Call of Duty: Ghosts

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, it is the tenth major installment in the Call of Duty series and the sixth developed by Infinity Ward. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U on November 5, 2013. The game was released with the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Ghosts received generally positive to mixed reviews from critics, with most praising its multiplayer gameplay and introduction of the new game mode Extinction, but criticizing it for its single-player campaign, rehashing of familiar concepts, general lack of innovation, and storyline ending.

Gameplay

Campaign
In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the story is mostly told through the eyes of one single character, Logan Walker. Players assume the role of Logan for most of the game, with several other playable characters, including an astronaut specialist named Baker, Sergeant Thompson, member of Icarus and Logan's father, Elias Walker, with an all new option to play as Riley, the first non-human playable character in the franchise.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode in Call of Duty: Ghosts features changes from that of previous Call of Duty games as some new mechanics have been added to it. Maps now have areas that can be altered or destroyed. There is a nuke-like kill streak reward, the KEM Strike. The player can get the ODIN kill streak by either getting a certain amount of kills or by killing the top player on the other team and then completing various challenges after picking up a blue briefcase that is dropped. The sniper rifle scopes also have new "dual render technology" allowing the player to see around the outside of the scope (although blurred) when zoomed in. On October 3, a new multiplayer type was revealed, called Squads. This features a squad that the player can build and the player can face other squads around the world. The player's squad can be leveled up and will act like a true individual. "Octane", "Prison Break", "Tremor", "Freight", "Stormfront", "Siege", "Warhawk", "Sovereign", "Overlord", "Flooded", "Strikezone", "Whiteout", "Stonehaven" and "Chasm" are the maps that are in Call of Duty: Ghosts so far. The dynamic map, "Free Fall", was a pre-order bonus. The game now features playable female soldiers.

Squads
Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces a new game type called Squads. This mode can be played either solo or with other players including friends. A squad consists of ten different customizable characters. Squads can be utilized in unique gamemodes involving AI controlled enemies and AI controlled squad mates. The gamemodes include Squad Assault, Safeguard, Safeguard Infinite, Squad vs Squad, and Wargame. All of these modes can be played while online or offline.

 Squad vs Squad: Two opposing players play team deathmatch using their Squads.
 Wargame: The player and five squad mates against a team of enemy bots in a mode.
 Safeguard: The player and up to three other friends in a wave-based survival match similar to Survival Mode from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but with the addition of perks and scorestreaks.

Multiplayer game modes
Call of Duty: Ghosts features several staple multiplayer game modes, while introducing several new game types, including:

 Search and Rescue: A take on Search & Destroy, but rather than having a single life per round, in Search & Rescue a player's team can revive them. It combines that teamwork and communication from Kill Confirmed with the objective-based cooperation of Search & Destroy.
 Gun Game: Similar to versions in previous games, the player starts with a pistol and continues to gain a new weapon for each player they kill. The match ends when a player cycles through all of the available weapons.
 Cranked: In this team-based game mode, the first team to earn 100 kills wins. Once a player kills an enemy, becoming "Cranked," the player who earned the kill has 30 seconds to earn a subsequent kill. If they do not earn a subsequent kill within 30 seconds they blow up. The detonation does not harm teammates or enemies. If a player earns a subsequent kill within 30 seconds the timer resets to 30 seconds and the kill counts for two points instead of one. Once a player is "Cranked" their movement speed is increased, they throw grenades more rapidly, and they aim down sight more quickly, among other effects.
 Free For All: The classic gamemode from previous installments in the franchise returns, in which players must rack up a total of 30 kills to win the game against seven other opponents or rack up to most kills in a 10-minute time limit.
 Team Deathmatch: Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts: two teams, 10 minutes, 75 kill limit.
 Search and Destroy: A gamemode in which one side has five minutes to plant a bomb at a choice of two sites and the other team is tasked with defending the sites, the catch of this mode is there are no respawns and the game ends once one team wins four rounds.
 Domination: A gamemode where three flags are scattered throughout the map for players to take and control. Every five seconds a flag in controlled will gain a player's team a point, if a player's team controls two or three flags they gain two or three points. The first team to 200 points wins.
 Team Tactical: A mixture of objective games involving four on four matches.
 Kill Confirmed: A gamemode in which two teams battle, similar to TDM, with the catch being that when a player kills an enemy they drop a dog tag, which is worth points when collected. If a player collects a fallen teammate's dog tag, no points are award to the enemy team; first team to 100 points wins the game.
 Infected: Similar to the mode in Modern Warfare 3, one player is randomly infected at the beginning and can infect other players until either all survivors are infected or time runs out. Playlists will rotate between several different scenarios involving various loadouts. This mode allows up to 18 players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions and up to 12 players on the other platforms.

 Blitz: This team-based game mode is similar to Capture the Flag in that the player needs to go to a portal located at the enemy's spawn point while preventing players from the enemy team from reaching theirs. These portals are temporarily closed for 10 seconds when they are captured to prevent players from rushing.
 Hunted Free For All: Players start with a pistol, two throwing knives, and a flashbang. Crates are dropped in random locations throughout the match that contains more weapons and ammo for the players to compete for. The game mode has a 25 kill limit.
 Ground War: Containing a rotating playlist with Domination and Team Deathmatch, but with 12-18 players and a 100 kill limit for TDM. This mode is only available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions of the game.
 Drop Zone: Teams take turns capturing drop zones for points. For every 15 seconds a player holds down the objective, a care package will drop.

Extinction
Extinction is a new 4-player co-op mode, which pits the player(s) against various types of aliens (known altogether as Cryptids) in a base-defending survival style map. The main goal is usually to destroy all of the Cryptid hives scattered across the map (with the exception of Awakening and Exodus; the former requires players scanning for obelisks in an area which need to be destroyed, while Exodus features generators which the players have to activate). Players choose from four different class types, with unique traits and customizable loadouts. The player(s) can level up their classes, unlocking more weapons and equipment for their loadouts. This mode is unlocked by finishing the first level of the Campaign.

The first map, "Point of Contact", is included within the base game, and serves as an introduction to the game mode. The map takes place in an abandoned city in Colorado, two weeks after the events of the campaign mission "Ghost Stories".

The second map, "Nightfall", is released as part of the Onslaught DLC pack, and is advertised as the first of the four episodic contents for Extinction. The map takes place in an Alaskan research facility, 14 weeks after "Point of Contact", and introduces two characters central to the story: Dr. Samantha Cross and Cpt. David Archer. The map also introduces two new types of Cryptid aliens, one of which (the Breeder) serves as a boss-type enemy. Players are also given access to a mysterious and powerful weapon: The Venom X. Players can unlock several pieces of intel, revealing details about the story revolving around Cross and Archer.

The third map, "Mayday", is released as part of the Devastation DLC pack, and is the second of four episodes of Extinction. The map takes place on board a Naval ship, 26 days after the events in "Nightfall", and introduces two more new types of Cryptids: The Seeder (Which looks like the red seekers) but is bright orange and spawns plantlike turrets that shoot projectiles at the players, and the Kraken, the large, multi-tentacled boss at the end of the chapter. In addition to weapons scattered throughout the ship, players can access schematics to build powerful offensive and defensive weapons, including 4 variations of the Venom X from the previous chapter. Players can also find intel as well to learn more about the story of Extinction.

