. 375\n\n Marrying the father\u2019s wife, ii. 240\n\n Marses in Italy, power over serpents, i. 381\n\n Martu or Marathos, the west, i. 579\n\n Mary, virgin, materializing at Lourdes, i. 119;\n writes a letter from heaven declaring the pagans condemned to\n eternal torments, ii. 8;\n the anthropomorphized Isis, ii. 41;\n writes letters, ii. 82, 83;\n text of one, ii. 87;\n without her consent, no redemption, ii. 172, 173;\n overshadowed by Ilda-Baoth and not by \u00c6bel Zivo or Gabriel, ii. 247;\n like Dido, the Virgin of the Sea, ii. 446;\n is visited by the Agathodaimon serpent, ii. 505\n\n Mason, Osgood, on deity and nature, i. 426\n\n Masonic ciphers, the keys, ii. 394;\n fraternity, its unworthy members, ii. 376;\n honors offered by M. de N\u00e8gre, a grand hierophant, refused, ii. 380;\n institute, brought into disrepute by the Jesuits, ii. 385;\n pagan in origin, _ib._;\n Templars, a creation of the Jesuits, ii. 381\n\n Masonry, neglect of magic and spiritualism, i. 30;\n once a true secret organization, ii. 349;\n who should be excluded, ii. 376;\n esoteric, not known in American lodges, _ib._;\n the time to remodel it has come, ii. 377;\n no secrets left unpublished, _ib._;\n whether Christian or pagan, _ib._;\n departing from its original aims, ii. 380;\n European and American, the Bible its great light, ii. 389\n\n Masons, accusations against them half guess-work, ii. 372;\n reject a personal God, ii. 375;\n and the impostor Anderson, ii. 389\n\n Masorets changed the immodest words in the Bible, ii. 430\n\n Master-builder, epopt, adept, the Apostle Paul, ii. 91\n\n Master\u2019s word, communicated only at low breath, ii. 99\n\n Mas\u2019udi, on the gh\u00fbls in the desert, i. 604\n\n Materialization, what spirits practice it, i. 319;\n personal, i. 321\n\n Materializations recorded in the Bible, i. 493\n\n \u201cMaterialized spirits,\u201d i. 67;\n witnessed by the author, i. 69;\n Virgin Mary to be expected at the Vatican, ii. 82;\n often comes and lights a taper at Arras, _ib._\n\n Mathematical error held by the Gnostics, ii. 194\n\n Mathematicians, ancient, went to Egypt to be instructed, i. 531\n\n Mathematics, Pythagorean and Platonic, i. 106\n\n Matsya, the earliest avatar, ii. 427\n\n Matter, how produced, i. 140;\n proclaimed by modern physicists sole and autocratic sovereign of\n the universe, i. 235;\n its indestructibility, i. 243;\n origin, i. 258;\n the serpent that tempted man, i. 297;\n not created by Divine thought, i. 310;\n indestructible and eternal, i. 328;\n fructified by the Divine idea or imagination, i. 396;\n the remote effect of emanative energy, ii. 35\n\n Matthew, gospel of, a secret book written in Hebrew, ii. 181, 182;\n quotes the Egyptian Book of the Dead, ii. 548\n\n Matwanlin, on voices in the deserts, i. 604\n\n Maudsley, Prof., repudiates Comte, ii. 3;\n rejects the positive philosophy, i. 82\n\n Mauritania Tingitana, its columns, i. 545\n\n Mauritius, his nauscopite, i. 240\n\n Max M\u00fcller, scouts the idea of original human brutality, i. 4;\n on the meaning of Veda, i. 354;\n on Sanscrit literature, i. 442;\n on the four ancestors, i. 559;\n on Brahmanical literature, i. 580;\n on the mutations of Christianity, ii. 10;\n on the science of religion, ii. 26;\n his retort upon Prof. Whitney, ii. 47;\n assertion on the Hindu gods, ii. 413;\n on the _Vedas_, ii. 414;\n his understanding of Nirvana, ii. 432\n\n Maxwell, his offer to cure diseases abandoned as incurable, i. 215;\n his theory of the world-soul or life-spirit, i. 215, 216\n\n Maya, or illusion, i. 289\n\n Mayas of Yucatan, their mysterious city, i. 547\n\n Mecassipa, an enchanter, i. 355\n\n Medallions from the ashes of the dead, ii. 603\n\n Mediatorship, how exercised, i. 487, 488\n\n Medici family patrons of the black art, ii. 55\n\n Medicine, classed by Bacon as a conjectural science, i. 405;\n modern, what it has gained and lost, i. 20;\n occult, suggested by Descartes, i. 214\n\n Medium, a conductor, i. 201;\n difference from a magician, i. 367;\n a passive, the adept an active instrument, ii. 588;\n needs a foreign intelligence, ii. 592\n\n Medium-catcher of Prof. Faraday, i. 63\n\n Medium-healers, charged with vampirism, i. 490, 491\n\n Mediums, their visions more trustworthy than those of Catholic\n priests, ii. 73;\n burned, hanged, and otherwise murdered, i. 26, 353;\n in Russia, i. 27;\n generally utter commonplace ideas, i. 221;\n their astral limbs, ii. 595;\n are usually diseased, _ib._;\n the Mosaic law contemplated killing them, i. 356;\n passive, i. 488;\n unregulated ones persecuted, i. 489;\n how cured, i. 490;\n generally disordered while the ancient thaumaturgists were not,\n _ib._\n\n Mediumistic diathesis, i. 117;\n phenomena in Asia, i. 320\n\n Mediumship, physical and spiritual, i. 367;\n its phases seldom altered, _ib._;\n depends upon a peculiar organization, i. 367;\n psychographic, i. 368;\n its conditions and circumstances, i. 487;\n in holy men, mediatorship, _ib._;\n in these days an undesirable gift, i. 488;\n natural, ii. 118;\n the opposite of adeptship, ii. 588\n\n Megasthenes traces the Jews to the Kalani of India, i. 567\n\n Melampus, his magical cures, i. 531\n\n Melanephoris, the third degree, ii. 364\n\n Mementos of a long bygone civilization, i. 349\n\n Memory, views of Ammonius Sakkas, ii. 591;\n of God, i. 178\n\n Men produced by the giant Ymir, and also by the cow Audhumla, i.\n 148;\n denoted by the tree of life, Yggdrasill, Zampun, Aswatha, i. 151-4;\n existed at a period extremely remote, i. 155;\n of the Stone Age described by Mrs. Denton, i. 295;\n revivified without souls, ii. 564;\n races differ in their spiritual gifts, ii. 588;\n soulless, ii. 369;\n of science wear the cast-off garb of priests dyed to escape\n detection, ii. 8\n\n Mendeleyeff, Prof., declares spiritualism a mixture of superstition,\n delusion, and fraud, i. 117;\n protest by Butleroff, Aksakoff, and others, i. 118\n\n Menes, turned the course of the Nile, i. 516\n\n Menon, the inventor of letters, i. 532\n\n Mensabulism, i. 322\n\n Mental photography, i. 322\n\n Mentuhept, Queen, inscription on her monument, ii. 92\n\n Mercaba, ii. 348;\n must be first known, ii. 349;\n a hidden doctrine, _ib._\n\n Mercurius vit\u00e6 of Paracelsus, ii. 620\n\n Mercury, water of, symbol of the soul, i. 309;\n or quicksilver, never used by Yogi or alchemist, only by\n charlatans, and not by Paracelsus, ii. 620, 621;\n never restored a man to health, _ib._\n\n Meridian, known when the first pyramid was built, i. 536\n\n Meru or Meruah, sound, etc., i. 592;\n and its gods, ii. 233, 234\n\n Mesmer, rediscovered animal magnetism, i. 165;\n his 27 propositions, i. 172;\n condemned by the French Committee of 1784\n\n Mesmerism, i. 23;\n a rediscovery of what Paracelsus taught, i. 72;\n repudiated by positivists, i. 82;\n used successfully by physicians, _ib._;\n an important branch of magic, i. 129, 131;\n condemned in France in 1784, i. 171;\n prize offered for thesis by the Prussian Government, i. 173;\n taught by Descartes, i. 206\n\n Message delivered at Kounboum, ii. 604\n\n Messages, writing by spirits, i. 367\n\n Messiah, comes in the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, in the sign\n Pisces, ii. 256;\n the fifth emanation, ii. 259\n\n Metallic springs found in ancient war-chariots, i. 530\n\n Metalline, a compound overcoming friction, i. 502\n\n Metallurgy among the Egyptians and Semitic races, i. 538\n\n Metals not simple bodies, i. 509\n\n Metatron, or angel of the Lord, transformed into Jesus the son of\n Mary, ii. 33;\n seventy names, ii. 245\n\n Metempsychosis, i. 8;\n believed by all philosophers, early fathers and Gnostics, i. 12;\n doctrine of Plato, i. 276, 277;\n an allegory, not to be literally understood, and relating to\n experiences of the soul, i. 289, 550;\n of Buddha, i. 291;\n dreaded by Hindus, i. 348;\n the separation of the _thumos_ and ridding the _nous_ of the\n _phren_, ii. 286\n\n Methuselah helps Enoch construct nine chambers underground in the\n land of Canaan, i. 571;\n receives from him certain secret learning, _ib._\n\n Metis, the same as Sophia of the Gnostics, and Sephira, ii. 163\n\n Mexican serpent-gods, i. 572\n\n Mexicans, ancient, i. 313;\n their theory of lunar eclipses similar to the Hindu, i. 548\n\n Mexico, serpent-worship, i. 46, 551-558\n\n Michael, the unknown angel, ii. 488;\n a phial of his sweat preserved as a relic, ii. 71;\n the archangel, the same as Ophiomorphos, ii. 206;\n and the Devil, their dispute, ii. 482;\n the Dragon-slayer, ii. 488\n\n Michelet, testimony in regard to the Jesuits, ii. 358, 359\n\n Microcosm, i. 212\n\n Microcosmos, i. 28\n\n Microprosopos (little face), the microcosm, i. 580;\n the Adam primos, ii. 452\n\n Microscope, its brothers in the Books of Moses, i. 240\n\n Middle Asia, botany and mineralogy, i. 89;\n ever-burning lamps, i. 227\n\n Midgard snake, i. 151\n\n Midianites regarded as wise men, ii. 449\n\n Milk of the Celestial Virgin, i. 64\n\n Milton, John, regarded _Paradise Lost_ as a book of fiction, ii. 501\n\n Mimer, the deep well of wisdom, i. 151\n\n Minarets of Islam, ii. 5\n\n Minerals, magnetized by man, i. 209;\n the basis of evolution of vegetable organisms, _ib._;\n their occult properties, ii. 589\n\n Miracles, those of the Bible surpassed by those of the Vedas, i. 90;\n so-called, genuine, from Moses to Cagliostro, i. 128;\n none in nature, ii. 587;\n at the tomb of Abb\u00e9 Paris, i. 372;\n among the Convulsionaires, _ib._;\n none in Protestant countries, ii. 17;\n in spite of the Church, ii. 22, 23\n\n Miraculous Conception, a legend of Buddhism, ii. 504;\n fire at the Holy Sepulchre, ii. 404\n\n Mirville, De, i. 99;\n refutes Babinet\u2019s denial of levitation, i. 105;\n the nebulous Almighty, i. 129\n\n Mithra, a triple god, ii. 41\n\n Mithraic Mysteries, ii. 351;\n initiation of Julian the Emperor, ii. 566\n\n Mixture to out-stench devils, ii. 67\n\n Mnizurin, i. 321\n\n Mochtana or Mokomna, the Druze apostle, ii. 308\n\n Morals, the Buddhistic code, ii. 608\n\n Model of the Universe, i. 302\n\n Modern philosophers, see only the physical form of Isis, i. 16;\n devil, a heritage from Cybel\u00e8, ii. 501;\n Savants know less than ancients, i. 15;\n science denies a Supreme Being or Personal God, i. 16;\n teaches the power of human thought to affect the matter of another\n universe, i. 310;\n scientists hate new truths, i. 409;\n spiritualism, i. 40;\n the modern form of magic, i. 42\n\n M\u0153ris, the artificial lake constructed in Egypt, i. 516\n\n Moisasure, the Hindu Lucifer, i. 299\n\n Moksha and the Nirvana, ii. 116;\n the second spiritual birth, ii. 566\n\n Moldenwaher, his documents concerning the prosecution of the\n Knights-Templar, bought up by Free-masons, ii. 383\n\n Moloch-Hercules, children immolated to him in the valley of the\n Gehenna, ii. 11\n\n Moloch-God of the inquisition, ii. 65\n\n Moloch-like divinity of Roman church, i. 27\n\n Monad, i. 212;\n Buddha, i. 291\n\n Monas, ii. 347\n\n Mongolians, ought to have been called Scyths, i. 576\n\n Monkey of God, now exorcised with holy water, ii. 96\n\n Monkeys exhibiting human intellect, i. 326;\n fabled to be progenitors of western people, i. 563;\n in Egyptian temples, i. 564;\n in all Buddhistic temples, _ib._\n\n Monkish impostors expelled from convents in Southern Mongolia, ii. 609\n\n Monks, their fury for exorcising and roasting the convulsionaires of\n the Cevennes, i. 370, 372;\n none in hell, ii. 75\n\n Monoliths, for Egyptian monuments, i. 518;\n how transported, _ib._\n\n Monogenes, or only-begotten, a name of Proserpina, ii. 284\n\n Montesquieu, on two witnesses, i. 87\n\n Montezuma, his effigy worshipped in Mexico, i. 557\n\n Montgeron, writes a book on Jansenist miracles, i. 373\n\n Monuments, religious, the expression of the same thoughts, i. 561;\n planned and built under supervision of priests, _ib._;\n alike in Asia and America, _ib._\n\n Moody, the revivalist, would see his son\u2019s eyes dug out, ii. 250;\n and Sankey, confounded by a Roman bishop with spiritualists, ii. 7\n\n Moon, the same as Diana, Diktynna, Artemis, Juno, etc., i. 267;\n her worship in Crete, _ib._;\n influence on women, _ib._;\n legends of her phases, i. 265, 266;\n influence on tides, persons, and vegetation, i. 273;\n in middle nature, and green the middle color, i. 514\n\n Moon-god, Deus Lunus, worshipped by the Khaldi, ii. 48\n\n Moon-kings, or lunar dynasty, reigned at Pruyag and Allahabad, ii. 48\n\n Moor, his explanation of the Wittoba, ii. 557, 558\n\n Moore, Rev. Dunlop, assertion of the age of the institutes of Manu,\n i. 585\n\n Moors, bearded, figures at the great temple of Angkor, or Nagkon-Wat,\n i. 565, 567\n\n Mora in Sweden, young children burned alive as witches, ii. 503\n\n More, Henry, i. 54, 74;\n his belief in Pythagorean doctrines, i. 204, 205;\n adversary of Eugenius Philalethes, i. 308;\n demonstration of witchcraft, i. 353;\n theory of birth-marks, i. 384, 385\n\n Morgan, \u201cgood enough till after the election,\u201d ii. 372\n\n Moigno, Abb\u00e9, his wretched success in writing down Huxley, Tyndall,\n and Raymond, i. 336\n\n Mormons, polytheists, ii. 2\n\n Mortal soul, i. 276, 326\n\n Mosaic books, regarded by well-educated Jews allegory, i. 554, 555;\n religion a sun-and-serpent worship, ii. 129\n\n Moses, the pupil of the mother of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, i. 25;\n communicated secrets to the seventy elders, i. 26;\n his code required two witnesses, i. 87;\n placed a perpetual lamp in the tabernacle, i. 228;\n described Jehovah the anthropomorphic deity as being the highest\n God, i. 307;\n could not obtain his other name, i. 309;\n philosophized or spoke in allegory, i. 436;\n said to have had knowledge of electricity, i. 528;\n chief of the Sodales or priest-colleges, i. 555;\n a hierophant of Heliopolis and priest of Osiris, _ib._;\n initiated, _ib._;\n became an Egyptian and a priest, i. 556;\n denounced the spirit of Ob, not Od, i. 594;\n disputes over his body, its allegorical interpretation, ii. 482;\n an initiate, ii. 129;\n and the Israelites, their story typical, ii. 493;\n versed in occult sciences, ii. 59;\n the law not more than two or three centuries older than\n Christianity, ii. 526\n\n Moslem arms blessed by the Pope, ii. 560\n\n Mother and child, a very ancient sign and myth, ii. 491;\n -trunk, the universal religion, ii. 123;\n of God the most ancient, ii. 49, 50;\n the Heaven itself, ii. 50;\n lodge, the great, ii. 315\n\n Mountain of light, its appearance to Hiouen-Thsang, i. 600\n\n Mouse-mark, produced by alarm, i. 391\n\n Mousseaux, Des, i. 99;\n declares the devil the chief pillar of faith, i. 103\n\n Movable printing types, in China before our Era, i. 513;\n used in the earliest periods of lamaism in Thibet, _ib._\n\n Moyst natures or elementary spirits, i. 342, 343\n\n Mukti, or half-gods, ii. 566\n\n M\u00fcller, Albrecht, testimony in regard to ancient skill, i. 539\n\n Mummy, bandaging, i. 20;\n a symbol, i. 297;\n a finger-ring at the London Exhibition of 1851, i. 531\n\n Mummy-bandaging, i. 539;\n 1000 yards long _ib._\n\n Mundane tree, i. 297\n\n Mundane cross of heaven, ii. 454;\n egg or universal womb, ii. 214;\n snake creeps out of the primordial _ilus_, i. 298\n\n Muratori, his felt cuirasse, copied from the ancients, i. 530\n\n Murder, an obstacle to ancient, but not to Jesuit initiation, ii. 363\n\n Murderous language of Jerome and Tertullian, ii. 250\n\n Music, power over diseases, i. 215;\n effect on persons, i. 275;\n its influence on reptiles, i. 382;\n employed in Egyptian temples for healing of nervous disorders, i.