thereof observe the diversity difference and relation of its parts their figures their motion and functions the Alterations to which they are Subject and to conclude on the means to preserve them in good disposition and to restore it to them when it is changed They need no more for this but to know the nature of Extrinsical bodies which have any reference to their own discover their Properties and all that renders them capable of making any impression good or bad thereon this is known by the aid of the Senses and by the various Experiments that are made upon them And Women being equally capable of the one as well as the other might learn as well as we Physick and Medicine Is there need of so much understanding to know that Breathing is absolutely necessary for the preservation of life and that it is performed by the means of the Air which entering by the pipe of the nose and mouth is insinuated into the lungs for the cooling of the blood which passeth that way in Circulation and there causeth different Alterations according as it is more or less Gross by the Mixture of Vapours and Exhortations with which we see it sometimes blended Is it a matter so difficult to discover that the tast of Food consists on the part of the body in the different manner how it is allayed on the tongue by the Spitle There is no Person but finds after meals that the Victuals which then are put into the mouth being divided quite other ways than those with which we are Nourished cause there a Sensation less pleasing That which remains to be known of the Functions of Mans body being considered in order have nothing more of difficulty The Passions are certainly that which is most Curious in this matter We may therein observe two things the Motions of the body with the thoughts and stirrings of the Soul which concurr in them Women may know this as easily as we do And as to the causes which excite Passions we know how they do it When we have once by the study of Natural Philosophy comprehended their manner how Circumambient things affect and touch us And by experience and use how we thereto apply or separate our wills and inclinations In making regular Meditations upon the objects of the three Sciences lastly spoken of a Woman may observe that the order of her thoughts ought to follow that of Nature that then they are exact when they are conform thereto that there is nothing but hast and precipitation in our Judgements which hinders that exactitude And marking consequentially the Oeconomy which she hath observed to attain thereto she may make Reflections which may serve her as a Rule for the future and form to her-self there-from a Logick If it be objected notwithstanding of this That Women by themselves could never acquire these knowledges which is but said at least we cannot deny but that with the help of Masters and Books they might As the ablest men in all ages have done It is enough to alledge the acknowledged property of the Sex to prove it capable of understanding the proportions of the Mathematicks And we should contradict our selves to doubt that if it applyed it self to the making of Engines it would succeed as well therein as our own since we our selves allow it more invention and artifice There is need but of eyes and a little attention in observing the Appearances of nature To make us remark that the Sun and all the Luminous bodyes of the Heavens are real Fires since they heat and light us in the same manner as the Fires here below that they appear'd successively to answer to several parts of the earth and so be able to judge of their Motion and Course And whosoever can roul in his head great designs and set to work the Movements thereof may there likewise with exactness turn the whole Machin of the World if he have but once well observed the diverse Appearances of the same We have already found in Women all the Dispositions which render Men proper for the Sciences which concern them separately in themselves And if we continue to consider them within distance we shall also fir'd in them those which are necessary for the Sciences which regard them as tyed altogether with their like in Civil Society It is a Fault in Vulgar Philosophy to place amongst Sciences so great a Distinction that following that peculiar Method of it we cannot acknowledge any Tye or Coherence amongst them which is the cause that we restrain so much the Extent of Humane Understanding imagining to our selves that the same Man is never almost capable of many Sciences that to be fit for Natural Phylosophy or Medicine one is not thereby proper for Rhetorick or Divinity and that there ought to be as many different Capacities as there are Sciences in the World This Thought proceeds on the one hand from this That Men confound ordinarily Nature with Custome in taking the Disposition of certain Persons to one Science rather than another for an Effect of their Natural Constitution when indeed it is often but a Casual Inclination coming from Necessity Education or Habit And on the other hand for want of having Remarked that there is properly but one Science in the World which is the Knowledge of our selves and that all others are onely particular Applications thereof In effect the Difficulty which we find at this day to learn the Tongues Moral Philosophy and the rest consists only in this That we know not how to referr them to this general Science From whence it may have arrived That all those who have believed Women capable of Natural Philosophy and Medicine may not have therefore judged them capable of the Sciences that we are to speak of However the Difficulty is the same on both sides It is the business in All to think aright And this we do by applying seriously our Minds to the Objects which represent themselves to us that we may raise from them clear and distinct Notions that we may eye them in all their different Faces and Relations and that we may pass no Judgement thereon but upon what appears manifestly true With this we need no more but to dispose our Thoughts in a Natural Order for the obtaining of a perfect Science And here there is nothing too High for Women For such of them who may be by this way instructed in Natural Philosophy and Medicine may likewise by the same become capable of all others Wherefore might they not perceive that the necessity of living in Society obliging us to Communicate our Thoughts by some External Signes the most expedient of all others is Speech which consists in the use of Words agreed on amongst Men That we ought to have as many of them as we have Notions of things That they ought to have some Relation of Sound and Signification one with another to make us learn and retain them with more ease and that we should not be
