448 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Hence, he knows all of natural science whether pertaining to medicine and 

 alchemy, or to matters celestial or terrestrial. He has worked diligently in 

 the smelting of ores as also in the working of minerals; he is thoroughly 

 acquainted with all sorts of arms and implements used in military service and 

 in hunting, besides which he is skilled in agriculture and in the measurement 

 of lands. It is impossible to write a useful or correct treatise in experimental 

 philosophy without mentioning this man's name. Moreover, he pursues knowl- 

 edge for its own sake; for if he wished to obtain royal favor, he could easily 

 find sovereigns who would honor and enrich him. 



Similar expressions might readily be quoted from Thomas Aquinas, 

 but his works are so easy to secure and his whole attitude of mind so 

 well known, that it scarcely seems worth while taking space to do so. 

 Aquinas is still studied very faithfully in many universities and within 

 the last few years one of his great text-books of philosophy has been 

 replaced in the curriculum of Oxford University, in which it occupied 

 a prominent position in the long ago, as a work that may be offered' 

 for examination in the department of philosophy. It is with regard 

 to him particularly that there has been the greatest revulsion of feeling 

 in recent years and a recognition of the fact that here was a great 

 thinker familiar with all that was known in the physical sciences, and 

 who had this knowledge constantly in his mind when he drew his con- 

 clusions with regard to philosophical and theological questions. 



As for the supposed swearing by Aristotle which is so constantly 

 asserted to have been the habit of these scholastic philosophers, it is 

 extremely difficult in the light of expressions which they themselves 

 use to understand how this false impression arose. Aristotle they thor- 

 oughly respected. They constantly referred to his works, but so has 

 every thinking generation ever since. Whenever he had made a 

 declaration they would not accept the contradiction of it without a 

 good reason, but whenever they had good reasons, Aristotle's opinion 

 was at once rejected without compunction. Albertus Magnus, for 

 instance, said: "Whoever believes that Aristotle was a God must also 

 believe that he never erred, but if we believe that Aristotle was a man, 

 then doubtless he was liable to err just as we are." A number of 

 direct contradictions of Aristotle we have from Albert. A well-known 

 one is that with regard to Aristotle's assertion that lunar rainbows 

 appeared only twice in fifty years. Albert declared that he himself 

 had seen two in a single year. 



Indeed, it seems very clear that the whole trend of thought among 

 the great teachers of the time was away from acceptance of scientific 

 conclusions on authority unless there was good evidence for them avail- 

 able. They were quite as impatient as the scientists of our time with 

 a constant putting forward of Aristotle as if that settled the scientific 

 question. Eoger Bacon wanted the Pope to forbid the study of Aris- 

 totle because his works were leading men astray from the study of 



