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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bygone Beliefs, by H. Stanley Redgrove
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bygone Beliefs
+
+Author: H. Stanley Redgrove
+
+Posting Date: August 15, 2008 [EBook #1271]
+Release Date: [Updated edition of: etext98/byblf11.txt; byblf11.zip]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BYGONE BELIEFS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller
+
+
+
+
+
+BYGONE BELIEFS BEING A SERIES OF EXCURSIONS IN THE BYWAYS OF THOUGHT
+
+By H. Stanley Redgrove
+
+
+     _Alle Erfahrung ist Magic, und nur magisch erklarbar_.
+     NOVALIS (Friedrich von Hardenberg).
+
+     Everything possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
+     WILLIAM BLAKE.
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+ <.> = coordinate covalent bond.
+ <#s> = subscripted #.
+ <#S> = superscripted #.
+ {} mark non-ascii characters.
+ "Emphasis" _italics_ have a * mark.
+ @@@ marks a reference to internal page numbers.
+ Comments and guessed at characters in {braces} need stripped/fixed.
+ Footnotes have not been re-numbered, however, (#) are moved to EOParagraph.
+ The footnotes that have duplicate numbers across 2 pages are "a" and "b".
+ "Protected" indentations have a space before the [Tab].
+ EOL - have been converted to ([Soft Hyphen]).
+ Greek letters are encoded in <gr > brackets, and the letters are
+ based on Adobe's Symbol font.
+ Hebrew letters are encoded in <hb > brackets.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+THESE Excursions in the Byways of Thought were undertaken at different
+times and on different occasions; consequently, the reader may be able
+to detect in them inequalities of treatment. He may feel that I have
+lingered too long in some byways and hurried too rapidly through others,
+taking, as it were, but a general view of the road in the latter case,
+whilst examining everything that could be seen in the former with,
+perhaps, undue care. As a matter of fact, how ever, all these excursions
+have been undertaken with one and the same object in view, that, namely,
+of understanding aright and appreciating at their true worth some of the
+more curious byways along which human thought has travelled. It is easy
+for the superficial thinker to dismiss much of the thought of the past
+(and, indeed, of the present) as _mere_ superstition, not worth the
+trouble of investigation: but it is not scientific. There is a reason
+for every belief, even the most fantastic, and it should be our object
+to discover this reason. How far, if at all, the reason in any case
+justifies us in holding a similar belief is, of course, another
+question. Some of the beliefs I have dealt with I have treated at
+greater length than others, because it seems to me that the truths of
+which they are the images--vague and distorted in many cases though they
+be--are truths which we have either forgotten nowadays, or are in danger
+of forgetting. We moderns may, indeed, learn something from the thought
+of the past, even in its most fantastic aspects. In one excursion at
+least, namely, the essay on "The Cambridge Platonists," I have ventured
+to deal with a higher phase--perhaps I should say the highest phase--of
+the thought of a bygone age, to which the modern world may be completely
+debtor.
+
+"Some Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought," and the two essays on
+Alchemy, have appeared in _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_.
+In others I have utilised material I have contributed to _The Occult
+Review_, to the editor of which journal my thanks are due for permission
+so to do. I have also to express my gratitude to the Rev. A. H. COLLINS,
+and others to be referred to in due course, for permission here to
+reproduce illustrations of which they are the copyright holders. I have
+further to offer my hearty thanks to Mr B. R. ROWBOTTOM and my wife for
+valuable assistance in reading the proofs. H. S. R.
+
+BLETCHLEY, BUCKS, _December_ 1919.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS PAGE
+
+    PREFACE........................... ix
+    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.................... xiii
+  1.  SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIAEVAL THOUGHT.........  1
+  2.  PYTHAGORAS AND HIS PHILOSOPHY...............  8
+  3.  MEDICINE AND MAGIC..................... 25
+  4.  SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING BIRDS .............. 34
+  5.  THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY:  A CURIOUS MEDICAL SUPERSTITION.. 47
+  6.  THE BELIEF IN TALISMANS.................. 57
+  7.  CEREMONIAL MAGIC IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.......... 87
+  8.  ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM..................111
+  9.  THE QUEST OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE............121
+  10. THE PHALLIC ELEMENT IN ALCHEMICAL DOCTRINE.........149
+  11. ROGER BACON:  AN APPRECIATION...............183
+  12. THE CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS..................193
+
+
+{the LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS are incomplete and raw OCR output!}
+
+ PAGE 46.  Symbolic Alchemical Design from Mutus Liber (1677).
+ PLATE: 25, to face p.176
+ 47.  Symbolic Alchemical Design illustrating the Work of Woman,
+      from MAIER's Atalanta Fugiens...,, 26,,, 178
+ 48.  Symbolic Alchemica Design, Hermaphrodite,
+      from MAIER's Atalanta Fugiens..,, 27,,, 180
+ 49.  ROGER BACON presenting a Book to a King, from a Fifteenth Century
+      Miniature in the Bodleian Library, Oxford...,, 28,,, 184
+ 50.  ROGER BACON, from a Portrait in Knole Castle..,, 29,,, 188
+ 51.  BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, from an engraved Portrait
+      by ROBERT WHITE....30...194
+ 52.  HENRY MORE, from a Portrait by DAVID LOGGAN, engraved ad vivum, 1679
+     ...,, 31,,, 198
+ 53.  RALPH CUDWORTH, from an engraved Portrait by VERTUE, after LOGGAN,
+      forming the Frontispiece to CUDWORTH's Treatise Concerning Morality
+      (1731) ,, 32,,, 3~
+
+
+
+
+BYGONE BELIEFS
+
+
+
+
+I. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDAEVAL THOUGHT
+
+IN the earliest days of his upward evolution man was satisfied with
+a very crude explanation of natural phenomena--that to which the name
+"animism" has been given. In this stage of mental development all the
+various forces of Nature are personified: the rushing torrent, the
+devastating fire, the wind rustling the forest leaves--in the mind of
+the animistic savage all these are personalities, spirits, like himself,
+but animated by motives more or less antagonistic to him.
+
+I suppose that no possible exception could be taken to the statement
+that modern science renders animism impossible. But let us inquire
+in exactly what sense this is true. It is not true that science robs
+natural phenomena of their spiritual significance. The mistake is often
+made of supposing that science explains, or endeavours to explain,
+phenomena. But that is the business of philosophy. The task science
+attempts is the simpler one of the correlation of natural phenomena, and
+in this effort leaves the ultimate problems of metaphysics untouched. A
+universe, however, whose phenomena are not only capable of some degree
+of correlation, but present the extraordinary degree of harmony and
+unity which science makes manifest in Nature, cannot be, as in animism,
+the product of a vast number of inco-ordinated and antagonistic wills,
+but must either be the product of one Will, or not the product of will
+at all.
+
+The latter alternative means that the Cosmos is inexplicable, which not
+only man's growing experience, but the fact that man and the
+universe form essentially a unity, forbid us to believe. The term
+"anthropomorphic" is too easily applied to philosophical systems, as if
+it constituted a criticism of their validity. For if it be true, as
+all must admit, that the unknown can only be explained in terms of
+the known, then the universe must either be explained in terms of
+man--_i.e_. in terms of will or desire--or remain incomprehensible. That
+is to say, a philosophy must either be anthropomorphic, or no philosophy
+at all.
+
+Thus a metaphysical scrutiny of the results of modern science leads us
+to a belief in God. But man felt the need of unity, and crude animism,
+though a step in the right direction, failed to satisfy his thought,
+long before the days of modern science. The spirits of animism, however,
+were not discarded, but were modified, co-ordinated, and worked into a
+system as servants of the Most High. Polytheism may mark a stage in this
+process; or, perhaps, it was a result of mental degeneracy.
+
+What I may term systematised as distinguished from crude animism
+persisted throughout the Middle Ages. The work of systematisation had
+already been accomplished, to a large extent, by the Neo-Platonists
+and whoever were responsible for the Kabala. It is true that these main
+sources of magical or animistic philosophy remained hidden during the
+greater part of the Middle Ages; but at about their close the youthful
+and enthusiastic CORNELIUS AGRIPPA (1486-1535)(1) slaked his thirst
+thereat and produced his own attempt at the systematisation of magical
+belief in the famous _Three Books of Occult Philosophy_. But the waters
+of magical philosophy reached the mediaeval mind through various devious
+channels, traditional on the one hand and literary on the other. And of
+the latter, the works of pseudo-DIONYSIUS,(2) whose immense influence
+upon mediaeval thought has sometimes been neglected, must certainly be
+noted.
+
+
+(1) The story of his life has been admirably told by HENRY MORLEY (2
+vols., 1856).
+
+(2) These writings were first heard of in the early part of the sixth
+century, and were probably the work of a Syrian monk of that date, who
+fathered them on to DIONYSIUS the Areopagite as a pious fraud. See Dean
+INGE'S _Christian Mysticism_ (1899), pp. 104--122, and VAUGHAN'S _Hours
+with the Mystics_ (7th ed., 1895), vol. i. pp. 111-124. The books have
+been translated into English by the Rev. JOHN PARKER (2 vols.1897-1899),
+who believes in the genuineness of their alleged authorship.
+
+
+The most obvious example of a mediaeval animistic belief is that in
+"elementals"--the spirits which personify the primordial forces of
+Nature, and are symbolised by the four elements, immanent in which they
+were supposed to exist, and through which they were held to manifest
+their powers. And astrology, it must be remembered, is essentially a
+systematised animism. The stars, to the ancients, were not material
+bodies like the earth, but spiritual beings. PLATO (427-347 B.C.) speaks
+of them as "gods". Mediaeval thought did not regard them in quite this
+way. But for those who believed in astrology, and few, I think, did
+not, the stars were still symbols of spiritual forces operative on man.
+Evidences of the wide extent of astrological belief in those days are
+abundant, many instances of which we shall doubtless encounter in our
+excursions.
+
+It has been said that the theological and philosophical atmosphere of
+the Middle Ages was "scholastic," not mystical. No doubt "mysticism," as
+a mode of life aiming at the realisation of the presence of God, is
+as distinct from scholasticism as empiricism is from rationalism,
+or "tough-minded" philosophy (to use JAMES' happy phrase) is from
+"tender-minded". But no philosophy can be absolutely and purely
+deductive. It must start from certain empirically determined facts. A
+man might be an extreme empiricist in religion (_i.e_. a mystic),
+and yet might attempt to deduce all other forms of knowledge from the
+results of his religious experiences, never caring to gather experience
+in any other realm. Hence the breach between mysticism and scholasticism
+is not really so wide as may appear at first sight. Indeed,
+scholasticism officially recognised three branches of theology, of which
+the MYSTICAL was one. I think that mysticism and scholasticism both had
+a profound influence on the mediaeval mind, sometimes acting as opposing
+forces, sometimes operating harmoniously with one another. As Professor
+WINDELBAND puts it: "We no longer onesidedly characterise the philosophy
+of the middle ages as scholasticism, but rather place mysticism beside
+it as of equal rank, and even as being the more fruitful and promising
+movement."(1)
+
+
+(1) Professor WILHELM WINDELBAND, Ph.D.: "Present-Day Mysticism," _The
+Quest_, vol. iv. (1913), P. 205.
+
+
+Alchemy, with its four Aristotelian or scholastic elements and its
+three mystical principles--sulphur, mercury, salt,--must be cited as
+the outstanding product of the combined influence of mysticism and
+scholasticism: of mysticism, which postulated the unity of the Cosmos,
+and hence taught that everything natural is the expressive image and
+type of some supernatural reality; of scholasticism, which taught men
+to rely upon deduction and to restrict experimentation to the smallest
+possible limits.
+
+The mind naturally proceeds from the known, or from what is supposed to
+be known, to the unknown. Indeed, as I have already indicated, it must
+so proceed if truth is to be gained. Now what did the men of the Middle
+Ages regard as falling into the category of the known? Why, surely, the
+truths of revealed religion, whether accepted upon authority or upon
+the evidence of their own experience. The realm of spiritual and moral
+reality: there, they felt, they were on firm ground. Nature was a realm
+unknown; but they had analogy to guide, or, rather, misguide them.
+Nevertheless if, as we know, it misguided, this was not, I think,
+because the mystical doctrine of the correspondence between the
+spiritual and the natural is unsound, but because these ancient seekers
+into Nature's secrets knew so little, and so frequently misapplied what
+they did know. So alchemical philosophy arose and became systematised,
+with its wonderful endeavour to perfect the base metals by the
+Philosopher's Stone--the concentrated Essence of Nature,--as man's soul
+is perfected through the life-giving power of JESUS CHRIST.
+
+I want, in conclusion to these brief introductory remarks, to say a
+few words concerning phallicism in connection with my topic. For some
+"tender-minded"(1) and, to my thought, obscure, reason the subject is
+tabooed. Even the British Museum does not include works on phallicism
+in its catalogue, and special permission has to be obtained to consult
+them. Yet the subject is of vast importance as concerns the origin
+and development of religion and philosophy, and the extent of phallic
+worship may be gathered from the widespread occurrence of obelisks and
+similar objects amongst ancient relics. Our own maypole dances may be
+instanced as one survival of the ancient worship of the male generative
+principle.
+
+
+(1) I here use the term with the extended meaning Mr H. G. WELLS has
+given to it. See _The New Machiavelli_.
+
+
+What could be more easy to understand than that, when man first
+questioned as to the creation of the earth, he should suppose it to have
+been generated by some process analogous to that which he saw held in
+the case of man? How else could he account for its origin, if knowledge
+must proceed from the known to the unknown? No one questions at all
+that the worship of the human generative organs as symbols of the dual
+generative principle of Nature degenerated into orgies of the most
+frightful character, but the view of Nature which thus degenerated is
+not, I think, an altogether unsound one, and very interesting remnants
+of it are to be found in mediaeval philosophy.
+
+These remnants are very marked in alchemy. The metals, as I have
+suggested, are there regarded as types of man; hence they are
+produced from seed, through the combination of male and female
+principles--mercury and sulphur, which on the spiritual plane are
+intelligence and love. The same is true of that Stone which is perfect
+Man. As BERNARD of TREVISAN (1406-1490) wrote in the fifteenth century:
+"This Stone then is compounded of a Body and Spirit, or of a volatile
+and fixed Substance, and that is therefore done, because nothing in
+the World can be generated and brought to light without these two
+Substances, to wit, a Male and Female: From whence it appeareth, that
+although these two Substances are not of one and the same species, yet
+one Stone doth thence arise, and although they appear and are said to be
+two Substances, yet in truth it is but one, to wit, _Argent-vive_."(1)
+No doubt this sounds fantastic; but with all their seeming intellectual
+follies these old thinkers were no fools. The fact of sex is the most
+fundamental fact of the universe, and is a spiritual and physical as
+well as a physiological fact. I shall deal with the subject as concerns
+the speculations of the alchemists in some detail in a later excursion.
+
+
+(1) BERNARD, Earl of TREVISAN: _A Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone_,
+1683. (See _Collectanea Chymica: A Collection of Ten Several Treatises
+in Chemistry_, 1684, p. 91.)
+
+
+
+
+II. PYTHAGORAS AND HIS PHILOSOPHY
+
+IT is a matter for enduring regret that so little is known to us
+concerning PYTHAGORAS. What little we do know serves but to enhance
+for us the interest of the man and his philosophy, to make him, in many
+ways, the most attractive of Greek thinkers; and, basing our estimate
+on the extent of his influence on the thought of succeeding ages, we
+recognise in him one of the world's master-minds.
+
+PYTHAGORAS was born about 582 B.C. at Samos, one of the Grecian isles.
+In his youth he came in contact with THALES--the Father of Geometry,
+as he is well called,--and though he did not become a member of THALES'
+school, his contact with the latter no doubt helped to turn his mind
+towards the study of geometry. This interest found the right ground for
+its development in Egypt, which he visited when still young. Egypt is
+generally regarded as the birthplace of geometry, the subject having, it
+is supposed, been forced on the minds of the Egyptians by the necessity
+of fixing the boundaries of lands against the annual overflowing of the
+Nile. But the Egyptians were what is called an essentially practical
+people, and their geometrical knowledge did not extend beyond a few
+empirical rules useful for fixing these boundaries and in constructing
+their temples. Striking evidence of this fact is supplied by the AHMES
+papyrus, compiled some little time before 1700 B.C. from an older
+work dating from about 3400 B.C.,(1) a papyrus which almost certainly
+represents the highest mathematical knowledge reached by the Egyptians
+of that day. Geometry is treated very superficially and as of subsidiary
+interest to arithmetic; there is no ordered series of reasoned
+geometrical propositions given--nothing, indeed, beyond isolated rules,
+and of these some are wanting in accuracy.
+
+
+(1) See AUGUST EISENLOHR: _Ein mathematisches Handbuch der alten
+Aegypter_ (1877); J. Gow: _A Short History of Greek Mathematics_ (1884);
+and V. E. JOHNSON: _Egyptian Science from the Monuments and Ancient
+Books_ (1891).
+
+
+One geometrical fact known to the Egyptians was that if a triangle be
+constructed having its sides 3, 4, and 5 units long respectively, then
+the angle opposite the longest side is exactly a right angle; and the
+Egyptian builders used this rule for constructing walls perpendicular to
+each other, employing a cord graduated in the required manner. The
+Greek mind was not, however, satisfied with the bald statement of mere
+facts--it cared little for practical applications, but sought above all
+for the underlying REASON of everything. Nowadays we are beginning to
+realise that the results achieved by this type of mind, the general laws
+of Nature's behaviour formulated by its endeavours, are frequently
+of immense practical importance--of far more importance than the mere
+rules-of-thumb beyond which so-called practical minds never advance.
+The classic example of the utility of seemingly useless knowledge is
+afforded by Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON'S discovery, or, rather, invention of
+Quarternions, but no better example of the utilitarian triumph of the
+theoretical over the so-called practical mind can be adduced than that
+afforded by PYTHAGORAS. Given this rule for constructing a right angle,
+about whose reason the Egyptian who used it never bothered himself, and
+the mind of PYTHAGORAS, searching for its full significance, made that
+gigantic geometrical discovery which is to this day known as the Theorem
+of PYTHAGORAS--the law that in every right-angled triangle the square
+on the side opposite the right angle is equal in area to the sum of the
+squares on the other two sides.(1) The importance of this discovery
+can hardly be overestimated. It is of fundamental importance in most
+branches of geometry, and the basis of the whole of trigonometry--the
+special branch of geometry that deals with the practical mensuration of
+triangles. EUCLID devoted the whole of the first book of his _Elements
+of Geometry_ to establishing the truth of this theorem; how PYTHAGORAS
+demonstrated it we unfortunately do not know.
+
+
+(1) Fig. 3 affords an interesting practical demonstration of the truth
+of this theorem. If the reader will copy this figure, cut out the
+squares on the two shorter sides of the triangle and divide them along
+the lines AD, BE, EF, he will find that the five pieces so obtained can
+be made exactly to fit the square on the longest side as shown by the
+dotted lines. The size and shape of the triangle ABC, so long as it
+has a right angle at C, is immaterial. The lines AD, BE are obtained
+by continuing the sides of the square on the side AB, _i.e_. the side
+opposite the right angle, and EF is drawn at right angles to BE.
+
+After absorbing what knowledge was to be gained in Egypt, PYTHAGORAS
+journeyed to Babylon, where he probably came into contact with even
+greater traditions and more potent influences and sources of knowledge
+than in Egypt, for there is reason for believing that the ancient
+Chaldeans were the builders of the Pyramids and in many ways the
+intellectual superiors of the Egyptians.
+
+At last, after having travelled still further East, probably as far as
+India, PYTHAGORAS returned to his birthplace to teach the men of his
+native land the knowledge he had gained. But CROESUS was tyrant over
+Samos, and so oppressive was his rule that none had leisure in which to
+learn. Not a student came to PYTHAGORAS, until, in despair, so the story
+runs, he offered to pay an artisan if he would but learn geometry. The
+man accepted, and later, when PYTHAGORAS pretended inability any longer
+to continue the payments, he offered, so fascinating did he find
+the subject, to pay his teacher instead if the lessons might only be
+continued. PYTHAGORAS no doubt was much gratified at this; and the
+motto he adopted for his great Brotherhood, of which we shall make the
+acquaintance in a moment, was in all likelihood based on this event. It
+ran, "Honour a figure and a step before a figure and a tribolus"; or, as
+a freer translation renders it:--
+
+"A figure and a step onward Not a figure and a florin."
+
+
+"At all events," as Mr FRANKLAND remarks, "the motto is a lasting witness
+to a very singular devotion to knowledge for its own sake."(1)
+
+
+(1) W. B. FRANKLAND, M.A.: _The Story of Euclid_ (1902), p. 33
+
+But PYTHAGORAS needed a greater audience than one man, however
+enthusiastic a pupil he might be, and he left Samos for Southern
+Italy, the rich inhabitants of whose cities had both the leisure and
+inclination to study. Delphi, far-famed for its Oracles, was visited _en
+route_, and PYTHAGORAS, after a sojourn at Tarentum, settled at Croton,
+where he gathered about him a great band of pupils, mainly young people
+of the aristocratic class. By consent of the Senate of Croton, he formed
+out of these a great philosophical brotherhood, whose members lived
+apart from the ordinary people, forming, as it were, a separate
+community. They were bound to PYTHAGORAS by the closest ties of
+admiration and reverence, and, for years after his death, discoveries
+made by Pythagoreans were invariably attributed to the Master, a fact
+which makes it very difficult exactly to gauge the extent of PYTHAGORAS'
+own knowledge and achievements. The regime of the Brotherhood, or
+Pythagorean Order, was a strict one, entailing "high thinking and low
+living" at all times. A restricted diet, the exact nature of which is
+in dispute, was observed by all members, and long periods of silence, as
+conducive to deep thinking, were imposed on novices. Women were admitted
+to the Order, and PYTHAGORAS' asceticism did not prohibit romance,
+for we read that one of his fair pupils won her way to his heart, and,
+declaring her affection for him, found it reciprocated and became his
+wife.
+
+SCHURE writes: "By his marriage with Theano, Pythagoras affixed _the
+seal of realization_ to his work. The union and fusion of the two lives
+was complete. One day when the master's wife was asked what length of
+time elapsed before a woman could become pure after intercourse with a
+man, she replied: 'If it is with her husband, she is pure all the time;
+if with another man, she is never pure.'" "Many women," adds the writer,
+"would smilingly remark that to give such a reply one must be the wife
+of Pythagoras, and love him as Theano did. And they would be in the
+right, for it is not marriage that sanctifies love, it is love which
+justifies marriage."(1)
+
+
+(1) EDOUARD SCHURE: _Pythagoras and the Delphic Mysteries_, trans. by F.
+ROTHWELL, B.A. (1906), pp. 164 and 165.
+
+
+PYTHAGORAS was not merely a mathematician, he was first and foremost a
+philosopher, whose philosophy found in number the basis of all things,
+because number, for him, alone possessed stability of relationship. As I
+have remarked on a former occasion, "The theory that the Cosmos has its
+origin and explanation in Number... is one for which it is not difficult
+to account if we take into consideration the nature of the times in
+which it was formulated. The Greek of the period, looking upon Nature,
+beheld no picture of harmony, uniformity and fundamental unity. The
+outer world appeared to him rather as a discordant chaos, the mere sport
+and plaything of the gods. The theory of the uniformity of Nature--that
+Nature is ever like to herself--the very essence of the modern
+scientific spirit, had yet to be born of years of unwearied labour
+and unceasing delving into Nature's innermost secrets. Only in
+Mathematics--in the properties of geometrical figures, and of
+numbers--was the reign of law, the principle of harmony, perceivable.
+Even at this present day when the marvellous has become commonplace,
+that property of right-angled triangles... already discussed... comes
+to the mind as a remarkable and notable fact: it must have seemed a
+stupendous marvel to its discoverer, to whom, it appears, the regular
+alternation of the odd and even numbers, a fact so obvious to us that
+we are inclined to attach no importance to it, seemed, itself, to be
+something wonderful. Here in Geometry and Arithmetic, here was order and
+harmony unsurpassed and unsurpassable. What wonder then that Pythagoras
+concluded that the solution of the mighty riddle of the Universe was
+contained in the mysteries of Geometry? What wonder that he read mystic
+meanings into the laws of Arithmetic, and believed Number to be the
+explanation and origin of all that is?"(1)
+
+
+(1) _A Mathematical Theory of Spirit_ (1912), pp. 64-65.
+
+
+No doubt the Pythagorean theory suffers from a defect similar to that
+of the Kabalistic doctrine, which, starting from the fact that all words
+are composed of letters, representing the primary sounds of language,
+maintained that all the things represented by these words were created
+by God by means of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. But at
+the same time the Pythagorean theory certainly embodies a considerable
+element of truth. Modern science demonstrates nothing more clearly
+than the importance of numerical relationships. Indeed, "the history of
+science shows us the gradual transformation of crude facts of experience
+into increasingly exact generalisations by the application to them of
+mathematics. The enormous advances that have been made in recent years
+in physics and chemistry are very largely due to mathematical methods
+of interpreting and co-ordinating facts experimentally revealed, whereby
+further experiments have been suggested, the results of which have
+themselves been mathematically interpreted. Both physics and chemistry,
+especially the former, are now highly mathematical. In the biological
+sciences and especially in psychology it is true that mathematical
+methods are, as yet, not so largely employed. But these sciences are far
+less highly developed, far less exact and systematic, that is to say,
+far less scientific, at present, than is either physics or chemistry.
+However, the application of statistical methods promises good results,
+and there are not wanting generalisations already arrived at which
+are expressible mathematically; Weber's Law in psychology, and the law
+concerning the arrangement of the leaves about the stems of plants in
+biology, may be instanced as cases in point."(1)
+
+
+(1) Quoted from a lecture by the present writer on "The Law of
+Correspondences Mathematically Considered," delivered before The
+Theological and Philosophical Society on 26th April 1912, and published
+in _Morning Light_, vol. xxxv (1912), p. 434 _et seq_.
+
+
+The Pythagorean doctrine of the Cosmos, in its most reasonable form,
+however, is confronted with one great difficulty which it seems
+incapable of overcoming, namely, that of continuity. Modern science,
+with its atomic theories of matter and electricity, does, indeed, show
+us that the apparent continuity of material things is spurious, that all
+material things consist of discrete particles, and are hence measurable
+in numerical terms. But modern science is also obliged to postulate an
+ether behind these atoms, an ether which is wholly continuous, and hence
+transcends the domain of number.(1) It is true that, in quite recent
+times, a certain school of thought has argued that the ether is
+also atomic in constitution--that all things, indeed, have a grained
+structure, even forces being made up of a large number of quantums
+or indivisible units of force. But this view has not gained general
+acceptance, and it seems to necessitate the postulation of an ether
+beyond the ether, filling the interspaces between its atoms, to obviate
+the difficulty of conceiving of action at a distance.
+
+
+(1) Cf. chap. iii., "On Nature as the Embodiment of Number," of my _A
+Mathematical Theory of Spirit_, to which reference has already been
+made.
+
+
+According to BERGSON, life--the reality that can only be lived, not
+understood--is absolutely continuous (_i.e_. not amenable to numerical
+treatment). It is because life is absolutely continuous that we cannot,
+he says, understand it; for reason acts discontinuously, grasping only,
+so to speak, a cinematographic view of life, made up of an immense
+number of instantaneous glimpses. All that passes between the glimpses
+is lost, and so the true whole, reason can never synthesise from that
+which it possesses. On the other hand, one might also argue--extending,
+in a way, the teaching of the physical sciences of the period between
+the postulation of DALTON'S atomic theory and the discovery of the
+significance of the ether of space--that reality is essentially
+discontinuous, our idea that it is continuous being a mere illusion
+arising from the coarseness of our senses. That might provide a complete
+vindication of the Pythagorean view; but a better vindication, if not
+of that theory, at any rate of PYTHAGORAS' philosophical attitude,
+is forthcoming, I think, in the fact that modern mathematics has
+transcended the shackles of number, and has enlarged her kingdom, so as
+to include quantities other than numerical. PYTHAGORAS, had he been
+born in these latter centuries, would surely have rejoiced in this,
+enlargement, whereby the continuous as well as the discontinuous is
+brought, if not under the rule of number, under the rule of mathematics
+indeed.
+
+PYTHAGORAS' foremost achievement in mathematics I have already
+mentioned. Another notable piece of work in the same department was
+the discovery of a method of constructing a parallelogram having a side
+equal to a given line, an angle equal to a given angle, and its area
+equal to that of a given triangle. PYTHAGORAS is said to have celebrated
+this discovery by the sacrifice of a whole ox. The problem appears in
+the first book of EUCLID'S _Elements of Geometry_ as proposition 44. In
+fact, many of the propositions of EUCLID'S first, second, fourth, and
+sixth books were worked out by PYTHAGORAS and the Pythagoreans; but,
+curiously enough, they seem greatly to have neglected the geometry of
+the circle.
+
+The symmetrical solids were regarded by PYTHAGORAS, and by the Greek
+thinkers after him, as of the greatest importance. To be perfectly
+symmetrical or regular, a solid must have an equal number of faces
+meeting at each of its angles, and these faces must be equal regular
+polygons, _i.e_. figures whose sides and angles are all equal.
+PYTHAGORAS, perhaps, may be credited with the great discovery that there
+are only five such solids. These are as follows:--
+
+The Tetrahedron, having four equilateral triangles as faces.
+
+The Cube, having six squares as faces.
+
+The Octahedron, having eight equilateral triangles as faces.
+
+The Dodecahedron, having twelve regular pentagons (or five-sided
+figures) as faces.
+
+The Icosahedron, having twenty equilateral triangles as faces.(1)
+
+
+(1) If the reader will copy figs. 4 to 8 on cardboard or stiff paper,
+bend each along the dotted lines so as to form a solid, fastening
+together the free edges with gummed paper, he will be in possession of
+models of the five solids in question.
+
+
+Now, the Greeks believed the world to be composed of four
+elements--earth, air, fire, water,--and to the Greek mind the conclusion
+was inevitable(2a) that the shapes of the particles of the elements
+were those of the regular solids. Earth-particles were cubical, the cube
+being the regular solid possessed of greatest stability; fire-particles
+were tetrahedral, the tetrahedron being the simplest and, hence,
+lightest solid. Water-particles were icosahedral for exactly the reverse
+reason, whilst air-particles, as intermediate between the two latter,
+were octahedral. The dodecahedron was, to these ancient mathematicians,
+the most mysterious of the solids: it was by far the most difficult to
+construct, the accurate drawing of the regular pentagon necessitating a
+rather elaborate application of PYTHAGORAS' great theorem.(1) Hence the
+conclusion, as PLATO put it, that "this (the regular dodecahedron) the
+Deity employed in tracing the plan of the Universe."(2b) Hence also
+the high esteem in which the pentagon was held by the Pythagoreans. By
+producing each side of this latter figure the five-pointed star (fig.
+9), known as the pentagram, is obtained. This was adopted by the
+Pythagoreans as the badge of their Society, and for many ages was held
+as a symbol possessed of magic powers. The mediaeval magicians made use
+of it in their evocations, and as a talisman it was held in the highest
+esteem.
+
+
+(2a) _Cf_. PLATO: The Timaeus, SESE xxviii--xxx.
+
+(1) In reference to this matter FRANKLAND remarks: "In those early days
+the innermost secrets of nature lay in the lap of geometry, and the
+extraordinary inference follows that Euclid's _Elements_, which are
+devoted to the investigation of the regular solids, are therefore in
+reality and at bottom an attempt to 'solve the universe.' Euclid,
+in fact, made this goal of the Pythagoreans the aim of his
+_Elements_."--_Op. cit_., p. 35.
+
+(2b) _Op. cit_., SE xxix.
+
+
+Music played an important part in the curriculum of the Pythagorean
+Brotherhood, and the important discovery that the relations between
+the notes of musical scales can be expressed by means of numbers is a
+Pythagorean one. It must have seemed to its discoverer--as, in a sense,
+it indeed is--a striking confirmation of the numerical theory of the
+Cosmos. The Pythagoreans held that the positions of the heavenly bodies
+were governed by similar numerical relations, and that in consequence
+their motion was productive of celestial music. This concept of "the
+harmony of the spheres" is among the most celebrated of the Pythagorean
+doctrines, and has found ready acceptance in many mystically-speculative
+minds. "Look how the floor of heaven," says Lorenzo in SHAKESPEARE'S
+_The Merchant of Venice_--
+
+ "... Look how the floor of heaven
+ Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
+ There's not the smallest orb which thou behold's"
+ But in his motion like an angel sings,
+ Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
+ Such harmony is in immortal souls;
+ But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
+ Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."(1)
+
+
+(1) Act v. scene i.
+
+Or, as KINGSLEY writes in one of his letters, "When I walk the fields I
+am oppressed every now and then with an innate feeling that everything
+I see has a meaning, if I could but understand it. And this feeling
+of being surrounded with truths which I cannot grasp, amounts to an
+indescribable awe sometimes! Everything seems to be full of God's
+reflex, if we could but see it. Oh! how I have prayed to have the
+mystery unfolded, at least hereafter. To see, if but for a moment, the
+whole harmony of the great system! To hear once the music which the
+whole universe makes as it performs His bidding!"(1) In this connection
+may be mentioned the very significant fact that the Pythagoreans did
+not consider the earth, in accordance with current opinion, to be a
+stationary body, but believed that it and the other planets revolved
+about a central point, or fire, as they called it.
+
+
+(1) CHARLES KINGSLEY: _His Letters and Memories of His Life_, edited by
+his wife (1883), p. 28.
+
+
+As concerns PYTHAGORAS' ethical teaching, judging from the so-called
+_Golden Verses_ attributed to him, and no doubt written by one of his
+disciples,(2) this would appear to be in some respects similar to that
+of the Stoics who came later, but free from the materialism of the Stoic
+doctrines. Due regard for oneself is blended with regard for the gods
+and for other men, the atmosphere of the whole being at once rational
+and austere. One verse--"Thou shalt likewise know, according to Justice,
+that the nature of this Universe is in all things alike"(3)--is of
+particular interest, as showing PYTHAGORAS' belief in that principle of
+analogy--that "What is below is as that which is above, what is above is
+as that which is below"--which held so dominant a sway over the minds of
+ancient and mediaeval philosophers, leading them--in spite, I suggest,
+of its fundamental truth--into so many fantastic errors, as we shall
+see in future excursions. Metempsychosis was another of the Pythagorean
+tenets, a fact which is interesting in view of the modern revival
+of this doctrine. PYTHAGORAS, no doubt, derived it from the East,
+apparently introducing it for the first time to Western thought.
+
+
+(2) It seems probable, though not certain, that PYTHAGORAS wrote nothing
+himself, but taught always by the oral method.
+
+(3) Cf. the remarks of HIEROCLES on this verse in his _Commentary_.
+
+
+Such, in brief, were the outstanding doctrines of the Pythagorean
+Brotherhood. Their teachings included, as we have seen, what may justly
+be called scientific discoveries of the first importance, as well as
+doctrines which, though we may feel compelled--perhaps rightly--to
+regard them as fantastic now, had an immense influence on the thought of
+succeeding ages, especially on Greek philosophy as represented by PLATO
+and the Neo-Platonists, and the more speculative minds--the occult
+philosophers, shall I say?--of the latter mediaeval period and
+succeeding centuries. The Brotherhood, however, was not destined to
+continue its days in peace. As I have indicated, it was a philosophical,
+not a political, association; but naturally PYTHAGORAS' philosophy
+included political doctrines. At any rate, the Brotherhood acquired a
+considerable share in the government of Croton, a fact which was greatly
+resented by the members of the democratic party, who feared the loss of
+their rights; and, urged thereto, it is said, by a rejected applicant
+for membership of the Order, the mob made an onslaught on the
+Brotherhood's place of assembly and burnt it to the ground. One account
+has it that PYTHAGORAS himself died in the conflagration, a sacrifice
+to the mad fury of the mob. According to another account--and we like to
+believe that this is the true one--he escaped to Tarentum, from which he
+was banished, to find an asylum in Metapontum, where he lived his last
+years in peace.
+
+The Pythagorean Order was broken up, but the bonds of brotherhood still
+existed between its members. "One of them who had fallen upon sickness
+and poverty was kindly taken in by an innkeeper. Before dying he traced
+a few mysterious signs (the pentagram, no doubt) on the door of the inn
+and said to the host: 'Do not be uneasy, one of my brothers will pay my
+debts.' A year afterwards, as a stranger was passing by this inn he saw
+the signs and said to the host: 'I am a Pythagorean; one of my brothers
+died here; tell me what I owe you on his account.'"(1)
+
+
+
+(1) EDOUARD SCHURE: _Op. cit_., p. 174.
