of light was instantaneous,[1] Bacon puts the proposition that light may take time in transmission but immediately afterwards explains it away. [2] Both Aristotle and Bacon frequently receded from true positions previously held. In regard to Bacon's discoveries, " the record of his definite mistakes is greater than that of his achievements,"[3] possibly because he had not so much the analytic as the synthetic mind.[4]
But to Bacon's advantage, and despite discrepancies between theory and practice, it seems clear that he had a much more vivid appreciation than Aristotle of the absolute necessity in discovery of paying strict attention to the objective facts of experience. It is this spirit which accounts for Bacon's strong emphasis on experiment; it is this spirit which accounts for healthy doubt and the clearly defined doctrine of idola; it is this spirit which distinguishes all fruitful scientific endeavour and which, because of Bacon's teaching, became thereafter increasingly manifest. Aristotle constantly rushes, after mere enumeration of chance instances, to general conclusions which no νοῦς can validate. Bacon selects instances, and herein is to be found another distinguishing mark between ancient and modern scientific method.
Huntly, Scotland.
