and clammy humour continued some whole years without eating or drinking Now as this temper of the Silk-worm discovers to us the cause why it can live so long without meat So this entire abstinence in which it passes a great part of its life may be a new confirmation to us that it hath the same temper which we attributed to it at first For though for a certain season it eats abundantly enough of which there may be easily some other particular reason yet considering its whole life in gross it must pass for one of the soberest creatures These are then in my opinion the causes of whatsoever appears marvelous in the Silk-worm If any one hath a mind to think that there are more strange and more occult ones it is not my intent that this discourse should hinder him But yet I believe that as we oftentimes do not see many things because they are too far distant from the eyes of our mind so at other times we do not see them because they are too near and that we search at the other end of the world for that which lyes before our noses and that the great eagerness that our understanding uses to arrive at their causes makes it go much beyond them PROB. 40. Why are good men often-times subject to a light promptitude of Choler DO they not only seem to be so because they are more free and open and so know not how to dissemble the smallest anger and least discontentments that arise in them but let them presently appear in their eyes and words whereas those that are less free do conceal them what they can possibly Or else is it that those that have honest and good minds are angry for many things that regard not their particular interests as for example for the glory of God and for any thing that respects Honesty and Piety so that as these are general things which come every moment into our discourse ordinary conversation offers them more often occasion to speak with heat and emotion and in some sort to be provoked whereas a brutish man to whom all things are indifferent except his own proper interest can hear without any disturbance all kind of discourse which he is not the subject of be they never so strange which makes him often appear more sweet and gentle because his interests being some particular things and little known to others they scarce ever come to be the matter of a common discourse Or else may we not give light to this Problem by that which Aristotle saith that Choler is enclined to obey Reason but that it obeyes it too soon and stayes not until the first appearance of Reason hath given place to another more clear and solid And may it not be said that if so it must needs be that good minds must naturally have some seeds of a light promptitude to Choler because the inclination readily to obey Reason is without doubt a good disposition of mind and a token of excellence though by accident-there may arise from it vitious actions and other inconveniencies Or else may we not add further that one shall have less reason to wonder that Good men have many times such a disposition if it be considered that there are some kinds of Anger so handsom that one may maintain they mark out more of Goodness Tenderness and Love of good than even motions of Pitty or Good-will because in the motions of Affection and Pitty the soul doth meerly desire to do good but those of a generous and laudable Anger are the motions of a soul that doth so much love good and hate evil that it troubles it self at it even to fury and becomes foolish for a time It may indeed be further alledged in favour of this Paradox that the tenderness of nature of any creature appears not so much for example when it takes care to give food to its little ones as when full of anger and as it were in a fury it layes on load with its wings or horns or other arms that Nature hath given it on those that would come too near them Or else in conclusion we may say that there are certain emotions of choler in which a man hath no intentions to do any hurt to those of whom he complains with sharp words but rather to incite them to produce their justifications to be able to find them innocent or less culpable and to continue by this means to love them so that as they do not proceed out of malice but tenderness there is no cause to wonder that good men are subject thereunto and that they shew a good nature like in this to Lightnings that appear in Summer evenings and are oftentimes signs of fair weather whereas they should seem rather to presage foul PROB. 41. Whence comes it that they say The Love of Grand-fathers to their Grand-children is greater then that of their Fathers IS it not because a man attains through longer cares to have a Grand-child then to have a Son and that alwayes that which we acquire through more care is more dear to us Or else is not a Grand-child dearer because it hath been a long time desired Or else do we not look upon it as a more rare favour and such as heaven eommunicates only to few persons which makes us love it the more because generally all rare things have a particular allurement for our minds Or else is not a Grand-child more beloved of his Grand-father then of his Father because that his Grand-father as being more old and nigher his death doth for this reason desire the more to live again in another Or else is it because the love we bear to those that proceed from us arising from a desire to extend our being successively to many generations he that by this natural course is more removed shews to us this design more advanced and so doth more touch our inclinations Or else is it because the Father loves his Son only for his own sake but the Grand-father loves him for his own sake and for his Sons sake too and sees in him the image of himself and of him whom he hath begotten and that these two divers considerations do produce in him two divers tendernesses very powerful Indeed this reason is very likely for to go about to object that the Father hath likewise two divers causes of loving his Son because he may love him for the Grand-fathers sake this makes nothing to the purpose since that as every one knows the affection which blood inspires hath much less force in ascending than in descending But if still another reason must be given of this Problem one may also say that perhaps the affection of Grand-fathers doth only seem to be greater then that of Fathers because the Son being in a more particular manner the very blood and substance of the Father the Father for this reason thinks that to love him very much is to love himself very much and that therefore he
