differs from Principle because every Cause is real and imparts a being different from its own which Privation being a Principle hath not And so every Cause is a Principle but every Principle is not a Cause Now a Cause is That which produceth an Effect There are Four Matter Form the Agent and its End Which Number is not drawn from any real distinction between them Seeing many times one and the same Thing is Form Agent and End in several respects So the Rational Soul is the Form of Man the Efficient Cause of his Ratiocination and the next End of the Creation But it is drawn from the four wayes of being a Cause which are call'd Causalities whereof one susteineth the Forms to wit the Matter An Other informeth that Matter and is the Form A Third produceth that Form and uniteth it to the Matter and is the Agent or Efficient Cause The Fourth by its goodness exciteth the Agent to act and is the Final Cause The Second said That the Causes are handled diversly according to the diversity of Sciences The Logician speaks of them so far as he draws from them his Demonstrations Definitions and Probable Arguments The Natural Philosopher inasmuch as they are the Principles of all kind of Alterations hapning in natural bodies The Metaphysitian as Cause is a Species of Entity which is generally divided into Cause and Effect In which consideration Supernatural Things have also some Causes but not all Wherefore in my Judgement said he Cause taken in general cannot be divided into the Four Species above mention'd because Spirits have no Material Cause but it ought to be first divided in reference to Immaterial things into Efficient and Final and into the four abovesaid in respect of Material That Efficient Cause is the first principle of Motion and Rest and is of two sorts viz. Vniversal or Equivocal and Particular or Vnivocal The former can produce several effects of different Species whether it depend not on any other as God and is then call'd the First Cause or depend on some other and is call'd a Second Cause As the Sun which together with Man generates Man The Particular otherwise Univocal Cause is that which produceth one sort of effect alone As Man generateth Man The Material Cause is that of which something is made The Formal Cause is that which causeth the Thing to be that which it is whether Essentially as the Soul makes the Man or Accidentally as a round form makes a Bowle The Final is that which incites the Agent to act as Gain doth the Merchant to Traffick The Third said Matter and Form being parts of the whole cannot be Causes thereof because then they would be Causes of themselves which is absurd Neither is the End a Cause but onely the term and rest of the Cause Besides there are some Ends which are impossible to obtain and are nothing of reality such as a Cause ought to be as when Heliogabalus propounded to himself to become a Woman others to fly to become invisible and the like absurdities So that there is but the Efficient Sole Cause of all Things which is the Internal Idea in God which is nothing else but that Fiat which created the World 'T is that very Cause which produceth all things in all different times and places and acts upon Art Nature and Nothing whence it is that All Entity conformable to that Increated Exemplar beareth those three Characters Truth Goodness and Vnity which all things are bound to represent under the Penalty of becoming Nothing out of which they were produced 'T is a Circle according to Trismegist whose Centre is every where and Circumference no where which possibly mov'd Galen to term Man the Centre of Mixt Bodies and all Antiquity a Little World and made Saint Thomas say that Man hath been united hypostatically to God the Son who is the Idea of the Father for the rejoyning of all the productions of the world to their first Principle Here he fell into Divinity but he was admonish'd to observe the Rules appointed by this Assembly to keep as far off as possible from such Matters and so he ended when he had mention'd the order that is observ'd in the actions of that Idea which said he acteth first upon the Intelligences as nearest approaching to its pure Nature they upon the Heavens these upon the Elements and these upon mixt bodies The Fourth added That that Idea is a Cause not onely in Natural Things but also in Artificial As in the building of a House the Idea which the Architect hath in his Mind excited his Will and this commands the Motive-faculty of the Members or those of his Laborours to dispose the Stones Timber and Morter which entring into the Composition of the Building cannot for the Reason above-mention'd be Causes of it as neither can the proportion and form An Other said That if the Idea be a Cause which cannot be but in Artificial Things it must be the Formal and not the Efficient since it is nothing else but an Original in imitation of which the Artificer labours and since the work derives its form from that Idea which is the Copy It was added by a Sixth That the Idea is not Cause but the true Essence of Things and the first objective Verity which precedes all Knowledge Humane but not Divine and is onely hereby distinct from Nothing in that it is known by God which suteth not with Nothing from which any thing cannot be distinguish'd but it must be if not in Act at least in Power The Seventh amplifying touching Ideas said That upon the Knowledge of them depend all Sciences and Arts but especially all what Men call Inventions which are nothing less then such because 't is no more possible to invent some thing new then to create some substance and make some thing of nothing But as all things are made by Transmutation so no Novelty is produc'd by Imitation either of things which are really existent or which our Mind frames and connects as of a Mountain and Gold it makes a Golden Mountain Thus the four most Excellent Inventions of the Modern Ages The Compass the Gun Printing and Perspective-glasses the two former were deriv'd from Experiments of the Load-stone from the effect of shooting Trunks and Fire As for Printing what is the Matrice wherein the Founders cast their Characters or those Characters compos'd in a flat Form as also Copper-cuts but a perfect Exemplar and Idea which is communicated fully to all its individuals And Perspective-glasses are nothing but ordinary ones multiply'd Another said That Causes cannot be known at all whence it comes to pass that we have no certain Knowledge Now to know is to know a thing by its Causes For the Vniversal Efficient Cause is above us and surpasseth the capacity of our Understanding and hence all the other inferiour and subordinate ones are unknown because their Cause is not known The Final is not in our power and being not so
nothing but Water rarifi'd and subtiliz'd by heat as also when they are reduc'd into Water by condensation this Water is nothing but Air condens'd And so Air and Water differ not but by Rarefaction and Condensation which are but Accident and consequently cannot make different species of Element Both the one and the other may be seen in the Aeolipila of Vitruvius out of which the heat of Fire causeth the Water which is therein to issue in the form of Air and an impetuous wind which is the very Image of that which Nature ordinarily doth I conceive also that the Air is neither hot nor moist nor light as Philosophers commonly hold For as to the First the Air is much more cold then hot and for one torrid Zone there are two cold Besides Heat is but Accidental to it being caus'd by the incidence and reflections of the rayes of the Sun So that this cause failing in the night when the Sun shines not or in Winter when its rayes are very oblique and their reflection weak or in the Middle Region whether the Reflection reacheth not the Air becometh cold and consequently in its natural quality since there is no External Cause that produceth that coldness As for the Second The Air dryeth more then it moistneth and if it moistneth it is when it is cold and condensed and consequently mix'd with many particles of Water and when it dryeth it is by its own heat For the Definition which Aristotle giveth of Humid and Moist is onely proper to every thing which is fluid and not stable and in this respect agrees to the Air which is fluid and gives way to all sorts of Bodies As for the Last which is its levity the harmony of the world by which all things conspire to union and so to one common Centre seemeth to contradict it For if the Air hath its Motion from the Centre the parts of the world might be disunited For the Air would escape away there being no restraint upon it by any External Surface Moreover if we judge the Air light because we see it mount above water we must also say that Wax and Oyle are light since we observe the same in them But that which they do is not mounting above the Water but being repell'd by the Water And so the principal of Motion being External the same is violent and not natural Whereas when the Air descends into the Well it descends thither naturally there being no External Cause of that descent For Vacuum not existing in Nature cannot produce this Effect Since according to the received Maxime Of a Thing which is not there can be no Actions Besides it would be it self-self-cause of its own destruction and do contrary to its own intention preserving Nature by this Action whereas it is an Enemy to it and seeketh the ruine thereof Lastly Since many Particles of Air being condens'd and press'd together give ponderosity to a thing as is seen in a Baloon or foot-ball it must needs be ponderous it self for many light Bodies joyn'd together are more light The Second said That the difference between Water and Air is as clear as either of those Elements For that the Vapours which arise from the Water by means of the Suns heat and the wind which issueth out of the abovesaid Vessel full of Water and placed upon the Fire cannot be call'd Air saving abusively But they are mixts actually compos'd of Water and Fire For the rayes of the Sun entring into the Water raise it into Vapour And the Fire infinuating it self by the Pores of the Vessel into the Water which it containeth causeth the same to come forth in the form of wind which is compos'd of Fire and Water Of Fire because the property of Fire being to mount on high it lifts up that subtiliz'd Water with it self Of Water because this Vapour hath some coldness and humidity whence meeting with a solid Body it is resolv'd into Water because the Fire alone passeth through the Pores of that Body Besides Water being moist and Air on the contrary dry as the precedent opinion importeth they cannot be the same thing And since all Alteration is made between two different things Water and Air transmuting one into another as it hath been said cannot be the same Lastly as there are two Elements whereof one is absolutely light as the Fire the other absolutely heavy as the Earth So there are two which are such but in comparison with the rest The Water compar'd with the Earth is light because it floateth above it The Air in comparison of the Water is light too because it is above it So that when it descendeth lower then the Water into the Caverns of the Earth 't is Nature that obligeth it to renounce its proper and particular interest for preserving the general one which is destroy'd by the Vacuum not that the Vacuum is the Cause thereof for it hath no existence And the Air wherewith the Baloon is fill'd rendreth the same more heavy because it is impure and mixt with gross Vapours Which it would not do were it pure and Elementary such as is that of which we are speaking which is not to be found in our Region The Common Opinion hath also more probability which holdeth that the Air is hot and moist Hot because it is rare and light which are effects of heat Moist because it is difficultly contain'd within its own bounds and easily within those of another Thence it is that the more Bodies partake of Air the more they have of those qualities As we see in Oyl which is hot being easily set on flame And Moist in that it greatly humecteth and easily expandeth it self on all sides But if the Air seemes sometimes to be cold 't is by accident by reason of the cold vapours wherewith it is fill'd at that time The Third said That he conceiv'd that contrarily the Air is cold and dry 1. Because it freezeth the Earth and Water in Winter and therefore is colder in either of them 2. Because it refresheth the Lungs and by its coolness tempereth the extreme heat of the Heart and of the other parts which it could not do if it were hot 3. Inasmuch as hot things expos'd to the Air are cooled which they would not be but at least preserve their heat being in a place of the same Nature 4. The more it is agitated the more it refresheth as we see by Fans because then the unessential things being seperated from it it is more close and united quite contrary to the other Elements which grow hot by being agitated 5. In the night time the more pure and serene and void of mixtures the Air is the colder it is 6. Thence it is that flame burnes less then boyling water or hot Iron because in flame there is a great deal of Air which being colder then Water and Iron represseth more the strength of the Fire Lastly since according to Aristotle Air doth not putrifie what is
these two points were chosen First Of the Hairy Girl seen in this City Secondly Whether it be more difficult to resist Pleasure then Pain CONFERENCE XI I. Of the little Hairy Girl lately seen in this City II. Whether it is more easie to resist Pleasure then Pain I. Of the Hairy Girl THe First said That this German Girl born at Ausperg called Barbara Vrsine the Name and Sir-name very well suting to the person if they were not invented purposely is no Monster For a Monster is desin'd a Natural Effect degenerating from the right and usual frame or perfection essential to its species But the same holdeth not in this person who is onely an extraordinary effect of Nature whereof two causes may be assign'd First the prevalence of internal heat which more powerfully drives outwards the steames or exhalations that serve for the matter of Hair and is also the cause that Children are sometimes born with Teeth Whence it comes to pass that Hair grows in more places and more plentifully in those which are hot and dry In like manner it hath been observ'd that some notable Warriours and Pirats have had their Hearts hairy The Second Cause is the strong Imagination of the Mother during her conceiving or in the dayes near it when the Embryo being like soft wax is capable of every impression never so little proportionate to its subject yea sometimes it is so extravagant that the effect cannot be attributed to any other cause Such was that young Girl mention'd by Marcus Damascenus and presented to the Emperour Charles IV. which besides that she was all hairy like this had the feet of a Camel her Mother having too wistly consider'd the Image of Saint John Baptist clothed in Camel's hair And this consideration satisfi'd the Father who at first disown'd her The same was the Opinion of Hippocrates when he sav'd the Honour and Life of a Princess who had brought forth an Aethiopian through the too attentive minding of the picture of a Moor hanging at her beds-feet Which mov'd Galen to advise such Ladies as would have fair Children to behold those that are such frequently at least in picture The Second said That this Hair being an Effect against the Intention as well of Vniversal Nature which could not design any profit from a bearded Woman as of the particular Agents which designed to produce an Individual like to one of themselves according to the ordinary course it follows that the Girl must be termed a Monster The Cause whereof cannot be the indisposition of the Matter nor its too great quantity or deficience since all the parts of this Child being well proportioned and her colour native conclude and argue the same as to the humours of her Body Yet it may well proceed from some exorbitance in quality not caus'd by the formative virtue but by the Imagination of the Mother For that of the Father contributes nothing hereunto That the Formative Virtue doth not the business is prov'd because the Hair is a fuliginous vapour arising from the more dry and earthy parts of the residue and excrement of the third Concoction which is made in the parts and the Expulsive Faculty casteth forth as useless and unsutable the same arriving at the skin is imprison'd thereby the Cuticle And Nature which hath no further need of it hinders its return Now this Matter is forc'd to abide thus till it make it self way through the Pores fram'd by its heat rarifying the skin During its stay there it is concocted incrassated hardened and puts on the figure of the Pore through which it issueth As the soft Matter of Glass is incrassated by the heat and takes the form of the mould in which it is formed Hence it is that they whose skin is tender have very soft Hair For their skin being by reason of its great rarity unable to resist the least heat easily opens its Pores which thereby become very small to give the vapour passage which vapour because it stay'd not long enough to be concocted and hardned produceth very soft gentle and loose Hair On the other side in those whose skin is hard and dry the resistance of the same causeth the inclosed heat to act more vehemently and consequently to make greater Pores through the which those vapours passing after a longer inclosure produce a Hair thicker dryer and harder as having been more parched and adur'd For the vapour is by this means thickned and hardned like the smoak which is condens'd into soot in the Chimney Now the Formative Virtue cannot be the cause of this production of Hair in all parts of the Body of this person First because heat the cause efficient is at that time too weak through defect of which we see that a dozen or fifteen years after the birth Hair is not produc'd even in Males Secondly the Matter of this little Body is too soft to furnish stuff dry enough for the making of that fuliginous vapour It remaineth therefore that it be ascrib'd to the Imagination of the Mother who being a Superior Agent many times hinders the Formative Virtue from doing what it designeth That she is Superior it is true For the Formative Virtue belongeth to the Vegetative Life Man begetting onely as he is Vegetative God alone begetteth by the Vnderstanding but the Imagination is a Faculty of the Sensitive Life and so subjecteth the less to it self as the Agent which operateth by the Understanding makes use of that which operateth by Nature So the Smith though a mean Artisan yet makes use of Fire the most noble Elementary Agent as a Slave Now the Imagination acteth in this manner It presents to the Woman some pleasing object this object excites her Appetite the Appetite by its dominion and command moves the Motive Faculty the performer of its pleasure This Motive Faculty discharging its Office by the Spirits which it sets in Motion and sends forth as it lists And these Spirits having their Source and Original in the Brain upon which the Phantasmes of the Imagination are imprinted it comes to pass that when a Child-bearing Woman hath a lively representation or Imagination of the thing which she desires those Spirits upon which the Image is imprinted coming to be sent forth by the Motive Faculty and separating from the rest of their troop which is in the Brain carry along with them the said Image or Effigies The same hapning in the Brain that doth in a Looking-glass which being intire sheweth but one Object but broken into a hundred pieces every piece representeth the same whole For the Nature of Species is of it self indivisible and is not divided but because of the subject in which they are So the Phantasme being in the Brain representeth but one and the same thing but a part of the Spirits upon which it is engraven separating from thence carry the same along with them And arriving with the blood and humours at the faetus which incessantly draws them from the Mothers
and imperfect and so is a second in Musick Three is the first Male and the first degree of perfection hence a Third is agreeable to the Ear. The Fourth is so likewise because it makes up the Ten. Add 1 2 3 and 4 and you have the grand Number of Ten the Father of all others Also a Fifth pleases the Ear wonderfully because it is an Abridgement of the grand Number and the marriage of the Male and the first Female The other Numbers are useless except the Eighth because Musitians call it Identity or Unity which is a Divine Number or rather no Number nor is the Eighth as delightful as it is accounted by Musitians amongst their Concords The Fourth said That the Reason why some Notes are agreeable and other unpleasing in Musick is because the former move the Faculty of the Soul after a manner sutable to it and the latter do not as we see an Example of it in Ballads and Dances where when the Violin or Minstrel hath sounded a braul which goes well to the cadence not onely the Members of the Dancers comply therewith and follow the same readily but also the Souls seemes to dance with the Bodies so great Sympathy have they with that Harmony But if on the contrary the power of the Soul be otherwise agitated at the same time that Harmony how regular soever will displease us Witness the displeasure taken at cheerful aires by those who are in Mourning to whom doleful notes better agree which on the other side are disagreeable to such as are merrily dispos'd Add hereunto the humour of the Phancy which hath an aversion to some sounds as well as to some smells For as for Discords janglings and other troublesome sounds no other cause of their general inacceptableness ought to be sought then that disproportion and deformity which is sound in things Natural and Artificial the former being more intollerable then the latter because the Eye is not struck with the visible species as the Ear is with sound and can turn away from the Object which displeaseth it which the Ear cannot and is clos'd with much more difficulty CONFERENCE XVIII I. Of the Original of Winds II. Why none are contented with their Condition I. Of the Original of Winds THere is more resemblance then one would imagine between these two poynts The Wind of the Air and that of Ambition to which the discontent of Men with their condition is commonly ascribed As for the First Some have held that all Wind even that which blows upon the Sea comes from the Earth and that the first conjecture which was entertain'd of the Region of the West Indies was taken from the Wind perceiv'd to come from that quarter But the History of Christopher Columbus attributing the discovery to Chance thereof cannot consist with that opinion There is no Meteor whose effects have more of Miracle which is defin'd An Effect whereof no Natural Cause is seen For even the Lightning is seen by the brightness of the fire which accompanies it But the effects of this aim at the highest things which it overthrows and you neither see the Agent nor understand it Yet the Sagacity of Humane Wit is admirable Sins have serv'd to clear Cases of Conscience Arsenick Sublimate and other poysons are converted by Physick into Cauteries and other profitable remedies The Civil Law hath by occasion of evil manners receiv'd addition of good Laws The Winds which drown Ships are so managed by the Art of Navigation which divides them first into four principal North East South West and then into eight by the addition of four half points and hath at length subdivided them into 32. that by their help Men sail upon the main Sea and provide forreign remedies for Physick Sugar and spices for Kitchins and employments for many other professions The Second said That though many causes may agitate the Air yet all of them are not sufficient to raise a Wind but the Air must be agitated by some Fume which is raised either from the Earth and is called an Exhalation or from the Water and is called a Vapour either of which partakes of the Nature of the Element from whence it proceeds A Vapour is moist an Exhalation dry An extrinsecal Heat which predominates in them gives them all their motions and makes them mount on high And because it is the property of Heat alwayes to move and act therefore these Fumes are so long in action as the Heat lasts They arise in company together and are carry'd upwards but are presently separated For the moisture of the Vapour quencheth the Heat which animated it so that the sole absence of the Sun or the occurse of the least Cold depriving the Vapour of the little Heat which was left in it and made it still ascend upwards it becomes more condens'd and falls down in Rain But an Exhalation hath a greater degree of Heat which is render'd more active by the driness and tenacity of the matter Therefore it ascends till it meets with the Air of the Middle Region which is thick and congeal'd by which being hinder'd â—o pass further it seeks a passage on one side or the other Many times when it strives to rise higher it becomes engag'd among Clouds which inclose it on all sides Being thus inclos'd and straitned it becomes united together and thereupon being inflam'd breaks the Clouds and causes Thunder or if it â—ind less resistance towards the Earth it descends with violence to the place from whence it arose and makes Whirl-winds But if such Exhalation have not time enough to mount as far as the Middle Region as it happens most frequently but as soon as it is drawn up be hinder'd and inclos'd by the Vapour turn'd into thick and cold Air in the Lower Region of the Air then Winds are produc'd in this manner This Exhalation being unable to mount upwards because the whole Region is full of thick Air which resists it it must go either on one side or other wherefore it tends that way where it meets least resistance And whereas there are certain seasons wherein the Air is sometimes less thick towards the South others wherein it is so towards the North and the other quarters of Heaven thence it is that the Winds blow there most usually Moreover the reason why the Wind hath a kind of whistling is because the Exhalation clasheth with violence against that thick Air. Hence also it is that Winds are more ordinary in the Night and about Evening because in those times the Vapour looseth its Heat through the Suns absence and so being become a thick Air better incloseth the Exhalation and resisteth the same with more force But as the Air which issueth out of our Lungs is hot yet if it be sent forth with some little violence it becometh cold So though the Exhalation which causeth Wind be never without Heat yet we never feel the Wind hot Not that the Air loseth its Heat by motion
Inclinations of the Soul cannot be ascrib'd to a corporeal cause such as the Stars are For if all were govern'd by their influences we should see nothing but what were good as being regulated by so good causes I acknowledge but two virtues in the Heavens Motion and Light by which alone and not by any influences of occult qualities they produce corporeal effects Thus ought Aristotle to be understood when he referreth the cause of the continual Generation of Inferior things to the diversity of the Motions of the First Moveable and the Zodiack And Hippocrates when he foretelleth the events of Diseases by the several Houses of the Moon The Fourth said It is impossible to make an Art of predicting by the Celoestial Motions for five reasons besides the dominion which our Will hath over Effects without which it were free 1. The Connexion that is between the Celoestial Bodies and the Sublunary is unknown to Men. 2. The diversity of the Celoestial Motions causeth that the Heaven is never in the same posture as it ought to be for the making of a sure and certain Art grounded upon many repeated Experiments according to which like Effects are to be referr'd to like Causes 3. The extreme rapid and violent turning about of the Heavens doth not afford to find the precise minute of a Nativity for drawing the Theme or Figure of the true state of Heaven which they say is necessary 4. As of sixteen Consonants joyn'd with five Vowels are made words without number so of a thousand and twenty two Stars and more with seven Planets may be made Conjunctions and Combinations to infinity which surpass the comprehension of humane wit there being no Art of things infinite 5. Two persons or more born at the same time under the same Elevation of the Pole and disposition of the Heavens as they speak yea two Twins as Jacob and Esau are found oftentimes different in visage complexion inclination condition and end But is it probable that a hundred Pioneers stifled in the same Mine or ten thousand Men dying at the same battle have one and the same influence The Fifth said God having from all eternlty numbred the hairs of our Heads that is to say foreseen even the least Accidents which ought or may befall Men he hath establish'd an order for them in the Heavens disposing the course aspects and various influences of the Stars to draw out of Nothing those accidents at the time that they are to happen to Men whom they incline to meet the same yet so as to leave it in the power of their Free-will to avoid or expose themselves unto them without any constraint This truth is sufficiently confirm'd by the exact and admirable correspondence which is found between the most signal accidents of our lives and the hour of our Nativities so that Astrologers not onely conjecture by the time of the Nativity what is to come to pass but they also come to the knowledge of the true minute of the Nativity by the time at which accidents arrive and take this course to correct Horoscopes and Figures ill drawn And although long Experience may attest the certainty of this Art yet I confess since the faculties and qualities of the Stars are not perfectly known to us and we cannot alwayes precisely know the disposition of Heaven much less all the combinations of the Stars Astrology in respect of us is very uncertain and difficult but not therefore the less true and admirable in it self It is like a great Book printed in Hebrew Letters without points which is cast aside and sleighted by the ignorant and admir'd by the more intelligent So the Heavens being enamel'd by Gods Hand with Stars and Planets as with bright Characters which by their Combinations figure the various accidents which are to befall Men are never consider'd by the ignorant to dive into their Mysteries but onely by the Learned who themselves many times commit mistakes when they go about to read them because those shining Characters have no other Vowels or rather no other voice but that of God who is the true Intelligence thereof The Sixth said Three sorts of persons err touching the credit which is to be given to Astrological Predictions Some believe them not at all others believe them too little and others too much As for the first since they cannot deny that the Stars are universal causes of sublunary effects that such causes are of different natures and virtues and that their action and virtue is dispens'd by the motion which is successive and known they must of necessity confess that knowing the disposition of sublunary subjects the nature of the Stars and their motion many natural effects may be fore-seen and fore-told from them The Devil himself knows no future things certainly but by foreseeing the effects of particular causes in their universal causes which are the Stars They who believe too little confess that the Stars act upon the Elements and mixt Bodies for very Peasants know thus much besides many particular effects of the Moon But as for Man whose Soul of it self is not dependent upon any natural cause but free and Mistress of its own actions they cannot or for Religion's sake dare not affirm that it is subject to Coelestial Influences at least in reference to manners Yet it is no greater absurdity to say that the Soul is subject to the Stars then to say with Aristotle and Galen that it is subject to the Temperament of the Body which also is caus'd by the Starrs from the influence and action whereof the Soul cannot exempt its Body nor the Temperament thereof by which she acts Lastly they who give too much credit to the Stars hold that all things are guided by a fatal and irrevocable order of Nature contrary to Reason which admits the Author to be the Master of his own work and to Experience which assures us of the standing still of the Sun for Joshuah of his going backward for Hezechiah and of his Eclipse at full Moon during the Passion The Fourth Opinion is certain that there is truth in Astrological Predictions but it behoveth to believe them onely in a due measure since the Science of it self is but conjectural II. Whether is less blameable Avarice or Prodigality Upon the Second Point it was said That Avarice is less blameable then Prodigality For the latter is more fertile in bad actions then the former which though otherwise vicious yet refrains from the pleasures and debaucheries in which the Prodigal usually swims The Holy Scripture intending to set forth an example of Infinite Mercy relates that of the Prodigal Son who obtain'd pardon of the sin which is least worthy of it Moreover Prodigality doth far less good then Covetousness for this always looks at its own profit and takes care for its own benefit and the preservation of its dependents so that it exerciseth at least the first fundamental of Charity which is to do well to those who are nearest
