 aphorism 48 part 1 of book 2 of the new organ on this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jeffrey Edwards the new organ on by Francis Bacon translated by James Spitting Robert Leslie Ellis and Douglas Denon Heath aphorism 48 part 1 of book 2 48 among prerogative instances I will put in the 24th place instances of strife which I also call instances of predominance these indicate the mutual predominance and subjection of virtues which of them is stronger and prevails which of them is weaker and gives way for the motions and efforts of bodies are compounded decomposed and complicated no less than the bodies themselves I will therefore first propound the principal kinds of motions or active virtues in order that we may be able more clearly to compare them together in point of strength and thereby to point out and designate more clearly the instances of strife and predominance let the first motion be that motion of resistance in matter which is inherent in each several portion of it and in virtue of which it absolutely refuses to be annihilated so that no fire no weight or pressure no violence no length of time can reduce any portion of matter be it ever so small to nothing but it will ever be something and occupy some space and to whatever straights it may be brought will free itself by changing either its form or its place or if this may not be will subsist as it is and will never come to such a pass as to be either nothing or nowhere this motion the schoolmen who almost always name and define things rather by effects and incapacities than by inner causes either denote by the axiom two bodies cannot be in one place or call the motion to prevent penetration of dimensions of this motion it is unnecessary to give examples as it is inherent in every body let the second motion be what I call motion of connection by which bodies do not suffer themselves to be separated at any point from contact with another body as delighting in mutual connection and contact this motion the schoolmen call motion to prevent a vacuum as when water is drawn up by suction or in a pump the flesh by cupping glasses or when water stops without running out in a perforated jar unless the most of the jar be opened to let in the air and in numberless instances of a similar kind let the third motion be what I call motion of liberty by which bodies strive to escape from their preternatural pressure or tension and restore themselves to the dimension suitable to their nature of this motion also we have innumerable examples such as to speak first of escape from pressure the motion of water in swimming of air in flying of water in rowing of air in the undulations of winds of a spring in clocks of which we have also a pretty instance in the motion of the air compressed in children's pop guns when they hollow out an alder twig or some such thing and stuff it up at both ends with a piece of pulpy root or the like and then with a ramrod thrust one of the roots or whatever the stuffing be towards the other hole from which the root at the further end is discharged with a report and that before it is touched by the near root of or the ramrod as for bodies escaping from tension this motion displays itself in air remaining in glass eggs after suction in strings in leather and in cloth which recoil after tension unless it has gained to great strength by continuance and in similar phenomena this motion the schoolmen refer to under the name of motion in accordance with the form of the element an injudicious name enough since it is a motion which belongs not only to fire air and water but to every variety of solid substance as wood iron lead cloth parchment etc each of which bodies has its own proper limit of dimension out of which it cannot easily be drawn to any considerable extent but since this motion of liberty is of all the most obvious and is of infinite application it would be a wise thing to distinguish it well and clearly for some very carelessly confuse this motion with the two former motions of resistance and connection the motion that is of escape from pressure with the motion of resistance of escape from tension with the motion of connection just as if bodies when compressed yield or expand that there may not ensue penetration of dimensions and when stretched recoil and contract that there may not ensue a vacuum whereas if air when compressed had a mind to contract itself to the density of water or wood to the density of stone there would be no necessity for penetration of dimensions yet there might be a far greater compression of these bodies than they ever do actually sustain in the same way if water had a mind to expand to the rarity of air or stone to the rarity of wood there would be no need for a vacuum to ensue and yet there might be affected a far greater extension of these bodies than they ever do actually sustain thus the matter is never brought to a penetration of dimensions or to a vacuum except in the extreme limits of condensation and rarefication whereas the motions of which I speak stop far short of these limits and are nothing more than desires which bodies have for preserving themselves in their consistencies or if the school men like in their forms and not suddenly departing there from unless they be altered by gentle means and with consent but it is far more necessary because much depends upon it that men should know that violent motion which we call mechanical but which democratists who in expounding his primary emotions is to be ranked even below second rate philosophers called motion of stripe is nothing more than this motion of liberty that is of escape from compression to relaxation for either in a mere thrust or in flight through the air there occurs no movement or change of place until the parts of the body moved are acted upon and compressed by the impelling body more than their nature will bear then indeed when each part pushes against the next one after the other the whole is moved and it not only moves forward but revolves at the same time the parts seeking in that way also to free themselves or to distribute the pressure more equally and so much for this motion that the fourth motion be that to which I have given the name of the motion of matter which is in some sort the converse of the last name motion from the motion of liberty bodies dread loath and shun a new dimension or a new sphere or new expansion or contraction which are all names for the same thing and strive with all their might to recoil and recover their old consistency on the contrary in this motion of matter bodies desire a new sphere or dimension and aspire there to readily and quickly and sometimes as in the case of gunpowder with most violent effort now the instruments of this motion not indeed the soul but the most potent or at any rate the most common are heat and cold for instance air if expanded by tension as by suction in glass eggs labors under a strong desire to recover itself but if heat be applied it longs on the contrary to expand and desires a new sphere and passes into it readily as into a new form so they phrase it and after a certain degree of expansion cares not to return unless invited there to by the application of cold which is not a return but a renewed transmutation in the same way water if made to contract by pressure resists and wishes to become such as it was that is larger but if they're intervene intense and continued cold it changes itself spontaneously and gladly to the density of ice and if the cold be continued long without interruption from heat as in grottoes and caverns of some depth it turns to crystal or some similar material and never recovers its form let the fifth motion be the motion of continuity by which I do not mean simple and primary continuity with some other body for that is the motion of connection but self continuity in a given body for it is most certain that all bodies dread a solution of continuity some more some less but all to a certain extent for while in hard bodies as steel or glass resistance to discontinuity is exceedingly strong even in liquids where it seems to disappear or at all events to be very feeble it is not altogether absent but is certainly there though in its lowest degree of power and betrays itself in very many experiments as in bubbles in the roundness of drops in the thin threads of droppings from roofs in the tenacity of glutinous bodies and the like but most of all does this appetite display itself if an attempt be made to extend the discontinuity to minute fragments for an immortal after a certain amount of pulverization the pestle produces no further effect water does not penetrate into minute chinks even air itself not withstanding its subtlety does not suddenly pass through the pores of solid vessels but only after long insinuation let the sixth motion be that which I call motion for a gain or motion of want it is that by which bodies when placed among quite heterogeneous and hostile bodies if they find an opportunity of escaping from these and uniting themselves to others more cognate though these others be such as have no close union with them do nevertheless embrace the latter and choose them as preferable and seem to view this connection in the light of a gam whence the term as though they stood in need of such bodies for instance gold or any other metal in the leaf does not like the surrounding air if therefore it meet with any thick tangible body as a finger paper what you will it instantly sticks to it and is not easily torn away so to paper cloth and the like do not agree well with the air which is lodged in their pores they are therefore glad to imbibe water or other moisture and eject the air a piece of sugar too or a sponge if dipped at one end in water or wine while the other stands out far above the surface draws the water or the wine gradually upward hence we derive an excellent rule for opening and dissolving bodies for to say nothing of corrosives and strong waters which open for themselves away if there can be found a body proportion to and more in harmony and affinity with a given solid body than that with which it is of a necessity mixed the solid body immediately opens and relaxes