LIBER SECUNDUS APHORISMORUM DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURÆ SIVE DE REGNO HOMINIS. APHORISMUS SUPER datum corpus novam naturam sive novas naturas generare et superinducere, opus et intentio est humanæ Potentiæ. Datæ autem naturæ Formam, sive differentiam veram, sive naturam naturantem', sive fontem emanationis (ista enim vocabula habemus quæ ad indicationem rei proxime accedunt) invenire, opus et intentio est humanæ Scientiæ. Atque his operibus primariis subordinantur alia opera duo secundaria et inferioris notæ; priori, transformatio corporum concretorum de alio in aliud, intra terminos Possibilis 3; posteriori, inventio in omni generatione et motu latentis processus, continuati ab This is the only passage in which I have met with the phrase natura naturans used as it is here. With the later schoolmen, as with Spinoza, it denotes God considered as the causa immanens of the universe, and therefore, according to the latter at least, not hypostatically distinct from it. (On the Pantheistic tendency occasionally perceptible among the schoolmen, see Neander's Essay on Scotus Erigena in the Berlin Memoirs.) Bacon applies it to the Form, considered as the causa immanens of the properties of the body. I regret not having been able to trace the history of this remarkable phrase. It does not occur, I think, in St. Thomas Aquinas, though I have met with it in an index to his Summa; the passage referred to containing a quotation from St. Augustine, in which the latter speaks of “ea natura quæ creavit omnes cæteras instituitque naturas." (V. St. Aug., De Trin. xiv. 9.) Neither does it occur, so far as I am aware, where we might have expected it, in the De Divisione Naturæ of Scotus Erigena. Vossius, De Vitiis Latini Sermonis, notices its use among the schoolmen, but gives no particular reference. 2 See General Preface, § 7. p. 25. The possibility of transmutation, long and strenuously denied, though certainly on no sufficient grounds, is now generally admitted. "There was a time when this fundamental doctrine of the alchemists was opposed to known analogies. It is now no longer so opposed to them, only some stages beyond their present development."Faraday, Lectures on Non-Metallic Elements, p. 106. Efficiente manifesto et materia manifesta usque ad Formam inditam; et inventio similiter latentis schematismi corporum quiescentium et non in motu.1 II. Quam infœliciter se habeat scientia humana quæ in usu est, etiam ex illis liquet quæ vulgo asseruntur. Recte ponitur; Vere scire, esse per Causas scire. Etiam non male constituuntur causæ quatuor; Materia, Forma, Efficiens, et Finis. At ex his, Causa Finalis tantum abest ut prosit, ut etiam scientias corrumpat, nisi in hominis actionibus; Formæ inventio habetur pro desperata; Efficiens vero et Materia (quales quæruntur et recipiuntur, remote scilicet, absque latenti processu ad Formam) res perfunctoriæ sunt et superficiales, et nihili fere ad scientiam veram et activam. Neque tamen obliti sumus nos superius notasse et correxisse errorem mentis humanæ, in deferendo Formis primas essentiæ.2 Licet enim in natura nihil vere existat præter corpora individua edentia actus puros individuos ex lege; in doctrinis tamen, illa ipsa lex, ejusque inquisitio et inventio atque explicatio, pro fundamento est tam ad sciendum quam ad operandum. Eam autem legem, ejusque paragraphos, Formarum nomine intelligimus 3; præsertim cum hoc vocabulum invaluerit et familiariter occurrat. III. Qui causam alicujus naturæ (veluti albedinis aut caloris) in certis tantum subjectis novit, ejus Scientia imperfecta est; et qui effectum super certas tantum materias (inter eas quæ sunt susceptibiles) inducere potest, ejus Potentia pariter imperfecta est. At qui Efficientem et Materialem causam tantummodo novit (quæ causæ fluxæ sunt, et nihil aliud quam vehicula et causæ Formam deferentes in aliquibus), is ad nova inventa, In this aphorism Bacon combines the antithesis of corpus and natura, the concrete and the abstract, with the antithesis of power and science, and thus arrives at a quadripartite classification. To translate, as Mr. Craik has done, "natura" by "natural substance" involves the whole subject in confusion. In the last sentence continuati may be translated "continuously carried on." The word is often thus used; as in the dictum "mutatio nil aliud est quam successiva et continuata formæ adquisitio." 2 [I. § 51. "Formæ enim commenta animi humani sunt, nisi libeat leges illas actûs Formas appellare."] Translate,-"We have noted and corrected as an error of the human mind the opinion that forms give existence." Bacon alludes to the maxim "forma dat esse." See General Preface, p. 31. The paragraphs of a law are its sections or clauses. It is difficult to attach any definite meaning to Mr. Wood's translation of paragraphos, "its parallels in each science." i. e. "which are unstable causes, and merely vehicles and causes which convey the form in certain cases." in materia aliquatenus simili et præparata, pervenire potest, sed rerum terminos altius fixos non movet. At qui Formas novit, is naturæ unitatem in materiis dissimillimis complectitur. Itaque quæ adhuc facta non sunt, qualia nec naturæ vicissitudines neque experimentales industriæ neque