After his dedication to the king, he, accord- As to the first, or THE DIVISION OF THE ing to his wonted mode, clears the way by a re- SCIENCES, he, in 1605, had exhibited an outline in view of the state of learning, which, he says, is the Advancement of Learning, and lived nearly to neither prosperous nor advanced, but, being barren complete it in the year 1623. In this treatise he in effects, fruitful in questions, slow and languid describes the cultivated parts of the intellectual in its improvement, exhibiting in its generality world and the deserts; not to measure out regions, the counterfeit of perfection, ill filled up in its de-as augurs for divination, but as generals to invade tails, popular in its choice, suspected by its very promoters, and therefore countenanced with artifices, it is necessary that an entirely different way from any known by our predecessors must be opened to the human understanding, and different helps be obtained, in order that the mind may exercise its jurisdiction over the nature of things. 1 Vol. ix. p. 145, 147. Cum autem incertus esset, quando hæc alicui posthac in mentem ventura sint; eo potissimum usus argumento, quod neminem hactenus invenit, qui ad similes cogitationes animum applicuerit; decrevit prima quæque, quæ perficere licuit, in publicum edere. Neque hec festinatio ambitiosa fuit, sed sollicita; ut si quid illi humanitus accideret, exstaret tamen designatio quædam, ac destinatio rei quam animo complexus est; utque exstaret simul signum aliquod honestæ suæ et propensæ in generis humani commoda voluntatis. Certe aliam quamcunque ambitionem inferiorem duxit re, quam præ manibus habuit. Aut for conquest. THE NOVUM ORGANUM is a treatise upon the conduct of the understanding in the systematic discovery of truth, or the art of invention by a New Organ: as, in inquiring into any nature, the hydrophobia, for instance, or the attraction of the magnet, the Novum Organum explains a mode of proceeding by which its nature and laws may with certainty be found. It having been Bacon's favourite doctrine, that important truths are often best discovered in small and familiar instances, as the nature of a commonwealth, in a family and the simple conjugations of society, man and wife, parents and children, master and servant, which are in every cottage; and as he had early taught that all truths, however divisible as lines and veins, are not separable as sections and separations, but partake of one common essence, which, like the drops of rain, fall separately into the river, mix themselves at once with the stream, and strengthen the general current, it may seem extraordinary that it should not have occurred to him that the mode to enim hoc quod agitur nihil est; aut tantum, ut merito ipso discover any truth might, possibly, be seen by contentum esse debeat, nec fructum extra quærere. FRANCIS OF VERULAM THOUGHT THUS. Uncertain, however, whether these reflections would ever hereafter suggest themselves to another, and particularly hav ing observed that he has never yet met with any person disposed to apply his mind to similar meditations, he determined to publish whatsoever he had first time to conclude. Nor is this the haste of ambition, but of his anxiety, that if the common lot of mankind should befall him, some sketch and determina tion of the matter his mind had embraced might be extant, as well as an earnest of his will being honourably bent upon promoting the advantage of mankind. He assuredly looked upon any other ambition as beneath the matter he had un dertaken; for that which is here treated of is either nothing, or it is so great that he ought to be satisfied with its own worth and seek no other return. the proceedings in a court of justice, where the immediate and dearest interests of men being concerned, and great intellect exerted, it is natural to suppose that the best mode of invention would be adopted. In a well constituted court of justice the judge is without partiality. He hears the evidence on both sides, and the reasoning of the opposite advocates. He then forms his judgment. This is the mode adopted by Bacon in the Novum Organum for the discovery of all truths. He endeavours to make the philosopher in his study proceed as a judge in his court. For this purpose his work is divisible into three parts: 1st. The removal of prejudice, or the de 3dly. By explaining the mode in which the facts presented to the senses ought by certain rules to be examined. As the commander of an army, before he commences an attack, considers the strength and number of his troops, both regular and allies; the spirit by which they are animated, whether they are the lion, or the sheep in the lion's skin; the power of the enemy to which he is opposed: their walled towns, their stored arsenals and armories, their horses and chariots of war, elephants, ordnance and artillery, and their races of men; and then in what mode he shall commence his attack and proceed in the battle: so, before man directs his strength against nature, and endeavours to take her high towers and dismantle her fortified holds, and thus enlarge the borders of his dominion, he ought duly to estimate, 1st. His powers, natural and artificial, for the discovery of truth. With respect to the defects of the senses, he says that things escape their cognisance by seven modes: 1st. From distance; which is remedied by substitutes, as beacons, bells, telegraphs, &c. 2d. By the interception of interposing bodies; which is remedied by attention to outward or visible signs, as the internal state of the body by the pulse, &c. 3d. By the unfitness of the body: or, 4th. Its insufficiency in quantity to impress the sense, as the air and the vital spirit, which is imperceptible by sight or touch. 