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'''Pancoast, Dr. Seth'''. Born in Darby, Penna., July 28, 1823; d. in Philadelphia, Dec. 16, 1889. American physician, anatomist and Kabalist, descended from one of the settlers who came to America with William Penn; son of Stephen Pancoast, a paper manufacturer, and Anna Stroud. Preliminary education in local schools; first few years of adult life spent in business; began study of medicine when he was twenty-seven years old, in Oct., 1850, at the Univ, of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated M.D. in 1852. Became Prof, of Anatomy in the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania; resigned, however, at the end of first year, to become Prof, of Anatomy at the Pennsylvania Medical College, in which position he continued until 1859 when he became Prof. Emeritus.


Apart from his medical work, Pancoast became greatly interested in Kabalistic literature, in which field he became a noted scholar and built up what was considered to be the largest library of books dealing with the occult sciences ever assembled in U.S.A, at the time. He blended his Kabalistic studies with his medical knowledge, producing several rather remarkable works, such as: The Kabbala; or the True Science of Light, New York: R. {{Page aside|521}}Worthington, 1877 and 1883; this book is said to have been the first written in English which attempted to explain the 10 Sephiroths and other similar subjects. It was followed by Blue and Red Light: or, Light and Its Rays as Medicine, 1877, which, while dealing with the therapeutic value of light, has a great deal of Kabalah in it also.


Dr. Pancoast was married three times: first, to Sarah Saunders Osborn; second, to Susan George Osborn; third to Carrie Almena Farnald; his family included children by all three wives. He was elected Vice-President of The Theosophical Society and remained a member until his death. He also wrote for Spiritualistic papers under the pseudonyms of ‘‘Lex” and “Lex et Lux.” H.P.B. always spoke with great respect of his erudition, but when, as Col. Olcott says (The Theos., XIV, Nov., 1892, p. 72), “it came to putting theory to the test, by evoking the unseen elemental races which guard the threshold of knowledge, he confessed he lacked courage, though she [H.P.B.] frequently offered to assist in the ceremonies and, if necessary, face the worst of the phantoms alone.”
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Paracelsus, Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (ca. 14901541). *Astronomia magna: oder die gantze Philosophia sagax dergrossen und kleinen Well. Gedruckt bei Martin lechler, in Verlegung Hieronymus Feyerabends, Frankfurt, 1571. First ed. in British Museum 531.n.23.
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'''Pashkov, Countess Lydia Alexandrovna de'''. Russian woman-writer and traveller of the middle 19th century. She was née Glinsky and had been first married to Teleshov. She travelled extensively in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, and was at one time correspondent of the Paris Figaro. Most of her works were written in French. Among them may be mentioned: La pension Vera Glinsky.—Un divorce en Russie.—Moeurs Russes (St. Petersburg, 1876-77).—En Orient. Drames et Paysages (St. Petersburg, 1879).
Once when she was travelling between Baalbek and the river Orontes, probably around 1872, the Countess met H.P.B. and her caravan. They camped together near Deir Mar Maroon between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon. That night a Syrian ascetic who accompanied H.P.B. evoked the astral picture of an old priest who had been connected with the ancient temple, ruins of which were in the vicinity. They were also shown the place as it was when the temple stood there; a vast city spread then far and wide over the plains.
H.P.B. and Countess de Pashkov travelled together for a while, and various curious phenomena took place at the command of H.P.B.
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See H. S. Olcott, Old Diary Leaves, I, 334-35, for a quotation from the New York World of April 21, 1878, and The Theosophist, Vol. V, April, 1884, p. 168.
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'''Phillips, Wendell'''. American orator, writer and reformer, b. in Boston, Mass., Nov. 29, 1811; d. Feb. 2, 1884. Inherited not only a superb physique and family traditions of a high order, but also ample means. Educated at the Boston Latin School; graduated from Harvard, 1831. After three years at the Harvard Law School, he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Boston, but was never enthusiastic about his profession. In 1837, he married Ann Terry Greene who soon became an invalid, but their domestic life was quite happy; they had no children.
Phillips early became identified with the anti-slavery movement, and was greatly encouraged in this by his wife. His great opportunity presented itself on Dec. 8. 1837, at a public meeting held in Faneuil Hall to protest against the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, the abolitionist editor, at Alton, Ill. Phillips listened in the audience while James T. Austin, attorney general of the commonwealth, compared the assassins of Lovejoy to the Revolutionary patriots; then he responded with a stirring indictment of the outrage. His passionate eloquence caught the imagination of the audience which responded with cheers. Thus, at the age of twenty-six, he took his place in the front rank of the anti-slavery movement. His ability as an orator and his family prestige, as well as his charm and persuasive power, made him invaluable as a champion. Disregarding hostility from various quarters, he devoted himself to advocating other moral causes as well, such as prohibition, reform in penal methods, votes for women, and the labor movement. His denunciation of the moneyed corporations and his urging of the laboring class to organize to further its own interests were regarded by some as aberrations of a noble mind. Actually, Phillips had an unusually clear perception of national trends and was ahead of his time. He also showed himself as an uncompromising critic of academic conservatives. An omnivorous reader and a thorough scholar, he knew how to impart his knowledge in a simple and appealing way. He was an aristocratic-looking man, with a rich, persuasive voice and a graceful, self-assured manner. Like many other men who have stirred their country to eliminate evils of various kind, Phillips was frequently sharp of tongue and sometimes unfair to his opponents, but he was courageous, self-sacrificing and magnanimous, and has been called the “Knight- Errant of Unfriended Truth.”
