Bacon, Roger

sometimes called FRIAR BACON, an eminent English monk, scholar, and philosopher, B. at Ilchester, 1214, and educated at Oxford, and Paris, where he obtained the degree of D. D. On his return to England he became a brother of the Francis can Order, and devoted himself principally to chemistry, natural philosophy, and mathematics; and so ardently did he pursue these sciences, that he spent nearly the whole of his fortune in books and experiments. The discoveries he made, and his consequent fame, excited the envy and malice of his brethren of the order. They caused it to be circulated and believed that B. owed his profound learning and skill to magic, and commerce with evil spirits. He was, accordingly, forbidden to lecture in the university, imprisoned in a cell, denied to his friends, and even deprived of food. While undergoing this persecution, he received a request from the Pope's legate, then in England, for a copy of his works, which B. at first declined to accede to; but when the legate was subsequently called to the papal chair under the name of Clement IV., he collected his writings into a volume, entitled Opus Majus, or the "Greater Work," and sent it to his Holine , who promised him his protection. On the death of that Pope, B. was subjected to renewed persecutions. His works were prohibited, and he was himself bodily incarcerated for a period of 10 years. On being released, he retired to Oxford, where he D. 1292. Hallam says that the mind of B. was strangely compounded of almost prophetic gleams of the future course of science, and the best principles of the inductive philosophy, with a more than usual credulity in the superstition of his own times. However this may be, he was certainly po e ed of one of the most comprehensive minds of any man of his time. Bishop Bale mentions about 80 treatises written by him; and Dr. Jebb, who edited his Opus Majus, cla es his writings under the heads of grammar, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, optics, geography, astronomy, chronology, chemistry, magic, medicine, logic, ethics, theology, philology, . B. is by some considered as the inventor of the telescope, the air-pump, the diving-bell, the camera-obscura, and of gunpowder. He detected the errors in the calendar, afterwards adopted by Pope Gregory XIII. Bacon i an, a. Pertaining to Lord Bacon, or to his Bacterium, n. ( pl., BACTERIA). [From Gr. baktron, a rod or stick.] An extremely minute organism consisting of a single cell, spherical, rod-shaped, . The bacteria are widely distributed and enter into all putrefactive proce es. A majority are entirely harmle and perform an important service in nature; others are highly dangerous to life. See BACTERIA, Sec. II. philosophical system. Fig . 263. -BACTRIS A CAN THO CARP A. genus of trees, order Palmacea, natives of the inter-tropical parts of S. America, growing in marshy places, and on the banks of rivers. They are rather small trees, never exceeding twenty feet in height, and the stems are slender, about the thickne of a man's thumb. They are of a very dense structure, and form very solid hard, black canes, known in commerce as the canes of Tobago. The stems and leaf-stalks are covered with long, sharp, flat spines as black as ebony; and as these palms frequently grow in dense patches, they thus form impa able thickets. B. a can tho carp a , a native of the forests near Bahia, yields an extremely tough thread, from which the natives manufacture strong nets. The fruits of some species are made, by the inhabitants of the places where they grow, into a sweet sort of wine. Bacs-Badrogher, ( baks - ba - droger ,) a district of 8 Hungary, in the circle beyond the Danube; area , 3,625 sq. m. Desc . At some seasons it is almost a mora ; but fertile, and producing abundance of tobacco, wheat, and wine. Pop . 500,000. Bactria'na, or Bactria. ( Anc . Geog .) This ancient State, cap. Bactra, situated between Persia and India, and bounded on the N. by the Oxus, varied at different periods in extent. It was the seat of powerful and independent princes, until, being subdued by Ninus, it became a Persian satrapy. It was conquered by Alexander the Great, B. с. 329. B. is now a dependency of the Khanat of Bokhara, under the name of BALKH, q. v. Bac'ule, n . [Fr. bascule .] ( Fortif .) See BASCULE. Bac'ulite, n . [Fr.; from Lat. baculum , baculus , a little staff.] ( Pul .) A genus of fo il cephalopodous mollusca. The shells are straight, many-chambered, conical, and in their internal structure resemble the Ammonites , q. v. From their prevalence in the chalk of Normandy, that rock has been termed the "baculite limestone."