examine the effect it produceth in the Ear it striketh and in the Brain it shaketh In regard that the Anatomy of the Ear is a thing commonly known and that 't is sufficient for every one to be persuaded in the general that it is an Organ dispos'd to receive the air when 't is propelled by Bodies which by touching one another drive it from betwixt them or repelled by hard Bodies or issuing out of the Lungs of an Animal I shall make no description of it I desire only it may be observ'd that as many different shakings there are in the Air so many different sorts there are of its passing into the Ear and that according to those diversities it causeth a different agitation in the Membrane stretch'd out in the bottom of the Ear and in the Nerves answering thereto It may also be judged by what we know of the construction of Animals even of Beasts that according as the Agitation of the Nerves of the Ear is different the Brain must be agitated in different parts and likewise that 't is alwayes according as those different parts are agitated that the spirits are differently distributed into the members But all that is perform'd by a necessary sequel of the mechanical disposition of the whole Body of every Animal and even of every Beast which being of a certain kind that is made for one thing or another hath all what is necessary to effect what the Author of Nature proposed to himself in forming it It hath the Brain so adjusted according to its temperament for all what may conserve it that if the Objects which can hurt it move its Brain 't is alwayes after such a manner which maketh it to open in the places whence the spirits may flow into the muscles which serve to make it retire from those Objects and if the Objects which can benefit it move its Brain 't is alwayes in such a manner as maketh it to open in the places whence the spirits may be diffused into the muscles which serve to make it approach to those Objects so that if we suppose that one and the same noise striking the ears of two Beasts of differing kind do agitate at the same time their Brains we are to believe that that agitation being diversly made in each and in different parts of their Brain according as that which causes the noise shall be agreeable or contrary to it it will also happen that the course of the spirits being necessarily different in those two Beasts one of them shall be carried far from the object whilst the other approacheth to it Thus the howling of a Wolf may make a Sheep fly but at the same time bring to him another Wolf But 't is necessary to observe here that although the Art whereby the Brain of Animals is composed be infinitely varied and that 't is admirable herein that according to their different conformations 't is always found so artificially disposed that those Creatures must necessarily and according to all the rules of the Mechanicks approach to what is naturally good for them and retire from what is naturally noxious to them yet it was not possible that within the small compass of their Brain there should be so many differing springs that they could have a proportion necessary and always well suited to all sorts of Objects But instead thereof their Brain is made of a substance soft enough easily to receive new impressions and yet consistent enough to retain those which in some places thereof are made by certain objects which being neither naturally good nor ill for them do yet sometimes occasion considerable benefit or mischief to them and frequently those traces which at first were not in the Brain remain there so well marked that when the Objects which caused them present themselves the places keeping the impression being more agitated by them than the other diffuse thence such spirits into the muscles as serve to carry the Animal nearer to or further from those Objects according as they have been found beneficial or noxious to it Mean time whereas there is much more danger for the Animal to suffer the approach of the Objects that can hurt it than there would be in the not approaching those that might do it good at the time when there is yet no impression in its Brain at the occasion of an Object if then it happen that from a noise that Object begin to shake the Brain of the Creature it will never fail to fly especially if the Air hath been agitated strongly or in such a way that hath troubled the Brain I believe there is no body that hath not often felt in himself the effects of this surprise and experimented how much the Will which the Soul then hath to keep the Body in certain places is controled by this natural Disposition which maketh all the Spirits and Muscles conspire together to transport it far from those places where a noise is made especially when 't is so great that the whole Body is threatned to be there destroyed Every one may also have found what force the agitation made in the Brain by a noise not ordinary hath to make the Spirits without one's thinking on 't flow into the muscles that serve to transport the Body out of the places where that noise happens But since this is not yet the place proper to examine what the Soul's part is in Speech we must to finish the Observations of what she borrows from the Body for the formation of a Voice call to mind a Note I have already made which is that the same Nerves which answer to the Ears have branches going to the Teeth the Tongue the Entrance of the Wind-pipe and generally to all the places which serve to form or modifie the Voice so that following Nature's Institution the same shaking of the Auditory Nerves which affects the Brain with the motion caused by a voice in the Air is also the cause that the Spirits which flow from the Brain into the Nerves of all the parts serving for the Voice dispose their Muscles in a manner which answering to the Impression made by the Voice in the Brain puts them into a state to form a Voice altogether like it And if it have been necessary that the correspondence which is between the Auditory Nerves and the Brain should be such that when it should be moved by the concussions of the air that should be done in different places of it according to the diversity of Noises to the end that following that diversity the Spirits might diffuse themselves into the Muscles that can carry away or stay the Animal according as the causes of that noise are good or ill for the whole Body It was no less requisite there should be a sufficient commerce between the same Auditory Nerves and those of the parts that serve for the Voice to bring it to pass that when a voice should strike the ear the Muscles of those parts might immediately be
of the food does not fail to excite them to repeat the same songs or words And to understand this well we must conceive that Brutes learn their cry from others of their kind and that ordinarily the food is the cause of it For their young ones having at the same time their Ears struck by the cries always made by their Dams at the presence of some food which they have not yet the possession of and their Eyes also struck by that food it self it must come to pass that the place of their brain which always receives those two agitations at once gets thence in time such an impression made in it that the spirits taking their course from that place to the throat and the muscles serving for the voice must needs dispose them after such a manner as answering to the impression of the brain causeth those young ones to make a cry like that of their Dam. But when they are brought up by men and when Linets for example are bred in a Cage and that in-stead of the cry of their Dam it happens that in the presence of the food certain strange songs or humane words strike their ears 't is no wonder if those words or songs making impression in the same place of the brain whence that food should have made the spirits to flow into the muscles of the throat and beak to cause them to make the noise which birds make at the presence of a food they hold not yet are cause that the spirits being otherwise directed do also otherwise dispose the muscles of the throat tongue and beak of those young Birds and make them sing songs and utter words instead of the cry which they would have form'd if their Dam had bred them This must needs so happen and even those songs or words may then be call'd their natural cry or song because having always accompany'd an action that hath made so deep an Impression on their brain it cannot be that that action should move their brain and the spirits should not also flow presently to the muscles which serve for that song or those words And likewise if they have been put in a certain condition or in a certain place to make them learn the better they will sooner repeat what they have been taught if they be put again in the same condition and place than in any other 'T is easie also to understand why it hath sometimes happn'd that a great noise as that of a Trumpet having at one blow shaken altogether the ear of a Bird hath made so strong an Impression in his brain that having struck out all the others the spirits have no more diffused themselves towards his throat than in such a manner as might dispose the muscles of the Larinx to return sounds altogether like that of a Trumpet And we must not wonder if the passages through which those spirits flow to the throat being more difficult to be moved than the brain to be shaken the Bird remains sometimes in a kind of silence for many days before he renders that sound nor also if that silence be perpetual when the parts which serve for the voice are not capable to form a like one to the sound which hath so strongly mov'd the Brain In short there is no intelligent man who after this discourse sees not why an Animal being born deaf must needs be dumb