|:SECONDSUN m- CALLED POliARIS :* t^ . • '. i\ \ \ 4^fip QtA V^ ^> / LIBRARY OF THK University, OF California. ^cceision 9275B Class 984- ol — '^^?H ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/commonsensephiloOOfostrich The smallest body, or molecule, has four parts. A (7l/U^ . THE COMMON -SENSE PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT OR PSYCHOLOGY WRITTEN FROM SPIRIT IMPRESSION BY CHARLES H. FOSTER OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA • OF THE UNIVERSITY SAN FRANCISCO I 9 O I Copyright, 28th January, 1901, FOSTER. i^v""-: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, s KATIE'S LEGACY. To m?/ dear daughter K't: Before entering the door of this college^ First TEST and see that your mind he free, Ere seeking herein for knowledge. For as you receive these truths of mine. Shall 1 remain forever thine. Here 's Nature, grand, supreme, sublime ; There are no dead, there is not time. Nor yet no life, as ice 'II unfold, While HEAT there may he, yet no cold. 92756 CONTENTS Page. Introductory 6 ChapterI. The Atom 20 II. First Impression —What is Truth — But Three Eter- nal Facts — Birth of the World 27 III. Spirit Life— No Such Thing as Time— Atom Life 33 IV. Sixth Sense— Growth of the Physical World -^ Birth of the Spirit World 37 V. Development of a Medium— Spirit Hypnotism— Why Darkness is Preferable 41 VI. The Mystic Circle— Destiny 54 VII. Sensitised, Progressed, or Spirit Ether— Spirit Return — Sympathetic Attraction 58 VIII. Ponderable and Imponderable— Strange Gods 64 IX. Healing by the Ultimate Atom 69 X. A Little Grain of Corn, or The Quickening Germ of Life 76 CONTENTS. Chaptek. Page. XI. Hypnotism— You do not See with your Eyes 79 XII. Reply to Professor Huxley on The Physical Basis of Life 84 XIII. Prophecy 89 XIV. The Over-Soul, or God and its Affinity to Matter 92 XV. God, Life and Over-Soul 99 XVI. Vitality in Stones — A New Substance 102 XVII. Spirit the ElBfect of Physical Cause— Condition of Childhood 108 XVIII. Materialization — The Object of Materialization — Animal Curiosity— Educated Parrots 115 XIX. That which Thinks Thoughts — Birth of the Spirit Body and the Soul— The Cause of all Causation... 122 XX. Planetary and Elementary Spirits so-called — The Birth of Intelligence and Wisdom — Astral Shell —Reincarnation 131 XXI. Animal Spirits— Will the World Eventually Turn to a Grease Spot?— Will we be Annoyed by Fleas and Things in the Spirit World? 143 XXII. Clairvoyance— Clairaudience— Investigating Mater- ialization — Wonderful Manifestations 149 XXIII. Parody on Common Sense 181 XXIV. Birth-Marks ! 183 CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. XXV. The Keystone, or A Peep Behind the Veil— The Brain the Highest Physical Matter — How a Child is Born Deaf and Dumb. 191 XXVI. Reason and Intelligence — Thought Transference — Hypnotic Subject — Your Thoughts are on the Outside of Your Brain 196 XXVII. Spirit Double— Personating a Spirit 214 XXVIII. There is no Death— Have you a Body? 220 XXIX. Is Physical Force Transmittible to Spirit and Vice Versa — Miracles — Passing Matter Through Matter— The Immortality of the Soul 225 XXX. The First Dawn of the Spark of Life — Which was First, the Egg or the Chicken? 232 XXXI. If no Matter is Destroyed, what Becomes of it? 240 XXXII. What are Life and Matter Composed of ?— Psycho- physical— The Beginning of Sex 253 XXXIII. Educated Mediums 267 XXXIV. Is the Course of Life and Matter Forever Onward ? 275 XXXV. A Question to Astronomers.... 282 XXXVI. Substance, Animation and Matter 303 XXXVII. Descartes' Vortex versus Newton's Gravity— Phys- ical or Mechanical Force versus Atomic Energy 311 XXXVIII. Placing the Keystone 323 CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. XXXIX. Lower Physics — Psycho-Physics and Higher, or Metaphysics 330 XL. A Comment on Max Muller's Philosophy of Thought — What is Rational Reason? 335 XLL Is it Right to Kill? 355 XLII. A Review and Adieu 367 The Obituary 370 Independent Spirit- Writing 371 INTRODUCTORY. As the author of this work received what little edu- cation he has in the next thing to a log cabin, a single- room schoolhouse, we hope that " we demn folks," at least, will be fair to middling in criticising our poverty in rhetorical flourishes, and will understand that an impressional writer does not receive the WORDS from his control but that they come to him more in the form of a picture ; he sees it, senses it, or just gets it. In fact, it is difficult to describe. You will understand that Truth and facts are not neces- sarily words which are only a convenience made by man, who is not infallible. It is not in the power of man to give to the world reliable instruction when starting from a point in the UNKNOWN and, we may say, UNKNOWABLE. Nearly all philosophers who have given to the world treatises on metaphysics, from Bruno to Kant, have invariably started from the wrong end of the question by assuming as their first postulate that which Ave think should have been their very last and highest conclusion, namely: A FIRST CAUSE. A thing, if existing, must, from the very nature of the thing, be forever beyond the comprehension of finite (6) man, and would be better understood as a LAST CAUSE, so far as the object of the investigator is con- cerned. For if man should ever reach that knowledge, it would naturally be the last end of his labor and not the first. By pursuing the course they have they were compelled, from the start, to build in the dark on an unknown quantity and quality for a foundation. From working the question, first on a downward course of reasoning from an assumed first cause to the physical world and then trying to retrace their logic back to this imaginary starting-point, they found it invari- ably left the result of their labor in a chaotic state which neither satisfied themselves or the student. While such a course of reasoning may be good enough for the Church, to prove the Bible right by the Church, and the Church right by the Bible, yet it does not satisfy the Truth. Would these same philosophers consider it a proper course to instruct a child in the mysteries of Euclid by beginning with the classics, or would they begin with the numerals and multiplication table? Would they begin to teach a boy how to construct a com- pound steam-engine by giving him charge of the en- gineer's department of an ocean steamer? Recogniz- ing this as the cause of their failure in the past, and seeing the utter impossibility of man's ever being able to prove a first cause, the very nature of which places it forever beyond human comprehension, we, in this (7) work, have thought it advisable to begin at the little end (the atom) and trace upwards from effect to cause, instead of from cause to effect. By assuming this position we are not required to saj to our student at the very beginning of his labor : " Just please ac- cept our first postulate, ex nihilo nihil fit, and leave reason behind," for you must take it for granted that only in this one instance was the very first cause from nothing, but all else, my son, had a cause. " In the beginning was God.'' Well, how about be- fore this beginning? No, my friend; such logic will convince no one, for, however reluctant man is to ac- knowledge his ignorance, this is a case where he has just got to, whether he likes it or not, so we might as well be honest about it and say we do not know that it is a person, a being, an idea, or a condition, and all that we do know is that life exists (i. e., as thought mid force). By starting our investigations from the atom of life and matter we assume nothing, but have a known and fixed point of demarcation to work from, and by fol- lowing on such lines of truth as have already been proven such (i. e., from effect to cause), we have the satisfaction of being able to prove our work as we proceed. In this manner we will endeavor to lead the student to the known truth of spirit. From this point we have the right to form an a priori opinion ; but one step further and we will infer that from Spirit is pro- (8 ) dnced a Soul ; be^^ond this point all is purely conjec- ture, even with the spirit. Furthermore, you may examine the chain we have wrought for you now that we think that we have com- pleted it, from either end you please, either from ef- fect to cause or from cause to effect, and see if you can find a reasonable flaw, bearing in mind that. The noblest attribute of man is to be charitable in your thoughts of others. Recognizing the extreme difficulty of teaching the essence of the Occult Science in such a way as will en- able us to place this little volume in the hands of the middle class of people, we thought our work could best be accomplished by adhering as closely as pos- sible to the following common-sense rules : First. — To boil it down to as few words as possible. Second. — To refrain from ambiguous words and stick to plain United States. Third. — Recognizing, as we do, that all religions or creeds are founded on Truth and the good of mankind, — as they understand it, — and that the intentions of the founders of all creeds w^ere pure and sincere, and knowing, as we do from experience and otherwise, that the universe is constructed upon that mystic law of the positive and negative of life and matter, we rec- ognize that for man or spirit to do and to act good is to acknowledge the presence of the negative of good, which is error. (9) Here we assert that wherever man finds error or evil there also will he find good, if he is anxious to find the one as the other ; for it is not only the nature but the necessity for the existence of the one to be found in company of the other; i. e., the positive and the negative. Nor will this condition be changed until all shall have become at one with Infinite, or Perfec- tion. Hence you will perceive the impossibility of a so-called Millennium. In all teachings where a body of people join togeth- er for the promulgating of some discovered or re- vealed truth, there is to be found a certain percentage of error; and it would appear from past experiences that the older the creed the more the w^eeds accumu- late. But be the weeds ever so thick, the truth that ex- ists among the weeds should ever be man's most sacred charge, and to bring these truths to light his bounden duty to progression. In this work we have endeavored to steer clear of those shoals that have in the past wrecked so many creeds. In particular, we have not advanced or at- tempted to sustain any part of this work on belief; nor do we appeal to your credulity or offer you our own opinion^ but offer you known scientific facts in one unbroken chain of evidence which must appeal to your own reasonable common sense. We deny that any thing was ever created^ or that there is one particle of know n evidence in existence to (10) sustain the theory that some thing can be, or ever was^ produced from nothing, and we claim that all known scientific researches lead directly to the contrary. For the enlightened mind at this advanced age to en- tertain such a preposterous supposition or belief is to erect one of the false gods which this work has en- deavored to overthrow. In our use of the words positive and negative we wish to be understood as having reference to the op- posites, such as with the crooked you have straight, good and bad, love and hate, attraction and repulsion, sleeping and awakening, truth and error, etc. We have also refrained from abusing the other lawyer; nor have we been compelled to wander off into a lofty flow of rhetoric, in order to show our want of live mat- ter to consume printer's ink — for, had we done so, we should have defeated the very object of this work, which is intended as a guide or text-book on only known law^s and facts, laid down in an abstract man- ner. Another object was that it might be the means of saving the young investigator a few dollars and some time, by steering him in the right direction. We think, at least, that after he reads this book carefully he will not invest five dollars in so-called magnetized slates. However, I shall be sorry if I shall have robbed him of some of the supposed sweets that gen- erally accompany the kissing and hugging of his best girl when she comes in the form of a materialized ( 11 > spirit. (With all due respect to the spirit or autom- aton. Ahem ! ) The author will here state the circumstances which induced him to undertake this work, and the reader must use his own judgment as to the truth or proba- bility of the deductions that it was written under spirit control, for I have no proofs to offer except the book itself. It is my desire that the compiler will place the various days, months, years, etc., at such points in the writings as he finds them in the manu- script. This will, I hope, be some evidence. For about a month previous to January 5, 1894, some power seemed to continually urge me to take up a blank tablet and write. Well, I knew that I could not write as I could wish, and I was afraid of a fail- ure. Finally it grew so very urgent that I picked up the book, sharpened a pencil, — and positively, reader, I had not the slightest idea what I was going to wTite. As soon as I placed the pencil on the paper, the first sentence came into my mind, and by the time I had that down another sentence took its place. It did not appear to make any difference how fast I wrote, the other sentence was always ready; in fact, I soon learned that the faster I wrote and the less I tried to think, the better I progressed. This would continue until I had written about six or seven hundred words, when right in the middle of a sentence some times, the force, intelligence, or whatever it was, would leave (12) me, and I could not think of a word to save me. The next day, about the same time, the same desire to write would come over me, and away we would go again. After I would get through, it was just as in- teresting to me as though I had never seen it before. This would keep up sometimes for three or four days ; then I would not be able to write for several days. Then the power left me for over a year, then stayed for a week, and again left a breach of one and a half years, beginning again in February, 1897. At this time I found that I could write almost con- tinuously. After looking over the writings, I seldom (^ver changed a word or made a correction ; all told, I j)robably changed in the whole volume one hundred words. I do not claim the article on healing or my ex- ])erience with mediums as impressional, but the rest of this book certainly is, to the best of my knowledge, for several explanations found within were entirel}^ contrary to my previous convictions, — especially so the article on the automaton theory of materialization and the declination of the earth's axis. Again you must remember that it should cut no figure with you by whom or how the work was done; the Devil could utter a truth as well as a saint. It is not a question as to who Galileo was, or whether such a man lived or not. The question is : Is it a truth, and will it bene- fit man to know it? I cannot see that the personality of the author has anything to do with it whatever. ( 13 ) f ^ I UNi.w V v. « OF NOTICE TO THE READER. ^^'"-^^^-g^^ We would most respectfully call the attention of the reader of this book to the most important considera- tion of all, and that is: Do not attempt to read this book, in particular, if you are at the same time think- ing of what you are going to have for dinner, or how your new dress fits, or the state of the wheat market ; when you do get started with it, and you find yourself getting sleepy, for God's sake, lay it down and take a nap. If any one should annoy you at the time, offer to loan them the book, stating that you will finish it when they are through ; for unless you can raise your moral courage to that extent and be able to enter into the spirit of the subject, or read between the lines, so to speak, it will be perfectly useless for you to attempt the study of so delicate a subject as metaphysics. Neither will it benefit you to skip through it in a cur- sory manner, as you will find that each succeeding page is but the result of the preceding one, our object being from the beginning to start the edifice from the foundation {an atom), knowing full well that we should find a place for the keystone when we had to use it. We most sincerely hope that the reader will meet with the same success. One writing from impression stands in relation to the information received in the same light or position (14) as the shorthand reporter to a court. He is simply a machine putting down in symbols representing cer- tain vibratory waves of motion or sound that which you call language, and is not responsible for the truth or philosophy of that which he records. ' The impressional writer gets his information in the form of a mental or illustrational picture of those truths or facts which the higher spirit intelligence wishes to convey to their reporter or sensitive. Here you will observe that somewhat similar laws govern the accuracy of both reports ; i. e., if the court report- er, for instance, should be slightly indisposed from various physical causes, — loss of sleep, pressed for money, on a tear, sickness, etc., — he may be slow to catch or note every sound called language, and in his anxiety to keep up with his work, he may make his notes a trifle too short; then when he comes to put his notes into typewriting, those places where he has " foreshortened " his already shorthand, he is com- pelled to coin his own language. Hence you will be generous enough to allow that the impressional writer, being physical, must of ne- cessity be subject to the same liabilities; hence the necessity of the reader using extreme care in receiv- ing any and all so-called spirit communications, whether in inspirational speaking, clairvoyant or im- pressional writing, — for if with the very best of court reporters errors will creep in while receiving the (15) words themselves on the auditory nerve, how much more difficult must it be for a sensitive to properly place in language those truths conveyed to him through impression? Is not his physical body subject to the same errors of the flesh? The fact of his being a sensitive does not emancipate him from these er- rors of inharmony any more than any other mortal. This idea, which many investigators of spirit phe- nomena have, that because John Jones is a medium, then per se, he is a sort of tin god on wheels, is all non- sense; for, of a truth, all mortals are mediums, — 't is only a question of degree, the same as reason and in- telligence. There is no gulf separating the least from the greatest, — merely a question of addition, or a uniting of the units. Note : By the above explanation, a just and impar- tial critic or student of this work, we hope, will un- derstand that in reading a report of any work on the philosophy of metaphysics, if he wishes to arrive at the spirit of the communication, he should not take every word as an absolute and unalterable statement of all the essential facts. As every individual has his own peculiar manner of arriving at conclusions of the various phenomena as they present themselves for consideration, yet, after all is said, the abstract question is: Does this road also lead to Rome? One of the objects of human life, as we understand ( 16 ) it, is to gather wisdom from experience, and, as one of the essentials to wisdom is time, you will perceive that it requires a vast deal of time to travel all of the various roads to Rome before you are enabled to ar- rive at even a partially correct opinion of which is the most advisable road to follow ; i. e., which of the vari- ous philosophical statements up to the present day makes the most direct appeal to common sense as to the abstract truth of the cause of causation. P. S. — The student or reader of this little book will observe that we have frequently written in the first, second, or third person. The best explanation that I, the amanuensis, can offer is, that you, the reader, will find, as you advance in the book, that Ptolemy cautioned me that I must learn to separate my thoughts from his. As I told him at the time, I was afraid that was easier said than done. 1 find in look- ing over the work that I was pretty nearly correct, and, therefore, would ask the reader to use his or her own judgment in the matter, for now I have about finished the work, I find it still a difiScult thing to do. As it is a question of revolutionary as well as evolutionary truth bearing on the old accepted philosophy, the question of who is writing it or whether all the con- ventional rules of writing have been adhered to should cut no figure as to the abstract truth of the deductions here advanced. Yours in charity of thought, C. H. Foster. (17 ) PHILOSOPHY VEKSUS SCHOLASTIC THEOLOGY. To the student we wish to say, that in beginning your search after the absolute truth of the cause of causation, we think that 3^ou will be willing to ad- mit that the first and most essential consideration on your part is to determine whether you have arrived at that condition in life that you can for a fact declare that your mind, conscience, or will is in a free condi- tion, and not at all tinctured or influenced by either your previous teachings or fixed opinions to such an extent as would debar you the free exercise of your five natural senses; through and by which all men in their individual capacity must, if free, determine for themselves as to the simple truth of all phenomena. If this be the fact, it would appear to us that, in beginning our investigations, the first move should be to fully inform ourselves as to the difference be- tween Theory and Facts, Belief and Knowledge, or the hereditary teachings of the opinions of others, or so-called Faith, and the facts furnished you from the experience gained through the evidence of your own natural senses when applied to the subject in a rational manner. (18 ) Hence we are presumptuous enough to hope that the student will pardon us when we say that this is the gulf that always has remained, and probably ever will remain, as an impassable barrier between Knowl- edge and Belief, Reason and Superstition, or common sense and scholasticism. In order that the student may be enabled to in a measure judge the state of his own mind, or I am, as regards to whether he is free, we will lend him a scale to temporarily measure his idea of freedom; which scale is : Man for a fact knows nothing. He only arrives at a conception of what appears or seems to him to exist as a truth or fact by the applica- tion of his five senses, and as it is conceded by all pro- found thinkers that no two individuals arrive at precisely the same opinion, — i. e., word for word, — in describing some one thing which they have wit- nessed at the same moment of time, then this of itself is sufficient evidence that the physical senses are not absolute evidence of truth. Hence we deduce that all so-called knowledge is only relative seeming, or appearing to be so. For, as all is ceaseless motion, then all is ceaselessly chan- ging, — i. e., Thought, Force, and Substance; and as thought is the basis of knowledge, it follows, that that which was knowledge at one second has changed in the next second ; which would place it only relatively to that which has passed, and if this be the truth, it (19) would naturally follow that human existence is not a real but a relative condition. This is the philosopher's scale which we loan to you for this occasion, the reasonable application of which depends entirely upon your own unbiased common sense. (20) CHAPTEK I. THE ATOM. As the foundation of this work is based upon the atom, it is permissible for us to inquire : What is an atom? And as it is of the utmost importance that the reader should fully and clearly comprehend what that atom really and practically is in all its various con- ditions, positions, and compositions, in order that all visionary or chimerical ideas may be entirely re- moved from your mind, we will endeavor to give you a plain and simple definition. First. An atom is that single piece of matter that is so small as to be no longer susceptible of a divi- sion into more than one part. Second. It is the beginning or birth of the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness, and the first occupant of space, or the unit of commensura- tion. You will first understand that there are really two classes of atoms. The first atom we will designate the infinite atom, which is only recognized by science in a conjectiu^al sense and this conjecture is from the known fact that, as far as the ingenuity of man has (21 ) been enabled to go, either in chemistry or with the most powerful microscope, we find clear and abundant proof that it is impossible for the mind of man to com- prehend a last division of matter ; hence we are com- pelled to designate it as the Infinite atom, and outside the comprehension of man, and, being such, you will perceive it would be a useless waste of time for man to try to comprehend that which is incomprehensible. We will therefore take up the second class of atoms, to which, in this work, we have given the appellation of the ultimate atom, for the very good reason that it is the ultimate limit of human comprehension of the subdivision of matter. We will first define this atom as a Thing which is the very next akin to No Thing, or nothing, and just barely within the limit of com- prehension by man when observed in the accumulated form of countless numbers, such as the so-called tail of a comet, the light of the sun, or the most minute microscopic object. No human being ever has or ever will be able to see a single ultimate atom, even when the sense of sight is aided by the most powerful micro- scope. Take, for instance, the smallest object on the field of your microscope; in order to see it you are compelled to gather together count- less thousands of other single atoms of light, by means of your reflecting mirror, and concen- trate them on the object in order to aid the optic nerve in sensing it ; the very fact of your being able to see it ( 22 ) even in this manner is practical proof that it is again subject to division; for, in your mind, you can con- ceive of a half or a tenth part of that which the aided eye beholds. As this fact proves that the mind of man has no idea of the amount of space a single atom oc- cupies, then it becomes evident that no man can say or know whether this microscopic object is composed of a hundred, a thousand, or even a million of single atoms. You will also bear in mind that sound is matter in motion, in the form of vibratory waves. Now, try to conceive of the condition of that matter w^hen set in motion by the wing of a mosquito ; or take atmospher- ic air, which is a composition of other atoms, — if you cannot see an atom of air, how much smaller are the atoms of oxygen or nitrogen which compose the air. As the atom is no longer subject to division, it be- comes the only Thing which you can truthfully call a SOLID for all other matter would be composed of more than one atom and, as the atoms when in groups of two or more, do not touch each other but have a space between equal to their own diameter (see Physi- cal Chemistry), then it is a self-evident fact that no object matter can be solid. By this analysis of the first, or undeveloped, atom of matter, you will see that man can not have any real knowledge of what matter is composed of; we are only made aware of its actual existence after it has (23 ) passed through at least one, if not several, changes, by its joining itself to another atom. In this work, there- fore, we designate it as the point of beginning of hu- man comprehension, and will request the readers to keep this fact at all times foremost in their minds while studying the various positions in which they will be called upon to view and weigh this ATOM in the many changes we shall be required to place it as we advance in our endeavors to unfold to you the many almost insurmountable difficulties surrounding the MYSTIC TEMPLE of LIFE and the ATOM. Which w^as constructed from the FIRST to the LAST, of the LEAST and the GREATEST, for the BEGINNING and the END. In these our primary remarks we use the term atom of matter; but as the student advances out of the old orthodox philosophy, that all is matter, we shall en- deavor to gradually develop the understanding as to the difference between matter and substance. (See Chapter XXXVI.) In order that the lay mind or student may be en- abled to clearly comprehend the vital importance of the atom, and the part it will be called upon to play in this volume, we will here present a practical illustra- tion by taking four marbles and assume that eac- marble represents an atom and that each atom is a point in space. It is a conceded fact that a point has neither length, breadth, nor thickness. ( 24 ) 1^ Figure 1 represents the beginning or promise ^^ of mathematics or extension, but not mathe- ^'s- ^ matics or extension itself. When two atoms come together, as in Figure 2, we have the birth of one of the three dimensions of space, — i. e. length or extension only, — and the prom- ise of a form; when these are joined by a ^^^•^• ^^^^ third atom, as in Figure 3, we have the iRflP birth of the second dimension, — i. e. V breadth, and also the birth of form, in the Fig. 3. form of a triangle; when these three are joined by the fourth atom, we have the full birth of the three dimensions, — i. e. thick- ness, — as shown in Figure 4. This is the birth of a body or a body of physical ^^^•^• matter. This is the first appearance of a molecule of matter composed of four atoms of substance ; it now has an interior, and only at this stage is it for the first time subject to involution or capable of receiving something within a body that was evolved from one atom, the only one thing that is absolutely solid being no longer divisible. ( See Chapter XXXIX. ) Ether, or spirit, is but another name for the atoms of substance that fill all space. 'T is often called a fluid, and is so mentioned on account of its exceeding fineness, which allows it to penetrate — or perhaps we might say, permeate — all known forms or so-called solids. You must remember that up to the present V ( 25 ) date the extent of human knowledge as to the number of simple substances is but sixty-five, which is but a fractional part of the whole. The peculiar properties of the various substances that are yet to be developed by the onward march of evolution and harnessed for the benefit of mankind, you cannot form the slightest idea of; yet you are aware from a backward glance that additions are fre- quently being made to the number known. Some phi- losophers are inclined to draw a distinction between this ether and substance, but they are wrong; for if it had an actual existence apart from atomic substance, how could you recognize it? What would be its func- tional relation to the three dimensions? As we advance in this work we shall endeavor to show you that the position this ether occupies is as an atmosphere, and is both ponderable and imponder- able, but substance nevertheless, and is the source from whence all forms draw their supply of life, force, intelligence, and material to build from, and is cease- lessly flowing through the earth, the sea, and the sky ; in its passage, leaving a little of its own vitality while removing that which has accomplished its object in the lower form of expressed life to a higher state of pro- gression. Were it possible for you to stand in space ten thou- sand miles away and hold up in your hand a cambric needle, the extreme point of this needle would touch ( 26 ) thousands of single atoms at the same instant, and each atom would be in possession of its proportional share of life, force, and intelligence. In order that you may form some idea of how it is possible for the various atomic substances — i. e. pro- gressed and unprogressed, ponderable and imponder- able — to work out each its own destiny in, around, and about the earth, without coming into serious conflict with its neighbor, though operating in a complete vor- tex whirl, we will illustrate it in this manner: By giving you an Argus eye, we will place you in a posi- tion over the city of New York and allow you to behold every individual in that city at precisely th« same moment, say three o'clock p. m.^ and their occupations let the time. Here you will observe generosity and avarice, the sick and well, rich and poor, the idiotic and the philosopher ; in fact, you will find red spirits and white, black spirits and gray, mingle, mingle, mingle, you who mingle may. Each individual ap- parently with but one idea and object, — i. e. the world was made expressly for ME and the balance of human- ity. Would not this picture represent a complete vortex, and, though each single individual ( or atom ) appears to be solely concerned with his own personal affairs, yet there is a law or influence flowing through, regu- lating and governing the whole mass. (27 ) CHAPTER II. FIRST IMPRESSION. What is Truth ? — But three Eternal Facts — Birth of the World. Alameda, January 5, 1894. After about three years of investigation of what is called spirit return, I am impressed to write the con- clusions I have so far come to up to the present date, believing that I will get other facts from time to time, as I advance into that sensitive condition, that may change some of my present deductions. I began by spending about one thousand dollars in the space of six months for private and public sittings with Mrs. Helen Fair child for the purpose of positive- ly assuring myself of the fact of full form Materializa- tion, Trumpet Voices, Materialized Voices, Independ- ent Writing, Clairvoyance, etc., which I soon found to be an absolute fact. Then commenced within me an uncontrollable desire to know the mysterious law or process by which it was done. During my sittings with Mrs. Fairchild, there came to me many spirits who, from their conversations and general appear- ances, seemed to me to be those whom they repre- (28) sented themselves to be. One of these in particular, I wish to say, gave me the name of Ptolemy Philadel- phus, the second of the reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt, who was able to give me much assistance and information necessary for me to have in order to ar- rive at a proper understanding of the different bear- ings or relations each part of this wonderful truth bore to the whole o-r part of the whole. At the end of about two years I found, by following his instructions, that, at times, I could bring myself into some kind of a rapport with an intelligence (and that is the only word that will truthfully express it) that would clear- ly, practically, and scientifically explain many of the phenomena that I have witnessed. And I wish the reader of this to understand that the intelligence or information was not given in any language contain- ing words. This will make it difficult for me to put it into words, as I may, from time to time, have to coin or invent a word to practically convey my meaning. Here again I wish particularly to notify the reader of several facts which are absolutely necessary for their proper guidance in forming their opinion of such of the laws and facts as to what is the simple truth and what is only belief. (29) WHAT IS TRUTH? First, when I speak of what I knoiv^ I do so fully realizing the meaning of the Avord, — i. e. that one or all of my five or six senses as can be brought to bear on the matter under investigation by me in my normal state of mind has been so applied as free from a priori opinion as an ordinary mortal is usually expected to be on a witness-stand. Hereafter, throughout this book, when I say I know I wish to be understood as having applied the above senses and when I say I be- lieve or conclude, I only mean that I draw my deduc- tions from what I know. The reader, in order to do justice to himself or herself (and the sought-for truth), should hold their opinion in check until they have finished the reading of this work to its end ; for only one who is capable of so doing is at all qualified to sit in a jury-box and act as a just judge of the Truth on any matter, and particularly so on the fact of a sixth sense or the facts and fallacies of spirit return. BUT THREE ETERNAL FACTS. And now as to what I know. I know that there are but three eternal facts which are: Life, Matter, and Space, — and so does all the human family, yourself in- cluded. Life could not make itself manifest without matter and space; matter could not exist without ( 30 ) life and space, and is but the expression of life; and all three facts are each and all beyond human ( and, I believe, spirit) comprehension. Now, let us see what we know in regard to these three things. All men of ordinary intelligence will admit that life produces energy, energy produces force, force produces motion, and motion produces change, Avhich is ceaseless. All this tends to establish the grand law of evolution. BIRTH OF THE WORLD. We know again that matter is divided into two parts — ponderable and imponderable. While we ac- knowledge our inability to comprehend infinite mat- ter, let us begin at that point of matter where human comprehension is supposed to begin, — the microcosm or atom of imponderable matter, such as light, heat, magnetism, etc., — and proceed to build a world. Now, there being no such thing as a vacuum or a space not containing anything (matter), then it follows that space, the third known fact, is filled with the ultimate atoms of imponderable matter, and, as each atom has atomic life, there we have the corner-stone of our pro- posed world, for in that live atom we find our first fundamental principles — force, motion, and change. Now, we find motion also produces friction, friction produces electricity, and electricity produces magne- tism, and by this known fact of magnetism we produce ( 31 ) attraction. And now we will lay this corner-stone of our proposed world by attracting one atom to another until we have an embryo world in the form of a gas- eous body similar to, if not actually, a comet's tail, composed of atoms so attenuated that a mass of them ten thousand miles thick does not obstruct the human vision from the stars beyond. And so, behold, we have an accouchement, — behold the new-born world ! And, strange to observe, not once have we been called on to create something out of nothing, but simply have ap- plied the known truths of evolution. And now, after having assumed the responsibility of projecting this new-born world into the eternal fam- ily of accumulated life, we deem it incumbent upon us to provide a suitable nurse, to whom we will give the name of Soul. She, we find, is superior to matter in the unit or single ultimate, although only produced by that affinity which in itself is first produced by the joining of the first two atoms, understood as positive and negative; they, the first positive and negative, being the Father and Mother of what we of the earth life understand as electro-magnetic attraction. Now we instruct the nurse that the Soul, being superior to matter or next above in degree toward what we call God or Over- Soul, we seat her over these two atoms, telling her one known truth: First, that she is and here represents that mystic symbol known in the brotherhood of the Mystic Circle as the BEGINNING (32) and the END, where the FIRST shall be LAST and the LAST shall be FIRST. And now we give unto this nurse her first instruc- tions : We give unto thee as a tried and trusted mem- ber of our Brotherhood of spheres (worlds) all sufficient power to reach out and gather in a sufficient number of atoms, or world-food, through the influence of the positive and negative law to nourish this infant world; be ye careful at the same time to infuse into its corporate life those Mystic attributes of which you have been given a knowledge: to wit, Love, Truth, and Charity, for thus we Involve to be again Evolved, round and round, on and on and on, until your work as an object world shall have been finished, when you, in turn, shall place the labor of your Earth Life into the hands of those of the next in degree, which is Spirit Life, there to begin again a cycle at the threshold of a higher comprehension. (33) CHAPTER III. SPIRIT LIFE. No such thing as tim^e — Atom life and the sixth sense — Investigating ^phenomena, NO SUCH THING AS TIME. Before we begin this subject it is necessary to un- derstand one fact: that, in our endeavor to arrive at a correct solution of the phenomena now occurring throughout the world, it will be necessary for the reader to bear one fact in mind, — i. e. that there is no such thing as time. Time is only a man-made rule or gauge to measure events by, for, in the vast field of eternity to recognize time is to recognize a beginning which often proves a will-o'-the-wisp to confuse and mislead the student. However, we may occasionally be required to use it as a comparison, that you may more readily grasp our meaning; therefore we will class it as the godfather of Evolution, at least as far as this and the spirit world is concerned. And, if in this work we shall succeed in solving the riddle of these two worlds, the ponderable and the imponder- ( 34 ) able (spirit) world, I think we will find the atmos- phere sufficiently cleared thereby to give us at least a beautiful dream of the home of the Soul. ATOM LIFE. Atom Life, Object or Physical Life, and Soul Life. All atoms are either positive or negative. When the first two atoms of any object life come together by attraction we have the first stage of embryo life, and right there begins our time and also the first appear- ance and comprehension of electro-magnetic attrac- tion, from out of the mysteries of those three known truths. Life, flatter, and Space. What mind can com- prehend the size of these atoms when brought together as one united whole; yet that is also a fact. Now, throughout the mass of the united whole, is ceaselessly passing a life principle. Let us, for the purpose of a partial comprehension, call this over-life the over-soul infiuence, or God ; 't is but a name, a handle, a con- venience to truth. The same law that caused two atoms to come togeth- er will cause any number to come together. Now, when, as before mentioned, the positive and negative meet, there we first establish a current. Bear in mind that I do not mean to assert that this is the same kind of electro-magnetism in every-day use for mercantile purposes, but something similar in its operation. It (35) is that super-sensitive magnetism that is the real connecting-link that binds this ponderable, or object matter, with the imponderable, or spirit world, and where it is necessary to have a battery called a sensi- tive, or medium. This link is best understood as a sixth sense, and can be developed in any human being to a more or less degree and, as we know^ that there are no two things alike, then it follows that no two medi- ums are alike. INVESTTGATING PHENOMENA To properly investigate these i)henomena one should distinctly understand that spirits are really but man after all, only in a sublimated state or condition ; they are subject to all the errors and many of the mistakes of man, and when you come to consider that they have to voice such truths as they may have gathered in their new condition, through a medium, that they still are laboring under a very grave difficulty in having only a physical man brought to that super-sensitive condi- tion and only to that fineness that the medium's own organism will admit. As there are no two organisms or sole conditions alike, either on the earth or on the spirit plane, then it stands to reason that the one who wishes to know or to be able to draw as near the Truth as possible should go to, say not less than twenty medi- ums. Let these mediums have their own way entirely. ( 86 ) Do not, under any circumstances, let them know what your object is. Talk but little nor give them any clew to work on, for the medium's control can sense what is on your mind when the conditions are favorable for so doing. Keep your mind in as negative a condi- tion as you possibly can. Be kind and gentle to the medium, let your opinion of the medium be what it may. For you must remember that to be a good in- strument is to be able to throw yourself into a highly nervous or sensitive condition. This I absolutely know from my own feelings. Now, after having sat privately with twenty or more, then sum up, as it were, the general results, and, if you know how, divide % twenty, and you arrive at a generally correct idea. (37 ) CHAPTER IV. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SIXTH SENSE. Growth of the World — Birth of the Spirit World. Speaking from my own experience, as regards the development of the sixth sense, I must admit that all the way through the last four years it has been one agreeable surprise after another in finding all rules, regulations, laws, and advice as laid down by the dif- ferent wiseacres entirely different from what I had expected to find them, which has about convinced me that every person has a different life- aura, or magne- tism, — ^just as different as one man's countenance is from another's; and every one that sits to develop this sixth sense will find it out as they advance, and not before. And here let me say that it being a super- magnetic force or law, you will find that it is a physi- cal or practical fact that like attracts like. Hence the law of the gold atom attracting gold, iron attracting iron, apple attracting apple, rose attracting rose, etc. Where do you suppose the millions of atoms come from that go to build the object life called an apple? Do you say as of old, " Oh, the mysteries of God are (38) past finding out ''? Then burn this book and live on in ignorance. I say this super-sensitive magnetism that holds or draws the ultimates of matter together, being governed by that particular object life of the ajjple, which object life is again governed by the over- soul or life of our world as a whole world, said world again being governed by the infinite life which flows through and penetrates every spot of unknown eter- nity, which I call the over-soul of life. Do not be in a hurry at this point, my dear reader, but take a retrospective view from this point back- ward, step by step, in the regular known order of such of the established laws of Evolution as have already been acknowledged by your most enlightened minds, and note with care how all the various degrees of change have taken place, from the first point of man's comprehension, from the ultimate atom, to the second change in evolution, which is the invisible or magnetic body. GROWTH OF THE WORLD. Next, we have, when a sufficient bulk of these atoms is drawn together, — say, for the purpose of compre- hension, a sphere of one million miles in diameter, — there, in the very center, reason teaches us, will be the greatest density, when we have the third change in evolution ; for this pressure, however slight at the sur- face of this sphere, is of sufficient force to produce (39 ) luminosity at the center, the attraction being toward the center. After the fullness of time, or a period which may be aeons of ages, with the assistance of the life force permeating through the whole mass, it takes on the fourth change of a fluid condition, a liquid, purifying fire, changing the whole into one homogen- eous mass. This immense heat drives off that impon- derable matter (it is the only name at this stage that I can find for it), such as steam, atmospheric and other gases, while the heated sphere, together with its outer environments, air, etc., throws off still another matter, which is about the beginning of the fifth change, for at this point in evolution a very important factor is introduced or produced, to wit. The Spirit World. BIRTH OF THE SPIRIT V^ORLD. which is that part of the first or primeval matter that has passed through the fire of, let us say, purification, and is the beginning of that mystic circle known to the highly sensitized organism as the spirit world, and from this stage on constant additions are being made to it from spirit emanations of imponderable matter from this lower or ponderable world as they reach their several stages of the highest possible earth de- velopment or unfoldment. This spirit sphere is gath- ered around the earth planet in something the same manner as heat is thrown off from a red-hot cannoi (40) ball, i. e. the last and densest emanations being next the surface of our earth. Now while these imponderable atoms have reached their highest unfoldment as ponderable or earth mat- ter, the dross is thrown back into the mills of the gods (Earth) their impurities there to be ground over and over by the forces of evolution until they, in their turn, become spiritualized. Here let the reader understand that the spirit world is a real world or sphere, and is a part and parcel or continuation of our world, even the trees and fruit, rivers and lakes, etc., only they are in an imponderable condition where the spirit of matter is still working out higher and grander unfoldment through higher stages of this object life, but constantly moving on- ward to the unknown home of the soul. While I call the spirit sphere imponderable, I use the word in our worldly or chemical sense; for while it is invisible to the undeveloped human eye, it has in many well-authenticated cases been clearly proven that clairvoyance, slate- writing, mesmerism, material- ization, the most convincing of all the phenomena, are established facts, and, as I said in the first part of this book, I have had several phases of these phenomena in my own room with not a soul present but myself. (41) CHAPTER V. DEVELOPMENT OF A MEDIUM. Spirit Hypnotism. Those spirits who have lately passed from earth life have just entered the lower sphere or condition of the spirit; hence their magnetism or attraction reaches the nearest to us of the earth. By sitting, say, every third or fourth day, in a semi-darkened room (a cabinet is better), and, by practice, learning to keep yourself in as negative a. condition as possible, you thereby raise the quality of your magnetism. Here understand, by the same ever-present law, that as like attracts like in the object life, such as apple to apple, rose to rose, etc.; here steps in a more pronounced condition, — good to good, bad to bad, etc. This will be more readily understood when you consider that on the spirit side is found the lowest spirit magnetic aura which links the ponderable with the imponder- able. Here again let the reader understand in beginning your search after these mystic truths that just such thoughts as are cultivated in your innermost spirit or ( 42 ) soul, just such spirits do you attract as your band (or battery) on the other side; for as a man thinks so he is. Your own common reason will tell you that. They, your band of spirit controls, will in like manner, by the same law, attract or reflect the voices of intelli- gences next in degree above them. Therefore, in be- ginning your sittings cultivate the highest aspirations. Do not by any means let the idea run away with you that the spirits will make you one particle better. You must live your own life and know that you must o to knowledge, for knowledge will not come to you, either here or in the spirit world. The development of this sixth sense does not add materially to your knowledge, such as telling fortunes and such non- sense; but it merely acts as a sort of illumination or quickening of your ordinary senses, and it also is a kind of king over one or all of your five senses for a short time, generally from one to two hours, such as wholly or partial entrancement, etc. As a further evidence of like to like, go to four me- diums, and get a communication, if possible, on the same business matter. You will find three times out of four that the answers, which may be correct, are nevertheless all tinctured with the style and charac- teristics of the medium, or sensitive. Not but what the medium is perfectly honest, for I have given them questions which I had every reason in the world to be- lieve they did not know, either the question or the an- ( 43 ) swer; yet they were answered correctly. But had I asked the medium some such question as an ordinary friend would ask while in a normal condition, the answer would be in their own personal phraseology. Therefore, always keep one thing in mind when interviewing the spirits through any medium's forces, — that the tone of the light which you receive in the room is always depending on the color of the glass (medium) through which it is passed. Always use your own judgment, and weigh carefully any communication that you may receive, for strange spirits can and do come and represent themselves as your own friends, and it is almost im- possible for you to tell the difference. My spirit band has frequently cautioned me on this point. This false personation is to-day the most deplorable fact that the investigator has to contend with, and what makes this fact still more unfortunate is, there are always to be found among the ranks of spiritualists many weak-minded and foolish people, as in every other walk of life, ever ready to swallow anything that may be told them, provided they think it comes from a spirit. This is all caused from such people being too ignorant to look below the surface of the mere mechanical or chemical phenomena, and so being unable to separate the dross from the pure metal. (44) SPIRIT HYPNOTISM. Spirit mediums are often used by their band to in- fluence, or, in a manner, to hypnotize, a person into giving them (the mediums) money, jewels, and other property, sometimes leading the sitter to believe that they are giving to the spirits; and yet the mediums, in a large measure, may not be to blame. The me- dium, being the battery on this side and their spirit band the battery on the other side, brings the two batteries into direct harmony. Now, while mediums are in their normal condition they are like any one else. They see a fine ring on your finger or a beautiful jewel in your necktie, and the medium, being human, in her soul thinks : " How I wish that were mine," and, from day to day it grows on her mind; then, when she goes under the control of her band, they (the band) take on that wish or con- dition and voice the mind of the medium to the sitter, often personating your friends and telling you that it will benefit you in many ways if you will give it to them (through the medium, of course), making you all sorts of absurd promises to gain their ends, — and they have a very winsome way oftentimes in doing it, more especially if the sitter should be more or less a negative to hypnotism, which is only a branch law of spirit control. Witness the case of Lawyer Marsh and Madame Des Be Bar, of New York ; Mrs. Lemond and ( 45 ) Mary Smith, of Alameda, Cal. ; Mrs. Martin, of Oak- land, Cal., and many others. This should convince you that while a man may be perfectly clear and level- headed in ordinary business matters, these occult laws must be handled with a cool and careful judgment. I will recite a case of my own of a medium with whom I was well acquainted. While she was en- tranced ( and it was no sham entrancement, for it was during a materializing seance) the medium's control begged me to buy her medium a fine ring she had seen in a showcase. I told her no, that I had no money to waste on rings. She kept up her importunities for two or three days, and when she found that I was not to be gulled in that way she begged me not to mention the matter to her medium when she came out of her trance. Now, while I have no doubt that the desire to possess the ring was on the medium's mind, nothing could have induced her to even hint of such a thing to me. Again, these spirit bands will play on a weak mind for years to work them up to giving and willing prop- erty to their mediums. Ask any medium's control, and they will tell you that they are more attached to their medium than a mother is to her own child and think more of her, and the medium will give you the same answer as regards her affection for her band. How could it possibly be otherwise? And yet medi- ums often have disagreements with their bands, and ( 46 ) refuse to be governed by them at all times in local mat- ters. Such mediums, however, who have done so and with whom I have conversed on the matter have always said that they were sorry for it afterwards, as time proved in the end that their band was right. Grant me your patience for one or two more in- stances on the above facts of the media and their bands being almost as inseparable as one thought and one mind. On one occasion, while pursuing my investiga- tions through the mediumship of Mrs. Helen Fair- child, Forest Queen, her Indian control (and she was almost a perfect control), said to me: "Mr. Foster, don't they have lots of pretty things at the big store on the corner?" meaning O'Brien's large dry-goods store on the corner of Market and McAllister Streets, San Francisco. " I often try to influence my medium to go there just to see the things. Don't you know, yesterday we were in there, and I made her buy two or three yards of beautiful red silk, and when she came home and opened her packages and saw it she did not know what in the world she bought it for." " Why," I asked Queen, " cannot you go there by yourself and enjoy the sights? " She answered, " No, not without my medium's eyes to see Avith, the same as I have to have her mouth to talk with. Don't you know, when I. was eating the candy you gave me with my medium's mouth, that you smelled its flavor on your Sylvia's breath w^hile she was talking to you? " I answered, (47) " Yes." '' Well, it is just the same, we could not do anything without our medium's organism for a bat- tery." Again Ptolemy Philadelphus, my guide, in some of his instructions to me told me I must learn to separate their (my band's) thoughts from mine whenever I got impressions from them, for, as I got the flavor of the candy the control was eating from the breath of spirit Sylvia, who Avas at that time conversing with me in full form materialization while the medium under control of Forest Queen was sitting in full view in the further corner of the roomy just so would I become a part of their thoughts and they a part of mine. At another time I wrote some eight or ten questions on a long strip of paper, and folded and sealed it care- fully. Some of the questions I intended as test ques- tions; i. e. directed to friends not dead. Other ques- tions were on a matter of patent papers which would lead the spirits to believe that the Patent Office had not yet decided on them, but of which I knew the con- trary. This was through the mediumship of Dr. Mansfield, better known as " The Spirit Postmaster." This sealed paper never left my sight. He laid the pel- let on the table before him and commenced to tap it with his ^nger, at the same time writing the answer. Well, it proved to me one thing that I was fishing foi;, namely, the spirit force or sixth sense in Mansfield en- abled him to read the writing by a sort of clairvoy- (48) ance, but he or a personating control wrote the answer, as in every case the trap caught, which shows the necessity of being very careful in your investiga- tions. And now for one other case — the opposite. I wrote on a piece of paper five different questions to five dif- ferent spirit friends, among them my father, whose signature I know well. This was in Alameda. I took them, folded lightly, to Fred Evans in San Francisco. I had them in my vest-pocket. I asked him if he could get me an answer, and he replied that he would try. He placed five clean slates on the table in the full light of day, two of them being double. I laid the pellet on the double slates and placed my fingers on it and kept them there. In about fifteen minutes raps came signi- fying that they were done. I picked up the pellet and placed it back in my pocket, Mr. Evans never once having touched it. Each answer was correct and signed by the one to whom it was addressed. WHY DO WE GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM A DARK ROOM IN SITTING FOR SPIRIT PHENOMENA^ OR WHY IS IT NECESSARY FOR A DARK ROOM? When a person wishes to find out if he possesses tljose qualifications requisite for spirit communica- tions, it is at first advisable to use a darkened room, for the following reasons : You, my friend, found by (49) experience that you could place yourself in a much more negative condition in the dark, and you soon learned that the least ray of light would completely upset you. We think that this question can be best answered by calling your attention to a number of well-recognized facts. By way of an illustration, let any one who wishes to test this matter try sitting in a fully lighted room at a time when he wishes to cogitate or hold com- munion with his innermost sense, soul, or being, on some very important subject, when it is desirable to concentrate his thoughts. Try this for about fifteen minutes and note the result; then darken the room and try again, and you will find that in the dark your mind or thoughts will flow with far more ease and rapidity. It is also a well-known fact, not only with the hu- man but also with the brute, that when brought low with a wound or sickness, they seek a dark place to repose. Why do you always tone down the light in a sick-chamber? If you should neglect it, how quickly the patient will request it. Take the chicken in the shell, or the corn on the cob as the grains begin to form and ripen, and note the complete exclusion of light that Nature has provided. Or take a seed under cover of the earth, the rose-bud, the womb, or in fact take ninety per cent, of all Nature, and does she not pro- vide a dark chamber to materialize, produce, or repro- (50 ) duce an object, when, we may say, she rearranges her atomic substance? In your investigation of these phenomena you must first accept the facts as they present themselves to you ; but it does not follow that you must cease your investigation at this point for fear you may be en- croaching on the omniscience — with our apology to Mr. Davidson for differing with him. Light is composed of several substances. Hence we call it matter, and as physically it is the most pene- trating matter at present known to man (in fact it is so infinitely subdivided that man loses sight of it as it passes from the ponderable to what we may almost call the imponderable), how insinuating this fluid is or how impossible the task of excluding it completely from a chamber can be comprehended when you con- sider the vast amount of labor that has been expended upon it in the city of Washington by one of the Gov- ernment officials in his fruitless endeavor to build an absolutely dark room. This being one of the phenomenal facts that present themselves for your consideration, then the question will arise : Are there not many other substances in ex- istence which may be equally as sensitive, if not far more so, that are as yet unknown to man; such as magnetism, electricity, thought, etc? Your observation of effect proves to you that be- yond a doubt these substances can be and are subdi- (51) vided to a point beyond the comprehension of man; and if this be the case, would not your own common sense teach you that they could best operate on the ponderable or physical matter through the imponder- able by way of this so-called darkness, in precisely the same way that the germ of reproduction operates ; i. e. the light, being substance and antagonistic to cer- tain other substances, acts as an obstruction to a union or amalgamation of said substance with the matter of a body while in process of organizing. As you further find that it is not always necessary for the light to be excluded in the case of a reproduc- tion (i. e. the ten per cent.), neither is it always neces- sary for it to be excluded in all spirit phenomena. One of the finest illustrations we can offer you on the disintegrating effect of light on other matter is to call your attention to photography, the fading or dis- integration of color, snow-blindness, etc. These ex- planations, we are aware, will be received by an unprejudiced philosopher as both possible and prob- able. He seeks only for a knowledge of the cause of an effect and pays no attention to the ravings of blind fanaticism or the dogmatic teachings of the credulist. You do not find such well-baJanced minds as Wallace, Crooker, Flammarion, Keichenbach, Edmons, Varley, Barrett, Wagner, and others too numerous to men- tion, carrying on their investigations of these and other natural phenomena by asking why this or that (52) phenomenon is in the dark or in the light, and then jumping to the conclusion that because an ear of corn will not mature in the light without the husk, it must he a fraud. But they first satisfy themselves if the phenomenon is an existing physical fact; then they, as free philosophers, seek to find out how far physical law can be applied to arrive at a solution of the cause, and, if they fail to arrive at a natural solution, they are honest and unprejudiced enough to accept the phe- nomena as they present themselves, by admitting that the solution is beyond their present comprehension, but that it is not improbable that they may be better understood as man develops other knoivledge in the not distant future as the wheel of evolution rolls slowly onward. A large majority of those who claim to be investi- gators of the truth of these and other phenomena, not being sufficiently well-informed as to