+
+
+In endeavouring to estimate the worth of PYTHAGORAS' discoveries and
+teaching, Mr FRANKLAND writes, with reference to his achievements in
+geometry: "Even after making a considerable allowance for his pupils'
+share, the Master's geometrical work calls for much admiration"; and,
+"... it cannot be far wrong to suppose that it was Pythagoras' wont
+to insist upon proofs, and so to secure that rigour which gives to
+mathematics its honourable position amongst the sciences." And of his
+work in arithmetic, music, and astronomy, the same author writes: "...
+everywhere he appears to have inaugurated genuinely scientific methods,
+and to have laid the foundations of a high and liberal education";
+adding, "For nearly a score of centuries, to the very close of the
+Middle Ages, the four Pythagorean subjects of study--arithmetic,
+geometry, astronomy, music--were the staple educational course, and were
+bound together into a fourfold way of knowledge--the Quadrivium."(1)
+With these words of due praise, our present excursion may fittingly
+close.
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., pp. 35, 37, and 38.
+
+
+
+
+III. MEDICINE AND MAGIC
+
+THERE are few tasks at once so instructive and so fascinating as the
+tracing of the development of the human mind as manifested in the
+evolution of scientific and philosophical theories. And this is,
+perhaps, especially true when, as in the case of medicine, this
+evolution has followed paths so tortuous, intersected by so many
+fantastic byways, that one is not infrequently doubtful as to the true
+road. The history of medicine is at once the history of human wisdom and
+the history of human credulity and folly, and the romantic element (to
+use the expression in its popular acceptation) thus introduced, whilst
+making the subject more entertaining, by no means detracts from its
+importance considered psychologically.
+
+To whom the honour of having first invented medicines is due is unknown,
+the origins of pharmacy being lost in the twilight of myth. OSIRIS and
+ISIS, BACCHUS, APOLLO father of the famous physician AESCULAPIUS, and
+CHIRON the Centaur, tutor of the latter, are among the many mythological
+personages who have been accredited with the invention of physic. It
+is certain that the art of compounding medicines is extraordinarily
+ancient. There is a papyrus in the British Museum containing medical
+prescriptions which was written about 1200 B.C.; and the famous EBERS
+papyrus, which is devoted to medical matters, is reckoned to date
+from about the year 1550 B.C. It is interesting to note that in the
+prescriptions given in this latter papyrus, as seems to have been the
+case throughout the history of medicine, the principle that the efficacy
+of a medicine is in proportion to its nastiness appears to have been the
+main idea. Indeed, many old medicines contained ingredients of the
+most disgusting nature imaginable: a mediaeval remedy known as oil of
+puppies, made by cutting up two newly-born puppies and boiling them with
+one pound of live earthworms, may be cited as a comparatively pleasant
+example of the remedies (?) used in the days when all sorts of excreta
+were prescribed as medicines.(1)
+
+
+(1) See the late Mr A. C. WOOTTON'S excellent work, _Chronicles of
+Pharmacy_ (2 vols, 1910), to which I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness.
+
+
+Presumably the oldest theory concerning the causation of disease is that
+which attributes all the ills of mankind to the malignant operations of
+evil spirits, a theory which someone has rather fancifully suggested is
+not so erroneous after all, if we may be allowed to apply the term "evil
+spirits" to the microbes of modern bacteriology. Remnants of this theory
+(which does--shall I say?--conceal a transcendental truth), that is,
+in its original form, still survive to the present day in various
+superstitious customs, whose absurdity does not need emphasising: for
+example, the use of red flannel by old-fashioned folk with which to
+tie up sore throats--red having once been supposed to be a colour very
+angatonistic to evil spirits; so much so that at one time red cloth hung
+in the patient's room was much employed as a cure for smallpox!
+
+Medicine and magic have always been closely associated. Indeed, the
+greatest name in the history of pharmacy is also what is probably the
+greatest name in the history of magic--the reference, of course, being
+to PARACELSUS (1493-1541). Until PARACELSUS, partly by his vigorous
+invective and partly by his remarkable cures of various diseases,
+demolished the old school of medicine, no one dared contest the
+authority of GALEN (130-_circa_ 205) and AVICENNA (980--1037). GALEN'S
+theory of disease was largely based upon that of the four humours
+in man--bile, blood, phlegm, and black bile,--which were regarded as
+related to (but not identical with) the four elements--fire, air, water,
+and earth,--being supposed to have characters similar to these. Thus, to
+bile, as to fire, were attributed the properties of hotness and dryness;
+to blood and air those of hotness and moistness; to phlegm and water
+those of coldness and moistness; and, finally, black bile, like earth,
+was said to be cold and dry. GALEN supposed that an alteration in the
+due proportion of these humours gives rise to disease, though he did not
+consider this to be its only cause; thus, cancer, it was thought, might
+result from an excess of black bile, and rheumatism from an excess of
+phlegm. Drugs, GALEN argued, are of efficiency in the curing of disease,
+according as they possess one or more of these so-called fundamental
+properties, hotness, dryness, coldness, and moistness, whereby it was
+considered that an excess of any humour might be counteracted; moreover,
+it was further assumed that four degrees of each property exist, and
+that only those drugs are of use in curing a disease which contain the
+necessary property or properties in the degree proportionate to that
+in which the opposite humour or humours are in excess in the patient's
+system.
+
+PARACELSUS' views were based upon his theory (undoubtedly true in a
+sense) that man is a microcosm, a world in miniature.(1) Now, all things
+material, taught PARACELSUS, contain the three principles termed in
+alchemistic phraseology salt, sulphur, and mercury. This is true,
+therefore, of man: the healthy body, he argued, is a sort of chemical
+compound in which these three principles are harmoniously blended (as
+in the Macrocosm) in due proportion, whilst disease is due to a
+preponderance of one principle, fevers, for example, being the result
+of an excess of sulphur (_i.e_. the fiery principle), _etc_. PARACELSUS,
+although his theory was not so different from that of GALEN, whose views
+he denounced, was thus led to seek for CHEMICAL remedies, containing
+these principles in varying proportions; he was not content with
+medicinal herbs and minerals in their crude state, but attempted
+to extract their effective essences; indeed, he maintained that the
+preparation of new and better drugs is the chief business of chemistry.
+
+
+(1) See the "Note on the Paracelsian Doctrine of the Microcosm" below.
+
+
+This theory of disease and of the efficacy of drugs was complicated by
+many fantastic additions;(1) thus there is the "Archaeus," a sort
+of benevolent demon, supposed by PARACELSUS to look after all the
+unconscious functions of the bodily organism, who has to be taken into
+account. PARACELSUS also held the Doctrine of Signatures, according to
+which the medicinal value of plants and minerals is indicated by their
+external form, or by some sign impressed upon them by the operation of
+the stars. A very old example of this belief is to be found in the use
+of mandrake (whose roots resemble the human form) by the Hebrews and
+Greeks as a cure for sterility; or, to give an instance which is still
+accredited by some, the use of eye-bright (_Euphrasia officinalis_, L.,
+a plant with a black pupil-like spot in its corolla) for complaints of
+the eyes.(2) Allied to this doctrine are such beliefs, once held, as
+that the lungs of foxes are good for bronchial troubles, or that the
+heart of a lion will endow one with courage; as CORNELIUS AGRIPPA put
+it, "It is well known amongst physicians that brain helps the brain, and
+lungs the lungs."(3)
+
+
+(1) The question of PARACELSUS' pharmacy is further complicated by the
+fact that this eccentric genius coined many new words (without regard to
+the principles of etymology) as names for his medicines, and often used
+the same term to stand for quite different bodies. Some of his disciples
+maintained that he must not always be understood in a literal sense,
+in which probably there is an element of truth. See, for instance, _A
+Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels_, by BENEDICTUS FIGULUS
+(trans. by A. E. WAITE, 1893).
+
+(2) See Dr ALFRED C. HADDON'S _Magic and Fetishism_ (1906), p. 15.
+
+(3) HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA: _Occult Philosophy_, bk. i. chap. xv.
+(WHITEHEAD'S edition, Chicago, 1898, P. 72).
+
+
+In modern times homoeopathy--according to which a drug is a cure,
+if administered in small doses, for that disease whose symptoms it
+produces, if given in large doses to a healthy person---seems to bear
+some resemblance to these old medical theories concerning the curing of
+like by like. That the system of HAHNEMANN (1755--1843), the founder
+of homoeopathy, is free from error could be scarcely maintained, but
+certain recent discoveries in connection with serum-therapy appear to
+indicate that the last word has not yet been said on the subject, and
+the formula "like cures like" may still have another lease of life to
+run.
+
+To return to PARACELSUS, however. It may be thought that his views were
+not so great an advance on those of GALEN; but whether or not this be
+the case, his union of chemistry and medicine was of immense benefit
+to each science, and marked a new era in pharmacy. Even if his theories
+were highly fantastic, it was he who freed medicine from the shackles of
+traditionalism, and rendered progress in medical science possible.
+
+I must not conclude these brief notes without some reference to the
+medical theory of the medicinal efficacy of words. The EBERS papyrus
+already mentioned gives various formulas which must be pronounced when
+preparing and when administering a drug; and there is a draught used by
+the Eastern Jews as a cure for bronchial complaints prepared by writing
+certain words on a plate, washing them off with wine, and adding three
+grains of a citron which has been used at the Tabernacle festival. But
+enough for our present excursion; we must hie us back to the modern
+world, with its alkaloids, serums, and anti-toxins--another day we will,
+perhaps, wander again down the by-paths of Medicinal Magic.
+
+
+NOTE ON THE PARACELSIAN DOCTRINE OF THE MICROCOSM
+
+
+"Man's nature," writes CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, "_is the most complete Image
+of the whole Universe_."(1) This theory, especially connected with the
+name of PARACELSUS, is worthy of more than passing reference; but as
+the consideration of it leads us from medicine to metaphysics, I have
+thought it preferable to deal with the subject in a note.
+
+
+(1) H. C. AGRIPPA: _Occult Philosophy_, bk. i. chap. xxxiii.
+(WHITEHEAD'S edition, p. 111).
+
+
+Man, taught the old mystical philosophers, is threefold in nature,
+consisting of spirit, soul, and body. The Paracelsian mercury, sulphur,
+and salt were the mineral analogues of these. "As to the Spirit," writes
+VALENTINE WEIGEL (1533--1588), a disciple of PARACELSUS, "we are of God,
+move in God, and live in God, and are nourished of God. Hence God is in
+us and we are in God; God hath put and placed Himself in us, and we are
+put and placed in God. As to the Soul, we are from the Firmament and
+Stars, we live and move therein, and are nourished thereof. Hence the
+Firmament with its astralic virtues and operations is in us, and we in
+it. The Firmament is put and placed in us, and we are put and placed in
+the Firmament. As to the Body, we are of the elements, we move and live
+therein, and are nourished of them:--hence the elements are in us, and
+we in them. The elements, by the slime, are put and placed in us, and we
+are put and placed in them."(1) Or, to quote from PARACELSUS himself, in
+his _Hermetic Astronomy_ he writes: "God took the body out of which He
+built up man from those things which He created from nothingness into
+something... Hence man is now a microcosm, or a little world, because
+he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament,
+from the earth and the elements, and so he is their quintessence.... But
+between the macrocosm and the microcosm this difference occurs, that the
+form, image, species, and substance of man are diverse therefrom. In man
+the earth is flesh, the water is blood, fire is the heat thereof, and
+air is the balsam. These properties have not been changed but only the
+substance of the body. So man is man, not a world, yet made from the
+world, made in the likeness, not of the world, but of God. Yet man
+comprises in himself all the qualities of the world.... His body is from
+the world, and therefore must be fed and nourished by that world from
+which he has sprung.... He has been taken from the earth and from the
+elements, and therefore, must be nourished by these.... Now, man is not
+only flesh and blood, but there is within the intellect which does not,
+like the complexion, come from the elements, but from the stars. And
+the condition of the stars is this, that all the wisdom, intelligence,
+industry of the animal, and all the arts peculiar to man are contained
+in them. From the stars man has these same things, and that is called
+the light of Nature; in fact, it is whatever man has found by the light
+of Nature.... Such, then, is the condition of man, that, out of the
+great universe he needs both elements and stars, seeing that he himself
+is constituted in that way."(1b)
+
+
+(1) VALENTINE WEIGEL: "_Astrology Theologised": The Spiritual
+Hermeneutics of Astrology and Holy Writ_, ed. by ANNA BONUS KINGSFORD
+(1886), p. 59.
+
+(1b) _The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of_ PARACELSUS, ed. by A. E.
+WAITE (1894), vol. ii. pp. 289-291.
+
+
+
+It is not difficult to discern a certain truth in all this, making
+allowances for modes of thought which are not those of the present day.
+The Swedish philosopher SWEDENBORG (1688-1772) reaffirmed the theory
+in later years; but, as he points out,(2) the reason that man is a
+microcosm lies deeper than in the facts that his body is of the elements
+of this earth and is nourished thereby. According to this profound
+thinker, FORM, spiritually understood, is the expression of USE, the
+uses of things being indicated by their forms. Now, the human form is
+the highest of all forms, because it subserves the highest of all uses.
+Hence, both the world of matter and the world of spirit are in the
+human form, because there is a correspondence in use between man and
+the Cosmos. We may, therefore, call man as to his body a microcosm, or
+little world; as to his soul a micro-uranos, or little heaven. Or we may
+speak of the macrocosm, or great world, as the Grand Man, and we may
+say that the Soul of this Grand Man, the self-existent, substantial, and
+efficient cause of all things, at once immanent within yet transcending
+all things, is God.
+
+(2) See especially his _Divine Love and Wisdom_, SESE 251 and 319.
+
+
+
+
+IV. SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING BIRDS
+
+AMONGST the most remarkable of natural occurrences must be included
+many of the phenomena connected with the behaviour of birds. Undoubtedly
+numerous species of birds are susceptible to atmospheric changes (of
+an electrical and barometric nature) too slight to be observed by man's
+unaided senses; thus only is to be explained the phenomenon of migration
+and also the many other peculiarities in the behaviour of birds whereby
+approaching changes in the weather may be foretold. Probably, also, this
+fact has much to do with the extraordinary homing instinct of pigeons.
+But, of course, in the days when meteorological science had yet to be
+born, no such explanation as this could be known. The ancients observed
+that birds by their migrations or by other peculiarities in their
+behaviour prognosticated coming changes in the seasons of the year and
+other changes connected with the weather (such as storms, _etc_.); they
+saw, too, in the homing instincts of pigeons an apparent exhibition of
+intelligence exceeding that of man. What more natural, then, for them
+to attribute foresight to birds, and to suppose that all sorts of coming
+events (other than those of an atmospheric nature) might be foretold by
+careful observation of their flight and song?
+
+Augury--that is, the art of divination by observing the behaviour of
+birds--was extensively cultivated by the Etrurians and Romans.(1) It
+is still used, I believe, by the natives of Samoa. The Romans had an
+official college of augurs, the members of which were originally three
+patricians. About 300 B.C. the number of patrician augurs was increased
+by one, and five plebeian augurs were added. Later the number was again
+increased to fifteen. The object of augury was not so much to foretell
+the future as to indicate what line of action should be followed, in
+any given circumstances, by the nation. The augurs were consulted on all
+matters of importance, and the position of augur was thus one of great
+consequence. In what appears to be the oldest method, the augur, arrayed
+in a special costume, and carrying a staff with which to mark out the
+visible heavens into houses, proceeded to an elevated piece of ground,
+where a sacrifice was made and a prayer repeated. Then, gazing towards
+the sky, he waited until a bird appeared. The point in the heavens where
+it first made its appearance was carefully noted, also the manner and
+direction of its flight, and the point where it was lost sight of. From
+these particulars an augury was derived, but, in order to be of effect,
+it had to be confirmed by a further one.
+
+
+(1) This is not quite an accurate definition, as "auguries" were
+also obtained from other animals and from celestial phenomena (_e.g_.
+lightning), _etc_.
+
+Auguries were also drawn from the notes of birds, birds being divided by
+the augurs into two classes: (i) _oscines_, "those which give omens by
+their note," and (ii) _alites_, "those which afford presages by their
+flight."(1) Another method of augury was performed by the feeding of
+chickens specially kept for this purpose. This was done just before
+sunrise by the _pullarius_ or feeder, strict silence being observed. If
+the birds manifested no desire for their food, the omen was of a
+most direful nature. On the other hand, if from the greediness of the
+chickens the grain fell from their beaks and rebounded from the
+ground, the augury was most favourable. This latter augury was known as
+_tripudium solistimum_. "Any fraud practiced by the 'pullarius'," writes
+the Rev. EDWARD SMEDLEY, "reverted to his own head. Of this we have a
+memorable instance in the great battle between Papirius Cursor and the
+Samnites in the year of Rome 459. So anxious were the troops for battle,
+that the 'pullarius' dared to announce to the consul a 'tripudium
+solistimum,' although the chickens refused to eat. Papirius
+unhesitatingly gave the signal for fight, when his son, having
+discovered the false augury, hastened to communicate it to his father.
+'Do thy part well,' was his reply, 'and let the deceit of the augur fall
+on himself. The "tripudium" has been announced to me, and no omen could
+be better for the Roman army and people!' As the troops advanced, a
+javelin thrown at random struck the 'pullatius' dead. 'The hand of
+heaven is in the battle,' cried Papirius; 'the guilty is punished!' and
+he advanced and conquered."(1b) A coincidence of this sort, if it really
+occurred, would very greatly strengthen the popular belief in auguries.
+
+
+(1) PLINY: _Natural History_, bk. x. chap. xxii. (BOSTOCK and RILEY'S
+trans., vol. ii., 1855, p. 495).
+
+(1b) Rev. EDWARD SMEDLEY, M.A.: _The Occult Sciences_ (_Encyclopaedia
+Metropolitana_), ed. by ELIHU RICH (1855), p. 144.
+
+
+The _cock_ has always been reckoned a bird possessed of magic power. At
+its crowing, we are told, all unquiet spirits who roam the earth
+depart to their dismal abodes, and the orgies of the Witches' Sabbath
+terminate. A cock is the favourite sacrifice offered to evil spirits
+in Ceylon and elsewhere. Alectromancy(2) was an ancient and peculiarly
+senseless method of divination (so called) in which a cock was employed.
+The bird had to be young and quite white. Its feet were cut off and
+crammed down its throat with a piece of parchment on which were written
+certain Hebrew words. The cock, after the repetition of a prayer by the
+operator, was placed in a circle divided into parts corresponding to the
+letters of the alphabet, in each of which a grain of wheat was placed.
+A certain psalm was recited, and then the letters were noted from which
+the cock picked up the grains, a fresh grain being put down for each
+one picked up. These letters, properly arranged, were said to give the
+answer to the inquiry for which divination was made. I am not sure what
+one was supposed to do if, as seems likely, the cock refused to act in
+the required manner.
+
+
+(2) Cf. ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE: _The Occult Sciences_ (1891), pp. 124 and
+125.
+
+
+The _owl_ was reckoned a bird of evil omen with the Romans, who derived
+this opinion from the Etrurians, along with much else of their so-called
+science of augury. It was particularly dreaded if seen in a city, or,
+indeed, anywhere by day. PLINY (Caius Plinius Secundus, A.D. 61-before
+115) informs us that on one occasion "a horned owl entered the very
+sanctuary of the Capitol;... in consequence of which, Rome was purified
+on the nones of March in that year."(1)
+
+
+(1) PLINY: _Natural History_, bk. x. chap. xvi. (BOSTOCK and RILEY'S
+trans., vol. ii., 1855, p. 492).
+
+
+The folk-lore of the British Isles abounds with quaint beliefs and
+stories concerning birds. There is a charming Welsh legend concerning
+the _robin_, which the Rev. T. F. T. DYER quotes from _Notes and
+Queries_:--"Far, far away, is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of evil,
+and fire. Day by day does this little bird bear in his bill a drop of
+water to quench the flame. So near the burning stream does he fly,
+that his dear little feathers are SCORCHED; and hence he is named
+Brou-rhuddyn (Breast-burnt). To serve little children, the robin
+dares approach the infernal pit. No good child will hurt the devoted
+benefactor of man. The robin returns from the land of fire, and
+therefore he feels the cold of winter far more than his brother birds.
+He shivers in the brumal blast; hungry, he chirps before your door."(2)
+
+
+(2) T. F. THISELTON DYER, M.A.: _English Folk-Lore_ (1878), pp. 65 and
+66.
+
+
+Another legend accounts for the robin's red breast by supposing this
+bird to have tried to pluck a thorn from the crown encircling the brow
+of the crucified CHRIST, in order to alleviate His sufferings. No doubt
+it is on account of these legends that it is considered a crime, which
+will be punished with great misfortune, to kill a robin. In some places
+the same prohibition extends to the _wren_, which is popularly believed
+to be the wife of the robin. In other parts, however, the wren is (or
+at least was) cruelly hunted on certain days. In the Isle of Man the
+wren-hunt took place on Christmas Eve and St Stephen's Day, and is
+accounted for by a legend concerning an evil fairy who lured many men to
+destruction, but had to assume the form of a wren to escape punishment
+at the hands of an ingenious knight-errant.
+
+For several centuries there was prevalent over the whole of civilised
+Europe a most extraordinary superstition concerning the small Arctic
+bird resembling, but not so large as, the common wild goose, known as
+the _barnacle_ or _bernicle goose_. MAX MUELLER(1) has suggested that
+this word was really derived from _Hibernicula_, the name thus referring
+to Ireland, where the birds were caught; but common opinion associated
+the barnacle goose with the shell-fish known as the barnacle (which
+is found on timber exposed to the sea), supposing that the former was
+generated out of the latter. Thus in one old medical writer we find:
+"There are founde in the north parts of Scotland, and the Ilands
+adjacent, called Orchades (Orkney Islands), certain trees, whereon
+doe growe certaine shell fishes, of a white colour tending to russet;
+wherein are conteined little liuing creatures: which shells in time of
+maturitie doe open, and out of them grow those little living things;
+which falling into the water, doe become foules, whom we call
+Barnakles... but the other that do fall vpon the land, perish and come
+to nothing: this much by the writings of others, and also from the
+mouths of the people of those parts...."(1b)
+
+
+(1) See F. MAX MUELLER'S _Lectures on the Science of Language_ (1885),
+where a very full account of the tradition concerning the origin of the
+barnacle goose will be found.
+
+(1b) JOHN GERARDE: _The Herball; or, Generall Historie of Plantes_
+(1597). 1391.
+
+
+The writer, however, who was a well-known surgeon and botanist of
+his day, adds that he had personally examined certain shell-fish from
+Lancashire, and on opening the shells had observed within birds in
+various stages of development. No doubt he was deceived by some purely
+superficial resemblances--for example, the feet of the barnacle fish
+resemble somewhat the feathers of a bird. He gives an imaginative
+illustration of the barnacle fowl escaping from its shell, which is
+reproduced in fig. 12.
+
+Turning now from superstitions concerning actual birds to legends of
+those that are purely mythical, passing reference must be made to the
+_roc_, a bird existing in Arabian legend, which we meet in the _Arabian
+Nights_, and which is chiefly remarkable for its size and strength.
+
+The _phoenix_, perhaps, is of more interest. Of "that famous bird of
+Arabia," PLINY writes as follows, prefixing his description of it with
+the cautious remark, "I am not quite sure that its existence is not all
+a fable." "It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole
+world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that
+this bird is of the size of an eagle, and has a brilliant golden plumage
+around the neck, while the rest of the body is of a purple colour;
+except the tail, which is azure, with long feathers intermingled of a
+roseate hue; the throat is adorned with a crest, and the head with a
+tuft of feathers. The first Roman who described this bird... was the
+senator Manilius.... He tells us that no person has ever seen this bird
+eat, that in Arabia it is looked upon as sacred to the sun, that it
+lives five hundred and forty years, that when it becomes old it builds a
+nest of cassia and sprigs of incense, which it fills with perfumes, and
+then lays its body down upon them to die; that from its bones and marrow
+there springs at first a sort of small worm, which in time changes
+into a little bird; that the first thing that it does is to perform the
+obsequies of its predecessor, and to carry the nest entire to the city
+of the Sun near Panchaia, and there deposit it upon the altar of that
+divinity.
+
+"The same Manilius states also, that the revolution of the great year
+is completed with the life of this bird, and that then a new cycle comes
+round again with the same characteristics as the former one, in the
+seasons and the appearance of the stars. ... This bird was brought to
+Rome in the censorship of the Emperor Claudius... and was exposed to
+public view.... This fact is attested by the public Annals, but there is
+no one that doubts that it was a fictitious phoenix only."(1)
+
+
+(1) PLINY: _Natural History_, bk. x. chap. ii. (BOSTOCK and RILEY'S
+trans., vol. ii., 1855, PP. 479-481).
+
+
+The description of the plumage, _etc_., of this bird applies fairly
+well, as CUVIER has pointed out,(2) to the golden pheasant, and a
+specimen of the latter may have been the "fictitious phoenix"
+referred to above. That this bird should have been credited with the
+extraordinary and wholly fabulous properties related by PLINY and others
+is not, however, easy to understand. The phoenix was frequently used
+to illustrate the doctrine of the immortality of the soul (_e.g_. in
+CLEMENT'S _First Epistle to the Corinthians_), and it is not impossible
+that originally it was nothing more than a symbol of immortality which
+in time became to be believed in as a really existing bird. The fact,
+however, that there was supposed to be only one phoenix, and also that
+the length of each of its lives coincided with what the ancients
+termed a "great year," may indicate that the phoenix was a symbol
+of cosmological periodicity. On the other hand, some ancient writers
+(e_.g_. TACITUS, A.D. 55-120) explicitly refer to the phoenix as a
+symbol of the sun, and in the minds of the ancients the sun was closely
+connected with the idea of immortality. Certainly the accounts of
+the gorgeous colours of the plumage of the phoenix might well be
+descriptions of the rising sun. It appears, moreover, that the Egyptian
+hieroglyphic _benu_, {glyph}, which is a figure of a heron or crane (and
+thus akin to the phoenix), was employed to designate the rising sun.
+
+
+(2) See CUVIER'S _The Animal Kingdom_, GRIFFITH'S trans., vol. viii.
+(1829), p. 23.
+
+
+There are some curious Jewish legends to account for the supposed
+immortality of the phoenix. According to one, it was the sole animal
+that refused to eat of the forbidden tree when tempted by EVE. According
+to another, its immortality was conferred on it by NOAH because of its
+considerate behaviour in the Ark, the phoenix not clamouring for food
+like the other animals.(1)
+
+
+(1) The existence of such fables as these shows how grossly the real
+meanings of the Sacred Writings have been misunderstood.
+
+
+There is a celebrated bird in Chinese tradition, the _Fung Hwang_, which
+some sinologues identify with the phoenix of the West.(2) According to
+a commentator on the '_Rh Ya_, this "felicitous and perfect bird has a
+cock's head, a snake's neck, a swallow's beak, a tortoise's back, is of
+five different colours and more than six feet high."
+
+
+(2) Mr CHAS. GOULD, B.A., to whose book _Mythical Monsters_ (1886) I am
+very largely indebted for my account of this bird, and from which I have
+culled extracts from the Chinese, is not of this opinion. Certainly the
+fact that we read of Fung Hwangs in the plural, whilst tradition asserts
+that there is only one phoenix, seems to point to a difference in
+origin.
+
+
+Another account (that in the _Lun Yu Tseh Shwai Shing_) tells us that
+"its head resembles heaven, its eye the sun, its back the moon,
+its wings the wind, its foot the ground, and its tail the woof."
+Furthermore, "its mouth contains commands, its heart is conformable to
+regulations, its ear is thoroughly acute in hearing, its tongue utters
+sincerity, its colour is luminous, its comb resembles uprightness, its
+spur is sharp and curved, its voice is sonorous, and its belly is the
+treasure of literature." Like the dragon, tortoise, and unicorn, it was
+considered to be a spiritual creature; but, unlike the Western phoenix,
+more than one Fung Hwang was, as I have pointed out, believed to exist.
+The birds were not always to be seen, but, according to Chinese records,
+they made their appearance during the reigns of certain sovereigns. The
+Fung Hwang is regarded by the Chinese as an omen of great happiness and
+prosperity, and its likeness is embroidered on the robes of empresses
+to ensure success. Probably, if the bird is not to be regarded as purely
+mythological and symbolic in origin, we have in the stories of it no
+more than exaggerated accounts of some species of pheasant. Japanese
+literature contains similar stories.
+
+Of other fabulous bird-forms mention may be made of the _griffin_ and
+the _harpy_. The former was a creature half eagle, half lion, popularly
+supposed to be the progeny of the union of these two latter. It is
+described in the so-called _Voiage and Travaile of Sir_ JOHN MAUNDEVILLE
+in the following terms(1): "Sum men seyn, that thei ben the Body upward,
+as an Egle, and benethe as a Lyoun: and treuly thei seyn sothe, that
+thei ben of that schapp. But o Griffoun hathe the body more gret and
+is more strong thanne 8 Lyouns, of suche Lyouns as ben o this half; and
+more gret and strongere, than an 100 Egles, suche as we ben amonges us.
+For o Griffoun there will bere, fleynge to his Nest, a gret Hors, or
+2 Oxen zoked to gidere, as thei gon at the Plowghe. For he hathe his
+Talouns so longe and so large and grete, upon his Feet, as thoughe thei
+weren Hornes of grete Oxen or of Bugles or of Kyzn; so that men maken
+Cuppes of hem, to drynken of: and of hire Ribbes and of the Pennes of
+hire Wenges, men maken Bowes fulle strong, to schote with Arwes
+and Quarelle." The special characteristic of the griffin was its
+watchfulness, its chief function being thought to be that of guarding
+secret treasure. This characteristic, no doubt, accounts for its
+frequent use in heraldry as a supporter to the arms. It was sacred to
+APOLLO, the sun-god, whose chariot was, according to early sculptures,
+drawn by griffins. PLINY, who speaks of it as a bird having long ears
+and a hooked beak, regarded it as fabulous.
+
+
+(1) _The Voiage and Travaile of Sir_ JOHN MAUNDEVILLE, _Kt. Which
+treateth of the Way to Hierusalem; and of Marvayles of Inde, with other
+Ilands and Countryes. Now Publish'd entire from an Original MS. in The
+Cotton Library_ (London, 1727), cap. xxvi. pp. 325 and 326.
+
+"This work is mainly a compilation from the writings of William of
+Boldensele, Friar Odoric of Pordenone, Hetoum of Armenia, Vincent de
+Beauvais, and other geographers. It is probable that the name John de
+Mandeville should be regarded as a pseudonym concealing the identity
+of Jean de Bourgogne, a physician at Liege, mentioned under the name of
+Joannes ad Barbam in the vulgate Latin version of the Travels." (Note in
+British Museum Catalogue). The work, which was first published in French
+during the latter part of the fourteenth century, achieved an immense
+popularity, the marvels that it relates being readily received by the
+credulous folk of that and many a succeeding day.
+
+
+The harpies (_i.e_. snatchers) in Greek mythology are creatures like
+vultures as to their bodies, but with the faces of women, and armed with
+sharp claws.
+
+"Of Monsters all, most Monstrous this; no greater Wrath God sends
+'mongst Men; it comes from depth of pitchy Hell: And Virgin's Face, but
+Womb like Gulf unsatiate hath, Her Hands are griping Claws, her Colour
+pale and fell."(1)
+
+
+(1) Quoted from VERGIL by JOHN GUILLIM in his _A Display of Heraldry_
+(sixth edition, 1724), p. 271.
+
+
+We meet with the harpies in the story of PHINEUS, a son of AGENOR,
+King of Thrace. At the bidding of his jealous wife, IDAEA, daughter of
+DARDANUS, PHINEUS put out the sight of his children by his former wife,
+CLEOPATRA, daughter of BOREAS. To punish this cruelty, the gods caused
+him to become blind, and the harpies were sent continually to harass
+and affright him, and to snatch away his food or defile it by their
+presence. They were afterwards driven away by his brothers-in-law,
+ZETES and CALAIS. It has been suggested that originally the harpies were
+nothing more than personifications of the swift storm-winds; and few
+of the old naturalists, credulous as they were, regarded them as real
+creatures, though this cannot be said of all. Some other fabulous
+bird-forms are to be met with in Greek and Arabian mythologies, _etc_.,
+but they are not of any particular interest. And it is time for us to
+conclude our present excursion, and to seek for other byways.
+
+
+
+
+V. THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY: A CURIOUS MEDICAL SUPERSTITION
+
+OUT of the superstitions of the past the science of the present has
+gradually evolved. In the Middle Ages, what by courtesy we may term
+medical science was, as we have seen, little better than a heterogeneous
+collection of superstitions, and although various reforms were
+instituted with the passing of time, superstition still continued for
+long to play a prominent part in medical practice.
+
+One of the most curious of these old medical (or perhaps I should say
+surgical) superstitions was that relating to the Powder of Sympathy, a
+remedy (?) chiefly remembered in connection with the name of Sir KENELM
+DIGBY (1603-1665), though he was probably not the first to employ it.
+The Powder itself, which was used as a cure for wounds, was, in fact,
+nothing else than common vitriol,(1) though an improved and more elegant
+form (if one may so describe it) was composed of vitriol desiccated by
+the sun's rays, mixed with _gum tragacanth_. It was in the application
+of the Powder that the remedy was peculiar. It was not, as one might
+expect, applied to the wound itself, but any article that might have
+blood from the wound upon it was either sprinkled with the Powder or
+else placed in a basin of water in which the Powder had been dissolved,
+and maintained at a temperate heat. Meanwhile, the wound was kept clean
+and cool.
+
+
+(1) Green vitriol, ferrous sulphate heptahydrate, a compound of iron,
+sulphur, and oxygen, crystallised with seven molecules of water,
+represented by the formula FeSO4<.>7H2O. On exposure to the air it loses
+water, and is gradually converted into basic ferric sulphate. For long,
+green vitriol was confused with blue vitriol, which generally occurs
+as an impurity in crude green vitriol. Blue vitriol is copper sulphate
+pentahydrate, CuSO4<.>5H2O.
+
+
+Sir KENELM DIGBY appears to have delivered a discourse dealing with the
+famous Powder before a learned assembly at Montpellier in France; at
+least a work purporting to be a translation of such a discourse was
+published in 1658,(1) and further editions appeared in 1660 and 1664.
+KENELM was a son of the Sir EVERARD DIGBY (1578-1606) who was executed
+for his share in the Gunpowder Plot. In spite of this fact, however,
+JAMES I. appears to have regarded him with favour. He was a man of
+romantic temperament, possessed of charming manners, considerable
+learning, and even greater credulity. His contemporaries seem to have
+differed in their opinions concerning him. EVELYN (1620-1706), the
+diarist, after inspecting his chemical laboratory, rather harshly speaks
+of him as "an errant mountebank". Elsewhere he well refers to him as "a
+teller of strange things"--this was on the occasion of DIGBY'S relating
+a story of a lady who had such an aversion to roses that one laid on her
+cheek produced a blister!
+
+(1) _A late Discourse... by Sir_ KENELM DIGBY, _Kt.&c. Touching the Cure
+of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy...rendered... out of French into
+English by_ R. WHITE, Gent. (1658). This is entitled the second edition,
+but appears to have been the first.
+
+
+To return to the _Late Discourse_: after some preliminary remarks, Sir
+KENELM records a cure which he claims to have effected by means of
+the Powder. It appears that JAMES HOWELL (1594-1666, afterwards
+historiographer royal to CHARLES II.), had, in the attempt to separate
+two friends engaged in a duel, received two serious wounds in the hand.
+To proceed in the writer's own words:--"It was my chance to be lodged
+hard by him; and four or five days after, as I was making myself ready,
+he (Mr Howell) came to my House, and prayed me to view his wounds; for
+I understand, said he, that you have extraordinary remedies upon such
+occasions, and my Surgeons apprehend some fear, that it may grow to a
+Gangrene, and so the hand must be cut off....
