difficulties than it solves, plausible though it may seem at first
sight. For instance, there is the undeniable fact that comets' tails
display an entirely different spectrum from that of the Sun. Then
there is the fact that they are frequently most irregular in shape,
with strange bends and gaps in them, and sometimes they show bright
projections pointing _towards_ the Sun. Everyone who saw the great
daylight comet of the winter before last (Comet 1910 a) will remember
the curious bend half way down the tail which was plainly visible
without optical aid. This was a curious freak for a comet!
It is singular that a somewhat similar hypothesis to that of Signor
Armellini was offered by a correspondent to the _Century Path_ not long
ago (April 24, 1910), the difference being that he suggested that the
comet's tail was a _shadow_ of the nucleus thrown upon a surrounding
spherical nebulosity and which became visible as a bright object when
relieved against the intensely black background of the sky. This
hypothesis lies open to the same objection as the lens theory, and
also to others. But the important thing is that the mystery of comets
has not been cleared up, nor will it be until the properties of other
states of matter than those with which we are familiar are discovered
by science.
The following quotation from _The Scientific American_ shows some of
the difficulties which comet theorists have to meet:
The tail of Halley's comet has conducted itself in the most whimsical
fashion.... It seems to have split longitudinally into three more or
less well-defined parts. When we consider that Morehouse's comet of
1908 exhibited some extraordinary changes; that it repeatedly formed
tails which were discarded to drift out bodily into space until they
finally melted away; that in several cases tails were twisted or
corkscrew shaped, as if they had gone out in a more or less spiral
form; that areas of material connected with the tail would become
visible at some distance from the head, where apparently no supply
had reached it from the nucleus; that several times the matter of the
tail was accelerated perpendicularly to its length; and that at one
time the entire tail was thrown forward and curved perpendicularly
to the radius vector in the general direction of the tail's sweep
through space (_a peculiarity opposed to the law of gravitation_) it
is evident that a comet presents important problems for the future
astronomer to solve. (May 28, 1910, Italics ours).
In connexion with the profoundly interesting problem of gravitation
and the dead mechanical theory of the universe _versus_ the living,
spiritual teachings which H. P. Blavatsky brought us, the student
should consult Sections III and IV of Part III of _The Secret
Doctrine_, Vol. I. Nothing displays more forcibly the strength and
beauty of the Theosophical position, which sees the working of Divine
Intelligence and Control in every thing, from the least to the greatest.
To the general public as well as to astronomers the question of the
habitability of the planets is a perennial subject of interest, and it
is curious to observe how the opinions of experts have been modified
lately. A few years ago it would have appeared most unlikely that
the time was quickly coming when it would be seriously advanced by a
distinguished astronomer that _with the exception of Mars_ all the
planets are probably inhabited! Yet that is the position taken today
by Professor T. J. J. See of the U. S. Observatory, Mare Island. "Mars
has been inhabited in the past, but life has doubtless vanished there,
as but little of the Martian atmosphere remains." Until recently it
was thought that the extensive dark shadings on Mars were oceans, but
the numerous observations made of late with finer telescopes and under
more favorable conditions than were formerly available have proved
that these dark areas, instead of being the smooth, even surfaces they
should be if composed of water, are irregularly mottled and actually
crossed in places by some of the fine lines called "canals" about
which so much controversy has raged. Very limited dark blue regions
surrounding the white "snowcaps," which are most distinctly visible
during the Martian summers, are most probably water, but these are so
small that conditions must be very different on Mars from those on the
Earth or any similar planet. The state of things upon Venus appears to
be far more like that to which we are accustomed. No mountains such
as Venus possesses are to be traced on Mars. Professor See feels sure
that Mars must have been the seat of life in the past, and with respect
to the families of planets which we are morally certain must surround
the myriads of gigantic suns which we see only as twinkling stars, he
is convinced that they also must have been formed for the habitation
of intelligent beings, for to regard them as barren deserts would make
Nature ridiculous.
