:: Bacon's Dictionary Part 1 ::

Advancement of Learning First edition is dated 1605. The first book treats of the excellence and dignity of knowledge as a pursuit for Kings and Statesmen and written in 1603, immediately after King James I’s accession. The second book treats of the deficiencies remaining and the supplies required in 1605. The intervening year of 1604 having been too much occupied with civil business to allow much leisure for the prosecution of a work of that kind. It may have raised King James I’s opinion of Bacon, but it did not inspire him with any zeal for the Great Instauration.

Aphorismi et consilia Stands in Grüter’s volume immediately before the Sententiœ XII; a memorandum in the Commentarius Solutus, July 26, 1608: “The finishing of the Aphorisms, Clavis Interpretationis, and then setting forth of the book,” refers no doubt to some paper of the kind; some early rudiment of the Novum Organum. “The writing in aphorisms hath many excellent virtues, whereto the writing in method doth not approach. First, it trieth the writer, whether he be superficial or solid; for aphorisms, except they should be ridiculous, cannot be made but of the pith and heart of sciences: for discourse of illustration is cut off, recitals of examples are cut off, discourse of connexion and order is cut off, descriptions of practice are cut off; so there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good quantity of observation: and therefore no man can suffice, nor in reason will attempt to write aphorisms, but he that is sound and grounded.” (Bacon).

Calor et frigus First printed by Stephens from a manuscript in Bacon’s own hand, then belonging to the Earl of Oxford, Harl. 6855; it appears to have been designed for the commencement of a methodical enquiry.

Cogitata et visa Published 1607 only two years before the struggle between Spain and the United Provinces was terminated by the Great Truce; reproduced in the first book of Novum Organum, for this tract was designed to be an introduction to a particular example of the new method of induction, such as that which we find near the beginning of the second book. It stands first in Grüter’s volume of 1653 where it first appeared and composed about 1607 as inferred from the date of a letter addressed by Bacon to Sir Thomas Bodley: “After he had imparted to him a writing entitled Cogitata et Visa.” For the text there are only two authorities; namely the copy printed by Grüter, and a manuscript in the library of Queen’s College, Oxford, 280. fo. 205 in beautiful manuscript carefully corrected throughout in Bacon’s own hand and perfect but for the loss of a leaf in the middle.
Among Bacon’s manuscript papers published for the first time by Grüter in 1653, twenty-seven years after Bacon’s death, was one entitled Cogitata et Visa. It contains a rapid sketch of the author’s philosophical system, as then in process of development, and particularly (in the last paragraph) of the secret or enigmatical kind of writing in which an important part of that system was to be embodied. It appears, however, that in this latter and most interesting section Grüter omitted two very significant passages. No notice of the omissions is given in his book. Indeed, so cleverly was the work of mutilation performed that for a period of two hundred and four years succeeding no suspicion of it was excited in any quarter, though in the interval the paper was translated several times from the original Latin into English and French, precisely as Grüter had printed it. Some time before 1857, however, Spedding found another manuscript copy of the work in the library of the Queen’s College at Oxford; and, as this was also undoubtedly genuine, having been corrected here and there by Bacon himself, he wisely concluded to follow this copy, instead of Grüter’s printed form, in the edition he was then preparing for the press. It was when these two publications were compared together that the said discrepancies, now for the first time critically examined, became known. Evidently, Ellis had no knowledge whatever of them, and Spedding no practical appreciation of their importance, the former quoting freely from the immediate context (undoubtedly from Grüter’s copy, before the Oxford manuscript was discovered), and the latter declaring (apparently on the most cursory examination) that the “differences are immaterial.” It is hard to understand, except on the suppositions which we have ventured to suggest in parentheses, why these editors did not find herein an additional significance in Bacon’s “secret,” which, even in their blindness, they yet describe as a “new sun before which the borrowed beams of moon and stars were to fade away and disappear.” [Also see Part III: Great secret].
He [Bacon] thought, also, that what he has in hand is not mere theory, but a practical undertaking. It lays the foundations, not of any sect or dogma, but of a great and far-reaching benefit to mankind. Therefore, attention must be given, not only to the perfection of the matter, but also (and this is of equal importance) to the communication of it to others. But he has observed that men minister to their love of fame and pomp sometimes by publishing and sometimes by concealing the knowledge of things which they think they have acquired, particularly those who offer unsound doctrines, which they do in a scanty light, that they may more easily satisfy their vanity. He thought, however, that, while his subject is one that ought not to be tainted with personal ambition or desire of glory, still (unless he were a mere tyro, not knowing the ways of the world and without foresight) he must remember that inveterate errors, like the ravings of lunatics, are overcome by ingenuity and tact, but aggravated by violence and opposition. We must therefore use prudence, and humour people (as far as we can with simplicity and candor), in order that contradictions maybe extinguished before they become inflamed. To this end he is preparing a work on Nature and on the Interpretation of Nature, to abolish errors with the least asperity, and to affect the minds of men without disturbing them. And this he can do the more easily because he will not offer himself as a leader, but will so spread abroad the light of nature that no leader will be needed. But, as time meanwhile glides away, and he has been engaged in civil affairs more than he wished, it seemed to be a long work, especially considering the uncertainty of life and his own impatient desire to make something secure. Therefore, it has appeared to him that a simpler method might be adopted, which, though not set forth to the multitude, might yet prevent so important a matter from being prematurely lost. So he thought best, after long considering the subject and weighing it carefully, first of all to prepare Tabulæ Inveniendi, or regular forms of inquiry; in other words, a mass of particulars arranged for the understanding, and to serve, as it were, for an example and almost visible representation of the matter. For nothing else can be devised that would place in a clearer light what is true and what is false, or show more plainly that what is presented is more than words, and must be avoided by any one who either has no confidence in his own scheme or may wish to have his scheme taken for more than it is worth. (Spedding).
Cogitata et Visa was styled in Tabulæ Inveniendi: Bacon divided his great work on Philosophy, the Instauratio Magna, into six parts, the first four of which may be described as follows:
Part first gives a survey or inventory of the stock of knowledge then existing in the world, with a statement of the deficiencies found in it. To this part belongs the Advancement of Learning, particularly the second edition under the title of De Augmentis Scientiarum.
Part second treats of the human understanding, and the rules and principles by which it ought to be guided in its researches after truth. Under this head is placed the Novum Organum.
Part third brings together, or seeks to bring together, out of every department of nature but one, the widest possible collection of facts, “arranged for the work of the understanding,” and so classified as to yield to mankind, in Bacon’s expectation, not only a better knowledge of the laws of the universe, but also a larger practical control over them. The writings in this division are the Sylva Sylvarum; History of the Winds; History of Dense and Bare; History of Life and Death, and some others. The author’s investigations into the nature of heat and motion, though produced also by way of examples in the Novum Organum, come properly into the system here. These compositions are called Tabulæ Inveniendi, [Tables of Discovery] because they are inquisitions into facts and because they have a certain regularity of form. The Sylva Sylvarum, for instance, is separated into ten centuries (chapters), so called because each century is itself separated into one hundred distinct paragraphs. Dramas, being divided into acts and scenes, conform to this description. Bacon calls the dialogues of Plato tabulae. The canvas on which his own portrait was painted was called a “tabula.”