The fourth map, "Awakening", which is released as part of the Invasion DLC pack, is advertised as the third episode. The map takes place in an underground Cryptid hive, 36 hours after "Mayday", and introduces three new types of Cryptids: the flying Gargoyle, the explosive Bomber, and the powerful Mammoth. The Cryptids' masters, the Ancestors, are also seen in the map. The players have access to ARK attachments, which turn weapons into laser weapons, greatly increasing their power. As with the previous two maps, intels can be found to discover more information regarding the story.

The final map, "Exodus", which also acts as the final episode of Extinction, is released as part of the Nemesis DLC pack. The map takes place in a launch facility, 3 months after "Awakening", where the players are pit in a final battle against the forces of the Cryptids. Nearly every Cryptid type is encountered in the map, including the Ancestors. Players can choose their own paths in progressing throughout the map. The map also introduces two brand new weapons, the NX-1 Disruptor and the NX-1 Grenades, which are required in taking out the Ancestors.

Plot

Campaign

Setting and characters
Call of Duty: Ghosts is set in the near future that follows the nuclear destruction of the Middle East. The oil-producing nations of South America form the "Federation of the Americas" in response to the ensuing global economic crisis and quickly grow into a global superpower, swiftly invading and conquering Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico.

The game's main protagonists are the Ghosts, a force of U.S. Special Operations personnel trained to conduct clandestine missions behind enemy lines. The unit is led by retired U.S. Army Captain Elias Walker (Stephen Lang). He is joined by his sons Logan and David "Hesh" Walker (Brandon Routh), along with a trained German Shepherd named Riley, Captain Thomas A. Merrick (Jeffrey Pierce), and Gunnery Sergeant Keegan P. Russ (Brian Bloom).

The game's main antagonist is Gabriel Rorke (Kevin Gage), the former leader of the Ghosts who works for the Federation after being captured and brainwashed by the Federation via torture and hallucinogens.

Story
In 2017, U.S. Army officer Elias Walker tells his teenage sons Hesh and Logan the legend of how the Ghosts, an elite coalition of all U.S. Special Operations units, first appeared. Meanwhile, in space, the "Federation of the Americas" hijack the Orbital Defense Initiative (ODIN), an orbital superweapon that consists of a network of satellites that utilize kinetic bombardment. The Federation use it to destroy several cities in the southwestern United States. U.S. Air Force astronauts Baker and Mosley sacrifice themselves to self-destruct the space station and prevent ODIN from launching other payloads further inland. The Walker family narrowly escapes the destruction of San Diego, California.

Ten years later, the war between the United States and the Federation has been a bloody stalemate along a front that comprises the destroyed cities (known as "No Man's Land"), which has become a war of attrition as more Federation forces attempt to break the frontlines. However, the U.S. stands its ground, fighting near the former United States-Mexico border. Hesh and Logan are part of a U.S. special unit under the command of Elias and are accompanied by Riley, their loyal military-trained German Shepherd. During a mission into No Man's Land, they spot Federation agent Gabriel Rorke interrogating Ghost member Ajax. The brothers meet and join Ghost members Thomas Merrick and Keegan Russ in their mission to rescue Ajax, but are unsuccessful as he is killed.

The brothers return to Santa Monica, California, where U.S. forces hold out against an assault from the Federation, and reunite with their father, who reveals himself as the leader of the Ghosts. Recruiting his sons into the Ghosts, Elias tells them about how Rorke was the Ghosts' previous commanding officer until Elias was forced to abandon him during a successful mission in Caracas to assassinate former Federation leader, Diego Almagro. The Federation captured and brainwashed Rorke, and are now using him to hunt down the Ghosts.

The Ghosts assault Rorke's base and capture him, but Federation forces destroy their plane and rescue him. The team lands in the Yucatán Peninsula, where they witness the launch of a mysterious Federation missile. The Ghosts infiltrate a Federation base and discover plans to create a new superweapon. Constructing a counter-attack, the Ghosts make significant gains against the Federation, successfully destroying their Atlas oil platform in Antarctica and sinking a destroyer guarding the Brazilian coast. The team then breaks into a Federation laboratory and discovers that the Federation reverse-engineered ODIN into their own orbital bombardment system named LOKI.

After destroying a Federation factory in Rio de Janeiro, the Ghosts regroup at a safehouse in Las Vegas, but are captured by Rorke, who executes Elias. In a last-ditch effort, the U.S. pools all its remaining forces, including its last aircraft carrier USS Liberator, in a synchronized all-out assault. A team of soldiers board a shuttle and take over the Federation space center in the Atacama Desert, while forces in space take over the Federation space station. They seize control of LOKI and decimate Federation forces by turning its weapons on them. Hesh and Logan then pursue Rorke to avenge their father, disobeying Merrick's orders. Despite being shot by Logan and left to drown, Rorke survives the encounter and captures Logan, aiming to try and brainwash him into becoming a fellow Federation agent.

In a post-credits scene, Logan is seen being kept inside a pit in the jungle, presumably going through the same torture methods that Rorke went through.

Extinction

Setting and characters
The Extinction story takes place in an alternate reality following the events of the first mission of the Ghosts campaign, where the ODIN strike unearths ancient creatures known as Cryptids upon mankind. The  player takes on the role of elite unnamed soldiers, whose appearance is carried from the player's multiplayer character. The story revolves mainly around two central characters: Doctor Samantha Cross (Ali Hillis), a researcher of the Nightfall Program who was studying Cryptid origins; and Captain David Archer (Dave B. Mitchell), leader of the Nightfall Program.

Story
Following the Federation's attack on ODIN Station and the strike that decimated a large portion of the United States, a stray missile hit Caldera Peak, Colorado, revealing a colony of ancient creatures called Cryptids lying dormant below it. The Cryptids' masters, the Ancestors, seized the opportunity by commanding them to awake, massacre the town, and destroy everything in their path. In order to contain the outbreak, a Task Force codenamed Spectre was sent in to exterminate the Cryptids' presence. Though they were successful, remains of the Cryptids were collected by Nightfall, a research program dedicated to uncovering the origins of the creatures. The program's leader, Captain David Archer, implemented covert operations to breed Cryptids for experimentation, as well as deciphering of glyphs found within several sites where Nightfall was researching on Cryptid appearance. However, one of the doctors working at Nightfall, Samantha Cross, began to fall under the Ancestors' influence, and slowly became one of their hypnotic spies, capable of telepathic abilities. She caused an outbreak at the Nightfall facility, killing all members within it, except herself and Archer. An elite squad named CIF Team One was dispatched to help Archer and Cross escape, but Archer secretly snuck away on a destroyer vessel supplied by one of his mysterious contacts, in order to arrive at another Cryptid site.

For the following three weeks, Archer would experiment on Cross in order to learn of her abilities, realizing that she is capable of taming the Cryptids. Using her as a beacon, Archer guided the destroyer toward the remaining Cryptid Arks around the world. Cross fell into the Ancestors' control even more, and upon full possession, she began to summon the Ark's guardian, the Kraken, to protect the Cryptid colony and kill Archer and everyone aboard the destroyer. CIF Team One was sent in once again to rescue Archer, as well as eliminate Cross, per the deal between Archer and CIF Team One's handler, General "Godfather" Castle. However, Cross evaded their attempts to kill her and wound up in the Cryptid Ark. Archer and his men later arrived at the island where the Ark is located, however they encounter hordes of Cryptids, leading to Archer's hand being infected. Cross arrived and amputated his hand, then forged a temporary alliance with him, as she attempted to explain the Ancestors' true motives, and her reasons for not siding with them. CIF Team One was later dispatched by Castle to find Archer as well as retrieve the Cortex, a device containing tissue samples of an Ancestor's brain. The team succeeded in finding the Cortex, and Cross was extracted from the Ark, while Archer was left to die.

