Omaha daily bee., 1888-08-12

Thought, headed, "The Tree of Life a
Reality" Sivartha goes on to show that
everything in life is constructed on
mathematical principles and the tree
form is the arrangement of organic
cells that can sustain life. Man is
built, he declares, on the organic prin-
ciple of tree. Sivartha puts it in this
fashion:
A few examples will illustrate the uni
the lungs the great air tube or trachea
branches into the bronchial tubes, and these
snbdvlde until they terminate in clusters of
air cells. BY these air cells the blood is
purified, the vital work of the lungs is done.
Dissect any gland of the body and the same
tree plan is seen. For example, the liver
shows us the .hepatc duct and branches in
cells in which the bile is secreted. The paro-
It'd gland has Stenos duct, with branches
and clustering cells which pour forth the
saliva to moisten our food as we eat. The
arteries and veins, starting from the heart,
branch out over the body and terminate in
the cells of its various tissues, where the
blood does the vital work of growth, motion
and repair.
And, finally, the great law of ree-forms,
finds its highest eXemplitication in the brain
and spinal cord of man.
The brain is the radiant and graceful foli-
age on the tree of life. This tree bears
twelve kinds of fruit, for the mental facul-
ties are classified into twelve groups by the
most recent scientific analysis.
THE PYTIIAGOREAN PHILOSOPHY.
Pythagoras and his disciples, who
lived over 2,4O0 years ago, went further
than Sivartha and held that the essence
of all things rested upon numerical re-
lations. They reduced abstract ideas
to numbers. Justice. for example, was
called square number, and hence
doubtless II Just man is in the vernacu-
lar of to-day denomnated "square
man." The actual world was built up
of numbers laid one upon another.
| Sivartha's tree OF life is a loosely
arranged plan compared with the celes-
tial chart of the Pythagoreans, which
| placed the planets at distances proper
| toned to the length of strings capable
| Of producing harmonious tones. The
| universe, according to the PythagO-
reans, moved to the music of these
| spheres and moral and mental qualities
were regulated with mathematical eX-
| actness. In mans brain, the foliage
| Of which, Sivartha writes, were located
| the understanding and reason. The
| heart held the passions, and so on
| through all the virtues and vices.
Sivartha is somewhat different from
| other persons who have attempted the
| fulfllment of the prophecy about the
| New Jerusalem. He does not claim to
| nc personal htSSldIl, DuJ
embodiment. The soul which animates
| him is not the original Pythagorean
spark from the deity, but spirit which
| has passed through successive bodies
till it has reached that stage where its
allotted task is to be finished.
VICTIM OF A CHIMERA.
| A chronicle reporter who had mas
tered the philosophy of Slvartha sought
| several distinguished rabbis of San
Francisco in conversation on the sub
! ject. The reverend gentlemen of the
| Hebrew faith almost unanimously smiled
at the reference to the Sivarthian
scheme. They took a largely practical
view of the matter and considered that
the scheme was, to say the least, i'm
practicable at present and certainly can
not be made successful in the manner in
dicated in the press dispatches about
| Sivartha
| Rabbi Voorsanger, who represents
the reformed faith, did not mince mat
ters in giving his opinion OF the Sivar-
than project.
''At first" said the rabbi, Il feared
that Sivartha was an adventurer whose
object was to obtain money. Fro III
what / have since read | regard the
man as the victim of a chimera. He
is a dreamer and nothing more. The
rehabilition Of Jerusalem is not an i'm
possibility, but in view of the present