yellowness, weight, ductility, stability, deliques- | observed in nature, to other subjects immediately cence, solution, and the like, and their degrees connected with it, or not very remote from such and modes, will consider and contrive how to immediate connexion. But the higher and radiunite them in any body, so as to* transform it cal operations upon nature, depend entirely on the into gold. And this method of operating belongs primary axioms. Besides, even where man has not to primary action. For it is the same thing to the means of acting, but only of acquiring knowproduce one or many simple natures, except that ledge, as in astronomy, (for man cannot act upon, man is more confined and restricted in his opera- change, or transform the heavenly bodies,) the tions, if many be required, on account of the diffi- investigation of facts or truth, as well as the culty of uniting many natures together. It must, knowledge of causes and coincidences, must be however, be observed, that this method of operat- referred to those primary and universal axioms ing (which considers natures as simple, though in that regard simple natures; such as the nature of a concrete body) sets out from what is constant, spontaneous rotation, attraction, or the magnetic eternal, and universal in nature, and opens such force, and many others which are more common broad paths to human power, as the thoughts of than the heavenly bodies themselves. For, let man can in the present state of things scarcely no one hope to determine the question, whether comprehend or figure to itself. The second kind the earth or heaven revolve in the diurnal motion, of axiom (which depends on the discovery of the unless he have first comprehended the nature of latent process) does not proceed by simple natures, spontaneous rotation. but by concrete bodies, as they are found in nature, and in its usual course. For instance; sup- | pose the inquiry to be, from what beginnings, in what manner, and by what process gold or any metal or stone is generated from the original menstruum, or its elements, up to the perfect mineral: or, in like manner, by what process plants are generated, from the first concretion of juices in the earth, or from seeds, up to the perfect plant, with the whole successive motion, and varied and uninterrupted efforts of nature; and the same inquiry be made as to a regularly deduced system of the generation of animals from coition to birth, and so on of other bodies.

6. But the latent process, of which we speak, is far from being obvious to men's minds, beset as they now are. For, we mean not the measures, symptoms, or degrees of any process which can be exhibited in the bodies themselves, but simply a continued process, which, for the most part, escapes the observation of the senses.

For instance; in all generations and transformations of bodies, we must inquire, what is in the act of being lost and escaping, what remains, what is being added, what is being diluted, what is being contracted, what is being united, what is being separated, what is continuous, what is broken off, what is urging forward, what impedes, what predominates, what is subservient, and many other circumstances.

Nor are these inquiries again to be made in the mere generation and transformation of bodies only, but in all other alterations and fluctuations, we must in like manner inquire; what precedes, what succeeds, what is quick, what is slow, what produces and what governs motion, and the like. All which matters are unknown and unattempted by the sciences, in their present heavy and inactive state. For, since every natural act is brought about by the smallest efforts, or at least such as are too small to strike our senses, let no one hope that he will be able to direct or change nature, unless he have properly comprehended and observed these efforts.

Nor is this species of inquiry confined to the mere generation of bodies, but it is applicable to other changes and labours of nature. For instance; where an inquiry is made into the whole series, and continued operation of the nutritive process, from the first reception of the food, to its complete assimilation to the recipient or into the voluntary motion of animals, from the first impression of the imagination, and the continuous effects of the spirits, up to the bending and motion of the joints; or into the free motion of the tongue and lips, and other accessories which give utterance to articulate sounds. For all these investigations relate to concrete or associated natures, artificially brought together, and take into consideration certain particular and special habits of nature, and not those fundamental and general laws which constitute forms. It must, however, be plainly owned, that this method appears more prompt and easy, and of greater promise than the primary one. In like manner the operative branch, which an-to the antechamber of nature, and do not prepare swers to this contemplative branch, extends and advances its operation from that which is usually

* By the recent discoveries in electric magnetism, copper wires, or, indeed, wires of any metal may be transformed into magnets; the magnetic law or form having been to that extent discovered.