kind is when onely the Spirits are enflam'd and 't is call'd Ephemera because it continues but one day unless the Humours too become of the party as it falls out usually and it admits of three differences according to the three sorts of Spirits Animal Vital and Natural The Humoral Fever is either Simple or Compounded The Simple is either Continual or Intermitting The Continual is caus'd when the putrefaction of the Blood possesses the great Vessels or some noble Part. The Intermitting produc'd by the three other Humours putrefying out of the Veins is either Quotidian which is produc'd by Phlegme or Tertian by Choler or Quartane by Melancholy The Compounded or complex Humoral Fever is caus'd by the mixture of those Humours which then cause a double Quotidian double Tertian and double Quartane yea sometimes but very rarely a Quintane and others of longer interval which may be attributed to all the different from which Fevers arise The Efficient causes is in my opinion the strength of Nature and every one's particular Temper as he who is more robust and upon whom the disease is more violent will have longer Fits the Fight of Nature with the Malady being more stoutly maintain'd by the parties and consequently shorter intervals because that which increases to the one decreases to the other The Cholerick will have longer Fits of a Tertian Fever and shorter of a Quotidiane The Material Cause contributes very much herein being that which supplies Ammunition to this intestine War which is continu'd or discontinu'd according to the proportion and quantity of the Matter 'T is more easie to name the Formal Cause then to understand it But as for the Final 't is certain that Nature makes the intervals of Fevers purposely to rally and recruit her strength as truces and cessations of Armes use to be made when the Country is almost spent or the Souldiers too much harrass'd and out of heart The Second said That the Periods of Fevers have been matter of torture to the best wits who could not without admiration consider how e. g. one sick of a Quartan and appearing to day at the point of Death should nevertheless for two days together perform all his actions perfectly and then upon the fourth many times too at the same hour in more contumacious Fevers become in the like pitiful condition again Now the Cause hereof is commonly attributed to the time which is requir'd for producing the matter of the Fever and consuming it They hold that it is so long in consuming as the Fit lasts the the end whereof is the Crisis like as the ancient water-clocks of the Romans did not signifie nor strike the hour till the vessel was full Some have imputed the cause to the motion of the Humour and believ'd that as the humid mass of the Sea hath its flux reflux and interval so have the Humours of our Bodies when the natural heat which regulated them being disorder'd and its effect suspended by the disease governes the same no longer but abandons them to their own Capricio Of which motion 't is no easier to render a reason then of that of the Sea the Load-stone and all other occult motions Hence many have recurr'd to the Asylum of Last Differences the knowledge whereof is interdicted to Humane Capacity And therefore they have ventur'd to assign no other cause saving that the Interval of these Fevers being their most proper Difference it must not be wonder'd if we understand their nature as little as those of all other things in the world The Third said That the time which is requisite for generating the Humour cannot be the cause of these Intervals since the Fits of a Fever are longer or shorter though the Fever change not its Nature yea it will become double or trebble sometimes and still keep the name of a Quartan As on the contrary when there is so little matter left for it that it is almost quite gone yet it alwayes returnes on the fourth day although the Fit lasts a shorter time Yea it comes to pass oftentimes that he who hath had a Quartan and is cur'd of all other Symptomes of his Ague yet for a long time after feels the chilness and weariness at the same day and hour that his Disease was wont to seize upon him In the mean time while 't is manifest that the Fever being gone the Melancholy Humour is no longer gather'd together in sufficient quantity to produce it and therefore the cause cannot be attributed to the Melancholly Humour since it no longer causeth the fever Whereby we may judge that the quantity of the matter contributes to the lengthening or diminishing of the fit but gives not the fever its name or form Now as for the motion which they attribute to the Humour like that of the Sea and their calling this Interval the form of the Fever 't is a confession of their Ignorance but not a solution of the Question Galen in the second Book of the Differences of Fevers and the last Chapter refers the cause of these regular and periodical motions to the dispositions of the parts of the whole Body which being distemper'd cease not to transmit or receive generate or attract superfluous and excrementitious humours and he holds that so long as the cause of these dispositions lasts so long the circuits continue and consequently the reason why a Tertian which is caus'd by Choler returnes every third day is because the distemper'd parts transmit or receive or generate bilious humours and excrements every other day But the question remains still whence it is that these parts are affected in such manner that they cause such just and regular periods For though it be true that the parts by reason of pain or heat e. g. yellow putrid Choler nevertheless this doth not infer that they attract the same rather the third day then the fourth or every day as they ought to do since the cause being alwayes present viz. the pain or heat which incessantly attracts this humour the effect should alwayes follow and make a Quotidian circuit although indeed 't is but once in three dayes The Fourth said That as Physitians refer the unusual motions of Epileptical and the violent sallies of the Frantick not barely to the phlegmatick or atrabilarious humour but to a certain quality of it so ought we to do touching the periodical motions of Fevers which proceed not simply from the humours corrupted but from a particular condition and virtue of each humour whereby it is that putrifying Phlegme makes its approaches every day Choler every third and Melancholy every fourth day And as these humours so long as they retain their natural constitution have a regular motion which carries one into the Bladder of Gall and the Guts the other into the Spleen and the other into the Stomack so being corrupted each acquires a certain new quality and putrefaction which is the cause of other periodical motions namely those of Fevers The Fifth
same with perfect freedom CONFERENCE LXVIII I. Of the Magnetical Cure of Diseases II. Of Anger I. Of the Magnetical cure of Diseases 'T Is requisite to agree upon the Facts before inquiry into Right Now many Authors report that wounds have been cur'd by the sole application of a certain Unguent which for this reason they call Armarium to the instrument or offensive weapon that made it And Goclenius a German Physitian affirms that he saw a Swedish Lady cure one of her servants so that had been hurt by a blow with a knife by his companion and that this cure is very common having been practis'd in presence of the Emperour Maximilian Yea that 't is ordinary for the Peasants of his Country to cure hurts in their feet by sticking the nails or thorns which made them in Lard or Bacon Many Farriers cure prick'd horses by digging up as much ground as their foot cover'd Behold the ordinary composition of the aforesaid Oyntment Take an ounce of the unctuous matter that sticks on the inside of the Scull of one hang'd and left in the air let it be gather'd when the Moon encreases and is in the Sign either of Pisces Taurus or Libra and as neer as may be to Venus of Mummie and man's blood yet warm of each as much of man's fat two ounces of Lin-seed-oyl Turpentine and Bole Armenick of each two drams mingle altogether in a Morter and keep the mixture in a long-neck'd glass well stop'd It must be made while the Sun is in the Sign Livra and the Weapon must be anointed with it beginning from that part which did the mischief from the point to the hilt if it be a thrust and from the edge if it be a cut or blow Every morning the Patient must wash his hurt with his own Urine or else with warm water wiping away the pus which would hinder unition The weapon must be swath'd as the wound uses to be and kept in a temperate place For otherwise they say the Patient will feel pain If you would hasten the cure the weapon must be dress'd often and if you doubt of the part which did the mischief it must be dip'd all over in unguent If the hurt be small 't will be enough to dress the weapon every other day washing the hurt every morning and evening But this is not to be practis'd in wounds of the Arteries Heart Liver and Brain because it would be to no purpose Now by the nature of the ingredients and their conformity with us their effect seems to be natural and grounded upon the sympathy that there is between the blood issu'd from the wound and remaining on the weapon and that which is left in the wounded body so that the one communicates to the other what good or evil it receives although it be separated from the whole As they affirm that those whose leg or arm is cut off endure great pains when those parts that were lop'd off corrupt in the earth Which happens not if they be carefully embalm'd So the Bee the Viper and the Scorpion heal the hurts made by themselves Of which no other reason is alledg'd but this correspondence and similitude of the parts to their whole the bond of which is very strong although to us invisible The Second said There 's no need of recurring to these superstitious remedies since Nature of her own accord heals wounds provided they be not in the noble parts and be kept clean from the impurities generated in them through their weakness which hinder unition which is an effect of the natural Balsam of the blood and therefore not to be attributed to those Chimerical inventions which have no affinity with the cure whereunto they are intitl'd For every natural agent is determin'd to a certain sphere of activity beyond which it cannot act so the fire burns what it touches heats what approaches it but acts not at any remote distance whatever Moreover time and place would in vain be accounted inseparable accidents from natural motions if this device held good considering that contact is requisite to every natural action which is either Mathematical when surfaces and extremities are together or Physical when the agents touch the Patients by some vertue that proceeds from them Neither of which can be unless the body which heals touches that which is heal'd For all Medicinal effects being to be referr'd to Elementary qualities there is none of them more active then heat which being circumscrib'd within its bounds even in the aliment of fire can be no less elsewhere The Third said That the doctrine of the common Philosophy which teacheth that natural agents always touch one the other is erroneous or else ill explain'd and dependent upon other false principles which attribute all actions to elementary qualities which are taken for univocal causes whereas themselves are but equivocal effects of other supream causes the first of which is Heaven For when God created the world immediately with his own hands he was pleas'd to commit the conduct of natural causes to the Heavens that he might not be oblig'd to make every day new miracles as were those of the Creation For this end he fill'd them with spirits sufficient to inform all sorts of matters whose mixture requir'd some new form and change This made the Philosopher say that the Sun and Man beget Man and Hermes in his Smaragdine Table that the things which are below are as those which are on high And the Astrologers hold that there is nothing here below but hath some proper and peculiar Star some of which appear but far more appear not in the Heavens in regard of their disproportion to our sight or their neer conjunction as in the milky way But if the respective correspondencies of all the Celestial Bodies be not so clearly evident in other sublunary bodies as that of the Pole-star is with the Load-stone of dew with the Sun of this and the Moon with the Heliotrope and Selenotrope yet are they no less true 'T is credible therefore that the Weapon-salve hath such sympathy with the Constellation which is to make the cure of the wound that by its magnetick vertue it attracts its influence from Heaven and reunites it as a Burning-glass doth the Sun-beams at as great distance by which means it is deriv'd to the instrument that made the wound communicating its healing vertue to the same as the Sun likewise communicates his heat to the earth which heats us afterwards and thus this instrument being indu'd with a sanative vertue communicates the same to the wound made by it the cure of which besides the form and connexion of the instrumental cause with the effect is further'd by Nature which always tends to preserve it self and the imagination of the wounded person which induces Hippocrates to require that the Patient have hope and confidence in his Physitian for this as its contrary ruines many by dejecting their strength doth miracles towards a recovery
directly contrary to the felicity of a City which consists not onely in a society of Men but of Men of different conditions the meanest of which being commonly most necessary in a State would not be exercis'd if all were equally rich and powerful And if the necessity of Hunger which sometimes taught Pies and Crows to speak at Rome had not press'd most of the first inventors of Arts the same would be yet to discover Nothing is more beautiful in Nature then Variety nor yet in Cities Besides Men being apt to neglect the publick in comparison of their private interest were goods common they would be careless of preserving or increasing them and rely upon the industry of others Thus this equality would beget laziness whilst they that labour'd most could hope for no more then they that did nothing at all Moreover if Wives and Children were common as Socrates in Plato would have them it would be a great hindrance to propagation Children would not own their Parents nor these their Children and so there would be no paternal filial nor conjugal love which yet are the surest foundations of humane society Incests and Parricides would be frequent and there would be no place for the exercise of most virtues as of Chastity and Friendship the most perfect of all virtues much less of Liberality and Magnificence since nothing should be given but what belongs alike to all nor would any be capable of receiving The Third said That in a City which is a society of companions some things must be necessarily injoy'd in common as Publick Places Havens Fairs Priviledges Walls Town-houses Fortresses and publick charges But not all things in regard of the inconveniences which would follow thereupon and therefore Plato was forc'd to reform his first imaginary Republick and make another more sutable to the humours of men permitting every one the possession of some goods yet with this restriction that he would not have any become too unproportionably rich The Fourth said That Plato's design in his Republick was to conjoyn action and contemplation he would have a City first Mistress of her self then of the world more venerable then formidable to its neighbours less rich then just but sober temperate chaste and especially religious And to render it such he conceiv'd that by removing all impediments from within by equality of goods he trac'd out the way to contemplation which is the supreme good whereunto men aspire and therefore community of goods which is conducive thereunto cannot be too highly esteem'd But in this Age it would deprive all goods of that name by rendring them common and there would be no common good if there were none particular CONFERENCE LXXVII I. Of Sorcerers II. Of Erotick or Amorous Madness I. Of Sorcerers THe malignant Spirit 's irreconcilable to humane nature exalted above his own is such that he is not contented with doing all the mischief he can by himself but imployes his Ministers and Officers to that purpose as God whose Ape he is imployes his holy Spirits in his works These Officers are Magicians and Sorcerers The former are such as being either immediately instructed by the Devil or by Books of Magick use characters figures and conjurations which they accompany either with barbarous and insignificant words or some perversely taken out of the Holy Scripture by which means they make the Devil appear or else give some answer by sound word figure picture or other sign making particular profession of Divination Sorcerers are their servants aiming onely to do mischief and Sorcery is a species of Magick by which one hurts another by the Devils help And as the operation of the Devil is requisite thereunto so is the consent of the Sorcerers and Gods permission without which one hair falls not from our heads This consent is grounded upon a compact either express or tacite the former whereof is made by rendring homage either immediately to the Evil Spirit or to the Magician in his name or by addressing a request to him Commonly they take an oath of fidelity in a circle describ'd upon the ground the Devil herein as in other things imitating the Deity which is represented by a Circle A tacite compact is when one makes use of such means learn'd from a Magician or magical books known to be such or sometimes ignorantly But the most ordinary means which they use in their witchcrafts are powders which they mingle with food or else infect the body clothes water or air Amongst which the black powders are design'd to procure death the grey or red to cause sickness and the white to cure either when they are forc'd to it or in order to some greater mischief although this virtue depend not any ways upon their colour nor always upon their qualities Sometimes they perform their witcheries with words either threatnings or praises Not that these have any virtue in themselves any more then straws herbs and other things wherewith they bewitch people but because the Devil is by covenant to produce such or such effects by the presence of these things shewing himself a faithful performer in certain things to the intent he may at last deceive them in all The Second said That the charms of Sorcerers differ according to the end whereunto they are design'd some cause sleep and that by potions charmes and other enchantments the most usual of which are pieces of a dead body fastned to the house enchanted candles made of a particular wiek and fat or of the feet and hands of dead persons anointed with Oyle which the Devil gives them these they either light up or place candles at each finger and so long as this dismal light lasts they in the house remain in a deep sleep Other enchantments are to procure Love some of which act either within or without the body consisting of what is most sacred in Religion and most filthy in Nature so abominable is this practice and done in hatred of the Creator some likewise procure hatred hinder generation make women miscarry increase their pains of child-bearing dry up the milk breed thornes pieces of glass and iron knives hair and such other preternatural things in the body Of all which magical effects some indeed are real but the most part are prestigious The real are when the Devil makes use of natural causes for such an effect by applying actives to passives according to the most perfect knowledge which he hath of every things essence and properties having lost no gifts of Nature by sin but onely those of Grace But when the effect is above his power or God permits it not then he makes use of delusions to cover his impotence making appearance of what is not and hindring perception of what really is Such was Gyges's ring which render'd him invisible when he pleas'd and Pasetus's feasts from which the guests departed with intollerable hunger as also the money wherewith he pay'd his Merchants who found nothing at night in their bags And that
famous Simon Magus as Saint Clement reports seem'd to create a man in the Air render'd himself invisible appear'd with several faces flew in the Air penetrated rocks turn'd himself into a sheep and a goat commanded a sickle to reap corn as it did more alone then ten labourers and by this means deluded the eyes of all the world except those of Saint Peter Such was also in the dayes of our Fathers one Trisulcan who to defame his Curate made him think that he was playing at cards whereas he was turning over his breviary whereupon he flung it upon the ground and M. Gonin being hang'd on a gibbet the first presidents mule was seen hanging in his place Their transports are sometimes real sometimes imaginary the Devil keeping them in a deep sleep all the while The Third said That the power of Evil Spirits whose instruments Sorcerers are is so limited that they cannot either create or annihilate a straw much lesse produce any substantial form or cause the real descent of the Moon or hinder the Stars motion as Heathen Antiquity stupidly believ'd Indeed they are able to move all sublunary things so they cause Earthquakes the Devil either congregting Exhalations in its hollownesses or agitating the Air included therein Sopater having been put to death for so tying up the winds that no merchandize could be transported to Byzantium And Philostratus relates that Apollonius saw two tubs or tuns among the Brachmans which being open'd there arose most vehement winds and rain and shut again the Air became calm and serene Olaus also testifies the like of the Laplanders and Finlanders who sold winds to Merchants Moreover the Devils are call'd by the Apostle Princes of the Air they cause Hail Thunder Rain and Fire to fall where they please yet alwayes conditionally that God lets the bridle loose to them as he did when he burnt Job's servants and flocks and overthrew the house wherein his children were with a whirl-wind So in the year 1533. a Sorcerer burnt the whole Town of Silthoc in Sweden to the ground And as they can obscure so they can infect the Air and more easily the waters stopping them and making them run backwards which Pliny saith himself saw in his time They kill Animals by infecting them or their pastures or else suffocate them by entring into them as they did the swine of the Gadarenes They can also extinguish the plenty of a Country by transporting the fatness of it elsewhere not by virtue of the Sorcerers words much lesse is it by those that they introduce flies grashoppers and catterpillars or other insects into a place either assembling them together or producing them out of congruous matter The Fourth said That the effects of Nature and Art are to be distinguish'd from those of enchantments for want of which satisfaction some juglers pass for Sorcerers among the vulgar who are apt to apprehend supernatural means when they are ignorant of the natural or artificial causes For removing of which calumny C. Furius Cresnius being accus'd of having bewitch'd his neighbours fields and transported all their fertility into his own brought his servants his oxen and plough into the Senate declaring that these were all his charms Moreover many times the sterility imputed to Sorcerers proceeds from Gods anger who makes the Heaven iron and the Earth brass for their wickedness So when a private person arrives to great honour or estate suddenly though it be by his merit yet the generality of people the meanest of which account themselves worthy of the same fortune attribute such extraordinary progresses to the Devil And yet 't is a rare thing if ever heard of that any one was enrich'd by the Devil either because he reserves his riches for Antichrist wherewith to seduce the Nations or because God doth not suffer it lest men should forsake his service for that of Devils and the good should be too sorely afflicted by the wicked II. Of Amorous Madness Upon the Second Poynt it was said That Love being not very wise of it self 't is no hard matter for it to become extravagant for it cares not for mediocrity and consequently is subject to most tragical accidents It s Excess is call'd Erotick or Amorous Madness which is a species of melancholy deliration caus'd by the continual representation of the thing lov'd which possesses the Phancy of the poor Lovers that they can think of nothing else and many times forget to eat drink and sleep and the other necessary actions of life 'T is different according to diversity of temper of brain and body the degree of the melancholly humour and the profession of those that are possess'd with it Hence melancholy persons are fullest of flatuosities and Spirits and the sanguine as having most blood are most subject to it They are known by their hollow and languishing eyes inequality of pulse and visage especially when the party lov'd is spoken of or seen by which means Galen discover'd the Love-sickness of a Roman Lady and Erasistratus that of Seleuous's Son for his Mother in law Stratonice This distemper is the more dangerous because 't is pleasing to those that are tormented with it and hard to cure because they fear nothing more then their cure being fond of their fetters But being a disease of the Mind the surest remedy is to divert from the thought of what they love and to avoid idleness the mother of lasciviousness The body also must be conveniently purg'd from its predominant humours according to which these patients differ the sanguine are merry and laugh continually and oftentimes alone love songs and dances the cholerick are froward and so furious that some have kill'd themselves through the violence of their passions and Romances are full of such persons The melancholy are pensive solitary and sad that dull and cold humour hebitating the souls motion If this distemper proceed from abundance of geniture remedies must be us'd which extinguish it as Rue Purslane Lettice Water-lilly Willow-leaves Coriander seeds Agnus Castus Camphir and Mint The Second said As Love is the original so 't is the Abridgement of all Passions You may see these poor Lovers in the same hour love and hate fly and desire rejoyce and sorrow fear and dare be angry without a cause and be pacifi'd again with less reason in brief never to have their Minds setled any more then their bodies in the same posture and complexion alike Whence many have thought this malady produc'd by enchanted Drinks or Philtres which may indeed make one amorous but not determine him to a certain person besides that these Drinks cannot act upon our Will which is incorporeal nor captivate its liberty to a particular object unless the Devil have a hand in the business The Third said That the famousest of all Philtres is Hippomenes powder'd and taken knowingly by the Lover 'T is a little black and round piece of flesh about the bigness of a dry fig found upon a Colt's fore-head new
never put into the same subject an internal and radical principal of two contrary desires as that of Man is to that of Woman the one consisting in action the other in passion the one in giving the other in receiving they cannot belong to one single individual which should also be both Agent and Patient contrary to the common Axiom founded upon the first Principle that a thing cannot be and not be at the same time Moreover the qualities of the Genitures being contrary that of the Woman cold and moist and that of the Man hot and dry they cannot meet in the same subject in so excellent a degree as is requir'd to generation For the strength divided is never so vigorous as united especially when its subjects are different No Hermaphrodites ever us'd both sexes perfectly but at least one of them weakly and abusively and consequently they are justly punish'd by the Laws For were both parts equally fit for Generation 't were contrary to policy to hinder them from using the same propagations being the chief Nerves of a State But these people are oblig'd to make choice of one Sex that by this election it may be konwn which they exercise best and may be prohibited the abuse of the other The Third said There 's nothing in Nature so disunited but is rejoyn'd by some medium As there are Spirits apart and Bodies apart so there are animated Bodies consisting of both Amongst beasts Leopards Mules Doggs and many others partake of two different Natures the Bat is between a beast and a bird as Frogs Ducks and other amphibious creatures partly Fish and partly Terrestial Animals The Bonaretz is a plant and an animal the Mushrome is between earth and a plant So since there is Man and Woman there may also be some nature containing both As to the cause of them besides nature's general inclination to reunite different things it seems that the same which produces monsters produces also Hermaprodites especially when the matter is more then needs a single Man or Woman and too little for two Nature herein imitating a Founder who casting his metal in a mould if there be any over-plus it sticks to the Piece which he intended to form Unless you had rather say that if both the seeds be of equal power and neither predominant over the other the Formative Virtue then produces both sexes which it would have distinguish'd into two Twins had there been matter sufficient for two Twins Whereunto also the Imagination of the Mother may also contribute For since some have been born with Virilities sticking at the end of their Nose and other places of the Countenance Nature seems less extravagant when she places them in their true situation there being no likelyhood in the Astrologers account that the conjunction of Mercury and Venus in the eight house which they assign to births is the cause hereof The Fourth said That Hermaphrodites being of those rare and extraordinary effects which fall no more under Law then under Reason 't is very difficult to assign the true natural causes of them Yea if there be nothing less known then forms and their original even when Nature acts regularly we cannot but be more at a loss in the combinations of forms and species and coupling of sexes which are deviations from the rule of Nature Hermaphrodites who have both sexes are of four sorts for they have Virilities in the ordinary place and muliebrities either in the perinaeum or the scrotum or else the feminine parts being in their right place the masculine appear above them as is seen many times in Goats or lastly the Virilities lying hid in the middle of the other at length come forth as ha's hapned to many Girls and Women turn'd into Men as to Marie Germain by the relation of Montagne to Arescon a Native of Argos who was sirnam'd Arescusa according to Martianus And Hippocrates affirms in 6. Epid. that a Woman nam'd Phaetusa who after she had had Children by her Husband Pytheus the Abderite this her Husband being long absent from her she came to have a beard and the other badges of virility The same he also testifies to have hapned to Namysia the wife of Gorippus in the Isle of Thasus Of which effects we shall easily find the reason if we say with Galen that Woman is an imperfect Animal and a fragment of Mankind and so 't will be no wonder to see a Woman become a Man then to see all other things acquire the perfection due to their Nature which they ought to attain lest their inclination thereunto be in vain Moreover 't is certain that a Woman desires a Man as Matter doth Form Power Act Imperfection Perfection Deformity Beauty in a word the Female the Male Nature affording us many examples of these changes of sexes and metamorphoses So Metals and Elements are turn'd one into another Wheat into Cockle Rye into Wheat Barley into Oats Origanum into Wild Thyme Sisymbrium into Mint Which caus'd Anaxagoras to say That every thing is in every thing According to which principle the Male is actually in his Female and Hermaphrodites are no more saving 't is more conspicuous So that the Ancients left us some truths under the figures of a god Lunus and the Moon and of a bearded Venus to whom the Dames of Athens sacrific'd in mens clothes The Fifth said That the transmutation of sexes is impossible by reason of the diversity of the Genitories in Men and Women which is greater then is here fit to be display'd But those Maidens who have been thought to change their Sex were Hermaphrodites who retain'd the marks of the Feminine sex onely till a certain age as that of Puberty when the increased heat driving the Virilities forth did the same thing as it doth in Children whom it enables to speak at a certain age Unless you will say that the Clitoris caus'd the mistake by its resemblance as it happens in that symptome call'd by Aegineta Cereosis or Cauda which makes Tribades pass for Hermaprodites The change of Men into Women not like that of Nero and Sardanapalus but of Tiresias mention'd by the Poets is more impossible unlesse they suppos'd that some causes destroying the heat of the Genital parts and weakning the strength the Virilities came to wither and retire inwards as the Umbilical vessels do after the faetus is born and that Nature conform'd to the cold temper superven'd in the whole body FINIS Ludus Literarius Ludi-Magistri Nihil est ex omni parte beatum Jupiter est quodcunque vides quodcunque movetur Lucan Id quod inserius est sicut illud quod est superius You may see the figure of these Parhelij in Des Cartes Meteors Splen ridere facit Mundus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ornatus Eclesiasticus Sign Weeping Oderint dum mutuant * Guy fig. Misletoe
