AMRITA This method of restoring youth and energy has been the principal secret of the O.T.O. (Order of Oriental Templars) for very many years. It has been brought into line with modern scientific thought and practice by the researches of the present Grand Master of the Order. It does not depend on drugs, injections, operations or other violent interference with the Order of Nature, but renews the tissues by the administration of the Amrita, or Elixir of Immortality itself. But before this can be done, the body must be thoroughly cleansed of its accumulated poisons and the elasticity of its mechanical structure restored. This process requires from three to seven months, according to the original condition of the patient, and his assiduity in following out the prescribed course. The treatment can be carried out without interference with the patient's mode of life, occupying as a rule only one to two hours daily. The result is a real, not merely apparent, reduction of the patient's age from 5 to 15 years. The benefit is a definite gain. As years pass, and the natural processes of aging continue, the final treatment can be applied to those who have been previously attuned to it without the long preliminary purification; that is, within a single month. It may be advisable, as a general rule, to take this every five years. The O.T.O. has decided to accept a few selected patients from without its own membership; applications should be addressed BM/JPKH, London W.C.1. or to The fees amount to Twenty-five Guineas weekly, inclusive. THE ELIXIR OF LIFE: OUR MAGICAL MEDICINE. A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. The title of my address to-night may well have caused surprise in some quarters. Magick seems to interest a great many people, and rejuvenation a great many others; but the two classes rarely overlap. It is part of my purpose this evening, however, to show that this is founded upon a misconception of the nature of both subjects. In reality they almost coincide. Is it not written? "They that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." I think I had better begin by giving you a glimpse of the secret initiated tradition of magick with regard to the doctrine of rejuvenation. The essential point to grasp is that, while we do not by any means regard the universe as an illusion in a sense in which that word is understood by certain schools of Hindus, we hold that there exists a certain hierarchy of reality, the most spiritual rank of which is the truest perfection and reality. That form of matter which is directly perceptible by the senses, while not wholly unreal, is regarded, if I may use the expression, as the excrement of the living truth of a thing. It may be regarded in another light as circumstantial evidence of reality. Perhaps I may make myself clearer by quoting the very practical case of a murder trial. The Prisoner is charged with taking away the life of a fellow-creature, "feloniously, willfully and of his malice aforethought." It is his spiritual condition, his motive, which constitutes the crime of murder, and the actual facts of the case are only important so far as they go to create an irrefragable presumption of his state of mind. Now the essence of magick is the working upon phenomena by spiritual forms of energy. We use the laws of nature, and the materials at our disposal, in much the same way a painter uses the laws of light and his colours and canvasses to convey his idea of ultimate truth to others, and by enlightening them in this way to obtain the desired impression. It is merely a question of practice and the technique to overcome the inertial of our materials, to bring order from chaos; and we have to work within the natural limits of things if we are to obtain what we want. The magician does not try to eat tintacks. His art in this matter consists in taking substances naturally nutritious, and preparing them in such a way as will best satisfy his palate and his digestion. It should therefore not occasion any surprise, least of all to the distinguished audience which I have the honour of addressing this evening, if I insist that the problem of rejuvenation can only be properly attacked from the magical salient. It is, of course, perfectly true that we can bring about desired changes by manipulation of matter on its own plane, but from the point of view of the magician this is a clumsy and empirical method, and furthermore is liable to prove dangerous; because such operations are, in the nature of things, little better than blind guesses. To be really successful, we must study the essential qualities both of our means and of our object. We must stand outside and above them if we are to deal with them effectively, and this means the use of magical methods. After all, one of the factors in our problem is physical life itself, which can hardly be confused with the combinations of matter which give rise to it, or (at least) are commonly associated with its manifestations. Such, briefly, are the outlines of the theory on which magicians have worked since the beginning of history. We may now take a very cursory glance at the magical tradition itself insofar as it bears upon this problem of rejuvenation. One need not refer seriously to people like King Brahmadatta, who reigned an hundred and twenty thousand years in Benares. The enormous bulk of Oriental figures can be dismissed as symbolic, and everyone who has travelled in the East and inquired how far it is to the nearest village, will be very painfully reminded of the local lack of precision. But in the Book of Genesis we get (in the pre-diluvian genealogy) very precise figures, and, whatever the explanation may be, the ordinary one which applies to so many Biblical