354 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Of magic he says: "The things which the deluded and bewitched 

 persons do imagine, have no truth of action and being, save only 

 things imagined. For the end of this skill is not to do, simply, but 

 to stretch out Imaginations even unto appearance." 



The chapter on alchemy is a curiosity. One passage reads : 

 " Finally, of that only blessed thing alone, besides which there is no 

 other thing, yet to be found in every place, the subject of the most 

 holy stone of the Philosophers, I mean, that is to say, I have almost 

 rashly uttered the name of the thing, whereby I should be a sacrilege 

 and forsworn, yet I will speak it with circumlocution, but somewhat 

 more obscure, that none but young beginners in the Art and they 

 which be trained Up in the mysteries thereof may understand it. It 

 is a thing, which hath substance, and not overmuch fiery, nor alto- 

 gether earthly, nor simply watery, nor a most sharp nor most blunt 

 quality, but indifferent, and light in touching, and after a sort tender, 

 or at the least not hard, not unj)leasant, but after a sort sweet in 

 taste, sweet in smell, delectable to the sight, pleasant and jocund to 

 the hearing, large to the imagination : I may say no more, and yet 

 there be things greater than these." The description is scarcely 

 definite enough to enable us to find the philosopher's stone. 



The 102d chapter is "A Digression in prayse of the Asse" after 

 which follows the conclusion of the work, in which he salutes his 

 readers, " O ye asses." Perhaps some modern authors would like to 

 follow his example in this respect. 



The printer, in his preface to this edition, remarks : " Sapience 

 proceedeth of perfect Reason, joyned with Learning, and knowledge, 

 which if it be true, then consequently it follovveth, that Artes and Sci- 

 ences are good. And although this Authour sharply iuveyeth against 

 them, (which to the rude multitude for that cause may seeme naught 

 and noysome) yet his intent is not to deface the worthiness of 

 Artes and Sciences, but to reprove and detect their euill vses, and 

 declare the excellencie of his wit in disprouing them, for a shewe of 

 learning." 



Henry Cornelius Agrippa was one of the most learned men of his 

 time, and wrote voluminously upon scientific and philosophical sub- 

 jects. The " Edinburgh Encyclopaedia " says of him: "As a soldier 

 and a physician, a lawyer and a lecturer, a metaphysician and a theo- 

 logian, the versatility of his genius enabled him to attain the highest 

 distinction." He wrote a "Dissertation on Original Sin," a work on 

 " Occult Philosophy," a " History of the Government of Charles V.," 

 and various other treatises. The book from which we have quoted so 

 largely is undoubtedly the most complete summary of the condition 

 of science at that day to be found in any one volume. 



Is it probable that our present accepted theories will seem as curi- 

 ous to the reader of three hundred and fifty years hence as those of 

 Agrippa's day appear to us ? Will the customs, the manners, and the 



