THE INSTRUCTRESS OF NATIONS.

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 7, 1 April 1884, Page 14

THE INSTRUCTRESS OF NATIONS.

On Sunday March 16th, with ranch ceremony was laid the foundation stone of St. Patrick’s College, Wellington. Bishop Redwood in his address used the following words : —“ History proclaimed her (the Roman Catholic Church) the instructress of nationsthe ever wise and faithful friend, and fostermother of science, art, and literature.” In the 4th century, Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, destroyed and dispersed the grand old library of the Ptolemies, containing the records of Egyptian science and discovery; the mathematical and astronomical tables of the ancient Chaldean astronomersand the model of a steam engine invented by Nero the mathematician more than 100 B.C. In the 10th century Andalusia under the Moors became the paradise of the world. There were to be found magnificent palaces, and enchanting gardens —the streets were paved and lightedthe houses warmed in Winter by furnaces, and cooled in Summer by perfumed air brought in pipes from flower beds,* They had baths, and libraries, fountains of quicksilver and water. Her seats of learning were crowded by men from all parts of Europe, and her Jewish bankers, physicians, and merchants were renowned as the leading intellects of the world. Torquemada, the confessor of Queen Isabella, induced her to apply to the Pope for the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition. In the first year of its operation A.D. 1481, over 2000 Jews, including many learned and scientific men, were burnt in Andalusia. . In A.D. 1502 was issued the promulgation against the Moors—their colleges were broken up, the Kaliph’s library of 600,000 volumes, and TO other libraries in Andalusia, were destroyed. The frantic Zimenes alone burnt 80,000 volumes in the city of Granada. Geography. —Eusebius and St. Augustine bitterly opposed the belief in the spherical form of the earth, St. Augustine said that scripture speaks of no such descendants of Adam as dwellers of the Antipodes. In the 14th century D’Ascoli as burned to death at the age of 70 for asserting that the world was round. In the 15th century a council of Bishops tried by theological argument to dissuade Columbus from making his famous voyage ; and after this voyage in 1493, the Pope Alexander the YI. laid down a line of demarcation upon the earth, as upon a flat disc. Astronomy.— ln the 16th century Bruno taught the plurality of worlds ; in ’the year A .D. 1600 he was burned to death. In 1632 Galileo published his “ Systems of the World ” he was summoned before the Inquisition, forced on his knees with his hand on the bible to curse the doctrine of the movement of the earth, and then imprisoned for ten years. Chemistry and Physics.— Roger Bacon advocated experimental philosophy with wonderful success, — more than any other man of the middle ages, pointed out those fruitful paths of science, which have led to the most precious inventions, amongst them, clocks, lenses, burning specula, and telescopes were by him directly or indirectly given to the world. In A.D. 1278 a Council of the Erancescan order, assembled at Paris, condemned his teachings. Bacon was imprisoned for 14 years, and at the age of 80 was released from prison only to die. Anatomy and Medicine. —St. Augustine strongly condemned dissection, and the'prying “ into the secrets of the human body, to learn the nature of disease, its seat, and how it may be cured.” In the 13th century Pope Innocent 111 forbade surgical operations by priests, deacons, and subdeacons. Pope Honorius forbade the study of medicine, and in A.D. 1243 the Dominicans banished books of medicine from their monasteries. In the 16th century Andreas Yesalius, the great founder of the modern science of anatomy, at the early age of 28, published to the world his discoveries. The Church rose in arms, and on the accession of Phillip II of Spain obtained his condemnation, compelling him to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land ; in this voyage he was wrecked, and lost to the world in his prime. And so on ad infinitum. Truly history proclaims that this Church has ever been the “faithful friend, and fostermother of science, art, and literature ” ! R.