,transcriber's note    ,this is derived 
from a copy on the ,internet ,archive3  
http3_/_/www4archive4org_/details_/catho
licchurchme#jjhgdbmbp    ,page numbers  
in this book are indicated by numbers   
enclosed in curly   braces1 e4g4 #ii4   
,they have been located where page      
breaks occurred   in the original book4 
,obvious spelling errors have been      
corrected but inventive and             
inconsistent spelling is left unchanged4
    ,extended quotations and citations  
are indented4    ,footnotes have been   
renumbered to avoid ambiguity1 and      
relocated   to the end of the enclosing 
paragraph4  ,end ,transcriber's note    
,,catholic ,,churchmen ,,in ,,science   
,,first ,,series   ,,sketches ,,of ,,the
 ,,lives ,,of ,,catholic ,,ecclesiastics
 ,,who ,,were ,,among ,,the ,,great     
,,founders ,,in ,,science  ,by  ,,james 
,j4 ,,walsh1 ,k4,,st4,g41 ,m4,d41       
,,ph4,d41 ,,litt4,d4  ,dean and         
,professor of ,medicine and of ,nervous 
,diseases at ,fordham ,university       

,school of ,medicine2 ,professor of     
,physiological ,psychology in the       
,cathedral ,college1 ,new ,york2 ,member
 of ,a4,m4,a41 ,n4,y4 ,state ,med4      
,soc41 ,a4,a4,a4,s41 ,life ,mem of      
,n4,y4 ,historical ,society4    ,,second
 ,,edition    ,,philadelphia  ,american 
,ecclesiastical ,review  ,the ,dolphin  
,press  ,,mcmx4    ,,copyright4 #aijf1  
#aiaj  ,american ,ecclesiastical ,review
  ,the ,dolphin ,press    ,a sorrow's   
crown of sorrow4    ,,this ,,book ,,is  
,,affectionately ,,dedicated ,,to ,,the 
,,memory ,,of ,,my ,,mother  vii        
,,preface4  ,the following sketches of  
the lives of clergymen who were great   
scientists have appeared at various     
times during the past five years in     
,catholic magazines4 ,they were written 
because the materials for them had      
gradually accumulated during the        
preparation of various courses of       
lectures1 and it seemed advisable to put
 them in order in such a way that they  
might be helpful to others working along

 similar lines4 ,they all range         
themselves naturally around the central 
idea that the submission of the human   
reason to ,christian belief1 and of the 
mind and heart to the authority of the  
,church1 is quite compatible with       
original thinking of the highest order1 
and with that absolute freedom of       
investigation into physical science1    
which has only too often been said to be
 quite impossible to churchmen4 ,for    
this reason friends have suggested that 
they should be published together in a  
form in which they would be more easy of
 consultation than when scattered in    
different periodicals4 ,it was urged1   
too1 that they would thus also be more  
effective for the cause which they      
uphold4 ,this friendly suggestion has   
been yielded to1 whether justifiably or 
not the reader must decide for himself4 
,there is so great a flood of books1    
good1 bad1 and indifferent1 ascribing   
their existence to the advice of        
well-meaning friends1 that we poor      

authors are evidently not in a position 
to judge for ourselves of the merit of  
our works or of the possible interest   
they may arouse4  viii  ,i have to thank
 the editors of the ,american ,catholic 
,quarterly ,review1 of the ,ave ,maria1 
and of ,the ,ecclesiastical ,review and 
,the ,dolphin1 for their kind permission
 to republish the articles which        
appeared originally in their pages4 ,all
 of them1 though substantially remaining
 the same1 have been revised1 modified  
in a number of particulars1 and added to
 very considerably in most cases4  ,the 
call for a second edition--the third    
thousand--of this little book is        
gratifying4 ,its sale encouraged the    
preparation of a ,second ,series of     
,,catholic ,,churchmen ,,in ,,science1  
and now the continued demand suggests a 
,third ,series1 which will be issued    
during the year4 ,some minor corrections
 have been made in this edition1 but the
 book is substantially the same4  ix    
,,contents4                             

,,page  ,,preface                       
ix  ,i4    ,,the ,,supposed ,,opposition
 ,,of ,,science ,,and ,,religion        
#c  ,,ii4   ,,copernicus ,,and ,,his    
,,times                                 
#ae  ,,iii4  ,,basil ,,valentine4       
,,founder ,,of ,,modern ,,chemistry     
#de  ,,iv4   ,,linacre3 ,,scholar1      
,,physician1 ,,priest                   
#gi  ,v4    ,,father ,,kircher1 ,s4,j4  
,,scientist1 ,,orientalist1 ,,and       
,,collector  #aaa  ,,vi4   ,,bishop     
,,stensen3 ,,anatomist ,,and ,,father   
,,of ,,geology            #acg  ,,vii4  
,,abbe ,h,a,ue,y3 ,,father ,,of         
,,crystallography                       
#afi  ,,viii4 ,,abbot ,,mendel3 ,a ,,new
 ,,outlook ,,in ,,heredity              
#aie   x  #a  ,i4  ,,the ,,supposed     
,,opposition ,,of ,,science ,,and       
,,religion4  #b  #c  ,i4  ,,the         
,,supposed ,,opposition ,,of ,,science  
,,and ,,religion4  ,a common impression 
prevails that there is serious1 if not  
invincible1 opposition between science  

and religion4 ,this persuasion has been 
minimized to a great degree in recent   
years1 and yet sufficient of it remains 
to make a great many people think that1 
if there is not entire incompatibility  
between science and religion1 there is  
at least such a diversity of purposes   
and aims in these two great realms of   
human thought that those who cultivate  
one field are not able to appreciate the
 labors of those who occupy themselves  
in the other4 ,indeed1 it is usually    
accepted as a truth that to follow      
science with assiduity is practically   
sure to lead to unorthodoxy in religion4
 ,this is supposed to be especially true
 if the acquisition of scientific       
knowledge is pursued along lines that   
involve original research and new       
investigation4 ,somehow1 it is thought  
that any one who has a mind free enough 
from the influence of prejudice and     
tradition to become an original thinker 
or investigator1 is inevitably prone to 
abandon the old orthodox lines of       

thought in respect to religion4  ,like a
 good many other convictions and        
persuasions that exist more or less as  
#d commonplaces in the subconscious     
intellects of a great many people1 this 
is not true4 ,our ,american humorist    
said that it is not so much the         
ignorance of mankind that makes him     
ridiculous as the knowing so many things
 that ain't so4 ,the supposed opposition
 between science and religion is        
precisely an apposite type of one of the
 things that ain't so4 ,it is so firmly 
fixed as a rule1 however1 that many     
people have accepted it without being   
quite conscious of the fact that it     
exists as one of the elements           
influencing many of their judgments--a  
very important factor in their          
apperception4  ,now1 it so happens that 
a number of prominent original          
investigators in modern science were not
 only thoroughly orthodox in their      
religious beliefs1 but were even        
faithful clergymen and guiding spirits  

for others in the path of ,christianity4
 ,the names of those who are included in
 the present volume is the best proof of
 this4 ,the series of sketches was      
written at various times1 and yet there 
was a central thought guiding the       
selection of the various scientific     
workers4 ,most of them lived at about   
the time when1 according to an          
unfortunate tradition that has been very
 generally accepted1 the ,church        
dominated human thinking so tyrannously 
as practically to preclude all notion of
 original investigation in any line of  
thought1 but especially in matters      
relating to physical science4 ,most of  
the men whose lives are sketched lived  
during the fifteenth1 sixteenth1 and    
first half of the #e seventeenth        
centuries4 ,all of them were ,catholic  
clergymen of high standing1 and none of 
them suffered anything like persecution 
for his opinions2 all remained faithful 
adherents of the ,church through long   
lives4  ,it is hoped that this volume1  

without being in any sense              
controversial1 may tend to throw light  
on many points that have been the       
subject of controversy2 and by showing  
how absolutely free these great         
clergymen-scientists were to pursue     
their investigations in science1 it may 
serve to demonstrate how utterly        
unfounded is the prejudice that would   
declare that the ecclesiastical         
authorities of these particular         
centuries were united in their          
opposition to scientific advance4       
,there is no doubt that at times men    
have been the subject of persecution    
because of scientific opinions4 ,in all 
of these cases1 without exception1      
however--and this is particularly true  
of such men as ,galileo1 ,giordano      
,bruno1 and ,michael ,servetus--a little
 investigation of the personal character
 of the individuals involved in these   
persecutions will show the victims to   
have been of that especially irritating 
class of individuals who so constantly  

awaken opposition to whatever opinions  
they may hold by upholding them         
overstrenuously and inopportunely4 ,they
 were the kind of men who could say     
nothing without1 to some extent at      
least1 arousing the resentment of those 
around them who still clung to older    
ideas4 ,we all know this class of       
individual very well4 #f ,in these      
gentler modern times we may even bewail 
the fact that there is no such          
expeditious method of disposing of him  
as in the olden time4 ,this is not a    
defence of what was done in their       
regard1 but is a word of explanation    
that shows how human were the motives at
 work and how unecclesiastical the      
procedures1 even though church          
institutions1 ,protestant and ,catholic 
alike1 were used by the offended parties
 to rid them of obnoxious argumentators4
  ,in this matter it must not be        
forgotten that persecution has been the 
very common associate of noteworthy     
advances in science1 quite apart from   

any question of the relations between   
science and religion4 ,there has        
scarcely been a single important advance
 in the history of applied science      
especially1 that has not brought down   
upon the devoted head of the discoverer1
 for a time at least1 the ill-will of   
his own generation4 ,take the case of   
medicine1 for instance4 ,vesalius was   
persecuted1 but not by the              
ecclesiastical authorities4 ,the bitter 
opposition to him and to his work came  
from his colleagues in medicine1 who    
thought that he was departing from the  
teaching of ,galen1 and considered that 
a cardinal medical heresy not to be     
forgiven4 ,harvey1 the famous discoverer
 of the circulation of the blood1 lost  
much of his lucrative medical practice  
after the publication of his discovery1 
because his medical contemporaries      
thought the notion of the heart pumping 
blood through the arteries to be so     
foolish that they refused to #g admit   
that it could come from a man of common 

sense1 much less from a scientific      
physician4 ,nor need it be thought that 
this spirit of opposition to novelty    
existed only in the sixteenth and       
seventeenth centuries4 ,almost in our   
own time ,semmelweis1 who first taught  
the necessity for extreme cleanliness in
 obstetrical work1 met with so much     
opposition in the introduction of the   
precautions he considered necessary that
 he was finally driven insane4 ,his     
methods reduced the mortality in the    
great lying-in hospitals of ,europe from
 nearly ten per cent for such cases down
 to less than one per cent1 thus saving 
many thousands of lives every year4     
,despite this very natural tendency to  
decry the value of new discoveries in   
science and the opposition they aroused1
 it will be found that the lives of     
these clergymen scientists show us that 
they met with much more sympathy in     
their work than was usually accorded to 
original investigators in science in    
other paths in life4 ,this is so        

different from the ordinary impression  
in the matter that it seems worth while 
calling it to particular attention4     
,while we have selected lives of certain
 of the great leaders in science1 we    
would not wish it to be understood that 
these are the only ones among the       
clergymen of the last four centuries who
 deserve an honorable place high up in  
the roll of successful scientific       
investigators4 ,only those are taken who
 illustrate activity in sciences that   
are supposed to have been especially    
forbidden to clergymen4 ,it #h has been 
said over and over again1 for instance1 
that there was distinct ecclesiastical  
opposition to the study of chemistry4   
,indeed1 many writers have not hesitated
 to say that there was a bull1 or at    
least a decree1 issued by one or more of
 the popes forbidding the study of      
chemistry4 ,this1 is not only not true1 
but the very pope who is said to have   
issued the decree1 ,john ,,xxii1 was    
himself an ardent student of the medical

 sciences4 ,we still possess several    
books from him on these subjects1 and   
his decree was meant only to suppress   
pseudo-science1 which1 as always1 was   
exploiting the people for its own ends4 
,the fact that a century later the      
foundation of modern chemical           
pharmacology was laid by a ,benedictine 
monk1 ,basil ,valentine1 shows how      
unfounded is the idea that the papal    
decree actually hampered in any way the 
development of chemical investigation or
 the advance of chemical science4       
,owing to the ,galileo controversy1     
astronomy is ordinarily supposed to have
 been another of the sciences to which  
it was extremely indiscreet at least1   
not to say dangerous1 for a clergyman to
 devote himself4 ,the great founder of  
modern astronomy1 however1 ,copernicus1 
was not only a clergyman1 but one indeed
 so faithful and ardent that it is said 
to have been owing to his efforts that  
the diocese in which he lived did not go
 over to ,lutheranism during his        

lifetime1 as did most of the other      
dioceses in that part of ,germany4 ,the 
fact that ,copernicus's book was        
involved in the ,galileo trial has      
rendered his #i position still further  
misunderstood1 but the matter is fully  
cleared up in the subsequent sketch of  
his life4 ,as a matter of fact1 it is in
 astronomy particularly that clergymen  
have always been in the forefront of    
advance2 and it must not be forgotten   
that it was the ,catholic ,church that  
secured the scientific data necessary   
for the correction of the ,julian       
,calendar1 and that it was a pope who   
proclaimed the advisability of the      
correction to the world4 ,down to our   
own day there have always been very     
prominent clergymen astronomers4 ,one of
 the best known names in the history of 
the astronomy of the nineteenth century 
is that of ,father ,piazzi1 to whom we  
owe the discovery of the first of the   
asteroids4 ,other well-known names1 such
 as ,father ,secchi1 who was the head of

 the papal observatory at ,rome1 and    
,father ,perry1 the ,english ,jesuit1   
might well be mentioned4 ,the papal     
observatory at ,rome has for centuries  
been doing some of the best work in     
astronomy accomplished anywhere1        
although it has always been limited in  
its means1 has had inadequate resources 
to draw on1 and has succeeded in        
accomplishing what it has done only     
because of the generous devotion of     
those attached to it4  ,to go back to   
the ,galileo controversy for a moment1  
there seems no better answer to the     
assertion that his trial shows clearly  
the opposition between religion1 or at  
least ecclesiastical authorities1 and   
science1 than to recall1 as we have     
done1 in writing the accompanying sketch
 of the #aj life of ,father ,kircher1   
,s4,j41 that just after the trial ,roman
 ecclesiastics very generally were ready
 to encourage liberally a man who       
devoted himself to all forms of physical
 science1 who was an original thinker in

 many of them1 who was a great teacher1 
whose writings did more to disseminate  
knowledge of advances in science than   
those of any man of his time1 and whose 
idea of the collection of scientific    
curiosities into a great museum at ,rome
 7which still bears his name7 was one of
 the fertile germinal suggestions in    
which modern science was to find seeds  
for future growth4  ,it is often        
asserted that geology was one of the    
sciences that was distinctly opposed by 
churchmen2 yet we shall see that the    
father of modern geology1 one of the    
greatest anatomists of his time1 was not
 only a convert to ,catholicity1 but    
became a clergyman about the time he was
 writing the little book that laid the  
foundation of modern geology4 ,we shall 
see1 too1 that1 far from religion and   
science clashing in him1 he afterwards  
was made a bishop1 in the hope that he  
should be able to go back to his native 
land and induce others to become members
 of that ,church wherein he had found   

peace and happiness4  ,in the modern    
times biology has been supposed to be   
the special subject of opposition1 or at
 least fear1 on the part of             
ecclesiastical authorities4 ,it is for  
this reason that the life of ,abbot     
,mendel has been introduced4 ,while     
working in #aa his monastery garden in  
the little town of ,bruenn in ,moravia1 
this ,augustinian monk discovered       
certain precious laws of heredity that  
are considered by progressive           
twentieth-century scientists to be the  
most important contributions to the     
difficult problems relating to          
inheritance in biology that have been   
made4  ,these constitute the reasons for
 this little book on ,catholic clergymen
 scientists4 ,it is published1 not with 
any ulterior motives1 but simply to     
impress certain details of truth in the 
history of science that have been       
neglected in recent years and1 by       
presenting sympathetic lives of great   
clergymen scientists1 to show that not  

only is there no essential opposition   
between science and religion1 but on the
 contrary that the quiet peace of the   
cloister and of a religious life have   
often contributed not a little to that  
precious placidity of mind which seems  
to be so necessary for the discovery of 
great1 new scientific truths4   #ab     
,,ii4  ,,copernicus ,,and ,,his ,,times4
   #ac  ,all the vast and most          
progressive systems that human wisdom   
has brought forth as substitutes for    
religion1 have never succeeded in       
interesting any but the learned1 the    
ambitious1 or at most the prosperous and
 happy4 ,but the great majority of      
mankind can never come under these      
categories4 ,the great majority of men  
are suffering1 and suffering from moral 
as well as physical evils4 ,man's first 
bread is grief1 and his first want is   
consolation4 ,now which of these systems
 has ever consoled an afflicted heart1  
or repeopled a lonely one8 ,which of    
these teachers has ever shown men how to

 wipe away a tear8 ,christianity alone  
has from the beginning promised to      
console man in the sorrows incidental to
 life by purifying the inclinations of  
his heart1 and she alone has kept her   
promise4--,,montalembert1 ,introduction 
to ,life of ,st4 ,elizabeth4  #ad       
,illustration3 ,,nicolao ,,copernico    
#ae  ,,ii4  ,,copernicus ,,and ,,his    
,,times4  ,the association of the name  
of ,copernicus with that of ,galileo has
 always cast an air of unorthodoxy about
 the great astronomer4 ,the condemnation
 of certain propositions in his work on 
astronomy in which ,copernicus first set
 forth the idea of the universe as we   
know it at present1 in contradistinction
 to the old ,ptolemaic system of        
astronomy1 would seem to emphasize this 
suspicion of unorthodox thinking4 ,he is
 rightly looked upon as one of the great
 pioneers of our modern physical        
science1 and1 as it is generally        
supposed that scientific tendencies lead
 away from religion1 there are doubtless

 many who look upon ,copernicus as      
naturally one of the leaders in this    
rationalistic movement4 ,it is forgotten
 that scarcely any of the great original
 thinkers have escaped the stigma of    
having certain propositions in some of  
their books condemned1 and that this    
indeed is only an index of the          
fallibility of the human mind and of the
 need there is for some authoritative   
teacher4 ,the sentences in ,copernicus's
 book requiring correction were but few1
 and were rather matters of terminology 
than of actual perversion of accepted   
teaching4 ,it was as such that their    
modification was suggested4 ,in spite of
 this1 the #af impression remains that  
,copernicus must be considered as a     
rationalizing scientist1 the first in a 
long roll of original scientific        
investigators whose work has made the   
edifice of ,christianity totter by      
removing many of the foundation-stones  
of its traditional authority4  ,it is   
rather surprising1 in view of this      

common impression with regard to        
,copernicus1 to find him1 according to  
recent biographers1 a faithful clergyman
 in honor with his ecclesiastical       
superiors1 a distinguished physician    
whose chief patients were clerical      
friends of prominent position and the   
great noblemen of his day1 who not only 
retained all his faith and reverence for
 the ,church1 but seems to have been    
especially religious1 a devoted adherent
 of the ,blessed ,virgin ,mother of     
,god1 and the author of a series of     
poems in her honor that constitute a    
distinct contribution to the literature 
of his time4  ,all this should not be   
astonishing1 however2 for in the list of
 the churchmen of the half century just 
before the great religious revolt in    
,germany are to be found some of the    
best known names in the history of the  
intellectual development of the race4   
,this statement is so contrary to the   
usual impression that obtains in regard 
to the character of that period as to be

 a distinct source of surprise to the   
ordinary reader of history who has the  
realization of its truth thrust upon him
 for the first time4 ,just before the   
so-called ,reformation1 the clergy are  
considered to have been so sunk in      
ignorance1 or at least to #ag have been 
so indifferent to intellectual pursuits 
and so cramped in mind as regards       
progress1 or so timorous because of     
inquisition methods1 that no great      
advances in thought1 and especially none
 in science1 could possibly be looked   
for from them4 ,to find1 then1 that not 
only were faithful churchmen leaders in 
thought1 discoverers in science1        
organizers in education1 initiators of  
new progress1 teachers of the ,new      
,learning1 but that they were also      
typical representatives and yet prudent 
directors of the advancing spirit of    
that truly wonderful time1 is apt to    
make us think that surely--as the ,count
 de ,maistre said one hundred years ago1
 and the ,cambridge ,modern ,history    

repeats at the beginning of the         
twentieth century when treating of this 
very period--history has been a         
conspiracy against the truth4  ,not     
quite fifty years before ,luther's      
movement of protest began--that is1 in  
#adga--there passed away in a little    
town in the ,rhineland a man who has    
been a greater spiritual force than     
perhaps any other single man that has   
ever existed4 ,this was ,thomas a       
,kempis1 a product of the schools of the
 ,brethren of the ,common ,life1 a      
teaching order that during these fifty  
years before the ,protestant ,revolution
 had over ten thousand pupils in its    
schools in the ,rhineland and the       
,netherlands alone4 ,as among these     
pupils there occur such names as        
,erasmus1 ,nicholas of ,cusa1 ,agricola1
 not to mention many less illustrious1  
some idea of this old teaching          
institution1 that has been very aptly   
compared to our #ah modern ,brothers of 
the ,christian ,schools1 can be         

realized4  ,kempis was a worthy         
initiator of a great half century4 ,he  
had among his contemporaries1 or        
followers in the next generation1 such  
men as ,grocyn1 ,dean ,colet1 and       
,linacre in ,england1 ,cardinal ,ximenes
 in ,spain1 and ,copernicus in ,germany4
 ,considering the usual impression in   
this matter as regards the lack of      
interest at ,rome in serious study1 it  
is curiously interesting to realize how 
closely these great scholars and        
thinkers were in touch with the famous  
popes of the ,renaissance period4 ,the  
second half of the sixteenth century saw
 the elevation to the papacy of some of 
the most learned and worthy men that    
have ever occupied the ,chair of ,peter4
 ,in #addg ,nicholas ,v became pope1 and
 during his eight years of pontificate  
initiated a movement of sympathy with   
modern art and letters that was never to
 be extinguished4 ,to him more than to  
any other may be attributed the         
foundation of the ,vatican ,library4 ,to

 him also is attributed the famous      
expression that no art can be too lofty 
for the service of the ,church4 ,he was 
succeeded by ,calixtus ,,iii1 a patron  
of learning1 who was followed by ,pius  
,,ii1 the famous ,a,eneas ,sylvius1 one 
of the greatest scholars and most       
learned men of his day1 who had done    
more for the spread of culture and of   
education in the various parts of       
,europe than perhaps any other alive at 
the time4  ,the next ,pope1 ,paul ,,ii1 
accomplished much #ai during a period of
 great danger by arousing the ,christian
 opposition to the ,saracens4 ,his      
encouragement and material aid to the   
,hungarians1 who were making a bold     
stand against the ,oriental invaders1   
merit for him a place in the role of    
defenders of civilization4 ,to him is   
due the introduction of the recently    
discovered art of printing and its      
installation on a sumptuous scale worthy
 of the center of ,christian culture4   
,his successor1 ,sixtus ,,iv1 deserves  

the title of the founder of modern      
,rome4 ,bridges1 aqueducts1 public      
buildings1 libraries1 churches--all owe 
to his fostering care their restoration 
and renewed foundation4 ,he made it the 
purpose of his life to attract          
distinguished humanistic scholars to his
 capital1 and ,rome became the          
metropolis of culture and learning as   
well as the mother city of ,christendom4
  ,under such popes it is no wonder that
 ,rome and the cities of ,italy         
generally became the homes of art and   
culture1 centers of the new humanistic  
learning and the shelters of the        
scholars of the outer world4 ,the       
,italian universities entered on a      
period of intellectual and educational  
development as glorious almost as the   
art movement that characterized the     
time4 ,as this was marked by the work of
 such men as that universal genius      
,leonardo da ,vinci1 of ,michael        
,angelo1 poet1 painter1 sculptor1       
architect2 of ,raphael1 ,titian1 and    

,correggio1 whose contemporaries were   
worthy of them in every way1 some idea  
can be attained of the wonderful era    
that developed4 ,no #bj wonder scholars 
in every department of learning flocked 
to ,italy for inspiration and the       
enthusiasm bred of scholarly fellowship 
in such an environment4 ,from ,england  
came men like ,linacre1 ,selling1       
,grocyn1 and ,dean ,colet2 ,erasmus came
 from the ,netherlands1 and ,copernicus 
from ,poland4 ,copernicus there obtained
 that scientific training which was     
later to prove so fruitful in his       
practical work as a physician and in his
 scientific work as the founder of      
modern astronomy4  ,it may be as well to
 say at the beginning that even         
,copernicus was not the first to suggest
 that the earth moved1 and not the sun2 
and that1 curiously enough1 his         
anticipator was another churchman1      
,nicholas of ,cusa1 the famous ,bishop  
of ,brixen4 ,readers of ,janssen's      
,history of the ,german ,people will    

remember that the distinguished         
historian introduces his monumental work
 by a short sketch of the career of     
,cusanus1 as he is called1 who may be   
well taken as the typical               
pre-,reformation scholar and clergyman4 
,cusa wrote in a manuscript--which is   
still preserved in the hospital of      
,cues1 or ,cusa--published for the first
 time by ,professor ,clemens in #ahdg3  
,i have long considered that this earth 
can not be fixed1 but moves as do the   
other stars--sed movetur ut aliae       
stellae4 ,what a curious commentary     
these words1 written more than half a   
century before ,galileo was born1 form  
on the famous expression so often quoted
 because supposed to have been drawn    
from ,galileo by the condemnation of his
 doctrine at ,rome3 #ba ,e pur se       
muove--and yet it moves6 ,cusanus was a 
,cardinal1 the personal friend of three 
popes1 and he seems to have had no      
hesitation in expressing his opinion in 
the matter4 ,in the same manuscript the 

,cardinal adds3 ,and to my mind the     
earth revolves upon its axis once in a  
day and a night4 ,cusanus was1 moreover1
 one of the most independent thinkers   
that the world has ever seen1 yet he was
 intrusted by the pope about the middle 
of the fifteenth century with the       
reformation of abuses in the ,church in 
,germany4 ,the pope seems to have been  
glad to be able to secure a man of such 
straightforward ways for his reformatory
 designs4  ,the ideas of ,nicholas of   
,cusa with regard to knowledge and the  
liberty of judgment in things not       
matters of faith can be very well       
appreciated from some of his            
expressions4 ,to know and to think1 he  
says in one passage1 to see the truth   
with the eye of the mind is always a    
joy4 ,the older a man grows1 the greater
 is the pleasure it affords him2 and the
 more he devotes himself to the search  
after truth1 the stronger grows his     
desire of possessing it4 ,as love is the
 life of the heart1 so is the endeavor  

after knowledge and truth the life of   
the mind4 ,in the midst of the movements
 of time1 of the daily work of life1 of 
its perplexities and contradictions1 we 
should lift our gaze fearlessly to the  
clear vault of heaven and seek ever to  
obtain a firmer grasp of1 and keener    
insight into1 the origin of all goodness
 and duty1 the capacities of our own    
hearts and minds1 #bb the intellectual  
fruits of mankind throughout the        
centuries1 and the wondrous works of    
nature around us2 but ever remembering  
that in humility alone lies true        
greatness1 and that knowledge and wisdom
 are alone profitable in so far as our  
lives are governed by them4 ,footnote #a
 ,it is no wonder1 then1 that the time  
was ripe for ,copernicus and his great  
work in astronomy1 nor that that work   
should be accomplished while he was a   
canon of a cathedral and for a time the 
vicar-general of a diocese4  ,it is now 
nearly five years since ,father ,adolph 
,muller1 ,s4,j41 professor of ,astronomy

 in the ,pontifical ,gregorian          
,university of ,rome1 and director of a 
private observatory on the ,janiculum in
 that city1 wrote his historical        
scientific study ,footnote #b of the    
great founder of modern astronomy4 ,the 
book has been reviewed1 criticized and  
discussed very thoroughly since then1   
and has been translated into several    
languages4 ,the latest translation was  
into ,italian1 the work of ,father      
,pietro ,mezzetti1 ,s4,j41 ,footnote #c 
and was published in ,rome at the end of
 #aijb--;having had the benefit #bc of  
the author's revision4 ,the historical  
details1 then1 of ,copernicus's life may
 be considered to have been cast into   
definite shape1 and his career may be   
appreciated with confidence as to the   
absolute accuracy and essential         
significance of all its features4       
,footnote #a3 ,history of the ,german   
,people at the ,close of the   ,middle  
,ages4 ,by ,johannes ,janssen           
,translated from the ,german by ,m ,a   

,mitchell and ,a ,m ,christie4 ,vol ,i1 
p4 #c4    ,footnote #b3 ,nikolaus       
,kopernicus1 ,der ,altmeister der       
neueren   ,astronomie1 ,ein ,lebens und 
,kultur ,bild4 ,von ,adolf ,muller1     
,s4,j4    ,footnote #c3 ,professor of   
,astronomy and ,physics at the          
,pontifical   ,leonine ,college of      
,anagni    ,nicholas ,copernicus--to    
give him the ,latin and more usual form 
of his name--was the youngest of four   
children of ,niclas ,copernigk1 who     
removed from ,cracow in ,poland to      
,thorn in ,east ,prussia 7though then a 
city of ,poland71 where he married      
,barbara ,watzelrode1 a daughter of one 
of the oldest and wealthiest families of
 the province4 ,his mother's brother1   
after having been a canon for many years
 in the cathedral of ,frauenburg1 was   
elected ,bishop of the ,province of     
,ermland4 ,the future astronomer was    
born in #adgc1 at a time when ,thorn1   
after having been for over two hundred  
years under the rule of the ,teutonic   

,knights1 had for some seven years been 
under the dominion of the ,king of      
,poland4 ,there were two boys and two   
girls in the family2 and their fervent  
,catholicity can be judged from the fact
 that all of them1 parents and children1
 were inscribed among the members of the
 ,third ,order of ,st4 ,dominic4        
,barbara1 the older sister1 became a    
religious in the ,cistercian ,convent of
 ,kulm1 of which her aunt ,catherine was
 abbess1 and of which later on she      
herself became abbess4 ,andrew1 the     
oldest son1 became a priest2 and        
,nicholas1 the subject of this sketch1  
at least assumed1 as we shall see1 all  
the #bd obligations of the              
ecclesiastical life1 though it is not   
certain that he received the major      
religious orders4  ,copernicus's        
collegiate education was obtained at the
 ,university of ,cracow1 at that time   
one of the most important seats of      
learning in ,europe4 ,the five-hundredth
 anniversary of the founding of this    

,university was celebrated with great   
pomp only a few years ago4 ,its origin1 
however1 dates back to the times of     
,casimir the ,great1 at the end of the  
thirteenth or the beginning of the      
fourteenth century4 ,its foundation was 
due to the same spirit of enthusiastic  
devotion to letters that gave us all the
 other great universities of the        
thirteenth century4 ,the original       
institution was so much improved by     
,jagello1 ,king of ,poland1 at the      
beginning of the fifteenth century1 that
 it bears his name and is known as the  
,jagellonian ,university4 ,it was very  
natural for ,copernicus to go back to   
his father's native city for his        
education2 but his ambitious spirit was 
not content with the opportunities      
afforded there4 ,he does not seem to    
have taken his academic degrees1 and the
 tradition that he received his         
doctorate in medicine at the ,university
 of ,cracow cannot be substantiated by  
any documentary evidence4  ,at ,cracow1 

,copernicus devoted himself mainly to   
classical studies1 though his interest  
in astronomy seems to have been awakened
 there4 ,in fact1 it is said that his   
desire to be able to read ,ptolemy's    
astronomy in the original ,greek1 and   
#be to obtain a good copy of it1 led him
 to look to ,italy for his further      
education4 ,during his years at ,cracow1
 however1 he seems to have made numerous
 observations in astronomy1 as most of  
the astronomical data in his books are  
found reduced to the meridian of        
,cracow4 ,the observatory of            
,frauenburg1 at which his work in       
astronomy in later life was carried on1 
was on the same meridian2 so that it is 
difficult to say1 as have some of his   
biographers1 that1 since ,cracow was the
 capital of his native country1 motives 
of patriotism influenced him to continue
 his observations according to this same
 meridian4 ,copernicus was anxious1 no  
doubt1 to come in contact with some of  
the great astronomers at the            

universities of ,italy1 whom he knew by 
reputation and whose work was attracting
 attention all over ,europe at that     
time4  ,how faithfully ,copernicus      
applied himself to his classical studies
 can be best appreciated from some      
,latin poems written by him during his  
student days4 ,these poems are an index1
 too1 of the personal character of the  
man1 and give some interesting hints of 
the religious side of his character4    
,altogether there are seven ,latin odes1
 each ode composed of seven strophes4   
,the seven odes are united by a certain 
community of interest or succession of  
subjects4 ,all of them refer to the     
history of the ,redeemer either in types
 or in reality4 ,in the first one the   
prophets prefigure the appearance of the
 ,saviour2 in the second the patriarchs 
sigh for ,his coming2 the #bf third     
depicts the scene of the ,nativity in   
the ,cave of ,bethlehem2 the fourth is  
concerned with the ,circumcision and the
 imposition of the ,name chosen by the  

,holy ,ghost2 the fifth treats of the   
,star and the ,magi and their guidance  
to the ,manger2 the sixth concerns the  
presentation in the ,temple2 and the    
seventh1 the scene in which ,jesus at   
the age of twelve disputes with the     
doctors in the ,temple at ,jerusalem4   
,copernicus's recent biographers have   
called attention particularly to the    
poetical beauties with which he         
surrounds every mention of the ,blessed 
,virgin and her qualities4 ,as is       
evident even from our brief resume of   
the subjects of the odes1 the themes    
selected are just those in which the    
special devotion of the writer to the   
,mother of the ,saviour could be very   
well brought out4 ,there are1 besides1 a
 number of astronomical allusions which 
stamp the poems as the work of          
,copernicus1 and which have been        
sufficient to defend their authenticity 
against the attacks made by certain     
critics1 who tried to point out how     
different was the style from that of    

,copernicus's later years in his        
scientific writings4 ,the tradition of  
authorship is1 however1 too well        
established on other grounds to be      
disturbed by criticism of this sort4    
,the poems were dedicated to the ,pope4 
,in writing poetry ,copernicus was only 
doing what ,tycho ,brahe and ,kepler1   
his great successors in astronomy1 did  
after him2 and the argument with regard 
to the difference of style in the two   
kinds of writings would hold also as    
regards these authors4  #bg             
,copernicus's years as a boy and        
man--that is1 up to the age of          
thirty-five--corresponded with a time of
 great intellectual activity in ,europe4
 ,this fact is not as generally         
recognized as it should be1 for         
intellectual activity is supposed to    
have awakened after the so-called       
,reformation4 ,during the years from    
#adgb to #aejf1 however1 there were     
founded in ,germany alone no less than  
six universities3 those of ,ingolstadt1 

