M. Joller, a distinguished lawyer and a member of the

Swiss national council, a man, moreover, whose character both in public and private life was beyond reproach. The household comprised M. Joller himself, his wife, seven ohildren (four boys and three girls), and a servant-maid. One night in the autumn of i860 the latter was disturbed by a loud rapping on her bedstead, which she regarded as a presage of death. M. Joller ascribed the sounds to the girl's imagination, and forbade her to speak of them. A few weeks later, returning after a short absence, he found his family much alarmed. The knocks had been repeated in the presence of his wife and daughter, and had even
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manifested signs of intelligence. When, a few days after- wards, they had news of the death of a friend, they imagined that this must have been- what the raps portended. But again in June, 1861 the outbreak was renewed. This time it was one of the boys who fainted at the apparition of a white, indistinct figure. Other strange things began to be seen and heard by the children, and a few months later the maid complained that the kitchen was haunted by dim, grey shapes who followed her to her chamber, and sobbed all night in the lumber-room. In October of the same year the maid was replaced by another, the rappings ceased, and the disturbances seemed to be at an end. They were re- newed, however, and with tenfold vigour, in August, 1862, during the absence on business of M. Toller, his wife, and their eldest son. So great was the annoyance that the children fled from the house into the garden, in spite of their father's threat to punish their credulity. But at length the poltergeist began to persecute M. Toller himself, pursuing him from room to room with loud knocks, and not all -his efforts sufficed to elucidate the mystery. Things began to be thrown about by invisible hands, locked doors and fastened windows were flung wide, strange music and voices and the humming of spinning-wheels were heard. In spite of M. Toller's attempts to conceal these happenings, the news spread abroad, and hundreds, even thousands, of persons flocked to witness the phenomena. Finding no rational hypothesis to fit the circumstances M. Toiler begged the Commissary Niederberger to come and investigate, but in the latter's absence Father Guardian visited the haunted house, blessed it, though without alleviating the distur- bances, and suggested that an enquiry be made by men of authority. M. Joller privately called in several scientific men of his acquaintance, but they also were unable to find
. a solution, though various theories of electricity, galvanism, and magnetism were advanced. Other persons of authority, Land-Captain 7-elger, the Director of Police Jann, Dr. Christen, the President of the Court of Justice, were present while Commissary Niederberger and Father Guardian made a careful examination of the house, without discovering any cause for the disturbances, which still con- tinued unabated. At length M. Joller demanded of the police a formal examination, and three of the heads of the police were chosen to investigate. The Joller family were bidden to withdraw, and for six days the police remained in undisturbed possession. At the end of that period, having neither heard nor seen any sign of the poltergeist, they drew up a report to that effect, and took their departure. Imme- diately on the Jollers re-entering the house the phenomena began afresh. Ridicule was heaped upon the unfortunate member of council, even by those of his own party, and his house was in such an uproar that he found it impossible to go on with his business. Add to this the unwelcome curiosity of the crowds who flocked to witness the marvels, and it is not surprising that at length, in October, 1862, M. Joller left for ever his ancestral home. In the following spring he succeeded in finding a tenant for the house in Staus, but the poltergeistic outbreak was not renewed. It has been thought necessary to relate the above events somewhat fully, since they afford perhaps the best evidence extant for the hypothesis of discarnate intelligence operat- ing in poltergeistic cases. The Joller case is exceedingly well-attested, not only by the curious crowds who saw the opening and shutting of windows, and so on, but also by men of responsibility, members of the national council, court of justice, and other institutions.
Stead, William Thomas: Journalist and Spiritualist, was born at Embleton, Northumberland, in 1849. On leaving school he was apprenticed in the office of a merchant, but soon drifted into journalism. In 1871 he was editor of the Darlington Northern Echo, and in 1883 of the Pall Mall
Gazette. In 1890 he founded the Review of Reviews, finding therein an outlet for his remarkable energy. His journal- istic zeal led him to espouse many causes — -he conducted a propaganda in favour of the peace movement, devoted himself to the interests of the Boers during the South African War, and issued cheap reprints of classical works. But not the latest of his activities was concerned with his advocacy of spiritualism. For four years — 1893-97 — he conducted a spiritualistic organ, the Borderland, and till his death gave the weight of his journalistic and personal influence to the movement. Notwithstanding that there was something of fanaticism in his zeal, and that his ardour sometimes carried him beyond prescribed limits, he was still a force to be reckoned with in the sphere of politics, and Cecil Rhodes, especially, was much influenced by his opinions. Mr. Stead perished with the sinking of the Titanic in April, 1912, since when many spiritualistic circles claim to have seen and spoken with him. His daughter, Miss Estelle Stead, has written his life.
Stevenson, R. L. : {See Fiction, Occult English.)
Sthulie Plane : {See Physical World.)
Stilling, Jung : {See Germany.)
Stoic heomancy : A method of divination which is practised by opening the works of Homer or Virgil, and reading as an oracular statement the first verse which presents itself. It is a branch of rhapsodomancy (q.v.) .
Stoker, Bram : {See Fiction, Occult English.)
Stolisomancy : Divination from the manner in which a person dresses himself. Augustus believed that a military revolt was predicted on the morning of its occurrence by the fact that his valet had buckled his right sandal to his left foot.
Stomach, Seeing with the : A phenomenon frequently observed by the followers of Mesmer in their somnambules. The subject, in a cataleptic state closely resembling death, would show no signs of intelligence when questions were directed to his ears, but if the questions were addressed to the pit of the stomach, or sometimes to the finger-tips or toes, an answer would be immediately forthcoming. Several such cases are recorded by Dr. Petetin, of Lyons, who in 1808 published his Electricite A nimale, and by other mesmerists. Not only hearing, but seeing, tasting and smelling were performed by the stomach, independent of the sensory organs. Petetin attributes the phenomenon to animal electricity and states that objects placed on the patient's stomach were not seen when they were wrapped in wax or silk — that is, non-conductors. The best way to communicate with a patient in the cataleptic state was for the operator to place his hand on the stomach of the subject, and address his question to the finger-tips of his own free hand. This trance phenomenon, as well as others, may now be referred to suggestion and hyper- esthesia.
Strange Story, A : by Bulwer Lytton. {See Fiction, Occult English.)
Strega : {See Italy.)
Strioporta : Frankish title for a witch. {See France.)
Stroking Stones and Images : It is related by Cotton Mather that an Irish-American witch produced pain and disease in others by merely wetting her finger with saliva, and ■ stroking small images, or sometimes a long, slender stone.
Studion, Simon : See Rosicrucians.)
Subliminal Self : A term much used in psychical research to denote that part of the personality which is normally beneath the ,: threshold " {limen) separating consciousness from unconsciousness. The phrase owed its popularity largely to the late Mr. Myers, who made use of it to explain the psychic phenomena which he had observed. Mr. Myer's view was that only a fraction of the human person- ality, or soul, finds adequate expression through the
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ordinary cerebral processes, because of the fact that the brain and physical organism have not yet reached a very advanced stage of evolution. The soul, in short, is like an iceberg, with a fraction of its bulk above water, but having much the greater part submerged. The subliminal self, again according to Mr. Myers, was in touch with a reservoir of psychical energy, from which it drew forces which influenced the physical organism. Thus the in- spiration of genius, the exaltation of the perceptive and intellectual faculties in hypnosis, and such exercises as automatic writing and talking and table-tilting, were referred to great influxes of these psychical forces rather than to any morbid tendencies in the agent. Indeed, abnormal manifestations were, and still are, regarded by some authorities as foreshadowing a new type in' the progress of evolution whose faculties shall transcend those of man just as our human faculties transcend those of the lower animals. The soul, thus dependent for a very inadequate expression on a nervous system of limited scope, is at death freed from its limitations and comes into its heritage of full consciousness. These hypotheses have been pressed into service to explain telepathy and communication between the living and the dead, as well as hallucination, automatism, and all the hypnotic phenomena. But the two former, even if they could be demonstrated, would require to be explained on other grounds, while the others, whose existence is undisputed, are more generally regarded as resultant from cerebral dissociation — i.e., the temporary dislocation of the connecting links between the various neural systems. Subterranean Crypts and Temples : Subterranean resorts, crypts and places of worship, have ever exercised a deep fascination upon the mind of man. The mysteries of the Egyptian, and of other peoples were held in underground crypts possibly for the purposes of rendering these cere- monies still more secret and mysterious to the mob. But also, perhaps, because it was essential to the privacy they necessitated. The caves of Elephanta, the Catacombs and similar subterranean edifices will also recur to the mind of the reader. But the purpose of this article is to refer to several lesser and perhaps more interesting underground meeting-places and temples in various parts of the world.
Mr. Hargreave Jennings quoting Dr. Plot in his History of Staffordshire, written in the third quarter of the seven- teenth century, gives an interesting account of a supposed Rosicrucian crypt in that county, which, however, cannot be found in the work alluded to. It is, however, given as an interesting imaginative effort. A countryman was employed, at the close of a certain dull summer's day, in digging a trench in a field in a valley, round which the country rose into sombre, silent woods, vocal only with the quaint cries of the infrequent magpies. It was some little time after the sun had sunk, and the countryman was just about giving over his labour for the day. In one or two of the last languid strokes of his pick, the rustic came upon something stony and hard, which struck a spark, clearly visible in the increasing gloom. At this surprise, he resumed his labour, and, curiously enough, found a large, flat stone in the centre of the field. This field was far away from any of the farms or " cotes," as they were called, with which the now almost twilight country was sparingly dotted. In a short time, he cleared the stone free of the grass and weeds which had grown over it ; and it proved to be a large, oblong slab, with an immense iron ring fixed at one end in a socket. For half an hour the countryman essayed to stir this stone in vain. At last he bethought himself of some yards of rope which he had lying near amongst his tools ; and these he converted, being an ingenious, inquisitive, inventive man, into a tackle — by means of which, and by passing the sling
round a bent tree in a line with the axis of the stone, he contrived, in the last of the light, and with much expendi- ture of toil to raise it. And then, greatly to his surprise, he saw a large, deep, hollow place, buried in the darkness, which, when his eyes grew accustomed a little to it, he discovered was the top-story to a stone staircase, seem- ingly of extraordinary depth, for he saw nothing below. The country-fellow had not the slightest idea of where this could lead to ; but being a man, though a rustic and a clown, of courage, and most probably urged by his idea that the stair-case led to some secret repository where treasure lay buried, he descended the first few steps cau- tiously, and tried to peer in vain down into the darkness. This seemed impenetrable, but there was one object at a vast, cold distance below. Looking up to the fresh air, and seeing the star Venus — the evening star — shining suddenly like a planet, in encouraging, unexpected bril- liancy, although the sky had still some sunset-light in it, the puzzled man left the upper ground and descended silently a fair, though a somewhat broken stair-case. Here, at an angle, as near as he could judge, of a hundred feet underground, he came upon a square landing-place, with a niche in the wall ; and then he saw a further long stair-case, descending at right angles to the first stair-case, and still going down into deep, cold, darkness. The man cast a glance upwards, as if questioning the small segment of light from the upper world which shot down whether he should continue his search, or desist and return. All was stillest of the still about him but he saw no reason particu- larly to fear. So, imagining that he would in some way soon penetrate the mystery, and feeling in the darkness by his hands upon the wall, and by his toes first on each step, he resolutely descended, and he deliberately counted two hundred and twenty steps. He felt no difficulty in his breathing, except a certain sort of aromatic smell of distant incense, that he thought Egyptian, coming up now and then from below, as if from another though a subterranean world. " Possibly," thought he — for he had heard of them — " the world of the mining gnomes ; and I am breaking in upon their secrets, which is forbidden for man." The rustic, though courageous, was superstitious. But, notwithstanding some fits of fear, the countryman went on, and at a much lower angle he met a wall in his face ; but, making a turn to the right, with a singular credit to his nerves, the explorer went down again. And now he saw at a vast distance below, at the foot of a deeper staircase of stone, a steady though a pale light. This was shining up as if from a star, or coming from the centre of the earth. Cheered by this light, though absolutely astounded — nay, frightened — at thus discovering light, whether natural or artificial, in the deep bowels of the earth, the man again descended, meeting a thin, humid trail of light, as it looked, mounting up the centre line of the shining though mouldering old stairs, which apparently had not been pressed by a human foot for very many ages. He thought now, although it was probable only the wind in some hidden recess, or creeping down some gallery, that he heard a murmur overhead, as if of the uncertain rumble of horses and of heavy wagons, or lumbering wains. Next moment, all subsided into total stillness ; but the distant light seemed to flicker, as if in answer to the strange sound. Half a dozen times he paused and turned as if he would remount — almost flee for his life upwards, as he thought ; for this might be the secret haunt of robbers, or the dread- ful abode of evil spirits. What if, in a few moments, he should come upon some scene to affright, or alight in the midst of desperate ruffians, or be caught by murderers. He listened eagerly. He now almost bitterly repented his descent. Still the light streamed at a distance, but still there was no sound to interpret the meaning of the light,
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or to display the character of this mysterious place, in which the countryman himself was entangled hopelessly.
The discoverer by this time stood still in fear. But at last, summoning courage, and recommending himself devoutly to God, he determined to complete his discovery. Above, he had been working in no strange place : the field he knew well, the woods were very familiar to him, and his own hamlet and his family were only a few miles distant He now hastily, and more in fear than through courage, noisily with his feet descended the remainder of the stairs ; and the light grew brighter as he approached, until at last, at another turn, he came upon a square chamber built up of large hewn stones. He stopped, silent and awestruck. Here was a flagged pavement and a somewhat lofty roof, gathering up into a centre ; in the groins of which was a rose, carved exquisitely in some dark stone, or in marble. But what was this poor man's fright when, making another sudden turn, from between the jambs, and from under the large archivolt of a Gothic stone portal, light streamed out over him with inexpressible brilliancy, shining over every thing, and lighting up the place with brilliant radiance, like an intense golden sunset. He started back. Then his limbs shook and bent under him as he gazed with terror at the figure of a man, whose face was hidden, as he sat in a. studious attitude in a stone chair, reading in a great book, with his elbow resting on a table like a rectangular altar, in the light of a large, ancient iron lamp, suspended by a thick chain to the middle of the roof. A cry of alarm, which he could not suppress, escaped from the scared discoverer, who involun- tarily advanced one pace, beside himself with terror. He was now within the illuminated chamber. As his feet fell on the stone, the figure started bolt upright from his seated position as if in awful astonishment. He erected his hooded head, and showed himself as if in anger about to question the intruder. Doubtful if what he saw were a reality, or whether he was not in some terrific dream, the countryman advanced, without being aware of it, another audacious step. The hooded man now thrust out a long arm, as if in warning, and in a moment the discoverer perceived that his hand was aTmed with an iron baton, and that he pointed it as if tremendously to forbid further approach. Now, however, the poor man, not being in a condition either to reason or to restrain himself, with a cry, and in a passion of fear, took a third fatal step ; and as his foot descended on the groaning stone, which seemed to give way for a moment under him, the dreadful man, or image, raised his arm high like a machine, and with his truncheon struck a prodigious blow upon the lamp, shatter- ing it into a thousand pieces, and leaving the place in utter darkness.
