NOTE B 15 B. 



amended in the frame thereof, till at last it came to that model in which it was 

 committed to the press, as many living creatures do lick their young ones, till 

 they bring them to their strength of limbs. 



Tennyson s Observations upon Novum Organum. 



The second part of his Great Instauration (and so considerable a part of it, 

 that the name of the whole is given to it) is his Novum Organum Scientiarum, 

 written by himself in the Latin tongue, and printed also most beautifully and 

 correctly in folio, at London, (a) This work he dedicated to King James, with 

 the following excuse ; that it he had stolen any time for the composure of it 

 from his majesty s other affairs, he had made some sort of restitution by doing 

 honour to his name and his reign. The King wrote to him, then Chancellor, a 

 letter of thanks with his own hand ; (ft) and this was the first part of it : &quot; My 

 Lord, I have received your letter and your book, than the which you could not 

 have sent a more acceptable present to me. How thankful 1 am for it, cannot 

 better be expressed by me, than by a firm resolution I have taken ; first, to read 

 it through with care and attention, though I should steal some hours from my 

 sleep, having, otherwise, as little spare time to read it as you had to write it ; 

 and then to use the liberty of a true friend, in not sparing to ask you the question 

 in any point, whereof I stand in doubt (nam ejus est explicure,cujus est condere} ; 

 as, on the other part, I will willingly give a due commendation to such places, 

 as in my opinion, shall deserve it. In the mean time, I can with comfort 

 assure you, that you could not have made choice of a subject, more befitting 

 your place, and your universal and methodical knowledge.&quot; 



Three copies of this Organum were sent by the Lord Bacon to Sir Henry 

 Wotton, one who took a pride (as himself saith) in a certain congeniality with 

 his lordship s studies. And how very much he valued the present, we may 

 learn from his own words : &quot; Your lordship (said he)(c) hath done a great and 

 ever-living benefit to all the children of nature, and to nature herself in her 

 uttermost extent of latitude ; who, never before, had so noble, nor so true an 

 interpreter, or (as I am readier to style your lordship) never so inward a secre 

 tary of her cabinet. But of your work (which came but this week to my hands) 

 I shall find occasion to speak more hereafter ; having yet read only the first 

 book thereof, and a few aphorisms of the second. For it is not a banquet that 

 men may superficially taste, and put up the rest in their pockets ; but, in truth, 

 a solid feast, which requireth due mastication. Therefore, when I have once 

 myself perused the whole, I determine to have it read, piece by piece, at certain 

 hours, in my domestic college, as an ancient author ; for I have learned thus 

 much by it already, that we are extremely mistaken in the computation of 

 antiquity, by searching it backwards ; because, indeed, the first times were the 

 youngest ; especially in points of natural discovery and experience. 



This Novum Organum containeth in it, instructions concerning a better and 

 more perfect use of reason in our inquisitions after things. And therefore the 

 second title which he gave it was, Directions concerning Interpretations of 

 Nature. And by this art he designed a logic more useful than the vulgar, and 

 an Organum apter to help the intellectual powers than that of Aristotle. For he 

 proposed here, not so much the invention of arguments as of arts ; and in 

 demonstration, he used induction, more than contentious syllogism ; and in his 

 induction, he did not straightway proceed from a few particular sensible notions 

 to the most general of all ; but raised axioms by degrees, designing the most 

 general notions for the last place, and insisting on such of them as are not 

 merely notional, but coming from nature, do also lead to her. 



This book containeth three parts : the Preface ; the Distribution of the 

 Work of the Great Instauration ; Aphorisms, guiding to the interpretation 

 nature. 



(a) 1620, and in second part of Resuscitatio part of this Org. is published in 

 an English version. 



(ft) Dated October 16, 1620. (r) Wotton s Remains, 298. 