From all which it results with sufficient evidence to a considering Man first That 't is the Lungs and the structure of the Wind-pipe the mouth the palat the teeth and the muscles of all those parts which by receiving and repelling or in diversly modifying the Air is the cause enabling us to form Voices and to articulate them Secondly That 't is by reason of the communication which is between the brains and the other parts of the body of every Animal that it is diversly agitated by those Voices Thirdly That in every Animal capable to form Voices there is such a commerce from the ear to the brain and from the brain to all the parts serving for the voice that the same voice which shakes the brain by the intervention of the ear disposeth it also to diffuse the spirits into the muscles of those parts which spirits putting them into a posture answerable to the manner in which that voice did strike the brain make them form a voice altogether like it if some pressing necessity of the Animal diverts not the course of the spirits to another place Which being once well understood it will be easie to know a thousand things which commonly enough are not known touching the different effects of the cry and noise of Animals which I mean not to explain more particularly because that all those who have attention enough to conceive the few principles which I have laid down will from thence draw all what is necessary to explain it and because those that are not capable of such an attention would not conceive what I could say of it even in a more particular discourse I shall only stay to consider here that according to these Principles Brutes need no Soul to cry or to be moved by cries For if they be toucht in any place or their nerves struck with force enough to cause a great shake in their Brain 't is sufficiently easie to conceive that that action agitating the spirits these must flow much more swiftly into the muscles and by this means the swiftness of those that run incessantly to the heart augmenting must render the pulses thereof more precipitate which maketh it propel so great a plenty of bloud into the Artery of the Lungs that this Artery being more distended than ordinarily presseth the Wind-pipe and maketh the air to be driven out of the Lungs with an impetuosity answerable to that whereby the bloud enter'd there The second effect of this quick agitation of the spirits is that at the same time they flow to the heart some of them diffuse themselves also to all the other muscles that are in a continual action as those of the breast because whereas the passages through which the spirits are conveyed in those sorts of muscles are alwayes open by reason of the necessity of their continual action the spirits cannot receive a new motion without presently communicating it to those Muscles which causeth those of the Diaphragme and Breast press the Breast in such a manner as makes the air issue out with unusual force and seeing the muscles of the Larinx are also strongly agitated the air thence getting out is beaten in a manner which holds somewhat of that agitation Thus it may be conceived from the sole disposition of the Body why a Brute cries And to know how it may be moved by cries without having a Soul you need but remember the communion there is between the brain the parts serving for the voice and all the parts of the body For if according to the difference of cries the brains are diversly moved
means of knowing Others and that is SPEECH I explain as far as I am able What it is and poursuant to my first dessein I endeavour in this Discourse exactly to distinguish what it borrows of the Soul from what it holds of the Body I. To begin this Inquiry with the more certainty I do not reason but upon what I have found within my self in the Sixth Discourse of the lately mentioned Book and as if I had never yet been assured there were other Men besides my self I stay in the very beginning upon this Consideration viz. Whether it be necessary that all the Bodies which I see to be like mine be united to Souls like mine Resolving with my self not to believe it unless I have such evident signes thereof that I may doubt no more of it I examine What those Bodies do that 's most surprising and as long as I can rationally impute the Cause thereof to the Disposition of their Organs I think I may safely affirme they have no Soul But after having found in the sole Disposition of the parts of those Bodies that thence I can render a reason of Noise the Sounds the difference of the Voices and the very Words utter'd by Echo's and Parrets I am at length obliged to admit Souls in all the Bodies that resemble mine and to acknowledge it not possible for them to speak to such purpose as they do without being endowed with Reason 2. Next having found That to speak is in general nothing else but to Give signes of our Thoughts I observe some of those signes The first I consider are the Motions of the Eyes or Face and such Cryes as ordinarily accompany the differing states of the Body And I take notice that they are naturally conjoyn'd with the Passions of which the Soul is sensible on the occasion of changes in the Body and that the best way we have to manifest what she suffers is not to strain the Face Eyes or Voice I note likewise that this way of explicating our selves is the first of Tongues and the most Universal there being no Nation but understands it But I observe at the same time that the wickedness of Men hath made that the most deceitful of all Besides those Natural signes of the Passions of the Soul I discover others which are but Instituted ones by which she can express what ever she conceives I shew briefly the agreement and the difference of some of those signes to make all to be understood what I intend to deduce from thence in this place and reserving to my self to discourse of it more strictly and more to my purpose thereafter I stay to consider How one may invent a Language How a man may learn the Tongue of a Country where no body understands his and lastly How Children learn to speak I admire how their Reason is put to it in that Infant-age to make them discern and distinguish the signification of every word above all the Order which they follow for that purpose appears to Me surprising forasmuch as 't is altogether like that of the Grammar so that seeing how much this Art imitates Nature I find no difficulty to make it out How those that have given us the Rules thereof have learnt them from little Children And in this whole research I meet with so many Arguments to evince the Distinction of the Bâ—dy and Soul that to me it seems not there can any thing be more evidently known than â—he 3 After some reflexâ—â—ns â—nâ—â— important a Truth I betake my self for the yet better knowing of the nature of Speâ—ch to unfold in this place all what is to be found in it on the score of the Body I consider therefore in him that speaketh the manner how the Air enters into the Lungs why it maketh a sound in issuing out at the Wind-pipe How the Muscles that serve to open or shut this conduit diversifie the sound What parts of the mouth are employed to determine it in a Voyce What is the configuration of every one in these different terminations and what is the Change of the Throat the Tongue the Teeth and the Lips in all the Articulations Which giveth me to understand as much as needs what Speech is as far as it depends upon the Body I observe with the same accurateness the effect which by sound is produced in the Ear and Brain of him that heareth I find it is from the correspondency between the Brain and the other parts of every Animal that it can be so differently moved by different sounds and examining chiefly the use of the Nerves which diffuse themselves from the Ear to all the parts serving to form the voice I discover the reasons of many odd effects and amongst them of certain Birds imitating the singing of others and the sound of our Musical Instruments and often our very Words 4. I also draw from thence a convincing argument that Brutes need no soul to cry or to be moved by Voyces or even to imitate the sound of our words and that if the cry of those that are of the same species disposeth them to approach one another and maketh those that are of a different kind to retire the cause of that is to be sought no where else but in their Bodies and the different construction of their Organs But at the same time I find that in Men the motion of the parts which serve for the Voyce or of those that are moved by it is ever accompanied with some thoughts and that in Speech there are alwayes two things viz. the Formation of the Voyce which cannot proceed but from the Body and the Signification or the Idea that is joyn'd therewith which cannot come but from the Soul 5. And because hitherto I have said almost nothing of the Voice of Writing and of Signes but what may serve to declare what those three wayes of expressing our thoughts have common there having been no occasion sooner to observe the differences of each I take notice in this place of three sorts of Signes of two sorts of Writing and of two of Voices I stay principally upon the last on which occasion I finish the explication of what the order of the precedent matters had not permitted me to explicate sooner touching the easiness or difficulty there is in joyning certain Idea's to certain Words when we learn a Language And making out as accurately as I can how all that is done I find that the trouble which some have to conceive or to explain themselves is not an imperfection in the Soul and that that marvellous facility which others enjoy to express thâ—mselves proceeds only from an happy Disposition of the Brain and of all the parts that serve for the Voyce or for the Motions of the Body 6. On which occasion I inquire into the natural causes of Eloquence and find that to the perfection thereof are required two talents at once which by birth are never given to one and the same person
