text:
The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/X

OBSESSION AND INSANITY We must distinguish carefully between obsession and insanity. The latter is a break in the connection between the ego and his vehicles, while the former is the ousting of the ego by some other entity. Only a weak ego would permit obsession — an ego, I mean, who had not much hold upon his vehicles. It is not as a rule true that children are more easily obsessed than adults, because though it is true that the hold of the ego upon its bodies is less strong in childhood, it is also true that the adult is far more likely to have in him qualities which attract undesirable entities and make obsession easy. In the case of a little child, any entity trying to obsess the body would have first to face the elemental who is in charge of the building of it, and he is not at all likely to succeed in ousting that. After the age of seven, when the elemental has been withdrawn, obsession might take place if the ego was very weak; but it is fortunately rare. Obsession may be permanent or temporary, and it is undertaken for various reasons. Often some dead person is filled with burning anxiety to come again into touch with the physical plane, generally for the satisfaction of the lowest and grossest desires, and in his desperate yearning he seizes upon any vehicle which he can steal. Sometimes, on the other hand, obsession is a definite and calculated act of revenge — not always upon the person obsessed. I knew a case in which man who hated another deliberately went to work to obtain control of and obsess his enemy's favorite daughter; I know also of another instance even worse than that. Sometimes the obsessing entity is not human at all, but only a nature-spirit who desires experience of human life. In any and all cases obsession should be determinedly resisted by the victim. Insanity is an entirely different matter. Let us try to look at it from the occult point of view. Every cell in the physical brain and every particle of its matter has its corresponding and interpenetrating astral matter; and behind (or rather within) that, it has also the still finer mental matter. Of course the brain is a cubical mass, but for the purposes of our examination let us suppose that it could be spread out upon a surface so that it should be only one particle thick. Then further suppose that the astral and mental matter belonging to it could also be laid out in layers in a similar manner, the astral layer a little above the physical, and the mental a little above the astral. Then we should have three layers of matter of different degrees of density, all corresponding one to the other. Now suppose that each physical particle is joined to the corresponding astral particle by a little tube, and each astral particle is joined to its corresponding mental particle in the same way, and even (higher up still) each mental particle to something which corresponds to it in the causal body. So long as these tubes were perfectly in alignment there would be clear communication between the ego and his brain; but if any one of the sets of tubes were bent, closed, or knocked partially aside, it is obvious that the communication might be wholly or partially interrupted. From the occult standpoint, therefore, we divide the insane into four great classes, each of course having many sub-divisions. 1. Those who are insane merely from a defect of the dense physical brain — from its insufficient size, perhaps, or from some accident like a heavy blow, or some growth which causes pressure upon it or from gradual softening of the tissue. 2. Those whose defect is in the etheric part of the brain, so that its particles no longer correspond perfectly with the denser physical particles, and so cannot properly bring through the vibrations from the higher vehicles. 3. Those in whom the astral body is defective instead of the etheric — in whom its tubes are bent, as it were, so that there is a want of accurate adjustment between its particles and those of the vehicles either above or below it. 4. Those in whom the mind-body itself is in some way out of order, and consequently is unable to bring through the instructions or wishes of the ego. It makes a very great difference to which of these classes an insane person belongs. Those of the first and second types are quite sensible when out of the body during sleep, and of course also after death, so that the ego loses only the expression of himself during walking life. Those of the third type do not recover until they reach the heaven-world, and the fourth class not until they return into the causal body; so that for this last class the incarnation is a failure. But fortunately more than ninety per cent of the insane belong to the first and second classes. Three questions are asked upon the unsavory subject of obsession; I will proceed to answer them. The first is: “What is the best way to get rid of an excarnate human being who persists in occupying one's body?” I should simply and absolutely decline to be so obsessed. The best and kindest plan would be to have an explanation with the dead person, to enquire what he wants and why he makes such persistent attempts. Quite probably, he may be some ignorant soul who does not at all comprehend his new surroundings, and is striving madly to get into touch again with the only kind of life that he understands. In that case if matters are explained to him, he may be brought to a happier frame of mind and induced to cease his ill-directed efforts. Or the poor creature may have something on his mind — some duty unfulfilled or some wrong unrighted; if this be so, and the matter can be arranged to his satisfaction, he may then be at peace. If, however, he proves not to be amenable to reason, if in spite of all argument and explanation he refuses to abandon his reprehensible line of action, it will be necessary gently but firmly to resist him. Every man has an inalienable right to the use of his own vehicle, and encroachments of this nature should not be permitted. If the lawful possessor of the body will confidently assert himself and use his own will-power no obsession can take place. When such things occur, it is almost always because the victim has in the first place yielded himself to the invading influence, and his first step therefore is to reverse that act of submission, to determine strongly to take matters into his own hands again and to resume control over his property. It is this reassertion of himself that is the fundamental requirement, and though much help may be given by wise friends, nothing which they can do will take the place of the development of will-power on the part of the victim, or obviate the necessity for it. The exact method of procedure will naturally vary according to the details of the case. The second question runs thus: “I have long been troubled by entities who constantly suggest evil ideas and make use of coarse and violent language. They are always urging me to take strong drink, and goading me on to the consumption of large quantities of meat. I have prayed earnestly, but with little avail, and am driven to my wits' end. What can I do?” You have indeed suffered greatly; but now you must make up your mind to suffer no more. You must take courage and make a firm stand. The power of these dead people over you is only in your fear of them. Your own will is stronger than all theirs combined if you will only know that it is; if you turn upon them with vigor and determination they must yield before you. You have an inalienable right to the undisturbed use of your own vehicles, and you should insist on being left in peace. You would not tolerate an intrusion of filthy and disgusting beings into your house on the physical plane; why should you submit to it because the entities happen to be astral? If an indolent tramp forces himself into a man's house, the owner does not kneel down and pray — he kicks the tramp out; and that is precisely what you must do with these astral tramps. You will no doubt say to yourself that when I give you this advice I do not know the terrible power of the particular demons who are afflicting you. That is exactly what they would like you to believe — what they will try to make you believe; but do not be so foolish as to listen to them. I know the type perfectly, and mean, despicable, bullying villains they are; they will torment a weak woman for months together, but will fly in cowardly terror the moment you turn upon them in righteous anger! I should just laugh at them, but I would drive them out, and hold not a moment's parley with them. Of course they will bluster and show fight, because you have let them have their own way for so long that they will not tamely submit to expulsion; but face them with iron determination, set your will against them like an immovable rock, and down they will go. Say to them: “I am a spark of the divine fire, and by the power of the God within me I order you to depart!” Never let yourself think for an instant of the possibility of failure or of yielding; God is within you and God cannot fail. The fact of their demanding meat shows what low and coarse entities they are; you should avoid all flesh food and alcohol, because these things minister to such evil beings and make it more difficult for you to resist them. The third question is: “If it is possible for a man to become obsessed while he has temporarily lost control of his body during a fit of anger, is it not also possible for obsession to take place when one is out of the body during sleep?” I would submit that the circumstances are entirely different. Sleep is a natural condition, and though the ego leaves the body, he always maintains a close connection with it, so that under ordinary circumstances he would quickly be recalled to it by any attempt that might be made upon it. There are individual cases in which the ego is not so easily recalled, and a sort of temporary obsession is possible which may cause somnambulism, but these cases are abnormal and comparatively rare. A fit of anger on the other hand is unnatural — an infraction of the natural laws under which we live. In this case it is the astral which has escaped from control; the desire-elemental has rebelled against his master and has broken away from the hold of the ego exercised through the mental body, which alone keeps him safe as part of an astral mechanism. The rightful owner being dispossessed, the astral body is in the condition of a vessel whose helm has been abandoned; anyone who happens to be at hand can seize the wheel, and it may be a difficult matter to recover it.

title: The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/X


text:
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729)/Book 2/Section 4

Lemma III. Let PQR be a spiral cutting all the radii SP, SQ, SR, &c. in equal angles. Draw the right line PT touching the spiral in any point P, and cutting the radius SQ in T; draw PO, QO perpendicular to the spiral, and meeting in O, and join SO. I say, that if the points P and Q approach and coincide, the angle PSO will become a right angle, and the ultimate ratio of the rectangle TQ x 2PS to PQ² will be the ratio of equality. Plate 4. Figure 1.

For from the right angles OPQ, OQR, subduct the equal angles SPQ, SQR, and there will remain the equal angles OPS, OQS. Therefore a circle which passes thro' the points O, S, P, will pass also thro' the point Q. Let the points P and Q coincide, and this circle will touch the spiral in the place of coincidence PQ and will therefore cut the right line OP perpendicularly. Therefore OP will become a diameter of this circle, and the angle OSP, being in a semicircle, becomes a right one. Q.E.D.

Draw QD, SE perpendicular to OP, and the ultimate ratio's of the lines will be as follows; TQ to PD as TS or PS to PE, or 2PO to 2PS; and PD to PQ as PQ to 2PO; and, ex æquo perturbate, TQ to PQ as PQ to 2PS. Whence PQ² becomes equal to TQ x 2PS. Q.E.D.

Proposition XV. Theorem XII. If the density of a medium in each place thereof be reciprocally as the distance of the places from an immoveable centre, and the centripetal force be in the duplicate ratio of the density: I say, that a body may revolve in a spiral which cuts all the radii drawn from that centre in a given angle. Plate 4. Figure 2.

