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    "num": 39,
    "slug": "41-ix-the-solar-theory-540",
    "title": "IX. THE SOLAR THEORY ... 540",
    "of": 48,
    "words": 7244,
    "text": "## IX. THE SOLAR THEORY ... 540\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, Vol 1, bk 3, ch 9\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol.\n1\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 540 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n[[This page continued from previous section]]\n\n-------\n\n##### IX.\nTHE SOLAR THEORY.\n\nA SHORT ANALYSIS OF THE COMPOUND AND SINGLE ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE\nAS AGAINST THE OCCULT TEACHINGS. HOW FAR SCIENTIFIC IS THIS THEORY,\nAS GENERALLY ACCEPTED.\n\n**I**N his reply to Dr. Gull's attack on the theory\nof vitality (connected inseparably with the Elements of the ancients\nin the Occult philosophy), Professor Beale, the great physiologist,\nhas a few words as suggestive as they are beautiful: --\n\n\"There is a mystery in life -- a mystery which has never\nbeen fathomed, and which appears greater, the more deeply the\nphenomena of life are studied and contemplated. In living centres\n-- far more central than the centres seen by the highest magnifying\npowers, in centres of living matter, where the eye cannot penetrate,\nbut towards which the understanding may tend -- proceed changes\nof the nature of which the most advanced physicists and chemists\nfail to afford us the conception: *nor is there the slightest\nreason to think that the nature of these changes will ever be\nascertained by physical investigation*,* *inasmuch\nas they are certainly of an order or nature *totally distinct\n*from that to which any other phenomenon known to us can be\nrelegated.\"\n\nThis \"mystery,\" or the origin of the LIFE ESSENCE, Occultism\nlocates in the same centre as the nucleus of *prima materia\n*(for they are one) of our Solar system.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 541 THE HEART OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.\n\n\"*The Sun is the heart of the Solar World (System) and\nits brain is hidden behind the *(*visible*)* Sun.\nFrom thence*,* sensation is radiated into every nerve*-*centre\nof the great body*,* and the waves of the life*-*essence\nflow into each artery and vein*. . . . *The planets are\nits limbs and pulses. . . .\" (Commentary.)*\n\nIt was stated elsewhere (*in the Theosophist*)* *that\nOccult philosophy denies that the Sun is a globe in combustion,\nbut defines it simply as a world, a glowing sphere, the *real\n*Sun being hidden behind, and the visible being only its reflection,\nits *shell. *The Nasmyth willow leaves, mistaken by Sir\nJ. Herschell for \"Solar inhabitants,\" are the reservoirs\nof solar vital energy, \"the vital electricity that feeds\nthe whole system. . . . . The Sun *in abscondito *being\nthus the storehouse of our little Kosmos, self-generating its\nvital fluid, and ever receiving as much as it gives out,\"\nand the *visible *Sun only a *window cut into the real\n*Solar palace and presence, which reflects, however, faithfully\nthe interior work.\n\nThus, there is a regular circulation of the vital fluid throughout\nour system, of which the Sun is the heart -- the same as the circulation\nof the blood in the human body -- during the manvantaric solar\nperiod, or life; the Sun contracting as rhythmically at every\nreturn of it, as the human heart does. Only, instead of performing\nthe round in a second or so, it takes the solar blood ten of its\nyears, and a whole year to pass through its *auricles *and*\nventricles *before it washes the *lungs *and passes\nthence to the great veins and arteries of the system.\n\nThis, Science will not deny, since Astronomy knows of the fixed\ncycle of eleven years when the number of solar spots increases,*\n*which is due to the contraction *of the Solar HEART. The\nuniverse (our world in this case) breathes, just as man and every\nliving creature, plant, and even mineral does upon the earth;\nand as our globe itself breathes every twenty-four hours. The\ndark region is *not *due \"to the absorption exerted\nby the vapours issuing from the bosom of the sun and interposed\nbetween the observer and the photosphere,\" as Father Secchi\nwould have it (\"*Le Soleil*\"* II.*,*\n*184), nor are the spots formed \"by the matter (heated\ngaseous matter) which the irruption projects upon the solar disc\"\n(*ibid*)*. *It is similar to the regular and healthy\npulsation of the heart, as the life fluid passes through its hollow\nmuscles. Could the human heart be made luminous, and the living\nand throbbing organ be made visible, so as to have it reflected\nupon a screen, such as\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Not only does it not deny the occurrence, though attributing\nit to a wrong cause, as always, each theory contradicting every\nother, (*see the theories of Secchi*,* of Faye*,*\nand of Young*),* *the spots depending on the superficial\naccumulation of vapours cooler than the photosphere (?), etc.,\netc., but we have men of science who *astrologize *upon\nthe spots. Professor Jevons attributes all the great periodical\ncommercial crises to the influence of the Sun spots every eleventh\ncyclic year. (*See his *\"*Investigations into Currency\nand Finance.*\")* *This is worthy of praise and\nencouragement surely.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 542 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nused by the astronomers in their lectures -- say for the moon\n-- then every one would see the Sun-spot phenomenon repeated every\nsecond -- due to its contraction and the rushing of the blood.