ANIMAL WORSHIP.  The worship of animals is a species of idolatry that was especially practised by the ancient Egyptians.  Temples were erected by this people in their honor, in which they were fed and cared for during life; to kill one of them was a crime punishable with death; and after death, they were embalmed, and interred in the catacombs.  This worship was derived first from the earlier adoration of the stars, to certain constellations of which the names of animals had been given; next, from an Egyptian tradition that the gods, being pursued by Typhon, had concealed themselves under the forms of animals; and lastly, from the doctrine of the metempsychosis, according to which there was a continual circulation of the souls of men and animals.  But behind the open and popular exercise of this degrading worship the priests concealed a symbolism full of philosophical conceptions.  How this symbolism was corrupted and misinterpreted by the uninitiated people, is shown by Gliddon, and quoted in the text.

APHANISM (Greek [Greek:  a)phani/zo], to conceal).  In each of the initiations of the ancient Mysteries, there was a scenic representation of the death or disappearance of some god or hero, whose adventures constituted the legend of the Mystery.  That part of the ceremony of initiation which related to and represented the death or disappearance was called the aphanism.

Freemasonry, which has in its ceremonial form been framed after the model of these ancient Mysteries, has also its aphanism in the third degree.

APORRHETA (Greek [Greek:  apor)r(e/ta]).  The holy things in the ancient Mysteries which were known only to the initiates, and were not to be disclosed to the profane, were called the aporrheta.  What are the aporrheta of Freemasonry? what are the arcana of which there can be no disclosure? is a question that for some years past has given rise to much discussion among the disciples of the institution.  If the sphere and number of these aporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident that much valuable investigation by public discussion of the science of Masonry will be prohibited.  On the other hand, if the aporrheta are restricted to only a few points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and the efficacy of Freemasonry, which are dependent on its organization as a secret and mystical association, will be lost.  We move between Scylla and Charybdis, and it is difficult for a masonic writer to know how to steer so as, in avoiding too frank an exposition of the principles of the Order, not to fall by too much reticence into obscurity.  The European Masons are far more liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the English or the American.  There are few things, indeed, which a French or German masonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness.  It is now beginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American writers are acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of Freemasonry are the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive ceremonies of the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference may be publicly made for the purposes of scientific investigation, provided that the reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane, and intelligible only to the initiated.