This was the end of this terrifying adventure. There was total silence now, far and near. Only a long, low roll of thunder, or a noise similar to thunder, seemed to begin from a distance, and then to move with snatches, as if making turns ; and it then rumbled sullenly to sleep as if through unknown, inaccessible passages. What these were — if any passages — nobody' ever found out. It was only suspected that this hidden place referred in some way to the Rosicrucians^ and that the mysterious people of that famous order had there concealed some of their scientific secrets. The place in Staffordshire became afterwards famed as the sepulchre of one of the brother- hood, whom, for want of a more distinct recognition or name, the people chose to call " Rosicrucius," in general reference to his order ; and from the circumstances of the lamp, and its sudden extinguishment by the figure that started up, it was supposed that some Rosicrucian had determined to inform posterity that he had penetrated to the secret of the making of the ever-burning lamps of the
ancients, — though, at the moment that he displayed his knowledge, he took effectual means that no one should reap any advantage from it.
The Jesuit priests of the early eighteenth century have left descriptions of the well-known palace of Mitla in Central America, which leave no doubt that in their time it contained many subterranean chambers and one especially which appears to have surpassed all others in the dreadful uses to which it was put. Father Torquemada says of the place. " When some monks of my order, the Franciscan, passed, preaching and shriving through the province of Zapoteca, whose capital city is Tehuantepec, they came to a village which was called Mictlan, that is, underworld (hell). Besides mentioning the large number of people in the village they told of buildings which were prouder and more magnificent than any which they had hitherto seen in New Spain. Among them was the temple of the evil spirit and living rooms for his demoniacal servants, and among other fine things there was a hall with ornamented panels, which were constructed of stone in a variety of arabesques and other very remarkable designs. There were doorways there, each one of which was built of but three stones, two upright at the sides and one across them, in such a manner that,- although these doorways were very high and broad, the stone sufficed for their entire construction. They were so thick and broad that we were assured there were few like them. There was another hall in these buildings, or rectangular temples, which was erected entirely on round stone pillars very high and very thick that two grown men could scarcely encircle them with their arms, nor could one of them reach the finger-tips of the other. These pillars were all in one piece and, it was said, the whole shaft of the pillar measured 5 ells from top to bottom, and they were very much like those of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, very skillfully made and polished."
Father Burgo? is more explicit with regard to these subterranean chambers. He says, " There were four cham- bers above ground and four below. The latter were arranged according to their purpose in such a way that one front chamber served as chapel and sanctuary for the idols, which were placed on a great stone which served as an altar. And for the most important feasts which they celebrated with sacrifices, or at the burial of a king or great lord, the high priest instructed the lesser priests or the subordinate temple officials who served him to prepare the chapel and his vestments and a large quantity of the incense used by them. And then he descended with a great retinue, which none of the common people saw him or dared to look in his face, convinced that if they did so they would fall dead to the earth as a punishment for their boldness. And when he entered the chapel they put on him a long white cotton garment made like an alb, and over that a garment shaped like a dalmatic, which was embroidered with pictures of wild beasts and birds ; and they put a cap on his head, and on his feet a kind of shoe woven of many-colored feathers. And when he had put on these garments he walked with solemn mien and measured step to the altar, bowed low before the idols, renewed the incense, and then in quite unintelligible murmurs (muy entre dientes) he began to converse with these images, these depositories of infernal spirits, and continued in this sort of prayer with hideous grimaces and writhings, uttering inarticulate sounds, which filled all present with fear and terror, till he came out of that diabolical trance and told those standing around the lies and fabrications which the spirit had imparted to him or which he had invented himself. When human beings were sacrificed the ceremonies were multiplied, and the assistants of the high priest stretched the victim out upon
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a large stone, bareing his breast, which they tore open with a great stone knife, while the body writhed in fearful con- vulsions and they laid the heart bare, ripping it out, and with it the soul, which the devil took, while they carried the heart to the high priest that he might offer it to the idols by holding it to their mouths, among other cere- monies ; and the body was thrown into the burial-place of their " blessed," as they called them. And if after the sacrifice he felt inclined to detain those who begged any favor he sent them word by the subordinate priests not to leave their houses till their gods were appeased, and he ■commanded them to do penance meanwhile, to fast and to speak with no woman, so that, until this father of sin had interceded for the absolution of the penitents and had declared the gods appeased they did not dare to cross their threshold.
" The second (underground) chamber was the burial place of these high priests, and third that of the kings of Theozapotlan, whom they brought thither richly dressed in their best attire, feathers, jewels, golden necklaces, and precious stones, placing a shield in their left hand and a javelin in the right, just as they used them in war. And at their burial rites great mourning prevailed ; the instru- ments which were played made mournful sounds ; and with loud wailing and continuous sobbing they chanteu the life and exploits of their lord until they laid him on the structure which they had prepared for this purpose.
" The last (underground) chamber had a second door at -the rear, which led to a dark and gruesome room. This was closed with a stone slab, which occupied the whole *ntrance. Through this door they threw the bodies of the victims and of the great lords and chieftains who had fallen in battle, and they brought them from the spot where they fell, even when it was very far off, to this burial place ; and so great was the barbarous infatuation -of these Indians that, in the belief of the happy life which awaited them, many who were oppressed by diseases or hardships begged this infamous priest to accept them as living sacrifices and allow them to enter through that portal and roam about in the dark interior of the mountains, to ■seek the great feasting-places of their" forefathers. And when anyone obtained this favour the servants of the high priest led him thither with special ceremonies, and after they had allowed him to enter through the small door they ■rolled the stone before it again took leave of him, and the unhappy man, wandering in that abyss of darkness, died ■of hunger and thirst, beginning already in life the pain of his damnation; and on account of this horrible abyss they called this village Liyobaa, The Cavern of Death.
" When later there fell upon these people the light of the ■Gospel, its servants took much trouble to instruct them to find out whether this error, common to all these nations, still prevailed, and they learned from the stories which had been handed down that all were convinced that this
■ damp cavern extended more than 30 leagues underground, and that its roof was supported by pillars. And there were people, zealous prelates anxious for knowledge, who, in order to convince these ignorant people of their terror, went into this cave accompanied by a large number 0/
-people bearing lighted torches and firebrands, and de- scended several large steps. And they soon came upon many buttresses which formed a kind of street. They had prudently brought a quantity of rope with them to use as a guiding line, that they might not lose themselves in this
-confusing labyrinth. And the putrefaction and the bad
■ odour and the dampness of the earth were very great and ■there was also a cold wind which blew out their torches And after they had gone a short distance, fearing to be
-overpowered by the stench or to step on poisonous reptiles,
and to completely wall up this back door of hell. The four buildings above ground were the only ones which still remained open, and they had a court and chambers like those underground ; and the ruins of these have lasted even to the present day."
The vast subterranean vaults under the temple hill at Jerusalem were probably used as a secret meeting-place by the Templars during their occupation of the Holy City, and it was perhaps there that the strange Eastern rites of Baphomet (q.v.) which they later affected were first cele- brated. In his Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill the Rev. James King says, " On the occasion of a visit to the Noble Sanctuary, the author had an opportunity of examining the ancient masonry inside the wall at the south-east corner, as well as the vast subterranean vaults popularly known as Solomon's stables. A small doorway,
- under a little dome at the south-east corner, admits by a flight of steps to a small chamber known as the Mosque of the Cradle of our Lord, from the existence of a hollowed stone which somewhat resembles a cradle^ and a tradition that the Virgin Mary remained in this chamber for some time after her purification in the Temple. Passing through the chamber, the spacious vaults, which extend over an acre of ground, are reached. These subterranean sub- structures consist of one hundred square piers arranged in fifteen rows, each pier being five feet wide and composed of large marginal drafted stones, placed singly over each other. The rows are connected by semi-circular arches, the intercolumniations of which range from ten to twenty- three feet. The floor of these vaults is about forty-feet below the Haram Area, and more than a hundred feet above the great foundation corner-stone. They are called Solomon's Stables by the Franks. But the Moslems call the place, Al Masjed al Kadim, that is. The Old Mosque. These vaults were used as stables by the Frank kings and the Knights Templar, and holes in which rings were fastened can still be traced on some of the piers.
Since the floor of Solomon's Stables is upwards of a hundred feet above the foundation stone, it seems highly probable that there exists another system of vaults below, for the vast space from the rock upwards is not likely to be filled with solid earth.
Some allusion seems to be made to these vaults in the writings of Procopius, a Greek historian of the sixth cen- tury. He was born at Caesarea, in Palestine, about 500 A.D., and as a young man went to Constantinople, where his eminent talents brought him under the notice of the Emperor Justinian. In 529 A.D. Justinian built a splendid church on the Temple Hill, in honour of the Virgin Mary, and in the writings of Procopius there is a full and detailed account of the edifice. The historian relates that the fourth part of the ground required for the building was wanting towards the south-east ; the builders therefore laid their foundations on the sloping ground, and con- structed a series of arched vaults, in order to raise the ground to the level of the other parts of the enclosure. This account is eminently descriptive of the subterranean vaults at the south-east portion of the Haram, and, accord- ing to Mr. Fergusson, the stone-work of these vaults certainly belongs to the age of Justinian.
Succubus : A demon who takes the shape of a woman. The Rabbi Elias says that it is mentioned in certain writings that Adam was visited during a hundred and thirty years by female demons, and had intercourse with demons, spirits, spectres, lemurs, and phantoms. Under the reign of Roger, king of Sicily, a young man, bathing by moon- light, with several others, thought he saw someone drown- ing, and hastened to the rescue. Having drawn from the water a beautiful woman, he became enamoured of her, married her, and had by her a child. Afterwards she
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disappeared mysteriously with her child, which made everyone believe that she was a succubus. Hector Boece, in his history of Scotland, relates that a very handsome young man was pursued by a female demon, who would pass through his closed door, and offer to marry him. He complained to his bishop, who enjoined him to fast, pray, and confess himself, when the infernal visitor ceased to trouble him. Delancre says that in Egypt, an honest marechal-ferrant being' occupied in forging during the night there appeared to him a demon under the shape of a beautiful woman. He threw a hot iron in the face of the demon, which at once took to flight.
Sufiism : (See Assassins.)
Suggestion : The sensitiveness to suggestion of the entranced subject is the characteristic and invariable accompaniment of the hypnotic state, and is also a distinctive feature of hysteria. Indeed, many modern scientists give to hypno- tism the name " Suggestion." An abnormal suggestibility implies some measure of cerebral dissociation. (See Hypnotism.) In this state every suggestion advanced by the operator, whether conveyed by word, gesture, or even unconscious glance, operates with abnormal force in the brain of the subject, as being relieved from the counter- excitement of other ideas. In the view of Professor Pierre Janet all suggestibility implies a departure from perfect sanity, but this, though perhaps true in the strictest sense, is somewhat misleading, since all are more or less amenable to suggestion. In hypnotism and hysteria, however, the normal suggestibility is greatly exaggerated, and the suggestion, meeting with no opposition from the recipient's critical or judicial faculties (because there are no other ideas with which to compare it) becomes for the time his dominant idea. The suggestion thus accepted has a powerful effect on both mind and body, hence the value of suggestion in certain complaints is incalculable. The " miracles " wrought by Christian Scientists, the efficacy of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the feats of " healing mediums " all testify to its powerful effect. Post-hypnotic suggestion is the term applied to a suggestion made while the subject is entranced, but which is to be carried out after he awakes. Sometimes an interval of months may elapse between the utterance of a command and its fulfilment, but almost invariably at the stated time the suggestion is obeyed, the recipient is perhaps unaware of the source of his impulse, not finding adequate logical grounds for the action he performs, or perhaps automatically lapses into the hypno- tic state. Auto-suggestion does not proceed from any extraneous source, but arises in one's own mind, either spontaneously or from a misconception of existing cir- cumstances, as in the case of a person who drinks coloured water under the impression that it is poison, and exhibits every symptom of poisoning. Auto-suggestion may arise spontaneously in dream, the automatic obedience to such suggestion often giving rise to stories of " veridical " dreams. The outbreaks of religious frenzy or ecstasy which swept Europe in the Middle Ages were examples of the results of mass-suggestion — i.e., suggestion made by a crowd, and much more potent than that made by an individual. Cases of so-called collective hallucination may be referred to the same cause. Suggestion is doubtless responsible to some extent for clairvoyant and mediumistic faculties, and on the whole enters largely into the study of psychic science. Sukias : Central American witches. (See American Indians.) Summa Perfections : (See Arabs.)
Summons by the Dying : It was formerly maintained by the theologians that if anyone who was unjustly accused or persecuted should summon, with his dying breath, his oppressor to appear before the supreme tribunal, a miracle would take place, and the person thus summoned would
die on the day fixed by his innocent victim. Thus the (Grand Master of the Templars) cited the pope and the king of France to appear before God on a certain date not very far ahead, and the story goes on to relate that both died at the appointed time. Francois I., Duke of Brittany, hired assassins to murder his brother, in 1450. The dying prince summoned his murderer before the highest of all courts, and Francois shortly expired. Yet another instance is that of Ferdinand IV., of Spain, who was summoned by two nobles whom he had condemned unjustly, and he also responded reluctantly at the end of thirty days.
Many more examples could be quoted to show how firmly-rooted was this belief in the power of the dying to avenge their death by supernatural means. Indeed, it would be safe to say that, by an inversion, of the usual order of cause and effect, the popular faith in the efficacy of the summons was responsible for such evidence as was forthcoming on its behalf. Fear, and possibly remorse, acting on the imagination of the guilty judge, might welt cause him to expire at the stated time,, and authenticated accounts of death caused by these agents are not unknown. This is further borne out by the fact that if the condemned man was guilty — that is, if the judge's conscience was clear — the summons had no effect. Sorcerers, especially, summoned their judges, but in vain. A story, is told of Gonzalvo of Cordova, who sentenced a soldier to death for sorcery. The soldier exclaimed that he was innocent, and summoned Gonzalvo to appear before God. "Go, then," said the judge, " and hasten the proceedings. My brother who is in heaven, will appear for me." Needless to say, Gonzalvo did not die, as he believed he had dealt justly" and had no fear of the consequences of the summons.
