1 74 ADVA NCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Book 



things, which we have spoken of, are courses begotten between a little 

 occasion, and a great deal of sloth and default ; for if we will excite 

 and awake our observation, we shall see, in familiar instances, what 

 a predominant faculty the subtilty of spirit hath over the variety of 

 matter or form ; nothing more variable than faces and countenances, 

 yet men can bear in memory the infinite distinctions of them ; nay, a 

 painter with a few shells of colours, and the benefit of his eye, and 

 habit of his imagination, can imitate them all that ever have been, 

 are, or may be, if they were brought before him. Nothing more 

 variable than voices, yet men can likewise discern them personally ; 

 nay, you shall have a buffoon, or pantomimus, will express as many 

 as he pleaseth. Nothing more variable than the differing sounds of 

 words, yet men have found the way to reduce them to a few simple 

 letters. So that it is not the insufficiency or incapacity of man s mind, 

 but it is the remote standing or placing thereof, that breedcth these 

 mazes and incomprehensions : for as the sense afar off is full of mis 

 taking, but is exact at hand, so it is of understanding ; the remedy 

 whereof is not to quicken or strengthen the organ, but to go nearer 

 to the object ; and therefore there is no doubt, but if the physicians 

 will learn and use the true approaches and avenues of nature, they 

 may assume as much as the poet saith : 



Et quoniam variant morbi, varibimus artes : 

 Mille niali species, mille salutis erunt. 



Which that they should do, the nobleness of their art doth deserve, 

 well shadowed by the poets, in that they made yEsculapius to be the 

 son of the Sun, the one being the fountain of life, the other as the 

 second stream ; but infinitely more honoured by the example of our 

 Saviour, who made the body of man the object of his miracles, as the 

 soul was the object of his doctrine. For we read not that ever he 

 vouchsafed to do any miracle about honour or money, except that one 

 for giving tribute to Ccesar, but only about the preserving, sustaining, 

 and healing the body of man. 



Medicine is a science which hath been, as we have said, more 

 professed than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced ; the 

 labour having been, in my judgment, rather in circle than in pro 

 gression. For I find much iteration, but small addition. It con- 

 sidereth the causes of diseases, with the occasions or impulsions ; the 

 diseases themselves, with the accidents ; and the cures, with the 

 preservations. The deficiences which I think good to note, being a 

 few of many, and those such as are of a more open and manifest 

 nature, I will enumerate and not place. 



The first is the discontinuance of the ancient and serious diligence 

 of Hippocrates, which used to set down a narrative of the special cases 

 of his patients, and how they proceeded, and how they were judged by 

 recovery or death. Therefore having an example proper in the father 

 of the art, I shall not need to allege an example foreign, of the wisdom 

 of the lawyers, who are careful to report new cases and decisions for 

 the direction of future judgments. This continuance of Medicinal 



