Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.12)

T

Appendix

by Boris de Zirkoff

H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writtings, vol. 12, page(s) 716-784

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716

NOTE ON THE TRANSLITERATION OF SANSKRIT AND OTHER TERMS

The system of diacritical marks used in the text of this volume, and in the General Bibliography, as well as the Index, does not strictly follow any one specific scholar, to the exclusion of all others. In regard to Sanskrit, while adhering to a very large extent to Sir Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English. Dictionary, as for instance in the case of the Anusvara, the transliteration includes forms introduced by other Sanskrit scholars as well, being therefore of a selective nature.

The transliteration of other than Sanskrit terms has been checked with a variety of sources, and a selection has been made to conform with the standards adopted by the best known scholars.

As in previous volumes of this Series, we have continued the usage of a circumflex over a long vowel, rather than using the “macron” or a line over them. Exception to this are H.P.B.’s Esoteric Instructions, in which the “macron” is used throughout.

717

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY (With Selected Biographical Notes)

The material contained in the following pages is of necessity a selective one, and is intended to serve three purposes: (a) to give condensed information, not otherwise readily available, about the life and writings of some individuals mentioned by H.P.B. in the text, and who are unknown to the present-day student; (b) to give similar data about a few well-known scholars who are discussed at length by H.P.B., and whose writings she constantly quotes; and (c) to give full information regarding all works and periodicals quoted or referred to in the main text and in the Compiler’s Notes, with or without biographical data of their authors. All such works are marked with an asterisk (*).

In addition to that, rather extensive biographical sketches have been included, in connection with a number of outstanding workers in the early period of the Theosophical Movement, which should be helpful in acquiring a better knowledge concerning the history of the Movement as a whole.

Addison, Joseph (1672-1719). Quotation untraced.

*Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda . . . Edited, translated and explained by Martin Haug. Bombay, 1863. 2 vols. Reprint of transl. in Sacred Books of the Hindus. Also ed. of 1919-22.

Allen, Charles Grant Blairfindie (1848-99). See Vol. X, p. 411 for biogr. sketch.

Arnold, Sir Edwin. Renowned educator, journalist, Sanskritist and poet. One of the outstanding men of the Victorian era, whose biography still remains unwritten. He was born June 10, 1832, in Gravesend, England. His family was fairly wealthy, and afforded him a good education. After studies at the King’s school, Rochester, and the King’s College, London, he graduated B.A. from University College, Oxford, in 1854, and two years later was awarded his Master’s degree. After teaching for a short time at King Edward School in Birmingham, he was appointed in 1856 Principal of Deccan College 718lege in Poona, India, obtaining later a Fellowship of Bombay University. Being in India during the mutiny of 1857, he was able to render services for which he was publicly thanked by Lord Elphinstone in the Bombay Council.

“Returning to England in 1861 he began writing for The DailyTelegraph and his connection with that paper lasted for more than forty years. He became Chief Editor in 1873, and it was during his regime that his paper collaborated with the New York Herald to sponsor H. M. Stanley’s famous expedition to Africa. Edwin Arnold was made Knight Commander of the Indian Empire in 1888.

“His pictures show him to be a heavy-featured, forthright individual, and he was said to be a tall, strongly built man. He is credited with a remarkable memory, love of learning and unusual literary facility. In view of the quality of his writing it is unfair to accuse him of being a literary machine, but his output was little short of prodigious and it is a matter of record that during his long tenure at The Daily Telegraph he was effortlessly able to produce editorials, articles, anything that was required on any subject with length no object. If the occasion called for it he would write his columns in verse! His prose was popular enough, though, and many occasional pieces Written for his paper were later published in permanent form.

“His desire to learn was remarkable, and his success enviable. To avoid wasting minutes while waiting for trains, etc., he would read the classics, and carried in his pocket a slim volume for this purpose. ‘It is just as easy to learn the binomial theorem, or Persian, or Sanskrit, or Euclid, or navigation, or chemistry, as it is to mow grass or shear a sheep,’ he wrote in an essay. ‘The secret is to be rightly taught, or to teach yourself rightly from the beginning, making sure of every step taken and bearing in mind that most learning is very simple . . .’

“Arnold loved to travel, and his literary output included volumes describing his peregrinations around the world. Of these travel books, India Revisited and Seas and Lands are still of considerable interest even in our travel-conscious age. He was popular as a lecturer all over the world and appeared frequently in the United States to recite his own poetry.

“Among his many achievements he was a linguist of rare ability. In addition to mastering the classic languages, his command of the European tongues was such that he published translations of French, German and Italian poetry. In 1877 he wrote A Simple Translitérai Grammar of Turkish. Persian was another of his accomplishments. Not content with learning several of the modern Indian languages he 719set about studying Sanskrit (it was said that he rapidly acquired the Sanskrit alphabet by writing it out and hanging it over his dressing table). His linguistic gifts, therefore, were exceptional, and combined with his talent for verse making and his interest in oriental scriptures, have provided the English speaking world with some of the finest religious poetry it possesses.

“It was as a poet that Arnold made his first and most important mark. He began writing verse in his schooldays, and it was while he was studying at Oxford that he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for his poem, Belschazzaf's Feast. Later he published translations of Hugo and Garibaldi as well as of classical poetry. His work has not been without criticism, although as poetry is a subjective art, this must be considered natural.

“His own tastes in poetry spread from Classical Greece to modern America. Walt Whitman’s verse was among his favourite, and on one of his trips to the United States Arnold went to considerable trouble to find Whitman—then living quietly in obscurity—in order to pay homage to him. He wrote: ‘At all events for me Walt Whitman has long appeared the embodiment of the spirit of American growth and glory—the natural minstrel of her splendid youth—the chief modern perceiver of the joy and gladness in existence too- long forgotten or forbidden; and, of all men in Philadelphia he it was whom I most desired to see and thank for my own share, at least, in the comfort and wisdom of his verse, which, for me who can read it with sympathy, has the freshness of the morning wind blowing in the pines, the sweetness of the sea-air tumbling the wave crests.’

“It is not even incongruous that the two bards spent many hours together reading from Leaves of Grass, most of which Arnold was said to know by heart. He later told a British audience: ‘If you would banish the evil taste of pessimism from your lips, read sometimes a page or two of the Leaves of Grass . . . Yes! Read a little sometimes in that large-minded and clear-sighted Master—alive with the huge new life of America—who has seen with eyes divinely opened and inspired heart how persistently kind is the unkindness of the Cosmos . . .’

“The few years Arnold spent in India were to have the greatest influence on his life and subsequent writings. As early as 1861 his interest in Indian philosophy and traditions was revealed in the writing of The Book of Good Counsels. This is a translation of a collection of animal fables interlaced with proverbial verses, many of which are easily remembered....

720 “Much later, in 1875, The Indian, Song of Songs appeared. Based on Jayadeva, this was the least successful of his work inspired by Indian writings.

“The Light of Asia was published in 1879, and after receiving only ‘polite’ notices, quickly caught the public fancy and became a best seller. In a few years it went through hundreds of editions in the United States and Britain. It is no exaggeration to say that the popularity Buddhism has enjoyed in the West owes more to this long and memorable poem than to anything that has been written before or since. Scholars may question its correctness in minor details, but of Arnold’s sincerity there is no doubt, and The Light of Asia stands as a beautiful exposition of the establishment of one of the world’s greatest religions. Nobody can deny that Arnold admirably achieved his purpose: ‘to depict the life and character and indicate the philosophy of that noble hero and reformer, Prince Gautama of India, the founder of Buddhism’.”

H.P.B. herself reviewed at some length The Light of Asia in the very first issue of The Theosophist (October, 1879, pp. 20-25), indicating her strong endorsement of this work. In her Will, she asked that a chapter from it be read by those assembled at the yearly anniversary of her death, as well as passages from the Bhagavad-Gita—an occasion which a year later, namely in 1892, was proclaimed by Col. Olcott as the White Lotus Day.

The Light of Asia has a forceful unity and many individual lines leave a powerful impression upon the reader, to the very end of the poem where in breath-catching words:

“The Dew is on the lotus!—rise, Great Sun! And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave. Om mani padme hum, the Sunrise comes! The Dewdrop slips into the shining Sea!”

“Probably at the insistence of his friends, Arnold later turned his pen to poetically paraphrase the Christian crucifixion story. He called it The Light of the World. This work bears no comparison with the other Light, nor did it find popular acceptance. The reason, it has been suggested, was that in writing The Light

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD 1832-1904

721

of Asia, he wrote as a believer; in writing The Light of the World he wrote as one who considered the story objectively. The long poem is cold, as if his heart was not in his subject. As if to corroborate this theory, it does seem that the best lines in The Light of the World are those embodying Eastern philosophy.

“With Pearls of the Faith, Arnold completed the “Oriental Trilogy” he started with The Indian Song of Songs and The Light of Asia. In it he presents ‘in the simple, familiar, and credulous, but earnest spirit and manner of Islam—and from its own points of view—some of the thoughts and beliefs of the followers of the noble Prophet of Arabia.’ The book contains some very beautiful verse and philosophy, but unfortunately is today for the most part forgotten.

“But if he failed, in The Indian Song of Songs, to capture the spirit of Hinduism for the Western reader, he did full justice to that great religion when he translated the Bhagavad-Gita. One of the scores of English versions of the Gita, Sir Edwin Arnold’s Song Celestial has been and remains the most popular and the most quoted translation. Some of the most beautiful lines of any scripture in the English language are to be found there.

“With such an interest in the scriptures of several of the world’s great religions, what were Sir Edwin’s private beliefs? To the conforming Victorian society he was probably thought of as a practising Christian, and we are told that he did attend the Unitarian Church. But it is obvious from his writings that the Buddhistic philosophy was more to his liking, and it is doubtful that he would accept, as he did in 1903, an honorary membership of the International Buddhist Society unless he could really ascribe to their ideals. Certain it is that Buddhism altered his whole way of life, and influenced him to give up the blood sports which were so much part of his upbringing, and also to become a vegetarian (he was Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society.)”

In his later years, Arnold resided for some time in Japan, and his third wife was a Japanese lady, In Seas and Lands (1891) and Japónica (1892) he gives an interesting study of Japanese life.

Although Edwin Arnold was not a member of The Theosophical Society, he certainly knew of it and, from the information available, it may be concluded that he was in full sympathy with its aims. In 722an interview reported in The Lamp, December, 1895, we are fortunate to have a record of Arnold’s feeling toward Theosophy. The Lamp was edited by Albert E. S. Smythe and was the first Theosophical magazine in Canada. The interview is credited to the Alliance Forum and is as follows:

“Sir Edwin Arnold says in a recent interview: ‘The effect of Buddhism upon a people morally and physically is good. Wherever you find a community with great tenderness towards the lower creation, with a deep respect for mankind, and a strong observation of duty, there will you also find the spirit of Buddhism. It is a moralizing, restraining influence.’

In answer to the question, ‘Are Esoteric Buddhists and Theosophists the same?’ he replied, ‘That depends upon what you mean by Theosophists. If you mean the Theosophists of the school of Blavatsky, Sinnett and Olcott, I will say that they are so closely connected with Buddhism that the Buddhist Scriptures ought to be their text-books, and I don’t see how you can do this without a knowledge of Sanskrit. I knew Madame Blavatsky very well and am acquainted with Col. Olcott and A. P. Sinnett, and I believe there is no doubt that the Theosophical movement has had an excellent effect upon humanity. It has made a large number of people understand what all India always understood, and that is the importance of invisible things. The real universe is that which you do not see, and the commonest Indian peasant knows that to be true by inheritance. The Theosophists have impressed upon the present generation the necessity of admitting the existence of the invisible. The senses are very limited, and everybody ought to know that behind them lies an illimitable field of development’.”

Another indication of Arnold’s respect for H.P.B. and her work may be drawn from a collection of reminiscences written by the Very Rev. E. C. Paget, Dean of Calgary, and entitled A Year Under the Shadows of St. PauTs, a book privately printed and published in Calgary, Alberta, in 1908. One of the articles contained therein describes “An Evening with Sir Edwin Arnold.” Of particular interest to us is the following passage:

“On Madame Blavatsky’s name being mentioned Sir Edwin spoke of his acquaintance with her and of her extraordinary mental attainments. As an illustration, he said that he had once quite casually referred to her for the date of a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian which she at once gave with perfect exactness and with the utmost readiness.” (p. 112.)

723 Sir Edwin Arnold died March 24, 1904. In the April issue of The Theosophist (Vol. XXV, pp. xviii-xix of the Supplement), Col. Henry S. Olcott inserted a Notice of this from which we quote the following passage:

“...I made his personal acquaintance at London in the year 1884, at the hospitable board of Mrs. Tennant .... I lunched with him at his house, and he kindly presented me with some of the original MS. of his world-famous Buddhist book. Later, when he revisited India, coming via Ceylon I organised, at the request of the High Priest, Sumangala, his reception at Colombo, and drafted the address of the High Priest. His feelings towards me were cordial, and I may almost say that in him, I have lost a personal friend. His poetised translations from the Sanskrit most ably render the sense of the ancient books. He must have had a great faculty of concentration, for he told me, at his house, that he had written the most touching passages of The Light of Asia in the compartment of a railway carriage, in the company of some dealers of Billingsgate Market, who were loudly discussing between themselves, the price of fish. On the death of Lord Tennyson, he was one of the most earnest candidates for the vacant Laureatship, but it was given for some inscrutable reason, to a man who—well, [Alfred] Austin!”

Judging by his works and his philosophy of life, Sir Edwin Arnold formed an integral part of the widespread spiritual Movement which was regenerated in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In part, his work paralleled that of the Theosophical Society, helping to make the religion and philosophy of Buddhism and Hinduism known and appreciated by the western world. The Light of Asia and The Song Celestial undoubtedly led to widespread interest in these subjects and helped to create an attitude in which theosophical ideas would be found congenial. We are all indebted to this great scholar.

Artephius (or Artefius and Artesius). Jewish or Arabian alchemist who lived at about 1130 a.d. He seems to have written several works, but the one best known is his *Clavis majoris sapientiae, Parisiis, 1609, 8vo., 33 pp.; also at Argentorati, 1699, 12°. It has been translated into French by Pierre Arnauld, Paris, 1612, and into German in 1618 and 1748.

Astruc, Élie Aristide. French Rabbi, born at Bordeaux, 1831; d. at Bayonne, 1905. Chief Rabbi of Belgium, 1866-79, and of Bayonne, 1887-91. Co-founder of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. Translated into French verse the most important poems of the Sephardic 724ritual in Oleloth Eliyahu, 1865, and wrote a work on the origin and causes of anti-Semitism; he also prepared a critical survey of the Jewish religion which offended the Orthodox.

Aurelianus, Caelius. Celebrated Latin physician of either the first century a.d. or of a century later. Generally supposed to have been a native of Numidia. Was a professed and zealous member of the sect of the Methodici. His description of the phenomena of disease is most accurate, and his judgment on various medical points is sound. His writings are less theoretical and more practical than those of any other author of antiquity, and consist of works: On. acute Diseases; and On Chronic Diseases.

*Bahurûpa-Brâhmana. Untraced.

Bailly, Jean-Sylvain (1736-1793). French astronomer, orator and politician. As a scientist, he was very much of a genius. While his father showed no particular interest in him, his mother devoted herself to his early education at home. Being a very precocious child, he soon acquired wide literary knowledge, and at sixteen became a collaborator and trainee of the famous astronomer, Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762). He calculated an orbit for the comet of 1759 (Halley’s), reduced Lacaille’s observations of 515 zodiacal stars, observed with his teacher the transit of Venus in 1761, and in 1763 was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He performed most careful observations of Jupiter’s satellites and of Saturn’s rings, and found time to prepare several large works on astronomical research and the history of that science. Among them, are to be especially noted: Histoire de 1’astronomie ancienne depuis son origine jusqu’à l’établissement de l’École d’Alexandrie (Paris: Debure, 1775; 2nd ed., 1781, xxiv, 527 pp.); Lettres sur l’Atlantide de Platon et sur l’ancienne histoire de l’Asie (Paris: Debure; and London: M. Elmsly, 1779, 480 pp., maps), which were addressed to Voltaire; Histoire de F astronomie moderne, depuis la fondation de l’école d’Alexandrie, jusqu’à l’époque 1730 (Paris, 1779-82, three vols. 4to; also 1785); Traité de Fastronomie Indienne et Orientale (Paris: Debure, 1787, clxxx, 417 pp. Index). These works show extensive knowledge of the ancient world, including Hindu astronomy which in his day was practically unknown. It is obvious that H.P.B. had a very high regard for Bailly and considered him a man of very keen intuition.

Bailly also engaged in presenting a Report on Animal Magnetism and the work of Mesmer, but for some strange reason disagreed with the latter and did not accept the validity of his research. His

JEAN-SYLVAIN BAILLY 1736-1793 Reproduced from L.A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution, 1854, Volume III.

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scientific and literary labors were crowned by his being elected a member of both the French Academy and the Académie des Inscriptions.

Unfortunately for Bailly, he also engaged in political affairs. Elected deputy from Paris to the states-general, he was chosen president of the Third Estate (1789), and acted as Mayor of Paris (1789-91). The dispersal by the National Guard, under his orders, of the riotous assembly in the Champ de Mars (July 17, 1791), made him obnoxious to the populace. He then retired to Nantes, where he wrote his Mémoires d’un témoin (published 1821-22). After a while, Bailly quitted Nantes to join his friend Pierre Simon de Laplace at Melun. He was recognized, arrested and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris. On November 12, 1793, he was guillotined.

This sad dénouement serves as another proof of both the unyielding, ferocious, and inhuman psychology of radical parties, and the unwisdom on the part of scholarly individuals to engage in the fanaticism of politics.

A curious fact may be recorded here: When Napoleon seized power on November 9, 1799, he appointed de Laplace with the portfolio of the Interior. The evening of his appointment, the new minister demanded a pension of 2,000 francs for the widow of Bailly. Early the very next morning, Madame de Laplace herself brought the first half-year’s income to “this victim of the passions of the epoch.”

