Published by Blavatsky Study Center. Online Edition copyright 1999.
Critical Historical Review
of The Theosophical Society
[An Expose of Madame Blavatsky]
by William Emmette Coleman
Member American Oriental Society, Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland, and Pali Text Society.
[Originally published in The Religio-Philosophical Journal,
Chicago, Illinois, September 16, 1893, pp. 264-266.]
During the year 1874 the American Press published many accounts of alleged remarkable manifestations of disembodied human spirits taking place at Chittenden, Vermont, through the mediumship of the Eddy Brothers. That these manifestations were fraudulent —and very shallow trickery at that—has been well established. Various exposes thereof have been published by myself and others; and the principal materializing medium, William Eddy, has been detected in fraud on several occasions. Colonel Henry S. Olcott, of New York, spent about two months at the Eddy homestead in the autumn of 1874, during which time he prepared for publication, in the New York Graphic, a series of articles descriptive of the phenomena seen by him. On October 14th, 1874, Colonel Olcott first met at Chittenden Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a Russian woman of good family, who seems to have had from childhood an overweening predilection for the mystical and the marvelous, and who had for many years posed as a spiritualistic medium. A strong friendship sprang up between these two, and they soon became comrades or "chums."
Early in 1875 we find Colonel Olcott and Mme. Blavatsky in Philadelphia, assuming to investigate the so-called spiritualistic phenomena manifested in presence of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Holmes. Certain alleged materializations of John and Katie King, through the Holmes, had a short time before been denounced as fraudulent by Robert Dale Owen; and the confederate who had personated Katie King had made a confession of of her guilt. Colonel Olcott published in 1875 a narrative of the investigations of himself and Mme B., and they declared that the phenomena were all genuine, and the expose of the Holmeses was due to a conspiracy against them. That the whole of the manifestations through the Holmeses were fraudulent is beyond reasonable doubt. They have been many times caught in the act of trickery; and, being detected in such not long after the publication of Olcott's narrative. Mme. Blavatsky, having accomplished her purpose with them, namely, that of deluding Colonel Olcott into the belief of the possession of remarkable psychic power by her (Mme. B.), publicly repudiated further connection with them.
Mme. B. had claimed to be herself a medium for the same John King utilized by the Holmeses, and Olcott has told us of various psychic phenomena seen by him claiming to emanate from John King, and performed through Mme. B. It is evident that Mme. B. and the Holmeses were in collusion in the production of spurious phenomena palmed off on Olcott as genuine. R. B. Westbrook, LL. D., one of the original officers of the Theosophical Society, stated in The Religio-Philosophical Journal, Chicago, Sept. 14, 1880, that Mrs. Holmes had admitted as much, and had stated that Mme. Blavatsky proposed to her a partnership in the "materialization show business," with Colonel Olcott as manager, claiming that she had already so "psychologized him that he did not know his head from his heels." Early in 1875 Mme. Blavatsky sent to General F. J, Lippitt a picture, which she said had been painted for the General by the Spirit John King himself. In Mind and Matter, Philadelphia. Nov. 27. 1880, was published conclusive evidence, found in Mme. B.'s room in Philadelphia, that she had herself painted this picture, except certain flowers, etc., which were already on the satin when she procured it. Mme. B. is known to have fair skill as a painter. Further, Mrs. Hannah M. Wolf, of Washington, D. C., in a published account of her experience with Mme. Blavatsky in 1874, has stated that Mme. B. having claimed that certain pictures were painted by spiritual power direct, she was watched by three journalists residing in the same house, and they saw Mme. B, get up in the night and paint them herself. About this time Mrs. Wolf discovered that the MS. of a book which Blavatsky submitted to her for revision, and which she claimed was her original work, was an almost verbatim translation from a Russian book. In Cairo, Egypt, in 1872, certain spiritualistic phenomena with which Mme. Blavatsky was connected were found out to be fraudulent, and she narrowly escaped personal violence from the enraged populace whom she had deceived. It is also evident that she was in collusion with the Eddy Brothers at Chittenden; as one of the pretended spirits gave her a part of a buckle, said to have been brought by spirit-power from the grave of her father in Russia, whereas it had never been in her father's grave, and she had no doubt carried it with her to Chittenden for the purpose of getting up the sensational display of alleged occult power in which it subsequently played its part.
