caten or at least corrupt them and convert them into ill humours The 99th Artick In Joy IN Joy that the pulse is even and quicker than ordinary but not so strong nor so great as in Love and that a man feels a pleasant heat which is not onely in the breast but spreads its self over all the exteriour parts of the body with the blood which is seen to flow abundantly thither and the mean while he sometimes loses his appetite because the digestion is lesse than usuall The 100th Article In Sadnesse IN Sadnesse that the pulse is weak and slow and that a man feels as it were strings about his heart which bind it close and Icycles that freez it and communicate their cold to the rest of the body yet in the mean while he hath sometimes a good appetite and feels his stomack not failing of its duty provided there be no Hatred mingled with the Sadnesse The 101 Article In Desire LAstly I observe this peculiar in Desire that it agitates the heart more violently than any of the other Passions and furnishes the brain with more spirits which passing from thence into the muscles make all the senses quicker and all parts of the body more agile The 102 Article The motion of the blood and spirits In Love THese observations and many more too long to insert gave me occasion to conceive that when the understanding represents to it self any object of Love the impression which this thought makes in the brain conveyes the animal spirits through the nerves of the sixth paire to the muscles about the intestines and the stomack in the manner requisite to make the juice of meats which convert into new blood passe suddenly to the heart without any demurre in the Liver and which being driven thither with greater force than that which is in the rest of the body it gets in thither in more abundance and excites a stronger heat by reason it is thicker than that which already hath been often rarified by passing and repassing through the heart which also causeth it to send spirits to the brain whose parts are grosser and more agitated than ordinary and these spirits fortifying the impression that the first thought of the object beloved stuck there bind the Soul to fix upon the thought and herein consists the Passion of Love The 103 Article In Hatred CContrarywise in Hatred the first thought of the object that breeds aversion so conveyes the spirits in the brain to the muscles of the stomack and intestines that they hinder the juyce of meats from mixing with the blood by contracting up all the passages through which it is used to runne and so conveyes it to the small nerves of the spleen and the lower part of the Liver where the receptacle of choler is that those parts of the blood which use to be cast out to those places get out and runne with that in the branches of the hollow vein to the heart which causeth much inequality in the heat of it seeing the blood that comes from the spleen is not heated nor rarified but with much difficulty and on the other side that which comes from the lower part of the Liver where the gall is inflamed and dilated suddenly by which consequence spirits that go to the brain have parts very unequall and motions very unusuall from whence it comes that they there fortifie the Id'aea of Hatred already imprinted and encline the souls to thoughts full of rancour and bitternesse The 104th Article In Joy IN Joy not onely the nerves of the spleen Liver stomack or intestines act but those in the rest of the body and particularly that about the Orifices of the heart which opening and dilating these Orifices enables the blood which the rest of the nerves have driven from the veins to the heart to get in there and issue forth in greater quantity then ordinary and because the blood which then gets into the heart hath often passed and repassed through it coming from the arteries into the veines it easily dilates and produces spirits whose parts being very equall and subtle are fit to form and fortifie the impressions of the brain which deal lively and quiet thoughts to the Soul The 105th Article In Sadnesse COntrariwise in Sadnesse the Orifices of the heart are hugely straitened by the small nerve that environs them and the blood of the veins is no whit agitated which causeth but very little to go to the heart and in the mean while the passages through which the juyce of meats glides from the stomack and entrailes to the Liver are open wherefore the appetite diminisheth not unlesse Hatred which is an ordinary companion of Sadnesse close them The 106th Article In Desire LAstly the Passion of Desire hath the peculiar property that the Will a man hath to attain any good or avoid any evill sends the Spirits of the brain immediately to all the parts of the body that may serve any wayes to actions requisire to that purpose and particularly to the heart and those parts which supply it with blood most that receiving it in greater abundance than ordinary it sends a great number of spirits to the brain as well to maintain and fortifie the Idaea of this Will as to passe from thence into all the organs of the senses and all the muscles which may be set on work to attaine what one desires The 107th Article What is the cause of these motions in Love ANd I deduce the reason of all this from what hath formerly been said that there is such a tye betwixt our soul and body that when we have joyned any corporall Action with any thought one of them never presents if selfe to us afterwards without the other As may be seen in such who with much aversnesse when they have been sick have taken some drink they can neither eat nor drink afterwards but they have the same aversion nay further they cannot think of their a version to medecines but the very same taste comes into their thought For met thinks the first passions our soul admitted when she was first joyned to our Body came from hence that sometimes the blood or some other juyce which got into the heart was an alimony more convenient than ordinary to maintain heat there which is the principle of life this caused the Soul to joyne in will to this alimony that is to love it and at the same time the spirits trickled from the braine into the muscles which might presse or agitate the parts from whence it came to the heart that they might send more of it thither and these parts were the Stomack and entrailes whose agiration augments the appetite or else the liver and lungs which the muscles of the Diaphragma may presse Wherefore the same motion of the spirits ever since accompanies the passion of Love The 108 Article In Hatred SOmetimes on the contrary some strange juyce came to the heart which was not good to cherish the heat
agitated and subtlest only get in while the rest is dispersed into all the other parts of the body Now these very subtle parts of the blood make the animall spirits and they need not to this end undergoe any other change in the brain but only be separated from the other lesse subtle parts of the blood for what I here call spirits are but bodyes and have no other property unlesse tha they are bodies exceeding small which move very nimbly as the parts of a flame issuing from a torch so that they stay not in any one place but still as some get into the cavities of the brain some others get out through the pores in the substance of it which pores convey them into the nerves and from thence into the muscles by means whereof they mould the body into all the severall postures it can move The 11th Article How the muscles are moved FOR the only cause of the motion of all the members is that some Muscles shrink up and their opposites extend as hath been already said and the only cause why one muscle shrinkes rather than his opposite is that there come though never so little more spirits to the one than the other not that the spirits which flow immediatly from the brain are alone sufficient to move these Muscles but they dispose the other spirits which already are in these two Muscles of sally forth immediatly from one of them into the other by means whereof that from whence they came becomes longer and flaggier that wherein they are being suddenly swelled up by them shortens and attracts the member appendent to it which is easily conceived when it is known that there are but very few animal spirits which proceed continually from the brain