itself and shutting out or ejecting the latter receives the former into itself nor does this motion for gain act or exist only in immediate contact for electricity of which Gilbert and others after him have devised such stories is nothing else than the appetite of a body when excited by gentle friction an appetite which does not well endure the air but prefers some other tangible body if it be found near at hand let the seventh motion be what i call the motion of the greater congregation by which bodies are carried toward masses of a like nature with themselves heavy bodies to the globe of the earth light to the compass of the heaven this the schoolmen have denoted by the name of natural motion from superficial considerations either because there was nothing conspicuous externally which could produce such motion and therefore they supposed it to be innate and inherent in things themselves or perhaps because it never ceases and no wonder for the earth and heaven are ever there whereas the causes and origins of most other motions are sometimes absent sometimes present accordingly this motion because it ceases not but when other cease is felt instantly they deem perpetual and proper all others add cetaceous this motion however in point of fact is sufficiently weak and dull being one which except in bodies of considerable bulk yields and succumbs to all other motions as long as they are in operation and though this motion has so filled men's thoughts as to have put all others almost out of sight yet it is but little that they know about it being involved in many errors with regard to it let the eighth motion be the motion of the lesser congregation by which the homogeneous parts in a body separate themselves from the heterogeneous and combined together by which also entire bodies from similarity of substance embrace and cherish each other and sometimes are attracted and collected together from a considerable distance as when in milk after it has stood a while the cream rises to the top while in wine the drake sink to the bottom for this is not caused by the motion of heaviness and lightness only whereby some parts rise up and some sink down but much more by a desire of the homogeneous parts to come together and unite in one now this motion differs from the motion of want in two points one is that in the latter there is the stronger stimulus of a malignant and contrary nature whereas in this motion provided there be nothing to hinder or federate the parts unite from friendship even in the absence of a foreign nature to stir up strife the other point is that the union is here closer and as it were with greater choice in the former if only the hostile body be avoided bodies not closely related come together whereas in the latter substances are drawn together by the tie of close relationship and as it were combined into one and this motion resides in all composite bodies and would readily show itself were it not bound and restrained by other appetites and necessities in the bodies which interfere with the union in question now the binding of this motion takes place generally in three ways by the torpor of bodies by the check of a dominant body and by external motions now for the torpor of bodies it is certain that there resides intangible substances a certain sluggishness more or less and an aversion from change of place in so much that unless they be excited they had rather remain as they are then change for the better now this torpor is shaken off by the help of three things either by heat or by the eminent virtue of some cognate body or by lively and powerful motion and as for the help of heat it is for this reason that heat has been tend to be that which separates heterogeneous and congregates homogeneous parts a definition of the parapetetics justly derided by Gilbert who says it is much the same as if a man were to be dend as that which sows wheat and plants vines for that it is a definition simply by effects and those particular but the definition has a worst fault in as much as these effects such as they are arise not from a peculiar property of heat but only indirectly for cold does the same as I shall afterwards show being caused by the desire of homogeneous parts to unite heat simply aiding to shake off the torpor which had previously bound to the desire as for the help derived from the virtue of a cognate body it is well seen in an armed magnet which excites in iron the virtue of detaining iron by similarity of substance the torpor of the iron being cast off by virtue of the magnet and as for help derived from motion it is shown in wooden arrows having their points also of wood which penetrate more deeply into wood than if they were tipped with steel owing to the similarity of substance the torpor of the wood being shaken off by the rapid motion of these two experiments I have spoken also in the aphorism on clandestine instances that binding of the motion of the lesser congregation which is caused by the restraint of a dominant body is seen in the resolution of blood and urine by cold for as long as those bodies are filled with the active spirit which as lord of the whole orders and restrains the several parts of whatsoever sort so long the homogeneous parts do not meet together on account of the restraint but as soon as the spirit has evaporated or being choked by cold then the parts being freed from restraint meet together in accordance with their natural desire and thus it happens that all bodies which contain an eager spirit as salts and the like remain as they are and are not resolved owing to the permanent and durable restraint of a dominant and commanding spirit that binding of the motion of lesser congregation which is caused by external motion is most conspicuous in the shaking of bodies to prevent putrefaction for all putrefaction depends on the assembling together of homogeneous parts whence there gradually ensues the corruption of the old form as they call it and the generation of anew for putrefaction which paves the way for the generation of a new form is preceded by a dissolution of the old which is itself a meeting together of homogeneous parts that indeed if not impeded is simple resolution but if it be met by various obstacles there follows putrefactions which are the rudiments of a new generation but if which is the present question a frequent agitation be kept up by external motion then indeed this motion of uniting which is a delicate and tender one and requires rest from things without is disturbed and ceases as we see happen in numberless instances for example the daily stirring or flowing of water prevented from putrefying winds keep off pestilence in the air corn turned and shaken in the granary remains pure all things in short that are shaken outwardly are slower to putrefy inwardly lastly I must not omit that meaning of the parts of bodies which is the chief cause of induration and desiccation for when the spirit or moisture turned to spirit has escaped from some porous body as wood bone parchment and the like then the grosser parts are with stronger effort drawn and collected together whence ensues in duration or desiccation which I take to be owing not so much to the motion of connection to prevent a vacuum as to this motion of friendship and union as for the meeting of bodies from a distance this is a rare occurrence and yet it exists in more cases than are generally observed we have illustrations of it when bubble dissolves bubble when medicines draw humours by similarity of substance when the chord of one violin makes the chord of another sound in unison and the like I suspect also that this motion prevails in the spirits of animals though it be altogether unknown at any rate it exists conspicuously in the magnet and magnetized iron and now that we are speaking of the motions of the magnet they ought to be carefully distinguished for these are four virtues or operations in the magnet which should not be confounded but kept apart although the wonder and admiration of men have mixed them up together the first is the attraction of magnet to magnet or of iron to magnet or of magnetized iron to iron the second is its polarity and at the same time its declination the third its power of penetrating through gold glass stone everything the fourth its power of communicating its virtue from stone to iron and from iron to iron without communication of substance in this place however I am speaking only of the first of these virtues that is its attractive power remarkable also is the motion of attraction between quicksilver and gold in so much that gold attracts quicksilver though made up into ointments and men who work amid the vapors of quicksilver usually hold a piece of gold in their mouths to collect the exhalations which would otherwise penetrate into their skulls and bones by which also the piece of gold is presently turned white and so much for the motion of the lesser congregation let the ninth motion be the magnetic which though it be of the same genus with the motion of the lesser congregation yet if it operates at great distances and on large masses deserves a separate investigation especially if it begin not with contact as most nor lead to contact as all motions of congregation do but simply raises bodies or makes them swell and nothing more for if the moon raises the waters or makes moist things swell if the starry heaven attracts planets to their apiges if the sun holds venus and mercury so that their elongations never exceed a certain distance these motions seem to fall properly neither under the greater nor the lesser congregation but to be of a sort of intermediate and imperfect congregation and therefore ought to constitute a species by themselves let the tenth motion be that of flight a motion the exact opposite of that of the lesser congregation by which bodies from antipathy flee from and put to flight hostile bodies and separate themselves from them or refuse to mingle with them for although in some cases this motion may seem to be an accident or a consequence of the motion of the lesser congregation because the homogeneous parts cannot meet without dislodging and ejecting the heterogeneous still it