The author is greatly indebted to "The Secret Doctrine", which is quoted freely, and also to "Evolution", by Basil Crump, for help in Part Two.

It is not suggested that the subject under review is dealt with exhaustively, but that opinions and theories set forth may help to clear away from the study of Heredity, some of the fog of erroneous ideas which linger round it. If that has been accomplished, and stimulus given to further study, the writer will be satisfied.

I.B.H.

THE revolt against family life, which is now being so thoroughly fostered by Communism, is partly a revolt against the laws of Heredity, and shows in such youthful remarks as: "I did not choose my parents", or "I am not responsible for the parents that were given me". It is with a view to trying to throw a little more light on the problems of physical and mental inheritance that this sketch was undertaken; to attempt to combine the learning of Science with the wisdom of Philosophy, and, if possible, to show the wise child how to choose its own parentage, circumstances, and environment in the future.

The new work of Physics and Astronomy show so much progress in understanding the Universe, that one hopes that Biology, which is really the Science that treats of LIFE, may shortly open its eyes to a wider conception of what we commonly call MAN. Even Biology, while dealing strictly with the physical body only, is now unable to deny that soul and mind exist although they are invisible to our physical vision, and the inherent power of generating electricity within the cells of the [Page 12] body is also accepted. The scientist seems to confine his researches to the physical body, while the mystic and "religious teacher" do not take into sufficient (if any) account the lower body, and the modern philosopher writes too often in airy generalities, neglecting the wisdom of past ages. Hence this effort to bring together material scientific knowledge, intuitive conceptions, and the teachings of all ages, in the hope that some day they may be welded into a whole, viz.: THE TRUTH.

Part One is devoted to a summary, so far as it has been possible to obtain it, of the position reached by modern science with regard to the transmission of physical and mental characters, with quotations from standard works.

Part Two gives theories, and extracts from the works of Philosophy and Occultism, which explain many of the most problematic difficulties of inheritance in man.

Part Three deals with the correlations and correspondences between the purely physical view of the problems, and the explanations given by the ancient philosophies of the East, with reference to Human and Cosmic Evolution. [Page 13]

PART -1-

THE foregoing pages deal with the more material elements in man, and the reader is now asked to accept (for the time being, at any rate) the possibility of the existence of much that is invisible to the physical eye. We know that matter exists in many forms, and can watch substances passing from the solid form to the liquid, to the gaseous, and vice-versa, so there should be no quarrel with the idea of invisible matter. The reader is also asked to consider as possible the laws of Karma and Re-incarnation, as these are necessary, if we are to regard Heredity from the point of view of Eastern Philosophy. For definitions of Karma see the following pages.

That mind is present in man, and developed to a degree impossible in the lower animals, we all know; that Soul, or Higher Consciousness, also exists, most of us are willing to admit. Whence comes this human mind ? unless it is a portion of the essence of another being, from a higher and divine plane of life. Man cannot be the product of material nature only (vide infra); may we not [Page 46] then accept that man is an animal body plus a living god within the shell ?

In Parts Two and Three, it is hoped to explain many of the anomalies of inheritance, in the light of ancient Oriental Philosophy, which includes Physics and Physiology. By applying ancient scientific knowledge to the facts recently observed by the moderns, it should be feasible to unravel the tangled skein which is so troublesome when we view the lower mental and physical life as being complete in itself.

To do this we must realize Cosmic and Human Evolution as proceeding side by side, and governed by the same laws. The physiologist watches the heart of man pulsating, but the astronomer watches the heart of the sun pulsating; the difference being the time taken by the automatic actions. If, as some biologists assert, we do not know what constitutes humanness, it is surely because we restrict ourselves to the animal plane in our studies. If we persistently follow the Aristotelian method of inductive reasoning, instead of returning to the Platonic (or earlier) deductive methods, we shall never find the key to the mysteries, for we shall continue to muddle around among the things of earthly existence, and probably never emerge [Page 47] from the plane of illusion to reach the plane of the REAL.

"Mind (lower brain mind) is the great slayer of the REAL", is a truism that has been honoured by Eastern scholars and Philosophers long before our civilization. The world can only be understood in the light of the great Archaic principles, and until we gain some idea of them we cannot hope to grasp the constitution of the microcosm MAN.

The "Hermetic" system of analogy: "As above, so below", may be accepted, at least for the moment, since it forms the key to Oriental Philosophy, and, reasoning, as Plato did, from the universal to the particular, we shall find the correspondence between the Cosmos, the human, the animal and the plant. Law in Nature is uniform, and the conception, formation, birth, progress and development of the child differ from those of the universe only in magnitude.

To arrive at the truth of any statement of fact, one must assure oneself that it has survived the criticism and sifting of universal experience over long age periods. This amount of proof has certainly been accorded most of the quotations and references offered to the reader here. [Page 48]

The necessity for studying the universe in order to understand Man, and his place in that universe, is constantly stressed in "The Secret Doctrine", by H. P. Blavatsky, and other of her writings. Also these Universal Laws appear to be the chief object of study for Eastern Initiates and their disciples:

"It is not physical phenomena but these universal ideas that we study, as to comprehend the former, we have first to understand the latter. They touch Man's true position in the Universe, in relation to his previous and future births; his origin and ultimate destiny; the relation of the mortal to the immortal; of the temporary to the eternal; of the finite to the infinite; ideas larger, grander, more comprehensive, recognizing the universal reign of immutable Law, unchanging and unchangeable, in regard to which there is only an ETERNAL NOW". The above is from the "Mahatma Letters", and was therefore written about 1880-1884, though first published in volume form in 1923, by Fisher, Unwin & Co., and edited by Mr. Trevor Barker.

Karma and Re-incarnation must be so frequently mentioned that we wish to give the best rendering of their meaning, particularly of Karma. It may be regarded as the law of cause and effect, the [Page 49] unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on the physical, mental and spiritual planes of being, and may be called the law of readjustment of disturbed equilibrium — Harmony being the Supreme Law. In the "Key to Theosophy", it is defined as follows:

"As no cause remains without its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance to the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma is that unseen and unknown law, which adjusts wisely, intelligently and equitably each effect to its cause, tracing the latter back to its producer. We must not lose sight of the fact that every atom is subject to the general law governing the whole body to which it belongs."

Karma is also sometimes called the moral kernel of a being, as it alone survives death, and continues in Re-incarnation; meaning that there is nothing left of each personality but the causes produced by it. These causes are undying, and cannot be wiped out, and, unless compensated during the life of the person who produced them by adequate effects, will follow the re-incarnating Ego, and reach it in subsequent births, until the Harmony between causes and effects is re-established. These effects may be mitigated or [Page 50] counter-acted by the thoughts or acts of oneself or another, and then the resulting effects represent the outcome of the whole. Such measures taken by an Ego to eliminate defect and repress tendency will alter the sway of Karmic tendency and shorten its influence.

We cannot hope to trace Karma back to its beginning, because our minds cannot reach far enough back into the past when the Karma of this earth and its races had its origin, but, since it is a law which works in the three worlds of men, gods and elementals, it is obvious that no place in the manifested universe is exempted from its sway. It operates on all things and beings, from the minutest conceivable atom, to the highest conceivable form.

The belief in Re-incarnation was so evidently general in the early days of Christianity, and among the Gnostics and Philosophers of that period, that one need not refer in detail to the many persons who have memories of past lives for confirmation of its reasonableness. References to Re-birth are found in many Scriptures, both Christian and Pagan. Those who have read the delightful poem of Sir Edwin Arnold, "The Light of Asia", will remember: [Page 51]

"The books say well, my Brothers, each man's life
The outcome of his former living is;
The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes,
The bygone right breeds bliss."

The paradoxical statement that the wise child might choose his own parents is the complement of Man makes himself, and both are borne out by the account of the pilgrimage through matter of the Higher Ego.

The desire to live brings the individuality (or re-incarnating Ego) to the threshold of a new birth, where he finds waiting for him the group of attributes, tendencies, proclivities made by him in his past life or lives, which unite to constitute the new personality. Thus, his actions and reactions in former lives actually make the new being, and control the very nature of the birth itself. Therefore, the new being is rewarded or punished for the meritorious acts and misdeeds of the old one. Karma acts like a recorder, so that a man's actions pile up his debit and credit accounts, and he comes back to pay the debts and carry on the business. In this way, the old being is the parent (father and mother) of the new being, since the former creates and fashions the latter. The old idea that a man changes — even physically — every seven years is [Page 52] accepted scientifically, and yet the man of forty inherits and enjoys or pays for the actions of the man of twenty. Science may say that this refers more to the physical body, and not so much to the mental and moral qualities, yet we have to pay on all planes of consciousness for the sins and follies of youth, and those attributes and tendencies which have become sufficiently strong to carry over to another birth are qualities of mental and moral as well as physical character.

When one considers the law of affinity, it is not difficult to see how it may act through the inherent Karmic impulse of the Ego, and govern its future existence. The birth-seeking Ego is inevitably attracted to a body to be born into a family, which has the same tendencies as that of the re-incarnating Ego itself.

Eastern Science teaches that Man, and other visible entities, form centres for the innumerable life-atoms which whirl through Space. Resting for a moment in each body, these atoms are thrown off and are attracted to other forms, but they carry the impress of everything they have passed through. This applies to thoughts, as well as all visible and invisible emanations, and, owing to man's capacity for conscious progress, this shows [Page 53] him to be making not only himself and his own destiny, but that of the other beings around him, or within reach of his very thoughts. It is said that up to "Man" life has no responsibility, in whatever form, but with his gift of Manas from his Divine ancestors, Man becomes the Macrocosm for the three lower kingdoms (animal, vegetable and mineral). It is from the refuse of human matter that the plants and lower animals obtained their physical bodies, and in this way, man is shown as the "creator", giving a clue to his potential divinity, in his higher and latent (as yet) principles.

Nothing in Nature can escape the rule of gradual evolution, the same laws being followed for the development of the universe or the insect. And, since nothing can stand still, there must obviously be beings further advanced in their higher mental and spiritual development than we, just as we have progressed further in an upward direction than the wasp or the pig. "As above, so below", must be applied to all forms of life, and from all angles of the evolutionary scheme. Man is composed of seven "principles" or component parts, according to the esoteric teaching, and has the germs of these in him at birth. A planet or a [Page 54] world has the same components, and, in the case of the man, we know that they are variously developed according to his inherent and Karmic tendencies. One man is more physically active, just as another is of higher mentality than his neighbour, and it seems also obvious that some persons are really very much more advanced mentally and spiritually than the majority. This is the logical outcome of Evolution, and accounts for the belief in Mahatmas or "Great Souls", which is inherent in many Oriental races. That some of these great Beings remain in the world of men to help humanity in its struggle towards freedom and enlightenment is also a firmly rooted belief. The existence of such Beings, also called Masters of Wisdom, appears to be a necessity, if we accept the evolution of mankind at all.

Man is thus shown to be, in one way, the "creator" of the animals and plants, and also to be in the position to develop his potential godhead, which makes a little clearer the statement by Eastern writers, that Man is the beginning and end of objective creation.