to every Muscle but that there are abundance of others lockt in the same Muscle which move very swiftly in it sometimes in whirling round only in the places where they are this is when they find no passages open to get out at and sometimes by slipping into the opposite Muscle For there are little overtures in each of these Muscles through which hese spirits can slide from one to another which are so disposed too that when the spirits which come from the brain towards one of them are but never so little stronger than those going to theother they open all the entries through which the spirits of the other Muscle can fly into this and in the same instant bar up all those through which the spirits of this might get into that whereby all the spirits formerly contained in both Muscles crowd suddenly into one so swelling it up and shortning it while the other extends it self and gives The 12th Article How outward objects act contrary to the organs of the senses IT remains yet to know the causes why the spirits slide not from the brain into the Muscles always after one manner and wherefore they come sometimes more towards some than others For besides the action of the Soul which in truth is in us one of the causes as I shall shew hereafter there are yet two besides which depend not of any thing but the body which it is necessary to take notice of the first consists in the diversitie of motions excited in the organs of the senses by their objects which I have already amply enough explained in the Dioptricks but that those who see this may not need to have read ought else I will here repeat that there are three things to be considered in the sinews to wit their marrow or interiour substance which stretches it self out in the form of little threds from the brain the originall thereof to the extremities of the other members whereunto these threds are fastened next the skins wherein they are lapt which being continuous with those that invelope the brain make up litle pipes wherein these threds are enclosed lastly the animal spirits which being conveyed through these very pipes from the brain to the muscles are the cause that these thredd 's remain there entirely unmolested and extended in such a manner that the least thing that moves that part of the body whereunto the extremity of any one of them is fastened doth by the same reason move that part of the brain from whence it comes just as when a man pulls at one end of a string he causeth the other end to stirre The 13th Article That this Action of objects without may differently convey the spirits into the Muscles AND I have made it evident in the Diopticks how all the objects of the sight are not communicated to us any way but thus they move locally by mediation of transparent bodies between them and us those little thredd 's of the Optick nerves which are at the bottome of our eyes and after them the places of the brain from whence those nerves come they move them I say as many severall kinds of wayes as there are diversities of objects in things nor are they immediatly the motions made in the eye but in the brain that represent these objects to the Soul in imitation whereof it is easie to conceive that sounds odours heat pain hunger thirst and generally and objects as well of our other exteriour senses as our interiour appetites doe also excite some motion in our nerves which passes by means of them unto the brain and besides that these severall motions of the brain create in our soul different resentments it may so be that that without her the spirits direct their course rather towards some Muscles than others and so they may move our members which I will prove here only by one example If any one lift up his hand on a sudden towards our eyes as if he were about to strike although we know he is our friend that he does this only in jest and that he will be carefull enough not to doe us any hurt yet wee can scarce refrain from shutting them which shews it is not by the intermedling of our soul that they shut since it is against our will which is the only or at least the principall Action thereof but by reason this machine of our body is so composed that the moving of this hand up towards our eyes excites another motion in our brain which conveys the animal spirits into those muscles that close the eye-lids The 14th Article That the diversity of the spirits may diversifie their course THe other cause which serves to convey the animal spirits variously into the muscles is the unequal agitation of these spirits and the diversity of their parts for when any of their parts are more gross and agitated than the rest they passe forwards in a direct line into the cavities and pores of the brain and by this means are conveyed into toher muscles whereinto they should not had they been weaker The 15th Article What are the causes of their diversity ANd this inequality may proceed from the divers matters whereof they are composed as is seen in those who have
need of so much room so that retreating into the largest which are neerest the heart it deserts the remotest the most apparent whereof being those of the face that makes it look pale and wanne especially when the Sadness is great or comes upon one suddenly as is seen in Affrights whose surprizalls augment the action that obstructs the heart The 117th Article How a man looks red oft-times when he is Sad. BUt it oft-times befalls that a man does not wax pale when he is Sad but contrarily becomes red this ought to be atributed to other Passions joyned to sadness to wit Love Desire and sometimes even Hatred too for these passions heating or agitating the blood which comes from the liver entrailes and the rest of the interiour parts drive it to the heart and from thence through the great Artery to the veines of the face the Sadness which obstructs the Orifices of the heart on each side not being able to hinder it unless when it is mighty excessive but when it is only moderate it easily hinders the blood so come into the veines of the face from descending into the heart while Love Desire or Hatred drive other thither from the interiour parts Wherefore this blood being setled about the face makes it look red and indeed redder then in Joy because the colour of the blood appears so much the better as it flowes quicker and also because more blood can then get up into the veins of the face then when the Orifices of the heart are more open This is more palpable in shame which is compounded of self-Love and an earnest Desire to shunne present infamy which causeth the blood to come from the interiour parts to the heart from thence through the arteries into the face and withall of a moderate Sadness which hinders this blood from returning to the heart The same is also seen ordinarily when a man weeps for as I shall say hereafter it is Love joyned to Sadness which for the most part causes tears it appears also in Anger or oft-times an eager Desire of Revenge mixed with Love Hatred and Sadness The 118th Article Of Tremblings TRemblings have two severall causes one is that there come sometimes too few spirits from the brain into the nerves the other that there come sometimes too many so that the little passages of the muscles cannot be duly shut which as hath been said in the eleventh Article ought to be shut to determine the motion of the members the chiefe cause of it appears to be in Sadness and fearfulness as also when a man shakes with cold for these Passions as well as the cold of the aire may so thicken the blood that it may not furnish the brain with spirits enough to send any into the nerves the other cause appears often in those who ardently desire any thing and in those who are moved with wrath as also in those who are drunk for these two Passions as well as Wine sometimes make so many spirits go into the brain that they cannot regularly be conveyed from thence into the muscles The 119th Article Of Languishing LAnguishing is a disposition to ease ones selfe and be without motion which is felt in all the members it comes as trembling because there are not spirits enough in the nerves but in a different manner for the cause of trembling is that there are not enough in the brain to obey the determinations of the kernell when that drives them to any muscle whereas Languishing proceeds