was not fully Satisfy'd She was unacquainted with the way and means that led her into this Condition And she consider'd it was an hazardous Exploit and that being once united to her Body she might never for ought she knew be disjoyn'd again till Death should cause a final Separation She apply'd her self therefore seriously to consider the Nature of her Body and the disposition of all its Organs She found that the Nerves imploy'd in Sentation and those that serve for Natural functions as the beating of the Heart the circulation of the Blood c. were of a Nature quite distinct She saw that these were vehemently distended and she concluded it might be for the better communicating the Animal Spirits to the Muscles with which the Nerves are united and capacitating them to maintain and continue those natural Motions the Soul is not aware of when united with the Body and that on the contrary the Nerves made use of in Sensation and by whose Means the Soul received the Impression of Objects were almost all unbraced and lax which might prevent the Motion caused by the Impulse of Objects from being continued unto the Seat of the Soul The Difficulty was to find the true Cause why one should be taxed without the other and how she might bring it about to distend those that formerly were laxed Mean while the Snush-Box which I mention'd his Body held in its left-Hand made M. Descartes call to mind That before his Extasie he had taken Tabaccco-Snush and he could not tell but so extraordinary an Effect might have been produced by the Vertue of that Tobacco That which he took of was an unusual kind which a Merchant of Amsterdam had brought over from an Island near China and presented him It was extreamly strong and M. Descartes to mollifie it had mix'd a certain Herb in it dryed to Powder whose Name he never would acquaint me with nor the Place where it grew though he presented me with a great Quantity of the same He laid a sufficient Dose upon the Back-Side of his Hand and gave it his Body to take and at the same Time happen'd this prodigious Effect in his Brain for all the Vapours raised there since his last taking were dislodged and dissipated in an instant He observed it was only the Particles of the Tobacco that scattered the Fâ—mes of the Brain and that those of the Herb which he had tempered with it being not so fine and having very little Motion fastned themselves in the Nerves that cause Sensation and and made them looser than they were before Seeing that Effect he no longer doubted but concluded it to be the Herb which he mix'd with the Tobacco that caus'd his Trance and took away his Senses and that the Tobacco at the same Time unhar bouring all the Fumes that might benight the Brain left the Soul with the entire Liberty of knowing and reflecting on it's self as she had then experienc'd After which he thought that Hungary Water was sufficient to brace the Nerves afresh that serve for Sensation since it is often used to recal those Persons that swoon away The Soul takes the Bottle I not long since mentioned and brings it in the Air from the far Side of the Chamber to his Body and therein consists exactly the Magick of which I then suspected M. Descartes guilty and moistens his Nostrils with it The subtile Vapour of that Liquor effected what he aimed at presently the laxed Nerves erect themselves and the Soul streight seats it self in the Pineal Gland and finds itself consederate with the Body as before It was in that instant I perceived Descartes to come to himself I told you he lock'd himself forthwith in another Room it was to make a second Experiment of his Tobacco and his Herb which succeeded to his Hearts Desire Since when it was a Business of nothing for his Soul to leave the Body and since his imparting to me the Secret his Soul and mine have made an hundred Expeditions together to instruct our selves of the greatest Curiosities in Nature As those that read the Works of M. Descartes are unacquainted with all that I have been relating they with just Cause are amazed at a thing which you will not startle at for the future I mean the Particulars he descends to in his Physicks concerning the Properties of his three Elements at how great soever remove from Sense they lie concerning their Figure their Motion their Rank and File in the Composition of his World and all particular Bodies concerning the Disposition of his Vortexes in which he proceeds so far as to observe the different size of the Balls of the second Element Part. 3. Princip of which they consist in their respective Places how those that come nearest the Centre of the Water are the least of all those that are a little removed are somewhat bigger increasing still in Bigness unto a determinate Distance after which they all are equal Concerning the Formation of their Parts chamfer'd in Fashion of a Skrew with which he explains the Nature and the different Phenomena's of the Load-Stone in a way so fine and easie Phoenomena's that till then had puzled and confounded all the Philosophers even those that had so ready a Method of explaining all things by the Assistance of their occult Qualities All this he saw intuitively and of himself and for me that speak to you is it possible to think That at the Age of seventy seven and being of so weak a Constitution as I am I say is it possible for you to think I should have lived to this and preserved my Health and Vigour as I do unless I had had a perfect Knowledge of the Machine of my Body Unless I had still filled and made-up the Breaches whereat Life leaks and runs out continually I mean not in applying the Remedies that Medicine prescribes whose conjectures are so very uncertain and from the Use of which Monsieur Descartes has so frequently dissuaded the Princess Elizabeth Lett. de Descartes But in the Practice of that Critical Knowledge my Soul has of my Body of which she perfectly is and can be instructed as often as she pleases by putting herself in the Capacity I have now been-speaking of I must acknowledg Sir replyed I then it is a most admirable Secret and of Infinite Use I am impatient till I learn it of you and as soon as I know it I am persuaded I shall improve it to as great a Benefit as Adam would have done the Tree of Life in Paradise if he had continued there And I doubt not but if Origen had known it he that looks upon the History of Scripture as Allegory he would have believed the Tree of Life to be nothing but this Mystery which God had communicated unto Adam But that which you was speaking of your Health creates one Scruple in me How Monsieur Descartes having to the Advantage of this fine Knowledg came to dye at the
