7G NOVUM ORGANUM. 



and the greatest bulwarks can be shaken and overthrown 

 from a considerable distance,&quot; men would have begun to 

 contrive various means of multiplying the force of pro 

 jectiles and machines by means of weights and wheels, and 

 other modes of battering and projecting. But it is impro 

 bable that any imagination or fancy would have hit upon 

 a fiery blast expanding and developing itself so suddenly 

 and violently, because none would have seen an instance at 

 all resembling it, except perhaps in earthquakes or thunder, 

 which they would have immediately rejected as the great 

 operations of nature, not to be imitated by man. 



So, if before the discovery of silk thread any one had 

 observed, &quot; that a species of thread had been discovered fit 

 for dresses and furniture, far surpassing the thread of 

 worsted or flax in fineness, and at the same time in tenacity, 

 beauty, and softness,&quot; men would have begun to imagine 

 something about Chinese plants, or the fine hair of some 

 animals, or the feathers or down of birds, but certainly 

 would never have had an idea of its being spun by a small 

 worm, in so copious a manner, and renewed annually. 

 But if any one had ventured to suggest the silk worm, he 

 would have been laughed at as if dreaming of some new 

 manufacture from spiders. 



So again, if before the discovery of the compass any one 

 had said, &quot; that an instrument had been invented, by which 

 the quarters and points of the heavens could be exactly 

 taken and distinguished ;&quot; men would have entered into 

 disquisitions on the refinement of astronomical instruments, 

 and the like, from the excitement of their imaginations ; but 

 the thought of any thing being discovered, which not being 

 a celestial body, but a mere mineral or metallic substance, 

 should yet in its motion agree with that of such bodies, 

 would have appeared absolutely incredible. Yet were these 

 facts, and the like (unknown for so many ages) not disco 

 vered at last either by philosophy or reasoning, but by 

 chance and opportunity ; and (as we have observed) they 

 are of a nature most heterogeneous, and remote from what 

 was hitherto known, so that no previous knowledge could 

 lead to them. 



We* may, therefore, well hope that many excellent and 



* This hope has been abundantly realized in the discovery of gravity and the 

 decomposition of light, strictly by the inductive method. To a better philosophy 

 we may also attribute the discovery of electricity, galvanism, and their mutual 

 connexion with each other, and magnetism, the inventions of the air pump, 

 steam engine, chronometer, &c. 



