they are Lett vs then in the next place consider what will follow in the rest of the body out of these varieties of passions once raysed in the hart and sent into the braine It is euidēt that according to the nature and quality of these motions the hart must needes in euery one of them voyde out of it selfe into the arteries a greater or lesser quantity of bloud and that in diuers fashions and the arteries which lye fittest to receiue these suddaine egestions of bloud are those which goe into the braine whose course being directly vpwardes we can not doubt but that it is the hoatest and subtilest part of the bloud and the fullest of spirits that flyeth that way These spirits then running a lōg and perplexed iourney vp and downe in the braine by various meanders and anfractuosities are there mingled with the humide steame of the braine it selfe and are therewith cooled and do come at the last to smoake at liberty in the hollow ventricles of the braine by reeking out of the little arteriall branches that do weaue the plexus choroides or nette we spoke of ere while and they being now growne heauy do fall by their naturall course into that part or processe of the braine which is called medulla spinalis or the marrow of the backe bone which being all besett by the nerues that runne through the body it can not happen otherwise but that these thickened and descending spirits must eyther fall themselues into those nerues or else presse into them other spirits which are before them that without such new force to driue them violently forwardes would haue slided downe more leisurely Now this motion being downewardes and meeting with no obstacle till it arriue vnto its vtmost periode that way the lowest nerues are those which naturally do feele the communication of these spirits first But it is true if the flowing tide of them be great and plentifull all the other nerues will also be so suddainely filled vpon the filling of the lowermost that the succession of their swellings will hardly be perceptible as a suddaine and violent inundation of water seemeth to rise on the sides of the channell as it doth at the milldamme though reason assureth vs it must beginne there because there it is first stopped On the contrary side if the spirits be few they may be in such a proportion as to fill only the lower nerues and to cōmunicate little of thēselues to any of the others And this is the case in the passion of feare which being stored with fewer spirits thē any other passiō that causeth a motiō in the body it moueth the legges most and so carryeth the animal that is affrayd with violence from the obiect that affrighteth him Although in truth it is a faint hope of escaping mingled with feare which begetteth this motion for when feare is single and at its height it stoppeth all motion by contracting the spirits and thence is called stupor as well as griefe for the same reason and accordingly we see extreme cowardes in the extremity of their feare haue not the courage to runne away no more then to defend or helpe themselues by any other motions But if there be more aboundance of spirits then the vpper partes are also moued as well as the legges whose motion contributeth to defense but the braine it selfe and the senses which are in the head being the first in the course of this flood of spirits that is sent from the hart to the head it is impossible but that some part of them should be pressed into the nerues of those senses and so will make the animal vigilant and attentiue to the cause of its feare or griefe But if the feare be so great that it contracteth all the spirits and quite hindereth their motion as in the case we touched aboue then it leaueth also the nerues of the senses destitute of spirits and so by too strong apprehension of a danger the animall neyther seeth nor apprehendeth it but as easily precipitateth it selfe into it as it happeneth to auoyde it being meerely gouerned by chance and may peraduenture seeme valiant through extremity of feare And thus you see in common how all the naturall operations of the body do follow by naturall consequence out of the passions of the mind without needing to attribute discourse or reason eyther to men or beastes to performe them Although at the first sight some of them may appeare vnto those that looke not into their principles and true causes to flow from a source of intelligence whereas it is euident by what wee haue layed open they all proceed from the due ranging and ordering of quantitatiue partes so or so proportioned by rarity and density And there is no doubt but who would follow this search deepely might certainly retriue the reasons of all those externall motions which wee see vse to accompany the seuerall passions in men and Beastes But for our intent wee haue said enough to shew by what kind or order and course of nature they may be effected without confining our selues ouer scrupulously to euery circumstance that we haue touched and to giue a hinte whereby others that will make this inquiry their taske may compile an intire and well grounded and intelligible doctrine of this matter Only we will adde one aduertissement more which is that these externall motions caused by passion are of two kindes for some of them are as it were the beginnings of the actions which nature intendeth to haue follow out of the passions that cause them but others are only bare signes of the passions that produce them and are made by the cōnexion of partes vnnecessary for the maine action that is to follow out of the passion with other partes that by the passion are necessarily moued as for example when an hungry mans mouth watereth at the sight of good meate it is a kind of beginning of eating or of preparation for eating for when we eate nature draweth a moysture into our mouth to humectate our meate and to conuey the tast of it into the nerues of the tongue which are to make report of it vnto the braine but when we laugh the motion of our face aymeth at no further end and followeth only by the connexion of those muscles which draw the face in such a sort vnto some inward partes that are moued by the passion out of which laughing proceedeth But we must not leaue this subiect without some mention of the diaphragma into which the other branch of those nerues that are called of the sixth coniugation doth come for the first branch we haue said goeth into the hart and carryeth thither the obiects that come into the braine and this we shall find carryeth backe to the braine the passion or motion which by the obiect is raysed in the hart Concerning this part of our body you are to note that it is a muscolous membrane which in the middle of it hath a
do cause a swelling or a contraction of it against this or that part doth stoppe and hinder the the entrance of the spirits into some sinewes and doth open others and driueth the spirits into them so as in the end by a result of a chaine of swellinges and contractions of seuerall partes successiuely one against an other the due motions of prosecution or auersion are brought about As for example an obiect that affecteth the hart with liking by dilating the spirits about the hart sendeth some into the optâ—ke nerues and maketh the liuing creature turne his eye towardes it and keepe it steady vpon what he desireth as contrariwise if he dislike and feare it he naturally turneth his eye and head from it Now of this motion of the eye and head may depend the running to the thing in one case and the running from it in the other for the turning of the necke one way may open a passage for the spirits into those sinewes which carry the rest of the body towardes the obiect and the turning of it to the other side may open other sinewes which shall worke a contrary effect and carry the animal from the obiect and the mouing of those sinewes which at the first do turne the necke doth proceed from the quality and number of the spirits that ascend from the hart and from the region of the hart from whence they are sent according to the variety whereof there are diuers sinewes fitted to receiue them To make vp which discourse we may call to mind what we haue said a litle aboue concerning the motions caused in the externall partes of the body by passion mouing within as when feare mingled with hope giueth a motion to the legges anger to the armes and handes and all the rest of the body as well as to the legges and all of them an attention in the outward senses which neuerthelesse peruerteth euery one of their functions if the passion be in extremity And then surely we may satisfy our selues that eyther this or some way like it which I leaue vnto the curious in Anatomy to settle with exactenesse for it is enough for my intent to shew in grosse how these operations may be done without calling in some incomprehensible qualities to our ayde is the course of nature in motions where no other cause interueneth besides the obiect working vpon the sense which all the while it doth it is the office of the eye of fantasy or of common sense to lye euer open still watching to obserue what warninges the outward senses do send vnto him that accordingly he may direct and change the motions of the hart and of the whole body But if the obiect do make violent impressions vpon the sense and the hart being then vehemently moued do there vpon send abouÌ„dance of spirits vp to the braine this multitude of spirits thronging vpon the common sense oppresseth it as we haue already said in such sort that the notice which the sense giueth of particular circumstances can not preuayle to any effect in the braine and thus by the misguidance of the hart the worke of nature is disordered which when it happeneth we expresse in short by saying that passion blindeth the creature in whom such violent and disorderly motions haue course for passion is nothing else but a motion of the bloud and spirits about the hart and is the preparation or beginning of the animals working as we haue aboue particularly displayed And thus you see in common how the circuite is made from the obiect to the sense and from it by the common sense and fantasy to the hart and from the hart backe againe to the braine which then setteth on worke those organes or partes the animal is to make vse of in that occasion and they eyther bring him to or carry him from the obiect that at the first caused all this motion and in the end becometh the periode of it THE SIX AND THERTIETH CHAPTER Of some actions of beastes that seeme to be formall actes of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting IN the last Chapter the foundations are layed and the way is opened for the discouering how all operations which proceed from nature and passion are performed among liuing creatures and therefore I conceiue I haue thereby sufficiently complyed with the obligation of my intention which is but to expresse and shew in common how all the actions of sensible bodies may be reduced to locall motion and to materiall application of one boy vnto an other in a like manner though in a different degree as those motions which we see in liueliest bodies Yet because among such animals as passe for irrationall there happen some operations of so admirable a straine as resemble very much the highest effects which proceed from a man I thinke it not amisse to giue some further light by extending my discourse to some more particulars then hitherto I haue done whereby the course and way how they are performed may be more clearely and easily looked into and the rather because I haue mette with some men who eyther wanting patience to bestow on thoughts of this kind so much time as is necessary for the due scanning of them or else through a promptitude of nature passing swiftly from the effect they looke vpon in grosse to the most obuious seeming cause do suddainely and strongly resolue that beastes vse discourse vpon occasions and are endewed with reason This I intend not to doe quite in particular for that were to write the history of euery particular animal but will content my selfe with touching the causes in common yet in such sort that the indifferent Reader may be satisfyed of a possibility that these effects may proceed from materiall causes and that I haue poynted out the way to those who are more curious and haue the patience and leisure to obserue diligently what passeth among beastes how they may trace these effects from steppe to steppe vntill at length they discouer their true causes To beginne then I conceiue we may reduce all those actions of beastes which seeme admirable and aboue the reach of an irrationall animal vnto three or foure seuerall heades The first may be of such as seeme to be the very practise of reason as doubting resoluing inuenting and the like The next shall be of such as by docility or practise beastes do oftentimes arriue vnto In the third place we will consider certaine continuate actions of a long tract of time so orderly performed by them as that discourse and rationall knowledge seeme clearely to shine through them And lastly we will cast our eye vpon some others which seeme to be euen aboue the reason that is in man himselfe as the knowing of thinges which the sense neuer had impression of before a prescience of future euents prouidences and the like As for the first the doubting of beasts and their long wauering sometimes betweene obiects that draw them seuerall wayes and at the
