~t

,^-T

m

THE WORKS

OF

FRANCIS BACON

THE

WORKS

OF

FRANCIS BACON,

BARON OF VERULAM, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS, AND LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.

Collected ano ISUJteO

BY

JAMES SPEDDING, M. A.

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;

ROBERT LESLIE ELLIS, M.A.

LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AND

DOUGLAS DENON HEATH,

BARRISTER-AT-LAW; LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

VOLUME IX.

BEING

TKANSLATIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL WOSKS,

VOL. II.

BOSTON: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.

StoerstJe Press,

1882.

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED B ?

H. 0. HOUOHTON

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA COLLEGE LIBRARY

\ \ "

70164

PREFACE*

THE history of these translations has been already told; but as it is somewhat complicated, and appears in some points not to be clearly under- stood, it may be convenient that I should repeat it here.

The works to be translated were selected by Mr. Ellis, and were meant to include everything which is requisite to give an English reader a complete view of Bacon's philosophy. The selection does, in fact, include all the Latin works belonging to the first and second parts, and as many of those belong- ing to the third as are not to be found in a more perfect form in the others. And though the Editors' prefaces and notes are not reprinted along

* [This preface, prepared for volume five of the English edition, which logins with the translation of the seventh book of the De Augmentis Scien- tiarum, is placed here in order not to interrupt the continuity of that work. For "the three former volumes," and " the first three volumes," read the seven former volumes, and the first seven volumes; for "preface to the fourth volume" read preface to the eighth volume: for" the first 320 pages of this volume," and " from the beginning to the three hundred and twentieth page of this volume," read from p. 191 of this volume to p. 155 of the next. "The third volume" of the English edition corresponds tc volumes five (ft Dm p. 185), six, and seven rf tlri" edition.]

VI PREFACE. ,

with them, yet the several pieces being set out in the same order, and bearing the Latin titles on the top of each leaf, it will be easy to find them by reference to the corresponding titles in the three former volumes. So that those who cannot read the Great Instauration in the original may neverthe- less have the full benefit of all the explanatory and illustrative matter contained in this edition.

Of the style of translation which has been at- tempted, I have spoken in my preface to the fourth volume. And though the authorship is of a more mixed character than I could have wished, I hope it will not be found that the number of the work- men has materially impaired the substantial value of the work.

The translation of the Novum Organum was finished many years ago. The manuscript, having been carefully examined and much corrected, first by myself, and afterwards by Mr. Ellis, remained in my hands pending the completion of the first three volumes; and was ultimately, for reasons with which it is not necessary to trouble the reader, com- mitted entirely to my charge. In carrying it through the press, I felt myself at liberty to mako whatever alterations I pleased ; and therefore, if any errors remain, I must consider myself answerable for them.

The task of translating the remainder was en- trusted to Mr. Francis Headlam, of University

PREFACE. vii

College, Oxford ; and I hoped that my part in it would be no more than that of a critic : I was to revise his manuscript, find faults, and suggest im- provements, leaving him to deal with my sugges- tions upon his own responsibility, according to his own judgment. In tbis manner the first 3^0 pages of this volume were executed. But the progress of the sheets through the press (which was still engaged with the third volume) was slow ; and before it could proceed further, Mr. Headlam was called upon to fulfil an engagement, which detained him on the continent for the rest of the year ; upon which he agreed to leave his manuscript with me, to be dealt with as I thought fit. I used my judg- ment without any restraint ; and as I had certainly full opportunity to remove all defects, it is my fault if I have either introduced any that were not there, or left any that were.

It will be understood, therefore, that the transla- tion of the seventh, eighth, and ninth books of the De Augmentis Scientiarum. of the Historia Ven- torum, and the Historia Vitce et Mortis — extend- ing from the beginning to the three hundred and twentieth page of this volume — is all for which the final responsibility rests with Mr. Headlam. With the translation of the Novum Organum he had nothing to do ; and the alterations which I made in his manuscript of the rest were not seen by him until they were printed.

viii PREFACE.

