[3] For example, that of ERNST DUHRING. See an article entitled "The Two Bacons," translated from his _Kritische Geschichte der Philosophie_ in _The Open Court_ for August 1914.
To those who like to observe coincidences, it may be of interest that the septcentenary of the discoverer of gunpowder should have coincided with the outbreak of the greatest war under which the world has yet groaned, even though gunpowder is no longer employed as a military propellant.
BACON'S reference to gunpowder occurs in his _Epistola de Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae, et de Nullitate Magiae_ (Hamburg, 1618)a little tract written against magic, in which he endeavours to show, and succeeds very well in the first eight chapters, that Nature and art can perform far more extraordinary feats than are claimed by the workers in the black art. The last three chapters are written in an alchemical jargon of which even one versed in the symbolic language of alchemy can make no sense. They are evidently cryptogramic, and probably deal with the preparation and purification of saltpetre, which had only recently been discovered as a distinct body.[1] In chapter xi. there is reference to an explosive body, which can only be gunpowder; by means of it, says BACON, you may, "if you know the trick, produce a bright flash and a thundering noise."He mentions two of the ingredients, saltpetre and sulphur, but conceals the third (_i.e_. charcoal) under an anagram.
Claims have, indeed, been put forth for the Greek, Arab, Hindu, and Chinese origins of gunpowder, but a close examination of the original ancient accounts purporting to contain references to gunpowder, shows that only incendiary and not explosive bodies are really dealt with.
But whilst ROGER BACON knew of the explosive property of a mixture in right proportions of sulphur, charcoal, and pure saltpetre (which he no doubt accidentally hit upon whilst experimenting with the last-named body), he was unaware of its projective power.
That discovery, so detrimental to the happiness of man ever since, was, in all probability, due to BERTHOLD SCHWARZ about 1330.
[1] For an attempted explanation of this cryptogram, and evidence that BACON was the discoverer of gunpowder, see Lieut.-Col. H. W. L. HIME'S _Gunpowder and Ammunition:
their Origin and Progress_ (1904).
ROGER BACON has been credited[1] with many other discoveries.
In the work already referred to he allows his imagination freely to speculate as to the wonders that might be accomplished by a scientific utilisation of Nature's forces--marvellous things with lenses, in bringing distant objects near and so forth, carriages propelled by mechanical means, flying machines . . .--but in no case is the word "discovery" in any sense applicable, for not even in the case of the telescope does BACON describe means by which his speculations might be realised.
[1] For instance by Mr M. M. P. MUIR. See his contribution, on "Roger Bacon: His Relations to Alchemy and Chemistry,"to _Roger Bacon Essays_.
On the other hand, ROGER BACON has often been maligned for his beliefs in astrology and alchemy, but, as the late Dr BRIDGES(who was quite sceptical of the claims of both) pointed out, not to have believed in them in BACON'S day would have been rather an evidence of mental weakness than otherwise.
What relevant facts were known supported alchemical and astrological hypotheses. Astrology, Dr BRIDGES writes, "conformed to the first law of Comte's _philosophia prima_, as being the best hypothesis of which ascertained phenomena admitted."[1] And in his alchemical speculations BACON was much in advance of his contemporaries, and stated problems which are amongst those of modern chemistry.
[1] _Op. cit_., p.84.
ROGER BACON'S greatness does not lie in the fact that he discovered gunpowder, nor in the further fact that his speculations have been validated by other men. His greatness lies in his secure grip of scientific method as a combination of mathematical reasoning and experiment. Men before him had experimented, but none seemed to have realised the importance of the experimental method.
Nor was he, of course, by any means the first mathematician--there was a long line of Greek and Arabian mathematicians behind him, men whose knowledge of the science was in many cases much greater than his--or the most learned mathematician of his day; but none realised the importance of mathematics as an organon of scientific research as he did; and he was assuredly the priest who joined mathematics to experiment in the bonds of sacred matrimony.
