'Above Atlas his Shoulders' -Thomas Browne's Worldview

The English doctor-philosopher and literary figure Thomas Browne (1605-1682) held a unique understanding and view of the world which is rewarding to explore through the perspective of geography.

Its in Religio Medici  or ‘The Religion of a Doctor’ (1643) that Thomas Browne describes himself as a  microcosm or little world, as well as informing his reader that he possessed a globe.

‘the world that I regard is myself. It is the microcosm of my own frame that I cast my eye upon. For the other I use it but like my globe and turn it round sometimes for my recreation. Men that look upon my outside, perusing only my condition and fortunes do err in my altitude. For I am above Atlas his shoulders’. [1]

By saying he is 'above Atlas' Browne implies that as a microcosm or little world he has transcended the burden of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.  

The large-scale sculpture known as the Farnese Atlas (header photo) dating from the second century of the Common Era depicts Atlas's fate. In the Greek myth of Atlas, the giant is condemned by the gods to hold a globe—sometimes celestial, sometimes terrestrial—on his shoulders for eternity. 

During Browne’s era globes were sold in pairs: one showing the earth, the other of the heavens. The mapping of the night sky was far more detailed and accurate than the rough depictions of remote and little-known regions of Earth. 

The ancient Greek Strabo (64 or 63 BC – c. 24 AD) was the author of a vast work on geography. Written during the early Roman Empire, Strabo's encyclopaedic work consists of political, economic, social, cultural, and geographic descriptions. Its  the only surviving ancient text to describe the entire inhabited world known to the Roman world.  In Strabo's map of the  world the British Isles can be seen. (above) [2] 

Also listed as once in Browne’s library is Gerard Mercator’s epic world map of 1569. (below) [3]  Mercator's projection laid out the globe as a flattened version of a cylinder. His map, with its Mercator projection, was designed to help sailors navigate around the globe using its longitude meridian lines to plot a straight route. It was Dutch map-making and cartography which was crucial for Dutch explorers. 

Following their independence from Spanish rule in 1588 the newly formed Dutch Republic grew prosperous and expanded with overseas territory, notably in the East Indies. The Northern European port of Amsterdam became one of Europe’s busiest trading centres and superseded Venice as an importing and exporting  port in the 17th century. Just as during the Middle Ages the sea port of Venice was a major European trading centre with its network of canals used to convey and store imported goods to merchant’s storehouses from the Near East, so too Amsterdam with its man-made network of canals became the predominant sea and trading port in the 17th century. 

The 16th/ 17th centuries were an era of great exploration and discovery, notably through adventurers such as Olivier van Noort the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world -  Willem Schouten the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean , Cornelis de Houtman, who explored the East Indies -  Willem Janszoon  the first European to  see the coast of Australia in 1606 and Cornelis Nay, explorer of the Arctic - The most notable Dutch explorer of the 17th century was Abel Tasman  the first European to discover New Zealand and Fiji. The Dutch also made important contributions to horticulture, land reclamation, and art throughout the 17th century. 

  

Dutch engraver Pieter van den Keere’s 12 sheet map of 1611 (above) was wall mounted. Its border shows 14 cities and the rulers of seven nations. Stylized pairs of figures in the national costume of national cultures are also depicted on it. 

Its often said that the 16th/17th centuries were advanced through three driving inventions- Printing , the Mariner’s Compass and Gunpowder, each of which transformed the lives of many in this era. 

Thomas Browne’s own life spanned not only the Dutch 'Golden Age' but also England’s most traumatic century. Born weeks before the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, he lived through the events of the English Civil war, the execution of King Charles, the Commonwealth of Cromwell, the subsequent Restoration of Monarchy, the Great plague of 1665 and the Fire of London in 1666. 

From his residence for an academic year in Montpellier in France, Padua in Italy and Leyden in Holland Browne acquired a privileged education and an appreciation of other cultures. His celebrated tolerance adhered to the maxim of ‘when in Rome do as the Romans’ as regards cuisine and food, as he frankly tells his reader -

‘I wonder not at the French for their dishes of frogs and toadstools, nor at the Jew for locusts and grasshoppers but being amongst them make them my common viands. And I find they agree with my stomach as well as theirs.’ [4]

Of greater importance Browne also recognised a major cause of hatred, one which remains so to the present day, that of nationalism. Nationalism, if zealous, encourages those who, purely from an accident of birth to consider their own nation to be the World’s best, and to dislike or even hate other Nationalities, often without having ever visited or even met anyone from the country which they hate. Browne’s continental education inoculated him against this prejudice, as he informs us-

‘I find not in me those common antipathies I discover in others. Those national repugnances do not touch me, nor do I behold with prejudice, the French, Italian, Spaniard or Dutch. But where I find their actions in balance with my countrymen, I honour love and embrace them to the same degree. All places, all airs are unto me one country, I am in England everywhere under any meridian’. [5]

Browne was able to give full expression to his interest in world geography, culture and customs in his subsequent work, the groundbreaking Pseudodoxia Epidemica which was first published in 1646. Its Latin title might loosely be translated as 'Pandemic of fake news'. Pseudodoxia is a pioneering work  and firmly in the vanguard of the early Scientific Revolution. Consisting in total  of over 200,000 words,  its sixth book addresses queries historical and geographical.  He points out that the terms East and West are dependent on where exactly one is located in the world and informs his reader on the botany and zoology of America. He also reveals an uncommon knowledge of cartography in discourse on the number of mouths of the Egyptian river Nile -   

'Ptolomy an Egyptian, and born at the Pelusian mouth of Nile, in his Geography maketh nine: and in the third Map of Africa, hath unto their mouths prefixed their several names; ..... wherein notwithstanding there are no less then three different names from those delivered by Pliny. ....Lastly, Whatever was or is their number, the contrivers of Cards and Maps afford us no assurance or constant description therein. For whereas Ptolomy hath set forth nine, Hondius in his Map of Africa, makes but eight, and in that of Europe ten. Ortelius in the Map of the Turkish Empire, setteth down eight, in that of Egypt eleven; and Maginus in his Map of that Country hath observed the same number. And if we enquire farther, we shall find the same diversity and discord in divers others'. [6]

Other prejudices which persist to this day are also tackled in Pseudodoxia - why do some people differ in the colour of their skin, why does the skin-pigmentation of American natives differ from African natives, as well as the thorny question- why does the religious prejudice of antisemitism persist ? He also recognised that what is considered to be beautiful in facial appearance and body decoration differs enormously between world cultures, stating-  

'Thus flat noses seem comely unto the Moore, an Aquiline or hawked one unto the Persian, a large and prominent nose unto the Romane; but none of all these are acceptable in our opinion. Thus some think it most ornamentall to wear their Bracelets on their Wrests, others say it is better to have them about their Ancles; some think it most comely to wear their Rings and Jewels in the Ear, others will have them about their Privities; a third will not think they are compleat except they hang them in their lips, cheeks or noses'.  [7]

One of the best gateways to understanding of a different culture is through learning its language. The Reverend Whitefoot, who was Browne’s lifelong friend, informs us that his friend was familiar with all the languages printed in Hutter’s polyglot New Testament of 1599. Hutter’s New Testament (above) includes the languages of Syrian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, Bohemian, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Danish and Polish. These 12 languages are printed in side-by-side-columns of 3 languages per page. Hutter’s polyglot Bible encouraged Christians to read and study the Hebrew language. Browne’s own interest in Hebrew was instrumental in his study of the esoteric lore of the Kabbalah. [8] 

With his deep interest in languages Browne was well-equipped to introduce badly needed new words, often of a scientific nature into English language. Although its not quite a foreign language he also took an interest in the peculiarities of the Norfolk dialect and noted these words to be in common use in Norfolk such as Bunny,   Mawther, Kedge, Seele, Straft, Matchly, Dere, Nicked, Gadwhacking Stingy,  Sap, Cothish, Thokish, and Paxwax. Strong traces of the Dutch tongue can be heard in Norfolk dialect to the present day.

Perhaps the most accessible of Browne’s works is his shortest work, A Letter to a Friend which was written as a bereavement consolation following the premature death of the English poet Richard Lovelace (1617-57) (above). A Letter to a Friend features numerous medical case-histories and opens with the demographic calculation that in the whole world ‘there dieth one thousand an hour’. 

Browne was aware that geographic locations can affect people psychologically and he's credited as the first to identify the psychopathology of what is known today as Paris syndrome. 

Paris syndrome has been described as a severe form of culture shock and a sense of extreme disappointment experienced by only a handful per million when visiting Paris and is believed to be caused by factors such as language barrier, cultural differences, exhaustion and above all else, idealization. 

