Fludd, ROBERT

Fludd, ROBERT, an English physician and mystic, born at Milgate in Kent in 1574. After studying at Oxford, he spent some years travelling on the Continent, where he became acquainted with the writings of Paracelsus. On his return to England he settled as a physician in London, where he died in 1637. Fludd (Lat. De Fluctibus) was the author of a theosophic system, the distinguishing features of which were the conception of man, the microcosm, as an analogy, in a physico-spiritual sense, of the universe or macrocosm, and the belief that the laws of the physical universe were dominated by two fantastic principles called the 'northern or condensing power,' and the 'southern or rarefying power.' His views called forth adverse criticisms from Gassendi, Kepler, and others.