A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



the alchemist, the greater the reputation of an astrol- 

 oger the greater dangers he was likely to fall into. If 

 he became so famous that he was employed by kings 

 or noblemen, his too true or too false prophecies were 

 likely to bring him into disrepute even to endanger 

 his life. 



Throughout the dark age the astrologers flourished, 

 but the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the 

 golden age of these impostors. A skilful astrologer 

 was as much an essential to the government as the 

 highest official, and it would have been a bold mon- 

 arch, indeed, who would undertake any expedition of 

 importance unless sanctioned by the governing stars 

 as interpreted by these officials. 



It should not be understood, however, that belief in 

 astrology died with the advent of the Copernican doc- 

 trine. It did become separated from astronomy very 

 shortly after, to be sure, and undoubtedly among the 

 scientists it lost much of its prestige. But it cannot 

 be considered as entirely passed away, even to-day, 

 and even if we leave out of consideration street-corner 

 "astrologers" and fortune-tellers, whose signs may be 

 seen in every large city, there still remains quite a large 

 class of relatively intelligent people who believe in 

 what they call "the science of astrology." Need- 

 less to say, such people are not found among the 

 scientific thinkers; but it is significant that scarcely a 

 year passes that some book or pamphlet is not pub- 

 lished by some ardent believer in astrology, attempt- 

 ing to prove by the illogical dogmas characteristic of 

 unscientific thinkers that astrology is a science. The 

 arguments contained in these pamphlets are very 



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