erwards superseded or
thrown aside; (B) Works connected with the _Instauratio_, but not directly
included in its plan; (C) Writings which actually formed part of the
_Instauratio Magna_.

(A) This class contains some important tracts, which certainly contain
little, if anything, that is not afterwards taken up and expanded in the
more elaborate works, but are not undeserving of attention, from the
difference in the point of view and method of treatment. The most valuable
of them are: (1) _The Advancement of Learning_, of which no detailed
account need be given, as it is completely worked up into the _De
Augmentis_, and takes its place as the first part of the _Instauratio_. (2)
_Valerius Terminus_, a very remarkable piece, composed probably about 1603,
though perhaps retouched at a later period. It contains a brief and
somewhat obscure outline of the first two parts in the _Instauratio_, and
is of importance as affording us some insight into the gradual development
of the system in Bacon's own mind. (3) _Temporis Partus Masculus_, another
curious fragment, remarkable not only from its contents, but from its
style, which is arrogant and offensive, in this respect unlike any other
writing of Bacon's. The adjective _masculus_ points to the power of
bringing forth fruit possessed by the new philosophy, and perhaps indicates
that all previous births of time were to be looked upon as feminine or
imperfect; it is used in a somewhat similar sense in _Letters and Life_,
vi. 183, "_In verbis masculis_, no flourishing or painted words, but such
words as are fit to go before deeds." (4) _Redargutio Philosophiarum_, a
highly finished piece in the form of an oration, composed probably about
1608 or 1609, and containing in pretty full detail much of what afterwards
appears in connexion with the _Idola Theatri_ in book i. of the _Novum
Organum_. (5) _Cogitata et Visa_, perhaps the most important of the minor
philosophical writings, dating from 1607 (though possibly the tract in its
present form may have been to some extent altered), and containing in
weighty and sonorous Latin the substance of the first book of the
_Organum_. (6) The _Descriptio Globi Intellectualis_, which is to some
extent intermediate between the _Advancement_ and the _De Augmentis_, goes
over in detail the general classification of the sciences, and enters
particularly on some points of minor interest. (7) The brief tract _De
Interpretatione Naturae Sententiae Duode