CHAPTER VII. 



ROGER BACON. 



IN the preceding chapters the immense scientific progress 

 effected until the 'end of the Revival Period has been briefly 

 described. In the present chapter the special work of Roger 

 Bacon will be considered ; and, as that work is important 

 as a fact of scientific history, whether it be viewed for its 

 intrinsic value, or as a connecting link between the Arabs 

 and the Revival Period since like the hand of a clock it 

 indicates the height of the flowing tide at the time it will 

 be interesting to establish a comparison between Roger 

 Bacon and Francis Bacon, which will enable the reader to 

 form a judgment upon their respective originality, worth, 

 and influence. It is acknowledged by his greatest admirers 

 that Francis Bacon was, in scientific acquirements, vastly 

 inferior to his immediate predecessors ; but it is not a little 

 surprising to see that men who lived three hundred years 

 before him were also in possession of knowledge far superior 

 to his own. This was particularly the case with regard to 

 Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon. 



Albertus Magnus (1193 1280). This great man might 

 take whales for fishes and bats for birds an error shared 

 until more recent times by many writers but his classi- 

 fication of the Animal Kingdom is admirable, and his work 

 on Natural History is rich in botanical descriptions. He 

 described the principal forms of flowers ; he detected the 

 embryo of seeds ; he also detected the sleep of plants 

 hits which are suggestive of the use of the lens. He planted 