is a motion that should be classed by itself informed into a distinct species because in many cases the appetite of flight is seen to be more dominant than the appetite of union this motion is eminently conspicuous in the excretions of animals and not less in objects odious to some of the senses especially the smell and the taste for a fetid odor is so rejected by the sense of smell as to induce by consent in the mouth of the stomach a motion of expulsion a rough and bitter taste is so rejected by the palate or throat as to induce by consent a shaking of the head and a shudder but this motion has placed in other things also it is observed in certain forms of reaction as in the middle region of the air where the cold seems to be the effect of the rejection of the nature of cold from the confines of the heavenly bodies as also the great heats and burnings which are found in subterranean places appear to be rejections of the nature of heat from the inner parts of the earth for heat and cold in small quantities kill one another but if they be in large masses as it were in regular armies the result of the conflict is that they displace and eject each other in turn it is also said that cinnamon and other perfumes retain their scent longer when placed near sinks and foul smelling places because they refuse to come out and mingle with stenches it is certain that quicksilver which of itself would reunite into an entire mass is kept from doing so by spittle hogs lard turpentine and the like owing to the ill consent which its parts have with such bodies from which when spread around them they draw back so that their desire to fly from these intervening bodies is more powerful than their desire of uniting with parts like themselves and this is called the mortification of quicksilver the fact also that oil does not mix with water is not simply owing to the difference of weight but to the ill consent of these fluids as may be seen from the fact that spirit of wine though lighter than oil it mixes well enough with water but most of all is the motion of flight conspicuous in nighter and such like crude bodies which abhor flame as in gunpowder quicksilver and gold but the flight of iron from one pole of the magnet is well observed by gilbert to be not a flight strictly speaking but a conformity and meeting in a more convenient situation let the 11th motion be that of assimilation or of self multiplication or again of simple generation by which i mean not the generation of integral bodies as plants or animals but of bodies of uniform texture that is to say by this motion such bodies convert others which are related or at any rate well disposed to them into their own substance and nature thus flame over vapors and oily substances multiplies itself and generates new flame air over water and watery substances multiplies itself and generates new air spirit vegetable and animal over the finer parts as well of watery as of oily substance in its food multiplies itself and generates new spirit the solid parts of plants and animals as the leaf flower flesh bone and the like separately assimilate new substances to follow and supply what is lost out of the juices of their food for let no one adopt the wild fancy of paracelsus who blinded i suppose by his distillations will have it that nutrition is caused only by separation and that in bread and meat lie i nose brain liver in the moisture of the ground root leaf and flower for as the artist out of the rude mass of stone or wood reduces by separation and rejection of what is superfluous leaf flower i nose hand foot and the like so he maintains does archaos the internal artist a deuce out of food by separation and rejection the several members and parts of our body but to leave such trifles it is most certain that the several parts as well similar as organic in vegetables and animals do first attract with some degree of selection the juices of their food which are alike or nearly so for all and then assimilate them and turn them into their own nature nor does this assimilation or simple generation take place only in animate bodies but inanimate also participate therein as has been stated of flame and air more over the non vital spirit which is contained in every tangible animated substance is constantly at work to digest the coarser parts and turn them into spirit to be afterwards discharged when since whose diminution of weight and desiccation as i have stated elsewhere nor must we set apart from assimilation that accretion which is commonly distinguished from alimentation as when clay between stones concretes and turns into a stony substance or the scaly substance on the teeth turns into a substance as hard as the teeth themselves and so on for i am of the opinion that there resides in all bodies a desire for assimilation as well as for uniting with homogeneous substances but this virtue is bound as is the other then not by the same means but these means as well as the way of escape from them ought to be investigated with all diligence because they pertain to the rekindling of the vital power in old age lastly it seems worthy of observation that in the nine motions of which i have spoken footnote one which relate to concrete bodies rather than to matter in general end of footnote bodies seem to desire only the preservation of their nature but in this tenth the propagation of it let the twelfth motion be that of excitation a motion which seems to belong to the genus of assimilation and which i sometimes call by that name for it is a motion diffusive communicative transitive and multiplicative as is the other and agreeing with it generally in effect though differing in the mode of effecting and in the subject matter for the motion of assimilation proceeds as it were with authority and command it orders and forces the assimilated body to turn into the assimilating but the motion of excitation proceeds so to speak with art and by insinuation and stealthily simply inviting and disposing the excited body to the nature of the exciting again the motion of assimilation multiplies and transforms bodies and substances thus more flame is produced more air more spirit more flesh but in the motion of excitation virtues only are multiplied and transferred more heat being engendered more magnetic power more putrefying this motion is particularly conspicuous in heat and cold for heat does not diffuse itself in heating a body by communicating of the original heat but simply by exciting the parts of the body to that motion which is the form of heat of which i've spoken in the first vintage concerning the nature of heat consequently heat is excited far more slowly and with far greater difficulty in stone or metal than in air owing to the unfitness and unreadiness of those bodies to receive this motion so that it is probable that there may exist materials in the bowels of the earth which altogether refuse to be heated because through their greater condensation their destitute of that spirit with which this motion of excitation generally begins in like manner the magna induce iron with a new disposition of its parts in a conformable motion but loses nothing of its own virtue similarly leaven yeast curd and certain poisons excite and invite a successive and continued motion in dough beer cheese or the human body not so much by the force of the exciting as by the predisposition and easy yielding of the excited body end of aphorism 48 part one of book two recording by jeffrey edwards aphorisms 48 part two 49 and 50 part one of book two of the new organ on this is a libre vox recording all libre vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libre vox.org recording by jeffrey edwards the new organ on by francis bacon translated by james spedding robert leslie ellis and douglas denon heath aphorisms 48 part two 49 and 50 part one of book two let the 13th motion be the motion of impression which also is of the same genus with the motion of assimilation and is of diffusive motions the most subtle i have thought fit however to make a distinct species of it on account of a remarkable difference between it and the two former for the simple motion of assimilation actually transforms the bodies themselves so that you may take away the first mover and there will be no difference in what follows for the first kindling into flame or the first turning into air has no effect on the flame or air next generated in like manner the motion of excitation continues after the first mover is withdrawn for a very considerable time as in a heated body when the primary heat has been removed in magnetized iron when the magnet has been put away in dough when the leaven has been taken out but the motion of impression though diffusive and transitive seems to depend forever on the prime mover so that if that be taken away or ceased act it immediately fails and comes to an end and therefore the effect must be produced in a moment or at any rate in a very brief space of time the motions therefore of assimilation and excitation i call motions of the generation of Jupiter because the generation continues but this the motion of the generation of Saturn because the birth is immediately devoured and absorbed it manifests itself in three things in rays of light in the percussions of sounds and in magnetism as regards the communication of the influence for if you take away light colors and its other images instantly disappear if you take away the original percussion and the vibration of the body thence produced the sound soon after dies away for those sounds are troubled as they pass through their medium by winds as if by waves yet it must be carefully noted that the original sound does not last all the time the resonance goes on for if you strike a bell the sound seems to be continued for a good long time whereby we might easily be led into the error of supposing that during the whole of the time the sound is as it were floating and hanging in the air which is quite untrue for the resonance is not the identical sound but a renewal of it as is shown by quieting or stopping the body struck for if the bell be held tight so that it cannot move the sound at once comes to an end and resounds