\n\nIt is said in a work on Geology that it is the *dream of Science\n*that \"all the recognized chemical elements will one\nday be found *but modifications of a single material element.*\"*\n*(\"*World*-*Life*,\"* p. *48.)\n\nOccult philosophy has taught this since the existence of human\nspeech and languages, adding only, on the principle of the immutable\nlaw of analogy -- \"as it is above, so it is below\" --\nthat other axiom, that there is neither Spirit nor matter, in\nreality, but only numberless aspects of the One ever-hidden IS\n(or *Sat*)*. *The homogeneous primordial Element\nis *simple *and* single only on the terrestrial plane\n*of consciousness and sensation, since matter, after all,\nis nothing else than the sequence of our own states of consciousness,\nand Spirit an idea of psychic intuition. Even on the next higher\nplane, that *single element *which is defined on our earth\nby current science, as the ultimate undecomposable constituent\nof some kind of matter, would be pronounced in the world of a\nhigher spiritual perception as something very complex indeed.\nOur purest water would be found to yield, instead of its two declared\n*simple *elements of oxygen and hydrogen, many other constituents,\nundreamt of by our terrestrial modern chemistry. As in the realm\nof matter, so in the realm of Spirit, the shadow of that which\nis cognized on the plane of objectivity exists on that of pure\nsubjectivity. The speck of the perfectly homogeneous substance,\nthe sarcode of the Haeckelian *monera*,* *is now\nviewed as the *archebiosis *of terrestrial existence (Mr.\nHuxley's \"protoplasm\")*; and *Bathybius Haeckelii\n*has to be traced to its *pre*-terrestrial archebiosis.\nThis is first perceived by the astronomers at its third stage\nof evolution, and in the \"secondary creation,\" so-called.\nBut the students of Esoteric philosophy understand too well the\nsecret meaning of the stanza: \"Brahma has essentially the\n*aspect of *prakriti, both evolved and unevolved . . .\n. Spirit, O twice-born, (Initiate) is the leading *aspect *of\nBrahma. The next is a two-fold aspect -- of Prakriti and Purusha,\nboth evolved and unevolved; and *time *is the last! *Anu\n*is one of the names of Brahma (as distinct from Brahma neuter),\nand it means \"atom\": Aniyamsam aniyasam, \"the most\natomic of the atomic,\" the \"immutable and imperishable\n(achyuta) Purushottama.\"\n\nSurely, then, the elements now known to us -- be their number\nwhatever it may -- as they are understood and defined at present,\nare not,\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Unfortunately, as these pages are being written the \"*archebiosis\n*of terrestrial existence\" has turned, under a somewhat\nstricter chemical analysis, into a simple precipitate of sulphate\nof lime -- hence from the scientific standpoint not even an *organic\n*substance!!! *Sic transit gloria mundi!*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 543 THE QUINTESSENCE OF KOSMOS.\n\nnor can they be, the *primordial *elements. Those were\nformed from \"*the* *curds of the cold radiant mother*\"*\n*and \"the *fire*-*seed *of the hot Father\"\nwho \"*are one*,\"* *or, to express it in\nthe plainer language of modern science, those elements had their\ngenesis in the depths of the primordial fire-mist -- the masses\nof incandescent vapour of the *irresolvable *nebulae; for\nas Professor Newcomb shows (in his \"*Popular Astronomy*,\"*\n*on page 444), *resolvable *nebulae are not a class\nof proper nebulae.\n\nMore than half of those which were at first mistaken for nebulae\n-- he thinks -- are what he calls \"starry clusters.\"\nThe elements now known, have arrived at their state of permanency\nin this 4th Round and 5th Race. They have a short period of rest\nbefore they are propelled once more on their upward spiritual\nevolution; when the \"living fire of Orcus\" will dissociate\nthe most irresolvable and scatter them into the primordial ONE\n-- again.\n\nMeanwhile the Occultist goes further, as has been shown in the\nCommentaries on the Seven Stanzas. Hence he can hardly hope for\nany help or recognition from science, which will reject both his\n\"aniyamsam aniyasam\" (the absolutely spiritual atom)\nand his Manasaputras -- \"mind-born men.\" By resolving\nthe \"single material element\" into one absolute *irresolvable\n*element -- Spirit, or \"Root-matter,\" thus placing\nit at once outside the reach and province of physical philosophy\n-- he has, of course but little in common with the orthodox men\nof science. He maintains that Spirit and Matter are two FACETS\nof the unknowable UNITY, their apparently contrasted aspects depending,\n(*a*) on the various degrees of differentiation of the\nlatter, and (*b*) on the grades of consciousness attained\nby man himself. This is, however, metaphysics, and has little\nto do with physics -- however great in its own terrestrial limitation\nthat physical *philosophy *may now be.\n\nNevertheless, once that Science admits, if not the actual existence,\nat any rate, the possibility of the existence, of a Universe with\nits numberless forms, conditions, and aspects built out of a \"single\nSubstance,\"* it has\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* In his \"World-Life\" -- page 48 -- in the appended\nfoot notes, Professor Winchell says: -- \"It is generally\nadmitted that at excessively high temperatures matter exists in\na state of dissociation -- that is, no chemical combination can\nexist;\" and would appeal, to prove the unity of matter, to\nthe spectrum, which in every case of homogeneity will show a *bright\n*line, whereas in the case of several molecular arrangements\nexisting -- in the nebulae say, or a star -- \"the spectrum\nshould consist of two or three bright lines!