Medieval Academy of America

Mediaeval Magic and Science in the Seventeenth Century

Author(s): Lynn Thorndike
Source: Speculum, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Oct., 1953), pp. 692-704
Published by: Medieval Academy of America
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MEDIAEVAL MAGIC AND SCIENCE IN THE

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY*
BY LYNN THORNDIKE

ARISTOTLE had accepted fourinferiorelementsbelow the sphereof the moon:

namely,earth,water,air, and fire,but had distinguishedthe heavenlyspheres

This view prevailedgenerfromtheseas a fifthessencewhichwas incorruptible.
century,howally throughthe mediaevalperiod.In the middleof the fourteenth
ever,Johnof Rupescissacomposeda workcalled 'The Considerationof the Fifth
Essence.' In it he suggestedthat, as the heavens were an incorruptiblefifth
essence,so the corruptionof the human body mightbe staved offby a quintessenceextractedfromeach ofthe elementsor fromthemixedbodies ofthe animal,
vegetable,and mineralkingdoms.He waxed especiallyenthusiasticover the fifth
essencefromantimony.
In the seventeenthcenturymany stillaccepted the doctrineof fourelements,
whileothersreducedthemto threeor two, and Van Helmontwent back to the
was composedofwater.Descartes,ofcourse
hypothesisofThales that everything
only
did not recognizeany of the old fourelements,his threebeingdifferentiated
was more
in figureand motion.The doctrinethat the heavenswereincorruptible
generallyabandoned,and some identifiedthemwithfire,whileothersheld that
air also filledthe heavens and was continuouswiththe sky. On the otherhand,
Caspar Bartholinusas late as 1697estimatedtheheightof theearth'satmosphere
feet,
as hardlyone mile,althoughhe knewthat its weightraiseswaterthirty-two
to supply all springsand
and held that the precipitationfromit was sufficient
rivers.He also stillspoke of threeregionsof air, as had been customarythrough
the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies,although in the thirteenthMichael
Scot and Thomas of Cantimprehad listedseven.Five yearsbeforeBartholinus's
book, Etienne Chauvin in his Rational Lexicon of 1692, had reduced the three
regionsof air to two, variouslyestimatedas extendingeight,fortyor fiftymiles
above sea level. But he was surethat the loftiestmountainssurpassedthisheight
by many parasangs and reached the purestether- a vague appellationwhich
many applied to the substanceof the heavens. For Chauvin, too, it was stillan
open questionwhetherspringsof wateroriginatedfromprecipitationor fromthe
sea - a questionmuchdebated throughoutthe seventeenthcentury.
Whilethe substancewhichfillstheheavenscame to be called etherratherthan
fifthessence,the conceptionof quintessencesextractablefromthingsabout us,
which Johnof Rupescissa had developed in the fourteenthcentury,was widespreadamong the alchemistsand chemistsof the seventeenthcentury,although
they usually incorrectlyascribed it to Paracelsus or to Raymond Lull, under
whose name one versionof Rupescissa's treatisewas current.His stresson antimony also marked the chemical manuals of the seventeenthcentury,and was
* Read at the annual dinnerof the Mediaeval Academy of Americaheld at the VanderbiltHotel
in New York on 17 April 1953.
892

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
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693

longa boneofcontentionbetweenthedogmaticschoolofmedicineand the spagyrics, or advocates of the employmentof chemical remedies.At Paris, where in
1566 a decreeof the facultyof medicinewas passed against the use of antimony,
and whereGui Patin, who lived from1601 to 1672,cursedit all throughhis correspondenceand career,sixty-onemembersof the facultysignedin favorof antimonyin 1653,and 92 out of 102 votedforit in 1666.
Incidentally,Patin was an ardent advocate of the practice of blood-letting
whichhad continuedthroughthe mediaeval period,althoughhe feltthat it had
been somewhat neglected in favor of polypharmacyand Arabic medicine.In
1633 a royal physicianwho had rheumatismwas bled sixty-four
timesin eight
months,and Patin had anotherpatient bled thirty-two
timesfora continuous
fever,and he was 'entirelycured, for which I praise God.' When Patin was
summonedto attend Hobbes, the English philosopherwas in such pain that he
wantedto killhimselfbut refusedto be bled on the groundthathe was sixty-four
and too old. But next morninghe assentedand was, accordingto Patin, much
betterin consequence,and afterthat - Patin said - they became great pals.
But Patin was accused of responsibility
for the death of Gassendi,who died at
the age of sixty-three,
by excessivephlebotomyin his last illness.On the other
hand, Patin recountedwithgreatsatisfactionthe death ofLa Brosse,head of the
Jardindu Roy, who had contracteddysenteryfromeatingtoo manymelonsand
drinkingtoo muchwine- 'as usual,' adds Patin. He had his entirebody rubbed
withoil of yellowamberforfourdays, and thenswallowedon an emptystomach
a largeglass ofbrandywitha littleastringentoil. When thisdid no good,he took
an emetic,but died as it was working.'So vomitedforthhis impuresoul that impurewretch,mostexpertin killingmen!' He had refusedto be bled,callingit the
remedyof sanguinarypedants,and said that he would ratherdie. Patin added:
'The devil will bleed him in the otherworld,as one deserveswho was a knave,
an atheist,an impostor,a homicide,and a public executioner.'
Beliefin marvelousvirtuesofgems,herbs,and animalshad everbeen a doughty
ally, indeedone mightwell say, an integralpart,of magic. Since no rationalexplanationof themcould be offeredin termsof the accepted scienceof the time,
withits fourelementsand fourprimaryqualitiesof hot and cold, moistand dry,
theywereaccountedforin the Middle Ages eitherby the influenceofthe celestial
fifthessenceupon terrestrialsubbodies and theirmysteriousand incorruptible
stances,or simplyattributedto occultqualitiesand virtues,specificform,and the
action of the whole substance.This conceptionof action by some occult quality
was by no means universallyabandoned in theseventeenthcentury.But revivers
of the atomistictheoryof Epicurus and Lucretiuslike Gassendi, advocates of a
new method like Descartes, and adherentsof the corpuscularphilosophyof
Boyle feltthat it was a confessionof weaknessto resortto occultqualities in the
explanationof naturalphenomena,and that theycould explainthesemarvelous
virtuesmechanicallyby the actionofparticleswhichwereso subtleand tinyas to
be intangibleand invisible.Thrownoffas effluvia,these infinitesimal
particles
enteredthe pores of such substancesas exactly fittedthem and thus effected
by contactwhat had seemedto be action at a distance,as in the case of the mag-

