Bacon said
that we must answer these questions by studying not what was
imaginary, but what was real--by studying nature. So Bacon was
not only a lover of truth but was also the first of our
scientists of to-day. Scientist comes from the Latin word scio
to know, and Science means that which we know by watching things
and trying things,--by making experiments. And although Bacon
did not himself find out anything new and useful to man, he
pointed out the road upon which others were to travel.
It was upon a cold day in January in 1560 that Francis Bacon
"came crying into the world."* He was born in a fine house and
was the child of great people, his father being Sir Nicholas
Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. But although his father
was one of the most important men in the kingdom, we know little
about Francis as a boy. We know that he met the Queen and that
he must have been a clever little boy, for she would playfully
call him her "young Lord Keeper." Once too when she asked him
how old he was, he answered, "Two years younger than your
Majesty's happy reign.
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