\" This would\nbe no proof either way to the physicist-Occultist, who maintains\nthat beyond a certain limit of *visible *matter, no spectrum,\nno telescope and no microscope are of any use. The unity of matter,\nof that which is real cosmic matter to the Alchemist, or \"Adam's\nEarth\" as the Kabalists call it, can hardly be proved or\ndisproved, by either the French *savant* Dumas, who suggests\n\"the composite nature of the \"elements\" on certain\nrelations of atomic weights,\" or even by Mr. Crookes's \"radiant\nmatter,\" though his experiments may seem [[Footnote continued\non next page]]\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 544 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nto go further. Unless it also admits the possibility of One Element,\nor the ONE LIFE of the Occultists. It will have to hang up that\n\"single substance,\" especially if limited to only the\nsolar nebulae, like the coffin of Mahomet, in mid air, though\nminus the attractive magnet that sustains that coffin. Fortunately\nfor the speculative physicists, if unable to state with any degree\nof precision what the nebular theory *does *imply, we have,\nthanks to Professor Winchell, and several disagreeing astronomers,\nbeen able to learn what *it does not *imply*.***\n*(*Vide Supra.*)\n\nUnfortunately, this is far from clearing even the most simple\nof the problems that have vexed, and still do vex, the men of\nlearning in their research after truth. We have to proceed with\nour inquiries, starting with the earliest hypotheses of modern\nscience, if we would discover *where* and *why*\nit sins. Perchance it may be found that Stallo is right, after\nall. That the blunders, contradictions, and fallacies made by\nthe most eminent men of learning are simply due to their abnormal\nattitude. They are, and want to remain materialistic *quand\nmeme*,* *and yet \"the general principles of the\natomo-mechanical theory -- the basis of modern physics -- are*\nsubstantially identical *with the cardinal doctrines of ontological\nmetaphysics.\" Thus, \"the fundamental errors of ontology\nbecome apparent in proportion to the advance of physical Science.\"\n(Int. p. VI., \"Concepts of Modern Physics.\") Science\nis honeycombed with metaphysical conceptions, but the Scientists\nwill not admit the charge and fight desperately to put atomo-mechanical\nmasks on purely incorporeal and spiritual laws in nature, on our\nplane -- refusing to admit their substantiality even on other\nplanes, the bare existence of which they reject *a priori.*\n\nIt is easy to show, however, how Scientists, wedded to their materialistic\nviews, have endeavoured, ever since the day of Newton, to put\nfalse masks on fact and truth. But their task is becoming with\nevery year more difficult; and with every year also, Chemistry,\nabove all the other sciences, approaches nearer and nearer the\nrealm of the Occult in nature. It is assimilating the very truths\ntaught by the Occult Sciences\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n[[Footnote continued from previous page]] \"to be best understood\non the hypothesis of the homogeneity of the elements of matter,\nand the continuity of the states of matter.\" For all this\ndoes not go beyond MATERIAL matter, so to say, even in what is\nshown by the *spectrum*,* *that modern \"eye\nof Siva\" of physical experiments. It is of this matter only,\nthat H. St. Claire Deville could say that \"when bodies, deemed\nto be simple, combine with one another, they vanish, they are\n*individually annihilated*\"*; *simply because\nhe could not follow those bodies in their further transformation\nin the world of *spiritual *cosmic matter. Verily modern\nscience will never be able to dig deep enough into the cosmological\nformations to find the *roots *of the world-stuff or matter,\nunless she works on the same lines of thought as the medieval\nalchemist did.\n\n* \"World-Life,\" Ibid.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 545 THE ORIGINAL BASE.\n\nfor ages, but hitherto bitterly derided. \"Matter is eternal,\"\nsays the Esoteric Doctrine. But the matter the Occultists conceive\nof in its *laya*,* *or* zero state*,*\n*is not the matter of modern science; not even in its most\nrarefied gaseous state. Mr. Crookes' \"radiant matter\"\nwould appear matter of the grossest kind in the realm of the beginnings,\nas it becomes pure spirit before it has returned back even to\nits first point of differentiation. Therefore, when the adept\nor alchemist adds that, though matter is eternal, for it is **P**RADHANA,\nyet atoms *are born at every new manvantara*,* *or\nreconstruction of the universe, it is no such contradiction as\na materialist, who believes in nothing beyond the atom, might\nthink. There is a difference between *manifested *and*\nunmanifested *matter, between *pradhana*,* *the\nbeginningless and endless cause, and *prakriti*,* *or\nthe manifested effect. Says the sloka; --\n\n\"That which is the unevolved cause is emphatically called\nby the most eminent sages, *pradhana*,* original base*,*\nwhich is *subtile* prakriti*,* viz.*,* *that\nwhich is eternal, and which at once is, and is not, *a mere\nprocess.*\"*\n\nThat which in modern phraseology is respectively referred to as\nSpirit and Matter, is ONE in eternity as the perpetual cause,\nand it is neither Spirit nor matter, but IT -- rendered in Sanskrit\nTAD (\"that\"), -- all that is, was, or will be, all that\nthe imagination of man is capable of conceiving. Even the exoteric\nPantheism of Hinduism renders it as no monotheistic philosophy\never did, for in superb phraseology its cosmogony begins with\nthe well-known words: --\n\n\"There was neither day nor night, neither heaven nor earth,\nneither darkness nor light. And there was not ought else apprehensible\nby the senses or by the mental faculties. There was then one Brahma,\nessentially* prakriti *(Nature) and Spirit. For *the\ntwo aspects *of Vishnu which are other than his supreme essential\naspect are prakriti and Spirit, and Brahman. *When these two\nother *ASPECTS* of his no longer subsist*,* but\nare dissolved*,* *then that aspect whence form and\nthe rest, *i.e.