141 order of the sovereign. On that account, God crea- ted a first intellect, called in Persian Bahman, that is, " supreme soul," or Bardsti-, or Ferosu, or Serosh seroshdn, and " the science of truth;" he who pro- duced something " new;" he is also entitled " the u true man :6 God created man according to his image;" that is to say, pure, luicompounded, like reason, betwixt necessity and possibility,1 in the centre be- tween both; necessity is on his right side, possibility on his left; the perfect spirit rises from the left, which is the side of possibility. With respect to truth, the image of man is dkl, '2 ** spirit of wisdom, cc the holy spirit, and the image of Eva a perfect spirit: on that account it was said that the forth- coming of Eva took place from Adam's left side. The Sofis also agree with this, as we find it explained by Shaikh Muhammed Lahaji,3 in his work Sharah-4- 1 .^K/»! imhan, ** possibility," signifies that, the existence or non- existence of which, is the necessary consequence of the essence of a thing. The philosophers distinguish by name four sorts of possibility: 1. imkan zati, " possibility with respect to essence;" 2. imkan istidodi, lt possi- 4' biiity by disposition,"also called moltuni, " eventual;" 3. imkanlihaz, " special possibility;" and 4. imkan dam, ** general possibility."—(See on this subject Jorjani's Definitions, Notices et Extraits des MSS., vol. XI. pp. 82-83.) 2 The word dkl has a manifold and therefore often vague meaning; it corresponds sometimes to Holy Ghost. I thought it right to translate it hereafter by " intelligency," in the double acceptation of " unbodied " spirits" and " wisdom;" and also by " reason." 3 His whole title is Shemseddin Muhammed ben Yahja, ben Ali Lah- jdni, a native of Lahjan, a town in the province of Gilan. He wrote in