572 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



esse et Mechanicam saepius mere empiricam et operariam, quas a 

 Physica non pendeat; verum haiic in Historiam Naturalem 

 conjecimus, a Philosophia Natural! segregamus. Loquimur 

 tantum de ea Mechanica, quae cum Causis Physicis conjuncta 

 est. Veruntamen intervenit quaedam Mechanica, quas nee 

 prorsus operaria est, neque tamen philosophiam proprie at- 

 tingit. Operum enim inventa omnia, quae in hominum noti- 

 tiam venerunt, aut casu occurrerunt et deinceps per manus 

 tradita sunt, aut de industria quaesita. Quae autem intentio- 

 naliter inventa sunt, ilia aut per causarum et axiomatum 

 lucem eruta sunt, aut per extensionem quandam vel trans- 

 lationem vel compositionem inventorum priorum deprehensa; 

 quae magis ingeniosa quaedam res est et sagax, quam philosophica. 

 Hanc vero partem, quam neutiquam contemnimus, non multo 

 post, cum de Experientia Literata inter Logica tractabimus, 

 cursim perstringemus. Enimvero Mechanicam, de qua nunc 

 agimus, tractavit Aristoteles promiscue ; Hero in Spiritalibus ; 

 etiam Georgius Agricola, scriptor recens, diligenter admodum 

 in Mineralibus ; aliique quamplurimi in subjectis particula- 

 ribus l ; adeo ut non habeam quod dicam de omissis in hac 

 parte; nisi quod Mechanica promiscua, secundum exemplum 

 Aristotelis, diligentius debuissent continuari per labores recen- 

 tiorum, praesertim cum delectu eorum Mechanicorum, quorum 

 aut causae magis obscurae aut effectus magis nobiles. Verum 

 qui in hisce insistunt, quasi oras tantum maritimas perreptant, 

 premendo litus iniquum. 2 



precise mode of expression would have destroyed the appositeness of the illustration. 

 No one who fairly considers the context can, I think, have any doubts as to the limi- 

 tation with which the sentence in question is to he taken. But it is often the misfor- 

 tune of a pointed suying to be quoted apart from any context, and consequently to 

 be misunderstood. 



1 The Mechanical Problems of Aristotle are here referred to. Of Hero, an Alex- 

 andrian physicist, who flourished about B. c. [100], Fludd makes frequent mention, 

 and it is perhaps on this account that he is here introduced, It is remarkable that no 

 notice is taken of Archimedes who, beyond all comparison, was the greatest mecha- 

 nical philosopher of antiquity. With his writings however there is reason to think 

 that Bacon had no acquaintance, and in the Historia Densi et Rari his most popularly 

 known invention, that of the method of detecting the adulteration of Hiero's crown, is 

 mentioned in a manner which seems to show that Bacon did not distinctly apprehend 

 the principle on which it depends. With contemporary scientific writers, Bacon 

 seldom appears to be acquainted, and it is therefore less remarkable that no mention 

 is made of Stevinus, Galileo, Guldinus, or Ghetaldus. Galileo's astronomical dis- 

 coveries were of course more generally known than his mechanical researches. 



The writings of Agricola, who has been called the German Pliny, are even now, it 

 is said, of considerable value, and certainly entitle him to a high place among the 

 scientific men of the 16th century. His greatest work is the De re metallica t in 

 twelve books [published at Basle in 1 555]. 



* Hor. Od. ii. 10. 