destroy them I see even some of them quit the food they need and the places that shelter them from what may be noxious to them to run thither where their destruction is in a manner certain And that makes me reasonably presume that in such occasions they may be guided by somewhat that is very differing from themselves For when I see that they approch resolutely to what is destructive to them and abandon what may preserve them I cannot ascribe those effects to this Mechanical proportion or agreement that is between them and the Objects And since I have often noted that notwithstanding the bent my body hath towards certain things and that in spight of the force wherewith its structure makes it avoid others I have yet a will contrary to its natural disposition which makes it often to be transported after a manner quite differing from that it would be if it follow'd nothing else but the disposition of its organs and the force which the objects exercise upon it I can hardly keep my self from believing but that the motion of all the Bodies that resemble mine depends from a will like mine In a word I can scarce doubt of it when I reflect on the chain of many of their actions that have no relation at all to what can preserve them and above all the connexion I find between the Words I hear them utter at all times seems to demonstrate to me that they have Thoughts For although I do very well conceive that a meer Engin might utter some words yet I understand at the same time that if the organs which should distribute the wind or open the pipes whence those voices should issue had a certain settled order among them they could never change it so that when the first Voice were heard those that were wont to follow it would needs be heard also provided the wind were not wanting to the Engin whereas the words which I hear utter'd by Bodies made like mine have almost never the same sequel On the other hand I observe that those Words are the same which I would use to express my thoughts by to other subjects that should be capable to conceive them Lastly the more I observe the effect which my words produce when I utter them before those Bodies the more methinks that they are understood and those which they utter answer so perfectly to the sense of mine that there appears not any more ground to doubt but that a soul performs that in them which mine doth in me Notwithstanding in pursuance to that firme resolution I have taken to admit nothing in my belief but what shall appear evident to me after I have considered it enough not to need to fear I deceive my self I will more seriously than ever reflect upon all what serves for Speech since that is the surest way I have to know whether all the Bodies which so perfectly resemble mine are indeed Men as I am The first which seems to me worthy consideration is that there are many Bodies that can cause a noise by impelling the Air and that that noise may be different according to the different concourse of Bodies or the diversity of their parts In which regard 't is so far there should be need of supposing Souls in Bodies to produce that effect that on the contrary I know that the Noise not happening but because the Air is impelled the cause of it cannot rationally be imputed but to what is capable to impel it that is to a Body I know also that by the aid of Mechanicks one may so fitly adjust certain Bodies to one another that they shall be able to compose instruments capable to make agreeable sounds and even to imitate the Songs which I have sometimes used to express grief or joy I know further that Rocks and other like Bodies can make us understand not only Sounds as Musical Instruments do but also Words perfectly articulated 'T is true I know that they form them not and that as they would repel a ball to him that should cast it on them they do no more but send back the words to him that hath utter'd them that is they drive back to him the same air that was driven to them without changing any thing in that impression which maketh it carry the words so far from the places where they are pronounced when there is nothing to stop them I conceive likewise as I have already said that Art may go so far as to frame an Engin that shall articulate words like those which I pronounce but then I conceive at the same time that it would only pronounce those that were design'd it should pronounce and that it would always pronounce them in the same order So that I ought not hastily to believe that whatsoever can make a Noise render a sound form voices or pronounce words hath Thoughts and I ought above all to take notice that the wonderful Workman to whom I owe the structure of my Body hath so mechanically disposed and order'd all the parts and principally those that serve for the voice that to form it I need no Soul The sole motions of the Muscles the Breast and the Diaphragme can make the Air enter into my Lungs or let it out and the only scituation of the Cartilages of the Larynx diversly changed by the small Muscles which serve to move them may be the cause of a thousand sharp or grave founds sweet or shrill piercing or weak according to the different flexures the air receives in that passage I ought also to consider that when I articulate divers words it is only because that the Air which is already let out of the throat is diversly agitated according as the Muscles of my Tongue move the same either upwards or downwards in my mouth or else because being near to get out it is agitated according to the different ways in which my Teeth or my Lips can apply themselves to one another by the motion of their Muscles Besides I must consider that the Muscles which serve to move all those parts are not moved themselves but according as my Brain is agitated and that that can be so a thousand different ways by the Organs of Hearing my soul having no other part in all those motions but to perceive the effects thereof Lastly I am to take notice that there is so great a communication and correspondency between the Nerves of the Ear and those of the Larynx that whensoever any sound agitates the Brain there flow immediately spirits towards the Muscles of the Larynx which duely dispose them to form a sound altogether like that which was just now striking the Brain And although I well conceive that there needs some time to facilitate those motions of the Muscles of the Throat so that the Sounds which excite the Brain the first time cannot be easily expressed by the Throat yet notwithstanding I doe as well conceive that by virtue of repeating them it will come to
pass that the Brain which thereby is often shaken in the same places sends such a plenty of spirits through the nerves that are inserted in the Muscles of the Throat that at length they easily move â—ll the cartilages which serve for that action as t is requisite they should be moved to form Sounds like those that have shaken the Brain Thus it is not enough that Bodies make Sounds form Voices and even articulate Words like those by which I express what I think to perswade me that they think what-ever they seem to say For example I ought not be so rash as to believe that a Parret hath any thought when he pronounces some Words For besides that I have observed that after having repeated to him exceedingly often the same words in a certain order he never returneth but the self same words and in the same coherence It seems to me that since he does not make these returns to purpose he imitates men less than Echo's doe which never answer but what hath been said to them and if there be any difference between Parrets and Echo's it is that Rocks tossing back the Air without changing at all the impressions it hath received render the same voices that have struck them whereas Parrets form another voice like that which hath struck the ear and often repeat words which are said to them no more But in short as I cannot say that Rocks speak when they return words so I dare not affirm that Parrets speak when they repeat them For it seems to me that to speak is not to repeat the same words which have struck the ear but to utter others to their purpose and sutable to them And as I have reason to believe that none of the Bodies that make Echo's do think though I hear them repeat my words seing they never render them but in the order I utter'd them in I should by the same reason judge that Parrets do not think neither But not to examine any further how it is with Parrets and so many other Bodies whose figure is very different from mine I shall continue the Inquiry which I need to know the inward constitution of those who resemble me so perfectly without and for that purpose I think I may after the disquisition I have been making of all what causeth noise sounds voices and words establish for a Principle That if the Bodies which are like mine had nothing but the facilness of pronouncing Words I should not therefore believe that they had the advantage of being united to Souls But then if I finde by all the Experiments I am capable to make that they use speech as I do I shall think I have infallible reason to beleive that they have a soul as I. To make this examen in such an order as leaves me no suspicion at all to have deceived my self I must consider before all what I mean by SPEECH To speak in my opinion is nothing else but to make known what we think to that creature which is capable to understand it And supposing that the Bodies which resemble mine have Souls I see that the only means to express to one another what we think