scientiarum_. There are two methods of knowledge: the one by argument, the
other by experience. Mere argument is never sufficient; it may decide a
question, but gives no satisfaction or certainty to the mind, which can
only be convinced by immediate inspection or intuition. Now this is what
experience gives. But experience is of two sorts, external and internal;
the first is that usually called experiment, but it can give no complete
knowledge even of corporeal things, much less of spiritual. On the other
hand, in inner experience the mind is illuminated by the divine truth, and
of this supernatural enlightenment there are seven grades.
Experimental science, which in the _Opus Tertium_ (p. 46) is distinguished
from the speculative sciences and the operative arts in a way that forcibly
reminds us of Francis Bacon, is said to have three great prerogatives over
all other sciences:--(1) It verifies their conclusions by direct
experiment; (2) It discovers truths which they could never reach; (3) It
investigates the secrets of nature, and opens to us a knowledge of past and
future. As an instance of his method, Bacon gives an investigation into the
nature and cause of the rainbow, which is really a very fine specimen of
inductive research.
The seventh part of the _Opus Majus_ (_De Morali Philosophia_), not given
in Jebb's edition, is noticed at considerable length in the _Opus Tertium_
(cap. xiv.). Extracts from it are given by Charles (pp. 339-348).
As has been seen, Bacon had no sooner finished this elaborate work than he
began to prepare a summary to be sent along with it. Of this summary, or
_Opus Minus_, part has come down and is published in Brewer's _Op. Ined._
(313-389), from what appears to be the only MS. The work was intended to
contain an abstract of the _Opus Majus_, an account of the principal vices
of theology, and treatises on speculative and practical alchemy. At the
same time, or immediately after, Bacon began a third work as a preamble to
the other two, giving their general scope and aim, but supplementing them
in many points. The part of this work, generally called _Opus Tertium_, is
printed by Brewer (pp. 1-310), who considers it to be a complete treatise.
Charles, however, has given good grounds for supposing that it is merely a
preface, and that the work went on to discuss grammar, logic (which Bacon
thought of little service, as reasoning was innate), mathematics, general
physics, metaphysics and moral philosophy. He founds his argument mainly on
passages in the _Communia Naturalium_, which indeed prove distinctly that
it was sent to Clement, and cannot, therefore, form part of the
_Compendium_, as Brewer seems to think. It must be confessed, however, that
nothing can well be more confusing than the references in Bacon's works,
and it seems well-nigh hopeless to attempt a complete arrangement of them
until the texts have been collated and carefully printed.
All these large works Bacon appears to have looked on as preliminaries,
introductions, leading to a great work which should embrace the principles
of all the sciences. This great work, which is perhaps the
frequently-referred-to _Liber Sex Scientiarum_, he began, and a few
fragments still indicate its outline. First appears to have come the
treatise now called _Compendium Studii Philosophiae_ (Brewer pp. 393-519),
containing an account of the causes of error, and then entering at length
upon grammar. After that, apparently, logic was to be treated; then,
possibly, mathematics and physics; then speculative alchemy and
experimental science. It is, however, very difficult, in the present state
of our knowledge of the MSS., to hazard even conjectures as to the contents
and nature of this last and most comprehensive work.
Bacon's fame in popular estimation has always rested on his mechanical
discoveries. Careful research has shown that very little can with accuracy
be ascribed to him. He certainly describes a method of constructing a
telescope, but not so as to lead one to conclude that he was in possession
of that instrument. Burning-glasses were in common use, and spectacles it
does not appear he made, although he was probably acquainted with the
principle of their construction. His wonderful predictions (in the _De
Secretis_) must be taken _cum grano salis_; he believed in astrology, in
the doctrine of signatures, and in the philosopher's stone, and _knew_ that
the circle had been squared. For his work in connexion with gunpowder, the
invention of which has been claimed for him on the ground of a passage in
his _De mirabili potestate artis et naturae_, see GUNPOWDER.
_Summary._--The 13th century, an age peculiarly rich in great men, produced
few, if any, who can take higher rank than Roger Bacon. He is in every way
worthy to be placed beside Albertus Magnus, Bonaventura, and Thomas
Aquinas. These had an infinitely wider renown in their day, but modern
criticism has restored the balance in his favour, and is even in danger of
erring in the opposite direction. Bacon, it is now said, was not
appreciated by his age because he was in advance of it; he is no schoolman,
but a modern thinker, whose conceptions of science are more just and clear
than are even those of his more celebrated namesake.[4] In this view there
is certainly some truth, but it is much exaggerated. As a general rule, no
man can be completely dissevered from his national antecedents and [v.03
p.0156] surroundings, and Bacon is not an exception. Those who take up such
an extreme position regarding his merits have known too little of the state
of contemporary science, and have limited their comparison to the works of
the scholastic theologians. We never find in Bacon himself any
consciousness of originality; he is rather a keen and systematic thinker,
working in a well-beaten track, from which his contemporaries were being
drawn by theology and metaphysics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best work on Roger Bacon is perhaps that of E. Charles,
_Roger Bacon, sa vie, ses ouvrages, ses doctrines d'apres des textes
inedits_ (1861). Against the somewhat enthusiastic estimate and modern
interpretation given in this work, are Schneider in his _Roger Bacon, Eine
Monographie_ (Augsburg, 1873); K. Werner, _Die Psychol. ... des Roger
Bacon_ and _Die Kosmologie ... des Roger Bacon_ (Vienna, 1879); S. A.
