Ignorance in Aftronon y, and lays down the Plan for its Correction, which fome Ages after was follow'd by Pope Gregory XIII. with very fmall Variation. About one third of this fourth. Part has been already publifh'd at Frankfort as a perfect Werk, by Job. Combachius in 1614, under the Title of Specula Mathematica, but in fo incorrect a Manner, as to be capable of receiving very confiderable Improvements from this Review. The whole will be compar'd with a very ancient MS. in the King's, and a more modern one in the Cotton Library; and the Geographical Part of it will be farther collated with a MS, of good Note in the Library Bennet College in Cambridge. The fifth is his Treatife of Perfpective, in which he difcourfes of Vifion at large; defcribes the Structure of the Eye, and the Ufes of its feveral Coats and Humours; he speaks of the Reflexion and Refraction of Light, and mentions the respective Inftruments, which magnify any Object or diminish it, which draw it nearer to the Eye, or remove it farther off. This Difcourfe has been twice publifh'd imperfectly at Frankfort in 1614, and 1671. We fhall give it collated with two very valuable MSS. in the Libraries of the Right Honourable the Earl of Oxford, and of Magdalen College in Cambridge, and a very ancient one in the King's Library; and in Cafes of Difficulty we fhall alfo have Recourfe to the MSS. which are in the publick Library at Oxford. After this follows a large Tract, entituled, De Multiplicatione Specierum, in which he endeavours to prove, that the Author of our Being has originally impreffed upon all Bodies a kind of communicative Power, by which Mm 2 they they are able to act upon all other Bodies whatfoever and however diftant, and that from this Principle the Phænomena of Nature are all to be deduced. Thus for Inftance, the Flux and Reflux of the Sea are owing he fays, to the Action of the Moon upon the Waters per radios virtutis fuæ fubftantialis. He has join'd this Difcourfe to his Treatife of Perspective, becaufe, as he tells us, he receiv'd the firft Hint of the Discovery from that Science. This Piece will be collated with an ancient MS. in the King's Library.. The fixth and laft Part is of Experimental Philofophy, and this he fhews to be the nobleft and moft perfect Branch of human Knowledge, as being more certain than any kind of Argumentation whatfoever, which can never conclude furely, unless the Conclufion be confirm'd by Experience. And here he enters into many Points, which had lain conceal'd from all former Philofophers, for want of a proper Enquiry into Nature by Experiment and Obfervation. Amongst other Inftances he mentions the Rainbow, which he afcribes exprefsly to the Reflexion and Refraction of the Sun's Rays in the Drops of Rain, though no one, he fays, ever understood it befides himself, and his great Friend Peter de Mabarn-Court. As the Reader will eafily obferve from the fhort Account we have here given, that many Particulars, which have been fuppofed to be the Inventions of later Ages, were certainly known to Fryar Bacon, we thought we could not do a more acceptable Service to the Curious, nor a. greater Honour to our Country which gave him Birth, or to the University of Oxford in which he was brought up, than by fecuring to to him the Glory of his Discoveries, in the pubdishing of this Difcourfe. He finifh'd it in the Year 1267, and fent it to Rome, with fome other of his Works, by his Scholar John, whom he recommends to his Holiness in the most preffing Terms, as a Perfon deferving of his Protection. Whatever Difficulties were to be met with in his Writings, John was able to explain them; and that he might do it the more effectually, he is faid to have carried over Spectacles, and other useful Instruments of his Master's finding out, as a Prefent to the Pope. The CONDITIONS. I. THIS Work, with the Indexes and Preface, which will contain a large Account of his Life and Writings, will amount to upwards of One hundred and twenty Sheets, and be printed on the fame Paper, and with the fame Letter, as the Specimen. II. The Price to Subscribers is One Guinea, half to be paid down, and the other half upon the Delivery of a perfect Book in Sheets. III. A Number will be printed on a very fine large Paper, at the Price of Two Guineas a Book. IV. The Schemes will be engraved on Copper Plates, and printed on separate Sheets, V. As soon as the Number of Subfcribers can be computed, the Book will be put to the Prefs, and carried on with all poffible Expedition. SUBSCRIPTIONS are taken in at Mr. Dillingham's at the GoldenBall in Red-Lyon-ftreet; Mr. King's at the Three Crowns in Grace-Church-street; and Mr. Bowyer's in White-Fryars. " CATA ST TI. Bafilii Opera omnia, Tomus III. Opera & ftudio Monachorum Ordinis S. Benedicti e Congregatione S. Mauri. folio, Parifiis, 1730. Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, contenant les Ouvrages adoptez par cette Academie avant fon Renouvellement en 1699, qui contiennent les Memoires pour fervir à l'Hiftoire des Animaux, par M. Perault; Les Memoires pour fervir à l'Hiftoire des Plantes, par M. Dodart; Refolutions des quatre principaux Problêmes d'Architecture, par M. Blondel; Les Ouvrages de Mathematique de M. Frenicle, de M. Roberval, & de M. Picard; Et divers Ouvrages d'Aftronomie, par M. Caffini. 5 vol. 4to. à la Haye, 1731 Efprit des Converfations agreables, ou nouveau Melange. depensées choifies, 3 vol. 12mo, Paris, 1731. Joh. Conrard Ruckeri Interpretationes, quibus obfcuriora quædam Juris Civilis capita illuftrantur. 8vo. Lugd. Bat. 1731. Suite & Conclufion des Memoires & Avantures d'un Homme de qualité qui s'eft retiré du monde, Tome 5, 6 & 7. 12mo. Amft. 1731. Le Philofophe Anglois, ou Hiftoire de M. Cleveland, fils naturel de Cromwell, ecrite par lui même, & traduite de l'Anglois, par l'Auteur des Memoires d'un Homme de qualité. 2 vol. 12mo. à Utrecht, 1731. Rime de' più illuftri Poeti Italiani scelte dall'Abbate Antonini. 2 vol. 12mo. Parigi, 1731. Obfervations fur les effets de la Seigné, tant dans les Maladies du Reffort de la Medicine, que de la Chirurgie, fondées fur les Loix de l'Hidroftatique, par François Quefnoy. 12mo. à Paris, 1730. Nouvelle Introduction à la Geometrie pratique, tirée des meilleurs Auteurs, divisée en deux parties, drefsée & mife dans un ordre tres methodique pour l'Inftruction des Cadets des Troupes du Roy, & pour tous ceux qui veulent entrer au Service Militaire de fa Majefté, par le Chevalier Daudet, Ingenieur. 3 vol. 12mo. à Paris, 1730. Francifci Mafclef, Grammatica Hebraica à punétis aliifque inventis Mafforethicis libera, Accefferunt in hâc fecunda Editione tres Grammaticæ, Chaldaica, Syriaca & Samaritana ejufdem inftituti. 2 vol. 12mo. Parifiis, 1731. Lettre d'un Turque à Paris, ecrites à fa Soeur au Serrail. 12mo. Amft. 1730, Hiacynte, ou le Marquis de Celtas Dirorgo, Nouvelle Efpagnole. 2 vol. 12mo. Amft. 1731. Vida y Hechos del Ingeniofo Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, compuesta por Michel de Cervantes Saavedra. 2 vol. 8vo. fig. en Amberes, 1719. |