New-York tribune., 1917-12-23
Extra-Terrestrial Locomotion

Dr. f. Milton Willis fears that the short
description of "Sir Arthur's Heaven in
The Tribune last Sunday may prove mis-
leading, and in a courteous letter points
out that Conan Doyle's Investigations
probably acquainted him merely with the
so-called Astral World, not with the
Heaven-existence." That is by no means
unlikely. DR.. Willis, as an officer of the
Theosophical Society, speaks with some
authority on these things, and no doubt
the word Heaven" was i'll chosen and in
accurate. For more precise information
the curious are referred to the numerous
tracts published by the society, tracts
which Dr. Willis tells US are so excellent
and $50 scientific" that not to know them
"is to lack one of the elements of true
modern culture"
On a minor question DR.. Willis offers
us some useful information. "Locomo-
tion in the Astral World Ga point you
mention) is accomplished" he writes, "by
thought or will alone, the physics of
that range of matter being quite different
from physical-plane laws" If this in
formation is correct, it would probably be
idle to inquire whether departed spirits
really fly, according TO the common belief
of early writer's, or progress only by hop
ping in the manner described by the au-
thor of "A Journey from This World to
the Next" 1t is impossible, however, to
accept Dr. Willis's explanation unques-
tioningly, for the point has been a subject
of debate for centuries, and we have no
assurance that the conclusions of the
Theosophical Society have been estab-
lished experimentally.
1t was remarked the other day that Sir
A. Conan Doyle tells US nothing concern
ing lccomotiOn in the Astral World, and
the artist who illustrated his paper in "The
Metropolitan" was probably unjustifed in
depicting his angels as winged creatures.
The testimony of painters and illustrators
on such occasions is seldom satisfac-
tory, being founded almost invariably on
tradition. Hogarth, in his Analysis of
Beauty" speaks of their fondness for a
kind of being composed of "an infants
head of about two years old, with pair
of ducks wings placed under its chin,
supposed always to be flying about and
singing psalms" But though these "little
inconsistent objects" as Hogarth called
them, are very common in pictures, there
is no positive evidence that they really eX-
ist The same must be said of the kind Of
angels conceived by Sir Arthur's illus
traitor, for if they are not so grossly i'm
probable as the bodyless sort, they pre-
sent anatomical difficulties which it is
impossible to accept without some better
authority than an artists fancy.
DR.. Willis's conception is not wholly
inconsistent with the hints impaired by
Sir Arthur, who speaks of the spirit as
floating" but without telling us exactly
how it floats 1t is not at all necessary,
however, to postulate a special system of
physics to account for movement in the
manner described. II may very we'll be
that the spirit substance is extremely
light and airy, drifting about like the gay
notes that people the sunbeams. There is,
moreover, some little evidence to support
this conjecture, for in one Of the few ac-
counts we have by an eyewitness Though
at second hand) the angels are expressly
likened to these bright particles. ("Totus
ille campus obsidebatur myriadibus
Geniorum, nee alter oppleverant aerem
totum, guam videmus in soils radiis voli-
tare minuta corpuscula, qua vocant
atoma. Erasmus: Capnionis Apotheo-
sis 1524)
Yet it must be admitted that this tes-
timony, even if trustworthy, does not
answer the essential question 1t must be
assumed that the angels are capable of
voluntary locomotion, and what we want
to know is how they achieve it. The only
really exhaustive treatise on the compara-
tive anatomy of the angels was published
more than ninety years ago, by DR..
Misses, and even that has but a slender ex-
perimental foundation, being almost Who'll
ly speculative. The learned authors con-
clusions are, however, altogether at vari-
ance with the hopping theory. Here is
ms main argument IN brief:
"Many worms &c. g., the Scolopendride)
have God knows how many legs-a pair
more or less makes no difference TO them;
butterflies and beetles have only six;
mammals ISdugethierel have only four;
birds, which more nearly approach the
angels in respect of their rising above the
earth and moving freely in space, as like
wise man, who in intellect surpasses all
animals and in his own conceit is, indeed,
but half animal and half angel, have only
two. Thus, with every step angelward
two legs disappear Seeing, then, that at
one remove only two remain, it follows
that the angels themselves cannot have
any at ALL (alises; "Vergleichende
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