Sunderland, Rev. Laroy : (See Spiritualism.)
Suth, Dr. Pietro : (See Italy.)
Swan, The : (See Philosopher's Stone.)
Swawm : Burmese Vampires : (See Burma.)
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772 : One of the greatest mystics of all time, was born at Stockholm in Sweden on the 29th January. His father was a professor of theology at Upsala, and afterwards Bishop of Scara, and in his time was charged with possessing heterodox opinions. Swedenborg completed his education at the university of Upsala in 17 10, after which he visited England, Holland, France and Germany. Five years later he returned to his native town, and devoted much time to the study of natural science and engineering, editing a paper entitled JPaedalus hyperboreus which dealt chiefly with mechanical inventions. About 1716, Charles XII. appointed him to the Swedish Board of Mines. He appears at this time to have had many activities. He published various mathe- matical and mechanical works, and even took part in the- siege of Friederickshall in an engineering capacity. Originally known as Swedberg, he was elevated to the rank of the nobility by Queen Ulrica and changed his name- to Swedenborg. Sitting in the House of Nobles, his political utterances had great weight, but his tendencies were distinctly democratic. He busied himself privately in scientific gropings for the explanation of the universe, and published at least two works dealing with the origin of things which are of no great account, unless as foreshadow- ing many scientific facts and ventures of the future. Thus his theories regarding light,, cosmic atoms, geology and physics, were distinctly in advance of his time, and had they been suitably disseminated could not but have- influenced scientific Europe. He even sketched a flying- machine, and felt confident that although it was unsuitable to aerial navigation, if men of science applied themselves to the problem, it would speedily be solved. It was in 1734 that he published his Prodomus Philosophic Ratiocin- antrio de Infinite which treats of the relation of the finite
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to the infinite and of the soul to the body. In this work he seeks to establish a definite connection between the two as a means of overcoming the difficulty of their rela- tionship. The spiritual and the divine appear to him as the supreme study of man. He ransacked the countries of Europe in quest of the most eminent teachers and the best books dealing with anatomy, for he considered that in that science lay the germ of the knowledge of soul and spirit. Through his anatomical studies he anticipated certain modern views dealing with the functions of the brain, which are most remarkable.
About the age of fifty-five a profound change overtook the character of Swedenborg. Up to this time he had been a scientist, legislator, and man of affairs ; but now his enquiries into the region of spiritual things were to divorce him entirely from practical matters. His introduction into the spiritual world, his illumination, was commenced by dreams and extraordinary visions. He heard wonder- ful conversations and felt impelled to found a new church. He says that the eyes of his spirit were so opened that he could see heavens and hells, and converse with angels and spirits : but all his doctrines relating to the New Church came directly from God alone, while he was reading the gospels. He claimed that God revealed Himself to him and told him that He had chosen him to unveil the spiritual sense of the whole scriptures to man. From that moment worldly knowledge was eschewed by Swedenborg and he worked for spiritual ends alone. He resigned his several appointments and retired upon half pay. Refreshing his knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, he commenced his great works on the interpretation of the scriptures. After the year 1747 he lived in Sweden, Holland and London, in which city he died on the 29th of March 1772. He was buried in the Swedish Church in Prince's Square, in the parish of St. George's in the East, and in April, 1908 his bones were removed, at the request of the Swedish govern- ment, to Stockholm.
There can be no question as to the intrinsic honesty of Swedenborg' s mind and character. He was neither pre- sumptuous nor overbearing as regards his doctrines, but gentle and reasonable. A man of few wants, his life was simplicity itself — his food consisting for the most part of bread, milk and coffee. He was in the habit of lying in a trance for days together, and day and night had no dis- tinctions for him. His mighty wrestlings with evil spirits at times so terrified his servants, that they would seek the most distant part of the house in refuge. But again he would converse with benignant angels in broad day- light. We are badly hampered regarding first-hand evidence of his spiritual life and adventures — most of our knowledge being gleaned from other than original sources.
So far from attempting to found a new church, or other- wise tamper or interfere with existing religious systems, Swedenborg was of the opinion that the members of all churches could belong to his New Church in a spiritual sense. His works may be divided into : expository volumes, notably The Apocalypse Revealed, The Apocalypse Explained, and Arcana Celestia ; books of spiritual phil- osophy, such as Intercourse between the Soul and the Body Divine Providence, and Divine Love and Wisdom ; books ■dealing with the hierarchy of supernatural spheres such as Heaven and Hell and The Last Judgment ; and those which are purely doctrinal, such as The New Jerusalem, The True Christian Religion, and Canons of the New Church. Of these his Divine Love and Wisdom is the volume which most succinctly presents his entire religious systems. God he regards as the Divine Man. Spiritually He consists of infinite love, and corporeally of infinite wisdom. From the divine love all things draw nourishment. The sun, as
we know it, is merely a microcosm of a spiritual sun which emanates from the Creator. This spiritual sun is the source of love and knowledge, and the natural sun is the source of nature ; but whereas the first is alive, the second is inanimate. There is no connection between the two- worlds of nature and spirit unless in similarity of con- struction. Love, wisdom, use ; or end, cause and effect, are the three infinite and uncreated degrees of being in God and man respectively. The causes of all things exist in the spiritual sphere and their effects in the natural sphere, and the end of all creation is that man may become the image of his Creator, and of the cosmos as a whole. This is to be effected by a love of the degrees above enumerated. Man possesses two vessels or receptacles for the contain- ment of God — the Will for divine love, and the Under- standing for divine wisdom. Before the Fall, the flow of these virtues into the human spirit was perfect, but through the intervention of the forces of evil, and the sins of man himself, it was much interrupted. Seeking to- restore the connection between Himself and man, God came into the world as Man ; for if He had ventured on earth in His unveiled splendour, he would have destroyed the hells through which he must proceed to redeem man, and this He did not wish to do, merely to conquer them. The unity of God is an essential of the Swedenborgian theology, and he thoroughly believes that God did not return to His own place without leaving behind Him a visible representative of Himself in the word of scripture, which is an eternal incarnation, in a three-fold sense — natural, spiritual, and celestial. Of this Swedenborg is the apostle ; nothing was hidden from him ; he was aware of the appearance and conditions of other worlds, good and evil, heaven and hell, and of the planets. " The life of religion," he says, " is to accomplish good." " The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of uses." One of the central ideas of his system is known as the Doctrine of Correspondences. Everything visible has belonging to it an appropriate spiritual reality. Regarding this Vaughan says : " The history of man is an acted parable ; the universe, a temple covered with hieroglyphics. Behmen, from the light which flashes on certain exalted moments, imagines that he receives the key to these hidden significances — that he can interpret the Signatura Rerum. But he does not see spirits, or talk with angels. According to him, such communications would be less reliable than the intuition he enjoyed. Swedenborg takes opposite ground. ' What I relate,' he would say, ' comes from no such mere inward persuasion. I recount the things I have seen. I do not labour to recall and to express the manifestation made me in some moment of ecstatic exaltation. I write you down a plain statement of journeys and conversations in the spiritual world, which have made the greater part of my daily history for many years together. I take my stand, upon experience. I have proceeded by observation and induction as strict as that of any man of science among you. Only it has been given me to enjoy an experience reaching into two worlds — that of spirit, as well as that
of matter.'
" According to Swedenborg, all the mythology and the symbolisms of ancient times were so many refracted or fragmentary correspondences — relics of that better day when every outward object suggested to man's mind its appropriate divine truth. Such desultory and uncertain links between the seen and the unseen are so many imper- fect attempts toward that harmony of the two worlds which he believed himself commissioned to reveal. The happy thoughts of the artist, the imaginative analogies of the poet, are exchanged with Swedenborg for an elaborate system. All the terms and objects in the natural and spiritual worlds are catalogued in pairs. This method
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appears so much formal pedantry. Our fancies will not work to order. The meaning and the life with which we continually inform outward objects — those suggestions from sight and sound, which make almost every man at times a poet — are our own creations, are determined by the mood of the hour, cannot be imposed from without, cannot be arranged like the nomenclature of a science. As regards the inner sense of scripture, at all events, Sweden- borg introduces some such yoke. In that province, how- ever, it is perhaps as well that those who are not satisfied with the obvious sense should find some restraint for their imagination, some method for their ingenuity, some guid- ance in a curiosity irresistible to a certain class of minds. If an objector say, ' I do not see why the ass should corres- pond to scientific truth, and the horse to intellectual truth,' Swedenborg will reply, ' This analogy rests on no fancy of mine, but on actual experience and observation in the spiritual world. I have always seen horses and asses -present and circumstanced, when, and according as, those inward qualities were central.' But I do not believe that it was the design of Swedenborg rigidly to determine the relationships by which men are continually uniting the seen and unseen worlds. He probably conceived it his mission to disclose to men the divinely-ordered corres- ' pondences of scripture, the close relationship of man's several states of being, and to make mankind more fully aware that matter and spirit were associated, not only in the varying analogies of imagination, but by the deeper affinity of eternal law. In this way, he sought to impart an impulse rather than to prescribe a scheme. His con- sistent followers will acknowledge that had he lived to another age, and occupied a different social position, the forms under which the spiritual world presented itself in him would have been different. To a large extent, there- fore, his Memorable Relations must be regarded as true for Mm only — for such a character, in such a day, though •containing principles independent of personal peculiarity and local colouring. It would have been indeed inconsis- tent, had the Protestant who (as himself a Reformer) ■essayed to supply the defects and correct the errors of the Reformation — had he designed to prohibit all advance beyond his own position."
The style of Swedenborg is clear-cut and incisive. He is never overpowered by manifestations from the unseen. Whereas o'ther mystics are seized by fear or joy by these and become incomprehensible, he is in his element, and when on the very pinnacles of ecstasy can observe the smallest details with a scientific eye. We know nowadays that a great many of his visions do not square with scien- tific probabilities. Thus those which detail his journeys among the planets and describe the flora and fauna, let us say, of Mars, can be totally disproved, as we are aware =that such forms of life as he claims to have seen could not -possibly exist upon that planet. The question arises : Did the vast amount of work accomplished by Swedenborg in the first half of his life lead to more or less serious mental derangement ? There have been numerous cases of similar injury through similar causes. But the scientific •exactness and clarity of his mind survived to the last. So far as he knew science he applied it admirably and with minute exactness to his system ; but just as the science of Dante raises a smile, so we feel slightly intolerant of Swedeaborg's scientific application to things spiritual. He was probably the only mystic with a real scientific training ; others had been adepts in chemistry and kindred studies, but no mystic ever experienced such a long and arduous scientific apprenticeship as Swedenborg. It colours the whole of his system. It would be exceedingly difficult to :say whether he was more naturally a mystic or a scientist. In the first part of his life we do not find him greatly
exercised by spiritual affairs ; and it is only when he had passed the meridian of human days that he seriously began to consider matters supernatural. The change to the life of a mystic, if not rapid was certainly not pro- longed : what then caused it ? We can only suspect that his whole tendency was essentially mystical from the first, and that he was a scientist by force of circumstance rather than because of any other reason. The spiritual was constantly simmering within his brain, but, as the world is ever with us, he found it difficult to throw off the superincumbent mass of affairs, which probably tram- melled him for years. At length the fountains of his spirit welled up so fiercely that they could no longer be kept back ; and throwing aside his scientific oars, he leaped into the spiritual ocean which afterwards speedily engulfed him. There is perhaps no analogy to be found to his case in the biography of science. We cannot altogether unveil the springs of the man's spirituality, but we know that they existed deep down in him. It has often been said that he was a mere visionary, and not a mystic, in the proper sense of the word ; but the terms of his philosophy dispose of this contention ; although in many ways it does not square with the generally-accepted doctrines of mysticism, it is undoubtedly one of the most striking and pregnant' con- tributions to it. He is the apostle of the divine humanity, and the '" Grand Man " is with him the beginning and end of the creative purpose. The originality of his system is marked, and the detail with which he surrounded it provides his followers of the present day with a greater body of teaching than that of probably any other mystical master.
The following extracts from Swedenborg' s works will assist the reader in gaining some idea of his eschatology and general doctrine : —
"■ The universe is an image of God, and was made for use. Providence is the government of the Lord in heaven and on earth. It extends itself over all things, because there is only one fountain of life, namely, the Lord, whose power supports all that exists.
'■' The influence of the Lord is according to a plan, and is invisible, as is Providence, by which men are not con- strained to believe, and thus to lose their freedom. The influence of the Lord passes over from the spiritual to the natural, and from the inward to the outward. The Lord confers his influence on the good and the bad, but the latter converts the good into evil, and the true into the false ; for so is the creature of its will fashioned.
" In order to comprehend the origin and progress of this influence, we must first know that that which proceeds from the Lord is the divine sphere which surrounds us, and fills the spiritual and natural world. All that pro- ceeds from an object, and surrounds and clothes it, is called its sphere.
" As all that is. spiritual knows neither time nor space, it therefore follows that the general sphere or the divine one has extended itself from the first moment of creation to the last. This divine emanation, which passed over from the spiritual to the natural, penetrates actively and rapidly through the whole created world, to the last grade of it, where it is yet to be found, and produces and main- tains all that is animal, vegetable, and mineral. Man is continually surrounded by a sphere of his favourite pro- pensities ; these unite themselves to the natural sphere of his body, so that together they form one. The natural sphere surrounds every body of nature, and all the objects of the three kingdoms. Thus it allies itself to the spiritual world. This is the foundation of sympathy and antipathy, of union and separation, according to which there are amongst spirits presence and absence.
" The angel said to me that the sphere surrounded.