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694

Century
MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth

net's attractingiron,the torpedofishnumbingone's arm,althoughtouchedonly

with the tip of a spear or ten-footpole held in the hand, and the healingvirtue
ofamuletswornabout the neckor otherwiseattachedexternally.
Resortwas also had to spirits,not,however,in thesenseofimmaterialseparate
substancessuch as angels and demons,but of verysubtle materialfluidsin the
human and otherbodies. Besides the fourhumors- blood, phlegm,choler,and
bile - Galen had distinguishedanimal spiritsconnectedwith the brain, vital
withthe heart,and naturalwiththe liver.Mediaeval alchemistsfurtherapplied
the term,spirits,to such substances as arsenic, quicksilver,sulphur and sal
ammoniac.In the sixteenthcenturyTelesio, in attackingthe naturalphilosophy
of Aristotle,not onlyreliedon such spiritsto explainbodilyfunctions,but even
betweenthe spirits
accountedforintellectualand moralqualitiesby thedifference
in heat, tenuousnessand purity.In the seventeenthcenturyFrancis Bacon, althoughassertingthat his methodwas 'at least new,even in its verynature,'continuedthisemphasisupon spirits.His favoriteexplanationof naturalphenomena
subtleand invisible
was that in all tangiblebodies thereare veryfine,rarefied,
fromone another
spirits,whichare neitherheat norvacuum,air or fire,but differ
as muchas tangiblebodies do. They are almostneverat restand are easilydissipated, evaporate,infuseand boil away. They governnatureprincipally.Gems
have in themfinespirits,as theirsplendorshows,and theymay workupon the
spiritsofmento comfortand exhilaratethem.The leafoftheherbburragehas 'an
excellentspiritto repressthefuliginousvapor ofduskymelancholyand so to cure
madness.'Cats and owls could not see by night,weretherenota littlelight,sufficientfortheirvisual spirits.The reasonwhyblows and bruisesinduce swellings
is that the spiritsrushto relievethatpart ofthe body and drawthe humorswith
them.
For WilliamHarvey,the discovererof the circulationof the blood, the spirits
were neverseparatedfromthe blood, but most authorsof the centurythought
of the animal spiritsas circulatingthroughthe motorand sensorynerves.On the
otherhand, Steno, duringhis stay in Paris in 1664-1665,in a discourseon the
brain beforeThevenot's circle,called the very existenceof animal spiritsinto
by even
question.But in the main such spiritswereaccepted,along witheffluvia,
of nature,and were
the advocates of an atomisticand mechanisticinterpretation
employedas a usefulsubstituteforthe conceptionof occultqualitiesand virtues.
It is true that therewas an increasingtendencyon the part of scepticalEpicureanslike Gassendito rejectoutrightsome of thesereportedmarvelousvirtues
as false.Yet he did not questionthat shellfish
fattenand that the marrowin the
bones of animals increaseswith the waxingof the moon. He attributedit, however,not to an occult influenceof the moon but to particlesof moistureon the
moonwhichare excitedby sunlightand thenborneby the sun's reflectedraysto
earthin greaternumberthan at the timeof the new moon. Similarlythat sheep
shuna wolfwhichtheyhave neverseenbeforeis because thewolfshedscorpuscles
whichare offensive
to the sheep. Or Gassendirepeatsthe statementof Lucretius
thatthereasonwhya lionis scaredby the crowingofa cock is that thecorpuscles
emittedby the cockhurtthe lion'seyes.

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
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695

Withall duerespectto Lucretius

and Gassendi,itmustbe saidthatmorethan
one objectionmaybe raisedagainstthisexplanation.
In the firstplace,what
proofis therethatthecockemitscorpuscles?
Andifso,whyshouldtheybe any
moreinjurious
thanthoseemittedby thehen,especially
whenwe thinkof fascinationbywitches,
ofthepresence
ofa menstruating
womanclouding
a mirror,
and thatthefemaleofthe speciesis moredeadlythanthemale?In thethird
place,whyis itthattheseinjurious
effluvia
areemitted
onlywhenthecockcrows?
In thefourth
place,howand whydo theyinjurethelion'seyesratherthanhis
noseor earsor pawsormane?In thefifth
place,whydo Lucretius
and Gassendi
dodgetheobviousexplanation
thatthesoundofthecrowing
startlesthekingof
beasts,and adopttheextremely
far-fetched
theorythattheeffect
ofa noiseis
feltbyan organofvision?Anyonecouldreadilythinkup a dozenmoreplausible
explanations.
But justso longas it is atomistic
andcorpuscular,
it is goodenough
forGassendi.
Aristotleand Pliny had told of the little fishcalled echeneis (xEwXvfas) of