Part fourth was also designed, like the third, for an inquisition into facts, but into facts of a mental and moral nature exclusively. Strange as it may seem, however, not a single line, except a brief preface entitled Scala Intellectus, can be found in Bacon’s acknowledged works that belongs under this head. And yet we know, from several references to it made by Bacon elsewhere, that he considered it a necessary and integral part of his philosophical system. For instance, he says in the Novum Organum: “It may also be asked whether I speak of natural philosophy only, or whether I mean that the other sciences, logic, ethics, and politics, should be carried on by this method. Now I certainly mean what I have said to be understood of them all. For I am forming a history and Tabula Inveniendi for anger, fear, shame, and the like, for matters political, and again for the operation of memory and judgment, not less than for heat or cold or light or vegetation.” In the Filum Labyrinthi he is even more specific in his description of these moral and political Tabulæ Inveniendi for he there gives a list of thirteen classes of them, four of which are entitled as follows: “tabulæ concerning animal passions; tabulæ concerning sense and the objects of sense; tabulæ concerning the affections of the mind; and tabulæ concerning the mind itself and its faculties.” Where, now, are these writings that deal with the passions and affections of the human heart, “with anger, fear, shame, and the like,” arranged in divisions, more or less regular in form? They are missing; but that they were actually composed, and that they formed, or were designed to form, the fourth part of the Instauratio Magna, itself also missing, we have every reason to believe from what Bacon himself says of the fourth part.
It is practically certain, therefore, that Bacon left behind him for the fourth part of his system writings which would accomplish in the interpretation of human nature, what he sought to accomplish in the third part for the interpretation of physical nature. But he tells us in the Advancement of Learning that historians and poets are the best instructors in this branch of knowledge, because in their works, as he says, “we may find, painted forth with great life, how affections are kindled and incited; how they disclose themselves, how they work, how they vary, how they gather and fortify, and how they are enwrapped one with another;” that is to say (as he further explains in the second or Latin edition of the Advancement), historians and poets are best qualified to treat of human nature “because a man’s character can be more powerfully delineated in action than in formal criticism.” It is to the lasting credit of Gervinus that he saw how admirably the Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies of Shakespeare fit in this way into Bacon’s scheme. “If Bacon,” he says, “felt the want of a science of human nature, he rightly thought that historians and poets are the ones to supply it; and he well might have searched for it, before all, in the writings of his neighbour Shakespeare, for no other poetry has taught us, as his has done, that the taming of the passions is the aim of human civilisation.” These plays are indeed the profoundest studies in human nature which the world possesses, each one in turn, the later ones at least taking up a special trait of character and showing how it is developed; how it is first “kindled and incited,” “how it works,” and how it is “enwrapped” with others. In the De Augmentis, he expressly states that he would not have these characters presented “in the shape of individual portraits, but rather in the several features and simple lineaments of which they are composed, and by the various combinations and arrangements of which all characters whatever are made up, showing how many, and of what nature these are, and how connected and subordinate, one to another; that so we may have a scientific and accurate dissection of minds and characters, and the secret dispositions of particular men may be revealed; and that for the knowledge thereof better rules may be framed for the treatment of the mind. And not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed on the mind by sex, by age, by religion, by health and illness, by beauty and deformity, and the like; and again, those which are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity, and the like.” He could scarcely have made his meaning plainer, had he mentioned the Shakespearean plays by name.
But when these Tabulæ Inveniendi have been put forth and seen, he does not doubt that the more timid wits will shrink almost in despair from imitating them with similar productions with other materials or on other subjects; and they will take so much delight in the specimen given that they will miss the precepts in it. Still, many persons will be led to inquire into the real meaning and highest use of these writings, and to find the key to their interpretation, and thus more ardently desire, in some degree at least, to acquire the new aspect of nature which such a key will reveal. But he intends, yielding neither to his own personal aspirations nor to the wishes of others, but keeping steadily in view the success of his undertaking, having shared these writings with some, to withhold the rest until the treatise intended for the people shall be published. Nevertheless, he anticipates that some persons of higher and more exalted genius, taking a hint from what they observe, will without more aid apprehend and master the others of themselves. For he is almost of the opinion (as some one has said) that this will be enough for the wise, while more will not be enough for the dull. He will therefore intermit no part of his undertaking. At the same time he saw that, so far as these writings are concerned, to begin his teaching directly with them would be too abrupt. Something suitable ought to be said by way of preface, and this in the foregoing he thinks he has now done. Besides, he does not wish to conceal this or to impose any rigid forms of inquiry upon men (after the manner now in vogue in the arts); but he is assured that, when these productions have all been tested after long use and (as he thinks) with some judgment, this form of investigation, thus proved and exhibited by him, will be found the truest and most useful. Still, he would not hinder those who have more leisure than he has or who are free from the special difficulties which always beset the pioneer or who are of a more powerful and sublime genius from improving on it; for he finds in his own experience that the art of inventing grows by invention itself. Finally, it has seemed to him that, if any good be found in what has been or shall be set forth, it should be dedicated as the fat of the sacrifice to God, and to men in God’s likeness who procure the welfare of mankind by benevolence and true affection. (Spedding).
Delia Bacon, demanding to know in 1856 what had become of these same writings, and having no access, it is believed, to the manuscript of the Cogitata et Visa, inquired, “Did he [Bacon] make so deep a summer in his verse that the track of the precept was lost in it?” Notwithstanding Bacon’s own confession that a part of his philosophical system was enigmatic, no one has yet discovered in his acknowledged works any hidden meanings whatever. It should furthermore be noted that Bacon admonishes every one doing this work to do it as he did, not only “without hope of private emolument” as he tells in his De Interpretations Naturæ Prœmium “I am not hunting for fame nor establishing a sect. Indeed, to receive any private emolument from so great an undertaking I hold to be both ridiculous and base”; but also “under a mask” as he states in his same work. 4 Spedding commenting on the above (in a foot-note) as follows: “I cannot say that I clearly understand the sentence.” Spedding did not see fit, however, in the fourteen large volumes of his edition of Bacon’s Life, Letters, and Works, to translate the above passage into English. The plain meaning is that the personal identity of the interpreter should be concealed, or (more literally) the interpreter should not be known as such in his daily life. He should bear an assumed name. This may remind us of Sir Toby Matthew’s famous postscript, appended to a letter written to Bacon at or about the time the first Shakespeare Firt Folio was in press; namely, that his Lordship was the most prodigious wit in all the world, though known by the name of another. However, this postscript could have been meant for Davies, and there has been no substancial proof it referred entirely to Bacon.