\n 544\n\n Musical instruments in Egypt, i. 544;\n sand, i. 605;\n tones influence vegetation, i. 514\n\n Mutton-protoplasm, i. 251\n\n Mysteries, i. 15;\n little known, i. 24;\n of the Israelites, i. 26;\n theurgic, i. 130;\n Samothracian, i. 132;\n occult properties of magnetism and electricity taught, i. 234;\n representation of Demeter with the electrified head, _ib._;\n the Dioskuri, i. 234-243;\n Pythagoras initiated, i. 284;\n their gradation, ii. 101;\n ennobling in their character, _ib._;\n of the ancients identical with the Hindu and Buddhist initiations,\n ii. 113, 114;\n divine visions beheld in them, ii. 118;\n of the Christians, ii. 119;\n Jesuit, not revealed to all priests, ii. 350;\n Mithra\u00efc, twelve tortures, ii. 351;\n taught to the Babylonians, ii. 457\n\n Mysterious city of the Mayas of Yucatan, i. 547;\n science existed apart from \u201cmediumship,\u201d ii. 118\n\n Mystery of the celestial Virgin pursued by the Dragon, ii. 490;\n and science, Mr. Felix\u2019s book, i. 337\n\n Mystery-God of the Ineffable Name, ii. 289\n\n Mystic doctrines not properly understood, i. 429;\n legends of the Middle Ages, ii. 38\n\n Mystical words of power in old religions, ii. 99;\n properties in plants, ii. 589\n\n Myths, fables, when misunderstood, and truths as once understood, ii.\n 431\n\n\n Nabatheans in Lebanon, ii. 197\n\n Nagal, the chief sorcerer of the Mexicans, i. 556\n\n Nagas, or kingly snakes, i. 448;\n or serpent-tribes of Kashmere, teachers of Apollonius, ii. 434;\n or serpent-worshippers of Kashmere converted to the Buddhistic\n faith, ii. 608\n\n Nagkon-Wat, i. 239;\n description of Frank Vincent, i. 561-563;\n pictures represent scenes from the _Ramayava_, i. 573;\n 100,000 separate figures, _ib._;\n ascribed to the lost tribes of Israel, i. 565;\n suggested to have been built for Buddhaghosa, _ib._;\n contains representations of Oannes or Dagon, the Kabeiri, the\n monkey or Vulcan, Egyptian and Assyrian figures, _ib._\n\n Nagualism and voodoo-worship, i. 556, 557;\n secret worships, i. 557; ii. 572;\n perpetuated by Catholic persecution, ii. 573\n\n Nails of a cherub preserved as relics, ii. 71\n\n Name, Ineffable, not possessed by Masons, ii. 387\n\n Nandi, the Vehan of Siva, ii. 235\n\n Nara, the mundane egg or universal womb, ii. 214\n\n Narayana, mover of the waters, Brahma, i. 91\n\n Nation, its greatest curse, ii. 121\n\n _National Quarterly_, on modern scientists, i. 240, 249\n\n Natural magic, no relation to sleight of hand, i. 128;\n \u201cmediumship,\u201d ii. 118\n\n Nature, four kingdoms, i. 329;\n a materialization of spirit, i. 428;\n triune, the visible or objective, the vital or subjective principle\n and the eternal spirit, ii. 587;\n the servant of the magician, ii. 590;\n reveals all arts, i. 424, 425\n\n Nature-spirits or shedim, i. 313;\n or elementary, i. 349\n\n Naud\u00e9, a defender of occult magnetism and theosophy, i. 207\n\n Naus-copite, an optical instrument, i. 240\n\n Navel and less comely parts of Jesus for relics, ii. 71;\n symbolized by the ark, ii. 444\n\n Nazarene system explained, ii. 227-229;\n diagram, ii. 295\n\n Nazarenes, had a gospel inscribed to Peter, ii. 127;\n an anti-Bacchus caste, ii. 129;\n existed before Christ, ii. 139, 181;\n some as Galileans, ii. 139;\n their belief of a divine overshadowing, ii. 154\n\n Nazaret or Zoroaster, ii. 140\n\n Nazars, Joseph, Samuel, Samson, Zoroaster, and Zorobabel, ii. 128;\n wore their hair long, but cut it off at initiation, ii. 90;\n Jesus belonged to them, _ib._\n\n Nazireates, inimical to the Israelites, ii. 131\n\n Nebelheim, the matrix of the earth, i. 147\n\n Nebular theory, the ancient docrine, i. 238\n\n Necessity, circle of, i. 226, 296;\n men its toy, i. 276;\n circle of, when completed, i. 346\n\n Necho, King of Egypt, wrote on astronomy, i. 406;\n canal of, i. 517;\n II., sent a fleet to circumnavigate Africa, i. 542\n\n Necklace, imprinted by lightning on two ladies, i. 398\n\n Necromancy, a science of remote antiquity, i. 205\n\n \u039d\u0395\u039a\u03a1\u039f\u039a\u0397\u0394\u0395\u0399\u0391 _nekrokedeia_, i. 228\n\n Neoconis, the second degree, ii. 364\n\n Neo-Platonic Eclectic School, ii. 32\n\n Neo-Platonists, i. 262;\n their time of greatest glory, ii. 41;\n their doctrines and practices copied, ii. 84;\n not \u201cspirit mediums,\u201d ii. 118;\n when they were doomed, ii. 252\n\n Nero, his ring, i. 240;\n dared not seek initiation, ii. 363\n\n Neros I., i. 31;\n the Great, i. 33\n\n Nervous disorders, i. 117;\n disorders a specialty in ancient Egypt, i. 529;\n disorders treated with music in Egyptian temples, i. 544;\n exhaustion at spiritual circles, i. 343\n\n Neurological telegraphy proposed, i. 324\n\n Never-embodied men, i. 301\n\n Neville, Francis, twice resuscitated, i. 479\n\n New birth and accompanying slaughter, ii. 42;\n taught by Buddha and Jesus, ii. 566\n\n New Jersey, negroes burned at the stake for witchcraft, ii. 18\n\n New Testament, passages compared with sentences from the\n philosophers, ii. 338\n\n Newton Bishop, on the transformation of paganism into popery, ii. 29;\n Dr. the American healer, i. 165, 217, 218;\n Isaac, believer in magnetism, i. 177\n\n Niccolini, his exposure of the profligacy of monks, ii. 365, 366\n\n Nicodemus, Gospel taken from the pagan authors, ii. 518\n\n Nicolaitans adhered to marriage, ii. 329\n\n Nicolas, a man of honest report, ii. 333\n\n Night of Brahma, ii. 272, 273\n\n Nimbus and Tonsure solar emblems, ii. 94\n\n Nimrod, or spotted, a name of Bacchus, the wearer of the spotted\n skin, i. 568\n\n Nimroud, convex lens found, i. 240\n\n Nin or Imus of the Tzendales the same as Ninus, i. 551;\n received homage in the form of a serpent, i. 522\n\n Nineveh, 47 miles in circumference, i. 241\n\n Nirvana, i. 241, 290;\n the world of cause, i. 346;\n not nihilism nor extinction, i. 430;\n complete purification from matter, ii. 117;\n subjective but not objective existence, ii. 286;\n a personal immortality in spirit, but not in soul, ii. 320;\n or Moksha, the second spiritual birth, ii. 566;\n the ocean to which all religions tend, ii. 639\n\n Nirvritti or rest, i. 243\n\n No devil, no Christ, ii. 492\n\n Noah, or Nuah, same as Swayambhuva, ii. 448;\n the universal mother, ii. 444\n\n Nonnus, his legend of Kor\u00e8 and her son, ii. 504\n\n Norns, or Parc\u00e6, watering the roots of the tree Yggdrasill, i. 151\n\n Norse kingdom of the dead, ii. 11;\n contained no blazing hell, _ib._\n\n NOUS, i. 55, 131;\n consecrated to Mary, Isis, and Nari, ii. 210;\n or rational soul, everyman endowed, ii. 279;\n the spirit or reasoning soul, doctrine of Aristotle, i. 317;\n the first-born, or Christ, ii. 157\n\n No-Zeruan, the ancient of days, ii. 142\n\n Nout, the Egyptian name of the Divine Spirit, ii. 282;\n same as Nous, _ib._\n\n Nuah (Hea) king of the humid principle, ii. 429\n\n Nubia, its rock-temples, i. 542\n\n Nucleus of the embryo, i. 389\n\n Numa, King of Rome, Books of, i. 527;\n understood electricity, _ib._;\n opposed the use of images in worship, _ib._\n\n Numbers, Hermetic Book, on cosmic changes, i. 254;\n book of secret, the great Kabala, i. 579\n\n Numerals of Pythagoras, hieroglyphical symbols, i. 35;\n the basis of all systems of mysticism, ii. 407\n\n Nun, an Egyptian designation, ii. 95\n\n Nysa, Nyssa, always found where Bacchus was worshipped, ii. 165;\n same as Sinai, _ib._\n\n\n Oak, sacred, i. 297, 298\n\n Oannes, i. 133;\n the man fish, i. 349;\n the same as Vishnu, ii. 257;\n name signifies a spirit, _ib._\n\n Oath taken by initiates, i. 409\n\n Ob, the astral light, i. 158\n\n Obeah women in Guiana charm snakes, i. 383\n\n Obelisks of Egypt, i. 518;\n mode of transporting them, i. 519;\n imputed to Hermes Trismegistus, i. 551\n\n Object of this book, ii. 98, 99\n\n Obscene relics at Embrum, ii. 332\n\n Obscene bas-reliefs on the doors of St. Peter\u2019s Cathedral, _ib._\n\n Obscene statue of Christ and its miracles, _ib._\n\n Obscenity of heathen rites, ii. 76\n\n Obsession and possession, i. 487, 488; ii. 16;\n all confined to Roman Catholic countries, ii. 17\n\n Obsessions, irresistible, i. 276\n\n Occult properties in minerals, ii. 589;\n powers by inheritance, ii. 635, 636\n\n Occultism, physical, i. 19\n\n Oculists in ancient Egypt, i. 545\n\n Od, an agent described by Baron Reichenbach, i. 146;\n astral currents vivified, i. 158;\n emanations identical with flames from magnets, etc., i. 169\n\n Odic Force, i. 67\n\n Odin, i. 19;\n breathing in man and woman, the ash and the alder, the breath\n of life, i. 151;\n Alfadir, _ib._\n\n Oersted, on laws of nature, i. 506, 507\n\n Oetinger, experiment on ashes of plants, i. 476\n\n O\u2019Grady, Wm. L. D., his letter denouncing the influence of\n missionaries in India, ii. 475;\n on Hindu demoralization under British rule, ii. 574;\n his account of a Christian saturnalia in India, ii. 532\n\n Okhal or hierophant of the Druzes, ii. 309\n\n Okhals or spiritualists of Syria, ii. 292\n\n Old book, one original copy only in existence, i. 1;\n gods of the heathen, the same as the ancient patriarchs, ii. 450;\n man and his son, remarkable resuscitation, i. 484;\n Testament, exiled by Colenso and recalled, ii. 4;\n Testament, no real history in it, ii. 441;\n universes evolved before the present, ii. 421\n\n Olympic gods, their biographies relate to physics and chemistry, i.\n 261;\n women climbing perpendicular walls, i. 374\n\n Onderah, the Hindu abyss of darkness, only an intermediate state, ii.\n 11\n\n One only good, ii. 238;\n in three, i. 258\n\n Only-begotten sons, ii. 191\n\n Operative masons, ii. 392\n\n Ophiomorphos and Ophis Christos, ii. 449\n\n Ophion called also Dominus, ii. 512\n\n Ophiozenes in Cyprus, power over venomous reptiles, i. 381\n\n Ophis, the same as Chnuphis or Kneph, ii. 187;\n or the agathodaimon, ii. 293, 295\n\n Ophism and heliolatry imputed to Hermes, i. 55i\n\n Ophite Gnostics rejected the _Old Testament_, ii. 147;\n Theogony correctly given, ii. 187;\n worship transmuted into Christian symbolism, ii. 505;\n or serpent-worshipping Christians, their scheme, ii. 292;\n seven planetary genii, ii. 296;\n rejected the Mosaic writings, ii. 168;\n taught the doctrine of emanations, ii. 169;\n and Nazarenes compared, ii. 174;\n denounced by Peter and Jude, ii. 205;\n accused of licentiousness, ii. 325\n\n Optical instruments of ancient times, i. 240\n\n Oracle of the bleeding head consulted by Queen Catherine of Medicis,\n ii. 56\n\n Oracles obtained during the sacred sleep, i. 357\n\n Oracular head, made by Pope Sylvester II., ii. 56;\n by Albertus Magnus destroyed by Thomas Aquinas, _ib._\n\n Orcus, i. 298, 299\n\n Oriental philosophy, fundamental propositions, ii. 587\n\n Orientals, their senses more acute, i. 211;\n ascribe a human figure to the soul, i. 214;\n believe certain persons have made gold and lived for ages, _ib._\n\n Orientalists have shown similarities between religions, ii. 49\n\n Origen, believed in metempsychosis, i. 12;\n an Alexandrian Platonist, i. 25;\n secret doctrines of Moses, i. 26;\n believed the spirit pre\u00ebxistent from eternity, i. 316;\n deemed the soul corporeal, i. 317;\n denied the perpetuity of hell-torments, ii. 13;\n taught that devils would be pardoned, _ib._;\n believed that the damned would receive pardon and bliss, ii. 238;\n on the threefold partition of man, ii. 285\n\n Ormazd, his worship restored, ii. 220;\n his creations, ii. 221\n\n Orobio exposes the inquisition, ii. 59\n\n Orohippus, i. 411\n\n Orpheus, alleged to be a disciple of Moses, i. 532;\n on the virtues of the lodestone, i. 265\n\n Orphic Mysteries not the popular Bacchic rites, ii. 129\n\n Osiris, i. 93, 202;\n brought up at Nysa and called Dionnysos, ii. 165;\n his slaying denoted the period when his worship was under the ban\n of the Hyk-sos government, ii. 487;\n and Typhon, E. Pococke\u2019s theory, ii. 435, 436\n\n O\u2019Sullivan, Hon. John L., description of a semi-magical seance, i. 608\n\n Oulam does not mean infinite duration, ii. 12\n\n Ovule ceases to be an integral part of the body of the mother, i. 401\n\n Ovum, impregnated, its evolutionary history, i. 389\n\n Oxus-tribes or bull-worshippers dominate Western Asia, ii. 439\n\n Owen, Robert D., on worship of words, ii. 560\n\n\n Pagan idols, their destruction commanded by the Roman emperor, ii. 40;\n worship, the Latin church preserves its symbols, rites,\n architecture and clerical dress, ii. 92\n\n Paganism, true meaning of the word, ii. 179;\n ancient wisdom replete with deity, ii. 639;\n converted and applied to popery, ii. 29\n\n Pagans condemned to the eternal torments of hell, ii. 8;\n Virgin Mary writing this to a saint, _ib._\n\n Palenque, keystone not found, i. 571;\n the Tau and astronomical cross, i. 572\n\n Pali, their manuscripts translated, i. 578;\n have similar traditions as the Babylonians, _ib._;\n shepherds, who emigrated west, _ib._\n\n Pallium, or stole, a feminine sign, ii. 94;\n that of Augustine bedecked with Buddhistic crosses, ii. 94\n\n Panther, Grecian, contained Egyptian gods, i. 543;\n panther, the sinful father of Jesus, ii. 386\n\n Papacy, scientific, danger of, i. 403;\n \u201cand civil power,\u201d Mr. Thompson\u2019s book denounced, ii. 378\n\n Papal tiara, the coiffure of the Assyrian gods, ii. 94;\n discourses, catalogue of foul epithets on those who oppose the\n pope, ii. 7\n\n Paper, time-proof, i. 529\n\n Papyrus, as old as Menes and the first dynasty, i. 530;\n art of its preparation, _ib._\n\n Parables or double-meanings in the discourses of Jesus, ii. 145\n\n Parabrahma the Eternal, Bhaghavant, i. 91\n\n Paracelsus, i. 20, 50;\n his learning, i. 52;\n discovered hydrogen, i. 52, 169;\n his doctrine of faith and will, i. 57, 170;\n rediscovery of the magnet, i. 71, 164, 167;\n persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church, i. 100;\n his homunculi, i. 133, 465;\n teacher of animal-magnetism and electro-magnetism, i. 164;\n theory of a concealed power of the magnet, i. 168;\n sidereal force, _ib._;\n theory of dreams, i. 170;\n on the alkahest, i. 191;\n method of transposing letters in his terms, _ib._;\n taught that three spirits actuate man, i. 212;\n removed disease by contact of healthy persons, i. 217;\n his preparation of mercury, ii. 620;\n and chor\u0153a, and was persecuted for it as a magician, ii. 565;\n received the true initiation, ii. 349;\n his assertion that magic was taught in the Bible, ii. 500;\n Alsatians believe him not dead, _ib._\n\n Paradigm of the universe, i. 212\n\n Paradise Lost, the drama of Milton, ii. 501, 502;\n the unformulated belief of the English, _ib._\n\n Paradoxes, five, of adversaries of Spiritualism, i. 116\n\n Paralysis of the soul during life, ii. 368\n\n Parerga, i. 59\n\n Pariahs, or Tchandales, the parents of the Jews, ii. 438\n\n Paris carrying off Helen, and Ravana carrying off Sita, i. 566;\n Abb\u00e9, the Jansenist, miracles at his tomb for 20 years, i. 372\n\n Parker, Father, accuses the Protestants of the purpose to destroy the\n Bible, ii. 200\n\n Parodi, Maria Teresa, case of malformed child, i. 392\n\n Parrot-headed squabs, i. 395, 396\n\n Parsis deny any vicarious sacrifice, ii. 547\n\n Pashai (Peshawer) or Udayna, classic land of sorcery, i. 599;\n testimony of Hiouen-Thsang, _ib._\n\n Pastaphoris, the first degree, ii. 364\n\n Patriarchs, great