even the reptile. Alone, our W estern religion stands in its isolation, as a monument o f the most gigantic human selfishness ever evolved by human brain, without one word in favour of, or for the protection o f the poor animaL Q uite the reverse. F or theology, underlining a sentence in the Jehovistic chapter of “ Creation,” interprets it as a proof that animals, as all the rest, were created for man ! E rg o— sport has becom e one o f the noblest amusements o f the upper ten. H ence— poor innocent birds wounded, tortured and killed every autumn by the million, all over the Christian countries, for man’s recreation. H ence also, unkindness, often cold-blooded cruelty, during the youth o f horse and bullock, brutal indifference to its fate when age has rendered it unfit for work, and ingratitude after years o f hard labour for, and in the service o f man. In whatever country the European steps in, there begins the slaughter o f the animals and their useless decim ation. “ H as the prisoner ever killed fo r his pleasure animals ? ” inquired a Buddhist Judge at a border town in China, infected with pious European Churchm en and missionaries, o f a man accused o f having murdered his sister. A n d having been answered in the affirmative, as the prisoner had been a servant in the employ o f a Russian colonel, “ a mighty hunter before the Lord,” the Judge had no need o f any other evidence and the murderer was found “ guilty ”— justly, as his subsequent confession proved. Is Christianity or even the Christian layman to be blamed for it ? Neither. It is the pernicious system o f theology, long centuries o f theocracy, and the ferocious, ever-increasing selfishness in the Western civilized countries. W hat can we do ?
L O G IC A L
D E D U C T IO N S .
Dr. Hartm ann uses very poor logic in his “ Logical Deductions,” (see page 93, issue o f April 15th.) H e says “ a cause can exist without producing an effect ” ; I am no logician, but that is a “ self-evident ” absurdity. Until it has produced an effect, it is not a cause. I f he argues in that way, it would be equally true to say that an effect can exist without a cause, for the cause m ay have ceased to exist as soon as the effect is produced. Yours faithfully, L u c ife r ,
A lfred
W il s o n .
[T he author o f “ Logical Deductions ” being at present in Am erica, he can not reply. B ut there is no doubt that the mistake is due rather to his im perfect knowledge o f English, than to any false idea in his philosophical views. T h e incongruity is too apparent, and must be due to an oversigh t— E d . ]
IS T H E R E
NO
H OPE?
I think, after reading the conditions necessary for O ccult study given April number o f L u c i f e r , that it would be as well for the readers magazine to give up all hopes o f becom ing Occultists. In Britain, inside a monastery, I hardly think it possible that such conditions could realised. In m y future capacity o f medical doctor (if the gods are so
in the o f this except ever be benign)