Well I can see some elements of germ theory in Sir Francis' treatement. He obviously thought something was causing the wart which needed to be destroyed and in fact, this is correct. Warts are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus, and the only way to permanently remove the wart is to remove the virus. The other element in his treatement which has some basis in fact is Ultraviolet (UV) Therapy. Many viruses can, in fact, be destroyed by exposure to UV light, however, skin exposure to sunlight also decreases the immune system, making infection easier. So if you remove the virus from the skin (say, by rubbiung it off with a piece of pork fat) and then expose it to sunlight, you can destroy it....
So, perhaps Sir Francis Bacon was on to something!
Another possibility is that Sir Francis Bacon had shares in a pig farm (it
is a suspicious surname after all) and he was trying to increase pork sales by spreading this rumour about its curative properties.....
