ht otherwise have been hidden for centuries yet to
come. Roger Bacon, in searching for the philosopher's stone, discovered
gunpowder, a still more extraordinary substance. Van Helmont, in the same
pursuit, discovered the properties of gas; Geber made discoveries in
chemistry which were equally important; and Paracelsus, amidst his
perpetual visions of the transmutation of metals, found that mercury was a
remedy for one of the most odious and excruciating of all the diseases
that afflict humanity.

In our day little mention is made in Europe of any new devotees of the
science, though it is affirmed that one or two of our most illustrious men
of science do not admit the pursuit to be so absurd and vain as it has
been commonly considered in recent times. The belief in witchcraft, which
is scarcely more absurd, still lingers in the popular mind; but few are so
credulous as to believe that any elixir could make man live for centuries,
or turn all our iron and pewter into gold. Alchymy, in Europe, may be said
to be almost wholly exploded; but in the East it still flourishes in as
great repute as ever. Recent travellers make constant mention of it,
especially in China, Hindostan, Persia, Tartary, Egypt, and Arabia.

MODERN PROPHECIES.

[Illustration: A]

An epidemic terror of the end of the world has several times spread over
the nations. The most remarkable was that which seized Christendom about
the middle of the tenth century. Numbers of fanatics appeared in France,
Germany, and Italy at that time, preaching that the thousand years
prophesied in the Apocalypse as the term of the world's duration were
about to expire, and that the Son of Man would appear in the clouds to
judge the godly and the ungodly. The delusion appears to have been
discouraged by the Church, but it nevertheless spread rapidly among the
people.[51]

[51] See Gibbon and Voltaire for further notice of this subject.

The scene of the last judgment was expected to be at Jerusalem. In the
year 999, the number of pilgrims proceeding eastward, to await the coming
of the Lord in that city, was so great that they were compared to a
desolating army. Most of them sold their goods and possessions before they
quitted Europe, and lived upon the proceeds in the Holy Land. Buildings of
every sort were suffered to fall into ruins. It was thought useless to
repair them, when the end of the world was so near. Many noble edifices
were deliberately pulled d