In the same year (1623) was written (though not published till 1658) the History of Density and Rarity, principally noteworthy because Bacon appears from it to have been ignorant of the method of calculating specific gravities published by Ghetaldus twenty years before and substantially in use now. He gives, instead, a method of his own which has not commended itself to modern science.1 A short paper entitled Topics of Inquiry concerning Light and Luminous Matter would be interesting if it could be shown that it was written this year, as exhibiting an arrangement different from that of the other treatises in the Phenomena, and more similar to that in the Novum Organum, with its Tables of Presence, of Absence in Proximity, and of Degrees. But the absence of all mention of the telescope, to which Bacon refers in the year 1612, indicates that this fragment was written before that year.2 § 56 "DE AUGMENTIS"; "SYLVA SYLVARUM " 4 In 1623 was published the De Augmentis et Dignitate Scientiae, a greatly amplified Latin Translation of the Advancement of Learning. It will be remembered that the Advancement of Learning consisted of two books, one on the Dignity of Learning, the other on the Divisions of Learning, and that on the titlepage of the Novum Organum in 1620, occur these words: "The First Part of the Instauration, which embraces the Divisions of Learning, is wanting; but these Divisions may be in some measure obtained from the Second Book of the Advancement of Learning." The Latin Translation accordingly amplifies the "Divisions" contained in the Second Book of the Advancement into eight books. The First Book of the Advancement, though retained in the Translation, is treated as a mere Introduction on the Dignity of Science, and is not even mentioned in the Introductory Table of the Divisions of Learning. 1 Spedding, Works, ii. 229-306. 2 Ibid. ii. 313-324. 3 Ibid. i. 414-837. For a summary of the English version, the Advancement of Learning, see Appendix I., pp. 461-475, below. Ibid. ii. 325-686. Writing to a correspondent in Italy two years after the publication of this work,1 Bacon describes the De Augmentis as the First Part of the Instauration. But although the work acquires additional importance from the definite place thus assigned to it in his system, it does not greatly differ, except in amplitude of detail and illustration, from the Advancement of Learning. Among the more important differences, it is to be noted that, whereas the Advancement divides History into Natural, Civil, Ecclesiastical and Literary, the De Augmentis adopts the dual division into Natural and Civil; Civil History being made to comprise Ecclesiastical and Literary. Again in the Advancement there are three fallacies, in the De Augmentis there are four Idols. Instead of dividing the Operative part of Natural Philosophy into three parts (Experimental, Philosophical, and Magical) the De Augmentis divides it into two (Mechanic and Magic). And generally the passages dealing with Science are amplified, while allusions to England and English History are omitted or subordinated. A work intended to be read in Italy must needs avoid condemnation of Romish errors, and it is interesting to note how many of such condemnations and other references to religion are omitted in the Latin Translation: Bacon himself tells the King 2 that he had this object in view : "I have been mine own Index Expurgatorius that it may be read in all places." The Sylva Sylvarum, published in 1627 after Bacon's death, is supposed to have been written about 1624.1 As a collection of observations was called in Bacon's metaphorical language Sylva (see p. 363, above, Sylva vel Materies) this treatise is naturally called Sylva Sylvarum, being a Collection of Collections. It has been shown by Mr. Ellis that the order of many of these observations, which are the results of Bacon's reading, follows the order of the book from which they happen to have been extracted; so that, for example, it is possible in the Sylva to trace the travels of Sandys from Lemnos to Constantinople and thence to Egypt. This Sylva therefore is not a classified Natural History, but rather a haphazard collection of raw material. Although to modern readers many of the observations may seem to savour too much of the wonderful and occasionally of the absurd, yet as compared with the contemporary standard of Natural History, they are declared by Mr. Ellis to be philosophical and suggestive. 1 Spedding, vii. 530-2, letter to Father Fulgentio. 2 Spedding, vii. 436. 3 Professor Fowler (Francis Bacon, p. 182) appears to attribute the theological differences between the Advancement of Learning and the De Augmentis to some change of mind in the Author. "How far Bacon's confidence in the ship of the church' was implicit, and without exception, is, I think, somewhat doubtful. For it is a notable fact (which I have not seen elsewhere noticed) that the passage on the nature and attributes of God, including certain statements on the Trinity and the division of the elect or reprobate, which occurs towards the end of the Advancement of Learning, is altogether left out in the De Augmentis, published eighteen years afterwards." But it will be found that the whole of the section on theology in the Advancement of Learning is condensed or modified in the Latin version, so as to give less offence to readers in France or Italy. And the same care to remove anything offensive to foreign readers will be found to have modified the whole of the text of the Latin Translation both of the Advancement and of the Essays. Take for example the following passage (Adv. I. iii. 3): "The Jesuits, of whom, although in regard of their superstition I may say, Quo meliores, eo deteriores, &c."