So far the outlook is not favorable for genuine psychic phenomena in connection with Mme. Blavatsky. We have had one fraud in Cairo in 1872; two frauds in New York in 1874; three the same year at Chittenden in 1874, four ditto in Philadelphia in 1875. Come we now to the establishment of the Theosophical Society. In the summer of 1875, Colonel Olcott publicly broached the theory that the spiritualistic phenomena were produced by the action of the elementary spirits of earth, air, fire, and water, of the medieval mystics. At a meeting in Mme. Blavatsky's parlor Sept. 7, 1875, Mr. George H. Felt having declared that he had the power of controlling and rendering visible the elementary spirits, it was resolved to form a society to conduct research in the department covered by Mr. Felt's alleged discoveries, The first meeting of the society took place Nov. 17, 1875, and it was called "The Theosophical Society" for this reason: Webster's Dictionary defines theosophy as supposed intercourse with God and spirits "by physical processes," and as the society was formed to obtain knowledge of God and spirits "by the aid of physical processes," as stated in its preamble, it was named "Theosophical."
Colonel Olcott was elected its President, and H. P. Blavatsky Corresponding Secretary, positions permanently retained by them. Mr. Felt lectured for the society soon after, but failed to keep his promise—he did not show, as Olcott puts it, "so much as the wag of the tail of a vanishing elemental."
From 1875 to 1878 the society maintained a precarious existence, no psychic phenomena being produced of any moment, and the membership dropping off constantly, until in 1877-78 it was practically dead. In these three years it added nothing to our knowledge of true psychic science. In 1877 was published Blavatsky's first book, Isis Unveiled, which unveils nothing. In it, and in various newspaper articles of H. P. B. (as her friends were wont to call her), and of Colonel Olcott, in 1876-78, were a number of conflicting statements of the producing causes of psychic phenomena—mere assertions, devoid of all proof, and derived by H. P. B. from the writings of Eliphas Levi, Paracelsus, et al. These theories attributed most of the phenomena to the action of the already mentioned "elementary" spirits, now rechristened "elementals," and to that of a new class of "spirits" called "elementaries." The latter were described as the astral souls of wicked human beings, who, having lost their divine spirit (or immortal soul) before death, survive for a time in the astral realm as shells or reliquiae, gradually becoming disintegrated or annihilated. The bulk of mediumistic manifestation, it was said, is due to these two classes of spirits; a small part proceeds from the spirits of the good and pure in the higher life—all this being dogmatic assertion, without evidence.
In 1878-79 the Theosophical Society was transferred to India, as a branch of the Arya Samaj of Swami Dayananda Saraswati. In 1882 this alliance was broken, and the Swami denounced Blavatsky and Olcott as tricksters—saying that the phenomena produced by them in India (of which I shall presently treat) were due to mesmerism, pre-arrangement, and clever conjuring; and that they knew nothing of the occult science of the Yogis of old. In 1875 Mme. B. had claimed to be in communication with an Egyptian Lodge, called the Brotherhood of Luxor, composed of "Adepts" or "Brothers"—Masters in magical lore, and she also caused Olcott to believe that one or more of these "Brothers" had accepted him as a pupil, and that certain communications to him purporting to come from them, and received by the Colonel through her, were the veritable productions of these "Adepts." Olcott asserts that one of them once visited him in his room in a materialized astral form, and as proof of his objectivity left with him his headcovering, which the Colonel retains to this day.
