80 PREFACE TO 



tata et Visa appears plainly from several considerations which 

 M. Bouillet, who expresses a contrary opinion, seems to have 

 overlooked. In the first place, whole sentences and even para- 

 graphs of the Cogitata et Visa are reproduced with scarcely 

 any alteration in the Novum Organum ; whereas this is by no 

 means the case with any passage of the Partis secundcB Deline- 

 atio. But as it may be said that this difference arises from the 

 different character of the two tracts, of which the one is simply 

 a summary of a larger work, whereas the more developed 

 style of the other resembles that of the Novum Organum, it 

 may be well to compare them somewhat in detail. 



In speaking of the prospects which the reform of philosophy 

 was to open to mankind, Bacon thus expresses himself in the 

 Novum Organum: " Quinetiam prudentia civilis ad consilium 

 vocanda est et adhibenda, quse ex praescripto diffidit, et de rebus 

 humanis in deterius conjicit." The corresponding sentence in 

 the Cogitata et Visa is, " Consentanenni enim esse, prudentiam 

 civilem in hac parte adhibere, quae ex prescript o diffidit et de 

 humanis in deterius conjicit." Again, in the Partis secunda 

 Delineatio the same idea is thus expressed, " Si quis sobrius 

 (ut sibi videri possit,) et civilis prudentise diffidentiam ad haec 

 transferens, existimet haec quse dicimus votis similia videri," &c. 

 Here the somewhat obscure phrase " civilis prudentiae diffiden- 

 tiam" is clearly the germ of that by which it is replaced in the 

 other two passages, namely, " prudentia civilis quae ex praescripto 

 diffidit." Again, in the Partis secundce Delineatio Bacon 

 affirms that ordinary induction " puerile quiddam est et precario 

 concludit, periculo ab instantia contradictoria" exposita : " in the 

 Cogitata et Visa, that the logicians have devised a form of 

 induction "admodum simplicem et plane puerilem, quae per 

 enumerationem tantum procedat, atque propterea precario non 

 necessario concludat." The clause " quae per enumerationem 

 tantum procedat," which adds greatly to the distinctness of the 

 whole sentence, is retained in the Distributio Operis, in which 

 it is said that the induction of the logicians, " qua; procedit per 

 enumerationem simplicem, puerile quiddam est, precario con- 

 cludit, et periculo ab instantia contradictoria exponitur." To 

 take another case : in the Partis secundce Delineatio, Bacon, 

 speaking of those who might object to his frequent mention of 

 practical results as a thing unworthy of the dignity of philo- 

 sophy, affirms that they hinder the accomplishment of their 