whicha singlespecimen
couldbringa shipinfullsailto a suddenhaltbyattachingitselfto thekeel.Plinyindeedhad waxedeloquenton thesubjectas follows:
We havenowarrivedat theculminating
pointofthewonders
manifested
to us by the
operations
ofNature.Andevenat theveryoutset,we findspontaneously
presented
to us
an incomparable
illustration
ofhermysterious
powers....
Whatis theremoreunruly
thanthesea,withitswinds,itstornadoes,
anditstempests?
And yet in whatdepartment
of herworkshas Naturebeen moresecondedby human
thaninthisby theinvention
ingenuity,
ofsailsandoars?We arefurther
impressed
bythe
ineffable
powerofoceantides,as theyconstantly
ebb and flow,and regulate
thecurrents
ofthesea as thoughthesewerethewatersofone vastriver.
Yet a singlefish,and thatofverydiminutive
size- thefishknownas theecheneis
can counteract
all theseforces,
thoughactingin unisonand impelling
in thesamedirection.Windsmayblowandstorms
mayrage,yettheecheneis
controls
theirfury,
restrains
theirmighty
force,and bidsshipshaltin theircourse;a resultwhichno cables,no anchors... couldeverhaveproduced.A fishbridlestheimpetuous
violence
ofthedeepand
- and all thisby no effort
subduesthefrantic
rageoftheuniverse
ofitsown,no act of
resistance
on itspart,no act at all, in fact,exceptattaching
itselfto thekeel.

Plinygoeson to tellhowtheflagship
ofAntonywas thushaltedat thebattleof
andmorerecently
Actium,
thefive-banked
galleyoftheEmperorCaligula.
Withsuchspecific
oftheauthority
confirmation
ofAristotle,
fewventured
to
questionthetruthofthestatement.
The church
BasilandIsidoreofSeville
father
quotedPliny;WilliamofAuvergne
acceptedit inthethirteenth
Thomas
century.
of Cantimpre
said thatit had seemedincredible
to many,but sinceAmbrose,
Jacques,Aristotle,
Isidore,and Basilall affirmed
it,he didnotseehowtherewas
any roomleftfordoubt.Giovannida Fontanacontinued
credulousconcerning
it in theearlyfifteenth
Gianniniverymuchdoubtedit in thesixteenth
century.
of Aristotle,
century,
despitethe authority
Pliny,and Aelian,but the sceptic
Sanchezacceptedit withoutquestion,as did Gesner,Freige,and others.Pomponazzisuggested
thattheecheneisoperatedby occultvirtuelikethemagnet;
a signoftheproximity
Fracastoro
thatitwasmerely
thought
ofmagnetic
mountainswhichwerethe immediate
causeof the ship'sstopping;
Cardanheldthat
theecheneisattacheditselfto therudderratherthanthekeeland wobbledit so

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
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that the ship could not proceed.If true,Gianninicould attributethe effectonly

to occult virtue.In the seventeenthcentury,ofmorethantwentyauthorswhom
I have examined,onlythreeor fourdeniedit. For ValerioMartini,it was stillan
exampleof occult virtue.For Francisco Torrelbancaof Cordova, it and the torpedo fish were unmistakableexamples of magic, along with the magnet,asbestos, and ever-burninglamps found in ancient sepulchers.Campenella suggested that the echeneisstupefiedthe vessel and renderedit repugnantto its
naturalmotion,as the bite of a mad dog makes its victiminhumanand canine.
Gassendidiscussedit fora fullfoliocolumnand attributedthe ship's stoppingto
an adversecurrentratherthan the remora.Horst in 1682 wrotethat the faculty
by whichthe echeneisstoppedshipswas the contraryof that by whichthe magnet attractediron.Henckel in 1690 could do no betterthan repeat the reasoning
of the greatSpanish schoolmanSuarez in thepreviouscentury.
Some say that,as thehand ofthe throwergivesan impetusto themissilewhich
keepsit goingafterit has lefthis hand, so the remoraor echeneisimprintsa nonimpetusupon the ship whichkeeps it standingstill. Otherssay that it detains
the vessel by innatevirtue,as a man holds a stone in his hand so that it cannot
fall.Yet otherssay that it so attachesitselfto the ship that it cannotbe moved,
nor can the ship. Suarez's own conclusionis that, however,it happens, thereis
no doubt that it comesfromsome marvelousand occultvirtue,aided verylikely
by some special and connaturalcelestialinfluence.
Besides such occult virtue and celestial influence,sympathyand antipathy
were an explanationof apparentmagic and action at a distanceto whichresort
was made as oftenin theseventeenthas in themediaevalcenturies,as thetwentysix treatisesin the Theatrumsympatheticum
of 1662 bear witnessand repeated
referenceto the conceptionby many otherwriters.Weapon ointmentnow commanded moreattentionand supportthan it had in the sixteenthcentury.Much
discussedwas the questionwhetherthe corpseof the victimwould bleed at the
approach of the murdererand only at his approach, a question ventilatedby
Nicole Oresmeand Henny of Hesse in the fourteenthcenturyand by Galeotto
Marzio in the fifteenth.
Indeed, Peter of Abano, the famousConciliator,at the
end of the thirteenth
centuryin a passage of his Commentaryupon the Problems
of Aristotle,had given an explanationof the phenomenonwhichwas repeated
by Lazarus Gutierezof the Universityof Valladolid in 1653 and whichwas perhaps both as ingeniousand as probableas any that was offered.The slayer,by
virtueof his furyand strongimagination,had impressedon his victimspiritsof
hostilityaroused at thetimeof thecrimeand emittedfromhis - the slayer'sbody. When the murdererreappears,thesematerialspiritstend to returnto his
bodywheretheybelong.In doingso, theystirthecorpseand drawblood fromthe
wound with or afterthem. Othersattemptedto explain the bleedingcorpse in
termsof sympathyand antipathy.
The forceof sympathywas also involved in the Biolychnium
of JohannErnst
Burggrav.This Lamp of Life and Death was fedwitha liquid made fromhuman
blood whichburnedas long as the blood-giverlived,wentout whenhe died, and
whenhe fellill.
presumablyflickered