+
+"I asked him then for any thing that had the blood upon it, so he
+presently sent for his Garter, wherewith his hand was first bound: and
+having called for a Bason of water, as if I would wash my hands; I took
+an handfull of Powder of Vitrol, which I had in my study, and presently
+dissolved it. As soon as the bloody garter was brought me, I put it
+within the Bason, observing in the interim what Mr _Howel_ did,
+who stood talking with a Gentleman in the corner of my Chamber, not
+regarding at all what I was doing: but he started suddenly, as if he had
+found some strange alteration in himself; I asked him what he ailed? I
+know not what ailes me, but I find that I feel no more pain, methinks
+that a pleasing kind of freshnesse, as it were a wet cold Napkin
+did spread over my hand, which hath taken away the inflammation that
+tormented me before; I replied, since that you feel already so good an
+effect of my medicament, I advise you to cast away all your Plaisters,
+onely keep the wound clean, and in a moderate temper 'twixt heat and
+cold. This was presently reported to the Duke of _Buckingham_, and a
+little after to the King (James I.), who were both very curious to know
+the issue of the businesse, which was, that after dinner I took the
+garter out of the water, and put it to dry before a great fire; it was
+scarce dry, but Mr _Howels_ servant came running (and told me), that his
+Master felt as much burning as ever he had done, if not more, for the
+heat was such, as if his hand were betwixt coales of fire: I answered,
+that although that had happened at present, yet he should find ease in
+a short time; for I knew the reason of this new accident, and I
+would provide accordingly, for his Master should be free from that
+inflammation, it may be, before he could possibly return unto him: but
+in case he found no ease, I wished him to come presently back again, if
+not he might forbear coming. Thereupon he went, and at the instant I
+did put again the garter into the water; thereupon he found his Master
+without any pain at all. To be brief, there was no sense of pain
+afterward: but within five or six dayes the wounds were cicatrized, and
+entirely healed."(1)
+
+
+(1) _Ibid_., pp. 7-11.
+
+
+Sir KENELM proceeds, in this discourse, to relate that he obtained the
+secret of the Powder from a Carmelite who had learnt it in the East.
+Sir KENELM says that he told it only to King JAMES and his celebrated
+physician, Sir THEODORE MAYERNE (1573-1655). The latter disclosed it to
+the Duke of MAYERNE, whose surgeon sold the secret to various persons,
+until ultimately, as Sir KENELM remarks, it became known to every
+country barber. However, DIGBY'S real connection with the Powder has
+been questioned. In an Appendix to Dr NATHANAEL HIGHMORE'S (1613-1685)
+_The History of Generation_, published in 1651, entitled _A Discourse
+of the Cure of Wounds by Sympathy_, the Powder is referred to as Sir
+GILBERT TALBOT'S Powder; nor does it appear to have been DIGBY who
+brought the claims of the Sympathetic Powder before the notice of
+the then recently-formed Royal Society, although he was a by no means
+inactive member of the Society. HIGHMORE, however, in the Appendix
+to the work referred to above, does refer to DIGBY'S reputed cure of
+HOWELL'S wounds already mentioned; and after the publication of DIGBY'S
+_Discourse_ the Powder became generally known as Sir KENELM DIGBY'S
+Sympathetic Powder. As such it is referred to in an advertisement
+appended to _Wit and Drollery_ (1661) by the bookseller, NATHANAEL
+BROOK.(1)
+
+
+(1) This advertisement is as follows: "These are to give notice, that
+Sir _Kenelme Digbies_ Sympathetical Powder prepar'd by Promethean fire,
+curing all green wounds that come within the compass of a Remedy; and
+likewise the Tooth-ache infallibly in a very short time: Is to be had at
+Mr _Nathanael Brook's_ at the Angel in _Cornhil_."
+
+The belief in cure by sympathy, however, is much older than DIGBY'S or
+TALBOT'S Sympathetic Powder. PARACELSUS described an ointment consisting
+essentially of the moss on the skull of a man who had died a violent
+death, combined with boar's and bear's fat, burnt worms, dried boar's
+brain, red sandal-wood and mummy, which was used to cure (?) wounds in a
+similar manner, being applied to the weapon with which the hurt had been
+inflicted. With reference to this ointment, readers will probably recall
+the passage in SCOTT'S _Lay of the Last Minstrel_ (canto 3, stanza 23),
+respecting the magical cure of WILLIAM of DELORAINE'S wound by "the
+Ladye of Branksome":--
+
+  "She drew the splinter from the wound
+  And with a charm she stanch'd the blood;
+  She bade the gash be cleans'd and bound:
+  No longer by his couch she stood;
+  But she had ta'en the broken lance,
+  And washed it from the clotted gore
+  And salved the splinter o'er and o'er.
+  William of Deloraine, in trance,
+  Whene'er she turned it round and round,
+  Twisted as if she gall'd his wound.
+  Then to her maidens she did say
+  That he should be whole man and sound
+  Within the course of a night and day.
+  Full long she toil'd; for she did rue
+  Mishap to friend so stout and true."
+
+
+FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626) writes of sympathetic cures as follows:--"It
+is constantly Received, and Avouched, that the _Anointing_ of the
+_Weapon_, that maketh the _Wound_, wil heale the _Wound_ it selfe. In
+this _Experiment_, upon the Relation of _Men of Credit_, (though my
+selfe, as yet, am not fully inclined to beleeve it,) you shal note
+the _Points_ following; First, the _Ointment_... is made of Divers
+_ingredients_; whereof the Strangest and Hardest to come by, are the
+Mosse upon the _Skull_ of a _dead Man, Vnburied_; And the _Fats_ of a
+_Boare_, and a _Beare_, killed in the _Act of Generation_. These Two
+last I could easily suspect to be prescribed as a Starting Hole; That if
+the _Experiment_ proved not, it mought be pretended, that the _Beasts_
+were not killed in due Time; For as for the _Mosse_, it is certain
+there is great Quantity of it in _Ireland_, upon _Slain Bodies_, laid
+on _Heaps, Vnburied_. The other _Ingredients_ are, the _Bloud-Stone_
+in _Powder_, and some other _Things_, which seeme to have a _Vertue_ to
+_Stanch Bloud_; As also the _Mosse_ hath.... Secondly, the same _kind_
+of _Ointment_, applied to the Hurt it selfe, worketh not the _Effect_;
+but onely applied to the _Weapon_..... Fourthly, it may be applied to
+the _Weapon_, though the Party Hurt be at a great Distance. Fifthly, it
+seemeth the _Imagination_ of the Party, to be _Cured_, is not needfull
+to Concurre; For it may be done without the knowledge of the _Party
+Wounded_; And thus much hath been tried, that the _Ointment_ (for
+_Experiments_ sake,) hath been wiped off the _Weapon_, without the
+knowledge of the _Party Hurt_, and presently the _Party Hurt_, hath been
+in great _Rage of Paine_, till the _Weapon_ was _Reannointed_. Sixthly,
+it is affirmed, that if you cannot get the _Weapon_, yet if you put an
+_Instrument_ of _Iron_, or _Wood_, resembling the _Weapon_, into the
+_Wound_, whereby it bleedeth, the _Annointing_ of that _Instrument_ will
+serve, and work the _Effect_. This I doubt should be a Device, to keep
+this strange _Forme of Cure_, in Request, and Use; Because many times
+you cannot come by the _Weapon_ it selve. Seventhly, the _Wound_ be at
+first _Washed clean_ with _White Wine_ or the _Parties_ own _Water_; And
+then bound up close in _Fine Linen_ and no more _Dressing_ renewed, till
+it be _whole_."(1)
+
+
+(1) FRANCIS BACON: _Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Natural History... Published
+after the Authors death... The sixt Edition_ ù.. (1651), p. 217.
+
+
+Owing to the demand for making this ointment, quite a considerable trade
+was done in skulls from Ireland upon which moss had grown owing to
+their exposure to the atmosphere, high prices being obtained for fine
+specimens.
+
+The idea underlying the belief in the efficacy of sympathetic remedies,
+namely, that by acting on part of a thing or on a symbol of it, one
+thereby acts magically on the whole or the thing symbolised, is the
+root-idea of all magic, and is of extreme antiquity. DIGBY and others,
+however, tried to give a natural explanation to the supposed efficacy
+of the Powder. They argued that particles of the blood would ascend from
+the bloody cloth or weapon, only coming to rest when they had reached
+their natural home in the wound from which they had originally issued.
+These particles would carry with them the more volatile part of the
+vitriol, which would effect a cure more readily than when combined with
+the grosser part of the vitriol. In the days when there was hardly any
+knowledge of chemistry and physics, this theory no doubt bore every
+semblance of truth. In passing, however, it is interesting to note
+that DIGBY'S _Discourse_ called forth a reply from J. F. HELVETIUS
+(or SCHWETTZER, 1625-1709), physician to the Prince of Orange, who
+afterwards became celebrated as an alchemist who had achieved the magnum
+opus.(1)
+
+
+(1) See my _Alchemy: Ancient and Modern_ (1911), SESE 63-67.
+
+
+Writing of the Sympathetic Powder, Professor DE MORGAN wittily argues
+that it must have been quite efficacious. He says: "The directions were
+to keep the wound clean and cool, and to take care of diet, rubbing the
+salve on the knife or sword. If we remember the dreadful notions upon
+drugs which prevailed, both as to quantity and quality, we shall readily
+see that any way of NOT dressing the wound would have been useful. If
+the physicians had taken the hint, had been careful of diet, _etc_.,
+and had poured the little barrels of medicine down the throat of a
+practicable doll, THEY would have had their magical cures as well as the
+surgeons."(2) As Dr PETTIGREW has pointed out,(3) Nature exhibits very
+remarkable powers in effecting the healing of wounds by adhesion, when
+her processes are not impeded. In fact, many cases have been recorded in
+which noses, ears, and fingers severed from the body have been rejoined
+thereto, merely by washing the parts, placing them in close continuity,
+and allowing the natural powers of the body to effect the healing.
+Moreover, in spite of BACON'S remarks on this point, the effect of
+the imagination of the patient, who was usually not ignorant that a
+sympathetic cure was to be attempted, must be taken into account; for,
+without going to the excesses of "Christian Science" in this respect,
+the fact must be recognised that the state of the mind exercises a
+powerful effect on the natural forces of the body, and a firm faith is
+undoubtedly helpful in effecting the cure of any sort of ill.
+
+
+(2) Professor AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN: _A Budget of Paradoxes_ (1872), p 66.
+
+(3) THOMAS JOSEPH PETTIGREW, F.R.S.: _On Superstitions connected with
+the History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery_ (1844), pp. 164-167.
+
+
+
+
+VI. THE BELIEF IN TALISMANS
+
+THE word "talisman" is derived from the Arabic "tilsam," "a magical
+image," through the plural form "tilsamen." This Arabic word is itself
+probably derived from the Greek telesma in its late meaning of "a
+religious mystery" or "consecrated object". The term is often employed
+to designate amulets in general, but, correctly speaking, it has a more
+restricted and special significance. A talisman may be defined briefly
+as an astrological or other symbol expressive of the influence and power
+of one of the planets, engraved on a sympathetic stone or metal (or
+inscribed on specially prepared parchment) under the auspices of this
+planet.
+
+Before proceeding to an account of the preparation of talismans proper,
+it will not be out of place to notice some of the more interesting and
+curious of other amulets. All sorts of substances have been employed
+as charms, sometimes of a very unpleasant nature, such as dried toads.
+Generally, however, amulets consist of stones, herbs, or passages from
+Sacred Writings written on paper. This latter class are sometimes
+called "characts," as an example of which may be mentioned the Jewish
+phylacteries.
+
+Every precious stone was supposed to exercise its own peculiar virtue;
+for instance, amber was regarded as a good remedy for throat troubles,
+and agate was thought to preserve from snake-bites. ELIHU RICH(1) gives
+a very full list of stones and their supposed virtues. Each sign of the
+zodiac was supposed to have its own particular stone(2) (as shown in the
+annexed table), and hence the superstitious though not inartistic custom
+of wearing one's birth-
+
+                                  Month (com-
+ Astrological                     mencing 21st
+ Sign of the Zodiac.              of preceding
+                        Symbol.   month).        Stone.
+
+
+  Aries, the Ram     .    {}        April       Sardonyx.
+  Taurus the Bull    .    {}        May         Cornelian.
+  Gemini the Twins .      {}        June        Topaz.
+  Cancer, the Crab .      {}        July        Chalcedony.
+  Leo, the Lion . .       {}        August      Jasper.
+  Virgo, the Virgin .     {}        September   Emerald.
+  Libra, the Balance .    {}        October     Beryl.
+  Scorpio, the Scorpion   {}        November    Amethyst.
+  Sagittarius, the Archer {}        December    Hyacinth (=Sapphire).
+  Capricorn, the Goat .   {}        January     Chrysoprase.
+  Aquarius, the Water-    {}        February    Crystal.
+  bearer
+  Pisces, the Fishes .    {}        March       Sapphire.(=Lapis lazuli).
+
+
+stone for "luck". The belief in the occult powers of certain stones
+is by no means non-existent at the present day; for even in these
+enlightened times there are not wanting those who fear the beautiful
+opal, and put their faith in the virtues of New Zealand green-stone.
+
+
+(1) ELIHU RICH: _The Occult Sciences (Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_,
+1855), pp. 348 _et seq_.
+
+(2) With regard to these stones, however, there is much confusion and
+difference of opinion. The arrangement adopted in the table here
+given is that of CORNELIUS AGRIPPA (_Occult Philosophy_, bk. ii.). A
+comparatively recent work, esteemed by modern occultists, namely, _The
+Light of Egypt, or the Science of the Soul and the Stars_ (1889), gives
+the following scheme:--
+
+{}=Amethyst. {}=Emerald. {}=Diamond. {}=Onyx (Chalcedony).
+
+{}=Agate. {}=Ruby. {}=Topaz. {}=Sapphire (skyblue).
+
+{}=Beryl. {}=Jasper. {}=Carbuncle. {}=Chrysolite.
+
+
+Common superstitious opinion regarding birth-stones, as reflected, for
+example, in the "lucky birth charms" exhibited in the windows of the
+jewellers' shops, considerably diverges in this matter from the views of
+both these authorities. The usual scheme is as follows:--
+
+ Jan.=Garnet.       May =Emerald.    Sept.=Sapphire,
+ Feb.=Amethyst.     June=Agate.      Oct. =Opal.
+ Mar.=Bloodstone.   July=Ruby.       Nov. =Topaz.
+ Apr.=Diamond.      Aug.=Sardonyx.   Dec. =Turquoise.
+
+
+The bloodstone is frequently assigned either to Aries or Scorpio, owing
+to its symbolical connection with Mars; and the opal to Cancer, which in
+astrology is the constellation of the moon.
+
+Confusion is rendered still worse by the fact that the ancients whilst
+in some cases using the same names as ourselves, applied them to
+different stones; thus their "hyacinth" is our "sapphire," whilst their
+"sapphire" is our "lapis lazuli".
+
+
+Certain herbs, culled at favourable conjunctions of the planets and worn
+as amulets, were held to be very efficacious against various diseases.
+Precious stones and metals were also taken internally for the same
+purpose--"remedies" which in certain cases must have proved exceedingly
+harmful. One theory put forward for the supposed medical value of
+amulets was the Doctrine of Effluvia. This theory supposes the amulets
+to give off vapours or effluvia which penetrate into the body and effect
+a cure. It is, of course, true that certain herbs, _etc_., might, under
+the heat of the body, give off such effluvia, but the theory on the
+whole is manifestly absurd. The Doctrine of Signatures, which we have
+already encountered in our excursions,(1) may also be mentioned in this
+connection as a complementary and equally untenable hypothesis.
+
+According to ELIHU RICH,(2) the following were the commonest Egyptian
+amulets:--
+
+
+1. Those inscribed with the figure of _Serapis_, used to preserve
+against evils inflicted by earth.
+
+2. Figure of _Canopus_, against evil by water.
+
+3. Figure of a _hawk_, against evil from the air.
+
+4. Figure of an _asp_, against evil by fire.
+
+
+PARACELSUS believed there to be much occult virtue in an alloy of
+the seven chief metals, which he called _Electrum_. Certain definite
+proportions of these metals had to be taken, and each was to be added
+during a favourable conjunction of the planets. From this electrum he
+supposed that valuable amulets and magic mirrors could be prepared.
+
+
+(1) See "Medicine and Magic." (2) _Op. Cit_., p. 343
+
+
+A curious and ancient amulet for the cure of various diseases,
+particularly the ague, was a triangle formed of the letters of the word
+"Abracadabra." The usual form was that shown in fig. 19, and that shown
+in fig. 20 was also known. The origin of this magical word is lost in
+obscurity.
+
+The belief in the horn as a powerful amulet, especially prevalent in
+Italy, where is it the custom of the common people to make the sign of
+the _mano cornuto_ to avoid the consequence of the dreaded _jettatore_
+or evil eye, can be traced to the fact that the horn was the symbol
+of the Goddess of the Moon. Probably the belief in the powers of the
+horse-shoe had a similar origin. Indeed, it seems likely that not only
+this, but most other amulets, like talismans proper--as will appear
+below,--were originally designed as appeals to gods and other powerful
+spiritual beings.
+
+
+     \ ABRACADABRA          /      \ ABRACADABRA |
+      \ ABRACADABR         /        \ BRACADABRA |
+       \ ABRACADAB        /          \ RACADABRA |
+        \ ABRACADA       /            \ ACADABRA |
+         \ ABRACAD      /              \ CADABRA |
+          \ ABRACA     /                \ ADABRA |
+           \ ABRAC    /                  \ DABRA |
+            \ ABRA   /                    \ ABRA |
+             \ ABR  /                      \ BRA |
+              \ AB /                        \ RA |
+               \ A/                          \ A |
+                \/                            \  |
+
+
+(1) See FREDERICK T. ELWORTHY'S _Horns of Honour_ (1900), especially pp.
+56 _et seq_.
+
+To turn our attention, however, to the art of preparing talismans
+proper: I may remark at the outset that it was necessary for the
+talisman to be prepared by one's own self--a task by no means easy as
+a rule. Indeed, the right mental attitude of the occultist was insisted
+upon as essential to the operation.
+
+As to the various signs to be engraver on the talismans, various
+authorities differ, though there are certain points connected with the
+art of talismanic magic on which they all agree. It so happened that the
+ancients were acquainted with seven metals and seven planets (including
+the sun and moon as planets), and the days of the week are also seven.
+It was concluded, therefore, that there was some occult connection
+between the planets, metals, and days of the week. Each of the seven
+days of the week was supposed to be under the auspices of the spirits of
+one of the planets; so also was the generation in the womb of Nature of
+each of the seven chief metals.
+
+In the following table are shown these particulars in detail:--
+
+
+     Planet.  Symbol.   Day of    Metal.       Colour.
+
+     Sun.    {}        Sunday    Gold         Gold or yellow.
+     Moon.   {}        Monday    Silver       Silver or white.
+     Mars.   {}        Tuesday   Iron         Red.
+     Mercury  {}        Wednesday (1)Mercury   Mixed colours or purple.
+     Jupiter  {}        Thursday  Tin          Violet or blue.
+     Venus    {}        Friday    Copper       Turquoise or green.
+     Saturn.  {}        Saturday  Lead         Black.
+
+(1) Used in the form of a solid amalgam for talismans.
+
+Consequently, the metal of which a talisman was to be made, and also the
+time of its preparation, had to be chosen with due regard to the planet
+under which it was to be prepared.(1) The power of such a talisman was
+thought to be due to the genie of this planet--a talisman, was, in fact,
+a silent evocation of an astral spirit. Examples of the belief that a
+genie can be bound up in an amulet in some way are afforded by the story
+of ALADDIN'S lamp and ring and other stories in the _Thousand and
+One Nights_. Sometimes the talismanic signs were engraved on precious
+stones, sometimes they were inscribed on parchment; in both cases the
+same principle held good, the nature of the stone chosen, or the colour
+of the ink employed, being that in correspondence with the planet under
+whose auspices the talisman was prepared.
+
+
+(1) In this connection a rather surprising discovery made by Mr W.
+GORNOLD (see his _A Manual of Occultism_, 1911, pp. 7 and 8) must be
+mentioned. The ancient Chaldeans appear invariably to have enumerated
+the planets in the following order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus,
+Mercury, Moon--which order was adopted by the mediaeval astrologers.
+Let us commence with the Sun in the above sequence, and write down every
+third planet; we then have--          Sun .   .   .   . Sunday.
+          Moon.   .   .   . Monday.
+          Mars.   .   .   . Tuesday.
+          Mercury. .   .   . Wednesday.
+          Jupiter..   .   . Thursday.
+          Venus.  .   .   . Friday.
+          Saturn. .   .   . Saturday.
+
+That is to say, we have the planets in the order in which they were
+supposed to rule over the days of the week. This is perhaps, not so
+surprising, because it seems probable that, each day being first divided
+into twenty-four hours, it was assumed that the planets ruled for one
+hour in turn, in the order first mentioned above. Each day was then
+named after the planet which ruled during its first hour. It will be
+found that if we start with the Sun and write down every twenty-fourth
+planet, the result is exactly the same as if we write down every third.
+But Mr OLD points out further, doing so by means of a diagram which
+seems to be rather cumbersome that if we start with Saturn in the first
+place, and write down every fifth planet, and then for each planet
+substitute the metal over which it was supposed to rule, we then have
+these metals arranged in descending order of atomic weights, thus:--
+
+     Saturn   .   .   . Lead (=207).
+     Mercury  .   .   . Mercury (=200).
+     Sun.    .   .   . Gold (=197).
+     Jupiter  .   .   . Tin (=119).
+     Moon.   .   .   . Silver (=108).
+     Venus         .   . Copper (=64).
+     Mars.   .   .   . Iron (=56).
+
+
+Similarly we can, starting from any one of these orders, pass to the
+other two. The fact is a very surprising one, because the ancients could
+not possibly have been acquainted with the atomic weights of the metals,
+and, it is important to note, the order of the densities of these
+metals, which might possibly have been known to them, is by no means the
+same as the order of their atomic weights. Whether the fact indicates a
+real relationship between the planets and the metals, or whether there
+is some other explanation, I am not prepared to say. Certainly some
+explanation is needed: to say that the fact is mere coincidence is
+unsatisfactory, seeing that the odds against, not merely this, but any
+such regularity occurring by chance--as calculated by the mathematical
+theory of probability--are 119 to 1.
+
+
+All the instruments employed in the art had to be specially prepared and
+consecrated. Special robes had to be worn, perfumes and incense burnt,
+and invocations, conjurations, _etc_., recited, all of which depended
+on the planet ruling the operation. A description of a few typical
+talismans in detail will not here be out of place.
+
+In _The Key of Solomon the King_ (translated by S. L. M. MATHERS,
+1889)(1) are described five, six, or seven talismans for each planet.
+Each of these was supposed to have its own peculiar virtues, and many of
+them are stated to be of use in the evocation of spirits. The majority
+of them consist of a central design encircled by a verse of Hebrew
+Scripture. The central designs are of a varied character, generally
+geometrical figures and Hebrew letters or words, or magical characters.
+Five of these talismans are here portrayed, the first three described
+differing from the above. The translations of the Hebrew verses, _etc_.,
+given below are due to Mr MATHERS.
+
+
+(1) The _Clavicula Salomonis_, or _Key of Solomon the King_, consists
+mainly of an elaborate ritual for the evocation of the various planetary
+spirits, in which process the use of talismans or pentacles plays a
+prominent part. It is claimed to be a work of white magic, but, inasmuch
+as it, like other old books making the same claim, gives descriptions
+of a pentacle for causing ruin, destruction, and death, and another for
+causing earthquakes--to give only two examples,--the distinction between
+black and white magic, which we shall no doubt encounter again in later
+excursions, appears to be somewhat arbitrary.
+
+Regarding the authorship of the work, Mr MATHERS, translator and editor
+of the first printed copy of the book, says, "I see no reason to
+doubt the tradition which assigns the authorship of the 'Key' to King
+Solomon." If this view be accepted, however, it is abundantly evident
+that the _Key_ as it stands at present (in which we find S. JOHN
+quoted, and mention made of SS. PETER and PAUL) must have received some
+considerable alterations and additions at the hands of later editors.
+But even if we are compelled to assign the _Clavicula Salomonis_ in its
+present form to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, we must, I think,
+allow that it was based upon traditions of the past, and, of course,
+the possibility remains that it might have been based upon some earlier
+work. With regard to the antiquity of the planetary sigils, Mr MATHERS
+notes "that, among the Gnostic talismans in the British Museum, there is
+a ring of copper with the sigils of Venus, which are exactly the same as
+those given by mediaeval writers on magic."
+
+In spite of the absurdity of its claims, viewed in the light of modern
+knowledge, the _Clavicula Salomonis_ exercised a considerable influence
+in the past, and is to be regarded as one of the chief sources of
+mediaeval ceremonial magic. Historically speaking, therefore, it is a
+book of no little importance.
+
+
+_The First Pentacle of the Sun_.--"The Countenance of Shaddai the
+Almighty, at Whose aspect all creatures obey, and the Angelic Spirits
+do reverence on bended knees." About the face is the name "El Shaddai".
+Around is written in Latin: "Behold His face and form by Whom all things
+were made, and Whom all creatures obey" (see fig. 21).
+
+
+_The Fifth Pentacle of Mars_.--"Write thou this Pentacle upon virgin
+parchment or paper because it is terrible unto the Demons, and at
+its sight and aspect they will obey thee, for they cannot resist its
+presence." The design is a Scorpion,(1) around which the word Hvl is
+repeated. The Hebrew versicle is from _Psalm_ xci. 13: "Thou shalt go
+upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread
+under thy feet" (see fig. 22).
+
+
+(1) In astrology the zodiacal sign of the scorpion is the "night house"
+of the planet Mars.
+
+
+_The Third Pentacle of the Moon_.--"This being duly borne with thee when
+upon a journey, if it be properly made, serveth against all attacks by
+night, and against every kind of danger and peril by Water." The design
+consists of a hand and sleeved forearm (this occurs on three other
+moon talismans), together with the Hebrew names Aub and Vevaphel. The
+versicle is from _Psalm_ xl. 13: "Be pleased O IHVH to deliver me, O
+IHVH make haste to help me" (see fig 23)
+
+_The Third Pentacle of Venus_.--"This, if it be only shown unto any
+person, serveth to attract love. Its Angel Monachiel should be invoked
+in the day and hour of Venus, at one o'clock or at eight." The design
+consists of two triangles joined at their apices, with the following
+names--IHVH, Adonai, Ruach, Achides, AEgalmiel, Monachiel, and Degaliel.
+The versicle is from _Genesis_ i. 28: "And the Elohim blessed them, and
+the Elohim said unto them, Be ye fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
+the earth, and subdue it" (see fig. 24).
+
+_The Third Pentacle of Mercury_.--"This serves to invoke the Spirits
+subject unto Mercury; and especially those who are written in this
+Pentacle." The design consists of crossed lines and magical characters
+of Mercury. Around are the names of the angels, Kokaviel, Ghedoriah,
+Savaniah, and Chokmahiel (see fig. 25).
+
+
+CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, in his _Three Books of Occult Philosophy_, describes
+another interesting system of talismans. FRANCIS BARRETT'S _Magus, or
+Celestial Intelligencer_, a well-known occult work published in the
+first year of the nineteenth century, I may mention, copies AGRIPPA'S
+system of talismans, without acknowledgment, almost word for word. To
+each of the planets is assigned a magic square or table, _i.e_. a square
+composed of numbers so arranged that the sum of each row or column is
+always the same. For example, the table for Mars is as follows:--
+
+     11   24   7    20   3
+     4    12   25   8    16
+     17   5    13   21   9
+     10   18   1    14   22
+     23   6    19   2    15
+
+
+It will be noticed that every number from 1 up to the highest possible
+occurs once, and that no number occurs twice. It will also be seen that
+the sum of each row and of each column is always 65. Similar squares
+can be constructed containing any square number of figures, and it is,
+indeed, by no means surprising that the remarkable properties of such
+"magic squares," before these were explained mathematically, gave rise
+to the belief that they had some occult significance and virtue. From
+the magic squares can be obtained certain numbers which are said to be
+the numbers of the planets; their orderliness, we are told, reflects
+the order of the heavens, and from a consideration of them the magical
+properties of the planets which they represent can be arrived at. For
+example, in the above table the number of rows of numbers is 5. The
+total number of numbers in the table is the square of this number,
+namely, 25, which is also the greatest number in the table. The sum of
+any row or column is 65. And, finally, the sum of all the numbers is
+the product of the number of rows (namely, 5) and the sum of any row
+(namely, 65), _i.e_. 325. These numbers, namely, 5, 25, 65, and 325, are
+the numbers of Mars. Sets of numbers for the other planets are obtained
+in exactly the same manner.(1)
+
+
+(1) Readers acquainted with mathematics will notice that if _n_ is the
+number of rows in such a "magic square," the other numbers derived as
+above will be n<2S>, 1/2_n_(_n_<2S> + 1), and 1/2_n_<2S>(_n_<2S> + 1).
+This can readily be proved by the laws of arithmetical progressions.
+Rather similar but more complicated and less uniform "magic squares" are
+attributed to PARACELSUS.
+
+
+Now to each planet is assigned an Intelligence or good spirit, and an
+Evil Spirit or demon; and the names of these spirits are related to
+certain of the numbers of the planets. The other numbers are also
+connected with holy and magical Hebrew names. AGRIPPA, and BARRETT
+copying him, gives the following table of "names answering to the
+numbers of Mars":--
+
+     5. He, the letter of the holy name.          <hb >
+     25.                                <hb ___>
+     65. Adonai.                             <hb ____>
+     325. Graphiel, the Intelligence of Mars.     <hb _______>
+     325. Barzabel, the Spirit of Mars.      <hb _______>
+
+Similar tables are given for the other planets. The numbers can be
+derived from the names by regarding the Hebrew letters of which they
+are composed as numbers, in which case <hb > (Aleph) to <hb > (Teth)
+represent the units 1 to 9 in order, <hb > (Jod) to <hb > (Tzade) the
+tens 10 to 90 in order, <hb > (Koph) to <hb > (Tau) the hundreds 100 to
+400, whilst the hundreds 500 to 900 are represented by special terminal
+forms of certain of the Hebrew letters.(2) It is evident that no little
+wasted ingenuity must have been employed in working all this out.
+
+
+(2) It may be noticed that this makes <hb _______> equal to 326, one
+unit too much. Possibly an Alelph should be omitted.
+
+
+Each planet has its own seal or signature, as well as the signature of
+its intelligence and the signature of its demon. These signatures were
+supposed to represent the characters of the planets' intelligences and
+demons respectively. The signature of Mars is shown in fig. 26, that of
+its intelligence in fig. 27, and that of its demon in fig. 28.
+
+These various details were inscribed on the talismans each of which was
+supposed to confer its own peculiar benefits--as follows: On one side
+must be engraved the proper magic table and the astrological sign of
+the planet, together with the highest planetary number, the sacred names
+corresponding to the planet, and the name of the intelligence of
+the planet, but not the name of its demon. On the other side must be
+engraved the seals of the planet and of its intelligence, and also the
+astrological sign. BARRETT says, regarding the demons:(1) "It is to be
+understood that the intelligences are the presiding good angels that are
+set over the planets; but that the spirits or daemons, with their names,
+seals, or characters, are never inscribed upon any Talisman, except to
+execute any evil effect, and that they are subject to the intelligences,
+or good spirits; and again, when the spirits and their characters are
+used, it will be more conducive to the effect to add some divine name
+appropriate to that effect which we desire." Evil talismans can also be
+prepared, we are informed, by using a metal antagonistic to the signs
+engraved thereon. The complete talisman of Mars is shown in fig. 29.
+
+
+(1) FRANCIS BARRETT: _The Magus, or Celestial Intelligencer_ (1801), bk.
+i. p. 146.
+
+
+ALPHONSE LOUIS CONSTANT,(1) a famous French occultist of the nineteenth
+century, who wrote under the name of "ELIPHAS LEVI," describes yet
+another system of talismans. He says: "The Pentagram must be always
+engraved on one side of the talisman, with a circle for the Sun, a
+crescent for the Moon, a winged caduceus for Mercury, a sword for Mars,
+a G for Venus, a crown for Jupiter, and a scythe for Saturn. The other
+side of the talisman should bear the sign of Solomon, that is, the
+six-pointed star formed by two interlaced triangles; in the centre there
+should be placed a human figure for the sun talismans, a cup for those
+of the Moon, a dog's head for those of Jupiter, a lion for those of
+Mars, a dove's for those of Venus, a bull's or goat's for those of
+Saturn. The names of the seven angels should be added either in Hebrew,
+Arabic, or magic characters similar to those of the alphabets of
+Trimethius. The two triangles of Solomon may be replaced by the double
+cross of Ezekiel's wheels, this being found on a great number of ancient
+pentacles. All objects of this nature, whether in metals or in precious
+stones, should be carefully wrapped in silk satchels of a colour
+analogous to the spirit of the planet, perfumed with the perfumes of the
+corresponding day, and preserved from all impure looks and touches."(2)
+
+(1) For a biographical and critical account of this extraordinary
+personage and his views, see Mr A. E. WAITE'S _The Mysteries of Magic: a
+Digest of the writings of_ ELIPHAS LEVI (1897).
+
+(2) _Op. cit_., p. 201.
+
+
+ELIPHAS LEVI, following PYTHAGORAS and many of the mediaeval magicians,
+regarded the pentagram, or five-pointed star, as an extremely powerful
+pentacle. According to him, if with one horn in the ascendant it is the
+sign of the microcosm--Man. With two horns in the ascendant, however,
+it is the sign of the Devil, "the accursed Goat of Mendes," and an
+instrument of black magic. We can, indeed, trace some faint likeness
+between the pentagram and the outline form of a man, or of a goat's
+head, according to whether it has one or two horns in the ascendant
+respectively, which resemblances may account for this idea. Fig. 30
+shows the pentagram embellished with other symbols according to ELIPHAS
+LEVI, whilst fig. 31 shows his embellished form of the six-pointed star,
+or Seal of SOLOMON. This, he says, is "the sign of the Macrocosmos,
+but is less powerful than the Pentagram, the microcosmic sign," thus
+contradicting PYTHAGORAS, who, as we have seen, regarded the pentagram
+as the sign of the Macrocosm. ELIPHAS LEVI asserts that he attempted the
+evocation of the spirit of APOLLONIUS of Tyana in London on 24th July
+1854, by the aid of a pentagram and other magical apparatus and ritual,
+apparently with success, if we may believe his word. But he sensibly
+suggests that probably the apparition which appeared was due to the
+effect of the ceremonies on his own imagination, and comes to the
+conclusion that such magical experiments are injurious to health.(1)
+
+
+(1) _Op cit_. pp. 446-450.
+
+
+Magical rings were prepared on the same principle as were talismans.
+Says CORNELIUS AGRIPPA: "The manner of making these kinds of Magical
+Rings is this, viz.: When any Star ascends fortunately, with the
+fortunate aspect or conjunction of the Moon, we must take a stone and
+herb that is under that Star, and make a ring of the metal that is
+suitable to this Star, and in it fasten the stone, putting the herb
+or root under it--not omitting the inscriptions of images, names, and
+characters, as also the proper suffumigations...."(1) SOLOMON'S ring
+was supposed to have been possessed of remarkable occult virtue. Says
+JOSEPHUS (_c_. A.D. 37-100): "God also enabled him (SOLOMON) to learn
+that skill which expels demons, which is a science useful and sanative
+to men. He composed such incantations also by which distempers are
+alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by
+which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method
+of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man
+of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were
+demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains,
+and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was
+this; he put a ring that had under the seal a root of one of those sorts
+mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he
+drew out the demon through his nostrils: and when the man fell down
+immediately, he abjured him to return unto him no more, making still
+mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed."(2)
+
+(1) H. C. AGRIPPA: _Occult Philosophy_, bk. i. chap. xlvii. (WHITEHEAD'S
+edition, pp. 141 and 142).
+
+(2) FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS: _The Antiquities of the Jews_ (trans. by W.
+WHISTON), bk. viii. chap. ii., SE 5 (45) to (47).
