PARACELSUS
Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, commonly known as Paracelsus, was
born in 1493 at Maria Einsiedeln, near Zurich, Switzerland. When he was
nine years old, his father, who was a reputable physician, removed his
residence to Carinthia. Paracelsus received instruction in chemistry
from the Abbot Trithemius, a Benedictine monk, and then investigated
mining methods, and learned the physical properties of minerals, ores,
and metals. He also studied at universities in France, Germany, and
Italy. Quite early in his career he developed a taste for a Bohemian
mode of life and is reported to have gained a livelihood by
psalm-singing, astrological prescriptions, chiromancy, and even by the
practice of the Black Art. He was also keen in acquiring information
about popular remedies and nostrums, from travelling mountebanks,
barbers, old women, and pretenders of all kinds. In 1526 he was
appointed Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the
University in Basle. Here he taught doctrines of his own, denouncing the
prevailing tenets of Medical Science, as derived from the ancients, and
claiming for himself a supremacy over all other teachers and writers.
According to his view, Philosophy, Astrology, Alchemy and Virtue were
the four pillars of Medicine. It is a problem how to reconcile his
ignorance, his weakness and superstition, his crude notions and
erroneous observations, his ridiculous inferences and theories, with his
grasp of method, his lofty views of the true scope of Medicine, his
lucid statements, his incisive and epigrammatic criticisms of men and
motives.[244:1] After remaining at Basle for about a year, he resumed
his wanderings, frequenting taverns and spending whole nights in
carousals, with the lowest company. Paracelsus believed that it was
reserved for him to indicate the right path to the medical practitioners
of his day. In carrying out this idea, he exhibited such colossal
conceit, and indulged in such virulent abuse of his medical brethren,
that he became the object of their hatred and persecution.[244:2]
According to his doctrine, man is a little world or microcosm, and in
him are represented all the elements which are to be found in the great
world or macrocosm. Some diseases, he averred, require earthy remedies,
others aqueous or atmospheric, and still others, igneous. Paracelsus was
thoroughly imbued with the cabalistic theories prevalent in his time,
and traced analogies between the stars and various portions of the human
body. His fame as the greatest of charlatans appears to have been due in
large measure to his influence over the popular imagination by the magic
power of high-sounding words, which were mostly beyond the comprehension
of his hearers. His teachings have been aptly described as a system of
dogmatic and fantastic pseudo-philosophy. The following quotation may
serve as an illustration.
All these recipes which are prepared for elemental diseases,
consist of six things, two of which are from the planets, two
from the elements, and two from narcotics. For although they
can be composed of three things, one out of each being taken,
yet these are too weak for healing purposes. Now there are two
which derive from the planets, because they conciliate and
correct medicine; two derive from the elements, in order that
the grade of the disease may be overcome. Lastly, two are from
the narcotics, because the four parts already mentioned are
too weak of themselves to expel a disease before the crisis.
Observe then, concerning composition, to forestall the
critical day. Recipes prepared in this manner, are very
helpful for diseases in all degrees of acuteness.
Paracelsus was the first to promulgate the theory of the existence of
magnetic properties in the human body, maintaining that the latter was
endowed with a double magnetism, of which one portion attracted to
itself the planets, and was nourished by them; whence came wisdom,
thought, and the senses. The other portion attracted to itself the
elements; whence came flesh and blood. He also asserted that the
attractive and hidden virtue of man resembles that of amber and of the
magnet, and that this virtue may be employed by healthy persons for the
cure of disease in others. Thus probably originated the idea which
developed into Animal Magnetism, and from it Anton Mesmer is said to
have derived inspiration some two hundred years later. Paracelsus died
at Salzburg, Austria, in 1541.
In the words of that eminent English divine, Thomas Fuller (1608-1661),
Paracelsus boasted of more than he could do, did more cures seemingly
than really, more cures really than lawfully, of more parts than
learning, of more fame than parts, a better physician than a man, and a
better chirurgeon than physician.
Paracelsus was a very prince among quacks, for probably no man ever
talked more loudly and ostentatiously or made vainer pretensions. He was
emphatically a knavish practitioner of medicine, a master of the art of
puffery, and was phenomenally successful in achieving notoriety.
