740 SCIENCE IN EARLY ENGLAND. 



sources of knowledge which had been unwisely neglected ; to discover 

 other sources which were yet wholly unknown, and to animate men to 

 the undertaking by a prospect of the vast advantages which it offered." 

 The work is thus a method, rather than a treatise on science; but part 

 5, on perspective, describes the anatomy of the eye, and is his own 

 work. He also discourses on vision, the laws of reflection and refrac- 

 tion, and the construction of mirrors and lenses. Part 6 is again 

 devoted rather to the philosophy of the subject than a description of 

 experiments; but it includes an investigation into the nature and 

 causes of the rainbow. 



The Opus Minus is a summary of the Majus; Tertium, a preamble 

 and supplement to the other two. Bacon's fiery energy appears in the 

 fact that all three must have been written within eighteen months, 

 though no trace of haste or carelessness appears in them. There is 

 evidence that he intended all these works merely as a preliminary to a 

 still greater one, of which the Compendium Philosophise is a part. 



To do justice to him, and to give extracts showing the intellectual 

 level on which he stood, would far exceed the limits of a page or two. 

 One can only regret that such a man should not have been able to 

 command the leisure and encouragement which would have been his 

 lot in a more enlightened age. That he was a believer in alchemy, 

 there is no doubt, but for this he can not be blamed; nor for a belief 

 in magic, though he is most emphatic in assigning it a subordinate 

 place. The one quotation which follows, from the Appendix to the 

 Compendium Philosophia:, will show to what extent he forecasted the 

 labors of engineers and mechanicians, while at the same time he is evi- 

 dently not letting his imagination run riot, but keeps within reasonable 

 bounds, as if he knew the range of human powers. 



''That I may the better demonstrate the inferiority and indignity of 

 magical power to that of Nature and Art, I shall a while discourse on 

 such admirable operations (of Art and Nature) as have not the least 

 magic in them. - - - And first of such engines as are purely 

 artificial. 



"I. It is possible to make engines to sail withal, so that either fresh 

 or salt water vessels may be guided by the help of one man, and made 

 to move with a greater swiftness than others which are full of rowers 

 to drive them along. 



"II. It is possible to make a chariot move with an inestimable swift- 

 ness, such as the scythed chariots were, wherein our forefathers fought, 

 and this motion to be without the help of any living creature. 



"III. It is possible to make engines for flying, a man sitting in the 

 midst thereof, by turning only an instrument which moves artificial 

 wings made to beat the air, much after the fashion of a bird's flight. 



"IV. It is possible to invent an engine of little bulk, yet of great 

 efficiency, either to the depressing or elevation of the very greatest 

 weights. 



"V. A man may easily make an instrument whereby one man may, 

 in despite of all opposition, draw a thousand men to himself, or any- 

 thing which is movable. 



" VI. A man may make an engine whereby, without any corporal 