5th. From the insufficiency of time to actuate the sense, either when the motion is too slow, as in the hand of a clock or the growth of grass, or too rapid, as a bullet passing through the air. 6th. From the percussion of the body being too powerful for the sense, as in looking at the midday sun; which is remedied by removing the object from the sense; or by diminishing its force by the interposition of a medium, as smoking tobacco through water; or by reflection, as the sun's rays in a mirror or basin of water: and7th. Because the sense is pre-occupied by another object, as by the use of perfumes. The defects of the judgment he investigates 2d. His different motives for the exercise of in a more laborious inquiry. "There are," he his powers. says, "certain predispositions which beset the 3d. The obstacles to which he is opposed; mind of man; certain idols which are constantly and, 4th. The mode in which he can exert his powers with most efficacy, or the Art of Invention. Of these four requisites, therefore, a perfect work upon the conduct of the understanding ought, as it seems, to consist: but the Novum Organum is not thus treated. To system Bacon was not attached: for " As young men, when they knit and shape perfectly, do seldom grow to a farther stature, so knowledge, while it is in aphorisms and observations, it is in growth; but when it once is comprehended in exact methods, it may perchance be farther polished and illustrated, and accommodated for use and practice; but it increaseth no more in bulk and substance. Instead of explaining our different powers, our Senses, our Imagination, our Reason, there are in the Novum Organum only some scattered observations upon the defects of the senses;-upon the different causes or idols by which the judgment is always liable to be warped, and some suggestions as to the artificial helps to our natural powers in exploring the truths which are exhibited to the senses. operating upon the mind and warping it from the truth; for the mind of man, drawn over and clouded with the sable pavilion of the body, is so far from being like smooth, equal, and clear glass, which might sincerely take and reflect the beams of things according to their true incidence, that it is rather like an enchanted glass, full of superstitions, apparitions, and impostures; which idols are of such a pernicious nature, that, if they once take root in the mind, they will so possess it that truth can hardly find entrance; and, even should it enter, they will again rise up, choke, and destroy it." These idols are of two sorts: 1st. Common to all men, therefore called Idols of the Tribe, including the defects of words, called Idols of the Market; 2d. Peculiar to peculiar individuals, either from their original conformation, or from their education and pursuits in life, called Idols of the Den, including the errors from particular opinions, called Idols of the Theatre. So that his doctrine of idols may be thus exhibited: 1. Of the Tribe.-Of the Market 2. Of the Den.-Of the Theatre. The Idols of the Tribe, or warps to the judgment, Idols of the Theatre, or depraved theories, are, of course, infinite and inveterate; appearing in that numerous litter of strange, senseless, absurd opinions, which crawl about the world to the disgrace of reason, and the wretchedness of mankind. by which all mankind swerve from the truth, are | ticians, &c., to their respective sciences, are glarof two classes: 1st. When man is under the in- ing instances. fluence of a passion more powerful than the love of truth, as worldly interest, crying "Great is Diana of the Ephesians:" or, 2dly, When,under the influence of the love of truth, he, like every lover, is hurried without due and cautious inquiry by the hope of possessing the object of his affections: which manifests itself either in hasty assent, or hasty generalization, the parents of credulity-in tenacity in retaining opinions, the parent of prejudice-in abandoning universality, the parent of feeble inquiry-or in indulging in subtleties and refinements and endless inquiry, the parent of vain speculations, spinning out of itself cobwebs of learning, admirable for their fineness of texture, but of no substance or profit. 66 Upon the destruction of these idols, Bacon is unceasing in his exhortations. They must," he says, "by the lover of truth be solemnly and forever renounced, that the understanding may be purged and cleansed; for the kingdom of man, which is founded in the sciences, can scarce be entered otherwise than the Kingdom of God, that is, in the condition of little children :" and, with an earnestness not often found in his works, he adds, "If we have any humility towards the Creator; if we have any reverence and esteem of his works; if we have any charity towards men, or any desire of relieving their miseries and ne any aversion to darkness, any desire of purifying the understanding, we must destroy these idols, which have led experience captive, and childishly As men associate by discourse, and words are imposed according to the capacity of the vulgar, a false and improper imposition of words unavoidably possesses the understanding, leading men away to idle controversies and subtleties, irreme-cessities; if we have any love for natural truths; diable by definitions, which, consisting of words, shoot back, like the Tartar's bow, upon the judgment from whence they came. These defects of words, or Idols of the Market, | triumphed over the works of God; and now at are either names of non-existences, as the primum mobile, the element of fire, &c.; or confused names of existences, as