PREFACE 



TO THE 



DE INTERPRETATIONS NATURAE 



SENTENTI^J XH. 



THE next piece is not properly a fragment, being 

 complete in itself. It is one of the many drafts of that 

 great " speech of preparation " which Bacon turned 

 into so many different shapes before it issued finally in 

 the first book of the Novum Organum. Of the rejected 

 forms this is perhaps the most remarkable for weight, 

 condensation, and comprehensiveness. It was first pub- 

 lished by Gruter in 1653, who places it among the 

 Impetus Philosophici ; and though the typographical 

 arrangement makes it seem to be connected with the 

 Tradendi Modus legitimus which follows, I think this 

 must have been by accident or error. It exactly an- 

 swers to its own title, which contains nothing that 

 should lead one to expect a sequel ; while on the other 

 hand there is nothing in the Tradendi Modus legitimus 

 which seems to require an introduction. 



Considering it then as a separate piece, there seem 

 to be no data for determining when it was composed ; 

 though, judging by the form and style, I am myself 

 inclined to refer it to the period when Bacon thought 

 of throwing the exposition of his argument into a dra- 



