NOVUM ORGANUM. 165 



Neque rursus de philosophiis universalibus tantum hoc intelli- 

 gimus, sed etiam de principiis et axiomatibus compluribus 

 scientiarum, quae ex traditione et fide et neglectu invaluerunt. 

 Verum de singulis istis generibus idolorum fusius et distinctms 

 dicendum est, ut intellectui humano cautum sit. 



T ,, f]<S* rJ\ c n^jhjCn^i e^e^ JM <J b^d fai* &* 



Intellectus humanus ex proprietate sua 2 facile suppomt ma- 



jorem ordinem et asqualitatem in rebus quam invenit; et cum 

 multa sint in natura monodica 3 et plena imparitatis. tamen 

 affingit parallela et correspondentia et relativa quse non sunt. 

 Hinc commenta ilia, in ccelestibus omnia rnoveri per circulos 

 perfectos, lineis spiralibus et draconibus 4 (nisi nomine tenus) 



prorsus rejectis. Hinc elementum ignis cum orbe suo intro- 

 , 4^ /"M*-"- CL vS ffk^ vtJC /f~ tf/fc^- ./XL4U 



ductum est, aa constituendam quaternion em cutn refiquis tribus 



***<'* /fc^ ./4-^ /^t-*'^ x f&<^ aCi-l,7T* f/ ctt^J^Cr^l f^l ffc 



***<'* /fc^ ./4-^ /^t-*'^ x f&<^ aCi-l,7T* f/ ctt^J^Cr^l f^l ffc ? 



quas subiicmntur sensui.?. Etiam elementis (quce vocant) im- 



t c*/i *"%V'*4 <-\ -.I'-ft^ c^(- fci^0f-~si^ . , J 



ponitur ad placitum decu[)ia proportio excessus in raritate ad 

 invicem 6 : et hujusmodi somnia. Neque vanitns ista tantum 

 valet in dogmatibus, verum etiam in notionibus simplicibus. 



1 Hero, according to the tripartite distribution of the " Pars Dcstruens " mentioned 

 in the 115th aphorism, begins the first Redargutio Redargutio Rationis Humanae 

 Nativa\ J. S. 



2 That is " in accordance with the homogeneity of its own substance," or as Bacon 

 expresses it in 52., " ex aequalitate substantiae spiritus humani." 



8 The word which Bacon intends to use is, of course, " monadica ; " but throughout 

 his writings he has fallen into the error of which the text affords an instance. 



4 It does not appear in what sense Bacon uses the word " draco." In its ordinary 

 acceptation in old astronomy, it denoted the great circle which is approximately the 

 projection on the sphere of the moon's orbit. The ascending node was called the 

 caput draconis, and the descending the cauda draconis. The same terms were occa- 

 sionally applied to the nodes of the planetary orbits. It is not improbable that Bacon 

 inrended to complain of the rejection of spirals of double curvature, or helices, which 

 traced on the surface of the sphere might represent inequalities in latitude. Compare 

 (Nov. Org. II. 48.) what is said of the variations of which the " motus rotationis 

 spontaneus" admits. 



6 The orb of the element of fire was supposed to lie 

 above that of the element of air, and therefore might x 



be said " non subjici sensui." The quaternion of SiccumX- _\Caiidum 



elements follows directly from the quaternion of ele- / \ 



mentary qualities ; namely, hot, cold, moist, dry. For Terra j JAer 



these may be combined two and two in six different I J 



ways; two of these combinations are rejected as simply \s , </ Humidmn 



contradictory (viz. hot and cold, moist and dry) ; and 



to each ot the other combinations corresponds one of A i ua 



the four elements. The diagram will illustrate. 



6 This doctrine of the decupla ratio of density of the elements was suggested by a 

 passage in Aristotle [De Gen. et Cor. ii. 6.]. It is found in all books of mediaeval 

 physics. Cf. the Margarita Philosophice, ix. c. 4., or Alsted's Encyclopaedia, where it 

 is thus expressed: " Proportio elementorum ad se invicem ratione transmutationis est 

 decupla, ratione magnitudinis non satis explorata." The transmutability of one 

 element into another is an essential part of the Peripatetic doctrine of elements. It is 

 found also in the Timaus. 



M 3 



