Novum organum : $b or, True suggestions for the interpretation of natureBacon, Francis
Philosophy
Novum organum : $b or, True suggestions for the interpretation of nature
Bacon, Francis
Induction (Logic) -- Early works to 1800; Science -- Methodology -- Early works to 1800
one; the diamond, when pointed, makes an impression on glass, and the
like.
Here, too, we must not rest contented with a vague result, but inquire
into the exact proportion of quantity requisite for a particular
exertion of power; for one would be apt to suppose that the power bears
an exact proportion to the quantity; that if a leaden bullet of one
ounce, for instance, would fall in a given time, one of two ounces
ought to fall twice as rapidly, which is most erroneous. Nor does the
same ratio prevail in every kind of power, their difference being
considerable. The measure, therefore, must be determined by experiment,
and not by probability or conjecture.
Lastly, we must in all our investigations of nature observe what
quantity, or dose, of the body is requisite for a given effect, and
must at the same time be guarded against estimating it at too much or
too little.
XLVIII. In the twenty-fourth rank of prerogative instances we will
place wrestling instances, which we are also wont to call instances
of predominance. They are such as point out the predominance and
submission of powers compared with each other, and which of them is the
more energetic and superior, or more weak and inferior. For the motions
and effects of bodies are compounded, decomposed, and combined, no less
than the bodies themselves. We will exhibit, therefore, the principal
kinds of motions or active powers, in order that their comparative
strength, and thence a demonstration and definition of the instances in
question, may be rendered more clear.
Let the first motion be that of the resistance of matter, which exists
in every particle, and completely prevents its annihilation; so that
no conflagration, weight, pressure, violence, or length of time can
reduce even the smallest portion of matter to nothing, or prevent it
from being something, and occupying some space, and delivering itself
(whatever straits it be put to), by changing its form or place, or, if
that be impossible, remaining as it is; nor can it ever happen that it
should either be nothing or nowhere. This motion is designated by the
schools (which generally name and define everything by its effects and
inconveniences rather than by its inherent cause) by the axiom, that
two bodies cannot exist in the same place, or they call it a motion to
prevent the penetration of dimensions. It is useless to give examples
of this motion, since it exists in every body.
Let the second motion be that which we term the motion of connection,
by which bodies do not allow themselves to be separated at any point
from the contact of another body, delighting, as it were, in the
mutual connection and contact. This is called by the schools a motion
to prevent a vacuum. It takes place when water is drawn up by suction
or a syringe, the flesh by cupping, or when the water remains without
escaping from perforated jars, unless the mouth be opened to admit the
air, and innumerable instances of a like nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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