H. P. Blavatsky, in _The Secret Doctrine_ and elsewhere, and William Q.
Judge in his writings, have plainly stated the Theosophical teaching
about the condition of Mars in its present cycle. According to this,
the planet is under "obscuration," that is, it is not the seat of
full and complete active life, though there may be some lower vital
forces at work. But this does not mean that Mars is becoming extinct
or that it is a dead planet. According to the Esoteric philosophy, of
which H. P. Blavatsky was permitted to unveil a little and to give a
partial outline, the planets are subject to great periodic changes of
state. From a high condition of activity in which life in every form
flourishes, they decline to a state of quiescence during which the
vital forces are active in the unseen planes; but in due course the
nearly extinct fires are re-lighted and a further and higher evolution
commences. We see this taking place on a smaller scale around us;
civilizations rise and fall only to rise again; nations and even races
disappear to be replaced by others commencing their upward march.
During the intervals between the active manifestations on the physical
plane the life-stream or wave passes into other and interior states
which are necessary for the full development of perfected intelligence.
What takes place in the case of the individual man in the comparatively
short cyclic alternations of earth-lives and Devachanic or Heavenly
conditions is a reflection of the vast cosmic process of the planets
and the suns. Modern science has not yet grasped the enormous and
far-reaching significance of Cyclic or Periodic laws, particularly in
their application to human life, and how firmly everything, from the
lowest animalcule to the great sun itself, is held in their grasp. When
Cyclic Law as the key to the greater mysteries of life is thoroughly
understood we shall no longer find any opposition to the fact of the
reincarnation of the human soul, which is simply a necessary corollary
to it. The soul is not _supernatural_ in the sense of being outside
Nature's laws; it is a part of the whole.
So with respect to Mars. It is, as Professor See and others believe,
under obscuration today, but its energies will revive or reincarnate
in some future age. It has not reached the state of our Moon, which is
a decaying corpse, having passed through its life-history long ago.
The Moon's life-principles "reincarnating" in the sphere of the Earth
hundreds of millions of years ago, are now pursuing a higher evolution
here. The Earth will in its time "reincarnate" similarly.
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL FROM LUDGATE HILL: by Carolus
The great fire of London in September 1666 destroyed eighty-nine
churches, the city gates, hospitals, schools, libraries, and many other
public buildings, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling houses, and
the fortunes of over two hundred thousand people; but only eight lives
were lost, and the plague, which only the year before had destroyed a
hundred thousand persons in London alone, was never afterwards a cause
of serious anxiety. Notwithstanding the temporary suffering the fire
was a great hygienic benefit, and the city rapidly recovered more than
its former prosperity. One of the severest losses was that of the old
cathedral of St. Paul, a magnificent thirteenth century Gothic building
with a central spire. Its dimensions were enormous; the total length
being 700 feet, the height of the nave 102 feet, and the spire attained
the extraordinary altitude of 534 feet, 130 feet higher than Salisbury
Cathedral spire, which gives the impression, today, of enormous height.
The old cathedral had suffered many losses and injuries before the
fire, its spire had been destroyed, and its monuments defaced, while
many outrages called restorations had injured its beauty.
After the fire much of the work of rebuilding was entrusted to Sir
Christopher Wren, the most renowned architect of modern times in
England. In four years ten thousand houses had been rebuilt, and very
soon fifty-one churches were commenced by Wren. The greatest was new
St. Paul's. The first stone was laid on June 21, 1675, the last in
1710. Just before the fire Wren had been commissioned by King Charles
II to restore old St. Paul's, and he proposed to remodel all but
the choir in "a good Roman manner." We may be thankful that such an
atrocity was providentially prevented. Wren made several designs for
the new building on the lines of his proposed remodeling of the old
one; but for various reasons none of them were finally carried out. The
finished building is very different from even the last approved design,
and is generally considered far superior. In place of the one-storied
effect produced by a single order of columns, which he originally
intended, he divided the whole height into two orders. The result
was an immense gain in apparent size. St. Peter's in Rome is utterly
dwarfed by the colossal size of the columns and pilasters of its single
order, and it is a remarkable fact, that although the top of St. Paul's
dome is only about the same height as the springing of that of St.