statements, the moral interpretation of a number according to the words which it represents, does not apply. I see no particular reason to disbelieve wholesale the general tradition of great longevity. It seems to be quite reasonable to admit that in primitive times the dangers of life were very much less than they are now. The world was emptier, life was simpler, the number of diseases was very much less. There were no regular doctors. I cannot say that I attach any very great importance to any argument drawn from this source. The utmost that one can say is that life need not necessarily be anything like as short as the average to-day. Within our own generation the statistics of Insurance Companies show that quite slight modifications in the circumstances of a people can make very notable differences in the average duration of life. To continue this historical animadversion, there is really, as far as I know, nothing in the Bible which indicates clearly the existence of any secret traditional method of prolonging life. Long life is always regarded as a blessing, but the only method of obtaining it seems to have been piety, and it is perhaps fortunate that we are not confined to this somewhat vague method, as piety is dead to-day. Nor have my researches carried me far enough to enable me to tell you, with any authority, what folk-lore to search for the first indication of that quest of the elixir of life which appears so spontaneously with the alchemists; but I feel inclined to surmise that it must have existed in secret for a long period, since it comes into notice contemporaneously with the general Renaissance. There may perhaps have been some mystery concealed beneath the fables of the Greek mythology, where immortality, usually under restricted conditions, is attained by mortals; generally as a result of pleasing the gods, or of driving a hard bargain with them. In any case, the elixir of life became known as one of the three principal pre-occupations of alchemy, and here we come at once upon a very interesting and suggestive fact. Even to-day, in spite of research, it is not openly known what was the real theory of the alchemist. It seems to us absurd that a man who was trying to make gold from baser metals should have abused all his colleagues on the grounds that they were heretics or of bad moral character. But that is no longer so curious if one assumes (with one school) that the alchemists were really mystics in many cases, and were not dealing with ordinary chemistry at all, which is absurd, because their works do follow them: or with the school to which I myself adhere, the school which holds and works with the theory which I outlined in the beginning of these remarks, that matter is nothing but a sensible symbol of spiritual causes of phenomena. In other words, the alchemists dealt magically with matter. At this point we may reach out a hand to the East and dwell for a moment upon the general theory of Prana. Prana is usually translated "force." Perhaps energy would be a better term. We cannot say exactly what it is, but it is that which distinguishes live protoplasm from dead protoplasm. It is that by virtue of which things live and move and have their being. It is a form of energy by whose adroit manipulation one can affect the outward appearances, that is to say the physical phenomena which are its reflection in the grosses world of illusion, that is to say, the world we know. To give a practical example. If a man is ill, they diagnose that the prana in his body is in some way out of order, and they attempt to cure him by teaching him to control his prana by means of various exercises, principally of breathing, for they claim that the principal vehicle of prana is breath. In the light of modern physiology, these theories do not sound as absurd as they would have done to our grandfathers. The whole tendency of physics and its soul, mathematics, in the last thirty years or more, has been to move away from the hard-headed and heavy-footed materialism of the Victorian era. The grossest qualities of any substance, not less than the most subtle, are nowadays conceived as being various modes of its motion. All the ultimate terms employed by modern thinkers to attempt to define the real nature of a thing have become infinitely subtle in conception, appreciable only by the noblest intelligences; and (even so) they are found to be indefinable, so much so that certain modern writers have been able to form a daisy-chain of the ten principal conception, a chain in which no link exists except in relation to the others. This fundamental revolution in our whole habit if though has become familiar to all of us; even the merest readers of newspapers in little paragraphs know that an element is not, as was supposed fifty years ago, an ultimate substance sui generis. Perhaps the best way to picture an element is as an essential kind of dance rhythm. If then this be so in so gross a matter as chemistry, why should it not be even easier to apply these principals to physiology? The life of the body is in the individual cell, and it is on the harmony and interplay and on the well-being of these cells, that health depends and life itself. We come, therefore, quite quickly and quietly to the heart of the problem. We grow old because our cells fail to keep up with the rhythm of the dance of life. But there is nothing the matter with the cells themselves. During the first years a life they dance so well that their administrator increases constantly in mental and bodily stature. It is also known that the principal cause of cellular degeneration is failure to get rid of waste tissue. The cells are clogged; there are no longer as elastic as they were. A great many