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M ediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth

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For suchdiseasesas dropsy,jaundice,and leprosy,Burggravgave thefollowing

prescription.Empty an egg and fillthe shell with some of the patient's blood,
then close the aperturewith fish-glue.Place the egg under a settinghen fora
to the
fortnight,
thenfeedit to a pig or a dog,and the diseasewill be transferred
animal. Such transplantationor magic transferof disease to plants and animals
was muchpracticedin theseventeenthcentury,and manyexamplesofit mightbe
given.
Anotherexampleof the beliefin sympathythenis had in the oftrepeatedtale
of the graftednose, which,when the originalownerof the skinemployedin the
grafting
died,rottedand felloff.Caspar Schottin 1665,however,cast doubt upon
this story.He furthermore
declaredimpossiblethe supposed sympatheticaction
oftwo compassesat a greatdistancefromeach other,or thatfriendsafterhaving
mingleda little of theirblood, could communicatefromafar. If one of them
prickedhis skin,similarpuncturesweresaid to appear upon thebodyoftheother.
In the fourteenthcenturyWilliam de Marra of Padua, in a workon poisons
addressedto Pope Urban V (1362-1370), suggestedas an explanationforhydrophobia that thepatientshunnedwaterbecause vaporsfromhiseyes,infectedwith
rabies,werereflectedin the waterand made him imaginethat he saw therethe
to the beliefthat bits of fleshor
dog whichhad bit him.Williamfurtherreferred
fat resemblingpuppies appear in the patient's urine,and it was repeated by
Christopherde Honestis and JohnMartin laterin the same century.This latter
notionpersistedin the seventeenthcenturyand is foundas late as 1709 in Garmann's De miraculismortuorum,
althoughS. A. Fabricius had publisheda medical disquisitionagainst it at Padua in 1665 and Meibomiusand Gaspar a Reies
had questionedit earlier.But Daniel Sennert(1572-1637), who formany was a
greatmedical authority,had rungfurtherchangesand variationsupon it, such
as discussingwhetherand why imagesof dogs sometimesappear in the urineof
fromhydrophobia,or repeating,
mad dogs - ratherthan in that of the sufferer
peras Frommannremindsus in 1675,upon the solemnassurancesoftrustworthy
sons, that animals similarto small puppies are generatedfromthe foamof mad
dogswhichhas adheredto one's clothing.
remarkedthat the bite of the spidercalled tarantula
Williamde Marra further
was relievedby music, because its poison induced melancholy,for which the
best antidoteis rejoicing.The vulgarand ignorantsay that the insectitselfsings
whenit bites,and that,whenthepatienthearssimilarcadences,it is a greatrelief
to him. Williamwas unwillingto entertainthisexplanation,but he thoughtthat
it mightbe possiblethat the pleasurederivedfromthemusicattractedthe spirits
fromwithinthe body to its peripheryand so preventedthe poison frompenecenturydiscussionsofthebiteof
tratingto the vitals.From a scoreofseventeenth
the tarantula,let us take forcomparisonthat by Walter Charleton,an Oxford
M.D. and Fellow oftheRoyal Society,who in 1654publisheda resumein English
of the Epicurean or atomic naturalscienceof Gassendi,whose discussionof the
same matterit resemblesbut is longerand moredetailed.
The bite of the tarantulamakes a man 'dance most violentlyat the same time
curedthereby,beinginvincible
everyyear'as whenle was bit, 'tillhe be perfectly

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
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byanyotherantidotebut Musick,'whichaffectstheanimalspiritsin the brainand

so thewholebodyand attenuatesthepoison'by a way verylikethat offermentation,'settingthepatientto dancinguntilthevenomis expelledby a profusesweat.
Differentvictimsrequiredifferent
tunes and musical instrumentsto dance to,
accordingto the type of tarantulathat has bitten them and also accordingto
theirown temperaments.
The melancholyneeds drums,trumpetsand sackbuts;
the cholericand sanguineare cured by stringedinstruments.
The musiciansof
Taranto seek out a tarantulalike the one whichbit the patient,findout what
tunes the spider will dance to, and then employ them with success upon the
patient.But a Frenchwriter,Meyssonnier,added the cautionthatmusicavailed
not in the case of thosewho had drunkwine in whicha tarantulahad drowned.
The possibilityof prolonginglifeto 120 years,or of renewingone's youthlike
the snake and the eagle, of discoveringan alchemicalelixirof life,or a fountain
ofyouthin theNew World,stilloccupiedmen'smindsin theseventeenthcentury.
Francis Bacon seems to have been more interestedin the prolongationof life
and health than in the cure of disease. He thoughtthat purgeswere more conducive to a long life than exerciseand sweats were, arguingthat perspiration
droveout not onlynoxioushumorsbut also good juices and spirits.On the other
hand, frequentblood-lettingmightbe beneficialby renewingthe fluidsof the
body. He held that personswith long legs were likelyto live longerthan those
withlongtrunks.He knewa greatman who attaineda longlifeand whosecustom
it was to have a freshsod of earthbroughtto him everymorningwhilehe was
stillin bed, and he would hold his head over it forsome time.Unicornhornwas
ratherout of favorwhenBacon wrote,but the bezoar stone,gold and powdered
pearls, emeraldsor jacinths,were still highlyregardedas promotinglongevity.
Amonghis own favoriteswere 'Grains of Youth' and 'Methusalemwater.' The
formercomprisedfourparts of nitre,threeof ambergris,two of orris-powder,
one-quarterof whitepoppy seed, one-halfof saffron,
with water of orangeblossoms and a littletragacanth.These ingredientswere to be made into foursmall
grainswhichwereto be taken at fouro'clock or upon retiringforthe night.Methusalemwaterwas theproductofrepeatedwashing,steeping,dryingand pulverizingof shells,tops of rosemary,pearl, ginger,whitepoppy seed, saffron,
nitre,
ambergris,cucumberssliced in milkand stewed in wine,vinegar,spiritsofwine,
and so forth.Bacon tells us that Frederick'Barbarossa in his extremeold age'
- he was not yet seventywhenhe died on the thirdcrusade -by the advice of
his Jewishphysicianapplied youngboys to his abdomento warmand comfortit,
and otherold men 'lay whelps(creaturesof the hottestkind) close to theirstomachs everynight.'Despite such nostrums,Bacon died at sixty-five.
Francisco Torreblancaof Cordova believed that old men mightrenewtheir
youth,and that the phoenixlives to be fivehundredyearsold, because it never
indulgesin sexual intercourse.He furtherassures us that the devil can enable a
man to fastfora longtime,forthe chameleon,accordingto Pliny,has sucha large
lung that it can live on air alone, whileabout the year 1288 a girlhad subsisted
for thirtyyears on the eucharist alone. SimilarlyAthanasius Kircher in his
Mundus subterraneustellsof a diverwho spentso much timeunderwaterthat a

