Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

SECRET SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , OCTOBER 7 , 1865 .

To come to more modern times , and thus reach the science of the present , it may be asked if the ancients possessed the knowledge to which Ave have referred ; IIOAV is it that skill and wisdom ef such high interest have not descended to us ? To

this Ave may answer in the same Avay as the histories of the greater number of past ages , and so much information of every kind , the possession of which by the ancients Avas never disputed , havebeen lost throughout the Avorld . To the general causes of destruction Avhich have occasioned such

immense voids in the domain of human understanding , two particular causes may be superadded one is the mystery Avhich religion and interest conjointly enveloped the knowledge possessed by the privileged class ; the other , the Avant of a

systematic connection , Avhich alone could establish between them a rationally organised theory—a connection Avithoub Avhich isolated facts are successively lost , Avithout those AA'hich remain rendering it possible to recover Avhat are gradually

sinking into the gulph of oblivion through the lapse of time , negligence , fear , superstition , and incapacity . Usages frequently survive any tradition of the circumstances which gave rise to them , and the ideas they Avere intended to awaken ; so that ,

from an enlightened analysis of practices of this description , passages in ancient authors , sacred and profane , often obscure , and sometimes unintelligible , may occasionally receive the happiest illustration .

The inroads of the Goths , Vandals , and other barbarous hordes Avhich devastated the cities of Greece and Italy—and finally , the triumphant establishment of the disciples of Mohammed , combined to throw into oblivion the knowledge and

science of preceding ages . The works of Aristotle , Pliny , and others remained , and Avere preserved in colleges aud monasteries of Italy , and m course of successive ages diligently studied ; but the incessant warfare that desolated Europe

prevented the development of any means of diffusin g the knoAvledge attained by the learned ecclesiastics , besides which the heads of the Christian Church

not only discouraged any prosecution of scientific accomplishments , but persecuted any enthusiast who endeavoured to make the Avorld acquainted with the information he had acquired . Thus all science was dormant until the appearance of

Giambatista Porta in the sixteenth century . His Avorks on natural magic , published at Naples in 15 S 9 , AA-idely extended his previous fame , and he Avas charged to appear before the Court of Rome , to answer a charge of being addicted to unlawful

superstitions . A society , called " I Secreti , " was held at his house , which Avas only accessible to such as had made some neAV discovery in physical science . This the accusers termed discussing the " Secrets of Magic , " and the meetings were

prohibited . The Avork in question , Avhich has been often printed and translated , contains a great number of curious facts that Avere not generally knoAvn at the time , concerning the properties of plants , metals , animals , & c . It is a vast

compilation of passages extracted from various authors , put together without taste or judgment ] but it contains a great number of observations on light , mirrors , telescopes , fireworks , statics , mechanics , & c . It cannot be denied that Porta rendered

great service to science ; to him we OAve the camera-obscura , as Avell as a number of curious optical experiments . He Avrote much on the subject of plane , concave , and convex mirrors , and particularly on the burning-glass , which he flattered liimself he could construct in such a

manner as to be able to burn at any distance . We have here a reproduction of what Ave have recorded on the skill of Archimedes eighteen centuries before , who , it is stated , among other applications of science ,. fired the Roman fleet by

means of reflecting mirrars , of Avhich story , though long treated as a fable , Buffon has proved the credibility .

About the same time as Porta , arose one of the most remarkable men , Galileo Galilei , Avho is best known by his Christian name , who AA as born at Pisa of a noble Florentine family . lie entered the university in his nineteenth year , and early

devoted himself to the study of natural philosophy , and more especially the laws of mechanics . This led to an examination of the rival systems of astronomy—the Ptolemaic and the Copernican . He soon discovered and proved the futile

objections made against the latter system , which were founded on an ignorance of the laAvs of mechanics , or on some misapplied quotations from Aristotle , the Bible , and the Fathers ; and having also observed that many Avho had at first believed

the former system had changed in favour of the latter , Avhile none of those attached to the latter had changed to the Ptolemaic , Avith other re-