Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . is experience ; she never deceives us ; it is ourjudgment that sometimes deceives itself, because it looks foreffects which experience denies to us. A robust and cleardefinition, enough by itself to show us that we are dealing not only with a man of fine instinct, but with a thinker and aphilosopher. In spite of the desultory nature of his studies, Leonardo had ahorror of futility. He was always advising his disciples to avoidlabours which left nothing behind them : Fuggi quello studio delquale la résultante opera more insieme coll opéra
Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . is experience ; she never deceives us ; it is ourjudgment that sometimes deceives itself, because it looks foreffects which experience denies to us. A robust and cleardefinition, enough by itself to show us that we are dealing not only with a man of fine instinct, but with a thinker and aphilosopher. In spite of the desultory nature of his studies, Leonardo had ahorror of futility. He was always advising his disciples to avoidlabours which left nothing behind them : Fuggi quello studio delquale la résultante opera more insieme coll opérante dessa. Howfar this takes us from the dreams of Cardan, who devoted a hugetome, illustrated with 800 engravings, to the relations between theplanets and the lines of the human face ! If we accept the ideas of certain scholars and novelists of our own Kosmos, 1847, vol. ii. p. 324. ^ Saggw, ]i. 7. Such, too, is the opinion of M. Seailles, who, by variousarguments, maintains the superiority of Leonardo to Bacon (p. 387—390). t6Head of an Old by Drocger, Paris LEONARDO AND Til I, OCCULT SCIENCES 6i times, Leonardo was the heir to the great magi of antif|uity and llieprecursor of such modern imitators as Dr. Papus or the Sâr Péladan !So each generation finds the need of ancestors ! As Da Vinci was n(jtonly the artist whom all admire, but also a savant of the first class,judge whether the point is worlh discussion ! It will be well, however,to see whether there is any truth in the assertion which has beenmade,^ that the manuscripts bear traces of magical researches, andwhether there is any foundation, as Symonds ^ and DAnnunzio^assert, for calling Leonardo a Magian. It is to be regretted that neither M. Gilbert-Augustin Thierry,the historian of demonography, nor M. Edouard Schuré, the studentof the great masters of the occult arts, nor M. Jules Bois, who knowsso much about satanism and magic, have turned their attention to thedoings of Leonardo. Familiar as
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