greatness of it makes us weep even in the midst of our joy through a kind of pitty we have of our selves Or else shall I take it thus that in the sudden motions of a great joy the dilatation of the spirits of the heart is so great that it is weakned thereby and that our soul finding its own weakness by this means is apt to be wounded by every reflexion that hath never so little of trouble in it Or lastly do not these tears of joy proceed from hence that learning all on a sudden that we are delivered from some great evil under which we have lain a long time the news cannot presently gain an entire belief in us and that as a body that is frozen doth not lose its coldness at that very instant it is brought to the fire by the same reason our soul cannot lose that impression of its passed sadness at the very same instant that the good it was deprived of becomes present to it See then the causes which it seems may be given of that marvellous state of man wherein he weeps although he have a serene spirit by an accident which we see sometimes happen in the air when it rains and shines both at once There are are also Tears which abundant laughter brings into our eyes but they are not of the same species with those I spake of but now and I conceive they proceed only from that great and violent agitation which laughter causes within us for there is no passion which shakes a man all over with greater violence and it may very well be that a motion so violent forces out of the eyes some humidity as we see that the violent agitation of a vessel wherein there is some liquor makes some drops of it sparkle out and as the wind that shakes the trees after a rain makes those drops which lay there fall to the ground PROB. 6. Whence comes it that many very wicked men are oftentimes the best friends IT is found by experience that very bad men are often most zealous friends to them that they bear an affection to nay sometimes more then the best of men To enquire then the causes of this effect is it not that there is a kind of amity which is not begotten by reason but by a means more low namely long acquaintance and familiarity so that souls of the lowest rank and that have the least of reason are not incapable of it but on the contrary are in some sort more capable than others because not governing themselves by judgement they do only follow the impressions of other things amongst which that which length of time and use makes is none of the least Or else is it not because good men are friends only ad aras that is as far as will stand with Religion and wicked men beyond So that if they must only prostitute their consciences to their friends and tread underfoot all things sacred and despoile themselves of the fairest ornaments the soul can be adorned with they do it very willingly Or else is it not that as dogs are faithful to us and succour us against those that set upon us partly indeed out of love but partly also because it is their disposition to be easily provoked so wicked men help us with great ardour against our enemies and combat them with great animosity not only for the affection they bear us but partly also for that by reason of their natural curstness and venome of which they are full they are more apt to be inflamed with a violent choler Or else is it because it is very natural for us to love with violence something without us wicked men that love neither God nor Justice nor common goodness are constrained by the force of nature to love infinitely some particular persons Or else is it that cultivating only that part of their duty which consists only in friendship and keeping that only as a remainder of the beauty of the soul which hinders them from altogether resembling savage beasts they have the more love for that as a mother hath the more love for her son if he be her only one Or lastly is it not that the nature of things is such that generally in every extream there is some light mixture of the contrary extream For instance we see by experience that in cold Countries there are sometimes in summer more violent heats then those of the hot Countries and on the contrary the subtilty of the air of the hot Countries is the reason that sometimes the cold there is more penetrating than that of the cold Countries The Germans that pass for the least subtle people of Europe have more of subtilty than any of the rest in all sort of mechanick inventions The most ingenious people are commonly the most awkward and unapt in some slight things Melancholy persons are subject to more violent joyes then those that are sanguine covetous people according to the vulgar opinion are sometimes carried out to a greater excess of prodigality then prodigals Men extraordinary valiant do often tremble more then others at the sight of a great danger Women whose visage is more properly then that of men the seat of Beauty are also more susceptible then men of an extream and horrid ugliness Lastly to return to the mixture of goodness and wickedness one of the cruellest Emperours of Rome could not as the Historian saith be present at the acting of a Tragedy but those faigned miseries which he there heard raised a compassion in him which made him weep We read as much of another Tyrant of Greece of the same nature and when a man is arrived at the highest degree of wickedness the last crime he commits is to be his own murderer and voluntarily to throw himself into everlasting pains by the violence of the remorse of his conscience In which there seems to be a certain air and shaddow of magnanimity and heroick goodness PROB. 7. What is the reason that the Wind which comes in at a window or a little hole is more dangerous than that which we feel abroad in the open field UPon this Problem some may possibly think that as the water meeting with a very narrow channel becomes more rapid so the wind that comes in at a door or a window or a small chink for the same reason redoubles its violence Which is very true but nothing to the purpose for the clearing the difficulty of this Question because it is certain that a very little wind gliding in at a cranny is more apt to hurt one then another wind much more violent when one is in the open field This cause then being thus rejected is it not rather because the wind which we suffer in the open field doth presently close the pores through its coldness and so arms us against it self whereas the wind that comes into the house by some little hole finds us hot all the time and consequently doth as long as it continues blowing
other men and perhaps they seem so because that some relicks of friendship which they cannot chase out of their mind rendring the injuries which they mutually do one another more grievous makes them complain thereof with words fuller of passion and talk of it uncessantly Indeed it is questionless much more grievous to be wronged by him that one loves then by him that one hates because this kind of wrong raises as it were a Civil war in our passions exciting one part of our heart against the other and hinders us not only from obtaining what we desire but also from desiring it compleatly and without repugnance of a piece of our selves and Lovers may be good testimonies of this truth for it is certain as there are many waters that do not offend the sound parts of our bodies but yet when they touch a sore place cause there incredible pain So this sweet wounding of their heart makes them most sensible of injuries which without that would not vex nor move them at all Or lastly those that loved very dearly do combate one another with the cruellest acts of enmity to learn as I may so say to hate one another and to confirm themselves in that bitterness and violence into which they are faln because they find that all sorts of habits