Bain, Alexander (1818-1903). *Mind and Body. The Theories of their Relation. In “The International Scientific Series,” London, 1872; 3rd ed., 1874. Vide Vol. VIII, p. 420, of present Series for biogr. sketch.

Balsamo, Giuseppe. See Cagliostro.

Bert, Paul (1833-86). French physiologist and politician. Professor at Bordeaux, 1866, and the Sorbonne, 1869. Elected to the Assembly, 1874, and to the Chamber of Deputies, 1876. Determined enemy of clericalism and ardent advocate of universal education. Appointed, 1886, resident-general in Annam and Tongking, and died at Hanoi. Best known for his classical work, La Pression barométrique (1878), embodying research on the physiological effects of air-pressure.

Bertillon, Alphonse (1853-1914). French anthropologist who invented the system of identification of criminals known as Bertillonage, by means of anthropometry, described in his Photographie 726juriciaire (1890). He was a witness for the prosecution in the Dreyfus case, 1899. Author of: *Les Races sauvages, Paris, 1882.

*Bhâgavata-Purâna. Edited by Bâlakrishna Sâstrï Yogi, 2nd ed., Bombay, 1898.—Prose English transi., ed. and publ. by Μ. Nâth Dutt, Calcutta, 1895-96.—Srimad Bhagavatam. Tr. by S. Subba Rau, Tirupati, 1928.—French transi, by Eugène Burnouf, Paris, 1840-47 and 1884-98.

Bichat, Marie François Xavier (1771-1802). French anatomist and physiologist, the son of a physician. Became a pupil and later assistant of P. J. Desault, writing a work on the latter’s doctrines and practice. His chief work is *Traité d’anatomie descriptive (1801-03), completed by his pupils, Μ. F. R. Buisson and P. J. Roux; later editions are those of 1823 and 1833, in five volumes. A fall from the staircase at the Hôtel-Dieu, where he was a physician, resulted in a fever, and he died rather young.

Binet, Alfred. French experimental psychologist, b. at Nice, July 8, 1857; d. at Paris, Oct. 18, 1911. Graduated from the Lycée SaintLouis, 1878; took a degree in natural science at the Sorbonne, 1890, and received his D. Sc., 1894. Became director of the Sorbonne laboratory of psychology and physiology, 1894. He was soon drawn towards the study of hypnotism and published, together with Féré, Le Magnétisme animal and Les Altérations de la personalité. His name is particularly connected with his researches on human intelligence, and most of his works deal with that subject. Böhme, Jakob (1575-1624). *Die Drei Principien göttlichen Wesens (The Three Principles of the Divine Essence), 1619. Consult various editions of his Complete Works.

*Book of Numbers or Chaldean Book of Numbers. Unavailable.

*Book of the Dead. See comprehensive data in Vol. X, pp. 413-15, of the Collected Writings.

Bourdois de la Motte, Edme-Joachim (1754-1835). French physician from the early age of twenty-four. Imprisoned during the Terror. Took care of thousands of soldiers during the campaigns in the Alps where he met Napoleon. After a misunderstanding with him, was reconciled and appointed physician to Napoleon’s son. He was also physician to Talleyrand, Louis XVIII and Charles X, and a member of the Medical Academy since its formation. He supported Mesmer in his research. (Cf. Diet, de Biogr. française.)

727 Brown-Sequard, Charles Edward. British physiologist and neurologist, b. at Port Louis, Mauritius, April 8,1817, of mixed American-French parentage, and who died at Sceaux, April 2, 1894. After graduating in medicine at Paris, 1846, he held chairs at Harvard university and at Paris. Eventually, he succeeded Claude Bernard in 1878 as professor of experimental medicine in the College de France. He was the first scientist to work out the physiology of the spinal cord. In his old age he advocated the hypodermic injection of a fluid prepared from the testicles of sheep as a means of prolonging human life. It was known among scientists, derisively, as the Brown-Sequard elixir, which explains H.P.B.’s reference to it.

Bulwer-Lytton, E. G. (1803-73). *Zanoni, 1842.

Byron, George Gordon (1788-1824). *Manfred, A Dramatic Poem, London: John Murray, 1817, 8vo.

Campbell, Robert Allen, *Phallic Worship: an Outline of the Worship of the Generative Organs, etc. St. Louis: R. A. Campbell & Co., 1887; 200 engr.

Cicero, M. T.( 106-43 b.c.). *Tusculan Disputations. Loeb Classical Library. Transl. by J. E. King.

Cienkowsky, L. *Beitriige zur Kentniss der Monaden. In the Archiv fur mikroskopische Anatomie.

Cagliostro, Count Alessandro di. An authentic biographical sketch of Cagliostro is still to be written. To outline here the alleged life of Giuseppe Balsamo would not serve any constructive purpose, as it is most doubtful that Balsamo was actually Cagliostro. To detail the life of Cagliostro, on the basis of an account supposedly written by himself, would not be satisfactory either, because the authenticity of that account is very doubtful. It seems therefore more constructive and helpful, to draw the attention to material of at least relative authenticity, and to mention those works which were written by seemingly unbiased writers and which are the result of thorough research and of a sympathetic attitude towards the subject.

The basis for most accounts about Cagliostro, and the source-material which has been heavily drawn upon by writers in different countries and languages, is the work anonymously issued by the Vatican, but whose author is known to have been the Jesuit P. Marcello. It is entitled: Compendio della vita, e delle gesta di Guiseppe Balsamo . . . che si e estratto dal processo contro di lui formato in Roma I’anno 1790, e che puo servire di scorta per conoscere 7281’indole della sette de’ Liberi Mauratori. Rome, 1791. 12°. This was translated into English and published by P. Byrne, etc., in Dublin, 1792, 12°, ix, 269 pp. There are also French and German translations of this document.

Information of an authentic kind can best be gathered from various documents connected with some of the petitions and law-suits of Cagliostro and the accounts of some of the witnesses whose veracity can hardly be impugned.

We limit ourselves to mentioning merely three works because of their impartial nature. Their careful research establishes beyond any reasonable doubt the fact that Cagliostro cannot be identified with Giuseppe Balsamo. These are:

William R. H. Trowbridge (1866-1939), Cagliostro. The Splendor and Misery of a Master of Magic. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1910, 312 pp., Index; repr., 1926.

François Ribadeau Dumas. Cagliostro. First published in French. Paris: B. Arthaud, 1966. Translated into English by Elisabeth Abbott. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967. Also, New York: The Orion Press; 308 pp., ill.

Dr. Marc Haven (pseud, of Emmanuel Lalande, 1868- ?), Le Maître Inconnu, Cagliostro. Paris: Dorbon [1912], 330 pp. Also 1932. New Edition: Lyon: Paul Derain, 1964; 316 pp., ill. This remarkable work includes a copious and many-sided Bibliography in which the student may gather valuable information about the chief literary productions, friendly and hostile, connected with the figure of Cagliostro. This work includes also the so-called Evangel of Cagliostro which originally appeared in Latin, in 1787, under the title of Liber memorialis de Caleostro cum esset Roboreti and is ascribed to Clementine Vannetti di Rovereto (1754-1795). Dr. Haven published a translation of it in 1910 (Paris, Librairie Hermétique, 86 pp.). Every available copy of this document was destroyed when Cagliostro’s papers were burnt by the Inquisition on the Minerva Square in Rome, May 4, 1791. A very few copies were already at the time in the hands of private individuals, and most of them have vanished in later days. Apparently. Dr. Haven found a copy of this rare item somewhere in Italy and published it.

729 We also recommend the interesting and valuable study of Cagliostro by Philip A. Malpas (1875-1958), a life-long student of Theosophy and a voluminous writer on Gnosticism, the early centuries- of Christianity and various mystical subjects. It is entitled: Cagliostro: A Misunderstood Messenger, and appeared serially in The Theosophical Path, Vol. XLI, April, 1932, through Vol. XLV, October, 1935, and in The Theosophical Forum, Vol. VIII, January through March, 1936.

The signature of Cagliostro which we reproduce under his portrait appears at the end of the Interrogatoire in the Archives Nationales (Cote: X² b, 1417).

–––––––

There is more to the mystery surrounding Cagliostro and Giuseppe Balsamo than appears to the casual observer, unfamiliar with any of the deeper teachings of the Esoteric Philosophy. This is obvious from the following excerpt which we quote from Dr. G. de Purucker’s work, Studies in Occult Philosophy (Covina, Calif., Theosophical University Press, 1945, pp. 30-31):

“I am very doubtful as to how much I should say on this point. I speak with extreme reserve. I ask you to use your own imagination and your own intellect, and to allow your own heart to answer, when I say that there is a mystery connected with the individual called Giuseppe Balsamo and the individual known to the world generally as Cagliostro. It is upon the document issued from the Vatican containing the story of the so-called trial and condemnation of Cagliostro that most later students and historians of the checkered and wonderful career of that remarkable man assume that Cagliostro and Giuseppe Balsamo were one individual.

“I can only say that there is a strange mystery involved in the story of these two: Balsamo and Cagliostro. How strange is the statement, if true, that both had the name Pellegrini, which means Pilgrims! How strange it is that Giuseppe Balsamo is the Italian form of the name Joseph Balm, suggesting a healing influence; and that ‘Balsamo,’ whether rightly or wrongly, can be traced to a compound Semitic word which means ‘Lord of the Sun’— ‘Son of the Sun’; while the Hebrew name Joseph signifies ‘increase’ or ‘multiplication.’ How strange it is that Cagliostro’s first teacher was called Althotas, a curious word containing the Arabic definite article ‘the’, suffixed with a common Greek ending ‘as,’ and containing the Egyptian word Thoth, who was the Greek Hermes—the Initiator! How strange it is that Cagliostro 730was called an ‘orphan,’ the ‘unhappy child of Nature’! Every initiate in one sense is just that; every initiate is an ‘orphan’ without father, without mother, because mystically speaking every initiate is self-born. How strange it is that other names under which Cagliostro is stated to have lived at various times have in each instance a singular esoteric signification! Study these names. They are very interesting.

“Perhaps I might go one shade of thought farther: to every Cagliostro who appears there is always a Balsamo. Closely accompanying and indeed inseparable from every Messenger there is his ‘Shadow.’ With every Christ appears a Judas. And as regards what you, my Brothers, have so admirably set forth this evening concerning the reason, as given by our beloved H. P. Blavatsky, of Cagliostro’s ‘failure,’ let me point this out: that Cagliostro’s failure was not one of merely vulgar human passion, nor was it one of vulgar human ambition, as ordinary men understand these terms. When Julian the Apostate—called ‘apostate’ because he refused to be an apostate from the ancient religion of his forefathers—led his army against Shapur, King of Persia, he did so well knowing that he was acting against the esoteric Law; and yet in one sense he could not do otherwise, for his individual karman compelled him to the act. I tell you that there are at times more tragedies in the life of a Messenger than you could easily understand, for a Messenger is sworn to obedience in both directions—obedience to the general law of his karman from which he may not turn aside a single step, and obedience equally strict to the Law of those who sent him forth. There are in such cases problems to solve sometimes which break the heart, but which nevertheless must be solved.

Be, therefore, charitable in your judgment of that great and unhappy man, Cagliostro!”

*Common Sense Aphorisms. Untraced.

Comte, Auguste (1798-1857). *Catechisme posiliviste, etc., 1852; 3rd ed., 1890; Eng. trans, by R. Congreve, 1858 ; 3rd ed., 1891.

Cooper-Oakley, Isabel. She was the daughter of Henry Cooper, C.B., Commissioner of Lahore, India, who was made the Governor of Delhi on his deathbed. She was born at Amritsar, Punjab, India, in 1854. Her father, one of the best known men in the Bengal Civil Service, was made a “Companion of the Order of the Bath” at the early age of twenty-eight for distinguished services rendered during the mutiny of 1857; the Cooper Buildings in Delhi are named 731after him, and the “Cooper Medal” was struck for him in 1864 by the Indian Government in recognition of great and continued services in the educational question of India, and especially in regard to the education of women. On her father’s side, Isabel Cooper is descended from Baron Cooper of Paulett (Earl of Shaftsbury), and Sir William Burnaby, both old English families. Her mother was the daughter of General Steel (who married the daughter of Prince Angelo della Trememondo, an exiled royal family of Tuscany), one of the old families of West Cumberland, whose mother, Dorothy Ponsonby, was a niece of the Earl of Bessborough.

Isabel and her sister Laura passed a great deal of their early life on the Continent. At the age of twenty-three, Isabel met with a severe accident and for two years was unable to walk. This enforced quiet threw all her interests into her studies, and it was during this illness in 1878 that Isis Unveiled -was lent to her and she began her investigations into Spiritualism with its cognate subjects. On recovering in 1879, she began to take up public questions, interesting herself in Woman’s Suffrage and the Social Purity Alliance. Wishing to study philosophy more deeply, Isabel determined to go to Girton College, Cambridge, in order to pass through a systematic course.

In 1879, when H.P.B. was passing through London on her way to India, Isabel just missed her. Going on with her studies, she passed her matriculation examination in 1881 and entered Girton as a student. In 1882, she met Mr. Oakley, who was at Pembroke College, Cambridge, with Dr. Archibald Keightley, and they all began their studies together. Together with the Keightleys they wrote to Adyar in 1883 applying for membership in the Theosophical Society, but received no reply. Hearing from A. P. Sinnett in the Fall of 1884 that H.P.B. was expected in Europe, they determined to visit her upon arrival. Isabel was married early in June, 1884, to A. J. Oakley. In March of the same year, Col. Olcott arrived in London, and then Isabel and the Keightleys joined the Society.

During the summer of 1884 it was arranged that Isabel and her husband should accompany H.P.B. on her return to Adyar, and the plan was carried out. They took a house in London, where H.P.B., Dr. Archibald Keightley, and Miss Laura M. Cooper lived during September and October, until the party started for India in November. On the way, Isabel Cooper-Oakley spent three weeks in Egypt with H.P.B. and found the period full of intense interest. Arriving at Adyar, Isabel Cooper-Oakley said she “had every opportunity of investigating the Coulomb affair and also was an eyewitness to Richard Hodgson’s investigations, besides seeing the unfair way in which the S.P.R. representative behaved to H.P.B.”

732 When H.P.B. fell gravely ill at Adyar, Isabel nursed her and eventually fell ill herself and was unable to leave India when H.P.B. left India for the last time, in February of 1885. Isabel reached England in the summer of 1885, when H.P.B. sent her a warm invitation to come to Wurzburg. Owing to bad health and business affairs, Isabel was unable to leave London, but went to see H.P.B. as soon as she had arrived in England in May, 1887, settling for a while in Norwood. During the summer of 1887, Isabel Cooper- Oakley held small meetings in her rooms for inquirers. That autumn she went to India for three months, and in April, 1888, came back and stayed with H.P.B. in Lansdowne Road for a few weeks. In 1889, she became one of the household staff.

It has been reported that the night before she died, H.P.B. suddenly looked up at about three a.m. and said: “Isabel, Isabel, keep the link unbroken; do not let my last incarnation be a failure.” These have always been considered to have been the last words of any moment that H.P.B. had uttered. At the moment of H.P.B.’s passing, Isabel, however, was absent, but received a telegram recalling her and arrived about ten minutes too late. Those present at H.P.B.’s death were Claude Falls Wright, Walter R. Old and Laura M. Cooper.

After H.P.B.’s passing, Isabel Cooper-Oakley spent many years in widespread travels, lecturing in Australia, England, Italy and elsewhere. She continued her literary research work in the field of mystical tradition which was a favorite theme with her. In 1907, Dr. Annie Besant established an International Committee for Research into Mystical Tradition, and appointed Isabel Cooper-Oakley as its President. In her own words, she chose her because “for long years and with very scant encouragement, she had been toiling to revive the memory of this Tradition and to win for it a hearing from ears sealed by indifference; she has travelled all over Europe, to visit famous libraries and to delve into long-buried volumes, following faint traces, unravelling tangled clues....”

The first work to appear from the pen of Isabel Cooper-Oakley was entitled Traces of a Hidden Tradition in Masonry and Mediaeval Mysticism (London: The Theosophical Publishing Society, 1900; originally published in The Theosophical Review, Vols. XXILXXV). This is a most valuable contribution to the mystical literature of our Movement. It explains the “Hidden Sources of Masonry,” the “Traditions of the Knights Templars,” the nature and teachings of the Troubadours, and outlines the legends associated with the “Heavenly Kingdom of the Holy Grail.” Its 192 pages are replete with pertinent bibliographical footnotes containing a great deal of

ISABEL COOPER-OAKLEY 1854-1914 Reproduced from The Path, New York, Vol. IX, July, 1894.

733

information about the source-material consulted in several languages. The work was reprinted in London, in 1977, by the Theosophical Publishing House, under the altered title of Masonry and Mediaeval Mysticism·. Traces of a Hidden Tradition.

Mystical Traditions is the title of the second work from her pen (Milan, Italy: Ars Regia, Libreria Editrice del Dr. G. Sulli-Rao, 1909), a work of 310 pages dealing with “Forms and Presentments” and with “Secret Writings and Ciphers.” The bibliographical material is contained in copious Notes at the end of the volume and in a separate “General Bibliography.” This work was the first one to be published by the newly organized International Committee for Research into Mystical Traditions established by Annie Besant in 1907. It is rather rare today as much of the stock was destroyed during World War II. Its value for the student consists in the fact that it gives a bird’s-eye-view of various mystical and secret groups in the history of Europe and their secret writings and symbols.

In 1912, the same Publisher produced her work entitled: The Comte de St. Germain. The Secret of Kings. This work of almost 300 pages is in part a reprint of articles which the author had contributed to the pages of The Theosophical Review (Vols. XXI and XXII, January, 1898—June, 1898), with the addition of material gathered by her in the English Record Office. While this work is of course of great value, especially in its careful documentation, it takes many things for granted and is not as critical of various sources as the subject demands.

We also have from her pen an eyewitness account of her journey to Egypt, on the way to Adyar, in the company of H.P.B. and their stay in Cairo (See Lucifer, Vol. VIII, June, 1891, pp. 272-82: “At Cairo and Madras”; repr. in In Memory of H. P. Blavatsky, by Some of Her Pupils. London: Theos. Publ. Society, 1891; also Centenary Edition. London: The Blavatsky Association, 1931).