In "The Secret Doctrine" we read: "If man, by suppressing, if not destroying his selfishness [Page 55] and personality, only succeeds in knowing himself as he is behind the veil of physical Maya (illusion), he will soon stand beyond all pain, all misery, and beyond all the wear and tear of change, which is the chief originator of pain. Such a man will be physically of matter, and yet he will live beyond and outside it. His body will be subject to change, but he himself will be entirely without it, and will experience everlasting life even while in temporary bodies of short duration. All this may be achieved by the development of unselfish universal love of Humanity, and the suppression of personality, or selfishness, which is the cause of all sin, and consequently of all human sorrow".

Before passing on to the account of Man's evolution, there is one more extract from "The Secret Doctrine" that explains Re-incarnation very fully. It clears up a few difficulties with regard to heredity, and shows the interdependence of every part of the body, and even of each cell in that body, giving a fairly complete picture of Karma and Re-incarnation acting in unison with Evolution.

"In Truth and in Nature, the two Minds, the Spiritual and the Physical or Animal, are one, but separate into two at Re-incarnation. For, while that portion of the Divine which goes to animate [Page 56] the personality, consciously separating itself, like a dense but pure shadow, from the Divine Ego, wedges itself into the brain and senses of the foetus at the completion of its seventh month, the Higher Manas does not unite itself with the child before the completion of the first seven years of its life. This detached Essence, or rather the reflection or shadow of the Higher Manas, becomes, as the child grows, a distinct thinking principle in man, its chief agent being the physical brain. . . . The Divine Ego tends with its point upwards towards Buddhi (the Spiritual Soul), and the human Ego gravitates downwards, immersed in matter, connected with its higher subjective half only by the Antahkarana. As its derivation suggests, this is the only connecting link during life between the two minds — the higher consciousness of the Ego and the human intelligence of the lower Mind."

Antahkarana is described as the imaginary bridge or path of communication, which serves as a link between the personal being, whose brain is under the sway of the lower mind, and the re-incarnating individuality, the spiritual Ego, Manas, Manu, the "Divine Man".

Some physiologists now seem willing to accept [Page 57] the presence of an intelligent entity or brain of some sort in each organ of the body, and even each cell. If not, how can they explain the manner in which each organ and cell carries on its work without conscious guidance from the chief brain, or voluntary nerve cells. Cells of the blood struggle with disease; there is instant response in the manufactories of blood cells after a hemorrhage; and in every way, there is intelligent response to conditions as they arise from the whole body. We have even heard the spleen described as a storehouse of electric power, where the blood may get remagnetized, when exhausted. This would surely prove the intelligence of Nature's Laws, but even more does it bring home to us the dependence of each component part of the body on its Macrocosm — Man — and his responsibility to each part.

At this point we must refer to the evolution of Man up to the stage in which we know him now, and since most other accounts of the "creation of man" are so unsatisfactory as to be incomprehensible, we have taken extracts from that given in "The Secret Doctrine". This shows the evolution of man in this present phase of his progress on earth, and, since it extends over many millions of [Page 58] years, it is more logical to speak of development or evolution than of creation.

Man preceded every mammalian in the animal kingdom, that is, in this earth cycle. The astral or ethereal was born before the physical body. The astral form is sometimes described as the nucleus instinct with the principle of life.

Physical Nature failed in the creation of man, when left to herself. She produced the mineral, vegetable and lower animal forms, but these forms were not suitable for the encasement of human Monads, so they were destroyed.

The Divine Progenitors are then shown "creating" men on seven different portions of the globe, at the same time, each a different race of men internally and externally, and then these were also found to be shadow men, and useless for the incarnation of the Manas or Monad. We are told that the human Monad needed a form, which was given by the vital electrical principle of the Sun. The gross body was moulded by the earth, while the spirit of life was breathed into it by the Solar Pitris. The Dhyanis gave the astral shadow, and the fire of passion and instinct (Suchi) provided the vehicle of desires. But the Mind to embrace the universe could not be given [Page 59] at this time, so Man remained an empty, senseless shadow. This implies that each class of "creators" gave what they could in the formation of man, and the Divine Ancestors were needed to provide Manas, a gift that can only be developed and perfected by the personal exertion of the individual in each successive encasement or body.

The shadow men mentioned above gradually faded away, and were absorbed in the bodies of their own sweat-born progeny, which became more solid and physical. The astral body became covered with more solid flesh and man developed a physical body. It does not follow that all the remains of these semi-physical beings were absorbed in the formation of their progeny, for we find in most ancient teachings the idea that man "created" for ages the insects, reptiles, birds and animals, unconsciously to himself, from his remains and relics during previous age periods.

When we compare the evolution of the animals with that of human beings, the following, from the Vth Book of the Commentaries, is valuable:

"The first men were Chhâyâs (shadow men) (1); the Second the 'Sweat-born' (2); the Third the [Page 60] 'Egg-born', and the Holy Fathers born by the power of Kriyasakti (3); the Fourth were the 'Children of Padmapani' (Chenresi) (4); Chenresi, on the manifested plane, is the Spiritual Progenitor of Men".

The Third Race were at first Male-Female (the Divine Androgyne, which is the prototype of the physical Hermaphrodite), and later became Man and Woman. It is said that when the "Sweat-born" produced the "Egg-born", the mighty Androgynes, the "Lords of Wisdom" (who possessed Divine Mind) created the "Sons of Will and Yoga" by Kriyasakti. Kriyasakti, the power of thought, is the mysterious divine power latent in the Will of man. Remaining latent in nearly all, it gets atrophied. These Sons of the "Lords of Wisdom" were created in a truly immaculate way, by this Divine power, and they are stated to be the Spiritual forefathers of all the subsequent Arhats and Mahatmas, which includes those in the world at present.

The Children of Padmapani, referred to above, are the remnants of the seventh sub-race of the Fourth Root Race; those of the yellow hue, who were saved from the Deluge (Atlantean), and fled to Central Asia. Their descendants [Page 61] include Chinese, Mongolians, Tibetans, Malays, Hungarians, Finns and Esquimaux.

With reference to the Hermaphrodites, we find, in "The Banquet", of Plato that Aristophanes says that the nature of man was different of old from what it now is. There were Androgynes, who were both male and female. These human beings had round bodies (their aura still makes them round), and the manner of their going was circular. They were exceptionally strong and ambitious, and levied war against the gods. Jupiter decided to quell their insolence, and make them weaker by dividing them into two. Apollo was then directed to close up the skin.

The SELF-EXISTENT, or first men on earth (if one could call them men) were projected by the absolute WILL and LAW, as at the dawn of every re-birth of the worlds.

The First Race were considered to be self-born from the SELF-EXISTENT. So the reader is asked to allow the possibility of the impersonal, supreme and uncognizable Principle of the Universe, from which all emanates, and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, eternal, beginningless and endless. [Page 62]

The Second Race, as stated, was Sweat-born, by budding and expansion, the asexual form from the sexless shadow.

The Third Race was Egg-born; at first sexless; then Androgynous, and finally separate sexes, which continues through the Fourth and Fifth Races.

This is detailed again because all these processes are re-enacted in the stages of the present-day human embryo. The early oviparous stage of the Third Race is further described: "The emanations that came out of their bodies during the seasons of procreation were ovular; the small spheroidal nuclei developing into large, soft, egg-like vehicles, gradually hardened. Then, after a period of gestation, they broke, and the young human animal issued from the egg unaided, as the fowls do in our race".

These methods of reproduction should be compared with those of the animals, and will show that the method of evolution here given is borne out logically, not only by the lives of the lower beings, but also by the development of the human foetus.

1 . Fission is seen in the Amoeba, where the entire being divides into two. Also seen in the [Page 63] division of the nucleated cell, where the nucleus splits up into two parts, which may develop within the original cell wall or burst it, and carry on a separate existence outside. (First Race.)

2. Budding is shown in many vegetable forms, including sea anemones, when the parent structure swells out at the surface, and the swelling may finally part company with the structure, and grow as large as the parent. (Second Race.)

3. Spores are thrown off from the parent organism, and develop into many-celled structures, resembling the parent form. This is exemplified in mosses and many well known bacteria.

4. Intermediate Hermaphroditism is a condition where the male and female organs inhere in the same individual. This is found in the majority of plants, worms and snails, etc. (Second and early Third Race.)

5. True sexual Union. (Later Third Race.) Mankind, in its present form, with separate sexes, goes back about eighteen million years, to the middle of the Third Race on the Continent, known as Lemuria, and it was then that "the element of Mind began to incarnate; up till then [Page 64] Man was the product of two streams of evolution, the Monadic or Spiritual, and the Material or Physical. Mind added a third stream, to Man only."

The following few paragraphs are taken direct from "The Secret Doctrine" and "Evolution".

The animals, which are all the product of Man's vital energy thrown off in the early stages of human evolution on this earth, were the first to separate into sexes and breed, their example being followed later by the similarly separated human being. It was then that the "sin of the mindless" took place. In the period of the early Third Race, some that had no "spark" of intelligence saw that the animals bred together, and took huge she-animals unto them. A race of crooked, red hair-covered monsters resulted — dumb and going on all-fours. Seeing this, the "Sons of Wisdom" said: "The Mindless have denied our abodes. Let us teach them better." Then all became endowed with Mind, and they saw the sin of the mindless. Then all living and creeping things that were androgyne became of two sexes. With this misuse of the Divine creative function appears to have begun all sin and suffering. [Page 65]

The "Sons of Will and Yoga", referred to above, represent the first full incarnation of the Mind Principle, which is something much higher than our mentality, for these Beings had "already reached during previous cycles of incarnation as men, that degree of intellect which enabled them to become independent and self-conscious entities on this plane of matter".

A second class of Egos did not fully incarnate at once, but chose to wait, projecting only a spark of mind. It is these partial incarnations who "constitute the average humanity, which has to acquire its intellectuality during the present Manvantaric evolution".

We, the humanity of today, belong in various degrees to this class, and can only win to the state of the fully incarnated Ego (i.e., Union with the Higher Self, or true Manas), and immortality on earth, by following the stern and unbending laws laid down by the descendants of the "Sons of Will and Yoga", who stand always ready to help the aspirant in his upward struggles. The first and most important of these is the absolute conquest of sex and of the personality, which is the "drag and poison on the inner man in his upward progress. [Page 66] Mankind was never more selfish and vicious than he is now".

This history shows that we received the gift of Mind from the Sons of Wisdom, and this entry of the third stream of evolution raised man far above the rest of creation.

A third class of Egos deferred until the Fourth or Atlantean Race for their incarnation, and the progenitors of this race were those of the later Third, "who had failed to master their lower natures". It was, therefore, in this Race that the worst sexual Karma was incurred; for the Atlanteans renewed the "sin of the Mindless", but this time with full knowledge and responsibility because they possessed Manas.

Some of the still semi-divine beings took entirely human wives in whom lower, more material, beings had incarnated. These latter had no mind, only animal instinct, being descendants of the half-animal monsters bred by the "sin of the Mindless", in the Third Race. Moreover, in this case, it was the "Spiritual Being who sinned, the Spirit element being still the 'Master' principle in man in those days", and many of us are now working off the effects of the evil Karmic causes produced by us when in Atlantean bodies. [Page 67]

The anthropoid apes are the "degenerate descendants" of this renewed and conscious sin. They are truly "speechless men", and are millions of years later than the speaking human being. They will become speaking animals (or men of a lower order) in a later cycle of evolution, while the Adepts of a certain school hope that some of the Egos of the apes of a higher intelligence will reappear at the close of the next Root Race.

