fasciculos (quod Plutarchus fecit) excipiantur. Quævis enim Philosophia integra seipsam sustentat, atque dogmata ejus sibi mutuo et lumen et robur adjiciunt ; quod si distrahantur, peregrinum quiddam et durum sonant. Certe quando apud Tacitum lego facta Neronis aut Claudii, circumstantiis temporum, personarum, et occasionum vestita, nil video quod a probabilitate prorsus abhorreat; cum vero eadem lego in Suetonio Tranquillo, per capita et communes locos, minimeque in serie temporis repræsentata, portenta quædam videntur et plane incredibilia. Neque absimilis est ratio Philosophiæ, quando proponitur integra, et quando in frusta concisa et dissecta. Neque vero ex hoc Placitorum Philosophiae Kalendario nuperas theorias et dogmata excludo; sicut illam Theophrasti Paracelsi, eloquenter in corpus quoddam et harmoniam philosophiæ redactam a Severino Dano; aut Telesii Consentini, qui Parmenidis philosophiam instaurans arma Peripateticorum in illos ipsos vertit; aut Patricii Veneti, qui Platonicorum fumos sublimavit; aut Gilberti popularis nostri, qui Philolaï dogmata reposuit; aut alterius cu

1 Severinus was a Danish physician. He died in the year 1602, leaving several works on medical and philosophical subjects, in which he followed the opinions of Paracelsus. I am only acquainted with his Idea Medicina Philosophica, which there is reason to think Bacon had read. His writings are in point of style much superior to those of Paracelsus, who was however unquestionably a man of far more original genius.

Telesius's principal work is his De Rerum Naturâ [the first two books 'of which were published in 1565, and the whole in 1586]. Bacon derived more ideas from him than from any other of the "novelists," as he has somewhere called the philosophical innovators, and has written a separate treatise on three systems of philosophy, of which his is one. See the fifth volume of this edition.

Patricius attempted to amalgamate the Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies. His principal work entitled Nova de Universis Philosophia was published in 1591. It is not of much interest, but I shall have occasion to refer to it in connexion with Bacon's De fluxu et refluxu maris.

juscunque, si modo dignus sit. Horum vero (quoniam volumina integra extant) summæ tantum inde conficiendæ, et cum cæteris conjungendæ. Atque de Physica cum Appendicibus hæc dicta sint.

Quantum ad Metaphysicam, assignavimus jam ei inquisitionem Causarum Formalium et Finalium; quæ assignatio, quatenus ad Formas, incassum facta videatur. Invaluit siquidem opinio atque inveteravit Rerum Formas essentiales, seu veras differentias, nulla humana inveniri diligentia posse. Quæ opinio interim nobis elargitur atque concedit, inventionem Formarum ex omnibus scientiæ partibus dignissimam esse quæ investigetur, si modo fieri possit ut reperiantur. Ad inventionis possibilitatem vero quod attinet, sunt certe ignavi regionum exploratores, qui ubi nil nisi cœlum et pontum vident, terras ultra esse prorsus negant. At manifestum est, Platonem, virum sublimis ingenii (quique veluti ex rupe excelsa omnia circumspiciebat1), in sua de Ideis doctrina Formas esse verum scientiæ objectum vidisse; utcunque sententiæ hujus verissimæ fructum amiserit, Formas penitus a Materia abstractas, non in Materia determinatas, contemplando et prensando; unde factum est, ut ad speculationes theologicas diverteret, quod omnem naturalem suam philosophiam infecit et polluit. Quod si diligenter, serio, et sincere ad actionem et usum oculos convertamus, non difficile erit disquirere et notitiam assequi quæ sint illæ Formæ, quarum cognitio res humanas miris modis locupletare et beare possit. Substantiarum enim Formæ (uno Homine excepto,2 de quo Scriptura, Formavit hominem

1 Compare the phrase used by S. Augustine in speaking of the Platonists: "de silvestri cacumine videre patriam pacis, et iter ad eam non invenire."-Confess. vii. 21.

2 Those who deny the cognoscibility of Forms admit of one exception,

de limo terræ, et spiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitæ,1 non ut de cæteris speciebus, Producant aquæ, producat terra 2), species inquam creaturarum, (prout nunc per compositionem et transplantationem inveniuntur multiplicatæ,) ita perplexæ sunt et complicatæ ut aut omnino de iis inquirere frustra sit, aut inquisitio earum, qualis esse potest, seponi ad tempus, et postquam Formæ simplicioris naturæ rite exploratæ sint et inventæ, tum demum institui debeat. Quemadmodum enim nec facile esset, nec ullo modo utile, Formam soni investigare ejus qui verbum aliquod constituat; cum verba compositione et transpositione literarum sint infinita; at soni qui literam aliquam simplicem exprimat Formam inquirere (quali scilicet collisione, quali instrumentorum vocis applicatione, constituatur) comprehensibile est, imo facile; (quæ tamen Formæ literarum cognitæ ad Formas verborum illico nos deducent:3) eadem prorsus ratione Formam inquirendo leonis, quercus, auri, imo etiam aquæ aut aëris, operam quis luserit: Formam vero inquirere Densi, Rari; Calidi, Frigidi; Gravis, Levis; Tangibilis, Pneumatici; Volatilis, Fixi; et similium tam Schematismorum quam Motuum, quos in Physica tractanda magna ex parte enumeravimus (et Formas Prima

it being a received article of faith, to deny which is by the Clementine constitutions declared a heresy, that the rational soul is the substantial form of man; and it is to be observed that Bacon guards himself against being supposed to overlook this exception, in admitting that substantial forms are so "perplexed and complicated" as to be, for the present at least, hopeless subjects of inquiry.

