PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF LORD BACON. S91 



that I have no argument with those who hold, that the re- 

 formation of philosophy by the adoption of the Inductive- 

 Method would have taken place in time, though Bacon had 

 never written ; any more than with those who hold, that physical 

 science owes nothing to him, on the score of any discovery of 

 importance made by himself, or deduced by others from his sug- 

 gestions. I have before stated, that this reformation was al- 

 ready in progress, and that the Inductive Method had been 

 happily exemplified in the discoveries of some of his contem- 

 poraries. The proposition here maintained is, that Bacon 

 did more to forward its general adoption than any other per- 

 son ; and this, — because his writings contributed more than 

 the labours of any other individual, to complete the abandon- 

 ment of the scholastic methods and systems, — to generate a re- 

 lish for experimental inquiries, — and to imbue the minds of 

 the ingenious with the views and principles requisite to conduct 

 these inquiries with success. The way to prove that Bacon's 

 writings were powerful agents in the advancement of physical 

 knowledge, is to prove that they produced these effects ; and 

 the proof that such effects were actually produced by them, 

 must necessarily be derived from the testimony of those who 

 early experienced, or became otherwise acquainted with their 

 operation. 



The reputation which Bacon had acquired from his Essays> a 

 work early translated into various foreign languages; his splendid 

 talents as an orator, and his prominent place in public life, — 

 were circumstances strongly calculated to attract the curiosity 

 of the learned world to his Philosophical Writings ; and from 

 some of which, he derived advantages in regard to their circu- 

 lation, not possessed in that age by ordinary men. These wri- 

 tings accordingly appear to have been early read by the learn- 

 ed at home, and early transmitted to the learned abroad ; and 



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