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Benjamin Lumley (AKA Hermes) - Another World

B >> Benjamin Lumley (AKA Hermes) >> Another World



ANOTHER WORLD;

OR

FRAGMENTS FROM THE STAR CITY

OF

MONTALLUYAH.


BY

HERMES.


[Illustration.]


LONDON:
SAMUEL TINSLEY, 10, SOUTHAMPTON ST., STRAND,
1873.

[_The right of Translation is reserved._]


LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.




PREFACE.

The fact that there is a plurality of worlds, that, in other words, the
planets of our solar system are inhabited, has been so generally
maintained by modern astronomers, that it almost takes its place among
the truths commonly accepted by the large body of educated persons. As
two among the many works, which bear directly on the subject, it will be
here sufficient to name Sir David Brewster's 'More Worlds than One, the
Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Christian,' and Mr. B.A.
Proctor's 'Other Worlds than Ours.'

A fragmentary account of some of the ways peculiar to the inhabitants of
one of these "star worlds," and of their moral and intellectual
condition is contained in the following pages.

When the assertion is made that the account is derived, not from the
imagination, but from an actual knowledge of the star, it will at first
receive scant credence, and the reader will be at once inclined to class
the fragments among those works about imaginary republics and imaginary
travels which, ever since the days of Plato, have from time to time made
their appearance to improve the wisdom, impose on the credulity, or
satirize the follies of mankind.

Nor can the reader's anticipated want of faith be deemed other than
natural; for, although tests applied daily during a period extending
over nearly a lifetime have proved the source of the fragments to be
such as is here represented, the Editor feels bound to say that,
notwithstanding much confirmatory evidence, many years passed and many
facts were communicated before all doubts were completely removed from
his mind.

One great obstacle to the reader's belief that an authentic description
of another world is before him will arise from the circumstance that the
means by which such extraordinary experience was acquired are not
included in the sphere of his knowledge, and that any attempt to explain
them at present would only increase his incredulity. He would only see
one enigma solved by another apparently more insoluble than itself. The
Editor, therefore, would call especial attention to the practical value
of the revelations here communicated, convinced as he is that they are
so replete with instruction to terrestial mankind, that the difficulty
of giving credence to them ought not to be augmented by premature
disclosures. Ultimately satisfied as to the origin of the fragments, he
entreats the reader not, indeed, to surrender, but simply to suspend his
judgment until he has carefully examined them, conceiving that, apart
from all external proof, they rest upon an intrinsic evidence, the force
of which it will be difficult to resist. Nay, he is even of opinion that
an impartial student will find it easier to believe in their planetary
origin than in their emanating from an ordinary human brain. The
practical value of the facts, considered apart from their source, will
excuse his request not to be too hastily judged.

The people to whom the fragments relate are, it will be found, not only
human, but constituents of a highly civilized and even polished society.
Their notions of good and evil, of happiness and misery correspond to
ours, and though they employ different means, the objects they pursue
are the same with those sought by terrestrial philanthropists. Health,
education, marriage, the removal of disease, the prevention of madness
and of crime, the arts of government, the regulation of amusement, the
efficient employment of physical forces--themes so often discussed
here--have equally occupied the attention of our planetary brethren,
although, as will be seen, in the results of our studies we differ not a
little. This is not a story of Anthropophagi, or men whose heads do grow
beneath their shoulders, which can merely excite wonder, but a record of
actual men, who, widely separated from us in the ocean of space, are
beings with whom we can sympathise much more than with the inhabitants
of the uncivilized portions of our own globe.

The reader will now begin to understand what is meant when the Editor
calls attention to the practical value of most of his communications,
and invites consideration of the fragments, as suggestive of much that
concerns the welfare of mankind, the question as to their source being
provisionally left open. The man of science, the poet, the
metaphysician, the philanthropist, the musician, the observer of
manners, even the general reader who merely seeks to be amused, will, it
is hoped, find something interesting in the following pages. Let all,
therefore, taste the fruit and judge of its flavour, though they do not
behold the tree; profit by the diamonds, though they know not how they
were extracted from the mine; accept what is found to be wholesome and
fortifying in the waters, though the source of the river is unknown.

Lest, in thus expatiating on the value of his communications, the Editor
should be thought to have overstepped the bounds of good taste, he would
have it perfectly understood that he is not speaking of his own
productions, and that whatever the merit of the fragments may be, that
merit does not belong to himself. He is an Editor and an Editor only;
and he therefore feels himself as much at liberty to express his opinion
of the contents of the following pages as the most impartial critic.