no more as in stringed instruments if after the first percussion the string be touched either with the finger as in the harp or with the quill as in the spinet the resonance immediately ceases again when the magnet is removed the iron immediately drops the moon indeed cannot be removed from the sea nor the earth from the falling body and therefore we can try no experiment in these cases but the principle is the same let the 14th motion be the motion of configuration or position by which bodies seem to desire not union or separation but position co-location and configuration with respect to others this motion is a very abstruse one and has not been well investigated in some cases indeed it seems to be without a cause though not I believe really so for if it be asked why the heavens revolve rather from east to west than from west to east or why they turn on poles placed near the bears rather than about Orion or in any other part of heaven such questions seem to border on insanity since these phenomena ought rather to be received as results of observation and merely positive facts but though there are no doubt in nature certain things ultimate and without cause this does not appear to me to be one of them being caused in my opinion by a certain harmony and consent of the universe which has not yet fallen under observation and if we admit the motion of the earth from west to east the same questions remain for it also moves on certain poles and why it might be asked should these poles be placed where they are rather than anywhere else again the polarity direction and declination of the magnet are referable to this motion they are also found in bodies natural as well as artificial especially in solids a certain co-location and position of parts and a kind of threads and fibers which ought to be carefully investigated since until they are understood these bodies cannot be conveniently managed or controlled but those ediings in the fluids by which when pressed before they can free themselves they relieve each other that they may all have a fair share of the pressure belonging more properly to the motion of liberty let the 15th motion be the motion of transition or motion according to the passages by which the virtues of bodies are more or less impeded or promoted by their media according to the nature of the body and of the acting virtues and also of the medium for one medium suits light another sound another heat and cold another magnetic virtues and so on let the 16th motion be the royal as i call it or political motion by which the predominant and commanding parts in any body curb tame subdue and regulate the other parts and compel them to unite separate stand still move and range themselves not in accordance with their own desires but as may conduce to the well-being of the commanding part so that there is a sort of government and polity exerted by the ruling over the subject parts this motion is eminently conspicuous in the spirits of animals where as long as it is in vigor it tempers all the motions of the other parts it is found however in other bodies in a lower degree as i said of blood and urine which are not decomposed till the spirit which mixes and keeps together their parts be discharged or quenched nor is this motion confined to spirits though in most bodies the spirits are masters owing to their rapid and penetrating motion but in bodies of greater density and not filled with a lively and quickening spirit such as there is in quicksilver and vitriol the thicker parts are the masters so that unless this yoke and restraint be by some expedient shaken off there is very little hope of any new transformation of such bodies but let no one suppose that i am forgetful of the point at issue because while this series and distribution of motions tends to nothing else but the better investigation of their predominancy by instances of strife i now make mention of predominancy among the motions themselves for in describing this royal motion i am not treating of predominancy of motions or virtues but of the predominancy of parts in bodies such being the predominancy which constitutes the peculiar species of motion in question let the 17th motion be the spontaneous motion of rotation by which bodies delighting in motion and favorably placed for it enjoy their own nature and follow themselves not another body and court so to speak their own embraces for bodies seem either to move without limit or to remain altogether at rest or to tend to a limit at which according to their nature they either revolve or rest those which are favorably placed if they delight in motion move in a circle with a motion that is eternal and infinite those which are favorably placed and a poor motion remain at rest those which are not favorably placed move in a right line as the shortest path to consort with bodies of their own nature but this motion of rotation admits of nine differences regarding one the center around which the bodies move two the poles on which they move three their circumference or orbit according to their distance from the center four their velocity according to the greater or less rapidity of their rotation five the course of their motion as from east to west or from west to east six their declination from a perfect circle by spiral lines more or less distant from their center seven their declination from a perfect circle by spiral lines more or less distant from their poles eight the greater or lesser distance of these spirals from each other nine and lastly the variation of the poles themselves if they be movable which however has nothing to do with rotation unless it be circular this motion in common and long received opinion is looked upon as the proper motion of heavenly bodies though there is a grave dispute with regard to it among some both of the ancients and of the moderns who have attributed rotation to the earth but a juster question perhaps arises upon this if it be not past question namely whether this motion admitting that the earth stands still is confined to the heavens it does not rather descend and communicate itself to the air and waters the motion of rotation in missiles as in darts arrows musket balls and the lake i refer to the motion of liberty let the 18th motion be the motion of trepidation to which as understood by astronomers i do not attach much credit but in searching carefully everywhere for the appetites of natural bodies this motion comes before us and ought it seems to constitute a species by itself it is a motion of what may be called perpetual captivity and occurs when bodies that have not quite found their right place and yet are not altogether uneasy keep forever trembling and stirring themselves restlessly neither content as they are nor daring to advance further such emotion is found in the heart and pulses of animals and must of necessity occur in all bodies which so exist in a mean state between conveniences and inconveniences that when disturbed they strive to free themselves and being again repulsed are yet forever trying again let the 19th and last motion be one which though it hardly answers to the name is yet indisputably a motion and let us call it the motion of repose or of a version to move it is by this motion that the earth stands still in its mass while its extremities are moving toward the middle not to an imaginary center but to union by this appetite also all bodies of considerable density of horror motion indeed the desire of not moving is the only appetite they have and though in countless ways they be enticed and challenged to move they yet as far as they can maintain their proper nature and if compelled to move they nevertheless seem always intent on recovering their state of rest and moving no more while thus engaged indeed they show themselves active and struggle for it with agility and swiftness enough as weary and impatient of all delay of this appetite but a partial representation can be seen since here with us from the subduing and concocting power of the heavenly bodies all tangible substances are not only not condensed to their utmost but are even mixed with some portion of spirit thus then have I set forth the species or simple elements of motion appetites and active virtues which are in nature most general and under these heads no small portion of natural science is sketched out I do not however mean to say that other species may not be added or that the divisions I have made may not be drawn more accurately according to the true veins of nature or reduced to a smaller number observe nevertheless that I am not here speaking of any abstract divisions as if one were to say that bodies desire either the exaltation or the propagation or the fruition of their nature or again that the motions of things tend to the preservation and good either of the universe as resistance and connection or of great holes as the motions of the greater congregation rotation and diversion to move or of special forms as the rest for though these assertions be true yet unless they be defined by true lines in matter in the fabric of nature they are speculative and of little use meanwhile these will suffice and be of good service in weighing the predominancies of virtues and finding out instances of strife which is our present object four of the motions I have set forth some are quite invincible some are stronger than others feathering curbing arranging them some carry farther than others some outstrip others in speed some cherish strengthen and large and accelerate others the motion of resistance is all together adamantine and invincible whether the motion of connection be so I am still undecided for I'm not prepared to say for certain whether or no there be a vacuum either collected in one place or interspersed in the pores of bodies but of one thing I am satisfied that the reason for which a vacuum was introduced by leucipus and democratis namely that without it the same bodies could not embrace and fill sometimes larger and sometimes smaller spaces is a false one for matter is clearly capable of folding and unfolding itself in space within certain limits without the interposition of a vacuum nor is there in air two