xlviii INTRODUCTION. 



mysteries of natural philosophy, as Bacon 

 himself contends they do, some respect and 

 deference are due to the word of God, and 

 some allowance may be claimed by those who 

 appeal to it on any point of science, even if 

 their appeal originates in a misconception and 

 misinterpretation of any part of it ; the same 

 allowance as is made for those, and they are 

 many, who misinterpret nature. 



In the observations here made upon some 

 dicta of the illustrious sage, who, unless we 

 admit his venerable namesake, Friar Bacon, 

 to a share in that distinction, may be termed 

 the first founder of modern philosophy, I 

 have not the most distant thought of detract- 

 ing from the splendour of his merits, or of 

 deducting any thing from the amount of the 

 vast debt which science owes him ; but, as 

 I have before observed, mankind, from the 

 earliest ages, have been prone almost to 

 idolize those to whom they were indebted for 

 any weighty benefits, or to whom they 

 looked up as inventors of useful arts, or 

 masters of hitherto occult sciences. Grati- 

 tude, indeed, demands that great and original 

 geniuses, whom God has enriched with extra- 

 ordinary talents, by the due exercise of which 



