One of the enduring legends of our time is that Francis Bacon is the author of a charming parable about horse's teeth and how obstinate scholars (and we know just how obstinate they can be) refuse to collect data on the matter. The parable can be viewed at: http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/horse.htm My claim is that the earliest known source of this parable is an address by the eminent pioneer in colour photography, C.E. Kenneth Mees (in the eighth Steinmetz Memorial Lecture, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., Jan. 10, 1934). The address is published in: Mees, C.E. (1934). Scientific thought and social reconstruction. Electrical Engineering, 53, 383-384. and Mees, C.E. (1934). ----- Sigma Xi Quarterly, 22, 13-24. Mees does not give a source but is apparently not the author himself, "accrediting" it to Francis Bacon. I have now contacted a genuine Bacon scholar, Dr. Brian Vickers, Chair of English Literature, Centre for Renaissance Studies, ETH Zentrum, Zurich, and the editor of a 500 page edition of selected English works by Francis Bacon for Oxford University Press. (see http://www.verw.ethz.ch/cgi-win/Who.exe?ID=781&lang=engl and go to: http://www.rereth.ethz.ch/cgi-bin/TreeControlCGI_rereth?ds=rereth_en&ri=en&sr=1 and search on "Francis Bacon") Dr. Vickers was kind enough to reply to my query by stating that he has no memory of Bacon ever pronouncing on that issue. Given Dr. Vickers' impressive expertise on Bacon, I think this settles the matter. The attribution to Bacon is false. -Stephen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at: http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
