A mighty Stone falling from the Clouds

Two major astronomical events occurred on Friday 15th February, 2013. First a sizeable meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Oblast in the Southern Urals, then, 15 hours later, a 50 metre asteroid skimmed a mere 17,000 miles past Earth. The meteorite and asteroid were almost 500,000 kilometres apart and travelling in completely different directions. The Chelyabinsk meteor known as 2012 DA14 is the largest object known to have entered the Earth's atmosphere since the days of the Siberian meteorite of Tungaska in 1908.

Meteorites have long been of interest to scientists. Included among the many curious, rare and imaginary books, paintings and objects conjured from Sir Thomas Browne's fertile imagination and summarily listed in his late miscellaneous tract Museum Clausum (circa 1676) there can be found-

14. Another describing the mighty Stone falling from the Clouds into Aegospotamos or the Goats River in Greece, which Antiquity could believe that Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before.

The ancient Greek Anaxagoras (c. 510–428 BCE) was one of the first scientific thinkers to speculate upon phenomena such as eclipses, meteors, rainbows and the sun. The protagonist in American author Gore Vidal's 1981 novel Creation reminds us of the Greek scientist's claim to fame-

'According to Anaxagoras one of the largest things is a hot stone that we call the sun. When Anaxagoras was very young, he predicted that sooner or later a piece of the sun would break off and fall to earth.... The whole world saw a fragment of the sun fall in a fiery arc through the sky, landing near Aegospotami in Thrace. When the fiery fragment cooled, it proved to be nothing more than a chunk of brown rock. Overnight Anaxagoras was famous'.

Sir Thomas Browne's study and reading of early Greek science was exceptional amongst pioneers of the 17th century scientific revolution. The philosophical and scientific thought of Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus are well-represented in his library, as are books by Archimedes and Euclid. In all probability Browne encountered Anaxagoras's scientific observations when reading either Pliny, Simplicus of Cilicia (c.490-560 CE) or Aristotle's criticisms of the pre-Socratic philosopher. Browne's own scientific speculations  include the observations-

'The created World is but a small Parenthesis in Eternity.' - from Christian Morals Part III, Section XXIX

To make an end of all things on Earth, and our Planetical System of the World, he (i.e. God) need but put out the Sun. - from A letter to a Friend

At present, modern-day science can only predict such events within approximately two weeks of their occurring. The Chelyabinsk meteor was totally beyond prediction or detection until entering the earth's atmosphere and exploding, causing wide-spread damage and shock, injuring over 1,000 people.

The Danish film director Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011) analyzes in depth the psychological effects experienced by two sisters when faced with an impending cosmological disaster.

Notes

Greek science books listed in the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Browne's Library include-

Archimedes Opera Gk. and Latin. Commentary David Rivalti 1615 p. 28 no. 2

Aristotle  - Over 15 various titles listed.

Plato - Theologia Platonica de Immortalitate Paris 1559 p. 15 no. 95

Plato - Chalcidii Timaeus de Platonis - Notes J. Mersius 1617 p. 11 no. 106

Simplicus - Commentary in Enchiridion  Epistles Gk.  and Latin  pub. L.B. 1640 p. 10 no. 43

Links

Wiki-link to article on the  2013 Russian Meteorite event

Browne's  miscellaneous tract 13  Museum Clausum

Rudolf and the Rulands

The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) was an avid collector of art and a devotee of alchemy. When he relocated the Hapsburg court from Vienna to Prague he attracted many talents both scientific and artistic, including the Elizabethan mathematician John Dee, the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler and skilled painters such as Bartholomeus Spranger, Adrian de Vries and Giuseppe Archimboldo.

Among the most original of artists at Rudolf II's court was the Milan-born Giuseppe Archimboldo (1527-1593). Rudolph II commissioned Archimboldo to paint what are probably his best-known works, a series of Four Seasons using his 'double meaning' technique. Archimboldo even applied his 'double meaning' technique to a portrait of his patron, painting the Holy Roman Emperor as Autumn, rich with the abundance of the fruits of the harvest (Above). Often afflicted with profound depression, the solitary-inclined Rudolf must have had a strange but confident perception of himself to allow such an experimental portrait. Archimboldo's 'double meaning' technique was imitated centuries later by Surrealist artists, notably by Salvador Dali.

