ZTbe ©pen Court
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
Wcvotct> to tbe Science ot IReligfon, tbe IReltGion ot Science, ant) tbe
Bitension ot tbe IReligious parliament 1It)ea
Editor: Dr. Paul Carus. Associaies: \ £ ^' Hbg«U!R
I Mary Cards.
VOL. XX. (no. 7.) JULY, 1906. NO. 602
CONTENTS:
PAGE
Frontispiece. Benedictiis de Spinoza.
The Psychology of a Sick Man. Charles Caverno 385
The Great San Francisco Earthquake. (Illustrated.) Edgar L. Larkin.. . . 393
The Cohesive Power of Ignorance. Frank Crane 407
Agnosticism in the Pulpit. Editor 41 1
The Dog's Boilers and their Fuel. (Illustrated.) Woods Hutchinson^
A.M., M.D 417
Professor Haeckel as an Artist. Editor 428
Zoroastrian Religion and the Bible 434
A Japanese Writer's History of His Theology. Communicated by E. W.
Clement 436
Benedictus de Spinoza 439
Book Reviezvs and Notes 439
CHICAGO
Ube ©pen Court IPubUsbing Companie
LONDON: Kegan Paul. Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.
Per copy, 10 cents (sixpence). Yeariy, $1.00 (In the U. P. U., 5». 6d.).
Copyright, 1906, by The Open Court Publishing Co. Entered at the Chicago Post Office as Second Class Matter.
^be ©pen Court
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
'Bcvotcb to tbe Science of IReligf on, tbe IReligion ot Science, an5 tbe
Bitension ot tbe IReltaious parliament ITbea
Editor: Dr. Paul Carus. Associaies: \ ?; ^- Hsgeler
/ Mary Cards.
VOL. XX. (no. 7.) JULY, 1906. NO. 602
CONTENTS:
PAGE
Frontispiece. Benedicttis de Spinoza.
The Psychology of a Sick Man. Charles Caverno 385
The Great San Francisco Earthquake. (Illustrated.) Edgar L. Larkin. . . . 393
The Cohesive Power of Ignorance. Frank Crane 407
Agnosticism in the Pulpit. Editor 411
The Dog's Boilers and their Fuel. (Illustrated.) Woods Hutchinson,
A.M., M.D 417
Professor Haeckel as an Artist. Editor 428
Zoroastrian Religion and the Bible 434
A Japanese Writer's History of His Theology. Communicated by E. W.
Clement 436
Benedictus de Spinoza 439
Book Revietvs and Notes 439
CHICAGO
ttbe ©pen Court IPublisbing Companie
LONDON: Kegan Paul. Trench, Trfibner & Co., Ltd.
Per copy, 10 cents (sixpence). Yeariy, $1.00 (in the U. P. U., 55. 6d.).
Copyright, 1906, by The Open Court Publishing Co. Entered at the Chicago Post Office as Second Class Matter.
"Oive me not, O Ood, that blind, fool faith in my friend, that eees no evil when
evil is, but give me, O Ood, that sublime belief, that seeing evil I yet have faith."
My Little Book of Prayer
BY MURIEL STRODE
If you want to know the greatness of a soul and the true mastery of life, apply
to The Open Court Publishing Company for a shp of a book by Muriel Strode
entitled simply " My Little Book of Prayer. " The modern progress of
sovereign mind and inner divinity from the -narrow cell of the ascetic to the
open heaven of man, made in God's own image, is triumphantly shown in it,
yet a self-abnegation and sacrifxe beyond anything that a St. Francis or a
Thomas a'Kempis ever dreamed of glorifies the path. To attempt to tell what
a treasure-trove for the strugghng soul is in this little volume would be im-
possible without giving it complete, for every paragraph marks a milestone on
the higher way. That the best of all modem thought and reUgion is garnered
in it, its very creed proclaims:
Not one holy day but seven;
Worshiping, not at the call of a bell, but at the call of my soul;
Singing, not at the baton's sway, but to the rhythm in my heart;
Loving because I must;
Doing for the joy of it.
Some one who has "entered in" sends back to us this inspiring prayer book,
and to seize its spirit and walk in the light of it would still the moan and
bitterness of human hves, as the bay wreath ends the toilsome struggle in
the hero's path. Measure the height attained in this one reflection for the
weary army of the unsuccessful: "He is to rejoice with exceeding great joy
who plucks the fruit of his planting, but his the divine anointing who watched
and waited, and toiled, and prayed, and failed — and can yet be glad." Or
this, in exchange for the piping cries of the unfortunate: "I do not bemoaa
misfortune. To me there is no misfortime. I welcome whatever comes; I go
out gladly to meet it." Cover all misfortime, too, with this master prayer;
* O God, whatever befall, spare me that supreme calamity — let no after-
bitterness settle down with me. Misfortune is not mine until that hour."
Here, too, is the triumph of the unconquerable mind: "The earth shall yet
surrender to him and the fates shall do his will who marches on, though the
promised land proved to be but a mirage and the day of dehverance was
canceled. The gods shall yet anoint him and the morning stars shaU sing."
And this the true prayer for the battlefield: "I never doubt my ftrength to
bear whatever fate may bring, but, oh! that I may not go doMTi before that
which I bring myself."
Nuggets of pure gold like these abound in this mine of the mind which the
victorious author has opened for us. To seek it out swiftly and resolve its
great wealth for himself should be the glad purpose of the elect. And who
are not the elect in the light of its large teaching? To claim them in spite of
themselves is its crowning lesson. "It is but common to beheve in liim who
beUeves in himself, but, oh! if you would do aught uncommon, believe in him
who does not believe in himself— restore the faith to him." — St Louis Qlobe~
Democrat, March 5.
Printed on Strathmore Japan Paper, Gilt Top, Cloth, $1. Alexis Paper, Bds. 50c Postpaid
The Open Court Publisbing Co., i322 Wabash Ave., Chicago
Ben ED ICTUS DE Spinoza
Cui na"bura.Deus,reruni ciii cog-ni+its ordo ,
Hoc Spinola fta1:u conlpicieiidus erat.
Expreflere ^ari faciem.fed ping^ere nxentem
Zeuxidis artifices non valiiere mantis.
Ilia vi^H fcriplris : ilLic rublimia fractal::
Hiuic quicunq^iie cupis nofcere.fcripta leg-e .
By permission of Mrs. Julius Rosenthal.
Frontispiece to The Open Court.
The Open Court
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and
the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea.
VOL. XX. (No. 7.) JULY, 1906. NO. 602
Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Company, 1906.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A SICK MAN.
BY CHARLES CAVERNO.
THE chlorine-green god, Nausea, set himself against me. He
had his way. No food was tolerable. Hearing the clink of
dishes on the way to my room put me in antagonism to their
contents before sight. Water brought from the dining room ice-
pitcher was like belated slops from a coffee urn. There is one barri-
cade that the aforesaid god does respect, and that is ice. The com-
mercial ice of North America one will avoid. Its microbes may be
malign. A friend procured for me a demijohn of water from a
favorite spring. This, exposed to the outer air, in proper recep-
tacles, in zero weather, gave me zero ice. Nausea quailed before
that. The bite and sting of that ice at low temperature, is a delight
to this moment. It had a meaning and expressed it. But ice is
only a palliative. On it man cannot long support life, and goes
rapidly down to exhaustion and a flickering pulse. On the way
down I remember one incident with interest, for it gave
"Respite and Nepenthe"
for a moment to pain. I was sitting beside the Doctor on the edge
of the bed and fainted. He threw me back on the bed and that
revived me. I was thoroughly angry with him and when I got
voice upbraided him for bringing me back to consciousness. The
joy of that brief moment of oblivion, with the consciousness, on each
of its edges, of freedom from pain, abides still as brightly as that
of a summer vacation. Possibly we need have no more trouble in
taking chloroform than in going to sleep and in wakening.
The process downward to the wandering of delirium was rapid.
Of this period I have no distinct memory. But in it the children
were summoned from the east and from the west. Thev were pres-
386 THE OPEN COURT.
ent in the house the night of the favorable (medical point of view)
turning. Fortunately I did not knovv^ this fact. I remember that
the Doctor sat by my side with one hand on my pulse and in the
other a hypodermatic syringe. The nurses were standing in attend-
ance. I knew the meaning of what I saw — and — was satisfied. I
expected to make the change from this condition of existence to
what is beyond. Now what happened next I attribute to sleep and
dream. But I distinctly thought I had made the transition. The
one mental exercise that held me was curiosity. I wanted to see
what was coming next. I got no distinct view but there seemed
to be much lying before just ready to be revealed. Now that I am
to look forward to a real transition at some not distant day, I am
much encouraged by the psychology of this dream, considering the
background in consciousness from which it was projected, to- wit:
the expectation of departure. The universe is still the universe,
whether one is on this side or that of any equator separating its
latitudes. If one can find adjustment here from science, philosophy
and religion, he may trust that he can find it there.
I opened my eyes — the Doctor was gone, the nurses were
seated in quietness, hypodermatics had won and I was here and not
there. The first thought that came to me was — I wonder if the
windmill was turned on to the pump yesterday afternoon, if it
was not we shall be short of water. Eternity and a windmill — what
a juxtaposition ! Yet both are worthy objects of thought — "Each
in its 'customed place." Eternity will split into particulars as does
time. The reflection soon came — Ah me! Why did I not go for-
ward? Now I shall have all that is preliminary to go over again.
The psychology of a "rapt and parting soul" — what is it? The
human race has had testimony and observation from which to draw
conclusions and yet no generalizations of value have been reached.
The whole matter is in chaos. Let us posit one principle, try it,
and see if it will hold good. Those luho depart this life, at the time
of departure are ivilUng to go. If there are exceptions to this rule
it may be of interest to search for their causes. But let us deal
with the rule. We oive the universal desire to leave this life to the
ministry of pain. Let us go back one step. Benjamin Franklin
said: "Anything as universal as death must be regarded as in-
tended." Biology lends its whole force to Franklin's conclusion.
Integration and disintegration have been the history of all organism
since the primal cell. With the deterioration of tissue comes in
pain or dis-ease. Now again we can make use of Franklin's phi-
losophy: any thing as universal as suffering after an organism has
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A SICK MAN. 387
passed the zenith of its vitaHty must be regarded as intended. This
conclusion may not exhaust the philosophy of suffering, but no
philosophy can be sound that neglects it. If the end in view be the
cessation of life, then pain may be regarded as an adaptation phys-
ically and psychically to that end. It produces in man normally
just contentment with that which is to be. Tennyson sings:
"Whatever crazy sorrow saith,
No life that breathes with human breath
Hath ever truly longed for death."
Like a great many other things, that is true up to a certain
point and then it ceases to be true. Water contracts to 32° and
then it expands. Burns is equally true,
"O death, the poor man's dearest friend,
The kindest and the best,
Welcome the hour my aged limbs
Are laid with thee at rest."
Whether one longs for death or not depends upon the vital
condition of his physical organism. When vitality is high, and its
storm and stress for action on, a man does not want to die. But the
case is entirely altered with feebleness and suffering. Then men
do "long for death," ever have, and ever will. Even those who are
in the flush of life, if they are maimed in some sad accident, often
ask to be put out of their misery. Men usually do not cross bridges
till they come to them. But again the rule is that when men come
to the bridge we have in view, they are willing, often desirous, to
cross it.
There is a foregleam of this adjustment in the action of animals.
When they find in themselves an intimation that a great change
portends, they yield to its promptings, give up the struggle for
existence, forsake their fellows and their customary beats and
haunts, retire to some secluded nook and await what comes. Some
one says it is harder to catch a dead bird than a live one ; we can
see why.
Edward Young (he ought to have credit for manv felicitous
expressions of truth, if he was not a poet) says:
"Man makes a death which nature never made."
We do not die our own death but that which the superstitions
and terrors of centuries of our kind have loaded upon us. We die
such death as the imagination of the dark ages permits us to die.
When it comes to that it admits of debate who had the worst out-
look in that era, saint or sinner. Take a forecast of the future of
which St. Simon Stylites is representative — vigils, fasts, penances,
388 THE OPEN COURT.
pilgrimages, yes, the Crusades — and realize that when, after all
tortures the body could endure, one lay down to die, he had the men-
tal torture that all he had suffered might be in vain and through
some self-deceit or some unnoticed neglect he might trip on the
threshold of heaven and fall back into hell. We have changed all
that ? Oh no ! Much from out that gloom still remains to cast its
shadow over souls as they contemplate the journey forward. Of
course one extreme begets another. In the later centuries ecstasies
came in to supersede the gloom of the saint. Suspicion arising
from various sources attaches to these exercises of the saint. Nature
is not in the habit of doing serious things in ecstasy. We are not
born in ecstasy ; we ought not to expect to die in ecstasy. An in-
flamed imagination working by preconceived notion will account
for most of these ecstatic departures from life. Plainly the sinner's
horror is a psychological addition to the pains of death, arising
from -belief in hell. Belief in a "city of gold" and in a "lake that
burneth with fire and brimstone" is not now widely held, and so
perturbations either of joy or fear cease to appear in parting hours,
and we can discern more clearly in them the rational and kindly
intent of nature.
I have had nothing but the common experience of men. I have
seen many persons pass out of this life. I have never seen one de-
part in ecstasy or in fear. The only person I ever saw in terror
of death did not die. The case shows clearly how psychological
considerations come in to interfere with a sound philosophy re-
specting the order for removal from this sphere of action, and
respecting the general kindliness of its execution. A young man
drifted away from the East to the far West. Not gifted with the
power of initiative he failed to find employment, his money gave out,
he fell sick and was taken to the county-house. When I called on
him there the perspiration stood in big drops on his forehead. I
hurriedly asked him: "What is the matter?" He said: "I am dy-
ing, and I am afraid to die." I took my cue from the last expres-
sion. I found his pulse strong and voice natural. I gave him one
grain of cinchonidia and said: "Now tell me all about it. What are
you afraid of?" He took the Bible from under his pillow and
putting his finger on the i6th verse of the XVIth chapter of Mark —
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," said : "I have
never been baptized." I replied : "My good friend, I can get any
one of half a dozen ministers of as many denominations here in an
hour and we will have that matter attended to. You will live that
time any way." But I had reckoned without my host, for he an-
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A SICK MAN. 389
swered : "I must be immersed to be baptized and sick as I am that
cannot be." At some time, in his life before, a little information
as to the historic standing of the text that troubled him might have
helped him now — he could have given himself the benefit of a
doubt. . But plainly efifort in that direction was not now in point.
I cannot recall all the steps of the detour I took to relieve his mental
suffering. It is enough to say that in an hour the perspiration had
gone from his forehead and he was comfortable in body and mind.
In a few days arrangements were made by which he departed for
the East. Shortly after his arrival he executed what he thought
was his duty — was immersed and joined a church. He found
work and had a happy outlook for this world and the world to come.
Now the name of cases of this kind, as well as of some others, is
legion. But we should not confuse ourselves in settling upon a
philosophy of pain and death, with varying particulars of this sort
that have no necessary connection with it. The young man's dis-
tress was necessary neither to him nor to any one else.
Testimony as to the psychology of the dying is to be received
with caution. Two persons present, because of difference in pre-
conceived ideas, might give very different reports. When the
matter has passed to second and third mouths it is hopeless to ex-
pect to reach the truth. Witness the testimony in regard to the
mental condition of Thomas Paine in his last hours.
Before I came to my teens I had a case that was for long years
a puzzle to me. An old neighbor lay dying. He had been a
"sturdy" sinner. He loved rum "for its own sake" and always
kept it in the house for daily use. He was profusely profane. He
would lie. The neighbors said that sometimes between the days,
if he wanted corn or apples, he paid no attention to division fences.