With his deep interest in unusual psychic phenomena and introduction of the words  'pathology' and 'hallucination' into the English language, Thomas Browne was well qualified to identify the phenomena of Paris syndrome. Within the following paragraph he names ten geographic locations, defines the ozone-rich air of East Anglia as 'Aerial Nitre', introduces the word 'migrant' into English and advises against 'infirm heads' that is, impressionable minds from visiting Venice or Paris. 

‘He was fruitlessly put in hope of advantage by change of Air, and imbibing the pure Aerial Nitre of these Parts; …..He is happily seated who lives in Places whose Air, Earth, and Water, promote not the Infirmities of his weaker Parts, …..He that is weak-legg'd must not be in Love with Rome, nor an infirm Head with Venice or Paris. Death hath not only particular Stars in Heaven, but malevolent Places on Earth,…..in which Concern, passager and migrant Birds have the great Advantages; who are naturally constituted for distant Habitations, whom no Seas nor Places limit, but in their appointed Seasons will visit us from Greenland and Mount Atlas, and as some think, even from the Antipodes. [9]

Browne’s speculation on the migration routes of birds is a reminder of his keen interest in feathered creatures. At one time of another he kept an owl, a cormorant, a kestrel and an eagle. He's also credited with introducing the word 'incubation' into English. It was in his lifetime that one of the first recorded extinctions of a species of bird occurred.

 

The first recorded mention of the flightless bird known as the dodo was in 1598 by Dutch sailors when they discovered Mauritius, a small island near Madagascar which was a useful stopping-off point for Dutch sailors en route to the East Indies. Because the Dodo is a flightless it was easily captured by hungry sailors. Browne’s contemporary the Royalist politician, Sir Hamon L’Estrange of Hunstanton in Norfolk wrote of a dodo he saw exhibited  in London in 1638. 

‘About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a strange fowl hung out upon a cloth canvas, and myself, with one or two more then in company, went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber, and was somewhat bigger than the largest turkey-cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker, and of a more erect shape, coloured before like the breast of a young cock-fesan, and on the back of a dunne or deare colour. The keeper called it a dodo; and in the end of a chimney in the chamber there lay a heap of large pebble-stones, whereof he gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs; and the keeper told us she eats them (conducing to digestion); and though I  remember not how far the keeper was questioned therein, yet I am confident that afterwards she cast them all again.

 The last recorded sighting of a dodo was in 1662. The bird was immortalized by Lewis Carroll in his ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ The character of the dodo is believed to be inspired by a specimen of a dodo exhibited in the Oxford University Museum which Carroll frequently visited.

Exploring world cultures can be enriched through collecting artifacts from near and far, whether it's treasures gathered during travels or acquired locally. In an era long before photography, those with means could hire artists to capture the essence of these treasured possessions, preserving memories of exotic journeys and far-off lands. 

Sir Robert Paston of Oxnead Hall, near Alysham commissioned an unknown Dutch artist to paint a selected fraction of his collection of art-objects, some of which were acquired when his father visited Jerusalem and Cairo. Dating from circa 1665 The Paston Treasure (above) has a Multi-layered narrative, its simultaneously, a record of the Robert Paston’s collection, a Vanitas painting and a microcosm of the world in the 17th century, as hinted by the prominent position of a globe. Browne would have seen this painting when visiting the Paston’s and given that in Religio Medici he confesses,  'I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an horse’ he would  without doubt delighted in viewing it. 

The world’s continents are represented in The Paston Treasure by - a packet of tobacco from America, a boy and parrot from Africa, and a porcelain dish from Asia. Sculptures and gems, gold, silver and enamel, as well as music instruments of a bass viol, sackbut, violin and lute can also be seen. The peaches, grapes and oranges, along with lobster, suggest a luxurious lifestyle. 

The Paston Treasure also expresses a moral warning -  life has sudden, unexpected disturbances - the servant is disrupted from his duties by a monkey which has jumped onto his shoulder, the young girl is interrupted from her singing by a parrot alighting on the music she’s reading.. In recent years The Paston Treasure has been restored, exhibited in America and studied in depth by the art-historian Spike Bucklow in his excellent, insightful book. Today, it can be seen in Norwich Castle Museum.

Its only in recent decades that topics such as alchemy and the esoteric in general have been taken seriously by academics. Spike Bucklow is the first in over three and a half centuries to identify that The Paston Treasure displays a mounted shell cup (above) with a very clear image of Atalanta in the act of running. Bucklow notes, 'It is as if Sir Robert had put this shell in the painting to draw attention to a book that guided his alchemical journey', the book in question being Michael Maier's alchemical work Atalanta Fugiens (1617). [10]

One unique feature of Browne’s prose is his usage of geographical places and historical persons as symbols. For example he describes the difficulties in his compiling an encyclopaedia, as, 'oft-times fain to wander in the America and untravelled parts of truth'. Geographical place name symbols along with historical persons symbols can be found in Browne’s  philosophical work, the two-in-one diptych discourses of 1658, Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus. 

These two 17th century images, the Nigredo stage of the alchemical operation (left)  and 'The Garden of Mathematical Delights'( right) both from books once in Browne's library, are I believe, excellent visual representations of the thematic concerns and mood music of each respective discourse. (Click on picture to enlarge). 

The melancholic, Grave and Saturnine meditations upon human suffering in Urn-Burial are ‘answered’ by the Mercurial Garden delights of Cyrus. A multiplicity of opposition or polarities occur in Browne’s literary diptych, in  their respective themes, imagery, truth and literary style. Urn-Burial opens 'in the deep discovery of the subterranean world' and concerns itself with the oblivion of Time, in complete contrast The Garden of Cyrus concerns itself with Space and opens with ‘shooting rays and diffused light’ of the Creation before continuing in speculation on the geographical location of the Garden of Eden.  [11]

In Browne’s geographical symbolism America invariably symbolizes the new, the unknown and exotic.  In contrast the proper place name of Persia is used as a symbol of magic and esoteric wisdom. These two geographical symbols are juxtaposed in a startling way at the conclusion of The Garden of Cyrus - in doing Browne highlights how Humankind’s collective consciousness ebbs and flows between those who are waking up and conscious while others fall asleep and are unconscious.

‘The huntsmen are up in America and they are already past their first sleep in Persia'.

But perhaps the most famous example of Browne’s geographical symbolism occurs in Religio Medici,  where he inspirationally declares – ‘We carry within us, the wonders we seek without us.There is all Africa and her prodigies in us’. [12]  

The psychologist Carl Jung when hearing this quote while visiting Kenya, East Africa,  was impressed and immediately made note of it. Actually there’s a fascinating relationship between the famous Swiss psychologist Jung to Browne, both were doctors interested in  the interpretation of dreams, both read esoteric authors and both were interested in the geography of the mind, and mapping of the psyche’s contents. [13]

Together, Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus are Browne’s great work of psychology. Historical personages are employed by him as symbols in order to illustrate archetypes, that is, the first, original forms of the psyche as envisioned by Plato and Hermetic philosophers. Browne’s proto-psychology  attempts in Cyrus to delineate the archetype of the wise ruler through historical name symbolism, mentioning Moses, Solomon, Abraham, Alexandria the Great and the titular Cyrus as exemplars of the wise ruler. Women aren’t overlooked in his proto-psychology, the archetype of the 'Great Mother' is sketched through inclusion of the nurturing Old Testament matriarch Sarah, the Roman goddess Juno and the Egyptian goddess Isis.   

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With the colonization of South America by the Spanish and Portuguese in the seventeenth century, as well as European migration to North America, along with the opening of trading routes to the East Indies and China, an abundance of published reports upon exotic flora and fauna became available to the physician. Tobacco and the potato were early exports from America  to Europe throughout the 17th century.

It was the Swiss alchemist-physician Paracelsus (above) who encouraged his fellow physicians to experiment with substances from the vegetable, mineral and animal kingdoms in order to discover new medicines and new cures. We can be confident that Doctor Browne of Norwich was a committed follower of Paracelsus (1493-1541), not only are the 'Luther of Medicine''s bulky writings listed as once in his vast library but the very word used by Paracelsus to describe his distinctive kind of medical alchemy, known as spa-gyric ( meaning to separate and conjoin) can be seen inscribed upon Browne's coffin-plate, one half of which survives on display at Saint Peter Mancroft. The distinguished Canadian physician Sir William Osler (1849-1919) who was a great admirer of Browne commissioned a replica of this brass Coffin-plate. It can be seen at the Norfolk and Norwich Sir Thomas Browne Medical Library. [14]

 

A great example of Browne’s following Paracelsian medicine occurs in his assessment of so-called Peruvian Bark, the source of the drug known  today as Quinine.

