William Scott-Elliot was a Theosophical writer, a merchant banker and an amateur anthropologist, living in England at the turn of the century. He followed in Madame Blavatsky's path by elucidating the pseudo-histories of Atlantis and Lemuria. Although Scott-Elliot claimed to have gained his historical insights via "astral clairvoyance," it appears that a good deal of his lost continent details were derived from the notions of the Theosophist Bishop, Charles Webster Leadbeater. Certainly Mr. Scott-Elliot used the fanciful maps prepared by Leadbeater when he published his The Story of Atlantis in 1896 and its sequel, The Lost Lemuria in 1904. These two Theosophical texts were at first distributed independently in Great Britain and the United States, but in 1925 the two booklets were combined into a single 116 page volume, entitled, The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria. The book has gone through numerous reprints, with the more recent versions labeled "Legends of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria."

Mr. Scott-Elliot's purpose, in writing his Story of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria, was "to establish" by scientific and empirical data "the facts stated" in Madame Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, in regard to lost continents and their past inhabitants. He borrows the often prefatory and incomplete findings of nineteenth century science to bolster the pseudo-science of Theosophy. He is not always very careful to inform his readers when he shifts from making use of scientific data to relying upon Blavatsky's revelations or his own "astral clairvoyance." Thus, the very real "Toltecs" of preColumbian Mexico blend into the "sub-race" of mythical Atlantis, in his writings, becoming, in the process, an ancient, lost society of giants who peopled the equally ancient "City of the Golden Gates," in some imprecise spot west of the modern African coast. 

For those readers who see no problems in Mr. Scott-Elliot's shifting his ground from the facts of science (as they were then known) to the "the facts stated" by Blavatsky and other Theosophists, the Scott-Elliot texts may appear to be based in irrefutable truth. At the end of the nineteenth century, when much that passed for scientific facts was actually unproved theory, Scott-Elliot's writings probably looked entirely reliable to many unsophisticated readers. It is likely that they were occasionally cataloged and shelved with more reputable texts on geology, paleontology and anthropology in certain libraries, both private and public. 
 

A Source for Edgar Rice Burroughs?

In 1959 Fantasy author Fritz Leiber postulated in an article he wrote for Amra, that Theosophical writings may have served as the inspiration for certain story elements incorporated by Edgar Rice Burroughs, into his series of Martian novels. After discussing Blavatsky as a possible ERB source, Leiber goes on to say: "Other Theosophical writings, such as those of Annie Besant and of W. Scott-Elliot... provide further parallels. In Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Dover, 1947) Martin Gardner summarizes Scott-Elliot's picture of an Atlantean sub-race, the Toltec, that sounds remarkably like Burroughs' red Martians: 'They were ... copper-colored, tall, and with Grecian features. Their science was very advanced. There were Toltec airships which operated by a cosmic force unknown today." 

Mr. Leiber was merely pointing out some general similarities shared by Burroughs' Mars stories and pre-1911 Theosophical writings: he did not take the trouble to compile these literary parallels into tabulated lists wherein quotes from the Theosophists' texts were juxtaposed with their alleged reappearances in the ERB stories. In fact, Leiber was unable to identify even one instance of literal copying by Burroughs. In 1964 he explained this important omission on his part: 

The first piece I ever wrote for Amra was about the Theosophical elements in the Barsoomian tales. I never managed to track down to my own satifaction the particular book or books that Burroughs used... The connection seems clear enough between Burroughs' Barsoom and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's wild ideas; the problem is finding the particular book (most likely just one, I'd guess) which Burroughs used for his background material." Amra, #37, Jan., 1966, p. 11.

Fritz Leiber probably set his capture net too narrowly in his quest to find "the particular book" that ERB might have consulted among the pre-1911 Theosophical writings. The occult group also produced lectures, reviews, essays, reports, etc., published not only in their own periodicals, but also printed now and then by the popular press in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, as well as in such far-flung localities as India and Ceylon. Any one of a great number of published articles on Theosophy might have included a summary of the peculiar notions of Blavatsky, Leadbeater, Sinnett, Besant, and Scott-Elliot. If Edgar Rice Burroughs was influenced by some of these writings, he might not have needed to have read any further than in the columns of his hometown Chicago newspapers, to find a great deal useful in building fictional worlds. 