modern methods of rejuvenation lay special stress upon attempts to cleanse the body. You may be interested especially in one which has always been held very secret. To-night is probably the first time that it has ever been mentioned at all except under vows of the greatest secrecy. I refer to the method of cleansing by the four elements. The waste products of the body are attacked one by one in a carefully graduated series of treatments, and, without any other assistance, a body which is not too hopelessly down the hill is able to pick up the rhythm of youth and activity. As a matter of fact, this is merely a scientific development of what is done by all of us in empirical ways with our holidays by the sea, and our sun bathing, our cures in various spas, our mud baths, our radio treatments, and the like. The difference is that the cleansing by the four elements does not leave any corner unvisited. I am inclined to think that were it practically possible to live from the beginning in perfectly hygienic conditions, that there would be no need for any elixir of life, but unfortunately we are all so situated that circumstances are constantly forcing us into the most scandalous neglect of every precaution about health. To renew our strength as the eagle's, we are therefore compelled to go back to the elixir of life, and I should like to mention to you one or two cases where this subject has been dealt with in fiction. You all remember that in Lytton's ®MDUL¯Zanoni®MDNM¯, the adept Mejnour had gone on cheerfully living and being rude to people for many centuries; but the author is deplorably vague about what Mejnour did to produce this effect, and no one need wonder that his creator became a strikingly successful politician. Then we have the very famous case of Althotas in Dumas' ®MDUL¯Memoirs of a Physician®MDNM¯; and there again the only ingredient which is specified with any precision is that at the last moment the elixir is to be completed with the three last drops of blood drawn from the body of a virgin. This, of course, links up with the tradition of ritual murder and the like, and I have no intention of going further into that widely talked-of and little-known subject to-night. In any case, there is no attempt at a scientific explanation of the theory. Far otherwise is the case of Claude FarrŠre in ®MDUL¯La Maison des Hommes Vivants.®MDNM¯ Claude FarrŠre is a very good friend of mine, and I have spent many very pleasant evenings with him, though not entirely, I weep blushingly to say, upon pure research. But he told me much of his life in the East, of the wisdom he had learned from the Chinese philosophers; and as I am personally convinced that no one can know anything at all until he has harmonised, I may even say identified, all existing theories of the universe, I believe that what he puts forward in this book is worthy of the most serious attention. In case any one here has not read it, I will just outline the essential part of the story. A French Officer, lost in a fog, encounters a very vigorous man, white-bearded, who proves to be some eighty years of age. He gives the Officer shelter, and introduces him to his father and grandfather, all equally alert and vigorous. The grandfather explains that he learned the secret of rejuvenation from the famous Comte de St. Germain, who was himself reputed to have lived for a number of centuries. The one important factor in his account of St. Germain is that the cause of his death was really that he had been too ambitious, that he had tried to fix himself at the age of forty or thereabouts, instead of later; the idea being that at forty one lives a life which is liable to serious shocks so grave that a physiology cannot always be relied upon to repair the damage. The old gentleman took warning by this disaster, made his experiment and decided to stay in the neighborhood of eighty, although retaining the very fullest use of his faculties in every way. Now, what was the method employed by these worthy persons? They had a curious piece of apparatus, something in the nature of an enormous lens, which they put up in the middle of a large room with an armchair on each side of it. They applied some unspecified source of energy which transferred, through the lens, the living cells of the person in one chair to the person in the other. The evident result is that the giver is completely exhausted, and requires some period of recuperation before he or she is again fit to communicate more life. We are reminded at once, of course, not only of the old stories of vampirism, but of modern methods of transfusion of blood, and also of the methods of Dr. Voronoff. Now in this story it is not expressed in so many words, but it is subtly implied throughout, that although the actual method of rejuvenation is, prima facie, material, a great deal of psychic energy is required to make it effective. Now in the three methods which I have mentioned the same thing is curiously true. Vampirism is definitely a magical art. In transfusion of blood there must by a peculiar sympathy between the giver and the receiver; and the operations of Dr. Voronoff might, I think, be very much more effective if he had studied what Paracelsus and Baptista Porta called sympathy, as well as the general theory of prana. I have produced these examples really more as "horrible examples" than as monuments to human wisdom. To the initiate such things only indicate how useless is all human wisdom unenlightened by the Spirit of Truth. The initiate constantly reads of the latest "great discovery in science", and is reminded of what was taught him in the secret conclaves of the Adepts at the very outset of his studies; and this is no less true of methods of rejuvenation