They said he was "hot" and let it go at that. The day he died an
aunt of mine came to visit at our home. Passing the house of the
dying man she called to inquire about him. She did not go in. At
my home she took me for a walk, and being a good woman, im-
proved the occasion to make an impression on me. She told me
what remorse the old neighbor was suffering, that he said he had
"done wrong and it stared him in the face," that he was in the
agony of the death of all the wicked. Now this did make an impres-
sion on me and I thank my aunt to this day for her intent. But
a few days afterward I heard one who was there all the time the
old man was sick, say that from the beginning he dropped into un-
consciousness, which was only rarely and briefly broken ; that once
the old man said he had made a wrong disposition of his property
390 THE OPEN COURT.
and wished he had divided it differently. "His Hfe had not been
ineffectual." He was genuinely covetous and had accumulated and
kept his property. He did not share his rum with any "souter
Johnny," as Tam O'Shanter did,
"The reaming swats that drank divinely."
The antecedent probability coincided with the statement of
the witness who was present that the old man when he spoke of
"wrong" was thinking about property. My aunt gave a moral turn
to the word, because her antecedent philostophy called for it. She
talked with me under the conviction that what she thought ought
to be must be ; she had not the slightest suspicion that it could be
otherwise. Now if the man's psychology were as she represented,
that might be an important fact for religion but on the philosophy
of the intent of death and its mode of execution, naturally, it is
negligible. Physically speaking, however, the old man probably
got out of life with less distress than his better neighbors, for his
doctor was of a very old school, was a devotee of rum, and like
another famous physician worked with the "twa simples, calamy
and laudamy." The latter we may be sure was not spared.
The moribund sometimes use expressions that are thought to
have religious value. They may and they may not have. The
expression "going home" does duty for piety — it may be legiti-
mately, it may not. I have seen two cases where on their face one
might think the use betrayed deep religious feeling. But it was
very certain to me that it had nothing of it. One was the case of
an aged clergyman with whom I had familiar acquaintance. I was
away from the city of his home for years. Returning I found him
in new conditions and greatly changed. He was living in the home
of his son. But mentally he had lost all co-ordination with his
then present circumstances. He did not know with whom or where
he was. Now since the days of Irengeus it has been common speech
with old men — "I remember better the things that happened in my
youth than those which have happened in my later years." Loss
of memory of recent events is part of the shortening in process
which nature employs on the way to the final separation from this
life.'* This was what had happened to my aged friend. He was
a stranger in his own son's family and at his own son's table. But
my name struck him. It lay back far enough in memory to be in
the unclouded realm. We were fast friends again on the old basis.
We walked with our arms about each other around the house and
the grounds. Once in a while he would say: "This is all well —
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A SICK MAN. 39I
these folks mean well enough and do well by me but I wish you
would take me back to the old home." With that he was still co-
ordinated, with this he had lost connection. He was glancing back-
ward and not forward when he requested me to take him home.
This comports with the known psychology of declining years.
The other case was that of a woman ninety-seven years of age
who had, through those years, kept mastery of her faculties. One
evening as she was about to retire, she said she wanted to be taken
home the next day, she had been there long enough. The next day
as she went about the house, she preferred the same request. She
had lived in that house nearly fifty years, had presided over its
building and furnishing and had reared her family in an old house
on the same ground. She was the impersonation of domesticity
and nothing more. She had a wonderful faculty of minding her
own business. She was not religious, she was not irreligious, she
was simply non-religious. The fact was that in the disintegrating
process preparatory to departure from life, every thing had been
swept away from memory except some far corner back in her early
girlhood. In a few days that too went into the cloud and she passed
quietly from life. When she asked to be taken home she had not
the slightest reference to extra mundane conditions but to a former
home on earth.
All religions carry a vast amount of superstition in regard to
a future life. Ours is no exception. So little is known about the
future that it is the common playground for imagination. Fancy
and rhetoric are strained to their utmost to set forth the glories or
or the wretchedness of the future. It is time that those who min-
ister in the name of religion called a halt on this license of imagi-
nation and plainly said for how much of it they stood sponsor.
If there is a life beyond this, it is to be feared that the good
will be more disappointed with it than any one else, so much pre-
conception have they carried along in this life that cannot possibly
be true.
Over most of our songs and hymns pertaining to the future
should be printed: "Caution — private way — no one responsible for
disappointments incurred therein — caveat viator f' The signal ought
to be passed along to the masters of all craft on the religious sea
to haul in and not to let out the sails of imagination with regard
to the future. The creeds of former thought may not hold the
common mind but the poetry does. When we go forth from this
life, the less we are laden with fancies that we have invented our-
392 THE OPEN COURT.
selves or that some one else has imposed upon us, the better it is
likely to be for us.
Conclusion: It is our duty to reduce to lowest terms the pains
and weariness that will come upon us. But do the best we can, they
will come and work their result. We may, with ear intent, catch
the order for forward movement and go cheerfully.
CONVALESCENCE.
The old treadmill creaks and rattles as it was not wont. The
guys and down fastenings seem loosened. Yet the familiar motion
of the rollers under the feet is not unpleasant. "The windmill?"
Yes, yes, I must see that the windmill is in gear and running.
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE.
1
BY PROF. EDGAR L. LARKIN.
Lowe Observatorj'^, Echo Mountain, California, June 6.
** OWING low sweet chariot," let mercies fall and shower down
O blessings on the sorrowful, and "let voices once breathed o'er
Eden" sing. Let the tuneful strains be soft, low and plaintive, not
too low, just loud enough for two hundred thousand suffering
human beings to' hear. And let the voices seem to come out of
space, for there would not be room for a grand choir, no place for
the singers.
Golden Gate Park, that paradise of botanical splendors, plants
with leaves like lace, sub-tropical flowers and wilderness of leaves,
that dream of the tourist, that Mecca for those wdio love the beauti-
ful, suddenly filled with fleeing thousands from wild flames and
a quaking earth.
"Seething fire followed fast and followed faster." Hosts and
multitudes hurried over whole banks and terraces of flowers, the
park was soon filled and thousands poured into the two adjacent
cemeteries ; others rushed for the beach, even to the Cliff House
and to the waters of the Golden Gate.
The Pacific was startled with the onrush of the terror-stricken.
I walked during two days along narrow passage-ways amid the
never ending thousands of homeless refugees. I talked with them
and listened to their awful story. Nature in the parks tried to hide
the misery. Great blooming hydrangeas did hide one family of
fire from gaze, and a mass of flaming poinsettias gave shelter to
a woman and her daughter who were ill. A clump of violets cov-
ered with a handkerchief, made a pillow for a little girl burning with
fever. Heliotropes, carnations, a hundred kinds of roses, verbenas,
geraniums and the glorious poppies of California vied with each
other in striving to attract attention away from the appalling scene
of misery, suffering and dismay, but in vain.
394
THE OPEN COURT.
Entire thousands were without blankets, sheets or pillows, their
entire possessions consisted of the clothing they wore, a few res-
cued pillows and spreads, and during two nights they remained
here with the earth for a bed.
The cemeteries were impressive to behold. The great areas
were simply strewn with thousands of overturned monuments,
shafts, pillars and obelisks.
N N
:^
A
<
/B...
I
'
M
^^7
R
B
^
NO. I. FALLEN MONUMENTS. ^'"^ NO. 2. DISPLACED BASES.
B marks the position of base and M of the monument in each case.
One of my objects in leaving the peace and quiet in the Ob-
servatory on the mountain, to make a five hundred mile journey to
the stricken city, was to study the action of the earthquake in the
great cemeteries, for these are the best places in which to see the
full effects of the displacement of the earth's surface. The fallen
columns write the history of the convulsion in stone. At first I
thought that a general trend or direction could be made out, but
found that the pillars were pointing in every conceivable direction.
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. 395
Cut No. I gives an idea of the confusion that reigned in the
two cities of the dead. I had no instrument with which to measure
azimuths or amplitudes, but judging by the eye alone, it seemed
that the fallen columns pointed all the way from five to seventy de-
grees from the directions of their sides before their overthrow.
The earthquake was of the typical circularly gyrating form.
The displacement of monuments that remained standing is shown
in Cut No. 2.
Some of these weigh tons, so that the force required to slide
them laterally, against enormous friction, was strong indeed. Gran-
ite was ground into fine powder under the bottoms of the displaced
shafts. Pure snow white marble angels were throwm into beds of
flowers, and one snowy wing was imbedded in a terrace all covered
with violets.
Exquisite sculptures, statuary, wreaths in marble, and carved
capitals were strewn over hundreds of acres in almost bewildering
confusion. Little marble hands holding wreaths, scrolls and tablets
were broken off and cast into flowery banks ; and one cherub ever
so white and pure was resting in a bed of daisies, and the stone eyes
looked out on a fringe of lilies. But then there were the living
round about the tombs. The half dead made their homes with the
dead. Weak and wan girls played with the marble angels and
gathered fragments of the statuary. One desolate family found
shelter in a beautiful sepulchre, while the sufferers rested their
heads on lowly graves.
On Friday night, April 20, an ocean wind blew damp and cold.
Dense fog settled down on the two hundred thousand, by midnight
an almost icy rain fell upon them in this now memorable night of
appalling misery. From all accounts it is believed that eighteen
little babies were born in the midst of the tempest. The darkness
was like that of Egypt, due to smoke mixed with fog. No lamp
or candle relieved the terrible gloom, and babies came into this
troubled world.
Let the twenty-one Buddhistic hells be concentrated into one,
and let Jonathan Edwards picture it in fiendish glee, or Dante write ;
and both would fail utterly in any description of this mind- and
brain-crushing night of horrors.
I could scarcely study the fallen columns for the suffering on
every side.
And then the mighty nation came to the rescue. Food, blan-
kets, tents and guards w^ere distributed by the government. Martial
law reigned, and California arose in its majesty and poured bun-
396
THE OPEN COURT.
dreds of car-loads of provisions into the doomed city. It was a
most impressive and pathetic scene, this giving of food to the
starving.
THE MARVELOUS PROCESSION.
After delays dne to a congestion of the railroad, the writer
arrived in San Francisco, fifty-one hours after the first shock. On
stepping ofif the boat at the foot of Market Street, I knew that I
was in an earthquake area. The earth was rent in many places.
The street railway was bent up and down in sinuous curves and one
track was a foot lower than the other. The earth had descended
vertically. Square miles of tottering walls, columns and naked
frames of structural steel, made up a frightful scene of desolation.
'.i
PANORAMA OF CITY HALL
The entire northern half of the city was then burning. The
dull thunders of falling walls, the roar of the flames and sharp
detonations of dynamite, conspired to make a horrible vision of
destruction.
Against a sable canopy, a blackened pall of smoke, the mighty
columns of the Fairmount Hotel on Nob Hill stood out in pure
white, a scene of classic beauty. But boiling flames, tumbling pal-
aces, crushing marble, exploding dynamite, burning ships and docks,
soon lost attraction for me.
Close at hand was a moving thing of pain, a struggling, toil-
ing, living object, and has history anything to surpass what I gazed
upon during four hours?
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE.
397
This most remarkable and new historic object was the intermin-
able procession of escaping thousands of people from the peninsula
of San Francisco. Thousands upon thousands were moving slowly
and painfully towards the ferry boats leading across the bay to
Oakland. A hundred thousand poured into that city, Berkeley and
Alameda.
My objective point was the cemetery, four miles away. It took
four hours to walk this distance over almost impossible debris. The
entire distance was occupied by the long drawn column of frenzied
people. Babel was eclipsed, and the confusion of tongues more
confounded. An incredible number of languages was heard. The
world was represented in varying speech ; and the nations, races,
types, and kindreds of the earth were in a marvelous review. The
AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.
linguist, anthropologist, and mentalist, all students of human nature,
had a wonderful opportunity there in the sorrowful way. The
people saved their living creatures. Canary birds, parrots, pet rab-
bits, puppies, squirrels, guinea-pigs, all household pets, were car-
ried by those scarcely strong enough to drag themselves along.
This was one of the most pathetic scenes in the ruins. And then
the dollies ; little girls toiled along with dolls that required their
strength to carry. But the living dolls, the babies, suffered in the
lime-dust cutting and biting in their tiny eyes. And poor, sobbing
mothers struggled over hot bricks, acres of broken window glass,
twisted columns, beams and girders of iron ; and then the sticky
398
THE OPEN COURT.
asphalt pavements contained nails, spikes, bolts, broken glass dishes,
crockery, chinaware, and sharp fragments of stones.
But the wilderness of tangled wires was simply unendurable.
How they tripped and fell, with their feet enmeshed in inextricable
network, loops and knots of twisted wires. And their lungs were
filled with corrosive gases and vapors rising from hot basements.
I saw enough misery in the four dreadful hours to make one ask.
What is human existence for? And then, after passing the strug-
gling thousands, I stepped into beautiful Laurel Hill cemetery and
I asked myself the same question again with emphasis.
THE MIGHTY CONVULSION.
I have received letters from every part of the troubled area.
Many of these are of great value for they were written by those
having passed through upheavals of the solid earth before. They
knew what to observe, such as intensity, time, direction, amplitude
of oscillation, and vertical lift or depression. From all these ac-
counts, and from studies of seismographic records from the north
and south sides of the disturbed region, and from the central por-
tion, and from observations in the cemeteries, it seems that the earth-
quake was circular, or roughly elliptical. A number of letters tell
of thrust, horizontally at first, but changing rapidly into circular
motion as noted in swinging lamps.
This now historic convulsion presented in one grand upheaval
almost every kind of impulse, motion, activity, and turbulence known
in earthquakes. By closely studying this colossal display of force
one can become familiar with all kinds, nearly, of earthquake phe-
nomena. The successive impulses were vertical, horizontal, to and
fro, circular, gyratory, inclined and undulatory. The strata in the
earth below the entire area of disturbance were in the clutch of a
twisting, wrenching, distorting monster.
Strain, tension and pressure were tremendous. An example
of titanic power is given by an immense chimney in the western
part of San Francisco. The entire upper half had been lifted clear
from the lower half, turned around about twenty degrees, and
gently lowered without injury. These things must have occurred
for the bricks where the rupture took place are intact and not
ground to powder. The top half weighs hundreds of tons, and if
twisted around without being lifted up, whole layers of brick would
have been ground into fine dust like the granite bases of the laterally
displaced monuments.
Different kinds of phenomena were occurring at the same time
B^^ ■■■■ r .^fj^'
400
THE OPEN COURT.
in widely separated regions. This fact is brought out clearly in the
letters. A wave in the earth might be undulating in one place,
while in another sharp beats, thumps and twists were in violent
activity. Landslides down the mountains, and into the sea would
obtain here and there, while the surface was rising elsewhere.
Springs burst forth in places and ceased to flow in others. Blue
lights appeared in a number of localities dancing over land as well
as water. Their appearance and colors were like those of static
electricity escaping from the terminals of electric influence machines.
Gases escaped from the soil and sea, having pungent sulphurous
odors. Subterranean sounds as of rolling carriage wheels over plank
bridges, and of deep rumblings and reverberations were heard in
N
No. 3- April i8, 1905, 5:i5 A. M. ''"-" No. 4. April 25, 1906, 3--I7 P- M.
SEISMOGRAPHS TAKEN AT THE VETERANS' HOME^ NAPA COUNTY, CAL,
many places, not only on April 18, the day of the upheaval, but on
the 17th.
Many persons have written me from several directions from
the stricken city, saying that they and many others heard masked and
muffled sounds from deep within the earth, and also concussions of
explosive violence. One of the most vivid, awe-inspiring and im-
pressive facts derived from these letters, and from conversations
with many while in San Francisco, and from letters written in the
city limits, is this: the people in the city did not hear subterranean
sounds.
But the awful reason why was because of the terrible roar
roundabout, from seething flames, tumbling walls, the crashing of
glass and the hissing of sliding rasping miles of wires. The litera-
ture of earthquakes does not present a more striking and startling
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. 4OI
fact, for the roaring of the city, all aflame, was louder than the
thundering in caves of gloom below.
Cut No. 3 is that of a most valuable seismograph secured by
Mr. F. M. Clarke, executive officer of the Veterans' Home, Napa
County, California, forty-five miles north of San Francisco.
A seismograph consists of a fine needle attached to a heavy
weight which is suspended by a thin cord from a rigid support.
A plate of smoked glass is placed under the needle whose point
touches the carbon film. The needle points toward the center of
gravity of the earth, and is at rest in relation to the earth's center
owing to the inertia of the massive body to which it is attached.