are fortified by exercise and by the acts which they produce PROB. 11. Why hath extream affliction no tears DOth it not proceed from hence for that the soul in an extream affliction hath no lively apprehensions such as those must be that raise tears but falls into a kind of stupidity and insensibleness Or is it not because when we are extreamly afflicted Nature which finds that the greatness of our Affliction would make us shed too many tears and that so great an evacuation might excessively weaken instead of comforting us keeps them back altogether and resists the motion of our disordered minds which were it not for that would abuse this soveraign remedy and employ it to our own ruine Or else may we not upon this subject say that he that is mightily afflicted cannot weep as he would do because generally every excessive passion hinders it self from arriving at its end and becomes an obstacle to its self and that for this reason those that are oppressed with too much Fear desiring to flie find that it hath nailed their feet to the ground and that their hand shakes that are too much in Choler and that they cannot express but by inconsequent and disjoynted words the greatness of their passion no more then those whom a too great Love possesses or those who are in a too great excess of Joy Certainly it seems that this is not void of likelihood And if it be asked Why every excessive passion fails of arriving at its end it may be answered that this happens to it because it is a malady of the soul and a defect and that the qualities proper to a malady are impotence weakness and ill success Or else every inordinate passion is an obstacle to its self and is impotent because it desires things vast and infinite and beyond all possibility which hinders our soul from executing those that are real and possible For we see evidently that he which is moved with a very great Choler cannot express at least in common and ordinary words his resentment and the indignity which raised it because he seeks the most strong and desires to use a more eager expression then the language of man is capable of It is plain also that Lovers do many times hack and hammer instead of speaking for the same reason namely because they would invent terms that should be as it were all flame and have more force and energie then they can have and that a like desire is the cause also why Joy which is so talkative becomes mute in being increased too much or brings forth only sighs and inarticulate and confused sounds And as for excessive Fear though this be a passion to which one cannot so easily apply this reason yet one may say possibly that he which is too lively possest by the image of a terrible and present danger hinders himself that in this perturbation and trouble wherein he is he desires not simply to run but to use some means more prompt and efficacious then natural and ordinary ones by which a man runs away and that his imagination thus overslipping whatsoever is real and possible as that of others which we spake of but now does not by reason hereof put in practice those faculties that move the parts of his body for it is evident that it is the operation of the Fancy that must put in practice those faculties But however it be it is very likely that Anger Joy and Love fail of expressing themselves well for this reason and if it be so we may with likelihood say that even so he which is very much afflicted cannot weep because that his soul disdaining the common characters of sadness searches in that ardour wherein it is so great ones that they are impossible Or else we may say that it doth not search for such but as that antient Painter that chose rather to cover with a veil the face of Agamemnon then venture to represent his grief it also chuseth rather to refrain tears and words and not to paint forth the greatness of its affliction then to be forced to paint it by the same things which the smallest of afflictions make use of If any one be not satisfied with all these reasons it may yet possibly be added that as we said before a moderate compressing of the inward parts may squeeze forth the humidity of tears and a too violent compression of the same parts may on the contrary keep them in by closing up the passages by which they use to come to the eyes PROB. 12. What is the reason some things are gotten best by neglecting them WE said in the fore-going Problem that a Passion being wrought to a very high pitch is an obstacle to its self and hinders us from arriving at what we aim at Now we will endeavour to give a reason of a difficulty like to that but yet greater viz. Why there are many things which are best acquired by neglecting them and looking another way Thus for example the Philosophers have observed to us that Glory is of such a nature that the best means to get it is to run away from it and not to desire it and that she favours those most that do least regard her Pleasure if we consider it well is like to it in this for the soul being softened through the love of pleasure and rest becomes so sensible of incommodities and griefs so vulnerable by all sorts of crosses and so feeble that the least thing wounds it mortally and makes it despair and even the smallest misfortunes become great unto it On the contrary the contempt of pleasure gives it presently a more strong constitution by which it
then he is and having something of generous in him he labours to refute by his actions this ill opinion which we have of him and desires to shew unto us that we were in an errour when we had such a conceit of him PROB. 20. Whence comes it that Beasts do naturally know how to swim and that Man hath need to learn THey answer commonly that Man doth not naturally know how to swim as Beasts do because that the first time he tryes to do it he is seized with a Fear which hinders him from making use of his legs and arms freely But I do not approve this answer for beasts have at least as much fear as man the first time one casts them into the water and I have seen some of them that would tremble for fear a long time after and remain astonisht and for all that ceased noâ— to swim very well Besides if it were only Fear that hindred man from knowing how to swim this would be nothing to them that are very bold and cast themselves without fear into great dangers and a man in this case would know at least how to swim in the water of a Bath in the midst of a company of his friends since that then he would have nothing to fear Or else he would know how to swim in a very narrow brook where the bottom may be seen all the way and can leave him no considerable fear Since therefore this answer doth not suffice and leaves the difficulty wholly untoucht I conceive rather that a man doth not naturally know how to swim because the first time he tries he cannot choose but mannage his legs and arms by Reason and that this hinders him from doing it right because it is an action that must be done by the imagination only after a brutish and blind manner We see clearly by experience that there are many things which we do worst when we would do them by Reason Besides I believe it is naught for a man the