Ulysses : (See Michael Maer.)

Unguents : There are many kinds of unguents, each with its peculiar properties. It is known that the devil compounds them in order to harm the human race. One such unguent is composed of human fat, and is used by the witches to enable them to fly through the air to the Sabbath. Many old recipes exist for unguents to induce sleep, visions, etc., and these are compounded from various strange ingredients.

(See Salverte "Les Science Occultes.")

Union Spirite Bordelaise (Journal) : (See France.)

Univercoelum, The : An American periodical having for its aim " the establishment of a universal System of Truth, the Reform and Reorganisation of Society." It made its first appearance in December, 1847, under the editorship of Andrew Jackson Davis (q.v.), and lived for about a year and a half. Its supporters and contributors looked for a new revelation to supplement those of the Old and New Testaments, Swedenborg and Fourier. Attention was given in its pages to prophecy, clairvoyance, somnambulism and trance phenomena generally, while it also taught " an interior and spiritual philosophy" whose central idea was that God was the infinitely intelligent Essence which pervaded all things-the Universal Soul, expressing itself in the material universe and the laws of nature as the human soul expresses itself through the material body. Though the Rochester Rappings broke out some time before the Univercoelum came to an end, the adherents of the paper did not seem to connect the disturbances with their propaganda. However, many of those who were associated with the Univercoelum afterwards became editors of spiritualistic papers. In July, 1849 the paper passed out of the hands of A. J. Davis, and became The Present Age, under the editorship of W. M. Channing.

Universal Balm : An elixir composed by the alchemists, which formed a sovereign remedy for every malady, and would' even bring the dead to life.

Universities (Occult) : In many works on the occult sciences allusions are made to schools and universities for the instruction of those who were drawn to them. Thus we are, told that Salamanca abounded in such schools; that Jechiel, a Jewish Rabbi of medieval France, kept such a seminary; and there is reason to believe that in all ages such institutions were by no means uncommon. Balzac alludes to one of them in a well-known novel The Secret of Ruggier, which he places at the time of Catherine de Medici. He says, " At this epoch the occult sciences were cultivated with an ardour which put to shame the incredulous spirit of our century. . . . The universal protection accorded to these sciences by the ruling sovereigns of the times was quite remarkable." He goes on to say that at the commencement of the sixteenth century Ruggier was the member of a secret university for the study of the occult sciences, where astrologers, alchemists, and others, studied several branches of hidden knowledge; but he gives no details as to its locality, or as to the exact nature of its curriculum, There is no doubt that during the Middle Ages many extra-mural lecturers taught alchemy and kindred subjects at the great universities. Thus Paracelsus lectured on alchemy at the University of Basel, and he was preceded and followed there and elsewhere by many illustrious professors of that and other occult arts. M. Figuier in his work Alchemy and the Alchemists (See Alchemy), alludes to a school in Paris frequented by alchemists, which he himself attended in the middle of the last century. The school-an ordinary chemical laboratory through the day-became in the evening a centre of the most elaborate alchemical study, where Figuier met many alchemical students, visionary and practical, with one of whom he had a prolonged argument, which we have outlined at considerable length in the article " Alchemy." Many professors of the occult sciences in early and later times drew around them considerable bands of students and assistants and formed distinct schools for the practice of magic and alchemy, principally the latter. The College of Augurs in Rome and the Calmecac of Ancient Mexico are distinct examples of institutions for the study of at least one branch of occult science, and in this connection the House of Wisdom of the Ismaelite sect at Cairo may be mentioned. It is likely that in ancient Egypt and Babylonia, institutions of the kind flourished more or less in secret. Mme. Blavatsky insisted to the last that a great " school" of illuminated occult adepts flourished in Tibet; but as nobody except herself and her immediate friends ever saw them, or had any dealings with them; and as all proof is against the existence of such a semi-divine brotherhood, her statements must be taken as being somewhat open to question. There is, however, no reason to doubt that bodies of men who study the higher occultism do exist in various Asiatic centres, whatever the nature of their powers, supernormal or otherwise, may be. Vague rumours reach students of occultism every now and again of schools or colleges on the continent of Europe, the purpose of which is to train aspirants in the occult arts ; but as definite information is seldom forthcoming regarding these, they can only be merely alluded to here. "The School for the Discovery of the Lost Secrets of Antiquity," which flourishes at Lotus-land, California, was founded by Catherine Tingley late in the nineteenth century, and is under theosophical regime. Numerous small bodies for the study of occultism exist in every town of considerable size in Europe and America; but these cannot be dignified even by the name of "schools," as they are for the most part private affairs, the occultism of which is of an extremely amateurish and innocent character.

Ura : A spirit. (See Babylonia.)

Urgund : (See Boehme.)

Urim and Thummim : A means of divination employed by the ancient Hebrews, and which it was believed consisted of a species of casting lots. Their form and method of use is uncertain, but from passages in the Book of Samuel, it seems probable that (1) they were used to determine guilt and innocence, and (2) that this was done by means of categorical questions, to which the suspected person answered "Yes" or "No." They appear to have been the prerogative of the priesthood.