gods, and pradjapatis represented signs of the\n Zodiac, ii. 450\n\n Paul, supposed to have been personified and assailed by Peter under\n the name of Simon Magus, ii. 89;\n and Plato, quoted, ii. 89, 90;\n the real founder of Christianity, ii. 574;\n a wise master-builder, or adept, ii. 90, 91;\n why persecuted by Peter, James, and John, ii. 91;\n supposed to be polluted by the Gnosis, _ib._;\n the apostle, used language pertaining to initiations, ii. 90;\n was initiated, _ib._;\n confessed himself a Nazarene, ii. 137;\n on the beatific vision, ii. 146;\n his epistles alone acknowledged by Marcion, ii. 162;\n differs from Peter, ii. 180;\n is adopted by the Reformers, _ib._;\n his reference to occult powers, ii. 206;\n only worthy apostle of Jesus, ii. 241;\n taught that man was a trine, ii. 281;\n regarded Christianity and Judaism as entirely distinct, ii. 525;\n the apostle, his descendants said to possess the power of braving\n serpents, i. 381;\n asserted the story of Moses and Abraham to be allegories, ii. 493\n\n Pausanias on shadowy soldiers at Marathon, i. 70;\n warned not to unveil the holy rites, i. 130\n\n Perry Chand Mittra, his views on psychology of the Aryas, ii. 593\n\n Pedactyl equus, i. 411\n\n Peisse, Dr., on alchemy and making gold, i. 508, 509\n\n Penalties of mutilation, ii. 99, 100\n\n Pencil writing answers to questions, in Tartary, i. 600\n\n Pentacle, Pythagorean, ii. 451, 452\n\n Pentagram, can determine the countenance of unborn infants, i. 395\n\n Pentateuch, constituted after the model of a purana, ii. 492;\n not written by Moses, ii. 167;\n compiled by Ezra and revised, i. 578;\n revised by the Jews, ii. 526\n\n Pepper, Prof., his apparatus to produce spiritual appearances, i. 359\n\n Perfect circle decussated by the letter X, ii. 469\n\n Perfect Passover of orthodox Christians, ii. 333\n\n Periktione, mother of Plato, her miraculous conception, ii. 325\n\n Perispirit, i. 197;\n the astral soul, i. 289\n\n Permutation, doctrine of, ii. 152\n\n Perpetual motion, denied by science, i. 501;\n illustrated by the universe and the atomic theory, i. 502;\n proved by the telescope and microscope, _ib._\n\n Persiphone or Proserpina, the same as Ceres or Demeter, ii. 505\n\n Persepolis, wonders, i. 534;\n the inscriptions older than any in Sanscrit, ii. 436\n\n Persia, her wonders, i. 534\n\n Persian Mirror, a robber detected by its use and punished, ii. 631\n\n Persian colonists dominated in Judea, the Canaanites being the\n proletaries, ii. 441\n\n Personal devil not believed in by the ancients, ii. 483\n\n Personality not to be applied to spiritual essence, i. 315\n\n Persons cut to pieces and put again together good as new, i. 473, 474\n\n Peru, net-work of subterranean passages, i. 595, 598;\n treasures of the Incas, i. 596\n\n Peruvians, still preserve their ancient traditions and sacerdotal\n caste, i. 546;\n magical ceremonies, _ib._\n\n Peter, \u05e4\u05ea\u05e8, name taken from the Mysteries, ii. 29\n\n PTR, its symbol an opened eye, ii. 92, 93;\n the interpreter, ii. 392;\n had nothing to do with the foundation of the Latin Church, ii. 91;\n his name Petra or Kiffa, _ib._;\n the whole story of his apostleship at Rome a play on the name\n denoting the Hierophant or interpreter of the mysteries, ii.\n 91, 92;\n the pulpit of, declared to be the teachings of the spirit of God,\n ii. 8;\n had two chairs, ii. 23, 25;\n was never at Rome, ii. 24;\n his life at Babylon, ii. 127;\n was a Nazarene, _ib._;\n denounced Paul without naming him, ii. 179\n\n Peter-ref-su, a mystery-word on a coffin, ii. 92;\n Bunsen\u2019s comments, ii. 92, 93\n\n Peter the Great, stopped spurious miracles, ii. 17\n\n Petra, the rock-temple of the Church, ii. 30\n\n Petra, or rock, the logos, ii. 246\n\n Petroma, the two tablets of stone, ii. 91\n\n _Ph\u0153drus_, i. 2\n\n Phallic symbols in churches, ii. 5;\n stone, batylos, or lingham, denounced by des Mousseaux, _ib._\n\n Phallism, heathen, in Christian symbols, ii. 5;\n in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and the fetish-worship\n of Isernia, _ib._\n\n Phanes, the revealed god, i. 146\n\n Phantasmal duplicate, i. 360\n\n Phantasy, ii. 591\n\n Phantom-hand, false as well as true, ii. 594;\n statement of Dr. Fairfield, ii. 595;\n what it really is, _ib._\n\n Phantoms, the manifestations of bad demons, i. 333\n\n Phases of modern Christianity, ii. 575\n\n Pharisees, believed in transmigration of souls, i. 347\n\n Phenomena, spiritual, discountenanced by the clergy, i. 26;\n divine visions of Pius, IX., i. 27;\n the Klikouchy and the Yourodevoy, i. 28;\n absurd position assumed by scientists, i. 40;\n Aksakof, i. 41;\n Fisk, Crookes, and Wallace, i. 42;\n the Dialectical Society, i. 44;\n theories of Prof. Crookes, i. 47;\n existed long before spiritualism, i. 53;\n Prof. Faraday\u2019s tests, i. 63;\n materialization, i. 67;\n a haunted house, i. 69;\n physical displays seldom caused by disembodied spirits, i. 73;\n opposition of the positivists, i. 75;\n hostility of allopathists, i. 88;\n laid at the door of Satan, i. 99;\n testimony of de Gasparin, i. 101;\n hostility of medical writers, i. 102;\n Mr. Weekman the first investigator in America, i. 106;\n reality acknowledged by Prof. Thury, i. 110;\n his theory, i. 113;\n E. Salverte, i. 115;\n De Mirville\u2019s five distractions or paradoxes, i. 116;\n condemned by Commission of the Imperial University of St\n Petersburgh, i. 117;\n how produced, i. 199;\n evidence adduced by Prof. Crookes overwhelming, i. 202;\n given by an exterior intelligence, i. 203;\n deceptions, i. 217-222;\n Iamblichus forbids endeavors to procure them, i. 219\n\n Pherecydes, taught that \u00e6ther was heaven, i. 157\n\n Philalethes, Eugenius (Thomas Vaughan), i. 51, 167;\n not an adept, i. 306;\n model of Swedenborg, _ib._;\n anticipated modern doctrine of the earth\u2019s beginning, i. 255\n\n Phillips, Wendell, i. 211, 240\n\n Philo Jud\u00e6us, on spirits in the air, i. 2;\n praise of magic, i. 25;\n contradicted himself on purpose, ii. 39;\n was the father of new platonism, ii. 144\n\n Philon\u00e6a, visited her lover after death, i. 365\n\n Philosophers, believed in metempsychosis, also that men have two\n souls, i. 12;\n their consignment to hell desired, ii. 250\n\n Philosopher\u2019s stone, sought by a king of Siam, i. 571\n\n Philosophy, Oriental, its fundamental propositions, ii. 587\n\n Ph\u0153nicians, circumnavigated the globe, i. 239;\n the earliest navigators, i. 545;\n their achievements, _ib._;\n an Ethiopian race, i. 566, 567;\n traced by Herodotus to the Persian Gulf, i. 567;\n Phoinikes, or Ph\u2019anakes, i. 569;\n the same as the Hyk-sos or shepherds of Egypt, _ib._;\n more or less identified with the Israelites, _ib._\n\n Photographing in colors by will-power, i. 463\n\n Photography, electrical, i. 395\n\n Phtha, the active or male creative principle, i. 186\n\n Physical body may be levitated, ii. 589\n\n Physically spiritualized, the coming human race to be, i. 296\n\n Physician declares Daguerre to be insane, ii. 619\n\n Physicians wash their hands on leaving a patient, ii. 611;\n problems, i. 277\n\n Physicists divinify matter and overlook life, i. 235\n\n Pia Metak, king of Siam, becomes able to walk in the air, ii. 618\n\n Picture of a slain soldier, extraordinary phenomena, ii. 17\n\n Pictures hidden from view, Prof. Draper\u2019s description, i. 186\n\n Picus, Francisco, testimony in regard to transmutation, i. 504\n\n Pierart, explanation of catalepsy and vampirism, i. 449\n\n Pigmies in Africa, i. 412\n\n Pike, Gen. Albert, declaration against the creative principle\n proclaimed at Lausanne, ii. 377\n\n Pilate convokes an assembly of Jews, ii. 522\n\n Pillars set up by the patriarchs, identical with the lingam of Siva,\n ii. 235\n\n Pimander, i. 93;\n the same as the Logos Prometheus, etc., i. 298;\n the nous, word, or Divine Light, ii. 50\n\n Pippala, the sacred tree of knowledge, ii. 412\n\n Pitar, its form seen at the moment of initiation, ii. 114\n\n Pitris, the lunar ancestors of men, ii. 106, 117;\n their worship fast becoming the worship of the spiritual portion of\n mankind, ii. 639;\n the doctrine of their existence revealed to initiates, ii. 114;\n a sect in India, ii. 308\n\n Pious assassins of the early church, ii. 304\n\n Pius IX, excommunicates Czar Nicholas as a schismatic i. 27;\n has divine visions, or rather epileptic fits, _ib._;\n evil eye, i. 381;\n pretends to be superior to St. Ambrose and the prophet Nathan, ii.\n 14;\n is the faithful echo of the Jesuits, ii. 359\n\n Planchette, writing by, i. 199\n\n Planet, i. 301\n\n Plants are magnets, i. 281, 282\n\n Plant-growing trick, i. 139, 141, 142\n\n Plants, attracted by the sun, i. 209;\n sympathies and antipathies, _ib._;\n sympathy with human beings, i. 246;\n possess mystical properties, ii. 589\n\n Plato, not often read understandingly, i. 8;\n echoed the teachings of Pythagoras, i. 9;\n doctrine of the soul, will, or _nous_, i. 14, 55;\n his symbology misunderstood, i. 37;\n suggestion for physical improvement of the human race, i. 77;\n doctrine of wisdom, i. 131;\n on trance prophets, i. 201;\n asserted to be ignorant of anatomy, i. 236;\n his method, i. 237;\n Prof. Jewett\u2019s acknowledgment, _ib._;\n on origin of the sun, i. 258;\n taught correlation of forces, i. 261;\n his doctrines the same as those of Manu, i. 271;\n declares man the toy of necessity, i. 276;\n doctrine of genius, i. 277;\n theory of metempsychosis, i. 277;\n attraction, i. 281;\n his speculations on creation and cosmogony, to be taken\n allegorically, i. 287;\n veneration for the mysteries, _ib._;\n would not admit poets into his commonwealth, i. 288;\n dismisses Homer for his apparent antagonism to monotheism, _ib._;\n accused of absurdities, etc., i. 307;\n derived the soul from the world-soul, i. 316;\n shows the deity geometrizing, i. 318;\n on the future of the dead, i. 328;\n learned secret science in Egypt, i. 406;\n versed in the knowledge of the heliocentric system, i. 408, 409;\n his \u201cnoble lie\u201d concerning Atlantis, i. 413;\n on human races, i. 428;\n his esoteric doctrines the same as the Buddhistic, i. 430;\n on prayer, i. 434;\n on God geometrizing, i. 506;\n on spiritual numerals, i. 514;\n the Atlantis a possible cover of a story made arcane at initiation,\n i. 591;\n copies Djeminy and Vyasa, i. 621;\n complains of unbelief, ii. 16;\n his faculty of production, _ib._;\n confessed that he derived his teachings from ancient and sacred\n doctrines, ii. 39;\n on divine mysteries, ii. 113;\n not a \u201cspirit-medium,\u201d ii. 118;\n and other philosophers taught dual evolution, ii. 279;\n on the trine of man, ii. 282;\n definition of the soul, ii. 285;\n his testimony concerning the Machagistia, ii. 306;\n discourse concerning the creation, ii. 469;\n taught that there was in matter a blind force, ii. 483;\n on exaltation of the soul above sense, ii. 591\n\n Platonic philosophy adopted into the church, ii. 33\n\n Platonism introduced into Christianity, ii. 325\n\n Platonists, their books burned, i. 405\n\n Pleroma, three degrees, i. 302\n\n Pleasanton on the Blue Ray, i. 137, 264;\n denies gravitation, and the existence of centripetal and\n centrifugal forces, i. 271;\n his theory of light, i. 272\n\n Pliny mentions phantoms on the deserts of Africa, i. 604\n\n Plotinus, on the descent of the soul into generated existence, ii.\n 112;\n six times united to his god, ii. 115; i. 292;\n on human knowledge, i. 434;\n on prayer, _ib._;\n on ecstasy, i. 486;\n impulse in the soul to return to its centre, _ib._;\n on public worship of the gods, i. 489;\n a clairvoyant, seer, and more, ii. 591\n\n Plutarch on the oracular vapors, i. 200;\n on the nature of men, ii. 283;\n on the d\u00e6mon of Socrates, ii. 284\n\n Pococke, E., his theory of Osiris and Typhon, ii. 435, 436\n\n Poland, what a Catholic miracle in that country means, ii. 18\n\n Polykritus returned after dying, i. 364\n\n Polygamy openly preached by certain Positivists, i. 78\n\n Pompei, the room full of glass, i. 537\n\n Pope seized the scepter of the Pagan pontiff, ii. 30;\n now sympathising with the Turks against Christians, ii. 81;\n Calvin and Luther, their doctrine one, ii. 479, 480;\n his fulminations against science, ii. 559, 560;\n Calixtus III. issues a bull against Halley\u2019s Comet, ii. 509\n\n Popes known as magicians, ii. 56\n\n Popol-Vuh, a manuscript of Quich\u00e9, i. 2;\n leaves the antiquarian in the dark, i. 548\n\n Porphyry, upon Diakka, bad demons of sorcery, i. 219;\n twice united with God, i. 292;\n upon the passion of spirits for putrid substances and fresh blood,\n i. 344;\n on freshly-spilt blood in evocation, i. 493\n\n Porta, Baptista, theory of magic, world-soul, astral light, i. 208\n\n Poruth\u00fb-Mad\u00e2n, the wrestling demon, aiding in levitation, taming\n animals, etc., i. 496\n\n Positivism of Littr\u00e9 found in Vyasa, 10,400 B.C., i. 621\n\n Positivists, i. 73;\n their religion without a God, i. 76;\n design to uproot Spiritualism, _ib._;\n preach Polygamy, i. 78;\n the climax of their system, i. 80;\n neglect no means to overthrow Spiritualism, i. 83;\n despised and hated, ii. 3\n\n Possession, epidemic in Germany, i. 375\n\n Poudot, the shoemaker, his house beset by an elemental demon, i. 364\n\n Power of leaving the body temporarily, i. 476, 477;\n power to disappear, and to be seen in other forms, ii. 583\n\n Powers in nature, as recognized by exact science, and by kabalists,\n i. 466\n\n Pradjapatis, the ancestors of mankind, ten in number, ii. 427\n\n Prakamya, the power to change old age to youth, ii. 583\n\n Pralayas or dissolutions, two, ii. 424\n\n Prakriti, or Mahat, the external life, ii. 565\n\n Pranayama, ii. 590\n\n Prapti, the faculty of divination, healing and predicting, ii. 593\n\n Pratyahara, ii. 590\n\n Pravritti or active existence, i. 243\n\n Prayer and its sequences, i. 434\n\n Prayers, kept secret from strangers, i. 581\n\n Pre-Adamite, man described, i. 295;\n earth, i. 505\n\n Prediction of the Russo-Turkish war, i. 260\n\n Pre\u00ebminence of woman, ii. 299\n\n Pre\u00ebxistence, apparent, i. 179\n\n Pre\u00ebxistent, the spirit of man, i. 316, 317; ii. 280;\n law of form, i. 420\n\n Pregnant woman, highly impressible and receptive, i. 394;\n odic emanation and its influence on f\u0153tus, i. 395;\n under the influence of the ether or astral light, _ib._;\n might influence the features of children by pentagram, _ib._\n\n Prehistoric races, i. 545\n\n Premature burial, i. 456\n\n Presbytere de Cideville, phenomenon of thunder and images of\n fantastic animals as predicted by a sorcerer, i. 106\n\n Preston, Rev. Dr., his doctrine of a Mother in the plan of\n redemption, ii. 172\n\n Preterhuman beings, their alliance indicated in every ancient\n religion, ii. 299\n\n Pre-Vedic religion of India, ii. 39\n\n Priest, Assyrian, always bore the name of his god, i. 554\n\n Priest-ridden nations always fall, ii. 121, 122\n\n Priestesses of Germany, how they prophesied, ii. 592\n\n Priestley, Dr. Joseph, discovered oxygen, i. 250;\n anticipated the present-day philosophers, _ib._;\n on the godhood of Jesus, ii. 239\n\n Priests, their cast-off garb worn by men of science, ii. 8\n\n Priest-sorcerers, ii. 57\n\n Primal element obtained, i. 51;\n like clear water, _ib._\n\n Primitive Christianity, with grip, pass-words and degrees of\n initiation, ii. 204;\n Christians, a community of secret societies, ii. 335;\n triads, ii. 454\n\n Primordial substance, i. 133\n\n Prince of Hohenlohe a medium, i. 28;\n of Hell sides with the strongest, and treats Satan very badly, ii.