Paigoels, The : The devils of Hindustan. Some of the Hindus believe that the Paigoels were originally created devils others that they were put out of heaven because of their great sin, and of all worlds that the earth is the only one with which they are allowed intercourse. Some of these devils have individual names, and are the tempters of men to special sins, - others again enter into the bodies of men and take possession of them. The Hindus also believe that the souls of wicked men go to join the number of the paigoels.

Palingenesy : A term employed by the philosophers of the seventeenth century to denote the 't resurrection of plants," and the method of achieving their astral appearance after destruction; In very early times, we find philosophers inclined to doubt if apparitions might not be accounted for on natural principles, without supposing that a belief in them was either referable to hallucinations, to human imagination, or to impositions that might have been practised. At length Lucretius attacked the popular notion entertained of ghosts, by maintaining that they were not spirits returned from the mansions of the dead, but nothing more than thin films, pellicles, or membranes, cast off from the surface of all bodies like the exuviae or sloughs of reptiles.

An opinion, by no means dissimilar. to that of the Epicureans, was revived in Europe about the middle of the 17th century. It had its origin in Palingenesy, or the resurrection of plants, a grand secret known to Digby, Kircher, Schot, Gaflerel, Vallemont, and others. These philosophers. performed the operation of Palingenesy after the following manner:-They took a plant, bruised it, burnt it, collected its ashes, and, in the process of calcination, extracted from it a salt. This salt they then put into a glass phial, and mixed with it some peculiar substance, which these chemists have not disclosed. When the compound was formed, it was pulverulent, and possessed a bluish colour. The powder was next submitted to a gentle heat, when its particles being instantly put into motion, there then, gradually arose, as from the midst of the ashes, a stem, leaves and flowers; or, in other words, an apparition of the plant which had been submitted to combustion. But as soon as the heat was taken away, the form of the plant, which had been thus sublimed, was precipitated to the bottom of the vessel. Heat was then re-applied, and the vegetable phoenix was resusitated; it was withdrawn, and the form once more became latent among the ashes. This notable experiment was said to have been performed before the Royal Society of England, and it satisfactorily proved to this learned body, that the presence of heat gave a sort of life to the vegetable apparition, and that the absence of caloric caused its death.

Cowley was quite delighted with the experiment of the rose and its ashes, and in conceiving that he had detected the same phenomenon in the letters written with the juice of lemons, which were revived on the application of heat, he celebrated the mystic power of caloric after the following manner:-

"Strange power of heat, thou yet dost show,

Like winter earth, naked, or cloth'd with snow,

But as the quick'ning sun approaching near,

The plants arise up by degrees,

A sudden paint adorns the trees,

And all kind nature's characters appear.

So nothing yet in thee is seen,

But when a genial heat warms thee within,

A new-born wood of various lines there grows;

Here buds an A, and there a B,

Here sprouts a V, and there a T,

And all the flourishing letters stand in rows."

The rationale of this famous experiment made on the ashes of roses was attempted by Kircher. He supposed that the seminal virtue of every known substance, and even its substantial form, resided in its salt. This salt was concealed in the ashes of the rose. Heat put it in motion. The particles of the salt were quickly sublimed, and being moved about in the phial like a vortex, at length arranged themselves in the same general form they had possessed from nature. It was evident, then, from the result of this experiment, that there was a tendency in the particles of the salt to observe the same order of position which they had in the living plant. Thus, for instance, each saline corpuscle, which in its prior state bad held a place in the stem of the rose-slip, sympathetically fixed itself in a corresponding position when sublimed in the chemist's vial. Other particles were subject to a similar law, and accordingly, by a disposing affinity, resumed their proper position, either in the stalk, the leaves, or the flowers, and thus, at length, the entire apparition of a plant was generated.

The next object of these philosophers was to apply their doctrine to the explanation of the popular belief in ghosts. As it was incontestably proved that the substantial form of each body resided in a sort of volatile salt, it was perfectly evident in what manner superstitious notions must have arisen about ghosts haunting churchyards. When a dead body had been committed to the earth, the salts of it, during the heating process of fermentation, were exhaled. The saline particles then each resumed the same relative situation they had held in the living body, and thus a complete human form was induced, calculated to excite superstitious fear in the minds of all but Palingenesists.

It is thus evident that Palingenesy was nothing more Lucretius had made, with regard to the filmy substances than a chemical explanation of the discovery which that he bad observed to arise from all bodies.

Yet, in order to prove that apparitions might be really explained on this principle, the experimentum crucis was still wanting. But this deficiency was soon supplied. Three alchemists had obtained a quantity of earth-mould from St. Innocent's Church, in Paris, supposing that this matter might contain the true philosopher's stone. They subjected it to a distillatory process. On a sudden they perceived in their vials forms of men produced, which immediately caused them to desist from their labours. This fact coming to the knowledge of the Institute of Paris, under the protection of Louis XIV., this learned body took up the business with much seriousness, and the result of their labours appears in the Miscellania Curiosa. Dr. Ferrier, in a volume of the Manchester Philosophical Transactions, went to the trouble of making an abstract of one of these French documents, which we prefer giving on account of its conciseness, rather than having recourse to the original dissertation.

"A malefactor was executed, of whose body a grave physician got possession for the purpose of dissection. After disposing of the other parts of the body, he ordered his assistant to pulverize part of the cranium, which was a remedy at that time admitted in dispensatories. The powder was left in a paper on the table of the museum, where the assistant slept. About midnight he was awakened by a noise in the room, which obliged him to rise immediately. The noise continued about the table, without any visible agent; and at length he traced it to the powder, in the midst of which he now beheld, to his unspeakable dismay, a small head with open eyes staring at him; presently two branches appeared, which formed into arms and hands; then the ribs became visible, which were soon clothed with muscles and integuments; next the lower extremities sprouted out, and when they appeared perfect, the puppet (for his size was small) reared himself on his feet; instantly his clothes came upon him, and he appeared in the very cloak he wore at his execution. The affrighted spectator, who stood hitherto mumbling his prayers with great application, now thought of nothing but making his escape from the revived ruffian; but this was impossible, for the apparition planted himself in the way, and, after divers fierce looks and threatening gestures, opened the door and went out. No doubt the powder was missing next day."

But older analogous results are on record, indicating that the blood was the chief part of the human frame in which those saline particles resided, the arrangements of which gave rise to the popular notion of ghosts. Dr. Webster, in his book on witchcraft, relates an experiment. given on the authority of Dr. Flud, in which this very satisfactory conclusion was drawn.

"A certain chymical operator, by name La Pierre, near that place in Paris called Le Temple, received blood from the hands of a certain bishop to operate upon. Which he setting to work upon the Saturday, did continue it for a week with divers degrees of fire. But about midnight, the Friday following, this artificer, lying in a chamber next to his laboratory, betwixt sleeping and waking, heard a horrible noise, like unto the lowing of kine, or the roaring of a lion; and continuing quiet, after the ceasing of the sound in the laboratory, the moon being at the full, and, by shining enlightening the chamber suddenly, betwixt himself and the window he saw a thick little cloud, condensed into an oval form, which, after, by little and little, did seem completely to put on the shape of a man, and making another and a sharp clamour, did suddenly vanish. And not only some noble persons in the next chambers, but also the host with his wife, lying in a lower room of the house, and also the neighbours dwelling in the opposite side of the street, did distinctly hear as well the bellowing as the voice; and some of them were awaked with the vehemency thereof. But the artificer said, that in this he found solace, because the bishop, of whom he had it, did admonish him, that if any of them from whom the blood was extracted should die, in the time of its putrefaction, his spirit was wont often to appear to the sight of the artificer, with perturbation. Also forthwith, upon Saturday following, he took the retort from the furnace, and broke it with the light stroke of a little key, and there, in the remaining blood, found the perfect representation of an human head, agreeable in face, eyes, nostrils, mouth, and hairs, that were somewhat thin, and of a golden colour."

Regarding this narrative Webster adds :-" There were many ocular witnesses, as the noble person, Lord of Bourdalone, the chief secretary to the Duke of Guise; and he (Flud) bad this relation from the Lord of Menanton, living in that house at the same time, from a certain doctor of physic, from the owner of the house, and many others."

Palladino, Eusapia : The most famous physical medium of recent years, and one whose phenomena, investigated at length by some of the most distinguished scientists of Britain, France, and Italy, have led many to conclude that they are genuine manifestations from the spirit world, or that they illustrate the workings of some unknown force. Eusapia was a Neapolitan peasant woman who from her childhood had shown herself possessed of mediumistic powers. In 1892 a group of scientist - Professors Schiaparelli, Broffeno, Geroso, the well-known spiritualist M. Aksakoff, and others-held a series of sittings at Milan, with Eusapia as medium. Some of the seances were also attended by Professors Richet and Lombroso. The phenomena consisted of raps, materialisation of hands, levitation of the table and other furniture within a radius of three or four feet, and fluctuation of the medium's weight in the balance, to the extent of some

17lbs. It was evident even then that Eusapia would not lose an opportunity of using fraud. Nevertheless Professor Richet was so impressed that in 1894 he organised a further series of sittings with the same medium at his house on the Ile Rouband, and on this occasion were present Professor-now Sir Oliver-Lodge, Mr. Myers, Dr. Ochorowicz, and at a later stage, Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick. The seances were held in darkness or semi-darkness, but the medium's hands and feet were controlled by the investigators. Mrs. Sidgwick, indeed, declared that Eusapia herself might easily have produced the phenomena, if she had the use of her hands, but Professor Lodge and others were inclined to attribute them to some external agency. In the following year further seances were held at Mr. Myer's house at Cambridge, and when it became evident that Eusapia frequently freed a foot or a hand Mr. Myer's own faith in the phenomena was temporarily-though only temporarily-destroyed. Professor Richet and Sir Oliver Lodge, however, retained their convictions unshaken. Dr. Hodgson, who had already suggested that Eusapia might use some such method, was also present at the Cambridge sittings. Besides the already mentioned, many prominent Continental scientists investigated Eusapia's manifestations among them being M. Camille Flammarion. Professor Morselli, and M. and Mme. Curie. The two last mentioned were members of a committee of the lnstitut General Psychologique of Paris, which held an important series of sittings with the medium in 1905, 1906, and 1907. In 1908 and 1909 again, the Society for Psychical Research instituted a fresh enquiry into Eusapia's methods. On the whole, scientific opinion is still much divided as to the genuineness or otherwise of the phenomena. Some authorities, taking into consideration the many times the Italian medium has been caught cheating, and the absense of really conclusive tests, incline to the belief that Eusapia is merely a clever conjurer. Such were Dr. Hodgson, Mr. Podmore, Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick. Others, again, such as Professors Richet and Lombroso, M. Camille Flammarion and Sir Oliver Lodge, are of the opinion that the instances of fraud are mere incidents in the career of a true medium, whose performances plainly demonstrate the operation in the material world of strange, unknown forces.

Palladium : (See Devil-worship.)

Palladium, Order of : A masonic-diabolic order, also entitled the Sovereign-Council of Wisdom, founded in Paris on May 20th, 1737. It initiated women under the name of companions of Penelope. The fact that it existed is proved by the circumstance that Ragou, the Masonic antiquary, published its ritual.

Palmistry : The science of divination by means of lines and marks on the human hand. It is said to have been practised in very early times by the Brahmins of India, and to be known to Aristotle, who discovered a treatise on the subject written in letters of gold, which he presented 10 Alexander the Great, and which was afterwards translated into Latin by Hispanus. There is also extant a work on the subject by Melampus of Alexandria, and Hippocrates, Galen, and several Arabian commentators have also dealt with it, In the Middle Ages the science was represented by Hartlieb (circa 1448), and Codes (circa 1054), and Fludd, Indigane, Rothmann, and many others wrote on cheiromancy. D'Arpentigny, Desbarolles, Carus, and others kept the science alive in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, since when a very large number of treatises upon it have been written. Since 1860, or thereabouts, palmistry has become very much more popular than ever before in these islands, and indeed is practised nearly all over the habitable globe.

Palmistry is sub-divided into three lesser arts-cheirognomy, cheirosophy and cheiromancy. The first is the art of recognising the type of intelligence from the form of the hands; the second is the study of the comparative value of manual formations; and the third is the art of divination from the form of the hand and fingers, and the lines and markings thereon. The palmist first of all studies the shape and general formation of the hand as a whole, afterwards regarding its parts and details,-the lines and markings being considered later. From cheirognomy and cheirosophy the general disposition and tendencies are ascertained, and future events are foretold from the reading of the lines and markings.

There are several types of hands: the elementary or large-palmed type; the necessary with spatulated fingers; the artistic with conical-shaped fingers ; the useful, the fingers of which are square-shaped; the knotted or philosophical; the pointed, or psychic; and the mixed, in which the .types are blended. The principal lines are: those which separate the hand from the forearm at the wrist, and which are known as the rascettes, or the lines of health, wealth and happiness. The line of life stretches from the centre of the palm around the base of the thumb almost to the wrist, and is joined for a considerable part of its course by the line of the head. The line of the heart runs across two-thirds of the palm, above the head line; and the line of fate between it and the line of the head. nearly at right angles extending towards the wrist. The line of fortune runs from the base of the third finger towards the wrist parallel to the line of fate. If the lines are deep, firm and of narrow width the significance is good - excepting that a strong line of health shows constitutional weakness.

At the base of the fingers, beginning with the first, lie the mounts of Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, and Mercury; at the base of the thumb the mount of Venus; and opposite to it, that of Luna. If well-proportioned they show certain virtues, but if exaggerated they indicate the vices which correspond to these. The first displays religion, reasonable ambition, or pride and superstition; the second wisdom and prudence, or ignorance and failure; the third when large makes for success and intelligence, when small for meanness or love of obscurity; the fourth desire for knowledge and industry, or disinterestedness and laziness. The Lunar mount indicates sensitiveness, imagination, morality or otherwise; and self-will: and the mount of Venus, charity and affection, or if exaggerated viciousness. The phalanges of the fingers are also indicative of certain faculties. For example, the first and second of the thumb, according to their length, indicate the value of the logical faculty and of the will; those of the index finger in their order-materialism, law, and order; of the middle finger-humanity, system, intelligence; of the third finger-truth economy, energy; and of the little finger goodness, prudence, reflectiveness. There are nearly a hundred other marks and signs, by which certain qualities, influences or events can be recognised. The line of life by its length indicates the length of existence of its owner. If it is short in both hands, the life will be a short one; if broken in one hand and weak in the other, a serious illness is denoted. If broken in both hands, it means death. If it is much chained it means delicacy. If it has a second or sister line, it shows great vitality. A black spot on the line shows illness at the time marked. A cross indicates some fatality. The line of life coming out far into the palm is a sign of long life. The line of the head, if long and well-coloured, denotes intelligence and power. If descending to the mount of the Moon it shows that the head is much influenced by the imagination. Islands on the line denote mental troubles. The head line forked at the end indicates subtlety and a facility for seeing all sides of the question. A double line of the head is an indication of good fortune. The line of the heart should branch towards the mount of Jupiter. If it should pass over the mount of Jupiter to the edge of the hand and travel round the index finger, it is called " Solomon's ring" and indicates ideality and romance; it is also a sign of occult power. Points or dots in this line may show illness if black, and if white love affairs; while islands on the heart line indicate disease. The line of fate, or Saturn, if it rises from the Lunar mount and ascends towards the line of the heart is a sign of a rich marriage. If it extends into the third phalange of Saturn's finger it shows the sinister influence of that planet. A double line of fate is ominous.

In such an article as this it would be out of place to mention the very numerous lesser lines and marks which the hand contains, especially when so many excellent books of reference on the subject have recently been published. It but remains to say that practitioners of the science of palmistry are execeedingly numerous. Some of these work on strictly scientific lines, while others pick it up in a merely empirical way, and their forecasts of events to come are only so much patter."

Papaloi : An Obeah priest: (See West Indian Islands.)

Papyri, Magical : (See Egypt.)

Para Brahm : Deity without form. The two indestructible principles from which all creation springs. (See Kabala.)

