BACON AND GILBERT. 329 



into Xeuomanes, an allusion which finds its explanation 

 in the History of Life and Death, wherein Bacon describes 

 the Greek as "a man who wandered no less in his mind 

 than in his body, so that, in consequence of his opinions, 

 his name was changed from Xenophanes to Xenomanes." 

 But in the De Augmentis, in a paragraph similar to that 

 originally in the Advancement of Learning, Xenophanes 

 is dropped out of sight, and Gilbert is charged with reviv- 

 ing the doctrines of Philolaus. The strength of the judg- 

 ment which, while persisting over twenty years, can exer- 

 cise such a keen discrimination is sufficiently apparent. 



The Philosophia Nova of Gilbert contains, as I have 

 already pointed out, the most comprehensive statement of 

 his cosmical and astronomical views. The Meteorologia 

 deals more particularly with natural phenomena, such as 

 comets, the winds and tides, and the rainbow. To both 

 of these works Bacon often refers. Thus, in the Descrip- 

 tio Globo Intellectually he mentions Gilbert's notions of 

 the revolution of the stars, the vacuum in the interstellar 

 space, the scattering of opaque globes through the heavens, 

 and, with especial approval, his mapping of the moon and 

 his conceptions concerning gravity. In his History of the 

 Winds he draws so freely upon Gilbert's chapters on the 

 same subject that Gruter notes upon the margins of the 

 Meteorologia the places whence he has taken his extracts. 

 In fact, even in the absence of knowledge of the discovery 

 of the Gilbert manuscripts among Bacon's literary remains, 

 there is abundant evidence to show that he was at least one 

 of the distinguished men whom Gruter says had access to 

 Gilbert's writing in its unpublished form. 



It is not necessary for the purpose of this work to extend 

 this review of the relations of Bacon and Gilbert beyond 

 the present limit. That Bacon recognized Gilbert's emi- 

 nence as a philosopher and as a discoverer is clear. He 

 certainly regarded him in the light of u a foeman worthy 

 of his steel." That he was governed in his censure by 

 personal animosity it is needless to assume, in view of the 