that it is of the theory of relativity. You will find space described as "finite yet boundless" in the poem of a boy of twenty-five, published in the year 1901. All Einstein in one phrase! The Adepts have always known how to prolong life and, what is infinitely more important, the activity and enjoyment of life; but as they happen to be men of sense they have refrained from publishing such dangerous information to the world, and they have refrained from applying it even to themselves unless some serious cosmic purpose is to be served by doing so in any set case. In the ordinary way we are liable to say; "Let us not interfere with natural processes, let us die when the time comes, and start afresh!" In fact, I do not think I should have chosen this subject at all for discussion to-night but for the fact that it is very much in the mind of the world at the present moment. It is particularly stupid that it should be so, because what the what the world wants is a really effective disease which would wipe out one-third of the population of the earth, sparing either those who were either strong enough or intelligent enough to resist or evade it. For it would certainly be most deplorable if we should reach in reality a state like that described by Jonathan Swift in his account of the Struldbruggs. We really cannot do with any more statement that we have at present. But there are no doubt cases where prolongation of active life might enable the completion of an important research; and no doubt any of you will be able to think of other cases suitable for the purpose; especially your own. I am compelled by the terms of my oath to refrain from any public exposition of the theory and practice of rejuvenation. I may even get a rap or two over the knuckles for the hints I have already given, but I can at least give my personal testimony to the fact that this process is not chimerical; but is a living reality of science. I will tell you of one or two cases I have seen. The first is that of a man of forty years of age. He was resident in New York, and prepared (very hastily and ignorantly) the elixir from the doubtless imperfect data at his disposal. He took a dose. Nothing came of it, as in the case of the boy who prayed for the bicycle. So he took another dose; with no result. He took a third dose, and it merely made him angry. He began to want to prove that it was useless, and took four more doses. At this moment he went to live in a cottage by the borders of a lake in New Hampshire, having purchased a sailing canoe and a little axe to chop his wood, to cook his supper with, and to remind him of George Washington; and then the stuff began to work in the most violent way. He lost the whole of his intellectual interests, he became rather like a stupid boy in his teens, he began to cut down trees like a madman; he put in fifteen hours a day at it. On one occasion he wanted to make a wharf for his canoe, a 17 feet canoe, so he cut down a tree and prepared a section 22 feet long, the trunk being so big that he could not put his arms nearly round it even at the smaller end. He had no tools, and yet he worked that log down through the other trees into the water. The feat became notorious; people came from all sides to witness it. This fantastic burst of energy lasted a month or so. It then became spiritualised, and he did in six weeks more work than would be expected in as many months. Then a violent reaction set in, and he was more or less afflicted with lassitude for nearly half a year. Such annoyance may be caused to those who follow up ignorance by indiscretion. But this man learned through his mistake, and when he came to try the experiment again, some six years later, he took the proper precautions. He prepared the elixir intelligently and with care, he measured doses with proper precaution, and in good conditions. This experiment was a complete success. Instead of forty-seven one would have taken him at the most for thirty-five; but he retained all his intellectual interests and abilities. In fact they were greatly enhanced, as well as his essential physical well-being. This state of things was persisting indefinitely when it was cut short by a series of tragic occurrences of a purely external character, though even so the result of his operation is till, in spite of very adverse circumstances, noticeable to-day. The other case with which I propose to detain your attention for a moment is that of a woman, of just under forty years old, if I remember correctly. She was constitutionally sound, but suffering from complete nervous exhaustion and debility. In this case two doses only of the elixir not only restored her to more than her normal health and strength, but took a good ten years off her apparent age. These are no doubt spectacular results, and perhaps one may admit that the circumstances were about as favourable for success as they could have been; but on the other hand the preparer and administrator of the medicine, in both cases, had not anything like the experience that he should have had, and I have no doubt myself that practice and further experiment would enable us to perfect this method of magical rejuvenation within a very short time. In particular, I am convinced that the key to progress depends upon emphasising this word magical. I am sure that the spiritual conditions of our existence must be made perfect before life itself will be really worth living. As I said at the beginning, they that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. ®MDUL¯REMARKABLE EXPERIMENT WITH THE ELIXIR OF LIFE. ®MDNM¯(Extract from a Diary). I now began seriously to devote myself to research. In the bosom of the gnosis of the O.T.O. is cherished a magical formula, extremely