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step in my Indian work for "The Plan". It began with the work to break down materialism and revivify Hinduism in 1893, a work recognised by Sir Valentine Chirol as a potent factor in creating what he called the "unrest"; the second stage was the work for religious and national education, one of the early results of which was the Central Hindu College and School, now the Hindu University; the third was Social Reform, begun in that School, and summed up later in Wake Up, India-and the fourth, the direct political agitation. Those who would understand should realise this connected work in India, while the political ante-dated the others in England, beginning in the seventies of the last century and marked by the booklet on England, India and Afghanistan.

With regard to the opinions expressed and the questions put by Mr. Kirk, I do not wish to give, at present, "more explanation". The questions as to root-stock and first sub-race deal with nomenclature, and each can choose his own. Bishop Leadbeater's view as to qualities in no way conflicts with mine; we all know that germs of all Fifth Race qualities exist in every body, but in the sub-races one quality is dominant in each; we talk of men and women, though the masculine body has the feminine organisation latent, and the feminine body the masculine organisation latent. I am not responsible for the various speculations as to deductions from my statements, and cannot answer as to possibilities if they are accurate. When "some Theosophists I have met" misunderstand a statement of mine, I cannot say what would be the relation between the two religions mentioned, "if this is so". So far as I am concerned, I do not endorse the view of the said Theosophists.

I am glad that Mr. Kirk raised the points, as his doing so shows that his view of the general outline is not a mere reproduction, but that he has carefully thought out the matter, and dissents on some minor points. Personally, I do not wish to divert the attention of readers from the main ideas, and run into a discussion of comparatively unimportant details.-ANNIE BESANT.]

FROM THE EDITOR

HERE, as in New India and in The Adyar Bulletin, I must

offer grateful thanks to all who remembered my seventyfifth birthday, with cable, telegram and letter, some accompanied by a birthday gift. The money gifts I put aside for my travelling expenses, for they are very heavy, save for the cost of a little bag to replace one that is wearing out, for which I subtract a small sum from each, so that it will serve as a symbol for me. Cables and telegrams came from:

Sections, T.S.: Norwegian, English, Dutch, Icelandish, Egyptian, Burmese, Italian, Indian, Dutch Indian.

Lodges, T.S.: Welsh Lodges (Penarth), Perth (Australia), Chatswad (Aus.), Kumbakonam, Rangoon (4), Bombay (2), Negapatam, Vizagapatam, Bangalore (3), Anantapur, Bowringpet, Tuticorin, Secunderabad, Madanapalle, Poona (3), Mysore, Sivaganga, Broach, Moradabad, Bengal, Allahabad, Madura, Malvan, Welvredensub, Indore, Simla, Karachi (Sindh Lodges), Mandalay, Cawnpur, Ahmednagar, Palghat, Hubli, Perulam, Big_Conjivaram, Guntur, Shanghai, Ujjain, Gaya, Galle, Trivandrum, Copenhagen, Rajkot City, Podhallapur, Nandod, Alwar, Bhavnagar, Kolhapur, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad (Dn.), Mangalore (also letter), Hyderabad (Sindh), Stockholm, Baroda, Rohilkund, Shrinagar.

Friends in the following places:

Foreign: Geneva (K. N. R. C.), Rangoon (4), Brisbane, Sydney (7), Brussels, Adelaide, name illegible (Blech family), Dunedin (Hilarion House).

Home: Bombay (12, and 1 family), Benares, Naini Tal, Poona (7), Pondicherry, Palghat, Kalimpong, Navasari, Bhavnagar, Mahrana, Taungdwing, Simla (3), Palampur, Malvan, Hyderabad (Sindh Home Rulers), Benares (family), illegible (Tarine), Shivapuram, Allahabad (2), Ahmedabad (family), Surat, Gwalior, Jeypur, Cawnpur, Kalyan (3), Kellamanchile, Ahmednagar (family), Gorakhpur.

Co-Masonic: Rangoon, Australia through Administrator-General. Star Lodges: Rangoon, Poona City, Galle, Ahmednagar, Rochester, U. S. A. (letter). Round Table: Australia through Senior Knight. E. S. Groups: Rangoon, Bombay, Bangalore, Australia through Corresponding Secretary. Schools: Benares Girls (School and College), Madanapalle, Benares Boys, Cawnpur.

Scouts and Girl Guides: Benares, District Council (name illegible), Cawnpur, Galle, Ahmednagar.

[Two telegrams, names quite illegible. Some of the above names are doubtful in spelling.-ED.]

ECHOES FROM THE CHANGING WORLD

ATOMIC STRUCTURE

IT may be of interest to Theosophical students to know that the latest discoveries with regard to the structure of the atom confirm views propounded in Occult Chemistry. From time immemorial, the craving of the human mind has been to look for unity in diversity. Thus the efforts of science have been to simplify phenomena to the bedrock of the fewest possible assumptions, and, for the innumerable substances to be found on the surface of the earth, the chemist had reached a common basis of eighty odd elements. But this did not satisfy the extremely logical, and theories have not been wanting which claimed a common ancestor for all the ninety elements. Prout put forward such a theory, and suggested that the heavier elements were formed from Hydrogen; but experimental work did not confirm this. On the other hand, it was claimed by the opponents of Prout's theory that if the heavier elements are mere aggregations of Hydrogen atoms, their atomic weights must be multiples of the atomic weight of Hydrogen, or, in other words, whole numbers. This was found, by very accurate work, to be contrary to experimental evidence. Prout's theory thus failed to obtain a hearing.