in answering the Argument brought against the Essence of Matter and drawn from the Sacrament of the Host think they have right to cry out They are injur'd That their Philosophy is sequestred from Things relating to Faith That they are Philosophers and not Divines and undertake the explaining the Mysteries of Nature not of Religion I would I say they 'd do me the like Justice or if they had rather the same Favour And supposing any one so Religious as to suspect me of the Heresie of those who say The Souls in parting from the Body are not doom'd for Eternity I wish he 'd consider once more that I am in this an Historian and Philosopher not a Theologist and give a Relation of Descartes's World am not making a Profession of Faith Which the Character of an History such as I am upon will bear far more independently of the Truths of our Religion than a System of Philosophy Any one that knows never so little must be forc'd to acknowledg this Which being once suppos'd I return to the Narrative of my Old Gentleman who thus went on M. Descartes's Soul returning to Stockholm found her self in the like unlucky Circumstances as did one Hermotimus L. de Anima mentioned by Tertullian who having procur'd the self-same Secret as Descartes left constantly anights his Body asleep in Bed whilst his Soul went a rambling through the World Both one and the other at their return found their Lodgings out of a Capacity to receive them The Task Descartes's Soul enjoyn'd her self then was to meet at Paris She would not tell me presently of the Accident but only invited me to take a turn or two No sooner said than done With one Snuff of the Tobacco I equipt my self to wait on her My Soul was no sooner out of my Body but she said in Language Spiritual she was about to tell me strange News I am says she no longer Imbody'd my Corps is this day to be interr'd at Stockholm and he gave me the Particulars of what I have been relating Nor did she seem sab or afflicted thereupon I then demanded of her if she experienc'd what the Philosophers report That the Soul being the substantial Form of the Body when separated for good and all is in statu violento She answer'd me she knew nothing of that violent State but found her self incomparably better out than in the Body And that she had but one Concern upon her to know in what part of the vast Space was best to settle her Abode in That she would take my Directions in the thing but that she found her Will inclin'd for the third Heaven The third Heaven according to the division Cartesius makes of the World is the last of all and that which is the farthest remov'd from us For the first is nothing but the Vortex in which is plac'd the Earth whose Centre is the Body of the Sun about which the Coelestial Matter that composes the Vortex carries us and makes us turn continually like the other Planets The second Heaven is incomparably larger than that in which we are and takes up all that mighty space in which we see the fix'd Stars which are so many Suns and have each of them a Vortex of which they are themselves the Centre as our Sun is of this Lastly the third Heaven is all that Matter or all that indefinite Extent which we conceive above the Starry Heaven and is void of Bounds and in respect of which the space of all the other may be consider'd as a Point Now many Reasons determin'd M. Descartes to choose his place of Residence in the highest Heaven The first was To avoid the Company of an Innumerable gang of Souls of Philosophers that were vaulting and fluttering on all parts of this our Vortex for to tell you by the way 't is incredible how many Souls we met upon our Journey And M. Descartes was much surpriz'd to see the Secret of which he took himself to be the first Inventer made use of in all times even by those of a very mean Quality whereby they have escap'd a dying or whose Souls have lost their Bodies by some Accident not unlike that of M. Descartes But that which made their Company so disrelisht and perfectly intolerable to Cartesius his Spirit was That these Souls so disentangled as they were from Matter were tinctur'd still with Prejudice wherewith they were prepossess'd when united with their Bodies That when he would have converss'd with them about the Principles of Bodies and the Causes of several Phoenomena's they faintly suppos'd to him or prov'd by the Authority of Aristotle substantial Forms absolute Accidents and occult Qualities as is done to this day in many Schools And except some few Souls of the highest Rank which he hath converted and proselyted to Cartesiâ—nism all are inveterate and inleagu'd against him with as immoderate Fury as the Philosophers of this World when he began to publish his Doctrin here The second Reason that byass'd him to that Election was because he look'd upon those indefinite Spaces as a new Discovery of which he was the Author For it was upon his forming a distinct Idea of Matter whose Essence consisted in Extension that he concluded Space Extension and Matter to be one and the same thing signify'd under different Names And being it was necessary to admit of a Space and an Extension above our World since we have a most clear Conception of them it was plain That above our World there was Matter too and as we can have no Idea of any Bounds or Limits that Matter has it is necessary it should be Infinite or rather Indefinite Finally the third and most prevailing Reason of all and which he intimated not to me until we arrived upon the place is that well conjecturing the Matter above the fix'd Stars to be uninform'd and not yet shap'd into a World he was in good hopes that he was able to set it to work himself and fancy'd that in dividing and agitating it according to his Principles he could reduce it to a World like this excepting that it would be destitute of real Men and only stor'd with Automatous Machines in their Likeness That Project was the Subject of the most part of his Books especially of his Book of Principles and that Entituled The World of M. Descartes We set out immediately for the third Heaven I shall not descend to the Particulars of our Voyage I hope in a few days you 'll bear me Company there your self I 'll only say that upon our Coasting we found all Things exactly in that Portrait we had drawn before without Form without due Order or any regular posture of the Parts as rude and unsightly Materials that require the Hand of the Artist We survey'd it all about and bewilder'd our selves a long time in the vast Deserts of the other World which perfectly represented to me the Face of the Chaos and that confus'd Mass of which the
believ'd a Soul separate from the Body had been capable of such an Accident M. Descartes who was aware of it and well understood the cause left me for a moment to wait on Aristotle's Embassadors I knew not what Intercourse they had till the old Gentleman's Information on our return to th' other World He told me Mr. Descartes declin'd entring all Dispute and Business with them only assuring them he had not the least Design of making any Inroad into Aristotle's Dominions but that he thought it a difficult piece of Work to effect a through Accommodation and that it would be proper for each to preserve their Liberty in Opinion as before without being restless and concern'd to bring over that of others to it notwithstanding to the end their Voyage might not be wholly ineffectual he promis'd to see that the Cartesians behav'd themselves with greater Respect and Esteem towards Aristotle upon condition Aristotle would restrain the Peripateticks from flying out with that out-rage against Cartesianism To come to my Spiritual Metamorphosis I knew not the reason of that neither till my return and it was this We must suppose that as long as our Soul is united with our Body the most part of its Ideas and Conceptions depend on the disposition of our Brain The diversity of that Disposition consists as say the Peripateticks in the difference of the Species Apparitions or Images of Objects contain'd in the Cavities of the Brain or imprinted on its Substance The new Philosophers more truly say That those kind of Pictures are nothing but the Traces and Footsteps stampt on the Brain by the ordinary Current of the Animal Spirits that flow in great Plenty as in little Rivers and wear themselves a kind of Channel to which they usually keep In what way soever that different Disposition causes the different Idea's and different Judgments of the Soul for it is an inscrutable Mystery it is certain it is done and that different Ideas suppose different Traces So that should a dissection be made of a Peripatetick and a Cartesian Brain with the help of good Microscopes for the discovery of those Prints that are exquisitely fine one should see a prodigious difference in the Complexion of those two Brains I never indeed question'd that Truth but I thought that dependence of the Soul lasted no longer than it was in the Body and that as soon as the Separation