upon the objective world; as the dramatic poet impresses his own ideas upon persons and characters, which afterwards gain life and action. The same may be said of mania, and all phenomena belonging to the realms of the imagination. Magnetic, visionary contemplation, under whatever shape it appears, may be true, just as it may also be false, according to the signification and interpretation: moreover the same vision may be presented to the same person, at various times, under absolutely opposite forms. The same god did not always appear to Aristides, or under the same form, but the signification was materially the same, and the vision proved always correct. These pictures change in representation according to the conditions of physical life, as is seen in the whole history of magic as well as in individual cases. The demon and evil spirit foretelling striking truths, as well as the gods and their good spirits.

It is not without weight to the theory of magnetism to extract something from the views of the Greek sages. I shall therefore mention briefly Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and some others.

Orpheus derived his knowledge from the Egyptian priests, and the proverbial Orphean egg bears evidence of this: "God, the uncreated and incomprehensible Being, created all things; the ether proceeded from him; from this the unshapely chaos and the dark night arose, which at first covered all things. The unshapen mass was formed into the shape of an egg, from which all things have proceeded.” This Orphean egg agrees with the theories of the new philosophers, and particularly with those of Mesmer and Wolfart. All development, according to them, is in circles; the inward and outwardly proceeding streams and formations are shaped from chaos to the round regular form of an egg. The whole universe is an egg, without beginning or end, and each individual portion strives after the same form. It is remarkable, that ether is regarded by Orpheus as the medium between God and created things, as He first created ether and afterwards chaos; but everything that exists is covered by the ether. I have already made mention of the healing virtues of minerals, to which Orpheus paid particular attention, and seemed to prefer them to all other remedies. "The earth," says he, "produces good and bad

to poor mortals; but to every bad thing there is also an antidote. In the earth every kind of stone is produced, in which a varied and endless power lies. Everything that herbs or roots can perform, that can also minerals perform. Roots certainly have great power, but the stones have still greater; that is, if the matrix gives to the stones fresh and unspoiled strength. The root is green but a short time, and dies; only as long as fruits can be had from it does its life last. But when it is withered, what can be hoped from the dead? Among plants, noxious as well as beneficial kinds are found; but among stones you will hardly find anything noxious. But if, as a hero, you boldly pass among monsters, armed with the siderit, you will have nothing to fear; though they should meet you in swarms with the black death."

"Members of communication with the higher stages of spirituality," says Richter, "are those men of Greece who carried the wisdom of the East to the pure skies of Ionia, and from thence to the banks of the Ilissus; above all, Pythagoras, the sage of Samos, who derived his comprehensive views of God and divine things in the holiest temples of Egypt, and who wished to establish an institution among the Greeks founded upon pure morality, but alas! he only too soon succumbed to the power of evil. His pure life, his inward sense of the divine, his endeavours to suppress the earthly in himself and in his scholars, and to elevate the spiritual without overstepping the laws of reason; together his miraculous power evidently characterise him as a man in whom the magnetic instinct was powerfully active."

Pythagoras brought his theories from the East and Egypt, where he had profoundly penetrated their mysteries. According to the evidence of Porphyrius, the great end of the Pythagorean philosophy was to free the soul from the fetters of the senses, and to make it fit for an eternal and unchanging contemplation of spiritual things. For this purpose, Pythagoras regarded the mathematical sciences and calculations as the most fitting means of aid and development, and therefore applied figures to everything he taught. His arithmetical philosophy is, however, a riddle which but few have understood, explained, or solved; therefore his teachings had mostly the fate of being decried, as happens to all doctrines, the elevation and noble views of which cannot be attained by every one.