is to give to our selves external signes thereof But me thinks I have found that there are many signes common to them and me by which we understand one another for seing that they answer to my signes by other signes which give me images agreeable to what I think I do not believe I am deceived when I perswade my self that they have understood my thought and that the new thought which their signes have excited in me is really that which they have Moreover I see I can agree with some of them that what commonly signifies one thing shall signifie another and that this succeeds so as that there are none but those with whom I have agreed about it that appear to me to understand what I think Whence I conceive that those signs are of Institution and as that Institution necessarily supposeth reason and thoughts in those that are capable to agree about it I should it may be advance nothing rashly if I now affirmed that those Bodies are united to Souls But that which might trouble me here is that if there be signs of Institution I think I know others that are alltogether natural For example all those by which I express my passions without any design to do so Thus a smiling Meen and certain motions of my eies or of the other parts of my Face make me often consider when I consult with the Looking-glass that if others saw me they would know my sadness my joy or the other passions stirring in me And that it may be If those bodies resembling mine have Souls is the surest means to discover to them the different constitutions of my Soul Yet if I take good heed I can render those signs very deceitful For I find that though naturally I appear outwardly chearful or sad when I am so indeed yet I have the power to constrain the motions of my face and eyes so as to make them have an Air quite differing from that which they would have if I left their motions free Which gives me to understand that though naturally certain motions of my face and even of my whole Body have been joyn'd to some of my thoughts yet this conjunction is not so necessary but that I can sometimes alter it by joyning those thoughts to other motions And though indeed that give me much pain yet I conceive that as we may form an easy habit of what at first appears very difficult I could also render these changes easy enough to me But what I am most of all to observe here is that although it be very convenient that as long as my Soul is united to my Body for the conservation whereof she hath divers passions her joy her sadness her desires or her fear be alwayes joyn'd with the motions which the good or ill disposition of that Body can beget in the Brain as also that that correspondence which is between the parts of the Brain and those of the Face or Eyes and all such as are external be the cause that what is within may never change unless there be marks of it without yet notwithstanding since those exteriour marks have no necessary relation but to the changes of the Brain and that the sole condition of the Body may be the cause thereof it might happen that though the Bodies which resemble mine should not be united to Souls that yet they would have the same motions of eyes and face which I often perceive in me according as they should be well or ill dispos'd within so that those external signes so like in those Bodies and mine are not alone an infallible argument that those bodies are endow'd with Souls Further since those motions of the face and eyes and even those cryes that are never wanting when nothing constrains them to follow the different conditions of
disposed as they ought to be to form another perfectly like it And to manifest this necessity better 't is requisite to make two reflections The first is that if it concern Animals to have their Brain shaken by the noise of certain Bodies before they approach too near them that so they may avoid them it concerns them likewise to have their Brain moved by some other Bodies to the end that they may be carried towards them when they are remoter from them than is requisite for their conservation or conveniency The other is that as considering only each Animal according to its species there is nothing more noxious to it than those of a contrary species so there is nothing that can be more beneficial to it than those of its own kind That being so 't is evident that nothing could be so useful as this communication which is between the Ears and the parts serving to form the voice For by this means the cry of one Beast shaking the Brain of another of its kind it presently comes to pass that not only it is carried towards that which maketh the cry according to what hath been said but besides the Muscles of its Throat do so dispose themselves that it makes at the same time a like cry and this new cry striking the Brain of that which cried first causeth the spirit to flow into the Muscles which serve to carry it toward the second so that they sooner meet and may according to the causes of the cry that made them approach draw from one another what may contribute to their conservation I very well know that this necessity of forming cryes or voyces like those that have struck the Ears is not so universal that it must so fall out always and that there are two cases wherein it happens otherwise even in Brutes The first is when that Creature whose Ear is struck and whose Brain is agitated by a Cry is not of the same kind with that which maketh the Cry For we know by what hath been above deliver'd not only that the dispositions of the parts which form the voice in Animals of different species being altogether different that cannot come to pass but also that what is the cause why a Brute makes a cry like that which is made by another of its own kind is only that they may the sooner come together in cases of need which they may stand in of one another The other is that it may often happen even among Animals of the same kind that the Brain of the one is mov'd by the Voice or Cry of the other after such a manner that it shall be more beneficial for that creature whose Brain hath been mov'd by that cry to have the spirits flow into other Muscles than those which serve to make a like voice For example if a Cock makes that noise he useth to make when he meets with a grain of corn it may be that that noise striking the ears of the Hens will shake their Brain in such a manner as shall make them run to the place where that grain is without forming a voice like that which made them come thither As also it may happen that one Animal cries so on the occasion of a dangerous object as that it maketh all the other of the same species run away without forming any cry like it But as often as a Brute is not pressed by such necessities which do alwayes strongliest determine the course of the spirit in its Body when its ear is struck by a Cry that communication betwixt the Ears and the Larinx maketh that from the same place where the Nerves of the Ear have made a motion in its Brain the spirits do necessarily flow into the Muscles of the Larinx which disposing it in such a way as is suitable to the impression of the Brain do make the Animal form a cry altogether like it Thence it comes that Birds excite one another to sing And in short this commerce between the Nerves of the Ear and those of the parts serving for the voice is in general so much the cause of the noise which most Brutes make that provided they are not in any urgent need when their ears are excited by some noise the impression it makes in their Brain causes the spirits that are not diverted another way take their course to the Larinx to dispose it to make a like noise And as the noise which hath shaken their Brain cannot alwayes be imitated by the voices which they are capable to make according to the natural conformation of their Throat they often return such as are very differing Hence it is that Musical Instruments excite Birds to sing yet their songs are so different from all that is play'd on such Instruments But to shew that that proceeds only from the little conformity there is between those Instruments and the disposition of the Throat of the Bird which hinders the imitation we find that as often as there is a proportion between their throat and the voices that strike their Ears they fail not to form at length such as are like them Thus Linets learn in time the note of Nightingales the songs of other Birds and what ever is play'd on Instruments and they learn even as Parrets to pronounce some of our words because they have the Tongue and Beak disposed to articulate them If they be long in learning the songs of other Birds or our words 't is because the Nerves which communicate from their ears to the muscles of their Throat Tongue and Beak cannot be so soon adjusted to those new ways of voices as to cause their formation presently but it appears at last that from the time that those parts are capable to form those voices they do actually utter them And we ought above all things to observe that the change which happens in them when they learn is that their Brain being divers times struck in the same place by the same Songs or the same Words the impression thereof remains so strong in that place that the spirits which thence issue to flow into the muscles of their Throat Tongue and Beak do at last dispose them to repeat those songs or words It is likewise to be well observ'd that they never return the songs and words they have learnt but when they are in no such need which diverts their spirits another way and if in those necessities they form a cry or voice 't is ever the cry or voice of their kind so that they form not strange songs nor utter human words but when they want nothing and when the spirits abounding or much heated run without any diversion to their course from the place of the brain which those songs or words have most agitated to the parts that serve for the voice except great care have been taken to give them none of the food they needed but at the time when some body did sing or speak near them for then the presence
