NOVUM ORGANUM. 173 



distance, as it were, nearer, as in the example of tele 

 scopes. 



Many powers act and take effect only by actual touch, 

 as in the percussion of bodies; where the one does not 

 remove the other, unless the impelling touch the impelled 

 body. External applications in medicine, as ointment, and 

 plasters, do not exercise their efficacy, except when in con 

 tact with the body. Lastly, the objects of touch and taste 

 only strike those senses when in contact with their organs. 



Other powers act at a distance, though it be very small, 

 of which but few have as yet been noted, although there be 

 more than men suspect; this happens (to take every day in 

 stances) when amber or jet attract straws, bubbles dissolve 

 bubbles, some purgative medicines draw humours from 

 above, and the like. The magnetic power by which iron 

 and the magnet, or two magnets, are attracted together, 

 acts within a definite and narrow sphere, but if there be any 

 magnetic power emanating from the earth, a little below 

 its surface, and affecting the needle in its polarity, it must 

 act at a great distance. 



Again, if there be any magnetic force, which acts by 

 sympathy between the globe of the earth and heavy bodies, 

 or between that of the moon and the waters of the sea (as 

 seems most probable from the particular floods and ebbs 

 which occur twice in the month), or between the starry 

 sphere and the planets, by which they are summoned and 

 raised to their apogees ; these must all operate at very 

 great distances.* Again, some conflagrations and the 

 kindling of flames take place at very considerable dis 

 tances, with particular substances, as they report of the 

 naphtha of Babylon. Heat too insinuates itself at wide 

 distances, as does also cold, so that the masses of ice which 

 are broken off and float upon the Northern Ocean, and are 

 borne through the Atlantic to the coast of Canada, become 

 perceptible by the inhabitants, and strike them with cold 

 from a distance. Perfumes also (though here there appears 

 to be always some corporeal emission) act at remarkable 

 distances ; as is experienced by persons sailing by the coast 

 of Florida, or parts of Spain, where there are whole woods 

 of lemons, oranges, and other odoriferous plants, or rosemary 

 and marjorum bushes, and the like. Lastly, the rays of light 

 and the impressions of sound act at extensive distances. 



Yet all these powers, whether acting at a small or great 



* Observe the approximation to Newton s theory. 



