C. Lyell's nomenclature for the ages and periods, and that whea we

• 9« the Hlbbfrrt I,ecturr« for 1M7. p. 33.
♦ Prom a Report of tlw Ilibbert I.«Murr». 1887. /^tnres an the Origin and Gron>tA ^fHHig^m^ ct nUitraUd by the Religion 0/ the A nctent BatyJontanx. By A. H. Sayce.
CONTRADICTORY HYPOTHESES.
talk of the Secondary and Tertiary age, of the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene periods — this is simply to make our facts more compre- hensible. Since these ages and periods have not yet been allowed £xed and determined durations, two-and-a-half and fifteen million 3*ears being assigned at different times to one and the same age (the Tertiary); and since no two Geologists or Naturalists seem to agree on this point — Esoteric Teachings may remain quite indifferent to the appearance of man in the Secondary or the Tertiary age. If the latter age may be allowed even so much as fifteen million years* duration — well and good; for the Occult Doctrine, jealously guarding its r^al and correct figTires so far as concerns the First, Second, and two-thirds of the Third Root-Race, gives clear information upon one point only — the age of Vaivasvata Manu's humanity.*
Another definite statement is that during the so-called Eocene period the Continent to which the Fourth Race belonged, and on which it lived and perished, showed the first symptoms of sinking, and that it was in the Miocene age that it was finally destroyed — save the small island mentioned by Plato. These points have now to be checked by scientific data.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC SPECtTL.\TlONS ABOUT THE AGES OF THE GLOBE, ANIMAL EVOLUTION, AND MAN.
May we not be permitted to throw a glance at the works of specialists ? The work on World-Life: Comparative Geology, by Prof. A. Winchell, furnishes us with curious data. Here we find an opponent of the nebular theory smiting with all the force of the hammer of his odium theologicutn on the rather contradictory hypotheses of the great stars of Science, in the matter of sidereal and cosmic phenomena based on their respective relations to terrestrial durations. The "too imaginative physicists and naturalists" do not fare very easily under this shower of their own speculative computations placed side by side, and cut rather a sorry figure. Thus he writes:
Sir William Thoiupsoa. on the basis of ttie observed principles of cooling^, coo* eludes that no more than lo million years [elsewhere he makes it 100,000.000] can have elapsed since the temperature of the earth was sufficiently reduced to sustain vegetable life.t Helmholz calculates that so million years would suffice for the
* Sec anpra " Cliroootogy of the Brlhnuutii."
t Nat. Pkiiot.t by Thouuoa and Tait, App. D. Trans. Royal Soc.. Bdin., xxiii. pt. t.
734
THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
original nebula lo condense to the present dimensions of the sun. Prof. S. Newcomb requires only lo millions to attain a temperature of 2ia° Fahr.* CroU estimates 70 miJlion years for the diflFusion of the heat. . . .t Biscbof calculates that 350 million years would be required for the earth to cool from a teniperatnre of a.ooof to 200* Centigrade. Reade, basing his estimate on observed rates of denu- dation, demands 500 million years since sedimentation began in Europe, J LyeU ventured a rough guess of 340 million j'cars; Darwin thought 300 million vear> demanded by the organic transformations which his theory contemplates* and Huxley is disposed to demand 1,000 millions [!!]. . . . Some biologists . . . seem lo close their eyes tight and leap at one bound into the abyss of millions of years, of which they have no more adequate estimate than of infinity.^
Then he proceeds to give what he takes to be more correct geological figures: a few will suffice.
According to Sir William Thompson "the whole incrusted age of the world is 80,000,000 years"; and agreeably with Prof. Houghton's calcu- lations of a minimum limit for the time since the elevation of Europe and Asia, three hypothetical ages for three possibie and diflferent modes of upheaval are given, varying from the modest figure of 640.730 years, through 4,170,000 years to the tremendous figure of 27,491,000 years!!
This is enough, as one can see, to cover our claims for the fonx Continents and even the figures of the BrShmans.
Further calculations, the details of which the reader may find in Prof. Wincheirs workJI bring Houghton to an approximation of the • sedimentary age of the globe — 1 1,700.000 years. These figures are found too small by the author, who forthwith extends them to 37,000,000 years.
