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Xlbe  ©pen  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

2)e\>ote&  to  tbc  Science  of  IReltgion,  tbe  IRellaion  of  Science,  an&  tbe 
Bitension  of  tbe  IReligious  parliament  l^ea 

Founded  by  Edward  C.  Hegeler, 


VOL.  XXXIII  (No.  3)                MARCH,  1919                                       NO.  754 

CONTENTS:  • 

rAG» 

Death  (Poem)  Paul  Carus  129 

Andrew  Dickson  White  as  I  Knew  Him.    Edward  T.  Heyn  132 

Bolshevism  and  the  Laws  of  Property.    Homer  Hoyt 138 

American  Ideals  as  Applied  to  China.    Gilbert  Reid 140 

Byzantium.    An  Historical  Poem.  With  Letter  from  Horatio  Gates  Gibson  145 

The  Religion  of  Beauty.    F.  W.  Fitzpatrick 151 

Savage  Life  and  Custom.    Illustrated.    (Continued.)    Edward  Lawrence  . .  157 

Paracelsus  cus  a  Theological  Writer.     With  Four  Portraits  of  Paracelsus. 

John  Maxson  Stillman 169 

The  Talmud  on  Dreams.    Julius  J.  Price 182 

Dreams.    T.  B.  Stork 186 

Regarding  Christian  Origins.    Edgar  A.  Josselyn 189 

Book  Reviews  and  Notes 191 


Ube  ©pen  Court  publtebing  Companie 

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GERNANY 

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of  an  Qmencan^S^bman 

ifART  ETHEL  NSAVLEIT 

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An  American  girl's  story  of  actual  conditions  in  Germany  at  the 
present  time.  Over  150  photographic  reproductions  illustrate  the 
awful  hardships  endured  by  the  German  people  in  daily  life. 

"An  informing  book  on  Germany  in  war  time  *  *  *  without 
the  slightest  color  of  prejudice." — New  York  Evening  Post. 

"Reads  almost  like  a  girl's  letters  home  and  ripples  on  inform- 
atively, illuminatively,  yet  unaw^are  that  it  is  a  war  document  of 
prime  importance." — Chicago   Tribune. 

"The  great  value  of  Miss  McAuley's  book  lies  in  two  facts — ^that 
she  writes  without  hate  and  that  she  writes  only  of  things  she  has 
seen  *  *  *  her  book  has  a  quality  of  naiveness  that  I  have  rarely 
met  outside  the  pages  of  good  old  Herodotus." — The  Truth  Seeker. 

"Mary  Ethel  McAuley  in  her  book,  in  the  many  pictures  as  well 
as  the  text,  tells  more  about  'Germany  in  War  Time'  than  all  the 
other  books  that  have  been  written  on  the  subject  put  together" — New 
York  Evetiing  Globe. 

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Address 


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O: 

a>i 
ro= 

CD  = 
CDS 


'"T^llIC  ()])en   Court    l*ul)lishing-  Companv 
announce   with   profound   sorrow   the 
death,  following  a  ])rolonge(l  illness,  of 

DR.  PAUL  CARUS, 

Editor  of  The  Open  Court  and  Tlie  Monisf, 
at  La  Salle,  Illinois,  on  Tuesday,  Fehruarv 
the  eleventh,  nineteen  hundred  and  nineteen. 
A  memoir  of  the  lifework  of  Dr.  Cams 
and  of  the  long  and  faithful  service  which 
he  rendered  our  country  and  humanity  in 
general  will  he  found  in  a  subsequent  num- 
ber of  this  journal. 


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.  XXXIII  (No.  3)  MARCH,  1919  NO.  754 

Copyright  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  I9i9- 


DEATH. 

0  DEATH,  in  thee  we  reach  hfe's  consummation 
In  thee  we  shall  find  peace ;  in  thee  our  woes, 
Anxieties  and  struggles  will  be  past. 
Thou  art  our  best,  our  truest  friend !    Thou  boldest 
The  anodyne  that  cureth  every  ill. 

Thou  lookest  stern,  O  Death ;  the  living  fear  thee ; 

Thy  grim,  cold  countenance  inspireth  awe, 

And  creatures  shrink  from  thee  as  their  worst  foe. 

They  know  thee  not,  for  they  believe  that  thou 

Takest  delight  in  agony  and  horror, 

Disease  and  pain.    The  host  of  all  these  ills 

Precedes  thee  often,  but  thou  brook'st  them  not. 

'Tis  life  that  is  replete  with  suffering, 

Not  thou,  O  refuge  of  the  unfortunate, 

For  thou  com'st  as  surcease  of  pain  ;  thou  grantest 

Release  from  torture,  and  thy  sweetest  boon 

Is  peace  eternal.    So  I  call  thee  friend 

And  will  proclaim  thy  gift  as  greatest  blessing. 

Death  is  the  twin  of  birth :  he  blotteth  out 
The  past  but  to  provide  for  life's  renewal. 
All  life  on  earth  is  one  continuous  flow 
Which  death  and  birth  cut  up  in  single  lives 
Of  individual  existences 
So  as  to  keep  life  ever  new  and  fresh. 

Oblivious  of  the  day  that  moulded  us. 
We  enter  life  with  virgin  expectations ; 
Traditions  of  parental  past  are  we, 
Handing  the  gain  of  our  expanding  souls 


130  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Down  so  succeeding  ages  which  we  build. 
The  lives  of  predecessors  live  in  us 
.And  we  continue  in  the  race  to  come. 
Thus  in  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries 
.\  burning  torch  was  passed  from  hand  to  hand. 
.And  every  hand  was  needed  in  the  chain 
To  keep  the  holy  flame  aglow — the  symbol 
Of  spirit-life,  of  higher  aspirations. 

Tis  not  desirable  to  eke  out  life 

Into  eternity,  world  without  end. 

Far  better  'tis  to  live  in  fresh  renewals, 

Far  better  to  remain  within  time's  limits. 

Our  fate  'tis  to  be  born,  to  grow,  to  learn, 

To  tread  life's  stage:  and  when  our  time  has  come 

There  is  no  choice  but  to  depart  resigned. 

Again  and  evermore  again,  life  starteth 

In  each  new  birth  a  fresh  new  consciousness 

With  larger  tasks,  new  quickened  interests. 

And  with  life's  worn-out  problems  all  renewed. 

But  we  must  work  the  work  while  it  is  day. 

For  thou,  O  Death,  w'ilt  hush  life's  turbulence 

And  then  the  night  will  come  to  stay  our  w^ork. 

When  we  have  tasted  of  the  zests  of  life, 
Breathed  in  the  bracing  air  of  comprehension. 
Enjoyed  the  pleasures  of  accomplishment. 
When  we  have  felt  the  glow  of  happiness, 
The  thrill  of  love,  of  friendship,  of  endeavor, 
When  we  have  borne  the  heat  of  day  and  sweated 
Under  the  burden  of  our  tasks,  we  shall. 
Wearied  of  life's  long  drudgery,  be  glad 
To  sink  into  the  arms  of  sleep,  to  rest 
From  all  our  labors,  while  our  work  lives  on. 
As  at  the  end  of  day  we  greet  the  night. 
So  we  shall  tire  of  duties,  pains  and  joys 
And  gladly  quaff  the  draught  of  Lethe's  cup. 

Wilt  thou  be  kind  to  me,  O  Death,  then  spare  me 
The  time  to  do  my  duties,  to  complete 
My  lifework  ere  I  die.    Let  me  accomplish 
The  most  important  tasks  that  lie  before  me, 
So  when  I  die  I  have  not  lived  in  vain. 


131 


P)nt  has  my  purpose  grown  beyond  myself, 
I  shall  be  satisfied  and  welcome  thee. 

Kinder  thou  art  than  thou  appearest,  Death! 

Peace-bringer,  healer  of  life's  malady, 

Thou  lullest  us  into  unconsciousness. 

Thine  eye,  well  do  I  know  it,  solves  the  transient 

Into  mere  dust ;  but  thou  discriminatest. 

Thou  provest  all,  O  just  and  unbribed  judge, 

Appli'st  the  touchstone  of  eternal  worth 

And  so  preservest  the  enduring  gold. 

Thou  settest  free  the  slave,  soothest  all  anguish, 

Grantest  an  amnesty  for  trespasses, 

Abolishest  responsibilities, 

Ordainest  the  cessation  of  the  ills 

That  harass  life.     Withal  thou  simply  closest 

A  chapter  in  time's  fascinating  book. 

There  to  remain  as  we  have  written  it. 

And  so  thou  dost  no  harm.    Happy  is  he 

Who  neither  feareth  nor  inviteth  thee. 

I  honor  thee,  great  sanctifier  Death, 

Lord  of  the  realm  of  no  return — High  Priest 

Of  the  unchangeable,  thou  consecratest 

Our  souls  when  gathering  them  unto  their  fathers 

In  their  eternal  home ;  I  honor  thee. 

Yet  will  not  seek  thee !     I  am  here  to  live 

And  so  will  bide  until  the  summons  come 

To  enter  on  my  Sabbath  eve  of  life. 

But  neither  shall  I  shrink  from  thee,  for  truly 

I  see  no  cause  why  I  should  face  thee  not. 

Thou  dost  not  doom  me  to  annihilation. 

Thou  wipest  out  my  trace  of  life  as  little 

As  any  deed  can  ever  be  annulled. 

Indeed,  thou  comest  to  immortalize. 

To  finish,  to  complete,  to  consummate, 

To  sanctify  what  I  have  been  and  done. 

Therefore,  I  shall  be  ready  at  thy  call 

And  deem  the  common  destiny  of  all 

Meet  for  myself,  so  when  thou  beckonest, 

Friend  Death,  grant  me  thy  sw^eet  enduring  rest. 

Paul  Carus. 


132  THE  OPEN    LOUKT. 


ANDREW   DICKSON  WHITE  AS  I   KNEW  HIM. 

I!Y   EDWARD  T.    IIEVX. 

SHORTLY  before  the  tessation  of  hostilities  in  the  world  war, 
came  the  death  of  Andrew  Dickson  White.  It  was  not  granted 
him  to  see  the  end  of  the  contest  with  its  promise  of  universal 
peace,  a  cause  which  he  so  brilliantly  and  assiduously  advocated. 
His  lofty  but  w^ell  tempered  idealism  and  his  profound  scholarship 
commanded  the  greatest  respect  at  home  and  abroad.  A  zealous 
guardian  of  his  country's  rights,  he  performed  his  difficult  task 
as  Minister,  and  subsequently  as  Ambassador,  to  the  German  Em- 
pire with  admirable  success,  and  with  dignity  worthy  of  emulation. 

It  was  in  Berlin  in  1901  that  the  writer,  entering  upon  his  work 
as  Correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Record,  was  first  privileged  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  ^^l^ite.  A  warm  letter  of  introduction  by 
Charles  Kendall  Adams,  the  President  of  my  Alma  Mater,  the  Uni- 
ersity  of  Wisconsin,  undoubtedly  contributed  greatly  to  the  special 
kindness  and  courtesy  with  which  I  was  received,  for  Dr.  Adams 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  American  Ambassador,  and  at  one 
time  closely  allied  with  him  in  liis  historical  studies.  After  Dr. 
White's  resignation,  Adams  became  his  successor  as  President  of 
Cornell  University.  The  high  regard  in  which  Dr.  White  held 
President  Adams  can  be  seen  from  the  following  letter  which  he 
wrote  me  from  Bad  Plomburg,  August  13,  1902,  when  I  informed 
him  of  the  death  of  the  former  President  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin. 

"The  news  of  President  Adams's  death  is  a  grief  to  me.  My 
friendship  with  him  began  in  1857,  when,  on  arriving  as  a  young 
professor  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  I  found  him  in  my  lecture 
room.  He  was  one  of  my  two  best  students  in  historical  and  kin- 
dred subjects.  He  at  that  time  became  greatly  interested  in  history, 
and  showed  not  merely  a  tenacious  memory,  but  a  power  of  think- 
ing and  judging  on  historical  men  and  questions  that  interested  me 
in  him. 

"( )n  my  taking  a  year's  leave  of  absence  from  that  university 
in  186.3,  I  selected  him  to  carry  on  my  classes  as  an  instructor,  and 
on  my  departure  to  take  the  presidency  of  Cornell,  he  succeeded 
me  in  the  professorship.     His  work  was  admirable  from  the  first; 


ANDRKW   DICKSON   WHITE   AS   I    KNEW    IIIM.  133 

his  published  articles  in  the  North  American  Reviezv  and  elsewhere, 
gained  the  highest  approval,  and  were  translated  abroad. 

"After  some  time,  when  the  circumstances  of  Cornell  University 
allowed  me  to  do  so,  I  called  him,  during  several  successive  years, 
to  give  a  course  of  historical  lectures  to  the  senior  class,  and  they 
were  greatly  admired. 

"When,  on  my  resignation  at  Cornell,  after  twenty  years  of 
service,  the  Trustees  requested  me  to  nominate  my  own  successor, 
I  named  him,  and.  he  was  elected  with  virtual  unanimity. 

"His  career  at  Cornell,  in  all  its  most  important  elements,  was 
a  thorough  success.  He  had  a  most  remarkable  gift  of  choosing 
members  of  the  faculty.  Every  professor  whom  he  nominated 
turned  out  to  be  of  the  very  best.  He  had  also  admirable  judgment 
in  regard  to  matters  of  administration.  Of  his  resignation  from 
his  Cornell  presidency,  it  is  too  early  to  speak  ;  but  it  is  only  justice 
to  him  to  say  that  both  the  circumstances  which  led  to  it  and  his 
whole  course  in  regard  to  it  were  to  his  credit.  Feeling  this  deeply, 
I  recommended  him  to  a  committee  of  the  Regents  of  your  State 
University,  who  called  him,  and  his  career  there  you  know  better 
than  I  can.  All  that  I  can  say  is  that  my  observation  at  my  short 
visit  to  Madison  during  his  presidency  showed  that  he  was  doing 
noble  work  there  for  the  State  and,  indeed,  for  the  Nation.  He, 
like  myself,  was  a  warm  believer  in  the  mission  of  the  great  state 
universities  of  the  West.  He  believed,  as  I  did  and  as  James  Bryce, 
in  his  remarkable  book  on  America,  has  stated,  that  they  are  among 
the  greatest,  most  valuable,  and  most  promising  of  American  crea- 
tions. That  being  the  case,  he  threw  himself  heartily  into  the  work, 
and  the  great  institutions  at  Ann  Arbor,  Ithaca,  and  Madison  have 
every  reason  to  be  grateful  to  him  and  to  express  their  gratitude 
by  proper  memorials  to  him.  Cornell  has  alreadv  done  so.  the 
Trustees  having  secured  a  fine  portrait  of  him  and  hung  it  in  the 
great  reading-room  of  the  University's  Library. 

"I  regret  that  I  must  simply  send  you  this  hastily  dictated 
letter ;  but  I  hope  that  some  other  person,  who  has  more  leisure, 
will  do  better  justice  to  him." 

I  may  say  that  during  the  time  that  Dr.  ^^'hite  was  American 
Ambassador  in  Berlin  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  him  and  I  learned  to 
admire  him  not  only  for  his  great  knowledge  and  splendid  grasp 
of  all  matters  relating  to  the  diplomatic  service,  but  also  for  his 
fine  qualities  as  a  gentleman,  his  freedom  from  all  narrow  prejudices, 
and  his  unfailing  kindness.  And  upon  coming  into  closer  relations 
with   many   leading   men   of   atTairs   connected   with   the   German 


134  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

government,  the  universities,  and  German  industry.  I  soon  realized 
how  highly  the  genial  American  Ambassador  was  regarded  in  all 
these  circles. 

The  key-note  of  Dr.  White's  success  in  his  diplomatic  career 
was  admirably  expressed  by  John  Hay  when  he  wrote  of  the  Am- 
bassador upon  the  occasion  of  the  latter's  retirement  from  the 
diplomatic  service:  "He  has  the  singular  felicity  of  having  been 
always  a  fighting  man.  and  having  gone  through  life  without  a 
wound.  While  fimi  in  the  advocacy  of  any  cause  which  he  espoused, 
his  methods  in  bringing  his  opponents  to  his  point  of  view  were 
always  conciliatory  and  marked  by  consummate  tact." 

Dr.  White,  while  Minister  at  Berlin  in  1879-1881.  had  won 
the  friendship  of  Baron  von  Bvilow,  then  Prussian  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  when  he  returned  to  Berlin  in  1897  as  Ameri- 
can Ambassador,  a  similar  friendship  sprang  up  between  him  and 
Prince  Bemhard  von  Bulow,  the  German  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  who  later  ( 1900)  became  Imperial  Chancellor.  Of  the  \'on 
Billows.  Dr.  White  in  his  autobiography  writes: 

"Father  and  son  were  amazingly  like  each  other,  not  only  in 
personal  manner,  but  in  their  mode  of  dealing  with  public  affairs. 
\\'ith  the  multitude  of  trying  questions  which  pressed  upon  me  as 
ambassador  during  six  years,  it  hardly  seemed  possible  that  I  should 
be  still  alive  were  it  not  for  the  genial,  hearty  intercourse,  at  the 
Foreign  Office  and  elsewhere,  with  Count  von  Biilow.  Sundry 
German  papers  indeed  attacked  him  as  yielding  too  much  to  me, 
and  sundry  American  papers  attacked  me  for  yielding  too  much  to 
him :  both  of  us  exerted  ourselves  to  do  the  best  possible  each  for 
his  own  country,  and  at  the  same  time  to  preserA-e  peace  and  in- 
crease good  feeling.  Occasionally  during  my  walks  in  the  Tiergarten 
I  met  him  on  his  way  to  parliament,  and  no  matter  how  pressing 
public  business  might  be,  he  found  time  to  extend  his  walk  and 
prolong  our  discussions." 

Dr.  White  placed  great  value  on  these  informal  discussions. 
When  the  policy  of  our  Government  in  favor  of  the  open  door  in 
( "liina  assumed  a  definite  shape.  Dr.  \\Miitc  handed  me  the  following 
memorandum : 

"The  Imperial  Chancellor  and  the  .American  Ambassador  were 
observed,  day  before  yesterday,  taking  a  walk  together  in  the  Tier- 
garten. and.  to  all  a])pearance.  chatting  hap])ily  in  apparent  con- 
tinuance of  the  old  friendship  which  existed  between  Count  von 
B.iilow's  father  and  Mr.  White  when  the  latter  was  Minister  here 
twenty  years  ago.     Those  who  know  that,  during  the  past  week, 


ANDRiaV   DICKSON    WIII'l'K   AS   I    KXKW    IIIM.  135 

the  Ambassador  has  ])rcsc-ntccl  to  the  I-'oreij^n  f  office  a  new  and 
more  definite  memoranchnn  from  his  j^overnment  against  land- 
grabbing  in  China,  may  see  in  this  some  confirmation  of  the  general 
opinion  here  that  Germany  inclines  to  take  a  friendly  attitude 
toward  the  American  view." 

It  was  from  Prince  Herbert  liismarck,  son  of  the  Iron  Chan- 
cellor, that  the  present  writer  learned  how  highly  Dr.  White  had 
been  regarded  by  his  father.  Prince  Herbert  IJismarck  stated  to 
me  that  not  since  the  days  of  Motley  had  there  been  an  American 
held  in  such  high  esteem  by  the  man  of  blood  and  iron,  as  had 
Dr.  White.  At  a  later  date,  when  the  Ambassador  had  published 
an  article  on  Bismarck  (I  think  in  the  Century  Magazine),  a  some- 
what bitter  controversy  arose  in  one  of  the  Hamburg  papers,  in  the 
course  of  which,  some  of  Dr.  White's  statements  with  regard  to 
his  relations  to  Bismarck  were  challenged.  I  took  occasion  to 
send  him  the  original  text  of  the  article  in  the  Hamburg  paper  to 
Italy  where  he  then  was,  and  received  the  following  reply  from 
him: 

"Arriving  in  Alassio,  I  find  your  kind  letter  of  Xovember  13th. 
[1903,]  and  for  the  first  time  see  the  original  text  of  the  article  in 
the  Hamburger  Nachrichten. 

"I,  of  course,  do  not  wish  to  enter  into  a  question  of  veracity 
with  one  who  writes  in  the  spirit  shown  in  this  article,  but  I  may 
say  to  you,  personally,  that,  apart  possibly  from  the  one  trifling 
detail,  every  statement  made  in  my  Bismarck  article  is  exact  in 
every  particular. 

"The  only  possibility  of  mistake  is  as  to  the  exact 'date  of  my 
first  sight  of  Bismarck.  My  article  was  written  at  Berlin,  my  diaries 
being  in  America,  where  they  are  now.  and  there  is  a  bare  possi- 
bility that  my  memory  may  have  deceived  me  as  to  the  date,  though 
I  still  think  that  it  must  have  been  in  1868. 

"It  is  also  barely  possible  that  upon  seeing  Bismarck  and  his 
family  at  that  time  in  south  middle  Germany,  I  may  have  jumped 
hastily  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  coming  from  Kissingen. 
But  apart  from  those  two  unimportant  details  every  other  state- 
ment is  exactly  and  literally  conformed  to  the  truth. 

"I  beg  you  as  a  friend  not  to  bring  me  into  any  controvers}' 
on  the  matter ;  I  have  no  time  nor  taste  for  it.  When  the  articles 
are  gathered  in  book  form.  I  shall  have  given  them  careful  revision, 
and  should  I  find  any  mistake  anywhere  it  shall  be  rectified." 

j\Ir.  White's  Bismarck  letter  also  brings  to  mind  the  verv  inter- 
esting conversation  I  had  with  the  Ambassador  after  I  had  shown 


136  THE  OPEN    COLKT. 

him  a  very  illuminating  letter  which  1  had  received  from  the  ^reat 
historian  of  ancient  Rome,  Thcodor  Mommsen.  It  may  still  be 
recalled  that  during  the  Spanish-American  War,  iNIommsen,  although 
previously  always  most  friendly  to  the  United  States,  revealed  an 
antagonism  to  our  country  not  unlike  that  shown  in  the  great  war 
just  over,  by  certain  prominent  German  professors.  Mr.  White, 
after  reading  Mommsen's  letter  then  told  me  with  much  satisfaction, 
how  during  the  Spanish-American  War  he  had  induced  Mommsen 
not  to  publish  a  highly  sensational  article  in  an  English  magazine, 
in  which  the  historian  charged  that  the  United  States  had  become 
"a  robber  power,  a  piratical  power,  and  that  by  pouring  her  incom- 
parable resources  into  military  designs  she  might  menace  the  world's 
quiet,  and  might  like  Rome  carry  forays  into  ever)'  continent." 

I  may  say  that  I  was  not  in  Berlin  during  the  Spanish-American 
War,  but  in  1902,  when  Cuba  became  free  and  independent,  I  wrote 
Mommsen  as  follows :  "The  enclosed  clipping  will  show  you  that 
the  sceptical  predictions  of  the  German  press  that  the  United 
States  would  not  grant  independence  to  Cuba  has  been  proved  false 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Cuban  Republic."  Mommsen's  letter 
in  reply,  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  written  in  excellent 
English,  contained  the  following: 

"Do  you  know  what  the  Germans  call  a  Hans  in  alien  Eckcn? 
I  should  certainly  get  in  this  not  very  flattering  predicament  if  I 
dared  to  sit  in  judgment  between  the  United  States  and  Cuba. 
Still  I  do  not  hesitate  to  give  my  private  opinion.  The  actual 
.American  imperialism,  utilizing  the  lesson  of  the  South-African 
War,  allows  to  Cuba  full  self-government,  reserving  political  su- 
premacy to  America.  This  certainly  will  be  the  substance  of  the 
paramount  treaty  between  Cuba  and  the  United  States.  This  final 
decision  may  be  very  wise,  and  on  the  whole,  the  new  form  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  will  raise.  I  should  think,  no  opposition  in 
Germany,  but  I  cannot  find  it  so  extraordinarily  generous  as  you 
seem  to  think." 

I  recall  that  Mr.  White,  while  .\mbassador  in  Berlin,  gave  a 
dinner  in  honor  of  his  friend  the  late  Frederick  W.  IIoUs  of  New 
"S'ork.  who  with  him  had  been  one  of  the  American  delegates  to  the 
International  Peace  Conference  at  the  Hague  in  1899.  A  reference 
to  Dr.  Holls  in  this  article  has  a  certain  interest  at  the  present  time, 
for  Mr.  White  can  be  quoted  as  authority  for  the  statement  that 
wliile  both  Chancellor  von  Hohenlohe  and  his  Foreign  Secretary, 
then  Count  von  Biilow,  had  assured  Mr.  llolls  while  on  a  visit  to 
T'.crlin,  that  Germany  at  the  Hague  conference  would  support  the 


ANDREW  DICKSON    WTIITIC   AS   I    KXEW    III.M.  137 

suggestion  of  the  United  States  for  arbitration  treaties,  it  was  the 
Kaiser  who  finally  prevented  the  acceptance  of  the  far-reaching  plan, 
which  might  possibly  have  prevented  the  world  war. 

The  saddest  day  for  tlie  American  colony  in  I'erlin  came  in 
1902  when  it  was  informed  that  Dr.  White  would  retire  from  his 
ambassadorial  post  on  his  seventieth  birthday.  Americans  then 
living  in  the  German  capital  felt  that  soon  they  would  lose  their 
best  friend,  and  this  sentiment  was  well  expressed  by  the  late  Sena- 
tor John  L.  Mitchell  of  Wisconsin  when  he  wrote  me  in  1903: 
"Air.  Vvhite  must  be  greatly  missed  by  Americans  in  Berlin...., 
so  gentle,  kind,  and  helpful  in  every  way."  The  friendly  interest 
of  Americans  in  Mr.  White  was  admirably  expressed  by  President 
Roosevelt  when  he  wrote  Mr.  White  on  his  seventieth  birthday: 
"The  best  is  yet  to  be  and  certainly,  if  world-fame,  troops  of  friends, 
a  consciousness  of  well-spent  years,  and  a  great  career  filled  with 
righteous  achievement  are  constituents  of  happiness,  you  have  every- 
thing the  heart  could  wish." 