A Jesuit priest is credited as among the first to observe that the Inca people use a diffusion of the bark from the cinchona tree to ease the symptoms of malaria. Indeed the original Inca word for the cinchona tree bark, 'quina' or 'quina-quina'  which roughly translates as 'bark of bark' or 'holy bark'. In 1638, the wife of a Peruvian viceroy used the bark to relieve her fever-induced symptoms during the onset of malaria. Her remedy was called a 'miracle cure'. By 1658 an English newspaper advertised -  'The excellent powder known by the name of 'Jesuits' powder' may be obtained from several London chemists'. 

Although Peruvian Bark was hailed as a successful medicine for malaria due to religious prejudice it was not officially recognised in England until 1677. Because it was known as 'Jesuits' Powder' it was tainted with associated with Catholicism. Even among the educated such as King Charles the Second, who took an active interest in the new scientific enquiry advanced by the Royal Society, was suspicious of 'Jesuit's Powder' because of its presumed association with Catholicism. However when the King suffered from a malarial fever he consulted a Mr Robert Talbor who was obliged to give the King the bitter bark decoction in great secrecy. The treatment completely relieved King Charles from malarial fever and he rewarded Talbor handsomely with a lifetimes membership of the newly-formed Royal Society. 

Several 17th century English physicians were interested in reports of the healing qualities of Peruvian Bark, especially those who lived in regions prone to the spread of malaria; East Anglia with its marshes, broads, large tracts of low-laying land and slow-flowing, stagnant stretches of water was an ideal habitat for the spread of the insect-borne virus. 

In correspondence to his youngest son nicknamed ‘Honest Tom’  Browne requested of him - 

'When you are at Cales, see if you can get a box of the Jesuits' powder at easier rate, and bring it in the bark, not in powder'. [15]

Browne’s request to obtain Jesuits' powder from a Continental source and not from London suggests he knew that the thriving trade in Peruvian Bark was vulnerable to dilution by apothecaries. His insistence on bark and not powder also suggests he was familiar with Peruvian Bark's composition. His assessment of Peruvian bark in an undated letter is considered one of the most detailed in British medical history-

Another new substance introduced to Europe, in this case through trade with China, was the root known as Ginseng.

  

Because the shape of the fleshy Ginseng root resembles the torso and limbs of a human, all kinds of medical and healing properties have been attributed to it. Widely cultivated in China for centuries Ginseng is used in Chinese medicine as a muscle relaxant.  In correspondence to his eldest son Edward, Dr. Browne wrote-

Deare Sonne, - You did well to observe Ginseng. All exotick rarities, especially of the east, the East India trade having encreased, are brought in England, and the profitt made therof. Of this plant Kircherus writeth in his China illustrata. [16] Today ginseng is scientifically recognised for its anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant properties

Throughout the 1650s and 1660s England found itself embroiled in conflict with the newly-emerging economic power and global trade of the Dutch Republic. British resentment towards the newly emerging European power is perceptively articulated by the art-historian Simon Schama, who noted of Johan De Witt, the chief negotiator for the peace treaty of the Second Anglo-Dutch War -

‘British enmity, on the other hand, he knew to be chronic and rooted in the very nature of the Republic’s existence, or at least  its prosperity. The problem, he supposed in common with many of his compatriots, was that, in matters of trade, the British were poor losers. Unable to match the Dutch in resourcefulness, industry, or technical ingenuity, they were prepared to bludgeon their way to wealth by the assertion of deliberately bellicose principles and by interfering with the freedom of trade. Peevish envy had turned them into a gang of unscrupulous ruffians who would stop at nothing to burglarize the Dutch warehouse, pretending all the time that some cherished issue of sovereignty had been infringed. [17] 

One of Browne’s greatest personal tragedies was hearing from the British Admiralty that his son Midshipman Thomas, ‘Honest Tom’ had been lost in action and presumed dead aged 21. 

A solitary piece by Browne, written for the entertainment of young Midshipman Tom survives. 'The Sea-battle’ is a vivid narration of an ancient world Sea-battle. Written in Latin its conclusion is a valuable insight on a primary cause of war. 

'The cause of this war was that of all wars, excess of prosperity. As wealth arises spirits rise, and lust and greed of power appear; thence men lose theiir sense of moderation, look with distaste on the prosperity of others, revolve disquiet in their mind, and throw overall settlement, for fear lest their enemies’ wealth be firmly established, they put their own to risk; and finally (as happens in human affairs) fall into slavery when they seek to impose it, and earnestly courting good fortune, experience disaster.' [18]

In his old age Browne seems to have taken an even greater interest in traveller’s accounts of exotic locations and newly discovered lands. Its testimony to his eldest daughter Elizabeth’s education, patience and devotion that her father recorded the following in his Commonplace notebooks –

‘Books which my daughter Elizabeth hath read unto me at nights till she read them all out -All the Turkish historie - All the history of China - All the travels  of Olerarius and Mandelslo -All the travels of Taverniere - All the Travels of Petrus della valle - All the travels of Vincent Le Blanc -All Sandys his travels  - All the travels of Pinto - All the travels of Gage - -All the history of Naples -All the history of Venice - Some hundreds of sermons. Many other Books, Treatises, discourses of several kinds. [19]

But perhaps the traveller Dr. Browne took the greatest interest in was his eldest son, Edward Browne (1644-1708). In 1668 Edward made a tour of Holland and Germany visiting museums, libraries, and churches. When later based in Vienna he made three long journeys, one to the mines of Hungary, one to Thessaly, another into Styria and Carinthia. Wherever Edward Browne travelled he acted as the dutiful eyes and ears of his father, who instructed him with advice such as- 

'Take notice of the various Animals, of places, beasts, fowles, & fishes; what the Danube affordeth, what depth, if conveniency offers, of mines, minerall works, Beside naturall things you may enquire into politicall & the government & state & subsistence of citties, townes & countries… observe how the Dutch make defences agaynst sea inundations…' [20] 

Also included among the travel books in Browne’s vast library is Thomas Fuller’s guide to the sights and places of the holy land of Palestine.  Fuller's book A Pis-pah Sight was important in its day and includes a detailed account of the geography and history of Palestine. Incidentally, it was Thomas Fuller in his Worthies of England who described the Norwich of Browne's day to be, 'either a city in an orchard, or an orchard in a city, so equal are houses and trees blended in it'. [21]

Another noteworthy geography book  once in Browne’s library is Athanasius Kircher’s China Illustrata. Dating from 1665 China illustrata was printed in Amsterdam. A work of encyclopaedic breadth, it included accurate maps as well as mythical creatures. It drew heavily on reports by Jesuit missionaries who worked in China. Kircher’s book remained the most informative source on China for over two centuries. [22]

In the above illustration Chinese botany and horticulture, costume and customs, along with architecture, are all faithfully recorded from an eyewitness account of a social gathering, a feast upon giant jackfruit.

It may well have been while turning his globe round sometime for his recreation that Browne was inspi to pen his ‘Prophecy concerning the future State of Several Nations’ . It was written after the Pandemic of Bubonic plague and the Great Fire of London in 1666 in which an estimated one hundred thousand people perished, some twenty percent of London’s entire population perished. In all probability it was inspired after he was shown a copy of the French doctor Nostradamus’s prophecies, the first translation  English into English in 1672. 

In his doggerel verse and parody of Nostradamus’s barely intelligible prophecies Browne makes some astounding predictions, which are based upon nothing more than the solid combination of rational conjecture and a deep knowledge of geography and history. In one of its seven rhyming couplets Browne questions the morality of the growing Slave-trade, long before its eventual abolition –

'When Africa shall no longer sell out its Blacks/to be Slaves and drudges to the American Tracts'. 

At a time when it was only a fledgling colony, Browne predicted that one day America would become Europe’s economic equal -

'When the New World shall the old invade/ nor count them their Lords but their Fellows in Trade'.

Remarkably, he also 'predicted’ that America would one day become a Nation which pursued happiness and engage in economic protectionism. 

