sonal grievances or enmities, but merely betrays that resentment 
that we all must feel against any who deliberately pervert the 
sources of knowledge and hold back from humanity the salva¬ 
tion of enlightenment. 
“We owe it to ourselves to know how and of what our bodies 
are constructed; and this is a study which should take precedence 
of all others and should be conducted by the light and aid of two 
great powers:—the power of observation and the power of log¬ 
ical deduction. 
“For several centuries past, charlatans and professional de¬ 
generates have traded upon the ignorance and superstition of the 
people and a huge and lucrative business has been, and still is, 
the result, under the aegis of our trained and cherished ‘superior' 
stupidity. 
“The publication of my teachings, which you are taking into 
your able hands, must appeal, I think, to all who possess the 
faculty of reason, together with sufficient courage to formulate 
their own ideas of life. I speak, of course, to those who have 
reached the hour of enlightenment,—who are seeking for the 
knowledge which those to whom we have a right to look for it, 
have ever studiously withheld, the knowledge of the latest power 
of man's attribute of Thinking, —who would give their thoughts 
expression in the Doing of great things, in ways beneficial to 
the lives of men. For as Berton Braley sings: 
“ ‘Back of the beating hammer 
By which the steel is wrought, 
Back of the workshop's clamour, 
The Seeker may find the Thought. 
The thought that is ever master 
Of Iron and steam and steel, 
That rises above disaster 
And tramples it under heel! 
The Drudge may fret and tinker 
Or labour with dusty blows, 
But back of him stands the Thinker, 
The clear-eyed man who Knows.' 
30 
