"as things now are, if an untruth in nature be once on foot, what by reason of the neglect of examination and countenance of antiquity, and what by reason of the use of the opinion in similitudes and ornaments of speech, it is never called down," (I quote a passage from the Advancement of Learning with which it is evident that the next sentence in this manuscript closely corresponded,) - Bacon has recourse to the illustration so happily developed in the 118th aphorism of the first book of the Novum Organum, comparing the mistakes which will occur in such a natural history as he meditates to the misprints in a book; if there be but a few, you can correct them by the sense of the passage; if many, you cannot find what the sense is: so it is, he says, with Natural History and Philosophy. "Nam si paucæ vanitates admisceantur, eæ a causis ipsis inventis reprobantur; sin spissæ, ipsam causarum inquisitionem subvertunt. Itaque optimo consilio res geretur, si triplex fidei ordo statuatur. Unus eorum quæ damnantur; alter eorum quæ certo comperiuntur; tertius eorum quæ fidei sunt [dubiæ.]" He concludes his remarks on the Historia Mirabilium by observing that it is useful in two ways-both excellent: "the (again I quote the Advancement of Learning, for the fragments of the sentence clearly show that it was to the same effect,) – "the one to correct the partiality of axioms and opinions, which are commonly framed only upon common and familiar examples; the other because from the wonders of nature is the nearest intelligence and passage towards the wonders of art; for it is no more but by following and as it were hounding nature in her wanderings, to be able to lead her afterwards to the same place again."

He then proceeds to speak of the Historia Mechanica, the third and last. And here, the blanks being fewer, the sense may be clearly traced, and the missing words probably supplied.]

Sequitur et superest [Historia] Naturalis Mechanica, sive Exper[ientiæ] qualem artes exhibent: ut agric[ultura], Pictoria,1 Tinctoria, Fabrilis. Addo [etiam practicas] omnes, licet in artem non coaluerint, ut [ve]nationum, aucupiorum, piscationum. N[eque tamen] excludo mechanicam partem liberalium artium, quas vocant; Musicæ, Perspectivæ, Medicinæ. Hæc autem historia licet res minus solemnis sit et honoris et

[And here the manuscript suddenly stops in the middle of the page; being evidently a transcript from an original of which the outside leaves had been torn away, and the others more or less injured, most towards the end.]

1 pinctura in MS.

COGITATIONES DE SCIENTIA HUMANA.

THE SECOND FRAGMENT.

De Scientiis et mente. De præjudicio consensus, quod infirmum sit.1

CONSENSUS in doctrinis receptis, cujus ea est potestas ut vim quandam hominum judiciis faciat et contradictionem omnem infamet, recte perpendenti et sanam mentem adducenti tantum a vera et solida authoritate abest ut præsumptionem violentam inducat in contrarium. Scientiarum enim status certe perpetuo est democraticus, qui status tempestas et insania in civilibus appellari consuevit. Neque multo melius se gerit aut probat in intellectualibus. Apud populum enim doctrinæ contentiosæ et pugnaces, aut rursus probabiles et speciosa, plurimum vigent; quales videlicet assensum aut illaqueant aut alliciunt. Itaque pessimus augur veritatis, studium et admiratio populi. Si quis autem hæc ita fieri concedat, et sit firmior, et turbam professoriam non admodum vereatur, sed cum inter eos non paucos ingenio et judicio excellere videat, ho

1 Additional MSS. 4258. fo. 214. This begins at the top of a page, and is not numbered. But as the other two Cogitations which complete this fragment are number 9 and 10, I conclude that this was in fact Cogitatio 8a, the first seven having been lost. ⚫

rum suffragiis moveatur sciat se ratione fallaci niti. Dubium enim non est, quin per singulas ætates maxima ingenia vim passa sint, dum viri captu et intellectu non vulgares, nihilo secius existimationi suæ caventes, temporis et multitudinis judicio se submiserunt. Non enim apud eosdem est pretium scientiarum et possessio: sed quæ viri præstantes proponunt vulgus æstimat. Quod si cui adhuc tamen mirum videatur quod tot sæculis nil melius his quibus utimur inveniri potuerit, is non meminit hoc sæpius accidere temporibus retroactis potuisse, ut potiora istis caput extulerint et in lucem venerint; verum cum penes populum (ut dictum est) sit judicium et delectus, memoriam eorum interire necesse est; adeo ut altiores contemplationes oriantur aliquando, sed fere non ita multo post opinionum vulgarium ventis agitentur et extinguantur. Quare non dissimulanter monendum et prædicendum est (ne quis fortasse de expectatione sua decidat) veras de natura opiniones a vulgaribus in immensum removeri, et fere religionis instar duras et interdum primo aspectu prodigiosas ad hominum sensus et captus accedere; ut in Democriti opinione de Atomis usu venit, quæ quia paulo interioris notæ erat, lusu excipiebatur. Verum hæc ad animos hominum sanandos qui consensu perstringuntur pertinent,

COGITATIO да.

Insita est in animis hominum a natura et a disciplina opinio et æstimatio tumida et damnosa, quæ philosophiam veram et activam veluti exilio mulctavit, et omni aditu prohibuit. Ea est, minui majestatem mentis humanæ si in experimentis et rebus particularibus, sen1 agitantur in MS.

1

sui objectis et in materia terminatis, diu et multum versetur; præsertim cum hujusmodi res ad inquirendum laboriosæ, ad meditandum ignobiles, ad dicendum asperæ, ad practicam illiberales, numero infinitæ, et subtilitate pusillæ, videri soleant; adeo ut scientiarum gloriam et nomen polluere fere existimentur. Quin eo usque vanitas ista, et mentis, si verum nomen quæratur, alienatio et excessus, provecta est, ut veritas veluti animæ humanæ indigena, sensus autem intellectum excitare non informare, ab aliquibus assereretur. Neque errorem istum ab iis corrigi contigit qui sensui debitas, id est primas, partes tribuerunt; verum ex his quoque plurimi exemplo et facto suo, relicta omnino historia naturali et mundana perambulatione, omnia in meditatione et ingenii agitatione posuerunt ; et sub specioso speculationum et rationalium titulo hominum mentes ad rerum evidentiam nunquam satis applicatas et addictas, inter opacissima et inanissima mentis Idola perpetuo volutare docuerunt.2 Verum istud rerum particularium repudium et divortium omnia in familia humana turbavit. Neque tantum homines monendi sunt ut experientia se restituant atque intellectus commentis et meditationum simulacris non amplius confidant, verum ut inter experimenta ipsa, sive instantias, nec res exiles tanquam leves, nec res vulgatas tanquam superfluas, nec res mechanicas tanquam viles, nec res turpes tanquam indignas, nec res præter naturam tanquam odiosas aut infaustas, despiciant aut rejiciant. Sane si capitolium aliquod humanæ superbiæ condendum et dedicandum esset, non nisi auri fortasse et argenti et eboris ramenta et hujusmodi res preciosas ad fundamenta ejus ingerere per pontifi

1 solent in MS.

2 docuerant in MS.