,treves1 ,tubingen1 ,mentz1 ,wittenberg1
 and ,frankfort-on-the-,oder4 ,these    
were not by any means the first great   
institutions of learning that arose in  
,germany4 ,the universities of ,prague  
and ,vienna were more than a century    
old1 and1 with ,heidelberg1 ,cologne1   
,erfurt1 ,leipsic1 and ,rostock1 besides
 ,greifswald and ,freiburg1 founded     
about the middle of the fifteenth       
century1 had reached a high state of    
development1 and contained larger       
numbers of students1 with few           
exceptions1 than these same institutions
 have ever had down to our own day4 ,in 
most cases their charters were derived  
from the pope2 and most of the          
universities were actually recognized as
 ecclesiastical institutions1 in the    
sense that their officials held         
ecclesiastical authority4  ,at this     
time--the end of the fifteenth and the  
beginning of the sixteenth century--it  
was not unusual for students1 in their  
enthusiasm for learning1 to attempt to  

exhaust nearly the whole round of       
university studies4 ,medicine seems to  
have been a favorite subject with       
scholars who were widely interested in  
knowledge for its own #bh sake4 ,almost 
at the same time that ,copernicus was   
studying in ,italy1 the distinguished   
,english ,greek scholar1 ,linacre1 was  
also engaged in what would now be called
 post-graduate work at various ,italian 
universities1 and in the household of   
,lorenzo the ,magnificent at ,florence1 
with whose son--so much did ,lorenzo    
think of him--he was allowed to study   
,greek4 ,linacre 7as will be seen more  
at length in the sketch of his life in  
this volume71 besides being the greatest
 ,greek scholar of his time1 the friend 
later of ,more and ,colet and ,erasmus  
in ,london1 was also the greatest       
physician in ,england4  ,to those       
familiar with the times1 it may be a    
source of surprise to think of          
,copernicus1 interested as we know him  
to have been in literature and devoted  

so cordially to astronomy1 yet taking up
 medicine as a profession4 ,he seems1   
however1 to have been led to do so by   
his distinguished teacher1 ,novara1 who 
realized the talent of his ,polish pupil
 for mathematics and astronomy and yet  
felt that he should have some profession
 in life4 ,a century ago ,coleridge1 the
 ,english writer1 said that a literary  
man should have some other occupation4  
,oliver ,wendell ,holmes improved upon  
this by adding3 ,and1 as far as         
possible1 he should confine himself to  
the other occupation4 ,novara seems to  
have realized that ,copernicus might be 
under the necessity of knowing how to do
 something else besides making          
astronomical observations1 in order to  
gain his living2 and as medicine was #bi
 satisfyingly scientific1 the old       
teacher suggested his taking it up as a 
profession4 ,copernicus made his medical
 studies in ,ferrara and ,padua1 and    
obtained his doctorate with honors from 
,ferrara4  ,copernicus seems to have    

taken up the practice of his profession 
seriously1 and to have persevered in it 
to the end of his life4 ,his biographers
 say that in the exercise of his        
professional duties he was animated by  
the spirit of a person who had devoted  
himself to the ecclesiastical life4     
,while he did not publicly practise his 
profession1 he was ever ready to assist 
the poor2 and he also acquired great    
reputation in the surrounding country   
for his medical attendance upon clerics 
of all ranks4 ,this continued to be the 
case1 notwithstanding the fact that     
after the death of his uncle his mother 
inherited considerable wealth1 and the  
family circumstances changed so much    
that he might well have given up any    
labors that were meant only to add to   
his income4 ,in a word1 he seems to have
 had a sincere interest in his          
professional work1 and to have continued
 its exercise because of the            
opportunities it afforded for the       
satisfaction of a mind devoted to       

scientific research4  ,copernicus       
acquired considerable reputation by his 
medical services4 ,his friend ,giese    
speaks of him as a very skilful         
physician1 and even calls him a second  
,a,esculapius4 ,maurice ,ferber1 who    
became ,bishop of ,ermland in #aebc1    
suffered from a severe chronic illness  
that began about #aebi4 ,he obtained    
permission from the canons #cj of the   
cathedral to have ,doctor ,copernicus1  
whose ability and zeal he never ceased  
to praise1 to come from the cathedral   
town where he ordinarily resided to     
,heilsburg1 in order to have him near   
him4 ,bishop ,ferber's successor1       
,dantisco1 also secured ,copernicus's   
aid in a severe illness1 and declared   
that his restoration to health was      
mainly due to the efforts of his learned
 physician4 ,giese was so confident of  
the ,doctor's skill that when he became 
,bishop of ,kulm and on one of his      
episcopal visitations fell ill at a     
considerable distance from ,copernicus's

 place of residence1 he insisted on     
having the astronomer doctor brought to 
take care of him4  ,in #aeda ,duke      
,albert of ,prussia became very much    
worried over the illness of one of his  
most trusted counsellors4 ,in his       
distress he had recourse to ,copernicus1
 and his letter asking the ,canon of the
 ,cathedral of ,frauenburg to come to   
attend the patient is still extant4 ,he 
says that the cure of the illness is    
very much at his heart2 and1 as every   
other means has failed1 he hopes        
,copernicus will do what he can for the 
assistance of his faithful and valued   
counsellor4 ,copernicus yielded to the  
request1 and the counsellor began to    
improve shortly after his arrival4 ,at  
the end of some weeks the ,duke wrote   
again to the canons of the cathedral    
asking that the leave of absence granted
 to ,copernicus should be extended in   
order to enable him to complete the cure
 which had been so happily begun4 ,in   
this second letter the ,duke talks of   

,copernicus as a #ca most skilful and   
learned physician4 ,at the end of the   
month there is a third letter from the  
,duke1 in which he thanks all the canons
 of the cathedral for their goodness in 
having granted the desired permission1  
and he adds that he shall ever feel     
under obligations for the assistance    
rendered by that very worthy and        
excellent physician1 ,nicholas          
,copernicus1 a doctor who is deserving  
of all honor4 ,not long afterward1 when 
,copernicus's book on astronomy was     
published1 a copy of it was sent to the 
,duke1 and he replied that he was deeply
 grateful for it1 and that he should    
always preserve it as a souvenir of the 
most learned and gentlest of men4       
,there are a number of notes on the art 
of medicine made by ,copernicus in the  
books of the cathedral library at       
,frauenburg4 ,they serve to show how    
faithful a student he was1 and to a     
certain extent give an idea of the      
independent habit of mind which he      

brought to the investigation of medicine
 as well as to the study of astronomy4  
,unfortunately1 these have not as yet   
found an editor2 but it is to be hoped  
that we shall soon know more of the     
medical thinking of a man over whose    
mind tradition1 in the unworthier sense 
of that word1 exercised so little       
influence4  ,in #aecj ,copernicus wrote 
a short prelude to the longer work on   
astronomy which he was to publish later4
 ,the propositions contained in this    
work show how far he had advanced on the
 road to his ultimate discovery4 ,after 
a few words of introduction1 the        
following seven axioms are laid down3-- 
#cb  #a4 ,the celestial spheres and     
their orbits have not a single center4  
#b4 ,the center of the earth is not the 
center of the universe1 but only the    
center of gravity and of the moon's     
orbit4  #c4 ,the planes of the orbits   
lie around the sun1 which may be        
considered as the center of the         
universe4  #d4 ,the distance from the   

earth to the sun compared with that from
 the earth to the fixed stars is        
extremely small4  #e4 ,the daily motion 
of the heavenly sphere is apparent that 
is1 it is an effect of the rotary motion
 of the earth upon it axis4  #f4 ,the   
apparent motions of the moon and of the 
sun are so different because of the     
effect produced by the motion of the    
earth4  #g4 ,the movements of the earth 
account for the apparent retrograde     
motion and other irregularities of the  
movements of the planets4 ,it is enough 
to assume that the earth alone moves1 in
 order to explain all the other         
movements observed in the heavens4  ,it 
is no wonder that one of his            
bishop-friends1 ,frisio1 writing to     
another bishop-friend1 ,dantisco1 said3 
,if ,copernicus succeeds in             
demonstrating the truth of his          
thesis--and we may well consider that he
 will from this prelude--he will give us
 a new heaven and a new earth4 ,this    
shorter exposition of ,copernicus's     

views was found in manuscript in the    
imperial library in ,vienna only about a
 quarter of a century ago4 #cc ,it is   
mentioned by ,tycho ,brahe in one of his
 works on astronomy in which he reviews 
the various contemporary advances made  
in the knowledge of the heavens4  ,the  
publication of ,copernicus's great work1
 ,de ,revolutionibus ,orbium ,celestium1
 was delayed until he was advanced in   
years1 because his astronomical opinions
 were constantly progressing2 and1 with 
the patience of true genius1 he was not 
satisfied with anything less than the   
perfect expression of truth as he saw   
it4 ,it has sometimes been said that it 
was delayed because ,copernicus feared  
the storm of religious persecution which
 he foresaw it would surely arouse4 ,how
 utterly without foundation is this     
pretence1 which has unfortunately crept 
into serious history1 can be seen from  
the fact that ,pope ,paul ,,iii accepted
 the dedication of the work2 and of the 
twelve popes who immediately followed   

,paul not one even thought of proceeding
 against ,copernicus's work4 ,his       
teaching was never questioned by any of 
the ,roman ,congregations for nearly one
 hundred years after his death4         
,galileo's injudicious insistence in his
 presentation of ,copernicus's doctrine1
 on the novelties of opinion that       
controverted long-established beliefs1  
was then responsible for the            
condemnation by the ,congregation of the
 ,index2 and1 as we shall see1 this was 
not absolute1 but only required that    
certain passages should be corrected4   
,the corrections demanded were          
unimportant as regards the actual       
science1 and #cd merely insisted that   
,copernicus's teaching was hypothesis   
and not yet actual demonstration4  ,it  
must not be forgotten1 after all1 that  
the reasons advanced by ,copernicus for 
his idea of the movements of the planets
 were not supported by any absolute     
demonstration1 but only by reasons from 
analogy4 ,nearly a hundred years later  

than his time1 even after the first     
discoveries had been made by the newly  
constructed telescopes1 in ,galileo's   
day1 there was no absolute proof of the 
true system of the heavens4 ,the famous 
,jesuit astronomer1 ,father ,secchi1    
says the reasons adduced by ,galileo    
were no real proofs3 they were only     
certain analogies1 and by no means      
excluded the possibility of the contrary
 propositions with regard to the        
movements of the heavens being true4    
,none of the real proofs for the earth's
 rotation upon its axis were known at   
the time of ,galileo1 nor were there    
direct conclusive arguments for the     
earth's moving around the sun4 ,even    
,galileo himself confessed that he had  
not any strict demonstration of his     
views1 such as ,cardinal ,bellarmine    
requested4 ,he wrote to the ,cardinal1  
,the system seems to be true2 and he    
gave as a reason that it corresponded to
 the phenomena4  ,according to the      
astronomers of the time1 however1 the   

old ,ptolemaic system1 in the shape in  
which it was explained by the ,danish   
astronomer ,tycho ,brahe1 who was       
acknowledged as the greatest of         
,european astronomers1 appeared to give 
quite a satisfactory explanation of the 
#ce phenomena observed4 ,the ,english   
philosopher1 ,lord ,bacon1 more than a  
decade after ,galileo's announcement1   
considered that there were certain      
phenomena in nature contrary to the     
,copernican theory1 and so he rejected  
it altogether4 ,this was within a few   
years of the condemnation by the        
,congregation at ,rome4 ,as pointed out 
by ,father ,heinzle1 ,s4,j41 in his     
article on ,galileo in the ,catholic    
,world for #ahhg1 science was so far    
from determining the question of the    
truth or falsity of either the          
,ptolemaic or the ,copernican system    
that shortly before #afcc1 the year of  
,galileo's condemnation1 a number of    
savants1 such as ,fromond in ,louvain1  
,morin in ,paris1 ,berigard in ,pisa1   

,bartolinus in ,copenhagen1 and         
,scheiner in ,rome1 wrote against       
,copernicanism4  ,as we have said1      
,copernicus's book was not condemned    
unconditionally by the ,roman           
authorities1 but only until it should be
 corrected4 ,this assured protection to 
the principal part of the work1 and the 
warning issued by the ,roman            
,congregation in the year #ahbj         
particularizes the details that had to  
be corrected4 ,it is interesting to note
 that whenever ,copernicus is spoken of 
in this ,monitum it is always in        
flattering terms as a noble             
astrologer--the word astrologer having  
at that time no unworthy meaning4 ,the  
whole work is praised and its scientific
 quality acknowledged4  ,the passages   
requiring correction were not many4 ,in 
the first book1 at the beginning of the 
#cf fifth chapter1 ,copernicus made the 
declaration that the immobility of the  
earth was not a decided question1 but   
was still open to discussion4 ,in place 

of these words it was suggested that the
 following should be inserted3 ,in order
 to explain the apparent motions of the 
celestial bodies1 it is a matter of     
indifference whether we admit that the  
earth occupies a place in the middle of 
the heavens or not4  ,in the eighth     
chapter of the first book1 ,copernicus  
said3 ,why1 then1 this repugnance to    
concede to our globe its own movement as
 natural to it as is its spherical form8
 ,why prefer to make the whole heavens  
revolve around it1 with the great danger
 of disturbance that would result1      
instead of explaining all these apparent
 movements of the heavenly bodies by the
 real rotation of the earth1 according  
to the words of ,a,eneas1 ',we are      
carried from the port1 and the land and 
the cities recede'8 ,this passage was to
 be modified as follows3 ,why not1 then1
 admit a certain mobility of the earth  
corresponding to its form1 since the    
whole universe of which we know the     
bounds is moved1 producing appearances  

which recall to the mind the well-known 
saying of ,a,eneas in ,virgil1 ',the    
land and the cities recede'8  ,toward   
the end of the same chapter ,copernicus1
 continuing the same train of thought1  
says3 ,i do not fear to add that it is  
incomparably more unreasonable to make  
the immense vault of the heavens revolve
 than to admit the #cg revolution of our
 little terrestrial globe4 ,this passage
 was to be modified as follows3 ,in one 
case as well as in the other--that is1  
whether we admit the rotation of the    
earth or that of the heavenly           
spheres--we encounter the same          
difficulties4  ,the ninth chapter of the
 first book begins with these words3    
,there being no difficulty in admitting1
 then1 the mobility of the earth1 let us
 proceed to see whether it has one or a 
number of movements1 and whether1       
therefore1 our earth is a simple planet 
like the other planets4 ,the following  
words were to be substituted3           
,supposing1 then1 that the earth does   

move1 it is necessary to examine whether
 this movement is multiple or not4      
,toward the middle of the tenth chapter 
,copernicus declares3 ,i do not hesitate
 to defend the proposition that the     
earth1 accompanied by the moon1 moves   
around the sun2 while the wording of    
this proposition had to be changed so as
 to substitute the term admit for       
defend4 ,the title of the eleventh      
chapter1 ,demonstration of the ,triple  
,movement of the ,earth1 was modified to
 read as follows3 ,the ,hypothesis of   
the ,triple ,movement of the ,earth1 and
 the ,reasons ,therefor4 ,the title of  
the twentieth chapter of the fourth book
 originally read3 ,on the ,size of the  
,three ,stars ,sidera1 the sun1 the     
moon1 and the earth4 ,the word stars was
 removed from this title1 the earth not 
being considered as a star4 ,the        
concluding words of #ch the tenth       
chapter of the first book1 ,so great is 
the magnificent work of the ,omnipotent 
,artificer1 had to be cancelled1 because

 they expressed an assurance of the     
truth of his system not warranted by    
knowledge4 ,with these few unimportant  
changes1 any one might read and study   
,copernicus's work with perfect freedom4
  ,traditions to the contrary           
notwithstanding1 ,galileo1 because of   
the friendship and encouragement of the 
churchmen in ,italy1 had been placed in 
conditions eminently suited for study   
and investigation4 ,several popes and a 
number of prominent ecclesiastics were  
his constant friends and patrons4 ,the  
perpetual secretary of the ,paris       
,academy of ,sciences1 ,m4 ,bertrand1   
himself a great mathematician and       
historian1 declares that the long life  
of ,galileo was one of the most enviable
 that is recorded in the history of     
science4 ,the tale of his misfortunes   
has confirmed the triumph of the truth  
for which he suffered4 ,let us tell the 
whole truth4 ,this great lesson was     
learned without any profound sorrow to  
,galileo2 and his long life1 considered 

as a whole1 was one of the most serene  
and enviable in the history of science4 
,copernicus1 like ,galileo1 had clerical
 friends to thank for an environment    
that proved the greatest possible aid to
 his scientific work4 ,his position as  
,canon of the ,cathedral of ,frauenburg 
provided him with learned leisure1 while
 his clerical friends took just enough  
interest in his investigations and the  
preliminary #ci announcements of his    
discoveries to make his pursuit of      
astronomical studies to some definite   
conclusion a worthy aim in life4 ,it was
 this assistance that enabled him to    
publish his book eventually and bring   
his great theory before the world4      
,copernicus1 far from having any        
leanings toward the so-called reform    
movement 7as has often been asserted71  
was evidently a staunch supporter of his
 friend and patron ,bishop ,maurice     
,ferber1 of ,ermland1 who kept his see  
loyal to ,rome at a time when the       
secularization of the ,teutonic order   

and the falling away of many bishops all
 around him make his position as a      
faithful son of the ,church and that of 
his diocese noteworthy in the history of
 that time and place4 ,it may well be   
said that under less favorable          
conditions ,copernicus's work might     
never have been finished4 ,as it was1   
his book met with great opposition from 
the ,reformers1 but remained absolutely 
acceptable even to the most rigorous    
churchmen until ,galileo's unfortunate  
insistence on the points of it that were
 opposed to generally accepted theories4
  ,during all his long life ,copernicus 
remained one of the simplest of men4    
,genius as he was1 he could not have    
failed to realize how great was the     
significance of the discoveries he had  
made in astronomy4 ,in spite of this he 
continued to exercise during a long     
career the simple duties of his post as 
,canon of the ,cathedral of ,frauenberg1
 nor did he fail to give such time as   
was asked of him for the medical        

treatment of the #dj poor or of his     
friends1 the ecclesiastics of the       
neighborhood4 ,these duties--as he seems
 to have considered them--must have     
taken many precious hours from his      
studies1 but they were given            
unstintingly4 ,when he came to die1 his 
humility was even more prominent than   
during life4 ,it was at his own request 
that there was graven upon his tombstone
 simply the prayer1 ,i ask not the grace
 accorded to ,paul1 not that given to   
,peter3 give me only the favor ,thou    
didst show to the thief on the cross4   
,there is perhaps no better example in  
all the world of the simplicity of true 
genius nor any better example of how    
sublimely religious may be the soul that
 has far transcended the bounds of the  
scientific knowledge of its own day4    
,the greatness of ,copernicus's         
life-work can best be realized from the 
extent to which he surpassed even       
well-known contemporaries in astronomy  
and from his practical anticipation of  

the opinions of some of his greatest    
successors4 ,even ,tycho ,brahe1        
important though he is in the history of
 astronomical science1 taught many years
 after ,copernicus's death the doctrine 
that the earth is the center of the     
universe4 ,newton had in ,copernicus a  
precursor who divined the theory of     
universal gravitation2 and even         
,kepler's great laws1 especially the    
elliptical form of the orbits of the    
planets1 are at least hinted at in      
,copernicus's writings4 ,he is certainly
 one of the most original geniuses of   
all times2 and it is interesting to find
 that the completeness of his #da       
scholarly career1 far from being        
rendered abortive by friction with      
ecclesiastical superiors1 as we might   
imagine probable from the traditions    
that hang around his name1 was rather   
made possible by the sympathy and       
encouragement of clerical friends and   
,church authorities4 ,copernicus1 the   
scholar1 astronomer1 physician1 and     

clergyman1 is a type of the eve of the  
,reformation period1 and his life is the
 best possible refutation of the        
slanders with regard to the             
unprogressiveness of the ,church and    
churchmen of that epoch which have      
unfortunately been only too common in   
the histories of the time4  #db  #dc    
,,iii4  ,,basil ,,valentine1 ,,founder  
,,of ,,modern ,,chemistry4  #dd  ,let   
us1 then1 banish into the world of      
fiction that affirmation so long        
repeated by foolish credulity which made
 monasteries an asylum for indolence and
 incapacity1 for misanthropy and        
pusillanimity1 for feeble and           
melancholic temperaments1 and for men   
who were no longer fit to serve society 
in the world4 ,monasteries were never   
intended to collect the invalids of the 
world4 ,it was not the sick souls1 but  
on the contrary the most vigorous and   
healthful the human race has ever       
produced1 who presented themselves in   
crowds to fill them4--,,montalembert1   

,monks of the ,west4  #de  ,,iii4       
,,basil ,,valentine1 ,,founder ,,of     
,,modern ,,chemistry4  ,the ,protestant 
tradition which presumes a priori that  
no good can possibly have come out of   
the ,nazareth of the times before the   
,reformation1 and especially the        
immediately preceding century1 has      
served to obscure to an unfortunate     
degree the history of several hundred   
years extremely important in every      
department of education4 ,strange as it 
may seem to those unfamiliar with the   
period1 it is in that department which  
is supposed to be so typically modern   
the--physical sciences--that this       
neglect is most serious4 ,such a hold   
has this ,protestant tradition on even  
educated minds that it is a source of   
great surprise to most people to be told
 that there were in many parts of       
,europe original observers in the       
physical sciences all during the        
thirteenth1 fourteenth1 and fifteenth   
centuries who were doing ground-breaking

 work of the highest value1 work that   
was destined to mean much for the       
development of modern science4          
,speculations and experiments with      
regard to the philosopher's stone and   
the transmutation of metals are supposed
 to fill up all the interests of the    
alchemists of those days4 ,as a matter  
of fact1 however1 men were making       
original observations of very #df       
profound significance1 and these were   
considered so valuable by their         
contemporaries that1 though printing had
 not yet been invented1 even the immense
 labor involved in copying large folio  
volumes by hand did not suffice to deter
 them from multiplying the writings of  
these men and thus preserving them for  
future generations1 until the           
printing-press came to perpetuate them4 
,at the beginning of the twentieth      
century1 with some of the supposed      
foundations of modern chemistry         
crumbling to pieces under the influences
 of the peculiarly active light thrown  

upon older chemical theories by the     
discovery of radium and the radio-active
 elements generally1 there is a         
reawakening of interest in some of the  
old-time chemical observers whose work  
used to be laughed at as so unscientific
 and whose theory of the transmutation  
of elements into one another was        
considered so absurd4 ,the idea that it 
would be impossible under any           
circumstances to convert one element    
into another belongs entirely to the    
nineteenth century4 ,even so            
distinguished a mind as that of ,newton1
 in the preceding century1 could not    
bring itself to acknowledge the modern  
supposition of the absurdity of metallic
 transformation1 but1 on the contrary1  
believed very firmly in this as a basic 
chemical principle and confessed that it
 might be expected to occur at any time4
 ,he had seen specimens of gold ores in 
connexion with metallic copper1 and had 
concluded that this was a manifestation 
of the natural transformation of one of 

these yellow metals into the other4  #dg
  ,with the discovery that radium       
transforms itself into helium1 and that 
indeed all the so-called                
radio-activities of the very heavy      
metals are probably due to a natural    
transmutation process constantly at     
work1 the ideas of the older chemists   
cease entirely to be a subject for      
amusement4 ,the physical chemists of the
 present day are very ready to admit    
that the old teaching of the absolute   
independence of something over seventy  
elements is no longer tenable1 except as
 a working hypothesis4 ,the doctrine of 
matter and form taught for so many      
centuries by the scholastic philosophers
 which proclaimed that all matter is    
composed of two principles1 an          
underlying material substratum and a    
dynamic or informing principle1 has now 
more acknowledged verisimilitude1 or    
lies at least closer to the generally   
accepted ideas of the most progressive  
scientists1 than it has at any time for 

the last two or three centuries4 ,not   
only the great physicists1 but also the 
great chemists1 are speculating along   
lines that suggest the existence of but 
one form of matter1 modified according  
to the energies that it possesses under 
a varying physical and chemical         
environment4 ,this is1 after all1 only a
 restatement in modern terms of the     
teaching of ,st4 ,thomas of ,aquin in   
the thirteenth century4  ,it is not     
surprising1 then1 that there should be a
 reawakening of interest in the lives of
 some of the men who1 dominated by the  
earlier scholastic ideas and by the     
tradition of the possibility of finding 
the philosopher's stone1 which would #dh
 transmute the baser metals into the    
precious metals1 devoted themselves with
 quite as much zeal as any modern       
chemist to the observation of chemical  
phenomena4 ,one of the most interesting 
of these--indeed he might well be said  
to be the greatest of the alchemists--is
 the man whose only name that we know is

 that which appears on a series of      
manuscripts written in the ,high ,german
 dialect of the end of the fifteenth and
 the beginning of the sixteenth century4
 ,that name is ,basil ,valentine1 and   
the writer1 according to the best       
historical traditions1 was a            
,benedictine monk4 ,the name ,basil     
,valentine may only have been a         
pseudonym1 for it has been impossible to
 trace it among the records of the      
monasteries of the time4 ,that the      
writer was a monk there seems to be no  
doubt1 for his writings in manuscript   
and printed form began to have their    
vogue at a time when there was little   
likelihood of their being attributed to 
a monk unless an indubitable tradition  
connected them with some monastery4     
,this ,basil ,valentine 7to accept the  
only name we have71 as we can judge very
 well from his writings1 eminently      
deserves the designation of the last of 
the alchemists and the first of the     
chemists4 ,there is practically a       

universal recognition of the fact now   
that he deserves also the title of      
,founder of ,modern ,chemistry1 not only
 because of the value of the            
observations contained in his writings1 
but also because of the fact that they  
proved so suggestive to certain #di     
scientific geniuses during the century  
succeeding ,valentine's life4 ,almost   
more than to have added to the precious 
heritage of knowledge for mankind is it 
a boon for a scientific observer to have
 awakened the spirit of observation in  
others and to be the founder of a new   
school of thought4 ,this ,basil         
,valentine undoubtedly did4  ,besides1  
his work furnishes evidence that the    
investigating spirit was abroad just    
when it is usually supposed not to have 
been1 for the ,thuringian monk surely   
did not do all his investigating alone1 
but must have received as well as given 
many a suggestion to his contemporaries4
  ,in the history of education there are
 two commonplaces that are appealed to  

oftener than any other as the sources of
 material with regard to the influence  
of the ,catholic ,church on education   
during the centuries preceding the      
,reformation4 ,these are the supposed   
idleness of the monks1 and the foolish  
belief in the transmutation of metals   
and the search for the philosopher's    
stone which dominated the minds of so   
many of the educated men of the time4   
,it is in ,germany especially that these
 two features of the pre-,reformation   
period are supposed to be best          
illustrated4 ,in recent years1 however1 
there has come quite a revolution in the
 feelings even of those outside of the  
,church with regard to the proper       
appreciation of the work of the monastic
 scholars of these earlier centuries4   
,even though some of them did dream     
golden dreams over their alembics1 the  
love of knowledge meant #ej more to     
them1 as to the serious students of any 
age1 than anything that might be made by
 it4 ,as for their scientific beliefs1  

if there can be a conversion of one     
element into another1 as seems true of  
radium1 then the possibility of the     
transmutation of metals is not so absurd
 as1 for a century or more1 it has      
seemed2 and it is not impossible that at
 some time even gold may be manufactured
 out of other metallic materials4  ,of  
course1 a still worthier change of mind 
has come over the attitude of educators 
because of the growing sense of         
appreciation for the wonderful work of  
the monks of the ,middle ,ages1 and even
 of those centuries that are supposed to
 show least of the influence of these   
groups of men who1 forgetting material  
progress1 devoted themselves to the     
preservation and the cultivation of the 
things of the spirit4 ,the impression   
that would consider the pre-,reformation
 monks in ,germany as unworthy of their 
high calling in the great mass is almost
 entirely without foundation4 ,obscure  
though the lives of most of them were1  
many of them rose above their           

environment in such a way as to make    
their work landmarks in the history of  
progress for all time4  ,because their  
discoveries are buried in the old ,latin
 folios that are contained only in the  
best libraries1 not often consulted by  
the modern scientist1 it is usually     
thought that the scientific             
investigators of these centuries before 
the ,reformation did no work that would 
be worth while considering in our       
present day4 ,it is only some #ea one   
who goes into this matter as a labor of 
love who will consider it worth his     
while to take the trouble seriously to  
consult these musty old tomes4 ,many a  
scholar1 however1 has found his labor   
well rewarded by the discovery of many  
an anticipation of modern science in    
these volumes so much neglected and     
where such treasure-trove is least      
expected4 ,professor ,clifford ,allbutt1
 the ,regius ,professor of physics at   
the ,university of ,cambridge1 in his   
address on ,the ,historical ,relations  

of ,medicine and ,surgery ,down to the  
,end of the ,sixteenth ,century1 which  
was delivered at the ,st4 ,louis        
,congress of ,arts and ,sciences during 
the ,exposition in #aijd1 has shown how 
much that is supposed to be distinctly  
modern in medicine1 and above all in    
surgery1 was the subject of discussion  
at the ,french and ,italian universities
 of the thirteenth century4 ,william    
,salicet1 for instance1 who taught at   
the ,university of ,bologna1 published a
 large series of case histories1        
substituted the knife for the ,arabic   
use of the cautery1 described the danger
 of wounds of the neck1 investigated the
 causes of the failure of healing by    
first intention1 and sutured divided    
nerves4 ,his pupil1 ,lanfranc1 who      
taught later at the ,university of      
,paris1 went farther than his master by 
distinguishing between venous and       
arterial hemorrhage1 requiring digital  
compression for an hour to stop         
hemorrhage from the venae               

pulsatiles--the pulsating veins1 as they
 were called--and if this failed because
 of the size of the vessel1 #eb         
suggesting the application of a         
ligature4 ,lanfranc's chapter on        
injuries to the head still remains a    
noteworthy book in surgery that         
establishes beyond a doubt how          
thoughtfully practical were these       
teachers in the medieval universities4  
,it must be remembered that at this time
 all the teachers in universities1 even 
those in the medical schools as well as 
those occupied with surgery1 were       
clerics4 ,professor ,allbutt calls      
attention over and over again to this   
fact1 because it emphasizes the         
thoroughness of educational methods1 in 
spite of the supposed difficulties that 
would lie in the way of an exclusively  
clerical teaching staff4  ,in chemistry 
the advances made during the thirteenth1
 fourteenth1 and fifteenth centuries    
were even more noteworthy than those in 
any other department of science4        

,albertus ,magnus1 who taught at ,paris1
 wrote no less than sixteen treatises on
 chemical subjects1 and1 notwithstanding
 the fact that he was a theologian as   
well as a scientist and that his printed
 works filled sixteen folio volumes1 he 
somehow found the time to make many     
observations for himself and performed  
numberless experiments in order to clear
 up doubts4 ,the larger histories of    
chemistry accord him his proper place   
and hail him as a great founder in      
chemistry and a pioneer in original     
investigation4  ,even ,st4 ,thomas of   
,aquin1 much as he was occupied with    
theology and philosophy1 found some time
 to devote to chemical questions4 ,after
 #ec all1 this is only what might have  
been expected of the favorite pupil of  
,albertus ,magnus4 ,three treatises on  
chemical subjects from ,aquinas's pen   
have been preserved for us1 and it is to
 him that we are said to owe the origin 
of the word amalgam1 which he first used
 in describing various chemical methods 

of metallic combination with mercury    
that were discovered in the search for  
the genuine transmutation of metals4    
,albertus ,magnus's other great         
scientific pupil1 ,roger ,bacon1 the    
,english ,franciscan friar1 followed    
more closely in the physical scientific 
ways of his great master4 ,altogether he
 wrote some eighteen treatises on       
chemical subjects4 ,for a long time it  
was considered that he was the inventor 
of gunpowder1 though this is now known  
to have been introduced into ,europe by 
the ,arabs4 ,roger ,bacon studied       
gunpowder and various other explosive   
combinations in considerable detail1 and
 it is for this reason that he obtained 
the undeserved reputation of being an   
original discoverer in this line4 ,how  
well he realized how much might be      
accomplished by means of the energy     
stored up in explosives can perhaps be  
best appreciated from the fact that he  
suggested that boats would go along the 
rivers and across the seas without      

either sails or oars and that carriages 
would go along the streets without horse
 or man power4 ,he considered that man  
would eventually invent a method of     
harnessing these explosive mixtures and 
of utilizing their energies for his     
purposes without #ed danger4 ,it is     
curiously interesting to find1 as we    
begin the twentieth century1 and        
gasolene is so commonly used for the    
driving of automobiles and motor boats  
and is being introduced even on railroad
 cars in the ,west as the most available
 source of energy for suburban traffic1 
that this generation should only be     
fulfilling the idea of the old          
,franciscan friar of the thirteenth     
century1 who prophesied that in         
explosives there was the secret of      
eventually manageable energy for        
transportation purposes4  ,succeeding   
centuries were not as fruitful in great 
scientists as the thirteenth1 and yet at
 the beginning of the fourteenth there  
was a pope1 three of whose scientific   

treatises--one on the transmutation of  
metals1 which he considers an           
impossibility1 at least as far as the   
manufacture of gold and silver was      
concerned2 a treatise on diseases of the
 eyes1 of which ,professor ,allbutt     
,footnote #d says that it was not       
without its distinctive practical value1
 though compiled so early in the history
 of eye surgery2 and1 finally1 his      
treatise on the preservation of the     
health1 written when he was himself over
 eighty years of age--are all considered
 by good authorities as worthy of the   
best scientific spirit of the time4     
,this pope was ,john ,,xxii1 of whom it 
has been said over and over again by    
,protestant historians that he issued a 
bull forbidding chemistry1 though he was
 himself one of the enthusiastic        
students of chemistry #ee in his younger
 years and always retained his interest 
in the science4 ,footnote #e            
,footnote #d3 ,address cited            
,footnote #e3 ,for the refutation of    

this calumny with regard to ,john       
,,xxii1 see ,pope ,john ,,xxii and the  
supposed ,bull forbidding   ,chemistry1 
by ,james ,j4 ,walsh1 ,ph4 ,d41 ,,ll4   
,d41 in the ,medical   ,library and     
,historical ,journal1 ,october1 #aije4  
,during the fourteenth century ,arnold  
of ,villanova1 the inventor of nitric   
acid1 and the two ,hollanduses kept up  
the tradition of original investigation 
in chemistry4 ,altogether there are some
 dozen treatises from these three men on
 chemical subjects4 ,the ,hollanduses   
particularly did their work in a spirit 
of thoroughly frank1 original           
investigation4 ,they were more          
interested in minerals than in any other
 class of substances1 but did not waste 
much time on the question of            
transmutation of metals4 ,professor     
,thompson1 the professor of chemistry at
 ,edinburgh1 said in his history of     
chemistry many years ago that the       
,hollanduses have very clear            
descriptions of their processes of      

treating minerals in investigating their
 composition1 which serve to show that  
their knowledge was by no means entirely
 theoretical or acquired only from books
 or by argumentation4  ,before the end  
of this fourteenth century1 according to
 the best authorities on this subject1  
,basil ,valentine1 the more particular  
subject of our essay1 was born4         
,valentine's career is a typical example
 of the personally obscure but          
intellectually brilliant lives #ef which
 these old monks lived4 ,it seems       
probable1 according to the best         
authorities1 as we have said1 that his  
work began shortly before the middle of 
the fifteenth century1 although most of 
what was important in it was            
accomplished during the second half4 ,it
 would not be so surprising1 as most    
people who have been brought up to      
consider the period just before the     
,reformation in ,germany as wanting in  
progressive scholars might imagine1 for 
a supremely great original investigator 

to have existed in ,north ,germany about
 this time4 ,after all1 before the end  
of the century1 ,copernicus1 the ,pole1 
working in northern ,germany1 had       
announced his theory that the earth was 
not the center of the universe1 and had 
set forth all that this announcement    
meant4 ,to a bishop-friend who said to  
him1 ,but this means that you are giving
 us a new universe1 he replied that the 
universe was already there1 but his     
theory would lead men to recognize its  
existence4 ,in southern ,germany1       
,thomas a ,kempis1 who died in #adga1   
had traced for man the outlines of      
another universe1 that of his own soul1 
from its mystically practical side4     
,these great ,germans were only the     
worthy contemporaries of many other     
,german scholars scarcely less          
distinguished than these supreme        
geniuses4 ,the second half of the       
fifteenth century1 the beginning of the 
,renaissance in ,germany as well as     
,italy1 is that wonderful time in       

history when somehow men's eyes were    
opened to see farther and their minds   
broadened to gather in more of the truth
 of #eg man's relation to the universe1 
than had ever before been the case in   
all the centuries of human existence1 or
 than has ever been possible even in    
these more modern centuries1 though     
supposedly we are the heirs of all the  
ages in the foremost files of time4     
,coming as he did before printing1 when 
the spirit of tradition was even more   
rife and dominating than it has been    
since1 it is almost needless to say that
 there are many curious legends         
associated with the name of ,basil      
,valentine4 ,two centuries before his   
time1 ,roger ,bacon1 doing his work in  
,england1 had succeeded in attracting so
 much attention even from the common    
people1 because of his wonderful        
scientific discoveries1 that his name   
became a by-word and many strange       
magical feats were attributed to him4   
,friar ,bacon was the great wizard even 

