The New Atlantis of Francis Bacon

When the chosen representative of the English crew is admitted to the presence for the private audience, the Father of Solomon’s House begins with a blessing and then sets forth (1) the end of the foundation; (2) the preparations and instruments for their works; (3) the several employments and functions to which the fellows are assigned; and (4) the ordinances and rites which they observe. It is the second of these items, the preparations and instruments, which have most attracted the attention of scientists and which are best remembered today. I shall recall some of them. There are caves dug under mountains and towers built on the tops of mountains, the former giving an underground depth of three miles and the latter an above-ground height of the same extent, each affording opportunities for experiment and observation. We read of artificial metals, new composts, new applications of waterpower; of air-conditioning, telephones, flying machines, submarines, and many other things of most of which Leonardo da Vinci and others had also dreamed. There is also, naturally, much evidence of Bacon’s concern for the comforts and commodities of ordinary life. The breweries, bakeries, and kitchens for preparing new drinks, new breads, new meats capable of working special effects on the health of the consumers; the workshops for the manufacture of improved papers, linens, silks, and other tissues, are characteristic of what is generally called Bacon’s utilitarianism but might better be called his charity. For Bacon was right about the importance of these things for human wellbeing. But the great novelty does not lie in the anticipation of later inventions but rather in his anticipation of the welfare state. For this is what is implied by Solomon’s House, that temple, as we might call it, in which both the progress of science and the laws of its legitimate use were equally considered. Hence proceeded the inventions and discoveries which were spread throughout Bensalem by the Fathers of the House. But here also the consequences of new inventions were scrupulously weighed. Consultations of the Fathers were held to decide which of the new inventions should be published, and which not. All the Fathers were under an oath of secrecy to publish only what was fit, and

to withhold, even from the State if necessary, what might be harmful to mankind.