NOVUM ORGANUM 451 



eye, nose, brain, and liver, lie concealed in bread and meat, the 

 root, leaf, and flower, in the juice of the earth ; asserting that 

 just as the artist brings out a leaf, flower, eye, nose, hand, foot, 

 and the like, from a rude mass of stone or wood by the separa- 

 tion and rejection of what is superfluous ; so the great artist 

 within us brings out our several limbs and parts by separation 

 and rejection. But to leave such trifling, it is most certain 

 that all the parts of vegetables and animals, as well the homoge- 

 neous as organic, first of all attract those juices contained in 

 their food, which are nearly common, or at least not very dif- 

 ferent, and then assimilate and convert them into their own 

 nature. Nor does this assimilation, or simple generation, take 

 place in animated bodies only, but the inanimate also participate 

 in the same property (as we have observed of flame and air), and 

 that languid spirit, which is contained in every tangible ani- 

 mated substance, is perpetually working upon the coarser parts, 

 and converting them into spirit, which afterwards is exhaled, 

 whence ensues a diminution of weight, and a desiccation of 

 which we have spoken elsewhere.* Nor should we, in speak- 

 ing of assimilation, neglect to mention the accretion which is 

 usually distinguished from aliment, and which is observed when 

 mud grows into a mass between stones, and is converted into a 

 stony substance, and the scaly substance round the' teeth is 

 converted into one no less hard than the teeth themselves ; for 

 we are of opinion that there exists in all bodies a desire of as- 

 similation, as well as of uniting with homogeneous masses. 

 Each of these powers, however, is confined, although in differ- 

 ent manners, and should be diligently investigated, because 

 they are connected with the revival of old age. Lastly, it is 

 worthy of observation, that in the nine preceding motions, 

 bodies appear to aim at the mere preservation of their nature, 

 whilst in this they attempt its propagation. 



Let the twelfth motion be that of excitement, which appears 

 to be a species of the last, and is sometimes mentioned by us 

 under that name. It is, like that, a diffusive, communicative, 

 transitive, and multiplying motion ; and they agree remarkably 

 in their effect, although they differ in their mode of action, and 

 in their subject matter. The former proceeds imperiously, and 

 with authority ; it orders and compels the assimilated to be con- 

 verted and changed into the assimilating body. The latter pro- 

 ceeds by art, insinuation, and stealth, inviting and disposing the 

 excited towards the nature of the exciting body. The former 

 both multiplies and transforms bodies and substances ; thus a 

 greater quantity of flame, air, spirit, and flesh is formed ; but in 

 the latter, the powers only are multiplied and changed, and 

 heat, the magnetic power, and putrefaction, in the above in- 

 stances, are increased. Heat does not diffuse itself when heat- 