As to those Sons of Wisdom who had deferred their incarnation till the Fourth Race, which was already stained (physiologically) with sin and impurity, they produced a terrible cause, the Karmic result of which weighs on them to this day. It was produced in themselves, and they became the carriers of that seed of iniquity for aeons to come, because the bodies they had to inform had become defiled through their own procrastination.

It is clear, then, that to this seed of iniquity must be attributed the formidable nature of the sex problem today, as manifested in a thousand forms, not only physically, but also, what is much worse, psychically and mentally. How are we to subdue the monster created by our own folly and sensuality in the far past ? The teaching of [Page 68] the great Sages is that no form of indulgence is admissible, if we are to work off the evil Karma, and regain the lost purity of the early Third Root Race. That any use of the sex function, other than its legitimate one of physical reproduction of the species, inevitably leads to fresh bad Karma, increasing instead of lessening the load we have to bear. We are further told that the present sexual condition of Mankind is wholly abnormal; but modern materialistic science, ignorant of the early history of human evolution, persists in regarding it as normal and unalterable.

Judging by the teaching of the Ancients, the modern methods of trying to cut the Gordian knot are futile. Such materialistic advices as those given nowadays on family limitation cannot alter the heritage we bring over from past lives, and attempts to combat one evil by substituting another even worse.

That the species and genera of the Flora and Fauna, and of the highest animal — Man — change and vary according to climatic variations and environment, not only with every cycle of evolution, but every Root Race likewise, as well as after every geological cataclysm is stated by esoteric science. It is about eighteen millions of years [Page 69] since man, as we know him, appeared on this planet, and, as previously said, he preceded the mammalian forms, having run through the lower forms on other globes.

The Kabbalists say that MAN becomes a stone, a plant, an animal, a man, a spirit, and finally God, thus accomplishing his cycle or circuit, and returning to the point from which he had started as the heavenly MAN. By MAN is meant the Divine Monad, not the thinking entity, nor the physical body, and this cycle was partly accomplished during previous periods of evolution on other globes.

From "The Secret Doctrine" we learn that: "The human Monad, whether immetallized in the stone atom, or invegetallized in the plant, or inanimalized in the animal, is still and ever a Divine, hence also a HUMAN MONAD. It ceases to become human, only when it becomes absolutely Divine. There is no such thing as a Monad other than Divine, and, consequently, having been or having to become human".

Having taken for granted the composite nature of man, we now give the analysis of those basic principles, as taught by the Secret Doctrine. This will make clearer the references to Re-incarnation, [Page 70] and give a better idea of what it is in Man which persists from one birth to another.

Man, as a complete unit (speaking metaphysically and philosophically, on strictly esoteric lines) is composed of four Basic Principles, and Their Three Aspects on this earth. In the semi- esoteric teachings, these four and three have been called Seven Principles, to facilitate their comprehension

The following is taken from "The Key to Theosophy", by H.P.Blavatsky [Page 71]

The above is a simple setting out of these "principles", but they should not be thought of as being numbered or separate; they inter-blend, and are really better described as phases of consciousness. That "principle" which is predominant in a man has to be considered the first and foremost. In some few men it is the Higher Intelligence (Manas) which dominates the rest; in others the Animal Soul (Kama) reigns supreme, exhibiting the most bestial instincts.

It has often been explained that neither the Cosmic planes of substance nor even the human [Page 72]"principles" — with the exception of the lowest material plane or world and the physical body — can be located or thought of as being in Space or Time. As the Cosmic planes are seven in One, so are we seven in One — the One being the same Absolute Soul of the world. With our physical senses alone none of us can hope to reach beyond gross matter; we can do so only through one or another of our seven Spiritual senses, either by training, or by one who is a born Seer.

These seven senses of ours correspond with every other septenate in Nature and in ourselves. Physically, though invisibly, the human Aura (the Amnion of the physical man in every age in life), has seven layers, just as Cosmic Space and our physical epidermis have. It is this Aura which, according to our mental and physical state of purity or impurity, either opens for us vistas into other worlds, or shuts us out altogether from anything but commonplace material life.

The Linga Sharîra, mentioned above, is the Double, or protoplasmic ante-type of the body which is its image. In this sense it is called the parent of the physical body.

Referring to the progress of the re-incarnating Ego on this earth, "The Secret Doctrine" says: [Page 73]

"For no sooner is the state of rest between births ended, than the Ego is indissolubly united with (or rather follows in the track of) the new Astral Form. Both are Karmically propelled towards the family or woman from whom is to be born the animal child chosen by Karma to become the vehicle of the Ego which has just awakened from its period of rest."

The new Astral Form is made up partly of pure Essence, and in part, of the sins, misdeeds and other qualities (in fact, the Skandhas), of the last personalities informed by the Ego on earth. This Form is then drawn into the woman. "Once there, Nature models the foetus of flesh around the Astral, out of the growing materials of the male seed and the female soil. Thus grows out of the essence of a decayed seed the fruit or eidolon of the dead seed, the physical fruit producing in its turn within itself another, and other seeds for future plants".

We have already said that the atoms in the body change every seven years, and might add that the globe is said to renew its strata every seven cycles. In this way the correspondence between the globe and the man may be shown to exist in all details. In both there are seven principles, and those of [Page 74] man are the counterpart of those of the globe. When man appears on the first globe, he is just an ethereal foreshadowing of the solid being he is destined to become later. From the first he has the seven principles in germ, but none developed. In each evolutionary cycle he makes one principle develop fully, but, at first, man is like a baby, without even a ghost or a double. By the second cycle of evolution, man reaches our earth, and becomes, to some extent, responsible. Each stage of man's development keeps pace with the globe on which he is. Of course, there are many differentiations according to individual progress, owing to unequal development of the germs of the principles; just as we know, medically, that there may be the tendencies to certain diseases in a child, and yet it is not necessary to allow these to become active.

From "The Mahatma Letters" we learn: "From the first appearance of man, whether speechless or not, to his present stage of evolution, the structural intention of his organization has not radically changed. . . . The fossil of man or his skeleton, whether of the period of that mammalian branch of which he forms the crown, whether cyclop or dwarf, can still be recognized at a glance as a [Page 75] relic of man. Plants and animals have, meanwhile, become more and more unlike what they were. The scheme, with its septenary details, would be incomprehensible to man had he not the power, as the higher Adepts have proved, of prematurely developing his sixth and seventh senses."

Our scientific research work is often done on the lower animals, and the results applied to man, forgetting or neglecting the fact that these can only be applicable to his lower principles.

The Table given on pages 78 and 79 below is full of important information, if we are able to grasp it mentally and intuitively, and some further explanation may be given in Part Three. Here, it is sufficient to point out that the evolution of the races shows the same order as in Nature and in Man. Placental animal man became such only after the separation of the sexes in the Third Root Race. In the physiological evolution, the placenta is fully formed and functional only after the third month of intrauterine life.

Traditions tell us that Brahma is surrounded by seven layers within and seven outside the Mundane Egg, so is the human embryo the first or seventh layer according to the end from which [Page 76] we begin to count. . . . Physiology notes the contents of the Uterus as seven also, though students still appear to be ignorant of the fact that this is a fairly exact copy of what takes place in the Universal Matrix.

These seven layers of the Embryo are:

(1) Embryo;
(2) Amniotic Fluid, immediately surrounding the embryo;
(3) Amnion, a membrane derived from the foetus, which contains the Fluid;
(4) Umbilical Vesicle, which serves to convey nourishment originally to the embryo and to nourish it;
(5) Allantois, a protrusion from the Embryo in the form of a closed bag, which spreads itself between (3) and (7), in the midst of (6), and which, after being specialized into the Placenta, serves to conduct nourishment to the Embryo;
(6) Interspace between (3) and (7) (the Amnion and Chorion), filled with an albuminous fluid;
(7) The Chorion, or outer layer.

Osmosis as we usually consider it seems fairly simple, but Occult Osmosis is less well-known. In "The Mahatma Letters", the question had been asked as to how the Human Monad, or re-incarnating Individual, got out of one encasement and into another, and the reply came: "By Occult Osmosis. The plant and animal leave [Page 77] these carcases behind when life is extinct. So does the mineral, only at longer intervals, as its rocky bed is more lasting".

In writing of the Philosophy of the Kabbalists in "Isis Unveiled", H. P. Blavatsky says: "As the foetus develops from the liquor amnii in the womb, so the earths germinate from the universal Ether, or Astral Fluid, in the womb of the Universe. These cosmic children, like their pigmy inhabitants, are first nuclei; then ovules; then gradually mature; and becoming mothers in their turn, develop mineral, vegetable, animal and human forms. From centre to circumference, from the imperceptible vesicle to the uttermost conceivable bounds of the cosmos, these glorious thinkers trace cycle merging into cycle, containing and contained in an endless series. The embryo evolving in its prenatal sphere, the individual in his family, the family in the state, the state in mankind, the earth in our system, that system in its central universe, the universe in the cosmos, and the cosmos in the First Cause: the Boundless and Endless".

Here follows the table of the Seven Correspondential Contents of the Womb of Nature and Woman: from "The Secret Doctrine". [Page 78 -79]

[Page 80] Concerning Cosmic Correspondences, Simon Magus, one of the Gnostics, said in "Philosophumena" : "The terrestrial Paradise is the Womb, Eden the region surrounding it. The river which went out of Eden to water the garden is the Umbilical Cord: this Cord is divided into four heads, the streams that flowed out of it, the four canals that served to carry nutrition to the foetus, i.e., the two Arteries and the two Veins which are the channels for the blood and convey the breathing air; the unborn child is entirely enveloped by the Amnion, fed through the Umbilical Cord and given vital air through the Aorta."

On this subject of foetal nourishment, the esoteric teaching evidently agrees with the Kabalistic philosophy, for both say the Foetus is nourished by osmosis from the Amniotic Fluid, and respires by means of the Placenta. Even modern Science concerns itself very little with the Amniotic Fluid.

As we hope to show, in Part Three, a rational explanation of the main features of Heredity, it is not necessary to enter into detailed discussion of these quotations and statements at the moment, nor is it desirable for the reader to draw very [Page 81] definite conclusions from what has been already stated. It must, however, be seen that the human monad or individuality goes through an immense number of encasements, and it is said that every mineral form, every vegetable, plant or animal invariably contains within it the germ of the future entity, possessing the potentiality for development into the highest spiritual forms. This, as said previously, is exemplified by the growth of the human foetus. From the moment of its first planting, until it completes its seven months' festation, it repeats in miniature the mineral, vegetable and animal cycles it passed through in its previous encasements, and only during its last two develops its future human entity. It is completed only towards the child's seventh year. Yet it existed ages and ages before it worked its way onward, through and in the womb of Mother Nature, as it works now in its earthly mother's bosom. Truly, said a learned philosopher, who trusts more to intuition than to the dicta of modern science : "The stages of man's intrauterine existence embody the condensed record of some of the missing pages in Earth's history".

This bears out the Kabalistic statement that Man becomes a stone, a plant, an animal, etc., [Page 82] which has been previously quoted. The simple cell is said to consist of linin, chromatin and pyrenin. Is this far removed from the simple cells into which a stone may be separated ? It is a well-known fact that a few weeks after conception, the human fertilized ovum changes into a shape like a carrot with laminae which might be compared to those of an onion. This hangs from the Umbilicus rather like a fruit, and shows little leaflets. The next very obvious change is to a tadpole form with branches, and then the gradual development of the animal form, with eyes, nose, ears, etc. The truly animal form shows a mammal with a tail, and finally a primate and a biped. In the latter stage the immortal breath enters the form, and the infant receives his share of the Divine Essence, which inhabits (or informs) his body until physical death.