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Among his many orations and speeches, there is one that stands out especially; its subject is “The Lost Arts” on which he spoke more than two thousand times. It is a speech which H.P.B. thought very highly of, and quoted from upon numerous occasions. It outlines some of the knowledge possessed by the Ancients and now lost.
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'''Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-49)'''. *Nevermore.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>Preamble and By-Laws of The Theosophical Society'''. Pamphlet dated October 30, 1875, and printed in New York.
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'''Randolph, P. B'''. See Appendix in Volume III of this Series.
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'''Reade, W. Winwood (1838-1875)''', *The Veil of Isis. London: Chas. J. Skeet, 1861. 250 pp.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rigveda.—Rigveda-Samhita'''. Ed. by Max Müller (Samhita and pada texts in nagari). 2nd ed., London: Trübner & Co., 1877. 2 vols. 8vo.—Transl. by Müller and Herman Oldenberg. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891, 1897. SBE XXXII, XLVI.
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'''Rossetti, Gabriele Pasquali Giuseppe (1783-1854)''', *Disquisitions on the antipapal spirit which produced the reformation·, its secret influence on the literature of Europe in general, and of Italy in particular. Transl. from the Italian by Miss Caroline Ward. London: Smith Elder & Co., 1834.
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'''Rousselet, Louis (1845-1929)''', *l’Inde des Rajahs. Voyage dans l’Inde Centrale, Paris, 1875; Engl, transl. as India and its Native Princes. London, 1878.
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'''Salverte, Anne-Joseph Eusebe Baconniere de (1771-1839)'''. French politician and writer who was born and died in Paris. *Des Sciences Occultes; ou, Essai sur la magie, les prodiges et les miracles. Paris: Sedillot, 1829. 2 vols.; 2nd ed., Paris: J. B. Bailliere, 1843. —Transl. with Notes by Anthony Todd Thomson as *The Occult Sciences. The Philosophy of Magic, Prodigies and Apparent Miracles. London: A. Bentley, 1846; New York: Harpers, 1847, 1855.
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'''Schwarzenberg, Prince Friedrich zu'''. Catholic ecclesiastic, b. at Vienna, April 6, 1809; d. March 27, 1885. Became a priest, 1833; Prince Archbishop of Salzburg, 1836; Cardinal, 1842; and Prince Archbishop of Prague, 1850. Occupied himself with trying to secure greater freedom of Church from State in Germany and Austria.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>Sepher Yetzirah'''. See Vol. VIII, p. 415, for particulars.
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'''Shakespeare, John'''. English Orientalist, b. at Lount, August, 1774; d. 1858. Son of a small farmer; educated at a school kept by a clergyman who brought him to the notice of Marquis of Hastings, the lord of the manor; the latter sent him to London to learn Arabic. About 1805, he was appointed to an Oriental professorship at Royal Military College, Marlow; in 1809, he became professor of Hindustani in training college fur cadets opened by the East India Co.; retired in 1829. He was a very frugal man, unmarried, and set money aside. Chief works: Hindustani Grammar, 1813; 6th ed., 1855.—*A Dictionary: Hindustani and English, 1817, 4th ed., 1849 (with Engl.-Hind, added).—Introd, to the Hindustani Language, 1845.
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'''Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)''', *Macbeth, 1605-06.
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'''Shamji Krishnavarma'''. See p. 437 in the present Volume.
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'''Shimon ben Yohai'''. See Vol. VII, pp. 269-70, for particulars about his life and work.
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'''Simmons, Charles Ezra'''. American physician, specializing in gynecology, b. at Troy, N. Y., Aug. 16, 1840; d. in New York, May 3, 1918. Son of Joseph Ferris and Mary Sophia Gleason, and great grandson of Albertus Simon, who was of Dutch extraction and settled in the colony of Rensselaerswyck, N. Y., on the Hudson River. His brother was a prominent New York financier. After three years at Williams College, 1857-60, Chas. Simmons entered Beloit College, Wis., where he graduated in 1861. He then spent a year at the University of Gottingen, Germany, and in 1862-63 studied at Jefferson medical college in Philadelphia; then he went to the college of physicians and surgeons at Columbia Univ., where he was graduated M.D., 1864. Thereafter he practiced at Troy and New York City where he had one of the largest practices. He was Commissioner of charities and corrections of New York, 1885-95. He was a man of energy and courage, a lover of people and animals, kindly in manner, and acquired a great many friends. He was a member of a great many medical and other societies. In 1865, he had married Sarah Ruby, daughter of Jacob Gould, a banker, a founder of Rochester, N. Y. and its first mayor. They had one son and two daughters.
