compendiaria, sed præcipiti, et ad naturam impervia, ad disputationes vero proclivi et accommodata. At secundum nos, axiomata1 continenter et gradatim excitantur, ut non nisi postremo loco ad generalissima veniatur: ea vero generalissima evadunt non notionalia, sed bene terminita, et talia quæ natura ut revera sibi notiora agnoscat,2 quæque rebus hæreant in medullis. At in forma ipsa quoque inductionis, et judicio quod per eam fit, opus longe maximum movemus. Ea enim de dialectici loquuntur, quæ procedit per enumerationem simplicem, puerile quiddam est, et precario concludit, et periculo ab instantia contradictoria exponitur, et consueta tantum intuetur, nec exitum reperit.

qua

Atqui opus est ad scientias inductionis forma tali, quæ experientiam solvat et separet, et per exclusiones ac rejectiones debitas necessario concludat. Quod si

1 Bacon's way of using the word “axioma" as if it were equivalent to "enuntiatum" or "propositio" he derived from Peter Ramus. Hasse, an early commentator on Ramus, remarks that the word is used in the same way by Cicero, who probably took it from the Stoics.

2 Aristotle everywhere distinguishes between that which is prior and more known in the order of nature, and that which is prior and more known with respect to ourselves. Thus in the Posterior Analytics, i. 2., he says: "Priora autem et notiora dupliciter dicuntur: neque enim idem est prius naturâ et prius quantum ad nos pertinet; neque idem quod notius naturâ et quod nobis notius. Dico enim, quantum ad nos, et priora et notiora esse quæ a sensu propius; per se vero ac simpliciter, et priora et notiora quæ longius absunt; quo quid autem magis universale eo est remotius, ac singula quæque sunt proxima." The schoolmen, misled by the ambiguity of the Greek dative, substitute for "notius naturà," Th ouσei yvwpywτepov, “notius naturæ," as if Aristotle had spoken of Nature's knowledge in opposition to ours. The phrase in the text involves the same metaphor. It may be translated "Such as Nature would recognise as being really her first principles." "Notius naturâ" is equivalent to St. Thomas's expression "prius per viam perfectionis." See with respect to the subject of this note, and especially to the origin and meaning of the phrases à priori and à posteriori, Trendelenburg Elementa Log. Aristot. 81.

Bartholdy's rendering is merely founded in error: "dass es die Natur für einen wirklichen Beweis einer innigern Bekanntschaft mit ihr anerkennen muss."

judicium illud vulgatum dialecticorum tam operosum fuerit, et tanta ingenia exercuerit; quanto magis laborandum est in hoc altero, quod non tantum ex mentis penetralibus, sed etiam ex naturæ visceribus extrahitur?

Neque tamen hic finis. Nam fundamenta quoque scientiarum fortius deprimimus et solidamus, atque initia inquirendi altius sumimus, quam adhuc homines fecerunt ea subjiciendo examini, quæ logica vulgaris tanquam fide aliena recipit. Etenim dialectici principia scientiarum a scientiis singulis tanquam mutuo sumunt: rursus, notiones mentis primas venerantur: postremo, informationibus immediatis sensus bene dispositi acquiescunt. At nos logicam veram singulas scientiarum provincias majore cum imperio quam penes ipsarum principia sit debere ingredi decrevimus, atque illa ipsa principia putativa ad rationes reddendas compellere quousque plane constent. Quod vero attinet ad notiones primas intellectus; nihil est eorum quæ intellectus sibi permissus congessit, quin nobis pro suspecto sit, nec ullo modo ratum, nisi novo judicio se stiterit et secundum illud pronuntiatum fuerit. Quinetiam sensus ipsius informationes multis modis excutimus. Sensus enim fallunt utique, sed et errores suos indicant: verum errores præsto, indicia eorum longe petita sunt.

Duplex autem est sensus culpa: aut enim destituit nos aut decipit. Nam primo, plurimæ sunt res quæ sensum etiam recte dispositum nec ullo modo impeditum effugiunt; aut subtilitate totius corporis, aut partium minutiis, aut loci distantia, aut tarditate atque etiam velocitate motus, aut familiaritate objecti, aut alias

1 On the relation of philosophy to the sciences, I may refer to an interesting essay by Ritter in the Berlin Transactions.

ob causas. Neque rursus, ubi sensus rem tenet, prehensiones ejus admodum firmæ sunt. Nam testimonium et informatio sensus semper est ex analogia hominis, non ex analogia universi: 1 atque magno prorsus errore asseritur, sensum esse mensuram rerum.

Itaque ut his occurratur, nos multo et fido ministerio auxilia sensui undique conquisivimus et contraximus, ut destitutionibus substitutiones, variationibus rectificationes suppeditentur. Neque id molimur tam instrumentis quam experimentis. Etenim experimentorum longe major est subtilitas quam sensus ipsius, licet instrumentis exquisitis adjuti; (de iis loquimur experimentis, quæ ad intentionem ejus quod quæritur perite et secundum artem excogitata et apposita sunt.) 2 Itaque perceptioni sensus immediatæ ac propriæ non multum tribuimus: sed eo rem deducimus, ut sensus tantum de experimento, experimentum de re judicet. Quare existimamus nos sensus (a quo omnia in natu