first time he tries to swim to be prepossest with this belief that he doth not know how to swim whereas beasts are exempt from all this preoccupation for to believe infallibly that one doth not know how to do any thing is a disposition to do it ill and to come scurvily off But besides these two reasons in my opinion it is very remarkable that when beasts swim they are in their natural posture because they have not an erect stature and do move according as they have an inclination to move naturally namely with all their feet at once and that on the contrary man lying at his length upon the water to swim is not in the posture in which he should naturally be and so hath the greater pains to move himself in this manner as even upon the earth it would be painful to him to march upon all four Or else I may say upon this subject that the difficulty is not so much to know why creatures that are much more light than man are more proper to swim but why he doth not know how to swim as well as Oxen horses and such other creatures that are heavier than he To which I answer that it is because Oxen and Horses and such other beasts have an inward capacity and cavity of their bodies much greater which is the cause that though their bodies sink deeper under water by reason of their weight there yet remains part thereof above and that it happens to them as it doth to vessels that are high built to wit that they continue above the water whilest others that are not so much laden but are much less do sink Or else too one may rationnlly say that beasts do naturally swim because they have for the most part a longer neck than man so that although all the rest of the body be heavy enough to sink under water yet in holdlng up their necks they take their breath at ease whereas mans body being ready naturally to sink under water as well as theirs he hath not a neck long enough to keep his head notwithstanding out of the water and by this means keep himself from being choaked So then Beasts have in this received from nature divers advantages above Man in which she hath not done him any wrong but on the contrary hath manifested the same wisdom which she shews in all other things that she is guided by a most admirable and penetrating judgement which fore-sees things that depend upon a long train of consequences For this wisdom foresaw that Man only among all other creatures should know how to make Boats and Bridges or to pass the rivers on Hors back PROB. 21. What is the reason that the fruits which grow at the tops of the boughs are the best IS it because that which is most earthy and gross in the nourishment cannot reach to the tops of the boughs so that they receive only that which is more subtile and doth easier find passage through the narrow streights of the wood Or else is it because that the tops of the branches are the newest and youngest parts of the tree and that for this reason they have the more vertue Or else is it for that the fruit which grows at the tops of the boughs are more exposed to the rayes of the Sun which ripens them better Or else because they are more exposed to the beating of the rain which serves to soften their hardness and to make them also sweeter as we see that fruit is sometimes softned between our hands and made sweeter according as we handle it Or else is it that when there is abundance of nourishment in a tree it passeth to the extremities after it hath provided for the necessities of all the other places but that being arrived at the extremities and not able to pass further it amuses it self and so feeds those fruits that grow there the better which consequently must have more of juice and of savour Methinks one may express the course of this nourishment by the example of a brook which runs as long as it finds any way but meeting at last some obstacle which is laid before it and hinders it from passing further it swells and gathers its waters into an heap Or else lastly is it that the nourishment according as it ascends from the root to the branches is still more and more concocted by the Natural heat of the tree so that for this cause it must needs be that which comes to the ends of the branches must be most concocted and most purified PROB. 22. Why do good men think they ought to speak in proper terms of other Passions and Vices but not of things that regard wantonness and corporal Love SOme antient Philosophers discoursing upon the same Question which we have here propounded have though that this modesty which hinders us from speaking plainly of things that belong to lasciviousness and the lower and more terrestrial part of Love was but an abuse and vain
described so much the more doth the imagination of those that hear so indiscreet a lesson grow warm with that base heat which it is accustomed to kindle there And hence I draw one strong reason more in favour of that truth I maintain For since that to speak in proper terms of this low and ignoble part of Love is rather helping than weakening it he that discourses of it in this manner must needs have a design to render it more violent either in himself or others both which are equally beastly Or else it must needs be that at the same time he that talks thus and that he is with his friends whose converse ought to elevate his soul to nobler and more spiritual pleasures he feels himself moved with that lascivious and terrestrial ardour otherwise he would never love to represent to himself the effects thereof so distinctly because they are of such a nature that if the imagination be not delighted with them it is wounded by them it being not possible there should be a medium between these two extreams PROB. 23. Whence comes it that they say whatsoever cures us and is good for us dislikes us and that on the contrary we love that which hurts us IS it that in this they do not say true but that as the Time whilest we are in sadness seems to us longer for the same reason the accidents which are offensive to us seem to us the more frequent Truly I think that from this Source descend many other Vulgar Errours as for example these That a man is hurt sooner in the same part where he is already ill That the wittiest children do commonly die before they can give their parents that contentment which they hope for from them That disasters follow one another and scarce ever come single For as we desire that these accidents should never happen so for fear least they happen we think that they happen alwayes Or else doth not the errour wherein men are in this business proceed from hence that when we love that which profits us no man takes any notice of it because it is a thing conformable to Reason and Nature and upon which our spirit slides away smoothly as our hand slides upon a polished body where it finds no rub or obstacle and that on the contrary when we love that which hurts us as it is a thing that astonishes us and makes us stick some time to search the causes of it so we see it the better and imprint it the deeper into our memories Or else happens it not thus in effect through the imperfection of finite things which produces also many other effects that seem to be against nature