NOVUM ORGANUM. 171 



adopt the latter name, because they twitch the understand 

 ing, and the former because they pierce nature, whence we 

 style them occasionally the instances of Democritus.* They 

 are such as warn the understanding of the admirable and 

 exquisite subtilty of nature, so that it becomes roused and 

 awakened to attention, observation, and proper inquiry : as, 

 for instance, that a little drop of ink should be drawn out 

 into so many letters; that silver merely gilt on its surface 

 should be stretched to such a length of gilt wire ; that a 

 little worm, such as you may find on the skin, should pos 

 sess both a spirit and a varied conformation of its parts ; 

 that a little saffron should imbue a whole tub of water with 

 its colour ; that a little musk or aroma should imbue a much 

 greater extent of air with its perfume ; that a cloud of smoke 

 should be raised by a little incense; that such accurate 

 differences of sounds as articulate words should be conveyed 

 in all directions through the air, and even penetrate the 

 pores of wood and water (though they become much weak 

 ened), that they should be moreover reflected, and that 

 w 7 ith such distinctness and velocity ; that light and colour 

 should for such an extent, and so rapidly pass through 

 solid bodies, such as glass and water, with so great and so 

 exquisite a variety of images, and should be refracted and 

 reflected ; that the magnet should attract through every 

 description of body evei% the most compact ; but (what is 

 still more wonderful) that in all these cases the action of 

 one should not impede that of another in a common medium, 

 such as air ; and that there should be borne through the 

 air, at the same time, so many images of visible objects, so 

 many impulses of articulation, so many different perfumes, 

 as of the violet, rose, &c. besides cold and heat, and mag 

 netic attractions ; all of them, I say, at once, without any 

 impediment from each other, as if each had its paths and 

 peculiar passage set apart for it, without infringing against 

 or meeting each other. 



To these lancing instances, however, we are wont, not 

 without some advantage, to add those which we call the 

 limits of such instances. Thus, in the cases we have pointed 

 out, one action does not disturb or impede another of a dif 

 ferent nature, yet those of a similar nature subdue and ex 

 tinguish each other ; as the light of the sun does that of 

 the candle, the sound of a cannon that of the voice, a strong 

 perfume a more delicate one, a powerful heat a more gentle 



* Alluding to his theory of atoms. 



