278 PREFACE TO THE 



due time the egg is hatched and Eros is made mani 

 fest. If it be asked what analogy there is between 

 darkness and the method of exclusions, Bacon s an 

 swer is satisfactory, that darkness is as ignorance, 

 and that in employing the method of exclusions we 

 are all along ignorant of that which at any stage of 

 the process still remains unexcluded. It may again 

 be asked why the method of exclusions is the only 

 one whereby Eros may be disclosed, a question to 

 which Bacon suggests an answer by saying that De- 

 mocritus did excellently well in teaching that atoms 

 are devoid of all sensible qualities. Bacon s opinion 

 seems therefore to be, that any method but a nega 

 tive one would necessarily fail, because that which is 

 sought bears no analogy to any of the sensible objects 

 by which we are surrounded. The parable, he says, 

 maintains throughout the principles of heterogeneity 

 and exclusion : meaning by heterogeneity a strongly 

 marked antithesis between the fundamental qualities 

 of matter and the sensible qualities of which we are 

 directly cognisant. In accordance with this he cen 

 sures Democritus for departing from this principle in 

 giving his atoms the downward motion of gravity and 

 the impulsive motion (motus plagce) which belong to 

 ordinary bodies. Not only are atoms and bodies 

 different as touching their qualities, but also in their 

 motions. 



In these views, which however do not show either 

 that the method of exclusions is the only one which 

 can succeed or that it will always do so, there is 

 much which deserves attention. They show that 

 Bacon had obtained a deep insight into the princi 

 ples of the atomic theory. The earlier developments 



