FRANCIS BACON. 317 



the De Magnate, on the other hand, contains the "certain 

 experiments and demonstrated arguments," upon which 

 the philosophy is based. 



Appended to the new philosophy, is a treatise on 

 meteorology "contra Aristotelem ;" but this seems to be 

 a distinct production, and not necessarily related to the 

 first-named treatise. 



I have referred somewhat at length to this posthumous 

 work of Gilbert, which is now a literary rarity, because 

 it has a remarkable history of its own, and because it 

 forms the connecting link, so to speak, between Gilbert 

 and Bacon. 



It is but natural that the world should turn to the great 

 English philosopher for the most authoritative of all con- 

 temporary estimates and opinions concerning the man 

 whose fame waned amid his immediate posterity, and 

 burst into brighter eifulgence than ever three centuries 

 after his death. With even keener expectancy does it 

 seek to know how, at the hands of the apostle of the 

 advancement of science, this new science of the magnet 

 and of the amber found its impetus and promotion. I 

 have yet to encounter any expressed opinion as to the 

 manner in which Bacon dealt with Gilbert, which does 

 not lay accusations at the door of the former, ranging 

 all the way from a simple imputation of failure to under- 

 stand Gilbert's magnetic and electric discoveries, up to 

 direct charges of jealousy, malice and injustice ; the char- 

 acteristic common to all, however, being an absence of 

 explanation of rational motive, so that one might well 

 draw from them inferences not altogether consistent with 

 the usual conception of Bacon's mental strength. 



Throughout all of Bacon's philosophical writings there 

 is no contemporary philosopher more frequently mentioned 

 than is Gilbert; nor one for whose opinions Bacon shows 

 any kindred respect. Even where he disputes and con- 



