James Ralston Skinner

James Ralston Skinner (d. 1893) was a attorney, freemason, and kabbalist from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Personal life

Skinner was born around 1830 in New York. His uncle was Salmon Portland Chase (1808-1873), who served as U.S. Senator from Ohio and the 23rd Governor of Ohio; as U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States. Called "Ralston" by his family, Skinner was the son of Chase's sister Janette Logan Chase Skinner and her husband Josiah K. Skinner. Ralston studied law with Chase, managed property for him and work in his law firm. In the 1850s he married Louisa Wiggins, daughter of a wealthy banker, Samuel Wiggins. They had a son Samuel, born around 1858, and a daughter Laura the next year. Before he turned 50, Skinner retired from his legal practice. At that point his family was distinctly well-to-do, and his household had five servants and substantial assets.

He served as Judge-Advocate-General in the American Civil War Battle of Stones River, with the rank of major.

Connections with the Theosophical Society

H. P. Blavatsky was definitely aware of Skinner, and corresponded with him. Six letters that he received from her are in a collection at Harvard University. His writings on Jehovah were quoted by in her book The Theosophical Glossary, and additional references to his ideas in The Secret Doctrine. However, he does not seem to have been a member of the Society. In the 1880s and 1890s, Cincinnati was a hotbed of activity. It was there that the Cincinnati Theosophical Society, the first American lodge, was founded on May 9, 1886, and later that year on October 30

Writings

These books and pamphlets are listed in order of first publication.

• An Essay upon Force in Nature and its Effects upon Matter. Cincinnati, R. Clarke & Co., 1869.
• The Great pyramid of Jizeh, the Plan and Object of its Construction. Cincinnati, R. Clarke & Co., 1871. 17 pages. Available at Hathitrust.
• YeHī W̕oR: A Value of Symbolism. Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1872. 47 pages.
• The Ancient of Days. The Measure of the Heavens and the Earth by Means of the Only Unit of Measure, the British Inch. Cincinnati, R. Clarke & Co., 1873. 46 pages.
• Some Light Upon the Egyptian Method of Chronology. 1876. 11-page pamphlet.
• Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian mystery in the Source of Measures Originating the British Inch and the Ancient Cubit. Philadelphia: D. McKay Co., [1876?]. Available at HathiTrust and Internet Archive. The author discusses a square arrangement of the zodiac.
• Supplement to Source of Measures. Robert Clarke & Company, 1876. 63 pages.
• The Crown Jewels of the Nations are Their Measures. Cincinnati: Clarke & Company, 1877. 90 pages.
• A Criticism on the Legendre Mode of the Rectification of the Curve of the Circle. Cincinnati: R. Clarke & co., 1881. Available at HathiTrust and University of Michigan Historical Math Collection.
• Actual Measures of the Great Pyramid of Egypt,in Terms of the British Inch: Disclosing, by Its Means, the Architectural System Employed in the Construction . Cleveland, OH: International Institute for Preserving and Perfecting Weights and Measures., Ohio Auxiliary Society, Cleveland, 1883.
• The Cabbalah. 1885. Originally printed in The Masonic Review, with the author named as "Brother J. Ralston Skinner (McMillian Lodge, No. 141)".
• Hebrew Metrology. 1885. 8-page pamphlet.
• Doric, Ionic, and Corinthinian Columns in Grecian Architecture. 1885. Available in Peabody Museum of Salem, Phillips Library East Indian Marine Hall. (per John H. Drais).
• Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures Originating the British Inch and the Ancient Cubit, by Which was Built the Great Pyramid of Egypt and the temple of Solomon; and through the Possession and Use of Which, Man, Assuming to Realize the Creative Law of the Deity, Set It Forth in a Mystery, Among the Hebrews Called Kabbala. Cincinnati, R. Clarke & co., 1894. Available at HathiTrust and Google Books. This edition was reprinted in 1982 with additional material by John H. Drais by Wizards Bookshelf in San Diego.
• Modulus System of Measures founded on the British Inch". Undated. This typescript is available at Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library and at Library of Cincinnati Historical Society. (per John H. Drais)
• Appendix C to Identification of the British Inch.... Undated. Available at Museum Library University of Pennsylvania. (per John H. Drais).
• An Inquiry into the Principles of Beauty in "Grecian Architecture, by George, Earl of Aberdeen, Lon. 1867"; a prefatory essay to an English translation from the Latin of Notes and Comments on the Ten Books of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. Undated. Available at Library of Cincinnati Historical Society. (per John H. Drais)
• Kabala, the Zodiac and the Great Pyramid of Gheza. Undated. Listed in kabbalah bibliography of Blavatsky Collected Writings. (per John H. Drais)
• Unnamed manuscript was mentioned as being sent to the Masons by Skinner's "literary legatee" (perhaps Dr. J. D. Buck); per New Age Magazine, September 1907. (per John H. Drais)

He also wrote two articles that appeared in Theosophical journals:

• "No Error (a reply to Euphrates)". Lucifer 2 (August 1888), 492.
• "Notes on the Cabbalah of the Old Testament". The Path 1.5 (August, 1886), 134. Available at Theosophical University Press Online. This was reprinted from a Masonic journal.

Additional resources

• "Part III: Source of Measures" or "Art Speech". This unpublished manuscript is in the Archives at the Theosophical Society in Adyar, India. C. Jinarājadāsa wrote about this work in The Theosophist of August, 1923. The first page is entitled "Introduction: Giving a Key of Formation of An Ancient Language". The last page says "I end this closing section of my work on Monday the 18th day of February, 1884 on the retiring of the flood water of the Ohio at 12n. I, Ralston Skinner, Jany. 10, 1887 shall send this original MSS to Madame Blavatsky Ostend." CJ's article also includes a table of contents for the manuscript.
• "Skinner, J. Ralston (James Ralston), 1853-1887". Personal papers at Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard University. See finding aid at [this link]. This collection includes six letters from H. P. Blavatsky.