Superstition: 1-6 represent amulets used from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, all of which, except the one shown in Figure 2, are in the Teutonic Museum at Nuremberg, as evidences of the second period of superstition. They are: (I) a small piece of slate having engraved on one side the figure of a bird holding a flag, and the word 1.412, and on the reverse the frequently-recurring words, .4131'.4f.if 0011) (2) a triple-faced head representing the Trinity circumscribed with the words Paler, Fillies, Spiritus (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost); (3) a shark's tooth set in silver; (4) a hand with the thumb inserted between the two fore fingers; (5) a so-called " eagle stone," surrounded by metal bands, and supposed to be of miraculous origin, though it was merely a lump of crystal such as occurs in clay deposits; (6) a silver sigillitin s, which was the favorite talisman of the seventeenth century when astrology was in full bloom. Frequently the amulet consisted merely of a bit of parch ment or paper with some potent prayer or magical words inscribed upon it, and deemed efficacious against danger from fire and water, knife or blow, witchcraft, etc. The Church sanctioned such things with conse cration down to the eighteenth century, and perhaps even later.
learned world, as well as the populace, had its super stitions in the Middle Ages, but they sprang from the confused and mis taken interpretation of the newly-awakened sciences. First among them ranks astrology, or the art of learning from the heavenly bodies the fate of individuals and of nations. This pretended art was developed into an elaborate system, and it has left numerous manuscript and printed works. During the sixteenth century noble families were wont when a child was born to have its horoscope drawn; that is, the position of the stars at its birth was ascertained, and the future fate, as well as the character, of the infant was prognosticated. In every large city there dwelt so-called mathematicians who devoted themselves to that work, and besides to the manufacture of sun-dials, calendars, etc. Figure 9 represents a horoscope showing the positions of the planets relative to the ecliptic.
Akhcmy, or the art of making gold, was another of the secret sciences of those ages. Even kings indulged in it or employed others to practise it, sometimes punishing failure with the gallows. Figure II, copied from a painting of David Teniers, introduces us into the laboratory of an alchemist.
Necromancy, or the "black art," which sought by means of magic to penetrate the secrets of Nature, was another of these sciences. It used a secret key or set of signs, which we represent in Figures 7 and 8 (fl. They are taken from the works of Theophrastus Paracelsus, a man who, besides writing much that is true and sensible, filled whole volumes with nonsense, and who furnishes an example of how far self-deceit can carry a man when the entire age follows a delusion.
Health general almost every science had its pseudo science. Medicine was full of unexamined traditions and carefully-pre served superstitions. The most singular and generally worthless recipes were spread by copying, and were found in almost every house. The so-called "health calendars" (from one of which fig. 12 is taken) were among the most widespread productions of the early printing-press. They informed the credulous what clays, what juxtapositions of the planets, etc., were most favorable for bleeding, hair-cutting, etc., and from what parts of the body bleeding might be practised with bad, fair, or good results.
theology was soon united theosophy, which sought to place the seat of the mind in the interior of the heart, and to reduce to a mechanical process the work which always has been and always will be the task of the moral nature of man.' Almost without exception the theosophists used the Revelation of St. John, weaving its texts into fan tastic combinations and using pictures to express their ideas, because even the unformed language of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had too much critical force to lend itself to the expression of all their non sense. The theosophical ring (fig. 13) is taken from a large work on the subject which contains many similar illustrations. At first sight they seem important, but on closer examination they fail to convey the slight est idea of what their author could have meant. However, theosophy was almost the only one of those false sciences which had any practical consequences. It gave an impulse to our modern philosophy, and Jacob Boehme, who may in a sense be considered the father of the latter, occu pied for the most part a theosophical standpoint.
All these scientific superstitions were cast aside when, by the estab lishment and increase of universities, knowledge was taken from the charge of dilettanti and amateurs and placed in the care of well-qualified professional men.
Superstition, however, lingers among the people to this day. It would have been a praiseworthy task had the Church, going hand in hand with science, labored to destroy it as well as to save speculative philosophy from that modern one-sidedness which divides the large empire of com plete existence into halves, denies the opposite one, and administers its own on unsound principles. Unfortunately, the Church judged it best to ignore its natural ally, and, relying on its own claim of absolute power, to fight with fire and sword against all rivalry.