proceed but from Heaven or the Elements there is no probability in attributing them to these latter otherwise they would be both Agents and Patients together And besides if the Elements were the Efficient Cause of the Mutations which come to pass in Nature there would be nothing regular by reason of their continual Generation and Corruption Wherefore 't is to the Heavens that it ought to be ascrib'd And as the same Letters put together in the same order make alwayes the same word So as often as the principal Planets meet in the same Aspect and the same Coelestial Configuration the Men that are born under such Constellations are found alike Nor is it material to say though 't is true that the Heavenly Bodies are never twice in the same scituation because if this should happen it would not be Resemblance longer but Identity such as Plato promised in his great Revolution after six and forty thousand years Besides there is no one so like to another but there is alwayes found more difference then conformity The Sixth affirm'd That the same Cause which produceth the likeness of Bodies is also that which rendreth the inclinations of Souls alike seeing the one is the Index of the other Thus we see oftimes the manners of Children so expresly imitate those of their Parents of both Sexes that the same may be more rightfully alledged for an Argument of their Legitimacy then the External Resemblance alone which consists onely in colour and figure This makes it doubtful whether we may attribute that Resemblance to the Formative Virtue Otherwise being connex'd as they are it would be to assign an Immaterial Effect as all the operations of the Rational Soul are to a Material Cause The Seventh ascrib'd it to the sole vigour or weakness of the Formative Virtue which is nothing else but the Spirits inherent in the Geniture and constituting the more pure part of it The rest serving those Spirits for Matter upon which they act for the organizing it and framing a Body thereof Now every Individual proposing to himself to make his like he arrives to his End when the Matter is suted and possess'd with an Active Virtue sufficiently vigorous and then this likeness will be not onely according to the Specifical Nature and the Essence but also according to the Individual Nature and the Accidents which accompany the same This seems perhaps manifest enough in that First Degree of Children to Fathers but the difficulty is not small how a later Son that hath no Features of his Fathers Countenance comes to resemble his Grand-father or Great Grand-father The Cause in my Judgement may be assign'd thus Though the Geniture of the Ancestor was provided with sufficient Spirits to form a Son like himself yet it met with a Feminine Geniture abounding with qualities contrary to its own which infring'd its formative vertue and check'd the Action thereof hindring the Exuberance of its Spirits from attaining to frame such lineaments of the Countenance as Nature intended or else it met with a Matrice out of due temper by some casual cold though otherwise both the Genitures were laudably elaborated For when those Spirits or Formative Virtue become chil'd and num'd they shrink and retire into their mass as he that is cold to his bed and wanting heat in which their Activity consists they remain in a manner buried and without Action in reference to this Resemblance And nevertheless there is left enough to make a Male like to the Father as to the species This Son thus form'd comes to Age to Generate and meeting with a Feminine Geniture proportion'd to his own in vigour and strength and a Matrice proper to receive them those Spirits of his Father which till then lay dormant are awaken'd to Action and concurring from all parts of the Body suddenly impregnate the Geniture of the Immediate Father having by their long residence in the corporeal mass been recruited refined and elaborated And as old Wine surpasseth new in strength and vigour of Spirits because it hath less Phlegme so those Spirits of the Grand-father having digested all the superfluous Phlegm wherewith those of the Father abound are more strong then they and win possession in the Geniture for the forming and organizing of it according to the shape of the Body from whence they first issued The Eighth said That he was very backward to believe that any Thing of our Great Grand-fathers remaineth in us seeing it is doubted upon probable grounds whether there remaineth in our Old Age any thing of our Child-hood and that the Body of Man by the continual deperdition of its Three-fold Substance Spirits Humours and solid parts is like the ship Argo which by the successive addition of new matter was the same and not the same That he conceiv'd not yet how the Geniture can proceed from all the parts seeing Anatomy teacheth us that the Spermatick Veines derive it immediately from the Trunk of the Hollow Vein Vena Cava and the Emulgent and the Arteries from the great Artery Aorta conveying it to be elaborated in the Glandules call'd Prostatae from whence it is set on work by Nature The solid Parts can have no Influence upon it for what humour or juice is brought to them for their nourishment goeth not away naturally but by sweat insensible transpiration and the production of hair The Spirits are too subtle and dissipable to preserve in themselves a Character and imprint the same upon any Subject That Resemblance in my Judgement proceedeth from the natural heat which elaborateth and delineateth the Body of the Geniture and by it the Embryo First with the general Idea of its species and then with the accidents which it hath and which it borroweth from the Matrice from the menstruous blood and the other Circumstances requisite to Generation and when chance pleaseth there is found a likeness to the Father Mother or others Which Circumstances being alike in the Formation of Twinns cause them to resemble one another unless when the Particles of the Geniture which is sufficient for two are of unlike Natures and are unequally sever'd by the natural heat So that for Example the milder and more temperate Particles are shar'd on one side and on the other the more rough and bilious As it hapned in Jacob and Esau the former of whom was of a sweet and the other of a savage humour and then Bodies as different as their Manners One the contrary many resemble one another in Countenance who are nothing at all related as Augustus and that young Man who being ask'd by the Emperour whether his Mother had never been at Rome answer'd No but his Father had And the true and false Martin Guerre who put a Parliament their Wife and all their kinred to a hard task to distinguish them II. Whether Letters ought to be joyned with Armes The Second Hour design'd for treating of the Conjunction of Armes and Letters began with this discourse That Armes seem not
as Cardan conceiveth For on the contrary all things become Hot by motion the Lead upon Arrows is melted and the Wood fired Water becomes thinner and hotter But the cause thereof is for that a strong Wind or Hot Air driven violently draws all the neighbouring Air after it which Air is Cold and we feel the coldness thereof Whence all strong Winds are alwayes cold The Third said We ought not to seek other causes of Natural Winds then those we find in Artificial Wind because Art imitates Nature Artificial Winds such as those of our Bellows the most common instruments thereof are caus'd by a compression of the Air made by two more solid Bodies then themselves which thrust the same thorow a narrower place then that of their residence For the Bellows having suck'd in a great quantity of Air when it s two sides draw together they drive out the same again with violence And this is that which they call Wind. In like manner I conceive two or more Clouds falling upon and pressing one another impetuously drive away the Air which is between them So we blow with our Mouths by pressing the Air inclos'd in the Palate and shutting the Lips to streighten its eruption Hereunto they agree who desine Wind to be Air stirr'd mov'd or agitated But if it be objected that the Clouds are not solid enough to make such a compression the contrary appears by the noise they make in Thunder-claps The Fourth alledg'd That Winds are produc'd in the World as they are in Man namely by a Heat sufficient to elevate but too weak to dissipate Exhalations whether that Heat proceedeth from Coelestial Bodies or from Subterranean Fires Wherefore as Hot Medicaments dissipate flatuosities so the great Heat of the Sun dissipates Winds The Fifth added It is hard to determine the Original of Winds after what our Lord hath said thereof That we know not whence they come nor whither they go and what David affirmeth That the Lord draweth them out of his Treasures NevertheIess I conceive that different causes ought to be assign'd of them according to their different kinds For although Winds borrow the qualities of the places through which they pass whence the Southern and Eastern are moist and contagious because of the great quantity of Vapours wherewith they are laden by coming over the Mediterranean Sea and the Ocean yet some Winds are of their own Nature Hot and Dry making the Air pure and serene being caus'd by an Exhalation of the like qualities Others are so moist that they darken the Air because they are produc'd of Vapours Some places situated near Mountains and Rivers have particular Winds But as for those which blow at certain Periods either every year or every second year or every fourth year as one that blows in Provence I refer them to the Conjunction of certain Plants which reign at that time The Sixth said That Air hath a natural motion of its own as the Heavens have otherwise it would corrupt but meeting some streights and finding it self pen'd up it rallies and reunites its forces to get forth as it doth with violence and set it self at Liberty And this with so much the more vehemence as the places through which it passeth are streighter Whence it is that we alwayes perceive a Wind near a Door or Window half open or the mouth of a Cave which ceaseth when they are set wide open The Seventh continu'd That which is most difficult to conceive in reference to the Wind is its violence which I hold to proceed from the Rarefaction of a matter formerly condens'd and from the opposition of a contrary For the place of the Generation of Wind being either the Cavernes of the Earth or the Clouds the vaporous matter becoming rarifi'd so suddenly that it cannot find room enough to lodge in breaks forth impetuously as we see the Bullet is by the same reason violently driven forth by the Air enflamed in the Cannon Some think that Winds arise also from the Sea because a Wave is alwayes seen upon the changing of the Wind to rise on that side from whence it is next to blow The Eighth said That their motion is a direct line because it is the shortest way but not from below upwards by reason of the resistance they meet with in the coldness and thickness of the Middle Region of the Air whence the same thing happens to them that doth to smoak or flame which arriving at a ceiling or vault is constrain'd by the resistance it finds thereby to decline on one side Also their violence is increas'd by the adjunction of new Exhalations as Rivers augment theirs by the access of new streams II. Why none are contenteà with their own condition Upon the Second Point it was said That since the inferior World follows the course of the superior and Coelestial it is not to be wonder'd if the latter being in continual motion and agitation the former whereof Man makes the noblest part cannot be at rest For the Starrs according to their several Positions Aspects or Conjunctions move and carry us to desire sometimes one thing sometimes another The Ambition and Ignorance of Man are of the party too The former makes him alwayes desire to have the advantage above others to pursue Honours and Dignities and to think that to acknowledge a greater then himself is to own fetters and servility The latter represents things to him otherwise then they are and so causes him to desire them the more by how much he less understands their imperfections Whence many times by changing he becomes in as ill a case as Aesop's Ass who was never contented with his condition But the true Cause in my opinion is because we cannot find in this World a supreme temporal Good whereunto a concurrence of all outward and inward goods is requisite and were a Man possess'd thereof yet he could have no assurance that he shall enjoy it to the end of his Life whence living in fear of losing it we should be prone to desire something that might confirm it The Dignity of the Soul furnisheth me with another reason of our discontentment For she being deriv'd from Heaven and knowing that this is not her abiding City she may taste of terrene things but findeth them not season'd to her gust as knowing that frail and mortal things are not worthy of her nor sutable to her eternity And as a sick person that turns himself first on one side then on the other to take rest so the Soul finds her repose in motion And as morsels swallow'd down have no more savour so the present goods which our Soul possesseth give her no pleasure but like a Hunter she quits the game which she hath taken to pursue another The Second said Though by a wise Providence of Nature every one loves his own condition as much or more then another doth yet there being alwayes some evil mix'd with and adhering to the most happy state in the world
since the in extinguishable thirst after the Future hath induc'd all Ethnick Antiquity to feed Fowls for Augury to immolate Sacrifices for presaging their good or bad Fortune there is some ground to pardon them and all others who seek some glimmerings of the future in Dreams I conceive the most Incredulous reading in the Scripture that seven lean kine devouring so many fat ones presag'd seven years Famine which consum'd all the store of seven other fertile years and moreover the truth confirm'd by the event of the Dreams of so many others cannot but have them in some reverence But on the other side when every one considers how many Phancies come into our heads in sleep both sick and well the truth whereof is so rare that it may be compar'd to that of Almanacks which setting down all sorts of weather sometimes happen right upon one or to those bad Archers who shooting all day long glory if they once hit the mark he presently concludes that credit is not lightly to be given to them Wherefore I think after explication how Dreams are caused it will be fit to examine whether there be any connexion or affinity between the things which we dream and those which are to come to pass as there was between the Aegyptian Hieroglyphicks which the things signifi'd by them and as there is at this day in the Characters of China and in the Signatures observ'd by some Physitians between some Plants and the Parts or Diseases to which they are proper For it is not without some hidden reason that Experience hath caus'd so many persons to take notice that as for example Death and Marriage make a great stir and alteration in the house where they happen so the one is usually the indicatour of the other that because the Hen makes a cry when she layes her Eggs from whence is produc'd a Chicken that cryes too therefore Eggs signifie brawls or quarrels that Pearls signifie Tears because they resemble them that as the Serpent is alwayes mischievous and moves along with little noise so he denotes secret Enemies and the cutting off his head the getting the better of one's Enemies that as our Teeth are not pluck'd out without pain so to dream that they fall out prefigures the death of a Relation and other such things which cannot be number'd but by a Calepine much less the interpretation thereof unfolded The Second said That Dreams are caus'd by the rising of vapours from the Stomack to the Brain by whose coldness they are condens'd and then falling like a gentle dew upon the Nerves and stopping the passages by which the Animal Spirits issue to the outward senses the species of objects which we receiv'd awake and were then confus'd and agitated by heat settle by little and little and become as clearly discern'd as when we were awake Or else our Imagination which as Aristotle saith is like a Painter who makes a mixture of divers colours joyning several of those species together formes chimera's and other strange images which have no antitype in Nature Just as a Child drawing accidentally certain Letters out of a heap mingled together joynes them and formes words of them which have no sense And as dirty or stirred waters doth not represent any Image or very badly so the Imagination being embroil'd and agitated by the gross fumes of the meat which arise after the first sleep represents ill or not at all the images of things which it hath in it self Hence it is that Drunkards and Children dream little or not at all and that the Dreams of the first part of the night are turbulent and those of the morning more tranquil and quiet to which alone therefore credit is to be given So that Interpreters of Dreams account the same nearer or farther from their Effect according as they more or less approach the day-break The Third said That Dreams are different according to the different Causes whence they proceed which are either within us or without us That which is within us is either Natural or Animal or Moral from which arise three different kinds of Dreams The Natural are usually suitable to the complexion of the Body and constitution of Humours Thus the Bilious or Cholerick dreams of fire and slaughter The Pituitous or Flegmatick dreams that he is swimming fishing or falling The Melancholy sees sad and dismal things in his sleep The Sanguine hath pleasures and jollities in his Phancy The Animal proceed from our ordinary employments and cause the actions on thoughts of the day to be represented again to the Imagination in the night The Moral follow the good or bad inclinations of every one Thus the Voluptuous person dreams of Delights and the Ambitious of Honours The external cause of Dreams is either God or Angels and these either good or bad and they either imprint new species upon the Phancy or dispose those which are in it before so as thereby to advertise us of things which concern us These alone in my opinion are those that are to be taken notice of The Fourth said That besides these causes of Dreams there are also some corporeal causes as the temper of the Air or the constitution of the Heavens and the nature of places to which is to be refer'd the relation of Ammianus Marcellinus That the Atlantick people have no Dreams as also the common report that they who lay Lawrel-leaves under their heads when they go to sleep have true Dreams together with the Observation of Aristotle that if a Candle cast the least glimpse before the Eyes of such as are a sleep or a little noise be made near them they will dream that they see Lightning and hear Thunder it being proper to the Soul when we are a sleep to make an Elephant of a Flie. The Fifth said That the chief inquiry in this matter is How any Dreams can signifie that which is Future and what connexion there is between the figures which Dreams represent to us and the thing signifi'd to us by them For it is certain in the first place that Dreams have some affinity and conformity with our Temper This with our Manners our Manners with our Actions and finally our Actions with the Accidents which betide us Whence it appears that according to this series Dreams have some great correspondence with those Accidents For the Soul which knows our Temper and by necessary sequel our Manners and Actions beholds in those three together the Accidents of our Life which are annex'd represented and contained potentially in them as Fruits and Trees are in Flowers and Seeds But as Flowers and Seeds are very different in Figure from the Fruits and Trees which they produce so the Characters of the Accidents of our Life being contained or rather produced by our Temper our Manners and Actions are represented to the Soul under the various species of things which are to befall us because being linked by a streight bond to this corporeal mass it cannot judge
discussion of this Controversie is that there is no Judge found but is interessed in the Cause Do not think that the determination of this Point is of little importance For we should have none of those dismal feuds both in high and mean families did not women go about to command over men instead of obeying them Now whether the business be fairly arbitrated or whether it be yielded out of complacency to that Sex which loves to be commanded and out of pity its frugality and weakness upon examination of the reasons of either side I find it safer to suspend my judgement that I may neither betray my own party nor incense the other which they say is not so easily reconciled as it is offended The Second said That the courtship and suing which Men use to Women is a tacite but sufficient argument of the esteem wherein they hold them for we do not seek after a thing which we under-value But the praecellence of Women above Men is principally argu'd from the Place the Matter and the Order of their Creation For Man had not the advantage to be created in the Terrestrial Paradise as Woman had who also was produc'd out of a more noble matter then he for he was made out of the Earth and she out of one of the Man's ribbs And as for the Order of the Creation God in the production of Mixt Bodies begun with the meanest things and ended with the noblest He first made the Earth and the Sea then Plants Fishes and the other Brutes After which he created Man as the Master of all things and lastly Woman as the Master-piece of Nature and the Model of all Perfections Mistress of Man stronger then he as the Scripture saith and consequently Mistress of all the Creatures Moreover there is no sort of Goods but are found in a higher degree in Woman then in Man For as for the Goods of the Body the chief whereof is Beauty Men have therein utterly lost the cause which they will be as little able to carry in reference to the Goods of the Mind For the same are found more vigorous and attain sooner to maturity in Women who upon that account are by the Laws adjudg'd Puberes at twelve years of age and Boyes not till fourteen They commonly perform more actions of Virtue then Men and indeed they have more need thereof to with-stand the assaults continually made upon their Chastity which is not too often found in the other Sex They are acknowledg'd by all to be more merciful faithful and charitable then Men so Devout that the Church which cannot err termes them by no other name and so patient that God hath judg'd them alone worthy to carry their Children nine moneths in their bellies no doubt because Men had not Virtue and Resolution enough for that office The Poets never feign'd but one Jupiter that was able to bear an Infant in his Body though it were but for a few moneths In fine there is no Science or Art in which Women have not excell'd witness the two Virgins Desroches and de Gournai the Vicountess of Auchi and Juliana Morel a Sister Jacobine of Avignon who understands fourteen Languages and at Lyons maintain'd Theses in Philosophy at the age of thirteen years so also of old Diotima and Aspacia were so excellent in Philosophy that Socrates was not asham'd to go to their publick Lectures in Astrology Hipatia of Alexandria the Wife of Isidore the Philosopher in Oratory Tullia the Daughter and doubly heiress of Cicero and Cornelia who taught Eloquence to the Gracchi her Sons in Poetry Sappho the inventress of Saphick Verses and the three Corynnae of whom the first overcame Pindar the Prince of Lyrick Poets five times and in Painture Irene and Calypso in the dayes of Varro If there have been Prophets there have also been Prophetesses and Sybils yea they were Virgins of old that render'd the Oracles at Delphos In brief if there have been war-like Men there have been Amazons too who have shew'd that Valour is not solely Masculine And in our dayes there have been found Maidens that have fought very courageously whose Sex was not known till they were stript after they had been slain in battle But these Feminine Virtues are not so much celebrated as those of Men by reason of the Envy which they bear to the Sex having subjected the same to such a pass that they are enforc'd to support all our defects Though indeed Women may say to Men as the Lyon did to a Man who shew'd him the picture of a Man killing a Lyon If Lyons said he were addicted to painting you would see more Men kill'd by Lyons then Lyons by Men. If Women had had the making of Laws and Histories you would see more Virtues exercis'd by Women then by Men. The Third said That although none but Men are at the ventilating of this Controversie yet Women ought not to alledge that it is easie to commend the Athenians in the City of Athens since God himself hath pass'd a Decree upon them in these words The Woman shall be subject to the Man And 't is to no purpose to say that it was otherwise before the first sin and that subjection was impos'd upon the Woman for a punishment seeing the punishment of the Serpent That he should creep upon the Earth doth not presuppose that he had feet before he caus'd Man to sin by the intervention of his Wife but indeed God converted that into a penalty which before was natural unto him The same ought to be said concerning the Woman who was no less subject to the Man before then after his sin Moreover after God had taken the Woman out of Adam's side whence they say it comes that their heads are so hard he did not say that she was good as he had pronounc'd all the rest of his Creatures And to get Adam to marry her there was no other expedient found but to cast him into a sleep no doubt because had he been awake he would have been very much puzzl'd to resolve upon it So that they who considering on one side the usefulness of that Sex for the preservation of the species of Men and on the other the mischiefs whereof it is the cause have not ill determin'd when they term'd Woman a Necessary Evil to which Men are addicted by natural instinct for the general good and to the prejudice of the particular just as Water ascends upwards contrary to its own nature for the eschewing of Vacuity Woman is an imperfect Animall whom Plato doubted whether he should not rank amongst the irrational and whom Aristotle termes a Monster they who treat her most gently stile her a simple Error of Nature which through the deficiency of natural heat could not attain to the making of a Male. Women big with Female Children are more discolour'd have their taste deprav'd and usually lift up their left leg first as it were for an evidence of that sinister conception
not attribute this impediment of generation to charms and enchantments but rather to the power of the Imagination which is of great moment in this case as we see also in Love or Hatred which though by several ways render a man incapable of this action For if one be sollicited by a woman whom he thinks unhandsome and hates he cannot satisfie her because sadness makes his spirits to retire Another being surpriz'd with the enjoyment of some rare beauty becomes alike impotent because joy dissipates the same spirits The desire of doing well and the fear of failing are also frequently obstacles to it witness the impotence of Ovid Regnier the man mention'd in Petronius the Count spoken of by Montague and many others Now these passions making an impression in the Phancie disturb and hinder it from moving the Appetite and consequently the motive faculties depriving them by this means of their ordinary functions The Third said There are two sorts of Impotence one natural and the other supernatural The first happens two ways either through want of matter which is the geniture and spirits or through defect of emission The former not to mention the parts serving to generation happens through the extinction of virility and that by reason of old age sickness violent exercises aliments or medicaments cold and dry and generally by all causes which dissolve the strength and dissipate the spirits and flatuosities as Rue according to Aristotle The second defect proceeds from the obstruction of the Vessels or from a Resolution or Palsie befalling the foresaid parts That which is supernatural is acknowledg'd according to the Canon by the practise of the Church which ordains the two parties to be unmarried if at the end of three years they cannot undo this Gordian knot in the presence of seven witnesses It is made by Sorceries and charms which indeed have no action of themselves yet when men make use of them the Devil according to a compact either tacite or express acts with them imploying to that end the natural things whereof he hath perfect knowledge and hinders generation in two manners either by disturbing the phancie with some images and species of hatred and aversion or else by suspending the generative faculty by the dissipation of flatuosities retention of spirits and concretion of the geniture Now natural impotence is discern'd from supernatural because the first is alwayes alike towards all sort of persons but the second is onely in reference to some particular Woman the Man being well enough dispos'd for all others But change is to no purpose when the impotence is natural The Fourth said That Ligature is a subverting of the order establish'd in order by which all things are destinated to some particular action and are lead to what is sutable for them 'T is an impediment whereby the actions of agents as it were repress'd and restrain'd and 't is either Physical or Magical The former proceeds from a particular Antipathy between two Agents the stronger whereof by some occult contrary property extinguishes and mortifies the virtue of the weaker Thus Garlick or a Diamond hinder the Loadstone from attracting Iron Oyle keeps Amber from drawing straw and the spirits of the Basilisk fix those of a Man The second of which kind is the tying of the Point is done by Magick which thereunto employes certain words images circles characters rings sounds numbers ointments philtres charmes imprecations sacrifices points and other such diabolical inventions but especially barbarous names without signification yea sometimes to that degree of impiety as to make use of sacred things as the divine appellations prayers and verses taken out of the Holy Scripture which it prophanes in its charmes and fascinations Because as Saint Augustine saith the Devils cannot deceive Christians and therefore cover their poyson with a little honey to the end that the bitterness being disguis'd by the sweetness it may be the more easily swallow'd to their ruine These Magical Ligatures if we may credit those who treat of them are almost infinite For there are some particularly against Thieves restraining them from carrying away any thing out of the house others that hinder Merchants from buying or selling in certain Faires and retain ships in the Port so that they cannot get out to sea either by wind or oars or keep a mill from grinding the fire from burning the water from wetting the Earth from producing fruits and upholding buildings swords and all sorts of weapons and even lightning it self from doing mischief dogs from biting or barking the most swift and savage beasts from stirring or committing hurt and the blood of a wound from flowing Yea if we believe Virgil there are some which draw down the Moon to the Earth and effect other like wonders by means for the most part ridiculous or prophane Which nevertheless I conceive are to be referr'd either to natural causes or to the credulity of those who make use of them or to the illusions of the Devil or to the hidden pleasure of God sometimes permitting such impostures to deceive our senses for the punishing of the over-great curiosity of Men and chastising of the wicked For I see not what power of action there is in a number even or odd a barbarous word pronounc'd lowdly or softly and in a certain order a figure square or triangular and such other things which being onely quantities have not any virtue power or action for these belong onely to Qualities The Fifth said That we ought not to do as the vulgar do who refer almost every thing to supernatural causes If they behold a Tempest or Lightning fall down upon any place they cry the Devil is broke loose As for effects which are attributed to Occult Properties 't is Sorcery as they say to doubt that the same are other then the works of Sorcerers But we must rather imitate true Philosophers who never recurr to Occult Properties but where reasons fail them much less to supernatural causes so long as they can find any in nature how abstruse soever they may be Those of this knot or impotence are of three sorts Some proceed from the want of due Temper as from too great cold or heat either of the whole constitution or of the parts serving to generation For a good Temperature being requisite to this action which is the most perfect of any Animal immoderate heat prejudices the same as much as cold because it dries the Body and instead of producing consumes the Spirits The Second Cause is in the Mind for the Body is of it self immoveable unless it be agitated by the Soul which doth the same office to it that a Piper doth to his instrument which speaks not a jot if he blow not into it Now the Phancy may be carri'd away else where or prepossess'd with fear or some other predominant passion Whence he that imagines himself impotent and becomes so indeed and the first fault serves for a preparatory to the second Hereupon
