NOVUM OUGANUM. 91 



THE SECOND BOOK OF APHORISMS. 



On the Interpretation of Nature j or the Reign of Man. 



1. To generate and superinduce a new nature or new 

 natures, upon a given body, is the labour and aim of hu 

 man power : whilst to discover the form or true difference 

 of a given nature, or the nature * to which such nature is 

 owing, or source from which it emanates (for these terms 

 approach nearest to an explanation of our meaning), is the 

 labour and discovery of human knowledge. And subordi 

 nate to these primary labours, are two others of a secondary 

 nature and inferior stamp. Under the first must be ranked 

 the transformation of concrete bodies from one to another, 

 which is possible within certain limits under the second, 

 the discovery, in every species of generation and motion, of 

 the latent and uninterrupted process from the manifest effi 

 cient and manifest subject matter up to the given form : 

 and a like discovery of the latent conformation of bodies 

 which are at rest instead of being in motion. 



2. The unhappy state of man s actual knowledge is ma 

 nifested even by the common assertions of the vulgar. It 

 is rightly laid down that &quot; True knowledge is that which 

 is deduced from causes.&quot; The division of four causes also 

 is not amiss : matter, form, the efficient, and end, or final 

 cause. f- Of these, however, the latter is so far from being 

 beneficial, that it even corrupts the sciences, except in the 

 intercourse of man with man. The discovery of forrn is 

 considered desperate. As for the efficient cause, and matter 

 (according to the present system of inquiry and the received 

 opinions concerning them, by which they are placed remote 

 from, and without any latent process towards, form), they 

 are but desultory and superficial, and of scarcely any avail 



* To ri ?iv tlvai, or rj ovcria of Aristotle. See lib. 3. Metap. 



t These divisions are from Aristotle s Metaphysics, where they are termed 

 1. v\tj i] TO VTroKeifievov. 2. TO T( f)v ilvat. 3. oSrtv f; 

 4. ro ov ivkKtv icai rb 