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men more lightly on the back than on the breast, where it was thicker and stronger. This sphere of influence, peculiar to man, operates also in general and in particular around him by means of the will, the understanding, and the practice,
" The sphere proceeding from God, which surrounds man and constitutes his strength, while it thereby operates on his neighbour and on the whole creation, is a sphere of peace and innocence ; for the Lord is peace and inno- cence. Then only is man consequently able to make his influence effectual on his fellow man, when peace and innocence rule in his heart, and he himself is in union with heaven. This spiritual union is connected with the natural by a benevolent man through the touch and the laying on of hands, by which the influence of the inner man is quickened, prepared, and imparted. The body communicates with others which are about it through the body, and the spiritual influence diffuses itself chiefly through the hands, because these are the most outward or ultimum of man ; and through him, as in the whole of nature, the first is contained in the last, as the cause in the effect. The whole soul and the whole body are con- tained in the hands as a medium of influence. Thus our Lord healed the sick by laying on of hands, on which account so many were healed by the touch ; and thence from the remotest times the consecration of priests and of all holy things was effected by laying on of hand. According to the etymology of the word, hands denote power. Man believes that his thoughts and his will proceed from within him, whereas all this flows into him. If he considered things in their true form, he would ascribe evil to hell, and good to the Lord ; he would by the Lord's grace recognise good and evil within himself, and be happy. Pride alone has denied the influence of God, and destroyed the human race."
In his work Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg speaks of in- fluence and reciprocities — Correspondences. The action of correspondence is perceptible in a man's counntenance. In a countenance that has not learned hypocrisy, all emotions are represented naturally according to their true form ; whence the face is called the mirror of the soul. In the same way, what belongs to the understanding is represented in the speech, and what belongs to the will in the movements. Every expression in the face, in the speech, in the movements, is called correspondence. By corres- pondence man communicates with heaven, and he can thus communicate with the angels if he possess the science of correspondence by means of thought. In order that communication may exist between heaven and man, the word is composed of nothing but correspondences, for everything in the word is correspondent, the whole and the parts ; therefore he can learn secrets, of which he perceives nothing in the literal sense ; for in the word, there is, besides the literal meaning, a spiritual meaning — one of the world, the other of heaven. Swedenborg had his visions and communications with the angels and spirits by means of correspondence in the spiritual sense. " Angels speak from the spiritual world, according to inward thought; from wisdom, their speech flows in a tranquil stream, gently and uninterruptedly, — they speak only in ' vowels the heavenly angels in A and O, the spiritual ones in E and I, for the vowels give tone to the speech, and by the tone the emotion is expressed
heaven, they speak just as intelligently as the man by my side. But if they turn away from man, he hears nothing more whatever, even if they speak close to his ear. It is also remarkable that several angels can speak to a man ; they send down a spirit inclined to man, and he thus hears them united."
In another place he says : — " There are also spirits called natural or corporeal spirits ; these have no con- nection with thought, like the others, but they enter the body, possess all the senses, speak with the mouth, and act with the limbs, for they know not but that every- thing in that man is their own. These are the spirits by which men are possessed. They were, however, sent by the Lord to hell ; whence in our days there are no more such possessed ones in existence."
Swedenborg's further doctrines and visions of Har- monies, that is to say, of heaven with men, and with all objects of nature ; of the harmony and correspondence of all thing with each other ; of Heaven, of Hell, and of the world of spirits ; of the various states of man after death, etc. — are very characteristic, important, and powerful. " His contemplations of the enlightened inward eye refer less to everyday associations and objects of life (although he not unfrequently predicted future occur- rences), because his mind was only directed to the highest spiritual subjects, in which indeed he had attained an uncommon degree of inward wakefulness, but is there- fore not understood or known, because he described his sights so spiritually and unusually by language. His chapter on the immensity of heaven attracts more especially because it contains a conversation of spirits and angels about the planetary system. The planets are naturally inhabited as well as the planet Earth, but the inhabitants differ according to the various individual formation of the planets. These visions on the inhabitants of the planets agree most remarkably, and almost without exception with the indications of a clairvoyant whom I treated magnetically. I do not think that she knew Swedenborg ; to which, however, I attach little importance. The two seers perceived Mars in quite a different manner. The magnetic seer only found images of fright and horror. Swedenborg, on the other hand, describes them as the best of all spirits of the planetary system. Their gentle, tender, zephyr-like language, is more perfect, purer and richer in thought, and nearer to the language of the angels, than others. These people associate together, and judge each other by the physiognomy, which amongst them is always the expression of the thoughts. They honour the Lord as sole God, who appears sometimes on their earth."
" Of the inhabitants of Venus he says : — ■' They are of two kinds ; some are gentle and benevolent, others wild, cruel and of gigantic stature. The latter rob and plunder, and live by this means ; the former have so great a degree of gentleness and kindness that they are alwa3rs beloved by the good ; thus they often see the Lord appear in their own form on their earth.' It is remarkable that this description of Venus agrees so well with the old fable, and with the opinions and experience we have of Venus.
" The inhabitants of the Moon are small, like children of six or seven years old ; at the same time they have the strength of men like ourselves. Their voice rolls like thunder, and the sound proceeds from the belly, because the moon is in quite a different atmosphere from the other planets."
and Philanthropieal Society : {See
the interruptions, on the other hand, corresponds with creations of the mind ; therefore
we prefer, if the subject is lofty, for instance of heaven or Swedish Exegetical
God, even in human speech, the vowels U and O, etc. Spiritualism.)
Man, however, is united with heaven by means of the Switzerland : For ancient matter see Teutons.
word, and forms thus the link between heaven and earth. Spiritualism. — Two cases of spiritual visitation occurred
between the divine and the natural." in the Swiss Cantons during last century, of so startling a
" But when angels speak spiritually with me from nature, as to attract the eyes of all Europe. The following
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brief summary of the Morzine epidemic is collated from the pages of the Cornhill Magazine, two or three of the London daily journals, the Reveu Spirile, and Mr. William Howitt's magazine article entitled, " The Devils of Morzine." The period of the occurrence was about i860 ; the scene, the parish of Morzine, a beautiful valley of the Savoy, not more than half a day's journey from the Lake of Geneva. The place is quite, remote, and had been seldom visited by tourists before the period named above. Being more- over shut in by high mountains, and inhabited by a simple, industrious, and pious class of peasantry, Morzine might have appeared to a casual visitor the very centre of health, peace, and good order. The first appearance of an abnor- mal visitation was the conduct of a young girl, who, from being quiet, modest, and well-conducted, suddenly began to exhibit what her distressed family and friends supposed to be the symptoms of insanity. She ran about in the most singular and aimless way ; climbed high trees, scaled walls, and was found perched on roofs and cornices, which it seemed impossible for any creature but a squirrel to reach; She soon became wholly intractable ; was given to fits of hysteria, violent laughter, passionate weeping, and general aberration from her customary modest behaviour. Whilst her parents were anxiously seeking advice in this dilemma, another and still another of the young girl's ordinary companions were seized with the same malady. In the course of ten days the report prevailed, that over fifty females — ranging from seven years of age to fifty — had been seized, and were exhibiting symptoms of the most bewildering mental aberration. The crawling, climb- ing, leaping, wild singing, furious swearing, and frantic behaviour of these unfortunates, soon found crowds of imitators. Before the tidings of this frightful affliction, had passed beyond the district in which it originated several hundreds of women and children, and scores of young men, were writhing under the contagion. The seizures were sudden, like the attacks ; they seldom lasted long, yet they never seemed to yield to any form of treatment, whether harsh or kind, medical, religious or persuasive. The first symptoms of this malady do not seem to have been noted with sufficient attention to justify one in giving details which could be considered accurate. It was only when the number of the possessed exceeded two thousand persons, and the case was attracting multitudes of curious enquirers from all parts of the Continent, that the medical men, priests, and journalists of the day, began to keep and publish constant records of the progress of the epidemic One of the strangest features of the case, and one which most constantly baffled the faculty, was the appearance of rugged health, and freedom from all physical disease, which distinguished this malady. As a general rule, the victims spoke in hoarse, rough tones unlike their own, used profane language, such as few of them could ever have heard, and imitated the actions of crawling, leaping, climb- ing animals with ghastly fidelity. Sometimes they would roll their bodies up into balls and distort their limbs beyond the power of the attendant physicians to account for, or disentangle. Many amongst them were levitated in the air, and in a few instances, the women spoke in foreign tongues, manifested high conditions of exaltation, described glorious visions, prophesied, gave clairvoyant descriptions of absent persons and distant places, sang hymns, and preached in strains of sublime inspiration. It must be added, that these instances were very rare, and were only noticeable in the earlier stages of the obsession. It is almost needless to say that the tidings of this horrible obsession attracted immense multitudes of witnesses, no less than the attention of the learned and philosophic. When the attempts of the medical faculty, the church, and the law, had been tried again and again, and all had utterly failed to modify the ever-increasing horrors of this malady, the Emperor
of the French, the late Louis Napoleon, under whose pro- tectorate Morzine was then governed, yielding to the representations of his advisers, actually sent out three military companies to Morzine, charged with strict orders to quell the disturbances " on the authority of the Emperor, or by force if necessary." The result of this high-handed policy was to increase tenfold the violence of the disease, and to augment the number of the afflicted, in the persons of many of the very soldiers who sank under the contagion which they were expected to quench. The next move of the baffled French Government, was, a spiritual one ; an army of priests, headed by a venerable Bishop, much beloved in his diocese, being despatched in the quality of exorcists, at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Paris. Unhappily this second experiment worked no better than the first. Respectable looking groups of well-dressed men, women, and children, would pass into the churches in reverent silence, and with all the appearance of health and piety — but no sooner was the sound of the priest's voice, or the notes of the organ heard, than shrieks, execrations, sobbings, and frenzied cries, resounded from different parts of the assembly. Anxious fathers and husbands were busy in carrying their distracted relatives into the open air, and whether in the church or the home, every attempt of a sacerdotal character, was sure to arouse the mania to heights of fury unknown before. The time came at length, when the good old Bishop thought of a coup de grace to achieve a general victory over the adver- sary. He commanded that as many as possible of the afflicted should be gathered together to hear high mass, when he trusted that the solemnity of the occasion would be sufficient to defeat what he evidently believed to be the combined forces of Satan.
According to the description cited by William Howitt in his paper on " The Devils of Morzine," the assemblage in question, including at least two thousand of the possessed, and a number of spectators, must have far more faithfully illustrated Milton's description of Pandemonium than any mortal scene before enacted. Children and women were leaping over the seats and benches ; clambering up the - pillars, and shrieking defiance from pinnacles which scarcely admitted of a foothold for a bird. The Bishop's letter contains but one remark which seems to offer a clue to these scenes of horror and madness. He says : " When in my distress and confusion I accidentally laid my hand on the heads of these unfortunates, I found that the paroxysm instantly subsided, and that however wild and clamorous they may have been before, the parties so touched generally sunk down as it were into a swoon, or deep sleep, and woke up most commonly restored to sanity, and a sense of propriety." The complete failure of epis- copal influence threw the Government back on the help of medical science. Dr. Constans had, since his first visit, pub- lished a report, in which he held out hopes of cure if his advice were strictly followed. He was again commissioned to do what he could for Morzine. Armed with the powers of a dictator he returned there, and backed by a fresh detachment of sixty soldiers, a brigade of gendarmes and a fresh cure, he issued despotic decrees, and threatened lunatic asylums, and in any case deportation for the con- vulsed. He fined any person who accused others of magic, or in any way encouraged the prevalent idea of supernatural evil. He desired the cure to preach sermons against the possibility of demoniacal possession, but this order could not be carried out by even the most obedient priest. The persons affected with fits were dispersed in every direction. Some were sent to asylums and hospitals, and many were simply exiled from Chablais. They were not allowed to revisit except by very special favour. Mr. William Howitt, writing in the London Spiritual Magazine says : "' We need not point to the salient facts of our narrative, or discuss
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the various theories that have been invented to account for
them It is impossible not to see the resemblance of
the Morzine epidemic with the demonopathy of the six- teenth century, and the history of the Jansenist and Ceven-
nes convulsionnaires Some of the facts we have
related were often observed in the state of hypnotism, or nervous sleep, with which physicians are familiar. The hallucinations of which we have given instances are too common to astonish us. But the likeness of this epidemic to others that have been observed does not account for its symptoms."
Sword, Magical : (See Magic.)
Sycomancy : Divination by the leaves of the fig tree. Questions or propositions on which one wished to be enlightened were written on these leaves. If the leaf dried quickly after the appeal to the diviner, it was an evil omen ; but a good augury if the leaf dried slowly.
Symbolism in Art : " It is in and through symbols," says Carlyle, " that man, consciously or unconsciously lives, works, and has his being " ; and his words apply very pertinently to art in all its branches, for every one of these represents, in the first place, an attempt to reincarnate something in nature, and this attempt cannot be made save with the assistance of some manner of symbolism. The author uses the arbitrary and sadly restricted symbol of language whereby to state his conception of life, the composer employs notes wherewith to body forth his im- pressions and emotions ; while the painter must needs be still more symbolical, his art consisting as it does in expressing distance on a flat surface, and in suggesting bulk by the practice known technically as modelling. The sculptor is also a symbolist, for, while he has at his disposal a third dimension not vouchsafed to the painter, he tries to delineate coloured things in a mono-chromatic material ; while again, it is impossible for him to convey motion or action as the writer can, and he can only suggest this by moulding a figure wherein an ephemeral gesture is per- petrated. Some kind of symbolism, then, is the technical basis of all the arts ; yet another kind of symbolic signifi- cance, a deeper and more mysterious one, transpires in them in many cases. As Coleridge observes, " An idea in the highest sense of the word, cannot be expressed but by a symbol " ; and from time immemorial painters and sculptors have realised this, and have tried to crystalise abstract ideas by the aid of certain signs, some of them having quite an obvious meaning, but others being cryptic. Among the Japanese masters of the Akiyoe school, Fuji-no- Yama was a favourite topic, one which many of them figured scores of times ; and to Occidental eyes a picture of this sort is just a picture of a mountain, but to the Japanese it meant something deeper, Fuji being almost sacred to them, and its representation in line and colour being a sort of symbol of patriotic devotion. Then Hokusai, commonly accounted the greatest master of the school aforesaid, loved to draw a pot-bellied man reclining at his ease against cushions ; and this too means little in the East but much in the West, for in reality it is more than a study in volup- tuousness, it represents Hotei, the god of peace and plenty. And poor people in the Land of the Rising Sun would buy a copy of this picture — for those woodcuts which are so priceless now were mostly sold for a few pence originally, and were within the reach of the humblest. And they would hang it on the wall, trusting thus to win the favour of the deity it personified. Other Japanese, more religious- ly minded, preferred a picture of a curious male figure emanating from a plant, and this symbolised the legend that Buddha rose originally from a lotus ; while further, in many Japanese draperies and the like we find a strange decoration not unlike &fleur-de-lys, and this was originally a drawing of the foot of Buddha, a drawing which evolved
throughout the centuries into the form above-named.