naturally keep up above the water yet by enclosing it in some sort of vessel you may violently make it continue under the water II. Of the capricious or extravagant humours of women Upon the second Point it was said It is not here pronounc'd that all women are capricious but only the reason inquir'd of those that are such and why they are more so then men To alledge the difference of souls and suppose that as there is an order in the Celestial Hierarchies whereby the Archangels are plac'd above Angels so the spirits of men are more perfect then those of women were to fetch a reason too far off and prove one obscure thing by another more so Nor is the cause to be found in their bodies taken in particular for then the handsome would be free from this vice the actions which borrow grace from their subject appearing to us of the same nature and consequently their vertues would seem more perfect and their defects more excusable whereas for the most part the fairest are the most culpable We must therefore recur to the correspondence and proportion of the body and the soul. For sometimes a soul lights upon a body so well fram'd and organs so commodious for the exercise of its faculties that there seems more of a God then of a man in its actions whence some persons of either Sex attract the admiration of all world On the contrary other souls are so ill lodg'd that their actions have less of man then of brute And because there 's more women then men found whose spirits are ill quarter'd and faculties deprav'd hence comes their capricious and peevish humour For as melancholy persons whose blood is more heavy are with good reason accounted the more wise so those whose blood and consequently spirits are more agile and moveable must have a less degree of wisdom and their minds sooner off the hooks The irregular motions of the organ which distinguishes their Sex and which is call'd an animal within an animal many times have an influence in the business and increase the mobility of the humours Whence the health of their minds as well as that of their bodies many times suffers alteration A woman fallen into a fit of the Mother becomes oftentimes enrag'd weeps laughs and has such irregular motions as not only torment her body and mind but also that of the Physitian to assign the true cause of them Moreover the manner of living whereunto the Laws and Customs subject women contributes much to their defects For leading a sedentary life wherein they have always the same objects before their eyes and their minds being not diverted by civil actions as those of men are they make a thousand reflections upon their present condition comparing it with those whereof they account themselves worthy this puts their modesty to the rack and oftentimes carries them beyond the respect and bounds which they propos'd to themselves Especially if a woman of good wit sees her self marri'd to a weak husband and is ambitious of shewing her self Another judging her self to merit more then her rival not knowing to whom to complain of her unhappiness does every thing in despight And indeed they are the less culpable inasmuch as they always have the principles of this vice within themselves and frequently find occasions abroad The Second said that the word Caprichio is us'd to signifie the extravagant humour of most women because there is no animal to which they more resemble then a Goat whose motions are so irregular that prendre la chevre signifies to take snuffe without cause and to change a resolution unexpectedly For such as have search'd into the nature of this animal find that its blood is so sharp and spirits so ardent that it is always in a Fever and hence it is that being agitated with this heat which is natural to it it leaps as soon as it comes into the world Now the cause of this temper is the conformation of the Brain which they say is like that of a woman the Ventricles of which being very little are easily fill'd with sharp and biting vapours which cannot evaporate as Aristotle affirms because their Sutures are closer then those of men those vapours prick the Nerves and Membranes and so cause those extraordinary and capricious motions Hence it is that women are more subject to the Meagrim and other diseases of the head then men And if those that sell a Goat never warrant it sound as they do other animals there is no less excuse in reference to women Which caus'd the Emperour Aurelius to say that his Father in law Antoninus who had done so much good to others had done him mischief enough in giving him his daughter because he found so much bone to pick in a little flesh Moreover the Naturalists say that the Goat is an enemy to the Olive-tree especially which is a symbol of peace whereunto women are not over-well affected For not to mention the first divorce which woman caus'd between God and man by her lickorishness her talking her ambition her luxury her obstinacy and other vices are the most common causes of all the quarrels which arise in families and in civil life If you would have a troop of Goats pass over any difficult place you need force but one to do it and all the rest will follow So women are naturally envious and no sooner see a new fashion but they must follow it And Gard'ners compare women and girles to a flock of Goats who roam and browse incessantly holding nothing inaccessible to their curiosity There is but one considerable difference between them the Goat wears horns and the woman makes others wear them The Third said There is more correspondence between a woman and a Mule then between a woman and a Goat for leaving the Etymology of Mulier to Grammarians the Mule is the most teasty and capricious of all beasts fearing the shadow of a man or a Tree overturn'd more then the spur of the rider So a woman fears every thing but what she ought to fear The obstinacy of the Mule which is so great that it has grown into a Proverb is inseparable from the whole Sex most of them being gifted with a spirit of contradiction Mules delight to go in companies so do women the bells and muzzles of the one have some correspondence with the earings and masks of the other and both love priority The more quiet you allow a Mule it becomes the more resty so women become more vitious in idleness neither of them willingly admits the bridle between their teeth The Mule is so untoward that it kicks in the night time while 't is asleep so women are oftner laid then quiet Lastly the Mule that hath seem'd most tractable all its time one day or other pays his master with a kick and the woman that has seem'd most discreet at one time or other commits some notorious folly The Fourth said That those who invented the little
Medals representing the upper part of a woman and the lower of a Mule commend this Sex whilst they think to blame it For there is nothing more healthy strong patient of hunger and the injuries of seasons or that carries more and is more serviceable then a Mule Nature shews that she is not satisfi'd with her other productions whilst she makes other animals propagate by generation but when she has made a Mule she stops there as having found what she sought Now if certain actions of women seem full of perverseness and capricio to some possibly others will account them to proceed from vivacity of spirit and greatness of courage And as the Poet in great commendation of his black Mistress chanted her cheeks of Jet and bosom of Ebeny so whatever some people's mistake may say to the contrary the most capricious woman is the most becoming Nor is this humour unprofitable to them for as people are not forward to provoke a Mule for fear of kicks so we are more shie of women then otherwise we should be for fear of capricioes well understanding the difference which the Proverb puts between the van of the one and the rear of the other Yet some hold that this capriciousness of women follows the Moon no less then their menstruosities do Others that the flower of beans contributes very much to it The Fifth said That if credit is to be given to experience Solomon who had experience of a thousand women compares an ill capricious woman to a Tygress and a Lyoness Such were Medea Xantippe and many others Moreover the Poets say that the Gods intending to punish Prometheus for having stoln the celestial fire gave him a wife And when Satan afflicted Job he depriv'd him of his flocks of his houses and of his children but had a care not to take his wife from him knowing that this was the onely way to make him desperate as it would have done without God's special grace The Rabbins say three sorts of persons were exempted from publick charges and could not be call'd into judgement to wit the Poor the Nephritick and he that had a bad wife because they had business enough at home without needing any abroad The Laws likewise exempted new marry'd men from going to the wars the first year of their marriage allowing them this time which is the roughest and most important to repress their quarrelsomeness and reduce their fierce Spouses to duty Which if the Husbands could not effect a little bill of Divorce appointed by God and the Laws for putting an end to the poor Man's miseries did the business Though the Chaldeans us'd not so much formality but onely extinguish'd the domestick fire which the Priest kindled at the marriage Yet the priviledge was not reciprocal neither Divine nor Humane Laws having ever allow'd women to relinquish their Husbands for then being as capricious and inconstant as they are they would have chang'd every day For the same reason the Laws have alwayes prohibited to women the administration of publick affairs And the Religion of the Mahumetan Arabians assignes them a Paradise apart because say they if the women should come into that of the men they would disturb all the Feast CONFERENCE XLVII I. Of the Virtue of Numbers II. Of the Visible Species I. Of the Virtue of Numbers THe Mind of Man resembles those who make the point of their tools so small that they spoil them with too much sharpning and in the contemplation of natural causes there is more then enough to satisfie his desire of knowledge were it not that he will attempt every thing Hence it is that the causes of different effects here below are sought in things the most remote and no otherwise appertaining to them then that as accidents and circumstances Of these accidents some have action as Quality others have none as Quantity under which are comprehended Number Figure Lines Surface and its other species which are consider'd either in some matter or else abstracted from it in the former of these wayes they have some virtue in regard of their matter but not in the latter An Army of fifty thousand Men is potent but the number of fifty thousand can do nothing yea is nothing if taken abstractedly Wherefore as reasonable as it is to seek the virtues of simple and compound bodies in their qualities and to say e. g. that Pepper bites and alters the Tongue because it is hot and dry so absurd it seemes to think that five or seven leaves of Sage apply'd to the Wrist have more virtue then six or eight The Second said Nothing includes more wonders in it self then Number and if our Reason cannot penetrate their cause they ought to be the more esteem'd for being unknown This is the universal opinion of all Antiquity both Jewish and Pagan which otherwise would not have made so much adoe with them Yea there 's divine authority for it contain'd in the eleventh Chapter of Wisedom God made all things in number weight and measure Experience justifies their Energy teaching us that certain numbers are to be observ'd in cases where we would have the like effects which possibly is the canse why the operations of one and the same remedy are found so frequently different We see Nature so religious in this observation in all her works that she never produces an Animal but the proportion of seeds is adjusted most exactly that in Plants their grains and all other parts have the same taste colour and virtue whence it is that simple medicaments are alwayes more certain then compound because Nature either produces them not at all or makes them with the same number weight and measure of matter and qualities 'T is through the virtue of number that such a Plant as Coloquintida is mortal when it grows alone and medicinal when many of them grow together The Third said The Pythagoreans and Platonists ascrib'd so great power to numbers that they thought all things were compos'd of them and more or less active according to their several proportion Of which they made four sorts First the Poetical or Musical the virtue whereof is such that it gave occasion to the Fable of Orpheus who is said to have drawn even beasts trees and rocks by the harmonious sound of his Harp 'T was by the cadence of the like numbers that David chas'd away Saul's evil spirit and Poetry which differs from Prose onely by its numbers hence derives the power it hath over mens souls The Second sort is the Natural and is found in the composition of all mixt bodies The Third is Rational peculiar to Man whose soul they term'd a moving number the connexion whereof with the body they said continu'd so long as the numbers which link'd them remain'd united together The Fourth Divine upon which and the Natural the Cabalists and Magicians have founded their profoundest secrets and Agrippa his Occult Philosophy But above all others they particularly esteem'd the odd number styling
which have a great latitude according to the degrees of their mixtion from which they are said to be attenuating or incrassating detersive or emplastick rarefying or condensing laxative or astringent attractive or repelling mollifying or hardning And by this Second Faculty alone Medicaments act upon the Matter The Third Faculty of Medicaments arises not from their qualities or matter but from their form and specifick occult virtue as in Sena the Faculty to purge Melancholy in Terra Sigillata or Lemnia to fortifie the Heart against poysons as also that Scorpions kill with the tail and certain poysons cause death without any alteration of the Temper The Fourth said diseases are consider'd either in their genus in their species or in their individuals In the first way as a Disease is nothing but a disposition contrary to Nature and injuring the actions so it is cur'd by introducing the natural disposition In the second if it be a intemperature e. g. cold in the second degree its specifick is hot in the same degree if it be an Organical Disease as an Obstruction the onely remedy is to unstop the passages if it be solution of Continuity all that 's to be done is to conjoyn that which is divided But if a Disease be consider'd in the Individual then particular remedies of the same nature be employ'd which are the true specificks The Fifth said 'T is true of the causes of Health as well as of those of Diseases that the same thing is hurtful or healthful to one but not to another not onely amongst the different species but also amongst the individuals of the same species in regard of the several circumstances A remedy that recover'd one kills another yea that which not long ago was healthful to an individual person is now quite contrary So that 't is impossible to assign any specificks for an individual person which nevertheless is the subject on which the cure is to be done and not the species of man The Sixth said Every thing in Nature is determin'd to a particular action proceeding from its form and essence which is more adapted to such action then to any other So a Tree is determin'd to produce one kind of fruit rather then another Now the same may be said of Remedies drawn from the three families some are proper to purge a particular humour whence they are callld Cholagoga Melanogoga Hydragoga Emeticks Diureticks Diaphoreticks Discussives Sternutatories and Bechicks others strengthen a particular part whence they are call'd Cardiacks Cephalicks Hepaticks and Splenicks some have a faculty of resisting particular poisons so Treacle is specifical against the biting of a Viper a Scorpions flesh apply'd upon its own wounds heals it Oyle of Pine-nuts is good against Arsenick Long Aristoloch or Rue against Aconitum or Wolfs-bane Citron Pill against Nux Vomica or the Vomiting Nut the seeds of Winter-cherry against the Cantharides or Spanish Fly Mumie against Ulcers caus'd by Tithymal the flower of Water-lilly against Hellebore the root of Eglantine Gentian Bawme Betonie Pimpernel are excellent against the biting of a mad Dog and so others of the like nature Some Medicaments are call'd Amulets because being worne about the neck or lay'd to some part of the Body they preserve from Diseases So by the testimony of Galen Peony worne about the neck averts the Falling-sickness the dung of a Wolf eases the Cholick and the Jasper strengthens the stomack Trallianus affirmes that the Eagle-stone Aetites cures Quotidian Agues the Beetle and green Lizard Quartanes that the forehead of an Ass and a nail taken out of a shipwrack'd vessel is excellent for the Epileptick Fits The ashes of Frogs is good against bleeding the Lapis Judaicus and the blood of a Goat are useful against the stone of the Kidneys the water of a Stag's horn and the bone of his heart are excellent for infirmities of the heart Now to refer all these wonderful effects to the First Qualities is a groundless thing And therefore Galen derides his Master Pelops for attempting to render a reason of them The Seventh said That Physick invented at first by use and experience has nothing to do with Reason in things which fall manifestly under our senses but onely in such as surpass their comprehension which being confirm'd by Reason are much more infallible Nevertheless when Reason seems repugnant to Experience we must rather hold to Experience provided the same be establish'd upon many observations Now since Experience shews that there are Specifical Remedies although humane wit in regard of its weakness cannot find out the cause of them yet 't is better in this case to rely upon the testimony of the senses destitue of Reason then to adhere to Reason contradicted by Experience Moreover if there be Specificks for some Diseases there are so for all but they are unknown to us by reason of their multitude And who is he that can know the virtues and properties of every thing which is in the world The Chymists are of this opinion for they hold that all Medicaments have Signatures or particular marks and figures by which they have resemblance with the parts or diseases of Man's Body and which are as 't were the titles and inscriptions imprinted upon them by God's Hand to teach Men their faculties Hence the herb Lung-wort is very good for the Lungs Ceterach and Harts-tongue for the Spleen Poppy and green Nuts for the Head Satyrium for the Testicles Winter-cherry for the Bladder Birth wort for the Womb Madder for broken Legs Eyebright for the Eyes Solomons seal and Thorow-wax for Ruptures because the root of the one resembles a Rupture and the stalk of the other passes through its leaf as the Intestine doth through the Peritonaeum the roots of Tormentil red Sanders and the stone Haematites for bleeding blessed Thistle and other prickly Plants for the pungent pains of the side II. Whether Tears proceed from Cowardise The Second Point may be determin'd by comparing the great and little world together In the former the Suns heat draws up vapours and exhalations into the Air if the vapours be more in quantity then the other they dissolve into rain if less then the exhalations are turn'd into winds lightnings and other igneous meteors And as we cannot infer from thence that the Sun suffers any alteration or is colder and hotter for whether it rains or be fair he is still the same So neither must we attribute new qualities to the reasonable soul though it finds in the brain a matter either apt to be condens'd into tears or to be resolv'd into the blustering stormes and other effects of Choler yet 't is alwayes the same soul which according to the various temper of the body is easily or hardly mov'd to tears Women Children and old men are prone to weep because their brain is more moist then that of men of middle age and again those of them who are flegmatick and sanguine are more inclin'd to tears then the cholerick and
the subtilest sense to wit the Sight The Fifth said That the nobleness of the Touch appears principally in that 't is the most infallible of all the senses as the most honourable persons are accounted most worthy of credit Therefore our Lord being to convince S. Thomas at that time incredulous caus'd him to feel his side and manifest things are call'd palpable because the Touch is the last sense that is deceiv'd Whence they who dream do not frequently find their errour till putting forth their hands to the phantasin they begin to be convinc'd that it is nothing but air The Sixth said That as 't is a common vice to all the Senses to be deceiv'd so that of Touch is not more exempt from it then the rest and the less because it judges of the quality of its objects only by comparison according to the diversity of which one and the same thing diversly affects it and is sometimes apprehended one way sometimes another A man that comes out of a hot Bath shivers in the same air which he accounted warm before he enter'd into the water and when he that learns to dance puts off his leaden soles he thinks his feet lighter then he did before he put them on The Seventh said The Touch is an external sense terrestrial and gross it perceives hot and cold dry and moist heavy and light hard and soft smooth and rough or unequal acide viscous or slippery thick and thin tough and friable or brittle and other such tactile and earthy qualities For as there are five simple Bodies in Nature namely the Heaven and the Elements so each of the five external Senses corresponds to one of them the Sight to Heaven in regard of its transparence and lucidity the other four to the Elements of which the Earth symbolizeth with the Touch because every thing that is felt must have some solidity and consistence which proceeds from the Earth otherwise it could not make it self felt by it self but only by some predominant quality as we feel not the air when it touches us unless it be extreamly cold or hot The Organ of Feeling is inward skin which incompasses the whole body of a creature by reason of its so perfect and equal temperature that it is neither hot nor cold dry moist but equally partakes of all these qualities a requisite condition in the Organs of the senses which must be unprovided of all the qualities whereof they are to judge So the Crystalline humour is without colour the tongue without sapour the nostrils without scent the ears without any sound And the skin is neither hard like the bones nor soft like the flesh but of a temper between both being therefore call'd a Nervous flesh and a fleshy Nerve which skin never so little touch'd feels perfectly which would not come to pass if it were not the Organ of the Touch. 'T is therefore woven of infinite nerves terminated in it and bringing the animal spirits to it which are the efficient causes of the Touch as well as of all the other Senses For what the Philosopher saith That a sensible object apply'd upon the Organ is not perceiv'd must be understood only of the three Senses which are for the convenience of an animal to wit the Sight Hearing and Smelling not of the other two which are for its absolute necessity upon which consideration Nature hath appointed them to judge more neerly exercising these two Senses by a medium internal and inseparable from the Organ II. Of Fortune Upon the second Point it was said Fortune is a cause by accident in things which are done for some end by an Agent that makes use of Reason So 't is fortune when one walking for his health or divertisement finds a Purse but chance hazard or adventure is in things which act for some end without election as brutes mad people and children who are not fortunate or unfortunate unless in hope The difficulty of understanding the nature of Fortune ariseth from the infinite abundance of things which may be causes of things which befall men And as 't is proper to man to admire what he understands not upon the observation of the many strange and unforeseen accidents in the world some say that they come to pass by a fatal destiny necessarily guiding every cause to its effect others that they fall out by chance to which the ancient Philosophers ascrib'd so much that Empedocles accounted the situation of the Elements fortuitous Democritus and Leucippus thought the production of all things was effected by the casual concourse of their atomes flying in the vacuum insomuch that out of a blind superstition they erected Temples and Altars to Fortune For indeed there is nothing divine in Fortune since there is not any cause by it self but may be a cause by accident and consequently Fortune Nor is it the Divine Providence since that which is foreseen cannot be call'd fortuitous But we give the appellation of Fortune to any cause which missing of its proper effect produceth another which it intended not The Second said 'T was the ignorance of men that invented Fortune which hath no other existence but in their imagination For every thing that is hath a certain cause determined to its effect But Fortune and Chance are uncertain and indeterminate therefore not causes And although the proximate cause of every thing be unknown to us yet 't is not the less certain for all that in respect of God who ignores nothing Therefore if there be a fortune in respect of us 't is an effect of our ignorance The Third said We must establish in Nature either Destiny or Fortune The former seems to fasten man to Ixion's wheel which permits him not to do any thing of himself and takes from him the commendation of good and blame of evil rendring him by this means guiltless of whatever he do's and laying all upon universal causes whatever distinction may be made of God's will in general and particular it not being conceivable that two contrary wills can at the same time proceed from the same source The second is more correspondent with the daily events which produce effects whereof no necessary cause can be found Indeed if effects are to be divided according to their causes 't is certain that some are necessary and some contingent whereof the latter being fortuitous cannot be referr'd to any thing but to Fortune Yea of the things which come to pass in the world some always arrive in the same manner as day and night when the Sun rises and sets others fall out ordinarily but not always as that a child is born with five fingers on a hand there being some that have six and others on the contrary arrive very rarely as Monsters But if this variety of causes and effects hath place in natural things 't is found much oftner in humane actions whose constancy is unconstancy it self there being not any whose effect is certain For what man can promise himself
not by rarity alone or local extension but by formal extension or internal quantity and consequently that a little matter under a great internal quantity is the principle cause of tenuity rarity and transparence to which the evenness of surfaces is also requisite in gross bodies So that Light consists in a proportion between the quantity and the matter of its subject and Light is great when the matter is little under a great quantity as in the Heavens on the contrary the body is dark when a very small quantity is joyn'd to a great deal of matter as is seen in the Earth To prove this you must observe that all simple bodies are luminous excepting the Earth which is opake and we find Light in sundry animated bodies as in the Eyes of Cats and of those Indian Snailes which shine like torches and in our Gloe-wormes whose Light proceeds from their Spirits which being of a middle nature between the Body and the Soul are the least material thing in the world Whence it follows that Light is a form with the most of essence amongst sensible formes as obscurity hath the least The Second said The wonder of Marsilius Ficinus was with reason how 't was possible that nothing should be so obscure as Light For if Transparence be the subject of it why doth Crystal heated red hot in the fire come forth more luminous and less transparent then it was The same may be said of Rarity for we see that Air and Aqua Vitae are well rarify'd by the fire which inflames them but cease to be transparent as soon as they are made more rare and luminous which is an evident sign that rarity and transparence are not causes nor yet conditions of Light So the whole remainder of Heaven is lucid but onely the less rare parts and such as you might call vapours in respect of the pure Air. And the light which proceeds from the Sun the most luminous of all those celestial bodies would never be visible but be depriv'd of all its effects which are heating and enlightning if it were not reflected by some solid body Then it not onely appears but exerts its activity And if things be produc'd by the same causes which preserve and multiply them the solidity of burning mirrors made of Steel the hardest of all metals which make the Sun-beams do more then their own nature empowers them to shews sufficiently that their Light cannot arise from a rare and diaphanous cause Nor may the Light of rotten wood be assign'd to its rarity alone since many other bodies of greater rarity shine not at all nor that of Gloe-worms and Cats Eyes to their spirits since the flesh of some animals shines after their death as 't is affirm'd of Oxen that have frequently eaten a sort of Moon-wort and not onely the scales of divers fishes shine after separation from their bodies but sparkles of fire issue from the hair of some persons in great droughts whereunto the spirits contribute nothing Which would perswade me to believe that Light is a Form to the introduction whereof several conditions are requisite according to the diversity of subjects just as we see the Souls of some irrational creatures need great dispositions for their reception a Brain a Heart and a Liver with their dependances whereas others as Insects require lesse and are contented with something that may supply this defect some are generated in an instant without any apparent preparation as Frogs in a summer showre and therefore to assign the cause of Light is to seek the reason of Formes which is unknown to us Which similitude the vulgar speech confirmes for the people say The Candle is dead when it is extinguish'd presupposing that it had life before as an Animal hath so long as its form is conjoyn'd with its body Moreover Fire hath a Locall Motion as Animals have to obtain its food The Third said Light is a substance for it was created by God but 't is a Sixth Essence more subtile then that of Heaven which is call'd a Quintessence in respect of the Four Elements A substance which subsisted before the Sun having been created three dayes before it and nothing hinders but it may be communicated in a moment from Heaven to Earth since the intentional species of visible things is so Indeed whereunto shall we attribute the effect of Light which heats at distance and blinds being too great which colours and gives ornament to the Universe if it be not a substance And the Penetration of Dimension objected hereunto is salv'd by saying that it hath no more place here then when an Iron is red hot with the Fire which yet none will affirm to be an accident and neverthelesse it enters into the whole substance of the Iron and Light with it for 't is transparent and luminous at its centre when 't is throughly heated in the Fire The Fourth said The excellence of Light appears in that nothing hath greater resemblance with the Deity Which made some Heathen Philosophers say that Light is Gods Body and Truth his Soul Moreover the Scripture teaches us that God dwells in inaccessible Light And the blessed Spirits are stil'd Angels of Light as Daemons Spirits of darknesse Light enlivens and animates all things it rejoyces all Creatures by its presence Birds begin to sing and even flowers to display their beauties at its arrival And because Nothing gives what it hath not therefore some have conceiv'd that Light the enlivener of all the world is it self indu'd with life and that 't is the Universal Spirit and the Soul of the whole world Whence Plato in his timaeus brings no other argument to prove that Fire is an Animal but that it is luminous And in the sixth Book of his Common-wealth he makes the Sun who is the known Father of all living things the son of Light without which Pythagoras forbad to do any thing Moreover it hath no contrary Darkness being oppos'd to it onely privatively For its being is so excellent that Nature found not her self so able to make any thing that might be equall'd with it that might alter and corrupt it as the nature of Contraries require whereas all Qualities have each their particular enemy And 't is upon this very reason that Light acts in an instant because having no contrary quality to expel from its subject it needs no time or successive motion which is necessary to other qualities as to heat to warm cold water The Fifth said Light is a real form produc'd in the medium by a luminous body Aristotle calls it the act of the Perspicuum as it is Perspicuum This Form is accidental and falls under the head of Patible Qualities because 't is sensible by it self which is the property of accidents alone whereas substance is not sensible that is falls not under the perception of sense but by means of accidents and as it is the principle of action which belongs onely to a Quality For it cannot