Paracelsus, the Physician and Occultist, has much to say on Heredity, and the following quotation gives some interesting points:

"The body we receive from our parents, and which is built up from the nutriments it draws directly and indirectly from the earth, has no spiritual powers, for wisdom and virtue, faith, hope and charity do not grow from the earth. [Page 83] They are not the products of man's physical organization, but the attributes of another invisible and glorified body, whose germs are laid within man. The physical body changes and dies, the glorified body is eternal. The eternal is the real man, and is not generated by his earthly parents. The temporal body is the house of the eternal, and we should, therefore, take care of it, because he who destroys the temporal body destroys the house of the eternal, and although the eternal man is invisible, he exists, nevertheless, and will become visible in time. . . . Some children are born from Heaven, and others are born from Hell, because each human has his inherent tendencies, and these tendencies belong to his Spirit, and indicate the state in which he existed before he was born."

At the time when Paracelsus wrote, it was essential to use the Christian terms, or he would have been misunderstood even more than he was, and probably burnt as a heretic, instead of merely branded as a quack, when he exposed the ignorance of others. He was later murdered by one of his enemies.

It has been sufficiently shown that at the beginning of every new phase or cycle of evolution, [Page 84] there must be a new humankind, and it is important to see how the child humanity of the First Race obtains its knowledge of essentials. According to the Occult teaching, the High Beings, who come to instruct Humanity in its infancy, are called "Planetary Spirits", and belong to those who incarnate no longer in the Universe, at least during this great manvantara (a period of about 4,320 million years).

In "The Secret Doctrine" we learn that these teachers remain with man no longer than the time required to impress upon the plastic minds of child-humanity the eternal verities They teach; Their Spirit remains vivid, though latent in Mankind. The full knowledge of the primitive revelation has remained always with a few Elect, and has been transmitted from that time up to the present, from one generation of Adepts to another. The Occult Primer says: "This is done so as to ensure them (the eternal Truths) from being utterly lost or forgotten in ages hereafter by the forthcoming generations".

The mission of the "Planetary Spirit" is but to strike the keynote of Truth. He leaves when He has once directed the vibration of the Truths to run its course uninterruptedly along the [Page 85] concatenation of the race to the end of the cycle. Innate ideas and flashes of genius are types of such vibrations finding a congenial soil, and what is usually known as Genius is invariably brought over from a previous birth. To the student of Occultism, it is obvious that the most talented persons may be born into families without any great talents or opportunities.

As the word Adept has been used, its real meaning is given to avoid misunderstanding; the term has been so much abused of recent years. In Occultism, an Adept is one who has reached the stage of Initiation, and become a Master in Esoteric Philosophy and Science. In this sense, it will be seen that neither the Elect nor the Adepts are chosen out; they have become such by their own endeavours in various incarnations.

With regard to the knowledge, etc., brought over from previous Rounds, or cycles, another extract from a letter of a Master is valuable:

"At the beginning of each Round (or cycle of Evolution), when Humanity reappears under quite different conditions than those afforded for the birth of each new Race, and its sub-races, a 'Planetary' has to mix with these primitive men, and refresh their memories, and reveal to them [Page 86] the Truths they knew in the preceding Round. . . . But that happens only for the benefit of the first race. It is the duty of the latter to choose the fit recipients among its sons, who are 'set apart' to use a biblical phrase — as the vessel to contain the whole stock of knowledge, to be divided among the future races and generations until the close of that Round."

As the knowledge of the great Truths is never entirely lost, so the life-atoms are never completely destroyed. Occultism teaches that the life-atoms best impregnated with Prana — the life principle, which is an independent, eternal, conscious factor — are partially transmitted from father to son by Heredity, and are partially drawn together to become the animating principle of the new body in every new incarnation of the Monad. As the individual Ego is ever the same, so are the atoms of the lower principles (astral, life double, etc.), for they are said to be drawn by affinity and Karmic law to the same individual Ego in a series of bodies. In answer to the query: "Do the atoms of the fourth and fifth principles also re-form, after going through various transmigrations, to constitute over again the fourth and lower fifth of the next incarnation ?" H. P. Blavatsky said: "They do ! The [Page 87] reason why we have tried to explain the doctrine of the 'life-atoms' at such length, is precisely in connection with this last question, and with the object of throwing out one more fertile hint. We do not feel at liberty, however, to give any further details". It is necessary, however, to add that, in this connection, it is made very clear that the life-atoms here mentioned are not the visible, material atoms, which disintegrate at death, but are their invisible, supersensuous counterparts.

The same idea, put into another form, is given as follows: "The wave of living particles becomes comprehensible on the theory of a SPIRITUAL ONE LIFE, of a universal vital principle, independent of our matter, and manifesting as atomic energy only on our plane of consciousness. It is that which individualized in the human cycle, is transmitted from father to son".

The above does not mean that there is any case being put forward for personal immortality, but it does suggest that nothing in Nature, visible or invisible, can be lost or wasted. It gives the idea of the re-incarnating Ego, when ready to be re-born into earth life, collecting to itself all it may have, or must have, of the merits and demerits of the individual's past personal lives. [Page 88]

Now that the Chromosome theory of inheritance is being so well studied, it is worth while recalling the work of Professor Jaeger, of Stuttgart, during last century, on the subject of the scents and smells of animals. He designated protoplasm the director-general of the organic economy, and showed that each animal has a specific smell, and also a specific scent. By treatment of the flesh with boiling water, and also of the blood with weak and strong acids, he found that every molecule gives the special smell and scent of the animal. While each organ draws from the blood the materials necessary for its sustenance, it draws at the same time, the specific odorous substances required for its constructive needs. He also stated that these odorous substances are by no means inactive, as may be inferred from their great volatility — volatility being due to a condition of atomic activity. In these conclusions Professor Jaeger certainly entered the domain of modern Bio-chemistry.

The name given to this substance is Odorigen, and the subject has been worked out for Heredity to some extent. With regard to the germ cells, we know that they, like the blood itself, must contain all the vital substances pertaining to the [Page 89] various tissues and organs of the parent, so we may postulate that the germ cells also contain the odorous substances of the parent. Hence, it seems fair to suppose that Odorigen has an important part to play in the transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring.

From this one might suppose that the seat of the vital principle is not the protoplasm, but the odorant matter embedded in it. This Odorigen is indestructible and volatile, and when the protoplasm is burnt up or otherwise destroyed, it passes from that to other habitats. Odorigen seems to have so much in common with the more modern Genes, that we might suppose them to be closely-related; and these Genes are said to be borne upon the chromosomes of the germ-cells, and are said to carry some, if not all, the transmissible physical characters from parent to child.

Professor Jaeger's theory also maintains that, in the case of heritable diseases, it is likely that the transmission of morbid specific odours from parent to offspring is the cause of the evil, as we know that in disease, the natural specific smell is altered, and must, therefore, have been altered in the diseased parent. [Page 90]

Dr. Saltzer, writing on this theory, suggested that this Odorigen was Jîva (one of the principles of the sevenfold man). But JÎVA is subtle, super-sensuous matter, permeating the entire physical structure of the living being, and often described as a form of indestructible force, which, when disconnected with one set of atoms, is immediately attracted to another set.

It is said, with authority, by Dharanidar Kauthumi, in "Five Years of Theosophy" : "Dr. Jaeger's 'Odorigen' is not Jîva itself, but is one of the links which connect it with the physical body; it seems to be matter standing between the gross body and Jîva." This writer also refers to an ancient Sanskrit treatise, in which most of these deductions of Dr. Jaeger's were anticipated, and even stated to have been practically applied to selection in the human species.

Apparently large numbers of the Hindus still believe that a person's prenatal condition, and birth, are controlled by the last desires he may have at the time of his death. However, it is generally-accepted that a man's last desire in life depends on the type of life he has lived, and consequently the nature of the desires he has had throughout his life; just as we expect to act in a crisis, [Page 91] according to the manner in which we have thought and acted over a period of years. Here comes again the importance of the power of thought, regardless of its external manifestation. Truly if we would control the last desire of life, we must not only watch and control our actions and passions during life, but control those much more troublesome thoughts, which seem to rise unbidden to the mind. That thoughts are things, with an immense power for good or ill, is not a statement to be denied by those who deal constantly with sick and men and women. Thought and imagination must be present before volition can produce action, so we see that a man becomes what he thinks, and the children represent, in part, the thought forms of their parents. From the writings of Paracelsus, we learn:

"Man is a materialized thought; he is what he thinks. To change his nature from the mortal to the immortal state, he must change his mode of thinking ; he must cease to hold fast in his thoughts to that which is illusory and perishing, and hold on to that which is eternal. ... If men would control the action of their minds, they would be able to control their own nature, and the nature by which their forms are surrounded." [Page 92]

With regard to last moments, it is said in the Occult Teachings that the whole life is reflected in our memory, and emerges from all the forgotten nooks and corners, picture after picture. In "The Mahatma Letters", we learn: "The dying brain dislodges memory with a strong supreme impulse, and memory restores faithfully every impression entrusted to it during the period of the brain's activity. That impression and thought which was the strongest naturally becomes the most vivid, and survives, so to say, all the rest, which now vanish and disappear for ever. No man dies insane or unconscious, as some physiologists assert. Even a madman or one in a fit of delirium tremens will have his instant of perfect lucidity at the moment of death, though unable to say so to those present. The man may often appear dead. Yet from the last pulsation, from and between the last throbbing of his heart, and the moment when the last spark of animal heat leaves the body — the brain thinks, and the Ego lives in those brief seconds his whole life over again. Speak in whispers, ye, who assist at a death-bed and find yourselves in the solemn presence of Death. Especially have you to keep quiet just after Death has laid her clammy hand upon the body. Speak in whispers, I say, lest you [Page 93] disturb the quiet ripple of thought, and hinder the busy work of the past casting on its reflections upon the veil of the future."

Concerning the question of Sex in re-birth, we are told that the progress of the individual, the deeds and characteristics of previous births, decided the matter; also that refinement, education, and brilliance in the material sense have very little effect upon the course of Nature's Law.

With regard to disease, it is said that we are born (owing to our Karma) with the germs for the development of certain diseases in us, so it depends on the man himself to so shape his life and treat his body that these germs may never become active.

On the problem of Sex, we may refer the reader to a pamphlet, written by Mr. Basil Crump, or to "The Secret Doctrine", Volume II. The entirely abnormal condition of the world today, where sex matters are concerned, is quite obvious, especially when humans are seen to behave worse, in many cases, than the lower animals, not even showing the animal sense of responsibility towards their offspring. The "sin of the mindless" has been referred to above, and also the further misuse of the sex function by the Fourth Root Race [Page 94] (Atlanteans), who possessed Manas. This terrible abuse of the Divine Creative power in past ages presents a philosophical reason for such outrageous suffering and struggle in connection with sex, whether the human is giving way to his lower impulses, or whether he is fighting the numerous forms of evil and the perversions, which have risen up around the procreative function. Doctors need not be reminded that if sex evils could be eliminated from the world today, their work would be reduced to very small proportions. Licence, ignorance, animality, perversions and social customs all take their part in continuing, if not increasing, this Karmic burden; and, in this century, we are adding more terrific loads to what we already carry, in the form of legalized birth-control, and, in some parts of the world, legalized abortions and sterilization. Economic necessity is made the excuse, but love of luxury, lack of self-control, and fear for the future seem more basic causes of the anomalous state of mind of the youthful public, and Legislators are trying to control that which appertains to the whole human (body, soul, and spirit) by the most material methods. Of course, they do not realize that they are dealing with the foulest of Black Magic; they [Page 95] are repeating the sins of the days of the Atlanteans in their degeneration; and they are laying up for future generations, and even races an inheritance of evil, which, at best, will entail millions of years of suffering, or even the annihilation of humankind, as we know it. In this connection, the present state of affairs bears comparison with that of Atlantis prior to the destruction of that continent.