Cogitations de naturâ rerum Printed by Grüter among the Impetus Philosophici and nothing remains to determine the date of composition.

4 Vol. VII., p. 367

Cogitations de scientiâ humanâ Three separate fragments written before 1605; copied from a manuscript which came to the British Museum among the papers of Dr. Birch, who appears to have received it from the executors of Mr. John Locker; Locker was a friend of Robert Stephens (1665–1732) the Historiographer Royal; was employed by him to see through the press his second collection of Bacon’s letters, published in 1734.

First fragment: of the limits and end of knowledge; of the use of knowledge; the fable of Metis; the fable of the sister of the giants; the fable of Cælum; the fable of Proteus; of the error in supposing a difference in point of eternity and mutability between things celestial and things sublunary; of natural history considered as the groundwork of natural philosophy.
Second fragment: that general consent affords no presumption of truth in matters intellectual; of the error of supposing that conversancy with particulars is below the dignity of the human mind; the exposition of the fable of Midas.
Third fragment: of wisdom in the business of life; that the quantum of matter is always the same; of the sympathy between bodies with sense and bodies without; of apparent rest, and solidity and fluidity.

De Augmentis Scientiarum Published 1623 was to serve for the first part of the Instauratio Magna. [Also see Instauratio Magna]. The relation which it bears to the rest of the work is best explained in the Dedicatory letter prefixed to the Dialogue of a Holy War. “And again, for that my book of Advancement of Learning may be some preparative or key for the better opening of the Instauration, because it exhibits a mixture of new conceits and old, whereas the Instauration gives the new unmixed, otherwise than with some aspersion of the old for taste’s sake, I have thought good to procure a translation of that book into the general language, not without great and ample additions and enrichment thereof, especially in the second book, which handleth the partition of sciences; in such sort as I hold it may serve in lieu of the first part of the Instauration, and acquit my promise in that part.” In a letter to Father Redempt, Baranzan dated June 30, 1622 Bacon speaks of the De Augmentis Scientiarum as a work already in the hands of translators, and likely to be finished by the end of the summer. “Librum meum de progressu Scientiarum traducendum commisi. Ilia translatio, volente Deo, sub finem æstatis perficietur.” Therefore, though it was not published till the autumn of 1623, it may be considered as coming, in order of composition, next among the Philosophical works to the Novum Organum and Parasceve. It was intended to serve for the first part of the Instauratio Magna, according to the plan laid out in the Distributio Operis, the part which is there entitled Partitiones Scientiarum, and described as exhibiting a complete survey of the world of human knowledge as it then was.
But why, when Bacon determined to fit this work for that part, did he not give it the proper title? Curious as he always was in the choice of names, why not call it Partitiones Scientiarum, which describes the proper business of the first part of the Instauratio, instead of De dignitate et augmentis Scientiarum, which passes it by? (Spedding). 5
George Herbert the poet was one of the translators employed of this work, but we have it upon Dr. Rawley’s authority that Bacon took a great deal of pains with it himself so that we must consider the whole translation as stamped with his authority. Many years before he had asked Dr. Playfer to do it; who sent him a specimen but “of such superfine Latinity, that the Lord Bacon did not encourage him to labour further in that work, in the penning of which he desired not so much neat and polite, as clear masculine and apt expression.” 6 But Playfer’s failure may be sufficiently accounted for by the state of his health. [Also see Part II: Playfer]. The answer is that he felt it would be inappropriate. The form in which the De Augmentis was cast retained so strong an impress of the original design out of which it grew, a design truly and exactly described in the title, and having no immediate reference to the ultimate plan of the Instauratio, that another title referring to another design would have been manifestly unfit. When he wrote his Advancement of Learning, he was already engaged upon a work concerning Interpretation of Nature, which (to judge from the fragments and sketches that remain) was meant to begin at once where the Novum Organum begins, without any preliminary review of the existing condition of knowledge; a work corresponding to that which in the foregoing extract he calls “the Instauration,” as distinguished from the Advancement of Learning, which was to serve as “a preparative or key” to it; and the writing of a book which should exhibit a complete and particular survey of the state of knowledge then extant in the world was, a by-thought suggested by a particular accident.
However, Bacon may have underrated the difficulties of the reform which he proposed, he was well aware that it could not be earned into effect by a private man. A private man might suggest the course, and produce a specimen; but the execution of the work on a scale of adequate magnitude required the means and influence of a King or a Pope. Now it happened, by a very singular accident, that while he was engaged in considering and maturing his plan there succeeded to the throne of England a man whose tastes and previous training qualified him more than most other men to take an earnest, active, and intelligent interest in it. James the First was a man of peace by principle and inclination, of solid, various, and extensive learning, and of great intellectual activity. It is difficult even now to say why he might not have proved, in the province of letters, a great governor. At that time, when his faults were not yet known, he must have appeared like the very man for such an office. To Bacon it would naturally seem an object of the first importance to engage him, if possible, as a patron of the new philosophy; and, as men’s minds are most impressible in times of transition, he would wish to lose no time in attempting to give his ambition a turn in that direction, while his fortune was fresh, his course unsettled, his imagination excited and open to great ideas. For this purpose, however, the work on the Interpretation of Nature was not forward enough to be available, nor very fit perhaps in itself, had it been more forward than it was. The idea was too new, the scheme too vast, the end too remote, to engage the serious attention of a King nearly fourty-years-old, who had been bred in the ancient learning and attained a proficiency in it of which he was proud. Not so a work representing the state of human science as it was, and the means of perfecting and extending it in many new directions. This lay in James’ own province; of the review of what had been already done few men of his time were better qualified to judge; few perhaps were more likely to be attracted and excited by the prospect of doing more. Bacon’s own travels in search of the light he had been looking for had carried him over the whole surface of the intellectual globe; and he was therefore well qualified to report upon the condition of it, to declare how far and in what directions the dominion of knowledge had been already advanced, what regions were still unexplored and unsubdued, and what measures might best be taken to bring them into subjection. Such a representation was likely enough to make an impression on a mind constituted and trained like that of James. Possibly it might even rouse him to take up the extension of knowledge as a royal business; in which case the new philosophy would have started with advantages not otherwise to be hoped for. This work therefore Bacon seems to have set about at once. There is reason to believe that the first book of the Advancement of Learning, which treats of the excellence and dignity of knowledge as a pursuit for Kings and Statesmen, was written in 1603, immediately after James’ accession; and the second, which treats of the deficiencies remaining and the supplies required, in 1605; the intervening year of 1604 having been too much occupied with civil business to allow much leisure for the prosecution of a work of that kind. It was important to push it forward as fast as possible, even at the expense of completeness: for the very object for which it to have been undertaken, that of making an impression on the King’s mind while it was in the best state to receive impressions, would have been lost by delay; and accordingly in the autumn of 1605 appeared the Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon, of the proficience and advancement of Learning, divine and humane; with many marks of haste in form and composition, and even in substance not altogether adequate to the argument in hand, but nevertheless well enough adapted for its immediate purpose. If this be the true history of the Advancement of Learning, the rest follows naturally.
The stroke, though well aimed, was not successful. The book may have raised James’ opinion of Bacon, but it did not inspire him with any zeal for the Great Instauration. There it was, however; and it contained such a quantity of the best fruits of Bacon’s mind and so many new views bearing on the great reform which he meditated, that it seemed a pity not to find a place for it in the great work. This was easily done by enlarging the original design so as to include a preliminary survey of the existing state of knowledge; in which case the substance of the second book might do duty as the first part of the Instauratio Magna. If we knew when the fragment entitled Partis Instaurationis Secundæ Delineatio was written, we might almost fix the time at which this enlargement of the original design was resolved upon. For in that fragment Bacon proposes to distribute the whole subject of the Interpretation of Nature through the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth parts of the work, exactly as in the Distributio Operis; a place being reserved for a first part, though the nature of its contents is not specified. And from the Descriptio Globi Intellectuals, which was written in 1612 and appears, to be a commencement of the Partitioned Scientiarum itself, we may partly infer the form in which he then intended to cast that part. Why he afterwards altered his intention and resolved to content himself with a mere translation of the two books of the Advancement with additions, it is not difficult to conjecture, if we take into account the circumstances of his life. When the Novum Organum was published in October 1620, the King had just resolved to call a new Parliament after six years’ intermission, and questions of vital interest both at home and abroad hung upon the issue of it. The necessary preparations for the session, Bacon’s own impeachment which almost immediately followed, a severe illness consequent upon that, his condemnation and imprisonment, negotiations with importunate creditors, and the composition of the History of Henry the Seventh, which was finished in October 1621, must have given him occupation enough during the next twelve months. Then came the question, how he was to proceed with the Instauratio, so as to make the most of such time and means as remained. Sixty-two years old, with health greatly impaired, an income scarcely sufficient to live upon, and an establishment of servants much reduced, he could not afford to waste labour upon things not essential. The Novum Organum was not half finished. The Natural History was not even begun, and no fellow-labourer had yet come forward to help in it. It was only in the completion of the first of the six parts that he could hope for material assistance from others. Even this, if he had attempted to recast it in the form indicated in the Descriptio Globi Intellectualis, he could hardly have executed by deputy; whereas a translation of the Advancement of Learning might be so executed, and would need only corrections and additions to make it a complete survey of the intellectual globe, adequate in substance to its place, though not symmetrical in form. Accordingly, “by help of some good pens which did not forsake him,” he proceeded at once to put this in train, and then turned his own attention to the Natural History, which he considered as “basis totius negotii.”
Concerning the causes which delayed the publication of the De Augmentis a twelve month beyond the expected time, is no information. But it is probable that the additions which suggested themselves as he proceeded were far larger than he had anticipated being indeed in the second book as much again as the original, and more. The measures which he took however were in this instance quite successful; and by sacrificing a little symmetry of form, he succeeded in effectually preserving the substance of this first part of his great work. Tenison 7 mentions “Mr. Herbert” that is, George Herbert, the poet as one of the translators employed. But we have it upon Rawley’s authority that Bacon took a great deal of pains with it himself (proprio marte plurimum desudavit). As stated above, many years before he had asked Dr. Playfer to do it; who (according to Tenison) sent him a specimen, but “of such superfine Latinity, that the Lord Bacon did not encourage him to labour further in that work, in the penning of which he desired not so much neat and polite, as clear masculine and apt expression.” And it is not improbable that some such difficulty may have occurred. A memorandum in the Commentarius Solidus dated 26 July, 1608 tells of Playfer’s illness at the time: “Proceeding with the translation of my book of Advancement of Learning hearkening to some other if Playfer should fail,” shows that at that time it was still in Playfer’s hands; and he died at the beginning of the next year. 8

5 Spedding. Works, Vol II. p.74

6 Baconiana, p.26

7 Baconiana, p.26

8 Spedding. Works, Vol II

De Augmentis – Latin
1623    Folio                            Haviland         London           1st edition
1624    4to                               Mettayer          Paris                2d edition
1633    Folio                            Haviland         London           3d edition
1645    12mo                           Moirardum      Dutch              4th edition
1652    12mo                           Wynyard         Dutch              5th edition
1662    12mo                           Ravestein        Dutch              6th edition
1765    8vo                              Gerard             Venice             7th edition
1779    8vo                              Stahel              Wirceburgi      8th edition 2 Vols
1829    8vo                              Riegelii            Nuremberg      9th edition 2 Vols

Translations
1640    English                        G. Wats           Oxford                        Folio
1674    English                        G. Wats           London           Folio
1632    French                         Dugast             Paris                4to 8th year
Rep      French                         Frantin             Dijon               8vo

Descriptio globi intellectualis First published by Grüter in 1653; presumed to be composed about 1612 therefore intermediate in date between the Advancement of Learning, and the De Augmentis. Bacon has nowhere else spoken so largely of astronomy; the reason of which apparently is, that he was writing just after Galileo’s discoveries had been made known in the Sydereus Nuncius, published in 1611; a circumstance which makes the Descriptio Globi Intellectualis one of the most interesting of his minor writings. The oracles of his mind were in this case evoked by the contemplation, not of old errors, but of new truths.

Filum labyrinthi First published in Stephens second collection in 1734 from a manuscript belonging to Lord Oxford Harl. MSS. 6797. fo. 139; it agrees with the Cogitata et Visa that either might be taken for a free translation of the other, with a few additions and omissions. [Also see Cogitata et Visa].

Francisci Baconi de Verulamio scripta in naturali et universali philosophiâ A 12mo volume printed by Elzevir at Amsterdam in 1653. The original manuscripts are not known to be in existence The pieces contained in this work are:

Temporis Partus Masculus, sive Instauratio magna imperii humani in universum being a Prayer.
Cogitata et Visa.
Descriptio Globi Intellectualis.
Thema Cœli.
De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris.
De Principiis atque Originibus secundum Fabulas Cupidinis et Cœli, &c.
Indicia Vera de interpretatione Naturæ.
Partis Instarationis Secundæ Delineatio et Argumentum.
Phœnomena Universi, sive Historia Naturalis ad condendam Philosophiam.
Scala Intellectus, sive Filum Labyrinthi.
Prodromi sive Anticipationes Philosophiæ Secundæ.
Cogitationes de Naturâ Rerum.
Franciscus Bacon Lectori being a Preface.
Filum Labyrinthi, sive Inquisitio legitima de Motu.
Franc. Baconi Aphorismi et consilia, de auxiliis mentis et accensione luminis naturalis.
De Interpretatione Naturæ Sententiæ.
Tradendi Modus legitimus.
De Interpretatione Naturæ Proæmium.
Francisci Baconi Topica Inquisitionis de Luce et Lumine.

