The effects of these imperfections are manifested in different ways, according to the temper and disposition of the several minds of men, some they incline to _gross ignorance_ and stupidity, and others to a _presumptuous imposing_ on other mens Opinions, and a _confident dogmatizing_ on matters, whereof there is no assurance to be given. Thus all the uncertainty, and mistakes of humane actions, proceed either from the narrowness and wandring of our _Senses_, from the slipperiness or delusion of our _Memory_, from the confinement or rashness of our _Understanding_, so that ’tis no wonder, that our power over natural causes and effects is so slowly improv’d, seeing we are not only to contend with the obscurity and _difficulty of the things_ whereon we work and think, but even the _forces of our own minds_ conspire to betray us. These being the dangers in the process of humane Reason, the remedies of them all can only proceed from the _real_, the _mechanical_, the _experimental_ Philosophy, which has this advantage over the Philosophy of _discourse_ and _disputation_, that whereas that chiefly aims at the subtilty of its Deductions and Conclusions, without much regard to the first ground-work, which ought to be well laid on the Sense and Memory; so this intends the right ordering of them all, and the making them serviceable to each other. The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is a _watchfulness over the failings_ and an _inlargement of the dominion_, of the Senses. To which end it is requisite, first, That there should be a _scrupulous_ choice, and a _strict examination_, of the reality, constancy, and certainty of the Particulars that we admit: This is the first rise whereon truth is to begin, and here the most severe, and most impartial diligence, must be imployed; the storing up of all, without any regard to evidence or use, will only tend to darkness and confusion. We must not therefore esteem the riches of our Philosophical treasure by the _number_ only, but chiefly by the _weight_; the most _vulgar_ Instances are not to be neglected, but above all, the most _instructive_ are to be entertain’d; the footsteps of Nature are to be trac’d, not only in her _ordinary course_, but when she seems to be put to her shifts, to make many _doublings_ and _turnings_, and to use some kind of art in indeavouring to avoid our discovery.