y be disputed that the countless books written to elaborate the
principles of allegorism contain a mass of futility such as it would
be difficult to match in any other class of literature. The best
defence of the method is perhaps to be found in Keble's Tract (No. 89)
on the "Mysticism" of the early Fathers. Keble's own poetry contains
many beautiful examples of the true use of symbolism; but as an
apologist of allegorism he does not distinguish between its use and
abuse. Yet surely there is a vast difference between seeing in the
"glorious sky embracing all" a type of "our Maker's love," and
analysing the 153 fish caught in the Sea of Galilee into the square of
the 12 Apostles + the square of the 3 Persons of the Trinity.

The history of the doctrine of "signatures," which is the cryptogram
theory applied to medicine, is very curious and interesting, "Citrons,
according to Paracelsus, are good for heart affections, because they
are heart-shaped; the _saphena riparum_ is to be applied to fresh
wounds, because its leaves are spotted as with flecks of blood. A
species of _dentaria_, whose roots resemble teeth, is a cure for
toothache and scurvy."--Vaughan, _Hours with the Mystics_, vol. ii. p.
77. It is said that some traces of this quaint superstition survive
even in the modern materia medica. The alliance between medicine and
Mysticism subsisted for a long time, and forms a curious chapter of
history.]

[Footnote 346: Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, a contemporary of
Reuchlin, studied Cabbalism mainly as a magical science. He was
nominally a Catholic, but attacked Rome and scholasticism quite in the
spirit of Luther. His three chief works are, _On the Threefold Way of
Knowing God, On the Vanity of Arts and Sciences_ (a ferocious attack
on most of the professions), and _On Occult Philosophy_ (treating of
natural, celestial, and religious magic). The "magician," he says,
"must study three sciences--physics, mathematics, and theology."
Agrippa's adventurous life ended in 1533.]

[Footnote 347: Theophrastus Paracelsus (Philippus Bombastus von
Hohenheim) was born in 1493, and died in 1541. His writings are a
curious mixture of theosophy and medical science: "medicine," he
taught, "has four pillars--philosophy, astronomy (or rather
astrology), alchemy, and religion." He lays great stress on the
doctrine that man is a microcosm, and on the law of Divine
manifestation _by contraries_--the latter is a new feature which was