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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/evolutioncreatioOOhardrich 
 
EVOLUTION AND CREATION 
 

 
 
 eORtuLAS (Troglodytes;. 
 
EYOLUTION ANDCREATM: 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT JUNIUS HARDWICKE, M.D., 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROVAL COLLEGE OF SIRGEOXS, AND MEMBER OP 
 
 THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF EDIXBCRGH ; FEl^LOW OF THE 
 
 LONDON MEDICAL SOCIETY ; HONORARY FELLOW OF THE AtTTHROPOLOGICAL 
 
 SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL, THE SOCIETY OF MEDICINE OF ATHENS, AND THE SOCIETIES 
 
 OF DOSIM. MEDICINE OF PARIS AND MADRID ; VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL 
 
 BRANCH OF THE MALTHUSIAN LEAGUE : LATE EDITOR OF "THE SPECIALIST." 
 
 HON. PHYSICIAN TO SHEFFIELD PUBLIC HOSPITAL FOR SKIN DISEASES, 
 
 AND TO SHEFFIELD AND SOUTH YORKSHIRE EAR AND THROiUJ HOSPITAL. 
 
 HON. CONSULTING PHYSICIAN TO LEEDS PUBLIC HOSPITAL FOR SKIN DISEASES. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE POPULAR FAITH UNVEILED,*' ETC. 
 
 •i^ 
 
 " ' Learn -what is true in order to do what is right ' is the summing up of the 
 whole duty of man for all who are unable to satisfy their mental hunger with the 
 east wind of authority." — Huxley. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1887. 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 Many imperfections, as I anticipated, have been discovered in my 
 ''Popular Faith Unveiled," some of importance and others of little 
 consequence ; and many suggestions have been offered^^n all kindness 
 by those who have done me the honour of reading" mj^ work, for con- 
 sideration in case I should issue another edition. The strongest of all 
 the arguments urged in favour of the real necessity for a second and 
 revised edition is that that part of the subject treated upon which re- 
 lated more particularly to the true origin of man was not dealt with in 
 a sufficiently exhaustive manner in the last work. This, of course, is 
 a true charge : but it should be borne in mind that the main object of 
 the book was to expose the real nature of the popular superstition, and 
 not to trace out the pedigree of man ; and, moreover, to have entered 
 fully into such subjects as the evolution of mind and matter would 
 have considerably augmented the bulk of the work, and consequently 
 have necessitated such an increase in the price as to have made it pro- 
 hibitory to a large number of thinkers, who have not too much spare 
 cash to throw away. I therefore determined not to re-issue the work 
 in an amplified form, but to supplement it with a number of published 
 lectures (delivered here and in various other large towns) and articles, 
 which should be ultimately brought out as an illustrated volume. 
 
These lectures, etc., some of which are re-prints from journals and 
 some of which I have myself printed in my leisure moments, I now 
 offer to the public in book form, together with a number of figures, 
 maps, etc., illustrative of the subjects treated upon. " Man — Whence 
 and Whither" and " Evolution of the God-idea" are re-printed from 
 The Agnostic ; " Man's Antiquity," " Evolution of Mind," '• Zodiacal 
 Mythology," " Intellectual Progress in Europe " and " The Annals of 
 Tacitus " from the Secular Review ; and " The Special Senses " and 
 " The Bible " from The Agnostic Annual : the remainder of the text, 
 as before stated, has been printed by myself. 
 
 1 must acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to Mr. John 
 Bennett, of Prince's Buildings, Dronfield, who has been kind enough 
 to assist me by drawing the zodiacal signs, the Bacchanalian insignia, 
 the oriental and Egyptian zodiacs, Amen-Ra, Mafuca, Aidanill and the 
 negro head, the two hands, the Fuegans, the Australian (2), African and 
 Eur3pean skulls, and Bootes, Virgo, Cetus, Aquarius and Sagittarius ; 
 and also to Mr. Wm. Gill Hall, of 6G Cecil Road, Sheffield, who has 
 kindly drawn for me the single chimpanzee, the orang, the lemur, the 
 face of the proboscis monkey, the moor monkey, the hairy couple from 
 Burraah, the genealogy of man, the earth's section, and the ascent of 
 mind. The remainder of the illustrations, with the exception of the 
 two zincographs of the gorillas and chimpanzees (the frontispiece), 
 have been drawn by myself ; and I must trust to the generosity of my 
 readers to overlook the amateur style of my productions, which, it is 
 hoped, will be found sufficiently well done to serve the purpose for 
 which they are intended. However amateur the illustrations may be 
 in appearance, this I can truthfully say, that every sketch in the book 
 is a laithiul reproduction of the original. Some of the illustrations, 
 however, have been derived from such gross originals that it has not 
 been considered advisable, for many reasons, to reproduce the figures 
 in their entirety; but wherever part of a figure has been modified by 
 the subsLitutiou of a symbolical or othjr device the fact has been noti- 
 fied to the reader at the foot of the illu^ration. 
 
 In the course of the followmg lectures the opportunity has been 
 seized to rectify some of the mistakes inadvertently committed in my 
 " Popular Faith Unveiled;" but there are two errors in printing that 
 have not yet been set right, and to which, therefore, I should now like 
 
to call attention. The first occui^ on page 102, lines 9 & 10 from the 
 bottom, where ^T^bi< — A.L.EJ. should have been written rxhvK — A.L.Y 
 {prJ.)E. {El Yah), or T]<b^—A.L.OU.E. {Eloh), etc. The next occurs 
 on pag-e 109, line 6 from bottom, where millions should read thousands. 
 
 I have only now to frankly admit that during the last few years my 
 views as regards the theories of ultimate causation and the future state 
 have undergone some modification ; that consequently I now regard 
 the line of argument adopted in support of the theory of a future state 
 of consciousness on pages 5 & 6 of my above named work as a false 
 one and the conclusions arrived at as consequently false also ; and that 
 respecting the existence of a ruling power in the universe, I neither 
 affirm nor deny such a condition, being contented with the knowledge 
 that I neither know ncr apparently Ctin ever know anything at all about 
 the matter, and recognizing, with Moleschott, the incontrovertible truth 
 that " theie is nothing in our intellect which has not entered by the 
 gate of the senses." 
 
 H. J. H. 
 
 JPurton Lodge, Sheffield. 
 January 1887. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 EXPLANATORY NOTES. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 MAN— WHENCE AND WHITHER ?— Nebular Hypothesis— For- 
 mation of Earth's crust — Fossil remains in stratified rooks — Pedigree 
 of Man — Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages — Spontaneous evolution of 
 life — Theories of existence and ultimate causation — Man's future state. 
 
 MAN'S ANTIQUITY.— Cave explorations— British and continental 
 discoveries — Glacial periods — Tertiary upheaval and submergance in 
 Europe — Tertiary fauna and flora — Pleistocene ice age — Paloeolirhic 
 age — Tropical origin of Man — Neolithic age — Shell-mounds and re- 
 mains of lake-dwellings — Bronze and Iron ages — Aryan invasion of 
 Europe — Historic era. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF MIND.— Uni^er.^al life or motion— Protoplasmic 
 life — Cell life — Origin of organs of sense — Embryonic development — 
 Dawn of infantine intellect — Intellec!:ual and emotional evolution in the 
 individual — Corresponding development in the race — Animals reflective 
 and emotional — Language in man and animals. 
 
 THE SPECIAL SENSES.— Evolution of. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA— Dawn of intellect— Earliest 
 conception of Deity — Sun worship— First human tribes — Aryan myth- 
 ology — Vedic system — Brahmanism — Hindu virgin and child-saviour 
 — Boodhism — Western Aryan mythology — Zeus, Apollo, Prometheu.^, 
 
 Hercules, Dionysos, & Yao — Central Aryan mythology — Mazdeism 
 
 Mithra— Egyptian mythology— Osiris, Isis & Horus— Amen-Ra, Mises 
 — Chinese mythology — Semitic mythology— Akkadian and Chaldean 
 myths — Adonis, El, Yahouh — Jewish origin — Bible gods — Confucian- 
 ism — Mohammedanism — Christianism. 
 
ZODIACAL MYTnOLOGY.— incient and modern zodiacs— Pre- 
 cession of equinoxes — Deification of zodiacal signs and other celestial 
 bodies — Savior-sun-god dramas — Sacred numbers & symbols — Ancient 
 and modern phallic worship — Diouysia, Adonia & Ag-apae. 
 
 INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN EUROPE.— Egypto-Greek or 
 classic era — Alexander the Great — The Alexandrian Ptolemies — Esse" 
 nian revivalism — Destruction of the Serapion — Murder of Hypatia — 
 Christian annihilation of science — Birth of Mohammed — The Koran — 
 Saracen learning- — Tenth century scare — Crusades — Averroism — Anni- 
 hilation of Saracen power — Establishment of Inquisition — Discovery 
 of America — Martin Luther — The Reformation — Copernicus — Revival 
 of Arianism — Murder of Serve tus — Index Expurg-alorius — First news- 
 paper — Murder of Bruno — Kepler's laws — Galileo — Newton's theory 
 of gravitation — Discovery of Oxygen — First locomotive engine and 
 screw steamer — Telegraphy — Christian Church opposed to progress. 
 
 THE BIBLE— Origin of Authorised Version— List of Bible books- 
 Description of MSS — Ancient Hebrew language — Invention of vowel- 
 points— Dates of earliest Hebrew and Greek MSS. 
 
 ANIMALS OF TACITUS.— Abelard— Arnold of Brescia— Wicliffe's 
 heresy and trials — Papal schism — Jerome of Prague — John Huss — 
 Triple Popedom — Council of Constance — Search for old MSS — Boggio 
 Bracciolini, Niccolo Niccoli & Lamberteschi — The forgery — Extracts 
 from letters — Discovery of " The Annals." 
 
 CREATION AND FALL.— Faith and reason— Mosaic narratives- 
 Creation opposed to science — Genesis absurd and immoral — Author- 
 ship of Pentateuch — Christianity a failure — The real trinity — Religious 
 hypocrites — Morality not Christianity. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Frontispiece — Chimpanzpes and g-orillas. 
 
 Lemur and face of Proboscis Monkey (a f ter Mivart). 
 
 Moor Monkey (after Mivart). 
 
 Chimpanzee (after Mi ran). 
 
 Adult male Orang (after Mivart). 
 
 Mafuca and Aidanill (after Mivart), and Swaheli Neg-ro (after^Tylor). 
 
 Hands of Gorilla and Hammeg-h man (after Ilartmann). 
 
 Natives of Tierra del Fuego. 
 
 The hairy family of Burraah. 
 
 Man — Whence and Whither ? 
 
 Genealogy of Man. 
 
 Section of Earth's crust. 
 
 Tertiary period in Europe. 
 
 Eocene seas. 
 
 Pleiocene seas. 
 
 Pleistocene submergence during temperate inter-glacial epoch. 
 
 Pleistocene Europe during post-glacial continental condition. 
 
 Skeleton of man. 
 
 Skeletons of gorilla and chimpanzee. 
 
 Outlines of the skulls of a chimpanzee, the Neanderthal man and a 
 modern European. 
 
 Outlines of the skulls of the Neanderthal man, a modern Australian 
 and the Engis man. 
 
 Australian, African and European skulls (atter Tylor and Hartmann) 
 
 Mans Antiquity. 
 
 Evolution of mind in man. 
 Amoeba and Gasteropoda. 
 
 Evolutio7i of Mind. 
 The Spe'cial Senses. 
 
Androgynous Biahra. 
 Isis, Ilorus and fish. 
 
 Ind ranee and Indra ; and Lakshmi and Vishnu. 
 Devaki and Kristna ; and Parvati and Siva. 
 Amen-Ra (after Drummond). 
 
 Crucifixion of Kristna; Crux Ansata ; Assyrian virgin Ishtar; Cyprian 
 virgin and child ; Isis and Ilorus. ^ 
 
 Evohition of the God Idea. 
 
 Zodiacal Signs, showing the precession of the equinoxes. 
 
 Bacchanalian insignia. 
 
 Oriental Zodiac (after Sir Wm. Jones). 
 
 Egyptian Zodiac (after Sir Wm. Drummond). 
 
 Northern signs and extra -zodiacal constellations. 
 
 Southern signs and extra-zodiacal constellations. 
 
 Zodiacal line, or Ecliptic, showing the precession of the equinoxes. 
 
 Bootes, Adam, Joseph — Virgo, Eve, Mary — Cetus, Blasphemy. 
 
 Aquarius, John Baptist, Peter — Sagittarius, Joseph, Philip. 
 
 God incarnate with man. 
 
 Phallic amulet and phallic lamp 
 
 Votive offerings to god Priapus 
 
 Phallic crux ansata and amulet. ^ 
 
 Zodiacal Mythology. 
 
 Vedic and Hindu Earths ^^ 
 
 Greek Earth, and Pomponius Mela's cosmography. 
 Eighth and tenth century maps 
 Fourteenth century maps. 
 Egyptian and Ptolemaic planetary system. 
 Planetary systems of Tycho Brahe and Copernicus. 
 The Iron Virgin — inside view. 
 Ditto — outside view. 
 
 Intellectual Progress in Ewope. 
 Sixth century MS. of Luke xx. 9, 10. 
 Fragmentary MS. from John's gospel. 
 
 Tlie Bibl:. 
 
EXPLANATORY NOTES. 
 
 The illustration of Brahm, the androg'ynous creator of the Hindus, 
 " is a copy of an original drawing" made by a learned Hindu pundit for 
 Wm. Simpson, Esq., of London, whilst he was in India studying its 
 mythology. It represents Brahm supreme, who in the act of creation 
 made himself double, /. ^., male and female. In the original the cen- 
 tral part of the figure is occupied by the triad and the unit, but far too 
 grossly shown for reproduction h^re. They are replaced by the Crux 
 Ansata [a cross and circle representing the male and female elements 
 in nature]. The reader will notice the triad and the serpent in the 
 mak hand, whilst in the female is to be seen a germinating seed, in- 
 dicative of the relative duties of father and mother. The whole stands 
 upon a lotus, the symbol of androgyneity. The technical word for this 
 incarnation is Arddha Nari'^ (Inman's " Ancient Faiths,") 
 
 The illustration of the god Siva, nursed by his virgin- wife -mother, 
 Parvati, requires some explanation. The right hand of the virgin 
 makes the symbol of the yoni (female principle) with the forefinger 
 and thumb, the rest of the fingers typifying the triad. In the palm 
 and on the navel is a lozenge, emblematic of woman. In the infant's 
 hand is one of the many emblems of the linga (male principle), whilst 
 under his feet a lotus supports his body. The monkey is emblematic 
 of the carnal desire. The relationship existing between the mother 
 and child was of a twofold nature. The deities of the ancients were 
 usually androgynous, and thus each of the members of the Hindu triad 
 possessed two parts, a male half and a female half, which he inherited 
 from his androgynous parent Brahm, whose female principle brought 
 forth the three essences, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Thus each god 
 became the husband as well as the son of the divine female principle, 
 just as Virgo of the zodiac was both mother and wife of the sun-god 
 of the annual revolution, mother at his birth at the winter solstice and 
 wife at his ascension at the summer solstice. The female part or wife- 
 mother of Siva was the virgin goddess Parvati ; of Vishnu, Lakshmi ; 
 of Krishna, Devaki ; of Indra^ Indranee ; of Ilorus, Isis ; etc. 
 
The illustration of the amulet of the double Ciux Ansata^ represents 
 the female principle at the top in the shape of a ring (which has the 
 same meaning- as the winged disc, cup, and shell, or Concha Veneris) ; 
 the male principle in full vig-our on the rig-ht side in the shape of a 
 cross (male org-an of generation in the original) ; the uoprolific male 
 principle of infancy on the underneath side, also in the shape of a cross 
 (infantine male organ in the original) ; and the act of generation on 
 the left side, in the shape of a clenched hand, with the thumb bent 
 across the back of the first finger. 
 
 The illustration of god incarnate with man represents the saviour of 
 the world — 2f2THP K02MOY — as a cross, or phallic symbol (an erect 
 male organ in the original), which forms the beak on the head of a 
 cock, the sj^mbol of the rising sun, the whole resting on the shoulders 
 of a man, symbolical of the incarnation of god and man. 
 
 The illustration of the amulet in Mr. Townley's museum represents 
 the female principle at the top, in the form of a circle, under which is 
 the victorious sun-god of the vernal equinox, in the shape of a bull's 
 head with a cross or phallic symbol (erect male organ in the original) 
 on either side of the mouth, the whole being emblematic of the sexual 
 union of the powers of heaven and earth, and the consequent regene- 
 ration of nature at the spring equinox. 
 
 Mafuca, whose portrait is given in the following pages, was a female 
 ape from the Loango coast, placed in the Dresden Zoological Gardens. 
 Hartmann, in his " Anthropoid Apes," describes her as being " 120 cm. 
 in height, reminding us in many respects of the gorilla. The face was 
 prognathous ; the ears were comparatively small, placed high on the 
 skull, and projecting outwards ; the supra-orbital arch was strongly 
 developed ; the end of the nose was broad ; and there were rolls of 
 fat on the cheeks." K. Th. von Siebold also classed her as a gorilla ; 
 but Bolau and A. B. Meyer opposed this view; while Bischoff, judging 
 by the structure of the brain, thought she was a chimpanzee. Now it 
 is pretty generally believed that she was either a cross between the 
 gorilla and the chimpanzee, or else a member of a distinct species of 
 anthropoids intermediate between the gorilla and the chimpanzee. In 
 Harfemann's account of Mafuca we read that she was "a remarkable 
 
 creature, not only in her external habits, but in her disposition She 
 
 hardly obeyed anyone except Schopf, the director of the gardens, and 
 when in a good humour she would sit on his knee and put her muscular 
 
arms round his neck with a caressing" gesture Mafuca was ab!e to use 
 
 a spDon, although somewhat awkwardly ; and she could pour from 
 larger vesse!;? into smaller ones without spilling the liquor. She took 
 tea and cocoa in the morning and evening, and a mixed diet between 
 
 whiles, such as fruit, sweetmeats, red wine and water, and sugar If 
 
 she was left alone for any time she tried to open the lock of her cage 
 without having the key, and she once succeeded in doing so. On that 
 occasion she stole the key, which was hanging on the wall, hid it in 
 her axilla [arm- pit], and crept quietly back to her cage. With the key 
 she easily opened the lock ; and she also knew^ how to use a gimlet. 
 She would draw off the keeper's boots, scramble up to some place out 
 of reach with them, and throw them at his head when asked for them. 
 She could wring out wet cloths, and blow her nose with a handkerchief 
 When her illness began, she became apathetic, and looked about with 
 a vacant, unobservant stare. Just before her death, from consumption, 
 she put her arms round Schopfs neck when he came to visit her, looked 
 at him placidly, kissed him three times, stretched out her hand to him, 
 and. died." It may be added to this that Mafuca exhibited the greatest 
 decorum and modesty in the performance of all her daily and other 
 natural functions. 
 
 Aidanill, the hairless Australian, is a good specimen of a low type of 
 human being ; having a superciliary prominence greater than is usually 
 found amongst races of men, with a remarkably small cranial capacity 
 and almost entire absence of frontal development. The skull, in fact, 
 differs but little from that of Mafuca, given beneath it ; and its owner 
 belonged to those races described on p. 14 of " Evolution of Mind." 
 
 The Swaheli Negro is a good specimen of the dolichocephalic prog- 
 nathous type of head, considerably higher in intellectual capacity than 
 that of Aidanill. 
 
 The hands are intended to illustrate the close resemblance between 
 the hand of a gorilla and that of a man belonging to the Hammeghs of 
 the Nubian Soudan. It will be observed that while the fingers of the 
 gorilla are webbed, the second and third fingers of the man are slightly 
 webbed and his thumb and first finger very considerably webbed. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 MAN— WHENCE AND WHITHER ?— Page 12, line 11 from top, 
 for '• Palaeolithic" read " Pleistocene ;" and line 12 from top, for " on 
 the earth " read " in Europe, for the human remains found in France 
 clearly testify to the fact ; and even in America his antiquity must te 
 very great indeed," etc. 
 
 EVOLUTION OF MIND— Page 1, line 6 from top, for " Protamnia" 
 read " Protista." 
 
 EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA— Page 25, line 17 from top, for 
 ^Sevg read Zevg. . 
 
 INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN EUROPE— Page 17, line 9 from 
 top and line 7 from bottom for " Purgatorious " read '' Expurgatorious.'* 
 
 ANNALS OF TACITUS— Page 15, line 13 from top, for " that re- 
 ligion" read "that the religion." 
 
 CREATION AND FALL— Page 6, last line, and page 7, last line 
 but one, for " mammals " read " placental mammals.'' 
 
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NATIVES OF TERRA OtL ftieCO. 
 
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MAN: V/HENCE AND WHITHER? 
 
 The fables of the creation of nature and man by various fantastic and 
 ridiculous means, which have, for thousands of years, found favour with 
 the unthinking multitudes inhabiting the earth, and which even now are, 
 one or other, firmly believed by the large majority of both the Eastern, 
 and Western populations, must, ere long, gradually give way to the 
 truer and grander theory of Evolution, resulting from the study of the 
 natural sciences. Priests, monks, and other interested people, backed 
 up by the enormous wealth which has accumulated to the various 
 religious creeds during the past centuries of darkness, ignorance, and 
 gross credulity, will, no doubt, oppose all their tremendous forces 
 against the new philosophy, thus, for a while, delaying the inevitable 
 result. But this condition of things cannot last long. Education is 
 doing, and will continue to do, its work, until, at length, falsehood and 
 slavery will give place to truth and liberty. 
 
 In order to discover the origin of man, it is necessary to carry the 
 mind back to a very remote period, and observe the mode of develop- 
 ment of our planetary system ; for, according to the theory of Evolution, 
 there were no starting points for particular forms in nature, the whole 
 universe consisting of one continuous unfolding of phenomena. 
 
 The modern theory of the mode of development of our earth, as 
 also of all other planets and suns, is the one known as the " Nebular 
 Hypothesis," which is the prelude to the great theory of Evolution, and 
 which teaches us that the earth, the sun, the moon, the planets, and 
 all the heavenly host are the effects or results of the condensation of a 
 nebulous vapour, which took place many millions of years ago, after 
 having been diffused for an incalculable period of time throughout the 
 illimitable expanse of space. The cause of this nebulous vapour, or 
 attenuated matter, is unknown to us, and will probably ever remain 
 enshrouded in the profound mystery which at present envelopes it. 
 
Beyond this limit all is mere speculation or hypothesis ; and the 
 Agnostic philosopher and the man of science, humbly acknowledgini^ 
 their complete inability to solve this mighty problem of ultimate causa- 
 tion, are content to leave further speculation in this direction to meta- 
 physicians and poets. 
 
 During many long ages this process of condensation of the 
 nebulous vapour steadily continued, being controlled by the laws of 
 gravitation and transformation, until, at length, a number of rotating: 
 spherical nebular masses were formed, in a state of high heat from the 
 shock of their recently-united atoms, which spheres gradually cooled by^ 
 radiation, consequently contracting and becoming possessed of a more 
 rapid rotary motion, giving off from their equatorial regions large rings 
 of vapour, which, in their turn, condensed and, under the influence of 
 the same two laws, formed separate spheres for themselves. This is 
 the mode by which our planetary system was formed, as taught by- 
 Laplace and accepted by the scientists of to-day. 
 
 The earth, then, in common with other planets, may be said to have 
 passed from the condition of a gaseous to a highly-heated fluid mass, 
 and to have gradually become plastic, and moulded by revolution on its 
 own axis to its present shape — i.e.^ an oblate spheroid, or globe, flatter 
 at the poles than at the equator, with a polar diameter about twenty- 
 six miles shorter than the equatorial diameter. This is the shape that 
 all plastic bodies which rotate on their axes must assume, as w^e are 
 clearly taught by mathematics. 
 
 Assuming, then, that the earth was in a state of incandescence when- 
 it began to take a definite form, we shall at once see that the denser 
 materials composing it would gravitate towards the centre, forming a. 
 semi-plastic mass surrounded by an envelope of gases and watery 
 vapour. The gases would be quickly disposed of in various chemical 
 combinations, and the watery vapour would be condensed and deposited 
 in depressions on the surface of the central mass as soon as it had 
 become cooled sufficiently. The outer crust of this central, semi-sohd 
 mass was soon converted, under the intense heat, into a hard, granite- 
 like rock, which was continually subject to sudden upheavals, result- 
 ing partly from the violent escape of gases, and partly from water 
 passing through fissures on the surface to the heated interior and 
 giving rise to steam of great expansive power. In this manner great 
 inequalities of the surface were, no doubt, produced, whose rugged 
 edges, after the lapse of a vast period of time, were gradually softened 
 
[3] 
 
 down by the subsequent action upon them of air and water. This 
 first rock formation is termed by geologists the Plutonic (from Pluto, 
 monarch of hell), on account of its being the result of intense heat, and 
 not, as is the case with all other rock formations, laid down in layers by 
 water. Whether the Plutonic rock forms a solid centre to our earth is 
 matter of uncertainty ; but all are agreed that the internal heat of our 
 planet, whether caused by the friction of the particles of a sohd sub- 
 stance or by a molten fluid, is still, even in these later times, intense, 
 In boring through the earth's crust, the average increase in temperature 
 for every fifty feet of descent, after the first hundred feet from the 
 surface, is one degree Fahr., which would give us, at a depth of 125 
 miles, sufficient heat to melt most of the rocks. This intense internal 
 heat has generated, in times long gone by, enormous forces, by which 
 rocks of all ages have been raised and depressed, twisted and distorted, 
 broken and forced out of position, and forcibly compressed, so as to 
 eventually cause most important changes of surface level. 
 
 The next class of rock-formation is totally different from the 
 Plutonic, or unstratified series, in that it is the result of the wear and 
 tear of the surface when acted upon by air and water, and is laid down, 
 in the first instance, by water, as sediment. Water, in the forms of 
 seas, rivers, rain, and ice, has been the chief agent in the arrangement 
 of all the stratified rocks, the determination of the earth's contour, the 
 direction of valleys, and, in fact, the regulation of the whole physical 
 geography of the visible portion of the earth. With the help of this 
 mighty agent, so soon as the earth had become sufficiently cool to 
 permit condensation to take place in its vapoury envelope, the ceaseless 
 wear and tear of the Plutonic — and, subsequently, of all other — rocks, 
 which has accumulated so vast a mass of material, commenced. Large 
 volumes of water were gradually deposited, without intermission, until 
 permanent seas and rivers had become established, and the new process 
 of stratification, which was henceforth destined to shape the crust of 
 the earth and to provide the conditions of life, commenced to operate. 
 This action is taking place daily in rivers and seas, as we may observe 
 at any time. On the tops of mountains the same action is in operation, 
 though under different conditions, snow and ice splitting fragments from 
 the rocks to be borne away as grit into the valleys by impetuous torrents 
 and deposited in other places. Within the Polar circles ice on a 
 grander scale is levelling down the land ; glaciers, covering thousands 
 of square miles, are slowly sliding down the valleys, grinding their 
 
' [4] 
 
 surfaces still deeper — forming sands, clays, and gravels, and forcing 
 these down to the sea-shore ; and icebergs, many miles in circumference, 
 are carried by currents along coasts and against cHfifs like huge ploughs, 
 completely altering the face of the rocks beneath. This wear and tear 
 results in the formation of immense quantities of detritus, which is 
 deposited in layers at the bottom of seas and rivers, and consolidated 
 by pressure, being frequently assisted by lime, iron, or silica as a 
 cement. The coarser-textured rock has been laid down in rapidly- 
 moving, shallow water ; and the finer-textured in still, deep water. 
 Thus, through many long ages — probably millions of years — the surface 
 of the earth underwent continual change from the constant deposition 
 of stratified rock, each layer of which completely buried beneath it the 
 various life forms of the previous period, which circumstance enables 
 us to ascribe to the various members of the animal and vegetable king- 
 doms particular geological periods ; for fossilised remains of animals 
 and vegetables have been unearthed in the different layers of the 
 stratified rocks, conclusively proving their existence on the earth at 
 those periods. 
 
 In the Plutonic or unstratified rock-formation period there was, of 
 course, no life upon the earth, the conditions necessary for such develop- 
 ment not being present ; but in the very earliest of the stratified forma- 
 tions we find evidence of the dawn of marine life, both vegetable and 
 animal. Geologists have divided the stratified rock into three chief 
 divisions, the Palaeozoic (ancient life), or Primary ; the Mesozoic (middle 
 life), or Secondary ; and the Kainozoic (latest life), or Tertiary. Each 
 of these, again, has been subdivided into smaller sections, according to 
 the particular kind of deposit met with, the particular places where the 
 best examples are to be found, or the particular life-forms existing. The 
 Primary, the depth of which is unknown, is subdivided into seven 
 periods — viz. : — 
 
 Laurentian, consisting of highly metamorphosed (that is, changed 
 in appearance from the original stratified rock character, owing to its 
 proximity to the molten Plutonic rock) limestone, containing fossil 
 remains of the Foraminifera, some of the first living organisms. 
 
 Huronian, consisting of less highly metamorphosed sandstone, lime- 
 stone, etc., and containing fossil remains of lowly-organised molluscs 
 (soft-bodied organisms). 
 
 Cambrian, consisting of slates, sandstones, and conglomerates, and 
 
[5] 
 
 containing fossil remains of sponges, sea-weeds, star-fishes, sea-lilies, lowly 
 shell-fish, marine worms, and the first land plants. 
 
 Silurian, consisting of slates, limestones, etc., and containing fossil 
 remains of corals, chambered spiral shell-fish, crabs, sea-worms, and 
 bony plates and scales of a low form of fish. 
 
 Devonian, consisting of old red sandstone, shales, and coralline 
 limestone, and containing fossil land plants, fishes, belonging to shark, 
 ray, and sturgeon families, and first fossil insect. 
 
 Carboniferous, consisting of mountain hmestone, coal, sandstone, 
 ironstone, clays, etc., and containing fossil scorpions, beetles, and 
 amphibians. 
 
 Permian, consisting of new red sandstone, marls, magnesian lime- 
 stones, etc., and containing fossils of true reptiles. 
 
 The Secondary division is subdivided into three periods, viz. : — 
 
 Triassic, consisting of sandstone, limestone, and clays, and contain- 
 ing fossils of gigantic reptiles and first mammals (small marsupials). 
 
 Jurassic, or Oolitic, consisting of limestones, coral rags, clays, and 
 marls, and containing fossils of bird-reptiles and several species of mar- 
 supials. 
 
 Cretaceous, consisting of clays, sands, soft limestone, and lignites, 
 and containing fossils of new bird-reptiles. 
 
 The Tertiary division is subdivided into four periods — viz. : — 
 
 Eocene (dawn of recent life), consisting of sandstone, limestone, 
 sands, clays, marls, coral rags, and lignites, and containing fossil equine 
 forms, birds, reptiles, bats, and marsupials. 
 
 Meiocene (less recent life), consisting of arctic coal, limestone, sands, 
 clays, and lignites, and containing fossil apes and marsupials. 
 
 Pleiocene (more recent life), the white and red crags of Britain, 
 containing fossil apes, bears, and hyenas. 
 
 Pleistocene (most recent life), consisting of glacial accumulations of 
 all kinds of earths, and containing fossil remains of apes and men, and 
 implements of stone, bone, and horn, and later still of remains of lake- 
 dwellings, shell-mounds, etc. 
 
 These different layers of stratified rocks have not always kept their 
 proper positions with regard to each other in the order they were origi- 
 nally laid down ; but, owing to volcanic eruption, have frequently 
 intruded upon each other, so that, at first sight, it would sometimes 
 appear as though the regular order of deposition had not been adhered 
 to ; but that this is not so has been made apparent by careful investiga- 
 
' [6] 
 
 tion over large areas. The depth of the Secondary and Tertiary is from 
 twenty to t\Yenty-five miles. We see, therefore, that the first life-forms 
 made their appearance as marine organisms in the Laurentian, or first 
 stratified rock period ; but whether the animal or the vegetable form 
 first appeared, or whether both were developed from one primordial- 
 organism, it is impossible at present to say. In each successive layer of 
 rock we meet with fossil remains of animal and vegetable life, which 
 steadily develop into more highly organised forms, through the different 
 periods, until, at last, they assume the exquisite phases we now behold 
 around us. The vegetable kingdom was the first to exist upon the land, 
 the first land-plant being found in the fossil state in the Cambrian layer, 
 at the same time that marine animal life was assuming the forms of 
 worms, shell-fish, and star-fishes. In the Silurian period the first verte- 
 brate animals made their appearance in the form of lowly-organised fishes, 
 from which, in the Carboniferous age, developed amphibious creatures, 
 the first breathing animals, living both in and out of water, and the 
 progenitors of the large kingdom of land animals, including man. 
 
 Now, if we take the pedigree of man, as arranged by Darwin and 
 Haeckel, and compare it with this geological tree, we shall see how 
 perfectly the sister sciences of Paleontology and Biology corroborate each 
 other. The first form of life, says Haeckel, was the Moneron, a 
 structureless albuminous atom of bioplasm, not even possessing the 
 structure of a mere cell. We place this, which belongs to the primitive 
 order Protozoa, in the Laurentian period, where we are told by geologists 
 that fossil foraminifera have been found. This promordial organism 
 gradually developed into single nucleated cells, called Amoebae, and these 
 again into masses of nucleated cells, called Synamcebag. These simple 
 and multiple cell organisms we place in the next period, Huronian, in 
 the strata of which geologists tell us have been found fossil remains of 
 lowly organised molluscs, or soft-bodied animals. Ciliata are the next 
 forms of life, which consist of Synamcebae, covered with vibratile cilia. 
 These gradually developed a mouth, becoming Gastroeada, and after- 
 wards Turbellaria, a low form of worm (Vermes), with a mouth and 
 alimentary canal ; and are placed in the Cambrian period, in which 
 stratum have been found remains of this kind of life. The ascent con- 
 tinues through the transition stage of Scolecida to Himatega, or sack- 
 worms, with their rudimentary spinal cords; from which gradually 
 evolved Acrania, or the first vertebrate animals, without skulls, brains, 
 central heart, jaws, or limbs; but with a true vertebral cord. This 
 
[7] 
 
 peculiar little animal was a lancet-shaped marine worm, akin to the 
 lancelet or amphioxus of to-day. From these developed Monorrhini, or 
 vetebrate hybrid worms and fishes, with skull, brain, and central heart, 
 but no sympathetic system, jaws, or limbs, and with a single nasal cavity 
 (lampreys). These three forms are placed in the Silurian period, in 
 which stratum have been found fossilised bony plates and scales of fishes 
 and Annelides, or sea-worms. 
 
 The next forms of life to be developed, from the Monorrhini, were 
 the Selachii (Amphirrhini), or true fishes, of the shark family, with 
 two nasal cavities, swim-bladder, two pairs of fins, and jaws. From 
 these evolved the Ganoidei, and thence all osseous fishes ; and Dipnoi 
 (mud fish), or hybrid fishes and amphibians, with both gills and 
 lungs. These little animals live during winter in water, when they 
 breathe air dissolved in water through their gills; and during the 
 summer in mud, when they breathe with their lungs. Both these 
 are placed in the Devonian period, in which have been found 
 fossil sharks, etc. The next forms are Sozobranchii, or amphibians with 
 persistent gills, from which evolved Urodela, or amphibians with transitory 
 gills, but persistent tails, and legs ; allied to the salamander. These are 
 placed in the Carboniferous period, in which have been found fossilised 
 amphibians. We next get Protamnia, or hybrid salamanders and lizards 
 (frogs and toads), with no gills or tails, but possessing an amnion and cloaca. 
 These represent the parent forms of the three great higher branches of 
 vertebrates — Reptilia, Aves (which evolved from reptiles), and Mammalia, 
 and are placed in the Permian period, in which have been found fossilised 
 amphibians and true reptiles. Monotremata (Promammalia) are the next 
 forms developed in our pedigree, the parent forms of the class Mam- 
 malia ; with cloaca, amnion, and marsupial bones ; which are placed in 
 the Triassic period ; and from which evolved Marsupialia, mammals with 
 amnion and marsupial bones, but no cloaca ; allied to the kangaroo and 
 opossum of to-day. This species we place in the Jurassic and Cretaceous 
 periods. From Marsupialia developed the large kingdom of Placentalia, 
 which lose the marsupial bones and cloaca, and acquire a placenta, and 
 which we divide into three main branches, according to the particular 
 placental formation. The first division we call Villiplacentalia (tufty 
 placenta), from which evolved Edentata (sloth, ant-eaters, and tertiary 
 monsters), Cetacea (marine placental mammals, such as whale, dolphin, 
 porpoise, and sea-cow), and Ungulata (horse, cow, pig, rhinoceros, and 
 hippopotamus). The second division we term Zenoplacentalia (ring-like 
 
[8] 
 
 placenta), the earliest forms of which were Carnaria, or flesh-eaters, from 
 which came Carnivora, or land beasts of prey (cats, dogs, bears, etc.), 
 and Pinnipedia, or marine beasts of prey (seal and walrus). The third 
 division we name Discoplacentalia (discoid placenta) ; and here we find, 
 as the first development, the Prosimise, or tailed lemurs, quadrupeds 
 with claws, and having the appearance of hybrid cats and monkeys. All 
 these are placed in the Eocene period, in which stratum geologists have 
 found fossilised placentals. 
 
 From the discoplacental-mammal Prosimiae evolved the following 
 species — viz., Prosimiae of Madagascar (lemurs of to-day), with four 
 feet and claws ; Cheiroptera (bats) ; Rodentia (squirrels, mice, porcupines, 
 hares) ; Insectivora (moles, shrew-mice, and hedgehogs) ; and Simise, or 
 quadruped monkeys, with two feet, two hands, nails, and tails. We 
 divide Simiae into two classes, the Platyrrhini, or New World apes, with 
 thirty-six teeth, tails, no cheek-pouches or callosities, and nasal cavities 
 pointing outwards and divided by a thick septum (from which came the 
 American howlers, weepers, capuchins, and squirrel-monkeys) ; and the 
 Catarrhini (Menocerca), or Old World apes, with thirty-two teeth (like 
 man), tails, cheek-pouches, callosities, and nasal cavities pointing down- 
 wards and divided by a thin septum (like man). These are placed in: 
 the Meiocene period, in which have been discovered the first fossil apes. 
 From the Catarrhini developed the tailed baboons and macaques, with 
 thirty-two teeth, cheek-pouches, and callosities ; and the Anthropoidae, 
 with thirty-two teeth, but no tails, cheek-pouches, or callosities. These 
 were evolved during the Pleiocene period. From the anthropoid (man- 
 like) apes we get three distinct divisions — viz., the gibbon and orang 
 families, with no tails or cheek-pouches, walking partly on hind legs, and 
 wandering in companies in India ; the chimpanzee and gorilla families 
 of Africa, with no tails or cheek-pouches, no articulate speech, walking 
 on hind legs only, living in companies in caves, and carrying their babes 
 in their arms ; and Alali, or ape-like men, commonly called the "missing 
 links," who were probably developed, during the Pleiocene period, in 
 Lemuria, a submerged continent which formerly occupied the position 
 of the Indian Ocean ; or in the districts of the Nile and Ganges. 
 
 These primitive ape-like men were the connecting links between men 
 and the apes, and are divided into two main branches — viz., woolly- 
 haired Alali, who migrated from Lemuria, west and south ; and straight- 
 haired Alali, who migrated from Lemuria, north, east, and south. Both 
 these branches had skulls of the same character as those of the chim- 
 
[9] 
 
 panzee and gorilla — that is, they were dolichocephalic (long-headed) 
 prognathous (prominent jaws), and also, like their ape brethren, were 
 troglodytes, or cave-dwellers. From the woolly-haired Alali evolved the 
 Papuans of New Guinea and Tasmania, and the Hottentots of Africa, 
 whose descendants of to-day are but httle removed in brain develop- 
 ment from the higher apes. They are dolichocephalic prognathous 
 savages, with black, hairy skins, long arms, and short, thin legs, with ill- 
 developed calves ; are semi-erect, walk on hind legs, and have no true 
 articulate speech. A higher development of the woolly-haired Alali is 
 the Negro, and higher still the Caffre, both of whom are dolichocephalic 
 prognathous savages, with black, semi-hairy skins, and imperfect articu- 
 lation. From the straight-haired Alali are derived the Austrahan natives 
 and the large family of Malays or Polynesians. The Australians 
 migrated south, and were dolichocephahc prognathous savages, with 
 smooth, dirty brown skins, and straight black hair. The lowest 
 tribes of the present day have no true articulate speech. The Poly- 
 nesians migrated north and east, and were dolichocephalic prognathous 
 troglodytes (as the gorilla and chimpanzee), with clear, smooth brown 
 skins, and true articulate speech. This branch split up into two 
 large families, the Mongolian or Turanian, and the Caucasian or 
 Iranian. The former covered Northern and Eastern Asia, Polynesia, and 
 America, and were originally brachycephalic (broad-headed) prognathous 
 men. They subdivided into two distinct species, the Mongols of China, 
 Japan, Lapland, Finland, and Hungary, who are brachycephalic, but not 
 prognathous, with smooth, brownish yellow skin, and straight black 
 hair; and the Mongols of America, who are mesocephalic (round- 
 headed), but not prognathous, with smooth red skins and straight black 
 hair. The Caucasian family covered Western Asia and most of 
 Europe, being mesocephalic prognathous troglodytes (afterwards agri- 
 culturalists) with smooth dark skins and long straight hair ; and sub- 
 divided into two branches, the Semitic, of Arabia and Syria, and the 
 Aryan or Indo-European ; both of whom are mesocephahc, but not 
 prognathous. 
 
 It is true that, so far, no fossil remains of Alali have been found, with 
 the exception of the Neanderthal skull ; but it is equally true that they 
 may soon be discovered. It is only comparatively recently that the other 
 species have been found fossilised ; and it must be recollected that only 
 a very small portion of the earth's crust has yet been explored, and 
 that not the most Hkely for finding. No attempts have been yet made 
 
[10] 
 
 to unearth the life-remains in the neighbourhood of the Indian Ocean, 
 where it is believed man first evolved from his ape-like ancestors. It 
 does not, however, seem to me to be essentially necessary that the 
 " missing link " be found in order to substantiate the Evolution theory. 
 There is so little difference between the higher anthropoid apes and 
 man, compared with the enormous differences observed between the 
 earlier forms of life and the ape species, that the sequence and con- 
 tinuity appear now conclusively settled to any reasonable observer. 
 Comparative anatomists and embryologists both declare in favour of 
 the theory of development of Darwin and Haeckel. It is a fact beyond 
 dispute that every human being commences his individual existence as 
 a tiny piece of structureless bioplasm, from which condition he passes 
 through the Amoeba stage to the Synamoeba, and thence in regular order 
 through each successive stage of development marked in the genealogy 
 given above, becoming worm, fish, and mammal in turn, and finally 
 being born into the world as a member of the human family. Each of 
 these lower forms also passes through all the species preceding it in 
 precisely the same manner. This is one of the strongest arguments in 
 favour of Evolution. It is said that the power of speech possessed by 
 man opposes a strong barrier to the theory ; but it has been shown 
 clearly that other animals besides man can use articulate sounds, which 
 convey meanings to each other. Monkeys certainly understand each 
 other's chattering, and it is highly probable that birds also understand 
 each other's cries. It is true that the sounds made by animals are chiefly 
 monosyllabic ; but philologists now tell us that the languages spoken 
 by primitive races of men are compounded of quite simple elements, 
 perfectly within the grasp of an ape's voice. Travellers, whose veracity 
 and abihty cannot be impugned, have described long conferences held by 
 monkeys, where one individual addressed the assembly at great length, 
 fixing the attention of all upon himself, and quelling every disturbance 
 by a loud and harsh cry, which was at once recognised and obeyed by 
 the multitude. Is it credible that this should be purposeless ? Is it 
 not actually the exercise of speech ? 
 
 Is it not possible — nay, even extremely probable — that, under the 
 irresistible pressure of civilised man, his immediate precursor may have 
 become extinct ? All the human races that now tend to bridge the 
 interval between the highest man and the highest ape are fast becoming 
 extinct under this very pressure. The gulf widens, and will widen. 
 The Caribs and Tasmanians have passed away, while the Australians, 
 
New Zealanders, aboriginal Americans, Eskimo, and others, are fast 
 following" in their wake, and this all in a comparatively short space of 
 time. There is undoubtedly now a far greater physical and mental 
 interval between the Hottentot woman and such men as Gladstone and 
 Darwin than between the Hottentot and an ape. It is a fact beyond 
 dispute that man was not in such a high state of development ages 
 gone by as at present. The earhest traces of man exhibit him to us in 
 the Palaeolithic, or old stone, age, as wild and living in caves, using 
 only the rudest stone implements with which to battle with the ferocious 
 monsters around him. His jaw was then prognathous, like the ape, 
 and his body large and powerful. 
 
 In the Hmestone caverns of France have been discovered the fossil 
 remains of men who inhabited caves and belonged to the Palaeolithic, 
 or early Pleistocene, period. Together with these troglodytes, or cave- 
 dwellers, were rough, unpolished stone implements and weapons, 
 denotmg a low state of civilisation. Other caves, in later strata, give 
 us lighter stone weapons, of better finish, and occasionally horn dart- 
 points, such as would be used for catching smaller game. Numbers 
 of skin-scrapers also were found, suggesting the idea that the people 
 used the hides of animals for clothing, instead of going naked, as their 
 ancestors. The hairy character of the body would be probably giving 
 place to a finer, smoother, and more delicate outer skin, which would 
 necessitate clothing of some kind. Still later we find implements 
 altogether of flint, lancet-shaped, admirably-proportioned, and of three 
 sizes, adapted for arrow, javeline, and lance points respectively, and 
 designed to be fitted to wooden and bone shafts. After these appear 
 arrows and darts of deer's horn and bone, and stone and flint tools, 
 which were used for making these arrows. We also find such imple- 
 ments as bone awls and needles for piercing and sewing skins, arrow- 
 heads furnished with barbs on each side, and harpoons barbed on one 
 side only. 
 
 Now was man's intellect fairly on the swing ; but still he was, as 
 yet, only in the Palaeolithic period, for not one polished implement nor 
 fragment of pottery is found in their stations. They were surrounded 
 by ferocious carnivora, which sometimes fell victims to their weapons. 
 The mammoth still tenanted the valleys, and the reindeer was the 
 common article of food. They were hunters, possessed of the rudest 
 modes of existence, and with but little of what is now called civilisation. 
 
 In Britain the troglodyte man was contemporary with the mammoth, 
 
[12] 
 
 rhinoceros, lion, and hyena, none of which existed in the later Pleisto- 
 cene era ; but there have been no perfect skeletons found here like 
 those in France. Human bones^ however, have been discovered in 
 various deposits, together with the skeletons of long-extinct animals. 
 The best British human fossil is the portion of an upper jaw containing 
 four teeth, from Kent's Cavern. Hermetically sealed in stalagmite, 
 deposited on the floor of the cavern by water dropping from the roof, 
 this jaw lay below the remains of extinct mammals ; while beneath all 
 were bone and stone implements of human workmanship, equally 
 firmly fixed in a natural limestone cement. Geology fixes the date of 
 ttLst^\}i\\'s> troglodyte at the early Palaeolithic period, and it is beyond doubt 
 C^yv P that man existed at this remote period, or even earlier, on the earth, for 
 j^lgj^ ' ^ human skull was found in the delta of the Mississippi beneath four 
 f^^Cy different layers of forest growth, which must have formed part of a living 
 human being 50,000 years since. The celebrated Neanderthal skull, 
 of which so much has been heard, certainly belongs to the mammoth 
 age, if not earlier; and, if it represent a race, and not merely an 
 individual, that race would lie in a position intermediate between the 
 lowest man and the highest ape. It may only represent a man of 
 pecuhar formation, as we often see men in the present day deformed or 
 of eccentric build ; and, therefore, we cannot look upon it positively 
 as the " missing link." One other similar find, however, would for 
 ever settle the question, and proclaim to the world that the "missing 
 link " was, at last, found. In capacity, the cranium is human, while the 
 superciliary arches and the brow are distinctly ape-like. Professor 
 Huxley sums up his examination of this skull with the remark that 
 " the Neanderthal skull is, of human remains, that which presents the 
 most marked and definite characters of a lower type." 
 
 Following the Palaeolithic era, or rude stone age, is the Neolithic, 
 or new stone, age y and now we find man using polished weapons, 
 making pottery, using fire to warm himself with, and developing 
 social manners. Instead of living in caves, he lived in lake dwellings, 
 with others of his species, and gradually developed agricultural tastes. 
 This metamorphosis, we know from the fossil remains found deposited 
 in various strata, occupied a long period of time, probably thousands 
 of years ; and even then we are left thousands of years before the 
 historical era, which followed the bronze and iron ages. Compare 
 these men with those who lived in the Grecian and Egyptian eras, and 
 again compare these latter with ourselves, and the record is one of 
 
[13] 
 
 trial and failure through long ages, and of experiment crowned at last 
 by attainment. Has not the invention of the steam-engine alone been 
 a means of extending man's dominion in a marvellous manner ? Think 
 what has been achieved through electricity ! There has, undoubtedly, 
 been a continued struggle from barbarism to civilisation, and the little 
 we know of the early history of man tells us that he lived the life of a 
 wild beast, leaving no impression on the earth save one of the victims- 
 of his well-aimed stone or flint-pointed spear. 
 
 So much for the " missing link." There is one other point to be 
 settled before we have completed the sequence of evolution, which 
 commences with the condensation of the nebulous vapour and 
 terminates with the development of man ; and that is the question of 
 how life originated. We have found that the first dawn of life was in 
 the form of a simple speck of bioplasm, void of any structure ; and 
 that this primordial germ, which we call a Moneron, was developed in 
 the earliest period of deposition of stratified rock at the bottom of the 
 sea, and is now being constantly developed as of old. Now, if the 
 theory of evolution be not mere talk, this primordial germ must have 
 been spontaneously evolved from inanimate matter, for the theory allows 
 of no break, being a gradual unfolding of phenomena. We are told 
 that there is no experience in nature of such a development. Perhaps 
 so; but that is no argument against it. There is no experience in 
 nature of any special creation either; so why fly to this alternative, 
 which is the only one presented to us, instead of adopting the theory 
 which agrees so harmoniously with the whole evolutionary process ?' 
 Why make this abrupt break in the chain of sequence ? Does it not 
 annihilate completely the whole theory of evolution ? It is not more 
 wonderful that life should be evolved from inanimate nature than that 
 man should be evolved from a structureless bioplasm. The continuit)^ 
 of evolution once broken, why may it not be broken again and again ? 
 
 If we are to accept the theory of evolution, we are bound to admit 
 that animate was evolved from inanimate matter. And the difficulty 
 of this admission is not, after all, so great as appears at first sight ; for 
 who is to say whether such a condition really exists as inanimate matter?' 
 It is a fact that every particle of matter in nature is in a state of active 
 motion ; every molecule and atom is constantly active. And why is^ 
 this not life as much as the animal or vegetable, though in a modified 
 degree of development? Evolution, if it mean anything, should admit 
 this ; and I will show you that it does not admit it only, but absolutely^ 
 
' ['4] 
 
 -declares that it is so. In the first place, it must be recollected that 
 JBalfour Stewart, and all other physical and chemical scientists, declare 
 that every thing in nature is composed of molecules and atoms. 
 The molecules are the smallest quantities into which any individual 
 body or substance can be divided without losing its individuality. For 
 instance, table-salt, or chloride of sodium, can be divided and sub- 
 divided, until you get to the limit of subdivision, which is a molecule 
 composed of chlorine and sodium in chemical combination. Further 
 subdivision annihilates its individuality as salt, and leaves us with the two 
 elementary chemical atoms, chlorine and sodium, existing independently 
 of each other. These atoms are incapable of further subdivision. In 
 the same manner, the whole matter of the universe may be subdivided 
 into molecules, which consist of atoms of some two or more of about 
 sixty-seven chemical elements in various combinations. These atoms 
 ^re the smallest separate particles of masses of matter, and are separated 
 from each other by what is termed hypothetical ether — that is, the fluid 
 ether we believe to be pervading every portion of space. P>ach atom 
 possesses an inherent sum of force, or energy. The well-established 
 and universally-admitted theory of chemical affinity teaches us that 
 these atoms are capable of attracting and repelling each other, and, 
 therefore, also teaches us, by implication, that they are possessed with 
 definite inclinations, follow these sensations or impulses, and have also 
 the will and ability to move to and from one another. This we are 
 clearly taught by chemistry. Thus every atom in the universe possesses 
 sensation and will, pleasure and displeasure, desire and loathing, attrac- 
 tion and repulsion ; and its mass is, moreover, indestructible and un- 
 changeable, and its energy eternal, as we are again taught by the theory 
 of conservation of energy and matter. These sentient atoms of uni- 
 versal matter, whose aggregate energy is the great animating spirit of 
 the universe, have the power of uniting together in various chemical 
 combinations to form molecules, or chemical unities, developing fresh 
 properties in the process, and forming the lowest conceivable division 
 of compound material substances, some atoms uniting to build up 
 crystals and other inorganic masses, and others to develop the various 
 organic or life forms. The atoms of the ultimate molecules of both 
 organic and inorganic bodies are identically the same. It depends 
 -entirely upon what particular combination of atoms takes place whether 
 4in organic or inorganic form is developed. The primordial life-form 
 we have found to be simple homogeneous plasm, consisting of mole- 
 
[15] 
 
 cules, each of which is composed of atoms of five elements — carbon, 
 oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulphur, differing not one iota from 
 the molecules of inorganic bodies, except that it acquires the special 
 power of reproduction, by virtue of the peculiar combination of its 
 atoms, which power is wanting in the inorganic world, whose molecules 
 are composed of similar atoms, but in different combinations. This is 
 the only difference between the organic, or hfe, world, and the inorganic, 
 or lifeless, world — life being, as compared with unlife, but the power of 
 reproduction. As examples of this, we may take crystals, the most 
 perfect development of inorganic nature, and the moneron, the least 
 perfect development of organic nature; and the difference between 
 them is almost nil^ certainly less than between the parents and offspring 
 in many life-forms. The crystal molecules are composed of elementary 
 ■chemical atoms, as are the moneron molecules ; but the former grow 
 by particles being deposited on particles externally, while the latter 
 grow by particles penetrating from without, or being absorbed into 
 the interior and becoming assimilated by the plasm, fresh molecules 
 being evolved in the process, this special power of reproduction being 
 generated by the peculiar combination of the atoms. This argument 
 appears to me to be logically and scientifically sound, and disposes 
 altogether of the notion of a break of continuity between the living 
 and the unliving worlds, which is such a formidable difficulty to many 
 minds. The plasm thus formed by the aggregation of life molecules 
 gradually differentiates into protoplasm and nucleus, which together 
 form a simple cell ; and this cell partakes, by heredity, of the nature 
 and properties of its parent form, and also, by adaptation to different 
 •circumstances surrounding its existence, acquires fresh properties, which, 
 together with the inherited properties, it transmits to its progeny, thus 
 evolving a still more complex form, inheriting the acquired and 
 inherited properties of its parent, and again acquiring fresh properties ; 
 and so on, ad i7ifinitum^ through the various life-forms we know have 
 been developed in the pedigree of man and animals, through Amoebae, 
 Synamoebae, etc., as in the genealogy given above. 
 