\n 517\n\n _Principe Createur_ identical with the _Principe Generateur_ and not\n Christian, ii. 377\n\n Principes, i. 300\n\n Probation of Jesus, ii. 484, 485;\n the Devil or Diabolos no malignant principle, ii. 485\n\n Proclus, on magic and emanation, i. 243;\n theory of the gods or planetary spirits, i. 311, 312;\n his remarkable statements of marvels acted by dead persons, i. 364;\n on second dying and the luminous form, i. 432;\n his idea of divine power, i. 489;\n the mystic pass-word, _ib._;\n his explanation of the gradation of the Mysteries, ii. 101;\n upon apparitions beheld in the Mysteries, ii. 113\n\n Proctor, R. A., i. 245;\n accuses the ancients of ignorance, i. 253\n\n Profanation to eat blood, ii. 567\n\n Projecting of the astral or spiritual body, ii. 619, 620\n\n Prometheus, the Logos or Adam Kadmon, i. 298;\n revealed the art of bringing down lightning, i. 526;\n prediction of Hermes, ii. 514, 515\n\n Prophecies from Hindu books, ii. 556;\n antedate Christianity, ii. 557\n\n Prophecy determined in two ways, i. 200;\n gift imparted by infection, i. 217;\n a power possessed by the soul both in and apart from the body,\n ii. 594\n\n Prophetic star of the incarnation, ii. 454\n\n Prophets of Baal danced the circle-dance of the Amazons, ii. 45;\n dominated in Israel, and priests in Judah, ii. 439;\n of Israel never approved of sacrificial worship, ii. 525;\n led a party against the priests, _ib._\n\n Protection from vampires, etc., i. 460\n\n Protest against ethnological distinction from the progeny of Noah,\n ii. 434\n\n Protestant world still under the imputation of magical commerce with\n Satan, ii. 503\n\n Protestantism has no rights, i. 27\n\n Protestants in the United States, ii. 1;\n their bloody statutes against witchcraft, ii. 503\n\n Protevangelium, a parody of the Nicene creed, ii. 473\n\n Protogonos, i. 341\n\n Proto-hippus, i. 411\n\n Protoplasm, i. 223;\n taught by Seneca, etc., i. 249;\n doctrine of the Sw\u00e2bh\u00e2vikas, or Hindu pantheists, i. 250\n\n Prunnikos, mother of Ilda-Baoth, the God of the Jews, ii. 187\n\n Psyche, the animal soul, i. 317\n\n Psychic embryos, i. 311;\n force, i. 45-67;\n same as ectenic force, i. 113;\n same as the Akasa, _ib._;\n known to the ancient philosophers, i. 131;\n propositions of Sergeant Cox, i. 195;\n a blind force, i. 199\n\n Psychode force, i. 55, 113\n\n Psychography, or writing of messages by spirits, i. 367\n\n Psychological epidemics, ii. 625;\n powers of certain nuns in Thibet, ii. 609\n\n Psychology, heretofore almost unknown, i. 407;\n the basis of physiology anciently, but now based by scholars upon\n physiology, i. 424\n\n Psychomatics of occultism, i. 344\n\n Psychometry, i. 182;\n Prof. Denton and wife, i. 183; i. 330;\n practised by the ancients, i. 331\n\n Psychophobia, i. 46\n\n Psylli in Africa, serpent-charmers, i. 381\n\n Pueblos of Mexico still worship the sun, moon, stars, and fire, i. 557\n\n Pulpit of Peter the teaching of the Spirit of God, ii. 8\n\n Punch-and-Judy boxes or Christian mysteries, ii. 119\n\n Punjaub, population hybridized with Asiatic \u00c6thiopians, i. 567\n\n Purana, rules for writing one, ii. 492;\n the model of the Pentateuch, _ib._\n\n Purple, Tyrian, i. 239\n\n P\u00fbtt\u00e2m, or imps, i. 447\n\n Pyramids, their architecture and symbolism, i. 236;\n of Egypt, i. 518;\n their purpose, i. 519;\n the baptismal font, _ib._;\n the supposed manufacture of the material, _ib._;\n built on the former sea-shore, i. 520\n\n Pyrrho, how to be interpreted, ii. 530\n\n Pythagoras, his philosophy derived from the Brahmans, i. 9;\n taught the heliocentric system, i. 35, 532;\n believed in an infinity of worlds, i. 96;\n Bruno his disciple, i. 96, 98;\n taught God as the Universal Mind, i. 131;\n his esoteric system included in the arcane doctrines of wisdom, i.\n 205;\n Galileo a student, i. 238;\n his maxim widely scattered, \u201cDo not stir the fire with a sword,\u201d i.\n 247;\n dual signification of his precepts, i. 248;\n his trinity, i. 262;\n regard for precious stones and their mystical virtues, i. 265;\n his doctrine the same as the laws of Manu, i. 271;\n alleged influence on birds and animals, i. 283;\n testimony of Thomas Taylor, i. 284;\n initiated in the Mysteries of Byblos, Tyre, Syria, Egypt and\n Babylon, _ib._;\n did not teach literal transmigration of the soul, i. 289;\n taught the Buddhistic doctrines, i. 289-291;\n held for a clever impostor, i. 307;\n derived the soul from the world-soul, i. 316;\n mathematical doctrine of the universe, i. 318;\n taught the same as Buddha, i. 347;\n explains imagination as memory, i. 396;\n copied by Euclid, Archimedes, and Ptolemy, i. 512;\n learned music in Egypt and taught it in Italy, i. 544;\n placed the sphere of purification in the sun, ii. 12;\n subdued wild animals, ii. 77;\n persuaded a bull not to eat beans, ii. 78;\n was not a \u201cspirit-medium,\u201d ii. 118;\n his system of numerals, ii. 300;\n probably did not understand decimal notation, _ib._\n\n Pythagorean pentacle, ii. 451, 452\n\n Pythagorists were probably Buddhists, ii. 491\n\n Pytho, or Ob, i. 355\n\n Pythoness, her powers of seership, ii. 590\n\n\n Quack, a false name imposed on Paracelsus, ii. 621\n\n Queen of Heaven indebted to Pius IX., ii. 9;\n the Virgin Mary, Isis, Ishtar, Astart\u00e9, Queen Dido, Anna, Anaitis,\n etc., ii. 96, 446-450\n\n Quetzo-Cohuatl, the serpent-god of Mexican legends, i. 546;\n wonders wrought by him, ii. 558;\n his wand, _ib._\n\n Quich\u00e9 cosmogony, i. 549\n\n Quicksilver and sulphur, a magical preparation to give long life, ii.\n 620\n\n Quotation from _Psalms_ credited by Matthew to Isaiah, ii. 172\n\n\n Rabbinical chronology, none before the twelfth century, ii. 443\n\n Races, human, many died out before Adam, i. 2;\n pre-Adamite, i. 305;\n of men differ in gifts, ii. 588\n\n Radzivil, Prince, detects the impostures of monks, ii. 72\n\n Rahat, or perfect man, ii. 287, 288\n\n Railroads in Upper Egypt, i. 528\n\n Ram, or Aries, the symbol of creative power, i. 262\n\n Ramayana the source and origin of Homer\u2019s inspiration, ii. 278\n\n Ramsay, Count, his story of the Templars, ii. 384\n\n Raspberry-mark produced by longing, i. 391\n\n Rasit, its meaning suppressed, ii. 34;\n wisdom, ii. 35\n\n Rational soul, every man endowed, ii. 279\n\n Raulica, Father Ventura de, letter on magic, ii. 70\n\n Ravan and Rama, ii. 436\n\n Raven and St. Benedict, ii. 78\n\n Rawho, the demon of Ceylon, ii. 509\n\n Rawlinson, Sir H. C., brings home an engraved stone, i. 240;\n declares that the Akkadians came from Armenia, i. 263;\n conjectures respecting the Aryans, ii. 433\n\n Rawson, Prof. A. L., a member of the Druze Brotherhood of Lebanon,\n ii. 312;\n account of his initiation, ii. 313\n\n Rays of the Star of Bethlehem preserved as a relic, ii. 71\n\n Razors, superior article in Africa, i. 538\n\n Realm of Amita, legend of, i. 601\n\n Reason, what it is, i. 425;\n developed at the expense of instinct, i. 433;\n and instinct, their source, i. 432\n\n Reber, G., shows that there was no apostolic church at Rome, ii. 124\n\n Rebold, Dr., statement concerning the ancient colleges of Egypt, i.\n 520\n\n Reciprocal influences, i. 314\n\n Red dragon, the Assyrian military symbol, borrowed by Persia,\n Byzantium, and Rome, ii. 484\n\n Redeemer not promised in the book of Genesis, but by Manu, ii. 50\n\n Red-haired man, repugnance to stepping over his shadow, ii. 610;\n the magnetism dreaded, ii. 611\n\n Reformation had Paul for leader, ii. 180\n\n Reformers as bloodthirsty as Catholics, ii. 503\n\n Regazzoni, remarkable experiments, i. 142;\n the mesmerist, feats, i. 283\n\n Regenerated heathendom in the Christian ranks, ii. 80\n\n Regeneration or spiritual birth taught in India, ii. 565\n\n Regulation wardrobe of the Madonna, ii. 9\n\n Reichenbach, described the Od force, i. 146;\n prepared the way to understand Paracelsus, i. 167;\n on odic force of pregnant women, i. 394\n\n Reincarnation, its cause, i. 346;\n its possibility, and impossibility, i. 351\n\n Religion without a God, i. 76;\n of the future, _ib._;\n of the ancients the religion of the future, i. 613;\n private or national property, not to be shared with foreigners, i.\n 581;\n taught in the oldest Mysteries, i. 567;\n which dreads the light must be false, ii. 121;\n of Gautama, propagandism, ii. 608\n\n Religions, ancient, based on indestructibility of matter and force,\n i. 243;\n anciently sabaistic, i. 261;\n derived from one source and tend to one end, ii. 639;\n Papacy and scientific, i. 403\n\n Religious customs of the Mexicans and Peruvians like those of the\n Ph\u0153nicians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, i. 551;\n instinct productive of immorality, i. 83;\n liberty considered as intolerance, ii. 503;\n reform pure at the beginning, ii. 333;\n myths have an historical foundation, ii. 431;\n teachers, ii. 1\n\n Renan, E., described Jesus as a Gallicized rabbi, ii. 562\n\n Repentance possible even in Hades or Gehenna, i. 352\n\n Repercussion, i. 360\n\n Rephaim, i. 133\n\n Resistance, extraordinary, to blows, sharp instruments, etc., i. 375,\n 376\n\n Resuscitated Buddha, a babe speaking with man\u2019s voice, i. 437\n\n Resuscitations, i. 478, 479, 480;\n after actual death, impossible, i. 481\n\n Report of French Parliament upon the Jesuits, ii. 353\n\n Resplendent one, ii. 113;\n the Augoeides, or self-shining vision, ii. 115\n\n Retribution on the Roman Catholic Church, ii. 121\n\n Reuchlin, John, a Kabalist, ii. 20\n\n Revelation, or Apocalypse, its author a Kabalist, ii. 91;\n his hatred of the Mysteries made him the enemy of Paul, _ib._\n\n Revenge of Ilda-Baoth for the transgression of his command, ii. 185\n\n Rib of the Word made flesh preserved as a relic, ii. 71\n\n Rig-Veda, hymns written before Zoroaster, ii. 433\n\n Rio Janeiro, her Madonna with bare limbs, blond hair and chignon,\n ii. 9;\n her Christ in dandy evening dress, ii. 10\n\n Rishi Kutsa, i. 11\n\n Rishis, or sages, i. 90\n\n Rite of Swedenborg, a Jesuitical production, ii. 390\n\n Rites and ceremonial dress of Christian clergy like that of\n Babylonians, etc., ii. 94\n\n Ritual of exorcism, ii. 69;\n funeral, of the Egyptians, ii. 367\n\n Rituals, Kabalistic and Catholic compared, ii. 85, 86\n\n Rochester Cathedral, its originals, ii. 5;\n rappings, i. 36\n\n Rock-temples of Ipsambul, i. 542;\n works of Ph\u0153nician cities, i. 570;\n similar in Egypt and America, i. 571\n\n Rod of Moses, the _crux ansata_, ii. 455\n\n Roger Bacon, i. 64\n\n Roma, Cambodian traditions, i. 566\n\n Roman Catholic Clergy murdered mediums, i. 26;\n Church burned sorcerers that were not priests, ii. 58;\n Church has deprived herself of the key to her own religious\n mysteries, ii. 121;\n Church regards dissent, heresy, and witchcraft identical, ii. 503;\n considers religious liberty as intolerance, _ib._\n\n Roman Catholics in the United States, ii. 1;\n frown at the spiritual phenomena as diabolical, ii. 4;\n pontiffs arrogate dominion over Greek and Protestant Christians, i.\n 27\n\n Rome, Church of, put Bruno to death for his doctrines, i. 93;\n regards the spiritual phenomena as genuine, i. 100;\n Church of, cursing spiritualists, ii. 6;\n excommunicating the Bulgarians, Servians, Russians, and Italian\n liberals, ii. 7\n\n Rosaries of Buddhistic origin, ii. 95\n\n Roscoe, Professor, on iron in the sun, i. 513\n\n Rose, impression of one on Mme. von N., i. 398\n\n Rosicrucians, persecuted and burned, i. 64;\n their doctrine of creation, i. 258;\n still a mystery, ii. 380;\n unknown to its cruelest enemy, the Church, _ib._;\n the aim to support Catholicism, ii. 394;\n their doctrine of fire, i. 423\n\n Rosie Cross, brothers live only in name, i. 29;\n mysterious body, i. 64;\n burned without mercy by the Church, _ib._\n\n Round Tower of Bhangulpore, ii. 5\n\n Rousseau, the savant, encounter with a toad, i. 399\n\n Royal Arch word, ii. 293;\n cipher, ii. 396\n\n Ruc, from New Zealand, i. 603\n\n Rufus of Thessalonica returned to life after dying, i. 365\n\n Rules imposed upon neophytes, ii. 365\n\n Russia, no church-miracles, ii. 17\n\n Russian conquest of Turkey predicted, i. 260\n\n\n S. P. R. C., the cipher, ii. 395\n\n Sabazian worship Sabbatic, ii. 45\n\n Sabbath, adopted by the Jews from other peoples, ii. 417;\n Christian, its origin, ii. 419\n\n Sabbatical institution not mentioned in Job, ii. 494\n\n Sabeanism, treated of in Job, ii. 494\n\n Sacerdotal caste in every ancient religion, ii. 99;\n office, magical evocation, ii. 118\n\n Sacred sleep, i. 357;\n produced by draughts of soma-juice, _ib._;\n lake, ii. 364;\n writings of India have a deeper meaning, ii. 430;\n books of the Jews destroyed, 158 B.C., ii. 470;\n tree of Kounboum renews its budding in the time of Son-Ka-po, ii.\n 609\n\n Sacrifice of the hierophant or victim, ii. 42;\n of blood, ii. 566\n\n Sacrificial worship never approved by the Israelitish prophets, ii.\n 525\n\n Sacrilege to seek to understand a mystery, ii. 249\n\n Sahara, perhaps once a sea-bed, i. 592\n\n St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral, its double lithoi, ii. 5;\n Medard, the fanatics, i. 375;\n John, Knights of, not Masons, ii. 383;\n persecuted by the Inquisition, _ib._\n\n Saints rescued from hell, ii. 517;\n Buddhistic and Lamaistic, their great sanctity, ii. 608;\n never washing themselves, ii. 511\n\n Sakti, the active energy of the gods, ii. 276;\n employed as a vehan, _ib._\n\n Sakti-trimurti, or female trinity, ii. 444\n\n Salamander or asbestos, i. 504\n\n Salem, Mass., obsessions occurring there, i. 71;\n witchcraft, the obeah woman, i. 361;\n witchcraft, ii. 18\n\n Salsette, the Kanhari caves, the abode of St. Josaphat, ii. 580, 581\n\n Salt regarded as the universal menstruum and one of the chief\n formative principles, i. 147\n\n Salverte, his philosophy of magic, i. 115;\n imputes deception to Iamblichus and others, _ib._;\n his account of a soldier protected by an amulet, i. 378;\n on mechanics and invention in ancient times, i. 516;\n on the use of electricity, etc., by Numa and Tullus, kings of\n Rome, i. 527\n\n Sam\u00e2ddi, an exalted spiritual condition, ii. 590\n\n Samael or Satan, the simoon or wind of the desert, ii. 483\n\n Samaritans recognized only the books of Moses and Joshua, ii. 470\n\n Samothrace, a mystery enacted there once every seven years, i. 302;\n worship of the Kabeiri brought thither by Dardanus, i. 570\n\n Samothracian Mysteries and new life, i. 132;\n magnetism and electricity, i. 234\n\n Samson, the Hebrew Herakles, a mythical character, ii. 439;\n represented by the Somona of Ceylon, i. 577\n\n Samuel the prophet, a mythical hero, the doppel of Samson, ii. 439;\n the Hebrew Ganesa, _ib._;\n his school, i. 26\n\n San Marco at Venice, the original of the Campanila column, ii. 5\n\n Sanchoniathon, on chaos and creation, i. 342\n\n Sanctity of the chair of Peter, its source, ii. 25\n\n Sankhya, the eight faculties of the soul, ii. 592, 593\n\n Sanctuary of the pagodas never entered by a European [except Mr.