With regard to the method observed in the trans- lation, I have only to add, on his behalf, that he agrees with what I have said on that subject in my preface to the fourth volume — that in translating the De Augmentis, his object has been to adopt, as far as he could, the style employed in the Advance- ment of Learning, — retaining also the original English, wherever no further meaning seemed to be expressed in the Latin ; — and that where the form of expression in the translation appears to vary from the Latin more widely than would otherwise be requisite or justifiable, it will generally be found that it is the form used by Bacon himself in the corresponding passage of the English work.

J. S.

CONTENTS

OF

THE NINTH VOLUME.

TRANSLATIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS.

PART I. — CONTINUED.

WORKS PUBLISHED, OR DESIGNED FOR PUBLICATION, AS PARTS OF THE INSTAURATIO MAGNA.

PAGE

OF THE DIGNITY AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARN- ING. BOOKS IV. — IX.

BOOK IV 13

BOOK V. 60

BOOK VI. . 107

BOOK VII 191

BOOK VIII 231

BOOK IX 345

NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY.

HISTORY OF THE WINDS 370

PREFACE TO HISTORY OF HEAVY AND LIGHT . . 468 " " SYMPATHY AND ANTIPATHY 470 " " SULPHUR, MERCURY, AND SALT 472

FRAGMENT OF ABECEDARIUM NATURAE . . 476

OF THB

PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS.

THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I.

Division of. the doctrine concerning Man into Philosophy of Humanity and Philosophy Civil. Division of the Philosophy of Humanity into doctrine concerning the Body of Man and doctrine concerning the Soul of Man. Constitution of one general doctrine con- cerning the Nature or the State of Man. Division of the doctrine concerning the State of Man into doctrine concerning the Person of Man, and doctrine concern- ing the League of Mind and Body. Division of the doctrine concerning the Person of Man into doctrine concerning the Miseries of Man, and doctrine con- cerning his Prerogatives. Division of the doctrine concerning the League into doctrine concerning Indi- cations and concerning Impressions. Assignation of Physiognomy and Interpretation of Natural Dreams to the doctrine concerning Indications.

IF any one should aim a blow at me (excellent King) for anything I have said or shall hereafter say in this matter, (besides that I am within the protection of your Majesty,) let me tell him that he is acting contrary to the rules and practice of warfare. For I

14 TRANSLATION OF THE "DE AUGMENTIS."

am but a trumpeter, not a combatant ; one perhaps of those of whom Homer speaks,

Xaiperc K?JpUKes, Aios ayyeXoi, rySe KCU av8p<av '. 1

and such men might go to and fro everywhere unhurt, between the fiercest and bitterest enemies. Nor is mine a trumpet which summons and excites men to cut each other to pieces with mutual contradictions, or to quarrel and fight with one another ; but rather to make peace between themselves, and turning with united forces against the Nature of Things, to storm and occupy her castles and strongholds, and extend the bounds of human empire, as far as God Almighty in his goodness may permit. -

Let us now come to that knowledge whereunto the ancient oracle directs us, which is the knowledge of ourselves ; which deserves the more accurate handling in proportion as it touches us more nearly. This knowledge is for man the end and term of knowl- edges ; but of nature herself it is but a portion. And generally let this be a rule ; that all divisions of knowl- edges be accepted and used rather for lines to mark or distinguish, than sections to divide and separate them ; in order that solution of continuity in sciences may always be avoided. For the contrary hereof has made particular sciences to become barren, shallow, and er- roneous ; not being nourished and maintained and kept right by the common fountain and aliment. So we see Cicero the orator complaining of Socrates and his school, that he was the first who separated philosophy and rhetoric ; whereupon rhetoric became an empty and verbal art.2 So we may see that the opinion of