This was no doubt a confederate of H. P. B., employed for the purpose. It is of a piece with the action of another confederate of Mme. B. about this time, of whom Dr. Westbrook informs us. A woman, strangely attired and veiled, came into the Doctor's house, during a meeting there at which Rev. W. R. Alger, Olcott, and H. P. B., were present, and handed the latter a letter purporting to come from the "Brothers,"—the messenger being presumed to be an elementary. A few months afterward Dr, Westbrook discovered that the presumed elementary was an Irish servant girl, to whom Mme. B. had promised to pay $5 for the personation of the messenger of the "Brothers." Having failed to get her pay, she confessed the fraud. One of the "Brothers" in communication with Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others, at this time, was called Serapis; sometimes he was called S. Another one was called M. After removal to India, M.'s name was developed into Morya, a Hindu name. This M., or Morya, was alleged to have been the special guru or teacher of Mme. Blavatsky from her childhood; and it is claimed that he also became Olcott's guru after the Madame had brought the two together. Towards the latter part of her stay in America, H. P. B. introduced to Messrs. Olcott and Judge as adept called "The Kashmiri Brother." The most noted of the adepts exploited in later years is called Koot Hoomi Lal Singh. His name was unknown in America; it was first given to Mr. A. P. Sinnett in 1880, as one of the letters of Koot Hoomi has stated—the same letter also stating that he (K. H.) was known in America as "The Kashmiri Brother."
Being attracted to theosophy and Madame Blavatsky in 1880 by certain so-called occultic phenomena performed by the latter, Mr. Allen 0. Hume and Mr. A. P. Sinnett conducted a correspondence, in that and following years, with the two alleged adepts, M., or Morya, and Koot Hoomi, principally the last named, said correspondence passing through Mme. B. as intermediary. The locale of the Brothers was conveniently transferred from Egypt and Kashmir to Tibet, where they were said to reside as Buddhist leaders and teachers. Tibet being inaccessible to Europeans, it was impracticable to interview the adepts in their own land, and they refused to show themselves in India to Mr. Hume and Mr. Sinnett. There have been a few instances where a figure alleged to be that of Koot Hoomi has been seen for a short time in India; it is well established that these were fraudulent impersonations, by confederates of H.P. B. In a short time the theosophic adepts were identified with the mahatmas, a name applied to the ancient Hindu rishis and sages; and since then they have usually been styled mahatmas. Through repeated questioning, Messrs. Hume and Sinnett obtained from the mahatmas portions of a system of philosophy and religion, called by Koot Hoomi "Esoteric Buddhism," the outlines of which are given in Mr. Sinnett's book of that name. This book was originally to be written by Mr. Hume, and he commenced to prepare it for the press; but he got disgusted with the contradictions, inconsistencies, falsehoods, and double-dealing manifested by the adepts in their correspondence with him, and he accordingly severed all connection with them and with Mme. Blavatsky. Mr. Sinnett then took up the work, wrote it and published it; and it is this book in particular that gave theosophy the impetus which it received in Europe and America some eight or ten years ago, and made it for a time the fashionable '"fad" with certain classes of minds. Mr. Sinnett's first book, The Occult World, published in 1880, was devoted to the phenomena ascribed to Mme. B and adepts. In this book, and in theosophic literature generally, the mahatmas are described as the flowering of humanity, perfected human beings, having such command over the forces of nature as to work what are ordinarily regarded as remarkable miracles. They are said to be able to travel instantaneously, in their astral bodies, to any part of the world; they can disintegrate and re-integrate matter at will; can manufacture from the elements material objects, such as flowers, saucers, etc.; can precipitate writing upon paper, even in sealed envelopes; can read the thoughts of men, and have a practical omniscience in all mundane matters. Mme. Blavatsky was said to be an initiate of the adepts, having served a seven years' probation with them in Tibet; and she was herself a partial adept, having power to produce many of the phenomena performed by the fully developed mahatma.
The Indian press in 1880, and subsequent years, published many accounts of marvelous psychic phenomena performed by and in connection with Mme H. P. B.; and in 1884 the Society for Psychical Research, in London, appointed a committee to investigate these phenomena. A preliminary report, for circulation among members only, was published in that year, containing the evidence of Blavatsky, Olcott, Mohini M. Chatterji, and Mr. Sinnett, and the oral and written testimony of numerous others in re said phenomena. This evidence was largely devoted to the alleged apparitions of the mahatmas in their astral form, and to the asserted projection of his astral body by Damodar K. Mavalankar, an alleged chela (or pupil) of Koot Hoomi, and co-worker with Mme. Blavatsky. In September, 1884, appeared in the Christian College Magazine, Madras, the first installment of the noted Coulomb expose of Mme. Blavatsky and the adepts.
