The spirit of modernity now pervades even our Ancient Mysteries, so that they must bear the stamp of recent investigation. Too little has been written about the splendid Order of the Eastern Star. It is almost impossible to find any printed article bearing on its history, which may be used in making an address on the subject. In this little book will be found a concise account of the development of the Order through the ages, from the early Mysteries to the present time. An explanation of the purposes of the Order is also included, elucidating the high aims and principles which are responsible for its unprecedented success. The chapter on Parliamentary Rules of Procedure is also an innovation. It is very difficult to glean the needed facts from the mass of material presented in separate books on Parliamentary Law. In this book is given the information necessary to conduct the business of a Chapter of the Order, and it should prove a welcome addition to the Ritual. The Ritual itself must remain the same in content: the ceremonies permitting change bear certain improvements in keeping with the trend of the times. It is believed that a work as noble as that of the Order of the Eastern Star cannot he hindered by the publication of its ceremonies and methods, but that it will rather be furthered by publicity, which is the keynote of this age of Radio and Roentgen Rays. Therefore in a spirit of reverent appreciation is offered this new and modern Manual of an Order rich in tradition.

It is difficult for anyone who has not actually seen such mountain scenery as is presented by the Alps, to form any clear conception of its magnificence and grandeur. Hannibal had never seen the Alps, but the world was filled then, and now, with their fame. Hannibal was a Carthaginian general. He acquired his great distinction as a warrior by his desperate contests with the Romans. Hannibal s determination to carry an army into Italy by way of the Alps, instead of transporting them by galleys over the sea, has always been regarded as one of the greatest undertaking of ancient times.

Whoever has gone into one of our Antiquarian Museums, and glanced with some curiosity, and perhaps with growing interest, at the withered fragments of canoes, preserved from total decay by the peat out of which they were dug, --at the stone heads of weapons whose handles have rotted long ago,--at the flint knives and arrow-heads, at the sun-dried pottery, --at the gaudy beads of amber or of colorued glass,--at the combs and ornaments curiously carved out of bone, --and alt all such other relics of a remote past,--has soon, in all likelihood, found himself speculating upon the nature of the people who made and used these things. The things themselves are plainly allied to the weapons and ornaments of existing savage races, and we know that the people vaguely spoken of as Ancient Britons, to whom these articles are attributed, were themselves allied to such races by community of custom. They wore little or no clothing, they tattooed their bodies and faces, they painted themselves blue or

Lecture given at the Royal Societies Club, Feb. 1912. Partial Contents: Divisions of Primitive Man; Pygmies Anatomical Features, Physiological Features