APHORISM! 1 



DE 



INTERPRETATIONS NATIIEJE, 



ET 



REttNO HOMINIS. 



APHORISMUS I. 

 JLLOMO 2 , naturae minister et interpres, tantum facit et 



1 &quot; Aphorism!.&quot; See Adv. of 

 Learning, Bk. ii. &quot; Aphorisms, ex 

 cept they be ridiculous, cannot be 

 made but of the pith and heart of 

 Science ; for discourse of illustra 

 tion is cut off; discourse of con 

 nection and order is cut off; de 

 scriptions of practice are cut off; so 

 there remaineth nothing to fill the 

 Aphorism but some good quantity 

 of observation.&quot; Again, Nov. Org. 

 1. 86. &quot; Aphorismi sive breves, ese- 

 demque sparsa? nee methodo re- 

 vinctae sentential&quot; How strangely 

 Bacon ignores his own description 

 of Aphorisms ! For many of those 

 in the Nov. Org. are long chapters 

 full of &quot; Illustration, example, and 

 connection,&quot; and any thing but terse 

 pithy sayings. 



2 This Aphorism occurs at the 

 end of the &quot; Distributio Operis&quot; 

 with the following addition : &quot; Ne- 



que enirn ullse vires causarum cate- 

 nam solvere aut perfringere possint : 

 neque Natura aliter quam parendo 

 vincitur :&quot; i. e. Man is but Nature s 

 Interpreter and Servant, not her 

 Master. Effects follow from their 

 Causes ; we cannot interrupt the 

 connection, we can only interpret 

 (i. e. explain the fact) and serve, 

 (i. e. apply or remove the antece 

 dent, and so help or hinder the pro 

 duction of the consequent.) We 

 cannot break God s rule for things, 

 without the supernatural exertion of 

 His Power. &quot; The power of Man 

 over Nature,&quot; says Sir J. Herschel 

 in his Discourse on Natural Philo 

 sophy, &quot; is limited only by one con 

 dition that it must be exercised in 

 conformity with the Laws of Na 

 ture.&quot; Any thing beyond this is a 

 Miracle, and this constitutes the 

 true distinction between Miracles 