7. In like manner, the investigation and discovery of the latent confirmation in bodies is no less new, than the discovery of the latent process and form. For, we as yet are doubtless only admitted

an entrance into her presence-room. But nobody can endue a given body with a new nature, or transform it successfully and appropriately into a new body, without possessing a complete knowledge of the body so to be changed or transformed. For he will run into vain, or, at least, into difficult

and perverse methods, ill adapted to the nature of the body upon which he operates. A clear path, therefore, towards this object, also must be thrown open, and well supported.

organic body are subject to the same examination. In these, however, as in our former inquiries, and therefore in the whole investigation of latent conformation, the only genuine and clear light which completely dispels all darkness and subtile difficulties, is admitted by means of the primary axioms.

Labour is well and usefully bestowed upon the anatomy of organized bodies, such as those of men and animals, which appears to be a subtile matter, and a useful examination of nature. This species of anatomy, however, is that of first sight, open to the senses, and takes place only in organized bodies. It is obvious, and of ready access, when compared with the real anatomy of latent conformation in bodies which are considered similar, particularly in specific objects and their parts as those of iron, stone, and the similar parts of plants and animals, as the root, the leaf, the flower, the flesh, the blood, and bones, &c. Yet human industry has not completely neglected this species of anatomy: for we have an instance of it in the separation of similar bodies by distillation, and other solutions, which shows the dissimilarity of the compound, by the union of the homogeneous parts. These methods are useful, and of importance to our inquiry, although attended generally with fallacy for many natures are assigned and attributed to the separate bodies, as if they had previously existed in the compound, which, in reality, are recently bestow-sandth part of an integer as an integer itself. ed and superinduced by fire and heat, and the other modes of separation. Besides, it is, after all, but a small part of the labour of discovering the real conformation in the compound, which is so subtile and nice, that it is rather confused and lost by the operation of the fire, than discovered and brought to light.

8. This method will not bring us to atoms,* which takes for granted the vacuum, and the immutability of matter, (neither of which hypotheses is correct;) but to the real particles, such as we discover them to be. Nor is there any ground for alarm at this refinement, as if it were inexplicable, for, on the contrary, the more inquiry is directed to simple natures, the more will every thing be placed in a plain and perspicuous light; since we transfer our attention from the complicated to the simple, from the incommensurable to the commensurable, from surds to rational quantities, from the indefinite and vague to the definite and certain: as when we arrive at the elements of letters, and the simple tones of concords. The investigation of nature is best conducted when mathematics are applied to physics. Again, let none be alarmed at vast numbers and fractions; for, in calculation, it is as easy to set down or to reflect upon a thousand as a unit, or the thou

A separation and solution of bodies, therefore, is to be effected, not by fire indeed, but rather by reasoning and true induction, with the assistance of experiment, and by a comparison with other bodies, and a reduction to those simple natures and their forms, which meet and are combined in the compound; and we must assuredly pass from Vulcan to Minerva, if we wish to bring to light the real texture and conformation of bodies, upon which every occult and (as it is sometimes called) specific property and virtue of things depends, and whence, also, every rule of powerful change and transformation is deduced.

For instance, we must examine what spirit is in every body, what tangible essence; whether that spirit is copious and exuberant, or meagre and scarce, fine or coarse, aeriform or igniform, active or sluggish, weak or robust, progressive or retrograde, abrupt or continuous, agreeing with external and surrounding objects, or differing from them, &c. In like manner must we treat tangible essence, (which admits of as many distinctions as the spirit,) and its hairs, fibres, and varied texture. Again, the situation of the spirit in the corporeal mass, its pores, passages, veins, and cells, and the rudiments or first essays of the

9. From the two kinds of axioms above specified arise the two divisions of philosophy and the sciences, and we will use the commonly adopted terms, which approach the nearest to our meaning, in our own sense. Let the investigation of forms, which (in reasoning at least, and after their own laws) are eternal and immutable, constitute metaphysics, and let the investigation of the efficient cause of matter, latent process, and latent conformation (which all relate merely to the ordinary course of nature, and not to her fundamental and eternal laws) constitute physics. Parallel to these let there be two practical divisions; to physics that of mechanics, and to metaphysics that of magic, in the purest sense of the term, as applied to its ample means and its command over nature.

10. The object of our philosophy being thus laid down, we proceed to precepts, in the most clear and regular order. The signs for the interpretation of nature comprehend two divisions: the first regards the eliciting or creating of axioms from experiment, the second the deducing or deriving of new experiments from axioms. The first admits of three subdivisions into ministrations. 1. To the senses. 2. To the memory.