our Reader without a hinte which way to driue his inquisition we will note thus much that Aristotele and other naturall Philosophers and Physitians do affirme that in some persons the passioÌ„ is so great in the time of their accoupling that for the present it quite bereaueth them of the vse of reason and that they are for the while in a kind of short fitt of an epylepsie By which it is manifest that aboundance of animal spirits do then part from the head and descend into those partes which are the instruments of generation Wherefore if there be aboundance of specieses of any one kind of obiect then strong in thâ— imagination it must of necessity be carryed downe together with the spirits into the seede and by consequence when the seede infected with this nature beginneth to seperate and distribute it selfe to the forming of the seuerall partes of the Embryon the spirits which do resort into the braine of the child as to their proper Element and from thence do finish all the outward cast of its body in such sort as we haue aboue described do sometimes happen to fill certaine places of the childes body with the infection and tincture of this obiect and that according to the impression with which they were in the mothers faÌ„tasy for so we haue said that thinges which come together into the fantasy do naturally sticke together in the animall spirits The hairynesse therefore will be occasioned in those partes where the mother fansyed it to be the colour likewise and such extancies or defects as may any way proceed from such a cause will happen to be in those partes in which they were fansyed And this is as farre as is fitt to wade into this point for so generall a discourse as ours is and more theÌ„ was necessary for our turne to the seruing whereof the verity of the fact only and not the knowledge of the cause was required for we were to shew no more but that the apprehensions of the parents may descend to the children Out of this discourse the reason appeareth why beastes haue an auersion from those who vse to do them harme and why this auersion descendeth from the old ones to their broode though it should neuer haue happened that they had formerly encountred with what at the first sight they flye from and auoyde But yet the reason appeareth not why for example a sheepe in EnglaÌ„d where there are no wolues bred nor haue beene these many ages should be affraide and tremble at sight of a wolfe since neyther he nor his damme or sire nor theirs in multitudes of generations euer saw a wolfe or receiued hurt by any In like manner how should a tame weasell brought into England from Ireland where there are no poysonous creatures be affraide of a toade as soone as he seeth one Neyther he nor any of his race euer had any impressions following harme made vpon their fantasies and as litle can a lyon receiue hurt from a household cocke therefore we must seeke the reasons of these and such like antipathies a litle further and we shall find them hanging vpon the same string with sympathies proportionable to them Lett vs goe by degrees we dayly see that dogges will haue an auersion from glouers that make their ware of dogges skinnes they will barke at them and be churlish to them and not endure to come neere them although they neuer saw theÌ„ before The like hatred they will expresse to the dogge killers in the time of the plague and to those that flea dogges I haue knowne of a man that vsed to be employed in such affaires who passing sometimes ouer the groundes neere my mothers house for he dwelled at a village not farre off the dogges would winde him at a very great distance and would all runne furiously out the way he was and fiercely fall vpon him which made him goe alwayes well prouided for them and yet he hath beene sometimes hard put to it by the fierce mastifes there had it not beene for some of the seruantes coming in to his reskew who by the frequent happening of such accidents were warned to looke out when they obserued so great commotion and fury in the dogges and yet perceiued no present cause for it Warreners obserue that vermine will hardly come into a trappe wherein an other of their kind hath beene lately killed and the like happeneth in mouse-trappes into which no mouse will come to take the bayte if a mouse or two haue already beene killed in it vnlesse it be made very cleane so that no sent of them remaine vpon the trappe which can hardly be done on the suddaine otherwise then by fire It is euident that these effects are to be referred to an actiuity of the obiect vpon the sense for some smell of the skinnes or of the dead dogges or of the vermine or of the mice can not choose but remaine vpon the men and vpon the trappes which being altered from their due nature and temper must needes offend â—hâ—m Their conformity on the one side for something of the canine nature remaineth maketh them haue easy ingression into them and so they presently make a deepe impression but on the other side their distemper from what they should be maketh the impression repugnant to their nature and be disliked by them and to affect them worse then if they were of other creatures thaâ— had no conformity with them as we may obserue that stinkes offend vs more when they are accompanied with some weake perfume then if they sett vpon vs single for the perfume getteth the stinke easyer admittance into our sense and in like manner it is said that poisons are more dangerous when they are mingled with a cordiall that is not able to resist them for it serueth to conuey them to the hart though it be not able to ouercome their malignity From hence then it followeth that if any beast or bird do prey vpon some of an other kind there will be some smell about them exceedingly noysome to all others of that kind and not only to beastes of that same kind but for the same reason euen to others likewise that haue a correspondence and agreement of temper and constitution with that kind of beast whose hurt is the originall cause of this auersion Which being assented vnto the same reason holdeth to make those creatures whose constitutions and tempers do consist of thinges repugnant and odious to one an other beat perpetuall enmity and flye from one an other at the first sight or at the least the sufferer from the more actiue creature as we see among those men whose vnhappy trade and continuall exercises it is to empty iakeses such horride stinkes are by time growne so conformable to their nature as a strong perfume will as much offend them and make them as sicke as such stinks would do an other man bred vp among perfumes and a cordiall to their spirits is some
to performe vitall motion pag. 203. § 1. The connexion of the following Chapters with the precedent ones ibid. § 2. Concerning seuerall compositions of mixed bodies pag. 204. § 3. Two sortes of liuing creatures pag. 205. § 4. An engine to expresse the first sort of liuing creatures ibid. § 5. An other engine by which may be expressed the second sort of liuing creatures pag. 207. § 6. The two former engines and some other comparisons applyed to expresse the two seuerall sortes of liuing creatures ibid. § 7. How plantes are framed pag. 209. § 8. How sensitiue creatures are formed pag. 210. CHAP. XXIV A more particular suruay of the generation of Animals in which is discouered what part of the animal is first generated pag. 213 § 1. The opinion that the seede containeth formally euery part of the parent ibid. § 2. The former opinion reiected pag. 214. § 3. The Authors opinion of this question pag. 215. § 4. Their opinion refuted who hold that euery thing containeth formally all thinges pag. 216. § 5. The Authors opinion concerning the generation of Animals declared and confirmed pag. 217. § 6. That one substance is changed into an other pag. 219. § 7. Concerning the hatching of chickens and the generation of other Animals pag. 220. § 8. From whence it happeneth that the deficiences or excrescences of the parents body are often seene in their children pag. 221 § 9. The difference betweene the Authors opinion and the former one p. 222 § 10. That the hart is imbued with the generall specifike vertues of the whole body whereby is confirmed the doctrine of the two former paragraphes pag. 223. § 11. That the hart is the first part generated in a liuing creature pag. 225. CHAP. XXV How a Plant or Animal cometh to that figure it hath pag. 226. § 1. That the figure of an Animal is produced by ordinarie second causes as well as any other corporeall effect pag. 226. § 2. That the seuerall figures of bodies proceed from a defect in one of â—he three dimensions caused by the concurrance of accidentall causes pag. 227 § 3. The former doctrine is confirmed by seuerall instances pag 228 § 4. The same doctrine applyed to Plantes pag. 229 § 5. The same doctrine declared in leafes of trees ibid. § 6. The same applyed to the bodies of Animals pag. 230 § 7. In what sense the Author doth admitt of Vis formatrix pag. 231 CHAP. XXVI How motion beginneth in liuing creatures And of the motion of the hart circulation of the bloud Nutrition Augmentation and corruption or death pag. 232 § 1. Fromwhence doth proceed the primary motion and growth in Plantes ibid. § 2. Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching the motion of the hart p. 233 § 3. The former opinion reiected ibid. § 4. The Authors opinion concerning the motion of the hart pag. 234 § 5. The motion of the hart dependeth originally of its fibers irrigated by bloud pag. 236 § 6. An obiection answered against the former doctrine pag. 237 § 7. The circulation of the bloud and other effects that follow the motion of the hart pag. 238 § 8. Of Nutrition pag. 239 § 9. Of Augmentation pag. 240 § 10. Of death and sicknesse pag. 241 CHAP. XXVII Of the motions of sense and of the sensible qualities in generall and in particular of those which belong to Touch Tast and Smelling pag. 242 § 1. The connexion of the subsequent chapters with the precedent ibid. § 2. Of the senses and sensible qualities in generall And of the end for which they serue ibid. § 3. Of the sense of touching and that both it and its qualities are bodies 244 § 4. Of the tast and its qualities that they are bodies pag. 245 § 5. That the smell and its qualities are reall bodies ibid. § 6. Of the conformity betwixt the two senses of smelling and tasting p. 246 § 7. The reason why the sense of smelling is not so perfect in man as in beastes with a wonderfull historie of a man who could wind a sent as well as any beast pag. 247 CHAP. XXVIII Of the sense of hearing and of the sensible quality sound p. 249 § 1. Of the sense of hearing and that sound is purely motion ibid. § 2. Of diuers artes belonging to the sense of hearing all which confirme that sound is nothing but motion pag. 250 § 3. The same is confirmed by the effects caused by great noises pag. 251 § 4. That solide bodies may conueye the motion of the ayre or sound to the organe of hearing pag. 252 § 5. Where the motion is interrupted there is no sound ibid. § 6. That not only the motion of the ayre but all other motions coming to our eares make sounds pag. 253 § 7. How one sense may supply the want of an other ibid. § 8. Of one who could discerne sounds of words with his eyes pag. 254 § 9. Diuers reasons to proue sound to be nothing els but a motion of some reall body pag. 256 CHAP. XXIX Of Sight and Colours pag. 257 § 1. That Colours are nothing but light mingled with darkenesse or the disposition off a bodies superficies apt to reflect light so mingled ibid. § 2. Concerning the disposition of those bodies which produce white or blacke coulours pag. 259 § 3. The former doctrine confirmed by Aristotles authority reason and experience ibid. § 4. How the diuersity of coulours doe follow out of various degrees of rarity and density pag. 260 § 5. Why some bodies are Diaphanous others opacous pag. 261 § 6. The former doctrine of coulours confirmed by the generation of white and Blacke in bodies pag. 262 CHAP. XXX Of luminous or apparente Colours pag. 262 § 1. Apparitions of coulours through a prisme or triangular glasse are of two sortes ibid. § 2. The seuerall parts of the obiect make seuerall angles at their entrance into the prisme pag. 263 § 3. The reason why some times the same obiect appeareth throwgh the prisme in two places and in one place more liuely in the other place more dimme ibid. § 4. The reason of the various colours that appeare in looking throwgh a prisme pag. 264 § 5. The reason why the prisme in one position may make the colours appeare quite contrary to what they did when it was in an other position pag. 265 § 6. The reason of the various colours in generall by pure light passing through a prisme pag 266 § 7. Vpon what side euery colour appeareth that is made by pure light passing through a prisme pag. 267 CHAP. XXXI The causes of certaine appearances in luminous Colours with a conclusion of the discourse touching the senses and the sensible qualities pag. 268 § 1. The reason of each seuerall colour in particular caused by light passing through a prisme pag. 268 § 2. A difficult probleme resolued touching the prisme pag. 270 § 3. Of the rainebow and how by the colour of any body wee may know the composition of
noysome smell that would almost poysone an other man And thus if in the breath of the wolfe or in the steame coming from his body be any quality offensiue to the lambe as it may very well be where there is so great a contrariety of natures it is not strange that at the first sight and approach of him he should be distempered and fly from him as one fighting cocke will do from an other that hath eaten garlike and the same happeneth between the weasell and the toade the lyon and the cocke the toade and the spider and seuerall other creatures of whom like enmities are reported All which are caused in them not by secret instincts and antipathies and sympathies whereof we can giue no account with the bare sound of which wordes most men do pay themselues without examining what they meane but by downe right materiall qualities that are of contrary natures as fire and water are and are eyther begotten in them in their originall constitution or are implanted in them afterwardes by their continuall foode which nourishing them changeth thier constitution to its coÌ„plexion And I am persuaded this would goe so farre that if one man were nourished continually with such meate and greedily affected it which an other had auersion from there would naturally follow much dislike betweene them vnlesse some superiour regard should master this auersion of the sense And I remember to haue seene two notable examples of it the one in Spaine of a Gentleman that had a horrour to garlike who though he was very subiect to the impressions of beauty could neuer weane himselfe from an auersion he had settled him to a very handsome woman that vsed to eate much garlike though to winne him she forebore the vse of that meate which to her was the most sauory of all others And the like I knew in EnglaÌ„d betweene two whereof the one did extremely loue cheese and the other as much hated it and would fall into a strange agony and be reduced one would thinke to the point of death if by inaduertence or others tryall of him he had swallowed neuer so litle of what the other would haue quitted all meates else to liue vpon And not only such auersions as spring from differences of complexions in the constitutions of seuerall animals do cause these effects of feare and of trembling and of flying from those that do make such impressions but euen the seeing them angry and in fury doth the like for such passions do alter the spirits and they issuing from the body of the animal in passion can not choose but be receiued by an other in a different manner then if they were of an other temper Then if the one kind be agreeable to their nature the other must needes be displeasing And this may be the reason why bees neuer sting such as are of a milde and gentle disposition and will neuer agree with others that are of a froward and angry nature And the same one may obserue among dogges and peraduenture a mans fantasy may be raised to such a height of fury that the fiercest beastes may be affraide to looke vpon him and can not endure that those mastering spirits which streame out of the mans eyes should come into his so much they distemper his fantasy and therefore he will turne away from the man and auoyde him Which discourse may