-on which Mr. Aldis Wright remarks, "the whole clause is modified in the De Augmentis to avoid giving offence to Roman Catholics." In Written after the Sylva Sylvarum come two brief papers, one called Scala Intellectus, or Ladder of the Understanding, and the other Prodromi sive Anticipationes Philosophiae Secundae, that is, Forerunners or Anticipations of the Second Philosophy.2 these-Bacon's last philosophical efforts we see him still pressing forward on his career of imaginary conquest, leaving behind him half-conquered or unconquered regions for others to occupy. The Scala tells us that: The beginning of the path has been marked out in the Author's second work, the Novum Organum. Entering forthwith upon that path he has treated of the Phenomena of the Universe and their History in a third work, wherein he has penetrated and passed through the dark and tangled Wood of Nature. It now remains to ascend to a more open but a more arduous region, emerging from the Wood to the spurs of the mountain. He therefore proposes to give, as a Ladder of the Understanding, examples of the Legitimate Investigation of which he had set forth the theory in the Organum. Let but the object be indicated, and others with more leisure and fewer obstacles will easily achieve it.* Prodromi, or Forerunners, is the title of the Fifth Part of the Instauration (see p. 378). In the short Preface thus entitled (for it is no more than a Preface), Bacon declares that a compromise between the New and Old Philosophy is not unjustifiable, at least thus far: 1 Spedding, Works, ii. 325-686. 2 See above, p. 378, for the place these were to fill in the Magna Instauratio. 3 Note the play on "Wood" or "Sylva"; and see "Sylva Sylvarum" above. * Spedding, Works, ii. 687-689. A man of average ability may investigate the secrets of Nature without the exact use of the Organum, if he will but cast aside the Idols and study things instead of books. Such a student may lay more successful siege to Nature than the mere reader of books, even though the former has not employed the regular engines of war (machinas non admoverit) nor followed the Rule of Interpretation. Much more is it lawful for him to entertain this hope about himself, since his mind has been strengthened by the practice and exercise of interpreting Nature. Yet he will not bind himself by these anticipations, but will reserve everything for the final decision of the Second and Inductive Philosophy; and he will set them forth sparsely, not connectedly, because this method is most suitable for fresh-sprung and budding sciences.1 Thus, with a Preface, and an unfulfilled intention, ends the Magna Instauratio. § 57 THE MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BACON'S PHILOSOPHY As to the demerits of Bacon's Philosophy there is a general agreement, so far as this, that it has been of no direct use in making discoveries. Modern Science recognizes as an effectual aid in research the "working hypothesis" which Bacon is generally said to ignore. Yet even in some of his earlier teatises, he accepts a Provisional Table which was to prepare the way for the New Table (Chartae Novellae); 2 and the same tendency may be discerned in the Prima Vindemiatio, or Permissio Intellectus (see p. 393) as well as in the Provisional Rules (Mobiles Canones, see p. 401) and in the Anticipationes Secundae Philosophiae. In his later works, at all events (as for example in the Historia Vitae et Mortis) he seems to recognize the utility or necessity of provisional hypotheses. We have also seen in the extract from the Prodromi quoted in the last paragraph that the Instauratio Magna closes with a recognition of the occasional utility of this 1 Spedding, Works, ii. 690-692. 2 See the summary of the Delineatio, twelfth para raph, p. 359, above. irregularity. No doubt, in his Astronomical treatises, he inveighs against all astronomical hypotheses, even against that of Copernicus. But there was much excuse for such invective. The Introduction to the Copernican Astronomy itself declared not only that the Copernican system was hypothetical, but also that in astronomy no absolute truth could be expected; 1 and it was against this habit of despair in Science that Bacon principally directed his attacks. It must be admitted, however, that generally Bacon does not sufficiently recognize the necessity of some guiding conception (of the nature of a hypothesis) in selecting phenomena from the first. A more serious objection is, that he starts with, and never consciously divests himself of, a prejudice in favour of the simplicity of Nature, disposing him to exaggerate the facility of its analysis. He believes for example that the surest way to make gold is to ascertain the causes of its qualities, viz., weight, colour, closeness of parts, pliancy, freedom from rust, together with the Axioms that concern those Causes, and then it is only necessary to superinduce these qualities upon any nature in order to transform that nature to gold. His theory is that Nature speaks, as it were, a language of an infinite vocabulary, but of a limited alphabet. Master the alphabet, and you can reproduce the countless variations of the words. This is the problem stated in the Valerius Terminus, and, so stated, it seems easy of solution. But it has been pointed out by Dr. Whewell that, instead of investigating simple natures, modern discoverers have succeeded by investigating the Laws of special phenomena. Thus, instead of investigating Heat, men of science have studied the Laws of Conduction, Radiation, Specific Heat, Latent Heat; then have followed hypotheses about Heat itself, which have been verified, amended, and finally adopted. Subsequently Bacon became aware that it is not so easy to form a right conception of a single letter of Nature's Alphabet. Our very notions of simple natures" are often wrong and require correction. Hence in the Partis Secundae Delineatio he had awakened to the necessity of the task of constructing a bona notio, or right conception of a simple nature. This task 1 See above, p. 374. |