Gesta Grayorum Quarto pamphlet of sixty-eight pages; printed in 1685 for W. Cunning, at his shop in the Temple Cloisters; with a dedication to Matthew Smyth, Esq., Comptroller of the Inner Temple; apparently from a manuscript written by some member of Gray’s Inn who was an eye-witness of what he relates. Another publication came in 1688 with the account of the Christmas revels at Gray’s Inn in 1594–95 did not find its way into print till nearly a century later; we find it entered in the London Term Catalogues, Trinity Term, July, 1688, under History, 5. 9 There are three main points of literary interest in the Gesta Grayorum, namely, a supposed allusion to Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, the speeches of the six Councillors, and the Masque of Proteus.
The performance to Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors at Gray’s Inn took place on the evening of December 28, and if the play was Shakespeare’s play we must suppose that the company was Shakespeare’s company, the Lord Chamberlain’s men. The speeches of the six Councillors have been ascribed to the pen of Francis Bacon, by Spedding, who first made the ascription, in his Letters and Life of Francis Bacon. 10 The Masque of Proteus appears that the Masque was performed before the Queen at Court, at Shrovetide 1594–95. That Francis Davison was in any case the main author of it is clear from a poem included in his well-known anthology, the Poetical Rhapsody, first printed in 1602. There, in a series of Sonnets “to his first Loue”, is one the heading of which claims for him the speech of “Grayes-Inne Maske at the Court 1594, consisting of three partes, The Story of Proteus Transformations, the wonders of the Adamantine Rocke, and a speech to her Majestie”, all of which agrees with the text as we know it.

Historia densi et rari Published 1658 contained in Dr. Rawley’s Opuscula varia posthuma; one of the five histories mentioned in the Historia Naturalis.

Historia et inquisitio prima de sono et auditu et de formâ soni et latente processu soni, sive sylva soni auditus Published in 1658.

9 Arber’s Reprint, II. 230

10 1861, Vol. I. p. 325

Historia soni et auditus First published by Dr. Rawley in 1688 among the Opuscula Philosophica and was written before the Sylva Sylvarum.

Historia Ventorum Published in November 1622 in a volume entitled Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis ad condendam Philosophiam; sive Phænomena Universi; dedicated to Prince Charles and contains beside the Historia Ventorum the titles of five similar histories. [Also see Historiam Naturalem Et Experimentalem]. It was to be the third division of the Instauratio and begins with a list of topics, or subjects to be inquired into; of these thirty-three are enumerated, and the principal sources from which Bacon compiled the statements which he goes on to give are Pliny’s Natural History, Aristotle’s Problems and Acosta’s History of the Indies; a major part on prognostics is taken from the eighteenth book of Pliny. Several passages show that Bacon had read William Gilbert’s Physiologia Nova, which was not published until 1653 but was ready for publication in 1612–13 in which year the Prince Henry died; probably his death was the cause of it remaining unpublished and possible that not long afterwards it came into Bacon’s hands. Two copies of it, both imperfect, were among the papers which Sir William Boswell, sometime English minister in Holland, gave to Isaac Grüter; and from them the work was published in 1651. Grüter says nothing of the way in which Boswell had become possessed of them, but in his preface to the tracts and fragments of Bacon’s which he published two years afterwards, and which he had also received from Boswell, he mentions that these had been bequeathed to the latter by Bacon himself. It is not improbable that the copies of Gilbert’s work were included in this bequest or gift, which consisted of a fragmentary and miscellaneous collection of papers. Bacon takes of what he says of naval matters from some Italian writers, but cannot refer to any particular work; what is said of windmills seems to be derived from Bacon’s own observation and experiments. it cannot be said that it is of much value. Between the vanes, according to Bacon, the air is compressed, and therefore reacts laterally. It did not occur to him to try whether a windmill with one sail only instead of four would remain stationary, as on his theory it plainly ought to do. On the other hand, he increased the number of vanes, thereby decreasing the intervals between them, and finding that this change increased the action of the wind, ascribed the difference to the increase of compression caused by the narrower space through which the air had to pass. That the whole amount of surface exposed to the wind was increased seems to have been forgotten.
However this may be, Grüter remarks in the preface to the Physiologia Nova, that it is clear that certain eminent men had had access to it while it was yet unpublished plainly alluding to Bacon, to whose Historia Ventorum he has once or twice given marginal references. The way in which the remark is made seems to intimate that Grüter thought the use which Bacon has made of Gilbert’s unpublished work was more or less unfair. It is therefore well to point out that in the Novum Organum Bacon cites Gilbert by name, commending an opinion which is expressed in the Physiologia Nova, and which cannot be found in the De Magnete; whence it appears that his not mentioning Gilbert’s name in connexion with what he takes from him in the Historia Ventorum is only the result of his common habit of omitting to cite his authorities, and not of a wish to conceal the fact of his having access to Gilbert’s unpublished writings. A comparison of the Historia Ventorum with the Physiologia Nova enables us to correct, in more than one case, the received readings. Grüter remarks that he is unable to decide whether the Physiologia was written before or after the treatise De Magnete, published in 1600. It was apparently written before 1604, as the new star of 1572 is mentioned by itself, whereas later writers, as Bacon and Galileo, always couple it with the star in Ophiuchus first seen in 1604. It could be conjectured that it was written between 1600 and 1604, principally on the authority of Bacon’s remark, which is not however altogether conclusive. The description of a first-rate man of war is one of the most curious parts of the following treatise, for an illustration of which see above the frontispiece; which represents a first-rate of Henry the Eighth’s time, and agrees with Bacon’s description in everything except the construction of the bolt-sprit. It is a reduced copy of an engraving said to be after an original by Holbein.
A number of scattered remarks come from the twenty-sixth section of the problems, the most remarkable being the statement that on the top of Athos there is always an absolute calm so much so that letters traced in the ashes of the sacrifice performed there year by year were always found, on each succeeding occasion, undisturbed. He adds that this is also told with respect to Olympus. His authority for this addition to what Aristotle had said may have been Solinus; or Alexander Aphrodisiensis as quoted by Olympiodorus. Perhaps, however, he took it from Giordano Bruno, by whom the windlessness of the summit of Olympus is mentioned in the Cene di Cenere. Acosta, who was provincial of the Jesuits in Peru, published in 1589 his De Naturâ novi Orbis which contains an account of the climatology of America, and especially of Peru. In the following year he published a larger work, entitled Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, of which the first two books are a translation of the De Naturâ novi Orbis. This second work seems to have become very popular it was translated into Latin, French (translation by Regnier, published in 1600) Italian, and German. There is also an English translation by E.G. published in 1604. Most of the statements which Bacon derives from Acosta may be found in the De Naturâ novi Orbis, but there are some which show that he used the Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias either in the original or in some translation. Acosta’s account of the climate of Peru is very favourable, and he speaks largely of the winds by which the heat of the sun is so pleasantly tempered that, as he affirms, the climate is more agreeable than that of Spain. He mentions the fine mist by which the want of rain is supplied, but does not seem to have been aware of its cause.
Under the title of each, except the last, is placed an aditus or preface that of the Historia Vitae et Mortis is omitted because, as we are told at the end of the volume, the history itself with its preface was shortly, jam proxime, to be published. It did not however appear until 1623. The Historia Ventorum is thus the first published part of the Historia Naturalis, which was to be the third division of the Instauratio. It begins with a list of topics, or subjects to be inquired into. Of these thirty-three are enumerated, and something is said in the course of the work with relation to each, but they are not all discussed fully, nor in the order in which they are set down. Bacon concludes the list by remarking that without more complete knowledge of the phenomena, some of the questions which he proposes cannot be answered. Both in the following work, and in the De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris, Bacon cites Acosta by name in most of the places in which he takes anything from him. Spedding is inclined to believe that Bacon takes a portion of what he says of naval matters from some Italian writers, but cannot refer to any particular work.

Historia vitæ et mortis Published 1623; of the five treatises which in the dedication of the Historia Naturalis, Bacon proposes to publish in five successive months, or even within a shorter period, this treatise that stands last in the list of titles; the reason is given in the Aditus [Preface] that the subject relates to the prolongation and setting up of human life.

Historiæ gravis et levis Prefaces only exist.

Historiam naturalem et experimentalem [The Natural and Experimental History,] Published in 1620 in the same volume with the Novum Organum, being the third part of the Instauratio. [Also see Instauratio Magna; Parasceve ad Historiam naturalem et experimentalem]. This work was always regarded by Bacon as a part of his system both fundamental and indispensable. Five other histories were included which Bacon proposed to publish month by month; namely: Historiæ Densi et Rari; Gravis et Levis; Sympathiæ et Antipathiæ Rerum; Sulphuris, Mercurii, et Salis; [Vitæ et Mortis].