Many  former  American  university  and  musical  students  can 
still  testify  to  the  personal  interest  which  Mr.  White  took  in  them 
while  they  were  in  Berlin.  Indeed  he  always  said  that  he  considered 
it  a  pleasure  and  honor  to  render  them  service.  Especially  American 
women  students  were  greatly  indebted  to  him,  for  it  was  chiefly 
through  Mr.  White's  efforts  that  the  doors  of  the  Berlin  and  other 
German  universities  were  finally  opened  to  American  womanhood. 

Mr.  White  was  formerly  a  great  admirer  of  the  German  uni- 
versities and  especially  of  the  Berlin  University,  and  it  was  there- 
fore of  special  interest  to  me  that  he  wrote  in  a  letter  which  was 
read  at  the  Alumni  dinner  of  Cornell  students  in  New  York.  Xo- 
vember  29,  1916:  "Stronger  and  stronger  becomes  my  belief  that 
the  American  universities  are  now  to  take  the  lead  in  the  advanced 
education  of  the  world,  and  that  the  American  people  will  recognize 
this  fact,  and  stand  back  of  these  institutions  in  the  epoch-making 
days  now  at  hand." 

After  his  retirement  from  his  post,  in  several  messages  Mr. 
White  gave  me  further  proofs  of  his  interest  and  good  will,  and  I 
recall  with  pleasure  his  interesting  letter  in  1909,  when  I  ser\'ed 
the  American  Government  in  an  official  capacity  in  Bohemia.  On  a 
visit  to  Prague,  after  I  had  written  Dr.  White  of  this  intensely 
interesting  city,  he  answered  that  he  would  have  been  much  pleased 
to  again  have  visited  the  "Hradschin,"  the  castle  where  the  Bohe- 
mian kings  once  lived,  and  especially  the  "Landstube,"  that  part 
of  the  old  "Burg"  where  the  famous  "defenestration"  took  place. 


138  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

when  the  two  imperial  Austrian  commissioners  Martinitz  and  Sla- 
vata.  by  an  angry  crowd  were  thrown  from  a  high  window  and  had 
a  very  narrow  escape  from  death.  The  aforesaid  reference  made 
by  Dr.  \\'hite  to  an  incident  in  Bohemian  history,  which,  ushering 
in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  led  to  the  destruction  of  Bohemian  inde- 
pendence, is  of  particular  interest  just  now  when  Prague  is  again 
the  center  of  attention  through  the  establishment  of  the  Czecho- 
slovak Republic. 

In  1910  when  I  went  to  Catania.  Sicily,  and  while  on  a  beautiful 
Thanksgiving  day  I  sojourned  in  Syracuse,  I  was  reminded  of  the 
introduction  which  Von  Moltke  gave  to  Dr.  White  when  he  pre- 
sented him  to  the  German  Empress :  "Mr.  White  was  born  in  Homer, 
he  lived  in  Syracuse,  and  he  was  once  President  in  Ithaca."  In 
the  last  named  American  city  is  Cornell  University,  and  this  famous 
institution,  and  a  fine  statue  of  Dr.  \\'hite  now  standing  before 
Goldwin  Smith  Hall,  dedicated  in  his  presence  in  1915,  are  em- 
bodiments of  his  work  and  of  his  personal  appearance.  In  his 
autobiography  Dr.  White  states,  that  not  in  a  boastful  spirit,  but 
reverently  he  had  recorded  his  achievements  in  the  line  of  educa- 
tion, literature,  science,  politics,  and  diplomacy,  and  that  he  had 
sought  to  fight  the  good  fight  and  keep  the  faith.  What  some  of 
these  achievements  were  while  Dr.  White  was  American  Ambassa- 
dor in  Berlin.  I  have  in  a  small  way  attempted  to  tell  in  this  article. 


BOLSHEMSM  AXD  THE  LA\\'S  OF  PROPERTY. 

y.\    HOMER    1I()^■T. 

'"T^ITK  Russian  revolution  was  a  lesson  in  the  anatomy  of  nations. 
i  The  slender  nerve  filaments  that  control  the  huge  corporate 
bodies  of  material  wealth  and  the  institutions  of  Church  and  State 
were  laid  open  before  the  eyes  of  the  world.  This  dissection  taught 
us  not  only  that  nations  possess  a  central  nervous  system,  but  that 
a  shock  to  a  vital  part  of  this  nervous  system  will  cause  the  dis- 
integration and  paralysis  of  a  mighty  empire.  Chief  among  these 
vital  points  is  the  system  of  distributing  wealth,  or  rather  the  laws 
of  ]>roperty  and  contract  which  control  the  distribution  of  that 
wealth.  Recent  events  in  Russia  have  demonstrated  that  a  sudden 
shock  to  the  laws  of  property  may  shatter  the  structure  of  credit 
which  rests  on  the  foundation  of  stability  in  property  values,  that 
it  may  deaden  the  nerves  of  ])usincss  enterprise,  kill  the  specializa- 


BOLSTIEVISM  AND  THK  LAWS  OF  I'ROl'KKTY.  139 

tion,  interdependence  and  large-scale  production  which  absolutely 
rely  on  mutual  confidence,  stop  the  wheels  of  transportation,  and 
carry  the  entire  nation  centuries  backward  to  the  crudities  of  medi- 
eval barter.  Business  men  will  not  venture  on  unknown  seas 
without  chart  or  compass;  the  spirit  of  industry  dies  when  the 
terror"  of  plunder,  pillage,  and  violence  runs  riot  through  the  land. 
As  industry  languishes,  and  respect  for  the  laws  of  property  dis- 
appears, the  demoralization  is  communicated  to  other  stable  in- 
stitutions like  marriage  and  religion,  and  they  go  down  before  the 
savage  onrush  of  the  primitive  instincts  that  seek  a  long-denied 
gratification.  Idleness,  profligacy,  and  the  gamljling  spirit  attack 
the  soul  of  a  nation  like  a  dry  rot ;  world  contacts  established  by 
peaceful  intercourse  are  broken ;  and  the  fine  gold  of  civilization, 
accumulated  by  centuries  of  careful  saving,  is  dissipated  in  a  wild 
orgy  of  revolution. 

The  very  masses  of  the  people  who  hoped  to  gain  from  the 
disturbance  they  created,  lose  their  employment,  their  small  capital, 
their  peace  of  mind,  their  liberties,  and  their  health  ;  as  industries 
close  their  doors,  as  the  fountain  of  justice  becomes  polluted,  and 
as  disease,  unrestrained  by  the  enforcement  of  hygienic  regulations, 
stalks  abroad  through  city  and  country.  The  people  who  pull  down 
the  temple  of  property,  perish  like  Samson,  under  the  falling  col- 
umns. 

This  dismal  picture  doss  not  present  a  moral  for  the  United 
States — at  least  not  yet.  The  laws  of  private  property  can- 
not be  overturned  suddenly  by  a  fiat  of  either  people^  or  State, 
unless  the  ground  has  been  prepared.  As  long  as  the  masses  of 
the  people  benefit  from  the  continuance  of  the  existing  order  or  as 
long  as  the  masses  have  not  much  to  gain  from  an  equal  division 
of  the  country's  resources,  business  men  and  lawyers  can  safely 
boast  of  the  unvarying  stability  of  the  laws  of  property.  But  if  the 
disparity  should  ever  become  sufficiently  great,  the  ground  underneath 
our  feet  will  begin  to  tremble  and  the  distant  roar  of  the  coming  del- 
uge will  be  heard.  If  the  concentration  of  wealth  under  the  legiti- 
mate ruks  of  the  game  should  proceed  to  the  point  where  a  few 
toil  little  and  enjoy  disproportionately  much  and  where  the  many 
work  long  and  receive  disproportionately  little,  then  there  will  come 
into  existence  a  reason  for  revolution.  Then  the  seeds  of  Bolshevism 
and  the  I.  W.  W.  will  be  carried  over  the  land  with  the  speed  of 
the  whirlwind  and  their  crop  will  come  soon  and  it  will  be  bitter. 
The  breaking-point  is  finally  reached  in  every  case  of  growing  con- 


140  THE  OPIiN   COURT. 

ceiilration  of  wealth.  It  was  reached  in  France  in  1789;  it  was 
reached  in  Russia  in   1'^/. 

Ahhough  the  menace  to  us  is  yet  far  distant,  it  behooves  us  to 
take  warning  and  to  reheve  the  growing  pressure  by  reversing  the 
tendency  toward  concentration.  The  gradual  restrictions  on  in- 
heritances, the  guarantee  of  better  living  conditions  to  labor,  shorter 
hours  and  higher  pay  will  not  register  any  violent  effect  on  our 
economic  or  social  system.  Such  reforms  will  also  probably  pre- 
vent the  gradual  emergence  of  two  poles — one  the  pole  of  concen- 
tration of  wealth  and  the  other  the  pole  of  poverty — that  finally 
causes  the  electric  shock  of  revolution. 

Since  the  forces  that  affect  the  lives  of  nations  traverse  cen- 
turies in  their  course,  wise  statesmen  who  have  the  enduring  stability 
of  our  country  at  heart  must  be  unusually  alert  to  detect  the  first 
germs  of  the  peril  that  may  threaten  America  in  the  far  distant 
future.  The  adjustment  of  our  legal  balance  wheel  so  that  it  will 
maintain  the  proper  equilibrium  between  labor  and  capital,  will 
prevent  the  formation  of  a  social  environment  that  is  favorable  to 
Bolshevism. 


AMERICAN   IDEALS   AS   APPLIED   TO   CHINA.^ 

r.V  GILBERT  REII). 

AMERICAN  ideals  are  higher  than  mere  opinions,  which  too 
.  often  are  a  distorted  shaping  of  the  prejudices  of  passion. 
Our  ideals  in  these  days  of  world  war  and  world  catastrophe  have 
been  voiced  by  the  Chief  Executive  of  our  nation.  Probably  the 
clearest  expression  of  these  ideals  was  contained  in  the  President's 
address  of  September  27  of  last  year  in  Xew  York  City.  This 
address  ins])ircd  hoj^e  in  all  who  wish  well  for  humanity.  It  en- 
couraged the  sentinicMits  of  peace  in  the  three  enemy  countries.  It 
has  been  spoken  of  as  a  Magna  Charta  for  the  world. 

As  with  all  of  President  Wilson's  pronouncements  there  are 
apparently  mutually  contradictory  statements  representing  two  sides 
to  all  theorizing.  Only  one  who  has  been  nourished  in  strict  Cal- 
vinism and  knows  how  to  harmonize  the  freedom  of  the  human 
will  with  God's  sovereignty,  is  capable  of  harmonizing  all  of  Presi- 

1  We  are  privileged  to  publish  this  article  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Gilbert 
Rcirl,  of  tlic  International  Institute  of  Cliina,  who  only  recently  returned  from 
.SliauKhai. — Ed. 


AMERICy\N   IDEALS  AS  API'MRD  TO  CHI.VA.  141 

dent  Wilson's  utterances,  even  those  of  September  27.  Some  pug- 
nacious individuals  quote  only  the  part  about  the  villainous  char- 
acter of  the  governments  of  the  Central  Empires.  Others,  more 
charitable,  dwell  on  the  princii)les  of  universal  application,  assur- 
ing a  League  of  Nations.  If  difficulty  of  harmonizing  ideas  exists 
it  is  because  of  difficulty  of  applying  general  principles  to  enemy 
governments. 

There  should  be  no  difficulty  in  applying  these  general  and 
good  principles  to  an  associate  in  war  so  friendly  as  China,  whose 
entrance  into  the  war  was  induced  Ijy  representatives  of  our  own 
government.  This  application  may  be  an  interesting  topic  for  dis- 
cussion, as  well  as  informing  to  not  a  few  of  the  noble  adherents 
of  the  League  of  Nations. 

I.  "Shall  the  military  power  of  any  nation  or  group  of  nations 
be  suffered  to  determine  the  fortunes  of  peoples  over  whom  they 
have  no  right  to  rule  except  the  right  of  force?" 

In  1900.  after  the  barbarism  and  atrocities  of  the  Boxer  up- 
rising, all  foreign  powers  proceeded  to  take  the  Chinese  monarch- 
ical government  in  hand,  and  in  a  military  way  to  occupy  Peking 
and  all  adjoining  towns.  These  powers,  all  of  them-  proceeded  to 
dictate  a  humiliating  peace,  though  at  that  time  they  insisted  on 
plenipotentiaries  from  the  old  empress  dowager,  the  guilty  head 
of  a  sinning  government.     But  all  this  was  eighteen  years  ago. 

'Since  1914  the  fortunes  of  the  Chinese  people,  as  also  the 
present  military  autocracy  of  Peking  and  all  north  China,  have 
been  gradually  and  imperceptibly  determined  by  the  military  power 
of  Japan,  or,  if  this  be  too  prejudiced  a  view,  by  the  military  power 
of  the  Entente  group  of  nations,  with  whom  the  United  States  has 
associated  herself. 

The  question  therefore  arises :  Can  China  at  the  close  of  this 
war  free  herself  from  military  or  political  power  assumed  through 
favorable  opportunities  by  "any  nation  or  group  of  nations"  during 
these  last  four  years?  On  the  principle  just  cited,  no  outside  nation 
has  the  "right  to  rule"  in  any  part  of  China,  whether  ^Manchuria, 
Shantung,  the  Yang-tze  valley,  or  any  other  part,  or  to  attempt 
that  rule,  that  dictation,  that  extraterritoriality,  by  the  so-called 
"right  of  force." 

Is  China  to  be  set  free? 

2.  "Shall  strong  nations  be  free  to  wrong  weak  nations  and 
make  them  subject  to  their  purpose  and  interest?" 

Suppose  we  trace  the  wrong  done  to  China  from  the  year 
1871 — the  year  Alsace-Lorraine  was  made  a  conquest  to   Prussia 


142  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

and.  in  part  at  least,  restored  to  German  rule — what  a  record  we 
would  have.  Tongking  taken  by  France  from  the  suzerainty  of 
China  in  1883 :  Formosa  and  Liaotung  in  Manchuria  taken  by 
Japan  in  1895  "through  conquest  of  military  power":  Kiaochow 
leased  by  China  to  dcnnany  in  1898  (afterward  occupied  by  Japan)  ; 
Port  Arthur  and  Dalny  leased  to  Russia  (afterward  occupied  by 
Japan)  ;  K wan-chow-wan  leased  to  France,  and  Weihaiwei  and 
Kowloon  leased  to  Great  Britain,  all  in  the  same  year,  and  all  in- 
stigating the  Boxer  fanaticism  of  1900;  and  the  Legation  area  of 
Peking  arranged  as  a  fortress  in  1901.  the  recompense  for  Chinese 
outrages. 

All  this  wrong  is  merely  in  territory.  Other  and  perhaps 
deeper  wrongs  are  in  the  general  treatment  which  China  has  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  "strong  nations,"  especially  since  this  war 
of  Europe  was  thrust  into  China  just  struggling  into  a  republic. 
Take  the  renewal  of  opium  trade  through  the  British  Opium  Com- 
bine. Take  the  introduction  of  morphine  into  Manchuria  and  Shan- 
tung by  the  Japanese.  Take  the  twenty-one  demands  of  Japan — 
and  the  insulting  ultimatum  that  went  with  them.  Take  the  various 
forms  of  dictation,  generally  denominated  "friendly  advice."  which 
the  Chinese  government  has  received  week  after  week  for  the  last 
year  or  more,  since  China  was  persuaded  to  imitate  the  United 
States  in  severing  relations  with  the  Imperial  German  government. 
Take  the  secret  compacts  connected  with  Japan's  request  for  Chi- 
nese cooperation  in  intervention  in  Siberia.  Take  all  the  secret 
negotiations  by  loan-mongers  of  more  than  one  nation,  which  have 
loaded  China  with  burdens  grievous  to  be  borne.  These  are  so  many 
hints  as  to  the  way  "strong  nations"  are  trying  to  "subject"  China 
"to  their  purpose  and  interest." 

At  the  peace  conference  shall  China,  one  of  our  associates 
in  war,  be  freed  from  the  domination  of  superior  force? 

3.  "Shall  peoples  be  ruled  and  dominated  even  in  their  own 
internal  aflfairs  by  arbitrary  and  irresponsible  force  or  by  their  own 
will  and  choice?" 

This  may  be  taken  to  mean  not  arbitrary  use  of  force  by  for- 
eign powers  in  China,  but  the  "arbitrary  and  irresponsible  force" 
of  the  present  recognized  government  in  Peking.  That  government, 
since  July,  1917,  has  been  "arbitrary  and  irresponible."  "Military 
power"  dissolved  Parliament,  and  overthrew  President  Li  Yuan- 
hung.  p:vcn  war  on  the  two  Central  Empires  was  declared  without 
sanction  of  any  legislative  body.  The  legal,  constitutional  govern- 
ment of  tlie  rci)ul)lic  has  been  asseml)lcd  in  Canton.     It  consists  of 


AMERICAN    ll)i:Ar.S  AS   AI'l'I.IKI)  TO  CHIXA.  143 

progressive  men  from  every  province  of  China.  The  distinguished 
statesman,  Dr.  Wu  Ting-fang,  has  api)ealcd  to  the  ICntente  Allies 
and  the  United  States  for  recognition,  but  the  appeal  is  other  than 
that  of  the  Czecho-Slovaks,  the  Russians,  or  the  Poles. 

Will,  the  peace  conference  he!])  to  set  China  free  from  her  own 
arbitrary  rule? 

4.  "The  impartial  justice  meted  out  must  invoKe  no  discrimi- 
nation between  those  to  whom  we  wish  to  be  just  and  those  to 
whom  we  do  not  wish  to  Ijc  just.  It  must  be  a  justice  that  plays 
no  favorites  and  knows  no  standard  but  the  ecjual  rights  of  the 
several  peoples  concerned." 

This  dictum  applies  to  both  sides  of  this  great  war.  It  is  a 
warning  to  the  concjueror ;  it  is  good-cheer,  based  on  fair  play,  to 
those  who  surrender. 

Suppose  we  apply  it  to  China  and  to  affairs  of  these  nations 
in  China,  what  happens?  Will  Germans  be  again  accorded  "equal 
opportunity  of  trade  and  industry,"  already  vouchsafed  by  Japan 
in  agreement  with  Great  Britain,  Russia,  France,  and  the  United 
States,  or  shall  German  trade  be  destroyed?  Shall  German  con- 
cessions in  railways  and  mines  be  restored  to  Germans  or  be 
allowed  the  Japanese?  Shall  the  beautiful  port  of  Tsingtao  be 
held  by  the  Japanese,  be  handed  over  to  China,  or  be  returned  to 
Germany,  if  China  herself  so  permits?  Is  there  to  be  discrimina- 
tion against  Germans  after  the  war,  even  as  there  has  been  during 
the  war,  and  this  not  so  much  by  Chinese  as  by  Germany's  enemies 
in  China? 

As  to  China,  in  comparison  with  her  great  rival.  Japan,  is 
American  sympathy  to  go  out  to  the  latter  more  than  to  the  former, 
even  in  matters  pertaining  to  China?  Shall  our  State  Department 
make  arrangements  with  China  about  "special  interests"  in  China, 
or  with  Japan?  Ought  China  to  be  given  at  the  peace  conference  an 
equally  high  seat  with  Japan,  and  will  China's  rights  be  determined 
by  the  common  action  of  all? 

5.  "Xo  special  or  separate  interest  of  any  single  nation  or  any 
group  of  nations  can  be  made  the  basis  of  any  part  of  the  settle- 
ment which  is  not  consistent  with  the  common  interest  of  all." 

Shall  Japan  be  this  "single  nation"  with  "special"  interests  in 
China?  Shall  Great  Britain,  France,' Belgium,  Italy.  Japan,  and  the 
United  States,  together  form  a  powerful  group  to  direct,  reform, 
or  rejuvenate  China,  or  shall  all  powers  take  a  hand,  whether 
China  wants  such  aid  or  not?  Shall  the  benevolent  moulding  of 
China  be  even  left  to  the  great  Anglo-American  combination?   \\'ill 


144  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

it  after  all  be  possible  for  us  to  see  in  China  the  fruition  of  "the 
common  interest  of  all"? 

6.  "There  can  be  no  special  selfish  economic  combinations 
within  the  leajjue  and  no  employment  of  any  form  of  economic 
boycott  or  exclusion." 

Will  British  or  Japanese  merchants  in  China  give  support  to 
this  principle?    The  law  is  good;  will  victors  sustain  the  law? 

7.  ".Ml  international  agreements  and  treaties  of  every  kind 
must  be  made  known  in  their  entirety  to  the  rest  of  the  world." 

.Another  good  principle,  but  can  even  a  League  of  Nations 
guarantee  its  observance?  Are  "the  two  Central  Powers"  the  only 
offenders?  If  the  rule,  an  eminently  sound  one.  is  to  be  applied 
to  the  Far  East,  by  what  pressure  can  Japan  and  the  present  mili- 
tary government  in  Peking  be  brought  to  publish  their  varied  agree- 
ments since  China  declared  war  on  Germany  and  .\ustria-Hungary? 
Is  the  baneful  element  of  secrecy  to  be  limited  to  "treaties,"  or  shall 
it  also  be  forbidden  to  all  contracts  in  which  diplomats  concern 
themselves?     What  of  secret  "conversations"? 

8.  "Special  alliances  and  economic  rivalries  and  hostilities  hare 
been  the  prolific  source  in  the  modern  world  of  the  plans  and  pas- 
sions that  produce  war.  It  would  be  an  insincere  as  ivell  as  an 
insecure  peace  that  did  not  exclude  them  in  definite  and  binding 
terms." 

Write  this  in  letters  of  gold.  No  alliance,  no  allies.  President 
Wilson  has  consistently  refrained  from  saying,  "our  Allies." 

It  was  economic  rivalry  that  brought  the  war  on  to  Chinese 
soil.     Can  it  be  expugned  at  the  peace  conference? 

In  maintaining  these  high  ideals,  as  well  as  others.  President 
Wilson  finds  the  task  a  hard  one  just  as  much  with  his  own  country- 
men and  the  strong  Allied  nations,  as  with  the  two  Central  Em- 
pires. 

It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  people  of  China  are  with  our 
President  in  every  one  of  these  ideal  principles.  Will  he  be  able 
to  rccij)rocate  and  help  China  in  the  face  of  opposition  from  "any 
single  nation  or  any  group  of  nations"? 

Well-wishers  of  China  as  well  as  the  Chinese  people  are  look- 
ing to  President  Wilson  to  guide  the  nations  and  peoples  on  all  the 
continents  to  a  sincere  and  secure  peace  such  as  this  that  is  planned 
on  the  basis  of  true  righteousness. 


BYZANTIUM.  145 


BYZANTIUM. 

AN  HISTORICAL  POEM. 

ROLL  on,  thou  Bosphorus,  in  wrath  or  play, 
Roused  by  the  storm  or  gilded  by  the  ray; 
With  thy  blue  billows,  to  the  boundless  sea, 
Roll  on,  like  Time,  into  Eternity. 
Thy  empire  naught  shall  change — upon  thy  breast 
Guilt  hath  no  record,  tyranny  no  rest. 
Roll  on,  the  rock-built  city  shall  decay. 
Men  sleep  in  death  and  kingdoms  pass  away, 
But  thou  unbowed  shalt  steal  like  music  by, 
Or  lift  thy  Titan  head  and  dare  the  sky. 

Alas  for  proud  Byzantium!  on  her  head 

The  fire  may  smoulder  and  the  foe  may  tread, 

Yet  with  heroic  look  and  lovely  form 

She  mocks  the  deep,  unconscious  of  the  storm. 

Her  footstool  is  the  shore,  which  hears  the  moan 

Of  dying  waves — the  mountain  is  her  throne. 

Her  princely  minarets,  whose  spires  on  high 

Gleam  with  their  crescent  in  the  cloudless  sky ; 

Her  temples  bathed  with  all  the  pomp  of  day ; 

Her  domes  that  backward  flash  the  living  ray ; 

Her  cool  kiosks  'round  which  from  granite  white 

High  sparkling  fountains  catch  a  rainbow  light, 

And  the  dark  cypress,  sombre  and  o'ercast. 

Which  speaks  the  sleep  the  longest  and  the  last, — 

Each  scene  around  the  haughty  city  throws 

A  mingled  charm  of  action  and  repose ; 

Each  feature  breathes  of  glory  wrapt  in  gloom — 

The  feast,  the  shroud,  the  palace,  and  the  tomb! 

Yet  thou  art  fair,  and  still  my  soul  surveys 

A  vision  of  delight,  and  still  I  gaze. 

Proud  city,  on  the  last,  when  first  the  beam 

Slept  on  thy  temples  in  its  midday  dream. 

Methinks  the  genius  of  thy  fatherland 

Raised  his  gray  head  and  clenched  his  withered  hand, 


146  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Exulting  in  a  parent's  pride  to  see 

Did  Rome,  without  her  gods,  revived  in  thee. 

I'^air  Queen,  unlike  thy  proud  and  high  compeers, 

Thou  wert  not  cradled  in  the  lap  of  years, 

But  like  celestial  Pallas,  hymned  of  old, 

Thy  sovereign  form,  inviolate  and  bold, 

Sprang  to  the  zenith  of  its  prime. 

And  took  no  favors  from  the  hand  of  Time. 

( )li.  every  glorious  gift  of  every  zone 

Was  flung  before  thee  on  thy  virgin  throne. 

Xo  breeze  could  blow  but  from  thy  yielding  slaves 

Some  handmaid  ship  came  riding  o'er  the  waves ; 

The  costly  treasures  of  the  marble  isle, 

The  spice  of  Ind.  the  riches  of  the  Nile, 

The  stores  of  earth,  like  streams  that  seek  the  sea, 

Poured  out  the  tribute  of  their  wealth  to  thee. 

How  proud  was  thy  dominion !     States  and  kings 

Slept  'neath  the  shadow  of  thine  outstretched  wings, 

And  to  the  mortal  eye  how  more  than  fair 

Were  thy  peculiar  charms,  which  boasted  there 

Xo  proud  Pantheon,  flaming  in  the  sun. 

