58 NOVUM ORGANUM 



quality of heat in the sun and fire, and composition and 

 mixture. Upon an accurate observation the whole ten 

 dency of such positions is wilfully to circumscribe man s 

 power, and to produce a despair of the means of invention 

 and contrivance, which would not only confound the prom 

 ises of hope, but cut the very springs and sinews of indus 

 try, and throw aside even the chances of experience. The 

 only object of such philosophers is to acquire the reputation 

 of perfection for their own art, and they are anxious to ob 

 tain the most silly and abandoned renown, by causing a be 

 lief that whatever has not yet been invented and understood 

 can never be so hereafter. But if any one attempt to give 

 himself up to things, and to discover something new; yet 

 he will only propose and destine for his object the investiga 

 tion and discovery of some one invention, and nothing more; 

 as the nature of the magnet, the tides, the heavenly system, 

 and the like, which appear enveloped in some degree of 

 mystery, and have hitherto been treated with but little suc 

 cess. Now it is the greatest proof of want of skill, to inves 

 tigate the nature of any object in itself alone; for that same 

 nature, which seems concealed and hidden in some instances, 

 is manifest and almost palpable in others, and excites wonder 

 in the former, while it hardly attracts attention in the lat 

 ter. 50 Thus the nature of consistency is scarcely observed 

 in wood or stone, but passed over by the term solid without 

 any further inquiry about the repulsion of separation or the 



50 The methods by which Newton carried the rule and compass to the boun 

 daries of creation is a sufficient comment on the sagacity of the text. The same 

 cause which globalizes a bubble, has rounded the earth, and the same law which 

 draws a stone to its surface, keeps the moon in her orbit. It was by calculating 

 and ascertaining these principles upon substances entirely at his disposal that 

 this great philosopher was enabled to give us a key to unlock the Hysterics 

 of the universe. Ed. 



