FIRE-Philosophers, or philosophi per ignem, a fanatical sect of philosophers who appeared towards the close of the 16th century, and made a figure in almost all the countries of Europe. The distinguishing tenet from which they derived this appellation was, that the intimate essences of natural things were only to be known by the trying efforts of fire, directed in a chemical process. They were also called Theosophists, from their declaring against human reason as a dangerous and deceitful guide, and representing a divine and supernatural illumination as the only means of arriving at truth; they were likewise denominated Paracelsists, from the name of Paracelsus, the eminent physician and chemist, who was the chief ornament and leader of this extraordinary sect. It was patronized in England by Robert Flood or Fludd, who endeavoured to illustrate the philosophy of Paracelsus in a great number of treatises: in France it was zealously propagated by Rivier; in Denmark, by Severinus; in Germany, by Kunrath, an eminent physician of Dresden; and in
With regard to the uses which fire-balls serve in the system of nature, it is plain that they are the means of preserving the equilibrium in the electric fluid in the atmosphere, which would otherwise produce the most dreadful tempests. As there must be a constant current of electric matter through the bowels of the earth from the equator to the poles, and from the poles to the equator, through the atmosphere, the great meteors serve for keeping up the equilibrium in this great atmospheric current, while the smaller ones answer a like purpose in the general mass of electric matter dispersed over the surface of the earth, and therefore are seen to move in all directions, as the equilibrium happens to require them in different parts. With regard to those which are observed in the lower regions of the earth, or rolling on the surface of the ground itself, they undoubtedly answer purposes of a similar kind in these lower regions; for as fire-balls in general are produced by a great excess of electricity in one place, there must of course be an equal deficiency in another; and to restore the equilibrium, or, to speak more properly, to prevent a dangerous commotion from taking place throughout the whole mass of electric fluid, the fire-ball breaks forth, and either puts a stop at once to the disturbance by an explosion, or by a silent and invisible evaporation. From some accounts indeed it would seem that even the large celestial meteors detached part of their substance to accomplish this purpose; though, for the reasons already given, it would seem more probable that they operated by electrifying the atmosphere, or setting the fluid contained in it in motion, so as to produce small fire-balls of itself, rather than by detaching any part of their own bodies to such a distance. Dr Blagden, in the paper above quoted, gives an account of an appearance of this kind. It was described in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks from the Abbé Mann, director of the academy at Brussels. "It happened (says the Abbé) at Mariekercke, a small village on the coast, about half a mile west of Ostend. The curate of the village was sitting in the dusk of the evening with a friend, when a sudden light surprised them, and immediately after, a small ball of light-coloured flame came through a broken pane of glass, crossed the room where they were sitting, and fixed itself on the chink of a door opposite to the window where it entered, and there died gradually away. It appeared to be a kind of phosphoric light carried along by the current of air. The curate and his friend, greatly surprised at what they saw, apprehended fire in the neighbourhood; but going out, found that the fire which had come in through the window had been detached from a large meteor in its passage."