Paracelsus : In the history of alchemy there is not a more striking or picturesque figure than Auroelus Philippus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast von Hohenheim, the illustrious physician and exponent of the hermetic philosophy who has chosen to go down to fame under the name of Paracelsus. He was born at Einsideln, near Zurich, in the year 1493. His father, the natural son of a prince, himself practised the " art of medicine," and was desirous that his only son should follow the same profession. To the fulfillment of that desire was directed the early training of Paracelsus-a training which fostered his imaginative rather than his practical tendencies, and which first cast his mind into the alchemical mould. It did not take him long to discover that the medical traditions of the time were hut empty husks from which all substance had long since dried away. " I considered with myself," he says, that if there were no teacher of medicine in the world, how would I set about to learn the art ? No otherwise than in the great open book of nature, written with the finger of God." Having thus freed himself from the constraining bonds of an outworn medical orthodoxy, whose chief resources were bleeding, purging, and emetics, he set about evolving a new system to replace the old, and in order that he might study the book of nature to better advantage he travelled extensively from 1513 to 1524, visiting almost every part of the known world, studying metallurgy, chemistry, and medicine, and consorting with vagabonds of every description. He was brought before the Cham of Tartary, conversed with the magicians of Egypt and Arabia, and is said to have even reached India. At length his protracted wanderings came to a close, and in 1524 he settled in Basle, then a favourite resort of scholars and physicians, where he was appointed to fill the chair of medicine at the University. Never had Basle witnessed a more brilliant, erratic professor. His inflated language, his eccentric behaviour, the splendour of his conceptions flashing through a fog of obscurity, at once attracted and repelled, and gained for him friends and enemies. His antipithy to the Galenic school became ever more pronounced, and the crisis came when he publicly burned the works of Galen and Avicenna in a brazen vase into which he had cast nitre and sulphur. By such a proceeding he incurred the hatred of his more conservative brethren, and cut himself off for ever from the established school of medicine. He continued his triumphant career, however, till a conflict with the magistrates brought it to an abrupt close, He was forced to flee from Basle, and thereafter wandered from place to place, gaining a living as best he might. An element of mystery surrounds the manner of his death, which took place in 1541, but the best authenticated account states that he was poisoned at the instigation of the medical faculty.

But interesting as were the events of his life, it is to his work that most attention is due. Not only was he the founder of the modern science of medicine; the magnetic theory of Mesmer, the " astral" theory of modern spiritualists, the philosophy of Descartes, were all foreshadowed in the fantastic, yet not always illogical, teaching of Paracelsus. He revived the " microcosmic " theory of ancient Greece, and sought to prove the human body analogous to the Solar System, by establishing a connection between the seven organs of the body and the seven planets. He preached the doctrines of the efficacy of will-power and the imagination in such words as these: " It is possible that my spirit, without the help of my body, and through an ardent will alone, and without a sword, can stab and wound others. It is also possible that I can bring the spirit of my adversary into an image and then fold him up or lame him at my pleasure." " Resolute imagination is the beginning of all magical operations." " Because men do not perfectly believe and imagine, the result is, that arts are uncertain when they might be wholly certain." The first principle of his doctrine is the extraction of the quintessence, or philosophic mercury, from every material body. He believed that if the quintessence were drawn from each animal, plant, and mineral, the combined result would equal the universal spirit, or " astral body" in man, and that a draught of the extract would renew his youth. He came at length to the conclusion that "astral bodies" exercised a mutual influence on each other, and declared that he himself had communicated with the dead, and with living persons at a considerable distances. He was the first to connect this influence with that of the magnet, and to use the word "magnetism" with its present application. It was on this foundation that Mesmer built his theory of magnetic influence. While Paracelsus busied himself with such problems, however, he did not neglect the study and practice of medicine. Indeed, astrology and the magnet entered largely into his treatment. When he was sought by a patient, his first care was to consult the planets, where the disease had its origin, and if the patient were a woman he took it for granted that the cause of her malady lay in the moon. His anticipation of the philosophy of Descartes, consisted in his theory that by bringing the various elements of the human body into harmony with the elements of nature - fire, light, earth, etc.-old age and death might be indefinitely postponed. His experiment in the extraction of its essential spirit from the poppy resulted in the production of laudanum, which he prescribed freely in the form of " three black pills." The recipes which he gives for the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, and various universal remedies, are exceedingly obscure. He is deservedly celebrated as the first physician to use opium and mercury, and to recognise the value of sulphur. He applied himself also to the solution of a problem which still exercises the minds of scientific men-whether it is possible to produce life from inorganic matter, Paracelsus asserted that it was, and has, left on record a quaint recipe for a homunculus, or artificial man. By a peculiar treatment of certain "spagyric substances" -which he has unfortunately omitted to specify-he declared that he could produce a perfect human child in. miniature. Speculations such as these, medical, alchemical and philosophical, were scattered so profusely throughout his teaching that we are compelled to admit that here was a master-mind, a genius, who was a charlatan only incidentally, by reason of training and temperament. Let it be remembered that he lived in an age when practically all scholars and physicians were wont to impose on popular ignorance, and we cannot but remark that Paracelsus displayed, under all his arrogant exterior, a curious singleness of purpose, and a real desire to penetrate the mysteries of science. He has left on record the principal points of the philosophy on which he founded his researches in his

"Archidoxa Medicinae." It contains the leading rules of the art of healing, as he practised and preached them. "I had resolved," he says, "to give ten books to the ' Archidoxa,' but I have reserved the tenth in my head. It is a treasure which men are not worthy to possess, and shall only be given to the world when they shall have abjured Aristotle, Avicenna, and Galen-, and promised a perfect submission to Paracelsus." The world did not recant, but Paracelsus relented, and at the entreaty of his disciples published this tenth book, the key to the nine others, but a key which might pass for a lock. and for a lock which we cannot even pick. It is entitled the " Tenth Dooh of the Arch-Doctrines or, On the Secret Mysteries of Nature." A brief summary of it is as follows:-

He begins by supposing and ends by establishing that there is a universal spirit infused into the veins of man, forming within us a species of invisible body, of which our visible body, which it directs and governs at its will, is but the wrapping-the casket. This universal spirit is not simple-not more simple, for instance, than the number 100, which is a collection of units. Where, then, are the spiritual units of which our complex spirit is composed ? Scattered in plants and minerals but principally in metals, There exists in these inferior productions of the earth a host of sub-spirits which sum themselves up in us, as the universe does in God. So the science of the philosopher has simply to unite them to the body-to disengage them from the grosser matter which clogs and confines them, to separate the pure from the impure.

To separate the pure from the impure is, in other words, to seize upon the soul of the heterogeneous bodies-to evolve their " predestined element," " the seminal essence of beings," " the first being, or quintessence."

To understand this latter word " quintessence," it is needful for the reader to know that every body, whatever it may be, is composed of four elements, and that the essence compounded of these elements forms a fifth, which is the soul of the mixed bodies, or, in other words, its mercury," " I have shown," says Paracelsus, "in my book of' Elements,' that the quintessence is the same thing as mercury. There is in mercury whatever wise men seek." That is, not the mercury of modern chemists, but a philosophical mercury of which every body has its own. 'There are as many mercuries as there are things. The mercury of a vegetable, a mineral, or an animal of the same kind, although strongly resembling each other, does not precisely resemble another mercury, and it is for this reason that vegetables, minerals, and animals of the same species are not exactly alike. . . . The true mercury of philosophers is the radical humidity of each body, and its veritable semen, or essence."

Paracelsus now sought for a plant worthy of holding in the vegetable kingdom the same rank as gold in the metallic-a plant whose " predestined element" should unite in itself the virtues of nearly all the vegetable essences Although this was not easy to distinguish, he recognised at a glance - we know not by what signs-the supremacy of excellence in the melissa, and first decreed to it that pharmaceutical crown which at a later period the Carmelites ought to have consecrated. How he obtained this new specific may be seen in the Life of Paracelsus, by

Savarien:-

"He took some balm-mint in flower, which he had taken care to collect before the rising of the sun. He pounded it in a mortar, reduced it to an impalpable dust, poured it into a long-necked vial which he sealed hermetically, and placed it to digest (or settle) for forty hours in a heap of horse-dung. This time expired, he opened the vial, and found there a matter which he reduced into a fluid by pressing it, separating it from its impurities by exposure to the slow heat of a bain-niarie. The grosser parts sunk to the bottom, and he drew off the liqueur which floated on the top, filtering it through some cotton. This liqueur having been poured into a bottle he added to it the fixed salt, which he had drawn from the same plant when dried. There remained nothing more but to extract from this liqueur the first lief or being of the plant. For this purpose Paracelsus mixed the liqueur with so much' water of salt' (understand by this the mercurial element or radical humidity of the salt), put it in a matrass, exposed it for six weeks to the sun, and finally, at the expiration of this term, discovered a last residuum which was decidedly, according to him, the first life or supreme essence of the plant. But at all events, it is certain that what he found in his matrass was the genie or spirit he required; and with the surplus, if there were any, we need not concern ourselves."

Those who may wish to know what this genie was like, are informed that it as exactly resembled, as two drops of water, the spirit of aromatic wine known to-day as absinthe suisse. It was a liquid green as emerald,-green, the bright colour of hope and spring-time. Unfortunately, it failed as a specific in the conditions indispensable for an elixir of immortality; but it was a preparation more than half-celestial, which almost rendered old age impossible.

By means and manipulations as subtle and ingenious as those which he employed upon the melissa, Paracelsus did not draw, but learned to extract, the "predestined element" of plants which ranked much higher in the vegetable aristocracy,-the " first life" of the gillyflower, the cinnamon, the myrrh, the scammony, the celandine. All these supreme essences, which, according to the 5th book of "Archidoxa," unite with a mass of "magisteries" as precious as they are rude, are the base of so many specifics, equally reparative and regenerative. This depends upon the relationship which exists between the temperament of a privileged plant and the temperament of the individual who asks of it his rejuvenescence.

However brilliant were the results of his discoveries, those he obtained or those he thought he might obtain, they were for Paracelsus but the a b c of Magic. To the eyes of so consummate an alchemist vegetable life is nothing; it is the mineral - the metallic life - which is all. So we may assure ourselves that it was in his power to seize the first life-principle of the moon, the sun, Mars, or Saturn; that is, of silver, gold, iron, or lead. It was equally facile for him to. grasp the life of the precious stones, the bitumens. the sulphurs, and even that of animals.

Paracelsus sets forth several methods of obtaining this great arcanum. Here is the shortest and most simple as recorded by Incola Francus

"Take some mercury, or at least the element of mercury, separating the pure from the impure, and afterwards pounding it to perfect whiteness. Then you shall sublimate it with sal-ammoniac, and this so many times as may be necessary to resolve it into a fluid. Calcine it, coagulate it, and again dissolve it, and let it strain in a pelican during a philosophic month, until it thickens and assumes the form of a hard substance. Thereafter this form of stone is incombustible, and nothing can change or alter it; the metallic bodies which it penetrates become fixed and incombustible, for this material is incombustible, and changes the imperfect metals into metal perfect. Although I have given the process in few words, the thing itself demands a long toil, and many difficult circumstances, which I have expressly omitted, not to weary the reader, who ought to be very diligent and intelligent if he wishes to arrive at the accomplishment of this great work."

Paracelsus himself tells us in his " Archidoxa," when explaining his own recipe for the completion of it, and profiting by the occasion to criticise his fellow-workers.

"I omit," he writes, " what I have said in different places on the theory of the stone; I will sy only that this arcanum does not consist in the blast (rouille) or flowers of antimony. It must be sought in the mercury of antimony, which, when it is carried to perfection, is nothing else than the heaven of metals ; for even as the heaven gives life to plants and minerals, so does the pure quintessence of antimony vitrify everything. This is why the Deluge was not able to deprive any substance of its virtue or properties, for the heaven being the life of all beings, there is nothing superior to it which can modify or destroy it.

"Take the antimony, purge it of its arsenical impurities in an iron vessel until the coagulated mercury of the antimony appears quite white, and is distinguishable by the star which appears in the superficies of the regulus, or semi-metal. But although this regulus. which is the -element of mercury, has in itself a veritable hidden life, nevertheless these things are in virtue, and not actually.

"Therefore, if you wish to reduce the power to action, you must disengage the life which is concealed in it by a living fire like to itself or with a metallic vinegar. To discover this fire many philosophers have proceeded differently, but agreeing to the foundations of the art, have arrived at the desired end. For some with great labour have drawn forth the quintessence of the thickened mercury of the regulus of antimony, and by this means have reduced to action the mercury of the antimony: others have considered that there was a uniform quintessence in the other minerals, as for example in the fixed sulphur of the vitriol, or the stone - of the magnet, and having extracted the quintessence, have - afterwards matured and exalted their heaven with it, and reduced it to action. Their process is good, and has had its result. Meanwhile this fire-this corporeal life-which they seek with toil, is found much more easily and in much greater perfection in the ordinary mercury, which appears through its perpetual fluidity-a proof that it possesses a very powerful fire and a celestial life similar to that which lies hidden in the regulus of the antimony. Therefore, he who would wish to exalt our metallic heaven, starred, to its greatest completeness, and to reduce into action its potential virtues, he must first extract from ordinary mercury its - corporeal life, which is a celestial fire; that is to say the - quintessence of quicksilver, or, in other words, the metallic - vinegar, that has resulted from its dissolution in the water which originally produced it, and which is its own mother; that is to say, he must dissolve it in the arcanum of the salt I have described, and mingle it with the ' stomach of Anthion,' which is the spirit of vinegar, and in this menstruum melt and filter and consistent mercury of the antimony, strain it in the said liquor, and finally reduce it into crystals of a yellowish green, of which we have spoken in our manual."

As regards the Philosopher's Stone, he gives the following formula:

"Take," said he, " the electric mineral not yet mature (antimony), put it in its sphere, in the fire with the iron, to remove its ordures and other superfluities, and purge it as much as you can, following the rules of chymistry, so that it may not suffer by the aforesaid impurities. Make, in a word, the regulus with the mark. This done, cause it to dissolve in the ' stomach of the ostrich' (vitriol), which springs from the earth and is fortified in its virtue by the sharpness of the eagle' (the metallic vinegar or essence of mercury). As soon as the essence is perfected, and when after its dissolution it has taken the colour of the herb called calendule, do not forget to reduce it into a spiritual luminous essence, which resembles amber. After this, add to it of the ' spread eagle' one half the weight of the election before its preparation, and frequently distil the 'stomach of the ostrich' into the matter, and thus the election will become much more spiritualized. When the 'stomach of the ostrich' is weakened by the labour of digestion, we must strengthen it and frequently distil it. Finally, when it has lost all its impurity, add as much tartarized quintessence as will rest upon your fingers, until it throws off its impurity and rises with it. Repeat this process until the preparation becomes white, and this will suffice; for you shall see yourself as gradually it rises in the form of the ' exalted eagle,' and with little trouble converts itself in its form (like sublimated mercury) ; and that is what we are seeking.

"I tell you in truth that there is no greater remedy in medicine than that which lies in this election, and that there is nothing like it in the whole world. But not to digress from my purpose, and not to leave this work imperfect, observe the manner in which you ought to operate."

"The election then being destroyed, as I have said, to arrive at the desired end (which is, to make of it a universal medicine for human as well as metallic bodies), take your election, rendered light and volatile by the method above described.

"Take of it as much as you would wish to reduce it to its perfection, and put it in a philosophical egg of glass, and seal it very tightly, that nothing of it may respire; put it into an athanor until of itself it resolves into a liquid, in such a manner that in the middle of this sea there may appear a small island, which daily diminishes, and finally, all shall be changed to a colour black as ink. This colour is the raven, or bird which flies at night without wings, and which, through the celestial dew, that rising continually falls back by a constant circulation, changes into what is called ' the head of the raven,' and afterwards resolves into ' the tail of the peacock,' then it assumes the hue of the ' tail of a peacock,' and afterwards the colour of the feathers of a swan' ; finally acquiring an extreme redness, which marks its fiery nature, and in virtue of which it expels all kinds of impurities, and strengthens feeble members. This preparation, according to all philosophers, is made in a single vessel, over a single furnace, with an equal and continual fire, and this medicine, which is more than celestial, cures all kinds of infirmities, as well in human as metallic bodies; wherefore no one can understand or attain such an arcanum without the help of God: for its virtue is ineffable and divine."

Paradise : From old Persian (Zeud) pairedaeza an enclosure, a walled-in place; Old Persian pain, around dig, to mould, form, shape (hence to form a wall of earth).