 In the course of the development of different life-forms heredity — 
 ■which, in plain English, is unconscious memory generated in the first 
 life-form and transmitted through all the different species — is the sole 
 factor in the preservation of the parent properties ; while adaptation 
 to surrounding conditions and circumstances, natural selection in the 
 struggle for existence, and sexual selection in the struggle of the 
 
[i6] 
 
 males for females are the principal factors in the differentiation of 
 species. 
 
 Having traced man's pedigree according to the Evolution theory, 
 from primitive nebulous matter to his present commanding position, 
 and found him possessed with reason and the power of controlling and 
 regulating the forces of nature, our next inquiry is naturally for what 
 purpose is he here and what will become of him eventually. Here we 
 come to the most difficult problem of all ages, which has baffled learned 
 men of all nationalities, and which will probably never be satisfactorily 
 solved. Intimately connected with it is the almost as difficult problem. 
 How was the universe caused at all ? There are eminent scientific 
 men who think they can conclusively show that the universe existed 
 from eternity ; others as positively assert that it must have been caused 
 by a power outside and independent of itself; while others are equally 
 convinced that it was self-created. But when we examine their argu- 
 ments we find ourselves unable logically to accept any of their conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 The Atheist declares that the universe has existed from eternity, not 
 having been produced by any other agency, and, therefore, without any 
 beginning; which necessarily implies the conception of infinite past 
 time — an effort of which the human mind is quite incapable. The 
 Pantheist declares that the universe evolved out of potential existence 
 into actual existence by virtue of some inherent necessity ; which is as 
 unthinkable as the previous one, for potential existence must be either 
 something, in which case it would be actual existence, or nothing, which 
 it could not possibly be. But admitting, for the sake of argument, the 
 possibility of potential existence as nothing, still we should have to 
 account for its origin, which would involve us in an infinity of still more 
 remote potentialities. The Theistic theory of creation by external 
 agency implies either formation of matter out of nothing, which is 
 inconceivable, or out of pre-existing materials, which leaves us under 
 the necessity of showing the origin of the pre-existing elements, and, 
 like the preceding theory, would involve us in an infinity of remote 
 pre-existences. It also involves the existence of a potentiality outside 
 matter, which must either be caused, which involves a prior cause, or 
 uncaused, in which case it must be either finite or infinite. If it be 
 finite, it must be limited, and, consequently, there must exist something 
 outside its limits, which destroys the notion of its being a first cause. 
 Therefore, it must be infinite. Also, as first cause, it must be indepen- 
 
i 
 
 [17] 
 
 dent ; for dependency would imply a more remote cause. The first 
 cause must, therefore, be both infinite and absolute, which is an absur- 
 dity ; for a cause can only exist in relation to its effect, and therefore 
 cannot be absolute ; and the fact of its being infinite deprives us of the 
 only means of escape from the difficulty, by showing the impossibility 
 of its being first of all absolute and afterwards cause ; for the infinite 
 cannot become what it once was not. 
 
 Thus, then, we are driven to the conclusion that logic shows the 
 Theistic conception of the origin of nature, equally as much as the 
 Pantheistic and the Atheistic, to be utterly impossible ; but it must be 
 admitted that if, instead of matter, we substitute time and space in our 
 consideration of this most important matter, the Atheistic theory more 
 nearly approaches the conceivable than either of the other two ; for by 
 no mental effort can we conceive the formation of time and space either 
 by external agency or inherent necessity. It is absolutely impossible 
 for us to conceive the idea of the non-existence of either time or space. 
 
 Because the human mind cannot conceive the possibility of nature 
 being produced by external agency, it does not follow that we are bound 
 to admit the impossibility of the existence of an intelligence controlling 
 nature's laws ; for it is quite possible that such an existence may be, 
 though our finite minds cannot comprehend it. The Agnostic philo- 
 sopher, although he cannot logically demonstrate the existence of the 
 Divine Being, yet declares that, inasmuch as this universe consists of 
 existing phenomena, it is absolutely necessary that there should be some 
 cause adequate for the production of the effects manifested. By this 
 process of reasoning he arrives at the conclusion that there exists a 
 something controlling nature, which is utterly incomprehensible — an 
 ultimate reality, of which force and matter are alike merely the pheno- 
 menal_manifestations. This ultimate reality, moreover, is intelligent. 
 
 We cannot recall the wonders of the evolutionary development of 
 the universe without at once seeing that there is purpose at the bottom 
 of all and that chance is no factor in the process. We cannot believe 
 that man is but a fortuitous concourse of atoms. Reason tells us clearly 
 that we are here for a well-ordained purpose ; but what that purpose is 
 we cannot tell. The old notion that our destiny is to prepare ourselves 
 here, to live again in our bodily forms, play harps, and sing halleluyah 
 to all eternity, I regard as mere moonshine. Such a fate would be to 
 me far worse than annihilation. But that we have a future destiny of 
 some sort I have no doubt. We know we must die, and that when we 
 
[i8] 
 
 die our bodily functions, including brain functions, will cease to be 
 performed. Are we, then, annihilated? The answer of scientists is 
 decisively "Yes, so far as we are concerned as sentient individual 
 beings." | Science teaches us that the three things which make up con- 
 sciousness, or man's mental side, are thought, emotion, and veiition ; 
 that they are inseparably bound up with the brain and the nervous 
 system, whose functions they are ; and that when the brain dies these 
 functions cease. This is undeniable. Therefore, if there is any future 
 existence, it is not one of consciousness. The power of muscular 
 movement is arrested at death, and, therefore, we must admit that 
 the power of thought, emotion, and volition ceases at death. Why 
 should the appearance be deceptive in one case and not in the 
 other ? It is not the case of a separate entity in the body, but of a 
 distinct function — an effect which ceases with its proper cause. It is 
 absolutely certain, from the teaching of science, that the consciousness 
 grows as the brain and body grow, varies according to the standard of 
 health in the brain, and declines as the general vigour of the brain 
 declines ; and, therefore, we can but admit that it dies with the brain. 
 We also learn from Embryology that consciousness evolved by slow 
 degrees from unconsciousness, and that once there was no thought in 
 any of us. \ Even if science were to admit that man's consciousness 
 continued after death, it would be equally rational to admit that animals 
 also had a future consciousness ; for it is quite clear we have slowly 
 evolved from the lowest germ of animal life. Man's very attributes are 
 found in a lower degree in animals, and yet it is the possession of his 
 lofty attributes which he says entitles him to conscious immortality. The 
 intellectual qualities in animals differ from those in man only in, degree, 
 while in the possession of some of the highest moral attributes — 
 such as courage, fidelity, patience, self sacrifice, and affection — some of 
 the lower animals, as the dog, the horse, and the ant, far surpass him. 
 Even among human beings themselves these higher quahties, mental 
 and moral, exist in all degrees, from their almost total absence in the 
 savage up to the mental and moral splendour of a Buddha, a Socrates, 
 a Disraeli, or a Gladstone. | Are all these lower animals, savage men, 
 and intellectual and moral geniuses, to have individual conscious im- 
 mortality ? If, as some say, man only and not animals are immortal, 
 then the question naturally arises. When and how came man so ? If he 
 was always immortal, so were animals. If he became immortal later 
 on, he must either have slowly acquired the gift, or it must have been 
 
[19.] 
 
 suddenly conferred upon him. In either case there must have been a 
 particular moment when he became immortal. Can we conceive of 
 such a thing as the species being mortal one moment and immortal 
 the next?! The question of ho7v he became immortal is still more 
 difficult, as the question why^ or for what merit,' is wholly unanswerable. 
 Then, again, science teaches us that animal life, of whatever form, will 
 vanish from the earth long before the inevitable decay of the planet 
 itself. Geologists tell us that, in obedience to a general law, all species. 
 have their term of living. They appear, and after a time disappear. 
 How absurd, then, to raise a question as to the conscious individual 
 immortality of the countless myriads of a species that shall itself have 
 utterly vanished without leaving a trace ! 
 
 Are we, then, annihilated at death ? Yes, as conscious individuals. 
 We are bound to admit the force of all the arguments brought 
 forward by science against the theory of a future conscious existence ;. 
 but these arguments in no way affect the great problem of the " ego,"' 
 or "self," which exists in all of us, irrespective of consciousness^ 
 memory, or other brain function. A man may be unconscious, and 
 yet live ; therefore consciousness is not necessary to life. When we 
 ask ourselves whether we shall be annihilated at death, we should first 
 of all have a clear definition of the word " we " before we reply. What 
 are we ? What am I ? I am not consciousness, which is but a function 
 of one of my organs, the brain, and which merely enables me to know 
 myself. Then what am I ? I cannot conceive that I am anything but 
 the energy or life-power developed by the aggregation of my life- 
 particles, which causes the various organs of my body to perform their 
 functions, as cerebrating, etc. The primordial germ of my body was a 
 simple bioplasm, consisting of a combination of life-molecules, com- 
 posed of energetic atoms. From these molecules evolved fresh mole- 
 cules, which, under the laws of heredity and variation, acquired new 
 properties ; until, at last, a complex organism became developed, possess- 
 ing far higher powers than those belonging to the primordial germ. 
 As the development of species continued, higher forces became mani- 
 fested ; until, at last, the condition of man was reached, and a life- 
 „ power developed of a much higher order than any previously known. 
 H This life-power, or human energy, is the "ego," the "self,". the cause 
 W . of the bodily functions, and is eternal. Kant declared there was a 
 K; world unknown, independent of our conscious phenomenal world ; 
 K and this we must admit to be true, for we have already granted the 
 
[20] 
 
 ■existence of an unknown cause, of which force and matter are merely 
 the phenomenal manifestations. It is this outer world of unknown 
 •and invisible energy that the scientist finds himself unable to deal with. 
 The death of the body is simply the cessation of cohesion, or dissolu- 
 tion of partnership, between the ultimate atoms of the plasm life- 
 molecules, by which dissolution the property called life ceases, and 
 the atoms of the body assume their original condition, again con- 
 taining their original sum of force. But what becomes of the huge 
 force developed during the lifetime of the bodily organism? Does 
 that vanish and become a thing of naught ? My opinion is that this 
 human force, which is the outcome of the complex union of the 
 ultimate atoms of the plasm life-molecules, and which is but a phe- 
 nomenal manifestation of the great incomprehensible cause of all 
 phenomena, will, at the death of the body, be re-absorbed into the 
 great animating spirit of the universe, and partake of the nature and 
 properties of the Unknown. This is but my opinion, from which many 
 may differ. I merely offer it as an opinion, and in no way shut my eyes 
 to the great fact that man's destiny is a riddle as yet unsolved. We 
 may safely leave the matter to be dealt with according to the wisdom of 
 that unknown cause of all things, resting quite assured that we shall 
 i)e far better disposed of than we could possibly dispose of ourselves, 
 even if we had the power. We must bow the head in a truly scientific 
 spirit, and reply to the great question, " I cannot tell." 
 
 "To be or not to be? that is the question," says the immortal 
 Shakespeare ; after which he sums up the whole argument in two short 
 lines : — 
 
 " To die, to sleep. To sleep? perchance to dream — 
 Aye, there's the rub." 
 
 PRINTED BY WATTS & CO., I7, JOHNSON's COURT, FLEET STREET, CONDOK; 
 
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 AUSTRALIAN TYPB OF SKULL, 
 
MAN'S ANTIQUITY. 
 
 When we reflect on the magnitude of the pre-Christian 
 Alexandrian Hbraries, as well as the magnificent appoint- 
 ments attaching to and lavish wealth expended upon the 
 ancient University of the capital of the Ptolemies, we 
 seem almost unable to realise the fact that people of 
 education and intellect, until quite lately, believed that 
 all this intellectual and literary magnificence had reached 
 that pitch of excellence in the short space of less than 
 four thousand years. In this period of time it was 
 believed that man had so far risen in intellectual capacity 
 from the absolutely ignorant condition of the first pair 
 as described in Genesis as to have reached that state of 
 mental perfection possessed by the professors in the 
 Alexandrian, Athenian, and Sicilian schools. We can see 
 Professor .'Euclid pointing out on the blackboard how, 
 the sides of a rectilinear polygon all touching a circle, 
 the area of the polygon is equal to the rectangle con- 
 tained by the radius of the circle and the semi-perimeter 
 of the polygon ; Professor Archimedes would be explain- 
 ing the theory that, if a force act upon a body, the 
 measure 'of the force in absolute units is numerically 
 equal to the time-rate of change of momentum and to 
 the space-rate of change of kinetic energy ; Professor 
 Eratosthenes would be impressing upon his class the im- 
 portance of the knowledge of the globular shape of the 
 earth ; and Professor Hipparchus would be startling his 
 hearers by stating that he would show them how the 
 failure of the sun to reach the same point in the same 
 time in his annual circuit (according to the old geocentric 
 theory) caused the vernal equinoxial sign to give place 
 to the next zodiacal sign every 2,152 years. 
 
 Here was a galaxy of intellectual attainments indeed I 
 With such a picture before our eyes we are calmly asked 
 to believe that so little time as less than four thousand 
 
years had been sufficient for the building up of this vast 
 intellectual edifice out of such rude materials as the man 
 and woman of Eden, when the two thousand years 
 following have been productive of so little advancement, 
 notwithstanding the exquisite materials upon which to 
 work that were left for us by the Alexandrian and 
 Athenian sages. We cannot believe so evident an 
 absurdity to-day ; and yet it is little more than half a 
 century since the whole of Christendom accepted without 
 any doubt whatever the old traditional statement of the 
 .Church that man had only inhabited this earth for rather 
 less than six thousand years. 
 
 How is it, then, that we have believed the traditionary 
 story for so long and now reject it as absurd ? People 
 have believed the story of the creation according to 
 Genesis partly because it was dangerous to do otherwise 
 and partly because there was no absolute proof to the 
 contrary. In 1774, however, a German of the name of 
 Esper made a discovery which gave the finishing touch 
 to the mortal wound inflicted upon the Christian and 
 Jewish superstitions by the previous adoption of the 
 Copernican system of astronomy ; and, just as Coperni- 
 cus, Bruno, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton 
 drove the first half-dozen nails into the coffin of the 
 Bible, so did this discovery of Esper drive into it the 
 first of the last half-dozen, the remaining five to be 
 subsequently added by Darwin, Huxley, Lyell, Spencer, 
 and Carpenter. The discovery made by J. F. Esper 
 consisted of some human bones, mingled with remains 
 of the Northern bear and other species then unknown, 
 which were lying in the famous cavern of Gailenreuth, 
 in Bavaria ; and this was soon followed by the discovery, 
 in 1797, by John Frere, at Hoxne, in Suffolk, of a 
 number of flint weapons, mixed up with bones of extinct 
 animals, the whole being embedded in rocks. These 
 and other similar discoveries made some sensation among 
 scientific men, which resulted in the publication, in 1823, 
 of Dr. Buckland's "Reliquiae Diluvian^," in which 
 the author summed up all the facts then known tending 
 to the establishment of the truth that man co-existed 
 with animals long since extinct. Immediately after this, 
 in 1826, Tournal, of Narbonne, gave to the world an 
 
[3] 
 
 . account of some discoveries he had made in a cave in 
 Aude (France), where he had found bones of the bison 
 and reindeer, cut and carved by the hand of man, 
 together with remains of edible shell-fish, which must 
 have been brought there by some one who dwelt there. 
 A few years afterwards De Christol, of Montpellier, 
 discovered human bones and fragments of pottery, mixed 
 with the remains of the Northern bear, hyaena, and 
 rhinoceros, in the caverns of Pondres and Souvignargues. 
 In 1833 Schmerling found in the caverns of Engis and 
 Enghihoul, in Belgium, two human skulls, surrounded 
 by teeth of the rhinoceros, elephant, bear, and hyaena, 
 on some of which were marks of human workmanship, 
 and under which were flint knives and arrow-heads. 
 Two years afterwards Joly, a Montpellier professor, 
 found in the cave of Nabrigas (Lozere) the skull of a 
 cave-bear, having upon it marks made by an arrow, 
 beside which were scattered fragments of pottery bearing 
 the imprints of human fingers. Following upon these 
 discoveries were those made in 1842 by Godwin Austen 
 at Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, consisting of animal 
 remains and results of man's handiwork ; and those 
 made in 1844, by Lund, in the caves of Bra2a], consisting 
 of skeletons of thirty human beings, an ape, various 
 carnivora, rodents, pachyderms, sloths, etc. Kent's 
 -Cavern, in 1847, was again the spot to which all eyes 
 were turned ; for there McEnery had found, under a 
 layer of stalagmite, the remains of men and extinct 
 .animals. This remarkable discovery was followed, in the 
 same year, by the appearance of a work by Boucher 
 de Perthes, of Abbeville, in which he described the 
 flint tools, etc., found in the excavations made there and 
 in the Somme valley as far as Amiens. In 1857 the 
 celebrated Neanderthal skull was discovered; and in 
 1858 Prestwich, Falconer, and Pengelly (Enghshmen) 
 found more flint implements in the lower strata of the 
 Baumann cave, in the Hartz mountains, at the same time 
 that Gosse fils obtained from the sand-pits of Crenelle 
 various flint implements and bones of the mammoth ; 
 while in the following year Fontan discovered in the 
 cave of Massat (Ariege) utensils, human teeth, and 
 bones of the cave-bear, hyaena, and cave-lion. Near 
 
[4l 
 
 Bedford, about the same time, Wyatt found, in the gravel- 
 beds, flints similar to those found at Abbeville, and bones- 
 of the mammoth, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, ox, horse, 
 and deer ; which discovery was soon followed by that 
 of the celebrated human burial place at Aurignac, by 
 Lartet, in i860, in which were found human remains,, 
 together with bones of the bear, reindeer, bison, hyaena, 
 wolf, mammoth, and rhinoceros, a number of flint and 
 horn implements, and the remaining ashes of fires. The 
 world was at last induced to give some heed to the new 
 cry of man's extreme antiquity when Boucher de Perthes,, 
 of Abbeville, in 1863, discovered at Mouhn-Quignon, 
 at a depth of fifteen feet, in a virgin argilo-ferruginous 
 bed belonging to the later Pleiocene or early Pleistocene 
 period, the half of a human lower jaw-bone (which had 
 belonged to an aged person of small stature), covered 
 with an earthy crust, by the side of which lay a flint 
 hatchet, covered with the same kind of crust ; and not 
 far from which were also buried, in the same bed, two 
 mammoths' teeth. After this discovery scientific men 
 generally subscribed to the new theory of the antiquity 
 of man, and all seemed eager to pursue their investiga- 
 tions without delay, the result being that we are now 
 receiving, almost day by day, fresh evidence on the 
 subject, and hope soon to arrive at a tolerably accurate 
 conclusion as to the earliest date of man's appearance 
 upon earth. 
 
 Let us now look more closely at the discoveries made 
 in the various caves referred to above, and also see what 
 advances had been made by geologists in other directions 
 during the same period, as well as what amount of 
 progress has been made during the last twenty years. 
 Dr. Schmerling, the Belgian geologist and comparative 
 anatomist, after exploring the Engis and other caves in 
 the province of Liege, published an illustrated work, 
 giving the results of his investigations, which were highly 
 interesting, and contributed largely to the establishment 
 of the theory of man's antiquity. In these caves 
 Schmerling found the bones of the cave-bear, hysena, 
 elephant, and rhinoceros, together with human bones, 
 none of which gave any evidence of having been gnawed, 
 from which circumstance it was inferred that these caves 
 
Ls] 
 
 liad not been the dwelling-places of wild beasts ; and the 
 fact that the bones were scattered about without any 
 order having been observed in their distribution pointed 
 to the conclusion that the caves had not been used as 
 burying-places. Probably, therefore, these remains had 
 been washed into the caves from time to time, and had 
 gradually become covered with deposit, and thus pro- 
 tected and preserved. There were no complete skeletons 
 found; but in the Engis cave were discovered the 
 remains of at least three human beings, the skull of 
 one being embedded by the side of a mammoth's tooth, 
 and in such a state of disintegration that it fell to pieces 
 on being moved ; while the skull of another, an adult, 
 was buried, five feet deep, by the side of a tooth of a 
 rhinoceros, several bones of a horse, and some reindeer 
 bones. Besides the bones, there were also discovered 
 some rude flint implements, a polished bone needle, and 
 other products of man's industry, all embedded in the 
 same layer as the bones. It follows from these facts 
 that man lived on the banks of the Meuse at the same 
 time as the rhinoceros, mammoth, hyaena, and cave-bear, 
 extinct animals of the Pleiocene and early Pleistocene 
 era. 
 
 Not far from these caves are those of the Lesse 
 Valley, in which Dupont discovered, in 1864, three 
 different layers of human and other remains, the lowest 
 of which contained the bones of the mammoth, rhino- 
 ceros, and other extinct animals, together with flint 
 instruments of the rudest type, instruments of reindeer 
 horn, and a human lower jaw with a marked resemblance 
 to the lower jaw of the higher apes. Another discovery 
 at some little distance away from these caves was made 
 in 1857 in what is called the Neanderthal Cave, in the 
 valley of the Diissel, between Diisseldorf and Elberfeld, 
 which is important, not so much as an indication of the 
 length of time that man has lived on the earth, as of the 
 close resemblance existing between the skulls of human 
 beings in the early Pleistocene era and the skulls of apes. 
 The discovery consisted of a human skull and a number 
 of human bones, together with the bones of the rhino- 
 ceros, which latter were subsequently unearthed. The 
 skull was of such a character as to raise the question of 
 
[61 
 
 whether it was human or not, the forehead being narrow 
 and very low and the projection of the supra-orbital 
 ridges enormously great. The long bones of the skeleton 
 agreed with those of men of the present day in respect 
 to length, but were of extraordinary thickness, and the 
 ridges for the attachment of muscles were developed in 
 an unusual degree, showing that the individual was 
 possessed of great muscular strength, especially in the 
 thoracic neighbourhood. Drs. Schaafhausen and Fuhlrott 
 pointed out that the depression of the forehead was not' 
 due to any artificial pressure, as the whole skull was- 
 symmetrical, and that the individual must have been 
 distinguished by an extraordinarily small cerebral deve- 
 lopment as well as uncommon corporeal strength. Pro- 
 fessor Huxley considers this Neanderthal skull to be the 
 most ape-like one he ever beheld, and Busk, a great 
 authority, gives valuable reasons for supposing it to be 
 the skull of an individual occupying a position midway 
 between the man and the gorilla or chimpanzee. Huxley 
 has carefully compared the Engis and Neanderthal 
 skulls, and his remarks upon them are given in their 
 entirety in Lyell's "Antiquity of Man." From these 
 remarks we gather that the Engis skull was dolichoce- 
 phaHc in form, extreme length 7.7 inches, extreme 
 breadth not more than 5.25 inches, forehead well arched, 
 superciliary prominences well but not abnormally deve- 
 loped, horizontal circumference 20^ inches, longitu- 
 dinal arc from nasal spine to occipital protuberance 13^ 
 inches, transverse arc from one auditory foramen to the 
 other, across the middle of the sagittal suture, 13 inches. 
 The Neanderthal skull is so different from the Engis 
 skull that Huxley says "it [Neanderthal] might well be 
 supposed to belong to a distinct race of mankind." It 
 is 8 inches in extreme length, 5.75 inches in breadth,- 
 and only 3.4 inches from the glabello-occipital line to 
 the vertex; the longitudinal arc is 12 inches, and the 
 transverse arc probably about 10 14^ inches, but, owing 
 to incompleteness of temporal bones, this could not be 
 correctly ascertained ; the horizontal circumference is 
 23 inches, which high figure is due to the vast develop- 
 ment of the supercihary ridges; and the sagittal suture, 
 notwithstanding the great length of the skull, only 43^ 
 
[7] 
 
 inches. Huxley sums up his examination of the Nean- 
 derthal skull in these words : " There can be no doubt 
 that, as Professor Schaafhausen and Mr. Busk have 
 stated, this skull is the most brutal of all known human 
 skulls, resembling those of the apes, not only in the pro- 
 digious development of the superciliary prominences and 
 the forward extension of the orbits, but still more in the 
 depressed form of the brain-case, in the straightness of 
 the squamosal suture, and in the complete retreat of the 
 occiput forward and upward from the superior occi- 
 pital ridges ;" and he then proceeds to clearly show 
 that the skull could not have belonged to an idiot. On 
 the whole, the Engis skull more clearly approaches the 
 Caucasian type, while the Neanderthal differs entirely 
 from all known human skulls, being more nearly allied 
 to the chimpanzee than to the human. Both these 
 skulls belonged to individuals who lived in the early 
 Pleistocene era, the Engis being probably the older of 
 the two, and yet the Engis is the most like the modern 
 European skull, which tells us plainly that in those 
 remote times there were existing in Belgium and the sur- 
 rounding districts two different races of men, one highly 
 advanced in brain evolution and the other in a 
 wretchedly low condition of intellectual development. 
 The Neanderthal skull probably formed part of an indi- 
 vidual belonging to the tail-end of a semi-human race, 
 while the Engis skull, in all probabihty, belonged to an 
 oriental immigrant belonging to a more advanced race. 
 It must be always remembered that scientific men have 
 long since admitted the truth of the theory that the dif- 
 ferences in character between the brain of the highest 
 races of men and that of the lowest, though less in degree, 
 are of the same order as those which separate the human 
 from the ape brain, the same rule holding good in regard 
 to the shape of the skull. 
 
 The discoveries made in Kent's Cavern, in the year 
 1842 and again in 1847, led to a thorough investigation 
 of the series of galleries forming the now celebrated 
 Brixham Caves, near Torquay, and as early as 1859 the 
 labours of the explorers were rewarded by the discovery 
 of a number of flint implements in the cave-earth or 
 loam, underneath the layer of stalagmite, which were the 
 
L8] 
 
 work of men living in Palaeolithic times, prior to the 
 existence of the reindeer, whose antlers were found depo- 
 sited in the layer of stalagmite. Previous to this time, 
 when McEnery, in 1826, examined Kent's Cavern, he had 
 stated that he had found several teeth of Ursus cultridens, 
 a huge carnivore belonging to Tertiary formations, but 
 now extinct ; and as this monster was first known in 
 Meiocene deposits in France, but had never been traced 
 in any cavern or fluviatile Pleistocene deposits, although 
 it had occurred in Pleiocene formations, considerable 
 excitement was caused on the score that the flint imple- 
 ments lately found might possibly have belonged to 
 Meiocene, or at latest early Pleiocene men. Further 
 investigations were accordingly commenced for the pur- 
 pose of solving this problem, the explorations being 
 under the superintendence of Messrs. Vivian and Pen- 
 gelley; and in 1872 they at last came upon a fine 
 incisor of Ursus cultridens in the uppermost part of the 
 cave-earth, which settled the point as to man's existence 
 at the same time with the extinct bear in England. The 
 Kent's Cavern deposits are as follows : — i. Limestone. 
 2. Black mould, containing articles of mediaeval, Romano- 
 British, and pre-Roman date. 3. Stalagmite floor, from 
 16 to 20 inches thick, containing a human jaw and 
 remains of extinct animals. 4. Black earth, containing 
 charcoal and other evidence of fire, and also bone and 
 flint instruments. 5. Red cave-earth, containing Palaeo- 
 lithic implements and bones and teeth of extinct animals, 
 such as cave-lion, mammoth, rhinoceros, and hyaena, and 
 including the tooth of the Ursus cultridens^ or Machai- 
 rodus latidens. 6. Second stalagmite floor, from 3 to 
 12 feet thick, covering bones of bears only. 7. Dark 
 red sandy loam, containing bones of bears, three flint 
 implements, and one flint chip. The fact of the Ursus 
 cultridens being contemporary in England with man is 
 of enormous interest to geologists and anthropologists, 
 for it places the date of Palaeolithic man as far back as 
 the Pleiocene age, instead of, as heretofore, in the 
 Pleistocene. 
 
 The caves of the Dordogne Valley in south-western 
 France have supplied us with some very good relics of a 
 very remote period. They are situated in rocks of Cre- 
 
[9l 
 
 taceous age, and form shelters in which ancient hunts- 
 men used to find dwelling-places, leaving behind them 
 refuse-heaps and instruments of various kinds. In the 
 Vezere Caves, which are included in the Dordogne 
 series, there is one of very ancient date, Le Moustier, 
 in which is a bed of sand having both above and below 
 floors of a similar character, containing charcoal, flint 
 instruments, and other remains. The depth of this sandy 
 bed is about lo inches, having the appearance of a river 
 deposit ; and, although many flint instruments have been 
 found in it of a more ancient date than those unearthed 
 in the other caves, yet no worked bone instruments have 
 been discovered. In another cave, the Langerie, bronze 
 and polished stone objects have been found, together 
 with various kinds of pottery, below which, and under 
 masses of fallen rock, covered with PalaeoHthic flints 
 and sculptured bones and antlers of reindeer, a human 
 skeleton was discovered lying under a block of stone. 
 In another cave, La Madeleine, was found a mammoth 
 tusk, on which was rudely carved a picture of the animal 
 itself, proving incontestably that cave-men lived here in 
 mammoth times. In the Mentone cave Dr. Riviere, in 
 1872, suddenly came upon the bones of a human foot, 
 which caused him to make a very careful examination of 
 the deposit, the result being that he unearthed an entire 
 human skeleton at a depth of 20 feet, surrounded by a 
 large number of unpolished flint flakes and scrapers, and 
 a fragment of a skewer, about six inches long. No metal, 
 pottery, or polished flint was found ; but bones of extinct 
 mammals were scattered about, thus suggesting a remote 
 Palaeolithic antiquity. The skeleton is 5 feet 9 inches 
 high, the skull dolichocephalic, forehead narrow, temple 
 flattened, and facial angle measuring 80 to 85 degrees ; 
 the teeth were worn flat by eating hard food, and the 
 long bones are strong and flattened. 
 
 No human bones have as yet been discovered in the 
 deposit of the Somme valley, where so many Palaeolithic 
 flints have been found ; but in the valley of the Seine, at 
 Clichy, Messrs. Bertrand and Reboux found, in 1868, 
 portions of human skeletons in the same beds where 
 Palaeolithic implements had been embedded. These 
 bones were found at a depth of seventeen feet, and in- 
 
[lo] 
 
 eluded a female skull of very inferior type, having 
 enormously thick frontal bone and a low, narrow roof, 
 slanting from before backwards. A very good specimen of 
 human fossil is that known as the " Denise Fossil Man," 
 comprising the remains of more than one skeleton found 
 in a volcanic breccia near Le Puy-en-Velay, in Central 
 France. These bones have been very carefully examined 
 by the members of the French Scientific Congress, as 
 also the deposit in which they were found, and the 
 opinion arrived at is that the fossils are genuine and their 
 age early Pleistocene. Another most interesting specimen, 
 of ancient human remains is the skeleton found buried 
 under four Cypress forests, superimposed one upon the 
 other, in the delta of the Mississippi, near New Orleans, 
 at a depth of sixteen feet. Dr. Dowler ascribes to this 
 skeleton an antiquity of at least 50,000 years, reckoning 
 by the minimum length of time that must have elapsed 
 during the formation of the deposits found and the sink- 
 ing of the four successive forest beds. In another part 
 of the same delta, near Natchez, a human bone, os- 
 tnno77iinatii7n^ accompanied by bones of the mastodon 
 and megalonyx, was washed out of what is believed to be 
 a still more ancient alluvial deposit. Dr. Dickeson, in 
 whose possession the said bone is now, states that it 
 was buried at a depth of thirty feet, and geologists agree 
 that its date is very early, some maintaining that it is 
 probably of a higher antiquity than any yet discovered. 
 
 From these discoveries it is abundantly evident that 
 man existed on the earth contemporaneously with the 
 mastodon and other extinct mammals belonging to the 
 Pleiocene and early Pleistocene eras. There are, how- 
 ever, people who stoutly deny that this can be so — at 
 any rate, as regards Northern and Central Europe — and 
 who rank the discoveries at Moulin Quignon, Engis, 
 Kent's Cavern, etc., with late Pleistocene remains.. 
 They maintain that the beds in which these relics were 
 found could not have been of Pleiocene or early Pleis- 
 tocene formation, inasmuch as they lie above the till and 
 boulder-clay which form the glacial deposits of the time 
 when Europe was an Arctic region — that is to say, of 
 late Pleistocene times. Therefore, they say, man's 
 earliest existence in Europe was post-glacial or late 
 
[II] 
 
 Pleistocene. But while the fact of the human remains 
 having been discovered above the boulder-clay appears 
 to point to a post-glacial date, still there is con- 
 fronting us the perplexing anomaly of the contemporary 
 existence of extinct mammals belonging to a tropical 
 fauna, which, if we accept this theory, involves the ne- 
 cessity of admitting that a tropical climate followed the 
 last glacial epoch — a condition of things that we know 
 never existed at all. The fact is there have been more 
 periods of glaciation than one, each being followed by 
 the deposition of boulder-clays ; and between the periods 
 of intense Arctic cold there were intervals of tropical or 
 sub-tropical heat, when mammals belonging to and 
 requiring a tropical climate ventured as far north as 
 the north of England, to become extinct when the period 
 of glaciation supervened. The last glacial period, we 
 know, extended its area of influence as far as the high 
 peaks of Switzerland and Northern Italy, completely 
 overwhelming the whole of Northern Europe as far south 
 as the latitude of 45°, and the whole of North America 
 as far south as the latitude of 40° ; since when there has 
 been a gradual diminution of cold until the present tem- 
 perate chmate supervened. Now, if it can be positively 
 ascertained that all the boulder-clays found in England 
 and Northern Europe were deposited during and imme- 
 diately after this last glacial period, the date of man's- 
 first appearance in those districts, as far as we have as 
 yet any evidence, must be post-glacial ; but in such a 
 case it would have been impossible that a tropical fauna 
 and flora could have existed in the same localities, 
 whereas their remains have been abundantly found lying 
 side by side with the remains of Palaeolithic man. The 
 conclusion we must draw is that the boulder-clays found 
 below the remains of Palaeolithic man could not have 
 been deposited after the last period of glaciation, but 
 must have followed some prior glacial condition, and 
 that man existed in England and Northern Europe con- 
 temporaneously with extinct mammalia during inter- 
 glacial or pre-glacial times, when the climate of England 
 was trojiical or sub-tropical — that is to say, in middle 
 Pleistocene or late Pleiocene times. If man really 
 existed in England in Pleiocene times, in favour of^ 
 
[12] 
 
 which view there appears to be strong evidence, he would 
 have been in all probability the companion of the extinct 
 tropical mammalia found deposited in the Cromer Forest 
 beds, and some of which belonged to Meiocene times. 
 This forest was in existence at the close of thePleiocene 
 era, and stretched from Cromer far away into what is 
 now the German Ocean, uniting Norfolk and Suffolk to 
 Holland and Belgium ; but soon after the commence- 
 ment of the Pleistocene period the North Sea gradually 
 swept over the old continent between Britain on the 
 west and Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands on the 
 east, thus converting the old forest at Cromer into the 
 bed of the ocean, where the stumps of the trees may 
 now be seen embedded in deposit at very low tide. 
 Immediately after the disappearance of this forest the 
 first period of glaciation commenced, from which moment 
 until the close of the glacial periods the alternations in 
 temperature and surface level were frequent and of enor- 
 mous magnitude, the correct sequence of which changes 
 we have as yet no proper conception. 
 
 If we go back to the commencement of the Tertiary 
 great division of the geological periods, we shall find 
 that, at the beginning of the Eocene deposits, the 
 Secondary cretaceous rocks had been upheaved from the 
 bottom of the sea, and had become the dry ground of 
 a large continent, of which the British Islands formed a 
 part ; so that Eocene fauna and flora in England had 
 free communication with continental life. The relative 
 positions of land and water during this first Tertiary 
 period were as follows : The great continent spread from 
 North America to Europe, uniting Canada, Greenland, 
 Iceland, Faroes, Shetlands, Orkneys, Ireland, and Britain 
 (except south-east portion), with Scandinavia and Spitz- 
 bergen on the north-east, and with France (Brittany) and 
 Spain on the south. There were three seas — the North 
 Sea, which, like a wedge with its point downwards, 
 separated Greenland, Iceland, and Faroes from Spitz- 
 bergen and Scandinavia ; the South-Eastern Sea, which 
 stretched from the top of Denmark to Boston in Lincoln- 
 shire, thence to Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire, and on to 
 Cherbourg, covering the whole of the east and south- 
 east of England ; and the Atlantic, which was separated 
 
[13] 
 
 from the North Sea by Iceland, Faroes, and intermediate 
 lands, and from the South-Eastern Sea by the British^ 
 Islands, Western France, and intermediate lands. These 
 Eocene seas teemed with fish now only found in more 
 Southern latitudes ; while the inland lakes and rivers 
 abounded with reptilian life. On the land tropical flora 
 and fauna flourished, among the former being palms, 
 cypresses, and giant cacti, and among the latter, in 
 Lower Eocene times, large numbers of marsupial species, 
 in the Middle Eocene also lion-like carnivora, and in 
 Upper Eocene tapir-like animals, herds of Anchitheres 
 (ancestors of the horse), Hyaenodon (ancestors of hyaena), 
 and Lemurs. The Miocene period opened with a lower 
 temperature than that of the Eocene, and with a con- 
 siderable diff'erence of surface level in Denmark and on 
 the South of England, the land having been upheaved 
 to such an extent as to leave no part of the country under 
 water, uniting Yorkshire with Denmark, and dividing 
 the South-Eastern Sea into two portions, the Northern 
 one stretching from Schleswig as far as a few miles from 
 the present Lincolnshire coast and then back to the 
 present mouth of the Scheldt ; and the latter stretching 
 from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Hastings and Portland Bill, 
 and back to Cherbourg. Otherwise the relationship 
 between land and water was much the same as in Eocene 
 times. The climate of the Meiocene period was sub- 
 tropical, and in the lower strata were found placental 
 mammals, but few marsupials; in the middle beds 
 remains of the mastodon, rhinoceros, anthropomorphous 
 apes, sloths, and ant-eaters ; and in the upper layers 
 antelopes and gazelles; but no mammalian species in 
 any Meiocene deposit has continued to present times 
 all having become extinct. When we arrive at the 
 Pleiocene age we have quite a different state of things ; 
 the Adantic and North Seas gradually united together, 
 thus separating Europe from Faroes, Iceland, Green- 
 land, and North America ; and on the east of Britain 
 the North Sea slowly descended as far as the present 
 mouth of the Thames, thus separating Britain from 
 Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands ; while the two 
 Southern seas disappeared altogether, leaving a huge 
 continent, the borders of which stretched from the 
 
[14] 
 
 present west coast of Norway to Denmark, the Nether- 
 lands, across to Essex, central Norfolk (east Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk being part of North Sea), and up to the 
 Shetlands, at which point a turn was made south to a 
 few miles west of present west coast of Ireland, and 
 thence southward to a few miles west of present coast 
 of Brittany, in France, thus leaving the British Isles, 
 France, and the rest of Europe as one large continent. 
 To accomplish these enormous changes, a very long time 
 was required, during which the climate was gradually 
 becoming more temperate, being in older Pleiocene 
 times sub-tropical and in newer Pleiocene warm-tem- 
 perate ; while the fauna and flora gradually became less 
 tropical in kind. The older Pleiocene deposits are 
 divided into coralline crag and reg crag, while the newer 
 Pleiocene consist of Norwich crags and Weybourne 
 sands, on a level with which latter was the Cromer 
 forest, submerged by the North Sea during the earHer 
 Pleistocene period. 
 
 At this point commence those enormous alterations in 
 the surface level and climate of this part of the world 
 which produced such extraordinary results, and during 
 which man made his first appearance in Britain. At the 
 very commencement of the Pleistocene era the tempera- 
 ture in Britain was lowered to such an extent as to pro- 
 duce a sudden disappearance of the semi-tropical fauna 
 and flora : the land had reached the high elevation of 
 500 feet above the present level, joining Scotland and 
 Scandinavia, and there had appeared in the North Sea 
 large blocks of ice, which rapidly increased in size and 
 quantity, and continually pushed farther south, until at 
 length, after a long lapse of time, the whole of Northern 
 Europe, Asia, and America as far as the latitude of 
 about 45° became like a huge ice-house, the Arctic cold 
 driving all life before it to a more southern latitude, those 
 forms which had hved in Britain during Meiocene and 
 Pleiocene times being the first to disappear on the earhest 
 sign of the approaching cold, and the Arctic flora and 
 fauna which took their place being afterwards compelled 
 also to move southward, owing to the intense severity 
 of the glaciation. 
 
 When this state of things had lasted a very considerable 
 
time the climate became milder, the melting ice deposited 
 its boulder clay, and the high continent commenced to 
 sink again to its former level, during which gradual sub- 
 mergence the climate became still warmer, until it at 
 length reached a more than temperate mildness, at one 
 time being almost tropical. Still the land continued to 
 sink, and this submergence lasted until the British part 
 of the great continent had become a large archipelago of 
 small islands, the surface of the land being upwards of 
 one thousand feet below the present level. It has been 
 calculated that such a submergence would require at the 
 least 88,000 years to be completed ; so that a general 
 idea may be formed of the enormous periods of time 
 occupied by these glacial and inter-glacial epochs. While 
 the British archipelago existed, another change of 
 climate took place, resulting in another glacial period, 
 but probably not of such intensity as the previous 
 one. At this period the upper boulder clay was 
 deposited in the sea, to be afterwards upheaved above 
 the sea level in Yorkshire and other places. After a 
 long continuance of this glaciation the land commenced 
 to rise again and the climate to improve, until, after a 
 period of about 136,000 years (according to careful 
 computation), there was produced another continental 
 condition, the ground reaching about 600 feet higher than 
 now, and the climate becoming temperate once more. 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, Denmark, the 
 Netherlands, France, and Spain once again formed a 
 mighty continent, the climate of which was cold-tempe- 
 rate, becoming milder year by year, and the elevation of 
 which was gradually declining, as it has continued to do 
 until the present time, the British islands slowly becoming 
 once more separated from the continent of Europe. 
 During the last temperate continental condition Palaeo- 
 lithic and Neohthic man lived in Britain, as is clearly 
 proved by the evidence brought forward by various 
 authors in support of the contention ; but, as we have 
 seen. Palaeolithic man's remains discovered in the various 
 deposits were often in the company of the bones of 
 extinct mammals belonging to a tropical fauna, which 
 species could not have existed in Britain with such a 
 climate as that which followed the last period of glacia- 
 
, ['6 1 
 
 tion, but must have lived either in pre-glacial times, or, 
 in other words, at the end of Pleiocene or very beginning 
 of Pleistocene times, or else in inter-glacial or mid- 
 Pleistocene times ; and whichever alternative be adopted 
 we are bound to fix the date of the Palaeolithic remains 
 at the same period. To fix their date in the very earliest 
 of Pleistocene, or latest of Pleiocene times, would give 
 them an antiquity of nearly 300,000 years ; to fix it in 
 mid-Pleistocene times, during the temperate or inter- 
 glacial period of submergence, would give them an anti- 
 quity of upwards of 170,000 years ; and to fix it in post- 
 glacial times would give them an antiquity of probably 
 70,000 or 80,000 years at most. The inter-glacial theory 
 would, on the whole, appear most likely to be the correct 
 one, were it not for the fact that, during the inter-glacial 
 period, this country was partially submerged, which would 
 probably have prevented any communication in those 
 times between the islands and the mainland. We must, 
 however, not forget that the great submergence com- 
 menced during the first period of glaciation, and did not 
 cease until the second period had been reached, so that 
 the inter-glacial period of warmth would take place when 
 England and Scotland were but little different from now 
 in their relationship to the continent, and long before the 
 archipelago was formed. Whether it would have been 
 possible under these conditions for PalaeoHthic man to 
 cross from the continent to the British islands we cannot 
 say j but the probability is that the distance to travel by 
 water would have been far too great in such early times ; 
 in which case we have no alternative but to place the 
 date of man's earliest existence in England at the latest 
 Pleiocene age, as indeed we are compelled to do by the 
 fact that Palaeolithic implements have been found in 
 Kent's cavern side by side with teeth of the extinct bear 
 of that period, as well as by the discoveries made in the 
 Engis and other caves. 
 
 In Southern Europe and the Southern States of North 
 America the glacial epoch had little effect, so that man's 
 age upon the earth in those districts will be better calcu- 
 lated than it can ever be here or in France and Belgium ; 
 and it will not be surprising if we learn before long that 
 man lived in the districts surrounding the Mediterranean 
 
ti7] 
 
 Sea in early Pleiocene times. This sea, it must be re- 
 collected, was almost dried up during the early and 
 middle Pleistocene periods, and there was no communica- 
 tion between it and the Atlantic Ocean, so that i^urope 
 was connected both on the east and west with Africa, 
 and was also one continuous continent with Asia, there 
 being then no Black Sea and no Caspian Sea. The 
 probability, therefore, is that man first became a rational 
 being, parting with his ape-like characteristics, some- 
 where in Southern Asia or Northern Africa, or, more 
 probably still, in the now submerged continent of 
 Lemuria, which once joined China, India, and Africa in 
 one continental system ; after which he emigrated in 
 different directions, finding his way north-westwards over 
 the European continent as far as the very limit of the 
 Franco-British continental system. At what period man 
 first existed in the districts around the Mexican Gulf it 
 is at present impossible to say ; but the skull found in 
 the Mississippi beds is calculated to be at least 50,000 
 years old, and by some the date is fixed at 100,000 
 years, which would carry us back to middle Pleistocene 
 times at least. Man, therefore, most probably existed 
 in Europe long before he had made his appearance in 
 the new world, although it is quite possible that further 
 investigation may lead to the discovery of a still more 
 ancient stock than that to which the Mississippi skull 
 belonged. How long a time elapsed between the first 
 appearance of Palaeolithic man in Northern Europe, and 
 the subsequent advent of Neolithic man, it is at present 
 impossible to say with any degree of certainty ; but the 
 interval must have been of enormous length, for we find 
 no traces of polished stone implements until the very 
 close of the Pleistocene era during the last Franco- 
 British continental system. At this period man had 
 become much more civiHsed than his ancestors of the 
 Palaeolithic age ; his implements were more ornamental 
 and better fitted for the purposes for which they were 
 intended ; his mode of life had become more settled ; 
 and he had developed primitive industries. In the 
 ancient "hut circles" found at Standlake and at Fisherton, 
 near Sahsbury, have been found instruments used for 
 spinning and weaving, which date back to Neolithic 
 
[.8] 
 
 times, also fragments of pottery and stones used for 
 grinding corn, side by side with the remains of domestic 
 animals. From this we conclude that Neolithic man was 
 at this time a companion of domestic animals, a keeper 
 of flocks and herds,' and an agriculturalist. He very soon 
 became, in addition to this, a miner, as is evident from 
 the remains found at Cissbury, on the South Downs, and 
 at Grimes Graves, near Bandon, in Suffolk. Shafts had 
 been sunk and galleries dug out of the ground in order 
 to unearth a better kind of flint for manufacturing useful 
 implements ; and in some of these galleries the tools of 
 the workmen have been discovered, consisting of picks 
 made out of stags' antlers, poHshed stone celts, chisels of 
 bone and antler, and small cups made of chalk. With 
 these and other primitive tools the flint had been worked 
 out in several places, forming deep hollows in and near 
 which were the remains of birds, sheep, goats, horses, 
 pigs, and dogs, which evidently had served as companions 
 to and food for the miners. Canoes, hollowed out of 
 large trees by the use of fire and axes, have also been 
 discovered, together with huge paddles for propelling 
 them ', and numerous have been the discoveries of heads 
 of javelins, arrows, and spears, which were probably used 
 as weapons of warfare, the population by this time having 
 grown large and divided itself into small communities 
 more or less at enmity with each other. 
 
 Similar progress was made by Neolithic man on the 
 continent of Europe, as we know from the discoveries 
 made in Switzerland. As early as 1829 very ancient 
 piles had been discovered in the lake of Zurich, which 
 have since been found to be the remains of primitive 
 lake-dwellings, dating from Neohthic times. These 
 peculiar habitations consisted of wooden houses built on 
 platforms erected on a number of wooden piles driven 
 into the bottom of the lake, and were, no doubt, so 
 constructed with the view of protecting the small colony 
 from the raids of wild beasts and warlike people from 
 other parts of the country. Most of these lake-dwellings 
 were burnt down, their charred remains sinking to the 
 bottom of the lake, where they have been discovered 
 together with heaps of corn, pieces of woven and plaited 
 cloth, meahng or grinding stones, earthenware imple- 
 
[ 19'] 
 
 ments, nets and mats, and implements of stone, antler, 
 and bone. Numbers of domestic and other animals were 
 kept in these dwellings, such as the dog, horse, pig, 
 sheep, and cow ; and fish appears to have been a regular 
 article of consumption. Similar discoveries have been 
 made in Denmark by Professor Steenstrup and others, 
 which show an equal advance in civilisation and culture 
 during early Neolithic tirnes. Vast accumulations of 
 refuse matter, in the form of oyster-shells, fish-bones, 
 and animal remains, have been found near the shores of 
 the Baltic, the whole being heaped up into mounds, 
 evidently having formed public refuse-heaps for commu- 
 nities of settlers. Scattered about were also found 
 polished stone axes, but no metal implements; while 
 upon some of the stones were well-drawn engravings, 
 pointing to a considerable advance in culture ; and the 
 fact that the remains of the domestic animals prove them 
 to be of southern and eastern origin suggests the pro- 
 bability that these settlers were immigrants from the 
 south-east of Europe, where we should expect consider- 
 able advance to have been effected in civilisation. 
 
 It is extremely probable and generally admitted that 
 man became civilised in oriental countries, and made 
 his way northwards and westwards, gradually covering 
 the whole of Europe ; so that we should expect the races 
 of Egypt, Persia, and India to be far more highly cultured 
 than those who were establishing themselves in the west 
 at the same time. It would take a very long time indeed 
 for people to spread themselves from Egypt and Persia 
 over the whole of Europe, and during all this time they 
 would naturally, owing to their wandering habits, advance 
 in civihsation far more slowly than those who remained 
 in their original homes. At the time, therefore, that 
 NeoHthic man had become a settler in Europe and 
 Britain we may fairly suppose that Egypt, Persia, and 
 India were great, powerful, and prosperous states, well 
 advanced in civilisation and art, and, perhaps, even the 
 tail-end of a mighty and prosperous civilisation that had 
 preceded them long ages before. It was probably from 
 these highly-civilised centres that the discovery of bronze 
 was carried into Europe, which marked the commence- 
 ment of wh^t is called the Bronze or Prehistoric Age, 
 
[20] 
 
 during which period the use of bronze implements 
 almost entirely superseded that of polished stone 
 weapons. 
 
 Before the Bronze Age had fairly commenced the last 
 of the Pleistocene deposits had taken place, and the 
 recent layers of earth had begun to distribute themselves 
 upon the older strata ; but how long a time has actually 
 elapsed since the completion of the Pleistocene stratifica- 
 tion has not been accurately ascertained. A rough 
 approximation to the relative length of the Pleistocene 
 and Prehistoric periods may be obtained from the fact 
 that the valleys were cut down by streams flowing through 
 them as much as a hundred feet deep in the former 
 period, while the work done by the rivers during the 
 latter period is measured by the insignificant fluviatile 
 deposits close to the adjacent streams. We may, there- 
 fore, conclude that the Pleistocene era was, beyond all 
 calculation, of longer duration than the Prehistoric. It 
 must not be imagined from this that the Prehistoric 
 period was a short one, for there have been a series of 
 changes in the fauna, and a series of invasions of different 
 races of men into Europe, which must have required a 
 very long time to have been brought about, judging from 
 similar changes recorded in history. 
 
 It is believed that, soon after the commencement 
 of the Bronze Age, an Aryan stream of life poured over 
 Europe from Central Asia, and finally invaded England, 
 driving out the old inhabitants and re-stocking the 
 country with a host of Aryan Celts, who brought with 
 them the knowledge of bronze manufacture. The defeated 
 natives retreated to Ireland and the west of England 
 and Scotland, and finally gave themselves up to their 
 conquerors, whom they in future served as slaves. Thus 
 were annihilated the Neolithic men of Britain, and thus 
 was the use of polished stone weapons superseded by 
 that of bronze implements. These Celtic invaders, like 
 their conquered predecessors, lived upon the flesh both 
 of wild and domestic animals, as is evident from the 
 discovery made in 1867 at Barton Mere, near Bury St. 
 Edmunds, where bronze spear-heads were found in and 
 around large piles and blocks of stone, together with 
 vast quantities of the broken bones of the stag, roe, wild 
 
[2r] 
 
 boar, hare, urus, horse, ox, hog, and dog, as well as 
 fragments of pottery. Fire was produced by these men 
 by striking a flint flake against a piece of iron pyrites, as 
 is evident from the discovery of these articles in and 
 around charred remains of fires ; thus a great advance 
 was made in this direction upon the habits of the older 
 inhabitants, who had only been able to procure fire by 
 rapidly turning a piece of wood between their two hands, 
 the point being fixed in a hollow on another piece of 
 wood, so that the great friction which resulted produced 
 heat sufficient to generate flame. 
 
 Following the Bronze Age was the Iron Age, during 
 which period the historic era commenced ; and thus we 
 have not only various discoveries to prove that iron 
 gradually supplanted bronze, but history bears witness to 
 the same truth. The Homeric legends abound with feats 
 performed by heroes who wielded bronze and iron 
 weapons ; and from Hesiod, who wrote nearly five hun- 
 dred years before Herodotus, we learn that iron had 
 already superseded bronze among the Greeks, and that 
 the archaeologists of his day recognised a distinct era of 
 the past as the Age of Bronze. The probability is that 
 the discovery of the mode of separating iron from its 
 ore and turning it into useful articles was made in Asia, 
 from whence it was afterwards introduced into Europe; 
 for we find that at the very first appearance of iron in 
 Britain and France there were iron coins and iron orna- 
 ments in regular use among the people, which articles 
 were no doubt brought by invading tribes of oriental 
 people. In the early or prehistoric portion of the Iron 
 Age the practice of burying the dead at full length 
 first became known in Britain, cremation having always 
 been practised previously. 
 