beauty, virtue, &c.; which, from the subtlety of nature being infinite, and of words finite, must always exist. Words tell the minutes, but not the seconds. When we attempt to reach heaven, we are stopped by the confusion of languages. length condescend, with due submission and veneration, to approach and peruse the volume of the creation; dwell some time upon it, and bringing to the work a mind well purged of opinions, idols, and false notions, converse familiarly therein. This volume is the language which has gone out to all the ends of the earth, unaffected by the confusion of Babel; this is the language that men should thoroughly learn, and not disdain to have the interpretation of this language they should spare no pains, but strenuously proceed, persevere, and dwell upon it to the last." The Idols of the Den, or attachment by particular individuals to particular opinions, he thus ex-its alphabet perpetually in their hands; and in plains: "We every one of us have our particular den or cavern, which refracts and corrupts the light of nature; either because every man has his respective temper, education, acquaintance, course Such is a faint outline of Bacon's celebrated of reading, and authorities; or from the difference doctrine of idols, which has sometimes been supof impressions, as they happen in a mind preju-posed to be the most important of all his works, diced or prepossessed, or in one that is calm and and to expose the cause of all the errors by which equal. Of which defects Plato's cave is an ex- man is misled. cellent emblem: for, certainly, if a man were continued from his childhood to mature age in a grotto or dark and subterraneous cave, and then should come suddenly abroad, and should behold the stately canopy of heaven and the furniture of the world, without doubt he would have many strange and absurd imaginations come into his mind and people his brain. So in like manner we live in the view of heaven, yet our spirits are enclosed in the caves of our bodies, complexions, and customs, which must needs minister unto us infinite images of error and vain opinions, if they do seldom and for so short a time appear above ground out of their holes, and do not continually live under the contemplation of nature, as in the open air." Of these Idols of the Den, the attachment of professional men, divines, lawyers, poli Upon the motives by which the lover of truth, seeking nature with all her fruits about her, can alone be actuated, and which he has explained in other parts of his works, he, in the Novum Organum, contents himself with saying, "We would in general admonish all to consider the true ends of knowledge, and not to seek it for the gratification of their minds, or for disputation, or that they may despise others, or for emolument, or fame, or power, or such low objects, but for its intrinsic merit and the purposes of life." The obstacles to the are: 1. Want of time, 2. Want of means. acquisition of knowledge 1. Worldly occupation. Upon the obstacles from want of time, more imaginary than real, if time is not wasted in frivolous pursuits, in sensuality or in sleep, in misapplication of times of recreation, or in idle curiosity, the Novum Organum contains but one casual, consolatory observation: "We judge also that mankind may conceive some hopes from our example, which we offer, not by way of ostentation, but because it may be useful." The obstacles to the acquisition of knowledge from want of means he through life deeply felt, and he never omitted an opportunity earnestly to express his hope that it would be diminished or destroyed by such a collection of natural history as would show the world, not as man has made it, not as it exists only in imagination, but as it really exists, as God has made it. Anxious to lay the true foundation of philosophy, he, in the Novum Organum, availed himself of the power with which he was intrusted, to induce the king to form such a collection of natural history as he had measured out in his mind, and such as really ought to be procured; "a great and royal work, requiring the purse of a prince and the assistance of a people." He, therefore, in the dedication, and in his presentation letter, urged the king to imitate Solomon, by procuring the compilation and completion of such a natural and experimental history as should be serviceable for raising the superstructure of philosophy: that, at length, after so many ages, philosophy and the sciences may no longer be unsettled and speculative, but fixed on the solid foundation of a varied and well-considered experience: and in his reply to the king's acknowledgment of the receipt of the Novum Organum, he repeats his hope that the king will aid him in employing the community in collecting a natural and experimental history, as "basis totius negotii; for who can tell, now this mine of truth is opened, how the veins go, and what lieth higher, and what lieth lower?" Such were the hopes in which he indulged. So difficult is it to love and be wise. The king complimented him upon his work, saying, that, "like the peace of God, it passeth all understanding;" but of a collection of natural history, "ne verbum quidem." Annexed to this doctrine of idols, there are some inquiries into the signs of false philosophy; the causes of the errors in philosophy; and the grounds of hope that knowledge must be progressive; hopes which he had beautifully stated in the conclusion of his Advancement of Learning. After having thus cleared the way by consider ing the modes by which we are warped from the truth; by which, formed to adore the true God, we fall down and worship an idol: after having admonished us, that, in the conduct of