to make use of those external signs can manifest his thoughts to the Spirit he will inform so as no other shall know of it In effect in that state we now are in of discovering our thoughts we do nothing else but to Will and although that Will be joyned to motions which fail not to be in certain parts of our body as soon as we need it for the signifying our thoughts yet notwithstanding our souls are not the cause of those motions according to what we shewed in our 4th Discourse * In his book entitl'd Le Discernement du Corps de l' Ame. and they do nothing else to expresse themselves but to Will so that as long as they are united to our Bodies we cannot express the thoughts coming into our mind but by moving the Tongue the Throat and the Mouth this necessity is imposed on us by that union But as soon as there should be no such necessity to borrow motions for expressing what we think there would need no more to make other Spirits understand it but to will that they should understand and if we would have it hid from them there would need no more than not to will that they should know it I have elsewhere deliver'd the reasons by which it appears that all the action of the Soul consists in willing and I think I have sufficiently made it out that all what depends from Her is to determine herself to one thing or another so as I shall not need here to repeat any thing of what I have said on that subject But it will not be amiss to take notice in this place that although God do not make us conceive what is the substance of our Spirits nor how they will that is how they determine themselves yet we know clearly that we have a Spirit and that our Spirit hath the power of determining it self But now as we are assured that we speak not our thoughts but when we please we ought to believe that if we were in a state to need signes and voices no more we might then by our Will alone discover or hide our thoughts We are also to remember that 't is not more difficult to conceive that then we should make our thoughts to be apprehended by other Spirits than to conceive that the spirit of another man should apprehend in the present state what we think when we express it by voice or by signes For the rest when I say that Souls emancipated from the Body might hide or manifest their thoughts to one another that is to be understood if they had the same reason to hide their thoughts they have now in the present state But 't is apparent that if they shall be happy as they will have no thoughts but for the Glory of their Maker so they will be glad that all the Spirits should know them and if they for ever lose his grace they will have only such thoughts which being to serve to publish the effects of his justice will be known to all the Spirits Lastly we ought to remember that according to what I have deliver'd of the Action of Souls and Bodies in the fifth Discourse of the first part we say that one Soul acts upon another Soul as often as one hath new thoughts upon an occasion given by the other even as we say that one Body acts upon another Body as often as one Body receives some change upon occasion afforded by the other And as I have shewn that a Body never gives any motion to a Body but only for as much as their meeting together is an occasion to the Divine Power which moved one to apply it self to the other We are also to conceive that when one Soul will make known to another Soul what she thinketh that happens forasmuch as Almighty God brings it to pass that according to the will of the one the other comes to know it And even as the Will we have that our Body be mov'd does not make it move but is only an occasion to the First Power to move it after such a manner as we desire it should be mov'd so the Will also which we have that a Spirit should know what we think is an occasion to that Power so to order things that all may be disposed in such a way as that that Spirit may understand it Thence it necessarily results that 't is as impossible for our Souls to have new perceptions without God as 't is impossible for the Body to have new motions without Him And 't is evident besides that our Souls which depend from Him for their Being and for their Conservation depend not at all from Him for the Vse of their Will whereof he leaves the determination altogether free And I dare deliver it as a thing that will appear manifest to all men of good sense who shall attentively consider it that as the Body is a substance to which Extension belongs naturally so that it would as to effects naturall cease to be a Body if it ceas'd to be extended even so the Spirit is a substance to which the power of determining it self doth so naturally appertain that it would cease to be a Spirit if it ceas'd to will and God Almighty hath made it thus that he might be loved by it Which appears so evidently that if he had not declared it by so many miraculous testimonies of his tenderness which goes so far as to ask of us our Heart that is to say our Love we should be altogether perswaded that He will be the object of our Will in this World by this only consideration that there is no object so great but it can embrace it As to the power of knowing perhaps he hath not given us that so great at least not in this World But 't is certain that we have knowledge enough as not to fail if we use well the light we have and the power we are endowed with of judging of nothing but after we do well know it For God gives us all the â—ight we need we have idea's very distinct to know the things of Nature as much as 't is usefull to know them since we can when we use prudence discern wherein every one is beneficial or hurtfull to us And although according to what I have already observ'd he affordeth us not the advantage to know the very substance of things yet he so well discovers to us wherein they can hurt â—r profit us that to use it aright we are â—nly to will it As for those things which are above Nature although they infinitely surpass our knowledg yet we have very distinct notions of the Reasons why we are not able to conceive them and of the Reasons also why we are to believe them For if on the one hand in the doctrine of Faith there are things to be found that are beyond our natural light we have on the other such evident signes of the Obligation for us to submit our
A Philosophicall DISCOURSE Concerning SPEECH Conformable to the CARTESIAN PRINCIPLES Dedicated to The Most Christian King Englished out of French In the SAVOY â—â—â—nted for John Martin Printer to the Royal Society and are to be sold at the Bell a little without Temple-Bar 166â— TO THE KING SIR THis Discourse is the sequel of some others that have already appear'd in publick under the August Name of Your MAIESTY I thought I was obliged to offer unto You the First part of this Work forasmuch as having propos'd to my self at the begining to give each man to consider what He is me thought that Your MAJESTIE should find in this consideration more pleasure than all other Men. I have the same reasons to present this also to You where I treat no more of the Knowledge of our selves but of the Means to know othâ—â—s and to be known by them I shew that this Means is SPEECH I explain all the Effects thereof and the better to discover the Causes I carefully inquire into all it borrows from the Body or the Soul These Causes SIR are so excellent in Your MAJESTIE that You will doubtless have an incredible satisfaction to examine them Above all things I am perswaded You will find more of it than any Man when you shall consider its Effects You will see it is Speech which produceth what Your MAJESTY loveth most I mean Glory and you 'll acknowledge that to it you owe that Lustre which maketh Your MAJESTY out-shine all the Powers of the Earth 'T is by it SIR that You express those Generous Thoughts which all tend to our Felicity and 't is by the same that you have atchieved those great things which make all Nations say that You are the Greatest Prince that ever was I know SIR that men admire no less in Your MAJESTY the Faculty you have to be silent than the Facility to speak I know I say that the Prudence you have to be silent is one of the reasons which make others speak so much of You. But I remember very well that Secrecy how favorable soever it is to great Desseins cannot alone make them succeed and that how-ever Your MAJESTY hath advantagiously used it in all the Contrivances you have made for our Happiness you would never have obtain'd the Execution thereof if you had not employ'd Speech it was necessary Orders should be given for that Indeed SIR you know how to give them as becoms a Prince who needs none but himself to contrive and to resolve You alone know why you give them and those that receive them often not know the excellent End Your MAJESTY proposeth to your Self but at the moment which makes them succesfull How amiable is Glory when a Man thus owes it entirely to himself And how pure sincere doth that of Your MAJESTY appear to me Others who have only Power for their Portion heer themselves praised for a thousand Events wherein their Conduct had no part Words are alwayes found for them But all the Actions of Your MAJESTY are so much above what can be said of them that those to whom Praise costs least complain they can find none to expresse them Such an one hath demanded Ten years to write what we have seen You do in Ten dayes And another that knows it requires less pains to compare Hero's with one another