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web grewbetweenhis fingerslike that on the footof a duck, whilehis lungsbeforan entireday.
came so distendedthat theycontaineda supplyof air sufficient
Speakingof waterof orangeblossoms,it may be noted that Sir Isaac Newton
breakfastedregularlyon 'orangepeel boiled in waterwhichhe drank' insteadof
tea, 'sweetenedwith sugar and with bread and butter.He thinksthis dissolves
phlegm,'we are told.
Such favoritephrasesoflate mediaevalscholasticismand of thepseudo-Lullian
alchemicalcorpusas caliduminnatum(innateheat) and humidumradicale(fundamentalmoisture)were abandoned by Caspar Bartholinusin the last decade of
the seventeenthcentury.But theformerphrasehad been employedby Caimus in
1616,by Marcus Marci in 1635,Zaccagniniin 1644,Conringin 1647,and Hoffman
radicalewas used by Bartolettiin 1619, WilliamHarvey
in 1667; whilehtumidum
in 1651,and J. J. Becher,who at Munich had the finestchemicallaboratoryin
Europe,in 1669.EarlierJeand'Espagnethad describedit as 'somethingimmortal,
which neitherdisappears with death nor is consumedby . .. the most violent
fire,but remainsunconqueredin corpsesand ashes.' In 1648 the French Jesuit,
EtienneNatalis, said that the spiritscontainedin humidumradicaledivided into
theother,celestial.
materialand formalparts,one elementary,
It may seem a long cryfromthe seventeenthcenturyback to the Etymologies
of Isidore of Seville in the early seventhcentury.Yet, when Caspar Bauhin,
noted primarilyas a botanist,publishedtwo books on the natureof hermaphrodites and monstrousbirthsfromthe opinions of theologians,jurisconsults,
medical men, philosophersand rabbis, they were furtherdescribedin the long
Latin title as plane philologici.In a work on the salamanderby Wurffbainin
1683, the openingchapteron whethersuch an animal existedwas followedby
beforea wordwas
homonyms,and synonyms,
otherchaptersupon its etymology,
favorsaid of its naturalhistoryand reputedlivingin fire,forwhichhe listedfifty
ingauthorsand ten againstthisbased upon experiment.
had firstsubmittedhis workto the GermanAcademyofthe Curious
Wurffbain
Nature. This lead was promptlyfollowedin a bigway and pettymanconcerning
ner by ChristianFranz Paullini. His Cynographiacuriosaor Descriptionof the
Dog was 'accordingto the methodand laws of the illustriousAcademy of the
Curiousas to Nature,' and was prefacedby lettersof congratulationand recommembersof that societyand twenty-five
mendationby no fewerthan thirty-six
others.The workwas in foursections:the firstwas philological-physical-anatomical; the second was about the sacred,political,economic,and satanic use of the
dog; the third,chemical-medical;and the fourth,physico-medical.Paullini followedit up the verynextyearby a treatiseon the toad whichwas also according
to themethodand lawsoftheaforesaidacademyand whichhe dedicatedto Wurffand medical-pracbain. It was in two sections: philological-historical-physical,
son,
storyof the ungrateful
tical. In it Thomas of Cantimpre'sthirteenth-century
goose, and toad is spun out at great length,Paullini recountsthe spontaneous
generationof the toad, its antipathy with the spider, tells of the toadstone
(Bufonites),that Norwegian pitch poisons toads, and questions whetherthe
basiliskis producedby a toad sittingon the egg laid by a cock. The answeris:

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700

Century
MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth

NTotordinarily.From dog and toad Paullini proceededto volumeson the sacred

herb,salvia, mole, eel, hare,wolf,and ass. Judgingfromthe threeof these that
I have examined,all followa similarplan ofpresentationand professto be according to the normof the Academy.In that on the wolfthereis a chapterupon its
use in prodigiesand portents.That on the ass includeschapterson asinineprodigies and omens,asinine dreams,asinine miraclesand forecasts,pretendedand
use oftheass, and magicaluse of it.
ass-worship,superstitious
superstitious
Afterlonghesitation,AthanasiusKircherfeltobligedto admitthe existenceof
flyingdragons,as RogerBacon had done in his day. Kirchertellsof one withtwo
feet and wings seen in Switzerlandin 1619 and of anotherslain by a Roman
hunterin 1660. Its head was broughtto Kircher'smuseum,and it had had two
while the
feet like those of a goose, but, when found,it had already putrefied,
hunterhad died that nightfromits poison. Kircherfurthertells of a mediaeval
wingeddragonon the islandofRhodes witha poisonousbreath,whichhad proved
to attack
to be so invinciblethat the local kingfinallyforbadeanyonehenceforth
it. Neverthelessa certainDeodatus de Gozano fromItaly decided to make the
attempt.In 1345 he constructedan artificialdragon and trainedhis horse and
dogs to attack it, whilehis servantswereprovidedwithdrugsto resuscitatehim
fromthe venomof the dragon'sbreath,Thus prepared,he returnedto Rhodes to
encounterthe dragon.Afterthe dogs had gallantlyfulfilledtheirfunction,and
the dragon,distractedby pain and chagrin,had rearedup on its hind legs,thus
exposingthe vulnerableside of its body,the doughtlyDeodatus, puttingspursto
his steed,chargedin and deliveredthe coup de grace.The kingneverthelessimprisonedhim forhavingdisobeyedthe ordinance,but the people murmuredso
that he was soon releasedand ultimatelybecame the king'ssuccessor.
The statementsof the Bible concerningnatural phenomenaand occult arts
in theseventeenthcentury
carriedas muchweightand createdas greatdifficulties
as theyhad throughthemediaevalperiod.The accountof creationin the Book of
the sun standingstill,the asp closingits
Genesis,the watersabove thefirmament,
ear to the incantationsof snake charmers,how the carnivorousanimalsin Noah's
ark werefed,the witchofEndor and apparitionof Samuel,the featsofPharaoh's
magicians,the star of the Magi, the eclipse duringthe Passion, Behemothand
Leviathan,Jacob and the ewes, and Rachel and the mandrakes,were but some
of the passages of Scripturethat raisedproblemswhichwererehearsedoncemore
in the seventeenthcentury.JohnBetts,royalphysicianin ordinary,Fellow ofthe
London Medical College,and associated with Harvey, in a book of 1669 on the
originand natureofthe blood,explainedthe 'cloven tongueslikeas of fire,'which
appeared above the heads of the Apostlesat Pentecost,as animal spiritsor the
fierypart of the blood whichsometimesburstforthintoflame.A book that was
reviewedin PhilosophicalTransactionsin 1665 held that Solomon had already
been acquainted with the circulationof the blood. Becher,who was famousfor
his industrialinventionsas well as forhis chemicallaboratory,assigneda large
that they had produced
share in the processof creationto angels. He affirmed
both macrocosmand microcosmby arrangingparticlesinto 'the ideas of various
species and bodies,' to which the remainingparticlesof matterwere then attracted.

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
Century

701

Paracelsus was much cited by the alchemistsand chemistsof the seventeenth

century,but they also went back to mediaeval authoritiessuch as Arnald of
Villanova and Raymond Lull. Indeed, Duchesne or Quercetanusearly in the
centuryprotestedthathe had neverabandonedthe dogmaticschoolofHippocrates, and that he condemnedthe Paracelsistsbut had imitatedsuch good old authorsas RaymondLull, RogerBacon, Ripley,Rupescissa,and Christopher
ofParis
- all datingfromthe thirteenth
to the fifteenth
century.
A treatiseon the elixirforwhiteand forred (silverand gold) and on the great
philosophicstone is representedin the editionof 1664 as havingbeen composed
in 1632. We read, 'By my hope of heaven I have declaredto you what my eyes
have seen,my hands have operated,my fingershave extracted.And I have written thisbookletwithmy own hand, and signedit with my name,whenI was in
the last agony,the year 1632, May seventh.'Really the date should be 7 May,
as manuscriptsof theworkat Cassel and Orleansshow.
1432?,
On the otherhand, no manuscriptsof The TriumphalChariotofAntimonyby
Basil Valentine,whichwas so muchcitedin thecourseoftheseventeenthcentury,
are earlierthan the middleof that century,while the workwas firstprintedin
Germanin the earlyyearsof the century,and did not appear in Latin translation
untilthedecade ofthe 'forties.Basil Valentinewas supposedto have been a monk
in the fifteenth
centuryand a precursorof Paracelsus,but his name firstappears
in 1599.
For many men in the seventeenthcenturyRoger Bacon was a kindredspirit.
RobertFludd agreedwithGabriel Naude that Roger had been wronglyaccused
of evil magic and had cherishedonly the good variety.Jacques Gaffarelcited
Bacon in his Unheard-of
Curiositiesof 1629. Campanella duringhis long imprisonmentmade extravagantpromisesof the marvelswhichhe would work,if released fromcaptivity,whichremindone of Roger's programforeducationand
experimentalscience.He assured Cardinal Odoardo Farnese that, if set free,he
would teach natural and moral philosophy,logic, rhetoric,poetic, politics,astrology,and medicine- all withina year's time and in admirablefashion,acmorethantenyearsofordinarystudyin the schoolswould.He would
complishing
reformastronomyand the calendar.He would prove against Aristotle,Ptolemy
and Copernicus- in favorof the Evangel - that the end of the worldwould by
by fire.Underpain of losingall creditas a scholar,ifhe failed,he wouldfabricate
a marvelouscity and ships that move withoutoars or sails. He would open the
wholeworldlike a book fromhis mouthin two months,and, 'whenyou hear me,
yourbooks will seem to you meretricksofjugglers.'If he but open his mouthat
Rome, 'you will see a new heaven and a new earth,and fromnorthand south a
greatrushto the CatholicFaith.' Gassendimightsneerat Bacon forrepresenting
Artephiusas livingfora thousandyearsby usinga universalmedicineor elixirof
life,but failingto reach one hundredyears himself.Marcus Marci cited him on
therainbowthroughCombach's editionofhis sectionon Optics in Specula mathematica(Frankfurt,1614), as wellas Kepler's commentaryon Bacon's contemporary,Witelo.Borrichiusin 1649 and Websterin 1671made use of the 'Epistle on
the SecretWorksof Art and Nature and Nullity of Magic.' And when Robert
Boyle writes:'I shallnot scrupleto confessto you thatI disdainnot to take notice