While on their way back to the United States, CIF Team One was attacked by Cryptid forces, and was stranded in the heart of the outbreak, while Cross escaped captivity. For the next three months, Cryptids would begin to overrun all military centers of the US, leaving General Castle as the leader of the surviving remnants of the country. He came in contact with CIF Team One, and ordered them to protect the Exodus launch site, allowing the remnants to escape Earth into outer space, away from the Cryptids' influence. In the midst of the operation, Cross regained contact with the survivors, reasoning CIF Team One must sacrifice themselves to activate the Medusa, a psionic weapon capable of eradicating all Cryptids within a three-mile radius, and give mankind a chance to overcome extinction. In a final order, General Castle commanded his men to defeat the oncoming Cryptid siege led by the Ancestors themselves. Now in safe passage to the space station, Cross acknowledged that her otherworldly powers were key in humanity's future retaliation, agreeing to be placed in a replica Beacon Amplifier to harness her gifts to benefit the future descendants of the Exodus program.

Development
On February 7, 2013, Activision confirmed that a new Call of Duty game was in development and would be released Q4, 2013. The publisher expected to sell fewer copies than the series' previous entry, Call of Duty: Black Ops II on seventh generation consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) due to the transition to next-generation consoles.

The series starts a new subseries with Ghosts to coincide with Sony and Microsoft's eighth generation consoles entering the market. The game was supposed to debut an engine built by the developer, originally described as a new engine, but later clarified to be the same engine as used in previous games with "significant" upgrades. The game also utilized Umbra Software's rendering tool, Umbra 3, as a way to speed up the rendering process of large environments by an optimization known as occlusion culling – a method of filtering out hidden objects so they are not rendered.

The Wii U version of the game was developed by Treyarch.

Infinity Ward prioritised frame rate over display resolution during the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts, with the game targeted to run at 60 frames per second on each platform. While the game outputs at 1080p on PlayStation 4, the Xbox One can only manage 720p while maintaining the frame rate. Due to a "configuration issue" however, the PlayStation 4 version still required a release day patch to reach 1080p.

Audio
David Buckley scored the game's original soundtrack. Rapper Eminem's 2013 song "Survival" is featured as the game's credit song.

Marketing and release

Reveal
On April 29, 2013, the official Call of Duty website was updated with a social media mosaic that filled up every time a user logged into the site via Twitter or Facebook. The next day, the mosaic was completed and the picture showed a skull along the text "the Ghosts are real." Some details about Ghosts leaked prior, especially when Tesco pulled the listing of the game for the PlayStation 3 after it was put up accidentally. Several other retailers, including Target, listed it for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The live-action teaser trailer for Ghosts, titled "Masked Warriors", features glimpses of people wearing historical battle masks, among them one of a group of soldiers putting on the skull mask shown on the box art. It was released on May 1, 2013. Ghosts appeared at the "Xbox Reveal" event on May 21, 2013.

On August 14, 2013, American rapper Eminem's "Survival" featuring Liz Rodrigues, with production by DJ Khalil was premiered in the multiplayer trailer for the game. The music video for the song features various footage from the game's single player campaign, and other elements from the game.

Release
Call of Duty: Ghosts was released for Microsoft Windows and current-generation game consoles – PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U – on November 5, 2013. Activision announced that the game would be available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in time for each console's release date on November 15, 2013, and November 22, 2013, respectively. Despite the official announcement for next-generation systems, the PlayStation 4 version of the game was made available by some retailers ahead of the scheduled release date.

Downloadable content

Downloadable content (DLC) for Ghosts has been released. Pre-ordered versions of the game included a bonus "dynamic" map called Free Fall and also got Simon "Ghost" Riley and John "Soap" MacTavish from Modern Warfare 2 as playable multiplayer characters. However, Free Fall was excluded from the Wii U pre-ordered version, which was later released on the Wii U on March 4, 2014.

Four sets of DLC map packs were released in 2014. A Season Pass is available, which gives players immediate access to all four DLC packs.

The first map pack, Onslaught, was released for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on January 28, 2014 and for Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on February 27, 2014. It contains an exclusive playlist for owners of the DLC. The DLC pack brings in 4 new multiplayer maps: "Fog", "Bayview", "Ignition", and "Containment". The map Ignition is a re-make of Scrapyard from Modern Warfare 2. It also includes two new multiplayer weapons: the Maverick assault rifle, and the Maverick A-2 sniper rifle; as well as "Nightfall", the first of the four Extinction episodic contents. On the multiplayer map Fog, Michael Myers from the Halloween film series appears as a playable character, obtainable by earning a care package by completing various challenges via Field Orders.

The second map pack, Devastation, was released on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on April 3, 2014, and on Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on May 8, 2014. It contains an exclusive playlist for owners of the DLC. The pack introduces four new multiplayer maps: "Ruins", "Behemoth", "Collision", and "Unearthed". The map Unearthed is a re-make of the fan-favorite map Dome from Modern Warfare 3. It includes a new hybrid multiplayer weapon called the Ripper, which Season Pass owners received early. On the map "Ruins", Predator from the Predator film series appears as a playable character. Additionally, it includes the next installment in the Extinction episodic contents, titled "Mayday".

The third map pack, Invasion, was released on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on June 3, 2014, and on Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on July 3, 2014. It contains an exclusive playlist for owners of the DLC. The pack introduces four new multiplayer maps: "Pharaoh", "Departed", "Mutiny", and "Favela", a re-make of the fan-favorite map of the same name from "Modern Warfare 2". It includes the third Extinction episodic content, titled "Awakening".

The final map pack, Nemesis, was released on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on August 5, 2014, and on Windows, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 on September 4, 2014. It contains an exclusive playlist for owners of the DLC. The pack introduces four new multiplayer maps: "Goldrush", "Subzero", "Dynasty", and a reimagined version of the map "Shipment" from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, "Showtime". It includes the final Extinction episode, titled "Exodus".

Additional downloadable content includes; Announcer Packs of Snoop Dogg and the Drill Instructor featuring R. Lee Ermey (who starred in Full Metal Jacket), Personalization Packs, Legend Packs and Special Characters.

Reception

Critical response
Call of Duty: Ghosts received "generally positive" and "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. It was praised for its multiplayer gameplay and introduction of the new game mode "Extinction", but was criticized for its single-player campaign, rehashing of familiar concepts, and general lack of innovation. IGN praised the sequel for introducing "sweeping changes that breathe new life into the multiplayer experience" and called the campaign "lengthy, challenging, and varied". GameSpot went even further regarding the campaign calling it "impressive" and "a terrific collection of shootouts and set pieces". Both also welcomed the new character customization feature and game types in multiplayer, particularly Extinction which was called "tremendous fun" and "an interesting strategic dynamic".

