Part 2 is the _Novum Organum Scientiarum_, or new method of studying

the sciences, a name probably suggested by Aristotle’s _Organon_

(treatises on Logic). He intended it to be “the science of a better

and more perfect use of reason in the investigation of things and of

the true end of understanding.” This has been generally denominated

the _inductive method_, i. e. the experimental method, from the

principle of _induction_, or bringing together facts and drawing from

them general principles or truths, by which the author proposes the

advancement of all kinds of knowledge. In this consists preëminently

the philosophy of Bacon. Not reasoning upon conjecture on the laws

and properties of nature, but, as Bacon quaintly terms it, “asking

questions of nature,” that is, making experiments, laboriously

collecting facts first, and, after a sufficient number has been brought

together, then forming systems or theories founded on them.

But this work is rather the summary of a more extensive one he

designed, the aphorisms of it being rather, according to Hallam, “the

heads or theses of chapters.” But some of these principles are of

paramount importance. An instance may be afforded of this, extracted

from the “Interpretation of Nature, and Man’s dominion over it.” It is

the very first sentence in the _Novum Organum_. “Man, the servant and

interpreter of nature, can only understand and act in proportion as he

observes and contemplates the order of nature; more, he can neither

know nor do.” This, as has justly been observed, is undoubtedly the

foundation of all our real knowledge.

The _Novum Organum_ is so important, that we deem it desirable to

present some more detailed accounts of it.

The body of the work is divided into two parts; the former of which is

intended to serve as an introduction to the other, a preparation of the

mind for receiving the doctrine.

Bacon begins by endeavoring to remove the prejudices and to obtain fair

attention to his doctrine. He compares philosophy to “a vast pyramid,

which ought to have the history of nature for its basis;” he likens

those who strive to erect by the force of abstract speculation to the

giants of old, who, according to the poets, endeavored to throw Mount

Ossa upon Pelion, and Olympus upon Ossa. The method of “anticipating

nature,” he denounces “as rash, hasty, and unphilosophical;” whereas,

“interpretations of nature, or real truths arrived at by deduction,

cannot so suddenly arrest the mind; and when the conclusion actually

arrives, it may so oppose prejudice, and appear so paradoxical as to

be in danger of not being received, notwithstanding the evidence that

supports it, like mysteries of faith.”

Bacon first attacks the “Idols of the Mind,” i. e. the great sources

of prejudice, then the different false philosophical theories; he

afterwards proceeds to show what are the characteristics of false

systems, the causes of error in philosophy, and lastly the grounds of

hope regarding the advancement of science.

He now aspires, to use his own language, “only to sow the seeds of pure

truth for posterity, and not to be wanting in his assistance to the

first beginning of great undertakings.” “Let the human race,” says he

further, “regain their dominion over nature, which belongs to them by

the bounty of their Maker, and right reason and sound religion will

direct the use.”

The second part of the _Novum Organum_ may be divided into three

sections. The first is on the discovery of forms, i. e. causes in

nature. The second section is composed of _tables_ illustrative of the

inductive method, and the third and last is styled the _doctrine of

instances_, i. e. facts regarding the discovery of causes.

Part the third of the _Instauratio Magna_ was to be a Natural History,

as he termed it, or rather a history of natural substances, in which

the art of man had been employed, which would have been a history of

universal nature.