thousand times as much of vacuity as there is in gold which on their hypothesis there should be of this I am sufficiently convinced by the potency of the virtues of pneumatical bodies which otherwise would be floating in empty space like fine dust and by many other proofs as for the other motions they rule and are ruled in turn in proportion to their vigor quantity velocity force of projection and also to the helps and hindrances they meet with for instance there are some armed magnets that hold and suspend iron of 60 times their own weight so far does the motion of the lesser prevail over the motion of the greater congregation but if the weight be increased it is overcome a lever of given strength will raise a given weight so far does the motion of liberty prevail over that of greater congregation but if the weight be increased it is overcome leather stretches to a certain extent without breaking so far does the motion of continuity prevail over the motion of tension but if the tension be increased the leather breaks and the motion of continuity is overcome water runs out of a crack of a certain size so far does the motion of the greater congregation prevail over the motion of continuity but if the crack be smaller it gives way and the motion of continuity prevails if you charge a gun with ball and sulfur only and apply the match the ball is not discharged the motion of the greater congregation overcoming in this case the motion of matter but if you charge with gunpowder the motion of matter in the sulfur prevails being aided by the motions of matter and of flight in the nighter and so of other cases instances of strife therefore which point out the predominancies of virtues together with the manner and proportion in which they predominate or give place should be sought and collected from all quarters with keen and careful diligence nor should we examine less carefully the modes in which these motions give way that is to say whether they stop altogether or whether they continue to resist but are overpowered for in bodies here with us there is no real rest either in holes or in parts but only in appearance and this apparent rest is caused either by equilibrium or by absolute predominancy of motions by equilibrium as in scales which stand still if the weights be equal by predominancy as in watering pots with holes in them where the water rests and is kept from falling out by the predominancy of the motion of connection but it should be observed as i have said how far these yielding motions carry their resistance for if a man be pinned to the ground tied hand and foot or otherwise held fast and yet struggle to rise with all his might the resistance is not the less though it be unsuccessful but the real state of the case i mean whether by predominancy the yielding motion is so to speak annihilated or rather whether a resistance is continued though we cannot see it well perhaps though latent in the conflicts of motions be apparent in their concurrence for example let trial be made in shooting see how far a gun will carry a ball straight or as they say point blank and then try whether if it be fired upward the stroke will be feebler than when it is fired downward where the motion of gravity concurs with the blow lastly such cannons of predominance as we meet with should be collected for instance that the more common the good sought the stronger the motion thus the motion of connection which regards communion with the universe is stronger than the motion of gravity which regards only communion with dense bodies again that appetites which aim at a private good seldom prevail against appetites which aim at a more public good except in small quantities rules which i wish held good in politics section 49 among prerogative instances i will put in the 25th place intimating instances those i mean which intimate or point out what is useful to man for may power and mere knowledge exalt human nature but do not bless it we must therefore gather from the whole store of things such as make most for the uses of life but a more proper place for speaking of these will be when i come to treat of applications to practice besides in the work itself of interpretation in each particular subject i always assign a place to the human chart or chart of things to be wished for for to form judicious wishes is as much a part of knowledge as to ask judicious questions section 50 among prerogative instances i will put in the 26th place polycrest instances or instances of general use they are those which relate to a variety of cases and occur frequently and therefore save no small amount of labor and fresh demonstration of the instruments and contrivances themselves the proper place for speaking will be when i come to speak of applications to practice and modes of experimenting moreover those which have been already discovered and come into use will be described in the particular histories of the several arts at present i will subjoin a few general remarks on them as examples merely of this general use besides the simple bringing together and putting a thunder of them man operates upon natural bodies chiefly in seven ways vis either by exclusion of whatever impedes and disturbs or by compressions extensions agitations and the like or by heat and cold or by continuance in a suitable place or by the checking and regulation of motion or by special sympathies or by the seasonable and proper alternation series and succession of all these ways or at any rate of some of them with regard to the first the common air which is everywhere about us and pressing in and the rays of the heavenly bodies cause much disturbance whatever therefore serves to exclude them may justly be reckoned among things of general use to this head belong the material and thickness of the vessels in which the bodies are placed on which we are going to operate also the perfect stopping up of vessels by consolidation and luteum sapientiae as the chemists call it also the closing in of substances by liquids poured on the outside is a thing of very great use as when they pour oil on wine or juices of herbs which spreading over the surface like a lid preserves them excellently from the injury of the air nor are powders bad things for though they contain air mixed up with them they yet repelled the force of the body of air round about as we see in the preservation of grapes and other fruits in sand and flour it is good to spread bodies over with wax honey pitch and like tenacious substances for the more perfect enclosure of them and to keep off the air and heavenly bodies I have sometimes tried the effect of laying up a vessel or some other body in quick silver which of all substances that can be poured round another is far the densest caverns again and subterraneous pits are of great use in keeping off the heat of the sun and that open air which preys upon bodies and such are used in the north of Germany as granaries the sinking of bodies in water has likewise the same effect as I remember to have heard of bottles of wine being let down into a deep well to cool but through accident or neglect being left there for many years and then taken out and that the wine not only was free from sourness or flatness but tasted much finer owing it would seem to a more exquisite co-mixture of its parts and if the case require that bodies be let down to the bottom of the water as in a river or the sea without either touching the water or being enclosed in stopped vessels but surrounded by air alone there is good use in the vessel which has been sometimes employed for working underwater on sunk ships whereby divers are enabled to remain a long while below and take breath from time to time this machine was a hollow bell made of metal which being let down parallel to the surface of the water carried with it to the bottom all the air contained it stood on three feet like a tripod the height of which was somewhat less than that of a man so that the diver when his breath failed could put his head into the hollow of the bell take breath and then go on with his work I have heard also of a sort of machine or boat capable of carrying men underwater for some distance be that as it may under such a vessel as I have described bodies of any sort can easily be suspended and it is on that account that I have mentioned this experiment there is also another advantage in the careful and complete closing of bodies for not only does it keep the outer air from getting in of which I have already spoken but also it keeps the spirit of the body on which the operation is going on inside from getting out for it is necessary for one who operates on natural bodies to be certain of his total quantities that is that nothing evaporates or flows away for then and then only are profound alterations made in the bodies when while nature prevents annihilation art prevents also the loss or escape of any part on this subject there is prevailed a false opinion which if true would make us well nigh despair of preserving the perfect quantity without diminution namely the spirits of bodies and air when rarified by a high degree of heat cannot be contained in closed vessels but escape through their more delicate pores to this opinion men have been led by common experiment of an inverted cup placed on water with a candle in it or a piece of paper lighted the consequence of which is that the water is drawn up and also by similar experiments of cupping glasses which when heated over flame draw up the flesh for in each of these experiments they imagine that the rarified air escapes and that its quantity being thereby diminished the water or flesh comes up into its place by the motion of connection but this is altogether a mistake for the air is not diminished in quantity but contracted in space nor does the motion of the rising of the water commence till the flame is extinguished or the air is cooled and therefore physicians to make their cupping glasses draw better lay on them a cold sponge dipped in water and therefore there is no reason why men should be much afraid of the easy escape of air or spirits for though it be true that the most solid bodies have pores still air or spirit do not