the way of ap- plying even physical science in a philosophical man- ner, are liable to drop into the error of thinking that science should have the right to demand that any and all phenomenal truths should present themselves for consideration in any manner that these would-be scientists saw fit to demand. In refutation of this, allow us to ask this class of investigators if they would deny the existence of life because it chooses to make its first appearance in the dark. Man, in seeking knowledge of Nature, must go ( 53 ) to Nature and inquire of her ; and remember, that Nature is not seeking of you, but you of her, and she will give you only such truths as you are capable of digesting. Therefore, if you should fail to compre- hend her, it is not because she does not lay an abun- dance at your feet, but because you cannot pick it up. Why, my friend, it is the constant and ceaseless de sire of man to reach after that which he does not pos- sess that forms one of the spokes of the wheel of evolution, Excelsior, (54) CHAPTER VI. THE MYSTIC CIRCLE. Destiny, We will now endeavor to convey to the mind of the reader what it is we mean by the term "Mystic Circle." It is that vast and inconceivable amount of truth that is in existence, not alone in the earth life, but perme- ating all space, which yet remains to be known and comprehended by the people of the earth. For ever^^ one thing or truth which you know there are yet more than a million of truths of which mankind is in entire ignorance. Now, my friend and student, stop right here and ponder well on the above assertion in all its various phases, and settle this point in your mind, which we will take for granted is in the affirmative. Now we find your mind in a condition to proceed. The physical as well as the occult truth is and has its existence as a scientific fact in the past, present, and future, without regard to words or a language, and has nothing whatever to do with names of any kind, (please to bear this in mind) ; for all truth was, is, and will be self-existent long before words were (65) invented ; in fact, words and language, like time, are only man-made conveniences to partially convey Ono man's knowledge or meaning to another of what he knows ; and, as he cannot convey to another informa- tion of such truths as he does not know (for you must know it before you can coin a word to convey it to an- other), then you will see that all of those millions of truths yet remaining undiscovered in the vast realm of eternity by the people of earth can only be called the Mystic Circle , a circle without a center or a cir- cumference. Truly this is mystic. And now, my friend, if it should be your de- sire to become a membei- or this Brotherhood of the Mystic Circle, its doors are at all times and forever open to those who would partake of the feast; for know ye, all who enter its portal are received with the open arms of Love, Truth, and Charity, without re- gard to race, creed or condition, where Truth alone prevails. In this school was Socrates, Buddha, Christ, and many other of earth's sensitives, or mediums, devel- oped and feasted on the good things only to be found on the tables, which are many and varied, of the Mys- tic Temple of the Brotherhood. And while you will find the doors at all times wide open, there you will also find your (so-called) guardian angel standing at the threshold with open arms, ready to receive and conduct you through your initiation, teaching and ex- (56 ) plaining to jou step by step, as you yourself shall desire to progress, the many mysteries of the temple as you advance. We are not now speaking of your soul-passage after the so-called death of the physical bod}^, but have reference to the present moment of your life. You have been told of old, " Knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and ye shall find." This is a literal truth ; you must have an inner soul desire for these mystic truths, — not from mere curiosity, but that you may become more illuminated or spiritualized, and you must live up to and absolutely put into your daily life the practice of these truths ; for know ye, we will give unto you one piece of silver; now go ye your way a free and independent soul, and after a time return to us that piece of silver and tell us what use you made of it, for until you have learned the use of that which we have given you we cannot advance you any further, — i. e. you cannot learn to write until you have learned to spell ; you must creep before you walk. You will find as you advance in this circle that the most wonderful knowledge will be given unto you, and in the queerest manner, — so remarkable and yet so comprehensible that you will frequently find yourself exclaiming, " Of a truth, this is mystic." And the most beautiful part of it is that you seem to know- absolutely beyond all doubt that it is a fact, and one of the queer or mystic parts of it is that you cannot (57 ) give this knowledge to any who have not progressed themselves that far into the mystic circle. Note the wisdom of the master of this circle right here, in that it is incumbent upon every individual soul to hew out its own end ; see how beautifully the lines come in : — " There 's a destiny that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will." By destiny here is meant the guardian angel or spirit familiar who stands at the threshold of that mystic temple to assist you in your honest ( ?) delving after knowledge; and when you come to understand that you are at this moment standing and knocking at that door, with your dearest spirit friend that you ever had standing at your very shoulder trying, oh so hard, to turn your innermost thoughts in a spiritual direction, then, and then only, will you begin to com- prehend the A B C of our Brotherhood. As it is our object in writing this book to give in- structions or information regarding such facts as we have been able to gather we will refrain as much as possible from moralizing, and try to confine our re- marks as closely to the facts as a clear comprehension of the subject will admit of and leave to the student the privilege of spreading it over a larger space. (58) CHAPTER VII. SENSITIZED^ PROGRESSED OR SPIRIT ETHER. Spirit Return — Sympathetic Attraction. After I had, by many and various investigations, fully satisfied myself of the truth of materialization, clairvoyance, etc., there took possession of me an un- conquerable desire to know the law or facts in detail as to how these were accomplished, and to that end I have bent and am now bending all my intelligence. When sitting in my cabinet as negative as I could, I still found my thoughts would be inclined to drift ; then I would steer them toward the great question. How in the name of God was it done? In the course of five or six months I began to realize that my thoughts were drifting into strange but beautiful and logical realms ; I was shown, given, or got knowledge of practical facts, but how^ I got it, from whence it came, by whom delivered, or in what manner, is be- yond my ability to tell. Now, some wiseacres will tell you it was impressions, whUe others will say it was inspiration, and yet again we will be told it was a super-illumination of the brain, or perhaps soul. 1 (59 ) will say it was a little of all of them, and will express it thus : I saw that around the earth body there was a large imponderable body of electro-magnetic ether, extend- ing around and about the earth in an outward direc- tion for many thousands of miles, but belonging to the earth only. Upon examination, I found that this ether was composed of atoms that had at one time been a part of the earth matter, but, by a law of con- tinuous progression or advancement, after they had reached the highest state of unfoldment that the earth could furnish them, that they then left the ponderable earth, in something of the same manner that the ripe apple leaves the tree, and that right there our law of gravitation had no longer a control over them, but that they still owed allegiance to the law of attraction. I also found that in passing outward from the sur- face of the earth that the further I went the less the attraction, the less dense but the more sensitive these atoms became; in fact, the moment I entered within the domain (let us call it) of the spirit, I found a sen- sitized field so delicate that it entirely passed all hu- man comprehension. I found that this ether could and did retain and record all happenings of the earth even to your very thoughts, something similar to Edi- son's audiphone. I saw that on or in this field of ether (spirit world) all things that were or ever had been on the earth ( 60 ) plane were here reproduced, but far, far more beauti- ful and real ; such people, flowers, landscapes, birds, fruit, etc., that I know of no words that can possibly convey to you even a partial idea of their magnifi- cence. Just imagine for a moment the most perfect human form clothed in garments composed of the prisms of the rainbow, moving to and fro, up and down, without any apparent effort of their own. 1 no longer wonder that those favored mortals who have been permitted to visit this mystic circle should so long for the change called death ; for death indeed is but a grand victory of the imponderahle over the pon- der ahle. In order that you may in a measure comprehend something of the fineness or subdivision of this ether (for the greater the division of atomic life the more sensitive it becomes), I will say that I found that the people of this super-sphere did not use or require a language. You have, as it were, but to think or will what you wish to say and the other understands you, so very sensitive is this ether in which all live and have their being. There are spirits who make this and other spirit laws a deep and patient study, spending cen- turies of devotion to the subject, where you of the earth spend days of your time. All spirits do not un- derstand these laws of spirit return or how to raise or develop the mortal medium's organism up to that sen- sitive condition that they (the spirits) may use them. ( 61 ) V^'^^P'Ty) This law is purely a eliemieal law on the spirit side of life, as well as on the earth plane. NoAv, inj friend, Ave will again ask you to stop and consider, how many of you of the earth life are quali- fied to go into a laboratory and fully analyze the dif- ferent matters (atom life)? Why, not one in a million ! How many sons of earth are organized as a Mozart, a Webster, or an Edison, etc? Not one in ten million ! The spirits on our side of life find many obstacles in our path which only time and great patience can re- move ; for nearly all spirit intercourse with the people of earth depends largely on the moral or spiritual ad- vancement of the people of the earth ; as you become more lovable, kind, and charitable, you raise the sen- sibilities of the ether which you throw off, which al- lows us ( the spirits) to draw nearer unto you and more properly control your thoughts. I also found in the phenomena of painting in oil and drawing or writing on slates that the spirits did not actually consume any of the pigment of the paint or pencil, but that they drew from these articles that part of the matter that had reached its highest enfold- ment; i. e. the spiritualized or imponderable part without any apparent wasting away of the earthly atom. To satisfy yourselves of the truth of this, go to a good slate-writing medium and note the size of the small crumb of pencil he places between the slates^ (62 ) then, after jou open the slates and find both sides of them fully covered with writing, again note the size of the crumb of pencil, and you will find that it has not diminished a particle. SYMPATHETIC ATTRACTION. (Or no ponderable matter is real.) All objective matter is built up by sympathetic at- traction of the ultimate atoms of their respective kinds. These atoms in their single state are so incon- ceivably small as to take on something of the nature of an influence, and are able to pass through other so- called solid matter, — for the only solid matter is the single infinite atom, the single ultimate atom being composed of many infinite atoms. Here let me again explain what is meant by an ulti- mate atom. It is matter divided down to the smallest point of human comprehension; such as an atom of magnetism, electricity, sunlight, thought, color, etc. As all object matter is ceaselessly taking on and throwing off matter in the atomic form, then it follows that objective matter is constantly changing; there- fore, it is always in motion. Then it is never, for the smallest fraction of time, the same; hence it has no real existence as one or the same object at any one point in time. Take, for an instance, the apple just ( 63 ) after the blossom has left the pod, then take the full ripe apple as it falls from the tree. Did the apple change in the fraction of a second, and, if not, at what comprehensive point in time did it change from a pod to a full ripe apple? All of the atoms that entered into the growing fruit during its progress did not remain with the fruit by a very large percentage, but passed off, leaving in their passage a portion of the ultimates with the growing apple. As a positive know^ledge of this truth, apply your sense of smell at any stage of its growth. Is not the fragrance matter being cast off by the fruit? Physical science has long since acknowl- edged that all known so-called solids are composed of spherical-shaped atoms having a space between them. How, then, can they be solid? And now your attention, please. How about the single infinite atom? Is not that a solid, and there- fore real, as it cannot change, being infinite and eter- nal? And, as we cannot see it, then only that which we do not see is real. (64) CHAPTER VIIL BODY AND SOUL. In order to convey our idea to the reader of the truth of matter in the ponderable and imponderable state and its relation to life or soul, we will have to begin at a point just previous to human and also spirit comprehension, which is the ultimate atom. All of your scientists agree that all matter, whether in a gaseous or solid state, even including light, heat, etc., is composed of atoms supposed to be in a spherical shape and so small as to be beyond human compre- hension; hence the necessity of our beginning our explanation at or a little previous to human compre- hension, — i. e. life and the atom. If the atom is so small that even the spirits cannot see or comprehend it, then how much more incompre- hensible would be and is the life force or principle that is within the single atom? This life we will designate as God or over-soul, as we know that it permeates and flows through and through all matter and all space, and is superior to and governs all things whatsoever; ( 65 ) and beyond this we, the spirits, cannot advise you, but will begin at this point by saying that the atoms which fill all space in the original single atom state of atom life are imponderable to the spirit as well as the mor- tal. It is only when two or more atoms come together by mutual attraction, such as rose to rose, color to color, etc., that they become visible to the advanced spirits, and only then to a very limited extent; and it is by studying this law of accumulative atoms that we find the law of spirit communication. These atoms that we have just spoken of are not the atoms that compose the spirit world, but are the atoms of which you and your world are composed ; and in this condi- tion, as a world, they have taken on their second change, — for they have to pass through the various laws of the earth evolution and gradually rise from cycle to cycle in their earth condition until the earth can no longer furnish them any more advancement or unfoldment, when then, by this wonderful law of life, they take on a higher condition of spirit and become the component part of that which goes to produce the spirit and spirit world. Now, in order that the student may more readily understand us, we will first run down the line of known facts again. When two or more atoms come together they form objective life ; this again produces a gaseous body, and this produces a fluid body, caused by pressure and chemical changes; this produces the ( 66 ) rock life. Next we have vegetable life, next animal life, next spirit life, and then soul life, which is as far as we can comprehend. Now, in the first stage of the world's evolution all was in a rank and crude condi- tion. For the purpose of a clearer understanding, let us take the vegetable life of the primeval age and com- pare it with the present advanced stage of vegetation, your almost perfect fruit and flowers ; all this was not wrought in a day but required vast cycles of time. In the fullness of time Mother Earth gave forth her fruits to be again disintegrated (not destroyed), and then again reproduced one step in advance of the order of life unfoldment, and the same order is followed out in regards to the rocks and animal life. The rocks were crude and unclassified at their first appearance out of the seething fires of the liquid cycle, and just so was the human family. No one will doubt for a moment the advanced condition of man to-day over the primeval man. And what has caused this change? Why, as man reached his three-score years and ten (the so-called Biblical limit of the average human life), his body be- ing purely physical or ponderable, reaches its earth limit as an object life; but in its conception as an ob- ject it also takes on an undeveloped spirit body, and the purpose of this physical life is to furnish a condi- tion for the spirit to unfold, preparatory to its second change or advent into yet another condition. Now, understand that the spirit is a body composed (67) of. atoms, similar to the earth or physical body, with the difference that it is imponderable, having no longer any use for a ponderable body. The spirit body, while it is a tenant of the earth body, is at the same time the possessor of a soul or life principle; at first, as in a new-born infant, so delicate as to be hardly dis- cernible. Now, as the physical body fosters the spirit and is responsible for a perfect piece of work, so is the spirit again responsible for a good soul, and this order applies to matter of whatsoever nature, the primeval stage merely preparing the way for the ad- vanced change; round and round, onward and still onward, until it passes beyond not only human but spirit comprehension. Now, my friend, you see nothing here irrational, but simply a straight, onward course of logical deduction from cause to effect. Now, please compare the above assertion with the old mythological and ignorant teachings of a still more unlearned and self-aggrandiz- ing teacher, such as nothing containing nothing out of which came a personal God. This God was not cre- ated. Oh, no ! But after that, what? Why, everything else was created out of nothing. Does not your own enlightenment in this present age, backed by all the wise teachers of to-day, go to prove beyond all doubt that nothing whatever can be destroyed, cease to be, or be reduced to nothing? Then, if it cannot be reduced to nothing, it follows, by a natural course of reason- (68 ) ing, that it never came from nothing but the atom which fills all known space; merely change, change, change, from one condition or form of life to still an- other and higher condition of life, on and on and on until all passes beyond human comprehension into the vast unknown, a space so large as to pass all human understanding and every minute part of said space filled exactly full, without crowding, with atom life, so small that they, on their part, pass all comprehension. Therefore, as all space is exactly filled with atoms, you will readily see that there could not possibly be any such thing as a vacuum, or a space containing not any- thing; and as all atoms have atom life, and life is God, or the soul of things (for it is only a name),* then you can very clearly see how it is not only possi- ble but a logical fact that God is everywhere. STRANGE GODS. Whenever a man or a set of men claim a knowledge of facts previous to or beyond the point of human com- prehension, that man is either a knave or a fool and would have you to worship strange gods. Far more will it profit the children of earth to confine their wor- ship within the limit of their understanding, giving preference at all times to that which they know over that which thev believe. *Life is only an effect or expression of three entities, which are Thought, Force, and Substance. (See Chapter 38.) (69) CHAPTEK IX. (We do not claim this as impressional. ) HEALING BY THE ULTIMATE ATOM. After having practiced and experimented with the forces used in healing, for something like three years, testing it by every known principle at my command, and being mindful of the facts of the penetrating prop- erties of the refined or spirit ultimates, I have arrived at the following deductions : — That by sitting at regular intervals, as directed in a former chapter, so as to develop such forces as your individual organism is endowed with, you raise the quality of your earth condition sufficiently to allow the spirit band that you thereby attract to you, to pass the atom of health, or pure atoms, of life-giving im- ponderable matter, through your physical organism into the organism of the one afflicted. Sometimes it happens that the one afflicted stands very low in spiri- tual development of his or her organism ; and, in that case, you may not always be successful. I do not wish to be understood as meaning that the one who is spiritually undeveloped is morally what ( 70 ) the creedal world calls a bad person, but that he has never given these occult or psychological laws a suffi- cient investigation, so as to be able to place himself in a negative or receptive condition to the healer or to his band. In applying these psychological laws, one who has not delved deeply below the surface knowledge of your creeds and false roads to truth, unless he is very care- ful, is apt to weigh the natural truth with a false pair of scales, and hence to arrive at false deductions ; and while I acknowledge my inability to clearly convey to you a full explanation of the modus operandi of heal- ing, — more from the want of a word or of words at the proper place, — yet I will do the best I can. This whole occult field is so vast, and so very much remains for the student to know and comprehend, and the still greater misfortune that the study of psychol- ogy has only within the last ten years (this is 1897) be- come sufficiently recognized by your professors of learning as to allow it a chair of special study in your universities, that I hope the reader of this little book will be charitable enough with me to remember that I am only one of the pioneers, with no fine library on occultism to refresh my memory, but that I must of necessity plunge right ahead into the briars and un- derwood and hew a path, rough and crude though it be, for those who may dare to follow my lead, sincerely lioping that they may find sufficient inducements, as (71 ) they progress along the road, to plant and cultivate such rare and beautiful flowers of truth along the way that they, in their turn, may be blessed by the next generation in evolution for daring to forever anni- hilate the demon Drug from the human family. When I first began to heal, I placed my right hand on the spot where the most pain was, and the left hand just opposite. I alway prefer the bare flesh, but there were times when circumstances required a cloth of some kind, and I then found the results the same, or nearly so. I would sometimes have to give five or six extra treatments. My hands would feel to the patient as if they were covered with dr^^ mustard ; that is, a slight pricking or burning sensation, while at the same time the back of my hand would be very cold. I would keep my hands on the patient about ten minutes, or sometimes twenty minutes. There seemed a sort of premonition or instinct which warned me when to take them off ; and very often I would feel the influence cease to flow, which at first— that is, the first year — was a kind of burning sensation in my hands. At the end of the first year I noticed a radical change. When I put my hands on a person, in less than a minute there would generate a queer buzzing, whirling, or vibratory motion in my right breast. This would flow down my right arm and give off, through my hand and fingers, a vibration of about ^ye hundred to one thousand beats per minute; at the same time (72 ) the back of my hands being very cold, while 'the palms of the hand would sometimes burn the patients so bad- ly that they could not stand it. This was not an imagi- nary feeling, for the patients felt the vibration as well as I ; hence the false deductions of some, calling it magnetism. But let me say to you, my friend, those who call it magnetism, or electricity, have no knowl- edge of facts whatever to so assert, but do so from the old hahit of the human race, of giving it a name at all hazards, for fear that some one will think them igno- rant if they do not profess to know all about it. And thus again is planted the seed of error. How can any one but the healer possibly feel these psycho-physical forces, and they only as they develop them? for not only the heat, cold, and vibratory mo- tion does the healer feel, but that mystic feeling that cannot be described in words. On one occasion, when I was treating a patient for pleurisy, I placed my hand over the bowels. In a few minutes, we both began to smell tallow very strong, when I began to stroke the bowels lightly before re- moving my hands, — which I always do for two or three uduutes, — I found the patient was covered with some- thing like tallow under my hand. Question : Where did it come from? I answer truthfully: I do not know. At another time, I have had a lotion come under my hand, which seemed half water and half oil, in such ( 73 ) quantity as to drip off on the floor. This could not have been magnetism, mind-cure, or Christian Science. The object in stroking the patient just before you remove your hands is to break the condition between the patient and the healer. Then you should immedi- ately place your (the healer's) hands in cold water for a couple of minutes. This seems to absorb the disease from the healer ; for, by experimenting, I found that whenever I neglected to put my hands in cold water, I was sure to feel the effect of the ailment. At the beginning of the third year, another change in treating came over me; i. e. when I placed my hands on the patient, not only the trembling began, but some internal force would try to make me talk, although they have not as yet succeeded in articulat- ing any plain words. This is explained by the spirit of old Massasoit (an Indian who has been with me for eight years) on the ground that he cannot yet speak English, but is learning it very fast.* I will now give you an article on Healing which I wrote about two years ago, as I think it will throw some light on the subject. HEALING BY THE LAYING ON OF HANDS^ Without the inevitable accompaniment of our faith, in our ptirticular creed, did the business. Eighty-five cured out of the first one hundred trials, and done *But this I doubt.— C, H. F. (74) without faith, prayer, Christian Science, concentra- tion of mind, magnetism, or massage treatment. But done by a law of nature as old as the human race, and which embraces all of the above claims in such proportion to the whole truth, as six drops of water does to the mighty ocean. About one year ago (noAV three years) I developed this same wonderful power, and I concluded to investi- gate it as carefully as my limited intelligence would allow. I decided to treat every case just as it came along, keeping a record of each case, and at the same time try to keep my mind as free from creedal influ- ence or a priori opinion as I possibly could, until I had treated one hundred cases free of charge, testing and experimenting as I went along. The result is, I found, that to cure people of pain and disease by simply laying my hands on them is a ?monstrated fact. And so far as my experiments have gone (i. e. eighty-five per cent, cured), I find that neither Christian Science, faith, mind, magnetism, or massage have anything whatever to do with it. As an illustration, people have come to me suffering from pain or disease and said they did not have any faith or belief in Christian Science, mind-cure, etc. My invariable answer to such people has been : " I do not care what you believe. When I put my hands on you and the pain leaves, it will be a matter of knowl- ed(je and not belief/^ (75) And I also find that very many people have this same latent force within their own organism and could develop it to a more or less extent, if they would onh^ pursue the proper course, remembering at the same time that the poet, artist, inventor — in fact, all our geniuses, — have their peculiar forces slumbering within them, until brought forth by a proper course of development. Hie labor, hoc opus est. And right here, many will naturally ask " If this power to heal is not mind, magnetism, etc., as claimed by many, then what is it? " As to that, I can only an- swer : It is a power to be felt by those who possess it, but not described, as it is beyond human comprehen- sion, and no language has yet been coined by which it may be described. And for me to attempt it, would only lead to the old error of mind, faith, etc. And furthermore, I do not find anything of the miraculous or instantaneous cure; but I have cured some in two minutes, and as many as twenty in ten minutes, while the majority required from ten to sixty days, with a gradual gain in health from the first treatment to the end; thus showing it to be a natural law, incompre- hensible to a very large majority of the denizens of this world, I will admit, but nevertheless a truth, as many citizens of Alameda, California, can testify. (76) CHAPTER X. A LITTLE GRAIN OF CORN OR THE QUICKENING GERM OF LIFE. ( May 25, 1895. The first of series number 2. ) The average physical scientist will tell you that nature reproduces in this way : By planting the grain in proper moist soil, etc., the germ of life is brought to a quickening sense by the heat and moisture, and is a purely chemical transaction. Now, let us see if they have really gone to the bottom of the subject, or, in other words, reached the limit of human comprehen- sion. But I will ask, from whence came this (or these) extra germs? For at the very moment of its quicken- ing, right there is ingrafted the first object life of every single grain of corn that will be found on the matured ear when it shall have reached its full devel- opment. It was at this point of knowledge that the ancient alchemists, adejjts, Mahatmas, and other deep stu- dents of Nature/s mystic storehouse began to investi- gate the hidden or mysterious laws of life. From this point they began to trace backwards by a process of (77) reasoning something after this manner: If life pro- duces energy, and energy produces force, and force produces motion, and motion produces change, and change produces evolution, then does it not folloAV by the same law of deduction that motion produces elec- tricity, electricity produces magnetism, and magnet- ism produces attraction? Why, 3^es; of course. Well then, what does it attract? Reason teaches us there could be no attraction without something to attract. Why, by the quickening process of conception, it at- tracts that which is nearest or next in the degree of progress, which is the single ultimate of life or soul, from that life- fluid that is constantly flowing through and permeating all matter and all space. Then we find that up to this point, i.e. so far as our own researches have carried us, all power is derived from life. And as we find, after centuries of investiga- tion, that human comprehension can go no farther, then let us see what other truths we can extract from life. Now, as all matter, even the little grain of corn, is but the expression of life, then it follows that, had the life-fluid for some unknown reason failed to be at- tracted to the seedling while undergoing the process of quickening, then another and far different result would be the outcome of heat and moisture, to wit, a disintegration of the atom life of that grain of corn, said atoms to be again passed through the mills of the (78) gods, and be again reproduced in some other and higher form of expressed life. Having reached thus far in our investigation, we will take it for granted that as with the vegetable line of evolution or progress, so also is it with the animal kingdom. We find by looking backward for countless ages of time that Mother Earth has evi- dently reached the physical limit of her work when she produced man, and Ave are perfectly justified in this conclusion from the fact that the next step on- ward is the spirit world. Now again, we bring our reasoning faculties into play and ask ourselves the question : If the spirit which is next above us in degree can take a step backwards in such a manner as to control a physical earth man, then is there not a law by which a physical man can control that life which is next below him? That is. Hypnotism? (79) CHAPTEE XI. HYPNOTISM. July 1, 1895. — After waiting for a space of two months, I am again impressed to continue this work. As we find that the earth man is composed of three separate and distinct parts, — i.e. the physical body, the spirit body and the soul, — then may not these, by some law, be temporarily separated, acted upon, or influenced in their separate and distinct paths? And if so, by what force and in what manner? We will reason thus: If we wish to reduce wine we would not resort to sand or flesh, but would naturall}^ seek a fluid whose atomic life or parts would be the nearest in direct sympathy or harmony with the wine as our own knowledge of the subject would suggest. Now, the spirit man, being a separate and distinct part from the physical man, is capable of sep- arating itself from tlie physical body at times, as has been abundantly proven on numerous occasions, at least to those ancient and modern students who have patiently and carefully applied themselves to a fair and impartial investigation of the subject matter. Right here allow me to add my own testimony. I ( 80 ) have while wide awake seen my spirit body, standing fifty feet away, conversing with two other spirits, just as plainly as I ever saw my physical body. I could not hear what they said, but was perfectly aware that it Avas my so-called second self and was particular to study it closely for a space of four or five minutes, when it passed away. (For the benefit of those who might be disposed to treat this assertion with levity, I will say that I did not see any snakes around it or myself. ) Then, it would naturally follow that the law and forces to be investigated and applied, for the purpose of controlling those of our physical race, must be through and by that field in which both parties can and do move the nearest in harmonv, which is the spirit ether, spirit world, or spirit magnetism, just as it suits the student's fancy to call it. As I have said in a former part of this work, I have no time or disposition to correctly select a name or classify these laws. Let the student always bear in mind that I am only blindly pushing ahead into the briars and rocks, trying to bring to light the crude truths, in order to break the way for those who may choose to follow, hoping that there may be some one of those who care to investigate who shall be scholarly and enlightened enough to put these truths into a more detailed and comprehensive manner before their fellow man. (81) While the spirit part of your physical body can pro- ject itself from you to almost any distance by means of this spirit ether, it can also, while remaining in your ])ody, so control certain properties in this ether as to reach the spirit of other bodies that are negative to the controlling spirit, and even here, distance appears to cut no figure. Now, by controlling the negative spirit, that spirit again controls the negative body; for the body, in this case, is lower in the order of evolution than its spirit. To illustrate : I, being the positive, command my spirit to take possession or command of John Doe's spirit. My spirit then says to John, " You must obey my will, John; your hand is made of cork and can feel no pain.'' Now, John's spirit, being under my control, so conveys this impression to his phj^sical hand, and it really feels no pain when you pass a needle through it. It is by this law or force that T have been more or less successful in relieving pain; i. e., by a part of this law, for it is subdivided into many parts. That you may clearly understand me, I will now make a bold assertion : — YOU DO NOT SEE WITH YOUR EYES. Man does not see with his physical eyes at all; neither does he hear with his physical ears, nor does he really receive any of his knowledge through his (82) physical organs of sense; they are merely pieces of mechanism belonging to and subject to his spirit. For instance, your eye is a window for the soul or life fluid, through which the spirit looks and conveys an impression to the soul.* This is definitely proven by the fact of clairvoyance. I knoAV that I can see, feel, hear, taste, and smell just as well when I am in one of those sensitive conditions with all of my physi- cal senses lying dormant as I can when in a normal condition, which is the best proof in the world that the spirit of your body is the real mail. Now, do not jump off the platform at this point and reply, " If you put my physical eye out I cannot see," but bear in mind one thing, and that is that I am speaking now of the psychological law of the Mystic Circle, many things of which 3^ou may or may not know very little about, for you absolutely must de- velop these forces before you can clearly understand them. I am only calling your attention to those known truths in nature which directly connect the physical and the spirit of matter by means of this spirit ether, which is psychology. Again, I now command John's spirit to go on a jour- ney of one hundred miles to a certain house, describ- ing hoAv he must make the journey, the route, position, etc. I order him to go into a certain room and to tell me what he finds there. The spirit of John starts, ♦See article on " Spirit the Effect of a Physical Cause," page 108. ( 83 ) describing the scenery on the way, until he reaches his destination. Now, the spirit of John is the closest allied, in this case, to his physical body and senses. The spirit conveys to the physical, and the physical repeats to me. Here we find that a distance of one hundred miles has been overcome while time has almost been annihilated, the entire time occupied being but two or three minutes. Question : Who and what was it that traveled that distance, describing scenery on the way? Surely not the physical body, which never left our sight. (84) CHAPTER XII. REPLY TO PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE. — PROTOPLASM DIES^ OR DEAD MATTER. Protoplasm is composed of four substances — car- bon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, — each in their turn containing life, as a combination. It may dis- integrate, but life cannot die, for there is no matter in life to die; matter is but the expression of life. Pro- fessor Huxley uses the words, " The matter of life." There is no such thing. But there is such a truth as the life of matter. Such errors only lead to other mis- takes. I predict that before this generation shall have passed away the works of Descartes, Huxley, and many others of like opinion will be looked upon as the tail end of the dark ages ; for right where our present and past physical scientists have been compelled to halt the spirit or occult science begins. Nevertheless, Huxley and others have done their work well up to this point, and I only object to their using the term dead matter for matter. Subdivide it as small as you please, even to the infinite atom, yet that atom is but the expression of life, for life could not be the expression of matter. Protoplasm, I will ( 85 ) admit, may be the first condition in which object or ponderable matter takes on, as the first position, the combination assumed before changing from one object life to another. There being not less than four known substances, — oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, — what caused them to come together to form one object life or protoplasm? Why the over-soul, or life fluid of the physical earth. Mr. Huxley speaks of converting dead protoplasm into living matter. How can he know that it is dead when he admits that oxygen (air) alone contains the germs of life. He here falls into the very error that lie warns others to beware of, to wit, " That only is science which we know, and not that which we do not know." As Mr. Huxley does not know of any other properties in the protoplasm than the four elements mentioned, does it follow that his decision is final? He cannot testify in the negative and record it as science. For instance, he denies spirit. May not spirit exist and Huxley know nothing of it? May there not be other properties in the protoplasm, so attenuated as to be beyond the reach of the microscope or retort of the physical scientist, and yet be within the reach of the occult science which begins where Huxley^s physical science ends — that is, at the proto- plasm? As far as the physical or ponderable earth science goes, I agree with him until he evidently reaches the (86 ) end of his journey and finds himself in a most deplor- able dilemma, and is compelled to kill his last pro- duction in order to begin again, and he calls it the dead matter of life (protoplasm). Alas, poor matter, why must ye die? What does Mr. Huxley or any other mortal know of lifef Can he see it, weigh it, or comprehend it at all? O ye mighty minds of earth, pray tell me of what manner or combi- nation is the death of life, or in what condition the cadaver finds itself! Let us see : He uses the words "• matter of life," which would imply that matter was derived from or produced from life, the one being a thing capable of being separated from the other the same as the oil of tar, attar of rose, etc. Now, we take away or destroy the matter, and we have the life remaining. The question then arises. What is this remainder? By what means does the average sense of comprehension recognize it as a known truth? Is it a physical thing, condition, or what? Can you demonstrate it (life) by physical science? I think not ; and yet it is a known or scientific truth, for it exists. Then, if it is not a physical, is it not an occult scientific truth? Is it not also infinite? Being infinite, how can you destroy it? He draws his deduction — and it is only a deduc- tion — that life ceases when motion ceases, taking it for granted that when motion ceases in matter there life ceases. But has motion ceased to be in the proto- (87 ) plasm merely because the microscope fails to record it? Is it not an acknowledged fact by all scientists that no matter whatever is in an absolute state of rest? Why, his very theory of the chalk ages, the gradual rising from the bottom of the sea, requiring vast cycles of time, shows that the motion must have been so slow as to be entirely beyond the reach of any microscope; and Mr. Huxley or any other scientist, I think, will acknowledge that where there is motion there must be energy , and where there is energy there must be life. As a matter of fact, however reluctant physic, scientists may be to acknowledge the truth, the com- ponent parts, quality or quantity of life, are entirely beyond their comprehension. They cannot deny that life exists ; they acknowledge it is not matter. Then, if it is not spirit, what is it? If they do not know what life is, how dare they say that they can destroy it. Physical scientists have always claimed that the foundation of all science is not to accept any phenome- non as truth until it has been absolutely proven so to the sense of comprehension by often-repeated investi- gation. Then, by this very particular rule of caution, they should not deny a phenomenon (such as spirit, for instance) or any other thing that they had not as equally exhaustively investigated. Hence in my deduc- tion when Mr. Huxley denies spirit, a truth that many thousands of intelligent people can swear to, I can ( 88 ) come to but one conclusion, and that is that he never propei^ly or fairly investigated it. Mr. Huxley is somewhat severe on the theologians, and perhaps justly so. However, those Avho live in glass houses should not throw stones. He says the lobster dies, and thereby furnishes dead protoplasm to a live man, who eats it and converts it into live protoplasm. The man is drowned and furnishes dead protoplasm to the live lobster, Avho eats it and con- verts it into live protoplasm. Or, in other words, the Church proves her religion right by the Bible, and the Bible right by her religion. He acknowledges that his lobster evidence is somewhat lame for a scientist to advance when he calls it 'paradoxical^ and so do some others. (89) CHAPTER XIII. PROPHECY, OR HOW COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE. ( February 7, 1897. Beginning of third series. ) We feel it advisable to-day to give you a brief out- line of the probability of the actual truth of the above much disputed but existing fact by drawing a com- parison with those truths which your physical life has already demonstrated to you as facts, in the follow- ing manner : Let a man stand on the ocean beach at the incoming of the tide, when a beautiful calm rests upon its glorious surface, and note the little wavelets as they roll inward towards your feet. He will see each succeeding wave drawing nearer and nearer. The little child of five, standing at his side, whose reason- ing faculties are just beginning to bud, inquires: " What makes the waves keep growing higher and higher? W^here does the water come from, father, and how far will the next wave come? " He takes the little one and raises him in his arms that he may the better see and comprehend the lesson, and points out to him a slight shadow far, far out on the bosom of this (90) mighty ocean (of time) and tells him to carefully keep his eye on the one spot and watch it and note the re- sults. He sees it creeping nearer and plainer until he discovers that the shadow is caused by what, at first, was the slightest and apparently insignificant rising of the surface of the (then passing events) water; and more, he learned that as it rolled it gathered in im- portance until it spent its force on a more substantial substance, the sand (of time) . And as he stood on the border of this ocean of time for thousands of years, gathering knowledge and wisdom, by carefully and accurately noting the effect of each and every wave, he found he could, by comparing notes, figure out almost to a grain of sand the exact amount of change that would occur at the breaking of a wavelet, and also the proportionate amount of force and change (evolution) that would take place at the incoming or far-off wave that the spirit eye of this old man of the sea then saw in its first or incipient formation far, far out on the bosom of time. From that high and exalted position to which he had unconsciously grown in the long lapse of time — say ten thousand years — when, like Rip Van Winkle, he suddenly bethinks himself to look at his feet, when lo ! he discovers that his father has gone, himself hath grown to knowledge, and he beholds still another little boy of five at his feet seek- ing knowledge of Truth. And now, my student friend, to again appeal to your (91 ) reasoning faculties, the father can give to the child only that amount of knowledge which it is qualified to receive; he would be a poor teacher should he at- tempt to explain to the child b}^ a reference to chem- istry or algebra, knowing such a course would confuse instead of enlighten. Just so is it with the lower sphere of spirit life ; while they, the lower spirits, who have but reached the first level above you, and un- doubtedly are qualified to teach you only the primary lessons y or only such as you can receive, so they, the lower spirits, again are taught to the full amount of their capacity to receive, by yet higher spirits; and thus it is, on and on, ad infinitum. You will be pleased to remember, as a father, that you as such cannot re- trograde and become a little child and teach with a child's understanding, being at the same time mind- ful that even a little child can sometimes ask ques- tions, and that, while you are well aware of the solu- tion of the question, you find yourself utterly at a loss how to convey or impart that knowledge of Truth to the child in such a way that it will not be misleading, and thereby become an injury instead of a blessing to the budding mind. By this lesson, my friend, you will perceive that one more link is forged in the chain of the truth of evolu- tion. (92) CHAPTER XIV. THE GREAT OVER-SOUL^ OR GOD, AND ITS AFFINITY TO MATTER. February 8, 1897. — My dear friend : Having already explained to some extent the existence of the infinite atom of matter and its unfoldment through the neb- ular formation of the various planets now existing, Tiud hoping we have succeeded in clearing away the cobwebs and rubbish of ignorance, fanaticism, and superstition from your mind, you will now find your- self in a free condition to know and comprehend the true relation of the Great Spirit to matter. As at first we began at the small end or atomic for- mation to better fit your small capacity for the psychic or mystic, so now we will begin at the large end — i. e., the over-soul — of infinite life, matter, and space, at least as far as spirit comprehension can reach out, and convey to you our knowledge. In order to do this as effectively as possible, we deem it advisable to sub- mit to you one or more geometrical illustrations as we proceed. The first shall be a cross-section of the earth and spheres, showing the life forces or spirit conditions which we have formerly spoken of as ( 93 ) imponderable matter owing allegiance to our sun but belonging to the earth planet, and, by a close study of this progressed matter, which is shown on the draw- ing in the form of rings. As you will perceive, they are very dense near the surface of the earth and become more and more ethereal ized as they progress for thousands of miles outward in every direction, forming a perfect sphere in shape until you will ob- serve that they interblend with the neighboring planets of your solar system. This field is your spirit world or the first spirit home or sphere. (See illus- tration.) We will now proceed to give you a brief description of the spherical illustration, first begging the privilege of a few supplementary remarks. In viewing this plan you will please understand that where we show the undeveloped atoms of niatter extending to the utmost limit of imagination, yet they possess life and this life principle or fluid (call it what you will) owes allegiance to the great center or over-soul of space. Now, you will notice first, the birth or dawning of a nebula, which, after the fullness of time, becomes an aerolite. This aerolite will become a comet, which seems to you to be wandering through space without any fixed position in any constellation; but, my friend, you are wrong, for from the first joining of the first two atoms together, at that moment it had a pur- (94 ) pose, very slight and almost imperceptible at the be- ginning, but, as it increased in its accumulation of the atoms of matter, it started on its journey through space, faster and faster, attracting other atoms unto and after it ; the atoms rush towards the comet as it grows in bulk, which increases its power of attraction, and these streams of atomic substance are called by your astronomers its tail. Now, my friend, stop here and consider for a moment the absurdity of such an assertion as a comet having two or more tails — some located on its side, and some in front of it. Some of these new-born worlds are small, while others are many thousands of times larger than your earth; some of the smaller ones will condense into a star like we show you at the moon and become fixed in their positions, while others are still traveling in space and gradually drawing to the center of their destiny, some of which you recognize as shooting- stars, but, as they become fixed in their particular place in space, they form one member of that family. So you will see by the illustration that as the star is the father to and governs the aerolite family, so does the moon become father to and govern the star and its family ; and again, the earth, in like manner, becomes father to its moon and fixed stars. So, again, our sun becomes father to and governs or influences the earth. Mars, and the balance of our planetary system. Then, again, our sun and its numerous family of neighbor- THE VORTEX WHIRL (96 ) ing suns, become children to the second sun, or Po- laris, and so on, with one spherical system overlapping another, until it reaches the limit of comprehension. And I think you will admit that the limit is reached Avhen, by a continuous multiplication of these systems, the periphery of the last sphere becomes so great that its surface forms a straight plane. This is a problem in your practical geometry, to wit: If you place a circle within a square, and a square within this circle, and repeat a circle within the square, what will be the last figure that you can place within? We will tell you — a circle; for, as the circle or sphere represents the atom, and contains the greatest amount of matter within the least amount of surface area, it will repre- sent the infinite fraction of subdivision. Now, we will begin where you began, at the square, and go the other way, and place, say, two circles side by side, and around these describe another circle; place two of these greater circles side by side, and so on, repeating. What will the result be, and how will you describe it or illustrate it except by a straight line or surface that would be the infinite of space? If you should think otherwise, just imagine yourself starting on a journey and follow this straight line. Where would you fetch up? Why, you would never return in your mind. Whereas, if it were the last conception of a circle in your mind, you must return to the point of beginning. You could not reverse the order after (97 ) reaching a straight line and describe an upward curve, for by so doing you would return to a circle which would compel you to inclose these two circles that you would find lying side by side. This is why we illus- trate the boundary of space by a straight line, as the practical limit of human and spirit comprehension. Now, around IMars, Saturn, and the other planets, as well as around the various stars lying within the cir- cle or influence of your sun, they each and every one of them throw off a progressed or imponderable matter in every respect the same as that emanating from your earth. Of course, you will understand that the emanations from these various planets are not all of the same degxee of advancement, some of them being much farther advanced and some less than the earth planet. As you already understand, these planets and stars revolve around your sun the same as the moon and some stars revolve around your earth ; and as those bodies belonging to our earth revolve around and owe allegiance to the earth as its especial family, so also do the various families of Mars, Jupi- ter, Saturn, etc., owe allegiance to and become sepa- rate members of the family of the sun. The sun exercises a potent influence on each member of the family, by and through the interblending of this im- ponderable or life principle, as represented by the outer rings shown in the illustration of the earth. Now, as the sun and its immense family form one (98) enormous sphere in space, which we will call the solar sphere, this sphere throws off a super-refined matter which extends outward for untold millions of miles and interblends with a brother system of solar spheres in precisely the same manner as the earth influence blends with Mars; and thus are thousands of these immense solar systems again revolving around a still greater sun, called Polaris ; and so this compounding, or wheel within a wheel, we find, extends outwards, still repeating itself in boundless space until it passes all spirit comprehension. WHO AND WHAT IS GODf He is the one who receives your log-book at the end of your cruise and examines the contents found there- in with a just and critical eye, and spreads the same upon the pages of the journal of eternity. He is the LIFE, the LAW, and the CAUSE, and the only one who is PERFECT. (99) CHAPTER XV. GOD^ LIFE^ OR OVER-SOUL^ ARE BUT SYNONYMOUS TERMS ; AND LIFE IS ALL THE GOD WE KNOW. We will again reverse our argument, and begin at the small end — i.e. the atom. When a number of atoms come together they produce, let us say, a monad, or molecule. The combining of these atoms of life form a family of atoms centered in and around the monad, which is the over-life or one life of the monad. When a number of monads come together as a family, they produce a microbe or the beginning and first appear- ance of physical or objective life, a cell, over which, by such union of monads, there is an over-life of the microbe. We should have mentioned that at the first beginning or joining of the first two atoms, — one being positive, the other negative, — one of these atoms Avas an unprogressed human soul from out of the in- finite matter of all space. This might have been the soul of an apple or any other ponderable or objective matter ; but we prefer to select and trace up the line of development of a human soul, and we can assure you that the beginning of human or spirit comprehen- sion begins here, at the ultimate atom of substance. Now, this microbe, by that over-life of matter, seeks a place in physical matter to progress, and, by this ( 100 ) life law of like to like, it is attracted to the ovum, or egg, through sympathetic attraction. At this stage begins a psychic condition, the truly spiritual ad- vancement of that soul, depending almost entirely upon the physical condition that from this point sur- rounds and accompanies it as it passes through the various phases of its earth journey. When the child is born into the world, and even before it reaches a reasoning age, you will observe that the mother and father have a controlling or soothing influence over it. Whence cometh this controlling influence'^ Certainly not from any power to reason that the child may have at three months of age. The family has now increased to, say, six children. One of these children becomes very sick or meets with a serious accident, and there is felt an influence which permeates the entire family. Let the parent come into the nursery during an angry controversy, without the parent speaking a word discord quietly settles down and harmony reigns. Thus Ave endeavor to show you that that w^hich affects one member of the family is felt by the entire family. This mystic influence is the one over-life of that collection of souls, and is pro- duced by the close unity that was, little by little, added together as the number increased. Around this family has accumulated a sphere of this life in- fluence or sympathetic attraction and repulsion. When many families join together, as in a city, their ( 101 ) loves and interests, being centered in the well-being of their city, form a sphere around this city, which is the over-life of the city. Many cities join to form a state, and all these cities are interested in the state for its weal or woe, and thus again is a life sphere of this — we will call it fluid — formed around the state. So it is with the United States, to be again repeated among all nations, and finally throughout the world. And thus it is brought to pass that the entire civil- ized world to-day, having a sincere desire to do away with wars and other inharmonious matter by the best means at hand, have caused to be felt in the various over-lives of the single nations that same desire through the medium of this over-life which embraces all nations, and thus it is transmitted to the state, and from thence to the city, and again to the family, and from the family to the individual member. As this world is only one meinber of a family which is governed or influenced by the solar system, so it is enlarged and repeated to infinity, by which you will see that, while the city has an influence in controlling your affairs, yet you are at the same time a free agent in which your slowly developing soul admonishes you, "As ye sow, so shall jii reap." From an undeveloped atom you came to a progressed atom ; you return, and thus is brought to pass the saying, " The first shall be last, and the last shall be first J' "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust." ( 102 ) CHAPTER XVI. VITALITY IN STONES — LIFE IS FOUND IN ALL THINGS. "It does move, for all that." — Galileo. We see our physical scientists are somewhat startled out of their boots by Professor von Schroen's assertion that the stones do move, and are still in- clined to hang onto the tail of the Dark Ages. As I understand it, the professor does not claim to be the first to discover motion in so-called inanimate matter, but that he is the first one to be able to demon- strate it in an indisputable manner by a record of its various changes, leaving no possible room for a doubt. Of course, there is always to be found in the ranks of men a class of would-be wiseacres that would have you to understand that unless the thing is first submitted for their approval, why, it is lunacy, humbug, impossi- ble, etc., which, after all, only serves the purpose of demonstrating to us poor mortals the fallibility even of some of our scientists. ^^ CONSISTENCY^ THOU ART A JEWEL.^^ Let us compare a few well-known scientific facts with Professor von Schroen's assertion, and see if it is so very remarkable, after all. Science teaches us (103) that nature abhors a vacuum, and, in like manner, she also teaches us that there is no such thing as an ahso- liite state of rest. Then, if not at rest, it (matter) must have motion, its velocity being a secondary con- sideration, which von Schroen claims to be the first to record, and by so recording, leaves your wiseacres — where? And now for a few acknowledged facts of science. To produce change, requires motion; to produce motion, requires force; to produce force, requires energy (or animation) ; to produce energy, requires life; and to produce life, I will refer you to Professor Huxley and his protoplasm, or his (Huxley's) Physi- cal Basis of Life. He thought he had it dead to rights w^hen he submitted his lobster story. While I am free to admit that life is forever beyond all human com- prehension, and it is only by the above law of natuif^ that man is enabled to recognize life in the atom o. matter, and it is further corroborated to man in his dealings with the elements of the so-called simple sixty-five substances, where like is attracted to like by this power of life or sympathetic attraction. 