*,* creation*,* *proceed *anew*,*\n*is denominated time, O twice-born.\"\n\nIt is that which is dissolved, or the illusionary *dual*\naspect of That, the essence of which is eternally ONE, that we\ncall eternal matter or Substance (Vide in Part II*.*,*\n*\"*Primordial Substance and Divine Thought*\"),*\n*formless, sexless, inconceivable, even to our *sixth *sense\nor mind,** in which, therefore, we refuse to see that which Monotheists\ncall a *personal*,* *anthropomorphic God.\n\nHow are these two propositions -- \"that matter is eternal,\"\nand \"the atom periodical, and not eternal\" -- viewed\nby modern exact Science? The materialistic physicist will criticize\nand laugh them to scorn. The\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Book I. ch. II. *Vishnu Purana*, Fitzedward Hall's Translation.\n\n*** Vide *preceding Section **IX**., \"Life, Force,\nand Gravity,\" quotation from *Anugita*.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 546 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nliberal and progressive man of Science, however, the true and\nearnest scientific searcher after truth -- *e.g*., the\neminent chemist, Mr. Crookes, will corroborate the *probability\n*of the two statements. For, hardly has the echo of his lecture\non the \"Genesis of the Elements\" died away --the lecture\nwhich, delivered by him before the Chemical Section of the British\nAssociation, at the last Birmingham meeting, so startled every\nevolutionist who heard or read it -- than there came another one\nin March last, 1888. Once more the President of the Chemical Society\nbrings before the world of Science and the public the fruits of\nsome new discoveries in the realm of atoms, and these discoveries\njustify the occult teachings in every way. They are more startling\neven than the statements made by him in the first lecture (quoted\nlater) and deserve well the attention of every Occultist, Theosophist,\nand Metaphysician. This is what he says in his \"Elements\nand *Meta*-Elements,\" thus justifying Stallo's charges\nand prevision with the fearlessness of a scientific mind which\nloves science for truth's sake, regardless of any consequences\nto his own glory and reputation. We quote his own words:\n\nPermit me, gentlemen, now to draw your attention for a short time\nto a subject which concerns the fundamental principles of chemistry,\na subject which may lead us to admit the possible existence of\nbodies which, though neither compounds nor mixtures, are not elements\nin the strictest sense of the word -- bodies which I venture to\ncall \"meta-elements.\" To explain my meaning it is necessary\nfor me to revert to our conception of an element. What is the\ncriterion of an element? Where are we to draw the line between\ndistinct existence and identity? No one doubts that oxygen, sodium,\nchlorine, sulphur are separate elements; and when we come to such\ngroups as chlorine, bromine, iodine, &c., we still feel no\ndoubt, although were degrees of \"elementicity\" admissible\n-- and to that we may ultimately have to come -- it might be allowed\nthat chlorine approximates much more closely to bromine than to\noxygen, sodium, or sulphur. Again, nickel and cobalt are near\nto each other, very near, though no one questions their claim\nto rank as distinct elements. Still I cannot help asking what\nwould have been the prevalent opinion among chemists had the respective\nsolutions of these bodies and their compounds presented identical\ncolours, instead of colours which, approximately speaking, are\nmutually complementary. Would their distinct nature have even\nnow been recognised? When we pass further and come to the so-called\nrare earths the ground is less secure under our feet. Perhaps\nwe may admit scandium, ytterbium, and others of the like sort\nto elemental rank; but what are we to say in the case of praseo-\nand neo-dymium, between which there may be said to exist no well-marked\nchemical difference, their chief claim to separate individuality\nbeing slight differences in basicity and crystallizing powers,\nthough their physical distinctions, as shown by spectrum observations,\nare very strongly marked? Even here we may imagine the disposition\nof the majority of chemists would incline toward the side of leniency,\nso that they would admit these two bodies within the charmed circle.\nWhether in so doing they would be able to appeal to any broad\nprinciple is an open question. If we admit these candidates\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 547 OCCULT CHEMISTRY.\n\nhow in justice are we to exclude the series of elemental bodies\nor meta-elements made known to us by Kruss and Nilson? Here the\nspectral differences are well marked, while my own researches\non didymium show also a slight difference in basicity between\nsome at least of these doubtful bodies. In the same category must\nbe included the numerous separate bodies into which it is probable\nthat yttrium, erbium, samarium, and other \"elements\"\n-- commonly so-called -- have been and are being split up. Where\nthen are we to draw the line? The different groupings shade off\nso imperceptibly the one into the other that it is impossible\nto erect a definite boundary between any two adjacent bodies and\nto say that the body on this side of the line is an element, while\nthe one on the other side is non-elementary, or merely something\nwhich simulates or approximates to an element. Wherever an apparently\nreasonable line might be drawn it would no doubt be easy at once\nto assign most bodies to their proper side, as in all cases of\nclassification the real difficulty comes in when the border-line\nis approached. Slight chemical differences, of course, are admitted,\nand, up to a certain point, so are well-marked physical differences.