164 NOVUM ORGANUM. 



that of all inanimate substances, the second of vegetables, 

 and the third of animals), is placed, as it were, before the 

 eyes by many reducing instances. 



Again, it is clear that the more refined tissue and con 

 formation of things (though forming the whole body of 

 visible or tangible objects) are neither visible nor tangible. 

 Our information, therefore, must here also be derived from 

 reduction to the sphere of the senses. But the most radical 

 and primary difference of formation depends on the abun 

 dance or scarcity of matter within the same space or dimen 

 sions. For the other formations which regard the dissimi 

 larity of the parts contained in the same body, and their 

 collocation and position, are secondary in comparison with 

 the former. 



Let the required nature then be the expansion or cohe 

 rence of matter in different bodies, or the quantity of matter 

 relative to the dimensions of each. For there is nothing in 

 nature more true than the twofold proposition, &quot; That no 

 thing proceeds from nothing,&quot; and &quot; that nothing is reduced 



to nothing,&quot; but that the quantum, or sum total of matter, 

 is constant, and is neither increased nor diminished. Nor 

 is it less true, &quot; that out of this given quantity of matter, 

 there is a greater or less quantity contained within the 

 same space or dimensions according to the difference of 

 bodies;&quot; as, for instance, water contains more than air. 

 So that if any one were to assert, that a given content of 

 water can be changed into an equal content of air, it is the 

 same as if he were to assert that something can be reduced 

 into nothing. On the contrary, if any one were to assert, 

 that a given content of air can be changed into an equal 

 content of water, it is the same as if he were to assert that 

 something can proceed from nothing. From this abun 

 dance or scarcity of matter are properly derived the notions 

 of density and rarity, which are taken in various and pro 

 miscuous senses. 



This third assertion may be considered as being also suffi 

 ciently certain ; namely, that the greater or less quantity of 

 matter in this or that body, may, by comparison, be reduced 

 to calculation, and exact or nearly exact proportion. Thus, if 

 one should say that there is such an accumulation of matter 

 in a given quantity of gold, that it would require twenty- 

 one times the quantity in dimension of spirits of wine, to 

 make up the same quantity of matter, it would not be far 

 from the truth. 



The accumulation of matter, however, and its relative 