1 Horn. II. i. 334. : — Hail, heralds, messengers of Jove and men J

2 Cicero De Orat. iii. c. 19.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 15

Copernicus touching the rotation of the earth (which has now become prevalent) cannot be refuted by astro- nomical principles, because it is not repugnant to any of the phenomena ; yet the principles of natural phi- losophy rightly laid down may correct it. Lastly we see that the science of medicine, if it be forsaken by natural philosophy, is not much better than an empir- ical practice. With this reservation therefore let us proceed to the doctrine concerning Man. It has two parts. For it considers man either segregate, or con- gregate and in society. The one I call the Philosophy of Humanity, the other Civil Philosophy. Philosophy of Humanity consists of parts similar to those of which man consists ; that is, of knowledges which respect the body, and of knowledges which respect the mind. But before we pursue the particular distributions let us constitute one general science concerning the Na- ture and State of Man ; a subject which certainly de- serves to be emancipated and made a knowledge of itself. It is composed of those things which are com- mon as well to the body as the soul ; and may be divided into two parts ; the one regarding the nature of man undivided, and the other regarding the bond and connexion between the mind and body ; the first whereof I will term the doctrine concerning the Per- son of Man, the second the doctrine concerning the League. But it is plain that these things, being com- mon and mixed, could not all have been assigned to that first division, of sciences which regard the body and sciences which regard the mind.

The doctrine concerning the Person of Man takes into consideration two subjects principally ; the Mis- eries of the human race, and the Prerogatives or Ex-

16 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

cellencies of the same. And for the miseries of hu- manity, the lamentation of them has been elegantly and copiously set forth by many, both in philosophical and theological writings. And it is an argument at once sweet and wholesome.

But that other subject of the Prerogatives of Man seems to me to deserve a place among the desiderata. Pindar in praising Hiero says most elegantly (as is his wont) that he " culled the tops of all virtues." * And certainly I think it would contribute much to magnanimity and the honour of humanity, if a collec- tion were made of what the schoolmen call the ultimi- ties, and Pindar the tops or summits, of human nature, especially from true history ; showing what is the ulti- mate and highest point which human nature has of itself attained in the several gifts of body and mind. What a wonderful thing, for example, is that which is told of Caesar, — that he could dictate to five secretaries at once. And again those exercitations of the ancient rhetoricians, Protagoras and Gorgias, and of the phi- osophers, Callisthenes, Posidonius, Carneades, — who could speak elegantly and copiously, extempore, on either side of any subject, — is no small honour to the powers of the human wit. A thing inferior in use, but as a matter of display and ability perhaps still greater, is that which Cicero 2 relates of his master Archias — that he could speak extempore a great number of excellent verses about anything that happened to be going on at the time.3 That Cyrus or Scipio could call so many thousands of men by name was a great feat of memory. Nor are the triumphs of the moral

l Find. Olymp. i. 20. 2 Cicero, pro Archia, c. 8.

» Cf. Laert. ix. 59.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 17

virtues less famous than those of the intellectual. What a proof of patience is displayed in the story told of Anaxarchus, who, when questioned under torture, bit out his own tongue (the only hope of information), and spat it into the face of the tyrant.1 Nor was it a less thing in point of endurance (however inferior in worthiness) which occurred in our own times in the case of the Burgundian who murdered the Prince of Orange : being beaten with rods of iron and torn with red-hot pincers, he uttered not a single groan ; nay, when something aloft broke and fell on the head of a

O

bystander, the half-burnt wretch laughed in the midst of his torments, though but a little before he had wept at the cutting off of his curling locks. A wonderful composure and serenity of mind at the point of death has also been displayed by many ; as in the case of the centurion related by Tacitus : when bidden by the soldier appointed to execute him to stretch out his neck boldly, "I wish," he replied, "that you may strike as boldly." John Duke of Saxony, when the warrant was brought to him for his execution next day, was playing at chess. Calling a bystander to him, he said with a smile, " See whether I have not the best of the game ; for when I am dead he (pointing to his adversary) will boast that he was winning." Our own More, too, Chancellor of England, when the day before he was to die a barber came to him (sent be- cause his hair was long, which it was feared might make him more commiserated with the people) and asked him " whether he would be pleased to be trimmed," refused ; and turning to the barber, " The King and I (said he) have a suit for my head, and till

1 Diogen. Laertius. ix. 59. VOL. ix. 2

18 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

\

the title be cleared I will do no cost upon it." The same More, at the very instant of death, when ho had already laid his head on the fatal block, lifted it up a little, and gently drew aside his beard, which was some- what long, saying, " this at least hath not offended the King." But not to stay too long on the point, my meaning is sufficiently clear ; namely, that the miracles of human nature, and its highest powers and virtues both in mind and body, should be collected into a vol- ume, which should serve for a register of the Triumphs of Man. In which work I approve the design of Va- lerius Maximus and C. Pliny, and wish for their dili- gence and judgment.