 Having now arrived at historic times, our inquiry into 
 man's antiquity need not be further continued. For the 
 searcher after truth there only now remains the task of 
 carefully considering the facts here brought forward 
 and comparing the conclusions arrived at with the old 
 orthodox story of the creation of the world and man as 
 found in the Bible. If the story read in the Book of 
 Nature be a true one, then man has lived upon the 
 earth several hundred thousand years, and has passed 
 
[3^1 
 
 from a state of unconscious animal existence, through 
 innumerable stages of savage, semi-savage, and civilised 
 conditions, to his present commanding position. If the 
 story read in the so-called Book of God be a true one, 
 then the world and man were created less than six 
 thousand years ago. The reader must judge for himself 
 which is the truth. 
 
s 
 
PLAN OF EVOLUTION OF 
 — MIND \N MAN — 
 
 
 fNTELLECTUAl^ PROOt/CTS. 
 
 EMOTIONAL. PRODUCTS 
 
 
 /S^J's. 
 
 (fcicncc 
 
 /(ftnc7ial I!motti77fy 
 
 //omo SaJjUtf.s 
 
 rc^js. 
 
 Monotheism 
 
 /'7elaru/loly 1/- EcsTclsx/ 
 
 Homo Cu ItUs 
 
 J^7^S. 
 
 Pol^thetS7?v 
 
 r Cprcrresy 
 
 ^ Tfonio^ 
 
 di yrs. 
 
 /"efXshism 
 
 /I we cihid ^ ., 
 /lp/jrcczcitt:<?7L oj /17^C 
 
 Jemi-refXfX 
 
 ^Vrs. 
 
 Jufie? 'stifxo 7 V 
 
 VciniTSf , MirtTi.Pave. oj Bea-uly 
 
 
 Zt )/7'S. 
 
 Peji?ziiiy Moreility 
 
 ^- 
 
 Hprno Ferox 
 
 ^^ /^0S, 
 
 
 
 /llcU.t 
 
 22 Mas 
 
 ^peec7v 
 
 
 Scrrv i'7/Lunatv 
 Apes 
 
 2oms. 
 
 Cmvcei'fect /Ictcofv 
 
 
 
 /6f/ifos. 
 
 7(71.0 wZedde-oJ^tfve' use^ 
 o^ Sijy^hle *^Irtst7'Urnenti 
 
 
 
 /^0os. 
 
 T^r ticcvlci^tton 
 
 
 
 /dMcs. 
 
 J7td&ji7titb MotaliT^ 
 
 
 
 8 Mas 
 
 True /Tea sort 
 
 Pride^ STiante ZhceU] ^t^^Ton 
 
 A?on Meys />o(^J 
 
 ^/%J. 
 
 (/'ndcrsta7tdc7i^<ffWoreU 
 
 Sy7u/jcLl/Li Cic7cosify 
 
 //a/'scs ^ifs 
 
 ^y^Us. 
 
 J)7'€in/7Zin^ 
 
 _, ^^?nivlcCtio7i . 
 JectCoicsy, Joy, C^7'cef. 
 
 ^ircU 
 
 ///if^s. 
 
 /dRca^7titlb?z o{ /^rs arts' 
 
 A7zj^e7- 
 
 /^e/jCt/^s 
 
 /SW/cz, 
 
 Jtec-o^^?iiri07iy (?f Traces 
 
 T^ay 
 
 y7fsrc7^ 
 xndy 7^s7ves 
 
 ///Was. 
 
 /IssoccciImtz ojJciea^ 
 
 Hc^7^^e'iCy 
 
 Cru.stcuta?is 
 
 /dYJks 
 
 Co7-i sctotcs Memory 
 
 /^^ 
 
 Crusi2icea?zs 
 
 
 Tclin And 7^eASlC7''& 
 
 
 formes 
 
 3WHs, 
 
 CxJjvscvoicsrt^css 
 
 
 /^Cfllu^JCS 
 
 BfHTH 
 
 ^^^'%^^f^p£s&;&^' 
 
 
 bovver 
 Mo llu^sos 
 
 eMBfiifO 
 
 /i/o7^-A^€7•^/ouyS Adjio5rme7il 
 
 
 Ainoe^ae^ 
 
 Gem 
 
 n*etb/jULS77UC Afl>Cic77l 
 
 
 8-otofilcLS?7t 
 
A creeniTih nTlnxtf a.^ or UTK-ic^tt^to-v frot^it^ that c^an|e« 
 i^S form c on.tw.-a.tt.tltj ' ivifX CeH'TttLclt-Vus xTi Ow mzdiile^ 
 vsiiXin Ta>A,i*cA is the. jLTjucleolxus , After Haeck^t, 
 
 s 
 
 
EVOLUTION OF MIND. 
 
 It seems hardly credible that there should exist people 
 who profess to accept the Darwinian theory of develop- 
 ment of species in all its fulness, and yet reject the idea 
 of the human mind having been evolved by slow stages 
 from the primitive sense-organ of our lowliest ancestors, 
 the Protamnia. Such inconsistency seems almost puerile, 
 .and, wereTT'not for the fact that the admission of this 
 truth would be the final blow at the various faiths of the 
 world, we should not be called upon to-day to defend a 
 position so utterly impregnable as that assumed by 
 Haeckel and others in regard to the evolution of the 
 human mind. When education has advanced further 
 there will, we must hope, be less of this shutting of the 
 eyes to obvious truths for the mere sake of propping up 
 for a little while longer the belief in a batcli of fairy 
 tales and preposterous legends. As we look around us 
 upon the wonderful objects of nature we see everywhere 
 animation and law ; the heavens above are full of life — 
 suns, planets, moons, and other celestial bodies in- 
 cessantly moving to and fro, all bound in their courses 
 by the immutable laws of nature ; the vast ocean, teeming 
 with myriads of living beings, is incessantly rolling and 
 roaring like some great monster, but never exceeds the 
 limits which nature has assigned to its action ; and the 
 whole face of the earth presents a constant scene of 
 activity of some kind or other — volcanoes discharging 
 their molten fluid, huge glaciers grinding along the 
 ground, monster rivers rushing forward with incessant 
 roar, and the vegetable and animal kingdoms increasing 
 and multiplying at a marvellous pace. All this is life — 
 in fact, everything we see around us, of whatever form 
 or shape, is life of some sort. The very ground upon 
 which we stand is full of life, each particle of dust being 
 
 T^r^^- 
 
held to its fellow particles by mutual attraction; and^ 
 there is not a single atom of the earth's substance or of 
 the whole universe that we can say is minus this property 
 of life or activity ; nothing in the universe that we know 
 of ever remains for one moment in a state of rest ; every- 
 thing is constantly moving, and every particle of the 
 whole contributes its own share to the general activity 
 which we term motion or life. The whole universe is a 
 huge manifestation of phenomena, which make up the 
 sum-total of life or activity. The sun rotating on its 
 axis is one form of life ; the moon silently wandering 
 round our planet is another form of life ; the trees and 
 animals growing and multiplying on the land are other 
 forms ; and every lump of ore taken out of the ground 
 and every paving stone in our streets are other forms of 
 life. Every particle of every substance whatever is in a 
 state of continual motion, and therefore full of life. In 
 fact, it is this very motion or life that sustains matter ; 
 for matter could not exist — that is, its particles could not 
 hold together, and thus form substance — without the life, 
 motion, activity, or whatever we like to term the property 
 which operates upon them and produces mutual cohe- 
 sion. 
 
 Life has always, therefore, been active in matter, and 
 always will be, for life or motion cannot be separated 
 from matter ; and, just as matter has passed from a con- 
 dition of homogeneity to one of heterogeneity, so has 
 hfe done likewise. Life possesses infinite potentiality, 
 and manifests itself in an infinite variety of ways by 
 means of different combinations, which it brings about in 
 the molecular atoms of universal matter. It acts, for 
 instance, upon a planet by causing its particles to hold 
 together in one mass apart from other bodies of a similar 
 or dissimilar character ; it also acts upon what we un- 
 scientifically call inanimate nature by causing its particles 
 to hold together, forming in one case a stone, in another 
 a metal, etc. ; and it acts upon what we term animated 
 nature by causing its molecules to combine and procreate. 
 This power of attraction and cohesion of particles of 
 universal matter is life, and it depends entirely upon what 
 particular combination of the molecular atoms of univer- 
 sal matter takes place whether a sun, a moon, a planet,. 
 
[3] 
 
 a stone, a crystal, a sponge, a tree, or a man be the 
 result. This much is certain, however, that not one of 
 these bodies can ever be produced except by an evolu- 
 tionary process subject to the universal and unchange- 
 able law which fixes the sequence. 
 
 Animal life, as distinct firom all other life, is a com- 
 paratively late development or manifestation in the 
 sequence of universal phenomena. This world on which 
 we live had existed as a compact body for miUions of 
 ages before life assumed the character of animal life ; 
 and so gradual was the process of evolution from the 
 primal condition of homogeneity, through all the mani- 
 fold stages of life, until the condition of animal life was 
 reached, that it is impossible to fix a particular moment 
 when such life became manifest. So it is with every 
 stage of the evolutionary process; there are no starting- 
 places for particular species, the whole being one con- 
 tinuous unfolding of phenomena, without arrest of any 
 kind. 
 
 It is equally impossible to fix a particular point or 
 moment for the manifestation of the crystal life as it is 
 for that of the animal or the vegetable life. All are but 
 gradual unfoldings of the universal potentiality. Crystal 
 life is the highest development of what is popularly but 
 erroneously termed inanimate nature, and differs not one 
 iota from Moneron life, which is the lowest form of 
 animal life, in its constituent elements, the only differ- 
 ence between the two being in the mode of combination 
 of the elementary particles composing each. The crystal 
 elements combine in such proportions as to cause the 
 mass to hold together like other solid bodies, its bulk 
 being increased by the deposition of fresh particles upon 
 its outer surface ; while the Moneron elements combine 
 in such a manner as to render the body soft and yielding, 
 so that it can absorb nutriment from without to within 
 and multiply by fission. The elements of both are iden- 
 tically the same : the manner of combination causes the 
 differences between them. Many learned men declare 
 that, if this were true, we ought to be able to take the 
 five elements — viz., Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Car- 
 bon, and Sulphur — in the necessary proportions, and, by 
 uniting them, form animal life. This, they say, has been 
 
' [4l 
 
 attempted, and the result has been failure ; therefore, 
 animal life could not have been generated in that manner, 
 but must have been specially created at some particular 
 moment. This argument is absurdly unsound. These 
 persons might just as well say that, to substantiate the 
 assertion that crystals are formed of a combination of 
 elementary molecules, we ought to be able to take the 
 necessary quantity of these elements, and, by uniting 
 them together, form a crystal ; and that, if this cannot 
 be done, then crystals also require a special creation. 
 The same argument for a special creation will apply to 
 every species of the animal, vegetable, and mineral king- 
 doms. Protoplasm is the lowest form of animal life, 
 differing from the highest form of mineral life only in 
 the mode of combination of its elementary particles; 
 but this difference causes the manifestation of fresh 
 phenomena, in this case as in every other modification 
 of a previous state of nature, which gives it the appear- 
 ance of possessing a property that had not been possessed 
 by any substance previously, whereas, in truth, the 
 apparently new property is but a further development of 
 that previously possessed by inorganic bodies. In short, 
 the power of absorption possessed by the Moneron is 
 simply one of the many manifestations of that universal 
 life or energy that is inherent in all matter, and has been 
 so from all time ; but it is a comparatively late develop- 
 ment, occurring at a particular period in the world's 
 history, when the conditions necessary for such a deve- 
 lopment were present. Before this period no such 
 combination of molecular atoms took place with the 
 same result, simply because the necessary conditions of 
 development were absent. In the same manner precisely 
 there was a prior period when no such substance as a 
 crystal existed, the conditions requisite for the peculiar 
 combination of molecular atoms to result in the forma- 
 tion of a crystal having been absent. 
 
 When the world had undergone sufficient evolutionary 
 development there came a time when such atmospheric 
 and other conditions were present as to permit of a 
 modification of the then existing substances and proper- 
 ties, which resulted in the formation of the crystal ; and, 
 precisely in the same manner, and for the same reason. 
 
Ls] 
 
 a further and later modification resulted in the formation 
 of Protoplasm, which is the earliest form of animal life. 
 This little substance gradually differentiated into two 
 distinct parts, by a nucleus being formed in the centre 
 of the protoplasmic mass, and became possessed with a 
 peculiar power of locomotion, which caused a still 
 greater difference to exist between itself and its ancestral 
 stock. This power of locomotion, again, is but a modi- 
 fication of that hfe-power of which we have spoken, and 
 forms a stepping-stone between the molecular action of 
 mineral substances and the mental wonders of the human 
 being. The crystal, in common with all other bodies in 
 the mineral kingdom, always possessed this power of 
 locomotion to a limited extent; every one of the indi- 
 vidual atoms which make up the whole substance has 
 always had the power of locomotion, for they all attract 
 and repel each other and effect cohesions by their 
 mutual attraction. This locomotive power underwent 
 such a modification when cell-life (Protozoa) was mani- 
 fested that not only were the constituent molecular 
 atoms individually possessed of this power, as before, 
 but the whole mass of the cell became endowed with the 
 same property, just as a whole continent of free people 
 who have been in the habit of defending themselves 
 singly against their enemies sometimes combine and 
 co-operate with each other in the form of a republic, the 
 function of the individual being assumed by the body 
 as a whole. The little cellular organisms, which are 
 called Amoebae, possess this extended power of locomo- 
 tion, and may be seen constantly moving about in the 
 endeavour to locate themselves in the brightest part of 
 their dwelling place, frequently a little pond. They are 
 attracted by light, which clearly proves that they possess 
 a degree of sensory perception, although special sense- 
 organs are of course wanting, the whole mass of the 
 body being nothing more than a single cell composed of 
 protoplasm and nucleus. These httle cellular organisms 
 soon unite with each other, forming small bodies com- 
 posed of several cells in a state of cohesion (Synamoebae), 
 and on the surface of these multicellur organisms are 
 shortly afterwards thrown out minute threads or ciliae, 
 the first attempt at separation of sense-organs from the 
 
' [6] 
 
 surface of the body. In these tiny Protozoa, those 
 organisms which consist of one single cell only, the 
 Amoebae, as well as those consisting of several cells in a 
 state of union, the Synamoebae, are able to perform all 
 the functions of animal life — cohesion, sensation, motion, 
 digestion, and reproduction ; but, as the organism be- 
 comes more and more complex, these different functions 
 are shared among several groups of cells. This differ- 
 entiation proceeds steadily stage by stage, until at last 
 different senses are located in different parts of the body, 
 and we find animals possessing eyes, ears, noses, and 
 mouths, one organ performing the function of sight, 
 another that of hearing, and so on. All these organs of 
 sense are but parts of the general nervous organisation 
 of the body, which is apparefitly absent in the Protista, 
 but existing potentially in the protoplasmic substance, 
 as it also does in every other substance in the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 The ciliated multiple cell-organism, in course of time, 
 becomes transformed into a hollow body, having a wall 
 composed of a single layer of cells, and this again, by 
 invagination, or folding of itself within itself, forms a 
 double-walled cavity, or Gastrula, having an external 
 opening like a mouth. These little animals, the Gas- 
 troeada, having an inner layer of cells (the endoderm), 
 which carries on the nutritive and assimilative functions 
 of the organism, and an outer layer (the ectoderm), 
 which forms the general motor and sense-organ of the 
 body, are the first animal organisms to possess a real 
 sense-organ separate and distinct from other parts of the 
 body. From this epidermal organ of sense are deve- ' 
 loped, as higher forms of animal life make their appear- 
 ance, the nerve-cells and sense-cells which form the 
 whole nervous system. 
 
 In the fresh-water polyp, or Hydra, which is wanting 
 in distinct organs of sense and nervous system, we find 
 a remarkable sensitiveness to touch, warmth, and light, 
 individual ectodermic neuro-muscular cells performing 
 these functions, but a far greater sensibility being exhi- 
 bited in the circle of fine prehensible tentacles surround- 
 ing the mouth than elsewhere. Here we have a marked 
 attempt at localisation of sense-organs, and a manifesta- 
 
[7] 
 
 tion of instinct, which makes the little animal shrink, 
 from the touch. 
 
 From the Hydrse evolved the Medusae, which, instead 
 of being dependent entirely on neuro-muscular cells like 
 the parent forms, developed minute sets of nerves and 
 muscles, by the use of which they became enabled to 
 swim about easily and at their own will and pleasure. 
 We get in this little animal the first appearance of real 
 nerve function, or conductibility of stimulus along the 
 nervous fibre to a muscle which it causes to contract — a 
 totally different function to the contraction of the whole 
 body upon a stimulus being applied to it, as in the case 
 of the Hydras. 
 
 In the worm forms, which evolve from the Gastraeada, 
 we come across the first attempt at special sense-organ 
 formation, in the shape of depressions on the integu- 
 ment of the body. The Himatega, or sack-worms, 
 possess a rudimentary spinal cord, and were the parents 
 of the first true vertebrates, organisms without skulls 
 or brains, but with a true vertebral cord. These little 
 vermiform animals, in addition to their rudimentary 
 spinal cords, exhibited upon the surface of the body 
 several small depressions, which answered the purpose of 
 a set of special sense-organs, one tiny depression being 
 set apart especially for the perception of light waves, 
 another for the perception of sound waves, another 
 for the perception of odours, etc. ; and thus gradually 
 came about that wonderful evolutionary process by which 
 bodies became endowed with more or less perfect special 
 sense-organs. 
 
 As the animal kingdom developed into higher and 
 higher forms of life, and skulls and brains became the 
 order of the day, the special sense-organs became 
 possessed of larger powers, at the same time that the 
 whole nervous organisation assumed higher and more 
 complex functions, resulting eventually in a very gradual 
 unfolding of the most wonderful of all the latent poten- 
 tialities of universal life — the marvel of consciousness. 
 This is the present climax of Nature's evolution, the 
 grandest and most awful achievement of that hidden and 
 mysterious force which baffles comprehension, and beside 
 ■ which all things seen, heard, or felt pale into insignificance. 
 
[ s ] 
 
 To point out the precise method of the evolution of 
 mind, step by step, until the final climax of consciousness- 
 was reached, would require an abler pen than mine ; 
 therefore I shall be content to briefly notice the different 
 products of intellectual development in the order in 
 which they are unfolded, showing the analogy between 
 ontogenesis, or the life-history of the individual, and 
 phylogenesis, or that of the whole race, not now as 
 regards bodily, but only mental, evolution. We must 
 ever remember that the biogenetic law insists that the 
 process of development in the race is reflected in minia- 
 ture in the embryonic history of every individual. In 
 other words, it is, beyond doubt, an accepted article of 
 faith with biologists that the development of the indivi- 
 dual from the embryo in utero to the full-grown man is 
 an exact counterpart of the development of the whole- 
 race from the primitive protoplasmic atom, the lowly 
 Moneron, to hojjio sapiens^ equally in regard to mental 
 as to bodily evolution. 
 
 Every human individual commences his term of separate 
 existence as a tiny speck of protoplasm, and slowly 
 advances through the phases of separate cell-life, multi- 
 cellular existence, and the gastrula, vermiform, and pisci- 
 form stages, being finally born as a partially-developed 
 member of the human family, from which moment he 
 grows rapidly to the perfection of the adult state, having 
 accomplished, in the short period of about a score of 
 years, precisely what his counterpart, the race, effected • 
 in many millions of years. During the period in which ^ 
 the individual dwells in utero great and rapid modifica- - 
 tions take place in the general construction of the foetus ; . 
 sensory perception makes its appearance very early, being 
 followed quickly by the first attempt at differentiation of 
 special sense-organs in the form of tiny surface depres- 
 sions j the brain and spinal system gradually take shape 
 and make ready for future action ; and the little body 
 slowly assumes a form suitable for separate extra-uterine 
 existence. At the moment of birth the brain and special 
 sense-organs are not yet developed to such a degree that 
 they can properly discharge the functions they are called 
 upon to perform in the mature state; they have to 
 advance gradually to perfection in harmony with the 
 
L9] 
 
 growth of the whole body j and thus it is that a newly- 
 born individual does not see, hear, or exhibit signs of 
 consciousness until some time has elapsed from birth, 
 although it is, at first, quite sensitive to cold and heat. 
 If a lighted candle be held in front of the eyes of a newly- 
 born infant, and moved to and fro, it will be at once- 
 observed that the child is totally unconscious of it ; and, 
 if a gun be fired off in the room occupied by the child; 
 the effect upon the infantile organism is nil ; but, if the 
 air of the room be allowed to cool, the effect will be at 
 once perceived, for the muscles of the child will soon^ 
 begin to contract, and his vocal bellows to act vigorously. 
 Gradually, however, the sight, hearing, etc., become 
 adjusted, and the infant begins to take notice of surround- 
 ing objects, until at about a month after birth pain and 
 pleasure, the first indications of the dawn of the mental 
 powers, manifest themselves. Conscious, as distinguished 
 from instinctive or non-conscious, memory appears to 
 be exercised at about the thirteenth week, and to be 
 immediately followed by association of ideas, the recog- 
 nition of places and persons, and dreaming. At the same 
 time that these indications of intellectual development 
 are manifesting themselves, a corresponding unfolding of 
 the emotions is observed. Side by side with memory 
 appears fear, followed by pugnacity, play, and, later, 
 anger; while, still later, about on a par with the first 
 period of dreaming, or at about the age of five months, 
 are manifested emulation, jealousy, joy, and grief. In 
 about another month we notice that the child begins to 
 understand words, while, on the emotional side, he 
 evinces signs of awakening sympathy, curiosity, revenge, 
 and gratitude, followed within a couple of months by 
 pride, shame, deceitfulness, passionateness, cruelty, and' 
 ludicrousness, which show themselves at the moment the 
 child appears to first exercise what w^e term true reason.. 
 From this point we see rapidly unfolded the higher pro- 
 ducts of intellectual development, the first of which is- 
 morality of a very indefinite kind, which immediately 
 precedes articulation at the age of about fourteen months, 
 being closely followed by knowledge of the use of various 
 simple instruments, afterwards at the age of twenty 
 months by concerted action, and still later by speech,.. 
 
c [lo] 
 
 which generally is effected at the age of two years, or 
 rather earlier. Following quickly upon speech we observe 
 judgment, recollection, and self-consciousness manifesting 
 themselves, and, by the time the child has attained the 
 age of two years and a half, morality of a definite kind 
 makes its appearance. 
 
 Tracing the child's development still further, we find 
 the next important intellectual manifestation — viz., super- 
 stition — to take place at about three years of age, while 
 concurrently the following emotional products appear — 
 avarice, envy, hate, hope, vanity, mirth, and a love of the 
 beautiful, which are followed, in the course of a few 
 months, by awe and an appreciation of art. From this 
 age to the condition of adult life, the intellectual facul- 
 ties develop according to the surroundings of the indivi- 
 dual, while, on the emotional side, reverence, remorse, 
 and courtesy make their appearance at about the age of 
 five years, and melancholy and ecstasy at about the tenth 
 year. 
 
 In the foregoing ontogenetic mirror will be found the 
 key to the unfolding of the great mystery of the evolu- 
 tion of mind in the animal kingdom. We have only to 
 take the geological periods one after the other, and study 
 the various life-forms found in each to see at once that, 
 with the race, the order of sequence in the appearance 
 of the intellectual and emotional faculties is precisely the 
 same as with the individual. We may place the new- 
 born infant intellectually on a par with the lowly molluscs 
 or the vermiform little animals which existed in the 
 Cambrian period, in which little organisms probably pain 
 first made its entry upon the earth, followed by the 
 appearance of pleasure, memory (conscious), and associa- 
 tion of ideas in the lowly crustaceans of the later Cambrian 
 and early Silurian periods. With the spiders, fishes^ 
 and crabs of the later Silurian and Devonian periods we 
 have brought before us the faculty of recognising places 
 of which these animals are capable, which places them 
 intellectually on a level with a child of four or five 
 months old. 
 
 The recognition of individuals next made its appearance 
 in the reptiles of the Carboniferous and Permian epochs ; 
 while the birds of the Oolitic and Cretaceous periods 
 
were the first to dream, and are thus placed on an intel- 
 lectual level with a child of five or six months. The 
 emotional development coincides with the intellectual, 
 just as in the case of the infant, for we find fear mani- 
 festing itself among the lower molluscs, pugnacity among 
 the crustaceans, play among spiders and crabs, anger 
 among reptiles, and emulation, jealousy, joy, and grief 
 among birds. We now rise in the palseontological scale 
 to the Tertiary period, and find in the Eocene age equine 
 and other mammal forms, such as cats and pigs, which 
 are capable of understanding words and signs, and among 
 which we notice a manifestation of sympathy, curiosit)', 
 revenge, and gratitude. In the early Meiocene age we 
 have monkeys, dogs, and elephants exhibiting the clearest 
 ^igns of true reason, as may be observed at the present 
 day, and at the same time manifesting such emotional 
 signs as pride, shame, deceitfulness, passionateness, 
 cruelty, and ludicrousness, which places them on an in- 
 tellectual par with the infant of less than a year old. 
 
 In the later Meiocene age we have anthropoid apes, 
 which may be placed on a level with one-year-old infants, 
 and from which evolved apes of a higher order, which 
 acquired the faculty of articulation, and, afterwards 
 becoming more human, the knowledge of the use of 
 simple instruments, thus reaching the intellectual level of 
 the child of fifteen months old. As the apes became 
 more and more human in the later Meiocene and early 
 Pleistocene ages, they gradually acquired the faculty of 
 acting in concert and of speech ; and when, having 
 arrived at that stage of development in which they 
 partook more of the character of savage mian than human 
 ape, judgment, recollection, self-consciousness, and, 
 lastly, definite morality manifested themselves, thus 
 raising the ape-like man to the level of the child of two 
 and a half years. In the lowest savages of to-day, as 
 well as in the old descendants of the ape-hke men, super- 
 stition developed to a large extent at the same time that 
 the emotional unfolding proceeded in the direction of 
 avarice, envy, hate, hope, vanity, mirth, a love of the 
 beautiful, and afterwards art appreciation, awe, reverence, 
 remorse, courtesy, melancholy, and ecstacy, precisely as 
 •with the child of from five to ten years of age. As the 
 
. [12] 
 
 race improved, becoming in turn semi-savage, semi- 
 civilised, civilised, and cultured, the intellectual powers^ 
 of course, developed similarly, until, at the present day, 
 we find men possessed of the most wonderful mental 
 grandeur, we might almost say, conceivable. But this 
 would be saying too much, for we must not forget that,, 
 just as evolution has continued in the past from eternity, 
 so will it continue in the future to eternity ; and who 
 can tell to what heights the human mind may soar in 
 the future? 
 
 Lofty as is the human intellect at the present time, as 
 compared with the mental powers of those we have left 
 far behind in the march of evolution, it is yet very far 
 from being able to grasp many of the great problems- 
 of the universe, such as that of existence. Perhaps at 
 some future time, in millions of ages to come, these 
 great questions may be answered; but at present we 
 know they baffle the wisest men, and continually remind 
 us of the finite and limited character of our intellectual 
 faculties. 
 
 This comparison of the mental development of the 
 individual with that of the whole race is extremely 
 interesting, and provides ample material for thought. 
 By such comparison, and by it alone, can the science of 
 psychology ever be based on a sure and enduring founda- 
 tion. It is all very well for theologians and other biassed 
 people to declare that animal intelligence has nothing 
 in common with the reasoning powers of man ; but let 
 them honestly look at the facts as they are, thanks to the 
 indefatigable energy and indomitable perseverance of 
 lovers of science and truth, now presented to us. Candid 
 observers cannot fail to notice that the difference between 
 the intelligence of man and that of the lower animals is- 
 one only of degree, and not of kind. When we see 
 the order of sequence being followed in the develop- 
 ment of the individual so like that of the whole race, 
 not only as regards the bodily structure, but also as- 
 regards the mental functions, can we help arriving at 
 the conclusion that the one is but the epitome of the 
 other, and that the superior intellect of man is but a.' 
 higher development of the so-called instincts of the 
 lower animals ? Have we not at the present day, among. 
 
[13] 
 
 members of the human family itself, various degrees of 
 intelligence, from the almost barren brains of the lowest 
 races of savages to the brilliant mental achievements of 
 a Newton or a Spencer ? 
 
 It is beyond doubt that the intellectual superiority of 
 •civilised man over his savage brethren is due to the 
 greater multiplicity of his objects of thought, and it 
 follows that savage man's intellectual superiority over 
 the lower animals is due to the same cause. The actions 
 of both have the same aim — viz., the supplying of the 
 wants of the physical nature and the gratifying of the 
 desires aroused in the mind. It is frequently asserted 
 that man differs from the lower animals in possessing 
 the power of reflection ; but this I hold to be an ex- 
 ploded argument, and at variance with all recent teaching. 
 Dogs, elephants, and monkeys most certainly possess the 
 faculty of reflection, and it is not difficult to find races 
 belonging to the human family w^hose powers of reflec- 
 tion transcend hardly in the least degree those possessed 
 by the higher apes ; while the difference between the 
 reflective capacity of the lowest savage, which is of the 
 simplest conceivable kind, and that of the civilised 
 European, which has developed into genius, is enormous. 
 Then, again, it is often said that only man is' emotional ; 
 but one need only have an ordinary acquaintanceship 
 with domestic animals to at once see the absurdity of 
 this argument, for dogs are frequently observed to laugh, 
 to cry, to express joy and gratitude by their actions, and 
 to betray feelings of shame and remorse; while horses 
 and elephants have been observed to punish their cruel 
 keepers in the most cunning manner and then to laugh 
 at the poor fellows' discomfiture. As to the " conscience 
 argument," so frequently brought forward, by religionists 
 especially, all I have to say here is that conscience, or the 
 knowledge of the distinction between right and wrong, 
 is not an inherent quality of the human mind, being 
 merely a result of the operation of the reflective faculty 
 aided by experience, as is quite evident from the fact 
 that the ideas of morality vary according to the age in 
 which we live. The same may be said about the greatest 
 of all the arguments against evolution — viz., that of 
 language ; for, just as conscience is but a product of re- 
 
^ ['4] 
 
 flection and experience, so is language also. It is a 
 mistake to imagine that the power of speech is possessed 
 by man alone, and that his language differs altogether 
 from the cries and signals of the lower animals, for such 
 is not the case. Many animals possess the faculty of 
 speech, and human language differs from that of the 
 lower animals only in its degree of development, and 
 in no sense in its origin. Probably all language origi- 
 nated in interjection, or the " instinctive expression of 
 the subjective impressions derived from external nature,'^ 
 as Mr. Farrar puts it. And, just as the reflective powers 
 of the race were developed and shone more brilliantly 
 as each stage in the evolutionary march of intellect 
 w^as passed, so did language pass from the simple mono- 
 syllabic cries to the complex dialects of modern civilisa- 
 tion ; and it is worthy of notice that, at the present day, 
 or at any rate very recently, there were races of savage 
 men inhabiting this earth who possessed no language at 
 all, and could not, on account of their mode of living, 
 be placed on a higher intellectual level than the higher 
 apes ; while we have the authority of the leading philolo- 
 gists of the times in support of the fact that the mono- 
 syllabic cries of some of the lower human tribes are 
 quite within the grasp of the ape's voice. 
 
 Human beings have been discovered in wild and 
 hitherto unexplored regions who have not the remotest 
 idea of what we should term civilisation. They lead a 
 wandering and useless life, sleeping at nights, not in huts, 
 nor in caves, but squatting among the branches of tall 
 trees, where they are placed out of the reach of savage 
 animals. They do not appear capable of expressing, 
 their thoughts in sentences, but make use of exclamatory 
 grunts, which serve the purposes of speech quite suffi- 
 ciently for their limited requirements ; and their general 
 appearance approaches to a remarkable extent that of 
 the higher apes, in that they are almost completely 
 covered with hair, possess a dirty brown skin, short legs,, 
 long arms, and full abdomens, can pick up stones, sticks, 
 etc., with their toes as well as their fingers, and show 
 few if any signs of intellectual powers. Let any one 
 visit the Zoological Gardens, in London, and carefully 
 observe the apes exhibited there, and then say whether 
 
[15] 
 
 there is a vast difference between some of them and the 
 human beings who answer to the above description. One 
 need but visit the traveling menagerie of Messrs. 
 Edmunds, and view their " missing hnk," an excellent 
 sample of the chimpanzee troglodyte, to see that the 
 difference between man and the lower animals is one 
 only of degree, quite as much as regards intellect as 
 bodily form. I once saw exhibited in the yardin 
 d' AccUmatation^ in Paris, a lot of Patagonian or Fuegan (I 
 forget which) natives, who were very little superior intel- 
 lectually to the chimpanzee. They were stark naked, in 
 a wretchedly dirty condition, and appeared quite incap- 
 able of anything hke sustained mental effort. But these 
 are by no means the lowest among the human species. 
 In conclusion, I need only re-state my opinion that 
 all so-called living things are but products of the develop- 
 ment of protoplasm, whether belonging to the animal or 
 vegetable kingdoms ; that this protoplasm possesses the 
 property of vitality, or the power of perceiving stimuli 
 of various kinds and responding to them by definite 
 movements ; that the phenomena of mind are but 
 functional manifestations of this protoplasmic develop- 
 ment ; and that the highest intellectual product of the 
 human mind exists and has existed from eternity in a 
 state of latent potentiality in every atom of protoplasm, 
 as well as in every particle of matter in the universe. 
 
THE SPECIAL SENSES. 
 
 According to the now almost universally (that is, among educated scien- 
 tific people) accepted theory of Evolution, each living being upon this 
 earth is a result of a very slow process of development, which com- 
 menced with a low form of life many millions of years ago, and has since 
 been operating continuously, becoming more and more complex, and 
 imperceptibly attaining greater perfection as each fresh stage was accom- 
 plished. From the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from inorganic 
 to organic, from Amoeba to man, the evolutionary development has 
 slowly, steadily, and surely advanced step by step, in obedience to cer- 
 tain well-defined laws. Yet it is impossible to discern in this slow 
 process of evolution any well-marked difference between one particular 
 species and the next of kin, although the difference becomes clearly ap- 
 parent if we take two species separated from each other by considerable 
 time ; just as it is impossible to detect any alteration in form and feature 
 between a child of six days old and the same child of seven days old, 
 while the change is very evident after the lapse of several weeks or 
 months. If we were to photograph a human being regularly each day 
 from the moment of its birth to the time of its decease at the age of 
 eighty, we should be unable to detect any real difference between the por- 
 traits on any two consecutive days ; but the difference between the child 
 of a week old and the young man of twenty years would be enormous, 
 as would be that between the full-grown youth and the tottering old 
 man. As the human individual in its earliest condition of existence is 
 not possessed of the same faculties as it afterwards enjoys as a more per- 
 fect development, so, in like manner, the species in its primal condition 
 was wanting in the loftier qualities now possessed by the higher animals, 
 such as consciousness, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, all of 
 which have been gradually evolved as the various hfe-forms developed 
 from lower and more simple to higher and more complex kind. For 
 instance, at a very early period of man's individual existence he pos- 
 sessed no brain, eyes, ears, mouth, or nose, and, therefore, was quite in- 
 capable of mentating, seeing, hearing, tasting, or smelling ; but, as the 
 organism very gradually developed into a higher and more- com.plex 
 kind, these various organs manifested themselves, and slowly arrived at 
 
such perfection as we find in the human infant at birth. Precisely so 
 was it with the race. The lowly Moneron was of homogeneous struc- 
 ture, possessing neither parts nor kind, but gradually differentiating into- 
 nucleus and cell ; its descendants, the Gastroeada, becoming possessed,. 
 by a process of invagination, of an external layer of nucleated cells and 
 an internal and more delicate layer, thus forming a hollow organism, or 
 Gastrula. This external cellular integument was the original sense- 
 organ of the animal kingdom, from which developed the organs of spe- 
 cial sense. Though without nerve and special sense-organs, yet these 
 little hollow Gastroeada, and, in fact, their ancestors, the Amoebae, which 
 consisted of simple protoplasmic cells, each enclosing a nucleus, were 
 possessed with sensory perception, being influenced by light, and by 
 variations of pressure and temperature. As the evolutionary process 
 continued, and the animal kingdom assumed higher forms, the original 
 epidermal general sense-organ became converted into several special 
 organs of sense, each specialisation commencing with a simple depres- 
 sion upon the integument of the organism ; numerous little epidermal 
 nerves of perception were formed, which could perceive changes of 
 pressure and of temperature, and some of which gradually became en- 
 abled to understand particular influences affecting them, such as those 
 produced by a strong odour, light-waves, and sound-waves. By adapta- 
 tion, the extremities of these sense-nerves became expanded and en- 
 larged, so as to enable them the better to understand the particular 
 influences ; and this expansion was accompanied by a corresponding 
 depression on the integument, which cup-like formation afterwards 
 became converted into an eye, or other organ of special sense, very 
 imperfect in the invertebrate forms of life, imperfect in the fish, more 
 perfect in the amphibian, and still more perfect in the mammal forms, 
 such as apes and men. In short, the life-history of the individual is an 
 exact counterpart in miniature of the life-history of the species up to 
 the particular point reached by the particular individual. 
 
 The order and mode of development is precisely the same in 
 all animal organisms, and may be conveniently studied by placing a 
 hen's egg in an incubating machine, and carefully watching it for the 
 space of three weeks. It will be observed that the eye, ear, nose, and 
 mouth are not present at the commencement of the process, but make 
 their appearance later on, about the third or fourth day of incubation, as 
 tiny depressions on the integument, from which condition they gradu- 
 ally develop into perfect organs of special sense, as possessed by the full- 
 grown chicken ; the eyes, which receive the impressions caused by light- 
 waves; the ears, which receive those made by sound-waves; the nose, 
 by which odours are discerned ; the mouth, which holds the taste-organ; 
 iind the skin, which remains the organ of touch and perception of tern- 
 
[3] 
 
 perature. Now, when we consider for a moment these wonderful phe- 
 nomena, we cannot help being struck by the remarkable manner in 
 which the animal kingdom has been slowly and steadily progressing 
 towards perfection, in spite of the enormous physical difficulties encoun- 
 tered ; and we cannot help coming to the conclusion that, inasmuch as 
 there was once a time when no animal existed having eyes, ears, nose, or 
 mouth, and, still later, a period when these special sense-organs existed 
 in a very imperfect condition, it is highly probable that in the future 
 ages man, who now possesses special senses of a high order, will acquire 
 even still more highly-developed faculties. 
 
 In congratulating ourselves upon the advance made by our own par- 
 ticular species over other members of the animal kingdom, we must 
 never forget that, although we can mentate, see, hear, smell, taste, and 
 feel, while myriads of our lowly brethren can do none of these, we yet 
 are incapable of solving the mighty problems of the universe with any 
 or all of these organs without artificial aid. No man on earth has ever yet 
 been able to solve the mighty problem of existence, in spite of his great 
 intellectual powers. No man has ever yet been able to see a millionth part 
 of the wonders in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, with his 
 own unaided eye ; but with the telescope and microscope new worlds have 
 been opened out to him. We are as yet, undoubtedly, in but a transi- 
 tory condition, the victims of an imperfect organisation, subject to a par- 
 tially-developed brain and nervous system, and to five imperfect special 
 senses. We must accept the situation philosophically, and without 
 grumbling, and do our best to make good use of the senses we have, and 
 leave the solution of problems we are unable to solve to future races of 
 men, who will be possessed of better materials with which to operate. 
 
R) 
 
 u 
 
'Vhf suPHEME sTinir m the /\cr Of creation :b£Cam£ 
 
 3Y VC7GA, TWO-FOLD, THB HiOrHT SIDE W/^8 M/iLf, THE 
 LEFT WAS TKAHKlTlf^ ( 3rahma, VaiifCL^tttK T^r-am^^.} 
 
 H::^f '^ 
 
 BRAHM 
 
 THE HtNTlU ANBROOYNOOS CTtBKTOH 
 Cfjitii. from. Iima.n.'s'fni.cnint Faith J. 
 
ISIS, HOnus AND FISH 
 
 From eu ■p.Koto^rm.p^Ji. of a. S7ft.a.tL &ro7t.xe x.m.a.b'i I'n ^X^ 
 Ma.tf0r coZZacfiWTt. of Srovone*^ /*7xt*€U7n., Z^iVev^oot. 
 Co7».v««i. ^rt>?7v -2*- /n.-m.a.n.V "^7tcVcn.t AaiJAs." 
 
S) 
 
-^^^ 
 
 THE VEDIC VIKGINj INDRANEE, 
 wiFe-MoTMen of s^viovn-airD, indra 
 
 Pre-m. Wt»2o;i*s "TWo 3o;if(,7»rvs* 
 
 ThE HINDU MJ> VISHNU, NOHSEJ) :BY HIS 
 
-^^'4^ 
 
 DEVAKI AND CHR/ST/VA 
 
 rwf W/A/JC/ GOD 5/1^/^, NURSED BV W/S 
 Vino-IN WIFE-nOTHER, TAnVATI. 
 
s 
 
AMCN-RA 
 
©- 
 
 Cnux ANSATA 
 
 TUB hi^yT{lAti \JiK6^m ISHUTi 
 from Kax»lvm.t4n'% y^wewint A1ojkar»^i.«V< 
 
 CKUCIFIXION Of CHUISThJlA 
 
 AT \:>AUm IN CY?KUS 
 After 7iaw2i:ns9n. 
 
 tSIS AND H071US 
 THE EayrrifiN vin^i^/ 
 
 AN^ SASfiOU-R-aoil^ 
 From TiAV»li^r%XQWs"M9roet0-tvtt: 
 
EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA. 
 
 " Knowing his adopted land well, the Eastern does not require recon- 
 dite volumes to explain ' Dionysiak myths ' or ' solar theories,' as the 
 old faiths are now called in the West. He sees these pervading the 
 tales and epiks of East and West alike, just as Yahvism or Yahu-ism 
 pervades the Scriptures of Jews or Yahus — that ever-familiar and ex- 
 pressive faith-term by which alone Asia knows the ' Yahudean ' race." 
 While fully admitting the true character of the old faith as here 
 expressed, yet, with all due deference to one of such acknowledged 
 repute in the literary world as Major-General Forlong, whose splendid 
 work, entitled "Rivers of Faith" (Preface, p. xxi.) contains the above 
 paragraph, it may be fairly urged that the educated few only, both 
 among Easterns and Westerns, have hitherto been capable of discerning 
 the vein of solar myth which pervades all systems of religion ; while 
 the vast multitude of ignorant and credulous people even yet perceive, 
 or think they perceive, the Divine handiwork in the particular sacred 
 oracle to which they firmly pin their faith. The Hindu supreme deity 
 is known as Brahm, the Persian as Ormuzd, the Mohammedan as 
 Allah, and the Jewish and Christian as El, Elohim, Yahouh (or 
 Jehovah), God, etc. Probably few among the many millions who 
 worship these various deities know much or anything about their origin, 
 innocently imagining that the Deity they bow allegiance to once mani- 
 fested itself to some chosen individual, to whom it gave a revelation, 
 the facts of which were handed down to posterity. They little dream 
 of the vast cycles of time that have rolled past since the brain of 
 man attained such a state of perfection as to enable it to evolve the 
 idea of Deity. It is utterly impossible for the human mind to grasp 
 the enormous interval of time that has elapsed since primeval man 
 emerged from the condition of unreasoning existence to enter upon 
 the bright dawn of intellectual activity, which has developed into such 
 mighty proportions as we behold to-day. Let us carry the mind back 
 far beyond the Dark Ages, through the classic era, as far even as the 
 very commencement of Egyptian history ; and even then we find our- 
 selves but little nearer that remote period in which the first spark of 
 
intelligence made its debilt upon the platform of life. In imagination 
 we may go still further back, and view the wonders of that ancient Asian 
 civilisation which preceded that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, 
 and which was probably derived very gradually from the earliest social 
 conceptions of the Caucasian branch of the Polynesian primitive man. 
 Still we are ages away from the period we desire to arrive at ; and even 
 were we able to trace the human family back to that remote time when 
 man could not be said to partake more of the character of the human 
 than the ape species, still we should even then be unable to point to 
 the precise moment when intellect shed its glorious rays upon the race, 
 making bright, clear, and beautiful what before was dark, misty, and 
 unmeaning. The ancient Prosimiae gradually became Catarrhine apes, 
 which, in their turn, as slowly assumed the characters of the Anthro- 
 poidae, and afterwards of ape-like men ; but the time required for this 
 imperceptibly gradual process of evolution was probably many hundred 
 thousands of years, during which period, or perhaps even at a prior time 
 the first intellectual spark became manifest : how, when, or for what 
 ultimate purpose it is apparently beyond our power to devise. 
 
 How soon after the dawn of intellect the conception of Deity was 
 evolved in the human brain it is equally impossible to say ; bat the 
 probability is that the date was a very early one, for it seems highly 
 probable that such a conception would be among the very first efforts 
 of the mind, the materials necessary for the stimulation of such an 
 effort being at hand at any moment. We can imagine our early fathers 
 groping in the darkness of ignorance, with mental powers on a par with 
 those of the awakening minds of our own children, seeing bogies in 
 every natural phenomenon, and tremblingly glowering at the spectra of 
 their own imaginations. Having no experience of the past or know- 
 ledge of the future, they would indeed be in a most helpless condition, 
 relying entirely upon the instinctive capabilities they had inherited from 
 their ancestors. By degrees, however, their various faculties would be 
 further awakened by impressions received from external objects ; their 
 wants would be multiplied in proportion to their intellectual develop- 
 ment, causing them to manifest a desire for industry ; and their self- 
 consciousness would arouse within them a feeling of dignity and 
 importance to which they had hitherto been strangers. Thus gradually 
 would the race cast off its animal and put on its human clothes. The 
 old plan of hand-to-mouth existence would be abolished by the newly- 
 developed reason of man ; the innumerable dangers which confronted 
 him would undoubtedly stimulate him to approach his fellows with the 
 object of establishing mutual aid and of co-operating for their common 
 welfare ; and a feeling of confident superiority over others of the animal 
 kingdom would become apparent among them. Not only would man's 
 
[3] 
 
 attention be arrested by the impending dangers of each day, the neces- 
 sity of procuring sustenance for himself and family, and the obvious 
 advantages accruing from co-operation, but also by the constantly- 
 recurring natural phenomena, such as the rising and setting of the sun, 
 moon and stars, the never-ending succession of day and night, etc., as 
 well as by the no less wonderful, and certainly more awful, occasional 
 natural occurrences, such as lightning, thunder, and earthquake. He 
 would be as much struck with wonder and amazement at the one set of 
 phenomena as with awe at the other. The returning sun-light would 
 each morning produce joy in his heart equally as much as the inevitable 
 recurrence each night of darkness would produce a feeling of sadness, 
 dread, and despair. We can easily imagine the long hours of horror 
 our first fathers must have passed through each night among the yells 
 and howls of the savage monsters by which they were surrounded, and 
 how they anxiously looked forward to the return of that glorious orb 
 which would bring back to them daylight, sunshine, warmth, and happi- 
 ness. What a boon it must have been to them ! Can we wonder that 
 they should have regarded the sun with particular affection ? It would 
 have been remarkable, indeed, had they not done so ; and it is more 
 than probable that this daily re-appearance of the sun on the eastern 
 horizon was actually what prompted the first conception of deity. The 
 very oldest mythology with which we are acquainted appears strongly 
 to bear out this theory, and, indeed, in every other mythological system 
 we find the re-appearing sun to be one of the principal objects of deyo- 
 tion and affection. If we turn our gaze to that part of Asia, along the 
 banks of the Oxus, over which our Aryan ancestors wandered thousands 
 of years before the time of the earHest Egyptian dynasty, we find there 
 a clue to the origin of the original conception of deity. Among these 
 early people were composed the hymns of the Rig-Veda^ which are 
 probably the earliest records of any race, and in which we find personi- 
 fied the phenomena of the heavens and earth, the storm, the wind, the 
 rain, the stars, etc. The earth is represented as a flat, indefinite surface, 
 existing passively, and forming the foundation of the whole universe ; 
 while above it the luminous vault of heaven forms a dwelling place for 
 the fertile and life-giving light and a covering for the earth below. To 
 the earth the Aryans gave the name of Prihovi, "the wide expanse;" 
 the vault of heaven they called Varuna, " the vault ;" while the light 
 between the two, in the cloud region, they named Dyaus, " the luminous 
 air," " the dawn." Varuna and Prihovi, in space, together begat Agni, 
 the fire-god, the sun in heaven and life-giver of the universe ; and Soma, 
 the ambrosial deity of earth, god of immortality, fertiliser of the waters, 
 nourisher of plants, and quickener of the semen of men and animals. 
 In these hymns frequent mention is made of the joy experienced at the 
 
' [4] 
 
 return of dawn, and of the saddening effect produced upon the mind 
 by the ever-recurring twilight which ushered in the dark and dreary 
 night. We meet with incantations expressive of the wildest excitement 
 at the welcome appearance of the dawn-god, Dyaus, which heralded the 
 approach of the sun-god, Agni, who is led up to the summit of his 
 ascension, or bosom of Varuna, by the conquering god of battle, Indra, 
 the defeater of the evil powers of darkness; and we find the most 
 pathetical appeals both to Agni and Indra to remain longer over the 
 earth, and co-operate with Soma in replenishing nature, instead of 
 sinking into the twilight, or shades of evening, to be slain by Vritra, 
 " the coverer," and tormented in the darkness of night by Ahi, the 
 dragon, and other cruel monsters. This is precisely the drama we 
 should expect to find depicted in the earhest writings of man ; is the 
 root of all future religious ideas ; and is still to be found pervading 
 almost every modern religious faith. It is a beautiful representation ot 
 the earliest yearnings and fears of our forefathers ; and, though the 
 picture is now and then almost effaced by numerous subsequent addi- 
 tions of mythological lore, yet the original conception remains indehbly 
 depicted in the religions of the present day, furnishing us with the key 
 to the study of comparative mythology. 
 
 It will be necessary, in order to compare, with any degree of accuracy, 
 the mythological systems which subsequently developed from this primi- 
 tive conception of a ruling power, to glance at the mode of distribution 
 of the various branches of the earliest human family ; and in doing so 
 we must ever keep in mind the more than probable fact that that portion 
 of the earth's surface which is now covered by the Indian Ocean once 
 formed a large equatorial continent, uniting the east coast of Africa 
 with Arabia, India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula. Instead of the 
 rivers Tigris and Euphrates emptying their waters into the Persian Gulf, 
 and the Indus into the Arabian Sea, it is highly probable that these 
 rivers united to form one large estuary, which emptied itself into the 
 ocean on the south of the now submerged continent of Lemuria. It is 
 equally probable that the large rivers, Ganges and Brahmapootra, like- 
 wise found an outlet south of a line drawn from Point de Gall to Singa- 
 pore. On this submerged continent, and on the shores of these long- 
 lost streams, it is supposed man evolved from the anthropoid apes, in 
 the early Pleiocene, or perhaps even in the later Meiocene, geological 
 period of the world's history. The transition stage in the pedigree of 
 man between the Anthropoidae and true men — that is to say, between 
 man-like Catarrhine apes and beings possessing a larger proportion of 
 the characteristics of the human than of the ape species — is known to 
 Anthropologists by the name of Alali, or ape-like men. These wild 
 and ill-formed savages wandered about in bands along the banks cf 
 
[5] 
 
 these monster rivers, passing their time in hunting their less fortunate 
 brethren of the animal kind. In course of time they multiplied and 
 spread over the entire continent, killing all such monsters as interfered 
 with their safety or comfort, and gradually dividing and sub-dividing 
 into families and races, each acquiring, under the influence of the two 
 laws of selection and adaptation, peculiarities and characteristics not 
 common to the remainder. One branch wandered away to the west 
 and south, becoming the progenitors of the South African races ; 
 another found its way to the east and south, to people Australasia ; 
 while a third struck out towards the north, overrunning Malaya, Burmah, 
 and Southern India. This last branch, which we term the Malay, or 
 Polynesian, subdivided into two distinct families — the Mongolian, or 
 Turanian, the progenitors of the ancient Chinese, Ural Turks, Akka- 
 dians, and Finns; and the Caucasian, or Iranian, the first human 
 inhabitants of South-Western Asia. Of these Iranians one stream, it is 
 supposed, found its way to the banks of the Nile, and became, in course 
 of time, a distinct and powerful Egyptian race; another, the Semitic, 
 followed the direction of the Persian Gulf, and settled in Arabia and 
 along the banks of the Euphrates; while a third, which we call the 
 Aryan or Indo-Germanic, covered India, Afghanistan, and Northern 
 Persia, gradually extending along the northern shores of the Black Sea 
 into Europe. 
 
 Now, as already stated, the earliest known records of any race are 
 the hymns of the Rig- Veda, composed among the Aryans of Northern 
 Persia, probably from earlier traditions handed down to them from the 
 older Iranian stock, or even from the still earlier Polynesians ; and it is 
 remarkable that in all ancient mythological records, as well as on monu- 
 mental inscriptions, the same vein of solar myth as is found in the 
 Rig- Veda is clearly traceable beneath the accumulated mythological lore 
 of future ages. The main idea in all mythologies seems to have been 
 that of a saviour-deity conquering the evil genius of night, or winter, 
 and bringing back the day, or summer, to replenish the earth. As 
 already stated, Indra was to the Aryans of the early Vedic period the 
 saviour-god who, with his companions, Vishnu and Rudra, leads forth 
 Agni, the god of celestial and terrestrial fire, to the bosom of Varuna, 
 where his influence operates upon Soma, the fertilizer of earth. A 
 conqueror from early morn to midday, Indra's power grows weaker as 
 the evening approaches, until at last the twilight yields him up to 
 Vritra, who slays him, after which he is tormented by Ahi, the dragon, 
 for the remainder of the night. This drama was probably derived from 
 the original Iranian stock, and as probably underwent considerable 
 modification before being finally committed to writing as a cultus by 
 the Aryans ; and, therefore, we should expect to find some resemblance 
 
[6] 
 
 between the Aryan, Semitic, and Egyptian mythological systems. This 
 is precisely what we do find on carefully comparing these three oldest 
 of all known mythologies, though, as will be seen further on, each 
 accumulates such a vast quantity of fresh mythological matter that the 
 original conception is considerably obscured, and in each the original 
 deities become in course of time so mixed up with one another that it 
 is almost impossible to separate their individual characteristics. 
 
 Although Agni was said to have been begotten by the conjunction 
 in the air of Varuna and Prihovi (Prithivi), all the principal gods, or 
 Devas, originally conceived as the phenomena and power of heaven, 
 were called the children of Dyaus and Prihovi, Agni and Indra being 
 considered the two chief of the twelve Devas. Dyaus, Prihovi, and 
 their progeny afterwards became endowed with moral qualities, and 
 were looked upon as creators and governors of the world ; and as time 
 wore on the original Vedic deities gradually gave place to purely solar 
 deities : the sun was called Surya, and differed from Agni, who was god 
 of terrestrial and celestial fire — sun, lightning, and altar fire in one, the 
 soul of universe, and mediator between the gods and men ; Surya was 
 also Savitri, the quickener, who in the early morn rouses the sleepers, 
 and in the evening twilight buries them again in sleep; he is also 
 Vishnu, the companion of Indra, who traverses the celestial space in 
 three long strides ; he is Pushan, the nourisher and faithful guide of 
 men and animals ; and he is Yama, who traverses the steep road to 
 death and the shades. Thus the gods multiplied — the original supreme 
 deity, Varuna, who was one with Indra, though different from him, 
 giving place to a multitude of solar deities, children of Dyaus, the great 
 dawn-god or day-father. 
 
