In 1626 Bacon was in London, traveling through the snow with the King’s physician, when he got the idea of using snow to preserve meat. They immediately bought a fowl, had it killed, and Bacon stuffed it with snow. He came down with pneumonia and ate the bird, hoping to regain his strength from it, but died nonetheless.

Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis was published in 1626 and went through 10 editions by 1670. In it was described “The House of Solomon,” a research institute with laboratories for experimentation and observation in the natural sciences to include: heat, light, cold, medicine, minerals, weather, crafts, astronomy, animals, and agriculture. There would be a staff of 36 fellows and their assistants, who would set out to make discoveries. Resident scholars would read written works on past discoveries. Three “Interpreters of Nature” would assess all of this information to construct axioms and principles.