In all the teachings of the ancient Philosophy and Science from the East, we find the statement that any use of the sacred sex function except its legitimate purpose of reproducing the species, is absolutely wrong and evil, and, if we take the trouble to search through the records of history, we shall find that this use of sex for brutal self-gratification has apparently been the beginning of the downfall of any race, nation or people that has degenerated in the past.

This abuse of the gift of procreation has resulted in the Law of Karma gradually changing the nature of the human being, and "instead of the King of animal creation in the Third Race, we now find our Fifth Race glorious in its intellect and cunning, in its materialism and deification of the body, while that body, alas ! is the Karmic heir of disease of all kinds, weak and helpless (except for brain [Page 96] mind), unable to comprehend or combat either its diseases or its viciousness."

Referring to a very serious letter included in "The Mahatma Letters", we find an allusion made to a work, first published in America, and then republished and circulated in Great Britain, by Bradlaugh and Annie Besant. In this book, Birth-control is evidently advised, and the Master says:

"The book is infamous and highly pernicious in its effects whatever and however beneficent and philanthropic the objects that led to the publication of the work. ... I have not read the work — nor ever will; but I have its unclean spirit, its brutal aura, before me, and I say again the advices offered in the work are abominable; they are the fruit of Sodom and Gommorah rather than of Philosophy."

The responsibility of freewill without the development of spiritual intuition, has not kept in check the insatiable lower passions and desires, so that man continues even to the present day to desecrate his Divine gifts by conscious self-indulgence. There is no doubt about the truth of this, and equally true is it that we find the most virtuous and philanthropic persons, pushed to it by the stress of economic conditions, [Page 97] recommending sterilization of the mentally deficient; and Birth-control at the discretion of young married persons, who have not the slightest idea of the peck of troubles they are laying up for themselves in this and future lives.

In philosophical works of Eastern origin one often finds references to the Laws of Manu, and it is especially in connection with marriage that these Laws illuminate dark places. For those who are interested in the subject, we recommend the Notes on Indian Marriage Laws in the Appendix to Mr. Crump's "Evolution". The following note on the subject is from "The Secret Doctrine".

"How wise and grand, how far-seeing and morally beneficent are the Laws of Manu on cunnubial life, when compared with the licence tacitly allowed to man in civilized countries. That those laws have been neglected for the last two millenniums does not prevent us from admiring their forethought. The Brahmin was a grihasta, a family man, till a certain period of his life, when, after begetting a son, he broke with married life and became a chaste Yogi. His very connubial life was regulated by his Brahmin astrologer in accordance with his nature. Therefore, in such [Page 98] countries as the Punjab, for instance, where the lethal influence of Mussulman, and later on of European licentiousness, had hardly touched the orthodox Aryan castes, one still finds the finest men — so far as stature and physical strength go — on the whole globe; whereas the mighty men of old have found themselves replaced in the Deccan, and especially in Bengal, by men whose generation becomes with every century (and almost with every year) dwarfed and weakened."

In these Laws it is evident that the birth, health, education, in fact all eugenic conditions were taken into consideration by the parents of the young persons about to wed. Also they were thoroughly versed and imbued with the sacredness and responsibility of the marriage vows and of parenthood. Adultery was considered to pollute the womb and the whole future generation, and could only be atoned for by self-sacrifice and death. Purity, chastity and self-control were virtues early inculcated in these young Indians, and the chief training of the period of marriage was thought to be that of suppression of self. If such rules of life were laid down as being necessary for the best development of mankind, can we wonder that present conditions are the reverse of healthy [Page 99] either mentally or physically ? MANU is described as the great Indian Legislator; almost a Divine Being.

Of the first origin of evil, that evil we are now so consciously inheriting, it is scarcely opportune to write here, as it would lead us into wider fields of Philosophy than are needed for the consideration of Heredity. It is, however, in one sense, Disharmony with Nature's laws that causes evil. "Defy Nature, and she kicks", is a saying with a sharp point. It applies to many sides of life, whether it is the ill-used body, of which we expect too much, or the ravished forests, denuded of their timber, or the farm lands, from which we take all, and to which we give so grudgingly.

So long as we work with Nature all is smooth, so soon as we attempt to fight her Law, we stir up strife and discord. This creates evil Karma, diseases, suffering on different planes, and these pass on to younger generations. "The Mahatma Letters" tell us that: "Nature has an antidote for every poison, and her laws a reward for every suffering. The butterfly devoured by the bird becomes that bird, and the little bird killed by an animal goes into a higher form. It is the blind law of necessity, and the eternal fitness of things, [Page 100] and hence cannot be called evil in Nature. Humanity, then, is the true source of evil. . . . The origin of every evil, whether great or small, is in human action, in man whose intelligence makes him the one free agent in Nature".

Doctors and Scientists, especially those of a philosophical turn of mind, will say we have known something of this sort all our lives. That is true enough, but have we sufficiently worked it out, and acted upon the knowledge ? In our efforts to improve the race, and prevent disease, or in our work on Heredity, do we even take into account the higher planes of life, or the possibility of a man's past lives ?

Even now that preventive Medicine has taken hold of the public mind, there is little enough mental training thought to be needed, and modern life does not allow much opportunity for the unfoldment of the Higher Mind of Man. [Page 101]

CERTAIN postulates are requisite before we can attempt an understanding of Heredity in the light of modern and ancient Science combined, the latter as shown in quotations from works on Esoteric Philosophy.

The first postulate seems to be that we cannot speak or think of the mental or spiritual man in terms of the physical; even Halliburton warns us of that, and, in his note concerning the parallel activities of the physical, nervous and mental systems, he shows the gulf between the different types of functioning.

The second is that if we cannot ourselves investigate the activities of the superphysical "principles" of man, we must be prepared to accept much of the necessary information secondhand. Only by believing that some others exist who know more than we do can we arrive at solutions to the numerous problems that rise up round the subject. That does not ask for blind faith, for, as in any research, we may either begin at the beginning and prove each step for ourselves, [Page 102] or we may take a certain amount for granted which has already been proved. With regard to Eastern Philosophy, so much appears familiar on the first time of hearing that we are convinced that we have always known it — a suggestion that re-incarnation is not a myth, but a logical necessity, and a fact.

Thirdly, we must believe that Electricity is everywhere, in some form or other, including our own bodies and that should not be a difficult matter nowadays. It is affirmed that continuous electric currents exist in plants and animals, and we see that Dr. Lund now states that a flow of electricity is indispensable to life; also that all living cells generate electricity — each cell acting as a battery. Cells are said to vary in their generating power, the youngest being the strongest. Another important point made is that the plant and animal appear to use this power of generating electricity to control growth, and that this power is the general property of all living matter. In the same report we are told that the apex of a living thing is electropositive (in the external circuit) to more basal regions of the organism; and also that protoplasm is proved to have a crystalline structure.

Physics has given us new ideas with regard to [Page 103] Space and Relativity; Astronomy is enlightening us so far as Motion is concerned, and as to the composition of Comets and Atoms; while other scientists are discovering more and more relics and fossils to prove the gradual evolution of animal life, and to enlarge our ideas on past races and age-periods. So many skeletons of giants are being found, that the ground is well prepared for the public to believe in the gigantic stature of their forebears of the Third and Fourth Races. Recently explorers are said to have found a tropical valley, with hot springs, in the arctic regions, which helps to confirm ancient history as to changes in continents and climates.

The Science of Numbers is too esoteric to be written of here to any extent, but a few notes on the subject may awaken the intuitions of some readers, and they can always find more as written down by the followers of Pythagoras. To the latter we owe most of our knowledge of mathematics and numbers, and that knowledge does not go far, for we have lost more than we have kept.

If we could but understand the mysteries of numbers, the mysteries of life would be solved, and we should need our present conception of time no longer. According to the Pythagorean [Page 104] teaching, the number seven, being composed of three and four, symbolized on the noumenal world plane, the three, or triangle: first conception of manifested Deity; the four, or quaternary: the ideal root of all numbers and things on the physical plane. With the Egyptians number seven was the symbol of Life Eternal. Also number six was the symbol of the earth during the autumn and winter "sleeping" months, and seven during spring and summer. (During spring and summer the spirit of life animated her.)

The 365 days of the solar year have a meaning of great import in the philosophy of life, when read with the Pythagorean key. Three equals the symbol of the earth; Six symbolizes the animating or informing principle; and Five the universal quintessence, which spreads in every direction and forms all matter.

And this is only one key, or one turn of the key, for the sacred Swastika is also symbolized by the figure Six

In "The Secret Doctrine" we also find that the number Six has been regarded in the Ancient Mysteries as an emblem of physical nature. While [Page 105] the senary was applied by the sages to physical man, the septenary was, for them, the symbol of that man plus his immortal soul.

The above extracts are given because we have, of recent years, included numbers in our daily lives to such an extent that our brain minds are overburdened with figures, and some reaction is likely to occur. That reaction from a dead letter use of numbers might find some students prepared to understand, and even explain something of the true potency of numbers on the esoteric plane. The discovery of the gene (hereditary factor), and the brilliant work of the Morgan School, and many others on the chromosome theory, is an evident advance in our knowledge of the transmission of physical characters from parent to offspring, and there is no desire on the part of the present writer to belittle that work. From the material point of view, it sounds very feasible that the chromosomes of the germ cells should carry some invisible substance — possibly a form of energy — and it may be that these genes may have a close relationship or connection with the Odorigen, rediscovered by Professor Jaeger in the last century. If we once realize Prâna (or Jîva) as a universal life force, the very small degree [Page 106] of immortality possible for the physical body of man becomes more obvious. The gross part of the atoms of our bodies return to Nature, but these atoms, like everything else, have their sevenfold composition, so one may, perhaps, say that it is the soul of the atom that may be immortal, and that can be passed on from father to son. If this be true, then the soul of the atom may use the substances mentioned, call them what you will, as a vehicle for the transmission of certain physical and lower mental likenesses. It is, however, futile to class individual immortability with "personal immortality", which the average human still so much desires ; for the personal must, at death, merge with the universal, and only the individual can be immortal, and that under the required conditions.

As the limited use of our five senses does not allow us to make observations on supersensuous matter, which is on another plane of being, it would seem that scientists have, in this class of work, now reached a stage when the guidance of Philosophy, Ancient Science and even of Metaphysics might be welcomed.