With regard to the doctrine concerning the League or Common Bond between the soul and body, it is dis- tributed into two parts. For as in all leagues and amities there is both mutual intelligence and mutual offices, so the description of this league of soul and body consists in like manner of two parts: namely, how these two (that is the Soul and the Body) dis- close the one the other, and how they work the one upon the other ; by knowledge or indication, and by impression. The former of these (that is, the descrip- tion of what knowledge of the mind may be obtained from the habit of the body, or of the body from the accidents of the mind) has begotten two arts ; both of prediction ; whereof the one is honoured with the in- quiry of Aristotle, and the other of Hippocrates. And although they have of later times been polluted with superstitious and fantastical arts, yet being purged arid restored to their true state, they have both a solid ground in nature and a profitable use in life. The first is Physiognomy, which discovers the dispositions

THE FOURTH BOOK. 19

of the mind by the lineaments of the body ; the second is the Interpretation of Natural Dreams, which dis- covers the state and disposition of the body by the agitations of the mind. In the former of these I note a deh'cience. For Aristotle has very ingeniously and diligently handled the structure of the body when at rest, but the structure of the body when in motion (that is the gestures of the body) he has omitted ; which nevertheless are equally within the observations of art, and of greater use and advantage. For the lineaments of the body disclose the dispositions and inclinations of the mind in general; but the motions and gestures of the countenance and parts do not only so, but disclose likewise the seasons of access, and the present humour and state of the mind and will. For as your Majesty says most aptly and elegantly, " As the tongue speaketh to the ear so the gesture speaketh to the eye." l And well is this known to a number of cunning and astute persons ; whose eyes dwell upon the faces and gestures of men, and make their own advantage of it, as being most part of their ability and wisdom. Neither indeed can it be denied, but that it is a wonderful index of simulation in another, and an excellent direction as to the choice of proper times and seasons to address persons ; which is no small part of ri\il wisdom. Nor let any one imagine that a sagacity of this kind may be of use with respect to particular persons, but cannot fall under a general rule ; for we fill laugh and weep and frown and blush nearly in the same fashion ; and so it is (for the most part) in the more subtle motions. But if any one be reminded here of chiromancy, let him know that it is a vain

1 Basilicon Doron, book iii.

20 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

imposture, not worthy to be so much as mentioned in discourses of this nature. With regard to the Inter- pretation of Natural Dreams, it is a thing that has been laboriously handled by many writers, but it is full of follies. At present I will only observe that it is not grounded upon the most solid foundation of which it admits ; which is, that when the same sensation is pro- duced in the sleeper by an internal cause which is usu- ally the effect of some external act, that external act passes into the dream. A like oppression is produced in the stomach by the vapour of indigestion and by an external weight superimposed ; and therefore persons who suffer from the nightmare dream of a weighl lying on them, with a great array of circumstances. A like pendulous condition of the bowels is produced by the agitation of the waves at sea, and by wind col- lected round the diaphragm ; therefore hypochondriacal persons often dream that they are sailing and tossing 011 the sea. There are likewise innumerable instances of this kind.