Whatever his natural talent may have been, says Edward Meryon,
M.D.,[246:1] he placed himself in the category with those of the same
nature, who have ever been ready to purchase this world's riches at the
ruinous price of character and reputation.
The system of Paracelsus was founded upon mysticism and fanaticism of
the grossest kind. The chief aim of his doctrine was the blending of
mysticism and therapeutics, and the creation thereby of a false science,
wherewith he sought to exert an influence over the ignorant classes.
According to the cabalistic doctrine, the various events of life and all
natural phenomena are due to influences exerted by gods, devils, and the
stars. Each member and principal organ of the human body was supposed to
correspond with some planet or constellation. Similar foolish ideas were
widely prevalent, especially in Germany. Paracelsus was an ignoramus,
who affected to despise all the sciences, because of his lack of
knowledge of them. While prating much about divine light as the source
of all learning and culture, his boorish mien and rude manners afforded
evidence that he did not profit much by its happy influence.[246:2]
The Paracelsians maintained that life is a perpetual germinative
process, controlled by the archaeus or vital force, which was supposed
to preside over all organic phenomena. The principal archaeus was
believed to have its residence in the stomach, but subordinates guarded
the interests of the other important bodily organs.
Nature was sufficient for the cure of the majority of ills. But when
the internal physician, the man himself, was tired or incapable, some
remedy had to be applied, which should antagonize the spiritual seed of
the disease.[247:1] Such remedies, known as arcana, were alleged to
possess marvellous efficiency, but their composition was kept secret.
That is to say, they were quack medicines.
Paracelsus maintained that a man who, by abstraction of all sensuous
influences, and by child-like submission to the will of God, has made
himself a partaker of the heavenly intelligence, becomes thereby
possessed of the philosopher's stone. He is never at a loss. All
creatures on earth and powers in heaven are submissive to him; he can
cure all diseases, and can himself live as long as he chooses, for he
holds the elixir of life, which Adam and the early fathers employed
before the Flood, and by which they attained to great longevity.
The philosopher's stone, known also as the great elixir, or the red
tincture, when shaken in very small quantity into melted silver, lead
or other metal, was said to transmute it into gold. In minute doses it
was supposed to prolong life and restore youth, and was then called
elixir vitæ.[247:2] Says Ben Jonson in "The Alchemist" (1610), "He
that has once the Flower of the Sun, the perfect Ruby which we call
Elixir . . . by its virtue can confer honour, love, respect, long life;
give safety, valour, yea and victory, to whom he will. In eight and
twenty days he'll make an old man of fourscore a child."
Paracelsus was foremost among a group of extraordinary characters, who
claimed to be the representatives of science at the close of the Middle
Ages. These men were of a bold, inquisitive temper, and with all their
faults, they had a noble thirst for knowledge. "Better the wildest
guess-work, than that perfect torpor which follows the parrot-like
repetition of the words of a predecessor!"[248:1] These irregular
practitioners, however impetuous and ill-balanced, were pioneers in
opening up new fields of investigation, and in exploring new paths,
which facilitated the progress of their successors in the search for
scientific truths.
AGRIPPA
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, a German alchemist,
philosopher, and cabalist, of noble ancestry, was born at Cologne, on
the Rhine, September 14, 1486. Having received a liberal education and
being by nature versatile, he became in his youth a secretary at the
Court of the German Emperor, Maximilian I.
He served moreover in the army under that monarch, during several
Italian campaigns, and by reason of gallantry, won the spurs of a
knight. Becoming averse to the profession of arms, he studied with
avidity law, medicine, philosophy, and languages, and in 1509 became
Professor of Hebrew at Dôle, in the department of Jura, France. Here his
caustic humor and intemperate language involved him in quarrels with the
monks, while his restless disposition impelled him to rove in search of
adventure. He visited successively London, Pavia, and Metz, where he
became a magistrate and town orator.
Having expressed opinions contrary to the prevalent beliefs in regard to
saints and witches, he was forced to depart abruptly. We next hear of
him as a practising physician in Fribourg, Switzerland. Thereafter he
became a vagabond and almost a beggar. Like his contemporary,
Paracelsus, he advanced the most paradoxical theories during his
adventurous career, which latter was partly scientific and partly
political, but always turbulent. Finally he established himself at
Lyons, where he again practised medicine, and became physician to Louise
of Savoy, Regent of France, and the mother of Francis I. Here Agrippa
soon fell into disgrace and was banished. In 1528 he joined the Court
of Margaret of Austria, ruler of the Netherlands, at Antwerp. On the
publication of his work, "On the Vanity of the Sciences," he was
imprisoned for a year at Brussels.