from hence that the kernell doth not determine them to goe to some muscles rathen others The 120th Article How it is caused by Love and by Desire ANd the Passion which most commonly causeth this effect is Love joyned to the Desire of a thing the acquisition whereof is not imagined possible for the present time for love so busies the Soul in considering the object beloved that it employes all the spirits which are in the brain to represent the image of it to her and stops all the motions of the kernell not subservient to this purpose And it is to be noted concerning Desire that the property which I ahve attributed to it of rendring the body more active agrees not to it but when a man imagines the object desired to be such that he may from that very time doe something which may serve to acquire it For if on the other side he imagines it is impossible for him at that time to doe any thing that may conduce thereunto all the agitation of Desire remaines in the brain not at all passing into the nerves and being wholly employed in fortifying the Idea of the object desired there leaves the rest of the body languishing The 121 Article That it may also be caused by other Passions ITis true that Hatred Sadness yes and Joy too may cause some kind of Languishing too when they are very violent because they wholly busie the Soul in considering their objects chiefly when the Desire of a thing to the acquisition whereof a man cannot contribute any thing for the present is joyned with them But because hee fixes more on the consideration of the objects which he hath joyned in Will to himself than those which he hath separated or any else and because Languishing depends not on a surprize but requires some time to be formed it is more frequently found in Love than any other Passion The 122 Article Of Swouning THere is not much difference betwixt Swounning and Death for a man dies when the fire in his heart is utterly extinguished and he falls in a Swoune only when it is smothered so that there remains only some residue of heat that may afterwards be kindled again Now there are divers indispositions of the body which may make a man fall to fainting thus but among the Passions none but extream joy is observed to have this power and the manner whereby I suppose it works its effect is thus opening extraordinarily the Orifices of the heart the blood of the veines doth so huddle in and in so abundant a quantity that it cannot there be rarified by the heat soon enough to lift up the little skins that shut the entries of those veines by which means it smothers the fire which it used to feed when it came into the heart in fit proportion The 123 Article Wherefore a man doth not swoun with Sadnesse ONe would think that a great Sadness unexpectedly falling might so shut the Orifices of the heart that it might extinguish the fire but yet that is not observed to happen or if it doe very rarely the reason whereof I believe is that there can scarce be so little blood in the heart but that it is sufficient to maintain the heat when the Orifices thereof are almost lockt up The 124th Article Of Laughter LAughter consists in this that the blood which comes from the right cavity of the heart by the arterious veine blowing up the lungs suddenly and at severall fits constrains the aire
they contain to break out impetuously through the gullet where it formes an inarticulate and clattering sound and as well the lungs by their blowing and this aire by breaking forth shove all the muscles of the Diaphragma breast and throat by which means they cause those of the face which have some connexion with them to move and it is only this gesture of the face with this inarticulate and clattering voyce that is called Laughter The 125th Article Wherefore it doth not accompany the greatest joyes NOw though laughter may seem to be one of the chiefe signes of Joy yet this cannot cause that but only when that is mean and that there be some little Admiration or Hatred mixed with it for it is found by experience that when a man is extraordinary Joyfull the occasion of this Joy never makes him break out into Laughter and besides he can never be so easily invited to it as when hee is Sad the reason whereof is that in the greatest Joyes the lungs are continually so full of blood that they cannot be blown up any more by fits The 126th Article What are the chiefe causes of it ANd I can mark but two causes which blow up the lungs thus suddenly the first is a surprizal of Admiration which being joyned to Joy may so quickly open the Orifices of the heart that a great abundance of blood getting in all together at the right side of it through the hollow veine is rarified there and passing from thence through the arterious veine blows up the lungs the other is the mixture of some liquour that augments the rarefaction of the blood and I find none fit for that purpose but the wheyest part of that which comes from the Spleen which part of the blood being driven to the heart by some light emotion of Hatred assisted by a surprize of Admiration and mixing there with the blood which comes from the other parts of the body which Joy causes to enter in thither abundantly may cause this blood to dilate much more then usual as we see many hquours swell up over the fire if one fling but a little vinegar into the vessel where they are for the wheyest part of the blood which comes from the spleene is of a nature like vinegar Experience also shews us that in all rencounters producing this lowd Laughter which-comes from the lungs there is still some little occasion of Hatred or at least of Admiration and those whose spleens are not sound are subject not only to be more sad but by intervalls more merry and disposed to laughter then others forasmuch as the spleene sends two sorts of blood to the heart one thick and grosse which causeth Sadnesse the other exceeding fluid and subtile which causeth Joy And oft-times after much Laughter a man feeles himselfe naturally enclined to sadnesse because the most fluid part of the blood of the spleene being exhausted the grosser followes it to the heart The 127th Article What is the cause thereof in Indignation FOr that kinde of Laughter which sometimes accompanies Indignation it is usually artificiall and seigned But when it is naturall it seemes to come from the Joy a man hath to see he cannot be hurt by the evil whereat he is offended and withall that he finds himselfe surprized by the novelty or the unexpected encounter of this evil So that Joy Hatred and Admiration contribute to it Yet I will suppose that it may be produced without any Joy by the meer motion of Adversion which sends the blood from the spleen to the heart where it is rarified and thrust from thence into the lungs which it easily blowes up when it findes them empty And generally whatsoever suddenly blowes up the lungs in this manner causeth the exteriour Action of Laughter except when Sadnesse alters it into groanes and shrickes that accompany tears Vives 3 de Anima cap de Risu Writes of himselfe which is very pertinent to this that when he had been a long time fasting the first bits he put in his mouth made him laugh which might come from hence his lungs empty of blood for want of nutriment was suddenly blowne up by the first juyce that passed from his Stomack to his heart or else the meer imagination of eating might convey it thither even before that of the meat might get thither The 128. Article Of the Originall of Teares AS Laughter is never caused by the greatest Joyes so Tears proceed not from an extream Sadnesse but an indifferent one and that accompanied with or followed by some resentment of Love or also of joy And to understand their originall well it must be noted that although abundance of vapours continually issue forth from all parts of our Body yet there is none from whence there come so much as from the eyes by reason of the greatnesse of the optick neerves and the multitude of little arteries through which they come and that as sweat is made of the vapours which issuing our of the other parts convert into water on the superficies of them so teares are made of vapours issuing from the eyes The 129. Article Of the manner how vapours turn into water NOw as I have written in the Meteors explaining after what manner the