seen a servant holding a dog. The courtiers are dressed in doublet 

 and hose with high-heeled, low-cut shoes, and carry swords; the 

 ladies wear the femine apparel of the sixteeneth centurj'. 



In the following pages an attempt has been made to describe 

 the circumstances that make this picture historically accurate, and 

 to give some account of the character of the scientific atmosphere 

 pervading the court of Rudolph IT, Emperor of Germany. 



Descriptions of persons, localities and events are true to history, 

 but the author has allowed himself the liberty of the artist in using 

 the imagination in a few instances to lighten up the dull back- 

 ground of hard facts, such for example as the scene in the cavern 

 Chapter XVI. 