was perform'd it had no more Correspondence with it But I experimented the contrary and my Fellow-Travellers assur'd me that so long as the Body has its Organs sound and free let the Soul be ten thousand Worlds apart it will receive the same Impressions as if it resided in it And that if M. Descartes's Snush had not lax'd the sensitive Nerves I should have seen whilst I was in Descartes's World all the Occurrencies the Eyes of my Body were presented with I should have heard every noise that beat upon the Drum of my Ears And so of all the rest So astonishing an Effect as this makes no Impression on Philosophical Souls For if they be Peripateticks they presently explain it by the Sympathy betwixt the Soul and Body of the same individual and if they be Cartesians they expound it by the general Laws of the Soul and Bodies Union which is in cause that God on occasion of such and such Motions made in the Body produces such and such Thoughts or Perceptions in the Soul and say they one of these Laws is That whilst the Organs of the Body are capacitated for Imployment the Soul wherever she is receives the Impressions of Objects that affect them it being as easy a thing for God to advertise the Soul of that Impression when she is remote from the Body as when present proximity of Place being wholly insignificant in the thing since according to them the Motion of the Organs is not the real cause that produces Sensations but only the occasional cause that is that which offers an occasion to God Almighty of producing them in the Soul My Old Gentleman then as I was saying in our Return confess'd the Trick Father Mersennus and himself had agreed to play me They had given Instructions before they departed to the little Negro that was commission'd to guard my Corps at such an Hour in which they easily foresaw we should be arriv'd to M. Descartes's World to take Care so to determine the Animal Spirits in my Brain as they might no longer keep the beaten Tracks they had been us'd to for the exciting Peripatetick Speâ—ies in my Mind but to make them glide in such a Current as was necessary and as he knew how for the implanting Cartesian Ideas in their Room which he perform'd with that Dexterity that whether it was by the Legerdemain of Sympathy or by vertue of the General Laws of Vnion of the Body and Soul my Notions were all in an instant turn'd topsie turvy And I that a Moment since could see nothing in that Immense Space in which I was began to perceive Matter there and to be convinc'd that Space Extension and Matter were all one and the same thing After which as often as M. Decsartes bade us to conceive how such and such Motions were effected in Matter I saw them more distinctly than your most clarify'd Cartesians do your Chamfer'd Parts of Matter wreath'd in shape of little Skrews by the Struggle they have to squeez betwixt the Balls of the Second Element or to constitute a little Vortex round the Loadstone and to cause that wonderful affinity that is found betwixt that Stone and the Poles of the Earth and with it and Iron It is plain that an Universal Revolution of Ideas like this cannot happen in the Soul without causing an extraordinary Commotion in its Substance no more than a general Alteration of Humors can occur in the Body without a Change of its Constitution I was therefore infinitely surpriz'd at so prodigious a Change being wholly unable to give any probable Guess at its Cause but could not help attributing it to some Secret in M. Descartes's Philosophy who returning quickly after address'd me in a more Familiar Air than at my first Reception Well what shall we begin to fall to work upon our World I see you are at present capable and worthy of reaping that Satisfaction Monsieur said I I know not where I am nor what I ought to think of my self But certainly nothing can more effectually dispose me to a Belief that you are capable of becoming the Creator of a World than that Power you manifest over Spirits Yes Monsieur I acknowledg Space Matter and Extension to be the self-same Thing I see plainly in that Space Materials for the Building a New World and if you once accomplish so vast and prodigious a Work from this Time forward I renounce my Body to live here with you for ever and ever to the End of the World nothing seeming comparable to the Advantage of living with the most
must stay with me and that 's as much time as is required I shall in a little time receive some News from M. Descartes whereupon wee 'll take such Measures as shall much shorten your Journey Hey day News from M. Descartes said I why he has been Dead this forty Years I should be sorry answer'd he to have let that Word escape me in another's Presence but I let it ship purposely at present to highten your Desire of hearing from me those Things which few in the World are acquainted with which presently will surprize you and the Knowledg thereof will convey you in a trice to the end you desire Hear me then You must know continu'd he that Cartesius like the ancient Leaders of Sects of Philosophers avoided the publishing all the Mysteries of his Philosophy Some he reserv'd which he only divulg'd to some particular Friends of which I had the good Fortune to be one All the peculiar Discoveries he had made which he thought might be of Use and either contribute to Morality or serve to make any Progress in the Knowledg of Natural Beings he hath obliged the Publick with But Prudence advis'd him to suppress such others as some might have converted to an evil Use. The Immortality of the Soul is one of those Points wherein he was oblig'd to observe that Method and certainly is one of the most Important Articles in Philosophy To prove this in a plain familiar and intelligible way such as shall force the Mind to give assent and leave not the least Scruple behind is to undermine the chief Foundation of Libertinism and Atheism This M. Descartes hath done by demonstrating the distinction of the Soul and Body in a Man by the only clear and distinct Conception that we have of those two kinds of Being That Demonstration is one of the most fine and useful places of his admirable Meditations And he was high-surpriz'd to see it so hoâ—ly oppos'd especially by Gassendus which though before he had ask'd his Permission gall'd and vex'd him a little more perhaps than was convenient upon that occasion Which gave rise to a Reflection in the Mouths of many at that time and which betwixt our selves was true enough That M. Descartes did not understand Raillery But he had Moderation enough in the heat of his Conflict to decline the submitting to the Temptation which had often invited him to confirm his Demonstration by Experiment fearing it might prove of dangerous Consequence And that is the Mystery which I am about to teach you It was his way as all know to endeavour to make good by Experience the Truths he had discover'd by the meer Light of his Understanding He was in hopes that having demonstrated with so clear conviction the distinction of the Soul and Body he might make so far a Progress as to penetrate into the Secret of their Union and at last come to that of separating and re-uniting them when he pleas'd The Questions that his Illustrious Scholar Elizabeth the Princess Palatine us'd to make upon that Head and the difficulty he found in himself to invent such Solutions as might be easily understood put him in short upon the Undertaking One day he propos'd his Design to me and some other of his Friends We thought him Whimsical And I remember I laughing made Reply That there was but one way imaginable to effect it which was to find out the famous Caduceus of Mercury which that God they say sometimes by Iupiter's Orders made use of to separate the Souls from Bodies and after a certain term of Years to joyn them unto new ones according