374 NOVUM ORGANUM. 



But we must not stop here among indefinites, but must inquire 

 what Ratio the Quantity of a body bears to the mode of its virtue. 

 For it would be natural to believe that the one equalled the other ; so 

 that if a leaden ball of one ounce weight fell in a given time, a ball 

 weighing two ounces ought to fall twice as fast, which is most untrue. 

 Nor do the same ratios hold in all kinds of virtues, but widely different 

 ones ; and so those measures must be fought ;from the things them 

 selves, and not from likelihood or conjectures. 



Lastly, in all investigations of Nature the quantity of body required 

 to produce any effect must be noted, and cautions as to excess or 

 deficiency be interspersed. 



xlviii. Among Prerogative Instances we shall put in the twenty- 

 fourth place, Instances of the Struggle, which we also call Predomin 

 ating Instances. They point out the way in which virtues predominate 

 and give way in turns, and show which of them is the stronger and 

 victorious, which the weaker and subdued. For the motions and 

 efforts of bodies are composed, decomposed, and complicated, no less 

 than the bodies themselves. We shall therefore set forth first the 

 principal kinds of motions and active virtues, with a view to a more 

 accurate comparison of them with regard to strength, and the con 

 sequent demonstration and designation of Instances of the Struggle and 

 Predominance. 



1. Let the first Motion be the Motion of the Resistance of Matter 

 which subsists in each of its particles, by reason of which it will not 

 be annihilated ; so that there is no degree of fire, of weight, or 

 pressure, no violence, no age nor duration of time, which can reduce 

 to nothing even the smallest portion of matter, and prevent it from 

 being something, and occupying some space, and from liberating 

 itself (no matter what restraint be put upon it) by changing either its 

 form or its position ; or, if this be not allowed, from subsisting as it 

 is ; nor can it ever come to the condition of being nothing, or nowhere. 

 And this motion the Schoolmen (who almost always denominate and 

 define things according to their effects and inconveniences rather 

 than their inner causes) either denote by that Axiom, &quot; Two bodies 

 cannot be in one place,&quot; or call it a motion &quot; to prevent the penetra 

 tion of dimensions.&quot; And it is unnecessary to produce examples of 

 this motion, for it is inherent in every body. 



2. Let the second Motion be that which we call Motion of Connec 

 tion, by which two bodies do not allow themselves to be separated at 

 any point from some other body, as if they delighted in mutual con 

 nection and contact. This motion the Schoolmen call motion &quot; to 

 prevent a vacuum ; &quot; as when water is drawn upwards by suction or 

 by syringes ; the flesh by cupping-glasses : or when water stands in 

 perforated jars, without running out, unless the mouth of the jar be 

 opened to let in the air; and numerous instances of this kind. 



3. Let the third Motion be that of Liberty (as we call it), by which 

 bodies endeavour to free themselves from unnatural pressure or ten 

 sion, and to return to dimensions suitable to their body. Of this 

 motion also there are countless examples; as (of escape from pressure) 



