5 o BACON 



tion of materials for a just and solid induction, whereon philoso- 

 phy is to be grounded. And, in this view, we again divide 

 natural history into narrative and inductive ; the latter whereof 

 is wanting. If the natural history extant, though apparently 

 of great bulk and variety, were to be carefully weeded of its 

 fables, antiquities, quotations, frivolous disputes, philology, 

 ornaments, and table-talk, it would shrink to a slender bulk. 

 But, besides, a history of this kind is far from what we require, 

 as wanting the two above-mentioned parts of a natural history, 

 viz., prgetergenerations and arts, on which we lay great stress ; 

 and only answers one part in five of the third, viz., that of gen- 

 erations. For the history of generations has five subordinate 

 parts; viz., i. The celestial bodies, considered in their naked 

 phenomena, stripped of opinions ; 2. Meteors, comets, and the 

 regions of the air ; 3. The earth and sea, as integral parts of the 

 universe, including mountains, rivers, tides, sands, woods, and 

 islands, with a view to natural inquiries rather than cosmog- 

 raphy ; 4. The elements, or greater assemblages of matter, as I 

 call them viz., fire, air, water, and earth ; and 5. The species of 

 bodies, or more exquisite collections of matter, by us called the 

 smaller assemblages, in which alone the industry of writers has 

 appeared, and that, too, rather in a luxurious than solid man- 

 ner ; as rather abounding in things superfluous, viz., the repre- 

 sentation of plants and animals, etc., than careful observations, 

 which should ever be subjoined to natural history. In fine, 

 all the natural history we have is absolutely unfit for the end 

 we propose, viz., to build philosophy upon ; and this both in the 

 manner and matter thereof ; hence we set down inductive his- 

 tory as deficient. 



CHAPTER IV 



Civil History divided into Ecclesiastical and Literary. Deficiency of 

 the latter. The Absence of Precepts for its Compilation 



Civil history, in general, may be divided into three particular 

 kinds, viz., sacred, civil, and literary ; the latter whereof being 

 wanting, the history of the world appears like the statue of 

 Polyphemus, without its eye ; the part that best shows the life 

 and spirit of the person. In many particular sciences indeed, 

 as the law, mathematics, and rhetoric, there are extant some 



