In the mid-thirteenth century, a Dominican friar designed an experimental test of a common belief: that ostriches could safely consume iron. As he reports in De animalibus (‘On Animals’), the philosopher known to history as Albert the Great (c.1200–1280) offered several ostriches a choice between iron fragments, bones, and pebbles. It is tempting to compare this passage to a modern single-variable experiment, with which it bears several similarities. Much like any scientist might today, Albert attempts to control for variables that are not the focus of his study: the bones are broken into small, edible pieces, presumably to match the sizes of other items, and multiple ostriches are recruited for a series of trials, minimizing the effects of outliers. Indeed, Albert's personal narratives have often fueled what Nigel Harris calls ‘extravagant claims … with regard to the modernity and originality’ of his methods; thus William Wallace describes Albert as ‘one of the outstanding forerunners of modern science’, aligning his emphasis on observation with empiricism. - [Abstract]

Language: English

DOI: 10.1017/9781800104884.004