*The theory of the Epicureans and others. The atoms are supposed to be indivisible, unalterable particles, endued with all the properties of the given body, and forming that body by takes a vacuum for granted, or introduces a tertium quid into their union. They must be separated of course, which either the composition of the body.

+ Compare the three following aphorisms with the three last chapters of the third book of the De Augmentis Scientia

rum.

3. To the mind or reason. For we must first pre-cloth, &c., so that rudders, and axles of wheels, pare as a foundation for the whole a complete and sometimes catch fire, and the West Indians obtain accurate natural and experimental history. We fire by attrition. must not imagine or invent, but discover the acts and properties of nature.

But natural and experimental history is so varied and diffuse, that it confounds and distracts the understanding unless it be fixed and exhibited in due order. We must, therefore, form tables and co-ordinations of instances, upon such a plan, and in such order, that the understanding may be enabled to act upon them.

Even when this is done, the understanding, left to itself and its own operation, is incompetent and unfit to construct its axioms without direction and support. Our third ministration, therefore, must be true and legitimate induction, the very key of interpretation. We must begin, however, at the end, and go back again to the others.

17. Green and moist vegetable matter confined and rubbed together; as roses, peas in baskets; so hay, if it be damp when stacked, often catches fire.

18. Quicklime sprinkled with water.

19. Iron, when first dissolved by acids in a glass, and without any application to fire; the same of tin, but not so intensely.

20. Animals, particularly internally; although the heat is not perceivable by the touch in insects, on account of their small size.

21. Horse dung, and the like excrement from other animals, when fresh.

22. Strong oil of sulphur and of vitriol exhibit the operation of heat in burning linen.

23. As does the oil of marjoram, and like substances, in burning the bony substance of the teeth.

11. The investigation of Forms proceeds thus: A nature being given, we must first present to the understanding all the known instances which 24. Strong and well rectified spirits of wine agree in the same nature, although the subject-mat- exhibit the same effects; so that white of eggs ter be considerably diversified. And this collec-when thrown into it, grows hard and white, almost tion must be made as a mere history, and without in the same manner as when boiled, and bread any premature reflection, or too great degree of becomes burnt and brown as if toasted. refinement. For instance: take the investigation of the form of heat.

6. Flame of every kind.

7. Ignited solids.

8. Natural warm baths.

9. Warm or heated liquids.

10. Warm vapours and smoke: and the air itself, which admits a most powerful and violent heat if confined, as in reverberating furnaces.

11. Damp hot weather, arising from the constitution of the air, without any reference to the time of the year.

12. Confined and subterraneous air in some caverns, particularly in winter.

13. All shaggy substances, as wool, the skins of animals, and the plumage of birds, contain

some heat.

14. All bodies, both solid and liquid, dense and rare, (as the air itself,) placed near fire for any

time.

15. Sparks arising from the violent percussion of flint and steel.

16. All bodies rubbed violently, as stone, wood,

25. Aromatic substances and warm plants, as the dracunculus [arum,] old nasturtium, &c.; which, though they be not warm to the touch, (whether whole or pulverized,) yet are discovered by the tongue and palate to be warm and almost burning when slightly masticated.

26. Strong vinegar and all acids, or any part of the body not clothed with the epidermis, as the eye, tongue, or any wounded part, or where the skin is removed, excite a pain differing but little from that produced by heat.

27. Even a severe and intense cold produces a sensation of burning.*

"Nam Boreæ penetrabile frigus adurit."

28. Other instances.

We are wont to call this a table of existence and presence.

12. We must next present to the understanding instances which do not admit of the given nature; for form (as we have observed) ought no less to be absent where the given nature is absent, than to be present where it is present. If, however, we were to examine every instance, our labour would be infinite.

Negatives, therefore, must be classed under the affirmatives, and the want of the given nature must be inquired into more particularly in objects which have a very close connexion with those others in which it is present and manifest. And this we are wont to term a table of deviation or of absence in proximity.

"Ne tenues pluviæ, rapidive potentia solis Acrior, aut Boreæ penetrabile frigus adurat." Virg. Georg. I. v. 92, 93.