Suppose every thing to be as in the foregoing Lemma, and produce SQ to V, so that SV may be equal to SP. In any time let a body, in a resisting medium, describe the least arc PQ, and in double the time, the least arc PR; and the decrements of those arcs arising from the resistance, or their differences from the arcs which would be described in a non-resisting medium in the same times, will be to each other, as the squares of the times in which they are generated: Therefore the decrement of the arc PQ is the fourth part of the decrement of the arc PR. Whence also if the area QSr be taken equal to the area PSQ, the decrement of the arc PQ will be equal to half the lineola Rr; and therefore the force of resistance and the centripetal force are to each other as the lineola's ½Rr and TQ which they generate in ihe same time. Because the centripetal force with which the body is urged in P, is reciprocally as SP², and (by Lem. 10. Book 1.) the lineola TQ, which is generated by that force, is in a ratio compounded of the ratio of this force and the duplicate ratio of the time in which the arc PQ is described, (for in this case I neglect the resistance, as being infinitely less than the centripetal force,) it follows, that TQ.SP², that is, (by the last Lemma) ½PQ².SP, will be in a duplicate ratio of the time, and therefore the time is as PQ.√SP; and the velocity of the body, with which the arc PQ is described in that time, as PQ/PQ.√SP or 1/√SP, that is, in the subduplicate ratio of SP reciprocally. And by a like reasoning, the velocity with which the arc QR is described, is in the subduplicate ratio of SQ reciprocally. Now those arcs PQ and QR are as the describing velocities to each other; that is, in the subduplicate ratio of SQ to SP, or as SQ to √SP.SQ; and, because of the equal angles SPQ, SQr, and the equal areas PSQ, QSr, the arc PQ is to the arc Qr as SQ to SP. Take the differences of the proportional consequents, and the arc PQ will be to the arc Rr as SQ to SP - √SP.SQ, or ½VQ. For the points P and Q coinciding, the ultimate ratio of SP - √SP.SQ to ½VQ is the ratio of equality. Because the decrement of the arc PQ arising from the resistance, or its double Rr, is as the resistance and the square of the time conjunctly; the resistance will be as Rr/PQ².SP. But PQ was to Rr, as SQ to ½VQ, and thence Rr/PQ².SP becomes as ½VQ/PQ.SP.SQ or as ½OS/OP.SP². For the points P and Z coinciding, SP and SZ coincide also, and the angle PVZ becomes a right one; and, because of the similar triangles PVZ, PSO, PZ becomes to ½VZ as OP to ½OS. Therefore OS/OP.SP² is as the resistance, that is, in the ratio of the the density of the medium in P and the duplicate ratio of the velocity conjunctly. Subduct the duplicate ratio of the velocity, namely the ratio 1/SP and there will remain the density of the medium, in P as OS/OP.SP. Let the spiral be given, and, because of the given ratio of OS to OP, the density of the medium in P will be as 1/SP. Therefore in a medium whose density is reciprocally as SP the distance from the centre, a body will revolve in this spiral. Z.E.D.

Corollary 1. The velocity in any place P, is always the same wherewith a body in a non-resisting medium with the same centripetal force would revolve in a circle, at the same distance SP from the centre.

Corollary 2. The density of the medium, if the distance SP be given, is as OS / OP, but if that distance is not given as OS / (OP x SP). And thence a spiral may be fitted to any density of the medium.

Corollary 3. The force of the resistance in any place P, is to the centripetal force in the same place as ½OS to OP. For those forces are to each other as ½Rr and TQ or as (¼VQ x PQ) / SQ and ½PQ² / SP, that is, as ½VQ and PO, or ½OS and OP. The spiral therefore being given, there is given the proportion of the resistance to the centripetal force; and vice versa, from that proportion given the spiral is given.

Corollary 4. Therefore the body can't revolve in this spiral, except where the force of resistance is less than half the centripetal force. Let the resistance be made equal to half the centripetal force, and the spiral will coincide with the right line PS, and in that right line the body will descend to the centre with a velocity, that is to the velocity, with which it was proved before in the case of the Parabola, (Theorem 10. Book 1.) the descent would be made in a non-resisting medium, in the subduplicate ratio of unity to the number two. And the times of the descent will be here reciprocally as the velocities, and therefore given.

Corollary 5. And because at equal distances from the centre, the velocity is the same in the spiral PQR as it is in the right line SP, and the length of the spiral is to the length of the right line PS, in a given ratio, namely in the ratio of OP to OS; the time of the descent in the spiral will be to the time of the descent in the right line SP in the same given ratio, and theresore given.

Corollary 6. Is from the centre S with any two given intervals, two circles are described; and these circles remaining, the angle which the spiral makes with the radius PS be any how changed; the number of revolutions which the body can compleat in the space between the circumferences of those circles, going round in the spiral from one circumference to another, will be as PS / OS, or as the tangent of the angle which the spiral makes with the radius PS; and the time of the same revolutions will be as OP / OS, that is, as the secant os the same angle, so or reciprocally as the density of the medium.

Corollary 7. If a body, in a medium whose density is reciprocally as the distances of places from the centre, revolves in any curve AEB (Figure 3.) about that centre, and cuts the first radius AS in the same angle in B as it did before in A, and that with a velocity, that shall be to its first velocity in A reciprocally in a subduplicate ratio of the distances from the centre (that is, as AS to a mean proportional between AS and BS) that body will continue to describe innumerable similar revolutions BFC, CGD, &c. and by its intersections will distinguish the radius AS into parts AS, BS, CS, DS, &c. that are continually proportional. But the times of the revolutions will be as the perimeters of the orbits AEB, BFC, CGD, &c. directly, and the velocities at the beginnings A, B, C of those orbits, inversely; that is, as AS1/2, BS1/2, CS1/2. And the whole time in which the body will arrive at the centre, willbe to the time of the first revolution, as the sum of all the continued proportionals AS1/2, BS1/2, CS1/2, going on ad infiniium, to the first term AS1/2; that is, as the first term AS1/2 to the difference of the two first AS1/2 - BS1/2, or as 2/3AS to AB very nearly. Whence the whole time may be easily found.

Corollary 8. From hence also may be deduced, near enough, the motions of bodies in mediums whose density is either uniform or observes any other assigned law. From the centre S, with intervals SA, SB, SC, &c. continually proportional, describe as many circles; and suppose the time of the revolutions between the perimeters of any two of those circles, in the medium whereof we treated, to be to the time of the revolutions between the same in the medium proposed, as the mean density of the proposed medium between those circles, to the mean density of the medium whereof we treated, between the same circles, nearly: And that the secant of the angle in which the spiral above determined, in the medium whereof we treated, cuts the radius AS, is in the same ratio to the secant of the angle in which the new spiral, in the proposed medium, cuts the same radius: And also that the number os all the revolutions between the same two circles is nearly as the tangents of those angles. If this be done every where between every two circles, the motion will be continued thro' all the circles. And by this means one may without difficulty conceive at what rate and in what time bodies ought to revolve in any regular medium.

Corollary 9. And altho these motions becoming excentrical should be performed in spirals approaching to an oval figure; yet conceiving the several revolutions of those spirals to be at the same distances from each other, and to approach to the centre by the same degrees as the spiral above described, we may also understand how the motions of bodies may be performed in spirals of that kind.

Proposition XVI. Theorem XIII. If the density of the medium in each of the places be reciprocally as the distance of the places from the immoveable centre, and the centripetal force be reciprocally as any power of the same distance, I say, that the body may revolve in a spiral interfering all the radii drawn from that centre in a given angle. Plate 4. Figure 2.

This is demonstrated in the same manner as the foregoing proposition. For if the centripetal force in P be reciprocally as any power SPn+1 of the distance SP whose index is n+1: it will be collected as above, that the time in which the body describes any arc PQ, will be as PQ.PS½n and the resistance in P as Rr/PQ².SPn, or as 1-½n.VQ/PQ.SPn.SQ, and therefore as 1-½n.OS/OP.SPn+1, that is, (because 1-½n.OS/OP is a given quantity) reciprocally as SPn+1. And therefore, since the velocity is reciprocally as SP½n, the density in P will be reciprocally as SP.

Corollary 1. The resistance is to the centripetal force as 1-½n.OS to OP.

Corollary 2. If the centripetal force be reciprocally as SP³, 1 — ½n will be = 0; and therefore the resistance and density of the medium will be nothing, as in Proposition 9. Book 1.

Corollary 3. If the centripetal force be reciprocally as any power of the radius SP, whose index is greater rhan the number 3, the affirmative resistance will be changed into a negative.

Scholium.

This Proposition and the.former which relate to mediums of unequal density, are to be understood of the motion of bodies that are so small, that the greater density of the medium on one side of the body, above that on the other, is not to be conlider'd. I suppose also the resistance, caeteris paribus, to be proportional to its density. Whence in mediums whose force of resistance is not as the density, the density must be so much augmented or diminished, that either the excess of the resistance may be taken away, or the defect supplied.

Proposition XVII. Problem IV. To find the centripetal force and the resisting force of the medium, by which a body, the law of the velocity being given, shall revolve in a given spiral. Plate 4. Figure 4.

Let that spiral be PQR. From the velocity, with which the body goes over the very small arc PQ, the time will be given; and from the altitude TQ, which is as the centripetal force, and the square of the time, that force will be given. Then from the difference RSr, os the areas PSQ and QSR described in equal particles of time, the retardation of the body will be given; and from the retardation will be found the resisting force and density of the medium.

Proposition XVIII. Problem V. The law of centripetal force being given, to find the density of the medium in each of the places thereof by which a body may describe a given spiral.

From the centripetal force the velocity in each place must be found; then from the retardation of the velocity, the density of the medium is found, as in the foregoing Proposition.

But I have explain'd the method of managing these Problems in the tenth Proposition and second Lemma of this Book; and will no longer detain the reader in these perplex'd disquisitions. I shall now add some things relating to the forces of progressive bodies, and to the density and resistance of those mediums in which the motions hitherto treated of, and those akin to them, are performed.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XI

