CH. VIII] Paracelsus 205 



their subjects one or both of two topics — the " doctrine of 

 signatures," and "astrological botany." These works cannot 

 be said to have furthered the science to any appreciable 

 extent, but they have considerable interest, rather on 

 account of the curious light which they throw upon the 

 attitude of mind of their writers (and presumably their 

 readers also) than from any intrinsic merit. One of these 

 authors, in his preface, speaks of the " Notions" and "Ob- 

 servations " contained in his work, " most of which I am 

 confident are true, and if there be any that are not so, 

 yet they are pleasant." The excuse that the " Notions," 

 cherished by the botanical mystics of the sixteenth and 



Text-fig. 107. Mandrake [Brunfels, Contrafayt 

 Kreiiterbuch, Ander Teyl, 1537]- 



seventeenth centuries, were "pleasant," even if untrue, may 

 perhaps be offered in extenuation of the very brief discussion 

 of their salient points, which we propose to undertake in the 

 present chapter. 



The most famous of those mystical writers who turned 

 their attention to botany was undoubtedly Philippus 

 Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim, better 

 known by the name of Paracelsus {i493— i54i)- His 

 portrait is shown in Text-fig. 108. He was a doctor, as 