Although nowadays Emperor Rudolf II is credited as being a major patron of the arts, in particular of Northern Mannerist art (one suspects that the four intriguing statuettes of the Layer Monument with their hidden esoteric symbolism would have appealed to Rudolf's taste) it's also been argued that his life-long collecting of art combined with his complete disinterest in politics and diplomacy contributed towards the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire and European political instability during the thirty years war (1618 -1648). A more positive interpretation of Rudolf II views him a major sponsor of the scientific revolution and an aspirant towards a united, polemic-free Europe.

Rudolf II also kept a menagerie of exotic animals, cultivated a botanical garden and collected a variety of curio's in what was to become Europe's most extensive 'cabinet of curiosities' or Kunstkammer. Rudolf's primary preoccupation however was the fabled philosophers stone of alchemy and he commissioned both scholars and alchemists in his quest. Foremost among scholars at the Prague court were the Paracelsian physician-alchemists Martin Rulands, the name of both father and son. Martin Ruland the elder (1532 -1602 ) compiled a dictionary of alchemical terminology, primarily orientated towards a Paracelsian and metallurgic nature. It must have been held in high esteem by Emperor Rudolf  for he conferred the status of nobility upon Martin Ruland junior (1569-1611) in 1608. Martin Ruland's definition of meditatio is a good example of how devout Hermetic philosophers such as John Dee and Sir Thomas Browne augmented their Christian spirituality.

MEDITATIO - The name of an Internal Talk of one person with another who is invisible, as in the invocation of the Deity, or communion with one's self, or with one's good angel.

In  Religio Medici (1643) Browne declared -

Therefore I am so far from denying their existence, that I could easily believe, that not only whole Countries, but particular persons have their Tutelary, and Guardian Angels: It is not a new opinion of the Church of Rome, but an old one of Pythagoras and Plato; - R.M. Part 1:33

Incontrovertible evidence that Browne consulted  Ruland's dictionary can be found in his allusion to Ruland's entry -

QUANDROS -   a Stone or Jewel which is found in the brain and head of the Vulture, and is said to be a bright white colour. It fills the breasts with milk, and is said to be a safeguard against dangerous accidents. 

In Museum Clausum, Browne's bizarre inventory of lost, imagined and rumoured books, pictures and objects there can be found -

A noble Quandros  or Stone taken out of a Vulture's Head.

Although I've written on this before there's now the possibility of offering a link to the complete text of   Rulands Dictionary of Alchemy.

Norfolk Chalk Reef

Photo:Rob Spray

The ancient coast-line of East Anglia, once the furthest extent of retreating glaciers during the last Ice Age, continues to reveal astounding evidence of early man's activities and prehistoric nature. The North Norfolk coast-line in particular is a rich source of geological and archaeological wonders. These include the Cromer Ridge, a terminal glacial moraine formed during the last Ice Age; the discovery of a fossilised skeleton of a steppe mammoth approximately 600,000 years old in the cliffs of West Runton in 1990, and  a circular arrangement of over fifty split oak tree trunks, an early man-made ritual monument named  Seahenge, dated circa 2100 BCE, which was first exposed at Holme-next-the-Sea in 1998.

It's recently  been announced that the world's longest chalk reef, over 20 miles in length, stretching from Cley to Trimingham along the Norfolk coast, complete with massive two metre high arches and deep gullies has been discovered.  So far three species never recorded before have been found in the Chalk reef including the Leopard Spotted Goby, two rare anemones and an obscure purple-coloured sponge.  The Chalk Reef was the subject of a BBC regional TV  programme which was spectacular in viewing. Here's the link for a 3 minute filmed dive through the Norfolk chalk Reef . The discovery of the Chalk reef was made by Rob Spray who runs the Marine Conservation Society survey project with a team of volunteers.

Even during my hedonistic and ecstatic summers of youth, swimming, sunbathing and reading on the  beach, I never dreamed of a submarine world some 300 million years old just half a mile out from the shore and  just eight metres below  the surface of the North sea.

However, the seventeenth century doctor and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne did dream of submarine worlds. His miscellaneous tract   Museum Clausum  or Bibliotheca Abscondita  identified by W.G. Sebald  in his Rings of Saturn  (1998) as a  curious minor masterpiece of the imagination,  includes among its inventory of lost, rumoured or imagined books, pictures and objects-

9. A Sub Marine Herbal describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea, with many sorts of Alga, Fucus, Quercus, Polygonum, Gramens and others not yet described.

