superstitious ceremonies and notions of the Hindoos, they have always recoiled from degenerating to the worship of idols, and have tenaciously clung to the idea that they were worshippers of the invisible Hormuzd. Believing in the existence of Angels and their delegated power to assist and benefit man, the Parsee centres his prayers and his hopes above all, on Hormuzd, the Lord of the Spirits; his whole morality is comprised in three words-pure thought, pure words, and pure deeds; his reward depends upon his fulfilment of these injunctions, and his pardon on the will and mercy of God.

Mr. DADABHAI said that no member need feel any delicacy in putting any question to him on the subject of the paper, for he would be very happy to answer them.

Dr. IHNE said he had brought with him a French work, by M. Ménant, containing an excellent digest of the Parsee Creed, which, according to it, was briefly as follows:—“There is one God, He is eternal, there was nothing before Him, and all things are by Him. The universe was truly created by Him, and is not an emanation from Him, but, since the creation, has been distinct from the Creator. Creation is composed of spirits and matter. Matter is inert, but spirits are capable of morality. The world of spirits is double. Hormuzd is chief of the spirits of good, for eternity. Ahrimán is chief of the spirits of evil, only for time which passes. Both were created by the Eternal, and will endure for the eternity which follows. Souls are all sisters from the beginning, deprived of the body at death, to find it again at the hour of resurrection, then never to be separated from it again-they were eternally pre-existent. The guilty will be punished, the just rewarded-both by God. Punishment will only last as long as the principle of evil (Ahrimán) endures. The Zend authority is from God, and dogmatic. Hormuzd established religion for all mankind, and not for some only. It will be one day preferred by all mankind, and thus be universal both as to time and space." This creed, it is to be observed, is derived from the sacred books, and not from the present belief of the Parsees.

The Rev. C. D. GINSBURG Said that, having read a German translation of the Zend Avestá, it agreed with the summary Dr. Ihne had read. He remarked that some of their doctrines were also believed by the Jewish sect of Cabbalists. No other people (except the Jews) believed in the resurrection of the body. In the Zend Avestá it was affirmed that both the principles of good and evil were created by the Great Existence, and were not eternally pre-existent, and that every man has both these principles reflected in him.

Mr. DADABHAI said that the creed, as given by Ménant, is derivable from all the extracts he had read, with the exception of the question of the origin of Hormuzd and Ahrimán. That given by M. Ménant is the prevalent theory; but, as far as his reading of the Gujarati translation of the original Zend text went, he had not been able to confirm the story of the creation of Hormuzd and Ahrimán by Time without bounds (Zurwan Akarné), which implied that they were eternal only for future time; but he would not speak with confidence on this point.

Mr. CLARK observed that in Guizot's edition of Gibbon's History, the original principle is called Time Without Bounds, and existed from all eternity. The two created principles were both good at first, but Ahriman became apostate. There were many analogies in the Zend books with the early books of the Bible; for example, an institution is mentioned identical with that of tithes. The ancient Persian religion was one of forms and ceremonies, but that of Zoroaster rather one of morality.

Dr. COLLINGWOOD said: We are indebted to the well-known enlightenment and liberality which distinguish the Parsees in general, and my friend Mr. Dadabhai in an especial manner, for the very interesting exposition we have heard of the received doctrines of their religion; and we are, moreover, freely invited to discuss the subject. Mr. Dadabhai stands before us not as a Parsee defending his faith, but simply as a member of this society giving an unvarnished account of what he finds in his sacred books, unencumbered by any theory of his own. But the Zend Avestá also contained much more of an apparently fabulous nature, upon which I would wish to make some remarks. There is a remarkable similarity traceable between all the religions existing before the Christian era, which, I believe, arises from the fact that all those religions, excepting the Jewish, were originally of a purely astronomical origin. Man is in all ages religious, and, as I formerly showed at some length before this society, the heavenly bodies received his first and earliest worship; and the religion of Zaratosht was derived from the prevailing forms of worship. At a very early period the origin of evil was a question which agitated mankind. Whence good comes, says one, we know-but whence is evil? It cannot come from heaven-for, it is not possible that the same being, whether good or bad, can be the author of both. Hence arose the necessity of supposing two principles always opposing one another. These principles were early associated with physical phenomena. Light was good-darkness evil; summer was the distributor of benefits, which winter was always undoing and destroying. But it was the SUN which produced light, and covered the earth with verdure in summer, and his absence which bound it up in winter; and thus this luminary became early personified as the great principle of good, and his struggles and alternate mastery over, and conquest by, the evil principle, were symbolically described in the battles of the gods and giants-of Ouranos and Typhon, of Osiris and Typhon, of Hormuzd

