THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



of which were held to be heresies and contrary to 

 revelation. No restrictions were placed on biology 

 and geology; they were not even mentioned for the 

 simple reason that there were no such sciences. The 

 Church did forbid human dissection, but that was 

 because the body was looked upon as the temple of 

 God and should not be desecrated.^ 



Much emphasis also has been laid on the persecu- 

 tion of men of science and of learning. We certainly 

 cannot cite the universal and alternate use and abuse 

 of the Arabian and Jewish astrologers and alchemists 

 as proof of such persecution, as that was the result of 

 racial and religious antipathy. Evidence of repression 

 before the Renaissance rests mainly on the treatment 

 of Roger Bacon, and one gets the impression, even in 

 his case, that the opposition of the Franciscans which 

 resulted in his imprisonment was mainly personal 

 antagonism playing on the superstitions of the peo- 



2 Lasswitz, Geschichte der Atomistik, vol. I, p. 13: "They were con- 

 vinced that the atomic theory of Leucippus and Democritus tended 

 to atheism, and that when it was joined to the philosophy of Epicurus 

 it became an aid to the damnable doctrine of materialism." p. 86 : 

 The reading of natural philosophy was forbidden in 1210 by the 

 Provincial Council at Paris, and also by a statute of the University 

 of Paris in 1215. This decision of the Provincial Council was ended 

 by Pope Gregory IX in 1231, except for such writings as could be 

 proved to contain error. Also the ban of the University of Paris 

 against the works of Roger Bacon lasted only until 1237, and in 

 1254 the physics as well as the metaphysics of Aristotle are listed in 

 the courses of the University. In 1245, the Dominicans forbade the 

 study of physics by members of their order. Lasswitz clearly shows 

 that the objection to physical science rested on the early conviction 

 that its atomic theory was materialistic in philosophy and it would 

 be difficult to prove that it is not. Yet, even then, restrictions on the 

 study of physics by the Church were of very short duration. It is 

 quite certain to me that men of science have greatly exaggerated 

 repressive measures by the Church. 



C843 



