in himself all the qualities of the world.... His body is from
the world, and therefore must be fed and nourished by that world from
which he has sprung.... He has been taken from the earth and from the
elements, and therefore, must be nourished by these.... Now, man is not
only flesh and blood, but there is within the intellect which does not,
like the complexion, come from the elements, but from the stars. And
the condition of the stars is this, that all the wisdom, intelligence,
industry of the animal, and all the arts peculiar to man are contained
in them. From the stars man has these same things, and that is called
the light of Nature; in fact, it is whatever man has found by the light
of Nature.... Such, then, is the condition of man, that, out of the
great universe he needs both elements and stars, seeing that he himself
is constituted in that way."(1b)

(1) VALENTINE WEIGEL: "_Astrology Theologised": The Spiritual
Hermeneutics of Astrology and Holy Writ_, ed. by ANNA BONUS KINGSFORD
(1886), p. 59.

(1b) _The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of_ PARACELSUS, ed. by A. E.
WAITE (1894), vol. ii. pp. 289-291.

It is not difficult to discern a certain truth in all this, making
allowances for modes of thought which are not those of the present day.
The Swedish philosopher SWEDENBORG (1688-1772) reaffirmed the theory
in later years; but, as he points out,(2) the reason that man is a
microcosm lies deeper than in the facts that his body is of the elements
of this earth and is nourished thereby. According to this profound
thinker, FORM, spiritually understood, is the expression of USE, the
uses of things being indicated by their forms. Now, the human form is
the highest of all forms, because it subserves the highest of all uses.
Hence, both the world of matter and the world of spirit are in the
human form, because there is a correspondence in use between man and
the Cosmos. We may, therefore, call man as to his body a microcosm, or
little world; as to his soul a micro-uranos, or little heaven. Or we may
speak of the macrocosm, or great world, as the Grand Man, and we may
say that the Soul of this Grand Man, the self-existent, substantial, and
efficient cause of all things, at once immanent within yet transcending
all things, is God.

(2) See especially his _Divine Love and Wisdom_, SESE 251 and 319.

IV. SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING BIRDS

AMONGST the most remarkable of natural occurrences must be included