Novum organum was actually published as part of a much larger work, Instauratio Magna ("The Great Instauration"). The word instauration was intended to show that the state of human knowledge was to simultaneously press forward while also returning to that enjoyed by man before the Fall. Originally intending Instauratio Magna to contain six parts (of which Novum organum constituted the second), Bacon did not come close to completing this series, as parts V and VI were never written at all. Novum organum, written in Latin and consisting of two books of aphorisms, was included in the volume that Bacon published in 1620; however, it was also unfinished, as Bacon promised several additions to its content which ultimately remained unprinted.
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