210 NOVUM ORGANUM 



XXXYII. We will treat of the instances of divorce as 

 the fifteenth of our prerogative instances. They indicate 

 the separation of natures of the most common occurrence. 

 They differ, however, from those subjoined to the accom 

 panying instances; for the instances of divorce point out 

 the separation of a particular nature from some concrete 

 substance with which it is usually found in conjunction, 

 while the hostile instances point out the total separation of 

 one nature from another. They differ, also, from the in 

 stances of the cross, because they decide nothing, but only 

 inform us that the one nature is capable of being separated 

 from the other. They are of use in exposing false forms, 

 and dissipating hasty theories derived from obvious facts; 

 so that they add ballast and weight, as it were, to the 

 understanding. 



For instance, let the acquired natures be those four 

 which Telesius terms associates, and of the same family, 

 namely, heat, light, rarity, and mobility, or promptitude 

 to motion; yet many instances of divorce can be discovered 

 between them. Air is rare and easily moved, but neither 

 hot nor light; the moon is light but not hot; boiling water 

 is warm but not light; the motion of the needle in the com 

 pass is swift and active, and yet its substance is cold, dense, 

 and opaque; and there are many similar examples. 



Again, let the required natures be corporeal nature and 

 natural action. The latter appears incapable of subsisting 

 without some body, yet may we, perhaps, even here find an 

 instance of divorce, as in the magnetic motion, which draws 

 the iron to the magnet, and heavy bodies to the globe of the 

 earth ; to which we may add other actions which operate at 

 a distance. For such action takes place in time, by distinct 

 moments, not in an instant; and in space, by regular de- 



