Louis. A fine large room has been secured exclusively for Branch use at 3100 Olive street on the ground floor, and here will be held the Sunday evening public meetings. Mr. Seth Wheaton has been elected President of the Arjuna, and Mr. Benedict Loevy, 3007 Cass Avenue S., Secretary. The harmony of the late action, together with its wisdom, promises well for the future, and St. Louis has now more hope of energy and growth Theosophically than ever before. The roll of American Branches is reduced to seventy-five.

MRS. ANNIE BESANT'S passage for the States has been taken in the City of Paris, which leaves Southampton Aug. 26th.

KRISHNA T. S., Philadelphia, has secured the use of a large room at 1219 Chestnut street, in connection with two other societies. It will seat from 150 to 200. Much benefit is expected therefrom.

OBITUARY. Mr. Wm. Throckmorton, long time President and then Secretary of the Pranava Branch, St. Louis, relinquished this incarnation on June 7th. Bro. Throckmorton was a Theosophist of the most sincere type, and his convictions gave him support in the long and painful illness he so patiently underwent. In accordance with his expressed wish, his body was cremated on June 8th, and his ashes were sent to the care of the General Secretary at the New York Headquarters, there to be fittingly preserved. As like disposition may be made of their innocuous remains by other Theosophists anxious to rest in death as in life among the Brethren, might it not be well for a chamber in the Headquarters to be arranged as a columbarium, or, if that is impracticable, for a columbarium to be built elsewhere?

THE GENERAL SECRETARY

sailed for England in the City of New York on June 17th, purposing to attend the Annual Convention of the European Section on July 6th and 7th. If his voice sufficiently rallies, Mr. Judge will deliver various lectures in England. Final arrangements respecting Mrs, Besant's address at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago next September will be made during this visit. Towards the close of July Mr. Judge will return to the States.

A THEOSOPHICAL SUMMER REST HOUSE.

MR. MASCHMIDT of the Brooklyn T. S. has practically begun something that has been talked of for a long time, that is, a place in the country where Theosophists may go for rest in the summer at a very cheap rate. He has a farm nine miles from Saratoga, near Corinth. The scenery is beautiful, the farm lying among the hills. It is two miles from the Hudson river. There is a house which has been enlarged and improved; a piano has been furnished and a horse and carriage added to the establishment. It has accomodations for between twenty aud thirty persons. Several have already expressed a desire to go there, and some of the New York and Brooklyn members, including Mr. Harding, Mr. Pryse, and Dr. Hyatt, have gone out to help in adding to the improvements by working themselves on the spot. It is intended to have Miss L. Chapin and Miss Bellows take charge, together with Mr. Maschmidt's sisters. The cost of getting there from New York and returning is about $6. The weekly charge for board will be very low. Any Theosophist desiring to obtain information about this or to go, should write to Miss L. Chapin, Maschmidt Farm, Corinth, Saratoga Co., N. Y. The house will be open July 10th, and any applicant must give a notice of at least ten days.

ORIENTAL DEPARTMENT.

THE issues of this department were, in the American Section, suspended temporarily in June, 1891, with No. 12, which completed a year. Lack of funds and also lack of the time required for such work compelled suspension. But as the European Section had then begun its Oriental Department, the work projected was really carried on elsewhere. The second year begins with an issue, in this June, of sixteen pages under a new style as to size of printed page. No obligation having been taken to issue monthly, it is contemplated to have the papers appear less often than during the first year, and, if possible, to devote more space for the present to studies in Oriental religions and thought. "The Game of Knowledge" given in No. 13 is extremely interesting, illustrating as it does the fact that the social life of India is moulded almost entirely on the religion of the country. We believe this is the first time this game has been described in a publication in our language. In subsequent issues I hope to be able to present studies of different Oriental religions in the form of compilations from the best authorities, as our funds will not yet allow the continuance of a salaried pundit in Hindustan.

WILLIAM Q. Judge,

General Secretary Am. Section. T. S.

PACIFIC COAST.

THE LEAGUE IN TACOMA has been reorganized under the promptings of our Rev. Bro. Copeland, and this has resulted in the obtainment of a hall, 15 x 56 feet, upon the corner of two of the main streets, as a Headquarters. The League has established there a free reading room, open daily from nine A. M. to nine P. M. A large sign in white with gold letters is upon the front of the building, "Theosophical Headquarters". The Branch is out of debt and has funds on hand.