in the plays of the ,elizabethan period4
 ,a number of the same sort of myths    
attached themselves to the ,benedictine 
monk of the fifteenth century4 ,he was  
proclaimed in popular story to have been
 a wonderful magician4 ,even his        
manuscript1 it was said1 had not been   
published directly1 but had been hidden 
in a pillar in the church attached to   
the monastery and had been discovered   
there after the splitting open of the   
pillar by a bolt of lightning from      
heaven4 ,it is the extension of this    
tradition that has sometimes led to the 
assumption that ,valentine lived in an  
earlier century1 some even going so far 
as to say that he1 too1 like ,roger     
,bacon1 was a product of the #eh        
thirteenth century4 ,it seems reasonably
 possible1 however1 to separate the     
traditional from what is actual in his  
existence1 and thus to obtain some idea 
at least of his work1 if not of the     
details of his life4 ,the internal      
evidence from his works enable the      

historian of science to place him within
 a half century of the discovery of     
,america4  ,one of the stories told with
 regard to ,basil ,valentine1 because it
 has become a commonplace in philology1 
has made him more generally known than  
any of his actual discoveries4 ,in one  
of the most popular of the old-fashioned
 text-books of chemistry in use a       
quarter of a century ago1 in the chapter
 on ,antimony1 there was a story that ,i
 suppose students never forgot4 ,it was 
said that ,basil ,valentine1 a monk of  
the ,middle ,ages1 was the discoverer of
 this substance4 ,after having          
experimented with it in a number of     
ways1 he threw some of it out of his    
laboratory one day1 where the swine of  
the monastery1 finding it1 proceeded to 
gobble it up together with some other   
refuse4 ,he watched the effect upon the 
swine very carefully1 and found that1   
after a preliminary period of digestive 
disturbance1 these swine developed an   
enormous appetite and became fatter than

 any of the others4 ,this seemed a      
rather desirable result1 and ,basil     
,valentine1 ever on the search for the  
practical1 thought that he might use the
 remedy to good purpose even on the     
members of the community4  ,now1 some of
 the monks in the monastery were of     
rather frail health and delicate        
constitution1 #ei and he thought that   
the putting on of a little fat in their 
case might be a good thing4 ,accordingly
 he administered1 surreptitiously1 some 
of the salts of antimony1 with which he 
was experimenting1 in the food served to
 these monks4 ,the result1 however1 was 
not so favorable as in the case of the  
hogs4 ,indeed1 according to one1 though 
less authentic1 version of the story1   
some of the poor monks1 the unconscious 
subjects of the experiment1 even        
perished as the result of the ingestion 
of the antimonial compounds4 ,according 
to the better version they suffered only
 the usual unpleasant consequences of   
taking antimony1 which are1 however1    

quite enough for a fitting climax to the
 story4 ,basil ,valentine called the new
 substance which he had discovered      
antimony1 that is1 opposed to monks4 ,it
 might be good for hogs1 but it was a   
form of monks' bane1 as it were4        
,footnote #f    ,footnote #f3 ,it is    
curious to trace how old are the        
traditions on   which some of these old 
stories that must now be rejected1 are  
founded4 ,i have come upon the story    
with regard to ,basil ,valentine   and  
the antimony and the monks in an old    
,french medical encyclopedia   of       
biography1 published in the seventeenth 
century1 and at that time   there was no
 doubt at all expressed as to its truth4
 ,how much older   than this it may be  
,i do not know1 though it is probable   
that it   comes from the sixteenth      
century1 when the kakoethes scribendi   
attacked many people because of the     
facility of printing1 and when   most of
 the good stories that have so worried  
the modern dry-as-dust   historian in   

his researches for their correction     
became a part of   the body of supposed 
historical tradition4  #fj              
,unfortunately for most of the good     
stories of history1 modern criticism has
 nearly always failed to find any       
authentic basis for them1 and they have 
had to go the way of the legends of     
,washington's hatchet and ,tell's apple4
 ,we are sorry to say that that seems to
 be true also of this particular story4 
,antimony1 the word1 is very probably   
derived from certain dialectic forms of 
the ,greek word for the metal1 and the  
name is no more derived from anti and   
monachus than it is from anti and monos 
7opposed to single existence71 another  
fictitious derivation that has been     
suggested1 and one whose etymological   
value is supposed to consist in the fact
 that antimony is practically never     
found alone in nature4  ,notwithstanding
 the apparent cloud of unfounded        
traditions that are associated with his 
name1 there can be no doubt at all of   

the fact that ,valentinus--to give him  
the ,latin name by which he is commonly 
designated in foreign literatures--was  
one of the great geniuses who1 working  
in obscurity1 make precious steps into  
the unknown that enable humanity after  
them to see things more clearly than    
ever before4 ,there are definite        
historical grounds for placing ,basil   
,valentine as the first of the series of
 careful observers who differentiated   
chemistry from the old alchemy and      
applied its precious treasures of       
information to the uses of medicine4 ,it
 was because of the study of ,basil     
,valentine's work that ,paracelsus broke
 away from the ,galenic traditions1 so  
supreme in medicine up to his time1 #fa 
and began our modern pharmaceutics4     
,following on the heels of ,paracelsus  
came ,van ,helmont1 the father of modern
 medical chemistry1 and these three did 
more than any others to enlarge the     
scope of medication and to make         
observation rather than authority the   

most important criterion of truth in    
medicine4 ,indeed1 the work of these    
three men dominated medicine1 or at     
least the department of pharmaceutics1  
down almost to our own day1 and their   
influence is still felt in drug-giving4 
,while we do not know the absolute date 
of either the birth or the death of     
,basil ,valentine and are not sure even 
of the exact period in which he lived   
and did his work1 we are sure that a    
great original observer about the time  
of the invention of printing studied    
mercury and sulphur and various salts1  
and above all1 introduced antimony to   
the notice of the scientific world1 and 
especially to the favor of practitioners
 of medicine4 ,his book1 ,the ,triumphal
 ,chariot of ,antimony1 is full of      
conclusions not quite justified by his  
premises nor by his observations4 ,there
 is no doubt1 however1 that the         
observational methods which he employed 
did give an immense amount of knowledge 
and formed the basis of the method of   

investigation by which the chemical side
 of medicine was to develop during the  
next two or three centuries4 ,great harm
 was done by the abuse of antimony1 but 
then great harm is done by the abuse of 
anything1 no matter how good it may be4 
,for a #fb time it came to be the most  
important drug in medicine and was only 
replaced by venesection4  ,the fact of  
the matter is that doctors were looking 
for effects from their drugs1 and       
antimony is1 above all things1          
effective4 ,patients1 too1 wished to see
 the effect of the medicines they took4 
,they do so even yet1 and when antimony 
was administered there was no doubt     
about its working4  ,some five years    
ago1 when ,sir ,michael ,foster1 ,m4,d41
 professor of physiology in the         
,university of ,cambridge1 ,england1 was
 invited to deliver the ,lane lectures  
at the ,cooper ,medical ,college1 in    
,san ,francisco1 he took for his subject
 ,the ,history of ,physiology4 ,in the  
course of his lecture on ,the ,rise of  

,chemical ,physiology he began with the 
name of ,basil ,valentine1 who first    
attracted men's attention to the many   
chemical substances around them that    
might be used in the treatment of       
disease1 and said of him3--    ,he was  
one of the alchemists1 but in addition  
to his inquiries into   the properties  
of metals and his search for the        
philosopher's stone1   he busied himself
 with the nature of drugs1 vegetable and
 mineral1   and with their action as    
remedies for disease4 ,he was no        
anatomist1   no physiologist1 but rather
 what nowadays we should call a         
pharmacologist4 ,he did not care for the
 problem of the body1 all he   sought to
 understand was how the constituents of 
the soil and of   plants might be       
treated so as to be available for       
healing the sick   and how they produced
 their effects4 ,we apparently owe to   
him the   introduction of many chemical 
substances1 for instance1 of #fc        
hydrochloric acid1 which he prepared    

from oil of vitriol and salt1   and of  
many vegetable drugs4 ,and he was       
apparently the author of   certain      
conceptions which1 as we shall see1     
played an important part   in the       
development of chemistry and of         
physiology4 ,to him1 it seems1   we owe 
the idea of the three elements1 as they 
were and have been   called1 replacing  
the old idea of the ancients of the four
   elements--earth1 air1 fire1 and      
water4 ,it must be remembered1          
however1 that both in the ancient and in
 the new idea the word   element was not
 intended to mean that which it means to
 us now1 a   fundamental unit of matter1
 but a general quality or property of   
matter4 ,the three elements of          
,valentine were 7#a7 sulphur1 or that   
which is combustible1 which is changed  
or destroyed1 or which at all   events  
disappears during burning or combustion2
 7#b7 mercury1 that   which temporarily 
disappears during burning or combustion1
 which is   dissociated in the burning  

from the body burnt1 but which may be   
recovered1 that is to say1 that which is
 volatile1 and 7#c7 salt1   that which  
is fixed1 the residue or ash which      
remains after burning4   ,the most      
interesting of ,basil ,valentine's      
books1 and the one which has had the    
most enduring influence1 is undoubtedly 
,the ,triumphal ,chariot of ,antimony4  
,it has been translated and has had a   
wide vogue in every language of modern  
,europe4 ,its recommendation of antimony
 had such an effect upon medical        
practice that it continued to be the    
most important drug in the pharmacopoeia
 down almost to the middle of the       
nineteenth century4 ,if any proof were  
needed that ,basil ,valentine or that   
the author of the books that go under   
that name was a monk1 it would be found 
in the #fd introduction to this volume1 
which not only states that fact very    
clearly1 but also in doing so makes use 
of language that shows the writer to    
have been deeply imbued with the old    

monastic spirit4 ,i quote the first     
paragraph of this introduction in order 
to make clear what ,i mean4 ,the        
quotation is taken from the ,english    
translation of the work as published in 
,london in #afgh4 ,curiously enough1    
seeing the obscurity surrounding        
,valentine himself1 we do not know for  
sure who made the translation4 ,the     
translator apologizes somewhat for the  
deeply religious spirit of the book1 but
 considers that he was not justified in 
eliminating any of this4 ,of course1 the
 translation is left in the quaint      
old-fashioned form so eminently suited  
to the thoughts of the old master1 and  
the spelling and use of capitals is not 
changed3    ,basil ,valentine--,his     
,triumphant ,chariot of ,antimony ,since
 ,i1 ,basil   ,valentine1 by ,religious 
,vows am bound to live according to the 
,order   of ,st4 ,benedict1 and that    
requires another manner of spirit of    
,holiness than the common state of      
,mortals exercised in the profane       

business of this ,world2 ,i thought it  
my duty before all things1 in   the     
beginning of this little book1 to       
declare what is necessary to   be known 
by the pious ,spagyrist old-time name   
for medical chemist1   inflamed with an 
ardent desire of this ,art1 as what he  
ought to do1   and whereunto to direct  
his aim1 that he may lay such           
foundations of   the whole matter as may
 be stable2 lest his ,building1 shaken  
with   the ,winds1 happen to fall1 and  
the whole ,edifice to be involved in    
shameful ,ruine1 #fe which otherwise1   
being founded on more firm and   solid  
principles1 might have continued for a  
long series of time   ,which ,admonition
 ,i judged was1 is and always will be a 
necessary   part of my ,religious       
,office2 especially since we must all   
die1 and   no one of us which are now1  
whether high or low1 shall long be seen 
among the number of men ,for it concerns
 me to recommend these   ,meditations of
 ,mortality to ,posterity1 leaving them 

behind me1 not   only that honor may be 
given to the ,divine ,majesty1 but also 
that   ,men may obey him sincerely in   
all things4    ,in this my ,meditation  
,i found that there were five principal 
heads1   chiefly to be considered by the
 wise and prudent spectators of our     
,wisdom and ,art4 ,the first of which   
is1 ,invocation of ,god4 ,the   second1 
,contemplation of ,nature ,the third1   
,true ,preparation4 ,the   fourth1 the  
,way of ,using4 ,the fifth1 ,utility and
 ,fruit4 ,for he who   regards not      
these1 shall never obtain place among   
true ,chymists1 or   fill up the number 
of perfect ,spagyrists4 ,therefore1     
touching these   five heads1 we shall   
here following treat and so far declare 
them1   as that the general ,work may be
 brought to light and perfected by an   
intent and studious ,operator4  ,this   
book1 though the title might seem to    
indicate it1 is not devoted entirely to 
the study of antimony1 but contains many
 important additions to the chemistry of

 the time4 ,for instance1 ,basil        
,valentine explains in this work how    
what he calls the spirit of salt might  
be obtained4 ,he succeeded in           
manufacturing this material by treating 
common salt with oil of vitriol and     
heat4 ,from the description of the uses 
to which he put the end product of his  
chemical manipulation1 it is evident    
that under the name of spirit of salt   
#ff he is describing what we now know as
 hydrochloric acid4 ,this is the first  
definite mention of it in the history of
 science1 and the method suggested for  
its preparation is not very different   
from that employed even at the present  
time4 ,he also suggests in this volume  
how alcohol may be obtained in high     
strengths4 ,he distilled the spirit     
obtained from wine over carbonate of    
potassium1 and thus succeeded in        
depriving it of a great proportion of   
its water4  ,we have said that he was   
deeply interested in the philosopher's  
stone4 ,naturally this turned his       

attention to the study of metals1 and so
 it is not surprising to find that he   
succeeded in formulating a method by    
which metallic copper could be obtained4
 ,the substance used for the purpose was
 copper pyrites1 which was changed to an
 impure sulphate of copper by the action
 of oil of vitriol and moist air4 ,the  
sulphate of copper occurred in solution1
 and the copper could be precipitated   
from it by plunging an iron bar into it4
 ,basil ,valentine recognized the       
presence of this peculiar yellow metal  
and studied some of its qualities4 ,he  
does not seem to have been quite sure1  
however1 whether the phenomenon that he 
witnessed was not really a transmutation
 of the iron into copper1 as a          
consequence of the other chemicals      
present4  ,there are some observations  
on chemical physiology1 and especially  
with regard to respiration1 in the book 
on antimony which show their author to  
have anticipated the true explanation of
 the #fg theory of respiration4 ,he     

states that animals breathe1 because the
 air is needed to support their life1   
and that all the animals exhibit the    
phenomenon of respiration4 ,he even     
insists that the fishes1 though living  
in water1 breathe air1 and he adduces in
 support of this idea the fact that     
whenever a river is entirely frozen the 
fishes die4 ,the reason for this being1 
according to this old-time physiologist1
 not that the fishes are frozen to      
death1 but that they are not able to    
obtain air in the ice as they did in the
 water1 and consequently perish4  ,there
 are many testimonies to the practical  
character of all his knowledge and his  
desire to apply it for the benefit of   
humanity4 ,the old monk could not       
repress the expression of his impatience
 with physicians who gave to patients   
for diseases of which they knew little1 
remedies of which they knew less4 ,for  
him it was an unpardonable sin for a    
physician not to have faithfully studied
 the various mixtures that he prescribed

 for his patients1 and not to know not  
only their appearance and taste and     
effect1 but also the limits of their    
application4 ,considering that at the   
present time it is a frequent source of 
complaint that physicians often         
prescribe remedies with whose physical  
appearances they are not familiar1 this 
complaint of the old-time chemist       
alchemist will be all the more          
interesting for the modern physician4   
,it is evident that when ,basil         
,valentine allows his ire to get the    
better of him it is because of his      
indignation over the #fh quacks who were
 abusing medicine and patients in his   
time1 as they have ever since4 ,there is
 a curious bit of aspersion on mere     
book-learning in the passage that has a 
distinctly modern ring1 and one feels   
the truth of ,russell ,lowell's         
expression that to read a great genius1 
no matter how antique1 is like reading a
 commentary in the morning paper1 so    
up-to-date does genius ever remain3--   

,and whensoever ,i shall have occasion  
to contend in the ,school with   such a 
,doctor1 who knows not how himself to   
prepare his own   medicines1 but commits
 that business to another1 ,i am sure ,i
 shall   obtain the ,palm from him2 for 
indeed that good man knows not what     
medicines he prescribes to the sick2    
whether the color of them be   white1   
black1 grey1 or blew1 he cannot tell2   
nor doth this wretched   man know       
whether the medicine he gives be dry or 
hot1 cold or humid2   but he only knows 
that he found it so written in his      
,books1 and   thence pretends knowledge 
7or as it were1 ,possession7 by         
,prescription of a very long time2 yet  
he desires to further   ,information    
,here again let it be lawful to exclaim1
 ,good ,god1 to   what a state is the   
matter brought6 what goodness of minde  
is in   these men6 what care do they    
take of the sick6 ,wo1 wo to them6 in   
the day of ,judgment they will find the 
fruit of their ignorance and   rashness1

 then they will see ,him whom they      
pierced1 when they   neglected their    
,neighbor1 sought after money and       
nothing else2   whereas were they       
cordial in their profession1 they would 
spend   ,nights and ,days in ,labour    
that they might become more learned in  
their ,art1 whence more certain health  
would accrew to the sick with   their   
,estimation and greater glory to        
themselves4 ,but since ,labour   is     
tedious to them1 they commit the #fi    
matter to chance1 and being   secure of 
their ,honour1 and content with their   
,fame1 they 7like   ,brawlers7 defend   
themselves with a certain garrulity1    
without any   respect had to ,confidence
 or ,truth4  ,perhaps one of the reasons
 why ,valentine's book has been of such 
enduring interest is that it is written 
in an eminently human vein and out of a 
lively imagination4 ,it is full of      
figures relating to many other things   
besides chemistry1 which serve to show  
how deeply this investigating observer  

was attentive to all the problems of    
life around him4 ,for instance1 when he 
wants to describe the affinity that     
exists between many substances in       
chemistry1 and which makes it impossible
 for them not to be attracted to one    
another1 he takes a figure from the     
attractions that he sees exist among men
 and women4 ,there are some paragraphs  
with regard to the influence of the     
passion of love that one might think    
rather a quotation from an old-time     
sermon than from a great ground-breaking
 book in the science of chemistry4      
,love leaves nothing entire or sound in 
man2 it impedes his sleep2 he   cannot  
rest either day or night2 it takes off  
his appetite that he   hath no          
disposition either to meat or drink by  
reason of the   continual torments of   
his heart and mind4 ,it deprives him of 
all   ,providence1 hence he neglects his
 affairs1 vocation and business4 ,he    
minds neither study1 labor nor prayer2  
casts away all thoughts of   anything   

but the body beloved2 this is his study1
 this his most vain   occupation4 ,if to
 lovers the success be not answerable to
 their   wish1 or so soon #gj and       
prosperously as they desire1 how many   
melancholies henceforth arise1 with     
griefs and sadnesses1 with which   they 
pine away and wax so lean as they have  
scarcely any flesh   cleaving to the    
bones ,yea1 at last they lose the life  
itself1 as may   be proved by many      
examples6 for such men1 7which is an    
horrible   thing to think of7 slight and
 neglect all perils and detriments1     
both of the body and life1 and of the   
soul and eternal salvation  ,it is      
evident that human nature is not        
different in our sophisticated twentieth
 century from that which this observant 
old monk saw around him in the          
fifteenth4 ,he continues3--    ,how many
 testimonies of this violence which is  
in love1 are daily   found8 for it not  
only inflames the younger sort1 but it  
so far   exaggerates some persons far   

gone in years as through the burning    
heat thereof1 they are almost mad       
,natural diseases are for the most      
part governed by the complexion of man  
and therefore invade some   more        
fiercely1 others more gently2 but ,love1
 without distinction of   poor or rich1 
young or old1 seizeth all1 and having   
seized so blinds   them as forgetting   
all rules of reason1 they neither see   
nor hear   any snare4  ,but then the old
 monk thinks that he has said enough    
about this subject and apologizes for   
his digression in another paragraph that
 should remove any lingering doubt there
 may be with regard to the genuineness  
of his monastic character4 ,the personal
 element in his confession is so naive  
and so simply straightforward that      
instead of seeming to be the result of  
conceit1 and so repelling the reader1 it
 rather attracts his #ga kindly feeling 
for its author4 ,the paragraph would    
remind one in certain ways of that      
personal element that was to become more

 popular in literature after ,montaigne 
had made such extensive use of it4      
,but of these enough2 for it becomes not
 a religious man to insist   too long   
upon these cogitations1 or to give place
 to such a flame in   his heart4        
,hitherto 7without boasting ,i speak it7
 ,i have throughout   the whole course  
of my life kept myself safe and free    
from it1 and ,i   pray and invoke ,god  
to vouchsafe me his ,grace that ,i may  
keep holy   and inviolate the faith     
which ,i have sworn1 and live contented 
with   my spiritual spouse1 the ,holy1  
,catholick ,church4 ,for no other reason
   have ,i alleaged these than that ,i  
might express the love with which   all 
tinctures ought to be moved towards     
metals1 if ever they be   admitted by   
them into true friendship1 and by love1 
which permeates   the inmost parts1 be  
converted into a better state  ,the     
application of the figure at the end of 
his long digression is characteristic of
 the period in which he wrote and to a  

considerable extent also of the ,german 
literary methods of the time4  ,in this 
volume on the use of antimony there are 
in most of the editions certain         
biographical notes which have sometimes 
been accepted as authentic1 but oftener 
rejected4 ,according to these1 ,basil   
,valentine was born in a town in        
,alsace1 on the southern bank of the    
,rhine4 ,as a consequence of this1 there
 are several towns that have laid claim 
to being his birthplace4 ,m4 ,jean      
,reynaud1 the distinguished ,french #gb 
philosophical writer of the first half  
of the nineteenth century1 once said    
that ,basil ,valentine1 like ,ossian and
 ,homer1 had many towns claim him years 
after his death4 ,he also suggested     
that1 like those old poets1 it was      
possible that the writings sometimes    
attributed to ,basil ,valentine were    
really the work not of one man1 but of  
several individuals4 ,there are1        
however1 many objections to this theory1
 the most forceful of which is the      

internal evidence of the books          
themselves and their style and method of
 treatment4 ,other biographic details   
contained in ,the ,triumphal ,chariot of
 ,antimony are undoubtedly more correct4
 ,according to them1 ,basil ,valentine  
travelled in ,england and ,holland on   
missions for his ,order1 and went       
through ,france and ,spain on a         
pilgrimage to ,st4 ,james of            
,compostella4  ,besides this work1 there
 is a number of other books of ,basil   
,valentine's1 printed during the first  
half of the sixteenth century1 that are 
well-known and copies of which may be   
found in most of the important          
libraries4 ,the ,united ,states ,surgeon
 ,general's ,library at ,washington     
contains several of the works on medical
 subjects1 and the ,new ,york ,academy  
of ,medicine ,library has some valuable 
editions of his works4 ,some of his     
other well-known books1 each of which is
 a good-sized octavo volume1 bear the   
following descriptive titles 7,i give   

them in ,english1 though1 as they are   
usually to be found1 they are in ,latin1
 sixteenth-century #gc translations of  
the original ,german73 ,the ,world in   
,miniature3 or1 ,the ,mystery of the    
,world and of ,human ,medical ,science1 
published at ,marburg1 #afji2--,the     
,chemical ,apocalypse3 or1 ,the         
,manifestation of ,artificial ,chemical 
,compounds1 published at ,erfurt in     
#afbd2--;,a ,chemico-,philosophic       
,treatise ,concerning ,things ,natural  
and ,preternatural1 ,especially         
,relating to the ,metals and the        
,minerals1 published at ,frankfurt in   
#afgf2--;,haliography3 or1 ,the ,science
 of ,salts3 ,a ,treatise on the         
,preparation1 ,use and ,chemical        
,properties of ,all the ,mineral1       
,animal and ,vegetable ,salts1 published
 at ,bologna in #afdd2--,the ,twelve    
,keys of ,philosophy1 ,leipsic1 #afcj4  
,the great interest manifested in ,basil
 ,valentine's work at the ,renaissance  
period can be best realized from the    

number of manuscript copies and their   
wide distribution4 ,his books were not  
all printed at one place1 but1 on the   
contrary1 in different portions of      
,europe4 ,the original edition of ,the  
,triumphal ,chariot of ,antimony was    
published at ,leipsic in the early part 
of the sixteenth century4 ,the first    
editions of the other books1 however1   
appeared at places so distant from      
,leipsic as ,amsterdam and ,bologna1    
while various cities of ,germany1 as    
,erfurt and ,frankfurt1 claim the       
original editions of still other works4 
,many of the manuscript copies still    
exist in various libraries in ,europe2  
and while there is no doubt that some   
unimportant additions to the supposed   
works of ,basil ,valentine have come #gd
 from the attribution to him of         
scientific treatises of other ,german   
writers1 the style and the method of the
 principal works mentioned are entirely 
too similar not to have been the fruit  
of a single mind and that possessed of a

 distinct investigating genius setting  
it far above any of its contemporaries  
in scientific speculation and           
observation4  ,the most interesting     
feature of all of ,basil ,valentine's   
writings that are extant is the         
distinctive tendency to make his        
observations of special practical       
utility4 ,his studies in antimony were  
made mainly with the idea of showing how
 that substance might be used in        
medicine4 ,he did not neglect to point  
out other possible uses1 however1 and   
knew the secret of the employment of    
antimony in order to give sharpness and 
definition to the impression produced by
 metal types4 ,it would seem as though  
he was the first scientist who discussed
 this subject1 and there is even some   
question whether printers and type      
founders did not derive their ideas in  
this matter from ,basil ,valentine1     
rather than he from them4 ,interested as
 he was in the transmutation of metals1 
he never failed to try to find and      

suggest some medicinal use for all of   
the substances that he investigated4    
,his was no greedy search for gold and  
no accumulation of investigations with  
the idea of benefiting only himself4    
,mankind was always in his mind1 and    
perhaps there is no better demonstration
 of his fulfilment of the character of  
the monk than this constant #ge         
solicitude to benefit others by every   
bit of investigation that he carried    
out4 ,for him with medieval nobleness of
 spirit the first part of every work    
must be the invocation of ,god1 and the 
last1 though no less important than the 
first1 must be the utility and fruit for
 mankind that can be derived from it4   
#gf  #gg  ,,iv4  ,,linacre3 ,,scholar1  
,,physician1 ,,priest4   #gh  ,linacre1 
as ,dr4 ,payne remarks1 was possessed   
from his youth till his death by the    
enthusiasm of learning4 ,he was an      
idealist devoted to objects which the   
world thought of little use4            
,painstaking1 accurate1 critical1       

hypercritical perhaps1 he remains to-day
 the chief literary representative of   
,british ,medicine4 ,neither in ,britain
 nor in ,greater ,britain have we       
maintained the place in the world of    
letters created for us by ,linacre's    
noble start4 ,quoted by ,osler in       
,a,equanimitas4    ,illustration3       
,,thomas ,,linacre   #gi  ,,iv4         
,,linacre3 ,,scholar1 ,,physician1      
,,priest4  ,not long ago1 in one of his 
piquant little essays1 ,mr4 ,augustine  
,birrell discussed the question as to   
what really happened at the time of the 
so-called ,reformation in ,england4     
,there is much more doubt with regard to
 this matter1 even in the minds of      
non-,catholics1 than is usually         
suspected4 ,mr4 ,birrell seems to have  
considered it one of the most important 
problems1 and at the same time not by   
any means the least intricate one1 in   
modern ,english history4 ,the so-called 
,high ,church people emphatically insist
 that there is no break in the          

continuity of the ,church of ,england1  
and that the modern ,anglicanism is a   
direct descendant of the old ,british   
,church4 ,they reject with scorn the    
idea that it was the ,lutheran movement 
on the ,continent which brought about   
the changes in the ,anglican ,church at 
that time4 ,protestantism did not come  
into ,england for a considerable period 
after the change in the constitution of 
the ,anglican ,church1 and when it did  
come its tendencies were quite as       
subversal of the authority of the       
,anglican as of the ,roman ,church1     
,protestantism is the mother of         
,nonconformism in ,england4 ,it can be  
seen1 then1 that the question as to what
 did really take place in the time #hj  
of ,henry ,,viii and of ,edward ,,vi is 
still open4 ,it has seemed to me that no
 little light on this vexed historical  
question will be thrown by a careful    
study of the life of ,dr4 ,linacre1 who1
 besides being the best known physician 
of his time in ,england1 was the        

greatest scholar of the ,english        
,renaissance period1 yet had all his    
life been on very intimate terms with   
the ecclesiastical authorities1 and     
eventually gave up his honors1 his      
fortune1 and his profession to become a 
simple priest of the old ,english       
,church4  ,considering the usually      
accepted notions as to the sad state of 
affairs supposed to exist in the ,church
 at the beginning of the sixteenth      
century1 this is a very remarkable      
occurrence1 and deserves careful study  
to determine its complete significance1 
for it tells better than anything else  
the opinion of a distinguished          
contemporary4 ,few men have ever been   
more highly thought of by their own     
generation4 ,none has been more         
sincerely respected by intimate friends1
 who were themselves the leaders of the 
thought of their generation1 than       
,thomas ,linacre1 scholar1 physician and
 priest2 and his action must stand as   
the highest possible tribute to the     

,church in ,england at that time4  ,how 
unimpaired his practical judgment of men
 and affairs was at the time he made his
 change from royal physician to simple  
priest can best be gathered from the    
sagacity displayed in the foundation of 
the ,royal ,college of ,physicians1 an  
institution he was endowing with the #ha
 wealth he had accumulated in some      
twenty years of most lucrative medical  
practice4 ,the ,royal ,college of       
,physicians represents the first attempt
 to secure the regulation of the        
practice of medicine in ,england1 and1  
thanks to its founder's wonderful       
foresight and practical wisdom1 it      
remains down to our own day1 under its  
original constitution1 one of the most  
effective and highly honored of ,british
 scientific foundations4 ,no distinction
 is more sought at the present time by  
young ,british medical men1 or by       
,american or even ,continental graduates
 in medicine1 than the privilege of     
adding to their names the letters       

,f4,r4,c4,p47,eng471 ,fellow of the     
,royal ,college of ,physicians of       
,england4 ,the ,college worked the      
reformation of medical practice in      
,england1 and its methods have proved   
the suggestive formulae for many another
 such institution and for laws that all 
over the world protect1 to some extent  
at least1 the public from quacks and    
charlatans4  ,linacre's change of       
profession at the end of his life has   
been a fruitful source of conjecture and
 misconception on the part of his       
biographers4 ,few of them seem to be    
able to appreciate the fact1 common     
enough in the history of the ,church1   
that a man may1 even when well on in    
years1 give up everything to which his  
life has been so far directed1 and from 
a sense of duty devote himself entirely 
to the attainment of the one thing      
necessary4 ,linacre appears only to have
 done what many another in the history  
of #hb the thirteenth1 fourteenth1 and  
fifteenth centuries did without any     

comment2 but his ,english biographers   
insist on seeing ulterior motives in it1
 or else fail entirely to understand it4
 ,the same action is not so rare even in
 our own day that it should be the      
source of misconception by later        
writers4  ,dr4 ,s4 ,weir ,mitchell has1 
in the early part of ,dr4 ,north and    
,his ,friends1 a very curious passage   
with regard to ,linacre4 ,one of the    
characters1 ,st4 ,clair1 says3 ,i saw1  
the other day1 at ,owen's1 a life of one
 ,linacre1 a doctor1 who had the luck to
 live about #adfj to #aebd1 when men    
knew little and thought they knew all4  
,in his old age he took for novelty to  
reading ,st4 ,matthew4 ,the fifth1      
sixth1 and seventh chapters were enough4
 ,he threw the book aside and cried out1
 ',either this is not the ,gospel1 or we
 are not ,christians4' ,what else could 
he say8 ,st4 ,clair uses the story to   
enforce an idea of his own1 which he    
states as a question1 as follows3 ,and  
have none of you the courage to wrestle 

with the thought ,i gave you1 that      
,christ could not have expected the mass
 of men to live the life ,he pointed out
 as desirable for the first disciples of
 ,his faith8  ,dr4 ,mitchell's anecdote 
is not accepted by ,linacre's           
biographers generally1 though it is     
copied by ,dr4 ,payne1 the writer of the
 article on ,linacre in the 7,english7  
,dictionary of ,national ,biography1    
who1 however1 discredits it somewhat4   
,the story is founded on ,sir ,john     
,cheke's #hc account of the conversion  
of ,linacre4 ,it is very doubtful1      
however1 whether ,linacre's deprecations
 of the actions of ,christians had      
reference to anything more than the     
practice of false swearing so forcibly  
denounced in the ,scriptures1 which had 
apparently become frequent in his time4 
,this is ,selden's version of the story 
as quoted by ,dr4 ,johnson1 who was     
,linacre's well-known biographer4 ,sir  
,john ,cheke in his account seems to    
hint that this chance reading of the    

,scriptures represented the first       
occasion ,linacre had ever taken of an  
opportunity to read the ,new ,testament4
 ,perhaps we are expected to believe    
that1 following the worn-out ,protestant
 tradition of the old ,church's         
discouraging of the reading of the      
,bible1 and of the extreme scarcity of  
copies of the ,book1 this was the first 
time he had ever had a good opportunity 
to read it4 ,this1 of course1 is        
nonsense4  ,linacre's early education   
had been obtained at the school of the  
monastery of ,christ ,church at         
,canterbury1 and the monastery schools  
all used the ,new ,testament as a       
text-book1 and as the offices of the day
 at which the students were required to 
attend contain these very passages from 
,matthew which ,linacre is supposed to  
have read for the first time later in   
life1 this idea is preposterous4        
,besides1 ,linacre1 as one of the great 
scholars of his time1 intimate friend of
 ,sir ,thomas ,more1 of ,dean ,colet1   

and ,erasmus1 can scarcely be thought to
 find his first copy of the ,bible only 
when advanced in years4 ,this is #hd    
evidently a post-,reformation addition1 
part of the ,protestant tradition with  
regard to the supposed suppression of   
the ,scriptures in pre-,reformation     
days1 which every one acknowledges now  
to be without foundation4  ,linacre1 as 
many another before and since1 seems    
only to have realized the true          
significance of the striking passages in
 ,matthew after life's experiences and  
disappointments had made him take more  
seriously the clauses of the ,sermon on 
the ,mount4 ,there is much in fifth1    
sixth1 and seventh ,matthew that might  
disturb the complacent equanimity of a  
man whose main objects in life1 though  
pursued with all honorable              
unselfishness1 had been the personal    
satisfaction of wide scholarship and    
success in his chosen profession4  ,with
 regard to ,sir ,john ,cheke's story1   
,dr4 ,john ,noble ,johnson1 who wrote   

the life of ,thomas ,linacre1 ,footnote 
#g which is accepted as the             
authoritative biography by all          
subsequent writers1 says3 ,the whole    
statement carries with it an air of     
invention1 if not on the part of ,cheke 
himself1 at least on that of the        
individual from whom he derives it1 and 
it is refuted by #he ,linacre's known   
habits of moderation and the many       
ecclesiastical friendships which1 with a
 single exception1 were preserved       
without interruption until his death4   
,it was a most frequent mode of         
silencing opposition to the received and
 established tenets of the ,church1 when
 arguments were wanting1 to brand the   
impugner with the opprobrious titles of 
heretic and infidel1 the common resource
 of the enemies to innovation in every  
age and country4    ,footnote #g3 ,the  
,life of ,thomas ,linacre1 ,doctor in   
,medicine1   ,physician to ,king ,henry 
,,viii1 the ,tutor and ,friend of ,sir  
,thomas   ,more and the ,founder of the 

