days after a spontaneous beginning to the experiment, Bacon announced by
letter to the King his findings on the ability to preserve raw meat
through freezing.
According to biographer John Aubrey, the idea had come to him suddenly
while riding with the King's physician through the snow in Highgate. They
attempted the experiment immediately, purchasing a fowl from a peasant
woman at the bottom of the hill. Bacon prepared to stuff it with snow, but
the physician warned him of the medical dangers of chill, and Bacon duly
protected himself with gloves borrowed from the coachman.
His frozen bird proved preserved and ready for cooking when it was thawed
upon Bacon's return to his home. Following his philosophy,
Please click the
icon to follow us on Facebook.Bacon attempted the experiment
repeatedly and duly observed results, measuring rates of decay after
various times with what grew into an enormous stock of frozen food. He
wrote a letter to King James noting its practicality in preserving food
for warfare or famine, and the king rewarded him with a small sum. The
money was a pittance in comparison to Bacon's massive debts, but the fame
would prove more than enough to keep the scientist's name in the popular
memory until his publication of New Atlantis, which served as a model for
an idealized scientific community.
Despite his incredible mastery of experimental science (what would become
known as the "Baconian Method"), Bacon was not mindful of his expenses and
spent most of his life buried in debt. He received puritanical tutelage at
home and higher education at Trinity College, Cambridge, with his older
brother Anthony, where he studied under future Archbishop of Canterbury Dr
John Whitgift and met Queen Elizabeth, who affectionately referred to him
as "the young Lord Keeper". Bacon extensively traveled abroad, learning
much about political science during his time in France, Italy, and Spain.
When his father died in 1579, young Bacon returned to England finding that
he had only one-fifth of his expected inheritance, and the money he had
borrowed became officially debt. He took up practice of law to support
himself and entered Parliament after a few years of struggles. Bacon rose
through politics quickly to become Attorney General and then Lord
Chancellor, but was found guilty of repeatedly taking gifts as a judge (a
common practice at the time). Also accused of sodomy and pedantry, he
bowed out of political life, as well as much of his family life when he
discovered his wife Alice Barnham carrying on an affair with John
Underhill.
Instead, Bacon dedicated himself to science. Upon the publication of his
thoughts on Utopia, Bacon found himself a chance to return to the social
scene not as a politician, but with a seat as an official scientific
researcher for the king. Charles I had been intrigued with his freezing
techniques for food as useful in the war effort against Spain. Bacon had
campaigned for a Minister for Science and Technology during the reign of
Elizabeth, and now his ideas had come to fruition. While his research
primarily was dedicated to preservation through freezing, alchemy, and
boiling (building the groundwork for Germ Theory to be understood over the
next century by microscopist Henry Powers), Bacon also used his political
contacts in the increasingly Protestant Parliament to ensure the
continuation of his office.
Minister Bacon died in 1634, reportedly writing at his desk with quill in
hand, and the Ministry of Science did indeed continue. Many thought that
the seat would be given to Thomas Hobbes, but the philosopher's proposed
research into political theory did not match Bacon's posthumous
requirements for direct application. Instead, the seat went to a young
physician, Thomas Browne, who would be instrumental in developing
battlefield medicine. Later, the ministry would be held by great thinkers
such as Henry Powers, Robert Boyle, and, especially known, Isaac Newton,
whose works in optics, metallurgy, mathematics, and many other fields
would set London apart as a great center of development. As per Bacon's
sentiments, all of the new science has since been handed down through the
engineers of the Ministry of Science, who determine practical applications
such as Powers' use of pressure (particularly steam) to drive an engine,
Newton's interchangeable parts for mass production, and Charles Babbage's
later use of automation.