46 Transactions of the 



the causes which contributed to its discomfiture. Ideas 

 which had been revolving in the minds of many generations, 

 and had been uttered secretly and in peril, were now made 

 known to the world at large, as the power which had re- 

 strained them loosed its grasp. The musings of many a 

 bygone age were proclaimed and made manifest in this age. 



The philosophy of Robert Fludd is not typical of the 

 period in which he lived ; it rather typifies and personifies 

 the thought of times long past. Although Fludd was not 

 a very staunch conservative, he was far too conservative 

 for that age of progress; in a very few respects he was ahead 

 of his contemporaries ; in some he kept pace with them, but 

 in many he lagged far behind them. He was not one of the 

 great thinkers of his day, but he was a man of the most 

 varied learning, and unwearied in his labours. He was 

 called the Searcher, in that he was ever prying into the 

 secrets of Nature, and he was accounted ' strangely profound 

 in obscure matters.' Briicker (' Institutiones Historise Phi- 

 losophicse ') says of him : ' Cum imaginationis vehementia 

 fureret, et paracelsica, cabbalistica, magica, vetera, nova, 

 in unum confunderet, quibus tamen baud pauca erudita, et a 

 naturali experientia desumta admiscuit.' 



Robert Pludd was born at Milgate, in Kent, in 1574, and 

 was the son of Sir Thomas Fludd, Treasurer of War to Qaeen 

 Elizabeth. The Latin writers of the period frequently 

 designate him Bobertus de Fluctibus, and his j)hilosophy, 

 Philosophia Fluddana ; his name is sometimes written Flud, 

 less seldom Floud, and rarely Flood. In a single instance he 

 published a work under the name of Rudolf Otreb, which is 

 an anagram of his name. At the age of seventeen Fludd 

 became a commoner of St. John's College, Oxford, where he 

 devoted himself to the usual studies, and to medicine, and 

 after taking the degrees in arts, he went abroad for six 

 years, and travelled through France, Spain, Italy, and 

 Germany. In 1605 he took his M.D. degree, and became 

 Fellow of the College of Physicians. Shortly afterwards he 

 commenced practice in London, where he appears to have 

 attained considerable success in his profession. His nume- 

 rous works were published between 1616 and 1633, and, with 

 a single exception, were printed abroad and in Latin, the 

 reason for which will presently appear. He died on Septem- 

 ber 8, 1637, at his house in Coleman Street, and was buried 

 in Bearsted church, near the place of his birth. Such appear 

 to be the only facts which are known of the life of Robert 

 Fludd. The few authors who mention him speak of his 



