Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/91

 wherein liquors open themselves by fire; for water opens one way, wine another, verjuice another and milk, oil, &c., with a still greater difference.

Constituent Instances.—In inquiring into any nature, separate complex into simple natures. Let the nature sought be memory, or the means of exciting and helping the memory: the constituent instances may be thus exhibited:

Such are specimens of his mode of excluding irrelevant natures.

Patent and Latent Instances. In inquiring into any nature, observe where the nature, in its usual state, appears most conspicuous, and where it appears in its weakest and most imperfect state. The loadstone is a glaring instance of attraction. The thermometer is a glaring instance of the expansive nature of heat. Flame exhibits its expansive nature to the sense, but it is momentary and vanishes. Again, let the inquiry be into the nature of solidity, the contrary of which is fluidity. Froth, snow, bubbles, whether of soap and water, blown by children, or those which may be seen occasionally on the surface of a fluid or on the side of a vessel, or the looking-glasses made of spittle by children in a loop of a single hair or a rush, where we see a consistent pellicule of water, like infant ice, exhibit solidity in its most feeble states.

Maxima and Minima. In inquiring into any nature, observe it in its extremes, or its maxima and minima. Gold in weight; iron in hardness; the whale in bulk of animal bodies; the hound in scent; the explosion of gunpowder in sudden expansion, are instances of maxima. The minute worms in the skin is an instance of minimum in animal bulk.

Frontier Instances. Observe those species of bodies which seem composed of two species; as moss, which is something betwixt putrefaction and a plant; flying fishes, which are a species betwixt birds and fish; bats, which are betwixt birds and quadrupeds; the beast so like ourselves, the ape; the biformed births of animals; the mixtures of different species, &c.

Singular Instances. In inquiring into any nature, observe those instances which, in regular course, are solitary amidst their own natures. Quicksilver amongst metals; the power of the carrier pigeon to return to the place from whence it was carried; the scent of the bloodhound; the loadstone amongst stones; that species of flowers which do not die when plucked from the stalk, but continue their colours and forms unaltered through the winter. So with grammarians the letter G is held singular for the easiness of its composition with consonants, sometimes with double and sometimes with triple ones, which is a property of no other letter. So the number 9 amongst figures possesses the peculiar property, that the sum of the digits of all its multiples is 9.

Instances of Divorce. Observe the separation of such natures as are generally united. Light and heat are generally united; but in a cold moonlight night there is light without heat, and in hot water there is heat without light. The action of one body upon another is in general affected by the medium through which it acts; thus sound varies with the state of the atmosphere, and through a thick wall is scarcely perceptible. The magnetic attraction seems to be an instance of divorce, as it acts indifferently through all mediums.

Deviating Instances. Observe nature when apparently deviating from her accustomed course; as in all cases of monsters, prodigious births, &c. He who knows the ways of nature will the easier observe her deviations; and he who knows her deviations, will more exactly describe her ways. For the business in this matter is no more than by quick scent to trace out the footways of nature in her wilful wanderings, that so after ward you may be able at your pleasure to lead or force her to the same place and posture again. As a man's disposition is never well known till he be crossed, nor did Proteus ever change shapes till he was straitened and held fast.

Such are specimens of his modes of viewing nature where most conspicuous.

Crucial Instances. When, in inquiring into any particular nature, the mind is in æquilibrio between two causes, observe if there is not some instance which marks the cause of the sought nature. Let the nature sought be gravity. Heavy bodies, having a tendency to the earth, must fall ex mero motu, from their own construction, or be attracted by the earth. Let two equal bodies fall through equal spaces at different distances from the earth, and if they fall through these equal spaces in unequal times, the descent is influenced by the attraction of the earth.