THE ARREST OF INQUIRY. 83 



in such a form and position between our eyes and 

 other objects that the rays shall be refracted and 

 bent toward any place we please, so that we shall 

 see the object near at hand, or at a distance, under 

 any angle we please; and thus from an incredible 

 distance we may read the smallest letters, and may 

 number the smallest particles of sand, by reason of 

 the greatness of the angle under which they appear." 

 He knew the " wisdom of the ancients " in the cata- 

 loguing of the stars, and suggested a reform of the 

 calendar — following the then unknown poet-astrono- 

 mer of Naishapur. But he believed in astrology, that 

 bastard science which from remotest times had ruled 

 the life of man, and which has no small number of 

 votaries among ourselves to this day. Roger Bacon's 

 abiding title to fame rests, however, on his insistence 

 on the necessity of experiment, and his enforcement 

 of this precept by practice. As a mathematician he 

 laid stress on the application of this " first of all the 

 sciences " ; indeed, as " preceding all others, and as 

 disposing us to them." His experiments, both from 

 their nature and the seclusion in which they were 

 made, laid him open to the charge of black magic, 

 in other words, of being in league with the devil. 

 This, in the hands of a theology thus " possessed," 

 became an instrument of awful torture to mankind. 

 Roger Bacon's denial of magic only aggravated his 

 crime, since in ecclesiastical ears, this was tanta- 

 mount to a denial of the activity, nay more, of the 

 very existence of Satan. So, despite certain encour- 



