CHAPTER XIX. 

 DECLINE OF THE FOLLIES OF SCIENCE. 



"Ye Rosicrucian schools, 



Ye number-prickers, ye physiognomists, 



Ye dream-expounding, treasure-seeking fools, 



Alchemists, magnetizers, kabbalists! 



Ye 're wrong!" 



Hellgren. 



|HE QUADRATURE of the circle, the multiplication 

 of the cube, perpetual motion, judicial astrology, 

 alchemy and magic have been characterized as the 

 "Six Follies of Science." While a great deal of 

 time and energy were wasted by intellectual men in these 

 studies and chimerical pursuits, it must be admitted that 

 these follies gave great impetus to the progress of true learn- 

 ing. The study of abstruse problems in pure mathematics 

 even though non-solvable, attempts to construct mechanical 

 devices on principles opposed to a fundamental law of nature, 

 erroneous conceptions of the relation of celestial phenomena 

 to mundane affairs, the vain quest for the Philosophers' 

 Stone, the Elixir of Life and the riches and bodily vigor they 

 would ensure, even the painful degradations of a false 

 philosophy exhibited in magic and sorcery, each contri- 

 buted its quota to the advancement of human knowledge 

 on rational lines. The period of tutelage has its drawbacks, 



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