+
+Enough has been said already to indicate the general nature of
+talismanic magic. No one could maintain otherwise than that much of it
+is pure nonsense; but the subject should not, therefore, be dismissed as
+valueless, or lacking significance. It is past belief that amulets and
+talismans should have been believed in for so long unless they APPEARED
+to be productive of some of the desired results, though these may have
+been due to forces quite other than those which were supposed to be
+operative. Indeed, it may be said that there has been no widely held
+superstition which does not embody some truth, like some small specks of
+gold hidden in an uninviting mass of quartz. As the poet BLAKE put it:
+"Everything possible to be believ'd is an image of truth";(1) and the
+attempt may here be made to extract the gold of truth from the quartz of
+superstition concerning talismanic magic. For this purpose the various
+theories regarding the supposed efficacy of talismans must be examined.
+
+
+(1) "Proverbs of Hell" (_The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_).
+
+
+Two of these theories have already been noted, but the doctrine of
+effluvia admittedly applied only to a certain class of amulets, and, I
+think, need not be seriously considered. The "astral-spirit theory" (as
+it may be called), in its ancient form at any rate, is equally untenable
+to-day. The discoveries of new planets and new metals seem destructive
+of the belief that there can be any occult connection between planets,
+metals, and the days of the week, although the curious fact discovered
+by Mr OLD, to which I have referred (footnote, p. 63@@@), assuredly
+demands an explanation, and a certain validity may, perhaps, be allowed
+to astrological symbolism. As concerns the belief in the existence
+of what may be called (although the term is not a very happy one)
+"discarnate spirits," however, the matter, in view of the modern
+investigation of spiritistic and other abnormal psychical phenomena,
+stands in a different position. There can, indeed, be little doubt that
+very many of the phenomena observed at spiritistic seances come under
+the category of deliberate fraud, and an even larger number, perhaps,
+can be explained on the theory of the subconscious self. I think,
+however, that the evidence goes to show that there is a residuum of
+phenomena which can only be explained by the operation, in some way,
+of discarnate intelligences.(1) Psychical research may be said to
+have supplied the modern world with the evidence of the existence of
+discarnate personalities, and of their operation on the material plane,
+which the ancient world lacked. But so far as our present subject is
+concerned, all the evidence obtainable goes to show that the phenomena
+in question only take place in the presence of what is called "a
+medium"--a person of peculiar nervous or psychical organisation.
+That this is the case, moreover, appears to be the general belief of
+spiritists on the subject. In the sense, then, in which "a talisman"
+connotes a material object of such a nature that by its aid the powers
+of discarnate intelligences may become operative on material things, we
+might apply the term "talisman" to the nervous system of a medium:
+but then that would be the only talisman. Consequently, even if one is
+prepared to admit the whole of modern spiritistic theory, nothing is
+thereby gained towards a belief in talismans, and no light is shed upon
+the subject.
+
+
+(1) The publications of The Society for Psychical Research, and
+FREDERICK MYERS' monumental work on _Human Personality and its Survival
+of Bodily Death_, should be specially consulted. I have attempted a
+brief discussion of modern spiritualism and psychical research in my
+_Matter, Spirit, and the Cosmos_ (1910), chap. ii.
+
+
+Another theory concerning talismans which commended itself to many of
+the old occult philosophers, PARACELSUS for instance, is what may be
+called the "occult force" theory. This theory assumes the existence of
+an occult mental force, a force capable of being exerted by the human
+will, apart from its usual mode of operation by means of the body. It
+was believed to be possible to concentrate this mental energy and infuse
+it into some suitable medium, with the production of a talisman, which
+was thus regarded as a sort of accumulator for mental energy. The theory
+seems a fantastic one to modern thought, though, in view of the many
+startling phenomena brought to light by psychical research, it is not
+advisable to be too positive regarding the limitations of the powers of
+the human mind. However, I think we shall find the element of truth in
+the otherwise absurd belief in talismans by means of what may be called,
+not altogether fancifully perhaps, a transcendental interpretation of
+this "occult force" theory. I suggest, that is, that when a believer
+makes a talisman, the transference of the occult energy is ideal, not
+actual; that the power, believed to reside in the talisman itself, is
+the power due to the reflex action of the believer's mind. The power
+of what transcendentalists call "the imagination" cannot be denied; for
+example, no one can deny that a man with a firm conviction that such a
+success will be achieved by him, or such a danger avoided, will be far
+more likely to gain his desire, other conditions being equal, than one
+of a pessimistic turn of mind. The mere conviction itself is a factor in
+success, or a factor in failure, according to its nature; and it seems
+likely that herein will be found a true explanation of the effects
+believed to be due to the power of the talisman.
+
+On the other hand, however, we must beware of the exaggerations into
+which certain schools of thought have fallen in their estimates of the
+powers of the imagination. These exaggerations are particularly
+marked in the views which are held by many nowadays with regard to
+"faith-healing," although the "Christian Scientists" get out of the
+difficulty--at least to their own satisfaction--by ascribing their
+alleged cures to the Power of the Divine Mind, and not to the power of
+the individual mind.
+
+Of course the real question involved in this "transcendental theory
+of talismans" as I may, perhaps, call it, is that of the operation of
+incarnate spirit on the plane of matter. This operation takes place only
+through the medium of the nervous system, and it has been suggested,(1)
+to avoid any violation of the law of the conservation of energy, that
+it is effected, not by the transference, as is sometimes supposed, of
+energy from the spiritual to the material plane, but merely by means
+of directive control over the expenditure of energy derived by the body
+from purely physical sources, _e.g_. the latent chemical energy bound up
+in the food eaten and the oxygen breathed.
+
+
+(1) _Cf_ Sir OLIVER LODGE: _Life and Matter_ (1907), especially chap.
+ix.; and W. HIBBERT, F.I.C.: _Life and Energy_ (1904).
+
+
+I am not sure that this theory really avoids the difficulty which it is
+intended to obviate;(1) but it is at least an interesting one, and
+at any rate there may be modes in which the body, under the directive
+control of the spirit, may expend energy derived from the material
+plane, of which we know little or nothing. We have the testimony of many
+eminent authorities(2) to the phenomenon of the movement of physical
+objects without contact at spiritistic seances. It seems to me that the
+introduction of discarnate intelligences to explain this phenomenon is
+somewhat gratuitous--the psychic phenomena which yield evidence of the
+survival of human personality after bodily death are of a different
+character. For if we suppose this particular phenomenon to be due to
+discarnate spirits, we must, in view of what has been said concerning
+"mediums," conclude that the movements in question are not produced by
+these spirits DIRECTLY, but through and by means of the nervous
+system of the medium present. Evidently, therefore, the means for the
+production of the phenomenon reside in the human nervous system (or, at
+any rate, in the peculiar nervous system of "mediums"), and all that
+is lacking is intelligence or initiative to use these means. This
+intelligence or initiative can surely be as well supplied by the
+sub-consciousness as by a discarnate intelligence. Consequently, it does
+not seem unreasonable to suppose that equally remarkable phenomena may
+have been produced by the aid of talismans in the days when these
+were believed in, and may be produced to-day, if one has sufficient
+faith--that is to say, produced by man when in the peculiar condition of
+mind brought about by the intense belief in the power of a talisman. And
+here it should be noted that the term "talisman" may be applied to
+any object (or doctrine) that is believed to possess peculiar power or
+efficacy. In this fact, I think, is to be found the peculiar danger of
+erroneous doctrines which promise extraordinary benefits, here and now
+on the material plane, to such as believe in them. Remarkable results
+may follow an intense belief in such doctrines, which, whilst having no
+connection whatever with their accuracy, being proportional only to the
+intensity with which they are held, cannot do otherwise than confirm the
+believer in the validity of his beliefs, though these may be in every
+way highly fantastic and erroneous. Both the Roman Catholic, therefore,
+and the Buddhist may admit many of the marvels attributed to the relics
+of each other's saints; though, in denying that these marvels prove the
+accuracy of each other's religious doctrines, each should remember that
+the same is true of his own.
+
+
+(1) The subject is rather too technical to deal with here. I have
+discussed it elsewhere; see "Thermo-Dynamical Objections to the
+Mechanical Theory of Life," _The Chemical News_, vol. cxii. pp. 271 _et
+seq_. (3rd December 1915).
+
+(2) For instance, the well-known physicist, Sir W. F. BARRETT, F.R.S.
+(late Professor of Experimental Physics in The Royal College of Science
+for Ireland). See his _On the Threshold of a New World of Thought_
+(1908), SE 10.
+
+
+In illustration of the real power of the imagination, I may instance the
+Maori superstition of the Taboo. According to the Maories, anyone who
+touches a tabooed object will assuredly die, the tabooed object being
+a sort of "anti-talisman". Professor FRAZER(1) says: "Cases have
+been known of Maories dying of sheer fright on learning that they had
+unwittingly eaten the remains of a chief's dinner or handled something
+that belonged to him," since such objects were, _ipso facto_, tabooed.
+He gives the following case on good authority: "A woman, having partaken
+of some fine peaches from a basket, was told that they had come from
+a tabooed place. Immediately the basket dropped from her hands and she
+cried out in agony that the atua or godhead of the chief, whose divinity
+had been thus profaned, would kill her. That happened in the afternoon,
+and next day by twelve o'clock she was dead." For us the power of the
+taboo does not exist; for the Maori, who implicitly believes in it, it
+is a very potent reality, but this power of the taboo resides not in
+external objects but in his own mind.
+
+
+(1) Professor J. G. FRAZER, D.C.L.: _Psyche's Task_ (1909), p. 7.
+
+
+Dr HADDON(2) quotes a similar but still more remarkable story of a young
+Congo negro which very strikingly shows the power of the imagination.
+The young negro, "being on a journey, lodged at a friend's house; the
+latter got a wild hen for his breakfast, and the young man asked if it
+were a wild hen. His host answered 'No.' Then he fell on heartily, and
+afterwards proceeded on his journey. After four years these two met
+together again, and his old friend asked him 'if he would eat a wild
+hen,' to which he answered that it was tabooed to him. Hereat the host
+began immediately to laugh, inquiring of him, 'What made him refuse it
+now, when he had eaten one at his table about four years ago?' At the
+hearing of this the negro immediately fell a-trembling, and suffered
+himself to be so far possessed with the effects of imagination that he
+died in less than twenty-four hours after."
+
+
+(2) ALFRED C. HADDON, SC.D., F.R.S.: _Magic and Fetishism_ (1906), p.
+56.
+
+
+There are, of course, many stories about amulets, _etc_., which cannot
+be thus explained. For example, ELIHU RICH gives the following:--
+
+"In 1568, we are told (Transl. of Salverte, p. 196) that the Prince of
+Orange condemned a Spanish prisoner to be shot at Juliers. The soldiers
+tied him to a tree and fired, but he was invulnerable. They then
+stripped him to see what armour he wore, but they found only an amulet
+bearing the figure of a lamb (the _Agnus Dei_, we presume). This was
+taken from him, and he was then killed by the first shot. De Baros
+relates that the Portuguese in like manner vainly attempted to destroy
+a Malay, so long as he wore a bracelet containing a bone set in gold,
+which rendered him proof against their swords. A similar marvel is
+related in the travels of the veracious Marco Polo. 'In an attempt of
+Kublai Khan to make a conquest of the island of Zipangu, a jealousy
+arose between the two commanders of the expedition, which led to an
+order for putting the whole garrison to the sword. In obedience to this
+order, the heads of all were cut off excepting of eight persons, who
+by the efficacy of a diabolical charm, consisting of a jewel or amulet
+introduced into the right arm, between the skin and the flesh, were
+rendered secure from the effects of iron, either to kill or wound. Upon
+this discovery being made, they were beaten with a heavy wooden club,
+and presently died.'"
+
+(1) I think, however, that these, and many similar stories, must be
+taken _cum grano salis_.
+
+In conclusion, mention must be made of a very interesting and suggestive
+philosophical doctrine--the Law of Correspondences,--due in its explicit
+form to the Swedish philosopher, who was both scientist and mystic,
+EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. To deal in any way adequately with this important
+topic is totally impossible within the confines of the present
+discussion.(2) But, to put the matter as briefly as possible, it may be
+said that SWEDENBORG maintains (and the conclusion, I think, is valid)
+that all causation is from the spiritual world, physical causation being
+but secondary, or apparent--that is to say, a mere reflection, as it
+were, of the true process. He argues from this, thereby supplying a
+philosophical basis for the unanimous belief of the nature-mystics, that
+every natural object is the symbol (because the creation) of an idea or
+spiritual verity in its widest sense. Thus, there are symbols which are
+inherent in the nature of things, and symbols which are not. The
+former are genuine, the latter merely artificial. Writing from the
+transcendental point of view, ELIPHAS LEVI says: "Ceremonies, vestments,
+perfumes, characters and figures being...necessary to enlist the
+imagination in the education of the will, the success of magical works
+depends upon the faithful observance of all the rites, which are in
+no sense fantastic or arbitrary, having been transmitted to us
+by antiquity, and permanently subsisting by the essential laws of
+analogical realisation and of the correspondence which inevitably
+connects ideas and forms."(1b) Some scepticism, perhaps, may be
+permitted as to the validity of the latter part of this statement, and
+the former may be qualified by the proviso that such things are only of
+value in the right education of the will, if they are, indeed, genuine,
+and not merely artificial, symbols. But the writer, as I think will
+be admitted, has grasped the essential point, and, to conclude our
+excursion, as we began it, with a definition, I will say that _the power
+of the talisman is the power of the mind (or imagination) brought into
+activity by means of a suitable symbol_.
+
+
+(1) ELIHU RICH: _The Occult Sciences_, p. 346.
+
+(2) I may refer the reader to my _A Mathematical Theory of Spirit_
+(1912), chap. i., for a more adequate statement.
+
+(1b) ELIPHAS LEVI: _Transcendental Magic: its Doctrine and Ritual_
+(trans. by A. E. WAITE, 1896), p. 234.
+
+
+
+
+VII. CEREMONIAL MAGIC IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
+
+THE word "magic," if one may be permitted to say so, is itself almost
+magical--magical in its power to conjure up visions in the human mind.
+For some these are of bloody rites, pacts with the powers of darkness,
+and the lascivious orgies of the Saturnalia or Witches' Sabbath; in
+other minds it has pleasanter associations, serving to transport them
+from the world of fact to the fairyland of fancy, where the purse of
+FORTUNATUS, the lamp and ring of ALADDIN, fairies, gnomes, jinn, and
+innumerable other strange beings flit across the scene in a marvellous
+kaleidoscope of ever-changing wonders. To the study of the magical
+beliefs of the past cannot be denied the interest and fascination which
+the marvellous and wonderful ever has for so many minds, many of whom,
+perhaps, cannot resist the temptation of thinking that there may be some
+element of truth in these wonderful stories. But the study has a
+greater claim to our attention; for, as I have intimated already, magic
+represents a phase in the development of human thought, and the magic
+of the past was the womb from which sprang the science of the present,
+unlike its parent though it be.
+
+What then is magic? According to the dictionary definition--and this
+will serve us for the present--it is the (pretended) art of producing
+marvellous results by the aid of spiritual beings or arcane spiritual
+forces. Magic, therefore, is the practical complement of animism.
+Wherever man has really believed in the existence of a spiritual world,
+there do we find attempts to enter into communication with that world's
+inhabitants and to utilise its forces.Professor LEUBA(1) and others
+distinguish between propitiative behaviour towards the beings of
+the spiritual world, as marking the religious attitude, and coercive
+behaviour towards these beings as characteristic of the magical
+attitude; but one form of behaviour merges by insensible degrees into
+the other, and the distinction (though a useful one) may, for our
+present purpose, be neglected.
+
+
+(1) JAMES H. LEUBA: _The Psychological Origin and the Nature of
+Religion_ (1909), chap. ii.
+
+
+Animism, "the Conception of Spirit everywhere" as Mr EDWARD CLODD(2)
+neatly calls it, and perhaps man's earliest view of natural phenomena,
+persisted in a modified form, as I have pointed out in "Some
+Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought," throughout the Middle Ages.
+A belief in magic persisted likewise. In the writings of the Greek
+philosophers of the Neo-Platonic school, in that curious body of
+esoteric Jewish lore known as the Kabala, and in the works of later
+occult philosophers such as AGRIPPA and PARACELSUS, we find magic, or
+rather the theory upon which magic as an art was based, presented in
+its most philosophical form. If there is anything of value for modern
+thought in the theory of magic, here is it to be found; and it is, I
+think, indeed to be found, absurd and fantastic though the practices
+based upon this philosophy, or which this philosophy was thought to
+substantiate, most certainly are. I shall here endeavour to give a
+sketch of certain of the outstanding doctrines of magical philosophy,
+some details concerning the art of magic, more especially as practiced
+in the Middle Ages in Europe, and, finally, an attempt to extract from
+the former what I consider to be of real worth. We have already wandered
+down many of the byways of magical belief, and, indeed, the word "magic"
+may be made to cover almost every superstition of the past: To what we
+have already gained on previous excursions the present, I hope, will add
+what we need in order to take a synthetic view of the whole subject.
+
+
+(2) EDWARD CLODD: _Animism the Seed of Religion_ (1905), p. 26.
+
+
+In the first place, something must be said concerning what is called the
+Doctrine of Emanations, a theory of prime importance in Neo-Platonic
+and Kabalistic ontology. According to this theory, everything in the
+universe owes its existence and virtue to an emanation from God, which
+divine emanation is supposed to descend, step by step (so to speak),
+through the hierarchies of angels and the stars, down to the things of
+earth, that which is nearer to the Source containing more of the divine
+nature than that which is relatively distant. As CORNELIUS AGRIPPA
+expresses it: "For God, in the first place is the end and beginning
+of all Virtues; he gives the seal of #the _Ideas_ to his servants, the
+Intelligences; who as faithful officers, sign all things intrusted
+to them with an Ideal Virtue; the Heavens and Stars, as instruments,
+disposing the matter in the mean while for the receiving of those forms
+which reside in Divine Majesty (as saith Plato in Timeus) and to be
+conveyed by Stars; and the Giver of Forms distributes them by the
+ministry of his Intelligences, which he hath set as Rulers and
+Controllers over his Works, to whom such a power is intrusted to things
+committed to them that so all Virtues of Stones, Herbs, Metals, and all
+other things may come from the Intelligences, the Governors. The Form,
+therefore, and Virtue of things comes first from the _Ideas_, then from
+the ruling and governing Intelligences, then from the aspects of the
+Heavens disposing, and lastly from the tempers of the Elements
+disposed, answering the influences of the Heavens, by which the
+Elements themselves are ordered, or disposed. These kinds of operations,
+therefore, are performed in these inferior things by express forms,
+and in the Heavens by disposing virtues, in Intelligences by mediating
+rules, in the Original Cause by _Ideas_ and exemplary forms, all which
+must of necessity agree in the execution of the effect and virtue of
+every thing.
+
+"There is, therefore, a wonderful virtue and operation in every Herb
+and Stone, but greater in a Star, beyond which, even from the governing
+Intelligences everything receiveth and obtains many things for itself,
+especially from the Supreme Cause, with whom all things do mutually and
+exactly correspond, agreeing in an harmonious consent, as it were in
+hymns always praising the highest Maker of all things.... There
+is, therefore, no other cause of the necessity of effects than the
+connection of all things with the First Cause, and their correspondency
+with those Divine patterns and eternal _Ideas_ whence every thing hath
+its determinate and particular place in the exemplary world, from whence
+it lives and receives its original being: And every virtue of herbs,
+stones, metals, animals, words and speeches, and all things that are of
+God, is placed there."(1) As compared with the _ex nihilo_ creationism
+of orthodox theology, this theory is as light is to darkness. Of
+course, there is much in CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S statement of it which is
+inacceptable to modern thought; but these are matters of form merely,
+and do not affect the doctrine fundamentally. For instance, as a nexus
+between spirit and matter AGRIPPA places the stars: modern thought
+prefers the ether. The theory of emanations may be, and was, as a
+matter of fact, made the justification of superstitious practices of the
+grossest absurdity, but on the other hand it may be made the basis of
+a lofty system of transcendental philosophy, as, for instance, that of
+EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, whose ontology resembles in some respects that of
+the Neo-Platonists. AGRIPPA uses the theory to explain all the marvels
+which his age accredited, marvels which we know had for the most part no
+existence outside of man's imagination. I suggest, on the contrary, that
+the theory is really needed to explain the commonplace, since, in the
+last analysis, every bit of experience, every phenomenon, be it ever
+so ordinary--indeed the very fact of experience itself,--is most truly
+marvellous and magical, explicable only in terms of spirit. As ELIPHAS
+LEVI well says in one of his flashes of insight: "The supernatural
+is only the natural in an extraordinary grade, or it is the exalted
+natural; a miracle is a phenomenon which strikes the multitude because
+it is unexpected; the astonishing is that which astonishes; miracles are
+effects which surprise those who are ignorant of their causes, or assign
+them causes w hich are not in proportion to such effects."(1b) But I am
+anticipating the sequel.
+
+
+(1) H. C. AGRIPPA: _Occult Philosophy_, bk. i., chap. xiii. (WHITEHEAD'S
+edition, pp. 67-68).
+
+(1b) ELIPHAS LEVI: _Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual_
+(trans. by A. E. WAITE, 1896), p. 192.
+
+
+The doctrine of emanations makes the universe one vast harmonious whole,
+between whose various parts there is an exact analogy, correspondence,
+or sympathetic relation. "Nature" (the productive principle), says
+IAMBLICHOS (3rd-4th century), the Neo-Platonist, "in her peculiar way,
+makes a likeness of invisible principles through symbols in visible
+forms."(2) The belief that seemingly similar things sympathetically
+affect one another, and that a similar relation holds good between
+different things which have been intimately connected with one another
+as parts within a whole, is a very ancient one. Most primitive peoples
+are very careful to destroy all their nail-cuttings and hair-clippings,
+since they believe that a witch gaining possession of these might work
+them harm. For a similar reason they refuse to reveal their REAL names,
+which they regard as part of themselves, and adopt nicknames for common
+use. The belief that a witch can torment an enemy by making an image of
+his person in clay or wax, correctly naming it, and mutilating it with
+pins, or, in the case of a waxen image, melting it by fire, is a very
+ancient one, and was held throughout and beyond the Middle Ages. The
+Sympathetic Powder of Sir KENELM DIGBY we have already noticed, as well
+as other instances of the belief in "sympathy," and examples of
+similar superstitions might be multiplied almost indefinitely. Such are
+generally grouped under the term "sympathetic magic"; but inasmuch as
+all magical practices assume that by acting on part of a thing, or a
+symbolic representation of it, one acts magically on the whole, or on
+the thing symbolised, the expression may in its broadest sense be said
+to involve the whole of magic.
+
+
+(2) IAMBLICHOS: _Theurgia, or the Egyptian Mysteries_ (trans. by Dr
+ALEX. WILDER, New York, 1911), p. 239.
+
+
+The names of the Divine Being, angels and devils, the planets of the
+solar system (including sun and moon) and the days of the week, birds
+and beasts, colours, herbs, and precious stones--all, according to
+old-time occult philosophy, are connected by the sympathetic relation
+believed to run through all creation, the knowledge of which was
+essential to the magician; as well, also, the chief portions of the
+human body, for man, as we have seen, was believed to be a microcosm--a
+universe in miniature. I have dealt with this matter and exhibited
+some of the supposed correspondences in "The Belief in Talismans".
+Some further particulars are shown in the annexed table, for which I
+am mainly indebted to AGRIPPA. But, as in the case of the zodiacal gems
+already dealt with, the old authorities by no means agree as to the
+majority of the planetary correspondences.
+
+TABLE OF OCCULT CORRESPONDENCES
+
+ Arch-                       Part of                      Precious
+ angel.   Angel.    Planet.   Human       Animal. Bird.    stone.
+                              Body.
+
+ Raphael  Michael     Sun      Heart       Lion   Swan    Carbuncle
+ Gabriel  Gabriel     Moon    Left foot    Cat    Owl     Crystal
+ Camael   Zamael      Mars    Right hand   Wolf   Vulture Diamond
+ Michael  Raphael   Mercury   Left hand    Ape    Stork   Agate
+ Zadikel  Sachiel   Jupiter   Head         Hart   Eagle   Sapphire
+                                                         (=Lapis lazuli)
+ Haniel   Anael      Venus   Generative    Goat   Dove    Emerald
+                              organs
+ Zaphhiel Cassiel   Saturn   Right foot    Mole   Hoopoe  Onyx
+
+
+The names of the angels are from Mr Mather's translation of _Clavicula
+Salomonis_; the other correspondences are from the second book of
+Agrippa's _Occult Philosophy_, chap. x.
+
+
+In many cases these supposed correspondences are based, as will be
+obvious to the reader, upon purely trivial resemblances, and, in any
+case, whatever may be said--and I think a great deal may be said--in
+favour of the theory of symbology, there is little that may be adduced
+to support the old occultists' application of it.
+
+So essential a part does the use of symbols play in all magical
+operations that we may, I think, modify the definition of "magic"
+adopted at the outset, and define "magic" as "an attempt to employ the
+powers of the spiritual world for the production of marvellous results,
+BY THE AID OF SYMBOLS." It has, on the other hand, been questioned
+whether the appeal to the spirit-world is an essential element in magic.
+But a close examination of magical practices always reveals at the root
+a belief in spiritual powers as the operating causes. The belief in
+talismans at first sight seems to have little to do with that in a
+supernatural realm; but, as we have seen, the talisman was always a
+silent invocation of the powers of some spiritual being with which it
+was symbolically connected, and whose sign was engraved thereon. And,
+as Dr T. WITTON DAVIES well remarks with regard to "sympathetic magic":
+"Even this could not, at the start, be anything other than a symbolic
+prayer to the spirit or spirits having authority in these matters. In so
+far as no spirit is thought of, it is a mere survival, and not magic at
+all...."(1)
+
+
+(1) Dr T. WITTON DAVIES: _Magic, Divination, and Demonology among the
+Hebrews and their Neighbours_ (1898), p. 17.
+
+
+What I regard as the two essentials of magical practices, namely,
+the use of symbols and the appeal to the supernatural realm, are most
+obvious in what is called "ceremonial magic". Mediaeval ceremonial magic
+was subdivided into three chief branches--White Magic, Black Magic, and
+Necromancy. White magic was concerned with the evocations of angels,
+spiritual beings supposed to be essentially superior to mankind,
+concerning which I shall give some further details later--and the
+spirits of the elements,--which were, as I have mentioned in "Some
+Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought," personifications of the primeval
+forces of Nature. As there were supposed to be four elements, fire,
+air, water, and earth, so there were supposed to be four classes of
+elementals or spirits of the elements, namely, Salamanders, Sylphs,
+Undines, and Gnomes, inhabiting these elements respectively, and
+deriving their characters therefrom. Concerning these curious beings,
+the inquisitive reader may gain some information from a quaint little
+book, by the Abbe de MONTFAUCON DE VILLARS, entitled _The Count of
+Gabalis, or Conferences about Secret Sciences_ (1670), translated into
+English and published in 1680, which has recently been reprinted. The
+elementals, we learn therefrom, were, unlike other supernatural beings,
+thought to be mortal. They could, however, be rendered immortal by means
+of sexual intercourse with men or women, as the case might be; and it
+was, we are told, to the noble end of endowing them with this great
+gift, that the sages devoted themselves.
+
+Goety, or black magic, was concerned with the evocation of demons and
+devils--spirits supposed to be superior to man in certain powers, but
+utterly depraved. Sorcery may be distinguished from witchcraft, inasmuch
+as the sorcerer attempted to command evil spirits by the aid of charms,
+_etc_., whereas the witch or wizard was supposed to have made a pact
+with the Evil One; though both terms have been rather loosely used,
+"sorcery" being sometimes employed as a synonym for "necromancy".
+Necromancy was concerned with the evocation of the spirits of the dead:
+etymologically, the term stands for the art of foretelling events by
+means of such evocations, though it is frequently employed in the wider
+sense.
+
+It would be unnecessary and tedious to give any detailed account of the
+methods employed in these magical arts beyond some general remarks. Mr
+A. E. WAITE gives full particulars of the various rituals in his
+_Book of Ceremonial Magic_ (1911), to which the curious reader may be
+referred. The following will, in brief terms, convey a general idea of a
+magical evocation:--
+
+Choosing a time when there is a favourable conjunction of the planets,
+the magician, armed with the implements of magical art, after much
+prayer and fasting, betakes himself to a suitable spot, alone, or
+perhaps accompanied by two trusty companions. All the articles he
+intends to employ, the vestments, the magic sword and lamp, the
+talismans, the book of spirits, _etc_., have been specially prepared and
+consecrated. If he is about to invoke a martial spirit, the magician's
+vestment will be of a red colour, the talismans in virtue of which
+he may have power over the spirit will be of iron, the day chosen a
+Tuesday, and the incense and perfumes employed of a nature analogous
+to Mars. In a similar manner all the articles employed and the rites
+performed must in some way be symbolical of the spirit with which
+converse is desired. Having arrived at the spot, the magician first of
+all traces the magic circle within which, we are told, no evil spirit
+can enter; he then commences the magic rite, involving various prayers
+and conjurations, a medley of meaningless words, and, in the case of the
+black art, a sacrifice. The spirit summoned then appears (at least, so
+we are told), and, after granting the magician's request, is licensed to
+depart--a matter, we are admonished, of great importance.
+
+The question naturally arises, What were the results obtained by these
+magical arts? How far, if at all, was the magician rewarded by the
+attainment of his desires? We have asked a similar question regarding
+the belief in talismans, and the reply which we there gained undoubtedly
+applies in the present case as well. Modern psychical research, as I
+have already pointed out, is supplying us with further evidence for
+the survival of human personality after bodily death than the innate
+conviction humanity in general seems to have in this belief, and the
+many reasons which idealistic philosophy advances in favour of it. The
+question of the reality of the phenomenon of "materialisation," that is,
+the bodily appearance of a discarnate spirit, such as is vouched for by
+spiritists, and which is what, it appears, was aimed at in necromancy
+(though why the discarnate should be better informed as to the future
+than the incarnate, I cannot suppose), must be regarded as _sub
+judice_.(1) Many cases of fraud in connection with the alleged
+production of this phenomenon have been detected in recent times; but,
+inasmuch as the last word has not yet been said on the subject, we
+must allow the possibility that necromancy in the past may have been
+sometimes successful. But as to the existence of the angels and
+devils of magical belief--as well, one might add, of those of orthodox
+faith,--nothing can be adduced in evidence of this either from the
+results of psychical research or on _a priori_ grounds.
+
+
+(1) The late Sir WILLIAM CROOKES' _Experimental Researches in the
+Phenomena of Spiritualism_ contains evidence in favour of the reality of
+this phenomenon very difficult to gainsay.
+
+
+Pseudo-DIONYSIUS classified the angels into three hierarchies, each
+subdivided into three orders, as under:--
+
+
+_First Hierarchy_.--Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones;
+
+_Second Hierarchy_.--Dominions, Powers, and Authorities (or Virtues);
+
+_Third Hierarchy_.--Principalities, Archangels, and Angels,--
+
+and this classification was adopted by AGRIPPA and others.
+Pseudo-DIONYSIUS explains the names of these orders as follows: "... the
+holy designation of the Seraphim denotes either that they are kindling
+or burning; and that of the Cherubim, a fulness of knowledge or stream
+of wisdom.... The appellation of the most exalted and pre-eminent
+Thrones denotes their manifest exaltation above every grovelling
+inferiority, and their super-mundane tendency towards higher things;...
+and their invariable and firmly-fixed settlement around the veritable
+Highest, with the whole force of their powers.... The explanatory
+name of the Holy Lordships (Dominions) denotes a certain unslavish
+elevation... superior to every kind of cringing slavery, indomitable
+to every subserviency, and elevated above every dissimularity, ever
+aspiring to the true Lordship and source of Lordship.... The appellation
+of the Holy Powers denotes a certain courageous and unflinching
+virility... vigorously conducted to the Divine imitation, not forsaking
+the Godlike movement through its own unmanliness, but unflinchingly
+looking to the super-essential and powerful-making power, and becoming
+a powerlike image of this, as far as is attainable....The appellation of
+the Holy Authorities... denotes the beautiful and unconfused good
+order, with regard to Divine receptions, and the discipline of the
+super-mundane and intellectual authority... conducted indomitably,
+with good order towards Divine things.... (And the appellation) of the
+Heavenly Principalities manifests their princely and leading function,
+after the Divine example...."(1) There is a certain grandeur in these
+views, and if we may be permitted to understand by the orders of the
+hierarchy, "discrete" degrees (to use SWEDENBORG'S term) of spiritual
+reality--stages in spiritual involution,--we may see in them a certain
+truth as well. As I said, all virtue, power, and knowledge which man
+has from God was believed to descend to him by way of these angelical
+hierarchies, step by step; and thus it was thought that those of the
+lowest hierarchy alone were sent from heaven to man. It was such beings
+that white magic pretended to evoke. But the practical occultists, when
+they did not make them altogether fatuous, attributed to these angels
+characters not distinguishable from those of the devils. The description
+of the angels in the _Heptemeron_, or _Magical Elements_,(2) falsely at
+ may be taken as fairly characteristic. Of MICHAEL and the other
+spirits of Sunday he writes: "Their nature is to procure Gold, Gemmes,
+Carbuncles, Riches; to cause one to obtain favour and benevolence; to
+dissolve the enmities of men; to raise men to honors; to carry or take
+away infirmities." Of GABRIEL and the other spirits of Monday, he says:
+"Their nature is to give silver; to convey things from place to place;
+to make horses swift, and to disclose the secrets of persons both
+present and future." Of SAMAEL and the other spirits of Tuesday he says:
+"Their nature is to cause wars, mortality, death and combustions; and
+to give two thousand Souldiers at a time; to bring death, infirmities
+or health," and so on for RAPHAEL, SACHIEL, ANAEL, CASSIEL, and their
+colleagues.(1b)
+
+
+(1) _On the Heavenly Hierarchy_. See the Rev. JOHN PARKER'S translation
+of _The Works of_ DIONYSIUS _the Areopagite_, vol. ii. (1889), pp. 24,
+25, 31, 32, and 36.
+
+(2) The book, which first saw the light three centuries after its
+alleged author's death, was translated into English by ROBERT TURNER,
+and published in 1655 in a volume containing the spurious _Fourth
+Book of Occult Philosophy_, attributed to CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, and other
+magical works. It is from this edition that I quote.
+
+(1b) _Op. cit_., pp. 90, 92, and 94.
+
+
+Concerning the evil planetary spirits, the spurious _Fourth Book of
+Occult Philosophy_, attributed to CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, informs us that
+the spirits of Saturn "appear for the most part with a tall, lean, and
+slender body, with an angry countenance, having four faces; one in the
+hinder part of the head, one on the former part of the head, and on each
+side nosed or beaked: there likewise appeareth a face on each knee, of
+a black shining colour: their motion is the moving of the wince, with a
+kinde of earthquake: their signe is white earth, whiter than any Snow."
+The writer adds that their "particular forms are,--
+
+     A King having a beard, riding on a Dragon.
+     An Old man with a beard.
+     An Old woman leaning on a staffe.
+     A Hog.
+     A Dragon.
+     An Owl.
+     A black Garment.
+     A Hooke or Sickle.
+     A Juniper-tree."
+
+Concerning the spirits of Jupiter, he says that they "appear with a body
+sanguine and cholerick, of a middle stature, with a horrible fearful
+motion; but with a milde countenance, a gentle speech, and of the colour
+of Iron. The motion of them is flashings of Lightning and Thunder; their
+signe is, there will appear men about the circle, who shall seem to be
+devoured of Lions," their particular forms being--
+
+     "A King with a Sword drawn, riding on a Stag.
+     A Man wearing a Mitre in long rayment.
+     A Maid with a Laurel-Crown adorned with Flowers.
+     A Bull.
+     A Stag.
+     A Peacock.
+     An azure Garment.
+     A Sword.
+     A Box-tree."
+
+As to the Martian spirits, we learn that "they appear in a tall body,
+cholerick, a filthy countenance, of colour brown, swarthy or red, having
+horns like Harts horns, and Griphins claws, bellowing like wilde Bulls.
+Their Motion is like fire burning; their signe Thunder and Lightning
+about the Circle. Their particular shapes are,--
+
+     A King armed riding upon a Wolf.
+     A Man armed.
+     A Woman holding a buckler on her thigh.
+     A Hee-goat.
+     A Horse.
+     A Stag.
+     A red Garment.
+     Wool.
+     A Cheeslip."(1)
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., pp. 43-45.
+
+The rest are described in equally fantastic terms.
