Chronology Entry
Year
1620
Text
Bacon, Francis. Novum organom = The new organon [ID D26975].
Chinese inventions of printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's compass were brought to Europe by Arab traders during the Renaissance and Reformation. Francis Bacon was unaware of the origins of these inventions but deeply impressed by their significance when he wrote :
"It is well to observe the force and virtue and consequence of discoveries. These are to be seen nowhere more clearly than those three which were unknown to the ancients [the Greeks], and of which the origin, though recent, is obscure and inglorious ; namely printing, gunpowder, and the magnet. For these three have changed the whole face and stage of things throughout the world, the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes ; insomuch that no empire, no sect, no star, seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these three mechanical discoveries."
"At length then, we have come to an instance of the fingerpost in this case, and it is this. If we find for certain that when there is a flood on the opposite coasts of Florida and Spain in the Atlantic, there is also a flood on the coasts of Peru and the back of China in the South Sea…"
"Again, if you observe the refinement of the liberal arts, or even that which relates to the mechanical preparation of natural substances, and take notice of such things as the discovery in astronomy of the motions of the heavens, of harmony in music, of the letters of the alphabet (to this day not in use among the Chinese) in grammar…"
"And such it seems may be found by exposing bodies on steeples in sharp frosts; by laying them in subterranean caverns; by surrounding them with snow and ice in deep pits dug for the purpose; by letting them down into wells ; by burying them in quicksilver and metals ; by plunging them into waters which petrify wood; by burying them in the earth, as the Chinese are said to do in the making of porcelain, where masses made for the purpose are left, we are told, underground for forty or fifty years, and transmitted to heirs, as a kind of artificial minerals; and by similar processes."
Chinese inventions of printing, gunpowder, and the mariner's compass were brought to Europe by Arab traders during the Renaissance and Reformation. Francis Bacon was unaware of the origins of these inventions but deeply impressed by their significance when he wrote :
"It is well to observe the force and virtue and consequence of discoveries. These are to be seen nowhere more clearly than those three which were unknown to the ancients [the Greeks], and of which the origin, though recent, is obscure and inglorious ; namely printing, gunpowder, and the magnet. For these three have changed the whole face and stage of things throughout the world, the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes ; insomuch that no empire, no sect, no star, seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these three mechanical discoveries."
"At length then, we have come to an instance of the fingerpost in this case, and it is this. If we find for certain that when there is a flood on the opposite coasts of Florida and Spain in the Atlantic, there is also a flood on the coasts of Peru and the back of China in the South Sea…"
"Again, if you observe the refinement of the liberal arts, or even that which relates to the mechanical preparation of natural substances, and take notice of such things as the discovery in astronomy of the motions of the heavens, of harmony in music, of the letters of the alphabet (to this day not in use among the Chinese) in grammar…"
"And such it seems may be found by exposing bodies on steeples in sharp frosts; by laying them in subterranean caverns; by surrounding them with snow and ice in deep pits dug for the purpose; by letting them down into wells ; by burying them in quicksilver and metals ; by plunging them into waters which petrify wood; by burying them in the earth, as the Chinese are said to do in the making of porcelain, where masses made for the purpose are left, we are told, underground for forty or fifty years, and transmitted to heirs, as a kind of artificial minerals; and by similar processes."
Mentioned People (1)
Bacon, Francis
(London 1561-1626 Highgate bei London) : Philosoph, Jurist, Historiker, Schriftsteller, Politiker
Subjects
Philosophy : Europe : Great Britain
Documents (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1620 |
Bacon, Francis. Novum organom. In : Bacon, Francis. Francisci de Verulamio Instauratio magna : multi pertransibunt & augebitur scientia. (Londini : Apud Joannem Billium, Typographum Regium, 1620). = The new organon. [Enthält Eintragungen über China]. http://www.constitution.org/bacon/nov_org.htm. Francis Bacon on the significance of three Chinese inventions : Printing, Gunpowder, and the Compass. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/tech/printing.htm. |
Publication / Baco4 |
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