During the absence in Europe of Mme. B. and Colonel Olcott, the Board of Control in charge at the Theosophical Headquarters at Adyar, Madras, had in May, 1884, expelled therefrom M. and Mme. Coulomb. Mme. Coulomb had for several years occupied a position of trust at the Headquarters, and was in the confidence of, and was a special protegee of Mme. Blavatsky. After expulsion she handed over to the editor of the Christian College Magazine some seventy or eighty letters and other documents, mostly in Blavatsky's handwriting, which if genuine proved that many of the psychic phenomena of Mme. B., were certainly produced by fraud, including the writing of mahatmic letters. In view of the expose consequent upon the publication of a number of those letters, a member of the Committee of the Society of Psychical Research, on the invitation and at the expense of Prof. Sidgwick, the President of the Society, Mr. Richard Hodgson proceeded to India in November, 1884, and there conducted a three months' investigation of the whole field of psychic phenomena pertaining to the Theosophical Society. The report of Mr. Hodgson, embodying the results of these investigations, was published by the Society for Psychical Research in December, 1885, and it is a masterpiece of honest, faithful, painstaking, accurate, and comprehensive research.
The letters of Mme. B., submitted by Mme. Coulomb were declared by experts to be unquestionably written by the former; the allegations of forger interpolations, etc., set up by H. P. B. and her friends were shown to be entirely false. More important still, the MSS. of a number of the Koot Hoomi letters were carefully compared, by Mr. Hodgson, with the undoubted writing of Mme. B., and also by two of the ablest experts is handwriting in England; and they were declared by all there to be the work of Mme, Blavatsky. It was also proven Damodar K. Mavalankar had been a confederate of H. P. B., and that, during her absence in Europe, he had written a number of Koot Hoomi letters, in a handwriting in imitation of the Blavatsky K. H. penmanship, but containing certain peculiarities found in his (Damodar's) ordinary writing. The letters of Morya, or Mahatma M., were also shown to have been written by Mme. Blavatsky.
Evidence that the subject matter of the mahatma letters contained various peculiarities found in Mme. B.'s own writing was also briefly presented by Mr. Hodgson. These letters having been. kindly lent to me, not long ago, by Mr. Hodgson, I made a careful analysis of their contents; and I discovered in them overwhelming evidence that they were, one and all, the work of H. P. B. They teem with plagiarisms, just as do all of Mme. B.'s writings; they abound with errors and absurdities in Sanskrit and Tibetan; they have many contradictions and inconsistencies, blunders of similar character to those in her works; and they have a large number of marked chirographic and orthographic peculiarities, which I have never seen anywhere except in the writings of the mahatmas and that of H. P. B. Mr. Hume, in a letter in 1883 to Mme., the original of which is in my possession, told her that he knew that she wrote all the Morya letters and some at least of those signed K. H. That she wrote all of the latter which he received is beyond doubt. The letters attributed to the mahatmas being proved to have emanated from H P. B. and Damodar, the powers ascribed to them, and which are claimed in these letters, become mythical, and the adepts themselves are resolved into the fanciful output of H. P. B.'s imagination. The so-called appearances of Koot Hoomi at the Adyar Headquarters have been shown to be, as a rule, productions of M. Coulomb. He, in a dim light, at a convenient distance, walked about with a dummy head and shoulders attached, to represent K. H. The astral journeys of Damodar were found to be imaginary—his alleged appearances at a distance being due to fraudulent contrivance between him and H. P. B. Numerous occult phenomena were said to have taken place in the "Shrine" at the Adyar Headquarters. Letters addressed to mahatmas placed therein disappeared, in a short time. and answers thereto were found substituted. A broken saucer placed therein was in a few minutes replaced by one completely whole. It was proven that all this was accomplished by fraud. A secret panel was in the back of the shrine, and an aperture and recess in the wail behind enabled a confederate in the next room (Blavatsky's bedroom) to substitute quickly one letter for another, and a duplicate saucer for the one broken. Dr. Franz Harman, a leading theosophist then at Headquarters, admits that the panel was found in the shrine, and that in order that the telltale shrine might not be examined by Mr. Hodgson and the enemies of the Theosophical Society, it was destroyed by himself, W. Q. Judge, and a Hindu. A common phenomenon with Mine. B. was the sound of a so-called "astral" bell, apparently heard in the air near her. There is evidence that this was produced by a contrivance concealed under her clothing, and operated by pressure of the arm against her side.
