The Music of Nature
Includes More Than
Just Sounds
Helena P.
Blavatsky
“The fact is - as has been so often
observed - the dream of one generation
becomes the experience of the next.”
(HPB)
An Editorial Note:
The following
article was first published at “The Theosophist”, India, August 1882, pp.
283-284. C. Jinarajadasa includes it as Appendix C in his own compilation of Mahatma Letters. [1]
According to Theosophy, the grand music or
harmonious vibration permeating the whole of Nature includes not only sounds,
but colors, odours - and levels of consciousness.
This same fundamental law of universal vibration
operates in our planet, in our solar system, and beyond. Regarding the
harmonious correlation existing among different aromas as among all vibrations
in life, one of the Masters of the Wisdom wrote in 1882:
“I have just noticed an
article on smell by some English Professor (which I will cause to
be reviewed in the Theosophist and say a few words), and find in it
something that applies to our case. As, in music, two different sounds may be
in accord and separately distinguishable, and this harmony or discord depends
upon the synchronous vibrations and complementary periods; so there is rapport
between medium and ‘control’ when their astral molecules move in accord.
And the question whether the communication shall reflect more of the one
personal idiosyncrasy, or the other, is determined by the relative intensity of
the two sets of vibrations in the compound wave of Akasha.” [2]
Two classical examples of knowledge of the higher
levels of vibration present in the world of aromas are the traditional use of
incense for the purpose of prayer and meditation, and the ancient (and modern) science
of aromatherapy. Readers are invited to see the article “The Music of Colors”, by Alice L. Cleather, which can be found in
our associated websites.
In order to make the reading easier, we present the
text in smaller paragraphs than at its original publication.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
The Harmonics of Smell
Helena P. Blavatsky
The old proverb,
that “Truth is stranger than fiction,” is again exemplified. An English
scientist - Professor William Ramsay, of University College, Bristol - has just
communicated to “Nature” (see number for June 22) a theory to account for the
sense of smell which is likely to attract much attention.
As the result of observation and experiment, he
propounds the idea that smell is due to vibrations similar to, but of a lower
period than those which give rise to the sense of light and heat.
The sensation of smell, he explains, is provoked by
the contact of substances with the terminal organs of the olfactory nerves,
which are spread as a network over a mucous membrane lining the upper part of
the nasal cavity. The proximate cause of smell is the minute hairlets of the
nasal membrane which connect with the nerves through spindle-shaped cells. The
sensation is not excited by contact with a liquid or solid, but always with a
gas. Even in the case of smelling metals, such as brass, copper, tin, etc.,
there is a subtle gas or pungent vapour given off by them at ordinary
atmospheric temperatures. The varying intensities of smells depend upon their
relative molecular weight, the smell growing stronger as the gases rise in
molecular weight. As to the quality
of smell, that he thinks may depend upon the harmonics of the vibration.
“Thus, the quality of tone in a violin differs from
that of a flute by the different harmonics or overtones, peculiar to each
instrument. I would ascribe to harmonics the quality of smell possessed by
different substances. . . . Smell, then, may resemble sound in having its
quality influenced by harmonics. And just as a piccolo has the same quality as
a flute, although some of its harmonics are so high as to be beyond the range
of the ear, so smells owe their quality to harmonics, which, if occurring
alone, would be beyond the sense.”
Two sounds, heard simultaneously, he remarks, give a
discord or a concord, yet the ear may distinguish them separately. Two colours,
on the other hand, produce a single impression on the eye, and it is doubtful
whether we can analyze them. “But smell resembles sound and not light in this
particular. For in a mixture of smells, it is possible, by practice, to
distinguish each ingredient,” and - in a laboratory experiment - “to match the
sensation by a mixture of different ingredients.” Apparently astonished at his
own audacity, he brings forward “the theory adduced with great diffidence.”
Poor discoverer, the elephantine foot of the Royal Society may crush his toes!
The problem, he says, is to be solved “by a careful measurement of the ‘lines’
in the spectrum of heat rays, and the calculation of the fundamentals, which
this theory supposes to be the cause of smell.”