vapours of the aire convert into rain that is proceeds from their being lesse agitated or more abundant than ordinary so I beleeve that when those that issue from the Body are farre lesse agitated then usually although they are not so abundant yet they may convert to water which causeth the cold sweats that sometimes proceed of weaknesse when a man is sick And I beleeve that when they are more abundant provided they be not withall more agitated they also convert into water this causeth sweat when one useth exercise But then the eyes sweat not because while the Body is exerecised the greatest parts of the spirits going into the muscles which serve to move it there go lesse through the optick nerve to the eyes And it is but the same matter which compounds the blood in the veins or arteries and the spirits when it is in the brain nerves or muscles and vapours when it issues out in the likenesse of aire And lastly sweat tears when it thickens into water on the superficies of the Body or the eyes The 130. Article How that which hurts the eye excites it to weep ANd I can see but two causes that make the vapours issuing from the eyes to change into teares The first is when the figure of the pores through which they passe is changed by any accident whatsoever for that retarding the motion of these vapours and altering their order may cause them to convert into water So there needs only a straw in the eye to draw out some teares by reason that exciting paine in it it altars the disposition of the pores so that some becoming more narrow the small parts of the vapours passe lesse quickly through it and whereas formerly they issued out
equally distant the one from the other and so were separated They come to meet because the order of these pores is molested by which meanes they joyn together and so convertinto teares The 131. Article How one weepes for Sadnesse THe other cause is Sadnesse followed by Love or Joy or generally by any cause which makes the heart thrust much blood into the arteries Sadnesse is requisite thereunto because making the blood cold it contracts the pores of the eyes But because according as it contracts them it also decreases the quantity of vapours whereunto they should allow passage that is not yet sufficient to produce tears unlesse the quantity of vapours be at the same time augmented by some other cause And there is nothing that encreaseth it more then the blood sent from the heart in the Passion of Love We see also that they who are sad do not continually shed tears but onely by intervalls when they make any new reflexion on the objects they affect The 132. Article Of the groanes which accompany tears ANd then sometimes the lungs two are blown up all at once by the abundance of blood which gets into them and drives away the aire they contained which breaking forth through the gullet begets groanes and cryes which usually accompany tears And these cries are commonly more sharp than those which accompany Laughter though they be produced almost in the same manner the reason whereof is that the nerves which serve to enlarge or contract the organs of the voice to make it stronger or sharper being joyned to those which open the Orifices of the heart in Joy and contract them in Sadnesse cause these organs to be dilated or contracted at the same time The 133. Article Wherefore children and old men are aptest to Weep CHildren and old men are apter to Weep than they of a middle age but for severall reasons Old men Weep oft-times out of affection and for Joy for these two Passions joyned together send much blood to the heart and from thence many vapours to the eyes and the agitation of these vapours is so retarded by their natural coldnesse that they are apt to convert into tears although no sadnesse preceded But if some old men are apt to Weep for vexation too it is not so much the temper of their Body as that of their mind which disposeth them thereunto And this befals only those who are so weak that they suffer themselves to be absolutely overcome by small occasions of griefe fear or pitty the same happens to children who doe not Weep commonly for Joy but rather for sadnesse that unaccompanied with Love For they ever have blood enough to produce many vapours the motion of which being retarded by Sadnesse they convert into Tears The 134. Article Wherefore some children wax pale instead of Weeping YEt there are some who wax pale instead of Weepig when they are vexed which may denote an extraordinary judgement and courage in them that is when it proceeds from the consideration of the greatnesse of the evil they prepare themselves for a strong resistance as they doe who are elder But it is ordinarily a mark of an ill nature that is when it proceeds from their inclination to Hatred or Fear follow for they are Passions that diminish the matter of tears And on the contrary it is seen that those who are prone to Weep are inclined to Love and Pity The 135. Article Of Sighes THe cause of Sighes is very different from that of tears though it like them presupposes Sadnesse For whereas a man is excited to Weep when the lungs are ful of blood he is incited to sigh when they are almost empty and when some imagination of Hope or joy opens the Orifice of the venous artery which Sadnesse had contracted because then the smal remainder of blood in the lungs falling all together into the left side of the heart through this venous artery and driven on by a Desire to attain this Joy which at the same time agitates all the muscles of the Diaphragma and breast the air is suddenly blown through the mouth into the lungs to fill up the vacant place of the blood And this is called sighing The 136. Article From whence proceed the Passions which are peculiar to certain men FUrthermore that I may here in few words supply all that may be added hereunto concerning the several effectts or causes of the Passions I am content to repeatthe principle whereon all that I have written of them is grounded to wit that there is such a tye betwixt our Soul and Body that when we once have joyned any corporall Action with any thought one of them never presents it self to us without the other and that they are not alwayes the same Actions which are joyned to the same thoughts For this is sufficient to give a reason of all that any man can observe peculiar either in himself or others concerening this matter which hath not been here explained And for example it is easie to conceive that the strange Aversions of Some who cannot endure the smell of roses the sight of a Cat or the like come only from hence that when they were but newly alive they were displeased with some such like objects or else had a fellow-feeling of their mothers resentment who was so distasted when she was with child for it is ceertain there is an affinity between the motions of the mother and the child in her womb so that whatsoever is displeasing to one offends the other and the smell of Roses may have caused some great head-ach in the child when it was in the cradle or a Cat may have affrighted it and none took notice of it nor the Child so much as remembred it though the Idea of that Aversion he then had to Roses or a Cat remain imprinted in his brain to his lives end The 137th Article Of the use of the five precedent Passions as they relate to the body NOw the definitions of Love Hatred Desire Joy and Sadness are laid down and the corporall motions that cause them or accompany them treated of we have no further to doe but consider the use of them Concerning which it is to be observed that according to the institution of Nature they all relate to the body and are not given to the Soul but as joyned to it so that their naturall use is to incite the Soul to consent and contribute to the actions which may be useful to conserve the body or make it in some kind more perfect and in this sense Sadnesse and Joy are the two first that are set on work for the Soul is immediatly warned of those things that are hurtfull to the body by the feeling of pain whch first of all produces the Passion of Sadness in her then Hatred of that which causes this pain and in the third place the Desire to be rid of it as also the Soul is not immediatly advertised of things beneficiall to the body but
