376 PREFACE TO 



made to collect that * Historiam naturalem et experimentalem qua 

 sit in ordine ad condendam philosophiam,' concerning which I did 

 certainly give some very particular directions ; which I placed as 

 conspicuously as I could in the very front and entrance of my 

 design; of which I said that all the genius and meditation and 

 argumentation in the world could not do instead of it ; no, not if all 

 men's wits could meet in one man's head ; therefore that this we 

 must have, or else the business must be given up ? l If this has 

 been fairly tried and found impracticable or ineffectual, blot me out 

 of your books as a dreamer that thought he had found out a great 

 thing but it turned out nothing. If not, I still think it would be 

 worth your while to try it." 



A. 



I partly comprehend your meaning ; but I should prefer it in a 

 less dramatic form. You think that the difference between what 

 Galileo did and what Bacon wanted to be done, lay in this that 

 Bacon's plan presupposed a history (or dictionary as you call it) of 

 Universal Nature, as a storehouse of facts to work upon ; whereas 

 Galileo was content to work upon such facts and observations as lie 

 collected for himself. But surely this is only a difference in degree. 

 Both used the facts in the same way ; only Bacon wanted a larger 

 collection of them. 



B. 



Say rather, Bacon wanted a collection large enough to give him 

 the command of all the avenues to the secrets of Nature. You might 

 as well say that there is only a difference of degree between the 

 method of the man who runs his single head against a fortress, and the 

 man who raises a force strong enough to storm it, because each uses 

 the force he has in the same way, only one wants more of it than the 

 other : or between stopping all the leaks in a vessel and stopping 

 as many as you conveniently can. The truth is, that though the 

 difference between a few and a few more is only a difference of 

 degree, the difference between enough and not enough is a difference 

 in kind. According to Galileo's method, the work at best could be 

 done but partially. According to Bacon's (so at least he believed) it 

 would be done effectually and altogether. 



I will put you a case by way of illustration. Two men (call them 

 James and John) find a manuscript in a character unknown to either 

 of them. James, being skilled in languages and expert at making 

 out riddles, observes some characters similar to those of one of the 



1 Neque huic labor! et inquisition! et mundanae perambulation]', ulla ingenii aut 

 meditationis aut argumentationis substitutio aut compensatio sufficere potest, non si 

 omnia omnium in^enia coierint. Itaque aut hoc prorsus habendum aut negotium in 

 perpetuum descrendum. 