'T is passing strange how ready some men are to sneer at and positively deny the discoveries of others, when they are never knowm to discover truth them- selves. How far would the world be advanced over the Dark Ages to-day if our Galileos were to be frowned down by these slow-going know-it-alls? ( 104 ) T is a well-known axiom that nature builds on the one side but to tear down on the other, and this change is ceaseless. This incomprehensible life-fluid has the power and does permeate and flow through all objective or physical matter, leaving a part of its atomic formation to advance the growth of the object matter, and at the same time taking away from the object that part which has served the law of pro- gression or evolution. Note the passage of the per- fume from the growing apple or rose. Is it not matter whose vibratory waves impinge on the olfactory nerves? And the only wonder is that man to-day, after all the impediments that are constantly being throAvn in his way, has succeeded in positively recording the velocity of said change in so-called inanimate matter, there really being no such a thing in existence as in- animation^ or matter without motion. As we now have the matter of motion in stones un- der consideration, we hope the student will excuse us for a gradual digression from the caption of this ar- ticle and bear with us as we swing the subject around the circle to better demonstrate the law of matter and motion through the mystic laAV of life and its vehicle, the atom of matter. Physical science has thus far succeeded in subdi- viding matter into sixty- five simple substances. Thirty years ago the number was, I think, sixty-two. ( 105 ) Whence comes this increase of number? We will tell vou. It was the slow but sure advance or evolving of truth, which must inevitably follow in the footsteps of evolution. By this increase you are warned that the end of knowledge is not yet. A NEW SUBSTANCE. We here predict to you that before this generation shall have i^assed the Kubicon of physical life there will be discovt^^ed several so-called new substances, prominent among which will be a substance that has the power to flow through all objective matter, carry- ing with it, among other things, the secret of disease and health. While this mystic substance is at this time positively known to have existence by some of the advanced thinkers and experimentalists, it at the same time is comparatively unknown to classified science. To satisfy yourself of this fact converse with some conscientious and intelligent so-called magnetic healer — we mean one avIio has made many successful cures, and not a pretender. He, or she, will tell you there is a positive physical force w^hich sometimes passes through their body and, at times, feels like a heavy chill which shakes them from their head to their heels ; and as we have already proven to you that mo- tion (the chill) is the effect of force acting on sub- stance or matter you can readily see that the healer ( 106 ) receives a mystic something which passes through his skin into his nerves, and from him into the patient. As there are but three infinite truths, — life, matter, and space, — it naturally follows that it is not life alone, but matter of some kind yet to be classified or harnessed for man's benefit when better understood, and the sooner your medical doctors give this sub- stance a closer investigation (catch on, so to speak,) and stop displaying their intolerable ignorance by howling about Galileo being a crank, humbug, etc., the quicker they will find themselves at the head of their profession. As this same law has power to pass matter through one physical body into another, leaving a load of new material, and in its outward passage carting away the debris, should it be considered as anything remarkable that the same law should be applied to the vegetable kingdom? And if it is applicable to the vegetable, why not to the mineral or stone? We have already shown you how the grain of corn is built up by the gradual addition of atoms, while nt the same time it is subject to health and disease while undergoing its earth development. Now, this very same process of growth applies to the mineral or stone. A lump of gold was not produced in a moment of time; your iron ore is the result of a slow atomic growth ; and all, all known objective matter is but the result of a slow process of atomic formation or growth. ( 107 ) and, as we have before stated, Nature builds but to tear down, or integrates to disintegrate. There are many well-known instances w^here the rock or stone becomes rotten or dead, which is only in truth a process of a separation of its atomic parts, and by that well-known analogical law^ of reason if a thing has a so-called death it must have had a birth; in other words, it must first be born or integrate before it can die or disintegrate. (108 ) CHAPTER XVII. SPIRIT THE EFFECT OF A PHYSICAL CAUSE. June 1, 1897. — On page 82 we made you a somewhat remarkable assertion that man had but one natural sense, or that he did not see with his eyes, and as this question will naturally have a connection with the last article — i. e. motion in stones — we will continue the subject in another direction, and endeavor to make plain to your understanding where the dividing-line between the physical science and the occult science crosses, or where at least one of the numerous bridges is located that cross the mystic stream between the ponderable and imponderable, and where you will readily see how it is possible for the physical to grad- ually merge into and produce, from a physical cause, a spirit or imponderable body. The brain of man is divided into two great parts — the right and left lobes — which is also the positive and negative position that all objective matter assumes. The tw^o lobes we will call one family, made up of separate members. Each member of the family has its especial work to accomplish in its journey through life development or progression. ( 109 ) We will take up the especial work of one member of this family and follow it on in its work, namely, color. The eye receives the vibratory waves of the physical matter of color called red, and impinges this vibration of matter in motion on the optic nerve. This nerve is a vast accumulation of, let us say, wires which were not all formed at the birth of the child, but were formed as the child advanced in age, and were pro- duced as the child required them. The wires of red run directly to a single cell which forms a group of cells in the brain, whose duty in the working of the brain is to receive and record on the entire brain the laws which determine the various colors. Hence you will hear of color-blindness or partial color-blindness — i. e. a man may be insensible to the color of blue, and yet retain a sense of all the other colors, which we will explain by saying that the particular ivire running from the optic nerve to the blue cell has become inop- erative or paralyzed, or the cell itself may be para- lyzed, or the Avhole group or section of the brain pertaining to color may have become paralyzed or in- operative by disease, which would result in total color-blindness. Again, this whole section of the brain, which is the life of and receives all vibrations of matter through the eye, may become inoperative, which would result in temporary or total blindness, according to the nature of the disease. This same condition applies to the olfactory nerve, the auditory ( no ) nerve, the nerve of taste, and the nerve of touch; hence you will see that all of the so-called five senses submerge into one, which is the sense of touchy or feel- ing of matter coming into contact with other matter, generally understood as vibratory waves, and all of chese subdivisions of the sense are of a slow and grad- ual development, receiving each its particular share of knowledge in its passage through life, and storing it away — where? Certainly not in the nerve cell of gray matter, as matter in bulk, or the shell would burst from the accumulation of matter, especially when acting as a judge where you were compelled to listen to a long-winded lawyer. The brain is merely a machine to receive the highest progressed matter. After these waves have been re- ceived on the brain, they leave behind them the life principle in the form of imponderable matter or mat- ter advanced beyond the physical earth condition, and form a surrounding sphere of life around the man, which assumes the condition of a spirit. The writer can record his own experience in the matter of smell. Never in my life have I been enabled to smell the perfume of the violet. I have gathered large bunches in my hands fresh from the bed, buried my nose in them, and have held them over a steaming kettle, but invariably failed to note the slightest frag- rance; and yet I have no difficulty in sensing the per- fume of other flowers, which will illustrate to you that ( 111 ) the wave motion belonging to the violet perfume finds nothing to receive or record it in my brain. There is also another subdivision of the brain whose duty is to temporarily record the work of these so-called live senses. We use the word temporarily advisedly, because all men must acknowledge that memory is no more reliable than .sight y sound, and the other senses, which are often deceived ; and as memory has its allotted space in the cavity of the brain the same as sight, then why not call it a sense, making six senses? We know by experiment that there is a certain spot or portion of the brain that is subject to disease or disarrangement the same as the other senses, showing all the peculiar variations, such as: You can remember some things that occurred ten years ago, while you have entirely forgotten things that occurred five years ago. (See Chapter XIX.) All of these various physical effects are the results of ponderable matter acting on other ponderable mat- ter, or merely one family of atoms acting on a larger family of atoms, and in this case the entire brain rep- resents one human family, the over-life of which has the faculty of reducing the general results of the labor of its various members, such as sight, touch, smell, etc., to an imponderable condition (it still being mat- ter), from which condition the spirit is evolved. This condition of spirit surrounds the individual or soul, and grows as he grows from birth upward. Therefore, ( 112 ) you will see that surrounding conditions are the spon- sor for that state in which the spirit finds itself during your earth advancement, and in this manner if at the beginning of childhood you surround the child with nothing but vile, obscene, lying, and other inharmoni- ous waves of sound, and while the wires of the audi- tory nerve are just beginning to bud. Nature, by that law of the fitness of things, will produce that kind of a deformed brain which will again produce a deformed spirit, and the same law applies to sight, feeling, etc. How could it possibly produce that of which it had never had experience? This spirit condition begins with the birth of the child and is of a gradual growth and surrounds the physical man during his earth life, the quality of which is determined by his own environments. It is this imponderable matter surrounding him that the spiritualist and theosophist calls his atmosphere and from this imponderable matter the theosophist claims that his astral shell is produced w^hile we, the pro- gressed spirits, will tell you that it is through and by this atmosphere that we are enabled to produce the various phenomena now occurring throughout the earth plane. To further illustrate this advanced matter called spirit surroundings, we call 3^our attention to your own experience. Have you not at times been engaged in a conversation with a friend and, while paying par- ( 113 ) ticular attention to what he was saying and giving him a proper reply, yet at the very same moment you were thinking of something else entirely foreign to the subject? Now, let me ask: What or who was this silent thought emanating from? There were waves of vibration ; from whence came they? Was it not the refined, imponderable matter that is the only real pari of youy the / AM , the so-called inner conscience or spirit man, the part that never disintegrates? Again, when you have retired to rest and have passed into that profound sleep when your physical senses such as sight, hearing, smell, etc., are, as you must admit, lying in a dormant or inactive condition, yet you have a most vivid and realistic dream. You plainly distinguish color, smell, taste, etc., and it is so real that upon awakening you can hardly realize that it was but a dream. Here is one of the evidences that time is not real, only man-made, for the conven- ience of recording events ; for in that dream you found your time all mixed up, and also in that dream you realized a sort of vagueness ; you were unable to con- nect facts, dates, and conditions systematically to- gether. My friend, while you are in that dreamy state, you are in the same state that many spirits who have just left the physical body and entered the spirit world or imponderable condition of life find themselves; and this dreamy state is but another one of those mystic ( 114) bridges that leads you over the great divide from the physical to the occult side of life {the pHychophjjHical state). Here on the spirit side of life many spirits continue on and on for a long time, still thinking that they are dreaming, and advanced spirits find it some- times very difficult to bring them to a realizing sense of their condition. (115) CHAPTER XVIII. MATERIALIZATION. (June 9, 1897.) After having prepared your mind to receive a little more light in regard to the mystic bridge that leads from the physical to the occult, we will call your at- tention to the very difficult situation in which we are placed in having to harmonize the spirit and the phys- ical with your understanding. We feel that it is in- cumbent upon us to advance slowly, taking up one subject at a time, or being careful to select but one bridge at a time for you, the student, to investigate. By so doing, our object will be to confine your atten- tion to the one particular bridge or subject; for our experience is, that a very great majority of investiga- tors fail in comprehending these mystic truths, by endeavoring to cross too many bridges at one time, and thereby defeat their own object, by their confu- sion of the various forces used by the spirits in pro- ducing the numerous phenomena; and, to illustrate this, we will now take up the phenomena of materiali- zation. When you are looking upon, handling, or seeming to converse with a materialized spirit, we will say that ninety-nine out of one hundred are very apt to be in a (116) measure deceived and led to invariably draw wrong deductions; so real, so lifelike are these phenomena, that, unless the investigator is constantly on his guard, he will be disappointed, unsatisfied, and be- wildered ; and all caused by his own ignorance of the real, basic facts that govern the phenomena. And right here we will call the attention, not only of the younger student, but also of many old veterans to the cause of their often becoming unsatisfied and apparently mystified, by describing the real state of affairs, as follows : — The body that you really see and touch is a physical body — a hody only, and purely automatic. It at times, and in fact quite often, will be made up in the exact image of your friend ; but it is no more your friend's body than a wooden post is. This body is made up by purely chemical laws, un- derstood and operated by the spirits of the imponder- able atoms of matter in the room, and of which you are breathing, and also of other matter which the spirits find in space. In fact, the body is made up of several substances not yet fully understood by your scientists, as we have already remarked. After the body is made up, the spirits can furnish that body with the power to locomote a short distance from the medium by using the medium's physical forces, and also give it the power to articulate, using again the medium's vocal organs. This is done somewhat in the same manner as the hypnotist controls his subject, both in motion and speech. The hypnotic subject and the materialized body are mere automatons, controlled entirely by the will of ( 117 ) another. The materialized body, while talking to you, has no more knowledge of what it is saying or doing than a parrot, and not as much. When you ask it questions, the controlling influence hears you ai ^ causes it to reply to your question, giving you as coi - rect a reply as the control can sense from your sur- roundings. This is the common practice in seances, and it is to be deplored to this extent : the medium for materiali- zation, as a general rule, is entirely ignorant of the so-called higher laws — for what is higher than truth? —governing his own seance, and is really as much mystified as you are. But the almighty dollar must be made, for the spirit's medium — or they, the spirits — cannot gratify their desire to communicate with mor- tals. They are well aware that if they were to explain the plain truth, their occupation would be somewhat curtailed. Hence it is to their interest to leave you to believe you are talking to your own friends. We do not wish to be understood as saying that your own spirit friends are not at times present in the room; for oftentimes they are, and can convey their thoughts, in a measure to the controlling spirit who manipulates the automaton. To test this, ask your spirit friends when you meet them at some other medium's seance, what they told you at the other se- ance. You will find that almost the invariable answer is : "/ do not knoio. I seem to forget/^ This same an- swer you will get from the hypnotic subject after his release from the influence. However, there are times when your spirit friends find the conditions and the controlling spirits in har- ( 118 ) mony with the spirit and yourself — i. e. your atmos- phere — so that they can communicate quite plainly to you ; and if you should be so fortunate as to visit an- other medium under the same favorable circumstances (which is very rare), they could give you only scraps of their former conversation. (June 10, 1897.) If this were not the case, and the spirit of your fa- ther was actually occupying this materialized body at the time, made up to look exactly like your father, and was capable of using his own power of thought or in- telligence, then why, in the name of common sense and the laws of philosophy, can he not answer such plain questions as, " How many brothers and sisters have I? What are their names? Where was I born? '' etc. It has always been asserted (and truthfully so) that these phenomena are purely scientific facts, and oper- ated by scientific laws; while if, on the other hand, you take nothing for granted, that is not a direct ap- peal to your own common sense, and investigate on the line of a purely automaton figure, controlled by a psychical law similar to hypnotism, which is already a proven scientific fact, then this seeming unsatisfac- tory interview of a materialized spirit will be fully explained on a purely scientific basis. THE OBJECT OF MATERIALIZATION. And when you come to consider the object of spirit materialization and why it is found expedient by the spirits to produce the phenomena, you will readily see (119) its usefulness, which we will endeavor to explain to you. There are a very great number of the people on earth who are not qualified to comprehend any very deep subject, who generally rely upon their neighbors or common report for their information and belief to guide them on their journey through life, being too busy seeking after the almighty dollar to spend suf- ficient of their time to enable them to separate their belief from actual knowledge. The spirits recognize the fact that these people can be reached in some di- rection — if not by their love of knowledge, then by their lower animal curiosity. ANIMAL CURIOSITY. To prove that the animal has a curiosity, we will suggest that you place a horse in an inclosed lot; then place a buffalo-robe or an open umbrella on or near the fence. Now, observe the horse, keeping your- self out of his sight. You will see him first becoming frightened (and this sometimes applies to your fir^' experience in a seance room) ; then he will gradually begin to circle around the further side of the inclosure, but gradually drawing nearer to the object of his fright, until he can smell it and touch it with his nose. If it was not curiosity in him, why did he go up to it? If it was fear alone that was acting on his sense, he would have kept as far away from it as the fence would allow. Therefore, by this same known law, the spirits can and do approach man that is found on the lower planes of life, by working on his curiosity in ( 120 ) producing such phenomena as he, like the horse, can see, smell, hear, and touch. When, after awakening his lower developments through his animal curiosity alone, he at that time having but little spiritual development, sees, and light begins to dawn on his comprehension, and slowly he arrives at the knowledge that it might be possible — just barely possible — that even he is the possessor of a soul, and, by often repeated investigations, he comes to the conclusion that, if he possesses a soul, it must be something beyond the physical, and if So, must it not continue after the so-called death of the body? Having now succeeded in. awakening in the lower man a desire to investigate, the next step, then, is that he finds it necessary for him to know more of the laws which govern these phenomena, if he wishes to arrive at a proper understanding of the truth. EDUCATED PARROTS. This class of people may be highly educated, as the world's idea of education goes ; but to be educated in this manner does not imply a very great amount of practical knowledge of truth. Take, for instance, a doctor of medicine, and add to his anatomical knowl- edge a knowledge of the classics, etc. ; now ask him what a foot-pound really represents. Again, ask him what he knoAvs practically of life, hypnotism, magnet- ism, etc. Take, in fact, nine out of ten young students just fresh from college, plastered all over with sheep- skins, medals, and diplomas, crammed to the brim with education, and ask them to give you a practical solu- tion of matter and space, the cause of the rotary and ( 121 ) revolutionary movement of the planets, or what causes the declination of the earth's axis, etc., and they will either stare in open-mouthed wonder at your audacity or fall into that childish error of repeating, parrot- like, some ancient, musty quotation, taught to them by some old fossilized fogy that will neither satisfy you or themselves. What matters it whether the word is spelled cor- rectly or not, whether the English or Greek pronun- ciation is correct, or whether you are a trained elocu- tionist or not, if you have a practical knowledge of truth and common sense? Or whether it be called a rose or a stinkweed? What signify words after all when compared to the actual living and existing truth? Words are but man-made and often lead you into a serious mistake of the real truth. For instance, you are educated into the belief that there is such a thing in existence as inanimation, darkness, cold, a vacuum, death, time, etc. Wrong, wrong, all wrong, my friend ; for by teaching the budding mind of youth that such things exist only beclouds their vision of the living and existing truth, which in after years of their own more mature minds helps to blunt and obscure the truth when they come to try and harmonize these false gods with their own common sense. One of the greatest stumbling-blocks the spirits find in their way to a proper explanation of the occult science, is your improper, indefinite, and misleading words called language. Your language is behind the age in which you live and badly needs overhauling to fit the many newly discovered truths, not only by addition, but by subtraction. (122) CHAPTER XIX. THAT WHICH THINKS THOUGHTS^ OR BIRTH OF THE SPIRIT BODY. (June 11, 1897.) We will now proceed to build you another bridge over the mystic stream that is supposed to run be- tween the physical and the occult, sometimes known as the River Styx, and will endeavor to show you how physical matter is gradually transformed or changed into the imponderable or spirit matter ; and we pray you to watch and weigh carefully every step you take in crossing this bridge, and satisfy your mind whether or not it is a direct appeal to philosophy and your own common sense. And as, in the preceding chapter, we selected but one of your senses and applied but one ob- ject of matter, so will we proceed in this discourse, and will select the sense of smell and the progress of the apple, which rule of progression will apply to all other waves of perfume. The apple is built up in two directions, or, more properly speaking, by two active forces of energy ; one by way of the sap beneath the bark, and the other by means of this substance we have before spoken of as carrying with it, among other things, the secret of disease and health. In this discourse, we will call it ( 123) the vehicle that conveys the unprogressed atom, which at all times is seeking a means of advancing and un- folding to its highest earth-development. The atom of matter which is in affinity to the apple is conveyed along its journey until brought in contact with the growing apple, and, with the assistance of this energy, is passed through the skin of the apple and takes its place among the family of atoms that is engaged in building up the object, or perfect apple. These single atoms are not lying idle in their new position, but are constantly in motion, something like bees in the comb, bringing with them on their arrival certain elements and departing when their work in that direction is accomplished, by means of this same subtle fluid-sub- stance or vehicle — call it what you may — carrying with them that atom of matter which has done its work in the apple. Then this outgoing atom finds it- self in an advanced condition from that in which it found itself when it first entered the apple, and is recognized by man as the perfume of the appla And you will here admit that this flow of matter is con- stant from the blossom to the mature apple, and can- no.t for one moment be denied that it is in the form of vibrating waves. And now a question, please. If all vibratory waves are not matter in motion, then, in the name of com- mon sense, what are they? You are aware that there could be no such thing as motion without some thing to move. In this case, the thing moved was the on- ward march of the progressive atom of the apple, still seeking further means and opportunity to advance in the grand and wonderful order of evolution. (124) In their second stage of progression, they come in contact with the olfactory nerve, and from thence they are conveyed to the particular cell in the brain whose duty it is to receive and record the perfume of an apple; and, while acting on this brain-cell, it finds it has undergone another or second birth, and has again changed to a still more refined or advanced con- dition and slightly begins to understand the condition that the imponderable matter assumes. The work that this atom found it was called upon to do in the brain-cell was to leave a physical impression on the brain, called a Think; and at this stage it is only a think ; for this cell is subject to disease and disinte- gration, in which case the think will have become lost, so to speak. This is immediate cognition. Perhaps the expression may somewhat wrinkle the sheepskin of our college professors and cause you to smile ; therefore, we will explain what we mean by a Think. You will observe that we started to build this bridge on one single atom of matter, or that which thinks thought. Now, try to comprehend or define the amount of space, by the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness, that this ultimate atom would occupy, and then consider that there is located in the brain a cell, especially provided to receive that partic- ular kind of an atom, and whose duty it is, to refine or separate the gross from the finer matter, passing the finer on its journey; then, at this stage, would be produced the first conception or single atom that is required to build or produce a concept, or Thought, And as a Avhole thought, like the apple, requires a number of atoms in its construction, then a single ( 125 ) atom is but one integral part, or si Think; which we think (excuse the bull) will better represent the singu- lar number, and in this first stage of conception, is not a full-blown or crystallized thought until it is passed into the keeping of that whole section of the brain pertaining to smell ; and from this explanation we will proceed. This think, or special wave, does not become knowl- edge until the cell performs its work on it, similar to the service the growing apple rendered it. This cell then renders a report to that particular portion or family of the brain whose work is to receive and classify all sense of smell, and when this is done its duty is to impinge on or report its work to the whole brain, when a third birth of matter takes place and it assumes the form of gross or physical knowledge. Up to this stage, it is almost purely a mechanical opera- tion or animal condition, and in man is recognized as your first or physical sense, which is built up of the refined atoms of the various substances of earth, which, like the atom of the apple, are seeking the means and opportunity to advance. This is the birth of conception. NoW; my friend, we have brought you to about the middle of our bridge, or the dawning of light and knowledge, from out of the physical and grosser matter of earth. And right at this point you will observe how necessary it is for you to be careful in selecting the surroundings of the building mind of childhood, for these laws are but the mills of the god.i, who grind slow, sure, and exceedingly fine, whose work is inevitable from cause to effect. ( 126 ) And now we will proceed to the fourth birth. The duty of the entire brain is to receive the various re- ports or work of its separate groups or families and their e:\periences and to assort out and strike a mean value of their separate works, which we will call, for the want of a better name, the family that Thmk^ Thoughts. At this stage, the atom finds it has reached a condition that is but little short of imponderosity, and is associated with innumerable atoms in like con- dition, and this family of atoms constitutes the purely physical or animal intelligence that accompanies your first or physical body through its life journey. The duty or work of this family is to select the refined matter of thought and to reject or throw off that part which has not yet reached a sufficient development. At this point, you will see that the judgment neces- sary to a proper selection is dependent on all previous conditions of the body while in a state of progression, the first paving the way for the second, and so on. Hence you can now comprehend why the surround- ing conditions are responsible for a perfect body ; for the body, at this stage, is now called upon to produce the fifth birth, which assumes the condition of a spirit body, said spirit body having to depend entirely upon such materials as you, the physical body, may have gathered in your journey through life and trans- ferred to it, the spirit, of imponderable matter. And at this stage of growth you can comprehend why, and how it is, that two apparent sets of thoughts can seem to occupy your brain at the same moment of time. We say seeniy for you will now readily recog- nize that there are tivo of you, thinking at the same (127) time; one, the ponderable or physical body, which works through a purely mechanical process of gray matter, and the spirit body of imponderable or ad- vanced matter. BIETH OF THE SOUL. This brings us almost over the bridge, but not quite, as the spirit body has at this point emerged from the earthy or ponderable matter (dropped the earthy, so to speak) but still is composed of matter in an im- ponderable condition. And from this spirit condition is produced a sixth birth, which we call the soul of matter, beyond which point of change we cannot advise you in a definite manner. But we presume — and it is only a presumption — that the soul itself is still subject to a higher change, on and on and on. into the very essence of life, the great Over- Soul, the Infinite. THE CAUSE OF ALL CAUSATION. But you can now see, as we stated in the earlier part of this work, that your surroundings develop a good or bad body, which develops the spirit, which again is responsible for a perfect soul. I And now, my brother, as we have endeavored to pilot you over this mystic bridge — and we hope we have succeeded — pause and look around ; drink of this cup of knowledge and common sense, and realize how very simple, how exact, how perfect and without waste, does Nature perform her grand march of evolu- tion — turning neither to the right nor to the left, but ( 128 ) an exact, merciful, just and loving Father to us all, without regard to race, creed or condition. And thus it ever was, is now, and ever will be : Life, matter, and space without end, the Cause of all causa- tion. As a further illustration, we would ask : Why do a large majority of people close their eyes, when sud- denly called on to solve some problem, if it is not for the purpose of concentrating their thoughts? And if it does concentrate them it is in order to inquire how it practically does so. First we assert that thought is an entity ^nd occu- pies space as such, but does so as something other than substance. We may hypothecate that thought and force are things that occupy the space that would be between the ultimates (spherical atoms) of substance, or that part of infinite space assumed by Democritus as a void or his second principle of matter. To concen- trate a thing is to make it occupy a smaller place, similar to compressing a bale of cotton, etc. Thought manifests its presence in some cases by vibrating from other objects. We are accustomed to say we see an object, — ^an apple, for instance, — but this is not the absolute fact, for it is just the contrary — the apple sees us; and Ave substantiate our assertion in this manner. The rays of light must first come in contact with the object^ and are the^i reflected from the object into the eye. It does so by vibration. This is motion. Hence we know that where you have motion you have the force to impart it and the thought to direct it. ( 129 ) This thought at its passage from the apple on to the brain, by way of the optic nerve, produces what is termed a concept ^ or an embryonic think.* The reason for closing the eye while concentrating your thoughts is to assist the / am, dr spirit self, in the act of reflecting back on to your brain fully crystal- lized thoughts from out of your spirit atmosphere to 07^pam!te reason; thik' atmosphere is recognized by some as mind, by others as will, and by this back action it directs and controls your physical organs of speech, and a word or language is horn. With the eyes open, standing in an orchard, a variety of objects are reflecting rays on the eye at the same moment, and as each object or ray must be accompanied with its director (thought), the same medley is produced as though a dozen voices were all trying to speak at the same time, and affect the audi- tory nerve in precisely the same manner. This is designated by some as conscious and sub- conscious, by others as the sublimary self; that is, they recognize the act of double thinking ^ and feel called upon to account for it in some manner, and if not in a common sense or comprehensive manner, then other- wise, — such as sublimary self, for instance. As we have denied the existence of a void or vacuum, and assume a priori that the form of the atom is spherical, then these two seeming incongrui- ties we are obliged to harmonize or break the chain of our philosophy; so we will explain it in this way. After placing these four marbles (atoms) in the form of a molecule, or body, this would leave a void *See Consciousness. ( 130 ) in the center, and if not occupied by something other than substance, it would indeed represent a vacuum ; but we contend that this space is filled with that essence, the existence of which we recognize a priori by its seeming effect on matter, two existing things, (if anything does exist) of which the human senses are the most cognizant of from experience and yet know the least of namely, THOUGHT and FORCE. (131) CHAPTEE XX. PLANETARY AND ELEMENTARY SPIRITS, SO-CALLED. Before advancing with our remarks on the above subject, we will allow that it is not exactly our object to take the negative of truth, i. e. it is not incumbent upon us to endeavor to offer you the evidence of the non-existence of every fad or fallacy that may become seated in the various minds of the people of earth. We think that such an undertaking would be a trilie too much, to say nothing of the useless waste of paper. However, we will crave your indulgence for this one subject, as it has a tendency to beguile and mis- lead the student after those false Gods of which we have warned you before. And, as we find that many spiritualists of to-day are inclined to cast a smiling eye on this old Hindu myth, we do not think what few remarks we may have to offer for your consideration will seriously incommode your studies ; therefore we will begin by taking the bull by the horns at once and say that, either we are entirely mistaken in all that we have advanced as regards the truth of evolution, i. e. that it begins with the very first original atom of matter in an undeveloped state as it then and now fills all space, awaiting a time and opportunity to ad- vance to a higher and better condition, or we have asserted the simple truth as human nature in the nine- teenth century can understand it. (132) So far we have endeavored to give you one unbroken chain of known evidence, as viewed and acknowledged by your scientific laws. Therefore, the question now forces itself upon us : shall we break the chain at this point ; or rather, should we not seek to strengthen it? And now, my friend, in speaking of elementary spirits, it is but just to those who advocate the exist- ence of such spirits for us to concede that words do not always convey the truth ; and it might be said by such advocates that, while it is probable that the word " elemental,'' as used in the above sense, is incorrect when applied to spirit, that they still insist on the actual existence of a spirit that had never yet been possessed at any previous time of a form or passed through the earth conditions. THE BIRTH OF INTELLIGENCE AND WISDOM. Physical matter, in its first known state, is that body of substance that fills all known space in the form of the atom. The first change or move of ad- vancement of this atom is to seek to join another atom, which is the very first beginning of — let us say ^our world. And right at this point you have the first undeniable evidence of life and intelligence. You have the evidence of life in the force and motion it displays ; you have the evidence of intelligence by the proofs of its seeking another atom and permanently joining the same for a particular preconceived pur- pose. If this does not constitute intelligence, pray what does? That is, if intelligence does not begin at this very point, then it could not have a beginning. And at this point, you will see, is the very ulti- ( 133 ) mate beginning of human comprehension of ele- mentary organization and the suhdivision of intelligence, which follows the life of the atom through all of its various stages of advancement, from the nebulous or gaseous stage to the liquid, thence the solid or rock, thence the vegetable, again the animal. And at this point, as we have shown you elscAvhere, by a description of the atmos- phere of the apple, the atom of intelligence finds an opportunity to advance in the form of a Thinks when, by a union of this think matter, derived from sight, hearing, smell, and the other nerves of sense, it ad- vances to the condition of an embryo thought and Is impinged on the entire brain, whose duty it is to refine and classify it into human intelligence. This intelli- gence is not made manifest to a child of one day old to any appreciable extent, but gathers around the child, atom by atom, following the gradual develop- ment of the budding mind or reason. The infinite object of human life on the earth planet is to develop this same reason into intelligence, w^hich is gathered around you as you make your journey through earth life; and by a constant opportunity being given you to exercise your human or physical senses, you de- velop wisdom from the experience of these physical senses. ASTRAL SHELL. This wisdom, intelligence, experience, etc., are gathered around your physical body in the same manner as the perfume is gathered around the apple, in the form of imponderable matter. Out of this ( 134 ) matter is produced a spirit, — you may call it at this stage your earth spirit, which has often been mis- understood by the neophyte investigator, — as an astral shell or elementary spirit^ and it is by this atmosphere of imponderable atoms that sensitives are enabled to read your surroundings wherever you are or may have been. Being in a room, for instance, and you have left the room, you leave a portion of that atmosphere behind you in precisely the same manner as the apple leaves its fragrance in the room after it has been removed, that which is left is that portion of matter that has not advanced sufficiently to be able to take the next step in evolution, hence the necessity of its being returned to the earth, or the mills of the gods, to be again ground over. You will now be enabled to more clearly understand from this description of the order of advancement (evolution) how impossible and illogical it would be for a spirit to be produced from an element of un- developed matter before that atom had first passed through the various primary degrees of earthly organ- ization or form. One of the first objects of infinite life is order or classification. This is accomplished by first bringing two or more elementary atoms of primary matter together, which develops the form or shape of an object. Could the apple be produced before the tree, or the tree before the sprout? Is it rational to sup- pose that the soul was produced before the spirit, or that the spirit body was before the physical or earth body? For those who claim to know of such ele- mentary spirits as half horse and half man, we would ( 135 ) like to ask, Where did these abnormal spirits get their knowledge and experience of form and shape from in order to build on? Now, my friend, we hardly think it necessary for us to proceed any further on this sub- ject, as we are inclined to think it condemns itself, but will proceed to inquire into the truth of the planetary spirits being able to manifest to the denizens of the earth. In order to illustrate this matter to you, we will say that the earth is eight thousand miles in diameter, and around the earth is, we will call it, a supermundane sphere, extending outward for a distance of, say, one million of miles. This we will call the spirit world of this earth, and it is composed of the eliminations of imponderable matter that has passed through the necessary earth conditions, but is still a part of your globe or world, only in a higher condition. Please remember that the fact that you cannot see it is no proof of its non-existence ; for you cannot see atmos- pheric air, thought, etc., yet they have an actual existence. Again, you will remember that all objec- tive earth matter is only seeming and only entered that state in order to enable it to make further ad- vancement and will eventually return to a state in- visible to the human eye. Now, all matter, of whatsoever nature, is only held in the spirit world after it has secured all the advancement that the physical earth or world can give it, and, as we have stated in another part of this work, the denser matter is held next the surface of the earth. Now, the same law of progression governs the spirit world that governs the ponderable matter of earth. ( 136 ) To illustrate for this purpose, we will say that you cannot retrograde, — that is, the father cannot become a little child again, nor can he impart all of his knowl- edge to a child of five years of age; he may explain to the child the mysteries of the steam-engine, but how much does the child comprehend of the matter? Just so the spirits try to teach you, and so again the pro- gressed or higher spirits teach of their discoveries of the outer circles of spirit life. Once more your attention, please. We will suppose again that Jupiter, Mars, and the other planets of our sun are of just the same dimensions, with each a spirit sphere of like dimensions. We will place these spheres in space just two millions seven thousand miles apart, that is, from center to center, — by so placing them you will see that the outer circle of the two planets interblend to the depth of one thousand miles. Spirits that have advanced to this great and glorious condition are so refined as to dazzle the understanding of those spirits who are next to the surface of the earth, and we do not wonder that they take them for demigods, in the same manner that mediaeval man mistook the earth spirits for gods, — particularly poor old Moses, who never was very bright when at his best. As each planet has an over-life of its own, and is bent on working out the problem of that life in the same manner as the child has its individual life to pursue, though its aches and pains are sensed to a limited degree by the other members of the family, so it is with the family of planets that form individual members of our sun family ; and as the goal of ambi- (137) tion of the spirits of our planet earth is to advance into the home of the soul or the outer circle of our mother sun, then it stands to reason that for them to seek an advancement in the direction of a brother planet would lead them hackivards towards another planet. Therefore the only attraction that prevails among planetary spirits is after they have left their spirit spheres and become members of the outer sun's sphere or home of the soul. Whatever influence was felt by one planetary spirit from another would only be at that extreme point in the outer environments of the two supermundane spheres, and then only as one member of a family feels or senses the wish of another under very lofty conditions. You will see, therefore, that for our advanced spirits to return or be attracted to Mars, or the spirits of Mars to be attracted to the earth, would be a retrograde movement. That the spirits of our earth who have advanced to the outer periphery of our supermundane sphere can and do convey, by impression, a part of their knowledge to those spirits who are a degree below them is true in the same manner as the father conveys impressions to his children; he explains to the oldest, who, in turn, explains, to the best of his ability, to the younger members. So you will see about how near under these conditions you, the people of earth, can come to an exact comprehension of what is taking place physi- cally on the planet Mars. It is thus we explode the bubble of planetary spirit communication. Why, not one medium in a hundred can really understand and interpret the communica- tions that you are now receiving from the lower spirit ( 138 ) world, and until you learn to live and surround your- selves and families with a higher sense of spiritual life, you never will. ( 139 ) REINCARNATION. The only authority you have for a belief in reincarnation is from the fact that many people now living on the earth plane who are known among you as very intellectual persons, and even yourself, intel- lectual or otherwise, have positively asserted that they can remember vaguely circumstances that seemed to have occurred to them when they were in some previous life. This is all of the evidence, if it may be accepted as evidence, those so asserting can advance, and is one of the principal arguments ad- vanced by the Theosophists in support of re-embodi- ment. The cause of this feeling which at times comes over those who so testify is, that they, at the time of such occurrence, are being influenced or acted upon by some ancient or modern spirit who does not possess the knowledge or power to successfully control their mentality so as to make himself recognized by them, but can only partially hypnotize them; this places them in a sort of dazed condition where they become slightly obsessed — not sufficiently to do them any harm at first, but it is like taking the first drink or opium pill — the beginning of the units, so to speak, or first cause. You may frequently see a professional medium characterize a spirit, and in this condition they lose (140) their own individuality and become at the time the ancient spirit, and, as such, remember of course only their past life, but the spirit, while obsessing the medium or sensitive, may only be able to faintly re- call the past, owing to the conditions of harmony be- tween you at that moment. A great many people can recall instances of their lives where they have done or said things in a moment when, in the next moment, they could not for their lives tell why they did or said it, and have felt ex- tremely mortified therefrom. This is from the same cause. As a partial illustration, we will ask you what it is or whence comes the great physical force suddenly developed by the heart, while sitting in a passive con- dition, after having been informed by a friend of the death of, or severe accident to, a dear relative; or, again, you may be lying down in that comatose state between sleep and awake when suddenly your heart gives a great jump and you feel as though you had just escaped some great accident by a hair's breadth. This was not caused by the action of your physical senses; you were not even drawing on your imagina- tion, yet here was a physical result of a violent work- ing of the heart. This will serve to show you that you are surrounded at all times by an ether, atmos- phere, or call it what you please, that comes in con- tact with a similar atmosphere of your own in which the real I AM of you exists, and can and is acted upon by an imponderable substance almost entirely inde- pendent of your physical body. Many persons ob- serve this phenomenon just at that period when pass- ( 141 ) ing from wakefulness to sleep ; at this stage the phys- ical body, and especially the brain-cells, are in a negative condition, but sensitive to spirit forces. Now, a spirit, we will say, that was removed from the body by some sudden and violent cause, — say blown up or knocked overboard and drowned, — comes into your atmosphere and, by so doing, the spirit instantly takes on the condition that caused its re- moval from the body. This shock is precipitated on to the negative or sleeper's atmosphere, which, in turn, suddenly casts it on to that group of the physical brain governing the organism of the heart in so vio- lent a manner that the brain-cells can not systemati- cally receive and classify it, — in almost the same manner, in fact, as a birthmark is produced. (See Chapter XXIV. ) Your physical brain was not think- ing at the time; therefore this sudden, startling sensa- tion cannot be attributed to the imagination. All that you seem to realize at the moment is that some- thing awful is about to happen. If not from a wander- ing spirit, where does this feeling of dread come from? Alas, how many unfortunate mortals have been and are now incarcerated in lunatic asylums charged with lunacy that owe their presence in such institutions solely to obsession thvongh this cause! This phenomenon is a known fact, and almost every one has at some period of his life experienced such a shock. Here, you will perceive, is a direct communi- cation to the muscles from the brain that controls them. This fact will serve to show that thought exists independent of words or language; Max Muller's " Science of Thought " to the contrary, about which we shall have more to say later. (142) Many spirits on first entering into the spirit con- dition, either from violence or otherwise, do not realize that they have made the passage which you call death, and drift around in a somewhat dazed condition, being strongly attracted to the physical or earth matter, when they find themselves in the atmos- phere of some mortal who happens to be sensitive to that particular spirit. There is an influence generated by such contact that awakens or enervates both the spirit and sensitive, and this influence is felt from the faintest degree to the wildest state of obsession, de- pending entirely on the amount of harmony at the moment existing between the two; hence, while to some the impression of a past existence is very vague and shadowy, to others it is more pronounced. As you are aware, there are many well-authenti- cated instances where persons have suddenly lost their own identity or individuality and taken on all the memory and personality of another, the one X)ersonated invariahly hcing one of your so-called dead, and this condition has continued in some for only a few moments, while in others it has continued for years. And now, my friend, just exercise your own common sense in passing judgment on this, our expla- nation of the fallacy of reincarnation, and see if those who advocate such an antagonizing theory to the in- evitable law of evolution can or do offer you any evidence that is sustained by any as well-known or as fully recognized phenomena as we have had the pleasure of submitting for your consideration. (143) CHAPTER XXI. ANIMALS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD; OR^ DOES ALL OBJECTIVE MATTER PROJECT A SPIRIT? (June 23, 1897.) My friend, I observe upon your mind this morning an inquiry or birth of another question which was pro- duced by our erection of the bridge called Thought, namely: If thought is matter, then it naturally fol- lows that, as thought produces mind or intelligence, that also must be composed of matter. This produces the spirit which again must be composed of matter. And here follows in your mind the question : As the apple throws off a progressed atom which is attracted to human mind, what becomes of that part of the apple that contributes the over-life, spirit, or soul, of the ap- ple? In other words, we see that you are reaching out and endeavoring to solve the question, either in the affirmative or negative, as regards the existence or non-existence of the spirit of the vegetable and lower animals in the spirit world, and if in the affirmative, being matter, it must have form. We will begin by answering your compound ques- tion in the affirmative, and will endeavor to advance for your consideration such self-evident facts as we think will be as convincing to you as your comprehen- sion of the subject at this stage of your earth develop- ( 144 ) ment will admit. As all atomic matter had an avowed or special purpose in coming together in the begin- ning or first conception of the earth planet, it is per- missible for us to inquire what that purpose was, in order to avoid as much as possible a repetition of all that we formerly advanced on the question of the over- life or one life of objective matter. We will assume that our efforts to establish only the truth have thus far been crowned with success, and will advance our remarks on that hypothesis; and as we have met with so much success in segregating the question, and thereby avoiding the confusion and clouds that must necessarily intervene on all ques- tions of the truth regarding the occult^ you will see the advantage of continuing in the same manner. We will therefore begin with the apple, and again follow its course of progress, and as with the apple, so it is also with the so-called lower animals and all natural forms of objective matter (by this we mean rocks, vegetables, and any thing having a form that was produced by the natural process — produced by and through the law of the earth when acting out the natural law of evolution). Here we wish you to clearly understand that we do not include — nor do we deny — such objects as were wrought by the artifice of man's ingenuity, etc. The purport of all matter is to seek to advance or to better its condition. Now, what produced this con- dition in the first place, — that is, the desire, — if it was not the presence of the lowest, the very lowest, ex- pression of life? Matter, you will understand in this instance, is only a means for an end, and assumes the ( 145 ) form of a vehicle toi convey something. That some- thing is life. Now, it does not follow that all life is human life; in fact, human life forms but a small percentage of the great over-life which some recognize as the over-soul, God, the Infinite One, etc. And when you consider, as we have before stated, that the great outermost surrounding sphere, the limit of human comprehension, — that sphere that embraces all that exists, — is composed of the accu- mulations of all kinds and qualities and the very essence of life, and, by the very fact of its unity into one final sphere, it must have an over-life of one and the only final object of all that is ; and as it embraces and flows through all, and could not be without all, then you will see that the smallest atom is just as much an integral part, in proportion to the whole (God), as the largest known planet. And as we watch and study the evolution of one atom and its change to something higher, and again its change to still higher, higher, and higher conditions, and, as all matter takes precisely the same course, only differing in degree and time, and, as we knoiv of no other pro- cess, either in the spirit or the physical, by which mat- ter progresses, then we can but come to the conclusion that all life — and hence all matter — is governed by the one grand desire to seek the highest possible attainment — which is perfection. Now, my friend, we are aware that at the first glance you take of this assertion it will somewhat stagger you ; but when you come to consider that the human spirit is produced in precisely the same way, please allow us to ask. Is the one more wonderful or ( 146 ) impractical or unreasonable than the other? For, as with the human matter it is with the vegetable, also with the mineral. You cannot deny that the apple and the horse have reached an advanced position from the volcanic period of the earth-atoms ; and it is con- trary to all known laws of evolution for this advanced matter, in the form of an apple or a horse, to go back- Avards. Then, pray tell us, with better logic than we have advanced, what becomes of this matter — for you cannot destroy it. WILL THE WORLD EVENTUALLY TURN TO A GREASE-SPOT? It is true that this would lead to a probable surmise — and only a surmise — that all the matter composing this world would eventually pass into some other kind of a world, leaving nothing of this world but a grease- spot, so to speak. To this we will answer first : How do you know that it will not? Secondly, how do we know that the final termination of all matter is not to be absorbed by the great over-soul or universalism? Or that, when perfection is reached, it ends there? Of a truth, this question is so far in the infinite of eternity that it is absolutely beyond all human or spirit comprehension, and is almost analogous to chasing a will-o'-the-wisp, and we will insist that we have not only a right, but that it is perfectly proper to advance the truth in any manner or by any road that is built on known facts, — from cause to effect, — and that this line should never be departed from in favor of mere belief or baseless conjecture. Yet we are also free to admit that belief is oftentimes necessary to ( 147 ) pave the way to knowledge, but claim that it at no time should be allowed to take precedence as evidence of facts over well-known truths. Now, take the question in a graduated life. If man possesses a spirit, where does the object called a man, in the sense of evolution, begin? And at what point does the man cease to be and the higher class of the lower animal begin? For instance, take the lower class of the African negro, the chimpanzee, the elephant, etc., or, in other words, take Darwin^s origin of species and honestly put your finger on the point where the one leaves off and the other begins. If Darwin was unable to draw a positive line where not only the human species began or the rock or mineral ceased to be such, after spending his whole life in his researches, have we not in this one of the best evidences known to science to sustain our assertion that all matter pro- gresses to higher conditions? WILL WE BE ANNOYED BY FLEAS AND THINGS IN THE SPIRIT WORLD? It is true that we hear flippant remarks from time to time, from some of the would-be considered pro- found thinkers, that there would be danger of their being annoyed in the spirit world by fleas and things. Alas, we do fear they will be annoyed, especially by things that they would like to get rid of. We might add our own testimony to the truth of animal spirits, but as we started out to write this book on purely known facts, such as would be sustained by science and common sense alone, it would be break- ( 1^8 ) ing away from our clear line of instructing you on only knotvn facts that bear out all that we have ad- vanced, and, therefore, were we to so assert, it would only be hearsay or belief; and if you should hunger for that sort of knowledge, just drop in on some of the churches some Sunday morning. (149 ) CHAPTER XXII. CLAIRVOYANCE AND CLAIRAUDIENCB. (June 26, 1897.) Again we sense upon your mind the question, How do the spirits convey to mortals those truths which they wish to impart? And we also see upon your mind that, if our answer is not satisfactory, you will not use it. Very well, my friend, we do not wish to force our opinion upon you, nor have we done so as yet, having as little use for opinions as yourself, but shall continue the same course as heretofore. How- ever, my dear friend, we beg of you not to put yourself in a positive mood, or you will defeat your own object as well as ours. We thought we had "already schooled you sufficiently well in that direction, and as it was our intention from the beginning to clothe all of our remarks in plain United States, and avoid as much as possible those antediluvian, jaw-twisting terms used by your metaphysicians, in order that this work might be read by the middle class of people comprehensively, we hope that you will be kind enough to still realize how difficult it is for us to clearly expound even this last question of yours, coming, as it does, sO directly to the door of the occult. We will take for our subject Clairvoyance, as this will give you a general idea of the whole matter. (150) First, you will remember that, as there are all manner of minds and organisms in a state of development on the earth planet, from extreme ignorance to the well- rounded-out philosopher, so also is it in the spirit world ; and when the average mortal wishes to have some profound question solved, he naturally seeks out some one highly learned in that especial line of thought. Again, you are aware that different minds are de- veloped or are trained in different directions; for instance, one man will make botany a study, another mineralogy, and another state-craft or the political and social attributes. If you should go to one of these philosophers, he would tell you to begin with that. In order to clearly and fully explain the problem of which you seek knowledge, you would have to read up a little, in order that he might make himself under- stood ; but as you probably had not the time or oppor- tunity, he would do the very best he could under the circumstances to make you understand. Just so is it in the spirit world. Now, go back in this little volume and again read our remarks on prophecy; there you will learn that the Old Man of the Sea had been studying the effects of coming events for thousands of years ; that was his hobby, so to speak. He had grown wise on this par- ticular subject, — so wise that ordinary spirits do not question his wisdom at all. So much for our prelude. The medium whose forces are adaptable for clear seeing attracts a spirit who is above the average of spirits in spirituality. This spirit selects by attrac- tion other spirits of less degree, generally, to assist ( 151 ) him in his work. In so doing he accomplishes a double purpose ; for he teaches or gives to those lower spirits a part of his knowledge and assists them to advance, while they, being able to come into closer rapport with the medium, impart a portion of their knowledge to the medium, and benefit him and other mortals by convincing them of these higher truths. Now, the guide or spirit at the head of the band can put himself in harmony or communication with this or that wise spirit by means of thought-waves and gather such information as the mortal seeks; that is, he can get shadows of the truth, for there is with spirits, as with men, an almost impassable barrier to a full comprehension of any matter between the various intelligences. The guide now impresses on the minds of the band that which he receives from a higher source; they, in turn, to the best of their ability, transfer these impressions to the medium's spirit with which they have become by practice in close rapport, and, in something the manner as hypno- tism, when the spirit of the medium (sometimes called his second self) throAvs it on the physical brain of the man. This is sometimes accomplished by caus- ing an impressional picture of the information sought to be cast on the spirit ether that surrounds the spirit of the medium, which the spirit of the medium senses and again reflects on the physical brain. By this process, you will see, the sought-for truth has had to be transmitted backwards through four circles of pro- gression, losing necessarily a little at each change, in almost the same ratio as knowledge was gained in the forward changes. This will explain to you why ( 152 ) it is that very often your sittings with a sensitive are not at all times satisfactory, there being so many hands for it to pass through, so many disturbing influences to meet and overcome, that the only wonder is that you can get anything at all. The reasonably well-progressed spirits do not have to be always present with another spirit to communi- cate their desires. They do not have to use the audi- tory nerve to hear by atmospheric vibration. Not being physical, you will understand that they require none of the physical nerves to sense a truth, but, by a much finer imponderable matter, they are able to project their thoughts to a great distance, time cutting no figure in the transaction. CLAIRAUDIENCE. Clairaudience is accomplished in almost the same manner. The spirit, or second self, reflects on the physical brain in a sort of back-action the imponder- able matter of sound, which is heard on the brain only while the mortal, being accustomed to receiving by way of the auditory nerve, thinks it is his ear that hears. Since you, my friend, have heard clairaudient- ly, you will remember that it seemed as though a wee, tiny voice was away inside of your ear, or as though you were hearing through a very weak long-distance telephone. Why it seemed to sound thus was because it was being transmitted in a backward manner — that is, from the spirit to the brain, instead of from the brain to the spirit, somewhat as if you were to look through the small end of a spy-glass, the objects being ( 153 ) enlarged or drawn near to you, while, if you reverse the glass, the object is reduced or far away. And now, hoping that our communication will not be hastily cast into the' waste-basket. We remain. Yours truly. The amanuensis will here acknowledge that the rebuke was well deserved, and I take it all back ; but must be allowed to confess that such indeed were my thoughts — that the query would prove a " corker.'