than to write their Praise hath endeavour'd to find like ones to Your MAJESTY but could meet with none among all those whom Antiquity hath left recorded Indeed SIR none of them are known whose Passions have not guided all their Enterprises the world hath seen him whom past Ages have most boasted of to follow nothing but the motions of his Ambition and without at all considering the tranquillity of his Subjects to carry the trouble into whole Asia whereas SIR all Europe hath seen You young and victorious shewing favour to your Enemies that you might give Peace to your people And it seeth at this very time that Your Majesty covets not a great Country exposed to your Conquests but desires only what of right you can pretend to This moderation SIR is the greatest Virtue of Kings and especially is it admirable in a Prince vigilant enough to surprise the Enemy in a season when the most ardent Spirits for war do quit that painful exercise and brave enough to execute himself what the boldest durst not advise What Mortals SIR could have stopt Your Majesty accomplisht with these Excellencies if the Right of Bienseance could have tempted you But your Neighbours were to assure themselves afresh 't is not Ambition that hath armed you 't is from the hands of Justice you hold that sword which subjects the Provinces in less time than needs to march through them Brabant and Henaut may give testimony hereof to the rest of the World Your Majesty hath made them know your Right because you let them feel the force of your Armes and 't is known that their Revolt is the only cause of those great Exploits which History will never be able sufficiently to celebrate and for which Poesie it self which boasts to speak like the Gods confesses to want expressions But Sir though Poesy cannot express the surprising effects of your Courage take it in good part that Philosophy does rebuke the Excess of it and that with her usual liberty she reproaches you for having expos'd your Sacred Person like that of a Common Souldier This reproach would make up the Glory of every other Prince but Sir how could any man have excus'd You to posterity if that Great Heart which is not given you but to sustain the Destiny of France had made you be cast away in this occasion One cannot praise enough this ardor which maketh you quit pleasures in the midst of Winter but how noble soever it be it is to be blamed when it makes you seek dangers and when it exposeth against rebellious Subjects a life so precious to so many other faithful ones Be pleased Sir to hearken to that zeal which speaks to you It hath alwayes lov'd Kings it hath never flatter'd them and as it knows none greater than Your Self it cannot at that time when it intends to discourse of SPEECH make better use of it for the good of the Universe than to tell what you owe to your own Preservation I shall add Sir that the same being to declare it self upon this Subject by the mouth of a Man it could not choose any one whose Zeal were equal to mine I am SIR Of Your Majesty The most humble most obedient and most faithful Servant and Subject CORDEMOY The Preface I Proposed in the Six Discourses which preceded this * Publisht A. 1666. under the Title Le discernement du Corps de l' Ame of which see Phil. Trans No. 17. p. 306. the means to know Our selves made it manifest that it only consisted in discerning in us the Operations of the Soul and those of the Body Now I propose the
but yet that one of them being furnisht by Nature the defects of the other may be supply'd by Art And having remarked that that is not reciprocal I declare as far as I may in a Discourse where I am to explain but the Principles whence those defects proceed and by what they may be corrected and I do even examine without stepping into the Ethicks why an Orator ought to be a good man and how much Lying may impair the force or the grace of his action 7. Lastly having considered sufficiently how much Eloquence depends from the Temperament and how it may be corrected or perfected by exercise I examine Whether it is to be met with among Spirits not united to Bodies Which obliges me to enquire into the manner after which they may manifest their thoughts to one another and it makes me discover that even our Spirits would enjoy a more easie communication among themselves if the strict Vnion they have with the Body did not indispensably oblige them to make use of Signes The same raciocination teaches me also that the difficulty we meet with in entertainments is not to conceive the thoughts of those that speak to us but to unwrap it from the Signes they use to express it in which often do not sute with it Whence I conclude that the Thought of one Spirit is alwayes clear to another from the very instant he can perceive it And this truth which I discuss as far as I am capable serves me to resolve those difficulties which others have thought unsurmountable but by submission to Faith I well know 't is Faith that must teach us whether sundry things have a being indeed but there is not alwayes need of its aid to conceive them It belongs to it for example to tell us whether there be other Spirits more enlightned that serve to direct ours but when once it hath declared to us that truth me thinks our reason can attain to it And I esteem that reflecting a little on what the thred of my subject hath obliged me to write of it in this Tract we shall find it more easie to conceive how pure Spirits can inspire us with their sentiments than to conceive how one Man can inspire his thoughts to another I might have proceeded further in this Inquiry but having proposed to my self only to examine what serves to Speech I thought I was to make an end after I had consider'd the sundry wayes by which Thoughts may be communicated seeing that that is properly what we call To speak I could wish that the discourse I have made of it might prove as pleasant to others as the reflexions it hath obliged me to make have been to me I avow they have been all the divertisement I have enjoyed during the last Vacations and as it is at least in that time permitted to comply with our inclinations the pleasure I have found in it sollicits me strongly to spend in the same manner all the other hours wherein I may be permitted to divert my self To conclude this Argument is so pleasant and so fertile that one needs but to propose it and it will beget a thousand pleasing thoughts And I doubt not but all those that excell me in genius will find by occasion of this Discourse a thousand pretty things which I have omitted so that without boasting of my Book I may affirm that the more wit a man hath the more pleasure he will find to read it A DISCOURSE OF SPEECH AMongst the Bodies I see in the World I perceive some that are in all things like mine and I confess I have a great inclination to believe that they are united to Souls as mine is But when I come to consider that my Body hath so many operations distinct from those of my Soul and that nothing of what maketh it subsist depends at all from Her I think I have at least ground to doubt that those Bodies are united to Souls until I have examin'd all their actions And I do even see that by the maximes of good sense I shall be obliged to believe that they have no Soul if they do only such things whereof I have found in my self that the Body alone may be the cause Thus if I see that the Objects make different impressions on them by the Eyes Ears Nose or Touch and if I see them eat sleep wake feed breath walk and dye nothing of all that oughâ— to make me believe that there is any other thing in them but a certain disposition of organs and parts which indeed is admirable but yet so dependent from the course and order of the other matter that I have acknowledged that to be the only cause in me of Nutrition Sleep Respiration and of the power which objects have to move the Brain so many surprising wayes 'T is true I have observ'd that cerâ—â—in Thoughts alwayes accompani'd in me most of the motions of my Organs but yet 't is true also that by the exactest preciseness with which I have distinguish't what was in all my operations on the account of the Body and what on the score of the Soul I have found manifestly that if I had nothing but the Body I might have all what appears to me in the other Bodies which resemble mine It behoves me therefore to observe those Bodies neerer and to examine whether I may not perceive by any of their Actions that they are ruled by Souls I see that ordinarily they are carried to places where the Air seems most proper to entertain by respiration a due temper in the Bloud I see that they withdraw likewise from places where the Cold might too much retard the motion and from those where the Heat might render it too quick I see that they often flye with vehemence from the encounter of many other Bodies that appear to me of a Shape and Motion capable to destroy them and I see also that they approach those which may be beneficial to them And all these actions appear to me to be done with a discerning such as I find in me when I do the same actions Mean time when I reflect that I have found by other Contemplations that the sole Disposition of the Organs is the cause of all those operations in me I fear I affirm too much if I attribute the different motions of the Bodies that surround me to another cause than to the agreement there is between their Brain and the Objects and then as long as I do not see them do but what is for their good as to eat to drink to seek after coolness or warmth and whatever may maintain them in a state sutable to their nature I am not to believe there is any other thing in them but the Organs which may suffice for that But me-thinks I see them often do things that relate not at all to themselves nor their preservation I see some of them that meet with other Bodies the encounter whereof must in all appearance
