historical lectures and essays(查尔斯金斯利历史讲座)






some   higher   and   truer   science   might   be   discovered;   by   which   diseases 

might      be    actually    cured;     and    health;    long    life;   happiness;      all   but 

immortality;   be   conferred   on   man;   an   intense   belief   that   he;   Paracelsus; 

was   called   and   chosen   by   God   to   find   out   that   great   mystery;   and   be   a 

benefactor to all future ages。           That fixed idea might degeneratedid; alas! 

degenerateinto wild   self…conceit; rash   contempt of   the ancients;  violent 

abuse of his opponents。            But there was more than this in Paracelsus。                 He 

had   one   idea   to   which;   if   he   had   kept   true;   his   life   would   have   been   a 

happier   onethe   firm   belief   that   all   pure   science   was   a   revelation   from 

God;   that   it   was   not   to   be   obtained   at   second   or   third   hand;   by   blindly 

adhering   to   the   words   of   Galen   or   Hippocrates   or Aristotle;   and   putting 

them (as the scholastic philosophers round him did) in the place of God: 

but by going straight to nature at first hand; and listening to what Bacon 

calls 〃the voice of God revealed in facts。〃                True and noble is the passage 



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with which he begins his 〃Labyrinthus Medicorum;〃 one of his attacks on 

the false science of his day; 

     〃The first and highest book of all healing;〃 he says; 〃is called wisdom; 

and without that book no man will carry out anything good or useful 。 。 。 

And that book is   God Himself。             For in Him  alone who hath created   all 

things; the knowledge and principle of all things dwells 。 。 。 without Him 

all is folly。    As the sun shines on us from above; so He must pour into us 

from   above   all   arts   whatsoever。   Therefore   the   root   of   all   learning   and 

cognition is; that we should seek first the kingdom of Godthe kingdom 

of God in which all sciences are founded 。 。 。 If any man think that nature 

is not founded on the kingdom of God; he knows nothing about it。                           All 

gifts;〃 he repeats again and again; confused and clumsily (as is his wont); 

but with a true earnestness; 〃are from God。〃 

     The   true   man   of   science;   with   Paracelsus;   is   he   who   seeks   first   the 

kingdom of God in facts; investigating nature reverently; patiently; in faith 

believing that God; who understands His own work best; will make him 

understand   it   likewise。      The   false   man   of   science   is   he   who   seeks   the 

kingdom of this world; who cares nothing about the real interpretation of 

facts:      but   is   content   with   such   an   interpretation   as   will   earn   him   the 

good   things   of   this   worldthe   red   hat   and   gown;  the   ambling   mule;   the 

silk    clothes;    the  partridges;     capons;     and   pheasants;     the   gold    florins 

chinking in his palm。         At such pretenders Paracelsus sneered; at last only 

too    fiercely;   not   only   as   men    whose     knowledge      consisted     chiefly    in 

wearing      white   gloves;    but   as  rogues;    liars;  villains;   and   every   epithet 

which his very racy vocabulary; quickened (it is to be feared) by wine and 

laudanum; could suggest。           With these he contrasts the true men of science。 

It is difficult for us now to understand how a man setting out in life with 

such pure and noble views should descend at last (if indeed he did descend) 

to be a quack and a conjurorand die under the imputation that 

       Bombastes kept a devil’s bird Hid in the pommel of his sword; 

       and   have;   indeed;   his   very   name;   Bombast;   used   to   this   day   as   a 

synonym   of   loud;   violent;   and   empty   talk。       To   understand   it   at   all;   we 



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must go back and think a little over these same occult sciences which were 

believed in by thousands during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries。 

     The reverence for classic antiquity; you must understand; which sprang 

up at the renaissance in the fifteenth century; was as indiscriminating as it 

was earnest。       Men caught the trash as well as the jewels。               They put the 

dreams of the Neoplatonists; Iamblicus; Porphyry; or Plotinus; or Proclus; 

on   the   same   level   as   the   sound   dialectic   philosophy   of   Plato   himself。 

And     these   Neoplatonists      were    all;  more    or  less;  believers    in  magic 

Theurgy; as it was calledin the power of charms and spells; in the occult 

virtues of herbs and gems; in the power of adepts to evoke and mand 

spirits;   in   the   significance   of   dreams;   in   the   influence   of   the   stars   upon 

men’s     characters     and    destinies。    If   the   great    and   wise    philosopher 

Iamblicus   believed such things;  why  might   not   the  men   of   the   sixteenth 

century? 