to the Principles of Pythagoras's Transmigration That however did not divert Cartesius from raving on his Project not ascertaining himself of the Success nor judging yet he ought altogether to despair That was it that ingag'd him in a more exact Study than formerly of an Human Body and occasion'd him to make those most exquisite Discoveries in Anatomy The first Conclusion that he drew from the Idea he had of the Soul as of a being perfectly Indivisible was That it was not extended through the whole Body as vulgarly it is taught He shew'd the falsity of that Master Reason which was us'd till then to confirm Men in their Prejudices that in whatever part you prick the Body the Soul is sensible of Pain Then said the Philosophers It must be extended through the whole He exposed the Weakness of that Argument by two Experiments that manifestly prove the perception of Pain and the Impression of Objects in Places where our Soul is not The first is that of those Persons who have lost an Arm who from Time to Time perceive an Aking in the Place where their Fingers used to be as if they had their Arm entire although their Fingers are not there nor by Consequence their Soul The second is of a Man that 's Blind which he often instances who makes his Staff supply the Loss of his Eyes to distinguish the Figure and Qualities of Objects Who knows by the Assistance of his Stick whether it be Water Earth or Grass that he touches whether the Floor be Rough or Smooth c. For it is certain he perceives all this by his Staff although no one will say That his Soul is in it He then demonstrated That the Impression of Objects upon our Body consisted only in the Vibration of the Nerves and Fibres that are spread throughout the Parts it being unnecessary the Soul should be co-extended with them But it was suffcient to her for the perception of Objects that that Vibration should be communicated to some principal part where she kept her Residence just as the Vibration caus'd by the touch of a soft or hard of a rough or smooth Body communicates it self to the Hand by the Mediation of the Staff that as the Staff extended from the Hand to the Body which it touches is instrumental to the Soul for the perception of the Qualities of the Body so likewise the Nerves drawn out for instance from the Brain to the Hand may be ministerial to its perception of the Body that the Hand doth touch And that in fine The Pain caus'd by the too near approach of a Finger to the Fire doth no more suppose the Souls actual Presence in that part of the Body than does the ail of a Finger of which a certain Maid complain'd from day to day Let. de Desc. whose Arm being gangreen'd was cut off without her Knowledg For she only felt the Pain because the Humours or some other Cause made a Concussion in the Nerves of her Arm which ran before to the end of her Hand and because they strook them in a manner like to that which was formerly requisite to excite a Pain in the Finger before she lost her Arm. Having made this first Step and drawn a Consequence of that Importance and Satisfaction from so abstracted a Principle as the Indivisibility of the Soul it was easy for
a little tempted to turn Cartesian without troubling my self to dispute the Globules with him of the Second Element or offering such other Doubts and Scruples as then came into my Mind with entire Submission I complemented upon all the rest both these Companions of my Voyage that is to say upon the subtle Matter and on that branchy Matter which I termed in their Language without more ado the Matter of the First and Third-Element I much applauded their Explication of Fluidity and commended it for its Neatness and Simplicity but a little Adventure turned the Discourse and had like to have spoiled the Fruit of all my former Complasance There was on the top of the Tower on which we lighted a kind of a Twirl that was in the Nature of a Weather-Cock about seven Inches Diameter its Substance was of Plate of Steel very thin and light its Sails were exactly equal and the Pin on which it turn'd smooth and polish'd So that the gentlest Gale of Wind set it a going and at the same time turn'd about a bent Iron Rod for the observing the point of the Wind whose end made the Axis to the Twirl It fortun'd that a Soldier of a Suitz Regiment that quartered in the Town discharg'd his Musket in the Air It was loaded with two Bullets one of which as it flew but just glanc'd upon the end of one of the Flyers of the Twirl And yet impress'd so considerable a Motion as lasted a long time The Bullet continu'd its Motion almost in a right Line and went very near as far and as swift as the other Bullet that never touch'd upon the Weather-cock I had good Reason to take notice of that last Circumstance Father Mersennus slipt not that occasion to demonstrate to me another of M. Descartes's Principles You see said he these Flyers if that Ball had not slanted upon one of them in passing seeing there is not any breeze of Wind do you think they would have left that quiet Posture they were in and turn'd themselves about No certainly I reply'd The posture they were in a Moment since could never have been chang'd for that they are in at present but by the assistance of some External Cause that has made that alteration But now added he that they are in a directly contrary State do you believe they could quit the same without the determination of some other Cause that should destroy their Motion as the Bullet did their Rest Father said I that Question seems more difficult than the other to resolve I have heard it always held as an unquestionable Axiom That every Body whilst it is in Motion tends to its Repose as to its end We 'll grant you reply'd he that Philosophick Banterage every Body whilst in Motion has a tendency to rest as to its end A Body is endu'd with Reason and a Will first to have an end and then to make unto it But if that Proposition is capable of receiving any tolerable meaning it says no more than this That in the situation and disposition Bodies have among themselves in the World sensible Bodies that are mov'd do truly lose their Motion by Degrees upon the opposition they receive from other Bodies to which it is communicated and at length they rest For if nothing did destroy that State of Motion it would last for ever by the same Rule that if nothing did disturb the rest of a Body it would always remain immoveable And this it is of which I had a desire to convince you by the Example of this little Wind-mill Fortune has presented us Supposing this Gimcrack had turn'd in the midst of Water as it does in the midst of Air it is a plain Case it 's Motion would quickly have been destroy'd by the great Resistance the Water would have made If two of its Sails had been longer larger and heavier than the other two the Motion had ceas'd sooner yet Because that inequality would have been another Cause of a more forcible Resistance Again if you add to this that the Pin on which it turns had been thicker as also rusty and unpolish'd the Motion had been lost still sooner for the same Reason But because it stands in Air and in Air that 's very fine because it Sails are exactly pois'd and its Axis slender smooth and polish'd the Resistance that it finds is less and the Motion so much greater and longer it will last Whence we may thus conclude Much Resistance destroys much Motion a less Resistance destroys less and a lesser yet destroys a lesser Motion still and so on Hence if there was no Resistance at all the Motion would not flag but continue always hence as a Body would maintain its Rest unless an external Cause disturbed it in the Possession of that State so a Body would continue its Motion as long as it should meet no Molestation in it So then the great Principle of M. Descartes is establish'd That a Body