its vegetable and
mineral productions, but also to state the genus and species of every
one of the myriad insects, birds, beasts, and reptiles which he had
seen, he might well shrink appalled at the magnitude of the
undertaking: yet even this affords no parallel to the embarrassments
of the psychic investigator, for in his case matters are further
complicated, first by the difficulty of correctly translating from
that plane to this the recollection of what he has seen, and secondly
by the utter inadequacy of ordinary language to express much of what
he has to report. However, just as the explorer on the physical plane
would probably commence his account of a country by some sort of
general description of its scenery and characteristics, so it will be
well to begin this slight sketch of the astral plane by endeavouring
to give some idea of the scenery which forms the background of its
marvellous and ever-changing activities. Yet here at the outset an
almost insuperable difficulty confronts us in the extreme complexity
of the matter. All who see fully on that plane agree that to attempt
to call up before those whose eyes are as yet unopened a vivid picture
of this astral scenery is like speaking to a blind man of the
exquisite variety of tints in a sunset sky--however detailed and
elaborate the description may be, there is no certainty that the idea
presented before the hearer's mind will be an adequate representation
of the truth.

SCENERY.

First of all, then, it must be understood that the astral plane has
seven subdivisions, each of which has its corresponding degree of
materiality and its corresponding condition of matter. Now numbering
these from the highest and least material downwards, we find that they
naturally fall into three classes, divisions 1, 2 and 3 forming one
such class, and 4, 5 and 6 another, while the seventh and lowest of
all stands alone. The difference between the matter of one of these
classes and the next would be commensurable with that between a solid
and a liquid, while the difference between the matter of the
subdivisions of a class would rather resemble that between two kinds
of solid, such as, say, steel and sand. Putting aside for the moment
the seventh, we may say that divisions 4, 5 and 6 of the astral plane
have for their background the physical world we live in and all its
familiar accessories. Life on the sixth division is simply our
ordinary life on this earth, minus the