As for example we see that Difficulty whets the appetite whereas it should rather dull it and that Evil is more active then Good although it ought to be quite contrary and many other the like things so that this may perswade us that it is through this very imperfection that wholsom things offend and hurtful things delight us Or else is it because the remedy ought to be contrary to the disease and that contraries redouble their force against one another by an Antiperistasis Physick for this reason doth at first heighten the disease and consequently also the pain And as Physick doth at first re-inforce and heighten the disease may it not also be that hurtful things for the same reason do delight us more often at the first and encrease our vigour and that therefore they please us If we suppose for example that a man be sick for want of heat it may be if he uses cold things that are naught for him they will at the first refresh him and give him some strength by making of his heat increase and redouble it self by an Antiperistasis Or else is not nature at first delighted with things that redouble its evil because that by increasing it they may in some sort stupifie and dull its sense And is it not on the contrary hurt by those things that cure it because that in restoring it to its strength by little and little they do as it were awaken it out of that lethargie in which the disease held it and so make the sense of it the more quick Or else is it that Nature when she hath need to be cured is depraved and ill disposed so that it is no wonder if in this condition she be offended with that which is good and pleased with that which is bad for her Or else is it not that as a man cannot take a spot out of his clothes without making the place a little more thredbare nor refine mettals without diminishing them nor cause any great good in a Common-wealth without wrong to some so also we cannot cure our bodies of any great infirmity but we must do it some dammage and that as the remedy in curing us doth us some hurt this is the reason why it is irksom to the sense If you ask me in particular What is the reason that almost all Medicines are bitter and odious to take wherein methinks a great part of the difficulty of this Problem consists I answer that this happens from its quality because if the Medicine were not offensive to the palate neither would it offend the stomach seeing that it is from one and the same quality that things which have been displeasing to the taste when they were in the mouth do excite also a sense of horrour in the stomach and offend it Now if the Medicine do not raise a sense of horrour in our stomachs Nature would not use its utmost strength to rid it self of it and would not reject together with it the ill humours that made it sick for I think it is very probable that it is by this means that most Medicines purge us PROB. 24. What is the reason that Children in Winter though their face and hands seem to show that they are more afflicted with cold than men grown yet are not easily perswaded to warm themselves IS it not because to warm themselves they must stand still a good while in the same place and that Children love to be constantly in motion out of a kind of Impatience which is natural to our spirit at that age Or else is it that when they are cold and come nigh to the fire its heat at first instead of comforting doth more afflict them which happens because it re-inforceth at first the cold of their bodies by an Antiperistasis and that as they want experience and reason and follow the first sentiment of nature they reject this wholsom remedy for want of knowledge to judge that by and by they shall find comfort by it Or else is it that though their bodies be more easily altered by the cold then those of full grown men as it is plain to the eye yet this alteration is not so painful and grievous to them the reason of it is because the cold hurts chiefly by too much hardening and making
stiff all the parts of our body and that theirs are so tender and so soft that by reason thereof they cannot but very hardly be brought into the contrary extream PROB. 25. Whence comes it that when we are in affliction we are better diverted by the representation of some Tragick History or by the recital of some great misfortune then by more merry shews or facetious tales IS it that the soul being lively afflicted shuns light and vain joyes because that without truely comforting it and without taking away the grounds of its affliction they do only dilate the spirits by a superficial emotion of pleasure with which they tickle the imagination and that this dilatation of the spirits cannot be but offensive to the soul if it still keeps its sadnesse at the bottom of the heart since that it is for its good and to the end that it may have the more strength it keeps them together in affliction Indeed it seems to be for this reason chiefly that the soul being thus afflicted doth thus fly from gay and delightsome objects and loves sad ones just as a weak eye hates chearful and light colours and on the contrary loves such as are dark and have but little light Or else when we are profoundly afflicted and are present at shows full of mirth are we not displeased to see others laugh there with a most pure and perfect joy because this doth more sadly put us in mind of our own misfortune whereas in hearing read or seeing acted a Tragick history we finde our selves lesse unhappy by considering the miseries befallen others Or else doth not the recital of other folks misfortune comfort us chiefly for this reason that for a time they take off our thoughts and affections to our selves and fix them upon a forraign object Or else is it that as they say nothing doth better drive out one love then another love for the same reason nothing doth better expell one sad thought then another Without doubt this reason is upon good ground and to speak more generally when ever one desires to take away from a man wholly and for ever any strong passion one should endeavour to put him first into some other passion that is nigh it For when we have wrought any change in a mind that had given it self up through length of time to some certain inclinations we may after that bring him to what we please as we see that when a man hath moved a stone a little out of its place which long lying had fastened to the earth afterwards he draws it whither he pleases Or else the sadnesse which Tragedies and other such like spectacles beget is it not more apt to diminish afflictions then are other things more sportful for this universal reason That an evil is alwayes more easily cured by another evil then by a good which happens thus because to go from evil to good is a longer way and must receive a greater change then to passe from one evil to another PROB. 26. Why do some noises make a man sleep IS it that noises which one hears near at hand being only a motion of the air or at least such as cannot be formed unless the air be moved do excite some motion in the organs of the brain by striking the air enclosed in the ears and that this motion being very proper to hinder the operation of