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709l

MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
Century

even ofludicrousexperiments,
and thinkthat the "plays ofboys" may sometimes
deserveto be the studyof philosophers,'he remindsus of Roger's ideal experimentalistwho 'blushedifsome laymanor old-wifeor soldieror rusticknewwhat
he ignored'and who 'examinedeven the experiments
of old-wivesand considered
theirdivinationsand incantationsand those of all the magicians,and likewise
the tricksand illusionsof all the jugglers,in orderthat nothingwhichhe ought
to know mightescape him.' Sebastian Wirdig,in his New Medicine (Hamburg,
1673), quoted the 'Secret Works of Art and Nature' fora full page, and later
quoted Bacon on talismansfornearlya page.
AlbertusMagnus, too, was not forgottenin the seventeenthcentury.In the
catalogue of the Museo Calceolario at Verona,whichcontainedspecimensfrom
all threekingdoms:animal,vegetableand mineral,he was frequentlycitedalong
with Pliny and Dioscorides. Valerio Martini used him in his treatiseon colors.
Worksof doubtfulauthenticityand magical contentascribedto him,such as the
Secretaand De mirabilibusmundi,were perhaps those which were read most.
Mersenneand Boyle questionedthe genuineness
ofsuchworks,but wereprobably
unawarethat in some cases similarstatementsmay be foundin Albert'swritings
of undisputedauthenticity.Thus astrologicalimages,for which I have found
him cited by fourauthors in the seventeenthcentury,are supportedin his De
mineralibus.At any rate, we findhim cited by Sennertand Castiglioneforan
amulet;Martiusin 1700recallshis speakinghead. But J. J. Becher,writingto the
Royal Societyin 1680,had dismissedas a fable the storythat AlbertusMagnus
had constructeda walkingautomatonwhichsaluted and spoke to Thomas Aquinas, whenitmethim.WhenAquinas smashedit,Albertuscomplainedthathe had
destroyedthe labor of twentyyears.Guibeletin 1603 citesAlbertusfora woman
bearingtwenty-twochildrenat one birth;Besard in 1617, on ways to win love;
Combach in 1620,forarguingthat the starsmightgeneratea human beingfrom
a cow. Alexanderde Vicentinisin 1634 denied the contentionof astrologersthat
dreams were caused by the stars,and the opinion of AlbertusMagnus - and
Dante - that a continuouseffluvium
froma celestialformaffectedthe imagination of the dreamer.Alvaro AlonsoBarba stillcitedAlbertusin his book on metallurgyof 1640. But Marten Schoock,in his CelestialPhysicspublishedat Amsterdamin 1663,refusedto listento AlbertusMagnus and otherswho attributed
outbreaksof the plague to planetaryconjunctions.From De mirabilibusmundi
wererepeatedsuch prescriptions
as rubbingone's eyes withthe blood of a bat in
orderto be able to see in the dark.
Indeed, in generalwe findthe books of secretsand of so-calledexperimentsof
thirteenth-century
manuscriptsclosely paralleled,in seventeenth-century
publications.Much was said of secretsand arcana of nature,and in favorofa mystic
and crypticstyleof writing,particularlyin alchemy.Medical cases and prescriptionswerestill spokenof as experiments.A singlesecretprescription,
powder,or
pill mightmake a physicianrich,and the secretwas as carefullyguardedas the
prize trickof a magician. George Wilson whose CompleteCourse of Chymistry
was firstpublishedin 1691, tells us that 'Mr. Lockyergot a good estate' by the
compositionof his pill. He adds the compositionof a pill whichhe had from'Dr.
Starkey'sown mouth,in theyear 1665,a littlebeforehis death; whothentoldme,

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MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
Century

