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Paracelsus . 
[April, 
of speculations such as these, but it may be well to show 
why they are fallacious. A priori absurdity has nothing to do 
with it. There is nothing especially ridiculous in the pro- 
position that things which have the same internal properties 
will have a similar external appearance. Nor is it more im- 
probable that a spiritual ruler resides in the stomach than 
that such a monarch is domiciled in the brain. No ; these 
theories are inadmissible, because they do not fulfil the con- 
ditions of a sound scientific hypothesis, which should ade- 
quately generalise a whole class of phenomena, — should be 
able to prove a sound homological relationship with some 
already demonstrated law or group of fadts, — and, finally, 
should be confirmed by every fresh experiment, accounting 
for fadts discovered subsequently to its formulation, and ena- 
bling us to predidt the path in which future discoveries are 
likely to be made. It should explain the unknown by the 
known, and thus light the way to future knowledge. Here 
Paracelsus failed ; and here, for lack of material, he must 
have failed, even though his genius had really equalled his 
self-confidence. Yet he did good, rather than harm, by fol- 
lowing that inner light which so often led astray. The scope 
of his mind may best be estimated by a study of that sub- 
lime imagination of Macrocosmos and Microcosmos to which 
all his leading ideas may be referred. “ Man,” he might 
have said, “ is the Universe in miniature. The Universe is 
an enlarged edition of man. The only true science is there- 
fore the science of the human mind and body, and he who 
has literally obeyed the precept ‘ Know Thyself ’ has com- 
prehended the sum of Knowledge. From the rhythmic 
motion of his own- vital organs he can deduce the orbits of 
the stars ; by the stars, again, he can interpret his own fate. 
From the ill health of his body he may learn the malady 
which has degraded pure gold to a baser metal, and may 
even find a cure for both diseases. The flowers of the field 
are his helpful kindred. 4 Herbs gladly heal our flesh, be- 
cause that they Find their acquaintance there.’ * The spirit 
of the greater world responds to the spirit of the lesser 
world, and reveals its mysteries with or without the aid of 
sense. Not every man can hold this communion, which re- 
quires a certain corporeal and spiritual purity ; but to him 
who has attained it, the disputations of the schools and the 
lore of antiquity are alike worthless. He may, indeed, study 
* The anachronism of a quotation from George Herbert in an imaginary 
speech of Paracelsus must be pardoned ! It is, of course, the sober truth that 
both vegetable and mineral medicines “ find their acquaintance ” in the bodies 
which they heal. 