be coÌ„firmed by sundry examples of lyons and beares that haue runne from angry and confident men and the like Since then a man that in his naturall hew giueth no distast doth so much affright fiercest beastes when he putteth on his threatning lookes it is no wonder that beastes of a milder and softer nature should haue feare of him settled in them when they neuer saw him otherwise then angry and working mischiefe to them And since their brood do receiue from their parents a nature easily moued vnto feare or anger by the sight of what moued them it is not strange that at the first sight they should tremble or swell according as the inward motion of the spirits affordeth Now if this hath rendered the birdes in the wilde Islandes affraide of men who otherwise would be indifferent to them it is no maruayle to see more violent effects in the lambes auersion from the wolfe or in the larkes from the hobbey since they peraduenture haue ouer and aboue the hurt they vse to do them a diâ—formity in their constitutions and therefore though a larke will flye as well from a man as from a hobbey yet because there is one cause more for his dislike against the hobbey then against the man namely the diâ—formity of their constitutions he will flye into the mans hand to auoyde the hawkes talons Vnto some of these causes all antipathies may be reduced and the like reason may be giuen for the sympathies we see betweene some creatures The litle corporeities which issue from the one haue such a conformity with the temper of the other that it is thereby moued to ioyne it selfe vnto the body from whence they flow and affecteth vnion with it in that way as it receiueth the impression If the smell do please it the beast will alwayes be smelling at it if the tast nothing shall hinder it from feeding vpon it when it can reach it The fishermen vpon the banke ouer against newfound land do report that there flocketh about them a kind of bird so greedy of the fishes liuers which they take there as that to come at them and feede vpon them they will suffer the men to take them in their handes and will not fly away as long as any of their desired meate is in their eye whence the French men that fish there do call them Happe foyes The like power a certaine worme hath with nigthingales And thus you see how they are strong impressions vpon sense and not any discourse of reason that do gouerne beastes in their actions for if their auoyding men did proceed from any sagacity in their nature surely they would exercise it when they see that for a bitte of meate they incurre their destruction and yet neyther the examples of their fellowes killed before their eyes in the same pursuite nor the blowes which themselues do seele can serue them for warning where the sense is so strongly affected but as soone as the blow that remoued them is passed if it misle killing or laming them and they be gotten on wing againe they will returne to their prey as eagerly and as confidently as if nothing were there to hinder them This then being the true reason of all sympathy and antipathy we can not admitt that any beastes should loue or hate one on other for any other cause then some of those we haue touched All which are reduced to locall motion and to materiall application of bodies of one nature to bodies of an other and are as well transmitted to their yong ones as begotten in themselues and as the
with his vertue from an other body 4 The vertue of the loadestone is a double and not one simple vertue 5 The vettue of the loadestone worketh more strongly in the poles of it then in any other part 6 The loadestone sendeth forth its emanations spherically Which are of two kindes and each kind is strongest in that hemisphere through whose polary partes they issue out 7 Putting two loadestones within the sphere of one an other euery part of one loadestone doth not agree with euery part of the other loadestone 8 CoÌ„cerning the declination and other respects of a needle towardes the loadestone is toucheth 9 The vertue of the loadestone goeth from end to end in lines almost parallele to the axis 10 The vertue of the loadestone is not perfectly sphericall though the stone be such 11 The intention of nature in all the operations of the loadestone is to make an vnion betwixt the attractiue and attracted bodies 12 The maine globe of the earth is not a loadestone 13 The loadestone is generated in all partes or climats of the earth 14 The conformity betwixt the two motioÌ„s of magnetike thinges and of heauy thinges 1 Which is the North and which the South Pole of a loadestone 2 Whether any bodies besides magnetike ones be attractiue 3 Whether an iron placed â—erpeÌ„dicularly towardes the earth doth gett a magneticall vertue of pointing towardes the north or towardes the south in that end that lyeth downewardes 4 Why loadestones affect iron better then one an other 5 Gilberts reason refuted touching a capped loadestone that taketh vp more iron then one not capped and an iron impregnated that in some case draweth more strongly then the stone it selfe 6 Galileus his opinion touching the former effects refuted 7 The Authors solution to the former questions 8 The reasoÌ„ why in the former case a lesser loadestone doth draw the interiacent iroÌ„ froÌ„ the greater 9 Why the variation of a touched needle froÌ„ the north is greater the neerer you go to the Pole 10 Whether in the same part of the world a touched needle may att one time vary more froÌ„ the north and att an other time lesse 11 The whole doctrine of the loadestone summed vp in short 1 The connexion of the following Chapters with the precedent ones 2 Concerning seuerall coÌ„positions of mixed bodies 3 Two sortes of liuing creatures 4 An engine to expresse the first sort of liuing creatures 5 An other engine by which may be expressed the second sort of liuing creatures 6 The two former engines and some other comparisons applyed to expresse the two seuerall sortes of liuing creatures 7 How plantes are framed 8 How sensitiue creatures are formed 1 The opinion that the seede containeth formally euery part of the parent 2 The former opinion reiected 3 The Authors opinion of this question 4 Their opinion refuted who hold that euery thing containeth formally all thinges 5 The Authors opinion concerning the generation of Animals declared and confirmed 6 That one substance is changed into an other 7 Concerning the hatching of chickens and the generation of other Animals 8 From whence it happeneth that the deficiences or excrescences of the parents body are often seene in their children 9 The difference between the Authors opinion and the former one 10 That the hart is imbued with the generall specifike vertues of the whole body whereby is confirmed the doctrine of the two former paragraphes 11 That the hart is the first part generated in a liuing creature 1 That the figure of an Animal is produced by ordinarie secoÌ„â— causes as well as any other corporeall effect 2 That the seuerall figures of bodies proceed from a defect in one of the three dimensions caused by the concurraÌ„ce of accidentall causes 3 The former doctrine is confirmed by seuerall instances 4 The same doctrine applyed to Plants 5 The same doctrine declared in leafes of trees 6 The same applyed to the bodies of Animals 7 In what sense the Author doth admitt of Vis formatrix 1 Fromwhence doth proceed the primary motion and growth in Plantes 2 Monsieur des Cartes his opinion touching the motion of the hart 3 The former opinion reiected 4 The Authors opinion concerning the motion of the hart 5 The motion of the hart dependeth originally of its fibers irrigated by bloud 6 An obiection answered against the former doctrine 7 The circulatioÌ„ of the bloud and other effects that follow the motion of the hart 8 Of Nutrition 9 Of Augmentation 10 Of death and sicknesse 1 The coÌ„nexion of the subsequent chapters with the precedent 2 Of the senses and sensible qualities in generall And of the end for which they serue 3 Of the sense of touching and that both it and its qualities are bodies 4 Of the tast and its qualities that they are bodies 5 That the smell and its qualities are reall bodies 6 Of the conformity betwixt the two senses of smelling and tasting 7 The reasoÌ„ why the sense of smelling is not so perfect in man as in beastes with a wonderfull historie of a man who could wind a sent as well aâ— any beast 1 Of the sense of hearing and that sound is purely motioÌ„ 2 Of diuers artes belonging to the sense of hearing all which confirme that sound is nothing but motion 3 The same is confirmed by the effects caused by great noises 4 That solide bodies may conueye the motion of the ayre or sound to the organe of hearing 5 Where the motion is interrupted there is no sound 6 That not only the motion of the ayre but all other motions coming to our eares make sounds 7 How one sense may supply the want of an other 8 Of one who could discerne souÌ„ds of words with his eyes 9 Diuers reasons to proue sound to be nothing els but a motioÌ„ of some reall body 1 That Colours are nothing but light mingled with darknesse or the disposition off a bodies superficies apt to reflect light so mingled 2 CoÌ„cerning the disposition of those bodies which produce white or blacke coulours 3 The former doctrine coÌ„firmed by Aristotâ—les authority reason and experience 4 How the diuersity of coulours doe follow out of various degrees of rarity and density 5 Why some bodies are Diaphanous others opacous 6 The former doctrine of coulours coÌ„firmed by the generation of white and Blacke in bodies 1 Apparitions of coulours through a prisme or triaÌ„gular glasse are of two sortes 2 The seuerall parts of the obiect make seuerall angles at their entrance into the prisme 3 The reason why some times the same obiect appeareth throwgh the prisme in two places and in one place more liuely in the other place more dimmes 4 The reason of the various colours that appeare in looking throwgh a prisme 5 The reasonÌ„ why the prisme in one position may make the colours appeare quite contrary to what
prooued from her manner of operation which is grounded in being ibid. § 10. Lastly it is prooued from the science of Morality the principles whereof would be destroied if the soule were mortall pag. 421 CHAP. X. Declaring what the soule of a man separated from his body is and of her knowledge and manner of working pag. 422 § 1. That the soule is one simple knowing act which is a pure substance and nothing but substance ibid. § 2. That a separated soule is in no place and yet is not absent from any place pag. 424 § 3. That a separated soule is not in time nor subiect to it ibid. § 4. That the soule is an actiue substance and all in it is actiuitie pag. 425 § 5. A description of the soule pag. 426 § 6. That a separated soule knoweth all that which she knew whilst she wâ—s in her bodie ibid. § 7. That the least knowledge which the soule acquireth in her bodie of anie one thing doth cause in her when she is separated from her bodie a compleat knowledge of all thinges whatsoeuer pag. 427 § 8. An answere to the obiections of some Peripatetikes who maintaine the soule to perish with the body pag. 429 § 9 The former Peripatetikes refuted out of Aristotle pag. 431 § 10. The operations of a separated soule compared to her operations in her bodie ibid. § 11. That a separated soule is in a state of pure being and consequently immortall pag. 432 CHAP. XI Shewing what effects the diuers manners of liuing in this world do cause in a soule after she is separated from her body p. 433 § 1. That a soule in this life is subiect to mutation and may be perfected in knowledge ibid. § 2. That the knowledges which a soule getteth in this life will make her knowledge in the next life more perfect and firme pag. 434 § 3. That the soules of men addicted to science whilst they liued here are more perfect in the next world then the soules of vnlearned men pag. 435 § 4. That those soules which embrace vertue in this world will be most perfect in the next and those which embrace vice most miserable ibid. § 5. The state of a vitious soule in the next life pag. 437 § 6. The fundamentall reason why as well happinesse as misery is so excessiue in the next life pag. 439 § 7. The reason why mans soule requireth to be in a body and to liue for some space of time ioyned with it pag. 441 § 8. That the misery of the soule in the next world proceedeth out of inequality and not out of falsity of her iudgements pag. 442 CHAP. XII Of the perseuerance of a soule in the state she findeth herselfe in at her first separation from her body pag. 443 § 1. The explication and proofe of that maxime that if the cause be in act the effect must also be ibid. § 2. The effects of all such agents as worke instantaneously are complete in the first instant that the agents are putt ibid. § 3. All pure spirits do worke instantaneously pag. 444 § 4. That a soule separated from her body can not suffer any change after the first instant of her separation ibid. § 5. That temporall sinnes are iustly punished with eternall paines pag. 445 The Conclusion pag. 446 THE PREFACE THIS writing was designed to haue seene the light vnder the name of one treatise But after it was drawne in paper as I cast a view ouer it I found the prooemiall part which is that which treateth of Bodies so ample in respect of the other which was the end of it and for whose sake I meddled with it that I readily apprehended my reader would thinke I had gone much astray from my text when proposing to speake of the immortality of Mans Soule three parts of foure of the whole discourse should not so much as in one word mention that soule whose nature and proprieties I aymed at the discouery of To auoyde this incongruity occasioned mee to change the name and vnity of the worke and to make the suruay of bodies a body by it selfe though subordinate to the treatise of the soule Which notwithstanding it be lesse in bulke then the other yet I dare promise my Reader that if he bestow the paines requisite to perfect him selfe in it he will find as much time well spent in the due reading of it as in the reading of the former treatise though farre more large But I discerne an obiection obuious to be made or rather a question why I should spend so much time in the consideration of bodies whereas none that hath formerly written of this subiect hath in any measure done the like I might answere that they had vpon other occasions first written of the nature of bodies as I may instance in Aristotle and sundry others who either haue themselues professedly treated the science of bodies or haue supposed that part sufficiently performed by other pennes But truly I was by an vnauoydable necessity hereunto obliged which is a current of doctrine that at this day much raigneth in the Christian Schooles where bodies and their operations are explicated after the manner of spirituall thinges For wee hauing very slender knowledge of spirituall substances can reach no further into their nature then to know that they haue certaine powers or qualities but can seldome penetrate so deepe as to descend to the particulars of such Qualities or Powers Now our moderne Philosophers haue introduced such a course of learning into the schooles that vnto all questions concerning the proper natures of bodies and their operations it is held sufficient to answere they haue a quality or a power to doe such a thing And afterwards they dispute whether this Quality or Power be an Entity distinct from its subiect or no and how it is seperable or vnseperable from it and the like Conformable to this who will looke into the bookes which are in vogue in these schooles shall find such answers and such controuersies euery where and few others As of the sensible qualities aske what it is to be white or red what to be sweete or sower what to be odoriferous or stincking what to be cold or hott And you are presently paid with that it is a sensible quality which hath the power to make a wall white or red to make a meate agreeable or disagreeable to the tast to make a gratefull or vngratefull smell to the nose etc Likewise they make the same questions and resolutions of Grauity and Leuity as whether they be qualities that is entities distinct from their subiect and whether they be actiue or passiue which when they haue disputed slightly and in common with logicall arguments they rest there without any further searching into the physicall causes or effects of them The like you shall find of all strange effects of them The loadestone and Electricall bodies are produced for miraculous and not vnderstandable thinges and in which it must be
