L I B . V. Of the Advancement of Learning. i .j. ^ 



tt is likewife faid of Beaftsj 



^is expecJivit PjtttacofuHf// Ka??t 5 ' Perf.ProI^ 



Who taught the Raven inadroughthto throw Pebbles into a hollow 

 tree, where by chance (he fpied water, that the water might rife fo as 

 fhe might come to it > Who taught the Bee to fail through fuch a vaft 

 lea of Air, to the Flowers in the Fields ; and to find the way fo far P'i"- ^-^^ 

 off to her Hive again ? Who taught the Ant to bite every grain of ' 

 Corn that fne burieth in her Hill, left it (hould take root and grow, and 

 lb delude her hope > And if you obferve in Firgil's verle, the word ex- 

 tufiderc, which imports the Difficnlty, and the word Paulatim^ which 

 imports the/^Tfffc/jr 5 we are where we were, even amongft the E^j'/i/Zfiw 

 Gods , feeing hitherto men have made little ufe of the faculty of 

 JLeafon , none at all of the duty of Art^ for the dtfcovay of Inventi- 

 ons. 



(j Secondly, if this which we affirm, be well confidered, it is de- 

 monftrated by the Form of IndHciion which Logick propounds, name- 

 ly by that F^rw of Inference^ whereby the Principles of Sciences are 

 found out and proved 5 which, as it is now framed , is utterly vitious 

 and incompetent, and fo far from perfecting nature, that it rather per- 

 verts and diftorts it. For he that Ihall exaftly obferve how this ^th" 

 real Den> of Sciences ; like unto that the Poet (peaks of^ 



Jerei mellk Cjelejiia dona, 



is gather'd (feeing that even Sciences themfelves are extrafied out of 

 particular examples, partly Natural, partly Artificial, or from the 

 Flowers of the Field and Garden) (hall find that the mind, of her own 

 nature and inbred difpofition, doth more ingenioufly, and with bet- 

 ter Invention, Ad: an IndnBion, than Logicians defcribe it. For from 

 a Kude emtmeratiott of Particulars (as Logicians ufe to doj without an 

 Inftance Contradidory, is a vitious Conclufion 5 nor doth fuch an /»- 

 du&iott infer more than a probable Conjefture. For who will take 

 upon him , when the particulars v^'hich a man knovv's , and which he 

 hath mention'dj appear only on one fide , there may not lurk ibmc 

 particular which is altogether repugnant ? As if Samuel fliould have 

 rcfted in thofe fons of Ifl^ay , which were brought before him in the 

 houfe^ and (hould not have (ought David, which was abfent in the 

 field. And this Formof Indu&ion fto fay plainly the truth) is (bgrofs 

 and palpable, that it might feem incredible, that (uch acute and fubtii 

 wits as have exercis'd their meditations in thefe things, could have ob- 

 truded it upon the world ^ but that they hafted to Theories, and Dog- 

 maticals; and from a kind of pride and elatiou of mind defpifed par- 

 ticulars^ fpecially any long fl:ay upon them. For they have tifcd thefe 

 examples and particular infiances, but as Sergeants and IFhiffers^adfum- 

 fMovendamturbam^ to maks way and room for their opinions j and never 

 advised with them from the beginning ; that fo a legitimate and mature de-^ 

 liberation, concerning the truth of things, might be made. Certainly it is 

 a thing hath touch'd my raind with a pious and religious V/ondcr, tof 



fr;e 