\nWhat are we to say, however, when the only chemical difference\nis an almost imperceptible tendency for the one body -- of a couple\nor of a group -- to precipitate before the other? Again, there\nare cases where the chemical differences reach the vanishing point,\nalthough well-marked physical differences still remain. Here we\nstumble on a new difficulty: in such obscurities what is chemical\nand what is physical? Are we not entitled to call a slight tendency\nof a nascent amorphous precipitate to fall down in advance of\nanother a \"physical difference?\" And may we not call\ncoloured reactions depending on the amount of some particular\nacid present and varying, according to the concentration of the\nsolution and to the solvent employed, \"chemical differences?\"\nI do not see how we can deny elementary character to a body which\ndiffers from another by well-marked colour, or spectrum-reactions,\nwhile we accord it to another body whose only claim is a very\nminute difference in basic powers. Having once opened the door\nwide enough to admit some spectrum differences, we have to inquire\nhow minute a difference qualifies the candidate to pass? I will\ngive instances from my own experience of some of these doubtful\ncandidates.\n\nAnd here the great chemist gives several cases of the very extraordinary\nbehaviour of molecules and earths, apparently the same, and which\nyet, when examined very closely, were found to exhibit differences\nwhich, however imperceptible, still show that none of them are\n*simple *bodies, and that the 60 or 70 elements accepted\nin chemistry, can no longer cover the ground. Their name, apparently,\nis legion, but as the so-called \"periodic theory\" stands\nin the way of an unlimited multiplication of elements, Mr. Crookes\nis obliged to find some means of reconciling the new discovery\nwith the old theory. \"That theory,\" he says: --\n\n\"Has received such abundant verification that we cannot lightly\naccept any interpretation of phenomena which fails to be in accordance\nwith it. But if we suppose the elements reinforced by a vast number\nof bodies slightly differing from each other in their properties,\nand forming, if I may use the expression,\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 548 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\naggregations of nebulae where we formerly saw, or believed we\nsaw, separate stars, the periodic arrangement can no longer be\ndefinitely grasped. No longer, that is, if we retain our usual\nconception of an element. Let us, then, modify this conception.\nFor \"element\" read \"elementary group\" -- such\nelementary groups taking the place of the old elements in the\nperiodic scheme -- and the difficulty falls away. In defining\nan element, let us take not an external boundary, but an internal\ntype. Let us say, *e.g.*,* *the smallest ponderable\nquantity of yttrium is an assemblage of ultimate atoms almost\ninfinitely more like each other than they are to the atoms of\nany other approximating element. It does not necessarily follow\nthat the atoms shall all be absolutely alike among themselves.\nThe atomic weight which we ascribed to yttrium, therefore, merely\nrepresents a mean value around which the actual weights of the\nindividual atoms of the \"element\" range within certain\nlimits. But if my conjecture is tenable, could we separate atom\nfrom atom, we should find them varying within narrow limits on\neach side of the mean. The very process of fractionation implies\nthe existence of such differences in certain bodies.\"\n\nThus fact and truth have once more forced the hand of \"exact\"\nScience, and compelled it to enlarge its views and change its\nterms which, masking the multitude, reduced them to one body --\nlike the Septenary Elohim and their hosts transformed by the materialistic\nreligionists into one Jehovah. Replace the chemical terms \"Molecule,\"\n\"atom,\" \"particle,\" etc., by the words \"Hosts,\"\n\"Monads,\" \"Devas,\" etc., and one might think\nthe genesis of gods, the primeval evolution of manvantaric *intelligent\n*Forces, was being described. But the learned lecturer adds\nsomething still more suggestive to his descriptive remarks; whether\nconsciously or unconsciously, who knoweth? For he says the following:\n--\n\n\"Until lately such bodies passed muster as elements. They\nhad definite properties, chemical and physical; they had recognised\natomic weights. If we take a pure dilute solution of such a body,\nyttrium for instance, and if we add to it an excess of strong\nammonia, we obtain a precipitate which appears perfectly homogeneous.\nBut if instead we add very dilute ammonia in quantity sufficient\nonly to precipitate one-half of the base present, we obtain no\nimmediate precipitate. If we stir up the whole thoroughly so as\nto insure a uniform mixture of the solution and the ammonia, and\nset the vessel aside for an hour, carefully excluding dust, we\nmay still find the liquid clear and bright, without any vestige\nof turbidity. After three or four hours, however, an opalescence\nwill declare itself, and the next morning a precipitate will have\nappeared. Now let us ask ourselves, What can be the meaning of\nthis phenomenon? The quantity of precipitant added was insufficient\nto throw down more than half the yttria present, therefore a process\nakin to selection has been going on for several hours. The precipitation\nhas *evidently not been effected at random*,* *those\nmolecules of the base being decomposed which happened to come\nin contact with a corresponding molecule of ammonia, for we have\ntaken care that the liquids should be uniformly mixed, so that\none molecule of the original salt would not be more exposed to\ndecomposition\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 549 MONADS AND ATOMS.