192 ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING. Tb^OK V, 



they obtain tho same end if, neglecting their faces, they 

 only imagined the actions or habits of the persons ? 



An experiment may be transferred three ways ; viz.. By 

 nature or chance into an art ; 2. from one art or practice 

 to another; and, 3. from one part of an art to another. 

 There are innumerable examples of the transferring of 

 experiments from nature or chance to arts, as nearly all 

 the mechanical arts owe their origins to slender beginnings 

 afforded by nature or accident. It is authorized by a proverb, 

 that grapes among grapes ripen sooner. And our cyder- 

 makers observe the rule ; for they do not stamp and press 

 their apples without laying them on heaps for a time, to 

 ripen by mutual contact, whereby the liquor is prevented 

 from being too tart. So the making of artificial rainbows 

 by the thick sprinkling of little drops of water, is an easy 

 translation from natural rainbows made in a rainy cloud. 

 So the art of distillation might be taken either from the 

 falling of rain and dew, or that homely experiment of boil- 

 ing water, where drops adhere to the cover of the vessel. 

 Mankind might have been afraid to imitate thunder and 

 lightning by the invention of great guns, had not the che- 

 mical monk received the first hint of it by the impetuous 

 discharge and loud report of the cover of his vessel. But if 

 mankind were desirous to search after useful things, they 

 ought attentively, minutely, and on set purpose, to view the 

 workmanship and particular operations of nature, and be 

 continually examining and casting about which of them may 

 be transferred to arts ; for nature is the mirror of art. 



Nor are there fewer experiments transferable from one 

 art or practice to another, though this be rarely used. For 

 nature lies everywhere obvious to us all, though particular 

 arts are only known to particular artists. Spectacles were 

 invented for weak sights, — might not, therefore, an instru- 

 ment be discovered that applied to the ears should help the 

 hearing? Embalming preserves dead bodies, — could not, 

 therefore, something ot like kind be transferred to medicine, 

 for the preservation of live ones ? So the practice of sealing 

 in wax, cements, and lead, is ancient, and paved the way to 

 the printing on paper, or the art of the press. So in cookery, 

 Bait preserves meats better in winter than in summer, — 

 might not this be usefully transferred tp b^ths, and the 