The game has also received a great deal of criticism, despite getting favorable ratings. Many critics claimed that its campaign mode lacks a compelling story and fails to connect emotionally. Many also agreed that while it is a solid game overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts does very little to reinvent the franchise and instead relies on a proven formula by offering more of the same familiar concepts from previous installments. PC Gamer dubbed the campaign as "exciting but only passively entertaining" and criticized the "whack-a-mole" feel in the game's multiplayer. VideoGamer.com praised overall gameplay, saying it "seems more refined and enjoyable than Black Ops 2" but criticized the campaign calling it a "po-faced, nonsensical rehash of greatest hits long past". Eurogamer was less critical of the campaign, commenting that "the Ghosts campaign can't help but feel like a step backwards", but that "it's still capable of being devilishly entertaining" and "moment-to-moment thrills are still there, if muted by expectation". Joystiq disparaged both types of gameplay, saying "It layers a fresh coat of paint over a tired design document; a document that brings players down a rote campaign path before landing them in a multiplayer mode that abandons many of the creative advancements seen in Black Ops 2".

Sales
Despite shipping $1 billion worth of units to retail channels within 24 hours of the game's launch, overall sales were down compared to 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Activision blamed the fall in demand on uncertainty caused by the upcoming transition to eighth generation consoles. As of February 2014, the game has sold over 19 million copies.


Stranger in Town (1957 film)

A Stranger in Town is a 1957 British crime film directed by George Pollock and starring Alex Nicol and Anne Paige. Arthur Lowe makes a brief appearance in a minor role. It was made at Southall Studios.

Cast
 Alex Nicol as John Madison
 Anne Paige as Vicky Leigh
 Mary Laura Wood as Lorna Ryland
 Mona Washbourne as Agnes Smith
 Charles Lloyd-Pack as Captain Nash
 Bruce Beeby as William Ryland
 John Horsley as Inspector Powell
 Colin Tapley as Henry Ryland
 Betty Impey as Geraldine Nash
 Peggy Ann Clifford as Mrs Woodham
 Arthur Lowe as the Jeweller
 Willoughby Goddard as the publican

External links


Mushahid Hussain

Mushahid Hussain Syed (Urdu: مشاہد حسین سید; b. 1953) is a Pakistani politician, and journalist who is currently the Pakistan Senator from the Islamabad Capital Territory on the platform of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), since 3 March 2018.

A political journalist by profession, Hussain briefly served in the Sharif administrations in 1990s and is known for his political positions that reflects the national conservatism towards supporting the idea of civilian control of the military. After playing a crucial role in the support of the decision-making towards the nuclear weapons-testing in response to India's in 1998, Hussain's tenure was abrupted by the staged martial law by Chairman joint chiefs Gen. Pervez Musharraf and was held in prison on treason conspiracy in 1999.  In 2003, he later defected to the forward block supporting the presidential campaign of Pervez Musharraf and was elected the Pakistan Senator of the Senate.

Despite his support for the PML(Q), the forward block supporting Musharraf for several years, Hussain remained sympathetics towards the PML(N) and eventually joined his original party after being ousted by the forward block in 2016. He is known as a proponent for strengthening the foreign relations with China and Central Asia, having served the Chairman of the China-Pakistan Institute, a lobbying firm based in Islamabad.

Biography

Early life and career in journalism

Mushahid Hussain Syed was born in Sialkot, Punjab in Pakistan into a military family on 2 November 1952. His father, Amjad Hussain Syed, was an army officer in the Pakistan Army, retiring with rank of army colonel; his mother, Sameen Sayed, was a social activist. Hussain is the third oldest of four children, and both his parents were the activists in the Pakistan Movement prior to 1947. His mother, Sameen, died at the age of 83 in 2010.

After his matriculation from Lahore, Hussain went to attend the Forman Christian College University where he graduated with B.A. in Journalism in 1974. During this time, he went to the United States under the Fulbright Program to attend the School of Foreign Service of the Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and graduated with the M.S. in Foreign Service, and briefly interned at the United States Congress. While studying in the United States, he was President of the Pakistan Students Association and was awarded a Congressional Internship to work in the United States Congress.

After completing his education, Hussain returned to Pakistan and joined the Directing Staff of the Administrative Staff College in Lahore to instruct courses on international relations to the civil servants prior to their joining of the Pakistan Foreign Service. He also served as the visiting professor on the topics of international relations at the Punjab University but was terminated from his employment when he spoke on a rally to oppose the martial law government in October 1979. After his termination, he begin writing syndicated political columns on conservatism and joined the English daily The Muslim, of which, he became its Editor-in-Chief in 1982. He also joined The Hindustan Times where he wrote the syndicated column.

In 1983, he joined the Non-Aligned News Agencies which he co-chaired in New Delhi. In 1985–86, Hussain had established himself as a journalist and had enjoyed considerable fame when he wrote articles on politics and security.

In 1988, he reportedly lost his job as a journalist when he published an interview in The Muslim on the issue of the country's covert atomic bomb program when President Zia-ul-Haq froze the funding of the news correspondent

Authorship
Hussain also written three political books covering the issues of civilian control of the military, geostrategy, and governance.

Public service in Pakistan

Information minister in Sharif administrations and imprisonment

After covering the nationwide general elections held in 1990, Hussain joined the IDA government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and was inducted as an adviser on External Publicity and Foreign Affairs in the first administration, which he served until 1993. He advised the Prime Minister Sharif on the issues relating to the foreign relations with the United States, India, and the geostrategy in Central Asia, and was later elevated as the Minister of Communications. In 1994, he was appointed as the information secretary of the PML(N) while he continued to write columns and articles on the issue of national conservatism and security in country's major news and political correspondents.

In 1997, he played a crucial role in the managing the public relations of the election campaign of Nawaz Sharif in general elections held in 1997, and reportedly quoted in favor of Nawaz Sharif: "Nawaz will be the Erbakan of Pakistan." He participated and defended the NA-125 constituency based on Lahore and was elected as the member of national assembly on the platform of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) whereas joining the Prime Minister Sharif's second administration as the Information Minister in his cabinet.

In 1998, when Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ordered the nuclear tests in Rajasthan, Hussain was the first cabinet minister who spoke in the favor of conducting the reciprocated nuclear tests during the decision-making process. Hussain was reportedly known in the political circles as a "War hawk." He repeatedly praised Prime Minister Sharif on various public convention of authorizing the nuclear testing program to counter the India's aggression in the region to ensure the mutual assured destruction to India in case of a war. He later went onto speak on the CNN, Fox News, and the Face the Nation on CBS News to defend the decision to conduct nuclear tests. In 1998, he supported the Prime Minister Sharif's relief of commission of Gen. Jehangir Karamat as the Chairman joint chiefs, which he viewed as vital for government's civilian control of the military at that time.

About the Kargil war, he reportedly spoke in favor of the conflict and reportedly noted in the televised press conference: bitter fighting has "internationalized Kashmir", and hence was worth the loss of life suffered by the Pakistan Army as well as the Kashmiri freedom fighters involved. In 1999, his tenure was abrupted when Chairman joint chiefs Gen. Pervez Musharraf staged a martial law against the elected civilian government, and placed him trial that sentenced him on a solitary confinement on a conspiracy of treason; he was declared as the prisoner of conscience. In 2000–01, he voiced for the civilian control of the military and the called for the support for the democratic movements in an opined article which The Washington Post profiled him as: "Pakistan Keeps Gag on Former Spokesman."