the spirit makes a man sleep Or else doth not the noise of wind or rain or of a spring make us sleep by delighting us And therefore we see also that many fall asleep more easily when they make some part of their body be rubbed through the pleasure that comes of it and that children also sleep sooner and with the more facility when we rock them because they love to be rocked Indeed that pleasure may help to produce sleep methinks may further be proved in that they which are in a great and profound pleasure whether of body or of mind do shut their eyes stretch their arms carelesly and continue in the same posture as if they were really asleep and that we say pleasure puts a man as it were into a sound But why hath Pleasure this property to be more apt to cause sleep then the other passions of the soul Is it not that the passions being necessarily either pleasures or griefs or desires or hopes or fears the soul that hopes or fears or desires or suffers is in sollicitude and seaches every thing and therefore it sets its reason on work and so hinders it self of being seized by sleep whereas when it is in pleasure it searches after nothing being content with the present and therefore its reason ceases to act and by ceasing to act causes sleep to ensue just as Night comes when the Sun ceaseth to shine Besides noises that tickle the ear do make us sleep not only because they give us pleasure but also because this pleasure is altogether sensual For a spiritual pleasure makes us imploy our reason and so keeps up within us this internal light of the mind which doth no lesse hinder us from sleeping then an external light which strikes upon our eyes and on the contrary a pleasure meerly corporal is an obstacle to meditation But why of sensual pleasures doth that of hearing produce sleep Is it not because it is that only which we can admit in an intire repose of the whole body and without doing any thing on our part For for example the pleasures that come from delightful savours cannot be tasted without moving the tongue and jaws and we cannot also well enjoy a good odour if we do not make some effort to draw it in and smell it nor can we well admit the pleasures of the eye without turning the eyes this way and that and without straining to hold them open by drawing back towards the forehead the skin that covers them but to Hear you cannot say we should need to do any such thing Or else may we not explain this Problem thus that a pleasant noise which strikes the Ear produceth first a suspension and cessation of all other thoughts by that sweetnesse which charms us and afterwards takes from us even the sence of it self because an object that hath been long present to the faculty strikes it no more and is not perceived which appears in that Custom is so proper to render both good and bad things insensible to us and that he which hath long had his mind fixt upon a work that he composes becomes unable to judge rightly of it untill he hath for a while given his mind some other object But why must the noises which make one sleep be in some sort uniform and why for instance doth the noise of a spring because it is all of one kind make us sleep better then of a musical instrument which yet is more sweet Is it that in noises which are not uniform the same object is not alwaies present to the faculty that they
for example but that when the weather is about to change our bodies although we perceive nothing on it do receive within them some change as well as those of birds that thereby do presage fair or foul weather In the third place one may confess that certain images may be imprinted in our organs without being perceived after the example of a man that is very short-sighted who doth questionless for all that receive the images of objects very far distant because that he would see them if on a suddain the power which he hath of seeing should become more subtile and quick And if any man wonders not that these freneticks we speak of are able to retain and conserve a long time in their memories the images which they do not know are there but that the words which they heard only by the by should be able to leave there any light and weak picture of themselves He must remember that besides that the organs of the memory are without doubt very delicate and very susceptible of all impressions the activity of natural things is marvellous and hath many times much greater extent then we believe For for example could we easily perswade our selves that a beast that runs can in running imprint it s sent in all the places where it goes if the dogs of chase did not prove it and when we have handled a ring of glass or silver or gold would we believe at the first that so small touching of it should take away any thing from it and yet Philosophers hold that it must needs be so since that at length we diminish it sensibly by handling it I add further that it is not necessary that the persons we now speak of should have heard those words they pronounce in their frenzy only once they may have heard them two or three several times and a man must the less wonder that we have the images of things without knowing it when he considers that our very desires are hidden from us when they are as yet very feeble and newly born PROB. 38. What is the reason that a too earnest entreaty makes us unwilling instead of inciting us to grant that which is desired of us IS it not because man being a rational creature and one thaâ— ought to act freely loves to leaâ— himself the dance in all his actions and to have the beginning of theâ— in himself and that when one desires to constrain him with too much ardour and violence to any thingâ— he thinks he is rather drawn by thâ— ardour and pressing importunity then put upon it of himself which consequently displeases him and makes his will more cold instead of heating it Or else is it because he which begs of us earnestly makes us foresee plainly enough that we cannot deny him his desire without putting him into a great choler and making him our enemy that is to say that he provides for us his enmity as it were a punishment in case we fail of compliance toward him in which our mind sees yet a greater image of constraint and that which displeaseth it more for it hates nothing so much as to seem to do a thing out of fear Or else is it because we judge that he which desires a thing with immoderate and excessive passion is apt to tell a lie to gain it sooner then another man that desires it with less violence and that he doth purposely conceal from us some circumstance which would make his request unreasonable and unjust Or else is it because that which is very violently desired seems to us of more consequence and that in things of consequence we are wont to demur and consider a good while before we resolve any thing because we are affraid of committing some great errour Or else is it because he which prayes us with too much earnestness sayes many things which make us believe that he hath his eye fastened only upon his own interest and that he regards only the good or evil that may happen to him upon our denyal or consent and not on the good or evil