To  claim  for  many  gods  the  meed  of  One, 

Xo  scene  of  tranquil  grove  and  babbling  stream 

For  vain  philosophy  to  muse  and  dream, 

Till  reason  shows  a  maze  without  a  clue. 

And  truth  seems  false  and  falsehood's  self  seems  true. 

Oh  no !  upon  thy  temples  gladly  bright 

The  truth  revealed  shed  down  its  living  light ; 

Thine  was  no  champion  badge  of  pagan  shame, 

P>ut  that  best  gift,  the  cross  of  Him  who  came 

To  lift  the  guilty  spirit  from  the  sod, 

To  i)oint  from  earth  to  Heaven — from  man  to  God! 

Alas,  that  peace  so  gentle,  hope  so  fair, 

Should  make  but  strife  and  herald  but  despair. 

Oh  thine,  P>yzantium.  thine  were  bitter  tears, 

A  couch  of  fever  and  a  throne  of  fears, 

When  Passion  drugged  the  bowl  and  flashed  the  steel, 

When  Murder  followed  in  the  track  of  Zeal, 

When  that  Religion,  born  to  guide  and  bless, 

Itself  became  perverse  and  merciless, 


I'.YZANTIUM. 

And  factions  of  the  circus  and  the  shrine, 

And  lords  like  slaves  and  slaves  like  lords  were  thine. 

Then  did  thy  empire  sink  in  slow  decay ; 

Then  were  its  stately  branches  torn  away ; 

And  thou,  exposed  and  stripped,  were  left  instead 

To  bear  the  lightnings  on  thy  naked  head. 

Yet  wert  thou  noble — still  in  vain,  in  vain. 
The  Vandal  strgve,  he  could  not  break  the  chain ; 
The  bold  Bulgarian  cursed  thee  as  he  bled ; 
The  Persian  trembled  and  the  pirate  fled ; 
Twice  did  the  baffled  Arab  onward  press 
To  drink  thy  tears  of  danger  and  distress ; 
Twice  did  the  fiery  Frank  usurp  thy  halls, 
And  twice  the  Grecian  drove  him  from  thy  walls ; 
And  when  at  last  up-sprang  thy  Tartar  foe, 
With  fire  and  sword  more  dread  than  Dandolo, 
Vain  was  the  task,  the  triumph  was  not  won 
Till  fraud  achieved  what  treason  had  begun. 

But  in  that  fierce  distress,  and  at  thy  cry. 

Did  none  assist  thee,  and  did  none  reply? 

No,  kings  were  deaf,  and  pontiffs  in  their  pride, 

Like  Levites  gazed,  and  like  them  turned  aside  ; 

While  infidels  within  Sophia's  shrine 

Profaned  the  cup  that  held  the  sacred  wine, 

And  worse  than  base  idolators  of  old. 

Proclaimed  that  Prophet-chief  whose  books  unfold 

The  deadliest  faith  that  ever  framed  a  spell 

To  make  of  Heaven  an  Earth — of  Earth  a  Hell ! 

Yet  stood  there  one,  erect  in  might  and  mind. 

Before  whom  groaned  despair  and  death  behind. 

Oh,  thou  last  Caesar,  greater  midst  thy  tears 

Than  all  thy  laureled  and  renowned  compeers ! 

I  see  thee  yet — I  see  thee  kneeling  where 

The  Patriarch  lifts  the  cup  and  breathes  the  prayer; 

Now  in  the  tempest  of  the  battle's  strife. 

Where  trumpets  drown  the  shrieks  of  parting  life ; 

Now  with  a  thousand  wounds  upon  thy  breast 

I  see  thee  pillow  thy  calm  head  in  rest, 

And  like  a  glory-circled  martyr  claim 

The  wings  of  death  to  speed  thy  soul  from  shame. 


147 


148  lilE  OPEN   COURT. 

But  thou,  fair  city,  to  the  Turk  bowed  down, 

Didst  lose  the  brightest  jewel  in  thy  crown. 

They  could  not  spoil  thee  of  thy  sky,  thy  sea, 

Thy  mountain  belts  of  strength  and  majesty; 

But  the  bright  Cross,  the  volumes  rescued  long, 

Sank  'neath  the  feet  of  the  barbarian  throng; 

While  rose  the  gorgeous  Harem  in  its  sin, 

So  fair  without,  so  deadly  foul  within — 

That  sepulcher,  in  all  except  repose. 

Where  woman  strikes  the  lute  and  plucks  the  rose, 

Strives  to  be  glad,  but  feels,  despite  the  will, 

The  heart,  the  heart  is  true  to  nature  still. 

Yet  for  a  season  did  the  Moslem's  hand 

Win   for  thy  state  an  aspect  of  command. 

Let  Syria.  Egypt  tell,  let  Persia's  shame, 

Let  haughty  Barbarossa's  deathless  name. 

Let  Buda  speak,  let  Rhodes,  whose  knighted  brave 

Were  weak  to  serve  her,  impotent  to  save. 

Zeal  in  the  rear  and  \'alor  in  the  van 

Spread  far  the  fiats  of  thy  sage  divan, 

Till  stretched  the  scepter  of  thy  sway  awhile 

\'ictorious  from  the  Dnieper  to  the  Nile. 

Brief,  transitory  glory!  foul  the  day, 

Foul  thy  dishonor  when  in  Corinth's  bay 

'Xeath  the  rich  sun  triumphant  \^enice  spread 

Her  lion  banner  as  the  Moslem  fled  ; 

When  proud  X'ienna's  'saulting  troops  were  seen. 

When  Zenta's  laurels  decked  the  brave  Eugene ; 

When  the  great  Shepherd  led  the  Persian  van 

And  Cyrus  lived  again  in  Kouli  Khan  ; 

And  last,  and  most  when  Freedom  spurned  the  yoke. 

And  tyrants  trembled  as  the  Greeks  awoke. 

That  name  shall  be  thy  knell,  the  fostering  smile 
Of  five  bright  summers  on  sweet  Scio's  isle 
Hath  beamed  in  vain.    Oh,  blood  is  on  thy  head! 
The  heartless  living  and  the  tombless  dead 
Invoke  their  just  avengers.     Lo,  they  come! 
The  Mu.scovite  is  up.     Hark,  hark,  the  drum 
Speeds  its  prophetic  summons  on  the  gale! 
Thy  Sultan  trembles  and  thy  sons  turn  pale. 
I'p  for  the  Prophet  I     Concjuer  or  die  free. 


BYZANTIUM.  149 

The  Balkan  make  the  Turks'  Thermopylae. 

Up  for  the  Prophet !     No,  tlie  axe  and  cord 

Suit  Moslem  hands  far  licttcr  than  the  sword. 

Then  bow  your  heads,  your  towers  are  bought  and  sold, 

Prepare  the  parchment,  weigh  the  bribing  gold, 

While   rings  the   welkin   with   the  tale   of   doom, 

And  faction  smiles  al)Ove  her  yawning  tomlj. 

Now  joy  to  Greece,  the  genius  of  her  clime 
Shall  cast  her  gauntlet  at  the  tyrant  Time, 
And  wake  again  the  valor  and  the  fire 
Which  rears  the  trophy  and  attunes  the  lyre. 
Oh,  known  how  early  and  beloved  how  long, 
Ye  sea-girt  isles  of  battle  and  of  song! 
Ye  clustering  isles  that  by  the  ^gean  pressed 
In  sunshine  slumber  on  her  dark  blue  breast ! 
Land  of  the  brave,  athwart  whose  gloomy  night 
Breaks  the  bright  dawn  and  harbinger  of  light, 
May  Glory  now  efface  each  blot  of   shame. 
May  Freedom's  torch  yet  light  thy  path  to  fame ; 
May  Christian  truth,  in  this  thy  sacred  birth. 
Add  strength  to  empire,  give  to  wisdom  worth. 
And  with  the  rich-fraught  hopes  of  coming  years 
Inspire  thy  triumphs  while  it  dries  thy  tears ! 

Yet  joy  to  Greece,  but  e'en  a  brighter  star 

On  Hope's  horizon  sheds  its  light  afar. 

Oh  Stamboul!  thou  who  once  didst  clasp  the  sign. 

What  if  again  Sophia's  holy  shrine 

Should,  deaf  to  creeds  of  sensual  joy  and  strife. 

Reecho  to  the  words  whose  gift  is  life? 

If  down  those  aisles  the  billowy  music's   swell 

Should  pour  the  song  of  Judah,  and  should  tell 

Of  sinners  met  in  penitence  to  kneel, 

And  bless  the  rapture  they  have  learned  to  feel  ? 

Then,  though  thy  fortunes  and  thy  fame  decline, 

Then,  oh !  how  more  than  victory  were  thine ! 

Ah,  dear  Religion,  born  of  Him  who  smiled 
And  prayed  for  pardon  while  the  Jews  reviled. 
No  rose-decked  houris,  with  their  songs  of  glee. 
Strew  the  rich  couch,  no  tyrants  strike   for  thee ; 


150  THE  OPEN    COURT. 

Thy  holier  altar  feeds  its  silent  fire 
With  love,  not  hate,  with  reason,  not  desire. 
Welcome  in  weal  or  woe.  thy  sovereign  might 
Can  temi)er  sorrow  and  enrich  delight. 
Can  gild  with  hope  our  darkest,  gloomiest  hours, 
Or  crown   the  brimming  cup  of  joy   with   flowers. 
Tiiine  is  the  peace-branch,  thine  the  pure  command 
Which  joins  mankind  like  brothers  hand  in  hand. 
And  oh,  'tis  thine  to  purge  each  guilty  stain, 
Wrench  the  loose  links  that  form  this  mortal  chain. 
Whisper  of  realms  untraveled.  paths  untrod, 
And  lead,  like  Jacob's  ladder,  up  to  God! 

Tlic  following  letter  was  received  with  the  foregoing  poem : 
To  the  Editor  of  The  Open  Court: 

During  the  summer  of  the  year  1852.  there  appeared  in  a  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  the  provincial  town  of  York  in  Pennsylvania,  a  poem  of  rare  merit  and 
extraordinary  beauty — an  imitation  of  Byron  at  his  best,  the  manuscript  of 
which  in  its  illiterate  defects  clearly  indicated  that  the  writer  thereof  was  not 
the  author  of  the  poem.  No  trace  of  it  could  be  discovered  among  the  pro- 
ductions of  ancient  or  modern  poets.  Twenty-five  years  thereafter,  the  poem 
again  appeared,  this  time  in  a  New  York  journal  of  high  literary  character, 
accompanied  by  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  who  had  revised  its  first  publication. 
and  who  had  first  mentioned  its  existence  to  the  writer  of  this  letter. — and 
also  by  a  criticism  from  a  distinguished  Princeton  professor,  who  attributed 
it  to  some  Philhellene  who,  inspired  like  Lord  Byron  by  sympathy  for  the 
Greek  in  his  revolt  against  the  Moslem  rule,  had  gone  to  Greece  to  aid  her 
cause — an  Englishman  or  an  American  with  an  English  education.  Sixteen 
years  later  the  poem  reappeared  in  a  magazine — Modern  Culture,  now  extinct, 
— but  as  in  the  other  publications  seems  to  have  attracted  little  or  no  attention, 
though  the  writer  hopes  that  this  does  not  "speak  the  sleep,  the  longest  and 
the  last." 

With  "grim-visaged  war  rearing  its  terrible  front"  on  the  continents  of 
Europe  and  Asia  until  recently,  involving  the  continent  of  America  and  "all 
tlie  world  and  the  rest  of  mankind."  with  Anglican,  Greek,  and  Roman  Catho- 
lic, disciples  of  Luther,  Calvin,  and  Knox,  with  "furious  Frank  and  fiery 
Hun."  aye  Christendom.  Israel,  and  Moslem  in  deadly  conflict,  may  not  the 
beautiful  poem  foreshadow  the  restoration  of  Byzantiimi  and  of  Sophia's 
lioly  shrine,  where 

"The  Patriarch  lifted  the  cup  and  breathed  the  prayer." 

and  of  the  land  where  from  Sinai's  Mount,  Moses  proclaimed  the  oracles  of 
God,  and  the  Son  of  Man  "the  Resurrection  and  the  Life"? 

The  writer  has  ever  had  a  vague  suspicion,  conjecture,  or  surmise  that  the 
author  of  the  poem  was  the  gentleman  who  was  responsible  for  its  first  pub- 
lication.    This  supposition  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  in  the  schoolboy  days 


TFTR  RFJ.ir.ION  OF  ISKAUTY.  151 

of  the  suspect,  in  youthful  debating  societies,  his  favorite  theme  was  classic 
Greece,  her  grand  history,  and  lier  esthetic  mythrjlogy,  and  in  later  years,  the 
writer  heard  him  deliver  an  original  poem  which  bore  the  earmarks  of  the 
same  sympathy  and  train  of  thought  and  expression.  The  reason  for  conceal- 
ment, the  writer  has  failed  to  divine,  for  the  gentleman  was  naturally  proud 
of  his  literary  productions,  and  surely  this  would  have  added  to  his  modest 
fame.  The  writer,  long  and  well  as  he  knew  him,  never  ventured  to  make  the 
accusation  to  him,  but  he  is  sure  that  he  could  have  said  to  him:  "Thou  art 
the  man." 

But  whosoever  may  be  the  author,  the  writer  hopes  that  tlic  poem  may  be 
deemed  worthy  of  republication  in  your  valued  magazine,  inasmuch  as  he 
thinks  that  it  "makes  a  few  remarks  appropriate  to  the  occasion" — the  most 
momentous  crisis  in  the  history  of  tlie  world.         Horatio  Gates  Gibson, 

Brig.  General  U.  S.A. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  BEAUTY. 

BY   F.    W.    FITZPATRTCK. 

THE  eye  is  virtually  the  main  doorway  to  the  mind  and  is  un- 
doubtedly also  one  of  the  most  important  factors,  or  instru- 
ments, or  whatever  you  want  to  call  them,  that  can  be  used  in  the 
process  of  civilizing,  educating,  bettering  the  human  kind,  the  gcnu^ 
homo.     We  have  evidences  of  it  every  day. 

We  just  naturally  crave  for  pleasant  or  pretty  things  to  look 
at,  and  light  is  one  of  them.  It  is  also  one  of  the  greatest  crime- 
preventors  known.  We  are  not  going  to  delve  into  a  lot  of  statis- 
tics, for  this  is  not  a  scientific  treatise  but  just  a  chat  between 
friends.  But  we  do  know  that  nearly  all  crimes  are  "deeds  of 
darkness."  The  philosophy  of  the  thing  has  been  known  for  ages, 
but  only  in  very  recent  years  have  we  had  gumption  enough  to  apply 
what  we  knew.  For  instance,  certain  localities  in  our  larger  cities 
have  for  years  been  renowned  for  their  lawlessness  and  bloody 
deeds  ;  those  were  dark  and  dismal  streets  where  travel  was  most 
unsafe  after  sunset.  Policemen  in  pairs  patrolled  those  beats,  ex- 
pedients galore  were  resorted.to  to  reduce  the  criminality  thereabout, 
but  murders  and  the  like  went  merrily  on  with  but  slight  abatement. 
Then  some  one  had  a  flash  of  intelligence  and  a  few  arc-lights  were 
installed  in  those  streets  and  alleys,  the  ash-  and  the  garbage-man 
cleaned  them  up  with  greater  regularity  and.  presto,  they're  as  safe 
now  for  night  travel  as  is  Broadway  or  the  main  thoroughfare  of 
any  city.  A  bright  light  and  crime  are  not  congenial  bedfellows, 
one  invariably  tumbles  the  other  out. 


152  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

So  with  our  tenements  and  the  humljler  domiciles,  the  wisest 
regulation  any  city  can  introduce  is  that  which  prescribes  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  outdoor  window  surface  for  light  and  air  into 
every  living-  or  sleeping-room.  That  regulation  has  cut  down  crime 
and  disease  amazingly. 

Comparatively  few  men  are  attracted  to  the  corner  barroom 
for  the  actual  drinking  they  can  do  there.  It's  the  companionship, 
sociability,  and.  most  of  all.  the  bright  lights,  the  cheer,  the  sparkle, 
the  pictures,  the  beauty  ( ?)  of  it  all  that  allures.  Provide  those 
features  in  some  other  combination,  without  the  guczUng,  and  you'll 
cut  down  the  bar  attendance  mightily. 

Not  so  many  years  ago  a  manufacturer  would  establish  his 
plant  at  a  convenient  point,  but  that  was  about  all  he  thought  of. 
Kven  if  the  buildings  were  half-way  respectable  the  surroundings 
were  sadly  neglected.  All  around  those  buildings  scrap-heaps  ac- 
cumulated, the  more  unsightly  the  place  became,  the  dirtier,  why. 
the  busier  was  it  supposed  to  be,  the  more  prosperous  its  owner. 
Indeed  the  so-called  hard-headed  business  man  would  have  been 
ashamed  to  make  a  concession  to,  or  expend  any  money  for,  what 
he  termed  "silly  prettiness."  Art  and  Business  couldn't  travel  to- 
gether, the  latter  looked  down  upon  the  former  as  effeminate,  an 
evidence  of  weakness,  something  to  be  scorned.  Then  came  the 
insurance  experts  who  made  at  least  decency  in  factories  profitable. 
They  offered  lowered  premiums  if  those  factories  were  cleaned  up 
a  bit  and  the  refuse  removed.  Not  that  the  insurance  companies 
were  doing  this  in  any  virtuous  or  pro  bono  publico  spirit,  but  siinply 
because  it  would  lessen  the  danger  of  fire  and  their  consequent 
losses.  Followed  then  the  pure-food  "cranks"  who  had  the  author- 
ities step  in  and  insist  that  in  at  least  certain  factories  extreme 
cleanliness  must  be  the  rule.  And,  my.  there  was  a  howl  of  oppo- 
sition ! 

But  after  a  while  it  was  noted  by  the  alert  business  men  that 
in  those  "reformed"  factories  the  operatives  did  better  work,  more 
of  it.  and  seemed  more  cheerful.  So  much  so  that  the  keen  business 
men  l)egan  to  j)ut  one  and  one  together,  and  it  dawned  upon  them 
that  cleanliness,  much  daylight  and  at  least  half-way  decent  sur- 
roundings were  assets  instead  of  msre  expenses,  that  what  had 
been  termed  useless  extravagance  was  actually  producing  a  profit. 
A  few  pioneers  plunged  even  farther,  they  made  their  workshops 
beautiful,  cheerful,  convenient  for  the  workers.  They  actually  added 
frills,  rest-rooms,  pictures,  gardens  with  real  fountains  in  them  and 
behf)ld.    it   all    ])roduccd    big   returns   upon    the   investment.      The 


THE  RELIGION  OF  BEAUTY.  153 

workers  felt  it,  tl-jey  came  better  dressed,  cleaner,  brighter  in  mind 
and  body;  more  self-respecting  and  self-reliant  they  sjjeeded  up  the 
work  and  evidenced  greater  loyalty  to  their  employers.  To-day 
the  man  who  maintains  a  slipshod,  dirty,  unattractive  factory  gen- 
erally has  an  exceedingly  poor  investment  on  hand.  Art  in  Business 
does  pay. 

Why,  in  Cuba  they've  known  that  for  years,  and  in  the  big 
cigar  factories  a  good  reader  is  employed  to  read  interesting  stories 
to  the  workers.     Their  work  is  the  better  for  it. 

A  man  who  puts  a  fresh  coat  of  paint  on  his  house  feels  an 
inch  taller  when  he  goes  down  the  street.  Take  a  hobo  and  wash 
him  up  and  dress  him  in  natty  raiment  and  he'll  act  like  a  gentle- 
man— for  a  while  anyway.  When  he  falls  it  will  be  because  he's 
very  far  gone  in  some  disease  or  other  and  very  weak.  Isn't  drink 
a  disease? 

An  old  school-teacher  was  telling  me  some  time  ago  that  in 
the  old  times  when  he  took  a  village  school  where  the  big  bullies 
had  a  reputation  for  manhandling  every  teacher  who  had  attempted 
to  preside  there,  his  first  move  was  to  whitewash  and  clean  up  that 
schoolroom,  hang  up  a  few  chromos  in  it,  put  a  couple  of  cans  of 
flowers  in  the  window,  and  then  invite  those  bullies  to  help  him 
keep  the  flowers  watered  and  a  certain  daintiness  about.  He  avers 
he  never  had  any  trouble,  and  his  physique  was  not  such  as  to 
inspire  awe,  so  he  attributes  the  reform  to  the  power  of  Art  over 
Matter ! 

The  civic  leagues  and  societies  that  get  after  the  authorities 
to  compel  the  cleaning  up  of  cities  and  who  offer  prizes  and  other 
inducements  for  well-kept  lawns,  attractive  flower-beds,  reformed 
back  yards,  and  the  like,  are  doing  more  real  good  work  to  advance 
culture,  civilization,  and  Christianity  than  are  the  missionaries  sent, 
at  infinitely  greater  cost,  into  far  distant  lands. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  thought  to  be  a  bit  radical  when  I  say  that 
Art  should  be  made  more  or  less  compulsory.  I  mean  by  Art, 
Beauty.  A  little  child  may  and  probably  will  squirm  at  being 
bathed.  We  know  that  bathing  is  necessary,  therefore  it  is  ad- 
ministered willy-nilly.  So  in  this  case,  we  know  that  the  general 
public,  much  as  the  little  child,  rebels,  just  naturally  squirms  at 
anything  intended  for  its  own  good.  Here's  the  point:  By  years 
of  patient  hammering  we  have  gotten  our  cities  to  insisting  upon 
buildings  being  erected  a  certain  way,  so  they  will  neither  fall  down, 
nor  burn  up  with  the  old-time  alacrity ;  we've  secured  the  relegation 
of  soap  or  other  smelly  factories  to  regions  where  they  no  longer 


154  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

oflfend  us :  so  with  boiler  and  such  noisy  shops :  we're  cutting  down 
the  bell-ringing,  yelling,  and  other  unnecessary  noises  in  our  cities. 
Our  cars  and  our  noses  are  being  fairly  protected,  albeit  it  has 
been  hard  work,  for  each  step  was  most  bitterly  opposed,  it  was 
fought  for  tooth  and  nail.  The  broad  principle  of  the  greater  good 
of  the  many  even  at  the  cost  of  the  individual  is  not  very  well 
understood  here.  The  average  American  citizen,  proud  of  his  lib- 
erty and  rights,  couldn't  get  it  out  of  his  noddle  that  he  ought  to  be 
able  to  build  where  and  how  he  pleased  upon  his  own  property  and 
make  all  the  racket  he  wanted  to  and  be  as  much  of  a  nuisance  as 
he  might  elect.  His  "personal"  liberty  stuck  out  all  over  him  por- 
cupine-like. Well,  we've  done  so  well  for  the  ears  and  nose  and 
j)rogresscd  so  far  for  the  safety  of  the  rest  of  our  anatomy  that, 
it  seems  to  me,  we  ought  to  give  some  little  thought  and  attention 
to  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  the  eyes  as  w-ell. 

In  many  cities  they've  followed  Washington's  example  and 
have  an  Art  Commission  that  passes  upon  all  public  work  to  keep 
it  in  harmony  with  some  established  plan  of  artistic  development. 
I'm  urging  that  we  go  further  than  that.  Our  Building  Departments 
carefully  examine  every  plan  made  for  private  as  well  as  for  public 
buildings  and  prescribe  just  how  the  walls  shall  be  for  strength. 
how  high  the  building  may  go.  what  the  sanitary  details  must  be. 
etc..  etc..  all  in  the  efifort  to  make  our  buildings  safe  and  healthful. 
The  people  have  become  used  to  such  control  and  direction.  Why 
not  go  a  step  more?  There  have  been  many  such  steps  since  the 
first  big  fight  that  was  made  because  the  city  wanted  its  sidewalks 
alike  and  the  same  width  and  level.  Theretofore  personal  liberty 
was  such  that  you  walked  on  brick,  stone,  plank,  or  cinders,  all  in 
the  same  block,  and  you  went  up  or  down  steps  to  the  different 
levels  to  which  the  kind-hearted  owners  of  property  built  their 
sidewalks  in  an  earnest  endeavor  to  have  you  break  your  neck. 

The  city  .Art  Commissions  should  have  greater  power  and 
should  cooperate  with  the  Building  Departments  and  pass  on  all 
plans  for  all  l)uildings,  private  as  well  as  public.  Not  that  I'm 
clamoring  for  a  certain  style  of  architecture,  or  that  greater  ex- 
pense and  elaboration  be  insisted  upon  in  private  buildings,  all  I 
want  is  that  our  eyes  should  not  be  abused,  offended,  murdered 
any  more  than  we  permit  our  ears  and  noses  to  be.  Buildings  on 
any  one  block  should  conform  to  certain  major  lines,  they  should 
not  be  allowed  to  scream  at  each  other,  there  should  be  a  certain 
harmony  of  color  and  material,  an  effort  made  toward  the  really 
artistic.     ;\s  it  is  now  buildings  are  planted  down  every  one  differ- 


TIIR  RFJjniON  OF  RF.AUTY.  155 

ent  from  the  other,  a  new  and  sometimes  startling  creation  every 
twenty-five  feet,  for  all  the  world  as  if  a  confectioner  attempted 
a  novel  confection  by  sticking  together  slices  of  every  imaginable 
kind,  color,  sha])e,  and  previous  condition  of  cake  he  could  lay 
hands  upon  and  then  wonder  at  the  hodge-podge  effect. 

Why  should  we  have  to  look  upon  buildings  that  appal  us  with 
their  utter  ugliness?  Why  should  we  put  all  our  efforts  into  one 
class  of  building?  For  instance,  here  in  Washington  there  are 
wondrously  fine  public  buildings,  marvels  of  art,  but  the  private 
individual  is  permitted  to  build  any  freak  construction  he  wishes 
and  the  uglier  it  is  the  better  it  seems  to  serve  his  purpose.  In 
consequence  there  are  miles  and  miles  of  hideous  brick  rows  and, 
spite  of  the  beautiful  government  buildings,  the  city  as  a  whole  is 
irreparably  marred,  spoiled  beyond  redemption.  Everywhere,  in 
Cleveland  as  well  as  Washington,  in  San  Francisco  as  well  as  in 
New  York  there  are  misfits,  awful  efforts  at  originality,  colors  that 
swear  at  one,  "designs"  that  were  conceived  in  sin  and  brought 
forth  in  terrible  travail.  In  some  cities  they  rule  distressingly 
crippled  beggars  off  the  streets  ;  by  the  same  token  why  must  we 
tolerate  advertising  signs  and  such  things  that  literally  insult  any 
sense  of  beauty  we  may  possess. 