simple and practical, for attaining any desired object. It is however, peculiarly appropriate to the principal operations of alchemy, most of all the preparation of the Elixir of Life and the Universal Medicine. At first I used this method casually. It was only when various unexpectedly and even astoundingly successful operations compelled by attention, that I devoted myself systematically and scientifically to the serious study and practice of it. For some two and a half years I had conducted a careful ad strenuous research into the conditions of success. Experience has shown me that sometimes this was complete, but at others partial or even negligible, while not infrequently the work would result in failure, perhaps almost amounting to disaster. Before leaving for my hermitage, I had prepared by this method an elixir whose virtue should be to restore youth, and of this I had taken seven doses. Nothing particular happened at first; and it never occurred to me that it might be imprudent to continue. I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached the hermitage before I was suddenly seized with an attack of youth in its acutest form. All mental activity became distasteful. I turned into a mere vehicle of physical energy. I could not satisfy my instincts by paddling the canoe which I had imported. I spent about an hour every day in housework and cooking; the remaining fifteen hours of waking life were filled by passionately swinging an axe without interruption. I could hardly stop to smoke a pipe. There was no self-delusion about this, as I might have persuaded myself to believe in the absence of external evidence. But this was furnished by an irrefutable monument. I wanted to build a wharf for my canoe. With this object I cut down a tree and trimmed a twenty-two foot log. Its circumference at the smaller end was too great for my arms to meet round it. My only instrument for moving this was a wooden pole. The tree had fallen about a hundred yards from the bank, and though it was downhill all the way to the lake, the ground was very uneven and the path so narrow that it was impossible to roll the log at all. Nevertheless, I moved it single-handed into the lake, where I fixed it by driving piles. Passers-by spread the story of the Hermit-with-superhuman-strength, and people came from all parts to gaze upon the miracle. I should mention that in the ordinary way it is quite an effort for me to shift a sixty pound load for even a few feet. So much for the sufficiently remarkable truth. Of course imagination improved on the story. I received an indignant letter from New York from the lady who had lent me the cottage, reproaching me for having built a dam right across the lake to the detriment of navigation! This spasm of energy continued without abatement for about five weeks, after which I gradually recovered the balance of my normal faculties. The effect of my operation was now to increase the energy of each of them, but in reasonable proportion. I was now able to begin my proposed magical research. ®MDUL¯Strictly Private and Confidential.®MDNM¯ ®MDUL¯AMRITA.®MDNM¯ Experiment on A.O. begun January 23rd, 1933. e.v. Interim Report at end of Week VI of the Purifications. ®MDUL¯Preliminary Notes.®MDNM¯ (1) The conditions of the Experiment are very unfavourable indeed, for the following reasons:- (a) A.O. has neglected his health altogether for some years past. There are several serious troubles of long standing, in particular -- I Asthma II Bronchitis III Neurasthenia IV Obesity V Stricture VI Some Cardiac distress VII Greying Hair VIII Loss of Interest in Sex (b) This neglect has been due to extreme distress and anxiety, which still persist. (c) The actual physical conditions suitable for the Experiment are not available; there is also uncertainty as to whether it will be possible to carry out the Experiment at all, even in the restricted manner devised to meet the situation. (d) It is altogether impossible to prepare the Elixir properly until the above obstacles (a) (b) and (c) have been entirely removed. The attempts made to prepare it in the course of this 6 weeks have been only partially satisfactory. The Substitute-Purifications were carried out principally by Mr. Archibald Cockren, at 142, Great Portland Street. They consisted, for the most part, of:-- (a) Colon Massage. (b) Loosening of the Vertebrae. (c) Loosening of certain other bones, especially in the region of the neck. (d)Exposure of the head, arms, and trunk to Ultra-Violet and Sunlight Rays. (e) Special treatment of the Scalp. These methods were supplemented by A.C. in the following ways:-- (a) A course of treatment by Uricedin. (b). Certain secret methods of "Magick." He has not yet ventured to begin serious dieting. ®MDUL¯Condition of the patient at the end of the First Week:®MDNM¯ ®MDUL¯Asthma®MDNM¯-- A little but much better. Sleep constantly broken up by fits of coughing up phlegm - tough and yellow. These fits often proceeded to vomiting. ®MDUL¯Nerves®MDNM¯-- Very much better, but still far from good. ®MDUL¯Stricture®MDNM¯-- Quite remarkable improved. Only reappeared for one short period (of hours only) a week or two later. ®MDUL¯Obesity®MDNM¯--Abdomen still distended despite massage and Uricedin. ®MDUL¯Weight®MDNM¯-- 13 st. 6 lbs. - 188 lbs. ®MDUL¯Age®MDNM¯-- 57 1/4 The second and third weeks show slight but regular improvement. The main symptom of improvement is that in the middle of the third week the patient was taking enough interest in life to begin sexual relations. These were difficult to perform and quite unsatisfactory in result. On Thursday, February 9th, however, he prepared (in a crude form) and absorbed a minute dose of the Elixir, of that kind which vitalises the reproductive powers. On Friday, February 10th, the collapsed, chiefly owing to an electric storm, to which he has always been over-sensitive. On Saturday, February 11th, after a second small dose, he reports his sexual power as almost fully restored. After rest in bed during the whole of Sunday, February 12th -- this is part of the regiment -- he spent three nights of the fourth week with his mistress. Week V, 5 nights; Week VI, 4 nights -- two days of this week were again disturbed by depressing conditions. ®MDUL¯Report at end of Fifth Week.