Upon his release, he returned to Lyons, where he was again detained in
custody, on account of an old libel against his former patroness.
His death occurred at Grenoble, France, February 18, 1535.
Agrippa was possessed of great versatility and learning, but his
writings are tinctured with bitterness and satire. He has been described
as restless, ambitious, enthusiastic, and credulous, a dupe himself and
a deceiver of others. His career was a continuous series of
disappointments and quarrels.
Yet he was an earnest searcher after truth, who was fain to attempt the
unlocking of Nature's secrets, but did not hold the right key.
Profoundly superstitious, he taught, for example, that the herb,
Verbena officinalis, vervain, would cure tertian or quartan fevers
according to the manner in which it was divided or cut. Agrippa has been
tersely described as a "meteor of philosophy."
CARDAN
Jerome Cardan, an Italian physician, author, mathematician and
philosopher, was born at Pavia, September 24, 1501. He was the
illegitimate son of Facio Cardan, a man of repute among the learned in
his neighborhood, from whom Jerome received instruction in his youth.
Although idolized by his mother, he incurred his father's dislike, and
these circumstances, we are told, exerted a peculiar influence upon his
character. Despite many difficulties, however, he achieved both fame and
notoriety. After having received degrees in arts and medicine from the
University of Padua, he became Professor of Mathematics at Milan in
1534, and later was admitted to the College of Physicians in that city.
In 1547 he declined an invitation to become court physician at
Copenhagen, on account of the harsh northern climate and the obligation
to change his religion. In the year 1552 Jerome Cardan visited Scotland
at the request of John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, whom he
treated for asthma with success. Thence he was summoned to England to
give his professional advice in the case of Edward VI, after which he
returned to Milan with enhanced prestige. He afterwards practised
Medicine at Pavia and Bologna and finally settled at Rome, where he
received a pension from the Pope. His death occurred there, September
21, 1575.
Cardan was possessed of great natural ability, and for a time was
regarded as the most eminent physician and astrologer among his
contemporaries. But his mind was of a peculiar cast, and his temper most
inconstant. He had, says Peter Bayle, in his "Historical Dictionary," a
decided love of paradox, and of the marvellous, an infantine credulity,
a superstition scarce conceivable, an insupportable vanity, and a
boasting that knew no limits. His works, though full of puerilities and
contradictions, of absurd tales and charlatanry of every description,
nevertheless offer proofs of a bold, inventive genius, which seeks for
new paths of science, and succeeds in finding them. According to his own
statement, he found pleasure in roaming about the streets all night
long. His love of gaming amounted to a mania. Baron von Leibnitz
(1646-1716) wrote of Cardan, that notwithstanding his faults, he was a
great man, and without his defects, would have been incomparable. He
wrote extensively on philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, and also on
chiromancy. For his own follies and misfortunes he apologized,
attributing them all to the influence of the stars. He has been
described as a genuine philosopher and devotee of science, and his
lasting reputation is chiefly due to his discoveries in algebra, in
which art, wrote the historian, Henry Hallam, he made a great epoch.
BALSAMO
One of the most notorious charlatans of the eighteenth century was
Giuseppe Balsamo, who was born at Palermo, Sicily, June 2, 1743. Though
of humble origin, this arch-impostor assumed the title of Count
Alessandro di Cagliostro, and styled himself Grand Cophta, Prophet and
Thaumaturge. He married Lorenza Feliciani, the daughter of a
girdle-maker of Rome. Balsamo professed alchemy and free-masonry,
practised medicine and sorcery, and raised money by various methods of
imposture. He rode about in his own coach, attended by a numerous
retinue in rich liveries. His attire consisted of an iron-gray coat, a
scarlet waistcoat trimmed with gold lace, and red breeches. His jaunty
hat was adorned with a white feather, and handsome rings encircled his
fingers. He carried a sword after the fashion of the times, and his
shoe-buckles shone like flashing jewels.