Another common phenomenon was the dropping of mahatma letters, usually from the ceiling and sometimes in the open air. Mr. Hodgson was shown an opening in the ceiling whence the letters were dropped by confederates, while those in the air were projected from trees or other convenient places.
Mr. Hodgson's report minutely examines the different phenomena related in Mr. Sinnett's Occult World, and establishes fraud in every instance. The widely published case, in which a lost brooch was returned to Mrs. Hume by Mme. Blavatsky in an occult manner, is easily solved, in view of the evidence that Mme. B. had the brooch in her possession a short time before the trick was accomplished. The saucer needed to complete the number required at a picnic, and which was found by digging in the ground at a place indicated by Mme. B., is readily explained by the fact that it had been placed where it was found by a confederate, while, as was the case in so many of her tricks, the circumstances and conversation were cunningly led up by Mme. B., to the production of the miracle.
Her correspondence with Mme. Coulomb proved prearrangement and fraud were practiced in her tricks with cigarette paper. A torn paper was secreted somewhere by her or one of her confederates. A similar paper was torn in a similar manner, in presence of the one for whom the trick was done, and the Mme. stated that she had sent it occultly to the place where the second paper was hidden. Proceeding to that place, the latter was found, which the dupe supposed to be the same paper that he saw torn.
Professor Elliott Coues at one time investigated theosophy thoroughly, and in 1890 published in the New York Sun a scathing expose of Mme. Blavatsky's career and that of the Society, procured from the editor of the Christian College Magazine the original letters of H.P.B., and other documents obtained by him from Mme. Coulomb, including very important letters of Mme. Blavatsky which have never been published. Professor Coues has permitted me to examine these papers, and I am thus enabled to confirm the truth of what Mr. Hodgson has published thereanent.
Plagiarism is a marked characteristic of the writings alike of Mme. Blavatsky and of the mahatmas. In Isis Unveiled I have traced some 2,000 passages copied from other books without credit. Her Secret Doctrine is permeated with similar plagiarisms. The Voice of the Silence, claimed to be a translation by her of a. Tibetan work, is a compilation from various Buddhistic and Brahmanical works--a wholesale plagiarism. The Book of Dzyan, another bogus translation of an alleged ancient work, is also a compilation from various uncredited sources—all of them 19th century books. I have traced, to the books whence copied, passages in the writings of the mahatmas in The Secret Doctrine; while the letters of the mahatmas to Messrs. Hume and Sinnett contain many passages copied uncredited from books, also traced by me to their sources. A letter to Mr. Sinnett from Koot Hoomi, published in The Occult World, was copied bodily with a few verbal alterations, from an address of Henry Kiddle, published in the Boston Banner of Light a short time before K. H. (?) wrote the letter. All the doctrines taught by H. P. B. and the adepts, including minutiae and details are "borrowed" from the writings of others. There is nothing original anywhere in theosophy, except the distortion, perversion, garbling and misstatements inherent in its literature, as presented by the mahatmas and Mme. Blavatsky.