The latter branch of the doctrine of the League (which I have termed Impression) has not yet been collected into an art, but only comes in sometimes dis- persedly in the course of other treatises. It has the same relation or antistrophe that the former has. For the consideration is twofold ; either how and how fai: the humours and temperament of the body alter and \vork upon the mind ; or again, how and how far thu passions or apprehensions of the mind alter and work upon the body. For the physicians prescribe drugs to heal mental diseases, as in the treatment of phrensy and melancholy ; and pretend also to exhibit medi- cines to exhilarate the mind, to fortify the heart and

THE FOURTH BOOK. 21

thereby confirm the courage, to clarify the \vits, to cor- roborate the memory, and the like. But the diets, and choice of meats and drinks, the ablutions, and other observances of the body, in the sect of the Pythago- reans, in the heresy of the Manicheans, and in the law of Mahomet, exceed all measure. So likewise the or- dinances in the ceremonial law interdicting the eating of the blood and fat, and distinguishing between beasts clean and unclean for meat, are many and strict. Nay, the Christian faith itself (although clear and serene from all clouds of ceremony) yet retains the use of fastings, abstinences, and other macerations and humil- iations of the body, as things not merely ritual, but also profitable. The root and life of all which pre- scripts (besides the ceremony and the exercise of obedience) consist in that of which we are speaking, namely the sympathy of the mind with the state and disposition of the body. But if any man of weak judg- ment conceive that these impressions of the body on the mind either question the immortality of the soul, or derogate from its sovereignty over the body, a slight answer may serve for so slight a doubt. Let him take the case of an infant in the mother's womb, which is affected by that which affects the mother, and yet is in due time delivered and separated from her body; or of monarchs who, though powerful, are sometimes con- t rolled by their servants, and yet without abatement of their majesty royal.

As for the reciprocal part (which is the operation of the mind and its passions upon the body), it also has found a place in medicine. For there is no physician of any skill who does not attend to the accidents of the mind, as a thing most material towards recoveries, and

22 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMKNTIS."

of the greatest force to further or hinder other reme- dies. But another question pertinent to this subject has been but sparingly inquired into, and nowise in proportion to its depth and worth ; namely how far (setting the affections aside) the very imagination of the mind, or a thought strongly fixed and exalted into a kind of faith, is able to alter the body of the imagi- nant. For although it has a manifest power to hurt, yet it follows not that it has the same degree of power to help ; no more indeed than a man can conclude, that because there are pestilent airs, able suddenly to kill a man in health, therefore there should be sovereign airs, able suddenly to cure a man in sickness. Such an in- quiry would surely be of noble use ; though it needs (as Socrates says1) a Delian diver; for it lies deep. Again, among those doctrines concerning the League, or the concordances between the mind and body, there is none more necessary than the inquiry concerning the proper seats and domiciles which the several faculties of the mind occupy in the body and its organs. Which kind of knowledge has not been without its followers ; but what has been done in it is in most parts either disputed or slightly inquired ; so that more diligence and acuteness is requisite. For the opinion of Plato,2 who placed the understanding in the brain, as in a cas- tle ; animosity (which he unfitly enough called anger, seeing it is more related to swelling and pride) in the heart ; and concupiscence and sensuality in the liver ; deserves neither to be altogether despised nor to ^e eagerly received. Neither again is that arrangement of the intellectual faculties (imagination, reason, and memory) according to the respective ventricles of the

i Diog. Laert. ii. 22. and ix. 12. 2 Plato, Timaeus, p. 71.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 23

brain, destitute of error. Thus then have I explained the doctrine concerning the nature of man undivided, and likewise the league between the mind and body.

CHAP. II.

Division of the doctrine concerning the Body of Man into Medicine, Cosmetic, Athletic, and Voluptu- ary. Division of Medicine into three offices; viz. the Preservation of Health, the Cure of Diseases, and the Prolongation of Life ; and that the last division concerning the Prolongation of Life ought to be kept separate from the other two.

THE doctrine that concerns man's body receives the same division as the good of man's body, to which it refers. The good of man's body is of four kinds ; Health, Beauty, Strength, and Pleasure. The knowl- edges therefore are in number the same ; Medicine, Cosmetic, Athletic, and Voluptuary, which Tacitus truly calls " educated luxury." 1

Medicine is a most noble art, and according to the

7 o

poets has a most illustrious pedigree. For they have represented Apollo as the primary god of medicine, and given him a son jEsculapius, likewise a god, pro- fessor of the same ; seeing that in nature the sun is the author and source of life, the physician the preserver and as it were the second fountain thereof. But a far greater honour accrues to medicine from the works of our Saviour, who was the physician both of soul and body ; and as he made the soul the peculiar object of

!Tac. Ann. xvi. 18.