If the surface of the earth moves, it carries the smoked glass
with it, and the needle marks a faithful trace in the soot. The
curious lines in Cut No. 3 are those actually marked by the surface
of the earth at 5.15 A. M., April 18, in Napa County California.
A number of rapidly weakening shocks succeeded during seven
days, and Cut No. 4 is a final record made at 3.15 P. M. April 25.
The oscillations of the earth were so slight, that the lines are jum-
bled into a confused knot as shown. These records are of great
interest, for they show the beginning and end of the great earth-
quake.
All the accounts of blue lights are of scientific value, but that
sent by Engineer J. E. Hauser, from San Jose, California, is re-
markable.
"On April 18, I awakened five minutes before our clock struck
five. I heard a rumbling noise as of distant thunder. Two mares
with young colts were running and whinnying in an adjacent lot,
in alarm as though dogs were after them. Dogs were there, but
they too gave unusual warning of danger. At 5.12 my bed jumped
from under me, the movement starting from a standstill.
"The force seemed to raise up the house and turn it to the
right upward and left downward, with tremendous power, so for-
cible as to tear me loose from the door frame to which I was clinging
with both hands, my wife holding around my waist.
"We both could see down Alameda Street, looking eastward,
and we both saw the whole street ablaze with fire, it being of a
beautiful rainbow color, but faint. We passed out into the street
and met a man who asked, 'did you see the fire in Alameda street?'
An hour later a friend told me that the ground all around was a
blaze of fire."
Now this no doubt was an electrical display, for had gas been
on fire all along the street, the houses would have been ignited. And
402
THE OPEN COURT.
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. 403
a letter from a point north of San Francisco describes blue lights
as flickering like an Aurora, over wide area of marsh land, with a
troubled surface of adjoining water.
And can it be possible that the giant electricity took part in the
vast seismic turbulence?
I have a large collection of descriptions which must be omitted.
The writer scarcely knows which one of the multitude of theories
regarding the cause of earthquakes to adopt.
Pent up steam, gases, chemical activity, faults, shrinking,
warping, crumpling of strata, contracting of the external shell on
the liquid interior, settling, rising and distortion, together with
sunspots, causing a variation in the earth's electrical potential and
magnetic, and a dozen other hypotheses are found in the books.
Of these I have decided to adopt the doctrine of "faults" in this
earthquake.
There are rents, breaks, cracks and seams in the rock strata
of the earth. There is an ancient fault in California. It appears
on the coast south of Mendocino County, far north of San Francisco.
It extends along a few miles inland and follows the coast southward,
passes under San Francisco Bay, onward through Santa Clara
County near San Jose, and extends to the south line of San Louis
Obispo County. Here it makes a sharp turn to the east, and reaches
the northeast corner of Los Angeles County.
There it bends to the south, passes eastward of the city of San
Bernardino, and moving over toward the south, disappears beneath
the waters of the Gulf of California.
This primeval scar has been traced by the expert Mr. A. S.
Cooper, for more than five hundred miles. In some places one wall
of the slip or fault is 500 feet higher than the other.
The San Franciso earthquake was due to a readjustment of the
edges of the layers once torn apart when the earth was young.
Since the convulsion that laid a proud city low. Professor Branner
of the Stanford University explored the ancient rent for forty miles
south of San Francisco, and discovered that the archaic wound
had re-opened exposing fresh edges of the ancient layers.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, he found lateral displacement of
four feet, and vertical two. This is sufficient to have produced the
earthquake.
In Golden Gate Park I saw a displacement of two feet and a
vertical of ten inches. The fault approaches the sea south of San
Francisco a few miles, and an extensive landslide, forming a new
point jutting into the ocean, occurred near there.
404 THE OPEN COURT.
Faults, notably those in great mountain chains of solid rock,
are very slow in re-adjustment, and it may be that centuries will
elapse before another upheaval comes. But then they will have
scientific buildings, almost completely earthquake- and fire-proof.
Bricks will be obsolete.
Between the eruption of Vesuvius and the California earthquake
I was able to secure only four observations of the sun. Few spots
were on display, the largest being twice as large as the earth, — far
too small to amount to anything. The position of the sun, moon,
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on April i8 were such
that they were massed within five hours twenty-eight minutes of Right
Ascension. This brought them in the same region in the sky. And
they all combined to pull the earth off its orbit and nearer to the
sun. The consequence was that the earth was 618,000 miles nearer
to the solar globe on April 18th, 1906, than it was on April 18, 1905-
But our world has often been off its track farther than this
without earthquakes. So all things considered, it is perhaps well
to think that the great upheaval was due to the simple mechanical
readjustment of an ancient fault that appeared when the earth was
adolescent.
I have received seventy-four accounts. The appearance of blue
lights was over a wider area than at first thought. In Petaluma
Creek the water splashed up as though thousands of stones were
dropped into it ; and blue flames eighteen inches in height played
over a wide expanse of marshland. At Sausalito an odor of sul-
phuretted hydrogen escaped from the earth. A blowhole in sand
was formed on the beach near Colma, near the fault, and the sul-
phurous odors were pungent in Napa County during the night of
the 17th and i8th, before the upheaval, and lasted all day.
At 5.00 P. M. before the turbulence "A flickering luminous
haze" was seen playing above the ground, and during the oscilla-
tions "Many crevices were formed in the plains and mountains of
Napa and adjoining counties whose surface strata are of white
trachite, with disintegrated serpentine and porphyry, friable and
permeable to gases."
From many of the letters it is clear that the entire region north
and east of San Francisco is saturated with gases of sulphur origin,
far beneath, or it may be near the surface. The world-famous
Napa Soda Springs have increased flow from 60 to 100 per cent.,
and the temperature has increased. A spring near the Veterans'
home, writes Mr. F. M. Clarke, has increased flow from 200 to 1000
gallons per day, while others ceased flowing.
THE GREAT SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. 4O5
Landslides are reported from every part of the wide area of
seismic troubles where there are hills and mountains and cracks in
plains.
A fault extends from Santa Rosa north of San Francisco to
Salinas, south. Santa Rosa was nearly destroyed and disturbances
occurred at Salinas. This fault also bends towards San Francisco
from Santa Rosa. It appears that two faults were involved.
I have a mass of facts that cannot be mentioned in less space
than a good sized book.
Thus the convulsions were felt on the surface, but not by
miners below. Electricity might have been at work, the earth has
a potential, and this might have been exerted in some way near
the surface only. One remarkable fact is this, the immense Bay of
San Francisco is filled and emptied by tides. The volume of water
is enormous, and if forced through the narrow Golden Gate, the
current would be rapid indeed. No such velocity exists, hence
there may be an underground connection with the ocean.
Many fish were killed along the coast and as far south as Los
Angeles. And fish taken from the sea opposite Los Angeles, had
such a strong odor of sulphur that they could not be eaten.
Recent pumice stone has been gathered from the Pacific, two
hundred miles at sea. John T. Reid, Lovelocks, Nevada, writes that
a room there had a clock on each wall, those facing south and west
stopped at 5.15 A. M., while those facing north and east kept run-
ning.
An artesian well at Calistoga, California, grew ten degrees
hotter and the flow increased. Creeks became milky in several
places as if gas escaped with the water.
In San Francisco, gyratory motions were shown in railway
tracks. The immense Fairmount Hotel had the widest cracks near
the corners.
I have many reports of waves in the earth, of twisting out, and
of circular swinging in supended lamps.
A dark funnel shaped mass was seen in Fourth Street, San
Francisco, suspended in the air, and it was illuminated by scintil-
lating lights like fire-flies. Blue flames were seen hovering over
the bases of foot-hills in Western San Francisco.
Vast damage was done to the classic buildings at Stanford
University, but the Lick Observatory near stricken San Jose, was
spared, the costly instruments are intact.
I do not wish to assert that the earth's charge of electricity
406 THE OPEN COURT.
helped in the havoc, but beheve that it did. That giant is able to do
any vast work.
The appearance of bluish flames in so many different places on
land, and also on the sea are very impressive phenomena, and sug-
gest electricity. The drying up of springs and opening of others,
the changes of the temperature of the water are an evidence of a
shifting in the rock strata.
The rolling, rumbling sounds beneath and also thumps and beats
in the earth, of explosive violence may have been due to subter-
ranean thunders.
Cut No. 5 is absolutely unique in the entire literature of earth-
quakes.
NO 5. DIAGRAM OF EARTHQUAKE LINES.
Made by the dropping of oil on machine-shop floor at Lobetos,
Cal. Drawn by Jerome Hamilton. The scale represents a length of
seven inches.
In Lobetos, California, a cup of oil was suspended from tht
ceiling of a machine shop by a string. The remarkable series of
curves shown is an exact reproduction. The actual size of a trace
made on the floor by a thin stream of oil that was thrown out of the
cup by the earthquake. This trace is of great value as it shows the
precise motion of the earth's surface, and is a marvelous seismo-
graph.
This earthquake will become historic ; great questions arise :
did man appear on earth before his dwelling was ready? Pelee,
Vesuvius, Lisbon, Galveston, San Francisco, all appeal to the imagi-
nation. Does Nature care whether man exists? It is estimated
that she has slain thirteen million human beings by convulsive force
alone within the historic period.
THE COHESIVE POWER OF IGNORANCE.
BY FRANK CRANE.
IT is not what we know, but what we do not know, that binds us
together ; that is, the spiritual congkitinate of the race is ignor-
ance.
Men are found in certain groups ; sects, which we say are united
by a creed ; parties, ralHed to a platform of principles ; cults, drawn
together by a common enthusiasm ; schools, unified by a dominant
literary, artistic or social enthusiasm. But our language is super-
ficial. It is not what the individual units of these aggregates see, but
what they do not see, that gives solidarity. Ignorance is the welding
heat.
The best political watch-word is one which nobody understands.
I once heard a famous politician lecture on free silver. He took up
his argument with much show of elementary clearness and logic.
I heard several say at the close that it was a "masterly address, so
simple, so plain," I flatter myself that I am a person of average
intelligence, and I give you my word that I could not make head
nor tail out of his reasonings. Much humiliated at the time, I
have since comforted my soul by the discovery that the kind of
oration which most imposes itself upon an audience is one wherein
the speaker subtly feeds the vanity of his hearers by propounding
utterly incomprehensible things with an air of assuming that of
course all present understand him perfectly.
The tariff, being a complicated matter, which cannot be under-
stood without long familiarity with practical business and a thor-
ough grasp of political economy, which two things not one in a thou-
sand men has, is admirably adapted for a party slogan. The verv
shrewdest and wisest business men disagree upon it. Hence the
crowd loves to dogmatize about it, for what they lack in knowledge
they can make up in noise and positiveness. An involved issue, like
the tariff, poured down upon hoi poUoi, acts upon them as a powerful
408 THE OPEN COURT.
Stimulant, very much as the oxygen gas with which Dr. Ox, in one
of Jules Verne's stories, submerged a dull Dutch town, and quick-
ened the people into enterprise and war, the like of which history
had not recorded.
The power of the party boss resides in the ignorance of the
voters. Why do you vote the straight party ticket? Because, when
you take your ballot from the clerk at the polls, and run your eye
down the list of candidates, you discover that you know few or
none of them, and in sheer refuge from indecision you vote for every
name marked with yoftr party's sign. Party leaders understand this.
They depend upon it for success. And they build upon no sand.
An army moves with machine-like precision only when each
soldier understands nothing save to obey. General intelligence of
the general's plans would be fatal to discipline. An army of Napo-
leons would crumble into inefficiency.
Our law holds true even in the more intimate relations. Friend-
ship strains and breaks under too great intimacy. Love cannot
live without its purple haze.
In how many instances has there been perfect union of souls
during courtship, and estrangement after marriage! The wisdom
of ages has crystallized this truth into an adage : "Familiarity breeds
contempt." A certain inexpugnable reserve is essential to a happy
union. The lover is never so at one with his mistress as when she
appears to him in the veil of a glorified fancy, as Beatrice to Dante.
It would be well if some admonishing spirits stood by the lover's
elbow, as the tre donne stood by Dante, to warn him :
"Tanto eran gli occhi miei fissi ad attenti,
cosi lo santo riso
a se traeali con I'antica rete ;
Quando per forza mi fu volto il viso
ver la sinistra mia da quelle dee,
perch' io udia da loro uri 'Troppo fisso!'"
Purgatorio xxxii.
It is because men plunder the reserves of the personality with
irreverent greed that love ceases to attract and begins to repel.
That is why
"All men kill the thing they love !"
When you have pillaged the holy of holies you hate the temple.
The youth, in Schiller's "Veiled Statue at Sais," though repeatedly
warned, yet resolved to lift the veil, and to know the truth which
the oracle declared to be there concealed. He raised the veil ; he
saw the truth ; but what he had seen he told no man.
\
THE COHESIVE POWER OF IGNORANCE. 4O9
"Auf ewig
War seines Lebens Heiterkeit dahin,
Ihn riss ein tiefer Gram zum friihen Grabe!"
The higher you ascend in the order of spiritual cohesion the
more vividly this law is apparent. And so nowhere is it more marked
than in religion. The great ethnic religions rely upon the ignorance
of their followers for their strength. Perhaps the most absolute
hierarchy of history was the Egyptian priesthood, which owed its
long authority to the controlling power of its mystery and esoteric
darkness upon the popular mind. And in Brahmanism, Buddhism
and Mahometanism we see the same paralyzing dynamic of ig-
norance.
Of Christian sects easily the most coherent is the Roman, which
has so impressed its infrangible solidarity upon the world's imagi-
nation, and which still shows such undiminished unity, that Mac-
aulay, in his wellknown mot, pictures it as still persisting, when the
New Zealander contemplates the ruins of English civilization from
the broken arches of the London Bridge. And the first principle
of the Roman organization is not the dissemination of intelligence
among the masses, nor the development of private judgment.
With the advent of an effort to enlighten the common herd,
came the breaking of Christianity into sects. The informed mind
protests. Hence, protestantism. In vain protestants seek to make
their churches as solid as the Roman. Their basal cause of exist-
ence is fatal to unity. Acting in the direction of its origin, the force
of protestantism ever tends to disintegrate; to perfect its spirit it
must destroy its organization ; while the Catholic Church naturally
moves onward in increasing centralization. Which of the two sys-
tems is better for the world, the reader may judge for himself, but
there can be no two opinions as to which is the better for itself.
We must define our aim. If the goal of Christianity is to get every
soul eventually into the Church, then the Roman plan is the better.
If on the contrary Christianity's triumph mean the ultimate diffusion
of certain principles of life, to be worked out by each individual
in his own way, then the Protestants are logical. But there are
many Romanists in Protestant Churches, and many Catholics have
really been Protestants.
Even with the widest interpretation of religion, however, it
still remains true that the perpetuity of "the faith," that is, the
continued existence of a belief in and a reliance upon the infinite
and the unseen, hangs not upon what we know, but upon those
things that are unknown, and that can never be known. It is herein
4IO THE OPEN COURT.
that the future of religion is secure. The secret of the universe,
the nature of God, the destiny of man, the hereafter, these must
remain in their original shadow, defying every attempt to define
them. "I am that I am," said Jehovah, and left us still groping
toward His face and name. The heart stands before the universe
as before the ocean ; our little boats of speculation come and go,
but the boundless expanse stretches ever away to meet the sky.
It is this unfading mystery that gives religion its hold on man.
What we understand we trample underfoot, and ask new riddles.
What baffles us forever, we seek forever. "The things seen are
temporal ; the things unseen are eternal."
For within us is an unexplored country, "mountains of the
moon," region of perpetual fog and impenetrable wilderness. To
ourselves we are deeply unknown. And out of this unknown region
in us come our greatest passions, our profoundest aspirations. The
infinite being within us, we can never reverence anything outside
of us except it has a like infinity. Explanations have their day,
but the sombre river of the utterly inexplicable flows on forever.
In this stream we would fain bathe. The secret of the universe
is beautiful, but it is darkly beautiful,- — evasive, alluring.
Now the perpetuity of religion is assured chiefly by this truth.
For the unknown is infinitely greater than the known. What we
know not is "that great sea of nescience upon which all our science
floats as a mere superficial film." Forever will "lame hands of
doubt" reach out toward the mysteries of the Infinite Father, the
Cross, Eternal Life.
