of the macrocosm and the microcosm, found among the Greeks 

 as early as the fourth century and current in Rudolph's reign. 

 It taught that the physical universe, or macrocosm, is an 

 organized being endowed with a soul and analogous to man 

 the microcosm, and that an intimate correlation exists be- 

 tween them, the former controlling the destiny of the latter 

 and the latter having power over the fundamental laws of the 

 former. This view of man as the physical and spiritual epi- 

 tome of the universe was well set forth in the "Epistle of Isis 

 to her son Horus," a writing on the "sacred art" of obscure 

 origin: "Hermes calls man the microcosm because the man 

 or the small world contains all that which is included in the 

 macrocosm or great world; thus the macrocosm has small 

 and large animals both terrestrial and aquatic, man on the 

 other hand has fleas and lice, these are the terrestrial animals, 

 also intestinal worms which are the aquatical animals. The 

 macrocosm has rivers, springs and seas ; man has internal 

 organs, intestines, veins and channels. The macrocosm has 

 aerial animals ; man has gnats and other winged insects. The 

 macrocosm has volatile spirits such as winds, thunders and 

 lightnings; man has internal gases and pordas of diseases. 

 The macrocosm has two luminaries, the sun and moon ; man 

 has also two luminaries, the right eye representing the sun, 

 and the left eye the moon. The macrocosm has mountains 

 and hills, man has a head and ears. The macrocosm has 

 twelve signs of the zodiac, man has them also from the lobe 

 of tke ear to the feet which are called the fishes." 



These singular and meaningless analogies were accepted 

 by all learned men in the sixteenth century; Paracelsus 

 founded on them a special science, which he called Astronomia, 

 teaching that man is a microcosm in comparison with the 

 earth and a macrocosm as compared with an atom of matter. 

 The noted English physician Robert Fludd, "who was not 



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