"
Albertus Magnus gains renown also from his distinguished pupil Roger
Bacon who, some think, should have the honor of being regarded as the
father of inductive science--an honor posterity has conferred upon
another of the same family name who lived 300 years later. We, who wear
eye-glasses would be willing, I think, to vote the honor to the elder
Bacon, because if we do not owe to him the discovery of lenses, we are
his debtors for his clarification of the principles of lenses and for
his successful efforts in establishing them on a mathematical basis. In
any event, he was a pioneer in inductive science.
Before gunpowder is known to have been discovered in the West, the friar
Roger Bacon must have made some interesting experiments along the line
of explosives, else he could not have made the following remarkable
statement as to the property of gunpowder: "One may cause to burst from
bronze, thunderbolts more formidable than those produced by nature. A
small quantity of prepared matter causes a terrible explosion
accompanied by a brilliant light. One may multiply this phenomenon so
far as to destroy a city or an army." Anticipating the use of even motor
boats and automobiles driven by gasoline, this thirteenth century
scientist wrote: "Art can construct instruments of navigation such that
the largest vessels governed by a single man will traverse rivers and
seas more rapidly than if they were filled with oarsmen.
Pages:
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40