Isabel Cooper-Oakley passed away at Budapest, Hungary, on March 3rd, 1914.

As to Mr. A. J. Cooper-Oakley, his story exhibits many rather negative aspects, apart from those of a positive nature. He was a very gifted man and a fine scholar who stayed for a number of years at the Adyar Headquarters. For a time he was assistant editor of The Theosophist, but relinquished it on account of various disagreements, both with H.P.B. and Col. Olcott. He exhibited much bitterness in his attitude and was the cause of unfortunate friction and disharmony at Headquarters. He had a very high regard for T. Subba Row, and took sides with him against H.P.B.’s views of various subjects. After the resignation of Subba Row in 1886, 734Cooper-Oakley left Adyar and found employment as Professor of Philosophy at the Pachaiappa’s College in Madras, and from thence passed over into Government service as Registrar of the University of Madras. His Oriental tastes led him to a deep study of Indian philosophy and Sanskrit literature, to which he devoted himself with intense ardor. He was greatly interested in the Adyar Library and the idea of an Oriental Institute. He died at the early age of 46, at his residence in Mylapore, Madras, and, according to Col. Olcott’s account (The Theosophist, Vol. XX, Suppl. to May, 1899, pp. xxxvii-viii), “succumbed to an accidental overdose of chloral-hydrate during the night.”

It might also be stated here that Isabel’s sister, Laura M. Cooper, married George R. S. Mead, and worked for many years in various capacities for the sake of the Movement. From her pen we have an eyewitness account of the passing of H.P.B., entitled: “How She Left Us”—a record which is both historically correct and satisfying for our genuine feelings of reverence towards that great soul at the moment of her release. It may be found in Lucifer, Vol. VIII, June, 1891, pp. 267-71 (repr. in In Memory, etc., London, 1891, and the 2nd ed. of 1931).

Courmes, Dominique Albert. Outstanding French Theosophist of the early days of the Movement, and staunch supporter of H.P.B. He was born at Rouen, France, August 4, 1843, and entered his country’s service by joining the Navy at the age of 17. Thirty-five years later, he retired as Commandant of the French Navy and was decorated with the Légion d’Honneur.

He had studied Spiritualism both theoretically and practically, and it was in the Revue Spirite, during 1877-78, that he published the first message of Theosophy in France, having met in 1876 with some of the first writings of H.P.B. During the struggle of the Commune in the streets of Paris, Courmes, then a naval lieutenant, saved from destruction the Spiritualistic records and a statue of Allan Kardec.

In 1879 he was shipwrecked on the coasts of South America and was invalided home to Toulon, where he lay sick in the Naval Hospital, and was cared for by the young Dr. Th. Pascal, the resident doctor, forming with him the tie which made them fellow-workers in the Theosophical Cause. Courmes joined the T.S. in 1880 and in the same year translated into French Col. Olcott’s Buddhist Catechism. When, in 1883, he visited Ceylon, he had a long interview with the High Priest H. Sumangala, who thanked him for having helped to spread in the West what he called this simple but accurate exposition of a great religion. Courmes was also present at the

COMMANDANT DOMINIQUE ALBERT COURMES 1843-1914 Reproduced from The Theosophist, Vol. XXXII, May, 1911.

735

festival in Kotahena, and delivered an address in French at the Colombo Theosophical Hall, May 16th, 1883, which was read by the President, Andrew Pereira.

Commandant Courmes welcomed the Founders (with whom he had corresponded since 1876) at Marseilles in 1884, and spent some days with them. Two years later he welcomed Dr. Pascal into the T.S. in France. Courmes saw H.P.B. shortly before her passing in 1891, when he promised her that he would translate The Secret Doctrine into French, a great task he actually accomplished. The “Introductory” and the “Proem” were published serially in the pages of La Revue Théosophique (edited in Paris by the Countess Gaston d’Adhémar de Cronsac), from Vol. I, March 21, 1889, through Vol. II, December 21, 1889. The complete French translation was published in 1899-1910, in Six Volumes, 8vo.—a monumental undertaking!

The first Theosophical Journal mentioned above, which lasted only one year, was succeeded by Le Lotus Bleu. When its Editor, Monsieur Arthur Arnould died in 1896, there was no one to take his place, and it is this which decided Courmes to retire from the Navy, and to dedicate his entire life to Theosophy. He took up the Editorship of the Journal and published therein considerable portions of Isis Unveiled and The Key to Theosophy in French translation, as well as other articles and essays from Theosophical publications, in addition to many contributions from his own pep. Courmes issued also a Questionnaire Théosophique Élémentaire, (Paris: Publications Théosophiques, 1897, 106 pp.), which was translated into English and Spanish. He also rendered into French the famous Fragments of Occult Truth, written mainly by Hume and Sinnett. His French translation of the Bhagavad-Gita (from the English translation of the Sanskrit text by Annie Besant and Bhagavan Das) was issued in 1910 as an 8vo. volume.

Until the French Section was formed in 1900, Comm. Courmes organized the Paris work, but then proposed Dr. Pascal as the first General-Secretary. He also organized the first International Theosophical Congress in Paris in the same year. Comm. Courmes passed away January 17, 1914 and was cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

An upright and courageous character, of chivalrous honor, Commandant Courmes will be remembered as a man both brave and gentle, of tender heart, yet a lover of discipline, an indefatigable worker in our Cause, a colleague to be trusted.

736 (Sources: The Theosophist, IV, Suppl. to May, 1883, p. 7; also XXXII, May, 1911, pp. 297-99; also XXXV, p. 791.)

Crabbe, George (1754-1832). English poet, born at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, son of a customs officer. After serving for a time as apothecary’s assistant, he worked as a day-laborer in his native town, experiencing a period of want. Having gone to London, he had the good fortune to be received by the famous Edmund Burke who encouraged him in his literary abilities and suggested that he would enter the church. Crabbe was ordained, 1781, and became curate at Aldeburgh and later chaplain at the Belvoir castles of the duke of Rutland. One of his earliest works was The Village (1783) in which he showed his passion for truth, naked and unashamed. Sir Walter Scott was greatly impressed by it. Most of his later life was spent at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, his last years being the most prosperous period of his life. He frequently visited London, and became a friend of all the literary celebrities of the time. Ignored by the public for a long time, his poems became better known after his days. His stories are profoundly poignant and reveal him as one of the great realists of English fiction. Curiously enough, some of his best lyrics were written under the influence of opium. Among his works should be mentioned: Tales of the Hall (1817), The Parish Register (1807), and Tales in Verse (1812). His Complete Works were published by the Cambridge University Press in 1906.

Crémieux, Hananel (1800-1878). Judge and writer; Talmudic scholar and Hebrew teacher at Aix. Judge in the Aix Communal tribunal. Active member of the Jewish Consistory for Southern France and one of the founders of Archives Israélites, to which he was an early contributor. (Cf. Univ. Jewish Encyclopaedia.)

Darwin, Erasmus (1731-1802). English man of science and poet, born at Elton, Nottinghamshire. Educated at Cambridge and Edinburgh, he settled as a physician at Nottingham, later moving to Lichfield (1757) and Derby (1781). His fame as a poet rests upon his Botanic Garden, while his scientific abilities are embodied mainly in his important work entitled *Zoonomia (1794-96), which contains a system of pathology and a treatise on generation anticipating the later views of Lamarck. In his Phytologia (1799), he made the claim that plants have sensation and volition. The famous Charles Darwin was his grandson.

Deleuze, J. P. F. (1753-1835). See Vol. II, p. 526, for biography.

737 Deslon, Charles (d. 1786). See Vol. II, p. 526, for data.

Diodorus Siculus. See Vol. V, p. 373, for data.

D’Israeli (or Disraeli), Isaac (1766-1848). English man of letters, father of the Earl of Beaconsfield. *Curiosities of Literature, London, 1791 and subsequent volumes in 1793, 1817, 1823, 1834.

Dramard, Louis (1848-87). See Vol. IX, pp. 412-13, for biography.

Draper, John William (1811-82). *History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, 1863.

Dryden, John (1631-1700). *Ovid's Metamorphoses. Passage from the 15th Book. Many editions.

Dumas (Père), Alexandre (1802-70). *Mémoires d'un médecin, Joseph Balsamo. Paris: Michel Lévi, 1850, 1863, 1872, 1900.

Dupotet, Baron Jules (1796-1881). See Vol. VII, p. 368, for biographical sketch.

Edge, Henry Travers. Personal pupil of H.P.B. in the London days, born at Cubbington, near Leamington, Warwickshire, England, January 6, 1867; died at the Theosophical Headquarters, Covina, California, September 19, 1946. His father was Francis Edge, a Clergyman of the Church of England, and his mother, Cecilia Tarratt Edge. He was educated at Malvern College from 1880 to 1886; thereafter at King’s College, Cambridge. In 1889, he entered for the Natural Sciences Tripos, in Chemistry, Physics and Geology, taking high honors. He then studied a year in Germany, and taught in various institutions in England. In 1899 he resigned his post as Demonstrator in Practical Physics at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, London, in order to accept Katherine Tingley’s invitation to join the Theosophical Headquarters Staff at Point Loma, California.

Henry T. Edge’s acquaintance with Theosophy dated from the early days of The Theosophical Society. The background of this is best outlined in his own words:

“.... Of a pronounced nervous-mental temperament and physique, I had begun at a very early age to devour what scientific books I could come across; lacked the power of concentration necessary for reading or for assiduous study, but had a quick bright mind that readily picked up a store of miscellaneous information and stored it up in a retentive memory ready for use when required. Thus the scientific element entered as 738one skein in the fabric. On the moral side I was always of a conscientious and religious disposition.

“At about eighteen a third element manifested itself, which may be called the mystical, concerned with interest in the occult and ‘supernatural.’ The attitude of scientific materialism received a rude shock from the reading of Catherine Crowe’s The Night Side of Nature, which is a collection of ghost-stories made by that novelist, the cumulative evidence of which is enough to convince a competent mind of the reality of phenomena attested by universal experience of all ages...

“I realized that these stories of the ‘supernatural,’ after filtering off the trash in them, were essentially facts; and that, however irritating they might often be to my acquired sense of what might be allowed to be possible in a trim scientific scheme of the universe, I had to fit them in somehow, and must accordingly stretch my boundaries...

“Having thus passed a portal, it is not surprising that I soon found other books to feed my new curiosity; among which I will mention Bulwer Lytton’s The Haunted and the Haunters. This story contains a vivid description of a Black Magician, who by developing the will, with the aid of a rare natural aptitude, has found the means of prolonging his life through the centuries, and who periodically celebrates a fictitious funeral and reappears among men in a new guise and a new name, to perpetuate the enjoyment of his sensual proclivities. His will is supreme and resistless and his character one of surpassing grandeur and dignity, but (alas) evil.

“Here then comes a crucial point in my mental life—the antagonism between the high ideals of human attainment thus depicted, and the voice of conscience and love of good. Power on one side, goodness on the other; how could such opposing forces ever be reconciled? Yet the inner man, the clear-seeing function of the mind that lies below the surface, must have been prescient of the issue so soon to supervene; else why was it that the even course of my life and avocations was so little disturbed? Truly we have that within us which sees and knows, and fulfils its calm ends despite our blind struggles. Still thy mind and strive to hear and acquiesce in that higher wisdom.

“Phrenology—Swedenborgianism—Psychic Research—anything off the beaten track, anything available in those days (1885-87). 739An accident, laying me on my back and giving an opportunity for study and reflexion; the change from school to the freedom of university life; the studies and laboratory work, the many newfound friends; into this busy scene came Theosophy, the goal to which I had from earliest self-consciousness been dimly striving, to resolve my enigmas and reconcile my conflicting motives.

“I was in early manhood a student at Cambridge University, reading for honors in science. In pursuance of the aforesaid instinct, I had been attending meetings of some society (its name I struggle in vain to remember), whose object was, as far as one could see, somewhat different from that of scientific skeptics who denied and scoffed at all apparitions and occult phenomena. The method of this society was to accept the possibility of such phenomena, but to reduce them by every possible means to the level of the commonplace. It was very learned, very documentary, very dry-as-dust and uninspiring; and I ceased to think any more about it and its doings, at the very first chance I had to find something better worth thinking about.

“How vividly stand forth in one’s memory the incidents—nay, perhaps, the one incident—marking a turning-point in one’s life! I can see, on August 15, 1887, a young student in cap and gown walking along the King’s Parade, and meeting a cousin, who was an undergraduate of Caius College, and who stopped me to say: ‘Have you read that book, by Mr. Sinnett, called Esoteric Buddhism, all about worlds and planets and races and rounds...?’

“What he said, I don’t recollect, but it was enough to send me straight to the University Library after that book. It was out, but another book by the same author, The Occult World, was in; and from that afternoon I had entered upon a new phase of my life—begun my life, one might almost say—been born again, as it were. There was a child’s handful of other books on Theosophy or near-Theosophy; some of them still known, others forgotten; but no Key to Theosophy, no Voice of the Silence, no Secret Doctrine—though there was Isis Unveiled.

“I lost no time in communicating with H. P. Blavatsky’s agents in London, and obtained an introduction to certain Theosophists resident near Cambridge. It was at the country-house of these members that a small band, chiefly of members of the University, constituting the Cambridge Lodge of the Theosophical Society, used to hold its meeting; and the recollection of those 740days is full of poetry and music to the recorder, but to the reader will be of secondary interest to my recollections (such as they are) of H. P. Blavatsky herself.

“And here it must be said that the record will be more an impression than a diary, more a picture than a description. Not being gifted or hampered with a photographic memory or a passion for detail, my memory brings up a general idea, in which the salient features stand out regardless of chronological sequence, and things blend into one another to form a composite.

“It must have been at the end of the term, near Christmas, 1887, that I first went to see H. P. Blavatsky. The association of ideas has hallowed the memories of the underground railway with its sulphureous smoke, and the street-names that lay along the route.

“H. P. Blavatsky was then residing, with a little group of helpers, in a small semi-detached house in a residential quarter of London, West—17 Lansdowne Road, Holland Park, W. I arrived just before the evening meal, so that my first meeting with her was a social one. After the meal we adjourned to the sittingroom, where H. P. Blavatsky habitually entertained her guests and visitors in the evenings. At that time of life I was what I should describe as shy and backward, admirably formed to play the part of a silent and unobtrusive spectator.

“The first impression which I got of H. P. Blavatsky was the same as that which so many others have got, and at which some of them have stopped short—namely that she was an eminently human person. I say ‘first’ advisedly, because, as will be seen, that was not the only impression.

“Now, assuming H. P. Blavatsky to be a great character, what ought one expect to find? Experience and records of great characters, or prominent characters, might suggest one or other of two things. We might expect the person to strike us at first sight with awe, as from one who was not only great but was aware of the fact and not unwilling that you should also be aware. Or, on the other hand, perhaps he would be a person of extraordinary simplicity, a great one but not wishing to enact that part. Which of these supposed persons, if either, would be truly great? Number one would certainly be acting a part, and his self-consciousness would add an element of littleness detracting from his greatness. Number two even might be acting a part-—affected simplicity. But in the really great person the simplicity would be no pose, but merely his natural character expressing itself naturally and without art.

DR. HENRY TRAVERS EDGE 1867-1946

741 “It would be quite impossible to connect the idea of H. P. Blavatsky (as I saw her—and that is what I am concerned with at present) with pose or vanity or vainglory or self-consciousness. Whatever view one might take of her or her mission, at least one must conclude that here was a thorough, earnest, and sincere character; the kind that would scorn simulation or dissimulation; the kind so sure of its own sincerity as to feel no need for any attempt to impress it on people.

“In short I saw simply a very vivacious and interesting Russian lady, talking on a variety of subjects and expressing each emotion as it came along, with the ease and alertness which we all have in early childhood and so soon lose. Such people hate humbug or pretence of whatever sort. No doubt there are some who feel uncomfortable in the presence of such a person. No doubt I should have felt uncomfortable had she not been so kind.

“The evening was spent in the sitting-room where H. P. Blavatsky was wont to receive her guests and visitors; and, though I can recall nothing definite, my impression was the same. Extreme versatility and a mind active enough for several persons at once, were noticeable. H. P. Blavatsky could carry on two conversations at once, in different languages, and have enough spare energy left to require occupation in a game of solitaire. And yet all this external activity might have served mainly to keep the body quiet while the mind was busy in activities whose nature we cannot surmise but whose existence was surely indicated by the depth of those wonderful eyes.

“The many extant portraits will give an idea of her features; and in this connexion I remember roughly, though without the exact words to quote, a description given in a novel of that period, in which novel she enters as a character and is treated with much sympathy and respect by the author. In this description the remarkable contrasts of the face are emphasized. In many respects the physiognomy was Turanian; but in place of small dark deepset eyes were eyes unusually large, and light gray or blue-gray in color. The massive jaw and firm mouth were contradicted by the small alert nose; the complexion sallow, the hair medium brown, fine in texture, crisp and wavy. Fitting signature of a Light-Bringer into a world needing light: the eyes showing the irradiated mind, the powerful, rugged features marking the 742strength demanded by such a contact. To be a connecting link, a buffer, what a rare union of purity and clarity with strength and toughness is required! Stature short and stout, and at that time, owing to the infirmities brought about by a life of most strenuous and unsparing devotion, very corpulent and dropsical. A most nervous and excitable temperament in a lymphatic physique.

“The manners of this lady were entirely natural and unaffected; in which respect she conveyed the impression of a child: the same alertness and freedom of gesture. But a grown-up child, a much- traveled and well-informed child; full of animation, passing easily from topic to topic and diffusing her own enthusiasm into her auditors. Thinking aloud, as it were, scorning petty hypocrisies, having nothing to conceal. Many of these traits doubtless pertaining to nationality and family, others peculiar to herself.

