incommodi sunt, qui majorem observationum et experimentorum varietatem et proprietatem ostendunt, licet stultissimis causationibus dilutam et immersam, ut Arnoldus de Villa Nova, et alii id genus.' Intueor ab altera parte cohortem Chymistarum, inter quos se ante alios jactat Paracelsus, qui audacia meruit ut separatim coërceatur. Atque superiores illi, quos modo perstrinximus, mendacia; tu monstra. Quæ tu novis Bacchi oracula in meteoricis fundis, æmule Epicuri? 2 Ille tamen in hac parte tamquam indormiscens et aliud agens opiniones veluti sorti committit. Tu omni sorte stultior in absurdissimi cujusque mendacii verba jurare paratus es. Verum alia tua

3

videamus. Quas tu fructuum elementorum tuorum inter se imitationes? quas correspondentias? quæ parallela somnias, idolorum conjugator fanatice? Nam hominem scilicet pantomimum effecisti. Quam præclaræ autem sunt interpunctiones illæ quibus naturæ unitatem lacerasti, species nimirum tuæ? Quare facilius Galenum fero elementa sua ponderantem, quam te somnia tua ornantem. Illum enim occultæ rerum proprietates, te communes et promiscuæ qualitates exagitant. Nos interim miseros, qui inter tam odiosas ineptias degimus! Principiorum autem triadem, commentum haud ita prorsus inutile et rebus

earth. He seems to have been singularly diligent in his calling and in his studies; and it is said that when he was advised to give himself more time for repose, he would make answer in the words of Ovid, "Longa quiescendi tempora fata dabunt.”

Arnaldus de Villà Novâ lived towards the end of the thirteenth century. He was an alchemist, and was accused of being a magician. It is said that he professed medicine at Montpellier; and probably he took his name from Villeneuve, which is not far from it. Brantôme (De la Vue, &c.) makes Raymond Lully his disciple. Villa Nova's best known work is the commentary on the Regimen Sanitatis Schola Salernitana Sir Alexander Croke has given some specimens of it in his edition of the Regimen. It is in some places sufficiently fanciful. The line

Unica nux prodest, nocet altera, tertia mors est.

of which the real meaning seems plain, is made to imply that the nutmeg or nux moschata is medicinal, the walnut unwholesome, and the nut or catch of the crossbow deadly. In the phrase "alii id genus" it is probable that a reference is intended

to Roger Bacon.

2 This very obscure sentence appears to be corrupt. It is probable that novis ought to be novi or novioris. But it is difficult with any probable alteration to obtain an intelligible meaning. [For novis read nobis ?—J. S.]

3 Paracelsus's doctrine of the microcosm is here alluded to. It recurs throughout his writings, but is stated more definitely than usual in the first book of his Philosophia Sagax, ii. p. 532. of his philosophical writings. See the same work, p. 553. for a statement of the fruits educed from each of the four elements by the generating power of the sun.

The meaning is that Galen seeking to explain the qualities of bodies by means of the qualities of the elements of which the bodies are composed, lost sight of or neglected all which cannot be thus explained; whereas Paracelsus, by referring them to the specific and peculiar nature of the body, made it impossible to arrive at any general conclusion respecting them, since the qualities of each body were to him ultimate facts. 5 Namely salt, sulphur, and mercury.

aliqua ex parte finitimum, quam importune inculcat homo imposturæ peritissimus? Audi adhuc crimina graviora. Tu divina naturalibus, sacris profana, fabulis hæreses miscendo, veritatem (sacrilege impostor) tum humanam tum religiosam polluisti. Tu lumen naturæ (cujus sanctissimum nomen toties impuro ore usurpas) non abscondisti, ut Sophista, sed exstinxisti. Illi experientia desertores, tu proditor. Tu evidentiam rerum crudam et personatam contemplationi ex præscripto subjiciens, et substantiarum Proteos pro motuum calculis quærens, scientiæ fontes corrumpere et humanam mentem exuere conatus es; et ambages et tædia experimentorum, quibus Sophiste adversi, Empirici impares sunt, novis et adscititiis auxisti; tantum abest ut experientiæ repræsentativam secutus sis, aut noveris. Nec non Magorum hiatus ubique pro viribus amplificasti, importunissimas cogitationes spe, spem promissis premens, imposturæ tum artifex tum opus. Invideo tibi (Paracelse) e sectatoribus tuis unum Petrum Severinum', virum non dignum qui istis ineptiis immoriatur. Tu certe, Paracelse, ei plurimum debes, quod ea quæ tu (asinorum adoptive) rudere consueveras, cantu quodam et modulatione, et gratissimo vocum discrimine, jucunda et harmonica effecit, et mendaciorum odia in fabellæ oblectamenta traduxit. Tibi vero, Severine, veniam do, si Sophistarum doctrinam, non solum operum effœtam, verum desperationem ex professo captantem pertæsus, alia rebus nostris labentibus firmamenta quæsivisti. Cumque Paracelsica ista se obtulissent et ostentationum præconiis et obscuritatis subterfugiis et religionis affinitatibus et alio fuco commendata, te in hos2, non rerum fontes sed spei hiatus, jactu quodam indignationis dedisti. Rite et ordine feceris, si ab ingenii placitis ad naturæ scita te transtuleris, tibi non modo artem brevem sed et vitam longam porrectura. Jam cæteros Chymistas sententia in Paracelsum lata defixos cerno obstupescere. Agnoscunt profecto decreta sua, quæ iste magis promulgavit quam posuit, ac arrogantia pro cautelis (haud plane ex antiqua disciplina) communivit: ubi sane magna mentiendi reciprocatione inter se conciliati largas ubique spes

