"The harbor of Tadousac is a basin shaped like a sickle. On the west the mountain wall of the Saguenay protects it. The eastern curve is sheltered by vast sand lanes, scoured from the sea bottom and whirled upward by some mighty eddy in geologic ages. To the north are mountains of stone, their gray surface flecked here and there by stunted fir and cedar or dwarfed birches. Between these mountains of rock and the water of the harbor or basin is a short, narrow plateau, lifted some fifty feet above the water line, every foot of which is historic to a degree. On no other bit of ground of equal size on the American continent has so much been done and suffered which can interest the curious, touch the sensibilities, or kindle the imagination and fan it into flame.
"There is reason to think that before the Christ was born the old Iberian ships were here; and their descendants, the Basques, continued the commerce which their progenitors had established and which rendezvoused here 1,500 years after the Galilean name had conquered kingdoms and empires. The Nors.e.m.e.n were here, we know, a thousand years ago, and many a night the old sea kings of the north drank out of their mighty drinking horns good health to distant ones and honors to Thor and Odin. Then, late enough to have his coming known to letters, and hence recorded, Jacques Cartier came, himself a Breton, and hence cousin in blood to the Basque whalers, whom he found here engaged in a pursuit which their race had followed before Rome was founded or Greece was born, before Jerusalem was builded, or even Egypt, perhaps, planted as a colony. St. Augustine, Plymouth rock, Quebec--these are mushroom growths, creations of yesterday, traditionless, without a legend and without a fame, beside this harbor of Tadousac, whose history, along a thin but strong cord of sequence, can be traced backward for a thousand years, and whose connection with Europe is older than the name!"
PSYCHOMETRY AND ARCHAEOLOGY.
Whether "the thin but strong cord" by which Mr. Murray pulls the old Iberians to these sh.o.r.es be mainly historical or imaginative, I have not attempted to decide; but as to the old races of Southern Europe there are relics already sufficient to evoke their history by psychometric exploration.
The _Popular Science News_ of Boston gives a sketch of some old relics from "La Nature" which I quote as follows:
"Recent explorations in Spain by two Belgian scientists, the Messrs. Siret, have resulted in some very interesting discoveries. Relics of a prehistoric race have been found in great abundance, ranging from the stone age to that of bronze and metals. These people buried their dead not only in stone graves or cells, but also in great jars of burnt clay, accompanied by pieces of pottery and other articles of use and value. This form of jar-burial is very widespread, and examples have been found from j.a.pan to Peru. These relics are supposed to belong to that ancient race which lived in Europe previous to the Aryan immigration, the various branches of which are known as Iberians, Pelasgians, Ligurians, etc., according to the country in which they lived.
"Several skeletons were found adorned with silver and gold ornaments. One of the most remarkable is ill.u.s.trated here. It is a female skull encircled by a band of silver, to which is attached a thin plate of the same metal. It is not known whether it was originally worn in the position as when found, or, as is most likely, had been accidentally displaced after burial. This skull was found in a cave near the station of Fuente-Alamo, where gold and silver are found in small quant.i.ties in the soil; and it is quite possible that in those ancient times the mining of the precious metals was a regular occupation of the inhabitants."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
PSYCHOMETRIC DESCRIPTION.--Mrs. Buchanan, describing the subject from this engraving, without seeing it or knowing what it represented, spoke as follows:
"This is far away; it is remains of some kind; remains of a human being, of a very remote type of female. Her surroundings were very rude. She was of a race of strong animal instincts--a large people. She seems something like a squaw. (What of their habitations?) They were very rude, as much like caves as anything. I think they lived in caves and rocks. They hunted and fished. Their weapons were of stones, but they had some kind of metal which they could hammer out. They dried their food in the sun--fishes and meats. They had very little agriculture. They had a process for making things they wanted for domestic use, and for weapons, as well as stone implements. They may have used the precious metals, not as money but for ornaments. It was not a numerous race, did not propagate fast. They have all died out.
There is no vestige of them on the earth. They were a brown, dark colored race. Their heads were low and faces large; jaws prominent."
Evidently this is not the race of which Mr. Murray speaks--neither Iberian nor Basque.
THE STAR-DUST OF THE UNIVERSE.