It's  a  big  field,  there's  endless  work  to  be  done  in  it.  We  need 
to  cultivate  beauty  in  our  homes,  in  our  schools,  on  our  streets, 
everywhere  in  our  lives  and  wherever  we  are,  and  we'll  be  the 
better  for  it  all.  They  say  cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness  and,  I 
maintain,  beauty  is  first  cousin  to  cleanliness,  nay,  I  do  believe 
they  are  twins ! 

Now,  don't  get  excited,  art  and  beauty  do  not  necessarily  mean 
the  expenditure  of  great  sums  of  money,  building  with  fine  marbles 
and  gold,  dressing  in  satins  and  sables.  Those  words  are  merely 
synonyms  for  good  taste  and  refinement.  I've  seen  a  simple  ging- 
ham dress  that  expressed  beauty  as  forcefully  as  did  any  elaborate 
gown  by  Worth,  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  bits  of  architecture 
done  this  year  anywhere  in  the  country  was  a  modest  little  three 
thousand  dollar  bungalow  on  a  far  western  hill. 

Perhaps  I  haven't  made  myself  quite  clear  as  to  what  Art  is. 
At  first  blush  it  may  seem  simple  enough  to  decide,  but  lexicologists 
as  well  as  artists  and  other  recognized  authorities  have  fussed  for 
years  over  the  term  and  are  fussing  still.  We  find  variants  of  the 
term  that  I  think  have  no  place  there,  distinctions  and  additions 
that  have  crept  in  and  are  almost  recognized.  To-day  you  have 
to  specify  and  term  your  art,   fine  art,   useful  art,  mechanic   art. 


156  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

Why.  even  our  pugs  practise  a  pugilistic  art  and  we  are  barbered 
by  tonsorial  artists  and  dressed  by  a  sartorial  one.  It  is  all  correct 
enough  in  a  general  way.  There  is  an  art  of  living,  a  gastronomical 
art.  even  the  art  of  hatred.  And  others  would  disassociate  Art  from 
everything  practical  making  it  so  that  its  votaries  withdraw  them- 
selves in  a  sense  from  the  urgencies  of  practical  life  and  become 
esoteric  and  ultimately  nuisances  of  the  first  water. 

Some  would  have  Art  always  purely  decorative ;  true  Art  is 
the  making  of  everything  beautiful  as  well  as  useful.  A  picture 
painted  without  any  regard  as  to  its  decorative  value,  the  proper 
filling  of  some  space,  is  but  a  bauble ;  a  bow  on  a  lady's  dress  that 
has  no  function,  just  a  "decorative"  bow,  is.  I  claim,  inartistic, 
useless,  meaningless.  Art  is  not  essentially  embellishment ;  it  is  the 
function  of  doing  things  well,  exercising  good  taste,  gratifying  the 
sight. 

The  history  of  the  origin  and  development,  growth  and  decline 
of  beautiful  artistic  form  constitutes  a  major  portion  of  the  history 
of  civilization.  As  regards  each  particular  people,  the  history  of 
their  efforts  to  conceive  and  express  absolute  perfection,  or  what  is 
commonly  called  Beauty,  in  form  and  color,  is  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  histor}'  of  their  speculative  opinions,  the  most 
reliable  test  of  the  stage  of  progress  which  they  have  attained ; 
nor  is  it  an  indication  of  the  abundance  of  their  external  resources 
or  even  of  their  intellectual  activity  alone,  that  the  history  of  the 
.Art  of  a  people  is  thus  important.  It  determines  their  moral,  their 
religious  position,  for  the  inseparable  connection  between  the  beauti- 
ful and  the  good  is  in  no  way  more  clearly  manifested  than  in  that 
fact,  that  the  first  inroads  of  demoralization  and  social  disorder 
are  invariably  indicated  by  a  diminution  in  the  strength  and  purity 
of  artistic  forms,  especially  in  architecture. 

Am  I  wrong  in  praying  for  greater  attention  to  matters  artistic, 
the  popularizing  of  .Art.  making  it  an  every-day,  intimate,  and 
working  function  ? 

We've  learned  that  our  religion,  whatever  it  be,  is  not  a  Sun- 
day dress  to  be  set  aside  work-days;  it's  something  we  must  live 
to.  something  to  be  with  us  constantly  and  to  guide  our  every 
thought  and  act.  To  our  religious  beliefs,  whatever  they  may  be — 
and  no  man  is  so  low  as  to  be  without  some — let  us  add  (for  bur 
own  material  and  spiritual  welfare,  our  selfish  interests  if  you  wish) 

the   RKI.IGIOX   OF  BE.\UTV. 


SAVAGE  LIFE  AND  CUSTOM.  157 


SAVAGE  LIFE  AND  CUSTOM. 

BY  EDWAKD  LAVVKEN'CE. 

IX.    CANNIBALISM   AND   HUMAN   SACRIFICES. 

WB]  must  now  proceed  to  give  particular  attention  to  those  two 
remarkable,  though  quite  distinct  customs  which  have  been 
practised  by  many  savage  races  in  all  parts  of  the  world — the 
eating  of  human  flesh  and  the  offering  of  human  sacrifices  to  the 
gods  or  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 

Cruel  and  gruesome  as  such  practices  must  appear  at  first  sight, 
we  must  nevertheless  endeavor  to  cast  aside  all  preconceived  ideas. 
Even  the  savage  is  entitled  to  any  benefit  of  the  doubt  which  all 
of  us  ought  to  give  when  complete  knowledge  is  lacking.  We  must 
also  remember  that  even  our  own  ancestors  indulged  in  such  rites 
and  that  there  still  exist  in  many  of  our  customs  to-day,  distinct 
traces  of  those  practices. 

The  early  Christians  themselves  were  accused  by  their  so-called 
enemies,  of  killing  and  eating  a  child  at  their  sacramental  feasts. 
Again,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  Oliver  Cromwell,  in  a  diplomatic 
message  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  charged  his  Royal  Highness  with 
allowing  his  troops  to  dash  infants  on  the  rocks  and  cook  and  eat 
the  brains  of  others ! 

It  may  also  be  called  to  mind  that,  during  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, Brissot,  the  Girondin  leader,  justified  cannibalism  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  natural,  because  animals  in  a  state  of  nature  ate  one 
another ! 

While  the  practice  of  eating  human  flesh  is  quite  common  to 
many  of  the  very  lowest  races,  although  unknown  to  others  on  a 
similar  plane  of  culture,  the  offering  of  human  sacrifices  is  quite 
unknown  to  these  peoples.  It  is  only  when  man  has  attained  a 
higher  stage  in  civilization  that  the  latter  rite  appears.  Thus,  for 
example,  while  cannibalism  is  practised  by  the  Australians  and  the 
nomad  tribes  of  Brazil,  it  is  quite  unknown  to  the  Andamanese.  and 
human  sacrifices  are  unknown  to  either. 

The  early  Portuguese  travelers  of  the  sixteenth  century  were 
the  first  to  bring  accounts  to  Europe  of  cannibalism  in  Africa. 

Joano  Dos  Santos  in  1586  said  that  near  Tete,  on  the  Zambesi 
River,  there  existed  one  tribe  which  kept  prisoners  in  pens  and 


158 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


killed  and  ate  them  in  succession.  Gruesome  reports  were  also  cir- 
culated in  Europe  of  like  doings  in  the  Congo  regions.  It  was 
declared  that  in  those  regions  tribes  existed  which  ate  their  enemies 
captured  in  battle ;  who  fattened  and  devoured  their  slaves,  and 
whose  butcher  shops  were  filled  with  human  flesh  instead  of  beef 
and  mutton. 


Fig.  28.     CANNIBAL  BUTCHER  SHOP,  AS  DEPICTED  BY  A 
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY   ARTIST. 

(From  Regnum  Congo,  per  Philip pum  Pigafettam.    1598. — After  Huxley.) 

The  truth  of  these  early  accounts  has  been  abundantly  con- 
firmed by  explorers  during  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years.  Not  only 
in  Africa,  but  as  I  have  said,  practically  all  over  the  world  we  meet 
with  cannibal  practices  in  some  shape  or  form. 

Cannibalism  is  rife  over  the  greater  part  of  the  Upper  Congo 


SAVAGE   LIFI.:   A.VI)   CUSTOM.  159 

River.  The  Bangala.s  cat  all  they  kill  in  battle;  they  remove  the 
inside,  stuff  the  body  with  bananas,  and  roast  whole  over  a  fire.  It 
is  said  that  two  men  will  eat  one  body  in  a  night.  Even  a  corpse 
will  be  snatched  from  the  grave  in  order  to  be  eaten.  Before 
eating  a  slave,  the  victim  is  kept  prisoner  for  three  days,  his  limbs 
are  broken  and  he  is  fastened  to  a  log  chin-deep  in  a  pool  of  water, 
to  make  the  flesh  tender.  With  some  tribes  it  is  the  custom  to 
decapitate  the  body,  clean  it  out,  cut  it  up,  and  cook  in  large  pots. 
The  head  is  not  eaten,  and  the  teeth  are  used  as  ornaments  by  the 
women. 

Mr.  John  H.  Weeks,  the  well-known  Baptist  missionary,  has 
given  a  vivid  description  of  the  Bangalas  returning  from  the  field 
of  battle,  laden  with  their  human  spoil. 

He  says :  "While  we  were  sitting  at  our  tea,  the  last  party  of 
returning  warriors  filed  past  our  house,  carrying  the  limbs  of  those 
who  had  been  slain  in  the  fight.  Some  had  human  legs  over  their 
shoulders,  others  had  threaded  arms  through  slits  in  the  stomachs 
of  their  dismembered  foes,  had  tied  the  ends  of  the  arms  together 
thus  forming  loops,  and  through  these  ghastly  loops  they  had  thrust 
their  own  living  arms  and  were  carrying  them  thus  with  the  gory 
trunks  dangling  to  and  fro.  The  horrible  sight  was  too  much  for 
us,  and  retching  badly  we  had  to  abandon  our  meal  and  it  was 
some  days  before  we  could  again  eat  with  any  relish.  The  sight 
worked  on  our  nerves,  and  in  the  night  we  would  start  from  our 
sleep,  having  seen  in  our  dreams  exaggerated  processions  passing 
before  us,  burdened  with  the  sanguinary  loads  of  slain  and  dis- 
membered bodies." 

The  Basongo  sell  slaves  and  children  as  food :  children  will 
eat  their  own  parents  as  soon  as  they  show  signs  of  decrepitude. 
One  man  who  accidentally  killed  his  father  expressed  regret  that 
he  could  not  eat  him,  being  forbidden  by  taboo,  but  he  gave  the  body 
to  his  friends  for  them  to  eat. 

It  is  no  unusual  thing  to  see  women  carrying  portions  of 
human  flesh  in  baskets  suspended  from  their  heads,  to  serve  as 
provisions  during  a  journey. 

The  Niam-Niam  allow  women  and  children  to  eat  human 
flesh,  but  the  men  themselves  must  only  eat  those  whom  they  have 
killed  in  battle. 

On  the  Mubangi  River,  slaves  are  kept  and  fattened  for  the 
butcher.  The  purchaser  feeds  them  up,  kills  them,  and  sells  the 
meat  in  small  joints,  and  what  remains  unsold  is  smoked.  Some 
tribes  are  said  to  prefer  the  flesh  of  women  and  children  to  that 


160  '  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

of  men.  One  African  traveler  tells  us  that  he  never  bought  flesh 
of  any  kind  in  the  market  for  fear  it  might  be  human. 

.Among  the  Baluba,  only  those  who  are  initiated  into  the  secrets 
of  a  certain  sect  are  allowed  to  eat  human  flesh,  which  is  done 
secretly.  Some  of  the  victim's  bones  are  burnt  and  the  cinders 
put  into  a  small  pot  on  which  a  larger  pot  is  placed  upside  down. 
A  pin  is  then  attached  to  the  smaller  pot  and  fastened  by  a  cord 
to  a  branch  fixed  in  the  ground.  The  object  of  this  is  to  imprison 
the  victim's  soul  and  thus  prevent  it  doing  harm  to  the  living. 

The  Bambala  will  eat  any  corpse  that  is  not  in  the  last  stage 
of  decomposition.  The  body  is  buried  for  two  days  before  being 
eaten  ;  a  fire  kept  burning  on  the  grave,  the  body  is  then  exhumed, 
cooked  with   manioc   flour  and  practically  all   eaten. 

The  Fiji  Islanders  considered  every  unfortunate  wrecked  upon 
their  shores  a  fit  candidate  for  their  cooking-pots.  When  a  canoe 
was  launched  they  celebrated  the  event  by  a  cannibal  feast,  the  man 
to  be  cooked  being  decked  out,  and  his  face  painted.  After  a 
battle  the  bodies  of  the  slain  were  dragged  by  ropes  tied  to  their 
necks,  and  in  this  manner  taken  to  the  temple  where  they  were 
offered  to  the  gods.  Afterward  all  the  bodies  were  cooked  and 
divided  among  the  men  and  the  priests.  During  this  time,  every 
restraint  was  laid  aside.  Sometimes  the  victims  were  not  killed, 
but  were  bound  and  placed  alive  in  the  ovens,  and  on  special  occa- 
sions were  even  made  to  eat  part  of  their  own  bodies. 

The  bodies  were  cut  up  by  means  of  a  bamboo  knife,  a  special 
fork  with  four  prongs  being  used  to  convey  the  flesh  to  the  mouth, 
it  being  considered  too  sacred  to  be  touched  by  human  hands.  The 
bones  of  the  dead  were  afterward  placed  in  the  branches  of  a  tree. 

The  savages  of  the  South  Seas  exercise  a  discriminating  taste, 
and  show  a  decided  preference  for  the  flesh  of  John  Chinaman  to 
that  of  John  Bull.  They  say  the  Chinaman  is  a  vegetable  feeder 
and  his  flesh  is  therefore  sweet  to  the  taste,  whereas  the  white  man 
is  frequently  a  hard  drinker  whose  flesh  is  also  rendered  rank  from 
the  habitual  use  of  tobacco.  Consequently  the  yellow  man  more 
frcfjuently  finds  his  way  to  the  cooking-pot  than  does  his  white 
brother. 

In  New  Britain  portions  of  the  dead  are  sold  to  neighboring 
tribes,  and  it  is  declared  that  the  women  are  worse  cannibals  than 
the  men. 

The  natives  of  New  Ireland  hang  up  by  the  neck  the  bodies 
of  those  killed  in  battle,  washing  and  scraping  them  carefully.  After 
certain  ceremonies  have  been  performed  the  bodies  are  cut  up  into 


SAVAOK   LIFR   y\ND   CUSTOM.  161 

small  pieces,  wrapped  in  tough  leaves  to  make  them  tender  and  put 
into  ovens  in  the  ground.  I^'our  days  after  the  flesh  is  eaten.  Their 
own  hodies  are  also  rubhed  with  this  "human"  food,  which  now 
resembles  grease ;  so  fond  are  they  of  its  odor,  they  do  not  wash 
themselves  for  several  days  so  tliat  the  smell  of  the  flesh  shall  not 
be  lost. 

A  case  is  reported  from  New  Guinea  where  a  lad  was  partly 
devoured  by  a  crocodile ;  his  mother  and  sister  finished  what  the 
crocodile  had  left,  the  lad's  flesh  being  eaten  raw. 

In  Australia,  when  a  child  was  weak,  it  was  fed  with  the  flesh 
of  an  infant  brother  or  sister  to  make  it  strong.  These  Australians 
consider  that  the  fat  surrounding  the  kidneys  is  the  most  important 
for  consumption,  as  it  contains  the  center  of  life ;  the  kidney  fat 
being  frequently  extracted  while  the  victim  is  alive. 

Sometimes  a  man  killed  in  a  fight  will  be  skinned  and  eaten. 
A  burning  stick  is  passed  over  the  body  which  causes  the  skin  to 
peel  ofY  and  leaves  the  corpse  nearly  as  white  as  the  body  of  a 
white  man. 

The  Cocomas  of  the  Upper  Amazon,  after  eating  the  body, 
ground  up  the  bones  which  were  afterward  put  into  fermented 
liquor  and  drank. 

In  Nicaragua  the  head  was  cut  ofif,  the  body  cut  up  into  small 
pieces  and  boiled  in  earthen  pots  with  salt  and  garlic  and  then 
eaten  by  the  chiefs  with  Indian  corn.  The  head  was  neither  cooked 
nor  eaten,  but  was  placed  on  a  stake  in  front  of  a  temple. 

Lionel  Decla,  while  traveling  in  Central  Africa,  unknowingly 
dined  ofi  human  flesh  on  more  than  one  occasion.  The  natives  in 
order  to  test  the  white  man's  knowledge,  supplied  his  cook  with 
human  flesh  to  see  if  the  traveler  found  it  out.  Decla  made  several 
meals  before  he  did  find  it  out  and  relates  how  he  ate  the  flesh 
with  great  relish  and  particularly  enjoyed  the  grilled  bones  which 
afterward  turned  out  to  be  ribs  of  man  and  not  ribs  of  beef ! 

Now  comes  the  question:  Why  do  men  eat  men?  The  custom 
is  not  primarily  due  to  hunger,  because  cannibalism  is  most  rife  in 
those  countries  where  the  food  supply  is  abundant.  It  is  not  due 
to  cruelty,  or  to  the  ferocity  of  the  savage,  because  the  cannibal 
is  usually  a  "gentleman"  and  most  kindly  in  disposition,  as  Robert 
Louis  Stevenson  found  by  experience.  The  Congo  cannibals  are 
more  advanced  socially  and  far  less  bloodthirsty  than  tribes  in  the 
same  region  which  do  not  dine  upon  their  fellows. 

In  many  instances  it  was  due  to  revenge — to  punish  the  dead 
man  and  destroy  his  spirit.     Thus  in  Hayti,  the  thief  was  punished 


162  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

by  being  eaten.  In  Australia  white  men  have  frequently  been  de- 
voured because  of  their  cruelty  to  the  natives.  In  the  Xew  Hebrides 
it  was  usually  a  murdered  or  a  detested  enemy  that  was  eaten. 

In  other  cases  it  was  to  obtain  the  quahties  of  the  dead.  The 
Ashantis  ate  a  portion  so  that  their  own  spirits  and  courage  would 
not  waste  away.  In  South  Australia,  only  the  old  men  and  women 
were  allowed  to  partake,  in  order  to  obtain  fresh  vitality. 

The  eater  was  polluted  by  his  act  and  frequently  had  to  undergo 
certain  rites  before  he  resumed  his  usual  place  in  the  community. 
Thus  the  Kwakiutl  Indians  of  British  Columbia  were  not  allowed 
to  eat  any  warm  food  for  sixteen  days ;  even  the  spoon,  dish,  and 
kettle  must  be  thrown  away  four  months  after  the  act.  Whenever 
a  man  wished  to  leave  the  house,  he  had  to  do  so  by  a  secret  door 
at  the  back ;  if  he  left  by  the  usual  opening  the  ghost  of  the  dead 
man  was  ready  to  pounce  down  upon  him.  In  Melanesia,  while 
cutting  up  a  human  body,  the  operator  covered  his  mouth  and  nose 
for  fear  the  spirit  of  the  dead  might  enter  into  him  and  cause  him 
hurt. 

Thus,  while  the  savage  may  assign  various,  though  to  us  un- 
satisfactory reasons  for  devouring  his  own  species,  it  will  be  obvious 
that  magical  and  religious  motives  are  really  at  the  bottom  of  the 
rite.  Abhorrent  as  this  horrible  and  gruesome  custom  must  appear, 
it  will  be  allowed  that  civilization  has  also  its  grave  defects.  As 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  said  of  the  South  Sea  cannibals,  rightly 
speaking  it  is  far  less  hateful  to  cut  a  man's  flesh  when  he  is  dead 
than  to  oppress  him  while  he  lives.  Weighing  all  the  facts  one  is, 
after  all,  inclined  to  agree  with  Joaquin  Miller  that  civilized  life 
is  a  sort  of  moral  cannibalism  where  souls  eat  souls,  and  where 
men  kill  men  in  order  to  get  their  places ! 

In  giving  attention  to  the  other  sanguinary  rite  about  to  be 
detailed,  we  must  not  forget  that  any  preconception  on  our  part 
must  necessarily  prejudice  our  judgment. 

Human  sacrifices  are  acts  which  belong  to  a  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion in  advance  of  that  found  among  the  very  lowest  races,  although 
the  sacrifices  themselves  may  be  accompanied  by  cannibalism. 

The  sacrificial  act  was  an  act  made  either  on  behalf  of  an 
individual  or  on  behalf  of  the  community  at  large.  It  appears  to 
have  had  two  distinct  objects— one  to  bring  prosperity  or  avert 
disaster— and  the  other,  to  provide  attendants  for  the  dead  in  the 
land  of  spirits.  In  order  to  achieve  these  supposed  results,  hun- 
dreds and  hundreds  of  victims  have  been,  from  time  to  time,  offered 
u|)  alive. 


SAVAr.K   lAVK   ANIJ   CUSTfJM.  163 

In  many  parts,  children  were  offered  to  the  earth-spirits  in 
order  to  fertilize  the  soil  and  thereby  ensure  good  crops.  In  other 
cases,  to  avert  famine,  a  child  will  be  offered,  as  for  instance  during 
a  draught  in  India  some  years  since,  a  lad  was  discovered  in  a  temple 
near  Calcutta,  with  his  throat  cut  and  his  eyes  staring  out  of  his 
head. 

In  the  same  country,  in  order  that  a  journey  may  prove  suc- 
cessful, a  child  was  buried  alive  in  a  hole  up  to  its  shoulders ;  loaded 
bullocks  were  then  driven  over  the  poor  little  victim,  and  in  pro- 
portion as  this  trampling  was  thoroughly  done,  so  was  the  journey 
likely  to  prove  an  equally  successful  one. 

It  is  stated  that  the  Lambadis — a  tribe  of  carriers  known  all 
over  southern  and  western  India — up  to  a  recent  period  carried  off 
the  first  person  they  met ;  took  him  to  a  lonely  spot,  where  a  hole 
was  dug  in  the  ground  and  the  victim  buried  up  to  the  neck.  A 
dough  made  of  flour  was  then  placed  on  his  head  and  filled  with 
oil,  four  wicks  were  stuck  in  and  set  alight.  The  men  and  women 
formed  a  circle,  danced  and  sang  around  the  victim  until  he  expired. 

A  case  is  also  recorded  from  India  where  a  litigant  made  a 
final  appeal  to  the  Privy  Council  in  England,  and  to  ensure  success, 
caught  a  harmless  lunatic  and  killed  him  as  a  sacrifice  in  order  to 
obtain  a  successful  issue  to  his  cause. 

In  Oceania,  in  order  to  bring  peace,  two  women  were  sacrificed. 
The  victims  arrayed  themselves  in  their  best  clothing,  specially  made 
for  the  occasion,  and  their  bodies  were  then  oft'ered  upon  the  altar. 
The  ears  were  divided  between  the  two  contending  chiefs  and  the 
noses  among  the  political  sovereigns,  and  thus  was  peace  ".signed." 

To  make  young  braves  courageous,  the  witch-doctor  in  South 
Africa  killed  a  boy  and  a  girl,  mixed  their  blood  with  that  of  an 
ox,  and  then  used  it  as  a  magical  potion. 

To  ensure  good  crops,  the  Pawnees  formerly  sacrificed  a  young 
girl,  who  had  been  carefully  tended  and  fed  for  several  months. 
At  the  approach  of  spring,  she  was  painted  half  red  and  half  black, 
then  attached  to  a  gallows,  slowly  roasted  over  a  fire,  and  finally 
shot  to  death  w^ith  arrows.  Her  heart  was  then  torn  out  and  de- 
voured by  the  chief  priest.  The  still  quivering  flesh  was  now  cut 
into  small  pieces  and  taken  to  the  cornfield  where  a  little  of  her 
blood  was  pressed  upon  some  grains  of  corn,  in  order  to  make  the 
crops  plentiful. 

In  Africa,  as  elsewhere,  human  sacrifices  were  made  to  provide 
attendants  and  wives  for  the  deceased  in  the  land  of  spirits.  The 
hill-tribes  of  North  East  India  make  raids  specially  for  this  pur- 


164 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


pose,  upon  the  weak  Bengali  of  the  plains,  and  will  kill  their  cap- 
tives at  the  funeral  of  their  chief  in  order  to  provide  him  with  a 
retinue  in  his  new  world. 

The  Hawaiians  on  making  an  expedition  of  great  magnitude 
offered  victims  to  induce  the  gods  to  grant  them  victory  by  striking 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  their  enemies.  These  victims  were  either 
captives  taken  in  battle  or  persons  who  deserved  punishment  for 
ha\  ing  broken  their  sacred  laws.     W'ar-gods  were  carried  by  the 


M 

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■  Ijy 

i^H 

fllSBu  ^' 

wt 

^g 

© 

^^ 

jif 

sn 

n 

^■ 

'T*-.^-'^ 
.'::&^ 

l-iR.  29. 

HEAD    OF    W./^R-GOD    OF    THE 

SANDWICH   ISLANDERS.* 


Fig.  30. 

SACRIFICIAL  DRUM  OF  THE 

ASHANTIS. 


(Photos  by  permission  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Britisli  Museum.) 


priests  on  to  the  field  of  battle,  the  body  of  the  god  being  made  of 
wood  and  crowned  by  this  helmet  or  mask  (Fig.  29).  All  will 
agree  that  the  terrible  and  distorted  features  of  this  hideous  image 
were  well  calculated  to  strike  panic  in  the  hearts  of  the  enemy. 