24 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

his heavenly doctrine, so he made the body the pecu- liar object of his miracles. For we nowhere read of any miracle done by him with respect to honours or money (except that one, for giving tribute money to Ca3sar), but only with respect to the body of man, for the preservation, support, or healing thereof.

This subject of medicine (namely man's body) is of all other things in nature most susceptible of remedy ; but then that remedy is most susceptible of error. For the same subtlety and variety of the subject, as it sup- plies abundant means of healing, so it involves great facility of failing. And therefore as this art (espe- cially as we now have it) must be reckoned as one of the most conjectural, so the inquiry of it must be ac- counted one of the most exact and difficult. Not that I share the idle notion of Paracelsus and the alche- mists, that there are to be found in man's body certain correspondences and parallels which have respect to all the several species (as stars, planets, minerals) which are extant in the universe ; foolishly and stupidly mis- applying the ancient emblem (that man was a micro- cosm or epitome of the world) to the support of this fancy of theirs. But yet thus much is true, that (as I was going to say) of all substances which nature has produced man's body is the most multifariously com- pounded. For we see herbs and plants are nourished by earth and water ; beasts for the most part by herbs and fruits ; but man by the flesh of those beasts (quad- rupeds, birds, and fishes), and also by herbs, grains, fruits, juices and liquors of various kinds ; not without manifold commixtures, dressings, and preparations of these several bodies, before they come to be his food and aliment. Add to this, that beasts have a more

THE FOURTH BOOK. 26

simple manner of life, and fewer affections to work upon their bodies, and those much alike in their oper- ation ; whereas man in his places of habitation, exer- cises, passions, sleep and watching, undergoes infinite variations ; so that it is true that the body of man, of all other things, is of the most fermented and com- pounded mass. The soul on the other side is the simplest of substances ; as is well expressed,

purumque reliquit

./Ethereum sensurn, atque aural simplicis ignem.1

Whence it is no marvel that the soul so placed enjoys no rest ; according to the axiom that the motion of

* O

things out of their place is rapid, and in their place calm. But to return. This variable and subtle com- position and structure of man's body has made it as a musical instrument of much and exquisite workman- ship, which is easily put out of tune. And therefore the poets did well to conjoin music and medicine in Apollo ; because the genius of both these arts is almost the same ; for the office of the physician is but to know how to stretch and tune this harp of man's body that the harmony may be without all harshness or dis- cord. So then the subject being so inconstant and variable has made the art by consequence more con- jectural ; and the art being so conjectural has made so much more room not only for error, but also for im- posture. For almost all other arts and sciences are judged by their power and functions, and not by the successes and events. The lawyer is judged by the virtue of his pleading and speaking, not by the issue of the cause ; the master of the ship is judged by his skill

1 Virg. En. vi. 747.: —

pure and unmixed

The ethereal sense is left — mere air and fire.

26 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

in steering, and not by the fortune of the voyage. But the physician, and perhaps the politician, have no particular acts whereby they may clearly exhibit their skill and ability; but are honoured or disgraced accord- ing to the event ; — a most unfair way of judging. For who can know, if a patient die or recover, or if a state be preserved or ruined, whether it be art or ac- cident? And therefore many times the impostor is prized, and the man of virtue censured. Nay, such is the weakness and credulity of men, that they will often prefer a witch or mountebank to a learned physician. And therefore the poets were clear-sighted when they made Circe sister of jEsculapius, and both children of the Sun ; as is expressed in the verses, — respecting JEsculapius, that he was the son of Apollo,

Ille repertorem medicinae tails et artis

Fulmine Phcebigtnam Stygias detrusit ad undas; *

and again respecting Circe, that she was the daughter of the Sun,

Dives inaccessos ubi Svlisjilia lucos

Urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum.8

For in all times, in the opinion of the multitude, witches and old women and impostors have been the rivals in a manner of physicians, and almost contended with them in celebrity for working cures. And what follows ? Even this, that physicians say to themselves, as Solomon expresses it upon a higher occasion,3 " Tf it befall to me as befalleth to the fool, why shoidd I

l Virg. Ma. vii. 772. : —

Apollo's son the healing art who gare

Jove hurled with thunder to the Stygian ware.