Paradise has been sought for or located in many regions of the earth. In Tartary, Armenia, India, and China on the banks of the Euphrates and of the Ganges; in Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, Palestine, and Ethiopia, and near the mountains of Libanus and Anti-libanus. Perhaps the most noteworthy tradition is that which fixes its situation in the Island of Ceylon, the Serendib of the ancient Persians, and the Taprobane of the Greek geographers. It is from the summit of Hamalleel or Adam’s Peak," says Percival in his history of Ceylon, that Adam took his last view of Paradise before he quitted it never to return. The spot on which his feet stood at the moment is still supposed to be found in an impression on the summit of the mountain, resembling the print of a man's foot, but more than double the ordinary size. After taking this farewell view, the father of mankind is said to have gone over to the continent of Judea, which was at that time joined to the island, but no sooner had he passed Adam's Bridge than the sea closed behind him, and cut off all hopes of return. This tradition, from whatever source it was derived, seems to be interwoven with the earliest notions of religion entertained by the Cingalese; and it is difficult to conceive that it could have been engrafted on them without forming an original part. I have frequently had the curiosity to converse with black men of different castes concerning this tradition of Adam. All of them, with every appearance of belief, assured me that it was really true, and in support of it produced a variety of testimonies, old sayings, and prophecies, which have for ages been current among them. The origin of these traditions I do not pretend to trace; but their connection with Scripture history is very evident, and they afford a new instance how universally the opinions with respect to the origin of man coincide." We are further informed by this writer that a large chair fixed in a rock near the summit of the mountain is said to be the workmanship of Adam. It has the appearance of having been placed there at a very distant period, but who really placed it there, or for what purpose, it is impossible for any European to discover."

Paradise is a word of Persian origin, adopted by the Greeks, and literally denotes an inclosure or park planted with fruit-trees, and abounding with various animals. Eden is not termed Paradise in Genesis, but simply a garden planted eastwards in the country or district so called; and it is this apparently indefinite locality which has caused so many conjectures as to its exact site. Some place it in Judea, where is now the sea of Galilee; others in Armenia, near Mount Ararat; and others in Syria, towards the sources of the Orontes, the Chrysorrhoas, and Barrady. Some think that by Eden is meant the whole earth, which was of surprising beauty and fertility before the Fall; and it is curious that a notion proved to a great extent among the various nations, that the Old World was under a curse, and that the earth became very barren. We are also assured that the Hindoos and Chinese believe that all nature is contaminated, and that the earth labours undre some dreadful defilement-a sentiment which could only result from obscure traditions connected with the first human pair. Josephus gravely says that the Sacred Garden was watered by one river which ran round the whole earth, and was divided into four parts but he appears to think Paradise was merely a figurative or allegorical locality. Some of the natives of Hindostan have traditions of a place resembling Paradise on the banks of the Ganges; but their accounts are so completely blended with their superstitions, and with their legends respecting the Deluge and the second peopling of the world, as to be, to a certain extent, unintelligible. A writer who had diligently studied the Indian Puranas for many years, opened a new source of information, and placed Eden on the Imaus Mountains of India. ' It appears from Scripture," he says, "that Adam and Eve lived in the countries to the eastward of Eden ; for at the eastern entrance of it God placed the angel with the flaming sword This is also confirmed by the Puranics, who place the progenitor of mankind on the mountainous regions between Cabul and the Ganges, on the banks of which, in the hills, they show a place where he resorted occasionally for religious purposes. It is frequented by pilgrims. At the entrance of the passes leading to the place where I suppose was the Garden of Eden, and to the eastward of it, the Hindoos have placed a destroying angel, who appears, and it is generally represented like a cherub; I mean Garudha, or the Eagle, upon whom Vishnu and Jupiter are represented riding. Garudha is represented generally like an eagle, but in his compound character somewhat like the cherub. He is represented like a young man, with the countenance, wings, and talons of the eagle. In Scripture the Deity is represented riding upon a cherub, and flying upon the wings of the wind. Garudha is called Vahan (literally the Vehicle) of Vishnu or Jupiter, and he thus answers to the cherub of Scripture; for many commentators derive this word from the obsolete root c’harab, in the Chaldean language, a word implicitly synonymous with the Sanscrit Vahan." We may here add, that the Puranics considered the north-west part of India, about Cashmere, as the site of Paradise, and the original abode of the first human pair; and that there, at the offering of a sacrifice Daksha was murdered by his jealous brother, who was inconsequence doomed to become a fugitive on the earth.

In the fabled Meru of the Hindoo mythology, on the other hand, we have also a descriptive representation of the Mosaical Garden of Eden. Meru is a conical mountain, the exact locality of. which is not fixed; but as the Hindoo geographers considered the earth as a flat table, and the sacred mountain of Meru rising in the middle, it became at length their decided conviction that Meru was the North Pole, from their action that the North Pole was the highest part of the world. So firmly we are told, was this tradition believed, that although some Hindoo writers admitted that Mount Meru must be situated in the central part of Asia, yet rather than relinquish their notion of and predilection for the North Pole as the real locality of their Paradise, they actually forced the sun out of the ecliptic, and placed the Pole on the elevated plains of the Lesser Bokhara. If we, however, examine the Hindoo description of this Paradise, we shall at once be able to trace its origin and its close analogy to the Mosaic account.

The summit of Meru is considered as a circular plain of vast extent, surrounded by a belt of hills-a celestial earth, the abode of immortals, and is designated Ida-Vratta, or the Circle of Ida. It is of four different colours towards the cardinal points, and is believed to be supported by four enormous buttresses of gold, silver, copper and iron. Yet doubts exist as to its real appearance, some alleging that its form is that of a square pyramid, others maintain that its shape is conical; others that it resembles an inverted cone; while others thought, that instead of a circular belt of mountains, Meru terminated in three lofty peaks. The Sawas assert that a vast river rises from the head of their deity Siva, and the Vaishnawas that it springs' from beneath the feet of Vishnu, and, after passing through the circle of the moon, falls upon the summit of Meru, and divides itself into four streams, flowing towards the four cardinal points. Others believe that the four rivers of the sacred mountain spring from the roots of Jambri, a tree of immense size which, they say, conveys the most extensive and profound knowledge, and accomplishes the most desirable of human aspirations. The reader will recollect the Mosaical account of the Tree of Knowledge, which stood in the middle of the Garden, and of the river which went out of Eden to water it, dividing itself into four branches or streams of other rivers.

The river thus rising in Meru, the Hindoos further say, flows in four opposite directions to the four cardinal points and is supposed to issue from four rocks, carved in the shape of so many different animals, one of which is a cow; and this, they allege, is the origin of the Ganges. Some among them, however, think that this river first flows round the sacred city of Brahma, and then discharges itself into a lake called Mansarovara, from which it issues through the rocky heads of four animals to the different divisions of the globe. The cow's head, from which issues the Ganges, they place towards the south; and towards the north is the tiger, or lion's head. The horse's head is on the west, and on the east is that of the elephant.

The traditions of Cashmere represent that country as the original site of Paradise, and the abode of the first human pair; and the Buddhists of Thibet hold opinion respecting the mountain Meru similar to those of the Hindoos. They locate the sacred Garden, however, at the foot of the mountain, near the source of the Ganges; but the four holy rivers are made to issue through the heads of the same animals, which are believed to be the guardians of the divisions of the world. The tree of knowledge, or of life, they designate Zambri, which, they say, is a celestial tree, bearing immortal fruit, and flourishes near four vast rocks, from which issue the several rivers which water the world.

The Mussulmans inhabiting the adjacent countries have adopted the popular belief that Paradise was situated in Cashmere, adding that when the first man was driven from it, he and his wife wandered separately for some time. They met at a place called Bahlaka, or Balk, so called because they mutually embraced each other after a long absence. Two gigantic statues, which they say, are yet to be seen between Bahlaka and Bamiyan, represent Adam and Eve, and a third of smaller dimensions is that of their son Seish or Seth, whose tomb, or its site, is pointed out near Bahlaka.

Some of the writers seriously maintained that Paradise was under the North Pole, arguing upon an idea of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians, that the ecliptic or solar way was originally at right angles to the Equator, and so passed directly over the North Pole. The opinion generally entertained by the Mahomedans that it was in one of the seven heavens, is not more ridiculous than the preceding supposition. Dr. Clarke sums up the extravagant theories respecting the locality of Paradise. " Some place it as follows :-In the third heaven, others in the fourth, some within the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself, some in the middle regions of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction, some da the earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth."

Before leaving the East, it may be observed that the Orientals generally reckon four sites of Paradise in Asia the first Ceylon, already mentioned ; the second in Chaldea the third in a district of Persia, watered by a river called the Nilab; and the fourth about Damascus in Syria, and near the springs of the Jordan. This last supposed site is not peculiar to the Oriental writers, as we find it maintained by some Europeans, especially Heidegger, Le Clerc, and Hardouin. The following are the traditions believed by the inhabitants of the city of Damascus-a city which the Emperor Julian the Apostate styled the Eye of all the East, the most sacred and most magnificent Damascus.

"I understand," says Lamartine," that Arabian traditions represent this city and its neighbourhood to form paradise the site of the lost Paradise, and certainly I should think that no place upon earth was better calculated to answer ones ideas of Eden. The vast and fruitful plain, with the seven branches of the blue stream which irrigate it-the majestic framework of the mountains-the glittering lakes which reflect the heaven upon the earth-its geographical situation between the two seas-the perfection of the climate - every thing indicates that Damascus has at least been one of the first towns that were built by the children of men - one of the natural halts of fugitive humanity in primeval times. It is, in fact, one of those sites pointed out by the hand of God for a city-a site predestined to sustain a capital like Constantinople." According to the Orientals, Damascus stands on the site of the Sacred Garden, and without the city is the most beautiful meadow divided by the river Barrady, of the red earth of which Adam is alleged to have been formed. This field is designated Ager Damascenus by the Latins, and nearly in the centre of it a pillar formerly stood, intended to mark the precise spot where the Creator breathed into the first man the breath of life.

The numerous traditions which existed among ancient nations of the Garden of Eden doubtless originated those curious and. magnificent gardens designed and planted by the Eastern princes, such as the Golden Garden of Aristobulus, King of the Jews, which was consecrated by Pompey to Jupiter Capitolinus. Nor is mythology deficient in similar legends. We have the Gardens of Jupiter, of Alcinous, and of the Fortunate Islands, but especially of the Hesperides, in which not oily the primeval Paradise, but traditions of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and of the original promise made to the woman, are prominently conspicuous. The Garden of the Hesperides produced golden fruit, guarded by a dangerous serpent-that this fierce reptile encircled with its folds a mysterious tree - and that Hercules procured the fruit by encountering and killing the serpent. The story of the constellation, as related by Eratosthenes, is applicable to the Garden of Eden, and the primeval history of mankind. "This serpent," says that ancient writer, alluding to the constellation, "is the same as that which guarded the golden apples, and was slain by Hercules. For, when the gods offered presents to Juno on her nuptials with Jupiter, the Earth also brought golden apples. Juno, admiring their beauty, commanded them to be planted in the garden of the gods; but finding that they were continually plucked by the daughter of Atlas, she appointed a vast serpent to guard them. Hercules overcame and slew the monster. Hence, in this constellation the serpent is depicted rearing its head aloft, while Hercules, placed above it with one knee bent, tramples with his foot upon its head. and brandishes a club in his right hand." The Greeks placed the Garden of the Hesperides close to Mount Atlas, and then removed it far into the regions of Western Africa yet all knowledge of its Asiatic site was not erased from the classical mythologists, for Apollodorus tells us that certain writers situated it not in the Libyan Atlas, hut in the Atlas of the Hyperboreans; and he adds, that the serpent had the faculty of uttering articulate sounds.

Our Teutonic ancestors believed that the world was originally a Paradise, and its first inhabitants more than human, whose dwelling was a magnificent hall, glittering with fine gold, where love, and joy, and friendship presided. The most insignificant of their utensils were made of gold, and hence the appellation of the Golden age. But this happiness was soon overthrown by certain women from the country of the giants, to whose seductions the first mortals yielded, and their innocence and integrity were lost for ever. The transgression of Eve is the obvious prototype of the fatal curiosity of Pandora; and the arrival of women from the country of the giants, and their intercourse with a distinct and purer line of mortals, can scarcely fail of bringing forcibly to our recollection the marriages of the sons of Seth with the daughters of Cain, with were the principal causes of the universal depravity of the Antediluvians.

The legends of Hindostan also supply us with accounts of the happiness of Paradise in the Golden Age of the classic mythology. " There can arise little doubt," says Maurice, "that by the Satya age, or Age of Perfection, the Brahmins obviously allude to the state of perfection and happiness enjoyed by man in Paradise. It is impossible to explain what the Indian writers assert concerning the universal purity of manners, and the luxurious and unbounded plenty prevailing in that primitive era, without this supposition. Justice, truth, philanthrophy, were then practised among all the orders and classes of mankind. There was then no extortion, no circumvention, no fraud, used in the dealings one with another. Perpetual oblations smoked on the altars of the Deity; every tongue uttered praises, and every heart glowed with gratitude to the Supreme Creator. The gods, in token of their approbation of the conduct of mortals, condescended frequently to become incarnate, and to hold personal intercourse with the yet undepraved race, to instruct them in arts and sciences; to unveil their own sublime functions and pure nature; and to make them acquainted with the economy of those celestial regions into which they were to be immediately translated, when the period of their terrestial probation expired."

Parama-Hamsas : (See India.)

Paraskeva, Saint : A saint of the Russian Calendar, whose feast day is August 3rd. On that day pilgrims from all parts of Russia congregate in St. Petersburg for the purpose of casting out devils. A newspaper report of the proceedings as they. occurred in 1913 is as follows:-

"Another St. Paraskevas day has come and gone. The usual fanatical scenes have been enacted in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, and the ecclesiastical authorities have not protested, nor have the police intervened. Special trains have again been run to enable thousands of the lower classes to witness a spectacle, the toleration of which will only be appreciated by those acquainted with the writings of M. Pobiedonostzeff, the late Procurator of the Holy Synod. The Church of St. Paraskeva is situated in a factory district of the city. On the exterior side of one of the walls is an image of the Saint, to whom is attributed the power of driving out devils and curing epileptics, neurotics, and others by miraculous intervention. At the same time, the day is made a popular holiday, with games and amusements of all sorts, booths and lotteries, refreshment stalls and drinking bars. The newspapers publish detailed accounts of this year's proceedings without comment, and it is perhaps significant that the Novoe Vremya, a pillar of orthodoxy, ignores them altogether. Nor is this surprising when one reads of women clad in a single undergarment with bare arms being hoisted up by stalwart peasants to the level of the image in order to kiss it, and then having impure water and unclarified oil forced down their throats. The treatment of the first sick woman is typical of the rest. One young peasant lifted her in the air, two others held her arms fully extended, while a fourth seized her loosened hair, and, dragging her head from side to side and up and down, shouted " Kiss, kiss St. Paraskeva " The woman's garment was soon in tatters. She began groaning. One of the men exclaimed : " Get out I Satan I Say where thou art lodged I " The woman's head was polled back by the hair, her month was forced open. and mod-coloured water (said to be holy water) was poured into it. She spat the water out, and was heard to moan, " Oh, they are drowning me!" The young man exultantly exclaimed, "So we've got you, devil, have we? Leave her at once or we will drown you!" He continued pouring water into the victim's mouth, and after that unclarified oil. Her lips were held closed, so that she was obliged to swallow it. The unfortunate woman was again raised and her face pressed against the image. " Kiss it ! kiss it!, she was commanded, and she obeyed. She was asked who was the cause of her being "possessed." "Anna," was the whispered reply. Who was Anna? What was her village ? In which cottage did she live? A regular inquisition. The physical and mental sufferings of the first victim lasted about an hour, at the end of which she was handed over to her relatives, after a cross had been given to her, as it was found that she did not own one. According to accounts published by the Retch, Molva, etc., many other women were treated in the same fashion, the exercises lasting a whole day and night. The men " pilgrims" would seem to have been less severely handled. It is explained that the idea of unclothing the woman is that there should be no knot, bow, or fastening where the devil and his coadjutors could find a lodgment. And one is left with the picture of scores of women crawling around the church on their knees, invoking the aid of the Almighty for the future or His pardon for sins committed in the past."

The treatment of the " possessed" is analogous to that employed by many barbarous peoples for the casting out of devils, and notably among the Chams of Cambodia (q.v.) who force the possessed to eat garbage in order to disgust the fiend they harbour. (See also Obsession.)

Pasqually, Martinez de : (Kabalist and Mystic). [1715 ?-1779]. The date of Martinez Pasqually’s birth is not known definitely while even his nationality is a matter of uncertainty. It is commonly supposed, however, that he was born about 1715, somewhere in the south of France ; while several writers have maintained that his parents were Portuguese Jews, but this theory has frequently been contested. It is said that from the outset he evinced a predilection for mysticism in its various forms, while it is certain that, in 1754, he instituted a Kabalistic rite, which was gleaned from Hebraic studies, and whose espousers were styled Cohens, this being simply the Hebrew for priests. He propagated this rite in (livers masonic lodges of France, notably those of Marseilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris; while in 1768 we find him settled in the French capital, gathering round him many people addicted to mysticism. and impregnating them with his theories. His sojourn here was cut short eventually, nevertheless, for he heard that some property had been bequeathed to him in the island of St. Dominique, and he hastened thither with intent to assert his rights ; but he did not return to France, his death occurring in 1779 at Port-au-Prince, the principal town in the island aforesaid.