The distinguished astronomer, Norman Lockyer, has lately read a paper before the Royal Society (London) under the t.i.tle of a "Preliminary Note on the Spectra of the Meteorites," which advances some of the boldest theories and suggestions ever offered concerning the Universe, which cannot fail to interest the readers of the JOURNAL OF MAN.
According to Mr. Lockyer the meteors which we have been accustomed to consider trivial or incidental matters in planetary and stellar systems, no more important than the dust which the housewife raises from parlor and chamber, are really fundamental and basic elements of the Universe, capable of generating comets, planets, suns and stars.
If this idea can be entertained, meteors must be vastly more numerous than the world has supposed. Cosmical s.p.a.ce, according to Mr. Lockyer, is filled with meteorites of various sizes, flying in many directions with enormous velocities and moving in certain orbits like larger bodies. Many observations have been made to determine the number of these meteorites. Dr. Schmidt, of Athens, in seventeen years of observation concluded that in a clear dark night an observer would see on an average fourteen an hour at one station. Other astronomers have calculated that if observations were made over the whole earth, ten thousand times as many would be seen as could be seen by a single observer. Calculating thus, it has been inferred that about 20,000,000 luminous meteors fall on the earth every twenty-four hours, besides the innumerable amount of minute bodies too small to be seen by telescopes--which some suppose to be twenty times as numerous as the visible.
Prof. H. A. Newton makes some astounding estimates on this subject--that the orbit of the earth is filled with meteorites, about 250 miles apart, making a group of about 30,000 in a s.p.a.ce equal to that of the earth. If such calculations are reliable, the query must arise, How much effect can such a meteoric shower every day in the year exert on the orbital motion of the earth, in r.e.t.a.r.ding its velocity? The effect must be greatly increased if, according to Prof.
Newton, the velocity of meteors striking the earth is about thirty miles a second, varying from ten to forty.
From such a basis as this rises the grand hypothesis of Mr. Lockyer, who is a courageous theorist, that all cosmic s.p.a.ce is filled with meteorites, that they go in swarms, and that not only comets but stars are formed by conglomerate aggregations of meteorites.
Schiaparelli, in 1866, demonstrated that the orbit of the August meteors was the same as that of the comet of that year. It is in August and November of each year that we have the most brilliant display of meteors in two distinct groups, or orbits. Those of August come from a point in the constellation of Perseus and those in November from a point in the constellation Leo. They are believed to fill two distinct orbits or rings making an elliptical orbit round the sun. In such orbits, comets are believed by astronomers to be formed by a concentrated swarm of incandescent meteorites rendered luminous by collisions. But this hypothesis of innumerable collisions between meteorites travelling in the same orbits does not appear very plausible.
This doctrine of the genesis of comets, advanced by Schiaparelli, is extended by Mr. Lockyer to the genesis of all great luminous bodies.
Nebulae, comets, stars, variable and temporary stars, are all thus brought under a general law and method of genesis. The increasing approximation and condensation of the meteorites is seen in different cla.s.ses of stars. Stars of the cla.s.s iii.a are not so far advanced as others.
The next step in the hypothesis is that in the extreme approximation and condensation of the meteorites a degree of heat is generated which converts the whole into a ma.s.s of incandescent vapor, at a "transcendental temperature." The maximum temperature being thus attained, a cooling process begins, which is seen in our sun and other stars of the second cla.s.s. Other stars, according to Mr. Lockyer, of cla.s.s iii.b exhibit spectra which show that their temperature is not so high, and the last stage is attained by stars and other bodies which have ceased to be luminous, and, therefore, are not seen, but may be recognized by the perturbations which they produce in the movements of other bodies.
According to this hypothesis our solar system was once but a mighty swarm of meteorites, extending as far as the farthest planet at present. We may as well suppose its materials to have been a swarm of meteorites as to suppose a chaotic fire-mist. Mr. Lockyer supposes the clash of meteor swarms to have produced new stars, and suggests the possibility of stellar or planetary bodies coming into collision, though no observations ever made yet give an example.
