of the past (and, indeed, of the present) as _mere_ superstition,
not worth the trouble of investigation: but it is not scientific.
There is a reason for every belief, even the most fantastic,
and it should be our object to discover this reason. How far,
if at all, the reason in any case justifies us in holding a similar
belief is, of course, another question. Some of the beliefs I
have dealt with I have treated at greater length than others, because
it seems to me that the truths of which they are the images--vague
and distorted in many cases though they be--are truths which we
have either forgotten nowadays, or are in danger of forgetting.
We moderns may, indeed, learn something from the thought of the past,
even in its most fantastic aspects. In one excursion at least,
namely, the essay on "The Cambridge Platonists," I have ventured to
deal with a higher phase--perhaps I should say the highest phase--of
the thought of a bygone age, to which the modern world may be
completely debtor.

"Some Characteristics of Mediaeval Thought," and the two essays on
Alchemy, have appeared in _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_. In
others I have utilised material I have contributed to _The Occult Review_,
to the editor of which journal my thanks are due for permission so to do.
I have also to express my gratitude to the Rev. A. H. COLLINS, and others
to be referred to in due course, for permission here to reproduce
illustrations of which they are the copyright holders. I have further
to offer my hearty thanks to Mr B. R. ROWBOTTOM and my wife for valuable
assistance in reading the proofs.
H. S. R.

BLETCHLEY, BUCKS, _December_ 1919.