390 ON THE SCOPE AND INFLUENCE OF THE 



" upon assumed principles : Bacon, on the contrary, held, that 

 *' it was necessary to observe Nature thoroughly before at- 

 " tempting to explain her ways ; that we must ascend to prin- 

 " ciples through the medium of facts ; and that our conclu- 

 " sions must be warranted by what we observe. Descartes 

 " reasoned about the World, as if the laws which govern it had 

 " not yet been established, as if every thing were still to 

 " create. Bacon considered it as a vast edifice, which it was 

 " necessary to view in all directions, to explore through all its 

 " recesses and windings, before any conjecture even, could be 

 " safely formed as to the principles of its construction, or 

 " the foundations on which it rests. Thus, the philosophy of 

 " Bacon, by recommending the careful observation of Nature, 

 " still continues to be followed, whilst that of Descartes, 

 " whose essence lay in hypothesis, has wholly disappeared *" 

 Nor was Descartes, I may add, ignorant of what Bacon had 

 taught as to the principles of philosophizing. It appears, on the 

 contrary, from his correspondence, that he was well acquaint- 

 ed with Bacon's writings ; and, in one of his letters, he seems 

 to admit, that provided the Experimental were the true Me- 

 thod, there was nothing that could be added to increase the 

 utility of Bacon's precepts f. 



Havino- made these remarks, with a view to point out, in a ge- 

 neral way, the nature and importance of those helps and encou- 

 ragements which Bacon's writings furnished to physical inqui- 

 ry, I am next to endeavour to show, that the subsequent pro- 

 gress of physical knowledge was greatly accelerated by the ef- 

 fects which they produced. And here I beg to observe, 



that 



» Bailly. Histoire de VAstronomie Moderne, torn. ii. liv. 4. § 2. 



f Lettrts de M. Descartes, torn. iv. p. 201, Paris edit. 1724. 