THE DAILY SURF of Santa Cruz, Calif., has subserved Theosophical interests by giving space to five hundred words weekly, thus publishing a summary of several of Mrs. Besant's treatises and a number of Press Scheme articles. Thanks to the editor, Mr. A. A. Taylor, whose paper is among the leading ones in the county and with wide circulation, the article on the Astral Body was much noticed throughout the State, calling forth comment from at least seven journals. May Karma bless him and all other helpers!

THE PACIFIC COAST LECTURER spoke in Oakland, Calif., on May 20th, San Francisco May 28th, Alameda June 3d. Branch, Committee, and other meetings were also attended.

TRIANGLE T. S. of Alameda has changed its meeting time from afternoon to evening and feels the consequent benefit. Regular sessions, held in Red Men's Hall, are open to the public. Help from San Francisco members is given to Triangle, and systematic work is now done.

ARRANGEMENTS ARE BEING PERFECTED to issue the Pacific Theosophist from San Francisco by the Pacific Coast Committee as a monthly. It has been heretofore ably conducted by Bro. F. I. Blodgett of Seattle, but both parties are clear that better work can be done by the transfer and by the fuller reports hereafter posssible of work on the Coast. Dr. Jerome A. Anderson will be the Managing Editor, and will conduct it as a purely Theosophical paper.

INCREASE OF INTEREST in Theosophy on the Pacific Coast has so enlarged the work and the impulse to work more that an addition to the Staff at Headquarters has become necessary. The office of Corresponding Secretary has been created, and Mrs. Vera S. Beane has been elected thereto.

SAN DIEGO T. S., formed by the Branches, was chartered on June 1st.

union of the Gautama and Upasana The roll of American Branches is thus reduced to seventy-six. The consolidated Branch has taken and furnished a hall in a central location, and the sign "Theosophical Hall and Library" fronts three corners. The Library will be kept open every afternoon. Each Sunday evening is a public meeting, and lectures are given to fair audiences.

AUCKLAND N. Z. For five months past the Auckland Branch has been preparing the way for a visit from Mrs. Cooper-Oakley, by delivering fortnightly Lectures. When Mrs. Oakley therefore arrived on the 3d of May she found the way in a measure prepared, and up to the time of writing has had large audiences at her Lectures. The local clergy, however, view, the movement with considerable alarm, and are warning their flocks (ineffectually) against Theosophy, and have descended to the use of gross personalities in the course of their discussion. Mrs. Oakley remains in Auckland until June 4th, when she purposes to go to Dunedin in the South of N. Z.-(Communicated.)

VICTORIAN THEOSOPHIC LEAGUE, Melbourne, Australia. Our visitor Mrs. Cooper-Oakley passed through Melbourne on her way from Adelaide to New Zealand, and on 24th April addressed the members of the League on "The Spiritual Aspect of Theosophy and Occultism". The room was crowded by a very attentive and intelligent audience. Mrs. Oakley's mission has already borne good fruit in a considerable increase of members. "White Lotus Day" was honored by a meeting held at "Maybank”, Mrs. Parker's residence, when a choice programme was gone through-an address from the President, and readings which were kindly undertaken by Mr. James Smith, a leading local Spiritualist. The League continues to progress. We are moving into larger quarters on Monday next at Austral Buildings, Collins St., which address please to register.-(Communicated.)

LONDON LETTER.

I have been asked by the Editor of Lucifer to send you a monthly letter on the leading features of the month as illustrative of the progress of thought and organization for which the Theosophical Society is peculiar.

Considerable interest has been excited among us by the recent publication of Max Müller's "Theosophy or Psychological Religion", which, it is pretended by some, is an endorsement more or less direct of the Theosophical doctrines, but which is regarded by others more in the light of an attack upon Esotericism and Occultism as elaborated by H. P. B. Max Müller takes the view that Buddhism has no Esoteric Side and that the Mahatmas of Tibet are nothing more than the "baseless fabric of a vision". Mr. Sinnett has answered the attack in the Nineteenth Century, and further refutations are looked for from our ablest exponents.