rather starke aboundeth more in them then in the others that stand as they are bent att the least in proportion to their natures but I conceiue this is not the cause of the effect we enquire about but that it is a subtile spirit which hath a great proportion of fire in it For as in rarefaction we found that fire which was eyther within or without the body to be rarifyed did cause the rarefaction eyther by entering into it or by working within it so seeing here the question is for a body to goe out of a lesser superficies into a greater which is the progresse of rarefaction and happeneth in the motion of restitution the worke must needes be done by the force of heate And because this effect proceedeth euidently out of the nature of the thing in which it is wrought and not from any outward cause we may conclude it hath its origine from a heate that is within the thing it selfe or else that was in it and may be pressed to the outward partes of it and would sinke into it againe As for example when a yong tree is bended both euery mans conceite is and the nature of the thing maketh vs beleeue that the force which bringeth the tree backe againe to its figure cometh from the inner side that is bent which is compressed together as being shrunke into a circular figure from a straight one for when solide bodies that were plaine on both sides are bent so as on each side to make a portion of a circle the conuexe superficies will be longer then it was before when it was plaine but the concaue will be shorter And therefore we may conceiue that the spirits which are in the contracted part being there squeezed into lesse roome then their nature well brooketh do worke themselues into a greater space or else that the spirits which are crushed out of the conuexe side by the extension of it but do remaine besieging it and do striue to gett in againe in such manner as we haue declared when we spoke of attraction wherein we shewed how the emitted spirits of any body will moue to their owne source and settle againe in it if they be within a conuenient compasse and accordingly do bring backe the extended partes to their former situation or rather that both these causes do in their kindes concurre to driue the tree into its naturall figure But as we see when a sticke is broken it is very hard to replace all the splinters euery one in its proper situation so it must of necessity fall out in this bending that certaine insensible partes both inward and outward are thereby displaced and can hardly be perfectly reioynted Whence it followeth that as you see the splinters of a halfe broken sticke meeting with one an other do hold the sticke somewhat crooked so these inuisible partes do the like in such bodies as after bending stand a little that way But because they are very little ones the tree or the branch that hath beene neuer so much bended may so nothing be broken in it be sett straight againe by paines without any notable detriment of its strength And thus you see the reason of some bodies returning in part to their naturall figure after the force leaueth them that did bend them Out of which you may proceed to those bodies that restore themselues entirely whereof steele is the most eminent And of it we know that there is a fiery spirit in it which may be extracted out of it not only by the long operations of calcining digesting and distilling it but euen by grosse heating it and then extinguishing it in wine and other conuenient liquors as Physitians vse to do Which is also confirmed by the burning of steele dust in the flame of a candle before it hath beene thus wrought vpon which afterwardes it will not do whereby we are taught that originally there are store of spirits in steele till they are sucked out Being then assured that in steele there is such aboundance of spirits and knowing that it is the nature of spirits to giue a quicke motion and seeing that duller spirits in trees do make this motion of Restitution we neede seeke no further what it is that doeth it in steele or in any other thinges that haue the like nature which through the multitude of spirits that abound in them especially steele do returne backe with so strong a ierke that their whole body will tremble a great while after by the force of its owne motion By what is said the nature of those bodies which do shrinke and stretch may easily be vnderstood for they are generally composed of stringy partes vnto which if humidity happen to arriue they grow thereby thicker and shorter As we see that droppes of water getting into a new roape of a welle or into a new cable will swell it much thicker and by consequence make it shorter Galileus noteth such wetting to be of so great efficacy that it will shrinke a new cable and shorten it notably notwithstanding the violence of a tempest and the weight and ierkes of a loaden shippe do straine it what is possible for them to stretch it Of this nature leather seemeth to be and parchment and diuers other thinges which if they be proportionably moystned and no exterior force be applyed to extend them will shrinke vp but if they be ouerwetted they will become flaccide Againe if they be soddainely dryed they will shriuell vp but if they be fairely dryed after moderate wetting they will extend themselues againe to their first length The way hauing been opened by what we haue discoursed before we came to the motion of Restitution towardes the discouery of the manner how heauy bodies may be forced vpwardes contrary to their naturall motion by very small meanes in outward appearance lett vs now examine vpon the same groundes if like motions to this of water may not be done in some other bodies in a subtiler manner In which more or lesse needeth not trouble vs since we know that neyther quantity nor the operations of it do consist in an indiuisible or are limited to determined periodes they may not passe It is enough for vs to find a ground for the possibility of the operation and then the perfecting of it and the reducing it to such a height as att the first might seeme impossible and incredibile we may leaue to the oeconomy of wise nature He that learneth to read write or to play on the lute is in the beginning ready to loose hart att euery steppe when he considereth with what labour difficulty and slownesse he ioyneth the letters spelleth syllabes formeth characters fitteth and breaketh his fingers as though they were vpon the racke to stoppe the right frettes and to touch the right stringes And yet you see how strange a dexterity is gained in all these by industry and practise and a readinesse beyond what we could imagine possible if we saw
leafe doth not incorporate it selfe with an other but as soone as they feele the heate of the sunne after they are broken out into liberty their tender branches by litle and litle grow more straight the concaue partes of them drawing more towardes the sunne because he extracteth and sucketh their moysture from their hinder partes into their former that are more exposed to his beames and thereby the hinder partes are contracted and grow shorter and those before grow longer Which if it be in excesse maketh the leafe become crooked the contrary way as we see in diuers flowers and in sundry leafes during the summers heate wittenesse the yuy roses full blowne tulipes and all flowers in forme of bells and indeede all kindes of flowers whatsoeuer when the sunne hath wrought vpon them to that degree we speake of and that their ioyning to their stalke and the next partes thereunto allow them scope to obey the impulse of those outward causes And when any do vary from this rule we shall as plainely see other manifest causes producing those different effects as now we do these working in this manner As for fruites though we see that when they grow att liberty vpon the tree they seeme to haue a particular figure alloted them by nature yet in truth it is the ordered series of naturall causes and not an intrinsecall formatiue vertue which breedeth this effect as is euident by the great power which art hath to change their figures att pleasure whereof you may see examples enough in Campanella and euery curious gardner can furnish you with store Out of these and such like principles a man that would make it his study with lesse trouble or tediousnesse then that patient contemplator of one of natures litle workes the Bees whom we mentioned a while agone might without all doubt trace the causes in the growing of an Embryon till he discouered the reason of euery bones figure of euery notable hole or passage that is in them of the ligaments by which they are tyed together of the membranes that couer them and of all the other partes of the body How out of a first masse that was soft and had no such partes distinguishable in it euery one of thē came to be formed by contracting that masse in one place by dilating it in an other by moystening it in a third by drying it here hardening it there Vt his exordia primis Omnia ipse tener hominis concreuerit orbis till in the end this admirable machine and frame of mans body was composed and fashioned vp by such litle and almost insensible steppes and degrees Which when it is looked vpon in bulke and entirely formed seemeth impossible to haue beene made and to haue sprung meerely out of these principle without an Intelligence immediately working and moulding it att euery turne from the beginning to the end But withall we can not choose but breake out into an extasye of admiration and hymnes of prayse as great Galen did vpon the like occasion when we reuerently consider the infinite wisedome and deepe farrelooking prouidence of the allseeing Creator and orderer of the world in so punctually adapting such a multitude and swarme of causes to produce by so long a progresse so wonderfull an effect in the whole course of which if any one the very least of them all went neuer so litle awry the whole fabrike would be discomposed and changed from the nature it is designed vnto Out of our short suruay of which answerable to our weake talents and slender experience I persuade my selfe it appeareth euident enough that to effect this worke of generation there needeth not be supposed a forming vertue or Vis formatrix of an vnknowne power and operation as those that consider thinges soddainely and but in grosse do vse to putt Yet in discourse for conueniency and shortenesse of expression we shall not quite banish that terme from all commerce with vs so that what we meane by it be rightly vnderstood which is the complexe assemblement or chayne of all the causes that concurre to produce this effect as they are sett on foote to this end by the great Architect and Moderator of them God almighty whose instrument nature is that is the same thing or rather the same thinges so ordered as we haue declared but expressed and comprised vnder an other name THE SIX AND TWENTIETH CHAPTER How motion beginneth in liuing creatures And of the motion of the hart circulation of the bloud Nutrition Augmentation and corruption or death BVt we must not take our leaue of this subiect vntill we haue examined how motion beginneth in liuing thinges as well plants as sensitiue creatures We can readily pitch vpon the part we are to make our obseruations in for retriuing the origine of this primary motion for hauing concluded that the rootes of plants and the harts of animals are the partes of them which are first made and from which the forming vertue is deriued to all the rest it were vnreasonable to seeke for their first motion any where else But in what manner and by what meanes doth it beginne there For rootes the difficulty is not great for the moysture of the earth pressing vpon the seede and soaking into it the hoat partes of it which were imprisoned in cold and dry ones are thereby stirred vp and sett on worke then they mingling themselues with that moysture do ferment and distend the whole seede till making it open and breake the skinne more iuice cometh in which incorporating it selfe with the heate those hoat and now moyst partes will not be contained in so narrow a roome as att the first but struggling to gett out on all sides and striuing to enlarge thēselues they thrust forth litle partes which if they stay in the earth do grow white and make the roote but those which ascēd and make their way into the ayre being lesse compressed and more full of heate and moysture do turne greene and as fast as they grow vp new moysture coming to the roote is sent vp through the pores of it and this faileth not vntill the heate of the roote it selfe doth faile For it being the nature of heate to rarify and eleuate there must of necessity be caused in the earth a kind of sucking in of moysture into the roote frō the next partes vnto it to fill those capacities which the dilating heate hath made that else would be empty and to supply the roomes of those which the heate continually sendeth vpwardes for the moysture of the roote hath a continuity with that in the earth and therefore they adhere together as in a pumpe or rather as in filtration and do follow one an other when any of them are in motion and still the next must needes come in and fill the roome where it findeth an empty space immediate to it The like of which happeneth to the ayre when we breath for our lunges being like a bladder
