222 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



end if, neglecting their faces, they only imagined the actions 

 or habits of the persons ? 



An experiment may be transferred three ways; viz., by 

 nature or chance into an art; 2, from one art or practice to 

 another; and, 3, from one part of an art to another. There 

 are innumerable examples of the transferring of experiments 

 from nature or chance to arts, as nearly all the mechanical 

 arts owe their origins to slender beginnings afforded by 

 nature or accident. It is authorized by a proverb, that 

 grapes among grapes ripen sooner. And our cider-makers 

 observe the rule; for they do not stamp and press their 

 apples without laying them on heaps for a time, to ripen 

 by mutual contact, whereby the liquor is prevented from 

 being too tart. So the making of artificial rainbows by the 

 thick sprinkling of little drops of water, is an easy transla 

 tion from natural rainbows made in a rainy cloud. So the 

 art of distillation might be taken either from the falling of 

 rain and dew, or that homely experiment of boiling water, 

 where drops adhere to the cover of the vessel. Mankind 

 might have been afraid to imitate thunder and lightning by 

 the invention of great guns, had not the chemical monk 

 received the first hint of it by the impetuous discharge 

 and loud report of the cover of his vessel. But if man 

 kind were desirous to search after useful things, they ought 

 attentively, minutely, and on set purpose, to view the work 

 manship and particular operations of nature, and be con 

 tinually examining and casting about which of them may 

 be transferred to arts; for nature is the mirror of art. 



Nor are there fewer experiments transferable from one 

 art or practice to another, though this be rarely used. For 

 nature lies everywhere obvious to us all, though particular 

 arts are only known to particular artists. Spectacles were 

 invented for weak sights might not, therefore, an instru 

 ment be discovered that, applied to the ears, should help 

 the hearing ? Embalming preserves dead bodies could not, 

 therefore, something of like kind be transferred to medi 

 cine, for the preservation of live ones ? So the practice of 