The world of the submarine must have been of great interest to Browne as included in his miscellaneous tract under the entries of  pictures, one reads the worthy doctor dreaming of -

3. Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the Prairie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Deserts, the Subterraneous Vents and Passages at the bottom of that Sea ; 

Vulture

The last in a short series on the symbolism of birds, in particular, in comparative religion and alchemy.

Because it devours corpses, the vulture has often been given a bad press; however, in ancient Egypt it was identified with the goddess Isis and represented the cycle of death and rebirth. In the Grecian-Roman tradition it was seen as a bird of augury, and like the swan and raven, it was considered sacred to the god Apollo because it provided omens.

In his contemplation of religious rites for the dead, Sir Thomas Browne noted in his Discourse, Urn-Burial  (1658) -

And the Persees now in India, which expose their bodies unto Vultures, and endure not so much as feretra or Biers of Wood.........

Browne was a keen scholar of comparative religion. His mention of the prophet Zoroaster and the Persee's, migratory adherents of the Zoroastrian religion, is in fact the earliest recorded in English literature.

The vulture is encountered once more in Browne's writings, this time in his surreal catalogue of books, pictures and objects entitled Museum Clausum,

A noble Quandros or Stone taken out of a Vulture's Head.

The 'noble stone' visualized by Browne may well originate from Biblical symbolism in the form of the wisdom of the book of Job. Written in the form of poetry, the book of Job is one of the oldest and profoundest spiritual texts to deal with the problem of Man's suffering. It was well-known to pious alchemists. The Bible, however much Christian Fundamentalists refuse to acknowledge it, in their denial of the discoveries of comparative religion, (see Ostrich), contains both astrological and alchemical symbolism, including imagery of refinement and dross; whilst the 'testing' of human souls is likened to the testing of metals. Chapter 28 of Job contains an inventory of various precious metals and stones, including silver, gold, topaz, their material value to contrasted to spiritual wisdom. The Book of Job also includes the line -

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen. (v.7 KJV)

However, the puzzle of what is exactly a 'noble stone' or Quandros, is best solved by consulting the Martin Ruland's Dictionary of Alchemy, (both father and son were named Martin Ruland). The Rulands were theologically inclined Paracelsian physicians who served in the Court of Emperor Rudolph II of Prague. In their Dictionary of Alchemy (1612), a book which Browne owned, (Sales Catalogue page 22 no.119) a Quandros is defined as-

a Stone or Jewel which is found in the brain and head of the Vulture, and is said to be of a bright white colour. It fills the breasts with milk, and is said to be a safeguard against dangerous accidents.

 Ruland's dictionary definition of a 'noble Stone' is in all probability the source of Browne's Quandros. Such an object would be an extremely useful talisman!

Ostrich

More avian facts and speculation in relation to Sir Thomas Browne and avian symbolism; here's the Ostrich, the largest of all birds and flightless.

I've occasionally wondered just how Browne actually managed to acquire an ostrich. Here's how I deductively speculate he might have.......Edward Browne, his eldest son, who lived in London, had access to the Royal Court of Charles II. Sometime during the 1670's the King of Morocco's ambassador gave as a gift of good-will, no less than six ostriches to Charles II; shortly after the novelty of viewing these rare birds abated for the Royal Court of Saint James Palace, Edward made so bold as to request sending one to his father. Remembering that King Charles had been acquainted with the Browne's senior and junior, since his visit to Norwich in September 1671, engaging in extended conversation with both father and son, it's not improbable that King Charles II could have indulged the dutiful son and zoologically inclined father. Unless of course there were other paths by which Browne could have acquired an ostrich . Do tell! With more than a dash of tolerant astonishment, Browne writes of the ostrich-

When it first came into my garden, it soon ate up all the gilliflowers, tulip-leaves, and fed greedily upon what was green, as lettuce, endive, sorrell; it would feed on oats, barley, peas, beans; swallow onions; eat sheep's lights and livers. When it took down a large onion, it stuck awhile in the gullet, and did not descend directly, but wound backward behind the neck; whereby I might perceive that the gullet turned much; but this is not peculiar to the ostrich; but the same hath been observed in the stork, when it swallows down frogs and pretty big bits. It made a strange noise; had a very odd note, especially in the morning, and perhaps, when hungry.... If wearing of feather-fans should come up again, it might much increase the trade of plumage from Barbary.

