LIB. I. 2125. 



15 



qusedam inania, et veras signaturas atqae impressiones 

 factas in creaturis, prout mveniuntur. 



XXIV. 



Nullo modo fieri potest, ut axiomata per argumeuta- 

 tionem 22 constituta ad inventionem novorum operum 

 valeant ; quia subtilitas naturae subtilitatem argumen- 

 tandi nmltis partibus superat. Sed axiomata, a par- 

 ticularibus rite et ordiue abstracta, nova particularia 

 rursus facile indicant et designant ; itaqtie scientias 



reddunt activas. 



XXV. 



Axiomata, quae in usu sunt, ex temii et manipulari 

 experiential et paucis particularibus, quae ut pluri- 



Learning Bacon himself calls them 

 (Pickering s ed. p. 193. 195) &quot; Fal 

 lacies&quot; or &quot; False Appearances.&quot; 

 From his love for pregnant words, 

 \ve might have thought, but for his 

 own English terms, that he meant 

 &quot; false Gods;&quot; but it seems pretty 

 clear that he means Phantoms, espe 

 cially as he refers to Plato s cave in 

 the Advancement, where the cap 

 tives saw only shadows, and heard 

 hut the echo of voices. The English 

 word Idol once bore the sense of 

 eiSwXoi/ ; but as it does not now, 

 and as there is nothing to shew that 

 the notion of False Gods was in 

 Bacon s mind, it will be best to 

 translate &quot;Phantoms&quot; or &quot;Appear 

 ances.&quot; 



21 &quot; Divinee mentis ideae.&quot; This 

 language is directly borrowed from 

 Plato. But that Bacon did not mean 

 what Plato is ordinarily supposed to 

 mean by his iSe ai is clear from the 

 whole account of Form in Bk. II. 

 and especially from II. 17. &quot; non 

 intelligantur ea, quae dicimus, de 

 Formis et Ideis abstractis, ut in 

 materia non determinates, aut male 



determinates. &quot; He evidently here 

 alludes to Aristotle s distinction be 

 tween f i8r] ^capiarra and a^coptcrra 

 (Met. xii. 4), and holds that as God 

 is Author of the Universe He has 

 made all things according to the 

 &quot; Patterns in the Divine Mind,&quot; 

 (whatsoever may be hidden under 

 the phrase:) but that it would be 

 futile for Man to endeavour to con 

 template any thing abstracted from, 

 and out of its connexion with, the ma 

 terial world. It would be premature 

 to discuss the Baconian Form here. 

 It will come up again : cf. I. 66. 75. 

 124. II. i 20. De Augm. Sc. V. 4. 

 Adv. of Learning, p. 55, 139 (Pick 

 ering s ed.) See also D. Stewart, 

 Philosophy of the Human Mind, 

 ch. iv. 6. 



22 By controversy only, without 

 appeal to facts. The Schoolmen 

 substituted their universe of con 

 ceptions for that of things ; but 

 made little progress in real know 

 ledge. The subtilty of even the 

 Imagination is far below the subtilty 

 of facts. Cf. I. 10. 



2;i &quot; An experience scanty and in 



