THE NOVUM ORGANUM. 115 



divided at all here, but classed together as one. In the Advance- 

 ment we find nothing corresponding to the Idols of the Theatre, to 

 which belong both the kinds of adventitious Idols mentioned in the 

 Delineatio those derived ex philosophorum placitis, and those derived 

 ex perversis legibus demonstrationum ; in tjie Delineatio we find 

 nothing corresponding to the Idols of the Market-place, which among 

 those mentioned in the Advancement are alone entitled to be classed 

 as adventitious. Thus the difference between the two appears at 

 first to be total and radical, amounting to an entire rearrangement of 

 all the classes. Instead of Idols of the Tribe, the Cave, and the 

 Market-place, we find Idols of the Philosophies, the Demonstrations, 

 and the Human Mind. 



But the truth is that Bacon, being now engaged in laying out the 

 large outlines of his subject, omits the minor distinctions which belong 

 to the development of it in detail, and leaves the particular distribu- 

 tion and description of those "fallacies and false appearances" which 

 are " inseparable from our nature and condition in life" those namely 

 which he had spoken of in the Advancement to be handled in 

 the work itself. Having however, as he came into closer contact 

 with his subject, foreseen the opposition which he must expect from 

 prejudices and false appearances of another kind prejudices which 

 had no root in the mind itself, which were not "inseparable from 

 our nature and condition in life," mere immigrants and strangers 

 that had come in and might be turned out, namely, the belief in 

 received systems and attachment to received methods of demonstra- 

 tion, he had resolved to deal with these first ; and therefore intro- 

 duces them as a separate class, dividing them into two parts and 

 assigning to each what we may call a separate chapter. These he 

 afterwards called Idols of the Theatre, and treated them in the 

 manner proposed ; with this difference only that he placed them 

 last instead of first, and ran the two chapters into one. 



This being allowed, it will be found that the one substantial change 

 which the doctrine of Idols underwent was the admission of these 

 Idola Theatri into the company, and that there is no real difference 

 between the form of that doctrine as indicated in the Delineatio and 

 as developed in the Novum Organum. 



The only difficulty which this view of the subject presents is one 

 which may be probably enough accounted for as an oversight of 

 Bacon's own. I mean the classification of the Idola Fori, the source 

 of which is no doubt extraneous, among the natives. Bacon was 

 never very careful about subtle logical distinctions, and in this case 

 his attention had not as yet been specially called to the point. For 

 in the Advancement of Learning, though the great division between 

 Native and Adventitious appears to be recognised in the margin, 

 there is no hint of it in the text, the particular Idols not being 



i 2 