that may befall us which we dislike with some reason as being unjust for according to equity and reason he that would have us be disposed to do good to him ought also on his part to wish us well and that in desiring of us an act of good will towards him he have not a will indifferent toward us Or else lastly is it not because too earnest prayers and supplications are commonly accompanied with too low and base a submission and a too servile flattery which commonly do quite contrary to that a man thinks they should It is manifest indeed that a too low and sordid submission is apt to be contemned and every one knows it well enough but that which deceives men is that oftentimes they do not consider long enough before the consequences of this contempt and see not that it not only extinguishes Affection in us but also inclines us even to Hatred just as Pity inclines us to Love Besides the submission that any one renders to us is not more apt to please us and by this means to get some benefit of us then to make us think it comes from a base and dejected mind since that all the advantage we can finde in it proceeds only from the mind that it comes from and as for the excessive praises which are given us by him that desires to obtain some favour from us by his too base flattery if we think that they do not come from the heart we consider them only as so many cheats and if we believe that he doth really esteem us with that excess as he makes shew of first we do not much thank him for it because the esteem which a man hath of any one is a thing forced and depends not on him that gives it and in the second place we do not now take so much care to preserve and augment this esteem in him by our benefits as thinking it both great enough and well enough established whereas when any one respects us but with more moderation we labour what we can to encrease this esteem by our beneficence and take care to cherish and cultivate as I may so say a belief which we see is both profitable and glorious to us PROB. 39. What are the causes of the marvelous things which we observe in the Silk-worm TO say the truth there is nothing so admirable as that which no body admires Those which we call occult qualities in the Elements or in other things may have the most common causes like Juglers tricks which seem to be grand mysteries before one hath discovered them but Man whose ordinary operations and common motions we do not at all admire offers us nevertheless in these operations and motions far more worthy subjects of astonishment his Passions are more admirable then the ebbing and flowing of the sea the power of his understanding over his Will more marvelous then
familiar things ought to be favoured against all those that consist in Sympathie or in secret influence or in specifick qualities and yet no doubt we ought to have recourse to these last but it is only as people that are like to be drowned catch at thorns and embrace them in that pressing need that is to say when we find no other means to deliver our selves from a difficulty for so long as there is any other means of escaping it if it be but any thing tolerable this must needs be very bad But to come to the present business Those which have considered that the heat of the Moneth of August is greater then that of the Moneths of June and July although in them the Sun be nearer to us and strikes us with less oblique rayes and makes longer dayes have thence inferred that this excess of heat proceeds from the influence of a Star which is called the Dog to which they have also given other ill qualities for this if we will believe what they say of it is the cause that in August the heat of the Sun is more malignant even when it is no greater then in the other Moneths of Summer that many creatures and especially Dogs do then run mad and that it is then more dangerous to go into the water and that sicknesses are more frequent and greater and that men feel some particular weaknesses in all the parts of the body But all things well considered it will be found that there is nothing in all this that should oblige us to attribute secret and particular vertues to the Dog-star and to leave the large field of known and ordinary causes For first I do not see why we should wonder that the Sun is hotter in August then in July though it be true that in August he regards us somewhat more obliquely and that the dayes are shotter the reason of it is because the Earth having been exceedingly dryed by the former heats is more apt to be violently scorched as we see that any dry thing set before a lesser fire receives a more violent heat then a thing that is moist from a fire that is much greater That this reason is pertinent there is an experience that methinks proves it plainly enough it is that though at noon the Sun be nearer to us and cast more direct rayes on us then he doth any time after yet those that travel in Summer do perceive a more violent heat two or three hours after-noon then at noon it self the reason whereof is that at noon the moisture of the morning is not so well dryed up either on the grass or the air or the earth as it is a while after This example is so put to the subject I apply it to the Question in hand that there cannot be found any difference in it and it may serve well enough to prove what I say for as somebody hath well observed the images of the Four Seasons of the year are to be seen in one only Day in which the Morning by its moisture represents the Spring Noon and sometime after is like the Summer Solstice and the two Moneths that follow it the Evening to the Autum and the arrival of Night to the arrival of Winter Now as this reason renders the heat of August greater it is manifest that withall it renders it necessarily more malign But yet if it be objected that it is often more malignant then that of other Moneths without being more violent I answer that this doth not yet force us to fly to a secret cause for if it were necessary to attribute this particular malignity to the influence of some Star it would follow also that we must give influences to some other Star for to render a reason of the particular malignity of the Sun in March which as having a very feeble hear one would think should not be able to be hurtful and to engender so easily rhumes and catarrhs But to say the truth these two several malignities are the effects only of the course of the year and of two contrary extreams for the Sun in March hath something of malign and dangerous by reason of the great humidity it meets with in the earth nay and in our brain on which it acts so weakly that instead of dissolving it only dilates it And on the contrary the Sun in August is extraordinary hurtful through an excess of dryness which it finds in the earth after it hath endured the heats of a great part of Summer and in our bodies which the same heats have dryed It is this dryness which at this time disposes beasts to madness though indeed Dogs run mad not only in August but also very often in the Moneths of June and July or September which need not for this borrow any thing of the Dog-star From this excessive drynesse proceeds likewise the weakness which we feel then in our bodies and the disposition which this season puts us in to divers maladies for every extream is alwayes nigh an evil and easily falls into one or rather is one it self To conclude if those that swim in this Moneth do find that the waters are more unwholsom then they were before a man may say it is because their more pure and subtile parts have been exhaled by the precedent heats and that what remains is gross and impure And I do not see that there is any thing in this we should need to attribute to the Dog-star more then in the other things we mentioned THE END