casus ipse in actum unquam perduxissent, neque cogitationem humanam subitura fuissent, detegere et producere potest. Quare ex Formarum inventione sequitur Contemplatio vera et Operatio libera. IV. Licet viæ ad potentiam atque ad scientiam humanam conjunctissimæ sint et fere eædem, tamen propter perniciosam et inveteratam consuetudinem versandi in abstractis, tutius omnino est ordiri et excitare scientias ab iis fundamentis quæ in ordine sunt ad partem activam, atque ut illa ipsa partem contemplativam signet et determinet. Videndum itaque est, ad aliquam naturam super corpus datum generandam et superinducendam, quale quis præceptum aut qualem quis directionem aut deductionem maxime optaret; idque sermone simplici et minime abstruso. Exempli gratia; si quis argento cupiat superinducere flavum colorem auri aut augmentum ponderis (servatis legibus materiæ 1), aut lapidi alicui non diaphano diaphaneitatem, aut vitro tenacitatem, aut corpori alicui non vegetabili vegetationem ; videndum (inquam) est, quale quis præceptum aut deductionem potissimum sibi dari exoptet. Atque primo, exoptabit aliquis proculdubio sibi monstrari aliquid hujusmodi, quod opere non frustret neque experimento fallat. Secundo, exoptabit quis aliquid sibi præscribi, quod ipsum non astringat et coerceat ad media quædam et modos quosdam operandi particulares. Fortasse enim destituetur, nec habebit facultatem et commoditatem talia media comparandi et procurandi. Quod si sint et alia media et alii modi (præter illud præceptum) progignendæ talis naturæ, ea fortasse ex iis erunt quæ sunt in operantis potestate; a quibus nihilominus per angustias præcepti excludetur, nec fructum capiet. Tertio, optabit aliquid sibi monstrari, quod non sit æque difficile ac illa ipsa operatio de qua inquiritur, sed propius accedat ad praxin. Itaque de præcepto vero et perfecto operandi, pronuntiatum erit tale; ut sit certum, liberum, et disponens sive in ordine That is, with a corresponding decrease of volume. ad actionem. Atque hoc ipsum idem est cum inventione Formæ veræ. Etenim Forma naturæ alicujus talis est ut, ea posita, natura data infallibiliter sequatur. Itaque adest perpetuo quando natura illa adest, atque eam universaliter affirmat, atque inest omni. Eadem Forma talis est ut, ea amota, natura data infallibiliter fugiat. Itaque abest perpetuo quando natura illa abest, eamque perpetuo abnegat, atque inest soli. Postremo, Forma vera talis est, ut naturam datam ex fonte aliquo essentiæ deducat quæ inest pluribus, et notior est naturæ ' (ut loquuntur) quam ipsa Forma. Itaque de axiomate vero et perfecto sciendi, pronuntiatum et præceptum tale est; ut inveniatur natura alia, quæ sit cum natura data convertibilis, et tamen sit limitatio naturæ notioris, instar generis veri. Ista autem duo pronuntiata, activum et contemplativum, res eadem sunt; et quod in Operando utilissimum, id in Sciendo verissimum. V. 1 At præceptum sive axioma de transformatione corporum, duplicis est generis. Primum intuetur corpus, ut turmam sive conjugationem naturarum simplicium: ut in auro hæc conveniunt; quod sit flavum; quod sit ponderosum, ad pondus tale; quod sit malleabile aut ductile, ad extensionem talem; quod non fiat volatile, nec deperdat de quanto suo per ignem ; quod fluat fluore tali; quod separetur et solvatur modis talibus; et similiter de cæteris naturis, quæ in auro concurrunt. Itaque hujusmodi axioma rem deducit ex Formis naturarum simpli See note on Distrib. Operis, p. 137. Let us adopt, for distinctness of expression, the theory commonly known as Boscovich's, a theory which forms the basis of the ordinary mathematical theories of light, of heat, and of electricity. This theory supposes all bodies to be constituted of inextended atoms or centres of force, each of which attracts or repels and is attracted or repelled by all the rest. All the phenomena of nature are thus ascribed to mechanical forces, and all the differences which can be conceived to exist between two bodies, gold, say, and silver,—can only arise either from the different configuration of the centres of force, or from the different law by which they act on one another. Assuming the truth of this theory, the question, why are some bodies transparent and others not so in other words, what is the essential cause of transparency which is precisely what Bacon would call the form of transparency,-is to be answered by saying that a certain configuration of the centres of force, combined with the existence of a certain law of force, constitutes such a system that the vibrations of the lumini ferous ether pass through it. What this configuration or this law may be, is a question which the present state of mathematical physics does not enable us to answer; but there is no reason à priori why in time to come it may not receive a complete solution. If it does, we shall then have arrived at a knowledge, on Boscovich's theory, of the form of transparency. Those who are acquainted with the recent progress of physical science know that questions of this kind, so far from being rejected as the questions of a mere dreamer, are thought to be of the highest interest and importance, and that no inconsiderable advance has already been made towards the solution of some at least among them. |