612 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



De Forma Lucis quod debita non facta fuerit inquisitio 

 (praesertim cum in Perspectiva strenue elaborarint homines), 

 stupenda quaedam negligentia censeri possit. Etenim nee in 

 Perspectiva nee alias aliquid de Luce quod valeat inquisitum 

 est. Radiationes ejus tractantur, origines minime. Sed collo- 

 catio demum Perspectivae inter Mathematica hunc ipsum de- 

 fectum, et alios similes, peperit; quia a Physicis praemature 

 discessum est. Tractatio autem de Luce et causis ejus in Phy- 

 sicis rursus superstitiosa fere est, tanquam de re inter divina et 

 naturalia media; adeo ut quidam ex Platonicis earn Mater ia 

 ipsa antiquiorem introduxerint : cum enim spatium esset diffla- 

 tum, id primum lumine, postea vero corpore impletum fuisse, 

 vanissimo commento asseruerunt; quando tamen Scripturae 

 Sacrae massam coeli et terras tenebrosam, ante lucem creatam, 

 diserte posuerint. 1 Quse vero physice et secundum sensum de 

 ea tractantur, ea statim ad radiationes descendunt, ut parum 

 physicae inquisitionis circa hanc rem extet. Debuerant autem 

 homines contemplationes suas submittere paulisper, et quid sit 

 Corporibus omnibus Lucidis commune inquirere, tanquam de 

 Forma Lucis. Etenim quam immensa est corporis differentia 

 (si ex dignitate considerentur) inter solem et lignum putridum, 

 aut squamas etiam piscium putridas ? Inquirere etiam debue- 

 rant, quid tandem in causa sit cur aliqua ignescant, et Lucem 

 ex se jaciant calefacta, alia minime ? Ferrum, metalla, lapides, 

 vitrum, ligna, oleum, sevum, ab igne, vel flammam vibrant vel 

 saltern rubescunt; at aqua, ae'r, acerrimo et tanquam furenti 

 calore fervefacta, nihil tamen Lucis adipiscuntur, nee splen- 

 dent. Quod si quis hoc eo fieri putet quod propriunrsit ignis 

 lucere, aqua autem et ae'r igni omnino inimica sint ; is sane 

 nunquam per obscura noctis in aqua salsa, tempestate calida, 

 remigavit ; cum guttulas aquae, ex remorum concussione subsi- 

 lientes, micare et lucescere videre potuisset. Quod etiam fit in 



the De Sensu Rerum of Campanella, as it was not published much before the appearance 

 of the De Augmentis ; but the same doctrine had, as Brucker remarks, been taught; 

 though not in so formal a manner, by Telesius, with whose works Bacon was as we 

 know familiar ; and it may in truth be traced in the writings of Giordano Bruno, of 

 Caosalpinus, and of Gilbert, and probably in those of many of their contemporaries. 

 See for Leibnitz's remarks as to the origin of this doctrine, his letter to Thomasius, 

 referred to in the note at p. 46. 



1 Bacon appears to refer to the visionary opinions of Fludd. See the first part of 

 Fludd's great work referred to in the note at p. 526. The process of creation is illustrated 

 by some curious engravings. There is an account of Fludd's views on this and other 

 subjects in Tennemann's History of Philosophy, ix. p. 218. 



