XXU PREFACE. 



&quot; who rejected her petition as a thing below his 

 &quot; dignity to take notice of ; then cease to reign ; for 

 &quot; it is certain, that whoever will not attend to mat- 

 &quot; ters of this kind, as if they were too minute or 

 &quot; trifling, shall never obtain command or rule over 

 &quot; nature.&quot; 



These two objections stated by Rawley were an 

 ticipated by Lord Bacon in the Novum Organum,* 

 where he mentions a third objection which is, even at 

 this day, repeatedly urged against the Sylva Sylva- 

 rum. &quot; Some&quot; he says, &quot; without doubt, upon 

 &quot; reading our history and tables of invention, will 

 &quot; meet with experiments not well verified, or even 

 &quot; absolutely false, ; and may thence, perhaps, be apt 

 &quot; to suspect, that our inventions are built upon 

 &quot; doubtful principles, and erroneous foundations. 

 &quot; But this is nothing : for such slips must necessarily 

 &quot; happen in the beginning. It is but as if here and 

 &quot; there a letter should be misplaced, or mistaken, in 

 &quot; a writing, or printed book ; which does not, 

 &quot; usually, much interrupt the reader : as such errors 

 &quot; are easily corrected, from the sense of the place. 

 &quot; In the same manner let men observe, that expe- 

 &quot; riments may be falsely believed, and received in 

 &quot; natural history ; and yet soon after be expunged 

 &quot; and rejected, when causes and axioms are disco- 

 &quot; vered. Though, it is true, that if there should 

 &amp;lt;( be many, and frequent, and continued errors, 

 ie in a natural and experimental history, they cannot 



* Article 119. 



