CHAPTER IV -- THE RENAISSANCE AND THE RISE OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
THE "reconquest of the classic world of thought was by far the most
important achievement of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
It absorbed nearly the whole mental energy of the Italians.... The
revelation of what men were and what they wrought under the influence of
other faiths and other impulses, in distant ages with a different ideal
for their aim, not only widened the narrow horizon of the Middle Ages,
but it also restored self-confidence to the reason of humanity."(1)
(1) J. A. Symonds: The Renaissance in Italy; the Revival of
Learning, 1877, p. 52.
Everywhere throughout the Middle Ages learning was the handmaid of
theology. Even Roger Bacon with his strong appeal for a new method
accepted the dominant mediaeval conviction--that all the sciences did
but minister to their queen, Theology. A new spirit entered man's heart
as he came to look upon learning as a guide to the conduct of life.
A revolution was slowly effected in the intellectual world. It is
a mistake to think of the Renaissance as a brief period of sudden
fruitfulness in the North Italian cities. So far as science is
concerned, the thirteenth century was an aurora followed by a long
period of darkness, but the fifteenth was a true dawn that brightened
more and more unto the perfect day.
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