'When America shall cease to send out its treasure/but employ it instead in American Pleasure’.  [23]

Browne's miscellaneous tract known as Museum Clausum his solitary work of fiction, an inventory of lost, rumoured and imaginary books, pictures and objects, also includes geographical speculations.  In the 16th century, the voyage of Hanno saw increased scholarly interest in an age when European exploration and navigation were flourishing. Already then, the extent of Hanno's voyage was debated. Browne makes mention of the explorer Hanno in Museum Clausum thus -

'A learned Comment upon the Periplus of Hanno the Carthaginian, or his Navigation upon the Western Coast of Africa, with the several places he landed at; what Colonies he settled, what Ships were scattered from his Fleet near the Equinoctial Line, which were not afterward heard of, and which probably fell into the Trade Winds, and were carried over into the Coast of America'. [24]

In all probability its through his friendship with the Icelandic Lutheran minister Theodor Johannsson that Browne also includes in Museum Clausum  - 

'A Snow Piece, of Land and Trees covered with Snow and Ice, and Mountains of Ice floating in the Sea, with Bears, Seals, Foxes, and variety of rare Fowls upon them'. [25]

Browne’s view of the world's future  was one which was, ‘not like to envy those that shall live in the next, much less three or four hundred Years hence, when no Man can comfortably imagine what Face this World will carry: [26]

He was aware of several disastrous scenarios which threaten life on Earth and knew that an increase in global traffic has medical implications, stating in A Letter to  a Friend- ‘New Discoveries of the Earth discover new Diseases'. He knew of  the threat of asteroids from outer Space impacting Earth, and wrote of ‘a mighty stone falling from the clouds which antiquity could believe Anaxagoras was able to foretell half a year before’. [27] And also made the sombre cosmological observation that - 'The created world is but a small parenthesis in Eternity.’ [28]

Before revealing what is arguably one of Browne’s greatest linguistic contributions to our modern age, its worthwhile remembering that while today he’s often promoted for his scientific profile, Browne’s worldview in essence was a synthesis of a deeply held Christian faith, adherence to hermetic philosophy and scientific empirical enquiry. There’s far greater value in reading Browne today for his moral, psychological, and spiritual insights than his 'occular observation' of the natural world.  As a doctor, it’s the geography of the mind which interests him most. He would with little doubt whole-heartedly agreed with Carl Jung’s assertion that- ‘Science and technology have indeed conquered the world, but whether the psyche has gained anything is another matter'. [29]

The Garden of Cyrus (1658) has a frontispiece ‘borrowed’ from a book by one of Browne's favourite authors, the Italian polymath Giambattista Della Porta (1535-1615). Its Latin quotation reads, ‘What is more beautiful than the Quincunx, which, no matter how you view it, present straight lines’. 

The full running title of The Garden of Cyrus includes what is one of Browne’s greatest neologisms, one which is highly relevant to our modern age, that of ‘Network.’ He probably encountered the word ‘network’ from reading of the Bible where its used to describe the decorative and structural design of Solomon’s temple. What is certain is that Browne was the first to write about net-like or reticulated structures in subjects as diverse as art, architecture, metalwork, botany, marine life and anatomy, in order to illustrate his concept. It’s a word which underscores his hermetic belief in the interconnectivity of  all life-forms in the world.  In the 19th century usage of the word ‘network’ gathered steam  after the new railway routes of England were described as a network. Today in our increasingly inter-connected world the word ‘Network’, with its strong geographical associations, has expanded to include social, transport, communication and technological meanings. 

Here in Norwich today we can take pride in the fact that it was once the home of a polymath mind who observed and wrote of Networks, introducing it, among many others into English language. The word Network is exemplary, not only of Sir Thomas Browne’s contribution to scientific vocabulary but also his mystical ‘Above Atlas’  worldview.

Notes

This is a revised version of a talk centred upon Thomas Browne's view of the world through the perspective of geography  which was delivered on October 21st 2025 on behalf of the Norfolk Heritage Centre.

[1]  Religio Medici Part 1 Section 11 

(The academic C.A. Patrides also used the the phrase 'Above Atlas his shoulders' as the title for his excellent introduction to Browne's major works for  Penguin publications in 1977). 

[2] Strabo 17 books of Geography ed. Isaac Casaubon Paris 1620. 1711 Sales Catalogue page 7 no.55

[3] Sales Catalogue 5 no. 1, 2 

[4] Religio Medici Part 2 Section 1

[5] Ibid.

[6] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 6 On the River Nile

[7] Pseudodoxia Epidemica  Book  6 chapter 11

[8]  On Browne and the Kabbalah

[9] A Letter to a Friend

[10] The Paston Treasure - Spike Bucklow

[11] Nigredo (left) from Theatrum Chemicum Sales Catalogue  Page 25 no. 124 and  (right) Bettini Fucaria & Auctaria ad Apiria Philosophiae Mathematicae  S.c. page 28. no. 16

[12] Religio Medici Part 1 : 15

[13]  See Carl Jung and Sir Thomas Browne

[14] Paracelsus Opera S. C. page 22 no. 118

[15] Domestic Correspondence edited Keynes

[16] Ibid.

[17] Simon Schama  -The Embarrassment of Riches

[18] Miscellaneous Writings ed. Keynes

[19] Ibid.

[20] Edward Browne's travels are the subject of recent academic study by Anna Wyatt (See the excellent monograph 'wide excusions' by Anna Wyatt) which also stresses that Browne's daughters made no small contributions in assisting their father. 

[21]  Thomas Fuller's A Pisgah-sight, with maps  1650. 1711 Sales Catalogue p. 45  no. 73  

[22] China Illustrata  Amsterdam 1667 S. C . page 8 no. 93

[23]  Quotes from 'A Prophecy' Miscellaneous Tract 12

[24] Miscellaneous Tract 13

[25] Ibid

[26] A Letter to a Friend

[27] Museum Clausum

[28] Christian Morals Part 3 Section 29

[29] C.G. Jung - Collected Works vol. 10 'Civilization in Transition'.

 

'A paradise of books' - Dr. Browne's library

In 1671 King Charles II visited Norwich. Accompanying him was the Courtier John Evelyn who wrote in his diary-

'My Lord Henry Howard coming this night to visit my Lord Chamberlain, and staying a day, would needs have me go with him to Norwich, I was not hard to be persuaded to, having a desire to see that famous scholar and physician, Dr. T. Browne, author of the "Religio Medici" and "Vulgar Errors," now lately knighted. 

Evelyn continues - Next morning, I went to see Sir Thomas Browne (with whom I had some time corresponded by letter, though I had never seen him before); his whole house and garden being a paradise and cabinet of rarities; and that of the best collection, especially medals, books, plants, and natural things.

John Evelyn’s description of Thomas Browne’s house as ‘a paradise and cabinet of rarities’ supplies us with clues to the contents of Browne’s Haymarket home. 

A mid-19th century sketch of Browne’s Haymarket home (above) which he moved into around 1650, having previously lived in Tombland since his arrival in Norwich in 1637.  There certainly looks as if there’s plenty of room to store approximately one and a half thousand books collected over forty years.

Even Browne's garden house or shed seems stately and indicative of his wealth. It stood until as late as 1962 when it was demolished for new shops, roughly where the Lamb Inn and what is now Primark stands.

Another 19th century sketch depicts Browne’s parlour. Embedded in its  fireplace are two yellow onyx stones and the Biblical verse ‘O God arise and scattereth our enemies’ inscribed upon it. The fireplace still survives, over the years it has alternated between being displayed at Norwich Castle Museum and then stored and forgotten about at the Rural Museum of Gressenhall. The ornate stucco ceiling is thought to be in storage with Norwich City Council, although it too may be either lost or its whereabouts forgotten.

Browne's notebooks includes verse inspired by a painting once in his parlour by Peter Paul Rubens. It depicts Saint Paul and Barnabas mistaken as the gods Jupiter and Mercury, visiting humble cottage dwellers.  In its foreground a fattened goose is caught ready for an offering to the visitors. Rubens' painting celebrates the virtue of hospitality and its greater Christian tributary Charity; as such it informs those visiting the family home of their deeply-held Christian values. 

In correspondence to his father Edward mentions another painting once in the family home which depicts the Greek myth of the Fall of Icarus. Equally moralistic to Ruben’s painting, this time warning of the danger of carelessness in youth and the consequence of not heeding parental advice. The parlour painting may have resembled or even have been this Dutch painting dating from 1637. 

Browne’s collection of curios in all probability would have been exhibited within a single room and may have resembled this reconstruction of the Danish polymath Olaf Worm’s collection.  Browne's collection would have featured a display case of coins, various stuffed birds including a pelican, birds eggs, a swordfish's head, an elephant’s leg bone, part of a whale's skull and an ancient Egyptian statuette with magnetic properties.

Although his home, paintings and curios have long since vanished, there’s one document which gives us vital insights into Doctor Browne’s many interests, the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue which lists the contents of his library. It wasn't until 1986 however that a facsimile was published of it, edited by the American scholar Jeremiah Finch, ‘after many years in many libraries’. 