building without stones morter or other materials Therefore when Art offers to compare with Nature 't is as if a child upon a Gyant 's neck should therefore think it self taller then he whereas it hath no advantage but what it borrows from the Gyant which upholds it The Second said That actions being the rule whereby to measure the excellence of the Agents and being themselves determin'd by their end which alone sets value upon them Nature is therefore more excellent then Art in that it hath a nobler end in its actions and ordinarily attains the same which Art can never do For Nature as the internal principle of motion and rest of that wherein it is produces all substantial forms and is the cause of all generations and natural motions in the continual revolution of which is seen an unparallel'd order illustriously testifying the wisdom of Nature who governs them and who never fails to produce a plant or an animal when the matter is rightly dispos'd Whereas Art is only an external cause giving nothing but shape and outward shew to its works which indeed in some manner imitate those of Nature which is the end of Art but are never so perfect no Painter having ever made a bunch of grapes or a man so well as Nature because he represents only the surface and some few other external accidents but is far from being able to express the essence and substantial forms of these natural bodies which it attempts to imitate Moreover Nature frames all parts of her works together as in the formation of man though grosly and in a small volume and afterwards makes the same augment and move together but Art makes the parts of its work successively the foundation before the walls these before the roof the rough hewing before the last hand and motion excited by artifice is violent yea more in some parts of the Engine then in others The Third said That to doubt whether Art be more powerful then Nature is to doubt whether two be more then one or three then two For Art presupposes Nature perfected And as that is the strongest animal which can bring others under its laws so being Art always subdues Nature it must be the more potent Our nature is inclin'd to evil but the precepts of Divinity yea and of moral Philosophy too have no other aim but to correct its defects and overcome its perverseness both which are so happily effected that not only S. Paul professes I live yet not I but Christ in me but also the most excellent Physiognomist was mistaken in his judgement of Socrates from his aspect Nature leads man to follow his brutish and sensual appetite and to make use of every thing which complies therewith but Art coming to rectifie it civilizes him and teaches him to restrain his concupiscences to fast rather for conscience or health then incur eternal damnation in the other life and diseases in this And experience shews how far Art gets the mastery of Nature when a little man dextrous at his weapons easily overcomes a stronger who hath onely the help of nature The horse dog birds of prey and other animals capable of discipline do every thing which man teaches them much better then they would do of themselves Compare but the discourse of an ignorant with that of a learned person the carriage of a Clown with that of a Courtier the heaviness of a strong Lubber with the dexterity of a practis'd Champion In the Mechanicks a Child with an artificial Screw will lift up a greater burden then two Oxen can carry and these two Oxen will draw a load by the common artifice of Carts which ten other Oxen cannot bear upon their backs An Army of 20000 naked Savages hath been often defeated by 200 men arm'd with Swords and Arquebushes In brief compare the weakness of all things at their beginning and before time has brought them to perfection by a series of new precepts whereof Arts are composed and you will see that Art as much surpasses Nature as Bread doth Acorns or Wheat it self before Art hath fitted it to our use The Fourth said That duration is the measure of every thing 's excellence whence the Proverb teaches us to consider the end Bubbles of water and sope blown into the air look very handsome wait but a little and they are nothing So are all artificial things compar'd to natural As this gave them beginning so it sees them end overcomes and survives them that a thing perishes it hath from art that it lasts more or less it hath from nature as writing engraven in Marble is of longer continuance then that which is trac'd upon sand and yet 't is one and the same writing But sooner or later every thing returns to its first principles and what was borrow'd of nature must be paid back to her again We raisepalaces up to the clouds Nature endures it with some violence their gravity resisting the most it can till at length she seems to yield and to be tam'd by art But inquire news of them in future ages and they will tell you that Nature never rests till she hath return'd that to the ground which was taken out of it and this without Tools or Instruments Art squares trees which were round whence a Spartan Lady ask'd whether trees grew square leave them to the air they become round their corners rotting first of all Physitians observe that simple medicaments as the most natural are the most effectual and such as have least artifice are most active Whence the most expert laugh at that hotch-potch of herbs and other ingredients wherewith quack-salvers fill their receipts acknowledging that the more you have in compounding a medicine the lesse intentions you obtain the same one quality resisting and abating the edge of another And in removing of diseases they hold for a Maxime that 't is Nature alone which do's the cure Moreover the birth of a child is a pure work of Nature and she that leaves her to do the business is the most expert to bring Women to bed In brief all good Crises must be natural every thing that is artificial is directly contrary thereunto What adoptive Son hath so tender an affection to his parents as a natural one or what nurse suckles anothers with so good a heart as her own child which was the reason of the Gardiner to the Philosopher who ask'd him why bad herbs grew better of themselves then others transplanted and cultivated by Art When we would signifie an honest man we say he is of a good nature when a knave that he is full of artifice Men may disguise their manners and inclinations but cannot dissemble Nature a sanguine cholerick or melancholy person alwayes discover their nature through all the artifices and hypocrisies of art Preach to an intemperate ambitious or otherwise tainted with some vice as natural to him as to the lame to halt he will possibly restrain himself for some time but presently
sought onely in the continuance of the Suns action during the Spring and half the Summer whereby the Air is hotter then when he was neerer us So 't is hotter at two a clock in the afternoon then at ten in the morning although the Sun be at the same distance yea then at noon although he be then nearest of all and we read that an Ambassador of Presbyter John dy'd with heat as he landed at Lisbone although the heat be not so great there as in his Country but of louger continuance If it rains sometimes during the said season 't is by reason of too great attraction of Vapours by the heat of the Sun as is seen in the torrid Zone where when the Sun is in the greatest Apogaeum it rains continually The Second said That the Longitude of the Dog-star call'd by the Arabians Athabor is at this day about the 9. degr of Cancer and its meridional latitude 39. degr and a half Now the Ancients observing the greatest heat of the whole year to be commonly when the Sun is at the end of Cancer and beginning of Leo and at the same the Dog-star to rise with the Sun which the Astronomers call the Cosmical Rising nam'd those dayes Dog-dayes which begin with us about the two and twentieth of July whether they believ'd the cause of this heat to be that star assisting the Sun or else according to their order of distinguishing seasons before years and moneths were regulated by the course of the Sun they denoted those dayes by the rising of this star conceiving that it did not change place any more then the other stars of the Firmament As not onely the Poets but also Hippocrates distinguishes the four Seasons of the year by the rising and setting of the Pleiades and Arcturus And thus the name of the day hath remain'd to these dayes although the star be not in the same place following Ages observing that besides the eight motions admitted by the Ancients in the Heavens namely of the seven Planets and the First Mover there 's another peculiar to the starry Heaven which is finish'd according to some in 36000 years whereby it comes to pass that the Dog-star is no longer in the same place where it was at the first observation of these Dog-dayes For 't is about two thousand years since this star arose exactly with the Sun in the dayes which we call Canicular the heat whereof hath alwayes continu'd and yet the star hath pass'd forward and at this day rises not with the Sun till about the eighth of August when the Dog-dayes and strength of heat begins to expire Since therefore the effect continues and the pretended cause exists not at that time as the Astronomical Tables justifie it follows that it is not the cause of that effect Wherefore some have conceiv'd that the star which made the Dog-dayes was another star in the little Dog call'd Procyon But this Procyon did not rise with the Sun in the dayes of the Ancients till about the beginning of July which is three weeks before the Dog-dayes which consequently cannot be attributed to the fix'd stars by reason of their particular motion which causes them to vary situation the Dog-star by its proper motion proceeding 52. min. every year which make about 1. degr in 70. years 3. degr in 200. years and one sign in 2000. Besides if the stars had any force the same would be sensible at their coming to the meridian of the place with the Sun then when they rise with him because their greatest strength is when they are under the meridian being then in their greatest elevation above the Horizon and nearest the Zenith and consequently most active as experience shews in the Sun Therefore the true cause of the heat of Dog-dayes is because the Sun being towards the end of Cancer and the beginning of Leo we have more causes concurring together to produce heat then in any other season of the year namely the elevation of the Sun above the horizon the length of the days and shortness of the nights For then the dayes are not sensibly diminish'd nor the nights sensibly encreas'd the Sun hath not yet suffer'd any considerable change in his altitude above the Horizon but above all the preparation of the earth which hath been heated during the three moneths of the Spring and a moneth and half of the Summer whereby all the aqueous humidity which refrigerates is dissipated and the heat so far impacted into the earth that the night it self is less cold then in any other season The Fourth said As 't is absurd to seek in the stars for causes of effects when we see them manifest in the qualities of inferior bodies and the various concourse of so many different natural causes So 't is stupidity to deny all virtue to those great superior orbs rejecting wise Antiquity and all the most learned judiciary Astrologers who ascribe a particular virtue to each star as to the Dog-star to heat and scorch the Air. Moreover the Divine Hippocrates lib. de Affect inter Sect. 5. affirms that the disease call'd Typhos happens commonly in Summer and in these Dog-dayes because it hath a power to stir the choler through the whole Body And in his book De Aere locis aquis he adds that the rising of the stars is diligently to be observ'd especially that of the Dog-star and some few others at which times diseases turn into other kinds for which reason he saith Aph. 5. Sect. 4. That purging is dangerous when the Dog-star rises and some while before The Fifth said That all purging medicaments being hot t is no wonder if they are carefully to be manag'd during very hot weather in which there is a great dissipation of the spirits and strength so that our Bodies being then languid cannot be mov'd and agitated without danger Not that the Dog-star contributes any thing thereunto but onely the heat of the season caus'd by the Sun which attracting from the centre to the circumference and purging from the circumference to the centre there are made two contrary motions enemies to Nature which is the cause that many fall then into fevers and fainting fits II. Of the Mechanicks Upon the Second Point 't was said That as the object of the Mathematicks is two-fold either intellectual or sensible so there are two sorts of Mathematicks Some consider their object simply and abstracted from all kind of matter namely Geometry and Arithmetick others consider it as conjoyn'd to some matter and they are six Astrology Perspective Geodaesie Canonick or Musick the Logistick and the Mechanick Art which is nothing less then what its name imports being otherwise the most admirable of all because it communicates motion which is the most exquisite effect of Nature 'T is divided into Organical which composes all instruments and engines of war sordid which makes utensils necessary to the uses of life and miraculous which performs strange and extraordinary things 'T is this
or triple The Second said That every thing that is mortal and corruptible is such in that it hath in it self some cause of this corruption All mortal bodies being compos'd of contrary ingredients have in themselves the principle of corruption from which as well simple bodies as the Elements and Heavens as Spirits and separate intelligences are free because a thing simple in its own nature cannot act upon it self by a destructive action though even those Spirits have but an arbitrary existence from their first cause on whom they depend But in the first sence and of their own nature they are absolutely incorruptible for were they corruptible then must some new substance be generated out of that which is corrupted which is absurd because they are simple and free from composition and consequently from corruption Now were reasonable Souls which are part of man who is compounded of matter and form again compounded of matter and form there would be a progression to infinity in causes which is contrary to natural reason Moreover nothing is corrupted but by its contrary and therefore that which hath no contrary is free from corruption But such is the rational soul which is so far from having any contrary that the most contrary things in Nature as habits and their privations being receiv'd in the Understanding are no longer opposites or enemies but friends and of the same nature whence the reason of contraries is alike and there is but one Science of them The Third said That such as a thing is such is its action A corporeal and material substance cannot produce an action which is not corporeal and an immaterial action owns no other principle but what is immaterial and incorruptible Hence the same reasons which prove the souls of brutes mortal because their operations exceed not the bounds of the body and tend onely to self-preservation and sensible good conclude also though by a contrary sense for the immortality of the rational soul whose operations are spiritual and abstracted from the body For nutrition concoction assimilation sense motion and other such actions being corporeal because terminated upon sensible and corporeal objects must consequently be produc'd by a faculty of the same nature corporeal and material But the reasonable soul besides those actions which are common to it with those of beasts hath some peculiar and much more sublime as by the Intellect to understand eternal truths to affirm deny suspend its judgement compare things together abstract them from matter time place and all other sensible accidents by the will to love and embrace vertue in spight of the contrary inclinations of the sensitive appetite to do good actions though difficult to avoid the evil which flatters the senses and the like which actions being above the body and material objects cannot be produc'd but by an immaterial and incorruptible substance such as the reasonable soul is Moreover since the soul can know all sorts of bodies it must consequently be exempt from all corporeal entity as the tongue to judge aright of sapours must have none and the eye to discern colours well The Fourth said That Nature which makes nothing in vain hath imprinted in every thing a desire of its end whereof it is capable as appears by induction of all created Beings Now the greatest desire of man is immortality whereunto he directs all his actions and intentions and therefore he must be capable of it But since he cannot accomplish this end in this life as all other things do it must be in another without which not only good men would be more unhappy then wicked but in general the condition of men would be worse then that of beasts if after having endur'd so many infelicities which brutes experience not the haven of our miseries were the annihilation of the noblest part of our selves Yea if the soul could not subsist without the body its supream good should be in this life and in the pleasures of the body and its chiefest misery in afflictions and the exercises of vertue which is absurd For whereas 't is commonly objected that the soul cannot exercise its noblest functions but by help of corporeal organs rightly dispos'd and that when it is separated from those organs it can act no longer and consequently shall exist no more action and subsistence being convertible this is to take that for granted which is in controversie namely that the soul cannot act without the organs of the body when it is separated from the same since it operates sometimes more perfectly when 't is freest from the senses as in Extasies burning Fevers in the night time and in old age The Fifth said As in Architecture the principal piece of a building is the Foundation so the most necessary of a Science is to lay good Principles without which first establish'd all our Sciences are but conjectures and our knowledge but opinion Now in order to judge whether the souls immortality be demonstrable by natural reasons 't is to be enquir'd whether we can find the principles of this truth whose terms being known may be naturally clear and granted by all The most ordinary are these 1. Every thing which is spiritual is incorruptible 2. That which is material is mortal 3. That which is immaterial is immortal 4. That which God will preserve eternally is immortal 5. A thing acts inasmuch as it exists and some other principles by which this so important verity seems but ill supported For the first is not absolutely true since habits of grace and natural habits which are spiritual are annihilated and corrupted those by sin these by intermission of the actions which produc'd them Then for the second 't is notoriously false since not only the forms of the Elements which are material and the Elements themselves consider'd according to their whole extent but also the first matter are incorruptible and eternal and according to the opinion of many Doctors of the Church 't is not an article of faith that the Angels are incorporeal although it be de fide that they are immortal to say nothing of igneous aerious demons and other corporeal genii of the Platonists As for the third the actions of the understanding and the will are immaterial and nevertheless perish as soon as they are conceiv'd and the intentional species are not incorruptible though not compos'd either of matter or form on the contrary the Heavens which are so compos'd are yet incorruptible Whereby it appears that immortality depends on something else As for the fourth 't is as difficult to prove that God will eternally preserve reasonable souls as that they are immortal And for the last 't is certain that many things act above their reach and the condition of their nature since that which exists not as the end nevertheless acts by exciting the efficient cause motion begets heat which it self hath not and light a corporeal quality is mov'd in an instant which is the property of incorporeal substances as also
so well obey'd as on the contrary Nerva's mildness weakned and enervated the Roman Commonwealth Was ever King more severe and better obey'd then Tamberlane or any family more powerfully establish'd then that of the Ottamans which owes all its grandeur to severity and rigour the sole upholder of Military Discipline a good Captain never pardoning any in war For the misery of inferiors whether true or imaginary joyn'd with the natural desire of liberty easily carries them to rebellion if fear and rigour tye not their hands Thus the war undertaken by the Servants against their Masters at Rome was the effect of mildness nor was there any other means to repress it but by blood and slaughter as another Nation once routed an Army of their Slaves with Whips and Stirrup-leathers the sight of which reviving the memory of their former scars was more effectual then ordinary weapons Therefore when the Law gave power of life and death over slaves it intended not to authorize homicide being sufficiently careful of men's lives but judg'd it expedient to retain these persons in their duty by the apprehension of death The reason which once oblig'd the Senate to put 600 innocent slaves to death for an example to others The Second said whatever security there may be in severity it hath effects too violent to be durable Man's mind is too delicate a piece and whatever difference fortune hath put between men their spirit which is the same in all is too noble to be curb'd with a cudgel and biting of brutish severity which on the other side causes hatred as mildness doth love and is therefore to be prefer'd there being none but had rather be lov'd then hated and no way to be belov'd but by loving For the same Proverb which reckons servants amongst necessary evils reckons a wife so too and the tyrannical Aphorism So many servants so many enemies is not true but in those who have cause given them to be so And indeed a Master's condition would be the worst of all if he must live always at home upon his guard as in a den of Lyons or Tygres For what is alledg'd that servants are ill bred and ill-natur'd and seldom acknowledge the obligations they have to their Masters is indeed too true in the most eminent conditions but that which we call ingratitude in them comes especially from the rigour of our deportments which offuscate the benefits and commodities they receive from us Their low fortune is unpleasant enough without making them desperate to our prejudice And indeed the Laws which have allow'd most severity to Masters over their slaves have sometimes been insufficient to secure them from the fatal strokes of their discontent as many Histories of Roman Masters murder'd by their slaves notwithstanding that rigour of Silanus's Law and the dangerous revolts of Spartacus and others in the Provinces sufficiently testifie Whence it appears that a man must be in as much fear of his servants as he would be fear'd by them and that suspicion and diffidence is as well the mother of treacheries as of safety since it seems to leave those whom we distrust to do all the mischief they can For to pretend severity for avoidance of contempt and too great familiarity in my judgement speaks great weakness of mind and as if dominion and majesty could not be more agreeably maintain'd by clemency and gravity affected by rigour is as ridiculous as odious yea 't is to fall into an extremity too vicious to make one's self hated for fear of being sleighted and to appear cruel to avoid being familiar The Third said That although gentleness be more acceptable then severity yet 't is also more dangerous witness that of Lewis the Debonnaire and Eli the chief Priest towards their children for whom the Wiseman recommends the rod as Aristotle doth discipline for servants and slaves and the indulgence of good husbands to their wives is the most apparent cause of the luxury reigning in that Sex to say no worse A family is a kind of Republick and the principles of Occonomy and Policy are much alike Now we see States are preserv'd by the exact severity of Laws signifi'd by the Rods Axes Maces and naked Swords born by Magistrates and the Scepters of Kings But no Magistrates have Ensigns of gentleness as being more dangerous because directly oppos'd to justice all whose rights and priviledges are preserv'd by severity And hence clemency is not permitted to be us'd by inferior Judges but that it may be more rare 't is reserv'd to Princes themselves who are above Laws and Customs The Fourth said It belongs to Prudence to determine when how where and why ways of gentleness or severity are to be us'd some minds being exasperated by severity like those tempers on which violent medicines work least and others turning sweetness into bitterness whilst they think it to proceed from timerousness or impotence and so take license to do any thing whom benigne medicines act not But to speak absolutely the way of gentleness must always precede and be found unprofitable before coming to rigour according to the precept of the Physitians who use fire and cauteries only when the malignity of the malady will not yield to ordinary remedies which the ancient Arabians never us'd till having first try'd a diet and regiment of living Nor do's wise Nature ever use violence till she is forc'd to it by some potent cause as the fear of Vacuity or the penetration of Dimensions In all the rest of her actions she proceeds with sweetness wherewith she hath so endow'd man that the same humour which gives and preserves his being namely Blood is the cause of Clemency and Gentleness call'd for this reason Humanity Wherefore 't is more sutable to our nature then to lean towards its contrary and the way from gentleness to rigour is more rational and natural then from rigour to gentleness For when a rough master speaks flatteringly to his servants they are no more mov'd therewith then a Horse accustom'd to the spur is with the voice alone Yea a Horse that will not stir for words will go for the spur and Masters who incessantly rate and beat their servants are like those ill Horse-men who have alwayes their spurs in the Horses sides where they make by this means a callous scar insensible to the most quick stimulations CONFERENCE XCIV I. Of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon II. Whether all Sciences may be profitably reduc'd to one I. Of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon T Is an ancient saying that the Luminaries have never more spectators then when some Languishment befalls them because ordinary effects how excellent soever affect us less then such as are not common whose novelty raises admiration in our minds otherwise much delighted in considering others defects and imperfections Those of the Celestial Bodies are deficiencies of light call'd Eclipses which happen by the diametrical interposition of some opake body To speak onely of those
themselves had knowledge enough though under several names by the sole Light of Nature to cause them to make the Fiction of the Elizian Fields in comparison of which they held that there was nothing but unpleasantness in this world But as the barbarousness of some Ages past is not to be compar'd with the Politeness and Learning of this and yet there was alwayes some or other amongst them that pass'd for an accomplish'd Man so because there is a great Felicity in Heaven it is not to be infer'd that there is none at all upon Earth Besides we might contrary to the receiv'd Maxime accuse Nature of having made some thing in vain by Imprinting in Man that desire of becoming happy in this world if he cannot be so The Seventh said That a Man is not happy by possessing some Excellent Thing but by the satiating of his desire And therefore if which is impossible a happy Man should desire some greater Good he were no longer happy As on the contrary he who can satisfie himself with the least Good is nevertheless happy For 't is the correspondence or sutableness which makes a Good to be estemed such A Good may content the Appetite without reflection but ifthe conditions of the Enjoyment be reflected upon it will suffice for the rendring it perfect that the Imagination exempt it from all imperfection and attribute all the Prerogatives to it which the Will desires in it although it deceive it self The Eight defined The Supreme Good after Aristotle The Action of the most perfect Virtue which is Wisedom and Prudence in a perfect Age and a long Life accompani'd with the Goods of the Body and of Fortune viz. Health Beauty Nobility Riches and Godly Children Not that the Felicity which is call'd Formal consists in these Goods but they serve for instruments and ornaments unto it as 't is hard for a sick Man to become Learned and for a poor to exercise the Virtues of Liberality and Magnisicence The Ninth said That in Morality the General Propositions are easier to be assented to then the Particular Yea that there are many to which all the world assents in general termes As That Virtue ought to be Loved For then we willingly embrace it wholly naked But by reason of the difficulties which accompany it Opinions become divided The Prudent who knows how to moderate his Passions willeth it The Incontinent who pleaseth to let himself be hurried by the torrent willeth it not And denying in the retail what he before approv'd in the gross contradicts himself Another willeth and willeth it not because he willeth it too faintly or doth not sufficiently avoid the occasions which lead to Vice Thus all the world agrees That it behoveth to render to every one that which belongs to him but in the Application the honest Man doth so the dishonest doth the contrary There is not the Man but confesseth That the End ought to be prefer'd before the Means which conduce to that End But one takes for an End that which another takes for a Means The Covetous and indeed most Men take Riches for the End and Virtue for the Means On the contrary the Good Man takes Riches for the Means and Virtue for his End In my Judgement the true Felicity of Man in this world comprehendeth the Goods of the Mind as the End the Goods of the Body and Fortune onely as the Means There was none in the Company but seem'd to have a Mind to speak something to this great Question of which out of this Conference even every particular Man daily passeth Judgement without speaking For he who forgets all things else for the acquiring of Honour or Riches or for the taking of his Pleasure doth he not imply that he maketh the same his Supreme Good He that entreth into a Religious Order doth he not seek the same in Religion And so of others But for that the Second Hour was slipt away the Company proceeded to determine the matter to be treated of at the next Conference which was for the First Hour Of Causes in General And because there is observ'd in some even the most equitable an ardour in maintaining their Judgements though every one was sufficiently warn'd that this place is to have no disputings and that none is oblig'd to uphold what he hath said with new Reasons our sentiments here being all free It was propos'd for the second point to be particularly inquir'd Why every one desires to have his own Judgement follow'd though he have no interest therein The Hour design'd for Inventions began with the Report made by the Commissioners nominated at the last Conference for examining the Book containing the Method of Teaching the Liberal Disciplines by Playing The Report was That the Author seem'd very capable of performing it the Discourse being written in a good stile That he evidently prov'd that the thing is Practicable as well in respect of the Method it self which seemes feasable as the Masters of the Play and the Disciplines But for that he discover'd his meaning onely in the Art of Teaching to read and write and not in the other Disciplines they could not give their Judgements upon more then what appear'd to them and so much they lik'd and approv'd Then an Other presented a Latine Poem Entitl'd Fulmen in Aquilam containing in Twelve Books Twelve Thousand Heroick Verses in which was compriz'd the Life Atchievments and Death of the King of Sweden Having first Remonstrated to the Company that the great reputation of these Conferences brought him from his own Country to this City that he might correct refine and polish his work by the censure of so many great Wits as met there Conceiving there is no better way to write things for lasting then to pass them under the Judgements of many Whereupon Commissioners were assigned to him for that end into whose hands he deliver'd his Work After which to shew that something has a Beginning and yet no End Another offer'd to make appear the Experiment of a Perpetual Motion if the matter could be kept from decaying A Third answer'd That making it of Glass the matter would be Eternal Glass being the last Product of Nature And that thence the Conjecture is probable that the Earth will be vitrifi'd by the last Conflagration and by that means become diaphanous and resplendent And thus ended this Conference CONFERENCE III. I. Of Causes in General II. Whence it is that every one is zealous for his own Opinion though it be of no importance to him I. Of Causes in General HE who spoke first said That the word Cause must not be confounded with that of Reason though it seemes so in our manner of Speech because an Effect serves sometime for a Reason to prove its Cause As when I am ask'd the reason by which I know that Fire is Light I Answer By its ascending upwards which is the Effect of Fire and the proof but not the Cause of its lightness Cause also