The  gods  were  kept  in  or  near  a  palisaded  enclosure  which  was 
of   considerable  extent   and   of   which   offenders   had   the   right   of 

♦Made  of  hasket-work  from  the  aerial  roots  of  a  fig-tree;  covered  with 
string  net-work,  overlain  with  beautiful  red  and  yellow  feathers.  The  eyes 
arc  of  niother-of-])earl.  The  teeth  are  those  of  dogs  or  sharks.  Human  hair 
adorns  the  top  of  the  head. 


SAVACI-:   1,1  FK   AXi;   CUSTOM,  165 

sanctuary.  Here  dwelt  tlie  priests  and  lierc  were  buried  kinj^s  and 
high  chiefs. 

During  a  sacrifice  the  victims  were  dragged  by  the  priests  into 
the  presence  of  the  god  and  slain,  and  their  bodies  placed  upon  the 
altar,  face  downward  in  front  of  the  idol.  Sometimes  as  many  as 
twenty  persons  were  killed  at  one  time. 

In  that  land  of  blood,  Ashanti,  hundreds  of  victims  were  killed 
at  one  time,  on  the  death  of  important  persons.  The  executions  were 
announced  by  the  priests  beating  the  celebrated  sacrificial  drum, 
which  was  ornamented  at  the  sides  with  human  skulls  and  thigh- 
bones (Fig.  30). 

To  prevent  the  victims  screaming  out  or  cursing  their  execu- 
tioners, long  knives  or  skewers  were  thrust  through  their  tongues 
and  cheeks.  The  executioners  rushed  forward  and  lopped  off  the 
right  hands  of  their  victims,  which  they  threw  at  their  feet  and 
then  severed  the  heads  from  their  bodies.  The  remains  of  the  chief 
having  been  placed  in  a  basket,  a  man  was  called  forward  to  assist 
in  lowering  the  corpse  into  the  grave.  While  doing  this  he  received 
a  severe  blow  at  the  back  of  his  head  by  which  he  was  stunned ; 
he  was  then  swiftly  gashed  in  the  neck  and  his  body  toppled  into 
the  grave  on  top  of  the  dead  chief.  The  heads  of  the  other  victims 
were  deposited  at  the  side  of  the  corpse. 

During  the  Ashanti  harvest  festival  or  "yam  custom"  which 
took  place  in  the  autumn,  large  numbers  were  also  put  to  death 
every  year.  The  festival  was  attended  by  all  the  chiefs  under  dire 
compulsion.  Executioners  grotesquely  adorned  and  with  painted 
faces  danced  and  beat  time  with  their  long  executioner's  knives  on 
human  skulls  which  they  carried.  Slaves  and  other  persons  wdio 
were  guilty  of  ofifenses  were  put  to  death  and  their  blood  placed 
in  a  large  brass  pan,  and  mingled  with  a  decoction  of  vegetable  and 
animal  matter. 

When  danger  threatened,  a  newly-born  child,  not  more  than  a 
few  hours  old,  would  be  torn  to  pieces  and  its  limbs  and  members 
scattered  around.  If  the  country  feared  an  invasion,  men  and 
women  were  sacrificed  and  their  bodies  placed  along  the  road  by 
which  the  foe  must  travel.  Sometimes  the  corpses  would  be  ex- 
tended cruciform  fashion  and  stakes  driven  through  the  bodies. 
When  the  British  under  Lord  Wolseley  invaded  Ashanti,  the  vic- 
tims were  placed  along  the  road  leading  to  the  capital.  Avith  their 
severed  heads  toward  their  advancing  foe.  and  their  feet  toward 
Coomassie. 

The  Kondhs  of   India  systematically  oflfered  sacrifices  to  the 


166  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

earth-spirit  to  ensure  good  crops  and  to  obtain  immunity  from 
disease.  Children  who  had  not  been  guilty  of  any  impurity  were 
purchased  to  be  offered  up.  They  were  carefully  tended,  fed  and 
clothed  at  the  public  expense. 

A  month  before  the  sacrifice  the  whole  community  indulged  in 
intoxication,  danced  and  feted  themselves.  On  the  day  before  the 
offering,  a  child  was  stupified  with  toddy  and  bound  to  the  bottom 
of  the  sacrificial  post.  The  assembly  now  danced  and  addressed 
the  earth :  "O  god,  we  offer  the  sacrifice  to  you.  Give  us  good 
crops,  seasons,  and  health."  Then  addressing  the  victim  they  cried: 
"We  bought  you  with  a  price  and  did  not  seize  you.  Now  we  sacri- 
fice you  according  to  custom  and  no  sin  rests  with  us."  The  fol- 
lowing day  the  victim  is  again  made  drunk,  anointed  with  oil  and 
carried  in  procession  round  the  village.  He  is  then  seized  and 
thrown  into  a  pit,  his  face  pressed  downward  until  he  is  suffocated 
in  the  mud.  The  priest  cuts  off  a  portion  from  the  body  which  is 
buried  near  the  village  idol  as  an  offering  to  the  earth.  All  the 
assembly  now  help  themselves  to  a  portion  of  the  body  and  carry 
their  bloody  prizes  to  their  villages.  The  head  and  face  alone  are 
left  untouched. 

Another  method  of  sacrifice  was  to  fix  the  victim  to  an  image 
of  an  elephant's  head,  rudely  carved,  which  was  fixed  to  the  top 
of  a  stout  post  on  which  it  revolved — the  victim  being  fastened 
to  the  trunk.  Amid  the  shouts  and  yells  of  the  assembled  multitude, 
the  disk  was  turned  rapidly  round,  and  at  a  signal  given  by  the 
priest  the  mob  rushed  forward  and  amid  the  shrieks  of  the  little 
victim,  gashed  the  flesh  from  his  body  as  long  as  life  itself  lasted. 
The  remains  were  then  cut  down  and  the  skeleton  burnt. 

Sometimes  the  victim  was  dragged  through  the  fields,  sur- 
rounded by  screaming  and  gesticulating  Kondhs  who  rushed  upon 
the  victim,  cut  the  flesh  piecemeal  from  his  body  till  he  expired,  then 
the  remains  were  burnt  and  the  ashes  mixed  with  new  grain  to 
preserve  it. 

The  following  custom  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  the  Kondhs  of 
Jeypore.  A  stout  post  was  fixed  in  the  ground  and  at  the  foot  a 
grave  was  dug.  To  the  top  of  this  post  the  sacrifice  was  secured 
firmly  by  his  hair.  Then  four  men  advanced,  outstretched  his  arms 
and  legs,  the  body  itself  being  suspended  over  the  grave  and  facing 
the  earth.  At  different  intervals  the  priest  hacked  the  back  of  the 
shrieking  victim  with  his  sacrificial  knife,  and  as  he  did  so,  repeated 
the  following  prayer : 

'T)  mighty  one.  this  is  your  festal  day.     On  account  of  this 


SAVAf)!':   MI'K   AND   CUSTfJM.  167 

sacrifice  you  have  given  us  kingdoms  anrl  sworrls.  'Jlie  sacrifice  we 
now  offer  you  must  eat,  and  we  pray  that  our  battle-axes  may  be 
converted  into  swords,  and  if  we  have  any  fjuarrcls  with  other  tribes, 
give  us  the  victory.  I 'reserve  us  from  the  tyranny  of  kings  and  their 
officers." 

He  then  addressed  the  victim  and  said: 

"That  we  may  enjoy  prosperity  we  ofifer  you  a  sacrifice  to 
our  god,  who  will  immediately  eat  you,  so  be  not  grieved  at  our  slay- 
ing you,  you  were  purchased  for  sixty  rupees,  therefore  no  sin  is 
on  our  hands  but  on  your  parents." 

The  sacrifice  is  now  decapitated,  the  body  thrown  into  the 
grave,  but  the  head  is  left  attached  to  the  post  to  be  devoured  by 
wild  beasts. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Indian  government,  probably 
these  sacrifices  are  still  practised  in  secret,  and  only  as  recently  as 
1902  a  district  magistrate  actually  received  a  petition  requesting 
him  to  allow  a  human  sacrifice  to  be  performed. 

Among  the  tribes  of  the  Lower  Mississippi,  when  a  chief  died, 
the  youngest  wife  and  some  hundred  men  offered  themselves  as 
living  sacrifices  to  the  shade  of  the  departed.  The  temple  of  sacri- 
fice was  built  like  the  house  of  a  chief,  with  the  exception  that  it 
had  figures  of  three  eagles  which  looked  toward  the  rising  sun. 
High  walls  of  mud  surrounded  this  building,  and  upon  the  wall, 
spikes  were  placed  which  held  the  heads  of  those  killed  in  battle 
or  of  persons  who  had  been  sacrificed  to  the  sun.  The  center  of 
this  temple  contained  an  altar  at  the  foot  of  which  a  fire  was  kept 
burning  continually  by  two  old  priests.  If  lightning  set  one  of  these 
temples  on  fire,  five  infants  were  thrown  into  the  flames  to  appease 
the  angered  spirits. 

When  a  chief  was  dead,  his  household  esteemed  it  a  great 
honor  to  follow  him  hence.  Dressing  themselves  in  their  best 
finery,  they  repaired  to  the  temple  where  all  the  tribe  had  assembled. 
Having  sung  and  danced,  a  cord  of  buffalo  hair,  made  with  a 
running  noose,  was  passed  around  them.  The  priest  came  forward, 
and  commanding  them  to  join  their  master  in  the  land  of  spirits, 
strangled  them,  their  bodies  being  afterward  placed  in  a  row  in 
the  temple  (Fig.  31). 

Such  are  a  few  of  those  ciistoms  practised  by  uncivilized  man 
which  illustrate  in  a  most  forcible  way  that  king  of  all  beliefs — the 
doctrine  of  a  future  life. 

While  one  may  well  stand  horrified  at  the  manner  in  which 
the  savage  gives  expression  to  that  belief,  at  those  rites  which  to  us 


168 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


are  so  gnicsomc  and  so  sanguinary,  yet  one  cannot  fail  to  be  moved 
deeply  by  tbeir  intensity  and  reality,  and  by  the  "sacrifices"  which 
primitive  man  is  always  ready  to  make  on  behalf  of  his  creed.  Xo 
such  "faith"  exists  in  Christendom.  That  which  ice  call  the  doctrine 
of  a  future  life  is  but  a  flimsy  shadow  of  that  serious  belief  which  is 
so  tenaciously  held  l)y  those  poor  savages  whom  we  so  ignorantly 


Fig.   31.     IIUAIAX    SACRIFICES    IN    LOL'ISIAXA. 

Depicted  by  an  artist  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
( I'rom  Lafitau,  Ma-urs  dcs  Sanz'Ufics.) 


despise.  If  life  itself  is  real  to  the  savage,  death  and  the  beyond 
are  yet  more  real.  Hence  he  shapes  his  life  as  if  death  itself  and 
the  continued  life  beyond  counted  for  more  than  aught  else.  It  has 
been  stated,  over  and  over  again,  that  those  who  went  forward  to 
their  slaughter,  sang  with  joy  and  danced  as  if  their  happy  time 
had  come  at  last,  and  willingly  submitted  themselves  to  the  knife 


I'ARACKI.SUS  AS  A  TI 1  IlOI.OfWCAI,   WKITKK.  169 

of  the  executioner.  There  are  lessons — and  they  are  many — which 
civilized  man  might  well  learn  from  his  naked  brother,  and  one  of 
those  lessons  is,  that  if  faith  and  creed  are  to  be  held  at  all,  they 
should  he  acted  as  well  as  believed. 

[to  bk  continued.] 


PARACELSUS  AS  A  THEOLOGICAL  WRITER.^ 

r,V  JOHN  MAXSON  STILLMAN, 

UNTIL  recently  little  notice  has  been  taken  of  the  very  con- 
siderable activity  of  Paracelsus  (1493-1541)  as  a  thinker  and 
writer  on  theology.  To  be  sure,  it  was  known  from  very  early 
records  that  Paracelsus  had  written  works  of  this  character.  Even 
the  inventory  of  his  personal  effects  recorded  at  Salzburg  after 
his  death  makes  mention  of  a  collection  of  theological  manuscripts 
presumably  written  by  himself.  So  also  Conrad  Gesner  in  his  Bib- 
Uotheca  Universalis  (1545)  says  of  Paracelsus  that  he  composed 
and  dedicated  to  the  Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  "I  know  not  what  theo- 
logical works  which  I  believe  not  to  have  been  published. "- 

Moreover  there  exists  on  record  a  receipt  signed  by  Johann 
Huser^  at  Neuburg,  October  10,  1594,  for  a  collection  of  autograph 
manuscripts  by  Paracelsus  upon  theological  subjects.  The  collection 
includes  some  twenty-five  titles  of  works.  Other  lists  of  his  theo- 
logical writings  are  in  existence  dating  from  the  latter  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  In  1618  a  publisher,  Johann  Staricius,  issued  a 
volume  containing  a  few  of  these  theological  essays.  In  his  preface 
the  editor  asserts  that  he  knows  a  place  where  nearly  a  cart-load 
of  the  theological  manuscripts  may  be  found.* 

Of  all  these  manuscripts  not  one  is  now  known  to  exist  as  auto- 
graph, though  Sudhoff's  search  through  the  libraries  of  Europe  has 
brought  to  light  collections  of  copies  in  the  libraries  at  Leyden, 
Gorlitz,  and  elsewhere,  some  of  these  copies  dating  as  early  as  1564 
to  1567,  and  many  of  them  bearing  titles  included  in  the  early  list 

1  The  following  is  a  chapter  taken  from  a  book  on  Paracelsus  by  Professor 
Stillman  which  we  intend  to  publish  soon. — Ed. 

2  Netzhammer,  Thcophrastiis  Paracelsus,  p.  53. 

3Joh.   Huser  had  just  pubHshed  the  medical,  philosophical,  and   surgical 
writings  of  Paracelsus  (Basel,  1589-91). 

■*  Cf.  Netzhammer,  op.  cit.,  p.  127. 


170  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

of  autograj)!!  manuscripts  as  receipted  for  by  Iluser,  or  in  other 
early  lists.° 

These  manuscripts  borrowed  by  Huser  from  the  library  at  Neu- 
burg  were  manifestly  intended  to  be  used  in  the  published  collection 
of  his  works.  That  they  were  not  so  used  is  easily  explained  by 
the  tenor  of  the  contents  of  such  as  have  been  in  part  printed  or 
abstracted  by  SudhofT."  For  they  are  very  outspoken  and  indeed 
frankly  heretical  in  their  criticisms  of  many  of  the  institutions  and 
observances  of  the  Roman  Church.  Huser  was  himself  a  Roman 
Catholic,  and  the  publication  of  the  works  of  Paracelsus  by  Huser 
was  undertaken  under  the  patronage  and  with  the  support  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Cologne.  Though  Paracelsus  claimed  allegiance  to 
the  Catholic  Church  and  died  and  was  buried  at  Salzburg  as  a 
Catholic,  yet  his  views  were  so  radical  and  so  severely  critical  of 
many  of  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Church,  that  their  publication 
could  hardly  have  been  possible  under  such  support  and  super- 
vision. Indeed  it  is  evident  that  any  wide  circulation  of  his  writ- 
ings would  have  brought  upon  him  the  severest  discipline  of  the 
Church.  Even  the  Lutheran  clerical  party  would  have  had  little 
sympathy  with  his  point  of  view.  It  is  quite  probable  indeed  that 
Paracelsus  himself  made  no  effort  to  print  them  but  rather  avoided 
their  publication,  preferring  merely  to  place  them  in  the  hands  of 
congenial  thinkers  or  to  leave  them  for  posterity. 

It  is  certain  that  the  revolt  of  his  contemporary  Luther,  and 
his  countryman  Zwingli,  as  well  as  the  critical  spirit  of  Erasmus 
exercised  a  great  influence  upon  Paracelsus — predisposed  by  nat- 
ural temperament  to  independent  and  free  thinking  and  criticism 
of  authority. 

It  should  be  kept  in  mind  also  that  severe  criticism  of  the 
orthodox  Church,  its  observances  and  corruption  was  quite  pre- 
valent even  before  the  time  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  Thus 
in  Italy  Macchiavelli  writing  about  1500  thus  freely  criticizes  the 
corruption  of  the  Church:  "Should  we  send  the  Curia  to  Switzer- 
land, the  most  religious  and  martial  of  countries,  that  experiment 
would  prove  that  no  piety  nor  warrior's  strength  could  resist  the 
l)aj)al  corruption  and  intrigue.  ..  .The  peoples  nearest  Rome  have 
least  religion.  ..  .We  Italians  have  to  thank  the  Church  and  the 
priests  that  wc  have  become  irreligious  and  corrupt."^ 

"'  For  stiitcmciits  as  to  evidence  of  aiUlicnticity  of  many  of  these  manu- 
scripts, cf.  Siullioff,  I'crsuch  cincr  Kritik  der  Echthcit  dcr  Paracclsischen 
Schriflcii,  Vol.  II,  Introduction. 

n  I'crsuch  etc.,  Vol.  II. 

T  VV.  Dilthey,  Arcliii'  fiir  Gcschichtc  dcr  Philosophic,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  636-7. 


PARACia.SUS  AS  A  Til  KOI.DGICAr.  WRITER. 


171 


ALTERIVS    NON     SIT     Q;/I     5W5    ESSE    POTEST 


AVKE  0LV5    PHILIPPVS 

AJB  HOHENHEIM, 

JeefmnaA'  nabilium ^emmj  P^RjICELSVS 


Qua  tntiLS  JJeLuim  clant  Erenuu  kamo. 
<fcc  ocmIos  t/2r  ore  bJit,  c-nm  plunma  Lrtyum 
Z>ucendi ^ybiJio  per  locaJ^sxJ  lUr 

J.  Tintortt   a3  Inuum  pirvnt 


THEOPHRASTVS   BOMBAST 

DJCTVS    PAR.'\CELSV'5 

Lujk^   njium  ct  rrujdiitm.  s^uzu  L^firo  anzt 

■Lut/urum 
Po/tqwe    Cuos-   tuftrvJUncnu,  Erairm,  roaoj 
■/Ijcm  iju  our  Jena  J'epunbnj   tua  Juiiujt: 
OjtaSi^Jburja    nurx    cuu-r^ (jUc jaunZ 

■F  Chauueau  Jculpsit. 


PARACELSUS  BY  TINTORETTO  (?).^ 
Engraved  by  F.  Chauveaii. 


*  May  be  by  an  artist  of  about  1520-25,  when  Paracelsus  was  in  the  Vene- 
tian wars.     Tintoretto  was  born  1518. 


172  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

So  also  Savonarola,  the  great  Dominican  monk — writing  in 
1493.  the  year  of  the  birth  of  Paracelsus:  "Go  to  Rome  and  through- 
out all  Christendom:  in  the  houses  of  the  great  prelates  and  the 
great  lords,  they  busy  themselves  with  nothing  but  poetry  and 
rhetoric.  Go  and  see,  you  will  find  them  with  humanistic  books 
in  their  hands ; — it  will  appear  as  if  they  knew  how  to  guide  souls 
by  \  irgil,  Horace,  and  Cicero.  With  Aristotle,  Plato,  \'irgil,  and 
Petrarch  they  feed  their  ears  and  do  not  trouble  themselves  about 
the  salvation  of  souls.  Why  do  they  not  teach  instead  of  so  many 
books,  that  one  in  which  is  contained  the  law  and  the  life."  The 
prelates,  said  Savonarola,  are  sunk  into  ambition,  shamelessness, 
and  luxury,  and  the  princes — ''their  palaces  and  courts  are  the 
refuge  of  all  beasts  and  monsters  of  the  earth,  asylums  for  all  ras- 
cals and  criminals.  These  stream  thither  because  they  find  there 
opportunity  and  incitement  to  give  free  rein  to  all  their  boundless 
desires  and  evil  passions.  . .  .and  what  is  worse,  there  also  may  be 
seen  churchmen  who  join  in  the  same  accord."^ 

Whatever  stimulus  may  have  been  given  to  the  unorthodox 
theology  of  Paracelsus  by  the  Protestant  Reformation,  it  is  evident 
that  he  was  not  less  critical  and  unsympathetic  toward  the  Lutheran 
interpretation  than  toward  the  Catholic.  This  is  evidenced  by  many 
passages  in  his  writings  wherein  he  refers  to  the  Protestant  leaders 
of  his  day  as  false  prophets,  etc. 

"Those  who  stand  with  the  Pope  consider  him  a  living  saint, 
those  who  stand  with  Arianus"  also  hold  him  for  a  righteous  man, 
those  who  hold  with  Zwingli  likewise  consider  him  a  righteous  man. 
those  who  stand  with  Luther  hold  him  to  be  a  true  prophet.  Thus 
the  people  are  deceived.  Every  fool  praises  his  own  motley.  He 
who  depends  on  the  Pope  rests  on  the  sand,  he  who  depends  on 
Zwingli  depends  on  hollow  ground,  he  who  depends  upon  Luther 
depends  on  a  reed.  They  all  hold  themselves  each  above  the  other, 
and  denounce  one  another  as  Antichrists,  heathens,  and  heretics, 
and  are  but  four  pairs  of  breeches  from  one  cloth.  It  is  with 
them  as  with  a  tree  that  has  been  twice  grafted  and  bears  white 
and  yellow  pears.  Whoever  opposes  them  and  speaks  the  truth, 
he  must  die.  How  many  thousands  have  they  strangled  and  caused 
to  be  strangled  in  recent  years."'" 

"They  pray  in  the  temples — but  their  prayer  is  not  acceptable 

"  Cf.  Paulsen:  Gcscliiclite  dcs  gclclirtcn  Unicrrichts,  2d  ed.,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
10-11. 

"  I)otil)ilcss  .'\riiis,  founder  of  the  Ariaii  heresy. 

'"Sudhoff.  I'crsuclt  etc.,  Vol.  II.  p.  411. 


PARACia.SUS  AS  A  TllVJ )\J )(,\(.\\.  WKITF.R.  173 

lo  God,  for  it  means  nothing,  and  they  are  altogether, — Papists, 
Lutherans,  Baptists,  ZwingHans: — they  all  boast  that  they  are  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  they  are  founded  on  the  Gospel.  Therefore 
they  cry  'I  am  right, — the  right  is  with  me,  I  declare  the  word  of 
God,  here  is  Christ  and  his  word  as  I  tell  it  you, — follow  me,  I  am 
he  who  brings  you  the  Gospel.'  Sec  what  an  abomination  among 
Philistines  this  is."'* 

More  specifically  may  be  judged  tlic  extent  of  his  departure 
from  the  doctrines  of  his  own  Church  in  such  ])assages  as  the 
following: 

"It  is  vain — the  daily  churchgoing  and  all  the  genuflection, 
bowing  and  observances  of  church  rules  by  clericals  and  the  wordly, 
■ — none  excepted. — all  a  vain  work  with  no  fruits, — the  will  and 
service  of  the  Devil, — opposed  to  Christ  and  the  Holy  Trinity. 
The  reasons? — the  Church  is  called  in  Latin  CathoUca  and  is  the 
spirit  of  all  true  believers,  and  their  coming  together  is  in  the 
Holy  Spirit.  These  are  all  in  the  faith,  that  is  in  the  fides  cathoUca, 
and  it  has  no  place  of  worship.  But  Ecclesia  is  a  wall"  [i.  e.,  the  true 
Church  is  in  the  spirit,  the  corrupt  Church  worships  in  walled  build- 
ings]. 

Continuing,  he  condemns  public  prayers  in  the  churches,  church- 
festivals  ("a  dance  of  devils") — "God  wishes  a  humble  and  contrite 
heart  and  no  devilish  holiday  observances,  offerings,  or  displavs." 
Fasting  in  the  "walled  churches'"  is  an  invention  of  the  Devil.  The 
giving  of  alms  in  the  churches  "does  not  serve  toward  eternal 
blessedness."  and  the  giving  of  alms  in  the  Catholic  churches  comes 
only  from  credulity  and  from  no  love  from  the  neighbor 'nor  for 
the  neighbor.  Pilgrimages,  dispensations,  "running  to  the  saints" 
are  all  in  vain  and  have  no  merit.  The  monastic  orders,  the  re- 
ligious orders  of  knighthood  and  the  like  are  inventions  of  the 
Devil  and  maintained  in  his  honor.  Spreading  the  faith  bv  the 
sword  is  from  the  Devil. 

"Who  can  presume  to  consecrate  and  bless  the  earth?  It  is 
God's  earth,  blessed  to.  bring  forth  fruit;  the  water  is  blessed  by 
God  to  quench  thirst,  to  breed  fish,  to  water  the  earth,  not  to 
sprinkle  to  banish  the  Devil  as  holy  water."'- 

Similar  points  of  view  are  found  expressed  in  his  printed 
works  though  naturally  with  less  of  detail  in  his  criticism. 

Thus  from  the  Paramiruni :  "God  will  only  have  the  heart. 
not  ceremonies.  . .  .For  every  man  is  with  God  a  neighbor  and  has 

"  Schubert-Sudhoff,  Paracehusforschiingcn,  Heft  II,  p.  153. 
12  Sudhoff,  Versuch  etc.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  338ff. 


174 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


full  power  to  take  up  his  affairs  with  God.     But  if  a  man  gives 
this  power  out  of  his  hands  and  does  not  keep  what  God  has  given 

♦  ALTERIVS  ]AO]/l  SIT  ♦  qj/1  SVV5  ES5E  POTEST^ 


/*  AVRZQU  ^THEOPHRASTI A  f\R  ^'HOHtNi:  ■ 


PARACELSUS  THREE  YEARS  BEFORE  HIS  DEATH.* 

him,   but   surrenders   it   to  another   and   seeks   it   again    from  that 
other,   then    he    falls   into   ceremonies   and   depends   upon   despair. 

*  This  portrait  and  the  one  following  are  by  Augustin  Hirschvogel  (c. 
1503-1569),  engraved  after  sketches  from  life.  The  signature  reproduced 
underneatli  reads :  "Theophrastus  von  Hohcnhcim,  der  Heiligen  Schrift  und 
beider  Arzneien  Doctor." 


PARACKI.SUS  AS  A  Til  KfM/KHCAl,  WKITKR. 