 As the old Vedic language became lost to the people there arose a 
 custom of setting apart certain individuals to faithfully preserve the old 
 and sacred records, and thus arose the priestly caste of Brahmans, whose 
 duties consisted in transcribing the sacred hymns of the I^tg- Veda and 
 preserving the knowledge of the sacred language in which they were 
 first written. The great day-father, Dyaus, now received the name of 
 Brahma, the magic power, and Prajapeti, the lord of creatures, and was 
 endowed with three divine energies — Agni (fire), Vayu (air), and Surya 
 (the sun), which together formed a subordinate triad. Soma became 
 associated with the moon ; Asura became the demon of hell, which was 
 peopled with tormenting monsters ; Indra and Vishnu became blended 
 with Surya ; and Rudra was converted into Siva and identified with 
 Agni. As Brahmanism progressed the principal worship on the shores 
 of the Ganges gradually centred round Vishnu, who was supposed to 
 undergo periodically a number of Avataras, or incarnations, by means 
 of which he rescued fallen man from the fate awaiting him. These 
 
l7] 
 
 descents to the lower world were very frequent, and appear to have 
 had some connection with the zodiacal constellations ; for we find the 
 incarnation at one time taking place as a man, at another as a fish, at 
 another as a lion, and so on. 
 
 The most ancient of the Avataras was probably the incarnation of 
 Krishna, the Indian Hercules, who was mentioned in the Vedic writings 
 as " Krishna, the son of Devaki," and in whose honour festivals were 
 kept, at a very early period, similar to those connected with the cultus 
 of Bacchus. Megasthenes found the worship of Krishna prevailing 
 along the shores of the Ganges at the beginning of the third century 
 before our era, and described it as the worship of Hercules. This 
 incarnate offspring of the ancient sun-god, Vishnu, was said to have 
 been born at Mathura, a place situated between Delhi and Agra, and 
 to have acted the part of a saviour of the world and a mediator between 
 the gods and men. Soon after his birth his fife was sought by the 
 reigning tyrant, Kamsa, who feared for the safety of his throne, which 
 necessitated the removal of Krishna to a place of safety. Arriving at 
 manhood, this young divinity slew the serpent Kaliya, and sported with 
 the Gopis, or female cowherds, among whom he had been brought up. 
 He was fond of wine, Bacchanahan revels, and sensualities, though 
 considered to be immaculately holy, and resigned to his fate, which was 
 to suffer death in order to reheve the earth of the burden of a proud 
 race. For this purpose he was incarnated in the womb of his mother, 
 Devaki, and for this purpose he hved and died. 
 
 In the mountainous regions away from the Ganges the cultus of Siva 
 was the more prevalent, Vishnu being considered of secondary import- 
 ance ; but, as sects gradually were formed out of the ancient religion, 
 one party preferring this deity and another that, an attempt was made, 
 which eventually proved successful, to re-unite the various religious 
 parties and re-instate the principal gods in their original places. The 
 ancient orthodoxy was brought into sympathy with the new religion in a 
 very curious manner, by making Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva a trinity of 
 essences or attributes of the supreme Brahm, each a supreme god in 
 itself, and- each equal with the others in importance ; Brahma being 
 specially the creator, Vishnu the redeemer or preserver, and Siva the 
 destroyer. At times Krishna was added to the new trinity as a fourth 
 figure j but this was an innovation which found little favour, inasmuch 
 as Vishnu and Krishna were the same god, the one but the incarnation 
 of the other. Thus the old idea of Prajapeti, or Brahma, with the three 
 divine energies — Agni (fire), Vayu (air), and Surya (the sun) — were 
 •revived in a manner as a new trinity of essences of the supreme deity, 
 under other names ; and the arrangement thus concluded has continued 
 in use to this day with the orthodox Hindus. We find, therefore, that. 
 
c [8] 
 
 despite the accumulation of fresh myths, which grew larger as time wore 
 on, the original conception of the constant necessity for a divine saviour 
 was never lost, and that, as the approach of night in the Vedic system 
 was followed by the torments of the shades, and the powers of darkness 
 were destroyed by the re-appearance of the dawn-god, so also the 
 approaching extinction of the people under a wicked tyrant was followed 
 by the misery which preceded the appearance of the saviour-god, 
 Krishna. In fact, every myth that occurs in the religions of India is 
 built out of this original idea of the powers of Hght being overcome 
 by the powers of darkness and finally rescued by a redeeming god. 
 In later times, as the science of astronomy became more popular and 
 better understood, not only was the daily apparent course of the sun 
 the source from which myths were fabricated, but his annual apparent 
 march through the zodiacal signs was also drawn upon for the creation 
 of more imposing and elaborate dramas ; and in this manner were 
 produced the fables containing allusions to the two crucifixions, or 
 passage of the sun across the equator at the vernal and autumnal 
 equinoxes, and the rites of baptism when the sun was passing through 
 the sign Aquarius, and fasting during the period of the sun's transit 
 through Pisces, etc. 
 
 The religion of Boodhism is an offshoot of the Brahman system* 
 having originated in the so-called incarnation of Vishnu, Gautama 
 Boodha, whose powerful personality has left an indelible impress upon 
 the religion. This remarkable man lived about the end of the sixth 
 century ; but the real history of Boodhism does not commence until 
 about the middle of the third century before our era. The doctrines 
 taught by this great reformer were brotherly love, self-sacrifice, and an 
 eternal Nirvana as the consummation of all bliss. The doctrine of the 
 transmigration of the soul was still maintained ; but a state of Nirvana, 
 or absolute non-existence, was declared to be the deliverance from the 
 ejidless succession of re-births for those who, by their purity of hfe and 
 heart, merit such a blissful end. Admitting that men were born in 
 different castes, determined by their good or evil deeds in a prior exist- 
 ence, Boodha yet declared that all might attain the highest salvation, 
 and that none, not even those of the highest caste and most sacred 
 offices, could do this without having regard to the well-being of all his 
 fellow creatures. The authority of the Vedas was rejected by the 
 Boodhists, as also the whole dogmatic system of the Brahmans ; and in 
 their place was substituted a higher moral teaching, a more equitable 
 relationship of men, and a wide-spreading system of communism. This 
 reformation of ancient dogmatic faith was not destined to last long 
 uncorrupted, for the monasteries established by the Boodhists for the 
 purpose of affording an asylum to the poor and destitute soon became 
 
[9] 
 
 infested with religious fanatics — Jainas, as they were called, some of 
 whom went naked, while others robed themselves in white hnen. These 
 ascetic monks looked forward to Nirvana as their final goal, practised 
 the most severe austerities, received confession, administered priestly 
 absolution, and kept regular feast and fast days ; but they discoun- 
 tenanced the growing custom of worshipping relics which was finding 
 favour with other Boodhist sects. Thus gradually the primitive Aryan 
 conception of a ruling power developed into a huge system of dogma- 
 tism, monachism, and ritual in the countries south and east of the Indus, 
 as far even as the confines of the country of the great Mongol race, 
 whose religion is as yet but little known to us, although it bears strong 
 marks of having been originally derived from the same source as that 
 from which came the Vedic system. 
 
 Having glanced somewhat cursorily at the religious development of 
 the Eastern Aryan peoples, we will now turn to the Western Aryans, 
 and observe the manner in which the old Vedic myth was perpetuated 
 in Western Europe, leaving the Central Aryans, or that branch which 
 remained in and around Persia and Western Afghanistan, for subsequent 
 consideration ; for, in this central district, the Mongol Akkadians and 
 the Semites intermingled so frequently with the Aryans that a very 
 intricate mythological system gradually came into operation in some 
 districts, bearing resemblance to the Vedic, the Semitic, and the Mon- 
 golian mythologies. 
 
 The Western branch of the great Aryan family, after penetrating 
 into Southern Europe, became the progenitors of the ancient Pelasgi, 
 the earhest known inhabitants of Greece, and through them transmitted 
 the original Aryan myth to their successors, the Hellenes. Homer, in 
 his " Iliad " and " Odyssey," written at latest B.C. 900, well describes 
 the religion of the Acheans, who inhabited Hellas for centuries prior 
 to B.C. 1000, and long before the supremacy of the Dorians; and, in 
 this description, as well as in that of Hesiod's "Theogony," written 
 immediately afterwards, there is exhibited a remarkable similarity to the 
 old Vedic system, the very name of the supreme deity being clearly 
 derived from an Aryan source, and that root being the identical expres- 
 sion used to designate the Vedic Dawn God. From Dyaus Pitar, the 
 Day Father or Dawn God of the Aryans, the Greeks derived their 
 Zeus Pater, from whence we get Dios, Theos, the Latin Deus Pater^ 
 Dies Pater and Jupiter, and the French Dieu. Zeus was supreme 
 god, high above all others, having unlimited power, and living up 
 in the vault of heaven, surrounded by the inferior and subordinate 
 deities, who together formed his Olympian court. Instead of being 
 nature powers, these gods were endowed with freedom of action, 
 subject to pain and pleasure, and depended for their sustenance upon 
 
food. The supremacy of King Zeus was firmly established ; he pre- 
 sided over councils of the gods to deliberate great matters, and was 
 not bound or fettered by any recognised restraint. With Athena and 
 Apollo, he formed a supreme triad, himself being the head, Athena 
 the reason or wisdom of the Divine Father, and Apollo the mouth, 
 revealer of his counsel, and loving son, who is always of one will with 
 his father. With Apollo was closely associated Prometheus, the great 
 benefactor and liberator of the race of man, who, according to that 
 beautiful tragedy of "^schylus," brought salvation to the world in 
 spite of Jupiter, his father and torturer, by whom he was crucified on 
 a rock, where he remained in fearful anguish until liberated by 
 Hercules. Here we find the old Vedic saviour redeeming the world 
 from the darkness and misery of night or winter, the same drama 
 precisely as that described in connection with the Eastern Aryan 
 mythology. In both instances the apparent daily and annual ascension 
 and decline of the sun is depicted : in the one case it rises again after 
 its period of defeat in winter, or night, as the sun-god Indra, afterwards 
 Surya, and still later Krishna ; while in the other case it resuscitates the 
 earth as Prometheus, the benefactor of mankind. Just as Prometheus 
 was but the Greek counterpart of the Hindu Krishna, so also were 
 Apollo, Hercules, lao, and Dionysos precisely the same. Each was 
 the new-born sun, bringing back light and glory to suffering humanity ; 
 and each passed through the very same periods of power, decline, and 
 misery before being born again. 
 
 Zeus was the sun-god par excellence^ residing on the summit of 
 Olympus, or in the highest part of the heavenly vault, during the 
 summer months, when he was called Olympian Zeus, and down in 
 Hades during the winter period, when he was known as the Stygian 
 Zeus ; and thus the oracle of the Klarion ApoUon taught that the 
 supreme God was called, according to the seasons of the year. Hades, 
 Zeus, Helios, and lao. Apollo and Prometheus, although saviour 
 sun-gods, representing the new-born sun victorious over death and 
 winter, were yet one with Zeus, and merely repetitions of the same 
 character under different names. So, in like manner, Hercules was 
 not only son of Zeus, but Zeus himself, and may be traced right 
 through the complete annual circuit in his twelve labours, from Hades 
 to Olympus, and from Olympus to Hades again. Dionysos was, in 
 reality, not an Aryan deity, but of Egyptian origin, having been intro- 
 duced into Greece at a very early time, either from 'Egypt, where he was 
 worshipped as Mises, or, more probably, from Phoenicia, where he was 
 worshipped under the name of les, which accounts for the fact that 
 hero personifications of Dionysos in later times were accorded the 
 designation of lesous, ('I^yo-oDc, or in capitals IH20Y2 — Latin Jesus\ 
 
the Greek form of les {Irjg, or in capitals IH2). This Egyptian saviour 
 sun-god became later the popular god Bacchus of the Romans, just 
 as Apollo had been the popular Greek divinity, and was thus described 
 by Macrobius : " The images or statues of Bacchus represent him some- 
 times under the form of a child, sometimes under that of a young 
 man, at other times with a beard of a mature man, and, lastly, with 
 the wrinkles of old age, as the Greeks represent the god whom they 
 call Baccapee and Briseis, and as the Neapolitans in Campania paint 
 the god whom they honour under the name of Hebon. These 
 differences of age relate to the sun, who seems to be a tender child at 
 the winter solstice, such as the Egyptians represent him on a certain 
 day [December 25th], when they bring forth from an obscure nook of 
 their sanctuary his infantine image, because, the day being then at the 
 shortest, the god seems yet to be but a feeble infant : gradually growing 
 from this moment, he arrives, by degrees, at the vernal equinox, under 
 the form of a young man, of which his images at that time bear the 
 appearance ; then he arrives at his maturity, indicated by the tufted 
 beard with which the images which represent him at the summer solstice 
 are adorned, the day having then taken all the increase of which it is sus- 
 ceptible. Lastly, he decreases insensibly, and arrives at his old age, 
 pictured by the state of decrepitude in which he is portrayed in the 
 images." 
 
 Yao, lao, or Adonis was of Semitic origin, although widely wor- 
 shipped in Greece, and generally identified with- Zeus, whose Semitic 
 counterpart he really was, although himself a saviour sun-god. Yao, to 
 the Phoenicians and Chaldeans, was as Zeus and Prometheus to the 
 Greeks, and represented the whole annual circuit, though he was always 
 called by the Greeks specially the god of the autumn, on account of 
 his having, at that period, to part from his lover, Aphrodite (Venus), for 
 six months ; and thus there was usually a certain melancholy attached 
 to his worship, the oracle of the Klarion Apollon terming him the 
 darling or tender Yao ('law), god of the autumn. 
 
 As the Greek power and civilisation declined and the Roman 
 advanced, the god Yao, like his counterpart les, became one of the 
 most popular of the Roman deities, being worshipped under the name 
 Adonis in every city of Italy ; and the mythological horizon became 
 crowded with gods and demi-gods of every description, until, at length, 
 it became a very difficult matter to determine who was a god and who 
 was not worthy of that distinction; for the Roman Emperors were 
 invariably deified, as well as others of less degree. The old Aryan 
 drama, however, was preserved throughout in the worship of the princi- 
 pal gods, and has even been perpetuated in the reformed religion of the 
 Semitic communistic enthusiast, Yahoshua, which became, soon after 
 
[12] 
 
 the commencement of our era, the popular religious system of the whole 
 of Europe. 
 
 We have now to deal with the Central Aryans, or Eranians ; and, in 
 doing so, must bear in mind that, while the Eastern Aryans, or Hindus, 
 and the Western Aryans of Europe, were almost altogether uninfluenced 
 for many centuries by the mythologies of surrounding tribes of other 
 and distinct families of the human race, this was far from being the 
 case with the Eranians, who were almost entirely cut off from their 
 Western brethren ; and, although still in comparatively close contact 
 with the Eastern Aryans, were yet completely wedged in between the 
 Turanian Urals on the north, and the great Semitic stream of life on 
 the south and west. Such being the case, it is at once apparent that the 
 religion of the Eranian people would quickly lose many of its distinc- 
 tive Aryan marks and acquire many Turanian and Semitic character- 
 istics. Bactria, in Eastern Eran (Persia), appears to have been the 
 ancient birthplace of this semi-Aryan religion, which afterwards deve- 
 loped, under the influence of that great reformer, Zoroaster (Zarathustra), 
 into the cultus called Mazdeism, or Parsism. From the Avesta, the 
 sacred writings of the Parsis, written in the old Zend language, we 
 derive considerable knowledge of Mazdeism. Ahura Mazdao (Ormazd), 
 the all-wise spirit, is supreme god, far above all gods, being creator of 
 the world, god of light and truth, existing from the beginning, and 
 eternal. Inferior to him are Mithra, god of light ; Nairyo Sanha, god of 
 fire ; Apan Napat, god of water ; Haoma, god of the drink of immor- 
 tality ; and Tistrya, the dog-star god. The chief goddess of fruitfulness 
 was Anahita, who in later time became an important deity in association 
 with the worship of Mithra, the son of Ormuzd. Mazdeism also recog- 
 nised a god of evil, Ahro Mainyus (Ahriman), who, with the evil Devas, 
 inhabit the underworld, and oppose Ormuzd on every occasion; the 
 world lying between the two kingdoms of righteousness and evil, ruled 
 over respectively by Ormuzd and Ahriman. This dualism is the most 
 marked feature of Mazdeism, and runs through the whole religion, being 
 found in every myth, and giving rise to the most hideous conceptions 
 of morality. In the cosmogony of the Parsis the great creator, Ormuzd, 
 after making a perfect world and introducing a perfect pair of human 
 beings, is defeated by the wicked Ahriman, who creates evil, and seduces 
 the man and woman to sin, thus placing in opposition to each other 
 upon this earth the two forces, good and evil. To avoid the influence of 
 this evil force, and to gain that of the good power, was the great aim of 
 all true Mazda-worshippers ; and the means whereby this much-desired 
 end could be attained was the fire-god, Nairyo Sanha, to whom constant 
 supplications were made for this purpose. So great was the influence 
 of Ahriman upon human beings that the god of light, Mithra, was 
 
[13] 
 
 promised as a saviour to come upon the earth and rescue his people 
 from the power of evil, his mission being to avenge his father's defeat 
 by the god of the underworld, after doing which he would ascend to 
 his father and become one with him for ever The Magi, or Mithraitic 
 priests of the "black art," or "hidden science of astrology," are thus 
 addressed in the " Zend-Avesta" : — " You, my children, shall be first 
 honoured by that divine person who is to appear in the world ; a star 
 shall be before you to conduct you to the place of his nativity ; and 
 when you have found him, present to him your oblations and sacrifices, 
 for he is indeed your lord and an everlasting king," meaning that after 
 the constellation of the virgin came to the eastern line of the horizon, 
 as it did at twelve o'clock at midnight, between December 24th and 
 December 25th, in the period immediately following that in which the 
 words were written, the great star, Vindemiatrix, in the virgin's elbow, 
 would, on January 6th, begin to shine, pointing out to the astrologers, 
 or Magi, her exact situation, who would then know that the birth of the 
 god-light of the new revolution had taken place, and that by his re- 
 appearance he would declare himself to be the everlasting ruler of the 
 universe. Consequently, for centuries after this time the image of the 
 god-light Mithra was presented to the people for adoration every year 
 on December 25th, soon after midnight, in the shape of a newly-born 
 male child, brought from the recesses of the sacred grotto, or mystic 
 cave of Mithra. Another image, supposed to be the same deily fully 
 grown, was said to die, and was carried to the tomb after death by the 
 priests, who chanted solemn hymns and groaned. After pretending to 
 mourn for three days, the sacred torch, or emblem of new life, was 
 lighted, and the priests exclaimed, " Reassure yourselves, sacred bands 
 of initiated ; your god is restored to life ; his pains and sufferings pro- 
 cure your salvation." This took place at the vernal equinox, and the 
 people responded : " I salute you, new hght ; I salute you, young bride- 
 groom and new light." 
 
 Like the old Aryan scheme, this Mithra myth was derived from the 
 constellations, having reference to the decline of the year in autumn, 
 the defeat of the sun by the powers of darkness (or winter), and the re- 
 birth and ascension of that grand luminary in the spring of the year. 
 Mithra was "spiritual life contending with spiritual darkness, and through 
 his labours the kingdom of darkness will be lit with heaven's own light : 
 the eternal will receive all things back into his favour ; and the world 
 will be redeemed to God. The impure are to be purified, and the evil 
 made good, through the mediation of Mithras, the reconciler of Ormuzd 
 and Ahriman. Mithras is the good ; his name is Love. In relation to 
 the Eternal he is the source of grace; in relation to men he is the hfe- 
 giver and mediator. He brings the Word, as Brahma brings the Vedas 
 
[14 I 
 
 from the mouth of the Eternal " (Plutarch, " De Iside et Osiride "). The 
 close connection of the later Eranians with the Chaldeans no doubt 
 gave the former facilities for studying the Akkadian astronomy ; and, 
 therefore, it is fair to presume that the phenomenon of the precession of 
 the equinoxes was well understood by them, which would account for 
 the fact that Mithra is always represented in earlier times under the 
 figure of a bull, and afterwards under that of a lamb. The reason of 
 this is that, prior to about B.C. 2,200, the vernal equinoxial sign was the 
 zodiacal figure of the bull (Taurus) \ while, after that period, the figure 
 of the lamb or ram (Aries) took its place ; and as the saviour sun-god 
 Mithra was the personification of the new annual sun, born in the 
 December constellation, crossing the equator in March, and thereby 
 conquering the powers of evil or darkness, he was invariably represented 
 by the figure of that zodiacal constellation which happened to be at the 
 vernal equinoxial point at the time."^ 
 
 Having thus briefly glanced at the religious cults of the three 
 branches of the great Aryan family, and found the very same religious 
 conception of a divine and incarnate saviour, redeeming the universe 
 from the powers of darkness and evil, running through each mytholo- 
 gical system, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that, inasmuch 
 as the saviour-myth was developed into its full proportions long after the 
 separation of the families took place, and inasmuch as the development 
 followed similar lines in each separate case, there must have been some 
 common guide, and that guide was the unwritten word of nature as 
 expressed in the heavens above. 
 
 Leaving the Aryan stream, and turning back to that division of the 
 great Iranian family which migrated to the valley of the Nile, and which 
 we call the Egyptian, we find a very similar religious system in vogue 
 among them from the very earliest times, as existed among the Aryans. 
 The first settlers in Egypt carried with them, no doubt, the primitive 
 religious conceptions of their Iranian fathers, which were derived from 
 a contemplation of the various phenomena of nature, as previously 
 stated ; and it is highly probable that, at a very early period, they gave 
 considerable attention to the movements of the heavenly bodies, for 
 from monumental inscriptions, unearthed in modern times, which geolo- 
 gists inform us must have lain sub terra for several thousands of years, 
 we learn that the Egyptians, at that remote time, well understood the 
 theory of the precession of the equinoxes, placing the zodiacal constella- 
 tion of the bull at the vernal equinoctial point in the period prior to 
 about B.C. 4300, and that of the ram in the period immediately following. 
 It is probable, therefore, that hundreds of years before this time these 
 
 * Vide my " Popular Faith Unveiled." 
 
[is] 
 
 primitive men of the Nile were engaging themselves with the study of 
 astronomy, and using effective astronomical instruments, which indicates 
 a high state of civilisation ; and this is further borne out by the fact that, 
 at the commencement of the first Egyptian dynasty, about the year 
 B.C. 5000, when Menes reigned over Egypt, there was every appearance 
 of a very advanced civilisation that had lasted for centuries. From the 
 " Book of the Dead " and the Prisse Papyrus (most of the former written 
 at latest prior to B.C. 4000, and the latter very soon after) we derive a 
 tolerably accurate notion of the mythological system of the Egyptians 
 during the first portion of the Old Empire, and probably many hundreds 
 of years previously ; while, from the writings of Herodotus, Diodorus, 
 Plutarch, and Manetho, we learn the progress the religion made during 
 the 4,000 following years. 
 
 The " Book of the Dead " treats principally of the refining processes 
 through which the spirits of dead people passed in the under-world, or 
 Cher Nuter, before being purified sufficiently to inherit a state of bliss 
 and become spirits of light (Chu) to be absorbed into the sun at the 
 point where it is born, and taken within it to An, the celestial Heliopolis. 
 Before the time of Menes the religion of Egypt was animistic, blended 
 with a vague kind of sun-worship, the supreme deity being, at Thinis- 
 Abydos, the ancient capital, called Osiris, the god of gods, son of Seb, 
 god of earth, and Nu, goddess of the heavenly ocean, and grandson of 
 Ra. Osiris was the sun-god of the daily and annual circle, who enjoyed 
 his spouse, Isis, the great mother, during the summer months and the 
 daytime, after which he was overcome by the evil Set-Typhon and his 
 wife Nephthys, and tortured in the under-world, until released by his 
 son Horus, the conqueror sun-god, who rose into the upper world as 
 the avenger of his father's defeat, and liberated the soul of Osiris from 
 torture, to be absorbed by, and for ever shine forth in the constellation 
 Orion, as the soul of Isis shines for ever in Sirius. At Heliopohs, An. 
 On, or Para, the city of the sun, Ra was worshipped as supreme god, 
 who as Turn, the hidden god, fought the demon of darkness, the serpent 
 Apap, in Amenti, and who rose again from the under-world as Har- 
 machis. Later, when Menes reigned as the first monarch of the Old 
 Empire {circa B.C. 5000), Memphis, or Mennefer, was the capital city, 
 in which Phtah was worshipped as the supreme god or creator of the 
 world (called Sekru, the slain god, when in the lower world), together 
 with Ma, goddess of righteousness, and Imhotep, the chief of priests, 
 whose name signified " I come in peace," and who formed the third 
 part of a kind of trinity, with Phtah and Ma. All these, and other 
 minor deities, such as deified kings, etc., were represented on earth by 
 incarnations in the shape of animals, Ra, Osiris, and Phtah, the supreme 
 gods, being manifested in the sacred bull Apis, representing the sun at 
 
[i6] 
 
 the vernal equinoctial point in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. During 
 six dynasties these gods were worshipped peacefully, their incarnations 
 and religious rites being protected by the kings ; but about the year 
 B.C. 3800 the kingdom appears to have dropped to bits, its religion to 
 have been mixed up in a most confused manner, and its people divided 
 into a number of small nationalities, with separate kings and separate 
 laws ; until, at length, the whole country was once more united under 
 the reigning monarchs of the eleventh dynasty (Second Empire), whose 
 capital was Thebes, and whose popular deity was Amen, the hidden 
 god, called also Amen-Ra, to signify that he was not only the sun-god 
 in the under-world, but also the rising and conquering sun-god of the 
 early morn and spring of the year. In fact. Amen was the sun-god of 
 the whole revolution, the Theban Yao, one with his father Osiris in the 
 mid-day and mid-summer, one with his counterpart Horus at the early 
 morn and spring of the year, and one with Tum in the darkness of 
 night and winter ; just as Zeus of the Greeks was Zeus Amen (Jupiter 
 Ammon), Olympian Zeus, Zeus Yao, and Stygian Zeus, according to the 
 season of the year. 
 
 Between the Middle Empire and the New Empire another catas- 
 trophe occurred to the Egyptians, in the form of an invasion of the 
 Hyksos, or shepherd kings of Arabia, who overran the whole country, 
 destroyed the temples, and levied heavy tribute on the people, eventu- 
 ally settling down for four centuries as Kings of Egypt, adopting many 
 of the native customs, and introducing many Semitic deities and obser- 
 vances. At last the Hyksos were driven forth, and the New Empire 
 commenced with the eighteenth dyrtasty ; but a considerable difference 
 was now found to exist in the religion of the country, partly on account 
 of the introduction of Semitic rites, and partly owing to the change that 
 had taken place at the vernal equinoctial point, by the precessional 
 movement of the zodiacal constellation Taurus. The vernal equinoctial 
 point was now (b.c. 2000) in the sign Aries, and therefore the principal 
 deities should be no longer represented as incarnate bulls, but as incar- 
 nate rams. Accordingly, we find that after this date the bull-god Apis, 
 or Serapis, gradually fell into disrepute ; and Amen, who was now the 
 supreme and representative god, was worshipped as an incarnate ram, 
 being depicted as a man wearing ram's horns.. 
 
 Another mode of worshipping the young sun-god, born at the winter 
 solstice, December 25th, was that known as the Mysteries of the Night, 
 or Passion of Osiris, at which an idol of the infant Horus, or Amen, 
 called also the Holy Word, was presented to the people in its mother's 
 arms, or exposed to view in a crib for the adoration of the people by 
 the priests, who were, according to Adrian, called Bishops of Christ 
 (;^/3to-ToSj the anointed one) ; and when King Ptolemy, B.C. 350, asked 
 
[■7] 
 
 the meaning of the custom, he was informed that it was a sacred 
 mystery. During these mysteries, which took place annually, bread, 
 after sacerdotal rites, was mystically converted into the body of Osiris, 
 to be partaken of by all the faithful, who were called Christians ; and 
 an idol representing the body of the god, stretched on a cross within a 
 circle, was placed upon the mystic table for adoration and praise. 
 
 The winter solstitial point is really December 21st ; but the ancients 
 always kept the festival of the birth of the sun-god on December 25th, 
 because at twelve o'clock, midnight between December 24th and 25th 
 the uppermost stars in the constellation Virgo made their appearance 
 above the horizon, being the first indication of the birth of the new sun, 
 which had taken place exactly three days and three nights previously. 
 This gave rise to the popular superstition that the new sun-god was born 
 of a virgin, from whose womb he had been trying to extricate himself 
 for the space of three days and three nights. From this the idea pre- 
 vailed that the sun-god underwent similar periods of struggle also at 
 the summer solstice and the two equinoctial points ; and thus arose the 
 legend of the two crucifixions, the one at the vernal equinox, when the 
 sun in An'es crossed the Equator and was crucified as the " Lamb of 
 God" on March 21st, commencing the ascension to heaven on March 
 25th ; and the other at the autumnal equinox, when the sun in Zi'l^ra 
 (the balance of justice) crossed the Equator and was crucified as the 
 *' Just Man " on September 23rd, descending to hell for three days 
 and three nights, after which he emerged into the, shades until born 
 again at the winter solstice. 
 
 A very popular deity of the Lower Nile was Mises (drawn from 
 water), the sun-god of wine and mirth, who was born on Mount Nyssa 
 (Sinai), and was found as a babe in a box floating on the Red Sea, and 
 who, by means of his magic wand, took his army dry-shod through 
 the Sea and the rivers Orontes and Hydaspes, drew water from rocks, 
 and caused the land through which he passed to flow with milk, wine, 
 and honey. He was depicted with a ram's horn on his forehead, 
 being the personification of the new-born sun delivering the world 
 from the powers- of darkness, and was afterwards worshipped in 
 Phoenicia as les, in Greece as Dionysos (Atdwo-os, God of Nyssa), son 
 of Zeus, and in Rome as Bacchus. The temples dedicated to this sun- 
 god were, in the time of the Greek kings of Egypt, very gorgeous, the 
 mystic table having upon it, not only the infant in its cradle, the tran- 
 substantiated bread, and the Osirian crucifix, but also a bleeding lamb, 
 the emblem of the sun-god at the vernal equinox, over which was 
 placed the Phoenician name of Mises, les, in Greek capitals (IH2), 
 surrounded by the rays of glory, to signify that he was the risen and 
 crucified sun-god, and one with Horus and Amen-Ra. 
 
[i8 1 
 
 Turning to the third great division of the Iranians — viz., the Semites, 
 who migrated to the Valley of the Euphrates, we find a more or less 
 complicated religious system, varying in accordance with the amount 
 of intercommunication which took place between the Semites and the 
 tribes belonging to the Aryan, Mongolian, and Egyptian families. The 
 earliest Semitic settlement was in the district stretching from the 
 Euphrates to the Red Sea and Mediterranean, and their religion was, 
 at first, one of pure animistic polydsemonism, varying enormously in 
 details of drama in the different tribes, but exhibiting in all common 
 characteristics. 
 
 All early Semitic peoples worshipped the sun-god, Shamsh, and all 
 were moon, planet, and star-worshippers to a very large extent ; but, 
 as the race became divided into Northern and Southern Semites, a 
 distinct difference gradually arose between the religious cults of the 
 two branches. The Southern, or Arab, tribes, on account of their 
 more isolated situation, retained the original Semitic mythology, worship- 
 ping the sun as their chief god, Shamsh, the moon as his consort, 
 and the stars and planets as inferior gods and goddesses, the Pleiades 
 being objects of special homage. Shamsh was father of all, and 
 disappeared to the underworld at night to rest in slumber until 
 awakened into activity in the morning as Yachavah, his son, who 
 became one with his father. 
 
 The Northern Semites, on penetrating, at a later period, the borders 
 of Mesopotamia, came in contact with a powerful and advanced civilisa- 
 tion, which had been already established by the xA.kkadian branch of 
 the Northern Mongolian family, and thus the original Semitic religion 
 became very much modified by the introduction into it of many of 
 the Mongol, as well as some also of the Aryan, myths. 
 
 Very little is known of the Akkadian mythology ; but it is pretty 
 certain that they were, at a very early period, acquainted with the 
 science of astronomy, and that the Chaldeans, their successors, who 
 were a mongrel race, partly Akkadian and partly Semitic, invented the 
 cuneiform writing to take the place of the old Mongolian hieroglyphic 
 characters. From what we know of the religion of the old Mongol 
 Chinese empire prior to 1200 B.C., it was a kind of spirit-worship, the 
 Shang-ti, or supreme spirit, being Thian (Heaven), who, in co-operation 
 with Heu-thu (earth), produced everything. Man, according to this 
 cultus, had two souls, one of which ascended after death to heaven, 
 while the other descended into the earth, both being absorbed respec- 
 tively into Thian and Heu-thu. 
 
 The Akkadians, who were but a branch of the same race as the 
 progenitors of the ancient Chinese, also worshipped spirits, the greatest 
 of whom was Ana (the highest heaven), the next Mulge (the hidden 
 
[19] 
 
 heaven in the interior of the earth), and the third Ea, the god of the 
 atmosphere and of moisture. After these came an inferior group — 
 Uru-ki, the moon-god ; Ud, the sun-god ; and Im, the wind-god. The 
 spirits were divided into good and bad, which were constantly at war 
 with each other; and thus was introduced into the rehgion of the 
 5emi-Semitic Chaldeans the dualistic notion of good and evil existing 
 in conflict throughout all time. 
 
 The Northern Semites may be conveniently divided into four 
 distinct nations — viz., the Chaldeans (Babylonians and Assyrians), who 
 were partly Semitic and partly Akkadian, the Aramaeans, the Canaanites, 
 t and the Phoenicians. These peoples soon became acquainted with 
 the astronomical learning of the Akkadians, and were taught the 
 wonderful phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes ; and it is 
 highly probable that the fact of the vernal equinoctial sign having 
 changed shortly before B.C. 2000 from that of the Bull to that of the 
 Ram or Lamb had much to do with the changing of the old Semitic 
 name Shamsh to that of El, as a designation of the sun-god, El (^^) 
 being the old Chaldean word for Ram. 
 
 Owing to the mixed character of the Chaldean nation, their religion 
 was a peculiar blending of the Akkadian and Semitic mythologies, El 
 Ilu, or Hah, being their chief deity ; but, instead of sinking into the 
 lower world each night for peaceful slumber, as the older Shamsh had 
 •done, he became the victim of the wicked demons, who tormented him 
 all through the dark hours, until he was avenged by his son Yachavah, 
 who thereby became the conqueror and saviour god, one with his father 
 Ilu, and yet different. To a great extent the religion of the purely 
 Semitic tribes of the north was affected by this Chaldean myth ; but 
 there arose many points of difference between them. The Assyrians 
 worshipped El under the name of Asur, their national deity, the Baby- 
 lonians converting the name into Bel ; while the pure Semites worshipped 
 him as Bel and Baal in the west, and as Al in the south. Out of the 
 .story of El and Yachavah was fabricated the great Adonis myth of the 
 Chaldeans, which became so popular in future times among all the 
 Semites except the Arabs of the south, who retained the original cha- 
 racter of the supreme Shamsh, El or Al (afterwards Allah), and his 
 son Yachavah, afterwards Yahouh. This Adonis drama, as originally 
 conceived, was that El reigned in supreme power and glory in the 
 highest heaven, enjoying the delights of his spouse Istar, but that in the 
 -autumn the wicked gods of winter overcame him, separating him from 
 his lover, and tormenting him all through the winter months, until in the 
 spring he conquered the evil demons as Adon, the beautiful youth, who 
 is restored to his mourning Istar. The worship of Adonis, or Adon 
 was generally adopted by all the Northern Semites, the god becoming 
 
eventually the most popular deity of the Semitic people, being known as 
 Yao (lAQ. of the Greeks) to the Phoenicians, Yahoo OH"') to the 
 Canaanites, and Tammuz to the Aramaeans, while his lover Istar became 
 the Phoenician Ashtoreth. les, the god of wine, and Greek Dionysos, 
 was another saviour sun-god worshipped largely by the Phoenicians ; but 
 was most probably of Egyptian origin, being identical with Mises, the 
 Egyptian Bacchus. As already stated, the Southern Semites of Arabia 
 retained, in common with their Ethiopian brethren, the old and simpler 
 worship of the supreme god El and his son Yahouh, although, owing to 
 their propinquity to Egypt, many strange inferior deities had been intro- 
 duced into Arabia from that country, which resulted, in much later times, 
 in the formation of various religious sects, each having a particular 
 tribal deity, or patron god, though all recognising El as supreme. One 
 of these tribes, with Yahouh as their tribal god, on which account they 
 were called Yahoudi, having left their native Arabian home, penetrated 
 far into the country of the Northern Semites, learning from the 
 Canaanites, Phoenicians, and Babylonians the strange legends of the 
 Northern Semitic deities, including the Adonis myth ; and, after 
 wandering about for many years, one large portion of their tribe settled 
 in the delta of the Nile, while the remainder crossed the desert of Syria 
 and approached the confines of Babylonia, finally settling in the barren 
 and rocky interior of Syria, and making the spot where now stands the 
 small town of El-Khuds (Jerusalem) their headquarters. During their 
 long wanderings they became acquainted not only with the various 
 Semitic myths of the north, but also with the Babylonian and Persian 
 legends, and incorporated a quantity of strange deities and customs into 
 their own rude and primitive religion, thus manufacturing a very com- 
 plicated and weird system of mythology. 
 
 The date of the Yahudean migration into Syria was certainly not 
 earlier than about b.c. 250, despite the declaration of interested parties 
 that these people were known as Israelites and Jews for centuries before 
 that time. The following quotation from Major-General Forlong's 
 "Rivers of Faith" is worth reproducing on this point: — "The first 
 notice of the Jews is, possibly^ that of certain Shemitic rulers of the 
 Aram, paying tribute about 850 b.c. to Vool-Nirari, the successor of 
 Shalmaneser of Syria, regarding which, however, much more is made 
 by Biblicists than the simple record warrants. This is the case alsa 
 where Champollion affirms that mention is made on the Theban 
 temples of the capture of certain towns of the land we call Judea, this 
 being thought to prove the existence of Jews. Similar assumption 
 takes place in regard to the hieratic papyri of the Leyden Museum, 
 held to belong to the time of Rameses II. ; an inscription read on the 
 rocks of El-Hamamat, and the discovery of some names like Chedor- 
 
[21] 
 
 laomer in the records of Babylonia ; but this is all the ' evidence ' asf 
 to the existence of ancient Jews which has been advanced, and the 
 most is made of it in Dr. Birch's opening address on ' The Progress 
 of Biblical Archaeology,' at the inauguration of that Society, The only 
 logical conclusion justifiable, when we give up the inspiration theory, is 
 that Arabs and Syro-Phenicians were known to Assyrians and Egyptians, 
 and this none would deny. Indeed, we readily grant with Dr. Birch 
 that, 'under the nineteenth and twentieth Egyptian dynasties, the 
 influence of the Armenoean nations is distinctly marked ; that not only, 
 by blood and alliances, had the Pharaohs been closely united with the 
 "^ princes of Palestine and Syria, but that the language of the period 
 abounds in Semitic words, quite different from the Egyptian, with 
 which they were embroidered and intermingled.' Could it possibly be 
 otherwise ? Is it not so this day ? Is a vast and rapidly-spawning 
 Shemitic continent hke Arabia not to influence the narrow delta of a 
 river adjoining it, or the wild highlands of Syria to its north ? Of course, 
 Arabs, or Shemites, were everywhere spread over Egypt, Syria, and 
 Phenicia, as well as in their ancient seats of empire in Arabi Irak 
 (Kaldia), and on the imperial mounds of Kalneh and Kouyunjik, but 
 not necessarily as Jews. I cannot find that these last w^ere anything more 
 than possibly a peculiar religious sect of Arabs, who settled down from 
 their pristine nomadic habits, and obtained a quasi government under 
 petty princes or sheks, such as we have seen take place in the case of 
 numerous Arabian and Indian sects." 
 
 Again, the author of " Rivers of Faith " remarks : " No efforts, say 
 the leaders of the BibHcal Archaeological Society, have been able to find, 
 either amid the numerous engravings on the rocks of Arabia Petrea or 
 Palestine, any save Phenician inscriptions — not even a record of the Syro- 
 Hebrew character, which was once thought to be the peculiar property 
 of Hebrews. ^ Most of those inscriptions hitherto discovered do not date 
 anterior to the Roman Empire ' (Dr. Birch, President of Soc, op. cit., 
 p. 9). 'Few, if any, monuments (of Jews) have been obtained in 
 Palestine ' or the neighbouring countries of any useful antiquity, save 
 the Moabite Stone, and the value of this last is all in favour of my 
 previous arguments on these points. At the pool of Siloam we have 
 an ' inscription, in the Phenician character^ as old as the time of the 
 
 kings It is incised upon the walls of a rock chamber, apparently 
 
 dedicated to Baal, who is mentioned on it.'' So that here, in a most holy 
 place of this 'peculiar people,' we find only Phenicians, and these 
 worshipping the Sun-God of Fertility, as was customary on every coast 
 of Europe, from unknown times down to the rise of Christianity. The 
 Bibhcal Archaeological Society and British Museum authorities tell us 
 frankly and clearly that no Hebrew square character can be proved t» 
 
[ " ] 
 
 exist till after the Babylonian captivity, and that, 'at all events, this- 
 inscription of Siloam shows that the curved or Phenician character was in 
 use in Jerusalein itself under the Hebrew Monarchy^ as well as the conter- 
 minous Fhenicia, Moabitis, and the more distant Assyria. No monu- 
 ment, indeed,' continues Dr. Birch, ' of greater antiquity, inscribed in 
 the square character (Hebrew), has been found, as yet, older than the 
 fifth century^ a.d. ; and the coins of the Maccabean princes, as well 
 as those of the revolter Barcochab, are impressed with Samaritan 
 characters.' " As to the Moabite Stone, I would refer my readers to a 
 little work entided "An Inquiry into the Age of the Moabite Stone,'' 
 by Samuel Sharpe, the celebrated author of " The History of Egypt," 
 in which will be found abundant evidence to prove that the inscription 
 on the Stone is a forgery of about the year a.d. 260. 
 
 Apart from the history contained in the books of the Old Testament, 
 there is absolutely no record of the Jews as an independent people, 
 except that contained in the writings of Josephus (about a.d. 100) ; 
 and, although that author may be tolerably trustworthy when relating 
 matters near to his own time, yet in his description of Jewish 
 antiquities he evidently, as he himself asserts, rests only on tradition. 
 For instance, he alone records the story of Alexander entering the holy 
 place at Jerusalem and offering sacrifice on the altar ; but Arrian, in his 
 "Anabasis of Alexander the Great," where he specially treats of the hfe 
 and actions of this great conqueror, says not one word about such a 
 place as Jerusalem, or about such a story as that recorded by Josephus, 
 Curtius, who wrote a far more detailed account of the life and conquests 
 of Alexander, mentions neither Jerusalem nor the story of Alexander 
 and the holy place. Herodotus, about b.c. 430, when narrating the 
 two raids of the Scythians through Syria, as far as Egypt, says not a 
 word about any Jews. Xenophon, who wrote 150 years after they were 
 said to have returned from Babylon, or about b.c. 386, appears to have 
 been unconscious of their existence, only mentioning the Syrians of 
 Palestine. Neither did Sanchoniathon, Ctesias, Berosus, nor Manetho 
 even once mention them as a nation. Diodorus also, when writing of 
 the siege of Tyre by the soldiers of Alexander, neither mentions the 
 Jews as a nation nor Jerusalem as their chief town. In fact, we have 
 no account of them at all, except that contained in the Old Testament 
 and that in the writings of Josephus, until we find them subject to the 
 Romans, under Antiochus Epiphanes, about b.c. 165, when in all! 
 probability they had just settled down into a dependent nation, having 
 been driven into Syria by the Babylonians, whose fertile valleys these 
 Arabian nomads had attempted to colonise. Being surrounded on all 
 sides by nations whose religions so very far surpassed their own in 
 development, it did not take long for the Yahoudi (afterwards called 
 
[^3] 
 
 Jews) to become affected by the mythological dramas of their neigh- 
 bours ; and, in carefully examining the mythical records of their tribe, 
 we find that they very soon became acquainted with, and in some cases 
 offered worship to, almost all the purely Semitic and Chaldean, as well 
 as to a few of the Egyptian, deities. Their principal god always 
 remained as before, El (^v^) signifying the zodiacal sign Aries, the 
 heavenly ram and first of the twelve zodiacal figures. Combined with 
 Yah {TV\ the abbreviation of Yahouh (n'^n''), their tribal deity, it 
 formed a compound word, Eloh (nib^i^X <^^ Elyah (n"^^^^) the 1 and "^ 
 being interchangeable), the plural of which was Elohim (CD^^riT't^)' ^ 
 word used frequently in the Bible to signify the supreme God. Bearing 
 in mind the fact that the fables of the Bible are not actual history, but 
 merely so many accounts of the ever-recurring phenomena of the sidereal 
 heavens, and that in the various saviour myths the vernal equinoxial 
 sign, or saviour sign, Aries, was looked upon as the supreme god, who 
 housed the new-born sun on his first appearance in the upper world, 
 just as in the present day the song of praise on Easterday is " Worthy 
 is the lamb who was slain (crucified) to receive the power and bring 
 back salvation to the world," the meanings of these names of the 
 supreme deity become apparent at once. All the words — and, in fact, 
 almost every divine name found in every divine record — signify the sun 
 in one or other of the divisions of his annual or daily apparent march, 
 or else one of the divisions itself. El signifies the first and saviour sign of 
 the zodiac, the celestial ram, and is always used when the winter period 
 is referred to, because from the autumnal to the vernal equinox the sun- 
 god, Yahouh, is separated from the ram, El, which remains god of the 
 lower world, until again united with its spouse, the sun, at the vernal 
 equinox, becoming the ram-sun-god. El- Yah or Eloh, whose plural is 
 Elohim, the ram-sun-gods, from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, 
 when the sun and Aries are together for six months. At a later time, 
 when the old Bacchus worship was revived at Alexandria in the person 
 of the young Semitic Yahoshua, who was named lesous, we have a good 
 illustration of this when the sun-god, in his agony at being separated 
 from the ram at the autumnal equinox or crucifixion, exclaimed: "Eloi, 
 Eloi, lama sabachthani ?" — " My ram, my ram, why hast thou forsaken 
 me?" In, I believe, every instance in which the plural word, Elohim, 
 is used in the Bible the reference is to the summer half of the year, 
 from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, when El and Yah are toge- 
 ther. We meet with El — in its Babylonian form, Bel ; in its Aramaean 
 forms, Bel and Belus ; and in its Phenician form, Baal — frequently in 
 the Bible, and often in combination with other deities, as El-Shaddai 
 and Bel-Shaddai (*»1t2?bvi)j signifying the " breasted ram," or the ram 
 
[^4] 
 
 at the vernal equinox, the period of suckling.* Other forms of the 
 same divine name were Baal-Berith, god of the equinox or covenant 
 {co-venire^ to come together, as when the ecliptic crosses the equator at 
 the two equinoxes or crucifixions) ; Baal-Yah and El-Yah, rendered in 
 the authorised version respectively Bealiah and Elijah, when in reality 
 they signify the god Yahouh, or ram-sun-god ; El-Yah also does duty 
 for Joel ; Elishah signifies the saviour ram ; Eliakim, the setting ram ; 
 Eleazar, the creating ram \ Samuel, the god of fame, or famous ram ; 
 Daniel, the ram judge ; and Israel, the struggle with El. The 
 Phenician Hercules wrestled with Typhon (the sun at the meridian) 
 in the sand, just as Israel or Jacob wrestled with Elohim in the dust — 
 Hercules, like Jacob, being wounded in the thigh ; and the Canaanites 
 knew the Greek Hercules, who wrestled with Zeus, by the name of 
 Ysrael. 
 
 Baal-gad H^^Vl) ^^^ ^^^ SO<i of Fortune, Gad being a Babylonian 
 deity representing fortune, which was placed at the foot of Hermon for 
 public worship. From this deity G D (1^) are derived the English 
 words God and Good, the German Gott and Gut, the Danish and 
 Swedish Gud, and the Wesleyan Methodist Gawd. Baal-Peor was the 
 Phallic deity {Deus VuIvce)^ god of the opening, worshipped largely by 
 the Hebrews, who, as General Forlong points out, " had a strong solo- 
 phalik fire-and-serpent cult. They all had Baal, Nebu, and Peor on 
 their high places ; Yachavah or Yahue, the ' Grove,' or Asherah 
 [Ashtoreth] and fire in their central groves." Baal Zephon was the god 
 Typhon ; Baal Hermon was another name for Gad, god of Fortune ; 
 Baal Hazor was the god Hathor ; and Baal Hamon (p?Dt^7Vl) was the 
 god Amen, or Jupiter Ammon. The word Yahouh, in various terminal 
 forms, was frequently used to designate the sun at different times and 
 seasons — as Joseph, the lamented Yah ; Jehu, Yahouh himself; and, 
 according to Gesenius, Jehozabad, Yeho the giver ; Jehohanan, Yeho is 
 good ; Jehoiada, Yeho is knowing ; Jehoshua, or Joshua ; Jehoshaphat ; 
 Jehoiakim ; Hoshea ; Zedekiyah, etc. Yahoshua (Joshua) was the 
 Canaanitish name for the Phenician Yes or les, and Egyptian Mises, 
 and became in Latin Josue, or Jesus, according to whether the Romans 
 referred to the Phenician or Canaanitish Bacchus, whose histories, 
 though similar in the main, differed considerably in details. The 
 Egyptian Mises became also the Jewish law-giver and leader, Moses, 
 and is described in Ex. xxxiv. as being horned like Bacchus {vide my 
 "Popular Faith Unveiled "). The Adonis myth occurs over and over 
 
 * El not only signified a ram, but also a lamb, or any other kind of sheep. The 
 vernal equinoxial sign, for instance, of the Persians was a lamb, while that of the 
 Egyptians was a ram. 
 
[^5] 
 
 again in fragments throughout the Bible, the Babylonish name Aden 
 frequently being found in that form (pN), in its Hebrew rendering 
 Adonai (^-"T^), and occasionally in its Aramaean form of Tammuz. 
 It occurs alone, as in Psalm ex. i, " Yahouh said to Adonis, sit at my 
 right hand;" in Isaiah vii. 14, "Therefore our Adonis himself shall 
 give you a sign ;" and in conjunction with Yahouh, as in Isaiah vii. 7, 
 "Thus saith Yahouh, our Adonis," and numerous other places. It 
 also occurs with different terminations, to signify different forms and 
 positions of the sun-god — as Adoniyah or Adonijah, Adonis is Yahouh ; 
 Adoni-zedek, the liberated Adonis ; Adoni-bezek, the rising Adonis; etc. 
 'The old Semitic sun-god Shamsh remained, as of old, the Hebrew 
 ^12^ (Shemosh), signifying the sun ; and his Greek alfer ego, Hercules, 
 the sun-hero, was not forgotten either, for we find a very poor attempt 
 to reproduce him in the history of Samson. Moloch, Dagon, and other 
 Semitic deities are also introduced into the Jewish Scriptures. There 
 is one other deity frequently met with which must now be named, and 
 that is the Egyptian Amen— the Zeus Amen (tevs 'A/xr/v) of the Greeks, 
 and the Jupiter Ammon of the Romans. This god Ammon (jp^ or 
 p^b^) was worshipped by the Jews as the equal in power to, and the 
 very counterpart of, Yahouh, and was called by the very same names 
 by which he was known to the Egyptians — viz., the hidden god, true 
 and faithful witness (which epithet gave origin to the Greek adverb, 
 'AfjLTjv, truly), and saviour of the world, or regenerator of nature. In 
 Isaiah xlv. 15 we read, "Truly thou art the hidden god of Israel, the 
 saviour;" and, again, in chapter Ixv. 16, "He who ^blesses himself on 
 earth shall bless himself by his god Ammon (J^^^*^b^^) ; and he who 
 sweareth in the earth shall swear by the god Ammon, because the 
 former troubles are delivered to oblivion, and because they are hidden 
 from mine eyes." This hidden or occult god, Ammon, or Amen, is 
 frequently addressed in the Psalms and other places, and is there iden- 
 tified with Yahouh and Adonis. In Psalm xxvii. 8, 9, we read, " Seek 
 ye my face. My heart said to thee. Thy face, O Yahouh, will I seek. 
 O hide not thy face from me;" and Psalm x. i, "And why standest 
 thou so far off, Yahouh, and hidest thy face in the needful time of 
 trouble ? " Psalm Ixxxix. 46 says, " Yahouh, how long wilt thou hide 
 thyself?" Verses 49, 50, " O our Adonis, where are thy loving kind- 
 nesses of old, which thou swearest to David in thy truth ?" and verse 
 52, "Blessed be Yahouh for evermore (who is) Ammon, even Ammon." 
 In Isaiah i. 15 we also read, " When ye spread forth your hands I will 
 hide myself from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear 
 you." We find the same god also in the New Testament Scriptures of 
 the later Christian sect of Eclectic Egyptian Jews. In the Apocalypse, 
 for instance, the word 'Afxrjy is rendered " Amen " in the authorised 
 
[26] 
 
 version, and is sometimes met with as a Greek noun, 'O 'A;xr?v (never 
 heard of in the classics), when it is rendered "the Amen," which sense- 
 less rendering is no doubt intended to conceal the real and obvious 
 meaning. In Rev. i. 18 we read, "I am he that liveth and was dead, 
 and behold I, Ammon, am alive for evermore," the word 'A/xj^r being 
 rendered "Amen;" and in chap. iii. 14, " These things saith Ammon 
 [" the Amen " in the authorised version], the true and faithful witness, 
 the beginning of the creation of God." As the celestial ram or lamb, 
 Aries, Amen is again mentioned in chap. xiii. 8, " The lamb which has 
 been slain from the foundation of the world "—that is, each year at the 
 vernal equinox, when the occult god rose from his hiding-place in the 
 lower hemisphere to bring salvation to the world. 
 
 This concludes the examination of the old sun-myth religions ; but 
 there are yet three very important rehgious systems to be dealt with — 
 viz., Confucianism, Mohammedanism, and Christianism. 
 
