126 BACON 



the human soul into the doctrine of the substance and facul- 

 ties of the soul, and that of the use and objects of the faculties. 

 And these two divisions being premised, we come to particu- 

 lars. 



The doctrine of the inspired substance, as also of the sub- 

 stance of the rational soul, comprehends several inquiries with 

 relation to its nature, as whether the soul be native or adventi- 

 tious, separable or inseparable, mortal or immortal ; how far it 

 is subject to the laws of matter, how far not, and the like. But 

 the points of this kind, though they might be more thoroughly 

 sifted in philosophy than hitherto they have been, yet in the 

 end they must be turned over to religion, for determination and 

 decision ; otherwise they will lie exposed to various errors and 

 illusions of sense. For as the substance of the soul was not, in 

 its creation, extracted or deduced from the mass of heaven and 

 earth, but immediately inspired by God; and as the laws of 

 heaven and earth are the proper subjects of philosophy, no 

 knowledge of the substance of the rational soul can be had from 

 philosophy, but must be derived from the same Divine inspira- 

 tion, whence the substance thereof originally proceeded. 



But in the doctrine of the sensitive or produced soul, even its 

 substance may be justly inquired into, though this inquiry 

 seems hitherto wanting. For of what significancy are the terms 

 of actus ultimus and forma corporis, and such logical trifles, to 

 the knowledge of the soul's substance? The sensitive soul 

 must be allowed a corporeal substance, attenuated by heat, and 

 rendered invisible, as a subtile breath or aura, of a flamy and 

 airy nature, having the softness of air in receiving impressions, 

 and the activity of fire in exerting its action, nourished partly 

 by an oily and partly by a watery substance, and diffused 

 through the whole body; but in perfect creatures, residing 

 chiefly in the head, and thence running through the nerves, be- 

 ing fed and recruited by the spirituous blood of the arteries, as 

 Telesius a and his follower Donius in some measure have use- 

 fully shown. Therefore, let this doctrine be more diligently 

 inquired into, because the ignorance of it has produced super- 

 stitious and very corrupt opinions, that greatly lessen the dig- 

 nity of the human soul such as the transmigration and lustra- 

 tion of souls through certain periods of years, and the too near 

 relation in all respects of the human soul to the soul of brutes. 

 For this soul in brutes is a principal soul, whereof their body is 