SLEEP I am asked what is the real cause of sleep. I have not the detailed physiological knowledge which is needed to answer this question fully. But I have always understood that the necessity of sleep is due to the fact that the bodies grow tired of one another. The astral vehicle, which so far as we know is practically incapable of fatigue upon its own plane, since it can work incessantly for twenty years without showing signs of it, very soon becomes tired of the heavy labour of moving the particles of the physical brain, and needs a considerable period of separation from it to enable it to gather strength to resume the irksome task. The physical body, on its side, also becomes worn out, because while it is in a waking condition it is always spending force a little faster than it can draw it in. With every thought or feeling, and with every muscular exertion, certain slight chemical changes appear to take place. The ordinary machinery of a healthy body is all the while working to counteract this change and to restore the condition previously existing, but in this it never quite succeeds. So that with every thought or action there is a slight, almost imperceptible loss, and the cumulative effect eventually leaves the physical body too exhausted to be capable of further thought or work. In some cases even a few moments of sleep will give the recuperative powers an opportunity to reassert themselves and regain the ground that they have lost, thus restoring the balance sufficiently to enable the machine to go on working. Students often ask what is the best time for sleep. Unquestionably the rule of nature is that the day is for work and the night is for rest, and no infringement of nature's laws can ever be a good thing. One of the serious evils of our modern unnatural life is that noon is no longer, as it should be, the centre of the day. If a man lived by himself and could regulate his own affairs he could, no doubt, return at once to that obviously natural condition; but, surrounded as we are by a mighty so-called civilization which is in many ways distorted and unnatural, we are unable to follow our individual predilections in this matter, and must to some extent adapt ourselves to the general custom, evil though it be. It is impossible to lay down rules as to the amount of sleep which is necessary for man, because there is so much difference in constitutions; but when it is possible that sleep should be taken between 8 P. M. and 5 A. M. Some men need the whole of that time, while others may find themselves perfectly healthy on a smaller allowance. Such details of life each man must decide for himself according to his circumstances. People often ask whether there is any way in which they can control their dreams. The dreamer cannot usually change the course of his dream while it is going on; but the dream-life can indirectly be controlled to a very considerable extent. If a man's thought be pure and high while waking, his dreams will be pure and good also, and a specially important point is that his last thought as he sinks to sleep should be a noble and elevating one, since that strikes the keynote which largely determines the nature of the dreams which follow. An evil or impure thought draws round the thinker evil and impure influences, attracts to him all the gross and loathsome creatures who come near him. These will, in turn, react upon his mind and his astral body, and disturb his rest by awakening all kinds of low and earthly desires. If, on the other hand, a man enters the portals of sleep with his mind fixed upon high and holy things, he thereby draws round him the elementals created by like efforts in others; his rest is peaceful, his mind open to impressions from above and closed to those from below, for he has set it working in the right direction. The dreaming of ordinary events does not interfere with astral work, because that dreaming is all taking place in the physical brain, while the real man is away attending to other business. Of course if the man, when out in his astral body, devotes himself to thinking over the events of his physical life, he will be unable during the time of such thought to do any other work, but that is a totally different thing from a mere ordinary dream of the physical brain, though when the man wakes in the morning it is frequently difficult for him to distinguish between the two sets of recollections. It really does not matter what the physical brain does so long as it keeps itself free from impure thoughts, but it is undesirable that the man himself should waste his time in introspection when he might be working on the astral plane.

title: The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XI


text:
The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XII

SOMNAMBULISM You ask what is the cause of sleep-walking. I have never had the opportunity of observing a case of somnambulism, so I am unable to speak from direct knowledge; but from reading accounts of such cases I should imagine that the phenomena may be produced by several widely different causes. There are instances in which it appears that the ego is able to act more directly upon his physical body during the absence of the intermediate mental and astral vehicles — instances in which a man during his sleep is able to write poetry or to paint pictures which would be far beyond his powers when awake. There are other cases in which it is obvious that the dim consciousness inherent in the physical body is working uncontrolled by the man himself, so that it performs quite meaningless acts, or carries out to some extent the idea which was dominant in the mind before falling asleep. To this class belong the stories of servants who have risen in the middle of the night to light the fire, of ostlers who have harnessed horses in their sleep, and so on. Again, there are cases in which some outside intelligence, whether incarnate or discarnate, has seized upon the body of a sleeping man and used it for his own ends. This would be most likely to happen with a person who is what is called mediumistic — that is to say, whose principles are more loosely joined together than usual, and therefore more readily separable; but oddly enough there seems to be a type of somnambulism which is due to a directly opposite condition, when the principles fit more tightly than usual, so that when the man would naturally visit some neighboring spot in his astral body, he takes the physical body along with him as well, because he is not wholly dissociated from it. Somnambulism is probably also connected with the whole complex problem of the various layers of consciousness in man, which under perfectly normal circumstances are unable to manifest themselves.

title: The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XII


text:
The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XIII

THE PHYSICAL BODY Physical immortality is not a possibility, for that which has a beginning must also have an end, and birth, growth, decay and death are the rules of the physical universe. No reasonable being could desire to retain the same body continuously; it is precisely as though a small child should wish to wear the same suit of clothes during the whole of his life. As man evolves, his successive vehicles will become purer and nobler, and better fitted to meet the needs of his increasing capacity, so that even if a man could keep the same body he would check his growth by doing so, just as the child's growth would be checked by always wearing something of iron rigidity which was much too tight for him. At the same time it is our duty to take the best possible care of our bodies and to improve them as much as we can. Never ill-treat the physical body. Take care of it as you would of a valuable horse, giving it enough rest and food, and keeping it scrupulously clean. It can do only a certain amount of work; for example, a very strong body might walk a hundred miles without resting but it could not walk a thousand. In meditation put it into a comfortable position and then forget about it. You cannot forget it if it is uncomfortable, as it would constantly call you back. What should you eat? Well, so long as you avoid alcohol and corpse-eating it probably does not matter very much. Certain vegetables are coarser than others, and therefore when there is a choice it is as well to abstain from them. Among those I should class onions, mushrooms and cabbages. Rice is very pure food, but wheat, barley and oats give more nutriment in the same amount. I consider eggs undesirable, though I should unhesitatingly take them if no other food was to be had. There is no sort of question that vegetarianism is better in every way than the devouring of flesh. It furnishes more real nutriment, diminishes the liability to disease, gives greater strength, and does not stimulate the lower nature. The vegetarian diet makes it far easier for a man to develop his higher qualities. It is known that our Masters make a single physical body last much longer than an ordinary man can do, by living always in accordance with hygienic laws and absolute freedom from worry. In that respect we should all try to copy them as nearly as we can, but to endeavour to retain the same body indefinitely has always been a mark of those who follow the selfish path. There are various undesirable means by which such men have prolonged physical life — sometimes by vampirism, merely depleting the vitality of others, and sometimes by the complete transference to themselves of a succession of other human lives. But it is hardly necessary to warn Theosophists against proceedings of this nature. It is obvious that a person adopting such a plan would be one who is not evolving; and even if he succeeded he would only be as it were patching and enlarging an old coat, but with all his efforts it would remain an old coat still.

title: The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XIII


text:
The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XIV

TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL The evil effect of the tobacco habit is obvious in the physical, the astral and the mental bodies. It permeates the man physically with exceedingly impure particles, causing emanations so material that they are frequently perceptible to the sense of smell. Astrally, it not only introduces impurity, but it also tends to deaden many of the vibrations, and it is for this reason that it is frequently found to “soothe the nerves,” as it is called. But, of course, for occult progress we do not want the vibrations deadened nor the astral body weighed down with foul and poisonous particles. We need the capacity of answering instantly to all possible vibrations, and yet at the same time we must have perfect control, so that these desires shall be as horses guided by the intelligent mind to draw us where we will, not to run away with us wildly, and carry us into situations where our higher nature knows that it ought never to be found. Therefore, for any person who is really anxious to develop his vehicles, tobacco is undoubtedly a bad thing. Also it has a singularly deteriorating influence upon the man on the physical plane. It is absolutely the only thing, so far as I know, that a gentleman will deliberately do when he knows it to be offensive to others. But the hold which this noxious habit gains upon its slaves appears to be so great that they are utterly incapable of resisting it, and all their gentlemanly instincts are forgotten in this mad and horrible selfishness. The effect on the astral body after death is also very bad; the man is shut up for a long time as though in prison, and higher vibrations cannot reach him. The chief objection which is always brought by the more self-indulgent Theosophist against remarks such as these is that our great founder Madame Blavatsky herself smoked. I know this to be true, but it does not in the least alter the facts which I have stated above, which I know just as surely from long-continued personal observation. Madame Blavatsky was in every way so entirely sui generis, so emphatically a case apart, that I do not think it reasonable for us to presume that we can safely do what she did. I have often heard her say: “No one but my Master understands my case; do what I tell you, not what I do.” Also she once told me that she smoked incessantly “to quiet the vibrations of this old body, and prevent it from shaking itself to pieces.” The effects on the physical plane during life and on the astral after death are precisely as I have described them, and it does not seem worthwhile incurring them for the sake of a petty indulgence. I think that Mrs. Besant's remarks about alcohol in Man and His Bodies are fully justified. There is no doubt whatever that from the point of view of the astral and mental bodies its use is always an evil; and there is also no doubt at all that very undesirable entities are attracted by it. Of course many people who are estimable in other respects have certain most unpleasant habits, such as the drinking of alcohol, the eating of meat or the smoking of tobacco; but the fact that they are otherwise good people does not make these things good and sensible. It is, of course, untrue that any of these things are physical necessities, but a man may accustom his system to the use of almost any kind of drug, until that system, being habituated to it, expects it and misses it if it does not get it. We know that exactly the same habit may be set up with opium and arsenic, but that does not make opium and arsenic good things to take. It is, however, generally quite useless to attempt to argue with any man as to his personal habits; he is usually determined to cling to such habits because he likes them, and he cares very little whether they are good in themselves, or even good for him. You ask my opinion about the regulation of the sale of liquor. In all civilized countries some control is exercised over the sale of poisons, and they are allowed to be supplied only upon a doctor's certificate. The poison of alcohol does many thousands of times more harm than all other poisons put together, so surely the regulations governing its sale ought to be no less strict. It is perfectly true that every man will have to develop self-control for himself, but I really do not see how that affects our attitude with regard to the making of laws. You surely would not suggest that in order to teach people not to steal, we should continually at every street corner throw in their way special temptations to induce them to steal, and then stand by without any interference to see whether they would develop sufficient strength of mind to resist our temptations. Yet that is exactly what is now being done with regard to the consumption of alcohol. We allow, encourage and specially license a number of men to make a tempting display in our streets with the avowed object of trying to induce as many people as possible to degrade themselves by the habitual use of this poison. If at last mankind is so far evolving as to develop some sort of conscience with regard to the weaker brethren, it would seem well for us to encourage their advancement rather than to range ourselves against it. If we feel it right to care for and to help the insane, even to the extent of restraining them for their own good and for that of the public, it is surely well for us also to treat the victim of that terrible form of insanity known as drunkenness along exactly the same lines. But it must not be forgotten that the Theosophical Society takes no part whatever in any political movement, although of course its members as private individuals are perfectly free to take any side that they like in political questions.

title: The Inner Life, v. I/Fifth Section/XIV


text:
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729)/Book 2/Section 5

The Definition of a Fluid.

A fluid is any body whose parts yield to any force impressed on it, and, by yielding, are easily moved among themselves.

All the parts of a homogeneous and unmoved fluid included in any unmoved vessel, and compressed on every side, (setting aside the consideration of condensation, gravity, and all centripetal forces) will be equally pressed on every side,and remain in their places without any motion arising from that pressure. Plate 4 Figure 5.