®MDNM¯ ®MDUL¯Sex life®MDNM¯ very actively restored -- on the day after the second dose of the Elixir. ®MDUL¯Stricture®MDNM¯ wholly gone. ®MDUL¯Asthma®MDNM¯ somewhat changed in character but still persists. ®MDUL¯Nerves®MDNM¯: after the second dose of the Elixir his thoughts became robust and juvenile. For instance, if snow were threatened, he began at once to think of ski, and to ®MDUL¯wish®MDNM¯ that he could go at once to snow countries. On waking early he would not bewail his sleeplessness, but only that in London there is no convenient means of going out and taking exercise at that hour. The pulse is now that of a man of 35, the spine that of a man of 40. The hair is now growing out quite black, and new hair is invading the bald patch. On Sunday, February 26th, he took a dose of the Elixir specially prepared as against Asthma and Bronchitis. On Monday morning he had the sudden feeling that he was definitely cured -- not merely that the condition was improved -- and when he arrived at Great Portland Street this was found to be a manifest fact. (The only obstruction left was to be discovered only on very deep expiration: this, however, may make it necessary to administer at least one more dose of the Elixir at a later stage). At the end of the Sixth Week, the patient simply refused to continue the routine of a day in bed on Sunday. He went into the country and walked some seven or eight miles, the last three very fast, against time. This somewhat overtaxed his strength, and induced a long sleep in the afternoon, followed by a rather disturbed night with vivid dreams and a certain recurrence of the asthmatic condition. It is now quite proper for him to supplement the regimen hitherto followed out by the special diets appropriate to the Treatment. As, moreover, it has been found satisfactory to administer the Elixir for special purposes during the course of the Purifications, instead of only at the end of the Six Months period, it is desirable to establish a small laboratory at once, where the preparation can be properly carried out. 6666666666666 ®MDUL¯THE ELIXIR OF LIFE.®MDNM¯ Although I was admitted to the thirty-third and last degree of Freemasonry so long ago as 1900, it was not until the summer of 1912 that my suspicion was confirmed. I speak of my belief that behind the frivolities and convivialities of our greatest institution lay in truth a secret ineffable and miraculous, potent to control the forces of Nature, and not only to make men brethren, but to make them divine. But at the time I speak of a man cam to me, a man of those mysterious masters of Esoteric Freemasonry who are alike its Eyes and its Brains, and who exist in its midst -- unknown, often even to its acknowledged chiefs. This man had been watching my occult career for some years, and deemed me now worthy to partake in the Greater Mysteries. With these he proceeded to acquaint me, and my life since then had been devoted principally to their study and practice. I say practice, as no mere intellectual attainment is at issue; on the contrary, it would be simple for me to communicate the knowledge of the principal secret in three words, if I were not bound alike by my oath and by my natural good sense. It is the practical application of the secret that demands labour, intelligence, and -- something more. In my case the two and a half years of research on these lines have not sufficed to make me perfect, only to make me bet about 3 to 1 that in any given operation I shall succeed. In the Manifesto of the most secret Order of which my master is the head, is written: "In its (the Order's) bosom repose the Great Mysteries; its brain has resolved all the problems of philosophy and life. It possesses the secret of the Stone of the Wise, the Elixir of Immortality, and the Universal Medicine. "Moreover, it possesses a secret capable of realising the world-old dream of the Brotherhood of Man." Just at this juncture its adepts are busy on the last work above mentioned; they mean to take a hand in the reconstruction of the Old World, and make another such catastrophe as the present war impossible. At the same time, they welcome the war as having given them their opportunity. But just now it is my purpose to speak of the Elixir of Life. In Nature there is nothing … priori impossible unless it be a contradiction in terms. There is nothing impossible, then, in the idea of prolonging life, and youth. Already more hygiene has done a very great deal in the course of a generation, and the insurance companies have made fortunes in consequence. Consider the human body, why it decays. Each cell in that body is theoretically immortal in the biological sense. It can reproduce itself without loss. The very Laws of the Conservation of Matter and of Energy show that this must be so. All change in the Universe is compensated by other change. Huxley showed that the simpler organisms are in fact immortal. They grow, reproduce themselves by division, grow again, divide again, and so on through the ages, unless some accident interferes. Now the much more complex organism, man, may (for all we know) be similarly immune to time. At least, we know this, that man's career is marked