The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-01-03
EVOLUTION OF MAN.
Annie Besant Delivers the First of
: Her Lectures.

: Annie Besant Delivers the First of
Her Lectures.
-. Metropolitan: Hall. was well filled last
night to listen TO; Annie Besant expoand
upon the Evolution of Man." The larger
rortion of the; audience was composed of
we'll dressed men and women of the
weather classes. who had come to gaze
. up in a celebrity more than to listen TO
subject, and during the introductory ad-
dress by DR.. Anderson not much interest
was taken in the expounding Of Annie
Besant's intellectual progress through the
various steps of Christianity. agn0stIeism,
Inaterialism. socialism To thsos0phy.
When, however, the speaker of the even
+ Ing rose from her chair, and advancing
slowly to the front fixed her audience with
grave and masIerful scrutiny, deatlily
silence fell upon the whole room as the
magnetic presence of the orator6Ss made
itself felt over all assembled.
From her opening sentence to her final
word the attention OF her hearers was riv-.
eted in GREATNESS interest to The swing and
cadence of her philosophic teachings on
mans brotherhood to man.
There is no strainiDg after effect in Annie
Besants oratOry. Carried away with her
subject the frequent bursts of applause
which greeted her most glowing periods.
served only to break in upon her rapid ROLL
iag stream Of eioquence, and she paused In
grave, submissive patience for opportunity
60 resume.
Her rich voice reached to every nook and
corner of the hall, now pleading In gentle
pathOs for suffering humanity, anon rising
TO the defamation of vast natures law and
order Carried away by the great spirit of
her discourse her very personality seemed
10 change with the influences at work
within, and such few Of her audience as
were unable to follow her scientific argu-
Tnent remained wrapped in motionless in
terest in her manner and method Of ex-
pounding It.
She was not there to dictate or mold opin-
. i0us. she explained, and set at ease many
doubtful ones, who dreamed, perchanee.
that theosophy was a:danger0us antagonist
OF their orthodox ereedS. in lieu OF being an
active agent for their maintenance, as was
generally declared at the close OF the lec-
tuIe.
yreteud to mold your opinions she ear
nestly announced. Il speak only as a
thinker speaks 10 thinkers. / give to yeu
&c what / know to be the truth. If my defni-
items seem to you imperfect. remembe that
they are but labels on vial of medicine
whose faulty scrlption in n0Wls6 affects the
prientiality of the drug within. / ask only
that agreement OF disagreement may be
made ineligible On either SIDE.
She then proceeded to give definition
of what she termed: the evolution Of man.
.
by St Paul as "the body, the soul and the
spirI'-by theosophists as animal, spirit
and divine"
The animal was represented by all the
powers and passions not influenced by the
intellect.
The spirit was represented by the intel
lect.
Woven in with both was the divine
life, of which the universe was mani
festation; life which is the directing force
ard molding power Of all things, the es-
sence OF mind and matter.
The term man" was derived from a
Sanskrit root meaning thought" or ''a
thinker" for it is IN thought that man
differentiates from the brute below him
and it Is the force which joins animal and
spirit together till the course was run. To
instance this trinity she gave powerful
illustration.
Let any of you who have suffered a ter
rible temptation at some epoch OF your lives
reflect a moment. DO you reeoliect that
when the animal passions stfove and swayed
with the intellectual or spirit within you
each Overpewering the other tor the moment
and one triumDhing at the end according to
your natuTesS Through all that turmoil
of the animal and the spirit one calm serene
voice told it, 1t is wrong, ana remained un-
shaken by the striving OF your other part.
That was life, the divine, distinct and
separate from your other parts. the animal
and the spirit.
"Involution was necessary before evoiu-
.. ton could commence. Life emanated from
God and was thought.
1.-THE bad which developed into flower
was first inv0lutej into the essences of the
plant which bore il in the shape of life or
thought
g 'Darwin's theory could not connect itself
because of his missing link between ih g
man and the animal That Is, man as he
dwells upon this planet under classification
as the human race. Esoteric doctrine held
that human life commenced upon this planet
with the human race alone. 1t was at one
with most modern sciences, however, III
granting that all senses developed up till
now we're developed from one primary
sonse-that of touch.
Vibrating from something without,
which set waves in motion, avenues OF
knowledge we're thrown open and the orlgi-
nal thing called man sought contact with a
physical un verse.
"YoG have heard Of being frightened out
Of ones; seven senses. Ii is a house hold
saying. and yet you. can enumeraie only
FIVE.
'"There are two more senses latent in us.
The sixth we are at present developing,
and is known.as mental telegraphy.'
!. Professor Cr0Vkes suggests there Is