NEW ESSAYS 403 



finds a ground for all phenomena by attributing them 

 directly and miraculously to God, or into the barbarous 

 philosophy, like that of certain philosophers and physicians 

 of the past, who 192 still showed traces of the barbarous- 

 ness of their time, and who nowadays are rightly con- 

 temned, who found a ground for phenomena [apparences] 

 by inventing for this purpose occult qualities or faculties, 

 which were pictured as being like little sprites or elves 19 ', 



studying at Oxford he travelled abroad and made acquaintance 

 with the theosophical views of Paracelsus, which he sought to 

 make known in England through his Philosophia Mosaica (1638) and 

 his Hisloria Macro-et-Micro-Cosmi Mefaphysica, Physica et Technica (1617). 

 In these writings he tries to find a complete philosophy in the Old 

 Testament and more especially in the Pentateuch. His system, if 

 so it can be called, is a combination of Neo-Platonic doctrines with 

 those of the Kabbala, and one of his favourite ideas is that of the 

 analogy between the universe (macrocosm) and the human body 

 (microcosm). Leibniz is here referring to his theory that all things 

 flow directly from God, who continually produces the variations in 

 phenomena by condensation and rarefaction of matter. All things 

 are emanations from God and return into His absolute unity. 

 Gassendi and Kepler wrote against the views of Fludd. 



j92 E. reads * which ' [philosophy]. 



193 Leibniz is probably referring to the 'elemental spirits' of 

 which Paracelsus (1493-1541) writes in his De Nymphis, Sylphis, 

 Pygmaeis et Salamandris. He attributes to the ' nymphs ' the pheno- 

 mena of water, to the i sylphs ' the phenomena of air, to the 

 'pygmies' the phenomena of earth, and to the 'salamanders' 

 the phenomena of fire. Fludd also adopted this view. Possibly 

 Leibniz may also be thinking of the elder Van Helmont (Johann 

 Baptista Van Helmont, 1577-1644), who was a follower of 

 Paracelsus. In the Epistola ad Thomasium (1669), n (E. 52 b ; 

 G. i. 23), Leibniz speaks of Van Helmont along with Paracelsus 

 and others as representative of the stupid [stolidd] form of the 

 reformed philosophy, absolutely rejecting Aristotle. In the 

 same letter he refers to the ' occult philosophy of Agrippa ' 

 (Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, 1486-1535% 'who 

 ascribes to everything an angel to bring it to birth' [quasi 

 obsletricatorem]. ' Thus,' adds Leibniz, * we return to as many little 

 gods \_deunculi~\ as there are substantial forms and we approach the 

 Gentile 7roAv0ei'cr/*os.' There may also here be a reference to the 

 spiritus familiaris of the Italian physician, philosopher and mathe- 

 matician, Girolamo Cardano (1501-1575). See his De Vita Propria, 

 ch. 47, Opera (1663), vol. i. p. 44. On the whole matter, cf. Leibniz s 



D (! 2 