PML(Q)'s secretary and presidential campaign in 2008

In 2003, Hussain agreed upon a deal with the Musharraf administration and joined the forward block, the PML(Q), led by Shujaat Hussain and ultimately ran for the senate elections held in 2002. His decision to defect against the ethical morality lost the credibility that he had built over the several decades as a "respected journalist and disciplined politician", and was received severe public criticism from news correspondents of defending the Musharraf's presidential campaign while serving as sitting army chief.

His credibility was greatly questioned in an editorial written in Dawn, the political correspondent, where Ziauddin claimed that Hussain filed for "nomination papers for the Senate elections reportedly with a letter of recommendation from Washington, D.C." In 2004, he joined the taskforce as the President Musharraf's special envoy to begin negotiate with the Baloch political leader Akbar Bugti, an ally of Benazir Bhutto, which eventually failed. he further earned notoriety when he was part of the same government which was eventually implicated in the Bugti's killing. After the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, Hussain earned the nomination from the PML-Q to run his presidential campaign during the presidential election held in 2008. Hussain eventually lost the presidential elections with the largest margin, receiving only 44 votes out of 700 from the Electoral College as opposed top Asif Zardari (409/700) and S.Z. Siddiqui (216/700).

After elected as Pakistan Senator from Punjab in 2012, Hussain came under severe public criticism when it was reported that he only paid ₨. 82. (US¢ 0.82) in filing the tax returns, and was called as a tax evader by various news correspondents.

On 4 June 2012, Hussain was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee chairman.

Rejoining PML(N) and Pakistan Senator

In October 2016, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Hussain and Shizra Khan as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on unrest in Kashmir and went to attend the Atlantic Council, where he termed the violation of the Indus Waters Treaty as "an act of war." He viewed the initiation of the strategic corridor as a crucial and one of the largest political achievement of Prime Minister Sharif, and has risen a strong political voice in support Prime Minister Sharif's economic policy.

On 3 January 2017, the PML-Q ousted Hussain from the party due to his "tacit alignment" and support for the PML(N)'s cause. On 4 February 2018, he rejoined the PML(N) and spoke very high of Nawaz's services to the country. In 2018, he was elected as the Pakistan Senator from Federally Administrated Triabal Areas on the platform of PML(N) after participating in the senator elections held in March 2018.

Lobbyist and Sinology

On 1 October 2009, Hussain founded the Pakistan China Institute to promote the bilateral relations with China. He has consistently lobbied for strengthening the relations with China and the Central Asian republics.


Undulate ray

The undulate ray (Raja undulata) is a species of ray and cartilaginous fish found in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic from southern Ireland and England to the Gulf of Guinea. It is found in areas with mud or sand, and may occur as deep as , though it prefers shallower depths. It is considered endangered due to overfishing.

Description
The undulate ray features a disc-shaped body, triangular in the front and near-circular in the rear, and dermal denticles developed as spines for protection. Median spines are scattered in adults, regular on young. The males have one lateral row each side, whereas the females have three. The eyes are medium-sized and followed by spiracles. The mouth is on the ventral surface and is slightly arched, followed by the five pairs of small gill slits. Tail is as long as body, and has two well separated dorsal fins near its end, usually with two spines between them. The colouring of the dorsal surface varies from light brown to citrine or grey, with darker waved bands and numerous small white patches. Snout and margins are frequently clearer with dark spots. The underside is creamy-white with a greyish margin. It typically weighs about , but can reach to as much as  and  in length.

Distribution and habitat
This species has a patchy and discontinuous distribution in northeastern Atlantic. It is found from southern Ireland and England to Senegal, and in the western Mediterranean. It is uncommon overall but can be locally abundant, mainly around the north-west of Ireland, in the eastern side of the English Channel, and near the south coast of Portugal.  Like other rays, is usually found on sandy, muddy or detrital bottoms, at depths of 50–200 m from coastal regions to the upper continental slope, even if it's sometimes possible to find it in shallower water.

Biology

There are few data about biology of this species. Using vertebrae as growth markers, maximum lifespan was supposed to be 21–23 years.
It's an oviparous cartilaginous fish. The females lay their eggs from March to September. Each egg is a leathery black eggcase with horny corners, known by the common name "mermaid's purse" (as are the eggcases of other rays, skates and sharks). They usually are 72– 90 mm long and 42– 52 mm wide. These "purses" often wash up on beaches after rough weather, although usually they wash up empty, the young ray having already hatched out.

Diet
The ray eats small fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other macrobenthos.

Human interactions
Like other benthonic species of similar size this ray is caught incidentally or intentionally by commercial fisheries using trawls, gillnets, and line gears. It is a common host in public aquariums as fares relatively well.

Protection
Because of its late sexual maturity and low rate of population growth, undulate ray is extremely vulnerable to exploitation by fisheries. In the north Atlantic, populations have declined severely from the Irish area, and there are no longer records of catches of this species in the English Channel. Since 2009 it has been illegal to keep Undulate Rays fished in EU waters due to concerns over the decreasing size of stocks. They must be returned unharmed if possible.

Reproduction
During a study it was found that the gonadosomatic index for the females was higher in the winter, which means that this specie reproduces during this season. Females also matured at significantly larger sized and older ages than males.


Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying is a biography, written by Canadian writer Wayson Choy, first published in March 2009 by Doubleday Canada. The author recounts his experiences following a combined asthma attack and cardiac arrest.  The book was favorably reviewed in The Globe and Mail, and on straight.com,.


Lewis William Buck

Lewis William Buck (1784–1858) of Moreton House, Bideford, and Hartland Abbey, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Exeter 1826–32 and for North Devon 1839–57, and was Sheriff of Devon in 1825/6. A full-length portrait of Lewis William Buck by Francis Grant (1803–1878) was presented to him by the people of North Devon after he had served eighteen years as their MP, now displayed in the billiards room of Hartland Abbey, with his electioneering posters on each side.

Origins

He was a younger son of George Stucley Buck (1755–1791) by his wife Martha Keats (1753–1833), eldest daughter of Rev. Richard Keats, rector of Bideford and King's Nympton and Master of Blundells School, Tiverton (1775–1797), and sister of Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats (1757–1834). A portrait of George Stucley Buck painted by a follower of George Romney (1734–1802) hangs in Bideford Town Hall. The family of Buck were Bideford ship owners and merchants who from the 17th century traded with the American Colonies and owned tobacco plantations in Virginia and a saw-mill in Bideford, Maine. Bideford was the leading tobacco trading port in England. The family originated in Ireland, having settled in Devon in the late seventeenth century. From their profits they acquired much land near Bideford and eventually by the end of the 18th century their estates almost surrounded the north side of the town from Westleigh to Northam. Their arms are: Per fess embattled argent and sable three buck's attires each fixed to the scalp counterchanged. These arms are quartered with the ancient arms of Stucley by the present Stucley Baronets, his direct descendants in the male line, but with the Stucley arms in the 1st and 4th quarters of greatest honour.

Inheritance
Lewis was his father's 3rd son, and thus under the primogeniture custom was not expected to receive any inheritance. He was only 7 years old on the death of his father, who had predeceased his own father George II Buck (d.1794), and the latter intended his grandson Lewis for the priesthood and intended to bestow on him the advowsons of West Worlington (in which parish was situated his estate of Affeton) and Bideford. Events however moved him into a different situation and career.