Case 1. Let a fluid be included in the sphærical vessel ABC and uniformly compressed on every side: I say, that no part of it will be moved by that pressure. For is any part, as D, be moved, all such parts at the same distance from the centre on every side, must necessarily be moved at the same time by a like motion; because the pressure of them all is similar and equal; and all other motion is excluded that does not arise from that pressure. But if these parts come all of them nearer to the centre, the fluid must be condensed towards the centre, contrary to the supposition. Is they recede from it, the fluid must be condensed towards the circumference; which is also contrary to the supposition. Neither can they move in any one direction retaining their distance from the centre, because for the same reason they may move in a contrary direction; but the same part cannot be moved contrary ways at the same time. Therefore no part of the fluid will be moved from its place. Q.E.D.

Case 2. I say now, that all the sphærical parts of this fluid are equally pressed on every side. For let EF be a sphærical part of the fluid; if this be not pressed equally on every side, augment the lesser pressure till it be pressed equally on every side; and its parts (by Case 1.) will remain in their places. But before the increase of the pressure, they would remain in their places, (by Case 1.) and by the addition of a new pressure, they will be moved, by the definition of a fluid, from those places. Now these two conclusions contradict each other. Therefore it was false to say, that the sphere EF was not pressed equally on every side. Q.E.D.

Case 3. I say besides, that different sphærical parts have equal pressures. For the contiguous sphærical parts press each other mutually and equally in the point of contact, (by Law 3.) But (by Case 2.) they are pressed on every side with the same force. Therefore any two sphærical parts not contiguous, since an intermediate sphærical part can touch both, will be pressed with the same force. Q.E.D.

Case 4. I say now, that all the parts of the fluid are every where pressed equally. For any two parts may be touched by sphærical parts in any points whatever; and there they will equally press those sphærical parts, (by Case 3.) and are, reciprocally, equally pressed by them, (by Law 3.) Q.E.D.

Case 5. Since therefore any part GHI of the fluid is inclosed by the rest of the fluid as in a vessel, and is equally pressed on every fide; and also its parts equally press one another, and are at rest among themselves; it is manifest that all the parts of any fluid as GHI, which is pressed equally on every side, do press each other mutually and equally, and are at rest among themselves. Q.E.D.

Case 6. Therefore if that fluid be included in a vessel of a yielding substance, or that is not rigid, and be not equally pressed on every side; the same will give way to a stronger pressure, by the definition of fluidity.

Case 7. And therefore in an inflexible or rigid vessel, a fluid will not sustain a stronger pressure on one side than on the other, but will give way to it, and that in a moment of time; because the rigid side of the vessel does not follow the yielding liquor. But the fluid, by thus yielding, will press against the opposite side, and so the pressure will tend on every side to equality. And because the fluid, as soon as it endeavours to recede from the part that is most pressed, is withstood by the resistance of the vessel on the opposite side; the pressure will on every side be reduced to equality, in a moment of time, without any local motion: and from thence the parts of the fluid, (by Case 5.) will press each other mutually and equally, and be at rest among themselves. Q.E.D.

Corollary. Whence neither will a motion of the parts of the fluid among themselves, be changed by a pressure communicated to the external superficies, except so far as either the figure of the superficies may be somewhere alter'd, or that all the parts of the fluid, by pressing one another more intensely or remissly, may slide with more or less difficulty among themselves.

If all the parts of a sphærical fluid, homogeneous at equal distances from the centre, lying on a sphærical concentric bottom, gravitate towards the centre of the whole; the bottom will sustain the weight of a cylinder, whose base is equal to the superficies of the bottom, and whose altitude is the same with that of the incumbent fluid. Plate 4. Figure 6.

Let DHM be the superficies of the bottom, and AEI the upper superficies of the fluid. Let the fluid be distinguished into concentric orbs of equal thickness, by the innumerable sphærical superficies BFK, CGL; and conceive the force of gravity to act only in the upper superficies of every orb, and the actions to be equal on the equal parts of all the superficies. Therefore the upper superficies AE is pressed by the single force of its own gravity, by which all the parts of the upper orb, and the second superficies BFK will, (by Proposition 19.) according to its measure, be equally pressed. The second superficies BFK is pressed likewise by the force of its own gravity, which added to the former force, makes the pressure double. The third superficies CGL is, according to its measure, acted on by this pressure and the force of its own gravity besides, which makes its pressure triple. And in like manner the fourth superficies receives a quadruple pressure, the fifth superficies a quintuple, and so on. Therefore the pressure acting on every superficies, is not as the solid quantity of the incumbent fluid, but as the number of the orbs reaching to the upper surface of the fluid; and is equal to the gravity of the lowest orb multiplied by the number of orbs: that is, to the gravity of a solid whose whose ultimate ratio to the cylinder abovementioned (when the number of the orbs is increased and their thickness diminished ad infinitum, so that the action of gravity from the lowest superficies to the uppermost may become continued) is the ratio of equality. Therefore the lowest superficies sustains the weight of the cylinder above-determined. Q.E.D. And by a like reasoning the Proposition will be evident, where the gravity os the fluid decreases in any assigned ratio of the distance from the centre, and also where the fluid is more rare above and denser below. Q.E.D.

Corollary 1. Therefore the bottom is not pressed by the whole weight of the incumbent fluid, but only sustains that part of it which is described in the Proposition; the rest of the weight being sustained archwise by the sphærical figure of the fluid.

Corollary 2. The quantity of the pressure is the same always at equal distances from the centre, whether the superficies pressed be parallel to the horizon, or perpendicular, or oblique; or whether the fluid, continued upwards from the compressed superficies, rises perpendicularly in a rectilinear direction, or creeps obliquely thro' crooked cavities and canals, whether those passages be regular or irregular, wide or narrow. That the pressure is not alter'd by any of these circumstances, may be collected by applying the demonstration of this Theorem to the several cases of fluids.

Corollary 3. From the same demonstration it may also be collected, (by Proposition 19.) that the parts of an heavy fluid acquire no motion among themselves, by the pressure os the incumbent weight; except that motion which arises from condensation.

Corollary 4. And therefore if another body of the same specific gravity, incapable of condensation, be immersed in this fluid, it will acquire no motion by the pressure of the incumbent weight: it will neither descend, nor ascend, nor change its figure. If it be sphærical, it will remain so notwithstanding the pressure; if it be square, it will remain square: and that whether it be soft, or fluid; whether it swims freely in the fluid, or lies at the bottom. For any internal part of a fluid is in the same state with the submersed body; and the case of all submersed bodies that have the same magnitude, figure, and specific gravity, is alike. If a submersed body retaining its weight, should dissolve and put on the form of a fluid, this body, if before it would have ascended, descended, or from any pressure assume a new figure, would now likewise ascend, descend, or put on a new figure; and that because its gravity and the other causes of its motion remain. But (by Case 5. Proposition 19.) it would now be at rest and retain its figure. Therefore also in the former case.

Corollary 5. Therefore a body that is specifically heavier than a fluid contiguous to it, will sink, and that which is specifically lighter will ascend, and attain so much motion and change of figure, as that excess or defect of gravity is able to produce. For that excels or defect is the same thing as an impulse, by which a body, otherwise in equilibria with the parts of the fluid, is acted on; and may be compared with the excess or defect of a weight in one of the scales of a balance.

Corollary 6. Therefore bodies placed in fluids have a twofold gravity; the one true and absolute, the other apparent, vulgar and comparative. Absolute gravity is the whole force with which the body tends downwards: relative and vulgar gravity is the excess of gravity with which the body tends downwards more than the ambient fluid. By the first kind of gravity, the parts of all fluids and bodies gravitate in their proper places; and therefore their weights taken together, compose the weight of the whole. For the whole taken together is heavy, as may be experienced in vessels full of liquor; and the weight of the whole is equal to the weights of all the parts, and is therefore composed of them. By the other kind of gravity bodies do not gravitate in their places, that is, compared with one another, they do not preponderate, but hindering one another's endeavours to descend, remain in their proper places, as if they were not heavy. Those things which are in the air and do not preponderate, are commonly looked on as not heavy. Those which do preponderate are commonly reckoned heavy, in as much as they are not sustained by the weight os the air. The common weights are nothing else but the excess of the true weights above the weight of the air. Hence also vulgarly those things are called light, which are less heavy; and by yielding to the preponderating air, mount upwards. But these are only comparatively light, and not truly so, because they descend in vacuo. Thus in water, bodies which, by their greater or less gravity, descend or ascend, are comparatively and apparently heavy or light, and their compararive and apparent gravity or levity is the excess or defect by which their true gravity either exceeds the gravity of the water or is exceeded by it. But those things which neither by preponderating descend, nor, by yielding to the preponderating fluid, ascend, altho' by their true weight they do increase the weight of the whole, yet comparatively, and in the sense of the vulgar, they do not gravitate in the water. For these cases are alike demonstrated.

Corollary 7. These things which have been demonstrated concerning gravity, take place in any other centripetal forces.

Corollary 8. Therefore if the medium in which any body moves be acted on either by its own gravity, or by any other centripetal force, and the body be urged more powerfully by the same force; the difference of the forces is that very motive force, which in the foregoing propositions I have consider'd as a centripetal force, fiut if the body be more lightly urg'd by that force, the difference of the forces becomes a centrifugal force, and is to be consider'd as such.

Corollary 9. But since fluids by pressing the included bodies do not change their external figures, it appears also, (by Corollary Proposition 19.) that they will not change the situation of their internal parts in relation to one another; and therefore if animals were immersed therein, and that all sensation did arise from the motion of their parts; the fluid will neither hurt the immersed bodies, nor excite any sensation, unless so far as those bodies may be condensed by the compression. And the case is the same of any system of bodies encompassed with a compressing fluid. All the parts of the system will be agitated with the same motions, as if they were placed in a vacuum, and would only retain their comparative gravity; unless so far as the fluid may somewhat resist their motions, or be requisite to conglutinate them by compression.

Proposition XXI. Theorem XVI. Let the density of any fluid be proportional to the compression, and its parts be attracted downwards by a centripetal force reciprocally proportional to the distances from the centre: I say, that, if those distances be taken continually proportional, the densities of the fluid at the same distances will be also continually proportional. Plate 5. Figure 1.