Dr. Simmons, though an Episcopalian, was interested in various progressive movements; he was present at the formation of the Theos. Society, and became for a time one of its Councillors.
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'''Sinnett, Alfred Percy (1840-1921)'''. * Incidents in the Life of Madame Blavatsky. London: George Redway, 1886, xii, 324 pp.; 2nd ed., London: Theos. Publ. House, 1913, 256 pp. Somewhat abbreviated.—*The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, and Other Miscellaneous Letters. Transcribed, Compiled and with an Introduction by A. T. Barker. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1924. xvi, 404 pp.—*The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, 3rd & rev. ed., Adyar, Theos. Publ. House. 1962.
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'''Slade, Dr. Henry'''. American medium principally known in connection with his slate-writing, and familiar to the mediumistic circles in Michigan as early as 1860. It was not, however, until his selection by the Blavatsky-Olcott committee that he first came to prominence. Information as to his birth and early life is lacking; he died in a private hospital in Michigan, in September, 1905.
Suspicions of fraud expressed by some of the observers at his seances have never been substantiated. On the other hand considerable testimony exists in corroboration of the genuineness of Slade’s mediumistic phenomena. In his paper, “The Possibility of Mal-Observation in Relation to Evidence of the Phenomena of Spiritualism,” read at a General Meeting of the Society for Psychical Research, July 5, 1886, C. C. Massey recounts a phenomenon produced by Slade in New York and witnessed by him in company with Col. Olcott, on the 14th of October. 1885. The phenomenon consisted in a chair, found to be free of all attachments, being raised and moved about, at Massey’s request, while the medium at a distance remained immobile and simultaneously observed. In the words of Massey: “No mediumistic phenomenon that I have witnessed has made stronger or more lasting impression upon me than this one” [Proceedings, S.P.R., Vol. IV, p. 81). Among those who came to acknowledge the reality of phenomena exhibited in Slade’s presence were Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, Serjeant Edward W. Cox, Dr. C. Carter Blake, Dr. George Wyld, Miss Kislingbury (in 1876, Secretary to the British National Association of Spiritualists), Prof. Zollner and his colleagues Fechner, Weber and Scheibner. In Russia, Grand Duke Constantine, Prof. Butlerov and A. N. Aksakov were among those converted to belief by experiments with Slade.
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'''Solovyov, Vsevolod S. (1849-1903)'''. *A Modern Priestess of Isis. Translated from Russian into English (somewhat abridged) by Walter Leaf. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. See Vols. VI, p. 446, and VII, pp. 332-34, for particulars about Solovyov and his writings.
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'''Sotheran, Charles'''. Author, Bibliographer and Scholar, b. at Newington, Surrey, England, July 8, 1847; d. in New York in 1902. Son of Charles and Frances Elise (Hirst) Sotheran, and relative of the famous London Booksellers of the same name. Educated in England in private schools and St. Marie’s College, Rugby. Married Mrs. Alice (Hyneman) Rhine, Oct. 17, 1893. Came to the U.S.A. in 1874, and began reportorial work on the New York World. Was literary Editor of the New York Recorder and Star, and Editor of the New York Echo, a short-lived journal which he published for a time. Was connected with Sabin and Sons, Booksellers in New York, in the editing of their journal, The American Bibliopolist. Later he was connected editorially with several other journals both in U.S.A, and England. Sotheran was a prominent Mason and representative in U.S.A, of the Swedenborgian Rite. He was the author of the following works: Alessandro di Cagliostro, Impostor or Martyr?, 1875; Percy Bysshe Shelley as a Philosopher and Reformer, New York, 1876; Horace Greeley, and Other Pioneers of American Socialism, N. Y., 1892 and 1915; The Theatres of New York, 1893. Also numerous separate bibliographies.
His rather fiery temperament kept him and his friends in a turmoil. He took active part in the founding of the Theosophical Society, hut only three months later made some inflammatory speeches at a political street meeting, to which H.P.B. strongly objected. Sotheran resigned from the T.S. in a huff, but six months later apologized for various critical and unfriendly remarks he had made, and was reinstated. This episode, however, should not prejudice the reader against Sotheran. He was a remarkable man in more ways than one, and his role in the work of the Society in its early stages of growth should not be judged by the above mentioned unfortunate episode. We have a source of interesting information about Sotheran as a man and thinker in Mrs. Laura C. Langford-Holloway’s account entitled “Helena Petrovna Blavatsky: a Reminiscence,” published in The Word, New York, Vol. XXII, December, 1915, pp. 136-153, wherein she writes as follows:
“. . . Knowing as I did of the friendship existing between herself [H.P.B.] and Mr. Chas. Sotheran, one of the ablest newspaper writers ever in New York, a man of broad culture and a rarely noble character, I have sometimes wondered that her biographers have not manifested more interest in the man and his services to her. Mr. Sotheran was a member of the Rosicrucian Society, a Mason of exalted rank, and a writer versed in the history of all Oriental systems of religious thought. He {{Page aside|527}}was the originator of the word “Theosophy,” as the name for the new society, and he it was who introduced to Madame Blavatsky the scholarly men whose names are mentioned in connection with Isis Unveiled. He was the most influential champion Madame Blavatsky possessed while living in New York, and he was an ideal friend—royally true and unvaryingly helpful. He was eager that she should be identified with the circle of literary people about her, for he felt a real admiration for her great mental ability, and desired that others should appreciate her. A spirit of self-depreciation that decreased her influence, he had noted, and this he tried to help her overcome. It was a defect in her character, this tendency to underrate her ability, and he urged her to combat it. He had little success in this effort, for she cared not at all for her accomplishments and only sought recognition in her occult work.