Inquisitio de magnete Published by Dr. Rawley in 1658; a loose leaf belonging to the third part of the Instauratio.

Inquisitio legitima de motu Composed around 1608.

Instauratio Magna published in 1620 is designed to hold six portions:

De Augmentis, which contains a general survey of the present state of knowledge.
Novum Organum (1620) here men are to be taught how to use their understanding aright in the investigation of Nature.
Historia Ventorum [Historia Naturalis ad condendam philosophiam, sive phoenomena universi, quoe est Instaurationis Magnae pars tertia;] where all the phenomena of the universe are to be stored up as in a treasure house, as the materials on which the new methods is to be employed and Sylva Sylvarum, where examples given of its operation and of the results to which it leads.
Which we only have a preface was to contain what Bacon had accomplished in natural philosophy without the aid of his own method.
We have only a Preface.
Here, when it would have been completed, it would set forth the new philosophy.

The name Instauratio does not occur in any of Bacon’s letters earlier than 1609. To regard this work as a child of time rather than of wit can be seen in the Epistle Dedicatory of the Instauratio Magna.

Bacon’s words as to the divisions of this work:

The Divisions of the Sciences, the first part exhibits a summary of general description of the knowledge, which the human race at present possesses. In laying the divisions of the sciences however, I take into account not only things already invented and known, but likewise things omitted which ought to be there.
The New Organon, or Directions concerning the Interpretation of Nature, to equip the intellect for passing beyond. To the second part therefore belongs the doctrine concerning the better and more perfect use of human reason in the inquisition of things, and the true helps of the understanding. The art, which I introduce with this view, which I call Interpretation of Nature, is a kind of logic; though the difference between it and the ordinary logic is great; indeed immense.
The Phenomena of the Universe; or a Natural and Experimental History for the foundation of Philosophy, embraces the Phenomena of the universe; that is to say, experience of every kind, and such a natural history as may serve for a foundation to build philosophy upon.
The Ladder of the Intellect, devoted to the intellect with faithful helps and guards, and got together with most careful selection a regular army of divine works, it may seem that we have no more to do but to proceed to philosophy itself. And yet in a matter so difficult and doubtful there are still some things, which it seems necessary to premise, partly for convenience of explanation, partly for present use.
The Forerunners; or Anticipations of the New Philosophy, is for temporary use only, pending the completion of the rest.
The New Philosophy; or Active Science, to which the rest is subservient and ministrant, discloses and sets for that philosophy which by the legitimate, chaste, and severe course of inquiry which I have explained and provided is at length developed and established.

The Great Instauration is founded upon three great principles, History, Poetry, Philosophy, which Bacon respectively terms Memory, Imagination, Reason. As Kuno Fischer stated, the De Augmentis (1623) is the ground plan of the Instauration, and explains Bacon’s scheme as a whole. The Latin text of many works by Bacon materially differs from the English version; that is, a great deal may be gathered from one which cannot be from the other. For example, of the Fourth Part of the Great Instauration missing (which was to consist of types and models of invention as examples in certain subjects, to which the Baconian logic was to be applied), how much is learned by the Latin text, Bacon using the word Plasmata to express models. Plasmata appears to be a word connected with models formed in wax or clay and to be thus connected with the potter’s wheel. In modern Greek, plasmata plainly means beings. The particular work of Bacon’s to study, is the one containing the ground plan and entire scheme of the Great Instauration as a whole. That is embraced and contained solely in the Latin De Augmentis, published the same year as the plays (1623) and contains not only a rational inductive design, based on poetry and history, but is largely made up of a great book of secret methods of the delivery, or discovery of knowledge, by means of ciphers. The Latin version was originally written by Bacon in English and translated into Latin by Doctor Playfer and others. Bacon, during his lifetime, never gave the world the original English edition. But in 1610, a supposed translation of the Latin is issued under the auspices of the University of Oxford, and with a declaration, under the frontispiece portrait of Bacon, that the Universities had fulfilled (in publishing this English edition) a vow promised (voto suscepto), to the author living (vivus). Upon the second title page we find this motto, which is a profound hint for the mathematical and orderly disposition of the work, in relation to subject matter and secret cipher: “Deus omnia in mensura, et numero et ordine disposuit.” [Disposed all things in proportion, number and order.] This is borrowed from Solomon, and signifies, the author, like the Almighty Architect of the Universe.

Norma historiæ præsentis In the sup. p. 211 Bacon intended to add at the end of the volume an Abecedarium of abstract natures; and in Dr. Rawley’s list of the works composed by him during the last five years of his life, the second in order, immediately preceding the Historia Ventorum is Abecedarium Naturæ or a metaphysical piece, which is lost.

Novum Organum [New Organ] Was to contain a complete statement of its nature and principles, we have only the first two books. The doctrine of this work is expressly laid down in the De Interpretatione Naturæ Sententiæ Duodecim and of which the date is uncertain. One of the most remarkable parts of the Novum Organum is the doctrine of Idola. [Also see Part I: Idola.] Novum Organum contains a Proæmium, a dedication to King James I., a general Preface, an account Distributio Operis of the parts of which the Instauratio was to consist; of these the Novum Organum is the second; the De Augmentis, which was not then published occupying the place of the first. The composition of this work commenced in 1608 though published in 1620. Archbishop Tenison (writing in 1678) states distinctly: “The Second Part of his Great Instauration (and so considerable a part of it, that the name of the whole is given to it) is his Novum Organum Scientiarum, written by himself in the Latin Tongue.” 11 And, to make this evidence the more weighty, it comes immediately after a description of the negotiations between Bacon and Playfer about the translation of the Advancement of Learning, and a criticism of the translation of the De Augmentis into English by Dr. Gilbert Wats. Playfer died, February 2, 1608–09. The letter of Bacon to Playfer was, according to Spedding “certainly written some while after November 1605, when the Advancement of Learning was published (a good while since, according to Bacon himself), and certainly not after July 1608.” (Fowler). 12 The object of the Novum Organum, and of Bacon’s philosophy in general, is, stated summarily, to enlarge the dominion of man, Regnum Hominis as he phrases it, by increasing his knowledge of Nature and his power over her operations. This end can only be accomplished, he conceives, by freeing the mind from its false prejudices, especially its habit of blind submission to authority, and thus bringing it face to face with the facts of Nature. At or about the early age of twenty-five, Bacon had already begun to contemplate the Renovation of Science as stated in his letter to Father Fulgentio (1625) which can be found in Spedding’s works. 13