+
+I do not think I shall be accused of being unduly sceptical if I say
+that such beings as these could not have been evoked by any magical
+rites, because such beings do not and did not exist, save in the
+magician's own imagination. The proviso, however, is important, for,
+inasmuch as these fantastic beings did exist in the imagination of the
+credulous, therein they may, indeed, have been evoked. The whole of
+magic ritual was well devised to produce hallucination. A firm faith
+in the ritual employed, and a strong effort of will to bring about the
+desired result, were usually insisted upon as essential to the success
+of the operation.(2) A period of fasting prior to the experiment was
+also frequently prescribed as necessary, which, by weakening the body,
+must have been conducive to hallucination. Furthermore, abstention
+from the gratification of the sexual appetite was stipulated in certain
+cases, and this, no doubt, had a similar effect, especially as concerns
+magical evocations directed to the satisfaction of the sexual impulse.
+Add to these factors the details of the ritual itself, the nocturnal
+conditions under which it was carried out, and particularly the
+suffumigations employed, which, most frequently, were of a narcotic
+nature, and it is not difficult to believe that almost any type of
+hallucination may have occurred. Such, as we have seen, was ELIPHAS
+LEVI'S view of ceremonial magic; and whatever may be said as concerns
+his own experiment therein (for one would have thought that the
+essential element of faith was lacking in this case), it is undoubtedly
+the true view as concerns the ceremonial magic of the past. As this
+author well says: "Witchcraft, properly so-called, that is ceremonial
+operation with intent to bewitch, acts only on the operator, and serves
+to fix and confirm his will, by formulating it with persistence and
+labour, the two conditions which make volition efficacious."(1b)
+
+
+(2) "MAGICAL AXIOM. In the circle of its action, every word creates that
+which it affirms.
+
+DIRECT CONSEQUENCE. He who affirms the devil, creates or makes the
+devil.
+
+"_Conditions of Success in Infernal Evocations_. 1, Invincible
+obstinacy; 2, a conscience at once hardened to crime and most subject
+to remorse and fear; 3, affected or natural ignorance; 4, blind faith
+in all that is incredible, 5, a completely false idea of God. (ELIPHAS
+LEVI: _Op. cit_., pp. 297 and 298.)
+
+(1b) ELIPHAS LEVI: _Op. cit_., pp. 130 and 131.
+
+
+EMANUEL SWEDENBORG in one place writes: "Magic is nothing but the
+perversion of order; it is especially the abuse of correspondences."(2)
+A study of the ceremonial magic of the Middle Ages and the following
+century or two certainly justifies SWEDENBORG in writing of magic as
+something evil. The distinction, rigid enough in theory, between white
+and black, legitimate and illegitimate, magic, was, as I have indicated,
+extremely indefinite in practice. As Mr A. E. WAITE justly remarks:
+"Much that passed current in the west as White (_i.e_. permissible)
+Magic was only a disguised goeticism, and many of the resplendent angels
+invoked with divine rites reveal their cloven hoofs. It is not too much
+to say that a large majority of past psychological experiments were
+conducted to establish communication with demons, and that for unlawful
+purposes. The popular conceptions concerning the diabolical spheres,
+which have been all accredited by magic, may have been gross
+exaggerations of fact concerning rudimentary and perverse intelligences,
+but the wilful viciousness of the communicants is substantially
+untouched thereby."(1b)
+
+
+(2) EMANUEL SWEDENBORG: _Arcana Caelestia_, SE 6692.
+
+(1b) ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE: _The Occult Sciences_ (1891), p. 51.
+
+
+These "psychological experiments" were not, save, perhaps, in rare
+cases, carried out in the spirit of modern psychical research, with the
+high aim of the man of science. It was, indeed, far otherwise; selfish
+motives were at the root of most of them; and, apart from what may be
+termed "medicinal magic," it was for the satisfaction of greed, lust,
+revenge, that men and women had recourse to magical arts. The history of
+goeticism and witchcraft is one of the most horrible of all histories.
+The "Grimoires," witnesses to the superstitious folly of the past, are
+full of disgusting, absurd, and even criminal rites for the satisfaction
+of unlawful desires and passions. The Church was certainly justified in
+attempting to put down the practice of magic, but the means adopted in
+this design and the results to which they led were even more abominable
+than witchcraft itself. The methods of detecting witches and the
+tortures to which suspected persons were subjected to force them to
+confess to imaginary crimes, employed in so-called civilised England and
+Scotland and also in America, to say nothing of countries in which the
+"Holy" Inquisition held undisputed sway, are almost too horrible to
+describe. For details the reader may be referred to Sir WALTER SCOTT'S
+_Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft_ (1830), and (as concerns America)
+COTTON MATHER'S The _Wonders of the Invisible World_ (1692). The
+credulous Church and the credulous people were terribly afraid of the
+power of witchcraft, and, as always, fear destroyed their mental balance
+and made them totally disregard the demands of justice. The result may
+be well illustrated by what almost inevitably happens when a country
+goes to war; for war, as the Hon. BERTRAND RUSSELL has well shown,
+is fear's offspring. Fear of the enemy causes the military party to
+persecute in an insensate manner, without the least regard to justice,
+all those of their fellow-men whom they consider are not heart and soul
+with them in their cause; similarly the Church relentlessly persecuted
+its supposed enemies, of whom it was so afraid. No doubt some of the
+poor wretches that were tortured and killed on the charge of witchcraft
+really believed themselves to have made a pact with the devil, and were
+thus morally depraved, though, generally speaking, they were no more
+responsible for their actions than any other madmen. But the majority
+of the persons persecuted as witches and wizards were innocent even of
+this.
+
+However, it would, I think, be unwise to disregard the existence of
+another side to the question of the validity and ethical value of
+magic, and to use the word only to stand for something essentially evil.
+SWEDENBORG, we may note, in the course of a long passage from the work
+from which I have already quoted, says that by "magic" is signified "the
+science of spiritual things"(1) His position appears to be that there is
+a genuine magic, or science of spiritual things, and a false magic, that
+science perverted: a view of the matter which I propose here to adopt.
+The word "magic" itself is derived from the Greek "magos," the wise man
+of the East, and hence the strict etymological meaning of the term is
+"the wisdom or science of the magi"; and it is, I think, significant
+that we are told (and I see no reason to doubt the truth of it) that the
+magi were among the first to worship the new-born CHRIST.(2)
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., SE 5223.
+
+(2) See The Gospel according to MATTHEW, chap. ii., verses 1 to 12.
+
+
+If there be an abuse of correspondences, or symbols, there surely must
+also be a use, to which the word "magic" is not inapplicable. As such,
+religious ritual, and especially the sacraments of the Christian Church,
+will, no doubt, occur to the minds of those who regard these symbols
+as efficacious, though they would probably hesitate to apply the term
+"magical" to them. But in using this term as applying thereto, I do
+not wish to suggest that any such rites or ceremonies possess, or can
+possess, any CAUSAL efficacy in the moral evolution of the soul. The
+will alone, in virtue of the power vouchsafed to it by the Source of all
+power, can achieve this; but I do think that the soul may be assisted by
+ritual, harmoniously related to the states of mind which it is desired
+to induce. No doubt there is a danger of religious ritual, especially
+when its meaning is lost, being engaged in for its own sake. It is then
+mere superstition;(1) and, in view of the danger of this degeneracy,
+many robust minds, such as the members of the Society of Friends, prefer
+to dispense with its aid altogether. When ritual is associated with
+erroneous doctrines, the results are even more disastrous, as I have
+indicated in "The Belief in Talismans". But when ritual is allied with,
+and based upon, as adequately symbolising, the high teaching of genuine
+religion, it may be, and, in fact, is, found very helpful by many
+people. As such its efficacy seems to me to be altogether magical, in
+the best sense of that word.
+
+
+(1) As "ELIPHAS LEVI" well says: "Superstition... is the sign surviving
+the thought; it is the dead body of a religious rite." (_Op cit_., p.
+150.)
+
+
+But, indeed, I think a still wider application of the word "magic" is
+possible. "All experience is magic," says NOVALIS (1772-1801), "and
+only magically explicable";(2a) and again: "It is only because of the
+feebleness of our perceptions and activity that we do not perceive
+ourselves to be in a fairy world." No doubt it will be objected that the
+common experiences of daily life are "natural," whereas magic postulates
+the "supernatural". If, as is frequently done, we use the term
+"natural," as relating exclusively to the physical realm, then, indeed,
+we may well speak of magic as "supernatural," because its aims are
+psychical. On the other hand, the term "natural" is sometimes employed
+as referring to the whole realm of order, and in this sense one can use
+the word "magic" as descriptive of Nature herself when viewed in the
+light of an idealistic philosophy, such as that of SWEDENBORG, in which
+all causation is seen to be essentially spiritual, the things of this
+world being envisaged as symbols of ideas or spiritual verities, and
+thus physical causation regarded as an appearance produced in virtue of
+the magical, non-causal efficacy of symbols.(1) Says CORNELIUS AGRIPPA:
+"... every day some natural thing is drawn by art and some divine
+thing is drawn by Nature which, the Egyptians, seeing, called Nature a
+Magicianess (_i.e_.) the very Magical power itself, in the attracting of
+like by like, and of suitable things by suitable."(2)
+
+
+(2a) NOVALIS: _Schriften_ (ed. by LUDWIG TIECK and FR. SCHLEGEL, 1805),
+vol. ii. p. 195
+
+(1) For a discussion of the essentially magical character of inductive
+reasoning, see my _The Magic of Experience_ (1915)
+
+(2) _Op. cit_., bk. i. chap. xxxvii. p. 119.
+
+
+I would suggest, in conclusion, that there is nothing really opposed
+to the spirit of modern science in the thesis that "all experience
+is magic, and only magically explicable." Science does not pretend
+to reveal the fundamental or underlying cause of phenomena, does
+not pretend to answer the final Why? This is rather the business
+of philosophy, though, in thus distinguishing between science and
+philosophy, I am far from insinuating that philosophy should be
+otherwise than scientific. We often hear religious but non-scientific
+men complain because scientific and perhaps equally as religious men do
+not in their books ascribe the production of natural phenomena to the
+Divine Power. But if they were so to do they would be transcending
+their business as scientists. In every science certain simple facts of
+experience are taken for granted: it is the business of the scientist
+to reduce other and more complex facts of experience to terms of these
+data, not to explain these data themselves. Thus the physicist attempts
+to reduce other related phenomena of greater complexity to terms of
+simple force and motion; but, What are force and motion? Why does force
+produce or result in motion? are questions which lie beyond the scope
+of physics. In order to answer these questions, if, indeed, this be
+possible, we must first inquire, How and why do these ideas of force and
+motion arise in our minds? These problems land us in the psychical or
+spiritual world, and the term "magic" at once becomes significant.
+
+"If, says THOMAS CARLYLE,... we... have led thee into the true Land of
+Dreams; and... thou lookest, even for moments, into the region of
+the Wonderful, and seest and feelest that thy daily life is girt with
+Wonder, and based on Wonder, and thy very blankets and breeches are
+Miracles,--then art thou profited beyond money's worth...."(1)
+
+
+(1) THOMAS CARLYLE: _Sartor Resartus_, bk. iii. chap. ix.
+
+
+
+
+VIII. ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM
+
+I WAS once rash enough to suggest in an essay "On Symbolism in Art"(1)
+that "a true work of art is at once realistic, imaginative, and
+symbolical," and that its aim is to make manifest the spiritual
+significance of the natural objects dealt with. I trust that those
+artists (no doubt many) who disagree with me will forgive me--a man
+of science--for having ventured to express any opinion whatever on the
+subject. But, at any rate, if the suggestions in question are accepted,
+then a criterion for distinguishing between art and craft is at once
+available; for we may say that, whilst craft aims at producing works
+which are physically useful, art aims at producing works which are
+spiritually useful. Architecture, from this point of view, is a
+combination of craft and art. It may, indeed, be said that the modern
+architecture which creates our dwelling-houses, factories, and even to
+a large extent our places of worship, is pure craft unmixed with art On
+the other hand, it might be argued that such works of architecture are
+not always devoid of decoration, and that "decorative art," even though
+the "decorative artist" is unconscious of this fact, is based upon rules
+and employs symbols which have a deep significance. The truly artistic
+element in architecture, however, is more clearly manifest if we turn
+our gaze to the past. One thinks at once, of course, of the pyramids
+and sphinx of Egypt, and the rich and varied symbolism of design and
+decoration of antique structures to be found in Persia and elsewhere in
+the East. It is highly probable that the Egyptian pyramids were employed
+for astronomical purposes, and thus subserved physical utility, but it
+seems no less likely that their shape was suggested by a belief in some
+system of geometrical symbolism, and was intended to embody certain of
+their philosophical or religious doctrines.
+
+
+(1) Published in _The Occult Review_ for August 1912, vol. xvi. pp. 98
+to 102.
+
+
+The mediaeval cathedrals and churches of Europe admirably exhibit this
+combination of art with craft. Craft was needed to design and construct
+permanent buildings to protect worshippers from the inclemency of the
+weather; art was employed not only to decorate such buildings, but
+it dictated to craft many points in connection with their design. The
+builders of the mediaeval churches endeavoured so to construct their
+works that these might, as a whole and in their various parts, embody
+the truths, as they believed them, of the Christian religion: thus the
+cruciform shape of churches, their orientation, etc. The practical
+value of symbolism in church architecture is obvious. As Mr F. E. HULME
+remarks, "The sculptured fonts or stained-glass windows in the churches
+of the Middle Ages were full of teaching to a congregation of whom
+the greater part could not read, to whom therefore one great avenue of
+knowledge was closed. The ignorant are especially impressed by pictorial
+teaching, and grasp its meaning far more readily than they can follow a
+written description or a spoken discourse."(1)
+
+
+(1) F. EDWARD HULME, F.L.S., F.S.A.: _The History, Principles, and
+Practice of Symbolism in Christian Art_ (1909), p. 2.
+
+
+The subject of symbolism in church architecture is an extensive one,
+involving many side issues. In these excursions we shall consider only
+one aspect of it, namely, the symbolic use of animal forms in English
+church architecture.
+
+As Mr COLLINS, who has written, in recent years, an interesting work on
+this topic of much use to archaeologists as a book of data,(2a) points
+out, the great sources of animal symbolism were the famous _Physiologus_
+and other natural history books of the Middle Ages (generally called
+"Bestiaries"), and the Bible, mystically understood. The modern tendency
+is somewhat unsympathetic towards any attempt to interpret the Bible
+symbolically, and certainly some of the interpretations that have been
+forced upon it in the name of symbolism are crude and fantastic enough.
+But in the belief of the mystics, culminating in the elaborate system of
+correspondences of SWEDENBORG, that every natural object, every event
+in the history of the human race, and every word of the Bible, has a
+symbolic and spiritual significance, there is, I think, a fundamental
+truth. We must, however, as I have suggested already, distinguish
+between true and forced symbolism. The early Christians employed the
+fish as a symbol of Christ, because the Greek word for fish, icqus,
+is obtained by _notariqon_(1) from the phrase <gr 'Ihsous Cristos Qeou
+Uios, Swthr>--"JESUS CHRIST, the Son of God, the Saviour." Of course,
+the obvious use of such a symbol was its entire unintelligibility to
+those who had not yet been instructed in the mysteries of the Christian
+faith, since in the days of persecution some degree of secrecy was
+necessary. But the symbol has significance only in the Greek language,
+and that of an entirely arbitrary nature. There is nothing in the nature
+of the fish, apart from its name in Greek, which renders it suitable
+to be used as a symbol of CHRIST. Contrast this pseudo-symbol, however,
+with that of the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God (fig. 34), or the Lion
+of Judah. Here we have what may be regarded as true symbols, something
+of whose meanings are clear to the smallest degree of spiritual sight,
+even though the second of them has frequently been badly misinterpreted.
+
+
+(2a) ARTHUR H. COLLINS, M.A.: _Symbolism of Animals and Birds
+represented in English Church Architecture_ (1913).
+
+(1) A Kabalistic process by which a word is formed by taking the initial
+letters of a sentence or phrase.
+
+
+It was a belief in the spiritual or moral significance of nature similar
+to that of the mystical expositors of the Bible, that inspired the
+mediaeval naturalists. The Bestiaries almost invariably conclude the
+account of each animal with the moral that might be drawn from its
+behaviour. The interpretations are frequently very far-fetched, and
+as the writers were more interested in the morals than in the facts
+of natural history themselves, the supposed facts from which they drew
+their morals were frequently very far from being of the nature of facts.
+Sometimes the product of this inaccuracy is grotesque, as shown by the
+following quotation: "The elephants are in an absurd way typical of Adam
+and Eve, who ate of the forbidden fruit, and also have the dragon for
+their enemy. It was supposed that the elephant... used to sleep by
+leaning against a tree. The hunters would come by night, and cut the
+trunk through. Down he would come, roaring helplessly. None of his
+friends would be able to help him, until a small elephant should come
+and lever him up with his trunk. This small elephant was symbolic of
+Jesus Christ, Who came in great humility to rescue the human race which
+had fallen 'through a tree.' "(1)
+
+
+(1) A. H. COLLINS: _Symbolism of Animals, etc_., pp. 41 and 42.
+
+
+In some cases, though the symbolism is based upon quite erroneous
+notions concerning natural history, and is so far fantastic, it is not
+devoid of charm. The use of the pelican to symbolise the Saviour is a
+case in point. Legend tells us that when other food is unobtainable, the
+pelican thrusts its bill into its breast (whence the red colour of the
+bill) and feeds its young with its life-blood. Were this only a fact,
+the symbol would be most appropriate. There is another and far less
+charming form of the legend, though more in accord with current
+perversions of Christian doctrine, according to which the pelican uses
+its blood to revive its young, after having slain them through anger
+aroused by the great provocation which they are supposed to give it. For
+an example of the use of the pelican in church architecture see fig. 36.
+
+Mention must also be made of the purely fabulous animals of the
+Bestiaries, such as the basilisk, centaur, dragon, griffin, hydra,
+mantichora, unicorn, phoenix, _etc_. The centaur (fig. 39) was a beast,
+half man, half horse. It typified the flesh or carnal mind of man, and
+the legend of the perpetual war between the centaur and a certain tribe
+of simple savages who were said to live in trees in India, symbolised
+the combat between the flesh and the spirit.(1)
+
+
+(1) A H. COLLINS: _Symbolism of Animals, etc_., pp. 150 and 153.
+
+
+With bow and arrow in its hands the centaur forms the astrological
+sign Sagittarius (or the Archer). An interesting example of this sign
+occurring in church architecture is to be found on the western doorway
+of Portchester Church--a most beautiful piece of Norman architecture.
+"This sign of the Zodiac," writes the Rev. Canon VAUGHAN, M.A., a former
+Vicar of Portchester, "was the badge of King Stephen, and its presence
+on the west front (of Portchester Church) seems to indicate, what was
+often the case elsewhere, that the elaborate Norman carving was not
+carried out until after the completion of the building."(2) The facts,
+however, that this Sagittarius is accompanied on the other side of the
+doorway by a couple of fishes, which form the astrological sign Pisces
+(or the Fishes), and that these two signs are what are termed, in
+astrological phraseology, the "houses" of the planet Jupiter, the
+"Major Fortune," suggest that the architect responsible for the design,
+influenced by the astrological notions of his day, may have put the
+signs there in order to attract Jupiter's beneficent influence. Or
+he may have had the Sagittarius carved for the reason Canon VAUGHAN
+suggests, and then, remembering how good a sign it was astrologically,
+had the Pisces added to complete the effect.(1b)
+
+
+(2) Rev. Canon VAUGHAN, M.A.: A Short History of Portchester Castle, p.
+14.
+
+(1b) Two other possible explanations of the Pisces have been suggested
+by the Rev. A. HEADLEY. In his MS. book written in 1888, when he was
+Vicar of Portchester, he writes: "I have discovered an interesting proof
+that it (the Church) was finished in Stephen's reign, namely, the figure
+of Sagittarius in the Western Doorway.
+
+"Stephen adopted this as his badge for the double reason that it
+formed part of the arms of the city of Blois, and that the sun was
+in Sagittarius in December when he came to the throne. I, therefore,
+conclude that this badge was placed where it is to mark the completion
+of the church.
+
+"There is another sign of the Zodiac in the archway, apparently Pisces.
+This may have been chosen to mark the month in which the church was
+finished, or simply on account of its nearness to the sea. At one time
+I fancied it might refer to March, the month in which Lady Day occurred,
+thus referring to the Patron Saint, St Mary. As the sun leaves Pisces
+just before Lady Day this does not explain it. Possibly in the old
+calendar it might do so. This is a matter for further research." (I have
+to thank the Rev. H. LAWRENCE FRY, present Vicar of Portchester, for
+this quotation, and the Rev. A. HEADLEY for permission to utilise it.)
+
+
+The phoenix and griffin we have encountered already in our excursions.
+The latter, we are told, inhabits desert places in India, where it can
+find nothing for its young to eat. It flies away to other regions
+to seek food, and is sufficiently strong to carry off an ox. Thus it
+symbolises the devil, who is ever anxious to carry away our souls to
+the deserts of hell. Fig. 37 illustrates an example of the use of this
+symbolic beast in church architecture.
+
+The mantichora is described by PLINY (whose statements were
+unquestioningly accepted by the mediaeval naturalists), on the authority
+of CTESIAS (_fl_. 400 B.C.), as having "A triple row of teeth, which fit
+into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and
+azure eyes, is the colour of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail
+ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the
+union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive
+swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh."(1)
+
+
+(1) PLINY: _Natural History_, bk. viii. chap. xxx. (BOSTOCK and RILEY'S
+trans., vol. ii., 1855, p. 280.)
+
+
+Concerning the unicorn, in an eighteenth-century work on natural history
+we read that this is "a Beast, which though doubted of by many Writers,
+yet is by others thus described: He has but one Horn, and that an
+exceedingly rich one, growing out of the middle of his Forehead. His
+Head resembles an Hart's, his Feet an Elephant's, his tail a Boar's, and
+the rest of his Body an Horse's. The Horn is about a Foot and half in
+length. His Voice is like the Lowing of an Ox. His Mane and Hair are
+of a yellowish Colour. His Horn is as hard as Iron, and as rough as any
+File, twisted or curled, like a flaming Sword; very straight, sharp, and
+every where black, excepting the Point. Great Virtues are attributed to
+it, in expelling of Poison and curing of several Diseases. He is not
+a Beast of prey."(2) The method of capturing the animal believed in
+by mediaeval writers was a curious one. The following is a literal
+translation from the _Bestiary_ of PHILIPPE DE THAUN (12th century):--
+
+(2) (THOMAS BOREMAN): _A Description of Three Hundred Animals_ (1730),
+p. 6.
+
+ "Monosceros is an animal which has one horn on its head,
+ Therefore it is so named; it has the form of a goat,
+ It is caught by means of a virgin, now hear in what manner.
+ When a man intends to hunt it and to take and ensnare it
+ He goes to the forest where is its repair;
+ There he places a virgin, with her breast uncovered,
+ And by its smell the monosceros perceives it;
+ Then it comes to the virgin, and kisses her breast,
+ Falls asleep on her lap, and so comes to its death;
+ The man arrives immediately, and kills it in its sleep,
+ Or takes it alive and does as he likes with it.
+ It signifies much, I will not omit to tell it you.
+
+     "Monosceros is Greek, it means _one horn_ in French:
+ A beast of such a description signifies Jesus Christ;
+ One God he is and shall be, and was and will continue so;
+ He placed himself in the virgin, and took flesh for man's sake,
+ And for virginity to show chastity;
+ To a virgin he APPEARED and a virgin conceived him,
+ A virgin she is, and will be, and will remain always.
+ Now hear briefly the signification.
+
+     "This animal in truth signifies God;
+ Know that the virgin signifies St Mary;
+ By her breast we understand similarly Holy Church;
+ And then by the kiss it ought to signify,
+ That a man when he sleeps is in semblance of death;
+ God slept as man, who suffered death on the cross,
+ And his destruction was our redemption,
+ And his labour our repose,
+ Thus God deceived the Devil by a proper semblance;
+ Soul and body were one, so was God and man,
+ And this is the signification of an animal of that description."(1)
+
+
+(1) _Popular Treatises on Science written during the Middle Ages
+in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English_, ed. by THOMAS WRIGHT
+(Historical Society of Science, 1841), pp. 81-82.
+
+This being the current belief concerning the symbolism of the unicorn
+in the Middle Ages, it is not surprising to find this animal utilised in
+church architecture; for an example see fig. 35.
+
+The belief in the existence of these fabulous beasts may very probably
+have been due to the materialising of what were originally nothing
+more than mere arbitrary symbols, as I have already suggested of the
+phoenix.(1) Thus the account of the mantichora may, as BOSTOCK has
+suggested, very well be a description of certain hieroglyphic figures,
+examples of which are still to be found in the ruins of Assyrian and
+Persian cities. This explanation seems, on the whole, more likely
+than the alternative hypothesis that such beliefs were due to
+mal-observation; though that, no doubt, helped in their formation.
+
+
+(1) "Superstitions concerning Birds."
+
+
+It may be questioned, however, whether the architects and preachers
+of the Middle Ages altogether believed in the strange fables of the
+Bestiaries. As Mr COLLINS says in reply to this question: "Probably they
+were credulous enough. But, on the whole, we may say that the truth of
+the story was just what they did not trouble about, any more than some
+clergymen are particular about the absolute truth of the stories they
+tell children from the pulpit. The application, the lesson, is the
+thing!" With their desire to interpret Nature spiritually, we ought,
+I think, to sympathise. But there was one truth they had yet to learn,
+namely, that in order to interpret Nature spiritually, it is necessary
+first to understand her aright in her literal sense.
+
+
+
+
+IX. THE QUEST OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
+
+THE need of unity is a primary need of human thought. Behind the
+varied multiplicity of the world of phenomena, primitive man, as I
+have indicated on a preceding excursion, begins to seek, more or less
+consciously, for that Unity which alone is Real. And this statement not
+only applies to the first dim gropings of the primitive human mind,
+but sums up almost the whole of science and philosophy; for almost all
+science and philosophy is explicitly or implicitly a search for unity,
+for one law or one love, one matter or one spirit. That which is the aim
+of the search may, indeed, be expressed under widely different terms,
+but it is always conceived to be the unity in which all multiplicity is
+resolved, whether it be thought of as one final law of necessity, which
+all things obey, and of which all the various other "laws of nature" are
+so many special and limited applications; or as one final love for which
+all things are created, and to which all things aspire; as one matter of
+which all bodies are but varying forms; or as one spirit, which is the
+life of all things, and of which all things are so many manifestations.
+Every scientist and philosopher is a merchant seeking for goodly pearls,
+willing to sell every pearl that he has, if he may secure the One Pearl
+beyond price, because he knows that in that One Pearl all others are
+included.
+
+This search for unity in multiplicity, however, is not confined to
+the acknowledged scientist and philosopher. More or less unconsciously
+everyone is engaged in this quest. Harmony and unity are the very
+fundamental laws of the human mind itself, and, in a sense, all mental
+activity is the endeavour to bring about a state of harmony and unity
+in the mind. No two ideas that are contradictory of one another, and are
+perceived to be of this nature, can permanently exist in any sane man's
+mind. It is true that many people try to keep certain portions of their
+mental life in water-tight compartments; thus some try to keep their
+religious convictions and their business ideas, or their religious
+faith and their scientific knowledge, separate from another one--and, it
+seems, often succeed remarkably well in so doing. But, ultimately, the
+arbitrary mental walls they have erected will break down by the force
+of their own ideas. Contradictory ideas from different compartments will
+then present themselves to consciousness at the same moment of time,
+and the result of the perception of their contradictory nature will
+be mental anguish and turmoil, persisting until one set of ideas is
+conquered and overcome by the other, and harmony and unity are restored.
+
+It is true of all of us, then, that we seek for Unity--unity in mind and
+life. Some seek it in science and a life of knowledge; some seek it in
+religion and a life of faith; some seek it in human love and find it in
+the life of service to their fellows; some seek it in pleasure and the
+gratification of the senses' demands; some seek it in the harmonious
+development of all the facets of their being. Many the methods, right
+and wrong; many the terms under which the One is conceived, true
+and false--in a sense, to use the phraseology of a bygone system of
+philosophy, we are all, consciously or unconsciously, following paths
+that lead thither or paths that lead away, seekers in the quest of the
+Philosopher's Stone.
+
+Let us, in these excursions in the byways of thought, consider for a
+while the form that the quest of fundamental unity took in the hands
+of those curious mediaeval philosophers, half mystics, half
+experimentalists in natural things--that are known by the name of
+"alchemists."
+
+The common opinion concerning alchemy is that it was a pseudo-science or
+pseudo-art flourishing during the Dark Ages, and having for its aim
+the conversion of common metals into silver and gold by means of a most
+marvellous and wholly fabulous agent called the Philosopher's Stone,
+that its devotees were half knaves, half fools, whose views concerning
+Nature were entirely erroneous, and whose objects were entirely
+mercenary. This opinion is not absolutely destitute of truth; as a
+science alchemy involved many fantastic errors; and in the course of its
+history it certainly proved attractive to both knaves and fools. But if
+this opinion involves some element of truth, it involves a far greater
+proportion of error. Amongst the alchemists are numbered some of the
+greatest intellects of the Middle Ages--ROGER BACON (_c_. 1214-1294),
+for example, who might almost be called the father of experimental
+science. And whether or not the desire for material wealth was a
+secondary object, the true aim of the genuine alchemist was a much
+nobler one than this as one of them exclaims with true scientific
+fervour: "Would to God... all men might become adepts in our Art--for
+then gold, the great idol of mankind, would lose its value, and we
+should prize it only for its scientific teaching."(1) Moreover, recent
+developments in physical and chemical science seem to indicate that the
+alchemists were not so utterly wrong in their concept of Nature as has
+formerly been supposed--that, whilst they certainly erred in both their
+methods and their interpretations of individual phenomena, they did
+intuitively grasp certain fundamental facts concerning the universe
+ofthe very greatest importance.
+
+
+(1) EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES: _An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the
+King_. (See _The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged_, ed. by A. E.
+WAITE, 1893, vol. ii. p. 178.)
+
+
+Suppose, however, that the theories of the alchemists are entirely
+erroneous from beginning to end, and are nowhere relieved by the merest
+glimmer of truth. Still they were believed to be true, and this belief
+had an important influence upon human thought. Many men of science
+have, I am afraid, been too prone to regard the mystical views of the
+alchemists as unintelligible; but, whatever their theories may be to us,
+these theories were certainly very real to them: it is preposterous to
+maintain that the writings of the alchemists are without meaning, even
+though their views are altogether false. And the more false their views
+are believed to be, the more necessary does it become to explain why
+they should have gained such universal credit. Here we have problems
+into which scientific inquiry is not only legitimate, but, I think, very
+desirable,--apart altogether from the question of the truth or falsity
+of alchemy as a science, or its utility as an art. What exactly was the
+system of beliefs grouped under the term "alchemy," and what was its
+aim? Why were the beliefs held? What was their precise influence upon
+human thought and culture?
+
+It was in order to elucidate problems of this sort, as well as to
+determine what elements of truth, if any, there are in the theories of
+the alchemists, that The Alchemical Society was founded in 1912, mainly
+through my own efforts and those of my confreres, and for the first time
+something like justice was being done to the memory of the alchemists
+when the Society's activities were stayed by that greatest calamity of
+history, the European War.
+
+Some students of the writings of the alchemists have advanced a very
+curious and interesting theory as to the aims of the alchemists, which
+may be termed "the transcendental theory". According to this theory, the
+alchemists were concerned only with the mystical processes affecting
+the soul of man, and their chemical references are only to be understood
+symbolically. In my opinion, however, this view of the subject is
+rendered untenable by the lives of the alchemists themselves; for, as
+Mr WAITE has very fully pointed out in his _Lives of Alchemystical
+Philosophers_ (1888), the lives of the alchemists show them to have been
+mainly concerned with chemical and physical processes; and, indeed, to
+their labours we owe many valuable discoveries of a chemical nature. But
+the fact that such a theory should ever have been formulated, and
+should not be altogether lacking in consistency, may serve to direct our
+attention to the close connection between alchemy and mysticism.
+
+If we wish to understand the origin and aims of alchemy we must
+endeavour to recreate the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, and to look at
+the subject from the point of view of the alchemists themselves. Now,
+this atmosphere was, as I have indicated in a previous essay, surcharged
+with mystical theology and mystical philosophy. Alchemy, so to speak,
+was generated and throve in a dim religious light. We cannot open a book
+by any one of the better sort of alchemists without noticing how closely
+their theology and their chemistry are interwoven, and what a remarkably
+religious view they take of their subject. Thus one alchemist writes:
+"In the first place, let every devout and God-fearing chemist and
+student of this Art consider that this arcanum should be regarded, not
+only as a truly great, but as a most holy Art (seeing that it typifies
+and shadows out the highest heavenly good). Therefore, if any man desire
+to reach this great and unspeakable Mystery, he must remember that it is
+obtained not by the might of man, but by the grace of God, and that not
+our will or desire, but only the mercy of the Most High, can bestow it
+upon us. For this reason you must first of all cleanse your heart,
+lift it up to Him alone, and ask of Him this gift in true, earnest and
+undoubting prayer. He alone can give and bestow it."(1) Whilst another
+alchemist declares: "I am firmly persuaded that any unbeliever who
+got truly to know this Art, would straightway confess the truth of
+our Blessed Religion, and believe in the Trinity and in our Lord JESUS
+CHRIST."(2)
+
+
+(1) _The Sophic Hydrolith; or, Water Stone of the Wise_. (See _The
+Hermetic Museum_, vol. i. pp. 74 and 75.)
+
+(2) PETER BONUS: _The New Pearl of Great Price_ (trans. by A. E. WAITE,
+1894), p. 275.
+
+
+Now, what I suggest is that the alchemists constructed their chemical
+theories for the main part by means of _a priori_ reasoning, and that
+the premises from which they started were (i.) the truth of mystical
+theology, especially the doctrine of the soul's regeneration, and (ii.)
+the truth of mystical philosophy, which asserts that the objects of
+Nature are symbols of spiritual verities. There is, I think, abundant
+evidence to show that alchemy was a more or less deliberate attempt
+to apply, according to the principles of analogy, the doctrines of
+religious mysticism to chemical and physical phenomena. Some of this
+evidence I shall attempt to put forward in this essay.
+
+In the first place, however, I propose to say a few words more in
+description of the theological and philosophical doctrines which so
+greatly influenced the alchemists, and which, I believe, they borrowed
+for their attempted explanations of chemical and physical phenomena.
+This system of doctrine I have termed "mysticism"--a word which is
+unfortunately equivocal, and has been used to denote various systems
+of religious and philosophical thought, from the noblest to the most
+degraded. I have, therefore, further to define my usage of the term.
+
+By mystical theology I mean that system of religious thought which
+emphasises the unity between Creator and creature, though not
+necessarily to the extent of becoming pantheistic. Man, mystical
+theology asserts, has sprung from God, but has fallen away from Him
+through self-love. Within man, however, is the seed of divine grace,
+whereby, if he will follow the narrow road of self-renunciation, he may
+be regenerated, born anew, becoming transformed into the likeness of God
+and ultimately indissolubly united to God in love. God is at once the
+Creator and the Restorer of man's soul, He is the Origin as well as the
+End of all existence; and He is also the Way to that End. In Christian
+mysticism, CHRIST is the Pattern, towards which the mystic strives;
+CHRIST also is the means towards the attainment of this end.
+
+By mystical philosophy I mean that system of philosophical thought which
+emphasises the unity of the Cosmos, asserting that God and the spiritual
+may be perceived immanent in the things of this world, because all
+things natural are symbols and emblems of spiritual verities. As one of
+the _Golden Verses_ attributed to PYTHAGORAS, which I have quoted in a
+previous essay, puts it: "The Nature of this Universe is in all things
+alike"; commenting upon which, HIEROCLES, writing in the fifth or sixth
+century, remarks that "Nature, in forming this Universe after the Divine
+Measure and Proportion, made it in all things conformable and like to
+itself, analogically in different manners. Of all the different species,
+diffused throughout the whole, it made, as it were, an Image of the
+Divine Beauty, imparting variously to the copy the perfections of the
+Original."(1) We have, however, already encountered so many instances of
+this belief, that no more need be said here concerning it.
