The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-17

TIME word occult means that which
is concealed or hidden, and was
i applied in the Middle Ages to the
causes of certain physical phenomena ana
To elements in the natural world whose
suht,lty eluded Immediate cogmzance'
their analysis yielding only to q process
90 experimentation. In the course OF
time in that superstitious age. the word
vas used to describe all things wnose
causes were concealed and paHieu al
attempts to explanation. Hence us IN
terchangeable use with the WORDS trahs-
cendental," "mysterious,' "superna.urai
and magical" The science OF Aichemy'
,ndeed. was thought to be sorcery' ING
old alchemist working in the fumes Oh
exploding gases and clouds OF SMOKE III
b,s laboratory, with gaseous flames Oh
rod yellow or blue playing about MIN
and sharply piercing the gloom, was
ao,s,dered necromantic His chemical
ouest for the alkahest, the universal SOL
vent, was the chimera OF wizard VINO
was deceived and in league with the devil.
Even in this day of enlightenment anu
culture the word occult to many minds
is at once suggestive of spirits, OF signs,
of omens, of esoteric communications and
of superstitions in general. And what
wonder? If it be occult to see In exper-
mental chemistry the action of elective
AFFINITY. that is ono element of nature
rushing to embrace another and avoiding
all others Qike person at a railway
station ignoring all the passengers who
debark except one, and Fastening to
greet that one), and this affinity In ma
ture being beyond the ken of human
philosophy, what wonder, I ask, If the
word occult be applied to the strang.
mysterious things that come into 80
many lives?
This question suggests the use that 1
shall make of the word occult. As en-
ploy it I shall have reference to the COM
mon superstitions Of men, as they refer
to omens, spells, premontions, psychic
manifestations, apparitions, mind reading
dreams, the transference of thought, and
the like, for all these are believed, but
no one can explain them upon a satisfac-
tory hypothesis.
The unexplained things Of life affect us
ell, particularly II they come within the
range of what is popularity designated
1.-The snuperstitious,' including ghosts,
spirits and spiritual manifestations.
We may say Of these things, with Steph-
ano in the third act Of Shakespeares
Tempest
'Flout 'em and scout 'em
And scout 'em and flout EN-,
For thought Is free.''
but down deep in our minds we are con-
scious that our ''fouting'' or scouting"
IL not wholly sincere, and as to Thought
being free" we know it is not. For there
obtrudes the suggestion again and again,
ssSuppose something should lay its hand
on my shoulder as am going through
the dark hall, or catch me by the foot as
I ascend the stairway, and that some
thing be other than a mortalP' We may
not believe in the supernatural before
men. but the possibility Of things and
beings of another world being near us in
the dark produces no philosophic sensa->
ton or emotion.
1t was a French philosopher who was
theoretically immune to superstition, and
yet suddenly turned pale at banquet;
he had overturned the salt and he knew
some disaster would follow. The sense
of the superstitious is within us. Elmer
son in his essay on Spiritual Laws, tells
of an old man who said to his boys
scared by figure in a dark entry, my
children, my children, you will never see
anything worse than yourselves" But to
whom Is this final7
somstimes We account for ''creepy"