 Confucianism took its birth in the sixth century B.C., at a time when 
 the old solar myth was very extensively believed in China and the neigh- 
 bouring countries, and was, strictly speaking, a system of morahty and 
 conduct. Its author, Confucius (Kong-fu-tse), was born B.C. 550, in 
 Lu, a province of China, and at a very early age commenced to preach 
 a higher and purer morality among the Chinese people, many of whom 
 became regular followers of the young reformer, and followed his good 
 example by likewise teaching the people at every favourable opportunity. 
 He was strongly opposed to all false show, hypocrisy, and deceit, and 
 abhorred the life of a hermit as unnatural and mischievous. He pre- 
 ferred not to speak of heaven as a personal being, as was the habit of 
 his countrymen, but was exceedingly fond of quoting its example as the 
 preserver of order, frequently alluding to its commands, ordinances, 
 and purposes. He attached no value to prayer, preached the doctrine 
 that good and evil are rewarded on the earth by prosperity and adversity, 
 and expressed his disbelief in special revelations to men. The canonical 
 books of the Confucians are known as the five Kings (the historical 
 Shu-King, the psalms of the Shi-King, and the ritual of the Li-ki, the 
 chronicles of the Tshun-tsiew, and the magical Yi-King), and the three 
 volumes containing the remarkable and benevolent utterances of the 
 master Confucius himself — viz., the Lun-yu, the Ta-hio, and the Tshiing- 
 yung. In the Ta-hio occur those celebrated and beautiful moral 
 passages which have so justly immortalised the name of Confucius. 
 The one is the 24th moral: "Do unto another what you would he 
 should do to you, and do not to another what you would should not 
 be done to you. Thou needest this law alone ; it is the foundation and 
 principle of all the rest." The other is the 53rd moral : " Acknowledge 
 thy benefits by return of other benefits, but never avenge injuries." 
 
r^7] 
 
 Notwithstanding the great persecution of Confucians in b.c. 212, by 
 the Ts'in rulers, and other smaller attempts to destroy the new system 
 of morality in favour of the sun-gods, the moral code of Confucius was 
 pubhcly permitted to be used in a.d. 57, and since the seventh century 
 has almost entirely taken the place of god-worship, a few only of the 
 more uneducated classes still professing to worship Fo-hi. 
 
 Mohammedanism, or Islamism, the reformed faith of xA.rab polythe- 
 ists, arose in the sixth century of our era. Mahomet, or Mohammed, 
 was a young religious enthusiast, a camel-driver of Mecca, who deter- 
 mined to uproot the idolatry and superstition of the Arab tribes, and 
 was singularly successful in his arduous undertaking. He had a power- 
 ful aversion to all kinds of priestcraft, sacrifices, and superstitious- 
 ordeals, and boldly preached the unity of God, declaring that "there 
 is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet." Of all the religions of 
 the world, perhaps none has been more successful than this -, and, 
 certainly, not one ever spread so rapidly over the face of the earth. In 
 less than 100 years after the decease of the prophet the Khahfs of 
 Islamism were masters of the whole of Northern Africa, Spain, and 
 part of France, besides a great portion of Asia ; which vast territories- 
 they retained possession of for about 600 years, encouraging the while 
 philosophical and scientific studies, establishing libraries, schools, and 
 universities, and otherwise benefitting the human race. At the present, 
 day upwards of 100,000,000 people embrace this faith, whose God is 
 Allah, the great unity, whose prophet is Mahomet, and whose Bible is 
 the Koran. 
 
 We now come to Christianism, that widely-spread faith, whose cradle 
 was Alexandria, whose nursery was Rome, and whose workshop was 
 Europe. The founder of this religion, if he ever lived at all, about 
 which there is considerable doubt, was a young ascetic monk belonging 
 to the Essenes — a Syrian branch of the large order of Therapeutse — 
 whose headquarters were in Alexandria. His name was Yahoshua bert 
 Pandira and Stada ; he was born about b.c. 120, in the reign of Alex- 
 ander Jannaeus ; and he preached the doctrines of Confucius, declaring 
 publicly that the priests were liars and hypocrites, and inculcating com- 
 munistic and socialistic theories. He gained many lowly followers, who- 
 followed him about preaching in the open air, and begging their bread 
 from day to day, and, at last, was publicly executed for his seditious 
 conduct. 
 
 At the same time a remarkable mental revolution was taking place 
 in Greece and Egypt, the natural homes of mythology ; the University 
 of Alexandria and the Academic Groves of Athens were fast sending tO' 
 the right-about-face the old superstitions, much to the dismay of the 
 priests and religious fanatics, who "were driven to their wits' end to kno\T 
 
[28] 
 
 how to counteract this dangerous tendency of the age towards infidelity 
 and science. The idea struck them of utilising for their purpose the 
 new sect of religious reformers, who lived according to the teaching of 
 the young socialist, Yahoshua ; they boldly declared that this man was, 
 when on earth, an incarnate deity, and proceeded to attribute to him 
 all the miraculous performances that had been previously imputed to 
 the sun-god Bacchus ; and commenced forthwith to prepare their docu- 
 mentary evidences ready for the ignorant and credulous multitudes. A 
 new sect of the Therapeut monks of Alexandria came into existence, 
 called Eclectics, whose mission was to collect all that was good and 
 useful in the religions of their neighbours, and commit them to manu- 
 ■script for the use of their monasteries and the priestly class generally. 
 It did not take long to fabricate a very imposing story of the young man 
 Yahoshua, whom they now called lesous {'Irja-ovs, a name used by the 
 Creeks to signify a hero personification of the sun-god Bacchus, the 
 Phoenican Irjs), Greek being at that time the prevailing language of 
 Lower Egypt. The performances of the ancient sun-gods of Egypt, 
 Persia, Arabia, India, Greece, Phoenicia, and Italy were recalled to 
 the minds of. these Eclectic monks, by diligent search among their old 
 musty MSS., and, after carefully and judiciously collating the fables, they 
 were enabled to clothe their new lesous, or Jesus, with all the leading 
 -characteristics of these various deities. He was born of a virgin at 
 midnight between December 24th and December 25th, as were all the 
 sun-gods : his birth, like that of Mithra and that of Krishna, was fore- 
 told : a star pointed out the place of his nativity, as in the case of Mithra : 
 his birth-place was a manger in a stable, as in the case of Hercules ; or, 
 according to another account, a cave, as in the case of Mithra and 
 Horus : he cured the sick, as did ^sculapius : he fasted in the wilder- 
 ness, as did Buddha : he performed miracles, as did Bacchus, Hercules, 
 and others : he turned water into wine, as did the Egyptain Bacchus, and 
 as was done at the Bacchanalian orgies : he was crucified, as were also 
 Krishna, Osiris, and Prometheus : he rose from the dead after having 
 been in the grave three days and three nights, as did all the sun-gods : 
 he descended to hell, as did all the sun-gods : he was called Saviour 
 {^(OTrjpj Gr., and Saotes, Egyp.) and Lamb of God (Agnus JDei), as 
 were all the sun-gods (Zei;? ^wryp, Mises Saotes, etc.) ; Amen, as was 
 Jupiter Ammon (Zeis 'Afjir]v) ; Christ, or the Anointed (xpto-To§), as was 
 Osiris ; Son of God, as were Plato's Logos (Adyos), Bacchus, Mithra, 
 and Horus ; Holy Word (of Plato and Philo), as also was Horus ; God 
 of Love, as were Adonis, Mithra, and Krishna ; Light of the World, as 
 were all the sun-gods ; and, like his alter ego ^ Krishna, The Resurrection, 
 The Incarnate, The Beginning and the End, Existing before All 
 Things, Chief of Prophets, and Messenger of Peace : he was the 
 
[29] 
 
 incarnation of one third of a trinity, as were also Horus, Krishna, 
 and Plato's Logos : his day was called the Day of the Sun : his 
 followers were called Christians, and his priests Bishops of Christ, 
 just as were those of Osiris : his priests absolved sins, received confes- 
 sions, and practised celibacy, as did the priests of Bacchus, Adonis, 
 Mithra, Krishna, Buddha, etc. : his feast was called the Lord's Supper 
 and the Mystery of the Night, as were those of Bacchus, Adonis, and 
 Osiris: these suppers became, in course of time, obscene midnight 
 orgies, as did those of Bacchus and Adonis : at these suppers the 
 insignia over the table were the letters I H ^ (the Phoenician name of 
 JBacchus, in Greek capitals), surrounded by the rays of light and sur- 
 mounted by a crucifix and a bleeding lamb, precisely as was the case 
 with the Bacchanalian orgies : at the Lord's Supper bread and wine 
 were transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus, exactly as was 
 done in the case of Bacchus and Osiris : and lights were used at these 
 feasts just as they were at the Bacchanalian orgies. 
 
 These fables were carefully compiled together, attributed to various 
 imaginary authors, and finally issued to the people as an appendix, or 
 New Testament, to the volume of the old Jewish Scriptures, or Old 
 Testament. Thus were gathered together by the Alexandrian Eclectics 
 the principal essentials of all the old mythological cults, and thus came 
 into existence the huge and powerful system of religion called Chris- 
 tianism, which has been the great curse of Europe for well nigh two 
 thousand years. From the brutal murder of Hypatia, in a Christian 
 church, by the fanatical mob of a Christian bishop, down to the last 
 poor wretch burnt alive at the stake by the orders of the Church of 
 Jesus, the story of Christian infamy is not relieved by one bright spot. 
 Humanity stands aghast, and shudders at the hideous tale of crime 
 which the history of Christian Europe unfolds. It is one long wail of 
 anguish, poured forth by suffering man, finding relief only in the 
 silence of the grave — that stronghold of peace within which neither 
 god, devil, priest, nor tyrant can wreak their diabolical vengeance further. 
 How terrible have been the sufferings of poor Humanity under the 
 ghastly shadow of the Cross is beautifully expressed in Shelley's " Queen 
 Mab," in the dialogue between the spirit of lanthe and the Fairy 
 Queen : — 
 
 Spirit. I was an infant when my mother went 
 
 To see an Atheist burned. She took me there : 
 The dark-robed priests were met around the pile 
 The multitude was gazing silently ; 
 And as the culprit passed with dauntless mien. 
 Tempered disdain in his unaltering eye, 
 Mixed with a quiet smile, shone calmly forth : 
 
[3o] 
 
 The thirsty fire crept round his manly limbs ; 
 
 His resolute eyes were scorched to blindness soon ; 
 
 His death-pang rent my heart ! the insensate mob 
 
 Uttered a cry of triumph, and I wept. 
 
 Weep not, child ! cried my mother, for that man 
 
 Has said, There is no God. 
 
 Tairy. There is no God ! 
 
 Nature confirms the faith his death-groan seal'd : 
 
 Let heaven and earth, let man's revolving race. 
 
 His ceaseless generations, tell their tale ; 
 
 Let every part depending on the chain 
 
 That links it to the whole, point to the hand 
 
 That grasps its term ! Let every seed that falls, 
 
 In silent eloquence unfold its store 
 
 Of argument : infinity within, 
 
 Infinity without, belie creation ; 
 
 The exterminable spirit it contains 
 
 Is Nature's only God ; but human pride 
 
 Is skilful to invent most serious names 
 
 To hide its ignorance. 
 
 The name of God 
 Has fenced about all crime with holiness, 
 Himself the creature of his worshippers, 
 Whose names and attributes and passions change, 
 Seeva, Buddh, Foh, Jehovah, God, or Lord, 
 Even with the human dupes who build his shrines. 
 Still serving o'er the war-polluted world 
 For desolation's watchword ; whether hosts 
 Stain his death- blushing chariot wheels, as on 
 Triumphantly they roll, whilst Brahmins raise 
 A sacred hymn to mingle with the groans ; 
 . Or countless partners of his power divide 
 His tyranny to weakness ; or the smoke 
 * Of burning towns, the cries of female helplessness, 
 
 Unarmed old age, and youth, and infancy. 
 Horribly massacred, ascend to heaven 
 In honour of his name ; or, last and worst. 
 Earth groans beneath religion's iron age. 
 And priests dare babble of a God of peace, 
 Even while their hands are red with guiltless blood. 
 Murdering the while, uprooting every germ 
 Of truth, exterminating, spoiling all, 
 Making the earth a slaughter-house ! 
 
 There is no God ! What, then, caused this mighty universe ? To 
 be caused imphes a cause, certainly ; and that cause must, in the very 
 nature of things, be adequate for the production of the effect manifested- 
 But, inasmuch as cause and effect are but relative terms, the cause could 
 not exist independently of the effect, and vice versa. Therefore, as far 
 as the human mind is capable of mentating, the universe could not 
 
[31] 
 
 liave been caused. It is, therefore, eternal. What that inherent 
 power of matter is that hides itself so mysteriously behind the pheno- 
 mena of nature we cannot tell, further than that, being the inherent pro- 
 perty of eternal matter, it also is eternal. This point is the limit of the 
 "human understanding, beyond which it is apparently impossible at 
 present for the mind of man to soar. In the words of Mr. Herbert 
 •Spencer, " there is a power behind humanity and behind all things ; a 
 power of which humanity is but a small and fugitive product ; a power 
 ^hich was, in the course of ever-changing manifestations, before 
 Tiumanity was, and will continue through all other manifestations when 
 humanity has ceased to be." This power, of which matter and motion, 
 thought and volition, are but the phenomenal manifestations, and 
 which regulates the varied movements of those myriads of stellar 
 systems interspersed throughout the infinity of space — this exhaust- 
 less power of life and energy is to the human mind, as at present 
 •constituted, unknowable. Call it Law ; call it Gravity ; call it the 
 Mysterious Unknown ; but call it not God, that word which has 
 brought so much bitter anguish to humanity, and which blighted the 
 beauty of nature, causing hate where love should be, and tears to 
 fall where smiles should gladden the heart of man. Whether or not 
 the mind of man in future ages will be able to lift the veil that at present 
 lies between him and the Great Unknown time alone can tell. 
 
 At present we are at the mercy of an imperfectly-developed nervous 
 organisation, with its five special senses, which, though very far superior 
 to the lowly nervous development of our remote ancestors of millions 
 of centuries back in the history of life, is perfectly inadequate for the 
 solution of the great problem of existence. But a time will probably 
 arrive in the dim and misty future when other and more important 
 senses will be evolved within the human frame, which may bring man 
 nearer the elucidation of this greatest of all mysteries. Meanwhile let 
 us apply ourselves boldly to the uprooting of the old Upas tree of 
 religious faith — that pernicious development of the god-idea that has 
 been the constant blight of all ages, stifling reason by fostering Wind 
 faith and gross credulity, robbing the race of all that is noble, manly, 
 and honest, by the propagation of those canker worms, hypocrisy and 
 cant, and retarding the temporal salvation of man by the substitution 
 •of the vain and foolish theory of future rewards and punishments. 
 
 Prinhd by Watts &> Co., 17, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C, 
 
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ZODIACAL MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 To us of the nineteenth century, who have our national 
 C institutions for the discovery and propagation of scien- 
 
 tific truths, thus being saved the trouble of investigating 
 for ourselves, having only to open a book to see when 
 the next eclipse of the sun will take place, or whether 
 the Easter holidays fall later, or earlier than usual, it 
 seems almost incredible that there once existed races of 
 men who devoted almost all their time to the study of 
 astronomy ; but such is nevertheless the fact ; and when 
 we consider the different conditions under which society 
 existed in very remote times from what we are now sub- 
 ject to, we shall at once see that it was not altogether a 
 pleasure, but in fact a stern necessity, that impelled the 
 people of those early times to make themselves tho- 
 roughly acquainted with the various natural phenomena 
 taking place around them day after day, month after 
 month, and year after year. In those days, when writing 
 was either altogether unknown or hmited entirely to a 
 few, and when such things as almanacks and encyclo- 
 pedias were not the order of the day, people had to trust 
 to their own knowledge of the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies and the properties and uses of plants, etc., for 
 the successful carrying on of their daily pursuits, which 
 were then principally of an agricultural nature. Instead 
 of watches and clocks, the people had only the sun in 
 heaven to tell them the hours of the day ; instead of 
 monthly almanacks, they had the moon for their guide ; 
 and, instead of annual calendars to mark the commence- 
 ment of the seasons, they had only the stars above to 
 teach them the proper times to till their lands and sow 
 their grain. Consequently, it was absolutely necessary 
 that they should be well acquainted with all the move- 
 ments of the heavenly bodies ; and we need only glance 
 at the earliest records of the human race to find that 
 
they were more or less full of astronomical allusions— in 
 fact, that the principal study which engaged the atten- 
 tion of primitive man was the study of the starry 
 heavens. 
 
 In my lecture on " The Evolution of the God Idea " 
 I have already pointed out how the earliest religious 
 conceptions arose from this study ; and in my " Popular 
 Faith Unveiled " I have endeavoured to show that, in 
 naming the constellations, the ancients adopted the 
 wise device of giving to groups of stars the names 
 of the particular earth productions or earth phe- 
 nomena that happened to take place at the time 
 when such star groups made their appearance in 
 the heavens. Now, it is a very remarkable fact 
 that in those ancient countries of which we have any 
 exact knowledge the heavenly bodies received very 
 similar and, in many instances, identical names, which is 
 just what we should expect if the above theory of the 
 naming be correct. Take the zodiac, for example, which 
 is the hne of the apparent annual circuit of the sun, 
 and we find that in Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece it 
 was divided into twelve portions of 30 degrees each, the 
 whole circuit consisting of 360 degrees ; and the equiva- 
 lent signs bore a wonderful similarity to each other. In 
 the old Indian zodiac published in the " Philosophical 
 Transactions" of 1772 the signs are as follows, com- 
 mencing at the vernal equinoxial point : — Ram, Bull, 
 Man with two shields. Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, 
 Scorpion, Bow and Arrow, Monster with goat's head and 
 fish's hindquarters. Urn, Fish. In the Indian zodiac 
 published by Sir W. Jones they are as follows : — Ram, 
 Bull, Youth and Damsel, Crab, Lion, Virgin in a boat, 
 holding an ear of rice-corn, Man holding the balances, 
 Scorpion, Centaur shooting with a bow and arrow, 
 Monster with antelope's head and fish's hindquarters, 
 Man carrying a water-pot on his shoulder, Two Fishes. 
 The ancient Persian zodiacal signs were : Lamb, Bull, 
 Twins, Crab, Lion, Ear of Corn, Balances, Scorpion, 
 Bow, Goat, Pitcher of Water, Two Fishes. In the zodiac 
 depicted on the ceiling of the Egyptian temple of Isis 
 at Dendera the following are the signs : — Ram, Bull, 
 Twins, Beetle, Lion, Virgin holding an ear of corn, 
 
[3] 
 
 Balances, Scorpion, Centaur shooting with bow and 
 arrow, Monster with goat's head and fish's hindquarters, 
 Man pouring water from two water-pots, Two Fishes. In 
 Kircher's Egyptian zodiac thesignsare: — Man with ram's 
 horns, Bull, Twins, Hermes with head of an Ibis, Lion, 
 Virgin holding an ear of corn, Man holding the 
 balances, Man with serpents for legs and having a ser- 
 pent twisted round his body. Centaur shooting with 
 bow and arrow. Monster with goat's head and fish's 
 hindquarters, Man with an urn from which water 
 was falling, Woman wMth fish's tail. Ancient Greek 
 zodiacs had the following signs : — Ram, Bull, Twins, 
 Crab, Lion, Virgin, Balances, Scorpion, Centaur 
 shooting with bow and arrow, Goat with fish's 
 hindquarters, Canobus with his pitcher of water. Two 
 Fishes. The Romans followed the Greeks, and these 
 signs have since remained unchanged in all modern 
 zodiacs, being now known under the following names : — • 
 Aries, the ram ; Taurus, the bull ; Gemini, the twins ; 
 Cancer, the crab; Leo, the lion; Virgo, the virgin; 
 Libra, the balances ; Scorpio, the scorpion ; Sagittarius, 
 the centaur-archer ; Capricornus, the goat-fish ; Aquarius, 
 the water-bearer ; Pisces, the fishes. ^r. 
 
 Each of these signs corresponds witl^ a particular 
 portion of the year, varying according to the slow move- 
 ment known as the precession of the equinbxes, by which 
 all the signs are moved forward very slightlj^ year by year, 
 at the rate of one degree in 71 or 72 years, until, at the 
 end of about 2,152 years, a whole sign has moved forward 
 into the position previously occupied by the sign imme- 
 diately preceding it. This is caused by the failure of the 
 sun to reach the same point in the same time in his 
 apparent circuit each year; and thus it happens that, in 
 a period of rather less than 26,000 years, each sign will 
 have moved completely round the zodiacal band. Now, 
 by careful calculation it has been found that the vernal 
 equinoxial point coincided with the first degree of Aries 
 about 28,000 years ago, with the first degree of Libra 
 about 17,000 years ago, with the first degree of Taurus 
 B.C. 4,340, with that of Aries B.C. 2,188, and with that 
 of Pisces B.C. 36 ; so that, at the present time, the vernal 
 equinoxial point is really occupied by the sign of the 
 
[4l 
 
 fishes, although, for astronomical purposes, the sign of 
 the ram is always placed in that position, and will, for 
 the future, always be considered as the first sign of the 
 zodiac, no matter what sign may really occupy that posi- 
 tion. Thus there is now what is called a fixed zodiac, 
 which never changes, and which is an arbitrary arrange- 
 ment made for scientific purposes, and a real zodiac 
 whose figures move steadily and slowly year by year, until 
 at the end of rather more than two thousand years the 
 vernal equinoxial point is occupied by the sign imme- 
 diately following the one which occupied it during that 
 period of time. 
 
 Although now the fixed zodiac is an established fact, 
 such an arrangement was undreamed of by the ancients, 
 who regulated their almanacks from the actual sign at 
 the time occupying the vernal equinoxial point ; so that 
 between the years 4340 B.C. and 2188 b.c. the sign of 
 the bull was the first and chief sign of the zodiac, while 
 during the two thousand years following — that is, until 
 ^6 B.C. — the sign of the ram or lamb took its place. 
 The vernal equinox falls on March 21st each year, at 
 which time the sun, having ascended from its lowest 
 point of declination (December 21st), arrives at that 
 portion of its annual course at which the equator and 
 the ecliptic cross each other; and thus during the period' 
 when the sign of the bull was the vernal equinoxial sign 
 the sun was said to be in Taurus^ while in the following^: 
 period, when the sign of the ram took the place of that 
 of the bull, the sun was said to be in Aries. In order to 
 understand thoroughly the apparent annual march of the, 
 sun round our earth, it will be necessary to observe the 
 actual double motions of our earth round the sun and 
 upon its own axis. Let us suppose that we are again in 
 the period when the sun was in Aries at the vernal* 
 equinox; on the 21st of March our earth, in travelling 
 round the sun (annual motion), has reached a point 
 at which the sun is placed between us and the first stars 
 of Aries^ which are then, of course, invisible, because 
 when the sun is visible it is daytime — that is, the part of 
 the earth on which we stand is opposed to the sun,, 
 which renders all the stars in that part of the heavens 
 invisible; but, as the earth continues to turn upon its- 
 
Ls] 
 
 -laxis (daily motion), we gradually lose sight of the sun, 
 -and as the darkness closes around us the stars upon the 
 opposite side of the heavens become visible; so that, 
 when the sun is in Aries^ or any other sign, that sign is 
 always invisible to us, and at night we see the sign that 
 occupies the opposite side of the zodiac. Day after 
 -day, as the earth continues to move round the sun, a 
 few more stars in the sign Aries are covered, until at the 
 end of a month the sun reaches the next sign, Taurus ; 
 ^ .and the opposite signs, which we see at night, have also 
 
 moved on to the same extent. Thus at noon on 
 March 21st the sun is at its highest daily ascension, 
 -south of the zenith, or highest point of the heavens, 
 obliterating by its effulgence .the first stars of the sign 
 Aries, through which it is apparently about to pass, and 
 . at midnight following the opposite sign, Zidra, is seen 
 at the same distance from the nadir, or highest point of 
 the darkened heavens ; while a month later, when the 
 sun at noon is in Taurus, the sign Scorpio is seen at the 
 opposite point at midnight ; and so on through all the 
 signs, one month being occupied by the passing of the 
 sun through each sign, so that it passes through Aries in 
 March, Taurus in April, Gemini in May, Cancer in June, 
 Leo in July, Virgo in August, Libra in September, 
 Scorpio in October, Sagittarius in November, Capricornus 
 -in December, Aquarius in January, Pisces in February. 
 This was precisely what occurred in the zodiac during 
 the years from B.C. 2188 to B.C. 36; but in the period 
 of two thousand years immediately preceding this, owing 
 to the precession of the equinoxes, the order was changed, 
 so that Taurus was the sign of March, Gemini of April, 
 . and so on, each sign being a month earlier ; while at 
 the present time Pisces is the sign of March, and each 
 other sign one month later than when Aries was at the 
 A''ernal equinoxial point. Each of these signs occupies 
 30 degrees of the zodiac, the whole twelve making up 
 360 degrees, which is the total length of the imaginary 
 sphere of the heavenly vault; and the ancients again 
 divided each of these signs into three portions of ten 
 degrees each, called decans making 36 decans for the 
 complete zodiacal circle. When the sun was passing 
 through a sign the astrologers publicly proclaimed the 
 
' [0] 
 
 exact moment of its entry upon the first decan, which 
 they called the upper room, the whole sign being called 
 the house of the sun ; the second decan they called the 
 middle or inner room, and the third the lower room. 
 On each side of the zodiacal band there are also a 
 number of what are called extra-zodiacal constellations, 
 which never vary their position with regard to the 
 zodiacal signs, the constellations on either side of An'es 
 always rising and setting at the same time with that sign, 
 those on each side of Taurus doing likewise, and so on 
 through all the signs. 
 
 As the various astronomical figures became endowed 
 by the ancients with divine honours, each of .these signs 
 became associated with a number of romantic stories, 
 until at length the struggles, victories, and defeats of the 
 gods were told in such a variety of ways that sufficient 
 lore existed to fill, if written down, whole libraries. The 
 zodiacal signs were all gods of great importance ; the 
 planets were gods, the sun was a god, the moon was a 
 goddess, and the extra-zodiacal constellations were 
 either gods or heroes; but all were not of equal import- 
 ance, and, owing to the constant changing of positions, 
 some were powerful and victorious at one time and weak 
 and dying at another. The chief deity, which to the 
 Aryans was Dyaus, the day-father, became in later times 
 a concentrated essence of all the gods, and was supposed 
 to undergo all the vicissitudes to which they were sub- 
 jected ; but, inasmuch as the new-born sun was the life 
 of the world, bringing back happiness, and the vernal 
 equinoxial sign was the one at which his influence began 
 to be felt, these two deities were looked upon as god 
 par excellence^ a dual deity, separate yet conjoined, and 
 of equal power and authority. So, when the bull was 
 the vernal equinoxial point, the %MTi-\x\- Taurus was 
 supreme god; and when the ram, or lamb, was the 
 vernal equinoxial point the 's^ViXi-m-Aries was supreme 
 God ; and, although it was only in March that the sun 
 was at the vernal equinoxial point, yet the bull-god, for 
 two thousand years prior to b.c. 2188, was always su- 
 preme, and the ram-god (in Egypt) or lamb-god (in 
 Persia) after that date. On leaving the vernal equinoxial 
 sign the sun passed into the next in order; but, although 
 
[7] 
 
 then not actually in conjunction with the chief sign, it 
 yet was but slightly removed from it, the distance grow- 
 ing larger as each fresh sign was occupied ; and never 
 were the sun and the principal sign actually separated 
 from each other in the zodiac, so as to pass into opposite 
 hemispheres, until the autumnal equinoxial point was 
 crossed, after which the sun passed successively through 
 all the winter constellations, being separated for the 
 space of six months from the sign of the vernal equinox. 
 Therefore the six summer signs were accounted specially 
 bountiful and holy, the sign of the vernal equinox being 
 the head and chief of the six, while the six winter signs 
 were accounted less holy, but quite as powerful for evil 
 as the others were for good. 
 
 From this was formed the main drama of all subsequent 
 mythological systems, the groundwork of which was, 
 briefly, as follows : — The saviour-sun-god was born at 
 the winter solstice, and ascended to the vernal equinox, 
 where he was united with the bull, becoming the bull- 
 god, and in aftertime with the ram or lamb, becoming 
 the ram-god or lamb-god ; after crossing the equator at 
 the spring covenant, or coming together of the equator 
 and ecliptic, he ascended to the summit of the heavens, 
 becoming the lion-god, at the height of his power, and 
 then descending again to the autumnal covenant, or 
 equinox, to pass through the winter or scorpion signs, 
 alone, and mourning the loss of the vernal equinoxial 
 sign, which was torn from him at the autumnal equinox. 
 This simple narrative received numerous embeUish- 
 ments in after times, according to the fancy of the 
 astrologers and priests, who, in many cases, contrived to 
 make out of it a beautiful poem or a sublime allegorical 
 drama. 
 
 In describing the entry of the sun upon any particular 
 sign the ancient astrologers were in the habit of referring, 
 not only to the sign itself and to its decans, but also to 
 the accompanying extra-zodiacal constellations, as well 
 as to the visible zodiacal signs and extra-zodiacal constel- 
 lations of the opposite hemisphere. For instance, during 
 the period of the lamb's supremacy (b.c. 2188 to b.c. 36) 
 the position of the stars at the moment of the commence- 
 ment of the annual apparent march of the sun round the 
 
18] 
 
 zodiac was as follows : — The first stars of the zodiacal 
 sign Capricornus were at the winter solstitial point, 
 December 21st, and invisible to the eye, being directly 
 south of the zenith at noon, the extra-zodiacal constel- 
 lations Piscis Australis on the south, and Aquila on the 
 north, being on either side of it, and the zodiacal signs 
 Sagittarius in front and Aquarius behind, accompanying 
 it in its march ; while on the opposite side of the zodiac, 
 at midnight, was seen, directly to the south of the nadir, 
 the sign Cancer^ in which were the Frcesepe, or stable of 
 Augias ; the lo-sepe^ cradle of Jupiter or manger of Jao ; 
 and the Aselli^ or two asses ; on the east the sign Virgo 
 was just about to appear above the horizon ; on the 
 western horizon was the sign Aries, above which, and 
 crossing the equator, was the extra-zodiacal constella- 
 tion Orion, with the three large stars in his belt ; and 
 immediately below which was the sea monster Cetus, 
 just sinking below the horizon. In proclaiming the birth 
 of the sun at Christmas, therefore, the astrologers would 
 make mention of all these points ; and, consequently, 
 the more prominent and interesting of them would 
 become impressed more or less upon the minds of the 
 people, to be converted in after times into various fantastic 
 and romantic fables, as the manufacture of gods out of 
 these astronomical phenomena proceeded. 
 
 The principal astronomical features of this annual sun- 
 birth were, therefore, as follows : — The birth took place 
 in the house of the goat, exactly opposite to which were 
 the manger of Jao and the stable of Augias, between 
 two asses ; at the same moment the virgin was about to 
 appear above the eastern horizon; the lamb was, as it 
 were, hurling the sea monster Cetus below the western 
 horizon ; and the three brilliant stars, called the three 
 kings, in the belt of Orion, were shining above the lamb, 
 on the opposite horizon to where, after the lapse ol 
 sixteen days (January 6th), would appear that brilliant 
 star Vindemiatrix, the Virgin by that time having risen 
 sufficiently high above the horizon for that orb, which is 
 situated in her elbow, to be seen at midnight. 
 
 All the subsequent fables concerning the birth of a 
 saviour-god were but modifications of this. Mithra, 
 Krishna, Horus, Bacchus, Jesus, and, in fact, all the sun- 
 
L9] 
 
 gods, were born on December 25th, at midnight; and 
 the stories related of each bore a marked resemblance 
 to each other. The real birthday of the sun-god was 
 December 22nd, at the first hour; but it was always 
 reckoned from the same time on December 25th, because 
 at that moment, and not before, the first stars of Virgo 
 appeared above the horizon, which was the sign by which 
 it became known that the birth had actually taken place 
 three days and three nights previously. This gave rise 
 to a popular notion that the sun-god struggled for that 
 length of time at each of the solstitial and. equinoxial 
 points, and accounts for the fable of the two crucifixions 
 when the sun-god, in crossing the equator in March and 
 September, was, for three days and three nights, in torture 
 before he finally ascended to heaven in the one case, 
 and descended to hell in the other. 
 
 The Christian myth of the birth and death of the 
 saviour-god, although now considerably amplified and 
 converted into a long history, was originally, no doubt, 
 of a much simpler form, and, probably, of the following 
 nature : — Jesus, the sun-god, was born at midnight, 
 between December 24th and December 25th, his mother, 
 Virgo, having been three days and three nights in the 
 agony of childbirth ; the virgin, not being allowed to 
 enter the house of the goat, being on the opposite side 
 of the zodiac, was obliged to seek refuge in the stable 
 of Augias {Cancer), and place her baby in the manger Oi 
 Jao, at which moment the lamb of god, Aries, hurled 
 into the abyss the great monster of evil, or Cetus ; the 
 three kings in the belt of Orion, perceiving, on January 
 '6th, the great star Vindemiatrix rise in the east, which 
 was their guiding star, made obeisance to the new-born 
 god and disappeared below the horizon, going down by 
 the west, instead of returning by the east, or way they had 
 come. Growing from this moment, the young sun-god 
 -commenced his journey towards the city of god, the 
 summer solstice, at the top of the hill, or height ot 
 annual ascension, meeting at the outset Aquarius, the 
 man with the pitcher of water, or John the Baptist, with 
 whom he remained for a time ; after which he entered 
 upon the season of fasting, or the sign Pisces, the fishes, 
 and prepared by austerities for the coming feast of the 
 
' [lo] 
 
 Passover, or coming together (covenant) of the ecliptic- 
 and equator, when he would be crucified — that is, be 
 placed cross-wise on the two lines (ecliptic and equator). 
 After this he entered into the sign, Aries, the lamb, 
 having been shown the way by the man with the pitcher 
 of water, Aquarius, and partook of the feast in the upper 
 room or first decan, immediately after which he was- 
 crucified as the lamb of god — that is, passed the cross- 
 ing of the equator and ecliptic in the sign of the lamb-. 
 For three days and three nights he struggled in the- 
 tomb, or suspense, and then ascended into heaven,, 
 accompanied by the lamb, passing the signs Taurus and 
 Gemini, saying to the twins that he could stay with them 
 but a little while, and where he was going they could 
 not go (John xii.), and finally reaching the city of heaven, 
 Jerusalem, or Cancer, passing over the two asses {Aselli) 
 at the entrance to it. Here, on the top of the mount, 
 or at the height of his annual ascension, he had another 
 three days and three nights of tribulation, struggling 
 with the devil, the heavenly serpent, who had led or 
 preceded him up the mount, but who left him as soon as 
 he arrived at the top ; for Serpens, at this point, returns- 
 while the sun commences his descent towards the 
 autumnal crucifixion. Passing into Leo, he was trans- 
 figured on the mount — that is, became more resplendent 
 than ever, after which he entered Virgo, where the seduc- 
 tions of the lady sorely tempted him, for being offered 
 the juice of the autumn grape he drank copiously witb 
 the damsel until none was left ; whereupon she suggested 
 that he should turn water into wine, but he resisted 
 further temptation, exclaiming, " Woman, what have I 
 to do with thee ?" and pursued his course towards the 
 autumnal equinox, where he passed into Libra and 
 crossed the equator and ecliptic again, or, in other words, 
 was crucified in Egypt as the "just man," being at length 
 separated from Aries for six months, which caused him 
 to exclaim in grief, " My ram ! my ram ! why hast thou 
 forsaken me?" After three days' and three nights' 
 struggle he descended into hell, the tomb, or the dark 
 regions, to be born again at the winter solstice as before ;, 
 after which he would reconquer the powers of evil, or 
 the winter signs, and again become the lamb of god,. 
 
" slain from the foundation of the world " (Rev. xiii. 8) 
 the Amen, or Jupiter x\mmon, of the Apocalypse, at 
 which moment he exclaims, " I am he that liveth and 
 was dead, and behold I, Amen, am alive for evermore " 
 (Rev. i. i8), and " These things saith Amen, the true and 
 faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God" 
 (Rev. iii. 14). The winter period, commencing with 
 Libra^ was called by the ancients the period of scorpions, 
 because Scorpio was the principal sign of the period, and 
 next after the equinoxial sign ; Egypt (see Rev. xi. 8), 
 because, that being the most southerly country then 
 known, the sun appeared to descend into it at that time 
 of the year; and Sodom, Gomorrah, etc., because it was 
 a period of evil. The sea-monster, Cetus^ is the same 
 that is referred to in Rev. xiii. as blasphemy, with a 
 mouth like a lion, feet like a bear, and leopard-like marks 
 on its forequarters, and whose number was declared to 
 be 666, which figure being made up of D 60, n 400, 
 ") 6, and "1 200, stands fci the word "^IDDj Setur, the 
 concealed one, the Latin equivalent of which is Cetus. 
 This was probably something like the original Christian 
 myth, which, as time wore on, became converted into- 
 the absurd story presented to us in the four Gospels. 
 
 The story of Adonis being separated from his darling ; 
 Venus for six months, and being afterwards re -united to 
 her in love for another six months, was fabricated from 
 the same source ; as also were the legends of Osiris and 
 Horus, Vishnu and Krishna, Ormuzd and Mithras, 
 Jupiter and Apollo, Jupiter and Bacchus, and Jupiter 
 and Hercules. The cult of Bacchus, indeed, was almost 
 a fac simile of those of Jesus and Adonis, the three 
 being but representations in different countries of the 
 very same drama. The twelve labours of Hercules were 
 no more than the passage of the sun through the twelve 
 signs of the zodiac, just as the twelve patriarchs, the 
 twelve tribes, the twelve stones, and the twelve apostles 
 were the twelve signs themselves. In my " Popular 
 Faith Unveiled" I have pointed out the reasons for 
 thinking the twelve sons of Jacob and the twelve 
 apostles to be the twelve zodiacal signs ; but I may here 
 state that, on re-consideration, I am inclined to modify 
 the order maintained there in regard to the twelve son&- 
 
[12] 
 
 of Jacob (p. 122) by changing the places of Benjamin 
 and Zebulun, the former being, in my present opinion, 
 the sign Gemini^ and the latter Capricornus ; and as to 
 the twelve apostles, I may here supply an omission made 
 in the same work, by stating that Andrew (p. 198) repre- 
 sents Aries, of March, being always depicted with a x , 
 which forms the angle made by the crossing of the equator 
 :and ecliptic on March 21st. The mystic number seven 
 was derived from the summer signs of the zodiac, in- 
 cluding the two equinoxial signs, which were called the 
 pillars of the temple, the vault of the summer heavens 
 being the temple itself. Thus arose the allusions to the 
 seven trumpets, the seven candlesticks, the seven 
 •churches, and the seven seals in the Apocalypse, each of 
 which was a summer zodiacal sign ; and here I may again 
 supply an omission in my " Popular Faith Unveiled " 
 (p. 246) by stating that the church of Smyrna repre- 
 sented Virgo, of August, in which month bundles of 
 myrrh were always offered to the sun, the word ^iJ^vpva 
 signifying "myrrh." 
 
 Besides mystic numbers, there were a number of 
 mystic symbols in use among the ancients, by which the 
 great and important phenomena in nature were kept 
 constantly before the eyes of the people. The chief and 
 most widely known symbol is the cross, representing the 
 ascending sun bringing back fresh life to the world at 
 the vernal equinox ; but the cross was by no means the 
 only symbol of this important occurrence ; trees, torches, 
 the male organs of generation, or ^phallus, and various 
 animals were frequently used for the same purpose — in 
 •fact, the symbolical worship of the ancients assumed 
 ;gigantic proportions, almost every conceivable device 
 being seized upon to render homage to the great re-fer- 
 tiliser of the earth. No one of the religious cults was 
 free from a large admixture of what is known as phallic 
 worship — that is, worship of the fertilising principle; and 
 it was a common custom for people to swear by their 
 generative organs, as being the most sacred things on 
 earth, representing the divine energy in a state of pro- 
 creative activity. Thus we find in Psalm Ixxxix. 49 the 
 following words (literally translated) : " O my Adonis, 
 where are thy endearments of old, which thou swearedst 
 
[■3] 
 
 for the sake of love by thy phallus, O Amnion ?" The 
 Hebrew letter ]-\ was the sign of the cross, or phallus,, 
 which was also used by the Phoenicians, being derived 
 from the Arabic ^^^, the symbol of the life-giver. This 
 passage evidently had reference to the violent death of 
 Adonis, who, at the autumnal equinox, was attacked by 
 a wild boar, which tore away his generative organs and ren- 
 dered him consequently impotent, until he was born again,, 
 when he acquired fresh powers and grew in beauty and 
 stature, ready to re-unite with Venus at the spring equinox. 
 On the mithraitic monuments the spring equinox is 
 represented by lighted and elevated torches, trees covered 
 with leaves, entire bulls, and young men holding lighted 
 torches; while the autumnal equinox is represented by a. 
 hydra, or long serpent, a scorpion, reversed and extin- 
 guished torches, trees loaded with autumn fruits, a bull 
 with its generative organs torn away, and old men hold- 
 ing reversed and extinguished torches. The Rev. G. 
 W. Cox, M.A. and scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, in 
 his "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," says : " The male 
 and female powers of nature were denoted respectively 
 by an upright and an oval emblem, and the conjunction 
 of the two furnished at once the altar and the ashera, or 
 grove, against which the Hebrew prophets lifted up their 
 
 voice in earnest protest In the kingdom both of 
 
 Judah and Israel the rites connected with these emblems 
 assumed their most corrupting form. Even in the temple 
 itself stood the Ashera, or the upright emblem on the 
 circular altar of Baal-Peor, the Priapos of the Jews, thus 
 reproducing the Linga and Yoni of the Hindu. For 
 this symbol the women wove hangings, as the Athenian 
 maidens embroidered the sacred peplos for the ship 
 presented to Athene at the great Dionysiac festival- 
 Here, at the winter solstice, they wept and mourned for 
 Tammuz, the fair Adonis, done to death by the boar. 
 
 Here, also, on the third day, they rejoiced at the 
 
 resurrection of the lord of light. Hence, as most inti- 
 mately connected with the reproduction of life on earth,, 
 it became the symbol under which the sun, invoked 
 with a thousand names, has been worshipped throughout 
 the world as the restorer of the powers of nature after 
 the long sleep or death of winter." 
 
[ u ] 
 
 This symbol was from the earliest times venerated as 
 a protecting power, and Jacob, on his journey to Laban, 
 slept under its protecting influence : placed erect — 
 sometimes as a tree, at others as a cross, and often as a 
 phallus — and resting on a crescent, the modified form of 
 the yoni, this symbol set forth the marriage of heaven 
 and earth ; and in the form of a serpent, representing 
 life and healing, it was worshipped by the Egyptians and 
 Jews. In the book of Genesis the phallic tree is intro- 
 duced, where it is called the tree of knowledge of good 
 and evil. From Plutarch we learn that the Egyptians 
 represented Osiris with the organ of generation erect, to 
 show his generative and prolific power, and that he was 
 the same deity as the Bacchus of the Greek mythology 
 and the first begotten love (E^ws irpioroyovns) of Orpheus 
 and Hesiod. In an excellent work entitled " Discourse 
 on the Worship of Priapus," by Richard Payne Knight, 
 there are a number of plates illustrating the mode in 
 which this phallic worship was carried on by the ancients, 
 some of which are very curious and well worth the 
 ^^j^Ap^ V \ trouble of studying carefully. One plate represents a 
 I ' ** celebrated bronze in the Vatican, with the male organs 
 of generation placed on the head of a cock, the emblem 
 of the rising sun, supported by the neck and shoulders 
 of a man, the whole being emblematical of god incar- 
 nate with man, and on the base of which are inscribed 
 the words :§aTHP KOSMOY, " Saviour of the world." 
 Another figure on the same plate represents an ornament 
 in the British Museum, consisting of a male organ with 
 wings and the foot of a man suspended from a chain. 
 Another plate shows two representations of the god Pan, 
 one with the organ erect, the symbol of power, or spring, 
 the other with the organ in a state of tumid languor, and 
 loaded with the productions of the earth, the symbol of 
 the results of prolific efforts. Both these last are copies 
 of bronzes in the museum of C. Townley. On another 
 plate is a copy of another of Mr. Townley's treasures, 
 representing the incarnation of deity, in the shape of a 
 man having sexual intercourse with a goat, the emblem 
 of the new-born deity at the winter solstice, to which is 
 appended the following note by Mr. Payne Knight : " At 
 Mendes a living goat was kept as the image of the 
 
[15] 
 
 •generative power, to whom the women presented them- 
 selves naked, and had the honour of being pubHcly 
 enjoyed by him. Herodotus saw the act openly per- 
 formed (c? eTTihi^ev avOptoiriov), and calls it a prodigy 
 (repas). But the Egyptians had no such horror of it ; 
 for it was to them a representation of the incarnation of 
 the deity, and the communication of his creative spirit to 
 man. It was one of the sacraments of that ancient 
 church, and was, without doubt, beheld with that pious 
 awe and reverence with which devout persons always 
 contemplate the mysteries of their faith, whatever they 
 happen to be." This figure represented the human 
 male symbol as incarnate with the divine, instead of the 
 divine male incarnate with the Jiuman, as in the well- 
 known one found among the ruins of Herculaneum and 
 kept concealed in the Royal Museum of Portici. It is 
 unnecessary to describe the whole of the interesting 
 plates which illustrate Mr. Knight's work, copies of all 
 of which I have carefully taken. 
 
 There is abundant evidence in ancient authors as to 
 the prevalence of this worship of the generative organs, 
 and all agree as to the real meaning of the symbol. In 
 every part of the then known world the conquering sun 
 bringing back life to the world at the spring equinox was 
 represented in some phallic form or other, either as a 
 cross, a phallus, a tree, a serpent, a goat, a bull, a torch, 
 or some other device emblematic of the sexual union of 
 the powers of heaven with mother earth. The cross 
 was the most commonly used phaUic symbol, and was 
 generally of the following form — §, the o being the 
 emblem of the earth, or female organ, and the t that 
 of the sun, or fecundating principle, the combination 
 forming a cn/x ansata^ which was worn as a charm by 
 ■devout people. This was converted into a simple cross, 
 in which form, as well as in many others, it is found on 
 .ancient temples of the most remote periods, as well as 
 at the corners of roads, where it evidently was used as 
 a sign-post, as well as a religious symbol. Among the 
 paintings found at Pompeii there are some in which the 
 god Priapus is represented as a Hermes, on a square 
 pedestal, with an enormous phallus ; and others in which 
 lie is represented with the usual prominent feature, and. 
 
' [.6] 
 
 in addition, with a long stick in his hand to point out 
 the way to travellers. Herodotus thus describes a festival 
 in Egypt : — "The festival is celebrated almost exactly as 
 Bacchic festivals in Greece. They also use, instead of 
 phalli, another invention, consisting of images a cubit 
 high, pulled by strings, which the women carry round 
 to the villages. The virile member of these figures is 
 scarcely less than the rest of the body, and this member 
 they contrive to move. A piper goes in front, and the 
 women follow, singing hymns in honour of Bacchus." 
 
 Among the royal offerings to the god Amen by 
 Rameses III. in the great Harris Papyrus are loaves- 
 (called " Taenhannur ") in the form of the phallus.* 
 In the Pamelia the Egyptians exhibited a statue provided 
 with three phalli ; and in the festivals of Bacchus, cele- 
 brated by Ptolemy Philadelphus, a gilt phallus, 120 cubits 
 high, was carried in procession. St. Jerome tells us 
 that, in Syria, Baal-Peor, the Hebrew Priapus, was repre- 
 sented with a phallus in his mouth ; and in Ezekiel xvi. 1 7 
 we find the Jewish women m.anufacturing silver and 
 golden phalli. 
 
 According to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, the 
 worship of Bacchus was imported into Greece by Melam- 
 pus, who taught the Greeks the mysteries connected 
 with phallic worship ; and Plutarch says that " nothing, 
 is simpler than the manner in which they celebrated 
 formerly in my country the Dionysiaca. Two men walked 
 at the head of the procession ; one carried an amphora- 
 of wine, the other a vine branch ; a third led a goat ; a 
 fourth bore a basket of figs ; a figure of a phallus closed 
 the procession." 
 
 Tertullian tells us that that which in the mysteries^ 
 of Eleusis is considered as most holy, concealed with 
 most care, and only explained to the initiated at the last 
 moment, is the image of the virile member. The festival 
 of Venus, held at Rome in the beginning of April each 
 year, was in honour of the sexual union of the powers 
 of heaven and of earth. The Roman ladies led a cart, 
 in which was a huge phallus, to the temple of Venus, 
 outside the Colline gate, and there presented the member 
 
 * " Primitive Symbolism," by Hodder M, Westropp. 
 
♦.'V*' 
 
 »/ 
 
 [17] 
 
 to the sexual part of the goddess. Spring was, indeed, 
 
 the special season for phallic processions, as we learn 
 
 from a passage of " lamblichus de Mysteriis," given by 
 
 Mr. Westropp : " We say the erection of the phalli is a 
 
 certain sign of prolific power, which, through this, is 
 
 called forth to the generative energy of the world ; on 
 
 which account many phalli are consecrated in the spring, ^ ''^^"^ y*"' ^ 
 
 because then the whole world receives from the gods the dnirU^ *p^ei^^ 
 
 power which is productive of all generation." ^ ^ 
 
 It is sufficiently obvious that the return of the sun to ^Auj.4^" UX- 
 the vernal equinoxial sign each year, or the union of the ' 
 
 active and passive principles, formed the cornerstone 
 of the various religious systems, and that this marriage, 
 as it were, of heaven with earth, occurring each spring- 
 time, and bringing with it such a train of good results, 
 gave rise to the most sacred institutions and rites, which 
 to us may appear disgusting, but which, to the ancients, 
 were looked upon with the greatest awe and veneration. 
 
 It was not to the generative organs that the ancients 
 offered homage, but to the principles represented by 
 them — to the active and procreative power of the god of 
 nature, the prolific ram-sun, at the spring equinox, and 
 to the passive and recipient mother-earth, the womb of 
 nature, from which we all emanate and to which we all 
 return. It is, however, reasonable to imagine, with the 
 Rev. G. W. Cox, that " it is clear that such a cultus as 
 this would carry with it a constantly-increasing danger, 
 until the original character of the emblem should be 
 as thoroughly disguised as the names of some of the 
 Vedic deities when transferred to Hellenic soil." Indeed, 
 it is matter of history that these rites, which were held 
 so sacred by the Egyptians, were turned to the basest 
 and most wicked purposes in after times by the wor- 
 shippers of Bacchus, Adonis, and other deities. The 
 Bacchanalian mysteries and secret rites called JDwnyst'a, 
 or Supper of the lord Dionysos, were publicly denounced 
 by the Roman authorities at the commencement of our 
 era, as were also the Adom'a, or Suppers of the lord 
 Adonis, and the Love Feasts, Agapae^ or Suppers of the 
 lord Jesus. From Gibbon we learn that the early Chris- 
 tians were in the habit of committting at their Love 
 Feasts the most unnatural crimes with sisters, mothers, 
 
[i8] 
 
 and others, as is also clearly testified by Justin Martyr, 
 Athenagoras, Tertullian, and Minucius Felix ; and Livy's 
 account of similar practices indulged in by the Baccha- 
 nalians at their Dionysia leaves no doubt as to their 
 participation in these horrors. So widely spread was 
 this phallic worship that, within one hundred years of 
 the present time, it was openly followed in some parts of 
 Europe, as appears from a letter of Sir William Hamilton, 
 K.B., British Minister at the Court of Naples, to Sir 
 Joseph Banks, Bart., President of the Royal Society. 
 Accompanying the letter the writer sends an amulet 
 worn by women and children of Naples and the neigh- 
 bourhood as ornaments of dress, which they imagine 
 will be a preservative against malocchii (" evil eyes "), or 
 enchantment. It represents a hand clenched, with the 
 point of the thumb thrust between the index and middle 
 finger, on one side, and a male organ erect on the other 
 side, with a ring, or female organ, above, and a flaccid 
 male organ and scrotum beneath, the whole in the form 
 of a cross. The letter is so remarkable that it is worth 
 while reproducing a considerable portion of it, as it 
 appears in Mr. Knight's work. 
 
 " The following is the account of the Fete of St. Cosmo 
 and Damiano, as it was actually celebrated at Isernia, 
 on the confines of Abruzzo, in the kingdom of Naples, 
 so late as in the year of our Lord 1780. On the 27th 
 of September, at Isernia, one of the most ancient cities 
 of the kingdom of Naples, situated in the province called 
 the Contado di Molise, and adjoining to Abruzzo, an 
 annual fair is held, which lasts three days. The situa- 
 tion of this fair is on a rising ground, between two rivers, 
 about half a mile from the town of Isernia ; on the most 
 elevated part of which there is an ancient church, with a 
 vestibule. The architecture is of the style of the lower 
 ages \ and it is said to have been a church and convent 
 belonging to the Benedictine monks in the time of their 
 poverty. This church is dedicated to St. Cosmus and 
 Damianus. One of the days of the fair the relics of the 
 saints are exposed, and afterwards carried in procession 
 from the cathedral of the city to this church, attended 
 by a prodigious concourse of people. In the city, and 
 ^t the fair, ex-voti of wa^?, representing the male parts of 
 
[•9] 
 
 generation, of various dimensions, some even of the 
 length of a palm, are publicly offered to sale. There are 
 also waxen vows, that represent other parts of the body 
 mixed with them ; but of these there are few in com- 
 parison of the number of Priapi. The devout distributors 
 of these vows carry a basket full of them in one hand, 
 and hold a plate in the other to receive the money, 
 crying aloud, ' St. Cosmo and Damiano !' If you ask 
 the price of one, the answer is, Piii ci metti, piii meriti 
 — * The more you give, the more's the merit.' In the 
 vestibule are two tables, at each of which one of the 
 canons of the church presides, this crying out, Oui si 
 ricevina le Misse, e Litanie — ' Here Masses and Litanies 
 are received ;' and the other, Oui si riceveno li Voti — ' Here 
 the Vows are received.' The price of a mass is fifteen Nea- 
 politan grains, and of a litany five grains. On each table 
 is a large basin for the reception of the different offerings. 
 The vows are chiefly presented by the female sex ; and 
 they are seldom such as represent legs, arms, &c., but 
 most commonly the male parts of generation. The 
 person who was at this fete in the year 1780, and who 
 gave me this account (the authenticity of every article of 
 which has since been fully confirmed to me by the 
 Governor of Isernia), told me also that he heard a 
 woman say, at the time she presented a vow, like that 
 which is represented in Plate I., Fig. I., Santo Cosimo 
 benedetto, cosi lo voglio — ' Blessed St. Cosmo, let it be 
 like this ;' another, St. Cosimo^ a te mi raccommendo — 
 ' St. Cosmo, I recommend myself to you ;' and a third, ^ 
 St. Cosimo^ ti ruigrazio — ' St. Cosmo, I thank you.' The 7t?^ / 
 vow is never presented without being accompanied by a / 
 
 piece of money, and is always kissed by the devotee at 
 the moment of presentation. At the great altar in the 
 church another of its canons attends to give the holy 
 unction, with the oil of St. Cosmo \ which is prepared 
 by the same receipt as that of the Roman Ritual, with 
 the addition only of the prayer of the Holy Martyrs, St. 
 Cosmus and Damianus. Those who have an infirmity 
 in any of their members present themselves at the great 
 altar, and uncover the member affected (not even ex- 
 cepting that which is most frequently represented by the 
 ex-voti) ; and the reverend canon anoints it, saying, 
 
t 20 ] 
 
 Per inUrcessionem beati Cosmi^ liberet ie ab omni malOy 
 Allien. The ceremony finishes by the canons of the 
 church dividing the spoils, both money and wax, which 
 must be to a very considerable amount, as the concourse 
 at this fete is said to be prodigiously numerous." 
 
