M6 DISSERTATION SECOND. [part j 



ponderosa, aut inter globurn lunae et aquas maris, aut inter 

 coeluni stellatum, et planetas per quam avocentur et atol- 

 lantur ad sua apogaea ; haec omnia operantur ad distantias 

 admodum longinquas." l 



Under the head of the instantia curriculi, or the mea- 

 suring of things by time ; after remarking that every change 

 and every motion requires time, and illustrating this by a 

 variety of instances, he has the following very curious an- 

 ticipation of facts, which appeared then doubtful, but which 

 subsequent discovery has ascertained : 



" The consideration of those things produced in me a 

 doubt altogether astonishing, viz. Whether the face of 

 the serene and starry heavens be seen at the instant it really 

 exists, or not till some time later ; and whether there be 

 not, with respect to the heavenly bodies, a true time and 

 an apparent time, no less than a true place, and an appa- 

 rent place, as astronomers say, on account of parallax. For 

 it seems incredible that the species or rays of the celestial 

 bodies can pass through the immense interval between them 

 and us in an instant, or that they do not even require some 

 considerable portion of time." 2 



The measurement of the velocity of light, and the won- 

 derful consequences arising from it, are the best commen- 

 taries on this passage, and the highest eulogy on its au- 

 thor. 



i 



Such were the speculations of Bacon, and the rules he 

 laid down for the conduct of experimental inquiries, before 

 anv such inquiries had yet been instituted. The power 

 and compass of a mind which could form such a plan be- 

 forehand, and trace not merely the outline, but many of the 

 most minute ramifications of sciences which did not yet 



1 Nov. Org. II. Aph. 45. * Ibid. Aph. 46. 