175 


For  every  ceremony  is  the  way  of  despair.  ...  For  if  we  have 
anything  to  receive  from  God  it  is  our  hearts  he  sees  and  not  the 
ceremonies.  If  he  has  given  us  anything,  he  does  not  wish  that 
we  should  employ  it  in  ceremonies  but  in  our  work.  For  he  gives 
it  for  no  other  purpose  but  that  we  should  love  God  with  all  our 
heart  and  our  might,  and  soul,  and  that  we  should  help  our  neighbor. 


PARACELSUS  IN  HIS  LAST  YEAR. 


If  that  which  he  has  given  us  helps  toward  that,  all  ceremonies  will 
be  forgotten. "^^ 

That  such  expressions  as  the  above  are  not  to  be  harmonized 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  to  which  he  claimed  allegiance 
would  appear  obvious.  The  Rev.  Raymund  Netzhammer  of  the 
Benedictine  order,  one  of  the  recent  biographers  of  Paracelsus, 
thus  expresses  himself  upon  this  point: 
13  Op.  fol.,  I,  114-115,  "Paramirum." 


170  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

"Far  more  in  the  domain  of  theology  than  even  in  medicine, 
does  Paracelsus,  who  sometimes  calls  himself  Doctor  of  Sacred 
Scrii)ture,  seem  to  recognize  no  authority,  but  to  consider  his  own 
thinking  and  philosophizing  as  authoritative  for  him.  That  with 
this  princij)le  of  free  investigation,  denying  every  authority,  even 
that  of  the  Church,  he  departed  from  the  foundations  of  Catholic 
doctrine  every  well-informed  person  knows.  But  not  only  by  this 
principle  as  such,  but  still  more  through  its  practical  development 
did  he  separate  himself  from  the  faith  of  his  fathers:  he  combatted 
the  hierarchical  establishment  of  the  Church,  the  power  of  the  keys, 
its  monastic  orders,  its  ceremonies,  its  public  prayers  and  devotions. 
He  rejected  preaching  among  Christians,  who  should  teach  them- 
selves from  the  Scriptures,  and  banished  the  apostles  and  preachers 
to  the  heathen ....  It  must,  however,  not  be  denied,  but  on  the 
contrary  emphasized  that  Theophrastus  possessed  a  very  high, 
though  unfortunately  too  mystical  a  concept  of  many  doctrines 
and  sacraments,  as  for  instance  of  hereditary  sin,  of  baptism  with 
its  inextinguishable  symbols,  and  notably  also  of  the  communion. 
Baptism  and  communion  are  for  him  the  two  principal  roads  which 
lead  to  Heaven."^* 

The  question  as  to  his  orthodoxy  has  been  viewed  differently 
by  his  biographers.  His  editor  Huser  mildly  defends  his  Catholi- 
cism. "Some  are  inclined  to  hold  him  in  suspicion  on  account  of 
his  religion,  because  in  various  places  he  speaks  in  opposition  to 
certain  abuses:  in  my  opinion  this  is  unjust,  for,  as  concerns  his  faith, 
it  is  well  known  that  he  did  not  separate  frorn  the  holy  Catholic 
and  Roman  Church,  but  remained  in  obedience  to  it.  as  the  Arch- 
bishopric and  City  of  Salzburg  can  bear  witness,  where  he  died  in 
the  year  1541.  a  Catholic  and  Christian  and  was  honorably  in- 
terred." 

Schubert  and  Sudhoff  summarize  the  results  of  their  studies 
into  the  life  and  character  of  Paracelsus  thus: 

"If  we  consider  his  attitude  toward  the  religious  parties  of  the 
time,  we  may  perhaps  find  that  in  the  years  before  1531  he  felt 
some  inclination  toward  the  Reformation  of  Luther  and  Zwingli. 
perhaps  only  in  so  far  as  he  presumed  in  them  who  had  broken 
in  matters  of  faith  with  ancient  tradition,  a  greater  sympathy  also 
with  his  reform  ideas  in  the  domain  of  medicine  and  natural 
science.  ..  .Later — after  the  year  LS31 — there  is  no  further  talk 
of  sparing  the  Protestants.  On  the  contrary,  if  he  also  combatted 
the  Roman  hierarchy,  the  external  forms  of  worship  and  other 
1*  Nctzhammcr,  op.  cil.,  pp.  128-9. 


PARACELSUS  AS  A  THEOLOGICAL  WRITER.  177 

ceremonials,  he  yet  rejects  all  dissenting  relif(ious  ];arties  as  'sects,' 
almost  even  more  violently."''^' 

Though  none  of  the  theological  papers  of  Paracelsus  was  pub- 
lished during  his  life,  so  far  as  is  known,  yet  his  views  were  more 
or  less  known,  either  from  manuscript  copies,  or  from  his  free 
oral  expressions,  and  evidently  brought  upon  him  the  displeasure 
and  disapproval  of  Catholic  authorities.  Evidence  as  to  this  appears 
in  a  manuscript  among  the  collection  examined  by  SudhofT  and  pub- 
lished in  large  part  in  his  volume  on  the  manuscripts  of  Paracelsus. 

The  extract  translated  below  is  so  eminently  characteristic  of 
his  point  of  view  in  theological  matters  and  so  well  illustrates  his 
relation  at  the  time  to  the  orthodox  theology,  that  it  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  expressions  of  his  spiritual  experience. 

"Your  daily  disputations  and  sharp  attacks  upon  me  on  account 
of  my  truth-speaking,  namely,  that  I  have  sometimes  and  several 
times  in  taverns,  inns,  and  roadhouses  spoken  against  useless  church- 
going,  luxurious  festivals,  vain  praying  and  fasting,  giving  of  alms, 
offerings,  tithes,.  . .  .confession,  partaking  of  the  sacrament,  and  all 
other  priestly  rules  and  observances,  and  have  accused  me  of 
drunkenness  on  account  of  this,  because  this  has  taken  place  in 
the  taverns,  and  the  taverns  are  held  to  be  inappropriate  places  for 
the  truth ; — and  that  you  call  me  a  corner-preacher ; — Why  do  you 
do  this  to  me  at  this  time,  when  you  were  silent  and  well  pleased 
when  in  the  taverns  I  advised  people  to  give  offerings  to  you  and 
to  follow  you  and  not  speak  against  you?  If  that  was  proper  in  the 
inns  and  was  of  service  to  you, — then  let  it  please  you  now  that  the 
truth  is  spoken  in  the  inns.  For  then  in  the  inns  I  was  a  believer 
in  you,  but  now  I  am  a  believer  in  Christ  and  no  longer  in  you. 
And  if  I  came  into  the  inns  with  you,  then  I  would  say  to  these 
same  people,  'Guard  yourselves  against  false  prophets  and  deceivers 
who  are  sent  by  the  Devil.'  I  would  never  again  speak  of  giving 
to  you,  but  of  taking  away  from  you,  the  usurped  power  which 
you  have  long  exercised  through  the  Devil's  power.  .  .  .Also  you  say 
of  me  that  I  have  just  sense  enough  to  reason  with  peasants.  . .  . 
You  say  I  should  go  amongst  the  doctors  at  Lowen  [Louvain]. 
Paris,  Vienna,  Ingolstadt,  Cologne,  where  I  should. have  real  per- 
sons under  my  eyes,  not  peasants,  not  tradesmen,  but  masters  of 
theology.  Know  then  my  answer  to  this :  to  those  will  come  their 
own  equals.  If  it  be  not  I,  it  will  be  another,  but  my  teaching  and 
my  witnessing  for  Christ  will  come  forth  and  overcome  them. 
Christ  never  came  to  Rome,  yet  Rome  is  His  vicar ;  St.  Peter  never 
15  Schubert-Sudhofif,  op.  cit..  Heft  II,  pp.  152-3. 


178  THE  OPEN    COUKT. 

came  to  Cologne,  yet  he  is  her  patron  saint,  and  if  in  the  end  I  do  not 
come  that  is  not  my  fanlt.  For  the  teaching  is  not  mine,  it  is  from 
Christ.  He  will  send  a  Netherlands  messenger  if  I  cannot  speak 
the  language,  and  to  those  of  \'ienna  and  Ingolstadt  he  will  send 
their  countrymen,  and  the  truth  will  be  born  amongst  them  and 
through  them  will  come  to  light  and  not  through  me.  And  when 
I  am  dead  the  doctrine  will  live  on,  for  it  is  of  Christ,  who  dieth 
not.  And  if  I  were  at  Louvain  and  at  Paris  it  is  not  me  they  would 
punish, — upon  which  you  count, — they  would  but  punish  Christ  and 
not  me.  Yet  I  believe  that  my  speaking  to-day  will  be  heard  by 
them  as  well  as  if  I  had  spoken  in  their  presence.  For  Christ  does 
not  let  his  word  be  lost  at  any  time.  Nor  does  he  let  it  lie  hidden, 
it  must  go  forward.  It  is  not  for  one  alone,  it  must  be  spread 
abroad.     Everything  must  be  opened  to  it. 

"You  complain  much  and  loudly  that  I  have  made  the  peasants 
contumacious,  so  that  they  never  make  offerings  and  care  little  for 
you  or  not  at  all.  Consider, — if  my  speech  were  from  the  Devil, 
they  would  follow  you  and  not  me.  But  as  they  follow  me  and 
not  you  believe  no  else  than  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  in  them  which 
teaches  them  to  recognize  your  character,  trickery,  and  great  false- 
hoods. For  I  have  not  invented  anything  myself. — what  I  have 
said  that  is  from  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  the  Gospel.  ..  .and  has 
been  the  Gospel  from  the  time  of  Christ  till  this  day.  But  your 
trickery  is  more  ancient — from  Cain  and  from  the  old  hypocrites  and 
bishops.  The  new  [Gospel]  is  true,  the  old  false.  The  new  con- 
demns the  old,  not  the  old  the  new.  Were  the  Old  Testament 
from  which  you  take  all  your  deceptions  fully  good  and  true,  Christ 
would  not  have  renewed  it  again."'® 

The  doctrines  of  theology  which  Paracelsus  accepted  appear 
not  only  from  the  above  strong  statement  but  consistently  from 
numerous  extracts  throughout  his  works  to  be  his  own  literal  inter- 
pretation of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  He  asked  for  no  intermediate 
authority  to  interpret  to  him  their  meaning,  and  entertained  no 
doubts  as  to  the  correctness  of  his  own  rendering.  That  he  was 
deeply  impressed  with  the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  often 
shows  itself,  particularly  in  its  practical  relation  to  the  service  of 
man  toward  his  fellow.  Love  and  helpfulness  for  the  neighbor, 
the  poor,  and  the  sick  are  frequent  themes  of  his  appeals. 

Among  the  manuscripts  which  Sudhoff  has  reproduced  is  a 
sermon  containing  an  autobiographical  fragment,  manifestly  written 

1"  SiidhofF,  Versuch  etc.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  Zii^.  "Dc  scptem  punctis  Idolatriae 
Christianae." 


PARACii;r.su.s  as  a  TirKor.oorcAL  writer.  179 

in  his  later  years,  which  is  retrospective  and  introspective,  and  so 
completely  in  accord  with  the  known  facts  of  the  life  of  Paracelsus, 
that  it  hears  the  strongest  possihle  internal  evidence  of  genuineness. 
The  manuscript  is  at  Leyden  and  is  a  copy  made  between  1590  and 
1610.  Copies  of  somewhat  later  date  exist  also  in  Copenhagen, 
Salzburg  and  the  British  Museum,  the  latter  in  a  Latin  version. 

For  the  estimation  of  the  personality  and  mental  experiences 
of  Paracelsus,  it  is  too  important  to  be  omitted. 

"As  I  have  undertaken  to  write  of  the  blessed  life  of  Christian 
faith,  it  has  not  seemed  proper  to  attempt  to  portray  that  without 
this  introduction.  ..  .Therefore  I  have  undertaken  to  write  this 
preface  to  the  blessed  life  of  Christian  experience  that  I  may  excuse 
my  delay  in  writing  this  book,  as  I  began  working  upon  it  in  the 
twentieth  year  [1520].  Why  I  have  so  long  postponed  and  delayed 
has  not  happened  without  reasons.  One  of  these  is  that  youth 
should  not  come  forward  before  its  proper  time,  as  nothing  should 
appear  before  its  time,  but  should  await  the  determined  hour 
toward  which  we  all  progress.  For  another  reason,  not  only  my 
youth,  but  that  other  matters  of  my  profession  have  prevented  me, 
namely  that  astronomy,  medicine,  and  works  in  philosophy  had  to 
be  described,  that  is  to  say,  that  which  concerns  the  Light  of 
Nature,  so  that  I  had  to  leave  for  a  later  harvest  the  Sacred 
Writings  ; — that  they  might  be  well  ripened,  they  have  been  postponed 
to  the  end  and  the  lessser  things  completed  first.  These  are  two 
reasons  that  have  strongly  influenced  me.  But  not  only  from  these 
causes  has  the  delay  arisen,  but  much  more  from  this  that  I  was 
raised  and  grew  up  in  great  poverty  so  that  my  resources  have  not 
permitted  me  to  act  according  to  my  desires. 

"And  even  when  I  had  nearly  finished  there  arose  in  my  affairs 
public  and  private,  much  opposition  which  has  lain  on  my  shoulders 
alone,  and  there  has  been  no  one  to  hold  back  and  shield  for  me. 
For  very  strange  kinds  of  people  have  persecuted  and  accused  me 
and  hindered  me  and  discredited  me,  so  that  I  have  had  little  repu- 
tation among  men  but  rather  contempt.  For  my  tongue  is  not  built 
for  chattering  but  for  work  and  for  the  truth.  That  is  the  reason 
that  I  have  not  counted  for  much  with  the  logicians  and  dialecticians 
in  medicine,  philosophy,  and  astronomy.  Also  their  pomp  and  dis- 
play and  fine  speeches  for  princes  and  the  rich, — I  have  been  noth- 
ing like  that,  and  have  therefore  been  forsaken.  So  also  has  greatly 
tormented  me  the  winning  of  my  bread  [dcr  Pfliig  mciner  Nahning]. 
For  the  world  is  not  to  be  gained  by  astronomy,  as  it  has  little  value 
except   for  itself,  nor  by  medicine,  as  it  has  not  power  over  all 


180 


THE  OPEN   COURT. 


Wcr  hocJi^ckrc  niJ  ticfsm/i/a  naCun.         n  /».«'/ 

henkmn,  betderjrtzaieicn  '/)or^r 


i2' 


loi  oirJtant  ■mtmfmncttaciL:  -nyitn 


jtU  Ptflili7rtx,Sd'!«g,Fi>lknd/uche, 
JlufsaLy-tmi  Zigifrfci  Verruclit, 
Sati^t  nire  krmMeit  tnmchertrc 
t&r  iT^ehcile  itr  htchgtlare 
'iitt txtrfrin  lUr  Mtltre/, 
So  chfser  m  iler^irezrnef 
ft  r  vnJ  naci  /Mm  h finer  hm , 
I'iT  Ihm  hierm  dinjrns  teaam 
Jtuffcs  ianmhvtmTtupJf^nt, 
Htfitlb p/ fha ,  !ichnm,»ch  nan 
Encdicke  <lerKwi/?niaihm  all, 
Jtjffhrmch,  alya-^TtpiJgmttn  fall 


TOO  if\idSSd(t/hjtmon.  ai 
ihmJjefiaUiT,  /151A  insculfi 

ooNDrrvR  mc  pHiLippvf;  the 

OPHiA5TV5  TNSIGNIS  ^fEDICIKfli 
DOCTOR, QVl  DIRA  nXAVVU<ERA 
LEPRAM.POEAGRAMHl-DRDPISIM. 
AIIAQV'E  IKyAKABIIIA  CORPORIS 
CONTAOA  MDUFrCA  AHIE  S-VST\xrr, 
.AC  BONA.  S\A  IN  PAVPEKES  DISTKIBVtDA 
COLbOCANDAgVE  ROfKOBAVIT.  AKNO  M  O 


Ob  era Kilgn  ScWiffiJhiitre, 
lArJc  auifimn  htchen gnitg frthm - 
Dan  aiuseim  tc/  iierhaJirt/SnKn 

Jits -mm  rOmlv^ErJn  i/t , 
iOu/t  J,e/?rD<x^hr  zaUcr  fhif. 
Vich  var  tr  ft  ait  drr  fchKanzr  ha/f. 
Die  mm  Vm  huchage  at  mgunft . 
Auch  thilcfyhisch  firm  httgiadic, 
Dowf  <he  Tnntcin  tnJer  hnckc 
Vm  deet.Dtrzu  the  grclm  mecatt 
Kit  erfeu,  smien  kemen  all 
JxtHher  vnim  rttes  Cfslc 
Vfr  vi!r  nmfctchcm  nchc  fim  Mc . 
J^t  afl  sein^c  den  armev^eie^  , 
Cjcr^ebjlm /erz  <Ut  emgtehn 


:?5 


I 


o 


_  Fhilosophische  vndBiblischeSprud>eTheophra/ii . 

<2j>ait lalcnhieeht itlmnMr/mller fir/u:H.',^cn UntEem .    Qtt p/U.frtlinme^haauDewemfhlaefienamewgt 


__yffi^irt-  gain  svjrven  Qatj  SiesTcvfeh  aler  fiitit  em^it 
♦  Jchigtmi icUaefgaan.  'mtfhiJa,  daxiu  allnxJUirr Mfprfi- Jasjch  ttcher  wir.e^ 


I  tQ.l.-)<  vc V iu  laeiaE.'iftfir hhe, r»V er mric mc*  fenacb  a-Jjer erjen'aifmprzteii, vtid»<rie  fienui wot, 
Ctnnthtx  Et  fade  iir.  fienichn  vtnrierlqgatm  vn  Qttgegeien,  eaem jeJen  luuh/faitr  eWAoj^.  ahrr  iarb  nnoi  ger/t . 
r~huh  i^Drr  mrnsch  vem  veiie  gebtren  lebee  em  harz e  ■Leit.vniiii  rat itrnJie^^eirc  aafiere  em  b/m  vnifcic »b  ert 
'^ — beflvahre-znt-.iiezol/hxi'wimJnftebechf/Jjr.iihnflrmuel^eteezclisirvrdeernc'       ' 


JP«i.  J,  .MirhhrlcT,  mrb  Jtt 
OlcTO.  n.iefir  ieiner  lebbmfmer,  vndheiurfMt  mfilhcr 


emJte  mje  nor  baben  mUs, 

--,■-  -, , , — rjintr fhrh  vH fiHer  leben  mrJS 

Jannl  mUbn  utirfhriexftfijt  nr  JuUareM .       SeJegnnfiJci  lot  £e  lOelc  vberimdea  ._/< 


wrjfcf  i-itrjehen.  • 
leira  m  ziel  bate,  vnjjeh  itauca  mufi  . 
leiex  Btr  rfn»  I/rrrrt/ttrien  inr/s/Arioi  »iri 


nETPOy  MOPEAAOY. 

EUoif  raxSfiimm  Gfo0^«oi  HafcixiXe 
"liiK^va  -rill  (JuOTu!  J/M^f (yuy  TOp»<roXi 

K  ax  -oaXmiSv  Te  x(Woy  (U<<u;  xcfu^uinyASjjvii. 
I,lft/iru<  7  ocinulj  av  iri  troiSt?  iSk^v  . 

Tif t'zxu^ £Ma; , ii/  ^«ta  ^t/iie  hnpSi^soA  m. 

Tiii  fxsiBaf  flaO^UK,  yupti  xtveftumi,  ijiwW, 

TiiiuaCMtfiiOjcK^uaUKtuttfx/a  Hpit  , 

Wi  t  iimam!y<,,m<~jX,  7'iniiptr»aTi  larOifi, 
He  cii  iiar  ivmtf.uiti'iri  6MS/>i&~' . 


GILLH  PrNAYT^UCSS© 

^Twcm  ytienr^raeKr  ccntnr^arevivT^mon 

CimTaraceffiim  ccntfieii  effyiem.  ■ 
Trj/ca  tetace  tuant  qttor^uef  cAirt^tvimtaiB 

(^rtwn:^erTrjMnus  eentmet  vmts  /ramo  ■ 
Alter  J^rr^ca  ^^ylnae^r^vroi^e  er* 

JjlgemoAi^uas  ju  tSijtirfit yes  . 
TlEus  eJct^TrtrJcntari  Ascera  tertK^  ,. 

'£.xee&ftc_potnjr*ndrrc  tnr^JiC . 
•S-ifue  Ttutntart  hoc  tenir  Cae^/ha  &ai , 

n^rjfc^ns  /snfu  enemermre  £es 

IMus  et~£tTi^fTc  jun^jm-ere  rtemfet 

yi  (fer/us  v^jG  fa  tuuT^cj!, 


BROADSIDE  ON  PARACELSUS   (before  1606). 
Engraved  by  Balthasar  Jeniclicn  after  originals  by  1  lirschvogcl. 


PARACKI.SdS  AS  A  TUE()].()(:]C.\].  WKITKU.  181 

diseases,  nor  by  philosophy  [i.  c,  natural  pliilosophy|  Hkewise,  as 
it  is  held  in  contempt,  but  by  tradesmen's  wealth  and  courtly  man- 
ners.    That  has  been  a  cross  to  me  and  still  is  to  this  day. 

"Nor  has  all  this  been  the  least:.  .  .  .^fhe  other  [reason]  is  so 
great  that  I  can  hardly  describe  it, — that  is  the  greatest  cause  which 
has  hindered  me  from  writing, — that  I  have  not  been  considered  a 
true  Christian, — that  has  troubled  me  severely.  For  because  I  am 
a  creature  of  God.  redeemed  by  His  blood  and  through  it  have 
received  food  and  drink  in  the  new  birth, — that  has  seemed  suffi- 
cient to  me  to  make  me  a  true  Christian. 

"But  there  has  arisen  against  me  another  crowd  and  faction 
who  say,  'Thou  as  a  layman,  as  a  peasant,  as  a  common  man, 
shouldst  not  speak  of  such  things  as  pertain  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, but  shouldst  listen  to  us — to  what  we  tell  you  and  hold  to  that, 
and  shouldst  listen  to  no  others  nor  read  anything  except  us  alone !' 
I  was  thus  forced  into  a  delay, — I  hardly  dared  to  stir,  for  they 
were  powerful  in  this  world, — I  had  to  endure  it  as  one  who  must 
lie  under  the  stairs. 

"But  nevertheless  when  I  read  the  cornerstone  of  Christendom 
and  heard  the  preaching  and  disputations  of  the  others  (it  was 
like  a  miller  and  a  coal-heaver  against  each  other),  it  became 
necessary  for  me  and  manifest  that  I  should  accept  rather  the 
truth  than  lies,  rather  righteousness  than  unrighteousness,  rather 
light  than  darkness,  rather  Christ  than  Satan.  When  I  perceived 
the  difference  I  let  the  opposition  go  without  contradiction  and 
accepted  for  myself  the  Christian  cornerstone.  As  I  then  found 
that  in  the  layman,  in  the  common  man,  in  the  peasant  (which 
name  they  employ  when  they  would  abuse  their  opponents  most 
scornfully),  the  perfection  of  the  blessed  Christian  life  most  abides, 
and  not  at  all  in  those  others,  then  I  began  to  write  of  the  truth 
of  the  life  of  Christ.  When  I  had  then  finished  the  writing  and 
concluded  with  much  hope,  there  broke  out  the  division  of  the 
kingdom  of  this  world  as  it  now  is  [i.  e.,  the  Reformation?].  So 
I  d:layed  and  took  pause — postponed  it  till  another  autumn  and 
harvest.  It  has  now  seemed  good  to  me  to  make  an  end,  and  so 
to  close  with  these  books,  the  fruits  of  the  seed  which  has  been 
with  me  from  the  beginning. 

"Therefore  I  have  included  in  one  work  the  relation  of  Chris- 
tians to  the  blessed  life  and  likewise  the  relation  of  Christians  to 
the  unblessed  life.  ..  .Those  in  the  unblessed  life  are  great,  are 
arrogant, — they  own  the  world,  it  is  theirs, — they  are  the  children 
of  the  light  of  the  world.     But  the  blessed — they  have  not  the 


182  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

world — but  they  have  their  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world 
but  of  the  Eternal,  and  with  the  Eternal :  where  two  of  the  blessed 
life  are  together,  there  is  Christ  the  third.  Those  are  the  riches 
that  they  have  in  this  world.  And  although  those  who  have  opposed 
me  have  greatly  hindered  me.  they  have  not  suspected  what  has 
lain  in  my  pen ; — I  have  kept  my  mouth  closed,  that  the  storm  and 
the  thunderbolt  should  not  strike  me  to  earth.  Thereby  I  have 
brought  it  forward  till  this  day  and  have  not  troubled  myself  about 
them,  but  have  held  companionship  with  the  common  people  of 
whom  they  are  ashamed  and  ha\c  myself  therefore  been  despised. 
This  has  been  my  preparation  for  this  work."'" 


THE  TAOIUD  OX   DREA^FS. 

I'.V   JL'LIL'S    J.    PRICK. 

THE  human  mind  has  at  all  times  sought  to  arrive  at  some  ex- 
planation of  what  on  the  surface  appears  mysterious  or  wonder- 
ful. Man  through  the  centuries  of  his  development  has  endeavored 
to  account  for  these  strange  phenomena  of  his  sleeping  hours  that 
we  call  dreams.^  The  suspension  of  the  will-power  clothes  the  ideas 
with  reality ;  and,  as  a  result,  one  man  acts  many  parts.^  The  phe- 
nomenon of  dreams  has  not  only  occupied  the  minds  of  the  super- 
stitious, but  it  has  engaged  the  careful  attention  and  earnest  study 
of  the  scientist''  as  well  as  the  scholar.*  by  reason  of  its  points  of 
contact"'  with  other  mental  conditions.'"'  A  scientific  study  of  dreams 
proves  that  there  is  a  similitude  between  the  suspension  of  the 
higher  mental  activities  known  as  the  dreaming  state,  and  the  in- 
stinctive state  of  human  development  observed  in  the  lower  orders 
of  human  and  animal  life. 

