Worthies of science / [John Stoughton].

  • Stoughton, John, 1807-1897.
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Worthies of science / [John Stoughton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    chemistry. Scarcely anybody could understand him. Odd stories were told of what he was after; and not a few people imagined that he must be holding inter- course with spirits of the air, or with black prisoners of the lower world. Oxford then was very different from what Oxford is now. No such pile of buildings existed then as the College of Christ Church, with its tower and bells not far fi’om the bridge. Nor did the tower of Magdalen at that period throw its shadow over the river; nor was the present St. Mary's in being. Charming old cloisters we now see enclosing bright green lawns, suggesting poetic dreams, had not then been built; and the stately edifices of quaint architecture adorning the High Street were among things to come. But Oxford was already a renowned seat of learning, and men came there from all quarters to teach or to study. There were schools established in humble buildings very unlike the colleges of our day. They were ven- tures of enterprising scholars, who sought a livelihood, or were desirous of diffusing knowledge, rather than grand foundations endowed by kings and queens and nobles. Two orders of friars, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, who made their appearance in the begin- ning of the thirteenth century, were amongst the most erudite and active teachers of their age ; and the latter of these orders took a leading part in the work of tuition in the midland university. Roger Bacon was a Franciscan friar, and might be seen walking Oxfoid streets,— then consisting of low-roofed tenements and little open shops, which straggled about regardless of order. This member of a distinguished brotherhood