He devised the plan of writing the definitions in a note-book, and filled page after page with them.

And still he could not understand.

He read until three in the morning, and his brain was in a turmoil, but not one essential thought in the text had he grasped.

He looked up, and it seemed that the room was lifting, heeling, and plunging like a ship upon the sea.

Then he hurled the "Secret Doctrine" and many curses across the room, turned off the gas, and composed himself to sleep.