easily submit to such extremely fine comminution just as water refuses to run out at very small chinks with regard to the second of the seven modes of operating above mentioned it is particularly to be observed that compression and such violent means have indeed with respect to local motion and the like a most powerful effect as in machines and projectiles an effect which even causes the destruction of organic bodies and of such virtues as consist altogether in motion for all life nay all flame and ignition is destroyed by compression just as every machine is spoiled or deranged by the same it causes the destruction likewise of virtues which consist in the position and coarser dissimilarity of parts this is the case with colors for the whole flower has not the same color as when it is bruised nor the whole piece of amber as the same piece pulverized so also it is with tastes for there is not the same taste in an unright pair as there is in a squeezed and softened one for it manifestly contracts sweetness by the process but for the more remarkable transformations and alterations of bodies of uniform structure such violent means are of little avail since bodies do not acquire thereby a new consistency that is constant and quiescent but one which is transitory and ever striving to recover and liberate itself it would not be a miss however to make some careful experiments for the purpose of ascertaining whether the condensation or the rarefication of a body of nearly uniform structure as air water oil and the like being induced by violence can be made to be constant and fixed and to become a kind of nature this should first be tried by simple continuance and then by means of helps and consents and the trial might easily have been made if it had but occurred to me when I was condensing water as mentioned above by hammer and press till it burst forth from its enclosure for I should have left the flattened sphere to itself for a few days and after that drawn off the water that so I might have seen whether it would immediately occupy the same dimensions which it had before condensation if it had not done so either immediately or at any rate soon after we might have pronounced the condensation a constant one if it had it would have appeared that a restoration had taken place and that the compression was transitory something of a similar kind I might have tried also with the expansion of air in the glass eggs for after powerful suction I might have stopped them suddenly and tightly I might have left the egg so stopped for some days and then tried whether on opening the hole the air would be drawn up with a hissing noise or whether on plunging them into water as much water would be drawn up as there would have been at first without the delay for it is probable at least it is worth trying that this might have been and maybe the case since in bodies of structure not quite so uniform the lapse of time does produce such effects for a stick bent for some time by compression does not recoil and this must not be imputed to any loss of quantity in the wood through the lapse of time since the same will be the case with a plate of steel if the time be increased and steel does not evaporate but if the experiment succeed not with mere continuance the business must not be abandoned but other aids must be employed for it is no small gain if by the application of violence we can communicate to bodies fixed and permanent natures for thus air can be turned into water by condensation and many other effects of the same kind can be produced man being more the master of violent motions than of the rest end of aphorisms 48 part 2 49 and 50 part 1 of book 2 recording by jeffrey edwards aphorisms 50 part 2 51 and 52 of book 2 of the new organ on this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by jeffrey edwards the new organ on by francis bacon translated by James Speding Robert Leslie Ellis and Douglas Denon Heath aphorisms 50 part 2 51 and 52 of book 2 the third of the seven modes above mentioned relates to that which whether in nature or in art is the great instrument of operation viz heat and cold and herein man's power is clearly lame on one side for we have the heat of fire which is infinitely more potent and intense than the heat of the sun as it reaches us or the warmth of animals but we have no cold save such as is to be got in winter time or in caverns or by application of snow and ice which is about as much perhaps in comparison as the heat of the sun at noon in the torrid zone increased by the reflections of mountains and malls for such heat as well as such cold can be endured by animals for a short time but they are nothing to be compared to the heat of a burning furnace or with any cold corresponding to it in intensity thus all things with us tend to rarefaction and desiccation and consumption nothing hardly to condensation and intonation except by mixtures and methods that may be called spurious instances of cold therefore should be collected with all diligence and such it seems may be found by exposing bodies on steeples in sharp frosts by laying them in subterranean caverns by surrounding them with snow and ice in deep pits dug for the purpose by letting them down into wells by brewing them in quick silver and metals by plunging them into waters which petrify wood by brewing them in the earth as the chinese are said to do in the making of porcelain where masses made for the purpose are left we are told underground for 40 or 50 years and transmitted to airs as a kind of artificial minerals and by similar processes and so too all natural condensations caused by cold should be investigated in order that their causes being known they may be imitated by art such we see in the sweating of marble and stones in the do's condensed on the inside of window panes toward morning after a night's frost in the formation and gathering of vapors into water under the earth from which springs often bubble up everything of this kind should be collected besides things which are cold to the touch there are found others having the power of cold which also condense but which seem to act on the bodies of animals only and hardly on others of this sort we have many instances in medicines and plasters some of which condense the flesh and tangible parts as a stringent and in spicetory medicaments while others condense the spirits as is most observable in soporifics there are two ways in which spirits are condensed by medicaments soporific or provocative of sleep one by quieting their motion the other by putting them to flight thus violets dried rose leaves lettuce and like benedict or benignant medicaments by their kindly and gentle cooling fumes invite the spirits to unite and quiet their eager and restless motion rosewater too applied to the nose in a fainting fit causes the resolved and too relaxed spirits to recover themselves and as it were cherishes them but opiates and kindred medicaments put the spirits utterly to flight by their malignant and hostile nature and therefore if they be applied to an external part the spirits immediately flee away from that part and do not readily flow into it again if taken internally their fumes ascending to the head disperse in all directions the spirits contained in the ventricles of the brain and these spirits thus withdrawing themselves and unable to escape into any other part are by consequence brought together and condensed and sometimes are utterly choked and extinguished though on the other hand the same opiates taken in moderation due by a secondary accident namely the condensation which succeeds the coming together comfort the spirits and render them more robust and check their useless and inflammatory motions whereby they contribute no little to the cure of diseases and prolongation of life nor should we omit the means of preparing bodies to receive cold among others i may mention that water slightly warm is more easily frozen than quite cold besides since nature supplies cold as sparingly we must do as the apothecaries do who when they cannot get a simple take its succidanium or quid pro quo as they call it such as aloes for balsam cassia for cinnamon in like manner we should look round carefully to see if there be anything that will do instead of cold that is to say any means by which condensations can be affected in bodies otherwise then by cold the proper office of which is to affect them such condensations as far as yet appears would seem to be limited to four the first of these is caused by simple compression which can do but little for permanent density since bodies recoil but which perhaps may be of use as an auxiliary the second is caused by the contraction of the coarser parts in a body after the escape of the finer such as takes place in durations by fire in the repeated quenches of metals and like processes the third is caused by the coming together of those homogeneous parts in a body which are the most solid in which previously had been dispersed and mixed with the less solid as in the restoration of sublimated mercury which occupies a far greater space in powder than a simple mercury and similarly in all purging of metals from their dross the fourth is brought about through sympathy by applying substances which from some occult power condense these sympathies or consents at present manifest themselves but rarely which is no wonder since before we succeed in discovering forms and configurations we cannot hope for much from an inquiry into sympathies with regard to the bodies of animals indeed there is no doubt that there are many medicines whether taken internally or externally which condense as it were by consent as i have stated a little above but in the case of inanimate substances such operation is rare there has indeed been spread abroad as well in books as in common rumor the story of a tree in one of the tercera or canary aisles i do not well remember which which is constantly dripping so as to some extent to supply the inhabitants with water and paracelsus says that the herb called rose solus is at noon and under a burning sun filled with dew while all the other herbs rounded are dry but both of these stories i