NOVUM ORGANUM. 



and the simple conjugations of society &amp;gt; 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, (a) 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 discover any truth might, possibly, be seen by 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 with 

 out 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 destruction of idols, 

 or modes by which the judgment is warped from the truth. 

 2ndly. By considering facts on both sides; as if the 

 inquiry be into the nature of heat, by considering all the 

 affirmative and negative instances of heat, 



Affirmative Table. 



The Sun s direct rays. 

 Blood of Terrestrial Animals. 

 Living Animals. 

 &c. 



Negative Table. 



The Moon s rays. 

 Blood of Fish. 

 Dead Animals. 

 &c. 



(a) Adv. of Learning, vol. ii. p. 153. De Aug. vol. viii. p. 205, 



