ld be so vigorous as men who belonged to a
land of enormous gravity, whose resistance to human activity developed
great strength of bone and muscle.

I informed her holiness regarding the geography, climate and peoples
of the outer sphere. I gave her an account of the chief nations of the
world from Japan to the United States. I spoke of Africa, Australia,
and the Pacific islands. I spoke of Adam and Eve, of the Deluge, of
Assyria and Egypt. Then I described the glory of Greece and the
grandeur of Rome. I spoke of Caesar and Hannibal, Cleopatra and
Antony. I spoke of Columbus, Galileo, Michael Angelo, Faraday, Dante,
and Shakespeare. I described how art reigned in one kingdom or country
and invention in another, and that the soul or spiritual nature was as
yet a rare development.

"You tell me," said the goddess, "that Greece could chisel a statue,
but could not invent a magnic engine, and that your own country, rich
in machinery, is barren in art. This tells me the outer world is yet
in a state of chaos and has not yet reached the development of
Atvatabar. We have passed through all those stages. At first we were
barbarous, then, as time produced order, art began to flourish. The
artist, in his desire to glorify the few, lost sight of the misery of
the many. Then came the reign of invention, of science, giving power
to the meanest citizen. As democracy triumphed art was despised, and
a ribald press jeered at the sacred names of poet and priest. By
degrees, as the pride and power of the wealthy few were curbed and the
condition of the masses raised to a more uniform and juster level,
universal prosperity, growing rapidly richer, produced a fusion of art
and progress. The physical man made powerful by science and the soul
developed by art naturally produced the result of spiritual freedom.
The enfranchised soul became free to explore the mysteries of nature
and obtain a mastery over the occult forces residing therein."

"In the outer sphere," I informed the goddess, "there has also existed
in all ages an ardent longing for spiritual power over matter. But
this power, which in many periods of history was really obtained, had
been purchased by putting in practice the severest austerities of the
body. Force of soul was the price of subjugation of passion and the
various appetites of the body. The fakirs, yogis, jugglers, and adepts
of India; the magicians, sorcerers and astrologers of Mesopotamia and
Egypt; the alchemist