The Blavatsky Lodge has lately experienced some crowded meetings, more especially on the occasions of Mrs. Besant's lecture on "Theosophical and Darwinian Evolution" and G. R. S. Mead's "Mystery of Satan". At the close of the latter Edward Maitland gave a brief resumé of his philosophy in its bearing on the office of Satan as the guardian of the outer wall of the Cosmos,

showing how popular ignorance has confused this Satan with the Devil of darkness and negation of being which lies beyond him.

Mrs. Besant, Herbert Burrows, and others continue to keep the main doctrines of Theosophy before the masses, and to judge by the constant enrollment of fresh members and the establishment of new Lodges in England there is after all something in Theosophy which appeals to the British public, all that has been said to the contrary notwithstanding.

Next month I hope to be able to include interesting news of the extension of the Club for working men lately founded by Mr. M. U. Moore, and of a new line of Theosophical propaganda. REGINALD HODDER.

INDIA.

The Kumbaconum T. S. has embarked upon good work. It intends to print and circulate in India not less than three-thousand pamphlets every month on Theosophical subjects. Any number of copies can be had for circulation from the Secretary by forwarding stamp for every five copies required. They also intend to create a permanent fund to carry on their scheme by means of publishing books. The first of these latter will be Some Thoughts on the Gita, containing twelve lectures on the first four chapters; it is expected to be ready in June. Information about this can be had from M. C. Krishnasamy Iyer, Kumbaconum. Pamphlet No. 3 is upon Our Duties. This is the same Branch which has been publishing many translations of the Upanishads.

EXECUTIVE NOTICE.

THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE,

ADYAR, 27th May, 1893

The Managers of the World's Parliament of Religions having granted us permission to present the views and policy of our Society with respect to the questions of Religion and Ethics, on the 15th and 16th September next at Chicago, the undersigned, being prevented by his Asiatic engagements from personally attending, hereby deputes Mr. William Q. Judge, Vice-President T. S., to represent him on that occasion. All steps heretofore taken by Mr. Judge in connection with the said representation, in pursuance of his correspondence with the undersigned, including the formation of Committees, are hereby ratified, and he is fully empowered as the President's substitute to adopt such further measures in the premises as may to him seem necessary. course it is to be distinctly understood that nothing shall be said or done by any Delegate or Committee of the Society to identify it, as a body, with any special form of religion, creed, sect, or any religious or ethical teacher or leader; our duty being to affirm and defend its perfect corporate neutrality in

these matters.

Of

The undersigned also deputes Mrs. Annie Besant as a special Delegate from the President, to address the meetings in question on behalf of the whole Society, and to convey to them his fervent hope that this truly representative Theosophical assembly of people of all races and religions may result in the spread of that principle of brotherly love and religious tolerance which is the foundation and cornerstone of the Theosophical Society.

The undersigned most earnestly calls upon all Sections, Branches, and willing Fellows of the Society throughout the world to put themselves in correspondence with Mr. Vice-President Judge, and do all that lies within their power to aid him in bringing this very important matter to a successful result. H. S. OLCOTT, P. T. S.

Though from gods, demons, and men your deeds are concealed, they remain as causes in your own nature.-Leaf V.

OM.

AUM

Even when much provocation is given, be neither angry nor malicious-Subha-sutta.

In this mode of salvation there are no distinctions of rich and poor, male and female, people and priests: all are equally able to arrive at the blissful state.-Chinese Tract.

VOL. VIII.

THE PATH.

AUGUST, 1893.

No. 5.

The Theosophical Society, as such, is not responsible for any opinion or declaration in this Magazine, by whomsoever expressed, unless contained in an Official Document. Where any article or statement has the author's name attached, he alone is responsible, and for those which are unsigned the Editor will be accountable.

M

THE ADEPTS AND MODERN SCIENCE.

ODERN science is a bugbear for many a good Theosophist, causing him to hide his real opinions for fear they should conflict with science. But the latter is an unstable quantity, always shifting its ground, although never devoid of an overbearing assurance, even when it takes back what it had previously asserted. The views of scientific men have frequently been brought forward as a strong objection to the possibility of the existence of Adepts, Masters, Mahatmas, perfected men who have a complete knowledge of all that modern science is endeavoring to discover. Many trembling members of the Society, who do not doubt the Masters and their powers, would fain have those beings make their peace with science, so that the views of nature and man put forward by the Mahatmas might coincide with the ideas of modern investigators. It will be profitable to try to discover what is the attitude of the Adepts towards modern science. The question was raised quite early in the history of the Soci