So are we sweetly bound together and to God by our limita-
tion. Science, criticism, knowledge, "pufifeth up," enlarges but iso-
lates the soul. Love, worship, "buildeth up," cementing as it up-
lifts us.
The soul faints ever for the unknowable. The chief unknow-
able is Love, hidden always to reason, melting us together by its
strange power. Love draws us each to each as to a shelter from the
infinite. Because we are so ignorant of the wild waste of waters
we call Life, we fix our eyes on God, as upon a pole-star.
Not in the sense in which it is commonly understood, but in
a deeper, truer sense, is "Ignorance the mother of Devotion."
AGNOSTICISM IN THE PULPIT.
BY THE EDITOR.
AGNOSTICISM is the most fashionable and popular philosophy
^ of to-day, and though it came as an enemy to religion, it has
gradually crept into the pulpit, and may now be regarded as the
most redoubtable stronghold of dogmatism, or rather of the dog-
matic interpretation of traditional belief. The founders of agnosti-
cism, Professor Huxley as well as Mr. Spencer, were antagonistic
to the Church, and claiming that Church doctrines referred to sub-
jects lying beyond the ken of human experience, protested against
the right to prescribe a definite belief. It is but consistent, however,
to expect the agnostic to take his own medicine. Since no one can
know, everybody, the Church too, has a right to believe whatever
may be deemed worthy of belief on mere preference and without
evidence. Thus the dogmatist feels firmly entrenched in his old
position, and agnosticism has more and more become a welcome ally
to dogmatism. We have an instance of this alliance in Rev. Frank
Crane's eulogy of "The Cohesive Power of Ignorance" which he has
set forth with that extraordinary force for which he has become
famous as a pulpiteer at Chicago, as well as in other cities of our
country.
INIr. Crane's view is quite typical for a great number of the
clergy, but we do not think that this attitude is wholesome, nor that
it will really prove helpful to the Churches.
Agnosticism is not a constructive power, but a dissolvent. It
acts gradually like a slow poison, occasionally as an anodyne, but
alwavs with benumbing influence, and so it comes to destroy the vital
power of the mind which it invades.
We need not deny the many truths contained in Mr. Crane's
article. We know very well the charms of haziness, the mystifying
power of vague notions, the awe of the ignorant when stultified by
412 THE OPEN COURT.
things that he beyond their comprehension.* But for that reason
ignorance will never prove a wholesome and constructive force to
be welcomed as an important and powerful factor in the upbuild-
ing of social or ecclesiastical ideals. The power of campaign
phrases in the free silver movement, and also the clamor for the
protection of home industries by a high tarifif etc., is not due to the
ignorance of the masses or to the haziness of the propositions of
campaign orators, but finds a ready explanation in the business
interest of certain classes to which an appeal is made. The people
who hope for profit by free silver or by protection applaud the
orator for his promises, not for his arguments. Agitators of any
kind do not appeal to the intellect but to the will, and the will is
satisfied to have the logical mistakes covered over by empty decla-
mations, and bold assertions are under these conditions gladly ac-
cepted as self-evident truths. It is not the lack of logic, not the
presence of ignorance which lends power to these vague phrases,
but the personal interest, the egotism, the greed, or other passions
which are thereby directly aroused.
It is claimed by Mr. Crane that those armies are most efficient
which "move with machine-like precision," those in which "each
soldier understands nothing save to obey," suggesting that intelli-
gence is rather a hindrance to victory than a help. This is an error
which strategists have overcome since the time of Frederick the
Great. The Prussian tradition established by this philosopher on
the throne, is based upon the very opposite principle. A soldier
is not requested to obey blindly but is expected to judge for himself,
and this principle is what made the Prussian army so successful.
While in other armies any officer would have been liable to court-
martial if he did not implicitly obey a definite command given him,
Frederick the Great and all his successors, would do the very oppo-
site and court-martialled any officer or even a private soldier if he
acted in strict obedience to orders when the conditions under which
the orders were given had changed. It is true that the highest in
rank is always responsible for the whole military division under
his command, and he must be obeyed. In so far obedience is in-
dispensable, but the highest in command is not expected to be an
unthinking obedience machine, but a thinking man responsible for
his conduct, and this principle extends to the private soldier, if he
serves as sentinel or on picket duty. He is responsible and under
definite conditions he is expected to act against impracticable orders.
* See, e. g., the author's article "The Importance of Clearness and the
Charm of Haziness" in The Open Court, Vol. V, No. 27.
AGNOSTICISM IN THE PULPIT. 4I3
There is no need of historical examples. I will only add that
military critics express this broader interpretation of a soldier's
obedience in the Prussian army as transforming a machine into a
living organism. The machine represents the theory of implicit
obedience ; while the organism, a kind of living machine, represents
an organized body where independent judgment is used by every
center and sub-center, all being subservient to a common and general
purpose rendering it possible that all the organs act in concert.
Summing up the case, we could say that ignorance is the most
serious drawback to an army, while intelligence renders it most
efficient, and thus Mr. Crane's argument fails to prove his con-
tention.
The proverb "familiarity breeds contempt" seems to support
the evidence that the better we are acquainted with a man, the less
we respect him, but such is not the case. If we become acquainted
with the great features of a great man, we will admire him the more.
If we find out his foibles, or his all too human frailties, we may
come to the conclusion that he is not a great man, but in that case
familiarity does not breed contempt, but only helps us to discover
the truth.
By the bye, the proverb does not mean that a perfect acquaint-
ance with persons makes us despise them. The connotation of
familiarity means a familiar or intimate relation of a superior to
the people in his charge. An officer who carouses and drinks with
private soldiers will naturally lose his authority, and this is the
sense which the proverb means to convey.
The idea in Schiller's "Veiled Statue at Sais" is not that truth
becomes hideous or contemptible if we become familiar with it, but,
as Schiller himself says, that truth will not be wholesome if we
reach it through guilt, and it stands to reason that we are not ripe
for a truth that has not been attained in the natural course of our
intellectual development. Schiller does not mean to say that truth
is hurtful ; indeed he has said the very opposite elsewhere. He
merely states that our determination to have truth at any price will
be disastrous if we insist on having it without being duly prepared
for its reception.
The idea that the main problems of religion, especially the ques-
tions as to the nature and existence of God, the soul, and the im-
mortality of the soul, are beyond the ken of man, has become very
popular and is regarded among many people as almost axiomatic.
It is the superstition of the day and is spreading like a blight. We
believe that this agnostic view is a most injurious error which must
414 THE OPEN COURT.
be overcome in order to assure a healthy further development of
mankind.*
We do not deny that there is a certain truth in agnosticism,
but it is different from the favorite tenets of the agnostic. It is
true that many problems are as yet unsolved, but they are not for
that reason unsolvable. Much is unknown but nothing is unknow-
able. Certain things may be unknowable under certain conditions,
but only the self-contradictory, only the absurd, is absolutely un-
knowable. The problems which are unsolvable are illegitimate prob-
lems. If we find a problem that can not be solved, we may be sure
that it is wrongly stated and belongs to the category of sham
problems. All knowledge is a description of facts and comprehen-
sion is due to a correct formulation of groups of facts so that the
applicability of the law pervading all becomes apparent. All facts
that come within the range of our experience are classifiable and thus
they are subject to comprehension.
There is nothing that theoretically considered would be in-
comprehensible, for absolutely incomprehensible facts would be
such as would not be subject to universal law and would not con-
form to the general world-order. As to the laws themselves we find
them to be an orderly whole, a system of which the one is a mere
modification under certain conditions of all the rest, and the whole
is permeated by an intrinsic sameness reflected in the necessary
orderliness of mathematics, of geometry, of algebra, of logic. Ob-
viously there is something wrong with our notion of science when
we think it leads to nescience, and with our religion if it is built on
ignorance.
Mr. Crane claims that the Egyptian priesthood owed its long
authority and power over the popular mind to the mysteries of their
religion and the esoteric darkness of the people, and he thinks the
same is true of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Mahomedanism, etc., but
a closer acquaintance with the history of Egyptian and other faiths
proves that this is not the case. The heart of the Egyptian was
hungry for comfort in death and the tribulations of life and he found
what he sought in the story of Osiris, the god who had become man
and lived among the people as a man, subject to the same fate as
they themselves. Osiris lived among them and went down to the
world of the dead, preparing the place for all others who would
descend to the same place, and thus he became their saviour who
* We have published our views on the subject in a booklet entitled Ka)it
and Spencer, which contains a criticism of the philosophical foundation of
agnosticism.
AGNOSTICISM IN THE PULPIT. 4I5
would assure the immortality of his devotees on condition that they
would keep his commandments, and on the day of judgment be
found just in their actions and pure in their hearts.
There is not one among all the religions which is built upon
ignorance, but all of them are based upon the aspirations of the
human heart which develop naturally and inevitably in any human
society. Different religions express their religious faith and their
hopes differently, some more clearly than others, some only vaguely,
but the kernel of every one of them incorporates positive experiences
and a certain amount of conviction ; the essential part of them is
always some positive faith ; it is never negative, never ignorance,
never an absence of knowledge.
It is true that the vast realms of the unknown stretch before
us and they are much larger than the area of facts which have been
illumined by the light of cognition, but we must bear in mind that
knowledge possesses the quality of being universal. Thus the rays
of comprehension extend into the unknown regions of the most in-
accessible domains of the world. The fabric of the universe is not
chaotic, but reveals a definite plan and so by having a little portion
of the world well understood we are in the possession of a key
which will unlock doors containing mysterious revelations of the
most distant spheres.
The awe which man feels when facing this omnipresent order,
and not our ignorance as to the constitution of the cosmos, has pro-
duced the conception of God, and though, at first, man merely divined
the order of the universe and expressed his conception of it only
in symbols before he could thoroughly grasp and understand it, it
is not the unknown nor the not yet known of the deity that pervades
the world in all its phases, but it is the obviously known and un-
doubtedly true which makes man bow in worship together with
others who feel the same spell of religious devotion. Man's ignor-
ance will never produce religious sentiments that will build up and
edify the soul. From the realms of ignorance bigotry has risen,
fanaticism and all the host of aberrations, but not the ideals of true
religion.
Our limitations are indispensable because all corporeal beings
are limited in space and time, but in spite of all limitations, the soul
is capable of reaching out into the vast regions of the unknown
universe, and it is characteristic of all mentality that the mind com-
prehends in every particular case the general and universal law.
This characteristic feature of mind, of reason, of spirit, makes man
Godlike and renders possible his sentiments of moral and religious
4l6 THE OPEN COURT.
aspirations. This feature of rationality, too, is the factor that pro-
duces science.
It is not true that science, criticism, and knowledge "pufifeth
up" that it "enlargeth but isolates the soul." Science "puffeth up"
only if it be pseudo-science, or if it be void of other human or
humane sentiments such as kindness and proper regard for others.
It is true enough that science alone without sentiment or sympathy
for others is like a tinkling cymbal, and a mere intellectual com-
prehension of the universe will forever remain insufificient. But a
lack of science will not make up for these deficiencies. We can ex-
pect no help from ignorance. Lovingkindness is needed to fill the
gap in our hearts. Love inspires respect for everything good, holy
and noble, but not ignorance. There is no virtue in ignorance, nor
is there any redeeming feature in ignorance. Ignorance is not the
mother of devotion but of superstition.
THE DOG'S BOILERS AND THEIR FUEL.
BY WOODS HUTCHINSON, A.M., M.D.
THE secret of life lies in the gift of drinking in sunshine, either
raw as plants do, or worked up into what we call foods, as ani-
mals must, and using its warmth for selfish purposes. The green-
stuff of plants catches the sunlight, which sets to work building the
stem-leaf house, and then storing it with starch and sugar. Then
comes the animal and, most greedily, eats up the plant, crystallized
sunshine and all, and uses it first to build his own body-house, then
to move it about and warm it.
The first and most important need of the dog-engine is plenty
of fuel. It was to move about in search of this, that his racing-
machine grew up. So that his body is like a locomotive, not only
in having a running-gear and "wheels," but a "fire-box" as well, in
which his food-fuel can be burnt and turned into heat and horse-
power, or more correctly, "dog-power." As you would expect in
any fire-box, there are two openings, one for taking in fuel, the
other for getting rid of stuff that will not burn properly, called ashes
or waste.
These are the opposite ends of the body, so that the dog's fire-
box is in the form of a longish tube, known in Latin as the alimen-
tary canal, or in plain English, food-tube. This is the form of
the body-furnace in all backboned animals, and most backboneless,
though some of the simplest and earliest of these have a mere
pouch, with but one opening.
But the food-tube of the dog is very far from being a simple
canal, of uniform calibre from mouth to anus. As you look at it,
you see that about a foot down from the mouth it balloons out into
a pear-shaped pouch, the stomach, then becomes small again and
thrown into a large number of coils, the last of which is somewhat
larger than the others. Altogether in fact, instead of being just
the length of the body, it is between five and six times as long.
4i8
THE OPEN COURT.
Is there anything in the food of the dog to explain this state of
affairs? Why does he need a stomach-pouch, and coils of intestine?
A pouch is used to store or carry things in, and if you recall
Fig. I.
Food Tube of Dog.
(From Flower).
Fig. 3.
Food Tube of Fish (Perch).
(From Wiedersheim).
, Stomach
) Intestine
Fig. 2
Food Tube of Newt
(From Wiedersheim)
showing simplicity and
straightness.
the kind of food that the dog lives upon, you see at once how much
he needs a place, where he can stow away a quantity at one time to
be digested at leisure. When he catches a deer, or a wood-chuck,
THE DOG S BOILERS AND THEIR FUEL. 4I9
all that he is sure of is what he can eat on the spot. He is compelled
to be greedy, for if he leaves any of it till next day, or even next
meal, it is almost sure to be stolen before he comes back. So he
gorges himself with all that his stomach will hold. Indeed if you
can come upon a wolf while he is feasting on the body of a heifer,
or yearling colt which he has pulled down, you can sometimes ride
or run him down, inside of a mile, so enormously has he loaded down
his stomach, not merely for present but also for future use.
This then is the primary use of a stomach, a stprage-, or delay-
place for food, until it can be gradually absorbed. But would not
this delay be an excellent time for beginning to melt it for absorp-
tion ? In an early and simple stomach, like the fish's, where the food
is chiefly other fishes, shrimps, worms, water-weeds and such-like
soft, watery things, which need only to be kept warm and moist,
to melt of themselves, you will find little else in its lining but a
pavement of thickish, smooth cells. But if you will look at the
lining of the dog's stomach, you will see that it looks thick and vel-
vety, and with a magnifying-glass you can make out swarms of
tiny, little openings, like pinpricks, dotted all over it. These are the
mouths of tiny pouches of the inner cell-sheet, known as glands,
which manufacture and pour out a sour juice, called the stomach-
er in Latin, gastric juice.
This has a curious power of melting meat, and can dissolve a
moderate stomach-full in two, or three hours, though the huge
gorges that the wild dog takes may require two or three days, during
which he sleeps most of the time, in his burrow, or on a sunny hill-
side, and doesn't like to be disturbed. Indeed it is a rule, with wolf-
hunters, that unless you can get your hounds to the place of his
last kill within twelve or fifteen hours after he has left the carcass,
so that the pack has a chance of "cold-trailing" him to his lair, it
is better to wait two or three days, until hunger drives him abroad
again, for as long as he lies still, he, of course, makes no trails, and
to beat the woods on the mere chance of stumbling upon him, would
be like hunting a needle in a hay-stack, unless you happen to know-
just what thicket he "lies up" in.
This explains the meaning of that simple, pear-shaped pouch
in his food tube, which we call the stomach. But what of the long
coils, not unlike a live garden-hose, into which the rest of the tube
is thrown? Evidently these are not adapted for storing the food
or for letting it rest in one place until it can be melted ; but if you
will open the tube and look at a portion of its lining under the
microscope, you will get a suggestion as to the meaning of this loop
420 THE OPEN COURT.
of coil form. Instead of being, like a stomach, dotted all over
honeycomb fashion with tiny little openings of glands, the lining of
this part of the tube, known from its narrowness as the small
intestine, is covered with tiny, fingerlike projections standing up all
over its surface ; and it will not take you long to guess that like
fingers elsewhere the purpose of these is to pick up things, and that
the business of this part of the intestine is to take up, or absorb
the food which has been melted in the stomach. But why should it
be so long? A simple experiment will answer the question.
