of all the series of physical sciences. And if
ever this teaching was worked out to perfection it was in the times of
the Rishis, our philosophers and saints, who left to us the Vedas."

"Now, I think I begin to understand the origin of all the mythological
fables of the Greek antiquity," thoughtfully said the colonel; "the
syrinx of Pan, his pipe of seven reeds, the fauns, the satyrs, and the
lyre of Orpheus himself. The ancient Greeks knew little about harmony;
and the rhythmical declamations of their dramas, which probably never
reached the pathos of the simplest of modern recitals, could hardly
suggest to them the idea of the magic lyre of Orpheus. I feel strongly
inclined to believe what was written by some of our great philologists:
Orpheus must be an emigrant from India; his very name [greek script],
or [greek script], shows that, even amongst the tawny Greeks, he was
remarkably dark. This was the opinion of Lempriere and others."

"Some day this opinion may become a certainty. There is not the
slightest doubt that the purest and the highest of all the musical forms
of antiquity belongs to India. All our legends ascribe magic powers to
music; it is a gift and a science coming straight from the gods. As a
rule, we ascribe all our arts to divine revelation, but music stands at
the head of everything else. The invention of the vina, a kind of lute,
belongs to Narada, the son of Brahma. You will probably laugh at me if I
tell you that our ancient priests, whose duty it was to sing during
the sacrifices, were able to produce phenomena that could not but be
considered by the ignorant as signs from supernatural powers; and this,
remember, without a shadow of trickery, but simply with the help of
their perfect knowledge of nature and certain combinations well known
to them. The phenomena produced by the priests and the Raj-Yogis are
perfectly natural for the initiate--however miraculous they may seem to
the masses."

"But do you really mean that you have no faith what-ever in the spirits
of the dead?" timidly asked Miss X----, who was always ill at ease in
the presence of the Takur.

"With your permission, I have none."

"And... and have you no regard for mediums?"

"Still less than for the spirits, my dear lady. I do believe in the
existence of many psychic diseases, and, amongst their number, in
mediumism, for which we have got a queer sounding name from time
immemorial. We call it Bhuta-Dak, literally a bhuta-ho