234 NOVUM ORGANUM 



account and observed. We must also note the boundaries 

 of violent motions, such as missiles, projectiles, wheels and 

 the like, since they are also manifestly confined to certain 

 limits. 



Some motions and virtues are to be found of a directly 

 contrary nature to these, which act in contact but not at a 

 distance; namely, such as operate at a distance and not in 

 contact, and again act with less force at a less distance, and 

 the reverse. Sight, for instance, is not easily effective in 

 contact, but requires a medium and distance, although I 

 remember having heard from a person deserving of credit, 

 that in being cured of a cataract (which was done by put 

 ting a small silver needle within the first coat of the eye, to 

 remove the thin pellicle of the cataract, and force it into a 

 corner of the eye), he had distinctly seen the needle moving 

 across the pupil. Still, though this may be true, it is clear 

 that large bodies cannot be seen well or distinctly, unless at 

 the vertex of a cone, where the rays from the object meet 

 at some distance from the eye. In old persons the eye sees 

 better if the object be moved a little further, and not nearer. 

 Again, it is certain that in projectiles the impact is not so 

 violent at too short a distance as a little afterward. 76 Such 

 are the observations to be made on the measure of motions 

 as regards distance. 



There is another measure of motion in space which must 



75 This is not true except when the projectile acquires greater velocity 

 at every successive instant of its course, which is never the case except with 

 falling bodies. Bacon appears to have been led into the opinion from observ 

 ing that gunshots pierce many objects at a distance from which they rebound 

 when brought within a certain proximity of contact. This apparent inconsist 

 ency, however, arises from the resistance of the parts of the object, which 

 velocity combined with force is necessary to overcome. Ed. 