He will even admit that he is not blind to their defects and
shortcomings. If the fragments had been less fragmentary, and fuller
information had been offered on the various subjects which fall under
consideration, he would have been better satisfied. Nevertheless, he
reflects that it would be hardly reasonable to expect in facts made
known under exceptional circumstances, that fulness of detail which we
have a right to demand, when on our own planet we essay to make
discoveries at the cost only of labour and research. He looks upon the
fragments as "intellectual aerolites," which have dropped here,
uninfluenced by the will of man; as varied pieces detached from the mass
of facts which constitute the possessions of another planet, and rather
as thrown by nature into rugged heaps than as having been symmetrically
arranged by the hand of an artist. Want of unity under these
circumstances is surely excusable.

One observation as to a matter of mere detail. Words, in the language of
the Star, are occasionally given in letters which represent the sounds
only, and will often be found to resemble words in some of our ancient
and modern languages. The very name of the City "Montalluyah," to which
all the fragments refer, is apparently compounded of heterogeneous
roots, one of Aryan the other of Semitic origin. These seeming
accidents, if such they be, must not be attributed to either
carelessness or design on the part of the Editor; nor does he attempt to
explain them. The reader may, if he please, account for the causes of
resemblance by considering that the number of articulate sounds is
limited, and that, therefore, the variety of words cannot be altogether
boundless; or he may take higher ground, and assume that in whatever
planet spoken, all languages have the Same Divine Origin.

In conclusion: When these revelations or others derived from the same
source have succeeded in establishing a confidence between the Editor
and his readers, it is more than probable that the secret of the source
itself will be disclosed. That disclosure made in due season will bring
to light some unprecedented, but most interesting facts, and will
establish the important truth, that the soul of man is IMMATERIAL and
IMMORTAL.




CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION Page xxiii


I.--MONTALLTUYAH.

One of the Star worlds--Strangeness of its customs--The Narrator
and his aspirations--Former state of Montalluyah--Wars--Increase of
population and decrease of supplies--Can man be brought to seek
knowledge as ardently as money?--The Narrator's meditations,
labours, and advancement--Faith


II.--VYORA.

The beggar seeks admission to the Palace--The incident which brings
him to the Narrator--Some account of Vyora--Appointed Chief of the
Character-divers--Reflection


III--PERSEVERANCE.

Maturing plans--How received by the Counsellors--Narrator's
resolution--Prepares for death--His triumph--Subjects of
Legislation


IV.--LIGHT FROM DARKNESS.

Secret powers in Nature--Effectually wielded by the Good
only--False Prophets--Narrator carries out his plans without
bloodshed--Great feature of the System--Mighty consequences--Evils
forced to contribute to Good--Examples--Insects--Hippopotami--The
Fever Wind--Lightning--The Sun--Seasons of Darkness--Fears of the
People--Darkness changed to Light--The City radiant--Music and
rejoicing


V.--CHARACTER-DIVERS--EDUCATION.

Grave duties entrusted to them--Stronghold of evils to be
eradicated--Men of Genius following antipathetic
occupations--Early eradication of faults and development of
qualities--Visits to Schools--Defects--One routine for all
characters--Neglecting minor qualities in Boys of
Genius--Precept-cramming--Bad habits--Character-divers
created--Sole occupation to discover Child's early
tendencies--Duties distinct from those of Preceptors or Fathers of
Knowledge--Germ of evils destroyed


VI.--CORRECTION OF FAULTS.

Remedies employed vary with characteristics--Absence of violent
punishment--Children to be raised, not degraded--Animals not
corrected by blows--Example--Pupil not corrected by the imposition
of tasks--Child encouraged to regard study as a
privilege--Correction effected by gentleness--Time, labour, &c.,
bestowed unsparingly--Even when fault seems eradicated fresh tests
applied--Adult offenders--Child of genius watched with reference to
superior refinement--Economy of sparing nothing in educating the
future man--Lists of faults occupying attention of the
Character-divers--Results--Small beginnings lead to incurable vices
and disease


VII.--CHARACTER-DIVERS.

Secondary position of Tutors in former times--Now honoured--Aid
given by the Character-divers, &c., to Narrator--Young men of
special aptitude educated for the office--Their
astuteness--Example--Subjects of tesselated pavements--Zolea--Early
evidence of artistic talent often deceptive--Narrator's early
talent indicating him as a harpist--Guided to other studies


VIII.--THE STAR CITY.

