DE PRINCIPIIS ATQUE ORIGINIBUS. 283 



assume an infinity of first principles (the homceomeria 

 of Anaxagoras), each possessed of specific properties. 



Contrasted with these errors is the doctrine that 

 there is one first material principle, &quot; idque fixum et 

 invariabile,&quot; and that all phenomena are to be ex 

 plained, &quot; per hujusmodi principii . . . magnitudines 

 figuras et positiones,&quot; a statement which includes 

 along with the old atomic theory every such hypothesis 

 as the Cartesian. By those only who hold this opinion 

 is Eros rightly displayed ; they show him as he really 

 is, &quot; nativus et exutus.&quot; 



In the interval between writing this tract and the 

 Novum Organum Bacon s opinions seem to have un 

 dergone some change, as he has there condemned the 



O O 



atomists for asserting the existence of &quot; materia non 

 fluxa ; &quot; an obscure phrase, but which appears irrecon 

 cilable with the expression which I have just quoted 

 &quot; fixum et invariabile.&quot; 



However this may be, Bacon next proceeds to enu 

 merate the different forms of doctrine into which the 

 doctrine of a single element has been subdivided. The 

 first principle or primitive matter has been asserted to 

 be water, or air, or fire. Something is then said of the 

 opinions of Thales, of Anaximenes, and of Heraclitus, 

 and they are collectively commended for having given 

 Eros but a single garment, that is, for having ascribed 

 to primitive matter only a single form substantially 

 homogeneous with any of the forms of secondary ex 

 istences. 



The Anaxagorean doctrine of an infinity of elements 

 is then set aside as belonging to. the interpretation of 

 the fable of Coelum, and thus Bacon comes to the doc 

 trine of two opposing principles, with which the re- 