The gross body being an illusion so far as immortality is concerned, should be reduced from [Page 107] its post of honour in the mind of the public. That body is managed almost entirely by the principle of KAMA (desire), with occasional assistance from Lower Manas, or brain mind. Any practical use to which we could, at present, put the Chromosome Theory of inheritance would, with regard to humans, merely improve the bodies of the coming generation. In that we should only be repeating the mistakes of the Greeks and Romans, who, in their efforts to control matter, failed to KNOW THEMSELVES in their entirety, and, therefore, failed to control Lower Manas and Kama. To us remains the task of gaining that certain knowledge, and thereby, the control of the lower mental and kamic "principles", so that we may lessen the Karmic burden, which we continually load upon the Higher Ego. Our only means of doing so (for the majority) seems to be to study that which is beyond gross matter, through the medium of philosophy and metaphysics, until we reach the capacity to understand — at least mentally — the higher planes of existence.

No efforts at control of persons on Eugenic lines can have any avail; no amount of care of the mother's body can improve the race if material values only are the basis of action; for there [Page 108] will be birth upon birth necessitated until the mind rises up towards the soul, and the worldly luggage of the individual becomes less and less — even to the vanishing point.

We have referred frequently to the importance of thoughts and thought forms, and it is these even more than the actions that set up vibrations, which must be harmonious or discordant with the existing chord of the mass of a human unit on the physical, mental or astral plane, or with the chords of other units in relation to that one, or with the dominant note of the universal life force. The discord that may be thus produced will cause disease either on the mental or physical plane, in addition to other evils. When we remember the speed and distance that thoughts may travel, it is not difficult to see that powerful and unseen influences may reach parents, and from them be invisibly osmosed into the child during gestation. We have referred above to the mistake of thinking that the father is of no further importance to the child after conception — at any rate, until it is born. A common mistake, and one favoured by Communism. Most of the older races seem to regard the intrauterine period of a babe's life as of the utmost importance, and now [Page 109] that we have seen that the nine months' gestation is a résumé of man's progress through the ages, and of the evolution of the world, we may, perhaps, agree with them more than we did formerly.

So vitally important is this question of the power of thought, some of us are beginning to realize that if the present generation does not wish to bear and bring up children, the natural Karmic result must be sterility.

One of the problems of Heredity, mentioned in Part One, is the association in families, or groups of persons of those so dissimilar with regard to mental and psychic development as we often find. This, we consider, is solved by the fact that the re-incarnating Ego, when ready for rebirth, is guided towards a certain family, nation, or group by Karmic Law, and in a sense chooses its own parentage, according to the bundle of attributes (Skandhas) waiting for it at the threshold of earth life. As said previously, these attributes depend upon the previous life on earth. That there might be certain unfulfilled duties to persons or races, or that such or such a family would give the best opportunity for improvement or development, is a possibility, but it is clear that we need not expect to find like father, like son, where [Page 110] mental and psychic qualities are concerned.

Taking the philosophic point of view, it would appear that modern Science has so far only found certain links between the gross body and Prana, which latter is described as a form of force indestructible; that these links show how certain material characters may be handed down from parent to offspring, while offering no solution as to other characteristics of the child. Moreover, the modern research work is usually only possible on lower animals. As Paracelsus truly says, it is useless to dissect the body in order to find the higher principles, for, by so doing, we destroy the body, and set free the Higher Ego before its development in that particular encasement had run its appointed time.

While physiologists are still ascribing the variations in a family to qualitative differences in the chromosomes, Occultists ascribe them entirely to the Karma which the individual has acquired in past lives, and brought into the new body by way of the Skandhas, except where the variations are physical only. Moreover, as shown in Part One, there is ample evidence that material impressions are received by the mother during sleep, or by her subconscious mind during waking hours. [Page 111]

The Evolution of man during the first three Rounds is so well epitomized by the growth of the foetus in the womb that we regard the account given of man's progress as proved on that count only. Embryology has been a confused jumble of conflicting theories rather than an organized study, because students either could not, or would not, realize that they were dealing with the sacred "mysteries" of evolution, which could not be approached in quite the same manner as the gross external anatomy. Obviously the divine creative power cannot act merely on the lowest plane of life, nor can the development of the babe to the full maturity of manhood be comprehended by the study of the visible nerves and muscles.

When we come to the correspondences between the wombs of Nature and Woman, we find the teaching of Occult Science on the Umbilical Vesicle explains another mystery. Cosmic influences reach the foetus through the Umbilical Vesicle, and become the feeders of Kâma, which they rule, and thus become the passions and emotions of man. The Table of Correspondences given in Part Two, is so full of suggestive ideas, ideas that need well trained intuition to work out, that we dare not attempt to draw many conclusions. [Page 112] Nonetheless, we should like to point out the correspondence between the first bubble on the surface of boundless Space and the terrestrial embryo, and from these come respectively, the vis vitae of the Solar System and Amniotic Fluid. Also the Amnion, which later becomes part of man's aura, is compared to the Ether of Space, which is the plastic crust supposed to envelop the sun, or, on the higher plane, the whole Universe. Then Manas, or the human soul in Man, corresponds to Mahat, the intellect, or Soul of the world. Then the Life Currents in Ether nourish and give life to the earth and other planets, as well as to the living things on the earth, while the Allantois, spread between the Chorion and the Amnion, is supposed to conduct the nourishment from the mother to the embryo. The Chorion or Zona Pellucida is compared to the outer crust or sphere of every sidereal body, of our solar system, of our earth, of man and of animal. From the outer and inner layers of this Chorion come the epidermis of man, and also his muscles, bones, etc.

The fact that the Sun is a gigantic ball of Electromagnetic forces, and gives life to our physical world, is accepted by many, and recent work on Violet and other Rays would seem to confirm the statement. [Page 113] Of vibrations in and around us, personal magnetism and electric currents, we no longer have any doubt, nor of the power to alter these vibrations in another person by the exercise of the will. Mesmerism must be discouraged in this age of selfishness, but that does not mean the scientific world is so foolish as to disbelieve in the power of the Will, or the capacity of certain persons for Clairvoyance and Clairaudience. Unfortunately, there is no ordinary means of controlling such powers so as to ensure their being always employed for the benefit of the many, and without regard to financial benefits.

The extraordinary difference between the development of individuals, even when the structural organization has not changed at all, is referred to Karma, and can be further explained by the fact that the child, having the germs of all the "principles" in him, is yet only able to develop them according to his inherent capacity, and the circumstances and opportunities that his Karma has allowed him. It is immensely interesting, in this connection, to find that the skeleton of man has not radically changed during a very long period, so long that his fossils can be recognized since the Third Race. [Page 114]

As stated in a quotation from Paracelsus, man may become lost to reason, which is a universal possession, and by this he was undoubtedly referring to the Upper Triad (Higher Manas, Buddhi and Atma). In such cases the body remains, and may appear normal, but the immortal Ego has quitted the encasement, and the person is really soulless. The animal functions may remain as active as ever, but there is no possibility of further development on the spiritual plane. Presumably, it is to avoid such calamities that the philosophy of the Orient is so strict on ethical standards, and all the world saviours and teachers have filled their writings and discourses with ethical advice, and stressed the importance of man learning to know himself, his constitution and place in the universe.

Particularly is this doctrine of universality useful to Western peoples, who have so cultivated personal development and success, that they have arrived at a stage where team-work and real co-operation are quite difficult to achieve. Whether your enemy be a nation or a person, it is futile to kill him, and find he is (metaphorically speaking) your brother and yourself, or part of yourself. The interdependence of every electron, atom, [Page 115] molecule, etc., in the world is an undoubted fact. As one part of the body cannot live without the other, so one part of the race cannot be independent of the other, and we are obliged to come to the point of accepting our mutual rights and responsibilities on both the material, mental and spiritual planes of being. So must we accept the universal vital principle, independent of our conception of matter, which manifests on our plane of consciousness as atomic energy, and, individualized in the human cycle, is transmitted from father to son. Unfortunately, atomic energy, even when brought down to our plane of consciousness, is difficult to catch and examine; some day when our knowledge of electricity is even greater than at present, scientists may tell us more of this. Perhaps also further studies on Professor Jaeger's theory of Odorigen may be undertaken, for it would appear that there is a chance of gaining information in this direction, now that we know more of Magnetism and Electricity than he did. At one time it was hoped that our increased knowledge of the microbic content of our bodies would enable us to know more of the action of the "fiery lives". That their power restrains the destructive influence of the microbes during the [Page 116] first half of a man's life, we are told, while in the latter half this force is exhausted, and destruction and decay commence. Here again the law of analogy between cosmic and human events is shown, for, during the first half of a Manvantara Spirit descends into matter, and in the second half it ascends at the expense of matter.

It is fully 11,000 years since the last little portion of the Atlantean continent was submerged, and yet we are told that: "Many of us are now working off the effects of the evil Karmic causes produced by us in Atlantean bodies".

It is not for us to say how long the interval between the births of the average individual, but the above statement shows that when the Harmony of the vibrations is disturbed, the effects produced may take many lives to work off. There must be some amongst us whose Karma has been so well worked out, and so few fresh causes for evil Karma generated, that they are due to be re-born under conditions favourable to rapid spiritual development. They do not, however, appear to be more than a small minority, nor are such favourable conditions for re-birth easy to obtain at the present day.

Even with regard to our physical conditions, we [Page 117] do not organize or order our lives in accordance with Nature's laws; rather, in every way do we oppose her, and set up discord. Practically, that amounts to giving the reins of management over to our lower natures, and using the habitation of our immortal Soul (or living god) as though it were intended as a home of vermin or evil beings.

"Let us study Man, therefore, but if we separate him for one moment from the Universal Whole, or view him in isolation, from a single aspect . . . we shall fail most ingloriously in our attempt."

To make the human body a fit house for the dwelling of its god, we would ask of Modern Science that she should combine the learning of the East and West, and take unto her none too generous heart the knowledge and advice that the Sages of the past have handed out to mortals of every century for thousands of years. Reform is slow, but vibrations and thought forms travel far and fast, and restoration of the Harmony of the world must proceed from many points, before any great effect can be observed by human vision. [Page 118 - 119]

GLOSSARY

Akâsha (Sk.). The subtle supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades all space; the primordial substance erroneously identified with Ether. But it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter. It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of the Universe, in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter and objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or expressed thought.

Antahkarana (Sk.). The imaginary path or bridge between the Higher and Lower Manas, the Divine Ego and the personal Soul of man. It serves as a medium of communication between the two, and conveys from the lower to the Higher Ego all those personal impressions and thoughts of men which can, by their nature, be assimilated and stored by the undying entity, and be thus made immortal with it, these being the only elements of the evanescent Personality that survive death and time.

Atavism. The recurrence of any peculiarity or disease of an ancestor in a later generation.

Arhat (Sk.). One who has entered the best and highest path, and is thus emancipated from re-birth.

Brahma's Egg. The ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed.

Buddha (Sk.). Lit. "The Enlightened". The highest degree of knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all other selves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and to live while yet [Page 120] on earth in the immortal and everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness.

Centrosome. A modified portion of the protoplasm, usually lying in the attraction sphere. The centrosome may give the primary impulse towards cell division.

Chromatin. The coarse network of an animal cell, readily stainable.

Chromosome. Chromatin loops or rods, gradually grouped in special positions, during mitosis.

Cytoplasm. The protoplasm of the cell.

Devachan (Sk.). A state intermediate between two earth lives, into which the Ego (Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the Trinity made One) enters, after its separation from Kama Rupa, and the disintegration of the lower "principles" on earth.

Dhyanis and Pitris. "Creators" and "ancestors" of humanity, usually of divine origin.