The destroyed planet, Sideros, discovered by Prof. Denton, ill.u.s.trates that the universe has its disorder and tragedy as well as our own sphere. The time is coming when all these mysteries are to be cleared up--it will be when Psychometry is added to our telescopic and spectroscopic methods. Then will astronomy and all other sciences receive their grandest enlargement. In this task I cannot at present engage, for the limitless field of Anthropology alone is too much for a solitary scientist laboring for the advent of "THE NEW CIVILIZATION."
MISCELLANEOUS.
BRIGHT LITERATURE.--New publications have just been received which express the bright mental activity of the present time. The first number of _The New Christianity_, which has just appeared, bears the editorial names of B. F. Barrett and S. H. Spencer, and is issued by the Swedenborg Publishing a.s.sociation, Philadelphia, published every Thursday in sixteen large pages, at $2 per annum. At so moderate a price it should have a large circulation. The name of Rev. B. F.
BARRETT is a sufficient guarantee of the literary excellence, profound thought and liberal aims of this weekly. The a.s.sociation, of which Mr.
Barrett is president, holds "the good of life to be paramount to the truth of doctrine; charity superior to faith; doctrine (though it be from the Lord out of heaven) to be of no value save as a _means_ to this divine end--purity of heart and righteousness of life." Hence, they have been more intent on diffusing their principles than building up a religious establishment. The a.s.sociation has condensed Swedenborg"s writings into ten small volumes, in about one-tenth of the compa.s.s of the unabridged works, and has sold about 37,000 volumes, besides many thousands given away.
The Boston _Herald_ says of this publication that it "deserves a cordial welcome as an attempt to express, through the religious press, a wider interest in the things of this world than most of the New Church papers have aimed at, ... a broader treatment of what concerns our common Christianity than has been heretofore attempted in this religious connection, and thus satisfy the New Church people, who realize that they are still in the world, as well as the no-church people, who prefer smaller doses from the abstract writings of Swedenborg, and more of the thought of New Churchmen about what all men are thinking of."
THE TWO WORLDS, published weekly, at 61 George Street, Chatham Hill, Manchester, England, at 2d. a number, 2s., 2d. for thirteen weeks, or 8s., 8d. per annum in advance, is under the editorial control of _Mrs.
Emma Hardinge Britten_ and _E. M. Wallis_. The first number is dated Nov. 18, 1887. The names of its editors are a sufficient guarantee of its ability and its n.o.ble aims. They are admired and honored in America as well as Europe, and have thousands of friends. The first number fully sustains the expectations raised by their names. There is a brightness, vigor, independence and eloquence in the editorials which are refreshing. The salutatory says: "We do not propose to inflict on readers searching for light from the higher world matter _beneath_ instead of beyond the reader"s previous status of thought and education. The spiritual rostrum should be the sphere of instruction alike to listener and reader,--not the school in which unfledged and half-developed mediums seek to entertain their audiences by practicing the A B C of the oratorical art."
They say, also, "That the scope of this journal may not be misunderstood, we desire to state at once, and in advance of our future issues, that we propose to traverse, as far as possible, the wide and varied fields of human interests that might be vitalized and exalted by that knowledge of the life hereafter, which spirits alone can demonstrate. Instead of confining ourselves, therefore, to the relation of phenomenal facts and speculative philosophy, we shall endeavor to show how beneficially the spiritualistic revelations of the nineteenth century might operate through such departments of earth life as reform, science, theology, politics, occultism and the only true and practical religion, viz.: goodness and truth in the life here as a preparation for heaven and happiness in the life hereafter." As to Occultism and Theosophy, they say: "Every article that will appear in these columns will be written by _one who knows_, and who will deal with those subjects from the standpoint of practical experience." The article on this subject in the first number is extremely interesting and instructive, in fact, the first clear and satisfactory statement that has been published. Among other facts it mentions that "Lord Lytton, the Earl of Stanhope, and Lieut. Morrison (better known as Zadkiel), and the author of Art Magic, belonged to this society,"--a secret Occult society in England, successor to the ancient societies of Egypt, Greece and India.
There is no reason to doubt that the _Two Worlds_ will have a brilliant career, and do much to elevate the tone and enhance the reputation of spiritual science. The inspiration of Emma Hardinge Britten is of a high order, and flows into a mind which has also a strong grasp on external life. Either on the rostrum or through the press she is a distinguished leader in the spiritual movement. Mr.
Wallis has also earned a high rank as an exponent of Spiritualism on its highest ethical plane.