^ However, an honest confession is good for the soul, and " all 's well that ends well." C. H. F. INVESTIGATING MATERIALIZATION. At this point of our remarks it will be appropriate to allow our scribe to give you a little of his ex- perience while pursuing his investigations of materialization, by a concise report of a number of private sittings with two or three most excellent and honest mediums. I will begin by saying that in the early part of the year 1890 I was a confirmed atheist. I had read some- thing of spiritualism, but lacked the positive evidence of spirit return, or life after the so-called death. About this time there came a lady from the East to San Francisco, by the name of Mrs. Helen Fairchild, whom I had often heard spoken of as one of the best mediums for the phase of full-form materialization to be fQund in the United States ; so I decided to have a private circle with her, for in case I found it only a fake, there would be only the medium and myself to ( 155 ) do the laughing act. I found she did not have to go into the cabinet at all, but remained out in the room all the time, although at the time she was under the control of an Indian woman by the name of Forest Queen. When the seance began, Queen gave me the names of six or eight people that I had not thought of for forty years, — some of them boys that I had not seen since I was ten years old, — and gave me an exact description of them. This was before any spooks came out. Well, to say it staggered me, is the solid fact. Then something touched me on the knee. I looked down, and, as I looked, a bright spot came on the floor at my feet and began to rise. I saw it was a man, and no mistake, with long gray beard. As his face came opposite to mine, he began to speak, when 1 felt his warm breath strike my face. I could see the carpet very plainly. When he got through growing, I found he was a man about six feet high and ap- parently fifty-five years old, who gave the name of Doctor Rush, and claimed to be the medium's guide. Well, I will admit that, as this was my first point- blank evidence of a genuine ghost, that I was knocked out the first round. I was not in the least nervous or frightened, but talked to him as natural as you please ; but I mean by " knocked out " that I was perfectly satisfied that there was no shenanigan, and that I was looking at a full-fledged ghost. Well, in a few minutes the Doctor retired, when a very handsome young lady came out and gave the name of Sylvia, stating that she was my guardian angel, etc. I listened to her, and was as polite as a French dancing-master, when suddenly she kissed me ( 156 ) on the cheek. That did settle it! Then she said she would have to go to recover strength. I did not blame her, for that kiss was too much for the first dose — and I a stranger and a greenhorn. I said to myself: " Young lady, you are awful good-looking ; but if you think you can play it on this old rounder and get away with the goods, you will be a heap sight smarter than I am willing to give you credit for." The fact is, I did not believe that she was a ghost at all, you see. That kiss was the pure quill, and she could not fool the old man just a little bit; he had been there before — or he thought he had. Then she began to settle down — through the floor, apparently — until she disappeared entirely. Well, there I was flabbergasted again, and had to take it all back; for I knew that no human could go down through that floor without a trap, and I, being a builder and able to see the carpet at my feet, knew there was none there. After several other spirits had come and gone, the seance ended. Well, reader, as that was my first experience, I am willing that you shall say " Chump ! '^ for when I came away I was half inclined to think so myself. Still, I had seen either too much or too little, and made up my mind to see it out and learn the truth if it took all summer and I had to go broke. Just so, just so. I found that it did take si?: months and just one thousand dollars ; and not one dollar of it would I recall and be without the lesson and the experience. I will now give you one of the most remarkable seances that I have ever witnessed. It was the slow building up of the spirit Sylvia in a strictly private ( 157 ) seance. The rooms were a pair of double parlors, about twelve by fourteen feet square, with six-foot sliding-doors between them. The cabinet was in the front parlor, and cut no figure in the seance whatever. On one side of the sliding-doors by the wall was a small coal-oil lamp. This was covered by a piece of red tissue-paper to take the sharp glare off the light, and was about six feet up from the floor. Under this light and at the jamb of the door I took my seat, and on the opposite side of the door, about seven feet away, the medium seated herself, under control of Queen. The light was just strong enough to see easily all the objects in both rooms. After sitting for about five minutes, I noticed, about eighteen inches from the medium's side, a faint light, barely discerni- ble, and about six inches wide and five feet high. I kept my eye on it, and saw that it was getting lighter, until it had the appearance of the dawn of daylight, though clear, and I could see through it. At the ex- piration of a couple of minutes it began to take on a denser form, until it had the appearance of a round column of chalk turned true in a lathe. I kept up a conversation with Queen, but kept my eye on the column, when it deliberately and slowly widened out at the bottom until it took the form of a spirit draped in white, the drapery extending up to and around over where the head ought to have been, but I could see no head ; then, in a flash, came the eyes, nose and mouth, but no hair; then, while I am writing, it came — the beautiful black curls — when I recognized her as Sylvia. She stepped over to me and said she thought she would show me how she made herself up. She CTbrTT^ OF THE UNIVERSITY ( 159 ) then stepped away to the right about three feet, when she slowly sank through the floor. In less than a minute she rose out of the floor in another place, came over to me and spoke to me, when she sank again to the left. This performance was repeated five or six times, and occupied about twenty minutes. Skeptics and know-it-alls will here note that the cabinet played no part in it, nor was the medium out of my sight for a single minute. So much by way of my initiation. I will now give you an account of my marriage with the spirit Sylvia. We had been expecting to secure conditions for this event for several weeks, and finally the day was fixed upon. I took the precaution to take along my own bottle of wine, as they said they would be able to drink our health. On the day we opened the seance, out came Sylvia, and my sister Rhoda, as the best lady, and Charley H. Foster, the old medium who had passed the Rubicon some ten or fifteen years before. He was my second cousin and claimed to be my con- trol and was to act as my best man. Then came Ptolemy Philadelphus, Sylvia's father, who claimed to be my guide ; then Forest Queen. We all stood up in a semicircle, and Ptolemy began the wedding cere- mony. After getting about half through he broke down, and had to wait about two minutes, when he finished; then they all retired, when Ptolemy came out alone and sat down in a chair by my side at a small deal table upon which I had placed some wine, cake, and a box of cigars. He asked me what it was I had on the table. I told him it was some wine and cake to entertain my friends with, and invited him to ( 160 ) partake. " Certainly I will," he replied. I picked up the bottle of wine to pour it in a glass, when Ptolemy began to smile. I wondered what he saw to laugh at, ^\hen I noticed that, in my anxiety to see him drink the wine, I had forgotten to draw the cork. However, 1 filled a glass for him, but he stood looking at me, and finally asked me if I was not going to join him. I had again forgotten myself. The fact was, I will own up, I was just a trifle rattled. Well, he clinked glasses with me, and, you may depend upon it, I watched that glass of his, rattled or not rattled; and he certainly swallowed all of the wine. I had also given him a piece of the cake, which I had a close eye on, and I noticed that, while he placed the cake to his mouth, he did not take any of the cake into his mouth. So I asked the reason. He replied that, while it was not difficult to dematerialize a fluid, he found he could not so readily dematerialize a solid ; but he gave me a long spiritual toast, which I returned to the best of my poor ability. He then retired to the cabinet, and Sylvia and Rhoda came out and sat one on each side of me, with a glass of wine. But I chided them that they were not drinking the wine, but only pretending to. Sylvia replied : " You know we do not drink wine. It is only to please you." After they had sat about ten minutes they arose, and Sylvia retired within the cabinet, while Ehoda took my hand and began to ap- parently sink through the floor, talking as she went. I had a fair grip on her hand and wondered what would become of her hand, for I intended to hang on to it like grim death to a dead nigger. When only her ( 161 ) hand was left, it melted into nothing, and there was my hand, partly closed. I was looking at her hand for all that I was worth. It just simply turned to noth- ing. Then Charley Foster came out and took a glass of wine and a cigar ; then old man Massasoit, who is my cabinet spirit, came out and took a cigar. In fact, there were eleven spirits came out, seven of whom each drank a glass of wine ; and when the seance was over, I noticed there was about one-fourth of the wine left. It was quite a common occurrence with me to pre- sent the spirit Sylvia with a large bouquet of flowers, and frequently she would dematerialize in front of fifteen or twenty people, flowers and all, and no traces of the flowers could afterwards be found. I have often stood within twelve inches of her when she would begin to sink down, holding the flowers in her hand. When she would be about three feet above the floor, she and the flowers would vanish to apparent nothing- ness. During these seances with Mrs. Fairchild, Ptolemy suggested that he be allowed to give me a series of writing seances, to Avhich I consented. It was done in this manner : The medium procured a new blank tablet, about eight by ten inches. This. I carefully inspected before every seance. This blank-book was then laid on a chair in the cabinet, and Mrs. F. — under control of Queen, of course — would take her seat by me in the room, and we would indulge in an ordinary conversation. Sometimes it would be such light and frivolous gossip as women usually like to while away the time with. ( 162 ) I was always careful to observe that neither Queen nor any of the other spirits who called on me could or would enter into an explanation of the real practical law governing the phenomena of materialization ; that is, their answers were always vague and unsatisfac- tory, in a practical o:^ scientific sense, I found it the same with C. V. Miller and all others whom I ques- tioned on the matter, and it is my candid opinion that they are as ignorant of the laws governing the phenom- ena as the rest of the rank and file of spiritualists. Mrs. Fairchild once said to me, in a burst of confi- dence : " Mr. Foster, sometimes when I am alone I often wonder to myself, can it really be true that these forms that come into my room are indeed those who we think are dead? I know that I ought to be the last one in the world to hold such thoughts, after fifteen years of experience; yet I sometimes cannot help it, it does seem so impossible." But this is wandering from our subject. During the writing seance, which would last about one hour, there would sometimes come out of the cabinet one or two spirits to entertain me and break the monot- ony. At the end of the hour we would take the book out and read it, and it would prove quite interesting. I found that at every seance they would write about five or six hundred words with a lead pencil. These writings consisted of a description of Ptolemy's coro- nation and reign in Egypt, and will be found attached to this volume. After I had had about twenty sittings, Ptolemy concluded to dispense with the writings, stat- ing that he would finish them at some future time, through my own forces ; and I presume that the birth (163) of this volume on Occult Science is the fulfillment of that promise, — for you will allow me to assert one thing positively, and that is, that it is not the off- spring of my intelligence, several truths being ad- vanced in this book which were contrary to my convictions, and until they entered into an explana- tion of materialization on the automaton and hypno- tism principles, I was in the same mystified condition as all other writers on that phenomenon, and I was puzzled to account for it in any rational manner, after sj)ending thirteen hundred dollars in the investigation of materialization alone. As was also the cause of the declination of the earth's axis, that which thinks thoughts, etc. I will now give you a description of a few remark- able seances which I had with C. V. Miller, of San Francisco. But allow me first to state that I had been accustomed to receive an occasional spirit letter from Ptolemy, Sylvia, Chas. Poster, Massasoit, Rhoda, and others of my band, through Mrs. Fairchild's forces from the city of Denver, Colorado, and this was before I was acquainted with Mr. Miller. In one of these letters from Ptolemy he stated to me that away out in the Pacific Ocean there was an island, etc. I will here include an article that I wrote at the time for the Progressive Thinker and let it speak for itself. ( 164 ) " PHENOMENAL— SOME CUKIOUS MANI- FESTATIONS. " A STRANGE ISLAND AND A COPPER-COLORED RACE. ^- Wonderful manifestations at a materializing seance — A peculiar stone brought from an island — A bracelet from a mummy casket — Materialized form illuminated, ^' To the Editor : A short time ago I noticed an article in your paper, evidently from an investigator like myself into the various phases of spirit communi- cation, inquiring why, when you ask a question of a spirit, if you want ' yes ' you get ' yes,' and ' no ' when you want ' no.' Now, while I admit that my experience has been somewhat similar when investi- gating the phases generally understood as clair- voyant, or trance mediums, or dark circles, I find it altogether different with a good materializing medium in a strong light, when the investigator can bring to bear on the truth of the question, at one and the same time, at least four out of his five or six senses ; and, if you, Mr. Editor, will kindly give to the many readers of The Progressive Thinker the following article (pro- vided it is not too long), they will see that ' yes ' and ' no ' cut no figure. Said article embraces a series of three or four of the most remarkable materializing seances that I have ever read about, and, knowing it will tax the credulity of even old ' stagers,' I shall affix my affidavit to the same. " Eight months ago I received a written communi- cation from two members of my band of spirits, ( 165 ) through the forces of Mrs. Helen Fairchild, then located in Denver, Colorado, telling me that far in the Pacific Ocean there was an island inhabited by a copper-colored race of people, who were very medium- istic and of a kind and gentle disposition. These people were governed by an old king who was over a hundred years old ; that in the possession of this king were a pair of stones of great value, which the spirits wished to secure for their temple, as the island and its people were soon to be destroyed by a tidal wave. Well, I placed the letter in my drawer and told no one or thought but little about it. Three months ago I heard of Mr. C. V. Miller, of San Francisco, as being a remarkable materializing medium, and, as has been my custom for the last three or four years, I went to him to satisfy myself. I gave him no information as to myself or even the name of my spirit friends. At the third sitting there came out of the cabinet a spirit who seemed to be an Indian and placed in my hand a peculiar stone. I will give here the conversation that took place between us : — " Q. ^ Where did you get this stone? ' "A. ' I brought it from an island far in the Pacific Ocean.' " Q. ' Where did you come from? ' "A. ' I came from that island.' " Q. ' Tell me something about that stone.' "A. ^You will soon be given another and some- thing else.' " Q. ' Do you mean to tell me that this is one of the two stones that I have already been told of? ' "A. at is.' ( 166 ) " Q. ^ What else can you tell me of them? ' "A. * That is all I was instructed to say/ " When he immediately dematerialized at my feet. " One week after that, old Chief Massasoit, an In- dian that has been with me for seven years, and another Indian, called ' War Cloud,' came out of the cabinet together, and placed in my hands a curious bracelet composed of twenty-one beads, about three eighths of an inch in diameter. Eighteen of these beads were covered with an engraved pattern of Egyptian scroll-work and all highly perfumed with a peculiar odor that always accompanies my spirit Sylvia, daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He told me he got it out of a mummy casket in an Egyptian tomb. " In a few days after receiving the island stone, I heard of a good psychologist in Oakland by the name of Little. I went and had a sitting with him (mind, we had never before met) . I let him go on for a while, and found that he did possess good powers. I then took from my pocket the stone and gave it to him to read. He immediately answered : ^ This stone takes me away out in the Pacific Ocean, a little south of west — to a little pear-shaped island. This island is the top of a range of mountains that went down with Atlantis.' I could get no more from him. About a month after this, I, with nine others, had a private sitting with Miller, when the spirit son of one of the gentlemen present came out side by side with the medium and posed before a snap-shot kodak for two different pictures. These pictures I have seen, and the gentle- man, his wife, and daughter all pronounce it a ( 168 ) wonderful likeness. At this seance old Massasoit came out. The gentleman gave him a cigar and re- quested him to light and smoke it. He retired to the cabinet, and in a moment returned with the cigar fully lighted, and stayed for five minutes, smoking away like an old stager. At this same seance my friend Sylvia came out and gave to me the other stone, weigh- ing about one pound, with private instructions re- garding it. " One week previous to this seance, I had a strictly private seance with Miller, when Sylvia came out and said she was going to stay half an hour. Well, I have seen over five thousand single cases of full-form materialization and many illuminated ones, but this spirit far overtopped any illumination that I ever be- fore beheld. Not only was the lace shawl illuminated, but, seemingly, all of her under garments and around the flesh of her neck, for half an inch above the collar of her dress, the flesh itself was fully illuminated, not in spots, but of one uniform brightness. She requested me to call in the landlady to see her. After sitting for about ten minutes, I opened the hall door and a full flood of light shone on the spirit, while she sat there as unconcerned as you please. She then gathered up a double handful of her garments and placed them in my hands. Well, the only way I can describe it is that it seemed as though I was holding onto the corner of a rain cloud with the sun shining behind it. At the same seance Aunt Betsy came out, an old colored lady, and one of the controls. After sitting with us about fifteen minutes, and drinking a glass of wine, she arose and stood about three feet from the cabinet (169 ) in a strong light and turned into old Massasoit. The transformation occupied about two minutes, when he came and talked to us for about five minutes. By the way, I forgot to mention that Sylvia stayed out with us fully half an hour. " I then made arrangements with Dr. Johnson, an amateur photographer, to bring his kodak and try for a snap-shot picture of the spirit Sylvia. Arrange- ments were made for eight persons in the circle, and it was a perfect success, as she came and posed for three different pictures. A copy of each I send you with this communication. " Mr. Miller has, by invitation, given a number of seances in private residences where I was present, and always sits outside of the cabinet for the first half hour, when from twenty to thirty forms will come, and most of them give the full name, and with the light always strong enough to plainly see him and the cabinet, which explodes the trap-door and confederate business, as there is no opening near the cabinet, and 1 can cheerfully recommend him to any one, if he should visit any of your Eastern cities, as a genuine, honest medium. C. H. Foster. "Alameda, Cal. " Subscribed and sworn to before me this twenty- sixth day of December, 1894. [SEAL.] James B. Barber, " Notary Public." But I have again gone ahead of my story ; for I should have informed you that, when Mrs. Fairchild was about to depart from San Francisco, my spirit ( 170 ) friends and myself agreed on a private signal to be kept between us, and to be divulged to no one what- ever. As I do not intend that this work shall be pub- lished until I shall have crossed the Great Divide, I will here state what that signal was : Each of my five principal spirits, in the order that I have enumerated them above, were, in their conversation, or any other convenient way suitable to the time or place, to weave in their conversation to me their number as we had agreed upon. For instance, if Sylvia were to come to me through some other medium, she, in talking to me, would use the word or figure two, twice, or second, ae that was her number (such as, " I have twice tried to convince you '' ) . It was understood that if I called for that test and it was not given, then I could depend upon it that it was not she, but some other spirit personating her. This, she assured me, was a common occurrence, and could be carried out so successfully that I could not tell the difference. Well, at my first sitting with Mr. Miller, Sylvia came out and gave the test, although she was made up differently, which experience had taught me was noth- ing unusual, as each medium and their band use these laws to suit their own conditions, the same as two mechanics will often pursue opposite courses to ac- complish the same end. I will now give you a description of a couple of seances I had with the Campbell Brothers, in which I received two oil paintings, one of Sylvia and one of Ptolemy, in size seven by eleven inches. Upon taking my seat at a small deal table in a room about eight by ten feet with a mantel in it, on which mantel was placed a large family lamp fully illuminated, and so ( 172 ) kept, the medium gave me a pair of slates about eight bj twelve inches and a piece of dry sized artist canvas and requested me to put the canvas between the slates, lie then snapped a rubber band on them and placed a small saucer of various colors of paint on the slates and gave them to me to hold, and then began to walk the floor. In a few minutes he was controlled bj Sylvia, who informed me if I would hold my hands together she would give me her ring, and when I came the next night to get her father's picture I should bring her a ring in exchange, and the first time we met at any other medium's seance she would show me the ring to convince me it was she. I placed my hands together as requested, when she placed in them a ring containing two opals and tivo garnets (the signal) as a setting. In tAventy minutes from the time of closing the slates, the oil painting was finished, a picture that professional artists tell me would take them ten hours at least to accomplish. I touched it and found it perfectly wet, and had to leave it with him for a couple of days to dry. The next day I bought a small diamond ring of a peculiar make, one that I could easily recognize in a seance room at any time. When I took my seat for Ptolemy's picture, I asked her how" I was to give her the ring. She replied : " O, just place it on the slates and hold them under the table for a moment." I did so, and in a moment raps came. I withdrew the slates, and the ring was gone. Now, mind, all this time the medium was walking up and down the floor in the full light of the lamp, and never came near the table. In twenty minutes by my watch, the picture was finished. For those two pictures I paid fifty dollars. ( 174 ) And now the sequel. About two weeks after this I saw in the paper that the Eeverend Jenny More, from Chicago, was giving seances in the city ; so, with- out any warning to any one, I attended a seance. Every one in the room, including the medium, some fifteen people, were strangers to me. I did not give my name, but took my seat with the rest. In about half an hour after the seance had begun, the medium said there was a spirit that came to the old gentleman with the gray beard, meaning myself, and she gave the name of Sylvia. I replied, " Yes ; I know a spirit by that name," when Sylvia presented herself at the aperture in the cabinet (this medium does not give full-form materialization — only the bust). I said to the spirit, " If you are my Sylvia, the last time we met there was a transaction between us whereby you agreed to give me the evidence that it was you." She smiled, raised her hand, and drew from her finger a ring precisely like the one I had given her. Then she replaced the ring, looked at me and smiled, and again withdrew the ring and replaced it — twice — the signal! M^ho could doubt it? While giving my own experience, it will be in order to say to you that when I first made the acquaintance of my spirit friends, Ptolemy gave me his object in returning to earth, which, he claimed, was for the purpose of fulfilling certain prophecies of Daniel, stating what they were, and asked my co-operation, which I agreed to give him, conditionally. One of these conditions was that, as they (the spirits) claimed that I possessed peculiar mediumistic powers which they wished to develop for their purposes {the (175 ) old, old cry, generally used to induce you to spend your money with their medium through your creduli- ty),! agreed that if they would give me unmistakable evidence that I possessed such forces, by coming to my room in the city of Alameda and knock a book from off the table at which I generally sat reading of an evening, or hit me a blow that I would undoubtedly feel, or write or. mark on the slates when I was sitting for development, and thereby prove to me the truth of their assertion, then I would continue my sittings for several years, — provided that they would give me some evidence from time to time that they were still trying to accomplish their desires. They told me that I must be prepared to wait ; that they could not tell me how long it would take, but must make patience, perseverance, and fidelity my watchword. Well, in about one year or so — I do not remember exactly — I got slate-writing once only. I had been sitting with Fred Evans for about three weeks a year before. His guide, John Gray, advised me to pay his medium fire dollars for a pair of mag- netized slates, as it would assist my development, and while I took no stock in the assertion, still, to please them, I bought the slates, which cost Mr. Evans the magnificent sum of ten cents. " Chump again," I hear you say. Yes; but I was seeking positive evidence, not belief, as you shall see, and I got it. At the same time I bought two slates of the same size from a stationery-store in Alameda. Now, I made up my mind that I would first sit a month with Evans's slates, then the alternate month with the common slates. About a year afterwards I went into the cabi- ( 176 ) net on my usual day, at 7 :30 a.m.^ with the common slates. In a half-hour I came out, when for the first time, I noticed that both sides — i. e. outsides — of the slates were scratched all over. I opened the slates and found seven names in different handwritings. Four of the names were Mary, Sofa, Charley, and Wil- ber ; the other three were only two thirds written, so I could not make them out. And now for those wonderful magnetized slates. When I went to place my slates in the bureau drawer with Mr. Evans's slates, I saw that his were also covered on the outside with scratches, and when I opened them nothing but scratches met my eye. And thus, by patience, I secured known evidence in lieu of belief. This was some four or five years ago, this being June, 1897. I always kept those slates, and do now, as clean as soap and water will make them, but have had no writing since, except an occasional scratch. Right here, to be just to my band, I will say that they warned me at the beginning not to expect manifestations while they were developing my forces ; for to give the manifestations they would have to stop or arrest the conditions for development while doing so, and it had the tendency to throw them back in their work. Some six months after that I had an unmistakable clairvoyant sight of the U. S. steamer Charleston and the Esmeralda while they were in Acapulco harbor, Mexico. On another occasion I was sitting in the room of a friend's house in a half-dreamy state while the lady and her daughter and son-in-law were engaged in a game of cards, when I spoke to them in ( 177 ) this manner : " I see a large amphitheater. It seems to be excavated out of the side of a hill, and is fifty feet wide and a hundred feet deep, and has about thirty tiers of seats, all packed full of Chinamen. Their faces are about the size of a five-cent piece, yet 1 see them as plainly as though they were full size. This pit is in the shape of a horseshoe,* with the heel towards me. Now, at one heel of the pit I see a tall tower-like structure, like a Chinese pagoda. Now there comes in front of the tower a coffin covered with a black cloth which hangs to the ground. At the head of the coffin stands a beautiful white lady, evidently a spirit. She reaches over and lifts the black cloth, and I see a skeleton in the coffin. The skeleton now sits up in the coffin, and the whole scene is gradually melting away." Two weeks after this the news came from China that the Yellow River had overflowed, and that twenty thousand Chinamen were drowned. Several months after this I was sitting in the cabinet when I noticed that the forces were unusually strong, lights coming and going continually. I thought, " Now, they are going to materialize." While looking very intently, there came a voice within six inches of my face say- ing : " How do you do, my beloved earth com- panion? " loud enough to be heard plainly all over a twelve-foot room. Well, the hair of my head rose up on end and the goose-flesh was all over me, not from fright, but from complete astonishment, and when T got in that condition, of course the forces vanished. At another time I had them grab me by the shoulders and almost push me off my feet. They took me first ( 178 ) by the shoulders, with a pressure of almost ten pounds, then by the elbow, then by the wrist, then shift to the other arm and repeat, then place a hand between my shoulders and almost push me off my feet. I have had lights roll around the cabinet, and several times they have reached out of the cabinet and touched my arm as I 'passed it. iVll these phenomena have occurred when I was least expecting them. So, you see, my experience proves all of these facts — to me at least — as I got them through my own forces, and, so far, the band have kept their word. I shall offer no apology for all this rigma- role about my own experience ; for I really think that it is and ought to be a part of this book, and while I am not a professional medium, expecting no pecuniary gain from these forces or from these writings, yet I presume that there are many others who find it hard to distinguish between the real and the false, and find it hard to settle the question. If a man dies, shall he live again? Spiritualists will answer you in the affirmative, while I will answer you in the negative, until you can prove to me, at least, that death is superior to life. For if there is no death, which I affirm, then how can a man die? You see, that little word " if " represents another of those false gods of which this work treats, and leads you to erroneously presuppose a part of your question in the affirmative, which starts you on the wrong road, where you will find yourself groping in the dark. CONSISTENCY^ THOU ART A JEWEL! How can the spiritualist consistently teach that their phenomena prove that there is no death; and (179) yet they all claim to answer Job's question in the affirmative? If you turn into a snake, can you eat frogs? Would it not be advisable and strictly scientific to prove that you can turn to a snake before taking up the question of what you will need for a diet? Is it any very great wonder that the people become mystified, when nearly all of your best writers keep constantly borrowing these old exploded ideas, more perhaps for the purpose of using up printer's ink than for anything else — such as death, inanimation, vacuum, cold, darkness, etc. ( 181 ) CHAPTEK XXIII. A PARODY ON COMMON SENSE. It appears to us that this work would lack comple- tion without a trifle of the burlesque on some of the absurdities of human opinion regarding the actuality' and condition of the spirit world. How common it is to pick up almost any spiritual paper and find therein the scoffs, slurs, taunts, and uncalled-for insinuations of the superstitions and absurdities of other creeds I Does it ever strike the writer of such cheap literature that it might be just barely possible that the house in which he himself lived had more or less glass in' its construction? How frequently we hear such profound logic as this: that there are no animals in the spirit world, and that therefore we will not be pestered with fleas and things, particularly rattlesnakes and other poisonous objects. These same wise ones, in almost the same breath, tell us that coming events cast their shadows before, and that we build our own atmos- phere, or aura, in this world, which follows us into the next. Perhaps this may account for their dread of the wrath to come. And yet these very same writers will tell us of the beautiful trees, flowers, fruit, rivers, meadows, birds of rare plumage, jewels, buildings, cities, etc. They also acknowledge that all this is pro- ( 182 ) duced in spirit from the spirit substance that perme- ates every object and entity. Let us advance a step further, and apply a little common sense and inquire, Are sour grapes an entity or an object? or the rattlesnakes, the gold-fish, the sheep for your spirit meadow — for what is a meadow without sheep? — the crooked tree? Or are your beautiful spirit groves composed of those perfect trees whose trunks are perfectly straight, the limbs of just such a proportional length, every leaf of an exact size and placed precisely such a distance apart? Would this not be as monotonous and as absurd as you charge to the Christian idea of a personal God, seated on a golden throne, with all his chosen ones seated around on silver camp-stools, singing " Glory hallelujah, glory hallelujah,'^ for all time? Or will you tell us that the sour grapes, fleas, etc., have not yet reached that stage of perfection that entitles them to a free ticket into the spirit world, but that they must be relegated to the mills of the gods, again to be ground over? And if this be the law of the vegeta- ble and the brute, where do you find your line of de- marcation or consistency in denying this same privi- lege to the leper, the horse- thief , the murderer, etc. ? Why not also display the same wisdom and relegate these and also the chimpanzee, the Lilliputian Afri- can? And while we are so engaged, let us include those horrible elementals, such as half horse and half man, and bar out all that does not just exactly come up to our idea or imagination, or else go the whole hog and fall back on our forefathers' ideas and beliefs, and elect a plurality of gods ; then every one can build a god and a spirit world to suit himself. (183) CHAPTEE XXIV. BIRTHMARKS AND OTHER MALFORMATIONS. If all objective formation was caused by the life in the atom seeking an opportunity to advance to a higher condition, then it stands to reason that all objects were formed by one and the same primary law. This being the case, it will naturally follow that the shape, position, or condition of the object will cut no figure as regards the spirit of an object — i. e. all ob- jects, while in a state of development, are at the same time throwing off a spirit atmosphere composed of such advanced atoms as can no longer find a physical or earth condition suitable for their use. Yet this at- mosphere still continues to surround and accompany the object, receiving from time to time additional pro- gressed atoms from the object. Out of this atmos- phere, as we have before stated, is produced a spirit. Now, all spirits, like all objects, are, primarily speaking, produced by precisely the same funda- mental law, whether it be animal, vegetable, mineral, fire, or any other thing. This law follows the object until it is again changed. As the perfume represents the spirit of the apple, and is projected on the human brain in the shape of vibratory waves of matter, so also does a large fire, a snake, a strawberry, etc., pro- duce a spirit. ( 184 ) We will first call your attention to a fact which we have not before had occasion to mention, in regard to like attracting like, or the aflftnity that particular kinds of atoms have for one another or in harmony with each other. In this instance it will be advisable for us to state that while certain organisms have a close affinity for each other, there are periods of time, — perhaps a few minutes, days, months, — ah! and even years, — when some member of your band and your own spirit are not in perfect harmony ; and by this same law of positive and negative, there are again periods of time when the reverse is the case, and you find your sympathetic attraction in such perfect har- mony that you hardly know whether you are spirit or mortal. Now, consider the mother, — in this exceedingly high-strung or sympathetic condition, when a sudden fire bursts upon her optic nerve. Here you find vast quantities of vibratory waves of the spirit of the fire rushing upon the optic nerve with inconceivable ra- pidity. This matter the brain cannot receive, classify, and refine as fast as it is forced upon it. The result is that a part of it is thrown off into the spirit atmos- phere of the mother before it is properly refined. The spirit cannot receive it in that condition, and it is thrown back or rebounds on that part of the physical body that is at that instant in the most receptive con- dition to receive it, which is the foetus. The mother throws up her hands before her face in her endeavor to ward off the surplus waves, her left hand being nearest the heart and her negative side; her spirit being at the same time in a very receptive mood with (185) the fire spirit, and also in jTerfect harmony with the foetus, the overplus of the matter which was thrown back by her atmosphere is precipitated on the left side of the face of the child in the red atoms of the fire spirit. Had the brain cells of color been in a more passive mood, — i. e. not so highly strung at the mo- ment, — they could have received just so much of the wave of the fire spirit as the cell was capable of slowly refining into organized thought and intelligence, and no abnormal effect would have occurred. This same mother might have passed a dozen fires during preg- nancy, when her surrounding atmosphere was in a tranquil state at the moment and not in attune with the fire or snake spirit, and in this state no evil effect would have resulted. Again, you will find by careful inquiry that either the mother or the marked child, or, what is more likely to be the case, hoth the mother and the child, are what is generally termed sensitives to these spirit laws. Take the case of our amanuensis, C. H. Foster. Though born in 1837, long before the advent of your so-called modern spiritualism, yet his mother was a medium and possessed good healing powers, he being her eleventh child. We will here give the mother's version of the affair. It was on an afternoon that she, feeling somewhat tired, being a farmer's wife, was lying on a bed which was placed beside an open win- dow. Her right side was close to the window. Some three or four feet below the window-sill was a shed roof, and from this roof sprang a hlaclc cat onto the window-sill. As you are aware, a cat jumps almost perpendicularly. All she saw was something hlaclc ( 186 ) suddenly appear before her eyes. She threw her left hand across her breast and grabbed her right arm (that being nearest to the cat) half way between the elbow and her shoulder. She felt a queer shock in the arm, and instantly kneiv she had marked her child. Some eighteen years afterwards, in trying to ex- plain it to the boy how she knew it, she said she could not explain the feeling — that she just knew it ; and as she told her sister-in-law at the time, so it proved. When the child was born, it had dark brown hair on the head, but on the right arm, between the elbow and shoulder, was a black or brown mark on the skin, like a bright-colored negro, or, the same color as the many moles you frequently see on people's faces or hands. This mark was covered with long black hair. The mark at his present age (sixty years )is about eight inches long and four inches broad, and is covered with black hair, slightly gray ; and, running down the mid- dle of this mark, or what might be called its back, is a streak of dandruff about one inch broad. Many times during his boyhood he would try to scrape this dirty-looking scurf off ; and as he found it always be- came very sore afterwards, he soon learned to let it alone, as it never troubled him when he did so. We will now endeavor to call your attention to a few of the facts which this case establishes. First, the optic nerve received a sudden overwhelming flow of black color, and, being unable to properly receive it, threw it back on the child. Second, the presence of the dandruff, similar in appearance to that which is found on a cat's back, would show that the atoms of matter which surround the cat and formed its spirit or THE UNIVERSITY OF ( 188 ) atmosphere (similar to the fragranoe of the apple), coming into sudden harmony with the optic nerve, and thence thrown hurriedly on the human atmos- phere before the brain had time to carefully refine it, was, of course, rejected and thrown back on the child. It also shows that, while the spirit of the atoms form- ing the dandruff had passed or advanced beyond the physical body of the cat, yet it was still matter. But as nature's law of advance or evolution is inexorable, it must pass through the human brain in an ordinary manner, there to become refined into thought and in- telligence before it can become a part of the human atmosphere. Another fact : This dandruff which was precipitated on the human arm has been watched by a human eye for years, and thus was impinged on the brain in an ordinary manner when it became thought and was advanced in a regular form into the human atmos- phere. A strawberry mark is produced in a somewhat similar manner. The brain is in a high-strung, or sensitive, condition, the spirit of the strawberry comes in direct contact with the brain in such an over- whelming wave that the brain is in a manner over- loaded, and it is thrown back on the child in the same way. Another point we think will help to clear your mind on this subject is that it is a well-known fact that there are many individuals who can come in contact with a vicious dog or a venomous serpent or handle fire almost with impunity, or will go up to and, for the time, pacify a raving maniac, while the ordinary man (189 ) dare not come near them without throwing the dog, etc., into a violent rage. Here you see the positive and negative law of harmony and inharmony again demonstrated, and it is accounted for in this manner : The spirit atmosphere of the man was in sympathy with or vibrating on the same plane as the serpent or dog, as the case may be, and when the atmosphere of the one came into contact with the other, each realized a harmonious feeling. This does not imply that the man so endowed is on the same spiritual level as the serpent, by any means ; but, on the contrary, it shows that the one who possesses such an atmosphere has developed that part of his spiritual nature beyond the ordinary man to such an extent that ev-en the brute is his friend and fears him not, though a stranger. And if this atmosphere did not exist as waves of matter in motion, how is it that you, when coming into the presence of some people, feel a repelling in- fluence, and in others a sweet, pleasant, and har- monious influence? That this is a fact in your own experience, you cannot deny. However, it is advisable for us to say that, though one man may be in harmony with the dog, it is no evi- dence that he is in harmony with the leopard, or ser- pent and all the rest of the brute creation; neither does it follow that he is in harmony with all dogs. For, as with the birthmark, your atmosphere is not always in perfect harmony even with yourself ; and so it is with the dog. This law of marking a child is an existing truth; and, as there never was an effect without a cause, and as neither your medicine men, your physical scien- ( 190 ) tists, nor your theologians have ever yet been able to advance a practical solution of this truth in a com- mon-sense view, we offer you an occult solution, and add another link to strengthen the chain of evolution and the atomic law. (191 ) OHAPTEK XXV. THE keystone; or^ a peep behind the veil of the MYSTIC temple^ WHERE THOUGHT AND REASON PRESIDE. In which many of the mysterious phenomena of human life are rationally explained that have here- tofore been a hard nut for your metaphysicians to crack, (July 27, 1897.) You have been taught that man is superior to the brute on account of his power to reason. Well, let us see if we can analyze this reasoning faculty of man from an occult point of view; and if we shall make you a startling assertion under this caption, we hope you will survive it. Man does not derive his power to reason from the direct working of his brain; but the brain receives its reason from the spirit, just the reverse of what you have been taught, and this is a parallel case with Galileo. You have a physical feeling in your head when under profound study, and say you have a head- ache from thinking. This is not the fact. You feel it because the spirit is projecting organized reason or thought on the brain from out of the spirit atmosphere at a time when your physical body is not in as perfect harmony with your spirit as it ought to be. ( 192 ) For thousands of years the Greek philosophers taught that the sun moved around the earth (and right here allow us to say to you that our old Greek teachers were, in many respects, your superiors). It fell, however, to the lot of that obscure monk, Galileo, to brave the intelligence of the whole world and first declare the reverse order of things, and to be declared a crank, crazy, heretic, etc. There were in those days many astronomical phenomena that our wise men could not account for (by following these false gods), and, like your wise men of to-day, they dodged the question by making poor old Dame Nature assume the burden, saying that the mysteries of the gods were not for man to know. Alas, alas, poor, patient, long- suffering madam, how kind and considerate you are to us all ! Yet how little are you understood ! The various cells of the brain receive such pro- gressed matter as may be impinged upon them in a simple mechanical manner. They refine it to organ- ized Thought. This thought is then advanced into your spirit atmosphere, and is there stored away for future use, but is not stored in the brain at all, as most people suppose. The brain is as much physical matter as the nerves, the muscles, the bones, etc. You will see that the physical structure begins with coarse atoms, such as the bone ; then the ligature, which is a step finer; then the muscles, then the nerves, and then the brain. All of these are but primary parts of a physical object, and are composed of the various simple substances of matter, precisely the same as the apple, and are but atoms on their journey toward perfection. ( 193 ) THE BRAIN THE HIGHEST PHYSICAL MATTER. The human brain is the highest and most sensitive condition to which, as physical^ matter can attain. When the atom has reached this point in its onward march, physically speaking, it can go no farther. But has it reached perfection at this point? Certainly not. Then, what becomes of it? Why, as we have already shown you, it here takes its last step in the ponderable world and crosses the bridge into the im- ponderable, and becomes your spirit atmosphere in the form of thought. This spirit is the real part of you, the I AM, and this is what directs all of your actions as a reasoning being. This atmosphere or spirit becomes your storehouse in which you keep and record the experience of each of your five senses. Here the various thoughts are brought together by a higher laAv than the physical, and produce reason. (The healthy manner in which you store away these pro- gressed thoughts in this atmosphere is what con- stitutes your mind or memory. If carelessly stored it produces a feeble mind. ) Reason, having been produced from out this store- house of Memory^ causes the effect which produces Intelligence. The gray matter of the brain is divided into many compartments. The duty of one of these groups is to receive the impression of Reason which the spirit projects upon it. This same group then distributes this reason, intelligence, etc., to the various separate groups of the physical brain that govern the various functions of the body. (See Chapter XVII.) ( 194 ) HOW A CHILD IS BORN DEAF AND DUMB. To illustrate this, we will take the organ of speech, and say that if an expert surgeon were to separate the nerve that leads from the vocal organ to that particular group of the brain connected with this organ, the result would be dumbness, or loss of the power of speech, a merely mechanical disarrangement of the machine. In like manner, were you to separate the auditory nerve from its group of cells, the result would be deafness. In this manner a child is brought into the physical world deaf and dumb, and it is brought about in this way. The. child's skull has not, at this time, completely protected the brain by a bony covering, — that is, the skull is absent on the top of the head. Here nature has provided for the passage of the head through the narrow, hard, bony way of the pelvis, by allowing the child's head to close to- gether in an oblong shape. While the head is com- pressed at this passage, those groups of the brain governing the vocal organs and the hearing lie side by side in the head of the child. If the head of the child should receive too much pressure by a wrong presenta- tion or some slight malformation, or from numerous causes liable to occur, there would then arise grave danger of rupturing the nerves of these organs. The result would be that the child is born permanently deaf and dumb. Here you will see that the spirit, while it is perfect- ly able to communicate with that group of the brain whose duty it is to receive the organized Thought or reason and distribute the same to the various other ( 195 ) groups having jurisdiction over the various physical functions of the body, finds the bridge spanning the gulf between the ponderable and imponderable has been destroyed, and it is unable to use the vocal organs by its inability to reflect on them; yet these organs will be found, upon careful examination, to be in a perfect state of formation in every other respect, as is proven by their use of the slate and pencil, etc. Again, we will call your attention to another case : We will suppose a man is talking to a friend on the last day of December in regard to a dinner to be given on New Year's day. While conversing with this friend something hits him on the head and depresses the skull at a certain spot. He is picked up unconscious. In a few days he apparently recovers his health, but it is found that he has lost his memory and power to reason, and in this state he continues for months. In every other respect he is perfectly healthy. You finally take him to the surgeon, who performs an operation called trepanning ; in a few minutes after- wards he comes to himself and immediately continues the conversation with his friend about the New Year's dinner, as tliough nothing had occurred. Here is a complete void in his memory, and it is accounted for by the same fundamental cause. The bone, by pressing on that group of the brain whose duty it is to receive and classify the atoms of thought and project them on the spirit atmosphere, has only obstructed the bridge for the time and shut off communication between the spirit and the physical or the ponderable and the im- ponderable. (196) CHAPTER XXVI. REASON AND INTELLIGENCE (CONTINUED). AS A MAN THINKS^ SO HE IS. The active operation and application of the so- called five senses, by their action through the brain, produces each a single thought at a time, which is refined matter, and, as matter, it occupies space. By a. constant accumulation of thought you produce reason: by the exercise of reason you develop intelli- gence. We will illustrate this as follows: take a child one year old. If it had all the organs of the brain ready developed at its birth and your power to reason was derived from the physical or mechanical w orking of the gray matter, then why does the child not display its reasoning faculties, if only in a small way? Stand this child by the side of a railroad track and let it witness a fearful collision where death and destruction reign supreme. Does the child display any emotion or reason, even in the slightest degree? Not at all. Then it is in order for us to ask, Why not? To build an edifice you must lay the first brick. Well, we have laid that brick; but, surely, that is not an edifice? Nor could you have erected an edifice with the first, second, or third brick only. The child has got to build its store-house or spirit out of the matter furnished it by the five slaves of its ( 197 ) physical body, viz. : the nerves of sense. Its little eye sees the wreck and thereby lays the first brick, and from this time on it is constantly engaged in furnish- ing material out of which, as the edifice takes form in space, are stored the results of its earth experience. This experience, refined matter or thought, is the real part of you, and is the part that exists and continues on and on, still reaching out for perfection, after the so-called death of the physical body. If the child is so situated as to be constantly sur- rounded by evil, low, brutish companions, and its feeble nerves are compelled to receive nothing but the vile and polluted atoms of matter or material, out of which it is again compelled to erect its store-house, would you, my friend, condemn the child for not being able to erect a more beautiful edifice? The noblest attribute of man is to be charitable in his thoughts of others; for as a man thinks, so he is, and of such materials as you have at hand do you erect your spirit. THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE. When you reflect that the spirit is the keeper of your knowledge and reason, and simply projects it on your brain, and your vocal organs are merely the means by which your spirit communicates with your physical body, you will then understand, or, we hope, comprehend, how it is possible for thought transfer- ence, mind-reading, psychomancy, impressional writ- ing, etc. Other freed spirits can come in communication with your spirit ; your spirit reflects the same on your brain ; your brain again reflects on your physical organs. (198 ) CONSCIOUSNESS. As we have already stated, it is not the part of a philosopher to assume the negative or offer proofs of the non-existence of every fad and fallacy that may for the moment occupy the mind of the lay world, yet tliere are exceptional cases wherein he may be reason- ably justified in departing from this rule, and par- ticularly so where the question under consideration involves new issues, new departures, and radically revolutionary views of old, accepted theories when apparently in harmony with orthodox science. And while we would have the student distinctly under- stand that we entertain the highest respect for the profound wisdom of such deep thinkers as Sir Wil- liam Hamilton, Immanuel Kant, Editor Stead, and other well-known advocates of the existence of a sub- jective consciousness, subliminal self, etc., yet until they can offer more substantial evidence than mere opinion, we shall insist that others who may differ ^'ith them have a perfect right to deny the existence of a subjective consciousness, subjective mind, sub- jective memory, subjective thought, subjective will, subjective force, subjective self, or subjective sub- stance, until the advocates of these fallacies produce such tangible evidence as shall be, of itself, of so plain, practical, and reasonable a nature as will satisfy the ordinary intelligence by a description of what it is composed of, from whence it came, how it came to come, what known law necessitated its birth, what becomes of it after it has outlived its usefulness, etc. I am immediately conscious of being touched — i. a. ( 199 ) the nerve of feeling is being moved — whereby I think a thought: touched, I recognize immediately through and by means of this nerve vibrating some thing in motion; in other ^^ ords, I, for the first instant, become conscious of the fact. One minute after the act, there are those who would have us believe that, in some incomprehensible man- ner, the act is changed to subjective consciousness, while we shall contend it is simply an act of memory. What is that which we recognize as conscious, and how do you recognize it? Is it not that something (an entity) comes in contact with one of the nerves of sense, by vibration, and is precipitated on to that particular group of the brain, to be there converted into human thought, — i. e. cognition, — to be again ad- vanced into your spirit atmosphere or I AM as crystallized thought? Does the spirit, or I AM, sleep when the physical or gray matter of the brain sleeps? Certainly not. The spirit, not being physical, does not require a rest for recuperation. As in dreaming, here you will per- ceive that it is the spbnt, and not S2«&-conscience, that is in full vigor, while the I AM, or spirit self, is in close communion with the physical self, or brain. The gray physical matter of your animal self re- quires a rest for recuperation, and while at rest (recognized by you as sleep), the spirit is unable to act or reflect back on the various functions of the brain in a systematical manner or in regular detailed order. This you call dreaming ; but upon awakening, to your mind or memory that which you dreamed is ( 200 ) in a chaotic condition — faulty, not systematized. This is upon the same principle as the so-called sundog, or secondary rainbow, and, to some extent, similar to an echo. At other times all of the brain functions are not asleep or at rest. Perhaps it might be the sense of smell, taste, or hearing. Then, in that case, that part of the dream or reflection from your spirit would be more fully recognized upon awakening than some other parts of your dream. It is at this point that IMr. Stead is in error in his hasty conclusions as regards the existence of a siih- conscience or si^&-liminal self. Like all amateur in- vestigators, the moment that he is convinced as to the truth of the phenomenon of automatic writing through his own forces, he jumps to the opinion that he knows it all, notwithstanding thousands of others who have produced the same phenomenon declare him to be wrong. However, it is not so very astonishing that so- care- ful a writer as Editor Stead, after becoming absolute- ly convinced of the truth of the phenomenon of auto- matic writing, in rebounding from the teachings of his English friend, Newton, that for each and every force there is a counter force : " if in seeking a place to re- bound against, he should find it nil, but be kept going until he flopped clear over into the other extreme. Carefully, friend Stead, and remember there are others : Cookes, Wallis, Flammarion. It went much against the grain of these distinguished gentlemen to doubt the infallibility of Newton's law of force. Hence their endeavor to segregate force physical from force psychical. ( 201 ) For if conscience of itself is not an entity ^ but the effect or expression of some thing or entity that has left its mark or effect on one of the various groups of the brain by vibration to be crystallized into human thought, then we can only come to the conclusion that that Avhich has no actual existence of itself could not produce a sub or substitute. For instance: You sud- denly open your eyes ; in front of you is an apple ; the rays of light are first reflected from the apple onto the optic nerve before you can be conscious of the object. You are only immediately conscious of a body or object when some thing first moves the particular nerve of sense applicable to the object. You are only conscious of sound after the auditory nerve has been moved: and the same with smell, taste, and touch. What physical thing moved the physical nerve to produce the effect called cognition, recognition, or thought? Is not this the act of knowing, of becoming immediately conscious of the presence of force? And, if so, what is it that moves or is moving from the object toivards the eye in that fraction of a second just before it comes in contact with the optic nerve? For you will admit that the ray of light must first come in contact with the object to be then reflected or re- bound onto the eye. Now, if this is the birth of consciousness, or the act of becoming conscious, then you will perceive that consciousness is only an effect of some definite exist- ing thing or entity that occupies its proportional share of space as such. And, if this be a fact, how can it produce a s7/&-conscious, or sub-limmal self? Then, is this that you call sub or subjective conscience ( 202 ) any thing other than memory, or subliminal self any thing other than spirit? f'or upon the hypothesis of spirit much of that which has heretofore appeared to many as at least doubtful in your metaphysics can be made comprehensible to the average common sense of to-day. In the act of becoming conscious if more vibrations are precipitated on to the cell of gray matter than it can receive in regular order, the overplus is thrown on to the next most sensitive body that can receive it ; which sometimes happens to be the FOETUS ; hence a birthmark is produced as described in Chapter XXIV, or you become frightened, shocked, or startled. This is because the instantaneous act of cognition has not had time to be impinged onto the entire brain, that it may be advanced into recognition, or a fully crystallized thought. And now, my dear friend, we are aware that many enlightened scholars will be inclined to deny this heterodoxical assertion, perhaps yourself included; but before you arrive at a dogmatic decision, allow us to ask. Has it not occurred to you during some time in your life, if you are over the age of twenty, that, while in company with some friend, your conversation becomes slack, when just at the very minute you were going to speak on some entirely different subject, your companion speaks on the same subject, — to use a com- mon expression, takes the very words out of your mouth? Here you will see that your spirit of impon- derable matter can and does come into contact with a similar substance existing in the spirit atmosphere. Your friend's spirit thought also impinges on your ( 203 ) spirit thought, and your thought is again thrown on your physical organs, and they obey. In this same manner does the operator control his hj^pnotic subject. He does not control the subject's physical body, but his spirit, and this spirit controls its own body. HYPNOTIC SUBJECTS. By close observation you will find that all of those that are called hypnotic subjects are of a weak and vacillating nature, and are of that class of people who go through life without much personal ambition, but are inclined to lean on some one else, or are always serving in a fiduciary capacity. But such subjects are not to blame for this condition. The facts are their spirit and body are held together by a very weak tie of sympathy, which leaves their spirit at the mercy of every wandering spirit of stronger magnetism. Those