'Concerning ourselves we speak not; but as touching the matter which we have in hand, this we ask;--that men deem it not to be the setting up an Opinion, but the performing of a Work: and that they receive this as a certainty; that we are not laying the foundations of any sect or doctrine, but of the profit and dignity of mankind. Furthermore, that being well disposed to what shall advantage themselves, and putting off factions and prejudices, they take common counsel with us, to the end that being by these our aids and appliances freed and defended from wanderings and impediments, they may lend their hands also to the labours which remain to be performed: and yet further, that they be of good hope; neither imagine to themselves this our Reform as something of infinite dimension, and beyond the grasp of mortal man, when in truth it is the end and true limit of infinite errour; and is by no means unmindful of the condition of mortality and humanity, not confiding that such a thing can be carried to its perfect close in the space of one single age, but assigning it as a task to a succession of generations.' [The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, according to our view, must be founded upon the History of such Sciences; which history we have attempted in a former work. The events of that history may be described generally as the rise of Theories out of Facts. But besides this, which we may term the _external_ history of Theories, there is an internal history of Theories, namely, the series of steps by which the human mind becomes capable of forming each Theory. Hence to complete the History of the Sciences as derived from Facts, we require a history of the Ideas by which such derivation has been made possible: and thus, the _First Part_ of our Philosophy must be a _History of Scientific Ideas_;--a labour no less historical than our former work, and concerned with the same events; but which has been purposely kept separate during the {17} composition, in order that it might be afterwards presented in a more systematic form, which I have here attempted to do. Scientific Ideas are the Conditions of the derivation of Sciences from Facts: but can any method or methods be given by which such a Derivation can be ensured, or at least, aided? Many such methods have been proposed; of which the most celebrated is the _Novum Organon_ of Bacon, of which the title was intended to imply that its scope goes much beyond the _Organon_ of Aristotle. With the experience of the formation of Science which the world has had since Bacon's time, it does not appear presumptuous to suppose that we can now improve or correct his methods; nor to term such an attempt _Novum Organon Renovatum_. The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, then, contains these two parts, _The History of Scientific Ideas_, and the _Novum Organon Renovatum_.] {{19}} THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE INDUCTIVE SCIENCES. PART I. HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC IDEAS.