

228 



NOVUM ORGANUM. 



Efficiente manifesto et materia manifesta usque ad Formam 

 inditam; et inventio similiter latentis schematisms corporum 

 quiescentium et non in motiu 1 



IT. 



Quam infoeliciter se habeat scientia humana quae in usu est, 

 etiam ex illis liquet quae vulgo asseruntur. Recte ponitur; 

 Vere scire, esse per Causas scire. Etiam non male constituuntur 

 causes quatuor ; Materia, Forma, Efficiens, et Finis. At ex his, 



rumpat 



oftU- 



desperata; Efficiens vero et Materia (qualesqua3runtur et 

 recipiuntur, remotae scilicet, absque latentijpxacessu ad Formam) 

 res perfunctoriae sunt et superficiales, et nihili fere ad scientiam 

 veram et activam. Neque tamen obliti sumus nos superius 

 notasse et correxisse errorem mentis humanae^ in deferendo 

 Formis primas essentiae. 2 Licet enim in natura nihil vere 

 existat praeter corpora individua edentia actus puros individuos 

 ex lege ; in jpctrmis^mmen, ilia ipsa lex, ej usque inquisitio 

 et inventio atque exjpticalip, pro fundamento est tam ad 

 sciendum quam ad operandum. Earn autem legem, ejusque 

 paragrapnos, Formarum nomine intelligimus 3 ; praesertim cum 

 hoc vocabulum invaluerit et familiariter occurrat. 



in. 



Qui causam alicujus naturae (veluti albedinis aut caloris) in 

 certis tantum subjectis novit, ejus Scientia imperfecta est; et 

 qui effectum super certas tantum materi^sXinter^as quae_sunt 

 Busceptibiles) inducere potest, ejus Potentia pariter imperfecta 

 est. At qui Efficientem et Materialem causam tantummodo 

 novit (quae_causae fluxae sunt, et nihil aliud quam_Yhicula et 

 causae Formam deferentes in aliquibusjj 4 , is ad nova inventa, 





1 j n ^j s aphorism Bacon combines the antithesis of corpus and natura, the con- 

 crete and the abstract, with the antithesis of power and science, and thus arrives at a 

 quadripartite classification. To translate, as Mr. Craik has done, "natura" by "na- 

 tural substance " involves the whole subject in confusion. 



In the last sentence continuati may be translated " continuously carried on." The 

 word is often thus used ; as in the dictum " mutatio nil aliud est quam successiva et 

 continuata formae adquisitio." 



2 [I. 51. "Formae enim commenta animi human! sunt, nisi libeat leges illas 

 actus Formas appellare."] Translate, " We have noted and corrected as an error of 

 the human mind the opinion that forms give existence." Bacon alludes to the maxim 

 " forma dat esse." 



8 See General Preface, p. 31. The paragraphs of a law are its sections or clauses. 

 It is difficult to attach any definite meaning to Mr. Wood's translation of paragraphos, 

 " its parallels in each science." 



* i.e. "which are unstable causes, and merely vehicles and causes which convey the 

 form in certain cases." 