 At the present day phallic symbolism is perpetuated 
 in our church steeples, in the crosses and circles on our 
 altars and prayer-books, in the pictures of the lamb 
 holding a cross within a circle on our church windows, 
 in the cross-buns eaten at the paschal feast, in the Easter 
 eggs, and in various other ways ; while the Pyramids of 
 Egypt and the Luxor obelisks — one in London, one in 
 Paris, and one in St. Petersburg — form a connecting 
 phallic link between the ancient Egyptians and our- 
 selves. The sphynx has been said by some to be a 
 phallic figure ; but I do not subscribe to this view at all, 
 holding the opinion that it is simply a union of two 
 zodiacal signs, July and August of the fixed zodiac. It 
 appears to me that at a very remote time, when the sign 
 Virgo was about to be supplanted at the vernal equinox 
 by the next sign, Leo — somewhere about fifteen thou- 
 sand years ago, or rather later — the priests or astrologers 
 hit upon the idea of placing the head of Virgo upon the 
 shoulders of Leo^ thus manufacturing a new kind of 
 figure, which, on account of its partaking of the dual 
 nature of the then most prominent of the gods, became 
 very popular, and was depicted in various forms and in 
 many parts of the country. This may also have been 
 the modus faciendi of Capricornus and Sagittarius^ if we 
 can imagine a still earlier period when the zodiac was 
 so different from the present form as to have signs re- 
 presented by a fish, a goat, a horse, and an archer 
 respectively. 
 
 Next to the vernal equinoxial sign the ancients held 
 the winter solstitial sign in the greatest veneration, and 
 consequently the goat was a very sacred animal and 
 occupied a prominent place in all symboHcal mytho- 
 logies. It was from this point that the Egyptians calcu- 
 lated their new year, although the Persians always 
 reckoned theirs from the vernal equinox \ and it was on 
 December 21st that the Egyptians fixed the creation of 
 the world, which gave origin to the fable of a goat 
 
t>I] 
 
 having been the creator, thus accounting for the fact of 
 the early copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch commenc- 
 ing with the following words : " At the commencement 
 the goat (tVn) renovated the heavens and the earth " 
 (Genesis i. i). Here we meet with a very good example 
 of the patchwork style in which the Bible was compiled. 
 In Egypt the new year reckoned from December 21st, 
 and the creation was supposed to date from the same 
 time of the year, and consequently in all records ema- 
 nating from the Nile district the celestial goat was 
 honoured for the occasion with the chief godship ; but 
 in Persia the new year commenced on March 21st, the 
 date of the creation being fixed at the same point of 
 the zodiac, so that the chief godship was assigned to the 
 celestial lamb or ram and its five fellow signs of the 
 summer hemisphere. Therefore, as the Hebrews derived 
 their creation fable from the Persians, using also the 
 Egyptian mythology with which to embellish their newly- 
 made cosmogony, the two fables became mixed some- 
 what in the minds of these ignorant wanderers, the 
 consequence being that in some of their MSS. the crea- 
 tion was said to have been the act of the goat (tVH), 
 while in others it was attributed to the ram-sun, Elyah 
 
 (n^7b^), or the six summer signs commencing with the 
 ram-sun, and called on that account the Elohim (D'^n7b^), 
 this word being the plural form of Eloh (mvb^) or 
 Elyah (n^7b^), a compound word made up of Yah (H^), 
 the Hebrew name for the sun-god, and El (vM), the 
 celestial lamb or ram. 
 
 Not only were the three principal signs — the bull, the 
 ram, and the goat — held in great veneration by the 
 Egyptians, but all the zodiacal signs were worshipped in 
 various degrees ; indeed, each figure of the zodiac can 
 be easily assigned to one of the principal gods of Egypt, 
 as they were known prior to B.C. 2188. The ram was 
 Amen, the Egyptian Jupiter, called Zeus Amen (Zevs 
 Afi-qv) by the Greeks and Jupiter Aminon by the Romans, 
 who was represented with a ram's head and horns. The 
 bull was Apis, or Serapis, v/orshipped as a living bull, 
 the incarnation of the principal deity at the vernal 
 equinox. The twins were the Greek Castor and Pollux, 
 
' ["1 
 
 who were worshipped by the Egyptians under similar 
 names. The crab was Anubis, the Egyptian Mercury. 
 The lion was Osiris, Ra, or Phthah, according to the 
 district and age, the sun-god at the height of his power 
 at the summer solstitial point, June 24th. The virgin 
 was Isis, the beloved of Osiris. The balances were 
 included with the scorpion, the two being worshipped as 
 Set-Typhon, Tum, or Sekru, according to the district 
 and age, the sun-god at the autumnal equinox, suffering 
 defeat at the hands of the powers of darkness. The 
 centaur-archer was the Egyptian Hercules. The goat 
 was Pan, or Mendes. The water-bearer was Horus, the 
 avenger of his father's defeat, born December 21st, and 
 a conqueror on March 21st; also Mises, the Egyptian 
 Bacchus, who, being the sign of the sun-god's birth, leads 
 the twelve signs out of the land of bondage, and insti- 
 tutes the feast of commemoration at the sign of the 
 lamb, whose horns he wears ; and also Harmachis. The 
 fishes are Oannes, the Egyptian saviour-fish, who, when 
 that sign was at the winter solstitial point, saved the 
 world as the new-born sun. 
 
 These twelve signs of the zodiac were, in fact, the 
 twelve principal gods of all races ; the seven summer 
 signs, including the two equinoxial signs, being the 
 seven specially sacred gods, inhabiting the upper temple 
 of the most high god, which was the vault of the summer 
 heavens, supported by the two pillars of the equinoxes 
 or covenants. Almost every race had temples divided 
 into upper and lower courts or rooms, the upper one 
 being the residence of their chief gods ; and these tem- 
 ples were originally meant to represent the universe, 
 having an upper hemisphere, governed by the good prin- 
 ciple, and a lower hemisphere, governed by the bad 
 principle, this idea being frequently further represented 
 by a closed ark or chest, representing the lower or dark 
 hemisphere, upon which sat the chief deity, representing 
 the good principle of the upper hemisphere. The 
 Egyptians, according to Plutarch, enclosed the body of 
 Osiris in an ark every year at the autumnal equinox, 
 when the sun was in Scorpio^ which was a rite emble- 
 matical of the annual death of the sun-god of summer ; 
 and the Jews, it will be remembered, suffered defeat at 
 
[^3] 
 
 the hands of the Philistines, immediately after they had 
 taken the ark out of Shiloh, where it had been depo- 
 sited, the word Shiloh being the name of a tiny group 
 of stars in the sign Scorpio. The movable temple of the 
 Hebrews, or tabernacle, as described in Exodus, is the 
 best example we have of this representation of the uni- 
 verse, being described in such minute detail as to betray 
 its meaning to the dullest mind. It was divided into 
 two portions — the lower or outer portion, and the upper 
 or inner portion, the holy of holies, where dwelt the 
 Hebrew chief tribal god, Yahouh, or Yah, sitting upon 
 the ark of the covenant, representing the winter part of 
 the heavens between the two covenants or equinoxes. 
 On each side of Yah was a cherub, or monster with four 
 faces (or, according to some, with four bodies) — one like 
 a bull, another like a man, a third like an eagle, and the 
 last like a lion, as we find fully described by Ezekiel 
 (chap. i.). In my " Popular Faith Unveiled" (pp. 131, 
 174, and 247) I have attributed these heads (or bodies) 
 to the four zodiacal signs of ascension after the vernal 
 equinox, that like a bull to Taurus^ that like a man to 
 Gemini^ that like an eagle to Cancer^ and that like a 
 lion to Leo ; but, according to Sir W. Drummond, in 
 his " CEdipus Judaicus," they correspond with the signs 
 at the four quarters of the sphere — viz., the man to 
 Aquarius^ the ox to Taurus^ the lion to Leo^ and the 
 eagle to Scorpio^ this calculation being based on the 
 supposition that the cherubim were first introduced 
 during the period prior to B.C. 2188, when Taurus was 
 the vernal equinoxial point, while mine supposes Aries 
 to have been the chief zodiacal sign. Which calculation 
 is right the reader must decide for himself, after care- 
 fully studying the reasons given for both conclusions. 
 Clement of Alexandria, in his " Stromata," says of these 
 cherubim : " Each of them has six wings, whether they 
 typify the two bears, as some will have it, or, which is 
 
 better, the two hemispheres Both have twelve wings, 
 
 and thus through the circle of the zodiac, and of self- 
 marrying time, they typify the world perceived by the 
 senses." The table in the temple was symbolical of the 
 earth, as we learn from Clement of Alexandria again, 
 when he says : " The table, as I think, signifies the 
 
image of the earth ; it is sustained by four feet, answer- 
 ing to the summer, autumn, spring, and winter." The 
 shew-bread was placed on the table m front of Yah, and 
 was divided into twelve pieces, typical of the twelve 
 signs, as we find stated in Ex. xxv. 22 and 30 (literally 
 translated) : " And I will hang [or be deposited] there, 
 set [or sitting] before thee ; and I will talk to thee from 
 above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, 
 
 which are upon the ark of the testimony and thou 
 
 shalt set shew-bread always upon the table in front of me." 
 The candlesticks, with three branches on each side and 
 one in the centre, having seven lamps burning on them, 
 represented the seven summer signs, including both the 
 equinoxial ones. Josephus tells us that the candlesticks 
 were divided into seventy parts, answering to the seventy 
 decans of the seven signs. The veil of the temple was 
 of blue, purple, and scarlet, and represented the atmos- 
 pheric vault of heaven tinged, as it frequently is, by the 
 sun's rays. The pomegranates represented the fixed 
 stars. The dress of the high priest was ornamented with 
 566 bells, corresponding with the days of the sidereal 
 year, with two bright emeralds and twelve precious 
 stones, which, according to Clement of Alexandria, re- 
 presented the sun and moon and the twelve signs of the 
 zodiac. 
 
 Sufficient has been said to leave no doubt as to the 
 real meaning of the tabernacle and its appurtenances, 
 and, I think, to establish the truth of what I have pre- 
 viously stated — viz., that the ancient religions were of 
 astronomical origin and abounding in symbolical rites 
 and ceremonies. It only remains for me now to repeat 
 what I have maintained before in other essays — that 
 the Christian religion of to-day, although modified by 
 time and circumstances, having been considerably mani- 
 pulated so as to be brought within touch of modern 
 requirements, is nothing more or less than a rehash of 
 the Egyptian, Persian, Hindu, and Phoenician mytho- 
 logies — an old worn-out faith, in fact, dressed in gaudy 
 and attractive garments. 
 
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THE EARTH OF THE VEVIC TRlESTS 
 
 HtNdU EARTH. 
 
THE EA-RTH OF THE LATER QREEKS, 
 S.C. 
 
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 Ton?ONIUS MELA'S COSMO G-HATHY. 
 
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 CHKISTIAN MATS OF THE WOULD IN 
 
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 CHRISTIAN MAT OF THE WO-RLD IN THE 
 
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 Of TH£ 
 
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 PTOLfM/ilC sySTfM 
 
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THB IKON V/TiG-T/V. Outsa*. Viiw. 
 
 Flited 171 a xojuX\ ant out of tk^ ro<J< Le|^«a^k 
 
INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS 
 
 IN EUROPE. 
 
 No scientific student or observer of nature will have 
 failed to notice that all phenomena around him are ever 
 in a condition of progressive change, ever advancing 
 from the simple to the complex, and ever conforming to 
 specific laws. Just as the world in which we live has 
 gradually developed from a condition of nebulous vapour 
 to its present complex form, and just as man has evolved 
 from a simple molecule of protoplasm by wonderful and 
 manifold stages to his present commanding position, so 
 have civilisation, trade, politics, arts, literature, and 
 science all been slowly and gradually evolved from the 
 primitive mind of prehistoric man. A continual change 
 has ever been going on from the simple to the complex, 
 from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the 
 imperfect to the more perfect. This continual progress 
 has been in operation during all time, and will proceed 
 in the future as of old, leaving the present day far behind 
 in its march, as the present day has left behind it the 
 past. 
 
 In considering the evolution of reform, or progress of 
 civilisation, we are necessarily limited to a comparatively 
 late period in man's history, for many thousands of years 
 had passed away, during which time man had gradually 
 established himself as a social animal, before any trust- 
 worthy records appeared to throw light in future ages 
 upon the primitive condition and habits of the human 
 family. From the patient and persevering studies of 
 scientific men, we are now in possession of a number of 
 facts which lead us to the conclusion that primitive man 
 first lived the life of a wild beast, inhabiting caves, and 
 devoting all his energies to battling with the ferocious 
 
monsters around him. From this condition he developed 
 into a more civilised being, becoming an agriculturalist, 
 afterwards a manufacturer of stuffs and hardware, and 
 still later a member of an organised state. These changes 
 probably occupied hundreds of thousands of years, com- 
 pared to which enormous lapse of time the period 
 embraced between the Egypto-Greek or classic era and 
 the present moment is a mere speck on the face of time. 
 We are now tolerably well acquainted with the civilisa- 
 tion of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, which had 
 existed for many centuries before the time of Aristotle, 
 and which some four or five centuries before our era had 
 commenced its entry upon the wide field of scientific 
 development which followed the conquest of Persia by 
 Alexander the Great. These civiHsations, which for 
 centuries had been bound up with the vain superstitions 
 connected with the legion of divinities of Olympus, of 
 Memphis, and of Thebes, were gradually casting off the 
 yoke of ignorance, and becoming more acquainted with 
 the majesty of the operations of nature. Philosophers 
 began to publicly declaim against the Olympian absur- 
 dities, and to ridicule the notion of miracles or prodigies ; 
 traditions began to be doubted and were fast being cast 
 aside; Zeus and his court were ceasing to command 
 respect; and the priests were often pubhcly insulted. 
 I'he Ionian gods of Homer, as w^ell as the Doric of 
 Hesiod, appeared likely to be quickly committed to the 
 darkness of oblivion. Powerful and influential resistance 
 was, of course, opposed to the wave of progress and 
 reason ; the philosophers were branded as Atheists and 
 their followers persecuted rigorously ; Euripides was de- 
 clared a heretic, and ^schylus narrowly escaped being 
 stoned to death for blasphemy. So great was the oppo- 
 sition offered to the movement that the philosophers 
 would undoubtedly have been silenced for some time to 
 come had it not been for the sudden military expedition 
 against the Persians. Alexander, with his 38,000 Mace- 
 donian soldiers, having crossed the Hellespont, b.c. 334, 
 proceeded to subjugate the imperious monarch of Persia, 
 and, after successfully conquering Asia^ Minor and Syria, 
 completely defeated the Persian army led by King 
 Darius, and took possession of the great city of Babylon. 
 
[3] 
 
 This war engrossed the attention of all classes at home, 
 so that the philosophers were enabled to prosecute their 
 studies unmolested. It also in many other ways was a 
 means of furthering the scientific efforts of that and of 
 future ages. For the first time the Macedonians beheld 
 the ebbing and flowing of the tides ; they discovered and 
 examined the Chaldean astronomical instruments, and 
 learnt their calculations, extending over several thousand 
 years ; and they observed the Chaldean division of the 
 zodiac into twelve portions, and of the day and night into 
 twelve hours each. The particulars of these they sent 
 home to Aristotle. What a field was here opened out 
 for Greek speculation ! The Chaldeans had detected 
 the precession of the equinoxes,, and were well acquainted 
 with the causes of eclipses; they printed from a revolving 
 roller, on which they had engraved cuneiform letters ; 
 they possessed magnifying instruments ; and were, in fact, 
 the tail-end of a mighty and advanced Accadian civilisa- 
 tion which had been in existence for thousands of years. 
 Not satisfied with these achievements, the conquering 
 Alexander next subdued the ancient monarchy of Egypt, 
 learnt the great feat of the Pharaohs — viz., the circum- 
 navigation of Africa by the Cape of Good Hope and the 
 pillars of Hercules, and founded the celebrated city of 
 Alexandria. He died at Babylon B.C. 323, after which 
 his huge empire was divided among his generals ; his 
 half brother, Ptolemy Soter, who had been governor of 
 Egypt during Alexander's lifetime, taking possession of 
 that country, and establishing his seat of government at 
 the new city of Alexandria. 
 
 This period marks the commencement of European 
 civilisation. Owing to the excellent government adopted 
 by Ptolemy, large numbers of Arabians, Jews, and Greeks 
 were induced to take up their residence at Alexandria, 
 which quickly became the centre of learning and first 
 commercial city of the whole known world, and the 
 resort of people of all nationalities. The celebrated 
 museum, which was commenced by Ptolemy Soter and 
 completed by his successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, con- 
 tained a library, which grew so largely that 400,000 
 volumes were soon acquired by it, and a daughter library, 
 containing 300,000 volumes, built at the Serapion, or 
 
[4] 
 
 Temple of Serapis. Books were freely bought, tran- 
 scribers engaged, apartments set aside, at the king's 
 expense, for the residence of Greek philosophers and 
 students, and four faculties established, for literature, 
 mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, including natural 
 history. There were also in connection with the univer- 
 sity botanical and zoological gardens, an astronomical 
 observatory, with spheres, globes, parallactic rules, etc., 
 and an anatomical theatre for the dissection of dead 
 bodies. It was here that Euclid produced his celebrated 
 geometrical demonstrations, which are at this day used 
 in our schools. Here also Archimedes proclaimed his 
 method for the determination of specific gravities, and 
 invented the theory of the lever. Here Eratosthenes 
 daily taught that the earth was a globe, and determined 
 the interval between the tropics. The earth was described 
 as possessing imaginary poles, axis, equator, arctic and 
 antarctic circles, equinoxial points, solstices, climate, etc. 
 Hipparchus taught the precession of the equinoxes, 
 catalogued the stars, and adopted lines of latitude and 
 longitude in describing the situations of places. Thus 
 science progressed under the wise and beneficent rule 
 of the Ptolemies. 
 
 But a dark cloud was already looming in the distance, 
 which was destined to develop into a fierce storm, the 
 effect of whose fury was felt for centuries afterwards. 
 Julius Caesar, in B.C. 30, defeated Cleopatra, then Queen 
 of Egypt, and added that country to the Roman domi- 
 nions, the museum and larger library being entirely 
 destroyed during the siege of Alexandria. From this 
 time learning and science began to decline. Numerous 
 rehgious sects, arose around Alexandria, the oljd mytholo- 
 gies were revived, and the priests once more gained 
 influence. The temples of Jupiter Ammon and Apollo 
 in Egypt, of Adonis and les in Phoenicia, of Dionysos 
 in Greece, and of Bacchus in Rome, were again filled to 
 overflowing, and miracles were performed in abundance. 
 In the short space of about fifty years all the work of 
 the Ptolemies appeared to have been undone, and the 
 world once more given up to darkness, superstition, and 
 ignorance, the popular frenzy being kept up by a number 
 of ascetic monks, called Therapeutse, who inhabited the 
 
[s] 
 
 hills around Alexandria, the desert and rocky plains of 
 Arabia Petrciea, and the barren hills of Syria, and 
 travelled about the country, preaching in the open air 
 to the ignorant and credulous multitudes. Matters pro- 
 gressed favourably for the revivalists for a short time ; 
 but there had shortly before occurred a circumstance 
 which proved to be, for us, the most important event in 
 the world's history, and which considerably modified the 
 Therapeut programme. 
 
 According to ancient records, it appears that a monk, 
 of the ascetic order of Essenes, called Yahoshuah 
 (Joshua) ben Pandira, was born in Syria, in the 
 fourth year of the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, or about 
 B.C. 120; and, being educated in Egypt, under the 
 supervision of Yahoshuah-ben Perachia, soon made him- 
 self specially obnoxious to the priests by his heterodox 
 teaching. From the exceedingly scanty information to 
 be obtained from the historical writers of the time, it 
 appears that this young man had, in addition to his know- 
 ledge of Egyptian sorcery, a large acquaintance with the 
 sublime and moral teachings of Confucius, for whose 
 memory he appears to have had a profound respect. 
 Observing the despicable manner in which the priests 
 manipulated their sacred offices for their own advan- 
 tage, robbing the poor and credulous people of their hard 
 earnings and indulging in all kinds of immoralities, this 
 young man boldly attacked these human parasites in the 
 public places, calling them liars and hypocrites, preach- 
 ing Socialistic and Communistic doctrines, and declaring 
 that there was but one law necessary for man — viz., the 
 golden rule of Confucius, " Do unto another," etc. The 
 wrath of the priests knew no bounds; a council was 
 called to consider the matter, and the bold reformer 
 was, it is said, sentenced to death for his noble efforts on 
 behalf of suffering humanity. Whether or not this young 
 man ever lived, or whether he was merely an ideal 
 creation of the fanatical minds of these therapeut monks, 
 suggested by necessity, it is impossible to say positively ; 
 for there are no really trustworthy records from which a 
 safe conclusion can be deduced. It is, however, prob- 
 able that such a man did actually exist, for it is not likely 
 that, had he been but an idea, the fact of his having 
 
[6] 
 
 declared one law to be sufficient for man's moral gui- 
 dance would have been included among the fabulous 
 performances afterwards attributed to him, as such a 
 declaration was destructive of all priestcraft; besides 
 which, we are told in the Babylonian Gemara to the 
 Mishna that Yahoshua, " son of Pandira and Stada," was 
 stoned to death as a wizard in the city of Ludd, or Lydia, 
 after which he was crucified on a tree on the eve of the 
 Passover, about B.C. 70, which was the punishment 
 generally inflicted on preachers of heresy and sedition. 
 Whether he had an actual existence or was but an idea, 
 it is an undisputed fact that his name has been, during 
 the past eighteen hundred years, a household word, and 
 that the whole face of European history has been moulded 
 by the various sayings and doings fabulously attributed 
 to him. 
 
 The reason of this is as follows. The therapeut 
 monks of Alexandria, who flourished in the first and 
 second centuries of our era, in attempting to revive the 
 old mythological systems, and thus to deprive scientists 
 and philosophers of their late rapidly-increasing power, 
 were at a great disadvantage, owing to the length of time 
 that had elapsed since the wonderful feats of the gods 
 had been performed. They well understood the abso- 
 lute necessity of keeping alive in the memories of the 
 people the older miraculous events by the performance 
 of fresh wonders in their own day ; but the difficulty they 
 had to encounter was in finding suitable individuals for 
 the occasion. The Syrian Essene monk, who had in- 
 fected a great number of the lower classes of society by 
 his heretical and revolutionary teachings, which, at first 
 sight, appeared likely to be damaging to the cause of the 
 priesthood, was quickly requisitioned by these astute 
 monks for the great purpose they had in view — viz., the 
 reproduction on earth of the popular god Bacchus, the 
 Greek Dionysos, and Phoenician les. They boldly 
 declared that this man was, when on earth, an incarnate 
 deity, and proceeded to attribute to him all the wonderful 
 performances that had previously been imputed to the 
 young sun-god Bacchus, such as miraculous birth from a 
 virgin, resurrection from the grave three days after death, 
 ascension to heaven, etc.; and, finally, gave him the 
 
[7] 
 
 Phoenician name of Bacchus, les, in its Greek form 
 lesous — Greek being, at that time, the prevaihng language 
 around Alexandria. The new religion gradually spread 
 from Egypt over the European provinces of the Roman 
 empire, and soon became such a great political power in 
 the State that the incarnate fiend and Emperor Con- 
 stantine, in a.d. 312, was induced to place himself at its 
 head, and use its increasing influence to further his own 
 wicked projects. The new Church, by this act, gained 
 an enormous power ; its priests became arrogant, the 
 philosophers were even more persecuted than before, and 
 learning was fast approaching its end. The only scien- 
 tific work which the Church retained was the " Syntaxis " 
 of Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer, which taught 
 that the earth was the fixed centre of the universe, around 
 which all other heavenly bodies rotated. It also treated 
 of the precession of the equinoxes, the milky way, and 
 the distances of the various bodies in the heavens from 
 the earth ; but, as the geocentric theory was clearly taught 
 in conformity with the Bible records and the religious 
 convictions of the people, this system was gradually 
 adopted by all classes of society, and became the recog- 
 nised authority on astronomy. 
 
 A furious and important controversy about this time 
 broke out between Arius, the leader of those who retained 
 the original belief in the manhood of Jesus, and Athana- 
 sius, the leader of the Christians, who declared him to 
 be divine, which culminated in the celebrated Council of 
 Nicea, a.d. 325, at which it was decided that he was 
 actually god. From this moment not only Arians, but 
 all others who refused to beheve in the god Jesus, were 
 savagely persecuted, until, at last, science and learning 
 received their death-blow by the destruction of the 
 Serapion, under the order of the Emperor Theodosius, 
 and the murder of Hypatia at Alexandria. This philo- 
 sopher was in the habit of lecturing on mathematics at 
 the university, and was so popular that the jealousy of 
 Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, was aroused ; she was seized 
 by his fanatical followers as she was going to her lecture- 
 room, stripped naked, dragged into a Christian church, 
 and there brained by the club of Peter the Reader, in 
 A.D. 414. 
 
[8] 
 
 Justinian next ordered the teaching of philosophy to 
 be discontinued at Athens, and closed all the schools. 
 The sciences were made to conform to Genesis, which 
 was declared to be the only true account of the origin of 
 nature ; and the earth was declared to be flat, the sky 
 spreading over it like a dome — or, in the words of St. 
 Augustine, like a skin — in which all the bodies moved tp 
 give light to man. Lactantius declared the globular 
 theory to be heretical. " Is it possible," he said, *' that 
 man can be so absurd as to believe that the crops and 
 the trees on the other side of the earth hang downwards, 
 and that men have their feet higher than their heads ? If 
 you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how 
 things do not fall away from the earth on that side, they 
 reply that the nature of things is such that heavy bodies 
 tend towards the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, 
 while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the 
 centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at 
 a loss what to say of those who, when they have once 
 gone wrong, steadily persevere in their folly, and defend 
 one absurd opinion by another." St. Augustine also said 
 that " it is impossible there should be inhabitants on the 
 opposite side of the earth, since no such race is recorded 
 by Scripture among the descendants of Adam;" and 
 again : " In the day of judgment men on the other side 
 of a globe could not see the Lord descending through 
 the air." Thus perished all the grand work effected by 
 the Ptolemies. Science was annihilated, progress arrested, 
 and the dark ages had commenced, which lasted until the 
 time of Luther and Copernicus, in the commencement 
 of the sixteenth century. Throughout this long and 
 dreary period the most cruel enormities were practised 
 upon unoffending people ; the Church became gorged 
 with wealth ; the clergy gave themselves up to all kinds 
 of lust and debauchery ; relics were sold, dispensations 
 bartered ; and no one's property or person was safe. 
 Progress was, however, only arrested for a time. 
 
 About the year 570 Mohammed was born in Arabia, 
 and in 610 he declared to the world that he had been 
 commissioned by the angel Gabriel to preach the unity 
 of god. He appears to have been a very remarkable 
 religious enthusiast, who beheved himself in his divine 
 
[9] 
 
 mission, and was eminently successful in his arduous 
 undertaking. Idolatry was quickly abolished among the 
 Arabs, and replaced by the religion of Mohammed. On 
 the death of the prophet his successors as vigorously 
 pursued the course he had entered upon. Ali, the general 
 of Khalif Omar's army, in a.d. 637, captured Jerusalem 
 and conquered Syria in the name of the one true god 
 and his prophet Mohammed. The Khalif rode from 
 Medina to Jerusalem upon a red camel, and, as he 
 entered the conquered city, issued the following procla- 
 mation : " In the name of the most merciful God. From 
 Omar Ebno'l Alchitab to the inhabitants of CElia. They 
 shall be protected and secured, both in their lives and 
 their fortunes ; and their churches shall neither be pulled 
 down nor made use of by any but themselves." Sophro- 
 nius, the chief Christian priest, having invited the con- 
 queror to pray in a Christian church, received a polite 
 refusal, Omar contenting himself with kneehng on the 
 steps outside, so that his followers might not have any 
 excuse for seizing the edifice or otherwise annoying the 
 conquered Christians. The Khalif and his followers 
 then pressed northwards, conquered the Roman Emperor 
 Heraclius, sent a fleet to the Hellespont, defeated the 
 Roman fleet, and laid siege to Constantinople, then 
 called Byzantium. Egypt was next conquered, the rem- 
 nants of the Serapion destroyed, and the whole of North 
 Africa added to the dominions of the Khalif. Spain 
 was then seized upon, and the entire country, as far 
 north as the Loire, annexed to the growing empire. In 
 732 Charles Martel succeeded in stopping the Saracen 
 foe at Poictiers and driving him back to Spain, thus re- 
 lieving the anxiety of the Church, which was now becom- 
 ing intense. In 846 a Mussulman fleet sailed up the 
 Tiber, menaced Rome, and carried away St. Peter's altar 
 to Africa, the Christian empire being saved from further 
 trouble only by the Mohammedan power being divided 
 into three Khalifates. 
 
 According to the Koran, the earth was a square plane, 
 on the edges of which rested the heavenly vault, divided 
 into seven stories, in the topmost of which dwelt god in 
 his omnipotence. This theory, however, was quickly 
 given up by the learned Saracens, Al-Mamun declaring 
 
f ,0] 
 
 it to be unscientific, and asserting that the earth was 
 globular, with a circumference of about 24,000 miles, 
 which wa? not far wrong. In 661 the Khalif Moawyah 
 encouraged this new teaching, and ordered the writings of 
 the Greek philosophers to be translated into Arabic. In 
 753 the Khalif Almansar recommended the study of 
 astronomy, medicine, and law at Bagdad; and his 
 grandson, Haroum-al-Raschid, ordered that every mosque 
 should have a school attached to it, and established a 
 large library at Bagdad for the use of learned men. The 
 sciences of chemistry and geometry were revived, and 
 algebra invented by the Saracens. At Cairo the Fatimist 
 Library became the wonder of the world ; and the great 
 library of the Spanish Khalifs had 600,000 vols., its cata- 
 logue alone occupying 44 vols. Gibbon tells us that 
 they "diffused the taste and the rewards of science from 
 Samarcand and Bokhara to Fez and Cordova, and that 
 the vizier of a sultan consecrated a sum of two hundred 
 thousand pieces of gold to the foundation of a college 
 at Bagdad, which he endowed with an annual revenue of 
 fifteen thousand dinars." The first medical college in 
 Europe was founded by the Saracens at Salerno in Italy, 
 and the first astronomical observatory was erected by 
 them at Seville in Spain. The streets in Spain were 
 lighted, baths were erected, and total abstinence univer- 
 sally practised. Thus we see that, while the power of 
 the Church was gradually steeping central Europe in 
 darkness, ignorance, and wretchedness, progress was on 
 the march again in Western Asia, Africa, and Spain. 
 During this period, however, there were not wanting in 
 Europe bold men who attempted a revival of philosophy ; 
 but these were quickly suppressed by the Church. In 
 A.D. 800 there appeared a man in Britain called John 
 Erigena, who, having read Aristotle's works, adopted his 
 views and attempted to reconcile them with the Christian 
 religion. There were also many Christian divines who 
 had crossed the Mediterranean to study philosophy 
 secretly from Mohammedan doctors. Erigena declared 
 that every living thing evolved from something that had 
 previously lived ; that each particular life-form was but 
 a part of general existence or mundane soul ; and that 
 all Hfe must be eventually re-absorbed in deity. The 
 
Church became infuriated and alarmed at this heretical 
 barbarian, who taught the pernicious doctrines of emana- 
 tion and absorption, and steps were immediately taken 
 to suppress him. 
 
 During the period of quiet which followed a certain 
 priest of Thuringia, Bernhardt by name, created a great 
 sensation in central Europe by declaring that the end of 
 the world was fast approaching ; that the prophecy con- 
 tained in the twentieth chapter of Revelation would be 
 fulfilled on December 31st, in the year 1000 — or possibly 
 immediately before that time — ^when the devil would be 
 unbound ; and that unutterable calamity or annihilation 
 would come upon the world. The clergy quickly followed 
 suit, and as the fearful day approached every church and 
 cloister in Europe resounded with the frantic appeals of 
 the monks and priests for their flocks to prepare for the 
 awful doom. Europe was turned upside down ; business 
 was suspended; kings, princes, senators, nobles, and 
 peasants all alike left their occupations to seek refuge in 
 some holy sanctuary against the coming event. As the 
 dread moment approached there was not a church or 
 convent in Europe that was not crowded to suffocation, 
 the people imagining that, if they were found at the last 
 moment in some consecrated place, their chances of 
 being saved would be better. Hundreds and thousands 
 of these poor wretches never had opportunity of obtain- 
 ing the coveted shelter, having been bereft of their reason 
 under the awful excitement of the hour. Amid prayer, 
 faintings, hysterical screaming, and chanting of choirs — 
 priests, monarchs, and beggars all huddled together any- 
 how — the clock struck twelve, and dead silence prevailed. 
 Gradually the people roused themselves from their stupor 
 to find themselves the victims of a cruel hoax. Strange 
 to say, not any attempt was made to punish those who 
 had produced such a melancholy state of things. Kings 
 and nobles had endowed monasteries and churches with 
 lands and wealth, which they believed would soon be of so 
 little use to them, and became suddenly penitent, assum- 
 ing the monk's shirt of hair, and otherwise showing 
 evidence of their piety and humility. William of the 
 Long Sword, Duke of Normandy, Hugh Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, Hugh Count of Aries, the Emperor Henry H., 
 
1. 12 J 
 
 all renounced their wealth and position to become monks. 
 Nobles had left lands and castles to the Church, the 
 deeds being drawn up by monks and witnessed by prelates 
 and sovereigns, as though no day of reckoning was at 
 hand, the form being invariably as follows : " Seeing that 
 the end of tlie world is now approaching, and that every 
 
 day accumulates fresh miseries, I, Baron (or 
 
 King ), for the good of my soul, give to the 
 
 monastery of ," etc. The Church, which before 
 
 was poor, now became gorged with wealth, and the 
 ignorance and credulity of the people secured the treasures 
 to the now powerful prelates. 
 
 During this period of excitement and terror the number 
 of pilgrimages to the Holy Land had enormously in- 
 creased, so much so that the Saracen masters of Jeru- 
 salem, with the view of putting a stop to the now trouble- 
 some and inconvenient influx of Christians to the Holy 
 City, commenced to persecute the pilgrims, thus creating 
 a very great ill-feeling against themselves throughout 
 Europe. Peter the Hermit, a monk of Amiens, took up 
 the cause of his ill-treated brethren, and forthwith com- 
 menced to preach a holy war against the Saracens of 
 Syria, Pope Urban H. and his priests promising absolu- 
 tion from all sin to those who took up arms against the 
 Infidel. A vast multitude of rabble from all parts of 
 Europe soon started on their march to the Holy Land, 
 being divided into three large armies, one led by Walter 
 the Penniless, another by Peter the Hermit, and the 
 third by Gottschalk, a monk. The armies gave them- 
 selves up to unheard-of iniquities, spreading poverty and 
 misery on all sides in their march, braining all who re- 
 fused to give up their provisions and property to them, 
 and, at last, arriving in Constantinople footsore and 
 diseased, having left two-thirds of their comrades to die 
 of starvation on the road. Crossing over into Syria, they 
 met the Saracen foe, who quickly put an end to their 
 sufferings by annihilating the whole lot. Seven other 
 Crusades followed, one composed altogether of children, 
 who, the priests declared, were to be the inheritors of 
 the Holy Land, it being now apparent that full-grown 
 men were too sinful to conquer the Infidel. The army 
 of children was accordingly shipped off to destroy the 
 
[13] 
 
 Saracen foe, but never reached Palestine, the boys having 
 been sold as slaves, and the girls drafted into Turkish 
 harems. When, at last, x\cre surrendered to the Crusa- 
 ders under Richard Coeur de Lion, the leniency displayed 
 by the Khahf Omar in his capture of Jerusalem in 637 
 was repaid by 2,700 Saracen hostages being brutally be- 
 headed outside the city walls for the sport of the Chris- 
 tian soldiers. All this time Europe was in a constant 
 state of agitation and alarm, which was further intensified 
 by the revival in- 1 180 of the doctrines of John Erigena 
 by the Saracen philosopher Averroes, who boldly preached 
 them in Spain, making converts in all directions, among 
 whom was the great Jewish writer, Maimonides, who had 
 been held by the Jews in the highest esteem, and con- 
 sidered second only in wisdom to Moses. 
 
 Under the tolerant and liberal rule of the Saracens 
 Averroism made great progress in Spain, where Moham- 
 medans, Christians, and Jews were permitted to live 
 peaceably together, and where philosophical theories were 
 openly and fearlessly taught ; but a day of reckoning was 
 at hand. On the death of the Caliph Hakem, Almansor 
 usurped the throne, and, in order to secure his position, 
 entered into a secret treaty with the orthodox section of 
 the Mohammedans, thus establishing a Church and State 
 party of enormous power, which culminated in the ex- 
 pulsion of Averroes from Spain and the suppression of 
 the study of philosophy. Thus were crushed again phi- 
 losophy and progress in 1198. The Christians of Italy, 
 Germany, and France followed suit, ordering all Aver- 
 roists to be seized and punished, and shortly afterwards 
 extending the order also to Jews and Mohammedans. 
 From the accession of Almansor dates the downfall of 
 the Mohammedan power in Spain and the commence- 
 ment of the fearful persecutions of Infidels by the Chris- 
 tian Church, which has left such a dark blot upon the 
 pages of European history. 
 
 The Saracen power in Europe was annihilated by 
 Ferdinand and Isabejla, and the Inquisition established 
 by Pope Innocent IV. in 1243. For two hundred years 
 it seemed as though philosophy and progress were indeed 
 dead, so relentlessly did the Church persecute all heretics 
 and denounce all scientific studies. But an occurrence 
 
[14] 
 
 took place in 1440 which completely, turned the tide of 
 events. In that year the art of printing was introduced 
 into Europe by the Venetians, who had learnt it from 
 the Chinese ; and in 1469 it was carried to France, and 
 from thence to all the great cities of the continent. At 
 first the Church paid little heed to the innovation ; but it 
 soon became apparent that a dangerous medium had 
 been introduced for intercommunication of the people 
 and their governments, which must lessen the need and 
 importance of a rehgious medium. Books were only 
 allowed to be pubhshed under the supervision of the 
 ecclesiastical authority, and heavy penalties inflicted upon 
 all who attempted to circulate any heretical works. The 
 writings of Averroes, Maimonides, and other heretics, 
 were ordered to be burnt, the doctrines taught by them 
 being declared blasphemous and subversive of all good 
 government. The leading and most learned Jews and 
 Mohammedans in Spain and Southern France were 
 avowed Averroists, and did not shrink from preaching 
 their doctrines in the public thoroughfares ; and the in- 
 fection was extending so rapidly that the Church feared 
 that a great calamity would overtake the orthodox faith 
 unless some steps were taken to put a stop to the heresy. 
 The Inquisition, which had been found so effective in 
 silencing heretics in France, was now utihsed for dealing 
 with the Jews and Moors. A cry was made in Castile 
 by the orthodox Christians for the estabhshment of the 
 Inquisition in Spain, which was immediately taken up by 
 all haters of progress ; and so great was the influence 
 brought to bear by the Dominican monk and arch-fiend, 
 Torquemada, upon the Queen Isabella that the Pope 
 was petitioned for a bull, which was issued in 1478, for 
 the detection and suppression of heresy in Spain. The 
 Christian monster, Torquemada, proved himself a worthy 
 agent of the Inquisition, burning at the stake in eighteen 
 years about 10,220 persons of both sexes. Dispensations 
 from the operation of the Inquisition were sold by the 
 Pope to such as could afford to purchase them ; and in 
 1492 all unbaptised Jews, old or young, were ordered by 
 Torquemada to leave Spain within four months, and to 
 leave behind them all those effects they could not sell in 
 the meantime. These poor wretches swarmed in the 
 
[•5] 
 
 roads in their thousands, rending the air with their piteous 
 cries, the Christian Spaniards being forbidden to render 
 assistance under penalty of torture. The consequence 
 was that hundreds and thousands of men, women, and 
 children died by the wayside from hunger, thirst, and 
 fatigue. In 1502 a further order was issued at Seville 
 for the Spaniards to drive out of their country every 
 Infidel they could hear of, no matter what the nationality 
 might be. The Moors were particularly indicated in the 
 document, one clause stating that it was justifiable to 
 kill Mohammedans on account of their shameless infi- 
 delity. The consequence was that, in a marvellously 
 short space of time, there was not a Mohammedan to be 
 found on the European side of the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 In spite of the precautions made use of by the Christians 
 for the prevention of the study of philosophy and the 
 acquirement of knowledge, the news of the discovery of 
 America by Columbus, in 1492, very soon found its way 
 all over Europe, producing the most intense sensation, 
 for the discovery came as a terrific blow to the Church 
 and its inspired Bible. To make matters worse, in 1522 
 Magellan sailed completely round the world, thus demon 
 strating conclusively that the earth was a globe. 
 
 Matters appeared to be going wrong with the Church, 
 in spite of the recent bloody triumphs of the Inquisition ; 
 and the clergy and laity were not slow to notice the turn 
 events were taking. Martin Luther, a young Augustinian 
 monk, in particular, took advantage of the unsettled state 
 of the mind of Europe to make a furious onslaught against 
 the Pope and the Church. Having been told by Cajetan 
 that he must " believe that one single drop of Christ's 
 blood is sufficient to redeem the whole human race, and 
 the remaining quantity that was shed in the garden and 
 on the cross was left as a legacy to the Pope, to be a 
 treasure from which indulgences were to be drawn," this 
 young priest declared he never would accept such a 
 doctrine, and commenced forthwith to preach openly 
 against the sale of indulgences, declaring that the Church 
 must stand or fall on the Bible, which taught no such 
 doctrine. The orthodox clergy, on the contrary, declared 
 that the Bible derived its authority from the Church, and 
 not the Church from the Bible, and demanded that Luther 
 
[ i6 J 
 
 should be arrested for heresy. In 1520 the Tope ex- 
 communicated the bold monk, who, in return, defiantly 
 burnt the Papal bull, for which he was ordered to appear 
 before the Imperial Diet at Worms, when he deliberately 
 refused to retract. The views of the reformer quickly 
 spread through Switzerland and Germany, Pope Leo 
 thundering forth his anathemas upon all who joined the 
 dangerous movement, until, at length, after many bloody 
 wars and horrible massacres, such as the slaughter of the 
 Huguenots, etc., the Reformation was firmly established, 
 and the Bible became, to the Reformed Church, the only 
 guide to morals and duty. At first, the Pope sullenly 
 submitted to what appeared to be the inevitable ; but 
 soon it became apparent that, in order to keep any autho- 
 rity at all over the people, some plan would have to be 
 adopted to curtail the growing influence of the Reformed 
 Church. Accordingly, Pope Paul III., in 1540, estab- 
 lished the Society of Jesus, the members of which order 
 were sent abroad all over Europe for the purpose of 
 secretly undermining the influence of the Reformers. 
 Three years afterwards, as if to counteract the evil designs 
 of the Jesuits, there appeared on the scene the celebrated 
 work of Copernicus, which was destined for ever to 
 demolish the geocentric theory of Ptolemy, and to estab- 
 lish the heliocentric philosophy, which taught that the 
 sun was the centre of our system, and that all the planets, 
 including our earth, revolved in regular order round it, 
 and which, of course, called forth a volley of abuse from 
 the Vatican, the theory being declared heretical and its 
 author anathematised. The eflect of all this was to 
 cause quite a revolution in thought among the learned of 
 Europe, which gave rise to another schism in the Church, 
 departure being this time from the ranks of the Reformers. 
 Arianism was once more revived by a number of people, 
 who maintained that the doctrine of the Trinity was un- 
 Scriptural, and that Jesus was but a man like themselves, 
 though endowed with great authority from god. The 
 orthodox and reformed Churches both alike were alarmed 
 at this turn of events, and co-operated to suppress the 
 new heresy, denouncing all philosophical studies, and 
 branding the Unitarians as Infidels. The upshot was 
 that Servetus was burnt to death at the stake by the order 
 
[17] 
 
 of the Trinitarian Calvin, and a check was thereby given 
 to the propagation of the Arian doctrines. It is satis- 
 factory to note that a Unitarian College now stands upon 
 the very spot where Servetus was murdered. 
 
 Again progress was arrested, and this time it seemed 
 as though a mortal blow had been dealt at all acquirement 
 of knowledge, for shortly afterwards, in 1559, Pope 
 Paul IV. established the Congregation of the Index 
 ^^acPurgatorius for the purpose of examining all books and 
 manuscripts intended for publication, and of deciding 
 whether the people should read them. The usual counter- 
 poise, however, quickly made its appearance, proving 
 once more that progress cannot be arrested for long. 
 
 In 1563 the first newspaper was produced in Venice, 
 which again set the ball of intellect rolling along, never 
 more to be stopped by priest or prince. The new 
 Copernican philosophy was now accepted by many 
 learned men, among whom even were some of the 
 priesthood. Giordano Bruno, an Italian Dominican 
 monk, among others, embraced these truths, and was 
 not afraid to openly teach them, for which daring act 
 he was soon obliged to seek refuge in Switzerland, where 
 he prosecuted his studies for some time in peace. The 
 fiends of the Inquisition, however, soon discovered his 
 whereabouts and drove him into France, then into 
 England, and then back to Germany ; in the end arrest- 
 ing him at Venice. He was taken thence to Rome, 
 publicly accused of teaching the plurality of worlds, and 
 burnt at the stake by the Inquisition in 1600. Eighteen 
 years after the murder of this noble Italian, Kepler, of 
 Wiirtemberg, published his " Epitome of the Copernican 
 System," in which he demonstrated for the first time 
 that all the heavenly bodies are bound in their courses 
 by various laws. This work, like those of Copernicus 
 and Bruno, was prohibited by the Congregation of the 
 plo^ Index^Purgatorius, and Kepler himself declared a 
 dangerous infidel. Still, in spite of the fury of the 
 priesthood, Catholic and Reformer alike, the study ot 
 the sciences made rapid strides, and in 1632 the vener- 
 able Galileo published his " System of the World," in 
 which he maintained the accuracy of the Copernican 
 theory. For this daring disregard of the Church's 
 
warnings he was summoned to Rome and brought 
 before the Inquisition, accused of having taught that the 
 earth moves round the sun. The poor old man was 
 compelled to kneel on the floor of the court, place his 
 hand on the Bible, and recant, after which he was incar- 
 cerated in the prison of the Inquisition, where, ten years 
 afterwards, he died. Still science progressed, and was 
 considerably aided by the rapid increase in the number 
 of newspapers throughout Europe. In 1631 i\\Q French 
 Gazette was established, and, soon after, newspapers 
 appeared in all important cities, much to the discomfi- 
 ture of the Church, whose power was now more seriously 
 imperilled than ever. Confidence was gradually becom- 
 ing established, and Descartes dared, in 1680, to make 
 an attempt to analyse the mind, declaring that the neces- 
 sity of universal doubt was the only starting-point of all 
 true philosophy. He was followed, six years later, by 
 Newton, who published his "Principia," in which he 
 demonstrated the grand truth which has immortalised 
 his name — viz., that all bodies attract each other with 
 forces jointly proportionate to their masses, varying 
 universally as the squares of their distances. Thus w^as 
 established the great law of universal gravitation, which 
 marks an epoch in the intellectual development of man. 
 Owing to the constantly-recurring feuds between the 
 Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics, this great discovery 
 passed for a while almost unnoticed ; but it soon became 
 apparent that the final blow had been given to the old 
 theory of divine intervention in the movements of the 
 universe, and that learned men of all countries were 
 rapidly embracing the Newtonian theory of irreversible 
 laws. 
 
 It was, however, now too late for the Church to inter- 
 fere, for all classes were quickly becoming impressed 
 with the grand theory of gravitation, which was destined 
 for ever to remain the most wonderful discovery of man ; 
 and, although the clergy still continued to anathematise 
 all scholars and scientists, the study of nature was 
 pursued with rapidly-increasing enthusiasm, as though 
 to make up for lost time. In 1690 Locke, the physi- 
 cian and philosopher, published his " Essay on the 
 Human Understanding," in which he declared all human 
 
[t9] 
 
 knowledge to be the result of experience, thus entirely 
 upsetting the old theory of intuition. Twenty years 
 later Leibnitz published his work entitled "Theodicee," 
 in which he endeavoured to solve the difficult problem 
 of existence of evil in the world under the moral govern- 
 ment of Deity. These two rival philosophers soon 
 became the leaders of philosophic thought in their 
 respective countries ; but barely thirty years had passed 
 away before an iconoclast appeared, in the person of 
 David Hume, who cut away the ground ruthlessly from 
 beneath their feet. His " Treatise on Human Nature," 
 published in 1739, upset all the philosophical systems 
 of the past, replacing them by the great theory of causa- 
 tion, which was soon accepted by every philosopher and 
 scientist. Kant followed in 1781 with his "Critique of 
 Pure Reason," in which he submitted matter to analysis, 
 and declared it to be possessed of inherent force. 
 
 The other sciences were also joining in the march of 
 progress. Chemistry was fast becoming a settled science ; 
 Priestley's discovery of oxygen, in 1774, had created a 
 great sensation; Cavendish shortly afterwards, in 1783, 
 discovered the constitution of water ; and Lavoisier, in 
 1789, summarised the combined researches of these two 
 chemists and himself in his " Elements of Chemistry," 
 which at once was recognised as the standard work on 
 the subject. Astronomy had, since Newton's discovery 
 of gravitation, assumed a more settled condition, but 
 was destined to further modification by the enunciation 
 of the nebular hypothesis by Laplace, who commenced 
 to publish his bulky work, "Mecanique Celeste," in 
 1799. 
 
 The nineteenth century opened with progress, as it 
 were, on the gallop. In 1804 the first locomotive engine 
 was started in England, at the same time that the first 
 screw steamer was run at New York. It is needless to 
 enumerate all the inventions of scientific men during the 
 century, which are so well known to every one. Suffice 
 it to say that, in a marvellously short space of time, the 
 whole face of Europe has been changed. Railways 
 cross each other at ail points, like a huge network ; 
 telegraph wires hnk together as one place all important 
 centres of population; public buildings are protected 
 
from nature's freaks by lightning conductors 3 light- 
 houses dot the whole length of our coasts ; the penny 
 postage conveys our thoughts to and fro throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land ; a free press ventilates 
 our grievances and enlightens our minds ; hospitals and 
 dispensaries minister to the sick and maimed wherever 
 we go ; and the Habeas Corpus Act endows each well- 
 disposed individual with freedom and liberty. What a 
 metamorphosis to be effected in so short a time ! 
 
 The lesson we learn from such a cursory glance as 
 this necessarily is at the intellectual progress of Europe 
 during the last two thousand years is full of the deepest 
 meaning. We cannot help being struck by the dogged 
 manner in which the Christian religion has opposed all 
 progress, ruthlessly murdering in cold blood any who 
 dared to suggest that the now-established and universally- 
 accepted theories might possibly possess some little of 
 the truth. Every new scientific truth or discovery has 
 been denounced by the Church, every great benefactor 
 to the human race persecuted and hunted to death by 
 the sleuth-hounds of bigotry and intolerance, and every 
 European war or massacre hatched out of religious 
 differences. To this very day the Church, though robbed 
 of all its old power to inflict evil and misery, persists 
 in its denunciation of all scientific discoveries ; and not 
 one of the numerous sects which at present divide the 
 Christian Church is exempt from this charge. Hegel, 
 Bunscn, John Stuart Mill, Renan, Huxley, Darwin, 
 Tyndall, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Carpenter, Herbert 
 Spencer, Emerson, Haeckel, Schopenhauer, Victor Hugo, 
 and, in short, all the leaders of thought of our century, 
 have incurred the bitter hostility of the various Christian 
 •YV I sects ; and yet what a.heirloom the works of these men 
 , form for the coming generation ! 
 
 The discovery of the power of chloroform and ether 
 to relieve pain was denounced by the Church because 
 it was proposed to apply it to the relief of the agony of 
 childbirth, the natural inheritance of woman under 
 the divine curse of Eden ; the abolition of slavery was 
 also opposed by these human parasites because the 
 practice was ordered in the Bible ; and it is well known 
 how the priests ui the Church utilised for their own 
 
purposes those abominable texts of the Old Testament, 
 " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and '' Neither 
 shalt thou countenance a poor man in his own cause." 
 
 The Middle Ages bear attestation to the fidelity of 
 the priesthood to their sacred oracles. Have not two 
 honest citizens of London quite lately undergone one 
 whole year's imprisonment for the grave sin of ridicul- 
 ing the notion of the Hebrew and Christian gods being 
 other than creations of man's imagination ? This very 
 lecture will probably be the means of bringing down the 
 wrath of the priesthood — "State Church and Noncon- 
 formist alike — upon its author. And why ? Are the 
 facts untrue ? Just the reverse. The writer, historian, 
 or pseudo-scientist who writes volumes of falsehoods 
 for the purpose of propping up for a short time longer 
 priestcraft and tyranny will assuredly fare well at the 
 hands of these insinuating gentlemen of the cloth ; but 
 let the man who dares to write the honest, unvarnished 
 truth beware ! His fair name, his business, and his 
 social and family ties will be undermined and destroyed 
 in an incredibly short space of time. All honor, there- 
 fore, be given to those brave bnes who have dared to 
 stand before the world and speak out the truth in the 
 cause of humanity ! They have done their share in 
 helping forward the march of intellect, in stifling super- 
 stition, and in uprooting ignorance '1 he state of Europe 
 to-day, as compared with its condition two thousand 
 years since, is overwhelming evidence of the continual 
 progress of civilization, which, in spite of the opposition 
 from its old enemy, the Church, in the past and, to a 
 limited extent, in the present, has proved to the world 
 that it must, of necessity, continue for all time as one 
 of the great and immutable laws of Nature. 
 
c 
 
 '-tl 
 
 u 
 
GENESIS I. 1, according- to' authorised Hebrew version, 
 with final letters, but without vowel points and breathings. 
 