The art of the Hindoos is likewise permeated with symbolism, much of it quite incomprehensible to Euro- peans ; while the ancient Greek masters also traded in symbols, one which occurs repeatedly in their output being the fig-leaf, which represented simply amorousness, and was a direct reference to the story of the fall of man as detailed in the book of Genesis. This same symbol is found occasionally in early Italian works of art and it is in these, really, that we find symbolism at its apogee ; for in Italy, more essentially than in any other country, art was long the handmaiden of the Church, and thus early Italian painting and sculpture is replete with emblems referring to the Christian faith. The frequent allusions in the Old Testament to the hand of God, as the instrument of his sovereign power, naturally inspired pristine artists to symbolise the deity's omnipotence by drawing a hand, sometimes with a cross behind it, sometimes emerging from clouds ; while equally common among the primitives was the practice of expressing the name of Christ by the first two letters of his name in Greek, and this emblem evolved betimes, assuming divine and intricate forms. Another familiar Christian symbol, figuring in numerous sarcophagi and mosaics, is a small picture of a fish ; and this refers indirectly to baptism but most directly to Christ, for those who first used this sign observed that the letters forming the word fish in Greek, IXOYE, when separated supplied the initials for the five words, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Christ is also represented sometimes by a picture of a lion, this referring to the phrase in the Scriptures, " The lion of the tribe of Judah " ; while the Passion is frequently symbolised by a drawing of a pelican, tearing open her breast to feed her young. Then the Holy Ghost is invariably suggested by a presentment of a dove, while the phoenix and the peacock were both employed as symbols of the Resurrection ; nor does the symbolism in the art of Italy end here, for an early artist of that country, doing a picture of a saint, would usually add some sign having reference to an event in the subject's career, or to some particular predilection on his part. Thus, if the saint was famous as a devotee of pilgrimage, a shell was drawn at his feet ; or, if the doing of penance was his particular virtue, a skull was figured on some part of the picture ; while finally, if his life culminated in the glory of martyrdom, this was hinted at by a sketch of an axe, a lance or a club.
Mystic symbolism waned in Italy before the eleventh century was over. Some of the anonymous early Floren- tines had symbolised love by a great, flaring lamp ; but with the advent of Titian and Veronese all this sort of thing was discontinued, and amorous scenes were painted in realistic fashion. The great mediaeval masters of religious art, moreover — men like Ghibert and Raphael, Pintunichio and Michelangelo — scorned to deal in mere emblems, and strove to depict biblical scenes with a ruthless veracity to nature, Ghibert going so far as to try and introduce a species of perspective into bas-relief. But meanwhile the practice of the fathers of Italian art had been taken up in France and in Spain, and more especially in Germany by Altdorfer and Albrecht Durer ; while in England, too, symbolism of various kinds began to become very manifest in ecclesiastical architecture and crafts- manship. The beautiful Norman Church with its square tower gave place to a Gothic one with a spire, symbol of aspiration ; while the wood-work was garnished at places with emblems of the passion — three nails and a hammer, pincers, ladder, sponge, reed and spear. Besides, gargoyles commenced to appear on the outsides of Churches, the idea being that, when the building Was consecrated, the devils took flight from the interior, and perched themselves on
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the roof, and this species of symbolism did not pass away with the middle ages, but was carried on for long afterwards, as also was the " rose window," symbol of the crown of thorns.
The churches' suzerainty over art was virtually dead by the end of the fifteenth century, and thenceforth, during fully a hundred years, painting found its chief patrons in various enlightened kings and noblemen. But symbolism was not altogether ousted accordingly, for the new patrons were hardly collectors in the usual sense of the term, they did not buy landscapes to decorate their dwellings — very few bona fide landscapes were done before the time of Claude, born in 1600 — and it was mainly portraits of themselves and their families which they sought. So now, in consequence of this, a new form of symbolism became very manifest in painting, the artist being almost invariably charged to introduce his patron's coat-of-arms into some part of the canvas or panel ; and, though this practice began to wane with the advent of the seventeenth century — when collecting in the real sense began painters still continued to trade in emblems of one kind and another. Even Antoine Watteau (born in 1684), doing a portrait of the divine Venetian pastellist, Rosalba Canicra, showed her with white roses in her lap ! and anon this rather obvious symbolism was deepened by the engraver Liotard, for beneath his print after Watteau he inscribed the beautiful if sentimental phrase, " La plus belle des fleurs ne dure qu'un matin." A practice akin to this lingered till the
close of the eighteenth century in engraving, the engraver of a portrait almost always thinking it necessary to surround his sitter with allegorical accessories ; and to choose a good example, in many prints of La Fontaine we find a scene from one of his fables introduced beneath the sub- ject's visage. A few modern engravers have essayed something analogous, Mr. William Strange, for example,, engraving a tiny portrait of a soldier in the corner of his familiar plate of Mr. Rudyard Kipling ; while reverting to painting many of the great English masters of portraiture- saw fit to figure, almost in juxtaposition to the sitter, various items symbolising his tastes' or action. Raeburn was among the last to do this, several of his pictures of great lawyers being only embellished with bundles of briefs tied' up with red tape ; and, though this form of symbolism is practically dead now, the fact remains that most good portrait-painters still choose their repoussoir with a view to its aiding them, in adumbrating more completely the sentiment of the subject in hand. Thus, doing a picture of a child, an artist will usually employ a high-pitched background, this being in some degree emblematic of youth ; while delineating an old man, he will almost cer- tainly place him in sombre surroundings. And so we see- again, as we saw at the outset, that all art is in a sense- symbolical ; and that it is through symbols that it " Lives^ works, and has its being." (See also Magical Diagrams.)
W. G. B. M. Sympathetic Magic : (See Magic.)
Table-turning : A form of psychic phenomena in which a table is made to rotate, tilt, or rise completely off the ground by the mere contact of the operator's finger-tips, and without the conscious exercise of muscular force. The modus operandi is exceedingly simple. The sitters take their places round a table, on which they lightly rest their finger-tips, thus forming a " chain." In a few moments the table begins to rotate, and may even move about the room, seemingly carrying the experimenters with it. It was, and is, in high favour among spiritualists as a means of communicating with the spiritual world. The alphabet was slowly repeated, or a pencil was run down the printed alphabet, the table tilting at the letter which the spirits desired to indicate. Thus were dictated sermons, poems, information regarding the spirit-world, arid answers to' questions put by the sitters. Table-turning, in common with most spiritualistic phenomena, originated in America. It rapidly spread to Europe, and early in 1853 reached Britain, where it soon became immensely popular, and for the time replaced the earlier method of communication by means of raps. It commended itself to the public mainly because the services of an expensive professional medium were not required. In all parts of the country and in every grade of society the popular craze was practised with enthusiasm, and in this case as in others the results increased proportionately with the credibility of the sitters. In these earlier stages of the proceedings the gyrations of the table were attributed entirely to spirit agencies. So serious did matters become at last that men of science could no longer ignore the " manifestations," and were forced to turn the light of scientific knowledge on the phenomenon of table-turning and endeavour to explain it on rational grounds. Foremost among these distinguished investigators was the chemist Faraday, who showed by means of simple apparatus of his own devising that the movements of the table were due to unconscious muscular action on the part of the sitters, who were thus themselves the automatic authors of the messages purporting to come from the spirit world. Faraday's apparatus consisted of
two thin wooden boards with little glass rollers between,, the whole bound together with rubber bands, and so con- trived that the slightest lateral pressure on the upper board would cause it to slip a little way over the other. A haystalk or a scrap of paper served to indicate any motion of the upper board over the lower. The conclusion drawn from these experiments was that when the sitters believed themselves to be pressing downwards, they were really pressing obliquely, in the direction they expected the table to rotate. Other investigators also held that the expecta- tion of the operators had a good deal to do with the motions of the table. Braid pointed out in the appendix to his Hypnotic Therapeutics that some one generally announced beforehand the direction in which the table would rotate, and so encouraged the expectation of the operators. Another authority, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, shared the same view, as did a committee of four medical men who pub- lished their experiences of table-turning in the Medical Times and Gazette Among the earliest investigators of the phenomena of table-turning were count de Gasparin and Professor Thury of Geneva, who held seances, and were satisfied that the movements resulted from a force radiating from the operators, to which they gave the name of " ectenic force." There were others, however, who were less rational in their attempts to explain the phenomenon. The public were on the whole indisposed to accept the conclusions of Faraday and the rest. They preferred the more popular spiritualistic explanations or the pseudo-scientific theories of such men as Dr. Koch, who believed that the " chain " of operators formed a sort of electric battery which supplied the table with vital energy or, as it was called, " electro- odyllic " force, and made it respond to the will as though it were a part of the human body. Other explanations offered were odic force, galvanism, animal magnetism, and, strangest notion of all, the rotation of the earth ! In an anonymous pamphlet published during the table- turning epidemic and entitled Table-talking considered in connection with the dictates of reason and common sense, the conclusions of Faraday are ridiculed, and an electrical
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theory advanced, in such a way, however, as to show that the writer is quite ignorant of his subject. Another pamph- let, also anonymous, entitled Table-turning by Animal Magnetism demonstrated ascribes the phenomenon to mag- netism, and bases its suppositions on the results of some experiments in which the table was isolated by glass or gutta-percha. Dr. Elliotson and the other believers in a mesmeric " fluid " which would affect inanimate objects as well as living beings, saw in table-turning a support for their views. The Rev. G. Sandby and the Rev. C. H. Townshend, claimed to have experienced a feeling of fatigue after a table-turning seance as though they had been hypnotising someone. They also felt a tingling sensation in their finger-tips, and Townshend suggested that spirit rappings may be caused by a " disengagement of Zoogen from the System." Dr. Elliotson himself followed with an admission that the phenomenon was not explicable within the bounds of muscular force. There was another set, mainly composed of Evangelical clergymen, who credited the whole business to Satanic agency. The Rev. N. S. Godfrey, the Rev. E. Gillson, and others held seances in which the " spirits " confessed themeslves to be either the spirits of worthless persons of evil inclination, or devils, both of which confessions caused the reverend gentlemen to denounce the whole practice of table-turning. One of them remarks, apropos of Faraday's experiments, that the phenomena " appear to be whatever the investi- gator supposes them to be," a saying which aptly charac- terises their own attitude.
Camille Flammarion, whose exhaustive experiments and scientific attainments give to his opinion considerable weight, has offered an explanation of the various phases of table-turning phenomena. Simple rotation of the table he ascribes to an unconscious impulse given by the operators and other movements of the table while the fingers of the sitters rest upon it are ascribed to similar causes. The tilting of the table on the side furthest away from the operator can also be explained by muscular action. But vibrations in the wood of the table, or its levitation under the fingers, or, to a still greater extent, its rotation without contact of the operator's hands, he attributes to a force emanating from the body, and, in the latter case, capable of acting at a distance by means of ether-waves. This force, the result of a cerebral disturbance, is greater than that of the muscles, as is seen by the levitation of tables so weighted tnat the combined muscular strength of the operators would not suffice to lift it. To the dictating of messages and other intelligent manifestations he would also give an origin in this psychic force, which is perhaps identical with Thury's " ectenic " force, or " psychode," and which is obedient to the will and desires, or even, in some cases, the sub-conscious will of the operator. The hypothesis of spirits he does not consider necessary. It is possible, however, that fraud may have crept into the stances of M. Flammarion, as it has done in so many other cases. And there are those among the most profound
' students of psychic research who find in unconscious muscular action and deliberate fraud a satisfactory explana- tion of the phenomena.