\n Ellis--see Higgins\u2019s _Apocalypsis_--very doubtful], ii. 623\n\n Sanny\u00e2si, a saint of the second degree, ii. 98\n\n Sanscrit, endeavor to show its derivation from the Greek, i. 443;\n inscriptions, none older than Chandragupta, ii. 436;\n the vernacular of the Akkadians, ii. 46;\n appears on the leaves of the magical Koumboum, _ib._;\n books written in presence of a child-medium, i. 368;\n impressions by a fakir or juggler on leaves, i. 368, 369;\n manuscripts translated into every Asiatic language, i. 578;\n language derived from the Rutas, i. 594\n\n Sapphire, sacred to the moon, i. 264;\n possesses a magical power and produces somnambulic phenomena, _ib._;\n Hindu legend of its first production, i. 265\n\n Sar or Saros, i. 30\n\n Sara-isvati, wife of Brahma, goddess of sacred knowledge, ii. 409\n\n Sarcophagus, porphyry, in the pyramids, i. 519\n\n Sargent, Epes, on spiritual deceptions, i. 220;\n his arraignment of Tyndall for coquetting with different beliefs,\n i. 419\n\n Sargon, the original of the story of Moses, ii. 442\n\n Sarpa Rajni, the queen of the serpents, ii. 489\n\n Sarles, Rev. John W., advocates the damnation of adult heathen, ii.\n 474\n\n Satan, his existence first made a dogma by Christians, ii. 13;\n declared fundamental, ii. 14;\n Ilda-Baoth, so called, ii. 186;\n identical with Jehovah, ii. 451;\n the mainstay of sacerdotism, ii. 480;\n to be contemplated from their planes, ii. 481;\n personified as a devil by the Asideans, ii. 481;\n same as Ahriman or Anramanyas, _ib._;\n the name applied to a serpent in the Hebrew Scriptures, ii. 481;\n the same as Seth, god of the Hittites, _ib._;\n of the book of Job, ii. 483;\n counsels with the Lord, ii. 485;\n a son of God, ii. 492;\n makes a sortie into New England and other colonies, ii. 503;\n the Biblical term for public accuser, ii. 494;\n the same as Typhon, _ib._;\n cast forth by the prince of hell, ii. 515, 516;\n is made subject to Beelzebub, prince of hell, ii. 517;\n and Beelzebub hold a conversation about Jesus, ii. 520, 521\n\n Satanism defined by Father Ventura de Raulica, ii. 14\n\n Sati, a burned widow, i. 541\n\n Sattras, imitations of the course of the sun, i. 11\n\n Saturation of the medium, i. 499, 500\n\n Saturn, Chaldean discovery of his rings, i. 260, 263;\n the father of Zeus, i. 263;\n the same as Bel, Baal, and Siva, _ib._;\n his image, ii. 235;\n or Kronos, offers his only-begotten son to Ouranos and circumcises\n himself and family, i. 578;\n the myth original in the _Maha-Bharata_, _ib._\n\n Saturnalia of monks at Christmas, ii. 366\n\n Saul, evil spirit exorcised, i. 215\n\n Saviour, would be lost if we lose our demons, ii. 476\n\n Scandinavian tradition of trolls, ii. 624\n\n Scepter of the Boddhisgat seen floating in the air, ii. 610\n\n Scheme of the Ophites, ii. 292\n\n Schlieman, the Hellenist, finds evidence of cycles of development, i.\n 6;\n at Mycen\u00e6, i. 598\n\n Schmidt, I. J., statement in regard to the steppes of Turan and\n desert of Gobi, i. 603\n\n Scholars, ancient, believed in arcane doctrines, i. 205\n\n Scholastic science knows neither beginning nor end, i. 336\n\n Schools of magic in the Lamaseries, ii. 609\n\n Schopenhauer, i. 55, 59;\n on nature as illusion, ii. 158\n\n Science, formerly arcane and taught in the sanctuary, i. 7;\n its progress, i. 40;\n spiritualism, i. 83;\n \u201chas no belief,\u201d i. 278;\n knows no beginning or end, i. 336;\n called anti-christianism, i. 337;\n mystery fatal to it, i. 338;\n its parent source, the unknown, i. 339;\n its dilemma, i. 340;\n will never distinguish the difference between human and animal\n ovules, i. 397;\n invading the domain of religion, i. 403;\n surrounded by a large hypothetical domain, i. 404;\n her domain within the limit of the changes of matter, i. 421;\n gross conception of fire, i. 423;\n its dogmas concerning perpetual motion, elixir of life,\n transmutation of metals and universal solvent, i. 501;\n stages of its growth, i. 533;\n its three necessary elements, ii. 637;\n spiritism does not prevent them, _ib._;\n modern, fails to satisfy the aspirations of the race; makes the\n future a void and bereaves man of life, ii. 639\n\n Scientific knowledge confined to the temples, i. 25;\n Association, or American Association for the Advancement of\n Science, on spiritualism and roosters crowing in the night, i.\n 245, 246;\n attainments of ancient Hindu savants, i. 618, 620\n\n Scientists bound in duty to investigate, i. 5;\n afraid of spiritual phenomena, i. 41;\n treatment of Prof. Crookes, i. 44;\n likely to rediscover magic, i. 67;\n not to be credited for the increase of knowledge, i. 84;\n denied Buffon, Franklin, the steam-engine, railroad, etc., i. 85;\n surpassed the clergy in hostility to discovery, _ib._;\n as much given to persecution, _ib._;\n know little certain, i. 224;\n entrapping of Slade the medium, _ib._;\n put forth no new doctrines, i. 248, 249;\n anticipated by Liebig and Priestly, i. 250;\n many of them inanimate corpses, i. 317;\n their _ultima thule_, i. 340;\n curious conjectures concerning the aurora, i. 417;\n their incapacity to understand the spiritual side, i. 418\n\n Scin-lecca, or double, ii. 104;\n makes the principal manifestations, ii. 517\n\n Scintilla, the Divine, produces a monad, i. 302;\n of Abraham taken from Michael, ii. 452;\n Isaac from Gabriel, and Jacob from Uriel, ii. 452\n\n Scottish rite, its headquarters at a Jesuit college, ii. 381\n\n Screw, invented by Archytas, the instructor of Plato, i. 543\n\n Scyths, probably the same as Mongolians, i. 576\n\n Sea, ancient inland sea north of the Himalayas, i. 589\n\n Seal, Solomon\u2019s of Hindu origin, i. 135\n\n Seance in Bengal, i. 467\n\n Second Emanation condenses matter and diffuses life, i. 302;\n Adam created unisexual, i. 559;\n spiritual birth, ii. 566;\n advent, a fable invented for a precaution, ii. 535;\n death, ii. 368;\n sight, i. 211\n\n Secret formul\u00e6, i. 66;\n sacerdotal castes in every ancient religion, ii. 99;\n doctrine, its martyrs, i. 574;\n of Moses, ii. 525;\n volume, the real Hebrew Bible, ii. 471;\n sects of the Christians, ii. 289;\n are still in existence, ii. 290;\n God of the Kabala, ii. 230;\n of secrets, ii. 568\n\n Secrets for prolonging life, ii. 563\n\n Sectarian beliefs to disappear, i. 613\n\n Sects existing before Christ, ii. 144\n\n Sedecla, the Obeah woman of En-Dor, i. 494\n\n Seer, receives impressions directly from his spirit, ii. 591\n\n Seers or epopt\u00e6, not spirit-mediums, ii. 118\n\n Seer-adept, knows how to suspend the action of the brain, ii. 591\n\n Seership natural with some people, ii. 588;\n two kinds, of the soul and the spirit, ii. 590;\n an elevation of the soul, ii. 591\n\n Self of man, inner triune, ii. 114;\n the future, ii. 115\n\n Self-consciousness, attained on earth, i. 368\n\n Self-printed records on the sacred tree, i. 302\n\n Seir-Anpin, the Christos, ii. 230;\n the third god, ii. 247\n\n Semitic, the least spiritual branch of the human family, ii. 434;\n its germs found in Khamism, ii. 435\n\n Semi-monastics, ii. 608\n\n Sensitive flame obeying a man\u2019s order, ii. 607\n\n Separation, temporary, of the spirit from the body, ii. 588\n\n Sephira, i. 160;\n the Divine Intelligence and mother of the Sephiroth, i. 258;\n the same as Metis and Sophia, i. 263;\n the first emanation, i. 270;\n or Sacred Aged (Maha Lakshmi), ii. 421\n\n Sephiroth, i. 258;\n concealed wisdom, their father, _ib._;\n or emanations, ii. 36;\n ten, three classes in one unit, ii. 40;\n the same as the ten Pradjapatis, ii. 215;\n same as the ten patriarchs, _ib._\n\n Sepulchres in Thibet, extraordinary arrangement of bodies and\n decorations, ii. 604\n\n Seraph, his snout preserved as a relic, ii. 71\n\n Serapis, a name of Surya, ii. 438;\n an accepted type of Christ, ii. 336;\n his picture adopted by the Christians, _ib._;\n represented by a serpent, ii. 490;\n usurped the worship of Osiris, ii. 491;\n the seven vowels chanted as a hymn in his honor, i. 514\n\n Serpent of Genesis, des Mousseaux\u2019s name for the devil, i. 15;\n matter, i. 297;\n dwelling in the branches of the tree of life, i. 298;\n symbol of wisdom and immortality, i. 553;\n of the book of _Genesis_, Ash-mogh or Asmodeus, ii. 188;\n persuades man to eat of the tree of knowledge, ii. 185;\n Christna crushing his head, ii. 446;\n the divine symbol east and west, ii. 484;\n most spirit-like of all reptiles, and hence a favorite symbol, ii.\n 489;\n how it became the emblem of eternity and of the world, ii. 489;\n universally venerated, ii. 489;\n a symbol of Serapis and Jesus, ii. 490;\n and Eve, ii. 512\n\n Serpent-charmers, cannot fascinate human beings, ii. 612;\n their powers, ii. 628\n\n Serpent-charming, i. 381, 382, 470\n\n Serpent-monsters, i. 393\n\n Serpent-god, sons of, the hierophants, i. 553\n\n Serpent-gods, Mexican, 13 in number, i. 572\n\n Serpent-trail round the unformed earth, ii. 489\n\n Serpent-worship, its origin not known, ii. 489\n\n Serpent-worshippers of Kashmere become Buddhists, ii. 608\n\n Serpent\u2019s catacombs in Egypt, i. 553;\n mysteries of the unavoidable cycle or centre of necessity, _ib._\n\n Serpents, the earth their queen, i. 10;\n Kneph, Agathodaimon, Kakodaimon, i. 133, 157;\n Eliphas Levi\u2019s, symbol of astral fire, i. 137;\n queen of, ii. 489;\n used as plaything at Hindu festivals, ii. 622\n\n Servius, on the ancient practice of employing celestial fire at the\n altars, i. 526\n\n Sesostris, instructed by the oracle in the Trinity, ii. 51\n\n Seth, the reputed son of Adam, the same as Hermes, Thoth, and Sat-an,\n i. 554;\n the same as Typhon, ii. 482\n\n Seth, his interview with Michael at the gate of Paradise, ii. 520;\n worshipped by the Hittites, ii. 523;\n same as El, ii. 524\n\n Sethicnites, disbelieved that Jesus was God, ii. 176\n\n Seven, a sacred Hindu number, ii. 407;\n among the Chaldeans, ii. 408;\n potentiality of the number, ii. 417;\n steps, the descent, i. 353;\n degrees, old English Templar Rite, ii. 377;\n vowels chanted as a hymn, i. 514;\n caverns, i. 552;\n spirits, i. 300, 301;\n spirits of the Apocalypse, i. 461;\n impostor demons, ii. 296;\n \u00c6ons, _ib._;\n rishis, _ib._\n\n Seven-headed, serpent, ii. 489\n\n Seventh degree, ii. 365;\n ray and seven vowel, i. 514;\n rite, the life transfer, ii. 564\n\n Severus, Alexander, pillaged Egyptian temples for books, i. 406\n\n Sexual element in Christianity, ii. 80;\n emblems and worship, ii. 445\n\n Shaberon, summoning a lama by spirit-message, ii. 604;\n his wonderful summons to rescue the author from peril in Mongolia,\n ii. 628\n\n Shaberons, or Khubilhans, reincarnations of Buddha, ii. 609\n\n Shad-belly coat first worn by Babylonian priests, ii. 458\n\n Shadow, repugnance to stepping across it, ii. 610;\n magnetic exhalation, ii. 611\n\n Shakers, spiritual phenomena, ii. 18\n\n Shaman, prophesying, ii. 624, 625;\n prediction of the Crimean war, ii. 625;\n extraordinary scene with the talismanic stone, ii. 626, 628;\n \u201cdragged out of his skin,\u201d ii. 628;\n priests bound to perform their \u201ctrue rites\u201d but once a year, at the\n solstice, ii. 624\n\n Shamanism or spirit-worship, the oldest religion of Mongolia, an\n offshoot of primitive theurgy, ii. 615\n\n Shamans occasionally enjoy divine powers, i. 3, 211;\n of Siberia, degenerate scions of ancient Shamanism, ii. 616;\n sometimes only mediums, sometimes magicians, ii. 625;\n power over psychical epidemics, ii. 626;\n each one has a talisman, _ib._\n\n Shampooing or tschamping, a magical manipulation, i. 445\n\n Shark-charmers or Kadal-katti, i. 606;\n paid by the British government, i. 607\n\n Shebang, the Sabbath, ii., 418\n\n Shedim, nature-spirits, or Afrites, i. 313\n\n Shekinah, the veil of the most ancient, ii. 223\n\n Shem, Ham and Japhet, the old gods Samas, Kham and Iapetos, ii. 487\n\n Shemites, Assyrians, i. 576;\n probably a hybrid of Hamite and Aryan, _ib._\n\n Shien-Sien, a blissful state, power of those obtaining it to\n transport themselves everywhere, ii. 618, 620\n\n Shiloh, daughters, their dance, ii. 45\n\n Shimeon and Patar, ii. 93\n\n Sho\u00ebpffer, Prof., teaches that the earth does not revolve, i. 621\n\n Shoel ob, or consulter with familiar spirits, i. 355\n\n Shud\u00e2la-M\u00e2dan, the ghoul or graveyard fiend, i. 495\n\n Shu-King, i. 11\n\n Sh\u00fbla-M\u00e2dan, the furnace-demon, i. 496;\n helps the juggler with raising trees, _ib._\n\n Shu-tukt, a collegiate monastery, having in it over 30,000 monks, ii.\n 609\n\n Siam, a king in 1670 who sought for the philosopher\u2019s stone, i. 571\n\n Siamese, the power of monks, i. 213, 214;\n study of the philosopher\u2019s stone, i. 214;\n believe that some know how to render themselves immortal, _ib._\n\n Sidereal force taught by Paracelsus, i. 168\n\n Signature of the f\u0153tus, i. 385\n\n Silver, its aura, the quicksilver of the yogis or alchemists, ii.\n 620, 621\n\n Silver and green associated in hermetic symbolism, i. 513\n\n Silvery spark in the brain, i. 329\n\n Simeon, the existence of such a tribe denied, i. 368;\n ben Iochai, compiler of the _Zohar_, ii. 548;\n rabbi, author of the _Zohar_, i. 301, 302;\n his sons arise and relate what they saw in hell, ii. 519;\n his prototype in India, _ib._\n\n Simon ben Iochai, i. 263;\n Stylites, lived 36 years atop of a pillar, ii. 77;\n cured a dragon of a sore eye, _ib._\n\n Simon Magus, a personification of the apostle Paul, ii. 89;\n powers attributed to him, i. 471;\n his journey through the air, ii. 357;\n and Peter, ii. 190, 191\n\n Simoun, or the wind of the desert, called Diabolos, ii. 483\n\n Simulacrum of a Roumanian lady conducted by a Shaman to the tent of\n the author, ii. 627, 628\n\n Sin the necessary cause of the greatest good, ii. 479\n\n Sinai, Mount, metals smelted there, i. 542;\n story of Moses and the brass seraph, _ib._\n\n Singing sands, i. 605\n\n Sins, the five which divide the offender from his associates, ii. 608\n\n Siphra Dzeniouta, i. 1\n\n Sister\u2019s son inheriting a crown, ii. 437\n\n Sistra at the Israelitish festival, ii. 45\n\n Siva, the fire-god, same as Bel and Saturn or Kronos, i. 263;\n vigil-night, i. 446;\n represented as sacrificing a rhinoceros instead of his son, i. 577,\n 578;\n identical with Baal, Moloch, Saturn and Abraham, i. 578;\n created Adhima and Heva, ancestors of the present race of mankind,\n i. 590;\n hurls fallen angels into Onderah, ii. 11;\n his paradise, ii. 234;\n hurls the devils into the bottomless pit, ii. 238;\n Sabazios and Sabaoth the same divinity, ii. 487;\n the same as the western chief gods, ii. 524;\n most intellectual of the gods, _ib._\n\n Six principles of man, ii. 367;\n days of evolution and one of repose, ii. 422;\n sacred syllables, \u201caum mani padma houm,\u201d ii. 606;\n races of men mentioned in laws of Manu, i. 590;\n thousand years the term of creation, i. 342;\n thousand infant skulls found in a fish-pond by a convent in Rome,\n ii. 58\n\n Sixteenth incarnation of Buddha at Urga, ii. 617\n\n Sixth degree, ii. 365\n\n Sixty thousand (60,428) paid religious teachers in the United States,\n ii. 1\n\n Skepticism a malady, i. 115\n\n Skill displayed in embalming in Thibet, ii. 603, 604\n\n Skulls of infants found at nunneries, ii. 58, 210\n\n Slade, the medium, pretended exposure by Prof. Lankester, i. 118, 224\n\n Slavonian Christians now assailed by the Catholics, ii. 81\n\n Slavonians, the mystic word, ii. 42\n\n Smaragdine, tablet of Hermes, found at Hebron, i. 507\n\n Smith, George, his reading of the Assyrian tablets, ii. 422;\n his reading of the story of Sargon, ii. 442\n\n Snake-symbol of Phanes, the mundane serpent and mundane year, i. 146,\n 151, 157\n\n Smyth, Prof. Piazzi, on the corn-bin, i. 519;\n mathematical description of the great pyramid, i. 520\n\n Snake-skin