will endeavour to make my meaning plain. There are subjects relating
to the human body, mind, and soul, which cannot be said to have been
really studied at all, except by some recluse here and there, who is
generally considered mad. You deal with the things which are seen, but
think not of the great unsolved spiritual problems of life. For example,
the effect of mind upon mind, animal magnetism, mesmerism, biology, and
kindred subjects are unknown to you. The secrets of mind and spirit are
left unnoticed by you Western people. You seek not to solve the occult
truths which exist in the spirit of all men. You shudder at the problem
of what you call death, and fancy nothing can be known of the spirit
which leaves the world in which you live; whereas there is no such thing
as death. The spirits of the so-called dead are living forces all around
us, who can tell their condition to those who understand some of the
secrets of spiritualism. Nay, more than that. There are occult laws of
the soul which, if understood by some powerful mind, can be made to
explain some of the deepest mysteries of the universe. For example, a
man versed in the secrets of the spirit life can cause the soul of any
human being to leave its clay tenement, and go to the world of spirits,
and learn its secrets; and by the powers of his soul life, which can be
a thousand times strengthened by means of a knowledge of the forces at
the command of all, he can summon it back to the body again. Of course I
can only hint at these things here, as only the initiated can understand
these secret laws; but these are the things I would have studied, and
thus lift the life of man beyond his poor material surroundings." By
this time the drawing-room was pretty well full. Nearly all the men had
left their wine, and all were listening intently to what Voltaire was
saying.

"You have lived in the East?" said Miss Forrest, evidently fascinated by
the strange talk.

"For the last ten years. I spent a year in Cairo, two more up by the
banks of the Nile, among the ruins of ancient cities, where, in spite of
the degradation that exists, there is still to be found those who have
some of the wisdom of past ages. Four years did I live in India among
the sages who hold fast to the teaching of Buddha. The three remaining
years I have spent in Arabia, Syria, and Chaldea."

"And do you mean to say that what you have mentioned exists in reality?"
said Miss Forrest.

"I have only hi