\n\nthan any other. If, further, we consider the time which elapses\nbefore the appearance of a precipitate, we *cannot avoid coming\nto the conclusion that the action which has been going on for\nthe first few hours is of a selective character*. The problem\nis not why a precipitate is produced, but what determines or directs\nsome atoms to fall down and others to remain in solution. Out\nof the multitude of atoms present, *what power is it that directs\neach atom to choose the proper path? We may picture to ourselves\nsome directive force passing the atoms one by one in review, selecting\none for precipitation and another for solution till all have been\nadjusted*.\"\n\nThe italics in the above passage are ours. Well may a man of science\nask himself, \"What power is it that directs each atom,\"\nand what is it that its character should be *selective? *Theists\nwould solve the question by answering \"God\"; and would\nsolve nothing philosophically. Occultism answers on its own pantheistic\ngrounds, and refers the reader to a subsequent section, \"*Gods*,*\nMonads*,* and Atoms.*\"* *The learned lecturer\nsees in it that which is his chief concern: the finger-posts and\nthe traces of a path which may lead to the discovery, and the\nfull and complete demonstration of an homogeneous element in nature.\nHe remarks: --\n\n\"In order that such a selection can be effected there evidently\nmust be some slight differences between which it is possible to\nselect, and this difference almost certainly must be one of basicity,\nso slight as to be imperceptible by any test at present known,\nbut susceptible of being nursed and encouraged to a point when\nthe difference can be appreciated by ordinary tests.\"\n\nOccultism, which knows of the existence and presence in Nature\nof the One eternal element at the first differentiation of which\nthe roots of the tree of life are periodically struck, needs no\nscientific proofs. It says: -- Ancient Wisdom has solved the problem\nages ago. Aye; earnest, as well as mocking reader, Science is\nslowly but as surely approaching our domains of the Occult. It\nis forced by its own discoveries to adopt *nolens volens *our\nphraseology and symbols. Chemical Science is now compelled, by\nthe very force of things, to accept even our illustration of the\nevolution of the gods and atoms, so suggestively and undeniably\nfigured in the caduceus of Mercury, the God of Wisdom, and in\nthe allegorical language of the Archaic Sages. Says a commentary\nin the esoteric doctrine: --\n\n. . . . *The trunk of the* **A**SVATTHA*\n*(*the tree of Life and Being*,* the *ROD *of\nthe caduceus*)* grows from and descends at every Beginning\n*(*every new manvantara*)* from the two dark wings\nof the Swan *(**H**ANSA)* of Life. The two\nSerpents*,* the ever*-*living and its illusion *(*Spirit\nand matter*)* whose two heads grow from the one head between\nthe wings*,* descend along the trunk*,* interlaced\nin close embrace. The two tails join on earth *(*the manifested\nUniverse*)* into one*,* and this is the great illusion*,*\nO Lanoo!*\"\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 550 THE SECRET DOCTRINE\n\nEvery one knows what the caduceus is, already modified by the\nGreeks. The original symbol -- with the triple head of the serpent\n-- became altered into a rod with a knob, and the two lower heads\nwere separated, thus disfiguring somewhat the original meaning.\nYet it is as good an illustration as can be for our purpose, this\nlaya rod entwined by two serpents. Verily the wonderful powers\nof the magic caduceus were sung by all the ancient poets, with\na very good reason for those who understood the secret meaning.\n\nNow what says the learned President of the Chemical Society of\nGreat Britain, in that same lecture, which has any reference to,\nor bearing upon, our above-mentioned doctrine. Very little; only\nthis -- and nothing more: --\n\n\"In the Birmingham address already referred to I asked my\naudience to picture the action of two forces on the original protyle\n--- one being time, accompanied by a lowering of temperature;\nthe other, swinging to and fro like a mighty pendulum, having\nperiodic cycles of ebb and swell, rest and activity, being intimately\nconnected with the imponderable matter, essence, or source of\nenergy we call electricity. Now, a simile like this effects its\nobject if it fixes in the mind the particular fact it is intended\nto emphasize, but it must not be expected necessarily to run parallel\nwith all the facts. Besides the lowering of temperature with the\nperiodic ebb and flow of electricity, positive or negative, requisite\nto confer on the newly-born elements their particular atomicity,\nit is evident that a third factor must be taken into account.\nNature does not act on a flat plane; she demands space for her\ncosmogenic operations, and if we introduce space as the third\nfactor, all appears clear. Instead of a pendulum, which, though\nto a certain extent a good illustration, is impossible as a fact,\nlet us seek some more satisfactory way of representing what I\nconceive may have taken place. Let us suppose the zigzag diagram\nnot drawn upon a plane, but projected in space of three dimensions.\nWhat figure can we best select to meet all the conditions involved?