NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 277 



In one of his works he tells us that upon his recent return to Eng- 

 land after long study abroad, his nephew and other friends urged him 

 to disclose some of the new ideas that he had learned among the Arabs. 

 The result is his treatise called " Natural Questions " in the form of a 

 dialogue with his nephew, who proposes, by means of a set of questions, 

 to force his uncle Adelard to justify his preference for " the opinions of 

 the Saracens" concerning nature over those of "the schools of Gaul" 

 where the nephew has been studying. Adelard agrees to this, but wishes 

 to state at the start that, because of the prejudice of the present genera- 

 tion against any modem discoveries, he will attribute even his own ideas 

 to the Arabs and will not be personally responsible for what he says. 

 " For I know," he declares, " what misfortunes pursue the professors of 

 truth among the common crowd. Therefore it is the cause of the Arab3 

 that I plead, not my own." 



Adelard's use of the word "modern" should be noted. The word 

 modernus is not found in classical Latin, but is often employed in the 

 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In another passage Adelard distin- 

 guishes "the writings of men of old" from "the science of moderns." 

 Bartholomew of England rejects an astronomical theory of the Venerable 

 Bede, and says that he prefers the view of "modern writers who, as I 

 think, have scrutinized the subtler signs of philosophy more pro- 

 foundly." Peter of Spain, who finally became Pope John XXL, in one 

 of his medical treatises states his sources of information as "ancient 

 philosophers" and "modern experimenters." Several other writers use 

 like expressions. So perhaps Adelard rather than either Petrarch or 

 Abelard should be called the first modern man. 



The opening question asked of Adelard by his nephew is, "How 

 can plants grow from earth which they so little resemble?" The 

 nephew fails to see how this can be explained except as "a marvelous 

 effect of the marvelous divine will." Adelard retorts that no doubt it is 

 the Creator's will, but that the operation is also not without a natural 

 reason. This gives a fair example of the tone of the dialogue through- 

 out; Adelard upholds scientific- argument and investigation against a 

 narrow religious attitude. He insists that he is in no way detracting from 

 God, whom he grants to be the source of all things, but that nature " is 

 not confused and without system," and that "human science should be 

 given a hearing on those points which it has covered." He also sets 

 reason above authority; and sharply reprimands his nephew for follow- 

 ing authority as if he were a brute led by a halter, for his bestial 

 credulity, for his trusting simply in the mention of an old title. In 

 fine, he tells his nephew that if their discussion is to go any further, he 

 must drop authorities and "give and take reason." He assures his 

 young relation that he is not the sort of a man " who can be fed on the 

 picture of a beefsteak." 



