BOOKS OF THE DAY.

ETIDORHPA, OR THE END OF EARTH.*

REVIEWED BY MARGARET CONNOLLY.

The present is an age of expectancy, of anticipation, and of prophecy; and the invention or discovery or production that occupies the attention of the busy world, as it rushes on its self-absorbed way for more than the passing nine days' wonder must needs be something great, indeed. Such a production has now appeared in the literary world in the form of the volume entitled "Etidorhpa, or the End of Earth," the very title of which is so striking as to arrest the attention at once. Of course the reader will at a glance interpret the name backward.

But first a word as to the author of this work, which is destined to be the great literary sensation of the nineteenth century. Prof. John Uri Lloyd, whose name is among the list of the world's great men, occupies the chair of chemistry in the E. M. Institute of Cincinnati, O. He has been awarded the highest honors by the American Pharmaceutical Society and Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, and when, at Berne, Switzerland, it was decided to publish the biographies and portraits of eighty of the world's greatest pharmacists, Professor Lloyd was one the few chosen in America. He is the author of a standard work on pharmaceutic chemistry and of several other scientific works. His reputation in Europe is not less than in his own country, and some of the most noted scientists of England and Germany, after crossing the Atlantic, have visited him for the purpose of examining his famous library, which contains the largest private collection of botanical and pharmaceutical books in the world. The author of such a book as "Etidorhpa," however, might well rest his fame on this single achievement.

In a brief review it is difficult to give any conception of a work which is at the same time scientific, philosophical, and metaphysical, yet possessing a weird charm and fascination that is beyond description. It purports to be the story of a man who, in his passionate pursuit of the study of alchemy, was led to forfeit all earth tieshome, family, affection, friends, and all that endears life to man -in order to gain an insight into the mysteries of nature not ordinarily vouchsafed to men. He has committed his marvellous experiences to writing, which, after the lapse of a certain number of years,

*"Etidorhpa, or the End of Earth," by Prof. John Uri Lloyd. With many illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp. Author's edition. By John Uri Lloyd, Cincinnati, Q.

he wishes to publish for the benefit of mankind. With this object in view, he presents himself one dreary midnight in November, without the ceremony of knocking or opening a door, before the astonished vision of one Llewellyn Drury, a student of things scientific and occult, as he sits alone in his library. The weird visitor, who styles himself "I Am the Man Who Did It," proposes to read to Llewellyn Drury the story of his adventures in search of knowledge on condition that he will publish the manuscript after thirty years have passed. The latter agrees to this condition, and promises to do so, or, failing himself, to get someone else to do it. When the time comes for the publication of the manuscript, however, he evades the responsibility and the task is assumed by Prof. John Uri Lloyd. The ghostly visitor invites criticism and challenges discussion, promising to answer all questions and to prove any disputed points that Drury may choose to make.

He then proceeds with the story of his wonderful experiences. Under the guidance of a strange, semi-human being, who is endowed with godlike attributes, albeit rather repulsive in appearance, he is led into the interior of the earth, where he learns all the mysteries of nature. The formation of the earth is explained by his guide who proves to him that it is a hollow sphere, having an outer or upper crust, the plane on which man lives, of about eight hundred miles in thickness. The guide, who is apparently eyeless. pilots him safely over the inequalities and obstacles in their path. As they proceed on their journey the darkness in which they were at first enveloped gives place to a softened, radiant light, which the guide explains as coming from the modified rays of the sun penetrating through the earth's crust. The nature and causes of volcanoes, the formation of artesian walls, matter and motion and other mysteries of nature are accounted for, and in many instances on grounds utterly opposed to all ideas of modern science. The explorers pass through forests of fungi, marvellous in beauty; they partake of strange, delicious foods, produced within the surface of the earth, which are neither animal nor vegetable nor fruit, yet seem to partake of the qualities of all. As they proceed on their remarkable journey, the Man Who Did It loses his physical attributes one by one; he no longer needs food to sustain him; he has no sense of fatigue, and skims on his way like a bird. Scientific problems are discussed and theories are advanced in regard to questions which are to-day puzzling and bewildering the most learned scientists; theories which at first sight seem to be but the wild imaginings of a luxuriant fancy, but which are seemingly proved in the most logical and scientific way, so that the reader readily accepts that which if put forth in a dogmatic and authoritative manner would be scouted by all as opposed to reason and science and human research.

One cannot but admire the skill with which the author sustains his arguments and his ingenious method of proving his statements in a threefold manner. First, the guide explains in the most lucid way the wonderful earth mysteries to the Man Who Did It; the Man Who Did It reiterates and explains to Llewellyn Drury, who questions and absolutely denies the truth of many of the statements made, which are then proved and demonstrated by actual experiment. The illustrations accompanying these demonstrations are so admirable in detail that even a child can understand the problems dealt with. It is possible that this work may open up a new field to scientific workers, notwithstanding the fact that its author advances his startling theories under cover of fiction, and in a playful rather than a dogmatic or authoritative way.