people who would be inclined to deny or doubt the above are the very ones to insist that there never was an effect without a cause. Well, here is an un- deniable effect. Before you become dogmatic please explain this phenomenon in a more rational manner than we have attempted to do. Certainly you cannot assert that the gray matter of your brain came into physical contact with the gray matter of your friend's brain. And yet there was a transference of what, if not matter? And if matter, in what condition and position was it at the moment previous to its motion from your friend's brain to your brain, or vice versa? While we have endeavored to refrain as much as possible from repeating, yet a metaphysical work such ( 204 ) as we have here undertaken, embracing such radically heterodoxical views, would seem to compel us some- times to repeat or run down the line of facts. There- fore the color — we will say blue — is received on one brain-cell only which projects one thought, viz. : blue. The violin-string sends the sound wave E, and it is re- ceived on another single cell which projects the single thought of the vibration or music of E. So it is for every kind of vibration ; there is in the brain a special cell to receive it and refine it into a single thought of imponderable matter. Spirit, Ego, or the I AM, are one and the same thing and you recognize it as the noiv or immediate present ; that which is passed, whether one moment or one year ago, is memory, and could not come under any one of the above appellations. Now, what is mind, or memory, but accumulated thoughts, systematized by classification, and laid away in that which constitutes memory's store- house, as the product of the labor of your five physical senses and recognized only as reason and intelligence. Here you perceive that reason and intelligence are but an expression or effect, and not an entity or a thing occupying space, such as spirit, or Ego. For instance, you wish to call to your mind, or memory, some past event or thought, and memory for the moment lags, when suddenly you exclaim, "Ah ! I have it ! " Now, until you had possession of it, it was no part of the Ego, or self, as a thing of knowledge. This same analysis applies to that which you call life. Life is not a thing that occupies space as an entity, but is merely an expression or the effect of the ( 205 ) union of three distinet entities that occupy space as such, namely: Thought, Force, and Substance; and while the three are inseparable, so far as known, yet they are three distinct essences. For you cannot assert that thought is force or that force is substance ; yet thought and force exist as something other than suh- stance y for as we can only conceive of an atom as the last division of substance or as a point in space, then the other two would have to exist as something other than (for the sake of clearer comprehension, w^e will say) the atom of the substance of matter. Otherwise we would have three atoms as the last division, which would leave our philosophy in a paradoxical condi- tion. YOUR THOUGHTS ABE ON THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR BRAIN. Where we wish to be clearly understood as radically departing from the old Lady Orthodox is, that all of your thoughts, instead of their being stored in your brain, and there, by some incomprehensible hocus- pocus, evolve reason, are located on the outside of your brain, in the form of a spirit atmosphere, which is still matter, but in an imponderable condition ; that these single thoughts also, by the same law of sympa- thetic attraction that governs the physical, do associ- ate together and produce harmonious music, reason, intelligence, etc., according to the state of harmony existing at the time between your physical body and your spirit. Thus it is we explain to you why you seem to more quickly and clearly gather your thoughts together or why you can solve a problem more readily at one time than at another. ( 206 ) The brain-cells are subject to physical disarrange-" me'nt, the same as any other part of your body, which induces want of harmony ; and this is the reason that a clairvoyant or clairaudiant cannot at all times re- ceive the impressions that a controlling spirit wishes to reflect on the brain of their subject. Or, in other words, a controlling spirit hypnotizes your spirit, and causes your spirit, by suggestion, to see, hear, smell, etc. Your spirit reflects this onto the different groups of your physical brain, and you repeat it to the sitter who is seeking information. In this case, as a rule, the controlling spirits find that they can secure the best results by carrying the hypnotic state to what you understand as the trance condition, or, it may be, par- tial trance. There are also cases where the control- ling spirit can so completely hypnotize your spirit as to amount to obsession, which may continue for years. A single brain cell is the size of a molecule, and re- ceives but a single atom at a time, but can do its work with great rapidity. In corroboration of the real self, or I AM, being on the outside of the physical body, and that this real self is recognized by you as your tJiought^ we will cite any case of obsession where the person obsessed ap- pears to lo^e all previous consciousness or thought of their former self, friends, or home, and becomes the actual representative of the one dead, so-called. The obsessed in this case had no knowledge of the previous existence of the dead one; yet he, or she, while under obsession, clearly proves that he, or she, is in possession of all the former thouphts of the other, and remembers nothing of his, or her, own previous ( 207 ) self. Here the physical body completely ignores its former owner and obeys some one else. This fact would appear to us to be unquestionable evidence in support of the truth that you do not think with the gray matter of the brain, nor that the brain is the seat of reason, or intelligence ; for in this case you establish one fact beyond a question of a doubt, — namely, John Jones, being dead (so-called) and cre- mated years ago, takes possession of the physical body of Sam Lee for months at a time, and in doing so appears to cause the real I AM, or spirit atmosphere, of Sam Lee to relinquish or cease to control its own body. Now, we are (by this fact being established) com- pelled to inquire what becomes of the I AM, spirit, or conscience of Sam Lee while the INDIVIDUALITY or spirit intelligence of John Jones (who has no physi- cal body of his own) is occupying it. You cannot deny that the same gray matter or hrain is still occupying the same skull it always occupied, nor can you claim that the spirit or intelligence of Sam Lee has become annihilated, for it proves that it is yet around somewhere during the period of obsession by returning to and again assuming jurisdiction over its own body. We will explain it in this way : The spirit of John Jones, being more positive than Sam Lee's spirit, in drifting around, we may say, in the spirit zone, and not realizing Ihat he has made the change called death, comes in contact with a mortal spirit's atmos- phere that at the time is in almost complete harmony with himself. ( 208 ) Here John Jones, the real or disembodied spirit, by coming into such an atmosphere, by the law of affinity is seized with an intense desire to return to his own home; this intensity of thought on his part simply hypnotizes Smii Lee's spirit in precisely the same man- ner as a physical hypnotist controls his subject. This would cause it to appear that the physical brain was nothing more than one of the functional parts of the human body, by means of which the real I AM, or spirit, of you projects its thoughts or intelligence onto and controls or directs the various other functions of the physical structure; in other words, the 'brain is functional to all of the other bodily functions. By this explanation you will perceive that the spirit, or I AM, of a physical body is controlled or hypnotized by a disembodied spirit, while in the other case the spirit, or I AM, of one mortal hypnotizes the spirit of the w^eaker mortal. This is additional evidence that there is no gulf separating the physical from the occult world any more than that which separates the infant from the sere and yellow leaf or the past from the now or future ; for from the time the atom of comprehension first presents itself for your consideration, 't is one un- broken journey, on and on, into the unsolvable infinite. Since that most wonderful of men, Charles Darwin, has clothed your old philosophy with so brilliant a garment, in the form of Evolution, opening wide the gate for free investigation, thereby relegating your priests to their antediluvian caves and cloisters, what a glorious smile now beams forth from the features of ( 209 ) Dame Nature! The tail end of the Dark Ages is rapidly passing from off the scene ! Behold the light ! The day is breaking! Farewell, Orthodoxy, — and if forever, then forever, farewell ! The world has out- grown your usefulness. Ketrospection teaches us that as the Greek myth- ology evolved out of paganism, so the inexorable law of evolution in time required another advance from mythology into Christianity. He were a poor pro- phet indeed that at this, the dawn of the twentieth century, should fail to note the rapid crumbling of the foundation of Christianity as it disintegrates, and thereby paves the way for yet another change of rea- son and common sense over gag-law and blind fanat- icism supported by the reasoning of a free people, a free press and a free country. For, America, it is in thee That our hope shall ever be, — From ocean to ocean and o'er the sea* The sponsor of immortality ! t WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE? Intelligence has no existence as a thing. Like time, it is merely a gauge or rule, or, better yet, a word adopted by man to designate the fact that John Doe, Solomon, a little child, the horse, elephant, monkey, etc., have the power within them to think and reason, *The Philippine Islands. fit was the Hydeville rappings that gave birth to modern spiritualism, startled the world, revolutionized your science, your philosophy and your religion; for all must be reconstructed to rationally account for these phenomena. Shades of Newton, Huxley, and Max Muller, where are ye? — C. H. F. ( 210 ) You will frequently hear the expression used in this way : " Agassiz was a very intellectual man ; " '' That is a very intelligent horse." But does the word con- vey any definite fact? Is it any evidence that some particular definable thing has been established? By a collection of thoughts, you produce reason, and in no other way is reason produced. This is called mind in some cases, and in others intelligence. Intelligence it unquestionably is, but it is not mind ; for when you come to analyze the word, you will per- ceive that if such a thing as mind had a special exis- tence, it could only be in the form of memory. How frequently you hear the expression, " I have a poor memory," when of a truth there is no such a thing as a poor memory. One must either remember or not remember, he can not half or quarter remember the name of John or Smith. Not wishing to prolong these parenthetical re- marks, we will merely say that, as we have likened your spirit atmosphere to a storehouse in which you stored the goods gathered on your journey, just so does mind represent the order in which you have stored said goods. If you have been careless in the manner of your storage, when you want some one particular thought, you realize the chaotic condition of your mind store-shelving, or memory, and, as the power to think and reason begins with the atom and follows it through all of its various changes from the least to the infinite whole, you will perceive that it is impossible for man to establish a line of demarcation where or at what particular point the reason of the monad changes into the intelligence of a Solomon or (211) a college professor. Hence all men are feeble-minded if the term mind represents either reason or intelli- gence. We deny that man is superior to the brute because he has the power to reason, — at least until you can demonstrate as a fact that man derives his reasoning faculties from some other source than thought, which, in turn, was conceived by an application of the senses, all of which the brute possesses. And as you cannot qualify as to the exact number of thoughts requisite to produce reason, or define them by a standard qual- ity, either with a two-foot rule, a quart measure, or a pair of scales, then you have no authority to claim a superiority to the brute because you have the power to reason; for does not the brute possess the same faculty? That man may have a finer quality and greater variety of thought, we do not wish to dispute; and now, my friend, as the title to this volume would im- ply, our object in writing it was to try and show you that there practically was no gulf that made Uvo sepa- rate conditions or states of existence any more than there was a gulf separating the embryo from the full- grown man. As we have before stated, there are no two atoms alike. Then, no two organisms are alike; and that you may properly digest this chapter, you must begin again at the very essence — i. e. when two atoms come together there we have an organism ; and will call it John; two other atoms come together near by it as another organism, which we will call Dick. Now, you will readily understand that, as no two atoms are ( 212 ) alike, then it will be evident that John and Dick are not alike. Eemember, it matters not how insignifi- cant the difference may be there is a difference. As we have had our jokes with Mr. Huxley's proto- plasm, or cell, we will now explain to you that the cells that constitute the human brain represent the highest physical matter that the earth can produce; therefore, these cells are far more sensitively attuned than any other earth matter, not excepting the brute ; hence, they are capable of receiving a greater variety, both in quantity and quality, of vibration, and, there- fore, produce a finer variety of thoughts or reason; and as no two organisms are alike, either in man or brute, where will you definitely fix your line of what constitutes the point of difference between inferiority and superiority, or how far wrong was the Indian when he declared that there was no bad whiskey ; that all whiskey was good, only some was better than others? Take Darwin's Origin of Species, is it possible for man to tell or realize where it began or where it will stop in variation? Can man realize the amount of space an infinite atom occupies as a so-called begin- ning, or the size of all infinite space? Is there a definite gulf between these extremes? Does not all that man has any knowledge of start out of the incomprehensible and pass slowly before his senses into the incomprehensible without a percep- tible break? Then, after all, does not your boasted superiority consist in the rational manner in which you apply the human senses for the purpose of obser- vation, thereby generating thought and reason ; and (213) if you fail to apply them, to what extent are you superior to the brute? Is the physical life of man the end of evolution, or the spirit the end, or the soul the end? Who will say? We feel inclined to acknowledge, like friend David- son, that there are some things which are inscrutable; for certainly out of the inscrutable we came _and into the inscrutable we must pass. ( 214 ) CHAPTEE XXVII. SPIRIT DOUBLE. (August 2, 1897.) As, from the beginning of this work, it was our intention to gradually instruct the neophyte in the primary degrees of the mystic temple by introducing aflid instructing you in the use of the various articles found in each particular chamber of the temple, and thereby to gradually and systematically reveal to you, as your mind unfolded, the use of these articles, we now feel justified in introducing you into yet another chamber for your consideration, Avhich we will call the Double or the appearance of one who has not left the physical body. In order to make our explanation more clearly understood, we will allow our amanuen- sis to state a case of his own experience. I was having a private materializing seance with Mr. C. V. Miller about three o'clock p. M.^ when two forms came out of the cabinet and gave the names of Jane Schritze and Frank Barns, the names of two of my sisters, aged about sixty-four and seventy years. I had not heard from home (the State of Delaware) for a number of years, and did not know whether they were living or dead, and was not thinking of them at the time. I asked them if they had passed over. (215 ) and they answered me yes. There was no other con- versation passed between us, and they retired. Three or four days afterward, my oldest sister, Ruth, who I knew had passed over some thirty years before, came to me in a seance at the same place. I asked her if Jane and Frank were over on her side, and she an- swered no, which was the truth. I then asked her who those two were who came to me as Jane and Frank. She said it was their Double ^ and I could get no further information from her on that subject. I was positively certain that the medium did not know that I had a sister, to say nothing of their namej;?. We will now endeavor to explain this phenomenon to you ; and in order that you may the more readily understand us, it will be necessary for us to draw the veil of the temple a little more to one side and intro- duce you into this, to you, new room of our temple. We will begin by calling your attention to the fact that, in our last chapter, we frequently made use of the expression spirit or spirit atmosphere. 'T is true, as we have found it, that man has a physical body, a spirit body, and a soul. But it does not naturally or reasonably follow that the spirit body is in the form of your physical body, or that it forever holds one shape; in fact, from your physical birth on the earth plane until you have reached the end of your earth journey, the spirit that accompanies your physi- cal body is more in the nature of a body or cloud of ether, composed of imponderable atoms of advanced matter, and does not assume the form or shape of the human body until you reach the end of your earth journey. Do not misunderstand us in this assertion ( 216 ) or misconstrue our meaning; for while some sensi- tives can project. their spirit atmosphere for a long distance and impinge their thoughts on the atmos- phere of another sensitive who at the moment is in perfect harmony with them and receive an answer in return, and while the one at a distance will sometimes declare that while receiving the communication they saw the person^ it was only suhjective, and was im- pinged on the receiver's brain in the same manner as the communication. Here the spirit, having no further use for the gross or physical pile of earth matter, then evolves a real spirit body out of the mass of imponderable matter that your physical body is compelled, by the law of evolution, to leave behind, while the old atoms of your earth body are again cast into the mills of the gods to be ground over. As your spirit atmosphere is com- posed of the various atoms of the experience of your five physical senses, and began to accumulate from your birth up to the present time, and is the real part of you, although invisible to you, as all other atomic matter is, yet it is perfectly visible to those spirits who make this phase of spirit life a special study. Then you certainly ought to understand that nearly all of your past acts or thoughts are visible to and understood by controlling spirits. And now for our explanation of the phenomenon. Of course, at various times of your life, you are think- ing of your sister or friend, it may have been ten years before the phenomenon, but the thought or action at the time became a part of your atmosphere. This .matter it is that the controlling spirit sees or senses. ( 217 ) The control may not be aware of the fact whether your sister has passed over or not and, we are sorry to say, in many cases, does not care as long as he can play upon your credulity and pave the way for more sit- tings for his medium, which means more money for him and less for you. He and the band of spirits with him make up a materialized body, a mere automaton, which they have under full and complete control, and can make this machine say and act just as they will, precisely as you control the will of a good hypnotic subject; and this law applies to the clairvoyant and trance medium just the same. However, we wish you particularly to understand that these controlling spirits are not gods, and cannot read or understand all of your atmosphere; indeed, there are many at- mospheres that they cannot penetrate at all, which will, in a measure, explain to you why some sitters fail to get any or but indifferent communications. When you reflect that there is much of your own life that you cannot at the moment recall, and as spirits are really only one step in advance of the mortal, you will see that it is not so very remarkable after all. At the same time, spirits are like mortals in this way : If you make it a custom to have frequent sit- tings with some particular medium, you will find from experience that the more you go the better the control can come into rapport with your atmosphere, and the more satisfactory it will be to you. What we mean by this is that your atmosphere is more or less cloudy to the control as well as to yourself, — i. e. when you forget some past event or name, for in- stance, you will remark, " I have it on the end of my ( 218 ) tongue almost, but cannot recall it." At a later period, without any thinking on your part, the name comes pat to your mind. This shows you that the matter of thought has never been lost, but is a fixed part of your atmosphere^ and the more you come into the atmosphere of the controls, the better they can familiarize themselves with your spirit surroundings. IMPERSONATING A SPIRIT. We will call your attention to a very common oc- currence in public and private seances where the medium has frequently been known to give the name of some one of your acquaintances who has not yet left the physical body, and also names that you recog- nize of those that have. As a general thing, the con- trolling spirit does not know one from the other, but relies on their knowledge of human nature and a close watch and study of the sitter to tell them the differ- ence, when they can read fragmentary circumstances that connect the name with some event in your life, all of which is a part and parcel of your atmosphere. You will here observe that they seldom go very far into the details of the event. All you have to do to prove this is to lead them (the controls) to under- stand that your friend has passed over, and you will find that the control will give you the same fragmen- tary information. Where the control errs is in lead- ing you to believe that your spirit friend is present. Then, in the interest of truth and for your own in- formation, just make it a case of diamond cut dia- mond. We only state this to be the case, as a general rule, among professional mediums. Of course, there (219) are, we are happy to say, many cases where your spirit friend is present, and you can enjoy a very agreeable and satisfactory sitting, when the conditions are favorable. It is owing to this fact that some will call the medium a fake, while others are equally as sure to the contrary, and it leaves the honest investigator in doubt, or between two fires, as it were. The me- dium is not altogether responsible for this state of affairs ; the control is obliged to place him under the hypnotic condition, in order that they may the better control his vocal organs, and he, in this state, knows not what he is saying or doing. We hope that this will serve as a profitable lesson to you by showing you how unjust it is to judge others in matters wherein you are entirely ignorant of the governing facts yourself. It is so convenient to raise the cry of " Fraud ! " and make it act as a panacea for our chagrin, when things do not always come our way. ( 220 ) CHAPTEE XXVIII. THERE IS NO DEATH. (August 4, 1897.) There is no such thing as cold. That which you call cold is only the absence of so much heat. Wherever you find matter you find motion, friction, and heat. So also with darkness; that which you call darkness is only the absence of so much light. Light and heat are composed of matter, and, as such, have an ex- istence ; where you find motion you find friction and electricity, which produce light. The optic nerve can- not sense an atom of light but there is light, though it is not sensed by the human eye. And so with death : There is no such thing as death ; like cold and dark- ness, it is only a false term, and conveys no truth. Were there such a thing as death, it could only be in the absence of life. As there is no known spot or place that does not contain atomic matter, which is moved by atomic life, where then will you find unoccupied space for death? You have been taught of old that " Death conquers all things." Of all absurd ideas, this takes the palm; if it were true it would indeed make death superior to life, darkness superior to light, and cold superior to heat. Here three supposed things that have no actual ( 221 ) existence are made the annihilators of indestructible matter. What a paradox! If death destroys life it must have the cadaver on its hands. What, may we ask, does it do with this inanimate matter? Does it, death, go wandering around space until it finds some poor, weak, unprotected atom and rob it of its life to reanimate its corpse? And in that case, would it, death, not still have another corpse, of the despoiled atom, on its hands? You will probably answer that the human body has been robbed of its life by death. Indeed? Then let us ask: Where did the body get this life from? You will admit that you must be in possession of a thing before you can be robbed of it. In fact, was life at any time out of your possession, or was not life with the very first atom of your body? " / am the Beginning and the End '^ — Life. It was life— i. e. thought and force — that furnished the first atom with motion in the beginning. It is then advanced to an object body, thence to a spirit body, and thence to a soul, which is the end, at least of comprehension, and at no time in its travels have we lost sight of it. This brings us down to the same question asked by Immanuel Kant, one hundred years ago: HAVE YOU A BODY? Have you a body at all, and, if so, how did you be- come possessed of it? Again, did the joining together of a specified number of atoms constitute your body, and at what point in your time did the exact or specified number of atoms complete this body? When one of these atoms leaves this completed body is ( 222 ) it then dead? When all but one atom leaves this com- plete body, is it still alive? " O Death, where is thy sting? " As we know that this object called a body is built up by a process of integration at one point while undergoing a like process of disintegration at another point, and that this process is ceaseless from the join- ing of the first two atoms until a complete segregation of all the atoms takes place and it is no longer an ob- ject. To use a metaphor, it came in an unbroken march from next to nothing, and, without ceasing its motion, returned in an unbroken march next to nothing. This will establish the fact that at no particular time was it a body, but only seemed to he. Then, if it never was a body, how could a body die, to say nothing of annihi- lation? The fact is that that which you call your body is not you at all, nor is it the keeper of your life, but is ^mply a large or small accumulation of atom life, attracted together for mutual benefit. Where a cease- less stream of migratory atoms is taking place, and where, as one atom ceases to be found useful, it is cast out and others take, its place, when, out of this ac- cumulated mass of atoms is produced a spirit atmos- phere, which is the governing spirit, or life, of the body. This is produced in the same manner as the spirit or over-life that governs a family, a city, or a state, and is not a physical thing, and is, therefore, not subject to death or disintegration, even were death a fact. As for Noah Webster's purely imaginary idea of the word or term inanimate — well, to be as charitable as we can, we will say that when we come ( 223 ) across some thing that we find is in an absolute state of rest, we will acknowledge that we have found in- animation, but until then we shall insist that* the world has outgrown the term, and that truth has no further use for it. Hold out 3' our hand; now crook your finger and tell us what crooked your finger. Do you say it was your physical life of the body? If so, pray tell us how the body of a live man knew that the fingers of a dismembered arm that had been buried for days was in a cramped position in its grave, and was paining him? When a friend goes secretly and digs up the arm and finds it true that the hand has been forced into the box in a cramped position, he straightens out the hand and says nothing to the patient but the patient complains no more. In this case the arm was quite a distance from the body and there could not have been any phijsical connection between the two. Was this arm dead? No; no more than it ever was. There is no dead; but the spirit atmosphere which is your individual life, and is outside as well as inside of your pile of atomic matter called a body, whether dismembered or not, is all the personal life you pos- sess. It is also an acknowledged fact, of which you may easily procure the evidence by inquiring of those who have lost a limb, that they who are minus such a limb can, or seem to, feel the fingers on the dismem- bered part. This shows that the whole spirit and that part of the brain governing the fingers is all present and in full operation, and is additional proof that neither the body nor any part of it is you; while the spirit, still being able to recognize all the absent mem- ( 224 ) bers, is proof of it (the spirit) being the only thing that is real and is ruled by that which accompanied the* first atom when it started on its earth journey from out of the Infinite^ viz., Life^ or an undeveloped The student will understand that Life is not an entity, but only a word or term used to convey the knowledge of the presence of thought , force, and sub- stance, which are infinite entities ; the effect of these three is what is called life, (See Chap. XXXVIII.) ( 225 ) CHAPTER XXIX. IS PHYSICAL FORCE TRANSMITTIBLE TO SPIRIT AND VICE VERSA? (August 12, 1897.) As we know that all physical force is derived from life only, and as you are aware of the fact that object matter has frequently been moved in the presence of thousands of reliable witnesses, yourself included, without any apparent physical cause, and as we know of no effect ever having been produced without cause, it is permissible for us to endeavor to solve this phenomenon. If after the lapse of the past fifty years of patient investigation by many of your most enlightened scientists you have failed to find a physical cause to solve this riddle, would it then not be the duty of those who seek knowledge for the love of truth to look for a hypothetical cause? At least, until you can find something better? Would it not be more creditable to this, the dawn of the twentieth century, than a dis- play of that which might be construed at a later period in history (when these phenomena will most undoubtedly be a well-recognized and better under- stood fact) as dogmatism, fanaticism, petty jealousy, or a hereditary hatred of all things heterodoxical. (For it does move, for all that.) ( 226 ) While we recognize the valuable services of those who made this and kindred subjects a life study — such as Hume, Hegel, Kant, and others — and who were undoubtedly well qualified to handle the ques- tion from such data as they had at hand in the eighteenth century, and when we consider all the radi- cal, fanatical, and tyrannical persecutions of those who dared even to advance an idea not first approved by the ruling church of those scholastic days, of wholesale murder, torture, and imprisonment, we can only wonder that they had the temerity to do and dare as well as they have. But, though the mills of the gods grind slowly, they still are grinding exceed- ing fine, and from the birth of civilization in the Western hemisphere this unmitigated and vindictive ^nemy of free thought has been bridled, and the world no longer is required to first submit its idea of truth to those who visited their wrath on those who differed with them, on St. Bartholomew's Eve and destroyed the great Alexandrian library. The greatest difficulty that those old writers of a hundred years ago had to encounter, and even those of the first half of the nineteenth century, were, first, the church and its opposition ; they were not allowed to investigate on any line detrimental to that power, at least in an open and fair controversy. The second and most important difficulty was their lack of sufficient and reliable knowledge of those phenom- ena which have been so abundantly distributed over the surface of the whole civilized world within the last fifty years. ( 227 ) MIRACLES. In those days, when the Church was so all powerful as to sweep up in its onward march nearly all civiliza- tion, if it ever had a zenith, that should certainly have been the time to produce its so-called miracles (now understood as spirit phenomena). Let us ask. Did they do so? Did they, by their infallibility and special divine wisdom, convince Galileo, one of their own especially divine monks, that he was wrong? Or did they resort to the same argument as on St. Bar- tholomew's Eve? Did they show Kant a '^ Holy Ghost,'' or any other ghost? Did they show him writ- ing on the wall, or even slate-writing? Did they pro- duce, for the sound consideration of so scholastic a mind as Kant's, the phenomena of clairvoyance, mind- reading, thought transference, materialization of the body or voice, etherealization, spirit photography, oil- paintings, levitation of heavy bodies, spirit-rapping, hypnotism, and a variety of other phenomena that are no longer a question of truth before your scientists of to-day? No, my friend; under such a bitter fanaticism, the atmosphere of those days was not pro- pitious for the real spirit of truth. The world was just emerging from that mistaken policy where might made right. It is not so much of a wonder, after all, that the mud should still cling to the Christian church, nor, as those questions were of an unknown quantity or quality at that time, and as all things then were looked upon in a purely physical or worldly sense, is it astonishing that so wise a man a^ Kant should find himself in a quandary as to the question ( 228 ) of a first cause, but, like most of his predecessors, rather incline to ignore it as a postulate in meta- physics. As Mr. Huxley and a few others of a later date have shown a desire to jump the question by neither affirming or denying it, but find it more convenient to stop at the so-called '' protoplasm," let us hope more from a lack of knowledge than a want of cour- age, then we still feel it incumbent upon us to con- tinue our investigations along the same lines that have carried us thus far successfully towards, at least, a rational and common-sense solution of the question, viz : Is physical force transmittible to spirit, and vice versa? Force is the second principle of life, as energy or thought is the first principle, and wherever you find life you find force. The time has now arrived when the world should cease to move in the same old worn rut on ac- count of its ease of travel, especially if it would seek to know if there might not be other roads not only as smooth, but perhaps shorter, which also lead to Kome. The old theory that to move a physical body requires physical force might be true if there were no other force in existence that could be used by man, and one who labors under the old theory might be excused for asking such a question. But if, as we think, we have already established the fact of the existence of other force than physical — namely spirit force, by so doing you will see that it is not at all necessary to transmit or borrow force from the physical for the spirit's use { 229 ) at all times, though, we are free to admit, it is not an unusual thing to do. Our object in answering your question in this manner was to show you how necessary it is to be careful and frame your question so that the answer may convey as nearly as possible the knowledge sought for. We find you in a quandary as to how a spirit can go into a garden, pluck a flower, and then pass the same through a solid wall and into the hand of a mortal with the dew undisturbed on the flower, which, we, your spirit friends, have done for you on several occasions. PASSING MATTER THROUGH MATTER. As we have before stated, no physical or object matter is a solid, but is composed of atoms, held together, let us say for the purpose of this illustra-tion, like the honey-bee when swarming. These atoms, though appearing to you to be solid; while in the object — say of a rose — are not so by any means and are capable of being separated from each other for a short time by a chemical law of spirit. These atoms when so divided are in the form of a spirit ether, and are passed between the atoms of a door or wall, when they are again returned by the same law to their origi- nal form; this process does not disturb the oxygen and hydrogen which form the dew-drop, any more than the water which composes the rose, and this same process is used when a white handkerchief is passed through your coat or a black cloth. The atoms of the one are passed between the atoms of the other by an ( 230 ) almost instantaneous disintegration and integration of the atoms. By bringing this chemical law to bear on the rose we are enabled to suspend the law of sym- pathetic attraction, and, in restoring the law, each atom is again attracted to the same neighboring atom, and thus it is that the flower is returned to its natural freshness. Do not lose sight of the fundamental fact that it is the spirit or invisible that is the real of life, and that the physical is only in a temporary or passing con- dition; hence the power derived from spirit far ex- ceeds any physical power. But you, who are only now in your physical or earth state, can form no adequate idea of the immense power of spirit, you yet having had but little if any experience of the next state of your being. Forces there are in, around, and about the earth planet yet undiscovered by man and of such immense power that if you but knew and could utilize their power you could almost become a very god, forces of which the wisest of mortals have not the faintest con- ception, so very fine and insidious and yet so grand and far reaching. Is it, then, any wonder that these same wise men of earth fail to comprehend, even in the slightest degree, the Infinite Cause of all Physical EfPect? But a new light, my friend, is dawning for the people of earth. THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. You have now taken another step of vi-tal impor- tance in vour school of letters where all the forces of ( 231 ) the wise spirits will be concentrated for years to come, lending all the assistance the surrounding conditions will allow to enable your professors of psychology to grasp and teach to the rising generation this, the most beautiful and important of all truths, and give to them an actual know ledge of the immortality of the soul, and when a definite and final answer may be given to Job, " If a man dies, shall he live again? " ( 232 ) CHAPTEE XXX. AN O^ER-TRUE STORY OF THE FIRST DAWN OF A SPARK OF LIFE. Wherein we locate our story ten thousand miles away in space and far from any other planet. Where we represent the Life as a thing apart from matter, and as having been slumbering for aeons of ages, awaiting its time to quicken and move, using the atom of matter as a bedchamber while sleeping. The moral of which is : As it is with one life, so it is with all life, MY FIRST REALIZATION OF LIFE IN SPACE. It seemed to me that I did but dream that I was dreaming of a dream ; I looked around to seek a cause; 'T was one eternal sameness, alow and aloft, to the right and left, but sparks of life and matter. But I awake, I realize that I am. How do I know I am? Until I came into contact with matter 'twas but a dream, a spark of life. With me, at that moment, I realized that it was conquer or be conquered. Shall this dumb, coarse, inert thing, this atom of substance surpass my power? Or am I, and I alone, all power? Ah, ha ! ven% vidi^, vici. Henceforth I am King, and matter must my will obey. For am not I, from this time on, knowledge? Ah, and if I know, I '11 reason ( 233 ) thus : To increase my power I '11 have to enlarge, I '11 advance and advance until all power shall be mine. By this power to attract will I continue to attract all sparks around me until I shall become a host unto myself. For if two are greater than one then thousands are greater than two, until I shall weary of my work and become a world. But I find I cannot rest, for am not I the parent of motion, and was it not through motion that I became aware of mine own existence? Then if I cease my labor, shall I not again sleep, die? Ah, as well might one cease to be. And could I cease to be? Alas, no! 'T is on and on and on ; worlds and worlds within a world; 'tis one perpetual motion^ nature repeating upon herself. Then hoio shall I continue this labor of mine? Ah, ha! I see! I' 11 set this host (atoms of substance) of mine to work and will first organize my forces out of this chaotic condition. I '11 place captains over tens and captains over thousands; then shall I form this host of mine into sixty-five or more legions, and I '11 know them as they are: Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Iron, Phosphorous, Sulphur, Potassium, Soda, and others. Over these, my simple subjects (substance), I '11 place my General, Sir B'inary Com- pound^ and will give to him my Caduceus which shall to him impart the mystic secrets of my spirit ether (or atmosphere), bidding him go to and discover the many uses he can place my hosts for their advantage and progression, teaching to him as I had found it, that in unity there is strength, and by his knowledge ( 234 ) of compounding, with all mine hosts to back him, he shall produce a physical thing and he the evolution of matter. He shall teach his captains of thousandr^ and of tens to ever and forever drill and instruct these mighty hosts in the law of evolution and the survival of the fittest, for them to gather experience on their travels that they may become possessed of an ex- panded reason and intelligence; when wisdom shall no longer be to them a dream or a subject of annihila- tion, but real and eternal life. Teach each one and all that they, as single individ- ual members of the one infinite and eternal whole, that should one of these my children (atoms) die or cease to he, then shall I no longer be perfection and remem- ber that thou, my general, art my very vitals for — United we stand, divided we shall surely fall. WHICH WAS FIRST^ THE EGG OR THE CHICKEN? If Darwin's theory of evolution is correct, i. e. on the origin of species, can you tell me on that hypo- thesis which was first, the egg or the chicken? Can man number the sands of the sea? Then how futile to attempt to grasp the infinite variation of atomic structure ! As we knoiv that no two things are alike, and reason thus : That no two planets are alike, no two animals, vegetables, or minerals are alike, then you can reasonably infer that no two atoms are alike. As you only know of life by its manifestations through matter and its being the first cause of all motion and motion being the cause of all change, would it be at all unreasonable to suppose that no two atoms of life were alike? ( 235 ) As it was not our intention when we began this work to offer you our belief ^ but confine ourselves to knoivn, or, at least, self-evident^ facts for your con- sideration, we find in the question you have submitted a tendency to lead us beyond our previous limitation, and would also have the further tendency to expose our work to unfair criticism. For us to attempt to digest the question thoroughly would compel us to go beyond (if there is a beyond) that point which we have established as the known beginning of human comprehension or a time previous to the existence of life. Were we inclined to attempt such a vague and perhaps chimerical course, it would only have the ten- dency to lead us into all manner of tvild speculations and beliefs that would serve no beneficial end, and might be the means of retarding the advance of truth. However, we will endeavor to give you such views on the subject as lie within our prescribed limits. Life is the only motive power that we know of and we only know of its existence as an undisputed fact, by observing its action on matter — i. e. we see and recognize it as a thing apart from matter. Then, whenever and wherever we recognize motion, we must agree that said motion was produced by some peculiar law which we are rationally compelled to designate as the infinite, or a point in time previous to all human or spirit comprehension. We will, therefore, begin our explanation by observing that before motion there must be Thought^ Eeason, and Intelligence. Let the amount in quantity or quality be with you of .1 secondary consideration. It is a conceded fact that if a thing moves from one ( 236 ) place to another (however short the distance) of its own volition, using its own forces or energy to ac- complish a preconceived object for a definite purpose, that that very fact establishes the evidence and is of itself the evidence of intelligence; and, as -we have already described to you the law of like attracting like — i. e. gold to gold, apple to apple, etc. — it will be unnecessary for us to repeat the same. As intelli- gence is the result of and is produced by reason, then we also know that we produce or procure our reason from a single thougJit, for we hope that you will not contend, after all we have previously said on this sub- ject, that the child of six months of age, when it crawled off a porch and was hurt, possessed reason, nor can you deny that it had one thought. We will now appeal again to your own common sense and ask you to look around you and see if you can for a fact recall in your own experience two people whose reasoning faculties were perfectly alike. No. But when tested, the wisest minds that we have any record of are radically different when brought under microscopic or a crucial test. Then it follows that, as life produced reason, we have a perfect right to infer that life in the so-called elementary or atomic state, also differs in its own peculiar law; but whether this difference in atomic life is produced by another law, lying beyond the atom, is not within our knowledge to say, and is quite sufficient data for you to work upon if you confine your researches within the limits we have established — i. e. comprehension. Having led you as carefully as we are able up to the question of the egg^ we will now say again that ( 237 ) the atom of matter is the egg itself of all organized formation, of whatsoever nature and composition, and is spherical in shape. You will also see that while you are accustomed to say that these two pigeons, apples, or twins are just alike, nevertheless such an occurrence would in truth be a miracle. Again, very many people are accustomed to draw a distinction between organized life and Mr. Huxley's proto- plasm or organic and inorganic matter, which is only another of those false gods to be overthrown for the very moment that two ultimate atoms come together, right there you have the very beginning of organiza- tion. Will scientists dare dispute this? This being the case you will perceive that, long before atomic matter became objective to man, the embryo object was in a process of atomic formation, and when man, by his ingenuity, can tell you just how many atoms it takes to make an object then you may expect him to know and be able to teach you where the organic and inorganic, animation and inanimation, begins and leaves off. If, as we think, we have established the fact that there are no two known things alike, not excepting life, then this known fact is the very best of evidence of the truth of the origin of all advancing and chan- ging species or organisms. Now, as to the egg being before the chicken, practi- cally speaking. Certainly no intelligent seeker after truth can doubt Mr. Darwin's explanation, as we understand him. First we have the individual atomic difference, second the struggle for existence — hybrids, climatic, etc. Does not the alligator lay an eggl The ( 238 ) water lizard? The winged lizard? You will find all this in detail fully explained by Darwin, and in which we more than agree; and it would, therefore, only take up unnecessary space in this work. We will quote, however, one single remark of that dis- tinguished scholar, to wit : " That systematists will have to decide whether any form (objective matter) be sufficiently constant and distinct from other forms to be capable of definition and deserve a specific name." Like Darwin, we shall insist on their producing a specific line of demarcation before assuming the right to specify. Hence we shall be led to weigh more care- fully and to value higher the actual amount of difference between them. That there may be no misunderstanding of our position, we will say that the systematists should be required to produce a single species that cannot be changed, either by accident or design, in the course of six or eight generations. We cannot refrain from calling your attention to Mr. Darwin's predication regarding the inestimable value psychology will assume in the future in throw- ing light on many of the mystic laws of life, for we can assure you it will be found the open sesame to many beautiful truths of nature. As a partial cor- roboration of that great man's wisdom, we will call your attention to his prediction on psychology made about the year 1869, — that, in the distant future, it would be based on a new foundation. Fifteen years later your college of letters, for the first time, established a special chair of learning on psychology, which, we hope, not in the distant but in the near ( 239 ) future, and with the proper nourishment, will more than fulfill Mr. Darwin's most sanguine expectations. Please accept this as a tribute of our appreciation to one who has given to man the most valuable work of the nineteenth century — " The Origin of Species/' — which we hope will be the entering wedge that shall forever split asunder fanaticism, ignorance, and superstition. CHAPTER XXXI. IF NO MATTER IS DESTROYED;, WHAT BECOMES OF IT AFTER THE EARTH CAN NO LONGER ASSIST IT? You will understand that, while we recognize the existence of life as a thing apart from matter, the ontological proof of which we offer you is its essential attributes, a thing that is not matter itself, but is inseparable from matter, in something the same sense as you would say that energy is not motion, and, while we find that energy is always found in company with motion, yet it is a thing apart from the motion itself. We do not wish to be understood as implying that all life is human life or that it eventually is refined into the over-life of a human soul. With this slight ex- planation for a basis we will proceed to elucidate. As the apple has served us so well up to the present time for the purpose of an illustration, we will again avail ourselves of its service. After the matter is passed off from the apple in the form of fragrance, a part of this advanced matter is impinged on the animal brain, it may be, both human and brute, and is again advanced into thought matter of which we have before spoken. Now, you will understand that there still remains a considerable portion of this fragrance that is not so disposed of; a part of this remainder, after the disintegration of the apple, ( 241 ) assumes the form of a spirit apple; the remainder passes into the, let us say, spirit atmosphere of the earth and assumes the form of imponderable matter. This law applies to all advanced matter. You will remember that in this condition, as matter in bulk, as you of the earth are accustomed to view and measure it, is an indefinite amount which you can probably better comprehend when we explain to you that as imponderable surrounding the earth it again assumes the atomic form, but in an advanced condi- tion. And now your attention, please. Out of this ad- vanced matter, by a higher power of the law of life, of which you, the unadvanced people of earth, have as yet had no experience, as you have not reached your full earth development, is produced a very great many forces and spirit substances that are again impinged^ hy a reflecting process, on to the affairs and matters of earth. In this condition matter finds itself so at- tenuated as to appear to your physical sense more in the form or nature of an influence. We, as spirits, recognize its existence by its effect on the earth matter in many ways that are almost unconscious to you, but we will endeavor to convey a partial idea of it to you when we say it acts on the gross matter of earth to improve its condition in the same manner that we, as spirits, are at this moment acting on you, our amanuensis. Does not the information which we have been enabled from time to time to impress upon your mind improve your condition'^ In conveying our thoughts to you we are using a definite force in the form of spirit-waves of thought. ( 242 ) Now, do not place a wrong construction on our ex- planation of matter returning to earth matter and deduce from that that the theosophists are right in advocating the doctrine of reincarnation, for we mean nothing of the kind. If you properly digest our re- marks, you will see that a rational and logical expla- nation is for the higher and more perfect matter to sympathize with the lower matter, by lending a part of its forces to assist the weaker one, precisely the same as the father assists the child and as the spirits assist you. This is evolution. Do you not follow the same law when you graft the rose or apple? Can you by any logical process of reasoning claim that the real spirit of the tree from which you procured the bud has ceased to be in the original tree and has taken up its abode in the grafted tree? We think not. While we recognize that a part of the spirit atmosphere is acting on the earth matter for its improvement, yet we also recognize that another part of it is passing on and on to," we hope, something still higher. But as this brings us to our dead line, so to speak, we will not indulge in specula- tion. Again we will illustrate it in this way : Your body, or earth matter, decomposes or is thrown into the mills of the gods after delivering a certain portion of its work into the spirit atmosphere, this spirit atmos- phere reflects back on the earth a portion and projects a certain per cent, on to a higher plane. This is, in a measure, a constant process of evolving with a slow advance towards perfection. We will take this opportunity to again illustrate (243) the Mystic Bridge that connects the occult with the physical by taking the modus-operandi of the human heart. Here, you will observe, large quantities of the blood are forced into the minute veins at the farthest extremity of the body, delivering its load of vital energy, then returning to the lungs to be again re- vitalized, to then repeat, round and round the circle, losing a little and gaining a little, or, in other words, It takes on a load of unprogressed atoms and in its passage over the body advances these atoms one circle higher. Now, if the atmosphere should not be in a pure condition, but charged with weak and feeble sub- stance, such as the disease germs that were thrown off from other weak and imperfectly developed bodies, then your blood and body must assume a like con- dition and compel you to give off into the surrounding atmosphere the same imperfectly developed spirit sub- stance. Now, the spirit world is depending upon the kind of material you of the earth furnish it to build their edifice from. Hence you will see, if you of the lower condition forward to them rotten or defective material to work upon, how can you expect them to be able to reflect hack to you a healthy spirit atmos- pheref This applies not only to the matter, but to the thought, and this round-and-round process of ad- vancing and receding is from the first undeveloped atom of life and matter t« the highest state of spirit condition that we have any knowledge of and may be recognized by you, just as when you watch the incom- ing tide on the ocean ; you see the wavelets rolling up on the sand (of time), then just as surely receding; you will notice that, perhaps, the second and third ( 244 ) waves do not reach tlie height of the first. This was not an accident, but was caused by other forces (disease germs, etc. ) not acting at that moment on the surface as they should. How many forces are acting on matter of which you have not the slightest idea! In this manner are the affairs of families, cities, nations, and finally the world itself, effected for its advancing and retrograd- ing motion. When you of the earth or a part of the earth are involved in war, which again involves blood- shed, hatred, vindictiveness, then retaliation (pause here and consider), what must be the quality of the atmosphere you are projecting onto the spirit world for it to refine and refiect back? Can you wonder at the retrograde motion of civilization — i. e. the dark ages? This law acts on all organisms from the smallest monad, whether it be animal, vegetable, mineral, or spirit, the one depending upon the kind of support it receives from the other, whether its pro- gress shall be rapid or slow, higher or lower. For all strength, intelligence, and influence the spirit world (which is the sun's family) is depending on the com- plete and harmonious unity of the single atoms for its existence and power to perpetuate itself, and from this known fact we deduce, a priori, that this system is continuous ad infinitum. If this be the truth, as it certainly is, as far as we have any knowledge, then you can readily compre- hend that God is not a being, a person, or a thing, hut is the accumulation, the essence, and the result of all that is, and has had an existence ( Pantheism. ) Hence to pray to this kind of a god for a special favor by an ( 245 ) individual is sheer nonsense, and not common sense. Still you can accomplish much good by prayer when large communities unite in a sincere and purely spirit- ual desire, by sending out large and constant waves of thought matter and by keeping this sincerity up for some time, and living up to your desires spiritually. By so doing, you will find the same old answer : In unity there is strength. There are many well-authenticated cases where it would appear that a God had intervened in a personal manner. This we will explain in this way : Every in- dividual of earth has one or more spirit friends who take upon themselves the pleasurable duty to accom- pany them through their life journey; one of these, where there is more than one, assumes the duty of be- coming your guardian spirit (Socrates Demon). Now, if you should possess strong psychic forces your familiar spirit can, at times, use those forces for your benefit, such as impressing you of danger, removing pain, etc. Sometimes they accomplish this by means of vivid dreams; in fact, they resort to all the means at their command to accomplish their end. Now, what would be the result of a case of this kind where the Christian Scientist kneels in prayer with one who was entirely ignorant of the simple truth, and has been taught that God was a being? The pa- tient, being sick, and also a sensitive to spirit forces (although unaware of the fact), there also' being some one member of the Christian band of scientists present who is positive to the patient and mediumistic, the spirit friends of the invalid use the two forces to effect a cura The patient knows that he felt some peculiar ( 246 ) force at work on his anatomy, and not being able to account for it, he jumps to the conclusion that it was a miracle, and if a miracle, then nothing but a God could have done it. Alas, alas for the credulity of human nature! If the Christian Scientists are right in their belief, allow us to ask, in a spirit of fairness, why do they not cure all, as this personal God of theirs is all power? Why do they often cure the so-called wicked and undeserving and fail to cure the just and chosen ones — the preachers, for instance, or them- selves? Why do they succeed in curing one disease on John eTones and fail to cure another and apparent- ly insignificant disease on this same John Jones? Let the Christian Scientists and " Holy Bones " explain this in a rational manner. Our explanation is this : The human body is mechan- ically constructed by a uniting of two or more atoms of matter together for a purpose; this produces an organ. Then two or more atoms again come together in the same object for another purpose; this produces organism, for you must understand that it is not an organ or an organism until at least two atoms come together and establish a battery of the positive and negative. Right at this point, by the joining of the two units or atom lives, is produced or is born a life over the two atom lives which we have designated the first over-life. This may be a human life, apple life, or a mineral life, and, in this first condition, it may continue for ages and ages before an opportunity pre- sents itself for any further progress. That you may fully understand us, we will elucidate it thus: Richard joins his resources with John and (247 ) thereby forms an organized one hody for a precon- ceived purpose ; they have a set of laws to govern this hody, which is the over-life of this body. Now this* over-life or organized body can go on increasing its membership for the mutual benefit of the whole over- life. Some of the members become obstreperous to such an extent as to be felt by the whole body (i. e. dis- eased). The organization {body) seeks to apply a remedy. Now, whether this remedy shall be success- ful or not depends on the nature of the disease affect- ing the sub-organization. It may be, as in the first cure, of such a nature as to be easily subdued, and again, it may have been so quietly at work, like some seditions of state, as to be beyond control. If it was a miracle in the first cure, why does not the miracle suc- ceed in the second case? How much more rational to say that God or life accomplishes its work in this way. Take the people of darkest Africa, for instance. The civilized or spiritually inclined and advanced nations of the earth, by a constant and continued unity, are throwing their persuasive powers on this people ; not only with guns and powder, but by examples of Christianity, in at- tending their sick and those wounded in war and by the conscientious services of the true missionary. You will perceive that, slowly, this is having its sav- ing effect. All such moves require time. Man, in his eagerness to rush ahead, is inclined to ignore time, while time ignores not anything, not even the atom. Of what avail is one man's voice or desire in your Congress? 