themselues vp and sinke downe againe after the same manner as the vipers hart doth as also do the bubbles of barme and muste of wine and short endes of lute stringes baked in a iuicy pye will att the opening of it mooue in such sort as they who are ignorant of the feate will thinke there are magots in it and a hoat loafe in which quicke-syluer is enclosed will not only moue thus but will also leape about and skippe from one place to an other like the head or limbe of an animal very full of spirits newly cutt off from its whole body And that this is the true cause of the harts motion appeareth euidently First because this vertue of mouing is in euery part of the hart as you will plainely see if you cutt into seuerall pieces a hart that conserueth its motion long after it is out of the animals belly for euery piece will moue as Doctor Haruey assureth vs by experience and I my selfe haue often seene vpon occasion of making the greate antidote in which vipers harts is a principall ingredient Secondly the same is seene in the auricles and the rest of the hart whose motions are seuerall though so neere together that they can hardly be distinguished Thirdly Doctor Haruey seemeth to affirme that the bloud which is in the eares of the hart hath such a motion of it selfe precedent to the motion of the eares it is in and that this vertue remaineth in it for a litle space after the eares are dead Fourthly in touching a hart which had newly left mouing with his fingar wetted with warme spittle it began to moue againe as testifying that heate and moysture made this motion Fifthly if you touch the vipers hart ouer with vinegar with spiritt of wine with sharpe white wine or with any piercing liquour it presently dyeth for the acutenesse of such substances pierceth through the viscous bloud and maketh way for the heate to gett out But this first mouer of an animal must haue something from without to stirre it vp else the heate would lye in it as if it were dead and in time would become absolutely so In egges you see this exteriour mouer is the warmeth of the henne hatching theÌ„ And in EmbryoÌ„s it is the warmeth of the mothers wombe But when in either of them the hart is coÌ„pletely formed and is enclosed in the brest much heate is likewise enclosed there in all the partes neere about the hart partly made by the hart it selfe and partly caused by the outward heate which helped also to make that in the hart and then although the warmeth of the henne or of the mothers wombe do forsake the hart yet this stirreth vp the natiue hâ—â—te within the hart and keepeth it in motion and maketh it feede still vpon now fewell as fast as that which it worketh vpon decayeth But to expresse more particularly how this motion is effected we are to note that the hart hath in the ventricles of it three sortes of fibers the first go long wayes or are straight ones on the sides of the ventricles from the thicke basis of the hart towardes the litle tippe or cone of it the second go crosse or roundwayes about the ventricles within the hart and the third are transuersall or thwart ones Next we are to remember that the hart is fixed to the body by its base and hangeth loose att the cone Now then the fibers being of the nature of such thinges as will swell and grow thicker by being moistened and consequently shrinke vp in length and grow shorter in proportion to their swelling thicker as you may obserue in a loosewrought hempen roape it must of necessity follow that when the bloud falleth into the hart which is of a kind of spungye substance the fibers being therewith moystened they will presently swell in roundnesse and shrinke in length Next we are to note that there is a double motion in the hart the one of opening which is called Diastole the other of shutting which is termed Systole And although Doctor Haruey seemeth to allow the opening of the hart to be no motion but rather a relenting from motion neuerthelesse me thinketh it is manifest that it is not only a coÌ„plete motion but in a manner the greater motion of the two though indeede the lesse sensible because it is performed by litle and litle for in it the hart is drawne by violence froÌ„ its naturall positioÌ„ which must be as it is of all heauy thinges that by which it approacheth most to the ceÌ„ter of grauity and such a position we see it gaineth by the shutting of it Now to declare how both these motions are effected we are to consider how att the end of the systole the hart is voyded and cleansed of all the bloud that was in it whence it followeth that the weight of the bloud which is in the auricles pressing vpon the Valuulas or dores that open inwardes maketh its way by litle and litle into the ventricles of the hart where it must necessarily swell the fibers and they being swelled must needes draw the hart into a roundish and capacious figure which the more it is done the more bloud cometh in and with greater violence The following effect of which must be that the weight of the bloud ioyned to the weight of the hart it selfe and particularly of the conus or tippe which is more solide and heauy in proportion to its quantity then the rest of the hart must necessarily sett the hart into the naturall motion of descending according to its grauity the which consequently is performed by a liuely ierke whereby it cometh to passe that the tippe of our hart doth as it were spring vp towardes our brest and the bloud is spurted out by other Voluulae that open outwardes which are aptly disposed to be opened vpon such a motion and do conuey it to the arteries In the course of which motion we may note how the figure of our hart contributeth to its springing vp towardes our brest for the line of distance which is betweene the basis and the tippe being longer on that side which is towardes the backe then on the other which is towardes the brest it must happen that when the hart shutteth and straighteneth it selfe and thereby extendeth it selfe to its length the tippe will butte out forewardes towardes the brest Against this doctrine of the motion and of the systole and diastole of the hart it may be obiected that beasts harts do not hang like a mans hart straight downewardes but rather horizontally and therefore this motion of grauity can not haue place in them neuerthelesse we are sure they beate and do open and shutt regularly Besides if there were no other cause but this of grauity for the motion of a mans hart it would follow that one who were sett vpon his head or hung by his heeles could not haue the motion of his hart which posture neuerthelesse we see men remaine
actually working without But that which indeed conuinceth me to beleeue I goe not wrong in this course which I haue sett downe for externe bodies working vpon our sense and knowledgde is first the conuenience and agreeablenesse to nature both in the obiects and in vs that it should be done in that manner and next a difficulty in Monsieur des Cartes his way which me thinketh maketh it impossible that his should be true And then his being absolutely the best of any I haue hitherto mett withall and mine supplying what his falleth short in and being sufficient to performe the effects we see I shall not thinke I do amisse in beleeuing my owne to be true till some body else shew a better Lett vs examine these considerations one after an other It is manifest by what wee haue already established that there is a perpetuall fluxe of litle partes or atomes out of all sensible bodies that are composed of the foure Elements and are here in the sphere of continuall motion by action and passion and such it is that in all probability these litle partes can not choose but gett in at the dores of our bodies and mingle themselues with the spirits that are in our nerues Which if they doe it is vnauoydable but that of necessity thâ—y must make some motion in the braine as by the explication we haue made of our outward senses is manifest and the braine being the source and origine of all such motion in the animal as is termed voluntary this stroke of the obiect will haue the power to cause some variation in its motions that are of that nature and by consequence must be a sensation for that change which being made in the braine by the obiect is cause of voluntary motion in the animal is that which we call sensation But we shall haue best satisfaction by considering how it fareth with euery sense in particular It is plaine that our touch or feeling is affected by the litle bodies of heate or cold or the like which are squeesed or euaporated from the obiect and do gett into our flesh and coÌ„sequently do mingle themselues with our spirits and accordingly our hand is heated with the floud of subtile fire which from a great one without streameth into it and is benummed with multitudes of litle bodies of cold that settle in it All which litle bodies of heate or of cold or of what kind soeuer they be when they are once gott in must needes mingle themselues with the spirits they meet with in the nerue and consequently must goe along with them vp to the braine for the channell of the nerue being so litle that the most acurate inspectours of nature can not distinguish any litle cauity or hole running along the substance of it and the spirits which ebbe and flowe in those channels being so infinitely subtile and in so small a quantity as such chaÌ„nels can containe it is euident that an atoâ—e of insensible biggenesse is sufficient to imbue the whole length and quantity of spirit that is in one nerue and that atome by reason of the subtility of the liquor it is immersed in is presently and as it were instantly diffused through the whole substance of it the source therefore of that liquor being in the braine it can not be doubted but that the force of the externe obiect must needes affect the braine according to the quality of the said atome that is giue a motion or knocke conformable to its owne nature As for our taste it is as plaine that the litle partes expressed out of the body which affecteth it do mingle themselues with the liquour that being in the tongue is continuate to the spirits and then by our former argument it is euideÌ„t they must reach vnto the braine And for our smelling there is nothing can hinder odours from hauing immediate passage vp to our braine when by our nose they are once gotten into our head In our hearing there is a litle more difficulty for sound being nothing but a motion of the ayre which striketh our eare it may seeme more then needeth to send any corporeall substance into the braine and that it is sufficient that the vibrations of the outward ayre shaking the drumme of the eare do giue a like motion to the ayre within the eare that on the inside toucheth the tympane and so this ayre thus moued shaketh and beateth vpon the braine But this I conceiue will not serue the turne for if there were no more but an actuall motion in the making of hearing I do not see how soundes could be conserued in the memory since of necessity motion must alwayes reside in some body which argument we shall presse anone against Monsieur des Cartes his opinion for the rest of the senses Out of this difficulty the very inspection of the partes within the eare seemeth to leade vs for had there been nothing necessary besides motion the very striking of the outward ayre against the tympanum would haue been sufficient without any other particular and extraordinary organization to haue produced soundes and to haue carried their motions vp to the braine as we see the head of a drumme bringeth the motions of the earth vnto our eare when we lay it therevnto as we haue formerly deliuered But Anatomistes find other tooles and instruments that seeme fitt to worke and forge bodies withall which we can not imagine nature made in vaine There is a hammer and an anuile whereof the hammer stricking vpon the anuile must of necessity beate off such litle partes of the brainy steames as flying about do light and sticke vpon the toppe of the anuile these by the trembling of the ayre following its course can not misse of being carried vp to that part of the braine wherevnto the ayre within the eare is driuen by the impulse of the sound and as soone as they haue giuen their knocke they rebound backe againe into the celles of the braine fitted for harbours to such winged messenger where they remaine lodged in quietnesse till they be called for againe to renew the effect which the sound did make at the first and the various blowes which the hammer striketh according to the various vibrations of the tympanum vnto which the hammer is fastened and therefore is gouerned by its motioÌ„s must needes make great differeÌ„ce of biggenesses and cause great variety of smartnesses of motion in the litle bodies which they forge The last sense is of seeing whose action we can not doubt is performed by the reflexion of light vnto our eye from the bodies which we see and this light cometh impregnated with a tincture drawne from the superficies of the obiect it is reflected from that is it bringeth along with it seuerall of the litle atomes which of themselues do streame and it cutteth from the body it strucke vpon and reboundeth from and they mingling themselues with the light do in company of it