Balsamo was a man of great energy; gifted with persuasive eloquence
which seemed to exercise a charm over his hearers. Having rare natural
abilities, he enriched his mind by diligent studies and observations of
human nature, during his tours abroad. But in spite of these advantages
he failed to rise above the sphere of an unscrupulous charlatan.
In 1780 he settled in Strasburg, where he established a reputation by
some marvellous cures. Here was the culmination of his fame and fortune.
Five years later he came to Paris, where he became implicated in the
notorious affair of the "Diamond Necklace," and was imprisoned in the
Bastille for some months. His death occurred at the fortress of Saint
Léon, Rome, in 1795. A sublimer rascal never breathed, wrote W.
Russell, LL.D., in "Eccentric Personages." Balsamo had unlimited faith
in the gullibility of mankind, and was amply endowed with the gifts
which enable their possessor to shear the simpletons of society.
GREATRAKES
Valentine Greatrakes was born at Affane, County of Waterford, Ireland,
on Saint Valentine's Day, February 14, 1628. He was educated a
Protestant at the free school of Lismore near his home, and at Trinity
College, Dublin.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1641, his mother fled with him to
England and took refuge in Devonshire, where he devoted himself to the
study of the classics and divinity. Afterwards Greatrakes served for
seven years in Cromwell's army, holding a commission as lieutenant of
cavalry under Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery. In 1656 he left the army and
returned to Affane, where he was appointed a magistrate and served as
such with credit.
Soon after the Restoration, in obedience to a divine impulse, he began
practice as a healer of various diseases by the method known as
laying-on of hands, stroking, or touching, which had been employed by
the sovereigns of England, from the time of Edward the Confessor.
Greatrakes's success was immediate and phenomenal. People flocked to him
so rapidly, we are told, from all quarters, that "his barns and
out-houses were crammed with innumerable specimens of suffering
humanity." In 1665 he returned to England, where he performed many
seemingly marvellous cures; and came to be regarded as a greater
miracle-worker than King Charles II himself. But after an investigation
and adverse report by members of the Royal Society, his practice fell
into disrepute, and he retired to his native land, where he sojourned in
obscurity until his death, which is supposed to have occurred after the
year 1682. One David Lloyd, a biographer, issued a tract entitled
"Wonders no Miracles, or Mr. Valentine Greatrakes' Gift of Healing
Examined," wherein he endeavored to show that the famous "Irish
stroaker" was little better than an impostor. In reply to this,
Greatrakes published a pamphlet, vindicating his methods, with
testimonials from persons of quality and distinction.
Greatrakes has been described as a man of unimpeachable integrity, a
highly respectable member of society, and incapable of attempting to
deceive by fraud. Notoriety was distasteful to him, and in this respect
he was above the plane of an ordinary charlatan. An enthusiast, he
believed himself to be invested with divine healing powers. His success
was surely due to forcible therapeutic suggestions communicated by him
to the minds of highly imaginative and credulous people, who reposed
confidence in his methods. It mattered not that they believed the cures
of their nervous disorders to be wrought solely through the physical
agency of laying-on of hands, whereby some mysterious healing force,
magnetic or otherwise, was communicated to them.
In attempting an explanation of the cures wrought by Greatrakes, Henry
Stubbe, a contemporary writer, affirmed that "God had bestowed upon Mr.
Greatarick a peculiar temperament, or composed his body of some
particular ferments, and the effluvia thereof, sometimes by a light,
sometimes by a violent friction, restore the temperament of the
debilitated parts, reinvigorate the blood, and dissipate all
heterogeneous ferments out of the bodies of the diseased, by the eyes,
nose, hands and feet." There is nothing recorded in regard to
Greatrakes's methods (says Professor Joseph Jastrow, in "Fact and Fable
in Psychology"), which definitely suggests the production of the
hypnotic state; but direct suggestion, reinforced by manipulation,
obviously had much to do with the cures.
In 1666 the Chamberlain of the Worcester Corporation expended ten
pounds, fourteen shillings in an entertainment for "Mr. Greatrix, an
Irishman famous for helping and curing many lame and diseased people,
only by stroking of their maladies with his hand and therefore sent for
to this and many other places."