If you will tal<:e a sheet of blotting-paper, hold it on a gentle
slant and endeavor to pour a stream of ink down it, you will find
that although it runs briskly enough for the first inch or two, before
it reaches the bottom of the sheet the current stops completely, as
it has all been soaked up by the paper. Now this is, roughly speak-
ing, almost exactly the process which is going on in the dog's small
intestine, and for the matter of that in the intestine of all animals
including ourselves, and it follows, that the longer the tube of living
blotting-paper, the more completely will the melted food be absorbed.
But it must not be supposed, that nothing else but absorption of the
melted food takes place in the small intestine. A good deal of
further melting goes on as well, for although the lining membrane
in the greater part of the intestine has lost most of the gland pouches
which pour digestive juice into the stomach, yet this is only because,
so to speak, these have all been piled together in two great masses,
each of which opens by a tube nearly the size of a quill into the
bowel, just beyond the stomach. The largest and solidest of these,
on the right side of the tube, is known as the liver; the smaller
and more loosely built, upon the left and behind the stomach, is the
pancreas.
These are simply very complicated gland-pouches which have
budded out from the lining of the tube, like a little plant or shrub
whose stems are hollow. The leaves of the shrub are the cells which
manufacture the digestive juice, the stalks are the smaller collecting
pipes and the stem is the discharge tube or duct of the gland, through
which this digestive fluid is poured into the food tube.
But it will strike you at once, that the huge, solid liver is much
larger than would be needed, simply to manufacture and pour into
the canal the bitter brownish or greenish bile ; and your suspicion
would be quite correct, for in addition to aiding digestion in this
way, the liver also receives the blood from the walls of the food tube
loaded with nourishment which has been soaked up out of it, and
sends this on another step in the direction of being turned into
THE DOG S BOILERS AND THEIR FUEL. 421
blood and body fuel. It also filters out and neutralizes many poi-
sons which get into the blood both from the food-tube and from
the waste-processes of the body-cells.
Then if you will look at a food-tube which has been blown up
and allowed to dry, you will see that after the coils of the garden-
hose part of it comes a third, very much wider portion, curiously
puckered and pleated along its sides, known as the large intestine.
In the lining of this you will find no fingers whatever and very few
gland openings, and this, together with the curious way in which its
walls are pouched and puckered by three narrow bands of muscle
fibre, which run along its outer wall like draw strings in the mouth
of a bag, would suggest that it is merely a place of detention for
the remains of the food until its moisture and such traces of nour-
ishment as the fingers of the small intestine have left in it have been
soaked out of it.
The saving of this loss of moisture is really a very important
thing, for none of our body cells can live unless kept continually in
water, and saltwater at that. We are still sea-animals in ninety-
nine per cent, of our structure. When the parts of the food which
are too hard or tough or coarse to be melted by the digestive
juices have had all the nourishment and surplus moisture sucked out
of them they are discharged through the second or terminal opening
at the end of the food tube known as the anus. Like other furnaces,
the body fuel-tube is constructed with two openings, one to re-
ceive fuel and the other to get rid of ashes or waste.
If then the food tube of the dog has grown into its present
shape to match the amount of food which is put into it, we would
expect that animals living upon widely different food would be
found to have developed a somewhat different shape both of stom-
ach and intestine, and if you will look at this drawing of a sheep's
stomach, you will see at once that this is just what has occurred.
In place of a single, pear-shaped swelling or pouch in the
course of the food tube, you find a most complicated-looking bag
of four pouches or chambers opening into one another, the whole
being nearly four times the size of the stomach of a dog of the same
weight. But to remember the difference in the food is sufficient to
explain this at once.
The dog, of course, under natural conditions lives almost en-
tirely upon meat, which is quite a concentrated food and three or
four pounds would make a fairly satisfying meal. A sheep, on the
other hand, lives upon grass, leaves and hav with a little grain in
the winter time, and these foods are extremclv course and low in
422
THE OPEN COURT.
nourishment-value. It would take from twenty to forty pounds
of green grass to make a satisfactory meal for a sheep as against
the three or four pounds of meat which a dog of the same size
requires, so that just as a place to store food, the sheep's stomach
needs to be much larger. Not only this but coarse hay and such
foods are much harder to melt in the stomach, more difficult of
Fig 4. — Stomach of Sheep. (From Oppel.)
a. Gullet Esophagus : b. c, d, the three subdivisions of the paunch, marked oft from
one another by the folds f and/"; g, reticulum: //, CESophageal groove;/, psalte-
riuin; k, aperture leading from the psalterium into the abomasum (/, ;«)/ n,
pyloric valve; o, intestine.
digestion ; indeed, neither the dog nor ourselves could digest enough
of them to live more than a few days upon a diet of grass, leaves
or green vegetables, and this you see is matched by the numerous
divisions of the sheep's stomach.
So hard of digestion is a grass diet, that it is not sufficient to
bite it ofif, chew it and swallow it, but it has been found necessary
to put it through the curious process of returning from the stomach
to the mouth, to be carefully chewed or masticated a second time,
and that is the meaning of the first or largest pouch at the right of
THE dog's boilers AND THEIR FUEL. 423
the sheep's stomach as you look at it, known as the paunch, which
is simply a storage bag, where the grass and leaves, taken in by
the sheep while grazing, can be stored until the animal has time to
lie down in a quiet place and devote its entire attention to, as
we say, "chewing the cud," or masticating carefully for a second
time the food, as it is returned to it from the first pouch of the
stomach. This is what is known as ruminating and has given the
name ruminants to this class of animals. Curiously enough, from
the fact that sheep and cows look so peaceful and meditative while
they are going through with the second eating of their food which
they seem to enjoy thoroughly, the term has actually been applied
to the mental process in ourselves known as "thinking over things."
From this second grinding the cud is passed back through the
second and third stomachs where it undergoes a sort of churning
process and then passes into the last compartment of the stomach
(to the left of the picture) which coresponds to almost the entire
digestive stomach in the dog and in ourselves. Indeed if you will
look closely you will see that it is nearly the same pear shape as
the greater part of the dog's stomach.
Now let us turn to the small intestine. At first sight this
appears entirely unchanged, but it looks somehow much more com-
plicated and if we proceed to measure its length, we find that it is
nearly three times that of the dog's intestine, that is to say, while
this part of the food tube in the dog is from four to six times the
length of his body, in the sheep it is from twelve to fifteen times
the body-length, and this is only what we would naturally expect,
when we remember that it has to deal with food that is much more
difficult of digestion and consequently requires a longer absorptive
surface to soak it up completely. The second or larger part of the
intestine differs form that of the dog only in this same direction
of being longer and slightly more complicated, to match the more
watery character of the food. The shape and length of the food-
tube in different animals match quite closely the character of their
food, just in the same way as do their teeth. By looking at an
animal's teeth you can usually tell quite accurately not only what
sort of food he lives on, but also what sort of stomach and about
what length of food-tube he has.
A curious proof of the close relation between teeth and food-
tube is to be found in those toothless "animals" the birds. These,
as you all know, have no teeth but simply a horny covering of the
jaws known as a beak. In the birds of prey this beak is curved and
sharp so as to be capable of tearing up the food to some extent,
424
THE OPEN COURT.
but in the greater majority of birds, both those who Hve on grain
and seeds, and those who live on insects, the beak is simply a quick-
acting pair of pincers for picking up the corn and catching the
insects, which are then swallowed whole.
How then is their food canal to manage food in large, hard
pieces like this, which has never been ground by teeth before it is
swallowed? As everywhere else in the animal kingdom, nature is
ready with a substitute. Instead of teeth, moved by powerful jaw
inus and
Cloaca
Fig. 5. — Food Tube of Bird.
;From Holder).
muscles, developed at the opening of the canal to form a grinding
apparatus, near the middle of it, just beyond or more exactly in the
last portion of the stomach, we find a thick, hard globe, about the
size of a walnut in a fowl, for instance, known as the gizzard.
On cutting into this we find, little as it looks like it from the out-
side that it is really a pouch with immensely thick walls, made up
of strong muscle and tendon and lined with a thick leathery, almost
horny, layer. The small hollow in the center of the pouch is usually
filled with bits of gravel and pebbles.
What can be the use of such a strange-looking structure as
this? If you would clasp your two hands together as if you were
about to wash them in imaginary soap and water, then drop into
the hollow between the palms a piece of chalk, say, or a lump of
hard clay, and rub it backward and forward between the palms,
you will find that you can break it up into small pieces and gradually
THE DOG S BOILERS AND THEIR FUEL. 425
to powder. If, however, you drop in three or four other small
pieces of chalk or dry clay and especially one or two pieces of
squarish bits of stone, or any small object with a rather rough
surface and some corners on it, you will find that you can grind the
clay or chalk into powder nearly twice as rapidly, and that you can
even break up grains of corn, thin-shelled hazel-nuts and walnuts
in this curious form of mill, and this is precisely the meaning and
action of this tremendously thick-walled pouch at the end or "door"
of the stomach.
The food is here ground into powder, after being softened and
soaked in the crop and stomach instead of before, as in animals.
Nature can make a grinding-apparatus at any part of the food-tube
where it seems most desirable. With this exception and addition
of a pouch-like swelling of the gullet, at the lower part of the neck,
where food can be stored and soaked before being passed on to the
stomach, the bird food-tube is practically the same as the animal's.
It matches the character of the food in precisely the same way,
for in birds which live upon flesh or fish or soft bodied insects, the
walls of the gizzard are extremely thin, because such food after
being torn up by the beak needs comparatively little grinding and the
length of the food-tube is short in proportion to that of the body.
In the grain-eating birds on the other hand, its walls are extremely
thick and strong, because their food cannot be properly melted for
absorption until it has been ground, and the food-tube is long in
proportion to the length of the body, just as in grass- and grain-
eating animals. As an instance of how quickly a food-tube can
adjust itself to change in the diet, it has been found that the gulls
in the north of Scotland, which during one part of the year live
largely upon grain and seeds, and another part of the year chiefly
upon fish, grow a much thicker walled gizzard during the time that
they are living on grain than they have in the other half of the year
when they live upon fish. Curiously enough, in the ant-eaters,
some armadilloes and other animals of that class, which have lost
their teeth and hence are known as "edentates," the lowest part of
the stomach has become greatly thickened and lined with horny
plates almost exactly like a bird's gizzard.
As we have seen that our own teeth are intermediate between
those of the flesh eaters and those of the grain eaters, although
much nearer to the former than the latter, so our food canal is also
intermediate between the two, although it is so little removed from
that of the dog that nearly everything that we have said of the
dog's food-tube is true of our own. Our stomach is a little larger.
426 THE OPEN COURT.
on account of the larger amount of potatoes, vegetables and such
like bulky foods that we eat, but its shape is almost exactly the same,
and our food-tube, for the same reason, is about six times the
length of our bodies instead of about five times as in the dog.
But we again come under precisely the same rules as the rest
of our animal cousins in this respect, for negroes and other races
of men living in warm climates where there is abundance of vege-
table food, such as rice, bananas, yams, maize and fresh fruits,
to be had the year round, and whose diet is in consequence more
largely vegetable than that of our northern races, have added about
another body's length to their alimentary canal. The same sort of
lengthening has been proved to take place in the food-tubes of poor
children in the city slums, who are fed upon coarse, innutricious and
indigestible food. In them the canal may actually become ten or
twelve times the length of the body.
It is said by some observers that the Esquimaux, in the frozen
North, who are compelled by their climate to live almost exclusively
upon animal food, and that very largely in its most concentrated
form of fat or oil, have shortened theirs nearly a body's length.
You must not however conclude, from what we have seen of
the shape of the dog's canal, that his food is or ought to be entirely
meat or flesh. There are very few animals indeed that live abso-
lutely and entirely upon a flesh diet. Those who take their flesh
in the form of fish, such as the seals, some fishes, and the flesh-
eating birds, are almost the only ones. Even when wild, although
two-thirds or three-fourths of his diet consists of the flesh of
animals and birds that he can capture, the dog also eats a certain
amount of fruit during the season. Indeed the best place to find
tracks of wolves, foxes and bears in the height of summer is in the
patches of wild raspberries, wild cherries, salmon-berries and so
forth, and later in the groves of wild plum trees. Some dogs will
even go so far as to crack and eat nuts when they can find them,
and nearly all these wild animals when captured, if given bread
or sweet-stuff or even potatoes and carrots will eat them in fair
quantities.
I dare say most of you have seen dogs biting off blades of
grass and swallowing them, but this is not for food, merely their
way of taking medicine for certain digestive disturbances. Since
the dog has become domesticated, sleeps for the most part under
cover, spends a good deal of his time in-doors and has only about
half the need of exercise or the opportunity for it, that he had in
the days when he would find his breakfast on foot, on waking in
THE DOG S BOILERS AND THEIR FUEL. 42/
the morning, he no longer needs such a concentrated, highly nour-
ishing and stimulating diet as one of pure meat. Indeed, too mucn
meat will seriously upset his digestion, and, fanciers assure us,
give him that unpleasant "doggy" smell, which is the principal
objection to his being received in the parlor, as a member of the
family.
A diet consisting of a mixture of animal and vegetable foods,
meat and bones with potatoes, rice, oatmeal, breads and biscuits
of various descriptions will be found to be the best for his health
under domestication, and though sugar forms but a very small part
of his diet, when in a state of nature, only during the short fruit-
season in fact, yet a small amount of it in his food is of great im-
portance and one of our best known brands of dog biscuit owes
part of its value to the fact that it contains sugar in the form of
dates. In fact, so closely does the dog's alimentary canal correspond
to our own that when he is brought under domestication and housed
and "cityfied" as we are, he thrives best on almost precisely the
same diet that we ourselves use. There is no better food for any
dog than an abundance of household scraps, and dogs in kennels
who are fed in large numbers, upon specially prepared and pur-
chased foods, seldom thrive as well as those who get the "little-
of-all-sorts" diet which any household scraps can give in perfec-
tion. As for the dogs and their cousins the bears, in captivity, a
well-mixed diet, like our own, is found to agree with them far better
than a purely animal one.
Of course here as everywhere else, the food fuel must be regu-
lated according to the kind and amount of work required of it, and
for hounds and other hunting dogs, setters, collies, and dogs that
are used to draw carts and wagons, larger quantities, in proportion,
of meat and larger total amounts of food are required, than in the
case of pet and lap dogs of all sorts, or the ordinary city dog, who is
confined for the most part to a small yard and has only an occa-
sional formal run of an hour or so as an apology for exercise.
The more nearly vegetative a dog's existence becomes, the
lighter and more vegetable should his diet be. In fact, some un-
fortunate little wretches of lap dogs, toy spaniels and pugs, can only
be kept alive at all and in any temper short of fiendish, by cutting
down the meat in their diet almost to the vanishing point. Some
of them are kept by fanciers, when training for a particular beauti-
ful coat of hair, for show purposes, upon a diet of toast, dipped in
tea, or milk-and-water; shavings, instead of sea coal, under their
boilers.
PROFESSOR HAECKEL AS AN ARTIST.
BY THE EDITOR.
SOME time ago we called attention to Professor Haeckel's work
on Ari Forms in Nature which was appearing in installments,
and now we make the announcement that the work has been com-
pleted and lies before us in a stately folio volume, containing loo
VIEW FROM THE RAMBODDE PASS. 4535
After a photograph from Haeckel's Wanderhilder.
plates, many of them colored, and accompanied by descriptive text.*
The elegant beauty of some of the lower forms of life is sur-
* Kunstformen dcr Natur. Leipsic, 1906.
PROFESSOR HAECKEL AS AN ARTIST.