T)Ut  though  these  phenomena  might  seem  to  the  average  man 
of  to-day  to  be  but  a  "state  of  mind.""  yet  we  find  that  even  such 

'■  Siulhoff,  J'crsitcli  etc..  Vol.  II,  pp.  406-408. 

1  Plutarch,  De  flacitis  philosophorum,  V,  2,  pp.  904f. 

-  Xenoplion,  Cyrop.,  VIII,  21 ;  cf.  also  Cicero,  Dc  diviii.,  I,  30-63. 

3  Aristotle,  De  hisomniis,  II. 

*  .T^^schyhis,  Prom.,  485 f. 

^  Hcsiod,  Theog.,  211;  also  Euripides,  I  ph.  Taur.,  1262. 

"  Maimonides  however  rcpardcd  dreams  as  a  form  of  prophecy;  see  Guide 
of  the  Perplexed,  tr.  by  M.  Friedlander,  p.  240. 

T  Cf.  Odyssey,  XIX.  562f.  tr.  by  Butcher  and  Lang. 


Tin-:  TALMUD  ON   DREAMS.  183 

a  cyclopedic  work  as  the  Tulmiul  has  endeavorcfl  to  give  an  ex- 
planation of  tlie  observed  facts.  Let  us  then  Ijriefly  see  what  the 
Rabbis  have  to  say  on  the  siiljject. 

In  one  passage  we  lind  that  the  Rabbis  are  of  the  opinion  that 
we  dream  at  night  what  we  think  in  the  daytime.  Rabbi  Jonathan 
said:**  "It  is  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  during  the  day  which  appear 
to  a  man  in  a  dream  ;  for  it  is  said :  'As  for  thee,  O  King,  thy  thoughts 
come  into  thy  mind  upon  thy  bed'  (Dan.  ii.  29)."  Rava  observed: 
"It  must  be  so ;  for  they  never  show  to  a  man  a  golden  tree  or  an 
elephant  passing  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,"  inasmuch  as  man 
never  thinks  of  these. 

The  expression,  "thoughts  of  his  heart,"  sounds  like  an  antici- 
pation of  the  Freudian  theory  of  "wish-fulfilment."  Is  Professor 
Freud  acquainted  with  this  interpretation  of  dreams  in  the  Talmud, 
and,  if  so,  may  he  not  possibly  have  been  unconsciously  influenced 
thereby  ? 

A  further  utterance  of  the  kind  we  have  referred  to  is  to  be 
found  in  several  other  passages  of  the  Talmud,  one  of  which  reads 
as  follows:"  "Caesar  said  to  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Chananyah  [who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Trajan]  :  'You  say  that 
you  are  exceedingly  wise ;  tell  me  what  I  shall  see  in  my  dream.' 
He  replied :  'You  shall  dream  that  the  Persians  will  make  you  work 
for  them,  spoil  you,  and  make  you  tend  cattle  with  a  golden  crosier.' 
He  thought  of  it  the  whole  day  and  saw  it  at  night."  The  Talmud 
has  still  another  passage,  as  proof  of  the  above,  in  the  following: 
"Shevur,  the  king  of  Persia  [perhaps  this  is  none  other  than  Sapor'° 
who  took  A'alerian  prisoner] ,  once  said  to  Samuel  the  Babylonian : 
'You  say  that  you  are  exceedingly  wise ;  tell  me  what  I  shall  see  in 
my  dreams  ?'^^  He  replied :  'You  shall  see  the  Romans  come  and 
take  you  prisoner  and  compel  you  to  grind  date-kernels  with  golden 
grinders.'     He  thought  of  it  the  whole  day  and  saw  it  at  night." 

In  another  instance  we  find  that  the  Rabbis  are  of  the  opinion 
that  it  is  not  the  dreams  but  the  interpretation  that  we  give  of 
dreams  that  is  really  realized.^-  Thus  Rabbi  Beris  related  of  the 
aged  Rabbi  Benaab  that  "one  day  he  went  to  all  the  twenty-four 
interpreters  at  Jerusalem  to  tell  them  his  dream.  Each  gave  a 
different    interpretation    and    each    was    fulfilled — which,    says    the 

8  Berachoth,  55b.  °  Berachotli,  56a. 

10  Meyer's  Ancient  History,  Part  II,  p.  149,  note  1. 

"  Berachoth,  56a. 

12  Cf.  Apuleius,  Mctam.,  IV,  910;  ibid.,  II,  125. 


184  THE  OPEN   COUKT. 

rabiji,  coiihrms  the  sayinjjj  that  it  is  the  interpretation  and  not  the 
dream  that  is  reahzed."'"' 

The  Rabbis  give  various  interpretations  of  the  jjhenomena  sup- 
posed to  have  been  seen  in  dreams.  In  one  case  I  find  that  the 
Rabl)is  state:  "If  one  dreams  that  he  is  excommunicated  he  requires 
ten  tnen  to  absolve  him."'*  Another  passage  reads  as  follows: 
"Among  the  four  wise  men.''  he  that  secth  Rabbi  Yochanan  ben 
Xuri  in  a  dream  may  hope  to  be  a  sin-eschewing  man;  if  Rabbi 
l-lleizer  ben  Azaryah.  he  may  hope  to  be  a  great  and  rich  man  ;  if 
Rabbi  Ishmael,  he  may  hope  to  l)e  a  wise  man  ;  if  Rabbi  Akiba.  let 
him  appreiiend  misfortune." 

The  Rabbis  also  give  an  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of 
various  animals  seen  in  a  dream.  For  example,  we  read:  "He  that 
seeth  a  goose"'  in  a  dream  may  hope  for  wisdom:  for  it  is  said: 
AVisdom  crieth  in  the  streets'  (Prov.  i.  20)  [and  so  do;s  a  goose]. 
rr?!;  Nnni  will  be  made  the  head  of  a  seat  of  learning.'"  At  this 
Rabbi  .\shi  remarked :  'I  had  such  a  dream  and  was  thus  promoted.'  " 

In  another  passage  we  read  as  follows:  "If  one  sees  a  dog  in 
a  dream,  let  him  when  awake  say:  'Rut  against  any  of  the  children 
of  Israel  shall  not  a  dog  move  his  tongue'  (Ex.  xi.  7),  before  he 
is  anticipated  by  the  text:  'Th?y  are  greedy  dogs'  (Is.  Ivi.  11).  If 
he  sees  a  lion  in  a  dream  let  him  when  awake  say:  'The  lion  hath 
roared,  who  will  not  fear?"  (Amos  iii.  8),  before  he  is  anticipated 
by  the  text:  'The  lion  is  come  u])  from  his  thicket'  (Jer.  iv.  7). 
If  he  sees  a  bullock  in  a  dream,  let  him  when  awake  say:  'His  glory 
is  like  the  firstling  of  his  bullock'  (Dent,  xxxiii.  17),  before  he  is 
anticipated  by  the  text:  'If  an  ox  gore  a  man'  (Ex.  xxi.  28)."'* 

In  two  cases  we  find  that  dreams'"  accurately  foretold  events 
that  were  to  occur  in  the  lives  of  several  of  the  Rabbis.-"  "Ben 
Damah,  the  son  of  Rabbi  Ishmael's  sister,  said  to  his  uncle:  'I  have 
seen  in  a  dream  both  my  cheeks  drop  off.'  The  latter  replird:  Two 
Roman  military  bands  have  resolved  to  do  thee  mischief,  but  they 
died!'  P.ar  Kappora  said  to  Rabbi  Judah-han-Xasi :  T  have  seen 
in  a  dream  my  nose  drop  off.'  The  Rabbi  replied:  'Some  one's 
anger  against  thee  has  been  subdued.'  'I  have  seen  in  a  dream 
both  my  hands  cut  off.'     He  rejilicd :  'Thou  wilt  be  spared  manual 

'3  Berachoth,  55b.  '*  Nedarim,  8a. 

If'  Avoth  d'Rav.  Nathan,  Cliap.  XLI.  "'  Rcrachotli.  57a. 

'■'The  words  given  in  Hebrew  are  untranslatable,  but  tboir  import  can 
easily  be  ascertained  by  reference  to  a  lexicon. 

'"Berachoth,  56b.  '»  Cf.  Pliitarcli,  / '//.  Pclop.,  XXI. 

2«Cf.  ^schylus,  Bum.,  104,  and  Pindar,  Frag.  108  (Bcrgk). 


Till':  T.\l..\Ii;i)  ox    DKICAMS.  185 

labor.'"-'  Another  example  is  found  in  the  following  f|Uotation : 
"Rahl)i  Yochanan  hen  Zakai  saw  in  a  dream,  the  night  following 
the  Day  of  Atonement,  that  his  sister's  son  would  lose  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  denars  in  the  course  of  a  year.--  Tie  therefore 
asked  them  again  and  again  for  sums  of  money  to  he  given  to  the 
poor,  till,  on  the  eve  of  the  next  Day  of  Atonement  seventeen  denars 
remained  with  them  of  the  sum  they  were  destined  to  lose.-"'  On 
that  very  day  the  government  of  Csesar  demanded  seventeen  denars 
of  them.  Rabbi  Yochanan  told  them  that  they  need  not  fear  lest 
more  should  be  exacted  from  them.  'And  how  dost  thou  know  it?' 
they  asked.-*  He  told  them  of  his  dream  u^hich  had  induced  him 
to  make  them  distribute  the  doomed  money  in  charity.  'But  why,' 
they  asked,  'didst  thou  not  tell  us  of  it  before?'  'I  wanted  you,' 
said  he,  'to  give  the  money  from  a  pure  motive.'  " 

Various  counsels  are  given  by  the  Rabbis  as  to  what  is  to  be 
done  in  the  case  of  a  dream  being  forgotten  or  left  uninterpreted. 
The  following  would  take  place  when  a  dream  was  forgotten, 
according  to  the  interpretation  of  Mar  Zutra  and  Rabbi  Ashi : 
"Whosoever  has  had  a  dream  and  cannot  call  it  to  mind,  let  him 
stand  before  the  priests  when  they  spread  out  their  hands  to  bless 
the  people,  and  say :  'Lord  of  the  Universe,  I  am  Thine  and  my 
dreams  are  Thine ;  I  have  dreamed  a  dream  and  know  not  what 
it  is ;  wh-ther  I  have  dreamed  about  myself,  whether  my  neighbors 
have  dreamed  about  me,  or  whether  I  have  dreamed  about  others ; 
if  the  dreams  be  good,  strengthen  and  confirm  them,  like  the 
dreams  of  Joseph ;  if  they  require  healing,  heal  them  as  the  bitter 
waters  were  by  Moses,  as  Miriam  was  healed  of  leprosy.  Hezekiah 
of  his  illness,  and  the  waters  of  Jericho  by  Elisha.  and  as  Thou 
didst  turn  the  curse  of  the  wicked  Balaam  into  a  blessing,  so  turn 
all  my  dreams  into  good.'  "-'  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  man  had 
dreamed,  and  his  dream  was  interpreted  as  of  ill  omen,  the  Rabbis 
prescribed  as  follows.  Rabbi  Chanan  said :  "A  man  should  not 
despair  of  mercy,  even  when  the  master  of  dreams  has  told  him  that 
he  should  die  to-morrow ;  for  it  is  said :  'In  the  multitude  of  dreams, 
and  many  vanities  and  words,  fear  but  God'  (Eccles.  v.  7).""-'' 

While  the  Rabbis  at  various  times  stated  that  dreams  were  of 
comparatively  small  significance,  and  in  many  cases  that  little  atten- 

21  Berachoth,  S6b. 

22  Cf.  Plato,  Crito,  44b;   also  Herodotus,   III,   124,  and   Plutarch,   Cimon 
XVIII,  p.  490. 

23  Cf.  Iliad,  XXIII,  65 ;  also  Odyssey,  IV,  796f,  and  XIX,  536f. 

24  Bava  Bathra.  10a. 

25  Berachoth,  55b.  2c  Berachoth,  10b. 


186  THE  OPEN   COL-RT. 

tion  was  to  be  paid  to  them,  yet  I  have  found  Oiie  instance  where 
the  Rabbis  urge  the  interpretation  of  dreams.  For  according  to 
Rabbi  Chisda  a  dream  not  interpreted  is  Hke  a  letter  not  read,  [of 
no  consequence,  says  Rashi.  for  all  depends  upon  the  interpreta- 
tion] ;  if  so.  Joseph  was  guilty  of  deliberate  murder.  Rabbi  Chisda 
further  said:  "Neither  a  good  dream  nor  a  bad  dream  is  wholly 
realized" :  again.  "A  bad  dream  is  better  than  a  good  dream ;  for 
a  bad  dream  is  neutralized  by  the  sadness  it  causes,  and  a  good 
dream  is  realized  by  the  joy  it  brings."-^ 

We  s  e  then  that  although  some  Rabbis  regarded  dreams  as 
of  no  consequence,  yet  some.-**  on  the  other  hand,  were  able  to 
foretell  future  events'-"  as  well  as  ward  off  hardships  that  were  to 
come  upon  them.  Although  dreams  in  general  are  made  little  of, 
vet  people""'  from  the  earliest  times"  to  the  present  day  have  believed 
in  them  as  something  more  than  the  result  of  a  full  stomach  or  a 
cherished  thought. 


DREA^IS. 

P.V   T.    B.    STORK. 

APROPOS  of  Professor  Freud's  "Interpretation  of  Dreams," 
>  which  for  the  last  few  years  has  called  forth  considerable  dis- 
cussion. T  would  like  to  call  attention  to  a  theory  of  dreams  pub- 
lished some  years  ago,  whether  strictly  new  and  original  I  know  not, 
but  which  seems  at  least  simpler  and  less  open  to  the  charge  of 
being  fantastic. 

According  to  this  view,  dreams  arc  what  niiglU  l)c  called  blind 
perceptions ;.  that  is.  they  are  the  efforts  of  our  perceptive  faculty 
to  form  an  intelligible  p.rception  with  defective  materials.  An 
example  will  best  illustrate  the  idea. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  story  of  the  dreamer  who  dreamed 
ihat  he  had  enlisted  in  the  army,  was  guilty  of  some  grave  offense 
for  which  he  was  condemned  to  death,  and  was  just  about  to  be 

-■  ncniclwth,  55a. 

2s  Cf.  Pausanias,  IX,  xxxix.  5f,  wlierc  we  arc  told  tliat  the  oracles  of 
Trophonins  and  /Esculapius  were  drcam-oraclcs  wliere  the  sick  slept,  seeking 
means  of  cure,  and  wliere  those  who  desired  to  know  future  events  went  to 
(jhtain  it  tlirnngh  dreams. 

""  Xenophon.  writing  al)oiit  tlie  retreat  of  the  10.000,  states  that  he  con- 
stantly depended  on  dreams.     Cf.  liis  Hip  Inarch.,  I,  1 ;  also  Cyncgct.,  I,  If. 

''o  Hippocrates,  I,  63.3,  Dc  iusoniiiUs;  cf.  also  Artemidorus,  Oiicir,  passim. 

3i///«rf,  II.  322f. 


DREAMS.  187 

sliot.  The  sound  of  the  guns  of  the  execution  awakened  him  and 
he  heard  the  sound  of  a  door  slamming  with  a  loud  bang;  this  not 
only  aroused  him  from  his  slumber,  but  was  the  active  cause  of  his 
dream,  which  he  had  dreamed  in  the  interval  elapsing  between  the 
first  sound  of  the  slamming  door  and  his  actual  awakening:  of  this 
the  explanation  is  quite  easy  and  satisfactory. 

The  auditory  nerves  of  the  slumberer  had  conveyed  to  his  con- 
sciousness a  loud  sound ;  it  had  intruded,  so  to  speak,  on  a  con- 
sciousness empty  of  all  other  sensations,  and  the  perceptive  faculty 
working  in  an  automatic  way  had  endeavored  to  form  a  rational 
perception  of  the  sound,  but  with  no  other  material  than  the  sen- 
sation of  the  sound  itself.  This  was  impossible.  In  order  to  form 
a  rational  perception  of  the  sound  and  make  it  intelligible,  it  was 
absolutely  essential  to  have  other  sensations,  other  material,  to  build 
up  the  perception,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  real  sensations,  the 
perceptive  faculty  called  upon  memory  and  from  its  store  of  past 
sensations,  drew  the  materials  that  were  wanting,  supplied  guns  as 
the  source  of  the  sound  and  accounted  for  the  guns  by  the  rest  of 
the  events  of  the  enlistment,  misbehavior,  etc.,  these  latter  not 
being  perhaps  essential  to  the  immediate  perception  of  the  sound, 
but  required  by  the  sensations  or  material,  the  guns  etc.,  invented  to 
make  the  perception  of  the  sound  possible.  A  rational  perception 
of  a  sound  all  by  itself  is  impossible  for  the  mind,  it  cannot  perceive 
in  the  philosophical  sense  a  sound  by  itself  with  nothing  but  a  sound, 
no  sensation  from  any  other  organ  of  perception,  accompanying  it. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  sensation  of  sound  presented  to 
consciousness,  real,  persistent,  that  will  not  be  denied  or  set  aside, 
and  so  the  perceptive  faculty  must  do  something  with  it,  must  form 
an  intelligible  perception  containing  it,  and  so  for  want  of  any  other 
material,  it  catches  up  from  memory  any  odd  or  end  that  will  help 
make  it  rational,  much  as  a  woman  might  take  up  from  her  work- 
table  any  piece  of  finery  or  stuff  to  complete  a  garment.  It  is  a 
sudden,  'almost  instantaneous  operation  that  flashes  through  the 
consciousness  during  the  short  time  between  the  slumberer's  hear- 
ing the  noise  and  his  awakening  to  full  consciousness. 

Here  undoubtedly  is  the  source  of  one  large  class  of  dreams  ; 
that  is.  of  dreams  caused  by  some  external  irritation  of  the  senses, 
and  is  it  not  quite  likely,  reasoning  from  analogy,  that  the  dreams 
of  a  different  class,  those  which  are  not  directly  traceable  to  any 
external  irritation  of  the  senses,  may  be  caused  by  other  less  obvious 
internal  irritations,  obscure  nerve-excitements  transmitted  by  the 
bodily  organs  when  not  in  a  normal  condition?     There  is  a  storv 


188  TIIK  OIMIN    roLKT. 

of  a  woman  who  had  a  dream  that  her  hushand  was  being  executed ; 
she  awoke  with  a  sensation  of  horror  at  the  dreadful  occurrence. 
Xot  long  after  she  was  taken  with  an  attack  of  smallpox  ;  it  is  rea- 
sonable to  supi)Osc  that,  some  prognosticating  symptom  of  the  dis- 
ease making  itself  felt  in  her  sleei)ing  consciousness  and  insisting 
upon  being  perceived,  there  occurred  the  resultant  dream  of  her 
husband's  peril. 

Dr.  Maudsley  in  his  work  on  Dreams  gives  an  instance  of  his 
own  experience  much  to  the  same  effect,  viz.,  that  he  dreamed  he 
was  dissecting  a  subject  when  it  suddenly  revived ;  his  horror  and 
mortification  were  nothing  more  than  the  suffering  from  an  intes- 
tinal disturbance  which  introduced  into  his  consciousness  such  a 
sensation  of  pain  that  the  percei)tive  faculty  had  to  accept  and  per- 
ceive it  to  the  above  effect. 

The  theory  will  take  a  greater  appearance  of  completeness  if 
we  contrast,  for  the  moment,  the  blind  perception  of  our  dreaming 
with  the  true  perception  of  our  waking  reality;  the  former  built 
up  by  some  single  real  sensation,  to  which  other  artificial  sensations 
have  been  added  from  memory's  store  in  order  to  make  it  possible 
to  combine  the  real  sensation  into  a  rational  perception ;  the  latter 
a  congeries  of  real  sensations  unified  and  rationalized  into  a  true 
perception  by  the  mysterious  and  hidden  operation  of  the  percep- 
tive faculty — "apperception,"  Kant  has  called  it.  thus  distinguishing 
it  as  the  active  work  of  the  ego.  from  the  more  passive  reception  of 
sensations  in  consciousness.  For  example.  I  have  a  perception  of 
myself  walking  along  the  street  in  a  great  city ;  innumerable  sensa- 
tions go  to  make  up  this  perception,  the  absence  of  any  one  of 
which  would  render  the  perception  defective,  either  wholly  or 
partially  unintelligible.  Among  the  chief  of  these  sensations — I 
will  not  presume  to  name  them  all.  perhaps  that  is  impossible — are: 
first,  the  sensation  of  sight ;  I  sec  the  street,  the  houses,  the  pavement, 
they  all  are  sending  sensations  to  my  consciousness ;  there  is  a  sen- 
sation of  hearing;  the  sound  of  my  footfalls  on  the  pavement; 
many  other  sounds  of  less  prominence  announce  the  presence  of 
surrounding  objects;  there  is  a  sensation  of  feeling;  I  experience 
under  my  feet  the  resistance  of  the  pavement  to  their  touch ;  and 
further,  there  is  another,  less  definite  and  not  so  easily  recognized, 
a  feeling  of  the  muscular  contraction  taking  place  in  my  limbs  as 
I  exert  them  in  the  act  of  walking.  Shut  out  any  one  of  these  and 
the  perceptive  faculty  is  at  a  loss  to  form  its  perception  ;  it  becomes 
puzzled.  Assume  that  only  the  mu.scular  contraction  of  the  limbs 
renders  a  sensation  in  consciousness:  I  see  and  hear  nothing,  and 


MISCELLANEOUS.  189 

the  perceptive  faculty  is  compelled  to  make  a  perception  out  of  this 
alone.  What  could  it  do?  How  could  it  render  it  intelligible?  If 
I  had  already  had  a  perception  made  out  of  real  sensations  and  were 
merely  closing  my  eyes  and  ears  to  everything  transmitted  through 
them,  I  could  recall  the  sensations  just  experienced  and  by  means 
of  my  memory  complete  a  true  and  full  perception  of  what  was 
suggested  by  the  single  real  sensation.  The  action  would  be  very 
similar  to  that  posited  as  taking  place  in  dreams,  with  the  difference 
that  here  I  consciously  recall  and  rehabilitate  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  single  sensation  all  the  rest.  Thus  I  get  my  perception,  blind, 
it  is  true,  in  that  with  the  exception  of  feeling,  all  the  other  sensa- 
tions are  merely  invented,  artificial  or  imaginary,  yet  nevertheless 
intelligible,  a  copy  of  the  actual  perception  which  by  an  act  of  con- 
scious will  I  have  made,  impossible  by  closing  my  eyes  and  ears  to 
the  other  sensations  of  which  it  was  composed. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

REGARDING  CHRISTIAN  ORIGINS. 

BY   EDGAR  A.    JOSSELYN. 

A  number  of  interesting  articles  have  appeared  in  The  Open  Court  on  the 
origin  of  Christianity,  aboirt  which  there  seems  to  be  a  rapidly  growing  interest 
among  students  of  the  history  of  religion.  So  much  new  information  has  been 
recently  published  about  the  early  centuries  of  our  era,  that  we  are  obliged  to 
revise  our  idea  of  them,  and  give  more  serious  attention  to  the  "Christ  myth" 
claim.  Your  contributors,  however,  while  advancing  strong  arguments  against 
various  theories,  do  not  appear  to  give  consideration  to  two  very  important 
phases  in  the  question,  the  combination  of  politics  and  religion  in  the  early 
Roman  Empire,  and  the  strong  hold  that  the  dramatic  elements  of  the  ancient 
Greek  mysteries  had  upon  the  people.  Other  writers  ignore  the  same  points, 
especially  the  first.     Both  points  strengthen  the  Christ  myth  theory. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  the  Roman  emperors  were  deified 
and  an  acceptance  of  this  deification  was  forced  upon  the  empire.  Apparently 
a  unified  religion  was  sought,  corresponding  to  the  unified  political  world  that 
had  been  achieved.  There  was  not  such  entire  tolerance  as  Gibbon  represents. 
To  those  who  would  not  accept  the  deification  of  the  emperors  there  was  in- 
tolerance. The  Jews  resisted.  We  know  that  Philo  of  Alexandria  went  to 
Rome  in  40  A.  D.  to  persuade  the  emperor  Gains  to  abstain  from  claiming 
divine  honor  of  the  Jews.  A  Jewish  religious  revolt  arose  that  ultimately  led 
to  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  in  70  A.  D.  As  is  usual  with  religious  wars 
the  offense  was  not  so  much  a  difference  in  belief  as  resistance  to  the  estab- 


190  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

lished  government,  either  Church  or  State.  It  is  evident  that  it  was  considered 
desirable  to  have  a  uniform  religion  in  the  empire,  and  this  idea  is  found  out- 
side as  well  as  inside  governmental  circles.  Philosophy  and  religion  were 
deeply  discussed,  especially  at  .Alexandria.  We  are  told  that  "in  the  first  cen- 
turies of  Christianity,  the  religion  of  Persia  was  more  studied  and  less  under- 
stood than  it  had  ever  been  before.  The  real  object  aimed  at,  in  studying  the 
old  religion,  was  to  form  a  new  one."  Christianity  ultimately  became  a  fusion 
of  many  elements,  without  any  really  new  etliics,  without  any  wholly  new 
dogmas,  but  with  one  supreme  feature,  entirely  new  to  the  Roman  world,  a 
unified,  established,  intolerant,  ruling  Church,  reproducing  on  a  large  scale 
what  had  existed  in  earlier  times  among  the  Egyptians,  Jews,  and  other 
Orientals.  The  fusion  is  well  described  in  Dr.  Carus's  Pleroma  and  Gilbert 
Sadler's  Origin  and  Meaning  of  Christianity.  The  dogmas  were  principally 
Greek.  Ethics,  as  of  old  (especially  as  in  China),  came  from  the  "Mount." 
The  Church  establishment  as  a  form  of  government  was  essentially  Roman. 
Monotheism,  or  at  least  a  modified  monotheism,  was  of  course  adopted,  as 
consistent  with  the  aims  and  ideals  of  the  movement.  It  should  be  noted  that 
where  other  governing  religions  have  been  forcibly  imposed  on  peoples,  they 
have  been  monotheisms,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Egyptian  Aten,  fourteen  cen- 
turies before  Christ,  Judaism,  and  Mohammedanism.  The  fact  that  the  new 
growth  was  largely  outside  of  government  circles  might  explain  the  persecu- 
tions. But  Christianity  was  not  alone  in  the  race  for  supremacy.  Mithraism 
made  a  mighty  effort  for  control  and  nearly  succeeded,  but  was  overthrown 
and  absorbed  by  Christianity  which  adopted  its  observance  of  Sunday  and 
Cliristmas. 