703

he gave Matthewsthe former(pill) fora littlemoney;but this is that whichhe

successfullymade use of himself.'A fewpages later Wilsonremarksconcerning
Starkey'sand Matthews' pill, 'Those gentlemenwho have not the conveniency
to prepareit may fortwentyshillingsthe pound have it of me.' Sometimessuch
remediesborefancynames,as 'MitigatedDragon' or 'MagnanimousConception.'
Abbe Bourdelotwrotein 1675 that, since he began to practicemedicine,he had
knownfortyor fifty
physicians,each ofwhomhad his particularsecret.He called
themkingsfora fewdays, and deemed it more advisable to beware of a man
witha singlesecretthanofa man ofone book.
Walter Harris, royal physician,issued his Anti-EmpiricalPharmacologyin
1683. Althoughin timespast the worldhad been involvedin dark and dismal ignorance,he believedthat it was now so enlightenedthat all occultarts had vanished, 'and nothingbut superstition,a deluge of gross superstition,can revive
themagain. For, althoughthe worldis as naturallyinclinedto superstitionas to
any one vice that can be named,yet it is neverliketo overwhelmEurope as it has
done.' Chemicalremedies,however,wereso therage,havingthe charmofnovelty
and mystery,
thatthepreparationsofnatureor ofold medicinewereundervalued.
All thatpotable goldamountedto was a meresolutionofgoldby corrosivespirits;
Harriswouldratherjust boil it. He was opposedto transmutation
and projection,
even if possible. Six greatremedieswhichhe thoughtwere too much magnified
weremercury,antimony,vitriol,steel,Jesuits'powder(i.e., quinine),and opium.
Dr Willis'spreparationofsteel,nevertheless,
was notonly'hithertoa greatsecret
and sold at a great price,' but also the 'masterpieceof that eminentand ever
famousman.'
Also,Harrisstillfavoredthe use of compoundmedicines.'As diseasesare complicated, the medicinesmust be so likewise.' Theriac Andromacheor Venice
Treacle, which had sixtyodd ingredients,'will claim a preferencebeforemost
others.'But bothit and Mithridatewerenow verylittleused in France.
As forcharacters,charmsand seals, theirefficacydepended on deludingthe
patient'simagination.'ifthe disease be merelyimaginaryand false,the truecure
must be likewisefalse and imaginary.'Sometimessuch cures acquire a widespread reputation.But as 'reasonersand doubterstry'one, and it failsto work
forthem,othermengraduallylose faithin it.
In a closingchapter,'Of Mountebanksand other sorts of Empirics,'Harris
complainedthat in othercountriesthey 'are despisedas the verydirt,'but continueto flourishin England.
The validityof astrologyand the realityof witchcraftwere repeatedlydebated throughthe courseof the seventeenthcentury.Morin,whose Astrologia
Gallicawas an elaborateattemptto rehabilitatethat art,had been presentat the
birthofthe infantLouis XIV in orderto timeexactlythe horoscopeof the future
GrandMonarque,and owed his appointmentto a royal professorship
in mathematicsat the UniversityofParis to theastrologicalservicewhichhe had rendered
Catherinede' Medici. Astrologicalimages,however,he rejectedas inefficacious,
to pay himhandsomelyforthem.
althoughmay lordsand ladies offered
In 1625 appeared the book of GabrielNaude on greatpersonnagesin the past
who had been falselyaccused of magic. A centuryand a halflater Abbe Claude-

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704

MediaevalMagic in theSeventeenth
Century

Marie Guyon,in the eighthvolumeofhis BibliotheIque

eccl(siastique(Paris, 1771)
was much impressedby Naude's thesis,agreed withhim that judicial astrology
was the foundationof otheroccult arts,and distinguishednaturalfromsuperstitious and diabolical magic. Yet, despite the warningby Naude to writerson
witchcraft
to be more sceptical,the Abbe Guyon recountsin proofof diabolical
magic an utterlyabsurd and incredibletale of shepherdsaccused of bewitching
animals at Pacy. They appealed to the Parlementof Paris in 1688, and the last
executionforsorceryby the ParlementofParis was also at Pacy in 1691.
Some thinkthat PierreDuhem went too farin supportof his contentionthat
the dynamicsofseventeenthcenturyphysicswas launchedback in thefourteenth
century.At least his was a wholesomereactionwhichhas turnedscholarsto investigationof the neglectedphysicalscienceof the earliercentury.I may note
anotherexampleof that neglect.There weremanywriterson the rainbowin the
seventeenthcentury,but few,ifany, of themwereaware that Dietrichof Friewithhimhad offered
bergand a writerin Arabiccontemporary
essentiallycorrect
explanationsof it in the firstyearsof thefourteenth
century.More than this,the
learnededitorsofthe splendidmoderneditionoftheworksofHuygens,who have
in the historyof science,werein
done so muchto correctothermisapprehensions
the year 1932 in theirseventeenthvolumeequally in ignoranceofDietrich'streatise, althoughin the interimit had been printedin part in 1814,in whole in 1914,
and discussedrepeatedly.
Magic was stillintermingled
withsciencein the seventeenthcentury.There is
generalagreementthat the Principia of Sir Isaac Newton was the outstanding
and most epoch-makingbook of the century.In his other scientificpublished
works,too, Newtonwas carefulnot to includeanythingthat was not firmlysupportedby experimentalproofsand geometricaldemonstration,
of whichhe did
not feel certain,and whichhe feltshould promptlyconvinceeveryoneelse, althoughit did not always succeed immediatelyin doingso. But he leftmorethan
a millionwordsin manuscriptwhich,we are assured,are 'ofno substantialvalue.'
Yet they 'were nearly all composed duringthe same twenty-five
years of his
mathematicalstudies,'and 'are just as sane as the Principia,iftheirwholematter
and purposewerenotmagical.'"Thescopeand characterofthesepapershave been
hushedup,' continuesLord Keynes, whose brilliantcontributionto the Newton
of 1947 I have been quoting,'or at least minimized,by
Celebrations
Tercentenary
nearlyall those who have inspectedthem.' Speakingespeciallyof the alchemical
section,Lord Keynes said: 'I have glancedthrougha greatquantityof this- at
least 100,000words,I shouldsay. It is utterlyimpossibleto denythat it is wholly
magical and whollydevoid of scientificvalue; and also impossiblenot to admit
that Newton devotedyearsof workto it.' And so Lord Keynes has not so much
takenthewordsout ofmymouth- forI wouldnothave venturedto utterthem,
as he has broughtgristto mymill,the HistoryofMagic and Experimental
Science,
the supremefigureof seventeenthcenturyscienceas 'The Last of
by representing
to whomtheMagi could do sincereand
the Magicians,'and 'the last wonder-child
appropriatehomage.'
COLUMBIA

UNIVERSITY

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