Peter's, owing to Wren's ingenious design in this matter, the one looks
about as high as the other.
It is rather a singular fact that the greatest cathedral of
the Protestant Reformation should be called after the "wise
master-builder," St. Paul, while the central church of the Roman faith
is dedicated to the apostle who thrice denied his Master.
The ground plan as finally built, is much smaller than that of the old
cathedral, being only 500 feet long, by 250 across the transepts. The
front towers are 250 feet high, and the dome is 404. The dome is a
wonderful example of Wren's constructive skill. The stone lantern at
the summit is quite independent of the external wooden and lead dome;
it is supported on a cone of brickwork, concealed from the interior by
an internal dome. Wren said he was building for eternity, and he was
especially careful about the strength of the foundations, but he had no
suspicion of the boring and tunneling that would before many centuries
take place around the cathedral, and serious anxiety has been caused of
late years by sundry cracks which have appeared in some of the walls
and vaults.
There is good reason to suppose that the site of St. Paul's was once
dedicated to the worship of Diana. Ox heads, which were sacred to that
goddess, were discovered near the church in 1316, and at other times
fragments of vessels that seem to have been used in the old ceremonies
have been dug up. A chronicler of the fifth century speaks of the
worship of Diana being restored in London in his time. The site of the
building is the highest in the city, and it is the most reasonable
place for the sacred Temple of pre-christian times to have been founded.
Fortunately there are no thirty-five-story skyscrapers in London to
dwarf the picturesque mass of the majestic edifice which has an abiding
place in the heart of every Londoner--and indeed of every Englishman.
See! how shadowy,
Of some occult magician's rearing,
Or swung in space of heaven's grace,
Dissolving, dimly reappearing,
Afloat upon ethereal tides
St. Paul's above the city rides.
_John Davidson_
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. ST. PAUL'S
CATHEDRAL, LONDON. VIEW TAKEN FROM LUDGATE HILL]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. A EUCALYPTUS GROVE,
POINT LOMA]
WHO MADE THE EUCALYPTS? by Nature-Lover
Australia is a remnant of Lemuria, as geologists call that ancient
continent which once stretched across the Southern hemisphere. In
Australia we find strange animals and plants, the relics of a bygone
age. One plant is the Eucalyptus, of many varieties, a very perfect
tree, with two systems of roots, one to catch surface water, the
other to dig deep; formed for hardiness, yet distilling every kind of
fragrant and health-giving balm. Is this tree a product of evolution?
Or has Man had a hand in the perfecting of it?
Men in our recent civilization are already learning how to manipulate
plants so as to make them into better plants than they were before.
If it be true that the ancient continent of Lemuria was occupied by
an ancient humanity, divided into races and sub-races, nations and
tribes, enduring for millenniums, it must also be true that they made
discoveries in science, of which agriculture is a branch. Perhaps they
had gone further than we have yet gone in the art of plant culture;
perhaps they had carried it to a point of perfection; perhaps they made
the Eucalypts. There are many other plants and fruits and trees on the
earth which seem as if they had been made at some time or another; and
it is quite possible that bygone human races may have had something to
do with it.
The influence of man upon nature may have been underestimated. Plants
and animals seem to remain about the same for very long periods; man
is able to produce variations in them; and then the varieties often
remain permanent and unaltered. It is quite conceivable that scientific
agriculture on a large scale may have been practised at one time or at
several times in the world's history, and that many now-existing forms
may be attributable thereto.