In 1886, Sir William Crookes put forward the view that the Daltonian conception-that all the atoms of an element are exactly alike -might be contrary to fact. He thought that what the chemist calls the atomic weight may be only the average, or rather a statistical and not a real value. The scientists of the time, including Maxwell, turned a deaf ear to his view, but recent events have shown that they were hasty in their decision.

Sir J. J. Thomson had devised a method, by positive ray analysis, of finding the atomic weights of elements. He was able to show that although the atomic weights are not absolutely constant for the same element, they are sufficiently constant not to show a measurable discrepancy. Dr. F. W. Aston, working at Cambridge by the same method but with much more refined apparatus, has been able to show that all the atoms of the same element, say Neon, do not have the same weight. The International Table of atomic weights gives the atomic weight of Neon as 20°2. Dr. Aston has shown that this is due to the presence of two kinds of Neon atoms; one with atomic weight 20, the other with 22.

In Nature they occur in the proportion of 90 to 10 respectively. When the chemist finds the atomic weight of Neon by the usual methods, he really finds the "statistical average". Dr. Aston has experimented with all the lighter elements, and has shown that all those elements which do not have whole numbers as their atomic weights in the International Table, consist of mixtures of "Isotopes," i.e., elements with the same properties, but with different atomic weights. Dr. Aston has found that all these Isotopes have whole numbers as their atomic weights.

The prophecy of Crookes and the acute guess of Prout have therefore been to a certain extent vindicated. These interesting experimental results are clearly understood if the modern theory of atomic structure is taken into account. The electronic theory had led the way for a common basis for all matter, but the discovery of the positive electron or nucleus, or Proton as it is now called, has made it practically certain that all matter is built up from a common brick. This brick is of two kinds: the one with a positive electric charge and very massive, called Proton, and the other with a negative charge and with practically no weight, called Electron. The atom is like a solar system, with the proton as the sun and the electrons as planets. For Hydrogen there is one proton in the nucleus and one electron as the planets. The heavier elements have more protons in the nucleus and a correspondingly larger number of electrons surrounding the nucleus as planets.

It is impossible to go into the details of atomic structure in this brief summary, the purpose of which is to draw attention to the confirmation of the view held by the authors of Occult Chemistry. It is a commonplace among students of Theosophy that by aggregations of the ultimate physical atom we arrive at the ultimate chemical atoms, which on further aggregation form the various chemical elements. It may be mentioned here, as among the minor verifications of clairvoyant investigation, that both Sir J. J. Thomson and Dr. F. W. Aston, in the course of their investigations in positive ray analysis, have found an element with atomic weight 3," not yet named by them, but called "Occultum" by the authors of Occult Chemistry.

66

YADUNANDAN PRASAD

THE WONDERFUL REJUVENATION OF CHINA

(From "New India")

CHINA, whose frontiers guard more land than is covered by the whole of Europe, is emphatically a country of extremes. We have been brought up to think of her people as immovable, but that is merely

because the periods between one change and another are so vast that history fades into myth when we try to review them.

China, like all the other countries of the world to-day, stands at the parting of the ways, occasioned by the opening of a new cycle; so for once we are able to observe her in the act of changing, and she electrifies us by her lightning methods. The placid mask of her age-long, opium-soaked torpor suddenly drops, and we gaze in amaze at a crowd of boyishly eager people earnestly learning to read and write.

Try and imagine what an age-long incubus has been lifted from the mentality of the people. Two years ago a diligent Chinese student of twenty-five could not hope to read and write his mother-tongue as well as can a child of twelve in most countries, for the 43,000 Chinese alphabetical signs made even a moderate mastery the luxury of the scholarly few. To-day anyone can learn to read and write Chinese in a few hours. The Board of Education has invented a national phonetic script alphabet, and thirty-nine signs are all that have to be learnt. Little children vie with their grandparents in the great game of the new alphabet; boys teach their elders, and any old lady who has been fortunate enough to learn the new script is sought after by all the young men and women of the neighbourhood. Books and writing material are at a premium, and many a smoke-blackened wall forms the blackboard, with a piece of plaster fallen from the ceiling for chalk; while, if all else fails, the ancient way of writing with a stick in sand, or even in dust, serves the purpose.

Such a change had been thought of before, but it was considered that the ancient script was the bond which united all the widely differing parts of the Chinese Empire, for it had the advantage of being independent of individual vocal languages. Written down, local dialects and tongues could be understood by all literates, and this is probably why Japan clung to the Chinese script. There is no doubt that mighty changes must come about when 400 million people, or even half of them, suddenly begin to read. So much depends upon what they read.

A national type of a very high order has been produced by the ancient Chinese philosophies and ethical principles handed on by the literate few to the illiterate masses. Reserved, truthful, earnest and good-natured, their family life formed the basis of their social and political organisation, as in ancient India and in our own day. What they will develop into when the thought of the modern world permeates the interior of China, future generations will record. We can only wish them well, and strongly hope that steady advance on the upward path of evolution may result.

A. J. W.

Enquiries have been sent in regard to the new phonetic alphabet which the Chinese Board of Education, aided by some distinguished foreign scholars, has devised. We are glad to be able to give thirtynine out of the forty new letters, and regret that we cannot help our readers to learn Chinese by appending the Chinese sounds to the signs.

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