x6a 
The Martyrdom of Science . 
[March, 
first prohibited from learning at the University of Oxford 
and' from communicating his researches to anyone. The 
accession of Clemens IV. to the Papal chair gave the illus- 
trious saee a short respite, of which he availed himself to 
draw up three works, and to publish one of them, the opus 
majus. P Scarcely was this effeaed when the enlightened 
pontiff died, and his successor was indifferent, if not formally 
hostile. Roger Bacon was summoned to appear at Paris 
before the legate Jerome of Ascoli, was convidted of heresy 
and witchcraft, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. His 
works were also condemned as impious, and all persons were 
forbidden to read them under pain of excommunication. It 
is certain that he remained ten years in a loathsome 
dungeon, and that his treatment, even in that rude age, was 
considered exceptionally harsh. Some say that he died in 
prison ; others, that he was at length set free at the inter- 
cession of certain powerful nobles, and ended his days m 
England?* He is said to lie buried at Oxford. We can wish 
that ancient university no greater boon than that his spirit 
may ever rest upon its professors. 
Three centuries later Rome witnessed one of the foulest 
murders ever committed. Giordano Bruno, for upholding 
the teachings of modern astronomy, and especially lor main- 
taining the immensity of the universe and the plurality ot 
worlds, was burnt to death in the Campo dr Fiore on 
February 16, 1600. The words of the sentence passed 
upon him are significant Ut quam c ementissime et 
citra sanguinis effusionem pumretur. Not less memorable 
was the reply of the hero-philosopher : ‘‘You feel more fear 
in pronouncing this sentence than I do m receiving it 
One of the greatest merits of Bruno is. his enunciation oi 
the do&rine that on all scientific questions the Scriptures 
neither possess nor claim any authority, but embody merely 
the opinions current at the times when they were written. 
This proposition, from which follows as a corollary that the 
Church can have no claim to pronounce on the truth or 
falsehood of scientific theories, was afterwards enforced at 
length by Galileo in his celebrated letter to the Dowager Grand 
Duchess Cristina of Tuscany. We cannot help regretting 
that he, when brought before the. Inquisitors in the Convent 
of Minerva, did not ac 5 t up to his profession by denying in 
toto the authority of the court. Had he done so his life 
would doubtless have been in great peril, but the enemies of 
science would have been deprived of much scope for 
sophistry. “ E pur si muove ” was well, but “ non coram 
judice ” would have been infinitely better. It is worthy of 
