The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

BooK II. NOVUM ORGANUM. 391
bruised, and the like; although there be no sensa- the present system. For, it has hitherto been
tion, owing to the absence of animal spirit. active and curious in noting the variety of' things
Again, wonderful as it may appear, the roots and and explaining the accurate differences of anibranches of trees are similar instances. For every mals, vegetables, and minerals, most of which are
vegetable swells and throws out its constituent the mere sport of nature, rather than of any real
parts towards the circumnference, both upwards utility as concerns the sciences. Pursuits of this
and downwards. And there is no difference be- nature are certainly agreeable, and sometimes of
tween the roots and braanches, except that the root practical advantage, but contribute little or nothing
is buried in the earth, and the branches are exposed to the thorough investigation of nature. Our
to the air and sun. For if one take a young and labour must, therefore, be directed towards invigorous shoot, and bend it down to a small potr- quiring into, and observing resemblances and
tion of loose earth, although it be not fixed to the analogies, both in the whole, and its parts, for,
ground, yet will it immediately produce a root, they unite nature, and lay the foundation of the
and not a branch. And, vice versa, if earth be sciences.
placed above, and so forced down with a stone Here, however, a severe and rigorous caution
or any hard substance, as to confine the plant and must be observed, that we only consider as simiprevent its branching upwards, it will throw out lar and proportionate instances, those which (as
branches into the air downwards. The gums of we first observed) point out physical resemtrees and most rock gems are similar instances; blances: that is, real and substantial resemfor both of them are exudations, and filtered blances, deeply founded in nature, and not casual
juices, derived in the former instance from trees, and superficial, much less superstitious or curiin the latter from stones; the brightness and ous; such as those which are constantly put
clearness of both arising from a delicate and forward bv the writers on natural magic, (the
accurate filtering. For nearly the same reason, most idle of men, and who are scarcely fit to be
the hair of animals is less beautiful and vivid in named in connection with such serious matters as
its colour, than the plumage of most birds, be- we now treat of,) who, with much vanity and
cause the juices are less delicately filtered through folly, describe, and sometimes, too, invent unthe skin than through the quills. meaning resemblances and sympathies.
The scrotum of males, and matrix of females, But, leaving such to themselves, similar inare also similar instances: so that the noble for- stances are not to be neglected, in the greater
mation which constitutes the difference of the portions of the world's conformation; such as
sexes, appears to differ only as to the one being Africa and the Peruvian continent, which reaches
internal and the other external; a greater degree to the Straits of Magellan; both of which possess
of heat causing the genitals to protrude in the a similar isthmus and similar capes, a circummale, whilst the heat of the female being too stance not to be attributed to mere accident.
weak to effect this, they are retained internally. Again; the New and Old World are both of
- The fins of fishes, and the feet of quadrupeds, or them broad and'expanded towards the north, and
the feet and wings of birds, are similar instances; narrow and pointed towards the south.
to which Aristotle adds the four folds in the Again; we have very remarkable similar inmotion of serpents;* so that, in the formation of stances in the intense cold, towards the middle
the universe, the motion of animals appears to be regions (as it is termed) of the air, and the viochiefly effected by four joints or bendings. lent fires which are often found to burst from
The teeth of land animals, and the beaks of subterraneous spots, the similarity consisting in
birds, are similar instances, whence it is clear, both being ends and extremes; the extreme of
that in all perfect animals there is a determination the nature of cold, for instance, is towards the
of some hard substance towards the mouth. boundary of heaven, and that of the nature of
Again, the resemblance and conformity of man heat towards the centre of the earth, by a simito an inverted plant is not absurd. For the head lar species of opposition or rejection of the conis the root of the nerves and animal faculties, trary nature.
and the seminal parts are the lowest, not including Lastly, in the axioms of the sciences there is
the extremities of the legs and arms. But, in a similarity of instances worthy of observation.
the plant, the root (which resembles the head) Thus, the rhetorical trope which is called surprise,
is regularly placed in the lowest, and the seeds in is similar to that of music termed the declinino
the highest part. of a cadence.
Lastly, we must particularly recommend and Again; the mathematical postulate, that ", things
suggest, that man's present industry in the inves- which are equal to the same are equal to one
tigation and compilation of natural history be another," is similar to the form of the syllogism
entirely changed, and directed to the reverse of in logic, which unites things agreeing in the middle term. Lastly: a certain degree of sagacity
* Is not this a very hasty generalizationS Do serpents in collecting and searhin for phsical points of
smovo with four folds only! Observe also the motion of
centipedes and other insects. similority, is very useful in many respects,