Sylva Sylvarum (1631 English edition)

...there was no other way to free people's minds—which were bound and, in a sense, bewitched original: "Maleficiate" by the spells of deceptive notions and theories, making them unable to produce practical works—except to never stray from sensory observation and clear experience. Instead, he had to stay close to these, especially at the start. Besides, this Natural History was a debt he owed, as it was designed and recorded as the third part of his Great Instauration The Instauratio Magna, Bacon's ambitious, multi-part plan to reorganize and restore all human knowledge through scientific inquiry.

I have also heard his Lordship discuss how people will undoubtedly think many of the experiments contained in this collection are common and trivial; lowly and vile; or overly specific and useless. Therefore, he wishes that they would constantly keep in mind the work currently being performed and the difference between this Natural History and others. Those natural histories currently in existence were gathered for pleasure and utility; they are full of pleasant descriptions and pictures, seeking to provoke wonder by focusing on rarities and secrets.

On the contrary, the goal his Lordship intends is to write a Natural History that may serve as the foundation for erecting and building a true philosophy In this context, "philosophy" refers to natural science or the study of the physical world: for the illumination of the understanding, the extraction of axioms general principles or laws of nature derived from specific observations, and the production of many noble works and results. For he hopes, by this means, to fulfill the responsibility for which he takes...