Roger Bacon, the father of experimental science and mediæval occultism / by H. Stanley Redgrove.
- Herbert Stanley Redgrove
- Date:
- 1920
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Roger Bacon, the father of experimental science and mediæval occultism / by H. Stanley Redgrove. Source: Wellcome Collection.
17/74 (page 11)
![into his own by Roger Bacon in 1914, but still more momentous was that which took place seven hundred years previously. It is, indeed, hard to over-estimate the importance—when all the ramifications of the effects of the event are taken into account—of the birth of a genius, and especially of that genius of whom it has well been said : “ He [Roger Bacon] is to be regarded as the intel¬ lectual originator of experimental research, if the departure in this direction is to be coupled with any¬ one name—a direction which, followed more and more as time went on, gave to the science [of chemis¬ try] its own particular stamp, and ensured its steady development.” 1 As a matter of fact, some doubt exists as to the exact date of Bacon’s birth, but 1214 is the most probable year. The place was at or near Ilchester in Somersetshire, and his parents probably persons of some considerable means. Concerning his life not a great deal is known with certitude ; it is possible to make out a fairly connected story, but many of the events in it have to be qualified as “ probable ” or “ most probable.” His early education was undertaken at Oxford University, where he came under the influence of Robert Grosse- 1 Ernst von Meyer : A History of Chemistry (trans¬ lated by Dr. McGowan, 1906), p. 35.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29978026_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
