NOVUM ORGANUM 407 



place between stars and ignited meteors ; in flying fishes, be- 

 tween fishes and birds ; and in bats, between birds and quadru- 

 peds. Again, 



Simia quam similis turpissima bestia nobis. 



We have also bi formed fetus, mingled species, and the like. 



31. In the tenth rank of prerogative instances, we will place 

 the instances of power, or the fasces (to borrow a term from the 

 insignia of empire), which we are also wont to call the wit or 

 hands of man. These are such works as are most noble and per- 

 fect, and, as it were, the masterpieces in every art. For since 

 our principal object is to make nature subservient to the state 

 and wants of man, it becomes us well to note and enumerate the 

 works, which have long since been in the power of man, espe- 

 cially those which are most polished and perfect : because the 

 passage from these to new and hitherto undiscovered works, is 

 more easy and feasible. For i'f anyone, after an attentive con- 

 templation of such works as are extant, be willing to push for- 

 ward in his design with alacrity and vigor, he will undoubtedly 

 either advance them, or turn them to something within their 

 immediate reach, or even apply and transfer them to some more 

 noble purpose. 



Nor is this all : for as the understanding is elevated and raised 

 by rare and unusual works of nature, to investigate and discover 

 the forms which include them also, so is the same effect fre- 

 quently produced by the excellent and wonderful works of art ; 

 and even to a greater degree, because the mode of effecting and 

 constructing the miracles of art is generally plain, whilst that of 

 effecting the miracles of nature is more obscure. Great care, 

 however, must be taken, that they do not depress the under- 

 standing, and fix it, as it were, to earth. 



For there is some danger, lest the understanding should be 

 astonished and chained down, and as it were bewitched, by such 

 works of art, as appear to be the very summit and pinnacle of 

 human industry, so as not to become familiar with them, but 

 rather to suppose that nothing of the kind can be accomplished, 

 unless the same means be employed, with perhaps a little more 

 diligence, and more accurate preparation. 



Now, on the contrary, it may be stated as a fact, that the ways 

 and means hitherto discovered and observed, of effecting any 

 matter or work, are for the most part of little value, and that all 

 really efficient power depends, and is really to be deduced from 

 the sources of forms, none of which have yet been discovered. 



Thus (as we have before observed), had any one meditated on 

 ballistic machines, and battering rams, as they were used by 

 the ancients, whatever application he might have exerted, and 

 though he might have consumed a whole life in the pursuit, 