we Respect those that are under him Most part of Men preferr Souldiers to Judges because they directly oppose themselves to those who in most terrible manner attack our Lives and every one sets a Value upon Persons as they judge them more or less useful So that Women seem to be the most Estimable since their Service which they render to the Publick is incomparably greater than that of all others whosoever Men might absolutely dispense with Princes Souldiers and Merchants as they did in the beginning of the World and as Savages do still even to this Day But in our Infancy we cannot be without Women In States that are well pacified the most part of those who have Authority are as Men dead and useless but Women never cease to be necessary to us The Ministers of Justice are only proper to preserve Goods and Estates to those who possess them but Women to preserve Life Souldiers are employed for Men grown up and capable to defend themselves but Women labour for Men when as yet they know not what they are if they have Enemies or Friends and at that time when they have no other Arms but Tears against such as attack them Masters Magistrates and Princes do not often-times bestir themselves but for Glory and particular Interest when Women do nothing but for the good of the Children whom they breed In short The Pains the Cares the Troubles and Assiduities to which they expose themselves can in no wise be matched in any other state of Civil Society whatsoever There is nothing then but Fancy which renders them less Valuable Men would largely Reward him who had tamed a Tyger Such who have the Skill to train Horses Apes and Elephants are well considered of and we speak with Elogy of a Man that hath composed a small Work which hath cost him but little time and pains And shall we neglect Women that spend many Years in breeding and forming of Children If we enquire into the Reason thereof we shall find it is Because the one is onely more ordinary than the other What Historians say to the Prejudice of Women makes deeper Impression on the Minds of Men than the Discourses of Orators For as they seem to put forth nothing of their own Heads so is their Testimony less suspected Besides that it is suitable to that whereof Men are already perswaded when they report Women to have been in former times the same which they are believed to be at present But all the Authority which they have upon the spirits of Men is nothing but a very common Prejudice in regard of Antiquity which Men represent to themselves under the Image of a Venerable Old Man who having much Wisdom and Experience is uncapable of being deceived or of speaking any thing but Truth Whil'st in the mean time the Antients are no less Men than we are and as much subject to Errour and we ought no more at present to assent to their Opinions than we would have done in their own times Men heretofore considered Women as now they do and with as little Reason So whatsoever Men say concerning that ought to be suspected seeing they are both Judge and Party And when any one brings against them the Sentiments of a thousand Authors that History is only to be considered as a Tradition of Prejudices and Mistakes There is also as little Fidelity and Exactitude in Antient Histories as there is in Familiar Rehearsals wherein we sufficiently know that there is almost none at all They that have wrote Them have there-with mingled their Passions and Interest and the most part having but had confused Notions of Vice and Vertue have often mistaken the one for the other And those who likewise Read Them with the ordinary Pre-occupation fail not to run into the same Fault In the Prejudice wherein they have been engaged they have made it their business to exaggerate and raise the Vertues and Advantages of their own Sex and to debase and weaken the Merit of VVomen by a contrary Interest This is so easie to be discovered that I need not adduce Instances Notwithstanding if we can but a little rip-up what is past we may find enough to prove that Women have not in any thing yielded to men and that the Vertue which they have made appear hath been more excellent if we sincerely consider all the Circumstances thereof we may observe that they have giv'n as great markes of Wit and Capacity upon all occasions That there have been some who have governed great States and Empires with Wisdom and moderation that cannot be parallel'd others who have rendred Justice with an integrity equall to that of the Athenian Areopagites Many who by their prudence and counsells have restablished peace and tranquillity to Kingdomes and a throne to their Husbands Some have been seen at the head of Armies or with a courage more than Heroical defending themselves upon the walls of Townes How many have there been whose Chastity could receive no blemish neither by the terrible threats nor splendid promises which men made to them and who with a Generous and astonishing Gallantry have endured the most horrible torments for the cause of Religion How many have there been who have rendered themselves as compleat as men in all sorts of Sciences who have dived into the most Curious Secrets of Nature the most quaint of Policy the most solid of Morality and who have Elevated themselves to the highest Pitch of Christian Divinity So that History which the prejudiced abuse against that Sex to abase it may serve to those who look thereon with the eyes of equity to prove that it is in all respects as noble as our own The Authority of Laws has a great Weight upon many men as to that which concerns the Women because they make particular profession of rendering to every one their right They place the Wives under the Juridiction of their Husbands as children under the power of their fathers and alledge that it is Nature that hath assigned them the smaller functions of Society and placed them at distance from publick Authority Men think themselves sufficiently grounded to say the same after them but I hope it is lawfull without wounding the Respect which is their due to differ from them in Judgment We should strangely puzzle them If we obliged them to explain themselves intelligibly about that which they call Nature in this case and make us understand in what manner she hath distinguished the two Sexes as they pretend We must consider that they who have made or compiled the Law be-being men have favoured their own Sex as VVomen possibly might have done had they been in their place And Laws being made since the Constitution of Societies in the same manner in respect of Women as they are at present the Lawyers who had likewise their prejudice have attributed to Nature a distinction which is only drawen from Custome besides that it was not at all necessary to change