Pasqually is credited with 'having written a book, La Reintigration, but this was never published. As regards the philosophy which he promulgated, he appears to have believed partly in the inspiration of the Scriptures, the downfall of the angels, the theory of original sin, together with the doctrine of justification by faith ; but he seems to have held that man existed in an elemental state long before the creation detailed in Genesis, and was gradually evolved into his present form. In short, Pasqually was something of an anticipator of endless modern theorists nor did he fail to find a disciple who regarded him as a prophet and master, this being Louis Claude de St. Martin, a theosophist frequently styled in France " le philosophe inconnu," who founded the sect known as Martinistes. The reader will find some account of St. Martin in an article headed with his name.

Path, The : Is a term which represents an important theosophical teaching, and it is used in different senses to denote not only the Path itself but also the Probationary Path along which a man must journey before he can enter on the former. Impelled by profound longing for the highest, for service of God and his fellows, man first begins the journey and he must devote himself wholeheartedly to this service. At his entrance on the Probationary Path, he becomes the chela or disciple of one of the Masters or Perfected men who have all finished the great journey, and he devotes himself to the acquiring of four qualifications which are (1) knowledge of what only is real; (2) rejection of what is unreal ; (3) the six mental attributes of control over thought, control over outward action, tolerance, endurance, faith and balance, these attributes though all necessary in some degree, not being necessary in perfect degree; and (4) the desire to be one with God. During the period of his efforts to acquire these qualifications, the chela advances in many ways, for his Master imparts to him wise counsel; he is taught by meditation to attain divine heights unthought of by ordinary man; he constantly works for the betterment of his fellows, usually in the hours of sleep, and striving thus and in similar directions, he fits himself for the first initiation at the entrance to the Path proper, but it may be mentioned that he has the opportunity either during his probation or afterwards to forego the heavenly life which is his due and so to allow the world to benefit by the powers which be - has gained, and which in ordinary course, he would utilise in the heavenly life. In this case, he remains in the astral world, from whence he makes frequent returns to the physical world. Of initiations there are four, each at the beginning of a new stage on the Path, manifesting the knowledge of that stage. On the first stage there are three obstacles or, as they are commonly termed, fetters, which must be cast aside and these are the illusion of self which must be realised to be only an illusion; doubt which must be cleared away by knowledge; and superstition which must be cleared away by the discovery of what in truth is real. This stage traversed, the second initiation follows, and after this comes the consciousness that earthly life will now be short, that only once again will physical death be experienced, and the man begins more and more to function in his mental body. After the third initiation, the man has two other fetters to unloose-desire and avension; and now his knowledge becomes keen and piercing and he can gaze deep into the heart of things. After the fourth initiation, he enters on the last stage and finally frees himself of what fetters remain-the desire for life whether bodily or not, and the sense of individual difference from his fellows. He has now reached the end of his journey, and is no longer trammelled with sin or with anything that can hinder him from entering the state of supreme bliss where he is reunited with the divine consciousness. (See Theosophy.)

Paulicians : (See Gnostics.)

Pauline Art : (See Key of Solomon.)

Pawang : (See Malays.)

Pazzani : (See France.)

Pearls : Occult properties of. Amongst the early Greeks and Romans, the wearing of gems as an amulet or talisman, was much in-vogue. For this purpose pearls were often made into crowns. Rich says: " Pope Adrian, anxious to secure all the virtues in his favour, wore an amulet composed of a sun-baked toad, arsenic, tormentil, pearl, coral, hyacinth, smarag, and tragacanth."

It is also said that to dream of pearls means many tears.

Their occult virtues are brought forth by being boiled in meat, when they heal the quartan ague : bruised and taken with milk, they are good for ulcers, and clear the voice. They also comfort the heart and render their possessor chaste.

Pedro de Valentia : (See Spain.)

Peliades : (See Greece.)

Pentagram : (See Magical Diagram.)

Perfect Sermon : A hermetic Book. (See Hermes Trismegistus.)

Pernety, Antoine Joseph : Author of the Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique and Les Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques. According to him the Golden Fleece, in the Jason Medea legend, is symbolical. The labours of Jason represent strivings towards perfection.

Persia : (See Magi.)

Peter of Apono : Born in 1250, at Apono, near Padua, a philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer of no mean skill. He practised physic in Paris with so great success that he soon became very rich, but his wealth and attainments were annulled by the accusation of sorcery which was brought against him. He was said to receive instruction in the seven liberal arts from seven spirits which he kept in crystal vessels. To him was ascribed also the curious and useful faculty of causing the money he spent to return to his own purse. His downfall was brought about by an act of revenge for which he was called to account by the Inquisition.' A neighbour of his had been possessed of a spring of excellent water in his garden, from which he allowed Peter of Apono to drink at will. For some reason or another the permission was withdrawn, and Peter, with the assistance of the Devil, caused the water to leave the garden and flow uselessly in some distant street. Ere the trial was finished the unfortunate physician died, but so hitter were the inquisitors against him that they ordered his bones to be dug up and burned. This public indignity to his memory was averted by some of his friends, who, hearing of the vindictive sentence, secretly removed his remains from the burying-ground where they lay. The inquisitors thereupon satisfied their animosity by burning him in effigy.

Petetin : (See Hypnotism.)

Petra Philosophorum : (See Fioravanti.)

Phantasmagoria : An optical spectacle of the same class as the magic lantern; dissolving views. These were formerly regarded by the ignorant as sorcery.

Philadelphian Society : (See Visions.)

Philalethes, Eirenaeus : (circa, 1660) Alchemist. The life of this alchemist is wrapped in mystery, albeit a considerable mass of writing stands to his credit. The heading of this article is, of course, mere pseudonym, and, though some have tried hard to identify the writer who bore it with one Thomas Vaughan, a brother of Henry Vaughan, the "Silurist " poet, this theory is not supported by any very sound evidence. Others have striven to identify Philalethes with George Starkey, the quack doctor and author of Liquor Alchahest; but then, Starkey died of the plague in London in 1661, whereas it is known that Eirenaeus was living for some years after that date. He appears, also, to have been on intimate terms with Robert Boyle, and, though this points to his having spent a considerable time in England, it is certain on the other hand that he emigrated to America. Now Starkey, it will be remembered, was born in the Bermudas, and practised his spurious medical crafts in the English settlements in America, where, according to his contemporary biographers, he met Eirenaeus Philalethes. This meeting, then, may have given rise to the identification at issue; while it is probably Starkey to whom Eirenaeus refers when, in a preface to one of his books, he tells of certain of his writings falling into the hands of one who, I conceive, will never return them," for in 1654 Starkey issued a volume with the title, The Marrow of Alchemy by Eirenaeus Philopenus Pizilalethes.

It is to these prefaces by Philalethes that we must chiefly look for any information about him, while in the thirteenth chapter of his Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Regis Palatium (Amsterdam, 1667) he makes a few autobiographical avowals which illuminate his character and career. For we are like Cain, driven from the pleasant society we formerly had," he writes, and this suggests that he was persecuted on account of his alchemistic predilections; while elsewhere he heaps scorn on most of the hermetic philosophers of his day, and elsewhere, again, he vituperates the popular worship of money-getting. " I disdain, loathe, and detest the idolizing of silver and gold," he declares, "by which the pomps and vanities of the world are celebrated. Ah! filthy, evil, ah! vain nothingness." That is vigorously written, and indeed nearly everything from the pen of Philalethes, whether in Latin or in English, proclaims him a writer of some care, skill and taste; while his scholarship was considerable also, and it is interesting to find that, in his preface to Ripley Revived (London, 1678), lie gives some account of the authors to whom he felt himself chiefly indebted. " For my own part," he says, " I have cause to honour Bernard Trevisan, who is very ingenious, especially in the letter to Thomas of Boulogne, when I seriously confess I received the main light in the hidden secret. I do not remember that ever I learnt anything from Raymond Lully. . . . I know of none like Ripley, though Flamel be eminent."

Langlet du Fresnoy, in his Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique, refers to numerous unpublished manuscripts by Eirenaeus Philalethes, but nothing is known about these to-day, and in conclusion it behoves only to cite the more important of those things by the alchemist which were issued in book form: Medulla Alchymiae (London, 1664), Experimenta de Praeperatione Mercurii Sophici (Amsterdam, 1668) and Enarratio Methodica trium Gebri Medicinarurn (Amsterdam, 1668.)

Philosopher's Stone : A substance which enabled adepts in alchemy to compass the transmutation of metals. (See Alchemy.) It was imagined by the alchemists that some one definite substance was essential to the success of the transmutation of metals. By the application or admixture of this substance all metals might he transmuted into gold or silver. It was often designated the Powder of Projection. Zosimus, who lived at the commencement of the fifth century is one of the first who alludes to it. He says that the stone is a powder or liquor formed of diverse metals, infusioned under a favourable constellation. The Philosopher's Stone was supposed to contain the secret not only of transmutation, but of health and life, for through its agency could be distilled the Elixir of Life. It was the touchstone of existence. The author of a Treatise on Philosophical and Hermetic Chemistry, published in Paris in 1725 says : " Modern philosophers have extracted from the interior of mercury a fiery spirit, mineral, vegetable and mutliplicative, in a humid concavity in which is found the primitive mercury or the universal quintessence. In the midst of this spirit resides the spiritual fluid This is the mercury of the philosophers, which is not solid like a metal, nor soft like quicksilver, hut between the two. They have retained for a long time this Secret, which is the commencement, the middle, and the end of their work. It is necessary then to proceed first to purge the mercury with salt and with ordinary salad vinegar, to sublime it with vitriol and saltpetre, to dissolve it in aqua-fortis, to sublime it again, to calcine it and fix it, to put away part of it in salad oil, to distill this liquor for the purpose of separating the spiritual water, air, and fire, to fix the mercurial body in the spiritual water or to distill the spirit of liquid mercury found in it, to putrefy all, and then to raise and exalt the spirit with non-odorous white sulphur that is to say, sal-ammoniac-to dissolve this sal-ammoniac in the spirit of liquid mercury which when distilled becomes the liquor known as the Vinegar of the Sages, to make it pass from gold to antimony three times and afterwards to reduce it by heat, lastly to steep this warm gold in very harsh vinegar and allow it to putrefy. On the surface of the vinegar it will raise itself in the form of fiery earth of the colour of oriental pearls. This is the first operation in the grand work. For the second operation; take in the name of God one part of gold and two parts of the spiritual water, charged with the sal-ammoniac, mix this noble confection in a vase of crystal of the shape of an egg : warm over a soft but continuous fire, and the fiery water will dissolve little by little the gold ; this forms a liquor which is called by the sages "chaos" containing the elementary qualities-cold, dryness, heat and humidity. Allow this composition to putrefy until it becomes black; this blackness is known as the ' crow's head' and the ' darkness of the sages,' and makes known to the artist that he is on the right track. It was also known as the ' black earth.' It must be boiled once more in a vase as white as snow; this stage of the work is called the ' swan,' and from it arises the white liquor, which is divided into two parts - one white for the manufacture of silver, the other red for the manufacture of gold. Now you have accomplished the work, and you possess the Philosopher's Stone.

"In these diverse operations, one finds many byproducts ; among these is the ' green. lion ' which is called also 'azoph,' and which draws gold from the more ignoble elements; the ' red lion' which converts the metal into gold; the ' head of the crow,' called also the ' black veil of the ship of Theseus,' which appearing forty days before the end of the operation predicts its success ; the white powder which transmutes the white metals to fine silver; the red elixir with which gold is made; the white elixir which also makes silver, and which procures long life-it is also called the ' white daughter of the philosophers.'

In the lives of the various alchemists we find many notices of the Powder of Projection in connection with those adepts who were supposed to have arrived at the solution of the grand arcanum. Thus in the Life of Alexander Seton (q.v.), a Scotsman who came from Port Seton, near Edinburgh, we find that on his various travels on the continent he employed in his alchemical experiments a blackish powder, the application of which turned any metal given him into gold. Numerous instances are on record of Seton's projections, the majority of which are verified with great thoroughness. On one occasion whilst in Holland, he went with some friends from the house at which he was residing to undertake an alchemical experiment at another house near by. On the way thither a quantity of ordinary zinc was purchased, and this Seton succeeded in projecting into pure gold by the application of his powder. A like phenomenon was undertaken by him at Cologne, and elsewhere throughout Germany, and the extremist torture could not wring from him the secret of the quintessence he possessed. His pupil or assistant, Sendivogius, made great efforts to obtain the secret from him before he died, hut all to no purpose. However, out of gratitude Seton bequeathed him what remained of his marvellous powder, which was employed by his Polish successor with the same results as had been achieved in his own case. The wretched Sendivogius fared badly, however, when the powder at last came to an end. He had used it chiefly in liquid form, and into this he had dipped silver coins which immediately had become the purest gold. Indeed it is on record that one coin, of which he had only immersed the half, remained for many years as a signal instance of the claims of alchemy in a museum or collection somewhere in South Germany. The half of this doubloon was gold, while the undipped portion had remained silver; but the notice concerning it is scarcely of a satisfactory nature. When the powder gave out, Sendivogius was driven to the desperate expedient of gilding the coins, which, report says, he had heretofore transmuted by legitimate means, and this very naturally brought upon him the wrath of those who had trusted him. (See Seton.)

In the Tale of the Anonymous Adept we also find a powder in use, and indeed the powder seems to have been the favoured form of the transmuting agency. The term Philosopher's Stone probably arose from some Eastern talismanic legend. Yet we find in Egyptian alchemy-the oldest-the idea of the black powder-the detritus or oxide of all the metals mingled. (See Egypt.)

The Philosopher's Stone had a spiritual as well as a material conception attached to it, and indeed spiritual alchemy is practically identified with it ; but we do not find the first alchemists, nor those of medieval times, possessed of any spiritual ideas ; their hope was to manufacture real gold. and it is only in later times that we find the altruistic idea creeping in, to the detriment of the physical one. Symbolic language was largely used by both schools, however, and we must not imagine that because an alchemical writer employs symbolical figures of speech that he is of the transcendental school, as his desire was merely to be understanded of his brother adepts, and to conserve his secret from the vulgar. (See Alchemy.)

Philosophic Summary, The : (See Hamel.)

Phreno-Magnet : Journal of Magnetism. (See Spiritualism.)

Phreno-Mesmerism (or Phrenopathy) : An application of the principles of Mesmerism to the science of phrenology. Mesmerism and phrenology had for some time been regarded by the English mesmerists as related sciences when it was discovered that a somnambule whose "bumps" were touched by the fingers of the operator would respond to the stimulus by exhibiting every symptom of the mental trait corresponding to the organ touched. Thus signs of joy, grief, destructiveness, combativeness, and friendship might be exhibited in rapid succession by the entranced patient. Among those who claimed to have discovered the new science were Dr. Collyer, a pupil of Dr. Elliotson's and the Rev. Laroy Sunderland, though the former afterwards repudiated it. As time went on enterprising phreno-mesmerists discovered many new cerebral organs as many as a hundred and fifty being found beside those already mapped out by Spurzheim and Gall. Among its supporters phreno-mesmerism numbered the distinguished hypnotist Braid, who expressed himself fully satisfied of its reality. He has recorded a number of cases in which the patient correctly indicated by his actions the organs touched, though demonstrably ignorant of phrenological laws, and inaccessible to outside information. Braid himself offers but a very halting and inadequate physiological explanation, and since he may be supposed to have been fully alive to the factors of suggestion and hyperaesthesia, it would seem advisable to admit the possibility of mental suggestion, or telepathy, by means of which the expectation of the operator, reproducing itself in the mind of the patient, would give rise to the corresponding reactions.