Mr. Hodgson shows, in his report, that among Mme. B.'s confederates was a Hindu usually called Babajee D. Nath, but whose real name was S. Krishnaswami. On September 30, 1892, this Babajee made a confession of his experiences with the theosophical leaders, solemnly declared to be true in the name of Parabrahm and the Hindu scriptures. I have a copy of that confession, and it confirms Mr. Hodgson's conclusions, and reveals a mass of depravity sickening to contemplate. He says he became completely under the influence of H. P. B., and Damodar, and he attested as true whatever they told him. H. P. B. gave him a letter from Koot Hoomi, telling him that he was a chela (pupil) of the mahatmas, and that he must call himself a Tibetan—which he did. When Mr. Sinnett published that he (Babajee) had lived ten years with the mahatmas, he was told by Mme. B. that he had thus lived in his astral body. Damodar explained to him that the false statements made publicly by him (Damodar) regarding Babajee were made from the occultic standpoint. Babajee says he also signed letters drawn up by Olcott for the purpose. He accompanied Mme. B. to Europe, and there saw her write mahatma letters, which he found identical with letters received in India as from the adepts. Both she and Damodar could write many different hands. While in Europe Mohini M. Chatterji and B. J. Padshah independently discovered fraud, and the three proceeded to sift the matter. They found bundles of blue and red pencils, with which the mahatma letters were written, and packs of Chinese envelopes, in which the missives were sent. There were also bundles of Tibetan dresses and caps, used in personating the mahatmas. Mme. Blavatsky's Hindu servant, Babula, and others, used to personate the mahatmas in these costumes. This did not fall to him (Babajee), on account of his short stature. T. Subba Row and A. J. Cooper-Oakley also discovered the fraud, and resigned from the Society, as did M. M. Chatterji, the Gebhards, and others. Numbers of post peons were bribed in India to allow H. P. B, to open the letters, which was done by thin iron rods heated being passed through the flaps of the envelopes. Being opened, mahatma letters in blue or red pencil were inserted, or remarks penciled on the letters themselves. Accompanying his confession, Babajee submitted letters and documents confirming the truth of his statements,
Not long after the Coulomb-Hodgson expose, Damodar disappeared, and he has not since been seen. It was claimed that he had gone to Tibet, though some assert that he is dead. It is admitted by the theosophical leaders that Damodar was guilty of much trickery and duplicity in mahatmic matters; and in an alleged letter from Koot Hoomi, which Col. Olcott says he received June 7, 1886, the mahatma says that Damodar had taken part in "many questionable doings...... bringing disgrace upon the sacred science and its adepts." As Damodar and H. P. B. worked in conjunction, this is tantamount to confession of H.P.B.'s guilt.
Since the death of H. P. B., Annie Besant and others have alleged letters from mahatmas Koot Hoomi and Morya. Who wrote them? In a letter to Annie Besant from M. M. Shroff, Secretary of the Bombay Theosophical Lodge, April 2, 1892, Mr. Shroff says that Brother W. Q. Judge is "strongly suspected of having forged all along letters in the name of the Masters after H. P. B.'s departure. H. S. Olcott, B. Keightley, and Edge are absolutely convinced that Judge forged these letters and has been duping and deceiving poor Annie!"
In Mrs. Besant's reply of April 22d, she says, "I know that Col. Olcott has made random statements to that effect (that Judge forged the letters), as he made random statements about H. P. B. committing frauds." In Mr. Judge's reply to Mr. Shroff, in this matter, he says that Olcott should be asked for the proof of the charges against him (Judge), "for he is the one who has given them out and is their sole author." In a letter of Mr. Shroff to Annie Besant, July 15, 1892 he sends copy of a telegram by S. V. Edge to B. Keightley, at Darjeeling, May 11, 1892, as follows: "Red pencil lines business (that is, mahatma letters,) have reached Annie's ears. What can be done? Colonel, yourself, must write some conciliatory letters. Look sharp. Reply." Whether Mr. Judge wrote the letters or not, and I have no knowledge thereanent save the above—cited opinions of Olcott et al., these facts prove that Col. Olcott has distinctly charged Mr. Judge with their production, and that Messrs. Keightley and Edge, the leading theosophists in India at the time, are implicated in the making of this charge. It is a sad commentary upon the universal brotherhood and altruism which the Theosophical Society vaunts as its primary basis of action and endeavor, that the President of the Society should, rightly or wrongly, charge his duly-elected successor to the Presidency with the heinous offense of forging letters in the name of the Holy Masters—the alleged founders and sustainers of the Society, and the fountain-head of all its inspiration and knowledge.
