A horizontal ornamental headpiece with a central figure, possibly a seated person or a winged spirit, flanked by symmetrical scrollwork, foliage, and geometric patterns.

Section One.

On the General Attributes of the Primitive and Cabbalistic Science.

Long before the time of Moses, there existed among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Arabs a philosophy of numbers to which they gave the magnificent name Gabala The author uses the spelling "Gabala," likely to support the following etymological claim. Traditionally, "Kabbalah" is derived from the Hebrew root QBL, meaning "to receive.", to indicate thereby that it was exalted above all sciences; for Gabala originates from the word Gibel original: "Gibel." Likely referring to the Hebrew Gabel or Giv'ah, meaning a hill or high place, or perhaps Gevul, meaning a boundary or limit., which means "exalted" and signifies a height. In essence, it was a symbolic science of numbers.

Pythagoras had learned it from the Egyptians. The most famous sects of the Greeks possessed it. They were proud of it, especially the Platonists.

The master secret of this number-philosophy consisted in the fact that it reduced and concentrated all objects into a unity by means of the number Three; then from this unity, through the same number—