by unfortunate mischances, and that the sum of these is the common cause of death. Very few die of old age, pure and simple. Titian was painting vigorously at the age of 99, and it took an epidemic of cholera to kill him. It might easily be that a man, sheltered from all accident might live to an age suppose beyond attainment. But even as things are, we have several cases of people who have reached 150. However, let us ask what it is that produces senility. Not major accidents, such as typhus fever, are required. It is the slow degeneration by poisoning, minute, unperceived poisoning, that works the mischief. It is diseases long prepared in the system, such as Bright's Diabetes, Gout, Rheumatism, Arterio-Sclerosis that count. And therefore I shall ask the reader to regard every deposit of poison in the system as an accident, one of those minor accidents whose sum is death. This is not new; indeed Metchnikoff and others have proposed to obtain immortality by perfecting the excretory system. They believe -- and I partly withhold contradiction -- that if only pure nourishment entered the body, it would renew itself daily in perfection, instead of in that slight imperfection which makes its story a slow but certain tragedy. There are thus two problems to be solved; (1) To remove from the body every substance that tends to injure it; and (2) To nourish the body with a substance so pure, so quintessentially vital, that it can flood the man with life itself, at the same time placing no strain upon the organs. This substance we know. Of it the wise men of old have written in many symbols. Hermes Trismegistus on his Emerald Tablet engraved of it "The Sun is its Father; the Moon its Mother; it is born of the wind, and the Earth is its nurse." Everybody has part of it; nobody has all of it. It dies at its birth, and it lives again at its death. Eliphaz Levi called it "Magnetized Electricity." In the Bible it is asked concerning it, "What is sweeter that honey, and what is stronger than a lion?" It is made by dissolving sulphur in salt. It is made of the dew upon the rose, or of the pearl in an oyster. All these riddles have only one answer, and he is the wisest of all men on earth who can best solve them. For this substance is not only the strongest thing on earth, but the most sensitive; it is master of humanity, and yet perfectly obedient to the will of man. Say to it "Bring money" and it obeys; bid it cure the sick, and straightaway they are cured. I believe there is no event within the fence of possibility that cannot be brought about by its use. So great are the potentialities of this substance that the knowledge of it is only entrusted to high initiates, and then only after years of service to the Order. For one thing, so rare and precious is this substance that if its value were know this race of lunatics of which we are the ornaments would instantly set to work killing each other in order to obtain it. It is not only the Elixir of Life but of Death. The particular work of rejuvenation is a long a difficult process, and I have never had leisure to undertake it. Yet as a mere side issue of other experiments I have found my vitality increased, my health improved, my appearance altogether changed as the accompanying photographs will show. I am proposing shortly to undertake a retirement in company with another initiate, to carry out the full process, and ascertain the limits of its power. I do not imagine that the clock can be put back beyond the critical point of Equilibrium with advantage, that adolescence can replace maturity, but I am sure that so far as the body is uninjured, it can be made a perfect medium for the full current of life and vigour, and that not only can decay be arrested, but the very seeds thereof sterilized. It is forbidden now as it has always been to disclose the operation, or even to call public attention to its results. Only to interest and encourage those who may be worthy of a full measure of knowledge it is permitted to exhibit a lesser matter. We possess a certain substance which has the property of raising a man, however exhausted, to his highest activity for a whole night; in the morning he is as fresh as if he had had a full sleep. Only on the succeeding evening he should retire early, and sleep long, as the action of this substance is only temporary, and it is unwise to renew its application unless in case of urgency. This I am prepared to demonstrate. I do not guarantee instant success in all cases, for this substance is subtle in its action, and the dose suited to any man must be determined by experiment. In my experience I have known it vary from 50 to 450 drops, and I am quite unable to judge what any given person needs. The greatest tolerance of its action I ever saw was in the case of a girl of 20. However, two or three experiments are usually enough; and from that time one has the best "emergency ration" ever discovered. ®MDUL¯ADDITIONAL CASES.®MDNM¯ ®MDUL¯Case 41-54.®MDNM¯ Anglo-Indian woman wife of a merchant in the Bombay Presidency. Heir badly wanted for reasons of family, property, and succession. Catamenia had ceased for over three years. Husband proposed friendly divorce. The woman was in fine athletic condition, and was able to receive the Amrita after only nine weeks purifications. The following day she was seized with violent abdominal pains, which subsided after two hours. The treatment was continued in a modified form, and a second dose administered two weeks later. The former pains returned at once, and ended in a sanguinolent discharge of very foul matter. After another week a third dose was given. No pains followed, but just six days later normal healthy menstruation began. In two years and six months she gave birth to two male children, and expected a third pregnancy. ®MDUL¯Case 73.