Contents: Introduction, Julie Robin Solomon; Bacon, atomism, and imposture: the true and the useful in history, myth and theory, Reid Barbour; The new science and the via negativa: a mystical source for Baconian empiricism, Michael McCanles; The feminine birth of the mind: regendering the empirical subject in Bacon and his followers, Catherine Gimelli Martin; 'The very idea!': Francis Bacon and E.O. Wilson on the rehabilitation of Eidos, John C. Briggs; Francis Bacon and the unity of knowledge: reason and revelation, Jerry Weinberger; The hidden life of matter: techniques for prolonging of life in the writings of Francis Bacon, Guido Giglioni; 'The purer foundations': Bacon and legal education, Daniel R. Coquillette; A society of Baconians?: the collective development of Bacon's method in the Royal Society of London, William T. Lynch; Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning and historical thought, Fritz Levy; 'Seated between the old world and the new': geopolitics, natural philosophy and proficient method, Timothy J. Reiss; Select bibliography; Index.