Preface
That the state of knowledge is not prosperous nor greatly advancing, and that a way must be opened for the human understanding entirely different from any hitherto known, and other helps provided, in order that the mind may exercise over the nature of things the authority which properly belongs to it.
It seems to me that men do not rightly understand either their store or their strength, but overrate the one and underrate the other. Hence, it follows that either from an extravagant estimate of the value of the arts which they possess they seek no further, or else from too mean an estimate of their own powers they spend their strength in small matters and never put it fairly to the trial in those which go to the main. These are as the pillars of fate set in the path of knowledge, for men have neither desire nor hope to encourage them to penetrate further. And since opinion of store is one of the chief causes of want, and satisfaction with the present induces neglect of provision for the future, it becomes a thing not only useful, but absolutely necessary, that the excess of honor and admiration with which our existing stock of inventions is regarded be in the very entrance and threshold of the work, and that frankly and without circumlocution stripped off, and men be duly warned not to exaggerate or make too much of them. For let a man look carefully into all that variety of books with which the arts and sciences abound, he will find everywhere endless repetitions of the same thing, varying in the method of treatment, but not new in substance, insomuch that the whole stock, numerous as it appears at first view, proves on examination to be but scanty. And for its value and utility it must be plainly avowed that that wisdom which we have derived principally from the Greeks is but like the boyhood of knowledge, and has the characteristic property of boys: it can talk, but it cannot generate, for it is fruitful of controversies but barren of work.
So that the state of learning as it now is appears to be represented to the life in the old fable of Scylla, who had the head and face of a virgin, but her womb was hung round with barking monsters, from which she could not be delivered. For in like manner the sciences to which we are accustomed have certain general positions which are specious and flattering; but as soon as they come to particulars, which are as the parts of generation, when they should produce fruit and works, then arise contentions and barking disputations, which are the end of the matter and all the issue they can yield. Observe also, that if sciences of this kind had any life in them, that could never have come to pass which has been the case now for many ages, that they stand almost at a stay, without receiving any augmentations worthy of the human race, insomuch that many times not only what was asserted once is asserted still, but what was a question once is a question still, and instead of being resolved by discussion is only fixed and fed; and all the tradition and succession of schools is still a succession of masters and scholars, not of inventors and those who bring to further perfection the things invented. In the mechanical arts we do not find it so; they, on the contrary, as having in them some breath of life, are continually growing and becoming more perfect. As originally invented they are commonly rude, clumsy, and shapeless; afterwards they acquire new powers and more commodious arrangements and constructions, in so far that men shall sooner leave the study and pursuit of them and turn to something else than they arrive at the ultimate perfection of which they are capable.
Philosophy and the intellectual sciences, on the contrary, stand like statues, worshipped and celebrated, but not moved or advanced. Nay, they sometimes flourish most in the hands of the first author, and afterwards degenerate. For when men have once made over their judgments to others’ keeping, and (like those senators whom they called Pedarii) have agreed to support some one person's opinion, from that time they make no enlargement of the sciences themselves, but fall to the servile office of embellishing certain individual authors and increasing their retinue. And let it not be said that the sciences have been growing gradually till they have at last reached their full stature, and so (their course being completed) have settled in the works of a few writers; and that there being now no room for the invention of better, all that remains is to embellish and cultivate those things which have been invented already. Would it were so! But the truth is that this appropriating of the sciences has its origin in nothing better than the confidence of a few persons and the sloth and indolence of the rest. For after the sciences had been in several perhaps cultivated and handled diligently, there has risen up some man of bold disposition, and famous for methods and short ways which people like, who has in appearance reduced them to an art, while he has in fact only spoiled all that the others had done.
And yet this is what posterity likes, because it makes the work short and easy, and saves further inquiry, of which they are weary and impatient. And if any one take this general acquiescence and consent for an argument of weight, as being the judgment of Time, let me tell him that the reasoning on which he relies is most fallacious and weak. For, first, we are far from knowing all that in the matter of sciences and arts has in various ages and places been brought to light and published, much less all that has been by private persons secretly attempted and stirred; so neither the births nor the miscarriages of Time are entered in our records. Nor, secondly, is the consent itself and the time it has continued a consideration of much worth. For however various are the forms of civil polities, there is but one form of polity in the sciences; and that always has been and always will be popular.
Now the doctrines which find most favour with the populace are those which are either contentious and pugnacious, or specious and empty, such, I say, as either entangle assent or tickle it. And therefore no doubt the greatest wits in each successive age have been forced out of their own course: men of capacity and intellect above the vulgar having been fain, for reputation's sake, to bow to the judgment of the time and the multitude; and thus if any contemplations of a higher order took light anywhere, they were presently blown out by the winds of vulgar opinions. So that Time is like a river which has brought down to us things light and puffed up, while those which are weighty and solid have sunk. Nay, those very authors who have usurped a kind of dictatorship in the sciences and taken upon them to lay down the law with such confidence, yet when from time to time they come to themselves again, they fall to complaints of the subtlety of nature, the hiding places of truth, the obscurity of things, the entanglement of causes, the weakness of the human mind; wherein nevertheless they show themselves never the more modest, seeing that they will rather lay the blame upon the common condition of men and nature than upon themselves. And then whatever any art fails to attain, they ever set it down upon the authority of that art itself as impossible of attainment; and how can art be found guilty when it is judge in its own cause? So it is but a device for exempting ignorance from ignominy.
Now for those things which are delivered and received, this is their condition: barren of works, full of questions; in point of enlargement slow and languid, carrying a show of perfection in the whole, but in the parts ill filled up; in selection popular, and unsatisfactory even to those who propound them; and therefore fenced round and set forth with sundry artifices. And if there be any who have determined to make trial for themselves and put their own strength to the work of advancing the boundaries of the sciences, yet have they not ventured to cast themselves completely loose from received opinions or to seek their knowledge at the fountain; but they think they have done some great thing if they do but add and introduce into the existing sum of science something of their own, prudently considering with themselves that by making the addition they can assert their liberty, while they retain the credit of modesty by assenting to the rest. But these mediocrities and middle ways so much praised, in deferring to opinions and customs, turn to the great detriment of the sciences. For it is hardly possible at once to admire an author and to go beyond him, knowledge being as water, which will not rise above the level from which it fell. Men of this kind, therefore, amend some things, but advance little, and improve the condition of knowledge, but do not extend its range.
Some, indeed, there have been who have gone more boldly to work and, taking it all for an open matter and giving their genius full play, have made a passage for themselves and their own opinions by pulling down and demolishing former ones; and yet all their stir has but little advanced the matter, since their aim has been not to extend philosophy and the arts in substance and value, but only to change doctrines and transfer the kingdom of opinions to themselves; whereby little has indeed been gained, for though the error be the opposite of the other, the causes of erring are the same in both. And if there have been any who, not binding themselves either to other men's opinions or to their own, but loving liberty, have desired to engage others along with themselves in search, these, though honest in intention, have been weak in endeavour. For they have been content to follow probable reasons and are carried round in a whirl of arguments, and in the promiscuous liberty of search have relaxed the severity of inquiry.
There is none who has dwelt upon experience and the facts of nature as long as is necessary. Some there are indeed who have committed themselves to the waves of experience and almost turned mechanics, yet these again have in their very experiments pursued a kind of wandering inquiry, without any regular system of operations. And besides they have mostly proposed to themselves certain petty tasks, taking it for a great matter to work out some single discovery; a course of proceeding at once poor in aim and unskillful in design. For no man can rightly and successfully investigate the nature of anything in the thing itself; let him vary his experiments as laboriously as he will, he never comes to a resting-place, but still finds something to seek beyond.
And there is another thing to be remembered; namely, that all industry in experimenting has begun with proposing to itself certain definite works to be accomplished, and has pursued them with premature and unseasonable eagerness; it has sought, I say, experiments of fruit, not experiments of light, not imitating the divine procedure, which in its first day's work created light only and assigned to it one entire day, on which day it produced no material work, but proceeded to that on the days following. As for those who have given the first place to logic, supposing that the surest helps to the sciences were to be found in that, they have indeed most truly and excellently perceived that the human intellect left to its own course is not to be trusted; but then the remedy is altogether too weak for the disease, nor is it without evil in itself. For the logic which is received, though it be very properly applied to civil business and to those arts which rest in discourse and opinion, is not nearly subtle enough to deal with nature; and in attempting what it cannot master, has done more to establish and perpetuate error than to open the way to truth.

11 Baconiana. pp. 28–29

12 Thomas Fowler. Bacon’s Novum Organum, 1878

13 Spedding. Letters and Life, Vol. VII. pp. 530–533

Upon the whole, therefore, it seems that men have not been happy hitherto either in the trust which they have placed in others or in their own industry with regard to the sciences; especially as neither the demonstrations nor the experiments as yet known are much to be relied upon. But the universe to the eye of the human understanding is framed like a labyrinth, presenting as it does on every side so many ambiguities of way, such deceitful resemblances of objects and signs, natures so irregular in their lines and so knotted and entangled. And then the way is still to be made by the uncertain light of the sense, sometimes shining out, sometimes clouded over, through the woods of experience and particulars; while those who offer themselves for guides are (as was said) themselves also puzzled, and increase the number of errors and wanderers. In circumstances so difficult, neither the natural force of man's judgment nor even any accidental felicity offers any chance of success. No excellence of wit, no repetition of chance experiments, can overcome such difficulties as these. Our steps must be guided by a clue, and the whole way from the very first perception of the senses must be laid out upon a sure plan. Not that I would be understood to mean that nothing whatever has been done in so many ages by so great labours.
We have no reason to be ashamed of the discoveries, which have been made, and no doubt the ancients proved themselves in everything that turns on wit and abstract meditation, wonderful men. But, as in former ages, when men sailed only by observation of the stars, they could indeed coast along the shores of the old continent or cross a few small and Mediterranean seas; but before the ocean could be traversed and the new world discovered, the use of the mariner's needle, as a more faithful and certain guide, had to be found out; in like manner the discoveries which have been hitherto made in the arts and sciences are such as might be made by practice, meditation, observation, argumentation ; for they lay near to the senses and immediately beneath common notions; but before we can reach the remoter and more hidden parts of nature, it is necessary that a more perfect use and application of the human mind and intellect be introduced.
For my own part at least, in obedience to the everlasting love of truth, I have committed myself to the uncertainties and difficulties and solitudes of the ways and, relying on the divine assistance, have upheld my mind both against the shocks and embattled ranks of opinion, and against my own private and inward hesitations and scruples, and against the fogs and clouds of nature, and the phantoms flitting about on every side, in the hope of providing at last for the present and future generations guidance more faithful and secure. Wherein if I have made any progress, the way has been opened to me by no other means than the true and legitimate humiliation of the human spirit. For all those who before me have applied themselves to the invention of arts have but cast a glance or two upon facts and examples and experience, and straightway proceeded, as if invention were nothing more than an exercise of thought, to invoke their own spirits to give them oracles.
I, on the contrary, dwelling purely and constantly among the facts of nature, withdraw my intellect from them no further than may suffice to let the images and rays of natural objects meet in a point, as they do in the sense of vision; whence it follows that the strength and excellence of the wit has but little to do in the matter. And the same humility which I use in inventing I employ likewise in teaching. For I do not endeavour either by triumphs of confutation, or pleadings of antiquity, or assumption of authority, or even by the veil of obscurity, to invest these inventions of mine with any majesty; which might easily be done by one who sought to give luster to his own name rather than light to other men's minds. I have not sought (I say) nor do I seek either to force or ensnare men's judgments, but I lead them to things themselves and the concordances of things, that they may see for themselves what they have, what they can dispute, what they can add and contribute to the common stock.
And for myself, if in anything I have been either too credulous or too little awake and attentive, or if I have fallen off by the way and left the inquiry incomplete, nevertheless I so present these things naked and open, that my errors can be marked and set aside before the mass of knowledge be further infected by them; and it will be easy also for others to continue and carry on my labors. And by these means I suppose that I have established forever a true and lawful marriage between the empirical and the rational faculty, the unkind and ill-starred divorce and separation of which has thrown into confusion all the affairs of the human family.
Fr. Bacon.
Epistle Dedicatory
To Our Most Gracious And Mighty Prince And Lord James,
By The Grace Of God
Of Great Britain, France, And Ireland King, Defender Of The Faith, Etc.

