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CHAPTER X.
ROSICRUCIAN APOLOGISTS: MICHAEL MAIER.
THIS celebrated German alchemist was born at Ruidsburg,
in Holstein, about the year 1658. In his youth, says the
"Biographic Universelle," he applied himself to the study of
medicine, and establishing himself at Rostoch, he practised
that art with so much success that he became physician to
the Emperor Rudolph II., by whom he was ennobled for
his services. Some adepts, notwithstanding, succeeded in
wiling him from the practical path
he had followed so
long ; il se passionna pour le grand ceuvre, and scoured all
Germany to hold conferences with those whom he thought to
be in possession of transcendent secrets. Another account
declares that he sacrificed his health, his fortune, and his time
to these " ruinous absurdities." According to Buhle, he
travelled extensively, particularly to England, where he
made the acquaintance of Robert Fludd. He finished by
accepting the post of physician at Magdebourg, where he
died in 1622.
Michael Maier is one of the most important and inter-
esting persons connected with the Rosicrucian controversy.
He was the first to transplant it into England, "and as he
firmly believed in the existence of such a sect, he sought
to introduce himself to its notice \ but finding this impossible,"
says Buhle, "he set himself to establish such an
order by his own efforts ; and in his future writings he