body, and this impious object leads to the destruction of the fair form he has preserved and of his own reason. For he falls in love with Lilith, and the declaration of his passion is followed by her crumbling away to dust. The shock to his highly strung organization results in his mental collapse, and from this he never recovers.
There are many passages of wild beauty and extraordinary power in this story, which occupies many pages in the telling before the superbly dramatic dénouement is reached. Heliobas, the wise physician of "A Romance of Two Worlds," but now turned monk, is introduced into the story, and warns El-Râmi that his atheistic experiment will prove fruitless:
"How it is that you have not foreseen this thing
I cannot imagine,"—continued the monk. "The
body of Lilith has grown under your very eyes
from the child to the woman by the merest material
means,—the chemicals which Nature gives us, and
the forces which Nature allows us to employ. How
then should you deem it possible for the Soul to remain
stationary? With every fresh experience its
form expands,—its desires increase,—its knowledge
widens,—and the everlasting necessity of Love compels
its life to Love's primeval source. The Soul of
Lilith is awakening to its fullest immortal consciousness,—she
realizes her connection with the great
angelic worlds—her kindredship with those worlds'
inhabitants, and, as she gains this glorious knowledge
more certainly, so she gains strength. And