Fantasy novelist L. Sprague de Camp was less reticent to name a source for ERB's alleged Theosophical borrowings -- but even he could not come up with an exact quotation to prove his point. De Camp says: "... while it is not impossible that Burroughs may have read [Edwin L. Arnold's "Lieut. Gullvar Jones: His Vacation"]... its influence on his John Carter tales was small -- much weaker than, say, Percival Lowell's books on Mars and the Theosophical lost-continent doctrines, the latter probably as incorporated in William Scott-Elliot's The Story of Atlantis and The Lost Lemuria." (Amra, #37, p. 6)

Indeed, William Scott-Elliot's two booklets do appear to be as good a place to look for ERB parallels as any other pre-1911 Theosophical writings. Scott-Elliot posed as a scholar of geology, paleontology and anthropology -- his 1896 and 1904 booklets might easily have come under the scrutiny of a teacher or student of those disciplines. In 1895-96 Edgar Rice Burroughs served as a "Professor of Geology" at the Michigan Military Academy in Orchard Lake, Michigan. In preparation for his teaching duties, ERB "studied geology" to keep "one jump ahead" of his cadet students. Since geology was not yet a well-established subject of study at the school, it is possible that the new professor's reading in that topic included all sorts of odd texts, including some which today would not be considered proper study sources. Whether or not a copy W. Scott-Elliot's pseudo-scientific The Story of Atlantis had found its way to Orchard Lake by the spring of 1896 is not known, but it is not difficult to imagine that Professor Burroughs might have browsed through its contents if he saw one. After all, ERB later named the mythical Atlantis as the origin for his African Oparians and even later contemplated writing a story that transpired on the sunken continent. To an amateur paleontological enthusiast like Mr. Burroughs, the Scott-Elliot writings would have been interesting, if only for their outlandish claims regarding ancient life on Planet Earth. 
 

Where are the Parallels?

To the modern reader, who attempts to peruse Scott-Elliot and quickly locate some Edgar Rice Burroughs sources, the texts will no doubt prove to be something of a disappointment. Scott-Elliot is not a systematic reporter who records his purported "facts" in a logical manner. Rather, he writes Theosophical apologetics that focus upon what he sees as proof that Blavatsky was telling the truth about the "lost continents" of Atlantis and Lemuria. In doing this Scott-Elliot does not always succinctly summarize his Theosophical predecessors -- he tends to brush aside details that do not fit, or at least those points made by previous Theosophical writers that do not fit his purpose. A reader who consults several Theosophical writers, taking bits and pieces of what they had to say, can assemble a seemingly persuasive collection of points of similarity with ERB's Mars tales, but that same associative process will, no doubt, eliminate from the final tabulation many relevant points of non-similarity. Scott-Elliot performs this activity inherently, but the reader who attempts to compensate for his limitations, by adding on more points of similarity from the earlier Theosophists, probably only further distorts the degree of ostensible parallels with ERB's writings. 

Take Burroughs' green Martians and the Theosophists' Lemurians, for example. Simply by consulting Scott-Elliot's two booklets the modern reader can compile an impressive list of similarities. However, Scott-Elliot does not here speak of certain important parallels, like the Lemurians having six limbs, or of their being olive-skinned. Other Theosophical writers may have mentioned such intriguing details before Scott-Elliot wrote his two booklets, but nobody can be certain that he concurred with them, unless the same details can be located in his writings. Possibly an exhaustive survey of Scott-Elliot's articles and lectures would uncover instances where he spoke of olive-colored, six-limbed, giant Lemurians, with eyes that can see practically behind their skulls. On the other hand, perhaps the only Theosophical writings ERB ever noticed were the 1896 Story of Atlantis and the 1904 Lost Lemuria. If that is the modern reader's theory, then Burroughs' description of six-limbed Tharks and Warhoons may owe nothing to Scott-Elliot in particular or to the Theosophists in general. 