From a letter written by Greatrakes to the Archbishop of Dublin, it
appears that he believed himself to be inspired of God, for the purpose
of curing disease. He received lavish hospitality in many homes, when at
the height of his popularity, and was regarded as a phenomenal adept in
the art of healing by touch.[257:1]
If there exists such a thing as the "gift of healing," Greatrakes
appears to have possessed it. Dr. A. T. Schofield believes that in
certain rare cases individuals are endowed with the faculty of curing by
touch, to which the terms magnetic, psychic, occult, hypnotic, and
mesmeric have been applied. This power is resident in the operator, and
has nothing to do with suggestion; whereas in so-called faith-healing,
the power is resident in the patient, who, by the exercise of faith,
puts it into action.
Greatrakes has been described as having an agreeable personality,
pleasant manners, a fine figure, gallant bearing, a handsome face,
musical voice, and a good stock of animal spirits. Thus equipped, we may
not wonder that he was ever welcome in merry company. He had an impulse
or strange persuasion of his own mind (says J. Cordy Jeaffreson, in "A
Book about Doctors") that he had the gift of curing the King's Evil. A
second impulse gave him the power of healing ague, and a third
"inspiration of celestial aura imparted to him command, under certain
conditions, over all human diseases." Greatrakes adapted his
manipulations to the requirements of individual cases. Oftentimes gentle
stroking sufficed, but when the evil spirits were especially malignant,
he employed energetic massage. Occasionally the demon fled, "like a
well-bred dog," at the word of command, but more frequently the victory
was not won until the healer had rubbed himself into a red face, and a
copious perspiration.
It is narrated that when Greatrakes was practising in London, a
rheumatic and gouty patient came to him. "Ah," said the healer,
colloquially, "I have seen a good many spirits of this kind in Ireland.
They are watery spirits, who bring on cold shivering and excite an
overflow of aqueous humor in our poor bodies." Then, addressing the
demon, he continued: "Evil spirit, who has quitted thy dwelling in the
waters, to come and afflict this miserable body, I command thee to quit
thy new abode, and to return to thine ancient habitation."[258:1]
From among a large number of testimonials of cures performed by
Greatrakes, a single example may suffice.
MR. SQUIBB'S LETTER TO MR. BOREMAN
Sir,
Whereas you are pleased to enquire after the Cure, by God's
means done upon me, by the stroking of my head by Mr.
Greatrakes; These are thoroughly to inform you that being
violently troubled with an excessive pain of the head, that I
had hardly slept six hours in six days and nights, and taken
but very little of sustenance in that time; and being but
touch'd by him, I immediately found ease, and (thanks be to
God) do continue very well; and do further satisfie you, that
the rigour of the pain had put me into a high Fever, which
immediately ceas'd with my head-ache: and do likewise further
inform you that a Servant being touch'd for the same pain,
that had continu'd upon him for twelve years last past, he
touch'd him in the forehead, and the pain went backward; and
that but by his stroking upon the outside of his cloaths, the
pain came down to and out of his foot: the party continues
still well. These Cures were wrought about 3 weeks before
Easter.
And thus much I assure you to be true from him that is
Your Friend and Servant
Edm. Squibb.
Covent-Garden, April 20, 1666.
At my Lady Verney's, the place of my residence.
While Greatrakes acquired great celebrity on account of the numerous
cures which he performed, he was unable to explain the nature of his
healing powers. In a letter to the Hon. Robert Boyle, he expressed the
belief that many of the pains which afflict men, are of the nature of
evil spirits. "Such pains," wrote he, "cannot endure my hand, nay, not
my glove, but flye immediately, though six or eight coats and cloaks be
put between the parties' body and my hand, as at York House, the Lady
Ranalough's and divers other places, since I came to London."
VAN HELMONT
Johann Baptist van Helmont, a celebrated Belgian physician, scholar and
visionary, of noble family, was born at Brussels in 1577. At an early
age he began the study of medicine, and was appointed Professor of
Surgery at the University of Louvain. Becoming, however, infected with
the delusions of alchemy, and being possessed of an ardent imagination,
he inclined naturally to the study of occult science, and was infatuated
with the idea of discovering a universal remedy. He was, moreover, a
follower of the eminent theologian, Johann Tauler (1290-1361), founder
of mystic theology in Germany. Van Helmont has been described as an
enthusiastic and fantastic, though upright friend of the truth. He
adhered to the theosophic and alchemistic doctrines of a somewhat
earlier epoch, and was an admirer of the dogmatic pseudo-philosophy of
Paracelsus.