There’s a few caveats to be heeded before consulting the catalogue. First, it lists not only books once in Thomas Browne’s library, but also those owned by his eldest son Edward Browne (1644-1708).

Browne’s eldest son Edward (above) became President of the Royal College of Physicians. More adventurous, but less wide-ranging in his interests, Edward Browne’s books are mostly  those relating to his profession, along with French literature and travelogues. Edward Browne was himself a great traveller and the catalogue lists a 1699 publication in which he engagingly narrates his observations while travelling through Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly and Austria. We can also safely assume that any book listed in the Catalogue dated after 1682, the year of Thomas Browne’s death were purchased by Edward Browne.

Secondly, although the Catalogue advertises that books on sculpture and painting were to be sold, none arrived at the auction house for unknown reasons. Almost thirty years passed from Thomas Browne's death in 1682 until the auction and during that time, especially from 1708, the year of Edward Browne's death, until 1711, any number of people, servant, visitor or relative, especially Edward's son young Thomas, who met his death falling off his horse while intoxicated, may have slipped a book aside, especially one of the lavishly illustrated and costly books on sculpture or art. [1]

Nevertheless, the books listed as once in Dr. Browne’s library are extraordinary in diversity of their subject matter. Books on – anatomy, antiquities, Biblical scholarship, botany, cartography, chemistry, embryology, geography, history, law, English and continental literature, mineralogy, optics, ornithology, philology, philosophy, theology, travel and zoology as well as esoteric topics such as alchemy, astrology and the kabbalah are all listed as once in Browne's library. A high percentage of books listed are in Latin, the predominant language of academics throughout the Renaissance, as well as books in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Browne claimed that his first book Religio Medici was written without the assistance of any good book, however there’s one book which he consistently refers to throughout his psychological self-portrait, the Bible. One cannot under-estimate the enormous influence which the Bible wielded upon him in religion and spirituality. The King James Bible was first published in 1611 just when young Thomas had barely mastered his ABC. Its stately strophes, cadences and parallelisms greatly influenced his literary style, notably in certain passages of Urn-Burial. 

Any selection of books is bound to be subjective. For this introductory essay I’ve selected a few first on natural history, optics and astronomy and finally on alchemy, ancient Egypt and China. 

Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) is a vast work of over two hundred thousand words.  An enormous number of books are referenced in it, it many of which are listed in the catalogue.  

In the second of the seven books of Pseudodoxia Browne writes on magnetism and electricity, frequently referencing William Gilbert's influential book ‘On magnetism’ (1600). The frontispiece of Gilbert’s book (above) depicts a natural philosopher and a mariner, together they are united in the magnet which always points North. Used in navigation, the magnetic compass made  sea-faring, exploration and over-sea trade easier throughout the seventeenth century. [2]

The early English scientist Gilbert also experimented with static electricity in the form of Amber. Because amber is called elektron in Greek, and electrum in Latin, Gilbert decided to name the phenomenon of static by the adjective electricus. However, because Browne chose to write in English and not Latin as Gilbert, it’s the Norwich doctor who is credited with introducing the words ‘electrical’ and ‘electricity’ into English language. 

Thomas Muffett’s 'Theatre of Tiny Animals' is also consulted in Pseudodoxia Epidemica. Muffett (1533-1604) was an English naturalist and physician who supplemented material which he'd inherited from Edward Wooton and the Swiss naturalist Gesner for his book which was ready for publication by 1590. However, due to the expense of its wood-cut illustrations and a general lack of interest in natural science in England at the time, it wasn’t published until many years after his death, in 1634. [3]

The Italian naturalist Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566) is also referenced in Pseudodoxia. Rondelet was a professor of medicine at the University of Montpellier, one of the three Continental universities which Browne attended for his medical degree. In his book On Fishes (1544) Rondelet compared the swim bladders of freshwater and marine fish. Like other natural philosophers of his day, he made no distinction between fish and marine mammals such as seals and whales, or crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters. He  did however discover that humans share  certain anatomical similarities with dolphins. [4]

The most extensive work on birds in Browne’s day was by the  Italian naturalist Ulysees Aldrovandi (1522-1605). His Ornithologia (above) is a comprehensive study of birds, complete with detailed illustrations. Aldrovandi’s natural history books are well-represented in Browne's library and he himself was a keen bird fancier. At one time or another he kept an owl, a Golden Eagle, a cormorant, a Bittern and even an ostrich. His participation in the sport of falconry in particular points to his animal handling skills. It takes some ability to handle big birds such as  eagles. Some of the birds he kept were eventually dissected,  examined anatomically, cleaned and sent to a taxidermist.  The fate of this stuffed bird collection however was sealed when in 1667 Norwich's city council ordered its destruction, a precautionary measure to eliminate any potential harbingers of disease in the wake of the Plague which had recently decimated the City's population. [5]

Incidentally,  Browne is credited with introducing the word ‘incubation’ into English language.  Its also from his visiting local wetland habitats and repeated use of the phrase 'broad waters' in his Natural history notes that the geographical term 'Norfolk Broads' in all probability originates.

A number of books on optics, that is the scientific study of sight and the behaviour of light are listed in the catalogue, including the Belgian mathematician and physicist François Aiguilon’s 'Six Books of Optics, useful for philosophers and mathematicians alike'. 

Aiguilon's book is notable for containing the principles of stereographic projections. One of the most important uses of stereoscopic projection was in the representation of celestial charts which were increasingly necessary for accurate navigation, exploration and trade-routes, especially for the Dutch and British nations, the two rival Empire building sea-faring nations of the 17th century. 

Aguilon (1567-1617) commissioned the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens to illustrate his book. Throughout his study on optics Rubens depicts three cherubs who act as heavenly guides who reveal the properties of optical phenomena to the devout enquirer. [6]

The German polymath Athanasius Kircher’s book on optics 'The Great Art of Light and Shadow' was printed in 1646. Its frontispiece (above) depicts a personification of the sun, with the symbols of the zodiac covering his body, below him sits a double-headed eagle. On his right  a woman personifying the moon is covered in stars, below her sits two peacocks. Rays of light hit various lenses reflective of Kircher's optical discoveries. The frontispiece also depicts the hierarchy of Kircher's sources of knowledge in descending order of reliability.  At its top are sacred authority and reason, below are inferior forms of knowledge, the senses (aided by instruments) and profane authority. Kircher's book is significant for its inclusion of the first printed illustration of the planet Saturn. [7]

Optics held both a scientific and mystical dimension for Natural philosophers such as Browne. With its emphasis upon Light and Dark, the visible and invisible worlds and the deceptive nature of appearances optics easily lends itself to moral teachings.  Optical imagery is found in the sacred texts of all world religions, including Christianity notably in Saint Paul's famous imagery of 'seeing through a glass darkly'. 

In Browne’s lifetime which spanned the greater part of the 17th century,  two optical instruments were developed which fundamentally revolutionized understanding of the universe and the complexity of organic life, the  telescope and slightly later, the microscope.

The Italian astronomer Galileo's Duo Sistema mundo or two world systems features a dialogue between two characters who discuss and credibility of the long held Earth centred universe and the new Copernican theory of a Sun-centred Universe. Galileo’s book supported the Copernican or heliocentric view of the Universe and was a fundamental challenge to the authority of the Bible. Humanity, but especially the authority of the Church was undermined. Western consciousness had to face up to a painful truth,  perhaps Earth was not the centre of the Universe after all, our new cosmic address might simply be the third rock from the sun, itself one among thousands of new stars which the invention of the telescope now revealed. [8] 

At the conclusion of Religio Medici Browne seems reluctant to accept the Copernican sun-centred universe, declaring-  ‘there is no happiness under (or as Copernicus will have it, above) the Sun. Nevertheless, his copy of Galileo’s revolutionary work is a first edition from 1635. [9]

One astronomer in particular who has a close affinity to Browne’s scientific perspective is the German astronomer and mathematician, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).

A fruitful comparison can be made between Kepler to Browne. Kepler’s lifetime like Browne's spanned a watershed in scientific thought. Kepler augmented his rational inductive science and the astronomical discoveries of Galileo with Neoplatonic and Pythagorean ideas. His astronomical discoveries were as much structured upon precise mathematical calculation as deeply held theological beliefs and God-given revelation. 

Kepler’s scientific perspective, just like Browne’s, was a complex fusion of Christian awe of the Creation, precise scientific analysis, and concepts originating from the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Pythagoras.  Browne just like Kepler believed in two, quite contrasting sources of knowledge. In addition to natural forms of knowledge obtained through reason, hypothesis, deduction and experiment, he also believed in supernatural sources of knowledge such as astrology. While Kepler extolled the virtues of the number six in his study of snowflakes, the mysteries of the number five is explored in Browne’s Garden of Cyrus. Kepler is also credited with introducing the astrological and astronomical aspect of the Quincunx to denote planets 150 degrees apart. 

