404 
Occultism Reconsidered . 
[July, 
VI. OCCULTISM RECONSIDERED. 
HEN, about a year ago, it became our duty to 
examine the first edition of Mr. Sinnett’s extra- 
ordinary work, we did not feel free, like some of 
our contemporaries, to dismiss the author and his subject 
with a contempt scarcely kept within the bounds of ordinary 
courtesy. On the contrary, we should have been glad— too 
glad — if we could have laid our finger upon some proposition 
and proclaimed it demonstrable truth, how fully soever it 
might clash with the orthodoxies of Science. Our search 
was unrewarded, and we closed the book with a deep feeling 
of disappointment. We were not sorry, however, on the 
appearance of this second edition, to re-open the question, 
and, as far as possible, to attempt to present the views of 
the Occultists in a systematised form, and exhibit their 
apparent relation to the Philosophy and the Science of the 
modern world. That our success in this attempt will be but 
very imperfect we foresee. We never met with a book in 
which definite, tangible, verifiable statements were so pur- 
posely and skilfully avoided. 
Like the author, we will begin with noting the relations 
of Occultism to Spiritualism. The two are not, as is com- 
monly supposed, identical. 
Mr. Sinnett makes, indeed, the significant remark that it 
is not his “ present task to make war on Spiritualism.” He 
remarks that the announcements he has to make “ will be 
probably received more readily among Spiritualists than in 
the outer circles of the ordinary world.” He admits the 
faCts of Spiritualism, but he contends that its phenomena 
are manifestations which mediums can neither control nor 
understand, whilst occult phenomena are achievements of a 
conscious living operator comprehending the laws with which 
he works. If such achievements appear miraculous, that is 
the fault of the observer’s ignorance. The Spiritualist, it is 
asserted, is very reluctant to tolerate the production of a 
new hypothesis which will compel him to reconstruct his 
views almost from the beginning. 
We turn to the relations of Occultism to Modern Science, 
* The Occult World. By A. P. Sinnett. Second Edition. London 
Trubner and Co. 
Zanoni. By Lord E. Bulwer Lytton. 
A Strange Story. By Lord E. Bulwer Lytton. 
