Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged with the exception of Greek and Hebrew
which have been extensively corrected. The corrections are listed at
the end of the book. The index appears only in Volume 2 of this work.
A copy was added to this volume for the convenience of readers.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus ~bold~ and
superscripts thus y^{en}.
[Illustration: Head and shoulders drawing of the author]
ISIS UNVEILED:
A MASTER-KEY
TO THE
MYSTERIES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN
SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY,
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
“Cecy est un livre de bonne Foy.”—MONTAIGNE.
VOL. I.—_SCIENCE._
FOURTH EDITION.
NEW YORK:
J. W. BOUTON, 706 BROADWAY.
LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH.
1878.
COPYRIGHT, BY
J. W. BOUTON.
1877.
TROW’S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO.,
PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS,
_205-213 East 12th. St._,
NEW YORK.
THE AUTHOR
Dedicates these Volumes
TO THE
_THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY_,
WHICH WAS FOUNDED AT NEW YORK, A.D. 1875,
TO STUDY THE SUBJECTS ON WHICH THEY TREAT.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE v
BEFORE THE VEIL
Dogmatic assumptions of modern science and theology ix
The Platonic philosophy affords the only middle ground xi
Review of the ancient philosophical systems xv
A Syriac manuscript on Simon Magus xxiii
Glossary of terms used in this book xxiii
Volume first.
_THE “INFALLIBILITY” OF MODERN SCIENCE._
CHAPTER I.
OLD THINGS WITH NEW NAMES.
The Oriental Kabala 1
Ancient traditions supported by modern research 3
The progress of mankind marked by cycles 5
Ancient cryptic science 7
Priceless value of the Vedas 12
Mutilations of the Jewish sacred books in translation 13
Magic always regarded as a divine science 25
Achievements of its adepts and hypotheses of their modern
detractors 25
Man’s yearning for immortality 37