58 THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



His classification of human knowledge was cele- 

 brated, and very influential in the progress of sci- 

 ence. He kept one clear purpose in view, namely, 

 the control of nature by man. He wished to take 

 stock of what had already been accomplished, to sup- 

 ply deficiencies, and to enlarge the bounds of human 

 empire. He was acutely conscious that this was an 

 enterprise too great for any one man, and he used his 

 utmost endeavors to induce James I to become the 

 patron of the plan. His project admits of very simple 

 statement now ; he wished to edit an encyclopedia, 

 but feared that it might prove impossible without co- 

 operation and without state support. He felt capable 

 of furnishing the plans for the building, but thought 

 it a hardship that he was compelled to serve both as 

 architect and laborer. The worthiness of these plans 

 was attested in the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 when the great French Encyclopaedia was projected by 

 Diderot and D'Alembert. The former, its chief edi- 

 tor and contributor, wrote in the Prospectus : " If 

 we come out successful from this vast undertaking, 

 we shall owe it mainly to Chancellor Bacon, who 

 sketched the plan of a universal dictionary of sciences 

 and arts at a time when there were not, so to speak, 

 either arts or sciences. This extraordinary genius, 

 when it was impossible to write a history of what men 

 knew, wrote one of what they had to learn." 



Bacon, as we shall amply see, was a firm believer 

 in the study of the arts and occupations, and at the 

 same time retained his devotion to principles and ab- 

 stract thought. He knew that philosophy could aid 

 the arts that supply daily needs ; also that the arts 

 and occupations enriched the field of philosophy, 