the understanding, a false step may be fatal, that a cripple in the right will beat a racer in the wrong way, erring in proportion to his fleetness, he expresses his astonishment that no mortal should have taken care to open and prepare a way for the human understanding, from sense and a well-conducted experience, but that all things should be left either to the darkness of tradition, the giddy agitation and whirlwind of argument, or else to the uncertain waves of accident, or a vague and uninformed experience. To open this way, to discover how our reason shall be guided, that it may be right, that it be not a blind guide, but direct us to the place where the star appears, and point us to the very place where the babe lieth, is the great object of this inquiry. As our opinions are formed by impressions made upon our senses, by confidence in the communications of others, and by our own meditations, man, in the infancy of his reason, is unavoidably in error: for, although our senses never deceive us, the communications made by others, and our own speculations must, according to the ignorance of our teachers, and the liveliness of our own imaginations, teem with error. Bacon saw the evil, and he saw the remedy: he saw and taught his contemporaries and future ages, that reasoning is nothing worth, except as it is founded on facts. In his Sylva Sylvarum, he thus speaks: "The philosophy of Pythagoras, which was full of superstition, did first plant a monstrous imagination, which afterwards was, by the school of Plato and others, watered and nourished. It was, that the world was one entire, perfect, living creature; that the ebbing and flowing of the sea was the respiration of the world, drawing in water as breath, and putting it forth again. They went on and inferred, that if the world were a living creature, it had a soul and spirit. This foundation being laid, they might build upon it what they would; for in a living creature, though never so great, as, for example, in a great whale, the sense, and the effects of any one part of the body, instantly make a transcursion throughout the whole body: so that by this they did insinuate that no distance of place, nor want or indisposition of matter, could hinder magical operation; but that, for example, we might here in Europe have sense and feeling of that which was done in China. With these vast and bottomless follies, men have been in part entertained. But we that hold firm to the works of God, and to the sense, which is God's lamp, Lucerna Dei Spiraculum Hominis, will inquire, with all sobriety and severity, whether there is to be found, in the footsteps of nature, any such transmission and influx of immateriate virtues." In this state of darkness was society involved, when Bacon formed his Art of Invention, which consists in collecting all bodies that have any affinity with the nature sought; and in a systema tic examination of the bodies collected. To discover facts is, therefore, his first object; but, as natural and experimental history is so co- | Another use, therefore, of this table is to discover pious and diffusive as to confound and distract the nature sought by observing its qualities which the understanding, unless digested in proper are absent in the analogous nature, "like the order, tables are formed and so digested, that the images of Cassius and Brutus, in the funeral of understanding may commodiously work upon Junia;" of which, not being represented as many them. others were, Tacitus saith, "Eo ipso præfulgebant quod non visebantur." By observing this table, it appears that the blood of all animals is not hot. This table, therefore, prevents hasty generalization: "As if Samuel should have rested in those sons of Jesse which were brought before him in the house, and should not have sought David, who was absent in the field." By observing the table, it also appears, that boiling water is hot; ice is cold :-living bodies are hot; dead bodies are cold;-but in boiling water and in living bodies there is motion of parts in ice and dead bodies they are fixed. VOL. I.—(11) In the same body. In Animals. Animal heat varies from minute perceptibility to about the heat of the hottest day. It is always endurable. It is increased by food, venery, exercise, fever, &c. In some fevers the heat is constant, in others intermittent, &c. Heat varies in different parts of the same body. Animals differ in heat, &c. Flame. 1. The lambent flame, related by historians to have ap peared on the heads of children, gently playing about the hair. 2. The coruscations seen in a clear night on a sweating horse. 3. Of the glow-worm. 4. Of the ignis fatuus. 5. Of spirits of wine. 6. Of vegetables, straw, dry leaves. 7. Of boiling metals. 8. Of blast furnaces. By observing in this table the cause of the different quantities of the nature sought, some approximation may be made to the nature itself. Thus, vegetables, or common water, do not exhibit heat to the touch, but masticated pepper or boiling water are hot. Flame is hotter than the human body: boiling water than warm. Is there any difference except in the motion of the parts? TABLE IV. Or of Exclusions, is of a more complicated nature. Bacon assumes that the quality of any nature can be ascertained by its being always present when the sought nature is present: is always absent when the sought nature is absent: increases always with its increase, and decreases with its decrease. Upon this principle his table of exclusion is formed, by excluding, 1st, Such particular natures as are not found in any instances where the given nature is present; or, 2d, Such as are found in any instances where that nature is absent; and, 3d, |