of its own Nature stays always in the Capacity it is plac'd if it is at rest 't wil always rest if it is of a Triangular Figure it will be of a Triangular Figure always if it is in Motion it will for ever be so But for the rest this Principle is not peculiar to Descartes Galileus before him Gassendus Hobbes Maignan c. suppose it true And I remember likewise That in making my Collections for my Commentaries upon Genesis where I have introduced an infinite Number of Philological Philosophical and Astronomical Dissertations I have remarked more than one Place in Aristotle where he either teaches of supposes the same Doctrin and Vasques one of the subtlest of the School Philosophers has proved it at large as to the concern of Motion It may however be said that no one ever carried it to that Pitch and used it so dextrously and with that Advantage as Descartes and thence it was that particular Difference and Honour was paid him rather than to others upon that respect I am much of your Opinion I returned That General Principle is without Controversie one of those the Mind of Man admits without offering Violence to itself and the Difficulty that is found in applying it to Bodies considered in Motion proceeds only from that false Idea so commonly received of what we call Modes in Philosophy and from our conceiting Motion as a positive being and Rest as its Privation though neither Motion is a Being nor Rest the Privation of a Being but one and the other are different and contrary States of which a Body Natural is capable But Reverend Father this Whirl-gig here has raised a Scruple in me of which I 'd fain discharge my Conscience iâ— is grounded on another Principle of Descartes concerning which you may call to mind if you please that the Ball that touch'd the Sail seeing it but glanced upon it lost nothing or next to nothing of its Motion that it had so far preserved and we saw it arrive to its
Day of my Death in my Horoscope I made my self and finding I was mistaken seeing at the Time prescribed no Sign or Symptom of approaching Death I shut my self in my Closet and not having Confidence to appear from thenceforth in the Sight of Men since every Moment of my Life to come had been the continual Reproach of my Mistake I even resolved to quit my Body and come and inhabit here And this Gentlemen is the real Truth of the Matter We took occasion to extenuate the Causes of his Affliction by telling him of the Reputation he always had with a non obstante to all that in the World as an extraordinary Man and distinguished from the Vulgar After which we took our Leave of him and posted from thence to Mersennus where we launched for our Voyage over the Moon There it was that the two Philosophers stepping aside for some Moments we read altogether the Project of Accommodation betwixt Aristotle and M. Descartes which Voetius had given us charge of and whose principal Articles I shall here relate It was divided into two Parts The first was to regulate the Method how the Aristotelians and Cartesians must for the future demean themselves towards one another in their Books Disputes and Conversations The Second which was very long contained several Propositions that the Aristotelians remitted to make some Advances nearer the Cartesians demanding the like Abatements from the Cartesians whereby they might approach better the Aristotelians That Second Part was rather a Confutation of many Cartesian Opinions than a Treaty of Accommodation which gave me to conjecture it would fail of the Success they promised to themselves or at least pretended to propose themselves 'T is easie to see that Aristotle or at least Voetius his Secretary was well informed of our Sublunary Occurrences and what was for and against his Party and his Adversary's A Treaty of Accommodation betwixt Aristotle Prince of Philosophers and M. Descartes Chief of the New Sect. PART I. THey shall not for the future Abuse or Viliâ—ie each other that Way being unphilosophical and being likewise already exploded the Schools by the Worthiest and best of the Professors The Ladies and knowing Women must no longer treat Aristotle on their Besides as a Fop and a Pedant They ought to know he has been a Soldier a Man of Courtship and Intrigue who before he became a Philosopher took his Pleasure and spent his Estate that was no little one being Son of the Chief Physician to Amyntas Grandfather of Alexander and perhaps there was never a Philosopher in the World more a Courtier and a Gentleman than he On the other Hand the Old Professors of Philosophy must remember to be more sparing of their Epithets of which they are commonly too liberal on Cartesius his Account constantly styling him Enthusiast Madman sometimes Heretick and Atheist Voetius from henceforth voluntarily makes him an Authentick Satisfaction as to all those Points in default of that which the Procurators of Leyden and Vtretcht denied him corrupted by the Friends of the aforesaid Sieur Voetius who is his most humble Servant Aristotle shall disclaim all those Books composed against M. Descartes in an Injurious and Abusive Way such as is that Tract entituled Deliriorum Cartesii Ventilatio At least he shall order That they be corrected and that in the New Edition Care be taken to retrench some Expressions a little too strong and biting M. Descartes also on his part shall give Orders That in the New Impressions of the Works of some of his Followers some Prefaces be lopt off or rather some Malicious Satyrs against the School Philosophers not caring to distinguish them from one another and throwing unjustly upon all the Faults of some Particulars such as are the Passion of Wrangling Confusion Equivocal Terms and Ignorance in the most Curtious Parts of Physicks It shall be prohibited all the Cartesians to give a Character of Aristotle's Merit before they have read him especially before they have seen his Logick his Rhetorick his History of Animals and others where he treats Natural Philosophy in Particulars And they shall take heed of giving a Judgment on that Philosopher's Parts by his Books De Phisico auditu that are not so clear and perspicuous as his others the Author having his private Reasons for his writing in that manner which have yet been more confounded in Tract of Time by a swarm of Translators and Commentators who often talk Greek in Latin and whereof some understood neither Be it prohibited likewise all the Peripateticks to be angry at Descartes's philosophy before they have throughly examined it under the Penalty of rendring themselves ridiculous as some have done who have placed him in the Catalogue of Atomists that is of such as fancy Bodies composed of Atoms or indivisible Parts or as another that wrote ingenuously to M. Descartes himself he had plainly seen with his Eyes the Subtil Matter having by the luckiest Accident imaginable observed an abundance of little Bodies playing in the Air by the Advantage of a Sun-beam that passed through a chink of one of his Casements Lastly Aristotle entreats the Gentlemen Cartesians not to father upon him whatever they find in the Books of his Disciples without consulting himself promising on his part to give no one the Title of Cartesian but upon mature Deliberation especially in regard of certain young Abbots Cavaliers Proctors and Physicians that call themselves Cartesians in all Companies for a Pretence to Parts and Ingenuity which they sometimes get the Repute of by that only Confidence of talking at all rates of Subtle Matter Globules of the Second Element Vortexes Automata's and Phenomena's without understanding any thing but Terms The Second Part of the Treaty WHereas the Article of Substantial Eorms hath occasioned the greatest Noise and Division between both Parties as may be seen by the Registers of the Universities of Vtrecht Leyden Groninguen Anger 's and as would be testified by those of the University of Paris Caen and several others had Care been taken for the Recording all the Acts and Deliberations held upon that Affair it is therefore necessary both one and the other each as to their particular should remit something for Peace and Quietness-sake Aristotle complained forthwith of the Delicacy of the first Cartesians who thought it advisable to take Disgust at the very Name of Substantial Forms For suppose said he that no more was meant by that Word than the Principle of the Properties of every Body and that which is the Cause why one Body so differs from another that Use has given it a particular Name and made it a Species distinct from other Kinds of Bodies What hath that Term so Distastful and Extraordinary As to the Idea the Peripateticks have affixed to it making it to speak an Incomplete Substance distinct from Matter he said That Definition being no where to be found in his Writings at least in express Terms he might if he thought good disown