look upon as fabulous if they were true such instances would be of most signal use and most worthy of examination nor do i conceive that those honeydews like manna which are found on the leaves of the oak in the month of may are formed and condensed by any peculiar property in the leaf of the oak but while they fall equally on all leaves they're retained on those of the oak as being well united and not spongy as most of the others are as regards heat man indeed has abundant store and commands thereof but observation and investigation are wanting in some particulars and those the most necessary let the alchemists say what they will for the effects of intense heat are sought for and brought into view but those of a gentler heat which fall in most with the ways of nature are not explored and therefore are unknown and therefore we see that by the heats generally used the spirits of bodies are greatly exalted as in strong waters and other chemical oils that the tangible parts are hardened and the volatile being discharged sometimes fixed that the homogeneous parts are separated while the heterogeneous are in a coarse way incorporated and mixed up together above all that the juncture of composite bodies and their more subtle configurations are broken up and confounded whereas the operations of a gentler heat ought to have been tried and explored whereby more subtle mixtures and regular configurations might be generated and deduced after the model of nature and an imitation of the works of the sun as I have shadowed forth in the aphorism on instances of alliance for the operations of nature are performed by far smaller portions at a time and by arrangements far more exquisite and varied than the operations of fire as we use it now and it is then that we shall see a real increase in the power of man when by artificial heats and other agencies the works of nature can be represented in form perfected in virtue varied in quantity and I may add accelerated in time for the rest of iron is slow in forming but the turning into crocus martis is immediate and it is the same with vertigris and serous crystal is produced by a long process while glass is blown at once stones take a long time to grow while bricks are quickly baked meanwhile to come to our present business heats of every kind with their effects should be diligently collected from all quarters and investigated the heat of heavenly bodies by their rays direct reflected refracted and united in burning glasses and mirrors the heat of lightning of flame of coal fire a fire from different materials of fire close and open straightened and in full flow modified in fine by the different structures of furnaces a fire excited by blowing a fire quiescent and not excited a fire removed to a greater or less distance a fire passing through various media moist heats as of a vessel floating in hot water of dung of external and internal animal warmth of confined hay dry heats as of ashes lime warm sand in short heats of all kinds with their degrees but above all we must try to investigate and discover the effects and operations of heat when applied and withdrawn gradually orderly and periodically at due distances and for due times for such orderly inequality is in truth the daughter of the heavens and mother of generation nor is anything great to be expected from a heat either vehement or precipitate or that comes by fits and starts in vegetables this is most manifest and also in the wombs of animals there is a great inequality of heat from the motion sleep food and passions of the female ingestation lastly and the wombs of the earth itself those i mean in which metals and fossils are formed the same inequality has place and force which makes the unskillfulness of some alchemists of the reform school all the more remarkable who have conceived that by the equitable warmth of lamps and the like burning uniformly they can attain their end and so much for the operations and effects of heat to examine them thoroughly would be premature to the forms of things and the configurations of bodies have been further investigated and brought to light for it will then be time to seek apply and adapt our instruments when we are clear as to the pattern the fourth mode of operating is by continuance which is as it were the steward and almoner of nature continuance i call it when a body is left to itself for a considerable time being meanwhile defended from all external force for then only do the internal motions exhibit and perfect themselves when the extraneous and adventitious are stopped now the works of time are far subtler than those of fire for wine cannot be so clarified by fire as it is by time nor are the ashes produced by fire so fine as the dust into which substances are resolved and wasted by ages so too the sudden incorporations and mixtures precipitated by fire are far inferior to those which are brought about by time and the dissimilar and varied configurations which bodies by continuance put on such as putrefactions are destroyed by fire or any violent heat meanwhile it would not be out of place to observe that the motions of bodies when quite shut up have in them something of violence for such imprisonment impedes the spontaneous motions of the body and therefore continuance in an open vessel is best for separations in a vessel quite closed for co-mixtures in a vessel partly closed but with the air entering for putrefactions but indeed instances showing the effects and operations of continuance should be carefully collected from all quarters the regulation of motion which is the fifth mode of operating is of no little service i call it regulation of motion when one body meeting another impedes repels admits or directs its spontaneous motion it consists for the most part in the shape and position of vessels thus the upright cone in alembics helps the condensation of vapors the inverted cone in receivers helps the draining off of the drakes of sugar sometimes a winding form is required and one that narrows and widens in turn and the like for all percolation depends on this that the meeting body opens the way to one portion of the body met and shuts it to another nor is the business of percolation or other regulation of motion always performed from without it may also be done by a body within a body as when stones are dropped into water to collect the earthly parts or when syrups are clarified with the whites of eggs that the coarser parts may adhere there too after which they may be removed it is also to this regulation of motion that telsius has rashly and ignorantly enough attributed the shapes of animals which he says are owing to the channels and folds in the womb but he should have been able to show the like formation in the shells of eggs in which there are no wrinkles or inequalities it is true however that the regulation of motion gives the shapes in molding and casting operations by consents or aversions which is the sixth mode often lie deeply hid for what are called occult and specific properties or sympathies and antipathies are in great part corruptions of philosophy nor can we have much hope of discovering the consents of things before the discovery of forms and simple configurations for consent is nothing else than the adaptation of forms and configurations to each other the broader and more general consents of things are not however quite so obscure i will therefore begin with them their first and chief diversity is this that some bodies differ widely as to density and rarity but agree in configurations while others agree as to density and rarity but differ in configurations for it is not being ill observed by the chemists in their triad of first principles that sulfur and mercury runs through the whole universe for what they add about salt is absurd and introduced merely to take in bodies earthy dry and fixed but certainly in these two one of the most general consents in nature does seem to be observable for there is consent between sulfur oil and greasy exhalation flame and perhaps the body of a star so is there between mercury water and watery vapors air and perhaps the pure and inter-sidereal ether yet these two quaternions or great tribes of things each within its own limits differ immensely in quantity of matter and density but agree very well in configuration as appears in numerous cases on the other hand metals agree well together in quantity and density especially as compared with vegetables etc but differ very widely in configuration on like manner vegetables and animals vary almost infinitely in their configurations but in quantity of matter or density their variation is confined to narrow limits the next most general consent is that between primary bodies and their supports that is their menstrual and foods we must therefore inquire under what climates in what earth and at what depth the several metals are generated and so of gems whether produced on rocks or in mines also in what soil the several trees and shrubs and herbs thrive best and take so to speak most delight moreover what manureings whether by dung of any sort or by chalk sea sand ashes etc do the most good and which of them are most suitable and effective according to the varieties of soil again the grafting and inoculating of trees and plants and the principle of it that is to say what plants prosper best on what stocks depends much on sympathy under this head it would be an agreeable experiment which i have heard has been lately tried of engrafting forest trees a practice hitherto confined to fruit trees whereby the leaves and fruit are greatly enlarged and the trees made more shady in like manner the different foods of animals should be noted under general heads and with their negatives for coniferous animals cannot live on herbs whence the order of fulians though the will in man has more power over the body than in other animals has after trial they say well nigh disappeared the thing not being indurable by human nature also the different materials of putrefaction whence animal cule are generated should be observed the consents of primary bodies with their subordinates for such those may be considered which i have noted are sufficiently