76 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



many respects a medieval figure but in others he is of the 

 Renaissance. His science and theology were those of 

 Thomas Aquinas, but his independence of judgment, his con- 

 ception of the worth of the individual, and his appreciation 

 of beauty are signs of the awakening. The existence of a 

 rising skepticism toward the traditional teachings is sug- 

 gested by the language of orthodoxy throughout the later 

 years of the thirteenth century. The most conspicuous ex- 

 ample of an individual who is known to have questioned the 

 accepted doctrines is Peter of Apono (1260-1316), a disciple 

 of Averroes and influential in the promulgation of Averroism 

 in Italy. He seems to have denied the existence of demons 

 and of miracles, although his beliefs were tainted by astrolog- 

 ical superstitions. In his old age he was imprisoned by the 

 Church on the charge of magic and intercourse with spirits, 

 but as he died before sentence was pronounced the inquisitors 

 could only burn him in effigy. Like Roger Bacon he de- 

 scended to posterity as one of the greatest magicians of the 

 time. 4 



Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch (1304-1374) is fully rep- 

 resentative of the early Renaissance. His humanism was 

 that blending of the old and the new which is character- 

 istic of modern thought. Although a literary man and in no 

 sense a scientist, Petrarch exhibits a rebellion against the 

 traditional authority and a critical attitude indicative of the 

 scientific spirit. He well represents the state of mind that 

 characterized the Renaissance before the period of construc- 

 tive thought. Petrarch contributed to the advancement of 

 science by denouncing the astrologers as charlatans and 

 rogues. The medical men of the time he regarded as no 

 better, but he forecast the way to a science of health and 

 disease which was later exemplified in modern medicine and 

 surgery. He ridiculed the pious beliefs regarding animals 

 inherited from the Bestiaries as childish superstitions, and of 

 no value to man. In common with all humanists or men of 



4 Lecky, loc. tit., Vol. I, p. 103. 



