VI PREFACE . 



the estate of a defunct, it should be set down, of 

 ready money nothing : for as money will fetch all 

 other commodities, so this knowledge is that which 

 should purchase all the rest. And like as the West- 

 Indies had never been discovered, if the use of the 

 mariner s needle had not been first discovered, though 

 the one be vast regions and the other a small mo 

 tion ; so it cannot be found strange if sciences be no 

 farther discovered, if the art itself of invention and 

 discovery hath been passed over.&quot;* 



He then adds, * This part of invention, concerning 

 the invention of sciences, I purpose, if God give me 

 leave, hereafter to propound, having digested it into 

 two parts ; whereof the one I term &quot; Experientia Li- 

 terata,&quot; and the other &quot; Interpretatio Naturae :&quot; the 

 former being but a degree and rudiment of the lat 

 ter. But I will not dwell too long, nor speak too 

 great upon a promise.&quot; f 



The Novum Organum was published, imperfect 

 and incomplete, in the year 1620, when Lord Bacon 

 was Chancellor. The reasons for the publication at 

 that period are stated in mV letter to the King : 

 &quot; And the reason, why I have published it now, spe 

 cially being imperfect, is, to speak plainly, because 

 I number my days, and would have it saved. 

 There is another reason of my so doing, which is to 

 try, whether I can get help in one intended part of 

 this work, namely, the compiling of a natural and 

 experimental history, which must be the main foun- 



* Advancement of Learning, vol. ii. p. 176 

 f Advancement of Learning, vol. ii. 182. 