The  second  pliase  of  the  question,  that  of  the  influence  of  the  Greek 
religious  drama,  presents  an  entirely  different  side  of  the  subject.  Most  writers 
agree  that  Christianity  is  a  Greek  religion.  The  resurrection  myth,  appearing 
as  the  Osiris  myth  in  Egj'pt,  that  of  Attis,  Adonis,  and  Mithra  in  various  parts 
of  western  Asia,  and  as  that  of  Dionysos  and  others  in  Greece,  seems  to  be 
as  old  as  mankind,  and  to  represent  one  of  the  foundation  stones  of  religion. 
Moreover  its  appeal  was  to  the  community  rather  than  the  individual,  was  in- 
tuitional rather  than  intellectual  in  character,  and  was  essentially  dramatic. 
Jane  Harrison,  in  her  Ancient  Art  and  Ritual,  shows  that  art,  especially  drama, 
was  derived  from  ritual.  She  also  points  out  that  it  was  a  democrat,  Peisis- 
tratos,  who  revived  and  favored  the  ancient  ritual  in  the  sixth  century  B.  C. 
Both  Miss  Harrison  and  Gilbert  Murray  trace  the  development  of  Greek 
religion  from  the  ancient  Cyprian  and  Greek  myths  to  the  antliropomorphic 
Olympian  gods,  after  which  came  the  academic  philosophies  of  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  which  doubtless  did  not  appeal  to  the  people.  Meanwhile  in  the 
centuries  just  before  the  Christian  era  the  cult  of  Osiris  was  revived  in  Eg>-pt, 
and  we  know  that  Egyptian  influence,  especially  in  art,  spread  through  the 
Greek  world  after  Alexander's  conquests.  Gerald  Massey  in  Ancient  Egyft 
the  Light  of  the  World  provides  an  Egyptian  origin  for  nearly  every  Christian 
dogma.  Now  the  essence  of  the  Osiris  and  similar  myths, — the  resurrection 
or  rebirth, — reflected  the  spirit  of  the  times.  The  Roman  Empire  itself  repre- 
sented a  birth  of  a  new  western  world.  There  was  a  great  drama  taking 
place  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  in  the  unfolding  of  a  new  era.  It  is  also 
true  that  civilization  was  breaking  down  as  well  as  starting  on  a  new  road, 
and  a  reversion  of  thought  to  primitive  type  would  be  natural.     The  masses 


MISCEIJ.AM'.OUS.  191 

could  easily  welcome  a  new  cult  imposed  on  terms  which  gave  them  back  the 
old  myth  that  they  instinctively  loved.  Meanwhile  in  the  centuries  since  the 
old  religion  was  most  revered  in  Greece,  there  had  come  a  change  in  man's 
attitude  toward  mankind.  Man  was  now  the  measure  of  all  things.  The  gods 
had  already  been  made  man-like,  now  man  was  to  be  god-like.  The  new  mys- 
tery drama  was  to  be  in  terms  of  men,  not  bulls  and  rams.  However,  the 
individual  was  still  to  be  reborn  by  rites  of  initiation, — not  of  the  mysteries, 
but  of  baptism,  the  ceremony  that  counted  so  much  in  earliest  Christianity. 
It  was  no  salvation  on  easy  terms  or  any  terms  that  the  Greek  world  was 
seeking,  but  the  old  rebirth  in  new  terms.  In  the  Eucharist  is  found  the  same 
dramatic  idea  derived  from  other  sources.  In  the  ceremony  of  the  mass  the 
ancient  mystery  drama  was  re-enacted  in  a  new  guise. 


BOOK   REVIEWS    AND    NOTES. 

The  Book  of  the  Kindred  Sayings    (Sanyutta-Nikaya)  :   Part  I    (Sagatha- 
Vagga).     Translated  by  Mrs.  Rhys  Davids,  assisted  by  Suriyagoda  Su- 
mangala  Thera.     London:   The  Oxford  University  Press    [1917].     Pp. 
xvi,  321.     Price,  cloth,  10s.  net. 
This  translation,  published  for  the   Pali  Text  Society,   contains   the  first 
eleven  books  of  the  "Classified  Collection"    {Sanyutta  Nikaya)   of  the  "Dia- 
logues" (Sutta  Pitaka),  the  second  group  of  the  canonical  texts  of  early  Bud- 
dhism.    The  text  followed  is  of  course  that  of  the  Pali  edition  published  by 
Leon  Feer,  1884ff,  of  which  we  now  have  the  first  volume  in  English.    There 
seems  to  be  hope  that  the  rest  of  these  suttas  will  appear  shortly.     As  we 
learn  from  the  Preface,  the  volume  before  us  was  finished  as  early  as  July, 
1916,  but  war  prices  of  paper  and  printing  threatened  to  delay  the  publication 
quite  indefinitely.     Then  it  was  decided  to  proceed  with  the  work  regardless 
of  financial  considerations,  a  course  for  which  the  Society  certainly  deserves 
much  credit.    The  second  volume  is  announced  as  following  closely  behind. 

Of  these  eleven  books,  the  Sagatha  Vagga,  or  section  "with  verses"  as  they 
are  called,  up  to  now  only  two  were  available  to  Western  students  in  complete 
translations,  the  "Mara  Suttas"  and  the  "Suttas  of  Sisters,"  of  which  Pro- 
fessor Windisch  gave  a  German  version  in  his  Mara  und  Buddha,  Leipsic, 
1895.  Besides,  the  "Suttas  of  Sisters"  were  rendered  into  English  by  Mrs. 
Rhys  Davids  before,  in  her  Psalms  of  the  Early  Buddhists,  Part  I  (1909), 
Appendix.  Of  quotations  of  course  there  are  many  in  books  dealing  with 
early  Buddhism,  having  on  the  whole  the  effect  of  making  the  darkness  cover- 
ing other  parts  only  more  visible.  So  we  are  glad  to  see  at  last  the  Sagatha 
Vagga  made  accessible  in  its  entirety  also  to  others  than  Pali  scholars. 

The  impression  the  book  creates  as  a  whole  is  well  summarized  by  the 
translator  in  the  following  (p.  vii)  : 

"Mythical  and  folk-lore  drapery  are  wrapped  about  many  of  the  sayings 
here  ascribed  to  the  Buddha.  And  in  nearly  all  of  them,  if  any  represent 
genuine  prose  utterances,  they  have  become  deflected  in  the  prism  of  memorial- 
izing verse,  and  to  that  extent  artificial.  Nevertheless,  the  matter  of  them  is 
of  the  stamp  of  the  oldest  doctrine  known  to  us,  and  from  them  a  fairly  com- 


192  THE  OPEN   COURT. 

plete  synopsis  of  the  ancient  Dliamma  niiglit  be  compiled.  And  short  and 
terse  as  are  the  presentations  of  both  saying  and  episode,  they  contribute  not 
a  little  to  body  out  our  somewhat  vague  outline  of  India's  greatest  son,  so  that 
we  receive  successive  impressions  of  his  great  good  sense,  his  willingness  to 
adapt  his  sayings  to  the  individual  inquirer,  his  keen  intuition,  his  humor  and 
smiling  irony,  his  courage  and  dignity,  his  catholic  and  tender  compassion  for 
all  creatures." 

Mrs.  Rhys  Davids  has  preserved  the  metrical  form  wherever  she  found 
it  used  in  the  original — disdaining  "to  scrape  the  gilt  off  the  gold."  However, 
she  has  added  literal  translations  in  foot-notes  in  instances  where  the  standards 
of  scholarship  seemed  to  demand  it.  Of  her  spirited  verse  renderings  we 
offer  the  following  as  a  specimen  (p.  110)  : 

"A  man  may  spoil  another,  just  so  far 
As  it  may  serve  his  ends,  but  when  he's  spoiled 
By  others  he,  despoiled,  spoils  yet  again. 
So  long  as  evil's  fruit  is  not  matured, 
The  fool  doth  fancy  'now's  the  hour,  the  chance!' 
But  when  the  deed  bears  fruit,  he  fareth  ill. 
The  slayer  gets  a  slayer  in  his  turn ; 
The  conqueror  gets  one  who  conquers  him ; 
Th'  abuser  wins  abuse,  th'  annoyer,  fret. 
Thus  by  the  evolution  of  the  deed, 
A  man  who  spoils  is  spoiled  in  his  turn." 

The  Inde.x  contains,  besides  a  list  of  names  and  subjects,  a  list  of  Pali 
words  paraphrased  from  Buddhaghosa's  commentary  on  the  Sanyutta  Nikaya, 
the  Sarattappakasini,  wliich  will  be  welcome  to  the  student  of  the  original, 
especially  since  the  commentary  itself  exists  in  printed  form  only  in  Singha- 
lese cliaracters.  This  commentary  also  goes  to  make  up  a  large  part  of  ex- 
planations and  elucidations  of  the  text  offered  in  the  foot-notes. 


In  1914  Dr.  Carus  published  a  volume  of  verse  entitled  Truth,  and  Other 
Poems  in  which  appeared  his  poem  "Death."  Our  readers  will  understand  and 
appreciate  the  spirit  in  which  we  reprint  it  in  this  issue. 


"BEST  BOOK  ON  BUDDHISM" 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  BUDDHA 


By  DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 
New  illustrated  pocket  edition. 


Cloth,  ^i.oo. 


"This  very  attractive  volume  should  serve  a  good  purpose  in  making  the  world 
acquainted  with  the  traditions  and  stories  concerning  the  founder  of  one  of  the 
greatest  religions  of  the  world." — The  Princeton  Theological  Review. 

"This  present  little  volume  will  be  acceptable  to  the  best  American  spirit.  It  is 
a  book  of  the  highest  ethics  and  morals  expressed  in  noble  language.  It  is  food  for 
the  soul  starving  in  a  wilderness  of  materialism." — Detroit  Times. 


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WANDER  SHIPS 

Folk-Stories  of  the  Sea  with  Notes  upon  Their  Origin 

By 

WILBUR  BASSETT 

125  pages  Cloth,  $1.50 

PRESS  NOTES 

"Any  one  who  loves  the  sea  should  delight  in  an  unusual  gift  book, 
ll'andcrships. " — Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

"Mr.  Bassett's  book  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  folk-lore  of  the 
sea.  .  .  .  The  book  is  attractively  printed  and  provided  with  a  frontispiece 
so  spectral  that  one  tries  to  lift  the  tissue  paper  interleaf,  only  to  find  that 
there  is  none." — Boston  Globe. 

"The  very  tang  of  the  sea  and  the  rolling  of  vessels  is  sensed  in  the 
five  tales  of  sea  lore  that  come  to  us  under  the  heading  IVanderships." — 
Sacramento  Dee. 

"IVanderships  is  at  once  an  excellent  contribution  to  serious  litera- 
ture, a  charming  volume  for  recreational  reading  and  a  delightful  'item' 
for  the  collector  of  curious  works." — Chicago  Post. 

"The  several  tales  are  interesting  and  the  volume  is  a  distinct  con- 
tribution to  the  literature  of  the  sea." — Boston  Transcript. 

"The  work  is  a  very  unusual  one,  but  will  be  a  source  of  delight  to 
those  who  love  to  dig  into  fundamentals." — A^ew  York  Call. 

"The  picturing  of  the  sea  scenes  is  vivid  and  striking,  and  written 
very  evidently  by  one  who  knows  and  loves  the  ocean  in  all  its  moods." — 
Pasadena  Star-News. 

"The  result  of  the  author's  accomplishment  is  one  of  the  quaintest 
and  most  charming  of  books  of  its  character  in  a  decade." — Mikvankee 
Leader. 


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ESSAYS  IN  SCIENTIFIC  SYNTHESIS 


BY 
EUGENIC  RIGNANO 


254  pages 


Cloth  $2.00 


The  following  review  appeared  in  the  Neiv  York  Evening  Post  in 
the  issue  of  February  22nd. 


"These  essays  furnish  an  instance  of 
the  interest  which  the  war  has  awakened 
in  this  country  in  the  thought  and  ex- 
pression of  perhaps  the  least  well  under- 
derstood  of  our  allies,  Italy.  An  ac- 
quaintance with  English,  French,  even 
Russian,  literature  and  science  is  pre- 
supposed among  wellread  Americans ; 
but  most  of  us,  if  challenged,  could 
scarcely  proceed  beyond  Lombroso  in  a 
list  of  modern  Italian  scientists.  Eugenio 
Rignano  is  particularly  well  fitted  to 
help  bring  about  a  rapprochement  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  as  his  own  inter- 
ests are  avowedly  international :  Scientia 
of  which  he  is  editor,  is  an  international 
review ;  and  Signor  Rignano's  essays 
have  appeared  in  magazines  as  diverse 
as  La  Revue  Philosophiquc,  Annalen  der 
Natur-philosophie,  and  our  own  Monist. 

The  special  purpose  of  the  present 
volume  is  to  give  examples  of  the  service 
which  the  general,  as  opposed  to  the 
highly  specialized,  scientist  may  perform 
in  the  criticism  of  old  theories  and  the 
discovery  of  new  laws.  The  author 
rightly  holds  that  psychology,  for  in- 
stanccj^  cannot  properly  be  understood 
without  reference  to  physics,  and  that 
sociology  in  turn  depends  upon  pschology. 
It  is  such  bridges  as  these  that  he  is 
particularly  concerned  to  supply.  One 
becomes  skeptical  only  when  he  under- 
takes to  supply  so  many  of  them  in  his 
own  person.  The  case  for  the  synthetic 
mind,  which  compares  and  analyzes  the 
results  obtained  by  the  direct  experiment 
of  the  specialist,  is  a  good  one.  Perhaps 
the  modern  scientific  world  has  too 
violently  repudiated  Bacon's  magnificent, 
if  impossible,  declaration  :  "I  have  taken 
all  knowledge  to  be  my  province."  The 
counter-appeal    for    scientific   breadth    of 


view  is  not  misplaced.  Nevertheless, 
when  a  single  volume  propounds  a  re- 
conciliation of  the  war  between  vitalism 
and  mechanism  in  biology;  a  theory  of 
the  affective  elements  in  psychology ;  a 
new  definition  of  consciousness ;  an 
evaluation  of  the  role  of  religion  in 
civilization ;  and  a  discussion  of  the 
economic  explanation  of  history — more 
cautious  minds  cannot  help  suspecting  a 
tendency  toward  brilliant  guesswork  on 
the  part  of  so  versatile  an  expert. 

A  certain  unity  is  given  to  the  major 
portion  of  the  book  by  the  development 
of  a  stimulation,  though  by  no  means 
entirely  novel,  theory  of  memory  as  the 
central  phenomenon  in  both  purely  bio- 
logical and  higher  psychic  processes. 
Even  the  assimilation  performed  by  a 
unicellular  organism  is  essentially  memory, 
involving  the  power  to  experience  anew, 
and  yet  to  remain  the  same;  to  repeat, 
with  novelty  in  the  repetition.  Moving 
upward  in  the  scale,  pleasant  and  un- 
pleasant experiences  are  intimately  con- 
cerned with  the  formation  of  habits, 
themselves  intimately  concerned  with 
memory — it  is  a  well-known  theory  in 
psychology  that  the  familiar  is  always 
pleasant.  Advancing  to  yet  more  com- 
plex processes,  the  author  finds  that  one 
of  the  chief  functions  of  religious  cere- 
mony was  to  fix  important  social  reg- 
ulations, customs,  dates,  even  boundaries 
of  land,  in  memory  by  surrounding  them 
with  special  rites.  On  the  whole, 
though  perhaps  dangerously  facile  for 
the  superfluous  mind,  which  may  be  en- 
couraged to  draw  large  conclusions  from 
insufficient  evidence,  this  volume  is 
stimulating  to  thought  in  a  wide  variety 
of  directions." 

— Nczv  York  Evening  Post. 


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CHICAGO 


ILLINOIS 


A  Budget  of  Paradoxes 

By  AUGUSTUS  DE  MORGAN 

2  volumes,  cloth  $2.50  a  volume 


"De  Morgan  is  most  commonly  regarded  as  a  mathemati- 
cian, yet  in  logic  he  is  considered  the  peer  of  his  great  contem- 
poraries, Hamilton  and  Boole.  It  is  impossible  in  a  review  to 
do  more  than  hint  at  the  opulence  of  these  volumes  in  both  wit 
and  wisdom.  The  range  is  from  the  most  abstruse  metaphysics 
and  technical  mathematics  to  the  rollicking  glee  of  the  native 
humorist.  There  is  not  a  page  without  food  for  thought  and 
there  are  few  which  do  not  delight  the  fancy  while  they  enrich 
the  mind." — Nezv  York  Tribune. 

"After-dinner  speakers  and  lovers  of  the  classical  will  wel- 
come the  reappearance  of  Augustus  De  Morgan's  famous  Bud- 
get of  Paradoxes,  which  first  appeared  in  1872  and  is  now  re- 
printed by  the  Open  Court  Publishing  Company  in  a  sumptuous 
two-volume  edition  edited  by  David  Eugene  Smith  of  Columbia 
University.  ... 

"In  the  educated  world  of  his  day,  De  Morgan's  Budget  of 
Paradoxes  was  as  well  known  as  ^sop's  Fables  are  to  the  chil- 
dren of  to-day. 

"The  collection  begins  with  Buridan's  foundation  for  an 
argument  on  free  will — the  story  of  the  ass,  hungry  and  thirsty, 
tied  between  a  bundle  of  hay  and  a  pail  of  water,  the  observer 
to  see  which  he  would  choose  first." — CJiicago  Evening  Post. 


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LIBRARY  IDEALS 

By 
HENRY  EDUARD  LEGLER 

78  pages  Cloth,  $1.50 

Chicago's  late  librarian  has  left  some  valuable  ideas  to  the 
library  world.  Bound  and  printed  in  excellent  taste,  his  book 
will  be  in  great  demand  by  all  lovers  of  books. 

The  book  will  not  only  be  an  important  addition  to  the 
works  which  deal  with  organizing  and  extending  libraries — 
treating  of  such  subjects  as  library  extension,  library  work 
with  children,  traveling  libraries  and  the  administration  of 
funds — but  it  will  undoubtedly  be  read  with  interest  by  very 
many  people  who  have  known  its  author,  been  helped  by  him, 
and  inspired  by  his  ideals. 

The  reader  who  is  actually  interested  in  any  branch  of 
library  work  will  find  suggestion  after  suggestion  in  these 
pages. 

PRESS  NOTES 

"One  of  the  most  valuable  works  on  the  subject  yet  published." — 
Los  Angeles  Tribune. 

"A  valuable  service  to  library  work  and  extension  has  been  per- 
formed in  this  publication  of  the  papers  on  library  administration  by 
Henry  E.  Legler.  They  represent  the  ideals  and  the  working  plans  of 
a  man  who  united  enthusiasm  and  practical  sense  and  energy  in  an 
unusual  degree." — The  Chicago  Evening  Post. 

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Three  Interesting  Books 


What  is  a  Dogma 

A  brilliant  criticism  in  Catholic  doctrine  by  an  eminent  priest. 
By  Edouard  Le  Roy.  Translated  from  the  French.  16mo, 
95  pages,  boards.  50  cents 

Balder's  Death  and  Loke's  Punishment 

Poem  on  Norse  Mythology.  Illustrated.  Boards.  By  Cornelia 
Steketee  Hulst.  75  cents 

The  Dharma 

Containing  the  twelve  articles  of  Buddhism.  By  Paul  Carus. 
6th  edition,  revised  and  enlarged.     16mo,   133  pages,  boards. 

50  cents 

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Booles  Collected  Logical  Works 

Vol  II.    The  Laws  of  Thought 
445  pages  By  George  Boole  Price,  $3.00 

With  the  recent  revival  of  the  study  of  philosophical  and  mental 
origin  of  mathematics,  George  Boole's  Collected  Logical  Works  attempts 
an  intricate  survey  of  the  laws  of  thought.  A  former  volume  entitled 
The  Mathematical  Analysis  of  Logic  was  published  in  1847  by  the  same 
author,  who  was  at  that  time  a  celebrated  English  professor  of  mathe- 
matics and  logic  at  Queen's  College,  Cork. 

The  design  of  Collected  Logical  Works  is  to  investigate  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  those  operations  of  the  mind  by  which  reasoning  is  per- 
formed ;  to  give  expression  to  them  in  the  symbolical  language  of  a 
Calculus,  and  upon  this  foundation  to  establish  the  science  of  Logic  and 
construct  its  method ;  to  make  that  method  itself  the  basis  of  a  general 
method  for  the  application  of  the  mathematical  doctrine  of  Probabilities ; 
and,  finally,  to  collect  from  the  various  elements  of  truth  brought  to  view 
in  the  course  of  these  inquiries  some  probable  intimations  concerning  the 
human  mind. 

To  the  occupants  of  responsible  positions  where  decisive  and  logical 
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thinking  men,  this  book  is  recommended. 

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The, 

BXKtV 


PAULCARUS 


VIRGIL'S  PROPHECY 

ON 

THE  SAVIOUR'S  BIRTH 

The  Fourth  Eclogue 
Edited  and  Translated  by  Dr.  Paul  Carus 


Price,  50  cents 


O,  Virgil's  Fourth  Eclogue  which  is  pre-Christian  proves  that 
the  hopes  of  Christians  and  pagans  had  many  ideals  in  common, 
and  such  were  the  return  of  the  golden  age,  i.  e.,  the  coming 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  advent  of  a  Saviour. 


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The 

Origin  and  Philosophy  of  Language 

By  Ludwig  Noire 

Cloth,  $1.00 
•'.///  future  philosophy  will  be  a  philosophy  of  language."— Max  Muller. 


"  Whoever  wishes  to  explain  humanity  must 
understand  what  is  human;  he  must  know  the  points 
upon  which  everything  else  turns,  and  from  which 
every thinjx  else  must  be  derived.  Language  con- 
tains the  key  to  the  problem,  and  whoever  seeks  it 
elsewhere  will  seek  in  vain." 

"  Here,"  continues  the  author,  after  showing  by 
a  number  of  well  chosen  instances  to  what  curious 
self-deceptions  reason  is  exposed  through  her  own 
creations,  "a  large  field  is  open  to  the  student  of 
language.  It  is  his  office  to  trace  the  original  mean- 
ing of  each  word,  to  follow  up  its  history,  its  changes 
of  form  and  meaning  in  the  schools  of  philosophy,  or 
in  the  market-place  and  the  senate.  He  ought  to 
know  how  frequently  the  same  idea  is  expressed  by 
different  terms.  A  history  of  such  terms  as  to  know 
and  to  believe,  Finite  and  Infinite,  Real  and  Neces- 
sary, would  do  more  than  anything  else  to  clear  the 
pliilos()])hical  atmosphere  of  our  da^'s." 

Note. — This  edition  of  Noire's  valuable  treatise  on  lan- 
Rtiape  is  a  re|)rint  of  the  edition  published  by  Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.  in  London  in  1879  to  which  are  added  two  additional 
chapters  published  in  Chicago  in  1889  by  The  Open  Court 
Publishing  Company. 


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CULTURAL    REALITY 

By  FLORIAN  ZNANIECKI,  Ph.D. 

Lecturer  on  Polish  History  and  Institutions 

in  the  University  of  Chicago 

In  the  view  of  the  author  "reality"  has  always  meant  "nature." 
Men  have  been  "naturalists"  in  their  language  and  logic,  in  their 
science  and  philosophy.  Religious  and  philosophical  idealism  was, 
indeed,  a  protest  against  this  view,  but  a  powerless  protest. 

At  a  relatively  late  stage  of  human  evolution,  with  the  increasing 
complexity  of  cultural  life,  arose  the  need  of  consciously  controlling, 
not  only  reality,  but  human  activities  themselves,  of  directing, 
developing  and  organizing  them.  In  spite,  however,  of  strenuous 
efforts  of  many  generations,  the  author  thinks  that  our  control  of 
activity  still  remains  on  a  very  low  level.  The  present  crisis  has 
helped  us  to  see  "that  we  have  permitted  ourselves  to  be  blinded  by 
the  success  of  material  science  and  technique  and  have  failed  to  bring 
a  consistent,  self-conscious  and  critical,  intellectual  attitude  into  the 
domain  of  cultural  science  and  practice." 

This  failure  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  trying  to  control  activity, 
men  have  been  using  the  same  methods  and  concepts  which  they  had 
developed  in  controlling  natural  reality.  The  practical  worker  or 
the  scientist  who  deals  with  human  activities  is  at  bottom  a 
"naturalist,"  treats  activity  as  a  natural  happening  and  thinks  of 
culture,  the  product  of  activity,  as  a  part  of  nature.  He  is  forced  to 
admit,  however,  that  at  least  the  higher  types  of  actiyity  are  creative 
and  that  cultural  evolution  may  and  should  be  the  realization  of 
ideals.  He  finds  at  every  step  objects,  which  though  real,  are  evi- 
dently not  natural  things  nor  processes — words,  myths,  poems,  in- 
stitutions. And  yet,  his  naturalistic  preconception  is  so  strong  that 
he  fails  to  draw  the  proper  inference  from  these  and  other  facts, 
that  nature,  like  everything  else  within  the  sphere  of  our  experience 
and  reflection,  is  an  agglomerated  product  of  innumerable  past 
activities  and  material  for  future  activities,  and  is  thus  only  a  part 
of  a  wider  and  changing  "cultural  reality." 

Once  this  cultural  character  of  the  world  is  recognized,  entirely 
new  horizons  are  opened  for  science  and  philosophy,  and  the  pos- 
sibilities for  the  realization  of  ideals  appear  unlimited. 

xvi— 352  Pages,  Cloth ;  $2.50,  Postage  Extra  (Weight  1  lb.  7  oz.) 

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LECTURES  ON  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  MATHEMATICS. 
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Mach  declares  that  knowledge  of  the  historical  development  of  any  science  is  the 
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