+
+
+(1) _Commentary of_ HIEROCLES _on the Golden Verses of_ PYTHAGORAS
+(trans. by N. ROWE, 1906), pp. 101 and 102.
+
+
+In fine, as Dean INGE well says: "Religious Mysticism may be defined as
+the attempt to realise the presence of the living God in the soul and in
+nature, or, more generally, as _the attempt to realise, in thought
+and feeling, the immanence of the temporal in the eternal, and of the
+eternal in the temporal_."(2)
+
+
+(2) WILLIAM RALPH INGE, M.A.: _Christian Mysticism_ (the Bampton
+Lectures, 1899), p. 5.
+
+
+Now, doctrines such as these were not only very prevalent during the
+Middle Ages, when alchemy so greatly flourished, but are of great
+antiquity, and were undoubtedly believed in by the learned class in
+Egypt and elsewhere in the East in those remote days when, as some
+think, alchemy originated, though the evidence, as will, I hope, become
+plain as we proceed, points to a later and post-Christian origin for the
+central theorem of alchemy. So far as we can judge from their writings,
+the more important alchemists were convinced of the truth of these
+doctrines, and it was with such beliefs in mind that they commenced
+their investigations of physical and chemical phenomena. Indeed, if we
+may judge by the esteem in which the Hermetic maxim, "What is above
+is as that which is below, what is below is as that which is above, to
+accomplish the miracles of the One Thing," was held by every alchemist,
+we are justified in asserting that the mystical theory of the spiritual
+significance of Nature--a theory with which, as we have seen, is closely
+connected the Neoplatonic and Kabalistic doctrine that all things
+emanate in series from the Divine Source of all Being--was at the very
+heart of alchemy. As writes one alchemist: "... the Sages have been
+taught of God that this natural world is only an image and material copy
+of a heavenly and spiritual pattern; that the very existence of this
+world is based upon the reality of its celestial archetype; and that God
+has created it in imitation of the spiritual and invisible universe, in
+order that men might be the better enabled to comprehend His heavenly
+teaching, and the wonders of His absolute and ineffable power and
+wisdom. Thus the sage sees heaven reflected in Nature as in a mirror;
+and he pursues this Art, not for the sake of gold or silver, but for the
+love of the knowledge which it reveals; he jealously conceals it from
+the sinner and the scornful, lest the mysteries of heaven should be laid
+bare to the vulgar gaze."(1)
+
+
+(1) MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS (?): _The New Chemical Light, Pt. II.,
+Concerning Sulphur_. (See _The Hermetic Museum_, vol. ii. p. 138.)
+
+
+The alchemists, I hold, convinced of the truth of this view of Nature,
+_i.e_. that principles true of one plane of being are true also of all
+other planes, adopted analogy as their guide in dealing with the facts
+of chemistry and physics known to them. They endeavoured to explain
+these facts by an application to them of the principles of mystical
+theology, their chief aim being to prove the truth of these principles
+as applied to the facts of the natural realm, and by studying natural
+phenomena to become instructed in spiritual truth. They did not proceed
+by the sure, but slow, method of modern science, _i.e_. the method of
+induction, which questions experience at every step in the construction
+of a theory; but they boldly allowed their imaginations to leap ahead
+and to formulate a complete theory of the Cosmos on the strength of but
+few facts. This led them into many fantastic errors, but I would not
+venture to deny them an intuitive perception of certain fundamental
+truths concerning the constitution of the Cosmos, even if they distorted
+these truths and dressed them in a fantastic garb.
+
+Now, as I hope to make plain in the course of this excursion, the
+alchemists regarded the discovery of the Philosopher's Stone and the
+transmutation of "base" metals into gold as the consummation of the
+proof of the doctrines of mystical theology as applied to chemical
+phenomena, and it was as such that they so ardently sought to achieve
+the _magnum opus_, as this transmutation was called. Of course, it
+would be useless to deny that many, accepting the truth of the great
+alchemical theorem, sought for the Philosopher's Stone because of what
+was claimed for it in the way of material benefits. But, as I have
+already indicated, with the nobler alchemists this was not the case, and
+the desire for wealth, if present at all, was merely a secondary object.
+
+The idea expressed in DALTON'S atomic hypothesis (1802), and universally
+held during the nineteenth century, that the material world is made up
+of a certain limited number of elements unalterable in quantity, subject
+in themselves to no change or development, and inconvertible one into
+another, is quite alien to the views of the alchemists. The alchemists
+conceived the universe to be a unity; they believed that all material
+bodies had been developed from one seed; their elements are merely
+different forms of one matter and, therefore, convertible one into
+another. They were thoroughgoing evolutionists with regard to the things
+of the material world, and their theory concerning the evolution of the
+metals was, I believe, the direct outcome of a metallurgical application
+of the mystical doctrine of the soul's development and regeneration. The
+metals, they taught, all spring from the same seed in Nature's womb,
+but are not all equally matured and perfect; for, as they say, although
+Nature always intends to produce only gold, various impurities impede
+the process. In the metals the alchemists saw symbols of man in the
+various stages of his spiritual development. Gold, the most beautiful
+as well as the most untarnishable metal, keeping its beauty permanently,
+unaffected by sulphur, most acids, and fire--indeed, purified by such
+treatment,--gold, to the alchemist, was the symbol of regenerate man,
+and therefore he called it "a noble metal". Silver was also termed
+"noble"; but it was regarded as less mature than gold, for, although
+it is undoubtedly beautiful and withstands the action of fire, it is
+corroded by nitric acid and is blackened by sulphur; it was, therefore,
+considered to be analogous to the regenerate man at a lower stage of his
+development. Possibly we shall not be far wrong in using SWEDENBORG'S
+terms, "celestial" to describe the man of gold, "spiritual" to designate
+him of silver. Lead, on the other hand, the alchemists regarded as a
+very immature and impure metal: heavy and dull, corroded by sulphur and
+nitric acid, and converted into a calx by the action of fire,--lead,
+to the alchemists, was a symbol of man in a sinful and unregenerate
+condition.
+
+The alchemists assumed the existence of three principles in the metals,
+their obvious reason for so doing being the mystical threefold division
+of man into body, soul (_i.e_. affections and will), and spirit
+(_i.e_. intelligence), though the principle corresponding to body was
+a comparatively late introduction in alchemical philosophy. This latter
+fact, however, is no argument against my thesis; because, of course,
+I do not maintain that the alchemists started out with their chemical
+philosophy ready made, but gradually worked it out, by incorporating in
+it further doctrines drawn from mystical theology. The three principles
+just referred to were called "mercury," "sulphur," and "salt"; and they
+must be distinguished from the common bodies so designated (though the
+alchemists themselves seem often guilty of confusing them). "Mercury"
+is the metallic principle _par excellence_, conferring on metals
+their brightness and fusibility, and corresponding to the spirit or
+intelligence in man.(1) "Sulphur," the principle of combustion and
+colour, is the analogue of the soul. Many alchemists postulated two
+sulphurs in the metals, an inward and an outward.(1b) The outward
+sulphur was thought to be the chief cause of metallic impurity, and the
+reason why all (known) metals, save gold and silver, were acted on by
+fire. The inward sulphur, on the other hand, was regarded as essential
+to the development of the metals: pure mercury, we are told, matured by
+a pure inward sulphur yields pure gold. Here again it is evident that
+the alchemists borrowed their theories from mystical theology; for,
+clearly, inward sulphur is nothing else than the equivalent to love of
+God; outward sulphur to love of self. Intelligence (mercury) matured by
+love to God (inward sulphur) exactly expresses the spiritual state of
+the regenerate man according to mystical theology. There is no reason,
+other than their belief in analogy, why the alchemists should have held
+such views concerning the metals. "Salt," the principle of solidity
+and resistance to fire, corresponding to the body in man, plays a
+comparatively unimportant part in alchemical theory, as does its
+prototype in mystical theology.
+
+
+(1) The identification of the god MERCURY with THOTH, the Egyptian god
+of learning, is worth noticing in this connection.
+
+(1b) Pseudo-GEBER, whose writings were highly esteemed, for instance.
+See R. RUSSEL'S translation of his works (1678), p. 160.
+
+
+Now, as I have pointed out already, the central theorem of mystical
+theology is, in Christian terminology, that of the regeneration of the
+soul by the Spirit of CHRIST. The corresponding process in alchemy is
+that of the transmutation of the "base" metals into silver and gold by
+the agency of the Philosopher's Stone. Merely to remove the evil sulphur
+of the "base" metals, thought the alchemists, though necessary, is not
+sufficient to transmute them into "noble" metals; a maturing process is
+essential, similar to that which they supposed was effected in Nature's
+womb. Mystical theology teaches that the powers and life of the soul
+are not inherent in it, but are given by the free grace of God. Neither,
+according to the alchemists, are the powers and life of nature in
+herself, but in that immanent spirit, the Soul of the World, that
+animates her. As writes the famous alchemist who adopted the pleasing
+pseudonym of "BASIL VALENTINE" (_c_. 1600), "the power of growth... is
+imparted not by the earth, but by the life-giving spirit that is in
+it. If the earth were deserted by this spirit, it would be dead, and
+no longer able to afford nourishment to anything. For its sulphur or
+richness would lack the quickening spirit without which there can be
+neither life nor growth."(1a) To perfect the metals, therefore, the
+alchemists argued, from analogy with mystical theology, which teaches
+that men can be regenerated only by the power of CHRIST within the soul,
+that it is necessary to subject them to the action of this world-spirit,
+this one essence underlying all the varied powers of nature, this One
+Thing from which "all things were produced... by adaption, and which
+is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole world."(2a) "This,"
+writes one alchemist, "is the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot
+comprehend without the interposition of the Holy Ghost, or without the
+instruction of those who know it. The same is of a mysterious nature,
+wondrous strength, boundless power.... By Avicenna this Spirit is named
+the Soul of the World. For, as the Soul moves all the limbs of the Body,
+so also does this Spirit move all bodies. And as the Soul is in all
+the limbs of the Body, so also is this Spirit in all elementary created
+things. It is sought by many and found by few. It is beheld from afar
+and found near; for it exists in every thing, in every place, and at all
+times. It has the powers of all creatures; its action is found in all
+elements, and the qualities of all things are therein, even in the
+highest perfection... it heals all dead and living bodies without other
+medicine... converts all metallic bodies into gold, and there is nothing
+like unto it under Heaven."(1b) It was this Spirit, concentrated in all
+its potency in a suitable material form, which the alchemists sought
+under the name of "the Philosopher's Stone". Now, mystical theology
+teaches that the Spirit of CHRIST, by which alone the soul of man can be
+tinctured and transmuted into the likeness of God, is Goodness itself;
+consequently, the alchemists argued that the Philosopher's Stone must
+be, so to speak, Gold itself, or the very essence of Gold: it was to
+them, as CHRIST is of the soul's perfection, at once the pattern and
+the means of metallic perfection. "The Philosopher's Stone," declares
+"EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES" (_nat. c_. 1623), "is a certain heavenly,
+spiritual, penetrative, and fixed substance, which brings all metals
+to the perfection of gold or silver (according to the quality of the
+Medicine), and that by natural methods, which yet in their effects
+transcend Nature.... Know, then, that it is called a stone, not because
+it is like a stone, but only because, by virtue of its fixed nature, it
+resists the action of fire as successfully as any stone. In species it
+is gold, more pure than the purest; it is fixed and incombustible like
+a stone (_i.e_. it contains no outward sulphur, but only inward, fixed
+sulphur), but its appearance is that of a very fine powder, impalpable
+to the touch, sweet to the taste, fragrant to the smell, in potency a
+most penetrative spirit, apparently dry and yet unctuous, and easily
+capable of tingeing a plate of metal.... If we say that its nature is
+spiritual, it would be no more than the truth; if we described it as
+corporeal the expression would be equally correct; for it is subtle,
+penetrative, glorified, spiritual gold. It is the noblest of all created
+things after the rational soul, and has virtue to repair all defects
+both in animal and metallic bodies, by restoring them to the most exact
+and perfect temper; wherefore is it a spirit or 'quintessence.'"(1c)
+
+
+(1a) BASIL VALENTINE: _The Twelve Keys_. (See _The Hermetic Museum_,
+vol. i. pp. 333 and 334.)
+
+(2a) From the "Smaragdine Table," attributed to HERMES TRISMEGISTOS
+(_ie_. MERCURY or THOTH).
+
+(1b) _The Book of the Revelation of_ HERMES, _interpreted by_
+THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS, _concerning the Supreme Secret of the World_.
+(See BENEDICTUS FIGULUS, _A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's
+Marvels_, trans. by A. E. WAITE, 1893, pp. 36, 37, and 41.)
+
+(1c) EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES: _A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby_. (See
+_The Hermetic Museum_, vol. ii. pp. 246 and 249.)
+
+
+In other accounts the Philosopher's Stone, or at least the _materia
+prima_ of which it is compounded, is spoken of as a despised substance,
+reckoned to be of no value. Thus, according to one curious alchemistic
+work, "This matter, so precious by the excellent Gifts, wherewith Nature
+has enriched it, is truly mean, with regard to the Substances from
+whence it derives its Original. Their price is not above the Ability of
+the Poor. Ten Pence is more than sufficient to purchase the Matter of
+the Stone.... The matter therefore is mean, considering the Foundation
+of the Art because it costs very little; it is no less mean, if one
+considers exteriourly that which gives it Perfection, since in that
+regard it costs nothing at all, in as much as _all the World has it in
+its Power_... so that... it is a constant Truth, that the Stone is a
+Thing mean in one Sense, but that in another it is most precious, and
+that there are none but Fools that despise it, by a just Judgment of
+God."(1) And JACOB BOEHME (1575--1624) writes: "The _philosopher's
+stone_ is a very dark, disesteemed stone, of a grey colour, but therein
+lieth the highest tincture."(2) In these passages there is probably some
+reference to the ubiquity of the Spirit of the World, already referred
+to in a former quotation. But this fact is not, in itself, sufficient
+to account for them. I suggest that their origin is to be found in the
+religious doctrine that God's Grace, the Spirit of CHRIST that is the
+means of the transmutation of man's soul into spiritual gold, is free to
+all; that it is, at once, the meanest and the most precious thing in the
+whole Universe. Indeed, I think it quite probable that the alchemists
+who penned the above-quoted passages had in mind the words of ISAIAH,
+"He was despised and we esteemed him not." And if further evidence
+is required that the alchemists believed in a correspondence between
+CHRIST--"the Stone which the builders rejected"--and the Philosopher's
+Stone, reference may be made to the alchemical work called _The Sophic
+Hydrolith: or Water Stone of the Wise_, a tract included in _The
+Hermetic Museum_, in which this supposed correspondence is explicitly
+asserted and dealt with in some detail.
+
+
+(1) _A Discourse between Eudoxus and Pyrophilus, upon the Ancient War
+of the Knights_. See _The Hermetical Triumph: or, the Victorious
+Philosophical Stone_ (1723), pp. 101 and 102.
+
+(2) JACOB BOEHME: _Epistles_ (trans. by J. E., 1649, reprinted 1886),
+Ep. iv., SE III.
+
+
+Apart from the alchemists' belief in the analogy between natural and
+spiritual things, it is, I think, incredible that any such theories of
+the metals and the possibility of their transmutation or "regeneration"
+by such an extraordinary agent as the Philosopher's Stone would have
+occurred to the ancient investigators of Nature's secrets. When they
+had started to formulate these theories, facts(1) were discovered which
+appeared to support them; but it is, I suggest, practically impossible
+to suppose that any or all of these facts would, in themselves, have
+been sufficient to give rise to such wonderfully fantastic theories as
+these: it is only from the standpoint of the theory that alchemy was
+a direct offspring of mysticism that its origin seems to be capable of
+explanation.
+
+
+
+(1) One of those facts, amongst many others, that appeared to confirm
+the alchemical doctrines, was the ease with which iron could apparently
+be transmuted into copper. It was early observed that iron vessels
+placed in contact with a solution of blue vitriol became converted (at
+least, so far as their surfaces were concerned) into copper. This we now
+know to be due to the fact that the copper originally contained in the
+vitriol is thrown out of solution, whilst the iron takes its place. And
+we know, also, that no more copper can be obtained in this way from the
+blue vitriol than is actually used up in preparing it; and, further,
+that all the iron which is apparently converted into copper can be got
+out of the residual solution by appropriate methods, if such be desired;
+so that the facts really support DALTON'S theory rather than the
+alchemical doctrines. But to the alchemist it looked like a real
+transmutation of iron into copper, confirmation of his fond belief that
+iron and other base metals could be transmuted into silver and gold by
+the aid of the Great Arcanum of Nature.
+
+
+In all the alchemical doctrines mystical connections are evident, and
+mystical origins can generally be traced. I shall content myself here
+with giving a couple of further examples. Consider, in the first place,
+the alchemical doctrine of purification by putrefaction, that the metals
+must die before they can be resurrected and truly live, that through
+death alone are they purified--in the more prosaic language of modern
+chemistry, death becomes oxidation, and rebirth becomes reduction. In
+many alchemical books there are to be found pictorial symbols of the
+putrefaction and death of metals and their new birth in the state of
+silver or gold, or as the Stone itself, together with descriptions of
+these processes. The alchemists sought to kill or destroy the body
+or outward form of the metals, in the hope that they might get at and
+utilise the living essence they believed to be immanent within. As
+PARACELSUS put it: "Nothing of true value is located in the body of a
+substance, but in the virtue... the less there is of body, the more in
+proportion is the virtue." It seems to me quite obvious that in such
+ideas as these we have the application to metallurgy of the mystic
+doctrine of self-renunciation--that the soul must die to self before it
+can live to God; that the body must be sacrificed to the spirit, and the
+individual will bowed down utterly to the One Divine Will, before it can
+become one therewith.
+
+In the second place, consider the directions as to the colours that
+must be obtained in the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone, if
+a successful issue to the Great Work is desired. Such directions are
+frequently given in considerable detail in alchemical works; and,
+without asserting any exact uniformity, I think that I may state that
+practically all the alchemists agree that three great colour-stages are
+necessary--(i.) an inky blackness, which is termed the "Crow's Head" and
+is indicative of putrefaction; (ii.) a white colour indicating that
+the Stone is now capable of converting "base" metals into silver; this
+passes through orange into (iii.) a red colour, which shows that the
+Stone is now perfect, and will transmute "base" metals into gold. Now,
+what was the reason for the belief in these three colour-stages, and
+for their occurrence in the above order? I suggest that no alchemist
+actually obtained these colours in this order in his chemical
+experiments, and that we must look for a speculative origin for the
+belief in them. We have, I think, only to turn to religious mysticism
+for this origin. For the exponents of religious mysticism unanimously
+agree to a threefold division of the life of the mystic. The first stage
+is called "the dark night of the soul," wherein it seems as if the soul
+were deserted by God, although He is very near. It is the time of trial,
+when self is sacrificed as a duty and not as a delight. Afterwards,
+however, comes the morning light of a new intelligence, which marks the
+commencement of that stage of the soul's upward progress that is called
+the "illuminative life". All the mental powers are now concentrated on
+God, and the struggle is transferred from without to the inner man, good
+works being now done, as it were, spontaneously. The disciple, in this
+stage, not only does unselfish deeds, but does them from unselfish
+motives, being guided by the light of Divine Truth. The third stage,
+which is the consummation of the process, is termed "the contemplative
+life". It is barely describable. The disciple is wrapped about with the
+Divine Love, and is united thereby with his Divine Source. It is the
+life of love, as the illuminative life is that of wisdom. I suggest that
+the alchemists, believing in this threefold division of the regenerative
+process, argued that there must be three similar stages in the
+preparation of the Stone, which was the pattern of all metallic
+perfection; and that they derived their beliefs concerning the
+colours, and other peculiarities of each stage in the supposed chemical
+process, from the characteristics of each stage in the psychological
+process according to mystical theology.
+
+Moreover, in the course of the latter process many flitting thoughts and
+affections arise and deeds are half-wittingly done which are not of the
+soul's true character; and in entire agreement with this, we read of
+the alchemical process, in the highly esteemed "Canons" of D'ESPAGNET:
+"Besides these decretory signs (_i.e_. the black, white, orange, and
+red colours) which firmly inhere in the matter, and shew its essential
+mutations, almost infinite colours appear, and shew themselves in
+vapours, as the Rainbow in the clouds, which quickly pass away and are
+expelled by those that succeed, more affecting the air than the earth:
+the operator must have a gentle care of them, because they are not
+permanent, and proceed not from the intrinsic disposition of the matter,
+but from the fire painting and fashioning everything after its pleasure,
+or casually by heat in slight moisture."(1) That D'ESPAGNET is arguing,
+not so much from actual chemical experiments, as from analogy with
+psychological processes in man, is, I think, evident.
+
+
+(1) JEAN D'ESPAGNET: _Hermetic Arcanum_, canon 65. (See _Collectanea
+Hermetica_, ed. by W. WYNN WESTCOTT, vol. i., 1893, pp. 28 and 29.)
+
+
+As well as a metallic, the alchemists believed in a physiological,
+application of the fundamental doctrines of mysticism: their physiology
+was analogically connected with their metallurgy, the same principles
+holding good in each case. PARACELSUS, as we have seen, taught that
+man is a microcosm, a world in miniature; his spirit, the Divine Spark
+within, is from God; his soul is from the Stars, extracted from the
+Spirit of the World; and his body is from the earth, extracted from the
+elements of which all things material are made. This view of man was
+shared by many other alchemists. The Philosopher's Stone, therefore (or,
+rather, a solution of it in alcohol) was also regarded as the Elixir of
+Life; which, thought the alchemists, would not endow man with physical
+immortality, as is sometimes supposed, but restore him again to the
+flower of youth, "regenerating" him physiologically. Failing this, of
+course, they regarded gold in a potable form as the next most powerful
+medicine--a belief which probably led to injurious effects in some
+cases.
+
+Such are the facts from which I think we are justified in concluding,
+as I have said, "that the alchemists constructed their chemical theories
+for the main part by means of _a priori_ reasoning, and that the
+premises from which they started were (i.) the truth of mystical
+theology, especially the doctrine of the soul's regeneration, and (ii.)
+the truth of mystical philosophy, which asserts that the objects of
+nature are symbols of spiritual verities."(1)
+
+
+(1) In the following excursion we will wander again in the alchemical
+bypaths of thought, and certain objections to this view of the origin
+and nature of alchemy will be dealt with and, I hope, satisfactorily
+answered.
+
+
+It seems to follow, _ex hypothesi_, that every alchemical work ought to
+permit of two interpretations, one physical, the other transcendental.
+But I would not venture to assert this, because, as I think, many of
+the lesser alchemists knew little of the origin of their theories,
+nor realised their significance. They were concerned merely with
+these theories in their strictly metallurgical applications, and any
+transcendental meaning we can extract from their works was not intended
+by the writers themselves. However, many alchemists, I conceive,
+especially the better sort, realised more or less clearly the dual
+nature of their subject, and their books are to some extent intended to
+permit of a double interpretation, although the emphasis is laid upon
+the physical and chemical application of mystical doctrine. And there
+are a few writers who adopted alchemical terminology on the principle
+that, if the language of theology is competent to describe chemical
+processes, then, conversely, the language of alchemy must be competent
+to describe psychological processes: this is certainly and entirely true
+of JACOB BOEHME, and, to some extent also, I think, of HENRY KHUNRATH
+(1560-1605) and THOMAS VAUGHAN (1622-1666).
+
+As may be easily understood, many of the alchemists led most romantic
+lives, often running the risk of torture and death at the hands
+of avaricious princes who believed them to be in possession of the
+Philosopher's Stone, and adopted such pleasant methods of extorting (or,
+at least, of trying to extort) their secrets. A brief sketch, which I
+quote from my _Alchemy: Ancient and Modern_ (1911), SE 54, of the lives
+of ALEXANDER SETHON and MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS, will serve as an example:--
+
+"The date and birthplace of ALEXANDER SETHON, a Scottish alchemist, do
+not appear to have been recorded, but MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS was probably
+born in Moravia about 1566. Sethon, we are told, was in possession of
+the arch-secrets of Alchemy. He visited Holland in 1602, proceeded after
+a time to Italy, and passed through Basle to Germany; meanwhile he
+is said to have performed many transmutations. Ultimately arriving
+at Dresden, however, he fell into the clutches of the young Elector,
+Christian II., who, in order to extort his secret, cast him into prison
+and put him to the torture, but without avail. Now it so happened that
+Sendivogius, who was in quest of the Philosopher's Stone, was staying
+at Dresden, and hearing of Sethon's imprisonment obtained permission to
+visit him. Sendivogius offered to effect Sethon's escape in return
+for assistance in his alchemistic pursuits, to which arrangement the
+Scottish alchemist willingly agreed. After some considerable outlay of
+money in bribery, Sendivogius's plan of escape was successfully carried
+out, and Sethon found himself a free man; but he refused to betray the
+high secrets of Hermetic philosophy to his rescuer. However, before his
+death, which occurred shortly afterwards, he presented him with an ounce
+of the transmutative powder. Sendivogius soon used up this powder, we
+are told, in effecting transmutations and cures, and, being fond of
+expensive living, he married Sethon's widow, in the hope that she was
+in the possession of the transmutative secret. In this, however, he was
+disappointed; she knew nothing of the matter, but she had the manuscript
+of an alchemistic work written by her late husband. Shortly afterwards
+Sendivogius printed at Prague a book entitled _The New Chemical Light_
+under the name of 'Cosmopolita,' which is said to have been this work of
+Sethon's, but which Sendivogius claimed for his own by the insertion
+of his name on the title page, in the form of an anagram. The tract _On
+Sulphur_ which was printed at the end of the book in later editions,
+however, is said to have been the genuine work of the Moravian. Whilst
+his powder lasted, Sendivogius travelled about, performing, we are told,
+many transmutations. He was twice imprisoned in order to extort the
+secrets of alchemy from him, on one occasion escaping, and on the other
+occasion obtaining his release from the Emperor Rudolph. Afterwards, he
+appears to have degenerated into an impostor, but this is said to have
+been a _finesse_ to hide his true character as an alchemistic adept. He
+died in 1646."
+
+However, all the alchemists were not of the apparent character of
+SENDIVOGIUS--many of them leading holy and serviceable lives. The
+alchemist-physician J. B. VAN HELMONT (1577-1644), who was a man of
+extraordinary benevolence, going about treating the sick poor freely,
+may be particularly mentioned. He, too, claimed to have performed the
+transmutation of "base" metal into gold, as did also HELVETIUS (whom we
+have already met), physician to the Prince of Orange, with a wonderful
+preparation given to him by a stranger. The testimony of these two
+latter men is very difficult either to explain or to explain away, but
+I cannot deal with this question here, but must refer the reader to a
+paper on the subject by Mr GASTON DE MENGEL, and the discussion thereon,
+published in vol. i. of _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_.
+
+In conclusion, I will venture one remark dealing with a matter outside
+of the present inquiry. Alchemy ended its days in failure and fraud;
+charlatans and fools were attracted to it by purely mercenary objects,
+who knew nothing of the high aims of the genuine alchemists, and
+scientific men looked elsewhere for solutions of Nature's problems.
+Why did alchemy fail? Was it because its fundamental theorems were
+erroneous? I think not. I consider the failure of the alchemical theory
+of Nature to be due rather to the misapplication of these fundamental
+concepts, to the erroneous use of _a priori_ methods of reasoning, to a
+lack of a sufficiently wide knowledge of natural phenomena to which
+to apply these concepts, to a lack of adequate apparatus with which to
+investigate such phenomena experimentally, and to a lack of mathematical
+organons of thought with which to interpret such experimental results
+had they been obtained. As for the basic concepts of alchemy themselves,
+such as the fundamental unity of the Cosmos and the evolution of the
+elements, in a word, the applicability of the principles of mysticism to
+natural phenomena: these seem to me to contain a very valuable element
+of truth--a statement which, I think, modern scientific research
+justifies me in making,--though the alchemists distorted this truth and
+expressed it in a fantastic form. I think, indeed, that in the modern
+theories of energy and the all-pervading ether, the etheric and
+electrical origin and nature of matter and the evolution of the
+elements, we may witness the triumphs of mysticism as applied to the
+interpretation of Nature. Whether or not we shall ever transmute lead
+into gold, I believe there is a very true sense in which we may say
+that alchemy, purified by its death, has been proved true, whilst the
+materialistic view of Nature has been proved false.
+
+
+
+
+X. THE PHALLIC ELEMENT IN ALCHEMICAL DOCTRINE
+
+THE problem of alchemy presents many aspects to our view, but, to my
+mind, the most fundamental of these is psychological, or, perhaps I
+should say, epistemological. It has been said that the proper study of
+mankind is man; and to study man we must study the beliefs of man. Now
+so long as we neglect great tracts of such beliefs, because they have
+been, or appear to have been, superseded, so long will our study be
+incomplete and ineffectual. And this, let me add, is no mere excuse for
+the study of alchemy, no mere afterthought put forward in justification
+of a predilection, but a plain statement of fact that renders this study
+an imperative need. There are other questions of interest--of very great
+interest--concerning alchemy: questions, for instance, as to the
+scope and validity of its doctrines; but we ought not to allow their
+fascination and promise to distract our attention from the fundamental
+problem, whose solution is essential to their elucidation.
+
+In the preceding essay on "The Quest of the Philosopher's Stone," which
+was written from the standpoint I have sketched in the foregoing words,
+my thesis was "that the alchemists constructed their chemical theories
+for the main part by means of _a priori_ reasoning, and that the
+premises from which they started were (i.) the truth of mystical
+theology, especially the doctrine of the soul's regeneration, and (ii.)
+the truth of mystical philosophy, which asserts that the objects of
+nature are symbols of spiritual verities." Now, I wish to treat my
+present thesis, which is concerned with a further source from which the
+alchemists derived certain of their views and modes of expression by
+means of _a priori_ reasoning, in connection with, and, in a sense,
+as complementary to, my former thesis. I propose in the first place,
+therefore, briefly to deal with certain possible objections to this view
+of alchemy.
+
+It has, for instance, been maintained(1) that the assimilation of
+alchemical doctrines concerning the metals to those of mysticism
+concerning the soul was an event late in the history of alchemy, and was
+undertaken in the interests of the latter doctrines. Now we know that
+certain mystics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did borrow
+from the alchemists much of their terminology with which to discourse
+of spiritual mysteries--JACOB BOEHME, HENRY KHUNRATH, and perhaps THOMAS
+VAUGHAN, may be mentioned as the most prominent cases in point. But how
+was this possible if it were not, as I have suggested, the repayment, in
+a sense, of a sort of philological debt? Transmutation was an admirable
+vehicle of language for describing the soul's regeneration, just because
+the doctrine of transmutation was the result of an attempt to apply
+the doctrine of regeneration in the sphere of metallurgy; and similar
+remarks hold of the other prominent doctrines of alchemy.
+
+
+(1) See, for example, Mr A. E. WAITE'S paper, "The Canon of Criticism
+in respect of Alchemical Literature," _The Journal of the Alchemical
+Society_, vol. i. (1913), pp. 17-30.
+
+
+The wonderful fabric of alchemical doctrine was not woven in a day, and
+as it passed from loom to loom, from Byzantium to Syria, from Syria to
+Arabia, from Arabia to Spain and Latin Europe, so its pattern changed;
+but it was always woven _a priori_, in the belief that that which is
+below is as that which is above. In its final form, I think, it is
+distinctly Christian.
+
+In the _Turba Philosophorum_, the oldest known work of Latin alchemy--a
+work which, claiming to be of Greek origin, whilst not that, is
+certainly Greek in spirit,--we frequently come across statements of a
+decidedly mystical character. "The regimen," we read, "is greater than
+is perceived by reason, except through divine inspiration."(1) Copper,
+it is insisted upon again and again, has a soul as well as a body; and
+the Art, we are told, is to be defined as "the liquefaction of the body
+and the separation of the soul from the body, seeing that copper, like
+a man, has a soul and a body."(2) Moreover, other doctrines are here
+propounded which, although not so obviously of a mystical character,
+have been traced to mystical sources in the preceding excursion. There
+is, for instance, the doctrine of purification by means of putrefaction,
+this process being likened to that of the resurrection of man. "These
+things being done," we read, "God will restore unto it (the matter
+operated on) both the soul and the spirit thereof, and the weakness
+being taken away, that matter will be made strong, and after corruption
+will be improved, even as a man becomes stronger after resurrection
+and younger than he was in this world."(1b) The three stages in the
+alchemical work--black, white, and red--corresponding to, and, as I
+maintain, based on the three stages in the life of the mystic, are also
+more than once mentioned. "Cook them (the king and his wife), therefore,
+until they become black, then white, afterwards red, and finally until a
+tingeing venom is produced."(2b)
+
+
+(1) _The Turba Philosophorum, or Assembly of the Sages_ (trans. by A. E.
+WAITE, 1896), p. 128.
+
+(2) _Ibid_., p. 193, _cf_. pp. 102 and 152.
+
+(1b) _The Turba Philosophorum, or Assembly of the Sages_ (trans. by A.
+E. WAITE), p. 101, _cf_. pp. 27 and 197.
+
+(2b) _Ibid_., p. 98, _cf_. p. 29.
+
+
+In view of these quotations, the alliance (shall I say?) between alchemy
+and mysticism cannot be asserted to be of late origin. And we shall
+find similar statements if we go further back in time. To give but one
+example: "Among the earliest authorities," writes Mr WAITE, "the _Book
+of Crates_ says that copper, like man, has a spirit, soul, and body,"
+the term "copper" being symbolical and applying to a stage in the
+alchemical work. But nowhere in the _Turba_ do we meet with the concept
+of the Philosopher's Stone as the medicine of the metals, a concept
+characteristic of Latin alchemy, and, to quote Mr WAITE again, "it does
+not appear that the conception of the Philosopher's Stone as a medicine
+of metals and of men was familiar to Greek alchemy;"(3)
+
+(3) _Ibid_., p. 71.
+
+All this seems to me very strongly to support my view of the origin of
+alchemy, which requires a specifically Christian mysticism only for this
+specific concept of the Philosopher's Stone in its fully-fledged form.
+At any rate, the development of alchemical doctrine can be seen to have
+proceeded concomitantly with the development of mystical philosophy and
+theology. Those who are not prepared here to see effect and cause may be
+asked not only to formulate some other hypothesis in explanation of
+the origin of alchemy, but also to explain this fact of concomitant
+development.
+
+From the standpoint of the transcendental theory of alchemy it has been
+urged "that the language of mystical theology seemed to be hardly so
+suitable to the exposition (as I maintain) or concealment of chemical
+theories, as the language of a definite and generally credited branch of
+science was suited to the expression of a veiled and symbolical process
+such as the regeneration of man."(1) But such a statement is only
+possible with respect to the latest days of alchemy, when there WAS a
+science of chemistry, definite and generally credited. The science of
+chemistry, it must be remembered, had no growth separate from alchemy,
+but evolved therefrom. Of the days before this evolution had been
+accomplished, it would be in closer accord with the facts to say that
+theology, including the doctrine of man's regeneration, was in the
+position of "a definite and generally credited branch of science,"
+whereas chemical phenomena were veiled in deepest mystery and tinged
+with the dangers appertaining to magic. As concerns the origin of
+alchemy, therefore, the argument as to suitability of language
+appears to support my own theory; it being open to assume that after
+formulation--that is, in alchemy's latter days--chemical nomenclature
+and theories were employed by certain writers to veil heterodox
+religious doctrine.
+
+
+(1) PHILIP S. WELLBY, M.A., in _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_,
+vol. ii. (1914), p. 104.
+
+
+Another recent writer on the subject, my friend the late Mr ABDUL-ALI,
+has remarked that "he thought that, in the mind of the alchemist at
+least, there was something more than analogy between metallic and
+psychic transformations, and that the whole subject might well be
+assigned to the doctrinal category of ineffable and transcendent
+Oneness. This Oneness comprehended all--soul and body, spirit and
+matter, mystic visions and waking life--and the sharp metaphysical
+distinction between the mental and the non-mental realms, so prominent
+during the history of philosophy, was not regarded by these early
+investigators in the sphere of nature. There was the sentiment, perhaps
+only dimly experienced, that not only the law, but the substance of
+the Universe, was one; that mind was everywhere in contact with its own
+kindred; and that metallic transmutation would, somehow, so to speak,
+signalise and seal a hidden transmutation of the soul."(1)
+
+
+(1) SIJIL ABDUL-ALI, in _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_, vol.