as soone as the mastering violence leaueth them at liberty Pleasure therefore must be contrary to this and consist in a moderate dilatation for an immoderate one would cause a compression in some adherent partes and there would become paine And conformable to this we experience that generally they are hard thinges which breed paine vnto vs and that these which breed pleasure are oyly and soft as meates and odours which are sweete to the taste and smell and soft substances which are gratefull to the touch the excesse of all which proueth offensiue and painefull so that from the extremity of pleasure one entereth presently vpon the confines of paine Now then lett vs consider how the little similitudes of bodies which from without do come into the fantasy must of necessity worke there according to their little power effects proportionable to what they wrought first in the outward senses from whence they were conueyed to the braine for the senses that is the nerues and the Septum Lucidum hauing both of them their origine from the very substance of the braine and differing only in degrees of purity and refinement the same obiect must needes workelike effects in both compressing or dilating them proportionably to one an other which compression or dilatation is not paine or pleasure as it is in the outward sense but as it is reported to the hart and that being the seate of all paines or pleasures wrought in other partes and that as it were dyeth them into those qualities is not capable of feeling eyther it selfe so that the stroakes of any little similitudes vpon the fantasy do make only compressions or dilatations there not paines or pleasures Now their bodies or similitudes if they be reuerberated from the fantasy or septum Lucidum vpon the little rootes of the nerues of the sixt couple which goe to the hart they must needes worke there a proportionable impression to what they wrought vpon the fansy eyther compressing or dilating it and the hart being extremely passiue by reason of its exceeding tendernesse and heate can not choose but change its motion at the least in part if not in whole and this with relation to two causes the one the disposition of the hart it selfe the other the vehemency of the stroake This change of motion and different beating of the hart is that which properly is called passion and is euer accompanyed with pleasure or with griefe according to the nature of the impression that eyther contracteth or dilateth the hart and the spirirs about it and is discouered by the beating of the arteries and of the pulse Conformable wherevnto Physitians do tell vs that euery passion hath a distinct pulse These pulses are diuided in common by aboundance or by want of spirits yet in both kinds they may haue common differencies for in aboundance the pulse may be quicke or slow regular or irregular equall or vnequall and the like may happen in defect of spirits according to the motions of the hart which are their causes Againe the obiect by being present or absent neerer or further off maketh the stroake greater or lesser and accordingly varyeth the motion of the hart Lett vs then call to mind how we haue formerly declared that life consisteth in heate and humidity and that these two ioyned together do make a thing great and we may conclude that of necessity the motion which is most liuely must haue a great full and large stroake like the euē rolling waues of a wyde and smooth sea and not too quicke or smart like the breaches of a narrow Fretum agitated by tempestuous windes From this other motions may vary eyther by excesse or by deficiency the first maketh the stroake become smart violent and thicke the other slackeneth it and maketh it grow little slow weake and thinne or seldome And if we looke into the motions of our hart we shall see these three differencies of them follow three seuerall chiefe passions The first followeth the passion of ioy the second the passion of anger and the third the passion of griefe Nor neede we looke any further into the causes of these seuerall motions for we see that ioy and griefe following the stroake of sense the one of them must consist in an oyly dilatation that is the spirits about the hart must be dilated by a gentle large great and sweete motion in a moderation between velocity and slownesse the other contrarywise following the stroake of sense in paine as the first did in pleasure must contract the spirits and consequently make their motion or stroake become little and deficient from all the properties we haue aboue sett downe As for anger the motion following that passion is when the aboundance of spirits in the hart is a little checked by the contrary stroake of sense but presently ouercometh that opposition and then as we see a hindered water or a man that suddainely or forcibly breake through what withstood their motion go on with a greater violence then they did and as it were precipitately so the hart hauing ouercome the contraction which the sense made in it dilateth it selfe with a fury and maketh its motion smart and vehement Whence also it followeth that the spirits grow hoater then they were and accordingly it is often seene that in the scoulding of a woman and in the irritation of a dogg if euer now and then one thwart them and interpose a little opposition their fury will be so sharpened and heightened that the woman will be transported beyond all limits of reason and the dogg will be made madde with nothing else done to him but angring him at conuenient times and some men likewise haue by sleight oppositions iterated speedily vpon them before their spirits could relent their vehement motion and therefore must still encrease it beene angred into feauers This passion of anger seemeth almost to be solitary on the side of excesse beyond ioy which is as it were the standard and perfection of all passions as light or whitenesse is of all colours but on the otherside of deficiency there are seuerall middle passions which participate more or lesse of ioy and griefe as particularly those two famous ones which gouerne mans life Hope and Feare Concerning which Physitians tell vs that the pulse or beating of feare is quicke hard and vnequall vnto which I conceiue we may safely adde that it must also be small and feeble the perfection of ioy decreasing in it on one side to witt from greatnesse and largenesse but not intirely so that a kind of quicknesse supplyeth in part the other defect Hope on the other side is in such sort defectiue from ioy that neuerthelesse it hath a kind of constancy and moderate quantity and regularity in its motion and therefore is accounted to be the least hurtfull of all the passions and that which most prolongeth mans life And thus you see how those motions which we call passions are engendred in the hart and what
sinnewy circle wherevnto is fastened the case of the hart called the Pericardium This Diaphragma is very sensible receiuing its vertue of feeling from the aboue mentioned branch of the sixt couple of nerues and being of a trembling nature is by our respiration kept in continuall motion and flappeth vpon all occasions as a drumme head would do if it were slacke and moyst or as a sayle would do that were brought into the wind Out of this description of it it is obuious to conceiue that all the changes of motion in the hart must needes be expressed in the Diaphragma For the hart beating vpon the Pericardium and the Pericardium being ioyned to the Diaphragma such iogges and vibrations must needes be imprinted and ecchoed there as are formed in the hart which from thence can not choose but be carryed to the braine by the sixt couple of nerues And thus it cometh about that we feele and haue sensation of all the passions that are moued in our hart Which peraduenture is the reason why the Greekes do call this part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from it deriue the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in latine signifyeth Sapere with vs to sauour or to like for by this part of our body we haue a liking of any obiect or a motion of inclination towardes it from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued by composition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a prudent man is he that liketh and is moued to compasse wholesome and good thinges Which Etymology of the word seemeth vnto me more naturall then from the phrenesy from whence some deriue it because a great distemper or inflammation in the Diaphragma often causeth that disease Now because the obiect is cōueyed frō the braine to the hart some part of its way by the same passage as the motion of the hart is reconueyed backe to the braine it must of necessity follow that who is more attētiue to outward sense doth lesse consider or reflect vpō his passion and who is more attentiue to obserue and be gouuerned by what passeth in his hart is lesse wrought vpon by externall thinges For if his fantasy draweth strongly vnto it the emanations from outward agents vpon the senses the streame of those emanations will descend so strongly from the ouerfilled fantasy into the hart that it will hinder the ascent of any fewer and weaker spirits by the same pipe But if the current do sett strongest vpwardes from the hart by the Diaphragma to the braine then it will so fill the pipe by which it ascendeth that little of a weaker tyde can make a contrary eddy water in the same channell And by this meanes nature effecteth a second pleasure or paine in a liuing creature which moueth it oftentimes very powerfully in absence of the primary obiect as we may obserue when thinking of any pleasing or displeasing action we find about our hart a motion which enticeth vs to it or auerteth vs from it for as the first pleasure was occasioned by the stroake which the obiect applyed to the outward sense made vpon the fantasy which can iudge of nothing without being strucken by it so the second pleasure springeth from the spirits moued in the hart by messengers from the braine which by the Diaphragma do rebound a stroake backe againe vpon the fantasy And from hence it proceedeth that memory delighteth or afflicteth vs and that we think of past thinges with sweetenesse or with remorse and thereby assuefaction is wrought in beastes as farre as the appetitiue part doth contribute therevnto to perfect what was begunne in their cognoscitiue part by the ingression of corporeall speciefes into their fantasy in order to the same effect as we haue touched before But now lett vs examine how so small a quantity of a body as cometh from an obiect into our sense can be the cause of so great a motion about our hart To which purpose we are to remember that this motion is performed in the most subtile and thinne substance that can be imagined they are the vitall spirits that do all this worke which are so subtile so agile and so hoat that they may in some sort be termed fire Now if we reflect how violent fire is we neede not wonder at the suddaine and great motion of these passions But we must further take notice that they are not in the greatest excesse but where the liuing creature hath beene long inured and exercised vnto them eyther directly or indirectly so that they arriue not to that pitch so much out of the power of the agent as out of the preparation and disposition of the patient as when cold water hath beene often heated by extinguishing red hoat irons in it after some repetitions a few quenchinges will reduce it from cold to boyling that at the first would scarce haue made it lukewarme and accordingly we see a hart that for a long time hath loued and vehemently hath desired enioying is transported in a high degree at the least sight and renuance of stroakes from its beloued obiect and is as much deiected vpon any the least depriuation of it for to such an obiect the liuing creature is hurried away by a force much resembling the grauity or celerity of a dense body that is sett on running downe a steepe hill vnto which the only taking away of a weake lett or the least stoppe giueth a precipitate course not out of the force of what is done to it but out of the force which was formerly in the thing though for the present it lay there vndiscouered and so likewise in these cases the obiect rather giueth the occasion of the violent motion then the force or power to it These thinges being thus determined some peraduenture may aske how it cometh to passe that the spirits which cause motion being sent on their arrant by the braine do alwayes hitt the right way and light duely into those very sinnewes which moue the liuing creature according as is requisite for its nature Since all the passages are open what is it that gouerneth them so as they neuer mistake and the animal is neuer driuen towardes harme insteed of flying from it Who is their guide in these obscure pathes But it were to impute ignorance to the maker to think that he framed all the passages alike and so euery one of them promiscuously apt to receiue into them all sorts of spirits howsoeuer they be moued and therefore we may assure our selues that since in these diuersities of occasions there are likewise diuers kinds of motions from the hart◠eyther there is proportionable vnto them diuers kindes of passages fitt to receiue and entertaine the spirits according to the condition they are in so as the passages which are aiusted to one kind of spirits will not admitt any of an other nature or else the first motions of liking or disliking in the hart which as we haue said
range abroad at randome doth also conuince this assertion but I confesse ingeniously the testimony of it seemeth not cleare to me and therefore I ranke it not with those that I would haue if it may be solidely weighty and vndenyable to who shall consider maturely the bottome and full efficaciousnesse of them Of such a few or any one is enough to settle ones mind in the beliefe of a truth and I hope that this which we haue laboured for in this Chapter is so sufficiently proued as we neede not make vp our euidence with number of testimonies But to shew the exceptions I take against this argument lett vs examine how this act within vs which we call watchfullnesse is performed truly me thinketh it appeareth to be nothing else but the promptitude and recourse of some spirits that are proper for this effect which by a mans earnestnesse in his resolutiō do take a strōg impression and so are still ready to knocke frequently at the dore of our vnderstāding and thereby enable it with power to recall our strayed thougths Nay the very reflexion it selfe which we make vpon our thoughts seemeth vnto me to be only this that the obiect beating vpon the fansie carryeth backe with it at its retiring from thence some litle particle or atome of the braine or Septum Lucidum against which it beateth sticking vpon it in like manner as vpon an other occasion we instanced in a ball rebounding from a greene mudde wall vnto which some of the matter of the wall must needes adhere now this obiect together with the addition it getteth by its stroake vpon the fansie rebounding thēce and hauing no more to do there at present betaketh it selfe to rest quietly in some cell it is disposed into in the braine as we haue deliuered at large in our former Treatise where we discoursed of Memory but whensoeuer it is called for againe by the fansie or vpon any other occasion returneth thither it cometh as it were capped with this additional piece it acquired formerly in the fansie and so maketh a representation of its owne hauing beene formerly there Yet be these actions performed how they will it can not be denyed but that both of them are such as are not fitt nor would be any wayes vsefull to creatures that haue not the power of ordering their owne thoughts and fansies but are gouerned throughout meerely by an vniforme course of nature which ordering of thoughts being an operation feasible only by rationall creatures and by none others these two actions which would be in vaine where such ordering is not vsed seeme to be specially ordained by nature for the seruice of Reason and of the Vnderstanding although peraduenture a precise proper working of the vnderstanding do not cleerely shine in it Much lesse can we by experience find among all the actions we haue hitherto spoken of that our Reason or Vnderstanding worketh singly and alone by it selfe without the assistance and consortshippe of the fantasie and as litle can I tell how go about to seeke any experience of it But what Reason may do in this