Taboo, Tabu or Tapu : A Polynesian word meaning " pro- hibited " and signifying a prohibition enforced by religious or magical power, which has come to be applied to similar usages among savage peoples all over the world. Taboo, or prohibition is enforced in the cases of sacred things and unclean things. In the first instance, the taboo is placed on the object because of the possession by it of inherent mysterious power. But, taboo may be imposed by a chief or priest. It aims at the protection of important individ- uals ; the safeguarding of the weak, women, children and slaves from the magical influence of more highly-placed
individuals ; against danger incurred by handling or coming in contact with corpses ; or eating certain foods ; and the securing of human beings against the power of supernatural agencies, or the depredations of thieves. Taboo may also be sanctioned by social use or instinct. The violation of a taboo makes the offender himself taboor for it is characteristic of the taboo that it is transmissible, but can be thrown off by magical or purificatory cere- monies. It may last for a short period, or be imposed in perpetuity. It may be said, generally speaking, that the practice of taboo was instituted through human instinct for human convenience. This applies of course merely to the most simple type of taboo. It is, for example, for- bidden to reap or steal the patch of corn dedicated to an agricultural deity, for the simple reason that his wrath would be incurred by so doing. Similarly it is taboo to devour the flesh of the totem animal of the tribe, except in special circumstances with the object of achieving communion with him. It is taboo to interfere in any manner with the affairs of the shamans or medicine-men : this again is a type of the imposed taboo for the convenience of a certain caste. It is prohibited to marry a woman of the same totem as oneself, as all the members of a totemic band are supposed to be consanguineous, and such a union might incur the wrath of the patron deity. A very strict taboo is put upon the beholding of certain ritual instru- ments belonging to some barbarian tribes, but this only applies to women and uninitiated men : the reason for such taboo would be that it was considered degradation for women to behold sacred implements. Taboo, if it does not spring directly from the system known as totemism, was strongly influenced by it — that is, many intricate taboos arose from the totemic system. We have also the taboo of the sorcerer, which in effect is merely a spell placed upon, a certain object, which makes it become useless to others. Taboo, or its remains, is still to be found in strong force even in the most civilised communities, and from its use the feeling of reverence for ancient institutions and those who represent them is undoubtedly derived. Tadebtsois : Spirits believed in by the Samoyeds. (See
Siberia.) Tadibe : The name for a Samoyed magician. (See Siberia.) Taigheirm : A magical sacrifice of cats to the infernal spirits, formerly practised in the Highlands and Islands of Scot- land. It is believed to have been originally a ceremony of sacrifice to the subterranean gods, imported from more northern lands, which became in Christian times an invoca- tion of infernal spirits. The word " Taigheirm " signifies either an armoury, or the cry of a cat, according to the sense in which it is used. A description of the ceremony, which must be performed with black cats, is given in Horst's Deuteroscopy : " After the cats were dedicated tc* all the devils, and put into a magico-sympathetic con- dition by the shameful things done to them, and the agony occasioned them, one of them was at once put upon the spit, and, amid terrific howlings, roasted before a slow fire. The moment that the howls of one tortured cat ceased in death, another was put upon the spit, for a minute of interval must not take place if they would control hell ; and this continued for the four entire days and nights. If the exorcist could hold it out still longer, and even till his physical powers were absolutely exhausted, he must do so." When the horrible rites had been continued for a time the demons began to appear in the shape of black cats, who mingled their dismal cries with those of the unfortunate sacrifices. At length a cat appeared Tof larger size and more frightful aspect than the others, and the time had come for the exorcist to make known his demands. Usually he asked for the gift of second sight, but other rewards might be asked for and received. The
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last Taigheirm was said to have been held in Mull about the middle of the seventeenth century. The exorcists were Allan Maclean and his assistant Lachlain Maclean, both of whom received the second sight. Of this particular ceremony Horst says : " The infernal spirits appeared some in the early progress of the sacrifices, in the shape of black cats. The first who appeared during the sacrifice, after they had cast a furious glance at the sacrifices, said — Lachlain Oer, that is, ' Injurer of Cats.' Allan, the chief operator, warned Lachlain, whatever he might see or hear, not to waver, but to keep the spit incessantly turning. At length the cat of monstrous size appeared ; and after it had set up a horrible howl, said to Lachlain Oer, that if he did not cease before their largest brother came he would never see the face of God. Lachlain answered that he would not cease till he had finished his work if all the devils in hell came. At the end of the fourth day, there sat on the end of the beam in the roof of the barn a black cat with fire-flaming eyes, and there was heard a terrific howl quite across the straits of Mull into Mowen." By this time the elder of the two men was quite exhausted, and sank down in a swoon, but the younger was sufficiently self-possessed to ask for wealth and prosperity, which both received throughout their life-time. Shortly before this, Cameron of Lochiel received at a Taigheirm a small silver shoe which, put on the foot of a new-born son of his family, would give courage and fortitude to the child. One boy, however, had at his birth, a foot too large for the shoe, a defect inherited from his mother, who was not a Cameron. His lack of the magically bestowed courage was apparent at Sheriffmuir, where he fled before the enemy. Tales of Terror, by Matthew Lewis. (See Fiction, Occult
English.) Talisman : An inanimate object which is supposed to possess a supernatural capacity of conferring benefits or powers in contradistinction to the amulet (q.v.), the purpose of which is to ward off evil. It was usually a disc of metal or stone engraved with astrological or magical figures. Talismans were common in ancient Egypt and Babylon. The virtues of astrological talismans were as follows : The astrological figure of Mercury, engraven upon silver, which is the corresponding metal, and according to the pre- scribed rites, gave success in Merchandise ; that of Mars gave victory to the soldier ; that of Venus, beauty, and so of the rest. All such talismans likewise are more power- ful in the hour of their planet's ascendency. There are three general varieties of these potent charms : I. The astronomical, having the characters of the heavenly signs or constellations. 2. The magical, with extraordinary figures, superstitious words, or the names of angels. 3. The mixed, engraven with celestial signs and barbarous words. To these, Fosbrook, in his Encycloptsdia of Antiquities, adds two others : — 4. The sigilla planetarum, composed of Hebrew numeral letters, used by astrologers and fortune- tellers ; and 5. Hebrew names and characters. As an example of the most powerful of the latter, may be men- tioned the sacred name of Jehovah. The famous tephillin or phylacteries, used in Jewish devotion, and which were bound on the head, the arm, and the hand, may be regarded as talismans, and they were the subject of many traditional ceremonies. We may also mention the mezuzoth or schedules for door-posts, and another article of this des- cription mentioned in the following quotation from the Talmud : — " Whoever has the telphillin bound to his head and arm, and the tsitsith thrown over his garments, and the mezuza fixed on his door-post, is protected from sin."
Writing of talismans in his Occult Sciences, Mr. A. E. Waite says :
" I. The Talisman of the Sun must be composed of a
pure and fine gold, fashioned into a circular plate, and well polished on either side. A serpentine circle, enclosed by a pentagram must be engraved on the obverse side with a diamond-pointed graving tool. The reverse must bear a human head in the centre of the six-pointed star of Solomon, which shall itself be surrounded with the name of the solar intelligence Pi-Rhe, written in the characters of the Magi. This talisman is supposed to insure to its bearer the goodwill of influential persons. It is a pre- servative against death by heart disease, syncope, aneurism, and epidemic complaints. It must be composed on a Sunday during the passage of the moon through Leo, and when that luminary is in a favourable aspect with Saturn and the Sun. The consecration consists in the exposure of the talisman to the smoke of a perfume composed of cinnamon, incense, saffron, and red sandal, burnt with laurel-wood, and twigs of dessicated heliotrope, in a new chafing-dish, which must be ground into powder and buried in an isolated spot, after the operation is finished. The talisman must be afterwards encased in a satchel of bright yellow silk, which must be fastened on the breast by an interlaced ribbon of the same material, tied in the form of a cross. In all cases the ceremony should be preceded by the conjuration of the Four, to which the reader has already been referred. The form of consecration, accom- panied by sprinkling with holy water, may be rendered in the following manner :—
" In the name of Elohim, and by the spirit of the living
waters, be thou unto me as a sign of light and a seal of will.
" Presenting it to the smoke of the perfumes : — By
the brazen serpent before which fell the serpents of fire,
be thou unto me as a sign of light and a seal of will.
" Breathing seven times upon the talisman : — By the firmament and the spirit of the voice, be thou unto me as a sign of light and a seal of will.
" Lastly, when placing some grains of purified earth or salt upon the pentacle : — In the name of the salt of the earth and by virtue of the life eternal, be thou unto me as a sign of light and a seal of will.
" II. The Talisman of the Moon should be composed of a circular and well-polished plate of the purest silver, being of the dimensions of an ordinary medal. The image of a crescent, enclosed in a pentagram, should be graven on the obverse side. On the reverse side, a chalice must be encircled by the duadic seal of Solomon, encompassed by the letters of the lunar genius Pi-Job. This talisman is considered a protection to travellers, and to sojourners in strange lands. It preserves from death by drowning, by epilepsy, by dropsy, by apoplexy, and madness. The dangers of a violent end which is predicted by Saturnian aspects in horoscopes of nativity, may be removed by its means. It should be composed on a Monday, when the moon is passing through the first ten degrees of Capricornus or Virgo, and is also well aspected with Saturn. Its con- secration consists in exposure to a perfume composed of jwhite sandal, camphor, aloes, amber, and pulverised seed of cucumber, burnt with dessicated stalks of mugwort, moonwort, and ranunculus, in a new earthen chafing-dish, which must be reduced, after the operation, into powder, and buried in a deserted spot. The talisman must be sewn up in a satchel of white silk, and fixed on the breast by a ribbon of the same colour, interlaced and tied in the form of a cross.
" III. The Talisman of Mars must be composed of a well-polished circular plate of the finest iron, and of the dimensions of an ordinary medal. The symbol of a sword in the centre of a pentagram must be engraved on the obverse side. A lion's head surrounded by a six-pointed star must appear on the reverse face, with the letters of the name Erotosi, the planetary genius of Mars, above the
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outer angles. This talisman passes as a preservative against all combinations of enemies. It averts the chance of death in brawls and battles, in epidemics and fevers, and by corroding ulcers. It also neutralizes the peril of a violent end as a punishment for crime when it is foretold in the horoscope of the nativity.
" This talisman must be composed on a Tuesday, during the passage of the moon through the ten first degrees of Aries or Sagittarius, and when, moreover, it is favourably aspected with Saturn and Mars. The consecration consists in its exposure to the smoke of a perfume composed of dried absinth and rue, burnt in an earthen vessel which has never been previously used, and which must be broken into powder, and buried in a secluded place, when the operation is completed. Finally, the talisman must be sewn up in a satchel of red silk, and fastened on the breast with ribbons of the same material folded and knotted in the form of a cross.
" IV. The Talisman of Mercury must be formed of a circular plate of fixed quicksilver, or according to another account of an amalgam of silver, mercury, and pewter, of the dimensions of an ordinary medal, well-polished on both sides. A winged caduceus, having two serpents twining about it, must be engraved in the centre of a pentagram on the obverse side. The other must bear a dog's head within the star of Solomon, the latter being surrounded with the name of the planetary genius, Pi-Hermes, written in the alphabet of the Magi. This talisman must be composed on a Wednesday, when the moon is passing through the ten first degrees of Gemini or Scorpio, and is well aspected with Saturn and Mercury. The consecration consists in its exposure to the smoke of a perfume composed of ben- zoin, macis, and storax, burnt with the dried stalks of the lily, the narcissus, fumitory, and marjolane, placed in a clay chafing-dish which has never been devoted to any other purpose, and which must, .after the completion of the task, be reduced to powder and buried in an undisturbed place. The Talisman of Mercury is judged to be a defence in all species of commerce and business industry. Buried under the ground in a house of commerce, it will draw customers and prosperity. It preserves all who wear it from epilepsy and madness. It averts death by murder and poison ; it is a safeguard against the schemes of treason and it procures prophetic dreams when it is worn on the head during s'eep. It is fastened on the breast by a ribbon of purple silk folded and tied in the form of a cross, and the talisman is itself enclosed in a satchel of the same material.
" V. The Talisman of Jupiter must be formed of a circular plate of the purest English pewter, having the dimensions of an ordinary medal, and being highly polished on either side. The image of a four-pointed crown in the centre of a pentagram must be engraved on the obverse side. On the other must be the head of an eagle in the centre of the six-pointed star of Solomon, which must be surrounded by the name of the planetary genius Pi-Zeous, written in the arcane alphabet.
" This talisman must be composed on a Thursday, during the passage of the moon through the first ten degrees of Libra, and when it is also in a favourable aspect with Saturn and Jupiter. The consecration consists in its exposure to the smoke of a perfume composed of incense, ambergris, balm, grain of Paradise, saffron, and macis, which is the second coat of the nutmeg. These must be burnt with wood of the oak.poplar, fig tree, and pomegranate, and placed in a new earthen dish, which must be ground into powder, and buried in a quiet spot, at the end of the ceremony. The talisman must be wrapped in a satchel of sky-blue silk, suspended on the breast by a ribbon of the same material, folded and fastened in the form of a cross.
"The Talisman of Jupiter is held to attract to the wearer the benevolence and sympathy of everyone. It averts anxieties, favours honourable enterprises, and augments well-being in proportion to social condition. It is a pro- tection against unforeseen accidents, and the perils of a violent death when it is threatened by Saturn in the horo- scope of nativity. It also preserves from death by affec- tions of the liver, by inflammation of the lungs, and by that cruel affection of the spinal marrow, which is termed tabes dorsalis in medicine.
"VI. The Talisman of Venus must be formed of a circular plate of purified and well-polished copper. It must be of the ordinary dimensions of a medal, perfectly polished on both its sides. It must bear on the obverse face the letter G inscribed in the alphabet of the Magi, and enclosed in a pentagram. A dove must be engraved on the reverse, in the centre of the six-pointed star, which must be surrounded by the letters which compose the name of the planetary Genius Suroth. This talisman must be composed on a Friday, during the passage of the moon through the first ten degrees of Taurus or Virgo, and when that luminary is well aspected with Saturn and Venus. Its consecration consists in its exposure to the smoke of a perfume composed of violets and roses, burnt with olive wood in a new earthen chafing-dish, which must be ground into powder at the end of the operation and buried in a solitary spot. The talisman must, finally, be sewn up in a satchel of green or rose-coloured silk, which must be fastened on the breast by a band of the same material, folded and tied in the form of a cross.
The Talisman of Venus is accredited with extraordinary power in cementing the bonds of love and harmony between husbands and wives. It averts irom those who wear it the spite and machinations of hatred. It preserves women from the terrible and fatal diseases which are known as cancer. It averts from both men and women all danger of death, to which they may be accidentally or purposely exposed. It counterbalances the unfortunate presages which may appear in the horoscope of nativity. Its last and most singular quality is its power to change the ani- mosity of an enemy into a love and devotion which will be proof against every temptation, and it rests on the sole condition that such a person should be persuaded to partake of a liquid in which the talisman has been dipped.
" VII. The Talisman of Saturn must be composed of a circular plate of refined and purified lead, being of the dimensions of an ordinary medal, elaborately polished. On the obverse side must be engraven with the diamond- pointed tool which is requisite in all these talismanic operations, the image of a sickle enclosed in a pentagram. The reverse side must bear a bull's head, enclosed in the star of Solomon, and surrounded by the mysterious letters which compose, in the alphabet of the Magi, the name of the planetary Genius Tempha. The person who is intended to 'wear this talisman must engrave it himself, without witnesses, and without taking any one into his confidence.