Nothing direct is extant of the teachings of Pythagoras (for he left no writings, having imparted his theories by word of mouth): impartial men have, therefore, collected them from Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Diogenes, Laertius, Porphyrius, Iamblichus, and Stobæus, who had embodied the lost works of the old Pythagoreans in their writings. In this manner the whole of his doctrines were rescued from oblivion. The signification of the Pythagorean numeral theory is, that numbers contain the elements of all things, and even of the sciences. It was clearly seen that everything in nature may be reduced to numeral conditions; he applied numerals to the spiritual world, and thereby solved questions which are now wholly unknown to arithmetic. Of this numerical theory, the "Magicon" contains the following:-" The whole system of the universe rests upon certain primary causes, of which the being, the form, and the action of all things, as well individually as in connection with each other, are the natural consequences. These primary causes are called the natural numerals. He who knows them, knows at the same time the laws through which nature exists, the circumstances of its connection, the manner and measure of its activity, the communication of causes and effects, the physics and mechanics of the universe. Numerals are the invisible coverings of beings, as the body is the visible one; that is to say, there is a double characterism of things, one visible and one invisible; of the former, the visible shape is matter, of the latter, number; and all that manifests itself is the result of an inward energy; and this energy is the emanation of a power. The greater or lesser quantity of the powers expresses the material number, and the greater or lesser quantity of the energy expresses the virtual number. There are, undoubtedly, invisible coverings, for each being has a principle and a form; but principle and form are opposite extremes, which cannot meet without a certain bond of union: this bond is formed by numerals. Each principle is an unity; this becomes a real being through energy, which is, however, fixed by numerals. As the laws and properties of things are impressed upon their exteriors, so are the invisible laws and properties upon the invisible numerals; or as by the action of the sentient faculties through the senses we receive certain impressions, our mind also receives distinct ideas of the invisible positions and

destinations of things as soon as it can comprehend them. For the spiritual has weight and measure just as much as the physical; its positions, however, are only comprehensible to the reason. The real numerals of the universe are certainly infinite, but their progression is simple and direct, because everything has reference to the primary numbers 1-10. Its infiniteness rests upon the infinite or incalculable number of beings, and still more so as those beings have many and varied properties. There are, therefore, numerals for the foundation or principle of being, its activity, duration, and stages of progression. There are so many boundaries where the rays of divine light pause, and are reflected, partly to reproduce its own form, partly to create momentarily new life, measure, and weight from it. There are, also, compound numbers, to express the various relations and compositions of being, their actions and influences; also central, mediary, and circumference numbers; also false and impure numbers. Despite their infinite combination, the idea is still simple, for everything arises from the first ten numerals; and these again are comprehended by the first four, whose united sum is ten, which manifest the incalculable value of the Quaterni, although it appears folly to those who do not comprehend it.”

We perceive from this, in some measure, why the numeral 4 was so sacred to the Pythagoreans; the 4 was to them the holiest number, a true appnróv; they, therefore, swore by the numeral 4, and an oath upon the sacred TεTρáкTUC was the most binding that could be imagined. In it lie all the powers and symphonies of nature; 10 is the universe, or rāv. According to Pythagoras, the numeral of a substance is that which is its foundation in the divine intention, and according to which it can be only so and nowise else. The agreement of all universal numerals, of beings and their actions, form the harmony of the whole. Pythagoras therefore regarded astronomy and harmony as intimately connected branches of the same science (Theonis Smyrnoi eorum, quæ in mathemat. ad Platonis lectionem utilia sunt, expositio, Paris, 1646, lib. i. c. i. p. 7). According to Pythagoras, all spiritual numerals are refections, radiations of unity; as well as the numeral 1 is the commencement of all numeral things. One is, therefore,

the name and character of the Highest, the Earliest, the Endless. One is the centre of all, the foundation of every being, and all particular properties which are not absolute and necessary, but direct or indirect radiations of the absolute unity. Ten ones form again an unity of tens up to a hundred; ten tens an unity of hundreds, &c. All the higher comprehend the lower unities, and insomuch as the lower is contained in the higher, so far is the reciprocal community shown. Thus is it also with the universe. Each higher world embraces all the unities or inferior worlds subject to it, and the lower take part in the higher worlds, spheres, and creations, as far as they, as inferiors, can be embraced by them. In the hundred, all numerals, from 1 to 100, are contained; under the class animal all creations i of animated nature; and as the numerals from 1 to 100 become more similar as they progress, equally do the lowest in the ranks of animals rise higher and become more developed, till at length the highest members are united to man, without ever being able to reach him. The endless variations of animals, as well from as among themselves, agree also with the normal conditions, where one link can divide itself into endless portions. The Eastern theory of radiation is the same, according to which the lower orders arise from the higher, and embrace and permeate them.

The application of the primary numerals to the spiritual and material world we find in the Magicon as follows:

"True mathematics is something with which all higher sciences are connected; common mathematics is but a deceitful phantasmagoria, whose much-praised infallibility only arises from this-that material conditions and references are made its foundation. As long as it is only confined to this it can certainly not fail; but as it is far different in respect to those things which do not regard it, it can never attain the object of a true science. Above all things it depends upon the knowledge of the straight and crooked lines. If the former is explained as a continuation of many infinitely small straight lines, this is just as radically false and far from the true laws of Nature, as it is a proof of how much men are inclined to confound all things together. As in Nature everything has its distinctive nume