24 NOVUM ORGANUM 



shown in a temple the votive tablets suspended by such as 

 had escaped the peril of shipwreck, and was pressed as to 

 whether he would then recognize the power of the gods, by 

 an inquiry, But where are the portraits of those who have 

 perished in spite of their vows ? All superstition is much 

 the same, whether it be that of astrology, dreams, omens, 

 retributive judgment, or the like, in all of which the deluded 

 believers observe events which are fulfilled, but neglect and 

 pass over their failure, though it be much more common. 

 But this evil insinuates itself still more craftily in philoso 

 phy and the sciences, in which a settled maxim vitiates and 

 governs every other circumstance, though the latter be much 

 more worthy of confidence. Besides, even in the absence 

 of that eagerness and want of thought (which we have men 

 tioned), it is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human 

 understanding to be more moved and excited by affirmatives 

 than negatives, whereas it ought duly and regularly to be 

 impartial; nay, in establishing any true axiom the negative 

 instance is the most powerful. 



XLVIL The human understanding is most excited by 

 that which strikes and enters the mind at once and sud 

 denly, and by which the imagination is immediately filled 

 and inflated. It then begins almost imperceptibly to con 

 ceive and suppose that everything is similar to the few 

 objects which have taken possession of the mind, while it 

 is very slow and unfit for the transition to the remote and 

 heterogeneous instances by which axioms are tried as by 

 fire, unless the office be imposed upon it by severe regula 

 tions and a powerful authority. 



XLVII1. The human understanding is active and cannot 

 halt or rest, but even, though without effect, still presses 

 forward. Thus we cannot conceive of any end or external 