known by the Senses unless by its Second Qualities which arising from the mixture of the First it follows that the Elements which have no other cannot be the object of our Senses For the First Qualities would not be perceptible by our Senses if they lodg'd in a Simple Element As it appears by the flame of Aqua Vitae which burnes not by reason of the thinness of its Matter By Ashes which while it is making is more Light then heavy By the Aire which dryes instead of moistning and yet is call'd the First Humid Body And by Water which following the qualities of the Neighbouring Bodies shews that it cannot be term'd of it self either hot or cold II. Of Perpetual Motion At the Second Hour it was said That the Perpetual Motion to which this Hour was design'd is not meant of Motion to Substance which is Generation and Corruption by reason of which Compounded Bodies are in Perpetual Motion For in Corruptible Things every Moment is a degree of Corruption Nor is it meant of Motion to Quantity which is Augmentation and Diminution nor of that which is made to Quality which is Alteration but of Local Motion And again the Inquiry is not about the possibility of Local Motion in Animals nor about running-water or Fire to whom it is natural as appears in Mills which are upon Rivers and Turn-spits or Engines which the Smoke causeth to turn about Wherefore his Invention who exactly fastned a Girdle to his skin which rising and falling as he took his breath serv'd for a perpetual spring to a Watch that hung at it which by that means needed not winding up was not the Perpetual Motion which we mean No more was that which proceeded from the wings of a little Wind-mill plac'd at the mouth of a Cave which the Vapour continually issuing forth caus'd alwayes to move But it must be in a subject naturally unmoveable made by Art to continue its Motion And this is prov'd possible I. Because as Hermes saith That which is below is as that which is above Now we see above the Perpetual Motion of the Heavenly Bodies by example of which it is certain that this Motion must be Circular In the Second place Nature hath not given us a desire of Things impossible Now an infinite number of good wits shew by their search the desire which they have of it Thirdly it is held that Archimedes had it whence it was feign'd that Jupiter was jealous of him In the Fourth place it seems that if a very uniform Circle could be put exactly upon a Pivot or Spindle and were set in Motion it would never stop any more then the Heavens because it doth not poise or gravitate upon its Centre so long as it is turning as it appears by a Stone which poiseth not in the Circle made on high in turning it round and so nothing resisting the external Agent the Motion must last as long as the impression lasteth and the impression must last alwayes because nothing resists it but on the contrary the Agitation continues it Thus of all the Models of Engines contriv'd to move perpetually we see not one that makes so much as one turn Whereas a plain wheel makes above a thousand though it be not exactly plac'd upon its Centre and the Poles be not two simple points as they ought to be if that Art could come to perfection in which Case the effect of Perpetual Motion would follow The Second said That he held it for impossible for that it is repugnant not onely as to the Efficient Cause which being limited and finite cannot produce an infinite Effect but also as to the very form of that Motion which must be either Direct Circular or Mixt. If it be Direct it will be made from one term to another in the one of which its Motion ending it cannot be perpetual And because the most certain Principle of this Direct Motion cometh from Gravity which tendeth from high downwards when it shall be arriv'd there nothing will be able to mount it up again Gravity having found its Centre and place or if the Motion be violent the impression being ended it cannot re-produce it self of its own accord in the Engine otherwise it would be animated and therefore it will cease from Motion If the Motion be Circular as in this effect it would be the most proper in imitation of that of the Heavens this moving Circle shall be in all parts either of equal or different weight If it be equal throughout it shall not turn at all of it self one part having no advantage over another If it be unequal and there be put for example four pound to raise up three it will happen that when the greatest weight hath gotten the lowest place the lighter parts will not be able to raise up the heavier and so the Motion will have an End Now if the Direct and Circular Motion are incapable of this perpetuity the mixt or compounded of both shall be so too So that it seemeth impossible by reason of the gravity of the matter not to mention its corruptibility to compose a Machine or Engine that moves alwayes And were there any ground to think of it some have conceiv'd it might be done with the Load-stone which hath a Virtue of attracting to it self on one side and driving away on the other and so by continuing this little Motion which would be of no great benefit it might render the same perpetual But you ordinarily see that they who make these inquiries onely find rest in their Engines and Motion in their brains whereas they hop'd the contrary The Third said That it appears by that which they call the Roman Balance that the same weight hang'd neer the Centre weighes less then when it is more distant from it Consequently that disposing the weights which shall be round a wheel so as to be neer the Centre about one half thereof and distant from it the other half you shall have a Perpetual Motion which ought not to be accounted the less such though the Matter should last but a year yea but a day it sufficing for a night to that name that it lasts as long as its Matter as 't is seen in the Vice of Archimedes termed without End though it be made but of wood not by reason of its lasting but because the Vice being apply'd upon an indented wheel instead of entring into a screw there is no raising or letting it down as is practis'd in those of Presses He prov'd it further For that it is seen that by the help of that Vice without End by the instrument term'd Polyspaston and others of the like Nature a Child may easily lift up a weight of 10000 pounds Yea even to Infinity could the strength of the Cordage and the Instruments bear it For it follows that if a less weight can lift up a greater this greater will lift up a less which will be the Perpetual Motion which we inquire
after The Fourth reply'd That this Motion seemed to him impossible to find not for its being unprofitable for it would be one of the greatest helps that Art could afford Man to ease him in his labours but because there is in all Arts some thing of impossibility as the Quadrature of the Circle in Geometry in Rhetorick the perfect Orator the Philosophers Stone in Chymistry the Common-wealth of Plato in Polity and in the Mechanicks Perpetual Motion And whereas it is said that a less weight or less strength can lift up a greater this is to be understood in more time So that what is gotten in strength is lost in time which comes all to one For Example one Man or one hundred weight shall raise as high in one hour as much weight as four Men or 400. weights shall raise in a quarter of an hour by any Mechanick Invention whatsoever The Last Hour was imployed in the mentioning of some Engines which had some likelihood of moving themselves endlesly And amongst others it was propos'd That a Wind-mill having a large wing which the wind should alwayes drive behind as it doth weather-cocks and by that means alwayes present its four ordinary sails to the wind might lift up so weighty a burthen whilst the wind blows that the same burden coming to descend while the wind ceaseth would cause a Motion of Continual Duration Which also may be more easily practis'd in a Perpetual Fountain by help of a Great Reservor which should be fill'd by help of the wind and be emptying it self all the time that it bloweth not One Demanded Whence it cometh that some are inclin'd to Mechanicks others onely to Contemplation and Literature It was answer'd that this proceeds from the Resemblance which their Mind hath with the Things which they affect The time being past for this Conference this Question afforded the Subject to the next for the first point concerning Resemblance and chiefly that of kinred one to another And for the Second Whether Letters ought to be joyn'd with Armes CONFERENCE V. I. Of Resemblance II. Whether it behoveth to joyn Armes to Letters I. Of Resemblance UPon the First It was said That there are Three Sorts of Resemblance viz. Of Species of Sex and of Aspect The Resemblance of Species comes from the Univocal Cause determined to produce an Effect like to it self That of Sex comes from the Predominancy either of the Masculine or Feminine Geniture or from the weakness of both The End of Nature being alwayes to make a perfect work viz. a Male to which if she cannot attain she maketh a Female The Resemblance of Aspect or individual which is that we are speaking of comes from the Formative Virtue inherent in the Geniture which being like a Quintessence or Extract not onely of all the parts which contribute to its Generation but also of the Spirits which accompany move and inform it in some manner it is not to be wonder'd if what is produc'd thereof bear their image and likeness as the Visible Species representeth the luminous or coloured Thing from whence it proceedeth To which if the Imagination also concur it sends still to the Faetus more Spirits then there were before which being the Principal Artificers in Formation imprint a shape or figure upon it like the Body from whence they streamed and of which themselves partake in some sort As the Water which issueth out of Pipes though it spout far retaineth the form thereof The strength of which Imagination is too great to doubt of being such as it is able to change the colour of a Child and to cause some to be born all hairy by the sight of the like Objects Of which the marks which are imprinted on the Bodies of Infants in the womb of their Mothers through some such Imagination are sufficient proofs and that in Brutes too The Second said That indeed this is an Effect of the Imagination seeing Galen having caus'd the picture of a white Child to be hang'd at the beds-feet of a Moor-Lady she brought forth a Child of the same colour And besides the Example of Lahan's sheep which brought forth streaked young by reason of the Rods of that colour plac'd in their drinking-troughs Experience of Hens who bring forth white Chickens if they be cover'd with Linnen while they brood verifieth the same The way that that Faculty produceth such an Effect is thus The Animal Spirits which reside in the Brain slide thence into the whole Body but especially into the Matrice by reason of the near Sympathy which is between them by the Nerves of the Sixth Conjugation which unite them and render Women subject to so many several accidents whereof the field of Nature is too fertile The Spirits then imprinting their qualities into that solid part it serves as a mould for the forming of the tender Embryo Which is not to be understood of Simple Imagination but of those upon which the Mind maketh a vehement and constant reflexion The Third said That if the Imagination contributed any Thing to the Resemblance we should see no unhandsome Children For could a Man beget what he would he would alwayes make it resemble some fair Idea in his Imagination Besides this Faculty can have no influence saving at the moment of the Act or during the bearing Not in the former for nothing acts upon that which is not Now the Parts exist not yet during that Act. Not the latter for the parts are then already form'd It will then be demanded in what time of the bearing this Imagination hath power If it be said in the former part it is held that the parts expos'd to our view are not then form'd and yet 't is in those that Resemblance is observ'd But in those first dayes onely the Principal pars viz. The Liver the Heart and the Brain are form'd If you will have it to be in the latter dayes the Soul being by that time introduc'd which is its true form and imprints upon the body the traces of the Inclinations it cannot thence forward be susceptible of alterations by a meer fancy Now that the manners of the Soul follow the External Form of the Body appears by Physiogmony wholly founded upon that Principle The Fourth argued that the Geniture is the superfluous aliment of the Third Concoction which proceeding from all the parts of the Body retaines the Characters of the same and imprints them upon the Body of the Embryo And hence come hereditary diseases as also the usual Resemblance of Twins And such is the Law of Nature that Children resemble their Fathers and Mothers just as Plants do the Plants which produce them As for the unlikness it comes usually from the diversity of the Genitures of Father and Mother which make a Third Temperament as of the colours yellow and blew mingled together is made a green The Fifth attributed the Cause to the divers Constellations because seeing all the alterations which happen here below cannot said he
else but an execess of heat which is a meer Accident as well in its little degrees as in its excesses More and less making no change in the species Our Fire then is an excessive heat which adheres to Things that have some crass and oleaginous humour in them and continues there by a continual efflux and successive Generation without any permanence like the Water of a River which Heat lasts so long till that humour be consumed If it be said that it ascends upwards seeking its own place I answer that 't is the Exhalation that carries it up yea that it descends too as we see in a Candle blown out and still smoaking if it be held beneath another burning one the flame descendeth along the smoak and lighteth it again So that the Fire is indifferent of it self where it goes for it lets it self be govern'd and carry'd by the Exhalation And it appears further That Fire is less subtile then Air for flame is not transparent and it engendreth soot which is very gross The Third added That indeed Fire cannot be a Substance because it hath a Contrary viz. The Water Besides every Substantial Form preserves its own Matter and acts not against it but Fire destroyes its own Moreover a certain degree of some Quality is never necessary to a Substantial Form as the Earth ceaseth not to be Earth though it be less cold or dry and so of the rest But Fire cannot be Fire unless the supreme degree of heat be in it Add hereunto that Fire may be produc'd in a Substance without corrupting it as we see in a Flint or a burning Bullet Now a Substantial Form is not produc'd in a Subject till the preceding be destroy'd the Generation of the one being the corruption of the other Lastly Every substance produceth by way of Generation an indivisible substantial Form But Fire produceth a divisible Quality For that which was cold becometh first warm then hot and by degrees becometh Fire which cannot be with a mixture of cold non consist therewith unless as degrees of qualities The Fourth said That Fire is a most perfect Element hot and dry according to Aristotle of the most perfect form and activity of all the Elements according to Plato the principal instrument of Nature according to Empedocles the Father of Things Whence it was that the Assyrians ador'd it The Persians carry'd it out of Honour before their Kings and at the head of their Armies The Romans made so great account of it that they assign'd it to the care of certain Virgins to be kept immortal Pythagoras believ'd it to be an Animal because it is nourish'd as Animals and for want of Aliment dyes And because a lighted Torch being cast into the Water the Fire extinguishing sendeth forth such a noyse as Animals do at the gasps of Death But he esteemed its natural place to be the Centre of the Subterranean World Whence it is said he that we see so many Volcanoes and other Fires issue out of the entrals of the Earth as those of Monte Vesuvio in the Kingdom of Naples Monte Gibello formerly Aetna in Sicily and Monte Hecla in Iseland and so many other burning Mountains The Fifth said That as the Sea is the Principle from whence all the Waters come and the end whether they return So the Sun is the Element of Fire from whence all other Fires come and whether at length they reascend as to their Source 1. For that all Effects Qualities and Properties of Fire agree particularly to the Sun seeing he heats burnes dryes and is the cause of all the Generations that are made here below 2. Because the Elements stay in their natural places Now the Fire not onely ascendeth from the Subterraneous places where it is detain'd by reason of a sulphureous and bituminous Matter which serves it for food but it passeth also beyond the Heavens of the Moon Mercury and Venus as appears by Comets which are igneous and particularly by that which appear'd in the year 1618. acknowledg'd by all the Astronomers upon the reasons of Opticks to have been above the said places The Sixth denyed That the Sun can be the Element of Fire 1. Because 't is a Coelestial and Incorruptible Body and by consequence not Igneous or Elementary 2. If all Fires come from the Sun it will follow that all his rayes are Igneous Bodies for there cannot be imagin'd other Fires to come from the Sun hither but his beams Now the Sun-beams are neither Bodies nor Igneous Not Bodies since Illumination and Eradiation being made in an instant it will follow that a Body cometh from Heaven to Earth in a Moment Which is absurd because No Motion is made in an instant Besides being those Rayes penetrate Glass and such other solid and diaphanous Bodies there would be a penetration of Dimensions which is impossible Nor are they Igneous seeing Fire being of its own nature light descendeth not but the beams of the Sun descend down hither Moreover Fire is actually hot but the Sun-beams are onely so in power viz. when they are reflected by an opake body as appears in the Middle Region of the Air where it is colder then upon the Earth though its beams are nearer Wherefore it is more reasonable to hold to the common opinion which placeth the Fire immediately under the Heaven of the Moon For there is no fear that that Fire how great soever can burn the World it s hear being allay'd and dull'd by the extreme humidity of the Air its Neighbour and by the great coldness of the same Air which is in the Middle Region and counter-checketh that heat which on one side hath already lost its violence and acrimony by its natural Rarity Nor is there any trouble to be taken for its nourishment for being in its own Centre and Empire it hath no enemies nor contraries and needeth no food for its support as our common Fire doth What if we behold it not 'T is not because there is none but because it is so rare and so pure that it cannot fall within the perception of our Senses As there is such a thing as Air though we see it not How many Colours Odours Sapours and Sounds are there which we never knew And as for what is observ'd in a Candle newly put out it is clear that the Fire descendeth not to it but inflameth the unctuous Matter which it toucheth and this the next even to the Candle from whence that Matter proceedeth II Of the Vniversal Spirit Upon the Second Point it was said That it must First be known what is meant by Universal Spirit 2. Whether there be one 3. What it is As for the First By the word Universal Spirit is understood some universal cause and principle of all the actions and motions which are made in Generation Just as they assign one same First Matter for the Subject of all Formes so they speak of an Vniversal Form which containes all the rest in
it self and causes them to act and move in the Matter rightly dispos'd As for the Second Like as they argue that the world is finite round and corruptible because its parts are so So also it may be said that the world hath a Spirit which enlivens it since all its principal parts have a particular one for their Conservation Action and Motion the parts being of the same Nature with the whole This Universal Spirit is prov'd by the impotency of the Matter which of it self having no activity or principle of Life and Motion needeth some other to animate and quicken it Now particular Forms cannot do that for then they would be principles of that Virtue that is to say principles of themselves which is impossible Wherefore there must be some Superiour Form which is the Universal Spirit the principle of Action and Motion the Uniter of the Matter and the Form the Life of all Nature and the Universal Soul of the World Whence it may confidently be affirm'd that the World is animated but with what Soul or Spirit is the difficulty For if we prove by Local Motion or by that of Generation that a Plant or Animal are animated why may we not say the same of all the World since its more noble and principal parts afford evidence thereof As for the Heaven and the Stars they are in continual Motion which the more â—ober Opinion at this day confesseth to produce from their Internal Form rather then from the Intelligences which some would have fastned to the Spheres as a Potter to his wheel The Sun besides his own Motion which some call in controversie gives Life to all things by his heat and influences The Air Water and Earth afford also instances of this Life in the production and nourishing of Plants and Animals Thus the principal parts being animated this sufficeth for the Denomination of the whole seeing even in Man there are found some parts not animated as the Hair and the Nails As for the Last Point which is to know what this Universal Soul is there are many Opinions The Rabbins and Cabalists say that it is the RVAH ELOHIM that is the Spirit of God which moved upon Waters Trismegistus saith that it is a Corporeal Spirit or a Spiritual Body and elsewhere calleth it the Blessed GreenWood or the Green Lyon which causeth all things to grow Plato affirmeth it to be the Ideas The Peripateticks a certain Quintessence above the Four Elements Heraclitus and after him the Chymists that it is a certain Aethereal Fire For my part I conceive that if by this Spirit they mean a thing which gives Life and Spirit and Motion to all which is found every where and on which all depends there is no doubt but 't is the Spirit of God or rather God himself in whom and through whom we live and move But if we will seek another in created Nature we must not seek it elsewhere then in that corporeal creature which hath most resemblance with the Deity The Sun who more lively represents the same then any other by his Light Heat Figure and Power And therefore the Sun is that Spirit of the World which causeth to move and act here below all that hath Life and Motion The Second said That that Soul is a certain common Form diffus'd through all things which are moved by it as the wind of the Bellows maketh the Organs to play applying them to that whereunto they are proper and according to their natural condition So this Spirit with the Matter of Fire maketh Fire with that of Air maketh Air and so of the rest Some give it the name of Love for that it serves as a link or tye between all Bodies into which it insinuates it self with incredible Subtility which Opinion will not be rejected by the Poets and the Amorous who attribute so great power to it The Third said That the Soul being the First Act of an Organical Body and the word Life being taken onely for Vegetation Sensation and Ratiocination the world cannot be animated since the Heavens the Elements and the greatest part of Mixed Bodies want such a Soul and such Life That the Stoicks never attributed a Soul to this world but onely a Body which by reason of its Subtility is called Spirit and for that it is expanded through all the parts of the world is termed Vniversal which is the cause of all Motions and is the same thing with what the Ancients call'd Nature which they defined the Principle of Motion The reason of the Stoicks for this Universal Spirit is drawn from the Rarefaction and Condensation of Bodies For if Rarefaction be made by the insinuation of an other subtile Body and Condensation by its pressing out it follows that since all the Elements and mixt Bodies are rarifi'd and condens'd there is some Body more subtile then those Elements and mixts which insinuating it self into the parts rarifies them and makes them take up greater space and going forth is the Cause that they close together and take up less Now Rarefaction is alwayes made by the entrance of a more subtile Body and Condensation by its going out This is seen in a very thick Vessel of Iron or Brass which being fill'd with hot Water or heated Air and being well stop'd if you set it into the cold it will condense what is contain'd therein which by that means must fill less space then before Now either there must be a Vacuum in the Vessel which Nature abhorreth or some subtile Body must enter into it which comes out of the Air or the Water which fills that space Which Body also must be more subtile then the Elements which cannot penetrate through the thickness of the Vessel There is also seen an Instance of this in the Sun-beams which penetrate the most solid Bodies if they be never so little diaphanous which yet are impenetrable by any Element how subtile soever And because a great part of the Hour design'd for Inventions was found to have slip'd away during the Reciprocation of other reasons brought for and against this opinion some curiosities were onely mention'd and the examination of them referr'd to the next Conference In which it was determin'd first to treat of the Air and then to debate that Question Whether it is expedient in a State to have Slaves CONFERENCE VII I. Of the Air. II. Whether it be best for a State to have Slaves I. Of the Air. THe First said That he thought fit to step aside a little out of the ordinary way not so much to impugne the Maximes of the School as to clear them and that for this end he propros'd That the Air is not distinguish'd from the Water because they are chang'd one into the other For what else are those Vapours which are drawn up from the Water by the power of the Sun and those which arise in an Alembic or from boyling Water if we do not call them Air Now those Vapours are
as big which greatness seemes to proceed from an Oedema or Inflation occasion'd by the posture of his head which is alwayes pendulous and supine and this defluxion of humours joyn'd with his Brother's negligence hath caus'd some sores upon him He hath the countenance of a Man but a most dreadful one by the disproportion of all its parts He is deaf blind dumb having great teeth in his mouth by which he casts forth spittle and breathes very strongly rather then by the nose which is close stop'd within His mouth is otherwise useless having never drunk nor eaten nor hath he any place for evacuation of excrements His eyes are alwayes shut and there appears no pupil in them He hath but one thigh one leg and one foot extremely ill shap'd and not reaching to the knee of the other But he hath two armes very lean and disproportionate to the rest of the body and at the end of each of them instead of hands a thumb and two fingers very deformed too At the bottome of his belly there is a little membranous appendix without a passage His pulse is manifest in either arm as also the beating of his heart though the external figure of his breast and the divarication of his jugular veines have very little of the ordinary structure and situation Whereby it appears that each of them hath a brain heart and lungs distinct but they have both but one liver one stomack and one set of Intestines For one of them sleepes sometimes while the other is awake one hath been sick while the other hath been in health The greater hath been blooded above twenty times in three grievous diseases but no Physitian hath ventur'd to purge him lest the purgative medicament passing through those unusual windings should produce unusual effects to his prejudice He lives after the common manner exercising all his rational vital and natural faculties in perfection And they who have been to see him in this City as almost every one runs to see this Wonder of Nature may judge of his management and conduct of his affairs Yet the negligence of the greater in supporting the less and holding him in a convenient posture is not to be pass'd over without notice for though he breathes as I said above yet he alwayes keeps his head cover'd with a double linnen cloth and his cloak and although by his great weight he continually stretches the skin of his belly yet he endeavours not to ease either his Brother or himself Yea the custome of carrying this load hath render'd it so light to him that he performes all ordinary exercises and playes at Tennis like another Man All which consider'd it seemes this Monster is one of the most notable Errours of Nature that hath appear'd in this Age and perhaps in any preceding Besides the causes alledg'd above some extraordinary conjunction of the Stars happening at the time of his conception may have had some influence in this irregular production Moreover it appears that the less draweth nourishment from the greater by the Anastomosis or Insertion of his Vessels with those of his Brother as the Child sucks the Maternal Blood by the Vmbilical Vein there being in both but one principle of sanguification But it is otherwise as to Life Motion and Feeling which being distinct in them cannot proceed from one and the same principle The Fourth said That it may be doubted whether this be a Monster or no their union being not sufficient for that denomination For we frequently see two trees grow together in the middle and otherwise separate Nor is the deficiency of parts in the one any more monstrous then if one single man should be born without Armes and Legs Moreover he inherited the same from his Father which doth not come to pass in Monsters The Fifth said That according to Plato the case is the same with Nature as with Virtue All that exceeds their ordinary rules is called monstrous As deformity of the Mind is Vice so is also that of Nature That the cause of this instance is like that of an Egg with a double yelk out of which the pellicles being broken that separated them are produc'd two Chickens joyn'd together or else one with four wings four feet or other such irregularities So these Twins having been divided in the Womb at the place where they co-here either by the acrimony of humours or some other violent cause Nature which loves nothing so much as Union forthwith assembled its spirits and humours to unite that which was separated Which design of Nature is apparent in the cure of wounds and burnes the fingers and other parts uniting together one to the other contrary to its first intention the figure and use of the same parts But the difficulty is whether there be two Souls in these two Bodies For my part considering that they have two Brains wherein the Soul is held to reside and the external humane shape they may be rightly call'd two Men who consequently have two Souls Now if that which is in the less doth not exercise its functions the reason is because the Organs are not fitly dispos'd and proportion'd no more then those of little Children Ideots and Mad men and through this Nature's having been hinder'd by the rebellion of the Matter to receive such dispositions from the Agents which are Heat and the Spirits which also being too languishing have not been able to impart to their subject all the degrees of necessary perfection The Sixth said That he compar'd the framing of this Monster to the Workmanship of a piece of Tapistry upon which two persons are imploy'd The more diligent of the two finishes his task first the more slothful finding all the material spent is constrain'd to leave his business imperfect and fasten it to the other as well as he can So the spirits being in too great abundance to attend the fabricating of one single Child undertook two and began each from the Head The more vigorous had done first and the other finding no more stuff made but half a Man who by reason of the continuity of the Matter became connected to the first Now whereas it may be said that the Definition of Monsters brought by the Civilians doth not appertain to it the answer is That the same thing may be a Monster Physically inasmuch as it deflecteth from the Laws of Nature as this doth though it be not one Politically in that it is capable to make a Will Inherit Contract and to do all other Actions civil The Hour of Inventions was spent in Replies and Comparisons of other Monsters particularly that of mention'd by Buchanan in the fifteenth Book of his History born in Northumberland with two heads four armes two breasts and onely two leggs It was instructed in Musick so that each head sung its part melodiously and discours'd together pertinently They dy'd one fifteen dayes before the other the latter by the putrefaction of his inseparable Companion At length
