Speculative Masonry And Bros. Findel And Hughan.

SPECULATIVE MASONRY AND BROS . FINDEL AND HUGHAN .

I do not believe in "the truth" of the remark that " the long contemplated separation of the Freemasons from the operative guilds was carried into effect early in the eighteenth century . " That is to say , that I deny there being any "long contemplation" in the matter . —W . P . B .

BEO . " ' HOLZ" ANB "HIGH GEABE MASONET . " If the brother who wrote the letter signed "Holz " ( fEreemasons Magazine , page 49 ) will inquire what degrees were worked , A . n . 1813 , under authority of any kind , such as Grand Chapter , Grand Conclave , & che will not find that the Ancient and Accepted

, Rite degrees were not in operation at the time of the Union , and that two only of the thirty of their degrees were incorporated with the Knights Templar system , so that it seems difficult to see how the members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite can claim the benefit of the Articles of the Union , which evidently did not

refer to any subsequent creations or introductions of degrees hitherto unworked in England . The three first degrees are not a form of high grade Masonry , and it is absurd to say so . They are simply such as enable the members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite to call themselves Masons , and without which their socalled high degrees would soon become so low as to be held less than worthless in a Masonic point of view . —RES NON VEEBA .

THE GEAFTING . See the Masonic Jotting thus entitled , page 28 of the present volume . Ashmole . was born in 1617 and died in 1692 ; Desaguliers was born in 1683 and died in 1749 . Those who say that Ashmole was "The Grand Old Gardener" mention no year ; those who say that Desaguliers was " The Grand Old Gardener "

, in general mention the year 1717 as that in which they allege the grafting to have been effected . In the Jotting referred to , for " someone will say , " read " some will say . " The true theory of the rise of Speculative Masonry is a theory to which the metaphysical term Grafting is by no means applicable . — A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEB .

IKEEHASONEX , THE EEFOEMATION , AXD THE 1717 THEOEX ( page 29 ) . With us the question is not , when do we first perceive the germ of certain principles or ideas ? but , when did Freemasonry first exist as an exponent oi those principles or ideas ?— ~ W . P . B . THE LOIIGE OJP GLASGOW ST . JOHN ( pp . 24 and 49 ) .

If there be anvthing " astounding" in my remark that the 1123-1136 Glasgow Cathedral was probably a wooden one , it is , perhaps , more " astounding" that such a careful observer as "A Masonic Student " should not be aware of the fact that I said so long ago , as per the Magazine for September 12 th 1868

, , page 210 , where I gave reasons for saying so , and I find the said idea corroborated hy first-class authority . More , the words iu the 1190 charter , " igne consumpta" —consumed b y fire—apply best to a wooden structure . Scotland was not England in A . D . 1123 . * —W . P . B .

Speculative Masonry And Bros. Findel And Hughan.

THE GEEAT AECHITECT OE THE HNIVEESE . My answer to a brother at Bradford is that philosophic Masons calling the Great Architect of tiie Hniverse Infinite , mean that He is Incomprehensible . —CHAELES PUETON COOPEE . ST . JOHN ' S MASOHEX .

"We are told that St . John's Masonry consists in the three degrees of Apprentice , Fellow Craft , and Master Mason ; ergo , the query is , when did these three degrees first exist ? To which the answer is , not before 1717 . — "W . P . B .

BEO . MANNIN SHAM ' S LETTEB ( page 47 ) . Bro . Hertzvoeld ' s opinion that "this letter proves that before 1717 the now existing rituals were worked " is not worth a straw , unless he can back it up properly , which I am not aware that he can . — ~ W . P . B .

STOEMS IJT THE SUN . Professor J . D . Steele has communicated the fol » lowing to the Hlmira Advertiser - . — " There appeared in the Advertiser some weeks since a paragraph , copied , I believe , from a Michigan paper , declaring that a column ' of magnetic lig ht is shooting out from

the sun at a prodigious speed—that it already reaches halfway to the earth , and that , in all probability , by another summer we shall have celestial ancl atmospheric p henomena beside which our rudest winter winds will seems like a ' June morning in Paradise . " In finewhen this big tongue of fire touches the earth

, it will likely lap up our globe at one mouthful . Very many have made inquiries of me concerning this prodigy and , with your leave , I will try to satisfy their curiosity and allay their fears . It has been known for some time that during a total eclipse red flames were seen to play about the edge of the moon . During the

eclipses of 1868 aud 1869 it was definitely settled that they were entirely disconnected from the moon , and were vast tongues of fire darting out from the sun ' s disc . By observations with the spectroscope , and also by means of the wonderful photographs of the SUE taken by De La Rue during the eclipse of 1860 , it was

discovered that these fire mountains consisted mainly of burning hy drogen gas . This was precious information to secure in the midst of the excitement and novelty , and in the brief duration of a total eclipse . It did not , however , satisfy scientific men . For two years Mr . Lockyer , aided by a grant from Parliament to construct a superior instrumenthad been

experi-, menting and searching in order to detect these Barnes at other times than at the rare occurrence of a total eclipse . On the 20 th of October , 1868 , he obtained a distinct image of one of the prominences , which he afterwards traced entirely around the sun . Astronomers canthereforenow study these flames at any

, , time . The result of observations now being taken shows that storms rage upon the sun with a violence of which we can form no conception . Hurricanes sweep over its surface with terrific violence . Vast cyclones wrap its fires into whirlpools , at the bottom of which our earth could lie like a boulder in a volcano . Huge

flames dart out to enormous distances , and fly over the sun with a speed greater than that of the earth itself through space . At one time a cone of fire shot out 80 , 000 miles , and then died away all in 10 minutes ' time . Besides such awful convulsions the mimic display of a terrestrial volcano or earthquake sinks into