" This talisman must be composed on a Saturday when the moon is passing through the first ten degrees of Taurus or Capricorn, and is favourably aspected with Saturn. It must be consecrated by exposure to the smoke of a perfume composed of alum, assa-foetida, cammonee, and sulphur, which must be burnt with cypress, the wood of the ash tree, and sprays of black hellebore, in a new earthen chafing-dish, which must be reduced into powder at the end of the performance, and buried in a' deserted place. The talisman must, finally, be sewn up in a satchel of black silk and fastened on the breast with a ribbon of the same material, folded and tied in the form of a cross. The Talisman of Saturn was affirmed to be a safeguard against
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death by apoplexy and cancer, decay in the bones, con- sumption, dropsy, paralysis, and decline ; it was also a preservative against the possibility of being entombed in a trance, against the danger of violent death by secret crime, poison, or ambush. If the head of the army in war-time were to bury the Talisman of Saturn in a place which it was feared might fall into the hands of the enemy, the limit assigned by the presence of the talisman could not be over- stepped by the opposing host, which would speedily with- draw in discouragement, or in the face of a determined assault." (See Ceremonial Magic.) Talmud, The : From the Hebrew lamad, to learn ; the name of the great code of Jewish civil and canonical law. It is divided into two portions^the Mishna and the Gernara ; the former constituted the text and the latter was a commentary and supplement. But besides being the basis of a legal code, it is also a collection of Jewish poetry and legend. The Mishna is a development of the laws contained in the Pentateuch. It is divided into six sedarim or orders, each containing a number of tractates, which are again divided into peraqim or chapters. The sedarim are : (i) Zeraim, which deals with agriculture ; (2) Moed, with festivals and sacrifices ; (3) Nashim, with the law regarding women ; (4) Nezaqin, with civil law ; (5) Qodashim, with the sacrificial law ; and (6) Tohoroth or Tah, with purifications. The Mishna was supposed to have been handed down by Ezra and to be in part the work of Joshua, David or Solomon, and originally communicated orally by the Deity in the time of Moses. There are two recensions — the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Talmud of Babylon ; which latter besides the sedarim mentioned contains seven additional treatises which are regarded as extra-canonical. The first is supposed to have been finally edited towards the close of the fourth century A.D., and the second by Rabbi Ashi, President of the Academy of Syro in Babylon, somewhere in the fourth century. Though revised from time to time before then, both versions have been greatly corrupted through the interpolation of gross traditions. The rabbinical decisions in the Mishna are entitled helacoth and the traditional narratives haggadah. The cosmogony of the Talmud assumes that the universe has been developed by means of a series of cataclysms : world after world was destroyed until the Creator made the present globe and saw that itwas good. In 1,he wonderful treatise on the subject by Deutsch which first appeared in the Quarterly Review in 1867, and is reprinted in his Literary Remains, the following passage appears : —
" The hoiv of the creation was not mere matter of specu- lation. The co-operation of angels, whose existence was warranted by Scripture, and a whole hierarchy of whom had been built up under Persian influences, was distinctly denied. In a discussion about the day of their creation, it is agreed on all hands that there were no angels at first, lest men might say, ' Michael spanned out the firmament on the south, and Gabriel to the north.' There is a distinct foreshadowing of the Gnostic Demiurgos — - that antique link between the Divine Spirit and the world of matter — to be found in the Talmud. What with Plato were the Ideas, with Philo the Logos, with the Kabalists the ' World of Aziluth,' what the Gnostics called more emphatically the wisdom (sophi :), or power (dunamis), and Plotinus the nous, that the Talmudical authors call Meta- tion. There is a good deal, in the post-captivity Talmud, about the Angels, borrowed from the Persian. The Archangels or Angelic princes are seven in number, and their Hebrew names and functions correspond almost exactly to those of their Persian prototypes. There are also hosts of ministering angels, the Persian Yazatas, whose functions, besides that of being messengers, were two-fold —
to praise God and to be guardians of man. In their first capacity they are daily created by God's breath out of a stream of fire that rolls its waves under the supernal throne. In their second, two of them accompany every man, and for every new good deed man acquires a new guardian angel, who always watches over his steps. When a righteous man died, three hosts of angels descend from the celestial battlements to meet him. One says (in the words of Scripture), ' He shall go in peace ' ; the second takes up the strain and says, ; Who has walked in righteousness ' ; and the third concludes, ' Let him come in peace and rest upon his bed.' In like manner, when the wicked man passes away, three hosts of wicked angels are ready to escort him, but their address is not couched in any spirit of consolation or encouragement."
It would be. impossible in this place to give a resume of the traditional matter contained in the Talmud. Suffice it to say that it is of great extent. It has been considered by some authorities that a great many of the traditional tales have a magical basis, and that magical secrets are contained in them ; but this depends entirely upon the interpretation put upon them, and the subject is one which necessitates the closest possible study. Tam 0' Shanter : (See Scotland.)
Tannhauser : A mediaeval German legend which relates how a minstrel and knight of that name, passing by the Horselberg, or Hill of Venus, entered therein in answer to a call, and remained there with the enchantress, living an unholy life. After a time he grew weary of sin, and longing to return to clean living, he forswore the worship of Venus and left her. He then made a pilgrimage to Rome, to ask pardon of the Pope, 'but when he was told by Urban IV., himself that the papal staff would as soon blossom as such a sinner as Tannhauser be forgiven, he returned to Venus. Three days later, the Pope's staff did actually blossom, and he sent messengers into every country to find the despairing minstrel, but to no purpose, Tann- hauser had disappeared. The story has a mythological basis which has been laid over by mediaeval Christian thought, and the original hero of which has been displaced by a more modern personage, just as the Venus of the existing legend is the mythological Venus only in name. She is really the Lady Holda, a German earth-goddess. Tannhauser was a " minnesinger " or love-minstrel of the middle of the thirteenth century. He was very popular among the minnesingers of that time and the restless and intemperate life he led probably marked him out as the hero of such a legend as has been recounted. He was the author of many ballads of considerable excellence, which are published in the second part of the " Minnesinger " (Von der Hagen, Leipsic, 1838) and in the sixth volume of Haupt's Zeitschrift fur deutsches Althertum. The most authentic version of this legend is given in Uhland's Alte hock und niederdeutsche Volkslieder (Stuttgart, 1845). Tappan-Richmond, Mrs. Cora L. V. : Perhaps the best known of all the inspirational speakers who have appeared since the beginning of the spiritualistic movement. As a child Mrs. Tappan-Richmond — then Miss Scott — spent some time in the Hopedale Community (q.v.), so that she was early initiated into the mysteries of spiritualism. At the age of sixteen she went to New York, and became an " inspired " lecturer on spiritualism, in which capacity she soon became famous throughout America. Coming to Britain in 1873 she was warmly received by the spiritual- ists in this country, and for a number of years gave freqeunt trance discourses, characterised by their rhythm and fluency, and the comparative clarity of their ideas-. Tarot, or Tarots, is the French name for a species of playing- cards, originally used for the purpose of divination, and still employed by fortune-tellers. Tarot cards, however,
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form part of an ordinary pack in certain countries of southern Europe, whence the name of tarocchi given to an Italian game. The derivation of the word is uncertain. One suggestion is that these cards were so called because they were tarolees on the back ; that is, marked with plain or dotted lines crossing diagonally. Confirmation of this theory may be found in the German form of the word ; a tarock-karte being a card chequered on the back. Not improbably, however, there is here a confusion between cause and effect.
De 1' Hoste Ranking, who dismisses as " obviously worthless " the explanations of Count de Gebelin, Vaillant and Mathers, refers the name to the Hungarian Gipsy tar, a pack of cards, and thence to the Hindustani taru. The figures on these cards are emblematic, and are believed by many to embody the esoteric religion of ancient Egypt and India ; but on this subject there is much difference of opinion.
" The tarot pack most in use," observes Ranking, "' con- sists of seventy-eight cards, of which twenty-two are more properly known as the tarots, and are considered as the ' keys ' of the tarot ; these correspond with the twenty- two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, or, according to Falconnier and to Margiotta, with the ' alphabet of the Magi.' The suits are four : wands, sceptres, or clubs, answering to diamonds ; cups, chalices, or goblets, answering to hearts ; swords, answering to spades ; money, circles, or pentacles, answering to clubs. Each suit consists of fourteen cards, the ace, and nine others, and four court cards : king, queen, knight, and knave. The four aces form the keys of their respective suits." As already indicated, the twenty-two " keys of the tarot," which consist of various emblematic figures, are assumed to be hieroglyphic symbols of the occult meanings of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet ; or, alternatively, " the alphabet of the Magi." " Immense antiquity is claimed for these symbols," observes Ranking. " AUiette or (by trans- position) Etteilla, a French mystic of the beginning of the nineteenth century, ascribed their origin to Hermes Trisme- gistus, under the name of The Book of Thoth, or The Golden Book of Hermes. Others have sought to identify the tarot with the sibylline leaves." Raymond Lully (1235-1315) is said to have based his great work, Ars Generalis sive Magna, on the application of the occult philosophy con- tained in the tarot.
The idea tiiat the tarot was introduced into Europe by the Gypsies appears to have been first broached by Vaillant, who had lived for many years among the Gypsies, by whom he was instructed in their traditional lore. Much of the information thus obtained is incorporated in Les R6mes, histoire vraie des vrais Bohemiens (c. 1853), La Bible des Bohemiens (i860), and La Clef Magique de la Fiction et du Fait (1863). Vaillant's theory has been fully accepted by a French writer, " Papus," who published in 1889 Le Tarot des Bohemiens : Le Plus Ancien Livre du Monde ;describing it as " la clef absolue de la science occulte." " The Gypsies possess a Bible," he asserts ; " yes, this card game called the Tarot which the Gypsies possess is the Bible of Bibles. It is a marvellous book, as Count de Gebelin and especially Vaillant have realized. Under the names of Tarot, Thora, Rota, this game has formed successively the basis of the synthetic teaching of all the ancient peoples."
Although it may not be possible to accept this dictum in its entirety, it is of interest to note that Ranking con- cludes that these and all other playing-cards' were intro- duced into Europe by the Gypsies. " I would submit,' he says, writing in 1908, " that from internal evidence we may deduce that the tarots were introduced by a race speaking an Indian dialect ; that the form of the Pope (as portrayed in the tarots) shows they had been long in a
country where the orthodox Eastern Church predominated ; and the form of head-dress of the king, together with the shape of the eagle on the shield, shows that this was governed by Russian Grand Dukes, who had not yet assumed the Imperial insignia. This seems to me confirmatory of the widespread belief that it is to the Gypsies we are indebted for our knowledge of playing-cards." It will be seen that this conclusion is based upon independent judgment. As early, however, as 1865 — two years after the appearance of Vaillant's last book — E, S. Taylor supported the same hypothesis in his History of Playing Cards. Willshire (Descriptive Catalogues of Cards in the British Museum, 1877) controverts Taylor's conclusion, on the ground that " whether the Zingari be of-JEgyptian or Indian origin, they did not appear in Europe before 14 17, when cards had been known for some time." But this objection is nullified by trJe fact that the presence of Gypsies, in Europe is now placed at a date considerably anterior to 1417. There was, for example, a well-established feudum Acin- ganorum, or Gypsy barony, in the island of Corfu in the fourteenth century.
To examine in detail the various emblematic figures of the tarot would demand a disproportionate amount of space. Ranking's reference to the Pope and the King points to two of these twenty-two figures. The others are : the Female Pope, the Queen, Osiris Triumphant, The Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Strength, Marriage, The Philosopher, The Juggler, Death, The Devil, The Fool, The Lightning-struck Tower, The Sun, The Moon, The Star, The Universe, The Last Judgment. There is great diversity of opinion, even among '" initiates," as to the meaning of these symbols. They are very fully discussed in the work of "Papus" already cited; to which the reader is specially referred. On the whole, there is much to be said in favour of the theory that the origin of the tarot is traceable to the esoteric philosophy of the schools of ancient Egypt and Chaldea, by whatever means it has found its way into Europe.
In addition to the works already cited, see Le Monde Primitif, by Count de Gebelin, Vol. VIII., Paris, 1781 ; Les Origines des Cartes a Jouer, by Merlin, Paris, 1869 ; The Tarot, by Mathers, London, 1888 ; L' Art de Tirer les Cartes, by Magus, Paris, 1895 ; Le walladisme, by Margistta, Grenoble, 1895 ; Magie, by Bourgeat, Paris, 1895 ; Les XXII. Lames HermHiques du Tarot, by Falconnier, Paris, 1896; A. E. Waite, Key to the Tarot, 1910 ; and J. W. Brodie-Innes, The Tarot Cards, in the " Occult Review" for February, 1919. David MacRitchie.
Tatwic Yoga : meaning " The Science of Breath." The title of a little book translated from the Sanscrit some years ago by the Pandit Rama Prasad. The " breath " referred to is the life-giving breath of Brahman, and in it are contained the five elementary principles of nature, corresponding to the five senses of man. These principles are know as Tatwas, and of them the body is composed. The knowledge of the Tatwas is believed to confer wonder- ful power ; and to this end all undertakings must be com- menced at times which are known to be propitious from the movements of the Tatwas in the body. An important method of yoga practice is given in the book, which will certainly assure marvellous results.
Taurabolmin : (See Mithraic Mysteries.)
Taxil, Leo : The pseudonum of M. Gabriel Jogaud-Pages, who in his works The Brethren of the Three Points and Are there Women in Freemasonry ? has accused the Masonic Fraternity of the practice of Satanism and sorcery. His assertions are of the most debatable description.
Tears on Shutters : It is mentioned in Pennant's Tour that in some parts of Scotland it was the custom, on the death of any person of distinction, to paint on the doors and window-
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shutters white tadpole-like shapes, on a black ground. These were intended to represent tears, and were a sign of general mourning.
Telekinesis : A term denoting the hypothetical faculty of moving material objects by thought alone. The move- ment of objects without contact — a frequent phenomenon of the seance-room, including in its wider sense rappings, table-tiltings, levitations, the conveyance of apports, practically all material phenomena, with the possible exception of materialisation — is exceeding difficult of explanation on rational grounds, and the attempt to explain it thus, without the intervention of discarnate spirits, has given rise to the telekinetic theory, which holds that all these varied feats are accomplished by the thoughts of medium and sitters, independent of muscular energy, whether direct or indirect. How thought can possibly act in this immediate way on inanimate matter is beyond comprehension in our present state of knowledge. The evidence for telekinesis is very much less than, say, that for telepathy. The telekinetic theory is akin to that offered by the magnetists, who regarded a fiuidic or energetic emanation as the cause of the movements.
Telepathy : Of the various branches of psychic phenomena there is none which engages more serious attention at the present day than telepathy or thought transference. The idea of inter-communication between brain and brain, by other means than that of the ordinary sense-channels, is a theory deserving of the most careful consideration, not only in its simple aspect as a claimant for recognition as an important scientific fact, but also because there is practically no department of psychic phenomena on which it has not some bearing. To take one instance — a few decades ago the so-called " rationalist " view of ghosts was simply that supernatural phenomena did not exist, but now a telepathic explanation is offered, more or less tentatively, by an ever-increasing body of intelligent opinion. There are those who, while admitting the genuineness of psychic phenomena are yet satisfied that pure psychology provides a field sufficiently wide for their researches, and who are loath to extend its boundaries to include an unknown spirit-world where research becomes a hundred-fold more difficult. To such students the theory of telepathy affords an obvious way of escape from that element of the super- natural to which they are opposed, since it is generally agreed that in seeking an explanation of thought trans- ference it is a physical process which must be looked for. In the words of Sir William Crookes : " It is known that the action of thought is accompanied by certain molecular movements in the brain, and here we have physical vibra- tions capable from their extreme minuteness of acting direct on individual molecules, while their rapidity approaches that of the internal and external movements of the atoms themselves."