,college of ,physicians in ,london ,by  
,john   ,noble ,johnson1 ,m ,d41 late   
,fellow of the ,royal ,college of       
,physicians1   ,london4 ,edited by      
,robert ,graves1 of the ,inner ,temple1 
,barrister at   ,law ,london3 ,edward   
,lumley1 ,chancery ,lane #ahce4  ,the   
interesting result of the reflections   
inspired in ,linacre by the reading of  
,matthew was1 as has been said1 the     
resignation of his high office of ,royal
 ,physician and the surrender of his    
wealth for the foundation of chairs in  
,medicine and ,greek at ,oxford and     
,cambridge4 ,with the true liberal      
spirit of a man who wished to accomplish
 as much good as possible1 his          
foundations were not limited to his own 
,university of ,oxford4 ,after these    
educational foundations1 however1 his   
wealth was applied to the endowment of  
the ,royal ,college of ,physicians and  
its library1 and to the provision of    
such accessories as might be expected to
 make the ,college a permanently useful 

institution1 though left at the same    
time perfectly capable of that evolution
 which would suit it to subsequent times
 and the development of the science and 
practice of medicine4  ,it is evident   
that the life of such a man can scarcely
 fail to be of personal as well as      
historic interest4  #hf  ,thomas        
,linacre was born about #adfj--the year 
is uncertain--at ,canterbury4 ,nothing  
is known of his parents or their        
condition1 though this very silence in  
their regard would seem to indicate that
 they were poor and obscure4 ,his       
education was obtained at the school of 
the monastery of ,christ ,church1       
,canterbury1 then presided over by the  
famous ,william ,selling1 the first of  
the great students of the new learning  
in ,england4 ,selling's interest seems  
to have helped ,linacre to get to       
,oxford1 where he entered at ,all       
,souls' ,college in #adhj4 ,in #adhd he 
was elected a ,fellow of the ,college1  
and seems to have distinguished himself 

in ,greek1 to which he applied himself  
with special assiduity under ,cornelio  
,vitelli4 ,though ,greek is sometimes   
spoken of as having been introduced into
 ,western ,europe only at the beginning 
of the sixteenth century1 ,linacre      
undoubtedly laid the foundation of that 
remarkable knowledge of the language    
which he displayed at a later period of 
his life1 during his student days at    
,oxford in the last quarter of the      
fifteenth century4  ,linacre went to    
,italy under the most auspicious        
circumstances4 ,his old tutor and friend
 at ,canterbury1 ,selling1 who had      
become one of the leading ecclesiastics 
of ,england1 was sent to ,rome as an    
,ambassador by ,henry ,,vii4 ,he took   
,linacre with him4 ,a number of ,english
 scholars had recently been in ,italy   
and had attracted attention by their    
geniality1 by their thorough-going      
devotion to scholarly studies1 #hg and  
by their success in their work4 ,selling
 himself had made a number of firm      

friends among the ,italian students of  
the ,new ,learning on a former visit1   
and they now welcomed him with          
enthusiasm and were ready to receive his
 protege with goodwill and provide him  
with the best opportunities for study4  
,as a member of the train of the        
,english ambassador1 ,linacre had an    
entree to political circles that proved 
of great service to him1 and put him on 
a distinct footing above that of the    
ordinary ,english student in ,italy4    
,partly because of these and partly     
because of his own interesting and      
attractive personal character1 ,linacre 
had a number of special opportunities   
promptly placed at his disposal4 ,church
 dignitaries in ,rome welcomed him and  
he was at once received into scholarly  
circles wherever he went in ,italy4     
,almost as soon as he arrived in        
,florence1 where he expected seriously  
to take up the study of ,latin and      
,greek1 he became the intimate friend of
 the family of ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 who

 was so charmed with his personality and
 his readily recognizable talent that he
 chose him for the companion of his     
son's studies and received him into his 
own household4  ,politian was at this   
time the tutor of the young de' ,medici 
in ,latin1 and ,demetrius ,chalcondylas 
the tutor in ,greek4 ,under these two   
eminent scholars ,linacre obtained a    
knowledge of ,latin and ,greek such as  
it would have been impossible to have   
obtained under any other #hh            
circumstances1 and which with his       
talents at once stamped him as one of   
the foremost humanistic scholars in     
,europe4 ,while in ,florence he came in 
contact with ,lorenzo the ,magnificent's
 younger son1 who afterwards became ,leo
 ,x4 ,the friendship thus formed lasted 
all during ,linacre's lifetime1 and     
later on he dedicated at least one of   
his books to ,alexander de' ,medici     
after the latter's elevation to the     
papal throne4  ,it is no wonder that    
,linacre always looked back on ,italy as

 the ,alma ,mater--the fond mother in   
the fullest sense of the term--to whom  
he owed his precious opportunities for  
education and the broadest possible     
culture4 ,in after-life the expression  
of his feelings was often tinged with   
romantic tenderness4 ,it is said that   
when he was crossing the ,alps1 on his  
homeward journey1 leaving ,italy after  
finishing his years of apprenticeship of
 study1 standing on the highest point of
 the mountains from which he could still
 see the ,italian plains1 he built with 
his own hands a rough altar of stone and
 dedicated it to the land of his        
studies--the land in which he had spent 
six happy years--under the fond title of
 ,sancta ,mater ,studiorum4  ,at first1 
after his return from ,italy1 ,linacre  
lectured on ,greek at ,oxford4          
,something of the influence acquired    
over ,english students and the good he  
accomplished may be appreciated from the
 fact that with ,grocyn he had such     
students as ,more and the famous ,dean  

,colet4 ,erasmus also was attracted from
 the ,netherlands and #hi studied ,greek
 under ,linacre1 to whom he refers in   
the most kindly and appreciative terms  
many times in his after life4 ,linacre  
wrote books besides lecturing1 and his  
work on certain fine points in the      
grammar of classical ,latinity proved a 
revelation to ,english students of the  
old classical languages1 for nothing so 
advanced as this had ever before been   
attempted outside ,italy4 ,in one of the
 last years of the fifteenth century    
,linacre was appointed tutor to ,prince 
,arthur1 the elder brother of ,henry    
,,viii1 to whom it will be remembered   
that ,catherine of ,aragon had been     
betrothed before her marriage with      
,henry4 ,arthur's untimely death1       
however1 soon put an end to ,linacres'  
tutorship4  ,as pointed out by          
,einstein1 the reputation of ,grocyn and
 ,linacre was not confined to ,england1 
but soon spread all over the ,continent4
 ,after the death of the great ,italian 

humanists of the fifteenth century1 who 
had no worthy successors in the ,italian
 peninsula1 these two men became the    
principal ,european representatives of  
the ,new ,learning4 ,there were other   
distinguished men1 however1 such as     
,vives1 the ,spaniard2 ,lascaris1 the   
,greek2 ,buda1 or ,budaeus1 the         
,frenchman1 and ,erasmus1 whom we have  
already mentioned--all of whom joined at
 various times in praising ,linacre4    
,some of ,linacre's books were published
 by the elder ,aldus at ,venice2 and    
,aldus is even said to have sent his    
regrets on publishing his edition of    
,linacre's translation of ,the ,sphere  
#ij of ,proclus1 that the distinguished 
,english humanist had not forwarded him 
others of his works to print4 ,aldus    
appreciatively added the hope that the  
eloquence and classic severity of style 
in ,linacre's works and in those of the 
,english humanists generally might shame
 the ,italian philosophers and scholars 
out of their uncultured methods of      

writing4  ,augusta ,theodosia ,drane    
7,mother ,raphael71 in her book on      
,christian ,schools and ,scholars1 gives
 a very pleasant picture of how ,dean   
,colet1 ,eramus1 and ,more used at this 
time to spend their afternoons down at  
,stepney 7then a very charming suburb of
 ,london71 of whose parish church ,colet
 was the vicar4 ,they stopped at        
,colet's house and were entertained by  
his mother1 to whom we find pleasant    
references in the letters that passed   
between these scholars4 ,linacre was    
also often of the party1 and the        
conversations between these greatest    
students and literary geniuses of their 
age would indeed be interesting reading1
 if we could only have had preserved for
 us1 in some way1 the table-talk of     
those afternoons4 ,erasmus particularly 
was noted for his wit and for his       
ability to turn aside any serious       
discussions that might arise among his  
friends1 so as to prevent anything like 
unpleasant argument in their friendly   

intercourse4 ,a favorite way seems to   
have been to insist on telling one of   
the old jokes from a classic author     
whose origin would naturally be presumed
 to be much later than the date the ,new
 ,learning had found for it4  #ia  ,dean
 ,colet's mother appears to have been   
much more than merely the conventional  
hostess4 ,erasmus sketches her in her   
ninetieth year with her countenance     
still so fair and cheerful that you     
would think she had never shed a tear4  
,her son tells in some of his letters to
 ,erasmus and ,more of how much his     
mother liked his visitors and how       
agreeable she found their talk and witty
 conversation4 ,they seem to have       
appreciated her in turn1 for in ,mother 
,raphael's chapter on ,english ,scholars
 of the ,renaissance there is something 
of a description of her garden1 in which
 were to be found strawberries1 lately  
brought from ,holland1 some of the finer
 varieties of which ,mrs4 ,colet        
possessed through ,erasmus's            

acquaintance in that country4 ,mrs4     
,colet also had some of the damask roses
 that had lately been introduced into   
,england by ,linacre1 who was naturally 
anxious that the mother of his friend   
should have the opportunity to raise    
some of the beautiful flowers he was so 
much interested in domesticating in     
,england4  ,it is a very charming       
picture1 this1 of the early humanists in
 ,england1 and very different from what 
might easily be imagined by those       
unfamiliar with the details of the life 
of the period4 ,linacre was later to    
give up his worldly emoluments and      
honors and become a clergyman1 in order 
to do good and at the same time satisfy 
his own craving for self-abnegation4    
,more was to rise to the highest        
positions in ,england1 and then for     
conscience' sake was to suffer death #ib
 rather than yield to the wishes of his 
king in a matter in which he saw        
principle involved4 ,dean ,colet himself
 was to be the ornament of the ,english 

clergy and the model of the scholar     
clergyman of the eve of the             
,reformation1 to whom many generations  
were to look back as a worthy object of 
reverence4 ,erasmus was to become       
involved first with and then against    
,luther1 and to be offered a cardinal's 
hat before his death4 ,his work1 like   
,newman's1 was done entirely in the     
intellectual field4 ,meantime1 in the   
morning of life1 all of them were       
enjoying the pleasures of friendly      
intercourse and the charms of domestic  
felicity under circumstances that showed
 that their study of humanism and their 
admiration for the classics impaired    
none of their sympathetic humanity or   
their appreciation of the innocent      
delights of the present4  ,for us1      
however1 ,linacre's most interesting    
biographic details are those which      
relate to medicine1 for1 besides his    
humanistic studies while in ,italy1     
,linacre graduated in medicine1         
obtaining the degree of doctor at       

,padua4 ,the memory of the brilliant    
disputation which he sustained in the   
presence of the medical faculty in order
 to obtain his degree is still one of   
the precious traditions in the medical  
school of ,padua4 ,he does not seem to  
have considered his medical education   
finished1 however1 by the mere fact of  
having obtained his doctor's degree1 and
 there is a tradition of his having     
studied later at ,vicenza under         
,nicholas ,leonicenus1 the most         
celebrated #ic physician and scholar in 
,italy at the end of the fifteenth      
century1 who many years afterwards      
referred with pardonable pride to the   
fact that he had been ,linacre's teacher
 in medicine4  ,it may seem strange to  
many that ,linacre1 with all his        
knowledge of the classics1 should have  
devoted himself for so many years to the
 study of medicine in addition to his   
humanistic studies4 ,it must not be     
forgotten1 however1 that the revival of 
the classics of ,latin and ,greek       

brought with it a renewed knowledge of  
the great ,latin and ,greek fathers of  
medicine1 ,hippocrates and ,galen4 ,this
 had a wonderful effect in inspiring the
 medical students of the time with      
renewed enthusiasm for the work in which
 they were engaged4 ,a knowledge of the 
classics led to the restoration of the  
study of anatomy1 botany1 and of        
clinical medicine1 which had been       
neglected in the midst of application to
 the ,arabian writers in medicine during
 the preceding centuries4 ,the          
restoration of the classics made of     
medicine a progressive science in which 
every student felt the possibility of   
making great discoveries that would     
endure not only for his own reputation  
but for the benefit of humanity4  ,these
 thoughts seem to have attracted many   
promising young men to the study of     
medicine4 ,the result was a period of   
writing and active observation in       
medicine that undoubtedly makes this one
 of the most important of literary      

medical eras4 ,some idea of the activity
 of the writers of the time can be      
gathered from the important #id medical 
books--most of them large folios which  
were printed during the last half of the
 sixteenth century in ,italy4 ,there is 
a series of these books to be seen in   
one of the cases of the library of the  
,surgeon-,general at ,washington1 which1
 though by no means complete1 must be a 
source of never-ending surprise to those
 who are apt to think of this period as 
a saison morte in medical literature4   
,there must have been an extremely great
 interest in medicine to justify all    
this printing4 ,some of the books are   
among the real incunabula of the art of 
printing4 ,for instance1 in #adgd there 
was published at ,bologna ,de           
,manfredi's ,liber de ,homine2 at       
,venice1 in #adgf1 ,petrus de ,albano's 
work on medicine2 and in the next twenty
 years from the same home of printing   
there came large tomes by ,angelata1 a  
translation of ,celsus1 and ,aurelius   

,cornelius and ,articellus's ,thesaurus 
,medicorum ,veterum1 besides several    
translations of ,avicenna and ,platina's
 work ,de ,honesta ,voluptate et        
,valetudine4 ,at ,ferrara1 ,arculanus's 
great work was published1 while at      
,modena there appeared the ,hortus      
,sanitatis1 or ,garden of ,health1 whose
 author was ,j4 ,cuba4 ,there were also 
translations from other ,arabian authors
 on medicine in addition to ,avicenna1  
notably a translation of ,rhazes ,abu   
,bekr ,muhammed ,ben ,zankariah ,abrazi1
 a distinguished writer among the       
,arabian physicians of the ,middle      
,ages4  ,linacre's translations of      
,galen remain still the #ie standard1   
and they have been reprinted many times4
 ,as ,erasmus once wrote to a friend1 in
 sending some of these books of ,galen1 
,i present you with the works of ,galen1
 now by the help of ,linacre speaking   
better ,latin than they ever before     
spoke ,greek4 ,linacre also translated  
,aristotle into ,latin1 and ,erasmus    

paid them the high compliment of saying 
that ,linacre's ,latin was as lucid1 as 
straightforward1 and as thoroughly      
intelligible as was ,aristotle's ,greek4
 ,of the translations of ,aristotle     
unfortunately none is extant4 ,of ,galen
 we have the ,de ,sanitate ,tuenda1 the 
,methodus ,medendi1 the ,de ,symptomatum
 ,differentiis et ,causis1 and the ,de  
,pulsuum ,usu4 ,the latter particularly 
is a noteworthy monograph on an         
important subject1 in which ,galen's    
observations were of great value4 ,under
 the title1 ,the ,significance of the   
,pulse1 it has been translated into     
,english1 and has influenced many       
generations of ,english medical men4    
,while we have very few remains of      
,linacre's work as a physician1 there   
seems to be no doubt that he was        
considered by all those best capable of 
judging1 to stand at the head of his    
profession in ,england4 ,to his care1 as
 one of his biographers remarked1 was   
committed the health of the foremost in 

,church and ,state4 ,besides being the  
,royal ,physician1 he was the regular   
medical attendant of ,cardinal ,wolsey1 
of ,archbishop ,warham1 the ,primate of 
,england1 of ,richard ,fox1 ,bishop of  
,winchester1 the ,keeper #if of the     
,privy ,seal1 and of ,sir ,reginald     
,bray1 ,knight of the ,garter and ,lord 
,high ,treasurer1 and of all of the     
famous scholars of ,england4  ,erasmus1 
whilst absent in ,france1 writes to give
 him an account of his feelings1 and    
begs him to prescribe for him1 as he    
knows no one else to whom he can turn   
with equal confidence4 ,after a voyage  
across the channel1 during which he had 
been four days at sea--making a passage 
by the way that now takes less than two 
hours--,erasmus describes his condition1
 his headache1 with the glands behind   
his ears swollen1 his temples throbbing1
 a constant buzzing in his ears2 and    
laments that no ,linacre was at hand to 
restore him to health by skilful advice4
 ,in a subsequent letter he writes from 

,paris to ask for a copy of a           
prescription given him while in ,london 
by ,linacre1 but which a stupid servant 
had left at the apothecary shop1 so that
 ,erasmus could not have it filled in   
,paris4  ,an instance of his skill in   
prognosis1 the most difficult part of   
the practice of medicine according to   
,hippocrates and all subsequent         
authorities1 is cited by all his        
biographers1 with regard to his friend  
,william ,lily1 the grammarian4 ,lily   
was suffering from a malignant tumor    
involving the hip1 which surgeons in    
consultation had decided should be      
removed4 ,linacre plainly foretold that 
its removal would surely prove fatal1   
and the event verified his unfavorable  
prognosis4 ,generally it seems to have  
been considered that his opinion was of 
great value in all #ig serious matters1 
and it was eagerly sought for4 ,some of 
the nobility and clergy of the time came
 even from the ,continent over to       
,england by no means an easy journey1   

even for a healthy man in those days1 as
 can be appreciated from ,erasmus's     
experience just cited--in order to      
obtain ,linacre's opinion4  ,one of     
,erasmus's letters to ,billibaldus      
,pirckheimer contains a particular      
account of the method of treatment by   
which he was relieved of his severe pain
 under ,linacre's direction in a very   
tormenting attack of renal colic4 ,the  
details1 especially the use of poultice 
applications as hot as could be borne1  
show that ,linacre thoroughly understood
 the use of heat in the relaxation of   
spasm1 while his careful preparation of 
the remedies to be employed in the      
presence of the patient himself would   
seem to show that he had a very high    
appreciation of how much the mental     
state of the patient and the attitude of
 expectancy thus awakened may have in   
giving relief even in cases of severe   
pain4  ,the only medical writings of    
,linacre's that we possess are          
translations4 ,we have said already that

 the reversion at the end of the        
fifteenth century to the classical      
authorities in medicine undoubtedly did 
much to introduce the observant phase of
 medical science1 which had its highest 
expression in ,vesalius at the beginning
 of the sixteenth century and continued 
to flourish so fruitfully during the    
next two centuries at most of the       
,italian universities4 ,his translations
 then #ih were of themselves more       
suggestive contributions to medicine    
than would perhaps have been any even of
 his original observations1 since the   
mind of his generation was not ready as 
yet to be influenced by discoveries made
 by contemporaries4  ,the best proof of 
,linacre's great practical interest in  
medicine is his realization of the need 
for the ,royal ,college of ,physicians  
and his arrangements for it4  ,the ,roll
 of the ,college1 which comprises       
biographical sketches of all the eminent
 physicians whose names are recorded in 
the annals from the foundation of the   

,college in #aeah1 and is published     
under the authority of the ,college     
itself1 contains the best tribute to    
,linacre's work that can possibly be    
paid4 ,it says3 ,the most magnificent of
 ,linacre's labors was the design of the
 ,royal ,college of ,physicians of      
,london--a standing monument of the     
enlightened views and generosity of its 
projectors4 ,in the execution of it     
,linacre stood alone1 for the           
munificence of the ,crown was limited to
 a grant of letters patent2 whilst the  
expenses and provision of the ,college  
was left to be defrayed out of his own  
means1 or of those who were associated  
with him in its foundation4 ,in the year
 #aeah1 says ,dr4 ,johnson1 ,footnote #h
 when ,linacre's scheme was carried into
 effect1 the practice of medicine was   
scarcely elevated above that of the     
mechanical arts1 nor was the majority of
 its practitioners #ii among the laity  
better instructed than the mechanics by 
whom these arts were exercised4 ,with   

the diffusion of learning to the        
republics and states of ,italy1         
establishments solely for the           
advancement of science had been formed  
with success2 but no society devoted to 
the interests of learning yet existed in
 ,england1 unfettered by a union with   
the hierarchy1 or exempted from the     
rigors and seclusions which were imposed
 upon its members as the necessary      
obligation of a monastic and religious  
life4 ,in reflecting on the advantages  
which had been derived from these       
institutions1 ,linacre did not forget   
the impossibility of adapting rules and 
regulations which accorded with the     
state of society in the ,middle ,ages to
 the improved state of learning in his  
own1 and his plans were avowedly        
modelled on some similar community of   
which many cities of ,italy afforded    
rather striking examples4    ,footnote  
#h3 ,life of ,linacre1 ,london1 #ahce4  
,some idea of the state into which the  
practice of medicine had fallen in      

,england before ,linacre's foundation of
 the ,royal ,college of ,physicians may 
be gathered from the words of the       
charter of the ,college4 ,before this   
period a great multitude of ignorant    
persons1 of whom the greater part had no
 insight into physic1 nor into any other
 kind of learning--some could not even  
read the letters on the book1 so far    
forth that common artificers as smiths1 
weavers and women--boldly and           
accustomably took upon them great cures 
to the high displeasure of ,god1 great  
infamy to the faculty1 and the grievous 
hurt1 #ajj damage1 and destruction of   
many of the ,king's liege people4       
,after the foundation of the ,college   
there was a definite way of deciding    
formally who were1 or were not1 legally 
licensed to practise4 ,as a consequence1
 when serious malpractice came to public
 notice1 those without a license were   
occasionally treated in the most summary
 manner4 ,stowe1 in his chronicles1     
gives a very vivid and picturesque      

description of the treatment of one of  
these quacks who had been especially    
flagrant in his imposition upon the     
people4 ,a counterfeit doctor was set on
 horseback1 his face to the horse's     
tail1 the tail being forced into his    
hand as a bridle1 a collar of jordans   
about his neck1 a whetstone on his      
breast1 and so led through the city of  
,london with ringing of basins1 and     
banished4 ,such deceivers1 continued the
 old chronicler1 no doubt are many1 who 
being never trained up in reading or    
practice of physics and ,chirurgery do  
boast to do great cures1 especially upon
 women1 as to make them straight that   
before were crooked1 corbed1 or crumped 
in any part of their bodies and other   
such things4 ,but the contrary is true4 
,for some have received gold when they  
have better deserved the whetstone4     
,footnote #i ,human nature has not      
changed very much in the #aja four      
centuries since ,linacre's foundation1  
and while the model that he set in the  

matter of providing a proper licensing  
body for physicians has done something  
to lessen the evils complained of1 the  
abuses still remain2 and the old        
chronicler will find in our time not a  
few who1 in his opinion1 might deserve  
the whetstone4 ,we can scarcely realize 
how much ,linacre accomplished by means 
of the ,royal ,college of ,physicians1  
or how great was the organizing spirit  
of the man to enable him to recognize   
the best way out of the chaos of medical
 practice in his time4    ,footnote #i3 
,to get the whetstone is an old ,english
 expression1   meaning to take the prize
 for lying4 ,it is derived from the old 
custom of driving rogues1 whose wits    
were too sharp1 out of town   with a    
whetstone around their necks4  ,the     
wisdom of ,linacre's plan1 wrote ,dr4   
,friend1 speaks for itself4 ,his scheme1
 without doubt1 was not only to create a
 good understanding and unanimity among 
his own profession 7which of itself was 
an excellent thought71 but to make them 

more useful to the public4 ,and he      
imagined that by separating them from   
the vulgar empirics and setting them    
upon such a reputable foot of           
distinction1 there would always arise a 
spirit of emulation among men liberally 
educated1 which would animate them in   
pursuing their inquiries into the nature
 of diseases and the methods of cure for
 the benefit of mankind2 and perhaps no 
founder ever had the good fortune to    
have his designs succeed more to his    
wish4  ,his plans with regard to the    
teaching of medicine at the two great   
,english ,universities did not succeed  
so well1 but that was the fault not of  
,linacre nor of the directions left in  
his will1 but #ajb of the times1 which  
were awry for educational matters4      
,notwithstanding ,linacre's bequest of  
funds for two professorships at ,oxford 
and one at ,cambridge1 it is typical of 
the times that the chairs were not      
founded for many years4 ,during ,henry  
,,viii's time1 the great effort of      

government was not to encourage new     
foundations but to break up old ones1 in
 order to obtain money for the royal    
treasury1 so that educational           
institutions of all kinds suffered      
eclipse4 ,the first formal action with  
regard to the ,linacre bequest was taken
 in the third year of ,edward ,,vi4 ,two
 lectureships were established in       
,merton ,college1 ,oxford1 and one in   
,st4 ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge4      
,linacre's idea had been that these     
foundations should be ,university       
lectureships1 but ,anthony ,wood says   
that the ,university had lost in        
prestige so much during ,henry ,,viii's 
time that it was considered preferable  
to attach the lectureships to ,merton   
,college1 which had considerable        
reputation because of its medical       
school4 ,during ,elizabeth's time these 
,linacre lectureships sank to be        
sinecures and for nearly a hundred years
 served but for the support of a        
fellowship4 ,the ,oxford foundation was 

revived in #ahef by the ,university     
,commissioners1 and the present splendid
 foundation of the lectures in          
physiology bears ,linacre's name in     
honor of his original grant4  ,at the   
age of about fifty ,linacre was ordained
 priest4 ,his idea in becoming a        
clergyman1 as confessed in letters to   
his friends1 was partly in #ajc order to
 obtain leisure for his favorite        
studies1 but also out of the desire to  
give himself up to something other than 
the mere worldly pursuits in which he   
had been occupied during all his        
previous life4 ,his biographer1 ,dr4    
,johnson1 says3 ,in examining the       
motives of this choice of ,linacre's1 it
 would seem that he was guided less by  
the expectation of dignity and          
preferment than by the desire of        
retirement and of rendering himself     
acquainted with those writings which    
might afford him consolation in old age 
and relief from the infirmities which a 
life of assiduous study and application 

had tended to produce4  ,the precise    
time of ,linacre's ordination is not    
known1 nor is it certain whether he was 
ordained by ,archbishop ,warham of      
,canterbury1 or by ,cardinal ,wolsey1   
the ,archbishop of ,york4 ,he received  
his first clerical appointment from     
,warham1 by whom he was collated to the 
rectory of ,mersham in ,kent4 ,he held  
this place scarcely a month1 but his    
resignation was followed by his         
installation as prebend in the          
,cathedral of ,wells1 and by an         
admission to the ,church of ,hawkhurst  
in ,kent1 which he held until the year  
of his death4 ,seven years later he was 
made prebend in the ,collegiate ,chapel 
of ,st4 ,stephen1 ,westminster1 and in  
the following year he became prebendary 
of ,south ,newbold in the ,church of    
,york4 ,this was in the year #aeah4 ,in 
the following year he received the      
dignified and lucrative appointment of  
presenter to the ,cathedral of ,york1   
for which he was indebted to ,cardinal  

,wolsey1 to whom #ajd about this time he
 dedicated his translation of ,galen ,on
 the ,use of the ,pulse4 ,he seems also 
to have held several other benefices    
during the later years of his life1     
although some of them were resigned     
within so short a time as to make it    
difficult to understand why he should   
have accepted them1 since the expenses  
of institution must have exceeded the   
profits which were derived from them    
during the period of possession4        
,linacre owed his clerical opportunities
 during the last years of his life      
particularly to ,archbishop ,warham1    
who1 as ambassador1 primate1 and        
chancellor1 occupied a large and        
honorable place in the history of the   
times4 ,erasmus says of him in one of   
his letters3 ,such were his vigilance   
and attention in all matters relating to
 religion and to the offices of the     
,church that no concern which was       
foreign to them seemed ever to distract 
him4 ,he had sufficient time for a      

scrupulous performance of the accustomed
 exercises of prayer1 for the almost    
daily celebration of the ,mass1 for     
twice or thrice hearing divine service1 
for determining suits1 for receiving    
embassies1 for consultation with the    
king when matters of moment required his
 presence1 for the visitation of        
churches when regulation was needed1 for
 the welcome of frequently two hundred  
guests1 and lastly for a literary       
leisure4  ,as the close friend of such  
men1 it is evident that ,linacre must   
have accomplished much good as a        
clergyman2 and it seems not unlikely    
that his frequent changes of rectorship 
were rather #aje due to the fact that   
the ,primate wished to make use of his  
influence in various parts of his       
diocese for the benefit of religion than
 for any personal motives on ,linacre's 
part1 who1 in order to enter the service
 of the ,church1 had given up so much   
more than he could expect as a          
clergyman4  ,linacre as a clergyman     

continued to deserve the goodwill and   
esteem of all his former friends1 and   
seems to have made many new ones4 ,at   
the time of his death he was one of the 
most honored individuals in ,england4   
,all of his biographers are agreed in   
stating that he was the representative  
,englishman of his time1 looked up to by
 all his contemporaries1 respected and  
admired by those who had not the        
opportunity of his intimate             
acquaintance1 and heartily loved by     
friends1 who were themselves some of the
 best men of the time4  ,the concluding 
paragraph of the appreciation of        
,linacre's character in ,lives of       
,british ,physicians ,footnote #aj is as
 follows3 ,to sum up his character it   
was said of him that no ,englishman of  
his day had had such famous masters1    
namely1 ,demetrius and ,politian of     
,florence2 such noble patrons1 ,lorenzo 
de' ,medici1 ,henry ,,vii and ,henry    
,,viii2 such high-born scholars1 the    
,prince ,arthur and ,princess ,mary of  

,england2 or such learned friends1 for  
amongst the latter were to be enumerated
 ,erasmus1 ,melanchthon1 ,latimer1 #ajf 
,tonstal1 and ,sir ,thomas ,more4 ,his  
biographer might have added the names of
 others of the pre-,reformation period1 
men of culture and character whose      
merits only the historical researches of
 recent years have brought out--,prior  
,selling1 ,dean ,colet 7though his      
friendship was unfortunately            
interrupted71 ,archbishop ,warham1      
,cardinal ,wolsey1 ,grocyn1 and further 
scholars and churchmen4    ,footnote    
#aj3 ,london4 ,john ,murray1 #ahcj4     
,dr4 ,j4 ,f4 ,payne1 in summing up the  
opinion of ,linacre held by his         
contemporaries1 in the ,dictionary of   
,national ,biography 7,british71 pays a 
high tribute to the man4 ,linacre's     
personal character was highly esteemed  
by his contemporaries4 ,he was evidently
 capable of absolute devotion to a great
 cause1 animated by genuine public      
spirit and a boundless zeal for         

learning4 ,erasmus sketches him         
humorously in the ,encomium ,moriae     
7,the ,praise of ,foolishness7--with a  
play on the word ,moriae in reference to
 his great friend1 ,thomas ,more1 of    
whom ,erasmus thought so much--showing  
him a tireless student4 ,the            
distinguished foreign scholar1 however1 
considered ,linacre as an enthusiast in 
recondite studies1 but no mere pedant4  
,dr4 ,payne closes his appreciation with
 these words3 ,linacre had1 it would    
seem1 no enemies4  ,caius1 the          
distinguished ,english physician and    
scholar1 himself one of the best known  
members of the ,royal ,college of       
,physicians and the founder of ,caius   
,college1 ,cambridge1 sketches #ajg     
,linacre's character 7he had as a young 
man known him personally7 in very       
sympathetic vein4 ,as ,dr4 ,caius was   
one of the greatest ,englishmen of his  
time in the middle of the sixteenth     
century1 his opinion must carry great   
weight4 ,it is to him that we owe the   

famous epitaph that for long in old ,st4
 ,paul's1 ,london1 was to be read on    
,linacre's tombstone3--    ,fraudes     
dolosque mire perosus1 fidus amicis1    
omnibus ordinibus   juxta carus4 ,a     
stern hater of deceit and underhand     
ways1 faithful   to his friends1 equally
 dear to all classes1  ,surely this is a
 worthy tribute to the great physician1 
clergyman1 scholar1 and philanthropist  
of the eve of the ,reformation in       
,england4   #ajh  ,v4  ,,father         
,,kircher1 ,s4,j43  ,,scientist1        
,,orientalist1 ,,and ,,collector4  #aji 
,oportet autem neque recentiores viros  
in his fraudare quae vel repererunt vel 
recte secuti sunt2 et tamen ea quae apud
 antiquiores aliquos posita sunt        
auctoribus suis reddere4--,,celsus de   
,medicina4   #aaj  ,illustration3       
,,athanasius ,,kircher   #aaa   ,v4     
,,father ,,kircher1 ,s4,j43 ,,scientist1
 ,,orientalist1 ,,and ,,collector4      
,except in the minds of the             
unconquerably intolerant1 the ,galileo  

controversy has in recent years settled 
down to occupy something of its proper  
place in the history of the supposed    
conflict between religion and science4  
,in touching the subject in the life of 
,copernicus we suggested that it has    
come to be generally recognized1 as ,m4 
,bertrand1 the perpetual ,secretary of  
the ,paris ,academy of ,sciences1       
himself a distinguished mathematician   
and historian1 declares1 that the great 
lesson for those who would wish to      
oppose reason with violence was clearly 
to be read in ,galileo's story1 and the 
scandal of his condemnation was learned 
without any profound sorrow to ,galileo 
himself2 and his long life1 considered  
as a whole1 was the most serene and     
enviable in the history of science4     
,somehow1 notwithstanding the directness
 of this declaration1 there is still    
left in the minds of many an impression 
rather difficult to eradicate that there
 was definite1 persistent opposition to 
everything associated with scientific   

progress among the churchmen of the time
 of ,galileo4  ,perhaps no better answer
 to this unfortunate1 because absolutely
 untrue1 impression could be in #aab    
formulated than is to be found in a     
sketch of the career of ,father         
,athanasius ,kircher1 the distinguished 
,jesuit who for so many years occupied  
himself with nearly every branch of     
science in ,rome1 under the fostering   
care of the ,church4 ,he had been       
,professor of ,physics1 ,mathematics1   
and ,oriental ,languages at ,wuerzburg1 
but was driven from there by the        
disturbances incident to the ,thirty    
,years' ,war1 in #afca4 ,he continued   
his scientific investigation at         
,avignon4 ,from here1 within two years  
after ,galileo's trial in #afce1 he was1
 through the influence of ,cardinal     
,barberini1 summoned to ,rome1 where he 
devoted himself to mathematics at first1
 and then to every branch of science1 as
 well as the ,oriental languages1 not   
only with the approval1 but also with   

the most liberal pecuniary aid from the 
ecclesiastical authorities of the papal 
court and city4  ,some idea of the      
breadth of ,father ,kircher's scientific
 sympathy and his genius for scientific 
observation and discovery1 which        
amounted almost to intuition1 may be    
gathered from the fact that to him we   
owe the first definite statement of the 
germ theory of disease2 and he seems to 
have been the first to recognize the    
presence of what are now called         
microbes4 ,at the same time his works on
 magnetism contained not only all the   
knowledge of his own time1 but also some
 wonderful suggestions as to the        
possibilities of the development of this
 science4 ,his studies with regard to   
light are almost as epochal as those    
with regard to magnetism4 ,besides      
these1 he #aac was the first to find any
 clue to the ,egyptian hieroglyphics1   
and yet found time to write a           
geographical work on ,latium1 the       
country surrounding ,rome1 and to make  

collections for his museum which        
rendered it in its time the best        
scientific collection in the world4 ,it 
may very well indeed be said that       
visitors to ,rome with scientific       
tendencies found as much that was       
suggestive in ,father ,kircher's        
museum--the ,kircherianum1 as it came to
 be called--as artists and sculptors and
 architects found in the ,vatican       
collections of the papal city4  ,all of 
this work was accomplished within the   
half century after ,galileo's trial1 for
 ,father ,kircher died in #afhj1 at the 
age of seventy-eight1 having lived1 as  
so many of the great scientists have    
done1 a long life in the midst of the   
most persistent activity4 ,kircher1 more
 than perhaps any other1 can be said to 
be the founder of modern natural        
science4 ,before any one else1 in a     
practical way1 he realized the necessity
 for the collection of an immense amount
 of data1 if science was to be founded  
on the broad1 firm foundation of        

observed truth4 ,the principle which had
 been announced by ,bacon in the ,novum 
,organon--to take all that comes rather 
than to choose1 and to heap up rather   
than to register--was never carried out 
as fully as by ,father ,kircher4 ,as    
,edmund ,gosse said in the ,june number 
of ,harper's1 #aijd1 ,bacon had started 
a great idea1 but he had not carried it 
out4 ,he is not the founder1 he is the  
prophet #aad of modern physical science4
 ,to be in direct touch with nature1 to 
adventure in the unexplored fields of   
knowledge1 and to do this by carrying   
out an endless course of slow and sure  
experiments1 this was the counsel of the
 ',novum ,organon4' ,bacon died in      
#afbf1 and scarcely more than a decade  
had passed before ,kircher was carrying 
out the work thus outlined by the       
,english philosopher in a way that was  
surprisingly successful1 even looked at 
from the standpoint of our modern       
science4 ,needless to say1 however1 it  
was not because of ,bacon's suggestion  

that he did so1 for it is more than     
doubtful whether he knew of ,bacon's    
writings until long after the lines of  
his life-work had been traced by his own
 inquiring spirit4 ,the fulness of time 
had come4 ,the inductive philosophy was 
in the air4 ,bacon's formulae1 which the
 ,english philosopher never practically 
applied1 and ,father ,kircher's         
assiduous collection of data1 were but  
expressions of the spirit of the times4 
,how faithfully the work of the first   
modern inductive scientist was          
accomplished we shall see4  ,it may be  
easily imagined that a certain interest 
in ,father ,kircher1 apart from his     
scientific attainments and the desire to
 show how much and how successful was   
the attention given to natural science  
by churchmen about the time of the      
,galileo controversy1 might influence   
this judgment of the distinguished      
,jesuit's scientific accomplishments4   
,with regard to his discoveries in      
medicine especially1 and above all his  