“It was often asserted—on what basis of proof I never knew —that Mr. Sotheran was acquainted with one, at least, of the Brotherhood of Adepts, and was, in some way, identified with their broad aims for the betterment of the race. And it was generally understood that he had met Madame Blavatsky abroad, and knew of the task she was undertaking in this country. He, at least, held an exalted view of her genius, and urged her to write, and deprecated her interest in religious “fads” as he characterized spiritism. He opposed public séances in an uncompromisingly bitter way. So strong was his hostility to the subject, that he would never engage in conversation on it, or kindred themes. Nor did he ever concur in the claim that Madame Blavatsky’s position required that she should investigate the matter thoroughly.
“His attitude was that she was a genuine occultist, with reasonable powers of mind, and had been trained to use them. And he often asserted that occultism was a noble study, and one about which the West did not know anything whatever.
“The services of this man to the Theosophical Society in its beginnings have never been justly recognized. He was a helper, without whom the work of society organization, of research work in connection with Isis Unveiled, of securing a publisher for this work, and then of having it properly placed before the public, would not have been half so efficiently performed.
“Mr. Sotheran knew New York, and had a position among men that was unique. His life was singularly free of entanglements; he was most fortunately situated to enjoy his advantages  {{Page aside|528}}as a man of great ability and attainments, of ample financial resources, a bachelor, and one of a group of New Yorkers who lent character and dignity and prestige to the best circle of society.
“He was an admitted occultist, but was opposed to the prominence given occult phenomena on the ground that it could but add to the burdens imposed by the ignorant upon those who demonstrated laws they could not master. And he deplored the tendency of many about Madame Blavatsky to have her become the miracle-worker of the age. He spoke of her intellectual ability as of far greater value to the new Society than any mere psychic power she possessed, and he tried to counteract the influence of those who, appreciating her less, would have had her waste her time upon phenomena. A wise friend he was, and a true prophet, for he counseled her to discourage those who expected her to entertain them with signs and wonders, and to insist upon the serious study of the hidden forces of nature...”
This description, while showing ignorance of certain facts which pertain to the orders received by H.P.B. from her Superiors to work for a time with the outward Spiritualistic, Movement, gives nevertheless an interesting picture of Sotheran’s many-sided character and should be recorded here for posterity.
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'''Stewart, Balfour (1828-87)'''. *The Sun and the Earth. In Science Lectures for the People. Fourth Series, 1872-73, delivered in Manchester, England.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>Talmud'''. Tide Vol. VIII, p. 416, for comprehensive data. Also art. by I. O. M. Deutsch in the Quarterly Review for October. 1867.
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'''Tappan, Cora L. V. (later Tappan-Richmond)'''. American trancemedium of considerable renown. Under her maiden name of Scott she had very early made her appearance in the Spiritualistic Movement. At the age of thirteen she was already addressing audiences in Wisconsin; three years later she went to New York, and from that time onwards she became famous throughout the States as a Spiritualist lecturer. In 1873 she came to England, receiving there also an enthusiastic welcome. Her lectures and her poetry are supposed to have been delivered under spirit-inspiration. They show some degree of eloquence and surpass those of other trance-mediums in coherence and intelligence.
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'''Textor de Ravisi, Baron Anatole-Arthur'''. French Catholic Orientalist, b. at Bourges, 1822; d. in Paris, 1902. Actively {{Page aside|529}}engaged, 1847-52, in the colonization of the Island of Réunion, and in 1853-63 in developing the maritime commerce of Karikal, India; was for a while Governor of that city, but resigned in 1864 and became engaged in financial transactions. Works: Architecture hindoue, etc., 1870-7-1.—Âme et corps, d’après la théologie égyptienne.
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'''Varley, Cromwell Fleetwood'''. Electrical engineer, b. at Kentish Town, London, England, April 6, 1828; d. at Cromwell House, Bexley Heath, Kent, Sept. 2, 1883. He was the son of Cornelius Varley, watercolor-painter, and was named after two of his ancestors, Oliver Cromwell and General Fleetwood. He was educated at St. Saviour’s, Southwark. After leaving school he studied telegraphy, and was engaged in 1846 by the Electric and International Telegraph Co. in whose employ he remained until 1868, when he retired, spending much of his time producing new inventions.