Daddon/Moreton and Affeton
In 1805 aged 21 he became the heir of his elder brother George Pawley Buck (1782–1805) of Daddon, who had died aged 23 without progeny, having inherited the paternal estates of Daddon House (the name of which he later changed in 1821 to Moreton House) near Bideford, and Affeton, which latter estate with ruinous fortified manor house, had been inherited in 1755 by his grandfather George II Buck (1731–1794), JP for Devon, and grandson of Sara Stucley (d.1742), following the death without progeny of Sarah's nephew Dennis II Stucley (d.1755), Sheriff of Devon in 1748.

Hartland Abbey
In 1824, at the age of 40, Lewis inherited Hartland Abbey, about 14 miles west of Bideford, from his father's first cousin Rev. Thomas Hooper Morrison (1767–1824). It was not however with vacant possession as still occupied until her death by Thomas Morrison's aunt Bettina Lawley (d.1833), widow of Col. Paul II Orchard (1739–1812), MP, of Hartland Abbey. Thomas Morrison was the son of Rev. Hooper Morrison of Yeo Vale, Alwington, Devon, by his wife Charlotte Orchard (d.1791) (whose monument survives in the Yeo Vale Chapel (north aisle) of Alwington Church), a sister and in her issue heiress of Paul II Orchard (1739–1812) of Hartland Abbey and sister-in-law of George II Buck (1731–1794), thus great-aunt of Lewis Buck.

Career
He was educated at Blundells School in Tiverton, Devon (of which his maternal grandfather Rev. Richard Keats was headmaster (1775–1797)), and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Lewis is believed in 1821 to have undertaken further building work at Daddon House and to have changed its name to Moreton House. He entertained Benjamin Disraeli at Moreton House, but before he became Prime Minister in 1868, thus after Lewis's death. He had a distinguished political career and it is believed that had he lived long enough to serve under Disraeli's premiership he would have been made a minister and peer, and thus the honour of a baronetcy awarded to his son was in some way a recompense.

Marriage and progeny
In 1808 he married Ann Robbins (1791–1879), daughter of Thomas Robbins (d.1806) of Roundham, Hampshire, by whom he had the following progeny:
Sir George Stucley Buck Stucley, 1st Baronet (1812–1900), eldest son and heir, who in July 1858 assumed by royal licence the surname of Stucley and in April 1859 was created a baronet. His great-great-great grandfather George I Buck (1674–1743), seven times mayor of Bideford, had married Sara Stucley (d.1742), daughter and in her issue heiress of Dennis Stucley (1673–1674 - 1741–1742) of Affeton in the parish of West Worlington, Devon, a very ancient and prominent Devonshire gentry family, which had however almost been ruined during the Civil War for its adherence to the Royalist cause. He is the ancestor of the present Stucley Baronets of Affeton and Hartland Abbey in Devon.
Louisa Buck, who in 1840 married (as his 2nd wife) Samuel Trehawke Kekewich (1796–1873), of Peamore House near Exeter, who had been co-MP (Tory) for Exeter in 1826 with her father.
Emma Helena Buck (d.1840)

Death and burial
He died on his birthday, 25 April 1858, aged 74 and was buried at St Helen's Church, Abbotsham, Devon.

Mural monument, Abbotsham

His mural monument survives on the east wall of the south transept of St Helen's Church, Abbotsham, Devon, inscribed as follows:
"This tablet is erected by his affectionate wife to the memory of her beloved husband lewis William Buck Esquire of Moreton and Hartland Abbey whose remains are interred near this place. He was a magistrate of this county and served the office of High Sheriff in 1826. He represented the City of Exeter in Parliament from 1826 to 1832 and the Northern Division of this county from 1839 to 1858. Born April 25th 1784, died April 25th 1858. Also to the memory of their beloved children: Ellen Catherine, died 30th August 1828 aged 2 years; Anne Bettina, died 12th September 1823 aged 14 years; Emma Helena, died 17th September 1849 aged 23 years. Also to the memory of Anne Buck wife of the above named Lewis William Buck, and daughter of Thomas Robbins Esq.re of Roundham, Hampshire, who died April 26th 1879 aged 88".
The heraldic escutcheon above displays the following arms with hatching: Baron: Quarterly of four:
1st: Per fess embattled argent and sable, three buck's attires each fixed to the scalp counterchanged (Buck);
2nd: Azure, a fess argent between three pears pendant or (Orchard of Hartland Abbey);
3rd: Per pale azure and (gules?) three battle axes (similar to Dennis of Orleigh);
4th: Or, a lion rampant sable on a chief indented of the second three mullets argent (Pawley of Gunwin in Lelant; his great-grandfather John Buck (d.1745) married Judith Pawley (d.1739), only child and heiress of William Pawley of Bideford)
impaling Femme: per pale argent and sable, a fleur-de-lys between two flaunches each charged with a fleur-de-lys all counterchanged (Robbins)

Crests: 1st: Between a buck's attires as in the arms sable a lion rampant or the sinister paw holding a battle-axe resting on the shoulder proper (Buck); 2nd: A dexter cubit arm issuing from a mural crown habited azure adorned with three fleur-de-lis or, 1 and 2, the cuff turned up ermine holding in the hand proper a branch of a pear tree with pear attached thereto as in the field (Orchard).

Motto: Bellement et Hardiment ("Beautifully and Bravely")

Sources
Jenkins, Terry, Biography of "Buck, Lewis William (1784–1858), of Daddon House, Moreton and Hartland Abbey, nr. Bideford, Devon", published in The History of Parliament: House of Commons 1820–1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009
Lauder, Rosemary, Devon Families, Tiverton, 2002, Stucley family, pp. 142–150
Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, Stucley & Buck pedigree, pp. 721–3
Stucley, Sir Dennis, 5th Baronet, "A Devon Parish Lost, A new Home Discovered", Presidential Address published in Transactions of the Devonshire Association, no. 108, 1976, pp. 1–11
Stucley, Lt.Commander J.H., DSC, RN, (uncle of 6th Baronet) "A Brief Note on Affeton", date unknown


Robert Fludd

Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus (17 January 1574 – 8 September 1637), was a prominent English Paracelsian physician with both scientific and occult interests. He is remembered as an astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist and Rosicrucian apologist.

Fludd is best known for his compilations in occult philosophy. He had a celebrated exchange of views with Johannes Kepler concerning the scientific and hermetic approaches to knowledge.

Early life
He was born at Milgate House, Bearsted, Kent, not too long before 17 January 1573/4. He was the son of Sir Thomas Fludd, a high-ranking governmental official (Queen Elizabeth I's treasurer for war in Europe), and Member of Parliament. His mother was Elizabeth Andrews Fludd.

Education
He entered St John's College, Oxford as a commoner in 1591, graduating with a B.A. in 1597 and an M.A. in 1598. St John’s College, Oxford was one of the few in England with any provision for Fellowship (medicine); William Huffman suggests that the presence of a Medical Fellow at St John's College, Oxford influenced Fludd's interest in studying medicine. During Fludd’s time at St John’s College, the Medical Fellow in residence was Matthew Gwinne; Gwinne had previously produced a tract indicating that, while he practiced Galenic medicine, he was also familiar with the main Paracelsian medical work. Fludd may have encountered Gwinne, or his writing, during his time at Oxford, providing an additional influence for his later medical philosophy and practice.