the Body by reason of the relation there is between all the parts thereof may very properly be call'd the natural signes of the State the Body is in I shall be careful to forbear when the eyes and face or even the Cryes of those Bodies shall not appear to me excited but by the objects that may benefit or hurt them to believe that those external motions are the signs of any Thought But yet when I shall see that those Bodies shall make signes that shall have no respect at all to the state they are in nor to their conservation when I shall see that those signs shall agree with those which I shall have made to express my thoughts When I shall see that they shall give me Idea's I had not before and which shall relate to the thing I had already in my mind Lastly when I shall see a great sequel between their signes and mine I shall not be reasonable If I believe not that they are such as I am Thus I have no more cause to doubt concerning this point for I have many a thousand like tryals and I have not onely seen a great connexion between their signs and my thoughts but I have also found so great an one between their signes and mine that I can doubt no longer of their thoughts And if the power I have to hinder that the exterior motions of my face and the other signes of my passions may not express them hath been one of the reasons I have had to acknowledge that my thoughts were very different from the motions that are wont to accompany them I can now assure not onely that those other Bodies which resemble mine have thoughts but also though they can as I my self not let them alwaies be so joyned to the motions which use to signifie them that one ought alwaies to trust them Yet I have found that they knew the art of constraining themselves and frequently after many signs on their side and mine which shew'd me that they understood my thoughts and made me believe that I understood theirs I perceived they had a design to deceive me Now then since I may doubt no longer that the Bodies which resemble mine are united to Souls and in a word since I am assured that there are other men besides my self I think I ought carefully to inquire into what remains to know of Speech Hitherto I have discours'd of it but in general and said only that To speak was to give signs of one's Thought But in regard that the little reflexion I have made on these signes hath already discover'd to me so important a truth and that I also see that those same signes are the only means to entertain Society amongst Men which is the greatest good they have in this World I intend as much as I can to observe the different sorts of them together with their properties and to endeavour to discover all the wonders of them to learn all their uses One of the chief things I finde worthy of consideration touching these signs is That they have not any resemblance to the Thoughts which men joyn to them by institution And indeed whether we express our thoughts by gestures by discourse or by characters which are the three sorts of the most used signs by which we manifest our thoughts we cannot but see if we consider it with some attention that there is nothing less resembling our Thoughts than is all that which serves us to express them For when a man to declare that he agrees not with me in such or such a thing is shaking his head and when the better to express it he moveth his throat tongue teeth and lips to form words or takes paper and with a pen traceâ— characters to write it to me I see so little resemblance betwixt all those motions of the Head of the Mouth or oâ— the Hand and what they teach me that I cannot enough wonder how they so easily give me the understanding of a thing they so ill represent But what is most admirable herein is That this vast difference between those Signs and our Thoughts doth by marking to us that which is between our Body and Soul teach us at the same time the whole Secret of their Union At least methinks that that strict union which the sole Institution or men is able to settle betwixt certain external Motions and our Thoughts is to him that will consider it the best means to conceive wherein in truth consists the Union of the Body and the Soul For cartainly if we do conceive that men can by institution joyn certain Motions to certain Thoughts it cannot be hard to conceive that the Author of Nature in forming a Man so well unites some Thoughts of his Soul to some motions of his Body that those motions cannot be raised in the Body but the thoughts must also be forthwith excited in the Soul and that reciprocally as soon as the Soul will have the Body move after a certain manner it be so at the same time For the rest 't is evident that from this so necessary relation which the Authour of Nature maintain betwixt the body and the soul it is that that necessity of making Signs to express our thoughts hath its rise For seeing the Soul can have no though but at the occasion whereof there will be made a motion in the Body and that also she cannot receive any Idea of what is without but by the motions excited in the Body which she animateth it must needs be that two Souls united to two different Bodies do express their thoughts by Motions or if you will by outward Signs But to know persectly how that is done there needs in my opinion to be made but a little reflexion on what I have already observ'd about the principal differences of Signs on the particular cause of each and on the reasons men have to use them And first if it be true that certain motions of the Face and certain Cryes do naturally follow certain conditions of the Body by vertue of the relation which is between all the parts thereof we must believe that the thoughts which are naturally joyn'd to those motions of the Face and to these Cryes are the passions which the Soul suffers at the occasion of the State the Body is in so that if a man hath well observed his Eyes his Face and all the outward parts of his Body during the time he hath been in certain passions he hath been able seeing the same motions in another man to Judg that that man felt the same passions 'T is true if at times he hath been so dextrous as to constrain himself in the like state he may have learn'd to mistruct those signes but still 't is manifest that they are naturally proper to declare passions and that the best means to make one understand what the Soul suffers is not to constrain the Face the Eyes or the Voice 't is the most natural way to
and if following that diversity of the shakings of the brain the body is diversly carried we need go no further than their bodies for a cause why Brutes of one and the same kind are mov'd to come to one another by the cryes they make and why their cryes often drive away those of another kind If we consider only that they have a body so mechanically disposed that the sole structure of it may be the cause that 't is carried to such Objects as may be good for them and from such as may hurt them me thinks that how wonderful soever their motions may seem to us we cannot rationally impute them and particularly their cryes but to the construction of their bodies since if we heed it well we shall find in our selves that the cries are not made but by the body alone For indeed if we cry 't is not because we have a Soul but because we have Lungs and other parts which can receive and force out the air with certain modifications Likewise if the Nerves of our Ears be mov'd by a voice that is by an air which other bodies have agitated so as that our brain shaken thereby diffuseth spirits into the muscles of all the parts whose motion can form a voice like that which mov'd it that is repell the air in a manner answerable to that which hath shaken it it is upon no other account but that of our having a Body Lastly if our brain when 't is shaken by a noise or voice sends the spirits rather into the muscles that serve to carry our body near to or far from those which caus'd that Noise than into the muscles of the Larinx or of the other parts serving to form a like voice it is because we have a Body So that if â—here be nothing found in Brutes but â—he like effects we cannot rationally â—ay that they have ought else but Body But as for Us we must avow whatever we adscribe to our bodies in what regards the causes and effects of â—he voice there is alwayes somewhat â—ccompanying them which cannot be â—rom the Soul For as 't is true to speak â—n general that it would be sufficient â—o have motions for which our body â—s fit and to receive the effects which â—re wrought upon it by the various obâ—ects that agitate the brain thereof to â—onserve our body for as much as the â—roportion and relation God hath put â—wixt it and the other bodies of the â—orld gives it without our thinking on 't all what can maintain it in a condition sutable to its nature So 't is true also to say that all that would be acted in us and yet we perceive nothing of it if we had nothing but the Body But now reflecting on what happens to us when some noise strikes the nerves of our ear we shall plainly find that besides that shaking of the nerves of the Ear which continuing to the very internal parts of the brain doth there agitate the spirits and makes them flow into the muscles serving to move ouâ— whole body near to or far from thaâ— noise there is always conjoyn'd a Perception to every shake of our ear or of the other parts of our body And aâ— times we even find in us a Will altogether contrary to the motions which that noise excites in our body And although sometimes the impetuousness of those motions be such that we can hardly stop them in their