en an "astral" apparition
was wanted. In an accession of conscience, Mrs. Coulomb, who is a
Catholic, smashed the effigy. She says she had not cared much so long
as Hindus only were cheated, because they believed such things anyway,
but she could not stand it when European gentlemen and ladies were
subjects of the imposture. Perhaps it was because of this moral
"strike" that Koothoomi was not tried on me.

What will be the future of Theosophy? Its age of miracles has passed,
and is more likely to be repudiated than renewed. It may easily be
held that even if Madame Blavatsky was sometimes tempted, in the
absence of her potent Guru, to satisfy the demand for signs and
wonders with devices, she performed wonders not so explicable. In one
of Madame Blavatsky's letters to Mrs. Coulomb, she says, defiantly, "I
have a thousand strings to my bow, and God Himself could not open the
eyes of those who believe in me." Elsewhere she quotes a letter she
(Blavatsky) has from Colonel Olcott, saying: "If Madame Coulomb, who
has undeniably helped you in some phenomena, for she told this to me
herself, were to proclaim it on the top of the roof, it would change
nothing in my knowledge, and that of Dr. Hartmann, Brown, Sinnett,
Hume, and so many others, in the appreciation of Theosophy and their
veneration for the brothers. You alone would suffer. For even if you
yourself were to tell me that the Mahatmas do not exist, and that you
have tricked in every phenomenon produced by you, I would answer you
that YOU LIE, for we know the Mahatmas, and know that you cannot--no
more than a fly on the moon--have produced certain of the best of your
phenomena." It should be stated here that, in the whole correspondence
revealed by Mrs. Coulomb, Colonel Olcott appears as the dupe of Madame
Blavatsky, and in no case accessory to imposture unless by an amazing
credulity.

We may assume that Colonel Olcott will continue his propaganda, and it
remains only to consider what vitality there is in Theosophy, apart
from its "occultism," and what competency its leader has for such
work. I gathered up in India a number of Colonel Olcott's addresses,
circulated in cheap form, and find them much like "The Veiled Isis"
ascribed to Madame Blavatsky. They contain a medley of Buddhist,
Brahmanic, and Zoroastrian traditions, interpreted in a mystical and
moral way, the only thing systematic being a Buddhist catechism. This
catechism was printed by the favor of a Singh