obvious to these may be added the consents of the senses with their objects for these consents since they are most manifest and have been well observed and keenly sifted may possibly shed great light on other consents also which are latent but the inner consents and aversions or friendships and enmities of bodies for i am almost weary of the words sympathy and antipathy on account of the superstitions and vanities associated with them are either falsely ascribed or mixed with fables or from want of observation very rarely met with for if it be said that there is enmity between the vine and coalworked because when planted near each other they do not thrive the reason is obvious that both of these plants are succulent and exhaust the ground and thus one robs the other if it be said there's consent and friendship between corn and the corn cockle or the wild poppy because these herbs hardly come up except in plowed fields it should rather be said that there's enmity between them because the poppy and corn cockle are emitted and generated from a juice of the earth which the corn has left and rejected so that sowing the ground with corn prepares it for their growth and of such false ascriptions there is a great number as for fables they should be utterly exterminated there remains indeed a scanty store of consents which have been approved by sure experiment such as those of the magnet and iron of gold and quicksilver and the like in chemical experiments on metals there are found also some other worthy of observation but they are found in greatest abundance if one may speak of abundance in such a scarcity in certain medicines which by their occult as they're called and specific properties have relation either to limbs or humours or diseases or sometimes to individual natures nor should we omit the consents between the motions and changes of the moon and the affections of bodies below such as may be gathered and admitted after strict and honest scrutiny from experiments in agriculture navigation medicine and other sciences but the rarer all the instances of more secret consents are the greater the diligence with which they should be sought after by means of faithful and honest traditions and narrations provided this be done without any levity or credulity but with an anxious and so to speak a doubting faith there remains a consent of bodies in artificial perhaps in mode of operation but in use a polycrest which should in no wise be omitted but examined into with careful attention I mean the proneness or reluctance of bodies to draw together or unite by composition or simple a position for some bodies are mixed together and incorporated easily but others with difficulty and reluctance thus powders mix best with water ashes and lime with oils and so on nor should we merely collect instances of the propensity or a version of bodies for mixture but also of the collocation of their parts of their distribution and digestion when they are mixed and finally of their predominancy after the mixture is completed there remains the seventh and last of the seven modes of operation namely the means of operating by the alternation of the former six but it would not be seasonable to bring forward examples of this till our search has been carried somewhat more deeply into the other singly now a series or chain of such alternations adapted to particular effects is a thing at once most difficult to discover and most effective to work with but men are utterly impatient both of the inquiry and the practice though it is the very thread of the labyrinth as regards works of any magnitude let this suffice to exemplify the polycrest instances section 51 among prerogative instances I will put in the 27th and last place instances of magic and which I mean those wherein the material or efficient cause is so scanty or small as compared with the work and effect produced so that even where they are common they seem like miracles some at first sight others even after attentive consideration these indeed nature of herself supplies sparingly but what she may do when her folds have been shaken out and after the discovery of forms and processes and configurations time will show but these magical effects according to my present conjecture are brought about in three ways either by self multiplication as in fire and in poisons called specific and also in motions which are increased in power by passing from wheel to wheel or by excitation or invitation in another body as in the magnet which excites numberless needles without losing any of its virtue or in yeast and the like or by anticipation of motion as in the case already mentioned of gunpowder and cannons and mines of which ways the two former require a knowledge of consents the third a knowledge of the measurement of motions whether there be any mode of changing bodies per minima as they call it and of transposing the subtler configurations of matter a thing required in every sort of transformation of bodies so that art may be enabled to do in a short time that which nature accomplishes by many windings is a point on which I have at present no sure indications and as in matter solid and true I aspire to the ultimate and supreme so do I forever hate all things vain and too mid and do my best to discard them section 52 so much then for the dignities or prerogatives of instances it must be remembered however that in this organ on of mine I am handling logic not philosophy but since my logic aims to teach and instruct the understanding not that it may with the slender tendrils of the mind snatch at and lay hold of abstract notions as the common logic does but that it may in very truth dissect nature and discover the virtues and actions of bodies with their laws as determined in matter so that this science flows not merely from the nature of the mind but also from the nature of things no wonder that it is everywhere sprinkled and illustrated with speculations and experiments in nature as examples of the art I teach it appears then from what has been said that there are 27 prerogative instances namely solitary instances migratory instances striking instances clandestine instances constitutive instances conformable instances singular instances deviating instances bordering instances instances of power instances of companionship and of enmity subjunctive instances instances of alliance instances of the finger post instances of divorce instances of the door summoning instances instances of the road instances supplementary dissecting instances instances of the rod instances of the course doses of nature instances of strife intimating instances polycrest instances magical instances now the use of these instances wherein the excel common instances is found either in the informative part or in the operative or in both as regards the informative they assist either the senses or the understanding the senses as the five instances of the lamp the understanding either by hastening the exclusion of the form as solitary instances or by narrowing and indicating more nearly the affirmative of the form as instances migratory striking of companionship and subjunctive or by exalting the understanding and leading it to genera and common natures either immediately as instances clandestine singular and of alliance or in the next degree as constitutive or in the lowest as conformable or by setting the understanding right when led astray by habit as deviating instances or by leading it to the great form or fabric of the universe as bordering instances or by gathering it against false forms and causes as instances of the finger post and of divorce in the operative part they either point out or measure or facilitate practice they point it out by showing with what we should begin that we may not go again over old ground as instances of power or to what we should aspire if means be given as intimating instances the four mathematical instances measure practice polycrest and magical instances facilitate it again out of these 27 instances there are some of which we must make a collection at once as i said above without waiting for the particular investigation of natures of this sort are instances conformable singular deviating bordering of power of the dose intimating polycrest and magical for these either help and set right to the understanding and senses or furnish practice with her tools in a general way the rest need not be inquired into till we come to make tables of presentation for the work of the interpreter concerning some particular nature for the instances marked and endowed with these prerogatives are as a soul amid the common instances of presentation and as i said at first a few of them do instead of many and therefore in the formation of the tables they must be investigated with all zeal and set down therein it was necessary to handle them beforehand because i shall have to speak of them in what follows but now i must proceed to the supports and rectifications of induction and then to concretes and latent processes and latent configurations and the rest a set forth in order in the 21st aphorism that at length like an honest and faithful guardian i may hand over to men their fortunes now their understanding is emancipated and come as it were of age whence there cannot but follow an improvement in man's estate and an enlargement of his power over nature for man by the fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence see and from his dominion over creation both of these losses however can even in this life be in some part repaired the former by religion and faith the latter by arts and sciences for creation was not by the curse made all together and forever a rebel but in virtue of that charter in the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread it is now by various labors not certainly by disputations or idle magical ceremonies but by various labors at length and in some measure subdued to the supplying of man with bread that is to the uses of human life end of aphorisms 50 part 2 51 and 52 of book two end of the new organ on by francis bacon translated by james spitting robert leslie ellis and douglas denon heath recording by jeffrey edwards