Power of the Sun--Colours and forms in the sky--Situation of
Montalluyah--External World Cities--Reasons for uniting them--
Peculiarities--Straight lines--Variety of colour, &c.--Subterranean
seas--Great cataract and water-lifts form background of palaces and
statues--Hanging bridges--Health studied--Baths--Violet streams--
Trees--Birds--Artificial nests--Perfumes--Harmonious
sounds--Chariot wheels and horse's hoofs noiseless--Red light--City
full of animation--Recurring change of scene


IX.--THE SUSPENDED MOUNTAIN.

Elevation of tides immense--The aerial mountain--Electric
agencies--Sea carries away the heart of the mountain--Receding
waters leave upper part suspended--Mountain arm stretches out
through the air over land below and over the sea--THE GREAT
CATARACT--Upper City built on Suspended Mountain--The Middle and
Lower Cities built on indent and foot of mountain--PAST
CATASTROPHES--Threatened dangers--Terrible consequences--Principle
of preventing evils--Stupendous work undertaken--The wonder of
Montalluyah


X.--THE MOUNTAIN SUPPORTER.

Dimensions--Thickness of walls--Interior area--How utilised--Means
of ascending and descending--Stages constructed at different
heights to facilitate works during progress--Materials, provisions,
&c., raised by electric power--HUGE HEAVY BLOCKS LIGHTENED BY
ELECTRICITY--Ornamentation of the Tower--Ravine-metal--Episodes of
the Narrator's reign--Ascent and descent--Great difference of
atmosphere above and below--Peculiarity in Electric
Telegraph--Colour of atmosphere at different heights--Animalculae
and ova--Grandeur of the Mountain Supporter---Curious effect when
viewed from a distance


XI--ELECTRICITY IN MONTALLUYAH.

Important facts formerly unknown--One electricity only supposed to
exist--Not then utilised for locomotion, &c.--Paucity of
contrivance for collecting electricities--How the scientific men
supported their theory--Like causes produce like effects--Many
kinds of electricity--Means of drawing out and concentrating
electricities discovered--Man, beasts, birds, &c., possess an
electricity of their own--All differ--Huge fish--Docks for
extracting electricity from--Electric store-house--Non-conducting
pouches--The attracting electricity adapted to each body is well
known--MODE OF CATCHING WILD BIRDS

XII.--THE PAIN-LULLER.

Means formerly employed--Vivisection and surgical operations
painless--Nerves of sensation only, affected by the luller--Energy
of the functions considered essential--Pain-luller, how
discovered--The Nebo bird and the child--The broken limbs and
absence of pain--Discovery


XIII.--THE MICROSCOPE.

Properties of optical instruments increased by electricity--
CONCENTRATED LIGHT--The illuminated worm--Light attracted by the
enticer-machine--Concentrated light in Music--Human voice and
musical instruments--Union between the soul and perishable portions
of man--Concentrated light within us--Similarity of terms applied
to the brain and to vision--Strength to the intellectual
powers--EXPERIMENT ON LIVING MAN--Electrical currents in brain--How
agitated--Rarity of the experiments--Serious consequences to
patient--Conditions imposed, and advantages secured, to him--Not
allowed to marry


XIV.--PHYSICIANS--DISEASE GERMS.

High rank of Physicians--Former and present duties--Periodical
visitations--Microscopes--Perspiration indicating disease--Exact
nature of disease not shown--Example--Ordinary appearance of
perspiration--Lung disease and consumption--Lung dew--"The
Scraper"--The breath


XV.--MADNESS.

Minute divisions of brain examined by microscope--Former
neglect--Early indications rarely noticed--Supposed lunatics often
wiser than their keepers--An instance--The man's statements laughed
at--World believe him a confirmed madman--Madness not now assumed
from seeming absurdities--Thoughts formerly scoffed at, now
acknowledged facts--Minute divisions of brain responding to trains
of thought--Effectual remedies for earliest symptoms--Cure of
developed madness--Former error which prevented cure--The disease
does not exist in the _overworked_ portion of the brain


XVI.--THE DEATH SOLACE--INSECTS.

Insects contain valuable electricities--Whole crops destroyed by
them--Mode of capturing, &c.--Impurities removed by insects--The
DEATH SOLACE


XVII.--INTERNAL CITIES--SUNSHINE PICTURES

Special precautions against excessive heat in the extreme
season--_Internal cities_ built in galleries--Their advantages--How
light admitted--Flowers--Beauty and odours increased by
electricity--Communication between the palaces in the External and
Internal World--Narrator's summer-palace--The pictures
representing principal events of his reign--Sun power
utilised--Sunshine: how _fixed_ on the canvas


XVIII.--THE PICTURES.

