APHORISMS 



BOOK II 

 On the Interpretation of Nature, or the Reign of Man 



1. To generate and superinduce a new nature or new natures, 

 upon a given body, is the labor and aim of human power : whilst 

 to discover the form or true difference of a given nature, or 

 the nature a to which such nature is owing, or source from which 

 it emanates ( for these terms approach nearest to an explanation 

 of our meaning), is the labor and discovery of human knowl- 

 edge; and subordinate to these primary labors are two others 

 of a secondary nature and inferior stamp. Under the first must 

 be ranked the transformation of concrete bodies from one to 

 another, which is possible within certain limits; under the 

 second, the discovery, in every species of generation and mo- 

 tion, of the latent and uninterrupted process from the manifest 

 efficient and manifest subject matter up to the given form: and 

 a like discovery of the latent conformation of bodies which are 

 at rest instead of being in motion. 



2. The unhappy state of man's actual knowledge is mani- 

 fested even by the common assertions of the vulgar. It is 

 rightly laid down that true knowledge is that which is deduced 

 from causes. The division of four causes also is not amiss: 

 matter, form, the efficient, and end or final caused Of these, 

 however, the latter is so far from being beneficial, that it even 

 corrupts the sciences, except in the intercourse of man with man. 

 The discovery of form is considered desperate. As for the effi- 

 cient cause and matter (according to the present system of in- 

 quiry and the received opinions concerning them, by which 

 they are placed -remote from, and without any latent process 

 towards form), they are but desultory and superficial, and of 

 scarcely any avail to real and active knowledge. Nor are we 

 unmindful of our having pointed out and corrected above the 

 error of the human mind, in assigning the first qualities of es- 

 sence^ to forms. c For although nothing exists in nature except 

 individual bodies, exhibiting clear individual effects according 

 to particular laws, yet in each branch of learning, that very 

 law, its investigation, discovery, and development, are the foun- 

 dation both of theory and practice. This law, therefore, and its 



368 



