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Oxford in 1268, and to have continued writing. In 1277 Jerome 

 of Ascoli, the Minister-General of the Friars-Minor, " con- 

 demned and reprobated the teaching of Friar Roger Bacon of 

 England." As a result of this Bacon was sent to prison in Paris, 

 where he remained incarcerated until 1292. In this year it is 

 believed that he returned to England, and shortly after he died, 

 it is said in the same year, and " no man knoweth of his 

 sepulchre unto this day." This scant abstract of his life-events 

 is in accordance with Mr. A. G. Little's very careful account in 

 the introductory essay. Other authors give more, according to 

 their fancy, but this appears to be all there is positive evidence 

 for. 



Diderot, who was a good judge, described Roger Bacon as 

 " one of the most surprising geniuses that nature had ever 

 produced, and one of the most unfortunate of men." There is 

 no doubt of his genius ; he was unfortunate in that his work 

 and his ideas were far in advance of his age ; his works were 

 damned and destroyed by Rome, and real, earnest research into 

 Nature was held up for centuries, and then had to be fought for 

 step by step ; he left no disciple, and seven centuries have not 

 been sufficient time wherein to publish his works. 



To give any account of his writings in such a notice as this 

 would be impossible. Mr. A. G. Little, the editor of the com- 

 memoration volume, quotes Leland's saying that " it is easier to 

 collect the leaves of the Sibyl than the titles of the works written 

 by Roger Bacon," and his admirable bibliography of Bacon's 

 works extends over forty-four pages. The principal and larger 

 works are the Opus Majus, Opus Minus, and Opus Tertium, the 

 two latter being of the nature of an introduction and an appendix 

 to the main work. The ground these works cover is enormous. 

 He begins with an exposition of the four general causes of 

 human ignorance, and goes on to theology, the study of 

 languages, mathematics, optics, experimental science, moral 

 philosophy, and speculative and practical alchemy : in fact, 

 almost every branch of knowledge is dealt with in an entirely 

 original manner. His other works comprise treatises on the 

 calendar, on astronomy, comets, alchemy, astrology, mirrors, 

 metals, minerals, geography, Greek and Hebrew grammar, 

 physics, medicine, old age and methods of its retardation, and 

 gunpowder. Well may Whewell say, speaking of the Opus 

 Majus, that Bacon's works were " at once the Encyclopedia and 