* Virg. 2En. vii. 11.: —

Where the Sim'* daughter in her deep retreat Burns for her evening light the cedar sweet.

* Eccles. ii. 15.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 27

labour to be more wise ? " And therefore I can the less blame physicians that they commonly attend tc some other art or practice, which they fancy more than their own. For you have among them poets, antiquaries, critics, rhetoricians, statesmen, divines ; and in every one of these arts more learned than in their own profession. Nor does this happen, in my opinion, because (as a certain declaimer against the sciences objects to the physicians) they have so many sad and disgusting objects to deal with that they must needs withdraw their minds to other things for relief (for " he that is a man should not think anything that is human alien to him ") ; 1 but rather upon the ground we are now on, that they find that mediocrity and ex- cellency in their art make no difference in profit or reputation towards their fortune. For the impatience of disease, the sweetness of life, the flattery of hope, the commendations of friends, make men depend upon physicians with all their defects. But yet if these things be more attentively considered, they tend rather to inculpate physicians than to excuse them. For in- stead of throwing away hope, they ought to put (~ more strength. For if any man will awake his obsi vation and look a little about him, he will easily se. from obvious and familiar examples what a mastery the subtlety and acuteness of the intellect has over the variety either of matter or of form. Nothing more variable than faces and countenances ; yet men can bear in memory the infinite distinctions of them ; nay a painter, with a few shells of colours, and the help of his eye, of the force of his imagination, and the steadi- ness of his hand, can imitate and draw the faces of all

JTer. Heauton. i. 1. 25: — Homo sum; human! nihil a me alienum puto.

28 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

men that are, have been, or shall be, if they were only brought before him. Nothing more variable than the human voice, yet we easily distinguish the differences of it in different persons ; nay and there are buffoons and pantomimes who will imitate and express to the life as many as they please. Nothing more variable than the differing sounds of words, yet men have found the way to reduce them to a few simple letters. And most true it is that perplexities and incomprehensions in science proceed commonly not from any want of subtlety or capacity in the mind, but from the object being placed too far off. For as the sense when at a distance from the object is full of mistaking, but when brought near enough does not much err, so is it with the understanding. But men are wont to look down upon nature as from a high tower and from a great dis- tance, and to occupy themselves too much with gen- eralities ; whereas if they would come down and draw near to particulars and take a closer and more accurate view of things themselves, they would gain a more ..true and profitable knowledge of them. Wherefore

Tie remedy of this evil is not merely to quicken or

witc

lengthen the organ, but also to go nearer to the ob-

riv .

/act. And therefore there is no doubt but if the phy- sicians would for a while set these generalities aside and go forth to meet Nature, they would obtain that, of which the poet speaks,

Et quoniam variant morbi, variahimus artes; Millc mali spucies, mille salutis erunt.1

Which they should the rather do, because those very

1 Ovid. Remed. Amor.: —

Arts shall as various as di?fases be ;

Though sickness take a thousand shapes, yet we

Will find for each its several remedy.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 20

philosophies which physicians, whether regular prac- titioners or chemists, rely upon (and medicine not founded on philosophy is a weak thing) are themselves of little worth. Wherefore if generalities, though true, have the fault that they do not well lead the way to action ; surely there is greater danger in those general- ities which are in themselves false, and instead of lead- ing mislead.