Elementals. The creatures evolved in the four Kingdoms or Elements — earth, air, fire and water. They are called by the Kabbalists: Gnomes, Sylphs, Salamanders, and Undines. Except a few of the higher kinds and their rulers, they are rather forces of Nature than ethereal men and women. These forces, as the servile agents of the Occultists, may produce various effects; but if employed by "Elementaries" — in which case they enslave the medium — they will deceive the credulous.

Genes. Certain constant factors, said to be found in and borne upon the chromosomes of the germ cells, and apparently carrying the transmissible characters from parent to offspring.

Gnostics (Gr.). The Philosophers who formulated and taught the Gnosis or Knowledge. They flourished in the first three centuries of the Christian Era.

Graafian Follicles. These follicles contain the egg cell, or egg cells, and are at first deeply placed in the stroma of the ovary. The egg cells gradually ripen, and the follicle increases [Page 121] in size, pushes its way to the surface, and finally ruptures, setting free the ovum or oocyte.

Hydroerhoeas (Gr.). Watery discharges during pregnancy.

Idiosome. Special modification of the protoplasm during mitosis.

Kâma (Sk.). Evil desire; lust; volition the cleaving to existence. Kâma is generally identified with Mara, the tempter.

Kumâra (Sk.). The first Kumâras are the seven sons of Brahmâ.

Manas (Sk.). The mental faculty which makes of man an intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal. Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the Higher Ego, or the sentient re-incarnating principle in man. When qualified it is called Buddhi-Manas or the Spiritual Soul in contradistinction to its human reflection — Kâma-Manas.

Manvantara (Sk.). A period of manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya (dissolution or rest), applied to various cycles, especially to a Day of Brahma, 4,320,000,000 Solar years — and to the reign of one Manu — 308,448,000.

Manu (Sk.). The great Indian Legislator. Manu was the first Legislator, almost a Divine Being.

Maya (Sk.). Illusion, that which is subject to change through decay and differentiation, and which has, therefore, a beginning and an end.

Meconium. The first stools passed by the new born babe.

Metabolism. The general term given to the intramolecular rearrangement of living material in the body, chiefly by chemical action.

Mitosis. The process of indirect division of the cell, and the commonest method of cell division, though very complicated.

Monad (Gr.). In Occultism the unified Triad, that immortal [Page 122] part of man which re-incarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually progresses through them to Man, and then to the final goal — Nirvana.

Oocyte. The ovum before fertilization.

Paranirvana (Sk.). Absolute Non-Being, which is equivalent to Absolute Being or "Be-ness", the state reached by the human Monad at the end of the great cycle.

Paracelsus. The symbolical name adopted by the greatest Occultist of the Middle Ages — Phillip Bombastes Aureolus Theophrastus von Hohenheim — born in the canton of Zurich in 1493. He was the cleverest Physician of his age, and the most renowned for curing almost any illness. He was finally murdered at Salzburg at the age of forty-eight. The works he left behind are greatly valued by Kabbalists and Occultists. He was a most erudite and learned philosopher and mystic, and a distinguished Alchemist.

Prakriti (Sk.). Nature in general; nature as opposed to Purusha — Spiritual Nature and Spirit.

Prostate. A male structure surrounding the first part of the urethra.

Skandhas (Sk.). Attributes, tendencies, proclivities made by man in a past life or lives — which await him at the threshold of a new birth, and unite to constitute the new personality.

Yogi (Sk.) 1. The name of the devotee who practises Yoga. 2. The Man, who, owing to his knowledge of Self and self, has complete control over his bodily, intellectual and mental states, which, unable any longer to interfere with, or act upon, his Higher Ego, leave it free to exist in its original, pure and divine state.

Zona Pellucida. A tough, refractile covering for the ovum, which persists after fertilization, until the ovum becomes attached to the uterus. [Page 123]

THE Male reproductive organs consist of the two testes, which produce the spermatozoa, and the ducts which lead from them. The testis is enclosed in a serous membrane, originally part of the peritoneum, from which it is entirely cut off, after the descent of the testis into the scrotum. The external covering of the testis is a strong fibrous capsule. Passing from its inner surface are a number of septa, dividing the organ into lobules. On the posterior aspect the capsule is much thickened, and forms a mass of fibrous tissue, to which is attached a much convoluted tubule, called the Epididymis. This latter receives the ducts of the testis, and is prolonged into a thick-walled tube, by which the semen passes to the external passage (urethra). Each lobule of the testicle contains several convoluted tubes, which join with others, and end in a straight tube, finally forming a network. From this network, fifteen [Page 124] efferent ducts arise, which first become convoluted, and then pass into the Epididymis.

These convoluted tubules consist of an outer boundary (i) of flattened connective tissue cells, with some elastic fibres, (2) a fine membrane, and (3) a lining epithelium of several layers of germinal cells. Externally are primordial germinal cells, spermatogonia, and nurse cells. Nearer the lumen of the tube are primary spermatocytes, derived from division of the spermatids. The latter, embedded in the nurse cells, grow and become spermatozoa. Each spermatid contains a nucleus, and near the nucleus is another structure called an idiosome, containing a number of microsomes. There are also a coloured body (function unknown) and two centrosomes. The efferent ducts and the Epididymis are lined by columnar cells, some of which are ciliated. The Vesicular Seminales are outgrowths of the large efferent tube, and each is much branched and convoluted. Their secretion and that from the glands of the prostrate are added to the semen. Each consists of a head, a very short neck, a body, a tail and an end-piece. The head is flattened and surmounted by a head cap, with a cutting edge. The neck contains two centrosomes, and the body is traversed by [Page 125] an axial filament, continued through the tail into the end piece. The head is formed from the nucleus of the spermatid, the head cap from the idiosome, and the centrosomes of the spermatid pass into the neck, and the cytoplasm is transformed into parts of the body and tail.

The Female Reproductive Organs consist of the two ovaries, which produce the Ova, and the Uterus with the Fallopian Tubes and Vagina, the two latter being continuous with the Womb at either end. The Ovary is composed of fibrous tissue, with some muscular fibres. It is covered with a layer of cells, called the germinal epithelium, which, in young animals, is seen dipping down, here and there, into the stroma. The stroma is crowded with round cells (the oocytes), derived from the primitive germ cells, which in early stages are mingled with the germinal epithelium. There are numerous vesicles of different sIzes, the Graafian Follicles, the smallest being nearest the surface, the largest deeply placed, but as they expand, they approach the surface, and finally rupture upon it — when the oocyte is ripe. The Graafian Follicle has an external wall of stroma, which is lined by a layer of cells, derived from the germinal epithelium, which surrounds the [Page 126] oocyte. Later there are two layers of cells, and these multiply, and are in several strata, with a fluid between the two layers. The fluid increases, the follicle becomes tenser, finally reaches the surface of the ovary, and bursts; the oocyte is then set free, and, entering the fringed end of the Fallopian Tube, passes down towards the Uterus. This is called Ovulation, and in the human, occurs about once in every four weeks. This oocyte is a large spheroidal cell, surrounded by a transparent membrane called the Zona Pellucida. The protoplasm is filled with large fatty and albuminous granules, except just round the nucleus. There is one nucleus, and usually one well-marked nucleolus. An attraction sphere is also present, and the vitelline membrane.

The Fallopian Tubes consist of a serous coat, a muscular layer of longitudinal and circular fibres, and a vascular mucus membrane in longitudinal folds, and lined with ciliated epithelium.

The Uterus consists of the same three layers, but the muscular coat is very thick, and made up of two strata, imperfectly separated by connective tissue and blood vessels. The mucus membrane is composed of soft connective tissue, lined with ciliated epithelium, which is continued down into [Page 127] the glands. In the lower portion of the uterus the glands are shorter, and near the opening (os uteri) the epithelium becomes stratified, and is of the same kind as that lining the Vagina.

Spermatogenesis. The spermatozoa result from the division of the germ cells. Each germ cell divides into spermatogonia, which undergo several divisions. Each grows and finally becomes a primary spermatocyte; then each divides into two secondary spermatocytes, and each of these into two spermatids which develop into spermatozoa. In the division of the primary into the secondary spermatocytes, the number of chromosomes is reduced to half the normal number.

Oogenesis. The ovum, which is somewhat larger than the spermatozoon, develops in a slightly different way. The germ cells are first embedded in the germinal epithelium, they then pass into the stroma, where they grow and divide, forming the oogonia, which develop into primary oocytes, and become enclosed in Graafian Follicles. The maturation takes place outside the ovary, usually in the Fallopian Tube, and is as follows: the primary oocyte divides into secondary oocyte and first polar body. The secondary oocyte then divides to form the mature ovum, and the second [Page 128] polar body, while the first polar body divides into two. The mature ovum has no centrosome, that having been lost with the formation of the polar bodies. When the primary oocyte divides, the chromosomes do not split longitudinally, but transversely; and, at the end of the process, the secondary oocyte and the first polar body each contains half the number of chromosomes (hetero-typal mitosis). In the further division of the secondary oocyte and first polar body, normal mitosis occurs, so that the chromosomes split longitudinally, and each derivative contains the same number as the parent.

The meaning of the polar bodies is still uncertain. The female cell casts out certain constituents to make room for the addition of material from the male — in fertilization. From the study of certain animals, one must suppose that the female cell has in it a male component, which can be transmitted to future generations.

Fertilization. This is the union of the spertozoon and the mature ovum. By the act of copulation, the spermatozoa are deposited at the entrance to the womb, and, by the movement of their tails, make their way to the Fallopian Tubes, where they should meet the mature ovum. Only [Page 129] one spermatozoon is needed, and this pierces the zona pellucida of the ovum, by means of its sharp head cap, and the head, and probably part of the body, enter the substance of the ovum; here they are changed into a male pronucleus, with an attendant attraction sphere and its centrosome. The male pronucleus contains the same number of chromosomes as the female pronucleus, for the division occurring when the primary spermatocyte forms the two secondary spermatocytes, is a reduction division, in which only half the usual number of chromosomes appear. Next follows the fusion of the male and female pronuclei, and fertilization is complete. The nucleus which results from the fusion contains the typical number of chromosomes, half from the male and half from the female. The segmentation nucleus is accompanied by two attraction spheres with their centrosomes; one of the spheres being introduced with the male pronucleus, and the other probably originating from it by division, since the centrosome of the ovum is lost as it matures.

Segmentation. After fertilization, the ovum divides and sub-divides until a mulberry-shaped mass is formed. This consists of cells, and is enclosed together with the polar bodies, in the [Page 130] zona pellucida. The polar bodies disappear, and a cavity forms in the morula, which thus becomes a blastocyst. At first, the blastocyst has only one layer, but shortly the cells of the inner mass extend round the cavity, and the two layers are known as epiblast and hypoblast. Soon a third layer (mesoblast) grows and extends between the two first mentioned.

All textbooks on Anatomy and Physiology will give the reader an account of the further development of the foetus, and also particulars of the foetal circulation and the foetal membranes, so it is unnecessary to add more here. [Page 131]

THE study of blood both in health and disease shows how much we have learnt of its physical characters, even during the thirty-one years of this century, and any modern scientific work on the subject is of great interest. So much has been discovered that it almost seems as if we might one day know how to reanimate the blood of a dead person, a gift that man is surely not yet fitted to employ wisely and for the benefit of humanity at large. The history of our knowledge of the blood, and the manner in which it is generally regarded, and the customs and traditions that have risen up around it, show that the blood of the human being has more in it than the plasma, corpuscles, gases, and mineral matter, etc., that we are usually content to study. That it is variable in different persons, and in the same person at different times, and under different conditions, is easy to understand, but that it should be sacred, that it should have in it the power to materialize [Page 132] phantoms, and also be at the disposal of evil beings and sorcerers for vile purposes, is not so readily comprehensible.