Most Gracious and Mighty King,
Your Majesty may perhaps accuse me of larceny, having stolen from your affairs so much time as was required for this work. I know not what to say for myself. For of time there can be no restitution unless it be that what has been abstracted from your business may perhaps go to the memory of your name and the honor of your age; if these things are indeed worth anything. Certainly they are quite new, totally new in their very kind: and yet they are copied from a very ancient model, even the world itself and the nature of things and of the mind. And to say truth, I am wont for my own part to regard this work as a child of time rather than of wit, the only wonder being that the first notion of the thing, and such great suspicions concerning matters long established, should have come into any man’s mind. All the rest follows readily enough. And no doubt there is something of accident (as we call it) and luck as well in what men think as in what they do or say. But for this accident which I speak of, I wish that if there be any good in what I have to offer, it may be ascribed to the infinite mercy and goodness of God, and to the felicity of your Majesty's times; to which as I have been an honest and affectionate servant in my life, so after my death I may yet perhaps, through the kindling of this new light in the darkness of philosophy, be the means of making this age famous to posterity; and surely to the times of the wisest and most learned of kings belongs of right the regeneration and restoration of the sciences. Lastly, I have a request to make, a request no way unworthy of your Majesty, and which especially concerns the work in hand, namely, that you who resemble Solomon in so many things; in the gravity of your judgments, in the peacefulness of your reign, in the largeness of your heart, in the noble variety of the books which you have composed; would further follow his example in taking order for the collecting and perfecting of a natural and experimental history, true and severe (unincumbered with literature and book-learning), such as philosophy may be built upon, such, in fact, as I shall in its proper place describe: that so at length, after the lapse of so many ages, philosophy and the sciences may no longer float in air, but rest on the solid foundation of experience of every kind, and the same well examined and weighed. I have provided the machine, but the stuff must be gathered from the facts of nature. May God Almighty long preserve your Majesty.
Your Majesty’s
Most bounden and devoted Servant,
Francis Verulam,
Chancellor.

Physiologia Nova Posthumous work of Gilbert published in 1653 by Grüter, but which Bacon had certainly seen in manuscript, was written after the treatise De Magnete, published in 1600.

Physiological and medical remains First published by Tenison in 1679, in a single volume entitled Baconiana, or certain genuine Remains of Sir Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam and Viscount of St Alban’s in arguments Civil, Moral, Natural, Medical, Theological, Bibliographical now for the first time faithfully published. The introduction professed to give an account of all Bacon’s works. There is no means of guessing when they were written; all are in Bacon’s own English, except the latter portion of the “catalogue of bodies attractive and non attractive” which appears to have been written by him in Latin. Of the second, “articles of questions touching minerals” a Latin translation by Dr. Rawley had been published in the Opuscula Philosophica.

Scala intellectus and prodromi First published by Grüter in 1653; not included in Dr. Rawley’s Opuscula, 1658. Apparently written any time after the plan of the Instauration in its six parts had been once conceived; Grüter places them among that he calls Impetus Philosophici; which merely means that they came to him as loose sheets without any direction under what title to arrange them; intended as prefaces to the fourth and fifth parts of the Instauratio respectively. With these Prefaces, the collection of works published or designed for publication as parts of the Instauratio Magna must close. Of the fourth part not even any fragment has come down to us.

Sulphuris mercurii Prefaces only exist.

Sylva Sylvarum Published by Dr. Rawley in 1627; a considerable part of the experiments can also be found in Porta’s Natural Magic; it consists of one thousand paragraphs and divided into ten centuries. Each paragraph contains a statement of one or more facts, accompanied generally by some remarks tending more or less to explain the causes of the observed phenomena. Other principle sources these experiments are derived from are Aristotle’s Problems and his De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus and his Meteorologics; Pliny’s Natural History; Sandys’ Travels; Cardan’s De Subtilitate; Scaliger’s Adversus Cardanum. Scaliger and Comines are the only two modern writers mentioned in the Sylva Sylvarum; a title name derived from a Hebraism for optima sylva [a collection of collections]; sylva used as the Grk: ύλη (eeli) [materials]. The name accords with Bacon’s notion of Natural History; that it ought to supply the materials with which the new philosophy is to be built up. Dr. Rawley’s comment in the To The Reader of the Sylva Sylvarum: “this Natural History was a debt of his, being designed and set down for a third part of the Instauration.” Peter Dawkins, in his excellent Francis Bacon, Herald of the New Age, 14 tells us that “Sylva Sylvarum means ‘Wood or Woods’ or ‘Pan of Pans’, for the Arcadian Pan was called Sylva (or Sylvanus), the Lord of Matter, author and director of the dances of the gods, and author and disposer of the regular motion of the universe. With his seven-reeded pipe, Pan orders everything harmoniously. Pan was known as the minister and companion of Bacchus (Dionysus), the god of tragic art and protector of theatres.”

14 Dawkins Peter. Francis Bacon-Herald of the New Age, p. 4, 1997 Francis Bacon Research Trust {www.fbrt.org.uk}

Table of experiments: Century I:

Of Straining or percolation, outward and inward
Of Motion upon pressure
Separations of bodies liquid by weight
Of Infusions in water and air
Of The appetite of continuation in liquids
Artificial springs
Of The venomous quality of man’s flesh
Of Turning air into water
Of Helping or altering the shape of the body
Of Condensing of air, to yield weight or nourishment
Of Flame and air commixed
Of The secret nature of flame
Flame, in the midst, and on the sides
Of Motion of gravity
Of Contraction of bodies in bulk
Of Making vines more fruitful
Of The several operations of purging medicines
Of Meats and drinks most nourishing
Of Medicines applied in order
Of Cure by custom
Of Cure by excess
Of Cure by motion of consent
Of Cure of disease contrary to predisposition
Of Preparation before and after purging
Of Stanching blood
Of Change of aliments and medicines
Of Diets
Of Production of cold
Of Turning air into water
Of Induration of bodies
Of Preying of air upon water
Of The force of union
Of Making feathers and hairs of divers colours
Of Nourishment of young creatures in the egg, or womb
Of Sympathy and antipathy
Of The spirits, or pneumaticals in bodies
Of The power of heat
Of Impossibility of annihilation

Table of experiments: Century II:

Of Music
Of The nullity and entity of sounds
Of Production, conservation, and delation of sounds
Of Magnitude, exility, and damps of sounds
Of Communication of sounds
Of Equality and inequality of sounds
Of More treble and base tones
Of Proportion of treble and bass
Of Exterior and interior sounds
Of Articulation of sounds

Table of experiments: Century III:

Of The lines in which sounds move
Of The lasting or perishing of sounds
Of The passage or interception of sounds
Of The medium of sounds
Of The figures of bodies yielding sounds
Of The medium of sounds
Of The figures of bodies yielding sounds
Of Mixture of sounds
Of Melioration of sounds
Imitation of sounds
Of Reflexion of sounds
Of Consent and dissent between visibles and audibles
Of Sympathy and antipathy of sounds
Of Hindering or helping of hearing
Of The spiritual and fine nature of sounds
Of Orient colours in dissolutions of metals
Of Prolongation of life
Of The appetite of union in bodies
Of The like operations of heat and time
Of The differing operations of fire and time
Of Motions by imitation
Of Infectious diseases
Of The incorporation of powders and liquors
Of Exercise of the body, and the benefits or evils thereof
Of Meats soon glutting, or not glutting

Table of experiments: Century IV:

Of Clarification of liquors, and the accelerating thereof
Of Maturation, and the accelerating thereof, and of the maturation of drinks and fruits
Of Making gold
Of The several natures of gold
Of Inducing and accelerating putrefaction
Of Prohibiting and preventing putrefaction
Of Rotten wood shining
Of Acceleration of birth
Of Acceleration of growth and stature
Of Bodies sulphureous and mercurial
Of The chameleon
Of Subterrany fires
Of Nitrous water
Of Congealing of air
Of Congealing of water into crystal
Of Preserving the smell and colour in rose leaves
Of The lasting of flame
Of Infusions or burials of divers bodies in earth
Of The affects of men’s bodies from several winds
Of Winter and summer sicknesses
Of Pestilential years
Of Epidemical diseases
Of Preservation of liquors in wells, or deep vaults
Of Stutting
Of Sweet smells
Of The goodness and choice of waters
Of Temperate heats under the equinoctial
Of The coloration of black and tawny moors
Of Motion after the instant of death