Mind or the Body being moderate and indifferently temper'd with each of those Liquors may be supported by Men Pleasure and Good as the more natural much more easily then Evil and Pain which are destructive to Nature But when both of them are extreme and the sweetness of Pleasures and contentments is not abated by some little gall nor the bitterness of displeasures sweetned by some little Honey then Men cannot rellish this Potion because they are not accustom'd to things pure and sincere but to confusion and mixture and cannot bear the excess of Grief or Joy the extremities of which are found to be fatal As first for Grief Licinius finding himself condemn'd for the crime of Cheating the publick dy'd with regret Q. Fabius because he was cited before the Tribunes of the People for violating the Law of Nations Caesar's Daughter at the sight of the bloody garments of her Husband Pompey And in the last Age one of the Sons of Gilbert Duke of Montpensier going into Italy dy'd with resentment at Puzzole upon the Sepulchre of his Father whom he went thither to see Then for Joy Diagoras Rhodius seeing his three Sons victorious in one day at the Olympick Games dy'd with Joy The same Fate befell Chilo the Lacedemonian upon the same victory of one of his Sons Dionysius the Tyrant of Sicily and the Poet Sophocles having heard that they had won the bayes for Tragedies dy'd both immediately And so did the Poet Philippides upon winning that for Comedies The Painter Zeuxis having made the portraiture of an old woman very odly dy'd with laughing at it To which Paulus Jovins produces two like examples of later date one of Sinas General of the Turk's Gallies upon the recovery of his onely Son whom he accounted lost and the other of Leo X. upon the taking of Milain which he had passionately desir'd both of which dy'd for Joy Thus each of these Passions have great resemblance in their excesses They equally transport a Man beyond the bounds of Reason The one by its pleasingness makes him forget himself the other by its bitterness leads him to despair Grief destroyes Life either by the violent agitation of the Spirits or by their condensation which stopping the passages hinders respiration From whence follows suffocation and death Pleasure and Joy produce the same effect by contrary causes namely by too great a dilatation of the Spirits which causes weakness and that weakness death It may be doubted under which rank they ought to be plac'd who dye for Love But the sweetness of this kind of death is too much extoll'd by the Poets that being to choose said he I should prefer it before the others The Second said They who dye for Joy are of a soft temper and rare contexture and their Hearts being too easily dilated and expanded by it the Spirits evaporating leave the same destitute of strength and so the Ventricles close together and they perish under this Passion On the contrary they who dye with grief and sadness have the Pores more closed but are of a very hot temper which requires room and freedom for the dilatation of the Heart which becoming compress'd by sadness which like Fear stops and refrigerates and renders the Spirits too much throng'd ad condens'd among themselves the Spirits having their avenues obstructed and their commerce with the Air hindred stifle the Heart That nevertheless the Passions of Joy are much less then those of Grief because Evil more vehemently moves the Appetite then Good For Grief destroyes the simple and absolute Existence of a thing Pleasure brings onely a transient and casual effect and is but a redundancy or surplusage An Animal hath its perfect essence without it but Grief puts its Being into evident danger and changes it essentially II. The preservation of an Animal for which Nature endu'd it with the Passion of Grief is the highest internal end whereunto also Pleasure is ordain'd as a means the pleasure of the Taste for the preservation of the Individual that of the Touch for the preservation of the species In fine Delectation is a Female Passion or rather but half a Passion for when its Object is present it is languid and asswag'd and hath no more but a bare union with the Object that is the present Good which is rather a Rest then a Motion of the Sensitive Appetite Whereas Grief which respects a present Evil is not onely redoubled by the presence of the same but summons all the other Passions to its Relief Anger Audacity Courage and all the Faculties to revenge it self The Third said That if we consider these two Passions as streams running within their ordinary channels and do not respect their inundations then Grief seemes to be more powerful then Joy for it causeth us to break through all difficulties that might stop us it rallies the Forces of Nature when there needs any extraordinary performance gives Armes to extremities and renders Necessity the Mistress of Fortune On the contrary Pleasure and Joy abate the greatness of the Courage enfeeble a Man by exhausting his Spirits and emptying his Heart too much thereof The Fourth said Pleasure and Grief are two Passions of the Concupiscible Appetite the former of which is the perception of an agreeable Object the latter of a displeasing one For all Sensation is made by a Mutation and that either from Good to Evil whence ariseth Grief and if it persisteth Sadness or from Evil to Good whence springeth Pleasure which if it be lasting causeth Joy which are to be carefully distinguish'd They easily succeed set off and give conspicuousness one to the other Socrates would never have found pleasure in scratching the place where his fetters fastned his Legs if he had not borne those shackles a long time in Prison Their vehemence hath commonly reference to the Temper Pleasure hath more dominion over the Sanguine The Melancholy Man makes more reflexion upon Grief But considering them absolutely it seemes to me more difficult to support Ease then Disease Joy then Sadness Pleasure then Grief First because Hope the harbinger of good and contentment hath greater effects then Fear which fore-runs Evil and causeth to undertake greater things for all glorious and Heroical Actions have Hope for their impulsive cause whereras commonly Fear produceth none but servile Actions Secondly a Passion is term'd strong or violent when by the impression of the species of the Object first upon the Senses and then upon the Phancy it becometh so much Mistress of Reason that it hinders the Man from freely exercising the functions of knowing aright and doing aright Now Pleasures and Contentments cause Men not to know themselves but to forget God and run into Vices whereas Grief and Afflictions usually retain them within their duty in the Fear of God and in the exercise of the Virtues of Patience Obedience and Humility Many persons have bravely and couragiously resisted torments and yet yielded to Pleasure And that Emperour of whom Saint
as Imprisonment solitary and gloomy places immoderate watchings Agitations and Motions of Body and Mind especially Sadness and Fear immoderate fasting the use of base and black Wines gross food as Pulse Coleworts Beef especially salted and Animals that have black hair such as are the Stag the Hare and all Water fowle Aristotle conceiv'd that this Natural Melancholy was the fittest humour to make Men ingenious as he treats at large in his Problemes and shews that the greatest persons that have excell'd in Philosophy Policy Poetry and other Arts have partaken most of it yea of the atribilarious Humour as Hercules Ajax and Bellerophon And before him Hippocrates in his Book De Flatibus saith That nothing contributes more to Prudence then the blood in a good consistence as the Melancholy Humour is Galen will have Dexterity to proceed from Choler Integrity and Constancy from Melancholy The first reasons are taken from the similitude which Melancholy hath with Wine I. First as Wine is stronger upon its Lee and keeps longer so is the blood upon Melancholy II. The Spirit which is drawn from Wine mingled with its Lee is far better then that which is drawn from Wine alone So the Spirits which proceed from blood joyn'd with Melancholy are much more vigorous thereby III. As it easier to leap on high when one hath his foot upon firm ground then in a fluid place So Melancholy being more firm then the other Humours makes the Spirits bound the higher and they are also better reflected as the rayes of the Sun are better reflected by the Earth then by the Water IV. Melancholy persons have a stronger Imagination and so more proper for the Sciences because Knowledge is acquir'd by the reception of Phantasines into the Imagination V. Old Men who are prudent are Melancholy Whence came that saying The prudent Mind is in a dry Body And the blood of studious and contemplative persons becomes dry and Melancholy by study Therefore Plato said That the Mind begins to flourish when the Body is pass'd its flower In fine the Melancholy are very patient and are not discourag'd by any obstacles which they meet with And as they are very slow in taking resolutions so when they are once taken they perform them notwithstanding what ever difficulties they encounter therein The Second said He could not conceive how this Humour which causeth the greatest diseases in the Spleen and in the Veins the Hypochondriacal Dotage and the Quartan Ague in any part the Scirrhus and the Cancer and in the whole Body the Leprosie and other incurable diseases should increase Wit and contribute to Prudence For considering it even in its natural constitution it renders those in whom it predominates of a leaden colour pensive solitary slow in motion sad and timerous and causes them to have a small Pulse which is an argment of the weakness of their Spirits On the contrary the Sanguine Humour opposite to it hath none but commendable signes and effects a rosey colour a cheerful aspect a sociable humour an active promptitude In brief all actions in perfection Whence it follows that the Humours of a well temper'd Man being more exquisite the Spirits which proceed from purer blood must be also more more refin'd The Third Said That to know whether the Melancholy Temper be most proper for Prudence it behoveth to consider the nature both of Prudence and of Melancholy and see how they agree together Prudence is the Habit of acting according to Reason Whereunto is requisite a clear Knowledge of the End of Man and of his actions as also of the Means which conduce to that end together with an integrity and firmness of Mind to guide a Man in the election and practice of those means Wherefore it is not without good reason that Prudence is accounted the Queen and Rule of all Virtues and that all of them are but species or kinds of Prudence Whence he that hath all the Virtues and hath not Prudence cannot be said to have any Virtue For indeed it is to Action what Sapience or Wisedom is to Contemplation Melancholy not-natural which becometh such by adustion of the natural of the Blood Choler and salt Flegme is easily inflam'd and being inflam'd renders Men furious and so is very contrary to Prudence which requires a great tranquillity and moderation of Mind for right judging of the End of things and of the Means to attain thereunto Choler indeed makes good Wits capable of well judging of the End and the Means yea it gives Courage for the execution But the bilious Spirits are usually fickle and want constancy in resolutions and patience in executions which defects are very remote from Prudence The Flegmatick have as we say ny bouche ny esperon neither counsel nor dispatch They are dull both of Body and Mind and incapable of understanding and performing well The Sanguine have Wit good enough and gentle qualities but they they are too sensual and tender by reason of the softness and mildness of the numour which ought to be moderated in a Prudent Man But Natural Melancholy gives a solid Judgement Gravity Constancy Patience and Temperance which are the principal pillars of Prudence So then the Melancholy Temper alone is proper for it and of the rest that which nearest approacheth it namely the Sanguine Now every Temper being compounded of the Four Humours that in which Blood and Natural Melancholy predominate will be the most proper of all for Prudence For these two Humours make a very perspicacious Wit and a profound and solid Judgement Melancholy when moderately heated by the Blood and Choler carries a Man to undertake and execute boldly and confidently because it is with knowledge of the End and Means Thus I have given you the Common Opinion But I esteem it absurd to believe that the Elementary Qualities cause such noble Effects as the Inclinations to Prudence Magnanimity Justice and other Virtues For they are caus'd by the Influence of the Stars as is found most evidently in Nativities by which without seeing the person or his temper one may tell his Inclinations But because in every Generation the superior and inferior causes concur together and the temper almost alwayes corresponds to the Influences thence Aristotle and Galen who understood not the true Science of Coelestial Powers have affirm'd the former in his Physiognomy That the Manners of Man follow his Temper And the latter That the Temperament is by it self the first and true efficient cause of all the actions of the mixt Body and consequently of the Manners of a Man Whereby they ascribe that to the Temper which ought to be attributed onely to the Influences And indeed the Hermetick Philosophy assignes to the Elementary Qualities no other Virtues but of heating cooling moistning drying condensing and rarifying Now according to Astrologers Prudence is from the influence of Saturn and Jupiter who preside over Melancholly and Blood according as those Planets reign or favourably regard all the points
follow For in such cases there are instances of great forgetfulness or Folly as Gaza forgot even his own Name It is divided into Deliration Phrensie Melancholy and Madness Though the word Deliration be taken for all sorts of Folly yet it more strictly signifies that which is caus'd by rising of the hot humours and vapours to the Brain and frequently accompanies Fevers and Inflammations of the internal parts Phrensie is an Inflammation of the membranes of the Brain caus'd by the bilious blood or humour usually with a Fever and a languid Pulfe in regard such phrenctick persons are intent upon other things whereby their respiration is less frequent Melancholy both the Ideopathical which is in the Vessels of the Brain and the Sympathetical or Hypochondrical which ariseth from the Liver the Spleen and the Mesentery ariseth from that humour troubling the Brain and by its blackness making the patients sad and timerous or as Averroes will have it by its coldness because Heat emboldens and Cold makes fearful as we see in Women As this humour causeth Prudence and Wisedom when it is in its natural quality so when it is corrupted it produceth Folly there being as little distance between the one and the other as between the string of a Lute stretch'd up to the highest pitch and the same when it is broken Which made Montaigne say That there is but one turn of a peg between Wisedom and Folly If this Melancholy humour be moveable and bilious it will cause imaginations of various absurd things like to those of Dreams Wherefore Aristotle compares the fame to waters in motion which alwayes represent objects ill If it be more fix'd it causeth insuperable Opiniastry As is observ'd in those who phancy themselves Pitchers Cocks Geese Hens Glass Criminals Dead Damned and so in infinitum according to the diversity of Phancies Conditions and Inclinations The Folly of Love is of this kind which hath caus'd desperation and death to many Lastly Mania or Madness is an alienation of the Mind not mingled with fear and sadness as Melancholy is but with boldness and fury caus'd by the igneous and boyling Spirits of the other Choler which possessing the Brain and at times the whole Body by their immoderate heat render Men foolish furious and daring Such a heat that they are insensible of cold in mid Winter though stark naked sometimes so excessive that it degenerates into Lycanthropy rage and many other furious diseases By the induction of all which species of Folly it appears that whence soever the matter which causeth Folly ariseth it makes its impression in the Brain For though the Soul be as much in the heel as the head yet it is improper to place Wisedom in the heel but it may reasonably be assign'd to the Brain Yet to circumscribe it to a certain place excluding any other me-thinks ought no more to be done then to assign some particular corner of a Chamber to an Intelligence of the Nature of which the Soul participates The Third said Melancholy is the cause of Prudence onely by accident hindring by its dryness the too great mobility of the Blood and by its coldness checking the too impetuous sallies of the Spirits but it is by it self the cause of Folly and also of the two other Syncopies Eclipses and Alienations of the Judgement which are observ'd in the Apoplexy and the Epilepsie or Falling-sickness If Melancholy abound in the Brain it either possesses its ventricles or predominates over its temper If it be in the ventricles it either molests them by its malignity and acrimony and causeth the Epilepsie or else it fills them and causeth the Apoplexy For as we put Oyl upon a piece of Wine that is prone to decay and sowre which Oyl being aerious and consequently humid by its subtile and unctuous humidity keeps its particles so united that the Spirits of the Wine cannot penetrate through it and so being cover'd by it they are restrain'd and tarry in the Wine In like manner Melancholy by its tenacious and glutinous viscosity like black shining pitch keeps its particles so conjoyn'd that the Spirit contain'd in the ventricles cannot issue forth into the Nerves to serve for voluntary motion and the functions of sense whence followes their cessation But if the Melancholy Humour presseth the ventricles by its troublesome weight then they retire and by their retiring cause that universal contraction of the Nerves If this Humour prevail over its temper then it causeth deliration or Dotage and that in two manners For if it exceed in dryness which is a quality that admits degrees then by that dryness which is symbolical and a kin to heat it attracts the Spirits to it self as it were to make them revolt from their Prince and to debauch them from their duty employes them to fury and rage and causes madness making them follow its own motions which are wholly opposite to Nature For being cold dry black gloomy an enemy to light society and peace it aims at nothing but what is destructive to Man But if the cold in this humour exceed the dry then it will cause the disease called Melancholly which is pure Folly and makes the timerous trembling sad fools for cold not onely compresseth and incloseth the Spirits in the Brain and stupifies them so as to become unactive but hath also a back blow upon the Heart the reflux of its infection exhaling even to that seat of life and streightning it into it self whereby its Spirits become half mortifi'd Moreover this Humour sometimes piercing through the Brain comes about with a circumference and lodges amongst the Humours of the Eye placing it self before the pupil and the Crystalline under the Tunicles which cover it by which means the Melancholy persons seem to behold dreadful Objects abroad but it is within his Eye that he sees them As for the same reason they who have the beginning of a suffusion imagine that flyes flocks of wool or little hairs because of the Humour contain'd there which if it be Blood they seem red if Choler yellow if Melancholy black But in all the cases hitherto alledg'd me-thinks the Seat of Folly is the same with that of Imagination which is the Brain and not any of the ventricles in particular for since the Intellect acteth upon the phantasmes of the Imagination this upon the report of the Common Sense and this upon the information of the External Senses which are diffus'd throughout all the Brain and each possesseth a part of it the whole Brain must necessarily contribute to Ratiocination II. Whether Women or Men are more inclin'd to Love Upon the Second Point the First said Women are of a more amorous complexion then Men. For the Spirits of Women being more subtile according to Aristotle's Maxime That such as have more tender flesh have more subtile Spirits they are carri'd with more violence to amiable Objects And Love being according to Plato the off-spring of Plenty and Indigence that of Women
a certain person having been cur'd by a fast of that duration it cannot be said that all dye of that wherewith some are cur'd II. Of the Echo Upon the Second Point it was said The Echo is a reflected multiply'd and reciprocal sound or a repercussion of sound made by hollow rocks or edisices by the windings of which it comes to be redoubled as the visible species is reflected in the Mirror It is made when the sound diffus'd in the Air is driven into some hollow smooth and solid Body which hinders it from dissipating or passing further but sends it back to the place from whence it came as the wall makes the ball rebound towards him that struck the same against it According as the sound is violent and the space little or great it returns sooner or slower and makes an Echo more or less articulate It may be hence gather'd whether Sound is produc'd by the Air or some other Body since fish have the use of their Ears in the Water and the voice passeth from one end of a Pike to the other without resounding in the Air. And which is more strange strike as softly as you please with your singer upon the end of a Mast lay'd along he that layes his Ear to the other end shall hear it better then your self and a third that doth the like at the middle shall hear nothing at all In the Church de la Dorade at Tholouze he that whispers at one end of the wall is heard at the other by reason of its smoothness On the contrary it is reported that in Scotland there is a stone call'd the Deaf-stone because they which are on one side of it hear not the noise no not of Trumpets sounding on the other the stone sucking up the sound as a sponge doth Water The Second said That the Image which we see of our selves in a Looking-glass being as it were alive and yet dumb is less admirable then the Echo which we hear not and yet hear complain sing and talk with us without Body and without understanding This Echo is not onely a resilition or reflexion of the sound or voice or rather the voice it self so reflected and sent back by the opposition of some solid Body which makes it return whence it came and stops its course and flux For then it would follow that as often as we speak we should hear Echoes seeing we never speak but there is made some resilition of our voice by means of the opposition of solid Bodies near us and encompassing us on every side And yet we seldom hear any thing but our bare voice or some confus'd murmur as it happens in new houses in Churches under a vault before a wall and other such places in which we ought to hear a very articulate Echo since the voice is reflected better there then elsewhere I think therefore then the Echo is made in the same manner as the reflection of the Sun 's light or of the rayes of any other fire whatsoever by hollow mirrors which unite that light and those rayes and so produce another fire For as fire cannot be produc'd by plain or convex mirrors which reflect but one ray in one and the same place and all sorts of concave or hollow mirrors cannot be proper for it because it is necessary that the cavity be dispos'd and made in such manner that it may be able to reflect a sufficient quantity of rayes in one and the same place which being conjoyn'd and united together excite again and re-kindle that fire from which they issu'd which seem'd vanish'd by reason of the dissipation of its heat and rayes So the Echo which is nothing but the same voice reanimated and reproduc'd by the concourse and reunion of several of its rayes dissipated and afterwards reflected into one and the same place where they are united and recollected together and so become audible a second time cannot be produc'd by bare walls and vaults which do not reflect and recollect a sufficient quantity of those rayes into one and the same place but onely resemble many of them near one another whence ariseth a murmuring or inarticulate Echo Now as Art imitates Nature and sometimes surpasses her so we find there are Burning Mirrors which re-unite the rayes of fire and in like manner there may be made Artificial Echoes without comparison more perfect then those wherewith chance and the natural situation of places have hitherto acquainted us Whereunto beside what I have already mention'd the Hyperbole the Parabole and chiefly the Oval greatly conduce with some other means which are treated of in the Cataptricks The Third said The Echo the Daughter of Solitude and Secretary of weak Minds who without distrusting her loquacity fruitlesly acquaint her with their secret thoughts teaches us not to declare our secrets to any person since even stones and rocks cannot conceal them but she especially affords entertainment to Lovers possibly because she ownes the same Father with Love namely Chance For as no Love is more ardent then that which arises from the unlook'd for glances of two Eyes from the collision of which issues a spark little in the beginning but which blown up by the violence of desires grows at length into a great flame so though Art studies to imitate the natural Echo and the pretty conceits of that Nymph yet it never equals her graces which she borrows onely from the casual occurrence of certain sinuosities of Rocks and Caverns in which she resides the rest of her inveiglements remain unknown to Men The Cause why Antiquity made her a Goddess All which we can truly say of her is to define her a reflection of the voice made by an angle equal to that of incidence Which is prov'd because the Echoes in narrow turnings are heard very near him that sings 2. Nature always works by the shortest way which is the streight therefore Reflection is made by the same 3. When the voice is receiv'd in a streight line it formes no distinct Echo because it is united with the same direct line whereby it was carry'd which by that means it dissipateth and scattereth The same happens in a convex line But if the Body which receives it be concave it will recollect it from the perpendicular of the speakers mouth towards that Body and 't is by the concourse of the voice reflected in that line that the Echo is form'd 4. The Body which receives the voice must be sonorous which none is except it be hollow From which four propositions I conceive the way may be deriv'd to imitate the Echo and tame that wood-Nymph in some manner The Fourth said Vitruvius was not ignorant of this Artifice having very dextrously imitated the Nature of the Echo by the convenient situation of some earthen vessels partly empty and observing a proportion of plenitude to vacuity almost like that which some Musicians make use of to represent their six voices And that which hath been made
