, 1885-05-10
o N BOSTON.
The Occult Starry Science Beiisved IN b
Great Many People.
LHn.Inn HaraLd l

The Occult Starry Science BeIisved In by
Great Many People.
Boston Herald
A gentleman who has gwen some at
tention 10 the matter, not an astrologef
or a believer in the science, said the
other day: I'VE know now many things
regarding the stars that 100 years ago
were unknown TO the savants of Eu-
rope, though tho occult adopts Of Hin
dostan probably had the matter at their
fingers ends at a period when Europe
was sparsely peopled by semi-human
savages and cave bears. We now know
that the magnetic storms in the sun
affect the health of the entire
human population Of u globe, and
that, whether being born under
certain astronomical signs has anything
to do with character and destiny or not,
it still remains true that powerful
causes 80, 900, 900 miles away determine
whether many thousands Of men shall
live or die. The sun is the greatest star
Of our solar system, and 1t has beyond
dispute an influence on human destiny,
though perhaps not in the astrological
sense.
confess that it dSes seem absurd to
ascribe to Jupiter strength, to Mercury
vivaeity, and to Mars warlike tenden-
cies, when We reflect that the naming of
those planets was probably accidental.
But be sure that the more ancient as
trology out of which the modern astrol-
ogy grew had some basis in scientific
fact, Tho modern astrology is quite ju-
venile; it has not existed in its present
form over @ 1000 years. The more an
Gent science we know nothing Of; the
occultists probably know it all. But
they are under VOWS to keep their Sc
crets. Their knowledge is won by awful
ordeals, by heroic sacrifices of all that
most men hold dear, and they are not
moved by the passion Of exciting the
wonder OF unenlightened people.
THE local belief in astrology is
widespread. What else keeps the
ablest professor hard at work casting
nativities and predicting events for
men Of affairs Why should business
men place reliance on these people for
data on which to conduct their trans
actionsl A friend in business here tells
me that for seven years he has fol-
lowed implicitly the advice of an as
trologer. He has travelled according to
directions; he has guarded his family
from sickness and accident by giving
trust to warnings afterward made very
significant by the outbreak of disease
in places where contagion would have
been quite certain; he has refrained
from business undertakings, OF prose
cuted them according to advice, and
has made money by il.
SIN one case an %astrologer, for a test,
asked a young lady, whom he had Just
met, for her birth hour. She gave what
she believed the right day, and on the
information bar boroooopa r-oo ooof IL
showed hat at one time of her life, at a
date mentioned, she had had a terrible
fall. She laughed at this information,
because she did not recall such an acct
dent. Her parents found that their
daughter was laughing over the sup
posed blunder of the astrologer, but
when they ascertained the date she had
given him, they found that she had
given it incorrectly, the hour being
wrongly stated. But it turned out that
a neighbours daughter, born at exactly
that hour. had had a terrible fall.
Surgeons perform operations of i'm
portance at the dates fixed by astrolo-
gers who have been supplied with the
patients birth hour, and physicians
consult the Sane authorities for infor-
nation as to modes Of treatment. A
Philadelphia surgeon is said to rest great
faith in a certain Boston star scientist. -
One astrologer, being asked how he,
an intelligent man, anne to believe in
his art, said that he began by testing it
in casting the nativities of deformed
people. Invariably he found causes for
their affection. The birth hour of emf
nent men had served for him the same
purpose, and he had become convinced
by facts he could not put aside.
How much of humbug is mixed up in
this business, how much of sense, it
might be well for the newly organized
society for psychical research to inquire.