429
prising, and it seems that these pictures and photographs should
be of rare value to artists, especially those who work in the line of
arabesque and kindred designs. The different creatures from the
lowest ranks of life, plants as well as animals, present an astonish-
430
THE OPEN COURT.
ing wealth of types, some of them just ready for immediate use as
ornaments, either for designs or plastic forms. We have reproduced
a few of these wonderful art forms in nature in a former number
THE SACRED BODHI TREE.
of The Open Court, and we refer the reader to Vol. XVI, p. 47-
But not only the selection of these art forms in nature proves the
artistic spirit of Haeckel, but also another publication which is a
PROFESSOR HAECKEL AS AN ARTIST. 43 1
portfolio of sketches made by our famous friend on a journey to
eastern lands.
When I saw Professor Haeckel at his home some years ago,
he showed me some colored sketches which he had made on his
trip to the East Indies. Though the pictures were perhaps not per-
fect in technique they exhibited a real artistic talent, especially a
remarkably well developed sense for color efifects, and at the time
RB.IZOSTOME (Torciima bcUigcnuiia). 4536
I expressed the opinion that the pictures would be interesting to the
public. Professor Haeckel seemed reluctant to publish them and
deemed it advisable to wait. We are glad to note that he has finally
brought out these pictures in an attractive portfolio form, and very
beautiful they are indeed. We can only recommend them, and wish
to call attention to this new phase of the famous naturalist's life-
432
THE OPEN COURT.
work.* Though Professor Haeckel has not passed through a regu-
lar course of artistic education, and though his technique may show
some shortcomings, we make bold to say that these sketches prove
him to be a genuine divinely inspired artist. The way in which he
sees nature and especially the rich tints of "the southern landscape
will be interesting to both psychologists and art critics.
Bearing in mind the original sketches, — so far as I still remem-
ber them, — I have the impression that the color prints are excellent
reproductions, and I only wish that we could offer to our readers
CHANDELIER MEDUSA (RJiopUema Fridii).
one sample of them in colors. I select for reproduction two crayon
sketches which will be helpful in giving an impression of the general
character of the work, and I can assure my readers that they show
all of Professor Haeckel's deficiencies without showing at the same
time his remarkable talent in color drawing. One of the pictures
represents the Cocoa Island and the rest house for pilgrims near
Belligemma, Ceylon ; another will be interesting for historical rea-
sons because it pictures the famous Bodhi tree which was planted
in Ceylon more than a millennium ago by Buddhist missionaries,
* Wanderbilder. Von Prof. Ernst Haeckel. Sec. I and II, Die Natur-
wunder der Tropenwelt (Insulinde und Ceylon) nach eigenen Aquarellen und
Oelgemalden. Gera-Untermhaus : Koehler, 1906.
PROFESSOR HAECKEL AS AN ARTIST. 433
perhaps by Mahinda himself, from a sprout of the Bodhi tree at
Buddhagaya, which at the time was still in full bloom.
The work contains also some art forms of nature and photo-
graphs. Of the former we reproduce an interesting rhizostome of
Ceylon (Toreiima belligcmuia) bearing the sign of an equilateral
cross in the center and bedecked with a net work not unlike a doily
or pin cushion surrounded by frills. Another aquatic being of pe-
culiar shape is the chandelier medusa (Rhopilema Frida) a species
which was observed and photographed by Professor Haeckel during
his stay at Insulinde, Japan. A photograph of peculiar beauty is the
one of an approaching thunderstorm at the Rambodde Pass in
Ceylon.
Professor Haeckel has again and again concluded that he would
retire to privacy and discontinue the publication of new books. He
has surprised us several times by his new labors, and we can not but
congratulate him on this new phase of his literary activity which
shows the renowned author in a new, and at the same time a bril-
liant light.
THE ZOROASTRIAN RELIGION AND THE
BIBLE.
BY THE EDITOR.
EVERY pastor in the land should know the authoritative points
as regards the great North-Medic rehgion which was spread
at least from Ragha, Rai, near modern Teheran, about fifty miles
from the southern point of the Caspian Sea, and probably from
much further east, westward. It possessed such political importance
that it gave its name to Adharbhagan, a province almost as large as
England, on the southwest of the same sea, the mountain range
Elburz having also a prominent place in Avesta under an older
name. The word Adhar means "Fire" and refers to that element
which was sacramental with the Persian Zoroastrians ; from this
came the exaggerated term "Fire-worshipers." In its sister-form
this faith was the established religion of the Persian empire under
Darius and his successors, and in all human probability under his
predecessors as well. The North-Median form of it, Zoroastrian-
ism, was "high church," so to express oneself for convenience ; it
was substantially the Exilic Pharisaism of the Jews. The South-
Persian form was more "broad Church." Each was equally fer-
vent, surpassing all other contemporaneous documents of their kind
in this respect. It is impossible that any civilized people who had
anything to do with the vast empire could have been ignorant of its
main points ; so the Greeks knew much about it, as we see.
The Jews were Persian subjects from Cyrus to Alexander; and
the Exilic Bible, as many hold, is a half-North-Persian book ; — see
the dates from the reigns of the Persian kings, Cyrus, Darius,
Xerxes, Artaxerxes.
The Bible is fulsome in its allusions to them ; see 2 Chronicles ;
see Ezra, Nehemiah ; Isaiah xliv, xlv, etc., etc.
The Bible does not so much mention the North-Persian religion
as it adopts it. This view is held by most scholars who can speak
ZOROASTRIAN RELIGION AND THE BIBLE. 435
with authority, and is an assured conchision from the researches of
A. V. Williams Jackson of Columbia University, New York; of
Franz Cumont of Ghent ; his countryman Count d'Alviella of Brus-
sels, and especially Professor Lawrence H. Mills of Oxford, Eng-
land.
It will be of interest to our readers to learn that Professor
Haeckel, the great scientist, has lately re-affirmed the theory that
our religion ultimately came from the Exile. To put the claims
•of the criticism in a nutshell: "We are actually what we are, as
Orthodox Christians, because of this wide-spread North-Persian
system."
We read in the first book of Esdtas (vi. 24) that "in the first
year of Cyrus, King Cyrus commanded to have the house of the
Lord in Jerusalem built, where they should worship with eternal
fire." The book of Esdras further states the woods and measures
of the temple, and how the king had the gold and silver vessels
which had been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar as spoils of war
returned for temple service.
We can not doubt that Cyrus represented a reform movement
in the Orient and that part of his success is due to the purity of
his religious convictions. Not without good reason does Isaiah
call him "the Messiah of Yahveh," and the "shepherd of the nations"
whom God has called to rule over the world.
All the reports corroborate the theory that the religion of Cyrus
was not only congenial to the Jews, but that it also influenced both
their doctrines and ceremonials.
Professor Lawrence H. Mills has made a special study of
Zoroaster and his religious system and has written a book which
will be published in the near future. We predict that the signifi-
cance of the Zendavesta in its relation to both the Old and the
New Testaments, will be of increasing significance. Professor Mills
writes in a letter to the editor: "The Jewish Bible surpasses the
original Zendavesta only in the inspired genius of its depictments.
Cold-blooded critics might well call the Gathas the purer book."
Professor Mills has given his instructive book Zarathushtra,
Philo, the Achcemenids and Israel a formidable title, but it is
written in easy style, and was for the most part delivered as
University lectures. The author is however conservative as to the
primary origin of the doctrines, holding that they were Jewish ; but
he exhaustively depicts the facts. Every Christian, not to say,
every scholar, should read the book. It is the only one of the kind
as yet attempted.
A JAPANESE WRITER'S HISTORY OF HIS THE-
OLOGY.
COMMUNICATED BY E. W. CLEMENT.
WHEN I was a boy there were few boys worse than I as far as
downright mischief is concerned. I was fond of playing all sorts
of pranks on passers-by. One of these was to put small snakes in
a cake bag and then to throw down the bag for somebody to pick
up while I watched from behind some obstacle. Many of my tricks
were so bad that I expected the gods of whom I had heard so much
would certainly punish me. As they did nothing, I at once began
to doubt their existence. Shortly after this my grandmother, who
belonged to the Nichiren sect, commenced to take me to hear ser-
mons at the temple. At first I was greatly bored, but eventually
got interested in all the preacher told us about the wonderful doings
of Nichiren. I began to think that gods and divinities were real
beings after all.
But having a practical mind, I decided that I would put tluF
question to a fair test. We had an image of Nichiren in our house.
So one day I removed this image from the altar and, taking it out-
side, submitted it to the greatest indignities possible. Subsequently
I restored it to its place and waited to see what punishment I should
get for this insult to the divinity. When nothing happened, I be-
came more and more confirmed in the belief that no such beings as
gods exist.
This was my state of mind when I gradually grew into man-
hood. I studied Chinese under a man who had very strong anti-
foreign feelings, and being very susceptible to the influence of those
with whom I associate, I gradually imbibed his views. Later when I
commenced to study English, I regarded it as the language of a
set of barbarians that was hardly worthy of serious attention. The
man who taught me English had been the pastor of a church, and he
THEOLOGY OF A JAPANESE. 437
grew very fond of me and begged me to read the Bible. He gave
me a copy, but I despised foreign things too much to even open it.
Subsequently I was asked by this teacher whether I thought I could
do my duty in the world unaided by a higher power. I felt then
that I could not, but I knew that to say so was to acknowledge my
need of divine assistance. This I did not want to do, so I left him
without replying. I next came into contact with the vSpencerianism
of Toyama and Yatabe. Their arguments were welcomed by me
as supporting my atheism. I thought then that I understood Spen-
cer, but now I perceive this was only youthful conceit. At this time
I commenced to lose my contempt for English and to study it with a
will Until I knew enough to read and understand pretty difficult
works. Having reached that stage, I tackled the English translation
of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. That book taught me much,
but at the same time raised a number of new doubts in my mind.
It will be remembered that Kant makes it quite plain that all at-
tempts to prove the existence of a deity by speculative reasoning
have signally failed. Whether God exists or not can not, according
to him, be determined by reason. But while saying this Kant de-
clares himself to be a believer in the existence of God. This dumb-
founded me. That a man like Kant should have been satisfied by
the transcendental arguments whose inconclusiveness he takes such
pains to show, or should have been able to rest his faith in the exist-
ence of God on any other satisfactory basis, is certainly surprising.
His personal belief and his written agruments seemed to me to be
irreconcilable with each other. But since a man of such enormous
intellectual capacity as Kant was able to retain his belief, despite
his failure to find for it a thoroughly rational basis, why should not
I do the same?
With this feeling, I commenced to read the Christian Bible
earnestly and accepted its transcendental teaching. "God's nature,"
I said, "is beyond our comprehension, but it is plain that God exists.
Our conception of the world would be incomplete did we not predi-
cate this existence." And so I passed from the stage of unconscious
atheism to that of conscious theism. But, as you will see, I had not
reached the end of my theological journey by any means. Though
I accepted at this time the Christian conception of God, I joined no
Christian church. I offered up no prayers. I sang no hymns of
praise. To me there seemed to be an air of great hypocrisy about
such Christian services as I attended. The words used by pastors
in prayers often struck me as utterly silly. For instance, one pastor
asks that God will grant s]X'cial blessings to all assembled in his
438 THE OPEN COURT.
church ; which is equivalent to asking an impartial deity to be pleased
to stoop to favoritism. The words used in hymns did not seem to me
to represent in the least the real feelings of the persons singing these
hymns. Christian services impressed me badly, but they did not
lead me to condemn Christianity altogether, as I felt then that the
creed was better than the men and women who professed it. I even
went so far as to defend Christianity against the attacks of certain
conservative educationists (Dr. Inoue Tetsujiro and his fellow-
thinkers). But as the years went by and my mind reached its matur-
ity, I argued to myself thus :
In the opinion of the deepest thinkers that which is beneath
the phenomena of the universe, call it what we may, clothe it with
what attributes we may, is to us absolutely unknowable. What
creeds like Christianity teach about God rests only on imagination.
To say that God is capable of love or hatred, to supply the world
with an exhaustive list of the traits he is supposed to have, does
not help us at all to understand the real nature of God. This God
of the religious is an invented God rather than a real one. If it
be true that what is known as the real substance of the universe
is God, and that real substance has an actual existence, it is quite
plain that we finite beings whose intelligence is of a comparatively
low order can never know God. So I come to the conclusion that
there is no God that we can know. I am then an atheist in the
sense that I can affirm that to us human beings no knowable God
exists.
The stages of theological thought through which I have passed
then are these: (i) I began with unconscious atheism. (2) I passed
on to superstitious polytheism. (3) This drove me back to atheism
of an arbitrary type. (4) Thence by the process described above
I reached a stage of conscious monotheism. (5) But not finding
any logical resting-place there, I passed on to conscious atheism.
This is of course a contradiction in terms. Of the non-existence
of God there can not possibly be any consciousness. As conscious-
ness, after all, only embraces a very limited area and God may exist
in the region beyond, to make consciousness or non-consciousness
the test of his existence or non-existence is of course quite absurd.
MISCELLANEOUS.
BENEDICTUS DE SPINOZA.
Our readers will be pleased to find reproduced in our frontispiece an un-
usually good and authoritative portrait of Spinoza, the original of which has
been kindly loaned us by Mrs. Julius Rosenthal of Chicago. We will add
that we knew of the existence of this portrait from her late husband, Julius
Rosenthal, who unfortunately died about a year ago at the age of seventy-six,
as a result of being knocked down on the street by a cab. We take this
opportunity to express our great appreciation of the friendship of Mr. Rosen-
thal, who endeared himself to us through his congenial spirit and the intense
interest he took in the work of the Open Court Publishing Company.
Mr. Julius Rosenthal discovered the original of this picture in Europe,
and appreciating its unusual merit, had it framed under glass. It had been
engraved soon after Spinoza's death by an artist who knew the philosopher
personally. The Latin lines were accompanied by a Dutch version which reads
as follows :
"Dit is de schaduw van Spinoza's zienlijk beelt,
Daar't gladde koper geen sieraat meer aan kon geven ;
Maar zijn gezegent brein, zoo rijk hem meegedeelt,
Doet in zijn schriften hem aanschouwen naar het leven.
Wie oil begeerte tot de wysheit heest gehad,
Hier was die Zuiver en op't snedigste gevat."
We here publish an English translation of the Latin in the original meter:
"He to whom Nature and God were known, and the cosmical order,
Here he, Spinoza, is seen; here are his features portrayea;
But the man's face has been pictured alone. As for painting his spirit,
Verily Zeuxides' hands would not suffice for the tasic.
Seek in his writings his mind, where he treateth of things that are lofty.
He who is anxious to know, therefore, his writings must read."
BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES.
Shinto, the Way of the Gods. By W. G. Aston. London : Longmans, Green
& Co., 1905. Pp. 390.
The present volume on Shinto, or as we commonly say, "Shintoism," the
native religion of Japan, bids fair to become the standard book for informa-
tion not only to us Western people but also to the Japanese themselves.
440 THE OPEN COURT.
Nothing so comprehensive, and at the same time in so condensed a form, has
ever been attempted before, and it stands to reason that there are few schol-
ars indeed, if there are any, who could have succeeded better than Mr. Aston
has done, and it is almost certain that the book will maintain its place in the
history of Shintoism.
The book contains fourteen chapters : The first chapter, entitled, "Mate-
rials for the Study of Shinto," contains an enumeration of the sources from
olden times down to the present day, the number of which is comparatively
limited. The three following chapters discuss "General Features" and among
them first the personification of the powers of nature. This second chapter
is mainly interesting for a study of comparative religion showing how m
Japan natural agencies, such as the sun, the moon, the wind, etc., and espe-
cially definite objects and special spots, trees, wells, mountains, etc., were
treated as living beings and finally deified. The third chapter is especially
devoted to the deification of great men, such as the mikados. The fourth
chapter, still continuing the topic "General Features," deals with the functions
of the gods.
The mythology of Japan is treated in chapters V to VIII. We have here
for the first time a clear presentation of the Japanese nature myths which in
their totality are generally bewildering to the uninitiated. The several chap-
ters are entitled : "Myth," "The Mythical Narrative," "Pantheon, Nature
Deities and Man Deities."