The first Blood Rites of which there is any record go back to the Third Root Race, and were established to commemorate the separation of the androgynous mankind into male and female.

The origin of the Blood Covenant came from the mother. The child was of her flesh and formed of her blood; the flow of the latter was arrested and solidified and formed into the foetus. Primitive men perceived that children of one mother were of one blood. This was natural fact, and is still shown by the close tie which exists between those born from the same womb, even when they have different fathers. Uterine brothers were natural blood-brothers. In the history of the Blood Brotherhood the next stage was Totemic, which involves some symbolical rite, to include the children of several mothers. Many methods were used among different peoples, such as burial in the earth — the earth or tomb being the image of the maternal birth-place or womb. Then re-birth by blood-letting and burying the bleeding arms together was a common mode of establishing the brotherhood. The blood was the symbol, and the [Page 133] shedding of it the seal of the covenant. Circumcision (again, at puberty) was another means of sealing the blood covenant of a tribe or sect.

Throughout the history of all peoples — even the most savage — we find customs connected with blood covenants (and these were inviolate), and customs involving wounding and spilling of blood. Sometimes this was done in frenzy to raise up companions in evil deeds, phantom shapes from another plane, or sometimes merely to communicate with those who had died and might be consulted. Before going into battle many tribes dance wildly until exalted (or excited) enough to slash themselves, when the hot spilt blood raises the "blood lust", and they are ready to kill.

The ghosts or appearances seen around recent graves, and over battlefields, are referred to in "Isis Unveiled", where Porphyry is quoted as saying: "We see 'souls' hovering in despair about their earthly remains; we even see them eagerly seeking the putrid remains of other bodies, but above all freshly spilled blood, which seems to impart to them, for the moment, some of the faculties of life".

In the same book we are told: "Blood begets phantoms, and its emanations furnish certain spirits [Page 134] with the materials required to fashion their temporary appearances".

A less unpleasant note is struck in an extract from Eliphas Levi's works: "Blood is the first incarnation of the Universal Fluid; it is the materialized vital light. Its birth is the most marvellous of Nature's marvels; it lives only by perpetually transforming itself, for it is the universal Proteus. The blood issues from principles where there was none of it before, and it becomes flesh, bones, hair, nails, etc., even tears and perspiration. It can be allied to neither corruption nor death; when life is gone, it begins decomposing; if you know how to reanimate it, to infuse into it life by a new magnetization of its globules, life will return to it again. The universal substance, with its double motion, is the great arcanum of being; blood is the arcanum of life".

Blood, and hence the colour red, was the sign of sanctity among many primitive races, and the bones of the dead are sometimes found covered with red ochre, as they would then be considered Tapu, or sacred. The old English secret oath was "Bloody true", and was inviolable, which again shows the sacredness of blood. Among certain races, to slash the breast and let the hot [Page 135] blood speak with "the mouth of the heart" was the firmest sign of the blood covenant, and such covenants were really held to be of inviolable sanctity. All these customs have degenerated, and vicarious suffering and bleeding has been allowed, but the true covenant-makers of old always bled directly, and suffered each for himself. There was no vicarious atonement in those days.

Another form of the covenant was the climacteric at puberty — showing the time for the sexes to come together. Until that time the female child could run naked. The blood of menstruation was the witness to the future life, which the child would receive from the mother. Also, in this connection, we find that most races required their women to go into seclusion during the period of menstruation — an obviously correct regulation. The blood of menstruation, as also the afterbirth, etc., at the confinement, were potent objects of Black Magic, and therefore unclean.

It is said that in some parts of Siberia the blood of animals killed in sacrifice enabled people to evoke the souls of the dead, which could not show themselves without the fumes of blood. Other forms of evocation were practised in Bulgaria, which necessitated the freshly shed blood [Page 136] of some relative. If this were spilt on the tomb of some departed relative, a blessing might be received from the person, or advice given.

Paracelsus wrote that with the fumes of blood one is enabled to call forth any spirit desired; for with its emanations it will build itself an appearance, a visible body, objective and tangible — only this is sorcery.

One of the great Hindu philosophers said: "Blood contains all the mysterious secrets of existence; no living being can exist without it. It is profaning the great work of the creator to eat blood." It may also be remembered that Moses forbade his followers to eat meat (or blood), and yet practically all races are now eating meat as a matter of course, and caring very little whether blood is sacred or not.

The colour of blood is undoubtedly red, as we usually see it, but that is only in reflected light. Rays of the sun permeating blood show it to be a yellow-gold colour — vital light. As said above by Eliphas Levi, blood is materialized vital light. Yellow is the most sacred colour in the East, and the culmination of Light resides in the yellow ray. Yellow symbolizes pure blood and sunlight, and is called the "stream of life". [Page 137]

In studying the physiology of the blood from its scientific aspect, we learn that the origin of the corpuscles, which altogether form about two-fifths of its volume, is thought to be chiefly the bone marrow, with assistance from the lymphatic tissues, the liver, and the spleen. With regard to the red cells, it is said that in the early embryo, they are formed from the mesodermal cells, associated with the formation of the capillary blood-vessels. Later on they are probably formed by the liver, spleen, and marrow, while at birth the bone marrow is mainly responsible for them. The origin of the white cells, in early intrauterine life, may be the thymus, until the spleen is developed, and the lymphatic tissue. Though the white cells are said, at birth, to be derived from the marrow, spleen, etc., there is a considerable difference of opinion with regard to the function of the spleen in this respect. Physiology does not recognize the spleen as the vehicle of the protean double, or Linga Sharira, any more than the liver is really thought to be the vehicle of Kama, though it probably is so.

Metschnikoff's discovery of the power of phagocytosis in the leucocytes, or some of them, should have taught us more than it has done, [Page 138] for it shows the phenomenon of positive and negative chemotaxis. It also shows the bone marrow roused to extra exertion and increased output of white corpuscles of the kind required to deal with the condition presented, even to the extent of sending out into the circulation corpuscles that are not fully developed. Perhaps we should mention that phagocytosis is the process of movement and ingestion of foreign particles by the corpuscles; those having this power are the polymorphonuclears, large hyaline (mononuclear), and coarse eosinophiles. This capacity of the corpuscles should convince us that the blood contains cells having an intelligent life of their own, and once we accept the basic fact, it is not difficult to understand the objections made to the injection of foreign substances directly into the blood stream. The variety of medication now injected into the blood would make of it a mere container of garbage; for vaccines, gland preparations from lower animals, blood itself, and preparations from other humans, all are considered suitable for thrusting into the system by way of the blood. All these foreign substances contain, and carry with them, the magnetism of the person or animal from which they are derived. Such a process [Page 139] must disturb the "alchemy" of the blood, if we are willing to allow that the science of alchemy is not transmutation of base metals into nobler ones, but rather the attempt to transmute the baser, lower principles of mankind into the upper Divine Trinity.

The soul and consciousness of man have been ascribed to the blood of the divine progenitors, which must be meant symbolically, or requires further explanation. Elsewhere we find it stated that blood gives soul and consciousness to the man of clay.

Referring to "Lucifer", vol. i., page 179, we find Cory's "Ancient Fragments" are quoted: "Showing the Ancients ascribing the vivifying of mankind to the spilt blood of the gods." And the explanation as given by H. P. B. says: "But Blood and Soul are one, and the Blood of the gods here means the informing soul".

Such a statement from such an authority as H. P. Blavatsky cannot be disregarded, and though we cannot aspire to possess the seven keys, which would give a complete interpretation of the statement, there may be just a glimmer of light to some of us. Many well-known sayings such as, "Verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh [Page 140] of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves", have a mystic and occult meaning. The bread and wine of the Christian sacrament still represent the male spirit and the female source of life.

According to Gerald Massey, writing in "Lucifer", Vol. 1, "The 'Blood of Jesus', which was to be 'drink indeed', is identical with the 'Blood of Bacchus', which preceded historic Christianity, and has been substituted for the human or animal blood of the earlier mysteries. . . . Also the blood of Christ, or Mithras, or Horus, employed in drinking the Covenant, was preceded by the Blood of Charis. In some of the Gnostic mysteries we have the proof that the first form of the saving blood was feminine, not masculine at all".

These statements open up new viewpoints, which we dare not attempt to explain; they seem to serve to show us how very little we know concerning the customs and ceremonies which have survived even to this day. Again the keys to the mysteries are needed, and we modern materialists require the blood that revivifies the dead (i.e., conscious life and soul) before we can begin to unravel such problems.

In "The Theosophist" of 1880, vol. ii, p. 34, [Page 141] reference is made to animal sacrifices: "It is not the poor animal that we are to kill before the Goddess Durga or Kâli, but those evil propensities of the mind of which these animals are considered to be the representatives. The he-goat is considered by the Brahmins to be the animal having the foremost tendency or desire for 'Cupidity' and the Buffalo for 'Anger'. The great Yogee Shiva composed the Tantras not for butchering the poor animals, but sacrificing anger, cupidity, and the other passions — the six great enemies of the human soul. The only way of purifying the mind is to get rid of the baneful effects of the six passions to which almost every human is a slave, until by a hard struggle he is able to subdue them and bring them under his control." This was written by Babu K. P. Mookerjee.

The above is quoted to show how far our blood sacrifices have departed from the original, either on the material or psychic plane of life, for we no longer keep our blood covenant with nature or with our brethren, nor do we hesitate to raise for food and to kill any animal — not to mention those killed for sport, or in the interests of scientific research. With regard to other blood sacrifices, most nations are still keeping standing armies [Page 142] and navies, whose units are reared, trained, and nourished with a view to killing and being killed.

The chief points to be made from these few notes are that the blood is sacred, that it should be guarded and protected from all admixtures and contamination, and especially from injections of foreign substances into its circulation.

Those of our readers who are guardians, to some extent, of the health and welfare of the public may well be interested in this side of the question. [Page 143]

Anderson, Jerome A., M.D.
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"Notes on Embryology", included in a volume entitled "Karma".

Arnold, Sir Edwin, M.A.
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Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna.

"The Secret Doctrine". First Edition, 1888.
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"Five Years of Theosophy", a collection of articles reprinted from The Theosophist, and published in 1885. Only a few of these articles are from Madame Blavatsky's pen.
"Isis Unveiled". First Edition, 1887. [Page 144]
"The Theosophical Glossary"

Crew, F. A. E., M.D., D.Sc, Ph.D.
"Organic Inheritance in Man", pub. in 1927.

Crump, Basil, Barrister-at-Law, London.
"Evolution", pub. 1930.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1929 Edition.

Gates, R. Ruggles, Ph.D., Prof, of Botany, London Univ.
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Halliburton,
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"Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, The".
Compiled and transcribed by A. T. Barker. Published in 1923 by Fisher, Unwin & Co.

Keightley, Archibald, M.D. (Cambs.).
"The Power of the Imagination", pub. in "The Path", Oct., 1897.

Wilder, Alexander, M.D.
"The Genesis and Prenatal Life", pub. in The Path, June, 1897.

Starling.
Textbook of Physiology.

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