that all the Parcels thereof are dispersed through the several parts of the Liquor Hitherto I should teach him no new thing And if after the same manner I had told him What it is to be in Repose or in Motion I should have brought him to acknowledge that the Nature of Liquors consist in this That their insensible Particles are in perpetual Motion which requires them to be enclosed in a Vessel and disposes them to give easie Entry to hard Bodies And that the Particles of Water which are little glib and pointed insinuating themselves into the Pores of the Sugar shake and divide the Parts thereof by their Justling and moving themselves every way transport with them into all the Quarters of the Vessel that which they have separated This Notion of Liquors which is a Part taken from the Body of Natural Philosophy would appear a great deal more clear if we saw it in its proper Place and Order and it hath nothing which the meanest sort of VVomen are not able to understand The rest of all our Knowledges being proposed in Order and Method have no greater Difficulty And if we consider attentively we shall find that every Science of Reasoning requires but less wit and time than is necessary to learn to make Point or Tapistry In effect the Notions of Natural things are necessary and we form them alwayes after the same manner Adam had them as we have Children have them as Old Men and VVomen as Men And these Idea's are renewed confirmed and entertained by the continual use of Sense The Mind is alwayes in Action and he that knows well how it proceeds in one thing discovers without trouble how it works in all others There is nothing but More and Less betwixt the Impression made by the Sun and that of a Spark of Fire And to think well thereon there is neither need of great Skill nor Exercise of Body It is not so in the Works of which I have spoken There is need of greater Application of Spirit the Idea's thereof being Arbitrary are harder to be learned and retained which is the cause that so much time is necessary for to Learn well a Trade because it depends on long Exercise There is Skill required rightly to observe the Proportions on a Canvas to Distribute equally the Silk or the Wool to mingle with Exactness the Colours neither to joyne too close nor keep too open the Points to place no more in one Rank than in another to make the little Knots imperceptible In a word One must know to make and vary in a thousand different Wayes the Works of Art to be skillful therein when as in Sciences there is no more required but an orderly viewing of Works already made and alwayes Uniform and all the difficulty of Success therein proceeds more from the Incapacity of Masters than from the Objects or Disposition of the Body We must not then any more wonder to see Men and VVomen without Study entertain themselves about things which concern Sciences since the Method of Teaching of them serves only to certifie our Judgements which are confounded by Precipitation Custom and Use. The Notion which we have given of Knowledge in general might suffice to perswade unprejudiced Persons That Men and VVomen are equally capable thereof But because the contrary Opinion is most deeply rooted we must for the intire plucking of it up Fight it by Principles to the end that joyning the Appearances agreeing to the Beautiful Sex which have been presented in the First Part with the Natural Reasons which we shall here-after adduce Men may fully be convinced in favour of it That Women considered according to the Principles of Sound Philosophy are as capable as Men of all Sorts of Sciences IT is easie to be Remarked That the Difference of Sexes regards only the Body there being no other but that Part properly which serves for the Production of Men And the Spirit concurring no other way but by its Consent which it lends to all after the same manner we may conclude That in it there is no Sex at all If we consider it in our selves we find it equal and of the same Nature in all Men and capable of all sorts of Thoughts The smallest busie it as well as the greatest and there is no less required to the right knowing of a Gnat than of an Elephant Whosoever knows wherein consists the Light and Fire of a Sparkle knows also the Light of the Sun When we are accustomed to reflect on things which only concern the Spirit we perceive therein all at least as clearly as in the most material things which are discerned by the senses I can discover no greater difference between the Spirit of a dull and ignorant man and of that one who is delicate and ingenious than betwixt the Spirit of the same man considered at the age of ten years and at the age of Fourty And since there appeareth no more betwixt that of the two Sexes we may affirm that their difference is not on that side the constitution of the body But particularly the Education Exercise and the impressions that come from all that does surround us being every where the Natural and Sensible causes of so many diversities as are observed therein It is God who unites the Soul to the body of a Woman as to that of a Man and who joynes them by the same Lawes The sentiments the passions and inclinations make and entertain that Union And the Spirit operating after the same manner in the one as well as the other is there equally capable of the same things This is yet more clear when we consider onely the Head the sole organe of Sciences and where the soul exerciseth all its functions the most exact Anatomy remarks to us no difference in this part between Men and Women their brain is altogether like to ours The impressions of sense are received and muster themselves there in the same fashion and are no otherwise preserved for Imagination and Memory Women hear as we do by the ears they see by the eyes and they tast with the Tongue And there is nothing peculiar in the disposition of these Organs but that the Women have them ordinarily more delicate which is an advantage So that the outward objects affects them after the the same manner Light by the eyes and Sound by the eares Who can hinder them then to apply themselves to the consideration of themselves To Examine in what consists the nature of the soul how many kinds of thoughts there are and how they are excited by occasion of certain corporeal Motions to consult afterwards the natural Notions which they have of God and to begin with things Spiritual to dispose in order their thoughts and to frame to themselves that Science 〈◊〉 we call the Metaphysicks 〈…〉 Since they have also eyes and hands may they not make themselves or see others perform the dissection of an humane body consider the Symmetry and structure