700 
Mysticism and Asceticism . 
[November, 
insincere he is an Angelo. What a grim choice ! I have some- 
where read that every virtue is the golden mean between 
two equal and opposite vices which are alike to be avoided. 
Now the ascetic not merely practises a vice, but, unlike the 
sensualist, he even glories in it and pronounces it a virtue. 
He calls evil good, and may thus be regarded as a demon- 
worshipper. 
I may venture to call attention to the following excep- 
tionable passages in Dr. W. . . . y s work.^ 
To the adept, we are told “ alcohol is stridtly forbidden 
and the flesh of animals.” This is a strange declaration 
from one who recognises Jesus of Nazareth as the highest 
of adepts, though described as partaking both of wine and 
animal food and of whom it is written* “ The Son of Man 
came eating and drinking.” 
We are next told : — “ It is a remarkable fac5t that among 
the lower animals, the female, who generally becomes preg- 
nant by a single ac5t, so long as she is pregnant, rejects all 
further approaches of the male with anger and indignation. 
Does nature not in this wonderful fadl teach man ? ” This 
“ wonderful fad! ” does not hold good among the Simiadce , 
the animals, be it remembered, most nearly approaching 
man.t 
Elsewhere we read : — “ We know that the air-plant 
flourishes without ‘any soil and that gold-fish flourish in 
pure water without visible organic food.” Can Dr. W. prove 
that gold-fish elaborate from water and air all the elements 
needed for a healthy life ? Air-plants, too, receive nourish- 
ment from the juices of the trees or the decaying wood to 
which they cling, or even from the dust, organic and 
inorganic, floating in the atmosphere. It will be quite time 
enough to assert that they can flourish without any soil 
when they are found to grow and obtain all their necessary 
elements from distilled water and air fitered through cotton- 
wool. 
These errors relate merely to illustrations and to points 
of secondary importance, but they show a want of accuracy 
and thoroughness which leaves a disagreeable impresion 
upon the thoughtful reader. If the author is not to be trusted 
in such simple and familiar questions will he prove a safe 
guide in matters more recondite ? 
I cheerfully admit, indeed, that there is much between 
• Matthew xi., 19. , t t .. 
f It breaks down in other quarters also. But may we not remark that the 
very essence of asceticism is to disregard what Nature teaches. 