the influence of the Stars the operations of his Senses are of much more difficult explication then all those of the Loadstone and he is a great marvail that admires little ones Not to go too far in this discourse the consideration of the marvels which are discovered in the Silk-worms may furnish us with some proofs of it they seem at first sight to surpass or equal the things that are most strange and those that have described them have not been able sufficiently to admire that this creature should be killed by the sole noise of thunder that it should have an instinct to spin unprofitably and even with the loss of its life seeing that it stifles it self in its own work that it can draw out of its body that Silk of which it composes it that a long time after it is dead it revives that it transforms it self into a Butterfly and after it is thus transformed it can live still many dayes without meat that is to say to the end of its life But how strange soever all these things seem I conceive that if we would consider them somewhat exactly we should perswade our selves that there is no necessity of leaving the bounds of common and ordinary causes to unvail and clear the secrets of them and to do it I will lay down only two things First that Silk-worms are excessive cold and Secondly that they are full and as I may so say overglutted with an excessive moisture their moisture is apparent of its self to our sight since that it makes them wholly transparent and it is credible that it is this that renders them so fruitful Their extream coldness may also be felt by our hands and doth besides discover it self by certain reasons to our minds seeing that in the midst of Summer if the weather come to be a little coldish they dye with cold which doth not befall any other creature and seeing those which take the pains to keep them are carefull to keep them very warm and in a place that is not exposed to the Northwind These two things being thus supposed it is no wonder in the first place that the noise of thunder kills them this manifestly proceeds from the fear which so terrible a noise causes in them for they must needs be very fearful since that they are so cold and are void of blood and when fear adds its coldness to that which is natural to them so violent an excess may easily deprive them of life Now as the Silk-worm is very cold and when it begins to grow old its natural frigidity by this means encreasing it is not to be wondred at that it seeks to envelop and cover it self to the end that it may be warm for all other creatures being pressed with cold do the like and search out holes wherein they lie in the straw and enwrap themselves even in the cloaths and hangings of our houses to be the less troubled with it Hereto serves the Silk which it vomits and we must not wonder that it can vomit this rich matter for it is nothing but the remainders of its nourishment which its too weak heat cannot digest and as it were a superfluous humour which their abundance of it hath caused Besides when it puts it forth it is not dry but viscous and hath a clammy moistness but presently after the air hardens and dries it as if it were glue Being thus covered for warmth it is not stifled as folks believe nature doth not give creatures any instincts that are so destructive to them It dies not unless by a natural death for want of strength but rather it makes its Bed when we think it builds its Sepulcher and sleeps when we believe it dyes And indeed if we open this pretended grave after that we believe it is dead we shall clearly perceive that it is only in a profound sleep its natural frigidity which even before it thus locked it self up caused it to sleep longer then ordinarily other creatures do making it sleep much longer since it lockt it self up enveloped as it is in silk which it wisely drew out of its own body to cast round about it it grows a little warm by reason that its heat is on all sides hindred from exhaling and driven back just as a man becomes warm by means of the cloaths he covers himself with But whence comes it you will say that it transforms it self into a Butterfly I answer that there is no colour to say it is transformed that the Wings it acquires were due to it from its birth that nature intended it should flye with them but that they could not grow out untill that being covered with silk which it vomited it had gotten together a little more heat to strengthen its vegetative faculty and enable it to put them forth as it doth to that of Trees to put forth their fruits leaves and flowers the production whereof was formerly hindred by the coldness of the Winter Nor doth this happen only to Silk-worms for Caterpillers spin the like upon trees locking themselves up in their own work and being there they get wings as well as these But that which further proves to us that the heat of the Silk-worm uniting it self after the manner aforesaid may serve to put forth its wings is that flying Serpents are to be seen only in very hot Countries by reason it seems that the extream heat of the air supplying the defect of the coldness of their temper gives their formative faculty power to produce them But if we must say that they are transformed and that they change their nature in acquiring wings because that immediately after their birth they have none we must for the same reason say that many other creatures are transformed when they acquire Teeth Nails or Horns which they had not when they were born and that the very birds are transformed when they get wings since that when they were hatcht they had none The Silk-worm therefore is not transformed but only becomes able to fly somewhat slowlier and to conclude my story it is reasonable we should believe that after it hath slept much the same cause that awakens other creatures awakens this also Then doth wise nature make it vomit forth a thin sharp moisture which helps it to gnaw that silk which it was on all sides environed with and by this means out it comes and continues for many dayes and even to the end of its life without eating any thing wherein consists the last marvel that we are to speak of But I conceive we may easily guess the cause of it if we remember that it hath a very great moisture joyned with a very small heat for we shall see that this small heat must finde for a long time sufficient aliment in this great moisture without having need to receive any other and hereupon might be alledged the strange story of a German maid that having a very weak heat and a body full of a viscous