Masonic Notes And Queries.

COEINTHIAS OEDEE . I regret to say that , despite the excellent article upon the Three Orders which " Pictus" has contributed to the Magazine , my belief is still unchanged us to the origin of the Corinthian and Ionic . Because electricity existed in the time of Adam , it is not

necessary that the telegraph did , or that the compass was in use with the first loadstone . I have only to repeat that my belief is that the Ionic , properly so called , arose about 500 B . C ., the Corinthian under the hand of Callimaehus . Pictus has rather startled me out of my propriety in saying that

the rock-cut dwellings came after the built-up edifices . I always thought the contrary , and that the steps were , cave , rock-cut , and built-up , while the Nomads dwelt under bent-down branches of trees covered with skins , which gradually developed into the ordinary tent . We appear to draw our information from different sources . —A . 0 . HAYE .

THE E 0 SICRUCIA 3 T SOCIETY . The Kosicruciau Society has nothing whatever to do with the Kose Croix , or Freemasonry in any of its degrees . The Supreme Council , with the exception of myself , is composed entirely of non-Masons . Among the members of the first grade upon the roll

are the names of the following Masons -. —S . Bairnsfather , J . H . M . Bairnsfather , Dr . Dickson , Frank L . Law , and B . W . Little . Bros . W . J . Hughan and D . Murray Lyon have been promoted to the second grade . As there appears to be a considerable amount of misunderstanding existing relative to this society ,

perhaps I may be allowed to make the following explanations : The Society is purely philosophic aud scientific , there are no fees exigible , tbe numbers never having at any time necessitated more than au interchange of letters among the members . There is no restriction as to numbers . There miht be two

g ; there might be two thousand . At least a year must elapse before advancing a step , but very few ever attaiu the fourth grade , and 11 years elapsed before I reached my present position . The Bosicrucian doctrines being only of interest to the members , I do not

think necessary to notice here . The Kosicruciau Society must not be confounded with its German bastard of the 17 th century , which had its exponent in the ludicrous " Fama , " and gave birth to the present Royal Arch Degree . The searches for the Philosopher ' s Stone and the

Elixir of Life were perfectly legitimate , aud the celebrated Sir Humphrey Davy told the elder D'Israeli " that he did not consider this " ( the making of gold ) " undiscovered art as impossible ; but , should it ever be discovered , would certainly be useless . " Of course , if gold could be madeaud the diamond has been

, made , the metal might sink in value below iron aud lead . A very esteemed friend of mine , an eminent chemist , is decidedly of opinion that man ' s life could be prolonged to the age of the patriarchs , barring accident and disease , by supplying the waste which produces old age , but he confesses that to discover this

waste would occupy so much time that old age would come before the remedy was ready . The Bosicrucian Society has other matters to attend to than to take up such ecceutrieities of its ancient members , it has no wish to be known beyond its small circle of initiates , and as the sole end it aims at is for their good , aud ,

by extension , the good of all they come in contact with , its ambition of outer appearance is very modest . I am not certain that £ 100 would be accepted for the collection of MSS . of one of the members , aud I even think £ 1 , 000 would be refused . My principal

object , however , in writing this note is to disabuse the minds of the brethren that there is any connexion between the Bosicrucian Society aud Freemasonry ; and if any body of men calling themselves Bosicrucians maintain the existence of such a connexion , they must be descendants of the bastard aforesaid . —A . 0 . HAYE .

I-BEEIUASOISEY AISD CHEISTIAISIIY . In the Magazine for the 4 < th of April last , Bro . H . B . White , in reply to a note of mine in the preceding number , says that my reply "does not contain a single logical argument" against his proposition . — Bro . White aud I belong to different Masonic and

logic schools . He then points out my inconsistency in denying the Christianity of Freemasonry , aud ending my communication with the angels' salutation to the shepherds in announcing the birth of Christ ; but I never knew that the angels were Christians . Bro . White is a stickler for the letter , not the spirit

of the law . Has he yet to learn that Christ himself made use of familiar figures of speech to illustrate his doctrines , culled both from Jew and Gentile . In his celebrated parallel of the roads to heaven and hell being narrow aud broad , he was following out Pythagoras's image of the Samian Tthe broad leg

typify-, ing vice the narrow virtue . Bro . White ' s logic is rather comical , and be carefully avoids answeriug my questions . However , I trust his logic will condescend to answer those which close this note . I give for Bro . White ' s information the following statistics of creeds for 1 SGG : —

Jews 7 , 425 , 707 Protestants ( all shades ) 95 , 755 , 534 lloma . n Catholics 182 , 422 , 532 Mahometans 120 , 000 , 000 Hindoos 120 , 000 , 000 arasfian , or Parsees . 1 , 000 , 000 Chinese , Japanese ( Buddhism ) 482 , ( 500 , 000 Petichism of Africa , & c 189 , 000 , 000

1 , 19 S , 203 , 773 As llomcm Catholics are forbidden to join onr body , we will take the Protestants 93 , 755 , 534 1 , 102 , 448 , 239 Thusaccorning to Bro . Whitemore than

nine-, , tenths of the humau race cannot become true Freemasons . Supposing Bro . White was to show these figures to a native of China , what would that native say ? Surely that the opinion of the minority and of a minority which stands a fifth to the disciples of Confucius is no order or rule for him to abandon his

faith , which to him is the unerring standard of truth . I am not arguing about what Christians consider the true religion ; what I wish Bro . White to understand is , that there is a point iu all elevated religions which touch oue another , aud this point is a belief in a Supreme Beiug . This belief is the cardinal religion of Freemasonry , and consequently all believers in a Supreme Being , aud of a necessity in the immortality of the soul , are eligible candidates for Freemasonry .