We begin, then, with some obvious scientific difficulties.

1.  Is the Nebular Theory, as generally held, denied by the Adepts?  It seems hard to conceive of the alternate evolution from the sun’s central mass of planets, some of them visible and heavy, others invisible,—­and apparently without weight, as they have no influence on the movements of the visible planets.

2.  And, further, the time necessary for the manvantara even of one planetary chain, much more of all seven, seems largely to exceed the probable time during which the sun can retain heat, if it is merely a cooling mass, which derives no important accession of heat from without.  Is some other view as regards the maintenance of the sun’s heat held by the Adepts?

3.  The different races which succeed each other on the earth are said to be separated by catastrophes, among which continental subsidences occupy a prominent place.  Is it meant that these subsidences are so sudden and unforeseen as to sweep away great nations in an hour?  Or, if not, how is it that no appreciable trace is left of such high civilizations as are described in the past?  Is it supposed that our present European civilization, with its offshoots all over the globe, can be destroyed by any inundation or conflagration which leaves life still existing on the earth?  Are our existing arts and languages doomed to perish? or was it only the earlier races who were thus profoundly disjoined from one another?

4.  The moon is said to be the scene of a life even more immersed in matter than the life on earth.  Are there then material organizations living there?  If so, how do they dispense with air and water, and how is it that our telescopes discern no trace of their works?  We should much like a fuller account of the Adepts’ view of the moon, as so much is already known of her material conditions that further knowledge could be more easily adjusted than in the case (for instance) of planets wholly invisible.

5.  Is the expression “a mineral monad” authorized by the Adepts?  If so, what relation does the monad bear to the atom, or the molecule, of ordinary scientific hypothesis?  And does each mineral monad eventually become a vegetable monad, and then at last a human being?  Turning now to some historical difficulties, we would ask as follows:—­

6.  Is there not some confusion in the letter quoted on p. 62 of “Esoteric Buddhism,” where “the old Greeks and Romans” are said to have been Atlanteans?  The Greeks and Romans were surely Aryans, like the Adepts and ourselves:  their language being, as one may say, intermediate between Sanscrit and modern European dialects.

7.  Buddha’s birth is placed (on p. 141) in the year 643 B.C..  Is this date given by the Adepts as undoubtedly correct?  Have they any view as to the new inscriptions of Asoka (as given by General A. Cunningham, “Corpus Inscriptionum Indicanum,” vol.  I. pp. 20-23), on the strength of which Buddha’s Nirvana is placed by Barth ("Religions of India,” p. 106), &c., about 476 B.C., and his birth therefore at about 556 B.C.?  It would be exceedingly interesting if the Adepts would give a sketch however brief of the history of India in those centuries with authentic dates.