Consequent upon the publication of the Hodgson report, the production of phenomena was tabooed in the Theosophical Society; and since then the occultic marvels of the mahatmas, Mme. Blavatsky, and Damodar have ceased. Save an occasional letter from one or other of the adepts, said to have been received by the theosophic leaders, no sign of their existence, or of the possession by them or H. P. B., of occult power has been given. The psychical fraudulence till then rampant in theosophy was effectually killed by Mr. Hodgson.
It is generally admitted that since the Coulomb Hodgson expose, the Hindu theosophists, as a rule, have abandoned faith in Mme. Blavatsky and the mahatmas, and, as is asserted by prominent Hindus in the Society, the Indians remaining in it do so because they regard theosophy as a revival of Hinduism. "The Coulombs," says N. D. Khandalawala, in letter to B. Keightley, September 8, 1890, "may be said to have given almost the death-blow to the Theosophical movement in India. In a letter of H. P. B., sent to India by the hand of B. Keightley in 1890, entitled "Why I do not return to India," and which was suppressed for prudential considerations, the Madame says that since her departure from India "devotion to the Masters...... has steadily dwindled away," and belief in their existence has been shaken in some, and is positively denied by others. "With the exception of Col. 0., every one seems to banish the Masters from their thoughts and their spirit from Adyar. Every imaginable incongruity was connected with these holy names, and I alone was held responsible for every disagreeable event that took place." "The Masters and their spirit are virtually banished."
It is significant that the very cream of the theosophical movement has discovered or admitted the practice of fraud in psychic phenomena by H. P. B., Damodar, and others. Prominent among those who have discovered some of the impositions practiced are the following named, all of whom have been or are active workers in theosophic propaganda. Many of them have quit the society in disgust. Some remain in it still. Some, especially among the latter, do not claim that all of the phenomena were fraudulent, but that the genuine were supplemented by the fraudulent: Col. H. S. Olcott, Dr. Franz Hartmann, Allen O. Hume, T. Subba Row, Prof. Elliott Coues, Mabel Collins, Richard Harte, E. Douglas Fawcett, A. J. Cooper-Oakley, C. C. Massey, A. P. Sinnett, Countess Wachtmeister, Anna Kingsford, Dr. George Wyld, Franz and Aline Gebhard, W. T. Brown, Mohini M. Chatterji., Mons. and Mme. Coulomb, M. M. Shroff, Dr. J. K. Daji. Mrs. Emma Hardinge-Britten, Dr. R. B. Westbrook, Mrs. Isabel de Steiger, N. D. Khandalawala, Tookaram Tatya, A. D. Ezekel, B.J. J. Padshah, P. R. Venkatarama Iyer, Babajee D. Nath.
In addition, we have now Bertram Keightley and S. N. Edge associated with Olcott in the charges made by him of fraudulent mahatmic writing since the death of H. P. B.
The limitations of this paper would not permit of proof being adduced, in detail, of the statements made. A summary of results could alone be presented. Conclusive proofs, however, of every assertion herein, are in my possession, and will be embodied in full in a work I am now preparing for publication, expositive of the true nature of theosophy and its evidences.
Summing up the results of this inquiry, it is seen that the pretentions of theosophy to the possession of a large mass of the most remarkable genuine psychic phenomena of the century, together with the true philosophy of their production and of the nature and causes of all the varied classes of phenomena the consideration of which has devolved upon this Congress, have been proved baseless in whole and in part. A careful examination of the entire circuit of psychic phenomena connected with theosophy, and of the so-called philosophy put forth in the name of the mythical mahatmas, fails to disclose a single genuine psychic fact of value, excepting perhaps the possession and exercise by Mme. Blavatsky of marked hypnotic power on various occasions, in the furtherance of her schemes—"psychological tricks" or "glamour," to use her own language; while, as regards the philosophy, not one new idea or doctrine, commending itself as worthy of serious scientific consideration, has, in my opinion, been presented. From first to last, as far as is concerned the advancement of rational scientific research upon the important problems in present-day psychic manifestations awaiting solution at the hands of science, I am convinced that theosophy has been and is a signal failure; and in the future, as in the past, we can hardly expect from it any light upon the momentous questions engaging the attention of this Congress.
San Francisco, Cal.