Let ATV denote the sphærical bottom of the fluid, S the centre, SA, SB, SC, SD, SE, SF, &c. distances continually proportional. Erect the perpendiculars AH, BI, CK, DL, EM, FN, &c. which shall be as the densities of the medium in the places A, B, C, D, E, F; and the specific gravities in those places will be as AH/AS, BI/BS, CK/CS, &c. or, which is all one, as AH/AB, BI/BC, CK/CD, &c. Suppose first these gravities to be uniformly continued from A to B, from B to C, from C to D, &c. the decrements in the points B, C, D, &c. being taken by steps. And these gravities drawn into the altitudes AB, BC, CD, &c. will give the pressures AH, BI, CK, &c. by which the bottom ATV is acted on, (by theorem 15.) Therefore the particle A sustains all the pressures AH, BI, CK, DL, &c. proceeding in infinitum; and the particle B sustains the pressures of all but the first AH; and the particle C all but the two first AH, BI; and so on: and therefore the density AH of the first particle A is to the density BI of the second particle B as the sum of all AH + BI + CK + DL, in infinitum, to the sum of all BI + CK + DL, &c. And BI the density of the second particle B is to CK the density of the third C, as the sum of all BI + CK + DL, &c. to the sum os all CK + DL, &c. Therefore these sums are proportional to their differences AH, BI, CK, &c. and therefore continually proportional, (by lemma 1. of this Book) and therefore the differences AH, BI, CK, &c. proportional to the sums, are also continually proportional. Wherefore since the densities in the places A, B, C, &c. are as AH, BI, CK, &c. they will also be continually proportional. Proceed intermissively, and, ex æquo, at the distances SA, SC, SE continually proportional, the densities AH, CK, EM will be continually proportional. And by the same reasoning, at any distances SA, SD, SG continually proportional, the densities AH, DL, GO will be continually proportional. Let now the points A, B, C, D, E, &c. coincide, so that the progression of the specific gravities from the bottom A to the top of the fluid may be made continual; and at any distances SA, SD, SG continually proportional, the densities AH, DL, GO being all along continually proportional, will still remain continually proportional. Q.E.D.

Corollary. Hence if the density of the fluid in two places as A and E be given, its density in any other place Q may be collected. With the centre S, and the rectangular asymptotes SO, SX describe (Fig. 2.) an Hyperbola cutting the perpendiculars AH, EM, QT in a, e, and q, as also the perpendiculars HX, MT, TZ let fall upon the asymptote SX in h, m, and t. Make the area TmtZ to the given area TmhX as the given area EeqQ to the given area EeaA; and the line Zt produced will cut off the line QT proportional to the density. For if the lines SA, SE, SQ are continually proponional, the areas EeqO, EeaA will be equal, and thence the areas TmtZ, XhmT proportional to them will be also equal, and the lines SX, ST, SZ, that is, AH, EM, QT continually proportional as they ought to be. And if the lines SA, SE, SQ obtain any other order in the series of continued proportionals, the lines AH, EM, QT, because of the proportional hyperbolic areas, will obtain the same order in another series of quantities continually proportional.

Proposition XXII. Theorem XVII. Let the density of any fluid be proportional to the compression, and its parts be attracted downwards by a gravitation reciprocally proportional to the squares of the distances from the centre: I say, that, if the distances be taken in harmonic progression, the densities of the fluid at those distances will be in a geometrical progression. Plate 5. Figure 3.

Let S denote the centre, and SA, SB, SC, SD, SE, the distances in Geometrical progression. Erect the perpendiculars AH, BI, CK, &c. which shall be as the densities of the fluid in the places A, B, C, D, E, &c. and the specific gravities thereof in those places will be as AH/SA², BI/SB², CK/SC⊃, &c. Suppose these gravities to be uniformly continued, the first from A to B, the second from B to C, the third from C to D, &c. And these drawn into the altitudes AB, BC, CD, DE, &c. or, which is the same thing, into the distances SA, SB, SC, &c. proportional to those altitudes, will give AH/SA, BI/SB, CK/SC, &c. the exponents of the pressures. Therefore since the densities are as the sums of those pressures, the differences AH - BI, BI - CK, &c. of the densities will be as the differences of those sums AH/SA, BI/SB, CK/SC, &c. With the centre S, and the asymptotes SA, Sx, describe any Hyperbola, cutting the perpendiculars AH, BI, CK, &c. in a, b, c, &c. and the perpendiculars Ht, Iu, Kw let fall upon the asymptote Sx, in h, i, k; and the differences of the densities tu, uw, &c. will be as AH/SA, BI/SB, &c. And the rectangles tu.th, uw.ui, &c. or t.p, u.q, &c. as AH.th/SA, BI.ui/SB, &c. that is, as Aa, Bb, &c. For, by the nature of the Hyperbola, SA is to AH or St, as th to Aa, and therefore AH.th/SB is equal to Aa. And, by a like reasoning, BI.ui/SB is equal to Bb, &c. But Aa, Bb, Cc, &c. are continually proportional, and therefore proportional to their differences Aa — Bb, Bb — Cc, &c. and therefore the rectangles tp, uq, &c. are proportional to those differences; as also the sums of the rectangles tp + uq or tp + uq + wr to the sums of the differences Aa — Cc or Aa — Dd. Suppose several of these terms, and the sum of all the differences, as Aa — Ff, will be proportional to the sum of all the rectangles, as zthn. Increase the number of terms, and diminish the distances of the points A, B, C, &c. in infinitum, and those rectangles will become equal to the hyperbolic area zthn, and therefore the difference Aa — Ff is proportional to this area. Take now any distances as SA, SD, SF in harmonic progression, and the differences Aa — Dd, Dd — Ff will be equal; and therefore the areas thlx, xlnz, proportional to those differences will be equal among themselves, and the densities St, Sx, Sz, that is, AH, DL, FN continually proportional. Q.E.D.

Corollary 2. Hence if any two densities of the fluid, as AH and BI be given, the area thiu, answering to their difference tu will be given; and thence the density FN will be found at any height SF, by taking the area thnz to that given area thiu as the difference Aa - Ff to the difference Aa - Bb.

Scholium.

By a like reasoning, it may be proved, that if the gravity of the particles of a fluid be diminished in a triplicate ratio of the distances from the centre; and the reciprocals of the squares of the distances SA, SB, SC, &c. (namely SA³/SA², SA³/SB², SA³/SC²) be taken in an Arithmetical progression, the densities AH, BI, CK, &c. will be in a Geometrical progression. And if the gravity be diminished in a quadruplicate ratio of the distances, and the reciprocals of the cubes of the distances (as SA4/SA³, SA4/SB³, SA4/SC³ &c.) be taken in an Arithmetical progression, the densities AH, BI, CK, &c. will be in Geometrical progression. And so in infinitum. Again, if the gravity of the particles of the fluid be the same at all distances, and the distances be in Arithmetical progression, the densities will be in a Geometrical progression, as Dr. Halley has found. If the gravity be as the distance, and the squares of the distances be in Arithmetical progression, the densities will be in Geometrical progression. And so in infinitum. These things will be so, when the density of the fluid condensed by compression is as the force of compression, or, which is the same thing, when the space possessed by the fluid is reciprocally as this force. Other laws of condensation may be supposed, as that the cube of the compressing force may be as the biquadrate of the density; or the triplicate ratio of the force the same with the quadruplicate ratio of the density: In which cafe, if the gravity be reciprocally as the square of the distance from the centre, the density will be reciprocally as the cube of the distance. Suppose that the cube of the compressing force be as the quadrato-cube of the density; and if the gravity be reciprocally as the square os the distance, the density will be reciprocally in a sesquiplicate ratio of the distance. Suppose the compressing force to be in a duplicate ratio of the density, and the gravity reciprocally in a duplicate ratio of the distance, and the density will be reciprocally as the distance. To run over all the cases that might be offer'd, would be tedious. But as to our own air, this is certain from experiment, that its density is either accurately or very nearly at least as the compressing force; and therefore the density of the air in the atmosphere of the earth is as the weight of the whole incumbent air, that is, as the height of the mercury in the barometer.

Proposition XXIII. Theorem XVIII. If a fluid be composed of particles mutually flying each other, and the density be as the compression, the centrifugal forces of the particles will be reciprocally proportional to the distances of their centres. And vice versa, particles flying each other with forces that are reciprocally proportional to the distances of their centres, compose an elastic fluid, whose density is as the compression. Plate 5. Figure 4.

Let the fluid be supposed to be included in a cubic space ACE, and then to be reduced by compression into a lesser cubic space ace; and the distances of the particles retaining a like situation with respect to each other in both the spaces, will be as the sides AB, ab of the cubes; and the densities of the mediums will be reciprocally as the containing spaces AB³, ab³. In the plane side of the greater cube ABCD take the square DP equal to the plane side db of the lesser cube: and, by the supposition, the pressure with which the square DP urges the inclosed fluid, will be to the pressure with which that square db urges the inclosed fluid, as the densities of the mediums are to each other, that is, as ab³ to AB³. But the pressure with which the square DB urges the included fluid, is to the pressure with which the square DP urges the same fluid, as the square DB to the square DP, that is, as AB² to ab². Therefore, ex æquo, the pressure with which the square DB urges the fluid is to the pressure with which the square db urges the fluid, as ab to AB. Let the planes FGH, fgh, be drawn thro' the middles of the two cubes, and divide the fluid into two parts. These parts will press each other mutually with the same forces with which they are themselves pressed by the planes AC, ac, that is, in the proportion of ab to AB; and therefore the centrifugal forces by which these pressures are sustained, are in the same ratio. The number of the particles being equal, and the situation alike, in both cubes, the forces which all the particles exert, according to the planes FGH, fgh, upon all, are as the forces which each exerts on each. Therefore the forces which each exerts on each according to the plane FGH in the greater cube, are to the forces which each exerts on each according to the plane fgh in the lesser cube, as ab to AB, that is, reciprocally as the distances of the particles from each other. Q.E.D.

And, vice versa, if the forces of the single particles are reciprocally as the distances, that is, reciprocally as the sides of the cubes AB, ab; the sums of the forces will be in the same ratio, and the pressures of the sides DB, db as the sums of the forces; and the pressure of the square DP to the pressure of the side DB as ab² to AB². And, ex æquo, the pressure of the square DP to the pressure of the side db as ab³ to AB³, that is, the force of compression in the one to the force of compression in the other, as the density in the former to the density in the latter. Q.E.D.