While there is not a chapter in the book that is not of absorbing interest, some deserve special mention. The chapter dealing with "The Food of Man" is most admirable, and the statement is made that food and drink are not matter, only "carriers of assimilable bits of sunshine," the sun being shown to be the great life-giving energy of the universe. The chapters treating on drunkenness and the drinks of man, showing the awful power of the temptation to drink and the horrors resulting from indulgence, burn themselves into the brain. They are blood-curdling as any of the pictures in Dante's Inferno. The description of the meeting with Etidorhpa. or the vision which appears to the Man Who Did It in the Drunkard's Den, is so exquisite that one cannot help quoting some passages. Preceded by a host of beautiful female forms, she floats before his bewildered gaze, and addresses him in the following words:

"My name is Etidorhpa. In me you behold the spirit that elevates man, and subdues the most violent of passions. In history, so far back in the dim ages as to be known now as legendary mythology, have I ruled and blessed the world. Unclasp my power over man and beast, and while heaven dissolves, the charms of Paradise will perish. I know no master. The universe bows to my authority. Stars and suns enamored pulsate and throb in space and kiss each other in waves of light; atoms cold embrace and cling together; structures inanimate affiliate with and attract inanimate structures; bodies dead to other noble passions are not dead to love. The savage beast, under my enchantment, creeps to her lair, and gently purrs over her offspring; even man becomes less violent, and sheathes his weapon and smothers his hatred as I soothe his passions beside the loved ones in the privacy of his home.

"My name is Etidorhpa; interpret it rightly, and you have what has been to humanity the essence of love, the mother of all that ennobles. He who loves a wife worships me; she, who in turn makes a home happy is typical of me. I am Etidorhpa, the beginning and the end of earth. Behold in me the antithesis of envy, the opposite of malice, the enemy of sorrow, the mistress of life, the queen of immortal bliss.

"Love, by whatever name the conception is designated, rules the world. Divest the cold man of science of the bond that binds him

to his life-thought, and his work is ended. Strike from the master in music the chord that links his soul to the voice he breathes, and his songs will be hushed. Deaden the sense of love which the artist bears his art, and as the spirit that underlies his thought-scenes vanishes, his touch becomes chilled and his brush inexpressive. The soldier thinks of his home and country, and without a murmur sheds his life blood.

"And yet there are debasing phases of love, for as love of country builds a nation, so love of pillage may destroy it. Love of the holy and the beautiful stands in human life opposed to love of the debasing and vicious, and I, Etidorhpa, am typical of the highest love of man. As the same force binds the molecules of the rose and the violet as well as those of noxious drugs, so the same soul conception may serve the love of good or the love of evil. Love may guide a tyrant or actuate a saint; may make man torture his fellow, or strive to ease his pain."

The author is imbued with a strong spirit of occultism, which is manifest all through the book, and which is especially apparent in chapter-i, "A Study of Science is a Study of God."

As the Man Who Did It nears the confines of the Beyond or the Unknown Country whither he is bound, his body to all intents and purposes is a mere shell or encumbrance, for he neither eats nor breathes, his heart has ceased to beat, and the necessity of speech between himself and his mysterious guide has long been done away with. Finally they come within sight of the shores of the "Unknown," and a figure in human form is seen standing motionless, awaiting their coming. Here his strange companion leaves him, and our hero passes into the "Beyond."

This work is not alone a literary masterpiece; it is a prophecy, a foreshadowing of the development to which the race may yet attain. It contains thought-germs calculated to revolutionize the world of science, which is wont to be so dogmatic in its purely materialistic views, rejecting as impossible any theory which appears to conflict with certain established laws. Science too often forgets that her mistakes and blunders, even in the recent past, have been as glaring as any of which religion was guilty in a darker age; and many scientists forget that they are still, notwithstanding the marvellous discoveries of the nineteenth century, "like little children, playing on the shores of an infinite ocean, and picking up here and there a pebble." Written by one of the world's greatest scientists, this volume is permeated by a profoundly religious and lofty spirituality, and he pleads that science give room for the development of the soul of man, showing that science and true religion are inseparable. Step by step, in perfect gradation, he leads up to the conclusion that "a true study of science is a study of God," and that the scoffing scientific agnostic and the unquestioning faithful believer will yet meet on common ground.

Of the richness of imagery and wealth of imagination displayed in the pages of Etidorhpa, it is difficult to give any idea. The work

is so many-sided that it will appeal to all classes and be a favorite with all. The scientist, the philosopher, the student, the lover of poetry, romance and fiction, will drink in its pages with delight and find infinite food for thought. The diversity of the author's style is such that he has been compared by various critics to such masters as Jules Verne, Dumas, Victor Hugo, Dante.

The plot of the story is supposed to be founded on real events familiar in the minds of many persons yet living. It is not easy to determine where to draw the line between fact and fancy; that is, to determine how much of the work is pure romance and how much the thought resulting from the author's scientific investigations. Be that as it may, this book will stimulate the slowest and quicken the liveliest intelligence.

As a specimen of the bookmaker's art, the work is superb. The illustrations are numerous and of surpassing excellence, conveying as they do to the mind of the reader in the clearest manner the details of the various scenes described by the author.

It is to be regretted that only a limited edition of "Etidorhpa” has been issued, for during this period of unrest and inquiry and reaching out into the unknown, the world has need of the best thought of her wisest and noblest thinkers. It is a work that should have the widest possible circulation, for, rightly interpreted, it will broaden the mind and stimulate to noble endeavor, abounding as it does in thought which sings to the spirit:

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

FROM DREAMLAND SENT.*

REVIEWED BY B. O. FLOWER.

Miss Whiting's new volume of poems is a fit companion to her wholesome and helpful prose volume, "The World Beautiful." Her verses are pervaded with a fine spiritual atmosphere; a lofty faith, or perhaps I should say a something more positive than faith in the persistence of the soul after the change called death, is at all times present. In many of these lines I have been reminded of the spirit which permeates the poetry of Louise Chandler Moulton, although in Miss Whiting's verses we do not find the sadness present in similar creations of Mrs. Moulton's. I think this spiritual affinity

"From Dreamland Sent," by Lilian Whiting. Cloth; pp. 134; price $1.25. Roberts Brothers, Boston.