particular we shall hereafter enquire and end this Chapter with collecting out of what is said how it fareth with vs when we do any thing against Reason or against our owne knowledge If this happen by surprise it is plaine that the watch of Reason was not so strong as it should haue beene to preuent the admittance or continuance of those thoughts which worke that transgression Againe if it be occasioned by Passion it is euident that in this case the multitude and violence of those spirits which Passion sendeth boyling vp to the fantasie is so great as the other spirits which are in the iurisdiction and gouernement of Reason are not able for the present to ballance them and stay their impetuosity whiles she maketh truth appeare Sometimes we may obserue that Reason hath warning enough to muster together all her forces to encounter as it were in sett battaile the assault of some concupiscence that sendeth his vnruly bandes to take possession of the fansie and constraine it to serue their desires and by it to bring Reason to their bente Now if in this pitched field she loose the bridle and be carryed away against her owne resolutions and be forced like a captiue to obey the others lawes it is cleare that her strength was not so great as the contrary factions The cause of which is euident for we know that she can do nothing but by the assistance of the spirits which inhabite the braine now then it followeth that if she haue not the command of those spirits which flocke thither she must of necessity be carryed alōg by the streame of the greater and stronger multitude which in our case is the throng of those that are sent vp into the braine by the desired obiect and they come thither so thicke and so forcibly that they displace the others which fought vnder Reasons standard which if they do totally and excluding reasons party do entirely possesse the fansie with their troupes as in maddenesse and in extremity of suddaine passion it happeneth then must Reason wholy follow their sway without any struggling at all against it for whatsoeuer beateth on the fansie occasioneth her to worke and therefore when nothing beateth there but the messengers of some sensuall obiect she can make no resistance to what they impose but if it bappen that these tumultuary ones be not the only spirits which beate there but that Reason hath likewise some vnder her iurisdiction which keepe possession for her though they be too weake to turne the others out of dores then it is true she can still direct fairely how in that case a man should gouerne himselfe but when he cometh to execute he findeth his sinewes already posessed and swelled with the contrary spirits and they keeping out the smaller and weaker number which reason hath ranked in order and would furnish those partes withall he is drawne euen against his iudgement and Reason to obey their appetites and to moue himselfe in prosecution of what they propose in such sort as the Poet expresseth that Medea found in her selfe when she complained and bemoaned her selfe in these wordes Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor and in this case a man foreseeth his misery all the way he rouleth towardes it and leapeth into the precipice with his eyes open which sheweth that the army of thoughts on Reasons side should be encreased in number to haue her strong enough to wage battaile with the rebellious aduersary or else that her aduersary should be so much weakened that she though not growne stronger in her selfe yet might through the others enfeebling be able to make her party good and hence is the vse of corporeall mortifications to subiect our Passions to the beheast of Reason euen as when we see that when we are in health our armes and legges and all our limbes obey our will reaching
vpon her yet so that of her selfe she still is what she is And therefore as soone as she is out of the passible oore in which she suffereth by reason of that oore she presently becometh impassible as being purely of her owne nature a fixed substance that is a pure Being Both which states of the soule may in some sort be aduÌ„brated by what we see passeth in the coppelling of a fixed mettall for as long as any lead or drosse or allay remaineth with it it continueth melted flowing and in motion vnder the muffle but as soone as they are parted from it and that it is become pure without any mixture and singly it selfe it contracteth it selfe to a narrower roome and at that very instant ceaseth from all motion groweth hard permanent resistent vnto all operations of fire and suffereth no change or diminution in its substance by any outward violence we can vse vnto it THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER Shewing what effects the diuers manners of liuing in this world do cause in a soule after she is separated from her body ONe thing may peraduenture seeme of hard digestion in our past discourse and it is that out of the groundes we haue layed it seemeth to follow that all soules will haue an equality since we haue concluded that the greatest shall see or know no more then the least and indeed there appeareth no cause why this great and noble creature should lye imprisoned in the obscure dungeon of noysome flesh if in the first instant in which it hath its first knowledge it hath then already gained all whatsoeuer it is capable of gaining in the whole progresse of a long life afterwardes Truly the Platonike Philosophers who are persuaded that a humane soule doth not profitt in this life nor that she acquired any knowledge here as being of her selfe completely perfect and that all our discourses are but her remembringes of what she had forgotten will find themselues ill bestedd to render a Philosophicall and sufficient cause of her being locked into a body for to putt forgettfulnesse in a pure spiritt so palpable an effect of corporeity and so great a corruption in respect of a creature whose nature is to know of it selfe is an vnsufferable errour Besides when they tell vs that she can not be changed because all change would preiudice the spirituall nature which they attribute to her but that well she may be warned and excitated by being in a body they meerely trifle for eyther there is some true mutation made in her by that which they call a warning or there is not if there be not how becometh it a warning to her Or what is it more to her then if a straw were wagged at the Antipodes But if there be some mutation be it neuer so litle made in her by a corporeall motion what should hinder why she may not by meanes of her body attaine vnto science she neuer had as well as by it receiue any the least intrinsecall mutation whatsoeuer For if once we admitt any mutability in her from any corporeall motion it is farre more conformable vnto reason to suppose it in regard of that which is her naturall perfection and of that which by her operations we see she hath immediately after such corporeall motions and whereof before them there appeared in her no markes at all then to suppose it in regard of a darke intimation of which we neyther know it is nor how it is performed Surely no Rationall Philosopher seeing a thing whose nature is to know haue a being whereas formerly it existed not and obseruing how that thing by little and little giueth signes of more and more knowledge can doubt but that as she could be changed from not being to being so may she likewise be changed from lesse knowing to more knowing This then being irrefragably settled that in the body she doth encrease in knowledge lett vs come to our difficulty and examine what this encrease in the body auaileth her seeing that as soone as she parteth from it she shall of her owne nature enioy and be replenished with the knowledge of all thinges why should she laboriously striue to anticipate the getting of a few droppes which but encrease her thirst and anxiety when hauing but a litle patience she shall at one full and euerlasting draught drinke vp the whole sea of it We know that the soule is a thing made proportionably to the making of its body seeing it is the bodies compartener and we haue concluded that whiles it is in the body it acquireth perfection in that way which the nature of it is capable of that is in knowledge as the body acquireth perfection its way which is in streÌ„gth and agility Now then lett vs coÌ„pare the proceedinges of the one with those of the other substance and peraduenture we may gaine some light to discerne what aduantage it may proue vnto a soule to remaine long in its body if it make right vse of its dwelling there Lett vs coÌ„sider the body of a man well and exactly shaped in all his members yet if he neuer vse care nor paines to exercise those well framed limbes of his he will want much of those corporeall perfections which others will haue who employ them sedulously Though his legges armes and handes be of an exact symmetry yet he will not be able to runne to wrestle or to throw a dart with those who labour to perfect themselues in such exercises though his fingers be neuer so neately moulded or composed to all aduantages of quicke and smart motion yet if he neuer learned and practised on the lute he will not be able with them to make any musike vpon that instrument euen after he seeth plainely and comprehendeth fully all that the cunningest Lutenist doth nether will he be able to playe as he doth with his fingers which of themselues are peraduenture lesse apt for those voluble motions then his are That which maketh a man dexterous in any of these artes or in any other operations proper to any of the partes or limbes of his body is the often repetitions of the same actes which do amend and perfect those limbes in their motions and which make them fitt and ready for the actions they are designed vnto In the same manner it fareth with the soule whoâ—e essence is that which she knoweth her seuerall knowledges may be compared to armes handes fingers legges thighes c in a body and all her knowledges taken together do compose as I may say and make her vp what she is Now those limbes of hers though they be when they are at the worst entire and well shaped in bulke to vse the comparison of bodies yt they are susceptible of further perfection as our corporeall limbes ae by often and orderly vsage of them When we iterate our acts of our vnderstanding any obiect the second act is of the same nature as she first the third as the second and so of
in discourse and of the vast extent of it Dialo de mundo 4 Of humane actions and of those that concerne ourselues 5 Of humane actions as they concerne our neighbours 6 Of Logike 7 Of Grammar 8 Of Rhetorike 9 Of Poetry 10 Of the Power of speaking 11 Of arts that concerne dumbe and insensible creatutes 12 Of Arithmetike 13 Of Prudence 14 Obseruations vpon what hath beene said in this Chapter 1 That humane actions proceed from two seuerall principles vnderstanding and sense 2 How our generall and inbred maximes doe concurre to humane actioÌ„ 3 That the rules and maximes of arts doe worke positiuely in vs though we thinke not of them 4 How the vndestaÌ„ding doth cast about when it wanteth sufficient grounds for action 5 How reason doth rule ouer sense and passion 6 How we recall our thoughts from distractions 7 How reason is sometimes ouercome by sense and passion 1 The coÌ„nection of the subsequent Chapters with the precedent 2 The inexisteÌ„ce of corporeall thinges in the soule by the power of apprehension doth proue her to be immateriall 3 The notion of being which is innate in the soule doth proue the same 4 The same is proued by the notion of respects 5 That corporeall thinges are spiritualized in the vnderstanding by meanes of the soules working in and by respects 6 That the abstracting of notions from all particular and indiuiduall accidents doth proue the immaterialitie of the soule 7 That the vniuersalitie of abstracted notions doth proue the same 8 That collectiue apprehensions do proue the same 9 The operations of the soule drawing allways from multitude to vnitie do proue the same 10 The difference betwixt the notion of a thing in our vnderstanding and the impression that correspondeth to the same thing in our fansie doth proue the same 11 The apprehensioÌ„ of negatioÌ„s and priuations do proue the same 1 The manner of iudging or deeming by apprehending two thinges to be identified doth proue the soule to be immateriall 2 The same is proued by the manner of apprehending opposition in a negatiue iudgement 3 That thinges in themselues opposite to one an other hauing no opposition in the soule doth proue the same 4 That the first truthes are identified to the soule 5 That the soule hath an infinite capacitie and consequently is immateriall 6 That the opposition of contradictory propositions in the Soule doth proue her immaterialitie 7 How propositions of eternall truth do proue the immaterialitie of the soule 1 That in discoursing the soule coÌ„taineth more in it at the same time then is in the fantasie which prooueth her to be immateriall 2 That the nature of discourse doth prooue the soule to be ordered to infinite knowledge and consequeÌ„tly to be immateriall 3 That the most naturall obiects of the soule are immateriall and consequently the soule her selfe in such 1 That the soules being a power to order thinges proueth her to be immateriall 2 That the soules being able to mooue without being mooued doth prooue her to be immateriall 3 That the soules proceeding to action with an vniuersality and indifferency doth prooue the same 4 That the quiet proceeding of reason doth prooue the same 5 A conclusion of what hath beene said hetherto in this second Treatise 1 That Mans Soule is a substance 2 That man is compounded of some other substance besides his body 3 That the soule doth subsist of it selfe independently of the body 4 Two other arguments to prooue the same one positiue the other negatiue 5 The same is prooued because the soule can not be obnoxious to the cause of mortality 6 The same is prooued because the soule hath no contrary 7 The same is prooued from the end for which the soule was created 8 The same is prooued because she can mooue without being mooued 9 The same is prooued from her manner of operation which is grounded in being 10 Lastly it is prooued from the science of Morality the principles whereof would be destroied if the soule were mortall 1 That the soule is one simple knowing act which is a pure substance and nothing but substance 2 That a seperated soule is in no place and yet is not abseÌ„t from any place Boetius 3 That a seperated soule is not in time nor subiect to it 4 That the soule is an actiue substance and all in it is actiuitie 5 A description of the soule 6 That a seperated soule knoweth all that which she knew whilst she was in her bodie 7 That the least knowledge which the soule acquireth in her bodie of anie one thing doth cause in her when she is seperated from her bodie a compleat knowledge of all thingâ— whatsoeuer 8 An answere to the obiections of some Peripatetikes who maintaine the soule to perish with the body 9 The former Peripateâ—ickeâ— refuted out of Aristotle 10 The operations of a seperated soule compared to her operations in her bodie 11 That a separated soule is in a state of pure being and consequently immortall 1 That a soule in this life is subiect to mutation and may be perfected in knowledge 2 That the knowledges which a soâ—le getteth in this life will make her knowledge in the next life more perfect and firme 3 That the soules of meÌ„ addicted to science whilst they liued here are more perfect in the next world then the soules of vnlearned men 4 That those soules which embrace vertue in this world will be most perfect in the next and those which embrace vice most miserable 5 The state of a vicious soule in the next life 6 The fundamentall reason why as well happinesse as miserie is so excessiue in the next life 7 The reason why mans soule requireth to be in a body and to liue for some space of time ioyned with it 8 That the misery of the soule in the next world proceedeth out of inequality and not out of falsity of her iudgements 1 The explication and proofe of that maxime that if the cause be iâ— act the effect must also bâ— 2 The effects of all such ageÌ„ts as worke instantaneously arâ— complete in the first instant that the agents are putt 3 All pure spirits do worke instantaneously 4 That a soule separated from her body can not suffer any change after the first instant of her separation 5 That temporall sinnes are iustly punished with eternall painâ—s
