John St. John

THE EQUINOX The Universe of Magic is in the mind of a man: the setting is but Illusion even to the thinker. Humanity is progressing; formerly men dwelt habitually in the exterior world; nothing less than giants and Paynim and men—at—arms and distressed ladies, vampires and succubi, could amuse them. Their magicians brought demons from the smoke of blood, and made gold from baser metals. In this they succeeded; the intelligent perceived that the gold and the lead were but shadows of thought. It became probable that the elements were but isomers of one element ; matter was seen to be but a modification of mind, or (at least) that the two things matter and mind must be joined before either could be perceived. All knowledge comes through the senses, on the one hand ; on the other, it is only through the senses that knowledge comes, We then continue our conquest of matter; and we are getting pretty expert. It took much longer to perfect the telescope than the motor-car. And though, of course, there are limitations, we know enough to be able to predict them. We know in what progression the Power to Speed co— efficient of a steamboat rises—and so on. But in our conquest of Nature, which we are making principally by the use of the rational intelligence of the mind, we have become aware of that world itself, so much so that educated men spend nine-tenths of their waking lives in that world, only descending to feed and dress and so on at the imperative summons of their physical constitution. Now to us who thus live the world of mind seems almost as savage and unexplored as the world of Nature seemed to the Greeks. 4