Career
Between 1598 and 1604, Fludd studied medicine, chemistry and hermeticism on the European mainland following his graduation. His itinerary is not known in detail. On his own account he spent a winter in the Pyrenees studying theurgy (the practice of rituals) with the Jesuits. Furthermore, he indicated that he travelled throughout Spain, Italy and Germany following his time in France.

Upon returning to England in 1604, Fludd matriculated to Christ Church, Oxford. He intended to take a degree in medicine. The main requirements to obtain this, at the time, included demonstrating that he (the supplicant) had read and understood the required medical texts—primarily those by Galen and Hippocrates. Fludd defended three theses following these texts, and on 14 May 1605, Fludd made his supplication. He graduated with his M.B. and M.D. on 16 May 1605.

After graduating from Christ Church, Fludd moved to London, settling in Fenchurch Street, and making repeated attempts to enter the College of Physicians. Fludd encountered problems with the College examiners, both because of his unconcealed contempt for traditional medical authorities (he had adopted the views of Paracelsus), and because of his attitude to authority—especially those of the ancients like Galen. After at least six failures, he was admitted in September 1609. He became a prosperous London doctor, serving as Censor of the College four times (1618, 1627, 1633, and 1634). He also participated in an inspection of the London apothecaries put on by the College in 1614, and helped to author the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis in 1618—a directory of standardized pharmaceutical preparations given by the London College of Physicians. He became such an established figure within the College that he was included in seventeenth-century critiques of the College, including those by Nicholas Culpepper and Peter Coles.

Subsequently, both his career and his standing in the College took a turn very much for the better. He was on good terms with Sir William Paddy. Fludd was one of the first to support in print the theory of the circulation of the blood of the College's William Harvey. To what extent Fludd may have actually influenced Harvey is still debated, in the context that Harvey's discovery is hard to date precisely. The term "circulation" was certainly ambiguous at that time.

Occult interest
While he followed Paracelsus in his medical views rather than the ancient authorities, he was also a believer that real wisdom was to be found in the writings of natural magicians.  His view of these mystical authorities was inclined towards the great mathematicians, and he believed, like Pythagoras and his followers, that numbers contained access to great hidden secrets.  Certainty in religion could be discovered only through serious study of numbers and ratios.  This view later brought Fludd into conflict with Johannes Kepler.

Mystical theory of nature

Tripartite division of matter
Much of Fludd's writing, and his pathology of disease, centered around the sympathies found in nature between man, the terrestrial earth, and the divine. While Paracelsian in nature, Fludd's own theory on the origin of all things posited that, instead of the Tria Prima, all species and things stemmed from first, dark Chaos, then divine Light which acted upon the Chaos, which finally brought forth the waters. This last element was also called the Spirit of the Lord, and it made up the passive matter of all other substances, including all secondary elements and the four qualities of the ancients. Moreover, the Fluddean tripartite theory concluded that Paracelsus' own conception of the three primary principles—Sulphur, Salt and Mercury—eventually derived from Chaos and Light interacting to create variations of the waters, or Spirit.

The Trinitarian division is important in that is reflects a mystical framework for biology. Fludd was heavily reliant on scripture; in the Bible, the number three represented the principium formarum, or the original form. Furthermore, it was the number of the Holy Trinity. Thus, the number three formed the perfect body, paralleling the Trinity. This allowed man and earth to approach the infinity of God, and created a universality in sympathy and composition between all things.

Macrocosm-microcosm relationship
Fludd's application of his mystically inclined tripartite theory to his philosophies of medicine and science was best illustrated through his conception of the Macrocosm and microcosm relationship. The divine light (the second of Fludd’s primary principles) was the "active agent" responsible for creation. This informed the development of the world and the sun, respectively. Fludd concluded, from a reading of Psalm 19:4—"In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun"—that the Spirit of the Lord was contained literally within the sun, placing it central to Fludd’s model of the macrocosm. remained in manuscript. As the sun was to the earth, so was the heart to mankind. The sun conveyed Spirit to the earth through its rays, which circulated in and about the earth giving it life. Likewise, the blood of man carried the Spirit of the Lord (the same Spirit provided by the sun), and circulated through the body of man. This was an application of the sympathies and parallels provided to all of God’s Creation by Fludd’s tripartite theory of matter.

The blood was central to Fludd's conception of the relationship between the microcosm and macrocosm; the blood and the Spirit it circulated interacted directly with the Spirit conveyed to the macrocosm. The macrocosmal Spirit, carried by the Sun, was influenced by astral bodies and changed in composition through such influence. Comparatively, the astral influences on the macrocosmal Spirit could be transported to the microcosmal Spirit in the blood by the active commerce assumed between the macrocosm and the microcosm. Fludd extended this interaction to his conception of disease: the movement of Spirit between the macrocosm and microcosm could be corrupted and invade the microcosm as disease. Like Paracelsus, Fludd conceived of disease as an external invader, rather than a complexional imbalance.

Death
Fludd died on 8 September 1637 in London. He was buried in Holy Cross Church, Bearsted.

Controversial works

Fludd's works are mainly controversial. In succession he defended the Rosicrucians against Andreas Libavius, debated with Kepler, argued against French natural philosophers including Gassendi, and engaged in the discussion of the weapon-salve.

Defence of Rosicrucianism
Fludd was not a member of the Rosicrucians, as often alleged, but he defended their thoughts as expressed in numerous manifestos and pamphlets. He produced a quick work, the Apologia Compendiaria, against the claims of Libavius that the Rosicrucians indulged in heresy, diabolical magic and sedition, made in his Analysis confessionis Fraternitatis de Rosea Cruce (Analysis of the Confession of the Rosy Cross) of 1615. Fludd returned to the subject at greater length, the following year.

 Apologia Compendiaria, Fraternitatem de Rosea Cruce suspicionis … maculis aspersam, veritatis quasi Fluctibus abluens, &c., Leyden, 1616. Against Libavius.
 Tractatus Apologeticus integritatem Societatis de Rosea Cruce defendens, &c., Leyden, 1617.
 Tractatus Theologo-philosophicus, &c., Oppenheim, 1617. The date is given in a chronogram. This treatise "a Rudolfo Otreb Britanno" (where Rudolf Otreb is an anagram of Robert Floud) is dedicated to the Rosicrucian Fraternity. It consists of three books, De Vita, De Morte, and De Resurrectione. In the third book Fludd contends that those filled with the spirit of Christ may rise before his second coming.

It is now seriously doubted that any formal organisation identifiable as the "Brothers of the Rose Cross" (Rosicrucians) ever actually existed in any extant form. The theological and philosophical claims circulating under this name appear, to these outsiders, to have been more an intellectual fashion that swept Europe at the time of the Counter Reformation. These thinkers suppose that in claiming to be part of a secret cult, scholars of alchemy, the occult, and Hermetic mysticism, merely sought that additional prestige by being able to promote their views while claiming exclusive adherence to some revolutionary pan-European secret society. By this logic, some suppose the society itself to never have existed.

Between 1607 and 1616, two anonymous Rosicrucian manifestos were published by some anonymous person or group, first in Germany and later throughout Europe. These were the Fama Fraternitatis, (The Fame of the Brotherhood of RC), and the Confessio Fraternitatis, (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC). The first manifesto was influenced by the work of the respected hermetic philosopher Heinrich Khunrath, of Hamburg, author of the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (1609) who himself had borrowed generously from the work of John Dee. It referred favourably to the role played by the Illuminati and it featured a convoluted manufactured history dating back to archaic mysteries of the Middle East, with references to the Kabala and the Persian Magi.