Again, according to Croll,^ 2,500,000 years "represents the time since the beginning of the Tertiary age" in one work; and according to another modification of his view, 15,000,000 only have elapsed since the beginning of the Eocene period,** this, being the first of the three Tertiary periods, leaves the student suspended between two-aud-a-half and fifteen millions. But if one has to hold to the former moderate figures, then the whole incrusted age of the world would be 131.600.000 years.ft
• f^uiar Astronomy, p. 509.
t Clinuxte and Time, p. ^s>'
% Address, Uvcrpool Geological Sodety, 1876.
\ Wartd'Lifr, pp. 179, 180.
I) /Wrf., pp. 367. 3«.
tl CitmaUand T\m£.
*• Quot»3 iu Mr. Ch. Gould's Mythical Momstfwj, p. 84.
ri According to BUchof, 1,004,177 years, according to Chevandier's calculsUons 671,788 xw», «w miuiml for the so-called Coal formation. "l*tac time required for the devclopmeol oT the slraLk of the Tertiary period, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet io tbickncM, mnal have been at IciMl jjfl,tm years." {Sec Forcr and Matter, BGcbper. p. 159, Ed. 1884.)
MATERIAUSTS AT Z^GGKRBBADS.
735
As the last Glacial period extended from 240,000 to 80,000 years ago (Prof. Croll's view), therefore, man must have appeared on Earth from 100,000 to 120,000 years ago. But, as says Prof. Winchell with refer- ence to the antiquity of the Mediterranean race:
It is generally believed to have made its appearance during the later decline of the continental glaciers. It does not concern, however, the antiquity of the Black and Brown races, since there are nnmerous evidences of their existence iu more southern regions, in times remotely pre-glacial.*
As a specimen of geological certainty and agreement, these figures also may be added. Three authorities — Messrs. T. Belt, F.G.S., Robert Hunt, F.R.S., and J. Croll, F.R.S..— in estimating the time that has elapsed since the Glacial epoch, give figures that vary to an almost incredible extent:
Belt . . 20,000 years.
Hunt 80,000 „
Croll 240,000 „ t
No wonder that Mr. Pengelly confesses that:
It is at present and perhaps always will be impossible to reduce, even approxi- mately, geological time into years or even into millenniums.
A wise word of advice from the Occultists to the gentlemen Geolo- gists; they ought to imitate the cautious example of Masons. As chronology, they say, cannot measure the era of the creation, there- fore, their '*Antient and Primitive Rite" uses 000,000,000 as the nearest approach to reality.
The same uncertainty, contradictions and disagreement reign on all other subjects.
The scientific authorities on the Descent of Man arc again, for all practical purposes, a delusion and a snare. There are many Auti- Darwinists in the British Association, and Natural Selection begins to lose ground. Though at one time the saviour, which seemed to rescue the learned theorists from a final intellectual collapse iuto the abyss oi fruitless hypothesis, it begins to be distrusted. Even Mr. Huxley is showing signs of truancy, and thinks "natural selection not the sole factor" :
We greatly suspect that she [Nature] does make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in the series of known forms.t
• Op. cii.. p. 379.
■»■ But sec *' The Ice- A^ Ciinate and Time," ^putar Sciince Xfxntw, xJr. a4
J Review of KOlUker's Critidims.
736
THE SECRET DOCTKINB.
Again, C. R. Bree. M.D., argues in this wise in considering- tbe fetal gaps in Mr. Darwin's theory:
It must be again called to mind that ttie intermediate forms must have been vast in numbers. . . . Mr, St. George Mivart believes that change in evolution may occur more quickly than is generally believed; but Mr. Darwin sticlcs manfully to bis Iwlief. and again tells us *'nctura man fadi salium,***
Herein the Occultists are at one with Mr. Darwin.
Esoteric teaching fully corroborates the idea of Nature's slowness and dignified progression. "Planetary impulses'* are all periodical. Yet this Darwinian theory* correct as it is in minor particulars, agrees no more with Occultism than with Mr. Wallace, who, in his Canirxbuiians to the T. eory of Natural Selection, shows pretty conclusively that some- thing more than Natural Selection is requisite to produce physical man.
Let us, meanwhile, examine the scientific objections to this scientific theor>', and see what they are.
Mr. St. George Mivart is found arguing that:
It will be a moderate computation to allow 25,000^000 for the deposit of the down to and iucluding the Upper Silurian. If, then, the evolutionary work done during this deposition only represents a hundredth part of the sum total, we shall require 2,500.000,000 (two thousand five hundred million) years for the complete development of the whole animal kingdom to il/i present state. Even one quarter of this, however, would far exceed the time which physics and astronomy seem able to allow for the completion of the process.
