Xlii PREFACE. 



&quot; it ever breaks up first in the skirts, and last in the 

 &quot; midst. May we not learn from this the force of 

 &quot; union, even in the least quantities and weakest 

 &quot; bodies, how much it conduceth to preservation of 

 &quot; the present form and the resisting of a new. In 

 &quot; like manner, icicles, if there be water to follow 

 &quot; them, lengthen themselves out in a very slender 

 &quot; thread, to prevent a discontinuity of the water ; 

 &quot; but if there be not a sufficient quantity to follow, 

 &quot; the water then falls in round drops, which is the 

 &quot; figure that best supports it against discontinuation ; 

 &quot; and at the very instant when the thread of water 

 &quot; ends, and the falling in drops begins, the water re- 

 &quot; coils upwards to avoid being discontinued. So in 

 &quot; metals, which are fluid upon fusion, though a little 

 &quot; tenacious, some of the mettled mass frequently 

 &quot; springs up in drops, and sticks in that form to the 

 &quot; sides of the crucible. There is a like instance in 

 &quot; the looking-glasses, commonly made of spittle by 

 &quot; children, in a loop of rush or whalebone, where we 

 &quot; find a consistent pellicule of water.&quot; Possessing 

 this peculiar property himself, Bacon constantly ad 

 monishes his readers of its importance. &quot; The eye 

 &quot; of the understanding, (he says,) is like the eye 

 &quot; of the sense : for as you may see great objects 

 &quot; through small crannies or levels, so you may see 

 &quot; axioms of great nature through small and con- 

 Ct temptible instances.&quot; And again, &quot; it should be 

 &quot; considered as an oracle, the saying of the poor 

 &quot; woman to the haughty prince, who rejected 

 her petition as a thing below his dignity to 

 &quot; notice then cease to reign : for it is cer- 