'T is but a drop in the bucket. But apply the voice of the united whole of these atoms (people) ! ( 248 ) 'T was they who produced your Congress, and, in like manner, they (the atoms) produced your God (Life). ►Man, in fact, is a God, if he only knew it, and of which he may get at least a glimpse when viewed in this man- ner. As the various nations constitute the whole world, and it would not be complete without all^ so also the single nation would not be complete without the single individual that comprises its whole; nor would the individual or person be complete without the entire number of atoms that constitute his entire being. Therefore, we will suggest to you that you, in your mind, separate each individual atom that constitutes the entire earth and give to them their freedom by tak- ing away the individual atom's power to attract. This you will have to do, for not one or a dozen are the whole earth. Now, let us ask, where would your boasted power of the earth be? Is not each single atom a power within itself? Did it not come from out of space tO' join an- other atom? And was it not by this very addition of one atom at a time lending its proportion-share of force and intelligence and matter that constitutes and is our earth? Do you not see that it is this very prin- ciple of a unity of the units, and this alone, that pro- duces all of your life and over-life? Is it not the single individual soldier (the unit) that makes up your powerful army? Or the one single stone, united to another, that constitutes your great pyramid? Now, please apply this principle of accumulative force, matter, and thought to the universe of a wheel within a wheel, ad infinitum. Does it not convey you outside of all human comprehension? ( 249 ) Let your imagination (for at this point you have no other evidence) conceive of all the accumulated es- sence of all the various systems of sun-circles within sun circles, as we have illustrated them elsewhere. Would not this immense outer sphere truly represent th-^ very greatest, the last, and the end of all concen- trated life, energy, force, intelligence, and wisdom? Here is something — a God^ a life — that man can grasp, his mind can realize — a something that you know does exist; you are able to recognize it in a tangible manner by its effect on matter. Now, draw you a comparison with that mythological person, being, thing, or idea that came out of nothing. " E^v nihilOy nihil fit,'' If this is good logic or philosophy — that because 1 know I am, I must be the results of a cause. Well, to accommodate you we will say granted, and see where it leads us. Why, to a first cause of a purely mystical God. Then, by your own argument, if God is a being and exists, he must have come from a cause; for out of nothing, nothing comes. If this is logic or common sense, then we have mistaken the meaning of common sense. When we come to consider the limited amount of real knowledge those old medieval godmakers, Bible- builders, whale-producers, ark stories, pancake world, with its seventh day or holy river of Josephus thrown in, with a Moses who buried his own body, and then returned to write about it, would it be any wonder if this same Moses, gifted as he would have been with such miraculous power, should go a step farther and utter a still more brazen lie to a people gifted with ( 250 ) such extraordinary credulity, and declare he had spoken face to face with a man-made Godf Can you blame Huxley for doing a little creating on his own line when he creates life from a dead lob- ster by transferring it to a live man? And then, when he finds himself in the same dilemma as these ancient God-builders — such as nothing can from nothing come — he, like these same ancient Bible-builders, reverses his engine and creates life again by transferring the dead man to the live lobster. In those days it was. Believe what I say, or follow Joan of Arc, Bruno, and others to the stake. But as no such conditions as those now confront us, we may be permitted to ask Mr. Huxley's admirers if they would kindly be a little more previous and inform us where the lobster got its life before man existed, and where man got his life before the lobster existed. If it be so that out of nothing nothing comes, then it would appear to us as but a fair postulate that what w^as good evidence for the goose should be equally as good for the gander. What a pity it was that those old Bible-builders were not better informed as regards the size of the Dog-star and the probable extent of infinite space. Now please consider this problem : plus equals ; multiplied by equals ; minus equals ; di- vided by equals 0. This is an immutable law of life and matter, and a rational, consistent, and compre- hensive God. You of the twentieth century have done what they should have done — i. e. you do not create anything, but assert that neither the spirits nor mor- tal can account for life or matter. But you all know (251 ) that they exist; we have the tangible, absolute, real- istic facts to sustain our assertion — it is not at all necessary to force your belief toith burning fagots. From whence they came or how far in the past they have existed is, from its (life) very nature, an utterly unknowable question. And as we see that life pos- sesses all the attributes of an imaginary ,personal God, except the power to create ( a so-called act which has never yet been proven), we will lay the two propo- sitions before you for a fair and reasonable opinion : thus, I know that I am because I exist ; upon examin- ing myself, I find that I am composed of atoms of matter, and that these atoms possess life. I now seek to know the source and composition of this life. All that I can learn is that it is not a physical thing, but, as far as reason can go in the past, it always existed, I know it is the power and intelligence that produces and controls all matter. As to what it is and whence it came, I do not know. This is human reason. And now for the old proposition — I know that I am because I exist; and as I know that out of nothing nothing comes, then I will trace the cause of my exist- ence from some other cause, which compels me to again seek a cause. Like Huxley, I find myself in a dilemma. Now, how will I extract myself? I will do it thus : There must be a great personal being, a God, (must he is good, very good, indeed,) and, naturally, a mechanical God, who always existed. (Ahem, ahem!) About six thousand years ago, for the first time, this mechanical God awakes. How far back in the millions of past ages this God lay sleeping only he can say. But he instantly realizes his miraculous ( 252 ) power to overcome this naught plus naught equals naught, naught multiplied by naught equals naught, naught minus naught equals naught, and create it thus : Naught minus naught equals one. These same ancients found that this one is also endowed with mi- raculous power — hence he, the one created, is a Holy Ghost. Just what kind of a ghost that is or how they found him out, deponent sayeth not, as no one has ever seen this thing, gentleman or holy, sufficiently plain to know it. Ghosts there may be, but just what distinguishing ear-marks exist between this holy and a common ghost, we know not. However, prudence, my friend, is sometimes (especially in olden times) a virtue, and if you do not know, then believe or be damned, like Bruno and others (while I '11 be damned if I believe) . Modern phenomena in the last half century have produced a tangible ghost (spirit) — tens of thousands of them ; not in an obscure burning bush, but over all the civilized world where an ordinary man can see, feel, and hear them, and where you are at perfect lib- erty to judge from the evidence of your own senses — and no fear of being damned, either. And now, my friend, we have placed the two views squarely before you. It is for you to exercise your own common sense and decide, as any fair and im- partial juror should do, as to which is the true meta- physical solution. ( 253 ) CHAPTER XXXII. WHAT ARE LIFE AND MATTER COMPOSED OF? ( September 7th. ) Is it possible for you to cross the dead-line and tell me what life and matter are composed of? And if not, can you give me a reasonable conjecture? Through this entire work, from its beginning up to the present time, little by little, as the opportunity offered, have we endeavored to shed such light upon the above question as you could receive and digest. It may be possible for us to go a step farther. We will see. In our last article, we frequently capitalized the term Unit. Now we will ask you to try to realize how exceedingly small and apparently insignificant a thing a unit is. As we have before stated, it is the next thing to nothing. And, while those old ancient Bible- builders shot closer to the mark than they at the time dreamed of when they produced their ghost of a para- dox to provide a base of retreat when pressed too hard for an answer, — i. e. their " Ex nihilo, niJiili fit,^^ — and as science has long since acknowledged that matter is indestructihle, — which is to acknowledge that it has no end, — now, does not your own common sense teach you that a thing that has no end could not have a be- ( 254 ) ginning? If this be the truth, — and we think it is, does it not carry you into the infinite? Hence it is un- knowable — the dead-line. Now, please consider: Is not this explanation in perfect harmony with the philosophy of " Out of noth- ing, noithing comes? " We will explain it in this way : While the unit or atom did not come from nothing^ yet it was the very next thing to nothing — i. e. life and matter ; and while in this state of a single unit it is of far less importance as a thing of power than is one single drop of water to the mighty ocean. That you may grasp this, we will say that it is a million times less than a drop of water, as one drop of water is divided into many more parts than a million. The explanation is found in the Unity. You are accustomed to exercise your reason from a physical thing — an object. Long habit of considering that — only that — which you see is real has beclouded your better judgment. We have endeavored to teach you (and we know that we have succeeded) that the reverse is the real fact. Now, if you will take this one single atom and fol- low it on its journey as we have described it in the article headed " The First Eealization of Life in Space," and at the same time keep in your mind its almost utter insignificance, when you try to recognize it as an existing tiling. Then consider this one, single, infinite atom as the very first cause of all causation (if there ever was a first cause). Now, you have but to change one Biblical word that reads, " In the he- ginning was God," and let it read, " in the beginning was an atom/' Then you will see all necessity for any ( 265 ) belief whatever or subterfuge to hide your ignorance of the simple truth is swept away. Man has been wrongly taught that that which was created cannot be greater than the creator. This is a false and pernicious doctrine, and should be corrected, as it only leads the young investigator into those false roads which, in turn, lead to false Gods. There is no such thing as create; and it should have been left, by accident or design, in Noah's ark. To create is to produce some thing out of nothing — an absurdity that any one claiming a modern education should be ashamed to acknowledge. It has the ten- dency to cause the young student to infer that that which was built or produced cannot be greater than the builder or producer. Now, what a false position such a conclusion would leave the student in! He would find himself utterly unfitted for an inventor. Are not all objective things or organisms produced or built up from the very least of all things, the atom? Man and spirit can only recognize life and matter when in a vast, accumulated form of unity , and then very imperfectly. You cannot see, smell, taste, touch, or hear either life or force. You recognize them by a certain effect that they produce on matter. Habit makes you say, " I felt the force of a blow," — but you are wrong. You felt the effect or saw the change. By removing the life, you have no force. Now, if you could instantly remove the life of all the atoms of your body, that moment your body would vanish, disappear, leaving not even a sign of its existence, so fine would be the atomic division. It is the power derived from the atomic life that holds your body and ( 256 ) all other objects together. This is as far as we can assist your understanding as regards life, until later on. ( See Chapter XXXVII— the key. ) And now as to matter. We would say you may be able to delve deeper into the subject possibly, if viewed in this manner. Here we find for the first time, in this little volume, that we are obliged to put forward an assumption, a priori, and will caution you at this point that we only do so in our great desire to assist you in your endeavors to reach beyond the dead-line, or into the infinite. Hence we shall expect you to receive it only as an opinion; for you must remember that all beliefs are but shadowy forms arising on the horizon of truth, and until proven true, must be han- dled with care. Matter is the offspring or effect of life; it is the expression of life, or life expressed. Take away the life, which means the energy, force, motion, and intel- ligence, and what have you left? Virtually nothing, or a thing so near akin to nothing — so far at least as human understanding goes — as to be unrecognizable. And if it did not cease to exist entirely, then infinite space would be filled with a chaotic, inert mass of atomic dust. While your human senses cannot grasp life, physically speaking, life itself has prepared the way for its own recognition by producing in man (matter), through the unity of atoms, your so-called five physical senses; and it is by your power to me- chanically apply these senses to matter, which you cannot do to life, that you are made aware of the exist- ence and power of life — ^i. e. thought, force, and sub- stance. (257) Now, imagine yourself standing in space, ten mil- lions of miles from any object excepting light. Here you find — what? Apparently nothing. And yet you are for the first time in your physical existence sur- rounded by that only which is real in its first and orig- inal form — i. e. the elementary atoms of substance. You have asked us. What is matter composed of? As far as you of the earth have investigated it, you have declared it to be composed of sixty-five different sub- stances ; and, whether it be more or less, it is sufficient for our purpose. You are now standing in w^hat seems to you a void ; yet you have at this moment all about you the very essence of all these various substances — iron, tin, oxy- gen, etc., and we can only answer you that they are just what you have called them. 'T is only a name. We might offer you another name, but it would con- vey no other truth ; and, as we have frequently stated, we agree with Immanuel Kant, that your world and all objective matter therein is not the real^ first, and unchangeable state of matter. It (your world) is only matter on a mission or journey, the same as an apple or soap-bubble. For a little while you seem to see it, and then you don't. It is like the clouds. Vast quantities of atoms of oxygen and hydrogen unite for a purpose out of the invisible, do their work, and again disappear — return, we may say, to their real home or condition — a mere passing event. Hence, you will see that it is but a w^aste of time to even try to penetrate the infinite. Therefore, to be candid with you, we are obliged to call it the Dead- Line. ( 258 ) (February 20, 1898.) [About five months later, or on February 20, 1898, I again asked the question, " What is life? '' forget- ting that I had already asked the question. Hence I insert it here. The reader will observe that it is a con- tinuation of this chapter. — C. H. Foster.] This is a question so vague and yet so far-reaching that we feel as though we should be allowed consider- able charity if our words shall not come up to your ex- pectation, and shall deal with the question after our own peculiar idea of free thought; and, if we shall succeed in furnishing you with any new light on the subject, we will be pleased, indeed. First — It has been the prevailing custom of intel- lectual minds to say that they recognize the existence of life by its effect on matter. Now, is this a fact? Do they recognize life or do they recognize thought and force? Has the word " recognized " a double mean- ing? That is, do they mean that they know, or do they mean that they helieve that such a thing as life exists? If they know it for a demonstrated fact, through or by the evidence of one or more of the five physical senses, as a scientific truth, where is their evidence? As they are always very particular to demand physical evi- dence of the truth of any phenomena brought to their notice, they should not object to the same rule being applied to themselves. It will not do for them to make an assertion on their own responsibility that they know that life exists, as it is recognized in all so-called living things. This would be begging the question; for, as there is no ( 259 ) dead, then all things must be alive, and it would still leave the question open — What is life? When they use the terMi Life, they surely must mean something. They tell you that this man's life has gone out, departed — he or it is dead. Gone out means to move, or it could not have departed. Now we will ask them what kind of a thing it was that had motion. Death is supposed to be (i. e. believed to be) the opposite to life ; and as it is with that which men call life so it is with death — ^you have no actual knowl- edore of the existence of either the one or the other. You smile at the simplicity of the sun-worshiper. He recognizes that, for a time, he exists, when sudden- ly he ceases to exist. He sees the part the sun seems to play in nature. It is a great something of infinite power that he can sense by his sight and feeling; therefore, he believes he knows that the sun is the cause of his existence. He, in his turn, smiles at you when you speak of life, and asks you what you know about it. You answer him, " Nothing — absolutely nothing," but that joii believe, from what you know of thought, that something must have caused thought and so you have given this imaginary something, this must have been, the name of life ; and continuing your reply to him, you say, "After all, my dear fellow, don't you know that I don't know for a fact, whether this imaginary thing which we call life is a condition, a place, a thing or a circumstance." Alas, poor La- place! we wonder after all if his great sun was any greater as a truth than this same sun- worshiper's sun on a smaller scale. ( 260 ) Thought you can for a known fact assert does have an actual physical existence, and is capable of demonstration as a thing, for it is now acknowledged that it can be transferred from one individual to an- other and to a great distance. You have also the power to depress or stimulate it and can demonstrate to a certain extent its quantity and quality; there- fore, it is not in any sense an imaginary thing, though it is the actual dead-line or limit of human compre- hension. You Tvill perceive by these remarks that Life is but a name. The credulous call it God, and some even go so far as to call it a personal being. Agnostics call it Nature, and we might ask them, what is Nature? Spiritualists call it the Great Spirit. We have, for the sake of a point of departure, called it Life, or Over-Life ; but, after all is said, 't is but a name, and, w^e may add, an imaginary one, for nothing is known to have an actual existence beyond thought. And now, my dear friend, we do not wish to be understood as denying the existence of a something still greater and far more superior than thought, for that would be to undo all of that which we have at- tempted to do by this little volume; and we do know that it is on and on far beyond the lower spirit com- prehension where more knowledge is gained, but where that knowledge ends. // it has an end, we must truthfully say we do not know. Our object in writing this chapter was to try and have you realize that Life was but a name, and means to represent the very es- sence of cause, and to further show you that, whatever it wa«, from its very nature it was infinite, and for ( 261) man to say that he recognizes Life by its effect on mat- ter is only an endeavor on his part to escape the use of the term belief. By these few additional remarks, however, we hope that you will more fully realize the utter impossi- bility of Mr. Huxley or any other scientist being able to put forward as a scientific fact that they possess any knowledge of the basis of Life. Nor do we ob- ject to your substituting for the word hasis^ physical basis; for until man knows what Life is composed of, how is it physically possible for him to demonstrate its physical basis? By what particular earmarks, may we ask, do you know that it is a physical thing? Have we not the scientific right to demand of Mr. Huxley that he shall produce his unquestionable proof that Life is a physical thing before we accept his as- sertion that he has found the physical basis of Life? PSYCHO-PHYSICS. You will perceive that after physical matter has been converted into spirit atmosphere, spirit, or im- ponderable matter, by its passage through the brain cells as thinky that this matter still accompanies your physical body through its earth journey, and is, in fact, the real part of you — the I AM — and at this stage it is gathering other matter (thought), as well as rejecting matter for the purpose of preparing the way for yet another change, when it shall be necessary to separate itself from the physical body and assume a real spirit body. While this matter is accompany- ing your physical body, and before it leaves this body to become a spirit, is it not at this time in an inter- ( 262 ) mediate state? i. e. it is not what you can properly call physical matter; neither has it advanced into either the real spirit or soul condition (the metaphy- sical ) . Yet it is now generally acknowledged by your French and German scientists, through their experi- ments with hypnotism and lunacy, as an existing con- dition apart from the gray matter of the brain. Now, conceive of this matter as occupying the bridge which we have frequently mentioned in our former remarks as that which spanned the chasm lying between the ponderable and imponderable world. You could not say that it was physical, nor could you call it metaphysical. Then would it not exist as a psycho-physical matter, operating in a" field of fluid far finer than any ether that man at present has any knowledge of, and, of which we have before hinted, as yet to be harnessed for the benefit of man? Psycho-physical, or between the ttvo worlds. THE BEGINNING OF SEX. At what point in time does sex begin? In answer- ing this question, that you may fully and clearly un- derstand us, we are obliged to again appeal to your forbearance while we take a retrospective view of some of the fundamental precepts which we have al- ready established. Your soul, spirit, or the I AM of you, is entirely in- dependent of your physical body. Your body, or any other physical body, is composed of the original elementary atoms of matter or substance. This mat- ter is void of sex, and assumes the same position and respoi bility in your body or any other physical ( 263 ) body as the single brick in a building — simply as so much matter in bulk, and nothing more. You will probably understand us better when we call your at- tention to the fact that your body is composed of oxy- gen, iron, sulphur, and other simple substances. Now, you will not contend that the atoms of iron, oxygen, etc., are male and female; nor can you with any de- gree of reason attribute sex to any of the sixty-five simple substances that enter into the composition of any physical object or organism, and, as we have be- fore stated, all physical matter must become an organ- ism of at least two atoms before it can become an object. No one tiling alone can of itself he an organ- ized body. If so, how would you proceed to disorgan- ize it? At first the soul, or I AM, of the germ is as unim- portant and insignificant, if we may be excused for using the expression as the germ of the object itself ; but as other atoms are attracted to the object, it rises in importance, and in just the same ratio does the value of the I AM increase. Though many of the old school of scientists are inclined to sneer at the occult or spirit of things, and would have you accept Mr. Huxley's idea of the protoplasm as the physical basis of Life, yet how can they deny that organism begins where we have shown? Again, we will ask these old- school scientists. Are these first two atoms, when they come together, in the physical or metaphysical state? As matter or substance, they cannot be soul or spirit. You have the elephant on your hands, gentlemen ; vv^ill you receive it as physical, and if not, would it not be well to kill it and feed it to the lobster? Dispose of it ( 264 ) you must in some, let us hope, more rational manner. With this prelude we will now endeavor to answer your question of sex. After two atoms are attracted together, this is the beginning of organism or organized Life, which you may better understand as the beginning of the con- struction of a machine, which may also be called a beginning of the physical organism. At this point the law of positive and negative first asserts its au- thority over matter; if the positive should prove the stronger of the two, then the sex would be male; but if the negative atom should be the stronger, then the sex would be female. You will understand that sex cuts no figure in the great Over-soul of Life; sex is merely a part of the physical or bodily construction of the machine — the same as the arm, the eye, or the color of the hair, etc., and merely has its functions to perform as one part of the organization. While we use the terms positive and negative at this stage of our explanation, it is because they are the most comprehensive words that we can make use of to fit this almost insignificant stage of a human soul, and we do not wish to be understood as implying that the female from this time on remains in the nega- tive condition. You will remember that at this point you have but two single atoms of matter to consider — the very dawn of a human life or organism. You must look at it in this light : that as the negative principle predominates at the beginning, it will naturally have the controlling influence during the travels of that body in its earth development; but as it takes on other atoms, the preponderance of influence of these ( 265 ) innumerable atoms may be positive. Hence this fe- male, when developed as a fully formed human body, may assume the positive relation between man and wife, or what you may call a very pronounced or com- bative woman, and this law will apply to the male. How very frequently you meet with effeminate men and masculine women! Does this germ first attach itself to the male or fe- male in seeking an opportunity to unfold or advance? When you look over the field you will observe that, as a rule, the male is by long odds the stronger and most positive of the two. This is a part of the natural law of life and is partly caused by the first germ being at- tracted to the male in its first effort to advance. The ovum is only a place of habitation to protect and nourish this incipient germ. Until this germ enters the grain of corn after it is planted in the earth, there is no quickening process takes place; in fact, this is the cause of quickening. If there should be some serious disaffection of the organized body of the grain of corn, then there would be no sympathetic attrac- tion between the germ and the grain, and hence no re- production. In some vegetables this is effectd by the pollen of the male plant being conveyed by the wind — such as the strawberry, etc., the blossom acting in the same capacity to the strawberry as the ovum to the human organism. Sterility in plants or animals is caused by some irregularity in the organization of one of the parents which prevents the various organs from per- forming their allotted work. This is particularly noticeable in the hybrids — the mules, for instance. { 26Q ) By this disarrangement of the organs some parts of the whole body may be extra-invigorated at the ex- pense of some other part of the body. This would in- duce a larger, and sometimes stronger, crop from the first cross, when, by trying to again re-cross, you may find complete sterility. This depends on the nature of the two parents. You will find that this same law will apply to many of the metals. Some it will strengthen while others it will weaken, and in other alloys they will refuse to amalgamate the second time; that is, they will lose some of the virtue gained by the first compounding. It not infrequently occurs that two sets of the first organized germs find lodgment in the same ovum, or blossom. If these two sets of organisms should be in almost perfect harmony with each other and the ovum, or blossom, the results would be twins, or a double fruit; whereas, if inharmony existed, both might be rejected, which would compel them to again seek a more favorable opportunity to advance. ( 267 ) CHAPTER XXXIII. EDUCATED MEDIUMS. In looking over the field I observe that at least ninety per cent of the mediums, or instruments chosen by the spirits to serve their purpose, are from the mid- dle class of people, and seldom from those highly edu- cated. Why is this thus? You, my friend, being a skilled mechanic, allow us to ask. If you wish to perpetuate your skill anc aowl- edge of the same to future generations, whom would you select as the most fitting instrument to teach — one who had passed the meridian of life and become hardened and set in his ways, and whose ideas had become fossilized in ignorance of those secrets in which you excel ? or would you not select a young per- son whose mind was susceptible of expansion, one who stood to you in a negative position, and whose ideas had not yet had time to become set? At this point we will again call your attention to the well-known fact that, while education is of the ut- most importance to mankind, yet it has its undesir- able features as well ; i. e. you can educate a parrot and teach a pig, etc. By this we would be understood as implying that not one in a thousand who are so completely crammed with scholasticism ever rise to a Washington, Lincoln, Howe, etc. Why is this? We will tell you. ( 268 ) All great minds are horn free, and not made so by education alone. If this were not the case, why do you not produce a greater per cent, of great minds from your school of letters? By studying the early history of all great men, you will find that in their very childhood they showed a disposition to rebel against restraint and old-fogy conventionality. Their playmates knew them as odd and eccentric, while kind and gentle, as a rule ; yet they wanted to be free, to follow the natural bent of an independent soul. When such souls as these pass through your colleges they never sacrifice their independence of thought. While paying all due respect to their teachers and their lessons, yet they can and do rise above all teach- ings that do not appeal to their own common sense. To tell this kind of a mind that this or that theory is true, because all the old professors, your own father, and your priest taught it years and years before your time, will not be accepted by them. In fact, you are well aware that it is a prevailing custom among at least three fourths of your teachers to early impress upon their pupils, either in scholasticism, religion, politics, or mechanics, that to deviate from the old orthodox custom is simply sacrilegious, and not to be thought of for a moment. With this false foundation to build on, begun in the family in their very infancy, is it any wonder so many young minds — children of rich parents generally — go to the higher institutions of learning with a set pur- pose of securing their sheepskin with as little exertion to themselves as may be, after all the originality that might have been encouraged to blossom had been { 269 ) frowned down in their early infancy, thereby causing the budding mind to become indifferent to the intrin- sic value of real knowledge of common sense? This class of pupils enter your colleges already prepared to accept any old thing as truth; for have they not already been schooled at home or at Sunday-school that it is heresy to deny their parents or priest. We embrace all creeds and all political parties. Why, 't is even said among you, that to this day there are still to be found men in Arkansas who never fail to cast a ballot for Andrew Jackson for President! However, we do not vouch for the truth of that. Having now prepared the way that we might be properly understood, we will answer your question in this manner : A large majority of those whom you class as educated received such an education as a mere automaton. It was necessary to move in our set or to go to Congress ; in fact, we should be able to explain to Pa how Joshua scientifically stopped the sun and how Noah brought his South American menagerie over the Atlantic Ocean to stock his ark. When you come to interview this class of people on what they actually knoiv about the occult science, you will find that they have very little to spare; yet they think they know it all. This leaves them in a positive condition to such an extent that the spirits find it almost im- possible to approach them for the purpose of develop- ing their psychic forces — i. e. the tone of the light through their windows would be colored to suit their previous set ideas, while, on the other hand, if we select a person not so well educated, we find him much more easily handled — that is, we have fewer false gods to eradicate. ( 270 ) Take your own case, for instance. You will remem- ber some seven years ago, when we were giving you a series of independent writing seances through Mrs. Fairchild's forces, we cautioned you not to look at any history of Egypt while we were engaged in the writ- ings, as you would bring with you into the seance- room such a positive element that it would hinder us from writing as we wished to ; that is, you would see something in some history which might not be entire- ly true. This would become seated or fixed on your mind, and as we drew from you our knowledge of Eng- lish and other forces, as well as from the medium, then our communication would be colored uncon- sciously by your thoughts. After we were through with the writings, then we gave you permissioin to compare them with history ; but you found nothing in any history about the canal I had the pleasure of describing to you until a few months ago, when you found it in a daily paper. You will understand that one of the greatest diffi- culties the spirits have to contend with is to find an instrument of intelligence^ yet, at the same time, free from a priori opinion. Naturally, education brings in its train a more or less fiwed opinion. This is not so easily overcome, even by the spirits. We wish it were ; for we would be enabled to make far more rapid and satisfactory progress. 'T is often asked why females are so often selected by the spirits. For the very reason above given, women have not so fixed an opinion from education; they go more by intuition. Ask a woman why she does this or that ; is not her almost invariable answer, ( 271 ) " Well, because — ^just because, if you must know ; there now." We find at this present time a cry is be- ing sent forth for more educated mediums. This is easier to ask than grant ; spirits are not gods. You will also understand that, as the uneducated are the easiest to approach, this also leaves the door open for the lower spirits tO' enter, and as like at- tracts like, this will account for so much fakirism; for, of course, it is to be admitted that there is a greater deficiency of a nice sense of moral responsi- bility among the uneducated than the educated. As the spirits are, by this condition of things, compelled to seek such instruments as they can most easily mold to their service, they naturally draw from such as of- fer the least resistance to their psychic forces. Tak- ing this fact into consideration, it is not at all strange if some of our selections should prove unworthy. Our work being mostly of a mental character, to project our thoughts into a vessel already filled with old ideas is far more difficult than to fill an empty ves- sel as we are first required to get rid of the matter that has, to a large extent, permeated the old vessel. Much of the old matter we speak of as objectionable is caused by your very poor and meaningless English language, of which we think it appropriate to give you a few samples such as : If you want to write rite right, you must not write it wrigJit^ nor write^ but rite; for then you know you have written right. If the conduc- tor wishes to warn his passengers of danger in cross- ing a bridge, he tells them to look out for the bridge, when he meant for them to look in or not to look out. You teach of darkness, cold, inanimation, vacuum, ( 272 ) and such false gods to your children. 'T is true you do so in an indirect manner, as though they had an actual existence. This ruJMsh must all be emptied from the vessel before we can properly use it. Now, please compare our old Greek language to yours. Those of you who are familiar with that most expres- sive, clear, and grand language will not hesitate to affirm it the most 'beautiful and comprehensive lan- guage that the world ever knew. We would not for a moment have you entertain the idea that the spirits are opposed to the very highest possible point of at- tainment in education; only let it be more compre- hensive and expressive of the knotvn truths and in such a manner as not to be misconstrued or paradoxi- cal in its meaning. In other w^ords, get rid of those old obsolete expressions that have long since outlived their usefulness. 'T is the law of matter — especially of the genus Jiomo — to seek for excelsus; but were you enabled to grasp all perfection at one grab, this would be the end of evolution, and all matter would have finished its mission. Educate your mediums? Yes, by all means; but do not lose sight of the fact that modern spiritualism is yet in its infancy. Rome was not built in a day. There are a great many obstacles to be removed before this much desired end can be accomplished. In meas- uring the advance of evolution you must not over- look the fact that all past time is but a drop in the ocean, and so it is with the future. Evolution ignores not the insignificant atom, for Avell it knows that to destroy the atom is to undermine its own foundation and bring its work to a close. The moral of ( 273 ) which is : You should not sneer at the Hy^^vill^T'aps (the atom), or any other raps (critique) ; neither should you cast reflections on the physical mediums if some are required to hold their seances in the dark. F'or in your eagerness to attract attention to your- self, the friends of Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Fairchild, Miss Jenny More, C. V. Miller, the Kockwell family, and many other well-known dark seance or physical mediums, who are known to be honest, sincere, chari- table, and genuine, may ask some very direct ques- tions and also offer you some wholesome advice such as : Who is to blame when a fake medium is invited on your platform for the purpose of drawing flies to an unattractive, so-called inspirational speaker, with- out whom you could not attract a corporal's guard? If you doubt this, let it be given out in advance of your meeting that tests will be given before the lec- ture begins, and five minutes' recess after to allow those who wish to retire to do so ; this will be a test in a double sense of the word ; at least it will prove whose bread has the molasses on it. If you really wish to get rid of your fakes, first test your own officers' ability as to their qualifications to judge between a fake and a genuine medium. When we look over the field and see so many pushing themselves forward as would-be officers and leaders that are not as well qualified to pass a pure spiritual judgment on an honest or dishonest medium as the fake himself, we naturally ask whose fault it is — the society who selected your incompetent officers, or the fake? Whose duty was it to tnj, test, and knotv who you were receiving and about to invite the public to ( 274 ) accept on your recommendation? Would you hire a clerk or teacher of your own children without first carefully inquiring into and testing his abilities? These remarks may be a little off-color for a meta- physical work, yet we feel them to be appropriate to the present occasion (this 5th of October, 1897), and shall offer no apology any further than to add that the ph^^sical mediums themselves are not interfering with your public speakers, nor do they borrow the influence of the spiritual press to cast reflection on your speakers; neither are they at all concerned about their education, but are exceedingly anxious to be delivered from their Puseyistic friends, being well aware that on them (the physical mediums) alone de- pends the proof of spirit return; or. If a man dies, shall he live again? Did the great medium, Christ, concern himself as to the educational qualifications of his disciples, or, rather, did he not look more closely as to their charity for others than themselves? (275 ) CHAPTER XXXIV. IS THE COURSE OF LIFE AND MATTER FOREVER ONWARD, OF DOES IT RETURN AND BEGIN AGAIN? If matter was created we are obliged to assume that it came out of nothing ; then are we again compelled to infer a beginning? Furthermore, if it had a begin- ning, then it must have an end, which would return it to nothing. The human race, as it is represented to-day on earth, is to the future as the worm under your feet stands as a representative of Avisdom, when compared to the present human knowledge. From a point of reason, it would appear to us that we are obliged to accept one of two postulates — that life and matter came out of nothing and return to nothing, or that it always existed, and hence cannot cease to be or change a something to nothing. For the sake of truth, we would ask the student to stop at this point and try to realize, as a fact, what kind of a posi- tion, condition, or supposition a nothing is. Where, may we ask, w^ill you go to find nothing? How will you recognize or define it? To illustrate what we are endeavoring to impress upon your comprehension, just try to realize what was the state of, shall we say, affairs just previous to so-called creation. You will perceive by this that there was no space nor even a ( 276 ) condition; for these are things, and, as you could not have any knowledge or evidence, or even a reasonable conjecture of a state of nothingness, then we have the right to assume that the first postulate is altogether untenable and not admissible of even a reasonable be- lief. Then we are compelled to accept the second proposition, and see if we can find a rational solution of the question : If life and matter had no beginning, has it an end? And, if no end, does it repeat upon it- self, over and over, by reaching a special point in pro- gression, to again fall back to its first condition? In assuming the affirmative — that matter has no end — we have a something tangible to begin with, and as it Is unnecessary to go over the ground of known facts that it has been our pleasure to submit to you for your con- sideration as regards to the truth of the evolution of matter, we will confine our remarks to the single ques- tion, to w4t : Does it, life aud matter, repeat upon it- self or continue to advance to a higher and higher condition forever and forever on? Now, while we have shown that you have not a particle of evidence to support a condition of nothing- ness, you do have the positive evidence of the exist- ence of matter, and as all our investigations have so far been conducted on a purely philosophical rule of reason, from cause to effect, in following the atom on its upward course to the condition of the soul of things, and as at no stage of its journey have we found any evidence of a permanent reversal of this law of evolution, but find that all known matter is slowly but surely advancing onward and upward to the border- line of the {at present) limit of human comprehen- ( 277 ) sion, then we are perfectly justified in our conclusions that man's knowledge and power of comprehension will advance in like proportion, as the great wheel of evolution rolls slowly onward in its ceaseless march of progi'ession. For, as to-day man's knowledge of matter and facts far excels that of primeval man, so in the far distant future will your progeny cast a backward glance at your history and smile as you now smile at primeval man. Take this, the dawn of the twentieth century, and note the wonderful advance of knowledge during the last one hundred years. Nay, you need only go back fifty years, and then conceive the same ratio of the de- velopment of knowledge at the end of — say only ten thousand years hence. You will then be able to realize that we are not so very far out in our reckon- ing when we designate this as the tail end of the dark age; for it is but a fair and reasonable problem in retrospection and prospection. Who among you of to-t'ay can form the slightest idea of the grand and wonderful truths that now lie slumbering in the womb of time so remote? Yet you cannot deny that it is but a rational view of what may be expected of the future. Critics cannot justly class this as a belief, but we are willing to admit that it is only evidence a pri- ori , having as a mathematical basis all past records of events, which will allow us to assume such a predica- tion as not only possible but also probable. However, as we have constantly asserted, all absolute knowledge as regards to the future must cease at the dead-line— i. e. the home of the soul of things. Nevertheless, we feel inclined to give you a metaphysical nut to crack, ( 278 ) in a conjectural sense, as it were, by turning the tables on you, and asking you, my friend, a question. Tlie question: Would it be improbable that after the lapse of — say a billion years — the physical life and matter now constituting your planet earth should gradually change into the imponderable or spirit at- mosphere and assume the condition of a psycho-physi- cal sphere or home of the soul of things? Such a sphere would naturally be composed of all, and only tliat, which had formerly constituted your earth. Then, when this remote time should come, and not before, would this newly born sphere assume its position among a higher and grander circle of the in- finite? Would it not then appear, under this consid- eration, that the present spirit world is that locality or condition of souls or spirits that the Catholic fra- ternity designate as Limbo, Purgatory, Paradise, etc? Please look over this little volume and see if you can find anything that would seriously conflict with this hypothesis. We would not for a moment have you think that we are throwing this down to the Catholics as a sop, as did Le Conte, to appease their wrath ; for we can assure you it is a matter of utter indifference to us what they, or any other sect, may think of this work ; in fact, we fully expect all Christian creeds to take just as kindly to this work as they did to the work of Bruno, Galileo, Voltaire, Paine, Ingersoll, and others. But w^e hope in time to place this volume on the shelves of all free libraries, for the use of all who are free and choose to read it. However, the student will please to bear in mind that we are neither asserting ( 279 ) nor denying the truth of the above, but merely offer it as a question to you; for we do not know the solu- tion. We would suggest that you first take under con- sideration the birth of your world. You first recog- nize it as a nebula, in the form of a gaseous body. In tkis, its first condition {if it was its first condition), it may have, and probably did, continue for a million years. At the end of this time it had gradually as- sumed a liquid, fiery state, in which it continued — say, another million of years. At the end of this peri- od, it had formed a crust on the periphery, which con- tinued to thicken for another million of years before it had sufficiently cooled to allow of animal life. Dur- ing this last million of years, we might class it as in the volcanic state, the same as your moon at this period of its life now finds itself — not dead, for there is no dead — but not as yet sufficiently cooled to admit of animal or vegetable life. While a planet is in this process of incrustation, the physical results would be a constant rending and tearing of the surface, par- tially caused by the waters endeavoring to find lodg- ment on the surface as the immense heat receded. This sudden chilling would cause the surface to crack, and the molten mass would find relief by es- caping through the crevice. The result would be to form a range of mountains with many active volca- noes among them, or vents similar to a volcano. We will not attempt to fix the length of time that has escaped since the first appearance of animal life on the earth planet any further than to call your at- tention to the various scientific reports of your best ( 280 ) geologists, who agree in pronouncing it to be several hundred thousand years ago (instead of seven thou- sand, according to the Biblical account). Again we do not deem it inappropriate to place another question before you, hoping that you will re- ceive our questions with the same frankness that we have endeavored to bestow towards yourself. If this, your physical world, shall gradually change to a spirit world, so-called, it would by so doing be the beginning of another change; we will call this, for the purpose of illustration, the end of another mil- lion of years, or, it may be, a billion. This would tend to show that you have not so much evidence in favor of a solid or physical world being the real and perma- nent condition of matter as the gaseous or imponder- able condition, for we would have the first and third condition a gaseous body and only the second a pon- derable or physical body. Here you will see that the evide ) is as two to one in favor of the invisible con- dition. And now the conundrum : What evidence have you got that would justify you in denying that the origi- nal atoms of matter that first came together for the purpose of establishing the nebulous condition of this earth were not the advanced product of another sphere, lying lower in the scale of progression than the earth, which had just reached the end of its life of one million years? Can youtassert, as a facty that the ultimate atoms of substance as known to your chemists, are the very first and original particles of matter that occupy all . space and had never undergone any other change ( 281 ) whatever until they had first come in contact with your physical earth? If you cannot so assert, then neither have you the right to deny that the matter now in a state of gradual change from the physical to the so-called spirit world is not another new sphere in a state of formation. Again : As this physical world merges into a spirit sphere at the end of this, its present condition, may not the moon at that time have reached the end of its incrustation period and assume the animal age? This would be the child following in the footsteps of the parent, or, as the old cock crows, the young one learns. You will perceive that we were correct in the be- ginning of this work when we fixed the limit of human comprehension as the ultimate atom of matter, and not the infinite atom. You are accustomed to view the various planets in a physical state and from a physical standpoint of consideration. Eemember that it is only within the past fifty years that the attention of your scientists has been called to the psychic, through the Rochester rappings, hypnotism, thought-transference, etc., which is additional proof that you are but the tail of the dark age. To-day neither man nor spirit has any knowledge previous to the ultimate atom or beyond the 1 jie of the soul of that vast, boundless, amazing eternity, the Infinite One. For the solution of one we must cross the dead-line of the infinite past, to solve the other the dead-line of the future. ( 282 ) CHAPTER XXXV. A QUESTION TO ASTRONOMERS. After Bruno, LeConte, Descartes, Herschel, La- place, Kant, Darwin, and a host of others who have failed to account for the Cause of Causation. Please, sirs, will you allow me to slide on your cel- lar-doors? And I'll let you chew my gum whilst I'm sliding. And, if so be, your high-and-mightiness ob- jects — Avell, just go aliead with your old ark, for T guess it's not a-going to be much of a shower anyway ; and, if so be it should, then there are plenty of other cellar-doors besides your old fossilized incline. How- ever, as we intend to pay for this little book before it leaves the press, we will take this opportunity to re- mind you that it is our calf, and we will lambast it just as much as we please. Mother Grundy. So there now! But, joking aside, gentlemen, are you any nearer to the solution to-day than Laplace and Kant were one hundred years ago? Have you not let a century pass without a mark to your credit in this direction, not- withstanding your advantage of a thirty-six-inch tel- escope, giant refractors, spectroscopes, etc? And why? Was it not that you feared to antagonize the clergy? Allow us to ask why you have not more care- fully investigated the spirit phenomenon, to see if this ( 283 ) truth would not give you a better solution of this carefully avoided subject than your ready-made sun or your Ideal Being? And now, sirs, after these probably unnecessary preliminary remarks, we will, with your permission, take up first : — THE UNTRAINED COMET. It is claimed by some astronomers — Kepler for one — that some comets are already effete and verging into desolation; i. e. disintegrating. Here Kepler takes it for granted that the atoms of substance are ejected from the body into the tail. If this were known to be so, then it might in time be reduced to a grease-spot ; if, on the contrary, the comet is a world in process of birth by the attractions of atoms out of space, is it not more likely that it is gradually ab- sorbing the tail into its own body? Did it not first accumulate these atoms out of space for some reason- able purpose; that is, to form a gaseous body, then a fluid body, and so on? Again, Ave will ask. Is there an unrepaired iste? Is not all organized matter constantly undergoing a process of building up on one side to tear down on the other, from the first joining of two atoms for a pre- conceived purpose to its full physical development, whether it be an organized cell or a dog-star? If be- cause some of the comets are partially held in their present track by the influence of Jupiter, Saturn, etc., does this fact justify us in assuming that they may he eventually ejected from them? If so, we may be al- lowed to inquire if the same law is not also applicable to Saturn, Jupiter, etc.? Is it not by a pushing and ( 284 ) pulling force — i. e., attraction and repulsion — that all globes are held in their respective orbits? Then, whether it be a repelling magnetic force from the sun or an attractive force from some other body that pro- duces a comet's tail, could you reasonahly expect any other physical result than that the main body of the comet is exerting an attraction towards its center of these finely attenuated atoms in opposition to a counter force which would have a tendency to draw out a tail? The very fact of the comet having a tail following it on its travel through space is the best of evidence that the comet possesses the balance of power and may gradually absorb its own particles. The very fact of some comets having a number of tails pointing in dif- ferent directions will serve to show that as many dif- ferent counter forces are acting on it. 'T is true that some of the atoms may fall by the way ; but, like the earth planet, is it not also gathering other matter to compensate the loss? Does not the earth receive the meteorites? It has been asked by your scientists why a comet becomes reduced in size, say from 300,000 miles in diameter to 14,000 miles as it draws near the sun. This question, we think, has never been satisfactorily answered. We will offer you our opinion on the nebular theory. You must first remember that the sun is in a fluid state at present, and, while this is an ap|)arently fiery mass, yet it is not a consuming fire where all is reduced to ashes, but it is an amalgamat- ing process where all the various atomic life and sub- btance is reduced to one homogeneous fluid mass of ( 285 ) which the people of earth could not have any experi- eQce or knowledge, as it was at a previous period of the earth's fluid condition — i. e. before crystal, vege- table, or animal life could have existed. You can readily understand that were it a consuming fire, the crast of the earth would have been one immense lava- bed, volcanic rock, etc. It is a mistaken theory that the molten matter discharged from volcanoes comes from the original fluid substance now occupying the interior of the earth. .That which comes from the vol- cano is from chemical combustion now going on in the crust of the earth, and is a real consuming fire. SHRINKAGE OF A COMET. And now for our explanation for the shrinkage of the comet as it nears the sun and enlarges again as it departs from the sun. The comet is in its first stage as an organized body — i. e., a gaseous state. The desire and purport of all matter is to advance. The sun, being the master center of this solar system, or the greatest controlling body, when a babe or young world — i. e. a comet — comes close to the sun it partakes of the same influence governing the sun, and the closer it gets to the sun, the more pronounced this influence. As the sun is in a fluid condition at present, then all gaseous bodies when approaching it are, from the law of sympathetic attraction, inclined thereby to also become fluid bodies. This inclination to advance from the gaseous state to a fluid one would produce a visible shrinkage in the lighter material in its endeavor to effect a change into a denser matter. After countless ages and often repeated attempts, it ( 286 ) finds at each trial it gains a little, until finally success crowns its efforts, and it becomes a fluid body, to again go through the same struggle for incrustation. We deem it necessary to remark that if tliere were a resisting medium in space through which not only the comets had to move, but also all the other planets would have to move, then you might be justified in thinking that all was indeed decay from friction, if from no other cause. But all space is filled with in- finite atomic life, which produces^ and not destroys, force — i. e. it is the beginning of or first conception of thought y force and suhstance. LAPLACE^S GREAT SUN. We will now endeavor to draw for your considera- tion another illustration of the law of so-called crea- tion; and in so doing hope to assist our friend La- place out of a dilemma, where he, like many other theorists, invariably find themselves in trying to ac- count for a first cause, to wit, in beginning at the wrong end of the question, where they are compelled to start their edifice on mere belief or assumption of a great something, such as a great being, or, as our friend Laplace has it, a great ready-made sun, which, to our mind, would appear to be a distinctiO'U without a difference. Now, my inquiring friend, alloAV us to ask: If a great sun was the first cause of all creation or created bodies, what, in your opinion, must have been the di- ameter of such a sun? Do you not see that, by any reasonable mathematical solution, it would have to be equal in bulk to all the rest of that which it had ere- ( 287 ) ated? Just try to conceive of all the other globes that now occupy space concentrated into one immense sphere — for this would be the first condition, as they, at that time or any other, had no other resource from which to draw material. For by this theory all sub- stance and all life, that now and forever shall occupy infinite space must have been concentrated in one im- mense organized hody. Here allow us to follow Socrates' mode of argument by asking a question : Was not this sphere composed of single atoms of substance? Did this, its first con- dition, just happen so? How did it happen to burst or throw off the other globes? Did it just grow and grow, as Topsy expressed it, until it could no longer contain itself and had to burst? If so it grew, where did the substance come from that enlarged it? And now, my friend, as these questions leave you Avhere Laplace found himself, and where all others, we think, may expect to land who seek for a creative cause, to wit, floundering in the mud, let us see where the opposite course will leave us. ALL BODIES CAME FROM THE UNIT. We shall begin by affirming that all great things are produced by the uniting of the very smallest of all things; that is, the greater body could only come into existence by the consent of, or the uniting of, its various subdivisional parts. Out of what? Cer- tainly not out of the dismemberment of a larger body ; for if so, then shall we be obliged to refer you to our friend Huxley and his lobster paradox for a solution; for we must candidly admit that there is no knowl- C 288 ) edge or reasonable ground of belief that any such an immense sphere ever had any but a chimerical exist- ence, while the existence of atomic substances is a well-known fact. Having denied such a postulate, the onus is now on us to advance a more reasonable one. In so doing we will be required to repeat some of our previous argu- ments, but we promise to be as brief as our love of truth will justify, and will begin by again asking ques- tions. First : Is not mathematics one of the greatest of existing truths? Did this great thing burst and scat- ter itself over all space in the form of units (atoms) ? To be more explicit, did geometry, algebra, mensura- tion, etc., first exist as a great and wonderful whole, to suddenly burst into decimal parts, of the numer- als, such as one, two, three, etc? Or was not mathe- matics, as a great body of truth, the effect or result of a slow process of addition by the adding of one dis- covered process to another? In making any mathe- matical calculation, do you not have to first seek a single unit, or one^ and build your greater from this? Then, in this case, is not the first beginning the one single unitf Could Euclid's problems possibly have existed before the multiplication-table? Or the mul- tiplication-tables before the numerals? Here you have for a positive fact an actual knowledge that at least one of the greatest things on earth is the effect of something that previously existed in an atomical condition ; and that it owes its greatness solely to the organization of its atomical parts. Illustration number two (where one man shall rep- resent the unit or atom) : His simple understanding ( 289 ) of the law of physics teaches him that two are stronger than one. He wishes to accomplish some- thing greatly beyond his individual force ; he attracts a friend of similar ideas. Here you have precisely the same first law of an organized body that brought the single atoms of substance together — i. e., sympa- thetic attraction. We will only change the name, and call it similarity of ideas. These attract others until we have a single body composed of twenty units. Here steps into existence Darwin's law of the survival of the fittest ; for you will perceive that the strongest mind will control this body. So we will appoint him Captain. Now, we find that the more the units com- bine, the greater the attraction, and we now have o hundred units. The Captain finds that if he would survive he must have five captains, while he becomes, from the law of necessity, a Colonel, and so the in- crease of the units goes on until we find a well-organ- ized and great army, and at its head stands a great man who is the one great governing life of the destiny of this mighty army. Question : Was not this great body the effect of a previous condition or cause? Thirdly : Is not all the present knowledge of man- kind as represented on the shelves of your great and small libraries, the effect of a previous knowledge of simpler things? Or, we may say, the effect of the or- ganization by uniting together the slowly accumulat- ing mass of knowledge of single discoveries of truth? Was not this great knowledge the effect of a previous cause? Was not the cause produced by one man at a time (the unit), adding his load to organize the whole, atom to atom? Or was it the result of some ( 290 ) great unknown sun or being, that finally got so large from some secret process of getting something out of nothing that it had to burst? Or, perhaps. Pandora was only one of countless millions of box-agents, em- ployed for the occasion to relieve the pressure. And now, my friend, we will again appeal to your own common sense, and ask you to look around in any direction where it is possible for you to apply those senses and judge for yourself if the cause of all ob- jective bodies that have an existence cannot be disin- tegrated and reduced to the atom or single unit of substance? Is not this postulate so plain and unde- niable as to cause you to actually fall over it in order to dodge the issue of truth? If our point of reasoning is correct, — and we think it is, — then we will avail ourselves of this oppor- tunity to give the friends of Mr. Laplace an astronom- ical nut to crack : It is a well-established fact that our sun, together with its numerous family of stars or planets, is but one of thousands of other systems, and, as we have shown by our map where we illustrate the spheres, that our system is but one of the units that revolve around a still greater sun (Polaris), and so on — a wheel within a wheel — as we have stated, this sun of ours became the general or governing body by the law of the survival of the fittest, or from the very force of necessity, and so was the second and third sun; and thus it goes on and on to higher stages of progression — we might say, a sort of robbing of Peter to pay Paul. Infinite space, filled with atomic force, thought, and substance is the inexhaustible source of supply, ( 291 ) the first cause; that this process is still going on and on forever, is evidenced by the constant appearance of so-called old and new comets or nebulae. Like the apple on the tree, all do not reach a full unfoldment, but disintegrate, some in the form of meteorites, others in star-dust, etc. THE CAUSE OF THE DECLINATION OF THE EARTH'S AXIS. And now the question to astronomers: Why does the pole of the earth, or its axis, as also, of Saturn and many other planets, have an inclination in one con- stant direction? AYe think this question has never been satisfactorily answered ; therefore, we may be ex- cused for our presumption in offering you our views on the subject. You tell us that the axis of the earth has an obliquity of twenty-three degrees twenty-seven minutes and