way towards extending life under any circumstances, for it consists
chiefly in deep and regular breathing, preferably of morning air,
in swallowing the saliva three times in every two hours, in adopting
certain positions for the body and limbs, which are also strengthened
by gymnastic exercises, and finally, as borrowed from the Buddhists, in
remaining motionless for some hours a day, the eyes shut, and the mind
abstracted as much as possible from all surrounding influences. The
upshot of these and other practices is the development of "the pure
man," on which Chuang Tzu (_Chwongdza_), a Taoist philosopher of the
third and fourth centuries B.C., to be mentioned again, writes as
follows: "But what is a pure man? The pure men of old acted without
calculation, not seeking to secure results. They laid no plans.
Therefore, failing, they had no cause for regret; succeeding, no cause
for congratulation. And thus they could scale heights without fear;
enter water without becoming wet, and fire without feeling hot. The pure
men of old slept without dreams, and waked without anxiety. They ate
without discrimination, breathing deep breaths. For pure men draw breath
from their heels; the vulgar only from their throats."

Coupled with what may be called intellectual Taoism, as opposed to the
grosser form under which this faith appeals to the people at large, is
a curious theory that human life reaches the earth from some
extraordinarily dazzling centre away in the depths of space, "beyond
the range of conceptions." This centre appears to be the home of eternal
principles, the abode of a First Cause, where perfectly spotless and
pure beings "drink of the spiritual and feed on force," and where
likeness exists without form. To get back to that state should be the
object of all men, and this is only to be attained by a process of
mental and physical purification prolonged through all conditions of
existence. Then, when body and soul are fitted for the change, there