together indistinct. No one can tell at what
moment he ceased to be a child and became a boy--at what moment he
ceased to be a youth and became a man. Each condition, examined at a
suitable interval, exhibits characteristics perfectly distinctive, but,
at their common point of contact, the two so overlap and blend that,
like the intermingling of shadow and light, the beginning of one and end
of the other may be very variously estimated.

[Sidenote: Artificial epochs.] In individual life, since no precise
natural epoch exists, society has found it expedient to establish an
artificial one, as, for example, the twenty-first year. The exigencies
of history may be satisfied by similar fictions. A classical critic
would probably be justified in selecting for his purpose the foundation
of Constantinople as the epoch of the commencement of the Age of Faith,
and its capture by the Turks as the close. It must be admitted that a
very large number of historical events stand in harmony with that
arrangement. [Sidenote: Origin and end of the Age of Faith.] A political
writer would perhaps be disposed to postpone the date of the latter
epoch to that of the treaty of Westphalia, for from that time
theological elements ceased to have a recognized force, Protestant,
Catholic, Mohammedan, consorting promiscuously together in alliance or
at war, according as temporary necessities might indicate. Besides these
other artificial epochs might be assigned, each doubtless having
advantages to recommend it to notice. But, after all, the chief
peculiarity is obvious enough. It is the gradual decline of a system
that had been in activity for many ages, and its gradual replacement by
another.

[Sidenote: Prelude to the Age of Reason.] As with the Age of Reason in
Greece, so with the Age of Reason in Europe, there is a prelude marked
by the gradual emergence of a sound philosophy; a true logic displaces
the supernatural; experiment supersedes speculation. It is very
interesting to trace the feeble beginnings of modern science in alchemy
and natural magic in countries where no one could understand the
writings of Alhazen or the Arabian philosophers. Out of many names of
those who took part in this movement that might be mentioned there are
some that deserve recollection.

[Sidenote: Albertus Magnus, the Dominican.] Albertus Magnus was born
A.D. 1193. It was said of him that "he was great in magic, greater in
philosophy, greatest in theology." By re