considered magnetic, ii. 507\n\n Snake\u2019s Hole, the subterranean passage terminating at the root of the\n heavens, i. 553\n\n Snakes kept in Moslem mosques, ii. 490;\n reared with children in India, _ib._\n\n Snout of a seraph preserved as a relic, ii. 71\n\n Society not certain but that all ends in annihilation, ii. 3\n\n \u201cSociety,\u201d British, in India, its supercilious contempt for the\n Hindus and marvels in Hindustan, ii. 613\n\n Socrates, his demoniac or divine faculty and its service, i. 131;\n his demon, ii. 283;\n same as the _nous_ or spirit, ii. 284;\n opinion of Justin Martyr about his future fate criticised, ii. 8;\n a medium, and therefore not initiated, ii. 117;\n why put to death as an atheist, ii. 118\n\n Sod, an arcanum of Mystery, i. 301, 555;\n the Mysteries of Baal, Adonis and Bacchus, _ib._;\n the _secret_ of Simeon and Levi, _ib._;\n great, of the Kadeshim, ii. 131\n\n Sodales, or priest-colleges, Moses their chief, i. 555\n\n Sodalian oath, i. 409\n\n Sodom and Gomorrah, suffering eternal fire, ii. 12\n\n Sohar, its compilation, ii. 348;\n its theories like the Hindu, ii. 276\n\n Solar trinity, red, blue and yellow, ii. 417;\n dynasty in India, the Surga Vansa, ii. 437\n\n Solemn ceremony of the Druzes, ii. 312\n\n Solidarities of Greece and Rome, ii. 389\n\n Solitary Copts, students of ancient lore, ii. 306\n\n Solomon, or Sol-Om-On, ii. 389; i. 19;\n obtained secret learning, i. 135;\n seal of Hindu origin, _ib._;\n ships to Ophir or India, i. 136;\n his seven abominations, ii. 67;\n learned from Votan the particulars of the products of the occident,\n i. 546;\n the builder of temples, ii. 439;\n revolts against him, _ib._;\n his temple never visited by the prophets, ii. 525;\n and his temple only allegorical, ii. 391;\n temple, the brazen columns and bowls to aid in entheastic power,\n ii. 542\n\n Soma, juice of, produces trance, i. 357\n\n Somona, the Singalese Samson, i. 577\n\n \u201cSon of Man,\u201d ii. 232\n\n Son of God at one with man, ii. 635\n\n Sons of the Serpent-God, i. 553\n\n Son-Ka-po, the Shaberon, or avatar and great reformer, immaculately\n conceived, and translated without dying into heaven, ii. 609\n\n Sophia or wisdom, ii. 41;\n the Holy Ghost as a female principle, i. 130;\n the Gnostic principle of wisdom, the same as Sephira and Metis, i.\n 263\n\n Sorcerer in Africa, impervious to bullets, i. 379\n\n Sorcerers, burned when not priests, ii. 58\n\n Sorcery, i. 279;\n misapplied arcane knowledge, ii. 581;\n few facts better established, i. 366;\n with blood, ii. 567, 568;\n practised at the Vatican, ii. 620;\n approved by Augustine, ii. 20;\n employed for crime, ii. 633\n\n Sortes Sanctorum, ii. 20, 21\n\n Sortie of Satan into New England, ii. 503\n\n Sortilegium or sorcery, practised by clergy and monks, ii. 6;\n Gregory of Tours, ii. 20\n\n Sosigenes, reformed the calendar for C\u00e6sar, i. 11\n\n Sosiosh, the tenth avatar and fifth Buddha, ii. 236;\n a permutation of Vishnu, ii. 237\n\n Sotheran, Charles, letter on Freemasonry, ii. 388\n\n Soul, displays power when the body is asleep, i. 199;\n the two named by Plato, i. 276;\n marvellous power, i. 280;\n passage through the seven planetary chambers, i. 297;\n spirit wholly distinct, i. 315;\n dissolves into ether, _ib._;\n possible loss of its distinct being, i. 316, 317;\n the garment of the spirit, i. 309;\n exists as preexisting matter, i. 317;\n doctrine of the Greek and Roman philosophers, i. 429;\n of Aristotle, Homer, the Jains and Brahmans, _ib._;\n the camera in which facts are fixed, i. 486;\n escaping temporarily from the body, ii. 105;\n may dwell in paradise while the body lives in this world, i. 602;\n punished by union with the body, ii. 112;\n the Vedic doctrine, ii. 263;\n universal, when it sleeps, ii. 274;\n its transmigration does not relate to man\u2019s condition after death,\n ii. 280;\n its feminine, ii. 281;\n a part of it mortal, ii. 283;\n the doctrine of Pythagoras, ii. 283;\n Plato\u2019s definition, ii. 285, 286;\n its paralysis during life, ii. 368;\n not knit to flesh, ii. 565;\n sentient, the Ego, inseparable from the brain, ii. 590;\n raised above inferior good, ii. 591;\n power to liberate itself and behold things subjectively, ii. 591;\n its eight faculties, ii. 592;\n its teachings authoritative, ii. 593;\n possesses a power of prescience even when in the body, ii. 594;\n disembodied, meets itself at the gate of Paradise, ii. 635;\n of the world the archeal universal, \u201cmind,\u201d Sophia the Holy Ghost\n as a female principle, i. 130;\n doctrine of Baptista Porta, i. 208;\n external, i. 276;\n higher mortal, _ib._;\n the great universal, union with it does not involve loss of\n individuality, ii. 116\n\n Soul-blind like color-blind, i. 387\n\n Soul-electricity, i. 322\n\n Soul-deaths, ii. 369\n\n Soulless men yet living, ii. 369\n\n Souls, or immortal gods emanate from the triad, i. 348;\n come to souls and impart to them information, ii. 594\n\n Source of the religious faiths of mankind, ii. 639;\n double, of every religion, _ib._\n\n South Carolina, statutes in force in 1865, imposing the death-penalty\n for witchcraft, ii. 18\n\n Sparks or old worlds that perished, ii. 421\n\n Speaking images, i. 505\n\n Specialties in medical practice in Egypt, i. 545\n\n Speculative Masons, ii. 392\n\n Spectre of a herdsman in Bavaria, i. 451\n\n Spectroscope, confirmed doctrines of Paracelsus, i. 168, 169\n\n Spell of the evil eye, ii. 633\n\n Spheres, music of, i. 275\n\n Spinoza, his philosophy, i. 93;\n furnishes a key to the unwritten secret, i. 308\n\n Spirit, its origin, i. 258;\n not existing, but immortal, i. 291;\n or spiritus, the soul or _anima mundi_, the mother, i. 299, 300;\n progeny of, i. 301;\n human, an emanation of the eternal spirit, i. 305;\n never entered wholly into the body, i. 306;\n is masculine, ii. 281;\n of man pre\u00ebxistent, ii. 280;\n distinct from soul, i. 315;\n individualization depends upon it, _ib._;\n becomes an angel, i. 316;\n its pre\u00ebxistence believed, _ib._;\n alone immortal, ii. 362;\n leaving an old for a young body, ii. 563;\n by its vision all things can be known, ii. 588;\n may abandon the body for specific periods, ii. 589;\n the sole original unity, ii. 607;\n the interpreter of God to man, ii. 635;\n its Protean powers little known by spiritualists, ii. 638\n\n Spirit-ancestor, a serpent, 45, 46\n\n Spirit-form, i. 197\n\n Spirit-voices not articulate, i. 68;\n audible, i. 220\n\n Spirit-intercourse, 446,000,000 believers, i. 117\n\n Spirit-flowers produced by a Bikshuni, ii. 609\n\n Spiritists of France attacked by the Roman church, ii. 6\n\n Spirits that control mediums, generally human, i. 67;\n cannot \u201cmaterialize,\u201d _ib._;\n not attracted by every body alike, i. 69;\n produce few of the \u201cphysical phenomena,\u201d i. 73;\n the seven, i. 300, 301;\n not possessed of the same attractions, i. 344;\n or ghosts, hurt by weapons, i. 363;\n heard talking in the desert of Lop, and elsewhere, i. 604;\n three categories of communication, ii. 115;\n may take possession of bodies in the absence of the soul, ii. 589;\n bad, compelled Garma-Khian to appear and render an account, ii. 616;\n city of, _ib._\n\n Spiritual phenomena among the Shakers, ii. 18;\n discountenanced by the clergy, i. 26;\n chase the scientists, i. 41;\n Iamblichus forbids the endeavor to procure them, i. 219;\n sun, i. 29, 32;\n the magnet of Kircher, i. 208, 209;\n Gama, Ormazd, the soul of things, God, i. 270;\n invisible and in the centre of space, i. 302;\n the supreme deity, ii. 13;\n death, its cause, i. 318;\n eyes, i. 145;\n sight, scientists without it, i. 318;\n photography, i. 486\n\n Spiritual entity, in man, an ancient doctrine, ii. 593;\n transferred, ii. 563;\n limbs, can be made visible, ii. 596;\n world in proximity to us, ii. 593;\n state, as unfolded in the Sankhya, a philosophy, ii. 593;\n numerals, i. 514;\n crisis of the Shaman, ii. 625;\n or magical powers exist in every man, ii. 635;\n circles are constructed on no principle, ii. 638;\n Self the sole and Supreme God, ii. 566\n\n Spiritualism, drifting, i. 53;\n efforts of Positivists to uproot, i. 76, 83;\n pretends only to be a science, i. 83;\n pronounced a delusion in Russia, i. 118;\n universally diffused from remote antiquity, i. 205;\n why it must continue to vegetate, ii. 636;\n is iconoclastic, not constructed, ii. 637;\n not scientific, ii. 637, 638;\n exoteric, too much directed to personal matters, _ib._;\n esoteric, very rare, _ib._\n\n Spiritualists, the majority remain in the religious denominations,\n ii. 2;\n take no active part in the formation of a system of philosophy, ii.\n 637;\n start with a fallacy, ii. 638\n\n Splendor, mighty Lord of, i. 301\n\n Spurious passage in the First Epistle of John, ii. 177\n\n Square hat of the Hierophant, ii. 392\n\n Squirrel materialized, i. 329\n\n Sri-Iantara, or Solomon\u2019s seal, ii. 265\n\n Stainton, Moses, his criticisms of popular spiritualism, ii. 638\n\n Stan-gyour, a work on magic, i. 580\n\n Stanhope, Lady Esther, faints at a Yezidi orgy, ii. 572\n\n Star of Bethlehem, rays carried home by a monk as relics, ii. 71\n\n Starry heaven, worship proposed under Christian names, ii. 450\n\n Stars, ignition, i. 254;\n influence on fates of men, i. 259;\n and man have direct affinity, i. 168, 169\n\n Statues, restorative of health, i. 283;\n possible to animate them, i. 485;\n endowed with reason, i. 613\n\n Steam-engine, invented by Hero of Alexandria, i. 241\n\n Stedingers, accused and exterminated, ii. 331\n\n Steel, rusts in India and Egypt, i. 211;\n superior article in India, i. 538;\n in Egypt, _ib._\n\n Steeples, turrets, and domes, phallic symbols, ii. 5\n\n Stephens, believes the key to American hieroglyphs will yet be\n obtained, i. 546;\n story of the unknown city of the Mayas, i. 547\n\n Stewart, Prof. Balfour, his tribute to Herakleitus, i. 422;\n warning to scientists, i. 424;\n denies perpetual light, i. 510\n\n Stigmata, or birth-marks, i. 384;\n produced by sorcery of a Jesuit priest, ii. 633\n\n Stone of Memphis, its potency to prevent pain, i. 540;\n two tables, masculine and feminine, ii. 5;\n a Shaman\u2019s talisman, \u201cspoke\u201d saving the author\u2019s life, ii. 626\n\n Stonehenge, its gods recognized as the divinities of Delphos and\n Babylon, i. 550;\n remarkable statement of Dr. Stukely, i. 572;\n Hamitic in plan, _ib._\n\n Stoics, belief concerning God, i. 317\n\n Stones, their secret virtues, i. 265\n\n Strangers, never admitted into a caste, nor to religion, i. 581\n\n Stukely, Dr., remarks concerning Stonehenge, i. 572\n\n Subjective mediums, i. 311;\n communication with human god-like spirits, ii. 115\n\n Subsidy paid by the East India Company to maintain worship at the\n pagodas, ii. 624\n\n Subterranean passages in Peru, i. 595, 597\n\n Subtile influence emanated from every man\u2019s body, ii. 610\n\n Suetonius knew nothing of Christians, ii. 535, 536\n\n Suez Canal, i. 516, 517;\n that of Necho, i. 517\n\n Sufis, their idea of one universal creed, ii. 306\n\n Suicide and insanity caused by Elementaries, ii. 7\n\n Suicides and murderers, i. 344\n\n Sulanuth, i. 325\n\n Sulphur, the secret fire or spirit of the alchemists, i. 309;\n and quicksilver, a preparation to promote longevity, ii. 620, 621\n\n Summary of Koheleth, ii. 476\n\n Sun, an emblem of the sun-god, i. 270;\n only a magnet or reflector, i. 271;\n has no more heat in it than the moon, _ib._;\n represented under the image of a dragon, i. 552;\n made the location of hell, ii. 12;\n view of Pythagoras, _ib._;\n increases the magnetic exhalations, ii. 611;\n and serpent-worship, the religion of the Ph\u0153nicians and Mosaic\n Israelites, i. 555\n\n Sun-worship once contemplated by Catholics, ii. 450\n\n Sun-worshippers always regarded the sun as an emblem of the spiritual\n sun, i. 270\n\n Sunrise and sunset as taught by the Shastras, i. 10\n\n Supersentient soul, ii. 590\n\n \u201cSuperstitions\u201d in regard to drowned persons, ii. 611\n\n Supreme Being denied by modern science, i. 16;\n by the positivists, i. 71;\n never rejected by Buddhistical philosophy, i. 292;\n Essence, ii. 213, 214;\n the Swayambhuva and En-Soph, ii. 218;\n mystery of the holy syllable, ii. 114\n\n Surgery of Yogis and Talapoins, ii. 621\n\n Surnden, Rev. T., on locality of hell, ii. 12\n\n Sutrantika, the sect having secret Buddhistic religion, ii. 607\n\n Suttee, or burning of widows, not practised when the Code of Manu was\n compiled, i. 588\n\n Sw\u00e2bh\u00e2vikas, Hindu pantheists, the teachers of protoplasm, i. 250;\n their views of Essence, ii. 262\n\n Swayambhuva, the unrevealed Deity, ii. 39;\n the unity of three trinities, making with himself two prajapatis,\n ii. 39, 40;\n the Supreme Essence the same as En-Soph, ii. 214\n\n Swearing forbidden by Jesus, ii. 273\n\n Sweat of St. Michael, a phial of it preserved, ii. 71\n\n Swedenborg personated by a Diakka, i. 219;\n on speech of spirits, i. 220;\n _Heavenly Arcana_, i. 306;\n a natural-born magician, but not an adept, _ib._;\n made Thomas Vaughan his model, _ib._;\n doctrine of correspondences, or hermetic symbolism, _ib._;\n believed in possibility of losing individual existence, i. 317;\n miraculous cures by his father, i. 464;\n indicates _the lost word_, i. 580;\n rite of, a Jesuitical product, ii. 390\n\n Swedenborgians believe in possible obliteration of the human\n personality, i. 317;\n believe that the soul may abandon the body for specific periods,\n ii. 319\n\n Swedish system of Freemasonry, ii. 381\n\n Syllabus and Koran, a great affinity acknowledged, ii. 82\n\n Sylvester II., Pope, a sorcerer, ii. 56;\n his \u201coracular head,\u201d ii. 56\n\n Symbol, its use, ii. 93\n\n Symbols, i. 21;\n Christian, and phallism, ii. 5\n\n Sympathy, mysterious, between plants and human beings, i. 246;\n the offspring of light, i. 309\n\n Synagogue, \u201cdeposited its inheritance in the hands of Christ,\u201d ii.