NOVUM ORQANUM 29 



.4 

 nature, they wrest and corrupt them by their preconceived 



^ fancies, of which Aristotle affords us a single instance, who 



- made his natural philosophy completely subservient to his 

 &amp;gt; ffS logic, and thus rendered it little more than useless and dis- 



* putatious. The chemists, again, have formed a fanciful 

 philosophy with the most confined views, from a few ex 

 periments of the furnace. Gilbert,&quot; too, having employed 

 himself most assiduously in the consideration of the magnet, 

 immediately established a system of philosophy to coincide 



J with his favorite pursuit. 



LY. The greatest and, perhaps, radical distinction be 

 tween different men s dispositions for philosophy and the 

 ; Htjjsciences is this, that some are more vigorous and active in 

 ~ .i observing the differences of things, others in observing their 

 % resemblances ; for a steady and acute disposition can fix its 

 ^thoughts, and dwell upon and adhere to a point, through 

 v -&amp;gt;all the refinements of differences, but those that are sub- 



* r* ^ 



- lime and discursive recognize and compare even the most 

 delicate and general resemblances; each of them readily 

 falls into excess, by catching either at nice distinctions or 

 shadows of resemblance. 



LYI. Some dispositions evince an unbounded admira 

 tion of antiquity, others eagerly embrace novelty, and but 

 few can preserve the just medium, so as neither to tear up 



23 Gilbert lived toward the close of the sixteenth century, and was court , 

 physician to both Elizabeth and James. In his work alluded to in the text he 

 continually asserts the advantages of the experimental over the d priori method 

 in physical inquiry, and succeeded when his censor failed in giving a practical 

 example of the utility of his precepts. His &quot;De Magnete&quot; contains all the 

 fundamental parts of the science, and these so perfectly treated, tha we have 

 nothing to add to them at the present day. 



Gilbert adopted the Copernican system, and even spoke of the contrary 

 theory as utterly absurd, grounding his argument on the vast velocities which 

 such a supposition requires us to ascribe to the heavenly bodies. Ed. 



