NOVUM ORGANUM. 369 



Atlantic to their shores. Odours also (though in these there always 

 seems to be a certain corporeal discharge) operate at remarkable 

 distances ; as men often find who sail near the coast of Florida, or 

 some parts of Spain, where there are whole forests of lemon and 

 orange trees, and other odoriferous plants, or shrubs of rosemary, 

 marjoram, and the like. Lastly, the radiations of light, and impres 

 sions of sound, operate at vast distances. 



Uut all these powers, whether the distance at which they operate be 

 small or great, act certainly at distances finite and known to Nature, 

 so that there is a certain limit which is never exceeded, and that pro 

 portioned either to the mass or quantity of matter in the bodies, or to 

 the strength or weakness of the virtues, or to the favourable or hostile 

 disposition of the media ; all which conditions should be reckoned 

 and noted down. Moreover the measures of violent motions, as they 

 call them, as of missiles, projectiles, wheels, and the like, should be 

 observed, since these also have clearly their own fixed limits. 



There arc found also certain motions and influences of a contrary 

 nature to those which operate by contact and not at a distance ; those, 

 we mean, which operate at a distance, and not by contact ; and again, 

 those which operate more slackly at a less distance, and more strongly 

 at a greater. Vision, for instance, does not succeed well in contact, 

 but requires a medium and a certain distance. Yet I remember to 

 have heard from a person worthy of credit, that he himself, while 

 undergoing the operation for the cure of the cataract (which was 

 performed by introducing a small silver needle within the first coat 

 of the eye, to remove the pellicle of the cataract, and push it into a 

 corner), most clearly saw the needle moving over the pupil. But 

 though this may be true, it is clear that large bodies are not well or 

 distinctly seen, except at the vertex of the cone, where the rays from 

 the object converge at some distance from tiie eye. Moreover the 

 eyes of aged people see objects better when at a distance than when 

 nearer. And in the case of missiles, it is certain that the percussion 

 is not so violent at a very short distance as it is a little further off. 

 These, therefore, and the like points should be observed in the 

 measurement of motions with icference to distances. 



There is also another kind of measurement of motion in space which 

 must not be passed by. It deals with motions which are not progressive 

 but spherical, that is, with the expansion of bodies into a larger sphere 

 or their contraction into a lesser. For in measuring this kind of 

 motion, we must inquire how far the bodies will endure compression 

 or extension (according to their Nature) easily and readily, and at 

 what limit they begin* to resist, so that at last they come to a limit 

 beyond which they will bear no more ; as when an inflated bladder 

 is squeezed it allows a certain comptession of the air, but, if this be 

 carried too far the air does not endure it, and the bladder bursts. 



Hut we proved this more exactly by a more delicate experiment. \Vc 

 took a small bell of metal, light and thin, such as is used to contain 

 salt, and plunged it into a basin of water, so that it carried down with 

 it to the bottoiii of the basin the air contained in its cavity, We had 



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