Historical Relations 123 



the Revival of Learning is therefore most reasonably considered as 

 an incident of the later Middle Ages. 



Looking back on the Middle Ages we can discern only one 

 figure of first-class importance in whom interest in the discovery 

 of new laws is prominent. In our search it would be easy to be 

 misled by words. The interest of the scholastic period was in 

 classification, and we encounter much discussion on the classifica- 

 tion of the sciences, as, for instance, in the pages of Vincent of 

 Beauvais (i 190-1264). But if you seek science as we understand 

 it, even in its most elementary form, in these vast encyclopaedias 

 you will seek in vain. Albert, as we have seen, and a few other 

 scholastic writers took a real interest in Nature, but the character 

 of that interest almost expressly excluded the drawing up of general 

 laws. " It is not enough," says Albert, " to know in terms of 

 Universals, but we seek to know each object's own peculiar character- 

 istics, for this is the best and most perfect kind of science." Albert 

 was in practice content enough to take his Universals from Aristotle. 

 It is in the writings of Roger Bacon alone that we encounter a clear 

 and unmistakable demand for the search for natural laws. 



The works of Roger Bacon (12 14-1294) are open to much 

 criticism, which they have not failed to receive. It is pointed out 

 that personally he was jealous and censorious, that he demands of 

 others criteria which he does not apply to himself, that despite his 

 own constant demand for an investigation of Nature and despite the 

 legends and his own claims as an investigator, when we look for 

 evidence of his actual scientific achievements we are met with 

 something very like a blank. But the claim that he realised in 

 advance of his age the nature and application of the experimental 

 method is, I think, clearly established. He frequently uses the 

 phrase experimental science, which is for him the sole means of 

 obtaining knowledge. " All sciences except this," he writes, 

 " either merely employ arguments to prove conclusions, like the 

 purely speculative sciences, or have universal and imperfect con- 

 clusions. Experimental science alone can ascertain to perfection 

 what can be effected by Nature, what by art, what by fraud. It 

 alone teaches how to j udge all the follies of the magicians j ust as 

 logic tests argument." 



Now, it is very important for us to note that there is no trace in 

 Roger Bacon's writings of any consciousness of opposition to 

 religion. He thinks he is writing in support of the faith. We 



