CHAPTER XII.

Conclusion — Principles followed in the course of the discussion — Reply to the objection that the scientific acquirements of the an- cients are lost — Democritus alone, among them, occupied himself with observations on experimental philosophy — This philosopher perceived, in theoperations of magic, the scientific application of the laws of Nature — Utility of studying the apparent miracles of the ancients in this point of view — The Thaumaturgists did not connect together their learned conceptions by any theory, which is a proof that they had received them from a prior period — The first Thaumaturgists cannot he accused of imposi- tion ; but it would be dangerous, in this day, to attempt to sub- jugate a people by apparent miracles; voluntary obedience to the laws is a certain consequence of the happiness which just legislation procures to men.
We have undertaken to restore to ancient history that grandeur of which an apparent mixture of puerile fables robbed it; and to demonstrate that the apparent miracles, and the magical operations of the ancients were the result of real scientific knowledge, more or less advanced, which the Thaumaturgists, for the most part, had secretly transmitted from one period to another; at the same time,
264 CONCLUSION.
with the greatest care, concealing that knowledge from all other men.
Two principles have regulated our conclusions :
Firstly. — We consider it absurd to wonder at, or to refuse to believe, what appears supernatural, when it can be naturally explained.
Secondly. — We regard it reasonable to admit that the physical knowledge proper for the working of appa- rent miracles was possessed by some men, at the time, and in the country where historical tradition has placed the miracles.
There must, we maintain, be a plausible motive for denying what has often been attested by many authors, and repeated at divers times: that motive no longer exists, and the apparent miracle re-enters the class of historical facts, when an explanation, deduced from the nature of things, has dispelled the superna- tural appearance that caused it to be regarded as chimerical.
But, again, how is it that conceptions of such high interests have never descended to us ? Histo- ries have been lost over all the world connected with the greatest parts of past times ; and also much know- ledge of every kind, the possession of which by the ancients cannot be disputed. To the general causes of destruction, which have occasioned these immense gaps in the domain of human intelligence, are joined two in particular, the power of which we have des- cribed ; the one is the mystery with which religious and political interests endeavoured to envelop free ideas; the other is the want of a systematic connexion,
CONCLUSION. 265
which alone could have established between them an accurate theory, a connexion without which facts were successively lost. There was also no possibility re- maining for those which survived to recover those which sank gradually into the abyss of oblivion, from the lapse of time, from negligence, fear, superstition, and ignorance.
We must not judge ancient conceptions by our own. Experimental chemistry, considered as a science, dates from the last century. It only existed before as a capri- cious empiricism, directed by chance, misled by the dreams of the alchymist. More anciently, the Romans had copied the writings of the Greeks, who themselves, without attempting more experiments, copied what they found in the most ancient books, or in the recitals of foreign authors, whom they did not always understand. Democritus* alone seems to have felt the necessity of
* Democritus was born at Abdera, in Tbrace, in the year 460, b.c. He received his first instructions partly from some Magi that were left by Xerxes at Abdera, partly from Leucippus, a cele- brated philosopher of Elea. He travelled into Egypt, in order to acquire geometry from the Egyptian priests ; and also visited Persia and Athens for the purpose of obtaining knowledge, in the pursuit of which he expended all his patrimony, and returned to Abdera in a state of indigence. This rendered him liable to a law which denied funereal rites in the State to any native who had spent his patrimony : but having read one of his works, the Dias- cosmus, aloud to his fellow- citizens, he not only acquired an exemption from this law, but received a present of, it is said, 500 talents ; and, at his death, was buried at the public expense.
Democritus loved retirement and study ; and the tradition runs, that he put out his eyes that he might not be disturbed from meditation by external objects. He was, perhaps, on this account
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observing, of learning, and of knowing for himself.* He passed his life in making experiments, in noting down in a book which treats of Nature, facts that he had verified-! We may ask, to what point had he conducted his re- searches, in pursuing which he had probably no theory to serve him as a guide ? It is difficult to conjecture, his works having long since perished. It is at least certain, that in the general opinion they had acquired very great autho- rity. So great was the weight of his testimony in physics and in natural history, that works published under his name, but not written by him, circulated widely, although filled with ridiculous fables upon the properties of minerals, animals, and plants4 Pliny, who often quotes these pretended works of Democritus, believed in their authen- ticity ; but Aulus Gellius has unveiled the impositions,
accused of insanity ; but Hippocrates declared that his accusers, not Democritus, were mad. His doctrines were of a very singular character. Thus, he contended for the eternity of the universe ; — that everything, even mind, was material ; — and that the latter was only different from material bodies by the arrangements of its com- ponent atoms. In morals, he contended that the only thing needful was a cheerful spirit ; and as he took every opportunity of laugh- ing at the follies of mankind, he acquired the appellation of the Laughing Philosopher. From the extent of his acquirements, he was regarded by the ignorant as a magician, especially in the close of his life, which extended to 104 years. He died in the year 357, b.c. — Ed.
* Encyclop. Method. Philosophie Ancienne et Moderne, tome i. p. 319.
t Petron. Satyric. — Vitruv. De Architect, lib. ix. cap. ni.
X Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic, lib. x. cap. xn. — Columell. De ReRus- tica, lib. vu. cap. v. — Diogen. Laert. in Democrit. vit. sub. finem.
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and is justly indignant at the outrage made on the memory of so great a man.
In a passage, unfortunately too concise, Solinus* seems to present Democritus as engaged in a frequent contest against the magii, and opposing to their impostures pheno- mena prodigious in appearance, but nevertheless natural, to show them how far the power of the hidden properties of bodies can extend. " Democritus," says Lucian,f " be- lieved in no miracle ; persuaded that those which were effected owed their success to deception ; and he applied himself to discover the method by which they could deceive : in a word, his philosophy brought him to this conclusion, that magic (an art well known by him, since the magij were its institutors,) was entirely confined to the application and the imitation of the laws and the works of nature."
This opinion, professed by the first acknowledged philosopher of antiquity, who studied science as it ought to be, is precisely that which we have striven to establish. If we have not laboured in vain, we may be allowed to deduce from this theorem some consequences upon the possible advances of the knowledge of nature, in reference to the history of mankind, and the principles of civili- zation.