Page 95 (part 2)

It is, again, our old friend, the good-tempered elephant, that would be the fossil antediluvian ancestor, and the mammoth of the Pliocene age who would be in the menagerie ; the megalonyx and the gigantic megatherium would be found instead of the lazy sloth in the forests of South America, in which the colossal ferns of the carboniferous periods would take the place of moss and present trees -- dwarfs, even the giants of California, in comparison with the Titan-trees of past geological periods. Surely the organisms of the megasthenian world of the Tertiary and the Mesozoic Ages must have been more complex and perfect than those of the microsthenian plants and animals of the present age? The Dryopithecus, for instance, is found more perfect anatomically, more fit for a greater development of brain power, than the modern gorilla or gibbon? How is this, then? Are we to believe that the constitution of all those colossal land and sea-dragons, of the gigantic flying reptiles, was not far more developed and complex than the anatomy of the lizards, turtles, crocodiles, and even of the whales -- in short, all those animals we are acquainted with? Let us admit, however, for argument's sake, that all those cycles, races, septenary forms of evolution and the tutti quanti of esoteric teaching, are no better than a delusion and a snare. Let us agree with Science and say that man, instead of being an imprisoned "Spirit," and his vehicle, the shell or body, a gradually perfected and now complete mechanism for material and terrestrial uses, as claimed by the Occultists -- is simply a more developed animal, whose primal form emerged from one and the same primitive germ on this earth, as the flying dragon and the gnat, the whale and the amoeba, the crocodile and the frog, etc., etc. In this case, he must have passed through the identical developments and through the same process of growth as all the other mammals? If man is an animal, and nothing more, a highly intellectual ex-brute, he should be privileged, at least, and allowed to have been a gigantic mammal of his kind, a [[Vol. 2, Page]] 734 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. meganthropos in his day. It is just this, that esoteric science shows as having taken place in the first three rounds, and in this, as in most other things, it is more logical and consistent than modern science. It classifies the human body with the brute creation, and maintains it in the path of animal evolution, from first to last, while science leaves man a parentless orphan born of sires unknown, an "unspecialized skeleton" truly! And this mistake is due to a stubborn rejection of the doctrine of cycles. ------- A . T HE O RIGIN AND E VOLUTION OF THE M AMMALIA: S CIENCE AND THE E SOTERIC P HYLOGENY. Having dealt almost exclusively with the question of the origin of Man in the foregoing criticism of Western Evolutionism, it may not be amiss to define the position of the Occultists with regard to the differentiation of species. The pre-human fauna and flora have been already generally dealt with in the Commentary on the Stanzas, and the truth of much of modern biological speculation admitted, e.g. , the derivation of birds from reptiles, the partial truth of "natural selection," and the transformation theory generally. It now remains to clear up the mystery of the origin of those first mammalian fauna which M. de Quatrefages so brilliantly endeavours to prove as contemporary with the Homo primigenius of the Secondary Age. The somewhat complicated problem relating to the "Origin of Species," -- more especially of the varied groups of fossil or existing mammalian fauna -- will be rendered less obscure by the aid of a diagram. It will then be apparent to what extent the "Factors of Organic Evolution," relied upon by Western biologists,* are to be considered as [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The Darwinian theory has been so strained, that even Huxley was forced at one time to deprecate its occasional degeneration into "fanaticism." Oscar Schmidt presents a good instance of a thinker who unconsciously exaggerates the worth of an hypothesis. He admits ("The Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism," p. 158), that "natural selection" "is in some cases . . . inadequate , . . . in others . . . not requisite, as the solution of the formation of species is found in other natural conditions." He also asserts the " intermediate grades are . . . wanting , which would entitle us to infer with certainty the direct transition from unplacental to placental mammals" (p. 271); that "we are referred entirely to conjecture and inference for the origin of the mammals" (p. 268); and the repeated failures of the framers of " hypothetical pedigrees, " more especially of Haeckel. Nevertheless he asserts on p. 194, that "what we have gained by the Doctrine of Descent based on the theory of selection is the KNOWLEDGE of the connection of organisms as 'consanguineous beings.' " Knowledge in the face of the above-cited concessions, is, then, the synonym for conjecture and theory only? [[Vol. 2, Page]] 735 CONJECTURES ARE NOT FACTS. adequate to meet the facts. The line of demarcation between etherospiritual, astral and physical evolution must be drawn. Perhaps, if Darwinians deigned to consider the possibility of the second process, they would no longer have to lament the fact that "we are referred to conjecture and inference for the origin of the Mammals"!! ( The Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism, p. 268, by Professor O. Schmidt.) At present the admitted chasm between the systems of reproduction of the oviparous vertebrates and mammalia, constitutes a hopeless crux to those thinkers who, with the Evolutionists, seek to link all existing organic forms in a continuous line of descent. Let us take -- exempli gratia -- the case of the ungulate mammals. "In no other division," it is said, "do we possess such abundant fossil material." So much progress has been made in this direction, that in some instances the intermediate links between the modern and Eocene ungulates have been unearthed; a notable example being that of the complete proof of the derivation of the present one-toed horse from the three-toed Anchitherium of the old Tertiary. This standard of comparison between Western Biology and the Eastern doctrine could not, therefore, be improved upon. The pedigree here utilized, as embodying the views of scientists in general, is that of Schmidt based on the exhaustive researches of Rutimeyer. Its approximate accuracy -- from the standpoint of evolutionism -- leaves little to be desired: -- UNGULATE MAMMALS. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 736 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. The midway point of evolution. Science comes to a standstill.