FOOTE"S HEALTH MONTHLY.--If any of my readers are not already acquainted with _Foote"s Health Monthly_, published at New York, at 50 cents a year, they will find it worthy of their attention. Dr. E. B.
Foote is one of the most conspicuous and worthy of America"s medical reformers. His "Plain Home Talk," when first issued on a smaller scale as "Medical Common Sense," sold to the amount of 250,000 copies, now under the t.i.tle of "Plain Home Talk," containing 935 pages, with 200 ill.u.s.trations, the publishing company say that they issue 2000 or more copies every month. Its vast circulation is not surprising when we consider that it is almost a cyclopedia of medical information for the people at the amazingly low price of $1.50. Copies of this valuable work may be obtained from the editor of the JOURNAL OF MAN, or from Dr. E. B. Foote, 120 Lexington Avenue, New York. The people need medical information, and Dr. Foote has for many years been the leader in popular medical enlightenment.
PSYCHIC THEORIES.--An esteemed correspondent says, "I trust you will soon have s.p.a.ce and time in which to fully discuss theosophy, and its bold a.s.sertion that Spiritualism is but the manifestation of dangerous elementals or of the souls of those sent untimely from this life as suicides and executed criminals, who until their selfish desires are gratified, make use of "astral sh.e.l.ls" of the real spirits of our dead friends, in order to wickedly deceive us, a discouraging view."
Theosophy or divine wisdom does not make such a.s.sertions. They are but traditional dogmas which did not originate in scientific investigation. Those who make such a.s.sertions may call themselves theosophists, but they have no exclusive right to such a name, which belongs to all seekers of divine wisdom. American theosophy as represented by the JOURNAL OF MAN makes no such a.s.sertions, and relies upon investigation, never receiving the speculative notions of darker ages without evidence, whether they relate to Metempsychosis, or the garden of Eden, the burning h.e.l.l, the purgatory, or the various pictures of the infernal and supernal regions which had been current in the old world before such realms were ever investigated.
When my readers hear any such theories advanced, let them quietly ask for the evidence, _what are the facts_ on which such opinions are based, when were they discovered, who were the investigators, and what was their method of investigation? If such questions cannot be answered, the theories deserve little attention.
TWENTIETH CENTURY SCIENCE, DAWNING AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH.--In the 20th century, Psychometry will become the guide of the nations.
The world will understand itself. Every mile on the surface of the globe will be familiarly known.
An important event anywhere will be immediately known everywhere. The planets and their inhabitants will be known, and much more known that need not be mentioned at present. The healing art will approximate perfection. Criminals will be reformed. Their number will be diminished. The juvenile nations of the earth will be more or less under the care of the adolescent and peace will be maintained.
These are not psychometric forecasts, but rational inferences, from our increasing rate of progress.
COMPARATIVE SPEED OF LIGHT AND ELECTRICITY.--The French physicist Fizeau calculated the velocity of light at 185,157 miles a second; Cornu, another Frenchman, calculated it at 185,420, and Michelson obtained 186,380 as the result of his calculation. Wheatstone, the English electrician, found that free electricity travelled 288,000 miles a second; Kirchoff concluded, from theoretical considerations, that an electrical current sent through a wire in which it meets no resistance has the velocity of 192,924 miles a second. The velocity of an electric current sent through iron wire is 62,100 miles a second; through copper wire, 111,780 miles. We think justice will be done by deciding that electricity is the faster.--_N. Y. Sun_.
Yet practically speaking, electricity in wires is much slower. Prof.
Gould found that telegraph wires at a moderate height, transmit signals at the rate of 12,000 miles a second; but if the wires are suspended high enough, the velocity may be raised to 16,000 or even 24,000 feet a second. Subterranean wires and submarine cables transmit slowly. Wheatstone"s experiments were made fifty-four years ago, and have not since been confirmed. I would say light is the faster, for electric currents are always r.e.t.a.r.ded by the medium.
WONDERFUL PHOTOGRAPHY.--Dr. H. G. Piffard exhibited in New York to a society of amateur photographers a new method of taking instantaneous photographs by means of a brilliant light made by sprinkling ten or fifteen grains of magnesium powder on about six grains of gun-cotton.