NOVUM ORGANUAf. 359 



not to our present business, and so we have not made mention of 

 them. 



xl. Among Prerogative Instances we shall put in the seventeenth 

 place, Summoning instances^ borrowing the term from the courts of 

 law, because they summon those things to appear which have not 

 appeared before : we also call them Evoking Instances. They bring 

 within the reach of the senses things which were previously beyond 

 them. 



Now a thing escapes the senses, either on account of the distance 

 of the object in space ; or on account of the interruption of the senses 

 by means of intermediate bodies ; or because the object is not fitted 

 to make an impression on the senses ; or because it is too deficient in 

 quantity to strike the senses ; or because there is not sufficient time 

 for it to act upon the senses ; or because the collision with the object 

 is too much for the sense to bear ; or because some object had previ 

 ously filled and taken possession of the sense, so as to leave no room 

 for a new motion. And these conditions principally apply to vision, 

 to and secondarily the touch. For these two senses give information 

 at lrge, and concerning common objects, whereas the other three 

 give scarcely any information, except vhat is immediate and concern 

 ing objects peculiar to them. 



1. In the first class, when a thing cannot be discerned, on account 

 of its distance, it is only brought within reach of the senses by adding 

 or substituting something else which can provoke and strike the senses 

 at a greater distance, as in the case of signalling by fires, bells, and 

 the like. 



2. In the second class this reduction to the senses takes place when 

 things which are obscured by the interposition of bodies, and cannot 

 conveniently be opened out, are brought within range of the senses 

 by the aid of something that lies on the surface or comes forth from 

 the interior. Thus the state of the human body is discerned by the 

 pulse, the urine, and the like. 



3. 4. Hut the reductions to the senses of the third and fourth kind 

 admit of many applications, and in our inquiry into things should be 

 sought for on all sides. For example, it is clear that air and spirit, and 

 things of the kind, which are in their whole substance rare and subtle, 

 can neither be seen nor touched. Wherefore in the investigation of 

 bodies of this kind there is especial need of reduction. 



So let the Nature inquired into be the Action and Motion of the 

 Spirit which is enclosed in tangible bodies. For everything which 

 we have that is tangible conttiins an invisible and intangible 

 spiiit, which it surrounds and clothes like a garment. Hence that 

 threefold source, so potent and marvellous, of the process of spirit in 

 a tangible body. For spirit in tangible matter, when got rid of, causes 

 the bodies to contract and dry up; when detained, softens and melts 

 them ; when neither wholly got rid of nor wholly detained, moulds 

 them, gives them limbs, assimilates, ejects, organizes, and the like. 

 And all these things are brought within reach of the senses by their 

 conspicuous effects. 