\nMany of the facts can be well explained by supposing the projection\nin space of Professor Emerson Reynolds' zigzag curve to be a spiral.\nThis figure is, however, inadmissible, inasmuch as the curve has\nto pass through a point neutral as to electricity and chemical\nenergy twice in each cycle. We must, therefore, adopt some other\nfigure. A figure of eight (8), or lemniscate, will foreshorten\ninto a zigzag just as well as a spiral, and it fulfils every condition\nof the problem.\"\n\nA* lemniscate *for the evolution downward, from Spirit\ninto matter;\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 551 THE CADUCEUS OF LIFE.\n\nanother form of a *spiral*,* *perhaps, in its *reinvolutionary\n*path onward, from matter into Spirit, and the necessary gradual\nand final reabsorption into the *laya* state, that which\nScience calls in her own way \"the point neutral as to electricity\"\netc., or the *zero* point. Such are the Occult facts and\nstatement. They may be left with the greatest security and confidence\nto Science, to be justified some day. Let us hear some more, however,\nabout this primordial genetic type of the symbolical caduceus.\n\n\"Such a figure will result from three very simple simultaneous\nmotions. First, a simple oscillation backwards and forwards (suppose\neast and west); secondly, a simple oscillation at right angles\nto the former (suppose north and south) of half the periodic time\n-- *i.e.*, twice as fast; and thirdly, a motion at right\nangles to these two (suppose downwards), which, in its simplest\nform, would be with unvarying velocity. If we project this figure\nin space we find on examination that the points of the curves,\nwhere chlorine, bromine, and iodine are formed, come close under\neach other; so also will sulphur, selenium, and tellurium; again,\nphosphorus, arsenic, and antimony; and in like manner other series\nof analogous bodies. It may be asked whether this scheme explains\nhow and why the elements appear in this order? Let us imagine\na cyclical translation in space, each evolution witnessing the\ngenesis of the group of elements which I previously represented\nas produced during one complete vibration of the pendulum. Let\nus suppose that one cycle has thus been completed, the centre\nof the unknown creative force in its mighty journey through space\nhaving scattered along its track the primitive atoms -- the seeds,\nif I may use the expression -- which presently are to coalesce\nand develop into the groupings now known as lithium, beryllium,\nboron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium,\naluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, and chlorine. What is\nmost probably the form of track now pursued? Were it strictly\nconfined to the same plane of temperature and time, the next elementary\ngroupings to appear would again have been those of lithium, and\nthe original cycle would have been eternally repeated, producing\nagain and again the same 14 elements. The conditions, however,\nare not quite the same. Space and electricity are as at first,\nbut temperature has altered, and thus, instead of the atoms of\nlithium being supplemented with atoms in all respects analogous\nwith themselves, the atomic groupings which come into being when\nthe second cycle commences form, not lithium, but its lineal descendant,\npotassium. Suppose, therefore, the *vis generatrix *travelling\nto and fro in cycles along a lemniscate path, as above suggested,\nwhile simultaneously temperature is declining and time is flowing\non -- variations which I have endeavoured to represent by the\ndownward sink -- each coil of the lemniscate track crosses the\nsame vertical line at lower and lower points. Projected in space,\nthe curve shows a central line neutral as far as electricity is\nconcerned, and neutral in chemical properties -- positive electricity\non the north, negative on the south. Dominant atomicities are\ngoverned by the distance east and west from the neutral centre\nline, monatomic elements being one remove from it, diatomic two\nremoves, and so on. In every successive coil the same law holds\ngood.\"\n\nAnd, as if to prove the postulate of Occult Science and Hindu\nphilos-\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 552 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nophy, that, at the hour of the Pralaya, the two *aspects *of\nthe unknowable deity, \"the Swan in darkness\" -- Prakriti\nand Purusha, nature or matter in all its forms and Spirit -- \"no\nlonger subsist but are (*absolutely*)* *dissolved,\"\nwe learn the conclusive scientific opinion of the great English\nchemist, who caps his proofs by saying: -- \"We have now traced\nthe formation of the chemical elements from knots and voids in\na primitive, formless fluid. We have shown the possibility, nay,\nthe probability that the atoms are not eternal in existence, but\nshare with all other created beings the attributes of decay and\ndeath.\"\n\nOccultism says *amen *to this, as the Scientific \"possibility\"\nand \"probability\" are for it facts demonstrated beyond\nthe necessity of further proof or any extraneous physical evidence.\nNevertheless, it repeats with as much assurance as ever: \"MATTER\nIS ETERNAL, becoming atomic (its aspect) only periodically.