+ii. (1914), p. 102.
+
+
+I am to a large extent in agreement with this view. Mr ABDUL-ALI
+quarrels with the term "analogy," and, if it is held to imply any merely
+superficial resemblance, it certainly is not adequate to my own
+needs, though I know not what other word to use. SWEDENBORG'S term
+"correspondence" would be better for my purpose, as standing for an
+essential connection between spirit and matter, arising out of the
+causal relationship of the one to the other. But if SWEDENBORG believed
+that matter and spirit were most intimately related, he nevertheless had
+a very precise idea of their distinctness, which he formulated in his
+Doctrine of Degrees--a very exact metaphysical doctrine indeed. The
+alchemists, on the other hand, had no such clear ideas on the subject.
+It would be even more absurd to attribute to them a Cartesian dualism.
+To their ways of thinking, it was by no means impossible to grasp
+the spiritual essences of things by what we should now call chemical
+manipulations. For them a gas was still a ghost and air a spirit. One
+could quote pages in support of this, but I will content myself with a
+few words from the _Turba_--the antiquity of the book makes it of value,
+and anyway it is near at hand. "Permanent water," whatever that may be,
+being pounded with the body, we are told, "by the will of God it
+turns that body into spirit." And in another place we read that "the
+Philosophers have said: Except ye turn bodies into not-bodies, and
+incorporeal things into bodies, ye have not yet discovered the rule of
+operation."(1a) No one who could write like this, and believe it, could
+hold matter and spirit as altogether distinct. But it is equally obvious
+that the injunction to convert body into spirit is meaningless if spirit
+and body are held to be identical. I have been criticised for crediting
+the alchemists "with the philosophic acumen of Hegel,"(1b) but that is
+just what I think one ought to avoid doing. At the same time, however,
+it is extremely difficult to give a precise account of views which are
+very far from being precise themselves. But I think it may be said,
+without fear of error, that the alchemist who could say, "As above, so
+below," _ipso facto_ recognised both a very close connection between
+spirit and matter, and a distinction between them. Moreover, the
+division thus implied corresponded, on the whole, to that between the
+realms of the known (or what was thought to be known) and the unknown.
+The Church, whether Christian or pre-Christian, had very precise
+(comparatively speaking) doctrine concerning the soul's origin,
+duties, and destiny, backed up by tremendous authority, and speculative
+philosophy had advanced very far by the time PLATO began to concern
+himself with its problems. Nature, on the other hand, was a mysterious
+world of magical happenings, and there was nothing deserving of the
+name of natural science until alchemy was becoming decadent. It is not
+surprising, therefore, that the alchemists--these men who wished to
+probe Nature's hidden mysteries--should reason from above to
+below; indeed, unless they had started _de novo_--as babes knowing
+nothing,--there was no other course open to them. And that they did
+adopt the obvious course is all that my former thesis amounts to. In
+passing, it is interesting to note that a sixteenth-century alchemist,
+who had exceptional opportunities and leisure to study the works of the
+old masters of alchemy, seems to have come to a similar conclusion as
+to the nature of their reasoning. He writes: "The Sages... after having
+conceived in their minds a Divine idea of the relations of the whole
+universe... selected from among the rest a certain substance, from which
+they sought to elicit the elements, to separate and purify them,
+and then again put them together in a manner suggested by a keen and
+profound observation of Nature."(1c)
+
+
+(1a) _op cit_., pp,. 65 and 110, _cf_. p. 154.
+
+(1b) _Vide_ a rather frivolous review of my _Alchemy: Ancient and
+Modern_ in _The Outlook_ for 14th January 1911.
+
+(1c) EDWARD KELLY: _The Humid Path_. (See _The Alchemical Writings_ of
+EDWARD KELLY, edited by A. E. WAITE, 1893, pp. 59-60.)
+
+
+In describing the realm of spirit as _ex hypothesi_ known, that of
+Nature unknown, to the alchemists, I have made one important omission,
+and that, if I may use the name of a science to denominate a complex of
+crude facts, is the realm of physiology, which, falling within that of
+Nature, must yet be classed as _ex hypothesi_ known. But to elucidate
+this point some further considerations are necessary touching the
+general nature of knowledge. Now, facts may be roughly classed,
+according to their obviousness and frequency of occurrence, into four
+groups. There are, first of all, facts which are so obvious, to put
+it paradoxically, that they escape notice; and these facts are the
+commonest and most frequent in their occurrence. I think it is Mr
+CHESTERTON who has said that, looking at a forest one cannot see the
+trees because of the forest; and, in _The Innocence of Father Brown_, he
+has a good story ("The Invisible Man") illustrating the point, in which
+a man renders himself invisible by dressing up in a postman's uniform.
+At any rate, we know that when a phenomenon becomes persistent it tends
+to escape observation; thus, continuous motion can only be appreciated
+with reference to a stationary body, and a noise, continually repeated,
+becomes at last inaudible. The tendency of often-repeated actions to
+become habitual, and at last automatic, that is to say, carried
+out without consciousness, is a closely related phenomenon. We
+can understand, therefore, why a knowledge of the existence of the
+atmosphere, as distinct from the wind, came late in the history of
+primitive man, as, also, many other curious gaps in his knowledge. In
+the second group we may put those facts which are common, that is, of
+frequent occurrence, and are classed as obvious. Such facts are accepted
+at face-value by the primitive mind, and are used as the basis of
+explanation of facts in the two remaining groups, namely, those facts
+which, though common, are apt to escape the attention owing to their
+inconspicuousness, and those which are of infrequent occurrence. When
+the mind takes the trouble to observe a fact of the third group, or
+is confronted by one of the fourth, it feels a sense of surprise. Such
+facts wear an air of strangeness, and the mind can only rest satisfied
+when it has shown them to itself as in some way cases of the second
+group of facts, or, at least, brought them into relation therewith. That
+is what the mind--at least the primitive mind--means by "explanation".
+"It is obvious," we say, commencing an argument, thereby proclaiming
+our intention to bring that which is at first in the category of the
+not-obvious, into the category of the obvious. It remains for a more
+sceptical type of mind--a later product of human evolution--to question
+obvious facts, to explain them, either, as in science, by establishing
+deeper and more far-reaching correlations between phenomena, or in
+philosophy, by seeking for the source and purpose of such facts, or,
+better still, by both methods.
+
+Of the second class of facts--those common and obvious facts which
+the primitive mind accepts at face-value and uses as the basis of
+its explanations of such things as seem to it to stand in need of
+explanation--one could hardly find a better instance than sex. The
+universality of sex, and the intermittent character of its phenomena,
+are both responsible for this. Indeed, the attitude of mind I have
+referred to is not restricted to primitive man; how many people
+to-day, for instance, just accept sex as a fact, pleasant or unpleasant
+according to their predilections, never querying, or feeling the need
+to query, its why and wherefore? It is by no means surprising, that when
+man first felt the need of satisfying himself as to the origin of the
+universe, he should have done so by a theory founded on what he knew
+of his own generation. Indeed, as I queried on a former occasion, what
+other source of explanation was open to him? Of what other form of
+origin was he aware? Seeing Nature springing to life at the kiss of the
+sun, what more natural than that she should be regarded as the divine
+Mother, who bears fruits because impregnated by the Sun-God? It is
+not difficult to understand, therefore, why primitive man paid divine
+honours to the organs of sex in man and woman, or to such things as
+he considered symbolical of them--that is to say, to understand the
+extensiveness of those religions which are grouped under the term
+"phallicism". Nor, to my mind, is the symbol of sex a wholly inadequate
+one under which to conceive of the origin of things. And, as I have
+said before, that phallicism usually appears to have degenerated into
+immorality of a very pronounced type is to be deplored, but an immoral
+view of human relations is by no means a necessary corollary to a sexual
+theory of the universe.(1)
+
+
+(1) "The reverence as well as the worship paid to the phallus, in early
+and primitive days, had nothing in it which partook of indecency; all
+ideas connected with it were of a reverential and religious kind....
+
+"The indecent ideas attached to the representation of the phallus were,
+though it seems a paradox to say so, the results of a more advanced
+civilization verging towards its decline, as we have evidence at Rome
+and Pompeii....
+
+"To the primitive man (the reproductive force which pervades all nature)
+was the most mysterious of all manifestations. The visible physical
+powers of nature--the sun, the sky, the storm--naturally claimed his
+reverence, but to him the generative power was the most mysterious of
+all powers. In the vegetable world, the live seed placed in the ground,
+and hence germinating, sprouting up, and becoming a beautiful and
+umbrageous tree, was a mystery. In the animal world, as the cause of all
+life, by which all beings came into existence, this power was a mystery.
+In the view of primitive man generation was the action of the Deity
+itself. It was the mode in which He brought all things into existence,
+the sun, the moon, the stars, the world, man were generated by Him.
+To the productive power man was deeply indebted, for to it he owed the
+harvests and the flocks which supported his life; hence it naturally
+became an object of reverence and worship.
+
+"Primitive man wants some object to worship, for an abstract idea
+is beyond his comprehension, hence a visible representation of the
+generative Deity was made, with the organs contributing to generation
+most prominent, and hence the organ itself became a symbol of the
+power."--H, M. WESTROPP: _Primitive Symbolism as Illustrated in Phallic
+Worship, or the Reproductive Principle_ (1885), pp. 47, 48, and 57. {End
+of long footnote}
+
+
+The Aruntas of Australia, I believe, when discovered by Europeans, had
+not yet observed the connection between sexual intercourse and birth.
+They believed that conception was occasioned by the woman passing near
+a _churinga_--a peculiarly shaped piece of wood or stone, in which a
+spirit-child was concealed, which entered into her. But archaeological
+research having established the fact that phallicism has, at one time
+or another, been common to nearly all races, it seems probable that
+the Arunta tribe represents a deviation from the normal line of mental
+evolution. At any rate, an isolated phenomenon, such as this, cannot be
+held to controvert the view that regards phallicism as in this normal
+line. Nor was the attitude of mind that not only accepts sex at
+face-value as an obvious fact, but uses the concept of it to explain
+other facts, a merely transitory one. We may, indeed, not difficultly
+trace it throughout the history of alchemy, giving rise to what I may
+term "The Phallic Element in Alchemical Doctrine".
+
+In aiming to establish this, I may be thought to be endeavouring to
+establish a counter-thesis to that of the preceding essay on alchemy,
+but, in virtue of the alchemists' belief in the mystical unity of all
+things, in the analogical or correspondential relationship of all parts
+of the universe to each other, the mystical and the phallic views of
+the origin of alchemy are complementary, not antagonistic. Indeed, the
+assumption that the metals are the symbols of man almost necessitates
+the working out of physiological as well as mystical analogies, and
+these two series of analogies are themselves connected, because the
+principle "As above, so below" was held to be true of man himself. We
+might, therefore, expect to find a more or less complete harmony between
+the two series of symbols, though, as a matter of fact, contradictions
+will be encountered when we come to consider points of detail. The
+undoubtable antiquity of the phallic element in alchemical doctrine
+precludes the idea that this element was an adventitious one, that
+it was in any sense an afterthought; notwithstanding, however, the
+evidence, as will, I hope, become apparent as we proceed, indicates that
+mystical ideas played a much more fundamental part in the genesis of
+alchemical doctrine than purely phallic ones--mystical interpretations
+fit alchemical processes and theories far better than do sexual
+interpretations; in fact, sex has to be interpreted somewhat mystically
+in order to work out the analogies fully and satisfactorily.
+
+As concerns Greek alchemy, I shall content myself with a passage from
+a work _On the Sacred Art_, attributed to OLYMPIODORUS (sixth century
+A.D.), followed by some quotations from and references to the _Turba_.
+In the former work it is stated on the authority of HORUS that "The
+proper end of the whole art is to obtain the semen of the male secretly,
+seeing that all things are male and female. Hence (we read further)
+Horus says in a certain place: Join the male and the female, and you
+will find that which is sought; as a fact, without this process of
+re-union, nothing can succeed, for Nature charms Nature," _etc_. The
+_Turba_ insistently commands those who would succeed in the Art, to
+conjoin the male with the female,(1) and, in one place, the male is said
+to be lead and the female orpiment.(2) We also find the alchemical work
+symbolised by the growth of the embryo in the womb. "Know," we are
+told, "... that out of the elect things nothing becomes useful without
+conjunction and regimen, because sperma is generated out of blood and
+desire. For the man mingling with the woman, the sperm is nourished by
+the humour of the womb, and by the moistening blood, and by heat,
+and when forty nights have elapsed the sperm is formed.... God has
+constituted that heat and blood for the nourishment of the sperm until
+the foetus is brought forth. So long as it is little, it is nourished
+with milk, and in proportion as the vital heat is maintained, the bones
+are strengthened. Thus it behoves you also to act in this Art."(3)
+
+
+(1) _Vide_ pp. 60 92, 96 97, 134, 135 and elsewhere in Mr WAITE'S
+translation.
+
+(2) _Ibid_., p. 57
+
+(3) _Ibid_., pp. 179-181 (second recension); _cf_. pp. 103-104.
+
+
+The use of the mystical symbols of death (putrefaction) and resurrection
+or rebirth to represent the consummation of the alchemical work, and
+that of the phallic symbols of the conjunction of the sexes and the
+development of the foetus, both of which we have found in the _Turba_,
+are current throughout the course of Latin alchemy. In _The Chymical
+Marriage of Christian Rosencreutz_, that extraordinary document of what
+is called "Rosicrucianism"--a symbolic romance of considerable ability,
+whoever its author was,(1)--an attempt is made to weld the two sets of
+symbols--the one of marriage, the other of death and resurrection unto
+glory--into one allegorical narrative; and it is to this fusion of
+seemingly disparate concepts that much of its fantasticality is due. Yet
+the concepts are not really disparate; for not only is the second
+birth like unto the first, and not only is the resurrection unto glory
+described as the Bridal Feast of the Lamb, but marriage is, in a manner,
+a form of death and rebirth. To justify this in a crude sense, I might
+say that, from the male standpoint at least, it is a giving of the
+life-substance to the beloved that life may be born anew and increase.
+But in a deeper sense it is, or rather should be, as an ideal, a mutual
+sacrifice of self for each other's good--a death of the self that it may
+arise with an enriched personality.
+
+
+(1) See Mr WAITE'S _The Real History of the Rosicrucians_ (1887) for
+translation and discussion as to origin and significance. The work was
+first published (in German) at Strassburg in 1616.
+
+
+It is when we come to an examination of the ideas at the root of, and
+associated with, the alchemical concept of "principles," that we find
+some difficulty in harmonising the two series of symbols--the mystical
+and the phallic. In one place in the _Turba_ we are directed "to take
+quicksilver, in which is the male potency or strength";(2a) and this
+concept of mercury as male is quite in accord with the mystical origin
+I have assigned in the preceding excursion to the doctrine of the
+alchemical principles. I have shown, I think, that salt, sulphur, and
+mercury are the analogues _ex hypothesi_ of the body, soul (affection
+and volition), and spirit (intelligence or understanding) in man; and
+the affections are invariably regarded as especially feminine, the
+understanding as especially masculine. But it seems that the more common
+opinion, amongst Latin alchemists at any rate, was that sulphur was
+male and mercury female. Writes BERNARD of TREVISAN: "For the Matter
+suffereth, and the Form acteth assimulating the Matter to itself, and
+according to this manner the Matter naturally thirsteth after a Form,
+as a Woman desireth an Husband, and a Vile thing a precious one, and
+an impure a pure one, so also _Argent-vive_ coveteth a Sulphur, as that
+which should make perfect which is imperfect: So also a Body
+freely desireth a Spirit, whereby it may at length arrive at its
+perfection."(1b) At the same time, however, Mercury was regarded as
+containing in itself both male and female potencies--it was the product
+of male and female, and, thus, the seed of all the metals. "Nothing in
+the World can be generated," to repeat a quotation from BERNARD,
+without these two Substances, to wit a Male and Female: From whence it
+appeareth, that although these two substances are not of one and the
+same species, yet one Stone doth thence arise, and although they appear
+and are said to be two Substances, yet in truth it is but one, to wit,
+_Argent-vive_. But of this _Argent-vive_ a certain part is fixed and
+digested, Masculine, hot, dry and secretly informing. But the other,
+which is the Female, is volatile, crude, cold, and moyst."(2b) EDWARD
+KELLY (1555-1595), who is valuable because he summarises authoritative
+opinion, says somewhat the same thing, though in clearer words: "The
+active elements... these are water and fire... may be called male,
+while the passive elements... earth and air... represent the female
+principle.... Only two elements, water and earth, are visible, and earth
+is called the hiding-place of fire, water the abode of air. In these two
+elements we have the broad law of limitation which divides the male from
+the female. ... The first matter of minerals is a kind of viscous water,
+mingled with pure and impure earth... Of this viscous water and fusible
+earth, or sulphur, is composed that which is called quicksilver, the
+first matter of the metals. Metals are nothing but Mercury digested
+by different degrees of heat."(1c) There is one difference, however,
+between these two writers, inasmuch as BERNARD says that "the Male and
+Female abide together in closed Natures; the Female truly as it were
+Earth and Water, the Male as Air and Fire." Mercury for him arises
+from the two former elements, sulphur from the two latter.(2c) And the
+difference is important as showing beyond question the _a priori_ nature
+of alchemical reasoning. The idea at the back of the alchemists' minds
+was undoubtedly that of the ardour of the male in the act of coition and
+the alleged, or perhaps I should say apparent, passivity of the female.
+Consequently, sulphur, the fiery principle of combustion, and such
+elements as were reckoned to be active, were denominated "male," whilst
+mercury, the principle acted on by sulphur, and such elements as were
+reckoned to be passive, were denominated "female". As to the question
+of origin, I do not think that the palm can be denied to the mystical
+as distinguished from the phallic theory. And in its final form
+the doctrine of principles is incapable of a sexual interpretation.
+Mystically understood, man is capable of analysis into two
+principles--since "body" may be neglected as unimportant (a false view,
+I think, by the way) or "soul" and "spirit" may be united under one
+head--OR into three; whereas the postulation of THREE principles on
+a sexual basis is impossible. JOANNES ISAACUS HOLLANDUS (fifteenth
+century) is the earliest author in whose works I have observed explicit
+mention of THREE principles, though he refers to them in a manner
+seeming to indicate that the doctrine was no new one in his day. I have
+only read one little tract of his; there is nothing sexual in it, and
+the author's mental character may be judged from his remarks concerning
+"the three flying spirits"--taste, smell, and colour. These, he writes,
+"are the life, soule, and quintessence of every thing, neither can these
+three spirits be one without the other, as the Father, the Son, and
+the Holy Ghost are one, yet three Persons, and one is not without the
+other."(1d)
+
+
+(2a) Mr WAITE's translation, p. 79.
+
+(1b) BERNARD, Earl of TREVISAN: _A Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone_,
+1683. (See _Collectanea Chymica: A Collection of Ten Several Treatises
+in Chymistry_, 1684, p. 92.)
+
+(2b) _Ibid_., p. 91.
+
+(1c) EDWARD KELLY: _The Stone of the Philosophers_. (See _The Alchemical
+Writings of_ EDWARD KELLY, edited by A. E. WAITE, 1893, pp. 9 and 11 to
+13.)
+
+(2c) _The Answer of_ BERNARDUS TREVISANUS, _to the Epistle of Thomas
+of Bononira, Physician to K. Charles the 8th_. (See JOHN FREDERICK
+HOUPREGHT: _Aurifontina Chymica_, 1680, p. 208.)
+
+(1d) _One Hundred and Fourteen Experiments and Cures of the Famous
+Physitian_ THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS. _Whereunto is added... certain
+Secrets of_ ISAAC HOLLANDUS, _concerning the Vegetall and Animall Work_
+(1652), pp. 29 and 30.
+
+When the alchemists described an element or principle as male or female,
+they meant what they said, as I have already intimated, to the extent,
+at least, of firmly believing that seed was produced by the two metallic
+sexes. By their union metals were thought to be produced in the womb of
+the earth; and mines were shut in order that by the birth and growth of
+new metal the impoverished veins might be replenished. In this way, too,
+was the _magnum opus_, the generation of the Philosopher's Stone--in
+species gold, but purer than the purest--to be accomplished. To conjoin
+that which Nature supplied, to foster the growth and development of that
+which was thereby produced; such was the task of the alchemist. "For
+there are Vegetables," says BERNARD of TREVISAN in his _Answer to Thomas
+of Bononia_, "but Sensitives more especially, which for the most part
+beget their like, by the Seeds of the Male and Female for the most
+part concurring and conmixt by copulation; which work of Nature the
+Philosophick Art imitates in the generation of gold."(1)
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., p. 216.
+
+
+Mercury, as I have said, was commonly regarded as the seed of the
+metals, or as especially the female seed, there being two seeds, one the
+male, according to BERNARD, more ripe, perfect and active, the other the
+female. "more immature and in a sort passive(2) "... our Philosophick
+Art," he says in another place, following a description of the
+generation of man, "... is like this procreation of Man; for as in
+_Mercury_ (of which Gold is by Nature generated in Mineral Vessels) a
+natural conjunction
+
+
+(2) _Ibid_., p. 217; _cf_. p. 236
+
+is made of both the Seeds, Male and Female, so by our artifice, an
+artificial and like conjunction is made of Agents and Patients."(1) "All
+teaching," says KELLY, "that changes Mercury is false and vain, for this
+is the original sperm of metals, and its moisture must not be dried
+up, for otherwise it will not dissolve,"(2) and quotes ARNOLD (_ob. c_.
+1310) to a similar effect.(3) One wonders how far the fact that human
+and animal seed is fluid influenced the alchemists in their choice of
+mercury, the only metal liquid at ordinary temperatures, as the seed of
+the metals. There are, indeed, other good reasons for this choice, but
+that this idea played some part in it, and, at least, was present at the
+back of the alchemists' minds, I have little doubt.
+
+The most philosophic account of metallic seed is that, perhaps, of the
+mysterious adept "EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES," who distinguishes between
+it and mercury in a rather interesting manner. He writes: "Seed is the
+means of generic propagation given to all perfect things here below;
+it is the perfection of each body; and anybody that has no seed must be
+regarded as imperfect. Hence there can be no doubt that there is such
+a thing as metallic seed.... All metallic seed is the seed of gold; for
+gold is the intention of Nature in regard to all metals. If the base
+metals are not gold, it is only through some accidental hindrance; they
+are-all potentially gold. But, of course, this seed of gold is most
+easily obtainable from well-matured gold itself.... Remember that I am
+now speaking of metallic seed, and not of Mercury.... The seed of metals
+is hidden out of sight still more completely than that of animals;
+nevertheless, it is within the compass of our Art to extract it. The
+seed of animals and vegetables is something separate, and may be cut
+out, or otherwise separately exhibited; but metallic seed is diffused
+throughout the metal, and contained in all its smallest parts; neither
+can it be discerned from its body: its extraction is therefore a task
+which may well tax the ingenuity of the most experienced philosopher;
+the virtues of the whole metal have to be intensified, so as to convert
+it into the sperm of our seed, which, by circulation, receives the
+virtues of superiors and inferiors, then next becomes wholly form, or
+heavenly virtue, which can communicate this to others related to it
+by homogeneity of matter. ... The place in which the seed resides
+is--approximately speaking--water; for, to speak properly and exactly,
+the seed is the smallest part of the metal, and is invisible; but as
+this invisible presence is diffused throughout the water of its kind,
+and exerts its virtue therein, nothing being visible to the eye but
+water, we are left to conclude from rational induction that this inward
+agent (which is, properly speaking, the seed) is really there. Hence we
+call the whole of the water seed, just as we call the whole of the
+grain seed, though the germ of life is only a smallest particle of the
+grain."(1b)
+
+
+(1) _The Answer of_ BERNARDUS TREVISANUS, _etc_. _Op. cit_. p. 218.
+
+(2) _op. cit_., p. 22.
+
+(3) _Ibid_., p. 16.
+
+(1b) EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES: _The Metamorphosis of Metals_. (See _The
+Hermetic Museum_, vol. ii. pp. 238-240.)
+
+
+To say that "PHILALETHES'" seed resembles the modern electron is,
+perhaps, to draw a rather fanciful analogy, since the electron is a
+very precise idea, the result of the mathematical interpretation of the
+results of exact experimentation. But though it would be absurd to speak
+of this concept of the one seed of all metals as an anticipation of the
+electron, to apply the expression "metallic seed" to the electron, now
+that the concept of it has been reached, does not seem so absurd.
+
+According to "PHILALETHES," the extraction of the seed is a very
+difficult process, accomplishable, however, by the aid of mercury--the
+water homogeneous therewith. Mercury, again, is the form of the seed
+thereby obtained. He writes: "When the sperm hidden in the body of
+gold is brought out by means of our Art, it appears under the form
+of Mercury, whence it is exalted into the quintessence which is first
+white, and then, by means of continuous coction, becomes red." And
+again: "There is a womb into which the gold (if placed therein) will, of
+its own accord, emit its seed, until it is debilitated and dies, and
+by its death is renewed into a most glorious King, who thenceforward
+receives power to deliver all his brethren from the fear of death."(1)
+
+
+(1) EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES: _The Metamorphosis of Metals_. (See _The
+Hermetic Museum_, vol. ii. pp. 241 and 244.)
+
+
+The fifteenth-century alchemist THOMAS NORTON was peculiar in his views,
+inasmuch as he denied that metals have seed. He writes: "Nature never
+multiplies anything, except in either one or the other of these two
+ways: either by decay, which we call putrefaction, or, in the case of
+animate creatures, by propagation. In the case of metals there can be no
+propagation, though our Stone exhibits something like it.... Nothing
+can be multiplied by inward action unless it belong to the vegetable
+kingdom, or the family of sensitive creatures. But the metals are
+elementary objects, and possess neither seed nor sensation."(1)
+
+
+(1) THOMAS NORTON: _The Ordinal of Alchemy_. (See _The Hermetic Museum_,
+vol. ii. pp. 15 and 16.)
+
+
+His theory of the origin of the metals is astral rather than phallic.
+"The only efficient cause of metals," he says, "is the mineral virtue,
+which is not found in every kind of earth, but only in certain places
+and chosen mines, into which the celestial sphere pours its rays in a
+straight direction year by year, and according to the arrangement of
+the metallic substance in these places, this or that metal is gradually
+formed."(2)
+
+
+(2) _Ibid_., pp. 15 and 16.
+
+
+In view of the astrological symbolism of these metals, that gold should
+be masculine, silver feminine, does not surprise us, because the idea
+of the masculinity of the sun and the femininity of the moon is a bit
+of phallicism that still remains with us. It was by the marriage of gold
+and silver that very many alchemists considered that the _magnum opus_
+was to be achieved. Writes BERNARD of TREVISAN: "The subject of this
+admired Science (alchemy) is _Sol_ and _Luna_, or rather Male and
+Female, the Male is hot and dry, the Female cold and moyst." The aim of
+the work, he tells us, is the extraction of the spirit of gold, which
+alone can enter into bodies and tinge them. Both _Sol_ and _Luna_ are
+absolutely necessary, and "whoever...shall think that a Tincture can be
+made without these two Bodyes,... he proceedeth to the Practice like one
+that is blind."(1)
+
+
+(1) BERNARD, Earl of TREVISAN: _A Treatise, etc., Op. cit_. pp. 83 and
+87.
+
+
+KELLY has teaching to the same effect, the Mercury of the Philosophers
+being for him the menstruum or medium wherein the copulation of Gold
+with Silver is to be accomplished. Mercury, in fact, seems to have been
+everything and to have been capable of effecting everything in the eyes
+of the alchemists. Concerning gold and silver, KELLY writes: "Only one
+metal, viz. gold, is absolutely perfect and mature. Hence it is called
+the perfect male body... Silver is less bounded by aqueous immaturity
+than the rest of the metals, though it may indeed be regarded as to
+a certain extent impure, still its water is already covered with the
+congealing vesture of its earth, and it thus tends to perfection. This
+condition is the reason why silver is everywhere called by the Sages
+the perfect female body." And later he writes: "In short, our whole
+Magistery consists in the union of the male and female, or active and
+passive, elements through the mediation of our metallic water and a
+proper degree of heat. Now, the male and female are two metallic bodies,
+and this I will again prove by irrefragable quotations from the Sages."
+Some of the quotations will be given: "Avicenna: 'Purify husband and
+wife separately, in order that they may unite more intimately; for if
+you do not purify them, they cannot love each other. By conjunction
+of the two natures you get a clear and lucid nature, which, when it
+ascends, becomes bright and serviceable.'... Senior: 'I, the Sun, am
+hot and dry, and thou, the Moon, are cold and moist; when we are wedded
+together in a closed chamber, I will gently steal away thy soul.'...
+Rosinus: 'When the Sun, my brother, for the love of me (silver) pours
+his sperm (_i.e_. his solar fatness) into the chamber (_i.e_. my Lunar
+body), namely, when we become one in a strong and complete complexion
+and union, the child of our wedded love will be born.... 'Rosary': 'The
+ferment of the Sun is the sperm of the man, the ferment of the Moon,
+the sperm of the woman. Of both we get a chaste union and a true
+generation.'... Aristotle: 'Take your beloved son, and wed him to his
+sister, his white sister, in equal marriage, and give them the cup of
+love, for it is a food which prompts to union.' "(1a) KELLY, of course,
+accepts the traditional authorship of the works from which he quotes,
+though in many cases such authorship is doubtful, to say the least. The
+alchemical works ascribed to ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.), for instance, are
+beyond question forgeries. Indeed, the symbol of a union between brother
+and sister, here quoted, could hardly be held as acceptable to Greek
+thought, to which incest was the most abominable and unforgiveable sin.
+It seems likelier that it originated with the Egyptians, to whom such
+unions were tolerable in fact. The symbol is often met with in Latin
+alchemy. MICHAEL MAIER (1568-1622) also says: "_conjunge fratrem cum
+sorore et propina illis poculum amoris_," the words forming a motto to
+a picture of a man and woman clasped in each other's arms, to whom an
+older man offers a goblet. This symbolic picture occurs in his _Atalanta
+Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata nova de Secretis Naturae Chymica, etc_.
+(Oppenheim, 1617). This work is an exceedingly curious one. It consists
+of a number of carefully executed pictures, each accompanied by a motto,
+a verse of poetry set to music, with a prose text. Many of the
+pictures are phallic in conception, and practically all of them are
+anthropomorphic. Not only the primary function of sex, but especially
+its secondary one of lactation, is made use of. The most curious of
+these emblematic pictures, perhaps, is one symbolising the conjunction
+of gold and silver. It shows on the right a man and woman, representing
+the sun and moon, in the act of coition, standing up to the thighs in a
+lake. On the left, on a hill above the lake, a woman (with the moon as
+halo) gives birth to a child. A boy is coming out of the water towards
+her. The verse informs us that: "The bath glows red at the conception
+of the boy, the air at his birth." We learn also that "there is a stone,
+and yet there is not, which is the noble gift of God. If God grants it,
+fortunate will be he who shall receive it."(1)
+
+
+(1a) EDWARD KELLY: _The Stone of the Philosophers, Op. cit_., pp 13, 14,
+33, 35, 36, 38-40, and 47.
+
+(1) _Op. Cit_., p. 145
+
+
+Concerning the nature of gold, there is a discussion in _The Answer of_
+BERNARDUS TREVISANUS _to the Epistle of Thomas of Bononia_, with which
+I shall close my consideration of the present aspect of the subject.
+Its interest for us lies in the arguments which are used and held to be
+valid. "Besides, you say that Gold, as most think, is nothing else than
+_Quick-silver_ coagulated naturally by the force of _Sulphur_; yet so,
+that nothing of the _Sulphur_ which generated the Gold, doth remain
+in the substance of the Gold: as in an humane _Embryo_, when it is
+conceived in the Womb, there remains nothing of the Father's Seed,
+according to _Aristotle's_ opinion, but the Seed of the Man doth only
+coagulate the _menstrual_ blood of the Woman: in the same manner you
+say, that after _Quick-silver_ is so coagulated, the form of Gold is
+perfected in it, by virtue of the Heavenly Bodies, and especially of the
+Sun."(1) BERNARD, however, decides against this view, holding that gold
+contains both mercury and sulphur, for "we must not imagine, according
+to their mistake who say, that the Male Agent himself approaches the
+Female in the coagulation, and departs afterwards; because, as is known
+in every generation, the conception is active and passive: Both the
+active and the passive, that is, all the four Elements, must always
+abide together, otherwise there would be no mixture, and the hope of
+generating an off-spring would be extinguished."(2)
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., pp. 206 and 207.
+
+(2) _Ibid_., pp. 212 and 213.
+
+
+In conclusion, I wish to say something of the role of sex in spiritual
+alchemy. But in doing this I am venturing outside the original field of
+inquiry of this essay and making a by no means necessary addition to my
+thesis; and I am anxious that what follows should be understood as such,
+so that no confusion as to the issues may arise.
+
+In the great alchemical collection of J. J. MANGET, there is a curious
+work (originally published in 1677), entitled _Mutus Liber_, which
+consists entirely of plates, without letterpress. Its interest for us in
+our present concern is that the alchemist, from the commencement of
+the work until its achievement, is shown working in conjunction with a
+woman. We are reminded of NICOLAS FLAMEL (1330-1418), who is reputed to
+have achieved the _magnum opus_ together with his wife PERNELLE, as well
+as of the many other women workers in the Art of whom we read. It would
+be of interest in this connection to know exactly what association of
+ideas was present in the mind of MICHAEL MAIER when he commanded the
+alchemist: "Perform a work of women on the molten white lead, that is,
+cook,"(1a) and illustrated his behest with a picture of a pregnant woman
+watching a fire over which is suspended a cauldron and on which are
+three jars. There is a cat in the background, and a tub containing two
+fish in the foreground, the whole forming a very curious collection of
+emblems. Mr WAITE, who has dealt with some of these matters, luminously,
+though briefly, says: "The evidences with which we have been dealing
+concern solely the physical work of alchemy and there is nothing of its
+mystical aspects. The _Mutus Liber_ is undoubtedly on the literal side
+of metallic transmutation; the memorials of Nicholas Flamel are also
+on that side," _etc_. He adds, however, that "It is on record that an
+unknown master testified to his possession of the mystery, but he added
+that he had not proceeded to the work because he had failed to meet
+with an elect woman who was necessary thereto"; and proceeds to say: "I
+suppose that the statement will awaken in most minds only a vague sense
+of wonder, and I can merely indicate in a few general words that which
+I see behind it. Those Hermetic texts which bear a spiritual
+interpretation and are as if a record of spiritual experience present,
+like the literature of physical alchemy, the following aspects of
+symbolism: (_a_) the marriage of sun and moon; (_b_) of a mystical king
+and queen; (_c_) an union between natures which are one at the root but
+diverse in manifestation; (_d_) a transmutation which follows this union
+and an abiding glory therein. It is ever a conjunction between male and
+female in a mystical sense; it is ever the bringing together by art
+of things separated by an imperfect order of things; it is ever the
+perfection of natures by means of this conjunction. But if the mystical
+work of alchemy is an inward work in consciousness, then the union
+between male and female is an union in consciousness; and if we remember
+the traditions of a state when male and female had not as yet been
+divided, it may dawn upon us that the higher alchemy was a practice for
+the return into this ineffable mode of being. The traditional doctrine
+is set forth in the _Zohar_ and it is found in writers like Jacob
+Boehme; it is intimated in the early chapters of Genesis and, according
+to an apocryphal saying of Christ, the kingdom of heaven will be
+manifested when two shall be as one, or when that state has been once
+again attained. In the light of this construction we can understand why
+the mystical adept went in search of a wise woman with whom the work
+could be performed; but few there be that find her, and he confessed to
+his own failure. The part of woman in the physical practice of alchemy
+is like a reflection at a distance of this more exalted process, and
+there is evidence that those who worked in metals and sought for a
+material elixir knew that there were other and greater aspects of the
+Hermetic mystery."(1b)
+
+
+(1a) MICHAEL MATER: _Atalanta Fugiens_ (1617), p. 97.
+
+(1b) A E. WAITE: "Woman and the Hermetic Mystery," _The Occult Review_
+(June 1912), vol. xv. pp. 325 and 326.
+
+
+So far Mr WAITE, whose impressive words I have quoted at some length;
+and he has given us a fuller account of the theory as found in the
+_Zohar_ in his valuable work on _The Secret Doctrine in Israel_ (1913).