1 The phrase "est ex analogiâ" is to be rendered (giving to “analogia" a wider signification than that which it ordinarily has) by "has reference to: " just as in the dictum, "materia non est cognoscibilis nisi ex analogiâ (or per analogiam) formæ ; "—"except by reference to form." It seems not improbable that this way of using the word was suggested by the passage in the Physics which gave rise to the dictum I have quoted. Aristotle says, Phys. i. 7., “ Η δὲ ὑποκειμένη φύσις, ἐπιστητὴ κατὰ ἀναλογίαν - in which however the word is really used in its usual sense, since Aristotle goes on to say that this υποκειμένη φύσις stands in the same relation to οὐσία that bronze does to a statue, or wood to a couch; thus illustrating the nature of matter by referring to the subject-matter of an artificial form. Bacon elsewhere uses the phrase "in ordine ad " just as he here uses ex analogiâ;" and on the other hand S. Thomas says, referring to the passage just cited, "Materia non est scibilis nisi in ordine ad formam, ut dicit Philosophus primo Physicorum;" so that the two phrases seem equivalent. See S. Thomas, De Naturâ Materiæ, c. 2., compared with the tract De principio individuationis.

That the meaning of the word Analogy was misconceived by S. Thomas, by Duns Scotus, and by the schoolmen in general, is pointed out by Zabarella, De prim. rerum materiâ, i. 4.

2 [Compare Nov. Org. ii. 36.-J. S.]

ralibus petenda sunt, nisi forte libeat insanire) antistites. religiosos, et oraculorum ejus non imperitos interpretes, nos præstitisse: ut alii professione quadam, nos re ipsa, sensum tueri ac colere videamur. Atque hujusmodi sunt ea quæ ad lumen ipsum naturæ ejusque accensionem et immissionem paramus: quæ per se sufficere possent, si intellectus humanus æqus et instar tabulæ abrasæ esset. Sed cum mentes hominum miris modis adeo obsessæ sint ut ad veros rerum radios excipiendos sincera et polita area prorsus desit, necessitas quædam incumbit ut etiam huic rei remedium quærendum esse pute

mus.

Idola autem a quibus occupatur mens, vel Adscititia sunt vel Innata. Adscititia vero immigrarunt in mentes hominum, vel ex philosophorum placitis et sectis vel ex perversis legibus demonstrationum. At Innata inhærent naturæ ipsius intellectus, qui ad errorem longe proclivior esse deprehenditur quam sensus. Utcunque enim homines sibi placeant et in admirationem mentis humanæ ac fere adorationem ruant, illud certissimum est sicut speculum inæquale rerum radios ex figura et sectione propria immutat, ita et mentem, cum a rebus per sensum patitur, in notionibus suis expediendis et comminiscendis haud optima fide rerum turæ suam naturam inserere et immiscere.

na

Atque priora illa duo Idolorum genera ægre, postrema vero hæc nullo modo, evelli possunt.1 Id tantum relinquitur, ut indicentur, atque ut vis ista mentis insidiatrix notetur et convincatur; ne forte a destructione veterum novi subinde errorum surculi ex ipsa mala complexione mentis pullulent, eoque res recidat,

1 The priora duo are the Idols of the Theatre, which include both kinds. The postrema hæc are the Idols of the Tribe, the Cave, and the Marketplace. Compare De Aug. Sci. v. 4.; and see Note C. at the end of the Preface. J. S.

ut errores non extinguantur sed permutentur; verum e contra ut illud tandem in æternum ratum et fixum sit, intellectum nisi per inductionem ejusque formam legitimam judicare non posse. Itaque doctrina ista de expurgatione intellectus ut ipse ad veritatem habilis sit, tribus redargutionibus absolvitur: redargutione philosophiarum, redargutione demonstrationum, et redargutione rationis humanæ nativæ. His vero explicatis, ac postquam demum patuerit quid rerum natura, quid mentis natura ferat, existimamus nos thalamum Mentis et Universi, pronuba divina bonitate, stravisse et ornasse. Epithalamii autem votum sit, ut ex eo connubio auxilia humana et stirps inventorum quæ necessitates ac miserias hominum aliqua ex parte doment. et subigant, suscipiatur.2 Hæc vero est operis pars secunda.

At vias non solum monstrare et munire, sed inire

1 Compare Aph. 115, where these three Redargutiones are enumerated in the inverse order; in which order they are treated. This shows that the Distributio Operis was written before Bacon had decided upon the arrangement of the Novum Organum. See Note C. at the end of the Preface. J. S.

2 The received reading is suscipiatur, which seems erroneous, but may perhaps be defended. [I have myself very little doubt that Bacon wrote suscipiatur, not suscipiantur. If it be ever allowable to make a verb which depends upon two nominatives agree with the last only (which I think it sometimes is), there was a reason for doing so in this case; an ambiguity as well as a jingle being thereby avoided. In an earlier form of this passage (which will be found in the Partis Instaurationis secunda Delineatio), the verb is in the singular, as here; though in that place it depends directly upon the plural nominative "auxilia humana," and therefore cannot be defended. In the Redargutio Philosophiarum it appears again in still another shape. There we have two nominatives, one singular and one plural, as here; but the plural coming last, the verb is in the plural, "ut ex illo connubio, non phantasiæ monstra, sed stirps heroum, quæ monstra domet et extinguat, hoc est inventa salutaria et utilia ad necessitates humanas (quantum fieri datur) debellandos et relevandos, suscipiantur. Hoc epithalamii votum sit." -J. S.]