\"\nThis is as sure as that the other proposition, which is almost\nunanimously accepted by astronomers and physicists -- namely,\nthat the wear and tear of the body of the Universe is steadily\ngoing on, and that it will finally lead to the extinction of the\nSolar fires and the destruction of the Universe -- is quite erroneous\non the lines traced by Men of Science. There will be, as there\never were in time and eternity, periodical dissolutions of the\nmanifested Universe, but (*a*) a partial *pralaya *after\nevery \"Day of Brahma;\" and (*b*) an Universal\npralaya -- the **M**AHA-PRALAYA -- only after the lapse of\nevery Brahma's age. But the scientific causes for such dissolution,\nas brought forward by exact Science, have nothing to do with the\ntrue causes. However that may be, Occultism is once more justified\nby Science, for Mr. Crookes said: --\n\n\"We have shown, from arguments drawn from the chemical laboratory,\nthat in matter which has responded to every test of an element,\nthere are minute shades of difference which may admit of selection.\nWe have seen that the time-honoured distinction between elements\nand compounds no longer keeps pace with the developments of chemical\nscience, but must be modified to include a vast array of intermediate\nbodies -- \"meta-elements.\" We have shown how the objections\nof Clerk-Maxwell, weighty as they are, may be met; and finally,\nwe have adduced reasons for believing that primitive matter was\nformed by the act of a generative force, throwing off at intervals\nof time atoms endowed with varying quantities of primitive forms\nof energy. If we may hazard any conjectures as to the source of\nenergy embodied in a chemical atom, we may, I think, premise that\nthe heat radiations propagated outwards through the ether from\nthe ponderable matter of the universe, by some process of nature\nnot yet known to us, are transformed at the confines of the universe\ninto the primary -- the essential -- motions of chemical atoms,\nwhich, the instant they are formed, gravitate inwards, and thus\nrestore to the universe the energy which otherwise would be lost\nto it through radiant heat. If this conjecture be well founded,\nSir William Thomson's *startling prediction of the final decrepitude\nof the universe through the dissipation of its energy falls to\nthe ground. *In this\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 553 TRUE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.\n\nfashion, gentlemen, it seems to me that the question of the elements\nmay be provisionally treated. Our slender knowledge of these first\nmysteries is extending steadily, surely, though slowly.\"\n\nBy a strong and curious coincidence even our \"septenary\"\ndoctrine seems to force the hand of Science. If we understand\nrightly, Chemistry speaks of fourteen groupings of primitive atoms\n-- lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine,\nsodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulphur and\nchlorine; and Mr. Crookes, speaking of the \"dominant atomicities,\"\nenumerates seven groups of these, for he says: --\n\n\"As the mighty focus of creative energy goes round, we see\nit in successive cycles sowing in one tract of space seeds of\nlithium, potassium, rubidium, and caesium; in another tract, chlorine,\nbromine, and iodine; in a third, sodium, copper, silver, and gold;\nin a fourth, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium; in a fifth, beryllium,\ncalcium, strontium, and barium; in a sixth, magnesium, zinc, cadmium,\nand mercury; in a seventh, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and\nbismuth\" -- which makes seven groupings on the one hand.\nAnd after showing \"in other tracts the other elements --\nnamely, aluminium, gallium, indium, and thallium; silicon, germanium,\nand tin; carbon, titanium, and zirconium.\"\n\nHe adds: \"While a natural position near the neutral axis\nis found for the three groups of elements relegated by Professor\nMendeleeff to a sort of Hospital for Incurables -- his eighth\nfamily.\" It might be interesting to compare these \"seven\nof the eighth family of 'incurables'\" with the allegories\nconcerning the seven primitive sons of \"Mother, Infinite\nSpace,\" or Aditi, and the *eighth *son rejected by\nher. Many a strange coincidence may thus be found between \"those\nintermediate links . . . named 'meta-elements or elementoids and\nthose whom occult science names their *noumenoi*,'*\n*the intelligent minds and rulers of those groupings of Monads\nand Atoms. But this would lead us too far. Let us be content with\nfinding the confession of the fact that \"this deviation from\nabsolute homogeneity should mark the constitution of these molecules\nor aggregations of matter which we designate elements and will\nperhaps be clearer if we return in imagination to the earliest\ndawn of our material universe, and, face to face with the Great\nSecret, try to consider the processes of elemental evolution.\"\nThus finally Science, in the person of its highest representatives,\nin order to make itself clearer to the profane, adopts the phraseology\nof such old adepts as Roger Bacon, and returns to the \"protyle.\"\nAll this is hopeful and suggestive of the \"signs of the times.\"\n\nIndeed these \"signs\" are many and multiply daily; but\nnone are more important than those just quoted. For now the chasm\nbetween the occult \"superstitious and *unscientific*\"*\n*teachings and \"exact\" science is completely bridged,\nand one, at least, of the few eminent chemists of the day is in\nthe realm of the infinite possibilities of occultism. Every new\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 554 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nstep he will take will bring him nearer and nearer to that mysterious\ncentre, from which radiate the innumerable paths that lead down\nSpirit into matter, and which transform the gods and the living\nmonads into man and sentient nature.\n\nBut we have something more to say on this subject in the following\nsection.\n\n-------\n\n[[This page continued in next section]]\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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