The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

380 NOVUM ORGANUM. BooK II.
The warm springs in baths appear to be heated and weather, and is not so acute as to be insufferaaccidentally, by flame, subterraneous fire, (such ble to the hand. It is said, however, of Constanas is thrown up by Etna and many other moun- tius, and some others of a very dry constitution
tains,) or by the contact of certain bodies, as and habit of body, that when attacked with violent
heat is exhibited in the dissolution of iron and fevers, they became so warni as to appear almost
tin. The degree of heat, therefore, in inanimate to burn the hand applied to them.
objects is not sensible to our touch, but they dif- 9. Animals become more warm by motion and
fer in their degrees of cold, for wood and metal exercise, wine and feasting, venery, burning
are not equally cold. This, however, belongs to fevers, and grief.
the table of degrees of cold. 10. In the paroxysm of intermittent fevers the
2. But with regard to potential heat and pre- patients are at first seized with cold and shivering,
disposition to flame, we find many inanimate but soon afterwards become more heated than at
substances wonderfully adapted to it; as sulphur, first; in burning and pestilential fevers they are
naphtha, and saltpetre. hot from the beginning.
3. Bodies which have previously acquired heat, 11. Let further inquiry be made into the
as horse-dung from the animal, or lime, and per- comparative heat of different animals, as fishes,
haps ashes or soot from fire, retain some latent quadrupeds, serpents, birds: and also of the
portion of it. Hence distillations and separations different species, as the lion, the kite, or man.
of substances are effected by burying them in For, according to the vulgar opinion, fishes are
horse-dung, and heat is excited in lime by sprin- the least warm internally, and birds the most;
kling it with water, (as has been before observed.) particularly doves, hawks, and ostriches.
4. in the vegetable world we know of no plant, 12. Let further inquiry be made as to the comnor part of any plant, (as the exudations or pith) parative heat in different parts and limbs of the
that is warm to man's touch. Yet, as we have same animal. For milk, blood, seed, and eggs
before observed, green weeds grow warm when are moderately warm, and less hot than the outconfined, and some vegetables are warm and ward flesh of the animal when in motion or
others cold to our internal touch, i. e. the palate agitated. The degree of heat of the brain,
and stomach, or even, after a while, to our external stomach, heart, and the rest, has not yet been
skin, (as is shown in plasters and ointments.) equally well investigated.
5. We know of nothing in the various parts 13. All animals are externally cold in winter
of animals, when dead or detached from the rest, and cold weather, but are thought to be internally
that is warm to the touch. For horse-dung itself warmer.
does not retain its heat, unless it be confined and 14. The heat of the heavenly bodies, even in
buried. All dung, however, appears to possess the warmest climates and seasons, never reaches
a potential heat, as in manuring fields. So, also, such a pitch as to light or burn the dryest wood
dead bodies are endued with this latent and po- or straw, or even tinder without the aid of burningtential heat, to such a degree that, in cemete- glasses. it can, however, raise vapour from
ries where people are interred daily, the earth moist substances.
acquires a secret heat which consumes any re- 15. Astronomers tell us that some stars are
cently deposited body much sooner than pure hotter than others. Mars is considered the
earth: and they tell you that the people of the warmest after the sun, then Jupiter, then Venus.
East are acquainted with a fine soft cloth, made The moon and, above all, Saturn are considered
of the down of birds, which can melt butter to be cold. Among the fixed stars, Sirius is
wrapt gently up in it by its own warmth. thought the warmest, then Cor Leonis, or Regu6. Manures, such as every kind of dung, chalk, lus, then the lesser dog-star.
sea-sand, salt, and the like, have some disposition The sun gives out more heat as it approaches
towards heat. towards the perpendicular or zenith, which may
7. All putrefaction exhibits some slight degree be supposed to be the case with the other planets
of heat, though not enough to be perceptible by according to their degree of heat; for instance,
the touch. For, neither the substances, which that Jupiter gives out more heat when situated
by putrefaction are converted into animalculm, as beneath Cancer or Leo, than when he is beneath
flesh and cheese, nor rotten wood, which shines Capricorn and Aquarius.
in the dark, are warm to the touch. The heat, 17. It is to be supposed that the sun and other
however, of putrid substances displays itself oc- planets give more heat in perigee, from their apcasionally in a disgusting and strong scent. proximation to the earth, than when in apogee.
8. The first degree of heat, therefore, in sub- But if in any country the sun should be both in
stances which are warm to the human touch, ap- its perigee and nearer to the perpendicular at the
pears to be that of animals, and this admits of a same time, it must necessarily give out more hea
great variety of degrees, for the lowest (as in in- than in a country where it is also in perigee, but
sects) is scarcely perceptible, the highest scarcely situated more obliquely. So that the comparative
equals that of the sun's rays in warm climates altitude of the planets should be observed, and