BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. ix 



private means, are among measures advocated by Bacon, and pro 

 gressing ever since his time. The chief part of the book is taken 

 up by a survey of all subjects of knowledge, noting especially those 

 which are incompletely investigated. It is very interesting to see 

 how many of the subjects mentioned have since Bacon s time 

 been undertaken and thoroughly dealt with. But his description 

 of and reference to poetry, of which he considers we have quite 

 enough, will by no means be endorsed by those who have any 

 feeling for the divine art. 



In the &quot; Novum Organum &quot; Bacon commences with a long 

 series of aphorisms, in which he points out the sources of error in 

 the past, and especially certain general causes which make against 

 the attainment of truth. His celebrated &quot;idols&quot; (itfwXn), or 

 phantoms of the mind, include the idols one might say the pre 

 judices of the human race, those of the individual, whether by 

 nature or education,, those of the market-place or public speech, 

 in which names are .given to unreal things, or words wrongly 

 represent real things. The &quot; idols &quot; of the theatre, following one 

 another like scenes in a play, are successive false systems of 

 philosophy or demonstration. Book II. contains Bacon s cele 

 brated method for the discovery of truth by experiment and induc 

 tion. His method is complex, probably more complex than it 

 would have been if he had been a great experimentalist ; but its 

 special merit is that of showing how to eliminate the non-essen 

 tial, and, by means of crucial experiments, trace an cflect to its 

 cause. He endeavoured to illustrate his method by a supposed 

 investigation into heat, and showed his prescience by giving a 

 definition of heat which marvellously resembles the modern 

 theory. In some points this investigation shows Bacon s ignor 

 ance of what was already known ; and it is strange to find no 

 mention of Harvey s discoveries as to the circulation of the blood. 

 His ignorance of the Copernican theory and of other astronomical 

 discoveries, and his contempt for Dr. Gilbert s invaluable work on 

 magnetism, are phenomena which we can only put down to his 

 large occupation in political work and to the overpowering necessity 

 that he felt of putting forth what was in himself. But his ignor 

 ance of many things may well be forgiven, when we rememt&amp;gt;er the 