matter of requests a man hath no reason to be ashamed of any unlesse such as hee makes meerly for his own peculiar benefit to those from whom in justice hee ought not to exact any So far should hee be from being of those that tend to the publique utilitie and profit of them to whom they are made that on the contrary hee may extract glory from them especially when hee hath already bestowed things on them worth much more than hee would obtain of them and for speaking advantagiously of a mans selfe it is true it is a most ridiculous and blameable pride when hee speakes false things of himselfe and it is even a contemptible vanity too when he speaks only truths meerly out of ostentation and so that no good accrew to any one thereby but when these things so much concern other men to know it is most certain they cannot be concealed but out of a vicious humility which is a sort of baseness and weakness Now it highly concerns the publique to be advertised of what you have gathered in Sciences that thereby judging what you are able to discover in them further it may be incited to contribute its utmost to help you therein as in a work whose end is the generall good of mankind and the things you have already given the important truths you have laid down in your Books are worth incomparably much more than any thing you can ask for this purpose You may also say that your works speak enough and there is no need of adding promises and brags which being the merchandize of juggling Mountebanks seem not becomming a man of honour who only searcheth after truth but Mountebanks are not blame-worthy for talking high and well of themselves but for speaking untruths and things they cannot make good whereas those which I urge you should speak of your self are so true and so manifestly proved in your writings that the strictest rules of modesty give you leave to ascertain them and those of Charity oblige you thereunto because it concerns others to know it For although your writings say enough to those who examine them throughly and are able to understand them yet that is not sufficient for the designe I would advise you to because every one is not able to read them and they who manage the publique affaires can scarce have any leisure to doe it It may be some who have read them tell them of it but whatsoever a man say to them of it the little coile they know you keep and the too great modesty you have ever observed in speaking of your self make them not take any great notice thereof And indeed because it a usuall thing among them to bestow the highest tearms imaginable on the commendation of very indifferent men they are not apt to receive the immense praises bestowed on you by those who know you for exact truths whereas when any man speaks of himself extraordinarily they hearken to him with more attention especially if hee be a man of good birth and they know him to bee neither by nature nor his rank likely to act the Mountebank and because hee would become ridiculous if he should use hyperbolies on such an occasion his words are taken in their true sence and they who will not believe them are incited at least by their curiosity or jealousie to examine the truth of them wherefore it being most certain and the publique being much concerned in knowing that no man in the world but your selfe at least whose writings wee have ever discovered the true principles and understood the first causes of whatever is produced in nature and that having already given an account by these Principles of all those things which are most visible and frequently observed in the world you need only some particular observations to find out in like manner the reasons of whatsoever may be usefull to man in this life and so give us a compleat knowledge of the nature of all mineralls the vertues of all Plants the properties of animals and generally all that may be beneficiall to Physick or other arts And lastly that these particular observations not being possible to bee all made in a small time without great expence all people of the earth ought emulously to contribute thereunto as to the most important thing in the world wherein they have all an equall interest This being I say most certain to bee sufficiently proved by your works already printed you should talk so lowd of it publish it with so much care and put it so punctually in all the Title-pages of your Books that none hereafter might pretend ignorance So at least you would immediately beget a longing in many to examine what the matter is so that the further they enquired into it and the more diligently they read your Books they would the more clearly understand you not unjustly boasted And I would wish you chiefly to clear three things to the world First that there are a numerous company of things to be found out in Physicks that may bee extreamly profitable for life Secondly that there is great reason to expect the finding them out from you And thirdly that the more conveniences you had to make experiments the more of them you could find out It is necessary to be informed of the first because most men think there can nothing be found out in the Sciences better then what hath been found by the Ancients and some conceive not so much as what the meaning of Physicks is or what they are good for Now it is easie to prove that the too great reverence born to antiquity is an errour extreamly prejudicial to the advancement of Sciences For it is seen that the savage people of America and many others who inhabite places lesse remote have many lesse conveniences of life then wee and yet their originall is as ancient as ours so that they have as much reason as wee to say that they are satisfied with the wisdome of their fathers and that they believe no man can teach them better than what hath been known and practized among them from all Antiquity And this opinion is so prejudiciall that till it be rejected it is impossible any new learning can be acquired besides experience shewes that the people whose mind it is deepest rooted in are they who are yet most ignorant and least civilized and because it is frequent enough yet amongst us that may be one reason to prove that wee are farre from knowing all wee are capable of Which may be proved by many exceeding prositable inventions as the use of the Compasse the Art of Printing Perspective glasses and the like which were not found out till these latter ages although now they seem very easie to those that know them But there is nothing wherein our necessity of acquiring new knowledge is more apparent than in Physick For although no man doubts that God hath furnished this earth with all things necessary for man to conserve him therein
spirits reflected from the image so formed on the kernell go from thence to fall part into the nerves which serve to turn the back and stirre the legs to run away and part into those which as is spoken of before let out or draw upon together the orifices of the heart or which else so agitate the rest of the parts from whence the blood is sent that this blood not being rarified there in the usuall manner sends spirits to the braine that are fitting to maintain and confirm the passion of fear that is such as are proper to hold open or open again the pores of the brain that convey them into the very same nerves for the meere entry of these spirits into these pores excites in this kernell a particular motion instituted by nature to make the soul feel that passion and because these pores relate principally to the little nerves that serve to lock up or open wide the orifices of the heart this makes the soul feel it as if it were chiefly in the heart The 37th Article How it appears they are all caused by some motion of the spirits ANd because the like happens in all the other Passions to wit that they are principally caused by the spirits contained in the cavities of the brain seeing they direct their course towards the nerves which serve to enlarge or straiten the orifices of the heart either to thrust the blood in the other parts differently to it or whatsoever other way it be to feed the self same Passion it may be clearly understood by this wherefore I formerly inserted in my definition that they are caused by some peculiar motion of the Spirits The 38th Article An example of the motions of the Body that accompany the Passions and