Phrygian Cap : Hargrave Jennings, in his Rosicrucians. Their Rites and Mysteries, says that the Phrygian Cap, the classic Mithraic Cap, sacrificial Cap, and mitre all derive from one common ancestor. The Mithraic or Phrygian Cap is the origin of the priestly mitre in all faiths. It was worn by the priest in sacrifice. When worn by a male, it had its crest, comb. or point, set jutting forward ; when worn by a female, it bore the same prominent part of the cap in reverse, or on the nape of the neck, as in the instance of the Amazon's helmet, displayed in all old sculptures, or that of Pallas-Athene, as exhibited in the figures of Minerva, The peak, pic, or point, of caps or hats (the term " cocked hat" is a case in point) all refer to the same idea. This point had a sanctifying meaning afterwards attributed to it, when it was called the christa, crista, or crest, which signifies a triumphal top, or tuft. The " Grenadier Cap," and the loose black Hussar Cap, derive remotely from the same sacred, Mithraic, or emblematical bonnet, or high pyramidal cap. It, in this instance, changes to black, because it is devoted to the illustration of the " fire-workers" (grenadiers) who, among modern military, succeed the Vulcanists, Cyclopes, classic " smiths," or servants of Vulcan, or Mulciber, the artful worker among the metals in the fire, or amidst the forces of nature. This idea will be found by a reference to the high cap among the Persians, or Fire-worshippers; and to the black cap among the Bohemians, and in the East. All travellers in Eastern lands will remember that the tops of the minarets reminded them of the high-pointed black caps of the Persians.

The Phrygian Cap is a most recondite antiquarian form; the symbol comes from the highest antiquity. It is displayed on the head of the figure sacrificing in the celebrated sculpture, called the " Mithraic Sacrifice" (or the Mythical Sacrifice) in the British Museum. This loose cap, with the point protruding, gives the original form from which all helmets or defensive headpieces, whether Greek or Barbarian, deduce. As a Phrygian Cap, or Symbolising Cap, it is always sanguine in its colour. It then stands as the" Cap of Liberty" a revolutionary form; also, in another way, it is even a civic or incorporated badge. It is always masculine in its meaning. It marks the " needle " of the obelisk, the crown or tip of the phallus, whether " human" or representative. It has its origin in the rite of circumcision-unaccountable as are both the symbol and the rite.

The real meaning of the bonnet rouge, or cap of liberty, has been involved from time immemorial in deep obscurity, notwithstanding that it has always been regarded as the most important hieroglyph or figure. It signifies the supernatural simultaneous "sacrifice" and "triumph." It has descended from the time of Abraham, and it is supposed to emblem the strange mythic rite of the " circumcisio preputii," The loose Phrygian bonnet conique, or " cap of liberty," may be accepted as figuring, or standing for, that detached integument or husk, separated from a certain point or knob, which has various names in different languages, and which supplies the central idea of this sacrificial rite - the spoil or refuse of which (absurd and unpleasant as it may seem) is borne aloft at once as a "trophy'.' and as the" cap of liberty." It is now a magic sign, and becomes a talisman of supposedly inexpressible power-from what particular dark reason it may be difficult to say. The whole is a sign of " initiation," and of baptism of a peculiar kind. The Phrygian Cap, ever after this first inauguration, has stood as the sign of the "Enlightened." The heroic figures in most Gnostic Gems, have caps of this kind. The sacrificer in the sculptured group of the " Mithraic Sacrifice," among the marbles in the British Museum, has a Phrygian Cap on his head, whilst in the act of striking the bull with the poniard-meaning the office of the immolating priest. The bonnet conique is the mitre of the Doge of Venice.

Cinteotl, a Mexican god of sacrifice, wears such a cap made from the thigh-skin of an immolated virgin. This head-dress is shaped like a cock's comb.

Besides the bonnet rouge, the Pope's mitre-nay, all mitres or conical head-coverings-have their name from the terms "Mithradic," or " Mithraic," The origin of the whole class of names is Mittra, or Mithra. The cap of the grenadier, the shape of which is alike all over Europe, is related to the Tartar lambskin caps, which are dyed black; and it is black also from its associations with Vulcan and the " Fire-worshippers " (Smiths). The Scotch Glengarry cap will prove on examination to be only a "cocked" Phrygian. All the black conical caps, and the meaning of this strange symbol, came from the East. The loose black fur cap derives from the Tartars.

The " Cap of Liberty" (Bonnet Rouge), the Crista or Crest (Male), and the Female (Amazon) helmet, all mean the same idea ; in the instance of the female crest the knob is, however, depressed.

Phyllorhodomancy : Divination by rose-leaves. The Greeks clapped a rose-leaf on the hand, and judged from the resulting sound the success or otherwise of their desires.

Physical World : Formerly known as the Sthula Plane - is in the theosophic scheme of things the lowest of the seven worlds, the world in which ordinary man moves and is conscious under normal conditions. It is the limit of the ego's descent into matter, and the matter which composes the appropriate physical body, is the densest of any of these worlds. Physical matter has the seven divisions of solid, liquid, gas, ether, super-ether, sub-atom and atom, in common with the matter of the other worlds. Besides the physical body, familiar to ordinary vision, there is a finer body, the etheric double, which plays a very important part in collecting vitality from the sun for the use of the denser physical body, and reference is made to the articles on the Etheric Body, and Chaksams. At death, the physical body and the etheric double are cast aside and slowly resolve into their components. (See Worlds, Planes or Spheres, Theosophy.)

Pierart, Z. T. : French Spiritualist and editor of La Revue Spiritualiste. M. Pierart was born in humble circumstances but managed to secure for himself an adequate education. He became in time professor at the College of Maubeuge, and afterwards secretary to Baron Du Potet. In 1858 he founded La Revue Spiritualiste, and led the French spiritualists, between whom and the spiritists under Allan Kardec there existed a certain rivalry. Until his death in 1878 he continued to devote his time and talents to the movement with. which he had identified himself.

Pierre, La : (See Palingenesy.)

Pinto : Grand Master of Malta : (See Cagliostro.)

Piper, Mrs. : A famous trance medium, whose discourses and writings present the best evidence extant for the actuality of spirit communication. A native of America, it was there that Mrs. Piper first became entranced, while consulting a professional clairvoyant in 1884. Numerous spirits purported to control her in these early days-Mrs. Siddons, Longfellow, Bach, to mention only the most celebrated-but in 1885, when she came under the observation of the Society for Psychical Research, her principal control was Dr. Phinuit. From that time forward her trance utterances and writings-for after 1890 the communications were generally in writing-were carefully recorded and analysed by members of the S.P.R., chiefly under the direction of Dr. Hodgson. In 1889-90 Mrs. Piper visited this country and gave many stances, most of which seemed to display supernormal powers in the medium. It is impossible in a limited space to detail her remarkable trance impersonations. On his death in 1905 Dr. Hodgson became one of her controls; Mr. Myers and Mr. Gurney also controlled her. But perhaps the most life-like and convincing impersonation or spirit-manifestation-whichever it may have been-was that of George Pelham, a young American author and a friend of Dr. Hodgson, who had died suddenly in 1892. (See Trance Personalities.) The information given by this control, his recognition of friends, and so on, were 50 accurate as to convince many that it was indeed " G.P." who spoke.

From that time until 1896 the stances were especially productive, but in the latter year the medium underwent an operation. Phinuit, who often acted as a go-between for other controls and the sitter, now took his departure, and a band of other spirits, led by the " Imperator" of Stainton Moses, took control of Mrs. Piper's organism. The trance writings and utterances became fewer, and the spirits recommended that the number of sittings be cut down on account of the medium's health. Nevertheless some excellent tests were subsequently got with the Piper-Hodgson, Piper-Myers, and Piper-Gurney controls. Mrs. Piper was also one of those who took part in the " cross-correspondences" sittings held in 1906 and onwards, the other mediums being Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Verrall, Miss Verrall, Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Forbes, etc.

(See Spiritualism, and Cross-Correspondences.) It seems clear that in Mrs. Piper's trance phenomena there are evidences of some supernormal faculty, at the best, of telepathy, though to the writer even that hypothesis seems to be inadequate. It would, for example, be a very complicated form of telepathy, that would enable some of these automatic cross-correspondence " scripts to be written, in which, say, the scripts contain allusions unintelligible to the writers, and requiring a key provided by a third script to make them plain. Such a case inevitably suggests that one and the same intelligence directs all three mediums. Mrs. Piper's impersonation of George Pelham, again, calls for some explanation, since it would seem that all the information could hardly have been culled from the sitter's minds. (See Spiritualism.)

Planchette : An instrument designed for the purpose of communication with spirits. It consists of a thin-heart-shaped piece of wood, mounted on two small wheel-castors and carrying a pencil, point downwards, for the third support. The hand is placed on the wood and the pencil writes automatically, or presumably by spirit control operating through the psychic force of the medium.

In 1853, a well-known French spiritualist, M. Planchette, invented this instrument to which he gave his name. For quite fifteen years it was used exclusively by French spiritualists. Then in the year 1868 a firm of toy-makers in America took up the idea and flooded the booksellers' shops with great numbers of planchettes. It became a popular mania, and the instrument sold in thousands there and in Great Britain. It was, and is, largely used simply as a toy and any results obtained that may be arresting and seemingly inexplicable are explained by Animal Magnetism or traced to the power of subconscious thought.

Amongst spiritualists it has been used for spirit communication. Automatic writing has often been developed by use of the planchette, some mediums publishing books which, they claimed, were written wholly by their spirit-controls through the use of planchettes. Dr. Ashburnes, in his Spiritualism Chemically Explained says that the human body is a condensation of gases, which constantly exude from the skin in invisible vapour - otherwise electricity; that the fingers coming in contact with the planchette transmit to it an " odic force," and thus set it in motion. He goes on to say that some people have phosphorous in excess in their system and the vapour "thus exuded forms a positively living, thinking, acting body, capable of directing a pencil." There are variations on the planchette form such as the dial-planchette which consists of a foundation of thick cardboard nine inches square on the face of which the alphabet is printed and also the numerals one to ten. There are the words "Yes," " No," " Goodbye" and " Don't know." These letters, words, and numerals are printed on the outer edge of a circle, the diameter of which is about seven inches. In the centre of this circle, and firmly affixed to the cardboard, is a block of wood three inches square. The upper surface of this block has a circular channel in it and in this run balls. Over the balls is placed a circular piece of hard wood, five inches in diameter. and attached to the outer edge of this a pointer. The upper piece of wood is attached to the lower by an ordinary screw, upon which the upper plate revolves when used for communication. Another form is the Ouija board on which in a convenient order the letters of the alphabet are printed and over which a pointer easily moves under the direction of the hand of the person or persons acting as mediums. It is stated that a form of this " mystic toy" was in use in the days of Pythagoras, about 540 B.C. In a French history of Pythagoras, the author describing his celebrated school of philosophy, asserts that the brother-hood held frequent seances on circles at which a mystic table, moving on wheels, moved towards signs inscribed on the surface of a stone slab on which the moving-table worked. The author states that probably Pythagoras, in his travels among the Eastern nations, observed some such apparatus in use amongst them and adapted his idea from them. Another trace of some such "communicating mechanism" is found in the legend told by the Scandinavian Blomsturvalla how the people of Jomsvikingia in the twelfth century had a high priest, one Volsunga, whose predictions were renowned for their accuracy throughout the length and breadth of the land. He had in his possession a little ivory doll that drew with " a pointed instrument" on parchment or " other substance," certain signs to which the priest had the key. The communications were in every case prophetic utterances, and it is said in every case came true. The writer who recounts the legend thought it probable that the priest had procured the doll in China. In the National Museum at Stockholm there is a doll of this description which is worked by mechanism, and when wound up walks round and round in circles and occasionally uses its right arm to make curious signs with a pointed instrument like a stylo which is held in the hand. Its origin and use have been connected with the legend recounted above.

Planet : (See Planetary Chains.)

Planetary Logos : or Ruler of Seven Chains, is, in the theosophic scheme, one of the grades in the hierarchy which assists in the work of creation and guidance. It is the supreme Logos who initiates this work, but in it he is helped by the "seven." They receive from him the inspiration and straightway each in his own Planetary Chain carries on the work, directed by him no doubt, yet in an individual fashion, through all the successive stages which go to compose a Scheme of Evolution. (See Logos, Chains.)

Planetary Spirits : In the theosophical scheme the number of these spirits is seven. They are emanations from the Absolute, and are the agents by which the Absolute effects all his changes in the Universe.

Planets : (See Astrology.)

Podovne Vile : (See Slavs.)

Poe, Edgar Allen : (See Fiction, Occult English.)

Polnandres : A hermetic hook. (See Hermes Trismegistus.)

Polong : Malay familiar. (See Malays.)

Poltergeist : The name given to the supposed supernatural causes of outbreaks of rappings, inexplicable noises, and similar disturbances, which from time to time have mystified men of science as well as the general public. The term poltergeist (i.e., Polter Geist, rattling ghost) is sufficiently indicative of the character of these beings, whose manifestations are, at the best, puerile and purposeless tricks, and not infrequently display an openly mischievous and destructive tendency. The poltergeist is by no means indigenous to any one country, nor has he confined his attentions to any particular period. Lang mentions several cases belonging to the Middle Ages, and one at least which dates so far back as 856 B.C. In both savage and civilised countries this peculiar form of haunting is well known, and it is a curious fact that the phenomena are almost identical in every case, The disturbances are always observed to be particularly active in the neighbourhood of one person, generally a child or a young woman, and preferably an epileptic or hysterical subject. According to the theory advanced by spiritualists, this centre of the disturbances is a natural medium, through whom the spirits desire to communicate with the world of living beings. In earlier times such a person was regarded as a witch, or the victim of a witch, whichever supposition was best fitted to the circumstances. The poltergeist is represented as a development from witch-craft, and the direct forerunner of modern spiritualism, and is, in fact, a link between the two.

Turning our attention first to some of the earlier records, we may consider briefly the case of the Drummer of Tedworth (1661), and the Epworth Case (1716). In both of these instances the manifestations witnessed were of the usual order. The spirits, if spirits they were, sought to attract attention by familiar childish tricks, and communicated by means of the same cumbrous process of knocking. The circumstances of the first-named instance are as follow: In 1661 a' vagrant drummer was, at the instance of Mr. Mompesson of Tedworth, taken before a Justice of the Peace, and deprived of his drum, which instrument finally found a resting-place in the house of Mr. Mompesson, during that gentleman's absence from home. Immediately violent disturbances broke out in the house. Loud knockings and thumpings were heard, and the beating of an invisible drum. Articles flew recklessly about the rooms, and the bedsteads (particularly those in which the younger children lay) were violently shaken. After a time the drummer was transported, when the manifestations abruptly ceased, but a recurrence of the outbreak synchronised with his return. Contemporary opinion put the case down to witchcraft on the part of the drummer, but Mr. Podmore and other moderns incline to the belief that the " two little modest girls in the bed " had more than a little to do with the mysterious knockings and scratchings of the poltergeist. In the famous Epworth Case, where the phenomena is well attested by the whole Wesley family, and described in numerous contemporary letters, the disturbances comprised all the ordinary manifestations of levitations, loud and terrifying noises, and rappings, together with apparitions of rabbits, badgers, and so on. Podmore is of the opinion that one of the daughters, Hetty, was in some way implicated in the affair. She alone did not give an account of the manifestations, though she had promised to do so. The poltergeist showed a decided partiality for her company - a circumstance which, though not unobserved, does not seem to have held any special significance for her family. A more recent case in which a charge of witchcraft is involved, is the Cideville case, described by Mr. Lang in his Cock Lane and Common Sense, under the heading, ' A Modern Trial for Witchcraft." In 1849 the Cure of Cideville, Seine Inferieure, was summoned to court by a shepherd named Thorel, who alleged that the Cure had denounced him for sorcery. In his defence the Cure stated that Thorel himself had confessed to having produced by means of sorcery certain mysterious manifestations which had disturbed the inmates of the Abbey. During the trial it transpired that the Cure, when visiting a sick parishioner, had driven from the bedside a man of notorious character, with an evil reputation for sorcery, who was about to treat the patient. The sorcerer retired, vowing vengeance on the Cure, and was shortly afterwards sent to prison. Later when two little boys. pupils of the Cure, were at an auction, they were approached by Thorel, who was known as a disciple of the sorcerer. He placed his hand on the head of one of the children, and muttered some strange words. When the boys returned to the Abbey the poltergeist performances commenced. Violent blows on the walls seemed about to demolish them, one of the children complained that he was followed by a man's shadow, and other witnesses declared that they had seen a grey hand and wreaths of smoke. Some of those who visited the Abbey were able to hold a conversation with the spirits by means of knocking. It was agreed that sharp-pointed irons should be driven into the walls, and on this being done, smoke and flames were seen to issue from the incisions. At last Thorel sought the Cure' and confessed that the disturbances were the work of his master, the sorcerer. The plaintiff was non-suited, and the judge, in summing up, said that the cause of the ' extraordinary facts " of this case " remained unknown.' In February, 1851, the boys were removed from the Abbey, and the disturbances ceased.