There is therefore nothing to render the theory of thought- vibrations impossible, or even improbable, though the difficulty of proving it has yet to be overcome. We have, however, to contend with the fact that in many cases on record the most vivid impressions have been transmitted from a distance, thus showing that the distinctness of the impression does not necessarily decrease in proportion as the distance becomes greater. In this case we must either conclude that there are other factors to be taken into account, such as the varying intensity of the impression, and the varying degress of sensitiveness in the percipient, or we must conclude, as some authorities have done, that telepathic communication goes direct from one mind to another, irrespective of distance, just as thought can travel to the oppostie side of the globe with as much ease as it can pass to the next room. Other authorities claim that the transmission of thought is on a different plane from any
physical process, though, as the action of thought itself has a physical basis, it is difficult to understand why a supernatural explanation should be thought necessary in the case of telepathy. In the former connection it may be remarked that trivial circumstances can be transmitted to a percipient near at hand, while as a rule only the more intense and violent impressions are received from a dis- tance. The question whether the telepathic principle is diffusive, and spreads equally in all directions, or whether it can be projected directly toward one individual, is still a vexed one. If it be in the form of ethereal vibrations, it would certainly seem easier to regard it as diffusive. On the other hand, practical experience has shown that in many instances, even when acting from a distance, it -affects only one or two individuals. However, this might be explained naturally enough by the assumption that each transmitter requires a special receiver — i.e., a mind in sympathy with itself. But as yet no explanation is forthcoming, and the most that can be done is to suspend judgment for the present, knowing that only the possi- bility, or, at most, the likelihood, of such a mode of com- munication has been proved, and that of its machinery nothing can be said beyond the vaguest surmise.
The theory of thought transference is no new one. Like gravitation, it is a daughter of the hoary science of astrology, but while gravitation is a full-grown fact, universally accepted of science, telepathy, in its scientific aspect, is as yet an infant, and a weakling at that. However, it is not difficult to understand how both should spring from astrology, nor to trace the connection between them. The wise men of ancient days supposed the stars to radiate an invisible influence which held them together in their course, and which affected men and events on our planet, receiving in their turns some subtle emanation from the earth and its inhabitants. From this idea it was but a step to assume that a radiant influence, whether magnetic or otherwise, passed from one human being to another. The doctrine of astral influence was shared by Paracelsus and his alchem- istic successors until the epoch of Sir Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the law of gravitation brought the age of astrology to a close. To the conception of magnetic influence colour was lent by the practices of Mesmer, and his followers, who ascribed to the " magnetic fluid " the phenomena of hypnosis. The analogy between the mysterious and inexplicable force binding worlds together and the subtle influence joining mind with mind is suffici- ently obvious, but the difficulty is that while gravitation may be readily demonstrated, and never fails to give certain definite results, experiments in telepathy reveal the phenomena only in the most spasmodic fashion and cannot be depended upon to succeed even under the most favourable conditions. Nevertheless such systematized experiments as have been conducted from time to time have more than justified the interest which has been dis- played in telepathy. Science, wh ch had so long held herself aloof from hypnosis, was not desirous of repeating her error in a new connection. In 1 882 the Society for Psychical Re- search (q.v.) came into being, numbering among its members some of the most distinguished men in the country. It had for its object the elucidation of the so-called " super- natural " phenomena which were exciting so much popular interest and curiosity ; and foremost among these was the phenomenon of thought transference, or, as it has since been christened, telepathy. Viewing their subject in a purely scientific light, trained in the handling of evidence, and resolved to pursue truth with open and unbiassed minds, they did much to bring the study of psychic phenom- ena into a purer and more dignified atmosphere. They recognized the untrustworthiness of human nature in general, and the prevalence of fraud even where no object
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was to be gained but the gratification of a perverted vanity, and their experiments were conducted under the most rigid conditions, with every precaution taken against conscious or unconscious deception. Among the most valuable evidence obtained from experimental thought transference was that gleaned by Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick (q.v.) from their experiments at Brighton in 1889-91. In this series the percipients — clerks and shop assistants — were hypnotized. Sometimes they were asked to visualize, on a blank card, an image or picture chosen by the agent. At other times the agent would choose one of a bundle of cards numbered from 10 to 90, and the percipient was required to state the number on the picked card, which was done correctly in a surprising number of cases. We find, curiously enough, that the results varied in proportion as the agent and percipient were near or far apart, and were materially affected by the intervention of a door, or even a curtain, between the two, but this was ascribed to a lack of confidence on the part of the percipient, or to such physical causes as fatigue or ennui, rather than to the limited scope of the telepathic principle. On the whole we are justified in thinking that chance alone would not account for the number of correct replies given by the hypnotised subject.
Towards the end of the century a criticism was levelled at these experiments by Messrs. Hansen and Lehmann, of Copenhagen, Whose belief it was that the phenomenon known as " subconscious whispering," together with hyperesthesia on the part of the percipient, would suffice to produce the results obtained by the Sidgwicks. This suggested explanation, while it does not cover the entire ground has some right to our consideration. If hypnotism reveals so marvellous a refinement of the perceptions, may not some elements of hyperesthesia linger in the sub- consciousness of the normal individual ? If dreams contain in the experience of almost everyone, such curious examples of deduction, may not the mental under-current follow in waking moments a process of reasoning of which the higher consciousness knows nothing ? It may, and it does. That " other self," which is never quite so much in the background as we imagine, sees and hears a thousand things of which we are unconscious, and which come to the surface in dreams, it may be long afterwards ; and there is no reason to suppose that it might not see and hear indica- tions too slight to be perceived in a grosser sphere of consciousness and thus account for some cases of " thought transference." On the other hand, we have evidences of telepathy acting at a distance where sub-conscious whisper- ing and hyperesthesia are obviously out of the question. Though hyperesthesia may be advanced as a plausible explanation in some — or, indeed, in many — instances of telepathy, it cannot be accepted as a complete explanation unless it covers all cases, and that it certainly does not. So we must look elsewhere for the explanation, though it is not without reluctance that we quit a theory so admir- ably adapted to known conditions that it scarcely requires a stretching of established physiological laws to make telepathy fit as naturally as wireless telegraphy into the scheme of things.
As has been earlier mentioned, practically every branch of psychic phenomena would be vitally affected by the scientific proof of telepathy. Coincident dreams might, in the majority of cases, be easily explained away. The visions of the crystal-gazer, the trance-utterances of the medium, could be accounted for in the same manner, to- gether with the occasional apparitions visiting the normal individual. Apparitions of the dead, however, do not so readily submit themselves to a telepathic explanation. If they are genuine apparitions, and not meaningless hallu- cinations, we must either admit that the impulse directing the impression comes from the surviving spirit of the
deceased agent, or that it was transmitted while he was yet alive. In the latter case we are confronted with a difficulty — how to account for the time which may elapse between the death of the agent and the appearance of the vision. To bridge the gap thus formed Mr. Podmore (q.v.), in his work on Telepathic Hallucinations, has produced his theory of latent impressions, which successfully overcomes the difficulty. According to Mr. Podmore, impressions transmitted from one mind to another may remain latent for a considerable time awaiting a favourable opportunity for development. Thus the apparition of one who been dead for some time may result from an impression transmitted during his lifetime, which the percipient has retained, until a chance combination of ideas brings it into the upper stratum of consciousness in the form of a hallu- cination. Obviously the theory of latent impressions may bear on other phenomena than that of apparitions, and serve to fill in gaps which might otherwise remain blank.
It is interesting to compare the tone of criticisms pro- nounced on telepathy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century with that which characterises later utterances on the subject. Science is no longer ashamed to pursue her researches in psychic phenomena ; thought transference no longer appears to intellectual people as a doubtful by-path of psychology, and the change argues that at least a fair attempt will be made to reach the truth of the matter.
Literature. — Frank Podmore, Telepathic Hallucina- tions ; The Naturalisation of the Supernatural ; Apparitions and Thought Transference ; F. W. H. Myers, Human Per- sonality ; A. Lang, Making of Religion ; E. Parish, Hallucinations and Illusions ; E. Gurney, Phantasms of the Living ; Miss Goodrich Freer, Essays in Psychical Research ; Proceedings and Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. M. J.
Tellurism : A name applied by Kieser to Animal Magnetism (q.v.)
Temeraire, Charles A. : Duke of Burgundy. He disappeared after the battle of Morat ; and it was said by his chroniclers that he was carried off by the devil, like Roderick. Some maintained, however, that he had withdrawn to a remote spot and become a hermit.
Templars : The Knights Templars of the Temple of Solomon were a military order, founded by a Burgundian, Hugues de Payns, and Godeffroi de St. Omer, a French Knight, in 1 119, for the purpose of protecting pilgrims journeying into the Holy Land. They were soon joined by other knights, and a religious chivalry speedily gathered around this nucleus. Baldwin I., King of Jerusalem, gave them as headquarters a portion of his palace, contiguous to a mosque which tradition asserted was part of the Temple of Solomon, and from this building they took their designa- tion. One of the purposes of the Society was to convert and render useful knights of evil life, and so many of these entered the order, as to bring it under the suspicion of the Church, but there is every reason to believe that its founders were instigated by motives of the deepest piety, and that they lived in a condition akin to poverty, notwithstanding the numerous gifts that were showered upon them, is the best proof of this. They had properly constituted officials, a Grand Master, knights, chaplains, sergeants, craftsmen, sensechals, marechals, and commanders. The order had its own clergy exempt from the jurisdiction of diocesan rule, and its chapters were held as a rule in secret. The dress of the brotherhood was a white mantle with a red cross for unmarried knights, and a black or brown mantle with a red cross for the others. The discipline was of the very strictest description and the food and clothing stipu- lated were rough and not abundant. By the middle of the twelfth century, the new order had got a footing in
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nearly all the Latin kingdoms of Christendom. Its power grew apace, and its organisation became widespread. It formed, as it were, a nucleus of the Christian effort against the paganism of the east, and its history may be said to be that of the crusades. Moreover it became a great trading corporation, the greatest commercial agency between the east and west, and as such amassed immense wealth. On the fall of the Latin kingdom in Palestine, the Templars had perforce to withdraw from that country, and although they continued to harass the Saracen power they made but little headway against it, and in reality appear to have undertaken commercial pursuits in preference to those of a more warlike character. When the Temple was at the apogee of its power, its success aroused the envy and avarice of Philip IV. of France, who commenced a series of attacks upon it. The election of Pope Clement V., who was devoted to his interests, and a denunciation of the order for heresy and immorality gave Philip his chance. For several generations before this time, strange stories had been circulating concerning the secret rites of the Templars which were assisted by the very strict privacy of these meetings, which were usually held at day-break with closely-guarded doors. It was alleged that the most horrible blasphemies and indecencies took place at these meetings, that the cross was trampled under foot and spat upon, and that an idol named Baphomet (q.v.) (Baphe metios, baptism of wisdom) was adored, or even the Devil in the shape of a black cat. Other tales told of the roasting of children, and the smearing of the idol with their burning fat, and other nonsense was wildly promulgated by the credulous and ignorant. A certain Esquian de Horian, pretended to betray the " secret " of the Templars to Philip, and they were denounced to the Inquisition ; and Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master, who had been called from Cyprus to France, was arrested with one hundred and forty of his brethren in Paris and thrown into prison. A universal arrest of the Templars throughout France followed. The wretched knights were tortured en masse, and as was usually the case, under such compulsion, con- fessed to the most grotesque crimes, and the most damning confession of all, was that of the Grand Master himself, who confessed that he had been guilty of denying Christ and spitting upon the Cross, but repudiated all charges of immorality in indignant terms.
The process dragged on slowly during more than three years, in consequence of the jealousies which arose among those who were more or less interested in its prosecution. The pope wished to bring it entirely under the jurisdiction of the church, and to have it decided at Rome. The king, on the other hand, mistrusting the pope, and resolved on the destruction of the order, and that none but himself should reap advantage of it, decided that it should be judged at Paris under his own personal influence. The prosecution was directed by his ministers, Nogaret, and Enguerrand de Marigny. The Templars asserted their innocence, and demanded a fair trial ; but they found few advocates who would undertake their defence, and they were subjected to hardships and tortures which forced many of them into confessions dictated to them by their persecutors. During this interval, the pope's orders were carried into other countries, ordering the arrest of the Templars, and the seizure of their goods, and everywhere the same charges were brought against them, and the same means adopted to procure their condemnation, although they were not everywhere subjected to the same severity as in France. At length, in the spring of 1316, the grand process was opened in Paris, and an immense number of Templars, brought from all parts of the kingdom, under- went a public examination. A long act of accusation was read, some of the heads of which were, that the Templars,
at their reception into the order, denied Christ (and some- times they denied expressly all the saints) declaring that he was not God truly, but a false prophet, a man who had been punished for his crimes ; that they had no hope of salvation through him ; that they always, at their initiation into the order, spit upon the cross, and trod it under foot ; that they did this especially on Good Friday ; that they worshipped a certain cat, which sometimes appeared to them in their congregation ; that they did not believe in any of the sacraments of the church ; that they took secret oaths which they were bound not. to reveal ; that the brother who officiated at the reception of a new brother kissed the naked body of the latter, often in a very unbe- coming manner ; that each different province of the order had its idol, which was a head, having sometimes three faces, and at others only one ; or sometimes a human skull ; these idols they worshipped in their chapters and congre- gations, believing that they had the power of making them rich, and of causing the trees to flourish, and the earth to become fruitful ; that they girt themselves with cords, with which these idols had been superstitiously touched ; that those who betrayed the secrets of their order, or were disobedient, were thrown into prison, and often put to death ; that they held their chapters secretly and by night, and placed a watch to prevent them from any danger of interruption or discovery ; and that they believed the Grand Master alone had the power of absolving them from their sins. The publication of these charges, and the agitation which had been designedly got up, created such a horror throughout France, that the Templars who died during the process were treated as condemned heretics, and burial in consecrated ground was refused to their remains.
When we read over the numerous examinations of the Templars, in other countries, as well as in France, we cannot but feel convinced that some of these charges had a degree of foundation, though perhaps the circumstances on which they were founded were misunderstood. A very great number of knights agreed to the general points of the formula of initiation, and we cannot but believe that they did deny Christ, and that they spat and trod upon the cross. The words of the denial were, Je reney Deu or Je reney Jhesu, repeated thrice ; but most of those who confessed having gone through this ceremony, declared that they did it with repugnance, and that they spat beside the cross, and not on it. The reception took place in a secret room, with closed doors ; the candidate was compelled to take off part or all of his garments (very rarely the latter), and then he was kissed on various parts of the body. One of the knights examined, Guischard de Marzici, said he remembered the reception of Hugh de Marhaud, of the diocese of Lyons, whom he saw taken into a small room, which was closed up so that no one could see or hear what took place within ; but that when, after some time, he was let out, he was very pale, and looked as though he were troubled and amazed Quit valde pallidus et quasi lurbatus et stupej actus .) In conjunction, however, with these strange and revolting ceremonies, there were others that showed a reverence for the Christian church and its ordinances, a profound faith in Christ, and the con- sciousness that the partaker of them was entering into a holy vow.