Finally, a difficulty exists as to the reason of the absence of rich fosailiferoos deposits in the oldest strata — if life was then as abundant and varied, as, on the Darwinian theory, it must have been. Mr. Darwin himself admits *'the caae al present must remain inexplicable; and this may be truly urged as a valid argamenl against the views'* entertained in his book.
Thus, then, we find a remarkable (and on Darwinian principles all but inexplic- able) absence of minutely graduated transitional forms. All the most marked groups — bats, pterodactyles, chelonians, ichthyosaurianB, amoura, etc. — appear at once upon the scene. Even the horse, the animal whose pedigree has been probably best preserved, affords no conclusive evidence of specific origin by signifi- cant fortuitous variations: while some forms, as the labyrinthodonts and trilobites, which seemed to exhibit gradual change, are shown by further investigation to do nothing of the sort. . . . All these difficulties are avoided if we admit thAt Dew forms of animal life of all degrees of complexity appear from time to time with comparative suddenness, being evolved according to laws in part depending 00 surrounding conditions, in part internal— similar to the way in which crystals (and. perhaps from recent researches, the lowest forms of life) build themselves up according to the internal laws of their component substance, and in harmony and correspondence with all en\*ironiDg influences and conditions.t
• Fallacies 0/ Darwinittm, p. 160. ♦ TXe Gentiu 0/ S^teus. Ch«p. VI, pp. ite-i6a, Bd.
PLANETARY UFK-IMPULSES.
737
"The internal laws of their component substance.*' These are wise words, and the admission of the possibility is prudent. But how can these internal laws be ever recognized, if Occult teaching be dis- carded ? As a friend writes, while drawing our attention to the above speculations:
In other words, the doctrine of Planetary Life- Impulses must be admitted. Otherwise, why are species now sUreotyp^d, and why do even domesticated breeds of pigeons and many animals relapse into their ancestral types when left to them- selves^
But the teaching about Planetary Life-Impulses has to be clearly defined and as clearly understood, if present confusion is not to be made still more perplexing. All these difficulties would vanish as the shadows of night disappear before the light of the rising Sun, if the following Esoteric Axioms were admitted :
(a) The existence and the enormous antiquity of our Planetary Chain ;
(^) The actuality of the Seven Rounds
(c) The separation of human Races (outside the purely anthropo- logical division) into seven distinct Root- Races, of which our present European Humanity is the Fifth;
(d) The antiquity of man iu this (Fourth) Round; and finally
(e) That as these Races evolve from ethereality to materiality, and from the latter back again into relative physical tenuity of texture, so every living (so-called) organic species of animals, with vegetation included, changes with every new Root-Race.
Were this admitted, if even only along with other, and surely, on niaturer consideration, uo less absurd, suppositions — if Occult theories have to be considered ''absurd*' at present — then every difficulty would be made away with. Surely Science ought to trj* and be more logical than it now is. as it can hardly maintain the theor>' of man*s descent from an anthropoidal ancestor, and deny in the same breath any reasonable antiquity to such a man! Once Mr. Huxley talks of "the vast intellectual chasm between the ape and man," and "the present enormous gulf between them,"* and admits the necessity of extending scientific allowances for the age of man on Earth for such slow and progressive development, then all those men of Science who are of his way of thinking, at any rate, ought to come to at least some approximate figures, and agree upon the probable duration of those
* Man's Plact in J^aiurt, p. los, note.
740
THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
p
from its general aspect, and see whether belief in it is so ver>' absurd, as some Scientists along with other Nicodemuses would have il. Unconsciously, perhaps, in thinking of a plurality of inhabited "Worlds," we imagine them to be like the Globe we inhabit, and to be peopled by beings more or less resembling ourselves. And in so doing we are only following a natural instinct. Indeed, so long as the enquiry is confined to the life-histor3'^ of this Globe, we can speculate on the question with some profit, and ask ourselves, with some hope of at least asking an intelligible question, what were the "Worlds" spoken of in all the ancient scriptures of Humanity? But how do we know (a) what kind of beings inhabit the Globes in general; and i^d) whether those who rule Planets superior to our own do not exercise the same influence on our Earth conscioiisiy, that we may exercise unconsciously, say on the small planets (planetoids or asteroids) in the long run, by our cutting the Earth in pieces, opening canals, and thereby entirely changing our climates. Of course, like Caesar's wife, the planetoids, cannot be affected by our suspicion. They are too far, etc. Believing in Esoteric Astronomj-, however, we are not so sure of that.
