28 SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS. 
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, these 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. 