depend not of the Soul MOreover as the course which these spirits take towards the nerves of the heart is sufficient to give a motion to the kernell whereby fear is put into the soul even so by the meere going of the spirits at that time into those nerves which serve to stirre the legges to run away they cause another motion in the same kernell by meanes whereof the soul feels and perceives this flight which may in this manner be excited in the body by the meere disposition of the organs the soul not at all contributing to it The 39th Article How the same cause may excite divers Passions in divers men THe same impression that the presence of one formidable object workes upon the kernel and which causeth fear in some men may in others rouze up courage and boldnesse the reason whereof is that all braines are not alike disposed for the same motion of the Kernell which in some excites feare in others causeth the spirits to enter into the pores of the brain which convey them part into the nerves which serve to use the hands for defence and partly into those which agitate and drive the blood towards the heart in that manner as is requisite to produce spirits proper to continue this defence and retaine a will to it The 40th Article What the principall effect of the Passions is FOr it must be observed that the principall effect of all the Passions in men is they incite and dispose their Souls to will the things for which they prepare their Bodies so that the resentment of fear incites him to be willing to fly that of boldnesse to be willing to fight and so of the rest The 41th Article What is the power of the Soul in respect of the Body BUt the will is so free by nature that it can never be constrained and of two sorts of thoughts which I have distinguished in the Soul whereof some are her Actions to wit her Wils others her Passions taking that word in its generall signification which comprehends all sorts of apprehensions the first are absolutely in her owne power and cannot but indirectly be changed by the body as on the contrary the last depend absolutely upon the Actions which produce them and they cannot unlesse indirectly be changed by the Soul except then when her selfe is the cause of them And all the Action of the Soul consists in this that she meerely by willing any thing can make the little kernell whereunto she is strictly joyned move in the manner requisite to produce the effect relating to this Will The 42th Article How the things one would remember are found in the memory SO when the Soul would remember any thing this Will is the cause that the kernell nodding successively every way drives the spirits towards severall places of the braine untill they excounter that where the traces which were left there of the object one would remember are For these traces are nothing else but the pores of the braine through which the spirits formerly took their course by reason of the presence of that object have thereby accquired a greater facility to be open in the same manner again than the rest can have by the spirits that come to them so that these spirits meeting these pores enter into them easier than the others whereby they excite a peculiar motion in the kernell which represents the same object to the Soul and makes it know that is it she would remember The 43th Article How the Soul can imagine be attentive and move the Body SO when one would imagin any thing one hath never seen this Will hath the power to make the kernell move in the manner requisite to drive the spirits towards the pores of the braine by the opening of which this thing may be represented So when one would fix his attention some pretty while to consider or ruminate on one object this Will holds the kernell still at that time leaning ever to one side So in fine when one would walk or move his body any way this Will causes the kernell to drive the spirits towards the muscles which serve to that purpose The 44th Article That every Will is naturally joyned to some motion of the kernell but that by industry or habit itmay be annexed to another NOtwithstanding it is not alwayes the Will to excite in us any motion or other effect that can cause us to excite it but that changes according as nature or habit have differently joyned each motion of the kernell to each thought as for example if one would dispose his eyes to look on an object farr distant this Will causes the ball of them to dilate themselves and if one would prompt them to behold an object very neer this Will contracts them but if one thinks onely to dilate the ball he had as good doe nothing that dilates it not at all because nature hath not joyned the motion of the kernell which serves to drive the spirits to the optick nerve in that manner as is requisite to dilate or contract the ball of the eye with the will of dilating or contracting it but with the will of looking on objects remote or at hand and then when we
I also adde it is of that good which the impressions of the brain represent to her as her own that I may not confound this Joy which is a Passion with that Joy purely intellectuall which comes into the Soul by the sole action of the Soul and which may be called a pleasing emotion in her excited by her selfe wherein consists her enjoyment of good which her understanding represents to her as her own it is true while the Soul is joyned to the body this intellectuall Joy can hardly be rid of the company of that which is a Passion for as soon as ever our understanding perceives that we possesse any good although this good may be so farre different from all that belongs to the body that it be not imaginable yet will not the Imagination forbear to make immediatly some impression in the brain whereupon ensue the motion of the spirits which excite the Passion of Joy The 92 Article The Definition of Sadnesse SAdnesse is a displeasant languishing wherein consists the discommodity the Soul receives from evill or defect which the impressions of the brain represent unto her as belonging to her and there is also an intellectuall Sadnesse which is not the Passion but which wants but little of being accompanied by it The 93 Article What are the causes of these two Passions NOW when the intellectuall Joy or Sadnesse so excites that which is a Passion their cause is evident enough and one may see by their defintions that Joy comes from the opinion a man hath that he possesses some good and Sadnesse from the opinion of some evill or defect but it oft falls out that a man is Sad or joyfull and yet he cannot distinctly observe the good or evill which are the causes of it to wit when this good or this evill make their impressions in the brain without the intercourse of the Soul sometimes because they belong only to the body and sometimes too although they belong to the Soul because shee considers them not as good or evill but under some other notion the impression whereof is joyned in the brain with that of good and evill The 94th Article How the Passions are excited by Goods and evills which only respect the budy and wherein consists tick ling and pain SO when a man is in sound health and the weather is fairer then ordinary hee feels a lightsomnesse in himselfe which proceeds not from any function of the understanding but only from the impressions which the motion of the spirits makes in the brains and he feels himselfe sad likewise when his body is indisposed although he know not that it is Thus the tickling of the senses is so closely followed by Joy and pain by sadness that most men cannot distinguish them yet they differ so farre that a man may somtimes suffer pains with Joy and receive ticklings that displease but the cause why Joy commonly follows tickling is because all that is called tickling or a pleasing touch consists in this that the objects of the senses excite some morions in the nerves which would be apt to hurt them if they had not strength enough to resist it or the body were not well disposed which makes an impression in the brain which being instituted by nature to signifie this good disposition and this strength represents it to the Soul as a good belonging to her seeing she is united to the Body and so excites Joy in her the cause is almost the same why a man naturally takes delight to feel himself moved to all sorts