things possible". In describing the several employments and functions to which the members of the Salomon's House are assigned, the Head of the college said: Even this short excerpt demonstrates that Bacon understood that science requires analysis and not just the accumulation of observations. Bacon also foresaw that the design of experiments could be improved. In describing the ordinances and rites observed by the scientists of Salomon's House, its Head said: And finally, after showing all the scientific background of Salomon's House, he gave the European visitor permission to publish it: The name "Bensalem" "Bensalem" is composed of two Hebrew words: "ben" (בן) - "son", and "salem" or "shalem" (שלם) - "whole" or "complete". Thus the name could be interpreted as meaning "The Son of Wholeness". Interpretations New Atlantis is a story dense with provocative details. There are many credible interpretations of what Bacon was attempting to convey. Below are a couple that give some sense of the rich implications of the text. Bensalem's conversion to Christianity Early in the story, the governor of the House of Strangers relates the incredible circumstances that introduced Christianity to the Island: The traditional date for the writing of St. John's Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) is the end of the 1st century AD. It is not only the presence of the full canon of Scripture long before it was completed or compiled, but also the all-too-convenient proximity of the scientist who will attest to its miraculous nature of this wonder that lends the story an air of incredibility. Later the Father of Salomon's House reveals the institution's skill at creating illusions of light: He also boasts about their ability to fake miracles: Renaker points out in the Latin translation of the second passage (which was published as part of Operum moralium et civilium tomus in 1638 by William Rawley, Bacon's amanuensis, secretary and chaplain, who was also behind the publication of New Atlantis in 1626) is stronger and literally translates to "we could impose on men's senses an infinite number of things if we wanted to present these things as, and exalt them into, a miracle." While this has been read as Bacon's suggesting that the story if not the 'miracle' itself was an invention emanating from Salomon's House, this is perhaps not a safe inference. The relevance of the Brother of Salomon's House to the story of the island's conversion to Christianity