The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

cviii LIFE OF BACON.
1. The preservation of Health. In flower and tree, and every lpebbly stone. Health. < 2. The cure of Diseases. That paves the brooks, the stationary rocks,
The moving waters and the invisible air.
2. Strength. 3. The prolongation of Life. Whate'er exists hath properties that spread
B3. eauty. Beyond itself, communicatinlg good,
4. Pleasure. A simple blessing or with evil mixed:
Spirit that knows no insulated spot,
No chasm, no solitude: front link to link
His History of Life and Death may be regarded It circulates, the soul of all the worlds."
as a treatise upon the art of Preservation of Excursion, book 9.
Health, and Prolongation of Life.
As a foundation of his investigations he con- As another specimen, the mode of explaining
siders, the condensation of spirit by flight may be selected.
1st. The causes of the constumption of the The spirit, he says, is condensed by fliglt,y body. cold,-appeasing, and quelling. The condensasdly. The modes of reparation.!D
tly. The modes of reparation. tion by flight is when there is an antipathy between the spirit and tile body upon which it acts;
Of conzsumlption he says there are two causes: the as, in opium, which is so exceedingly powerful in
depredation of vital spirit and the depredation of condensing the spirit, that a grain Mwill tranquilambient air; and if the action of either of these lize the nerves, and by a few grains they mzay be
agents can be destroyed, the decomposition is so compressedastobeirrecoverable.
more or less retarded, as in bodies enclosed in ed spirit may retreat into its shell for a time or forwax or coffins, where the action of the external ever: or it may, when fainting, be recalled, by the
air is excluded: and when the action of both these application of a stimulant, as surprise frmcn a
causes can be prevented, the body defies decom- sudden impulse; a blow, or a glass of water
position, as in bricks and burnt bodies, where the thrown on the face; or the prick of a pin, or the
vital air is expelled by exposure of the clay to the action of mind on mind.
ambient air, and afterwards by fire; or as a fly in
amber, more beautifully entombed than an Egyp- "I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand
tian rmonarch. Any exploit worthy the name of honour."
In. making the agents less predatory, and the
patients less depredable, the science of the re- As another specimen, his sentiments upon
tardation of consumption consequently consists. death, the decomposition of compounds, may be
selected.
He proceeds, therefore, with his usual accuracy, In his doctrine of motion,
to consider how these objects are to be attained; In his doctrine of motion, he says, "The politoand havin consider hoed tese objects are proceeds to te tical motion is that by which the parts of the body
and, b.- considered the, beproceeds to te are restrained, from their own immediate appetites
doctrine of reparation, both of the whole frame and are restrained, from their own immediate appetites
the decayed parts. or tendencies, to unite in such a state as may preHis History of Life and Death contains his serve the existence of tme whole body. Thus,
favourite doctrine of vital spirit, or excitability, the spirit, which exists in all living bodies, keeps
or life, which he notices in various parts of his parts in due subjection; when it escapes,
works. the body decomposes, or the similar parts uniteIn this place more cannot be attempted than, as metals rust, fluids turn sour; and, in animals,
In this place more cannot be attempted than,
a when the spirit which held the parts together esas a specimen of the whole of this important
capes, all things are dissolved, and return to their
subject, to explain one or two of the positions. o s
The foundation position is, that " All tangible own natures or principles the oily parts to them
bodies contain a spirit enveloped with the grosser selves, the aqueous to themselves, &c., upon
body. here is non body, in the uer which necessarily ensues that odour, that unctuobody. There is no known body, in the upper
parts of the earth, without its spirit, whether it sity, that confusion of parts, observable in putrebe generated by the attenuating and concocting faction." So true is it, that in nature all is
power of the celestial warmth, or otherwise; for beauty; that, notwithstanding our partial views
power of the celestial warmth, or otherwise; for.'
the pores of tangible bodies are not a vacuum, but istressing a ssociations, the forms of death,
either contain air, or the peculiar spirit of the sub- misshapen as we suppose them, are but the tendencies to union in similar natures.
stance; and this not a vis, an energy, or a fiction, denies to union in similarnatures.
tbut a real, subtile, and invisible, and, therefore, The knowledge of tiis science Bacon considers
ne-glected body, circumscribed by place and di- of the utmost importance to our well-being:-that
nneio.",,the action of the spirit is the cause of consumption
nension." and dissolution; —is the agent which produces all
This doctrine is thus stated in the Excursion:.5
bodily and mental effects; —influences the will in
To every form of being is assigned the production of all animal motions, as in the
An active principle, howe'er removed whale and the elephant;-and is the cause of all
From sense and observation; it subsists
From sense and observation; it subsists our cheerfulness or melancholy:-that the perfecInOf all things, tn all natures, in the stars
Of azure heaven, the unenduring clouds, tion of our being consists in the proper portion