Page 45 (part 5)

When we speak, therefore, as in Book II., of men who inhabited this globe 18,000,000 years back, we have in the mind neither the men of our present races, nor the present atmospheric laws, thermal conditions, etc. The Earth and mankind, like the Sun, Moon, and planets, have all their growth, changes, developments, and gradual evolution in their life-periods; they are born, become infants, then children, adolescents, grown-up bodies, grow old, and finally die. Why should not Mankind be also under this universal law? Says Uriel to Enoch: "Behold, I have showed thee all things. Thou seest the Sun, Moon, and those which conduct the stars of heaven, which cause all their operations , seasons, and arrivals to return. . . . In the days of sinners the years shall be shortened . . . everything done on Earth shall be subverted . . . the moon shall change its laws" . . . etc. (Ch. lxxix. ) The "days of Sinners" meant the days when matter would be in its full sway on Earth, and man would have reached the apex of physical development in stature and animality. That came to pass during the period of the Atlanteans, about the middle point of their Race (the 4th), which was drowned as prophesied by Uriel. Since then man began decreasing in physical stature, strength, and years, as will be shown in [[Vol. 1, Page]] 610 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Book II. But as we are in the mid-point of our sub - race of the Fifth Root Race -- the acme of materiality in each -- therefore the animal propensities, though more refined, are not the less developed for that: and they are so chiefly in civilized countries. ------- [[This page continued in next section]]