Hirsch, _Early English Hebraists_ (1899); _Book of Essays_ (London, 1905),
deals with Bacon as a Hebraist. The new matter contained in the
publications of Charles and Brewer was summarized by H. Siebert, _Roger
Bacon: Inaugural Dissertation_ (Marburg, 1861). Cf. also J. K. Ingram, _On
the Opus Majus of Bacon_ (Dublin, 1858); Cousin, "Fragments phil. du moyen
age" (reprinted from _Journal des savans_, 1848); E. Saisset, "Precurseurs
et disciples de Descartes," pp. 1-58 (reprinted from _Revue de deux
mondes_, 1861); K. Prantl, _Gesch. der Logik_, iii. 120-129 (a severe
criticism of Bacon's logical doctrines); Held, _Roger Bacon's praktische
Philosophie_ (Jena, 1881); Karl Pohl, _Das Verhaeltniss d. Philos. zur
Theol. bei Roger Bacon_ (Neustrelitz, 1893); articles in _Westminster
Review_, lxxxi. 1 and 512; A. Parrot, _Roger Bacon et ses contemporains_
(1894); E. Fluegel, _Roger Bacons Stellung in d. Gesch. d. Philos._ (1902);
S. Vogl, _Die Physik Roger Bacos_ (1906). For the popular legend see
_Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon_ (London, 1615; reproduced in Thoms, _Early
Prose Romances_, iii.); R. Greene's _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_ (1587 or
1588), and in publication of the Percy Society, vol. xv. 1844, _A Piece of
Friar Bacon's Brazen Heade's Prophesie_ (1604). For Bacon as a classical
scholar see J. E. Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ (2nd ed., 1906), cxxxi.
(R. AD.; X.)
[1] Brewer thinks this unknown professor is Richard of Cornwall, but the
little we know of Richard is not in harmony with the terms in which he is
elsewhere spoken of by Bacon. Erdmann conjectures Thomas Aquinas, which is
extremely improbable, as Thomas was unquestionably not the first of his
order to study philosophy. Cousin and Charles think that Albertus Magnus is
aimed at, and certainly much of what is said applies with peculiar force to
him. But some things do not at all cohere with what is otherwise known of
Albert. It is worth pointing out that Brewer, in transcribing the passage
bearing on this (_Op. Ined._ p. 327), has the words _fratrum puerulus_,
which in his marginal note he interprets as applying to the Franciscan
order. In this case, of course, Albert could not be the person referred to,
as he was a Dominican. But Charles, in his transcription, entirely omits
the important word _fratrum_.
[2] The more important MSS. are:--(1) The extensive work on the fundamental
notions of physics, called _Communia Naturalium_, which is found in the
Mazarin library at Paris, in the British Museum, and in the Bodleian and
University College libraries at Oxford; (2) on the fundamental notions of
mathematics, _De Communibus Mathematicae_, part of which is in the Sloane
collection, part in the Bodleian; (3) _Baconis Physica_, contained among
the additional MSS. in the British Museum; (4) the fragment called _Quinta
Pars Compendii Theologiae_, in the British Museum; (5) the _Compendium
Studii Theologiae_, in the British Museum; (6) the logical fragments, such
as the _Summulae Dialectices_, in the Bodleian, and the glosses upon
Aristotle's physics and metaphysics in the library at Amiens. See Little,
_The Grey Friars in Oxford_ (1892).
[3] At the close of the _Verb. Abbrev._ is a curious note, concluding with
the words, "_ipse Rogerus fuit discipulus fratris Alberti!_"
[4] See Duehring, _Kritische Ges. d. Phil._ 192, 249-251.
BACON (through the O. Fr. _bacon_, Low Lat. _baco_, from a Teutonic word
cognate with "back," _e.g._ O. H. Ger. _pacho_, M. H. Ger. _backe_,
buttock, flitch of bacon), the flesh of the sides and back of the pig,
cured by salting, drying, pickling and smoking.
* * * * *
Corrections made to printed original.
page 39, Footnote 10 "Die Zollpolitik der oesterreichisch-ungarischen
Monarchie": 'oesterreichish' in original.
page 42, "the unusually large number of 80,000": 'unusally' in original.
page 132, "BACHE, FRANCIS EDWARD (1833-1858)": '1833-1888' in original, but
see the article text.