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
Let the fourteenth motion be that configuration or position, by
which bodies appear to desire a peculiar situation, collocation, and
configuration with others, rather than union or separation. This is
a very abstruse notion, and has not been well investigated; and, in
some instances, appears to occur almost without any cause, although
we be mistaken in supposing this to be really the case. For if it be
asked, why the heavens revolve from east to west, rather than from
west to east, or why they turn on poles situate near the Bears, rather
than round Orion or any other part of the heaven, such a question
appears to be unreasonable, since these phenomena should be received
as determinate and the objects of our experience. There are, indeed,
some ultimate and self-existing phenomena in nature, but those which
we have just mentioned are not to be referred to that class: for we
attribute them to a certain harmony and consent of the universe, which
has not yet been properly observed. But if the motion of the earth from
west to east be allowed, the same question may be put, for it must also
revolve round certain poles, and why should they be placed where they
are, rather than elsewhere? The polarity and variation of the needle
come under our present head. There is also observed in both natural and
artificial bodies, especially solids rather than fluids, a particular
collocation and position of parts, resembling hairs or fibres, which
should be diligently investigated, since, without a discovery of them,
bodies cannot be conveniently controlled or wrought upon. The eddies
observable in liquids by which, when compressed, they successively
raise different parts of their mass before they can escape, so as to
equalize the pressure, is more correctly assigned to the motion of
liberty.
Let the fifteenth motion be that of transmission or of passage, by
which the powers of bodies are more or less impeded or advanced by
the medium, according to the nature of the bodies and their effective
powers, and also according to that of the medium. For one medium is
adapted to light, another to sound, another to heat and cold, another
to magnetic action, and so on with regard to the other actions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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