fifty- five seconds, and, further, that this angle is constantly but very slowly growing less. If the angle was growing less, and this was a positive known quantity, then all you wise men would have to do to determine when the end of the earth should ar- rive would be to compute this known graduation to determine the exact time. For instance, if the reduc- tion was one minute in one year, then in 1407 years, it should arrive at a perpendicular, the effect of whicli would be to raise the temperature at the equator to such a height as to almost produce spontaneous com- bustion, while those in the frigid zone would be slowly driven into the temperate zone. Just imagine such a population ; Chinese sampans would be at a premium. {Caution. — Should any Adventists happen to be present while you are reading this, please read it very ( 292 ) easy; for we do not wish to be the cause of their a,gaiii giving away their possessions when 1407 years hence shall arrive, because of the prophecy that the next destruction of the world is to be by fire. ) You are also told that the orbit of the earth is aa ellipsis. We will now give you our explanation on the unity hypothesis. First : We venture to say that if astronomers will take the trouble to make four measurements of this angle — say, one at perihelion, one at aphelion, and one at each meridian, (i. e., March and September), that they will find there is a difference between January and June, and that March and September are very much alil^e, for this reason: these axes all point to one greater center, around which our sun and its fam- ily revolve. This we show on the map as the second sun. This second sun we will call for this occasion the General Avho commands not only our solar system but several other neighboring systems, which we will call Colonels . Now, each sphere of our system is ro- tating on its own axis. The equator is moving through space faster than the pole. This generates electro-magnetism, which seeks a point of escape where the least resistance is offered, which is the pole. We say generates electro-magnetism; of course, you will understand that when we use the term generate we do not mean that something is created, only that a certain change is produced in substance by which the matter of electro-magnetism so-called is recognized as an existing thing. This substance in the atomic condition, as we have before stated, occupies all space, and is the life-giving ( 293 ) food and energy of all planets; as the world moves through space at the equator it permeates and ener- gizes the entire mass and escapes at the pole. This inflowing life-giving fluid is that which Descartes en- deavored to explain by giving it the name of the "Vortex Force" (the Cartesian theory). By this passage, like the atoms of the apple, it undergoes another change which advances it into a higher condi- tion and prepares it to pass on to the second sun. Here allow us to state that a somewhat similar pro- cess is passing from your sun and the earth and all the other members of your solar system, and is that which many erroneously suppose is the physical heat of matter in a state of combustion in the sun, which may eventually consume the sun. How absurd! For by our explanation, — if we be correct, ahem! — you will perceive that there is a constant source of supply. Just fall back again, my friend, on your own com- mon sense, and ask yourself what kind of known phy- sical heat from combustion could possibly be pro- duced so intense as to be able to travel 93,000,000 miles through such a frigid temperature as lies be- tween the earth and the sun that could have the fac- ulty of warming the atmosphere of the earth but have no perceptible effect on the intermediate substance lying between and much closer to the fire. Now, all planets are again revolving around the sun. Our sun is also rotating on its own axis, and throwing off a magnetic current, and at the same time is revolving with its family around the General, or second sun once in thirty-three years. This second sun ( 294 ) is holding, by its power of attraction acting on eacli member of our sun's family, our Colonel and his fam- ily in their respective places. This greater force is exercised by and through the magnetic fluid that es- capes • V means of the pole of the earth. At the same time o.xi neighboring family or solar system is pulling us in the direction of perihelion. ( See illustration. ) This being the case, then our astronomers will find, upon a more careful investigation, that the orbit of the earth-plane is not an ellipse formed by a plane passing through a cylinder, but is an ellipse formed by a plane passing through a cone; the apex of this cone is the second sun (or Polaris) around which our sun and its family revolve. Now, draw a number of lines from this apex through the axes of the earth at the four quarters of its orbit, and let each line be of the same length ; then take these ends as the surface of a plane. This plane w^ould be found to be a per- fect circle or the base of a cone, but let the earth be in any position in its orbit, the pole would be found pointing f ai' off in space to the second sun. ( See il- lustration.) The time required for our sun and its family of planets to complete one circle around Po- laris, called its orbit, is thirty- three years; at one point in this orbit the earth passes through a body of meteorites which, your authorities claim, visit your earth every thirty-three years, instead of the earth visiting them. (The Leonids or TempePs comet.) Was " Rastus " or Galileo right in saying that the sun " do " move around the earth or around Polaris? Which, gentlemen? And now for a word to those high and mighty gen- SECOND SUN ^ CALLED POLARIS Vvi^ ^N ( 295 ) tlemen who claim to have reached the present pinna- cle of scholastic attainment : Gentlemen, you are very well aware that after having reached such an exalted position, that nowhere in all of your investigations have you succeeded in bringing to the light of truth any positive or rational evidence of a previous exist- ence — i. e. before the so-called creation — or of a so- called divine omnipotent wisdom. Neither have you any evidence that the present condition of either or- ganized or unorganized matter is the result of chance or from the effect of nature blindly modeling them into shape. A QUESTION TO PROFESSOR GEORGE DAVIDSON ON THIS DECLINATION^ AND HIS REPLY. Note hy the scribe. — After this chapter of a ques- tion to astronomers was written, I was somewhat un- certain as to whether there might not be some known cause of the declination of the earth's axis with which I was not familiar, and, to set the matter at rest, so far as I was concerned, I wrote the following question to Professor George Davidson : — Alameda, March 21, 1898. Mr. Davidson : Dear Sir, — Will you kindly inform me whether there is any known law that causes the declination of the earth's axis of about 23 degrees, and where I can find the authority, and, if there is none, would you please inform me what is the gener- ally accepted theory of the cause, and oblige. Yours, etc., C. H. FOSTER. ( 296 ) In i ^ily I received the following answer : — San FRANCISCO;, March 28, '98. Mr. C. H. Poster^ Alameda : Dear ^ir, — I acknowl- edge receipt of jonr letter of the 21st. You are ask- ing too much. The '' Nebular Hypothesis " of Kant, Laplace, and others undertakes to tell how the uni- verse was made. The whole subject is beyond human comprehension, and involved therein is the rotation of the sun and planets ; the revolution of the planets and relation of the satellites to their primaries. Furthermore, the relation of the orbits of the plan- ets to the sun and the relation of the axis of rotation of each planet to its orbit are among the inscrutable things. We shall never know how^ this and other universes were formed, nor how they received their movements of rotation or revolution. We must take the facts as they present themselves to us. So soon as we know the cause or causes of these and other associated phenomena we shall have one of the attributes of omniscience. Please understand clearly that you are not author- ized to publish this statement in any form or method. Very respectfully, George Davidson. Professor Davidson is at this date probably as well informed on this subject as any scholar in the United States, yet we are inclined to think that his reply bears us out in our conclusions concerning some of the objectionable features of scholasticism when he first acknowledges the question to be among the in- ( 297 ) scrutable things, and then adopts the same old error of your school professors by the dogmatic assertion that we shall never know how this universe was formed, but must take the facts as they present them- selves to us. Allow us to ask. How does he know that the uni- verse was f 07111 ed at all? Must we take this as a fact because he or the priest so declares? Again we would call attention to what would seem to us as a graceful palaam to the clcrgi/ in his indirect acknowledgment of the existence of a great-r-ahem- - well, let us say, omnipotence — when he declares that to know the cause of the declination of the earth's axis ("and other associated phenomena") we shall have one of the attributes of omniscience. We would ask him why a knowledge of the cause of this particular phenomenon should impart to us an attribute of om- niscience any more than ony other acquired knowl- edge of the cause of an effect. We wish to say, with the greatest respect for Pro- fessor Davidson, that the tone and manner of his an- swering the question is what we have all along con- tended against, which is : You must accept what the priest, the parent, and your teacher lay down as a fixed and unalterable law of facts or stand the brand- ing iron of heresy. They might just as well be as frank as Professor Davidson when he acknowledges that we are asking too much, by the further acknowledgment that, as a professor, holding a responsible position as well as a lucrative one, that if they wish to retain their posi- tions they should not antagonize the various parental. ( 298 ) credal, and political sources of revenue and other sup- plies. However, the bump of caution is not always to be despised. If you are satisfied in your own mind that Laplace's idea of a previous existing great sun representing this divine omnipotence is, so far as any evidence goes, a chimerical idea (and Ave think you are), then why not come boldly out and deny the false god and prove your freedom of intellect by at least acknowl- edging that the field of occult science is beyond your boasted scholastic attainments, but that you hope, through the assistance of such discoveries in psychol- ogy as have been developed within the last fifty years and before the expiration of another fifty years, to be in possession of sufficient positive evidence as to for- ever set this question at rest — i. e : Were the atoms of infinite thought, force, and substance that fills all space the beginning of all organized or objective mat- ter? Or was some great (and necessarily mythical) previously organized body the first cause of atomic existence? WHAT CONSTITUTES LIFE. We sincerely hope that in the interim you may be able to give to the world a positive and analytical explanation of what constitutes and from whence came life, if our definition should prove incorrect, which is: — Substance of itself, if deprived of Life, would be the only thing absolutely inanimate or in a positive state of rest. Now, trace back from the substance and we find by giving it (substance), motion requires ( 299 ) force, and to procure force we must have energy, to procure energy we must have life, for it is only by motion in matter that we recognize such a thing as life exists, and only by the knowledge gained through occult science as established by the spirit phenom- enon within the past fifty years that we noiv know that life continues beyond the grave ; and by this pow- er of life in its first recognition by man as thought and force do we secure the first move on the chess- board of existence — i. e. the organism of the units. This fact established, of life beyond the grave, also furnishes the positive knowledge that motion, force, energy, and intelligence accompany these spirit phe nomena. Common sense also teaches us that there could be no motion without something to move. So, as we do not take our physical matter with us beyond the grave, then the question arises: What kind of matter is it that moves and exhibits all those attri- butes of life? We call it imponderable, and it must be matter. Physical man is but an accumulation of units (atoms) of substance which he lays down at the grave. The monkey, the tree, the crystal — ah ! even the atmosphere and water, — follow precisely the same law. Now follows an important question : Do not all of these possess life? As we think we have conclusively shown you that Life is a thing that is capable of prov- ing its continued existence after the disintegration of the physical object through which you became aware of its existence, then is not this fact also conclusive evidence that all organized^Ufe continues beyond the grave? Has science any actual knowledge of some ( 300 ) other mystic law by which the imponderable sub- stance or matter that constitutes the I AM of man is particularly separated from the matter of the monkey or tree? Here we shall again assert that the only positive, tangible evidence that physical man has to-day is that all matter does pass on to higher conditions in the course of ages. As to the time required or where the final end may be ( if there is an end), is, from the very nature of the question, infinitely infinite, and cuts no figure pro or con as to the truth of our assertion. This fact established leads us to ask, What, then, is the condition or state of this matter after it passes the grave? Does it disperse itself over all space? Or is it not more reasonable to suppose that the same law of sympathetic attraction draws and holds like to like, and, as it would naturally have a stronger af- finity to this earth planet from which it advanced than any other planet, would not this affinity cause it to assume a spherical shape around the earth? And if so, would not this, let us say, double-distilled essence of the physical earth-matter be a truthful rep- resentative of all those ancient ideas that still cling to this enlightened age, conceived by some to be Heav- en, by others Hades, Limbo, Purgatory, Sheol, Hell, etc.; for in such a sphere would be found the very essence of all things and all minds of an earthly ori- gin? In this condition would be found the evidence of the truth of the assertion that, as a man thinks, so he is, for to some it would indeed be Hell while Heav- en to others. ( 301 ) thp:: question If as I tliink that I know I am, Then why am I what I am? TO THE SPHYNX. Thou silent sentinel of ages, WHO^ WHY^ and what art thou? Mystery of the sandy sea, Canst tell to me, I pray thee. The riddle of the Sphynx? The folks, of yore, that have gone before Have left the wonder in me. ANSWER. " Mortal, whence comest thou and why? I'm but a body, it is true, how of you? Ten million miles beyond the sky A spark, a lineage, yet but a clew ; 'T was the bed in which you made me lie As a spark of life, a drop of dew. Was this the Whence or Why of cause? This spark that was before the know, Or hut the ivork of other laws? As to what I am? I 'm here to show Though I know not whence or why I go. Could man reduce a point in space By artificial means, I trow. Or fiw an atom in a jjlace To lead to knowledge of the how? Is nothing true that has no Why, Or is to be the proof for now? ( 802 ) Till mortal pass beyond the sky They ne'er can know immortal law To solve Jiis riddle man may try With base so low and head so high; Can BODY be, without a flaw? A body that, can never die. Poor, pimy man, you can but try To solve the riddle as to why Am I ! For that I am, is proof to show ; The design, though mortal, proves Thought we know ; That, is the toork which thought may do ; But thought of itself can man construe That out of nothing something grow? Or was Force required to make me so? But the riddle of riddles, as you may see, Brings thought from out of infinity, To direct the Force that modeled me. My riddle is, as to why I be? Are Thought and Force, and Substance three? Or are they one and infinity? As thought do I exist or know? Is force a Thing without the blow? As substrntial proof you all may see, I'm, all that's real or can ever be; For When my three parts you do unite You'll find I'm One and the infinite. ( 803 ) CHAPTER XXXVI. (Jan. 26, 1898.) SUBSTANCE^ ANIMATION AND MATTER. Think, reason, intelligence, energy, force, motion, i. e., rotary, spiral, vortex, etc. As we have asserted that there is no such thing in existence as inanimation, and have designated it as a false God, we think it appropriate, at this point in our remarks, to devote a few explanatory words to this subject. We will begin by saying that, while in the past science was unaware of many of the finer psychic laws governing the substance of matter, and therefore, so far is excusable, yet to-day no such an assertion as the existence of inanimate matter is per- missible. In order that you may more readily grasp our meaning, w^e will pursue the same course that has governed us from the beginning of this work ; that is, we will commence our investigation at the ultimate limit of human comprehension of the beginning of things. First, we have the atomic life of substance, which we first recognize as a thought; then reason; then from these is produced intelligence. For you must acknowledge that intelligence is the effect of reason. ( 304 ) Hence, reason must have begun with one think, or a single thought. The next advance is in the order fol- lowing — ^^i. e., energy, force, and motion, — which in turn produces change ; said change is first made mani- fest by a rotary motion, then spiral, then vortex. You will please understand that we are now speak- ing of the single atom of substance or the dawn of the spark of life; that is, at the very instant that life first acts or asserts its authority over substance by a thought. Now, you can readily conceive that all these various conditions must be brought forward, developed or produced in the exact order as we have named them — i. e. a single think, then reason, intelli- gence, energy, force, motion, and change, after which comes wisdom from the experience of repeated change; for what is wisdom but the accumulated knowledge of truth gathered by a prolonged and use- ful life of observing the application and effect of change. It is at this stage that an erroneous idea or false God again finds an opportunity to erect that hoary head of his in the name of instinct. We will endeavor to decapitate this instinctive gentleman by asking you a few questions. Is it instinct that causes the creep- ing vine to fasten to the wall? Is it instinct that causes the young quail to hide from danger? Is it instinct that causes the young mother trout or salmon to jump five feet out of running water over rocks which it probably never saw or experienced before to find a suitable place to spawn? Finally, is it instinct that causes one atom of substance to deliberately seek another atom of substance to form the matter of ( 305 ) water; that is, an atom of the substance of oxygen and another atom of hydrogen? Here you will perceive that substance and matter are two separate things ; for, while they are in a phy- sical sense inseparable, like force and motion, yet, in this article, if we wish to get at the very essence of our subject, we must treat them as two distinct things — the first being eternal (at least, as far as we know) and incapable of annihilation, while the mat- ter of WATER is subject to annihilation; and if not, allow us to ask what becomes of the water after you take away the substance of oxygen? Is not water matter? Here a slight explanation is necessary to the stu- dent. We have generally throughout this work been accustomed to speak of matter as indestructible, but have done so to simplify our remarks to you in our elementary explanation, and had reference to atomic f^ubstance ; for, at the early stage of this work we had n I brought your reason sufficiently forward, nor did we deem it wise at that time to segregate the two; also, in our use of the word animation, we had refer- ence to motion and not soul; but in this chapter we shall be more explicit. To continue our subject of instinct, you will see that there is no place for instinct to exist only in im- agination ; for it would have to make its first appear- ance after change, as a product of change ; the same as experience is produced only from and after changes, which in turn produces wisdom of the spirit of matter. You will now observe the question from this point ( 306 ) of view — that matter is the effect or result of a union of two or more single atoms of substance. And now, may it please the Court, we will give you the sub- stance of the whole matter; that is, we will reduce it to its last subdivisional part. You may call it wis- dom, intuition, or instinct, soul or spirit. Man only recognizes these attributes by their effect on organ- ized substance; but before substance was organized (a joining together of two or more parts) we find positive evidence of the existence of a think, reason, and intelligence, in the fact of the motion in the atom. And, as reason was before motion and before organ- ism, therefore before matter ; for the single atom of substance proves it is in possession of intelligence which is the effect of reason which is again the effect of a think, from the known fact that it moves or changes its position in space for a preconceived pur- pose of joining forces with another atom, and thereby establishes the very first move or motion to organize matter. You will also bear in mind that this pre- cedence accompanies all kinds of organized matter whatsoever, for the atom must tJmik before start- ing on a journey for a definite purpose. WHAT IS A SOUL? And, as it is the experience of matter that produces wisdom and spirit, and spirit produces soul; then, instead of soul producing animation, which existed before and is the cause of soul ; then animation pro- duced soul, and not soul animation — just the reverse of your previous teachings. For it is not generally conceded in metaphysics that a single atom of sub- ( 307 ) stance is a body, ot at least not an organized body; and if a soul has an existence, it must be something of a higher order than the least of all known things. Hence it must be the effect of something previous; and, as that something was the dawn of organized matter, Avhich is your first recognitioin of a body, then the body is before the soul. And if the body existed before the soul, what quickened it? or gave power to it before the soul made its appearance? if not life? To put a very fine point to it, allow us to ask at what precise point in the life of this body did a soul first enter it? In this analysis of ours, we are trying to confine our solution icitJiin the boundary of human compre- hension; that is, the ultimate, and not the infinite. How much more rational it would read that the body animates the soul, instead of the soul animates the body. It appears that reason alone would suggest that this would be in perfect accord with the order of ceaseless progression or evolution. 'T is true, physical man can have but the faintest conception of what a soul, practically speaking, is. And when you come to consider that the soul of things is the ulti- mate limit of human comprehension as to the fullness of the future, so also is the atom the limit of the be- ginning of things. This investigation of the subject, we find, carries us from one extreme beginning to one extreme end, and yet does not compel us, for a practical solution, to go outside of human comprehension, nor is it at variance with all the known laws of the philosophy of evolu- tion or the survival of the fittest, but leaves the chain C 308 ) of facts unbroken — i. e. the body is responsible for a good spirit and tlie spirit is responsible for a good soul. You will notice that in this article we have paren- thesized the question : // the7^€ is a soul. And, as we have frequently remarked, words and names are but man-made and are merely convenience to truth ; and whether the name of soul fits that condition of the state of the " I am," after it has passed to a higher position thau the spirit world, we are unable to in- form you. All that the denizens of the spirit world can positively inform you of is, that we occasionally miss from among us the presence of those highly ad- vanced spirits whom we have been accustomed to rec- ognize as wise teachers to us of lower degree. But, while we miss them in ])erson, the same as you of the earth miss your physical friends at the passage yon call death, yet we, the lower spirits, can and do hold communication with them, which is evidence of a state of being beyond the spirit world, the same as the fact that we, the spirits, can communicate with you is evidence to you of a state of being beyond the grave. Man recognizes the existence of life by its effect on matter. As we trace this effect to cause, we find that the last or ultimate of human comprehension is a single thought. This would tend to show that life and thought were, as far as human comprehension goes, synonymous terms. At any rate, it is the very first conception of an existing thing previous to thought, which we call Life, God, or the Infinite. Can man, by searching, find out God? No. Now, let us, for the purpose of illustration, call this the ( 309 ) first recognized appearance of tlie I AM. What do you first recognize? Why, a thought. Then, in tlie so-called beginning was thought the least and yet the greatest of all known things. Now, take the other extreme end, as you pass through or enter on to the passage which you call death, you seem to miss your thoughts (life.) Sor- rowing friends exclaim ; " He is dying." When you find you have made the change into spirit, what is the first thing you recognize? Thought, the I A3I (life). When, as spirit, you reach out and attempt to grasp soul, what do you first recognize? Thought or life, only this, and nothing more. Here we find that, as it was in the beginning, so it is in the end ; for from thought we came and unto thought do we re- turn. We are speaking now in what you may call a literal sense of only that which your physical senses can recognize, or, at least, as nearly literal as meta- physics will admit. Here we feel that we are again obliged to repeat in order that the student may not lose sight of the main object sought — i. e. the first comprehensive cause of existence. If out of nothing nothing comes, and, as we know that something does exist, all that finite man can pos- sibly do, in searching backwards (in our opinion, ahem!) is to trace from effect to cause in the order we have here followed where we find that we are com- pelled to halt when we arrive at a think, the repre- sentative of life and limit of human comijrehension ; for, did man have the power to comprehend the infi- nite, and you assume, as a postulate, that out of noth- f iiKlivur^ ( 310 ) ing nothing comes, then there never could have been a time or place of a state of nothingness. But, by so assuming, you are absolutely compelled to admit that thought and substance always existed. You may probably comprehend us better when we say that if an ideal being, or an ideal condition, was the cause of life, then this ideal would have had to exist as a some- thing previous, which would carry you ad infinitum, and then leave the finger-board pointing to something still previous. However, we are not speculating in the ideals or " must have beens," but the limit of prac- tical comprehension and are perfectly willing to leave the speculative to the theologian. (311) CHAPTER XXXVII. (Mar. 10, 1898.) DESCARTES. VORTEX. VERSES. NEWTON^S GRAVITY. Question: Is the Cartesian law of vortex or the Newton law of gravity the nearest to correct? Ans. If the earth is, as we suppose, a liquid or plastic mass on the interior, its centrifugal force would be more than sufficient to overcome its centripetal force or gravitation attraction, were there no other forces act- ing against it. Many investigators claim that the flattening at the poles is the result of the difference in temperature. If man were not so hasty in jumping at his conclu- sions, he would look deeper and satisfy hiniself wheth- er or no there might not be other forces at work in the long lapse of time that were slowly at work to ac- complish the same result. Now, let us peep a little deeper into the Newton law of centripetal force or gravity by asking what is this law ; what causes your so-called centripetal force? Is it anything more or less than that which we have described as sympa- thetic attraction or that life principle in tha single atom that first gave to it force and motion? Centripetal, forsooth ! Allow us to ask : is it cen- tripetal force that holds your physical body together and all other objects of growth? If this were so, that it Avere a merely mechanical force or a question of ( 312 ) foot pounds, i. e., a definite or given force acting on a given quantity of matter and a centrifugal force were acting in the opposite direction and thereby establish- ing a balance of forces to such a nicety that man is unable at this late date of centuries on top of cen- turies, to distinguish any fractional increase or dim- inution of this globe, then why does not this same cen- trifugal force prevent an increase in the bulk of a man's body? We will admit that heat has a tendency to expand a body up to a certain mechanical per cent. ; that is, a given amount of heat, when applied to different sub- stances, affects their expansion in different amounts and that this is a known quantity. But you must acknowledge that centrifugal force is a known quan- tity and, like heat, is governed by purely mechanical or physical law ; and you will perceive that when you apply this to such an immense plastic body as the earth at the- equator that the centripetal force is but a trifle when reckoned as a counter force. " But," say the Newtonians, " we have also the cen- tripetal force of the sun to assist us." This is an er- ror, for the sun does not exert any cohesive force on the at IS that form the earth's body of matter. Cen- trifugicj force is derived from a body rotating on its own center or a rotary motion and in no sense is its cohesive force affected by its revolving motion around some other body. Again, Mr. Newton tells us thai the earth is receiving a force of gravity (we believe he calls it all gravity) from those spheres lying on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and that this force it is that holds the earth in its present orbit. ( 313 ) We have but to call your attention to one fact in this case that is recognized as such by all philosophers, which is, that Descartes, long before Newton's time, advocated the vortex theory as the active force in holding this world in its orbit. This is known as the Cartesian theory. In Descartes' time, the printing press was a very expensive luxury, which made it dif- ficult for him to place his work before the public ; but Newton, a little later, being English, succeeded mostl}^ through English pride in securing the ear and press of the English speaking people; and, as at that time, England was taking the lead in literature, New- ton's theory became, more by this means than by the intrinsic value of his theory being correct, the Siccept- ed doctrine. Descartes' French admirers at the time and even to-day have challenged the correctness of Newton's law in what we consider a most emphatic manner by asking Mr. Newton a simple question : " If this world is held in its present position in space by the sun on one side and by the planets on the op- posite side, as a counter force, thoi what hou hose outer planets in their place? ^^ We consider that Newton's law of gravity was sim- ply forced onto the public, not by its real merit so much as by what is equivalent to brute force, or in the same manner as the Church endeavored to prove Gali- leo wrong, i. e., '' renounce it or follow Bruno." In the one case, it was that kind of force better known in America as the "political pull," ye know; in the other, pure and simple brute force of burning fagots. While the shrinkage of the crust of the earth at the poles is in a slight measure caused by the difference ( 314 ) of temperature the principal cause is the centrifugal force of the earth which takes up the difference in shrinkage of the crust as the earth is gradually cool- ing from a liquid to a solid state. Now, while we find much of Newton's law of inestimable value to truth so do we find much truth in the vortex theory; but neither theory has all the truths and it is just barely possible that Mr. Newton, in order to secure the ear of the public at that time, found it advisable not to antagonize Laplace's great sun theory. PHYSICAL OR MECHANICAL FORCE VERSUS ATOMIC ENERGY. While it is highly proper to keep a jealous eye on those forces recognized among you as physical forces, or perhaps we may be better understood if we say in conjunction with this article, mechanical forces; yet, in weighing the evidence as regards to the power that is holding this w^orld in its place, we claim that the question has not as yet been settled, therefore we shall take the liberty of advancing our theory. It is a very common thing for man to assert that he has created or made a certain force through this or that combination. This is entirely wrong. You can neither make nor destroy one particle of force any more than you can destroy substance; for force, act- ing on substance, is the means by which life expresses itself to man or matter. In other words, force, thought, and substance is life itself; and, as we have elsewhere stated that thought was the first representative of life by producing reason and intelligence in one direction, so do we advocate ( 315 ) that energy is the first representative of life by pl'oducing force, motion, and change; and, as we think that we have clearly and comprehensively established as a known fact that these attributes of so-called life are what constitutes the infinite, though living beyond the reach of human comprehension, yet man actually knows for a fact that they do have an existence, and that beyond this fact, he has no further knowledge, but all is pure and simple con- jecture. As the object of this work, from the very start has been to strictly confine our investigations within the boundary of only that which we knoiv and endeavor to harmonize and apply a rational cause to all effect, therefore we feel ourselves justified in asserting that, as all substance in the atomic form first existed and was first acted upon by thought ^ reason and intelli- gence, when secondly this intelligence then prompted this atom of substance to join another atom for a def- inite purpose, but, being unable to produce motion to carry out this purpose, it — this so-called inert sub- stance — was compelled to call to its assistance en- ergy. Now if energy was not a co-existing thing witli substance — hence equalhj infinite — then where, may we ask, did substance get its force from to produce motion? For the atom of substance had to first move before it could join another atom and by this union we have our first knowledge of matter or organism. (The student will probably better understand us at this point when we say that you can segregate the substance of most matter and thereby arrive at its component parts, but you would find it somewhat ( 316 ) difficult to separate the matter from tlie substance and still have a remainder. ) Here you will preceive that force is a thing inde- pendent of substance but not independent of matter ; for it is by the consent of force that matter exists. This being the case, we will ask : " What do you know of force of itself? What is it composed of? " You see that you find yourself as devoid of knowledge as to force as you do of life. You are only aware of its existence by its effect on matter. Hence we make the assertion that thought and force are what constitute life, and that this life occupies all space by a prior right of possession and that it is the only thing that holds all forms or objects together and does so in- dependent of what we call mechanical forces, such as centripetal and centrifugal force; for this kind of force is produced from matter acting on or in con- junction with matter^ something after the nature of sympathetic attraction. The Cartesian theory of a vortex is also correct so far as the circular motion is produced. To illustrate : Let two cannon balls meet while moving in opposite directions. The mechanical force at the instant of impact is a whirling or vortex motion before it assumes a straight line, the same as two bodies of wind, for the very first instant or atomical fraction of time that force is applied to a so-called inert body it is diffused all over the body by a whirling motion. The force that keeps this world in a spherical form is applied in the vortex form. So much for vortex. But force urns hefo7^e, and was the cause of vortex, the motion being only the expression of force. What ( 317 ) we T^'ould be understood to mean by this is, that at the first instant of time that force attempts to manifest its presence on substances or matter, it begins by a rotary whirling or vortex motion. As all space is already filled, we may say, to the brim, with force, then you could not produce any more or any less. You would have to go outside of space for your raw material, and if you think you can reduce the quantity, pray tell us where you would deposit that which you abstract. Infinite space and the spheres may be likened to the ocean and its family of fish and other organized bodies that have their growth within its depths. All their wants are supplied by this parent, the sea. The sea or world in turn is the inhabitant of space in which it finds all that is re- quisite for its maintenance and, like all other organ- isms, each requires its own peculiar diet wherein thought is the nurse, substance the food, and force the modus operandi. We wish to call your attention to what, at the first glance, may seem an inconsistency in our general hypothesis as regards to our use of the terms mechani- cal force and infinite force. Our object in producing this work was to build a bridge that should show you there was no gulf between the ponderable or material world and the imponderable or immaterial world; therefore we are using the term mechanical force as representing Newton and Descartes' physical force; or, as mechanical force represents or is applied to matter and infinite force as applied to the atoms of substance — holding as we do that substance was be- fore matter and that after matter was produced as a ( S18 ) secondary result of a previous cause there was also, by the production of matter, a secondary production of force or energy, which is physical, mechanical, or Descartes' beginning of mathematics. We hope you will perceive how necessary it is that you should not be too exacting in your criticism of our poverty of words and try and utilize the spirit of our remarks. For this, it appears to us, was where both Newton and Descartes stumbled ; Newton, in failing to recog- nize the fact that anything existed beyond so-called physical matter and yet asserting as an axiom that third law that " for all and every action, there is an' equal reaction," and then failing to explain by this law what reaction it is that is acting on the outermost planet. His materialistic tendencies, we fear, warped his better judgment and compelled him to put for- ward his first law of inertia^ for mechanical calcula- tions. His term inert may be sufficiently correct when applied to matter if we consider that matter is the beginning of physics only! But our object is to try and advance further and show you that meta- physics is merely a continuation of physics. Yet inertia is certainly not an axiom. You will observe that we have used the term inanimation in lieu of inertia, and we insist on the truth of our assertion that all life, all substance, all matter, and all thought is in ceaseless motion. Was is for creed or blind devotion This whale was brought from out the ocean? Here Newton blundered in his notion, lor what 's inert Avhen all 's in motion? (319 ) Descartes, in his reply to Princess Elizabeth, we think shows his inability to connect the physical with the metaphysical when he asserts that " the matter attributed to thought is not thought itself and that the extension of this matter is quite different from the extension of thought." And yet, in the face of this assertion, he holds that the soul is united to all parts of the body, but fails to identify the two substances. It vrould appear to us that, while Newton may have been slightly influenced in his materialistic ideas in one direction, that just so, had Decartes a weather eye on those burning fagots (for it required a brave man to attempt to fill Bruno's shoes in those days) when he makes the following remarks : " The particles of matter to which the Creator originally imparted rectilinear motion, are distributed in vorti- ces forming stars. The material world is a machine, an indefinite chain of movements, the origin of which is in God.^' Here we find that Descartes is still wedded to that old traditional creative God, that great personal something, to account for a first cause, which leaves him, like all the rest, floundering in the mud until they produce some tangible evidence of the existence of such a being, sun, ideal thought, force or soul of things. The trouble has been that all of your old school of philosophers leave a gap in their philosophy by first beginning with the acknowledg- ment that there is or was a previous first cause from ^^ hich all came and to which all return, for which they offer you no evidence; and then they find it con- venient to jump this gap and begin again at physics, ( 320 ) matter or Mr. Huxley's protoplasm. Here they take oif tJieir coats, roll up their sleeves and begin with " ex niliilo, nihil fit" But to-day modern thought call? for this gap to be bridged, and whether we have succeeded any better than the old school of thought by and with the assistance of such additional knowl- edge as has been developed within the last half century through the spirit phenomena is for you to decide for yourself. OUR RESPECTS TO DESCARTES. We feel that we should not drop this subject with- out a kind word for Descartes, and will begin by tak- ing our sun. Around the sun revolves our solar sys- tem of bodies in — we will say — a vortex whirl ; then around one of these bodies, for the purpose of illus- tratiiig, we will select the earth, is revolving the moon in a vortex. Again, around the moon are revolving other smaller T^odies, and still we find the vortex, and around these revolve yet smaller bodies. Now con- tinue this principle on down, down to the very single spherical atom. This atom attracts another atom. May not the condition and position of these two atoms just before a junction is effected be a revolving motion of the one around the other, but gradually drawing closer together until a union is formed, when, by this union of two atoms of substance, they become the embryo of an organized body of matter? Now, if this be the physical condition of substance in its first evolutionary advance into matter, we would ask you to try and surround our sun and its solar (321 ) system of a wheel around a wheel, would not this, as a whole body, be the very essence of a vortex or whirl- ing motion? Then, if we have advanced a reasonable theory backward from the sun to the atom, would it not appear that our sun was but one of the minor wheels of a still larger system, and so on to infinity? The student should bear in mind that Descartef?, when advancing the vortex theory, did not stop at Mr. Huxley's protoplasm, i. e., the first physical recogni- tion of an organism in the form of a celly and then jump to the conclusion that he had discovered the physical basis of life. But Descartes easily recognized that a cell, in however small a boundary or space you may find it, is but a vast accumulation of atoms which proved their previous possession of life when they dis- played thought^ forcCj motion and intelligence in coming together in space to produce this very cell. For a cell must be possessed of a bottom and sides ; hence is subject to division and commensuration. So, my friend, you will preceive that, while your so-called up-to-date modern philosophers may not be too severely condemned if they, like the common run of the genus Homo, should think that those old fogies were somewhat fossilized in their researches after the cause of things ; yet we find such minds as Descartes had already passed far beyond Mr. Huxley's halfway house of the cell or protoplasm when he points out to us the vortex that formed the matter of the cell. As we have maintained from the start that it is no I^art of our work to chase a will-o'-the-wisp by a claim of omniscience,yet we are free born and part white and have a habit' of endeavoring to penetrate even that ( 322 ) which to-day may appear as inscrutable even to Mr. Davidson. How shall we proceed if not by inquiry? Thus: Is Mr. Huxley's protoplasm or cell an existing fact? Answer : Yes. Was this cell produced by or through the Cartesian vortex? Answer: Yes. Was this vor- tex or whirling motion the result or expression of force? Is not energy oi force directed by thought, and is not thought, at the present stage of evolution^ the limit of *human comprehension of life as expressed to man? If this be the truth, you will perceive that it is not necessary for man to possess one of the attributes of omniscience, nor yet attempt to penetrate the so- called inscrutable or cross the dead-line of infinite in order to know and to comprehend that the beginning of things starts from the atom of life and substance, and, by becoming united, they, the atoms, are the cause of all things that are greater than a single atom, even though the thing may assume the condi- tion of a very God, a great sun or ideal being. While, up to the atom, we shall claim that we have kept upon the debatable ground of the first cause of things, yet we are free to admit that beyond this point it would appear to us that man must necessarily enter the field of inscrutability. ( 323 ) CHAPTER XXXYIII. PLACING THE KEYSTONE. Hoping that we have succeeded in molding your understanding up to the question as to whether there is in existence such a thing as Life, we feel justified at this point in our philosophy in answering you in the negative and Avill endeavor to support our position in this manner: — If you will assume that all force and all thought have been annihilated from out of space, what then may we ask would stand or be presented to your understanding as an expression of life? Mr. Newton's law of inertia, that for every ex- pressed force there is a counter force, is perfectly cor- rect when applied to matter, — i. e., physical matter, — but no further. To this extent, as we have already stated, it is purely a mechanical question of foot- pounds. But this fact in physics does not explain or account for the existence of force previous to the existence of matter. All physical matter has form, and as a form it is subject to commensuration, — i. e., it must have length, breadth, and thickness. Length is a space betw^een ttvo points; an atom of substance can only come within human comprehen- sion as one point without distance, — for if it had dis- ( 324 ) tance or extension it would be again subject to divis- ion; therefore, it must be without form. (As we have already explained to you our object in using the term matter in the early part of this work in lieu of substance, so do we explain our object in calling an atom spherical.) Here you will see that while substance in the atomic state occupies all space, it is without form ; and as the atom is not measure or commensuration in itself, but only the beginning of them, so also does all space represent the other ex- treme end of commensuration. But it is not the three or any part of the three dimensions, as it is certainly beyond commensuration. The fact that the atoms move toward each other for a purpose is absolute evidence of the presence of thought and force. But how any sane man can assume the presence of a third factor as existing previous to thought (or substance) and force, and give it the name of a definite thing, such as Life, and yet be un- able to advance any solvable evidence of such pres- ence, is beyond our comprehension. Again, we would suggest that if you take away your thought, which is the parent of reason and the grand- parent of intelligence, what is there left of you or the I AM worth the preserving? Physically speaking, or as a so-called disembodied spirit, how would you establish your identity to your earth-friends, taking it for granted that intelligent spirit communication is an established fact? In our use of the term Life in the early part of this work, such as atomic life, object life, over-life, etc., we will admit that we lead the student to infer that there ( 325 ) teas such an existing thing ^ and that it was separate and apart from any other thing, Avhich would cause it to appear to one who only studied from a superficial point of view that the preceding chapter on Gravity would leave our philosophy in a paradoxical position. In order to remove any such impression, we will say that any advocate who starts out to promulgate such a radically revolutionary and heterodoxical philoso- phy of Evolution, if he wishes to have and to hold the attention of his audience (i. e. to have them to under- stand his remarks), he should address them in such language as they have inherited. In other Avords, it is conceded that, in order to be a successful diplomat, you must first approach your opponent by admitting that his views are correct by convincing him that he entertains precisely the same view of the subject under consideration as yourself. Then the only apparent difference is in the position that each occupies at the moment of observation, and, if he was compelled by circumstances over which he had no control during his youthful education to oc- cupy his present position, the stahility of such posi- tion must be determined by the evidence of such axio- matic facts as are presented for all human considera- tion such as — First : Is it not now a conceded fact that Thought is a definite existing thing, and has extension? Second : Does not force have an absolute existence apart from thought and substance? Third : Does not substance in infinite division have an existence and occupy all space, independent of thought and force? ( 326 ) Again : Are not the three capable of demonstrating their physical presence to man by a practical applica- tion of his senses? Now follows the question : Is life a thing that is capable of proving its existence as an entity apart from force, thought, and substance? Or, rather, is it not the effect or expression of the three first named when acting in combination, and, like water and atmosphere, owes its present existence to the consent or cause of some thing previous, — i. e. merely the pro- duct of something else and not the producer — the effect, and not the cause. Ten years ago, or about the beginning of 1890, it was that we first had the pleasure of your acquaint- ance, and, knowing your exceeding desire for a practi- cal explanation of spirit phenomena, we recognized that, in beginning our explanations of the cause of things, it would be necessary for us to use diplomacy. Now, as one of the difficulties would be to find a word or term that would the most quickly and clearly con- vey to you the simple truth as we found it to exist, it wouldrequireustofrequently makeuseof terms that, while they did not contain the absolute essence of such facts as we wished to convey to you, yet, we hope, they still answered the purpose or object of the particular subject then under consideration. Having advanced so far in our work as to find you prepared to receive our assertion as to the non-exist- ence of Life as an entity without too great a shock to what may remain of your orthodoxy, and still being unable to coin the proper words to clearly convey this truth, we will endeavor to do so by illustration. ( 327 ) For instance : Imagine yourself standing just out- side of space and facing so-called creation. What is the first thing vou perceive? All space. What next appeals to your sense of comprehension? Thought^ force, and substance; or nature divided into three separate and distinct infinite entities^ each divided into its last unit One, yet working harmoniously together and for a purpose : But, search as you may, you find nothing beyond or previous to these. Then you can but come to the conclusion that these three entities, so far as human understanding goes, are the very germ, spark, or embryo of all other expressions ; whether it be in the nature of Life, conscience, will, spirit, or matter of form. While we have been compelled to apply the term imponderable substance to thought, spirit, and soul for the want of a word that you could comprehend, you now perceive that Thought and Force have an infinite existence with substance and, as they exist, they must be something other than substance. There may come a time in the far-distant future when man and spirit shall know what they are com- posed of; but all that is known of them to-day is that they do exist as primary elementals, and are not subject to annihilation. Man in his self-importance is inclined to think that the only thought in existence is human thought. As well might he claim that the only force is human force or the only substance human substance. Now, please st-op here and allow us to ask: What do yon Jtnoir as an actual fact as to the composition of either thought, force, or substance in its elementary ( 328 ) condition, — i. e. when brought to its last ultimate division of the atom? Can the physical senses recog- nize either one of the three other than by inference/ You see a comet's tail, and infer that it is composed of particles of substance in the atomic condition be- cause it appeals to your sense of sight, while none of your other senses recognize it; and if your inference is logically correct, then you are by this inferential law compelled to recognize that each atom or particle is moved in its definite course by an atom of force ; for you only recognize atomic force by this one sense of sight -i. e. you see the tail, and see it in motion, for you can neither smell, taste, touch, or hear it. There- fore, if you have a logical right to infer the one, you cannot reject the other ; and if so far our philosophy is correct, then it would appear to us that as this tail or the body was moving in a definite direction for a specific purpose, we have the unqualified right to also infer that this establishes the fact of an intelligence in atomic form which is accompanying and directing the atomic force; and as we further infer from our experience and knowledge of physical force as we see its effects on ponderable bodies of matter, that it of itself y like the matter, displays no evidence of thought or intelligence. Even when we crook our finger we find that it re- quires thought to direct the force. You will also bear in mind that we are not claiming that either the thought, force, or substance, in this its atomic or infinite state, is a fully crystallized thought or a fully developed mechanical force capable of acting on an organized body of matter, but only ( 329 ) accompanies the atomic substance ; for the apple, the rose, the earth itself, in the atomic state are but as a point in space. (See Chapter XL, on Max Muller's philosophy of thought.) ( 330 ) CHAPTER XXXIX. LOWER PHYSICS^ PSYCHO-PHYSICS^ AND HIGHER OR METAPHYSICS. There is childhood, manhood, and ripe old age; spring, summer, and winter; past, present, and future, and many other like comparisons; and while the science of language has seemingly made three dis- tinct divisions of these conditions, yet it is not a fact. Take, for instance, the first three. Is there a definite point in the age of a child where it ceases to be a child and becomes a man? And so it is with time. Can you illustrate, to the exact fraction of a second, the space separating the now or present from the past or future? In this light, you must view the physical, psycho- physical, and metaphysical ; or, if you will allow us, we will designate it the gross, or lower, physical matter, the fully developed physical matter, and the comprehensive limit of perfection to all physical matter, for matter it unquestionably is. We will again ask you : Is there a definite point in time where the one condition leaves off and another begins, or can man to-day, with his present knowl- edge, define where substance, after it is organized into form and recognized as physical matter, ceases to be matter? ( 331 ) And if you succeed in solving this rid( tell us how or through what channel force demon- strates its existence to man : such as the transference of thought, clairvoyance, hypnotism, etc. As there is evidently motion (i. e. vibration), if not matter, what is it that receives the force? In other words, what is it that vibrates? We can understand that the matter of electricity moves on a material wire and are in harmony with each other. It will not do for the philosophers of to-day to deny or pooh-pooh the truth of these phenomena, for they are no longer confined to some one obscure village, but are noiv well-estahlished facts, and are being pro- duced and acknowledged as such by the most eminent minds of all parts of the civilized world. If Mr. Darwin's investigation of the origin of species filled a gap left open by your philosophers, then why not carry your investigations on these lines still further, and endeavor to as rationally solve the question as to the origin and modus operandi of all forms? Why halt at species? Do you know of any definite gulf that separates the formation of a crystal from the formation of a mastodon? Of course, you will understand that we are endeavoring to carry your reasoning into the metaphysical or limit of compre- hension. Why has this chimerical idea of a gulf been per- mitted to exist in the minds of the people? Was it not in the first place for the want of positive knowledge of a continuation of thought, force or the I AM, after ( 832 ) the disintegration or death, (so called) of the form or body of matter other than by the way of the proto- plasm? Your scientists heretofore have generally — and, we may say, almost to a man — fallen into the same error in assuming as a postulate that all substance held no other relation to the infinite than as recognized by them in the condition which we have designated as the lower physical condition. We are now speaking of the time in which that most excellent philosopher, Immanuel Kant, dwelt among you of the earth, and whose works, though written over one hundred years ago, are still considered as the best and highest authority, at least so far as the lower physical forma- tion is concerned. What a grand work that old man would have produced had he lived to investigate the various spirit phenomena of to-day ! But the sun do move! We are free to admit that, in the absence of those phenomena in his day, science concluded that with the end of the earth-life of all matter, form, or body that that was the last of its existence as matter, and that it then was returned to the mills of the gods, earth, in the atomic state as sub- stance, to again repeat upon itself. One of their arguments advanced to sustain this hypothesis was the fact that Mr. Huxley's human protoplasm passed into the fish, the fish passed into the wild duck and its egg, and the duck or egg was returned back again into the human form. And another that Mr. Darwin might offer you to support his philosophy of the survival of the fittest is: first, that the spider feeds upon the slimes of a ( 333 ) dungeon, the toad upon the spider, the snake feeds upon the toad, the hog- feeds upon the snake, and man feeds upon the hog. Hence we presume that this fact leads Mr. Huxley into the belief that he had dis- covered the dead matter of life — i. e. protoplasm. We cannot refrain from calling your attention at this point to the corroborative evidence here given to substantiate the truth that all primeval matter is slowly moving upward, but is in this case compelled to pass through the lower mills of the gods; i. e. the spider, which progressed or prepares it for the next mill, the frog, and so on, leaving a little but taking more. Here you will perceive that that which would have been highly deleterious to the human stomach in its first stage has become, by the law of evolution, whole- some and nutritious food for man. Or, if it so please the Gospel sharp, he may here find that man not only evolved from the monkey but also from the slimes of a dungeon. If they could give an account of all the substance, or even all of the matter, forming the protoplasm, showing to an exactness that all did actually pass from the defunct body of the man into the fish, and from thence into the duck or e!g^, and then back into the human form, then they might be justified in as- suming such a postulate. But have they done so? That is the first and most important question for you, my friend, to decide. We do not wish to stand on an exact technicality and confine our demands to the fish or duck alone, for some of the matter might have passed into oxygen, ( 334 ) iron, phosphorus, etc. ; but science does not carry a stock in trade of might-have-heens. This law deals only in known truth. Therefore, we insist on your ancient and modern philosophers accounting for all the substance that was in the human body after it entered the water. Thisy and only this, is strict science. To these scientists we would say: Gentlemen, you exact your pound of flesh from me, and that is correct law. But see that you render unto me an exact equivalent by accounting for the presence of spirit, materialized voices, moving of heavenly bodies, inde- pendent writing, raps, hypnotism, healing, material- ization, passing one solid body — so-called — through another, bringing a letter or purse from a distant room, say half a mile away, into a locked room of another house; clairvoyance, prophecy, and all the various phenomena now occurring all over the civil- ized and uncivilized world. And while you are so engaged, please do not seek to avoid the facts or beg the question by explaining how a fake or counterfeit dollar is produced, for that is not our question, but rather how the genuine dollar is produced. For again we repeat that these facts hav-e presented themselves for your consideration, and, as philoso- phers, you will excuse us, we sincerely hope, when we say meet them you must, for avoid them you can not, as they are here to stay and increase in numbers. ( 335 ) CHAPTER XL. A COMMENT ON MAX MULLER^S PHILOSOPHY OF THOUGHT. We cannot refrain from making a few remarks in reply to F. Max Muller's paradoxical idea that there is no such a thing as reason and then almost immedi- ately (i. e. before he has uttered sixty words), de- liberately asserts that reason is something^ namely, language ; that it is the work of man, that there is no reason or conception without language; he appears to lay some stress on the fact that we cannot tell what reason is made of, hence it has no existence, therefore as we do not knoAv what Life, substance, and space are made of, j)er se, they have no existence; he appears anxious for some philosopher to give him a definition of what language is without reason, or reason without language. Why not ask what motion is without force, or force without motion; matter without substance, or sub- stance without matter? But we will ask him: Did the atom possess a language or words before it con- ceived a thought to form an organized cell? Does the babe need a language when it displays thought to creep to the fire? He asks us what reason is composed of. We might retaliate by asking him what ivords are composed of. In this case, we think he will be obliged to admit that ( 336 ) they are composed of the vibration of atoms; and as vibration is but an effect of substance in motion, it has no real existence as a thing. We take it that Max Muller intended to illustrate this assertion when he quotes Abelard's remarks that language is generated by the intellect, and generates intellect. So does Hux- ley illustrate his protoplasm by the live lobster eating the dead man or dead protoplasm, and thereby con- verting it into live protoplasm, when the live man eats the dead lobster or dead protoplasm, and again recon- verts it into Life; hence this proves from whence came the live cell. It is possible that we do not understand Max Muller but we hope he, as a specialist on words, at least understands himself when he asserts that with- out language man could never have come to his senses (which means, when stripped of its ingenuity, that we could neither see, smell, taste, touch, or hear). And to him. Max Muller, it always seemed incredible that thought should have l>een considered as possible with- out language, or that animals think if we define think- ing by speaking ; he also asserts that animals have no language — hence no senses. Let a strange dog enter a barnyard where chickens are feeding, and listen to that peculiar cluck-ux-cluck- cluck of the cock, uttered as a tvord of umrning to the hens of danger; a poultryman may be out of their sight and a hundred yards away, and he, the human as well as the brute, instantly knows and understands the word or sound of danger. T>et the cock find a tooth- some morsel, and listen to his call. How readily the hen understands him ! Observe fowls in any part of (337') the world. This language of theirs, wherein thej give expression to thoughts of joy and fright, produced from an application of their sense of sight, is always of the same number of vibratory waves (of substance), and is the human voice, ^??ore or less, when used to con- vey the same thoughts to others orally — i. e. merely a mechanical or physical force acting on matter to im- part motion or vibratory waves of more or less in- tensity. Man's vocal organs being more highly de- veloped than the cock's, can produce a greater variety of sound. We must admit that Max Muller, though somewhat ingenious in the use of words as a means of expressing his thoughts to others, has certainly failed to be as readily understood as the cock, and, after a perusal of some of his works, we find ourselves somewhat dis- appointed in our expectations, for we certainly ex- pected that he, as a specialist on the origin of words, would at least be sure to so form his own words into language that ordinary mortals could not possibly fail to understand him at least as comprehensively and as quickly as a common barnyard fowl can under- stand its mate. To quote one of his expressions, he says that embryonic thought that never came to birth is not thought at all, but only the material out of which thought may spring (which he borrows from Descartes). As he seems to lay great stress on the fact that we cannot tell of what material reason is made, would it not be highly proper for this expert of language and words, if he does not wish to be con- sidered paradoxical, to explain to a common mind what constitutes the material of an embryo thought? ( 838 ) The object of his three lectures on the science of thought as we understand him, is to demonstrate the physical basis of thought; then should he not begin at the beginning, the embryo itself, and explain the difference between infant dead thought and how it is made alive; how are we to recognize the promise ^ of a thought, and, if this promise should fail to material- ize, what becomes of it? Is this promise, then, trans- mogrified into some other thing or doo,3 it meet with total annihilation? It certainly would seem to us that if we wished to arrive at the first cause or beginning of an existing thing, that we should seek the cause of the embryo itself and satisfy ourselves whether, if this embryo should fail to develop into a thought, it were possible that it might not slide off at a tangent and become something else — one of Davidson's mscrutahle things, for instance? If there could be no thought without language, then we are obliged to assume that language was a thing that existed previous to thought, in order to be in a position to produce this embryo or promise of a thought, while we shall contend that just the opposite is the fact and shall endeavor to maintain our position in this manner: — As one (1) is not mathematics itself, but the be- ginning of mathematics, and as the end of a yard stick is not measure or extension itself, but the beginning of extension, just so is an atom of any kind not the matter or form, but the beginning of them and, as an atom can only come within human comprehension as a point in space; and as a point is without length, ( 339 ) breadth, or thickness, hence it is the one (1) or last division of things comprehensible to man that occu- pies space as an entity to which you may practically apply your senses. Therefore, it will naturally follow that an atom of substance would require but an atom of force to impart to it its first fraction of modiion; this atom of force, while not physical or mechanical force itself, is the beginning of force or the promise of a force — i. e. the embryo. But even this atomic force we find requires an atom of thought to intelligently direct it, and while it is not a fully crystallized thought itself, it is the he- ginning of thought. (See Descartes letter to Princess Elizabeth on the extension of this matter of thought, etc., to whom, let us hope. Max Muller forgot to give the proper credit for the idea. We think that had Descartes made a distinction between ^natter and atomic substance^ he could have avoided his blunder in giving extension to embryonic thought. ) Here you find the unquestionable evidence of the presence of thought coincidental with force and substance as the actual beginning of comprehension. Now allow us to ask : How would you proceed to atomize language? As language is not an entity, the question of exten- sion has nothing to do with it, but when first recog- nized it is as vibratory waves of matter in motion act- ing on the auditory nerve, and but an effect caused by the combined action of thought^ force^ and substance in motion. Either an entity or the five senses can exist as a fact or truth without the use of words, language, or human ( 340 ) reason, and as it is now an acknowledged fact that thought is an entity and subject to motion^ you are compelled in tracing its origin to go to the atom or one of mathematics and not stop at F. Max Muller-s half-way house by starting your investigation at the matter out of which thought may spring, for this would leave you still another question to solve lying previous to the existence of matter, namely: From whence came matter if not from the atom of sub- stance? As regards the promise of a thought , or whether such a thing has a tangible existence or not: Well, to be as charitable as exact science will allow, we must confess that all of our researches have been confined to those truths lying Avithin the limit of physics, psycho-physics, and metaphysics; therefore, we do not feel justified in risking an opinion, pro or con, as to what may spring from the beyond, or the what-or- how this promise may present itself to the human sen- ses for a recognition of its existence. We are willing to concede that language stands as a representative of thought in a limited degree, yet it is not a perfect representative ; while, on the other hand, a thought, if it, like force and substance, be infinite, is in the superlative degree; for though force and substance may differ in quantity, yet they could not differ in quality if atomized; and as we think we have conclusively shown that force has an existence as an entity apart from substance, so do we assert that thought is an entity other than substance, and beyond the fact that they prove their existence to man by their apparent effect on matter as separate entities of nature, man has no further knowledge. mm ( 341 ) However, we feel inclined to give you one other illustration as to how the matter of form was pro- duced from the atom of substance where one atom shall represent the beginning ; two, the dawn, spark, or Max MuUer's promise of a form (thought) ; three, the embryo ; and four, a full-horn thought or body. In order tliat you may clearly comprehend us, we will suggest that you take four marbles in your hand. Now, consider that each of these marbles represents one single atom of substance, thought, or force (as #the process of evolving is the same) . Now, lay down one atom (marble) on the table (Fig. 1) ; ^^8. 