1 Peter Severinus was born in 1542 at Ripen in Denmark, and died in 1602. Neither Haller nor Sprengel speak of him as favourably as Bacon; nor does he seem to have had any great share of reputation; at least he is not mentioned in the common biographical dictionaries. His only known work is the Idea Medicine Philosophica, He is not to be confounded with M. A. Severinus.

to which Bacon here refers. hoc in original. — J. S.

runt.

ostentant, et per experientiæ quidem devia vagi, in quædam utilia, casu non ductu, quandoque impinguntur. In theoriis vero iisdem' ab arte sua (utpote fornacis discipuli) non recesseVerum ut delicatus ille adolescentulus, cum scalmum in littore reperisset, navem ædificare concupivit; ita carbonarii isti ex pauculis distillationum experimentis philosophiam condere aggressi sunt, ubique istis separationum et liberationum absentissimis idolis obnoxiam. Nec hos tamen uno ordine omnes habeo. Siquidem utile genus eorum est, qui de theoriis non admodum solliciti, mechanica quadam subtilitate rerum inventarum extensiones prehendunt; qualis est Bacon.3 Sceleratum et sacrum eorum, qui undique theoriis suis plausus conquirunt, ambientibus etiam et pro iis supplicantibus religione, spe, et impostura. Talis est Isaac Hollandus‘, et turbæ Chymistarum pars longe maxima. Age citetur jam Hippocrates, antiquitatis creatura et annorum venditor. In cujus viri authoritatem cum Galenus et Paracelsus magno uterque studio, velut in umbram asini, se recipere contendat, quis non cachinnum tollat? Atque iste homo certe in experientia obtutu perpetuo hærere videtur, verum oculis non natantibus et anquirentibus, sed stupidis et resolutis. Deinde a stupore visu parum recollecto, idola quædam, non immania quidem illa theoriarum, sed elegantiora ista quæ superficiem historiæ circumstant, excipit; quibus haustis tumens et semisophista, et brevitate (de illius ætatis more) tectus, oracula demum (ut his placet) pandit, quorum ii se interpretes haberi ambiunt; cum revera nihil aliud agat, quam aut sophistica quæ

1 So in original. qu. iidem ? -J. S.

2 So in original. — J. S.

Roger Bacon, whom his namesake has here so faintly praised, was beyond all doubt one of the greatest men of the age in which he lived. He was born in 1214 at Ilchester, and died in 1292 or 1294. One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with him is the influence which a passage in the Opus Majus exercised on Columbus, who perhaps had never heard of him. Peter de Alliaco, whose Imago Mundi was compiled in 1410, transcribed almost literally, but without acknowledgment, from Roger Bacon a passage (containing quotations in favour of the possibility of reaching India by sailing westward, from Aristotle, Pliny, and Seneca) which seems to have made a profound impression on Columbus; who, as Humboldt remarks, was familiar with the Imago Mundi. Compare the three passages; viz. the passage in the Opus Majus, that in the Imago Mundi, and that contained in the letter which Columbus wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella from Haiti, given by Humboldt, vol. i. p. 65. of his Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Géographie.

4 Very little is known of Isaac Hollandus. He is said by Suertius (Athenæ Bel• gica) to have been a native of the Netherlands, and to have published in 1582 a work entitled "Abdita quædam de Opere Animali et Vegetabili." But Sprengel speaks of Isaac Hollandus as one of the precursors of Paracelsus. There is also a John Isaac, said to be a son of Isaac's. See Sprengel Hist. Medic. iii. 270. I have not seen Adami, to whom Sprengel refers.

