138 DISTRIBUTIO OPERIS. 



attinet ad notiones primas intellectus; nihil est eorum quae 

 intellectus sibi permissus congessit, quin nobis pro suspecto sit, 

 nee ullo modo ratum, nisi novo judicio se stiterit et secundum 

 illud pronuntiatum fuerit. Quinetiam sensus ipsius informa- 

 tiones multis modis excutimus. Sensus enim fallunt -utique, 

 sed et errores suos indicant: verum errores prassto, indicia 

 eorum longe petita sunt. 



Duplex autem est sensus culpa : aut enim destituit nos aut 

 decipit. Nam primo, plurimae sunt res quae sensum etiam recte 

 dispositum nee ullo modo impeditum effugiunt ; aut subtilitate 

 totius corporis, aut partium minutiis, aut loci distantia, aut tar- 

 ditate atque etiam velocitate motus, aut familiaritate objecti, aut 

 alias ob causas. Neque rursus, ubi sensus rem tenet, prehen- 

 siones ejus admodum firmae sunt. Nam testimonium et infor- 

 matio sensus semper est ex analogia hominis, non ex analogia 

 universi l : atque magno prorsus errore asseritur, sensum esse 

 mensuram rerum. 



Itaque ut his occurratur, nos multo et fido ministerio auxilia 

 sensui undique conquisivimus et contraximus, ut destitutionibus 

 substitutions, variationibus rectificationes suppeditentur. /Ne- 

 que id molimur tarn instrumentis quam experimentis. Etenim 

 experimentorum longe major est subtilitas quam sensus ipsius, 

 licet instrumentis exquisitis adjuti ; (de iis loquimur experimen- 

 tis, qua3 ad intentionem ejus quod quaeritur perite et secundum 

 artem excogitata et apposita sunt.) 2 Itaque perceptioni sen- 

 sus immediatae ac proprias non multum tribuimus : sed eo rem 

 deducimus, ut sensus tantum de experimento, experimentum de 

 re judicet. Quare existimamus nos sensus (a quo omnia in 



1 The phrase "est ex analogia" is to be rendered (giving to "analogia" a wider 

 signification than that, which it ordinarily has) by " has reference to : " just as in the 

 dictum, "materia non est cognoscibilis nisi ex analogia (or per analogiam) formae ; " 

 " except by reference to form." It seems not improbable that this way of using the 

 word was suggested by the passage in the Physics which gave rise to the dictum I have 

 quoted. Aristotle says, Phys.i. 7., "'H 5e fnroKfifj.fv'ri <pv<ris, eTnorTjT^ Kara, ava\oyia.v 

 in which however the word is really used in its usual sense, since Aristotle goes on to say 

 that this uiro/cei|UeV?7 tyvais stands in the same relation to ovffia that bronze does to a statue, 

 or wood to a couch ; thus illustrating the nature of matter by referring to the subject- 

 matter of an artificial form. Bacon elsewhere uses the phrase "in ordine ad " just as 

 he here uses " ex analogia ; " and on the other hand S. Thomas says, referring to the 

 passage just cited, " Materia non est scibilis nisi in ordine ad formam, ut dicit Philo- 

 sophus primo Physicorum ; " so that the two phrases seem equivalent. See S. Thomas, 

 De Naturd Materice, c. 2., compared with the tract De principle individuationis. 



That the meaning of the word Analogy was misconceived by S. Thomas, by Duns 

 Scotus, and by the schoolmen in general, is pointed out by Zabarella, De prim, rerum 

 materia, i. 4. 



2 [Compare Nov. Org. ii.36. /. S,} 