#aae announcement of the microbic origin
 of contagious disease1 it may be       
thought that this was a mere chance     
expression and not at all the result of 
serious scientific conclusions4         
,tyndall1 however1 the distinguished    
,english physicist1 would not be the one
 to give credit for scientific          
discoveries1 and to a clergyman in a    
distant century1 unless there was       
definite evidence of the discovery4 ,it 
is not generally known that to the great
 ,english physicist we owe the almost   
absolute demonstration of the           
impossibility of spontaneous generation1
 together with a series of studies      
showing the existence everywhere in the 
atmosphere of minute forms of life to   
which fermentative changes and also the 
infectious diseases--though at that time
 this was only a probability--are to be 
attributed4 ,when ,tyndall was          
reviewing1 in the midst of the          
controversy over spontaneous generation1
 the question of the microbic origin of 

disease1 he said3 ,side by side with    
many other theories has run the germ    
theory of epidemic disease4 ,the notion 
was expressed by ,kircher and favored by
 ,linnaeus1 that epidemic diseases may  
be due to germs which enter the body and
 produce disturbance by the development 
within the body of parasitic forms of   
life4  ,how much attention ,father      
,kircher's book on the pest or plague1  
in which his theory of the              
micro-organismal origin of disease is   
put forward1 attracted from the medical 
profession can be understood from the   
fact that it was submitted to three of  
the most distinguished physicians in    
#aaf ,rome before being printed1 and    
that their testimony to its value as a  
contribution to medicine prefaced the   
first edition4 ,they are not sparing in 
their praise of it4 ,dr4 ,joseph        
,benedict ,sinibaldus1 who was the      
,professor of the ,practice of ,medicine
 in the ,roman ,university at the time1 
says that ,father ,kircher's book not   

only contains an excellent resume of all
 that is known about the pest or plague1
 but also as many valuable hints and    
suggestions on the origin and spread of 
the disease1 which had never before been
 made4 ,he considers it a very wonderful
 thing that a non-medical man should    
have been able to place himself so      
thoroughly in touch with the present    
state of medicine in respect to this    
disease and then point out the          
conditions of future progress4  ,dr4    
,paul ,zachias1 who was a distinguished 
,roman physician of the time1 said that 
he had long known ,father ,kircher as an
 eminent writer on other subjects1 but  
that after reading his book on the pest 
he must consider him also distinguished 
in medical writing4 ,he says3 ,while he 
has set his hand at other's harvests1 he
 has done it with so much wisdom and    
prudence as to win the admiration of the
 harvesters already in the field4 ,he   
adds that there can be no doubt that it 
would be a source of profit for medical 

men to read this little book and that it
 will undoubtedly prove beneficial to   
future generations4 ,testimony of       
another kind to the value of ,father    
,kircher's book is to be found in the   
fact #aag that within a half-year after 
its publication in ,latin it appeared in
 several other languages4 ,it is too    
much the custom of these modern times to
 consider that scientific progress in   
the centuries before our own and its    
immediate predecessor was likely to     
attract little attention for many years1
 and was especially slow to make its way
 into foreign countries4 ,anything1     
however1 of real importance in science  
took but a very short time to travel    
from one country to another in ,europe  
in the seventeenth century1 and the fact
 that scientific men generally used     
,latin as a common language made the    
spread of discoveries and speculations  
much easier even than at the present    
time4 ,our increased means of           
communication have really only served to

 allow sensational announcements of a   
progress in science--which is usually no
 progress at all--to be spread quite as 
effectually in modern times as were real
 advances in the older days4  ,there is 
no good account of ,father ,kircher's   
life available in ,english1 and it has  
seemed only proper that the more        
important at least of the details of the
 life of the man who thus anticipated   
the beginnings of modern bacteriology   
and of the relations of micro-organisms 
to disease1 should not be left in       
obscurity4 ,his life history is all the 
more interesting and important because  
it illustrates the interest of the      
churchmen of the time1 and especially of
 the ,roman ecclesiastical authorities1 
in all forms of science2 for ,father    
,kircher is undoubtedly one of the      
greatest scholars of #aah history and   
one of the scientific geniuses in whose 
works can be found1 as the result of    
some wonderful principles of intuition  
incomprehensible to the slower          

intellectual operations of ordinary men1
 anticipations of many of the           
discoveries of the after-time4 ,there is
 scarcely a modern science he did not   
touch upon1 and nothing that he touched 
did he fail to illuminate4 ,his         
magnificent collections in the museum of
 the ,roman ,college demonstrate very   
well his extremely wide interests in all
 scientific matters4  ,the history of   
,father ,kircher's career furnishes     
perhaps the best possible refutation of 
the oft-repeated slander that ,jesuit   
education was narrow and was so founded 
upon and rooted in authority that       
original research and investigation1 in 
scientific matters particularly1 were   
impossible1 and that it utterly failed  
to encourage new discoveries of any     
kind4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,kircher was
 not only not hampered in his work by   
his superiors or by the ecclesiastical  
authorities1 but the respect in which he
 was held at ,rome enabled him to use   
the influence of the ,church and of     

great churchmen all over the world1 with
 the best possible effect1 for the      
assembling at the ,roman ,college of    
objects of the most various kinds1      
illustrating especially the modern      
sciences of archeology1 ethnology1 and  
paleontology1 besides ,egyptian and     
,assyrian history4  ,athanasius ,kircher
 was born #b ,may1 #afjb1 at ,geisa1    
near ,fulda1 in ,south ,germany4 ,he was
 educated at the ,jesuit ,college of    
,fulda1 and at #aai the early age of    
sixteen1 having completed his college   
course1 entered the ,jesuit novitiate at
 ,mainz4 ,after his novitiate he        
continued his philosophical and         
classical studies at ,paderborn and     
completed his years of scholastic       
teaching in various cities of ,south    
,germany--,munster1 ,cologne1 and       
,coblenz--finally finishing his         
education by theological studies at     
,cologne and ,mainz4  ,toward the end of
 the third decade of the seventeenth    
century he became ,professor of         

,philosophy and ,mathematics at         
,wuerzburg4 ,here his interest in       
,oriental languages began1 and he       
established a special course in this    
subject at the ,university of           
,wuerzburg4 ,during the ,thirty ,years' 
,war1 however1 the invasion of ,germany 
very seriously disturbed university     
work1 and finally in #afca ,father      
,kircher was sent by his superiors to   
,avignon in ,south ,france1 where he    
continued his teaching some four years1 
attracting no little attention by his   
wide interest in many sciences and by   
various scientific works that showed him
 to be a man of very broad genius4  ,in 
#afce1 through the influence of         
,cardinal ,barberini1 he was summoned to
 ,rome1 where he became ,professor of   
,mathematics and ,oriental ,languages in
 the famous ,roman ,college of the      
,jesuits1 which was considered at that  
time one of the greatest educational    
institutions in the world4 ,his interest
 in science1 however1 was not lessened  

by teaching duties that would apparently
 have demanded all his time2 and1 as we 
shall see1 he continued to issue books  
on the most diverse #abj scientific     
subjects1 most of them illustrated by   
absolutely new experimental observations
 and all of them attracting widespread  
attention4  ,father ,kircher began his  
career as a writer on science at the    
early age of twenty-seven1 when he      
issued his first work on magnetism4 ,the
 title of this volume1 ,ars ,magnesia   
tum ,theorematice tum ,problematice     
,proposita1 shows that the subject was  
not treated entirely from a speculative 
standpoint4 ,indeed1 in the preface he  
states that he hopes that the principal 
value of the book will be found in the  
fact that the knowledge of magnetism is 
presented by a new method1 with special 
demonstrations1 and that the conclusions
 are confirmed by various practical uses
 and long-continued experience with     
magnets of various kinds4  ,although it 
may be a source of great surprise1      

,father ,kircher's genius was           
essentially experimental4 ,he has been  
spoken of not infrequently as a man who 
collected the scientific information of 
his time in such a way as to display1 as
 says the ,encyclopedia ,britannica1 a  
wide and varied learning1 but that he   
was a man singularly devoid of judgment 
and critical discernment4 ,he was in    
some respects the direct opposite of the
 opinion thus expressed1 since his      
learning was always of a practical      
character1 and there are very few       
subjects in this writing which he has   
not himself illustrated by means of new 
and ingenious experiments4  ,perhaps the
 best possible proof of this is to be   
#aba found in the fact that his second  
scientific work was on the construction 
of sun-dials1 and that one of the       
discoveries he himself considered most  
valuable was the invention of a         
calculating machine1 as well as of a    
complicated arrangement for illustrating
 the positions of the stars in the      

heavens4 ,he constructed1 moreover1 a   
large burning-glass in order to         
demonstrate the possibility of the story
 told of ,archimedes1 that he had       
succeeded in burning the enemy's ships  
in the harbor at ,syracuse by means of a
 large lens4  ,but ,father ,kircher's   
surest claim to being a practical genius
 is to be found in his invention of the 
magic lantern4 ,it was another ,jesuit1 
,aquilonius1 in his work on optics1     
issued in #afac1 who had first sought to
 explain how the two pictures presented 
to the two eyes are fused into one1 and 
it was in a practical demonstration of  
this by means of lenses that ,kircher   
hit upon the invention of the projecting
 stereoscope4  ,after his call to ,rome 
our subject continued his work on       
magnetism1 and in #afda issued a further
 treatise on the subject called ,magnes 
or ,de ,arte ,magnetica4 ,while he      
continued to teach ,oriental languages  
and issued in #afdd a book with the     
title ,lingua ,a,egyptiaca ,restituta1  

he also continued to apply himself      
especially to the development of        
physical science4 ,accordingly in #afde 
there appeared his volume ,ars ,magna   
,lucis et ,umbrae4 ,this was a treatise 
on light1 illustrated1 as was his       
treatise on magnetism1 by many original 
experiments and demonstrations4  #abb   
,during the five years until #afej the  
department of acoustics came under his  
consideration1 so that in that year we  
have from his pen a treatise called     
,musurgia ,universalis1 with the        
subtitle1 ,the ,art of ,harmony and     
,discord2 a treatise on the whole       
doctrine of sound with the philosophy of
 music treated from the standpoint of   
practical as well as theoretic science4 
,during the next five years astronomy   
was his special hobby1 and the result   
was in #afef a treatise on astronomy    
called ,iter ,celeste4 ,this contained a
 description of the earth and the       
heavens and discussed the nature of the 
fixed and moving stars1 with various    

considerations as to the composition and
 structure of these bodies4 ,a second   
volume on this subject appeared in      
#affj4  ,the variety of ,father         
,kircher's interests in science was not 
yet exhausted1 however4 ,five years     
after the completion of his two volumes 
on astronomy there came one on ,mundus  
,subterraneus4 ,this treated of the     
modern subjects of geology1 metallurgy1 
and mineralogy1 as well as the chemistry
 of minerals4 ,it also contained a      
treatise on animals that live under the 
ground1 and on insects4 ,this was       
considered one of the author's greatest 
books1 and the whole of it was          
translated into ,french1 whilst         
abstracts from it1 especially the       
chapters on poisons1 appeared in most of
 the other languages of ,europe4 ,part  
of it was translated even into ,english1
 though seventeenth-century ,englishmen 
were loath to draw their inspiration    
from ,jesuit writers4  #abc  ,jesuits   
were1 however1 at this time generally   

acknowledged on the ,continent to be    
leaders in every department of thought1 
sympathetic coadjutors in every step in 
scientific progress4 ,strange as it may 
appear to those who will not understand 
the ,jesuit spirit of love for learning1
 two of the most distinguished          
scientists whose names are immortal in  
the history of physical sciences in     
different departments during this       
century1 ,kepler and ,harvey1 were on   
intimate terms of friendship with the   
,jesuits of ,germany4 ,harvey1 on the   
occasion of a visit to the ,continent1  
stopped for a prolonged visit with the  
,jesuits at ,cologne1 so that some of   
his ,english friends joked him about the
 possibility of his making converts of  
the ,jesuits4 ,these witticisms1        
however1 did not seem to distract       
,harvey very much1 for he returned on a 
subsequent occasion to spend some       
further days with his ,jesuit scientific
 friends along the ,rhine4  ,in the     
meantime ,father ,kircher was issuing   

notable books on his always favorite    
subject of the ,oriental languages4 ,in 
#afej there appeared ,obeliscus         
,pamphilius1 containing an explanation  
of the hieroglyphics to be found on the 
obelisk which by the order of ,innocent 
,x1 a member of the ,pamfili family1 was
 placed in the ,piazza ,navona by       
,bernini4 ,this is no mere pamphlet1 as 
might be thought1 but a book of #efj    
pages4 ,in #afeb there appeared         
,o,edipus ,a,egyptiacus1 that is1 the   
revealer of the sphinx-like riddle of   
the ,egyptian ancient languages4 ,in    
#afec a second volume of this appeared1 
and in #afee a third #abd volume4 ,it   
was considered so important that it was 
translated into ,russian and other ,slav
 languages1 besides several other       
,european languages4 ,his book1 ,lingua 
,a,egyptiaca ,restituta1 which appeared 
in #afdd1 when ,kircher was forty-two   
years of age1 is considered to be of    
value yet in the study of ,oriental     
languages1 and was dedicated to the     

patron1 ,emperor ,ferdinand ,,iii1 whose
 liberality made its publication        
possible4  ,it is often a subject for   
conjecture just how science was studied 
and taught in centuries before the      
nineteenth1 and just what text-books    
were employed4 ,a little familiarity    
with ,father ,kircher's publications1   
however1 will show that there was plenty
 of very suitable material for          
text-books to be found in his works4    
,under his own direction1 what at the   
present time would be called a text-book
 of physics1 but which at that time was 
called ,physiologia ,experimentalis1 was
 issued1 containing all the experimental
 and demonstrative parts of his various 
books on chemistry1 physics1 music1     
magnetism1 and mechanics1 as well as    
acoustics and optics4 ,this formed the  
groundwork of most text-books of science
 for a full century afterwards4 ,indeed1
 until the beginning of the distinctly  
modern science of chemistry with the    
discoveries of ,priestley and           

,lavoisier1 there was to be little added
 of serious import in science4  ,perhaps
 the most commendable feature of ,father
 ,kircher's books is the fact that he   
himself seems never to have considered  
that he had #abe exhausted a subject4   
,the first work he published was on     
magnetism4 ,some twelve years later he  
returned to the subject1 and wrote a    
more extensive work1 containing many    
improvements over the first volume4 ,the
 same thing is true of his studies in   
sound4 ,in #afej1 when not quite fifty  
years of age1 he issued his ,musurgia   
,universalis1 a sub-title of which      
stated that it contains the whole       
doctrine of sound and the practical and 
theoretical philosophy of music4 ,a     
little over twenty years later1 however1
 he published the ,phonurgia ,nova1 the 
sub-title of which showed that it was   
mainly concerned with the experimental  
demonstration of various truths in      
acoustics and with the development of   
the doctrine he had originally stated in

 the ,musurgia4  ,it is no wonder that  
his contemporaries spoke of him as the  
,doctor centum artium--the teacher of a 
hundred arts--for there was practically 
no branch of scientific knowledge in his
 time in which he was not expert4       
,scientific visitors to ,rome always    
considered it one of the privileges of  
their stay in the papal city to have the
 opportunity to meet ,father ,kircher1  
and it was thought a very great honor to
 be shown through his museum by himself4
  ,of course1 it is difficult for       
present-day scientists to imagine a man 
exhausting the whole round of science in
 this way4 ,many who have read but      
little more than the titles of ,father  
,kircher's many books are accordingly   
prone to speak of him as a mine of      
information1 but without any #abf proper
 critical judgment4 ,he has succeeded1  
according to them1 in heaping together  
an immense amount of information1 but it
 is of the most disparate value4 ,there 
is no doubt that he took account of many

 things in science that are manifestly  
absurd4 ,astrology1 for instance1 had   
not1 in his time1 gone out of fashion   
entirely1 and he refers many events in  
men's lives to the influence of the     
stars4 ,he even made rules for          
astrological predictions1 and his       
astronomical machine for exhibiting the 
motions of the stars was also meant to  
be helpful in the construction of       
astrological tables4 ,it must not be    
forgotten1 however1 that in his time the
 best astronomers1 like ,tycho ,brahe   
and even ,kepler1 had not entirely given
 up the idea of the influence of the    
stars over man's destiny4  ,as regards  
other sciences1 there are details of    
information that may appear quite as    
superstitious as the belief in          
astrology4 ,kircher1 for instance1      
accepted the idea of the possibility of 
the transmutation of metals4 ,it is to  
be said1 though1 that all mankind were  
convinced of this possibility1 and      
indeed not entirely without reason4 ,all

 during the nineteenth century          
scientists believed very firmly in the  
absolute independence of chemical       
elements and their utter                
non-interchangeability4 ,as the result  
of recent discoveries1 however1 in which
 one element has apparently been        
observed giving rise to another1 much of
 this doctrine has come to be considered
 as improbable1 and now the idea of     
possible transmutation of #abg metals   
and other chemical elements into one    
another appears not so absurd as it was 
half a century ago4  ,any one who will  
take up a text-book of science of a     
century ago will find in it many glaring
 absurdities4 ,it will seem almost      
impossible that a scientific thinker1 in
 his right senses1 could have accepted  
some of the propositions that are calmly
 set down as absolute truths4 ,every    
generation has made itself ridiculous by
 knowing many things that are not so1   
and even ours is no exception4 ,father  
,kircher was not outside this rule1     

though he was ahead of his generation in
 the critical faculty that enabled him  
to eliminate many falsities and to      
illuminate half-truths in the science of
 his day4  ,undoubtedly the most        
interesting of ,father ,kircher's       
scientific books is his work ,on the    
,pest1 with some considerations on its  
origin1 mode of distribution1 and       
treatment1 which about the middle of the
 seventeenth century gathered together  
all the medical theories of the times as
 to the causation of contagious disease1
 discussed them with critical judgment  
and reached conclusions which anticipate
 much of what is most modern in our     
present-day medicine4 ,it is this work  
of ,father ,kircher's that is now most  
often referred to1 and very deservedly  
so1 because it is one of the classics   
which represents a landmark in knowledge
 for all time4 ,it merits a place beside
 such books as ,harvey on the           
,circulation of ,blood1 or even         
,vesalius on ,human #abh ,anatomy4 ,as  

we have seen1 it is now quoted from by  
our best recent authorities who attempt 
seriously to trace the history of the   
microbic theory of disease1 and its     
conclusions are the result of logical   
processes and not the mere chance       
lighting upon truth of a mind that had  
the theories of the time before it4 ,in 
it ,father ,kircher's genius is best    
exhibited4 ,it has the faults of his too
 ready credibility2 and his desire to   
discuss all possible phases of the      
question1 even those which are now      
manifestly absurd1 has led him into what
 prove to be useless digressions4 ,but  
on the whole it represents very well the
 first great example of the application 
of the principle of inductive science to
 modern medicine4 ,all the known facts  
and observations are collected and      
discussed1 and then the conclusions are 
suggested4  ,it is very interesting to  
trace the development of ,father        
,kircher's ideas with regard to the     
origin1 causation1 and communication of 

disease1 because in many points he so   
clearly anticipates medical knowledge   
that has only come to be definitely     
accepted in very recent times4 ,it has  
often been pointed out that ,sir ,robert
 ,boyle declared that the processes of  
fermentation and those which brought    
about infectious disease1 were probably 
of similar nature1 and that the         
scientist who solved the problem of the 
cause of fermentation would throw great 
light on the origin of these diseases4  
,this prophetic remark was absolutely   
verified when ,pasteur1 a chemist who   
had solved the problem of fermentation1 
also solved #abi the weightier questions
 connected with human diseases4 ,before 
even ,boyle1 however1 ,father ,kircher  
had expressed his opinion that disease  
processes were similar to those of      
putrefaction4 ,he considered that       
putrefaction was due to the presence of 
certain corpuscula1 as he called them1  
and these he said were also probably    
active in the causation of infectious   

disease4  ,he was not sure whether or   
not these corpuscula were living1 in the
 sense that they could multiply of      
themselves4 ,he considered1 however1    
that this was very probable4 ,as to     
their distribution1 he is especially    
happy in his anticipations of modern    
medical progress4 ,while he considered  
it very possible that they were carried 
through the air1 he gives it as his     
deliberate opinion that living things   
were the most frequent agents for the   
distribution of the corpuscles of       
disease4 ,he is sure that they are      
carried by flies1 for instance1 and that
 they may be inoculated by the stings of
 such insects as fleas or mosquitoes4   
,he even gives some examples that he    
knew of in which this was demonstrated4 
,still more striking is his insistence  
on the fact that such a contagious      
disease as pest may be carried by cats  
and dogs and other domestic animals4    
,the cat seemed to him to be associated 
with special danger in this matter1 and 

he gives an example of a nunnery which  
had carefully protected itself against  
possible infection1 but had allowed a   
cat to come in1 with the result that    
some cases of the disease developed4    
#acj  ,an interesting bit of discussion 
is to be found in the chapter in which  
,father ,kircher takes up the           
consideration of the problem whether    
infectious disease can ever be produced 
by the imagination4 ,he is speaking     
particularly of the pest1 but there is  
more than a suspicion that under the    
name pest came at times of epidemics    
many of our modern contagious diseases4 
,father ,kircher says that there is no  
doubt that worry plays an important role
 in predisposing persons to take the    
disease4 ,he does not consider1 however1
 that it can originate of itself1 or be 
engendered in the person without contact
 with some previous case of pest4 ,with 
regard to the question of predisposition
 he is very modern4 ,he points out that 
many persons do not take the disease1   

because evidently of some protective    
quality which they possess4 ,he is sure1
 too1 that the best possible protection 
comes from keeping in good1 general     
health4  ,a curious suggestion is that  
with regard to the grave-diggers and    
undertakers4 ,it has often been noted in
 ,italy1 so ,father ,kircher asserts1   
that these individuals as a rule did not
 succumb to the disease1 notwithstanding
 their extreme exposure1 when the       
majority of the population were         
suffering from it4 ,toward the end of   
the epidemic1 however1 at the time when 
the townspeople were beginning to       
rejoice over its practical              
disappearance1 it was not unusual to    
have these caretakers of the dead       
brought down with the disease--often1   
too1 in fatal form4 ,father #aca        
,kircher considers that only strong and 
healthy individuals would take up such  
an occupation4 ,that the satisfaction of
 accomplishing a large amount of work   
and making money kept them in good      

health4 ,later on1 however1 as the      
result of overwork during the time of   
the epidemic and also of discouragement 
because they saw the end of prosperous  
times for them1 they became predisposed 
to the disease and then fell victims4   
,with regard to the prevention of the   
pest in individual cases1 ,father       
,kircher has some very sensible remarks4
 ,he says that physicians as a rule     
depend on certain medicinal protectives 
or on amulets which they carry4 ,the    
amulets he considers to be merely       
superstitious4 ,the sweet-smelling      
substances that are sometimes employed  
are probably without any preventive     
action4 ,certain physicians employed a  
prophylactic remedy made up of very many
 substances4 ,this is what in modern    
days we would be apt to call a gunshot  
prescription4 ,it contained so many     
ingredients that it was hoped that some 
one of them would hit the right spot and
 prove effective4 ,father ,kircher has  
another name for it4 ,we do not know    

whether it is original with him1 but in 
any case it is worth while remembering4 
,he calls it a calendar prescription1   
because when written it resembled a list
 of the days of the month4  ,his opinion
 of this calendar prescription is not   
very high4 ,it seems to him that if one 
ingredient did good1 most of the others 
would be #acb almost as sure to do harm4
 ,the main factor in prophylaxis to his 
mind was to keep in normal health1 and  
this seemed not quite compatible with   
frequent recourse to a prescription     
containing so many drugs that were      
almost sure to have no good effect and  
might have an ill effect4 ,it is all the
 more interesting to find these         
common-sense views because ordinarily   
,father ,kircher is set down as one who 
accepted most of the traditions of his  
time without inquiring very deeply into 
their origin or truth1 simply reporting 
them out of the fulness of his rather   
pedantic information4 ,in most cases it 
will be found1 however1 that1 like      

,herodotus1 reporting the curious things
 that had been told him in his travels1 
he is very careful to state what are his
 own opinions and what he owes to others
 and gives place to1 though without     
attaching much credence to them4  ,it   
must not be forgotten that his great    
contemporaries1 ,von ,helmont and       
,paracelsus1 were not free from many of 
the curious scientific superstitions of 
their time1 though they had1 like him1  
in many respects the true scientific    
spirit4 ,von ,helmont1 for instance1 was
 a firm believer in the doctrine of     
spontaneous generation1 and even went so
 far as to consider that it had its     
application to animals of rather high   
order4 ,for instance1 one of his works  
contains a rather famous prescription to
 bring about the spontaneous generation 
of mice4 ,what was needed was a jar of  
meal kept in a dark corner covered by   
some soiled linen4 ,after three weeks   
these elements #acc would be found to   
have bred mice4 ,too much must not be   

expected1 then1 of ,kircher in the      
matter of crediting supposedly          
scientific traditions4  ,it may seem    
surprising that ,father ,kircher's book 
did not produce a greater impression    
upon the medical research work and      
teaching of the day and lead to an      
earlier development of microbiology4    
,unfortunately1 however1 the instruments
 of precision necessary for such a study
 were not then at hand1 and the gradual 
loss of prestige of the book is         
therefore readily to be understood4 ,the
 explanation of this delay in the       
development of science is very well put 
by ,crookshank1 who is the professor of 
comparative pathology and bacteriology  
at ,king's ,college1 ,london1 and one of
 the acknowledged authorities on these  
subjects in the medical world4          
,professor ,crookshank says1 at the     
beginning of the first chapter of his   
text-book on bacteriology1 in which he  
traces the origin of the science1 that  
the first attempt to demonstrate the    

existence of the contagium vivum dates  
back almost to the discovery of the     
microscope3--,footnote #aa              
,footnote #aa3 ,a ,text-,book of        
,bacteriology4 ,including the           
,etiology and ,prevention of ,infectious
 ,diseases ,by ,edgar ,m4               
,crookshank4 ,fourth ,edition ,london1  
#ahif    ,athanasius ,kircher nearly two
 and a half centuries ago expressed his 
belief that there were definite         
micro-organisms to which diseases   were
 attributable4 ,the microscope had      
revealed that all decomposing   #acd    
substances swarmed with countless       
micro-organisms which were   invisible  
to the naked eye1 and ,kircher sought   
for similar organisms   in disease1     
which he considered might be due to     
their agency4 ,the   microscopes which  
he describes obviously could not admit  
of the   possibility of studying or even
 detecting the micro-organisms which    
are now known to be associated with     
certain diseases2 and it is not         

surprising that his teaching did not at 
the time gain much   attention4 ,they   
were destined1 however1 to receive a    
great impetus   from the discoveries    
which emanated not long after from the  
father   of microscopy1 ,leeuwenhoek4   
,this reference to ,kircher's work1     
however1 shows that more cordial        
appreciation of his scientific genius   
has come in our day1 and it seems not   
unlikely that in the progress of more   
accurate and detailed knowledge of      
scientific origins his reputation will  
grow as it deserves4 ,with that         
doubtless will come a better            
understanding of the true attitude of   
the scholars of the time--so many of    
whom were churchmen--to so-called       
physical science in contradistinction to
 philosophy1 in which of course they had
 always been profoundly interested4 ,the
 work done by ,kircher could never have 
been accomplished but for the           
sympathetic interest of those who are   
falsely supposed to have been bitterly  

opposed to all progress in the natural  
sciences1 but whose opposition was      
really limited to theoretic phases of   
scientific inquiry that threatened1 as  
has scientific theory so often since1 to
 prove directly contradictory to        
revealed truth4   #ace  ,,vi4  ,,bishop 
,,stensen3 ,,anatomist ,,and ,,father   
,,of ,,geology4  #acf  ,god makes sages 
and saints that they may be             
fountain-heads of wisdom and virtue for 
all who yearn and aspire3 and whoever   
has superior knowledge or ability is    
thereby committed to more effectual and 
unselfish service of his fellow-men4 ,if
 the love of fame be but an infirmity of
 noble souls1 the craving of            
professional reputation is but conceit  
and vanity4 ,to be of help1 and to be of
 help not merely to animals1 but to     
immortal1 pure1 loving spirits this is  
the noblest earthly fate4--,,bishop     
,,spalding3 ,the ,physician's ,calling  
and ,education4    ,illustration3       
,,nicolaus ,,stenonis   #acg  ,,vi4     

,,bishop ,,stensen1 ,,anatomist ,,and   
,,father ,,of ,,geology4  ,in the sketch
 of the life of ,father ,athanasius     
,kircher1 the distinguished ,jesuit     
scientist1 mathematician1 and           
,orientalist1 ,i called attention to the
 fact that1 at the very time when       
,galileo was tried and condemned at     
,rome1 because of his abuse of          
,scripture for the demonstration of     
scientific thesis1 a condemnation which 
has been often since proclaimed to be   
due to the ,church's intolerant         
opposition to science1 the              
ecclesiastical authorities at ,rome     
invited ,father ,kircher1 who was at    
that time teaching mathematics in       
,germany1 to come to ,rome1 and during  
the next half-century encouraged him in 
every way in the cultivation of all the 
physical sciences of the times4 ,it was 
to popes and cardinals1 as well as to   
influential members of his own order of 
the ,jesuits1 that ,father ,kircher owed
 his opportunities for the foundation of

 a complete and magnificent museum1     
illustrating many phases of natural     
science--the first of its kind in the   
world1 and which yet continues to be one
 of the noteworthy collections4  ,during
 the decade in which the condemnation of
 ,galileo and the invitation of ,father 
,kircher to ,rome took place1 there was 
born1 at #ach ,copenhagen1 a man whose  
career of distinction in science was to 
prove even more effectively than that of
 ,kircher1 if possible1 that there was  
no opposition in ecclesiastical circles 
in ,italy1 during this century1 to the  
development of natural science even in  
departments in respect to which the     
,church has1 over and over again1 been  
said to be specially intolerant4 ,this  
scientist was ,nicholas ,stensen1 the   
discoverer of the duct of the parotid   
gland1 which conducts saliva into the   
mouth1 and the founder1 in the truest   
sense of the word1 of the modern science
 of geology4 ,stensen's discovery of the
 duct which has since borne his name was

 due to no mere accident2 for he was one
 of the really great anatomists of all  
time1 and one distinguished particularly
 for his powers of original observation 
and investigation4 ,to have the two     
distinctions1 then1 of a leader in      
anatomy and a founder in geology1 stamps
 him as one of the supreme scientific   
geniuses of all time1 a man not only of 
a fruitfully inquiring disposition of   
mind1 but also one who possessed a very 
definite realization of how important   
for the cause of scientific truth is the
 necessity of testing all ideas with    
regard to things physical1 by actual    
observations of nature and by drawing   
conclusions not wider than the observed 
facts4  ,notwithstanding this           
characteristically scientific temper of 
mind1 which1 according to most modern   
ideas1 at least1 would seem to be sure  
to lead him away from religious truth1  
,stensen at the #aci very height of his 
career as a scientist1 while studying   
anatomy and geology in ,italy1 became a 

convert from ,lutheranism1 in which he  
had been born1 to ,catholicity1 and     
thereafter made it one of the prime     
objects of his life to bring as many    
others as possible of the separated     
brethren into the fold of the ,church4  
,when he accepted the professorship of  
anatomy at the ,university of           
,copenhagen1 it was with the definite   
idea that he might be able to use the   
influence of his position to make people
 realize how much of religious truth    
there was in the old ,church from which 
they had been separated in the preceding
 century4 ,after a time1 however1 his   
zeal led him to resign his position1 and
 ask to be made a priest1 in order that 
he might be able more effectively to    
fulfil what he now considered the main  
purpose of his life1 the winning of     
souls to the ,church4 ,as1 since his    
conversion1 he had given every evidence 
of the most sincere piety and humble    
simplicity1 his desires were granted4   
,his book on geology1 however1 was      

partly written during the very time when
 he was preparing for sacred orders1 and
 was warmly welcomed by all his         
,catholic friends4 ,after spending some 
time as a missionary1 and attracting a  
great deal of attention by his devout   
life and by the many friends and        
converts he succeeded in making1 the    
recently converted ,duke of ,hanover    
asked that the zealous ,danish convert  
should be made bishop of his capital    
city4 ,this request was immediately     
granted1 and ,stensen spent several     
years #adj in the hardest missionary    
labor in his new field4 ,as a matter of 
fact1 his labors proved too much for his
 rather delicate constitution1 and he   
died at the comparatively early age of  
forty-eight4 ,the visitor to the        
,university of ,copenhagen marvels to   
find among the portraits of her         
professors of anatomy one in the robes  
of a ,roman ,catholic bishop4 ,this is  
,stensen4 ,in #ahha1 when the           
,international ,geographical ,congress  

met at ,bologna1 it adjourned at the end
 of the session to ,florence to unveil a
 bust of ,stensen1 over his tomb there4 
,here evidently is a man whose life is  
well worth studying1 because of all that
 it means for the history of his time4  
,nicholas ,stensen--or1 as he is often  
called1 ,steno1 because this is the     
,latin form of his name1 and ,latin was 
practically exclusively used1 during his
 age1 in scientific circles all over    
,europe--was born #bj ,january1 #afch1  
in ,copenhagen4 ,his father died while  
he was comparatively young1 and his     
mother married again1 both her husbands 
being goldsmiths in high repute for     
their skill1 and both of them in rather 
well-to-do circumstances4 ,his early    
education was obtained at ,copenhagen1  
and the results displayed in his        
attainments show how well it must have  
been conducted4 ,later in life he spoke 
and wrote ,latin very fluently and had1 
besides1 a very thorough knowledge of   
,greek and of ,hebrew4 ,of the modern   

languages1 ,german1 ,french1 ,italian1  
and ,low ,dutch he knew very well1      
mainly from residence in the various    
countries in which they #ada are spoken4
 ,a more unusual attainment at that     
time1 and one showing the ardor of his  
thirst for knowledge1 was an            
acquaintance with ,english4 ,in early   
life he was especially fond of          
mathematics and1 indeed1 it was almost  
by accident that this did not become his
 chosen field of educational            
development4  ,at eighteen he became a  
student of the ,university of           
,copenhagen1 and after some preliminary 
studies in philosophy and philology     
devoted himself mainly to medicine4 ,at 
this time the ,danish ,university was   
especially distinguished for its work in
 anatomy4 ,the famous family of         
,bartholini1 who had for several        
generations been teaching there1 had    
proved a copious source of inspiration  
for the students in their department1   
and as a consequence original           

investigation of a high order1 with     
enthusiasm for the development of       
anatomical science1 had become the rule4
 ,the external situation was not        
favorable to learning1 for ,denmark was 
engaged in harassing and costly wars    
during a considerable portion of the    
seventeenth century2 yet the work       
accomplished here was1 undoubtedly1 some
 of the best in ,europe4 ,young ,stensen
 had the advantage of having ,thomas    
,bartholini as his preceptor1 and soon1 
because of his enthusiasm for science1  
as friend and father4  ,stensen had been
 at the ,university scarcely two years  
when the city of ,copenhagen was        
besieged by the ,swedes4 ,professor     
,lutz1 of the ,university of ,st4       
,louis1 who has recently written #adb an
 article on ,stensen1 which appeared in 
the ,medical ,library and ,historical   
,journal for ,july1 #aijd1 says of this 
period3    ,a regiment of students      
numbering two hundred and sixty-six1    
called   the black coats on account of  

their dark clothes1 was formed for   the
 defence of the city2 upon its roster we
 find the name of young   ,steno4       
,during the day they were at work       
mending the ramparts1 and   the nights  
were spent in repelling the attacks of  
the enemy4 ,in the   course of this long
 siege1 the city was compelled to cope  
with a   more formidable enemy than the 
,swedes--famine with all its            
horrors--before relief came in the shape
 of provisions and   reinforcements     
furnished by the ,dutch fleet4          
,throughout these   turbulent days the  
student soldiers rendered valuable      
services to   their country1 and though 
it be true that inter arma silent       
musae--the war gods do not favor the    
muses--it appears   nevertheless that   
,steno attended the lectures and        
dissections which   were conducted by   
the teachers in the intervals when the  
student   were not on duty4  ,after some
 three years spent at the ,university of
 ,copenhagen1 ,stensen1 as was the      

custom of the times1 went to pursue his 
post-graduate studies in a foreign      
university4 ,bartholini furnished him   
with a letter of recommendation to      
,professor ,blasius1 who was teaching   
anatomy at ,amsterdam in ,holland4      
,amsterdam had become famous during the 
seventeenth century for the very        
practical character of its anatomical   
teaching4 ,as the result of the cordial 
commendation of ,bartholini1 ,stensen   
became an inmate of the house of        
,professor ,blasius1 and was given #adc 
special opportunities to pursue his     
anatomical studies for himself4 ,he had 
been but a very short time at           
,amsterdam1 when he made the discovery  
to which his name has ever since been   
attached1 that of the duct of the       
parotid gland4 ,stensen's discovery was 
made while he was dissecting the head of
 a sheep4 ,he found shortly afterwards1 
however1 that the canal could be        
demonstrated to exist in the dog1 though
 it was not so large a structure4       