 " In the beginning the ram (or lamb)-sun-gods (or the good gods) 
 renovated (reorganized or re-started) the heavens and the earth." 
 
 This refers to the commencement of the Persian new-year, at tlie 
 vernal equinox, Aries, the ram or lamb. 
 
 GENESIS I. 1, according to the Samaritan Pentateuch, 
 
 transcribed into ante-Masoretic, or original Hebrew, as written 
 
 before the invention of the five final letters. 
 
 '' In the beginning the goat renovated the heavens and the earth." 
 This refers to the commencement of the Egyptian new-year, at the 
 winter solstice, CapricoTiius, the goat. 
 
<r 
 
 ^) 
 
 U- 
 

 FoA Sitnxl* oj ^ra^^entari^ A?5*. of Sl'xtk cer^tu^r^ 
 
f 
 
 € ra>€iMe>Ho 
 
 AOCKXlliXKH 
 
 eiAKXiHxu>H 
 
 TrfOCTONn?^^ 
 
 Small J-^a^Tn-ent ^rawi tToiu's Gosp.el^ 
 taken froTTK tA.e TarToTi MAn.iL«cri)tt'. 
 
THE BIBLE. 
 
 There is probably no book on earth that has ever had anything like so 
 large a circulation as that which is known as the Bible ; and yet few 
 among the many millions who possess a copy ever think of asking 
 themselves the question, " Where and how did it originate ?" They are 
 satisfied with the ipse dixit of their parson that it " came from God." 
 That may be sufficient to satisfy the unthinking multitude, but it does 
 not suffice for thinking people, who prefer to follow the dictates of their 
 reason rather than rest on the mere word of a man or a number of men 
 who are paid to preach that the Bible is the word of God, and whose 
 incomes would cease if their followers thought otherwise. 
 
 What is this Bible ? Where did it come from ? Let us see. As we 
 now have it, it consists of a number of books, which are divided into 
 two main portions, the Old and the New Testaments, the former being 
 made up of the five books said to have been written by Moses under 
 God's inspiration, and called the Pentateuch, and a number of historical, 
 poetical, and prophetic writings ; and the latter consisting of four narra- 
 tives of the life of Jesus, called the Gospels, a narrative of the Acts of 
 the Apostles, a number of letters, and the Vision or Revelation of one 
 John. The number of books which make up the Bible has varied from 
 time to time, according to the fancy of the age ; but about 360 years 
 since a Council of Protestants determined that a number of hitherto 
 received sacred writings were not the "Word of God," and finally 
 decided that only those now included in the authorised version were of 
 divine origin. Before that time the following books had formed part of 
 the Bible — viz., Tobit and Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 
 Epistle of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Children, Susanna, Bel and the 
 Dragon, and Maccabees, all of which are considered canonical at the 
 present time by the Roman Catholic Church. Besides these writings 
 there are a large number of others that have, at different times, occupied 
 positions of honour in this ever-varying compilation, but which are now 
 almost forgotten by pious divines, and entirely unknown by their 
 credulous and ignorant dupes. 
 
 Dr. Dupin, Professor of Philosophy at the Paris University, and one 
 
of the most pious and learned Christian writers of his time, gives a list 
 of over 150 books that have, from time to time, been held sacred, and 
 said to have formed part of the "Word of God," as follows :— 
 
 OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 Books now Considered Canonical by Jews and Christians. 
 
 The five Books of Moses. 
 
 The Book of Joshua. 
 
 The Book of Judges. 
 
 The Book of Samuel, or the first and second Books of Kings. 
 
 The third and fourth Books of Kings. 
 
 Isaiah. 
 
 Jeremiah. 
 
 Ezekiel. 
 
 The Twelve Minor Prophets. 
 
 The Book of Job. 
 
 The Hundred and Fifty Psalms. 
 
 The Proverbs of Solomon. 
 
 The Ecclesiastes. 
 
 The Canticles. 
 
 Daniel. 
 
 The Chronicles. 
 
 Esdras, divided into two Books. 
 
 Books Received as Canonical by some Jews and Rejected by Others. 
 Esther, Ruth. 
 
 Books Excluded the Jewish Canon, and Reckoned as Apocryphal by some of the Ancient 
 Christians, but Allowed as Canonical of late by the Church of Rome. 
 
 Baruch, Tobit, Judith, the Book of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the two Books of the 
 Maccabees. 
 The Song of the three Children in the Fiery Furnace. 
 The History of Susanna. 
 The History of Bel and the Dragon. 
 
 Books that are Excluded the Canon without Apparent Reason. 
 
 The Prayer of Manasseh, inserted in the Apocrypha. 
 
 The third and fourth Books of Esdras (ibid). 
 
 The third and fourth Books of Maccabees, in the Septuagint Bible. 
 
 The Genealogy of Job, and his Wife's Speech, at the end of the Greek text of the 
 Book of Job. 
 
 The 151st Psalm, at the end of the Greek Psalms. 
 
 A Discourse of King Solomon, at the end of the Book of Wisdom. 
 
 The Preace before the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in the vulgar Latin and Greek 
 text. 
 
 Other Apocryphal Books of the same Nature, zvhich are Lost. 
 
 The Book of Enoch. 
 
 The Book of the Assumption of Moses. 
 
 The Assumption, Apocalypse, or Secrets of Elias. 
 
 The Secrets of Jeremiah. 
 
 Books Full of Fables and Errors, which are Lost. 
 
 The Generation, or the Creation of Adam. 
 
 The Revelation of Adam. 
 
 Of the Genealogy, or of the sons and daughters of Adam. 
 
 Cham's Book of Magic* 
 
[3] 
 
 A Treatise, entitled Seth. 
 
 The Assumption of Abraham. 
 
 Jetsira, or concerning the Creation ascribed to Abraham. 
 
 The Book of the Twelve Patriarchs. 
 
 The Discourses of Jacob and Joseph. 
 
 The Prophecy of Habakkuk. 
 
 A Collection of the Prophecies of Ezekiel. 
 
 The Prophecy of Eldad and Medad. 
 
 The Treatise of Jannes and Jambres. 
 
 The Book of King Og. 
 
 Jacob's Ladder, and several other Tracts. 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Books Owned as Canonical at all times and by all Christians. 
 
 The Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 
 The Acts of the Apostles. 
 Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul. 
 The First Epistle of St. Peter. 
 The First Epistle of St. John. 
 
 Books Questioned^ hut afterwards Admitted by the Church as Canonical. 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
 The Epistle of St. James. 
 
 The Second Epistle of St. Peter. 
 
 The Second and Third of St. John. 
 
 The Epistle of St. Jude. 
 
 The Apocalypse, or Revelations of St. John, which was a long time before it was 
 admitted as Canonical. 
 
 The history of the angel and the agony of our Saviour related (Luke xxii.). 
 
 The end of the last chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. 
 
 The history of the woman taken in adultery, related in the eighth chapter of St. 
 John's Gospel. 
 
 The end of St. John's Gospel. 
 
 The passage concerning the Trinity, taken out of the fifth chapter of the First 
 Epistle of St. John. 
 
 Apocryphal Writings which are ttot Full of Errors. 
 
 The letter of Jesus Christ to Abgarus. 
 
 The letter of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 The Gospel according to the Egyptians. 
 
 The Gospel according to the Hebrews. 
 
 Additions to the Gospel of St. Matthew and St. Luke, in the Cambridge manuscript. 
 
 The Proto-Evangelicum of St. James. 
 
 The Gospel of Nicodemus. 
 
 The Ancient Acts of Paul and Thecla. 
 
 The Epistle of the Laodicaeans. 
 
 The Epistle of St. Paul to Seneca. 
 
 The Epistle of St. Barnabas. 
 
 The Liturgies of St. Peter. 
 
 The Liturgies of St. Mark. 
 
 The Liturgies of St. James. 
 
 The Liturgies of St. Matthew. 
 
 The Canons and Constitutions of the Apostles. 
 
 The Treatise of Prochorus. 
 
 The Books of St. Linus. 
 
 The Treatise of Abdias. 
 
 The Acts of the Passion of St. Andrew. 
 
[4] 
 
 Books Full of Errors i almost all of them Lost, 
 The Gospel of St. Peter. 
 The Gospel of St. Thomas. 
 The Gospel of St. Matthias 
 The Gospel of St. Bartholomew. ■ 
 The Gospel of St. Philip. 
 The Gospel of Judas Iscariot. 
 The Gospel of Thaddaeus. 
 The Gospel of Barnabas. 
 The Gospel of Truth by the Valentinians. 
 The Gospel of Perfection by the Gnostics. 
 The Gospel of Eve by the Gnostics. 
 A Book concerning the Infancy of Jesus Christ. 
 
 A Treatise concerning the Birth of our Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and her Midwife. 
 A Treatise concerning the Virgin's Lying-in, and the questions she asked. 
 A Treatise of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, cited by St. Jerome. 
 The Apocryphal Treatise of the Life of the Virgin, cited by St. Gregory Nysene. 
 Another Apocryphal Book on the Virgin, cited by Faustus. 
 The Writings of Jesus Christ about Miracles. 
 The Acts of St. Peter. 
 The Acts of St. Paul. 
 The Acts of St. Andrew. 
 The Acts of St. John. 
 The Acts of the Apostles. 
 The Acts of St. Philip. 
 The Acts of St. Thomas. 
 
 The Doctrine, Preaching, and Itinerary of St. Peter. 
 The Rapture of St. Paul. 
 The Memoirs of the Apostles. 
 The Lots of the Apostles. 
 The Itinerary of the Apostles. 
 
 The Treatise concerning the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. 
 The Apostolical Tract. 
 
 The Treatise of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin. 
 The Apocalypses or Revelations of St. Peter. 
 The Revelations of St. Paul. 
 The Revelations of St. Thomas. 
 The Revelations of St. Stephen. 
 The Revelations of the Great Apostle. 
 The Revelations of Abraham. 
 The Revelations of Seth. 
 The Revelations of Noriab. 
 
 In addition to those already named there were a number of lost books 
 referred to and quoted from by the authors of the various canonical 
 books, such as : — 
 
 The Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numbers xxi. 14). 
 
 The Book of the Covenant (Exodus xxi v. 7). 
 
 The Book of Jasher, or the Upright (Joshua x. 13, 2 Samuel i. 18). 
 
 The Book of the Acts of Solomon (i Kings xi. 41). 
 
 The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (i Kings xiv. 19, and eighteen 
 other places in the Books of Kings ; also 2 Chron. xx. 34 and xxxiii. 18). 
 
 The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah ( i Kings xiv. 29, and twelve other places in 
 the Books of Kings). 
 
 The Book of Samuel the Seer (i Chronicles xxix. 29). 
 
 The Book of Nathan the Prophet (i Chronicles xxix. 29). 
 
 The Book of Gad the Seer (i Chronicles xxix. 29). 
 
 The Chronicles of King David (i Chronicles xxvii. 24). 
 
 The Book of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chronicles ix, 29). 
 
[5] 
 
 The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilomite (2 Chronicles ix. 29). 
 The Visions of Iddo the Seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat (2 Chron. ix. 29). 
 The Book of Shemaiah the Prophet (2 Chronicles xii. 15). 
 The Book of Iddo the Seer concerning Genealogies (2 Chronicles xii. 15). 
 The Story of the Prophet Iddo (2 Chronicles xiii. 22). 
 
 The ]3ook of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles xvi. Ii, and six other 
 places in the same Book). 
 
 The Book of Jehu (2 Chronicles xx. 34). 
 
 The Memoirs of Hircanus (mentioned in i Maccabees). 
 
 The Books of Jason (mentioned in 2 Maccabees ii.). 
 
 The Acts of Uriah (mentioned in 2 Chronicles xxvi. 22). 
 
 Three thousand Proverbs of Solomon (mentioned in i Kings iv. 32). 
 
 A thousand and five Songs (mentioned in ibid). 
 
 Several other volumes by the same author (mentioned in ibid). 
 
 The Prophecy of Jeremiah, torn in pieces by Jehoiakim (cited in Jeremiah xxxvi. ), 
 
 Another Prophecy of his upon the city of Babylon (mentioned in Jeremiah Ii. ), 
 
 Memoirs or descriptions of the same author (mentioned in i Maccabees ii.). 
 
 The Prophecy of Jonah (mentioned in the Book of Jonah). 
 
 We can readily imagine what trouble our pious ancestors must have 
 experienced in deciding which of these writings really emanated from 
 the ghost of God and which were fraudulent productions, for the style 
 in which most of them were written rendered it almost impossible to 
 decipher them : written on rough skins, in ink which had become obli- 
 terated by age, many of them had fallen into the hands of monks and 
 other rogues, who appeared to have suffered severely from cacoethes 
 scribendi^ and who recorded events connected with their own persons or 
 surroundings over the original writing, like a lady " crosses " her letters, 
 so that the whole manuscript became a complete jumble. In most cases 
 the original or ground language was Hebrew or Greek in ill-formed and 
 continuous capitals, undivided into words, and without accents, points, 
 or breathings, while the " crossing " was in Arabic, Latin, or some other 
 different dialect, badly written and accompanied with ink spots and 
 senseless dashes. Out of this heterogeneous mass of scribblings the 
 pious divines of the Reformation period compiled our authorised version 
 of the Bible, the translation into English being made, in the case of the 
 Old Testament, from the modern Hebrew text, and in that of the New 
 Testament from Beza's fifth edition of the Greek text. 
 
 There are three different versions of the complete Old Testament — 
 viz., the Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate, and two 
 Samaritan versions of the Pentateuch, one written in Arama^ and the 
 other in Arabic. The MSS. of the Hebrew version are all written in 
 modern or Masoretic Hebrew, which dates from about the year 1,000 
 A.D. The original language of the Hebrews, which was derived from 
 the Egyptians and afterwards modified by contact with the Chaldeans, 
 was very different from that we are accustomed to read to-day in Hebrew 
 Bibles : instead of each word being separated from its neighbour, and 
 vowel points being subscribed to assist in the reading, sentences, 
 
 ^/ 
 
[6] 
 
 paragraphs, and even pages were written as though the whole formed 
 but one long word ; and, considering that the Hebrew alphabet consists 
 of consonants only, the absence of the vowel points and final letters 
 afterwards introduced rendered the meaning of the writer most obscure. 
 For instance, the first verse of Genesis would have been written as 
 follows in ancient Hebrew, but in letters more nearly approaching the 
 
 cuneiform type, V^Il^nnb^'in'^tiUJnnSti^nSb^^'inn^'tr'b^'^D. The 
 equivalent letters in English are (reading from right to left, as in Hebrew) 
 TS.R.A.H.T.A.V.M.Y.M.SH.H.T.A.M.Y.H.L.A.A.R.B.T.Y.SH.A.R.B 
 and the translators tell us that they signify, "In the beginning God 
 created the heavens and the earth." Now, as they stand, it is utterly 
 impossible to pronounce the words ; and, even supposing that vowels 
 were added, this could be done in such a variety of ways that hundreds 
 of different pronunciations might result; so also might the sense be 
 varied by many different renderings. Suppose we wrote down the autho- 
 rised translation, using consonants only, and leaving entirely out the 
 vowels, the result would be as follows (reading from left to right, as in 
 Enghsh),NTHBGNNGGDCRTDTHHVNSNDTHRTH, which would 
 be entirely unpronounceable unless we added vowels ; and, by adding 
 vowels indiscriminately, a variety of renderings would result. The 
 absurdity of a written language composed only of consonants is thus 
 made very apparent. This difficulty opposed itself to the Jewish priests, 
 and was obviated by the introduction of vowel points, the manufacture 
 of five final letters, and the division of sentences into words according 
 to the arbitrary rendering of the introducers of the vowel points ; so that 
 now we possess a Hebrew language which may be, and probably is, as 
 unlike the ancient Hebrew dialect as chalk is unlike cheese. 
 
 By slightly altering the vowel points of a sentence or a word, the 
 whole sense may be entirely destroyed ; and that this has been frequently 
 enough done requires no proof here, for it has been abundantly shown 
 elsewhere. Certain priests have attempted to prove that the vowel 
 points and final letters were in use in Ezra's time ; but it is now 
 generally admitted by scholars that they were inventions of the middle 
 ages. Hear what the learned Christian Dupin, Doctor of the Sorbonne, 
 says : — " The Hebrew alphabet is composed of twenty-two letters, like 
 those of the Samaritans, Chaldeans, and Syrians. But, of these letters, 
 none are voivels^ and, in consequence, the pronunciation cannot be 
 determined. The Hebrews have invented points^ which, being put 
 under the letters, answer the purpose of vowels. Those vowel-points 
 serve not only to fix the pronunciation, but also the signification of a 
 word, because, many times, the word being differently pointed and pro- 
 nounced alters the meaning entirely. This is the consideration which has 
 
[7] 
 
 made the question as to the antiquity of the points of so much im- 
 portance, and has, consequently, had such elaborate treatment. Some 
 have pretended that these points are as ancient as the Hebrew tongue, 
 and that Abraham made use of them. Others make Moses the author 
 of them. But the most common opinion among the Jews is that, Moses 
 having learnt of God the true pronunciation of Hebrew words, this 
 science was preserved in the synagogue by oral tradition till the time of 
 Ezra, who invented the points and accents to fix the meaning. Elias 
 Levita, a German Jew of the last generation, and deeply learned in 
 Hebrew grammar, has rejected this opinion, and contended that the 
 invention of points took place in much more recent times. He ascribes 
 the invention to the Jews of Tiberias and to the year 500 a.d., and 
 alleges that the invention was not perfected till about the year 1040 a.d., 
 by two famous Maserites, Ben-Ascher and Ben-Naphtali." 
 
 Hear, also, what the learned and pious Dr. Prideaux says : — " The 
 sacred books made use of among the Jews in their synagogues have 
 ever been, and still are, without the vowel-points, which could not have 
 happened had they been placed there by Ezra, and had, consequently, 
 been of the same authority with the letters ; for, had they been so, they 
 would certainly have been preserved in the synagogues with the same 
 care as the rest of the text." He then goes on to say that no mention 
 is made of the points in either the Mishna or Gemara, and continues : 
 " Neither do we find the least hint of them in Philo-Judaeus or Josephus, 
 who are the oldest writers of the Jews, or in any of the ancient Chris- 
 tian writers for several hundred years after Christ. And, although 
 among them Origen and Jerome were well skilled in the Hebrew 
 language, yet in none of their writings do they speak the least of them. 
 Origen flourished in the third, and Jerome in the fifth, century ; and 
 the latter, having lived a long while in Judaea, and there more especially 
 applied himself to the study of the Hebrew learning, and much con- 
 versed with the Jewish rabbis for his improvement herein, it is not 
 likely that he could have missed making some mention of them through 
 all his voluminous works, if they had been either in being among the 
 Jews in his time, or in any credit or authority with them, and that 
 especially since, in his commentaries, there were so many necessary 
 occasions for taking notice of them." The Doctor then declares that 
 after the Babylonish Captivity " the Hebrew language ceased to be the 
 mother tongue of the Jews," Aramsen, as we know, being the dialect of 
 Judaea at the time of Herod. 
 
 We may, then, safely fix the date of our earHest Hebrew MS. at a 
 later period than 1000 a.d., for there does not exist one single ante- 
 Masoretic or unpointed Hebrew MS. of the Bible. The Greek Septua- 
 
[8] 
 
 gint was also written in Greek capitals, without accents and breathings 
 and without divisions between the words, and continued thus until the 
 eighth century, when accents and breathings came into use, which were 
 followed, in the tenth century, by small letters, as we have them now in 
 our Greek Bibles. The very same may be said about the New Testa- 
 ment MSS., all of which are written in continuous Greek capitals. 
 
 The oldest MS. of the New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus, 
 discovered by Tischendorf at the convent of St. Catherine, on Mount 
 Sinai, in 1859, and supposed to belong to the fourth century. The 
 Codex Vaticanus is also supposed to belong to the fourth century, and 
 was first published at Rome by Vercellone, in 1858. The Codex 
 Alexandrinus, containing both Old and New Testaments, is supposed 
 to belong to the fifth century, and was first published by Woide, in 1786, 
 and afterwards by Cowper, in i860. Of the Old Testament it contains, 
 besides the canonical and most apocryphal books found in our editions, 
 the third and fourth books of the Maccabees, Epistle of Athanasius to 
 Marcellinus (prefixed to the Psalms), and fourteen hymns, the eleventh 
 in honour of the Virgin. Ecclesiasticus, the Song of the Three Chil- 
 dren, Susannah, and Bell and the Dragon do not appear. Of the New 
 Testament there is, in addition to the received books, the First Epistle 
 of Clement to the Corinthians and part of the Second. The Codex 
 Ephraemi is supposed to belong to the fifth century, and was published 
 by Tischendorf in 1843. The Codex Bezse is a Graeco-Latin MS., said 
 to belong to the sixth century, and first published by Kipling, in 1793, 
 and afterwards by Scrivener, in 1864. All these MSS. are written in 
 continuous capitals, so badly formed, and so jumbled together, as to be 
 almost illegible. 
 
 According to the showing of those most interested in proving the 
 antiquity of sacred writings, the verv earliest MS. cannot lay claim to an 
 earlier date than the fourth century^and, if the authors to whom the 
 Church has attributed the various writings in the Bible wrote the said 
 records, it is clear that the latest originals must date from the first 
 century. But the originals do not anywhere exist, and consequently it is 
 utterly impossible for anybody to know who wrote any one of the books 
 of the Bible, which is, therefore, a compilation of anonymous writings, 
 and, as such, is of no authority whatever. So far from being a divinely- 
 inspired record, it is, as we have seen, a product of the cunning and 
 ingenuity of knaves and fanatics, who deserve credit for only one thing, 
 and that is that they managed to make any sense whatever out of the 
 wretched scribble and scrawl from which they derived their information. 
 
THK 
 
 "ANNALS" OF TACITUS. 
 
 One of the darkest epochs in the history of Christianity 
 is that period which commenced with the annihilation 
 of the Saracen power in Europe and the estabhshment 
 of the Inquisition by Pope Innocent IV. in 1243, and 
 continued until about the end of the fifteenth century. 
 The ghastly horrors perpetrated by the Christian Church 
 at this time against unoffending people are too well 
 known to need any reproduction here, and may be found 
 fully detailed in Rule's " History of the Inquisition," 
 Draper's " Conflict," and other similar works. My pur- 
 pose just now is not to follow in detail these wicked 
 and cruel abominations connected with the Christian 
 superstition, but to study carefully the various circum- 
 stances surrounding the sudden appearance, in the early 
 part of the fifteenth century, of so many MSS. purport- 
 ing to have been written by the ancients. Among these 
 manuscripts were the so-called "Annals of Tacitus," 
 which have since become so celebrated on account of 
 the reference made by the author in his fifteenth book 
 to the persecution of the early Christians by Nero. It 
 has long been suspected by learned scholars that these 
 " Annals," and in particular the passage relating to Nero's 
 persecution of Christians, were never written by Tacitus ; 
 but, owing to the danger usually incurred in giving ex- 
 pression to opinions so detrimental to the interests of 
 the Church, no one ventured until quite lately pubHcly 
 to state his doubts as to the genuineness of these cele- 
 brated writings. It is now, however, pretty generally 
 admitted among such scholars as do not make their 
 honour subservient to their interests that the author of 
 the " History " and the author of the " Annals " were 
 not the same person, and that the latter, moreover, were 
 
.not written until many centuries after the death of 
 Tacitus. 
 
 To find out who was the real author of these " Annals," 
 and how they became associated with the name of 
 Tacitus, it will be necessary to glance at the condition 
 of the Christian Church during the period referred to 
 above ; and in doing so none but authors of the highest 
 repute will be consulted. 
 
 For some time after the establishment of the Inquisi- 
 tion in 1243 the Church had been able to suppress, to a 
 very large extent, the growing tendency of the age 
 towards the acquirement of knowledge : by the rack, the 
 stake, and the gibbet, by torture, by fire, and by the 
 knife, she had relentlessly pursued her horrid and dia- 
 bolical career, hoping by these means to preserve the 
 faith and silence her enemies. To a large extent it is 
 admitted she was successful ; but in remote places the 
 spirit of inquiry Hved and grew in spite of her : Abelard, 
 the first Freethinker, had well sown his seeds in France ; 
 Arnold of Brescia had left to his brethren in Italy a 
 scheme of reform which was destined to take practical 
 shape in the autumn of 1870 ; and Wichffe had preached 
 from his chair at Oxford doctrines which could not fail 
 ere long to have their effect upon the intellect of Eng- 
 land. This bold Yorkshireman did not scruple to 
 pubhcly declare that the mendicant friars who were 
 commissioned by the Pope to travel over England and 
 grant absolution and indulgences to the people were a 
 pack of thieves and sensualists, that the clergy were 
 indulging in open wickedness, that the indulgences of 
 the Pope were a manifest blasphemy, and that the 
 priesthood had no right to deprive the people of the 
 right to search the Bible. He even went so far as to 
 speak of the Pope as " Antichrist, the proud worldly 
 priest of Rome, and the most cursed of clippers and 
 purse-kervers." From the pulpit of his little church at 
 Lutterworth he openly preached against the authority of 
 the Pope in England, and declared that Christ had given 
 no temporal lordship to the popes and no supremacy 
 over kings. The Pope and the Sacred College very 
 naturally resented this behaviour, and ordered copies of 
 Wicliffe's works to be sent forthwith to Rome for 
 
[3] 
 
 inspection, the result being that three bulls were drafted 
 on May 22nd, 1377, and despatched to England, one 
 being addressed to Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, and William Courtenay, Bishop of London, 
 another being addressed to the King, and the third to 
 the University of Oxford. These bulls expressed the 
 surprise of his Holiness that such a fearful heresy had 
 not been at once suppressed, and commanded that 
 immediate steps should be taken for silencing the author 
 of it. He was to be apprehended and shut up in prison 
 until the further orders of the Pope arrived ; and all 
 proofs and evidence of his heresy were to be sent by 
 special messenger to Rome without delay. These bulls, 
 however, arrived too late to be of much use. Already 
 Wicliffe had been brought to trial before the Bishop of 
 London and his court at St. Paul's, with a result not at 
 all to the liking of his Holiness or any of his pious fol- 
 lowers, as he very soon discovered. 
 
 On February 19th, 1377, Courtenay sat in Our Lady's 
 Chapel in St. Paul's, surrounded by Church dignitaries, 
 to hear the accusation against the reformer, a large and 
 excited crowd, favourably disposed towards Wicliffe, 
 howling outside the doors. Suddenly a disturbance 
 took place inside the chapel, caused by Lord Percy and 
 John of Gaunt forcing their way towards the reformer ; 
 the Bishop and his court were scandalised, and imme- 
 diately called upon the intruders to withdraw ; but, 
 instead of doing so, Percy quietly turned to Wicliffe and 
 politely requested. him to be seated, whereupon Courte- 
 nay became furious and yelled out : " He must and 
 shall stand; it is unreasonable that one on his trial 
 before his ordinary should sit." High words followed ; 
 the mob outside was in a state of fury, and the bishops 
 and clergy were terrified. The end soon came, for John 
 of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, stepping in front of the 
 Bishop, shouted : " As for you, who are growing so arro- 
 gant and proud, I will bring down the pride, not of you 
 alone, but that of all the prelacy in England," and then 
 declared that in a few moments he would drag him out 
 of the court by the hair of his head. This brought 
 matters to a climax ; the mob burst into the chapel, the 
 Bishop and clergy fled, and the reformer was set free. 
 
[4l 
 
 The greatest consternation prevailed among the clergy 
 upon the news of this outrage being carried through the 
 country, and for several weeks secret deliberations were 
 carried on for the purpose of devising some good plan 
 for restoring the visibly decreasing prestige of the clerical 
 party. 
 
 At last the three bulls arrived from Rome, but were, 
 as we have seen, too late in the field ; for not only had 
 the trial of Wicliffe turned out a failure, but the King 
 had in the meantime died, and the Oxford doctors had 
 almost all sided with the reformer. Still, the Church 
 determined to punish Wicliffe, who was summoned to 
 appear before Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 
 Lambeth Chapel, to answer charges of heresy and insu- 
 bordination ; but this trial proved as unfortunate for the 
 clergy as the former one, for another angry mob besieged 
 the chapel and demanded the release of the reformer, 
 in addition to which Sir Lewis Chfford arrived in haste 
 from the Queen to forbid the bishops passing any sen- 
 tence upon Wicliffe. This was indeed a surprise for 
 their reverences, who precipitately left the chapel and 
 reached their homes in the best way they could. All 
 this had a great effect upon the minds of the people 
 both in England and on the Continent ; for the Pope 
 and his satellites had not only been attacked, but, what 
 was more amazing, they had suffered an unparalleled 
 defeat ; and the probability was that the discontented 
 of France and Italy would follow the example of the 
 English reformer and attempt to put into practice the 
 theories of Arnold and Abelard. The times certainly 
 looked black for the Church ; but an event happened 
 shortly afterwards which added still more to the general 
 dismay of the clericals, and was near being the end of 
 the Papacy. 
 
 Pope Gregory XL died on March 2'jth, 1378, at the 
 Vatican, where he had arrived shortly before from his 
 beautiful residence at Avignon ; and the Italian clergy, 
 fearing that the next pope would also take up his resi- 
 dence in France, determined to exert every effort to 
 place upon the vacant chair of St. Peter an Italian who 
 would be likely to remain at the Vatican. At this time 
 the sacred college consisted of twenty-two cardinals, 
 
Ls] 
 
 twelve of whom were French, so that it would have been 
 an easy matter for the French majority to elect a French 
 pope ; but the clamour, not only of the clergy, but of 
 the laity of Rome, was so great that the majority did not 
 avail themselves of their opportunity, and allowed the 
 Archbishop of Bari, a Neapolitan, to be nominated and 
 unanimously elected to the vacant see, under the title 
 of Urban VI. Not many weeks passed away before the 
 French majority began to repent their haste, and ended 
 by publicly excommunicating Pope Urban VI., calling 
 him apostate and antichrist, and electing in his stead, on 
 September 21st, Robert of Geneva, under the title of 
 Clement VII. The Italian bishops and clergy stood by 
 the Pope of their choice, who resided at the Vatican, 
 while the French bishops and clergy bowed allegiance 
 only to their Pope, who took up his residence at the old 
 papal palace at Avignon ; and thus it happened that for 
 the first time in the history of the Church there were two 
 popes at the same time, each pouring forth his anathemas 
 at the other, and each declaring himself to be the divinely- 
 ordained vicar of Christ on earth. Owing to this schism, 
 Wichffe was allowed to preach his heresy without let or 
 hindrance, for the whole of Europe was in a constant 
 ferment, and the bishops could ill bestow time upon such 
 an insignificant person when two such lofty individuals 
 were attracting the attention of both clergy and laity. 
 
 For forty years these rival popes and their successors 
 carried on a perpetual warfare, both with the sword and 
 the pen. Pope Urban being succeeded in turn by 
 Pope Boniface IX., Pope Innocent VII., and Pope 
 Gregory XIL, and Pope Clement by Pope Bene- 
 dict XIII. During this time there were not wanting men 
 who were bold enough to turn to account this papal 
 schism in the interest of reform. Wicliffe was working 
 silently but steadily in England, and actually had the 
 audacity to render the Bible in the vulgar tongue, so 
 that the people could read it in the churches, the thing 
 of all others that the popes and the cardinals dreaded, 
 for they well knew that, as soon as the Bible was read 
 and understood, the authority of the Church would 
 gradually wane, and eventually cease to exist at all. In 
 vain did the popes thunder forth their curses upon 
 
[61 
 
 Wicliffe's venerable head, for was not the whole of Europe 
 at that very time discussing more or less fiercely the very 
 question as to which of the two holy ones was really 
 Pope ? Of what use was it that he of Avignon denounced 
 Wicliffe, when half of Christendom denied his right to 
 the papal chair? He of Rome was in precisely the 
 same position, so that the high-sounding anathemas fell 
 but lightly on the old reformer ; but it was far otherwise 
 with the heretical teachings which called forth the papal 
 curses ; for they were carried into the most remote 
 corners of Europe, causing quite a sensation among the 
 hitherto loyal servants of the Church. Jerome of Prague, 
 in the year 1400, just sixteen years after Wicliffe's death, 
 carried across the channel a large assortment of Wicliffe's 
 writings, and immediately commenced to carry on the 
 work of the great reformer in Europe, challenging the 
 doctors of Paris and Vienna on his way home. Uniting 
 with John Huss, a Professor of Prague University, he 
 attacked with great violence the Papacy, declaring that 
 the very fact of the head of the Church being split into 
 two was sufficient to destroy for ever the notion of papal 
 infallibility. Things had now arrived at such a pass that 
 the doctors of the Sorbonne in Paris made a desperate 
 attempt to settle the difficulty. For fifteen years past 
 they had been urging the two popes to resign simul- 
 taneously, so that one successor to both could be unani- 
 mously elected, and the dispute thus settled ; but neither 
 party would yield an inch. At last, in 1409, driven to 
 desperation by the effect produced by Wicliffe's writings, 
 and by the bold preaching of Huss and Jerome, the 
 Council of Pisa deposed both popes, and elected a third 
 — viz., Balthazar Corsa, who assumed the title of Pope 
 John XXIII. and took up his residence at Bologna. The 
 two deposed pontiffs, however, refused to recognise the 
 decree of the Council, the consequence being that, 
 instead of there being two popes, there were three. This 
 strengthened the position of Huss and Jerome, who 
 said : " If we must obey, to whom is our obedience to 
 be paid ? If all three are infallible, why does not their 
 testimony agree ? And if only one of them is the most 
 Holy Father, why is it that we cannot distinguish him 
 from the rest?" The Bolognan Pope declared the 
 
[7] 
 
 Roman Pope to be a heretic, a demon, and antichrist ; 
 the Roman Pope entertained similar views about his holy 
 brother of Bologna ; and both stigmatised the Avignon 
 Pope as an impostor and schismatic ; while his Holiness 
 of Avignon had as much affection for his two holy 
 brethren as they had for him. 
 
 Another Council was held at Constance in 141 8, at 
 which all three Holinesses were deposed, excellent pre- 
 cautions being at the same time taken to ensure the 
 proper carrying out of the sentences. Otho Colonna was 
 then elected to the chair of St. Peter, as Martin V., and 
 the schism at last put an end to. But at what a cost 
 had this schism been kept up for forty years ! People 
 had begun to seriously question the right of the popes 
 to claim infaUibility ; many were now in the habit of 
 daily reading the Bible, and some had even dared to 
 search ancient authors for fuller information respecting 
 the establishment of Christianity. Unless these three 
 ulcers were immediately cauterised and effectively effaced, 
 the Church must fall from its high position, as the holy 
 ones at the Vatican well knew. Accordingly, the Inquisi- 
 tion was brought into service of the Pope, to put a stop 
 to the insolence of those who dared to assail the dogma 
 of infallibility, and who had been guilty of the blasphemy 
 of reading the Bible. Huss and Jerome had already 
 been burnt at the stake. In addition to this, large sums 
 of money were offered for freshly-discovered MSS. of 
 the ancients, in order that all the evidence it was possible 
 to collect together might be available in case of emer- 
 gency. These means were very effectual ; for trouble- 
 some people, who had inquiring minds or who had learnt 
 to read and write, were quickly despatched to a happier 
 land by the agents of the Inquisition, while the money 
 offered for newly-discovered MSS. acted like magic in 
 causing old musty writings to turn up in every direction. 
 While the Council of Constance was being held for 
 the purpose of electing one pope, and one only, to sit in 
 the chair of St. Peter, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, second son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
 happened to pass through the town, and took advantage 
 of the opportunity thus offered him to attend the sittings, 
 where he made the acquaintance of many, among whom 
 
[8] 
 
 was Boggio Bracciolini, one of the Papal Secretaries. A 
 friendship soon sprang up between the two, which re- 
 sulted in Bracciolini returning to England with Bishop 
 — afterwards Cardinal — Beaufort, in the autumn of 141 8. 
 After a year or two spent with Beaufort, the late Secre- 
 tary became dissatisfied with his lot, complaining bitterly 
 in his letters to his friend, Niccolo Niccoh, of the many 
 unfulfilled promises of the Cardinal. At last he was 
 offered, and duly accepted, a small living of 120 florins 
 a year, which he soon afterwards exchanged for one worth 
 ;^4o a year, and having fewer duties attached to it, 
 which gave him more leisure time for study, and, con- 
 sequently, made him considerably happier, for his passion 
 for studying ancient authors was as intense as his know- 
 ledge of the classic languages was profound. 
 
 In a very short time, however, he became again dis- 
 satisfied with his lot, and begged the Cardinal to supply 
 him with an honorary canonry, so that he might visit 
 Italy and prosecute his studies, at the same time that he 
 drew a snug httle salary from England. He was not 
 successful, for the Cardinal probably had many such 
 applications, and found more suitable objects upon which 
 to bestow his favours. 
 
 Just at this time the rage for finding old MSS. increased 
 enormously, owing to the large sums of money given by 
 the Vatican to the lucky finders, who, as a rule, were 
 simply villains of the monk type and the most impudent 
 forgers. BraccioHni, whose passion for money was even 
 greater than his passion for knowledge, bitterly bewailed 
 his fate, and longed for an opportunity to turn his wits 
 to account, and thus secure some of the fine prizes 
 which were being so lavishly bestowed by his Holiness 
 upon indigent Italian and Hungarian monks. While he 
 was despairing of any such good fortune turning up he 
 unexpectedly received from Piero Lamberteschi of 
 Florence, agent to Cosmo de Medici, an offer which 
 greatly gratified him, and which he could plainly see 
 emanated in the first instance from his old friend 
 Niccoli. The nature of this offer was, for obvious 
 reasons, kept strictly secret ; but, from a perusal of some 
 of the letters which passed between BraccioHni and 
 Niccoli, no doubt now exists that it was really a proposal 
 
[9] 
 
 that Bracciolini should enter into retirement and forge 
 an introduction to the " History " of Tacitus, for which 
 work he would be paid 500 gold sequins, equivalent to 
 upwards of ^10,000. Niccoli strongly urged his friend 
 to accept the offer, and Bracciolini, in reply, " thinks he 
 will follow his advice ;" but the venture was such a 
 daring one that 500 sequins appeared to him insuffi- 
 cient ; so he wrote again to Niccoli about this " sugges- 
 tion" and "offer" made by Lamberteschi, who, he 
 states, " will endeavour to procure for me in three years 
 500 gold sequins. If he will make it 600, I will at once 
 close with his proposal. He holds forth sanguine hopes 
 about several future profitable contingencies, which, I 
 am inchned to believe, may probably be realised ; yet it 
 is more prudent to covenant for something certain than 
 
 to depend on hope alone I like the occupation to 
 
 which he has invited me, and hope I shall be able to 
 produce something worth reading ; but for this purpose, 
 as I tell him in my letters, I require the retirement and 
 leisure that are necessary for literary work." An arrange- 
 ment was eventually arrived at, and it was definitely 
 settled that Bracciolini should leave England and go to 
 Hungary, in which country it was popularly believed 
 were to be found lost literary treasures. Still, Bracciolini 
 had his doubts about the due payment of the money, 
 and, as he was about to give up a living in England, he 
 was anxious to have some security for the money pro- 
 mised by Lamberteschi, for we find him writing to 
 Niccoli as follows : "You know well how I prefer liberty 
 and literary leisure to the other things which the vast 
 majority hold in the highest estimation and make the 
 
 objects of their ambition If I were to see that I 
 
 should get that which our friend Piero expects, I would 
 go not only to the end of Europe, but as far as the wilds 
 of Tartary, especially as I should have the opportunity 
 of paying attention to Greek literature, which it is my 
 desire to devour with avidity, were it but to avoid those 
 wretched translations, which so torment me that there is 
 more pain in reading than pleasure in acquiring know- 
 ledge." He then wrote : " If I undertake a journey to 
 Hungary, it will be unknown to everybody but a few, 
 and down the throats of these I shall cram all sorts of 
 
[lo] 
 
 speeches, since I will pretend I have come from here 
 [England]." 
 
 Apparently matters were soon satisfactorily arranged ; 
 for, from this time, Bracciolini commenced to prepare 
 for his forgery. He made good use of the library of 
 Cardinal Beaufort, and searched everywhere for old 
 writers from whom he could gather information respect- 
 ing the old Roman empire; and, finally, made arrange- 
 ments for quitting England. In a letter to NiccoH, 
 dated London, July 17th, 1420, he says that he has 
 * skimmed over Aristotle during the spring of the year, 
 not for the purpose of studying him then, but reading 
 and seeing what there was in each of his works." He 
 had found that sort of " perusal not wholly unprofitable, 
 as he had learnt something every day, superficially though 
 it might be, from understanding Aristotle in his own 
 language, where he found him in the words of transla- 
 tors either incomprehensible or nonsensical." It was 
 arranged between the three friends that Bracciolini should 
 repair at once to Italy, where consultations could be 
 held frequently, "to deliberate fully what was best to 
 be done ;" so, after vainly attempting to dispose of his 
 hving, Bracciolini finally departed for France, en route for 
 Italy. Before doing so, however, he wrote to Niccoli, 
 expressing his fear that the forgery he had undertaken 
 was too great a toil for him, but declaring his intention 
 to proceed at all hazards. He says : " I want you to 
 have no distrust; give me the leisure and the time for 
 writing that history^ and I will do something you will 
 approve. My heart is in the work, though I question 
 
 my powers I have not for four years devoted any 
 
 attention to Hterature, nor read a single book that can 
 be considered well written — as you may judge from these 
 letters of mine, which are not what they used to be ; but 
 I shall soon get back into my old manner. When I reflect 
 on the merits of the ancient writers of history, I recoil 
 with fear from the undertaking, though, when I consider 
 what are writers of the present day, I recover some con- 
 fidence in the hope that, if I strive with all my might, I 
 shall be inferior to few of them." A few days afterwards 
 he wrote his last letter from England to Niccoli on June 
 25th, 1422, still expressing fear about the ultimate result, 
 
and especially the payment : " If Lamberteschi would 
 only place something certain before us, which we could 
 adopt or approve," he wrote ; and " How heartily I hope 
 that Lamberteschi will do what would be agreeable to 
 us both." 
 
 Arrived in Rome, Bracciolini was offered and accepted 
 the post of Principal Secretary to the Pope, and, con- 
 sequently, did not go, as previously arranged, to Hungary, 
 but set himself to work instead, examining the old MSS. 
 in the Vatican Library, for which he had ample time, as 
 his new post was almost a sinecure. He also wrote to 
 his friend Niccoli on May 15th, 1423, asking him to 
 forward to him without the least delay all his notes and 
 extracts from the various books which he had read ; after 
 receiving which he commenced in earnest his labour. He 
 had not worked long, however, before he discovered what 
 an arduous task he had undertaken, and again fear over- 
 came him lest he should find himself unequal to the 
 effort ; but, puUing himself together again, he determined 
 once more to keep up his courage and persevere to the 
 end, the gold sequins probably acting as a stimulus to 
 him. 
 
 Writing to his friend Niccoli on October 8th, 1423, 
 he says that " beginnings of any kind are arduous and 
 difficult ;" and continues : " What the ancients did 
 pleasantly, quickly, and easily, is to me troublesome, 
 tedious, and burdensome." In another letter to Niccoli, 
 dated Rome, November 6th, 1423, he begs his friend 
 to make every effort to procure for him some map of 
 Ptolemy's " Geography," and not to forget Suetonius and 
 the other historians, above all Plutarch's " Lives of 
 Illustrious Men." 
 
 For upwards of three years after this period Bracciolini 
 shut himself up with his papers, extracts, maps, etc., and 
 worked steadily and laboriously at his task, and, at the 
 end of that time, had completed the first instalment of 
 his forgery. The next part of the process was to find 
 a suitable place in which the forged MS. could be dis- 
 covered ; consequently, Bracciolini and Niccoli put their 
 heads together in consultation, finally setthng upon 
 Hirschfeldt, a small Saxon town on the borders of 
 Bohemia, which was celebrated for an old abbey of the 
 
[12] 
 
 Benedictine monks. Bracciolini had accidentally met 
 with one of the monks from this place in Rome, and 
 had managed to place this man under an obligation to 
 him ; so, finding that he was needy, ignorant, and stupid, 
 he determined to make use of him for producing his 
 MS. to the public. Speaking of this monk in one of 
 his letters to Niccoli, he says: "The good fellow, who 
 has not our attainments, thought that we were equally 
 ignorant of what he found he did not know himself." 
 To this ignorant fellow he gave a long list of books that 
 he wished him to hunt up in the Abbey library, including 
 a copy of Tacitus, telling him to send a full description 
 of each as soon as found. The object of this was to 
 find out whether the Abbey possessed a copy of Tacitus 
 in the oldest writing possible, which could be used as a 
 guide to the transcriber of the forgery ; and the reason 
 of giving such a long list was to throw the monk off the 
 scent. 
 
 With all their precautions, however, their scheme was 
 all but discovered in the summer of 1427, for we find 
 Bracciolini, on September 25th of that year, writing to 
 Niccoli that, " when Tacitus came, he would keep it a 
 secret ; that he knew all the tittle-tattle that was going 
 on — whence it came, through whom, and how it was got 
 up ; but that he need have no fear, for that not a syllable 
 
 should escape him I hear nothing of the Tacitus 
 
 that is in Germany. I am expecting an answer from 
 the monk." From this it would appear that the monk 
 had not yet supplied the information about the books ; 
 but, in the following October, Niccoli had forwarded to 
 Bracciolini an old copy of Tacitus that he had become 
 possessed of. Bracciolini, however, returned it at once, 
 saying that it was so badly damaged as to be illegible to 
 an ordinary transcriber, and continuing : " Take care, 
 therefore, that I have another, if it can be done ; but 
 
 you can do it, if you will strive your utmost You 
 
 have sent me the book without the parchment. I know 
 not the state of mind you were in when you did this, 
 except that you were as mad as a March hare. For 
 what book can be transcribed if there be not the parch- 
 ment ? Have a care to it, then, and also to a second 
 manuscript ; but, above all, keep in mind the vellum," 
 
i'3i 
 
 After a while the parchment arrived, together with an 
 old copy of Tacitus that could be easily read by a tran- 
 scriber ; and then all was silence again for about a year. 
 During this period the old monk was busily engaged 
 transcribing the forged writings into very ancient 
 characters, using the old copy of Tacitus supplied by 
 Niccoli as an example of style, the forgery being intended 
 as an introduction to the " History." 
 
 On September nth, 1428, Bracciohni was evidently 
 becoming impatient with the work, for he wrote to Niccoli 
 as follows : " Not a word of Cornelius Tacitus from 
 Germany ; nor have I heard thence any further news of 
 his work." Then, again, he writes February 26th, 1429 : 
 " The Hirschfeldt monk has come without the book, and 
 I gave him a sound rnting for it. He has given me his 
 assurance that he will be back again soon, for he is carry- 
 ing on a suit about his abbey in the law courts, and will 
 bring the book. He made heavy demands upon me ; 
 but I told him I would do nothing for him until I have 
 the book ; I am, therefore, in hopes that I shall have it, 
 as he is in need of my good offices." The book at length 
 arrived, and Bracciolini wrote to Niccoli that, so far as 
 he was himself concerned, everything was " now complete 
 with respect to the Little IVork, concerning which he 
 would, on some future opportunity, write to him ; and, 
 at the same time, send it to him to read, in order to get 
 his opinion of it." 
 
 So the forgery was complete, and there can be no 
 doubt that Bracciolini from this date was a rich man, 
 living in his own villa at Valdarno in Tuscany. The 
 forged writings were handed over to Cosmo de Medici 
 in return for 500 gold sequins, according to arrangement, 
 and remained in the Library at Florence ever after. It 
 was not, however, pubhshed before 1468, when Johannes 
 de Spire produced what are now known as the last six 
 books of the " Annals " of Tacitus, which he declared 
 had been copied from an (imaginary) original in St. 
 Mark's, Venice, but which we now know were really 
 copied from the forgery of Bracciolini, in possession of 
 the Medicis at Florence. 
 
 What are now known as the first six books of the 
 "Annals" did not make their appearance until 1^143 
 
t 
 
 H 
 
 dnd most probably had also been forged by Bracciolini 
 immediately after he had finished the last six books. 
 The delight of the clergy at the sudden and unexpected 
 discovery of these hitherto altogether unknown writings 
 knew no bounds ; for they now possessed the m.ost 
 precious heathen testimony to the sufferings of the early 
 Christians on account of their religion, which would 
 form a valuable addition to the evidence in course of 
 collection by pious monks intended to show forth clearly 
 and indisputably the divine origin of Christianity. The 
 wily Pope knew well enough the enormous value of such 
 a record as this ; for it was quite evident that a vein of 
 scepticism was permeating every class of society, in spite 
 of the vigilance of the Inquisitioners. 
 
 The reformers who succeeded Wicliffe, Jerome, and 
 Huss had been waxing bolder day by day, and had even 
 repulsed a large army sent against them by his Holiness 
 and led by Cardinal Cesarini and a host of German 
 princes, since which they had boldly and openly preached 
 against the papal supremacy, and were in many districts 
 publicly distributing copies of the writings of Aristotle 
 and Averroes. The Church and the Papacy were thus 
 in real and imminent danger, for hitherto the people 
 had believed whatever the priests had told them, whereas 
 now they appeared determined to investigate the whole 
 matter themselves and to dispense with the services of 
 the priestly mediator. At such a time the discovery of 
 the " Annals " came as a windfall to the Church ; every 
 one apparently accepting them as having been originally 
 written by Tacitus; and every author, from this time 
 forward, quoted them repeatedly. The strangest thing 
 about the affair is that no one even thought of question- 
 ing the genuineness of the writings, especially when it 
 must have been well known that not one historian or 
 writer, from the time of Tacitus, who lived in the first 
 century, down to the end of the fifteenth century, when 
 the " Annals " (so-called for the first time by Beatus 
 Rhenanus in 1533) were discovered, had ever once 
 quoted or even referred to them ; not even Christian 
 writers had as much as once noticed them, which they 
 could not have failed to do had such valuable evidence 
 of the sufferings of their brethren really existed. Besides 
 
ti5] 
 
 the "Annals" other MSS. were produced by pioUs 
 monks and passed off as ancient writings, until at length 
 the Vatican and other papal libraries were literally swarm- 
 ing with them ; but all these writings paled into insignifi- 
 cance before such a record as the " Annals," which was 
 destined henceforth to be the chief evidence in support 
 of Christianity. Together with the passages in the 
 writings of Josephus, which were forged beyond doubt 
 by Eusebius, Bishop of Csesarea, and the doubtful letter 
 of the younger Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, which 
 time most assuredly will prove to be as great a forgery as 
 the other two, the Church had now heathen testimony ^ 
 in abundance to prove that religion was divinely instituted Un-^j 
 and that many suffered death in defence of it. Neither / 
 
 Averroism nor Arianism could shake this testimony, 
 which would be a powerful prop to the religion for cen- 
 turies to come. It remained for Dr. Lardner and others, 
 in the commencement of last century, to expose the 
 forgery in Josephus; to the present century has been 
 reserved the honour of unveiling the real authorship of 
 the forged "Annals " of Tacitus; and to future searchers 
 after truth is left the duty of discovering the real perpe- 
 trator of the forged letter which has hitherto been known 
 as from Pliny to Trajan. 
 
 If any one should still doubt that Bracciolini forged 
 the "Annals," let me recommend him to carefully read 
 a work entitled " Tacitus and Bracciolini," and published 
 by Messrs. Diprose & Bateman, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
 London, in which will be found the most convincing 
 proofs that Bracciolini, and no other than he, was the 
 real author of the work. In that able indictment, from 
 which I have drawn extensively for this essay, the 
 writings and peculiarities of both Tacitus and Braccio- 
 lini have been most carefully detailed, with the result 
 that no one can help arriving at the conclusion that one 
 person could not have written both the "History" and 
 the "Annals;" that Tacitus could not possibly have written 
 the "Annals," owing to chronological difficulties ; and 
 that suspicion points so forcibly to Bracciolini as the 
 author that it almost amounts to positive proof. 
 
 What I have endeavoured to show is (i) that, owing 
 to the teachings of Abelard, Arnold, Wicliffe, Jetome, 
 
[i6] 
 
 Huss, and other fifteenth-century reformers, the authority 
 of the Church and the very existence of Christianity were 
 seriously menaced; (2) that, on account of the failure 
 of the Inquisition to stem the current of scepticism, large 
 sums of money were offered for the discovery of ancient 
 writings which would bear testimony to the divine autho- 
 rity of the Church and the divine establishment of 
 Christianity; (3) that, in consequence of this bribe, shoals 
 of writings were forged by needy monks and scholars, 
 and attributed to ancient authors ; and (4) that among 
 these forgeries were the " Annals " of Tacitus, which 
 were composed by Bracciolini and re-written by the 
 Hirschfoldt monk in a style as nearly as possible like a 
 very old copy of the " History " of Tacitus, which was 
 supplied to him as a guide. 
 
CREATION AND FALL. 
 
