APPENDIX E. 3C1 



APPENDIX E, 



ON FORM. 



THE word Form is unfortunately one of the most ambiguous 

 Terms in the English language. For without reckoning its 

 applications in ordinary life ; its senses of a form to sit on, i. e. 

 a board ; a form in a school, i. e. they who sit on the board ; 

 form of a limb, i. e. its shape or figure ; form of words, i. c. 

 fixed and unchanging language ; form of application (a mo 

 dification of the last) ; form in casting, i. e. the mould ; and 

 I dare say there are many others ; there arc also several 

 applications of the Term in philosophical language which ren 

 der it extremely difficult to speak clearly concerning it. One 

 source of confusion we may get rid of directly. Form, physi 

 cally speaking, is the outward, the visible development of any 

 substance ; metaphorically speaking, it is just the contrary ; it 

 is what one docs not see ; it is the cause of the external deve 

 lopment ; it is the thing of which outward figure is the result ; 

 perhaps only the sign. This is but a rough distinction, and 

 will require farther modification. In the language of the 

 schools, Form is the Natura naturans, the Nature which pro 

 duces, which causes substances to differ one from another ; 

 which is the agent by whoso means kinds and classes are dis 

 tinguished from each other : wherefore forms are sometimes 

 called &quot; differentiae verse. 1 It was this vague conception of 

 the inner Nature which Bacon seized on, and has made so pro 

 minent in the Novum Organon. Although his language is by 

 no means clear, his &quot; Form&quot; of a Nature is something far 

 beyond what we now mean by a &quot; Law of Nature.&quot; It meant 

 the hidden life (if one may so speak) of each class ; its &quot; tons 

 emanationis,&quot; from which it flows ; which also always grows 

 with the growth ; and decreases with the decrease of the Na 

 ture, whatever that Nature may be. (JSov. Org. II. 1,4, 13, 

 15.) At the same time it is not to be forgotten, that Bacon 

 also expressly states that he regards &quot; Form&quot; as the same thing 

 with &quot; Law. 1 &quot; Nos autem, qua? do formis loquimur, nil aliud 

 intelligirnus. quam leges illas et dcterminationes actus puri.&quot; 