Proximate Instances wanting the Nature of Heat. | of the sun appear to have but little power even

The rays of the moon, stars, and comets, are not found to be warm to the touch, nay, the severest cold has been observed to take place at the full of the moon. Yet the larger fixed stars are supposed to increase and render more intense the heat of the sun, as he approaches them; when the sun is in the sign of the lion, for instance, and in the dog-days.

Second negative to the second affirmative. The rays of the sun in what is called the middle region of the air give no heat, to account for which the commonly assigned reason is satisfactory; namely, that that region is neither sufficiently near to the body of the sun, whence the rays emanate, nor to the earth, whence they are reflected. And the fact is manifested by snow being perpetual on the tops of mountains, unless extremely lofty. But it is observed on the other hand by some, that at the Peak of Teneriffe, and also among the Andes of Peru, the tops of the mountains are free from snow, which only lies in the lower part, as you ascend. Besides, the air on the summit of these mountains is found to be by no means cold, but only thin and sharp; so much so, that in the Andes, it pricks and hurts the eyes from its extreme sharpness, and even excites the orifice of the stomach and produces vomiting. The ancients also observed, that the rarity of the air on the summit of Olympus, was such, that those who ascended it, were obliged to carry sponges moistened with vinegar and water, and to apply them now and then to their nostrils, as the air was not dense enough for their respiration; on the summit of which mountain it is also related, there reigned so great a serenity and calm, free from rain, snow, or wind, that the letters traced upon the ashes of the sacrifices on the altar of Jupiter, by the fingers of those who had offered them, would remain undisturbed till the next year. Those even, who, at this day, go to the top of the Peak of Teneriffe, walk by night and not in the daytime, and are advised and pressed by their guides, as soon as the sun rises, to make haste in their descent, on account of the danger, (apparently arising from the rarity of the atmosphere,) lest their breathing should be relaxed and suffocated.

Third negative to the second affirmative. The reflection of the solar rays in the polar 1egions is found to be weak and inefficient in producing heat; so that the Dutch, who winter ed in Nova Zembla, and expected that their vessels would be freed about the beginning of July from the obstruction of the mass of ice which had blocked it up, were disappointed and obliged to embark in their boat. Hence the direct rays

on the plain, and when reflected, unless they are multiplied and condensed, which takes place when the sun tends more to the perpendicular; for then the incidence of the rays occurs at more acute angles, so that the reflected rays are nearer to each other, whilst, on the contrary, when the sun is in a very oblique position, the angles of incidence are very obtuse and the reflected rays at a greater distance. In the mean time it must be observed, that there may be many operations of the solar rays, relating too to the nature of heat, which are not proportioned to our touch, so that, with regard to us, they do not tend to produce warmth, but, with regard to some other bodies, have their due effect in producing it.

Fourth negative to the second affirmative.

Let the following experiment be made. Take a lens the reverse of a burning glass, and place it between the hand and the solar rays, and observe whether it diminish the heat of the sun, as a burning glass increases it. For it is clear, with regard to the visual rays, that, in proportion as the lens is made of unequal thickness in the middle and at its sides, the images appear either more diffused or contracted. It should be seen, therefore, if the same be true with regard to heat.

Fifth negative to the second affirmative.

Let the experiment be well tried, whether the lunar rays can be received and collected by the strongest and best burning-glasses, so as to produce even the least degree of heat. But if that degree be, perhaps, so subtile and weak, as not to be perceived or ascertained by the touch, we must have recourse to those glasses which indicate the warm or cold state of the atmosphere, and let the lunar rays fall through the burning glass on the top of this thermometer, and then notice if the water be depressed by the heat.*

Sixth negative to the second affirmative.
Let the burning-glass be tried on warm objects
which emit no luminous rays, as heated, but not
ignited iron or stone, or hot water, or the like;
and observe whether the heat become increased
and condensed, as happens with the solar rays.

Seventh negative to the second affirmative.
Let it be tried on common flame.

Eighth negative to the third affirmative.
The effect of comets, (if we can reckon them
amongst meteors,) in augmenting the heat of the
season, is not found to be constant or clear, al-
though droughts have generally been observed to
follow them. However, luminous lines, and pil-

in the table of the degrees of heat. It serves also as a barometer, but is inaccurate in both capacities.

*For the construction of Bacon's thermometer see No. 38