But when, extending our speculations beyond our Planetary Chain, we try to cross the limits of the Solar System, then indeed we act as do presumptuous fools. For — while accepting the old Hermetic axiom, "as above, so below" — as we may well believe that Nature on Earth displays the most careful economy, utilizing eveo' vile and waste thing in her mari'ellous transformations, and withal jievcr repeating herself. so we may justly conclude that there is no other Globe in all her infinite systems so closely resembling this Earth, that the ordinar>' powers of man's thought should be able to imagine and reproduce it> semblance and containment.*
And indeed we find in the romances as in all the so-called scientific fictions and spiritistic "revelations" from Moon, Stars, and Planets, merely fresh combinations or modifications of the men and things, the passions and forms of life, with which we are familiar, though even on the other Planets of our own System nature and life are entirely different from those prevailing on our own. Swedenborg was p eminent in inculcating such an erroneous belief.
^
• We are taught that the higbeat Dhyfln Chohans. or Planetary Spirits (beyond the cofnUancc of the Uw or aaoIogyK are in iKiiornuce of what lie« beyond the visible fManetary System*. Fine* tbsr c«KDCc cannot a«»imilate itaclf to that of world* beyond our Solar System. When they rmcb > highrr staf:c of evolution these other uniwme* wiU be open to them ; meanwhOe they have complete ltnowlcdg:c of all the worlds within the limiu of our Solar System.
But even more. The ordinary man has no experience of any state of consciousness other than that to which the physical senses link him. Men dream; they sleep the profound sleep which is too deep for its dreams to impress the physical brain ; and in these states there must still be consciousness. How, then, while these mysteries remain un- explored, can we hope to speculate with profit on the nature of Globes which, in the economy of Nature, must needs belong to stales of con- sciousness other and quite different from any which man experiences here?
And this is true to the letter. For even great Adepts (those initiated of course), trained Seers though they be, can only claim thorough ac- quaintance with the nature and appearance of Planets and their inhabi- tants belonging to our Solar System. They know that almost all the Planetar>' Worlds are inhabited, but — even in spirit — ihcy can have access only to those of our System ; and they are also aware how difficult it is, even for ikem^ to put themselves Into full rapport even with the planes of con.sciousness within our System, differing as they do from the states of consciousness possible on this Globe; such, for instance^ as those which exist on the Chain of Spheres on the three planes beyond that of our Earth. Such knowledge and intercourse are possible to them because they have learned how to penetrate to planes of consciousness which are closed to the perceptions of ordinary men; but were they to communicate their knowledge, the world would be no wiser, because men lack that experience of other forms of per- ception which alone could enable them to grasp what they might be told.
Still the fact remains that most of the Planets, like the Stars beyond our System, are inhabited, a fact which has been admitted by the men of Science themselves. Laplace and Herschel believed it, though they wisely abstained from imprudent speculation; and the same con- clusion has been worked out and supported with an array of scientific considerations by C. Flammarlon. the well-known French Astronomer. The arguments he brings forward are strictly scientific, and are such as appeal even to a materialistic mind, which would remain unmoved by such thoughts as those of Sir David Brewster, the famous Physicist, who writes:
Ttose "barren spirits** or ''base souls," as the poet calls them, who might be led to belie\'e that the earth is the only inhabited body in the universe, would have no difficulty in conceiving the earth also to have been destitute of inhabitants. What is more, if such miuds were acquainted with the deductions of geology, they would
742
THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
admit that it was uninhabited for myriads of years; and here we come to the in- possible conclusion that during these myriads of yean there was not a wngk intelligent creature in the va-st domains of the tTniversal King, and that before lie protozoic formations there existed neither plant nor animal in ail the iafinitv ^i space.*
Flammarion shows, in addition, that all the conditions of life— e>ta as 7V£ know it — are present on some at least of the Planets, and points to the fact that these conditions must be much more favourable on them than they are on our Earth.
Thus scientific reasoning, as well as observed facts, concurs with the statements of the Seer, and the innate voice in man's own heart in declaring that life — intelligent, conscious life — mtisf exist on other worlds than ours.
