446 NOVUM OR^ANUM. 



I BOOK II. 



APHORISMS.— BOOK 11. 



On the Interpretation of Nature, or the Reign of Man. 



I. To generate and superinduce a new nature or new natures, 

 upon a given body, is the labour and aim of human power : 

 whilst to discover the form or true difference of a giving nature, 

 or the nature* to which such nature is owing, or source from 

 which it emanates (for these terms approach nearest to an ex- 

 planation of our meaning), is the labour and discovery of human 

 knowledge ; and subordinate to these primary labours are two 

 others of a secondary nature and inferior stamp. Under the first 

 must be ranked the transformation of concrete bodies from one 

 to another, which is possible within certain limits ; under the 

 second, the discovery, in every species of generation and motion, 

 of the latent and uninterrupted process from the manifest eifi- 

 cient and manifest subject matter up to the given form : and a 

 like discovery of the latent conformation of bodies which are 

 at rest instead of being in motion. 



II. The unhappy state of man's actual knowledge is manifested 

 even by the common assertions of the vulgar. It is rightly laid 

 down that true knowledge is that which is deduced from causes. 

 The division of four causes also is not amiss : matter, form, the 



\efficient, and end or fiflaJLcauae,'' Of these, however, the latter 

 is so far from being beneficial, that it even corrupts the sciences, 

 except in the intercourse of man with man. The discovery of form 

 is considered desperate. As for the efficient cause and matter 

 (according to the present system of inquiry and the received 

 opinions concerning them, by which they are placed remote 

 from, and without any latent process towards form), they are but 

 desultory and superficial, and of scarcely any avail to real and 

 active knowledge. Nor are we unmindful of our having pointed 

 out and corrected above the error of the human mind, in assisfu- 



» To ri 37V iivai, or r)v ovaia of Aristotle. — See lib. iii. Metap. 



•» These divisions are from Aristotle's Metaphysics^ where they are 

 temied, 1. v\r] f/ to viroKtiixevov. 2. rb rl rfv tlvai. 3. WfV rf dpx'i 

 Tiji Kivi}atitiQ. 4, T'J oi} 'ivtKSv — Kal to dyaOui', 