Subjects of some of the pictures in the Narrator's "Internal World"
Palace


XIX.--WOMAN.

Tendency of her education--Happy and contented--Marked difference
in education of the two sexes--Beauty aided by early care--Former
practices and consequences--Ravages of time--Women now lovely in
age as in youth--Beauty regarded as a precious gift from
Heaven--Cosmetics for its "preservation"--Wrinkles--Skin and
complexion--Hands and feet--CHOOSING BY HAND--How
effected--CHOOSING BY FOOT--Expedients used when hand or foot
inclined to coarseness--GIRL'S DORMITORIES--Cleanliness--Separate
sleeping-rooms--Reasons--Communication with
night-watchers--Precautions--Mode adopted to ensure early rising--
Prayer not till after repast--Reason why old custom
changed--Careful discipline until marriage--Luxurious habits
permitted to married ladies--Instance of the elastic "frame"
cushion--The self-acting fan


XX.--CHOICE OF A HUSBAND.

Means taken to secure congenial husband--Marriage councils--Choice
of husband, how arranged--Maiden's right to nominate--The
thirty-one evenings--The girl, how distinguished--Gentlemen who
wish their pretensions to be favourably viewed--The
unwilling--Efforts of pretenders--Agitation on the thirty-first
evening--How the maiden proclaims her choice--The presentation of
flowers--Subsequent meeting of the parties--Betrothal--Consequence
of maiden failing to declare preference--Second meeting--Third
meeting rare


XXI.--THE DRESS OF SHAME--SUN COLOURS.

Trust reposed in marriage councils never abused--The dress of
shame--Rich costumes of married ladies--Brilliant colours imparted
by the sun--The silver-green silk--Sun silk--Women instructed in
the ART OF PLEASING--Former habits of married women--Example on
children--Deceit


XXII.--COSTUMES.

LADY'S COSTUME--The
waistcoat--Tunic--Trousers--Anklets--Trimmings--
Colours--Sandals--HEAD ORNAMENTS--Soles to protect the feet--The
fan--Precious stones--Turbans--Canopy--Long veils--Distinctive
feature for the unmarried--Elaborate costumes allowed after
marriage--GENTLEMAN'S COSTUME


XXIII.--PREPARATIONS FOR THE MARRIAGE.

The civil marriage--Purification of the bride--The hair--The
tree-comb--Marriage costume--Marriage ceremony repeated after
birth of each child--Religious ceremony--Suspended in case of
dissensions--Efforts for reconciliation--Contingencies provided
for--An instance


XXIV.--FLOWERS.

Very beautiful--Their names given to Stars and to Women--Flower
language: long conversations carried on by means of
Flowers--Instances of Flower Language--Displeasure expressed
through the medium of Flowers--Instances of Flowers with meanings
attached


XXV.--FLOWERS IMPROVED BY ELECTRICITY.

Mode in which nature operates--Vitality of seed--Consequence of
injury--Production of leaves--Of colour--United electricities form
gatherings--Important discovery--Sap, the reservoir of
electricity--PROCESS FOR CHANGING FORM--PROCESS FOR CHANGING
COLOUR--For giving fragrance--THE LUANIA--SUN-FORCING


XXVI.--SONG OF ADMIRATION.

(_Explanation of terms used in the Song of Admiration._)

The Spangled Mountain--The reviled beauty--Slander and its
promulgators--The Legend of Zacosta--Fall of her
Tormentors--Happiness of the higher order of Spirits--Slander
regarded with horror--Motives of the Slanderers--The King of the
Air--The loving little animal--The ingenious instrument for
discovering diamonds--The pet animal--The Meleeta--The Turvee
Insect--Shooting Stars--Whale Electricity--The Martolooti--The
Flower of Grace--The Chilarti--The Allmanyuka--The perfume of the
everlasting gulf--The Hippopotamus hide--Fat of the Serpent's
head--The Mestua Mountain--Wet thy feet--Stainers' fount--
Water--The Mountain Supporter


XXVII.--SYLIFA.


XXVIII.--THE YOUNG GIRL RESTORED.

Madness not formerly recognised until violence shown--The GIRL
AFFECTED WITH MONOMANIA.


XXIX.--THE LITTLE GOATHERD.


XXX.--DECORATIONS FOR AGE AND MERIT.

Worn as distinctive marks--Age entitles woman to privileges--Age
regarded as an honour--Orders of the Matterode, and Mountain
Supporter--Qualified decoration, &c.--ADVOCATES of the individual
and of society--Privilege belonging to every woman


XXXI.--BEAUTY.

