NOVUM ORGANUM 73 



government of science we have spoken of is wont too rigor 

 ously to repress its growth. 



XCI. And even should the odium I have alluded to be 

 avoided, yet it is sufficient to repress the increase of science 

 that such attempts and industry pass unrewarded; for the 

 cultivation of science and its reward belong not to the same 

 individual. The advancement of science is the work of 

 a powerful genius, the prize and reward belong to the vul 

 gar or to princes, who (with a few exceptions) are scarcely 

 moderately well informed. Nay, such progress is not only 

 deprived of the rewards and beneficence of individuals, but 

 even of popular praise; for it is above the reach of the 

 generality, and easily overwhelmed and extinguished by 

 the winds of common opinions. It is not wonderful, there 

 fore, that little success has attended that which has been 

 little honored. 



XC1I. But by far the greatest obstacle to the advance 

 ment of the sciences, and the undertaking of any new at 

 tempt or department, is to be found in men s despair and 

 the idea of impossibility ; for men of a prudent and exact 

 turn of thought are altogether diffident in matters of this 

 nature, considering the obscurity of nature, the shortness 

 of life, the deception of the senses, and weakness of the 

 judgment. They think, therefore, that in the revolutions 

 of ages and of the world there are certain floods and ebbs 

 of the sciences, and that they grow and flourish at one time, 

 and wither and fall off at another, that when they have 

 attained a certain degree and condition they can proceed 

 no further. 



If, therefore, any one believe or promise greater things, 

 they impute it to an uncurbed and immature mind, and 

 imagine that such efforts begin pleasantly, then become 