The first improvement he introduced in telegraphy was the “killing” of the wire by giving it a slight permanent elongation; next he devised a method of localizing the faults in submarine cables; in 1854, he patented the double current key and relay, by which it became possible to telegraph from London to Edinburgh direct; then came the polarized relay, and his translating system for use in connection with the cables of the Dutch lines. In 1870, he patented an instrument called cymaphen, for the transmission of audible signals, and it is claimed for him that it contained the essentials of the modern telephone. Thus, one year before the date of the Bell patent, namely in 1870, music was transmitted by this instrument from the Canterbury Music Hall in Westminster Bridge Road to the Queen’s Theatre in Long Acre over an ordinary telegraph wire with complete success.
Varley’s name is chiefly remembered in connection with the Atlantic cable; the first cable, laid in August, 1858, was a failure. Varley conceived the idea of making an artificial line composed of resistances and condensers, which should exactly represent the working conditions of a submarine cable. This paved the way to further and successful attempts at Trans-Atlantic telegraphy. In 1871, Varley was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He is the author of various technical papers on electricity, etc., mainly in the Philosophical Transactions and the Electrician.
By his first wife, from whom he was divorced, Varley had two sons and two daughters; his second wife was Jessie, daughter of Captain Charles Smith of Forres, Scotland. His two brothers, Frederick Henry and Samuel Alfred, were also inventors. Varley was buried at Christ Church, Bexley.
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Varley’s interest in Spiritualism dates from about 1850. He undertook experiments which showed that the phenomenon of table-rapping was not due to any detectable electrical or magnetic force. He later developed an electrical control designed to detect any attempt by the medium to leave his or her assigned position under cover of séance-room darkness; this was used in the investigation of Florence Cook and other mediums (see The Spiritualist, London, March 20, 1874); Varley maintained in this connection that his apparatus showed that Miss Cook was not only in the dark chamber while “Katie King” was in sight, but also perfectly quiescent. Varley testified before the Dialectical Society in 1869, relating his positive success with D. D. Home. He himself experienced numerous psychic manifestations in his own home, believed himself to be possessed of mesmeric healing power, and observed a number of apparitions. His wife demonstrated clairvoyance and prophetic trance.
(Rf.: Times, Sept. 3 and 11, 1883; Engineering, Sept. 7, 1883; Telegraphic Journal, Sept. 15, 1883; Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society, etc. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, 1871, pp. 157-72.)
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'''Ventura di Raulica'''. See Vol. VII, p. 400 for information.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki> Vihiva Pûnnûttee Sùtra or Bhâgvati Sutra'''. Publ. by Ookerdhaboy Shewjee, Bombay, 1877.
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'''Vishnu Bawa Brahmâchâri'''. *An Essay in Marathi (unidentified).
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'''Volney, Constantin Francois Chassebeuf, Comte de'''. French savant, b. at Craon (Maine-et-Loire), Feb. 3, 1757; d. in Paris, April 25, 1820. Was at first surnamed Boisgirais from his father’s estate, but assumed the name of Volney. Spent some four years in Egypt and Syria, publishing his Voyage en Égypte et en Syrie in 1787. Was a member of both the States-General and of the Constituent Assembly. In 1791 appeared his Les Ruines, ou méditations sur les révolutions des empires, an essay on the philosophy of history. Volney tried to put his politico-economic theories into practice in Corsica. He was thrown into prison during the Jacobin triumph, but escaped the guillotine. He went to the U.S.A., 1795, where he was accused of being a French spy, and returned to France, 1798. He was not a partisan of Napoleon, but served him in the senate. Became a member of the Institute, 1795.
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'''Wachtmeister, Countess Constance (1838-1910)'''. *Reminiscences of H. P. Blavatsky and “The Secret Doctrine.” London: Theos. {{Page aside|531}}Publ. Soc.; New York: The Path·, and Madras: Theos. Soc., 1893. 162 pp. Tide Vol. VI, p. 448, in the present Series, for detailed biographical data.
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'''Wagner, Prof. Nikolay Petrovich (1829-1907)'''. See Vol. VI, p. 449, for biographical data.
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'''Westbrook, Judge R. B'''. No definite information is available about him. He was for a time a Professor of Philology at a British University, it would seem. He was made one of the Councillors of the T.S., and became a Vice-President of it in 1877. H.P.B. had a high regard for him, but it is not clear what became of him at a later date.