Medicine therefore (as we have seen) is a science which has been hitherto more professed than laboured, and yet more laboured than advanced; the labours spent on it having been rather in a circle, than in pro- gression. For I find in the writers thereon many iter- ations, but few additions. I will divide it into three parts, which I will term its three offices ; the first Avhereof is the Preservation of Health, the second the Cure of Diseases, and the third the Prolongation of Life. But this last the physicians do not seem to have recognised as the principal part of their art, but to have confounded, ignorantly enough, with the other two. For they imagine that if diseases be repelled before they attack the body, and cured after they have attacked it, prolongation of life necessarily follows. But though there is no doubt of this, yet they have not penetration to see that these two offices pertain only to diseases, and such prolongation of life as is in- tercepted and cut short by them. But the lengthen- ing of the thread of life itself, and the postponement for a time of that death which gradually steals on by natural dissolution and the decay of age, is a subject which no physician has handled in proportion to its dignity. And let not men make a scruple of it, as if this were a thing belonging to fate and Divine Provi-

30 TRANSLATION OF THE " DE AUGMENTIS."

dence which I am the first to bring within the office and function of art. For Providence no doubt directs all kinds of death alike, whether from violence or dis- ease or the decay of age ; yet it does not on that ac- count exclude the use of preventions and remedies. But art and human industry do not command nature and destiny ; they only serve and minister to them. Of this part however I will speak hereafter; having in the meantime premised thus much, lest any one should in ignorance confound this third office of medi- cine with the two former, as has been done hitherto. With regard to the office of the preservation of health (the first of the three), many have written thereon, very unskilfully both in other respects and especially in attributing too much (as I think) to the choice of meats and too little to the quantity. More- over with regard to quantity itself they have argued like moral philosophers, too much praising the mean ; whereas both fasting, when made customary, and a generous diet, to which one is used, are better pre- servatives of health than those mediocrities, which only make nature slothful and unable to bear either excess or want when it is necessary. Nor have the kinds of exercises which have most power to preserve health been by any physician well distinguished and pointed out; although there is scarcely any tendency to dis- ease which may not be prevented by some proper ex- ercise. Thus playing at bowls is good for diseases of the reins, archery for those of the lungs, walking and riding for weakness of the stomach, and the like. But as this part touching the preservation of health has been handled as a whole, it is- not my plan to pursue the minor defects.

THE FOURTH BOOK. 31

With regard to the cure of diseases, much labour

O

has been bestowed on this part, but with slight profit. To it belongs the knowledge of the diseases to which the human body is subject ; with their causes, symp- toms, and remedies. In this second office of ^nedicine there are many deficiencies ; a few of which, but those the most glaring, I will propound ; thinking it suffi- cient to enumerate them without any law of order or method.

The first is, the discontinuance of the very useful and accurate diligence of Hippocrates, who used to set down a narrative of the special cases of his patients ; relating what was the nature of the disease, what the treatment, and what the issue. Therefore having so notable and proper an example in a man who has been regarded as the father of his art, I shall not need to go abroad for an example from other arts ; as from the wisdom of the lawyers, who have ever been careful to report the more important cases and new decisions, for instruction and direction in future cases. This continuance of medicinal history I find deficient ; es- pecially as carefully and judiciously digested into one body ; which nevertheless I do not understand should be either so copious as to extend to every common case of daily occurrence (for that would be something infinite, and foreign to the purpose), or so reserved as tc admit none but wonders and prodigies, as has been done by some. For many things are new in the man- ner and circumstances which are not new in the kind ; and if men will apply themselves to observe, they will find even in things which appear commonplace much that is worthy of observation.

Likewise in anatomical inquiries, those things which

32 TRANSLATION OF THE "DE AUGMENTIS."

pertain to man's body in general are most diligently observed, even to curiosity and in the minutest par- ticulars ; but touching the varieties which are found in different bodies, the diligence of physicians falls short. And therefore I say that Simple Anatomy is handled most lucidly, but that Comparative Anatomy is want- ing. For men inquire well of the several parts, and their substances, figures, and collocations ; but the di- versities of the figure and condition of those parts in different men they observe not. The reason of which omission I judge to be no other than that the former inquiry may be satisfied by the view of one or two anatomies, whereas the latter, (being comparative and casual) requires the view and attentive study of many. The first likewise is a subject on which learned men may display their knowledge in lectures and before audiences ; but the last is only to be gained by silent and long experience. Meanwhile there is no question but that the figure and structure of the inward parts is but little inferior in variety and lineaments to the outward ; and that the hearts or livers or stomachs of men differ as much as their foreheads or noses or ears. And in these very differences of the internal parts are often found the <