Kepler’s On the New Star in the Foot of the Serpent Handler (1606) reported on the new star which was observable in the night-sky from October 1604 to October 1605. The new star or supernova, now known as Kepler’s supernova, raised serious questions about the Creation,  such as whether the stars were truly fixed and whether the Universe was changeable, making it an important book in 17th century astronomy.  [10]  

Although its not listed in the Catalogue Browne must have perused the pages of the Polish astronomer Hevelius’ Atlas of the Moon  (above) to state-  

'And therefore the learned Hevelius in his accurate Selenography, or description of the Moon, hath well translated the known appellations of Regions, Seas and Mountains, unto the parts of that Luminary: and rather then use invented names or humane denominations, with witty congruity hath placed Mount Sinai, Taurus,… the Mediterranean Sea, Mauritania, Sicily, and Asia Minor in the Moon'. [11]

Helvius’s book may have been one of the books which somehow never made it to the auction house. Incidentally, the word ‘Selenography’ meaning the mapping of the moon’s lunar geography is recorded by the Oxford Dictionary as first used by Browne.

In his lifetime Browne witnessed the cataclysmic events of the English Civil war, the defeat of the Royalist cause, the subsequent execution of King Charles in 1649 and the establishment of the Protectorate and Commonwealth of Cromwell. During this proto-Republic period many Royalist supporters withdrew from society in order not to draw too much attention to themselves. Many retreated into a private world of reading or gardening or even simply whittled time away whittling wood.   

Crowell’s Protectorate saw a liberalisation of printing press licences and a relaxation of censorship laws, these factors along with a general Endzeitpsychosis, anxiety of the world's end and Millenarium expectation, resulted in a surge of  esoteric publications. Indeed the 1650s saw the greatest interest in esoteric literature that England has ever witnessed and books of an esoteric nature from this decade are well represented in Browne’s library. Its against a background of intense social and personal anxiety about the future that Browne penned his diptych discourses Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus (1658).

Jacques Gaffarell’s Unheard of Curiosities (above) is an early example of esoteric literature from this decade. First published in France in 1629 and in  English translation in 1650, Jacques Gaffarel’s book was enormously popular in its day. In his book the librarian to Cardinal Richelieu supplies his reader with a celestial map in which the stars of the night sky are connected to each other, not through the stories of Greek myth but through the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Browne clearly knew of this book for in The Garden of Cyrus he alludes to ‘the strange cryptography of Gaffarel in his starrie booke of heaven’. In doing so he introduced the word ‘cryptography’ meaning the art of inventing and decoding hidden communications into English language.

The Oxford antiquarian Elias Ashmole (1617-92) was among the first to test the waters of the new liberalisation of printing press licenses and relaxation of censorship laws. In 1650 he published albeit under an anagrammatic name, a translation of Arthur Dee’s anthology of alchemical literature known as Fasicuclus Chemicus. Its frontispiece (above) is framed on the left by the instruments of learning and on the right the weapons of war. Ashmole’s own astrological birth-chart is thrust into view by a mysterious hand which obscures the profile of a sculptural bust. At its top, the trickster figure of Mercurius god of communication and revelation sits upon a stool flanked by King Sol with symbolic beast of lion, and Queen Luna sitting upon a lobster-like creature. The frontispiece also features a secret visual allusion to its translator in the form of an ash tree and a mole. 

Arthur Dee was the eldest son of the Elizabethan mathematician and astrologer John Dee (1527-1608). Arthur Dee was a remarkable man, not least for surviving 14 harsh Moscow winters while serving as a physician to Czar Mikhail, founder of the Romanov dynasty. After his wife’s death Dee returned to England and opted to live in Norwich for his retirement where he became a neighbour and friend to Thomas Browne then living at Tombland.  Arthur Dee was none too pleased with Ashmole's unsolicited translation of his anthology and wrote to him – 

‘I am sorry you or any man should take pains to translate any book of that art into English, for the art is vilified so much already by scholars that do daily deride it, in regard they are ignorant of the principles. How then can it any way be advanced by the vulgar? But to satisfy your question, you may be resolved that he who wrote Euclid's Preface was my father. The 'Fasciculus', I confess, was my labour and work.'

On his death in 1651 Arthur Dee bequeathed a number of alchemical manuscripts to Browne who wrote in his correspondence to Elias Ashmole of Arthur Dee - 

'he was a persevering student in Hermetical philosophy and had no small encouragement, having seen projection made; And with the highest asseverations he confirmed unto his death, that he had ocularly, undeceivably, and frequently beheld it in Bohemia. [12]

In  much later correspondence to Ashmole Browne wrote 

'Dr. Arthur Dee was a young man when he saw this projection made in Bohemia, but he was so inflamed therewith that he fell early upon that study, and read not much all his life but books of that subject; [13]

The literary critic Peter French noted- 

‘Little is known of this son of Dee's; one cannot help but wonder however, how much he may have influenced Browne, who was one of the seventeenth century's greatest literary exponents of the type of occult philosophy in which both the Dee's were immersed'. [14]

Encouraged by his success Elias Ashmole published in 1652 Theatrum Chemicum Brittanicum an anthology of British alchemical authors mostly from the Medieval era. Ashmole’s book made available many works that had previously existed only in privately held manuscripts. It contains the rhyming verse of several alchemists, poets, including Thomas Norton, Sir George Ripley, Geoffrey Chaucer and John Dee. The page open here (above) shows the serpent-like Uroboros,  symbol of all devouring, recurrent and Eternal Time. [15]

The 1650s also saw an enormous interest in the Swiss physician-alchemist Paracelsus (1493 -1541) whose writings are a conglomerate of practical advice on chemistry, proto-psychology and mystical Christian theology. Paracelsus urged his fellow physicians to experiment with Nature’s properties and the new Spagyric medicine which he taught, the beginning of  modern-day chemical medicine no less, exerted a profound influence upon alchemists, early scientists and physicians alike. The 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue lists not only the complete works of Paracelsus, but also many books by his followers, including Gerard Dorn. The large number of books by Paracelsian physicians in Browne’s library suggests that the Norwich physician held far more than a casual interest in Paracelsian medicine. [16]

Paracelsus was fond of inventing new words to describe his alchemical form of medicine and in this context its worthwhile taking a quick look at a verse inscribed upon Sir Thomas Browne's Coffin plate, one surviving half of which is on display at the church of Saint Peter Mancroft. 

The Paracelsian word, spagyric the name of Swiss alchemist-physician's distinctive brand of medicine can be seen engraved upon it. The word spagyric  was invented by Paracelsus from the fusing together of the Greek words Spao, to tear open, and  ageiro, to collect. Browne’s coffin-plate inscription alludes to the commonplace quest of alchemy, the transformation of metals, which for spiritual alchemists such as himself signified a far deeper goal - the transformation of the base matter of man to acquire spiritual gold –Translated the inscription reads – ‘Sleeping here the dust of his spagyric body converts the lead to gold’. Although often highly critical of esoteric aspects of Paracelsus, Browne’s coffin-plate is perhaps the strongest evidence of his adherence to Paracelsian medicine.

There's one illustration  which expresses how Browne may have felt during the 1650s; it can be found in the Theatrum Chemicum. [17] The six doorstep size tomes of the Theatrum Chemicum were printed over several decades of the 17th century and they remain the most comprehensive anthology on alchemy ever published. A woodcut illustration in the first volume of the Theatrum Chemicum depicts the adept or hermetically-inclined philosopher experiencing the initial stage of the alchemical process known as the Nigredo, under the influence of the black, malefic planet Saturn, commonly associated with melancholy, Time and old age (below). Browne would easily have recognised this psychic state and may well have identified with this illustration, confessing in Religio Medici, 'I was born in the planetary hour of Saturn and I think I have a piece of that leaden planet in me'.  [18]

Browne must have perused his edition of the Theatrum Chemicum extremely closely for somewhere in the 800 pages by the Belgian philosopher Gerard Dorn featured in its first volume, he found an astral image which he liked and borrowed in order to triumphantly  assert at the apotheosis of Urn-Burial  - 'Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us'. 