,blasius seems to have been rather      
annoyed at the fact that a student1 just
 beginning work with him1 should make so
 important a discovery1 and wished to   
claim the honor of it for himself4      
,there is no doubt1 however1 now1       
notwithstanding the discussion over the 
priority of the discovery which took    
place at the time1 that ,stensen was the
 first to make this important           
observation4  ,not long before1         
,wharton1 an ,english observer1 had     
demonstrated the existence of a canal   
leading from the submaxillary gland into
 the mouth4 ,this might have been       
expected to lead to the discovery of    
other glandular ducts1 but so far had   
not4 ,as a matter of fact1 the function 
of the parotid gland was not well       
understood at this time4 ,during the    
discussion as to priority of discovery1 
,steno pointed out one fact which he    
very properly considers as the most     
conclusive proof that ,blasius did not  
discover the duct of the gland4 ,he     

says3 ,blasius shows plainly in his     
treatise ',de ,medicina ,generali' that 
he has never sought for the duct1 for he
 does not assign #add to it either the  
proper point of beginning or ending1 and
 assigns to the parotid gland itself so 
unworthy a function as that of          
furnishing warmth to the ear1 so that if
 ,i were not perfectly sure of having   
once shown him the duct myself1 ,i      
should be tempted to say that he had    
never seen it4  ,bartholini settled the 
controversy1 and at the same time       
removed any discouragement that might   
have arisen in his young pupil's mind1  
by writing to him3--    ,your assiduity 
in investigating the secrets of the     
human body1 as   well as your fortunate 
discoveries1 are highly praised by the  
learned of your country4 ,the fatherland
 congratulates itself upon   such a     
citizen1 ,i upon such a pupil1 through  
whose efforts anatomy   makes daily     
progress1 and our lympathic vessels are 
traced out more   and more4 ,you divide 

honors with ,wharton1 since you have    
added to   his internal duct an external
 one1 and have thereby discovered the   
sources of the saliva concerning which  
many have hitherto dreamed   much1 but  
which no one has 7permit the expression7
 pointed out with   the finger4         
,continue1 my ,steno1 to follow the path
 to immortal glory   which true anatomy 
holds out to you4  ,under the stimulus  
of such encouragement1 it is no wonder  
that ,stensen continued his original    
work with eminent success4 ,he published
 an extensive article on the glands of  
the eye and the vessels of the nose4    
,bartholini wrote to him again3 ,your   
fame is growing from day to day1 for    
your pen and your sharp eye know no     
rest4 ,later he wrote #ade again3 ,you  
may count upon the favor of the king as 
well as upon the applause of the        
learned4 ,after three years at the      
,university of ,amsterdam1 ,steno       
returned to ,copenhagen1 where he       
published his ,anatomical ,observations 

,concerning the ,muscles and ,glands4   
,it was in this book that he announced  
his persuasion that the heart was a     
muscle4 ,as he said himself1 the heart  
has been considered the seat of natural 
warmth1 the throne of the soul2 but if  
you examine it more closely1 it turns   
out to be nothing but a muscle4 ,the men
 of the past would not have been so     
grossly mistaken with regard to it1 had 
they not preferred their imaginary      
theories to the results of the simple   
observation of nature4 ,it is easy to   
understand that this observation created
 a very great sensation4 ,it had much to
 do with overthrowing certain theoretic 
systems of medicine1 and nearly a       
century later the distinguished         
physiologist1 ,haller1 did not hesitate 
to proclaim the volume in which it      
occurs1 as a golden book4  ,stensen's   
studies in anatomy stamp him as an      
original genius of a high order1 and    
this is all the more remarkable because 
his career occurs just in those years   

when there were distinguished           
discoverers in anatomy in every country 
in ,europe4 ,when ,stensen began his    
work in anatomy1 ,harvey was still      
alive4 ,the elder ,bartholini1 the first
 who ever established an anatomical     
museum1 was another of his              
contemporaries4 ,among the names of     
distinguished anatomists #adf with whom 
,stensen was brought intimately in      
contact during the course of his studies
 in ,holland1 ,france and ,italy are    
those of ,swammerdam1 ,van ,horne1 and  
,malpighi4 ,there is no doubt that his  
intercourse with such men sharpened his 
own intellectual activity1 and increased
 his enthusiasm for original            
investigation in contradistinction to   
the mere accumulation of information4   
,his contemporaries1 indeed1 exhausted  
most of the adjectives of the ,latin    
language in trying to express their     
appreciation of his acuity of           
observation4 ,he was spoken of as       
oculatissimus--that is1 as being all    

eyes1 subtilissimus1 acutissimus1       
sagacissimus in his knowledge of the    
human body1 and as the most             
perspicacious anatomist of the time4    
,leibnitz and ,haller were in accord in 
considering him one of the greatest of  
anatomists4 ,in later years this        
admiration for ,stensen's genius has not
 been less enthusiastically expressed4  
,haeser1 in his ,history of ,medicine1  
the third edition of which appeared at  
,jena in #ahgi1 says3 ,among the        
greatest anatomists of the seventeenth  
century belongs ,nicholas ,steno1 the   
most distinguished pupil of ,thomas     
,bartholini4 ,steno was rightly         
considered in his own time as one of the
 greatest of anatomical discoverers4    
,there is scarcely any part of the human
 body the knowledge of which was not    
rendered more complete by his           
investigations4  ,the most valuable     
discovery made by ,stensen was          
undoubtedly that the heart is a muscle4 
,it #adg must not be forgotten that in  

his time1 ,harvey's discovery of the    
circulation of the blood was not yet    
generally accepted2 indeed1 there were  
many who considered the theory 7as they 
called it7 of the ,english investigator 
as one of the passing fads of medicine4 
,two significant discoveries1 made after
 ,harvey1 served1 however1 to establish 
the theory of the circulation of the    
blood on a firm basis and to make it a  
definite medical doctrine4 ,the most    
important of these was ,malpighi's      
discovery that the capillaries--that is1
 the minute vessels at the end of the   
arterial tree on the surface of the body
 and in various organs--served as the   
direct connexion between the veins and  
the arteries4 ,this demonstrated just   
how the blood passed from the arterial  
to the venous system4 ,scarcely less    
important1 however1 for the confirmation
 of ,harvey's teaching was ,stensen's   
demonstration of the muscular character 
of the tissue of the heart4  ,some of   
his observations upon muscles are       

extremely interesting1 and1 though he   
made many mistakes in explaining their  
function1 he added not a little to the  
anatomical and physiological knowledge  
of the time in their regard4 ,he seems  
to have been one of the first to        
recognize the fact that in the higher   
animals the heart may continue to beat  
for a considerable time after the animal
 is apparently dead2 and1 indeed1 that  
by irritation of the removed heart1     
voluntary contractions may be brought   
about which will continue spontaneously 
for some moments4  #adh  ,with regard to
 the objections made by some1 that such 
studies as these upon muscles could     
scarcely be expected to produce any     
direct result for the treatment of      
disease1 or in the ordinary practice of 
medicine1 ,stensen said in reply that it
 is only on the basis of the anatomical1
 physiological1 and pathological        
observation that progress in medicine is
 to be looked for4 ,in spite1 then1 of  
the discouragement of the many1 who look

 always for immediate practical results1
 ,stensen continued his investigation1  
and even proposed to make an extended   
study of the mechanism of the muscular  
action4  ,in the meantime1 however1     
there had gradually been coming into his
 life another element which was to prove
 more absorbing than even his zeal for  
scientific discovery4 ,it is this which 
constitutes the essential index of the  
man's character and has been sadly      
misunderstood by many of his            
biographers4  ,sir ,michael ,foster1 of 
,cambridge1 ,england1 in his ,lectures  
on the ,history of ,physiology1         
originally delivered as the ,lane       
,lectures at ,cooper ,medical ,college1 
,san ,francisco1 said3--    ,while thus 
engaged1 still working at physiology1   
,stensen turned his   versatile mind to 
other problems1 as well as to those of  
comparative   anatomy1 and especially to
 those of the infant1 indeed hardly as  
yet   born1 science of geology4 ,his    
work ,de solido intra solidum is        

thought by geologists to be a brilliant 
effort toward the beginning   of their  
science    ,in #afgb he returned for a  
while to his native city of #adi        
,copenhagen1 but within two years he was
 back again at ,florence2 and   then    
there came to him1 while as yet a young 
man of some thirty-six   summers1 a     
sudden and profound change in his life4 
,in his early days he had heard much1   
too much perhaps1 of the   doctrines of 
,luther4 ,probably he had been repelled 
by the austere   devotion which ruled   
the paternal roof4 ,and1 as his answer  
to   ,bossuet shows1 his university life
 and studies1 his intercourse with   the
 active intellects of many lands1 and   
his passion for inquiry   into natural  
knowledge1 had freed him from passive   
obedience to   dogma4 ,he doubtless1 as 
did many others of his time1 looked upon
   himself as one of the enlightened1 as
 one raised above the barren            
theological questions which were moving 
the minds of lesser men  ,yet it was out

 of this sceptical state of mind1 that  
life in ,italy and intimate contact with
 ecclesiastics and religious1 so often  
said to be likely not to have any such  
effect1 brought this acute scientific   
mind into the ,catholic ,church4 ,nor   
did he become merely a formal adherent1 
but an ardent believer1 and then an     
enthusiastic proselytizer4 ,one         
,american writer of a history of        
medicine1 in his utter failure to       
comprehend or sympathize with the change
 that came over ,stensen1 speaks of him 
as having become at the end of his life 
a mere peripatetic converter of         
heretics4 ,this phase of ,stensen's life
 has1 however1 as ample significance as 
any that preceded it4  ,steno's         
expectations of the professorship of    
anatomy at ,copenhagen were             
disappointed1 but the appointment went  
to ,jacobson1 whose work indeed is      
scarcely less distinguished than that of
 #aej his unsuccessful rival4 ,the next 
few years ,stensen passed in ,paris1    

where he was assiduous in making        
dissections1 and where he attracted much
 attention2 and then1 somewhat later1 in
 ,italy2 in #affe and #afff he was in   
,rome4 ,thence he went to ,florence1 in 
order to perfect himself in ,italian4   
,the next few years he spent in this    
city1 having received the appointment of
 body physician to the ,grand ,duke1 as 
well as an appointment of visiting      
physician1 as we would call it now1 to  
the ,hospital of ,santa ,maria ,nuova4  
,it was while at ,florence that the     
whole current of ,stensen's life was    
changed by his conversion to            
,catholicity4 ,his position as physician
 to the ,hospital of ,santa ,maria      
,nuova brought him frequently into the  
apothecary shop attached to the         
hospital4 ,as a result he came to know  
very well the religious in charge of the
 department1 ,sister ,maria ,flavia1 the
 daughter of a well-known ,tuscan       
family4 ,at this time she had been for  
some thirty-five years a nun4 ,before   

long she learned that the distinguished 
young physician1 at this time scarcely  
thirty years of age1 who was such a     
pleasant gentleman in all his ways1 was 
a ,lutheran4 ,she began1 as she told    
afterwards1 first by prayer1 and then by
 friendly suggestions1 to attempt to win
 him to the ,catholic ,church4 ,stensen1
 who seems already to have been         
well-disposed toward the ,church1 and   
who had always been known for a         
wonderful purity of heart and simplicity
 of character1 listened very willingly  
to the naive words of the #aea old      
religious1 who might very well have been
 his mother4  ,many years later1 by the 
command of her confessor1 the good      
,sister related the detailed story of   
his conversion4 ,she began very simply  
by telling him one day that if he did   
not accept the true ,catholic faith1 he 
would surely go to hell4 ,he listened to
 this without any impatience1 and she   
said it a number of other times1 half   
jokingly perhaps1 but much more than    

half in earnest4 ,as he listened so     
kindly1 she said to him one day that he 
must pray every day to ,god to let him  
know the truth4 ,this he promised to do 
and1 as she found out from his servant  
7what is it these nuns do not find out87
 he did pray every evening4 ,one day1   
while he was in the apothecary shop1 the
 ,angelus bell rang1 and she asked him  
to say the ,angelus4 ,he was perfectly  
willing to say the first part of the    
,hail ,mary1 but he did not want to say 
the second part1 as he did not believe  
in the invocation of the ,blessed       
,virgin and the saints4 ,then she asked 
him to visit the ,church of the ,blessed
 ,virgin1 the ,santissima ,nunziata1    
which he did4 ,after this she suggested 
to him that he should abstain from meat 
on ,fridays and ,saturdays1 which he    
promised to do1 and which the good nun  
found out once more from his servant1 he
 actually did do4 ,and then the         
religious thought it was time to suggest
 that he should consult a clergyman1 and

 his conversion was not long delayed4   
,young ,stensen seems to have been the  
object #aeb of solicitude on the part of
 a number of the good1 elderly women    
with whom he was brought in contact4 ,he
 discussed with ,signora ,arnolfini the 
great difficulty he had in believing the
 mystery of the ,eucharist4 ,another    
good woman1 the ,signora ,lavinia       
,felice1 seeing how interested he was in
 things ,catholic1 succeeded in bringing
 him to the notice of a prominent       
,jesuit in ,florence4 ,as his friend1   
,sister ,maria ,flavia1 had recommended 
the same ,father to him1 he followed the
 advice all the more readily1 and it was
 not long before his last doubts were   
solved4  ,it was after his conversion   
that ,stensen received his invitation to
 become the professor of anatomy at the 
,university of ,copenhagen4 ,much as he 
had become attached to ,florence1 the   
thought of returning to his native city 
was sweet2 and then besides he hoped    
that he might be able to influence his  

countrymen in their views toward the    
,catholic ,church4 ,it was not long1    
however1 before the bigotry of his      
compatriots made life so unpleasant for 
him in ,copenhagen that he resigned his 
position and returned to ,italy4        
,various official posts in ,florence    
were open for him1 but now he had       
resolved to devote himself to the       
service of the ,church1 and so he became
 a priest4 ,his contemporary1 the       
,cardinal ,archbishop of ,florence1 said
 with regard to him3 ,already as a      
member of a ,protestant sect he had     
lived a life of innocence and had       
practised all the moral virtues4 ,after 
his conversion he had marked out for    
himself so severe a method of life and  
had #aec remained so true to it that in 
a very short time he reached a high     
degree of perfection4 ,the ,archbishop  
does not hesitate to say that he had    
become a man of constant union with ,god
 and entirely dead to himself4 ,there   
was very little hesitation1 then1 in    

accepting him as a candidate for the    
priesthood1 and as his knowledge of     
theology was very thorough1 most of the 
delay in raising him to that dignity    
came from his own humility and his      
desire to prepare himself properly for  
the privilege4 ,he made the exercises of
 ,st4 ,ignatius as part of his          
preparation1 and after his ordination it
 was a source of remark with how much   
devotion he said his first and all      
succeeding ,masses4 ,it was not long    
before the piety of ,stensen's life     
attracted great attention4 ,at this time
 he was in frequent communication with  
such men as ,spinoza and ,leibnitz1 the 
distinguished philosophers4 ,it is      
curious to think of the ardent mystic1  
the pantheistic philosopher1 and the    
speculative scientist1 so different in  
character1 having many interests in     
common4  ,it was during these years in  
,italy that ,stensen did what must be   
considered1 undoubtedly1 his most       
important work1 even more important1 if 

possible1 than his anatomical           
discoveries4 ,this was his foundation of
 the science of geology4 ,as has been   
well said in a prominent text-book of   
geology1 his book on this subject sets  
him in that group of men who as prophets
 of science often run far ahead of their
 times to point out the path which later
 centuries will follow in the road of   
#aed knowledge4 ,it is rather surprising
 to find that the seventeenth century   
must enjoy the privilege of being       
considered the cradle of geological     
knowledge4 ,there is no doubt1 however1 
that the great principles of the science
 were laid down in ,stensen's little    
book1 which he intended only to be an   
introduction to a more extensive work1  
but the latter was unfortunately never  
completed1 nor1 indeed1 so far as we are
 able to decide now1 ever seriously     
begun4  ,one of the basic principles of 
the science of geology ,stensen taught  
as follows3 ,if a given body of definite
 form1 produced according to the laws of

 nature1 be carefully examined1 it will 
show in itself the place and manner of  
its origin4 ,this principle he showed   
would apply so comprehensively that the 
existence of many things1 hitherto      
apparently inexplicable1 became rather  
easy of solution4 ,it must not be       
forgotten that before this time two     
explanations for the existence of       
peculiar bodies1 or of ordinary bodies1 
in peculiar places1 had been offered4   
,according to one school of thought1 the
 fossils found deep in the earth1 or    
sometimes in the midst of rocks1 had    
been created there4 ,it was as if the   
creative force had run beyond the       
ordinary bounds of nature and had       
produced certain things1 ordinarily     
associated with life1 even in the midst 
of dead matter4 ,the other explanation  
suggested was that the flood had in its 
work of destruction upon earth caused   
many anomalous displacements of living  
things1 and had buried some of the #aee 
animals under such circumstances that   

later they were found even beneath      
rocks1 or deep down in the earth1 far   
beyond where the animals could be       
supposed to have penetrated by any      
ordinary means during life4  ,stensen   
had observed very faithfully the various
 strata that are to be found wherever   
special appearances of the earth's      
surface were exposed1 or wherever deep  
excavations were made4 ,his explanation 
of how these various strata are formed  
will serve to show1 perhaps better than 
anything else1 how far advanced he was  
in his realization of ideas that are    
supposed to belong only to modern       
geology4 ,he said3 ,the powdery layers  
of the earth's surface must necessarily 
at some time have been held in          
suspension in water1 from which they    
were precipitated by their own weight4  
,the movement of the fluid scattered the
 precipitate here and there and gave to 
it a level surface4  ,bodies of         
considerable circumference1 ,stensen    
continues1 which are found in the       

various layers of the earth1 followed   
the laws of gravity as regards their    
position and their relations to one     
another4 ,the powdery material of the   
earth's strata took on so completely the
 form of the bodies which it surrounded 
that even the smallest apertures became 
filled up and the powdery layer fitted  
accurately to the surface of the object 
and even took something of its polish4  
,with regard to the composition of the  
various strata of the earth1 the father 
of geology #aef considered that if in a 
layer of rock all the portions are of   
the same kind there is no reason to deny
 that such a layer came into existence  
at the time of creation1 when the whole 
surface of the earth was covered with   
fluid4 ,if1 however1 in any one stratum 
portions of another stratum are found1  
or if the remains of plants or animals  
occur1 there is no doubt that such a    
stratum had not its origin at the time  
of creation1 but came into existence    
later4  ,if there is to be found in a   

stratum traces of sea salt1 or the      
remains of sea animals1 or portions of  
vessels1 or such like objects1 which are
 only to be encountered at the bottom of
 the sea1 then it must be considered    
that this portion of the earth's surface
 once was below the sea level1 though it
 may happen that this occurred only by  
the accident of a flood of some kind4   
,the great distance from the sea1 or    
other body of water1 at the present     
time1 may be due to the sinking of the  
water level in the neighborhood1 or by  
the rising up of a mountain from some   
internal terrestrial cause in the       
interval of time4 ,he continues3--      
,if one finds in any layer remains of   
branches of trees1 or herbs1   then it  
is only right to conclude that these    
objects were brought   together because 
of flood or of some such condition in   
the place   where they are now found4   
,if in a layer coal and ashes and burnt 
clay or other scorched bodies are found1
 then it seems sure that   some place in

 the neighborhood of a watercourse a    
fire took place1   and this is all the  
more sure when the whole layer consists 
of ashes   and #aeg coal4 ,whenever in  
the same place the material of which all
   the layers is composed is the same1  
there seems to be no doubt that   the   
fluid to which the stratum owes its     
origin did not at different   times     
obtain different material for its       
building purposes4  ,in respect to the  
mountains and their formation1 ,stensen 
said very definitely3--    ,all the     
mountains which we see now have not     
existed from the   beginning of things4 
,mountains do not1 however1 grow as do  
plants4   ,the stones of which mountains
 are composed have only a certain       
analogy with the bones of animals1 but  
have no similarity in   structure or in 
origin1 nor have they the same function 
and purpose4   ,mountain ranges1 or     
chains of mountains as some prefer to   
call them1   do not always run in       
certain directions1 though this has     

sometimes   been claimed4 ,such claims  
correspond neither to reason nor to     
observation4 ,mountains may be very much
 disturbed in the course of   years4    
,mountain peaks rise and fall somewhat4 
,chasms open and shut   here and there  
in them1 and though there are those who 
pretend that   it is only the credulous 
who will accept the stories of such     
happenings1 there is no doubt that they 
have been established on   trustworthy  
evidence4  ,in the course of his        
observations in ,italy1 ,stensen had    
seen many mussel shells1 which had been 
gathered from various layers of the     
earth's surface4 ,with regard to the    
shells themselves1 he said that there   
could be no doubt that they had come as 
the excretion of the mantle of the      
mussel1 and that the differences that   
could be noted in them were in          
accordance with the varying forms of    
these animals4 ,he pointed out1 however1
 that some of the mussel shells found in
 #aeh strata of rock were really mussel 

shells in every respect as regards the  
material of which they were composed as 
well as their interior structure and    
their external form1 so that there could
 be no possible question of their       
origin4 ,on the other hand1 a certain   
number of the so-called mussel shells   
were not composed of the ordinary       
materials of which such shells are      
usually made up2 but had indeed only the
 external form of genuine shells4       
,stensen considered1 however1 that even 
these must be regarded as originating in
 real mussel shells1 the original       
substance having been later on replaced 
by other material4 ,he explained this   
replacement process in very much the    
same way that we now suggest the        
explanation of various processes of     
petrification4 ,there is no doubt that  
in this he went far beyond his          
contemporaries1 and pointed out very    
clearly what was to be the teaching of  
generations long after his own4  ,the   
same principles he applied to mussel    

shells1 ,stensen considered must have   
their application also to all other     
portions of animal bodies1 teeth1 bones1
 whole skeletons1 and even more         
perishable animal materials that might  
be found buried in the earth's strata4  
,his treatment of the question of the   
remains of plants was quite as          
satisfactory as that of the animals4 ,he
 distinguished between the impressions  
of plants1 the petrification of plants1 
the carbonization of plants1 and then   
dwelt somewhat on the tendency of       
certain minerals to form dendrites1 that
 is1 branching #aei processes which look
 not unlike plants4 ,he pointed out how 
easy it is to be deceived by these      
appearances1 and stated very clearly the
 distinction between real plants and    
such simulated ones4  ,it will be       
scarcely necessary for us to apologize  
for having given so much space to       
,stensen's work on geology4 ,many       
distinguished scientists1 however1 have 
insisted that no greater advance at the 

birth of a science was ever made than   
that which ,stensen accomplished in his 
geological work4 ,hoffman says that     
after carefully studying the work1 he   
has come to the conclusion that of the  
successors of ,stensen1 no student of   
the mountains down to ,werner's day had 
succeeded in comprehending so many      
fruitful points of view in geology4     
,none of his great successors in geology
 has succeeded in introducing so many   
new ideas into the science as the first 
great observer4 ,for several centuries  
most of his successors in geology       
remained far behind him in creative     
genius1 and so there is little progress 
worth while noting in the knowledge of  
the method of earth formation1 until    
almost the beginning of the nineteenth  
century1 though his little book was     
written in #affh and #affi4  ,leibnitz  
regretted very much that ,stensen did   
not complete his work on geology as he  
originally intended4 ,had he succeeded  
in gathering together all of his        

original observations1 illustrated by   
the material he had collected1 his work 
would have had much greater effect4 ,as 
it was1 the golden truth which he had   
expressed in such #afj few words1       
without being able always to state just 
how he had come to his conclusions1 was 
only of avail to science in a limited   
way4 ,men had to repeat his observations
 long years afterwards in order to      
realize the truth of what he had laid   
down4 ,leibnitz considered that it took 
more than a century for geological      
science to reach the point at which it  
had been left by ,steno's work1 and     
which he had reached at a single bound4 
,there is scarcely a single modern      
geologist interested at all in the      
history of the science who has not paid 
a worthy tribute to ,steno's great basic
 discoveries in the science4 ,it was not
 a matter for surprise1 then1 that the  
,international ,congress of ,geologists 
which met at ,bologna in #ahha assembled
 at his tomb in ,florence in order to do

 him honor1 after the regular sessions  
of the ,congress had closed4 ,they      
erected to his memory a tablet with the 
following scription3    ,nicolae        
,stenonis imaginem vides hospes quam    
aere collato docti   amplius mille ex   
universo terrarum orbe insculpendam     
curarunt in   memoriam ejus diei ,,iv   
cal4 ,octobr4 an4 ,,mdccclxxxi quo      
geologi post   conventum ,bononiae      
habitum praeside ,joanne ,capellinio    
equite hue   peregrinati sunt atque     
adstantibus legatis flor ,municipii et  
,r4   ,instituti ,altiorum doctrinarum  
cineres viri inter geologos et          
anatomicos praestantissimi in hujus     
templi hypogaeo laurea corona   honoris 
gratique animi ergo honestaverunt4      
,footnote #ab      ,footnote #ab3 ,you  
behold here1 traveller1 the bust of     
,nicholas     ,steno as it was set up by
 more than a thousand scientists from   
all     over the world1 as a memorial to
 him1 on the fourth of the ,kalends     
of ,october1 #ahha4 ,the geologists of  

the world1 after their meeting     in   
,bologna1 under the presidency of ,count
 ,john ,capellini1 made a     pilgrimage
 to his tomb1 and in the presence of the
 chosen     representatives of the      
municipality1 and of the learned        
professors     of the ,university1      
honored the mortal ashes of this man1   
illustrious among geologists and        
anatomists4   #afa  ,stensen's work     
brought him in contact with some of the 
distinguished men of the seventeenth    
century1 all of whom learned to         
appreciate his breadth of intelligence  
and acuity of judgment4 ,we have already
 mentioned his epistolary relation with 
,spinoza1 and have said something about 
the controversy with ,leibnitz1 into    
which1 in spite of his disinclination to
 controversy generally1 he was drawn by 
the circumstances of the time and the   
solicitation of friends4 ,another great 
thinker of the century with whom he was 
brought into intimate relationship was  
,des ,cartes1 the distinguished         

philosopher4 ,in fact1 ,des ,cartes's   
system of thought influenced ,stensen   
not a little1 and he felt1 when         
describing the function of muscles in   
the human body1 and especially when he  
demonstrated that the heart was a       
muscle1 that the mechanical notions he  
was thus introducing into anatomy were  
likely to prove confirmatory of ,des    
,cartes's philosophic speculations4     
,almost more than any other1 ,stensen   
was the father of many ideas that have  
since become common1 with regard to the 
physics of the human body and its       
qualities as a machine4  ,with his      
breadth of view1 from familiarity #afb  
with the progress of science generally  
in his time1 ,steno's discussions of the
 reason for the lack of exact knowledge 
and for the prevalence of error1 in     
spite of enthusiastic investigation1 are
 worth while appreciating4 ,he          
considered that the reason why so many  
portions of natural science are still in
 doubt is that in the investigation of  

natural objects no careful distinction  
is made between what is known to a      
certainty and what is known only with a 
certain amount of assurance4 ,he        
discusses the question of deductive and 
inductive science1 and considers that   
even those who depend on experience will
 not infrequently be found in error1    
because their conclusions are wider than
 their premises1 and because it only too
 often happens that they admit          
principles as true for which they have  
no sure evidence4 ,stensen considered it
 important1 therefore1 not to hurry on  
in the explanation of things1 but1 so   
far as possible1 to cling to old-time   
principles that had been universally    
accepted1 since nearly always these     
would be found to contain fruitful germs
 of truth4  ,he was universally         
acknowledged as one of the greatest     
original thinkers of his time1 and his  
conversion to the ,church did much to   
dissipate religious prejudices among    
those of ,german nationality4 ,his      

influence over distinguished visitors   
who came to ,florence1 and who were very
 glad to have the opportunity of making 
his acquaintance1 was such that not a   
few ,northern visitors became1 like     
himself1 converts to the ,church4  #afc 
,it was in the midst of this that the   
request of the ,duke of ,hanover came   
that he should consent to become the    
bishop of his capital city4 ,it was only
 after ,stensen had been put under holy 
obedience that he would consent to      
accept the proffered dignity4 ,his first
 thought was to distribute all his goods
 among the poor1 and betake himself even
 without shoes on his feet1 on a        
pedestrian journey to ,rome4 ,first1    
however1 he made a pilgrimage to        
,loretto1 where he arrived so overcome  
by the fatigue of the journey that the  
clergyman who took care of him while    
there1 insisted on his accepting a pair 
of shoes from him1 though he could not  
prevail upon him to travel in any other 
way than on foot4  ,his first action1   

after his consecration as bishop1 was to
 write a letter1 sending his episcopal  
benediction to ,sister ,maria ,flavia1  
to whom he felt he owed the great       
privilege of his life4 ,his lasting     
sense of satisfaction and consolation in
 his change of religion may be          
appreciated from what is1 perhaps1 the  
most interesting personal document that 
we have from ,stensen's own hand1 in    
which1 on the eighteenth anniversary of 
his conversion1 he writes to a friend to
 describe his feelings4 ,to-morrow1 he  
says1 ,i shall finish1 ,god willing1 the
 eighteenth year of my happy life as a  
member of the ,church4 ,i wish to       
acknowledge once more my thankfulness   
for the part which you took under ,god  
in my conversion4 ,as ,i hope to have   
the grace to be grateful to ,him        
forever1 so ,i sigh for the opportunity 
to express #afd my thankfulnes to you   
and your family4 ,i can feel that my own
 ingratitude toward ,god1 my slowness in
 ,his service1 make me unworthy of ,his 

graces2 but ,i hope that you who have   
helped me to enter his service will not 
cease to pray1 so that ,i may obtain    
pardon for the past and grace for the   
future1 in order in some measure to     
repay all the favors that have been     
conferred on me4  ,the distinguishing   
characteristic of his life as a bishop  
was his insistence on poverty as the    
principal element of his existence4 ,he 
refused to enter his diocese in state in
 the carriage which the ,duke offered to
 provide for him1 but proceeded there on
 foot4 ,no question of supposed dignity 
could make him employ a number of       
servants1 and his only retainers were   
converts made by himself1 who helped in 
the household and whom he treated quite 
as equals4 ,he became engaged in one    
controversy on religious matters1 but   
said that he did not consider that      
converts had ever been made by          
controversies4 ,he compared it1 indeed1 
to the gladiatorial contests in which   
the contestants had their heads         

completely enveloped in armor1 so as to 
prevent any possible penetration of the 
weapons of an opponent4 ,he insisted    
especially that in religious            
controversies the contending parties do 
not realize the significance given to   
words by each other1 and that therefore 
no good can result4  ,after a time1     
,stensen did not find his work in       
,hamburg very satisfactory1 because it  
was typically a missionary country1 and 
the ,jesuit #afe missionaries who had   
been introduced were accomplishing all  
that could be hoped for4 ,accordingly1  
when the ,duke of ,mecklenburg-,schwerin
 became a convert to the ,catholic      
,church1 and asked that ,stensen should 
be sent as a bishop into his dukedom1   
the request was complied with4 ,here1 in
 the hardest kind of labor as a         
missionary1 and in the midst of poverty 
that was truly apostolic1 ,stensen      
worked out the remaining years of his   
life4 ,at his death he was looked upon  
as almost a saint4 ,notwithstanding his 

close relationship with two reigning    
princes1 he did not leave enough        
personal effects to defray the expenses 
of his funeral4 ,besides his bishop's   
ring1 and the very simple episcopal     
cross he wore1 he had nothing of any    
value except some relics of ,st4        
,francis ,xavier1 ,st4 ,ignatius        
,loyola1 and ,st4 ,philip ,neri1 which  
he had prized above all other treasures4
  ,his missionary labors had not been   
marked by any very striking success in  
the number of converts made4 ,in this   
his life would seem to have been a      
bitter personal disappointment4 ,he     
never looked upon it as such1 however1  
but continued to be eminently cheerful  
and friendly until the end4 ,as a matter
 of fact1 the influence of his career   
was to be felt much more two centuries  
after his death than during his         
lifetime4 ,at the present moment1 his   
life is well known in northern ,germany1
 thanks to the biographic sketch written
 by ,father ,plenkers for the ,stimmen  

aus ,maria ,laach1 which has been very  
widely #aff circulated since its        
appearance in #ahhd4 ,something of the  
reaction among scientific minds in      
,germany toward a healthier orthodoxy of
 feeling1 with regard to great religious
 questions1 is undoubtedly due to the   
spread of the knowledge of the career of
 the great anatomist and geologist who  
gave up his scientific work for the sake
 of the spread of the higher truth4     
,after his death the ,medici family     
asked for and obtained the privilege of 
having his body buried in ,san ,lorenzo 
at ,florence1 with the members of the   
princely ,medici house4 ,more and more  
do visitors realize that the tablet over
 his remains chronicles the death of a  
man who was undoubtedly one of the      
world's great scientists1 and one of the
 most original thinkers of his time1 and
 that time a period greatly fertile in  
the history of science4  #afg  ,,vii4   
,,abbe ,h,a,ue,y1 ,,father ,,of         
,,crystallography4   #afh  ,they        