\n 477;\n has not expired, _ib._\n\n Synesius, belief in metempsychosis, i. 12;\n his quotation from the book of stone at Memphis, i. 257;\n believed the spirit pre\u00ebxisted from eternity as a distinct being,\n i. 316;\n bishop of Cyrene, his letter to Hypatia, ii. 53;\n adhered to the Platonic doctrines, ii. 198\n\n Systems, Indian, Chaldean and Ophite compared, ii. 170\n\n\n Tabernacles or ingatherings, feast of, ii. 44;\n regarded as Bacchic rites, _ib._\n\n Table, no demons enclosed, i. 322\n\n Table-turning, i. 99, 105\n\n Tainting of Souls, i. 321\n\n Talapoins, of Siam, power over wild beasts, i. 213;\n have incombustible cloth, i. 231;\n have the _Kabala_, _Bible_, and other allegories in their\n manuscripts, i. 577;\n Jesuits disguised as, ii. 371;\n their secrets of medicine, ii. 621\n\n Tale of the Two Brothers of Central America, i. 550\n\n Talisman, i. 462; ii. 636\n\n Talismans of Apollonius, testimony of Justin Martyr, ii. 97\n\n Talmage, Rev. Dr., description of Martha, ii. 102\n\n Talmud, i. 17\n\n Tamil-Hindus worship Kutti-Satan, perhaps Seth or Satan, i. 567\n\n Tamti, the same as Belita, ii. 444;\n the sea, ii. 445\n\n Tanaim, the four who entered the garden, ii. 119;\n the Kabalistic, ii. 470\n\n Tarchon, an Etruscan priest and his bryony-hedge, i. 527\n\n Tartar robber detected by a Koordian sorcerer, ii. 631\n\n Tartary, magic, i. 599;\n spiritualism, i. 600;\n planchette-writing, _ib._;\n happy and heathen, ii. 240\n\n Tau and astronomical cross of Egypt found at the palace of\n Palenque, i. 572;\n the handled cross, a symbol of Eternal life, ii. 254;\n the signet or name of God, _ib._;\n the hierophantic investiture, ii. 365\n\n Taylor, Thomas, his testimony concerning Pythagoras, i. 284;\n is unceremonious with the Mosaic God, i. 288\n\n Taylor, Robert, his amended Credo, ii. 522\n\n Tcharaka, a Hindu physician of 5,000 years ago, i. 560\n\n Tcherno-Bog, or Bogy, the ancient deity of the Russians, ii. 572\n\n Teaching of the soul, the highest method of knowledge, ii. 595\n\n Tear of Brahma, the hottest, becoming a sapphire, i. 265\n\n Telegraphy, neurological, i. 324\n\n Telephone, i. 126;\n some such mode of communication possessed by the Egyptian priests,\n i. 127\n\n Telescope in the light-house of Alexandria, i. 528\n\n Templar rite, old English, of seven degrees, ii. 377\n\n Templarism is Jesuitism, ii. 390\n\n Templars, the founding of the ancient order, ii. 381, 382;\n did not believe in Christ, ii. 382;\n succeeded by the Jesuits, ii. 383;\n the pseudo-order invented to obviate the imputation of Jesuitism,\n ii. 384\n\n Temple of the Holy Molecule, i. 413;\n had possession of Eastern mysteries, ii. 380;\n of the perpetual fire, ii. 632;\n at Jerusalem, not so ancient as was pretended, ii. 389;\n of Solomon, not esteemed by any Hebrew prophet, ii. 525\n\n Temples, anciently the repositories of science, i. 25\n\n Ten, the Pythagorean, ii. 171;\n virtues of initiation, ii. 98\n\n Teraphim, Kabeiri-gods, i. 570;\n identical with Seraphim, _ib._;\n serpent-images, _ib._;\n received by Dardanus as a dowry and carried to Samothrace and Troy,\n _ib._\n\n Teratology, named by Geoffroi St. Hilaire, i. 390\n\n Terrestrial elementary spirits, i. 319;\n circulation, i. 503;\n immortality, ii. 620\n\n Tertullian, i. 46;\n on devils, i. 159;\n believed the soul corporeal, i. 317;\n desires to see all philosophers in the Gehenna-fire, ii. 250;\n his intolerance, ii. 329\n\n Tetractys, i. 9;\n the One, the Chaos, wisdom and reason, ii. 36; i. 507\n\n Tetragram, i. 506, 507\n\n Thales, believed water the primordial substance, i. 134, 189;\n said to have discovered the electric properties of amber, i. 234;\n his belief concerning water and the Divine Mind, ii. 458\n\n Thaumaturgist, his power of becoming invisible, or appearing in two\n or more forms, ii. 588\n\n Thaumaturgists, use the force known as Akasa, i. 113;\n declared by Salverte to be knaves, i. 115\n\n Thebes, or Th-aba, ii. 448;\n ancient, i. 523;\n its prodigious ruins, i. 523, 524;\n the Twelve Tortures, ii. 364\n\n Themura, ii. 298\n\n Theocletus, Grand Pontiff of the Order of the Temple, initiated the\n original Knight Templars, ii. 382\n\n Theology, comparative, and two-edged weapon, ii. 531;\n Christian, subversive rather than promotive of spirituality and\n good morals, ii. 634\n\n Theologies, ancient, all agree, ii. 39\n\n Theon of Smyrna, his explanation of the five grades in the Mysteries,\n ii. 101\n\n Theomania of the Cevennois imputed to hysteria and epilepsy, i. 371\n\n Theophrastus, legatee of Aristotle, i. 320\n\n Theop\u0153a, the art of endowing figures with life, i. 615, 616;\n testimony of Jacolliot, i. 616, 617\n\n Theosophists, their confederations in Germany, ii. 20\n\n Theosophy, disfigured by theology, i. 13\n\n Therapeut\u00e6, a branch of the Essenes, ii. 144\n\n Therapeutists probably Buddhists, ii. 491\n\n Thermuthis, the name of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter and of the sacred asp, i.\n 556\n\n Thespesius, apparently dead for three days, i. 484\n\n Thessalian sorceresses evoked shadows with blood, ii. 568\n\n Theurgic Mystery, ii. 563-575\n\n Theurgists, i. 205-219;\n knew occult properties of magnetism and electricity, i. 234;\n not \u201cspirit-mediums,\u201d ii. 118;\n persecuted by the Christians, ii. 34\n\n Theurgy, its phenomena produced by magnetic powers, i. 23;\n the devil at its head, i. 161\n\n Thevetat, the \u201cDragon\u201d of the Atlantis, i. 593;\n his seduction of the people, _ib._\n\n Thing, the one, of the Smaragdine Tablet, i. 507, 508;\n named by Hermetic philosophy, i. 508\n\n Third emanation produces the universe of physical matter, and,\n finally, \u201cDarkness and the Bad,\u201d i. 302;\n race of men in Hesiod, i. 558;\n in Popul-Vuh, _ib._;\n race of men, the Nephilim, i. 559\n\n Thirteen Mexican Serpent-Gods, i. 572\n\n This book, its object, ii. 98, 99\n\n Thomas, St., in Malabar, ii. 534;\n Aquinas, ii. 20;\n Taylor, an expositor of Plato\u2019s meaning, ii. 108, 109\n\n Thomson, Sir William, declares science bound to face every problem,\n i. 223\n\n Thompson, Hon. R. W., denounced by a Catholic priest, ii. 378\n\n Thor, his electric hammer, i. 160\n\n Thought affects the matter of another universe, i. 310\n\n Thought-communication effected by a Shaman with his stone, ii. 627\n\n Thoughts guided by spiritual being, i. 366;\n human, projected upon the universal ether, i. 395; ii. 636\n\n Thr\u00e6taona, the Persian Michael, contending with Zohak, ii. 486\n\n Three degrees of the pleroma, i. 302;\n tricks exhibited, i. 73;\n degrees of communication with spirits, ii. 115;\n emanations, i. 302;\n kabalistic forces, _ib._;\n Gods, or archial principles, First Cause, Logos, and World-soul,\n ii. 33;\n Saviours, ii. 536;\n legends concerning them, ii. 537-539;\n enumeration of their followers, ii. 539;\n births of man, ii. 568;\n three hundred million Buddhists seeking Nirvana, ii. 533;\n mothers, i. 257\n\n Three-sided prism of man\u2019s nature, ii. 634\n\n Throwing spells by aid of the wind, ii. 632\n\n Thrum-stone, i. 231\n\n Thummim, i. 536, 537\n\n \u0398\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, _thumos_, the astral soul, i. 429\n\n Thury, Prof., on levitation, cited by de Gasparin, i. 99, 109;\n his theory of spiritual phenomena, i. 110;\n imputes them to the action of wills not human, i. 112;\n psychode and ectenic force, i. 113\n\n Tiara, papal, the coiffure of the Assyrian gods, ii. 94\n\n Tickets to Heaven, ii. 243\n\n Tiffereau, Theodore, assertion that he had made gold, i. 509\n\n Tiger mesmerized, i. 467\n\n Tigress, bereft of her cubs, mesmerized by a fakir, ii. 623\n\n Tikkun, the first born, the Heavenly Man, ii. 276\n\n Tillemont, declares all illustrious pagans condemned to the eternal\n torments of hell, ii. 8\n\n _Tim\u00e6us_, cannot be understood except by an initiate, ii. 39\n\n Time and space no obstacles to the inner man, ii. 588\n\n Tir-thankara, the preceptor of Gautama, ii. 322\n\n Tissu, the spiritual teacher of Kublai-Khan, his great holiness, ii.\n 608;\n reforms religion, ii. 609\n\n To \u039f\u03bd, of Plato, ii. 38\n\n Tobo, liberator of the soul of Adam, ii. 517\n\n Todas, a strange people discovered in Southern Hindustan fifty years\n ago, ii. 613;\n revered and maintained by the Badagas, ii. 614;\n an order and not a race, _ib._\n\n Tolticas, said to be descended from the house of Israel, i. 552\n\n Tooth, Navel and less comely relics of Jesus, ii. 71\n\n Tophet, a place in the valley of Gehenna, where a fire was kept and\n children immolated, ii. 11;\n not a place of endless woe, ii. 502\n\n Torquemeda, Tomas de, his prodigious cruelty, ii. 59;\n burned Hebrew Bibles, ii. 430\n\n Torralva and his demon Zequiel, ii. 60\n\n Torturing people by means of Simulacra, ii. 55\n\n Toulouse, the Bishop of, his falsehoods about Protestants and\n Spiritualists of America, ii. 7\n\n Townshend, Colonel, remarkable power of suspending animation, i. 483\n\n Traditions, ancient, belong to India, ii. 259\n\n Tragedy of Human Life, its plot ever the same, ii. 640\n\n Trance-life, i. 181\n\n Transformation of the ancient ideas, ii. 491\n\n Transmigration, dreaded by the Hindu, i. 346;\n of the soul, does not relate to man\u2019s condition after death, ii.\n 280\n\n Transmural Vision, i. 145\n\n Transmutation of metal, the actual fact asserted, i. 503, 504;\n Dr. Wilder\u2019s opinion, i. 505;\n salt, sulpher, and mercury thrice combined in azoth, _ib._\n\n Transubstantiation, an arcane utterance perverted, ii. 560\n\n Travancore, perpetual lamp, i. 225\n\n Tree, Yggdrasill, i. 133, 151;\n Zampun, i. 152;\n Aswatha, _ib._;\n symbol of universal life, _ib._;\n the pyramid, i. 154;\n Gogard, i. 297;\n serpent dwells in its branches, i. 298;\n the microcosmic and macrocosmic, i. 297;\n tziti, the third race of men, i. 558;\n of knowledge, ii. 184;\n or pippala, ii. 412\n\n Triad, the Intelligible, i. 212;\n from the duad, i. 348\n\n Triads, or trinities, Babylonian, Ph\u0153nician and Hindu, ii. 48;\n Persian and Egyptian, ii. 49\n\n Tribes of Israel, what evidence before Ezra, i. 508;\n no tribe of Simeon, _ib._\n\n Trigonocephali, their bite kills like a flash of lighting, ii. 622\n\n Trimurti, i. 92;\n their habitation, ii. 234\n\n Trinities, three, in one unity, making ten Sephiroth or Praj\u00e2patis,\n ii. 39, 40;\n Hindu, Egyptian and Christian, ii. 227\n\n Trinity, the first, i. 341;\n of Egyptians, i. 160;\n three Sephiroth or emanations, ii. 36;\n the doctrine revealed to Sesostris, ii. 51;\n the word first found in the Gospel of Nicodemus, ii. 522;\n listening for the answer of Mary, ii. 173;\n kabalistic, ii. 222;\n of workers in the cosmogony, ii. 420;\n of nature the lock of magic, ii. 635\n\n Triple Trimurti, ii. 39\n\n Trithemius, ii. 20\n\n Trizna or feast of the dead in Moldavia, ii. 569, 570\n\n Trojan war a counterpart of that of the _Ram\u00e2yana_, i. 566\n\n Troy, worship of the Kabeiri brought by Dardanus, i. 570\n\n True Adamic Earth, i. 51;\n doctrine \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u0391\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03ae\u03c2 of Celsus, a copy still in\n existence, ii. 52;\n faith the embodiment of divine charity, ii. 640\n\n Truth, religions but vari-colored fragments of its beam, ii. 639\n\n Tschuddi, Dr., his story of the train of llama, and treasure, i. 546\n\n Tullia, daughter of Cicero, lamp found burning in her tomb, i. 224\n\n Tullus Hostilius, King of Rome, struck by lightning, i. 527\n\n Tum, devotees of, ii. 387\n\n Tunnel from Cusco to Lima and Bolivia, i. 597;\n entrance, _ib._;\n dangers of its exploration, i. 598\n\n Turkey, wars with Russia and final conquest, i. 261\n\n Turanian, should have been applied to the Assyrians, i. 576;\n evidently applied to the nomadic Caucasian, progenitor of the\n Hamite or \u00c6thiopian, _ib._\n\n Turner, his account of an interview with a young lama or reincarnated\n Buddha, ii. 598\n\n Turrets, the reproduction of the lithos, ii. 5\n\n Tutelar genius who hardened the heart of Pharaoh, etc., ii. 639\n\n Twelve houses, the fable, i. 267;\n tables, a compilation, i. 588;\n labors of Hercules depicted on the chair of Peter, ii. 25;\n disciples sent by Jehosaphat to preach, ii. 517;\n great gods, ii. 448;\n minor gods, Dii minores, ii. 451;\n tortures, ii. 351;\n of Theban initiation, ii. 364;\n thousand years employed in creation, i. 342\n\n Twenty-nine witch-burnings, ii. 62\n\n Two souls taught by the philosophers, i. 12, 317;\n idols of monotheistic Christianity, ii. 9;\n primeval principles, i. 341;\n principles, the Jews brought the doctrine from Persia, ii. 500, 501;\n diagrams explained, ii. 266, 271;\n \u201cold ones,\u201d ii. 350;\n brothers of the Bible, the good and evil principles, ii. 489;\n religions in each old faith, ii. 607\n\n Two-headed serpents, i. 393\n\n Tycho-Brahe, vision of the star, i. 441, 442\n\n Tyndall confesses science powerless, i. 14;\n views of consciousness, i. 86;\n displays forms as of living plants and animals in an experimental\n tube, i. 127;\n his avoidance to investigate spiritual phenomena, i. 176;\n his Belfast Address, i. 314;\n his judgment of cowards, i. 418;\n declares spiritualism a degrading belief, _ib._;\n confesses that the evolution hypothesis does not solve the last\n mystery, i. 419;\n his experiments on sound, ii. 606;\n his definition of science, ii. 637\n\n Typhon once worshipped in Egypt, and then changed to an evil demon,\n ii. 487;\n Plutarch\u2019s explanation, ii. 483;\n father of Ierosolumos and Ioudaios, ii. 484;\n separated from his androgyne, ii. 524\n\n Tyrian worship introduced into Israel by Ahab, ii. 525\n\n Tyrrhenian cosmogony, i. 342\n\n\n Udayna or Pashai (Peshawer) the classic land of sorcery, i. 599;\n statement of Hiouen-Thsang, _ib._\n\n Ultramontanes accused in France of siding with the Mahometans, ii. 82\n\n Ulysses frightens phantoms with his sword, i. 362\n\n Umbilical cord ruptured and healed, i. 386\n\n Umbilicus, represented by the ark, ii. 444\n\n Umbra, or shade, i. 37\n\n Unavoidable cycle, Mysteries, i. 553\n\n Unconscious cerebration, i. 55, 232;\n ventriloquism, i. 101\n\n Urdar, the fountain of life, i. 151, 162\n\n Underworld, i. 37\n\n Undines, i. 67\n\n Union to the Deity, ii. 591\n\n Unity of three trinities, ii. 39;\n the Sephiroth or prajapatis, _ib._\n\n Universal soul, or mind, i. 56;\n the doctrine underlying all philosophies, Buddhism, Brahmanism, and\n Christianity, i. 289;\n relation to the reasoning and the animal soul, i. 316;\n solvent, i. 50, 137, 189\n\n Universals to particulars, i. 288\n\n Universe, or Kosmos, the body of the invisible sun, i. 302;\n doubt, i. 324;\n how came it, i. 341;\n the concrete image of the ideal abstraction, i. 342;\n existed from eternity, _ib._;\n passes through four ages, ii. 421;\n a musical instrument, i. 514\n\n Unknown presence, when witnessed, ii. 164;\n the future self of man, ii. 165\n\n Unregulated mediums punished, i. 489\n\n Unrevealed God, i. 160\n\n Unseen Universe, or all things there recorded, ii. 588;\n spiritual universe, its existence demonstrated, ii. 15\n\n Untrained mediumship illustrated by Socrates and his daimonion, ii.\n 117\n\n Untenable dogmas of science, i. 501\n\n Upasakes and Upasakis, Buddhistic semi-monastics, ii. 608\n\n Uper-Ouranoi, i. 312\n\n\n Vach, or sacred speech, ii. 409\n\n Vaivaswata, the Hindu Noah, ii. 425\n\n Valachian lady, her simulacrum brought to the author in her tent in\n Mongolia, ii. 627, 628\n\n Vampirism, a terrible case in Russia, i. 454\n\n Vampire-governor, and his widow, i. 454, 455\n\n Vampires, i. 319;\n shedim, etc., i. 449;\n magnetic, i. 462;\n ghouls and, wandering about, ii. 564\n\n Van Helmont, i. 50, 57;\n on magnetism and will, i. 170;\n on transmutation of earth into water, i. 190;\n testimony of Deleuze, i. 194;\n a Pythagorean, i. 205;\n theory of man, i. 213;\n remarkable account of a child born headless immediately after an\n execution, i. 386;\n on the power of woman\u2019s imagination, i. 399;\n testimony of Dr. Fournier, i. 400;\n ridiculed for his directions for production of animals, i. 414\n\n Vari-colored fragments of the beam of Divine Truth, ii. 639\n\n Vasitva, power of mesmerizing, also of restraining the passions, i.