It would appear from the above quotation that ostrich-feathers have been a fluttering element of ladies fashion for many generations now; while among the many creatures discussed in Browne's encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica a chapter is devoted to the ostrich which debates upon the common misapprehension, 'That the ostrich digesteth iron'. (Bk 3: Ch.22)

Browne's study of bird-life in Norfolk was extensive enough to assist with notes, descriptions and illustrations of various birds to John Ray (1627-1705) and Francis Willoughby (1635-72) for the first definitive work upon British birds entitled Ornithologia (first published in London 1678). A copy of it is listed as once in Browne's library. (1711 Catalogue p.18 no.33)

Evidence that Browne was familiar with the gentleman's sport of Falconry exists in the form of a short surviving tract on hawks and falconry (Tract V). In Religio Medici he uses imagery associated with falconry terms:

thus I teach my haggard and unreclaimed reason to stoop unto the lure of faith ( R.M. 1:10)

It's also in Religio Medici that an extraordinary example of cosmic avian symbolism occurs - a likening of the act of incubation to the Creation:

This is that gentle heat that brooded on the waters, and in six days hatched the world; (R.M.I:32)

Thoughts on birds and perhaps upon alchemy also, preoccupied Browne's mind late in his life, when compiling Museum Clausum, an inventory of imaginary or lost, books, pictures and objects which includes the curio-

A large Ostrich's Egg, whereon is neatly and fully wrought that famous battle of Alcazar, in which three Kings lost their lives.

The battle in which three Kings lost their lives refers to the historical battle of Alcazar, Northern Morocco, in 1578 when Portugal and a large Ottoman Army fought against the Moroccans.

But it's also possible to interpret this image as an allusion to the operations of an alchemist working in his 'elaboratory', for the apparatus capable of acid-dissolving in it 'stomach' was nick-named, 'the ostrich' by alchemists. Although only the egg of an ostrich is named here, the egg itself was also a common symbol in alchemy, representing death and re-birth. Far less tenuous is the fact that the three substances believed to be the foundation of all life by alchemists, namely Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, were alluded to in alchemical tracts as none other than three Kings.

The alchemist in his 'elaboratory' witnessed the 'death' and 'rebirth' of substances. The substance of mercury or 'quicksilver' as it was sometimes known, 'quick' signifying its 'living' qualities as a liquid metal, in particular, fascinated alchemists.

Doubts that Browne was only peripherally involved in laboratory alchemy evaporate in his confession in Religio Medici-

I have often beheld as a miracle, that artificial resurrection and revivification of Mercury, how being mortified into thousand shapes it assumes again its own, and returns into its numerical self. (R.M. Part 1:48)

But perhaps the real alchemy here is none other than Browne's selection and conjoining of an unusual artifact to an historical event; for both object and event share the provenance of North Africa. Browne displays a witty and refined aesthetic sensibility in his conjuring of a neat and fully wrought delineation of a battle upon an egg! He is after all, the aesthete who openly confessed-

I can look a whole day upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an Horse. (R.M.Part 2:9)

An example of American Masonic Folk Art, a finely incised Ostrich Egg commemorating George Washington. (1852)

Underwater

A long-time  resident Shubunkin  of the Aquarium; sadly recently gone.

The city of Norwich has historically the distinction of association with two Christian mystics. Both Dame Julian and Sir Thomas Browne's writings includes imagery of the submarine, that is, life at the bottom of the sea, perhaps because of the close proximity of the North Sea.

Julian’s spiritual meditations in her Revelations of Divine Love lead her to the seabed-

On another occasion I was led in imagination down on to the sea-bed, and there I saw green hills and valleys looking as though they were moss-covered, with sea-weed and sand.

Browne’s underwater image occurs in his inventory of lost and imaginary books, pictures and objects Museum Clausum (c.1675) which includes-

9. A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea, with many sorts of Algae, Fucus, Quercus, Polyonum, Gramens and others not yet described.

Such matching pieces of imagery could excite a student of comparative religious literature. However, this coincidence of imagery may simply be the result of both Julian and Sir Thomas having a complete knowledge of the Bible.

Julian’s seabed image, which is only in the Long Text, is probably inspired from Scripture; submarine imagery occurs in the Book of Jonah when Jonah is on the seabed, wrapped in seaweed, and in the Psalm which he cites while there; even at the bottom of the seabed God is with Jonah.