The remaining chapters IX to XIV are devoted to the institutions, prac-
tices, established traditions, etc., of Shinto as follows : "The Priesthood,"
"Worship," "Morals, Law and Puriy," "Ceremonials," "Magic, Divination,
Inspiration." The concluding chapter treats of the "Decay of Shinto and
Modern Sects."
Shinto has become the official religion of Japan, and we might say that
Shinto is practically not a religion in the Western acceptance of the term,
but a kind of patriotic ceremonialism in which any one might take part to
whatever religion otherwise he might belong. The educated Japanese natur-
ally do not believe in their mythology nor are they expected to when taking
part in Shinto rituals; and if this is to be called a decay, we must grant Mr.
Aston that Shinto has lost its vitality. He concludes his book with these
words : "As a natural religion, Shinto is almost extinct. But it will long
continue to survive in folklore and custom, and in that lively sensibility to
the divine in its simpler and more material aspects which characterizes the
people of Japan."
Considering that the knowledge of native traditions is being reduced in
Japan from day to day, that Western thought rushes in and the duties o.f
the hour claim more and more the concentration of the Japanese themselves
in all branches of practical life as well as in science and other theoretical
studies, it is not too soon that this work on Shinto has been written, for it
is not likely that a successor in this line of research will ever have better
facilities than were accessible to Mr. Aston.
And we will further say that Mr. Aston, who has won a well-deserved
reputation through his former labors, exhibits a thorough acquaintance with
his subject, ranking high even among the most scholarly Japanese in his own
line of work.
MISCELLANEOUS. 44I
On Holy Ground. Bible Stories with Pictures of Bible Lands. By William
Worcester. Philadelphia : Lippincott, 1904. Pp. 492. Price, $3.00 net.
The frontispiece, which is a reproduction of Hofmann's "Suffer Little
Children," is an appropriate indication of the spirit of this beautiful book.
It consists of a series of nearly one hundred and fifty stories, giving the his-
torical narrative of both Testaments from the creation to Christ's ascension.
Each story is told in the simplest possible diction addressed apparently to
children by one who knows how to interest them, and while each thus re-
cieves its proper setting and historical connection, it is followed by the Bib-
lical narrative of the special incident printed in small but clear type. The
great charm and value of the book consists in the beautiful illustrations
which are to be found on almost every page. The fine smooth paper which
is used brings out these half-tones to the very best advantage. Mr. Worcester
seems to have spared no trouble in collecting from every available source
photographs which are illustrative of the country of which he writes. Though
many of the pictures are very small they are remarkably clear and most ad-
mirably selected with reference to artistic effect. Six maps add to the use-
fulness of the book. There is no need for an index of the text as the
preliminary table of subjects gives the titles of the narratives in chronological
order, but the main original value of the book which lies in its illustrations,
is increased by an index of illustrations arranged alphabetically by subjects
rather than titles.
Luminous Bodies. Here and Hereafter. By Charles Hallock, M.A. New
York: The Metaphysical Publishing Co. Pp. no. Price, $1.00 net.
Mr. Charles Hallock, one of the contributors of The Open Court has
published under this title an interesting little book in which he reprints among
other chapters an article which appeared some time ago in The Open Court,
and solicited a good deal of controversy pro and con. He proposes the in-
teresting theory that man is possessed of an electrical body, which will serve
him as the body of resurrection, and which is to constitute his personality in
the great hereafter. At the time we published his views in The Open Court
as an interesting theory without accepting his position, and we are glad to
see Mr. Hallock's proposition put up in a neat form which presents his the-
ories in a most attractive style. The book shows at the same time the per-
sonality of the author; and the sentiment with which he clings to his con-
ception of the soul.
The book opens with a poem entitled "Invocation." A short introduction
entitled "L'envoy" explains the spirit in which the author has written his
book, whereupon follows the substance of his theory in the chapters entitled :
Biology of the Cosmos, Vito-Magnetism and the Soul-Aura, Color Effects of
the Emotions, Electrical Body of the Future Life, The Supreme Source and
its Potential Agent, The Philosophy of Eternal Felicity, The Philosophy of
Religion, The United Philosophies, Evolution and the Future Life, and Credo.
A final chapter entitled "Antiphone" contains an inspirational prayer
under the caption "Man to his Maker."
The appendix shows the interest which the author's theories have created,
and contains letters received from different quarters, from a physician, a
clergyman, a college professor, a poet, an astronomer, and also from the
442 THE OPEN COURT.
Editor of The Open Court, whose criticism was perhaps the only dissenting
one as to the tenabihty of the author's theory.
The book is adorned with a frontispiece representing the maakheru or
transfigured body of the Egyptians.
Die Entwickelung des Gottesgedankens. Von Grant Allen. Jena: Coste-
noble, 1906. Pp. 360. 8 marks.
The Evolution of tlie Idea of God belongs to Grant Allen's best writings,
and we hail a German translation of this significant contribution to the his-
tory of religion, by H. Ihm. The translation is done faithfully and in good
German. Paper and print are excellent as we may expect of so reliable a
publishing house. The translator has modestly abstained from writing a
preface or introduction, and has only added as his own contribution a few
comments relegated to the appendix of the book. We regret to note that,
according to the prevalent German custom the book lacks an index.
Germany is the home of comparative religion, but popular works on the
subject, like the present book, are rare in the land of scholars and thinkers.
For this reason the German translation of Mr. Allen's work will prove very
desirable, and we may expect that it will do a good missionary service in the
interest of a scientific interpretation of religion.
In der Heimat des Konfuzius.. By P. Gcorg Maria Stenz, S.V.D. Steyl.
Price, $1.25. For sale by the Society of the Divine Word, Shermerville,
Illinois.
This book which is of considerable interest to all those interested in things
Chinese has been issued by a publishing house of the Roman Catholic missions
at Steyl, near Kaldenkirchen, Rheinland, Germany. It is a description of
China and the Chinese and is illustrated with two colored plates, a number of
half tones, and also some Chinese drawings. We will not dwell here on the
onesidedness of the description in which the author is induced to be unfair
to the Chinese, and which indicates also why European missions are not more
successful. We will confine ourselves only to those features of the book that
are of interest even to the scholar. The author. Father Stenz, has visited the
tomb of Confucius and also his residence. We read his description with
pleasure because there is in it a touch of the personal element, but it is espe-
cially noteworthy that the two Jesuit missionaries. Fathers Nies and Henly,
were the guests of Father Stenz on the night when they were assassinated.
The reverend Father tells us how the difficulty arose, how the mandarin was
unable to protect them, and how on one night Father Henly and Father Nies
visited the author in Chan-Cha-Chuang. The night was rainy and they could
not continue their journey. They stayed up rather late and sang the Requiem
and Miseremini. Father Stenz surrendered his bed to Father Nies and re-
tired to the janitor's room. He had scarcely fallen asleep when he heard
shouting and much noise, noticing that his room was lit up by torches. The
door of his house was guarded by two men, and he heard a band of rioters
start from the neighboring room shouting for the "Pater with the long beard."
The sacristy was opened by violence and they passed into the church ; where-
upon quiet was restored and the rioters disappeared. At this time he heard
groaning from the next room. At the same time the rioters returned shouting
MISCELLANEOUS. 443
to flay Father Stenz, but some Christians had made their appearance and
drove them away. He now rushed into his bedroom and found his two co-
workers, Henly and Nies, both on the bed, the one dying, the other presum-
ably dead. All attempts to revive them were in vain and he administered to
them the sacraments. Other Christians came in and surrounded the dreadful
scene. On the morning after the catastrophe the mandarin appeared and wept
at the sight. He had been a friend of the murdered missionaries and greatly
regretted the deed.
It is well known how Germany retaliated with China for the assassination
of the two Jesuits, but it is sad to relate that, as Father Stenz tells us, the
actual perpetrators were not punished but left at liberty, since they were leaders
of the boxer movement, whom the authorities did not dare to touch. In their
place, some innocent, harmless individuals were captured, tortured, forced
into a confession and executed, in spite of the remonstrances of Father Stenz
and Eugen Wolf, who visited the place in company with the father proctor.
The difficulty of rescuing the innocent wretches was increased by the change
of mandarins, the new mandarin being a very learned scholar, but a weak
and incapable man who allowed the guilty ones to escape, and did nothing to
save the lives of the innocent victims.
The book contains other chapters of interest, for instance the chapter
on the characterization of the Ta-tau-hui, the Society of the Big Knife, or
Boxers, page 226.
The Blood of the Prophets. By Dexter Wallace. Chicago: Hammersmark
Press. 1905. Pp. 112.
The Blood of the Prophets is a collection of poems written by Dexter
Wallace, and we do not hesitate to say that the first one "The Ballad of Jesus
of Nazareth" is the best and will appeal most of all to the reader. We quote
from it the following stanzas :
"It matters not what place he drew
At first life's mortal breath.
Some say it was in Bethlehem,
And some in Nazareth.
But shame and sorrow were his lot
And shameful was his death."
* * *
"For he who flays the hypocrite,
And scourges with a thong
The money changer, soon will find
The money changer strong;
And even the people will incline
To think his mission wrong."
•* * *
"When Csesar back to Rome returned
With all the world subdued.
The soldiers and the priests did shout,
And cried the multitude ;
For he had slain his country's foes.
And drenched their land with blood.
444 THE OPEN COURT.
"But all the triumph of the Christ
That ever came to pass
Was when he rode amidst a mob
Upon a borrowed ass ;
And this is all the worldly pomp
A genius ever has."
* * *
"I wonder not they slew the Christ,
And put upon his brow
A mocking crown of thorns, I know
The world would do it now ;
And none shall live who on himself
Shall take the self-same vow.
"And none shall live who tries to balk
The heavy hand of greed.
And who betakes him to the task.
That heart will surely bleed.
But a little truth, somehow is saved
Out of each dead man's creed."
* * *
"And it matters not what place he drew,
At first life's mortal breath,
Nor how it was his spirit rose
And triumphed over death,
But good it is to hear and do
The word that Jesus saith.
"Until the perfect truth shall lie
Treasured and set apart ;
One whole, harmonious truth to set
A seal upon each heart ;
And none may ever from that truth
In any wise depart."
Other poems, such as "Samson and Delilah," "Samuel" and others do not
reach the same pitch of fervor, and the same is true of secular poems, such
as "America," "The Pioneer," "Filipinos, Remember Us," "Ballad of Dead
Republics," etc. Sometimes the verses and thoughts will need a critical over-
hauling, such verses for instance as
"For this I hold to be the truth.
And Jesus said the same.''
Darwinism and the Problems of Life. By Conrad Guenther, Ph.D. Trans-
lated from the third edition by Joseph McCabe. London : Owen, 1906.
Pp. 428. Price, I2S. 6d.
This work has been translated from the German, because the translator
considers the author's peculiar method as unquestionably wise and helpful in
explaining the theory of evolution. He does not write for scientists, and does
MISCELLANEOUS. 445
not presuppose any great knowledge of zoology or other science. He starts
with the familiar facts of daily life, and thus an untrained reader will not
be stultified with scientific terms and limited thereto. The author depicts a
world that is familiar to every one, and leads gradually from well-known facts
and forms of life to the theories which they suggest. It is a new but decidedly
attractive way of formulating and solving the problems which have become
uppermost in the minds of the people.
The author is not so much an adherent of Darwinism as of Weismannism,
but all details of the evolution theory are left out, and the general outlines
alone are sketched. The book is intended to be a simple and untechnical
interpretation of the facts that suggest the doctrine of evolution.
The German original has gone through three editions, and Mr. McCabe
has untertaken to translate it for the benefit of the English reading public.
After an introduction describing animal life in forest, field and pond,
pointing out the over-production in nature, the struggle for life, artificial and
natural selection, transformation of species, variation and heredity, etc., the
author treats the different branches of zoology in successive chapters, — mam-
mals, birds, amphibia, fish, tracheates, molluscs, worms, and protozoa. These
descriptions are followed by an exposition of the theory of natural selection,
the principle of selection, mechanical conception of life and its limits, and
nature, history and morality.
The book is well printed in large and clear type, but we regret to say
that illustrations which are almost indispensable in a popular book have been
omitted, and we would suggest that in the German edition as well as other
translations the author would richly supply the book with appropriate pic-
tures and diagrams. Upon the whole the book reads very well, but now and
then we find un-English expressions which can be understood only if trans-
lated back into the original German. So for instance when the author want?
to say that he who wishes to comprehend the whole of the world must rise
above it, we read in the English translation : "He who would see over the
whole world must pass beyond it.'" We also doubt whether the English term
"sense of life" conveys the same idea as the original Lebcnssinn. These little
drawbacks, however, do not detract much from the value of the whole and
the translation of Mr. McCabe remains in any case a praiseworthy under-
taking.
L'iDEALisME CONTEMPORAIN. Par Lcon Brunschvigg. Paris : Alcan, 1905.
Pp. 185.
The spiritual movements of the present day show varieties which may
be characterized as spiritualism, intellectualism, and idealism, and our author
insists that the opposition to a right kind of idealism originated from a wrong
conception of man's intelligence. Man's intelligence in intellectuality is not
a positive factor, but it is the profoundest function of his activity directed
by a law, and capable of assuring a continued progress in scientific and moral
culture. Professor Brunschvigg after an Avant-propos in which he treats of
the general problems of idealistic movements, discusses in several chapters :
Spiritualism and Common Sense, The Prejudice Against Philosophy, Method
in Mental Philosophy, The New Philosophy and Intellectualism, and finally
the subject which bears the title of the entire monograph "The Contemporary
446 THE OPEN COURT.
Idealism," pointing, out how our social institutions are gradually transformed
by ideals.
The present book is a sequel to a prior work which appeared under the
title Introduction to the Life of the Spirit, and which the publishers announce
is now ready for a second edition.
JuDAH Messer Leon's Commentary on the "Vetus Logica." By Isaac
Husik, A.M., Ph.D. Leyden: Brill, 1906. Pp. 118.
This book represents a doctor's dissertation presented to the faculty of
the University of Pennsylvania in June, 1903, partly rewritten and slightly
enlarged during part of the author's tenure of a university fellowship in the
same institution. Dr. Husik's object is to bring into prominence one of the
many works of mediaeval Hebrew scholarship along philosophical lines. His
study of Messer Leon's Commentary of Aristotle is based upon the compara-
tive consideration of three manuscripts, and contains a very complete glos-
sary of Hebrew logical and philosophical terms. Dr. Husik quotes many
Hebrew passages from Messer Leon in parallel columns with the Latin text
of other mediaeval commentators of Aristotle.
Text-Book of Sociology. By lames Quayle Dealey. Ph. D., and Lester Frank
Ward, LL.D. New York: Macmillan. 1905. Pp. xxv, 326. Price,
$1.30.
Dr. James Quayle Dealey, Professor of Social and Political Science in
Brown University, and Lester Frank Ward, formerly of the Smithsonian
Institution, at Washington, D. C, the well-known author of Social Dynamics
and Pure Sociology, have published in company a Text-Book of Sociology,
which the authors expect will fulfil the general demand for such a book.
It treats of sociology as a science within the hierarchy of Comte's classifica-
tion. Chapter III discusses the data. Chapter IV the methodology, and Chap-
ter V the subject matter of sociology. The substance of the book is discussed
in four parts. The Origin and Classification of the Social Forces ; Nature of
the Social Forces ; Action of the Social Forces in the Spontaneous Develop-
ment of Society; and Origin and Nature of the Telic Agent. By telic agent
we understand that element which gives direction to the world's activity.
A History of Political Theories, from Luther to Montesquieu. By IVil-
liam Archibald Dunning. New York: Macmillan. 1905. Pages. 459.
Price, $2.50.
The author continues in the present volume his former work Political
Theories, Ancient and Mcdiccval, and we may look forward to a completion
of the whole in a third volume on Modern Political Theories and a prospect
of their future development. The present volume testifies not only to the
author's learning but also to his good judgment. He discusses the significance
of the Reformation, Luther, Calvin and others, and of their successors in
both England and France, among whom Francis Hotman and the pseudonym-
ous author Stephanus Junius Brutus play an important part by reason of
keenness of judgment and tolerance of liberal opinion, while Jean 5odin lays
the foundation of the English conception of political rights. Hugo Grotius,
the founder of international law, is splendidly characterized, and the develop-
ment of political philosophy in England before and after the Puritan revo-
MISCELLANEOUS. 447
lution is sketched in detail and well explained. The author presents us with
a fine characterization of Milton's popular idea of Thomas Hobbes and John
Locke, interrupting his exposition by a chapter on the continental theories
marked by the names of Spinoza, Puffendorf and Bossuet and winding up
this remarkable period of the history of politics with Montesquieu.
