74 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



chair gave the illustrious sage a short respite, of which he availed him- 

 self to draw up three works, and to publish one of them, the " Opus 

 Majus." Scarcely was this effected when the enlightened Pontiff died, 

 and his successor was indifferent, if not formally hostile. Roger Bacon 

 was summoned to appear at Paris before the legate Jerome of Ascoli, 

 was convicted of heresy and witchcraft, and sentenced to imprisonment 

 for life. His works were also condemned as impious, and all persons 

 were forbidden to read them under pain of excommunication. It is 

 certain that he remained ten years in a loathsome dungeon, and that 

 his treatment, even in that rude age, was considered exceptionally 

 harsh. Some say that he died in prison ; others, that he was at length 

 set free at the intercession of certain powerful nobles, and ended his 

 days in England. He is said to lie buried at Oxford. We can wish 

 that ancient university no greater boon than that his spirit may ever 

 rest upon its professors. 



Three centuries later Rome witnessed one of the foulest murders 

 ever committed. Giordano Bruno, for upholding the teachings of 

 modern astronomy, and especially for maintaining the immensity of 

 the universe and the plurality of worlds, was burned to death in the 

 Campo di Fiore on February 16, 1600. The words of the sentence 

 passed upon him are significant : " Ut quam clementissime et citra 

 sanguinis effusionem puniretur." Not less memorable was the reply 

 of the hero-philosopher : " You feel more fear in pronouncing this sen- 

 tence than I do in receiving it ! " 



One of the greatest merits of Bruno is his enunciation of the doc- 

 trine that on all scientific questions the Scriptures neither possess nor 

 claim any authority, but embody merely the opinions current at the 

 times when they were written. This proposition, from which follows 

 as a corollary that the Church can have no claim to pronounce on the 

 truth or falsehood of scientific theories, was afterward enforced at 

 length by Galileo in his celebrated letter to the Dowager Grand 

 Duchess Cristina of Tuscany. We can not help regretting that he, 

 when brought before the inquisitors in the Convent of Minerva, did 

 not act up to his profession by denying in toto the authority of the 

 court. Had he done so his life would doubtless have been in great 

 peril, but the enemies of science would have been deprived of much 

 scope for sophistry. "E pur si muove" was well, but "non coram 

 judice" would have been infinitely better. It is worthy of note that, 

 unless we are misinformed, St. Augustine had warned the clergy 

 against the attempt to exercise a jurisdiction over science. 



As we approach modern times a change becomes manifest. Eccle- 

 siastical bodies in the more civilized parts of Europe were deprived of 

 civil power, and could no longer imprison, torture, or burn inventors 

 and discoverers. But the old spirit faded away very slowly, and even 

 in our days it still occasionally comes to light. Men of science, sci- 

 entific works, and learned societies were, and still are, traduced, de- 