Scholium.

By a like reasoning, if the centrifugal forces of the particles are reciprocally in the duplicate ratio of the distances between the centres, the cubes of the compressing forces will be as the biquadrates of the densities. If the centrifugal forces be reciprocally in the triplicate or quadruplicate ratio of the distances, the cubes of the compressing forces will be as the quadrato-cubes, or cubo-cubes of the densities. And universally, is D be put for the distance, and E for the density of the compressed fluid, and the centrifugal forces be reciprocally as any power Dn of the distance, whose index is the number n; the compressing forces will be as the cube roots of the power En+2, whose index is the number n+2: and the contrary. All these things are to be understood of particles whose centrifugal forces terminate in those particles that are next them, or are diffused not much furrher. We have an example of this in magnetical bodies. Their attractive virtue is terminated nearly in bodies of their own kind that are next them. The virtue of the magnet is contracted by the interposition of an iron plate; and is almost terminated at it. For bodies further off are not attracted by the magnet so much as by the iron plate. If in this manner particles repel others of their own kind that lie next them, but do not exert their virtue on the more remote, particles of this kind will compose such fluids as are treated of in this proposition. If the virtue of any particle diffuse itself every way in infinitum, there will be required a greater force to produce an equal condensation of a greater quantity of the fluid. But whether elastic fluids do really consist of particles so repelling each other, is a physical question. We have here demonstrated mathematically the property of fluids consisting of particles of this kind, that hence philosophers may take occasion to discuss that question.


text:
Page:Beowulf (Wyatt).djvu/87

Rh

Ond þū Unferð lǣtealde lāfe, wrætlīc wǣg-sweord,wīd-cūðne man heard-ecg habban;ic mē mid Hruntinge dōm gewyrce,*oþðe mec dēað nimeð.” Æfter þǣm wordumWeder-Gēata lēod efste mid elne,nalas ondsware bīdan wolde;brim-wylm onfēng hilde-rince.Ðā wæs hwīl dæges, ǣr hē þone grund-wongongytan mehte. Sōna þæt onfunde,sē ðe flōda begong heoro-gīfre behēoldhund missera, grim ond grǣdig,þæt þǣr gumena sum æl-wihta eardufan cunnode. Grāp þā, tōgēanes,gūð-rinc gefēng atolan clommum;nō þȳ ǣr in gescōd hālan līce;hring ūtan ymbbearh, þæt hēo þone fyrd-homðurhfōn ne mihte, locene leoðo-syrcan,lāþan fingrum. Bær þā sēo brim-wyl[f], þā hēo tō botme cōm, hringa þengeltō hofe sīnum, swā hē ne mihte nō(hē þēah mōdig wæs) wǣpna gewealdan;ac hine wundra þæs fela swe[n]cte on sunde,sǣ-dēor monig hilde-tuxumhere-syrcan bræc, ēhton āglǣcan.Ðā se eorl ongeat,

title: Page:Beowulf (Wyatt).djvu/87


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/356

 Tortworth Court, Tatfield, R.S.O., Gloucester. August 3rd, 1875.

I feel as if you ought to know what we are doing and deeply thinking of; yet I have been afraid to write to you for fear you should tire yourself by helping us. Now, however, that "Macmillan" is out, I fancy you are sure to hear of our work; and also I have increasing longing for the sense of your sympathy. Do you not know how one turns with longing for such sympathy, when vistas of effortful work look interminable, and when so many people "begin to make excuse." I send you then the papers with my love; and I hope you will see "Macmillan"; but do not help, except with loving sympathy, this time, please.

I came down here last night. It is infinitely peaceful, and Lady Ducie is very sweet and loving; and all is so very quiet. But I feel leaving my fields so that I could almost cry.

We have got on very well, better than anyone could have expected. We have collected £9,500 in little more than three weeks; but the vacation has come upon us with its inevitable pause; and it becomes a question whether the owners will give us time to try, after it.

How strange it seems to me (does it not to you?) that the momentary difficulty is to persuade the owners that there is a chance of anyone (any body of people in London or England), being in the least likely to be inclined to give the money for a place which must


text:
Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/515

The Law of Things that Come From Outside the Techum on a Holiday

דין דברים הבאים ביום טוב מחוץ לתחום

Paragraph 1 - If a non-Jew brought a gift to a Jew on a holiday and there is something in it that comes from the ground or that needs to be trapped, it is forbidden to eat it that day. [This prohibition applies] even to people who are not the person for whom it was brought. (And even if one erred, put it into his mouth, and chewed, he is forbidden to swallow) (Ras"h in his commentary on the Mishnah, Trumot 8:2). Even carrying it is forbidden. At night, it is allowed after time has passed such that it could have been made [after nightfall]. If it was brought on the first day of a two-day Diasporean holiday, it is allowed on the second night after the time to make it has passed. Rem"a: There are some who are stringent and forbid it until the end of the second day (Tur in the name of Rabbenu Tam and Rash"i and the Sma"g), and the practice is to be stringent if it is not a holiday need for guests; in that case, we are lenient and allow its consumption by individuals other than the person for whom it was brought (Trumat Hadeshen chapter 78). Similarly, if it was brought on the second day of the holiday, he must wait after the holiday the time that it would have taken to make it. However, on the two days of Rosh Hashana or on a holiday that is immediately before or after Shabbat, if it is brought on the first day, he must wait until after the holiday or Shabbat the time necesssary to make it. The measurement of how long it would take to make it is how long it would take the non-Jew to go and gather the things, finish the work, and return. If he is unsure where it is from, he should wait the length it would take to come from outside of the techum.

סעיף א - אינו יהודי שהביא דורון לישראל ביום טוב, אם יש ממינו במחבר או שמחסר צידה, אסור אף למי שלא הובא בשבילו לאכלו בו ביום (ואפלו עבר ונתן לפיו ולעסו, אסור לבלעו) (ר"ש בפרוש המשנה פרק ח' משנה ב' דתרומות), ואפלו לטלטלן אסור, ולערב מתרים בכדי שיעשו ובשני ימים טובים של גליות, אם הובא ביום ראשון מתר מיד בליל יום טוב שני כדי שיעשו. הגה: ויש מחמירין לאסרו עד מוצאי יום טוב שני (טור בשם ר"ת ורש"י וסמ"ג), ונוהגין להחמיר אם אינו צרך יום טוב לצרך אורחים ובכהאי גונא דאז נוהגין להקל לאחרים שלא הובא בשבילן (תרומת הדשן סימן ע"ח). וכן אם הובא ביום טוב שני, צריך להמתין במוצאי יום טוב בכדי שיעשו, אבל בב' ימים של ראש השנה או ביום טוב הסמוך לשבת, בין מלפניו בין מאחריו, אם הובא בראשון, צריך להמתין עד מוצאי יום טוב ושבת בכדי שיעשו, ושעור כדי שיעשו, הינו, כדי שילך האינו יהודי למקום שלקט, ויגמר המלאכה ויחזר לכאן, ואם נסתפק לו מהיכן הביאן שעורן כדי שיבא מחוץ לתחום.

Paragraph 2 - Even if the non-Jew picked the [foods from the ground] for himself or they fell from the tree by the themselves or where trapped by themselves, it is forbidden to eat them that day or to carry them. This prohibition holds even for those other than the person for whom it was brought. However, at night, they are permitted immediately after the holiday ends, even for he for whom they were brought.

סעיף ב - אפלו תלשן האינו יהודי או צדן לעצמו או נפל מן האילן מעצמו או נצוד מעצמו, אסור לאכלו בו ביום ולטלטלו אף למי שלא הובאו בשבילו, אבל לערב מתרין מיד במוצאי יום טוב אף למי שהובאו בשבילו.

Paragraph 3 - Even if it is unclear if they were gathered or trapped today, they are forbidden. However, if it is apparent that they were not gathered or trapped today, they are permitted for those other than the person for whom they were brought. If they didn't come from outside of the techum, they are allowed even for he for whom they were brought. Rem"a: If a non-Jew swears that they were not gathered today or trapped today, he is believed (and see above chapter 513 paragraph 6).

סעיף ג - אפלו אם הוא ספק אם נלקטו או נצודו היום אסורים, אבל אם נכר בהם שלא נלקטו ושלא נצודו היום, מתר למי שלא הובאו בשבילו, ואם לא באו מחוץ לתחום, מתר אף למי שהובאו בשבילו. הגה: אינו יהודי מסיח לפי תמו שלא נלקט היום או נצוד היום, נאמן (ועיין לעיל סימן תקי"ג סימן ו').

Paragraph 4 - If a non-Jew brings a gift for a Jew including things from the ground on the first day of Rosh Hashana that falls on Thursday, some allow him to eat them on Shabbat once enough time has passed for them to have been produced, and some forbid. Rem"a: Because we are stringent regarding the two days of a Diasporean holiday, we have the same question. Regarding the halakha, we should be stringent on the Shabbat after two days of Rosh Hashana but we should be lenient on the Shabbat after the two-day Diasporean holiday. This only applies to fruits that do not need preparation on the holiday preceding Shabbat, but something that needs preparation on the second day of the holiday preceding Shabbat will be forbidden because our practice is to forbid. It is even forbidden to carry it on the second day of a holiday if not for the sake of guests or similar things (Trumat Hadeshen chapter 78).

סעיף ד - אינו יהודי שהביא דורון לישראל מדברים שיש במינם במחבר ביום טוב א' של ראש השנה שחל להיות בה' בשבת, יש מתירים לאכלם בשבת בכדי שיעשו, ויש אוסרים. הגה: ולדידן דנוהגין להחמיר בשני ימים טובים של גליות נמי דינא הכי, ולענין הלכתא נראה, דבשני ימים טובים של ראש השנה יש להחמיר בשבת, אבל בשני ימים טובים של גליות יש להקל בשבת שהוא לאחריתן, ודוקא בפרות שאין צריכין הכנה ביום טוב שלפני השבת, אבל דבר שצריך להכין ביום טוב שני לצרך השבת אסור מאחר דנהיגין לאסר, ואף לטלטל ביום טוב שני אם לא לצרך אורחים וכיוצא בה (תרומת הדשן סימן ע"ח).

