628 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENT1ARUM 



fiingulas attente ct minutim et ex composite intueri ; et secum 

 perpetuo et acriter cogitare, quaenam ex ipsis ad artes trans- 

 ferri possint. Speculum enim artis natura. Nee pauciora sunt 

 Experimenta, quas ab Arte in Artem, seu a Practica in Practi- 

 cam, transferri possunt ; licet hoc rarius in usu sit. Natura 

 enim ubique omnibus occurrit ; at artes singulae artificibus 

 tantum propriis cognitae sunt. Specilla ocularia ad visum de- 

 bilem juvandum inventa sunt : num et comminisci quis queat 

 aliquod instrumentum, quod auribus appensum surdastris ad 

 audiendum juvet ? Item, imbalsamationes et mel cadavera con" 

 servant : annon possit aliquid ex his in medicinam transferri, 

 quod etiam vivis corporibus prosit? Item, sigillorum practica 

 in cera, caementis, et plumbo antiqua fuit: at haec etiam im- 

 pressioni in chartis, sive arti typographicae, viam monstravit. 

 Item, sal in coquinaria carnes condit, idque melius hyeme quam 

 sestate : annon hoc ad balnea utiliter transferri possit, eorumque 

 temperamentum, quando opus fuerit, vel imprimendum vel ex- 

 trahendum ? Item sal, in nupero experimento de conglaciatio- 

 nibus artificialibus, magnas vires ad condensandum obtinere 

 reperitur ! : annon possit hoc transferri ad condensationes metal- 

 lorum; cum jampridem notum sit aquas fortes, ex nonnullis 

 salibus compositas, dejicere et praecipitare arenulas auri ex 

 metallis aliquibus auro ipso minus densis 2 ? Item, Pictoria 

 imagine memoriam rei renovat: annon hoc traductum est in 

 Artem earn, quam vocant, Memoriae ? De his in genere moni- 

 tum sit ; quod nihil ad imbrem quendam inventorum utilium, 

 eorundemque novorum, veluti coelitus deducendum tantum 

 valere possit, quantum si experimenta complurium artium 

 mechanicarum uni homini, aut paucis qui se invicem colloquiis 

 acuere possint, in notitiam venerint ; ut per hanc, quam dici- 

 mus, Experimentorum Translationem, artes se mutuo fovere 

 et veluti commixtione . radiorum accendere possint. Quam vis 

 enim Via Rationalis per Organum longe majora spondeat, 



1 Bacon refers to the experiments exhibited by Drebbel in 1620. One of them was 

 of a boat that would go under water. See Nelli's Life of Galileo. I have not been 

 able to see the Chronicle of Alkmaar to which Nelli refers. It is said that in presence 

 of James I. Drebbel produced an intolerable degree of cold in Westminster Hall. 



2 The experiment here referred to, which, as Professor Gumming has suggested to 

 me, may not improbably have been an alchemist's trick, is not sufficiently described to 

 make it possible to ascertain its nature. It appears probable, however, that it was 

 based on a reduction of a solution of perchloride of gold in an excess of acid by some 

 other metal. Of all metallic salts the perchloride of gold appears to be one of the 

 most easy to decompose. Its reduction by a metal is employed as a gilding process. 