of Passions yea even Sadness \ and Hatred when these Passions are caused only by strange adventures which he sees personated on a stage or by such like occasions which not being capable to trouble us any way seem to tickle the Soul by touching it And the reason why pain usually produces Sadness is because that feeling which is called pain proceeds alwayes from some action so violent that it offends the nerves so that being instituted by nature to signifie to the Soul the dammage the body receives by this action and its weaknesse-in not being able to resist it it represents each of them to him as evils alwayes displeasing unlesse then when they cause some good things which she esteems of more than them The 95th Article How they may also be excited by goods andevils which the Soul observes not though they belong to her as the delight a man takes to run into a danger or remember an evil past SO the delight which oft-times young men take to undertake difficult things and expose themselves to great perills though they do not so much as look for any profit or honour thereby comes from hence the conceit they have that they undertake a difficult thing makes an impression in the brain which being joyned to that which they may make if they thought it a good thing to be couragious fortunate active or strong enough to dare to hazzard so farre is the reason that they take delight in it and the content which old men take when they remember the miseries they suffered proceeds from hence they imagine to themselves it is a good thing that they could subsist in spight of them The 96th Article What are the motions of the blood and spirits that cause the five preceding Passions THe five Passions which I have here begun to explain are so joyned or opposed to one another that it is easier to consider them all together then to treat distinctly of each as I handled Admiration and their cause is not like that in the braine onely but also in the Heart Spleen Liver and all other parts of the body in as much as they serve to the production of the blood and afterwards of the Spirits For although all the veins convey the blood they contain into the heart yet it sometimes falls out that the blood of some of them is driven with a stronger force than the rest and it happens also that the overtures through which it enters into he heart or those through which it goes out are more dilated or contracted one time than another The 97th Article The principall experiments conducing to the knowledge of these motions in Love NOW considering the sundry alterations that experience lets us see in our bodies while our Soul is agitated with divers Passions I observe in Love when it is alone that is when it is not accompanied with any extream Ioy desire or Sadnes that the beating of the pulse is even much greater and stronger than ordinary that a man feels a gentle heart in his breast and quick digestion ofmeat so that this Passion is profitable for the health The 98 Article In Hatred ON the contrary I observe in Hatred that the pulse is uneven weaker and oftentimes faster that a man feels colds intermingled with I know not what sharp and pricking heat in the breast that the stomack ceases to do its office is enclined to vomit and reject the meats he hath
interest on such an occasion they are exquisitely courteous affable and officious to every one Withall they are absolutely masters of their Passions especially of their Desires Jealousie and Envie because there is nothing the acquisition whereof depends not on them whose worth they suppose can countervaile a hearty Desire of them and of Hatred against men because they esteem them all and of Feare because the confidence of their own verture secures them and lastly of Wrath because little valuing all things without themselves they never give their enemies so much advantage as to acknowledge that they are angry with them The 157th Article Of Pride ALL such as have a good conceit of themselves for any thing else whatsoever have not a reall Generosity but only Pride which is alwayes very vitious though it be so much the more as the cause for which a man esteems himselfe is more unjust and the most unjust of all is when he is proud for no reason that is though no man can see for all this any desert in him for which he should be prized but only because worth is trampled on and he imagines Renown is nothing but meere usurpation he believes that they who attribute most to themselves have most This vice is so unreasonable and absurd that I should scarce believe there were any such men who gave themselves up thereunto if no body had ever been praised unjustly but flattery is so common every where that there is no man so deficient but hee oft sees himselfe esteemed for things which merit not any praise yea that even deserve blame which gives occasion to the more ignorant and stupid to fall into this sort of Pride The 158 Article That the effects thereof are contrary to those of Generosity BUt whatsoever be the cause for which a man esteems himself if it be ought else but the Will he perceives in himselfe alwayes to use well his free Disposition from whence I said Generosity came it ever produces a Pride exceeding blame-worthy and so different from this true Generosity that the effects whereof are absolutely contrary For all other goods as wit beauty riches honours c. Using to be the more esteemed for being found in fewer persons and being for the most part of such a nature that they cannot be communicated to many therefore proud men endeavour to abase all other men and being slaves to their desires their Souls are incessantly agitated with Hatred Envy Jealousie or Wrath. The 159 Article Of Dejection FOr Dejection or vitious Humility it consists chiefely in this that a man perceives himselfe weak or little resolute and as if he had not the absolute use of his free disposition he cannot refraine from doing things whereof he knowes not whether he shall repent or no afterwards then besides that he beleeves he cannot subsist of himselfe nor forgoe many things whose acquisition depends from without him So it is directly opposite to Generosity and it oft befalls that men of a meane spirit are most anogant and proud just as the most generous are most modest and humble But whereas those of a generous spirit alter not their nature by any prosperity or adversity that befalls them those who are weake and abject are onely guided by fortune and prosperity doth not puffe up so high but adversity brings them down as low Yea it is often seen that they abase themselves shamefully to such as they expect profit or feare evill from and at the same time lift themselves up insolently over those from whom they neither hope nor fear any-thing The 160th Article What the motions of the spirits in these Passions is MOreover it is easie to understand that Pride and dejection are not onely vices but Passions because their emotion is very palpable exteriourly in those who are suddenly puffed up or brought down by any new occasion But it may be doubted whether Generosity and Humility which are vortues may also be Passions because their motions appeare lesse and it seemes vertue doth not so much Symbolize with Passion as vice doth Yet I see no neason why the same motion of the spirits which serves to fortifie a thought when it hath an ill ground should not also fortifie it when it hath a just one And because Pride and Generositie consist onely in the good opinion a man hath of himselfe and differ onely herein that the opinion in one is unjust in the other just me thinkes they may be attributed to one and the same Passion which is excited by a motion compounded of Admiration Joy and Love as well that a man beares to himselfe as to the thing for which he doth esteeme himselfe As on the contrary the motion that excites Humility whether vertuous or vitious is composed of Admiration Sadnesse and self Love mixed with Hatred of those defects which cause one to be contemned And all the difference that I observe in these motions is that that of Admiration hath two properties the first that the surprize makes it strong from the very beginning the other that it is equall in its continuance That is the spirits continue moving at the same rate in the braine Of which properties the first is found oftner