Charles H. Kerr & Co. have published a translation of Wilhelm Bolsche's
Evolution of Man, by Ernest Untermann. The book has been a success in
Germany because it met a long felt want, being a brief and popular exposition
of the theories as to the descent of man. The translation is well made and
the publishers have done their best to give it in its English dress a neat
appearance.
Jesus of Nazareth. By Edzuard Clodd. London : Watts & Co. 1905. Pp.
119.
The present booklet contains a collection of articles written some time
ago by Edward Clodd, an author of no mean repute, but we regret to say
that these essays should not have been published without a thorough revision,
for our knowledge as to Old Testament history and also the origin of Chris-
tianity has made rapid progress within the last ten years. Though the
author is one of the rationalists he still attributes the psalms to David, and
quotes them as historical material in characterizing David's personality. He
mentions Nazareth as the birthplace of Jesus and yet it is well known that
the village of Nazareth is nowhere mentioned as having existed at the be-
ginning of the Christian era. The author firmly believes in its existence in
spite of lack of evidence, but his articles have obviously been written before
critical investigation lead one to form a definite opinion.
The articles are well written, but it seems to me unfair to republish them
without having given the author a chance of further revising them.
Seventy Centuries of the Life of Mankind. By /. N. Lamed. 2 volumes.
Springfield, Mass. : C. A. Nichols Co., 1905. Pp. 442-503
Under this title the editor of the History for Ready Reference has pub-
lished a history of the world from the earliest times to the present day. Mr.
Earned has utilized the latest material concerning the excavations in Baby-
lonia, Assyria, Egypt, etc., and condenses the general descriptions into a most
popular form. It will be most welcome to people who do not care to have
all the little details but who want to gain an insight into the general develop-
ment of mankind. The work is profusely illustrated, not only with illustra-
tions in the text, but also with plates, among which there are a great number
of colored plates, most of them being reproductions of famous paintings.
SociALisTEs ET sociOLCGUES. Par /. Bourdcau. Paris : Alcan, 1905. Pp. 196.
This little treatise is most interesting and instructive and belongs to the
best that has been written on sociological problems. The author shows good
judgment and an extraordinary knowledge of facts, while his presentation is
entertaining from the elegant style in which he writes. The subject matter
is divided into three parts. In the first M. Bourdeau treats single systems
which serve to explain the development of several ideas and institutions
448 THE OPEN COURT.
among mankind. Here he treats the evolution of war, of slavery, of the
State in its relation to the individual, the changes of power, the ideal of
patriotism, and finally the evolution of morality.
The second part is devoted to socialistic theories. He discusses the
propositions of Proudhon, and socialistic sects in general, the heresy of
Edouard Bernstein, the idealist of socialism, socialism and freedom, the so-
cialism of the bourgeois and of the laborer, and finally socialism and its place
in history.
The third part is devoted to actual problems of the day such as every
thoughtful person may observe for himself, — the phenomena of anarchy and
philanthropy, revolutionary silhouettes, etc.
The last chapter is devoted to Heinrich Heine, the German poet who is
still the favorite of the French public, partly on account of his antagonism
toward the German government of his time, partly through his appreciation
of French literature, and the French materialistic spirit. Heinrich Heine has
said some remarkable things about the development of the future, a part of
which have been fulfilled. In the conclusion Bourdeau sums up his views in
in a chapter in which he specializes "theories of progress" and expresses his
view that social happiness is nothing but the mere chimera. But while he
considers that the extreme optimism of the socialist is Utopian, he at the same
time discards extreme pessimism, insisting that the details of history dominate
in the development of mankind. The little book is brimfull of thoughtful
remarks, and fine psychological sketches. We do not hesitate to say that it
belongs to the best that has been written on the subject.
La sociologie genetique. Par Frangois Cosciitiiii. Paris: Alcan, 1905. Pp.
205.
The author, who is professor of sociology at the University of Brussels,
presents us with a treatise on the origin of primitive society which is pref-
aced with an appreciative introduction by Maxime Kovalewsky, professor of
law at the University of Moscow. Professor Cosentini has collected the facts
of the genesis of primitive society from all the sources at our disposal, — the
social condition of the animal world, of savages, of barbaric remnants in our
present age — and presents us with a pretty clear picture of a reconstruction
of the condition^ of primitive mankind. He adds the conclusion that the suc-
cessive stages of mankind show a great resemblance in different places which
would indicate a common law, and though he does not claim that single in-
stances should be generalized and made to hold good for similar cases, he
finds the agreement too strong to be overlooked.
In his introduction. Professor Kovalewsky especially commends Cosen-
tini's idea that all conditions of society with its ideas and sympathy have
developed from sexual and parental love, which produce that reciprocity that
finally broadens out in a social regulation of the communal and social life.
Our attention has been called to an obvious typographical error in Mr.
Eshleman's poem, "To the Forces of Evil" in the May Open Court. The
second line of the third stanza on page 314 should read "Oh, fair allurements
oft pursued," instead of "Of fair allurements oft pursued."
FOUNDATION OF A LAY CHURCH
What is the reason that so many people, and sometimes the very best ones,
those who think, stay at home on Sunday and do not attend church ? Is it because
our clergymen preach antiquated dogmas and the people are tired of listening to
them ; or is it because the Churches themselves are antiquated and their methods
have become obsolete? To many these reasons may seem a sufficient explanation,
but I believe there are other reasons, and even if in many places and for various
reasons religious life is flagging, we ought to revive, and modernize, and sustain
church life; we ought to favor the ideals of religious organizations; we ought to
create opportunities for the busy world to ponder from time to time on the ulti-
mate questions of life, the problems of death, of eternity, of the interrelation of
all mankind, of the brotherhood of man, of international justice, of universal
righteousness, and other matters of conscience, etc.
The Churches have, at least to a great extent, ceased to be the guides of the
people, and among many other reasons there is one quite obvious which has
nothing to do with religion and dogma. In former times the clergvman was
sometimes the only educated and scholarly person in his congregation, and he was
naturally the leader of his flock. But education has spread. Thinking is no
longer a clerical prerogative, and there are more men than our ministers worthv
of hearing in matters of a religious import. In other words, formerly the pulpit
Vv-as naturally the ruler in matters ecclesiastic, but now the pews begin to have
lights too.
Wherever the Churches prosper, let them continue their work; but for the
sake of the people over whom the Churches have lost their influence the following
proposition would be in order, which will best and most concisely be expressed
in the shape of a ready-made
PROGRAM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LAY CHURCH.
GENERAL PRINCIPLE.
It is proposed to form a congregation whose bond of union, instead of a fixed
creed, shall be the common purpose of ascertaining religious truth, which shall
be accomplished, not under the guidance of one and the same man in the pulpit,
but by the communal effort of its members in the pews.
FOUNDATION OF A LAY CHURCH. (Continued.)
NAME AND FURTHER PARTICULARS.
This congregation shall be known by the name of The Lay Church, or what-
ever name may be deemed suitable in our different communities, and a character-
istic feature of it shall be that it wall have no minister, but the preaching will be
done by its own members or invited speakers.
Far from antagonizing the religious life of any Church, The Lay Church pro-
poses to bring to life religious forces that now lie dormant. Religious aspirations
have as many aspects as there are pursuits in life, and it is the object of The La}
Church to have representatives of the several professions, of business, the sciences,
the arts, and the trades, express their religious convictions upon the moral, polit-
ical, and social questions of the day.
The Lay Church will establish a free platform for diverse religious views,
not excluding the faiths of the established Churches: provided the statements are
made with sincerity and reverence.
Since The Lay Church as such will, on the one hand, not be held responsible
for the opinions expressed by its speakers, and, on the other hand, not be indiffer-
ent to errors and aberrations, monthly meetings shall be held for a discussion of
the current Sunday addresses.
The man of definite conviction will find in The Lay Church a platform for
propaganda, provided it be carried on with propriety and with the necessary
regard for the belief of others : while the searcher for truth will have the problems
on which he has not yet been able to form an opinion of his own ventilated from
different standpoints.
It is the nature of this Church that its patrons may at the same time belong
to other Churches or to no Church. And membership does not imply the severing
of old ties or the surrendering of former beliefs.
The spirit of the organization shall be the same as that which pervaded the
Religious Parliament of 1893. Every one to whom the privilege of the platform
is granted is expected to present the best he can offer, expounding his own views
without disparaging others. And the common ground will be the usual methods
of argument such as are vindicated by universal experience, normally applied to
all enterprises in practical life, and approved of by the universal standards of
truth — commonly called science.
(Reprinted from The Open Court for January, 1903.)
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Species and Varieties:
Their Origin by Mutation
By Hugo de Vries
Professor of Botany in the University of Amsterdam
Edited by Daniel Trembly MacDougal, Assistant
Director of the New York Botanical Garden
xxiii + 830 pages
HE belief has prevailed for more than half
a century that species are changed into new
types very slowly and that thousands of
years were necessary for the development
of a new type of animal or plant. After
twenty years of arduous investigation Professor de Vries
has announced that he has found that new species originat-
ed suddenly by jumps, or by "mutations," and in conjunc-
tion with this discovery he offers an explanation of the
qualities of living organisms on the basis of the concep-
tion of unit-characters. Important modifications are also
proposed as to the conceptions of species and varieties as
well as of variability, inheritance, atavism, selection and
descent in general.
The announcement of the results in question has excited
more interest among naturalists than any publication
since the appearance of Darwin's Origin of Species, and
marks the beginning of a new epoch in the history of
evolution. Professor de Vries was invited to deliver a series
of lectures upon the subject at the University of California
during the summer of 1904, and these lectures are offered
to a public now thoroughly interested in modern ideas of
evolution.
The contents of the book include a readable and orderly
recital of the facts and details which furnish the basis for
the mutation-theory of the origin of species. All of the
more important phases of heredity and descent come in
for a clarifying treatment that renders the volume
extremely readable to the amateur as well as to the trained
biologist. The more reliable historical data are cited and
the results obtained by Professor de Vries in the Botanical
Garden at Amsterdam during twenty years of observations
are described.
Not the least important service rendered by Professor
de Vries in the preparation of these lectures consists in the
indication of definite specific problems that need investi-
gation, many of which may be profitably taken up by any-
one in a small garden. He has rescued the subject of
evolution from the thrall of polemics and brought it once
more within reach of the great mass of naturalists, any one
of whom may reasonably hope to contribute something
to its advancement by orderly observations.
The text of the lectures has been revised and rendered
into a form suitable for permanent record by Dr. D. T.
MacDougal who has been engaged in researches upon the
subject for several years, and who has furnished substan-
tial proof of the mutation theory of the origin of species by
his experimental investigations carried on in the New
York Botanical Gardens.
Price, postpaid $5.00 ( 21s.) net. xxiii + 830 pages, 8 vo., cloth, gilt top
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attempt. It embodies the experience of a life time, and is
replete with reminiscences garnered in the field of magic,
both in this country and Europe. It comprises a complete
history of magic from the earliest times to the present day,
with exposes of the most famous illusions of the stage. Mr.
Evans was intimately acquainted with Alexander Herrmann,
Robert Heller and Buatier de Kolta, those shining lights
among prestidigitators of the past, and has many interesting
anecdotes to tell about them and the tricks that made them
famous. Among living conjurers he is well known and ad-
mired as a writer on magic. A number of treatises on magic
have been written, but no great historical work has been
produced on the subject. Therefore this unique book on "The
Old and the New Magic" supplies a long-felt want among the
confraternity of conjurers. Mr. Evans has delved into many
old libraries of this country and Europe for data. A feature
of the book is the reproduction of programmes of celebrated
prestidigitators. This feature alone makes the book of im-
mense value to every professional and amateur magician.
The preparation of programmes is the bete noir of conjurers.
With the examples set before him in "The Old and the New
Magic," the wizard of the present day can with ease make up
his entertainment, and cull here and there his information,
like a bee culls honey from flowers of the field.
To the general reading public this work will prove a veritable
gold mine. To be initiated into the mysteries of the con-
jurer's art is well worth the while. It is written in a fasci-
nating style, full of anecdotal and historical matter. The
chapter on Cagliostro reads like a romance. This great charla-
tan of the eighteenth century figured in the diamond necklace
scandal, in which were involved the beautiful Marie Antoinette,
queen of France, Cardinal de Rohan and many famous people
of the old regime. To gather information on this subject,
Mr. Evans, assisted by M. Trewey, the French conjurer, delved
into the musty archives of the French government and gleaned
many facts not hitherto known. In this book are passed in
review the prestidigitators of the old world: Pinetti, Robert-
son, Robert Houdin, the father of modern magic, Robin, Ander-
son, etc. From the surviving members of the Houdin family,
curious and rare data were obtained, making the chapter on
Robert Houdin one of vast interest. Few readers, if any, will
be able to lay down this fascinating book when once begun,
without reading through to the word Finis. The unveiling
of secrets hitherto kept so sedulously by magicians is of
interest to all theater-goers, as well as educators. The more
we know about the tricks and deceptions of conjurers, the less
apt are we to fall victims to unscrupulous charlatans and
impostors like Cagliostro and many of the mediumistic frauds
of this century. To the scientific man the book will also be
of great interest.
It is a well-known fact that in this country today there are
thousands of clever amateur magicians, who welcome with
open arms a new book on their favorite theme. The avidity
with which magical literature is bought, and the great number
of manufacturers of magical apparatus extant who cater to
the wants of amateurs, are proofs positive of the interest in
the subject of prestidigitation.
Most of the historical matter in this book is new to American
readers. For example, there is not a book in English that
gives a correct account of the Chevalier Pinetti, the great
luminary among conjurers of the eighteenth century. His
life story is worthy of the pen of a Dumas, so strange and
adventurous is it. Mr. Evans has picked up many rare prints
of this gifted artist, which have been reproduced in the book,
as well as one of Cagliostro.
We can recommend this book as something really unique in
the annals of magical literature; as entertaining as any
romance and possessed of real pedagogical value. It should
be in every public library and every school in the United
States. The illusions of Kellar, the sleight-of-hand tricks of
De Kolta, the shadowgraphs of Trewey, and the wonderful
handcuff act of Houdini's, are all explained and fully illus-
trated.
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CHRISTIANITY AND PATRIOTISM
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A Portfolio of Portraits of Eminent
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FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
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Is Absolute IdeaUsm Solipsistic ? F. C. S. Schiller.
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To Jerusalem Through
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THIS remarkable bock, the work of one of the most remarkable women of our
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the writer of it, — this remarkable book is beyond the skill of the reviewer. It would
be easy to blame it. Men in a hun-y fov copy, or in a hate at Pere Hyacinthe, will
fill their columns with quite plausible matter for blame, and salt it well with
superiority. But when the most is said this is what it will come to, that Madame
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people she noted points i ■ wnich Christians might learn of Mohammedans. Polygamy, however,
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printed and illustrated. — The Outlook.
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THE WORLD'S DESIRES
EDGAR A. ASHCROFT
This book is a careful and reverential study of human life and phi-
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scientific exposition, indicating a midway course between irrational
fanaticism and unphilosophical materialism.
Pages, xii, 440. Cloth, gilt top, $1.00 net.
ZooLOGiscHEs Institut der Universitat Jena,
Jena, ii, i, 1906.
My dear Mr. Ashcroft:
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sincerely that it may soon reach a very wide circle of intelligent readers.
* * *
I have been ill several months and must resign for a long time every work. Therefore I
must beg your pardon that I cannot write more to-day.
Yours sincerely,
Ernst Haeckel.
Mr, Edgar Ashcroft, London.
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JUST PUBLISHED
ON LIFE AFTER DEATH
BY
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Pages, 133. Cloth, gilt top. i2mo. Price, 75 cents net Postage 8 cents.
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