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'''Wilder, Dr. Alexander'''. Distinguished physician, author and Platonic scholar, b. at Verona, Oneida Co., N.Y., May 14, 1823; d. at Newark, N.J., September 8, 1908. Descendant of a New England family which came from Lancaster, England, to Massachusetts Bay in 1638. Sixth son of Abel and Asenath (Smith) Wilder, and the eighth child of a family of ten. Educated at first in the common schools of New York state. Being precocious beyond years, started teaching school at fifteen, studying by himself the higher branches of mathematics and the classics, to which were added later French, Hebrew and political science. The circumstances of the deaths of several of his father’s family demolished his confidence in current medical methods, and he began studies in medicine, in order to render himself as far as possible independent of physicians. Meantime, he worked at farming and type-setting, reading medicine with local physicians, and was awarded in 1850 a diploma by the Syracuse Medical College. Became then a general practitioner, lecturing for about two years on anatomy and chemistry in the college. After several assignments as Editor of various dailies, he settled in New York City and became, 1858, a member of the editorial staff of the Evening Post with which he remained connected for thirteen years. Despite his repeated refusals, Dr. Wilder was made to accept in 1873 a professorship of physiology in the Eclectic Medical College of New York, but left there in 1877 on account of internal dissensions and dishonest practices beyond his control. From 1878-83, he taught psychology at the U. S. Medical College, until it went out of existence by a decision of the courts. In 1876, he became secretary of the National Eclectic Medical Association, and held the office until 1895, meantime editing and publishing nineteen volumes of its Transactions, besides contributing extensively {{Page aside|532}}to its literature. However, to quote Dr. Wilder’s own words: “…my observation of medical colleges is not favorable to them as schools of morals or as promoters of financial probity. The more there is professed, the less it seems to be believed . . . physicians boasted loudly then, as now, of being a learned body and invoked special legislation to protect them from competitors . . .” He allowed himself to become for a while a subject in such experimentations, and had abundant reasons, as he says himself, to regret this. He was influenced to a very considerable extent by the study of Swedenborg, and later by the writings of General Hitchcock on Alchemy and Hermetic Philosophy. He experienced a number of radical changes in his religious views, identified himself for a time, together with his brothers, with several religious movements of a revivalist kind, but finally grew out of them and into a sphere of spiritual freedom, and became an outstanding—yet, unfortunately, not well recognized—exponent of Platonism and the Hermetic Philosophy. A strong individuality brings with it into life a forgotten knowledge of its real work, but it takes often many years to bring it out into the open.
In 1882, Dr. Wilder attended the School of Philosophy at Concord, Mass., and a year later took part in the organization of the American Akademe, a philosophic society holding meetings at Jacksonville, Ill. He edited its journal for four years, contributing many monographs on such subjects as: “The Soul,” “Philosophy of the Zoroasters,” “Life Eternal,” “Creation and Evolution,” and others. He also made a translation from the Greek of the Dissertation of lamblichus On the Mysteries of the Egyptians (orig. publ. in The Platonist; issued in book form in 1911 by The Metaphysical Publ. Co., New York).
Dr. Wilder wrote a number of most scholarly and illuminating articles in The Evolution, a Journal published in New York, on such subjects as: “Bacchus the Prophet-God” (June, 1877), “Paul, the Founder of Christianity” (Sept., 1877), “Paul and Plato,” and others. He contributed philosophical essays to The Metaphysical Magazine of New York around 1894-95, and wrote extensively on various metaphysical and Platonic subjects for The Word, from 1904 on. One of the most valuable pamphlets issued by him is entitled New Platonism and Alchemy: A Sketch of the Doctrines and Principal Teachers of the Eclectic or Alexandrian School; also an Outline of the Interior Doctrines of the Alchemists of the Middle Ages (Albany, N.Y., 1869). H.P.B. quoted many passages from the various writings mentioned above, and expressed her delight  {{Page aside|533}}over the attitude of Dr. Wilder towards the subjects of which they treat.
In addition to various essays on medical subjects, such as Thought, Cerebration, the Ganglionic Nervous System, Vaccination as a medical fallacy, and others, Dr, Wilder wrote a History of Medicine (New Sharon, Main: New England Eclectic Publ. Co., 1901. 946 pp. Index), and contributed invaluable Notes and Comments to special editions of the works of other scholars, such as: Ancient Symbol-Worship by Westropp and Wake (Boston, 1874); Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology by R. Payne Knight (New York, 1876).
Dr. Wilder contributed a good deal of material to the section of Isis Unveiled entitled “Before the Veil,” the circumstances of which are fully explained in the Introductory chapter to the edition of that work forming an integral part of the present Series. He was a staunch friend of both H.P.B. and Col. H. S. Olcott, and had a very high regard for their work. Dr. Wilder was a tall man, spare of person, with a massive head and piercing eyes; he spoke fluently, was an omnivorous reader, and possessed a remarkable memory. His many-sided writings should someday be compiled into a uniform edition and published for the benefit of present-day scholars who are quite unaware of his intuitive insight into so many different regions of thought.
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'''Wimbridge, Edward'''. An English architect in New York, who with Miss Rosa Bates accompanied the Founders to India. He was an artist and carved on wood the first cover of The Theosophist in October, 1879. He also etched on copper a portrait of H.P.B. When Miss Bates quarrelled with Emma Coulomb and the Founders, and left them, Mr. Wimbridge went with her. “Since then, a furniture manufacturing business, for which I helped him, along with the late K. N. Seervai, to find the capital, enriched him, but I have never heard that his thirst for spirituality, survived the shock. He made the best furniture in India, however.” (H. S. Olcott in The Theosophist, Vol. XIX, Aug., 1898, p. 703.) He died at Bombay, May 13, 1898.