it and devolve upon the Arabian Commentators as on the Creators of that Being all the Railleries and fine Things pretended to be spoke by the new Philosophers on that Chapter But that he was not yet in that Humour the Cartesians having concluded nothing rationally against that System That an Incomplete Substance was no Chimera since the reasonable Soul in Man is undoubtedly so That their grand Axiom brought to demolish Substantial material Forms viz. Whatever is Material is Matter was palpably false as they have been answered an hundred times seeing Motion and Figure which are material Things are notwithstanding devoid of Matter and also that he lookt upon the ordinary Doctrin of Substantial Forms as his true Doctrin Nevertheless adjoyn'd he we shall see what use M. Descartes will make of it and what Advances he will offer on his part When he shall have granted Brutes a Soul the Peripateticks will consider whether they shall recede from some other Point Upon which he brought many Arguments to persuade him to be less hardy and intractable thereupon He represented how that Article of his Philosophy had shockt the whole World That his earnestness and zeal for that Opinion had been excusable if he had been the first Author but it is well known a Spaniard called Pereyra first lit upon that Notion and some were so malicious as to say he had drawn it from the Spaniard's Book before he deduc'd it from his own Principles That he had already gain'd by that Opinion as much Honour as could be expected that it was lookt upon in the World as an Ingenious Paradox on which he and his Disciples had descanted very subtly and had sufficiently plagu'd and tormented the School Philosophers but that the latter and more intelligent sort of Men could not forbear Laughing when they seriously undertook to maintain it as a Truth That 't was known this was the first Effect the Preface to a Book Entituled L' Ame des Betes The Soul of Beasts produced in the Mind of its Readers A Book wrote indeed with a great deal of Wit but wherein the Author too seriously drives at the Conversion of the Philosophers upon that Subject That no one had brought one substantial Reason to destroy the prejudice of all Mankind in that particular That no one had yet demonstrated that a middle Being betwixt Spirit and Matter was a thing impossible That the Promise the Cartesians had made to explain all that we see admirable in Beasts by the sole disposition of the Machine was whimsical and not to be relied on since it never had been put in Practice That when they talked of these Matters in general they sometimes spoke plâ—â—sibly enough but when they descended to Particulars they were either much to be pitied or not endured That the only Idea of the manner of Brutes acting on infinite occasions compared with tâ—at Paradox made it look extravagant That whereas 't was answered that Argument prov'd too much and made for the reasoning of Beasts it must be acknowledged that Instance perplex'd the Philosophers and gave them trouble to get clear off yet after all whatever pain it put them to their Argument lost nothing of its Force and the Instance on the other hand infinitely increased the difficulty For if it be hard to comprehend that Beasts should not have Reason upon seeing them act in so admirable and methodical a manner how much more difficult would it be to deny them bare Perception And lastly for Descartes to give up that point would not be construed to retract having himself declar'd he could not demonstrate that Beasts had not an apprehensive Soul Let. 67. Tom. 1. no more than it could be demonstrated unto him they had After that Aristotle passed to another Point which had some Connexion with the former which was The Essence of the Soul made by M. Descartes to consist in actual Thinking as he makes the Essence of a Body to consist in actual and determinate Extension He tells them That though he has many Scruples as to his Method and Manner whereby he offers to demonstrate the distinction of the Soul and Body and that many People continued dissatisfied a little with the Answers he gave to the Objections of Gassendus and M. Arnauld notwithstanding he would not dispute him that Glory of having said something thereon wholly New and very Ingenious That he is likewise disposed to follow his Opinion touching the Essence of the Soul provided he would satisfy him as to one Difficulty taken from Experience Many Persons said he have made you that Objection That if the Essence of the Soul consisted in actual Thought it were impossible she should exist without thinking and thus it would follow we should have Thought whilst we were in our Mother's Belly You will not scruple in the least that Consequence And as to what 's rejoyned by them that had we constantly Thought whilst we were in that Capacity we must necessarily have remembred some one of those Thoughts at least that we had there You answer The reason of our Non-remembrance is because the Memory consists in certain Traces which being made in the Brain upon thinking of an Object are there preserv'd and that the Brain of Infants is too moist and soft for the preservation of those Traces at least in such a manner as is requisite to cause remembrance But you are pressed upon that Answer Lettr. Tom. 2. for as much as in several places of your Writings you distinguish Memory into two sorts whereof one depends upon the Body and those Tracks or Footsteps impressed upon the Brain and the other which is purely intellectual depends upon the Soul above You also distinguish Notices into two kinds The one that depend upon the Organ and the other Immaterial that are wholly Independent on it Now we can easily apprehend that the disposition of the Brain of an Infant may be in the cause why the Soul recollects not those Thoughts which have their dependence on it but in regard of the Memory wholly intellectual those pure Conceptions those immaterial Notices which are altogether independent on the Organ and the different Plaits or Impresses of the Brain the humidity of the Brain can be of no Moment and we must undoubtedly remember those Thoughts and the Motions of the Will that have pursued them You will say that an Infant in the Mother's Womb is destitute of those pure Notices and of the use of the intellectual Memory Tom. 2. Let. 4. 38. But that is the thing I am asking a sufficient Reason for and of which I should be highly pleas'd to be convinced In effect Voetius had given express Orders to both his Envoys to see that M. Descartes gave a clear Explication of the Point From the Essence of the Soul they proceeded to the Essence of the Body Aristotle entred on that Article with an acknowledgment of an Error he formerly fell into advertising at the same time M.
