deed, of the present) as _mere_ superstition, not worth the
trouble of investigation: but it is not scientific. There is a reason
for every belief, even the most fantastic, and it should be our object
to discover this reason. How far, if at all, the reason in any case
justifies us in holding a similar belief is, of course, another
question. Some of the beliefs I have dealt with I have treated at
greater length than others, because it seems to me that the truths of
which they are the images--vague and distorted in many cases though they
be--are truths which we have either forgotten nowadays, or are in danger
of forgetting. We moderns may, indeed, learn something from the thought
of the past, even in its most fantastic aspects. In one excursion at
least, namely, the essay on "The Cambridge Platonists," I have ventured
to deal with a higher phase--perhaps I should say the highest phase--of
the thought of a bygone age, to which the modern world may be completely
debtor.

"Some Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought," and the two essays on
Alchemy, have appeared in _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_.
In others I have utilised material I have contributed to _The Occult
Review_, to the editor of which journal my thanks are due for permission
so to do. I have also to express my gratitude to the Rev. A. H. COLLINS,
and others to be referred to in due course, for permission here to
reproduce illustrations of which they are the copyright holders. I have
further to offer my hearty thanks to Mr B. R. ROWBOTTOM and my wife for
valuable assistance in reading the proofs. H. S. R.

BLETCHLEY, BUCKS, _December_ 1919.

CONTENTS PAGE

PREFACE........................... ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.................... xiii
1. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIAEVAL THOUGHT......... 1
2. PYTHAGORAS AND HIS PHILOSOPHY............... 8
3. MEDICINE AND MAGIC..................... 25
4. SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING BIRDS .............. 34
5. THE POWDER OF SYMPATHY: A CURIOUS MEDICAL SUPERSTITION.. 47
6. THE BELIEF IN TALISMANS.................. 57
7. CEREMONIAL MAGIC IN THEORY AND PRACTICE.......... 87
8. ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM..................111
9. THE QUEST OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE............121
10. THE PHALLIC ELEMENT IN ALCHEMICAL DOCTRINE.........149
11. ROGER BACON: AN APPRECIATION...............183
12. THE CAMBRIDGE PLATONISTS..................193

{the LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS are incompl