ligious profession he was a
Dominican. Declining the temptations of ecclesiastical preferment, he
voluntarily resigned his bishopric, that he might lead in privacy a
purer life. As was not uncommon in those days, he was accused of illicit
commerce with Satan, and many idle stories were told of the miracles he
wrought. At a great banquet on a winter's day, he produced all the
beauties of spring--trees in full foliage, flowers in perfume, meadows
covered with grass; but, at a word, the phantom pageant was dissolved,
and succeeded by appropriate wastes of snow. This was an exaggeration of
an entertainment he gave, January 6th, 1259, in the hot-house of the
convent garden. He interested himself in the functions of plants, was
well acquainted with what is called the sleep of flowers, studied their
opening and closing. He understood that the sap is diminished in volume
by evaporation from the leaves. He was the first to use the word
"affinity" in its modern acceptation. His chemical studies present us
with some interesting details. He knew that the whitening of copper by
arsenic is not a transmutation, but only the production of an alloy,
since the arsenic can be expelled by heat. He speaks of potash as an
alkali; describes several acetates; and alludes to the blackening of the
skin with nitrate of silver.

[Sidenote: Roger Bacon, discoveries of.] Contemporary with him was Roger
Bacon, born A.D. 1214. His native country has never yet done him
justice, though his contemporaries truly spoke of him as "the Admirable
Doctor." The great friar of the thirteenth century has been eclipsed by
an unworthy namesake. His claims on posterity are enforced by his
sufferings and ten years' imprisonment for the cause of truth.

His history, so far as is known, may be briefly told. He was born at
Ilchester, in Somersetshire, and studied at the University of Oxford.
Thence he went to the University of Paris, where he took the degree of
doctor of theology. He was familiar with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and
Arabic. Of mathematics he truly says that "it is the first of all the
sciences; indeed, it precedes all others, and disposes us to them." In
advance of his age, he denied the authority of Aristotle, and tells us
that we must substitute that of experiment for it. Of his astronomical
acquirements we need no better proof than his recommendation to Pope
Clement IV. to rectify the Calendar in the manner actually done
subsequently. If to him be rightly