continue this day as they were created1 
perfect in number and measure and       
weight1 and from the ineffaceable       
characters impressed on them we may     
learn that those aspirations after      
accuracy in measurement1 truth in       
statement1 and justice in action1 which 
we reckon among our noblest attributes  
as men1 are ours because they are       
essential constituents of the image of  
,him who in the beginning created not   
only heaven and earth1 but the materials
 of which heaven and earth              
consist4--,,clerk ,,maxwell ,on the     
,molecule1 ,nature1 ,vol4 ,,viii4 #ahgc4
    ,illustration3 ,,rene ,,just        
,h,a,ue,y   #afi  ,,vii4  ,,abbe        
,h,a,ue,y1 ,footnote #ac ,,father ,,of  
,,crystallography    ,footnote #ac3     
,pronounced a-ue 7,century ,dictionary71
 ,nearly   ,represented ,by ah-we4      
,modern learning is gradually losing    
something of the self-complacency that  
characterized it in so constantly       
harboring the thought that the most     

important discoveries in physical       
science came in the nineteenth century4 
,a more general attention to critical   
history has led to the realization that 
many of the primal discoveries whose    
importance made the development of      
modern science possible1 came in earlier
 centuries1 though their full           
significance was not then fully         
appreciated4 ,the foundations of most of
 our modern sciences were1 indeed1 laid 
in the eighteenth century1 but some of  
them came much earlier4 ,it is genius   
alone that is able to break away from   
established traditions of knowledge1    
and1 stepping across the boundary into  
the unknown1 blaze a path along which it
 will be easy for subsequent workers to 
follow4 ,only in recent years has the   
due meed of appreciation for these great
 pioneers become part of the precious   
traditions of scientific knowledge4  ,we
 have seen that clergymen were great    
original investigators in science in the
 older times and we shall find1 though  

it may be a source of #agj astonishment 
to most people that even our modern     
science has had some supreme original   
workers1 during the last two centuries1 
in the ranks of the ,catholic clergy4   
,the eighteenth century was not behind  
the seventeenth in original             
contributions made to science by        
clergymen4 ,about the middle of the     
century1 a ,premonstratensian monk1     
,procopius ,dirwisch by name1 of the    
little town of ,prenditz in ,bohemia1   
demonstrated the identity of electrical 
phenomena with lightning1 thus          
anticipating the work of our own        
,franklin4 ,dirwisch dared to set up a  
lightning-conductor1 by which during    
thunderstorms he obtained sparks from   
clouds1 and also learned to appreciate  
the danger involved in this experiment4 
,when1 in #agea1 he printed his article 
on this subject1 he pointed out this    
danger4 ,his warning1 however1 was not  
always heeded1 and at least one         
subsequent experimenter was struck dead 

by a charge of electricity4  ,just at   
the junction of the last two centuries1 
,father ,piazzi enriched the realm of   
science by one of the most important of 
modern discoveries in astronomy4 ,on the
 night of #ca ,december1 #ahjj--a       
,january1 #ahja1 he discovered the      
little planet ,ceres4 ,this was the     
first of the asteroids1 so many more of 
which were to be revealed to            
astronomical study during the next      
half-century4 ,father ,piazzi's         
discovery was made1 not by accident1 but
 as the result of detailed astronomical 
work of the most painstaking character4 
,he #aga had set out to make a map of   
the heavens1 and to determine and locate
 the absolute position of all the       
visible stars4 ,he had succeeded in     
cataloguing over #g1jjj stars when his  
attention was called to one1 hitherto   
supposed to be fixed1 which he found had
 moved1 during the interval between two 
observations1 from its original         
position4 ,he made still other          

observations1 and thus determined the   
fact that it was a planetoid and not a  
fixed star with which he had to deal4   
,needless to say1 his discovery proved a
 strong incentive to patient            
astronomical study of the same kind2 and
 it is to these1 rather than to great   
single discoveries1 that we owe whatever
 progress in astronomy was made during  
the nineteenth century4  ,contemporary  
with both of these last-mentioned men1  
and worthy to share in the scientific   
honors that were theirs1 was the ,abbe  
,hauey1 who toward the end of the second
 half of the eighteenth century founded 
the science of crystallography2 made a  
series of observations the value of     
which can never be disputed1 originated 
theories some of which have served down 
to our own time as the basis of crystal 
knowledge1 and attracted the attention  
of many students to the new science     
because of his charming personal        
character and his winning teaching      
methods4 ,his life is a typical example 

of the value of work done in patient    
obscurity1 founded on observation1 and  
not on brilliant theories2 and what he  
accomplished stamps him as one of the   
great #agb scientific geniuses of all   
time--one of the men who widened the    
bounds of knowledge in directions       
hitherto considered inaccessible to the 
ordinary methods of human investigation4
  ,it is a commonplace of the lecturer  
on popular science at the present day1  
that the impulse to the development of  
our modern scientific discoveries which 
became so marked toward the end of the  
eighteenth century1 was due in a        
noteworthy degree to the work of the    
,french ,encyclopedists4 ,their bringing
 together of all the details of         
knowledge in a form in which it could be
 readily consulted1 and in which        
previous progress and the special lines 
of advance could be realized1 might be  
expected to prove a fruitful source of  
suggestive investigation4 ,as a matter  
of fact1 however1 a detailed knowledge  

of the past in science often seems to be
 rather a hindrance than a help to      
original genius1 always prone to take   
its own way if not too much disturbed by
 the conventional knowledge already     
gained4 ,most of the great discoverers  
in science were comparatively young men 
when they began their careers as        
original investigators2 and it was      
apparently their freedom from the       
incubus of too copious information that 
left their minds untrammelled to follow 
their own bent in seeking for causes    
where others had failed to find any     
hints of possible developments4  ,this  
was certainly the case with regard to   
many of those distinguished founders who
 lived in centuries prior to the        
nineteenth4 ,most of #agc them were men 
under thirty years of age1 and not one  
of them had been noted1 before he began 
his own researches1 for the extent of   
his knowledge in the particular         
department of science in which his work 
was to prove so fruitful4 ,their lives  

illustrate the essential difference     
there is between theory and observation 
in science4 ,the theorizer reaches      
conclusions that are popular as a rule  
in his own generation1 and receives the 
honor due to a progressive scientist2   
the observer usually has his            
announcements of what he has actually   
seen scouted by those who are engaged in
 the same studies1 and it is only       
succeeding generations who appreciate   
how much he really accomplished4  ,this 
was especially exemplified in the case  
of the ,abbe ,hauey1 whose work in      
crystallography was to mean so much4    
,what he learned was not from books1 but
 from contact with the actual objects of
 his department of science2 and it is   
because the example of a life like this 
can scarcely fail to serve a good       
purpose for the twentieth-century       
student1 in impressing the lesson of the
 value of observation as opposed to     
theory1 that its details are retold4    
,rene ,just ,hauey was born #bh         

,february1 #agdc1 in the little village 
of ,saint-,just1 in the ,department of  
,oise1 somewhat north of the center of  
,france4 ,like many another great       
genius1 he was the son of very poor     
parents4 ,his father was a struggling   
linen-weaver1 who was able to support   
himself only with difficulty4 ,at first 
#agd there seemed to be no other        
prospect for his eldest son than to     
succeed to his father's business4       
,certainly there seemed to be no        
possibility that he should be able to   
gain his livelihood by any other means  
than by the work of his hands4          
,fortunately1 however1 there was in     
,hauey's native town a                  
,premonstratensian monastery1 and it was
 not long before some of the monks began
 to notice that the son of the weaver   
was of an especially pious disposition  
and attended church ceremonies very     
faithfully4 ,the chance was given to him
 to attend the monastery school1 and he 
succeeded admirably in his studies4 ,as 

a consequence1 the prior had his        
attention directed to the boy1 and found
 in him the signs of a superior         
intelligence4 ,he summoned the lad's    
parents and discussed with them the     
possibility of obtaining for their son  
an education4 ,there were many          
difficulties in the way1 but the        
principal one was their absolute        
financial inability to help him4 ,if the
 son was to obtain an education1 it must
 be somehow through his own efforts1 and
 without any expense to his parents4    
,the prior thereupon obtained for young 
,hauey a position as a member of a      
church choir in ,paris2 and1 later1 some
 of those to whom he had recommended the
 boy secured for him a place in the     
college of ,navarre4 ,here1 during the  
course of a few years1 he made such an  
impression upon the members of the      
faculty that they asked him to become   
one of the teaching corps of the        
institution4 ,it was a very modest      
position that he #age held1 and his     

salary scarcely more than paid for his  
board and clothes and a few books4      
,hauey was well satisfied1 however1     
because his position provided him with  
opportunities for pursuing the studies  
for which he cared most4 ,at this time  
he was interested mainly in literature1 
and succeeded in learning several       
languages1 which were to be of          
considerable use to him later on in his 
scientific career4  ,after some years   
spent in the college of ,navarre he was 
ordained priest1 and not long afterward 
became a member of the faculty of the   
college of ,cardinal ,lemoine4 ,here his
 position was somewhat better1 and he   
was brought in contact with many of the 
prominent scholars of ,paris4 ,he seems1
 however1 to have been quite contented  
in his rather narrow circle of          
interests1 and was not specially anxious
 to advance himself4 ,it is rather      
curious to realize that a man who was   
later to spend all his time in the      
pursuit of the physical sciences1 knew  

practically nothing at all about them1  
and certainly had no special interest in
 any particular branch of science1 until
 he reached the age of almost thirty    
years4  ,even then his first            
introduction to serious science did not 
come because of any special interest    
that had been aroused in his own mind1  
but entirely because of his friendship  
for a distinguished old                 
fellow-professor1 whose walks he used to
 share1 and who was deeply interested in
 botany4 ,this was the ,abbe ,lhomond1 a
 very #agf well-known scholar1 to whom  
we owe a number of classic text-books   
arranged especially for young folk4     
,the ,abbe's recreation consisted in    
botanizing expeditions2 and ,hauey1 who 
had chosen the kindly old priest as his 
spiritual director1 was his most        
frequent companion4 ,occasionally1 when 
,m4 ,lhomond was ailing1 and unable to  
take his usual walks1 ,hauey spent the  
time with him4 ,he rather regretted the 
fact that he did not know enough about  

botany to be able to make collections of
 certain plants to bring to the         
professor at such times1 in order that  
the latter might not entirely miss his  
favorite recreation4 ,accordingly1 one  
summer when he was on his vacation at   
his country home1 he asked one of the   
,premonstratensian monks1 who was very  
much interested in botany1 to teach him 
the principles of the science1 so as to 
enable him to recognize various plants4 
,of course his request was granted4 ,he 
expected to have a pleasant surprise for
 ,abbe ,lhomond on his return1 and to   
draw even closer in his friendly        
relations with him1 because of their    
mutual interest in what the old ,abbe   
called his scientia amabilis 7lovely    
science74 ,his little plan worked to    
perfection1 and there was won for the   
study of physical science a new recruit1
 who was to do as much as probably any  
one of his generation to extend         
scientific knowledge in one department1 
though that department was rather       

distant from botany4  ,hauey's interest 
in botany1 however1 was to #agg prove   
only temporary4 ,it brought him in      
contact with other departments of       
natural history1 and it was not long    
before he found that his favorite study 
was that of minerals1 and especially of 
the various forms of crystals4 ,so      
absorbed did he become in this subject  
that nothing pleased him better than the
 opportunity to spend long days in the  
investigation of the comparative size   
and shape of the crystals in the museum 
at ,paris4 ,a friend has said of him    
that1 whether they were the most        
precious stones and gems or the most    
worthless specimens of ordinary         
minerals1 it was always only their      
crystalline shape that interested       
,hauey4 ,diamonds he studied1 but only  
in order to determine their angles2 and 
apparently they had no more attraction  
for him than any other well-defined     
crystal--much less1 indeed1 than some of
 the more complex crystalline varieties1

 which attracted his interest because of
 the difficulty of the problems they    
presented4  ,like many another advance  
in science1 ,hauey's first great        
original step in crystallography was the
 result of what would be called a lucky 
accident4 ,these accidents1 however1 be 
it noted1 happen only to geniuses who   
are capable of taking advantage of them4
 ,how many a man had seen an apple fall 
from a tree before this little          
circumstance gave ,newton the hint from 
which grew1 eventually1 the laws of     
gravity6 ,many a man1 doubtless1 had    
seen little boys tapping on logs of     
wood1 to hear how well sound was #agh   
carried through a solid body1 without   
getting from this any hint1 such as     
,laennec derived from it1 for the       
invention of the stethoscope4 ,so1 too1 
many a person before ,hauey's time had  
seen a crystal fall and break1 leaving a
 smooth surface1 without deriving any   
hint for the explanation of the origin  
of crystals4  ,according to the familiar

 story1 ,hauey was one day looking over 
a collection of very fine crystals in   
the house of ,citizen ,du ,croisset1    
,treasurer of ,france4 ,he was examining
 an especially fine specimen of         
calcspar1 when it fell from his hands   
and was broken4 ,of course the visitor  
was much disturbed by this accident4    
,his friend1 however1 in order to show  
him that he was not at all put out at   
the breaking of the crystal1 insisted on
 ,hauey's taking it with him for        
purposes of study1 as they had both been
 very much interested in the perfectly  
smooth plane of the fracture4 ,as ,hauey
 himself says1 this broken portion had a
 peculiarly brilliant lustre1 polished1 
as it were by nature1 as beautifully as 
the outer portions of the crystal2 thus 
demonstrating that in building up of so 
large a crystal there must have been    
certain steps of progress1 at any of    
which1 were the formation arrested1     
smooth surfaces would be found4  ,on    
taking the crystal home1 ,hauey         

proceeded further to break up the       
smaller fragment2 and he soon found that
 he could remove slice after slice of   
it1 until there was no trace of the     
original prism1 but in place of it a    
rhomboid1 #agi perfectly similar to     
,iceland spar1 and lying in the middle  
of what was the original prism4 ,this   
fact seemed to him very important4 ,from
 it he began the development of a theory
 of crystallization1 using this         
observation as the key4 ,before this    
time it had been hard for students of   
mineralogy to understand how it was that
 substances of the same composition     
might yet have what seemed to be        
different crystalline forms4 ,calcspar1 
for instance1 might be found            
crystallized in forms1 apparently1 quite
 at variance with one another4  ,by his 
studies1 however1 ,hauey was able to    
determine that whenever substances of   
the same composition crystallized1 even 
though the external form of the crystals
 seemed to be different1 all of them    

were found to have the same internal    
nucleus4 ,whenever the mineral under    
observation was chemically different    
from another1 then the nucleus also had 
a distinctive character2 and so there   
came the law that all substances of the 
same kind crystallized in the same way1 
notwithstanding apparent differences4   
,indeed1 one of the first results of    
this law was the recognition of the fact
 that when the crystalline forms of two 
minerals were essentially different1    
then1 no matter how similar they might  
be1 there was sure to be some chemical  
difference4 ,this enabled ,hauey to make
 certain prophecies with regard to the  
composition of minerals4  ,a number of  
different kinds of crystals had been    
classed together under the name of #ahj 
heavyspar4 ,some of these could not1 by 
the splitting process1 be made to       
produce nuclei of similar forms1 and the
 angles of the crystals were quite      
different4 ,hauey insisted that1 in     
spite of close resemblances1 there was  

an essential distinction in the chemical
 composition of these two different     
crystalline formations2 and before long 
careful investigation showed that1 while
 many of the specimens called heavyspar 
contain barium1 some of them contain a  
new substance--strontium--which had been
 very little studied heretofore4 ,this  
principle did not prove to be absolute  
in its application2 but the amount of   
truth in it attracted attention to the  
subject of crystallography because of   
the help which that science would afford
 in the easy recognition of the general 
chemical composition of mineral         
substances4 ,the most important part of 
,hauey's work was the annunciation of   
the law of symmetry4 ,he emphasized the 
fact that the forms of crystals are not 
irregular or capricious1 but are very   
constant and definite1 and founded on   
absolutely fixed and ascertainable laws4
 ,he even showed that1 while from       
certain crystalline nuclei sundry       
secondary forms may be derived1 there   

are other forms that cannot by any      
possibility occur4 ,any change of       
crystalline form noticed in his         
experiments led to a corresponding      
change along all similar parts of the   
crystal4 ,the angles1 the edges1 the    
faces1 were modified in the same way1 at
 the same time4 ,all these elements of  
mensuration within the crystal ,hauey   
thought could be indicated by rational  
coefficients4  #aha  ,crystallography1  
however1 did not absorb all ,hauey's    
attention4 ,he further demonstrated his 
intellectual power by following out     
other important lines of investigation  
that had been suggested by his study of 
crystals4 ,it is to him more than to any
 other1 for instance1 that is due the   
first steps in our knowledge of pyro-7or
 thermo-7 electricity4 ,mr4 ,george     
,chrystal1 professor of mathematics at  
the ,university of ,st4 ,andrews1 in the
 article on electricity written for the 
ninth edition of the ,encyclopedia1 says
 it was reserved for the ,abbe ,hauey in

 his ,treatise on ,mineralogy to throw a
 clear light on this curious branch of  
the science of electricity4  ,to those  
who are familiar with the history of the
 development of this science it will be 
no surprise to find a clergyman playing 
a prominent role in its development4    
,during the days of the beginning of    
electricity many ecclesiastics seem to  
have been particularly interested in the
 curious ways of electrical phenomena1  
and as a consequence they are the       
original discoverers of some of the most
 important early advances4 ,not long    
before this1 ,professor ,gordon1 a      
,scotch ,benedictine monk who was       
teaching at the ,university of ,erfurt1 
constructed the first practical         
electrical machine4 ,kleist1 who is one 
of the three men to whom is attributed  
the discovery of the principle of       
storing and concentrating electricity1  
and who invented the ,leyden ,jar1 which
 was named after the town where it was  
first manufactured1 was also a member of

 a ,religious ,order4 ,as #ahb we have  
already stated1 ,dirwisch1 the          
,premonstratensian monk1 set up a       
lightning-conductor by which he obtained
 sparks from the clouds even before our 
own ,franklin4  ,abbe ,hauey was only   
following a very common precedent1 then1
 when he succeeded by his original      
research in setting the science of      
pyro-electricity firmly on its feet4 ,it
 is true1 others before him had noted   
that substances like tourmaline         
possessed electrical properties4 ,there 
is even some good reason for thinking   
that the lyncurium of the ancients      
which1 according to certain of the      
,greek philosophers1 especially         
,theophrastus1 who seems to have made a 
close study of the subject1 attracted   
light bodies1 was really our modern     
tourmaline4 ,in modern times the ,dutch 
found this mineral in ,ceylon and1      
because it attracted ashes and other    
light substances to itself1 called it   
aschentriker--that is1 attractor of     

ashes4 ,others had still further        
experimented with this curious substance
 and its interesting electrical         
phenomena4 ,it remained for ,abbe       
,hauey1 however1 to demonstrate the     
scientific properties of tourmaline and 
the relations which its electrical      
phenomena bore toward the crystalline   
structure of the mineral4 ,he showed    
that the electricity of tourmaline      
decreases rapidly from the summits or   
poles toward the middle of the crystal4 
,as a matter of fact1 at the middle of  
the crystal its electrical power becomes
 imperceptible4  ,he showed also that   
each particle of a crystal #ahc that    
exhibits pyro-electricity is itself a   
source of the same sort of electricity  
and exhibits polarity4 ,his experimental
 observations served to prove also that 
the pyro-electric state has an important
 connexion with the want of symmetry in 
the crystals of the substances that     
exhibit this curious property4 ,in      
tourmaline1 for instance1 he found the  

vitreous charge always at the summit of 
the crystal which had six faces1 and the
 resinous electricity at the summit of  
the crystal with three faces4  ,his     
experiments soon showed him1 too1 that  
there were a number of other substances1
 besides tourmaline1 which possessed    
this same electrical property when      
subjected to heat in the crystalline    
stage4 ,among these were the ,siberian  
and ,brazilian topaz1 borate of         
magnesia1 mesotype1 sphene1 and         
calamine4 ,in all of these other        
pyro-electrical crystals1 ,hauey        
detected a corresponding deviation from 
the rules of symmetry in their secondary
 crystals to that which occurs in       
tourmaline4 ,in a word1 after he had    
concluded his experiments and           
observations there was very little left 
for others to add to this branch of     
science1 although such distinguished men
 as ,sir ,david ,brewster in ,england   
were among his successors in the study  
of the peculiar phenomena of            

pyro-electricity4  ,it may naturally    
enough be thought that1 born in the     
country1 of poor parents1 and compelled 
to work for his living1 ,hauey would at 
least have the advantage of rugged      
health to help him in his #ahd career4  
,he had been a delicate child1 however2 
and his physical condition never        
improved to such an extent as to inure  
him to hardships of any kind4 ,one of   
his biographers has gone so far as to   
say that his life was one long malady4  
,the only distraction from his almost   
constant suffering was his studies4 ,yet
 this man lived to be nearly eighty     
years of age1 and accomplished an amount
 of work that might well be envied even 
by the hardiest4  ,in the midst of his  
magnificent success as a scientist1     
,hauey was faithful to all his          
obligations as a priest4 ,his name was  
known throughout ,europe1 and many of   
the scientific societies had considered 
that they were honoring themselves by   
conferring titles1 or degrees1 upon him2

 but he continued to be the humble1     
simple student that he had always been4 
,at the beginning of the ,revolution1   
,abbe ,hauey was among the priests who  
refused the oath which the ,republican  
government insisted on their taking1 and
 which so many of them considered       
derogatory to their duty as churchmen4  
,those who refused were thrown into     
prison1 ,hauey among them4 ,he did not  
seem to mind his incarceration much1 but
 he was not a little perturbed by the   
fact that the officers who made the     
arrest insisted on taking his precious  
papers1 and that his crystals were all  
tossed aside and many of them broken4   
,for some time he was kept in           
confinement with a number of other      
members of the faculty of the           
,university1 mainly #ahe clergymen1 in  
the ,seminary of ,st4 ,firmin1 which had
 been turned into a temporary jail4     
,hauey did not allow his studies to be  
entirely interrupted by his             
imprisonment4 ,he succeeded in obtaining

 permission to have his cabinets of     
crystals brought to his cell1 and he    
continued his investigation of them4 ,it
 was not long before powerful friends1  
and especially his scientific colleague1
 ,gregory ,st4 ,hilaire1 interested     
themselves in his case1 and succeeded in
 obtaining his liberation4 ,when the    
order for his release came1 however1    
,hauey was engaged on a very interesting
 problem in crystallography1 and he     
refused to interrupt his work and leave 
the prison4 ,it was only after          
considerable persuasion that he         
consented to go the next morning4 ,it   
may be added that only two weeks later  
many from this same prison were sent to 
the guillotine4  ,it is rather          
remarkable that the ,revolutionary      
government1 after his release1 did not  
disturb him in any way4 ,he was so much 
occupied with his scientific pursuits   
that he seems to have been considered   
absolutely incapable of antagonizing the
 government2 and1 as he had no enemies1 

he was not denounced to the ,convention4
 ,this was fortunate1 because it enabled
 him to pursue his studies in peace4    
,there was many another member of the   
faculty of the ,university who had not  
the same good fortune4 ,lavoisier was   
thrown into prison1 and1 in spite of all
 the influence that could be brought to 
bear1 the great discoverer of oxygen met
 his death by the guillotine4 ,at least 
#ahf two others of the professors in the
 physical department1 ,borda and ,de    
,lambre1 were dismissed from their      
posts4 ,hauey1 though himself a priest  
who had refused to take the oath1 and   
though he continued to exercise his     
religious functions1 did not hesitate to
 formulate petitions for his imprisoned 
scientific friends2 yet1 because of his 
well-known gentleness of character1 this
 did not result in arousing the enmity  
of any members of the government1 or    
attracting such odious attention as     
might have made his religious and       
scientific work extremely difficult or  

even prevented it entirely4             
,notwithstanding the stormy times of the
 ,french ,revolution and the stirring   
events going on all round him in ,paris1
 ,hauey continued to study his crystals 
in order to complete his observations2  
and then he embodied his investigations 
and his theories in his famous ,treatise
 on ,crystallography4 ,this attracted   
attention not only on account of the    
evident novelty of the subject1 but more
 especially because of the very thorough
 method with which ,hauey had           
accomplished his work4 ,his style1 says 
the historian of crystallography1 was   
perspicuous and elegant4 ,the volume    
itself was noteworthy for its clear     
arrangement and full illustration by    
figures4 ,in spite of its deficiencies1 
then deficiencies which must exist in   
any ground-breaking work--this monograph
 has had an enduring influence4 ,some of
 the most serious flaws in his theory   
were soon brought to light because of   
the very stimulus afforded by his       

investigations4  #ahg  ,as to the real  
value of his treatise1 perhaps no better
 estimate can be formed than that given 
by ,cuvier in his collection of         
historical eulogies 7,vol4 ,,iii1 p4    
#aee73 ,in possession of a large        
collection1 to which there flowed from  
all sides the most varied minerals1     
arranged with the assistance of young1  
enthusiastic1 and progressive students1 
it was not long before there was given  
back to ,hauey the time which he had    
apparently wasted over other things4 ,in
 a few years he raised up a wondrous    
monument1 which brought as much glory to
 ,france as it did somewhat later to    
himself4 ,after centuries of neglect1   
his country at one bound found itself in
 the first rank in this department of   
natural science4 ,in ,hauey's book are  
united in the highest degree two        
qualities which are seldom associated4  
,one of these is that it was founded on 
an original discovery which had sprung  
entirely from the genius of its author2 

and the other is that this discovery is 
pursued and developed with almost       
unheard-of persistence down even to the 
least important mineral variety4        
,everything in the work is great1 both  
as regards conception and detail4 ,it is
 as complete as the theory it announces4
  ,it was not surprising1 then1 that1   
after the death of ,professor ,dolomieu1
 ,hauey should be raised to the chair of
 mineralogy and made director of that   
department in the ,paris ,museum of     
,natural ,history4 ,here he was to have 
new triumphs4 ,we have already said that
 his book was noted for the elegance of 
its style and its perspicuity4 #ahh ,as 
the result of this absolute clearness of
 ideas1 and completeness and simplicity 
of expression1 ,hauey attracted to him a
 large number of pupils4 ,moreover1 all 
those interested in the science1 when   
they came in contact with him1 were so  
charmed by his grace and simplicity of  
manner that they were very glad to      
attend his lectures and to be considered

 as his personal friends4 ,among his    
listeners were often such men as ,la    
,place1 ,berthollet1 ,fourcroy1         
,lagrange and ,lavoisier4  ,it was not  
long before honors of all kinds1 degrees
 from universities and memberships in   
scientific societies all over ,europe1  
began to be heaped upon ,hauey4 ,they   
did not1 however1 cause any change in   
the manners or mode of life of the      
simple professor of old times4 ,every   
day he continued to take his little     
walks through the city1 and was very    
glad to have opportunity to be of       
assistance to others4 ,he showed        
strangers the way to points of interest 
for which they inquired1 whenever it was
 necessary1 obtained entrance cards for 
them to the collection2 and not a few of
 those who were thus enabled to take    
advantage of his kindness failed to     
realize who the distinguished man was to
 whom they owed their opportunities4    
,his old-fashioned clothing still       
continued to be quite good enough for   

him1 and his modest demeanor and simple 
speech did not betray in any way the    
distinguished scientist he had become4  
,some idea of the consideration in which
 the #ahi ,abbe ,hauey was held by his  
contemporaries may be gathered from the 
fact that several of the reigning       
monarchs of ,europe1 as well as the     
heirs apparent to many thrones1 came at 
some time or other to visit him1 to see 
his collection1 and to hear the kindly  
old man talk on his hobby4 ,there was   
only one other scientist in the         
nineteenth century--and that was        
,pasteur1 toward the end of it--who     
attracted as much attention from        
royalty4 ,among ,hauey's visitors were  
the ,king of ,prussia1 the ,emperor of  
,austria1 the ,archduke ,john1 as well  
as the ,emperor of ,russia and his two  
brothers1 ,nicholas and ,michael1 the   
first of whom succeeded his elder       
brother1 ,alexander1 to the throne1 and 
half a century later was ruling ,russia 
during the ,crimean ,war4 ,the ,prince  

,royal of ,denmark spent a portion of   
each year for several years with ,hauey1
 being one of his intimates1 who was    
admitted to his room while he was       
confined to his bed1 and who was        
permitted to share his personal         
investigations and scientific studies4  
,his most striking characteristic was   
his suavity toward all4 ,the humblest of
 his students was as sure to receive a  
kindly reception from him1 and to have  
his difficulties solved with as much    
patience as the most distinguished      
professor in this department4 ,it was   
said that he had students of all        
classes4 ,the attendants at the normal  
school were invited to visit him at his 
house1 and he permitted them to learn   
all his secrets4 ,when they came to him 
for a whole #aij day1 he insisted on    
taking part in their games1 and allowed 
them to go home only after they had     
taken supper with him4 ,all of them     
looked upon him as a personal friend1   
and some of them were more confidential 

with him than with their nearest        
relatives4 ,many a young man in ,paris  
during the troublous times of the       
,revolutionary period found in the good 
,abbe ,hauey not only a kind friend1 but
 a wise director and another father4    
,it is said that one day1 when taking   
his usual walk1 he came upon two former 
soldiers who were just preparing to     
fight a duel and were on their way to   
the dueling ground4 ,he succeeded in    
getting them to tell him the cause of   
their quarrel1 and after a time tempted 
them to come with him into what ,i fear 
we should call at the present day a     
saloon4 ,here1 over a glass of wine1 he 
finally persuaded them to make peace and
 seal it effectually4 ,it is hard to    
reconcile this absolute simplicity of   
character and kindness of heart with    
what is sometimes assumed to be the     
typical1 distant1 abstracted1           
self-centered ways of the great         
scientist4  ,few men have had so many   
proofs of the lofty appreciation of     

great contemporaries4 ,many incidents   
serve to show how much ,napoleon thought
 of the distinguished scholar who had   
created a new department of science and 
attracted the attention of the world to 
his splendid work at ,paris4 ,not long  
after he became emperor1 ,napoleon named
 him ,honorary ,canon of the #aia       
,cathedral of ,notre ,dame2 and when he 
founded the ,legion of ,honor1 he made  
the ,abbe one of the original members4  
,shortly after these dignities had been 
conferred upon him1 it happened that the
 ,abbe fell ill2 and ,napoleon1 having  
sent his own physician to him1 went     
personally to call on him in his humble 
quarters1 saying to the physician3      
,remember that you must cure ,abbe      
,hauey1 and restore him to us as one of 
the glories of our reign4 ,after        
,napoleon's return from ,elba1 he told  
the ,abbe that the latter's ,treatise on
 ,crystallography was one of the books  
that he had specially selected to take  
with him to ,elba1 to while away the    

leisure that he thought he would have   
for many years4 ,abbe ,hauey's          
independence of spirit1 and his         
unselfish devotion to his native        
country1 may be best appreciated from   
the tradition that after the return from
 ,elba1 when there was a popular vote   
for the confirmation of ,napoleon's     
second usurpation1 the old scientist    
voted1 ,no4  ,in spite of his constant  
labor at his investigations1 his        
uniformly regular life enabled him to   
maintain his health1 and he lived to the
 ripe age of over seventy-nine4 ,toward 
the end of his career1 he did not obtain
 the recognition that his labors        
deserved4 ,after the ,restoration1 he   
was not in favor with the new           
authorities in ,france1 and he          
accordingly lost his position as        
professor at the ,university4 ,the      
absolute simplicity of life that he had 
always maintained now stood him in good 
stead2 and1 notwithstanding the #aib    
smallness of his income1 he did not have

 to make any change in his ordinary     
routine4 ,unfortunately1 an accidental  
fall in his room at the beginning of his
 eightieth year confined him to his bed2
 and then his health began to fail very 
seriously4 ,he died on the #c ,june1    
#ahbb4  ,he had shown during his illness
 the same gentleness and humility1 and  
even enthusiasm for study whenever it   
was possible1 that had always           
characterized him4 ,while he was        
confined to his bed he divided his time 
between prayer1 attention to the new    
edition of his works which was about to 
appear1 and his interest for the future 
of those students who had helped him in 
his investigations4 ,cuvier says of him 
that he was as faithful to his religious
 duties as he was in the pursuit of his 
studies4 ,the profoundest speculations  
with regard to weighty matters of       
science had not kept him from the least 
important duty which ecclesiastical     
regulations might require of him4 ,there
 is1 perhaps1 no life in all the history

 of science which shows so clearly how  
absolutely untrue is the declaration so 
often made1 that there is essential     
opposition between the intellectual     
disposition of the inquiring scientist  
and those other mental qualities which  
are necessary to enable the ,christian  
to bow humbly before the mysteries of   
religion1 acknowledge all that is beyond
 understanding in what has been         
revealed1 and observe faithfully all the
 duties that flow from such belief4     
#aic  ,,viii4  ,,abbot ,,mendel3 ,a     
,,new ,,outlook ,,in ,,heredity4        
,there is grandeur in this view of life1
 with its several powers having been    
originally breathed by the ,creator into
 a few forms or into one2 and that1     
while this planet has gone circling on  
according to the fixed law of gravity   
from so simple a beginning1 endless     
forms1 most beautiful and most          
wonderful1 have been and are being      
evolved4-- ,closing sentence of         
,,darwin',s ,origin of ,species4   #aid 

,illustration3 ,,gregor ,,mendel   #aie 
,,viii4  ,,abbot ,,mendel1 ,footnote    
#ad3 ,a ,,new1 ,,outlook ,,in           
,,heredity4    ,footnote #ad3 ,the      
portrait of ,abbot ,mendel which        
precedes this   sketch was kindly       
furnished by the ,vicar of the          
,augustinian   ,monastery of ,bruenn4   
,it represents him holding a fuchsia1   
his   favorite flower1 and was taken in 
#ahfg1 just as he was completing   the  
researches which were a generation later
 to make his name so   famous4 ,the     
portrait has for this reason a very     
special interest as   a human document4 
,we may add that the sketch of ,abbot   
,mendel which   appears here was read by
 the ,very ,rev4 ,klemens ,janetschek1  
the   ,vicar of the ,monastery1 who     
suggested one slight change in it1 so   
that it may be said to have had the     
revision of one who knew him and   his  
environment very well4   ,scientific    
progress does not run in cycles of      
centuries1 and as a rule it bears no    

relationship to the conventional        
arrangement of years4 ,as has been well 
said--for science a new century begins  
every second4 ,there are interesting    
coincidences1 however1 of epoch-making  
discoveries in science corresponding    
with the beginning of definite eras in  
time that are at least impressive from a
 mnemonic standpoint1 if from no other4 
,the very eve of the nineteenth century 
saw the first definite formulation of   
the theory of evolution4 ,lamarck1 the  
distinguished ,french biologist1 stated 
a theory of development in nature which1
 although it attracted very little      
attention #aif for many years after its 
publication1 has come in our day to be  
recognized as the most suggestive       
advance in biology in modern times4  ,as
 we begin the twentieth century1 the    
most interesting question in biology is 
undoubtedly that of heredity4 ,just at  
the dawn of the century three           
distinguished scientists1 working in    
different countries1 rediscovered a law 

with regard to heredity which promises  
to be even more important for the       
science of biology in the twentieth     
century than was ,lamarck's work for the
 nineteenth century4 ,this law1 which1  
it is thought1 will do more to simplify 
the problems of heredity than all the   
observations and theories of            
nineteenth-century workers1 and which   
has already done much more to point out 
the methods by which observation1 and   
the lines along which experimentation   
shall be best directed so as to replace 
elaborate but untrustworthy scientific  
theorizing by definite knowledge1 was   
discovered by a member of a small       
religious community in the little-known 
town of ,bruenn1 in ,austria1 some      
thirty-five years before the beginning  
of the present century4  ,considering   
how generally1 in ,english-speaking     
countries at least1 it is supposed that 
the training of a clergyman and         
particularly that of a religious unfits 
him for any such initiative in science1 