Of those instances where a spiritualistic explanation has been offered perhaps the most outstanding is the case of the Cock Lane Ghost, almost too well-known to call for recapitulation. In 1761-2 raps and scratches were heard in a house in Cock Lane, generally occurring near the bed of the little daughter of the house, Elizabeth Parsons. Very soon the manifestations became so pronounced that people from all parts of the city were crowding to witness them. A code of raps was agreed upon, through which it was ascertained that the spirit was that of a lady named "Fanny," who declared that she had been poisoned by her deceased sister's husband, with whom she had lodged in the Cock Lane house some two years previously, and expressed a wish that he might be hanged. It is, indeed, quite a common thing for the poltergeist to reveal a crime, real or imaginary - and more often the latter, which is entirely in keeping with the character of the spirit. In the Cock Lane affair the manifestations followed the girl when she was removed to another house, and she trembled strongly, even in her sleep, on the approach of the ghost. The case which presents the most formidably array of evidence, however, is that of the Joller family in Switzerland. In 1860 - two serious disturbances broke out in Stans, in the home of M. Joller, a prominent lawyer, and a man of excellent character. Knocks were first heard by a servant-maid, who also averred that she was haunted by strange grey shapes, and the sound of sobbing. In the autumn of 1861, she was dismissed and another maid engaged. For a time there was peace, but in the summer of 1862 they commenced with redoubled vigour. The wife and seven children of M. Joller heard and saw many terrifying sights and sounds, but M. Joller himself remained sceptical. At length, however, even he was convinced that neither trickery nor imagination would suffice as an explanation of the phenomena. Meanwhile the manifestations became more and more outrageous, and continued in full view of the thousands of persons who were attracted by curiosity to the house, including the Land-Captain Zelger, the Director of Police Jaun, the President of the Court of Justice, and other prominent people, some of whom suggested that a commission be appointed to examine the house thoroughly. Three of the heads of police were deputed to conduct the enquiry. They demanded the withdrawal of M. Joller and his family, and remained in the house for six days without witnessing anything abnormal, and drew up a report to this effect. Directly the Joller family entered the house the interruptions were renewed. M. Joller became the butt of ridicule to all, even his political and personal friends, and was finally compelled to quit his ancestral home. This is undoubtedly one of the most striking cases of poltergeist haunting on record. Here, as in almost every instance, there are children evidently and Intimately bound up with the manifestations. It is his choice of a medium which has directed most suspicion to the poltergeist. and it on this that Mr. Podmore bases his assumption that all poltergeist visitations are traceable to the cunning tricks of " naughty little girls." He suggests that with the " medium " under careful control it is more than probable that the poltergeist will turn shy, and refuse to perform his traditional functions There is much to be said for this theory. The medium of the spiritualistic seance is frequently credited with the loftiest utterances, and the production of literary, musical, and artistic compositions. The poltergeist indulges in such futilities as the breaking of crockery, the throwing about of furniture, and the materialization of coal and carrots in the drawing-room. Why, if they are mature spirits, as they purport to be, should they practise such feats of mystification as would seem to be impelled either by the foolish vanity of a child, or the cunning impulses of a deranged mind? Then there is often a curious hesitancy on the part of the medium, as in the case of Hetty Wesley, a trembling on the approach of the phenomena, and a tendency to such physical disturbances as epileptic and other fits. And sometimes the poltergeist confesses, as did the maid-servant Ann at Stockwell, to having manipulated the disturbing occurrences with the aid of wires and horsehair. But in such a case as that of the Joller family, the theory of " naughty little girls " is childishly inadequate. It is all but impossible to believe that children could produce the manifestations in full view of hundreds of people. It is still more difficult to understand how children and ignorant persons, with presumably no knowledge of previous instances, could fix upon exactly the same phenomena which has been produced by the poltergeists of every age and clime. And in the Joller case, there is the evidence of many spectators that the most violent disturbances were witnessed when the whole family were assembled outside the house and thus not in a position to assist the manifestations, which included the throwing open of all windows, doors, cupboards and drawers,. the materialization of the "thin grey cloud," noises and apparitions. In short, it must be admitted that there is an element of mystery which calls for elucidation, and which the most scientific and critical minds have hitherto failed to make clear.

Polynesia : Magic in Polynesia is the preserve of the priestly and upper classes, although lesser sorcery is practised by individuals not of these castes. There is a prevailing belief in what is known as mana, or supernatural power, which is resident in certain individuals. The method of using this power is twofold. One of these is practised by a society known as the Iniat, where certain rites are carried out which are supposed to bring calamity upon the enemies of the tribe. The ability to exercise magic is known as agagara, and the magician or wizard is tena agagara. If the wizard desires to cast magic upon another man, he usually tries to secure something that that person has touched with his mouth, and to guard against this, the natives are careful to destroy all food-refuse that they do not consume, and they carefully gather up even a single drop of blood when they receive a cut or scratch, and burn it or throw it into the sea, so that the wizard may not obtain it. The wizard having obtained something belonging to the person whom he wishes to injure, buries it in a deep hole, together with leaves of poisonous plants and sharp-pointed pieces of bamboo, accompanying the action by suitable incantations. If he chances to be a member of the Iniat society, he will place on the top of the whole one of their sacred stones, as they believe that so long as the stone is pressing down the article which has been buried in the hole the man to whom it belonged will remain sick. Immediately a man falls sick, he sets enquiries on foot as to who has bewitched him. and there is always someone to acknowledge the soft impeachment. If he does not succeed in having the spell removed he will almost certainly succumb. but if he succeeds in having lt taken away, he begins to recover almost immediately ; and the strange thing is that he evinces no enmity towards the person or persons who " bewitched him,-indeed it is taken as a matter of course, and he quietly waits the time when be will be able to return the compliment !

These remarks apply for the most part to New Britain, and its system of magic is practically the same as that known in Fiji as vakadraunikau concerning which very little is known. In ins work Melanesians and Polynesians the Rev. Dr. George Brown, the well-known pioneer missionary and explorer, gives an interesting account of the magical systems of these people, in which he incorporates several informative letters from brother missionaries, which are well worth quotation. For example, the Rev. W. E. Bromilow says that at Dobu in south-eastern New Guinea :-

"Werabana (evil spirits) are those which inhabit dark places, and wander in the night, and give witches their power to smite all round. Barau is the wizardry of men, who look with angry eyes out of dark places, and throw small stones, first spitting on them, at men, women, and even children, thus causing death. A tree falls, it is a witch who caused it to do so, though the tree may be quite rotten, or a gust of wind may break it off. A man meets with an accident, it is the werabana. He is getting better through the influence of the medicine-man, but has a relapse; this is the barau at work, as we have ascertained from the terrified shouts of our workmen, as some sleeper has called out in a horrid dream. These medicine-men, too, have great power, and no wonder, when one of our girls gets a little dust in her eye, and the doctor takes a big stone out of it; and when a chief has a pain in the chest, and to obaoba takes therefrom a two-inch nail.

"The people here will have it that all evil spirits are female. Werabana is the great word, but the term is applied to witches as well, who are called the vesses of the werabana, but more often the single word is used. I have the names of spirits inhabiting the glens and forests, but they are all women or enter into women, giving them terrible powers. Whenever any one is sick, it is the werabana who has caused the illness, and any old woman who happened to be at enmity with the sick person is set down as the cause. A child died the other day, and the friends were quite angry because the witches had not heeded the words of the lotu, i.e., the Christian religion Taparoro, and given up smiting the little ones. These are times of peace, said they, why should the child die then ? ' We, of course, took the opportunity and tried to teach them that sickness caused death without the influence of poor old women.

"Sorcerers are barau, men whose powers are more terrible than those of all the witches. I was talking to a obaoba medicine-man-the other day, and I asked him why his taking a stone out of a man's chest did not cure him. ‘Oh,' said he, 'he must have been smitten by a barau.' A very logical statement this. Cases the to obaoba cannot cure are under the fell stroke of the barau, from which there is no escape, except by the sorcerer's own incantations.

"The Fijian sorcery of drau-ni-kau appears here in another form called sumana or rubbish. The sorcerer obtains possession of a small portion of his victim's hair, or skin, or food left after a meal, and carefully wraps it up in a parcel, which he sends off to as great a distance as is possible. In the meantime he very cunningly causes a report of the sumana to be made known to the man whom he wishes to kill, and the poor fellow is put into a great fright and dies."

The Rev. S. B. Fellows gives the following account of the beliefs of the people of Kiriwina (Trobiands group):-

"The sorcerers, who are very numerous, are credited with the power of creating the wind and rain, of making the gardens to be either fruitful or barren, and of causing sick-ness which leads to death. Their methods of operation are legion. The great chief, who is also the principal sorcerer, claims the sole right to secure a bountiful harvest every year. This function is considered of transcendent importance by the people.

"Our big chief, Bulitara, was asking me one day if I had these occult powers. When I told him that I made no such claim, he said, Who makes the wind and the rain and the harvest in your land? ' I answered, ' God.' 'Ah,' said he, ' that's it. God does this work for your people, and I do it for our people. God and I are equal.' He delivered this dictum very quietly, and with the air of a man who had given a most satisfactory explanation.

"But the one great dread that darkens the life of every native is the fear of the bogau, the sorcerer who has the power to cause sickness and death, who, in the darkness of the night, steals to the house of his unsuspecting victim, and places near the doorstep a few leaves from a certain tree, containing the mystic power which he, by his evil arts, has imparted to them. The doomed man, on going out of his house next morning, unwittingly steps over the fatal leaves and is at once stricken down by a mortal sickness. Internal disease of every kind is set down to this agency. Bulitara told me the mode of his witchcraft. He boils his decoctions, containing numerous ingredients, in a special cooking-pot on a small fire, in the secret recesses of his own house, at the dead of night; and while the pot is boiling he speaks into it an incantation known only to a few persons. The bunch of leaves dipped in this is at once ready for use. Passing through the villages the other day, I came across a woman, apparently middle-aged, who was evidently suffering from a wasting disease, she was so thin and worn. I asked if she had any pain, and her friends said 'No.' Then they explained that some bogau was sucking her blood. I said, ' How does he do it? ' ‘ Oh,' they said, 'that is known only to herself. He manages to get her blood which makes him strong, while she gets weaker every day, and if he goes on much longer she will die.'

"Deformities at birth, and being born dumb or blind, are attributed to the evil influence of disembodied spirits, who inhabit a lower region called Tuma. Once a year the spirits of the ancestors visit their native village in a body after the harvest is gathered. At this time the men perform special dances, the people openly display their valuables, spread out on platforms, and great feasts are made for the spirits. On a certain night, when the moon named Namarama is at the full, all the people - men, women and children-join in raising a great shout, and so drive the spirits back to T'uma.

"A peculiar custom prevails of wearing, as charms, various parts of the body of a deceased relative. On her breast, suspended by a piece of string round her neck, a widow wears her late husband's lower jaw, the full set of teeth looking ghastly and grim. The small bones of the arms and legs are taken out soon after death, and formed into spoons, which are used to put lime into the mouth when eating betel-nut. Only this week a chief died in a village three miles from us, and a leg and an arm, for the above purpose, were brought to our village by some relatives as their portion of their dead friend.

"An evidence of the passionate nature of this people is seen in the comparatively frequent attempts at suicide. Their method is to climb into the top branches of a high tree, and, after tying the ankles together, to throw them-selves down. During the last twelve months two attempts near our home were successful, and several others were prevented. In some cases the causes were trivial. One young man allowed his anger to master him because his wife had smoked a small piece of tobacco belonging to him; he fell from the tree across a piece of root, which was above ground and broke his neck. A woman, middle-aged and childless, who had become jealous, climbed into a tree near her house, and calling out " Good-bye' to her brother in the village, instantly threw herself down. Falling on her head she died in a few hours; the thick skin on the scalp was cut, but so far as I could see the skull was not broken."

Some of the minor magical customs of Polynesia are worthy of note. Natives of the Duke of York group believe that by persistent calling upon a man whom they wish to get hold of he will by their call be drawn to them, even from a great distance. The natives will not eat or drink when at sea. In New Guinea and Fiji the custom prevails of cutting off a finger joint in token of mourning for a near relative, as do the bushmen of South Africa. (See Magic, Prehistoric.) They firmly believe in mermaids, tailed men and dwarfs; and regarding these they are most positive in their assertions. The natives of the Duke of York group in fact declared to a missionary that they had caught a mermaid, who had married a certain native, and that the pair had several of a family; but unfortunately," says the relater of this story, " I could never get to see them." Like many other races, the Polynesians work themselves into a great state of terror whenever an eclipse takes place, and during the phenomenon they beat drums, shout and invoke their gods.

In Samoa magic is not practised to such an extent as in other Melanesian groups, although the sorcerer still exists. He is, however, much more sophisticated, and instead of asking merely for any trifling object connected with the person whom he desires to bewitch, he demands property, such as valuable mats and other things which are of use to him. His modus operandi was to get into communication with his god, who entered the sorcerer's body, which became violently contorted and convulsed. The assembled natives would then hear a voice speaking from behind a screen, probably a ventriloquial effort, which asserted the presence of the god invoked. Sickness was generally believed to be caused by the anger of some god, who could thus be concealed by the priest or wizard and duly placated. The "god" invariably required some present of substantial value, such as a piece of land, a canoe, or other property, and if the priest happens to know of a particularly valuable object belonging to the person who supposed himself bewitched, he stipulates that it shall be given up to him. This caste of priests is known as taula-aitu, and also act as medicine-men.

Polytrix : This is almost the only example of an inauspicious stone. It caused the hair to fall off the head of anyone who had it about his person.

Pontica : A blue stone with red stars, or drops and lines like blood. It; compels the devil to answer questions, and puts him to flight.

Poppy Seeds : Divination by smoke was sometimes practised by magicians. A few jasmine or poppy seeds were flung upon burning coals, for this purpose; if the smoke rose lightly and ascended straight into the heavens, it augured well; but if it hung about it was regarded as a bad omen.

Pordage : (See Visions.)

Porka : (See Slavs.)

Port of Fortune : (See Astrology.)

Postel, Guillaume : A visionary of the sixteenth Century, born in the diocese of Avranches. He was so precocious that at fourteen years of age he was made master of a school. It is said that he was in the habit of reading the most profound works of the Jewish rabbis, and the vivacity of his imagination threw him into constant troubles, from which he had the greatest difficulty in extricating himself. He believed that he had been called by God to re-unite all men under one law, either by reason or the sword. The pope and the king of France were to be the civil and religious heads of his new republic. He was made Almoner to a hospital at Venice, where he came under the influence of a woman called Mere Jeanne, who had visions which had turned her head. Because of his heterodox preachings, Postel was denounced as a heretic, but latterly was regarded as merely mad. After having travelled somewhat extensively in the East, and having written several works in which he dealt with the visions of his coadjutor, he retired to the priory of St. Martin-des-Champs at Paris, where he died penitent in 1581.

Posthumous Letters : Many investigators of psychic science, members of the Society for Psychic Research and others, have left sealed letters, whose contents are known only to the writer. On the death of the writer, and before the letter shall have been opened, an attempt is made by a medium to reveal the contents. By this means it is hoped to prove the actuality or otherwise of spirit communication, for, since only the writer knows what the letter contains, it is presumed that on his death this knowledge can only be communicated through his discarnate spirit. This hypothesis certainly overlooks the fact that the information might be telepathically acquired during the writer's lifetime by a still living person, and so conveyed to the medium. As yet, however, hypotheses are premature, for no attempt of the kind has met with striking success.

Powder of Projection : A powder which assisted the alchemist in the transmutation of base metal into pure gold. (See Seton.)

Powder of Sympathy : A remedy which, by its application to the weapon which had caused a wound, was supposed to cure the hurt. This method was in vogue during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., and its chief exponent was a gentleman named Sir Keneim Digby. An abstract of his theory, contained in an address given before an assembly of nobles and learned men at Montpellier in France, may be seen in Pettigrew's Superstitions connected with Medicine and Surgery. The following is the recipe for the powder :-" Take Roman vitriol six or eight ounces, beat it very small in a mortar, sift it through a fine sieve when the sun enters Leo; keep it in the heat of the sun by day, and dry by night." This art has been treated by some authors with belief, and by others with unbelieving wit:- Wrenfels says :-" If the superstitious person be wounded. by any chance, he applies the salve, not to the wound, but, what is more effectual to the weapon by which he received it."

Pozenne Vile : (See Slavs.)

Pratyshara : One of the initial stages of yoga practice.