The frontispiece to the Italian polymath Mario Bettini's Beehives of Univeral Mathematical Philosophy (1656)  is a fitting visualization of the overall mood-music of the discourse The Garden of Cyrus. [19]

Like The Garden of Cyrus Bettini’s frontispiece (above) alludes to artificial, natural and mystical aspects of scientific enquiry. This particular frontispiece is in fact from a latter second edition of Bettini’s work and a very early example of colour printing. Although Bettini’s book is predominately on optics, geometry and perspective it also includes scientific ideas contrary to general opinion, mathematical paradoxes, geometrical problems not yet solved, curious machines and engines, optical illusions, games and tricks as well as studies in geometry and perspective.

The foreground of Bettini’s frontispiece features mathematical, optical and geometric instruments in vases as if cultivated plants. In the centre of a Villa courtyard a peacock stands upon a sphere and displays its feathers as water flows from its feathered eyes, creating a streaming fountain. The alchemical deity Mercurius, god of communication and revelation stands aloft a pyramid of beehives holding an armillary sphere. Ten bees in quincunx formation hover beside him. A spider’s web can also be seen.

Peacocks are often encountered in optical and alchemical literature, primarily because the 'multiple eye' symbolism of their feathers evoke watchfulness. The iridescent gleam of the peacock's feathers also appealed to optical study.

Bettini’s book includes chapters on the Holy Grail of optics, the camera obscura, the scientific precursor to photography, as well as examination of the mathematics and geometry of the spider’s web. Likewise, in The Garden of Cyrus fleetingly mentions ‘pictures from objects which are represented, answerable to the paper, or wall in the dark chamber’ and 'the mathematicks of the neatest Retiary Spider.’  

One book above all others seems to have fascinated Browne in the 1650s decade, the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher’s greatest work, Oedipus Egypticus or The Egyptian Oedipus. [20]

The frontispiece to The Egyptian Oedipus depicts a youthful looking Kircher successfully answering the Sphinx's riddle. The three door-step sized volumes of Kircher's Egyptian Oedipus are a triumph of the printing press, taking four years in total to print. In Oedipus Aegyptiacus Kircher sets out to explore the esoteric traditions of theosophical systems of Zoroaster, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato and the Hebrew Cabala. 

Athanasius Kircher (1602-80) was an archaeologist, an avid collector of scientific experiments and geographical exploration, he probed the secrets of the subterranean world, deciphered ancient languages and experimented with optics and magnetism. Kircher's books are well-represented in Browne’s library and his influence upon the Norwich doctor was considerable.  For example, Browne conceded to Kircher's authority, altering many of his own speculations upon Egyptian hieroglyphics, declaring -

'But no man is likely to profound the Ocean of that Doctrine, beyond that eminent example of industrious Learning, Kircherus’.[21]

In his early work The Magnetic Art (1631) [22] Kircher explored different forms of magnetism. He believed that human relationships, love, sex and music all held magnetic properties because of their ability to exert an invisible attraction. In The Magnetical Art the Italian polymath reproduced notated music which he claimed could cure those bitten by the tarantella spider when performed. Browne seldom if ever questioned even the wildest  of Kircher's ideas, stating in Pseudodoxia-

‘Some doubt many have of the Tarantula, or poisonous Spider of Calabria, and that magical cure of the bite thereof by Musick. But since we observe that many attest it from experience: Since the learned Kircherus hath positively averred it and set down the songs and tunes solemnly used for it; Since some also affirm the Tarantula itself will dance upon certain stroaks, whereby they set their instruments against its poison; we shall not at all question it. [23]

Browne was attracted to all kinds of secret, hidden forms of knowledge whether in the form of anagrams, riddles, codes, cryptograms, or symbolic as in the Hebraic kabbalah, as well as astrology and alchemy, but above all else it was the hieroglyphs (sacred writings) of ancient Egypt which fascinated him most. 

Thomas Browne's study of ancient Egypt was multi-faceted; as a doctor he naturally took an interest in its medicine, as a devout Christian he knew that the Old Testament books Genesis and Exodus are set in Egypt. Crucially, in common with almost all 16th and 17th century alchemists and hermetically-inclined philosophers he believed ancient Egypt was  home to the mythic Hermes Trismegistus as well as the birthplace of alchemy and where long-lost transmutations of Nature were once performed. And indeed, the early civilization skills of baking, brewing and metalwork, as well as cosmetics and perfumery were all once very closely guarded secrets. 

Kircher’s The Egyptian Oedipus includes a detailed reproduction of the Bembine Tablet. Named after Cardinal Bembo, an antiquarian who acquired it after the sack of Rome in 1527, the Bembine Tablet is an important example of ancient metallurgy, its surface being decorated with a variety of metals including silver, gold, copper-gold alloy and various base metals.  The Rosetta Stone of its age, many antiquarians attempted and failed to decipher its hieroglyphs. However, the Bembine Tablet has long since been identified as a Roman work dating from circa 250 CE, and a copy of a much earlier ancient Egyptian artefact. Its not, as both antiquarians believed, a work originating from ancient Egypt whatsoever. 

The engraved drawing  of the Bembine Tablet  in Oedipus Egypticus seems to have fascinated Browne for he alludes to it no less than three times in The Garden of Cyrus. First, in a fine example of how Christian scholars attempted to ‘Christianize’ pagan beliefs and artefacts, stating-

'he that considereth the plain crosse upon the head of the Owl in the Laterane Obelisk, or the crosse erected upon a picher diffusing streams of water into two basins, with sprinkling branches in them, and all described upon a two-footed Altar, as in the Hieroglyphics of the brasen Table of Bembus; will hardly decline all thought of Christian signality in them'.

Its mentioned once more in The Garden of Cyrus (chapter 3) -

'We shall not affirm that from such grounds, the Egyptian Embalmers imitated this texture yet in their linnen folds the same is observable among their neatest mummies, in the figures of Isis  and Osyris,and the Tutelary spirits in the Bembine Tablet'. 

But perhaps best of all - Browne may have felt convinced of the archetypal nature of his quincuncial network when detecting that the engraved drawing of the Bembine Tablet depicts an Egyptian god who is decorated in a network pattern identical to his discourse's frontispiece. (Figure on bottom row, second from left). He hastily mentions it in Cyrus thus -

'Nor is it to be overlooked how Orus the hieroglyphic of the world is described in a Network covering. from the shoulder to the foot'. 

Predating Greek and Latin script  Egyptian hieroglyphics were once believed to contain hidden wisdom. The Egyptian Ankh symbol (above) is the most frequent and easily recognisable symbol of all Egyptian hieroglyphs. Sometimes referred to as the key of life and symbolic of eternal life, the Coptic church of Egypt inherited the ankh symbol as a form of  Christian cross. Like other Hermetically inclined philosophers Browne attempted to reconcile pagan wisdom to Christianity, thus in The Garden of Cyrus he declared-

‘We will not revive the mysterious crosses of Egypt, with circles on their heads, in the breast of Serapis, and the hands of their Geniall spirits, not unlike the characters of Venus, and looked on by ancient Christians, with relation unto Christ'.

But the much simpler truth is that although Christian scholars believed ancient Egyptian symbols such as the Ankh symbol anticipated Christianity and the Coming of Christ in fact Christianity  borrowed and adapted aspects of Egyptian theology and symbols for their own use. 

In essence, Browne justified the study of so-called pagan, pre-Christian antiquities and beliefs in exactly the same manner as the Italian Renaissance scholars Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and his successor, Pico della Mirandola (1463-94) by giving credence to a Prisca Theologia, a single, true theology which threaded through all religions and whose wisdom was believed to be passed down in a golden chain of mystics and prophets including Zoroaster, the Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Plato along with the Hebraic figures of King Solomon and Moses. For devout Christians the Hebrew prophet Moses in particular was a strong link in this golden chain, Browne for one believing Moses to be  'bred up in the hieroglyphicall schooles of the Egyptians'. But above all others, it was Hermes Trismegistus, the first and wisest of all pagan prophets who was revered by hermetic philosophers such as Browne. Modern scholarship however has now determined the mythic figure of Hermes Trismegistus to be an amalgam of the Egyptian god Theuth or Thoth and the ancient Greek god of revelation, Hermes. Even when the Swiss scholar Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) conclusively proved that Hermetic texts were written after Christ's era and not before, Christian scholars none the less continued to appropriate hermetic teachings for their own agenda and persisted in belief that Hermes Trismegistus  or ‘thrice greatest’ on account of his being the greatest priest, philosopher and king, was a contemporary of Moses who anticipated the coming of Christ. Such imaginative comparative religion not only justified the study of philosophers such as Plato, but also sanctioned the antiquity, wisdom and superiority of the Bible to devout Christians.

Kircher’s Egyptian Oedipus includes detailed illustrations of Egyptian mummies. Browne mentions his interest in Egyptian mummies in his medical essay A Letter to a Friend (pub. post 1690) stating in what may be one of the world’s earliest dental jokes.

