SIB MONiElt MONIEE-WILLIAMS. 17 



did walk close to the surface of the ground without touching 

 it " (Yule's Marco Polo, i. 307). 



As to the phenomena of modern spiritualism, those are 

 declared by Mr. Sinnett to be quite distinct from those of 

 Asiatic occultism. He maintains that modern spiritualism 

 requires the intervention of " mediums/' who neither control 

 nor understand the manifestations of which they are the pas- 

 sive instruments; whereas the phenomena of occultism are 

 the " achievements of a conscious living operator," produced 

 by a simple effort of his own will. The important point, he 

 adds, " which occultism brings out is, that the soul of man, 

 while something enormously subtler and more ethereal and 



more lasting than the body, is itself a material body 



The ether that transmits light is held to be material by any 

 one who holds it to exist at all ; but there is a gulf of differ- 

 ence between it and the thinnest of the gases." In another 

 place he advances an opinion that the spirit is distinct from 

 the soul. It is the soul of the soul. 



And again : " The body is the prison of the soul for 

 ordinary mortals. We can see merely what comes before 

 its windows ; we can take cognisance only of what is brought 

 within its bars. But the adept has found the key of his 

 prison, and can emerge. from it at pleasure. It is no longer a 

 prison for him merely a dwelling. In other words, the adept 

 can project his soul out of his body to any place he pleases 

 with the rapidity of thought."* 



It is worth noting that many believers in Asiatic occultism 

 hold that a hitherto unsuspected force exists in nature called 

 Odic force (is this to be connected with Psychic force?), and 

 that it is by this that the levitation of entranced persons is 

 effected. Some are said to have the power of lightening their 

 bodies by swallowing large draughts of air. The President 

 of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Olcott, alleges that he 

 himself, in common with many other observers, has seen a 

 person raised in the air by a mere effort of will. 



Surely these phenomena may be mere feats of conjuring. 

 In the Asiatic Monthly Journal for March, 1829, an account 

 is given of a Brahman who poised himself apparently in the 

 air, about four feet from the ground, for forty minutes, in the 

 presence of the Governor of Madras. Another juggler sat on 

 three sticks put together to form a tripod. These were 

 removed, one by one, and the man remained sitting in the 



* The Occult World, by A. P, Sinnett Vice-President of the Theosophical 

 Society, pp. 12, 15, 20. 



