Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 87.djvu/281

Rh In one of his works he tells us that upon his recent return to England after long study abroad, his nephew and other friends urged him to disclose some of the new ideas that he had learned among the Arabs. The result is his treatise called "Natural Questions" in the form of a dialogue with his nephew, who proposes, by means of a set of questions, to force his uncle Adelard to justify his preference for "the opinions of the Saracens" concerning nature over those of "the schools of Gaul" where the nephew has been studying. Adelard agrees to this, but wishes to state at the start that, because of the prejudice of the present generation against any modern discoveries, he will attribute even his own ideas to the Arabs and will not be personally responsible for what he says. "For I know," he declares, "what misfortunes pursue the professors of truth among the common crowd. Therefore it is the cause of the Arabs that I plead, not my own."

Adelard's use of the word "modern" should be noted. The word modernus is not found in classical Latin, but is often employed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In another passage Adelard distinguishes "the writings of men of old" from "the science of moderns." Bartholomew of England rejects an astronomical theory of the Venerable Bede, and says that he prefers the view of "modern writers who, as I think, have scrutinized the subtler signs of philosophy more profoundly." Peter of Spain, who finally became Pope John XXI., in one of his medical treatises states his sources of information as "ancient philosophers" and "modern experimenters." Several other writers use like expressions. So perhaps Adelard rather than either Petrarch or Abelard should be called the first modern man.

The opening question asked of Adelard by his nephew is, "How can plants grow from earth which they so little resemble?" The nephew fails to see how this can be explained except as "a marvelous effect of the marvelous divine will." Adelard retorts that no doubt it is the Creator's will, but that the operation is also not without a natural reason. This gives a fair example of the tone of the dialogue throughout; Adelard upholds scientific argument and investigation against a narrow religious attitude. He insists that he is in no way detracting from God, whom he grants to be the source of all things, but that nature "is not confused and without system," and that "human science should be given a hearing on those points which it has covered." He also sets reason above authority; and sharply reprimands his nephew for following authority as if he were a brute led by a halter, for his bestial credulity, for his trusting simply in the mention of an old title. In fine, he tells his nephew that if their discussion is to go any further, he must drop authorities and "give and take reason." He assures his young relation that he is not the sort of a man "who can be fed on the picture of a beefsteak."