Thus far we have spoken only of the direct and purposeful influence
of man upon nature; but man has also an indirect and undesigned
influence. For just as the physical body of man is continually
discarding atoms, which return to the soil, carrying thither vital
elements that will be used over again in the lower kingdoms of nature;
so man is as constantly throwing off other elements, not physical,
and these likewise return to the lower kingdoms of nature to enter as
vital forces into the constitution of lower forms. In other words, man
excretes used-up and superfluous elements from his mind; and these,
though no longer of use to man, and being now divested of everything
human, may nevertheless serve to ensoul lowlier forms. It will thus be
seen that some of the theories of evolution held by biologists are the
reverse of the truth. The analogy between animals and the organs in man
has been regarded as pointing to a descent of man from the animals; but
why might it not imply a descent of animals from man? Once get rid of
the idea that physical begetting is the only way in which one thing can
be derived from another, and the way is clear for postulating a descent
or derivation of animals from man. The crab, all claws and stomach,
works off naturally and harmlessly certain proclivities which in man
were cultivated to an excess too great for their further expression in
the human kingdom. In the same way we have the spider, built perhaps
from the cast-off atoms of a bogus-company promoter (!), the snake, the
pig, etc. It has been well said that in the Zoo one may meet all one's
friends and enemies--behind the bars of the cages; and the cartoonist
can represent faithfully his human characters by giving them animals'
heads.
But let us not overdo the idea. It is true that many of the animals
now on earth appeared subsequently to man in the present "Round" of
evolution; but this does not apply to all the animals. The facts are,
as might be expected, not so simple as one might like them to be; for
the history of evolution in all its ramifications is a long and complex
one. To return to the main proposition: man plays an important part in
the evolution of nature, both conscious and unconscious.
AUSTRALIAN MARSUPIALS: by Nature-Lover
Australia is one of the oldest lands, says H. P. Blavatsky; it can
produce no _new_ forms, unless helped by fresh races or artificial
cultivation and breeding. This is in keeping with the native race whose
home it has been; for a portion of the present native tribes are the
descendants of those later Lemurians who escaped the destruction of
their fellows when the main continent was submerged. This remnant has
since declined. Its environment is suggestive of a survival from a long
bygone age. As Jukes says, in his _Manual of Geology_, it is a curious
fact that the fossil marsupials found in Oxfordshire, England, together
with Trigonias and other shells, and even some fossil plants, should
much more nearly resemble those now living in Australia than the living
forms of any other part of the globe. This fact is interesting and
suggestive.
From a recent article in _The English Mechanic_ we condense the
following.
The remains of some of the oldest mammals were discovered in the
Keuper beds of bone breccia of Upper Triassic age near Stuttgart. They
consisted of the teeth of a small animal about the size of a rabbit,
Microlestes antiquus. Teeth of a similar animal were found in the
Rhaetic beds at Frome, England, while in the red sandstones of the
Upper Trias in Virginia and North Carolina were found the lower jaws
of Dromatherium sylvestre, and in beds of similar age in Basutoland
the skull of Tritylodon longaevus. All these are believed to have
been marsupials, mammals that bring forth their young in an imperfect
condition and place them in a pouch formed by the skin of the abdomen,
where their development is completed.
In the Australian regions there are about one hundred and sixty
species of living marsupials including the kangaroo, kangaroo rat,
phalanger, tarsipes, wombat, bandicoot, rat, koala, Tasmanian wolf or
Thylacine dasyure, and the Tasmanian devil or Ursine dasyure; while in
the remainder of the world there are only about forty-six, and these
confined to North and South America, the representatives being the
opossum and the South American selvas. The kangaroo is also found in
Tasmania, New Guinea, New Ireland, and in the Aru and other islands of
these regions.
Up to the present very few fossil remains of Monotremes have been
found. These are the lowest forms of mammals and lay eggs; they
seem to form a link with the reptiles. Their skeletons exhibit very
reptilian characters and true teeth are absent. They appear to have
been followed by the Marsupials and finally by the Placentals, which
bring forth matured young, and which seem to have made their appearance
in the Upper Jurassic. The only representatives that now exist of the
monotremes are the duck-billed platypus or Ornithorhyncus, and the
spiny anteater, both of Australia, and Parechidna of New Guinea. These
lay soft-shelled eggs and have no teats, the milk being exuded from
pores in the skin, which the young ones lick when hatched. The fossil
remains of Echidna have been brought to light in the bone breccia of
Tertiary times in Australia. In the Stonesfield Slate of Oxfordshire,
which is Lower Oolitic, the lower jaws of several small marsupials
have been found, and these were contemporary with the great saurians.