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'''Windthorst, Ludwig (1812-1891)'''. German Catholic statesman at Hanover, and leader of the Party of the Center; Minister of Justice, 1862-65; elected to Reichstag in 1867.
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'''Wittgenstein, Prince Emil-Karl-Ludwig von Sayn-'''. (Spelled with only one “t” in Russia.) Russian Lieutenant-General who belonged to a Princely House (now extinct) which was a branch of the {{Page aside|534}}German family Sayn-Wittgenstein-Barleburg. He was born in 1824. In 1845, he accompanied Prince Alexander of Hesse to the Caucasus; in 1848, he took part in the war against Denmark; then entered Russian service, and soon became aide-de-camp to Prince Vorontzov, Viceroy of the Caucasus, where he took part in the military operations. In 1862, he was attached to the Grand-Duke Konstantine Nikolayevich in Warsaw, Poland. During the Turkish War with Russia, 1877-78, he was in the suite of the Emperor. He died in 1878. He was a close friend of H.P.B. and her family, and became one of the earliest and most earnestly interested members of the T.S. As appears from an Editorial Note by H.P.B. in The Theosophist (Vol. IV, March, 1883, pp. 141-42), Prince von Wittgenstein received, for some reason or other, special protection from the Brothers in times of great danger.
Aside from poetry, he wrote Kavalerie-Skizzen (Darmstadt, 1859) and Deutschland in die Schranken (Darmstadt, 1860).
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'''Yarker, John (1833-?)''', *Notes on the Scientific and Religious Mysteries of Antiquity, etc., 1872; 2nd ed., New York: J. W. Bouton, 1878.
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'''Zhelihovsky, Vera Petrovna de''', younger sister of H. P. Blavatsky, b. at Odessa, Southern Russia, April 17/29, 1835; d. May 5/18, 1896. She was first married to Nikolay Nikolayevich de Yahontov (1827-58) which accounts for the fact that some of her writings are signed with the letter “Y”; some years after the death of her husband, she married Vladimir Ivanovich de Zhelihovsky. She had two sons by her first marriage, and one son (who died in infancy) and three daughters by the second. (For details consult the Genealogical Table in the present Volume.)
As the years went by, she became widely known in Russia and some European countries as a writer of children’s stories, and as an unusually clever contributor to various Russian periodicals. At certain periods in her life, her financial circumstances were strained, and she was able to supplement her slim income by writing, which in her day was not an easy thing for a woman in Russia to do. She was a person of great courage and tireless energy.
Among her many stories, some of which appeared serially in Russian magazines and others were later published in book-form, the following may be mentioned: Prince Iliko: Young Caucasian Prisoner; In a Tatar Hangout; Caucasian Legends (St. Petersburg, 1901); Adventures (1898); Stars: Christmas Stories for Children; {{Page aside|535}}The Czar and the Cossack (Moscow, 1904); Spring Dawn (St. Petersburg, 1904); Yermolov in the Caucasus (St. Petersburg, 1889).
Those especially interested in H.P.B.’s family background, are grateful to her sister for having written a most valuable and authentic biographical sketch of their mother, under the title of “Helena Andreyevna von Hahn: Romantic Writer.” It was published in the well-known Journal Russkaya Starina (Russian Old Days), Vol. 53, March, 1887, pp. 733-66, and should sometime be published in English.
Madame de Zhelihovsky published several essays concerned with H.P.B.’s life; these should be considered an important source material, as she kept a diary and was very careful about her statements and their chronological sequence. The most valuable of these writings is her serial article entitled “The Truth about H. P. Blavatsky” (Pravda o Yelene Petrovne Blavatskoy) which appeared in the journal called Rebus (Vol. II, 1883: Nos. 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48) and was later circulated in pamphlet form. It deals with H.P.B.’s early years and recounts a number of interesting psychic experiences. It is from this account that A. P. Sinnett quotes at considerable length in his Incidents in the Life of H. P. Blavatsky (London and New York, 1886). He is in error, however, with regard to his source of information, and this error should be corrected.
When Sinnett was writing his account of H.P.B.’s life, a project with which H.P.B. herself was by no means in sympathy, he pressed her for various information and data. H.P.B. therefore translated into English most of her sister’s story above referred to, in order to provide Sinnett with the facts which he sought. As stated by Sinnett himself (p. 6 of the Introductory to his book), H.P.B.’s sister had recently revised and corrected her story specifically for the purpose in view. It appears that “the Rebus . . . was committed deeply to certain rigid views concerning the origin and cause of such phenomena as those with which it dealt. This led to some mutilation of the narrative at the time of its publication, but the authoress has now endeavoured to restore it as far as possible to its proper shape, with the help of the original manuscript, which she had preserved, and from which portions missing from the periodical have now been translated.”