The German writer, Johann Christian Ferdinand Hoefer (1811-1878), said
that Van Helmont was much superior to Paracelsus, whom he took as his
model. He had the permanent distinction of revealing scientifically the
existence of invisible, impalpable substances, namely gases. And he was
the first to employ the word gas as the name of all elastic fluids
except common air.[260:1] Van Helmont graduated as Doctor of Medicine in
1599, and after several years of study at different European
universities, he returned home and married Margaret van Ranst, a noble
lady of Brabant. He then settled down on his estate at Vilvoorden, near
Brussels, where he remained until his death in 1644.
Johann Hermann Baas, in his "History of Medicine," characterizes him as
a fertile genius in the department of chemistry, but denies that he was
a great and independent spirit, outrunning his age, or impressing upon
it the stamp of his own individuality. Van Helmont, like many another
irregular practitioner, achieved fame by some remarkable cures. It was
said of him that his patients never languished long under his care,
being always killed or cured within two or three days. He was frequently
called to attend those who had been given up by other physicians. And to
the latters' chagrin, such patients were often unexpectedly restored to
health.[261:1]
A lover of the marvellous, and credulous to the point of superstition,
Van Helmont became infatuated with erroneous doctrines. His
contemporaries, dazzled, it may be, by the brilliancy of his mental
powers, regarded him as an erratic genius, but not as a charlatan.
The term spiritual vitalism has been applied to the philosophy of Van
Helmont. He maintained that the primary cause of all organization was
Archaeus (Gr. ἀρχαῖος, primitive), a term said to have been
invented by Basil Valentine, the German alchemist (born 1410).
This has been defined as a spirit, or invisible man or animal, of
ethereal substance, the counterpart of the visible body, within which it
resides, and to which it imparts life, strength, and the power of
assimilating food.[261:2] Archaeus was regarded as the creative
spirit, which, working upon the raw material of water or fluidity, by
means of a ferment promotes the various actions which result in the
development and nutrition of the physical organism. As life and all
vital action depended upon archaeus, any disturbance of this spirit
was regarded as the probable cause of fevers and other morbid
conditions.
FLUDD
Robert Fludd, surnamed "the Searcher," an English physician, writer and
theosophist, member of a knightly family, first saw the light at
Milgate, Kent, in the year 1574. His father, Sir Thomas Fludd, was
Treasurer of War under Queen Elizabeth. Robert was a graduate of St.
John's College, Oxford.
After taking his degree in 1598, he followed the example of many another
man of original mind, athirst for knowledge of the world, and led a
roving life for six years, "in order to observe and collect what was
curious in nature, mysterious in arts, or profound in science."
Returning to London in 1605, he entered the College of Physicians, and
four years later receiving a medical degree, he established himself at
his house in Coleman Street, in the metropolis, where he remained until
his death in 1637.
Fludd was a voluminous writer, and one of the most famous savants of
his time. He was at once physician, chemist, mathematician, and
philosopher. But his chief reputation was due to his system of
theosophy. Profoundly imbued with mystical lore, he combined in an
incomprehensible jumble the doctrines of the Cabalists and Paracelsians.
William Enfield, in the "History of Philosophy," remarks of the
peculiarity of this philosopher's turn of mind, that there was nothing
which ancient or modern times could afford, under the notion of modern
wisdom, which he did not gather into his magazine of science. Fludd was
reputed to be a man of piety and great learning, and was an adept in the
so-called Rosicrucian philosophy. In his view, the whole world was
peopled with demons and spirits, and therefore the faithful physician
should lay hold of the armor of God, for he has not to struggle against
flesh and blood. He published treatises on various subjects which are
replete with abstruse and visionary theories. The title of one of these
treatises is as follows: "De Supernaturalis, Naturalis,
Praeternaturalis, et Contranaturalis Microcosmi Historia, 1619."
