SECTION II.

Observations on the Spirit and Scope of Dr Reid's Philosophy.

I HAVE already observed, that the distinguishing feature of Dr Reid's Philosophy, is the systematical steadiness, with which he has adhered in his inquiries, to that plan of investigation which is delineated in the Novum Organon, and which has been so happily exemplified in physics by Sir Isaac Newton and his followers. To recommend this plan as the only effectual method of enlarging our knowledge of nature, was the favourite aim of all his studies, and a topic on which he thought he could not enlarge too much, in conversing or corresponding with his younger friends. In a letter to Dr Gregory, which I have perused, he particularly congratulates him, upon his acquaintance with Lord Bacon's works; adding, "I am very apt to measure a man's understanding, by the opinion he entertains of that au

"thor."

It were perhaps to be wished, that he had taken a little more pains to illustrate the fundamental rules of that logic,

the value of which he estimated so highly; more especially, to point out the modifications with which it is applicable to the science of mind. Many important hints, indeed, connected with this subject, may be collected from different parts of his writings; but I am inclined to think, that a more ample discussion of it in a preliminary dissertation, might have thrown light on the scope of many of his researches, and obviated some of the most plausible objections which have been stated to his conclusions.

It is not, however, my intention at present, to attempt to supply a desideratum of so great a magnitude;-an undertaking which, I trust, will find a more convenient place, in the farther prosecution of those speculations with respect to the Intellectual Powers which I have already submitted to the public. The detached remarks which follow, are offered merely as a supplement to what I have stated concerning the nature and object of this branch of study, in the Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Mind.

The influence of Bacon's genius on the subsequent progress of physical discovery, has been seldom fairly appreciated; by some writers almost entirely overlooked; and by others considered as the sole cause of the reformation in science which has since taken place. Of these two extremes, the latter certainly is the least wide of the truth;

for, in the whole history of letters, no other individual can be mentioned, whose exertions have had so indisputable an effect in forwarding the intellectual progress of mankind. On the other hand, it must be acknowledged, that before the æra when Bacon appeared, various philosophers in different parts of Europe had struck into the right path; and it may perhaps be doubted, whether any one important rule with respect to the true method of investigation be contained in his works, of which no hint can be traced in those of his predecessors. His great merit lay in concentrating their feeble and scattered lights;-fixing the attention of philosophers on the distinguishing characteristics of true and of false science, by a felicity of illustration peculiar to himself, seconded by the commanding powers of a bold and figurative eloquence. The method of investigation which he recommended had been previously followed in every instance, in which any solid discovery had been made with respect to the laws of nature; but it had been followed accidentally, and without any regular, preconceived design; and it was reserved for him to reduce to rule and method what others had effected, either fortuitously, or from some momentary glimpse of the truth. It is justly observed by Dr Reid, that "the man who first discovered that cold freezes water, and that "heat turns it into vapour, proceeded on the same general principle by which Newton discovered the law of 'gravita❝tion and the properties of light. His Regula Philosophandi

" are maxims of common sense, and are practised every day " in common life; and he who philosophizes by other rules, "either concerning the material system or concerning the mind, mistakes his aim."

These remarks are not intended to detract from the just glory of Bacon; for they apply to all those, without exception, who have systematized the principles of any of the arts. Indeed, they apply less forcibly to him, than to any other philosopher whose studies have been directed to objects analogous to his; inasmuch as we know of no art, of which the rules have been reduced successfully into a didactic form, when the art itself was as much in infancy as experimental philosophy was when Bacon wrote.-Nor must it be supposed, that the utility was small of thus attempting to systematize the accidental processes of unenlightened ingenuity, and to give to the noblest exertions of Human Reason, the same advantages of Scientific Method, which have contributed so much to ensure the success of genius in pursuits of inferior importance. The very philosophical motto which Reynolds has so happily prefixed to his Academical Discourses, admits, on this occasion, of a still more appropriate application: “Omnia fere quæ præceptis continentur ab ingeniosis hominibus fiunt; sed casu quodam magis quam "scientia. Ideoque doctrina et animadversio adhibenda est, " ut ea quæ interdum sine ratione nobis occurrunt, semper

" in nostra potestate sint; et quoties res postulaverit, a nobis ex præparato adhibeantur."

But although a few superior minds seem to have been in some measure predisposed for that revolution in science, which Bacon contributed so powerfully to accomplish, the case was very different with the great majority of those who were then most distinguished for learning and talents. His views were plainly too advanced for the age in which he lived; and, that he was sensible of this himself, appears from those remarkable passages, in which he styles himself, "The "servant of posterity," and "bequeaths his fame to future "times."-Hobbes, who, in his early youth, had enjoyed his friendship, speaks, a considerable time after Bacon's death, of experimental philosophy, in terms of contempt; influenced probally, not a little, by the tendency he perceived in the inductive method of inquiry, to undermine the foundations of that fabric of scepticism which it was the great object of his labours to rear. Nay, even during the course of the last century, it has been less from Bacon's own speculations, than from the examples of sound investigation exhibited by a few eminent men, who professed to follow him as their guide, that the practical spirit of his writings has been caught by the multitude of physical Experimentalists over Europe;-truth and good sense descending gradually, in this as in other instances, by the force of imitation and of early