Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/468

LEFT BACON 378 BACTEBIA From 1905 to 1909 he was Assistant Secretary of State and for three months in the latter year was Secretary of State, succeeding: Elihu Root. He was ambas- sador to France from 1909 to 1912. Dur- ing the World War was a major in the United States Reserves and served with the staff of General Pershing. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1916. He died in 1919. BACON, ROGER, an English monk, and one of the most profound and original thinkers of his day, was born about 1214, near Hchester, Somersetshire. He studied at Oxford and Paris. About 1250 he entered the order of Franciscans, but in- curring the distrust of his ecclesiastical superiors was sent to Paris and there confined for 10 years without books or writing materials. He was thus punished because o£ extraordinary discoveries in science which ignorant minds attributed to magic. This opinion was countenanced by the jealousy and hatred of the monks of his fraternity. Having been set at lib- erty he enjoyed a brief space of quiet while Clement IV. was Pope; but in 1278 he was again thrown into prison, where he remained for at least 10 years. Of the close of his life little is known. His most important work is his "Opus Majus," where he discusses the relation of philosophy to religion, and then treats of language, metaphysics, optics, and ex- perimental science. He was undoubtedly the earliest philosophical experimentalist in Britain; he made signal advances in optics; was an excellent chemist, and in- timately acquainted with geography and astronomy, as appears by his discovery of the errors of the calendar and their causes. He died in Oxford, in 1294. BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY, the in- ductive philosophy of which it is some- times said that Lord Bacon was the founder. This, however, is an exag- gerated statement. What Lord Bacon did for this mode of ratiocination was to elucidate and systematize it and point out its great value. The modern triumphs of modern science have arisen from a resolute adherence on the part of its votaries to the Baconian method of in- quiry. BACON'S REBELLION, a popular up- rising of the Virginian colonists, headed by Nathaniel Bacon, in protest against certain government abuses, which pre- vailed under the administration of Sir William Berkeley. Parliament had passed an act requiring that all goods, destined for Virginia, no matter what their source, should first be sent to the mother-country for transfer into British ships. The inter-colonial duties were also objectionable, and when, in 1673, the entire revenues of the colony were turned over to Lords Culpeper and Arlington, indignation was rife. But the most pressing cause of complaint was the lack of official protection against Indian ravages. Bacon was a prominent member of the Council, and the colonists, determined to take Indian matters into their own hands, chose him leader. Berkeley proclaimed him a rebel. He attacked and captured the red-men's fort. Made a prisoner he was quickly released. He attacked Jamestown, forc- ing the Governor to repeal the most obnoxious statutes, exacting a major- general's commission for himself, and acquittal of all blame for the rebellion. ' Troops were sent for post-haste, but they refused to take up arms against Bacon. The rebel, on repairing to Jamestown, found the Governor fled. The Indians recommenced their aggres- sions. ^ He knew that if he turned his attention to the latter, Berkeley would take Jamestown ; nevertheless, he decided to dispose of the savages first. This he did effectively at Bloody Run. He then marched rapidly to Jamestown, besieged it, forced the Governor to take refuge on a warship, and burned all the public buildings. After partially revising the laws with great benefit to the people, he died, and the rebellion, left leaderless, came to an end. BACTERIA, organisms that comprise a class of low plants, the importance of which is due to their power of producing profound changes in life. The terms bacteria, germs, microbes, bacilli, are popularly used to denote these micro- scopic objects. Bacillus means a little rod. The term is properly applicable to only such microbes as are rod-shaped. The word microbe (from the Greek, mikros, small, and bios, life) is a term which was coined to include all of the microscopic plants commonly included under the terms bacteria and yeasts. Pla7its or Animals. — Bacteria possess characteristics of plants and animals. They resemble animals in their common power, independent motion, and in their habit of living upon complex bodies for food. But in general form, methods of growth, and formation of threads and spores they resemble plants. Though there are hundreds of different species there are only three general forms — spheres, rods, and spirals, reminding of * billiard balls, pencils, and corkscrews. There is some, though slight, variation in size. All are extermely minute and never visible to the naked eye. The^