which the contained substance should goe out as the moystening of the stringes and mouth of a purse almost shutteth it vntill in some for example the stomacke after a meale the humour being attenuated by little and little getteth out subtilely and so leauing lesse weight in the stomacke the bag which weighth downe lower then the neather orifice at which the digested meate issueth riseth a little and this rising of it is also furthered by the wrinkling vp and shortning of the vpper part of the stomacke which still returneth into its naturall corrugation as the masse of liquid meate leaueth soaking it which it doth by degrees still as more and more goeth out and so what remaineth filleth lesse place and reacheth not so high of the stomacke and thus at leÌ„gth the residue and thicker substance of the meate after the thinnest is gott out in steame and the middling part is boyled ouer in liquor cometh to presse and grauitate wholy vpoÌ„ the orifice of the stomacke which being then helped by the figure and lying of the rest of the stomacke and its stringes and mouth relaxing by hauing the iuice which swelled them squeezed out of them it openeth it selfe and giueth way vnto that which lay so heauy vpon it to tumble out In others for example in a woman with childe the enclosed substaÌ„ce retained first by such a course of nature as we haue sett downe breaketh it selfe a passage by force and openeth the orifice at which it is to goe out by violence when all circumstances are ripe according to natures institution But yet there is the expulsion which is made by physicke that requireth a little declaration It is of fiue kindes vomiting purging by stoole by vrine sweating and saliuation Euery one of which seemeth to consist of two partes namely the disposition of the thing to be purged and the motion of the nerues or fibers for the expulsion as for example when the Physitian giueth a purge it worketh two thinges the one is to make some certaine humour more liquid and purgeable theÌ„ the rest the other is to make the stomacke or belly sucke or vent this humour For the first the property of the purge must be to precipitate that humour out of the rest of the bloud or if it be thicke to dissolue it that it may runne easily For the second it ordinarily heateth the stomacke and by that meanes it causeth the stomacke to sucke out of the veines and so to draw from all partes of the body Besides this it ordinarily filleth the belly with winde which occasioneth those gripings men feele when they take physicke and is cause of the guttes discharging those humours which otherwise they would retaine The like of this happeneth in saliuation for the humours are by the same meanes brought to the stomacke and thence sublimed vp to be spitten out as we see in those who taking Mercury into their body eyther in substance or in smoake or by applicatioÌ„ do vent cold humours from any part the Mercury rising from all the body vp to the mouth of the patient as to the helme of a sublimatory and the like some say of Tobacco As for vomiting it is in a manner wholy the operation of the fibers prouoked by the feeling of some inconuenient body which maketh the stomacke wrincle it selfe and worke and striue to cast out what offendeth it Sweating seemeth to be caused by the heating of some introus body by the stomake which being of subtile partes is by heate dispersed from the middle to the circumference and carrieth with it light humours which turne into water as they come out into the ayre And thus you see in generall and as much as concerneth vs to declare what the naturall faculties are and this according to Galen his owne mind who affirmeth that these faculties do follow the complexion or the temper of the partes of a mans body Hauing explicated how voluntary motion proceedeth from the braine our next consideration ought to be to examine what it is that such an obiect as we brought by meanes of the senses into the braine from without doth contribute to make the braine apply it selfe to worke such voluntary motion To which purpose we will goe a steppe or two backe to meete the obiect at its entrance into the sense and from thence accompany it in all its iourney and motions onwardes The obiect which striketh at the senses dore and getting in mingleth it selfe with the spirits it findeth there is eyther coÌ„forme and agreeable to the nature and temper of those spirits or it is not that is to say in short it is eyther pleasing or displeasing to the liuing creature or it may be of a third kind which being neyther of these we may terme indifferent In which sort soeuer the obiect affect the sense the spirits carry it immediately to the braine vnlesse some distemper or strong thought or other accident hinder them Now if the obiect be of the third kind that is be indiffent as soone as it hath strucken the braine it reboundeth to the circle of the memory and there being speedily ioyned to others of its owne nature it findeth them annexed to some pleasing or displeasing thing or it doth not if not in beastes it serueth to little vse and in men it remayneth there vntill it be called for But if eyther in its owne nature it be pleasing or displeasing or afterwardes in the memory it became ioyned to some pleasing or annoying fellowshipp presently the hart is sensible of it for the hart being ioyned to the braine by straight and large nerues full of strong spirits which ascend from the hart it is impossible but that it must haue some communication with those motions which passe in the braine vpon which the hart or rather the spirits about it is eyther dilated or compressed And these motions may be eyther totally of one kind or moderated and allayed by the mixture of its contrary if of the former sort one of them we call ioy the other griefe which do continue about the hart and peraduenture do oppresse it if they be in the vtmost extremity without sending any due proportion of spirits to the braine vntill they settle a little and grow more moderate Now when these motions are moderate they immediately send vp some aboundance of spirits to the braine which if they be in a conuenient proportion they are by the braine thrust into such nerues as are fitt to receiue them and swelling them they giue motion to the muscles and tendons that are fastened to them and they do moue the whole body or what part of it is vnder command of those nerues that are thus filled and swelled with spirits by the braine If the obiect was conformable to the liuing creature then the braine sendeth spirits into such nerues as caâ—â—y the body to it but if otherwise it causeth a motioÌ„ of auersion or flight from it To the cause of this latter we giue
the name of Feare and the other that carrieth one to the pursuite of the obiect we call Hope Anger or Audaciâ—y is mixed of both these for it seeketh to auoyde an euill by embracing and ouercoming it and proceedeth out of aboundance of spirits Now if the proportion of spirits sent from the hart be too great for the braine it hindereth or peruerteth the due operation both in man and beast All which it will not be amisse to open a litle more particularly and first why painefull or displeasing obiects do contract the spirits and gratefull ones do contrary wise dilate them It is because the good of the hart consisteth in life that is in heate and moysture and it is the nature of heate to dilate it selfe in moysture whereas cold and drie thinges do contract the bodies they worke vpon and such are enemyes to the nature of men and beasts and accordingly experience as well as reason teacheth vs that all obiects which be naturally good are such as be hoat and moyst in the due proportion to the creature that is affected and pleased with them Now the liuing creature being composed of the same principles as the world round about him is and the hart being an abridgement of the whole sensible creature and being moreouer full of bloud and that very hoat it cometh to passe that if any of these little extracts of the outward world do arriue to the hoat bloud about the hart it worketh in this bloud such like an effect as we see a droppe of water falling into a glasse of wine which is presently dispersed into a competent compasse of the wine so that any little obiect must needes make a notable motion in the bloud about the hart This motion according to the nature of the obiect will be eyther conformable or contrary vnlesse it be so little a one as no effect will follow of it and then it is of that kind which aboue we called indifferent If the ensuing effect be connaturall to the hart there riseth a motion of a certaine fume about the hart which motion we call pleasure and it neuer fayleth of accompanying all those motions which are good as Ioy Loue Hope and the like but if the motion be displeasing there is likewise a common sense of a heauynesse about the hart which we call griefe and it is common to sorrow feare hate and the like Now it is manifest by experience that thâ—se motions are all of them different ones and do strike against diuers of those partes of our body which encompasse the hart out of which striking followeth that the spirits sent from the hart do affect the braine diuersly and are by it conueyed into diuers nerues and so do sett diuers members in action Whence followeth that certaine members are generally moued vpon the motion of such a passion in the hart especially in beaste â—ho haue a more determinate course of working then man hath and if â—ometimes we see variety euen in beasts vpon knowledge of the circumstances we may easily guesse at the causes of that variety the particularities of all which motions we remitt to Physitians and to Anatomistes aduertising only that the fume of pleasure and the heauinesse of griefe do plainely shew that the first motions do participate of dilatation and the latter of compression Thus you see how by the senses a liuing creature becometh iudge of what is good and of what is bad for him which operation is performed more perfectly in beasts and especially in those who liue in the free ayre remote from humane conuersation for their senses are fresh and vntaynted as nature made them then in men Yet without doubt nature hath beene as fauourable in this particular to men as vnto them were it not that with disorder and excesse we corrupt and oppresse our senses as appeareth euidently by the story we haue recorded of Iohn of Liege as also by the ordinary practise of some Hermites in the diserts who by their tast or smell would presently be informed whether the herbes and rootes and fruits thâ—y mett withall were good or hurtfull for them though they neuer before had had triall of them Of which excellency of the senses there remaineth in vs only some dimme sparkes in those qualities which we call sympathies and antipathies whereof the reasons are plaine out of our late discourse and are nothing elâ—e but a conformity or opposition of a liuing creature by some indiuiduall property of it vnto some body without it in such sort as its conformity or opposition vnto thinges by its specificall qualities is termed naturall or against nature But of this we shall discourse more at large hereafter Thus it appeareth how the senses are seated in vs principally for the end of mouing vs to or from obiects that are good for vs or hurtfull to vs. But though our Reader be content to allow this intent of nature in our three inferiour senses yet he may peraduenture not be satisfyed how the two more noble ones the hearing and the seeing do cause such motions to or from obiects as are requisite to be in liuing creatures for the preseruation of them for may he say how can a man by only seeing an obiect or by hearing the sound of it tell what qualities it is embued withall Or what motion of liking or disliking can be caused in his hart by his meere receiuing the visible species of an obiect at his eyes or by his eares hearing some noyse it maketh And if there be no such motion there what should occasion him to prosecute or auoyd that obiect When he tasteth or smelleth or toucheth a thing he findeth it sweet or bitter or stincking or hoat or cold and is therewith eyther pleased or displeased but when he only seeth or heareth it what liking or disliking can he haue of it in order to the preseruation of his nature The solution of this difficulty may in part appeare out of what we haue already said But for the most part the obiects of thâ—se two nobler senses dâ—â—moue vs by being ioyned in the memory with some other thing that did eyther please or displease some of the other three senses And from thence it is that the motion of going to embrace the obiect or â—uersion from it doth immediately proceed as when a dogg seeth a man that vseth to giue him meate the species of the man coming into his fansie calleth out of his memory the others which are of the same nature and are former participations of that man as well as this fâ—esh one is but these are ioyned with specieses of meate because at other times they did vse to come in together and therefore the meate being a good vnto him and causing him in the manner we haue said to moue towardes it it will follow that the dogg will presently moue towardes that man and expresse a contentednesse in being with him And this is the ground of all assuefaction in beasts and