188 NOVUM ORGANUM. 



make them swell without any further effect. For if the 

 moon raise the waters, or cause moist substances to swell, 

 or if the starry sphere attract the planets towards their 

 apogees, or the sun confine the planets Mercury and Venus 

 to within a certain distance of his mass ;* these motions do 

 not appear capable of being classed under either of those of 

 congregation, but to be, as it were, intermediately and im 

 perfectly congregative, and thus to form a distinct species. 



Let the tenth motion be that of avoidance, or that which 

 is opposed to the motion of lesser congregation, by which 

 bodies, with a kind of antipathy, avoid and disperse, and 

 separate themselves from, or refuse to unite themselves with 

 others of a hostile nature. For although this may some 

 times appear to be an accidental motion, necessarily at 

 tendant upon that of the lesser congregation, because the 

 homogeneous parts cannot unite, unless the heterogeneous 

 be first removed and excluded ; yet it is still to be classed 

 separately, and considered as a distinct species, because, in 

 many cases, the desire of avoidance appears to be more 

 marked than that of union. 



It is very conspicuous in the excrements of animals, nor 

 less, perhaps, in objects odious to particular senses, espe 

 cially the smell and taste. For a fetid smell is rejected by 

 the nose, so as to produce a sympathetic motion of expul 

 sion at the mouth of the stomach ; a bitter and rough taste 

 is rejected by the palate or throat, so as to produce a sym 

 pathetic concussion and shivering of the head. This motion 

 is visible also in other cases. Thus it is observed in some 

 kinds of antiperistasis, as in the middle region of the air, 

 the cold of which appears to be occasioned by the rejection 

 of cold from the regions of the heavenly bodies ; and also 

 in the heat and combustion observed in subterraneous spots, 

 which appear to be owing to the rejection of heat from the 

 centre of the earth. For heat and cold, when in small 

 quantities, mutually destroy each other, whilst in larger 

 quantities, like armies equally matched, they remove and 

 eject each other in open conflict. It is said, also, that 

 cinnamon and other perfumes retain their odour longer 

 when placed near privies and foul places, because they will 

 not unite and mix with stinks. It is well known that 

 quicksilver, which would otherwise reunite into a complete 

 mass, is prevented from so doing by man s spittle, pork 

 lard, turpentine, and the like, from the little affinity of its 



* Observe this approximation to Newton s theory ! 



