98 NO YUM ORGANUM. 



8. This method will not bring us to atoms,* which takes 

 for granted the vacuum, and the immutability of matter 

 (neither of which hypotheses is correct) ; but to the real 

 particles such as we discover them to be. Nor is there any 

 ground for alarm at this refinement as if it were inexpli 

 cable, for, on the contrary, the more inquiry is directed to 

 simple natures, the more will every thing be placed in a 

 plain and perspicuous light ; since we transfer our attention 

 from the complicated to the simple, from the incommen 

 surable to the commensurable, from surds to rational quan 

 tities, from the indefinite and vague to the definite and 

 certain : as when we arrive at the elements of letters, and 

 the simple tones of concords. The investigation of nature 

 is best conducted when mathematics are applied to physics. 

 Again, let none be alarmed at vast numbers and fractions ; 

 for, in calculation, it is as easy to set down or to reflect 

 upon a thousand as an unit, or the thousandth part of an 

 integer as an integer itself. 



9. Fromf the two kinds of axioms above specified arise 

 the two divisions of philosophy and the sciences, and we 

 will use the commonly adopted terms, which approach the 

 nearest to our meaning, in our own sense. Let the investi 

 gation of forms, which (in reasoning at least, and after their 

 own laws) are eternal and immutable, constitute metaphysics, 

 and let the investigation of the efficient cause of matter, 

 latent process, and latent conformation (which all relate 

 merely to the ordinary course of nature, and not to her fun 

 damental and eternal laws) constitute physics. Parallel 

 to these let there be two practical divisions; to physics 

 that of mechanics, and to metaphysics that of magic, in the 

 purest sense of the term, as applied to its ample means and 

 its command over nature. 



10. The object of our philosophy being thus laid down 

 we proceed to precepts, in the most clear and regular order. 

 The signs for the interpretation of nature comprehend two 

 divisions, the first regards the eliciting or creating of 

 axioms from experiment, the second the deducing or de 

 riving of new experiments from axioms. The first admits 



* The theory of the Epicureans and others. The atoms are supposed to be 

 indivisible, inalterable particles, endued with all the properties of the given body, 

 and forming that body by their union. They must be separated of course, 

 which either takes a vacuum for granted, or introduces a tertium quid into the 

 composition of the body. 



t Compare the three following aphorisms with the three last chapters of the 

 third book of the De Augmentis Scientiarum. 