It may be a comfort to Professor Ramsay to know that
he is not the first to travel the path he suddenly has found winding from his
laboratory door up the hill of fame. Twenty or more years ago, a novel,
entitled “Kaloolah”, was published in America by one Dr. Mayo, a well-known
writer.[3] It pretended, among other
things, to describe a strange city, situate in the heart of Africa, where, in
many respects, the people were more civilized and perfected than contemporary
Europeans. As regards smell, for instance.
The Prince of that country, for the entertainment of
his visitors - the hero of the story and his party - seats himself at a large
instrument like an organ, with tubes, stops, pedals and keys - and plays an
intricate composition - of which the harmonics are in odours, instead of in
sounds as with a musical instrument. And he explains that his people have
brought their olfactory sense, by practice, to such an exquisite point of
sensitiveness as to afford them, by combinations and contrasts of smells, as
high enjoyment as the European derives from a “concourse of sweet sounds.”
It is but too plain, therefore, that Dr. Mayo had, if
not a scientific, yet at least an intuitive cognition of this vibratory theory
of odours, and that his smell harmonicon
was not so much the baseless image of a romancer’s fancy as the novel-readers
took it for when they laughed so heartily at the conceit.
The fact is - as has been so often observed - the
dream of one generation becomes the experience of the next. If our poor voice
might without profanation invade so sacred a place as the laboratory of
University College, Bristol, we would ask Mr. Ramsay to take a glance - just
one furtive peep, with closed doors, and when he finds himself alone - at (it
requires courage to say the word!) at . . . at . . . at Occult Science. (We scarcely dared speak the dreadful word, but it
is out at last, and the Professor must hear it.) He will then find that his
vibratory theory is older than even Dr. Mayo, since it was known to the Aryans
and is included in their philosophy of the harmonics of nature. [4] They taught that there is a perfect
correspondence, or mutual compensation between all the vibrations of Nature,
and a most intimate relation between the set of vibrations which give us the
impression of sound, and that other set of vibrations which give us the
impression of colour. This subject is treated at some length in “Isis Unveiled”.[5]
The Oriental adept applies this very knowledge
practically when he transforms any disagreeable odour into any delicious
perfume he may think of. And thus modern science, after so long enjoying its joke over the puerile credulity of the
Asiatics in believing such fairy stories about the powers of their Sadhus, is
now ending by being forced to demonstrate the scientific possibility of those
very powers by actual laboratory experimentation. “He laughs best who laughs last”; - an adage that the graduates of
India would do well to remember.
NOTES:
[1] See “The Early Teachings of the Masters”, first
edition, 1923, facsimile edition by Kessinger Publishing Co., Montana, USA, pp.
237-240. “The Harmonics of Smell” is also included in volume IV of “The
Collected Writings of H. P. Blavatsky”, TPH, Wheaton, USA, 1991, pp. 177-179. (CCA)
[2] “The Mahatma Letters”, TUP, Pasadena, CA, USA, Letter
XVI, p. 102. (CCA)
[3] An edition of the book was published in 2012: “Kaloolah”,
by William Starbuck Mayo, introduced, edited and annotated by Robert W.
Lebling, copyright 2012 by Robert W. Lebling, 464 pp.
[4] As to the “harmonics of
Nature”, see also “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan”, H. P. Blavatsky,
TPH, Wheaton, USA, 719 pp., 1975/1983, pp. 278-301. An important text regarding
this topic is “Occult or Exact Science?”, by H.P.B. It can be found at
“Theosophical Articles”, H. P. Blavatsky, a three-volume collection published
by Theosophy Co., in Los Angeles, in 1981. See volume II, pp. 46-74. It can also be read at the “Collected
Writings” of H.P. Blavatsky, T.P.H., volume VII, pp. 55-90. (CCA)
[5] “Isis Unveiled”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los
Angeles, Vol. I, p. 514. (CCA)
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In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the
esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists,
whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different
dimensions of life.
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