dam per abruptas et suspensas sententias tradens redargutioni subducat, aut rusticorum observationes supercilio donet. Atque ad hujus quidem viri instituta, non tam improba quam inutilia, proxime (ut etiam vulgo creditur) accedit Cornelius Celsus; sed intentior sophista, et historiæ modificatæ magis obstrictus, idem moralem moderationem scientiæ progressibus aspergens, et errorum extrema amputans, non prima evellens. Atque de istis verissima quidem hæc sunt. Nunc autem sciscitantem te audio (fili) an non forte deteriora, ut fit, voluere ; præsertim cum status scientiæ sit semper fere democraticus? An non tempus veluti flumen levia et inflata ad nos devexit, solida et gravia demersit? Quid veteres illi veritatis inquisitores Heraclitus, Democritus, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, et alii, alienis non propriis scriptis noti? Quid denique de silentio et secretis antiquitatis statuis? Ego (fili) ut tibi (ex more meo, id est usu tuo) respondeam, antiquitatis fragmentum unum aut alterum (inventorum dico non librorum) agnosco: idque ipsum tamen magis ut diligentiæ et ingenuitatis specimen, quam scientiæ authoris. De iis vero rebus, quæ cum vestigiis suis aufugere, si innuerem laboriosa esse ista conjecturarum aucupia, nec consentaneum me utilitates in posterum humano generi parantem ad antiquitatis philologiam retrogredi, sat scio pro modestia tua acquiesceres. Veruntamen ut perspicere possis quam res præsentes bifrontes vates sint, quamque et futuras et præteritas coram sistant, decrevi utriusque temporis tabulis (quæ non tantum scientiæ decursus et fluxus, sed et alios rerum provisus complectantur) tibi gratificari. Neque tu hoc quale sit (antequam videas) augurere; non enim cadit in te vera hujusce rei anticipatio; nec si minus ad manus tuas veniat, requiras. Gratificor enim (inquam) quibusdam vestrum hac in re (fili) et delicatioribus spiritus concilio. Omnino scientia ex naturæ lumine petenda, non ex antiquitatis obscuritate repetenda est. Nec refert quid factum fuerit; illud videndum, quid fieri possit. An tu, si regnum tibi armis et victori bello subjugatum traderetur, quæstiones necteres utrum majores tui illud tenuerint necne, et genealogiarum rumores solicitares? Atque hæc de antiquitatis penetralibus dicta sunt. De istis vero sectarum ducibus, quos nominasti, et compluribus aliis id genus, facilis sententia est. Errori varietas, veritati unitas competit. Ac nisi temporum politiæ et provisus ejusmodi ingeniorum peregrinationibus adversiores extitissent,

multæ etiam aliæ errorum oræ fuissent peragratæ. Immensum enim pelagus veritatis insulam circumluit; et supersunt adhuc novæ ventorum idolorum injuriæ et disjectiones. Quinetiam nudiustertius Bernardinus Telesius scenam conscendit, et fabulam novam egit, nec plausu celebrem, nec argumento elegantem. An non vides (fili) tum eccentricorum et epicy clorum ingeniatores, tum terræ aurigas, æqua et ancipiti phænomenorum advocatione gaudere? Prorsus ita et in universalibus theoriis fit. Nam veluti si quis lingua tantum vernacula uti sciens (adverte, fili, nam simile est admodum) scripturam ignoti sermonis capiat, ubi paucula quædam verba sparsim observans suæ linguæ vocabulis sono et literis finitima, illa quidem statim ac fidenter ejusdem esse significationis ponit (licet ab ea sæpius longissime recedant), postea ex iis invicem collatis reliquum orationis sensum multo ingenii labore, sed et multa libertate, divinat; omnino tales et isti naturæ interpretes inveniuntur. Nam idola quisque sua (non jam scenæ dico, sed præcipue fori et specus 1), veluti linguas vernaculas diversas, ad historiam afferentes, confestim quæ simile aliquid sonant arripiunt; cætera ex horum symmetria interpretantur. Atque jam tempus est (fili) ut nos recipiamus et expiemus, utpote qui tam profana et polluta (licet importandi animo) attrectaverimus. Ego vero adversus istos omnes minora quam pro ipsorum sontissimo reatu dixi. Tu tamen fortasse minus istam redargutionem intelligis. Nam pro certo habeas (fili) sententias istas quas adversus istos tuli, nihil minus esse quam contumeliam. Ego enim non ut Velleius apud Ciceronem, declamator et philologus opiniones cursim perstringens, et magis abjiciens quam frangens; vel ut Agrippa, neotericus homo, in istiusmodi sermone ne nominandus quidem, sed trivialis scurra, et singula distorquens et lusui propinans (me miserum, qui hominum defectu cum brutis me conferre necesse habeam!); ita me gessi. Verum sub maledicti velo miras ac

I Only three species of idols are here noticed that of the tribe being omitted. In the Advancement of Learning three kinds of idols are mentioned, but not by name. It seems however as if the third kind includes two of the species mentioned in the Novum Organum; namely the idols of the forum, and those of the theatre. In Valerius Terminus four kinds of idols are mentioned: those here and subsequently called idols of the forum being there called idols of the palace.

improbandi?

s Of Cornelius Agrippa, thus contemptuously condemned, Jöcher's judgement is "Er war ein aufrichtiger, unerschrockener und grossmüthiger Mann. Seine Naturgaben waren ganz besonder, und seine Erfahrenheit in allen Wissenschaften ungemein." He was born at Cologne in 1486, and died in 1535. His best known work is the treatise De Incertudine et Vanitate Scientiarum from which Bacon has apparently borrowed, though not largely, in the Advancement of Learning.