“I was by temperament excellently qualified for the part of silent listener, which has its advantages and disadvantages. My recollections are vague as to detail. Not living in London, my visits to H.P.B. were infrequent and intermittent; their number and particular features are lost in a general haze. Yet perhaps, as said before, this circumstance may be regarded as serving to filter out the non-essentials and preserve the essence.

“The second time I visited her, she stated that I had already been, not once, but twice before; and spoke of a visit which (as she said) I had made before my last visit. She described the dress I had worn (which was verified by a friend at Cambridge as being the one he was accustomed to see me wearing). She told me what I had said on the occasion of the alleged visit. I had told her (she said) about an illness giving me an opportunity to study and reflect. This was true, as mentioned above; but I had never told H.P.B. Upon being asked whether it was in my astral body that I had been present, she said: “No, he was just as he is now.” Now it is true that I was at that time much addicted to day-dreaming, especially when taking walks; and nothing is easier than to see how my entire mind, and perhaps a good deal more, might be transferred; but the question of the physical presence is a mystery the solution of which I hereby leave to my readers to exercise their intuition upon.

“In October, 1888, returning from vacation to my rooms in Cambridge, I found on my table a copy of Lucifer, containing an announcement in which H.P.B. invites Theosophists to embrace the opportunity for a deeper study of Theosophy; and this marks another great epoch in my life. It is here however that we trench 743upon matters not pertaining to this magazine. Much must therefore be represented by a hiatus, or by those rows of dots or stars by which the printer loves to signify a jumping-off place for the imagination. If you are fond of mystery, what more mysterious can you have than such a row of dots?

“However, it is here that I came in contact with H.P.B. the Teacher, and first became conscious of that relationship between teacher and pupil which is so much more than any ordinary relationship, whether between ordinary teachers and pupils or in any other bond.

“Real teaching is not conveyed orally or by writing. The marks by which a Teacher is recognized as such are well known to those who are privileged by this relationship. There is first the power to teach: which does not consist in telling you what you must believe, but in calling your attention to what you want to know. A Teacher is a revealer, an opener of one’s eyes; one who has something to give to those who can ask—who can give the right ‘password.’ Then there is the responsiveness of the Teacher to one’s secret aspirations and other feelings; which does not mean thought-reading, if you please, for that would amount to burglarizing another person’s mind, a thing no Teacher would do. What I do mean can be illustrated by an instance.

“Having on one occasion, while far away from London, chanced to be thinking of H.P.B., and to have achieved some kind of realization of her real character and work, I had felt a glow of the true Love go forth from my heart. The next time I saw the Teacher, she had something for me, something which only a Teacher can give, something which not even a Teacher can give except to one who has asked. “Knock, and it shall be opened to you.’

“Thus was H. P. Blavatsky recognised as a Teacher, as one able to teach by more intimate means than oral instruction.

“She turned one’s aspirations into the right channel and inculcated the Heart-Doctrine, which supersedes all personal motives by the power of universal Love—the life of the Spiritual Man. The Teacher can appeal directly to the real Self of the pupil, causing him to recognize the Light and Truth, even though his brain-mind may not see it; and thus he is able to dedicate himself inwardly by a vow whose power will ever afterwards guard and guide him.

“One thing which H.P.B. said in my presence was this: that, when she had first met me, she had said to herself: ‘Here is a young man who has an eventful occult life before him. He has 744two paths open: in the one he will be happy; in the other miserable. I wonder which he will choose.’

“Another time she put into my hands the manuscript of The Voice of the Silence and sent me to another room to read it.”

In 1888 Henry T. Edge received his diploma of fellowship in The Theosophical Society, signed by Col. Henry Steel Olcott, President, and A. J. Cooper-Oakley, Secretary. Shortly thereafter he became a personal pupil of H.P.B. and was entrusted by her with private literary and office duties, which he continued to perform until her death on May 8, 1891. His diploma was “Endorsed valid under the Constitution of The Theosophical Society in Europe” by William Quan Judge as President, September 23, 1895.

After a few years of varied activities at Point Loma, H. T. Edge was appointed Head Master of the Boys’ Department of the Râja- Yoga School. He was one of the original incorporators of Theosophical University on December 18, 1919, and became its President on November 21, 1939, which post he held until June 19, 1946. At Point Loma, he taught Latin and Greek, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Geology. He also conducted classes in Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. For forty-six years, he contributed gratis his time and his talents to the educational and literary work conducted at Point Loma; he was also generous in his financial support of the Society’s activities.

From 1888 until his death in 1946, Dr. Edge was an incredibly prolific contributor to various Theosophical periodicals, including H.P.B.’s Lucifer, the Point Loma weeklies, The New Century, The New Century Path and The Century Path (the three published in succession from September 30, 1897 to June 11, 1911); the monthly and later quarterly Theosophical Path (July, 1911 to October, 1935); The Theosophical Forum (published monthly, beginning in September, 1929, and contributed to by H.T.E. from 1929 until his death in 1946). As an illustration of his literary creativity, a collection of his contributions to The Theosophical Path between July, 1911 and December 1916 alone, under his own name or initials and under the pseudonyms H. Travers, T. Henry, Ariomardes, The Busy Bee, Magister Artium, T.H. and Student, includes 197 articles. He made numerous contributions defending H.P.B.’s memory, explaining her mission, and expounding her teachings continuously for more than half a century.

745 Among his lengthier monographs are: Studies in Evolution; Questionnaire on Evolution; The Universal Mystery-Language and its Interpretation; Theosophical Light on the Christian Bible; and Manuals on Theosophy and Christianity, The Astral Light, and Evolution. All of his writings reveal the sound, balanced judgment of a Cambridge-trained scientist and scholar, illuminated by his lifelong study and acceptence of Theosophy as he had learned it from H.P.B. and those who followed faithfully in her footsteps.

On May 9, 1946, in his eightieth year and near the end of his earthly sojourn, failing in health and facing ingratitude and misunderstanding, he wrote to sympathetic friends in part as follows:

“Dismissing doubt and fear from our hearts, and with full confidence in the spiritual power thus evoked, let us stand together in valiant defense of our convictions and of the great work for which our Teachers have sacrificed so much. It may well be that trials like the present are needed in order to infuse new vigor into the hearts of members, and to spur them to stand on their own feet. This is no time to stand still and wait; for the Masters cannot help us unless we make the appeal. It is the time for action, and even the oldest and feeblest can act on the spiritual plane by assuming the right attitude.

“It is my earnest wish to spread far and wide the confidence which inspires me and which I feel has given me renewed strength to meet the obligation which my situation entails. Not a morning nor a night passes without my vision going back to 1886 when, at the feet of H.P.B. I dedicated my life to her Cause.” Some years prior to that, writing in The Theosophical Path (Vol. XX, January, 1921), he had said:

“The crowning privilege of an eventful life has been my intimate personal relationship with H. P. Blavatsky, as pupil of that great Teacher. This extended from 1887 until her death, while she was carrying on at her London residence her work of promulgating Theosophy, by her receptions to inquirers and the publication 746of her books and magazines. She showed me that Theosophy is the most serious movement of the age, and that it requires of its adherents entire devotion to the Heart-Doctrine; and her own life was the noblest examplar of her teachings. In the face of illness, incessant and malicious opposition, and at great pecuniary sacrifice, she toiled heroically at her great work for the bringing of Truth, Light, and Liberation to discouraged humanity.”

Elliotson, John (1791-1868). See Vol. II, p. 528, for data.

Elphinstone, Mountstuart (1779-1859). Scottish statesman and historian who went to India, 1796, in the service of the East India Company. Took prominent part in the Mahratta War as assistant to Gen. Wellesley. Served later as British envoy to the court of Kabul and as resident at Poona, where he administered the recently annexed British dominions after the downfall of the peshwa. Appointed, 1819, lieutenant-governor of Bombay, a post he held until 1827. His principal achievement was the compilation of the “Elphinstone Code.” He may be regarded as the founder of the system of State education in India. After returning to England, 1829, he continued to exercise an important influence on public affairs. His best known works are: Account of the Kingdom of Kabul, 1815; and a History of India, 1841.

Engelmann, Theodor Wilhelm. German physiologist, born at Leipzig, 1843; d. at Berlin, 1909. Taught biology and histology at Utrecht, Holland; later became Director of the Physiological Institute at Berlin. Investigated muscle-action and various functions of the eye. A lover of music, he was on friendly terms with Brahms and other composers, *Beitrage zur Physiologic des Protoplasm” in Pflii- gers Archiv fiir Gesammte Physiologic, Bd. II, p. 387.

*Esoteric Catechism. Unavailable.

Eusebius Pamphili of Caesarea (ca. 260—ca. 340). *Ecclesiastical History. Text in Migne’s Patrol, graeca, tom. xix-xxiv. Text and Engl, transí, in Loeb Classical Library.

Eyraeneus Philalethá Cosmopolita. An Alchemist who flourished about 1660. His life 'is wrapped in mystery. While some have tried to identify him with Thomas Vaughan, a brother of Henry Vaughan, the “Silurist” poet, others thought him to be identical with George Starkey, a physician and the author of Liquor Alchahest, who practiced his art in the Bermudas. Eyraeneus seems to have been on intimate terms with Robert Boyle, eventually emigrating to America. 747Whatever the truth may be in regard to the identity of our author, one of his works is *Secrets Revealed: or an open entrance to the Shut Palace of the King. Containing the greatest treasure in Chymistry, never yet so plainly discovered. Published by Wm. Cooper, Esq., London, 1669, 8vo. Another work is entitled: A Breviary of Alchemy: or a Commentary upon Ser G. Ripley's Recapitulation, London, 1678, 8vo.

Feltham, Owen. English moralist, born sometime between 1602 and 1609, and who died at Great Billing early in 1668. Famous chiefly as the author of a volume entitled Resolves, Divine, Moral and Political, containing one hundred short and pithy essays, to which in later years he appended Lusoria, a collection of 40 poems. To the middle classes of the 17th century he seemed a heaven-sent philosopher and guide, some eleven editions of his work appearing before 1700.

Fere, Dr. Charles-Samson (1852-?). French physician associated with Paris Hospitals and the medical center at Bicètre, 1884, specializing in epilepsy and the insane. Collaborated with Alfred Binet in the writing of Le Magnétisme animal, Paris, F. Alcan, 1887, 8vo., vi, 284 pp., fig.

Fouquier, Pierre-Éloy (1776-1850). Famous physician and professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Paris. One of the founders of systematic medical science which he looked upon as the “science of life.” Chiefly connected with the well-known Charité Hospital, Fouquier was primarily a diagnostician. Served as physician to Louis-Philippe and his family. According to the testimony of various knowledgeable writers, he was a man of blameless honesty, humanitarian instinct and wholehearted devotion to his science.

Franck, Adolphe (1809-1893). *La Kabbale, ou philosophie religieuse des Hébreux, Paris, Hachette, 1843. See Vol. XI, of the Collected Writings, p. 575, for detailed information about his life and writings.

Franklin, Alfred Louis-Auguste. French writer, b. at Versailles, Dec. 16, 1830; d. in 1917. Studied in the Bourbon College, and became Assistant Director of the Bibliothèque Mazarin in 1856. Author of a large number of historical and bibliographical works, such as *La Vie privée d autrefois . ... du Xllme au XVIlIme siècle, etc., Paris: E. Plon, Nourrit & Co., 1887-1902, in 27 Volumes. Edited a number of papers and collaborated with other writers in the production of their own works.

748 Galton, Sir Francis (1822-1911). English anthropologist educated at King’s College, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge. After travels in Africa and studies of meteorology, became absorbed in anthropology, and laid the foundations of the science of eugenics. He advocated the furthering of the productivity of the fit and the restricting of the birth-rate of the unfit. Greatly interested in fingerprints research. *Inquiry into Human Faculty and its Development. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1883, xii, 387 pp., ill.; many later reprints.

Gichtel, Johann Georg. German mystic, b. at Ratisbon, March 14, 1638; d. in 1710. He was admitted an advocate, but soon changed his career upon meeting baron Justinianus von Weitz (1621-68), a Hungarian nobleman who cherished schemes for the reunion of Christendom. Gichtel promoted a society called “Christerbauliche Jesusgesellschaft” which after a while brought him prosecution and banishment. He settled at Zwolle, Holland, where he co-operated with Friedrich Breckling (1629-1711) who shared his views. In 1668 he removed to Amsterdam, where he made the acquaintance of Antoinette Bourignon (1616-80), and became an ardent disciple of Jakob Boehme, whose works he published in 1682. His followers were known as Brethren of the Angels. Gichtel’s correspondence was published without his knowledge by Gottfried Arnold, one of his disciples, in 1701 and 1708. It has been frequently reprinted under the title of Theosophia practica.

*Golden Legend. Also known as the Legenda A urea. A hagiology written by Jacobus de Voragine (ca. 1230—ca. 1298), Archbishop of Genoa, and translated into English and printed by Caxton in 1483. The author, an Italian chronicler, was born at Verazze, near Genoa, and joined the Dominican order in 1244. He represented his own province at the councils of Lucca (1288) and Ferrara (1290). He distinguished himself by his efforts to appease the civil discords of Genoa. The Golden Legend was one of the most popular religious work of the middle ages, and is a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints, ornamented with much curious information.

Grébaut, Eugène (1846-1915). *Hymne à Amon-Ra des papyrus égyptiens du musée de Boulaq. Translated and with Commentary by E.G. Paris: F. Vieweg, 1874, 8vo., xxxii, 304.

Greding, Johann Ernst (1718-75). German physician, b. at Weimar and who studied medicine at Jena and Leipzig. Practiced since 1742, mainly in correctional and poor houses in Waldheim (Sachsen), 749specializing in epilepsy and mental cases. His work, *Adversaria medica practica was publ. by his teacher, Dr. Christian Friedrich Ludwig, Altenburg, 1781. His Collected Medical Works (in German) were publ. in 1790-91.

Guersant, Paul-Louis-Benoit (1800-1869). French physician whose activity was mainly connected with the children’s hospital in Paris, where he organized a surgical clinic which gained a widespread reputation. Together with seventeen other surgeons, he founded, 1843, the Société de Chirurgie and was its President in 1852-53. Many of his writings which dealt primarily with surgery for children, have been collected in his Notices sur la chirurgie des enfants (Paris, 1864-67; Engl, transi, by Richard J. Dunglison, Philadelphia, 1873).

Günz, Justus Godofredus (1714-1754). *Prolusio capillos glandulae pinealis in quinque mente alienatis ventos proponit. Lipsiae, 1753, 4to., xxiii pp.

Hallam, Henry. English historian, b. July 9, 1777; d. Jan. 21, 1859. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated in 1799. Practiced law for a time, but around 1812 gave himself completely to his favorite studies. Held the position of commissioner of stamps, and supported the abolition of slave trade. Author of: *The View of the Slate of Europe during the Middle Ages (1818; suppl. note, 1848), a work of great erudition and historical value. His Constitutional History of England (1827) and his Introduction to the Literature of Europe (1838-39) are still authoritative studies and earned for their author the title of “philosophical historian.”

Harris, Thomas Lake (1823-1906). Born in Buckinghamshire, emigrated with his parents to the United States when he was a child. Became a preacher of the Universalist Church, later a Swedenborgian. Gathered round him a considerable congregation in New York. Claimed prophetic power and divine inspiration. Returning to America from a trip to London, 1859, he founded a small community in New York among which were the author Laurence Oliphant with his wife and mother. Called the Brotherhood of the New Life, the community was engaged in wine-making and its founder expounded some very peculiar ideas about sex, marriage and psychic powers. In 1881, the Oliphants seceded from his rule and charged him with fraud. In spite of very strange ideas and claims, Harris had a degree of inspiration and considerable gifts of his own. Some consider him to have been a Spiritualist, but he was rather a certain type of mystic with very confused ideas peculiar to psychic 750temperaments. He wrote a number of works among which H.P.B. quotes from Womanhood which has not been definitely identified.

Helmont, Jean Baptista van, Belgian chemist, physiologist and physician, born of a noble family at Bois le Duc, in Brabant in 1557, and who died at his castle of Vilvorde, near Brussels, December 30, 1624. Studying at Louvain, he early attained distinction in mathematics, lecturing on physics at the age of seventeen. Before he was twenty-two, he had read Hippocrates and the Greek and Arabian authors, practicing medicine according to Vopiscus and Plempius. In 1599, he took his degree as doctor of medicine. After meeting a follower of Paracelsus he became interested in his teachings concerning medicine to such an extent that he retired to the castle of Vilvorde, to spend the rest of his life in the study of chemistry on which he wrote a number of treatises that made him famous throughout Europe. Van Helmont must be ranked as one of the pioneers of science on account of his experimental researches, his acute judgment and his brilliant mind. He revolutionized medicine as known in his day, creating an epoch in the history of physiology, being the first to recognize the functions of the stomach and its relation to other organs of the body. He was the discoverer of carbonic acid gas, the term “gas” being apparently of his own invention. He studied the ideas and the experiments of the Alchemists and expressed his firm belief in the transmutation of metals, having seen the experiment performed many times.

Van Helmont, illustrious throughout Europe for his scientific knowledge, and no less celebrated for his noble rank than by the probity of his character, testifies in three different places, among them in his treatise De Vita Eterna, that he has beheld, and himself performed, transmutation. He says that he has seen and touched the philosophers’ stone more than once; the color of it was like saffron in powder, but it was heavy and shining like pounded glass. Though ignorant of the nature of this powder of projection, van Helmont professed the knowledge of the alcahest, and the methods of preparing medicines of great efficacy by its means. Among other scientific disciples, van Helmont became a believer in Mineral and Human Magnetism, anticipating Mesmer. He helped a great many people stricken by illness without accepting any fees.

Van Helmont’s works were collected and published at Amsterdam as Ortus medicinae, vel opera et opuscula omnia in 1668 by his son Franz Mercurius (1618-1699), in whose own writings, such as Opuscula philosophica (1690), he discusses mystical Theosophy and Alchemy.

751 Herodotus (484-425 b.c.). *History. Section entitled Euterpe. Loeb Classical Library. Transl. by A. D. Godley.

Herzen, Alexander Alexandrovich (in Russian: Gerzen) (1839-1906). Russian physiologist, who studied medicine and natural sciences in Switzerland and lectured extensively on comparative anatomy. After travels in Norway and Iceland, settled in Florence, 1863, and taught physiology. Many of his scientific works have been translated into several languages, such as: *General Physiology of the Soul, St. Petersburg, 1890.