in Pride and Dejection then in Generositie or vertuous Humility and on the other side the last is more observed in these than in the others The reason whereof is that vice proceeds commonly from ignorance so that they who least understand themselves are aptest to grow more proud or become more abject than they ought to bee because every new thing that befalls them surprizeth them and causeth them that attributing it to themselves they admire and esteeme or contemne themselves as they judge that which is befallen them advantagious to them or not But because as soon as one thing hath elated them comes another that dejects them the motion of their Passion is various Contrarily there is nothing in Generositie incompatible with vertuous Humility nor any thing extraneous that can alter it wherefore the motions thereof are firme constant and ever like themselves But they proceed not so much from surprizall because they who in this manner esteem themselves do very well understand the reasons why they so esteem themselves Yet it may be said that these causes are so wonderfull to wit the power of their free Disposition which makes them prize them-themselves and the infirmities of the subject in which this power is which makes them not to vallue themselves too high that as often as they are presented new they still cause new Admiration The 161. Article How Generosity may be acquired ANd it is to be noted that what commonly are called vertues are habits in the Soul which dispose it to certain thoughts so that they are different from these thoughts but they may produce them and reciprocally be produced by them It is also to be noted that these thoughts may be produced onely by the Soul but it oft befalls that some motion of the
it in one that is worthy of it And when this comes unexpectedly the surprize of Admiration causeth him to breake out into laughter according to what hath formerly been said of the nature of Laughter But this evill must be a small one for if it be great it cannot be thought that he who hath it is worthy of it unlesse one be of a very ill nature or bear him a great deal of Hatred The 179 Article Why the most defective men are commonly the greatest Deriders ANd it is seen that they who have apparent defects for example who are lame one-eyed crook backed or have received some affront publickly are peculiarly enclined to derision For desiring to see all other men asmuch disgraced as themselves they rejoyce at the ills that befall them and think them worthy of it The 180 Article Of the use of Jeasting AS for modest Jeasting which wholsomely reprehends vices by making them appeare ridiculous so a man laugh not at them himself nor shew any hatred against persons it is not a Passion but a becoming quality in a man that makes the livelinesse of his disposition appeare and the tranquillity of his Soul which are markes of Vertue and oftimes the nimblenesse of his wit too in that he knowes how to set a handsome glosse on things he jeasts at The 181 Article Of the use of Laughter in Jeasting ANd it is not unhandsome to laugh at the hearing of another mans jeasts nay perchance they may be such that it were doltishness not to laugh at them But when a man jeasts himselfe it is more seemly to abstaine from it that he may not seeme to be surprized by the things he speakes nor admire the dexterity of their invention and that causeth those who hear them to be surprized so much the more The 182 Article Of Envy THat which commonly is called Envy is a vice that consists in a perversnesse of nature which causeth certaine men to fret at the good that they see befalls other men But I here use this word to signifie a Passion which is not alwayes vicious Envy then as it is a Passion is a sort of Sadnesse mixed with Hatred which comes from seeing good betide those we thinke unworthy of it Which cannot be thought with reason but of the goods of fortune For as for those of the Soul yea and the Body too seeing a man hath them by birth it is to be sufficiently worthy of them that he received them from God before he was capable to commit any evill The 183. Article How it may be just or unjust BUt when fortune sends goods to any one whereof he is truly unworthy and Envy is not excited in us but because naturally loving justice we are vext that it is not observed in the distribution of those goods it is a zeal that may be excusable especially when the good a man envyes others is of such a nature that it may turn to an evill in their hands as if it be some command or office in the exercising whereof they may misdemean themselves Yea even when he desires that good for himselfe and cannot get it because others lesse worthy possesse It. This makes this passion become the more violent and yet it may be excusible provided the Hatred in it relate only to the ill distribution of the thing envied and not to the persons that possesse or distribute it But there are few who are so just and generous as to bear no Hatred against those that prevent them in the acquisition of a good that is not communicable to many and that they desired it for themselves though they who acquired it are as much or more worthy of it And what is most usually envied is Glory For although that of others doth not hinder us from aspiring thereunto yet it makes the accesse to it more difficult and enhaunceth the price The 184 Article From whence it comes that envious men have sallow complexions BEsides there is no vice so banefull to the felicity of man as Envy For besides that those who are tainted with it afflict themselves they also to the utmost of their power trouble the delight of others And they have commonly sallow complexions that is a pale mingled with yellow and black and like blood in a bruise Whence Envy is called in Latine Livor which agrees very well with what hath been said here before of the motions of the blood in Sadnesse and hatred for this causeth the syellow choler comming from the lower part of the Liver and the black comming from the Spleen to spread from the heart through the Arteries into all the veines and that causeth the blood of the veines to have lesse heat and flow more slowly than ordinarily which is sufficient to make the complexion livid But because choler as well yellow as black may be also sent into the veines by many other causes and Envy may not drive enough into them to alter the colour of the complexion unlesse it be exceeding great and of long continuance it ought snot to be thought that all those of this complexion are thereunto enclined The 185 Article Of Pitty PItty is a sort of Sadness mingled with Love or good will towards those whom we see suffer any evill whereof we esteem them unworthy so it is contrary to Envy because of it object and Derision because it considers them in another manner The 186 Article Who are most Pittifull THose who feel themselves very weak and subject to the adversities of Fortune seem to be more enclined to this Passion than any else because they fancy the evill of another as possible to befall them and so they are moved to pitty rather out of the love they bear themselves than that they bear to others The 187 Article How the most generous men are sensible of this Passion BUt neverthelesse they who are most generous and have the greatest spirits so that they feare not any evill to themselves and hold themselves above the power of fortune are not exempted from Compassion when they see the infirmity of other men and hear their complaints for it is a part of Generosity to bear good will to every man but the Sadness of this Pitty is not bitter and like that which tragicall actions personated on the stage cause is more in the exteriours and the senses than the interiours of the Soul which in the mean while is satisfied to think she hath done her duty in that she hath a fellow feeling with the afflicted and there is this difference in it that whereas the vulgar pitty those who comlain because they think the ills they suffer are very grievous the principall object of great mens Pitty is the weaknesse of those that they see complain because they esteem not any accident that may befall to be so great an evill as is the Baseness of those who cannot suffer constantly and though they hate the vices yet they hate not those they see subject to them they only