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NOTES QUERIES

AND

· A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF

HISTORY, FOLK-LORE, MATHEMATICS,
MYSTICS, ART, SCICNCE, Etc.

"The one thing in the world of value is the active Soul."-Emerson.

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AG305
N35

v. 14

"From harmony, from heavenly harmony,
This universal frame began ;

From harmony to harmony,

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in man."-W. Dryden.

"In fields of air he writes his name,

And treads the chambers of the sky;
He reads the stars, and grasps the flame
That quivers in the realms on high.
In war renowned, in peace sublime,

He moves in greatness and in grace ;

His power, subduing space and time,

Links realm to realm, and race to race."-Chas. Sprague

"A voice within us speaks that startling word,
'Man, thou shalt never die!' Celestial voices
Hymn it unto our souls; according harps,
By angel fingers touched, when the mid stars
Of morning sang together, sound forth still
The song of our great immortality;

Thick clustering orbs, and this our fair domain,
The tall, dark mountains, and the deep-tone seas,
Join in this solemn, universal song."-R. H. Dana.

3-1-04

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In the whole world shineth a Triad, over which a Monad rules.-Zoroaster. I pray that your whole Spirit, and Soul, and Body may be preserved.-PAul. VOL. XIV.

JANUARY, 1896.

No. 1.

Creation of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE JAPANESE. The Japanese held that the world was enclosed in an egg before the creation, which floated on the surface of the waters. The history is thus given, "Ceremonies and Religious Customs of Various Nations " (p. 417.).

"There is a pagoda at Micoa consecrated to a hieroglyphic bull, which is placed on a large square altar, and composed of solid gold. His neck is adorned with a very costly collar; but that indeed is not the principal object that commands our attention. The most remarkable thing is the Egg which he pushes with his horns, as he gripes it between his forefeet. This bull is placed on the summit of a rock, and the Egg floats in some water, which is enclosed within the hollow space of it. The Egg represents the Chaos; and what follows is the illustration which the doctors of Japan have given of this hieroglyphic. The whole world at the time of the Chaos was enclosed within this Egg, which swam upon the surface of the waters. The Moon by virtue of her Light and other influences, attracted from the bottom of these waters a terrestrial substance, which was insensibly converted to a rock, and by that means the Egg rested upon it. The bull observing this Egg, broke the shell of it, by goring it with his horns, and so created the world, and by his breath formed the human species. This fable may in some measure be reconciled with truth, by supposing that an ancient tradition had preserved amongst the Japanese some idea of the creation of the world: but that being led into an error, in process of time, by the ambiguous meaning of the name of the bull, which in the Hebrew language is attributed to the Deity, they ascribe the creation of the world to this animal, instead of the Supreme Being."

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