Higgins, Godfrey (1773-1833). *Anacalypsis, an Attempt to draw aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis, etc., London, 1836, 2 vols., 4to; 2nd ed., Glasgow, 1878, 8vo.

Hippolytus Romanus (3rd cent. a.d.). *Philosophumena or Refutation of AU Heresies. Also known as the Elenchos. Text in Migne, PCC, Ser. Gr.-Lat., XVI-3. Greek and Latin text ed. by Patricius Cruice, Paris, Impr. Royale, 1860. English transl. in The Ante- Nicene Christian Library, Edinburgh, 1867-72. 24 vols., 8vo.

Hirsch, August (1817-1894). Famous German epidemiolog graduating in Berlin, 1839. Professor at Berlin University since 1863, where his lectures attracted wide attention. Went to Russia, 1879, to study various infectious diseases. Travelled widely and engaged in pathological-geographical research. Author of a classical scientific work titled: Handbuch der historisch-geographischen Pathologie, Stuttgardt, Enke, 1881-87, in three volumes.

Hofmeister, Franz H. (1808-1878). Studied in Prague where he graduated as physician in 1836. Connected for many years with the hospital of the Barmherzigen Brüder. President of the Colegium of physicians and greatly interested in the welfare of medical personnel and their families. *“Untersuchungen über Resorption und Assimilation der Nährstoffe” in Archiv für Experimentelle Pathologie und Pharmakologie, Vol. XIX, 1885.

Hugo, Victor (1802-1885), *La Ein de Satan, 1886. Incomplete.

Iamblichus (255?—ca. 333 a.d.), * Liber de Mysteriis, often referred to as On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. Greek text has been edited by Ficinus (Venice, 1483, 4to., with Latin text), N. Scutelius (Rome, 1556, 4to.), Thos. Gale (Oxford, 1678, fol., with Latin translation), and G. Parthey (Berlin, 1857). English translation by Thomas Taylor as Iamblichus on the Mystiries, 752etc., Chiswick, 1821, 8vo.; 2nd ed., London, Bertram Dobell & Reeves & Turner, 1895, 8vo.; 3rd ed., 1968. Also translated by Dr. Alexander Wilder, as Theurgia or The Egyptian Mysteries, New York, The Metaphysical Publishing Co., 1911. Valuable footnotes by the Translator.

Irenaeus (130?-202?). *Adversus Haereses. Written about 180 a.d. and actually titled “Refutation and Overthrow of Gnosis, falsely so called.” Of the Greek original only fragments survive; it only exists in full in an old Latin translation. Consult J. P. Migne, Patrol. Gr., Vol. V. English transl. in Ante-Nicene Christian Library.

Itard, Jean-Marie-Gaspard (1775-1858). French physician whose knowledge of medicine was the result of self-devised efforts over a period of years. Eventually, he became identified with the Institution for the deaf-mutes and his studies along this line of research resulted in a great deal of practical information concerning the psychological traits of his patients and the way to help them in their problems.

Jolles, Adolf (1864-?). Physician and chemist born at Warsaw, but active mainly in Breslau and Vienna. Founded with his brother Maximilian a chemical-microscopical laboratory for various types of research along medical lines, and food values.

Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de. French physician and botanist, b. at Lyons, April 12, 1748; d. at Paris, Sept. 17, 1836. Studied medicine and botany in Paris, and published, 1789, his Genera plantarum, etc., which provided the basis for modern classification. After the Revolution, he was placed in charge of Paris hospitals. Professor of botany at the Museum of Natural History, 1770-1826.

Kames, Henry Home, Lord (1696-1782). Scottish lawyer and philosopher, born at Kames, Berwickshire. Called to the bar, 1724. Appointed judge in the court of session, 1752; was made, 1763, lord of judiciary. Apart from his legal writings, he is the author of: Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion (1751), supporting the doctrine of innate ideas, and other writings on Ethics and Thinking.

*Kathopanishad. Consult The Twelve Principal Upanishads (English translation). Publ. by Tookaram Tatya for the Bombay Theosophical Publication Fund, Bombay, 1891, and other collections of the Upanishads.

753 Keightley, Bertram (1860-1945). See Biographical sketch in Vol. IX, pp. 432-35, of H.P.B.’s Collected Writings.

Kennan, George (1845-1923). American journalist and author. Assistant Manager of Associated Press, Washington, D.C., 1877-85. In Russia and Siberia for Century Co., 1885-86. Correspondent in Cuba for The Outlook, 1898, and in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War. Climbed Mt. Pelée (Martinique) after the eruption of 1902. Wrote: *Siberia and the Exile System, 1891, 2 vols.

Koch, Robert (1843-1910). Renowned German bacteriologist trained at Göttingen, 1862-66. Engaged in remarkable research at Wolstein in the field of infection. Sent, 1881, to Egypt and India to study cholera, where he isolated its bacillus. Appointed, 1885, professor at the University of Berlin and director of the newly-organized Institute of Hygiene. His epoch-making researches contributed to the development of modern bacteriology, and its various side-branches.

Ladd, George Trumbull. American philosopher, b. in Painsville, O., Jan. 19, 1842; d. at New Haven, Conn., Aug. 8, 1921. Graduated at Western Reserve College, 1864, and at Andover Theological Seminary, 1869, preaching for a decade. Prof, of philosophy at Bowdoin College, 1879-81, and Clark Prof, of metaphysics and moral philosophy at Yale, 1881-1901. Founder of the Yale psychological laboratory. One of his best known works is *Elements of Physiological Psychology (1887; new ed., 1911).

Lavater, Johann Kaspar, poet, theologian, mystic and physiognomist, b. at Zürich, November 15, 1741; d. there January 2, 1801. Educated at the Zürich Gymnasium. Took orders in 1769, and for the rest of his life was deacon or pastor in various churches of his native town. His oratorical fervor and depth of conviction gave him an extraordinary personal influence, and he was consulted by thousands of Germans and Swiss as a spiritual adviser. He is, however, best remembered as the author of *Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, 1775-78, to which Goethe, long a warm friend of Lavater, contributed a chapter. These Essays were translated into English by H. Hunter (London, 1789-98, 3 vols.). Among his mystical writings, Aussichten in die Ewigkeit (1768-78) went through several editions. When Zürich was captured by Masséna, 1799, Lavater was shot by a French grenadier, lingering more than a year before dying.

Lawrence, Sir William (1783-1867). Renowned English surgeon who was associated for some forty years with St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 754in London. He was Professor of anatomy and surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons, and was appointed, 1857, as sergeant-surgeon to Queen Victoria. Created Baronet in 1867. *Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man, etc., London, 1848, 8vo.

Lee, Ann (1736-1784). English religious visionary; was born in Manchester, where she was first a factory hand and afterwards a cook. She is especially remembered by her connection with the sect known as Shakers. She died at Watervliet, near Albany, New York.

Lenclos, Ninon de (1615-1705). French courtesan, daughter of a gentleman of good position in Touraine. As the mistress to a succession of well-known men of the time, acquired considerable influence, and eventually settled down to the social leadership of Paris. Her long friendship with Saint-Evremont deserves notice. Voltaire’s letter on her was the chief authority of subsequent biographers.

Lermontov, Mihail Yuryevich (1814-1841). *Poem to Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova, 1840.

Levi, Eliphas (pseud, of Alphonse-Louis Constant, 1810-75). *“Stray Thoughts on Death and Satan” (notes and footnotes by H.P.B.), The Theosophist, Vol. Ill, October, 1881, Cf. Collected IP citings, Vol. Ill, pp. 287-91.

Linton, Mrs. Elizabeth Lynn (1822-1898). English novelist who was married to W. J. Linton, engraver. She wrote a large number of novels and stories and became very well known in her time. One of the best works is: *The True History of Joshua Davidson, 1872.

Lodge, Sir Oliver Joseph (1851-1940). *Nature Series. Not definitely identified.

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-1882). *Santa Filomena, 1857.

Lumholtz, Carl Sofus, Norwegian explorer and naturalist, b. 1851 at Faaber in Gudbrandsalen; d. in the Saranac Lake Sanatorium, New York, May 5, 1922. After graduating in theology at the Univ, of Oslo, 1876, was sent by the Univ, to Australia, where he spent four years, 1880-84, collecting various scientific data. In 1890, he went to Mexico on behalf of the Amer. Museum of Nat. History, bringing back a valuable collection of photos. His work: Blandt Mexicos Indianere (1902-03) describes his trips. He also worked in Borneo, 7551915-17, gathering much new information on the Dyaks, recorded in his work: Through Central Borneo (New York, 1920, 2 vols.).

Machell, Reginald Willoughby. Outstanding English painter and carver, and a devoted Theosophist. Born June 20, 1854 at the family home Crackenthorpe, Westmoreland, he was the second surviving son of Rev. Beverly Machell, Canon of York Cathedral, and Emma Willoughby Machell, who was the sister of Lord Middleton. The Machells are an old Westmoreland family whose name is recorded in Doomsday Book. He was educated at Uppingham and Owen’s College, Manchester, and took many prizes for drawing and in the Classics. In 1875, he went to London to study art, and the following year to Paris, where he made great progress at the celebrated Academic Julien in the Passage des Panoramas, winning several medals in the school. He had married Ada Mary Simpson in 1875. He returned to London in 1880, devoting himself to portrait painting, and exhibited a full length portrait of a lady in the Royal Academy of that year. In 1885, he painted a large canvas of the “Temptation of St. Anthony”; in 1887, his “Bacchante” was exhibited at the Royal Academy. In that year Reginald discovered Theosophy through one of his aunts, a friend of Lady Malcolm (H.P.B.’s close friend), who had given her a copy of the magazine Lucijer that had just then been launched in London. The contents of that magazine were sufficient for Reginald to become convinced he had found what he was looking for in a philosophical approach to life. He met H.P.B. and joined The Theosophical Society. When H.P.B. had moved to 19 Avenue Road, Regents Park, London, at about July, 1890, Reginald Machell did some interior decorating there at her request, and she soon suggested he have his studio in the same building. From about that time, the character of his paintings changed greatly. They became mystical in nature and symbolic of some of the great truths of Theosophy. The famous “Dweller on the Threshold” was followed by “The Birth of a Planet” (owned by the Pioneer Club of London), “Lead Kindly Light,” “The Mystic Troth,” “The Bard,” “The Exiles,” and others. One of his most renowned canvases is ‘The Path,” owned by the Point Loma Theosophical Society (now at Pasadena), used for many years on the cover of the magazine The Theosophical Path and which is reproduced in the present Volume. In the words of Alice Leighton Cleather:

“I went to see Mr. Machell’s last picture, “The Path,” the other day, in the Suffolk Street Gallery, where it is now being exhibited. It is certainly one of his very best, and his most intricate and 756mystical. These words are inscribed at the bottom, in one corner: “If wisdom thou wouldst gain, be strong, be bold, be merciful. But when thou hast attained them let compassion speak. Renounce thy goal: return to earth a Saviour of Mankind”; and they give the key-note to the picture. The whole of the life of man, as outlined in the Esoteric philosophy, is here given—suggested, rather—by Mr. Machell, in symbolic form; so you may imagine how almost impossible it would be to enter into a full description of it. But I believe that if the picture could be widely exhibited, especially among the poorer classes, it would do more to bring the teachings of H.P.B. home to the hearts and minds of the people, than reams of literature.”

In 1893, Reginald Machell was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, and since that time exhibited most of his paintings in the galleries of the Society.

As an illustrator Mr. Machell’s principal works are two original and sumptuous books written by the gifted American, Irene Osgood (1875-1922), who was a natural mystic. The first was An Idol's Passion (London and New York, The Transatlantic Puhi. Co., 1895), which contains seventeen finely executed mystical plates. The second was The Chant of the Lonely Soul (London, Gay and Bird, 1897), a work based on litanies to Tanit and adapted from Count Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac’s Les Chauves-Souris. Mr. Machell’s illustrations are large photogravures with the text worked in by the artist.

After H.P.B.’s body had been cremated in May of 1891, one third of her ashes was to be kept at the London Headquarters of The Theosophical Society. It was Reginald Machell who designed the symbolical urn or casket to be the receptacle of the ashes. The urn, as shown in our reproduction, was the work of Sven Bengtsson (1843-1916), a famous artist and carver from Lund, Sweden, who was a Fellow of the T.S. When the Headquarters at 19 Avenue Road, London, N.W. were given up, the ornamental urn with the ashes were taken by Annie Besant to India. Eventually, that one-third portion of the ashes was dropped into the Ganges, as was done with a portion of Col. Olcott’s ashes in 1907. Bengtsson’s urn is now at Adyar.

(Incidentally, that portion of H.P.B.’s ashes which Col. Olcott took with him to India was buried under H.P.B.’s statue in the Headquarters Hall at Adyar. The other third portion was for many years

REGINALD WILLOUGHBY MACHELL 1854-1927 Personal pupil of H.P.B. and outstanding painter and wood carver. From a photograph taken during his years at Point Loma, California.

SYMBOLICAL URN Designed by Reginald W. Machell as the receptacle for the ashes of H.P.B. It was produced by Sven Bengtsson, of Lund, Sweden, and is now at the International Theosophical Headquarters at Adyar.

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at Point Loma, and is now in the Archives of the Theosophical Society at Pasadena, California.)

In December, 1900, Reginald Machell left England for the Theosophical Headquarters at Point Loma, accompanied by his younger son, Montague A. Machell, whose older brother, Henry Reginald, (born in 1880) was killed in 1918, in World War I. In the same party were Charles J. Ryan and the Savage family, who became most valuable workers at Point Loma.

During his many years’ residence at Point Loma, Reginald Machell was productive of a great deal of creative work. He decorated the walls, columns and ceiling of the Temple of Peace with Egyptian patterns in pastel colors; he carved the symbolic figures on the massive doorways of the Temple; he also carved a number of beautiful chairs and screens; he wrote numerous articles and essays in The Century Path and The Theosophical Path published by the Society, often illustrating his own and other writers’ contributions with pen-and-ink drawings of a symbolic nature. In Loma- land dramatic work, he took active part in personating various characters in the Greek plays presented by Katherine Tingley and her staff in the famous open-air Greek theatre, and may be especially remembered as the Ghost of Clytemnestra in The Eumenides. Mr. Machell was of special service in scenic painting, in devising equipment for stage setting, and in supervising the rehearsals of young players.

Reginald Machell, one of the great pillars of our Movement, and a personal pupil of H.P.B., died at Point Loma on October 9, 1927.

Magendie, François (1783-1855). French physiologist, born at Bordeaux. Became professor of pathology at the Collège de France. Succeeded in demonstrating the motor functions of the anterior, and the sensory functions of the posterior spinal roots. He also investigated the blood-flow. Claude Bernard was one of his pupils. One of his works is the Précis élémentaire de physiologie (1816).

Maine, Sir Henry James Sumner. English comparative jurist and historian, b. at Kelso, Roxburghshire, Aug. 15, 1822; d. at Cannes, France, Feb. 3, 1888. Educated at Christ’s Hospital and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Was appointed, 1847, regius professor of civil law, and was called to the bar three years later. His lectures as reader to the Inns of Court became the groundwork of his Ancient Law published in 1861, a book which made his reputation at one stroke. From 1863 to 1869, Maine was legal member of council in India and contributed greatly towards the codification of Indian law. For a time he was vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. In 7581871, he became a member of the secretary of State’s council and remained so for the rest of his life. He taught jurisprudence at Oxford and in 1877 became master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. One of his works, Popular Government (1885) was designed to show that democracy is not in itself more stable than any other form of government, and that there is no necessary connection between democracy and progress.

Mânavadharmasâstra or Manusmriti (Laws of Manu). Text critically edited by J. Jolly, London, Triibner’s Oriental Series, 1887. Translated by G. Buhler, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1886, in Sacred Books of the East, XXV.

Marey, Étienne-Jules. French physiologist, b. at Beaune, March 5, 1830; d. 1904. Became M.D. in 1859. Organized the first laboratory of physiology in France. Professor of natural history at the Collège de France. Member of the Académie de Médecine and of the Institut de France. Elected to the Académie des Sciences, to replace Claude Bernard. Author of a number of specialized works, among them *La Machine animale; locomotion terrestre et aérienne (1874; 2nd ed., 1878).

Milton, John (1608-1674). *Paradise Lost, 1668.

Montaigne, Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de (1533-1592). *Essais, 1580. First edition reprinted by Dezeimeris and Burckhausen in 1870. Edition of Courbet and Royer is considered the standard. Recent edition has been publ. by Garnier Frères, Paris, 1962, and follows the ed. of 1595 issued in Bordeaux.

Morgagni, Giovanni Battista (1682-1771). Italian anatomist, graduating at Bologna in philosophy and medicine. Professor of medicine at Parma, greatly honored for his skill and knowledge. In his eightieth year, brought out his great work which made pathological anatomy a science: *De sedibus, et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis, Torino, Bottega d’Erasmo, 1761. Transi, into English, 1769, and later editions by the New York Academy of Medicine.

Oliphant, Laurence (1829-1888). See Vol. VII, pp. 386-87, for data. *Scientific Religion: or, Higher possibilities of life and practice through the operation of natural forces. Edinburgh & London, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1888, xv, 473 pp. American or 3rd ed., Buffalo, C. A. Wenbome, 1889.

Origen (185?-254?), *Contra Celsum. Principal apologetic work of the writer, in eight books, written at Caesarea in the time of Philip 759the Arabian. Contains nearly the whole of the famous work of Celsus, Logos alêthês, against Christianity. The work shows a close affinity between Origen’s own views and those of Celsus on many subjects. Greek text in J. P. Migne, Patrol. Gr., Vols. XI-XVII. English translation: by F. Crombie & W. H. Cairns in Ante-Nicene Christian Fathers, Vols. X & XXIII (Edinburgh, 1869-72); and by Henry Chadwick, with Introd, and Notes (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1953, xl, 531 pp., Index, Bibliography).