However, even given these caveats, the reader of Scott-Elliot's two booklets can still easily assemble an impressive list of anthropological and sociological ideas common to the writings of the occult scientist and the creation of John Carter's Barsoom. A few examples here will probably suffice in demonstrating the degree of similarity between the texts. 

Burroughs' green Martians live in a relatively primitive tribal society, without known access to complex machinery and scientifically refined products. Nevertheless, these green savages possess firearms, automatic aiming devices, and ammunition reflective of a high degree of technology. From whence have they obtained this technology and the ability to assemble such precision weapons? Burroughs offers no explanation, but the obvious answer is that the green people obtain their high-tech devices from an outside source and on a relatively constant basis. This corresponds rather well with Scott-Elliot's description of the ancient Lemurians obtaining exterior guidance from the "manus" of Venus and elsewhere. Some external intelligence and wisdom has obviously assisted the green Martians in their development and, like Scott-Elliot's invisible guides, the Barsoomians' benefactors have remained out of sight. 

Another point of similarity might be discovered in comparing Scott-Elliot's description of Lemurian (or proto-Lemurian) development from the plant world. Darwinian evolution postulates such a progression, from plant to animal, at the level of single-celled life-forms. But both the Theosophists and ERB offer alternative explanations for the appearance of animal life. Scott-Elliot offers a quotation about the "non-sexual propagation" by "the formation of germ-buds," and Burroughs has his budding of animal progenitors from the Barsoomian Tree of Life. The match in ideas, between the occult scientist and the fiction writer, is not an exact one, but in both cases, the budding cells foreshadow the appearance of egg-cells among the reproducing animals. Lemurians apparently first reproduced by "parthenogenetic phenomena," but later discovered the use of sexuality in supplying "the fructifying seed." ERB's green Martians evidently have only recently (in geologic terms) evolved into sexual animals who reproduce by laying eggs; while his more human red Martians appear to have reached this stage of evolution eons ago. The "egg-born" of the Secret Doctrine and Scott-Elliot's writings are not exactly the beings of ERB's Barsoom, but the pathways of evolution, from primitive plant to advanced animal, are well worth comparing in these two sources. 

The function of telepathy in both occult science and Burroughs' Martian stories might also be constructively compared. In both cases it is the lower animals who seem to most generally make use of this communicative capacity. The humanoid inhabitants of Barsoom have telepathic abilities, but they seem to use them less and less as they evolve sociologically. The ERB reader assumes that most green Martians can effectively use their telepathic faculties to control lower life forms, like their semi-domesticated thoats, zitidars, and calots. The giant green Thark, accompanied by his pet calot, might not present exactly the same picture as the giant Lemurian, accompanied by his pet reptile (something like a plesiosaur?), but the intimation is that both telepathic masters have ways of communicating with their vicious pets. 

In his Story of Atlantis Mr. Scott-Elliot spends considerable time in describing the ancient Atlanteans' boat-like airships. He borrows their propulsion technology directly from Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton's fictional vril, with no sign of any shame, noting that the writer of the Coming Race "has fairly accurately described" the mysterious force from the Earth's core. He also says that vril at first "supplied the motive power" for the ancients' marvelous flyers. Whether or not this strange force also supplied buoyancy to the ancient airships, Scott-Elliot does not say, but that function does not seem to lie beyond the faculty of the fantastic vril. The parallels between Scott-Elliot's prehistoric flyers and Burroughs' Barsoomian flyers are indisputable.

This is not the place to present an incessant recital of literary parallels. The readers of these comments can consult the relevant texts and carry out that task as they may see fit to do. It should be apparent to all, at this point, that the ERB novels and the Scott-Elliot writings can be productively compared, to assemble the kinds of similarities noticed by Leiber and de Camp. Whether or not that sort of a comparison is a worthwhile project will, of course, depend greatly upon the inclinations and goals of the reader.