\n 393\n\n Vasaki, the great dragon, ii. 490\n\n Vast inland sea of middle Asia, and its island, i. 589\n\n Vatican, black magic practised there, ii. 6;\n secret libraries, ii. 16, 19;\n clergy, how an access, ii. 18\n\n Vatou, or candidate, for initiation, ii. 98;\n sensitive to spiritual influences, ii. 118\n\n Vaughan, Thomas, anecdote of his attempted sale of gold, i. 504\n\n Vedas, antedate the Bible, i. 91;\n contain no such immodesty as the Bible, ii. 80;\n older than the flood, ii. 427\n\n Vedic words, the controversies of Sanscrit scholars, ii. 47;\n peoples not all Aryans, ii. 413\n\n Vedic Pitris, their worship fast becoming the worship of the\n spiritual portion of mankind, ii. 639\n\n Vegetation, influence of the moon, i. 273;\n influenced by musical tones, i. 514\n\n Vehicle of life, ii. 418\n\n Venerable \u201cMah,\u201d ii. 388\n\n Ventriloquists or pythi\u00e6, i. 355\n\n Ventura de Raulica, his letter asserting the existence of Satan as a\n fundamental dogma of the Church, ii. 14\n\n Vesica Piscis, a Zodiacal sign, ii. 255\n\n Vicarious atonement, a ridiculous idea, i. 316\n\n Vicarious atonement, ii. 542;\n obliterates no wrong, ii. 545;\n not known by Peter, ii. 546\n\n Vigil-night of Siva, i. 446\n\n Vincent, Frank, his description of the ruins of Nagkon-Wat, i. 562,\n 565\n\n Vine, the symbol of blood and life, ii. 244;\n Jesus, ii. 561;\n his \u201cFather\u201d not God, but the hierophant, _ib._\n\n Viracocha, the Peruvian deity, ii. 259\n\n Viradji, the Son of God, his origin, ii. 111\n\n Virgin, celestial, milk of, i. 64;\n of the sea, crushes the dragon under her feet, ii. 446;\n of the Zodiac, rises above the horizon, Dec. 25th, ii. 490;\n Blessed, thrashing a demoniac, ii. 76;\n Mary, declaring all pagans condemned to eternal torments, over her\n own signature, ii. 8;\n succeeded to the titles, symbols and rites of Isis, ii. 95;\n on the crescent moon, like pagan goddesses, ii. 96;\n queen of heaven, ii. _ib._;\n mother without a husband, positivist, i. 81;\n of the Avatar, Son-Ka-po, ii. 589\n\n Virgin-mothers, Hindu, Egyptian, and Catholic, their epithets, ii. 209\n\n Vishnu, takes the form of a fish, ii. 257;\n same as Oannes, _ib._;\n the Adam Kadmon of the kabalists, ii. 259;\n his ten avatars, ii. 274;\n symbolize evolution, ii. 275;\n the expression of the whole universe, ii. 277\n\n Vishnu-flower, ii. 467\n\n Visible universe from Brahma-Prajapati, i. 348\n\n Visions witnessed by initiates, ii. 113;\n produced by sorcery, ii. 633\n\n Visit to the Ladakh in Thibet, ii. 598\n\n Visiting and leaving the body at home, ii. 604, 605\n\n Vistaspa, a king of Bactriana, ii. 141\n\n Visvamitra, his escape in the ark, ii. 257;\n Egypt colonized in his reign, i. 627\n\n Vital force, speculations of men of science, i. 466\n\n Viti, Sancti, Chor\u0153a, or St. Vitus\u2019 Dance, ii. 625\n\n Voices of spirits and goblins heard in the desert, i. 604\n\n Volatile salts obnoxious to devils, i. 356\n\n Volney, mistook ancient worship, i. 24;\n his doctrine of God, i. 268\n\n Voltaire, on the being of God, i. 268\n\n Voluntary withdrawal of the spirit from the body, ii. 588\n\n Votan, his admission to the snake\u2019s hole as a son of the snakes, i.\n 553;\n supposed by de Bourbourg to be descended from Ham and Canaan, i.\n 554;\n the hero of the Mexicans, i. 545;\n probably identical with Quetzel-coatl, _ib._;\n intercourse with King Solomon, _ib._;\n the navigating serpent, _ib._\n\n Voodo orgy in Cuba, ii. 573\n\n Vourdalak or vampires of Servia, i. 451, ii. 368\n\n Vowels, the seven, chanted as a hymn to Serapis, i. 514\n\n Vridda Manava, or laws of Manu, i. 585\n\n Vril, Bulwer-Lytton\u2019s designation of the one primal force, i. 64, 125\n\n Vril-ya, the coming race, i. 296\n\n Vulcan, Phta, or Hephaistos, represented at Nakyon-Wat, i. 565, 566\n\n Vulgar magic in India, ii. 20\n\n Vyasa, a positivist, i. 621;\n denied a First Cause, ii. 261\n\n Vyse, Col., found a piece of iron in the pyramid of Cheops, i. 542\n\n\n Wagner, Prof. Nicholas, on heat and psychical force, i. 497;\n on mediumistic phenomena, i. 499\n\n Walking above the ground, i. 472;\n the faculty sought by devotees, and attained by a King of Siam, ii.\n 618\n\n Wallace, A. R., on cycles, i. 155;\n belief in spiritualism and mesmerism, i. 177;\n theory of human development, i. 294\n\n War of Michael and the dragon, an old myth, ii. 486\n\n Warrior, slain and resuscitated, but without a soul, ii. 564\n\n War-chariots, ancient, lighter than modern artillery-wagons, i. 530;\n had metallic springs, _ib._\n\n Water, of Phtha, i. 64;\n the first principle of things, i. 133;\n an universal solvent, i. 133, 189;\n of mercury, the soul or psychical substance, i. 309;\n the first-created element, ii. 458\n\n Waters turned to blood, i. 413, 415\n\n Washing of images, ii. 138\n\n Wave-theory of light not accepted by Prof. Cooke, i. 137\n\n Weapons, d\u00e6mons afraid of, i. 362\n\n Weekman, reputed the first investigator of spirit-phenomena in\n America, i. 105\n\n Weeks of seven days used in the East, ii. 418\n\n Weird cries of the Gobi, i. 604\n\n Weninger, Father F. X., a Jesuit priest, his denunciation of\n Secretary Thompson, ii. 378, 379\n\n Wesermann, power to influence the dreams of others, and to appear\n double, i. 477\n\n White-skinned people not often able to acquire magical powers, ii. 635\n\n White stone of initiation, ii. 351\n\n Whitney, Prof. W. D., his criticism of Max M\u00fcller, ii. 47;\n denunciation of Jacolliot, _ib._;\n his translation of a Vedic hymn, ii. 534\n\n Widow-burning, or _suttee_, practised 2,500 years, but not when the\n Code of Manu was compiled, i. 588;\n sustained by the Brahmans from a forged verse of the _Rig-Veda_, i.\n 589\n\n Widows burned without pain by the Brahmans, i. 540\n\n Wild beasts will not attack Buddhistic nuns, ii. 609\n\n Wilder, A., on possibility of transmutation, i. 505;\n suggestion of another classification of the Assyrians and Mongols,\n i. 575;\n notes in regard to America, the Atlantic continent, Lemuria, and\n the deserts of Africa and Asia, i. 592;\n on skeptics, and respect for earnest convictions, i. 437;\n on Paul and Plato, ii. 90;\n on the designation Peter and the pretension of the Pope to be his\n successor, ii. 92;\n opinion of Zeruana, Turan, and Zohak, ii. 142;\n description of Paul, ii. 574-6\n\n Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, his testimony in regard to ancient Egyptian\n civilization, i. 526;\n J. J. G., declares truth temperamental, i. 234\n\n Will, i. 56-61;\n its potency in a state of ecstasy, i. 170;\n produces force, i. 285;\n an emanation of deity, _ib._;\n power of, ii. 21;\n enables one to wound or injure another, i. 360, 361;\n generates force, and force generates matter, ii. 320\n\n Will-force of the Yogis, ii. 565\n\n Will-power, killing birds by it, i. 380;\n photographing by, i. 463;\n the most powerful of magnets, i. 472;\n its exercise the highest form of prayer, ii. 592\n\n Wine first sacred in the Bacchic Mysteries, ii. 514\n\n Winged men of the _Ph\u00e6drus_, i. 2\n\n Wirdig taught that nature is ensouled, i. 207\n\n Wisdom, the arcane doctrine of the ancients, i. 205, 436;\n or the principle, ii. 35;\n the chief, ii. 36;\n first emanation of the En-Soph, ii. 37;\n origin, ii. 218;\n the ethnic parent of every religion, ii. 639, 640\n\n Wisdom-doctrine underlay every ancient religion, ii. 99\n\n Wisdom-religion, to be found in the pre-Vedic religion of India, ii.\n 39;\n its articles of faith, ii. 116;\n explained in Code of Manu, _ib._;\n the parent cult, ii. 216\n\n Wise women, ii. 525\n\n Witch, a knowing woman, i. 354;\n or kangalin, lawful for a Hindu to kill her, ii. 612\n\n Witch-burnings in Germany, ii. 61;\n twenty-nine, ii. 62, 63\n\n Witchcraft, execution in Salem, and other American provinces, ii. 18;\n laws in force in South Carolina in 1865, _ib._;\n an offence among the ancients, ii. 98;\n those guilty of it not initiates, ii. 117, 118\n\n Witches, pretended, dozens of thousands burned, i. 353;\n of the middle ages, the votaries of the former religion, ii. 502\n\n Witches\u2019 Sabbath, the orgies of Bacchus, ii. 528\n\n Withdrawal of the inner from the outer man, ii. 583\n\n Withdrawing of the inner from the outer, i. 476\n\n Wittoba, the crucified image of Christna anterior to Christianity,\n ii. 557\n\n Wizard, a wise man, i. 354\n\n Wolf, converted by St. Francis, ii. 77\n\n Wolsey, Cardinal, accused of sorcery, ii. 57\n\n Woman, of the future, i. 77;\n fecundated artificially, i. 77, 81;\n must cease to be the female of the men, i. 78;\n ridding her of every maternal function, _ib._;\n applying a latent force, _ib._;\n offered to the encubi, _ib._;\n impossible, i. 81;\n evolved out of men, i. 297;\n highly impressible when pregnant, i. 394;\n exudes akasa as an odic emanation, i. 395;\n how this is projected into the astral light or ether, and\n repercussing, impresses itself upon the f\u0153tus, _ib._;\n evolved out of the lusts of matter, i. 433;\n clothed with the sun, the goddess Isis, ii. 489\n\n Women, magnetically influenced by the moon, i. 264\n\n Women-colleges, to superintend worship, ii. 524, 525\n\n Wong-Ching-Fu, his explanation of Nepang or Nirvana, ii. 319, 320\n\n Wonder-working fakirs seldom to be seen, ii. 612, 613\n\n Word, magical, i. 445;\n ineffable, and performance of miracles, ii. 370;\n lost by the Christians, _ib._;\n where to be sought, ii. 371, ii. 418;\n \u201clong lost but now found,\u201d ii. 393\n\n World, how called into existence, i. 341;\n how all will go well with it, ii. 122;\n soul of, i. 129, 208, 215, 342;\n religions, startled by utterances of scientists, i. 248, 249\n\n World-religions, conflict between, i. 307;\n identical at their starting-point, ii. 215;\n the devil their founder, ii. 479\n\n World-mountains, allegorical expressions of cosmogony, i. 157\n\n World-soul, the source of all souls, and ether, i. 316\n\n World-tree of knowledge, i. 574\n\n Worlds, an incalculable number before the present one, ii. 424\n\n Worship of the sun and serpent by Ph\u0153nicians and Mosaic Israelites,\n i. 555;\n of words, denounced, ii. 560;\n of the spiritual portion of mankind, ii. 639\n\n Wounds, mortal, self-inflicted and healed, i. 224\n\n Wreaths of green leaves for oracles, ii. 612\n\n Wren, Sir Christopher, simply the Master of the London operative\n masons, ii. 390\n\n Wright, Thomas, on sorcery and magic, i. 356\n\n Writings under the ban, ii. 8\n\n\n X, decussation of the perfect circle, ii. 469\n\n X., Dr. extraordinary scenes at a seance, i. 608-611\n\n Xenophanes, his satire on the representations of God, ii. 242\n\n Ximenes, cardinal, burned 80,000 Arabic manuscripts, i. 511\n\n Xisuthrus or Hasisadra, sailed with the ark to Armenia, ii. 217;\n translated to the gods, ii. 424;\n Oannes and Vishnu in the first avatar, ii. 457\n\n\n Yaho, an old Shemitic mystic name of the Supreme Being, ii. 297\n\n Yadus migrating from India to Egypt, i. 444\n\n Yang-kie and Mahu, dwellers in both worlds, i. 601, 602\n\n Yakuts and their worship, ii. 568\n\n Yarker, John jr., account of the dervishes, ii. 316;\n his testimony in regard to Free-masonry, ii. 376\n\n Year of blood, 1876, i. 439\n\n Yezidis, or devil-worshippers genuine sorcerers, ii. 571;\n their worship, ii. 572\n\n Yggdrasill, i. 133;\n universe springing up beneath its branches, i. 151\n\n Ymir, the Norse giant, i. 147;\n generates a race of depraved men, i. 148;\n is slain by the sons of Bur, i. 150\n\n Yogas or cycles, i. 293\n\n Yogis of India, ii. 346;\n their extraordinary powers, ii. 565;\n regarded as demi-gods, ii. 612;\n a peculiar medicine used by them composed of sulphur and juice of\n a plant, ii. 621;\n their longevity, ii. 620;\n their medicinal preparation of sulphur and quicksilver, ii. 620\n\n Y\u00f6rmungand, the midgard or earth-serpent, i. 151\n\n Yourodevoy, i. 28\n\n Youth, the means of regaining, ii. 618\n\n Yowahous, ii. 313\n\n Yugas, i. 31\n\n Yule, Colonel, on movable type, i. 515;\n on spiritualism in Tartary, i. 600;\n testimony in regard to spiritual flowers drawn by a medium in Bond\n street, London, i. 601\n\n\n Zacharias, saw an apparition in the temple, ass-formed, ii. 523\n\n Zadokites, or Sadducees, made a priest-caste by David, ii. 297\n\n Zampun, the Thibetan tree of life, i. 152\n\n Zamzummim, the Cyclopeans, i. 567\n\n Zarathustra-Spitoma, his untold antiquity, i. 12\n\n Zarevna Militrissa and the serpent, i. 550\n\n Zeller, criticism of the Fathers in regard to Plato, i. 288\n\n Zequiel, a demon presented to Torralva, ii. 60\n\n Zeno taught two eternal qualities in nature, i. 12\n\n Zeru-Ishtar, a Chaldean or Magian high-priest, ii. 129\n\n Zeruan, Saturn or Abraham, the legend of the Titans, ii. 217\n\n Zeus, the \u00e6ther, i. 187, 188\n\n Zeus-Dionysus, i. 262\n\n Zmeij Gorenetch, the dragon, i. 550\n\n Znachar, the Russian sorcerer, ii. 571\n\n Zodiac, its symbolism, ii. 456;\n its origin, 16,984 years ago, _ib._\n\n Zohak and Gemshid, their struggle that of the Persians and Assyrians,\n i. 576;\n and Feridun, the legend explained, ii. 486;\n or Azhi-Dahaka, the serpent of the Avesta, ii. 486;\n a personification of Assyria, _ib._\n\n Zonarus traces knowledge from Chaldea to Egypt, thence to the Greeks,\n i. 543\n\n Zo\u00f6magnetism, or animal magnetism, i. 206;\n can magnetize minerals, _ib._\n\n Zoroaster, Zarathustra, Zuruastara, Zuryaster, a spiritual teacher,\n ii. 141;\n a reformer of Chaldean Magic, i. 191;\n when he lived, ii. 141;\n Baron Bunsen\u2019s opinion, ii. 432\n\n Zoroastrian religion, its affinity with Judaism and Christianity, ii.\n 486\n\n Zoroastrianism, no schism, ii. 142\n\n Zoroastrians, migrated from India, ii. 143\n\n Zoro-Babel or prince of Babylon, ii. 441\n\n Zuinglius, the first reformer, his cosmopolitan doctrine of the Holy\n Ghost, i. 132\n\n\n\n\n List of Main Corrections Implemented\n\nGreek\n\nPage 56\n\u03c6\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7 replaced by \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03b7\n\nPage 242\n\u03a4\u03cc \u1f49\u03bd replaced by \u03a4\u1f78 \u1f48\u03bd\n\nPage 257\n\u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03ae\u03c7\u1f70\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 replaced by \u03a0\u03bf\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03ae\u03c7\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2\n\u03bc\u03b1\u0308\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 replaced by \u03bc\u03ac\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\n\nPage 317\n\u03bc\u1f70\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 replaced by \u03bc\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2\n\u03bc\u1f70\u03b3\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 replaced by \u03bc\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2\n\nPage 355\n\u03c0\u1f7a\u03b8\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 replaced by \u03c0\u03cd\u03b8\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2\n\nFootnote 425\n\u0391\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03bd [\u03c1\u03b5\u1fe6 replaced by \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd] \u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 [\u1fe6\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd possibly replaced by \u1f55\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd]\n\n\u03c0\u1f70\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 replaced by \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\n\nHebrew\n\nPage xxxvi\n\n\u05db\u05d1\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd replaced by \u05d2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd\n\nPage 181\n\n\u05d5\u05d5\u05d7 replaced by \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7\n\nFootnote 847\n\nUnclear, but thought to be \u05d3\u05d5\u05d3\u202f, \u05d3\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5 .\n\nPage 575\n\n \u05db\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 replaced by \u05db\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8","title":"Isis unveiled, Volume 1 (of 2), Science : $b A master-key to mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":351730}