Jj.jS AIM K XI) IX I). 



tiuit- a variety or particular^ lie is more definite on the 

 necessirv of nci/n fives, of rejection and exclusion of all Natures 

 which do not exhibit the required Nature. Passing by these 

 questions as very vaguely answered, if answered at all, we 

 conic to the doctrine of successive steps, the most distinctive 

 and satisfactory part of BaconV Method. For it was by point 

 ing out the need of discrimination between different &amp;lt;vfc/vf (to 

 speak Mathematically i of Generalization, that Bacon led the 

 way to the construction of Modern Sciences. By such succes 

 sive- stairo A-tronomy, Optics. Mechanics, have been built up 

 to their present noble height : and Dr. \Yhewell has been at 

 the pains il hil. Ind. Sc. Bk. xi. ch. 6j to construct a pyramid, 

 shewing the gradual progress of Astronomy. By this process 

 &amp;lt;reneration.s have gone on adding to the amount of certain 

 knowledge in the world : and applying the results of Induction 

 to the amelioration of man s hie. 



It onlv remains that I should notice Bacon s great worth as 

 an E.rj&amp;gt;erinu ntalixf. He was not, indeed, the first man who so 

 &quot;interrogated Nature;&quot; but lie gave to Experiment great 

 prominence; and has left us descriptions of many attempts, 

 which we mav smile at for their rudeness, but which, never 

 theless, wore them&amp;gt;elves in the right direction, and led men 

 onwards. And we must not underrate this excellence, for, as 

 I said before. Experiment is really, as much as one thing can 

 bo, the cause of the marked success and progress of the 

 phvsical science s in modern times. 



To sum up; Bacon s Induction is good, as it opposes the 

 ancient and scholastic systems: as it introduced regularity/ of 

 registration of results: as it took wider views of the relation 

 ship between the branches of science : as it discriminated 

 between the orders of generalization ; as it arranged those 

 orders; as it based itself upon dissection and interrogation of 

 Nature bv means of Experiment. His Method failed, however, 

 in its not acknowledging the need of a &quot; Mental Initiative,&quot; 

 and of that sagacity which distinguishes the able man from 

 the weak : in its cumbrousncss of Tables, Prerogatives, Recti 

 fications, &c. which (as Coleridge. Friend II. Essay 8. notices) 

 if followed obediently would have &quot;expended the life of an 



