Let us take, for example, the definition of soul. That word, having no fixed meaning, spirits like ourselves may differ in the meaning they give to it. One of them may say that it is "the principle of life;" another may call it "the animic spark;" a third may say that it is internal; a fourth, that it is external, etc.; and each may be right from his own special point of view. Some of them might even be supposed to hold materialistic views; and yet such is not the case. It is the same with regard to the word God. According to some, God is "the principle of all things;" according to others, "the creator of the universe," "the sovereign intelligence," "the Infinite," "the great Spirit," etc.; and nevertheless it is always "God." And so in regard to the classification of spirits. They form an uninterrupted succession from the lowest to the highest; all attempts at classification are, therefore, arbitrary, and they may be regarded as forming three, five, ten, or twenty classes, without involving error or contradiction. All human sciences offer the same variations of detail; every investigator has his own system; and systems change, but science remains the same. Whether we study botany according to one system or another, what we learn is none the less botany.

Let us then cease to attribute more importance than they deserve to matters that are merely conventional, and let us devote ourselves only to what is really important; and we shall often discover, on reflection, a similitude of meaning in statements that appeared to us, at first sight, to be contradictory, especially in occult things.

I should pass over the objection of certain Western skeptics in relation to the faulty spelling of some spirits, were it not that this objection affords me an opportunity of calling attention to a point of great importance. Spirit-orthography, it must be confessed, is not always irreproachable; but he must be very short of arguments who would make this fact the object of serious criticism, on the plea that, "since spirits know everything, they ought to be well up in spelling." I might retort by pointing to the numerous sins against orthography committed by more than one of the lights of science in your own world, and which in no wise invalidate their scientific authority; but a much more important point is involved in the fact alluded to. For spirits, and especially for those of high degree, the idea is everything, the form is nothing. Freed from matter, their language among themselves is as rapid as thought, for it is their thought itself that is communicated without intermediary; and it must, therefore, be very inconvenient for them to be obliged, in communicating with us, to make use of human speech, with its long and awkward forms, its insufficiencies and imperfections, as the vehicle of their ideas.

They often allude to this inconvenience; and it is curious to see the means they employ to obviate the difficulty. It would be the same with you if you had to express yourselves in a language of which the words and locutions were longer, and the stock of expressions more scanty, than those you habitually employ. The same difficulty is felt by the man of genius, impatient of the slowness of his pen, which always lags behind his thought. It is, therefore, easy to understand that spirits attach but little importance to questions of spelling, especially in the transmission of serious and weighty teachings. Should you not rather wonder that they are able to express themselves equally in all tongues and that they understand them all? It must not, however, be inferred from these remarks that they are unable to express themselves with conventional correctness; they do this when they judge it to be necessary; as, for instance, when they dictate verses, some of which, written, moreover, by illiterate mediums, are of a correctness and elegance that defy the severest criticism.

"Spiritual Fountain"

Oh, Eternal Spiritual Truth: permit this Volume

In justice and honor thy great cause to plead;

For in thee dwells the sum of human hope;

And faithful seeking in the mists of Ages,

Thine Ancient strides, worthily engages

The Faithful Disciple, who follows but thy lead,

Desiring of the future Clairvoyantly to read,

And understand whate'er the time presages

The voice of the Adepts, in no tones uncertain,

Says Life shall triumph over Death,

While every century still higher lifts the curtain,

And light is dawning, as their forces fulfill;

The Spiritual fountain from India Flowing,

On every nation its rich Occult gifts bestowing.

Dr. de Laurence.