1. this of itself, being a point in space, is without length, breadth, or thickness, the beginning or promise of extension. Next place the second atom (Fig. 2) beside it, and just ^'^'^' touching it ; here you find length or exten- Jm sion, but neither breadth nor thickness. ^^ This would represent the dawn, spark, or promise of a form, i. e. the matter of exten- sion, or birth of matter. You will now place beside these two, and just touch- ing them both, the third atom, here w^e find length and breadth, but no thickness (Fig. 3). This will represent the birth of form (a triangle), but not a body ^^''^' itself, as it yet lacks thickness. Finally, you place the fourth atom (or marble) on the top of these three, when you perceive for the first time a full formed body (Fig. 4) of either force, thought, or a molecule of matter subject to the three dimensions of space, and from thence on a full-fledged entity, a deni- zen of space. At this stage of the uniting of the first A ( 342 ) four units or atoms is absolutely the very first appear- ance or birth of an organized body, and where it ceases to be atomized substance And is the birth of a body of matter, this we may call the first step or beginning of the evolution of matter. After this follows involu- tion, to again evolve. When these minute bodies acting in harmony with other bodies produce or give birth to mechanical force, such as gravity, magnetic attraction, friction, heat, light, etc., — and in this condition is what is termed the lowest or first molecule of matter, — is not this an organized body? And, though embraced by the three dimensions of space, many cycles of time shall yet roll by before man shall be able to perceive it by his sense of sight, and then only by artificial means far superior to your microscope. Also, while matter is in this its first condition of form it is the physical basis of so-called organized life, as Mr. Huxley's cell could not appear on the stage of existence without the aid of these bodies ; for you could not place these four marbles (atoms) in such a position as would form a cell ; in other words, as one marble would represent one atom of substance, just so would the uniting of the four marbles repre- sent the single molecule of matter or embryonic thought. It is a common thing for physical scientists to put forward the following as a postulate : " Before a thing can evolve it must first be involved." This, you will perceive, is an absurd hypothesis when viewed from its absolute point of beginning, — that is, as a single atom of anything. ( 343 > " It seemed to me that I did but dream that I was dreaming of a dream/' — i. e., the spark of life and matter. The very first conception in the human mind of a thing is its last division or single state of one (1) or oneness; this would precede involution; for a thing to involve, it must enter into some other thing that already existed as an entity. To illustrate this Ave will conceive of a single atom standing alone in space. In this condition it is but a point, having neither length, breadth, nor thickness, it attracts unto it, not into (for it could not enter a thing that had no inside) another atom. This is the very first move on the chessboard of physics^ at least so far as human comprehension can go, and at this point it begins to evolve, advance, change, or pro- gress; for we find that by being joined by another atom, it has doubled its quantity, its intelligence, and its importance as a factor in the evolving of all other things that man has any knowledge of. Herefrom we deduce that involution is the natural sequence of evolution; for involution could only apply its po- tency to matter as it changed from one form to another ; and as form did not make its appearance in space so as to be recognized as a form until the join- ing of the third atom, then it naturally follows that involution is the second move on the chessboard of things that be, — i. e. matter of form and body or breadth and thickness. To extend or to add to a line is not to involve, but to evolve; by this view of the case you will perceive that Darwin, the father of evolution, is still on deck. And now as to our explanation in regard to what ( 344 ) F. Max Muller probably had reference to in his promise of a thoiught ; this we deem an act of justice to Descartes as well as to F. Max Muller. The object of promulgating a philosophy is to place before the lay mind, or common mass of people, such plain explanation of the truth as will not only appeal to, but satisfy, the reasonable common sense of an average mentality. If it fails to do this, it subjects its advocate to a fair, just, and impartial criticism from others, as regard to the truth or probability of such philosophy. It would therefore appear to us that we are com- pelled to begin all of our investigations at Descartes' mathematical one (1), or unit, which is conceived to be a point, — i. e. a single atom. Then we find first an atom of thought; this thought acts upon or di- rects an atom of force ; this force acts upon an atom of substance, to produce motion. Here we think that Descartes erred in assuming that an atom of sub- stance was matter itself already made to hand and extended, because he assumes that thought is mattery but not subject to extension. Whilo we declare that, though thought does actual- ly ex".-^ as an entity in space, and is a subject of ex- tension by the addition of other atoms of thought, yet it, like force, exists as some thing other than sub- stance ^ and in its first recognized state of one thincj, it is ivithout extension, be that one thing thought, force, or substance. And at this point of the physical beginning of things, is for a fact not only the promise of a thought, as per F. Max Muller, or the so-called matter out of ( 345 ) which thought may spring, according toi Descartes, but the promise of all else that is subject to human cognition. We will illustrate it in this way : By assuming the atom to be a single brick in a loose mass of bricks, this brick is the promise of a building onlyy or that single unit out of which a building may spring, but you could not say that it was a building in embryo, from the fact that as an embryo it must be extended, which would require two bricks at least to pre-estab- lish an organism of matter — i. e. a building — where the first two units have come together for a precon- ceived purpose. This would be the hirtli^ and not the promise, of a thing, such as thought^ force, and matter ; for at this stage it ceases to be atomic sub- stance and becomes the matter of extension. Again were there nothing there whatever, there could be no conception of a promise ; for were it only in the nature of a feather, we might have the proniisG out of which a goose may spring, etc., by which we mean there must he some one tiling presen- ^i' the nature of the form promised or come to the conclusion that the feather could fly off at a tangent by force, blindly acting in the dark, and become a meeting- house, or one of those inscrutable things that present not even a promise. By this explanation (if it be the most plausible one), you will be enabled to understand why we credit Max Muller with having great ingenuity in the use of words ; for while he traced his embryonic thought to the promise of a thought, he was ingenious enough not to trace or explain from whence came this ( 346 ) promise^ as he is compelled to acknowledge that some things must precede a promise of a thing, else how are we to expect or recognize that this promise exists at all? Is sound a thing, an entity? Is language oi* words anything else than sound? Is sound anything else than an effect of some thing in motion (substance) ? Now, how are we to recognize even the promise of a word or sound without thought? For if language produced thought^ it must precede or exist before the tvork it produces y and naturally in the atomic state of the one unit before it is extension. Certainly some one thing must previously exist to produce this effect called vibration; and again we ask. What is the recognized nature of the preceding thing that holds out this promise? If the answer be that language is not a thing, then allow us to inquire by what process nothing can pro- duce something? For thought undoubtedly is some- thing, from the fact of its being subject to transporta- tion — that is, thought-transference — some thing upon which force must act before we can recognize motion. In short, after a careful study of Max Muller's pam- phlet entitled " Science of Thought," — i. e. his lec- tures given at the Royal Institution of London in 1887, — the thought intrudes upon us that had he changed the title to the " Science of Meaning," he could have avoided in a measure the creepy chills traversing his spinal column when others speak in his presence of language as mere words. Surely no one will dispute the fact that meaning is the founda- tion as well as the capstone of all that is. (847 ) Hence the question is, in our endeavor to discover a proper place for all capstones, Which of the various roads to Eome shall we select? Shall we call to our assistance thought, that we may conceive a word to express a meaning, or shall we conceive a word that we may think a meaning f And if it be found upon further inquiry that neither road is correct, pray do not refer us to such profound logics, as that we reason by reasonilig, see by seeing, hear by hearing. Hence we conceive by conceiving thought-words as word-thoughts, in the same manner that Huxley accounts for the protoplasm of the lobster. Furthermore, to the student we will say that we are not willing to concede that it is at all probable that either Mr. Galton, the Duke of Argyle, or our- selves have misunderstood the professor's meaning, for we find he has as it were, placed before us the two horns of a dilemma only one of which must be chosen d. w. t. Either that concept and a think are synonymous terms preceding words by which we coin a word (or sign) to express said concept, or think; or concept and words are synonymous terms preceding a think out of which a thought is first produced. For this think-words, or word-thinks, is merely bogging the question ; it is neither philosophical nor reasonable common sense, and the most palpable error he makes is in asserting that man could not have come to his senses lolthout language. It would have been more of the philosopher had he said that man could never have come to his F. Max Muller's sense that language precedes Thought. ( 348 ) Not that we would intimate that Max Muller was in the slightest degree tinctured with the hereditary teachings of Kant, that those who do not conceive as I conceive by my process of rational common sense *^ are those who from the rank and file of shallow fools J who measure their strength with the profound thinker." How unfortunate it may be for the rank and file of mortals that as yet are unable to determine who these profound thinkers are, after giving reasonable atten- tion to so rational a thinker as our friend Max Muller, or is it probable that Kant's age of criticism is to be considered as a tiling of the past? How strange it is that such profound thinkers as Kant, Oswold, Beattie, and others should deem it necessary to imply that those who conceive a thought to express a conviction as to the reliability of the evidence of their own senses are not as well qualified to arrive at a reasonable solution of truth as Kant, Keid, Stewart, and others, unless they view it through the same glasses as themselves. It is certainly not in good taste to imply, that those who differ with them were merely bidding for the applause of the rabble, for after all it would seem to us that the difference (if any) lay between the tweedle-dee and the tweedle- dum of Hume's good sense and Kant's rational thought. To appeal directly to Kant's own words, he asserts " that common sense is a precious gift of God, but we must prove it by its acts, by deliberate and rational thought and speech, and not appeal to it as an oracle, whenever reason fails us." (349 ) Now, allow us to ask of Mr. Kant has he and com- pany any rational knoivledge of the truth of his asser- tion that a God presented himself and friends with this precious thing he calls common sense and with- held it from the average mentality; and in giving it did he also convey to them some mystic key which enables them to arrive at all absolute truth unalloyed by past hereditary teachings f Is it not the power that is inherent in all mortals to exercise the five senses that they may conceive a thought the primary condition necessary for the de- velopment of rational reason? And is a reference or appeal to common sense any- thing other than rational reason? This compels us to inquire as to WHAT IS RATIONAL REASON? When all of the five natural senses, or so nuasny of them as are applicable to the subject-matter under consideration, have had reasonable time to report to the entire brain their own cognition of the phenomena as presented to them for their reception, thus giving each natural sense a fair and reasonable time to be heard by the entire brain. And you then give the entire brain a reasonable time to receive the five, or less, reports. This of itself is the act of producin,g a crystallized human thought. This, we infer, is what Kant and others meant when they tried to draw a distinction between common sense and rational reason. And now to the point : Does reason or common sense offer any evidence of the existence of either an ( 350 ) oracle or a giving Godf When he (Kant) is in want of something that he does not possess, does he appeal to this giving God or oracle and deny me the right to the same appeal to my oracle? While we entertain the highest regard for the philosopliy of Imnmnuel Kant, and believe that he meant to advance the truth only of the things that are, yet Kant was mortal and subject to the shadows and tinctures of those who passed he fore, and it re- quires but little effort on the part of the student to detect the finger-marks of scholasticism, still having its baleful hereditary influence on one who ivished to he free. And how could it be otherwise? Let the student begin his investigations with Thales, some six hun- dred years before Christ, and follow those who fol- lowed Thales until you reach the time of Kant. Each, you will perceive, is tinctured with the philosophy of his predecessor, but is slowly advancing out of dark- ness — i. e. gaining a little. By what, if not the reasonahlc application of his common sense? And Avhen Kant produced in print his particular philosophy, to what did he appeal when soliciting our judgment, if not to our common sense? Or were it necessary for you and I, my friend, in case we did not conceive as he conceived to have re- course to an oracle or that giving God? By way of a parenthesis we would ask is not Kant appealing to this same cheap notoriety when he ap- peals to his giving God? Has he proved the existence of such a God by his particular system of rational reason? Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. ( 351 ) From these remarks we wish it to be clearly and distinctly understood that we fully recognize the dif- ference between a hasty conclusion regarding the truth of all phenomena and that slow, cautious, and patient process that all rational pioneer thinkers should (if freed from hereditary influence) exercise in arriving at a philosophical conclusion regarding the actual facts, either in a scientific or rational com- mon-sense view. And, if this be the fact, what is the first precept to be established? Is it not absolute freedom from all hereditary or preconceived ideas? Which for a fact is an impossibility, for do you not depend (we may say) almost entirely upon your past hereditary experience in arriving at what you think is the exact truth of any solution — i. e. the evidence (such as it is) of your five natural senses? Next comes the question, Does not the teaching that you received from your parents and your public or Sunday-school teachers, to a certain extent, still have an influence on your mind, conscience, or will? Then if this be a philosophical fact, allow us to ask Messrs. Kant, Beattie, Stewart, Oswold, Reid, and other* of like opinion, in what miraculous manner they were enabled to throw off this taint of heresi/ sufficiently to authorize them to say what the differ- ence is between, we reason by reasoning, and acquire common sense from experience; in other words, gentlemen, pray impart to us the secret of how you became freed from this hereditary disease, in order that we, the raMle, may also become free. If so be, you labored for the benefit of the world. For we assume that you were perfectly aware, that ( 352 ) there would accrue to you no financial profit from the mere sale of your books. In fact we are not aware of a single work on philosophy that ever returned to its author the cost of its issue. This being the case we are forced to the conclusion that the sole object was to benefit the people of earth without regard to race, creed or those holding scholarships in particular uni- versities. Before Huxley or Max Muller are entitled to a serious hearing as to their explanation of the physical basis of either life or thought. It would appear to us as incumbent upon them to first establish as a fact that such a thing as physics, of itself, had an actual existence and by what particular earmarks they or the lay world are enabled to recognize it as a something. Having continued this article to greater length than we first intended, the student will perceive that it resolves itself into the following questions; and we are inclined to think that a direct answer would be of inestimable value to this same rahhle who now find themselves within the embrace of the dark folds of this metaphorical cuttlefish, such as — First — Did physics exist before matter? Second — Is there any known way to recognize matter before it is extended? Third — Did it require motion before it could be- come extension? Fourth — Was it extended for a purpose? Fifth — Could there be purpose without thought? Sixth — Did it move or become extended before it thought, or did it think first and move afterwards? If their answers be, that all change having a defi- ( 353 ) uite object in view for a specific purpose is of itself the evidence of the presence of thought (and we can- not see how the answer could he otherwise), then as question, — Seven — Is not thought the hasis of physics as it existed before physics? Eiglith — Could it (substance), even start to move for the purpose of becoming extended without force? Ninth — Is thought of itself any part of force, or force any part of thought, or is substance a part of either? Tenth — Does not the fact as elucidated i. e., that it requires the presence of the three to establish an action, prove of itself the presence of, or constitiute that which you recognize as Life? Eleventh — rWhen this action takes place, and the substance first becomes the matter of extension, and before it becomes a hody of matter, is this the first ap- pearance of quickening, animation, or the dawn of the life of matter? Twelfth — If this be the first recognized appearance of life, would it not be the hasis of life and did not this condition first exist he fore the cell or protoplasm could come into existence? Thirteenth — Then, is not the matter of extension the physical hasis of life and not the matter of a cell or hody the basis? Of the great teacher, Christ, it is said that he came to those who were not saved (educated) and not to those who were already saved. Therefore under this view we will close this article by inquiring : Why do you waste so much valuable space in your books on ( 354 ) philosophy (if really intended for the public) by so frequently interjecting Greek, Latin, and other words long since dead to this class of people you are pleased to term the rahhle if you are sincere in your desire to advance thern out of this condition of ignorance? ( 355 ) CHAPTER XLI. IS IT RIGHT TO KILL? We will begin by asking you, Is it wrong to kill? We will assume that you mean morally right. First, it will be necessary to arrive at a definite under- standing of the word right and wrong. Who is the judge of right but yourself? No one has even the moral right to fix a standard of right for another, as it is a matter of personal opinion only. If a personal God or being created all things, then the property would, of course, belong to him, and he or his agents would have the right t-o say how it should be disposed of. This, then, places the onus on you to produce your owner, and also prove ownership; and until you do so, each individual possesses a squatter's title to all that he has in his possession. Here you will perceive that all men of average in- telligence possess a monitor, spirit, or conscience, if you please to so designate it. These men will ac- knowledge that, irrespective of the opinion of others, there is a something indescribable which seems to be within them, that, when called upon by themselves for an answer as to the right or wrong of an act which they are about to perform, never fails to give, at least to them, a satisfactory response. ( 356 ) In this connection it is sometimes said that the wish is father to the thought, and so justice is blinded ; but wherever reason is given an opportunity to assert her sway, this little monitor never fails to respond, and by so doing proves that the spirit is superior to, and would govern and improve, the physi- cal or animal in man. Next comes the question to kill. Here we would ask the counter question, Can you kill? If to kill means to destroy life or animation, then we would answer that as we think we have established the fact that there is no death, it follows, then, as a matter of course, that yoiu can not destroy life or animation; hence the question, when viewed in this light, is self- condemnatory. But when you view it in its proper relation to matter or organized atomic substance, which is to interfere with the regular law of sympa- thetic attraction that produces an organized body or form of any and all kinds whatsoever that come to- gether for the purpose of advancing their condition, then our answer would be both yes and no, just as your spirit or monitor should dictate to you. You will probably grasp our meaning more clearly if we should put our answer to the question, " Is it right to kill?" in the form of a counter-question, as follows : Does not man kill the lion and eat thereof, that he may advance his physical form? Now please follow this analysis down the line. The lion kills the dog for the same purpose, the dog the cat, the cat kills the chicken, the chicken the bug, the bug kills the insect, the insect kills the microbe, the microbe feeds upon the monad, while the monad or cell owes its existence to the atom. ( 357 ) This same law of form or being applies also to the vegetable and mineral kingdom. And it is a well- known fact that the wisest minds among you up to the present day have failed to draw or discover the line of demarcation just where the mineral leaves off and the vegetable organism begins, or where the vege- table leaves off and the animal begins. Heretofore scientists have endeavored to draw a distinction between their so-called animated and in- animated life ; but we shall still insist that they have failed in estahlishing such a line. Tt is true that it is altogether unnecessary for them to point out to us the difference between a meeting- house and a lobster. The cell or protoplasm is in the vegetable as well as the animal and mineral forma- tion. For every one hundred forms killed or disinte- grated, nature produces more than a hundred bodies to take their places, but of a slightly higher order. There was a time when there were no human forms on the earth — only forms of a lower order; but as substance evolved round and round the wheel of evolution, the human form as well as many others, stands as Hiring evidence of the truth that all matter is improving or advancing higher, and nearly all forms advance only by this process of killing or feed- ing upon one another. "Large fleas have little fleas, And these have fleas to bite 'em; While these again have smaller fleas, And so ad infinitum/' ( 358 ) These remarks we hope will serve to show you the absurdity of some of the various cults or creeds which advocate the doctrine that it is not only wrong to eat meat of any kind, but also wrong to kill any animal ; yet these very same people will not hesitate to kill and feed upon the vegetable. If, as they advocate, a Holy Ghost created the ani- mal, did he not also create the vegetable in precisely the same manner? The maw^, or stomach, is only one of the many mills of the gods, with its eternally grinding motion, the force to operate the same being supplied by nature's positive and negative law of attraction and repulsion. Fire is another important mill. What is the light of lire but the rapid separation of the atoms of substance by the law of repulsion? How does it purify matter? Only by giving individual freedom to the atom to be- gin another form. You will, we hope, perceive that to kill under this definition is not to destroy either life or animation, but is merely the regular order in Avhich matter changes from one form or shape into another, or inte- grates to disintegrate. Does not the vegetable feed upon the minute animalcule, which, in turn, feeds up- on the disintegrating atoms of the manure or carcass? This is 7iot death but a continuation of life. You will understand that the over-life of the form or body is still in existence in an imponderable condition or spirit. We think we see upon your mind the thought: If this over-life is in existence after the separation of its physical atoms, then show us this life in some manner. ( 359 ) In reply it is only necessary to ask: Can yon see or sense your present life in a physical manner? Are you yet inclined to forget that all of that which is real is in an invisible condition to your physical senses? Then, to kill under these circumstances is the infallible law, or evolution must cease. We would ask : If you can kill a body, would it not be necessary to first have a body to hillf Now, go back in this our philosophy and answer the question in the affirmative, if you can. At what time did it he- come a body, or form, and at what time did it cease to be a body, and by just what physical process did this change take place? If it was not the intention of nature to kill in this manner, then all forms would continue to enlarge; for nature abhors a state of rest as well as a vacuum. Where, then, would she procure her material? Not only would we have one of Laplace^s great suns, but countless millions of them. Round and round the circular vortex we pass in a spiral manner, both in the process of integration as well as disintegration. Seat yourself in a still room by the window where the sun's rays are passing in; light a cigar; then slowly eject the smoke; now ob- serve the atoms as they are set free from the body of the cigar in the form of smoke. You will observe that they are gradually losing their sympathetic attraction for each other and separating farther and farther apart. You will also observe that they do not move in a straight line but in a vortex whirl. Prom this fact you will infer that the law of repul- sion or disintegration is the same modus operandi as ( 360 ) attraction or integration. Let the time of one revolu- tion or whirl be a secondary consideration, it may be a secodid or a million years; thus we are justified in our deductions when you consider that the full life of some objects is but a few minutes while other forms continue for years. All forms have an objective point in the future to attain their full physical growth, called their average age; this age of the form is, as you are aware, very various. The earth itself has a point of time in the far dis- tant future when it, as a physical form, shall have reached its full development as physical matter. We are justified in this hypothesis from the known fact that it had a 'beginning , hence it must have an end, and we are further justified in this assumption from the fact that all the minor forms it produces, such as the apple, man, etc., have a physical limit; and as the spirit of man continues to exist after the so-called death of its physical form, then why not all other forms which had their origin in precisely the same mannery even the earth itself. The spirit which is left after the dissolution of the physical, being still matter though imponderable, col- lected its matter from the earth; then, if this drain shall continue, as it certainly must unless the earth form is replenished from some other unknown source, is it not apparent that there must come a time when there shall be no more physical earth-matter to draw from? This fact will serve to illustrate to you that the age of a physical form is an incomprehensible quantity ^ ( 361 ) from its first two organized atoms to the earth itself. And thus do the mills keep slowly moving, round and round, in this vast boundless amazing swirl of evolu- tion, giving a little but taking more. And as physical life is but a span Then solve this riddle, you who can. CHARITY. As no one reaches perfection that we have any knowledge of, it would seem to us that not alono Socrates, but those that have attempted to follow him, have overlooked this branch of virtue as related to temperance ; for when a man has reached that exalted lieight that he can positively assert as a truth that he is a just oi: good man, this state would be physical per- fection, which would bring us to the end of evolution — i. e. perfection, — so far as the object of physical life is understood. Then, to be temperate in our association with our fellowman is to exercise such a proportionable amount of charity in every individual case as may pre- sent itself for our consideration, hence we deduce that charity is a fundamental function of virtue and justice, to be meted out as the exigency of the occas- ion may require. While these remarks are a little foreign to our par- ticular line of philosophy (or the road that we have seen fit to travel in our endeavor to reach Rome) , yet we cannot refrain from calling your attention to this apparent fact: How little progress in philosophy ( 362 ) your modern thinkers have made over and above that which was first promulgated by Socrates, the father of philosophy; i. e. when you strip your modernly be- spangled garments from off the crude production of one who was not ashamed to acknowledge that he was guided hy a spirit. For be that spirit demon, devil, or angel, to him, a wise man of his time^ in the evolution of things, it mattered not, so long as the teachings were superior to the present egotistical sophistry of the time and had a tendency to make men better by a knowledge of truth from an application of the common sense of things that are. And now, in these few brief remarks, we take occas- ion to say that if in the future development of knowl- edge it shall appear that we have dealt unjustly witli those who advocate a different philosophy Jrom ours, we hope that they may have so developed that charity of which we speak as shall convince them that if we have so erred it was from ignorance of, shall we say, the hypothecated truths of the spirit of matter as we understand its presentation to this generation. For we do find at this day all kinds of opinions ema- nating from those who should be, if they are not, rea- sonably well educated in the science of metaphysics ; some denying and others affirming the truth of spirit forces — preachers, bishops, and laymen. However, it is easy to see the egoist merely fears for the loss of his occupation, — i. e. his bread and butter, — for while the more just among them admit that spirits do com- mimicate^ their opinion is (and it is only an opinion) that they are had spirits. ( 363 ) If they were correct in this opinion, then the con- trary or negative of good holds the balance of power beyond the grave, and it would behoove mortals to determine just how far the good could encroach on the domain of the bad and not be bad, and, in like manner how bad a man could be to just miss the gates of hell. As there is no definable line between the insect that steals the body of a microbe and the man who steals the body of a lion, it would seem to us that to locate this line of demarcation would stagger the rhetorics of a Protagoras, the philosophy of Socrates, or the common sense of justice — i. e. according to Hume or Kant's rational common sense. We contend that a temperate or moderate course in all things is to the best interest of the individual or community, either in a spiritual or material sense, at the present stage of evolution, as from a backward glance we see the same old reliable mill of the gods is still grinding out such a grist as is suitable to the exigencies of the time and people; and just where mortality closes the book at the grave, at that page it is. opened in immortality to continue the work on a higher plane of comprehension. But we find the difiCerentiation from the lowest ex- treme is one continuous advance to higher and higher unfoldment on the spirit-side of life precisely as it is on the mortal plane. The cause of the misconception among mortals as regards their ideas of what so-called heaven and hell should be, is their hereditary teaching which, you are aware, is as many and various as the entire number of mortals now peopling the earth, for no two things or ideas are alike. (364) Hence man, in his egoism, has taken the responsi- bility upon himself to say just what shall constitute the attributes and essence of God by setting up as the standard of measure by which all men shall be judged the following : Justice, truth, virtue, conscience, rea- son, knowledge, ("thou shalt not kill." Kill what?) This is nothing more or less that a man made God, That these attributes are the best that man has in his shop up to date is not to be denied, and if, as the credulists affirm, there is no communication between the physical and the spirit world, how then can they assert that these in particular are what constitute a whole or any part of the infinite system of eternal pro- gress. The ego in its relation to the infinite, what its pur- pose is, or what the exact nature of infinite perfection is, is ahsolutely beyond all spirit of human compre- hension, ^lan only infers that these attributes are good from his power of observation of the various ef- fects that change produces in and on physical matter. How absurd, then, to- say that this or that is good and godlike for, of a truth, it is only like them as you con- ceive them to be, for you cannot liken or compare a thing to that which neither the so-called mind, con- science, ego, or spirit can perceive, either subjective- ly or objectively, as having an opposite. For instance, to place the highest human construc- tion on what is God would be to say it is the entire amount in quantity and quality of all that be or is (pantheism). Now the opposite to this would be nothing, or a state of nothingness, and as the mind cannot for a fact grasp these two extremes, even as an ( 365 ) idea, then it follows that you cannot form or conceive the sligiitest knowledge of what perfection is or whether evolution has yet had time to bring all that is face to face with infinite perfection, (perfection not yet being born ) . This in turn would be sufficient evi- dence that you could not conceive of a thing that did not exist, or draw a comparison of something that did exist with something that did not exist. Let us inquire a little further. Is it right to love the Good and Beaut if id f While we do not wish to be frivolous, yet we feel inclined to ask you a very practi cal question that will in a measure apply to this article as regards the right to love the Good and Beautiful; i. e. are these things, and have they real existence, or are they mere ideas or opinions? By way of illustration we will say: here stand a dozen hungry cannibals. Before them is a w-ell- roasted, fat missionary. To these cannibals four absolute truths present themselves for their con- sideration, d. w. t. is it right to admire and love the (}ood and Beautiful? These people have as undoubted a right to satisfy their hunger on roast missionary as you have on roast monkey or any other roast. Then follows as a ques- tion of truth, is it not good to them, and do they love it? At that stage of their appetite, is it not one of the most beautiful of things? Now, please consider this missionary's ideas of truth, right, etc., before the roasting. Was it not just the opposite? Then allow us to ask if these things be other than mere ideas, he- liefs, or opinions? Then, how can an existing thing be its own opposite ( 866 ) at one and the same time? We can not conceive of how a thing can be right and the same time wrong, or love and hate, good and bad, etc. This will serve to show that all of those so-called attributes of con- science are derived entirely from your hereditary teachings and surroundings; that which your sur- roundings teach you to conceive, to be right and good. Their conditions lead them to conceive the opposite, and only omniscience may answer or determine this question. With space as our canvas and time for a pencil We 've traced from a point the atom I ween. With thought as a factor, and force as the actor, The substance of matter the Ego's unseen. Through the long lapse of ages and the work of your Sages, Is conscience or will a thi7Lg to be bought ? And if thus disposed of the remainder we know of, As we seem but to reason by adding a thought. I conceive by a think that the spirit may link Not the will but the soul to the Ego may be. For to reason by reason were a paradox treason To the mind, the I AM, that strives to be free. ( 367 ) CHAPTER XLII. A REVIEW AND ADIEU. Veritatis simplex oratio est The atoms of substance that compose a single drop of blood are but the functional parts of that organized drop of blood; the drops of blood that compose the body are but functions of the organized body; the bodies that compose the community are but functions of the organized community; the community are but functions of this organized planet; the innumerable planets that occupy all space are but the functional parts of one stupendous organism or whole, of which the spark of Life in the single atom is the integral part of all intelligence^ force^ and change. And, as you see and comprehend its modus operandi in the unity or organization of the lesser atoms of matter and life, so it is with the greater — at least as far as the veil of the infinite has been removed for our con- sideration. Therefore, the effect of the uniting of all the life, of all atomic matter, should, from a natural course of reasoning, produce an over-soul^ or one great over-life^ or God, (368 ) LIFE AND MATTER PRODUCED GOD. Hence you will perceive from this course of reason- ing that instead of a personal God or being creating Life and matter out of nothing, that life and matter produced a God (over-life) out of something, i. e., the atom. (See Volnej's Ruins, 12th chapter.) On the one hand you are compelled to create a purely chimer- ical being out of nothing, or assume that he always existed, a supposed existing thing that, from itsTery nature, is not susceptible of any Icnown proof or even a reasonable conjecture; on the other hand, if you are obliged to resort to suppositions, is it not more ra- tional to suppose that life and matter always existed, does it not furnish a real, tangible something that, while you can realize that life and matter do have an actual existence, and, as far as known, are indestruc- tible — i. e. having no end hence no beginning — then, is it at all at variance with the natural law of analogi- cal deductions or contrary to all known human rules of reason? If you are going to shoot, is it not better to shoot at even a real shadow than to shoot at nothing what- ever? After having begun our investigations from the least of all existing things known to men and traced this little insignificant atom upwards in a philosophi- cal as well as a scientifical manner, to the best of our ability, from cause to effect, we find that it leads to the limit of human knowledge, the over-soul of all things. And now we would ask the student or the lover of ( 369 ) truth to begin at this exalted point to which we have endeavored to lead him — i. e., the over-life — and with that spirit of candor and fairness to which all lovers of free truth are wedded, trace this, our philosophy, backwards from Icnown effect to knoicn causey care- fully, very carefully, and see if you can discover a reasonable inconsistency or a missing link in the chain of evidence which it has been our great pleasure to weave and place before you for your consideration. And now, before bidding you adieu, we would suggest that you get all the joy out of life you can, but not at the expense of another. Thanking you for your fidelity to our cause and tho patience which you have displayed towards me and mine. Allow me to remain forever thine, VIVE, VALE. P. P. ( 370 ) THE OBITUARY. What sound is this I hear at last? 'T 'is Eoyal Charon's bugle-blast Warns me my sands are falling fast. Land me, good boatman, at the mole The light of truth I may behold ; Ferry me gently o'er your sea To one who 's 'waiting there for me. The eye grows dim, I cannot hear, I 'm drunk with joy and have no fear. Then, haily brave Charon, boatman bold, Come pilot me o'er this new threshold Of fields unlimited by dimension To a higher plane of comprehension And, as we draw near thy royal moat Wind ye a loud and louder note. As I was first, just so I 'm last Of this ever-changing column. For all that 's earth must heed thy blast Farewell ! I '11 close the volume. Chas. H. Foster. (371 ) APPENDIX. INDEPENDENT SPIRIT WRITING. (April 14, 1890.) ( This is a copy of a series of spirit writings, or in- dependent pencil writing, by the Spirit Sylvia, as dic- tated by her father, the Spirit Ptolemy Philadislphus, through the forces of Mrs. Helen Fairchild.) Attest, C. H. Foster. My beloved friend : What a great pleasure this is to me to open the chapter of these writings that we expect to give you in these sittings. We will have other work also to thoroughly organize your band and lay the foundation of the great edifice Avhich we hope to reach in time; it will not be accomplished in a moment ; but fidelity and patience must be our motto, for we shall not always be able to give you writings at every sitting, as there is much you do not under- stand concerning the laws through which we operate, and we cannot always govern them. First, we will introduce Ptolemy Philadelphus, who has now joined us in our work, and is henceforth one of your guides. We will open with a description of the splendid festival given by Ptolemy Philadelphus ( 37-2 ) to the people when he ascended the throne as King of Egypt. This pompous solemnity continued a whole day and was conducted through the whole extent of the City of Alexandria; it was divided into several parts and formed a variety of separate processions. Besides those of the king's father and mother, the gods had each of them a distinct cavalcade, the decor- ations of which were descriptions of their history. The procession began with a troop of Sileni, some habited in purple, others in robes of deep red; their employment Avas to keep off the crowd and make way. Next to the Sileni came a band of Satyrs composed of twenty, in two ranks, each carrying a gilded lamp; these were succeeded by Victories, with golden wings, carrying vases in which perfumes were burning, nine feet in height, partly gilt and partly adorned with leaves of ivy ; their habits were embroidered with the figures of animals and every part of them glittered with gold. After these came a double altar, nine feet in height and covered with a luxuriant foliage of ivy intermixed with ornaments of gold ; it was also beau- tified with a golden crown, composed of vine leaves and adorned on all sides with white fillets. April 20, 1890— The Second Sitting. A hundred and twenty youths advanced next, clothed in purple vests, each of them bearing a golden vase of incense, myrrh, and saffron; they were fol- lowed by forty Satyrs, wearing crowns of gold which represented the leaves of ivy, and in the right hand of each was another crown of the same metal adorned ( 373 ) with vine-leaves; their habits were diversified with a variety of colors. In the rear of these marched two Sileni, arrayed in purple mantles and white draAvers ; one of them wore a kind of hat and carried a golden saduceus in his hand, the other had a trumpet. Between these two was a man six feet in height, masked and habited like a tragedian. He also carried a golden cornucopia and was distinguished by the appellation of the year. This person preceded a very beautiful woman, as tall as himself, dressed in a magnificent manner, and glit- tering all over with gold. She held in one hand a crown composed of the leaves of the peach-tree, and in the other a bunch of palm. She was called Penti- teris. The next were the Genii of the four seasons, bearing characteristic ornaments and supporting two golden vases, colors, adorned with ivy leaves, in the midst of them was a square altar of gold. A band of Satyrs then appeared, wearing golden crowns, fashioned like the leaves of ivy and arrayed in red habits, some bore vessels filled Avith wine, others carried drinking cups. Immediately after these came Phileseus, the Poet and Priest of Bacchus, attended by comedians, musicians, dancers, and other persons of that class ; two tripods were carried next, as prizes for the victors at the ath- letic combats and exercises; one of these tripods, be- ing thirteen feet and a half in height, was intended for the youths, the other, which was eighteen feet in height, was designed for the men. A car of an extraor- dinary size followed these; it had four wheels — ( 374 ) April 26tli— The Third Sitting. and was twenty-one feet in length and twelve in breadth and was drawn by 180 men ; in this car was a figure representing Bacchus, fifteen feet in height, in the attitude of performing libations with a large cup of gold. He was arrayed in a robe of brocaded purple which flowed down to his feet, over this was a trans- parent vest of saffron color and above that a large purple mantle embroidered with gold. Before him was a great vessel of gold, finished in the Lacedemo- nian fashion and containing fifteen measures, called metretes. This was accompanied with a golden tri- pod on which was placed a golden vase of adorns, with two cups of gold full of cinnamon and saffron. Bacchus was seated under the shade of ivy and vine leaves intermixed with the foliage of fruit trees and from these hung several crowns, fillets and thyrsi, with timbrels, ribands and a variety of satiric, comic and tragic masks. In the same car came the priest and priestesses of that deity, with the other ministers and interpreters of mysteries, dancers of all classes and women bearing vases. These were followed by the Bacchantes who marched with their hair disheveled and wore crowns composed, some of serpents, others of branches of the yew, the vine and the ivy; some of these women car- ried knives in their hands, others grasped serpents. After these advanced another car, twelve feet in breadth and drawn by sixty men; in this was the statue of Nysser, sitting twelve feet high and clothed with a yellow vest and embroidered with gold over ( 375 ) which was another Laconic habit; the statue rose by the aid of some machines without being touched by any person and, after it had poured milk out of a golden cup, it resumed its former seat; its left hand held a thyrsus adorned with ribands and it wore a golden crown on which were represented leaves of ivy with clusters of grapes, composed of various gems; it was covered with a deep shade formed of blended foli- age and a gilded lamp hung at each corner of the car. After this came another car thirty-six feet in length and twenty-four in breadth, drawn by three hundred men; on this was placed a wine press, also thirty-six feet long and twenty-two and a half broad, this was full of the produce of the vintage; six Satyrs trod the grapes to the sound of a flute and sang such airs as corresponded with the action in which they were em- ployed. Silenus was the chief of the band and streams of wine flowed from the chariot throughout the whole procession. Another car of the same magnitude was drawTi by 600 men ; this carried a vat of a prodigious size made of leopards' skins sewed together; the vessel con- tained 3000 measures and shed a constant effusion of wine during the procession. April 27th— The Fourth Sitting. This troop was immediately succeeded by a silver vat, containing 600 metretes, placed on a car drawn by the same number of men; the vessel was adorned with chased work and the rim, together with the two handles and the base, were embellished with the fig- ( 376 ) ures of animals; the middle part oT it was encom- passed with a golden cover adorned with jewels. Next appeared two silver bowls eighteen feet in diameter and nine in height; the upper part of their circumference was adorned with studs and the bot- tom with small animals, three of which were a foot and a half high and many more of a lesser size. These were followed by ten great vats and sixteen other vessels, the largest of which contained thirty metretes and the least five. There were likewise ten cauldrons, twenty-four vases with two handles dis- played, and five saluces; two silver wine presses, on which were placed twentj^-f our goblets ; a table of mas- sive silver, eighteen feet in length, and thirty more of six feet; four tripods, one of massive silver and a circumference of twenty-four feet, the other three were smaller and were adorned witli precious stones ; in the middle of tliese came eighty Delphic tripods, all of silver, something less than the preceding, they were likewise accompanied by twenty-six ewers, sixteen flagons and 160 other vessels, the largest of which con- tained six metretes and the smallest two, all of these vessels were of silver. After these came the golden vessels, four of Avhich, called Laconic, were crowned with vine leaves. There were likewise two Corinthian vases whose rims and middle circumference were embellished with the figures of animals, these contained eight metretes; a wine press on which ten goblets were placed, two other vases each of which contained five metretes and two more that held a couple of measures ; twenty-two vessels for preserving lignus crol, the largest of which ( 377 ) contained thirty metretes and the least one. Two golden tripods of an extraordinary size; a kind of gol- den basket, intended as a repository for vessels of gold, this was enriched with jewels and was fifteen feet in length, it was likewise divided into six parti- tions, one above another, adorned with various figures of animals about three feet in height. Two goblets and two glass bowls with golden ornaments; two sal- vers of gold, four cubits in diameter, and three others of less dimensions, ten ewers. An altar four feet and a half high and twenty-five dishes. After this rich equipage marched 600 youths, hab- ited in white vests and crowned, some of them with ivy, others with branches of pine ; May 3d— Fifth Sitting. two hundred and fifty of this band carried golden vases and four hundred vases of silver, three hundrexl more carried silver vessels made to keep liquor cool. After this appeared another troop bearing large drinking vessels, twenty of which were of gold, fifty of silver and three hundred diversified with various colors. There were likewise several tables six feet in length and supporting a variety of remarkable ob- jects; on one was represented the bed of Samuel on which were disposed several vests, some of golden bro- cade, others adorned with precious stones. I must not omit a car thirty-three feet in length and twenty-one in breadth, drawn by five hundred mem ; in this was the representation of a deep cavern sur- rounded with ivy and vine leaves, from Avhich several ( 378 ) pigeons, ring-doves and turtles issued out and flevY about. Little boards were fastened to their feet so that thej might be caught by the people. Around them two fountains likewise, one of milk and the other of wine, flowed out of the cavern. All the nymphs who stood around it wore crowns of gold. Mercury was also seen with a caduceus in his hand and clothed in a splendid manner. The expedition of Bacchus into the Indies was exhibited in another car where the god was represented by another statue eighteen feet in height and mounted upon an ele- phant; he was arrayed in purple and wore a golden crown intermixed with twining ivy and vine leaves; a long thyrsus of gold was in his hand and his sandals were of gold ; on the neck of the elephant was seated a Satyr about seven feet high, with a crown of gold upon his head formed in imitation of pine branches and blowing a kind of trumpet made of a goat's horn. The trappings of the elephant w^ere of gold and his neck was adorned with a crown of gold, shaped like the foliage of ivy. This car was followed by five hundred young vir- gins adorned with purple vests and golden zones; a hundred and twenty of them, who commanded the rest, wore crowns of gold that seemed to be composed of the branches of pine. Next to these came a hun- dred and twenty Satyrs, armed at all points, some in silver, others in copper arms ; to these succeeded fine troops of Sileni and Satyrs with crowns on their lieads, mounted on asses some of whom were entirely harnessed with gold, the rest with silver. After this troop appeared a long train of chariots, ( 379 ) twenty-four of which were drawn by elephants, sixty by he goats, eight by ostriches, twelve by lions, six by aryges, a species of goat, fifteen by buffaloes, four by wild asses and seven by stags. In these chariots were little youths habited like charioteers and wear- ing hats with broad brims ; they were accompanied by others of a lesser stature, armed with little bucklers and with long thyrsi and clothed in mantles embroid- ered with gold. The boys who performed were crowned with branches of pine and the lesser youths with ivy. On each side of these were three cars drawn by camels and followed by others drawn by mules; in these cars were several tents resembling those of the Barbarians, with Indian women and those of other nations habited like slaves. Some of these camels carried 300 pounds weight of incense, others 200 of saffron, cinnamon, iris and other odoriferous spices. A little distance from these marched a band of Ethi- opians armed with pikes, one body of these carried 600 elephant teeth, another 2000 branches of ebony, a third sixty cups of gold and silver with a large quan- tity of gold dust. After these came two hunters car- rying gilded darts and marching at the head of 2400 dogs of the India variety, Hyrcanian and Molossian breed, besides a variety of other species. They were succeeded by 150 men, supporting trees to which were fastened several specief? of birds and deer ; cages were also carried in which were parrots, peacocks, turkey hens, pheasants and a great number of Ethiopian birds. After these appeared 130 sheep of that country, 300 ( 380 ) of the Arabian breed, twenty of the Island of Enboea, twenty-six white Indian oxen, eight of the Ethiopian species, also a large white bear, fourteen leopards, six- teen panthers, four lynxes, three small bears and a cameleopard and an Ethiopian rhinoceros. Bacchus advanced next, seated in a car and wear- ing a golden crown embellished with ivy leaves; he was represented as taking sanctiiary at the altar of llhea from the prosecution of Juno; Priapus was placed near him, Avith a crown of gold formed like the leaves of ivy. The statue of Juno was crowned with a golden diadem and those of Alexander and Ptolemy wore crowns of fine gold, representing ivy leaves. The image of Virtue was placed near that of Ptolemy and on her head was a crown of gold made in imita- tion of olive branches. Another statue, representing the City of Corinth, was also near Ptolemy with a golden diadem on its head. At a little distance from each of these was a great vase filled with golden cups, with a large bowl of gold which contained five me- tret€s. This car was followed by several women richly ar- rayed and bearing the names of the Ionian and other Greek cities in Asia with the Islands which had for- merly been conquered by the Persians. All this train wore crowns of gold; in another car was a golden thyrsus 135 feet in length and a silver lance ninety feet long. In this part of the procession were a vari- ety of wild beasts and horses and tw^enty-four lions of a prodigious size and also a great number of cars in which were not only the statues of Kings but those of several deities. ( 381 ) After these came a chorus of 600 men among whom were 300 who played on gilded harps and wore golden crowns; at a small distance from this band marched 8000 bulls, all of the same color and adorned with gol- den frontlets, in the middle of Msij 4th — Sixth Sitting. which rose a crown of the same metal, they were also adorned with a collar and an aegis hung on the breast of each bull, these trappings were of gold. The procession of Jupiter and a great number of other deities advanced next and, after all the rest, that of Alexander, whose statue of massive gold was placed in a car drawn by elephants ; on one side of this statue stood Victory and on the other Minerva, the procession was graced with several thrones of gold and ivy, on one of which was a large diadem of gold and on another a crown of gold, a third supported a crown and a fourth a horn of solid gold. On the throne of Ptolemy Soter, the father of the reigning prince, was a golden crown which weiglie* I V UIN^I FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 3/80 BERKELEY, CA 94720 ^^ p ^O'^^i^^isa /