The phenomena of magnetism were ascribed by him to the irradiation of
angels. Robert Fludd enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of many
scientists at home and abroad, and was without doubt one of the most
versatile and erudite of contemporary British scholars.
He devoted much time to scientific experiments and natural philosophy,
and constructed a variety of odd mechanisms, including an automatic
dragon and a self-playing lyre.[264:1] Moreover, he was a believer in
mystical faith-cures, and in the existence of a kind of dualism in
therapeutics, whereby sickness and healing were produced by two
antagonistic forces.
NOSTRADAMUS
Michel de Notredame, or Nostradamus, a celebrated French physician and
astrologer, of Jewish ancestry, was born at Saint-Remi, a small town in
Provence, December 14, 1503. Both of his grandfathers were practitioners
of medicine, and his father, Jacques de Notredame, was a notary of
Saint-Remi. Michel studied medicine at Avignon and afterwards at the
University of Montpellier, where he took his degree.
During the prevalence of an epidemic in the south of France, he acquired
distinction by his zealous ministrations to the stricken peasants, and
more especially by some remarkable cures attributed to a remedy of his
own invention. After the pestilence had subsided, Notredame devoted many
years to travel, after which, in the year 1544, he settled at Salon, a
little town in the present Department of Bouches-du-Rhône. During a
second visitation of the plague, which raged in Provence, he accepted an
invitation from the authorities of Lyons and Aix to visit those places.
Although his success in treating patients at this time served to enhance
his fame as a practitioner, his chief reputation was due to his capacity
as an astrologer. He claimed moreover to have the faculty of reading the
future, and became the subject of a bitter controversy. For while he
gained many adherents abroad, in his own country he was regarded as
little better than a charlatan. He became involved in controversies with
his professional confrères, who were jealous of his success and
doubtless also suspicious of his methods.
It is worthy of note that the most notorious quacks, often men of
genius and education, though mentally ill-balanced, and morally of low
standards, have been great travellers and shrewd observers of the weak
points in human nature. When such an one becomes ambitious to acquire
wealth, he is likely to prove a dangerous person in the community.
Notredame was regarded as a visionary by some of his contemporaries,
while others believed him to have illicit correspondence with the Devil.
Among those who were impressed by his pretensions as a soothsayer, was
Catherine de' Medici (regent for her son, Charles IX), who invited him
to visit the French Court, where he was received as a distinguished
guest.
Michel de Notredame published in 1555 his famous work entitled
"Centuries," a collection of prophecies, written in quatrains. His death
occurred at Salon, July 2, 1566.
We quote as follows from a rare volume, "The True Prophecies of Michel
Nostradamus, Physician to Henry II and Charles IX, Kings of France,
translated by Theophilus de Garencieres, Doctor in Physick, London,
1672":
He was popularly believed "to have naturally a genius for the
knowing of future things, as he himself confesseth in 2
Epistles to King Henry II, and to Cæsar, his own son. And
besides that genius, the knowledge of astrology did smooth him
the way to discover many future events. He had a greater
disposition than others to receive those supernatural lights,
and as God is pleased to work sweetly in his creatures, and to
give some forerunning dispositions to those graces he
intendeth to bestow, it seemeth that to that purpose he did
choose our author to reveal him so many wonderful secrets. We
see every day that God in the distributing of his graces,
carrieth Himself towards us according to our humours and
natural inclinations. He employeth those that have a generous
martial heart, for the defence of His Church, and the
destruction of tyrants.
"He leadeth those of a melancholick humour into Colledges and
Colisters, and cherisheth tenderly those that are of a meek
and mild disposition.
"Even so, seeing that Nostradamus inclined to this kind of
knowledge, He gave him in a great measure the grace of it."
LILLY
William Lilly, a famous English astrologer of yeoman ancestry, was born
at Diseworth, an obscure village in northwestern Leicestershire, May 1,
1602. In his autobiography he described his native place as a "town of
great rudeness, wherein it is not remembered that any of the farmers
thereof, excepting my grandfather, did ever educate any of their sons to
learning." His mother was Alice, daughter of Edward Barham, of Fiskerton
Mills in Nottinghamshire.