 The one great differential mark between man and the brutes is his 
 hig-her development of brain power, by which he is enabled to discrim- 
 inate between rig-ht and wrong, or good and evil, and thus to improve 
 his bodily and social condition. The individual who obstinately refuses 
 to avail himself of the great mental power within him not only deprives 
 himself of the greatest pleasure in life, but also allows himself to sink 
 to the level of the brutes from which he evolved, exhibiting at the 
 same time a gross want of gratitude to the being who endowed him 
 with so lofty an attribute. On the other hand, he who cultivates his 
 mental faculties, and uses them for his own improvement and advance- 
 ment, and also that of his fellows, fulfils the highest mission of man, 
 and continually shows his deep gratitude to his mysterious benefactor. 
 \1 To think is the grandest faculty of- man. To think logically and 
 well ought to be his noblest aspiration. To prevent, - by cinj mca i ij, 
 -whatever-rthe individual from exercising his ^iffSt ^o think, and from 
 -^Htin^ expression to- his thoughts, is a direct - eu tr agu upon t l ie gieal 
 authop of us nil; upr>ft the individual himself, and also upon the whole 
 human race.^ The greatest thinker of modern times, John Stuart Mill, 
 says, " The peculiar evil of silencing the expression .of an opinion is 
 that it is robbing the human race, posterity as well as the existing- 
 generation ; those who dissent from the opinion still more than those 
 who hold it. If the opinion is right they are deprived of the oppor- 
 tunity of exchanging error for truth ; if wrong, they lose what is 
 
almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression 
 of truth, produced by its collision with error. No one can be a great 
 thinker who does not recognise that, as a thinker, it is his first duty to 
 to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead. Truth 
 gains more even by the errors of one who with due study and prepara- 
 tion thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only / 
 
 hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think completer 
 
 liberty of contradicting and disproving our opinion is the very con- 
 dition which justifies us in assuming its truth for purposes of action ; 
 and on no other terms can a being with human faculties have any 
 rational assurance of being right." 
 
 |i We claim the right to think upon any and every subject, and also to 
 express our thoughts before the world, in spite of the menace held out 
 to us by those whose interests conflict with any honest expression of 
 opinion. There is no tribunal by t that of reason to which we possibly 
 can submit any theory or piupusiliuiJ. To talk of faith as opposed to 
 reason is to speak without seriously thinking. ^^^uHT faith-'isHbtrt-^sK. 
 weird phantom that haunts the4rresohi1^-a4id'CrettTiiTTTi^ unfhinker^but 
 which really has no existence at -all. A man may say that he believes 
 something entirely opposed to reason, but he deceives himself, for it is 
 quite impossible to believe what does not appear to the mind to be in 
 accordance with reason. Such a man accepts, but does not believe. 
 We have faith"Tirthg~'5xrstene« of the island of Otaheite, atfhough we 
 have never been there ourselves. Geographers tell us that such an 
 island exists on the other side of the world ; and we have full faith in 
 such an existence, because it is in accordance with reason. But if we 
 were-tai4-tliat the king of Otaheite had never been born, but had, like 
 ^X^jpsy^j-^gr^w'd/ -orthat he and his subjects, instead of talking, crowed 
 like cocks, or brayed like donkeys, we should not believe it, becaii'se'it 
 would bo contrary to reas'on: Sensible and th3ughtful people will, 
 therefore, not accept anything as truth that does not accord with 
 reason | and I ask you to night to follow me in my endeavour to sub- 
 mit the two important dogmas of my lecture to the test of reason, iu 
 the full belief that you are as anxious as myself to arrive at a reason- 
 able and true conclusion regarding them. 
 
 The doctrines of the creation and fall are, as it were, the foundations 
 upon which the huge superstructure of Christianity has been founded 
 
,3 
 
 Take away these fundamental doctrines, and the whole fabric totters 
 to the ground ; for without a fall there can be no possible need for a 
 redemption, and the etceteras of the religion, such as the miraculous 
 conception and ascension, baptism, and the eucharistic feast, vanish 
 into thin air as vain imaginations and things of naught. 
 
 It cannot be too clearly and forcibly insisted upon that no fall ne- 
 cessitates no redemption, for the proposition is self-evident, and thus 
 incapable of contradiction. If, therefore, we find the story of the 
 creation and fall, as given to us in the first three chapters of Genesis, 
 to be credible and reasonable, then our duty, upon another occasion, 
 will be to examine the evidence for and against the subsequent theories 
 of the religion, in order to discover whether they also are credible and 
 reasonable. If, on the other hand, we find the story to be incredible 
 and absurd, it will be our duty to reject tbe whole Christian scheme 
 that has emanated from it. Our business at the present time is with 
 these fundamental doctrines of creation and the fall, and our sole object 
 is the elucidation of the truth, no matter whether it should be palatable 
 or not to our minds. ' No sensible man can desire to retain that which 
 is not true, for no system that is not founded on truth can be of any 
 permanent service to the human race, but must on the contrary produce 
 most pernicious results. ^ _. 
 
 Having thus clearly explained my premisses, I shall now proceed to 
 the examination of the first three chapters of Genesis, and shall divide 
 my text into the two natural divisions suggested in the authorised 
 version. The first chapter and first three verses of the second chapter 
 contain what is known as the Elohistic narrative, so called on account 
 of the deity being throughout designated Elohim — tD^nbt^, the plural 
 of Eloh (m^«), or Elyah (n^!?^^), a compound word made up of El (^«), a 
 ram, and Yah (n'), an abbreviation of Yahouh (mn^), the future tense 
 of the verb Hahouh (mn), to be. Eloh literally means ' the ram will 
 be,' and is used to signify the ram-sun, the sun-god, or the sun in the 
 zodiacal sign ^n>x, at the vernal equinox ; the plural form, Elohim, 
 being used to signify the ram-suns, or the six summer months of the 
 year, in which the ram and the sun are together, from equinox to equi- 
 nox. El signifies ram, or god, alone, or without the sun, in the winter 
 period, and is always used to designate the evil principle, the wicked 
 god, or the winter period, in contradistinction to Eloh, the ram-sun of 
 
tiie vernal equinox, and Elohim, the ram-suns of the summer months? 
 the good principle, or the good gods. In this first narrative of the 
 creation Elohim is rendered ' God ' in the authorised version, though in 
 other parts of the Bible it is rendered ' gods,' * men,' or ' angels.' The 
 remainder of the second and the third chapters contain the second, or 
 Jehovistic narrative, so called on account of the deity being designated 
 throughout, Yahouh, or Jehovah (so pronounced by Christians) Elohim 
 (tz)^!i!?« HImOj rendered in the authorised version * the Lord God.' That 
 these two accounts were not written by one person will become clear 
 enough as we proceed in our examination, in which the rendering of 
 the authorised version will be strictly adhered to. 
 
 According to the first narrative, god (Elohim) created the heavens 
 and the earth and all they contain in six ordinary days, and rested from 
 his work on the seventh day. It has been asserted by some zealous 
 but not over scrupulous Christians that days of twenty four hours' dura- 
 tion were not meant by the writer, but that the word or (day) signifies 
 an enormous lapse of time ; but it is quite clear to anyone with average 
 intelligence that an ordinary day was meant, or else there would have 
 been no use in saying that the evening and the morning were the first 
 day. Moreover, we are distinctly told in Exodus XX. 10, 11, that we 
 are to keep the seventh day as a holiday, " for in six days the Lord 
 made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the 
 seventh day." We therefore have here the creation of the world, with 
 day and night, but no sun, in one day, which we must admit at once is 
 an absurdity, for it is beyond all doubt scientifically proved that this 
 world could never have existed for one moment without the sun round 
 which it revolves, and our common sense tells us plainly that without 
 a sun there could never have been days and nights, or evenings and 
 mornings. 
 
 On the second day we are told that god created the firmament, and 
 called it heaven, and that this firmament separated the waters above 
 from those below, which clearly proves that the writer had no other 
 conception of the universe than that it was limited above to the height 
 of the clouds, and bounded below by the earth itself. The third day 
 was set apart for the gathering together of the waters into seas and 
 rivers, and for the creation of the vegetable kingdom, which again is 
 contradictory of all known scientific facts, for there was still no sun in 
 
existence. At last, on the fourth day, the sun was created, as also the 
 moon and stars, all being* placed in the firmament, between the clouds 
 and the earth, for the sole purpose of acting* as lamps and marking- 
 time for this world. The writer evidently imagined that the only 
 object of the heavenly orbs is to light up this world, to divide our day 
 from our night, and to limit our seasons, being, apparently, ignorant of 
 the fact that our days and seasons are regulated by the motions of the 
 earth itself, quite irrespective of the movements of the celestial bodies. 
 He was also clearly under the impression that the sun was, after our 
 earth, the larg-est body in the universe, the moon being next, and the 
 stars the smallest ; whereas the sun is five hundred times larger than 
 the earth and all the planets and their moons put together ; while the 
 earth is about forty nine times larger in bulk than the moon ; and some 
 of the stars are immensely larger than our sun, and all of them, more- 
 over, suns themselves. 
 
 It is sufficiently evident from this account that the world had been 
 in existence for three days and three nights before the sun was made, 
 and that vegetation had in the meantime baen produced, which is, we 
 know, an absurdity. There are some ingenious individuals who have 
 declared that this is quite possible, for there are, they sa^', lights that 
 are unconnected with the sun, and that the writer evidently alluded to 
 these faint g-limmerings ; but I assert confidently that, leaving" out of 
 the question the light derived from the stars, so far as we know from 
 science, thore is no light known which is not either directly produced 
 from the sun, or a reflection of the sun's light from some other object. 
 
 On the fifth day were created fishes, birds, and mammals in the form 
 of whales. Now there has been so far no creation of land animals ex- 
 cept birds, and yet the writer declares that whales were made, being 
 clearly quite ignorant of the fact that whales are not true fishes, but 
 mammals, belonging to the sub-kingdom Mammalia, to which belong 
 also horses, coavs, apes and men. Whales were not evolved until long 
 a*^ter creeping animals, such as lizards, serpents, etc., and took to the 
 water again after having been, m the parent form, long accustomed to 
 dry land, just in the same manner as did the walrus, porpoise, sea-cow> 
 dolphin and seal, all of which are mammals. It was not until the next 
 (sixth) day that creeping animals were created, according to Genesis, 
 and yet we know well enough that they slowly evolved from molluscs, 
 
<» soft-bodied animals, at a very early period, ages before such species 
 as whales and cattle existed. On the very same day, according* to the 
 narrative, god formed an androgynous, or hermaphrodite man, having 
 two sexes, and being the fac-simile of himself. Many ancient races 
 believed that their god was androgynous, and no doubt the writer of 
 this account held the same opinion, regarding the good principle of the 
 summer months, or Elohim, as a bi-sexual and reproductive deity. If 
 this be not the correct view of the matter, it would be interesting to 
 know which of the two sexes the god of Genesis partakes of. 
 
 On the seventh day god rested from his work ; but we do not find 
 any record of his having done anything to cause fatigue, except giving 
 utterance to his fiat day by day. 
 
 This story is so palpably absurd as to need no argument to prove it 
 so, were it not for the fact that certain crafty persons, seeing the utter 
 impossibility of reconciling it with science and reason, have seen fit to 
 invent new interpretations of the original, in order to give it an appear- 
 ance of truth. One sect maintains that the days were epochs, and not 
 ordinary days, which, if it were true, would merely augment the diffi- 
 culty by making the earth to have existed, with vegetation, for ages 
 . instead of days, without the sun ; but we have already seen that this 
 theory will not hold ground for a moment. 
 
 Another more cunning class of religionists have propounded the 
 hypothesis that the whole story is meant to be an epitome of what oc- 
 curred at the origin of the universe and life, and that ordinary days 
 were really meant, and purposely utilised to epitomise long periods of 
 time, as was customary with ancient writers, who frequently availed 
 themselves of poets' licence in this manner. This theory ispimdfade 
 a plausible one, and has, no doubt, satisfied many restless and thought- 
 less spirits amongst us ; but in reality it differs but little, if at all, from 
 the preceding hj'pothesis, both leaving us in much the same position 
 They declare that the very same order is maintained in the narrative as 
 that adopted by scientists ; that both agree that the earth was forced 
 first, and then, in the following order, vegetation, fishes, birds, beasts 
 of the field, and man. We know well enough, however, that the sun 
 is absolutely necessary for the existence of the vegetable kingdom ; 
 that birds did not appear before reptiles and worms, but long after 
 them ; and that mammals made their appearance, not before creeping 
 
auimals, and kangaroos, opossums and others of the marsupial species, 
 but many ages after them. 
 
 In direct contradiction of this fable in Genesis, we learn from science 
 that our solar system once existed in a condition of highly attenuated 
 nebulous vapour ; and that in the course of millions of years this huge 
 chaotic mass of matter, with its sum of force or energy, subject alike 
 to the laws of gravitation and transformation, gradually condensed, 
 and became moulded into cosmic order, forming in process of time a 
 number of rotating spherical nebular masses, in a state of intense heat, 
 owing to the shock of their recently united atoms. These spheres 
 gradually cooled by radiation, consequently contracting and becoming 
 possessed of a more rapid rotary movement, throwing off from their 
 equatorial regions large rings of vapour, which in their turn also con- 
 densed, and, under the influence of the same two laws, formed separate 
 spheres for themselves. Thus gradually came into existence our sun, 
 planets and moons. 
 
 In the course of time, as our earth cooled down, large volumes of 
 water were precipitated on the surface, causing an enormous wear and 
 tear of the now solid rock of the earth's crust, which eventually gave 
 rise to depositions of various kinds of earth grits, in layers, one above 
 the other ; which strata have been divided by geologists into periods, 
 according to various peculiarities observed in the course of their de- 
 position. In the earliest of these periods, owing to the gradual change 
 that took place in the relative proportions of the atmospheric gases, 
 and to the great decrease in temperature, a peculiar combination of thei 
 molecular atoms of the earth's substance took place, which resulted in 
 the formation of an albuminous substance, called protoplasm, possess- 
 ing the power of absorption, assimilation, and reproduction by fission, 
 or, in other words, developing the property called life. Under the 
 influence of the laws of heredity and selection this primordial germ 
 of life gradually developed into higher and still higher organic forms 
 of existence, from Amoebae to Gastroeada, cr molluscs with mouths ; 
 next to Vermes, or worm life ; then to Vertebrata, or back-boned ani- 
 mals ; through fishes ; amphibians, living both in and out of water ; 
 reptiles, from which eventually evolved birds ; and marsupials ; up tQ^Ll^ti 
 mammals, such as whales, quadrupeds, apes and men. The gradual ^ ^t^ 
 e7olution of these species occupied many millions of years before the 
 
date of the creation in Genesis (b.O. 4004), during which period the 
 face of the earth underwent manifold and great changes. 
 
 Now, in the name of common sense and reason, does this hypothesis 
 agree with and corroborate, as it is said to do by some divines, the 1st 
 Bible story of creation, in any manner at all ? I maintain that the 
 man who replies in the affirmative does an injustice to his reasoning 
 faculties and outrages the common sense of his fellows. The theory 
 of creation is absolutely opposed to that of evolution on every point. 
 
 Now let us examine the second narrative, as given in the second and 
 third chapters of Genesis. Here we have a direct contradiction of the 
 story in the first chapter ; for we are told that god created the earth, 
 the heavens, vegetation and man, but not woman, all in one day. We 
 are also told that there had been no rain upon the earth, and yet that 
 " there went up a mist from the earth," which we know is impossible. 
 " But," say the orthodox, " everything is possible with god." The 
 reply of the evolutionist is, "Can god, then, make a stick with one 
 end only ?" God next planted a garden, in which he placed his newly 
 made man, after giving him instructions to eat of every tree within it, 
 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the fruit of which 
 was not to be touched, and the penalty of disobedience being instant 
 death. Then, in fresh contradiction of the first narrative, beasts of the 
 field and birds were created, after man ; after which Adam, the man, 
 named them all ; but how he acquired the power of speech necessary 
 for such a feat is not recorded. For absurdity the next part of the 
 narrative exceeds all that has preceded it. God created cattle and 
 birds in abundance, but yet could not manufacture a suitable partner 
 for the man; so he adopted the strange device oF taking from Adam's 
 body, while he slept, one of his ribs, with which he made a woman. 
 ]fow it must strike every thoughtful man and woman that this act was 
 the v^ery acme of stupidity, for surely it would have been far easier to 
 have created the woman at once by another fiat, or to have created a 
 spare rib with which to make the woman. To attribute such conduct 
 to the great author is surely the height of irreverence. 
 
 It is quite evident that both these stories were not written b^' one 
 author, and that both cannot be true, for they totally contradict each 
 other, and are written in quite different styles, the deity himself being 
 differently designated in each. We are told by certain parties that if 
 
we do not believe these stories we shall most certainly be roasted for 
 all eternity; and indeed the I few Testament distinctly bears out this 
 fearful fiat. According to this, every man in the whole world who has 
 been unfortunate enough to hear these two accounts read, and who . is 
 endowed with sufficient intelligence to discriminate between a pop-gun 
 and an elephant, will inevitably perish ; for it is impossible for any sane 
 man to believe two such contradictory statements. It is not within the 
 power of any man to do so. You might just as well demand of a man 
 that he must believe that a brick and a pan-cake are identical articles. 
 He could not do so, no matter how hard he tried. 
 
 Compared with these fables, how ennobling, grand and sublime is the 
 theory of evolution. We behold the great and mysterious energy of 
 universe operating in a manner calculated to inspire our minds with 
 wonder, awe and admiration. The truly marvellous development of 
 ourselves from a chaotic nebula of attenuated matter, through all the 
 varied and manifold stages of existence, with their beautiful and useful 
 pnjperties, is indeed an overwhelmingly convincing evidence of the 
 existence of an omniscient and omnipotent, although absolutely inscru- 
 table author ; and I doubt much whether anyone ever approached this 
 subject with an honest desire to be guided by reason in his search for 
 truth, who did not experience this profound reverenoe for the unknown 
 author. Can we believe that these two narratives in Genesis are also 
 calculated to inspire such a sentiment in the minds of those who are 
 fairly well educated and amenable to reason ? AVhat kind of a deity, 
 think you, is this goi of Genesis ? The concluding portion of the 2nd 
 narrative will at once inform us. 
 
 This story is well known to all of us, and is a very remarkable one, 
 for we learn from it the startling fact that the serpent, or devil, was 
 the greatest benefactor to the human race, and, moreover, truthful ; 
 while god was the greatest enemy the race ever had, and was guilty 
 of falsehood and treachery. God placed this man and woman in the 
 garden, m front of a very strong temptation, pointed out the tempta- 
 tion to them, and threatened them with instant death if they yielded 
 to it. This god is supposed to be (jmnicient, and therefore knew well 
 enough before he placed them there that the poor creatures would fall 
 on the very first temptation. Can we conceive more glaring injustice 
 and diabolical ciuelty than this ? Now the serpent knew very well 
 
10 
 
 that they would not die if they ate the fruit, but that, instead, they 
 would become wise ; and eventuall}^ he persuaded them to eat. Who 
 spoke the truth, god or the devil ? Did the man and woman die on 
 the day they ate the fruit ? Far from it. That day, were there any 
 truth at all in the narrative, would have been the grandest day ever 
 known to man ; for by the eating of that fruit was made known to him 
 the difference between good and evil, that he might be able to seek 
 the one and avoid the other ; his benefactor being the serpent, or devil, 
 the circumventor and conqueror of god. 
 
 But notice further on how impotent this so-called almighty deity 
 really was. He exclaimed in fear, " Behold, the man is become as one 
 of us [which was precisely what the devil predicted] to know good 
 and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree 
 of life and live for ever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from 
 the garden." Now how easy it would have been for an omnipotent 
 creator to have annihilated his own work, and thus cleared the wa}^ for 
 a fresh start. It would be interesting to know who the " we " were 
 that the writer refers to, if not an androgynous deity or a multitude of 
 gods or goddesses. 
 
 What was the consequence of this sin of Adam and Eve ? Every 
 man and every woman ever born upon this earth is guilty of this sin, 
 and will eternally burn in hell fire, says the Christian church, unless 
 they believe that this circumvented god became a man, lived on this 
 earth, and died the death of a criminal, in order to give satisfaction to 
 himself for the outrage committed on his divine majesty by three of 
 his creatures. The countless myriads of human beings who have in- 
 habited this earth during the six thousand years (according to Bible 
 chronology) that the world has existed, are all and each under this 
 fearful curse, although they had no more to do with x\dam's sin than 
 the man in the moon, and had no power to prevent it. These people 
 have been brought into the world, whether they liked it or not, and 
 are subject to this penalty, the enormous majority of them being inevi- 
 tably doomed t) eternal torment ; for there have lived many millions 
 of people who never even heard of the Bible, its gods or its scheme of 
 redemption. We may go farther and declare that all are inevitably 
 doomed, for we cannot conceive that anyone can believe such a story 
 as that of the fall No one wnll venture to assert that infants and idiots 
 
u 
 
 can believe anything, therefore there is no hope for those unfortunates, 
 whatev^er chances there may be for others. 
 
 As the expression of the infantile imagination of primitive man, after 
 emerging from his brute ancestry, and commencing to exercise more 
 fully his reasoning faculties, these fables are easily understood ; but as 
 the writings of men who had been inspired by the almighty power to 
 record a true account of the origin of nature and man for the use of 
 others, they must be at once rejected by all reasonable and thoughtful 
 people as gross absurdities. We can easily understand how the mind 
 of primitive man pondered over the strange mixture of good and evil 
 in the world, just as the awakening mind of a child would do to day ; 
 how the mystery would be explained by the analogy of the celestial 
 movements ; and how, as the result of the infantile reasoning, the good 
 principle became associated with the mental conception of a venerable 
 old gentleman, who planted a garden, and performed the principle part 
 in the drama just described from the third chapter of Genesis. 
 
 The whole story bears the strongest marks of being the production 
 of an infantile intellect. The simple manner in which the writer tells 
 us that the man and woman sewed fig leaves together and made aprons 
 for themselves is sufficient evidence of this. We cannot believe that 
 Adam and Eve went through the many processes necessary for the 
 production of the needles and thread, with which to sew their leaves 
 together. Then the conversation between god, as he took his stroll in 
 the garden in the cool of the evening, and Adam and Eve, is just what 
 we should expect from the crude imaginations of our early ancestors ; 
 as also is the manner in which the man placed the blame on the woman, 
 and she in her turn upon the serpent. The curse, too, is precisely in 
 the same style ; first the serpent, then the woman, afterwards the man, 
 and lasty the earth itself being brought under the divine anathema. 
 No less apparent is the absurdity of the writer stating that Adam called 
 his wife Eve " because she was the mother of all living," when there 
 were then no other human beings in existence ; and declaring that god 
 made coats and breeches (see " Breeches Biblp ") of skins, when as yet 
 death had not entered in!o the world. Such fables cannot be accepted 
 as true history by the intellect of the nineteenth century. 
 
 That we suffer for the sins of our fathers is unfortunately too true ; 
 but that we shall eternally frizzle for thsm I declare, without the least 
 
12 
 
 hesitation, to be a vile falsehood and an insult to our intellects. The 
 vices and diseases of our ancestors are undoubtedly reproduced in our- 
 selves, as are their good deeds and lofty sentiments ; and we again 
 transmit these properties to our offspring. We have, in fact, the power 
 of rendering happy or miserable those who follow us, and making the 
 general state of society somewhat better or worse. Our great mental 
 attributes were not smely evolved within us for no purpose, and to lie 
 dormant, but that we should exercise them and use them for the moral 
 and social improvement of ourselves and our fellows. But to imagine 
 that we shall suffer again in some other condition of existence, because 
 of our fathers' sins, is the height of insanity. 
 
 Res])ecting the authorship of these fables, we are told that the book 
 which contains them, as well as the other four books of the Pentateuch, 
 were written hy Moses, under the inspiration of what is called the holy 
 ghost ; but when we examine these books we find that this is without 
 doubt false, for it is not possible for any man to record his own death 
 and burial, and the lives of a succession of prophets who lived after 
 him, as is done in the last chapter of Deuteronom3\ Then, again, in 
 the seventh chapter of Genesis clean and unclean beasts are mentioned 
 in connexion with the ark fable, whereas, according to the Bible, clean 
 and unclean beasts were not declared such until GOO years after Moses 
 is said to have died ; which proves that Genesis was not written before 
 that late period. The town of Dan is also mentioned in the fourteenth 
 chapter, which town had no existence until 331 years after the recorded 
 death of Moses. In chap, xxxvi. a list is given of all the kings tliat 
 reigned over Edom " before there reigned any king over the children 
 of Israel," proving once more that this book was not written until long 
 after kings had reigned over Israel. Numerous other passages might 
 be quoted to show that Moses could not have written the books that 
 arc ascribed to him. To cut the matter short, however, we are told in 
 the 2nd apocryphal book of Ezra that he and his clerks wrote all the 
 books of Moses ; and in Chronicles and Kings that Shaphan discovered 
 the writings in an old chest. 
 
 We find, therefore, not only that these fables of the creation and 
 fall are not true records, but that it is not known who wrote them, 
 although suspicion attaches to one Ezra; and yet we are expected to 
 hang our chances of salvation upon them. We are handed these books 
 
18 
 
 and told by a priest that thoy were originally derived from god. Now 
 instead of believing the man, and taking no pains to find out what the 
 volume really contains, as is unfortunately the habit of most people, our 
 duty is clearly to investigate the matter, and try 'to find out whether 
 that priest speaks the truth or not, whether he has any sort of inter es*^ 
 in making us believe the volume to be the word of god, or, assuming 
 that he himself honestly believes it to be so, whether he is a sufficient 
 •^ authority on the point. Let us, for instance, take the case of a stranger 
 to the Christian faith, one who never heard of the Bible or its gods, 
 and who meets a Christian priest in the backwoods of America. The 
 holy one informs the stranger that he possesses a book which has been 
 written by god, through the medium of the inspired minds cf a number 
 of holy men. Would you consider the stranger to be a man of sound 
 mental faculties if he at once accepted the word of the parasite, and 
 shaped his whole career according to the teaching cf that book ? Most 
 assuredly not. The most natural thing for the strang-er to do would be 
 to stare in amazement at the saint, and wonder whether he was quite 
 right in his mind. Observing that the priest was really in earnest, and 
 apparently of sane mind, he would parley with him, asking where he 
 procured his book from ; who were the very holy partae^j^ who had been 
 inspired to write it ; when and where they lived ; and who knew any- 
 thing about them : in short he would demand from the unctions one his 
 credentials before believing such an astoundin^g assertion as that god 
 wrote a book. The replies would be after this fashion. The book was 
 derived in the first instance from a publisher's shop, where it had been 
 printed with lead type and black ink, from another printed copy, which 
 had been printed from another copy, and so on back to the first printed 
 edition, which was copied from a translation of various Hebrew and 
 Greek ' originals.' It was about two thousand years, he would say, 
 since some of these ' originals * were written, and the remainder were 
 supposed to be of much earlier date ; but who the actual writers were 
 he could not tell, although it was beyond doubt they M'ere guided by 
 god's inspiration, for it was so declared in the writings themselves, 
 which had never yet been doubted, except by a few naughty men who 
 were now in hell. Do you think this would be good enough for the 
 stranger ? Of course not. Then, in the name of common sense, why 
 should we accept these Bible books without enquiry ? To accept any 
 
14 
 
 anonymous writings in blind faith as being the production of particular 
 individuals, without corroborative evidence, is the act of a fool, not of 
 a wise man. A sensible person will make some enquiry about them 
 before accepting them. 
 
 Unfortunately for ourselves it is only lately that people have been 
 wise or bold enough to use their reasoning faculties in these matters, 
 the consequence being that the ordinary mind is now almost unequal 
 to the task of unravelling the net which has been so cunningly spun 
 around society by the Christian church. A careful investigation of the 
 matter, however, leads to the inference that about B.C. 250 or 300 the 
 Jewish chief priest Ezra, assisted by a number of clerks, commenced to 
 form a national history out of the various legends they had picked up 
 in their long wanderings, soon producing what are now known as the 
 books of Judges (from the 3rd chap.), Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, 
 which, together with the poems and incantations of various men of the 
 tribes, they set forth as the divinely inspired history of their people. 
 Not long afterwards the Persian system of creation, and story of the 
 fall of man were committed to manuscript, and adapted to the require- 
 ments of the Jewish people by the substitution of their race in place of 
 the Chaldeans as the chosen people of god ; and thus were produced 
 the books of the Pentateuch, with Joshua, and the two first chapters of 
 Judges. This explains why the stories of the creation, fall, flood, tower 
 of Babel, etc., are never mentioned in any of the books of the Bible 
 after Genesis for the space of about a thousand years ; why in all the 
 books from Joshua as far as II. Kings the name of Moses is never met 
 with, the most remarkable man in the whole Jewish history ; and why 
 such names as Adam, Eve, Seth, Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Ham, 
 Japhet, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never occur again after Genesis till 
 the time of the so-called return from Babylon. 
 
 The real meaning of the Chaldean and Jewish stories of the creation 
 and fall, which were derived originally from the constellations above, it 
 would take too long here to unfold, but the riddle has been explained 
 in my " Popular Faith Unveiled," to which those who desire to further 
 pursue the subject are referred. 
 
 For nearly two thousand years Christianity, based on these fables of 
 the creation and fall, has had an unfettered career throughout Europe, 
 its avowed object being to bring salvation to men in the next world. 
 
15 
 
 and to teach the doctrines of love, forbearance, humility and charity 
 while in this world. Respecting the bring-ing* of salvation to men in 
 the next world, we cannot well determine to what extent the religion 
 has been successful ; but with regard to its earthly mission it has 
 signally and utterly failed. The two thousand years have passed away 
 and still the evils surrounding us continue, and are even intensified ; 
 poverty, misery, immorality and tyranny exist as of old, in spite of the 
 promise to the church that she should be helped, even to the end, by 
 the divine power. So far from love, charity, forbearance and humility 
 being inculcated by the church, we find the followers of the meek and 
 lowly one occupying high and lucrative offices, one declaring himself 
 the vice-regent of god on earth, and others, in our own country, being 
 in receipt of salaries ranging from fifteen and ten thousand pounds 
 annually to two or three hundred, driving their carriages, sporting 
 livery servants and cockades, stiling themselves as Reverend, Very 
 Reverend, Venerable, Most Reverend Father in God, Right Honorable 
 and other titles expressive of superior quality of make ; and all in a 
 constant state of warfare amongst themselves. One cannot take up a 
 daily paper without seeing an instance of clerical intolerance, hatred, 
 envy or malice. The Romanist damns the Protestant ; the churchman 
 rides the high horse over the dissenter, and would like to deprive him 
 of what is vulgarly considered to be decent burial ; the evangelicals 
 denounce the high church party ; the nonconformist bodies are all at 
 constant war with each other on points of doctrine ; and while all are 
 eaten up with pride, egotism, selfishness, greed and mutual hatred, 
 each sect declares itself to be the genuine teacher of lov^e. forbearance, 
 humility and charity. 
 
 As a body the church has from the first opposed all progress. As 
 early as the year 414 Bishop Cyril's mob brained the learned Hypatia 
 in a Christian church, for the heinous crime of teaching mathematics. 
 The Pope and his pious court attempted to prevent the art of printing 
 becoming known in Europe. Copernicus was e^connnunicated for the 
 sin of announcing the grand truth that the earth revolves round the 
 sun. Galileo rotted in the prison of the Inquisition for daring to say 
 that the earth rotates on its axis. Bruno was burnt at the stake for 
 declaring his belief in the Copernican philosophy. Newton's theory of 
 gravitation was donounced by ihe church. Descartes, Kepler, FiOcke, 
 
16 
 
 Laplace and Darwin all were abused and insulted by the holy ones for 
 their heretical writings, which have broug-ht us such blessings. The 
 church opposed the abolition of slavery, both here and in America, the 
 bishops in the House of Lords applauding king George when he said 
 that slavery was a useful institution because it was taught in the holy 
 Bible, and the southern States of the Union appealing to the ' word of 
 god ' in justification of their cruelty. The burning of witches, taught 
 in the Bible, was vigorously encouraged by the church ; and the cruel 
 horrors of the Inquisition are too well known to need description. All 
 measures of reform in our own country have been opposed by bishops 
 and nobles together ; the church and the state having aided each other 
 in trampling on the people's rights, and enslaving both their minds and 
 bodies. In spite of the present very apparent poverty and misery, the 
 people are exhorted by the church to increase and multiply, being told 
 that it is a blessed thing to have one's quiver full, and that it is wicked 
 to listen to those who preach conjugal prudence, small families, and 
 gocial thrift. In short the Christian religion has entirely failed in its 
 mission, being a standing menace to all progress, and a cause of un- 
 ceasing animosity all over Europe. 
 
 Bo we imagine that all the priests and ministers of the Christian . 
 church believe the fables of the creation and fall ? I would stake my 
 existence on it that if we were to cut off their salaries there would be 
 barely half a dozen parsons in each denomination who would stick to 
 ;heir soul-saving business. Their trinity is supposed to consist of god 
 the father, god the son, and god the holy ghost; but if we represent 
 the first by the letter 1, the second by s, and the third by d, we should 
 be much nearer the mark. £. s. d. is the Christian trinity, and pew 
 rents, tithes, etc., the means by which the one thing needful is kept 
 up. Ten million pounds sterling are annually spent in supporting the 
 clerg}^ of the established church alone, while poverty, wretchedness 
 and crime confront us at every turn. The struggling workers of this 
 country, not content with having to contribute towards the payment 
 of £29,000,000 annually, as interest on the national debt resulting from 
 accumulated religious war charges, are foolish enough to spend more 
 than a third of this amount in keeping a host of state-made drones, 
 who oppose all progress, drain the hard earnings from the workers, 
 and assume haughty airs towards their poor dupes. In the face of the 
 
17 
 
 depressed state of our trade, and the poverty and misery around us, it 
 is appalling to think of the enormous quantity of money that annually 
 drifts into the pockets of these human parasites, both episcopalian and 
 nonconformist alike. 
 
 We know well enough that the large majority of those laymen who 
 profess to believe the fall and redemption scheme do not really believe 
 it at all, but play the part of the believer in order to serve their own 
 private interests. The laity may be divided into four classes : — 1st, 
 those few honest and sincere men who deceive themselves by imagin- 
 ing that they can really believe such unreasonable doctrines, and who 
 attempt by their means to do what could be done so very much better 
 without them. 2nd, those who are deficient in education and mental 
 power, and who will accept an^^thing the priest tells them, no matter 
 how absurd. 3rd, those who have some little education but very little 
 brain power, and who consider themselves very important members of 
 society, when in reality the world does not know them even by name. 
 They resent in their little minds the silent affront offered to them by 
 their fellows, who, they think, ought to know their superior worth ; 
 and they look around for a little church or chapel, where the stream of 
 intellect is suflSciently thin to allow of their feeble mental power being 
 perceived. They join, take a leading part in the performances, carry 
 the collecting box, open pew doors, hand hymn-books to strangers, 
 and are happy in the consciousness of their importance, being gazed at 
 Sunday after Sunday by an admiring congregation. Were these folk 
 obliged to do their religious work under cover of masks, their names 
 being at the same time studiously concealed from the congregation, 
 the race of pew openers, box carriers, etc., would soon die out; but 
 as it is, vanity, egotism and pomposity yet keep the race alive. The 
 fourth class consists of sharp business men, with plenty of brains and 
 fair average education, who join a church with a large congregation, 
 and adopt the particular creed in vogue there, as a means of pushing 
 their business, by assuming a mien of pious " respectability." These 
 are the men, devoid of all honour, who forfeit their manhood at the 
 shrine of hypocrisy, and who ought more particularly to be shewn up 
 in'^ their true colors. Without these four classes the religion of the fall 
 and redemption scheme would soon become a thing of the past. No 
 mention has been made of the ladies, who, according to some rude and 
 
18 
 
 ungallant people, look forward to the lord's day as one on which they 
 can display their new bonnets, procure food for another week's gossip, 
 or hold sweet communion with the unmarried curate — all for Jesus. It 
 is unnecessary to say that this may not be true, and that a higher and 
 nobler motive may prompt the ardent zeal of the fair sex. 
 
 Do not believe the parsons when they tell you that your souls are in 
 jeopardy for rejecting the Christian doctrines ; the truth is that their 
 incomes are in danger, not your souls. Take care not to follow their 
 evil advice that it is a blessed thing to have your quiver full, and that 
 the lord loves a cheerful giver. Have small families, being careful to 
 bring into the world only as many as you can decently provide for, so 
 as to give them a fair chance in the world ; and let your creditors and 
 your saving- banks, and not your lord, have your spare cash — your lord 
 being but another name for your parson. When they tell you that you 
 must take no thought for the morrow, and must not lay up treasure on 
 earth, where moths and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through 
 and steal, give them the cold shoulder, insure your life in some sound 
 office, and leave the laws of the country in which you live to take care 
 of the thieves, and their reverences to look after the moths and rust. 
 
 It will, no doubt, be urged that Christianity has done, and is doing a 
 great good in the world. This I emphatically deny. I readily admit 
 that some good has been effected in the name of Christianity, but deny 
 that the fall and redemption religion has been the cause. The same 
 amount of good would have resulted with any other religion, and much 
 more with no religion at all. All the good that has ev^er been effected 
 in the world has emanated from lofty individual minds ; but as chance 
 has had it, the majority of those men in the past have been Christians, 
 simply because that religion has prevailed in Europe for nearly two 
 thousand years. In the present day this is not the case ; and it is a 
 fact beyond contradiction that all the leaders of thought of our time 
 are men who have rejected the fables of the creation and fall as given 
 in Genesis, together with the consequent redemption scheme, as false 
 and vain. John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, Tyndal, 
 Carpenter, Huxley, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
 Renan, Victor Hugo, Schopenhauer, Haeckel, and in fact every other 
 modern leader of thought, have rejected the orthodox faith; and yet 
 we look forward to the future with bright hope, expecting a steady 
 
19 
 
 progress in man's general welfare. Even when Christians themselves 
 in days long gone by, attempted to introduce any useful reform, their 
 church invariably persecuted them, as for instance Copernicus, Galileo, 
 Bruno, Luther, etc.; and the only Christian priest who ever propounded 
 any theory which was calculated to be a lasting boon to society was 
 Malthus, who declared that over population was the great cause of all 
 misery, and that until people were taught conjugal prudence it was 
 useless to attempt to ameliorate their social condition. This friend of 
 humanity was bitterly denounced by the church, and to this day his 
 followers are held in contempt, notwithstanding that the Malthusian 
 principles are now endorsed by the leading social scientists, and that 
 it is as clear as the sun at noon day that within the short space of 45 
 years the present population of this country — now about 36,000,000 — 
 will have doubled itself. The people now cannot support themselves, 
 so how they will manage when the population is 72,000,000 it is hard 
 to say. What with over population and land monopoly the future has 
 indeed some terrible social evils in store for us. 
 
 Individual Christians undoubtedly have done something towards 
 making their fellows happy, but not so Christianity, as witness the 
 Inquisition and other enormities of the middle ages. But do the Jews, 
 Unitarians and Infidels of to day do nothing for their fellows ? What 
 about Sir Moses Montefiore, who rejects the atonement ? Have not 
 the Agnostics just founded the Whitminster College for purely secular 
 education ? And what do we not owe to those heterodox scientists 
 just mentioned ? It is the fashion with some people to give the name 
 of Christianity to the morality of this century ; but this very ingenuous 
 attempt to clothe one of the most immoral of the world's religions with 
 the garment of righteousness carries no weight for the scholar and the 
 historian. There is as much difference between the morality of to day 
 and the genuine Christian religion as there is between the north and 
 south poles. The two are the exact antitheses of each other. The real 
 reason that the human race has in the last hundred years so rapidly 
 advanced in intellectual qualities and moral progress is not because it 
 has become more Christian in its character but because it has gradually 
 shaken off the yoke of Christianity piece by piece. The whole Mosaic 
 cosmogony, with its flat earth theory, creation of man, etc., as taught 
 in Genesis, has been destroyed by Copernicus, Newton, Laplace and 
 
20 
 
 Darwin ; slavery has been abolished ; witches are no longer burnt at 
 the stake ; polyg-amy is discountenanced ; and human sacrifice, murder, 
 rapine, theft and personal assaults are no longer justified. All these 
 immoralities are distinctly and prominently taught in the Christian 
 Bible, but have been expunged from the moral code of this century. 
 Were Christianity now dead instead of dying the same amount of good 
 would accrue to the race as before ; and, judging from past history, 
 there would be a very vast decrease in the opposition that has for two 
 thousand years been offered to progress. 
 
 The question after all is not what Christianity has done, but whether 
 or not its story is a true one. As already stated, if the creation and 
 fall stories are not true the whole scheme of Christianity, with its god- 
 man and its sacraments, is a fraud and a delusion. No religion that 
 cannot bear the test of reason, and be maintained on a public platform 
 can be founded on truth. If the Christian story be true there is no 
 need for the holy ones to secure themselves behind the fortifications of 
 ' coward's castle ' every Sunday to preach their doctrines ; the open 
 platform being a more suitable place from which to propagate the truth. 
 But what are the facts ? The man who dares to submit the religion to 
 the test of reason, or even to discourse publiclj^ upon evolution or any 
 other scientific theory that is likely to interfere with the steady flow of 
 bullion into the collection box, is denounced from the pulpit, the holy 
 ones branding him as a dangerous infidel, and using all the means in 
 their power to blacken his character and to insidiously undermine his 
 business. The challenge to debate is never accepted. 
 
 The question before us is a momentous one. Creation or Evolution ? 
 Moses or Darwin ? We cannot follow both. 
 
WORKS BY DR. H. J. HARDWICKE. 
 
 Demy %vo.,pp. ^02, price 10/- 
 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICE 
 
 IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 " This book contains a fund of information The whole is preceded 
 
 by an introduction, which is worth the attention of all persons taking" a 
 
 broad interest in medical education Some weaknesses in home and 
 
 foreign regulations are lightly passed over, and it may well be that such 
 a mass of statement will, on experience, be found to be defective at points. 
 But we accept it gratefully, as an attempt to supply a very great want, 
 and we commend some of the reflections of the author on the defects of 
 our own system to all whom it may. concern." — Lancet. 
 
 *' Here the reader will find information respecting the educational 
 bodies, examinations, and medical laws of every civilised state, and he 
 will also come to the humiliating confession that though there exist a 
 •good many time-honoured institutions in the United States, and an 
 anxiety to put matters on a scientific footing in others, yet farther south 
 'the condition of medicine is as bad as can possibly be imagined.'... .But 
 the authorities, and not Dr. Hardwicke, are responsible for this, and we 
 cordially thank him for his decidedly useful addition to our knowledge 
 of medical education in other countries." — Medical Press and Circular. 
 
 " A good deal of information will be found in a useful book entitled, 
 ' Medical Education and Practice in all Parts of the World,' by Dr. H. 
 J. Hardwicke." — Bfitish Medical journal. 
 
 " A book which ought to cut the ground from beneath all bogus 
 diploma-dealers." — Medical Times and Gazette. 
 
 " This volume, extending to 202 pages, with double columns, really 
 contains the information which the title-page promises. It m\ist ha^e 
 cost the author a great amount of trouble. It is a useful guide for ^all 
 entrants to the profession, those especially who contemplate settling in 
 f oreign^parts. It will do good also indirectly by letting those schools 
 whose education is defective see what other schools are doing, and so 
 be the means of stimulating them to aim at higher things. To be 
 informed, for example, that medical teaching in Japan is already tread- 
 ing on the heels of some of our British schools cannot fail to do good." 
 — Edinburgh Medical yoiirnal. 
 
"Dr. Hardwicke's book will prove a valuable source of information 
 to those who may desire to know the conditions upon which medical 
 practice is or may be pursued in any or every country of the world, 
 even to the remotest corners of the earth. The work has been com- 
 piled with great care, and must have required a vast amount of labour 
 and perseverance on the part of its author." — Dublin Medical Journal. 
 
 " This work supplies a want long felt... .The chief value of Dr. Hard- 
 wicke's volume, to students, is in the information he gives concerning 
 the rules of practice in other countries, and the possibilities opened up 
 of making a livelihood in them To teachers the manual will be in- 
 valuable ; it will not only inform them of usages abroad, but enable 
 them to glean many useful hints to aid the conduct of their own classes 
 here. We commend the work as a most admirable 7'esume of the state 
 of medical education and practice in the world." — Students' Jou?'nal. 
 
 " This opportune and very useful work...... gives exact and in some 
 
 instances complete information of the requirements, curriculum, &c. for 
 obtaining a diploma in every part of the world...... Some idea of the 
 
 labour undertaken by the author may be gathered from the fact that 
 
 the index contains nearly five hundred references The book will be 
 
 a mine of reference for medical legislators, and will doubtless . colour 
 the provisions of the new Medical A.ct so clarnorously demanded in 
 England, and of the Act to which we are about to commit ourselves 
 here.*' — Aust?alian Medical Journal. 
 
 " A great deal of useful and convenient information is contained in 
 this work in regard to the subjects of which it treats, and the infor- 
 mation, as a rule, seems to be faurly accurate and reliable. The part 
 devoted to the United States opens with the Philadelphia Record's full 
 account of the bogus traffic in that city. The position assigned to this 
 narrative is, perhaps, unnecessarily prominent, but we do not think the 
 exposure of those vile practices can be too minute or widely circulated. 
 This diploma traflSc, whether carried on in Pennsylvania, New York, 
 or Massachusetts, was and is a disgrace to us, and we may as well 
 acknowledge it." — Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, U. S. 
 
 " The want of such a book has been long felt by all who take any 
 interest in medical education, and is specially needed at the present 
 time, when the attention of our government has been called to certain 
 abuses, and it is about to introduce reforms. The book is a most ex- 
 haustive one, and deserving the attention of all who are in any Way 
 
interested in the advancement of medical education and reform." 
 — American Specialht. 
 
 " This book, which extends to 202 closely-printed pages, with double 
 columns, is undoubtedly the remarkably comprensive treatise promised 
 by the title. The labour of the undertaking- must have loeen indeed 
 great, and the author must possess a rare knowledge of his subject to 
 be able to condense such a huge mass of information into a single 
 volume of 202 pages^. We can strongly recommend the work as being 
 the only complete treatise on the subject. No portion of the whole 
 world has been omitted, and the author is to be congratulated on the 
 very satisfactory result of his eminently difficult task." — Family Doctor, 
 
 " This work is a valuable manual, of interest not only to medical 
 men, but also to the literary public, who evince at the present day so 
 much enthusiasm in studying the intellectual condition of other nations, 
 chiefly, no doubt, from magazine articles. Medical legislation is, as 
 experience amply proves, one of the latest developments of civilisation 
 .w....Let us, for instance, glean from -Dr. Hardwicke's book fiicts as to 
 the condition of medicme in some parts of the Spanish-American repub- 
 lics Let us turn to civilised countries where medical teachers keep 
 
 step with ' the march of intellect' We have still much to learn 
 
 from Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, yet it is undeniable that the general 
 social and intellectual position of the medical profession is as high in 
 these islands as abroad, where technical education is in many respects 
 better. It is by the young doctor, who finds the profession over 
 stocked in his own country, that Dr. flardwicke's manual will be found 
 particularly valuable." — Athencctwi. 
 
 " Those who are about to engage in medical study will do well to 
 consult Dr. Hardwicke's ' Medical Education and Practice,' as an exact 
 knowledge of the relative value of the innumerable medical qualifica- 
 tions would often prevent much after annoyance."— Westminster Review 
 
 " In this book, says the author^ ' will be contained the conditions 
 under which a medical practitioner may practise his profession, and the 
 requirements for the medical degree at the universities and medical 
 corporations in almost all the civilised countries of the world.' This 
 
 promise is kept It contains much information not easily accessible, 
 
 «ilid likely to be useful." — Chemist and Druggist. 
 
 J. & A, Chueohill, 11 New Burlington St.^ London, W. 
 
8^;^. \^1 pages, Price 2/6. 
 HEALTH RESORTS AND SPAS OF EUROPE. 
 
 " We have never yet seen anything- that quite equalled the delicious 
 brevity of Dr. Hardwicke's remarkably curt and incisive little hand- 
 book. In the brief space of 184 pag-es he introduces us to all the 
 health-resorts and spas of the entire eastern hemisphere, from England 
 to Egypt, and from Madeira to St. Moritz. We are bound to admit 
 that, so far as it is possible to test his information by the light of 
 personal experience, his short paragraphs are thoroughly up to date, 
 even as regards the smallest and most insignificant watering-places." 
 —Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " Contains, in addition to chapters On the climatic and hygienic treat- 
 ment of disease, and the properties and uses of various mineral waters, 
 succinct accounts, in alphabetical order, of the different health-resorts 
 and spas of Britain and of the continent of Europs. The e^^posure, 
 the elevation, the range and limit of temperature, and other amenities 
 of each watering-place, are briefly described ; in many cases also an 
 analysis is given of the constituents and properties of the various 
 chalybeate and other springs. In short, a great mass of information, 
 such as invalids are most in quest of, is found in condensed and handy 
 form." — Scotsman. 
 
 " Contains some valuable knowledge of the climatic treatment of 
 diseases, of which all should avail themselves. The usefulness of such 
 a book must appear evident to those who experience the power of 
 climate over the human constitution. It should be bought and studied 
 and will doubtless give beneficial advice." — Brighton Gazette. 
 
 " Ought to be welcomed by the large number of invalids whose 
 daily avocation, as the author justly remarks, consists aluiost entirely 
 in battling against their formidable foes, ' weather and insalubrity.' Dr. 
 Hardwicke has some highly useful observations on the different stages 
 
 of consumption The chapter on the properties and uses of water is 
 
 also full of excellent hints Spa life on the coutinent is graphically 
 
 described A carefully compiled index greatly enhances the value 
 
 of this work, which is not to be judged merely by its size." — Liverpool 
 Mercury. 
 
 " The author gives some very practical remarks on the properties 
 and uses of water, hygienic ablutions and baths, and treats of mineral 
 waters and spa life. Succeeding chapters give brief but evidently 
 
careful and authentic accounts of the leading health resorts and spas 
 of Europe." — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 "The introductory chapters on the treatment of disease by climate, 
 the properties and uses of water, and on mineral waters and spa life, 
 contain some valuable advice, which invalids will do well to take. Dr. 
 Hardwicke's work does really supply a want felt by many persons." — 
 Sheffield Independent. 
 
 " A great deal of information is conveyed, and the avoidance of 
 technicalities will be an additional recommendation." — Bristol Mirror. 
 
 " A very handy little manual stating clearly and concisely the 
 
 advantages and disadvantages of the various health resorts and spas." 
 — Sussex Daily News. 
 
 " The ordinary reader will find this little volume far more interesting 
 than is usually the case with books dealing with medicine or me'dical 
 matters. The subject is one of. very great importance, and the author 
 deals with it in a way that will be fully appreciated by non-medical 
 readers. He avoids technicalities, and places before us the salient 
 points very clearly and concisely." — Rotherham Advertiser. 
 
 " This little volume will be welcomed as a guide to the many health 
 resorts in Europe The book should have a large demand, for it con- 
 tains a great deal of information in a little space." — Do7icaster Gazette. 
 
 " Will be found very useful by everyone whose health requires either 
 change of air or the use of mineral waters." — Batnsley Independent. 
 
 " As a hand-book to any sufferer desirous of knowing in a general 
 way which are the baths most likely to suit his particular complaint, 
 this volume will be useful." — Bradford Observer. 
 
 " Many useful hints may be derived from this little book, for which 
 valetudinarians will be thankful." — Christian World. 
 
 W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 Waterloo Place, London, S.W. 
 
 %vo.^ cloth hound, Price 5/- 
 
 IlISTOPJCAL SKETCH OP THE MANORS OF 
 
 PATTINGHAM AND WORFIELD. 
 
 " Very complete, and must have been a work of very great labosr. 
 — Salopian and West Midland Monthly Illustrated journal. 
 Published by the author. 
 
Pfice 5/- 8z;i7., cloth bound, 
 GUIDE TO EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 " For those who contemplate studying abroad, this guide will prove 
 of great use." — Lancet. 
 
 " This little book is a guide to the medical department of the various 
 universities in France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy 
 
 and Austria Most complete Those who intend visiting any 
 
 continental university should first of all read this very useful guide. 
 — Family Loctor. 
 
 Published by the author. 
 
 ^vo.^pi'ice ^d. {post free 3J^.) 
 
 CREATION AND FALL. 
 
 Published by the author. 
 
 %vo,^ price M. {postf?e.e 3^^.) 
 MAN— WHENCE AND WHITHER ? 
 
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 INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN EUROPE 
 
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 EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA 
 
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 8vo.,p/ice ^d. (postfre 3 J.) 
 
 GENUINE LIBERALISM. 
 
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Demy ^vo.,pp. 21 i, price 5/6. 
 THE POPULAR FAITH UNVEILED. 
 
 "We cannot do better than recommend all friends of independent 
 thought, and, to use Milton's. phrase, 'unlicensed printing,' to repay the 
 author's energy by writing to him for the volume, which they will find 
 intelligent and fearless in an eminent degree, while it evinces a by no 
 means common acquaintance with the science of comparative raligion. 
 The basis of Dr. Hardwicke's theory and arguments about the popular 
 faith is the zodiacal origin of religious myths, and there is no doubt he 
 is in agreement with. the greatest authorities so far as the broad lines 
 go." — Westminster Review. 
 
 " Dr. Hardwicke treats the extensive and difficult subject of the 
 evolution of Christianity from preexisting- religions with great boldness 
 and candour from the purely theistic and anti-dogmatic standpoint." 
 —The Scotsman. 
 
 " It is an exceptionally valuable book to Freethinkers The work 
 
 affords evidence of scholarly attainment and well-directed research, 
 and should occupy a place in the library of every intelligent anti- 
 Christian."-7-6'^^2//«/ Revieiv. 
 
 ' '* The result of this bold measure is more than creditable. consists 
 
 of a careful examination of the Biblical records, full of suggestion." — 
 T/ie Freethinker. 
 
 " In a manner at once searching and succinct it proves the Bible to 
 be little else than -an effete old almanack, conceived in the earliest 
 dawn of thought, when man glowered tremblingly at the spectra in his 
 own brain, naming them heaven or hell, god or devil, as the}^ produced 
 pleasure or pain." — The Agnostic^ Dallas. 
 
 " A scholarly examination of the various legends that make up what 
 
 is called the Christian religion A very valuable contribution to the 
 
 historico-scientific freethought literature of the period." — Lucifef , the 
 Light-bearer^ Kansas. 
 
 " A better book than this we have scarcely noticed in our columns. 
 It is the result of laborious researches and a deep erudition on the part 
 of the author." — The Anti- Christian, Calcutta. 
 
 Published by the Author, Sharrow, Sheffield. 
 
Svo., price 1/- 
 VOX HUMANA; 
 
 OR THE ART OF SINGING FROM A MEDICAL FOINT OF VIEW. 
 
 ^^ 11)l{\s mullum in pa?'vo IS a, remarkably cheap and thoroug-hly ex- 
 haustive pamphlet The subject is well dealt with, and contains a 
 
 large amount of very valuable information." — Family Doctor, 
 
 " Contains a large amount of very valuable information and advice. 
 Dr. Hardwicke has treated his subject not only ably, but in a manner 
 which must interest all who peruse his pamphlet." — Rotherham and 
 Masbrough Advertiser. 
 
 " Just the kind of work to place in the hands of vocalists, or would- 
 be vocalists." — Sussex County Herald. 
 
 " A perusal of the doctor's remarks, with reasonable attention there- 
 to, would result in a vast increase of really good voices.'.' — Eastbourne 
 Gazette. 
 
 (Remainders only from the Author) 
 
 ^vo.. price Ij- 
 SKIN ERUPTIONS ; 
 
 THEIR CAUSES AND PREVENTION. 
 
 " Will be found very useful reading. It will be especially valuable 
 to those who have any family predisposition to skin disease, as there 
 are given e number of very useful hints concerning the preservation of 
 the skin in a healthy condition. There are also contained many good 
 suggejstions for keeping school-children free from skin diseases of an 
 infectious or contagious nature. We recommend Dr. Hardwicke's 
 production as a very cheap and useful treatise."— 7^«/;///y Doctor. 
 
 " Throws considerable light upon diseases of the skin, and points 
 out the general laws of health which should be observed to prevent 
 such diseases manifesting themselves." — Li?icolnshi?'e Chronicle. 
 
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