BN 12321, 13th century, fol. 215v (where it follows works by St. Bernard), De naturis avium ad Rainerum conversum cognomine Corde benignum.
Bourges 121, 13th century, fol. 128-, “Libellus cuiusdam (Hugonis de Folieto) ad fratrem Rainerum corde benignum qui Columba deargentata inscribitur.”
CLM 15407, 14th century, fol. 46, Libellus qui “Columba deargentata” inscribitur, etc.
CLM 18368, anno 1385, fol. 121, Hugonis de S. Victore Columba deargentata; fol. 124, Eiusdem avicularius.
CHAPTER XXXVI
ADELARD OF BATH
Place in medieval learning—Some dates in his career—Mathematical treatises—Adelard and alchemy—Importance of the Natural Questions—Occasion of writing—Arabic versus Gallic learning—“Modern discoveries”—Medieval work wrongly credited to Greek and Arab—Illustrated from the history of alchemy—Science and religion—Reason versus authority—Need of the telescope and microscope already felt—Some quaint speculative science—Warfare, science, and religion—Specimens of medieval scientific curiosity—Theory of sound—Theory of vision—Deductive reasoning from hot and cold, moist and dry—Refinement of the four elements hypothesis—Animal intelligence doubted—The earth’s shape and center of gravity—Indestructibility of matter—Also stated by Hugh of St. Victor—Roger Bacon’s continuity of universal nature—Previously stated by Adelard—Experiment and magic—Adelard and Hero of Alexandria—Attitude to the stars: De eodem et diverso—Attitude to the stars: Questiones naturales—Astrology in an anonymous work, perhaps by Athelardus—Authorities concerning spirits—Adelard’s future influence—Appendix I. The problem of dating the De eodem et diverso and Questiones naturales and of their relations to each other—Difficulty of the problem—Before what queen did Adelard play the cithara?—Circumstances under which the De eodem et diverso was written—Different situation depicted in the Natural Questions—Some apparent indications that the De eodem et diverso was written after the Natural Questions—How long had Henry I been reigning?
“Quare, si quid amplius a me audire desideras, rationem refer et recipe.”
—Questiones naturales, cap. 6.
Place in medieval learning.