286 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



in botany between Theophrastus and Gesner, Albert limits himself to 

 "those plants better known among us." Of some of these he has per- 

 sonal knowledge, for others he cites those writers 



who are not too ready to state anything unless it is proved by experience. For 

 in such matters experience alone gives sure information. 



Again in his " Physics " Albert states that 



a conclusion contrary to the senses is incredible; and a principle which does not 

 agree with experimental knowledge acquired by the senses is no principle but 

 quite the opposite. 



Indeed, medieval men not merely trusted in observation and experi- 

 ence; they experimented. The inventions which we have mentioned 

 involved experimentation. The efforts of the alchemists involved experi- 

 mentation. We have heard Peter of Spain contrast "ancient philos- 

 ophers" with "modern experimenters." Eoger Bacon has been given 

 undue credit for his discussion of " experimental science," and has been 

 lauded as the first prophet of modern science in the wilderness of 

 scholasticism. But his views seem to have really been the common prop- 

 erty of his age, as I have shown more fully in an article upon " Eoger 

 Bacon and Experimental Method in the Middle Ages," which appeared 

 in The Philosophical Review (May, 1914). 



So far we have considered the serious side of medieval science and 

 the progress which was then being made, slight indeed compared with 

 the rapid strides of science in our own time, but well worth the notice 

 of any one interested in science's first steps. But it would be unfair to 

 stop there; if we disclose medieval science's merits, we must also draw 

 forth its frailties and lay bare the superstition, the absurdities, the 

 credulity which characterized the study of nature then. Fortunately 

 this side of medieval science is as amusing as the other was serious. 



The credulity of medieval men is something astounding. Eoger 

 Bacon and Albertus Magnus are both sceptical at times. Then again 

 they simply amaze one by their incomprehensible gullibility. For in- 

 stance, Bacon classifies the prophetic writings of Merlin among " reli- 

 able authorities"; he tells of a woman of Norwich who lived without 

 food for twenty years, "as the bishop proved by a trustworthy exami- 

 nation"; he says that "papal letters attest" that a German captured 

 by the Saracens received a medicine which prolonged his life to 500 

 years. He has " learned without deceit or doubt from men of proved 

 faith " that " good flying dragons " still exist in Christian Europe, and 

 that eating their flesh will prolong life and develop the mind to a high 

 degree. Moreover, some of these assertions occur in the very midst of his 

 discussion of experimental science. Albert is somewhat less credulous 

 on the theme of dragons and suggests that meteors or flaming vapors 

 may have been mistaken for flying dragons breathing fire. But Albert 

 falls a victim to a sea-serpent yarn, having "heard from trustworthy 