Table of experiments: Century V:

Of Accelerating or hastening forward germination
Of Retarding or putting back germination
Of Meliorating, or making better, fruits and plants
Of Compound fruits and flowers
Of Sympathy and antipathy of plants
Of Making herbs and fruits medicinable

Table of experiments: Century VI:

Of Curiosities about fruits and plants
Of The degenerating of plants, and of their transmutation one into another
Of The procerity and lowness of plants, and of artificial dwarfing them
Of The rudiments of plants, and of the excrescences of plants, or super-plants
Of Producing perfect plants without seed
Of Foreign plants
Of The seasons of several plants
Of The lasting of plants
Of Several figures of plants
Of Some principal differences in plants
Of All manner of composts and helps for ground

Table of experiments: Century VII:

Of The affinities and differences between plants and bodies inanimate
Of Affinities and differences between plants and living creatures, and of the confiners and participles of both
Of Plants, experiments promiscuous
Of Healing of wounds
Of Fat diffused in flesh
Of Ripening drink speedily
Of Pilosity and plumage
Of The quickness of motions in birds
Of The clearness of the sea, the north wind blowing
Of The different heats of fire and boiling water
Of The qualification of heat by moisture
Of Yawning
Of The hiccough
Of Sneezing
Of The tenderness of the teeth
Of The tongue
Of The mouth out of taste
Of Some prognostics of pestilential seasons
Of Special simples for medicines
Of Venus
Of The insecta, or creatures bred of putrefaction
Of Leaping
Of The pleasures and displeasures of hearing, and of the other senses

Table of experiments: Century VIII:

Of Veins of earth medicinal
Of Spunges
Of Sea-fish in fresh waters
Of Attraction by similitude of substance
Of Certain drinks in Turkey
Of Sweat
Of The glow-worm
Of The impressions upon the body from several passions of the mind
Of Drunkenness
Of The hurt or help of wine, taken moderately
Of Caterpillars
Of The flies cantharides
Of Lassitude
Of Casting the skin, and shell, in some creatures
Of The postures of the body
Of Pestilential years
Of Some prognostics of hard winters
Of Certain medicines that condense and relieve the spirits
Of Painting of the body
Of The use of bathing and anointing
Of Chamoletting of paper
Of Cuttle ink
Of Earth increasing in weight
Of Sleep
Of Teeth, and hard substances in the bodies of living creatures
Of The generation and bearing of living creatures in the womb
Of Species visible
Of Impulsion and percussion
Of Titillation
Of Scarcity of rain in Egypt
Of Clarification
Of Plants without leaves
Of The materials of glass
Of Prohibition of putrefaction, and the long conservation of bodies
Of Abundance of nitre in certain sea-shores
Of Bodies borne up by water
Of Fuel consuming little or nothing
Of Cheap fuel
Of Gathering of wind for freshness
Of Trails of airs
Of Increasing milk in milch beasts
Of Sand of the nature of glass
Of The growth of coral
Of The gathering of manna
Of The correcting of wines
Of Bitumen, one of the materials of wild-fire
Of Plaster growing as hard as marble
Of The cure of some ulcers and hurts
Of The healthfulness or unhealthfulness of the southern wind
Of Wounds made with brass, and with iron
Of Mortification by cold
Of Weight
Of Super natation of bodies
Of The flying of unequal bodies in the air
Of Water, that it may be the medium of sounds
Of The flight of the spirits upon odious objects
Of The super reflexion of echoes
Of The force of imagination imitating that of the sense
Of Preservation of bodies
Of The growth or multiplying of metals
Of The drowning of the more base metal in the more precious
Of Fixation of bodies
Of The restless nature of things in themselves and their desire to change

Table of experiments: Century IX:

Of Perception in bodies insensible, tending to natural divination and subtile trials
Of The causes of appetite in the stomach
Of Sweetness of odour from the rainbow
Of Sweet smells
Of The corporeal substance of smells
Of Fetid and fragrant odours
Of The causes of putrefaction
Of Bodies unperfectly mixed
Of Concoction and crudity
Of Alterations, which may be called majors
Of Bodies liquefiable, and not liquefiable
Of Bodies fragile and tough
Of The two kinds of pneumaticals in bodies
Of Concretion and dissolution of bodies
Of Bodies hard and soft
Of Bodies ductile and tensile
Of Several passions of matter, and characters of bodies
Of Induration by sympathy
Of Honey and sugar
Of The finer sort of base metals
Of Certain cements and quarries
Of The altering of colours in hairs and feathers
Of The differences of living creatures, male and female
Of The comparative magnitude of living creatures
Of Producing fruit without core or stone
Of The melioration of tobacco
Of Several heats working the same effects
Of Swelling and dilatation in boiling
Of The dulcoration of fruits
Of Flesh edible and not edible
Of The salamander
Of The contrary operations of time on fruits and liquors
Of Blows and bruises
Of The orrice root
Of The compression of liquors
Of The working of water upon air contiguous
Of The nature of air
Of The eyes and sight
Of The colour of the sea or other water
Of Shell-fish
Of The right side and the left
Of Frictions
Of Globes appearing flat at distance
Of Shadows
Of The rolling and breaking of the seas
Of The dulcoration of salt water
Of The return of saltness in pits by the sea-shore
Of Attraction by similitude of substance
Of Attraction
Of Heat under earth
Of Flying in the air
Of The scarlet dye
Of Maleficiating
Of The rise of liquors or powders by means of flame
Of The influences of the moon
Of Vinegar
Of Creatures that sleep all winter
Of The generating of creatures by copulation, and by putrefaction

Table of experiments: Century X:

Of The transmission and influx of immateriate virtues, and the force of imagination
Of The emission of spirits in vapour, or exhalation, odour like
Of Emissions of spiritual species which affect the senses
Of Emission of immateriate virtues, from the minds and spirits of men, by affections, imagination, or other impressions
Of The secret virtue of sympathy and antipathy
Of Secret virtues and proprieties
Of The general sympathy of men’s spirits

Sympathiæ et antipathiæ rerum Prefaces only exist.

Temporis partus masculus Probably written in the summer of 1583; an unfinished work meant to be in three books: the first to be entitled Perpolitio et applicatio mentis, the second Lumen Naturæ, seu formula Interpretationis, and the third, Natura illuminata, sive Veritas Rerum. In the Prœfatio Generalis, Bacon compares his method to the mariner’s compass, until the discovery of which no wise sea could be crossed; an image probably connected with his favourite device of a ship passing through the pillars of Hercules, with the motto Plus ultra. [Also see Part I: Plus Ultra.] Whatever period or periods of Bacon’s life these pieces were composed, they all belong to the second part of the Instauratio; not as Prefaces or Prospectuses, but as portions of the work itself. Its object is to explode the various philosophical systems or theories which had been previously propounded; being the first and principal part of the doctrine of the Idols of the Theatre, a part which, though not directly noticed in the Advancement of Learning, assumed soon after so prominent a place in Bacon’s scheme that he resolved to place it in the very front of his battle. Inserted at the end of the manuscript of the Valerius Terminus and described: “The first chapter of a book of the same argument, written in Latin, and destined to be separate and not public.”

Topica inquisitionis de luce et lumine Experimental inquiry concerning light, first published by Grüter in 1653 among the pieces which he entitles Impetus Philosophici; afterwards the work was published by Dr. Rawley in 1658.

Valerius Terminus With the Annotations of Hermes Stella; detached passages, partly of an epitome of twelve chapters of the first book of the proposed work. By the name Terminus, Bacon intended to intimate that the new philosophy would put an end to the wandering of mankind in search of truth, that it would be the terminus ad quem in which when it was once attained the mind would finally acquiesce. Stella was therefore to throw a kind of starlight on the subject; enough to prevent the students losing their way, but not much more. Was to include all that was to precede the exposition of the new method of induction, which was to be the subject of the second; that is, it was to comprehend along with the first part of the Instauratio, the general reflexions and precepts which form the subject of the first book of the Novum Organum. Possibly written some time around 1603–04 and first published in Robert Stephens’ Letters and Remains in 1734. The manuscript from which Stephens printed these fragments was found among some loose papers placed in his hands by the Earl of Oxford, and is now in the British Museum Harl. MSS. 6462. It is a thin paper volume of the quarto size, written in the hand of one of Bacon’s servants, with corrections, erasures, and interlineations in his own.

Author's who published Bacon's Works

Part 4. Alphabetically:

Bacon’s Works

Religious Works

Literary Works

Philosophical Works

Professional Works

Author's who published Bacon's Works