proclivities of the people, it rapidly became materialized and polluted by all the aberrations naturally resulting from unrestrained exercise of personal inspiration.
Apostles of asceticism, chastity, and self-denial were succeeded by demagogues preaching and practising selfindulgence and license. Pure spirituality could not suffice, abstract morality had no meaning, aroused no enthusiasm; sensual gratification was more alluring than mere pleasures of the imagination. Carnal appetites were appealed to, and their satisfaction encouraged, as a prelude and excitement to the ecstatic trance. Embraces, kisses, and the intercourse of the sexes became, among the mystics, as among barbarous tribes of old, a part of their religious service; the sacred names of charity and love were prostrated to ignoble use.
An offshoot of the Khlysti, known as the "Shakouni," or "Jumpers," openly professed debauchery and libertinism to excess, as an efficient means of conquering the flesh by exhaustion and satiety, and of hastening the moment of prophetic revelation.
This branch sect, which was detected at St. Petersburg during the reign of Alexander I., differs from its parent stock in the style of gymnastics adopted by its members, but also and especially in the abominable obscenities it preaches and practices as a religious duty. It is supposed to be of foreign origin, having been introduced into Russia from the Finnish provinces. Whatever may have been the intentions of its founders, it has degenerated into a secret society for the encouragement of vice and sensual indulgence.
Instead of a rotary motion, its exercise consists in leaping, springing from the ground in successive bounds, and hence the name applied to its adherents. They meet secretly at night, the leader chants the prayers,