Precipitation of Matter : One of the phenomena of spiritualism which least admits of a rational explanation is that known as the ' passing of solids through solids." The statement of the hypothetical fourth dimension of space is an attempt at a solution of the problem; so also is the theory of " precipitation of matter." The latter suggests that before one solid body passes through another it is resolved into its component atoms, to be precipitated in its original form when the passage is accomplished. M. Camille Flammarion found a parallel to this process in the passage of a piece of ice solid-through a napkin. The ice passes through the napkin in the form of water, and may afterwards be re-frozen. This is matter passing through matter, a solid passing through a solid, after it has undergone a change of condition. And we are only carrying out M. Flammarion's inference in suggesting that it is something analogous to this process which occurs in all cases of solids passing through solids.

Prelati : (See Gillis de Laval.)

Premonition : An impressional warning of a future event. Premonitions may range from vague feelings of disquiet, suggestive of impending disaster, to actual hallucinations, whether visual or auditory. Dreams are frequent vehicles of premonitions, either direct or symbolical, and there are countless instances of veridical dreams. In such cases it is hard to say whether the warning may have come from an external source, as spiritualists aver, or whether the portended catastrophe may have resulted, in part, at least, from auto-suggestion. The latter is plainly the explanation of another form of premonition-i.e., the predictions made by patients in the magnetic or mediumistic trance with regard to their maladies. The magnetic subject who prophesied that his malady would reach a crisis on a certain date several weeks ahead, probably himself attended subconsciously to the fulfilling of his prophecy. Might not the same thing happen in" veridical" dreams and hallucinations ? We know that a subject obeying a post-hypnotic suggestion will weave his action quite naturally into the surrounding circumstances, though the very moment of its performance may have been fixed months before. That the dreamer and hallucinated subject also might suggest and fulfil their premonitions, either directly or by telepathic communication of the suggestion to another agent, does not seem very far-fetched or improbable. Then there is, of course, coincidence. It is impossible but that a certain proportion of verified premonitions should be the result of coincidence. Possibly, also, such impressions, whether they remain vague forebodings or are embodied in dreams or otherwise, must at times be subconscious inferences drawn from an actual, if obscure, perception of existing facts. As such, indeed, they are not to be lightly treated. Yet very frequently premonitions prove to be entirely groundless, even the most impressive ones, where the warning is emphasized by a ghostly visitant.

Prenestine Lots, The : or Sortes Prenestinae. A method of divination by lots, in vogue in Italy. The letters of the alphabet were placed in an urn which was shaken, and the letters then turned out on the floor; the words thus formed were received as omens. In the East this method of divination is still common.

Pretu (a departed ghost) : The form which the Hindus believe the soul takes after death. This ghost inhabits a body of the size of a man's thumb, and remains in the keeping of Yumu, the judge of the dead. Punishment is inflicted on the Pretu, whose body is enlarged for this purpose and is strengthened to endure sorrow. At the end of a year the soul is delivered from this state by the performance of the Shraddhu, and is translated to the heaven of the Pitrees, where it is rewarded for its good deeds. Afterwards, in a different body, the soul enters its final abode. The performance of the Shraddhu is absolutely necessary to escape from the Pretu condition.

Prophecy : In an early state of society, the prophet and shaman were probably one and the same, as is still the case among primitive peoples. It is difficult to say whether the offices of the prophet are more truly religious or magical. He is usually a priest, hut the ability to look into the future and read its portents can scarcely be called a religious attribute. In many instances prophecy is merely utterances in the ecstatic condition. We know that the pythonesses attached to the oracles of ancient Greece uttered prophetic words under the influences of natural gases or drugs ; and when the medicine-men of most savage tribes attempt to peer into the future, they usually attain a condition of ecstasy by taking some drug, the action of which is well known to them. But this was not always the case; the shaman often summoned a spirit to his aid to discover what portents and truths lie in the future but this cannot be called prophecy. . Neither is divination prophecy in the true sense of the term, as artificial aids are employed, and it is merely by the appearance of certain objects that the augur can pretend to predict future events. We often find prophecy disassociated from the ecstatic condition, as for example among the prophets of Israel, who occupied themselves in great measure with the calm statement of future political events, or those priests of the Maya Indians of Central America known as Chilan Balam, who at stated intervals in the year made certain statements regarding the period which lay immediately before them. Is prophecy then to be regarded as a direct utterance of the deity, taking man as his mouthpiece, or the statement of one who seeks inspiration from the fountain of wisdom ? Technically, both are true of prophecy, for we find it stated in scripture that when the deity desired to communicate with man he chose certain persons as his mouthpieces. Again individuals (often the same as those chosen by God) applied to the deity for inspiration in critical moments. 'Prophecy then may be the utterances of God by the medium of the practically unconscious shaman or seer, or the inspired utterance of that person after inspiration has been sought from the deity.

In ancient Assyria the prophetic class were called nabu, meaning "to call" or "announce,' '-a name probably adopted from that of the god, Na-bi-u, the speaker or proclaimer of destiny, the tablets of which he inscribed. Among the ancient Hebrews the prophet was called nabhia, a borrowed title probably adopted from the Canaanites. That is not to say, however, that the Hebrew nabhiim were indebted to the surrounding peoples for their prophetic system, which appears to have been of a much loftier type than that of the Canaanite peoples. Prophets appear to have swarmed in Palestine in biblical times, and we are told that four hundred prophets of Baal sat at Jezebel's table. The fact that they were prophets of this deity would almost go to prove that they were also priests. We find that the most celebrated prophets of Israel belonged to the northern portion of that country, which was more subject to the influence of the Canaanites. Later, distinct prophetic societies were formed,-the chief reason for whose existence appears to have been the preservation of nationality; and this class appears to have absorbed the older castes of seers and magicians, and to some extent to have taken over their offices. Some of the later prophets,-Micah, for example-appear to have regarded some of these lesser seers as mere diviners, who were in reality not unlike the prophets of Baal. With Amos may he said to have commenced a new school of prophecy-the canonical prophets, who were also authors and historians, and who disclaimed all connection with mere professional prophets. The general idea in Hebrew Palestine was that Yahveh, or God, was in the closest possible touch with the prophets, and that he would do nothing without revealing it to them. The greatest importance was given to their utterances, which more than once determined the fate of the nation. Indeed no people has lent so close an ear to the utterance of their prophetic class as did the Jews of old times.

In ancient Greece, the prophetic class were generally found attached to the oracles, and in Home were represented by the augurs. In Egypt the priests of Ra at Memphis acted as prophets, as, perhaps, did those of Hekt. Among the ancient Celts and Teutons, prophecy was frequent, the prophetic agent usually placing him or herself in the ecstatic condition. The Druids were famous practitioners of the prophetic art, and some of their utterances may be still extant in the so-called Prophecies of Merlin. In America, as has been stated, prophetic utterance took practically the same forms as in Europe and Asia. Captain Jonathan Carver, an early traveller in North America, cites a peculiar instance where the seers of a certain tribe stated that a famine would be ended by assistance being sent from another tribe at a certain hour on the following day. At the very moment mentioned by them a canoe rounded a headland, bringing news of relief. A strange story was told in the Atlantic Monthly some years ago by a traveller among the Plains tribes, who stated that an Indian medicine-man had prophesied the coming of himself and his companions to his tribe two days before their arrival among them.

Prophecy of Count Bombast : (See Alary.)

Prophetic Books : (See Blake.)

Prout, Dr. : (See Alchemy.)

Psychic : A sensitive, one susceptible to psychic influences, A psychic is not necessarily a medium, unless he is sufficiently sensitive to be controlled by disembodied spirits. The term psychic includes the somnambule, the magnetic or mesmeric subject, anyone who is in any degree sensitive, According to one view, all men a-e in some measure susceptible to spiritual influences, and to that extent deserve the name of psychic.

Psychic Body : A spiritualistic term variously applied to an impalpable body which clothes the soul on the "great dissolution," or to the soul itself. Sergeant Cox in his Mechanism of Man declares that the soul-quite distinct from mind, or intelligence, which is only a function of the brain-is composed of attenuated matter, and has the same form as the physical body, which it permeates in every part. From the soul radiates the psychic force, by means of which all the wonders of spiritualism are performed. Through its agency man becomes endowed with telekinetic and clairvoyant powers, and with its aid he can affect such natural forces as gravitation. When free of the body the soul can travel at a lightning speed, nor is it hindered by such material objects as stone walls or closed doors, The psychic body is also regarded as an intermediary between the physical body and the soul, a sort of envelope, more material than the soul itself, which encloses it at death. It is this envelope, the psychic body or nervengeist, which becomes visible at a materialisation by attracting to itself other and still more material particles. In time the psychic body decays just as did the physical, and leaves the soul free. During the trance the soul leaves the body, but the vital functions are continued by the psychic body.

Psychical Research : A term covering all scientific investigation into the obscure phenomena connected with the so-called "supernatural," undertaken with a view to their elucidation. Certain of these phenomena are known all over the world, and have remained practically unaltered almost since prehistoric times. Such are the phenomena of levitation, the fire-ordeal, crystal-gazing, thought-reading and apparitions, and whenever these were met with there was seldom lacking the critical enquiry of some psychical researcher, not borne away on the tide of popular credulity, but reserving some of his judgment for the impartial investigation of the manifestations. Thus Gaule, in his Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft (London, 1646), says : " But the more prodigious or Stupendous (of the feats mentioned in the witches' confessions) are effected meerly by the devill the witch all the while either in a rapt ecstasie, a charmed sleepe, or a melancholy dreame; and the witches' imagination, phantasie, common sense, only deluded with what is now done, or pretended." And a few other writers of the same period arrived at a similar conclusion. The result of many of these medieval records was to confirm the genuineness of the phenomena witnessed, but here and there, even in those days, there were sceptics who refused to see in them any supernatural significance. Poltergeist disturbances, again, came in for a large share of attention and investigation, to which, indeed, they seemed to lend themselves. The case of the Drummer of Tedworth was examined by Joseph Glanvil, and the results set forth in his Sadducisimus Triumphatus, published in 1668. The Epworth Case, which occurred in the house of John Wesley's father, called forth many comments, as did also the Cock Lane Ghost. the Stockwell Poltergeist and many others. The Animal Magnetists and their successors the Mesmerists may, in a manner, be considered psychical researchers, since these variants of hypnosis were the fruits of prolonged investigation into the phenomena which indubitably existed in connection with the trance state. If their speculations were wild and their enquiries failed to elicit the truth of the matter, it was but natural, at that stage of scientific progress, that they should be so. And here and there even in the writings of Paracelsus and Mesmer we find that they had glimpses of scientific truths which were in advance of their age, foreshadowings of scientific discoveries which were to prove the triumph of future generations. The former, for example, states in his writings ' By the magic power of the will, a person on this side of the ocean may make a person on the other side hear what is said on this side..... The ethereal body of a man may know what another man thinks at a distance of 100 miles and more." This reads uncommonly like an anticipation of telepathy, which has attained to such remarkable prominence in recent years, though it is not now generally attributed to "the ethereal body of a man." Such things as these would seem to entitle many of the mesmerists and the older mystics to the designation of " psychical researchers."

As knowledge increased and systematised methods came into use these enquiries became ever more searching and more fruitful in definite results. The introduction of modern spiritualism in 1848 undoubtedly gave a remarkable impetus to psychical research. The movement was so widespread. its effects so apparent, that it was inevitable but that some man of science should be drawn into an examination of the alleged phenomena, Thus we find engaged in the investigation of spiritualism Carpenter, Faraday and De Morgan, and on the Continent Count de Gasparin, M. Thury and Zollner. One of the most important of individual investigators was undoubtedly Sir William Crookes, who worked independently for some time before the founding of the Society for Psychical Research.

However, although much good work was done by independent students of psychic science," as it came to be called, and by such societies as the Dialectical Society (q.v.) and the Psychological Society (q.v.), it was not until 1882 that a concerted and carefully-organised attempt was made to elucidate those obscure problems which had so long puzzled the wits of learned and simple. In that year was founded the Society for Psychical Research, with the object of examining in a scientific and impartial spirit the realm of the supernatural. The following passage from the Society's original prospectus, quoted by Mr. Podmore in his Naturalisation of the Supernatural, indicates with sufficient clearness its aim and proposed methods:-

"It has been widely felt that the present is an opportune time for making an organised and systematic attempt to investigate that large group of debatable phenomena designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical, and spiritualistic.

"From the recorded testimony of many competent witnesses, past and present, including observations recently made by scientific men of eminence in various countries, there appears to be, amid much delusion and deception, an important body of remarkable phenomena, which are prima facie inexplicable on any generally recognised hypothesis, and which, if incontestably established, would be of the highest possible value.

"The task of examining such residual phenomena has often been undertaken by individual effort, but never hitherto by a scientific society organised on a sufficiently broad basis."

The first president of the Society was Professor Henry Sidgwick, and among later presidents were Professor Balfour Stewart, Professor William James, Sir William Crookes, Mr. A. J. Balfour, Professor Richet and Sir Oliver Lodge, while prominent among the original members were Frank Podmore, F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, Professor Barrett, Rev. Stainton Moses and Mrs. Sidgwick. Lord Rayleigh and Andrew Lang were also early members of the Society. Good work was done in America in connection with the Society by Dr. Hodgson and Professor Hyslop. On the continent Lombroso, Maxwell, Camille Flammarion, and Professor Richet - all men of the highest standing in their respective branches of science - conducted exhaustive researches into the phenomena of spiritualism, chiefly in connection with the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino.

At first the members of the Society for Psychical Research found it convenient to work in concert, but as they became more conversant with the broad outlines of the subject, it was judged necessary for certain sections or individuals to specialise in various branches. The original plan sketched roughly in 1882 grouped the phenomena under five different heads, each of which was placed under the direction of a separate Committee.

1.-An examination of the nature and extent of any influence which may be exerted by one mind upon another, apart from any generally recognised mode of perception. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Professor W. F. Barrett.)

2.-The study of hypnotism, and the forms of so-called mesmeric trance, with its alleged insensibility to pain; clairvoyance, and other allied-phenomena. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Dr. G. Wyld.)

3.-A critical revision of Reichenbach's researches with certain organisations called "sensitive," and an inquiry whether such organisations possess any power of perception beyond a highly-exalted sensibility of the recognised sensory organs. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Walter H. Coffin.)

4.-A careful investigation of any reports, resting on strong testimony, regarding apparitions at the moment of death, or otherwise, or regarding disturbances in houses reputed to be haunted. (Hon. Sec. of Committee, Hensleigh Wedgwood.)

5.-An enquiry into the various physical phenomena commonly called spiritualistic with an attempt to discover their causes and general laws. (Hon. Sec., Dr. C. Lockhart Robertson.)

Besides these there was a Committee appointed to consider the literature of the subject, having as its honorary secretaries Edmund Gurney and Frederic W. H. Myers, who, with Mr. Podmore, collected a number of historic instances. Of the various heads, however, the first is now generally considered the most important, and is certainly that which has yielded the best results to investigators. In the case of hypnotism it is largely through the exertions of psychical researchers that it has been admitted to the sphere of legitimate physiology, whereas it was formerly classed among doubtful phenomena, even at the time the Society was founded. The examination of Reichenbach's claims to having discovered a new psychic fluid or force-odyle (q.v.)-which issued like flame from the points of a magnet or the human finger-tips, was at length abandoned, nothing having been found to verify his conclusions which, however, previous to this had been largely accepted. The investigations in connection with apparitions and haunted houses, and with the spiritualistic phenomena, are still proceeding, though on the whole no definite conclusion has been arrived at. Though the members of the Society undertook to carry out their investigations in an entirely unbiased spirit, and though those members who joined the Society originally as avowed spiritualists soon dropped out, yet after prolonged and exhaustive research the opinion of the various investigators often showed marked divergence. So far from being pledged to accept a spirit, or any other hypothesis, it was expressly stated in a note appended to the prospectus that ' Membership of this Society does not imply the acceptance of any particular explanation of the phenomena investigated, nor any belief as to the operation, in the physical world, of forces other than those recognised by Physical Science." Nevertheless Mr. Myers and Sir Oliver Lodge, to take two notable instances, found the evidence sufficient to convince them of the operation in the physical world of disembodied intelligences, who manifest themselves through the organism of the "medium" or "sensitive." Mr. Podmore, on the other hand, was the exponent of a telepathic theory. Any phase of the" manifestations " which was not explicable by means of such known physiological facts as suggestion and hyperaesthesia, the so-called "subconscious whispering," exaltation of memory and automatism, or the unfamiliar but presumably natural telepathy, must, according to him, fall under the grave suspicion of fraud. His theory of poltergeists, for example, by which he regards these uncanny disturbances as being the work of naughty children, does not admit the intervention of a mischievous disembodied spirit. In coincident hallucination, again, he considers telepathy a suitable explanation, as well as in all cases of "personation" by the medium. His view - one that was shared by Andrew Lang and others-was that if telepathy were once established the spirit hypothesis would not only be unnecessary, but impossible of proof.