carriere yet 't is manifest that that contrariety would not be found in us if what renders us capable to Will were not differing and altogether distinct from what makes uâ— capable to move But of those two things which we find in our selves besides Motion I mean the Perception which we have when-ever the nerves of our ear are shaken and the Will which we have by consequent to consent to the motion to which our whole body is excited or to restrain it me thinks the latter is so evidently distinct from our body that none but very inconsiderate persons can be without observing and knowing the distinction As to the Perception we have on the occasion of the shaking which the voice causeth in the nerves of the ear though it be somewhat difficult to be distinguisht from that shaking because it always accompanies it yet 't is easie to him that is a little accustom'd to judge of the effects by their causes to find that the shaking being a motion cannot appertain but to our Body and that the Perception being a Thought cannot belong but to our Soul And as we have found by other reflections that the Union of our Soul and Body only consists in this that certain Thoughts are so united to certain motions that the one are never excited without the others be so too at the same time we ought not to wonder any more to find that the nerves of our ear shall never be shaken but we shall presently feel in our Soul a Sensation or if you will a Perception answerable to the manner the nerves are shaken in nor ought we to believe that that agitation and that perception are one and the same thing although they always accompany one another We are therefore to consider two things in that we call Sound one is the manner in which the Air striking the nerve of our ear shakes our brain and the other is the Sensation of our Soul on the occasion of that agitation of the brain The former belongs necessarily to the Body because 't is nothing but a Motion and the latter belongs necessarily to the Soul because 't is a Perception So likewise in Speech there are two things viz. the Formation of the voice which cannot come but from the Body according to what we have already discours'd and the signification joyn'd with it which cannot be but from the Soul So that Speech is nothing else but a voice by which we signifie what we think 'T is true you may also as hath been already observ'd above joyn your thoughts to other signs besides the Voice as to the characters of Writing or to certain Gestures and that indeed all those ways of expressing our selves are nothing but ways of speaking to take the word in a general and large sense But then because the Voice is the most easie signe the word Speech hath been appropriated to it leaving to Characters the word of Writing and to other ways of expressing our selves the word Signe which is that of the Genus common to all those three Species's It may be I have already said enough of each of them to make them to be sufficiently distinguish't but possibly also since I have not examin'd them but on the score of what they have common among themselves it may not be useless or tedious to speak of them apart that it may appear wherein they differ one from another And to begin with that kind to which hath been left the name of the Genus I mean the Signes we must to comprehend in a
and that the one cannot be advertis'd by the other but by the motions occasion'd by the Body to which the Soul is united But supposing that one of the Spirits have no Body it is capable to render it self present by its very thoughts to that which hath a Body as it doth to that which is destitute of a Body and reciprocally that Spirit which is united to a Body will be able without the intervention of the Voice to express its thoughts to every Spirit that is Body-less Mean time we are so accustom'd to judge of all things by those we see that since men make use of a voice and very easily understand one another we rashly judge that it would be very difficult to two Spirits mutually to communicate their thoughts And some judge it even impossible that a Spirit destitute of Body for example an Angel should communicate with Vs But 't is evident that that proceeds only from the precipitation of our Spirit who maketh no reflection on what befals him in the communication he hath with the spirit of another Man For if he did consider that the beating of the Air and the other things which serve to make him understand the thoughts of the person that discourses with him have nothing in them resembling those thoughts he would more wonder that he understands him than he wonders when one will perswade him that two Angels speak to one another or that even one Angel can converse with Vs without the assistance of a voice I cannot in this place forbear to take notice how much the reflexion we make on what passeth within us is capable to make us judge aright of what is done or at least may be done elsewhere And the Example I draw from the manner after which we converse with men is so proper to make it to be conceived what might pass betwixt Spirits destitute of such Bodies as we have and even between those Spirits and Us that the thing being well examin'd there will be found no other difference between those two sorts of Communications but that that which is between Man and Man will prove the more difficult to conceive in regard it is made by the means of Motions which are quite different from Thoughts whereas that which we may have with meer Spirits is less sensible because 't is perform'd without any of those motions which render as 't were sensible to us the thoughts of the men whose voice striketh our Ears And this may be also the cause why we are inform'd that when Spirits would give any important advertisements to Men they borrow'd Bodies and form'd Voices like those of Men. But those Extraordinary things are not to hinder us from conceiving that naturally we can communicate with meer Spirits more easily than with Men. So that if Faith teaches us there are Spirits not united to Bodies and that he who hath created them as he hath us having committed to them the care of conducting us they are always present to our Spirit to direct it without constraining it there is nothing in that which is above those things we think we know best For in short as we conceive that the communication between two Men is made by Speech that is by a Will to express what they think and by the motions answering to that will we may also me thinks conceive that the converse of two Spirits may be made by the sole Will of manifesting themselves to one another and that if a meer Spirit communeth with a Man though that be in a way less sensible than is that of ordinary Words yet 't is after a manner intelligible which may insensibly give him the thoughts he needs for his conduct which in a word is to inspire him Even so may we easily conceive that God who causeth our Spirits to move Bodies can if need be give to an Angel the same power to make himself to be understood by speech Now me things I see what is properly meant by the word Inspiration and I believe I am not deceived when I say that 't is by that means only that those thoughts may come into our mind which have no affinity to any of those that naturally are in our Soul only because we have a Body Next I see that we know no more the Spirits of any of all those men that speak to us when they inspire us with their thoughts than those meer Spirits which I think capable to inspire us better thoughts And as the new thoughts which come into our mind by the conversation we have with men are a sure testimony to any of us that they have a Spirit like ours we are to take the new thoughts coming in to us without being able to find the cause of them in our selves or impute it to the discourse of men for an assured testimony that there are yet other Spirits that may inspire us with them I find also that the custome of understanding the thoughts of other men by gestures and the voice maketh that way to affect us more than the things which are inspired us without it But if I heed it well I see that we do not more know the â—â—â—rits of meâ— th t speak to us than tâ—â—â—pâ—rits th◠〈…〉 us A like Air t◠〈◊〉 out b◠〈…〉 â—â—s of him that discourses wâ—â—h â—s striking our ears exciteth upon the agitation of the Brain sounds in our Soul and at the same time the images or conceptions which we have joyned to those sounds But in truth neither that propelled Air nor any thing of what passeth into the Body from him that speaks to us is his thought and if we have any reason to believe him to have thoughts 't is only because we feel that he excites new ones in us But if all the reason we have to believe there are Spirits united to the Bodies of the men that speak to us is that they give us often new thoughts such as we had not or that they oblige us to alter those we had can we doubt when new thoughts come into us that are above our natural light and contrary to the sentiments which the Body may excite in us can we I say when no men inspire us with them doubt of their being inspired us by other Spirits I judge we cannot reasonably and the custome we have to receive them by the means of Speech which is a sensible way ought not to make us disadvow those that are inspired us by a way different from that of the senses I know also that if we be free to hide our thoughts whilst our Soul is united to a Body we might have the same liberty if it were separated from it and that in some manner that freedome would yet be greater in regard that often when we speak to a person the signes and the voices by which we express our selves may be perceived or understood by a Third to whom we would not discover our thoughts whereas a pure Spirit who is not obliged