H.P.B.’s translation is quite lengthy; it is in her own handwriting and is preserved in the Archives of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, India. It may be said to be an almost exact {{Page aside|536}}translation of the printed Series to which have been added those passages which, apparently, the Editor of Rebus thought fit to eliminate. In addition, H.P.B. has added here and there some sentences of her own and a few footnotes, a fact which is quite obvious from their context and style, one or two of them being even signed “Translator.” Some of the sheets on which H.P.B. wrote have various notes scribbled and crossed out on their reverse side; however, after close scrutiny, these have been proved to be duplications, draft-translations, and occur in a far better form in the main text.
When some short excerpts from this translation were published in The Theosophist (Vol. XLVII, March and May, 1926), C. Jinarájadása stated in a prefatory note that he had received it from Miss Francesca Arundale; it may well be that the latter got it from Sinnett while in London, and if so, that would account for the fact that this translation of Vera Petrovna’s text is not complete in the Archives; the beginning of the story is missing, and the MS starts from that part which tells about H.P.B.’s father and his “Voltairian” tendencies. Writing to Sinnett, H.P.B. refers to this translation and incidentally identifies the source of the material (See The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett. pp. 149, 155).
While Sinnett does mention the Rebus essay by its actual title, he also refers to certain “Personal and Family Reminiscences” put together by Madame de Zhelihovsky and from which he intends to quote, but actually did not. Vera Petrovna de Zhelihovsky wrote in 1884 an entirely different series of articles entitled “The Inexplicable or the Unexplained: From Personal and Family Reminiscences.” These were also published in the Rebus (Vol. Ill, Nos. 43-48; Vol. IV, Nos. 4-7, 9-11, 13-14) and consist of an outline of various mediumistic and psycho-mental phenomena which took place in the life of the author in Russia. Some of them are quite remarkable, and to some extent similar to those which took place in H.P.B.’s early youth. The Series gives some interesting sidelights about various members of the family, among them Peter A. von Hahn, H.P.B.’s and Vera’s father. But there are very few references to H.P.B., and the Series does not contain any of the material wrongly ascribed to it by Sinnett. H.P.B. herself makes a passing reference to this Series in her Letters to Sinnett, pp. 155-56, and briefly quotes from it. Beyond that one quoted passage, this later Series is not included in Sinnett’s book.
Another outline of H.P.B.’s life and character was written by {{Page aside|537}}her sister for the Russian Review (Russkoye Obozreniye) under the title of “H. P. Blavatsky: A Biographical Sketch,” and appeared in November and December, 1891 (Vol. VI, pp. 242-94, 567-621). It has considerable historical value. It appeared in French in the pages of the Nouvelle Revue of 1892, and was almost completely translated into English and published in Lucifer (Vols. XV and XVI, Nov., 1894—April, 1895).
Another biographical sketch in Russian was appended to the Russian edition of H.P.B.’s Mysterious Tribes of the Blue Hills and The Durbar in Lahore (St. Petersburg: V. I. Gubinsky, 1893). It was translated into English by Kirk and Lieven and published in The London Forum (incorp. The Occult Review), Vols. LX, LX1, LXII, Dec., 1934-July, 1935.
We have two other accounts from the pen of Vera Petrovna which are of great interest; they deal with her own early years in Russia, and provide fascinating glimpses into the family background and the customs of the day. One of them is entitled When I was Small (Kak ya bila malen’koy) and is an account of her childhood up to her seventh year (2nd rev. and enl. ed., St. Petersburg: A. F. Devrient, 1894, 269 pp., fig.), and another is My Adolescence (Moyo otrochestvo), a continuation of the subject into later years (St. Petersburg: Ed. Off. of “Readings for Children,” 1893, 295 pp.; 3rd ed., ca. 1900; 4th ed., 1902). Many of H.P.B.’s own rather vague dates and facts pertaining to her early years can be verified or corrected by these two books.
Valuable accounts concerning some of H.P.B.’s startling occult phenomena are provided by Vera Petrovna in her articles in Rebus, July 15 and 22, 1884; also No. 50 of 1884; Novosti i Birzhevaya Gazeta, June 13 and 20, 1889; and her outspoken reply to V. S. Solovyov’s hostile book, her own title being H. P. Blavatsky and a Modern Priest of Truth (St. Petersburg, 1893).
A most cordial affection existed throughout the years between H.P.B. and her sister Vera. If Madame de Zhelihovsky did not always understand the real “H.P.B.,” she nevertheless always trusted her and defended her to the very last. It has been said that the mental suffering which she experienced when Solovyov attacked H.P.B. broke down her health and hastened her death. She felt very keenly the injustices under which W. Q. Judge suffered and defended him whenever she could do so. She travelled several times to Western Europe to visit H.P.B. and their reunions meant always a great deal to both of them.
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'''<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zohar''', or Midrash ha-Zohar and Sepher ha-Zohar. See Vol. VII, p. 402, for complete data about Hebrew text and translations.
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'''Zollner, Johann K. F. (1834-82)'''. *Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Leipzig, 1878-81. 4 vols. Fide Vol. V, pp. 265-67, for bio-bibliographical data.


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