The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-04-14

and ST. Dominic that the universities
of northern Europe owed their early
success; to teachers such as the Dom
inican Blessed Albert the Great and
his pupil st. Thomas Aquinas, and the
franciscan Roger Bacon" and he
quotes the words of the non-Catholic
Green in tribute to the latter.
AIbertus Magnus.
Science then fiourished in the Mid
die Ages under the encouragement of
such great master minds as those here
mentioned! And science of the most
modern kind" was not unknown with
in the monastery walls of those Cath
Ollie centuries! That is the fact, as
Father Erich Wassmann, the great Jes-
nit biologist has shown in such strik-
ing manner in his splendid work, mod
ern Biology and the Theory of Evolu-
ton" He quotes the testimony of the
noted German professors, DR.. R. Hert-
wig of the University of Munich, and
DIR. II. Stadtler, to show that biology,
the boosted science-child of the nine
teenth century, was known and stud
led in a scrupulously thorough manner
by the great Dominican, Albertus Mag
nus. In a lecture on "Albertus the
Great as an independent student" de-
livered in Munich in 1905, the latter
professor said This very prolific
writer was scholastic, but he occu-
pies position on a level with Aristo-
tie rather than subordinate to him,
and did not simply reproduce Aristo-
ties statements, but, as far as he
could, explained. completed and ex-
banded them. He displayed great
shreWdness and keen intelligence in
carrying on his favorite observations
on the animals and plants of Germany,
whence he derived the evidence for his
scientific statements that he based
upon Aristotle. His writings therefore
contain all the information on natural
history possessed by the people of
Germany of his day; he describes the
life Of animals as observed by intelli-
gent huntsmen and farmers, fishermen
and bird-catchers; everywhere the BIZ
illogical element and his own personal
ty are prominent, and for this reason
his writings form a sharp contrast to
the dry book-learning of the periods
preceding and following his lifetime"
Biology.
Tnrfyr ,rlo
Wassmann, that Albert even began to
collect his own geological observations.
In many passages of his work on ami
mails he refers to his own investiga-
lions, and when he describes anything,
he frequently adds the remark to the
effect that he has himself seen the
thing in question, and even possesses
it in his collection. He devotes sew
eral chapters to the habits of the fall
con, which he seems to have studied
with particular interest. In one in
stance he tells us that he took a short
sea voyage for geological purposes, and
| on the shore of an island he collected
eleven kinds of 'bloodless beasts.
And many other like details are told
| of him. (Wassmann, Modern Biol
ogy and the Theory of Evolution, -
London and st. Louis, 1914, PIP. 10.
49,.
Biology, therefore, is not so new as
we have been led to imagine. Aristo-
| tie devoted much time to it, and Arts
totle lived quite time ago. And in
| the famed Dark Ages, a White-robed
| Dominican, suffering today under the
| label of Ignorant" which is placed
| upon the monks Of his time, worked
sedulously to learn of some of those
things which many have regarded as
mparatively recent discoveries.
Catholics should certainly know some
thing of these things and not allow
themselves to fall into the misconcep-
| ton which SO many people harbor at
the present day. Science and Religion
go hand in hand-a fact which the
| records of History strongly attest.
&C. B. of C. Y.