ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 183 



found in man s body definite analogies to all the variety of 

 specific natures in the world, perverting very impertinently 

 that emblem of the ancients, that man was a microcosm or 

 model of the whole world, to countenance their idle fancies, 

 Of all natural bodies, we find none so variously compounded 

 as the human: vegetables are nourished by earth and water; 

 brutes by herbs and fruits; but man feeds upon the flesh 

 of living creatures, herbs, grain, fruits, different juices 

 and liquors; and these all prepared, preserved, dressed, 

 and mixed in endless variety. Besides, the way of living 

 among other creatures is more simple, and the affections 

 that act upon the body fewer and more uniform ; but man 

 in his habitation, his exercises, passions, etc., undergoes 

 numberless changes. So that it is evident that the body of 

 man is more fermented, compounded, and organized, than 

 any other natural substance; the soul, on the other side, 

 is the simplest, as is well expressed 



&quot; purumque reliquit 



^Ethereum sensum, atque aural simplicis ignem ;&quot;* 



so that we need not marvel that the soul so placed enjoys 

 no rest, since it is out of its place: &quot;Motus rerum extra 

 locum est rapid us, placidus in loco. &quot; This variable and 

 subtile composition, and fabric of the human body, makes 

 it like a kind of curious musical instrument, easily dis 

 ordered; and therefore, the poets justly joined music and 

 medicine in Apollo; because the office of medicine is to 

 tune the curious organ of the human body, and reduce it 

 to harmony. 



The subject being so variable has rendered the art more 

 conjectural, and left the more room for imposture. Other 

 arts and sciences are judged of by their power and ability, 

 and not by success or events. The lawyer is judged by the 

 ability of his pleading, not the issue of the cause; the pilot, 

 by directing his course, and not by the fortune of the voy 

 age; while the physician and statesman have no particular 



2 Virg. ^Eneid, vi. 746. 3 Arist. on the Heavens. 