The latter waned as the former increased. Similar lower jaws have been
found at Swanage in Dorsetshire, the lower jaw being the first bone
to become detached and being left stranded while the rest of the body
or skeleton was carried out to sea. There would seem to have been a
world-wide distribution of monotremes and marsupials; but they did not
develop any size except in Australia, where they became isolated.
In the newer Tertiary deposits of Australia are the remains of a large
marsupial allied to the kangaroo and named Diprotodon Australis; and
in the Post-Tertiary another named Nototherium; as also a few others
including fossil kangaroos.
This concludes our abstract from the article. In reference to what
is said therein about the first two forms of Mammals--the Monotremes
and the Marsupials--their analogies with the types below and above
them, and the gradation in development which they exhibit, it may be
recalled that the teachings given in _The Secret Doctrine_, with regard
to animal and human evolution, are not the same as the conjectures of
most modern theorists. The Mammalia, it is stated, are (_in the present
Round_) posterior to Man on this globe. The evolutionary process which
culminated in the production of a physical organism for Man took place
in an earlier Round. Similarly, it is not in the present Round that the
Monads inhabiting animals now living will progress so as to enter into
the composition of Man. That destiny awaits them in a future Round.
Hence these Monotremes and Marsupials do not represent early stages in
the evolution of our present humanity. Analogy in form does not always
mean derivation of the one form from the other; and when it does, there
still remains the doubt as to which form was prior to the other. The
subject of evolution, as taught by ancient Science, is comprehensive
and fascinating. It is evident that the actual facts must be far more
complex and vaster in scale than tentative hypotheses.
Australia is a country with natural scenery of fascinating type. The
illustrations accompanying this note give an idea of it.
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. A CASCADE, NEW SOUTH
WALES, AUSTRALIA]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. NEAR NATURE'S HEART,
NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. AN AUSTRALIAN PICNIC
RESORT]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. WHERE THE RAINBOW
SPORTS NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. WHERE THE FERNS
THRIVE: AUSTRALIA]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. THE AUSTRALIAN GUM]
[Illustration: Lomaland Photo. and Engraving Dept. ONE OF THE LESSER
STATUES BROUGHT FROM EASTER ISLAND THIS STATUE (NOW IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM) HAS BEEN CALLED "HOA-HAKA-NANA-IA"]
HOA-HAKA-NANA-IA: by P. A. Malpas
Much has been written and said about the famous Easter Island statues
in mid-Pacific. So little is really known about them that until H.
P. Blavatsky called attention to their immense antiquity they were
not thought to be of any particular value. There were one or two
speculations which she, as with so many other scattered data, gathered
together, sifted, confirmed, or refuted, adding a few details to
complete the bare outline of the picture.
The one in the illustration stands at the entrance outside the British
Museum with a smaller, more shapeless companion. They were brought to
England in Her Majesty's Ship _Topaze_, and presented in 1869 by Queen
Victoria to the national collection in the Museum.
As they are said to be of hard trachyte and the ravages of time are
great, therefore it is said they are very, very old. Presumably they
were carved in the "Stone Age," wherever that mysteriously ancient (yet
still existing!) epoch of science may be situated in the years of the
world. It would be interesting to know by what "Stone Age" tools they
were carved. Perhaps Aladdin's diamonds may have helped in the carving?
In any case they are evident "sun-worship" monuments. So would our
clocks and sundials be if we could emulate our "Stone Age" brothers
(what wonderful masons they were!) in making them last a million years
or so.
We would wish to remark that the cross on the backs of these very
ancient statues, made in one of the hardest kinds of stone, is a very
remarkable case of testimony by anticipation. They were only "Stone
Age" men, but they had shrewd powers of anticipation--almost as
wonderful as their masonry!
SUN-LIFE AND EARTH-LIFE: by Per Fernholm
Indwelling
If thou couldst empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited,
Then might He find thee on the Ocean shelf,
And say--"This is not dead,"--
And fill thee with Himself instead.
But thou art all replete with very thou,
And hast such shrewd activity,
That, when He comes, He says: "This is enow
Unto itself--'twere better let it be:
It is so small and full, there is no room for Me."