The second manifesto had decidedly anti-Catholic views which were popular at the time of the Counter Reformation. These manifestos were re-issued several times, and were both supported and countered by numerous pamphlets from anonymous authors: about 400 manuscripts and books were published on the subject between 1614 and 1620. The peak of the "Rosicrucianism furore" came in 1622 with mysterious posters appearing on the walls of Paris, and occult philosophers such as Michael Maier, Robert Fludd and Thomas Vaughan interested themselves in the Rosicrucian world view. Others intellectuals and authors later claimed to have published Rosicrucian documents in order to ridicule their views. The furore faded out and the Rosicrucians disappeared from public life until 1710 when the secret cult appears to have been revived as a formal organisation.

It is claimed that the work of John Amos Comenius and Samuel Hartlib on early education in England were strongly influenced by Rosicrucian ideas, but this has not been proven, and it appears unlikely except in the similarity in their anti-Catholic views and emphasis on science education.  Rosicrucianism is also said to have been influential at the time when operative Masonry (a guild of artisans) was being transformed to speculative masonry—Freemasonry—which was a social fraternity, which also originally promoted the scientific and educative view of Comenius, Hartlib, Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon.

Rosicrucian literature became the sandbox of theosophists, and charlatans, who claimed to be connected with the mysterious Brotherhood. Robert Fludd led the battle. It is said by some that he was "the great English mystical philosopher of the seventeenth century, a man of immense erudition, of exalted mind, and, to judge by his writings, of extreme personal sanctity".

It has also been said that what Fludd did was to liberate occultism, both from traditional Aristotelian philosophy, and from the coming (Cartesian) philosophy of his time.

Against Kepler
Johannes Kepler criticised Fludd's theory of cosmic harmony in an appendix to his Harmonice Mundi (1619).
 Veritatis Proscenium Frankfort, 1621. Reply to Kepler. In it Fludd argued from a Platonist point of view; and he claims that the hermetic or "chemical" approach is deeper than the mathematical.
 Monochordon Mundi Symphoniacum Frankfort, 1622. Reply to Kepler's Mathematice, 1622.
 Anatomiæ Amphitheatrum, Frankfort, 1623. Includes reprint of the Monochordon.

Against the natural philosophers

According to Brian Copenhaver, "Kepler accused Fludd of being a theosophist, and Kepler was right". Fludd was well-read in the tradition coming through Francesco Giorgi. Marin Mersenne attacked him in Quæstiones Celebres in Genesim (1623).

 Sophiæ cum Moria Certamen, Frankfort, 1629. Reply to Mersenne.
 Summum Bonum, Frankfort, 1629. Under the name Joachim Frizius, this was a further reply to Mersenne, who had accused Fludd of magic.

Pierre Gassendi took up the controversy in an Examen Philosophiæ Fluddanæ (1630). This was at Mersenne's request. Gassendi attacked Fludd's neo-Platonic position. He rejected the syncretic move that placed alchemy, cabbala and Christian religion on the same footing; and Fludd's anima mundi. Further he dismissed Fludd's biblical exegesis.

Fludd also wrote against The Tillage of Light (1623) of Patrick Scot; Scot like Mersenne found the large claims of hermetic alchemy to be objectionable. Fludd defended alchemy against the criticisms of Scot, who took it to be merely allegorical. This work, Truth's Golden Harrow, remained in manuscript.

The weapon-salve controversy
 "Doctor Fludds Answer vnto M. Foster, or, The Sqvesing of Parson Fosters Sponge", &c., London, 1631, (defence of weapon-salve, against the Hoplocrisma-Spongus, 1631, of William Foster, of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire); an edition in Latin, "Responsum ad Hoplocrisma-Spongum", &c., Gouda, 1638.

The idea that certain parallel actions could be initiated and linked by 'sympathetic' mysterious forces was widespread at this time, probably arising mainly from the actions of the magnet, shown by Gilbert, to always point towards some point in the northern sky.  The idea owed a lot of the older Aristotelian and neo-Platonic views about soul-like forces.

Cosmology and other works

Fludd's philosophy is presented in Utriusque Cosmi, Maioris scilicet et Minoris, metaphysica, physica, atque technica Historia (The metaphysical, physical, and technical history of the two worlds, namely the greater and the lesser, published in Germany between 1617 and 1621); according to Frances Yates, his memory system (which she describes in detail in The Art of Memory, pp. 321–341) may reflect the layout of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (The Art of Memory, Chapter XVI).

In 1618, Fludd wrote De Musica Mundana (Mundane Music) which described his theories of music, including his mundane (also known as "divine" or "celestial") monochord.

In 1630, Fludd proposed many perpetual motion machines. People were trying to patent variations of Fludd's machine in the 1870s. Fludd's machine worked by recirculation by means of a water wheel and Archimedean screw. The device pumps the water back into its own supply tank.

His main works are:
 Utriusque Cosmi ... metaphysica, physica atque technica Historia, &c., Oppenheim and Frankfort, 1617–24. (It has two dedications, first to the Deity, secondly to James I, and copperplates; it was to have been in two volumes, the first containing two treatises, the second three; it was completed as far as the first section of the second treatise of the second volume.)
 Philosophia Sacra et vere Christiana, &c., Frankfort, 1626; dedicated to John Williams.
 Medicina Catholica, &c., Frankfort, 1629–31, in five parts; the plan included a second volume, not published.

Posthumous were:
 Philosophia Moysaica, &c., Gouda, 1638; an edition in English, Mosaicall Philosophy, &c., London, 1659.
 Religio Exculpata, &c. [Ratisbon], 1684 (Autore Alitophilo Religionis fluctibus dudum immerso, tandem … emerso; preface signed J. N. J.; assigned to Fludd).
 Tractatus de Geomantia, &c. (four books), included in Fasciculus Geomanticus, &c., Verona, 1687.

An unpublished manuscript, copied by an amanuensis, and headed Declaratio breuis, &c., is in the Royal manuscripts, British Library, 12 C. ii. Fludd's Opera consist of his folios, not reprinted, but collected and arranged in six volumes in 1638; appended is a Clavis Philosophiæ et Alchimiæ Fluddanæ, Frankfort, 1633.

Reception

William T. Walker, reviewing two books on Fludd in The Sixteenth Century Journal (by Joscelyn Godwin, and William Huffman), writes that "Fludd relied on the Bible, the Cabbala, and the traditions of alchemy and astrology. Many of his contemporaries labelled Fludd a magician and condemned him for his sympathy for the occult." He cites Godwin's book as arguing that Fludd was part of the tradition of Christian esotericism that includes Origen and Meister Eckhart. He finds convincing the argument in Huffman's book that Fludd was not a Rosicrucian but was "a leading advocate of Renaissance Christian Neo-Platonism. Fludd's advocacy of an intellectual philosophy in decline has done much to assure his general neglect."

Notes


Hambal

Hambal (, also Romanized as Ḩambal; also known as Ḩammāl) is a village in Fasharud Rural District, in the Central District of Birjand County, South Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 108, in 35 families.


Brighenti

Brighenti is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Andrea Brighenti (born 1987), Italian footballer
Nicolò Brighenti (born 1989), Italian footballer
Sergio Brighenti (born 1932), Italian footballer and manager