AND EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY. 223 



do not readily or often occur, but must be sought after as 

 auxiliary, when chiefly wanted, in the very course of inter 

 pretation. If, however, they casually occur, they should be 

 inserted in natural history, provided they do not too much 

 retard its progress. 



vin. With regard to the credit due to the matters ad 

 mitted into our history, they must either be certain, doubt 

 ful, or absolutely false. The first are to be simply stated, 

 the second to be noted with a &quot; report states,&quot; or &quot; they 

 say,&quot; or &quot; I have heard from a person worthy of credit,&quot; and 

 the like. For it would be too laborious to enter into the argu 

 ments on both sides, and would too much retard the author, 

 nor is it of much consequence towards our present object, 

 since (as we have observed in the hundred and eighteenth 

 aphorism of the first book) the correctness of the axioms 

 will soon discover the errors of experiment, unless they be 

 very general. Tf, however, there be any instance of greater 

 importance than the rest, either from its use, or the conse 

 quences dependent upon it, then the author should cer 

 tainly be named, and not barely named, but some notice 

 should be taken as to whether he merely heard or copied it 

 (as is generally the case with Pliny), or rather affirmed it 

 of his own knowledge, and also whether it were a matter 

 within his own time or before it, or whether such as if true 

 must necessarily have been witnessed by many ; or, lastly, 

 whether the author were vain and trifling, or steady and 

 accurate, and the like points, which give weight to testi 

 mony. Lastly, those matters which are false, and yet have 

 been much repeated and discussed, such as have gained 

 ground by the lapse of ages, partly owing to neglect, partly 

 to their being used as poetical comparisons, for instance, 

 that the diamond overpowers the magnet, that garlick 

 enervates, that amber attracts every thing but the herb 

 basil, &.c. 8cc. all these ought not to be silently rejected, but 

 expressly proscribed, that they may never trouble science 

 more. 



It will not, however, be improper to notice the origin of 

 any fable or absurdity, if it should be traced in the course 

 of inquiry, such as the venereal qualities attributed to the 

 herb satyrium from its roots bearing some resemblance to 

 the testicles. The real cause of this formation being the 

 growth of a fresh bulbous root every year, which adheres 

 to that of the preceding year, and produces the twin roots, 

 as is proved by the firm juicy appearance which the new 

 root always presents, whilst the old one is withered and 