and Ahriman. The very name of Hormuzd signified, according to the best authorities, the great principle of light; and the astronomical character of the early Persian fables may be illustrated by one incorporated in the Zend Avestá. Hormuzd made six deities, which represented virtues; whereupon, Ahrimán made six of a malevolent nature. Hormuzd raised himself three times higher than his wont, and decorated the heavens with stars, appointing Sirius sentinel over them. Again, Hormuzd created twenty-four gods, which (says the fable) he enclosed in an egg. Ahrimán did the same, and these broke the first egg, and thus good and evil became intermixed. Now, all this evidently relates to the constellations-the six good deities were symbolical of the six zodiacal signs, between the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, when the sun was in power. The six evil ones were, of course, the six winter signs. Hormuzd raising himself three times his height above the earth, meant his elevation above the spheres of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which would bring him to the pure ether-the region of the stars. The twenty-four gods were the twenty-four northern constellations, six zodiacal and eighteen extra-zodiacal; for, before Hevelius formed constellations from the stella informes there were but eighteen constellations in either hemisphere. And the twenty-four gods of Ahrimán were, of course, the remaining twenty-four southern or winter constellations. The equinoxes showed the term of duration of power of these great opposing principles; and whether we regard the Persian statues of the bull (Taurus, the vernal equinox) being destroyed by the scorpion (Scorpio, the autumnal equinox), or the fable of Jupiter (the sun of summer) losing his thunderbolt (power, vigour) in winter, as related in the Dionysiac of Nonnus, the meaning is the same. The sun, indeed, was personified with different attributes, according to his position in the zodiac. Thus, the vernal sun was the beardless, youthful Apollo; the autumnal, the bearded, aged Esculapius, son of Apollo, with a serpent twisted round his staff, or even round himself. This serpent was the great serpent of the heavens, which stretched its length beside the three autumnal constellations of Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, and into whose folds the sun appeared to descend in autumn. Hence the explanation of the well-known mythical Hindoo figures of Vishnu, conquered (in autumn), enveloped in the folds of the serpent, and triumphant (in spring), with the serpent raised aloft in his arms. And thus we can understand the enigma uttered by the oracle of Apollo at Claros, in Ionia, which said "I am Jupiter Ammon in spring, and black Pluto in winter."

Dr. IHNE said, the astronomical explanation might be very well applicable to the religion which prevailed before Zoroaster as it was to other ancient religions, but that introduced by him was entirely spiritual and moral-that he may have retained some of the institutions of the old faith, but the peculiar characteristic of the Zoroastrian faith was its

spirituality and high morality, as must have been seen from the extracts read.

Dr. COLLINGWOOD replied that he by no means intended to imply that it was not so, and he was glad that Dr. Ihne had given him an opportunity of making himself better understood. The religion of Zoroaster was singularly refined and purified from the more ancient grossness.

The Rev. C. D. GINSBURG agreed with Dr. Collingwood in the astronomical nature of the ancient religions.

In answer to questions from various members, Mr. DADABHAI said the Parsees were at present, to some extent, fatalists; but this was one of the corruptions which had crept in through their intercourse with the Hindoos. They were monogamous; and their sacred books did not degrade woman below man, though it was only lately that their women had been allowed to mix in society. With regard to the worship of fire, which was brought against them, they regarded fire as the purest and best symbol of the Deity, and that one of His works which could be most conveniently isolated and circumscribed; hence, they had sacred fires in the temples, towards which they turned when addressing their prayers-not to it, but to the god of which it was the symbol. The injunction is to turn their face to anything that is glorious, as the sea, the sun, &c. Such is the explanation often given by the Parsees. I have given, however, in the body of the paper what appears to me to be the true state of the case. They would not abuse fire, nor extinguish it unnecessarily, nor use it in a contemptuous manner. Hence, the Parsees do not smoke. Their estimation of all other natural objects, such as water, trees, &c., being quite equal to that for fire, they would not do anything which they consider as abuse or defilement of them; also, they would never spit, nor throw any dirty thing upon them.

The PRESIDENT, in conclusion, said that the interesting paper and discussion they had heard more and more convinced him that God was not without witnesses in all countries and in all ages. He called upon the society to give an unanimous vote of thanks to Mr. Dadabhai, which was carried by acclamation.

TWELFTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 1st April, 1861.

The REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. GEORGE MELLY was elected a member.

The SECRETARY read several letters from scientific societies in London and elsewhere, in which promises were made to send their Proceedings to the Literary and Philosophical Society in future.

Mr. MORTON exhibited various fossils from the neighbourhood of Prescot and St. Helens, consisting of Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, Calamites, Anthrocosia robustus, scales and teeth of fishes, &c.

Dr. COLLINGWOOD read some passages from a private letter from Mr. Darwin, in which that gentleman expressed himself with regard to the theory of natural selection in a manner which could not fail to remove much of the prejuidice and and hostility generally maintained against his views.

The following paper was then read—