In this book, Francis Bacon describes a scene in which a ship of Spanish sailors, finding themselves adrift and near death off the coast of Peru, lands on the shore of an unknown island where they are cared for by the government of Bensalem. In the course of their stay, they learn about the history, customs, and organization of Bensalem and in the process, marvel at its material wealth and the wisdom and intelligence of its people. They also learn much about the history of the world and of “America” (The New Atlantis) that is unknown in Europe from the statesmen they meet there, including, for instance, that the oceans were more widely traveled some 3,000 years ago than they are now; and that Bensalem has been sending ships to Europe to collect both knowledge and technology, but in disguise (as Europeans) so that their existence still remains unknown. Bacon devotes considerable prose to thoroughly describing how patriarchal order is honored and maintained in a ceremony called “Feast of the Family,” and he devotes approximately the last third of the text to describing “Salomon’s House.” A democratic priest of “Salomon’s House,” as Bacon writes, explains at length the goals, activities, and organization of the society to the sailors. The “Father” tells them that its purpose is to collect and apply knowledge; he describes the many aspects of the natural world that they study, including every plants, animal, and herb imaginable, the elements, light, movement, and sound, and all manner of technology; and recounts how they travel around the world to collect knowledge; sailing out of port from either Peru (then called Coya) or Mexico (then named Tyrambel). Bacon’s “Father” ends his audience with the sailors with a blessing and by giving them permission to “publish” the information they have learned from him, among others, “…for the good of other nations.”