Paragraph 5 - If something does not come from the ground and does not need trapping and it came from within the techum, it is permitted to all. If it came from outside of the techum, he for whom it was brought, as well as his household, are forbidden to eat it, but he can carry it within four amot or within a city enclosed by a wall or a fort that is known to be enclosed for dwelling. Others are allowed to eat it. At night (of the first day) he for whom it was brought must wait the time that it would take to produce it. Rem"a: And it is permitted after that point, even according to us who are stringent in other matters, as will be explained.

סעיף ה - דבר שאין במינו במחבר ואינו מחסר צידה, אם בא מתוך התחום מתר לכל, ואם באו מחוץ לתחום אסור לאכלן למי שהובאו בשבילו ולכל בני ביתו, אבל מתר טלטלן בתוך ד' אמות או בתוך העיר מקפת חומה או מבצר שידוע שהקף לדירה, ואחרים מתרים אף לאכלם, ולערב (יום טוב ראשון) צריך להמתין מי שהובאו בשבילו בכדי שיעשו. הגה: ומתרין אחר כך, אפלו לדידן שנוהגין להחמיר בשאר דברים, כמו שנתבאר.

Paragraph 6 - In a city with a majority of non-Jews, we assume that what is brought is brought for the majority. Rem"a: If it is 50-50 or it is known to have been brought for both [Jews and non-Jews], it is forbidden (Beit Yosef and the Sma"g).

סעיף ו - בעיר שרבה אינם יהודים, מן הסתם כל המביא לצרך הרב מביא. הגה: מחצה על מחצה, או שידוע שלקט לצרך שניהם, אסור (בית יוסף וסמ"ג).

Paragraph 7 - If it is questionable whether it came from outside of the techum, it is a non-Jew who lives within the city, and there are fruits within the city, it is permitted. Otherwise, it is forbidden.

סעיף ז - אם הוא ספק אם באו מחוץ לתחום, אם הוא אינו יהודי השרוי עמו בעיר ופרות המצויים בעיר מתר, ואם לאו אסור.

Paragraph 8 - Something not from the ground that is brought to a Jew on the first day of Rosh Hashana is permitted on the second day. This is also the law for when Shabbat and a holiday fall sequentially.

סעיף ח - דבר שאין במינו במחבר שהובא לישראל ביום טוב ראשון של ראש השנה, מתר בשני, והוא הדין לשבת ויום טוב הסמוכים זה לזה.

Paragraph 9 - If a Jew sent a gift to his friend using a non-Jew before a holiday, and the non-Jew was held up and brought it on the holiday from outside of the techum, it is permitted for eating even for he for whom it was brought. However, every Jew is forbidden to carry it more than four amot or outside of a city enclosd by a wall or outside a fort that is known to have been enclosed for dwelling. Rem"a: This is true when [the receiver] thought about it the day before so that there is no muktzeh prohibition. However, if he did not think about it the day before, even though there is no problem with techums, it is forbidden because of muktzeh, because everything that is a Jew's needs designation from before the holiday [to enable it to be used on the holiday]. It is even forbidden for those beside he for whom it was brought (Beit Yosef in the name of a responsa of the Rashb"a).

סעיף ט - ישראל ששגר דורון לחברו על ידי אינו יהודי מערב יום טוב ונתעכב האינו יהודי והביאם ביום טוב מחוץ לתחום, מתר אפלו למי שהובא בשבילו לאכלם, אבל אסור לכל ישראל לטלטלם חוץ לד' אמות או חוץ לעיר המקפת חומה או חוץ למבצר שידוע שהקף חומה לדירה. הגה: ודוקא שהיה דעתו מאתמול, דלית בה אסור מקצה, אבל אם לא היה עליו דעתו מאתמול, אף על גב דלית בה אסור תחמין אסור משום מקצה, דכל של ישראל צריך הכנה מבעוד יום ואפלו למי שלא הובא בשבילו אסור (בית יוסף בשם תשובת הרשב"א).

 * }


text:
Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Orach Chaim/516

What Things Can Be Sent on a Holiday

דין איזה דברים מתרים לשלח ביום טוב

Paragraph 1 - One is permitted to send his friend game, an animal or a chicken, even living ones, or wines, oils, flours, and legumes, but not produce because that needs to be ground, which is a forbidden labor on a holiday.

סעיף א - מתר לשלח לחברו ביום טוב בהמה חיה ועוף, ואפלו חיים, ויינות שמנים וסלתות וקטניות, אבל לא תבואה, לפי שמחסרת טחינה, שהיא מלאכה האסורה ביום טוב.

Paragraph 2 - When it is permitted to send something on a holiday, one should not send it in a line, meaning three or more men in a line carrying one type of thing. If each one carries something different, it is permitted.

סעיף ב - כל דבר שמתר לשלח יום טוב לא ישלחנו בשורה, דהינו ג' בני אדם או יותר זה אחר זה נושאים כלם מין אחד, אבל אם כל אחד נושא מין אחר, מתר.

Paragraph 3 - We send clothes, even if not stitched up, because they can be leaned on, even if they are made of a forbidden mixture, as long as they are tough. We send tefillin because it can be worn on a weekday. Rem"a: And anything similar can be sent, even through the public domain (Beit Yosef).

סעיף ג - משלחים כלים אף על פי שאינם תפורים, שהם ראויים לשען עליהם, ואפלו יש בהם כלאים, אם הם קשים. ומשלחין תפלין, כיון שראויים להניחם בחל. הגה: וכל כיוצא בזה אפלו דרך רשות הרבים מתר לשלחן (בית יוסף).

 * }


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, George


text:
The New International Encyclopædia/Bible, Curious Editions of

BIBLE,. Besides those issues of the book which have historical importance are those notable for curious errors, or for incidents of publication. The followang is a list of the more familiar of these, with their peculiar designations:

The earliest book known printed from movable metal types is the Latin Bible issued by Gutenberg at Mainz, A.D. 1452-56; also known as the Mazarin Bible, because the copy which first attracted the notice of bibliographers was discovered by Debure in 1760 among the books of Cardinal Mazarin (d. 1661).

A folio edition of the Biblia Latina, of the time of Gutenberg, the pages of which contain two columns of thirty-six lines.

So called from its rendering of Psalm xci. 5: “Afraid of bugs by night.” Our present version reads: “Terror by night.” A.D. 1551.

The Geneva version is sometimes called the Breeches Bible, from its rendering of Genesis iii. 7: “Making themselves breeches out of fig-leaves.” This translation of the Scriptures — the result of the labors of the English exiles at Geneva — was the English Family Bible during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and till supplanted by the present authorized version of King James I. The New Testament appeared in 1577; the whole Bible 1561.

From a remarkable typographical error which occurs in Matt. v. 9: “Blessed are the place-makers,” instead of peacemakers. 1562.

From its rendering of Jeremiah, viii. 22: “Is there no treacle [instead of balm] in Gilead?” 1568.

From the same text, but translated ‘rosin’ in the Douai version. 1609.

From the respective renderings of Ruth iii. 15 — one reading that “She went into the city”; the other has it that “He went.” 1611.

From the fact that the negative has been left out of the Seventh Commandment (Ex. xx. 14), for which the printer was fined £300. 1631.

One inch square and half an inch thick, was published at Aberdeen. 1670.

So named from the head-line of the twentieth chapter of Luke, which reads as “The parable of the vinegar,” instead of the ‘vineyard.’ 1717.

We are told by Cotton Mather that in a Bible printed prior to 1702, a blundering typographer made King David exclaim that “Printers [instead of ‘princes’] persecuted him without a cause.” See Psalm cxix. IGl.

So called from an error in the sixteenth verse of the Epistle of Jude, the word ‘murderers’ being used instead of ‘murmurers.’ 1801.

“And it shall come to pass that the fishes will stand upon it,” etc. Ezek. xlvii 10. Printed in 1806.

“I discharge thee before God.” L Tim. v. 21. Printed in 1806.

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father. . . yea, and his own wife also,” etc. Luke xiv. 26. Printed in 1810.

“Who hath ears to ear, let him hear.” Matt. xiii. 43. Printed in 1810.

“And Rebekah arose, and her camels.” Genesis xxiv. 61. Printed in 1823.

“Persecuted him that was born after the spirit to remain, even so it is now.” Gal. iv. 29. This typographical error, which was perpetuated in the first 8vo Bible printed for the Bible Society, takes its chief importance from the curious circumstances under which it arose. A 12mo Bible was being printed at Cambridge in 1805, and the proof-reader, being in doubt as to whether or not he should remove a comma, applied to his superior, and the reply, penciled on the margin, “to remain,” was transferred to the body of the text and repeated in the Bible Society's 8vo edition of 1805-06, and also in another 12mo edition of 1819.

Wholly printed and bound in twelve hours, but only 100 copies struck off. 1877.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, Gilbert Thomas


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/357

 be a blessing to hundreds now, and hundreds yet to come—a great free gift to their city, and the chief city of their country. Fields reminding men and women long lost in the whirl of London, of child days and places near where they were born; fields where little children can see the wild flowers grow, as they are beginning to do once more on Hampstead Heath, but nearer their homes. Let other people look, if they know where, for the millionaire to do it all at once. Happy for him, if he be honoured to do such a thing! say I; he will find his buttercups more abidingly powerful and blessed than his sovereigns; but, as to me, I believe in the hearts of our poorer people, professional men, ladies with limited incomes, who know what homes, and families, and the poor are; and who will make for once an effort and sacrifice, to give £25 or £50 to save a bit of green hilly ground near a city, where fresh winds may blow, and where wild flowers still are found, and where happy people can still walk within reach of their homes. These have come forward, are coming forward; but I begin to realise how many of them it takes to contribute £1,000.

Please God, when October comes, if time is given us, we will begin in full force. Meantime I must write many letters.

Tortworth Court, August 9th, 1875.

Many and most loving thanks for your letter, and all your sweet help.

I think of little else but my Fields day and night.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, James


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/358

 We have now £8,150. The collection goes on slowly, but quite steadily, day by day; very well I think for the time of year; but we are in great fear that the owners will not wait.

I wonder owners are not a little awed by possession of so important a treasure, and do not pause a little, before they use it wholly without reference to the people.

25, Church Row, Hampstead, August 19th, 1875.

You will have heard from Charles of the sudden collapse of all our schemes for the purchase of the fields. The owners withdrew their offer after five days' notice. We were led to hope that this notice might be reconsidered, when the owner returned; but he confirms it, tells us we must consider the offer absolutely withdrawn, and refused even to receive a guarantee within a week for the full amount. I think the loss very great. The spirit of many of the people who helped us was so beautiful. I shall never forget that.