The most important of telepathic experiments were those conducted by Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick in 1889-91. The percipients were hypnotised by Mr. G. A. Smith, who also acted as agent, and the matter to be transmitted consisted at first of numbers and later of mental pictures. The agent and percipient were generally separated by a screen, or were sometimes in different rooms, though the results in the latter case were perceptibly less satisfactory. On the whole, however, the percentage of correct guesses was far above that which the doctrine of chance warranted, and the experiments did much to encourage a belief that some hitherto unknown mode of communication existed. More recently the trance communication of Mrs. Piper would seem to point to some such theory, though Mr. Myers, Dr. Hodgson and Dr. Hyslop, who conducted a very profound investigation into those communications, were inclined to believe that the spirits of the dead were the agencies in this case. Telepathy cannot yet be considered as proved. At the best it is merely a surmise, which, if it could be established, would provide a natural explanation for much of the so-called occult phenomena. Even its most ardent protagonists admit that its action is extremely uncertain and experiment correspondingly difficult. Nevertheless, each year sees an increasing body of scientific and popular opinion favourable to the theory, so that we may hope that the surmised mode of communication may at last be within a reasonable distance of becoming an acknowledged fact. The machinery of telepathy is generally supposed to be in the form of ethereal vibrations, or ' brain waves,"acting in accordance with natural laws, though Mr. Gerald Balfour and others incline to an entirely metamorphosed theory, urging, e.g., that the action does not conform to the law of inverse squares.

The subject of hallucinations, coincidental or otherwise, has also been largely investigated in recent years, and has been found to be closely connected with the question of telepathy. Apparitions were in former times regarded as the " doubles " or " ethereal bodies" of the persons they represented, but they are not now considered to be other-wise than subjective. Nevertheless the study of " coincidental hallucinations "-i.e., hallucinatory apparitions which coincide with the death of the person represented, or with some other crises in his life - raises the question as to whether the agent may not produce such an hallucination in the mind of the percipient by the exercise of telepathic influence, which may be judged to be more powerful during an emotional crisis. Now hallucinations have been shown to be fairly common among sane people, about one person in ten having experienced one or more. But the chances that such an hallucination should coincide with the death of the person it represents are about, 1 in 19,000 ; that is, if no other factor than chance determines their ratio. With a view to ascertaining whether coincidental hallucinations did actually bear a higher proportion to the total number of hallucinations than chance would justify, the Society for Psychical Research took a census in 1889 and the three or four years immediately following. Professor Sidgwick and a committee of members of the Society conducted the investigations and printed forms were distributed among 410 accredited agents of the Society, including, besides its own members, many medical men and others belonging to the professional classes, all of whom gave their services without fee in the interests of science. In all some 17,000 persons were questioned, and negative as well as affirmative answers were sent in just as they were received, the agents being specially instructed to make no discrimination between the various replies. Out of 8372 men 655 had had an hallucination, and 1029 out of 8628 women-9. 9 % of the total. When ample allowance had been made for defects of memory with regard to early hallucinations by multiplying the 322 recognised and definite cases by 4, it was found that 62 coincided with a death; but, again making allowances, this number was reduced to 30. Thus we find 1 coincidental hallucination in 43 where, there being no causal connection we should expect I in 19,000. Clearly, then, if these figures be taken, there must be some causal connection between the death and the apparition, whether it be a spiritualistic or telepathic theory that may be used. Though it be true that memory plays strange tricks, yet is it difficult to understand how persons of education and standing could write down and attest minutes and dated records of events that never happened.

Apart from telepathy, which because it postulates the working of a hitherto unknown natural law, takes premier place, perhaps the most interesting field of research is that of automatism. Trance writings and utterances have been known since the earliest times, when they were attributed to demoniac possession, or, sometimes, angelic possession. By means of planchette, ouija, and such contrivances many people are able to write automatically and divulge information which they themselves were unaware of possessing. But here again the phenomena are purely subjective, and are the result of cerebral dissociation, such as may be induced in hypnosis. In this state exaltation of the memory may occur, and thus account for such phenomena as the speaking in foreign tongues with which the agent is but ill-acquainted. Or, conceivably, cerebral dissociation may produce a sensitiveness to telepathic influences, as would seem apparent in the case of Mrs. Piper, whose automatic productions in writing and speaking have supplied investigators with plentiful material of recent years, and have done inure, perhaps, than anything else to stimulate an interest in so-called spiritualistic phenomena. In connection with the,' physical" phenomena-probably no less the result of automatism than the "subjective," though in a different direction-the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino has been carefully studied by many eminent investigators both in Great Britain and on the Continent, with the result that Camille Flammarion, Professor Richet, Sir Oliver Lodge-to mention only a few-have satisfied themselves with regard to the genuineness of some of her phenomena.

On the whole, even if psychical research has not succeeded in demonstrating such matters as the immortality of the soul or the possibility of communication between the living and the dead, it has done good work in widening the field of psychology and therapeutics and in gaining admission for that doctrine of suggestion which since the time of Bertrand and Braid had never been openly received and acknowledged by the medical profession. Many of the obscure phenomena attending mesmerism, magnetism, witchcraft, poltergeists, and kindred subjects have been brought into line with modern scientific knowledge. Little more than thirty years has elapsed since the Society for Psychical Research was founded, and probably in time to come it will accomplish still more, both in conducting experiments and investigations in connection with psychic phenomena, and in educating the public in the use of scientific methods and habits of thought in their dealings with the" supernatural."

Psychograph : An instrument to facilitate automatic writing. It is composed of a rotating disc, on which the medium's finger-tips are placed, thus carrying an index over the alphabet. A similar contrivance was used by Professor Hare in his spiritualistic experiments.

Psychography : Writing produced without human contact, and supposed to be the work of the spirits.

Psychological Society, The : The Psychological Society came into being in April, 1875, having as its founder and president Sergeant Cox, and numbering among its members the Rev. William Stainton Moses, Mr. Walter H. Coffin, and Mr. C. C. Massey. The avowed aim of the Society, as set forth in the president's inaugural address, was the elucidation of those, spiritualistic and other problems now grouped under the term " psychical research," and to which the Society somewhat loosely attached the designation of psychology. To this end they proposed to collect and consider the available material bearing on psychic phenomena, but in reality they accomplished little of any practical value, as may be seen from their published Proceedings (London, 1878). The president himself had not the necessary scientific qualifications for an investigator of such phenomena. In November, 1879, on the death of its president, the Society came to an end. But though the Psychological Society regarded the psychic phenomena from a more or less popular standpoint, and conducted its investigations in a somewhat superficial manner, nevertheless it contained that germ of scientific enquiry into the domain of psychic science which, a few years later, in the Society for Psychical Research, was to raise the study to a level where it became worthy of the attention of philosopher and scientist. Hitherto those who were satisfied of the genuineness of the spiritualistic marvels had for the most part been content to accept the explanation of spirit intervention, but the Psychological Society was the crystallisation of a small body of" rationalist" opinion which had existed since the days of Mesmer. Sergeant Cox, in his work, The Mechanism of Man states that " spirit " is refined matter, or molecular matter split into its constituent atoms, which thus become imperceptible to our physical organism; a view which was possibly shared by the Psychological Society.

Psychomancy : Divination by spirits or the art of evoking the dead.

(See Necromancy.)

Psychometry : A term used by spiritualists to denote the faculty, supposed to be common among mediums, of reading the characters, surroundings, etc. of persons by holding in the hand small objects, such as a watch or ring, which they have had in their possession. The honour of having discovered the psychometric faculty belongs to Dr. J. R. Buchanan, who classed it among the sciences, and gave it the name it bears. His theory is based on the belief that everything that has ever existed, every object, scene, event, that has occurred since the beginning of the world, has left on the ether or astral light a trace of its being, indelible while the world endures; and not only on the ether, but likewise on more palpable objects, trees and stones and all manner of things. Sounds also, and perfumes leave impressions on their surroundings. Just as a photograph may be taken on a plate and remain invisible till it has been developed, so may those psychometric" photographs" remain impalpable till the developing process has been applied. And that which is to bring them to light is-the mind of the medium. All mediums are said to possess the psychometric faculty in a greater or less degree. One authority, Professor William Denton, has declared that he found it in one man in every ten, and four women in ten. Dr. Buchanan's earliest experiments, with his own students, showed that some of them were able to distinguish the different metals merely by holding them in their hands. On medical substances being put into their hands they exhibited such symptoms as might have been occasioned if the substances were swallowed. Later he found that some among them could diagnose a patient's disease simply by holding his hand. Many persons of his acquaintance, on pressing a letter against their forehead, could tell the character and surroundings of the writer, the circumstances under which the letter was written and other particulars. Some very curious stories are told of fossilised bones and teeth revealing to the sensitives the animals they represent in the midst of their prehistoric surroundings. Professor Denton gave to his wife and mother-in-law meteoric fragments and other substances, wrapped in paper and thoroughly mixed to preclude the possibility of telepathy, which caused them to see the appropriate pictures. Many mediums who have since practised psychometry have become famous in their line. As has been said, the modus is to hold in the hand or place against the forehead some small object, such as a fragment of clothing, a letter, or a watch, when the appropriate visions are seen. Psychometrists may he entranced, but are generally in a condition scarcely varying from the normal. The psychometric pictures, printed presumably on the article to be psychometrised, have been likened to pictures borne in the memory, seemingly faded, yet ready to start into vividness when the right spring is touched. We may likewise suppose that the rehearsal of bygone tragedies so frequently witnessed in haunted houses, is really a psychometric picture which at the original occurrence impressed itself on the room. The same may be said of the sounds and perfumes which haunt certain houses.

Psylli : A class of persons in Ancient Italy who had the power of charming serpents. This name is given by other writers to the snake-charmers of Africa, and it is said that the serpents twist round the bodies of these Psylli without doing them any injury, although the reptiles have not had their fangs extracted or broken. In Kahira when a viper enters a house, the charmer is sent for, and he entices it out by the use of certain words. At other times music is used, and it is believed that the serpents understand what is said to them by the snake-charmers, so obedient are they.

Purgatory of St. Patrick : (See Ireland.)

Purrah, The : A secret society of the Tulka-Susus, an African tribe who dwell between the Sierra Leone river and Cape mount. The Tulka consist of five small communities which together form a description of republic. Each group has its own chiefs and council, but all are under a controlling-power which is called the Purrah. Each of the five communities has also its own purrah, from which is formed the great or general purrah, which holds supreme sway over the five bodies. Before a native can join a district purrah, he must be thirty years of age, and ere he can be received into membership of the great purrah, he must have reached the age of fifty. Thus the oldest members of each district purrah are members of the head purrah. On desiring admittance to the examination for the district purrah, the relations of the candidate must swear td kill him if he does not stand the test, or if he reveals the mysteries and the secrets of the society. Froebenius says :-" In each district belonging to a purrah there is a sacred grove to which the candidate is conducted, and where he must stay in a place assigned to him, living for several months quite alone in a hut, whither masked persons bring him food. He must neither speak nor leave his appointed place of residence.

"Should he venture into the surrounding forest, he is as good as dead.

"After several months the candidate is admitted to stand his trial, which is said to be terrible. Recourse is had to all the elements in order to gain satisfaction as to his firmness and courage. We are even assured that at these mysteries use is made of fettered lions and leopards, that during the time of the tests and enrolment the sacred groves echo with fearful shrieks, that here great fires are seen at night, that formerly the fire flared up in these mysterious woods in all directions, that every outsider who through curiosity was tempted to stray into the woods was mercilessly sacrificed, that foolish people who would have penetrated into them disappeared and were never heard of again.

"If the candidate stands all the tests, he is admitted to the initiation. But he must first swear to keep all the secrets and without hesitation carry out the decisions of the purrah of his community and all the decrees of the great head purrah. If a member of the society betrays it or revolts against it, he is condemned to death, and the sentence is often carried out in the bosom of his family. When the criminal least expects it, a disguised, masked and armed warrior appears and says to him

"’The great purrah sends thee death!’

"At these words everybody stands back, no one dares to offer the least resistance, and the victim is murdered.

"The Court of each district purrah consists of twenty-five members, and from each of these separate courts five persons are chosen, who constitute the great purrah, or the High Court of the general association. Hence this also consists of twenty-five persons, who elect the head chief from their own body.

"The special purrah of each community investigates the offences committed in its district, sits in judgment on them, and sees that its sentences are carried out. It makes peace between the powerful families, and stops their wranglings.

"The great purrah meets only on special occasions, and pronounces judgment on those who betray the mysteries and secrets of the order, or on those who show themselves disobedient to its mandates. But usually it puts an end to the feuds that often break out between two communities belonging to the confederacy. When these begin to fight, after a few months of mutual hostilities, one or other of the parties, when they have inflicted sufficient injury on each other, usually wants peace. The commune repairs secretly to the great purrah, and invites it to become the mediator and put an end to the strife.

"Thereupon the great purrah meets in a neutral district, and when all are assembled announces to the communes at war that it cannot allow men who should live together as brothers, friends and good neighbours, to wage war, to waste each others' lands, to plunder and burn; that it is time to put an end to these disorders ; that the great purrah will inquire into the cause of the strife ; that it requires that this should cease and decrees that all hostilities be forthwith arrested.

"A main feature of this arrangement is that, as soon as the great purrah assembles to put a stop to the feud, and until its decision is given, all the belligerents of the two districts at war are forbidden to shed a drop of blood this always carries with it the penalty of death. Hence everybody is careful not to infringe this decree, and abstains from all hostilities.

"The session of the High Court lasts one month, during which it collects all necessary information to ascertain which commune caused the provocation and the rupture. At the same time it summons as many of the society's fighting-men as may be required to carry out the decision. When all the necessary particulars are brought in, and everything is duly weighed, it settles the question by condemning the guilty commune to a four days' sack.

"The warriors who have to give effect to this decision are all chosen from the neutral districts ; they set out by night from the place where the great purrah is assembled. All are disguised, the face being covered with an ugly mask, and armed with lighted torches and daggers. They divide into bands of forty, fifty, or sixty, and all meet unexpectedly before dawn in the district that they have to pillage, proclaiming with fearful shouts the decision of the High Court. On their approach men, women, children and old people, all take to flight, that is, take refuge in their houses, and should anyone be found in the fields, on the highway, or in any other place, he is either killed or carried off and no more is ever heard of him.

"The booty obtained by such plundering is divided into two parts, one of which is given to the injured commune, the other to the great purrah, which shares it with the warriors that have executed its decree. This is the reward for their zeal, their obedience and loyalty.

"If one of the families in a commune subject to the purrah becomes too powerful and too formidable, the great purrah meets, and nearly always condems it to unexpected sack, which is carried out by night and, as usual, by masked and disguised men. Should the heads of such a dangerous family offer any resistance, they are killed, or carried off, and conveyed to the depths of a sacred and lonely grove where they are tried by the purrah for their insubordination they are seldom heard of again.

"Such, in part, is the constitution of this extraordinary institution. Its existence is known ; the display of its power is felt ; it is dreaded yet the veil covering its intentions, decisions and decrees is impenetrable, and not till he is about to be executed does the outlaw know that he has been condemned. The power and reputation of the purrah is immense, not only in the homeland, but also in the surrounding districts. It is reported to be in league with the spirits (instead of the devil).

"According to the general belief the number of armed men who are members and at the disposal of the purrah exceeds 6,000. Moreover, the rules, the Secrets and the mysteries of this society are strictly obeyed and observed by its numerous associated members, who understand and recognise each other by words and signs."

Puysegur : (See Hypnotism.)

Pyromancy : or divining by fire, has been alluded to in Extispicy. The presage was good when the flame was vigorous and quickly consumed the sacrifice; when it was clear of all smoke, transparent, neither red, nor dark in colour when it did not crackle, but burnt silently in a pyramidal form. On the contrary, if it was difficult to kindle, if the wind disturbed it, if it was slow to consume the victim, the presage was evil. Besides the sacrificial fire, the ancients divined by observing the flames of torches, and even by throwing powdered pitch into a fire; if it caught quickly, the omen was good. The flame of a torch was good if it formed one point, bad if it divided into two; but three was a better omen than one. Sickness for the healthy, and death for the sick, was presaged by the bending of the flame, and some frightful disaster by its sudden extinction. The vestals in the Temple of Minerva at Athens were charged to make particular observations on the light perpetually burning there.

Pythagoras : (See Greece.)

Pythia : (See Greece.)