752 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



London, he reviews the whole subject for 

 the purpose of determining how the ques- 

 tion stands at present. The problem is so 

 important that we print an article giving a 

 compact presentation of his reasonings and 

 conclusions ; but those who desire to be- 

 come familiar with the complete inquiry 

 will find the volume indispensable. 



The Kabala: or, The True Science of 

 Light ; an Introduction to the Philosophy 

 and Theosophy of the Ancient Sages, to- 

 gether with a Chapter on Light in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom. By S. Pancoast, 

 M. D. Pp. 304. Philadelphia : J. M. 

 Stoddart & Co. Price $2. 



There is an old mystical Jewish tradi- 

 tion in regard to occult meanings of Script- 

 ure which is called the Kabala. An amaz- 

 ing amount of learned ingenuity has been 

 expended upon it, and many books written 

 of kabalistic lore, designed to solve these 

 enigmas, and bring out their mysterious 

 meanings. It has been held, indeed, that 

 the Kabala is nothing less than a profound 

 science, which, if opened up, would explain 

 numberless hidden things in regard to proph- 

 ecy, Scriptural interpretation, theosophy, 

 and the order of Nature itself. 



Dr. Pancoast calls his book the Kabala, 

 and says he has been working at it for thirty 

 years, and has found the keys that open its 

 mysteries ; and he says, furthermore, that it 

 is a great thing, and is all that has been 

 claimed for it. Nor does he suppose that its 

 benefits are to be confined merely to the ex- 

 planations of old riddles, or the development 

 of a fruitless philosophy ; he holds its results 

 to be of a very practical kind in influencing 

 mpdern opinion. One of these important 

 advantages is stated to be that "a just ap- 

 preciation and knowledge of the Kabala 

 would stop infidelity, that is defiantly stalk- 

 ing through the world, uprooting, tearing 

 down, razing, actually burying faith in God 

 and his salvation." So potent an instru- 

 mentality is certain to be well appreciated, 

 but expectation is dampened when we are 

 informed that this book is not designed to 

 contain the presentation that will work such 

 important effects. Dr. Pancoast proposes, 

 therefore, to make another, saying, " We 

 have in contemplation the publication of a 

 large, full, candid exhibit of what the Kab- 

 ala is, has done, is doing, and shall do for 



the world." If it is to be as efficacious in 

 composing men's distracted beliefs as is 

 here proclaimed, we say, let the doctor hurry 

 up his big book with all dispatch. 



But let nobody buy the present volume 

 in the hope of getting any help from it in 

 the direction indicated. It is in fact as re- 

 mote as possible from any such end. It is 

 nothing less than a kind of doctor's book on 

 light, which the author proposes to substi- 

 tute for pills. He is a collaborator in the 

 curious field, cultivated with such brilliant 

 but transitory results by General Pleason- 

 ton. He believes in the remedial efficacy of 

 blue light, and prints his book in blue ink ; 

 but he goes further than General Pleasonton, 

 and holds also to the therapeutic virtues of 

 red light. He talks a great deal about the 

 science of light, and his discourse is quite in 

 the Pleasonton strain. That is, his science 

 is his own, and is very much freed from the 

 trammels and limitations of the common 

 kind of science that goes current in the text- 

 books. His view of the luminiferous agent 

 is thus stated : " Light is the original source 

 of Life. Motion is Life, and Light is the 

 Universal Motor. There is no force in 

 Nature that is not directly derived from 

 Light ; the Physical Forces, Attraction and 

 Repulsion, with all their modifications, are 

 the positive and negative principles of Light, 

 acting in matter they are the objective 

 Forces of Light as they operate in creating 

 and dissolving inorganic material forms." 

 The author has given us a book full of such 

 kabalistic conundrums in the science of 

 optics. 



What was He ? Or, Jesus in the Light of 

 the Nineteenth Century. By William 

 Denton. Pp. 259. Wellesley (near Bos- 

 ton) : The Author. Price, $1. 

 The " light of the nineteenth century," 

 in which the author studies Jesus of Naza- 

 reth, is the " new light " of spiritism. In 

 this light, supplemented with scintillations 

 of " psychometry," Mr. Denton proves (to 

 his own satisfaction) that Jesus was a 

 " medium " of considerable power a clair- 

 voyant, and a natural healer. In the lat- 

 ter capacity, however, he was hardly the 

 equal, in this author's opinion, of a certain 

 notorious " magnetic physician " whom he 

 names, and whose "testimonials from the 

 people " he reproduces. 



