140 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



the method by which the natural system of the 

 universe could be ascertained, rather than in 

 speculating upon the system itself. 



If we are to judge Bacon himself by his max- 

 ims and aphorisms, no place would be too high 

 for him; but judging him by his actual re- 

 searches and practices, and carefully estimating 

 his real influence upon posterity, we must place 

 him below the physiologist Harvey (1578-1657) , 

 discoverer of the circulation of the blood, whose 

 brilliant application of the inductive method in 

 science he is said to have ignored. 



Descartes (1596-1650) 



Rene Descartes threw off the yoke of scho- 

 lasticism in France, as Bacon had in England. 

 His thought took an entirely different turn, 

 rather the philosophical than the scientific. In 

 his Principes de la Philosophie, published in 

 1637, he cautiously advanced his belief that the 

 physical universe is a mechanism, and that as 

 such it is, or finally will be, explicable upon 

 physical principles. 



Notwithstanding the elaborate disguise which fear 

 of the powers that were led Descartes to throw over 

 his real opinions, it is impossible to read the Prin- 

 cipes de la Philosophie without acquiring the convic- 

 tion that this great philosopher held that the physi- 