'The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their Teeth, wherein 'tis not easie to find any wanting or decayed: and therefore in Egypt, where one Man practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better than to have been Tooth-drawer unto King Pyrrhus, who had but two in his Head'.

The pyramids, mummies and hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt are frequently encountered throughout the discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus as is imagery closely relating to optics.

In many ways optical imagery is a fundamental template of the diptych discourses. Urn-Burial opens in the depths of the subterranean world, it investigates archaeological finds which are hidden in the earth. The religious beliefs of those going into the darkness of death are examined in it,  the enquirer or adept is said to be ‘lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing’. Browne laments that men remain in the dark to their own moral darkness until death. The discourse includes superb medical-optical imagery in which two infants not yet born and in the darkness of the womb discuss the world they are about to enter. Plato’s famous cave of  shadows and human illusion is also mentioned. 

While Urn-Burial explores the invisible world of death, The Garden of Cyrus explores the visible, living worlds of Nature and Art. In its dedicatory epistle Browne informs his patron that he's encouraged to write after meeting blind men who have the ability to discuss  not only sight but also growth. The discourse  opens with the dazzle of ‘shooting rays and 'diffused Light’ of the Sun and Moon on the fourth day of Creation, the effect of the Sun and Moon's rays upon plant growth is discussed, along with how the visual or optic nerve functions in eyesight. The workings of the camera obscura are also alluded to. Even disturbed, distorted ways of seeing in human perception are included with the word ‘hallucination’  being introduced into the English language. 

The Garden of Cyrus features dozens of sharp-sighted and perspicacious botanical observations. As well as using his eyes to study and examine Nature, Browne was also deeply appreciative of simply contemplating Nature and Art, as he wittily informs readers of Religio Medici  - ‘I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an horse’.     

Throughout Cyrus Browne attempts to enlighten his reader on the beauty of Nature. The word 'elegant'  frequently occurs in the essay. Visual examples of how the archetypal symbols of order, the number five and the quincunx pattern are generously supplied to the reader 'artificially, naturally and mystically' as prime evidence of God's intelligent design and universal interconnectivity. Though little understood throughout the centuries The Garden of Cyrus remains the greatest work of hermetic philosophy in the  canon of English literature. Taken together the diptych discourses are unique as a literary work. Polarity, in particular, optical imagery involving Darkness and Light are fundamental to their construction. United they form a Cosmic vision and are a rare example of an alchemical mandala in World literature.

With the restoration of Monarchy in 1660 Browne must have felt a sober joy. Only two years earlier he'd reassured readers of The Garden of Cyrus of the imminent return of social Order, prophetically declaring – 'All things began in Order, so shall they end and so shall they begin again'.  

When King Charles II visited Norwich in 1671 Doctor Browne was rewarded with a knighthood, not only for the European fame of Religio Medici and Pseudodoxia, but also for his unwavering support of the Royalist cause. 

In his old age Browne became more than ever interested in far-off lands. His geographical curiosity was stimulated with the publication of Kircher’s  China Illustrated (1667). [24]

Being based in Rome Kircher had access to reports from Jesuit missionaries as far afield as Peru and China. His China illustrata was a work of encyclopaedic breadth. It included accurate maps as well as mythical creatures, and drew heavily on reports by Jesuits returning to Rome who had visited China. Kircher emphasized the Christian elements of Chinese history, both real and imagined and highlighted the early presence of Nestorian Christians in China. However, he also claimed the Chinese were descended from the sons of Biblical Ham and that Chinese characters originated from Egyptian hieroglyphs!

Browne references China illustrated in correspondence dated 1679 to his son Edward in what must be an early recorded mention of the medicinal herb Ginseng. His citing of a specific page number of China illustrated suggests that Edward Browne also had access to a copy of Kircher’s book.

Deare Sonne, - You did well to observe Ginseng. All exotick rarities, especially of the east, the East India trade having encreased, are brought in England, and the profit made thereof. Of this plant Kircherus writeth in his China illustrata, pag. 178, cap. "De Exoticis China plantis". [25]

Kircher’s  book on China was a valuable source of information about China for over two centuries. In a single illustration aspects of Chinese botany, horticulture, costume and customs, as well as architecture, are all faithfully recorded in an eyewitness account of a social gathering  and feast upon the giant 'polomie' jackfruit.

But the Dutch artists who were commissioned to illustrate Kircher’s ground-breaking book didn’t always get it right.  Written reports, like Chinese whispers, can be misread as the exaggerated size of a pet Chinese squirrel illustrated below shows !

In his old age Browne penned his solitary work of fiction, Museum Clausum or the Sealed Museum (circa 1675) an inventory of lost, imagined and rumoured books, paintings and objects. Its testimony to his holding an extraordinary imagination as well as his sly sense of humour in his old age.

One of Browne’s greatest admirers in the 20th century was Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1996). The Argentinian author, famous for quips such as describing the Falklands war as, ‘two bald men fighting over a comb’  once declared, ‘to write vast books is a laborious task, much better is to write a summary as if those books actually existed’. Borges short-cut advice was anticipated centuries earlier by Browne in Musuem Clausum which includes strange book titles such as-    

* A Sub Marine Herbal, describing the several Vegetables found on the Rocks, Hills, Valleys, Meadows at the bottom of the Sea.

* The Roman philosopher Seneca’s correspondence to Saint Paul

* The Works of Confucius, the famous philosopher of China, translated into Spanish. 

Finally, Browne has some interesting things to say about books and libraries in his Christian Morals (circa 1675). Its as if he had the relatively new Millennium library in Norwich, risen from the ashes of the old Central library in mind, that he rapturously declares-

‘What libraries of new Volumes aftertimes will behold, and in what a new world of Knowledge the eyes of our posterity may be happy, a few Ages may joyfully declare.’ [26]

But its also in this advisory essay that Browne cautions on the dangers of too much reliance upon books and book-learning, moralistically stating-

‘They who do most by books who could do much without them, and he that owes himself unto himself is the substantial man’. [27]

Browne's precocious self-awareness in Religio Medici defined himself a Microcosm or Little World. His extraordinary library with its ancient Greek and Roman authors, Medieval theologians, Renaissance philosophers, travellers accounts of distant lands, scientific discoveries by European polymaths and mystical symbolism of alchemists is also a Microcosm, a little world of 17th century knowledge and a veritable paradise of books. 

Notes

[1] A Facsimile of the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Edward's Libraries. Introduction, notes and index by J.S. Finch  pub. E.J. Brill: Leiden, 1986

[2] Sales Catalogue page  19 no. 94 

[3] S.C. page 18. no. 51

[4] S.C. page 18 no.49

[5] S.C. page 18 no. 28

[6] S.C. page 28 no.12

[7] S.C. page 8 no. 89

[8] S.C. page 29 no. 50

[9] Religio Medici Part 2:15

[10] Sales Catalogue page 29 no. 18

[11] Pseudodoxia Epidemica Book 6 chapter 14

[12] Bibl. Bodleian MS No. 1788 Dr. Browne to Mr Elias Ashmole 25 January 1658

[13] Bibl. Bodleian Ashmole MS 1788 Dr. Thomas Browne to Elias Ashmole March 1674

[14] John Dee: The World of an Elizabethan Magus, by Peter J. French Pub. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1972

[15] S.C. page 47 no. 56

[16] Paracelsus Opera S.C. page 22 no. 118. Paracelsian physicians listed in Sales Catalogue includes Theodore Turquet de Mayerne (S.C. page 25 no. 98 page 51 no. 103,104) Joseph Duchesne, (page 33 no. 8 page 34 no. 63) Alexander Suchten (page 51 no. 128) Petrus Severinus ( page 18 no. 50 page 20 no. 23, 24, 25,26) John French (page 51 no. 118) Johann Glauber (page 43 no. 10) and Gerard Dorn (page 25 no. 118).

[17] S.C. page 25 no. 118

[18] Religio Medici Part 2 Section 11

[19]  S.C. page 28 no. 16

[20] S.C. page 8 no. 91

[21] S.C. page 8  no. 89

[22] P.E. Book 3 chapter 27

[24] S.C. page 8 no. 24

[25]  Thomas Browne's Correspondence Keynes 1934

[26] Christian Morals Section 2 para 5

[27] Christian Morals Section 2 para. 4

See also 

* In the bed of Cleopatra Thomas Browne's Egyptology

* 'Lost in the uncomfortable night of nothing   'Urn-Burial' as the Nigredo of the alchemical opus

* The alchemical mandala of Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus

* Sir Thomas Browne on China