But this power of sending out a subtle influence, call it magnetism or
what you will, is not confined to operations upon the human subject. Two
ladies of my acquaintance experimented on two rose-trees, which, to all
appearances, were both in equally good condition. They daily blessed one
and cursed the other, with the result that at the end of a month the
anathematized plant had withered up from the roots, while the other was
in an abnormally flourishing condition. Nor are we entirely without
scientific backing even in such a case as this; for Professor Bose tells
us in his work on the "Response of Metals," that not only can they be
poisoned by certain chemicals, so as to deprive them of their normal
qualities, but that they can be mesmerized into a similar condition.
Such facts as these therefore give considerable support to the theory of
the existence in everything of a "soul of the subject," which responds
after its own manner to the power of human thought.
In what manner, then, is this influence conveyed? It is here that our
study of etheric waves comes to our assistance, by carrying the same
principle further, and picturing the working of the known Law under
unknown conditions. It will at least enable us to form a working
hypothesis. I have stated that our actual commercial application of the
etheric waves extends from the ultra-violet waves used in photography,
and measuring only 1/254,000 of an inch, to those measuring many miles
employed in wireless telegraphy; but this practical application by no
means exhausts the conceivable possibilities of etheric vibrations; for
not only do we find a gap of five octaves of as yet unknown waves
between the dark heat group and the Hertzian group, but mathematically
there is no limit to the greatness or smallness of the waves, and the
scale may be prolonged indefinitely in either direction. Nor is this to
be wondered at; for if we consider that vibration is not a progress of
individual particles from one place to another, but the alternate rising
and falling of the substance at the same point, and that the ether is a
homogeneous and universally present substance, it is obvious that there
is nothing to limit the minuteness or the greatness of the intervals at
which the rising and falling will occur. Therefore we have an unlimited
field for our imagination to play about in. Then, if we further reflect
that all forms are built up of denser or finer aggregations of ether,
and that what determines the generic form of anything is its cosmic
soul, or the generating principle of the _class_ to which it belongs, it
follows that this soul must have a corresponding form, however
inconceivably fine may be the etheric condensation which thus
differentiates it from other souls, and prevents it from all being
mixed up together in an indistinguishable mass. If now, we combine these
two facts, that the soul of anything must have a form, however fine, and
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