But this is the limit beyond which the ordinary faculties of mao cannot carry him. Many are the romances and tales, some purely fijia* ful, others bristling with scientific knowledge, which have attempted lo imagine and describe life on other Globes. But one and all they give but some distorted copy of the drama of life around us. It is cithe-, with Voltaire, the men of our own race under a microscope, or. wiih de Bergerac, a graceful play of fancy aud satire; but we always bad that at bottom the new world is but the one we ourselves live in. So strong is this tendency that even great natural, though non -initiated. Seers, fall victims to it when untrained; witness Swedenborg, who goes so far as to dress the inhabitants of Mercury, whom he meets with in the spirit-world, in clothes such as are worn in Europe !
Commenting on this tendency, Flammarion says:
It seems as if in the eyes of those authors who have written ou this subject, the Harth were the type of the Universe, and the man of Earth, the type of the inhabitants of the Heavens. It is. ou the contrary, much more probable, that, since the nature of other planets is essentially varied, and the surroundings aad conditions of existence essentially different, while the forces which preside over the creation of beings and the substances whicli enter into their mutual constitution are essentially distinct, it would follow that our mode of existence cannot be regarded as in any way applicable to other globes. Those who have written on this subject have allowed themselves to be dominated by terrestrial ideas, an*! have therefore fallen into CRor.t
* Since no single ntoni in the entire Kosmoa is without lifr ati;! conKiotiancM. bow tnncfa moir Um must its mlgbty iflobu be filled with both— though Uicy remain sealed books to lu men wbo hardly enter even Into the conadouBneAK of the rornu of Hfe neareat us -
Wc do not know ourulves, then bow con we, if wc have never been trained and ioitiatedi, fancr that we can penetrate the conaciousness of the unallcjit of the anlnuli around us/
•i Pluraiiti drs Mondei, p. 439.
STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 74!
5ut even more. The ordinary man has no experience of any state of consciousness other than that to which the physical senses Imk him. Men dream; they sleep the profound sleep which is too deep for its dreams to impress the physical brain ; and in these states there must still be consciousness. How, then, while these mysteries remain un- explored, can w€ hope to speculate with profit on the nature of Globes which, in the economy of Nature, must needs belong to states of con- sciousness other and quite dififerent from any which man experiences here?
And this is true to the letter. For even great Adepts (those initiated of course), trained Seers though they be, can only claim thorough ac- quaintance with the nature and appearance of Planets and their inhabi- tants belonging to our Solar System. They know that almost all the Planetary Worlds arc inhabited, but — even in spirit — they can have access only to those of our System ; and they are also aware how difficult it is, even for tkem^ to put themselves into full rapport even with the planes of consciousness within our System, diflfering as they do from the states of consciousness possible on this Globe; such, for instance, as those which exist on the Chain of Spheres on the three planes beyond that of our Earth. Such knowledge and intercourse are possible to them because they have learned how to penetrate to planes of consciousness which are closed to the perceptions of ordinary men; but were they to communicate their knowledge, the world would be no wiser, because men lack that experience of other forms of per- ception which alone could enable them to grasp what they might be told.
Still the fact remains that most of the Planets, like the Stars beyond our System, are inhabited, a fact which has been admitted by the men of Science themselves. Laplace and Herschel believed it, though they wisely abstained from imprudent speculation; and the same con- clusion has been worked out and supported with an array of scientific considerations by C. Flammarion, the well-known French Astronomer. The arguments he brings forward are strictly scientific, and are such as appeal even to a materialistic mind, which would remain unmoved by such thoughts as those of Sir David Brewster, the famous Physicist, who writes:
Those "barren spiriU" or "baae souls." as the poet calls them, who might be led to helie\'e tliat the earth is the only inhabited body in the universe, would have no difficulty in conceiving the earth also to have been destitute of inhabitants. What is more, if such minds w«:re cicquainted with the deductions of gcolog>*, they would
1
"44
THE SECRET IKJCTRIXE.
We shall probably be told that by the term *' worlds." the stais, heavenly bodies, etc., were meant. But apart from the fact that "stars** were not known as "worlds" to the ignorant editors of the Epistles* even if they must have been thus known to Paul, who was an Initiate; a " Master- Builder," we can quote on this point an eminent Theologian, Cardinal Wiseman. In his work (i. 309) treating of the indefinite period of the six days — or shall we say "too definite" period of the six days— of creation and the 6.000 years, he confesses that we are in total darkness as to the meaning of this statement of St. Paul, unless we arc permitted to suppose that allusion is made in it to the period which elapsed between the first and second verses of chapter i of Genesis^ and thus to those primitive revolutions, i.e., the destructions and the re- productions of the world, indicated in chapter i of EccUsiasies; or, to accept, with so many others, and in its literal sense, the passage ia