®MDNM¯ Army officer 54 long service mostly in India. Had been impotent for over 15 years. Sports -- polo and stalking in Kashmir. Old malarial subject -- liver affected. I insisted on change of climate before taking the case. His health improved greatly. He proved a difficult patient, and needed the full six months course. Four doses were administered in the 7th month. Potency returned after the first dose, but not satisfactorily. After the 4th he was like an exceptionally strong man of 40. Unfortunately he abused his powers, got into the clutches of a loose woman, and took to drinking heavily. ®MDUL¯Case 33-16.®MDNM¯ Widow, 40, had been great athlete -- golf, tennis, hunting, winter sports. Her husband's death five years earlier had completely demoralised her. She weighed 15 stone 2 pounds, and cared for nothing but drink and low companions. She was haunted by the fear of cancer, which she had not got. Her physician sent her to Dr. Alfred Adler, who tried to rescue her morally; when she moved from Vienna to Berlin in 1931, he asked me to continue the treatment. I found her already so much improved by him that I easily brought her to the point of intense will to regain the integrity of her life. She was an excellent patient, and lost 4 stone in 6-7 weeks. I was then able to begin the purifications, and after two months to administer the Amrita. She reacted splendidly; went back to sport with enthusiasm and success, married within the year, and is still happy with her young husband. I saw her on a visit to England in 1937; she looks no more than 35, though actually 46, and lives the athletic life of a woman of 30. She has asked me to repeat the treatment in three years' time. ®MDUL¯Case 20-42.®MDNM¯ Actress, 45, obliged to lead a too strenuous life involving irregular hours, and much drinking in polluted atmosphere. Completely exhausted; nerves seriously damaged; had finally been compelled to go to a `rest-cure.' She began to slip back almost at once, was sent to me by her protector, a Wall-Street broker, in 1918. She was so bad a patient that it was impossible to continue in New York; three months on a farm in Georgia pulled her together. I was then able to apply intensive treatment, and administer the Amrita two months later. She recovered her youth at once; her menstruation, which had become irregular and painful, was completely restored. In 1928 she was reported to me as very active and bright both mentally and physically; "a well-preserved woman of 40," though actually 55. She was killed in a wreck. ®MDUL¯Case 23-42.®MDNM¯ Ship-broker and Insurance Company Vice-President, 65. A clean-living, sound, healthy, open-air man. Came to me in 1918. The strain of the War had aged him; his nerves were playing him false, he was losing sleep, and his sexual powers were failing. After six weeks I was able to give the Amrita; he recovered his fullest energy, and successfully tackled the business situation which had helped to age him. He told me he was now sexually a man of 40. Ten years later he reported that he was still in full possession of all his faculties; but he had retired to a hermit's life on a ranch. He said that he wished to fade out quietly rather than renew the treatment, as he had no further worldly ambition, and was devoting himself to the religious life. ®MDUL¯Case 29-18.®MDNM¯ Civil servant, 60. Long sedentary and very worrying work had destroyed his health. His retirement at 55 left him in a backwater. In 1936 he was a complete wreck. He was a very good and conscientious patient, especially when, after the first fortnight, he regained hope. But degeneration and atrophy were too far advanced. The full six months were required to prepare him, and even then the Amrita had to be administered with great caution. However, he recovered his interest in life, and his physical faculties. He married an old friend, and went off to live quietly and pleasantly in a Villa-farm in the Alpes Maritimes. He expects to renew the treatment in 1940. ®MDUL¯Case 25-17.®MDNM¯ Married woman, 30, tired of life. Good physical condition, required only two months purifications. The first dose of Amrita restored her to the full enjoyment of her first youth. She is now tireless and a fountain of happiness. ®MDUL¯Case 28-17.®MDNM¯ Married woman, 42, obese and idle. Bitterly aware of failure to attract. Came to me in 1932. A good patient, despite some lapses. Gave Amrita after 4 1/2 months. She responded admirably. She is still, six years later, sprightly, energetic and devastating. Would not look more than 35, but makes up badly. ®MDUL¯Case 33-27.®MDNM¯ Artist, 60, worn-out. Came to me in 1933. A bad patient; required the full six months -- which took eight because of his lapses. I should have given up the case had it not been for personal friendship. He recovered his sexual powers, and the desire to work. But years of excessive drinking had injured his accomplishment. He is now a "bad 55" instead of a "bad 65." ®MDUL¯Case 33-8.®MDNM¯ Chess-player, 40, completely wrecked by drink. Impossible to treat properly, as his moral character was gone. Used emergency measures, more as an experiment than as a serious treatment. He won a very important championship two years running. Has since come into money, and canceled his intervals of sobriety. ®MDUL¯Case 38-1.®MDNM¯ Philosopher, 62, sedentary habits. Had previous treatment, very successfully, so attuned to the method. One months's purifications were ample, have several small doses of the Amrita. He now appears in the early fifties, but leads the life of a man of 35-40, and talks of going back to athletic sports, abandoned twenty years ago. Case in progress.