When eleven years of age, he was placed in the care of one John Brinsley
at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, not far from Diseworth. Here he received
instruction in the classics. In April, 1620, he went to London to seek
his fortune, and obtained employment as foot-boy and general factotum in
the family of one Gilbert Wright, of the parish of St. Clement Danes, a
man of property, but without education.
Not long after his master's death in 1627, Lilly married the widow, and
being then in comfortable circumstances, devoted considerable time to
the pursuit of angling, and became fond of listening to Puritan
sermons.[268:1] Having abundant leisure, he was enabled to humor the
natural bent of his mind, and to begin the study of astrology, which he
continued with zeal, devoting special attention to the magical circle
and to the invocation of spirits. Keenly alive to the popular credulity,
he claimed the possession of supernatural powers as a fortune-teller and
soothsayer, largely as a result of the study of the works of noted
astrologers, including the "Ars Notoria" of Cornelius Agrippa.
Becoming a prey to melancholy and hypochondria, he lived in retirement
for five years at Hersham in Surrey, and then returned to London in
1641. At this time, wrote Lilly in his autobiography, "I took careful
notice of every grand action between king and parliament, and did first
then incline to believe that, as all sublunary affairs depend on
superior causes, so there was a possibility of discovering them by the
configuration of the heavens."
In 1644 he published his first almanac, under the title, "Merlinus
Angelicus Junior, the English Merlin Revived, or a Mathematical
Prediction of the English Commonwealth." This publication was issued
annually for nearly forty years, and found a ready sale, being shrewdly
adapted to the popular taste. Lilly was said to have acquired
considerable influence over the credulous monarch, Charles I, who was
wont to consult him regarding political affairs. He was an adept in the
wily arts of the charlatan, achieving notoriety by unscrupulous methods.
Not a few of his exploits, wrote one of his biographers, indicate rather
the quality of a clever police detective, than that of a profound
astrologer.
After the Restoration, Lilly fell into disrepute, and again retired to
his estate at Hersham, where he began the study of Medicine, receiving a
license to practise in the year 1670, when sixty-eight years of age.
Thenceforth he combined the professions of physic and astrology. His
death occurred June 9, 1681.
Among his publications are the following: "Mr. Lillie's Prediction
concerning the many lamentable Fires which have lately happened, with a
full account of Fires at Home and Abroad." 1676. "Strange news from the
East, or a sober account of the Comet or blazing star that has been seen
several Mornings of late." 1677.
GASSNER
Johann Joseph Gassner, who was regarded as a thaumaturge by his
partisans, and as a charlatan by his opponents, was born at Bratz, a
village of the Austrian Tyrol, August 20, 1727. He was educated at
Innsbruck and Prague, became a priest, and settled at Coire, the capital
of the Swiss canton of Grisons. Here he remained for some fifteen years,
ministering acceptably to his parishioners. It appears that he then
became impressed with the scriptural accounts of the healing of
demoniacs, and devoted himself to the study of the works of famous
magicians.
Gradually he acquired a reputation as a healer by means of the methods
of laying on of hands, conjuration and prayer. Many of the Tyrolese
peasantry flocked to him, as did their Irish brethren to Greatrakes.
Gassner treated them all without recompense. He believed that the
efficiency of his methods was dependent upon the degree of faith of his
patients. Some cases he affected to benefit by drugs, others by touch,
and still others by exorcism. He was a pioneer in the employment of
suggestion, while summoning to his aid the forces of religious faith,
prayer and material remedies.
The Bishop of Constance sent for Gassner, and after a careful
examination of his methods and beliefs, became convinced of the purity
of his character, and of his good faith. The bishop therefore permitted
him to continue his practice at Coire and its neighborhood.
Gassner's reputation as a thaumaturge spread throughout Germany and
adjacent countries, and he numbered among his patrons many persons of
influence. In 1774, upon invitation of the Bishop of Ratisbon, he
removed to Ellwangen, in Würtemberg, where he is said to have cured many
by the mere word of command, Cesset. He died at Bondorf, in the
Diocese of Ratisbon, in the year 1779.
The celebrated Dutch physician, Antoine de Haen, who was a contemporary
of Gassner, described the latter as a man of jovial temperament, and a
sworn foe to melancholy. He did not take advantage of the popular
credulity for his own pecuniary gain, and was therefore morally far
above the plane of an ordinary charlatan.
