104 NOTES TO PREFACE TO 



for thinking that anything corresponding to fhejirst part of the In- 

 stauratio entered into the design of Valerius Terminus ; also that the 

 principal ground here alleged for concluding that Valerius Terminus 

 was written some time before the Advancement a conclusion which 

 involves one considerable difficulty is taken away. 



2. It is assumed also that Valerius Terminus was not to contain 

 anything corresponding to the last four parts of the Instauratio, but 

 was to be merely " a statement of Bacon's method, without professing 

 to give either the collection of facts to which the method was to be 

 applied, or the results thereby obtained." 



This appears to be inferred chiefly from the title viz. " Of the In- 

 terpretation of Nature." 



Now it seems to me that this argument proves too much. For I 

 find the same title given to another unfinished work the Temporis 

 Partus Masculus of which we happen to know that it was meant 

 to be in three books ; the first to be entitled Perpolitio et applicatio 

 mentis ; the second, Lumen Natures, seu formula Interpretationis ; 

 the third, Natura illuminata, sive Veritas Rerum. The first would 

 have corresponded therefore to the first book of the Novum Orga- 

 num; the second, being a statement of the new method, to the 

 second and remaining books ; the third, being a statement of the ap- 

 plication of the new method, to the sixth and last part of the Instau- 

 ratio. It would seem from this that when Bacon designed the 

 Temporis Partus Masculus, he had conceived the idea of a work 

 embracing the entire field of the Instauratio, (the first part only ex- 

 cepted), though less fully developed and differently distributed. And 

 I see no sufficient reason for supposing that the design of the Vale- 

 rius Terminus was less extensive. 



3. " The Temporis Partus Masculus published by Gruter" is 

 spoken of as probably or possibly " the same as the Temporis Partus 

 Maximus mentioned by Bacon in his letter to Fulgenzio," and if so, 

 the earliest of all his writings. 



Now the writing or rather collection of writings here alluded to 

 is that published not by Gruter but by M. Bouillet ; in whose edition 

 of the " OEuvres Philosophiques " the title Temporis Partus Mascu- 

 lus is prefixed to four distinct pieces. 1. A short prayer. 2. A 

 fragment headed Aphorismi et Consilia de auxiliis mentis et accensione 

 luminis naturalis. 3. A short piece entitled De Interpretatione 

 Natures sententice duodecim. 4. A fragment in two chapters headed 

 Tradendi modus legitimus. It is true that from the manner in which 

 M. Bouillet has printed them, any one would suppose that he had 

 Gruter's authority for collecting them all under the same general 

 title. But it is not so. In Gruter's Scripta philosophica the title 

 Temporis Partus Masculus appears in connexion with the first, and 

 the first only. The last has indeed an undoubted claim to it upon 