Ouida. Pseudonym of Louise de la Ramée (1839-1908). See Vol. VIII, p. 473, for data.

*Papyrus d’Orbiney. Purchased in 1857 from Madame d’Orbiney by the Trustees of the British Museum. Consists of nineteen pages of ten lines of hieratic writing together with an endorsement. Facsimile published in 1860 in the Select Papyri in the Hieratic Character from the Collections of the British Museum. This Papyrus contains the original of The Tale of the Two Brothers. H.P.B.’s reference to A pud Grebaut Papyrus d’Orbiney has not been definitely identified, but evidently refers to some study of this Papyrus made by Jean Charles Eugène Grébaut (1846-1914).

Parker, Theodore. American preacher and social reformer, b. at Lexington, Mass., Aug. 24, 1810; d. in Florence, Italy, May 10, 1860. Educated in the district school and one term in Lexington academy. Became a schoolmaster at 17, and in his 20th year entered himself at Harvard, working on his father’s farm while studying. Resided at the College for his theological course, graduating in 1836 from Harvard Divinity School. Gained a working knowledge of about twenty languages. Ordained as Unitarian clergyman at West Roxbury, 1837, and preached there until 1846, but found himself antagonistic to the popular theology of the time. For his rationalistic sermon in Boston, May 19, 1841, he was denounced by the Unitarian clergy and efforts were made to silence him. During the winter of 1841-42, he delivered in the Masonic Hall the lectures published as A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion (1842). Took up the question of the emancipation of the slaves and fearlessly advocated the cause of the Negroes, assisting actively in the escape of fugitive slaves. According to the Diet, of Amer. Biography, “Abraham Lincoln . . . probably derived from him the formula ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.” In January, 1859, he suffered a violent haemorrhage of the lungs, and vainly sought relief by travelling to the West Indies and then to Europe, where he died in Florence the next year. A friend of Emerson, Channing and other 760Transcendentalists, he was a man who spoke straight to men’s intelligence and conscience and the goodness of their hearts. His main belief centered in an Absolute being and intuitive religion. He was also the author of Ten, Sermons of Religion (1852) and Theism, Atheism and the Popular Theology (1853). He bequeathed his 16,000 volume library to the Boston Public Library.

Pirogov,Doctor Nikolay Ivanovich (1810-1881). Renowned Russian anatomist and surgeon, considered in his days to have been the greatest surgeon in Russia, and other countries, whose discoveries and research laid the foundations of anatomical surgery and especially its usages on the field of battles. Pirogov was born in Moscow, the son of a clerk in the Department of Treasury. After some preparatory studies at home and in a private school, he entered the University of Moscow where he graduated in 1827. He continued his studies in Germany, 1833-35; then became professor of surgery at the University of Dorpat (now Tartu), and in 1841 head of surgical work at the Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. In 1847, he went to the Caucasus and during his work with the wounded used for the first time ether as an anesthetic. He spent the years of 1862-66 abroad, helping younger students in their preparatory studies of surgery. Returning home, he settled in his estate of Vishnya, now called Pirogovo, near Vinnitza. A memorial museum was organized there in later years; it includes Pirogov’s embalmed body.

Plato (427?-347 b.c.). *Republic. Loeb Classical Library, Translation by Paul Shorey.

Pollok, Robert (1798-1827). English poet, son of a small farmer. Weakened his health by excessive athletics. Together with his brother, David, decided to become secession ministers. Graduated from Glasgow University, 1822, studying theology for the next five years. Poor health prevented him from making a career and he died very young in his sister’s home. His main contribution to literature is his poem *The Course of Time, 1827, which went through a large number of editions.

Pope, Alexander (1688-1744). *Moral Essays, 1731-35.

Potto, Vassiliy Alexandrovich (1836-1912). *Kavkazskaya voina, etc. (The War in Caucasus), St. Petersburg, Tiflis, 1885, etc., 8vo.

*Proceedings (Reports) of the Annual Conventions of the American Section of The Theosophical Society.

761 Pryse, James Morgan. Outstanding Theosophical worker and writer, and a printer of great ability. He was born in New London, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 14, 1859. His father, Rev. James Morgan Pryse, M.A., born in Tredegar, Wales, came to the U.S. when 14 years of age. He belonged to the Welsh Order of Druid Bards. Educated at Athens, he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. He married Mary Morgan, who came with her parents to Ohio from Aberystwith, Wales, when 12 years old. James was next to the youngest of eight children, five girls and three boys, born to them. His health impaired by overwork with a large city church, Rev. Mr. Pryse moved with his family to Emporia, Kansas, in 1863.

After some years he accepted a call to a church in a large Welsh settlement near Mankato, Minn. This quaint settlement was like a bit of Old Wales transplanted to the U.S. Thus during the most impressionable years of childhood James listened eagerly to innumerable stories about fairies, ghosts, visions and all the psychic phenomena told by the Welsh, a notably psychic people; and from his father he learned much of the mystic lore and traditions that have come down from the ancient Druids. Here James entered the grammar grades at school.

They next went to Prescott, Wis., where James continued in the grammar grade, at the same time taking up the study of Latin and Greek with his father. From Prescott they went to South Bend and thence to Lake City, Minn. James passed through High School, and then began reading law in an office there, continuing to read Greek with his father and his older brother Will. He was ready for the bar at the age of 17, but not caring to do four years’ clerical work he changed his plans and went to Red Cloud, Neb. His first winter there was spent in teaching school, riding 12 miles on horseback each morning and evening.

He then took up photography, but soon sold his gallery and entered a printing office, where he learned printing, then purchased the office and edited and published the weekly paper. Later he sold the paper and purchased another in Blue Springs, Neb., taking his brother John into partnership. They sold this office and went to Montana on a vacation trip, going from there to Prescott, Wis., where they ran a newspaper and printing office. James next went to Shakopee, Minn., where he was admitted to the bar. He went to Lacrosse, Wise., intending to practice law, but instead took a position as telegraph editor on the Lacrosse Leader. He went next to Jacksonville, Fla., and worked on a daily paper.

762 He joined a co-operative colony then preparing to settle at Topolo- bampo, Mexico. Their headquarters was at Hammonton, N.J., where he spent a year helping to organize and publish a small magazine. At this time Mrs. Ver Plank, afterwards Mrs. Archibald Keightley, and known to all Theosophists as “Jasper Niemand,” was attracted by some of Mr. Pryse’s magazine articles and wrote him on the subject of Theosophy, inviting him to meet her in Philadelphia to talk over the subject. She was Mr. Judge’s most valued assistant in getting out The Path. Through her Mr. Pryse got in touch with Mr. Judge, and while studying Theosophical works he was greatly helped by the steady correspondence which he kept up with both of them for several years.

Leaving Hammonton in 1886 he came to Los Angeles, where he joined the local Branch of the T. S. Here he studied Sanskrit under Chevalier Roehrig. Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of Southern California. In Los Angeles he met his brother John, who had also become a Theosophist. From Los Angeles the brothers went to Peru, spending some time among the ruins of the Incas. They passed through Panama on their way to New York, whence they intended to return to Los Angeles. But Mr. Judge, who was sadly in need of help to get out copies of H.P.B.’s E.S. Instructions, made them his helpers, and they started the Aryan Press in New York in 1889.

Very soon after that, most likely the same year, H.P.B. cabled to Pryse to come to London. He did so and established the H.P.B. Press on Henry Street, importing its new machine from U.S.A. (The Path, Vol. VII, April, 1892, p. 31). Pryse himself relates the approximate sequence of events in The Canadian Theosophist (Vol. XVI, March, 1935, p. 2), although no specific dates are given.

Writing from London, without date, Mrs. Alice L. Cleather says (The Theosophist, Adyar, Vol. XI, April, 1890, p. 404) that the printing press (the H.P.B. Press) “has been procured . . . and is shortly to be set up at 17, Lansdowne Road.” In September, 1890, she writes from London (The Theos., Vol. XII, November, 1890, p. 127) that the printing press is at last to be set up at the new Hdqrts. in London; funds have been supplied. James M. Pryse has

JAMES MORGAN PRYSE 1859-1942 Reproduced from The Path, New York, Vol. IX, June, 1894.

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just come over from U.S.A., and has taken up his permanent residence here.” A somewhat more definite information is supplied by Pryse himself who writes (The Canadian Theosophist, Vol. XX, May, 1939, p. 75):

“I started the H.P.B. Press, the capital being supplied by Dr. Archibald Keightley, to reprint the E.S.T. Instructions, which my brother John and I had previously printed in New York. It was slow work, as I did nearly all of it myself. For a time I had an outside compositor, and Thomas Green, a lawyer’s clerk, in his spare hours helped me fold the sheets for binding. The work was finished to H.P.B.’s satisfaction. Some time after our beloved ‘Old Lady’ forsook her body, Mrs. Besant decided to enlarge the printing plant, so as to print a new edition of the S.D., also Lucifer and other publications. Accordingly an American two-revolution press was purchased, also other machinery and material, and girl-compositors were engaged. I did all the work of making ready the forms on the presses and trained Mr. Green and one of the girls to feed the presses.”

At the London Headquarters, Pryse lived under the same roof with H.P.B., conversed with her daily, and when she grew feeble took her round the garden in her wheel-chair. After her death the group still remained and worked at the same place until the break came in 1894.

Mr. Pryse then went to Dublin, Ireland, where he had charge of printing the Irish Theosophist and contributed articles and poems to that magazine, his especial chum being ¿E, George W. Russell, since famous as a poet. When visiting Los Angeles lately,Ai spent all his evenings with Mr. Pryse at his home. While in Dublin Mr. Pryse wrote his first book, The Sermon on the Mount, under the pseudonym of Aretas. It was first published serially in the magazine 764and later (1896) in book form by A. E. S. Smythe of Toronto. A revised and enlarged edition was brought out in 1904 by the Theosophical Society of New York. This book is a verbatim translation from the Greek, together with several other excerpts from the New Testament and valuable Notes and comments throughout.

After a year in Dublin Mr. Pryse was called to New York by Mr. Judge, who needed him to help with The Path. After Mr. Judge’s death, March 21, 1896, Mr. Pryse spent nearly a year visiting branches and giving public lectures on Theosophy. This tour took him into nearly every section of the U.S., and he visited also Toronto and Victoria. On his return to New York he again took up writing and in 1900 gave us Reincarnation in the New Testament (New York: Elliott B. Page & Co.). This was followed in 1909 by The Magical Message According to loannes (New York: Theos. Puhi. Co., 230 pp.).

He now returned to Galesville, Wis., and formed a partnership with Mr. Robert Christiansen, and returned to the practice of law. On December 21, 1901, he married Miss Jessie Mayer, of San Diego, who had been called north on account of the death of her mother. They came back to Los Angeles in February 1904, where he continued to practice law until he grew weary of the atmosphere of litigation, and of defending criminals, of the law’s delays and the frequent miscarriage of justice, and gave it up. In 1905 they turned their steps towards the country and bought a lemon orchard on Garvey Avenue, in the San Gabriel Valley, where they lived happily for five years. Then, to take a rest from such hard work, they sold the ranch and she went to her sister for a visit while he went to New York to finish writing and bring out that wonderful book, The Apocalypse Unsealed (New York; John M. Pryse, 1910, viii, 222 pp.), being an esoteric interpretation of the Initiation of loannes commonly known as The Revelation of St. John. The purpose of this work is to show that the Apocalypse is a manual of spiritual development and not a cryptic history or prophecy. A lengthy Introduction and numerous Commentaries throw a flood of light upon this ancient scripture.

Upon his return to Los Angeles, they bought a residence on East 7th Street, and he immediately began writing The Restored New Testament. It was an arduous task and took him four years. Again he had to go to New York to proofread the work. According to its subtitle, it consists of “The Hellenic Fragments, freed from the Pseudo-Jewish interpolations, harmonized, and done into English verse and prose. With Introductory Analyses, and Commentaries, giving an intepretation according to ancient philosophy and psychology. 765And a new literal translation of the Synoptic Gospels, with Introduction and Commentaries.” The work was published both by himself in Los Angeles and by John M. Watkins in London (2nd ed., 1916).

In 1920 they bought a bungalow at 919 So. Bernal Avenue in Los Angeles, and later built another one on the same lot in readiness for his brother John who was to come from New York. At the same time, Pryse was planning and gathering material for his next work, Prometheus Bound (209 pp.) originally ascribed to Aeschylus, wherein is set forth the hidden meaning of the myth. This work was followed by The Adorers of Dionysos (Bakchai) translated from the Greek of Euripides with an original interpretation of the myth of Kadmos and partly supplying the place of the lost Prometheus Unbound. Both of these works were published by Pryse himself and by John M. Watkins of London in 1925 (164 pp.).

In addition to his published works, James M. Pryse contributed a large number of articles and essays to various Theosophical journals during his lifetime, some of which have appeared as late as the pages of the Point Loma Universal Brotherhood and Universal Brotherhood Path which followed it.

It was in January, 1925, that John came to live near his brother, and in February of the same year he organized a group of six students who met every Friday evening for a serious discussion of Theosophy. These gatherings continued until Mrs. Pryse was stricken with paralysis, in August, 1928, and passed away August 27th. For a number of years yet, James Pryse continued to write and see inquirers, neglecting no opportunity to help others who were seeking light on the problems of life. Mr. Judge wrote of him many years ago that “he is a man who lives and works unselfishly for the T.S... a fact that is recorded in the unimpeachable books of Karma.”

James Morgan Pryse passed away very peacefully on April 22, 1942, a man of great probity and of unselfish devotion to the principles of Theosophy and the objectives of our Movement.

(Chief sources: The Path, New York, Vol. IX, June, 1894, possibly written by Mr. Judge; and an article by Louise Y. Paglin in The Canadian Theosophist, Vol. XII, April, 1931.)

Purucker, Hobart Lorentz Gottfried de. Outstanding Theosophist, profound scholar, eloquent speaker and able writer, born at Suffern, Rockland County, N.Y., January 15, 1874.

His father, Gustaf Adolf H. E. F. von Purucker (born January 26, 1841) of Bavarian and Franconian ancestry, as an ordained minister, was for some years chaplain of the American Church in 766Geneva, Switzerland. His mother was Juliana Smyth of Anglo-Irish descent, who was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1848, and belonged to a New England family of distinction.

Gottfried was one of seven children and received somewhat severe training in his youth. In 1881-82, when his father was a young clergyman in Texarkana, Texas, he barely survived typhoid fever; and though declared dead by his physician on one occasion, he slowly recovered. Later the family lived for a time in St. Joseph, Mo., and in Rome, N.Y., and Gottfried was expected to follow his father’s footsteps in the service of the Church. After they moved to Geneva, where his father settled December 12, 1888, as Chaplain of the American Church, he studied in various schools including the Collège de Genève, where he was an “extern” during 1889-90. He was taught Greek and Hebrew by his father. He specialized under private tutors in ancient and modern languages such as Latin, AngloSaxon, Sanskrit, Italian, and Spanish. French and German were spoken in the family. In 1888 he translated the entire Greek New Testament as a Christmas gift for his father, and a couple of years later made a translation of Genesis from the Hebrew.

At eighteen, he returned to the U.S.A, where, after a few months sojourn in New York State, he settled for several years in California, spending some time for experience on different ranches, among these Old Fort El Tejon, near Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains. He then moved to San Diego, where in 1892 he joined the “Point Loma Lodge” of The Theosophical Society (chartered in April, 1888) then under the national jurisdiction of William Quan Judge, and at nineteen conducted therein a class in The Secret Doctrine. In 1894 he met Mr. Judge in San Diego while the latter was on a lecture tour of the Pacific Coast. A year later, Gottfried returned to Geneva to live for a time with his people. It was in that city that he first met Katherine Tingley, on September 2, 1896. She was on her first world tour as Successor to William Quan Judge who died March 21, 1896. During this brief meeting, he was able to provide her with specific information about land available for purchase on the Point Loma Promontory, near San Diego, and drew for her a pencil sketch of the area, thus enabling her to secure for her intended “White City in the Gold Land of the West” acreage which she had felt was there but which her agent in San Diego was unable to locate.

In the years 1897-98, Dr. de Purucker travelled extensively in South America, learning Portuguese. In 1899 he returned to Geneva via New York.

GOTTFRIED DE PURUCKER 1874-1942

767 He spent several years in Paris where he was for a while associated with Ralph Lane (later Sir Norman Angell, M.P.) on the editorial staff of the Paris Daily Messenger, an old and famous continental paper published in English, founded by Galignani in 1814· and originally known as Galignani s Messenger. A year after his father’s death in 1902 he came back to the U.S.A, and after some weeks of travel took up permanent residence on August 4, 1903, at the International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, California.

During the years 1903-1929, the period between his arrival at Point Loma and the death of Katherine Tingley, Dr. de Purucker was engaged in many and varied activities, acting as Private Secretary to Katherine Tingley in the early years, as member of her Cabinet in later years, and as Editor of The Theosophical Path after its initial publication in 1911. He supervised the publication of successive editions of H. P. Blavatsky’s works, and utilized to full advantage his great scholarship in this field of endeavor. He engaged in many administrative activities under the direction of Katherine Tingley, and soon became one of the most trusted members of her staff. He accompanied her on her world tour of 19031904, and on her European tours of 1908, 1912 and 1926. A great deal of his work was done in the quiet of his office and on the whole he lived a somewhat retired life, and was never married.

When Katherine Tingley died on July 11, 1929, while on a trip to Europe, Gottfried de Purucker succeeded her as Leader of the Point Loma Theosophical Society. He inaugurated many new activities for the expansion of the work, one of which was a worldwide Theosophical Fraternization Movement, with the object of bringing all Theosophical groups into closer friendly relationship one with the other.

In 1931, he went on a lecture tour in the United States and Europe; in 1932-33, he established for a year a temporary Headquarters at Oakley House, Bromley Common, Kent, England; and in 1937 made another short trip to Europe.

Soon after taking over the administration of the Society, Dr. de Purucker started publication of The Theosophical Forum, the first issue appearing in September, 1929, in this manner reviving the name of a small organ inaugurated many years previously by W. Q. Judge. In 1936, The Theosophical Path was combined with The Forum.