How ideal of beauty formerly obtained--Not equal to the actual
living model--Beauty now the rule--Longevity--Beauty in old
age--Summary of expedients--Value of the course adopted--Importance
of care from earliest infancy--Subject of babies--Importance of
little things--Maladies owing to injudicious treatment of
children--March of "small" effects--Precautions now taken


XXXII.--INFANTS' EXERCISE-MACHINES.

Value of minute precautions--Diseases caused by want of healthy
exercises--Accidents to the infant--Blows on the head--The
inventions of Drahna--The four sets of machines--The TEETH--The
eye--The nostrils--The tongue--Air, &c.


XXXIII.--GYMNASTICS.

An essential part of the boys' education--Formerly same exercises
for all--Now adapted to physical organization--Medical man observes
effects--The heat of the brain a test--Bathing--Leaping--TREE-EARTH
BATHS--Qualities of the earth about various trees--The oak, the
weeping-willow, elm, horse-chestnut, &c.


XXXIV.--THE AMUSEMENT GALLERY.

Description--Girls' amusement gallery--Boys--Different natures and
characters revealed--The Character-divers


XXXV.--PRAYER.

For Children are short--Services adapted to different ages--Evils
attendant on former system--Present course--Subjects of Sermons--
Children encouraged in affection to Parents, &c.--Preacher assisted
by method of education--Objections to Parrot-like repetitions


XXXVI.--FLOCKS AND HERDS.

Care taken of animals--Change of pasture--Irrigation--Causes of
diseases formerly prevalent--Shade--Illness--Great increase of
flocks and herds--THE MALE ONLY USED FOR FOOD--Consequences of
killing the mother--In slaughtering, all painful process
avoided--Mode adopted--Wholesomeness of meat tested by analyzation
of blood--PROTECTION OF MEAT FROM INSECTS--Protective
Infusion--CRUELTY TO ANIMALS--Punishment


XXXVII.--THE ALLMANYUKA.

Determination to discover the germ of disease--The people afflicted
with a painful malady--Children not
attacked--Hypothesis--Stimulating spices--Anatomical
examination--Decree forbidding use of favourite condiments--The
spices collected--Temporary substitute provided--Meditation and
prayer for help--The grafting and the eventual result--
Incomplete--The cream-lemon vegetable--Mode of proceeding--The
"Insertion"--The root-oil--The little white bud--The anxious
watching--The basket and its contents--The testing--Qualities of
the Allmanyuka--The people's praise--The Tootmanyoso's
gratitude--Results different from any before obtained--Description


XXXVIII.--PAPER.

Made from leaves of trees--Peculiarities--Process of manufacture--
Healthful fragrance--Colour--"Natural" paper--GOLDEN COLOURED
PAPER--Its connection with the Allmanyuka--The incident which led
to its discovery


XXXIX.--CONSUMPTION--THE EMEUTE.

Consumption--Why generally beyond cure--Erroneous views--The
patient--Examination by the doctors--Their mistake--Narrator's
belief--Potion administered--Death--Cause discovered--Mode of
detecting and curing the disease in its germ--Assemblage of the
multitude--Episode of the mother and the child--The sequel


XL.--THE HARP.

The principal musical instrument--Description--Four sets of
chords--Strings of electricity--Marvellous variation and
depression of the notes--Echoes and responses--Diapason changed to
an extraordinary extent--Different characters of sound
produced--Examples--Harp language; how taught--Accompaniments--Harp
beautiful as a work of sculptural art--Movement of birds, flowers,
and foliage, and exhalation of perfume in accord with the
music--How idea was suggested


XLI.--SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.

Amusements enjoined--Learned men prone to seclusion--Wisdom of
requiring studious men to cultivate social relations
questioned--Twenty men selected for the experiment--Result--The
works of the "Seclusionists" and of the "Society-Sympathisers"--The
MONOMANIAC--His eccentricities and cure--Convert to the Narrator's
views


XLII.--THEATRES--ENTERTAINMENTS.

Arenas--Electricity--Why arenas open to the sky--Games exhibited--
Beautiful effects produced--MAN and HORSE--The FLYING
CHILDREN--WILL--DEAF AND DUMB CHILD--The MONKEYS--Tragic
Drama--Races and public games--Parties for children--Labouring
people--The aged--Districts--The middle-aged--INTRODUCTION of
strangers--Ceremony observed--ATTRACTING-MACHINE

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