The Great God Pan and The In most Light by A rthur Machen “ AUTH O R o r ru n c a n om c nn o r ’ C L E M E N D Y R O , A N D T A N S L A T R ’ 0 1? ‘ T H E u n p r a u n x o u A N D ‘ L n M O Y E N D E P A R V E N I R ’ ’ ai cm m zt “ ill s “ wit h? a r ! [ j pm , m L : n e Vi o S . ondon Joh Lan . g t Boston : Roberts Bros 1 895 C O N T E N T S PAGE TH E GREAT GOD PAN ExpE RmENT THE , ’ . CLARKE s E R MR M MOI S , c rrv IO THE OF RESURRECT NS, TH E m E DISCOVERY PAUL STRE T, THE R OF LETTE ADVICE, THE surca s, O IN SO O THE ENC UNTER H , THE FRAGMENTS , TH E NM ST HT I O LIG , T H E G R E A T G O D PA N THE E! PERIMENT I AM ou c m ia glad y a e, Clarke ; very glad not ou deed . I was sure y could spare the ’ time. ‘ I was able to make arrangements for a few s t not day ; hings are very lively just now. m R m ? Is But have you no isgivings, ay ond it absolutely safe ? ’ The two men were slowly pacing the terrace ’ f of R m in ront Dr. ay ond s house. The sun t n b m t - s ill hu g a ove the western oun ain line, but it shon e with a dull red glow that cast n o h the s adows, and all air was quiet ; a sweet breath came from the great wood on the hill b side a ove, and with it, at intervals, the soft rin of s. B murmu g call the wild dove elow, in the in the long lovely valley, river wound and ou tw h and as t be een the lonely ills, , the sun A 2 T H E G R E A T G O D P A N i the f hovered and vanished nto west, a aint b n to f the b ks. mist, pure white, ega rise rom an R m to f . Dr. ay ond turned sharply his riend f f f Sa e ? O course it is. In itsel the opera tion is a perfectly simple one ; any surgeon could do it. And there is no danger at any other stage None absolutely no physical danger what m s I . ever, give you y word You were alway m timid, Clarke, always ; but you know y I e m f transcen history. have devot d ysel to m for dental edicine the last twenty years. I m f have heard ysel called quack, and charlatan I I was and impostor, but all the while knew a on the right path. Five years ago I re ched the goal, and since then every day has been a ’ for - preparation what we shall do to night. ‘ ’ I should like to believe it is all true. an d f Clarke knit his brows, looked doubt ully . f at Dr Raymond Are you per ectly sure, han tas Raymond, that your theory is not a p ma oria—a g splendid vision, certainly, but a mere vision after all ? ’ Dr. Raymond stopped in his walk and - u . t rned sharply He was a middle aged man, t n of gaunt and hi , a pale yellow complexion, T H E E ! PE R I M E N T 3 but as red ark an d f ced him there he answe Cl e a , n was a flush o his cheek. You h Look about you, Clarke. see t e f n f r mountain, and hill ollowi g a te hill, as wave on ou the c the wave, y see woods and or hards, of fields ripe corn, and the meadows reaching - r to the reed beds by the iver. You see me a es e st nding here b id you, and hear my voice ; I ou t t — f but tell y hat all these hings yes, rom that star that has just shone out in the sky to — the solid ground beneath our feet I say that al l these are but dreams and shadows : the t the f our shadows hat hide real world rom eyes. is There a real world, but it is beyond this m an d s t gla our thi vision, beyond hese chases ” in Arras , dreams in a career, beyond them all as beyond a veil . I do not know whether any human being has ever lifted that veil ; but I do ou I know, Clarke, that y and shall see it lifted this very night from before another’s s You eye . may think all this strange non sense ; it may be strange, but it is true, and f the ancients knew what li ting the veil means. ’ Pan They called it seeing the god . Clarke shivered ; the white mist gathering s over the river Wa chilly. 4 T H E G R E A T G O D P A N ‘ ’ It is o f i sa w nder ul ndeed, he id. We are s a on of ra R t nding the brink a st nge world, ay if ou sa i I s mond, what y y s true. suppo e the knife is absolutely necessary ? ’ r Yes ; a slight lesion in the g ey matter, that a of is all ; trifling rearrangement certain cells, a microscopical alteration that would escape the attention of ninety-nine brain specialists out of ’ d to u a hundre . I don t want bother yo with ” I ou of shop, Clarke ; might give y a mass technical detail which would sound very im nd posing, a would leave you as enlightened . I s ou as you are now But suppo e y have read , - of - of casually, in out the way corners your paper, that immense strides have been made of the I recently in the physiology brain . saw ’ a paragraph the other day about Digby s theory, ’ and Browne Faber s discoveries. Theories and ! I discoveries Where they are standing now, f I stood fi teen years ago, and need not tell you that I have not been standing still for the last if I t fifteen years . It will be enough say hat five years ago . I made the discovery to which I alluded when I said that then I reached the f of f of goal. A ter years labour, a ter years r ft toiling and g oping in the dark, a er days T H E E ! P E R I M E N T 5 and nights of disappointment and sometimes of s I t to de pair, in which used now and hen tremble and grow cold with the thought that perhaps there were others seeking for what I f of sought, at last, a ter so long, a pang I sudden joy thrilled my soul, and knew the B long journey was at an end . y what seemed e the of then and still se ms a chance, suggestion a moment’s idle thought followed up upon familiar lines and paths that I had tracked a hundred times already, the great truth burst I of upon me, and saw, mapped out in lines light a whole world, a sphere unknown ; con tinents and islands, and great oceans in which no ship has sailed !to my belief) since a Man f first li ted up his eyes and beheld the sun , and f h o t . the stars heaven, and the quiet ear h beneat -flown a You will think all this high langu ge, I Clarke, but it is hard to be literal . And yet do not know whether what I am hinting at n f ca not be set orth in plain and homely terms. of For instance, this world ours is pretty well girded now with the telegraph wires and cables ; t of hought, with something less than the speed f r to s f thought, flashes rom sun ise sun et, rom t to so a the and the s nor h uth, cross floods de ert 6 T H E G R E A T G O D P A N S of to- places. uppose that an electrician day were suddenly to perceive that he and his friends have merely been playing with pebbles and mistaking them for the foundations of the world ; suppose that such a man saw uttermost f the and of space lie Open be ore current, words men flash forth to the sun and beyond the sun the of into the systems beyond, and voices arti culate-speaking men echo in the waste void our o that bounds thought. As analogies g , that is a pretty good analogy of what I have done ; you can understand now a little of what I felt as I stood here one evening ; it was a summer evening, and the valley looked much I f as it does now ; stood here, and saw be ore t f t me the unutterable, the un hinkable gul hat f two the yawns pro ound between worlds, world of matter and the world of spirit ; I saw the great t f emp y deep stretch dim be ore me, and in that instant a bridge of light leapt from the earth to the .