Throughout the years of his administration, Dr. de Purucker delivered a great number of public lectures, mostly in the Temple of Peace at Point Loma, and conducted members’ and private meetings for the deeper study of the Esoteric Philosophy. Some of his 768works have been compiled from these lectures, while others were dictated by him as independent texts.

In June, 1942, Dr. de Purucker moved the Headquarters to a new location near Covina, California, and died soon after very suddenly on September 27, 1942.

Dr. de Purucker’s literary output throughout his lifetime was very considerable in extent and unique in character. His profound knowledge of the recondite teachings of the Esoteric Philosophy, his great mastery of H.P.B.’s writings, and the results of his own scholastic studies, especially of the Classics and the literature pertaining to the origin of Christianity and its early Mystical Schools, as well as his linguistic achievements, combined, one and all, in making him a first rate expounder of the Occult Doctrines. This he did in complete harmony with the original installments of that doctrine given by H.P.B. and her own Teachers, elucidating and clarifying many obscure points of the teachings, opening up new vistas and disclosing still deeper levels of the Wisdom-Religion. He had a special aptitude for answering questions in a manner which disclosed the qualities of a born teacher attempting to lead the student to a greater grasp of the subject by arousing his own intuition and reasoning capacities.

Dr. de Purucker’s writings, in their chronological order, are listed below:

The Mysteries of Antiquity. Pamphlet of the School of Antiquity. Point Loma: Theos. Publishing Co., 1904.

A Churchman s Attack on Theosophy Answered and Criticized by a Theosophist. Point Loma: Theos. Publishing Co., 1905.

“Is Reincarnation Contrary to Christian Doctrine?” in The Theosophical Path. Point Loma, Calif. Vol. VI, September, 1914, pp. 182-204.

“H. P. Blavatsky, the Mystery,” in The Theosophical Path, Vol. XXXVI, April, 1929—Vol. XXXIX, January, 1931. Written in collaboration with Katherine Tingley. Republished in bookform by Point Loma Publications, Inc., San Diego, Calif., 1974; xviii + 242 pp.

Questions We All Ask. Lectures in the Temple of Peace, Point Loma, Calif. Series One: October 1, 1929— August 22, 1930. Series Two: September 1, 1930—April 13, 1931. Published at first as weekly pamphlets; later as three volumes.

769 The Bhagavad-Gita. Translated from the Sanskrit. Published serially in the Theosophical Club magazine Lucifer, Vols. I-III, January, 1930—November, 1932.

Researches into Nature, by Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Translated from the Latin text by Haase, Breslau, 1877. Published in The Theosophical Path, beginning with April, 1930.

Theosophy and Modern Science. Temple Lectures delivered in 1927. Point Loma: Theos. University Press, 1930. Two Volumes. Revised and condensed in One Volume as Man in Evolution, published in 1941; 2nd impr. 1947; 2nd and rev. ed., with new Appendices by C. J. Ryan and Blair A. Moffett.

Golden Precepts of Esotericism. Point Loma, Calif.; Theos. University Press, 1931; 2nd rev. ed., 1935; 3rd rev. and edited ed., Point Loma Publications, Inc., 1971.

Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy. Edited by A. Trevor Barker. Originally Lectures delivered to members of the Esoteric Section in 1924-27. London: Rider & Co., 1932, xvii + 555; 2nd pr. 1947. 2nd and revised edition, Pasadena, Calif., Theosophical University Press, 1979. Includes the first two lectures which were inadvertently omitted in the first edition; re-drawn diagrams; enlarged index.

Occult Glossary. A Compendium of Oriental and Theosophical Terms. London: Rider & Co., 1933, 192 pp. Reprinted 1953 and 1956 by Theos. Univ. Press, Pasadena, Calif.

The Esoteric Tradition. Point Loma, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1935. Two Volumes, 1109 pp., copious Index. Second Edition, 1940.

Messages to Conventions. On the Policies, Work and Purposes of the T.S. (posthumously published). Covina, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1943, viii + 251 pp.

Wind of the Spirit. A selection of Talks on Theosophy as related primarily to Human Life and Human Problems (posthumously published). Covina, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1944, x + 254 pp. Second edition: Point Loma Publications, Inc., 1971.

Studies in Occult Philosophy. Compiled by W. Emmett Small and Helen Savage (posthumously published). Covina, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1945, xv + 744 pp. Copious Index.

770 The Dialogues of G. de Purucker. Report of Sessions of the Katherine Tingley Memorial Group, somewhat edited and abbreviated from the original privately printed instructions which began in November, 1929. Covina, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1948. Three Volumes fully indexed.

F ountain-Source of Occultism. Edited by Grace F. Knoche. Somewhat abbreviated text from the original 12 booklets issued for the students of the Esoteric Section in 1936. Contains some of the most profound teachings of the Esoteric Philosophy on the nature and structure of the universe and man. Pasadena, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1974; xvi + 744 pp. Copious Index.

The Four Sacred Seasons. Special teachings given at Point Loma during 'the gatherings held at the Four Sacred Seasons of the year, and never before published. Deals with esoteric facts of nature unobtainable anywhere else. Pasadena, Calif.: Theos. University Press, 1979: x + 87 pp.

Word Wisdom in the Esoteric Tradition. A Series of Classes in Basic Theosophical Teaching. Verbatim reporting of seven class lectures given in 1913-14; San Diego, Calif.: Point Loma Publications, Inc., 1980; 159 pp.

Several small booklets have also been compiled from the teachings of Dr. de Purucker by some of his students, such as: The Story of Jesus (1938); The Masters and the Path of Occultism (1939), and others.

The writings of Dr. de Purucker cover the entire scope and breadth of the Esoteric Philosophy and have been declared by some as second to those of H.P.B. herself. They are presented in a systematic form, often with great detail, and are couched in both a scientific and philosophical terminology. Their carefully worded explanations, their authoritative character and the unimpeachable source which they have been drawn from, make them stand as a unique outline of the ancient Gnosis, also known as Brahmavidya.

Puysegur, Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, marquis de (1752-1825). French military man and, later in life, student of magnetism and mesmerism, as well as writer of dramatic productions. He was one of the first researchers of magnetic somnambulism concerning which he wrote several essays. He was subjected to persecution and even imprisonment during the Revolution, and at a later epoch helped materially some of those who had lost their possessions.

771 Ragon de Bettignies, Jean-Baptiste-Marie (1781-1862), *Notice historique sur le calendrier avec un comput maçonnique pour le XIXme siècle, à l’usage des hauts grades. Paris: Berlandier, 1842, 8vo. See for biographical and other data Vol. XI, pp. 587-88.

*Ràmàyana (Vâlmîki). Edited by T. R. Krishnachârya and T. R. Vyâsâchârya, Bombay, Nirnaya-sâgara Press, 1911-13. Translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith, London, Trübner & Co., 1870-74, in five Vols.

Reade, Amye. *Ruby. A Novel. Founded on the life of a circus girl. London, 1889; rev. ed., 1890.

Ripley, George. Alchemist born about the middle of the fifteenth century at Ripley, in Yorkshire. Taking holy orders, he became an Augustinian and was appointed Canon of Bridlington in Yorkshire. Travelled extensively and, while on the island of Rhodes, is said to have made a large quantity of gold for the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Going to Rome, he received personal attention from the Pope. Some of the stories about him seem to indicate that he had been confused with George Ripley, a Carmelite friar who lived at Boston in the thirteenth century. Our Ripley died in England in 1490. He had been among the first to popularize the alchemical writings attributed to Raymond Lully. He was the author of Medulla Alchemiae, The Treatise of Mercury, and The Compound of Alchymy, or the ancient hidden Art of Archemie, etc., London, 1591, 4to., this work being dedicated to King Edward IV. A collected edition of Ripley’s writings was issued at Cassel in Germany in 1649. See also information s.v. Eyrenaeus Philaletha Cosmopolita.

Rosny, Léon Louis Lucien Prunol de (1837-1914), French Orientalist who wrote a number of works on the subject of Buddhism and other Oriental religions. His “Buddhist Lectures” have not been definitely identified.

Russell, George William. Irish poet, painter, economist and journalist, better known by his pseudonym of Æ. He was born at Lurgan, Co. Armagh, April 10, 1867, the youngest of the three children, two sons and one daughter, of Thomas Elias Russell, by his wife, Mary Ann Armstrong. The father was a book-keeper in a firm of cambric manufacturers at Lurgan, and attended both the parish church and the Primitive Methodist chapel. When George was about ten years old, the family moved to Dublin, where he became a pupil at Rathmines School. After he left school, in 1884, a rather curious episode of his early life was his employment in the Phoenix brewery 772in Dublin. Being a student at the Metropolitan School of Art, before he turned thirteen, he met W. B. Yeats, through whom he became acquainted with Theosophy. It has been stated by competent people that his distinctive gift for painting could have made him “the most noteworthy painter of the age,” had he continued his studies in this direction.

“Having given up the brewery, ‘as my ethical sense was outraged, Bussell gained his living for some six years from 1890 as a clerk in Pim’s drapery business in Dublin. His verses had interested Yeats and others, and in 1894 his friend Charles Weeks persuaded him to allow the publication (under the pseudonym of Æ) of a little volume, Homeward: Songs by the Way. It attracted wide attention, and Æ was thenceforth a leading figure in the new Irish literary movement. In 1897 came a great change in his life, when, with Yeats as intermediary, he joined the Irish Agricultural Organization Society, which had been founded some three years earlier. Normal life now claimed him more and more, and in 1898 he married a fellow theosophist of English parentage, Violet, daughter of Archibald North, and had two sons. His powers as a writer soon became invaluable to the Irish Agricultural Organization Society, and he made of its organ, the Irish Homestead—of which he remained editor from 1906 until its amalgamation with the Irish Statesman in 1923—a unique journal read at least as much by British and American intellectuals as by Irish farmers. His interest in economics overflowed in various writings, of which the most notable are Co-operation and Nationality (1912) and The National Being (1916). His great conversational gifts and radiant presence attracted many visitors, and few of the distinguished people who came to study Ireland’s problems thought their errand accomplished until they had had a talk with Æ.

“He came into much prominence during the labour disputes in Dublin in 1913, and, ‘doing violence unto himself’, was one of the principal speakers at a great meeting held in London at the Albert Hall on 1 November to protest against the obstinacy of the employers and the arrest of James Larkin for sedition. His belief in the economic interdependence of England and Ireland kept him aloof from the Sinn Fein rising of Easter 1916, but of those who served in the convention which was set up in 1917 he was by all accounts one of the most practical in his recommendations, although he greatly disappointed Plunkett, who was chairman, by his sudden withdrawal. He claimed in later life to have had some share in expediting the settlement of December 1921 by 773suggesting, in an interview with Lord Northcliffe, that the latter should give ‘dominion home rule’ the support of his newspapers. From 1923 to 1930 he edited the Irish Statesman which he strove to make the organ of reasonable opinion in the Irish Free State. In order to raise funds for its continuance he paid in 1928 the first of several visits to the United States, where he responded buoyantly to American hospitality, talked with the President and most of those prominent in politics, literature, and science, and discovered a faculty for addressing large audiences which pleased and surprised himself. In that year Yale conferred upon him the honorary degree of Litt.D., an example followed by Dublin University in 1929. Life in a self-governing and of course mainly Catholic Ireland brought some disillusionment; the censorship in particular drew his vigorous protests; and after his wife’s death in 1932 he lived mostly in London. During a last lecturing tour in the United States his health broke down, and he died at Bournemouth 17 July 1935.

“Æ looked consistently to the antiquity of all races for the oracles of a universal wisdom-religion, and in Irish mythology he sought for hints of an ancestral lore identical with that of the sages of the East. These beliefs were called in Ireland, somewhat irreverently, ‘Ætheism’, but were not without influence on the idealism of Sinn Fein. His religious philosophy is expounded most fully in The Candle of Vision (1918), and his political idealism in two fictional fantasies. The Interpreters (1922) and The Avatars (1933). Song and its Fountains (1932), a prose commentary on his poems, is written in a tone of wondering confidence in his gift; for it was as a poet that Æ wished to be remembered. His poems are not for everyone, and it has been truly said that there is nothing quite like them in English poetry; in them the reader listens to one who remembers past lives, exults rather eerily in cosmic happenings, and, more consolingly, in the divinity of man. To many they have brought comfort and encouragement. Perhaps his best-known poem, ‘On behalf of some Irishmen not followers of tradition’, is also, objectively, his best. The House of the Titans and other poems (1934) includes a curious poem, ‘The Dark Lady’. His Collected Poems were published in 1913 (2nd ed. 1926).

“In person Russell was a large, bearded man, and was the subject of many portraits. These include paintings in oils by Sarah Purser (c. 1902) formerly in the artist’s possession; John Butler Yeats (1903) formerly in the John Quinn collection, New York; and Dermod O’Brien (c. 1914) at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. 774There are two drawings by Sir William Rothenstein, of which the first (1914) is published in Twenty-four Portraits, first series (1920), and the second (1921) was formerly in the artist’s possession; also busts, by John Hughes (1885-1886) in the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin; Oliver Shepard (1916) in the National Gallery of Ireland; Jerome Connor (c. 1930), and others.”

George W. Russell was a convinced Theosophist, a man of vision and integrity, an inspired poet, a moving writer, a painter of mystical pictures, and an Irish patriot with world-wide sympathies, an organizer of rural co-operative societies, an able publicist whose voice was raised against the exploitation of labor on behalf of justice and understanding.

His son Diarmuid wrote in The Atlantic Monthly (February, 1943) that his father’s real preoccupation had nothing to do with worldly success, “It was with the completion of his character” which produced “a kind of warm serenity, a saintliness .... moving and lovable. He possessed ... an air of spiritual power, an emanation of sweetness and tenderness that was almost as perceptible as the light from a lamp . . . His presence was as warming as a fire, and people not only felt better to be with him but were better . . .”

Captain P. G. Bowen wrote in The Aryan Path (December, 1935) that none among the followers of H.P.B. was more charitable than Æ to others’ weaknesses and few, if any, who had made Theosophy a more living power in their lives.

Another friend, James Stephens, said in his obituary note in The Observer (July 21, 1935) that ?E had told him that “he held that to meditate on the ideas of the Bhagavad-Gita and to practice the psychological discipline systematized by Patanjali must astonishingly energize any person, and that these ideas and this discipline had transformed him from a shy, self-doubting youth to the cheerful, courageous personage he certainly became.”

Even prior to his association with the Theosophical Movement, at the age of 20 or 21, young Russell believed that for every man on earth there was a divinity in the heavens who was his ancestral self. He became one of the earnest band of students who sustained the Irish branch of the Movement, and easily the most prolific contributer,

GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL, KNOWN AS “Æ” 1867-1935

775

in prose and verse, to The Irish Theosophist, one o£ the most spiritual and noble journals of the early days. Most of his early poems, published in 1894 as Homeward·. Songs by the Way, had first appeared in that magazine.

It is probable that young Russell’s direct contacts with H.P.B. were but few and not intimate; he seems to have been conscious of his immaturity at the time and of her greatness; but her works impressed him profoundly. The month before his death he wrote to his friend Sean O’Faolain: “The real source of her influence is to be found in The Secret Doctrine, a book on the religions of the world suggesting or disclosing an underlying unity between all great religions.” Having “bathed in” that work and other writings of H.P.B., he said: “ I marvelled what I could have done to merit birth in an age wherein such wisdom was on offer to all who could beg, borrow, or steal a copy of those works.”

To William Quan Judge Ai felt powerfully drawn. He wrote at the time of Judge’s passing that it was no surface tie which bound them together. He said: “No one ever tried less than he to gain from men that adherence which comes from impressive manner. I hardly thought what he was while he spoke; but on departing I found my heart, wiser than my brain, had given itself away to him; an inner exaltation lasting for months witnessed his power.” Referring to one of the saddest pages in the story of our Movement, he said: “It was in that memorable convention in London two years ago that I first glimpsed his real greatness. As he sat there quietly, one among many, not speaking a word, I was overcome by a sense of spiritual dilation, of unconquerable will about him, and that one figure with the grey head became all the room to me. Shall I not say the truth I think? Here was a hero out of the remote, antique, giant ages come among us, wearing but on the surface the vesture of our little day. We, too, came out of that past, but in forgetfulness; he with memory and power soon regained. To him and to one other we owe an unspeakable gratitude for faith and hope and knowledge born again.”

Russell was sustained from early manhood by an unwavering loyalty and gratitude to H.P.B. and Judge. In whatever he undertook, 776he became for the time being a channel through which a beneficent force would flow. He had a high ideal in regard to the national spirit of a country, above all sectarianism and ordinary politics. In his widely translated work, The National Being: Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity (1916), he wrote: “None of our modern States creates in us an impression of being spiritually oversouled by an ideal as the great States of the ancient world.” In later years, he devoted much time to counselling the builders of Ireland’s emergent State. “What is a nation,” he said, “but an imagination shared by millions of people?” In his work, The Living Torch, he wrote: “A nation is but a host of men united by some God-begotten mood, some hope of liberty or dream of power or beauty or justice or brotherhood, and until that master-idea is manifested to us, there is no shining star to guide the ship of our destinies.”

Speaking in a prophetic mood in the same work, he said: “. . . some time in the heroic future, some nation in a crisis will be weighed and will act nobly rather than passionately, and will be prepared to risk national extinction rather than continue existence at the price of killing myriads of other human beings, and it will oppose moral and spiritual forces to material forces, and it will overcome the world by making gentleness its might, as all great spiritual teachers have done. It comes to this, we cannot overcome hatred by hatred or war by war but by the opposites of these. Evil is not overcome by evil but by good.”

Russell deplored all hatred, and pronounced racial hatred the basest of national passions. “Nations,” he wrote “hate other nations for the evil which is in themselves . . . when humanity looks on its own image and finds it terrible it changes its heart or else it breaks the mirror.” Even as a boy, Æ had a deep realization of the unity of all life. He wrote in The Candle of Vision: “I think of earth as the floor of a cathedral where altar and Presence are everywhere. This reverence came to me as a boy listening to the voice of birds one colored evening in summer, when suddenly birds and trees and grass and tinted air and myself seemed but one mood or companionship, and I felt a certitude that the same spirit was in all.”

