566 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



Formam inquirendo leonis, quercus, auri, imo etiam aqucs aut 

 aeris, operam quis luserit: Formam vero inquirers Densi, Rari; 

 Calidi, Frigidi ; Gravis, Levis ; Tangibilis, Pneumatici ; Vola- 

 tiliSy Fixi; et similium tarn Schematismorum quam Motuum, 

 quos in Physica tractanda magna ex parte enumeravimus (et 

 Formas Primce Classis appellare consuevimus l ), quique (veluti 

 literae alphabet!) numero haud ita multi sunt, et tamen 

 Essentias et Formas omnium substantiarum conficiunt et 

 sustinent 2 ; hoc est, inquam, illud ipsum quod conamur; 

 quodque earn partem Metaphysics de qua nunc inquirimus 

 constituit et diffinit. Neque haec officiunt, quominus Physica 

 easdem naturas consideret quoque (ut dictum est), sed tantum 

 quoad causas fluxas. Exempli gratia, si de causa inquiratur 

 Albedinis in nive vel spuma; recte redditur, quod sit subtilis 

 intermixtio aeris cum aqua. Hasc autem, longe abest, ut 

 sit Forma Albedinis, cum aer etiam pulveri vitri aut crystalli 

 intermixtus albedinem similiter procreet, non minus quam si 

 admisceatur aquae; verum Causa Efficiens ilia tantum est, 

 quae nihil aliud quam vehiculum est Formae. 3 At in Meta- 

 physica si fiat inquisitio, hujusmodi quidpiam reperies ; corpora 

 duo diaphana intermixta, portionibus eorum opticis simplici 

 ordine sive aequaliter collocatis, constituere Albedinem. Hanc 

 Metaphysicae partem desiderari reperio. Nee mirum ; quia ilJo 

 inquirendi modo qui hue usque in usum venit, nunquam in 

 saeculum comparebunt Rerum Fornuz. Radix autem mali 

 hujus, ut et omnium, ea est ; quod homines et propere nimis, et 

 nimis longe, ab experientia et rebus particularibus cogitationes 

 suas divellere et abstrahere consueverunt, et suis meditatio- 

 nibus et argumentationibus se totos dedere. 



elements, and which is a " locus classicus" with reference to his method of induction, 

 is here alluded to. See the General Preface, p. 26. 



1 So in the original. The sense seems to require (et quorum formas Formas Primae 

 Classis appellare consuevimus). See infra p. 5G8. J. S. 



3 It clearly appears from this passage that Bacon's doctrine was that the forms of 

 all substances might be determined by combining the results of a limited number of 

 investigations of the forms of schematisms and motions, or as he elsewhere calls them 

 of simple natures. (See Novrim Organum, ii. 5.) For'the phrase "Formse primae 

 classis," see infra p. 568. The difficulty of effecting this combination might be in- 

 superable ; he did not profess to be able to decide a priori that it was not so ; but at 

 any rate it would be only a synthetical difficulty and would not present itself until his 

 analysis of nature was completed and the forms of her constituent elements determined. 

 Of the possibility of attaining these two ends namely (1.) an analysis of nature 

 resulting in the formation of a complete list of * naturae simplices," and (2. ) the 

 determination of their forms he seems never to have doubted. 



' See Nov. Org. p. 270. 