     And so grew  up   again   in   Europe   a passion   for   what   were   called   the 

Occult sciences。        It had always been haunting the European imagination。 

Mediaeval   monks   had   long   ago   transformed   the   poet   Virgil   into   a   great 

necromancer。        And there were immense excuses for such a belief。                  There 

was a mass of collateral evidence that the occult sciences were true; which 

it was impossible then to resist。 Races far more ancient; learned; civilised; 

than any Frenchman; German; Englishman; or even Italian; in the fifteenth 

century had believed in these things。             The Moors; the best physicians of 

the Middle Ages; had their heads full; as the 〃Arabian Nights〃 prove; of 

enchanters;      genii;   peris;  and   what    not?    The    Jewish     rabbis   had   their 

Cabala; which sprang up in Alexandria; a system of philosophy founded 

on the   mystic   meaning of the   words   and   the   actual letters of   the text of 

Scripture;   which   some   said   was   given   by   the   angel   Ragiel   to   Adam   in 

Paradise;      by   which     Adam     talked    with    angels;    the   sun   and    moon; 

summoned spirits; interpreted dreams; healed and destroyed; and by that 

book of Ragiel; as it was called; Solomon became the great magician and 

master of all the spirits and their hoarded treasures。 

     So strong; indeed; was the belief in the mysteries of the Cabala; that 



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Reuchlin;      the   restorer   of   Hebrew     learning    in   Germany;      and   Pico   di 

Mirandola;   the   greatest   of   Italian   savants;   accepted   them;   and   not   only 

Pope     Leo   X。   himself;    but  even    statesmen     and   warriors    received    with 

delight Reuchlin’s cabalistic treatise; 〃De Verbo Mirifico;〃 on the mystic 

word   〃Schemhamphorash〃that   hidden   name   of   God;   which   whosoever 

can    pronounce      aright   is;  for   the  moment;      lord   of  nature    and   of   all 

daemons。 

     Amulets; too; and talismans; the faith in them was exceeding ancient。 

Solomon had his seal; by which he manded all daemons; and there is a 

whole   literature   of   curious   nonsense;   which   you   may   read   if   you   will; 

about     the  Abraxas     and   other   talismans     of  the   Gnostics    in  Syria;   and 

another;   of   the   secret   virtues   which   were   supposed   to   reside   in   gems: 

especially in   the old   Roman   and Greek gems;   carved into   intaglios  with 

figures of heathen gods and goddesses。               Lapidaria; or lists of these gems 

and their magical virtues; were not unmon in the Middle Ages。                         You 

may   read   a   great   deal   that   is   interesting   about   them   at   the   end   of   Mr。 

King’s book on gems。 

     Astrology too; though Pico di Mirandola might set himself against the 

rest   of   the   world;   few   were   found   daring   enough   to   deny   so   ancient   a 

science。     Luther and Melancthon merely followed the regular tradition of 

public opinion when they admitted its truth。 It sprang probably from the 

worship of the Seven Planets by the old Chaldees。                   It was brought back 

from Babylon by the Jews after the Captivity; and spread over all Europe 

perhaps all Asia likewise。 

     The rich and mighty of the earth must needs have their nativities cast; 

and   consult   the   stars;   and   Cornelius Agrippa   gave   mortal   offence   to   the 

Queen…Dowager           of  France    (mother     of  Francis    I。)  because;    when