he become enthralled in the course of a few years, that he was
dismissed from his high office, and died shortly afterwards, of
premature old age and a complication of maladies, brought on by
debauchery. His death took place in the year 1036. After his time, few
philosophers of any note in Arabia are heard of as devoting themselves
to the study of alchymy; but it began shortly afterwards to attract
greater attention in Europe. Learned men in France, England, Spain,
and Italy expressed their belief in the science, and many devoted
their whole energies to it. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
especially, it was extensively pursued, and some of the brightest
names of that age are connected with it. Among the most eminent of
them are

ALBERTUS MAGNUS and THOMAS AQUINA.

The first of these philosophers was born in the year 1193, of a
noble family at Lawingen, in the duchy of Neuburg, on the Danube. For
the first thirty years of his life, he appeared remarkably dull and
stupid, and it was feared by every one that no good could come of him.
He entered a Dominican monastery at an early age; but made so little
progress in his studies, that he was more than once upon the point of
abandoning them in despair; but he was endowed with extraordinary
perseverance. As he advanced to middle age, his mind expanded, and he
learned whatever he applied himself to with extreme facility. So
remarkable a change was not, in that age, to be accounted for but by a
miracle. It was asserted and believed that the Holy Virgin, touched
with his great desire to become learned and famous, took pity upon his
incapacity, and appeared to him in the cloister where he sat, almost
despairing, and asked him whether he wished to excel in philosophy or
divinity. He chose philosophy, to the chagrin of the Virgin, who