1 Gen. ii. 7.

2 Gen. i. 20. 24.

8 There can be, I think, no doubt that the passage in the Philebus (p. 17. et infra of Stephens) in which Plato speaks of the analysis of sounds into their constituent elements, and which is a "locus classicus" with reference to his method of induction, is here alluded to. See the General Preface, vol. i. p. 69.

Classis appellare consuevimus 1), quique (veluti literæ alphabeti) numero haud ita multi sunt, et tamen Essentias et Formas omnium substantiarum conficiunt et sustinent; hoc est, inquam, illud ipsum quod conamur; quodque eam partem Metaphysicæ de qua nunc inquirimus constituit et diffinit. Neque hæc officiunt, quominus Physica easdem naturas consideret quoque (ut dictum est), sed tantum quoad causas fluxas. Exempli gratia, si de causa inquiratur Albedinis in nive vel spuma; recte redditur, quod sit subtilis intermixtio aëris cum aqua. Hæc autem, longe abest, ut sit Forma Albedinis, cum aër etiam pulveri vitri aut crystalli intermixtus albedinem similiter procreet, non minus quam si admisceatur aquæ ; verum Causa Efficiens illa tantum est, quæ nihil aliud quam vehiculum est Formæ.3 At in Metaphysica si fiat inquisitio, hujusmodi quidpiam reperies; corpora duo diaphana intermixta, portionibus eorum opticis simplici ordine sive æqualiter collocatis, constituere Albedinem. Hanc Metaphysicæ partem desiderari reperio. Nec mirum ; quia illo inquirendi modo qui huc usque in usum

1 So in the original. The sense seems to require (et quorum formas Formas Primæ Classis appellare consuevimus). See infra p. 293.-J. S.

2 It clearly appears from this passage that Bacon's doctrine was that the forms of all substances might be determined by combining the results of a limited number of investigations of the forms of schematisms and motions, or as he elsewhere calls them of simple natures. (See Novum Organum, ii. 5.) For the phrase "Formæ primæ classis," see infra p. 293. The difficulty of effecting this combination might be insuperable; he did not profess to be able to decide à priori that it was not so; but at any rate it would be only a synthetical difficulty and would not present itself until his analysis of nature was completed and the forms of her constituent elements determined. Of the possibility of attaining these two ends - namely (1.) an analysis of nature resulting in the formation of a complete list of "naturæ simplices," and (2.) the determination of their forms-he seems never to have doubted.

8 See Nov. Org. vol. i. p. 403.

venit, nunquam in sæculum comparebunt Rerum Formæ. Radix autem mali hujus, ut et omnium, ea est; quod homines et propere nimis, et nimis longe, ab experientia et rebus particularibus cogitationes suas divellere et abstrahere consueverunt, et suis meditationibus et argumentationibus se totos dedere.

Usus autem hujus partis Metaphysicæ, quam Desideratis annumero, duas ob causas vel maxime excellit. Prima est, quod scientiarum omnium officium sit et propria virtus, ut experientiæ ambages et itinera longa (quantum veritatis ratio permittit) abbrevient; ac proinde remedium veteri querimoniæ afferant, de Vita brevi et Arte longa. Illud vero optime præstatur, Axiomata scientiarum in magis generalia, et quæ omni materiæ rerum individuarum competant, colligendo et uniendo. Sunt enim Scientiæ instar pyramidum, quibus Historia et Experientia tanquam basis unica substernuntur ; ac proinde basis Naturalis Philosophiæ est Historia Naturalis. Tabulatum primum a basi est Physica; vertici proximum Metaphysica; ad conum quod attinet et punctum verticale (opus quod operatur Deus a principio usque ad finem; 2 summariam nempe naturæ legem), hæsitamus merito, an humana possit ad illud inquisitio pertingere. Cæterum hæc tria veræ sunt Scientiarum contabulationes, suntque apud homines propria scientia inflatos et theomachos tanquam tres moles giganteæ:

Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam,

Scilicet atque Ossæ frondosum involvere Olympum: 3

apud eos vero qui seipsos exinanientes omnia ad Dei

1 Vita brevis, ars vero longa, occasio autem præceps, experimentum periculosum, judicium difficile." - Hippocrates, Aph. i. 1. I quote from

Leonicenus's version.

2 Eccles. iii. 11.

8 Virg. Georg. i. 281.