434 BACON 



very imperfectly by composition or stirring, whilst they are 

 exactly and nicely mixed in herbs, blood, and the parts of 

 animals. Something similar, therefore, may take place in the 

 mixture of flame and air in spirituous substances, not bearing 

 mixture very well by simple collision, whilst they appear, how- 

 ever, to be well mixed in the spirits of plants and animals. 



Again, if the inquiry do not relate to perfect mixtures of 

 spirits, but merely to their composition, as whether they easily 

 incorporate with each other, or there be rather (as an example) 

 certain winds and exhalations, or other spiritual bodies, which 

 do not mix with common air, but only adhere to and float in it 

 in globules and drops, and are rather broken and pounded by 

 the air, than received into, and incorporated with it ; this can- 

 not be perceived in common air, and other aeriform substances, 

 on account of the rarity of the bodies, but an image, as it were, 

 of this process may be conceived in such liquids as quicksilver, 

 oil, water, and even air, which, when broken and dissipated, 

 ascends in small portions through water ; and also in the thicker 

 kinds of smoke ; lastly, in dust, raised and remaining in the air, 

 in all of which there is no incorporation : and the above repre- 

 sentation in this respect is not a bad one, if it be first diligently 

 investigated, whether there can be such a difference of nature 

 between spirituous substances, as between liquids, for then 

 these images might conveniently be substituted by analogy. 



And although we have observed of these supplementary in- 

 stances, that information is to be derived from them, when ap- 

 propriate instances are wanting, by way of refuge, yet we would 

 have it understood, that they are also of great use, when the 

 appropriate instances are at hand, in order to confirm the in- 

 formation afforded by them ; of which we will speak more at 

 length, when our subject leads us, in due course, to the support 

 of induction. 



43. In the twentieth rank of prerogative instances we will 

 place lancing instances, which we are also wont (but for a dif- 

 ferent reason) to call twitching instances. We adopt the latter 

 name, because they twitch the understanding, and the former 

 because they pierce nature, whence we style them occasionally 

 the instances of Democritus. They are such as warn the under- 

 standing of the admirable and exquisite subtilty of nature, so 

 that it becomes roused and awakened to attention, observation, 

 and proper inquiry; as, for instance, that a little drop of ink 

 should be drawn out into so many letters ; that silver merely 

 gilt on its surface should be stretched to such a length of gilt 

 wire ; that a little worm, such as you may find on the skin, should 

 possess both a spirit and a varied conformation of its parts; 

 that a little saffron should imbue a whole tub of water with its 

 color ; that a little musk or aroma should imbue a much greater 