Wife and Puissant Soul that ever came out of the Almighty's Hands You 'l be better advis'd than that reply'd M. Descartes it behoves you to expect the Orders of the Sovereign Being for an entire Dismission from your Body nor is there any Necessity for it to have all the Satisfaction that you wish In less than two Hours Time I 'll make you a World wherein shall be a Sun an Earth Planets Comets and every thing you see more Curious and observable in yours and since this World I am about to make is not to stand for good and all but is only an Essay of another I intend to build at my Leisure of far greater Capacity and Perfection I can easily interrupt and break the Motions to let you see in a little Time the different Changes which occur not in the Parts of the great World but in the Process of Years Come on then let us begin said he but follow me exactly in the Principles I lay down and the Reflections I shall make you observe Above all interrupt me not After these few Words M. Desâ—artes prepar'd himself for the executing his Projection Which was by the Exposition or rather Supposition of some of his most Important Principles thought necessary to qualifie us for the comprehending the Dispatch of that grand Master-piece Conceive in the first Place said he that all this vast Space is Matter For this Space is extended and nothing is not capable of being so This Space therefore is an extended Substance or which is the same Thing Matter Whoever can doubt of this Truth can doubt if a Mountain can be without a Valley Conceive in the second Place That in Nature there are two inviolable Laws The first is That every Body will ever maintain the Post and Capacity it has once been put in will never change it till some External Cause shall force it if it is in rest it will be in Rest eternally if it is in Motion it will continue eternally in Motion if it is of a Square Figure it will preserve its Square Figure always The Line A G is the Tangent the Stone would describe supposing it to be freed from the Sling at the Point A. These Principles are the rich and fruitful Sources of that infinity of admirable Truths of which True Philosophy is compos'd and the only Rules I will and ought to follow in the Production of the World I am about This short Speech ended I was wonderfully edify'd in seeing M. Descartes fall to Prayers and make an humble Acknowledgment to God of all those intellectual Gifts and Blessings he had vouchsaf'd him Sovereign Being said he thou bearest me witness That never Mortal acknowledg'd that absolute Dominion thou hast over all thy Creatures with greater Respect and Submission than my self So long as I had my Being in the Land of the Living I made it my Business to convince Men of that entire Dependence they have on thee having persuaded many of that important Truth That thou art the only Being which can produce every thing in the World That it is a punishable Pride in Men to conceit themselves capable of causing the least Motion imaginable in Matter and that the very Motion their Soul supposes she influences on the Body which she animates is purely the effect of thy Almighty Power that in concurrence with the Laws thy Wisdom itself has confirm'd moves the Members of the Body with such exactness and celerity on occasion of the Desires and Inclinations of the Soul as persuades her it is herself that moves them though at the same Time she confesses her Ignorance of the manner whereby it must be done That bright and lively influx wherewith thou hast enlightned my Understanding hath guided me out of that Laberynth of common Delusion and open'd me the way and Method I ought to take in the Study and Contemplation of thy wonderful Works Though I at present undertake to work upon that immense Matter which thy infinite Bounty seems to have left at my Disposal and though I have assum'd the Freedom of warranting my Disciples the Production of a World like that of thy own Making yet it is wholly in Dependence on thy Power I have made this account Yea Lord I shall contribute in no wise to that Operation but by the Desires of my Will which thou out of thy gracious Goodness wilt be pleased to second by impressing so much Motion on this Matter as I shall wish for and by giving this Motion Determinations necessary to the End which I propose Reason and Experience having taught me That every pure Spirit such as am I my self by one of the Universal Rules to which thou conformest thy external Actions hath Right and Priviledg of so much Motion as is sufficient to move the Matter of a World Manifest then Lord thy Power in Condescention to a Spiritual Creature that makes this humble Confession of his Weakness and give us farther occasion to praise and glorifie thy Name Having finish'd his Devotion M. Descartes mark'd out a round Space of about five hundred Leagues diameter for the making a little Sampler of his World whereupon thus he spake Gentlemen I shall at present only represent you the Solary Vortex of your World and all that is therein that is to say the Sun the Earth the Planets the Elements the Disposition of its principal Parts and the different Relations and Dependences they have on one another if you will honour me with a Visit some Years hence you shall see the Great World finish'd The first thing I shall do is to divide in almost equal Parts all the Matter comprehended in the Space I have chalk'd out All those Parts shall be very Small but yet they must be less before I have done with them They must not all be of a Spherical Figure 'cause if they were all so shap'd there must necessarily be an Interval or Void betwixt them But a Void is impossible they must therefore be of all Shapes and Figures but angular for the generality Secondly whereas the Union of the Parts of Matter purely consist in that Repose they are in one by another that Division I propose to make will last no longer than I shall agitate them several ways and drive them on every Side Thirdly Since the Fluidity of Matter is nothing but the Motion of its smallest Parts agitated different ways upon my Division and Agitation of it in that wise I shall make it fluid as hard and consistent as it is at present Again this round Space of five hundred Leagues which I have cut out for the building of my little World being once made fluid I shall divide it into twenty Parts or twenty Vortexes that shall be severally constituted of infinite insensible Parts of Matter S The Vortex of the Sun Finally you must conceive each Vortex as a kind of Firmament at whose Centre will be an Astre or fix'd Star so that in making twenty Vortexes in the Space which