In the Preface to his first book of verse, A wrote: “I know I am a spirit, and that I went forth in old time from the self-ancestral to labors yet unaccomplished; but filled ever and again with homesickness I made these songs by the way.”

He believed that “to see any being, to perceive any truth, we must, in some part of our nature, be in the same place.” He once wrote: “We have imagined ourselves into littleness, darkness, and ignorance, and we have to imagine ourselves back into light.”

777 There can be little doubt that Ai—poet, mystic, visionary and Theosophist—accepted as his ideal the spirit of the Great Renunciation, as is obvious from these words in his poem “Love” in The Earth Breath (1897):

“Not alone, not alone would I go to my rest in the heart of the love: Where I tranced in the innermost beauty, the flame of its tenderest breath, I would still hear the cry of the fallen recalling me back from above, To go down to the side of the people who weep in the shadow of death.”

Theosophists of the Dublin Lodge are largely responsible for what became the Irish Literary Renaissance Movement. Apart from Russell himself, who was librarian of the lodge, 1890-99, they included W.R. Yeats, Charles Johnston, John Eglinton, Charles Weeks, Fred J. Dick and his wife, and Robert E. Coats and his wife—the latter four becoming later active at the Point Loma Theosophical Center.

George W. Russell died July 17, 1935 at the Rournemouth nursing home where he had been undergoing treatment. He was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin, where the memorial service was attended by some 1,200 people, including President de Valera who was seriously interested in Theosophy. Some of the best known personalities, both in the political and the literary world of the day were present at the ceremonies.

For some reason or other, of the various remarkable people connected with the Irish Literary Renaissance, George W. Russell has received the least recognition. His name is rarely mentioned today, and most of his works are not in print any longer. This, of course, is a great pity, as they contain powerful spiritual thoughts, inspiring ideals, and the beauty inherent in all genuine mystical realization. They should be brought out again for the benefit of all of us.

(Source-material: John Eglinton (W. K. Magee), A Memoir of Æ, George William Russell (containing lists of his writings and of his portraits), 1937; Monk Gibbon, The Living Torch (containing selections from Russell’s journalistic work), 1937; George Moore, Hail and Farewell, 1911-1914; E. A. Boyd, Ireland’s Literary Renaissance, 1916. The finest and most complete account of Russell’s life and work is Francis Merchant’s A.E.: An Irish Promethean, Columbia, So. Carolina: Benedict College Press, 1954, which includes a large Bibliography of works about G. W. Russell. A most sympathetic account appeared in The Theosophical Movement, Bombay, 778July, 1960, from which we have drawn a number of details in the present sketch. Two articles deserve being mentioned here. One is by Russell himself and is entitled “Ireland Behind the Veil”; it appeared in The Theosophical Path, Point Loma, Calif., Vol. XXII, March, 1922. The other is by Ian Mor, is entitled “W. B. Yeats and Æ” and was published in The Theosophical Review, London, Vol. XXXVII, October, 1905. The Canadian Theosophist, Vol. XVI, August 15, 1935, contains a large number of tributes to Æ from various notable people. A comprehensive Bibliography was prepared by Alan Denson and published under the title of Printed Writings by George W. Russell (Æ): A Bibliography, by Northwestern University Press, London, 1961. It contains a Foreword by Padraic Colum and copious Notes on Russell’s paintings and portraits.)

Sala, George Augustus Henry. English journalist, b. in London, Nov. 24, 1828; d. at Brighton, Dec. 8, 1895. Educated in Paris and London. Wrote articles and stories for Charles Dickens in Household Words and All the Year Round, and was sent by Dickens in 1856 to Russia as special correspondent. Best known for his journalism on the Daily Graphic, with which he became connected in 1857. Started in 1892 a weekly paper called Sala's Journal which was a failure, and in 1895 he had to sell his library of 13,000 volumes.

“Saladin” (pseud, of Wm. Stewart Ross, 1844-1906). *“At Random,” in the Agnostic.

*Sarva-darsana-samgraha (Madhavacharya). Translated by E. B. Cowell & A. E. Gough. London, Trubner & Co., 1892. Triibner Oriental Series.

Savalette de Langes. Founder of the Rite of Philalethes of Paris in 1773, and President of the Masonic Congress at Paris of 1785 and 1787. He died about the beginning of the First Revolution, in 1788, and left behind him manuscripts and documents of great value, which passed to the Philosophic Scottish Rite, formed of the Lodges of Saint Alexander of Scotland and of the Contrat Social.

Sforza, Count Giovanni (1846-1922). Well-known Italian historian, bibliographer, philologist and scholar, belonging to one of the branches of the famous Sforza Family. Founder and Director of the State Archives of Massa. Superintendant of Piedmont Archives, 1903, and of those in Venice, 1910-11. Specialized in the ancient history of his country, particularly Tuscany. H.P.B. quotes from his essay: *La Fine di Cagliostro, in the Archivio Storico Italiano (Florence: G. P. Vieusseux), 5th Series, Vol. VII, February, 1891.

779 *Saivàgama. A generic title like the Upanishads or the Purânas. It refers to the group of Âgamas according to Saivism.

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). *King Henry VI (First Part), ca. 1589.—*Macbeth, ca. 1606.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). *Queen Mab, 1813.

Simonin, Amédée H. (1822-?). *Solution du problème de la suggestion hypnotique·. La Salpêtrière et l'hypnotisme, la suggestion criminelle, la loi doit intervenir, Paris, Dentu, 1889, 133 pp.

Sômmerring, Samuel Thomas von (1755-1830). *De acervulo cerebri. Diss. primum édita, denuo révisa, correcta novisque observationibus aucta [1785]. In: Scriptores neurol, minores selecti. Lipsiae, 1793, iii, 322-338. Examined the exhumed skull of Paracelsus.

Sophocles (ca. 496-406 b.c.). *Oedipus at Colonus. Text and English transi, by F. Sorr in Loeb Classical Library.

Southcott, Joanna (1750-1814). English religious visionary who for a time was a domestic servant. In 1792, becoming persuaded that she possessed supernatural gifts, she announced herself as the woman spoken of in Revelation xii. Coming to London, she began to “seal” the 144,000 elect for a small fee. After a rather peculiar career, she died of brain disease. Her followers, very numerous at the time, are not yet extinct. She was the author of over sixty publications, all rather incoherent and strange.

Stallo, John Bernhard (1823-1900). *The Concepts and Theories of Modern Physics. New York: D. Appleton, 1882, 313 pp.; also 1884 and 1897.

Stevenson, Robert Louis Balfour (1850-1894). *The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, London, Longmans & Co., 1886, 8vo., 141 pp. ; many subsequent editions.

Tennyson, Alfred, First Baron (1809-1892). *The Ring, December, 1889.

Thory, Claude-Antoine. French polygraphist, b. May 26, 1757; d. in 1827. Was a member of a number of scientific institutions and produced several scholarly works, both historical and in the field of botany. Among them are: Histoire de la fondation du Grand-Orient de France, etc., Paris, 1813; and *Acta Latomorum, ou Chronologie de l’histoire de la franche maçonnerie, etc., Paris, 1815.

780 Tolstoy, Count Lev Nikolayevich (1828-1910). *Anna Karenina. Publ. in installments between 1875 and 1877.—*A Confession. Written in 1879; revised, 1882; published, 1884. *Death of Ivan llyich, 1884.—*The Kreutzer Sonata, 1889.—*How a Devil's Imp Redeemed his Loaf; or the First Distiller.—*Wherein is Love, Therein is God.—*God is in Right, and not in Might.

Tylor, Sir Edward Burnett. English anthropologist, b. at Camberwell, London, Oct. 2, 1832; d. Jan. 2, 1917. Son of a brassfounder. Educated at Grove House, Tottenham, a school run by the Society of Friends to which his parents belonged. During the years 1855-56 he travelled extensively, visiting the U.S.A., Cuba and Mexico, and publishing an account under the title of Anahuac, etc. In 1865 appeared his Researches into the Early History of Mankind which made his reputation. In 1871, he produced a standard treatise on anthropology entitled Primitive Culture, etc. He was elected F.R.S., 1871, and became, 1883, keeper of the University Museum at Oxford. In 1896, he became first professor of anthropology at Oxford, and was knighted in 1912.

Ugolino, Count of Donoratico (1220-1289). See for information Vol. IX, p. 94, footnote.

*Vakya-Sudha (Samkaracharya), translated with notes [and text] by Manilal N. Dvivedi. Bombay, Bombay Theosophical Publication Fund, n.d.

Ventura di Raulica, Cardinal Gioacchino (1792-1861). See Vol. VII, p. 400, for data.

Villars, Abbe Nicolas-Pierre-Henry de Montfaucon de (1635-1673). *Le Comte de Gabalis. Paris: C. Barbon, 1670, 12°, ii, 327 pp.; London: Fneres Vaillant, 1742. Engl. tr. with Commentary publ. by The Brothers, 1914, xxvi, 352 pp.

Virgil (70-19 b.c.). *Aeneid. Loeb Classical Library. Transl. by H.R. Fairclough.

*Vishnu-Purana. Edited by Jivananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, Sarasvati Press, 1882.—Translated by H. H. Wilson, 1840; later edition, edited by Fitzedward Hall. London: Triibner & Co., 1864,65, 66, 68, 70. Also in Works by the late H. H. Wilson.

Weichselbaum, Anton (1845-1920). Austrian physician graduated from the Josefs-Academy in Vienna. Practiced mainly at the military hospital and became professor of pathological histology and 781bacteriology at the University of Vienna. Elected member of the Academy of Sciences. Author of many writings on the subject of infectious diseases.

Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (1838-1927). Powerful figure in the movement for the liberation of women and the struggle against prostitution and abortion. Interested in Spiritualism and is said to have practiced it in early years, together with her sister Tennessee. Founded and edited Woodhull’s and Claflins Weekly, 1870. Was married to Dr. Canning Woodhull. Lived mostly in England after 1877.

Yermolov, Alexey Petrovich (1772-1861). Russian general of infantry and artillery, companion in arms of A. V. Suvorov and M. I. Kutuzov. Hero of the 1812 campaign and outstanding military leader and diplomat. Took part in the battles against the French in Italy, 1796-98, and in the expedition against Persia, 1796. Fought in the battle of Borodino and, after the defeat of Napoleon, forced his armies to retreat along the devastated road of Smolensk. The following year, at the occupation of Paris, commanded both the Russian and the Prussian army corps. From 1816, commander-in-chief in the Caucasus and ambassador extraordinary in Persia. Erected a number of fortifications in the Caucasus and successfully defended the territory against foreign onslaughts. Yermolov was greatly loved by his soldiers; he was sympathetic to progressive Russian liberals who were exiled to the Caucasus by the Czar, and, most likely, for this reason was forced by Nicholas I to retire in 1827. (Consult: M. Pogodin, A. P. Yermolov. Biographical Material, Moscow, 1864; V. Potto, Caucasian War, etc., St. Petersburg, 1885, Two Vols.) General Yermolov’s elder son, Victor Alexeyevich Yermolov, and his wife, Mariya Grigorievna, were close friends of H.P.B.’s family, namely the Fadeyevs, during their residence at Tiflis (now Tbilisi), Caucasus, where V. A. Yermolov was Governor in the forties of last century. Mariya Grigorievna knew well Nikifor Vassilyevich Blavatsky who at the time was employed in the office of her husband, the Governor. She also knew Prince Golitzin, a relative of the Caucasian Viceroy, and testified to his interest in occult subjects which fact had apparently considerable influence on young Helena at the time, prior to her marriage to N. V. Blavatsky. According to Helena Fyodorovna Pissarev (Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya: A Biographical Sketch, Russian text, first publ. by the Russian Theosophical Society about 1911, in an anthology called Theosophical Subjects, and in 1937 by the Editorial Office of the Russian Theos. Journal Vestnik, Geneva), Mariya Grigoryeva had written her 782Memoirs in which all the above-mentioned facts were related. The MS. of this work was lost at some later period and is unavailable.

*Zohar. The Zohar, known also as the Midrash ha-Zohar and Sepher ha-Zohar, meaning “Splendor,” is the great storehouse of ancient Hebrew Theosophy, supplemented by the philosophical doctrines of mediaeval Jewish Rabbis. Together with the Sepher Yetzirah, or “Book of Formation,” one of the most ancient Kabbalistic works, the collection of the Zohar represents the oldest treatises on the Hebrew esoteric doctrines. It consists of several distinct but interrelated tracts, each discussing some special branch of the subject; each of these tracts consists again of several portions, and contains a kernel of ancient teachings, around which are clustered comments and explanations written by several hands and at very different epochs. There is considerable evidence to show that the kernel of these doctrines is of very remote antiquity, and embodies the remnants of one of the oldest systems of philosophy that have come down to us. Sufficient proof exists to connect some of these tenets with the period of the return from the Babylonian captivity, as they bear the impress of the still more ancient Chaldean secret lore.

The Zohar is largely a mystical and allegorical commentary on the Pentateuch. Together with various Appendices that must have been added to the collection at some later time, it deals with a large number of subjects, such as Ain Soph, the Emanations, the Sephi- roth, Adam-Kadmon, the Revolution of Souls (Gilgullm), the use of numbers and letters, the casting of lots, good and evil, etc., etc. The largest portion of this collection is written in one of the Aramaic dialects; other portions are in Hebrew; the presence of still other dialects adds greatly to the difficulties of an accurate translation.

Tradition current among mediaeval Rabbis assigned the authorship of the Zohar to Rabbi Shimon ben-Yohai who lived in the reign of the Roman Emperor Titus, 70-80 A.D., and was one of the most important Tannaim in the post-Hadrianic period. He was born in Galilee, and died at Meron, near Safid, in Palestine, where his traditional tomb is shown. His principal teacher was Akiba, whose Academy at Bene-Berak he attended for a good many years. Ordained after Akiba’s death by Judah ben-Baba, he escaped from Jerusalem during the violent struggle of the Jews with the Romans, and hid himself in a cave for thirteen years. It is here that Shimon ben-Yohai, a profound Kabalist already, was instructed, according to tradition, by the prophet Elias himself. In his turn, he taught his disciples, Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Abba, who committed to writing those traditional teachings of the earlier Tannaim which in 783later ages became known as the Zohar. After his seclusion, Shimon ben-Yohai settled in Galilee and founded a school of his own, gaining the reputation of a wonder-worker. He was sent to Rome with Eleazar ben-Jose, to obtain the repeal of imperial orders which had forbidden certain Jewish ceremonial observances, and returned after a successful mission.

While the name of Shimon ben-Yohai is associated with the history of the Zohar, it is nevertheless certain that a very large portion of this compilation is not older than approximately 1280, when it was edited in manuscript form by Moses ben Shem-Tob de Leon. The latter was a famous Kabbalistic writer born at Leon, Spain, about 1250, and who lived in Guadalajara, Valladolid and Avila, and died at Arevalo in 1305. Familiar with the mediaeval mystical literature, he was especially conversant with the writings of Solomon ben Judah ibn Gebirol (Avicebron), Judah ha-Levi, and Maimonides. He led a wandering life, and was a man of brilliant intellect and lofty religious idealism.

It is most likely that Moses de Leon was the first one to produce the Zohar as a whole, but many of its constituent portions date from the time of Shimon ben-Yohai and the Second Temple, even though historical evidence is not forthcoming of the many steps in the course of transmission of these doctrines from ante-Roman times.

The Zohar in its present Hebrew form was first printed in Italy, namely in Mantua, in 1558-60, in 3 vols., 4to., and in Cremona, in 1558, fol.; only one MS. of it is in existence prior to the first edition. Preparations for the printing of the Zohar were made as early as 1556, the original stimulus having come from Moses Bassola, of Pesaro, whose father was proof-reader at the famous Sonsino Press. Later editions are those of Lublin (1623), Amsterdam (1714 and 1806), Livorno (1791) and Vilna (1911).

Among the most important portions of the Zohar are the following: Siphra di-Tseniutha or “Book of Concealed Mystery” known as the Liber mysterii; Idra Rabba Qaddisha, “The Greater Holy Assembly”; Idra Zuta Qaddisha, “The Lesser Holy Assembly.” For Latin and English translations of these consult Bibliography in The Secret Doctrine, s.v. Kabbalah Denudata (Knorr von Rosenroth), Kabbalah Unveiled (MacGregor Mathers), and Qabbalah (I. Myer). An English translation of the Zohar, with the omission of those sections which seemed to the translators to be separate works or additions, is The Zohar by Harry Sperling, Maurice Simon and Paul Levertoff, published in five volumes in London, by the Sonsino Press, 1931-34 & 1949.

784 Other portions of the Zohar mentioned by H.P.B. are: Parha Rabbd, the Book of Ruth and Schadash, and the Book of Ham- mannunah.

The Berêshïth (Genesis) section of the Zohar, translated into English by Nurho de Manhar, was published serially in the monthly periodical, The Word, edited at New York by H. W. Percival between 1900 and 1916. This translation has been photographically reproduced by Wizards Bookshelf (San Diego, Calif., 1978), with marginal notes by John Drais, and numerous footnotes embodying passages concerning the Zohar from The Secret Doctrine. Very strong internal evidence of the translation suggests that the author thereof was Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), whose authoritative essay on the Kabbalah in the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is reproduced on the end sheets of the Wizards Bookshelf edition. N. de Manhar’s translation does not extend beyond Parcha Lekh Lekha (Genesis xvii, 27) and its original serial publication stopped abruptly in 1914, the year of Ginsburg’s death.

Consult also S.D., Bibi., s.v. Sëpher Yetzïrâh for particulars regarding this work, and the Encyclopaedia Judaica for a comprehensive and authoritative account concerning the Zohar.

Zola, Émile Édouard Charles Antoine (1840-1902). *Nana, 1880; *Pot-Bouille, 1882; *La Terre, 1888; *La Bête Humaine, 1890.

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