25, Church Row, Hampstead, August 21st, 1875.

We could almost have cried over your letter, dear, dear, Janey; how delightful is your joy in doing what is blessed and helpful. I will think over the generous offer; but I believe now we had better pause, for sufficient time to learn really which are now the best places available, and which those most needing space. These fields, which we knew, being gone, there is no


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, John (1729-1784)


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/360

 14, Nottingham Place, September 22nd, 1875.

Thanks for the Hampstead Express. I think it very important you should know what to say about the Traitors' Hill l question for me if anyone asks you. I do not purpose pledging myself to any one spot, until I have carefully prepared a general map, to see where space is most needed. My impression is that I shall care most (now that the Swiss Cottage Fields are gone) for small central spaces ; but this may not prove to be the case. I shall work first to secure that 10,000, and the grave-yards, and shall obtain co- operation from the Com. Pres. Society, or else some new body appointed ad hoc, before I do anything for any one place, as, in all probability, I shall not, myself, work in so much detail for any. Those which remain to be secured are. so far as I know them, so much more on a level in importance, that I can work for them gradually, quietly and less personally. But I can pledge myself to nothing of any sort or kind till I have met Mr. Hunter, Mr. Redford, and a few others, and have explored the subject in its general bearings.

October 3rd, 1875.

What have we to tell thee of brightest and best? First I was most delighted with what I learnt of the B 's Court Women's and Girls' Institute at a little Committee at Mrs. Hart's on Tuesday. I knew the influence was strong and beautiful there ; but I had not realised how very much corporate life there Now better known as Parliament Hill.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, John (1764?-1810)


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/361

 was among the women themselves ; how much they felt the Institute their own ; how they cared for and worked for it. I am to help the singing class there myself, this year, to try to introduce better songs and thoughts in the court. I hope for much help from musical people ; but we want all so very simple. I shall keep the conduct of all myself. Did I tell thee that Miss Peters is engaged to be married ? I am very glad ; and yet I am, perhaps, selfish enough not to be able quite to forget my own loss. However, she stays with us for a year, and is very sweet. It is very nice being so much in B 's Court now. I do like the people there. B., who was so utterly drunken has been steady now for many months ; he has such a nice house, and is a leader among the teetotalers. Quite a large group of girls were gathered round the notice board announcing the re-opening of the Institute. We used to say that no notice was of any use ; but they were eagerly reading, and asked me to read to them the new teachers' names and explain other points ; and this though there was a counter attraction in the shape of a quarrel. Good progress is being made in Leeds. They have bought two more blocks of buildings ; Miss Martin and Miss Bakewell are to manage them.

October 3rd, 1875.

You will be glad to hear that Dr. has reported to the Board of Works as to districts requiring to be dealt with under the Art. Dwell. Bill, and has not included B 's Court. I think he has chosen the right spots, and am glad, tho' I was prepared for the


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/359

 such immediate hurry; and I thought of seeing a member of the Commons Preservation Society, with whom I have been in communication, learning what they are doing, and what they see before them of definite work. Also whether they would care to enlarge their work, so far as to appoint some one to examine into the provisions for every part of London, district by district,—the possible central small open spaces, the nearest available larger ones. If they won't do it, I will, or will get it done, and then bend my energies to whatever direction help is most needed. Isn't this best? Then, please God, we shall get that silly clause repealed, which prohibits the proceeds of the grain dues set aside for open spaces from being applied in the district of the Metropolitan Board of Works. And, if that is done, we shall have a fund yearly coming in, and may buy and buy as opportunity serves. Last year it came to £10,000, and was spent in a Park at Stratford; but, on most sides, except the east, the Metrop. Bd. of Works has jurisdiction for fifteen miles round London. Fancy debarring the City money for open spaces being spent in that area! In short, Janey dearest, I will assuredly go and see your farm. But I must, I think, review the whole area, and see where and how space will tell most. And I ought now at once to go and finish my holiday in Ireland. I go with a tenfold lighter heart for the love and generosity and sympathy of your letter; and you need not fear that nothing will be done, because we don't act at once. For the moment I am a little broken by the loss; and it would be difficult to begin just at once to work again; but, please God, if I live, I will see something efficient done, if power of mine, first or second hand, will do it; I promise you that.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnett, William


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/362

 other course being adopted. How glad one is if anyone one has suspected does better than one has hoped ! The next letter refers to the Bunhill Fields burial ground.

14, Nottingham Place, November 21st, 1875.

Thanks for letter to Mr. Harrison. I hope to make way in the matter ; but it is a little difficult to know how to begin. However Mr. Bond and I are to see the ground on Wednesday ; and, on Saturday, Mr. Lefevre, now Chairman of the Commons Preserva- tion Society, the Secretary and the Solicitor are to meet Mr. Bond and me ; and then I presume we shall make a formal application to the " Six Weeks' " Meeting. I long to get the ground ; but though the Local Board will surrender immediately their seventeen years' lease, so far as I at present see, there is no chance of the Quakers doing anything, except selling at full value. We may manage the cost ; but it points to securing churchyards if possible, which would only entail the cost, very heavy I imagine, of making them beautiful, not the purchase also. However we shall see : at any rate, it is a definite bit of ground in a popular poor neigh- bourhood to be sold ; and the thing is to learn the price, to see whether we can raise it ; and if so, whether it is the best expenditure for the money. Perhaps, if the Six Weeks' Meeting can do nothing in the way of generosity, the application may interest individual members to give. At any rate we must see. I am full of thought about it all. I wonder if you see the Charity Organisation Reporter, and noticed the appointment of Mr. Loch as secretary. Did I tell you that he is engaged to Miss Peters, and so good ? I daresay


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, Charles (1726-1814)


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/363

 Miranda has told you of Miss Potter, who has been staying here. She wants to stay on for, possibly, two or three years. She is very bright and happy here ; extremely capable, and has been through a good deal in her life, though she is young. She seems to fit in among us very well. By the way, dost thou know I have found a motto in George Herbert which I intend to appropriate, as expressive of the way that I get on now, by means of my friends ? "A dwarf, on a giant's shoulder, sees further of the two." We have chosen a pretty one for the Girls' Institute in B. Court " God hath oft a great share in a little house."

14, Nottingham Place, December 12th, 1875.

... I do love life and all it brings very deeply, and should like to live long too, to see the progress of so many things that I care for ; I think a past is as great a help to a life as to an institution. It seems as if one were bound to live up to it. What I always fear about my own life is the tendency to excuse myself from small daily duties ; yet I am certain they are the real test of life. I don't mean that great claims ought to be sacrificed to small ones, nor that the duties remain the same for a woman as for a girl. Many small manual duties pass wholly away ; but it is by the small gracious- nesses, by the thoroughness of the out-of-sight detail, that God will judge our spirit and our work. My difficulty is always to secure this exquisite thoroughness, which alone seems to make the work true, and yet to delegate


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/364

 it. However, I learn gradually how to overlook and test it better and better ; and I gather round me an ever larger, more capable, and more sweetly attached body of fellow-workers. As to the gracious thoughtfulness for others, and silent self-control and sweet temper, I never had ' much gift for them ; and I do fear that, deeply as 1 honour them, and hard as I strive to live up to my ideal, I still fail very decidedly, which is wrong. I used to think that time would soften passionate engrossment, and leave me leisure to perceive the little wants of others ; but I think I pant with almost increasing passionate longing for the great things that I see before me. We are getting on about the open spaces gradually,, and, I think, surely ; but there is no need to trouble anyone yet, till those we-have in view are more definitely arranged about. It is a great joy to me that something will be done. Will you be interested I wonder, in the enclosed letter ? My sister l wrote it for our pupils, past and present ; but I was so delighted with it, that I took possession of it, and printed it for private circulation. Though it is only a week old, it is meeting with the warmest response, so that I fancy we shall have to let it become something larger and more public. I want our Clubs, Institutes, school-rooms, when we have our parties there, and the outsides of our churches and houses, to be brighter.

May 22nd, 1876.

What time, I wonder, will it take, before we fairly encounter the opposite tide, wave to wave you with your steady gain the Enemy with his steadier and This is the letter by which Miranda inaugurated the Kyrle Society.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, Charles (1757-1817)


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/367

 swifter ruin ? When is the limit to be put to the destruction of fields?

June 8th, 1876.

My question, a very vital one, is, whether it really never enters your mind at all that all measures of amelioration in great cities, such as your sister's paper pleads for, and as you rejoice in having effected, may in reality be only encouragements to the great Evil Doers in their daily accumulating Sin?

Venice, shortest day, 1876.

I have received to-day your letter, with its beautifully felt and written statement. It comes to me on my birthday to the Nuova Vita ; this day last year being the one on which I got signs sufficient for me that there was hope of that life ; and I am very thankful to" know that I have been thus of use to you, and that you feel that I have ; a much mistaken sense of a separation between us in essential principles having been for two or three years growing upon me, to my great puzzle- ment and pain ; so that this paper is a very moving and precious revelation to me.

June 24th, 1876.

I was greatly delighted by your long kind letter ; and it is much more than a delight to me, and it is a most weighty assistance in my purposes, that you can take this house and put it to use. . ..


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, James


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/368

 342 LIFE OF OCTAVIA HILL CHAP. I wanted to say something more about your and Miranda's work. I cannot say more, however, than that, whether in the best direction or not, it cannot but be exemplary and fruitful.

14, Nottingham Place, May 28th, 1876.

Miss Cons has taken supervision of the Drury Lane district from her own house, Mr. Westroper being wholly, and her sister partly, told off to her, and several volunteers ; if it works well, it will be grand. The Bishop's meeting doesn't bear fruit in the distinct way that I had hoped ; the visitors won't organise before they come, but come singly, which means that much more indirect work will have to be done before we get our organisation. However all the result is good, as far as it goes. Miranda's paper was so very beautiful. I do wish it had been heard by a larger audience. The room was quite full, however; and the hearers were just those in whom the thoughts would be likely to bear abundant fruit.

June 2nd, 1876.

I am writing to ask you whether you will do me a service, which will really be a considerable one. It is to take the chair for me at a meeting of the Liberal Social Union on the 29th of this month, when I am going to read a paper on the subject of Charity. The people are all strangers to me ; and I gather that their


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, Sarah Harriet