happen'd a Change of infinite Figures that this Change was made only by the Fraction or Separation of the Parts that that Fraction was occasion'd by the Motion and that the Motion was impossible without that Fraction That the Impulse that serv'd to put these Bodies in Motion was the Cause of both the Motion and Fraction That the Fraction of a Part was caused immediately whether by one of the Solid Bodies or by another part of the Water for instance the Angle of a Cube was no otherwise separated from the rest of the Mass or any other Part to which it was joyn'd than by another part that slipt in betwixt them both or so exactly seiz'd its Place as to fit it to an Hair and finally that nothing could prevent the Motion and Fraction of the Parts except such a Situation among themselves as rendered it impossible for one Part to take the Place of another in the Moment of Desertion For all being full before the Motion it is necessary in the Motion all remain full still Let us suppose at present all this Water and all these little Bodies restated in the same Condition they were in before the Motion And let us conceive instead of the parts of Water that possess'd all the Intervals betwixt the solid Bodies some other solid Bodies that precisely take up the same Space the Watry parts took up before Or let us only suppose the Water congeal'd but without any diminution or augmentation of its Mass. Let us farther suppose that God made an attempt to move this Matter and that he indeavour'd at once to divide all its parts exactly in the same manner as the parts of Water whose place it fills were divided in the instant of their Motion I suppose not any Motion yet but only an Effort for the producing it and there 's no Contradiction in that Effort But I maintain that from that Effort or Attempt Motion and Fraction must inevitably follow And thus I argue From that Attempt which I suppose Motion and Fraction must needs follow if nothing hinders But nothing hinders For the disposition to Motion and to Fraction is the same in this Hypothesis wherein I suppose nothing but solid Bodies as it was in the foregoing wherein I suppose liquid Bodies mixt with solid ones and if the repugnancy to Motion and to Fraction which some imagine in the latter be invincible it would be invincible in the former too For if in the first Hypothesis of liquid Bodies mingled with solid ones we imagine the parts so crowded and determin'd as that one going to move another is unable to gain its place in the same instant we imagine that the Motion and Fraction of parts can never be As it happens in the Experiment of the Bottle before mentioned Because an absolute fulness being suppos'd all the parts combine in the resistance of the Motion of each Particular But whilst we conceive the parts of this Matter so push'd and determin'd that supposing one to move another in the same Instant takes its place and another the place of that thus we conceive Motion and Fraction infallibly must follow the Impulsion But in the second Hypothesis of solid Bodies supposing God to force and determine the parts of those Bodies precisely in the same manner as the Parts of Water had been determin'd in the first Hypothesis at the first instant of Motion and Fraction it is plain that in case one move another must instantly take its place since it is exactly driven and determined as the parts of Water was that took that place Therefore Motion must follow in the second Hypothesis as in the first All the difference lyes in this that the parts of Water being with the greatest ease imaginably divided but a very inconsiderable force is required to move them and the parts of solid Bodies being more difficult to be divided a far greater impulse would be required to do it But M. Descartes has liberty if he pleases to suppose this Infinte and that resistance which God would find would not be of all the parts in general against the division of each in Particular a resistance we find insurmountable in Plenitute that 's fluid But would only be the resistance of each part against its own Division which we can most distinctly conceive not to come up to invincible In a word the Motion and Division of solid Bodies is possible in Pleno whilst we conceive the different parts of these same Bodies push'd towards all parts imaginable of the Space and so determin'd that upon one's Desertion of a place another immediately fills it For without this Proviso Motion is impossible even in Fluids and with it it is necessary though in solid Bodies Although said I unto them this Explication seems to me a true Demonstration yet I pretend not to recommend it unto you as such I am satisfied if it only staggers your Opinion of the certainty of the contrary Arguments ordinarily made use of in this matter and I question not but that after you have considered it with Attention you will grant me more than at present I demand In effect my Academicks seem'd well enough satisfy'd with what I said scarce above one Scruple more stuck by them proceeding from a Supposal of theirs that in the first Instant of division you gave a cubical Figure to all the parts of Matter A Circumstance that still blunted their Imagination To this I answer'd that would they but reflect on what I had been explaining to them they would clearly perceive that Circumstance made no particular Difficulty but throughly to dispossess them of all uneasiness I assur'd them you never had made that Supposition as your own Words might easily convince them that in your Book of Principles you suppose no more than this That all the parts of Matter were not Spherical and that in your Discourse of Light you give them all imaginable Figures I farther shew'd them the places and brought them to confess the little Honesty or Exactness of some Authors who thus adapted the Exposition of your Doctrin to their Phancy and the way that lay most advantagious to attack you in Lastly in two or three Words I gave them your own Thoughts and Sense thereupon which I always took to be the same with this viz. That God in the first agitation and division of Matter reduc'd it into all kind of Figures which he forc'd and determin'd every way towards all sides of the Space That he thereby made a liquid Body great Portions whereof he after took to move them circularly and make Vortexes wherein the generality of the insensible parts that constitute them turn'd round about their Centre that by this Motion there was made a continual change in the parts of Matter some losing their Angles others uniting and linking themselves to one another That I after you believ'd the same thing happen'd every moment among the insensible parts of all liquid Bodies and thence it was that you infer'd