+The _Zohar_ regards marriage and the performance of the sexual function
+in marriage as of supreme importance, and this not merely because
+marriage symbolises a divine union, unless that expression is held to
+include all that logically follows from the fact, but because, as it
+seems, the sexual act in marriage may, in fact, become a ritual of
+transcendental magic.
+
+At least three varieties of opinion can be traced from the view of sex
+we have under consideration, as to the nature of the perfect man, and
+hence of the most adequate symbol for transmutation. According to one,
+and this appears to have been JACOB BOEHME'S view, the perfect man is
+conceived of as non-sexual, the male and female elements united in him
+having, as it were, neutralised each other. According to another, he is
+pictured as a hermaphroditic being, a concept we frequently come across
+in alchemical literature. It plays a prominent part in MAIER'S book
+_Atalanta Fugiens_, to which reference has already been made. MAIER'S
+hermaphrodite has two heads, one male, one female, but only one body,
+one pair of arms, and one pair of legs. The two sexual organs, which
+are placed side by side, are delineated in the illustrations with
+considerable care, showing the importance MAIER attached to the idea.
+This concept seems to me not only crude, but unnatural and repellent.
+But it may be said of both the opinions I have mentioned, that they
+confuse between union and identity. It is the old mistake, with respect
+to a lesser goal, of those who hope for absorption in the Divine Nature
+and consequent loss of personality. It seems to be forgotten that
+a certain degree of distinction is necessary to the joy of union.
+"Distinction" and "separation," it should be remembered, have different
+connotations. If the supreme joy is that of self-sacrifice, then the
+self must be such that it can be continually sacrificed, else the joy
+is a purely transitory one, or rather, is destroyed at the moment of
+its consummation. Hence, though sacrificed, the self must still remain
+itself.
+
+The third view of perfection, to which these remarks naturally lead,
+is that which sees it typified in marriage. The mystic-philosopher
+SWEDENBORG has some exceedingly suggestive things to say on the matter
+in his extraordinary work on _Conjugial Love_, which, curiously enough,
+seem largely to have escaped the notice of students of these high
+mysteries.
+
+SWEDENBORG'S heaven is a sexual heaven, because for him sex is primarily
+a spiritual fact, and only secondarily, and because of what it is
+primarily, a physical fact; and salvation is hardly possible, according
+to him, apart from a genuine marriage (whether achieved here or
+hereafter). Man and woman are considered as complementary beings, and
+it is only through the union of one man with one woman that the perfect
+angel results. The altruistic tendency of such a theory as contrasted
+with the egotism of one in which perfection is regarded as obtainable
+by each personality of itself alone, is a point worth emphasising. As
+to the nature of this union, it is, to use SWEDENBORG'S own terms, a
+conjunction of the will of the wife with the understanding of the man,
+and reciprocally of the understanding of the man with the will of the
+wife. It is thus a manifestation of that fundamental marriage between
+the good and the true which is at the root of all existence; and it is
+because of this fundamental marriage that all men and women are born
+into the desire to complete themselves by conjunction. The symbol
+of sexual intercourse is a legitimate one to use in speaking of this
+heavenly union; indeed, we may describe the highest bliss attainable
+by the soul, or conceivable by the mind, as a spiritual orgasm. Into
+conjugal love "are collected," says SWEDENBORG, "all the blessednesses,
+blissfulnesses, delightsomenesses, pleasantnesses, and pleasures, which
+could possibly be conferred upon man by the Lord the Creator."(1) In
+another place he writes: "Married partners (in heaven) enjoy similar
+intercourse with each other as in the world, but more delightful and
+blessed; yet without prolification, for which, or in place of which,
+they have spiritual prolification, which is that of love and wisdom."
+"The reason," he adds, "why the intercourse then is more delightful and
+blessed is, that when conjugial love becomes of the spirit, it becomes
+more interior and pure, and consequently more perceptible; and every
+delightsomeness grows according to the perception, and grows even until
+its blessedness is discernible in its delightsomeness."(1b) Such love,
+however, he says, is rarely to be found on earth.
+
+
+(1) EMANUEL SWEDENBORG: _The Delights of Wisdom relating to Conjugial
+Love_ (trans. by A. H. SEARLE, 1891), SE 68.
+
+(1b) EMANUEL SWEDENBORG: _Op. cit_., SE 51.
+
+
+A learned Japanese speaks with approval of Idealism as a "dream where
+sensuousness and spirituality find themselves to be blood brothers or
+sisters."(2) It is a statement which involves either the grossest
+and most dangerous error, or the profoundest truth, according to the
+understanding of it. Woman is a road whereby man travels either to God
+or the devil. The problem of sex is a far deeper problem than appears at
+first sight, involving mysteries both the direst and most holy. It is
+by no means a fantastic hypothesis that the inmost mystery of what a
+certain school of mystics calls "the Secret Tradition" was a sexual
+one. At any rate, the fact that some of those, at least, to whom alchemy
+connoted a mystical process, were alive to the profound spiritual
+significance of sex, renders of double interest what they have to
+intimate of the achievement of the _Magnum Opus_ in man.
+
+
+(2) YONE NOGUCHI: _The Spirit of Japanese Art_ (1915), p. 37.
+
+
+
+
+XI. ROGER BACON: AN APPRECIATION
+
+IT has been said that "a prophet is not without honour, save in his own
+country." Thereto might be added, "and in his own time"; for, whilst
+there is continuity in time, there is also evolution, and England of
+to-day, for instance, is not the same country as England of the Middle
+Ages. In his own day ROGER BACON was accounted a magician, whose
+heretical views called for suppression by the Church. And for many a
+long day afterwards was he mainly remembered as a co-worker in the black
+art with Friar BUNGAY, who together with him constructed, by the aid of
+the devil and diabolical rites, a brazen head which should possess the
+power of speech--the experiment only failing through the negligence of
+an assistant.(1) Such was ROGER BACON in the memory of the later Middle
+Ages and many succeeding years; he was the typical alchemist, where that
+term carries with it the depth of disrepute, though indeed alchemy was
+for him but one, and that not the greatest, of many interests.
+
+
+(1) The story, of course, is entirely fictitious. For further
+particulars see Sir J. E. SANDYS' essay on "Roger Bacon in English
+Literature," in _Roger Bacon Essays_ (1914), referred to below.
+
+
+Ilchester, in Somerset, claims the honour of being the place of ROGER
+BACON'S birth, which interesting and important event occurred, probably,
+in 1214. Young BACON studied theology, philosophy, and what then passed
+under the name of "science," first at Oxford, then the centre of liberal
+thought, and afterwards at Paris, in the rigid orthodoxy of whose
+professors he found more to criticise than to admire. Whilst at Oxford
+he joined the Franciscan Order, and at Paris he is said, though this
+is probably an error, to have graduated as Doctor of Theology. During
+1250-1256 we find him back in England, no doubt engaged in study and
+teaching. About the latter year, however, he is said to have been
+banished--on a charge of holding heterodox views and indulging in
+magical practices--to Paris, where he was kept in close confinement and
+forbidden to write. Mr LITTLE,(1) however, believes this to be an error,
+based on a misreading of a passage in one of BACON'S works, and that
+ROGER was not imprisoned, but stricken with sickness. At any rate it is
+not improbable that some restrictions as to his writing were placed on
+him by his superiors of the Franciscan Order. In 1266 BACON received a
+letter from Pope CLEMENT asking him to send His Holiness his works in
+writing without delay. This letter came as a most pleasant surprise to
+BACON; but he had nothing of importance written, and in great haste
+and excitement, therefore, he composed three works explicating his
+philosophy, the _Opus Majus_, the _Opus Minus_, and the _Opus Tertium_,
+which were completed and dispatched to the Pope by the end of the
+following year. This, as Mr ROWBOTTOM remarks, is "surely one of the
+literary feats of history, perhaps only surpassed by Swedenborg when he
+wrote six theological and philosophical treatises in one year."(1b)
+
+
+(1) See his contribution, "On Roger Bacon's Life and Works," to _Roger
+Bacon Essays_.
+
+(1b) B. R. ROWBOTTOM: "Roger Bacon," _The Journal of the Alchemical
+Society_, vol. ii. (1914), p. 77.
+
+
+
+The works appear to have been well received. We next find BACON at
+Oxford writing his _Compendium Studii Philosophiae_, in which work he
+indulged in some by no means unjust criticisms of the clergy, for which
+he fell under the condemnation of his order, and was imprisoned in
+1277 on a charge of teaching "suspected novelties". In those days any
+knowledge of natural phenomena beyond that of the quasi-science of
+the times was regarded as magic, and no doubt some of ROGER BACON'S
+"suspected novelties" were of this nature; his recognition of the
+value of the writings of non-Christian moralists was, no doubt, another
+"suspected novelty". Appeals for his release directed to the Pope
+proved fruitless, being frustrated by JEROME D'ASCOLI, General of the
+Franciscan Order, who shortly afterwards succeeded to the Holy See under
+the title of NICHOLAS IV. The latter died in 1292, whereupon RAYMOND
+GAUFREDI, who had been elected General of the Franciscan Order, and
+who, it is thought, was well disposed towards BACON, because of certain
+alchemical secrets the latter had revealed to him, ordered his release.
+BACON returned to Oxford, where he wrote his last work, the _Compendium
+Studii Theologiae_. He died either in this year or in 1294.(1)
+
+
+(1) For further details concerning BACON'S life, EMILE CHARLES: _Roger
+Bacon, sa Vie, ses Ouvrages, ses Doctrines_ (1861); J. H. BRIDGES: _The
+Life & Work of Roger Bacon, an Introduction to the Opus Majus_ (edited
+by H. G. JONES, 1914); and Mr A. G. LITTLE'S essay in _Roger Bacon
+Essays_, may be consulted.
+
+
+It was not until the publication by Dr SAMUEL JEBB, in 1733, of the
+greater part of BACON'S _Opus Majus_, nearly four and a half centuries
+after his death, that anything like his rightful position in the history
+of philosophy began to be assigned to him. But let his spirit be no
+longer troubled, if it were ever troubled by neglect or slander, for the
+world, and first and foremost his own country, has paid him due honour.
+His septcentenary was duly celebrated in 1914 at his _alma mater_,
+Oxford, his statue has there been raised as a memorial to his greatness,
+and savants have meted out praise to him in no grudging tones.(2)
+Indeed, a voice has here and there been heard depreciating his
+better-known namesake FRANCIS,(3) so that the later luminary should not,
+standing in the way, obscure the light of the earlier; though, for my
+part, I would suggest that one need not be so one-eyed as to fail to see
+both lights at once.
+
+(2) See _Roger Bacon, Essays contributed by various Writers on the
+Occasion of the Commemoration of the Seventh Centenary of his Birth_.
+Collected and edited by A. G. LITTLE (1914); also Sir J. E. SANDYS'
+_Roger Bacon_ (from _The Proceedings of the British Association_, vol.
+vi., 1914).
+
+(3) For example, that of ERNST DUHRING. See an article entitled "The Two
+Bacons," translated from his _Kritische Geschichte der Philosophie_ in
+_The Open Court_ for August 1914.
+
+
+To those who like to observe coincidences, it may be of interest that
+the septcentenary of the discoverer of gunpowder should have coincided
+with the outbreak of the greatest war under which the world has yet
+groaned, even though gunpowder is no longer employed as a military
+propellant.
+
+BACON'S reference to gunpowder occurs in his _Epistola de Secretis
+Operibus Artis et Naturae, et de Nullitate Magiae_ (Hamburg, 1618) a
+little tract written against magic, in which he endeavours to show, and
+succeeds very well in the first eight chapters, that Nature and art can
+perform far more extraordinary feats than are claimed by the workers
+in the black art. The last three chapters are written in an alchemical
+jargon of which even one versed in the symbolic language of alchemy can
+make no sense. They are evidently cryptogramic, and probably deal with
+the preparation and purification of saltpetre, which had only recently
+been discovered as a distinct body.(1) In chapter xi. there is reference
+to an explosive body, which can only be gunpowder; by means of it, says
+BACON, you may, "if you know the trick, produce a bright flash and a
+thundering noise." He mentions two of the ingredients, saltpetre and
+sulphur, but conceals the third (_i.e_. charcoal) under an anagram.
+Claims have, indeed, been put forth for the Greek, Arab, Hindu, and
+Chinese origins of gunpowder, but a close examination of the original
+ancient accounts purporting to contain references to gunpowder, shows
+that only incendiary and not explosive bodies are really dealt with. But
+whilst ROGER BACON knew of the explosive property of a mixture in right
+proportions of sulphur, charcoal, and pure saltpetre (which he no doubt
+accidentally hit upon whilst experimenting with the last-named body), he
+was unaware of its projective power. That discovery, so detrimental
+to the happiness of man ever since, was, in all probability, due to
+BERTHOLD SCHWARZ about 1330.
+
+
+(1) For an attempted explanation of this cryptogram, and evidence that
+BACON was the discoverer of gunpowder, see Lieut.-Col. H. W. L. HIME'S
+_Gunpowder and Ammunition: their Origin and Progress_ (1904).
+
+
+ROGER BACON has been credited(1) with many other discoveries. In the
+work already referred to he allows his imagination freely to speculate
+as to the wonders that might be accomplished by a scientific utilisation
+of Nature's forces--marvellous things with lenses, in bringing distant
+objects near and so forth, carriages propelled by mechanical means,
+flying machines...--but in no case is the word "discovery" in any
+sense applicable, for not even in the case of the telescope does BACON
+describe means by which his speculations might be realised.
+
+(1) For instance by Mr M. M. P. MUIR. See his contribution, on "Roger
+Bacon: His Relations to Alchemy and Chemistry," to _Roger Bacon Essays_.
+
+
+On the other hand, ROGER BACON has often been maligned for his beliefs
+in astrology and alchemy, but, as the late Dr BRIDGES (who was quite
+sceptical of the claims of both) pointed out, not to have believed
+in them in BACON'S day would have been rather an evidence of mental
+weakness than otherwise. What relevant facts were known supported
+alchemical and astrological hypotheses. Astrology, Dr BRIDGES writes,
+"conformed to the first law of Comte's _philosophia prima_, as being the
+best hypothesis of which ascertained phenomena admitted."(1) And in his
+alchemical speculations BACON was much in advance of his contemporaries,
+and stated problems which are amongst those of modern chemistry.
+
+
+(1) _Op. cit_., p.84.
+
+
+ROGER BACON'S greatness does not lie in the fact that he discovered
+gunpowder, nor in the further fact that his speculations have been
+validated by other men. His greatness lies in his secure grip of
+scientific method as a combination of mathematical reasoning and
+experiment. Men before him had experimented, but none seemed to have
+realised the importance of the experimental method. Nor was he, of
+course, by any means the first mathematician--there was a long line of
+Greek and Arabian mathematicians behind him, men whose knowledge of the
+science was in many cases much greater than his--or the most learned
+mathematician of his day; but none realised the importance of
+mathematics as an organon of scientific research as he did; and he was
+assuredly the priest who joined mathematics to experiment in the bonds
+of sacred matrimony. We must not, indeed, look for precise rules of
+inductive reasoning in the works of this pioneer writer on scientific
+method. Nor do we find really satisfactory rules of induction even in
+the works of FRANCIS BACON. Moreover, the latter despised mathematics,
+and it was not until in quite recent years that the scientific world
+came to realise that ROGER'S method is the more fruitful--witness the
+modern revolution in chemistry produced by the adoption of mathematical
+methods.
+
+ROGER BACON, it may be said, was many centuries in advance of his time;
+but it is equally true that he was the child of his time; this may
+account for his defects judged by modern standards. He owed not a little
+to his contemporaries: for his knowledge and high estimate of philosophy
+he was largely indebted to his Oxford master GROSSETESTE (_c_.
+1175-1253), whilst PETER PEREGRINUS, his friend at Paris, fostered his
+love of experiment, and the Arab mathematicians, whose works he knew,
+inclined his mind to mathematical studies. He was violently opposed to
+the scholastic views current in Paris at his time, and attacked great
+thinkers like THOMAS AQUINAS (_c_. 1225-1274) and ALBERTUS MAGNUS
+(1193-1280), as well as obscurantists, such as ALEXANDER of HALES (_ob_.
+1245). But he himself was a scholastic philosopher, though of no servile
+type, taking part in scholastic arguments. If he declared that he would
+have all the works of ARISTOTLE burned, it was not because he hated
+the Peripatetic's philosophy--though he could criticise as well as
+appreciate at times,--but because of the rottenness of the translations
+that were then used. It seems commonplace now, but it was a truly
+wonderful thing then: ROGER BACON believed in accuracy, and was by no
+means destitute of literary ethics. He believed in correct translation,
+correct quotation, and the acknowledgment of the sources of one's
+quotations--unheard-of things, almost, in those days. But even he was
+not free from all the vices of his age: in spite of his insistence upon
+experimental verification of the conclusions of deductive reasoning,
+in one place, at least, he adopts a view concerning lenses from another
+writer, of which the simplest attempt at such verification would have
+revealed the falsity. For such lapses, however, we can make allowances.
+
+Another and undeniable claim to greatness rests on ROGER BACON'S
+broad-mindedness. He could actually value at their true worth the moral
+philosophies of non-Christian writers--SENECA (_c_. 5 B.C.-A.D. 65) and
+AL GHAZZALI (1058-1111), for instance. But if he was catholic in the
+original meaning of that term, he was also catholic in its restricted
+sense. He was no heretic: the Pope for him was the Vicar of CHRIST, whom
+he wished to see reign over the whole world, not by force of arms,
+but by the assimilation of all that was worthy in that world. To his
+mind--and here he was certainly a child of his age, in its best sense,
+perhaps--all other sciences were handmaidens to theology, queen of
+them all. All were to be subservient to her aims: the Church he called
+"Catholic" was to embrace in her arms all that was worthy in the works
+of "profane" writers--true prophets of God, he held, in so far as
+writing worthily they unconsciously bore testimony to the truth of
+Christianity,--and all that Nature might yield by patient experiment and
+speculation guided by mathematics. Some minds see in this a defect in
+his system, which limited his aims and outlook; others see it as the
+unifying principle giving coherence to the whole. At any rate, the
+Church, as we have seen, regarded his views as dangerous, and restrained
+his pen for at least a considerable portion of his life.
+
+ROGER BACON may seem egotistic in argument, but his mind was humble to
+learn. He was not superstitious, but he would listen to common folk who
+worked with their hands, to astrologers, and even magicians, denying
+nothing which seemed to him to have some evidence in experience: if he
+denied much of magical belief, it was because he found it lacking in
+such evidence. He often went astray in his views; he sometimes failed
+to apply his own method, and that method was, in any case, primitive and
+crude. But it was the RIGHT method, in embryo at least, and ROGER BACON,
+in spite of tremendous opposition, greater than that under which any man
+of science may now suffer, persisted in that method to the end, calling
+upon his contemporaries to adopt it as the only one which results in
+right knowledge. Across the centuries--or, rather, across the gulf that
+divides this world from the next--let us salute this great and noble
+spirit.
+
+
+
+
+XII. THE CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS
+
+THERE is an opinion, unfortunately very common, that religious mysticism
+is a product of the emotional temperament, and is diametrically opposed
+to the spirit of rationalism. No doubt this opinion is not without some
+element of justification, and one could quote the works of not a few
+religious mystics to the effect that self-surrender to God implies, not
+merely a giving up of will, but also of reason. But that this teaching
+is not an essential element in mysticism, that it is, indeed, rather its
+perversion, there is adequate evidence to demonstrate. SWEDENBORG is,
+I suppose, the outstanding instance of an intellectual mystic; but the
+essential unity of mysticism and rationalism is almost as forcibly made
+evident in the case of the Cambridge Platonists. That little band of
+"Latitude men," as their contemporaries called them, constitutes one of
+the finest schools of philosophy that England has produced; yet their
+works are rarely read, I am afraid, save by specialists. Possibly,
+however, if it were more commonly known what a wealth of sound
+philosophy and true spiritual teaching they contain, the case would be
+otherwise.
+
+The Cambridge Platonists--BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, JOHN SMITH, NATHANAEL
+CULVERWEL, RALPH CUDWORTH, and HENRY MORE are the more outstanding
+names--were educated as Puritans; but they clearly realised the
+fundamental error of Puritanism, which tended to make a man's eternal
+salvation depend upon the accuracy and extent of his beliefs; nor could
+they approve of the exaggerated import given by the High Church party to
+matters of Church polity. The term "Cambridge Platonists" is, perhaps,
+less appropriate than that of "Latitudinarians," which latter name
+emphasises their broad-mindedness (even if it carries with it something
+of disapproval). For although they owed much to PTATO, and, perhaps,
+more to PLOTINUS (_c_. A.D. 203-262), they were Christians first and
+Platonists afterwards, and, with the exception, perhaps, of MORE, they
+took nothing from these philosophers which was not conformable to the
+Scriptures.
+
+BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE was born in 1609, at Whichcote Hall, in the parish of
+Stoke, Shropshire. In 1626 he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
+then regarded as the chief Puritan college of the University. Here his
+college tutor was ANTHONY TUCKNEY (1599-1670), a man of rare character,
+combining learning, wit, and piety. Between WHICHCOTE and TUCKNEY there
+grew up a firm friendship, founded on mutual affection and esteem. But
+TUCKNEY was unable to agree with all WHICHCOTE'S broad-minded views
+concerning reason and authority; and in later years this gave rise to
+a controversy between them, in which TUCKNEY sought to controvert
+WHICHCOTE'S opinions: it was, however, carried on without acrimony, and
+did not destroy their friendship.
+
+WHICHCOTE became M.A., and was elected a fellow of his college, in 1633,
+having obtained his B.A. four years previously. He was ordained by
+JOHN WILLIAMS in 1636, and received the important appointment of Sunday
+afternoon lecturer at Trinity Church. His lectures, which he gave with
+the object of turning men's minds from polemics to the great moral and
+spiritual realities at the basis of the Christian religion, from mere
+formal discussions to a true searching into the reason of things, were
+well attended and highly appreciated; and he held the appointment for
+twenty years. In 1634 he became college tutor at Emmanuel. He possessed
+all the characteristics that go to make up an efficient and well-beloved
+tutor, and his personal influence was such as to inspire all his
+pupils, amongst whom were both JOHN SMITH and NATHANAEL CULVERWEL, who
+considerably amplified his philosophical and religious doctrines. In
+1640 he became B.D., and nine years after was created D.D. The college
+living of North Cadbury, in Somerset, was presented to him in 1643,
+and shortly afterwards he married. In the next year, however, he was
+recalled to Cambridge, and installed as Provost of King's College in
+place of the ejected Dr SAMUEL COLLINS. But it was greatly against his
+wish that he received the appointment, and he only consented to do so on
+the condition that part of his stipend should be paid to COLLINS--an act
+which gives us a good insight into the character of the man. In 1650 he
+resigned North Cadbury, and the living was presented to CUDWORTH (see
+below), and towards the end of this year he was elected Vice-Chancellor
+of the University in succession to TUCKNEY. It was during his
+Vice-Chancellorship that he preached the sermon that gave rise to the
+controversy with the latter. About this time also he was presented
+with the living of Milton, in Cambridgeshire. At the Restoration he
+was ejected from the Provostship, but, having complied with the Act
+of Uniformity, he was, in 1662, appointed to the cure of St Anne's,
+Blackfriars. This church being destroyed in the Great Fire, WHICHCOTE
+retired to Milton, where he showed great kindness to the poor. But some
+years later he returned to London, having received the vicarage of St
+Lawrence, Jewry. His friends at Cambridge, however, still saw him on
+occasional visits, and it was on one such visit to CUDWORTH, in 1683,
+that he caught the cold which caused his death.
+
+JOHN SMITH was born at Achurch, near Oundle, in 1618. He entered
+Emmanuel College in 1636, became B.A. in 1640, and proceeded to M.A. in
+1644, in which year he was appointed a fellow of Queen's College. Here
+he lectured on arithmetic with considerable success. He was noted for
+his great learning, especially in theology and Oriental languages,
+as well as for his justness, uprightness, and humility. He died of
+consumption in 1652.
+
+NATHANAEL CULVERWEL was probably born about the same year as SMITH. He
+entered Emmanuel College in 1633, gained his B.A. in 1636, and became
+M.A. in 1640. Soon afterwards he was elected a fellow of his college.
+He died about 1651. Beyond these scant details, nothing is known of his
+life. He was a man of very great erudition, as his posthumous treatise
+on _The Light of Nature_ makes evident.
+
+HENRY MORE was born at Grantham in 1614. From his earliest days he
+was interested in theological problems, and his precociousness in this
+respect appears to have brought down on him the wrath of an uncle.
+His early education was conducted at Eton. In 1631 he entered Christ's
+College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. in 1635, and received his M.A.
+in 1639. In the latter year he was elected a fellow of Christ's and
+received Holy Orders. He lived a very retired life, refusing all
+preferment, though many valuable and honourable appointments were
+offered to him. Indeed, he rarely left Christ's, except to visit
+his "heroine pupil," Lady CONWAY, whose country seat, Ragley, was in
+Warwickshire. Lady CONWAY (_ob_. 1679) appears to be remembered only for
+the fact that, dying whilst her husband was away, her physician, F. M.
+VAN HELMONT (1618-1699) (son of the famous alchemist, J. B. VAN HELMONT,
+whom we have met already on these excursions), preserved her body in
+spirits of wine, so that he could have the pleasure of beholding it on
+his return. She seems to have been a woman of considerable learning,
+though not free from fantastic ideas. Her ultimate conversion to
+Quakerism was a severe blow to MORE, who, whilst admiring the holy lives
+of the Friends, regarded them as enthusiasts. MORE died in 1687.
+
+MORE'S earliest works were in verse, and exhibit fine feeling. The
+following lines, quoted from a poem on "Charitie and Humilitie," are
+full of charm, and well exhibit MORE'S character:--
+
+     "Farre have I clambred in my mind
+     But nought so great as love I find:
+     Deep-searching wit, mount-moving might,
+     Are nought compar'd to that great spright.
+     Life of Delight and soul of blisse!
+     Sure source of lasting happinesse!
+     Higher than Heaven! lower than hell!
+     What is thy tent? Where maist thou dwell?
+         My mansion highs humilitie,
+     Heaven's vastest capabilitie
+     The further it doth downward tend
+     The higher up it doth ascend;
+     If it go down to utmost nought
+     It shall return with that it sought."(1)
+
+
+(1) See _The Life of the Learned and Pious Dr Henry More... by_ RICHARD
+WARD, A.M., _to which are annexed Divers Philosophical Poems and Hymns_.
+Edited by M. F. HOWARD (1911), pp. 250 and 251.
+
+
+
+Later he took to prose, and it must be confessed that he wrote too much
+and frequently descended to polemics (for example, his controversy
+with the alchemist THOMAS VAUGHAN, in which both combatants freely used
+abuse).
+
+Although in his main views MORE is thoroughly characteristic of the
+school to which he belonged, many of his less important opinions are
+more or less peculiar to himself.
+
+The relation between MORE's and DESCARTES' (1596-1650) theories as to
+the nature of spirit is interesting. When MORE first read DESCARTES'
+works he was favourably impressed with his views, though without
+entirely agreeing with him on all points; but later the difference
+became accentuated. DESCARTES regarded extension as the chief
+characteristic of matter, and asserted that spirit was extra-spatial. To
+MORE this seemed like denying the existence of spirit, which he regarded
+as extended, and he postulated divisibility and impenetrability as the
+chief characteristics of matter. In order, however, to get over some of
+the inherent difficulties of this view, he put forward the suggestion
+that spirit is extended in four dimensions: thus, its apparent (_i.e_.
+three-dimensional) extension can change, whilst its true (_i.e_.
+four-dimensional) extension remains constant; just as the surface of a
+piece of metal can be increased by hammering it out, without increasing
+the volume of the metal. Here, I think, we have a not wholly inadequate
+symbol of the truth; but it remained for BERKELEY  (1685-1753) to show
+ position, by demonstrating that, since space and extension are
+perceptions of the mind, and thus exist only in the mind as ideas, space
+exists in spirit: not spirit in space.
+
+MORE was a keen believer in witchcraft, and eagerly investigated all
+cases of these and like marvels that came under his notice. In this
+he was largely influenced by JOSEPH GLANVIL (1636-1680), whose book
+on witchcraft, the well-known _Saducismus Triumphatus_, MORE largely
+contributed to, and probably edited. MORE was wholly unsuited for
+psychical research; free from guile himself, he was too inclined
+to judge others to be of this nature also. But his common sense and
+critical attitude towards enthusiasm saved him, no doubt, from many
+falls into the mire of fantasy.
+
+As Principal TULLOCH has pointed out, whilst MORE is the most
+interesting personality amongst the Cambridge Platonists, his works
+are the least interesting of those of his school. They are dull and
+scholastic, and MORE'S retired existence prevented him from grasping in
+their fulness some of the more acute problems of life. His attempt to
+harmonise catastrophes with Providence, on the ground that the evil of
+certain parts may be necessary for the good of the whole, just as dark
+colours, as well as bright, are essential to the beauty of a
+picture--a theory which is practically the same as that of modern
+Absolutism,(1)--is a case in point. No doubt this harmony may be
+accomplished, but in another key.
+
+
+(1) Cf. BERNARD BOSANQUET, LL.D., D.C.L.: _The Principle of
+Individuality and Value_ (1912).
+
+
+RALPH CUDWORTH was born at Aller, in Somersetshire, in 1617. He entered
+Emmanuel College in 1632, three years afterwards gained his B.A., and
+became M.A. in 1639. In the latter year he was elected a fellow of his
+college. Later he obtained the B.D. degree. In 1645 he was appointed
+Master of Clare Hall, in place of the ejected Dr PASHE, and was elected
+Regius Professor of Hebrew. On 31st March 1647 he preached a sermon
+of remarkable eloquence and power before the House of Commons, which
+admirably expresses the attitude of his school as concerns the nature
+of true religion. I shall refer to it again later. In 1650 CUDWORTH was
+presented with the college living of North Cadbury, which WHICHCOTE
+had resigned, and was made D.D. in the following year. In 1654 he was
+elected Master of Christ's College, with an improvement in his financial
+position, there having been some difficulty in obtaining his stipend at
+Clare Hall. In this year he married. In 1662 Bishop SHELDON presented
+him with the rectory of Ashwell, in Hertfordshire. He died in 1688. He
+was a pious man of fine intellect; but his character was marred by a
+certain suspiciousness which caused him wrongfully to accuse MORE, in
+1665, of attempting to forestall him in writing a work on ethics, which
+should demonstrate that the principles of Christian morality are not
+based on any arbitrary decrees of God, but are inherent in the nature
+and reason of things. CUDWORTH'S great work--or, at least, the first
+part, which alone was completed,--_The Intellectual System of the
+World_, appeared in 1678. In it CUDWORTH deals with atheism on
+the ground of reason, demonstrating its irrationality. The book is
+remarkable for the fairness and fulness with which CUDWORTH states the
+arguments in favour of atheism.
+
+So much for the lives and individual characteristics of the Cambridge
+Platonists: what were the great principles that animated both their
+lives and their philosophy? These, I think, were two: first, the
+essential unity of religion and morality; second, the essential unity of
+revelation and reason.
+
+With clearer perception of ethical truth than either Puritan or High
+Churchman, the Cambridge Platonists saw that true Christianity is
+neither a matter of mere belief, nor consists in the mere performance
+of good works; but is rather a matter of character. To them Christianity
+connoted regeneration. "Religion," says WHICHCOTE, "is the Frame and
+TEMPER of our Minds, and the RULE of our Lives"; and again, "Heaven is
+FIRST a Temper, and THEN a Place."(1) To the man of heavenly temper,
+they taught, the performance of good works would be no irksome matter
+imposed merely by a sense of duty, but would be done spontaneously as a
+delight. To drudge in religion may very well be necessary as an initial
+stage, but it is not its perfection.
+
+
+(1) My quotations from WHICHCOTE and SMITH are taken from the selection
+of their discourses edited by E. T. CAMPAGNAC, M.A. (1901).
+
+
+In his sermon before the House of Commons, CUDWORTH well exposes
+the error of those who made the mere holding of certain beliefs the
+essential element in Christianity. There are many passages I should like
+to quote from this eloquent discourse, but the following must suffice:
+"We must not judge of our knowing of Christ, by our skill in Books
+and Papers, but by our keeping of his Commandments... He is the best
+Christian, whose heart beats with the truest pulse towards heaven; not
+he whose head spinneth out the finest cobwebs. He that endeavours really
+to mortifie his lusts, and to comply with that truth in his life, which
+his Conscience is convinced of; is neerer a Christian, though he never
+heard of Christ; then he that believes all the vulgar Articles of the
+Christian faith, and plainly denyeth Christ in his life.... The great
+Mysterie of the Gospel, it doth not lie only in CHRIST WITHOUT US,
+(though we must know also what he hath done for us) but the very Pith
+and Kernel of it, consists in _*Christ inwardly formed_ in our hearts.
+Nothing is truly Ours, but what lives in our Spirits. SALVATION it self
+cannot SAVE us, as long as it is onely without us; no more then HEALTH
+can cure us, and make us sound, when it is not within us, but somewhere
+at distance from us; no more than _Arts and Sciences_, whilst they lie
+onely in Books and Papers without us; can make us learned."(1)
+
+
+(1) RALPH CUDWORTH, B.D.: _A Sermon Preached before the Honourable House
+of Commons at Westminster, Mar_. 31, 1647 (1st edn.), pp. 3, 14, 42, and
+43.
+
+
+The Cambridge Platonists were not ascetics; their moral doctrine was one
+of temperance. Their sound wisdom on this point is well evident in
+the following passage from WHICHCOTE: "What can be alledged for
+Intemperance; since Nature is content with very few things? Why should
+any one over-do in this kind? A Man is better in Health and Strength, if
+he be temperate. We enjoy ourselves more in a sober and temperate Use of
+ourselves."(2)
+
+
+(2) BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE: _The Venerable Nature and Transcendant Benefit
+of Christian Religion. Op. cit_., p. 40.
+
+
+The other great principle animating their philosophy was, as I have
+said, the essential unity of reason and revelation. To those who argued
+that self-surrender implied a giving up of reason, they replied that "To
+go against REASON, is to go against GOD: it is the self same thing, to
+do that which the Reason of the Case doth require; and that which God
+Himself doth appoint: Reason is the DIVINE Governor of Man's Life; it
+is the very Voice of God."(3) Reason, Conscience, and the Scriptures,
+these, taught the Cambridge Platonists, testify of one another and are
+the true guides which alone a man should follow. All other authority
+they repudiated. But true reason is not merely sensuous, and the only
+way whereby it may be gained is by the purification of the self from the
+desires that draw it away from the Source of all Reason. "God," writes
+MORE, "reserves His choicest secrets for the purest Minds," adding his
+conviction that "true Holiness (is) the only safe Entrance into Divine
+Knowledge." Or as SMITH, who speaks of "a GOOD LIFE as the PROLEPSIS and
+Fundamental principle of DIVINE SCIENCE," puts it, "... if... KNOWLEDGE
+be not attended with HUMILITY and a deep sense of SELF-PENURY and
+_*Self-emptiness_, we may easily fall short of that True Knowledge of
+God which we seem to aspire after."(1b) Right Reason, however, they
+taught, is the product of the sight of the soul, the true mystic vision.
+
+
+(3) BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE: _Moral and Religious Aphorisms OP. cit_., p. 67.
+
+(1b) JOHN SMITH: _A Discourse concerning the true Way or Method of
+attaining to Divine Knowledge. Op. cit_., pp. 80 and 96.
+
+
+In what respects, it may be asked in conclusion, is the philosophy of
+the Cambridge Platonists open to criticism? They lacked, perhaps, a
+sufficiently clear concept of the Church as a unity, and although they
+clearly realised that Nature is a symbol which it is the function of
+reason to interpret spiritually, they failed, I think, to appreciate
+the value of symbols. Thus they have little to teach with respect to the
+Sacraments of the Church, though, indeed, the highest view, perhaps,
+is that which regards every act as potentially a sacrament; and, whilst
+admiring his morality, they criticised BOEHME as an enthusiast. But,
+although he spoke in a very different language, spiritually he had much
+in common with them. Compared with what is of positive value in their
+philosophy, however, the defects of the Cambridge Platonists are but
+comparatively slight. I commend their works to lovers of spiritual
+wisdom.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bygone Beliefs, by H. Stanley Redgrove
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