,father ,mendel's discovery comes with  
all the more emphatic surprise4 ,there  
is no doubt1 however1 in the minds of   
many of the most prominent present-day  
workers in biology that his #aig        
discoveries are of a ground-breaking    
character that will furnish substantial 
foundation for a new development of     
scientific knowledge with regard to     
heredity4  ,lest it should be thought   
that perhaps there is a tendency to make
 ,father ,mendel's discovery appear more
 important here than it really is1      
because of his station in life1 it seems
 desirable to quote some recent         
authoritative expressions of opinion    
with regard to the value of his         
observations and the importance of the  
law he enunciated1 as well as the       
principle which he considered to be the 
explanation of that law4  ,in the       
,february number of ,harper's ,monthly  
for #aijc1 ,professor ,thomas ,hunt     
,morgan1 ,professor of ,biology at ,bryn
 ,mawr1 and one of the best known of our

 ,american biologists1 whose recent work
 on ,regeneration has attracted         
favorable notice all over the world1    
calls attention to the revolutionary    
character of ,mendel's discovery4 ,he   
considers that recent demonstrations of 
the mathematical truth of ,mendel's ,law
 absolutely confirm ,mendel's original  
observations1 and the movement thus     
initiated1 in ,professor ,morgan's eyes1
 gives the final coup de grace to the   
theory of natural selection4 ,if1 he    
says1 we reject ,darwin's theory of     
natural selection as an explanation of  
evolution1 we have at least a new and   
promising outlook in another direction  
and are in a position to answer the     
oft-heard but unscientific query of     
those who must cling to some dogma3 if  
you reject ,darwin1 what better have you
 to offer8  #aih  ,professor ,edmund ,b4
 ,wilson1 the ,director of the          
,zoological ,laboratory of ,columbia    
,university1 called attention in        
,science 7#ai ,december1 #aijb7 to the  

fact that studies in cytology1 that is  
to say1 observations on the formation1  
development1 and maturation of cells1   
confirm ,mendel's principles of         
inheritance and thus furnish another    
proof of the truth of these principles4 
,two students working in ,professor     
,wilson's laboratory have obtained      
definite evidence in favor of the       
cytological explanation of ,mendel's    
principles1 and have thus made an       
important step in the solution of one of
 the important fundamental mysteries of 
cell development in the very early life 
of organisms4  ,in a paper read before  
the ,american ,academy of ,arts and     
,sciences last year1 ,professor ,w4 ,e4 
,castle1 of ,harvard ,university1 said  
with regard to ,mendel's ,law of        
,heredity3--    ,what will doubtless    
rank as one of the greatest discoveries 
in the   study of biology1 and in the   
study of heredity1 perhaps the          
greatest1 was made by ,gregor ,mendel1  
an ,austrian monk1 in the garden   of   

his cloister1 some forty years ago4 ,the
 discovery was announced   in the       
proceedings of a fairly well-known      
scientific society1 but   seems to have 
attracted little attention1 and to have 
been soon   forgotten4 ,the ,darwinian  
theory then occupied the centre of the  
scientific stage1 and ,mendel's         
brilliant discovery was all but         
unnoticed for a third of a century4     
,meanwhile1 the discussion   aroused by 
,weissman's germ plasm theory1 in       
particular the idea of   the            
non-inheritance of acquired characters1 
put the scientific   public into a more 
receptive frame of mind4 ,mendel's law  
was   rediscovered #aii independently by
 three different botanists1   engaged in
 the study of plant hybrids--de ,vries1 
,correns1 and   ,tschermak1 in the year 
#aijj4 ,it remained1 however1 for a     
zoologist1   ,bateson1 two years later1 
to point out the full importance and the
   wide applicability of the law4 ,since
 then the ,mendelian discoveries   have 

attracted the attention of biologists   
generally4   ,footnote #ae              
,footnote #ae3 ,this paper was          
originally published in part in the     
,proceedings of the ,american ,academy  
of ,arts and ,sciences1 ,vol4           
xxxviii1 ,no4 #ah1 ,january1 #aijc4 ,it 
may be found complete in     ,science   
for #be ,september1 #aijc4   ,professor 
,bateson1 whose book on ,mendel's       
,principles of ,heredity is the best    
popular exposition in ,english of       
,mendel's work1 says that an exact      
determination of the laws of heredity   
will probably produce more change in    
man's outlook upon the world and in his 
power over nature than any other advance
 in natural knowledge that can be       
clearly foreseen4 ,no one has better    
opportunities of pursuing such work than
 horticulturists and stockbreeders4     
,they are daily witnesses of the        
phenomena of heredity4 ,their success   
also depends largely on a knowledge of  
its laws1 and obviously every increase  

in that knowledge is of direct and      
special importance to them4  ,after thus
 insisting on the theoretic and         
practical importance of the subject1    
,professor ,bateson says3--    ,as      
regards the ,mendelian principles which 
it is the chief aim of   this           
introduction to present clearly before  
the reader1 it may be   said that by the
 #bjj application of those principles we
 are   enabled to reach and deal in a   
comprehensive manner with phenomena   of
 a fundamental nature1 lying at the very
 root of all conceptions   not merely of
 the physiology of reproduction and     
heredity1 but even   of the essential   
nature of living organisms2 and ,i think
 that ,i use   no extravagant words     
when1 in introducing ,mendel's work to  
the   notice of the ,royal              
,horticultural ,society's ,journal1 ,i  
ventured to   declare that his          
experiments are worthy to rank with     
those which   laid the foundation of the
 atomic laws of chemistry4  ,professor  

,l4 ,h4 ,bailey1 who is the ,director of
 the ,horticultural ,department at      
,cornell ,university and the editor of  
the authoritative ,encyclopedia of      
,horticulture1 was one of the first of  
recent scientists to call attention to  
,mendel's work4 ,it was1 we believe1    
because of a reference to ,mendel's     
papers by ,bailey that ,professor de    
,vries was put on the track of ,mendel's
 discoveries and found that the         
,austrian monk had completely           
anticipated the work at which he was    
then engaged4 ,in a recent issue of ,the
 ,independent1 of ,new ,york1 ,professor
 ,bailey said3--    ,the teaching of    
,mendel strikes at the root of two or   
three difficult   and vital problems4   
,it presents a new conception of the    
proximate   mechanism of heredity4 ,the 
hypothesis of heredity that it suggests 
will focus our attention along new      
lines1 and will1 ,i believe1   arouse as
 much discussion as ,weissmann's        
hypothesis1 and it is   probable that it

 will have a wider influence4 ,whether  
it expresses   the actual means of      
heredity or not1 it is yet much too     
early to   say4 ,but the hypothesis     
7which ,father ,mendel evolved in order 
to   explain the reasons for his law as 
he saw them7 is even a #bja   greater   
contribution to science than the        
so-called ,mendel's ,law as   to the    
numerical results of hybridization4 ,in 
the general discussion   of evolution   
,mendel's work will be of the greatest  
value because it   introduces a new     
point of view1 challenges old ideas and 
opinions1   gives us a new theory for   
discussion1 emphasizes the great        
importance of actual experiments for the
 solution of many questions   of        
evolution1 and then forces the necessity
 for giving greater   attention to the  
real characters and attributes of plants
 and   animals than to the vague groups 
that we are in the habit of calling     
species4  ,it is very evident that a man
 of whose work so many authorities are  

agreed that it is the beginning of a new
 era in biology1 and especially in that 
most interesting of all questions1      
heredity1 must be worthy of close       
acquaintance4 ,hence the present sketch 
of his career and personality1 as far as
 they are ascertainable1 for his        
modesty1 and the failure of the world to
 recognize his worth in his lifetime1   
have unfortunately deprived us of many  
details that would have been precious4  
,gregor ,johann ,mendel was born #bg    
,july1 #ahbb1 at ,heinzendorf1 nor far  
from ,odrau1 in ,austrian ,silesia4 ,he 
was the son of a well-to-do peasant     
farmer1 who gave him every opportunity  
of getting a good education when he was 
young4 ,he was educated at ,olmutz1 in  
,moravia1 and after graduating from the 
college there1 at the age of twenty-one1
 he entered as a novice the ,augustinian
 ,order1 beginning his novitiate in     
#ahdc in the ,augustinian monastery     
,koenigen-kloster1 in ,altbruenn4 ,he   
was very successful in #bjb his         

theological studies1 and in #ahdf he was
 ordained priest4 ,he seems to have made
 a striking success as a teacher1       
especially of natural history and       
physics1 in the higher ,realschule in   
,bruenn4 ,he attracted the attention of 
his superiors1 who were persuaded to    
give him additional opportunities for   
the study of the sciences1 particularly 
of biological science1 for which he had 
a distinct liking and special talents4  
,accordingly1 in #ahea he went to       
,vienna for the purpose of doing        
post-graduate work in the natural       
sciences at the university there4       
,during the two years he spent at this  
institution he attracted attention by   
his serious application to study1 but   
apparently without having given any     
special evidence of the talent for      
original observation that was in him4   
,in #ahec he returned to the monastery  
in ,altbruenn1 and at the beginning of  
the school year became a teacher at the 
,realschule in ,bruenn4 ,he remained in 

,bruenn for the rest of his life1 dying 
at the comparatively early age of       
sixty-two1 in #ahhd4 ,during the last   
sixteen years of his life he held the   
position of abbot of the monastery1 the 
duties of which prevented him from      
applying himself as he probably would   
have desired1 to the further            
investigation of scientific questions4  
,the experiments on which his great     
discoveries were founded were carried   
out in the garden of the monastery      
during the sixteen years from #ahec to  
#ahfh4 ,how serious was his scientific  
devotion may be gathered from the fact  
that in #bjc establishing the law which 
now bears his name1 and which was       
founded on observations on peas1 some   
#aj1jjj plants were carefully examined1 
their various peculiarities noted1 their
 ancestry carefully traced1 the seeds   
kept in definite order and entirely     
separate1 so as to be used for the study
 of certain qualities in their          
descendants1 and the whole scheme of    

experimentation planned with such detail
 that for the first time in the history 
of studies in heredity1 no extraneous   
and inexplicable data were allowed to   
enter the problem4 ,besides his work on 
plants1 ,mendel occupied himself with   
other observations of a scientific      
character on two subjects which were at 
that time attracting considerable       
attention4 ,these were the state and    
condition of the ground-water--a subject
 which was thought to stand at the basis
 of hygienic principles at the time and 
which had occupied the attention of the 
distinguished ,professor ,pettenkofer   
and the ,munich ,school of ,hygiene for 
many years--and weather observations4   
,at that time ,pettenkofer1 the most    
widely known of sanitary scientists1    
thought that he was able to show that   
the curve of frequency of typhoid fever 
in the different seasons of the year    
depended upon the closeness with which  
the ground-water came to the surface4   
,authorities in hygiene generally do not

 now accept this supposed law1 for other
 factors have been found which are so   
much more important that1 if the        
ground-water has any influence1 it can  
be neglected4 ,mendel's observations in 
the matter #bjd were1 however1 in line  
with the scientific ideas of the time   
and undoubtedly must be considered of   
value4  ,the other subject in which     
,mendel interested himself was          
meteorology4 ,he published in the       
journal of the ,bruenn ,society of      
,naturalists a series of statistical    
observations with regard to the weather4
 ,besides this he organized in connexion
 with the ,realschule in ,bruenn a      
series of observation stations in       
different parts of the country around2  
and at the time when most scientists    
considered meteorological problems to be
 too complex for hopeful solution1      
,mendel seems to have realized that the 
questions involved depended rather on   
the collation of a sufficient number of 
observations and the deduction of       

definite laws from them than on any     
theoretic principles of a supposed      
science of the weather4  ,the man       
evidently had a genius for scientific   
observations4 ,his personal character   
was of the highest4 ,the fact that his  
fellow-monks selected him as abbot of   
the monastery shows the consideration in
 which he was held for tact and true    
religious feeling4 ,there are many still
 alive in ,bruenn who remember him well 
and cannot say enough of his kindly     
disposition1 the froeliche              
,liebenswuerdigkeit 7which means even   
more than our personal magnetism71 that 
won for him respect and reverence from  
all4 ,he is remembered1 not only for his
 successful discoveries1 and not alone  
by his friends and the fellow-members of
 the ,naturalist ,society1 but by       
practically all his #bje contemporaries 
in the town2 and it is his lovable      
personal character that seems to have   
most impressed itself on them4  ,he was 
for a time the president of the ,bruenn 

,society of ,naturalists1 while also    
abbot of the monastery4 ,this is1       
perhaps1 a combination that would strike
 ,english-speaking people as rather     
curious1 but seems to have been         
considered not out of the regular course
 of events in ,austria4  ,father        
,mendel's introduction to his paper on  
plant hybridization1 which describes the
 result of the experiments made by him  
in deducing the law which he announces1 
is a model of simple                    
straightforwardness4 ,it breathes the   
spirit of the loftiest science in its   
clear-eyed vision of the nature of the  
problem he had to solve1 the factors    
which make up the problem1 and the      
experimental observations necessary to  
elucidate it4 ,we reproduce the         
introductory remarks here from the      
translations made of them by the ,royal 
,horticultural ,society of ,england4    
,footnote #af ,father ,mendel said at   
the beginning of his paper as read #h   
,february1 #ahfe3--      ,footnote #af3 

,the original paper was published in the
     ,verhandlungen des                 
,naturforscher-,vereins1 in ,bruenn1    
,abhandlungen1     iv1 that is1 the     
proceedings of the year #ahfe1 which    
were     published in #ahff4 ,copies of 
these transactions were exchanged       
with all the important scientific       
journals1 especially those in           
connexion with important societies and  
universities throughout     ,europe1 and
 the wonder is that this paper attracted
 so little     attention4    ,experience
 of artificial fertilization such as is 
affected with   ornamental plants in    
order to obtain new variations in color1
 has   led to the experiments1 the #bjf 
details of which ,i am about to         
discuss4 ,the striking regularity with  
which the same hybrid forms   always    
reappeared whenever fertilization took  
place between the same   species1       
induced further experiments to be       
undertaken1 the object of   which was to
 follow up the developments of the      

hybrid in a number of   successive      
generations of their progeny4    ,those 
who survey the work that has been done  
in this department up   to the present  
time will arrive at the conviction that 
among all the   numerous experiments    
made not one has been carried out to    
such an   extent and in such a way as to
 make it possible to determine the      
number of different forms under which   
the offspring of hybrids   appear1 or to
 arrange these forms with certainty1    
according to their   separate           
generations1 or to ascertain definitely 
their statistical   relations4  ,these  
three primary necessities for the       
solution of the problem of              
heredity--namely1 first1 the number of  
different forms under which the         
offspring of hybrids appear2 secondly1  
the arrangement of these forms1 with    
definiteness and certainty1 as regards  
their relations in the separate         
generation2 and thirdly1 the statistical
 results of the hybridization of the    

plants in successive generations1 are   
the secret of the success of ,mendel's  
work1 as has been very well said by     
,bateson1 in commenting on this         
paragraph in his work on ,mendel's      
,principles of ,heredity4 ,this was the 
first time that any one had ever        
realized exactly the nature of the      
problems presented in1 their naked      
simplicity4 ,to see a problem well is   
more than half to solve it1 and this    
proved to be the case with ,mendel's    
straightforward vision of the nature of 
the experiments required for advance in 
our knowledge of heredity4  #bjg  ,while
 ,mendel was beginning his experiments  
almost absolutely under the guidance of 
his own scientific spirit1 and          
undertaking his series of observations  
in the monastery garden without any     
reference to other work in this line1 he
 knew very well what distinguished      
botanists were doing in this line and   
was by no means presumptuously following
 a study of the deepest of nature's     

problems without knowing what others had
 accomplished in the matter in recent   
years4 ,in the second paragraph of his  
introduction he quotes the men whose    
work in this science was attracting     
attention1 and says that to this object 
numerous careful observers1 such a      
,koelreuter1 ,gaertner1 ,herbert1       
,lecoq1 ,wichura and others1 had devoted
 a part of their lives with             
inexhaustible perseverance4  ,to quote  
,mendel's own words3--    ,gaertner1    
especially in his work1 ,die            
,bastarderzeugung im   ,pflanzenreiche1 
,footnote #ag has recorded very valuable
   observations2 and quite recently     
,wichura published the results of   some
 profound observations on the hybrids of
 the willow4 ,that so far   no generally
 applicable law governing the formation 
and development   of hybrids has been   
successfully formulated can hardly be   
wondered   at by anyone who is          
acquainted with the extent of the task  
and can   appreciate the difficulties   

with which experiments of this class    
have to contend4 ,a final decision can  
only be arrived at when we   shall have 
before us the results of the changed    
detailed experiments   made on plants   
belonging to the most diverse orders4   
,it requires   some courage indeed to   
undertake a labor of such far-reaching  
extent2 it appears1 however1 to be the  
only right way by which we   can finally
 reach the solution of a question the   
importance of which   can not be        
overestimated in connexion with the     
history of the   evolution of organic   
forms4    ,the paper now presented      
records the results of such a detailed  
experiment4 ,this experiment was        
practically confined to a small   plant 
group1 and is now after eight years'    
pursuit concluded in all   essentials4  
,whether the plan upon which the        
separate experiments   were conducted   
and carried out was the best suited to  
attain the   desired end is left to the 
friendly decision of the reader4        

,footnote #ag3 ,the ,production of      
,hybrids in the ,vegetable ,kingdom4    
#bjh   ,mendel's discoveries with regard
 to peas and the influence of heredity  
on them1 were founded on very simple1   
but very interesting1 observations4 ,he 
found that if peas of different colors  
were taken1 that is to say1 if1 for     
instance1 yellow-colored peas were      
crossed with green1 the resulting pea   
seeds were1 in the great majority of    
cases1 of yellow color4 ,if the         
yellow-colored peas obtained from such  
crossing were planted and allowed to be 
fertilized only by pollen from plants   
raised from similar seeds1 the          
succeeding generation1 however1 did not 
give all yellow peas1 but a definite    
number of yellow and a definite number  
of green4 ,in other words1 while there  
might have been expected a permanence of
 the yellow color1 there was really a   
reversion in a number of the plants     
apparently to the type of the           
grandparent4 ,mendel tried the same     

experiment with seeds of different      
shape4 ,certain peas are rounded and    
certain others are wrinkled4 ,when these
 were crossed1 the next generation #bji 
consisted of wrinkled peas1 but the next
 succeeding generation presented a      
definite number of round peas besides   
the wrinkled ones1 and so on as before4 
,he next bred peas with regard to other 
single qualities1 such as the color of  
the seed coat1 the inflation or         
constriction of the pod1 as to the      
coloring of the pod1 as to the          
distribution of the flowers along the   
stem1 as to the length of the stem1     
finding always1 no matter what the      
quality tested1 the laws of heredity he 
had formulated always held true4  ,what 
he thus discovered he formulated        
somewhat as follows3 ,in the case of    
each of the crosses the hybrid          
character1 that is1 the quality of the  
resultant seed1 resembles one of the    
parental forms so closely that the other
 escapes observation completely or      

cannot be detected with certainty4 ,this
 quality thus impressed on the next     
generation1 ,mendel called the dominant 
quality4 ,as1 however1 the reversion of 
a definite proportion of the peas in the
 third generation to that quality of the
 original parent which did not appear in
 the second generation was found to     
occur1 thus showing that1 though it     
cannot be detected1 it is present1      
,mendel called it the recessive quality4
 ,he did not find transitional forms in 
any of his experiments1 but constantly  
observed that when plants were bred with
 regard to two special qualities1 one of
 those qualities became dominant in the 
resultant hybrid1 and the other became  
recessive1 that is1 present though      
latent and ready to produce its effects 
upon a definite proportion of the       
succeeding generation4  #baj            
,remembering1 then1 that ,mendel means  
by hybrid the result of the crossing of 
two distinct species1 his significant   
discovery has been stated thus3 ,the    

hybrid1 whatever its own character1     
produces ripe germ cells1 which bear    
only the pure character of one parent or
 the other4 ,thus1 when one parent has  
the character ,a1 in peas1 for example1 
a green color1 and the other the        
character ,b1 in peas once more a yellow
 color1 the hybrid will have in cases of
 simple dominance the character ,,ab or 
,,ba1 but with the second quality in    
either case not noticeable4 ,whatever   
the character of the hybrid may be1 that
 is to say1 to revert to the example of 
the peas1 whether it be green or yellow1
 its germ cells when mature will bear   
either the character ,a 7green71 or the 
character ,b 7yellow71 but not both4    
,as ,professor ,castle says3 ,this      
perfectly simple principle is known as  
the law of segregation1 or the law of   
the purity of the germ cells4 ,it bids  
fair to prove as fundamental to a right 
understanding of the facts of heredity  
as is the law of definite proportions in
 chemistry4 ,from it follow many        

important consequences4  ,to follow this
 acute observer's work still further by 
letting the crossbreds fertilize        
themselves1 ,mendel raised a third      
generation4 ,in this generation were    
individuals which showed the dominant   
character and also individuals which    
presented the recessive character4 ,such
 an observation had of course been made 
in a good many instances before4  #baa  
,but ,mendel noted--and this is the     
essence of the new discovery in his     
observations--that in this third        
generation the numerical proportion of  
dominants to recessives is in the       
average of a series of cases            
approximately constant--being1 in fact1 
as three to one4 ,with almost absolute  
regularity this proportion was          
maintained in every case of crossing of 
pairs of characters1 quite opposed to   
one another1 in his pea plants4 ,in the 
first generation1 raised from his       
crossbreds1 or1 as he calls them1       
hybrids1 there were seventy-five per    

cent dominants and twenty-five per cent 
recessives4  ,when these plants were    
again self-fertilized and the offspring 
of each plant separately sown1 a new    
surprise awaited the observer4 ,the     
progeny of the recessives remained pure 
recessive2 and in any number of         
subsequent generations never produced   
the dominant type again1 that is1 never 
reverted to the original parent1 whose  
qualities had failed to appear in the   
second generation4 ,when the seeds      
obtained by self-fertilizing the plants 
with the dominant characteristics were  
sown1 it was found by the test of       
progeny that the dominants were not all 
of like nature1 but consisted of two    
classes--first1 some which gave rise to 
pure dominants2 and secondly1 others    
which gave a mixed offspring1 composed  
partly of recessives1 partly of         
dominants4 ,once more1 however1 the     
ratio of heredity asserted itself and it
 was found that the average numerical   
proportions were constant--those with   

pure dominant #bab offspring being to   
those with mixed offspring as one to    
two4 ,hence1 it was seen that the       
seventy-five per cent of dominants are  
not really of identical constitution1   
but consist of twenty-five per cent     
which are pure dominants and fifty per  
cent which are really crossbreds1 though
 like most of the crossbreds raised by  
crossing the two original varieties1    
they exhibit the dominant character     
only4  ,these fifty crossbreds have     
mixed offspring2 these offspring again  
in their numerical proportion follow the
 same law1 namely1 three dominants to   
one recessive4 ,the recessives are pure 
like those of the last generation1 but  
the dominants can1 by further           
self-fertilization and cultivation of   
the seeds produced1 be again shown to be
 made up of pure dominant and crossbreds
 in the same proportion of one dominant 
to two crossbreds4  ,the process of     
breaking up into the parent forms is    
thus continued in each successive       

generation1 the same numerical laws     
being followed so far as observation has
 gone4 ,as ,mendel's observations have  
now been confirmed by workers in many   
parts of the world1 investigating many  
different kinds of plants1 it would seem
 that this law which he discovered has a
 basis in the nature of things and is to
 furnish the foundation for a new and   
scientific theory of heredity1 while at 
the same time affording scope for the   
collection of observations of the most  
valuable character with a definite      
purpose and without any theoretic bias4 
#bac  ,the task of the practical breeder
 who seeks to establish or fix a new    
variety produced by cross-breeding in a 
case involving two variable characters  
is simply the isolation and propagation 
of that one in each sixteen of the      
second generation offspring which will  
be pure as regards the desired          
combination of characters4 ,mendel's    
discovery1 by putting the breeder in    
possession of this information enables  

him to attack this problem              
systematically with confidence in the   
outcome1 whereas hitherto his work1     
important and fascinating as it is1 has 
consisted largely of groping for a      
treasure in the dark4 ,the greater the  
number of separately variable characters
 involved in a cross1 the greater will  
be the number of new combinations       
obtainable2 the greater too will be the 
number of individuals which it will be  
necessary to raise in order to secure   
all the possible combinations2 and the  
greater again will be the difficulty of 
isolating the pure1 that is1 the stable 
forms in such as are similar to them in 
appearance1 but still hybrid in one or  
more characters4  ,the law of ,mendel   
reduces to an exact science the art of  
breeding in the case most carefully     
studied by him1 that of entire          
dominance4 ,it gives to the breeder a   
new conception of purity4 ,no animal or 
plant is pure1 simply because it is     
descended from a long line of ancestors1

 possessing a desired combination of    
characters2 but any animal or plant is  
pure if it produces gametes--that is1   
particles for conjugation of only one   
sort--even though its grandparents may  
among #bad themselves have possessed    
opposite characters4 ,the existence of  
purity can be established with certainty
 only by suitable breeding tests1       
especially by crossing with recessives2 
but it may be safely assumed for any    
animal or plant1 descended from parents 
which were like each other and had been 
shown by breeding tests to be pure4     
,this naturally leads us to what some   
biologists have considered to be the    
most important part of his work--the    
theory which he elaborated to explain   
his results1 the principle which he     
considers to be the basis of the laws he
 discovered4 ,mendel suggests as        
following logically from the results of 
his experiments and observations a      
certain theory of the constitution of   
germinal particles4 ,he has put this    

important matter so clearly himself and 
with such little waste of words that it 
seems better to quote the translation of
 the passage as given by ,professor     
,bateson1 ,footnote #ah than to attempt 
to explain it in other words4 ,mendel   
says3--      ,footnote #ah3 ,bateson3   
,mendel's ,principles of ,heredity4     
,cambridge4 ,the ,university ,press4    
#aijb4    ,the results of the previously
 described experiments induced further  
experiments1 the results of which appear
 fitted to afford some   conclusions as 
regards the composition of the egg and  
pollen-cells   of hybrids4 ,an important
 matter for consideration is afforded in
   peas 7pisum7 by the circumstance that
 among the progeny of the   hybrids     
constant forms appear1 and that this    
occurs1 too1 in all   combinations of   
the associated characters4 ,so far as   
experience   goes1 we find it in every  
#bae case confirmed that constant       
progeny   can only be formed when the   
egg-cells and the fertilizing pollen are

   of like character1 so that both are  
provided with the material for          
creating quite similar individuals1 as  
is the case with the normal             
fertilization of pure species4    ,we   
must therefore regard it as essential   
that exactly similar   factors are at   
work also in the production of the      
constant forms in   the hybrid plants4  
,since the various constant forms are   
produced in   one plant1 or even in one 
flower of a plant1 the conclusion       
appears   logical that in the ovaries of
 the hybrids there are formed as many   
sorts of egg-cells and in the anthers as
 many sorts of pollen-cells   as there  
are possible constant combination forms1
 and that these egg   and pollen-cells  
agree in their internal composition with
 those of   the separate forms4    ,in  
point of fact1 it is possible to        
demonstrate theoretically that   this   
hypothesis would fully suffice to       
account for the development   of the    
hybrids in the separate generations1 if 

we might at the same   time assume that 
the various kinds of egg and            
pollen-cells were   formed in the       
hybrids on the average in equal numbers4
  ,bateson says in a note on this       
passage that this last and the preceding
 paragraph contain the essence of the   
,mendelian principles of heredity4      
,mendel himself1 after stating this     
hypothesis1 gives the details of a      
series of experiments by which he was   
able to decide that the theoretic       
considerations suggested were founded in
 the nature of plants and their germinal
 cells4  ,it will1 of course1 be        
interesting to realize what the bearing 
of ,mendel's discoveries is on the      
question of the stability of species as 
well as on the origin of species4       
,professor ,morgan1 in his #baf article 
on ,darwinism in the ,light of ,modern  
,criticism1 already quoted1 says the    
important fact 7with regard to ,mendel's
 ,law7 from the point of view of the    
theory of evolution is that the new     

species have sprung fully armed from the
 old ones1 like ,minerva from the head  
of ,jove4 ,from de ,vries's results1 he 
adds1 we understand better how it is    
that we do not see new forms arising1   
because they appear1 as it were1 fully  
equipped over night4 ,old species are   
not slowly changed into new ones1 but a 
shaking up of the old organization takes
 place and the egg brings forth a new   
species4 ,it is like the turning of the 
kaleidoscope1 a slight shift and the new
 figure suddenly appears4 ,it needs no  
great penetration to see that this point
 of view is entirely different from the 
conception of the formation of new      
species by accumulating individual      
variations1 until they are carried so   
far that the new form may be called a   
new species4  ,with regard to this      
question of the transformation of one   
species into another1 ,mendel himself1  
in the concluding paragraphs of his     
article on hybridization1 seems to agree
 with the expressions of ,morgan4 ,he   

quotes ,gaertner's opinion with apparent
 approval3 ,gaertner1 by the results of 
these transformation experiments was led
 to oppose the opinion of those         
naturalists who dispute the stability of
 plant species and believe in a         
continuous evolution of vegetation4 ,he 
perceives in the complete transformation
 of one species into another an         
indubitable proof that #bag species are 
fixed within limits beyond which they   
cannot change4 ,although this opinion1  
adds ,mendel1 cannot be unconditionally 
accepted1 we find1 on the other hand1 in
 ,gaertner's experiments a noteworthy   
confirmation of that supposition        
regarding the variability of cultivated 
plants which has already been expressed4
 ,this expression of opinion is not very
 definite1 and ,bateson1 in what        
,professor ,wilson of ,columbia calls   
his recent admirable little book on     
,mendel's principles1 adds the following
 note that may prove of service in      
elucidating ,mendel's meaning1 as few   

men have entered so fully into the      
understanding of ,mendel's work as      
,bateson1 who introduced him to the     
,english-speaking scientific public1    
,the argument of this paragraph appears 
to be that though the general mutability
 of natural species might be doubtful1  
yet among cultivated plants the         
transference of characters may be       
accomplished and may occur by integral  
steps italics ours1 until one species is
 definitely 'transformed' into the      
other4  ,needless to say1 this is quite 
different from the gradual              
transformation of species that          
,darwinism or ,lamarckism assumes to    
take place4 ,one species becomes another
 per saltum in virtue of some special   
energy infused into it1 some original   
tendency of its intrinsic nature1 not   
because of gradual modification by      
forces outside of the organisms1 nor    
because of the combination of influences
 they are subjected to from without and 
within1 because of tendency to evolute  

plus #bah environmental forces4 ,this   
throws biology back to the permanency of
 species in themselves1 though          
successive generations may be of        
different species1 and does away with   
the idea of missing links1 since there  
are no gradual connecting gradations4   
,a very interesting phase of ,mendel's  
discoveries is concerned with the       
relative value of the egg-cell and the  
pollen-cell1 as regards their effect    
upon future generations4 ,it is an old  
and oft-discussed problem as to which of
 these germinal particles is the more   
important in its influence upon the     
transmission of parental qualities4     
,mendel's observations would seem to    
decide definitely that1 in plants and1  
by implication1 in animals1 since the   
germinal process is biogenetically      
similar1 the value of both germinal     
particles is exactly equal4  ,in a note1
 ,mendel says3--    ,in pisum 7i4 e4 in 
peas71 it is beyond doubt that1 for the 
formation of the new embryo1 a perfect  

union of the elements of both           
fertilizing cells must take place4 ,how 
could we otherwise explain   that1 among
 the offspring of the hybrids1 both     
original types   reappear in equal      
numbers1 and with all their             
peculiarities8 ,if the   influence of   
the egg-cell upon the pollen-cell were  
only external1   if it fulfilled the    
role of a nurse only1 then the result of
 each   artificial fertilization could  
be no other than that the developed     
hybrid should exactly resemble the      
pollen parent1 or1 at any rate1   do so 
very closely4 ,these experiments1 so    
far1 have in no wise been   confirmed4  
,an evident proof of the complete union 
of the contents of   both cells is      
afforded by the #bai experience gained  
on all sides1   that it is immaterial as
 regards the form of the hybrid which of
 the   original species is the seed     
cell1 or which the pollen parent6  ,this
 is the first actual demonstration of   
the equivalent value of both germinal   

particles as regards their influence on 
transmission inheritance in future      
generations4  ,it is only by simplifying
 the problem so that all disturbing     
factors could be eliminated that ,mendel
 succeeded in making this demonstration4
 ,too many qualities have hitherto been 
considered with consequent confusion as 
to the results obtained4  ,it is of the 
genius of the man that he should have   
been able to succeed in seeing the      
problem in simple terms while it is     
apparently so complex1 and thus obtain  
results that are as far-reaching as the 
problem they solve is basic in its      
character4  ,bateson1 in his work       
,mendel's ,principles of ,heredity1     
says3--    ,it may seem surprising that 
a work of such importance should so long
   have failed to find recognition and  
to become current in the world   of     
science4 ,it is true that the ,journal  
in which it appeared is   scarce1 but   
this circumstance has seldom long       
delayed general   recognition4 ,the     

cause is unquestionably to be found in  
that neglect   of the experimental study
 of the problem of species which        
supervened   on the general acceptance  
of the ,darwinian doctrine4 ,the problem
 of   species1 as ,koelreuter1          
,gaertner1 ,naudin1 ,wichura1 and the   
hybridists   of the middle of the       
nineteenth century conceived it1        
attracted   thenceforth no workers4     
#bbj    ,the question1 it was imagined1 
had been answered and the debate        
ended4 ,no one felt much interest in the
 matter4 ,a host of other   lines of    
work was suddenly opened up1 and in     
#ahfe the more original   investigators 
naturally found these new methods of    
research more   attractive than the     
tedious observations of hybridizers1    
whose   inquiries were supposed1        
moreover1 to have led to no definite    
results4    ,in #ahfh appeared the first
 edition of ,darwin's ,animals and      
,plants1   marking the very zenith of   
these studies with regard to hybrids and

   the questions in heredity which they 
illustrate1 and thenceforth the         
decline in the experimental             
investigation of evolution and the      
problem of species have been studied4   
,with the rediscovery and   confirmation
 of ,mendel's work by de ,vries1        
,correns and ,tschermak in   #aijj a new
 era begins4 ,had ,mendel's work come   
into the hands of   ,darwin it is not   
too much to say that the history of the 
development   of evolutionary philosophy
 would have been very different from    
that   which we have witnessed4    ,that
 ,mendel's work1 appearing as it did at 
a moment when several   naturalists of  
the first rank were still occupied with 
these   problems1 should have passed    
wholly unnoted1 will always remain      
inexplicable1 the more so as the ,bruenn
 society exchanged its   publication    
with most of the great academies of     
,europe1 including   both the ,royal and
 the ,linnean societies of ,london4     
,the whole history of ,mendel's work1   

its long period without effect upon     
scientific thought1 its thoroughly      
simple yet satisfactory character1 its  
basis in manifold observations of       
problems simplified to the last degree1 
and its present complete acceptance     
illustrate very well the chief defect of
 the last two generations of workers in 
biology4 #bba ,there has been entirely  
too much theorizing1 too much effort at 
observations for the purpose of         
bolstering up preconceived              
ideas--preaccepted dogmas of science    
that have proved false in the end--and  
too little straightforward observation  
and simple reporting of the facts       
without trying to have them fit into any
 theory prematurely1 that is until their
 true place was found4 ,this will be the
 criterion by which the latter half of  
nineteenth century biology will be      
judged2 and because of failure here much
 of our supposed progress will have no  
effect on the current of biological     
progress1 but will represent only an    

eddy in which there was no end of       
bustling movement manifest but no real  
advance4  ,as stated very clearly by    
,professor ,morgan at the beginning of  
this paper1 and ,professor ,bateson near
 the end1 ,darwin's doctrine of natural 
selection as the main factor in         
evolution and its practically universal 
premature acceptance by scientific      
workers in biology are undoubtedly      
responsible for this4 ,the present      
generation may well be warned1 then1 not
 to surrender their judgment to taking  
theories1 but to wait in patience for   
the facts in the case1 working1 not     
theorizing1 while they wait4