40 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19TH, 1901. 



A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE 

 13th CENTURY. 



R. J. RYLE, M.D. 



THE 13th Century has been called a precocious age. It was the 

 age of Simon de Montfort, the pioneer of English statesman- 

 ship. It was the age of Dante. It was the age of Thomas 

 Aquinas and Duns Scotus. Roger Bacon deserves to be 

 remembered among the great ones of this period, for he was 

 among the first to advocate the claims of the Sciences at a time 

 when nearly all around were either indifferent or actively hostile. 



He was born of good family in the year 1 2 1 3, and he studied 

 both in Oxford and at Paris. Somewhat early in his career he 

 joined the Franciscan Order, being le 1 to take this step (in all 

 probabiHty) by the fact that the students of this Order were at 

 this time enjoying the great advantage of the direct teaching of 

 Robert Grossteste, afterward Bishop of Lincoln. 



The works of Roger Bacon which we have had the following 

 origin: About the year 1264 Pope Urban VI. had sent one of 

 his cardinals to England. This Cardinal became acquainted 

 with Roger Bacon. A few years later this Cardinal himself 

 became Pope, with the title of Clement IV., and soon after his 

 elevation to the Papacy he wrote to Roger Bacon and requested 

 copies of his writings. 



Although at that time the learned friar seems to have 

 published nothing, he began immediately to write, and within 18 

 months he had produced the " Opus Majus," the " Opus Minus," 

 and the " Opus Tertium." The first of these works is the one by 

 which he is chiefly known. 



It is an eloquent exposition of the claims of genuine learning, 

 and it is at the same time an appeal for reformation in the modes 

 which were then current for the building up of knowledge. It is 

 an appeal for the study at first hand of Greek and Hebrew 

 writings, the wisdom contained in which was at that time only 

 delivered to the student in the form of very meagre summaries 

 and commentaries, many of which were themselves based not 