Thus and more easily can the Devil trasfer the humours and managing them at his pleasure make them put on what figure he will to cause delusion In fine all this is perform'd by the Local Motion of the parts humours or Spirits The Fifth said That the foundation of doubting is that there is requir'd proportion between the Agent and the Patient Which is prov'd because it is requisite that the patient which is in Power be determin'd by the form receiv'd and it seemeth that a spiritual thing cannot produce a form that may determine a material thing That it produceth nothing material is evident because the action and the product are of the same Nature Now the action of a Spiritual Entity cannot be material to speak naturally Yet it is certain that God acts in corporeal things though he is a pure Spirit But it may be answered That an Infinite Power is not oblig'd to the Rules of Creatures Besides that his Ubiquitary Presence sufficeth to impart Motion to all as also that he containing all things eminently is able to produce all things But if to contain eminently is to have a more perfect Being capable to do what the lesser cannot this is not satisfactory For the Question is How that more perfect Immaterial Being can produce that which Material Beings produce To which the saying that it is a more perfect Being doth not satisfie For then an Angel should be naturally able to produce all the perfections which are inferior to him which is absurd It followes therefore that the Cause must contain the Effect that it may be able to produce it and that since a spiritual Being doth not contain material things either those which we call Immaterial are not so at all or else God immediately produceth in them the effects which we attribute to them For I see not how immateriality is infer'd from immortality since there may be an incorruptible matter such as that of the Heavens is Which nevertheless is spoken rather to make way for some better thought then that I hold it as my own The Sixth said That there may be some Medium serving for the union between the Body and the Soul beside the Animal Vital and Natural Spirits to which Medium the many wonderful effects which we are constrain'd to ascribe to Occult Qualities ought to be referd'd For as they who know not that the Ring which Juglers make to skip upon a Table according to the motion of their fingers is fasten'd to them by the long Hair of a Woman attribute that Motion to the Devil So they who cannot comprehend the subtility of the Medium uniting not onely the Body with the Soul which informes it but also the other Spirits with the Body which they agitate find no proportion therein and are constrain'd to let experience cross their reason Now to understand the Nature of this uniting Medium I conceive is as difficult as to give an account of the Sympathies and Antipathies of things II. Which is more powerfull Love or Hatred Upon the Second Point the First said That Eâ—pedocles had reason to constitute Love and Hatred for the two Principles of Nature which though Aristotle endeavours to confute yet is he constrain'd to acknowledge the same thing though disguis'd under other words For when he saith that two of his Principles are contraries and enemies namely Form and Privation and nevertheless that they are united in one common Subject which is the Matter what is it else but to confess that all things are made and compos'd by the means of Love and Hatred They who own no other Principles but the Four Elements are of the same opinion when they say that all Mixt Bodies are made with a discording concord and a concording discord For as the Elements united together will never compose an Animal unless they be reduc'd to a just proportion and animated by rebatement of some little of the vigor of their active qualities so if there be no kind of War and Amity between them if the Hot act not against the Humid the Animal will never live since Life is nothing but the action of Heat upon Humidity However Amity hath something more noble and excites greater effects then Enmity For the former is the cause of the Generation and Preservation of Mixt Bodies and the latter of their dissolution and corruption Now it is much more noble to give and preserve Being then to destroy it Whence God himself found such perfection in his Creation and was so pleas'd with his Divine Work that though it frequently deserves by its crimes to be annihilated yet his Punishments have not hitherto proceeded so far This is no less true in Spiritual and Intellectual Substances then in Natural Gods Love hath more noble effects then his Hatred For to leave to Divines the consideration of that Love which had the power to draw the Second Person of the Trinity from Heaven with that which produces the Third as also to leave them to proclaim that God loves Good Actions and that the effect of this Love is Eternal Bliss that he hates Sins and that the effects of this hatred are the punishments of Hell that it is manifest that the glory of Paradise is much greater then of those Chastisements since what ever penalties God inflicts upon Man for his mis-deeds he renders Justice to him and do's not reduce him into a state inferior to or against his Nature but when he rewards with Eternal Glory he exalts our Nature infinitely higher then it could aspire let us consider Love and Hatred in Men and particularly as Passions according as the Question propounded seemes principally to be understood and no doubt Love will be found more violent then Hatred To judge the better whereof we must not consider them nakedly and simply as Love is nothing else but an inclination towards Good and Hatred an Aversion from Evil nor yet as such Good or Evil is present For in these two manners they have no violence nor any Motions since according to the receiv'd Maxime When the End is present all Motion and Action ceaseth But to know which of these two passions acts with most force and violence for the attaining of its end we must contemplate them with all the train and attendance of the other Passions which accompany them not as the one is an inclination to Good and the other an Aversion from Evil present For in this sense no doubt a Present Evil which causeth Grief is more sensible and violent then a Present Good which causeth Pleasure but as the one is a Desire of the Absent Good which is propos'd and the other a Flight from an Absent Evil which is fear'd I conceive the Passions excited by an Absent Evil have no great violence but rather partake of heaviness and stupidity as Fear and Sadness which render us rather unmoveable and insensible then active and violent in our Motions The Passions which lead towards an Absent Good are otherwise For
that of the Moon is cause of that of the Sea For if it were then when the Moon is longest above our Horizon as in long dayes the ebbing and flowing would be greatest but it is equal and regular as well when the Moon is below the Horizon as above it And why also doth not she move the other Seas and all sorts of Waters as well as the Ocean The Third said That there are two sorts of Water in the Sea one terrene thick and viscous which contains the Salt the other thin sweet and vaporous such as that which Aristotle saith enters through the Pores of a vessel of wax exactly stop'd and plung'd to the bottome of the Sea This thin Water being heated is rarifi'd and turn'd into vapours which consequently require more room then before They seek for it but being restrain'd and inclos'd in the thick and viscous Water can find no issue and therefore make the Water of the Sea to swell and rise till that Exhalation be disengag'd from those thick Waters and then the Sea returnes to its natural state by falling flat and becoming level This is abundantly confirm'd by the Tydes which are alwayes greater in March and August then at other seasons because at that time more abundance of vapours is drawn up But why have not Lakes also an Ebbing and Flowing Because their Water being more thin le ts pass those vapours which the Sun hath stirr'd and so not being hinder'd from going away as those of the Sea are they do not make the Water rise and swell So Heat having subtiliz'd and converted into vapours the most tenuious parts of the Milk upon the Fire the thicker parts of the same coming to enclose them are the cause that it swells and rises up But when it is remov'd from the fire or its vapours have gotten passage by agitation it takes up no more roome then it did at first But it is not so with Water plac'd upon the Fire the rarity of its Body giving free issue to the vapours which the Heat excites in it The Jewish Sea is bituminous and therefore no more inflated then pitch possibly because the parts thereof being Homogeneous cannot be subtiliz'd apart For as for the Mediterranean Seas having no Flux and Reflux I conceive it is hindred by another motion from North to South because the Septentrional parts being higher then the Austral all Waters by their natural gravity tend that way The Fourth said I acknowledge with Aristotle that 't is partly the Sun that causes the Flux and Reflux of the Sea because 't is he that raises most of the Exhalations and Winds which beating upon the Sea make it swell and so cause the Flux and soon after failing the Sea falls again which is the Reflux Nevertheless because this cause is not sufficient and cannot be apply'd to all kinds of Flux and Reflux which we see differ almost in all Seas I add another thereunto Subterranean Fires which sending forth continually abundance of Exhalations or subtile Spirits and these Spirits seeking issue drive the Water of the Sea which they meet till it overflows and thus it continues till being deliver'd from those Spirits it falls back into its channel till it be agitated anew by other Exhalations which successively follow one another and that more or less according to the greater or lesser quantity of those Spirits The Tydes which happen every two hours are an evidence of great quantity those which happen every four hours of less and those which happen every six of least of all So there is made in our Bodies a Flux and Reflux of Spirits by the motion of Reciprocation call'd the Pulse consisting of a Diastole and a Systole or Dilatation and Contraction caus'd by the Vital Faculty of the Heart the Fountain of Heat Moreover as the Pulse is ordinarily perceiv'd better in the Arms and other extreme parts then in the rest of the Body So the Flux and Reflux is more evident at the shores then in the main Sea Therefore Aristotle proposing the Question why if some solid Body as an Anchor be cast into the Sea when it swells it instantly becomes calm answers That the solid Body cast into the Sea makes a separation in the surface thereof and thereby gives passage to the Spirits which were the cause of that Commotion Now if it be demanded Why such motion is not so manifest in the Mediterranean Sea and some others as in the Ocean it is answer'd that the reasons thereof are 1. Because Nature having given sluces to the Mediterranean higher then to the Ocean it hath not room wherein to extend it self so commodiously 2. Because the Subterranean Fires being united and continually vented forth by the Out-lets which they have in Aetna Vesuvius and other Mountains within or near that Sea there remains less then is needful to make a rising of the Waters The Fifth said I conceive there is as little cause and reason to be sought of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea as of all other motions proceeding from Forms informing or assisting the Bodies which they move As it would be impertinent to ask what is the cause of the motion of a Horse seeing the most ignorant confess that it is from his Soul which is his Form So there is more likelihood of truth in attributing the motion of the Sea to its Form then to any other thing Yet because they who assign a Soul to the World and all its parts cannot make out such a proportion therein as is requisite to the parts of an Animal I think more fit to affirm that the Sea hath a Form and Intelligence assisting to it which was assign'd to it by God from the beginning to move it in the same manner as the Intelligences according to Aristotle are assistant to the Coelestial Orbes and continue their motion II. Of the Point of Honour It was said upon the Second Point That since Contraries give light to one another we may better understand what Honour is by considering the Nature of Dishonour For where ever there is Blame there is also Honour opposite to it Now there is no Man that sees a vile action as amongst Souldiers Murder or Cowardice Collusion or Perfidiousness in Justice but he blames the same and judges the Author thereof worthy of Dishonour On the conrary a brave Exploit and a Courageous Action is esteemed by Enemies themselves The incorruptible Integrity of a Judge is oftentimes commended by him that â—oses his Suit and the Courageous Fidelity of an Advocate in well defending his Client receives Praise even from the Adversary so odious is Vice and so commendable is Virtue Wherefore every one abhorring Blame and Dishonour doth so vehemently hate the memory and reproach of any thing that may bring it upon him that many imitate what the Fable telleth of Jupiter who going to shake off the ordure which the Beetle had laid upon the skirt of his garment by that means shook out the Eggs
before-hand of things to come nor admonish us thereof but by the representation of certain Images which we have some resemblance and agreement with those Accidents These Images are different in all Men according to their several Sympathies and Antipathies Aversions and Complacencies or according to the different beliefs which we have taken up by a strong Imagination or by hear-say that such or such Figures represented in a Dream signifie such or such things For in this case the Soul conjecturing by those impressions which are found in our Temper is constrain'd to represent the same to us by the Images which our Imagination first admitted and apprehended either as unfortunate or lucky and of good Augury But if there be any Dreams which presage to us Accidents purely fortuitous and wholly remote from our Temper Manners and Actions they depend upon another Cause The Sixth said That as during sleep the Animal and inferior part of Man performs its office best concocting the nourishment more succesfully so his superior part being then according as Trismegistus saith more loose and unlinked from the Body acts more perfectly then during the time we are awake For being freed and loosned from the senses and corporeal affections it hath more particular converse with God and Angels and receives from all parts intelligence of things in agitation And according to Anaxagoras all things bear the Image one of another whence if there be any effect in Nature which is known in its cause as a tempest in the Sea a Murder in the Woods a Robbery or other accident upon the High-way the Power which is to be the original thereof sends a Copy and Image of the same into the Soul The Seventh said That he as little believ'd that the Species and Images of things come to the Soul as that the Soul goes forth to seek them during sleep roving and wandring about the world as it is reported of the Soul of Hermotimus the Clazomenian Aristotle indeed saith that there are some subtile natures which seem to have some pre-science of what is to come but I think it surpasseth the reach of the Humane Soul which being unable to know why a Tree produceth rather such a Fruit then another can much less know why those species are determin'd rather to signifie one thing then another The Eighth said He could not commend the superstitious curiosity of those who seek the explication of Dreams since God forbids expresly in the Law to observe them and the Wise-man assures us that they have caus'd many to stumble and fall And why should the things which we fancy in the right have more signification then if we imagin'd them in the day For Example If one dream in the night that he flyes is there any more reason to conjecture from thence that he shall arise to greatness then if the thought of flying had come into his Mind in the day time with which in the dayes of our Fathers an Italian had so ill success having broken his neck by attempting to flie from the top of the Tower De Nesse in this City a fair Example not to mount so high II. Why Men are rather inclin'd to Vice then to Virtue Upon the Second Point it was said That our Inclinations tend rather to Vice then to Virtue because Delight is alwayes concomitant to Vice as Honesty is to Virtue Now Delight being more facile and honesty more laborious therefore we follow rather the former then the latter Moreover the Present hath more power to move our Inclinations because it is nearer then the Future which as yet is nothing Now Delight is accounted as present in a Vicious Action and the reward of Virtue is look'd upon as a far off and in futurity Whence Vice bears a greater stroke with us then Virtue If it be objected that a Virtuous Action hath alwayes its reward inseparable because Virtue is a Recompence to it self I answer that this is not found true but by a reflection and ratiocination of the Mind which hath little correspondence with our gross senses and therefore this recompence which is onely in the Mind doth not gratifie us so much as the pleasures of the Body which have a perfect correspondence with our corporeal senses by whom the same are gusted in their full latitude But why doth Vice seem so agreeable to us being of its own nature so deformed I answer that it was necessary that it should be accompani'd and sweetned with Pleasure otherwise the eschewing of Evil ond the pursuing of Virtue would not have been meritorious because there would have been no difficulty therein Moreover Nature hath been forc'd to season the Actions of Life with Pleasure lest they should become indifferent and neglected by us Now Vice is onely an Excessive or Exorbitant exercising of the Actions of Life which are agreeable to us And Virtues are the Rules and Moderators of the same Actions But why are not we contented with a Mediocrity of those Actions 'T is because Life consists in Action which is the more such when it is extended to the whole length and breadth of its activity and ownes no bounds to restrain its liberty The Second said All would be more inclin'd to Virtue then to Vice were it considerd in it self there being no Man so deprav'd but desires to be virtuous The covetous had rather be virtuous and have wealth then be rich without Virtue But its difficulty the companion of all excellent things is the cause that we decline it And we judge this difficulty the greater for that our Passions carry the natural and laudable inclinations of our Soul to Vice which is much more familiar and facile to them then Virtue Wherefore Aristotle saith all Men admit this General Proposition That Virtue ought to be follow'd But they fail altogether in the particulars of it Besides Man is able to do nothing without the Ministry of his Senses and when in spight of difficulties he raises himself to some Virtuous Action presently the Sensitive Appetite repugnes against it and as many inferior Faculties as he hath they are so many rebellious and mutinous Subjects who refuse to obey the Command of their Sovereign This Intestine Warr was brought upon Man as a punishment for his first sin ever since which Reason which absolutely rul'd over the Sensitive Appetite hath been counter-check'd and mast'red by it The Third said As there are a thousand wayes of straying and erring from the mark and but one and that a strait line to attain it so it is possible to exceed or be deficient in Virtue infinite wayes but there is onely one point to acquire its Mediocrity The Fourth affirmed That the way of Vice being more spacious then that of Virtue yea Evil according to Pythagoras infinite and Good bounded it follows that there are infinitely more Vices then Virtues and therefore is not to be wondered if there be more vicious persons then virtuous The Fifth said We are not to seek the cause of
our vicious inclinations other where then within our selves it being deriv'd from the structure and composition of our Bodies For he who hath not what to eat and wherewith to defend himself from cold or who fears distress finds the seeds of theft in his natural inclination of self-preservation The same Fear makes him become covetous When any thing obstructs the accomplishing of his wishes if he be weak he becomes sad thereupon if strong he falls into Choler This Passion leads him to revenge the height of whose violence is Murther If the enjoyment thereof be free to him the pleasure which he takes therein produceth Luxury and debaucheries and thus 't is with all Vices On the contrary poor Virtue meets with nothing in us but opposition The Stomack the Intestines and all the natural parts revolt against Temperance and Continence The Cholerick Humour fights against Clemency Covetousness inciteth to Injustice the Comparison of our condition with that of our betters to Ambition and Envy with that of our Inferiors to Pride and Disdain In brief Virtue finds nothing in us that makes for her interest which seems to me the reason why it is less familiar to us then Vice The Sixth said No person is either vicious or virtuous of his own nature but he becomes so by Instruction and Custome Instruction is so powerful that it makes even Beasts capable of Discipline Custome is of such influence that it is rightly term'd an other nature Wherefore our being rather vicious then virtuons is not from any natural inclination For on the contrary we have the seeds and sparks of Virtue within us and I almost believe with Plato that when Men become vicious it is by force and against their nature But the fault proceeds from our bad Education and corrupt Customes which become yet worse by the conversation of vicious persons who are very numerous The Seventh said Though we consent more easily to Virtue then to Vice yet the number of the good and virtuous being less then that of the wicked and vicious hath caus'd the contrary to be believ'd The reason whereof is not the difficulty of doing well but because Vices are esteem'd and rewarded instead of being punish'd and Virtue instead of Recompence receives nothing but Contempt So the Exorbitancy of Clothes instead of being punish'd causeth him to be honoured who is unworthy to be so Wherefore if there were a State in which Reward and Punishment were duly dispens'd from the Cradle it would be a rarer thing to see a wicked man there then a black Swan because the good which we love and the evil which we hate would be inseparably joyn'd together the one with Virtue and the other with Vice CONFERENCE XXII I. Of Judiciary Astrology II. Which is least blameable Covetousness or Prodigality I. Of Judiciary Astrology THe weakness of our reasoning is a strong argument to abate the presumption of our being able to judge of the power of the Stars For if we are ignorant of the nature of the least Herb we tread upon we must be more so of that of the Celoestial Bodies which are so remote from us and our knowledge that the greatest masters of this Art dispute still whether every Star be a several world whether they are solid or not what qualities they have and which are the true places Besides the local motion of Animals may wholly frustrate the effect of their influences And if Xanthus hindred the Sun from making his head ake when he walk'd abroad and the Moon doth not chill those that are in the house certainly the effects of less active and remoter Stars may be declin'd by the same wayes since Fire the most active thing in nature doth not burn if the hand be mov'd swiftly over it And what more was to be fear'd by Americus Vesputius Ferdinand Magellan and others who sail'd round the Earth one way whil'st the Heaven turn'd the other Why should we seek in Heaven the Causes of Accidents which befall us if we find them on Earth And why should we look so far for what is so near Is it not more fit to refer the cause of Knowledge to study of Riches and Honour to Birth Merit or Favour of Victory to the dexterity and diligence of the General who cast his contrivance well to surprize his Enemy then to attribute these Events to the Planets If experience be alledg'd to manifest the effect of many Predictions I answer that as the Animal which is said to have made a letter by chance with its Hoof in the dust was no Scribe for all that so though amongst a thousand false predictions one by chance proves true yet is not the Art ever the more certain Yea I will urge it against themselves for it is not credible that we should see so many unfortunate Astrologers if they could fore-see their own infelicity or else they must acknowledge themselves fools since they grant that the Wise-man rules over the Stars The Second said That every thing here below suffers mutation and nothing is able to change it self whence it follows that that which is the cause of Alteration must it self be exempt from the same Whence consequently the Heavens which are the sole Body that suffer no change must be the cause of all mutation For the Elements are the material cause thereof and therefore cannot be the Efficient And as the Stars are the thickest and onely visible part of Heaven so they have most light and influence by which assisted with their motions they communicate their qualities to the Air the Air to the Bodies which it toucheth especially to the humours in Man over which it hath such power that its diversity diversifyes all the complexions of Man-kind Now our Humours model our Manners and these our most particular Actions They may talk that the Wise-man over-rules the Stars but Experience shews that the Stars guide the Will not by compelling it but by inclining it in such a manner that it cannot resist because they subminister to it the means determined to the End whereunto they incline it whence it is as hard yea impossible for it to draw back as for a Drunkard to forbear drinking when he is very thirsty and hath the bottle at his command The Impostures which are affirm'd of the Casters of Nativities can no more prejudice or disparage Judiciary Astrology then Mountebanks do Physick Yea though the state of Heaven be never twice the same yet is it not so in the subjects of all other Disciplines Never were two diseases found altogether alike in Physick nor in Law two Cases alike in all their circumstances yet the Precepts of thse Sciences are nevertheless true because it sufficeth that the principal conditions concur as it is also sufficient that the same principal aspects and situations of the Stars be found in Heaven for the making of Rules in Judiciary Astrology The Third said Every Effect followeth the Nature of its Cause and therefore the Actions and
a sword but there are no rules or maximes against it and never less then in this Age of counterseits in which he that is not deceiv'd well deserves the name of Master For security from it some ingenious persons have invented Rules whereby the inclinations of every one may be discern'd as Masons applying the Rule Square and Level upon a stone judge whether it incline more to one side then the other For you see there are many different species of Animals every one whereof is again subdivided into many others as is observ'd in Doggs and Horses but there are more different sorts of Men. Whence the Philosophers of old took up the opinion of Metempsychoses or Transanimations imagining there could not but be for example the Soul of a Fox in those whom they found very crafty and that the Soul which delighted to plunge it self in filthiness and impurity must needs have been heretofore in the Body of a swine And though the outward shape of Man puts a vail upon all those differences yet they are visible through the same to those who have a good sight as we may distinguish Ladies through the Cypress with which they vail themselves at this day it we take good heed otherwise we may be mistaken We must therefore inquire here whether through the external figure common to all Men what every one hath peculiar be not the sign of his inclinations either as the Effect or as the Cause of the same As redness of the Cheeks is usually an argument of the disposition of the Lungs Nor is it material to know why it is a sign it sufficeth to me to know that it is so To which the variety of Bodies and especially of Faces affords great probability because Nature hath made nothing in vain and why this variety unless to serve for a sign since it serves to distinguish them The Second said Physiognomy is the knowledge of the inside by the outside that is of the affections and inclinations of the Mind by external and sensible signes as colour and Figure It is grounded upon the correspondence of the Soul with the Body which is such that they manifestly participate the affections one of the other If the Body be sick the Soul is alter'd in its operations as we see in high Fevers On the contrary let the Soul be sad or joyful the Body is so too Therefore the Sophisters of old purg'd themselves with Hellebor when they would dispute best For though in its essence the Soul depends not on the corporeal Organs yet it depends upon the same in its operations which are different according to the divers structure of the Organs which if they were alike dispos'd their actions would be alike in all and at all times Whence saith Aristotle an old man would see as clear as a young man if he had the Eyes of a young man The Third said To make a certain judgement upon external signes heed must be taken that they be natural For 't is possible for one of a Sanguine Constitution to have a pale and whitish colour either through fear sickness study or some other accident The Phlegmatick when he hath drunk to excess been at a good fire is in anger or asham'd of something will have a red Face And yet he that should argue from these signes would be mistaken The Fourth said Since Physiognomists grant that their Rules are not to be apply'd but to Men void of all Passions which so change the Body that it seemes another from it self I conceive this Art is altogether impossible For I would know in what moment we are to be taken without Sadness Joy Hatred Love Anger in short without any of those Passions so inseparable from our Life that Xanthus found no better way to be reveng'd on Aesop then to ask him for a Man that car'd for nothing such as he would be that should have no Passions What then will become of the goodly Rules of Physiognomy after that Education of Youth hath corrected perverse inclinations that Philosophy hath given the lie to the Physiognomists of this Age as it did heretofore to Zopyrus when he pronounc'd his opinion upon Socrates or that Piety as is seen in so many holy personages hath reform'd the Will evil habits and Nature it self The Fifth said As there is nothing more wonderful then to judge of a Man's manners at the first sight so there is nothing more difficult It is endeavour'd four wayes First By the structure of each part of the Body So the great Head and square Fore-head denote Prudence and good judgement the small Head shews that there is little brain and narrow room for the exercise of the internal senses the sharp Head denotes impudence The Second way is by the Temperament So the ruddy countenance yellow hair and other signes of the Sanguine Humour shew an indifferent Spirit pleasant and inclin'd to Love A pale complexion fat Body clear voice slow gate which are the characters of Phlegme denote cowardice and sloth Soft and tender flesh is a token of subtlety of the Senses and consequently of the wit hard flesh of dulness Whence Man the wisest of all Animals hath a more delicate flesh then any of them The Third way is by comparing the external signes of every one with those which are observ'd in Men when they are in Passion So because he that is in Choler hath sparkling Eyes hoarse voice and the jugular veins turgid we conclude that he who hath all these signes naturally is naturally inclin'd to that Passion But as for the Fourth and last which is by comparing Man with other Animals heed must be taken how we credit such a sign alone For as a single letter doth not make a discourse so an external similitude alone with an Animal doth not infer the resemblance of our Nature to that of that Animal There must be a concurrence of many of these signes together As if I see a Man with a neck moderately fleshy a large breast and the other parts in proportion as the Lyon hath harsh hair as the Bear a strong sight as the Eagle I shall conclude that this Man is strong and courageous The Sixth said That the reason why Physiognomists choose irrational creatures to signifie the inclinations and manners of Men rather then Men themselves is because Man is a variable Animal and most commonly useth dissimulation in his actions Whereas Animals void of Reason less conceal from us the inclinations of their Nature by which they permit themselves to be guided So we see the same person will sometimes do an act of Courage sometime another of Cowardice sometimes he will be merciful at another time cruel But other Animals are uniform in all their actions The Lyon is alwayes generous the Hare ever cowardly the Tyger cruel the Fox crafty the Sheep harmless So that a certain judgement may be pass'd upon these but not upon Men. The Seventh said That as the accidents superven'd to our Bodies
or seen some ridiculous thing we many times laugh at it though the Object be not present 'T is also Disproportion that makes us laugh for we do not so when we behold a great Beauty but we do so when we look upon some odd ill-contriv'd countenance or when we find little sutableness between the Objects which are represented to us as an Old-man making Love a huge Hat upon a small Head one intending to make a graceful Reverence or cut a fine caper and falling all along in brief every thing that is said or done incongruously besides our expectation especially if no other more violent Passion interpose as Fear Respect and Pity which suppress Laughter We laugh at a Man that falls down but should he break his neck with the fall our Laughter would give place to Compassion In fine it appears that there is made a retraction of the Nerves during Laughter for we see a Convulsion causeth the same motion of the Muscles of the Face that Laughter doth whence cometh that malady which is called Risus Sardonicus in which by the retraction of the Nerves towards their Original the Patient seemes to laugh as he dyes The Third said He knew not whether of the two had most reason Democritus the Laugher or Heraclitus the Weeper For though the Faculty of Laughing be peculiar to Man and inseparable from Reason yet immoderate Laughter is as unacceptable as continual Tears And whereas we read in the Holy Scripture that our Lord sometimes wept but not that he ever laught this may be resolv'd That nothing was new to him The same being recorded of Heathens so stay'd and reserv'd that they were never seen to laugh as Crassus Cato the Censor Phocion and some others There is more difficulty in stating the Cause of Laughter Aristotle attributes it to the Diaphragme which is dilated by heat But seeing we laugh less in a Fever when the Diaphragme is most heated it is certain either that every heat of the Diaphragme doth not produce this effect or some other cause must be joyned with it Which I conceive to be an impression made in our Senses and by them in our Phancy of some agreeable unusual and un-foreseen Object when the same slips into it unawares Which Object exciting Joy in us by the Dilatation of the Spirits which is made first in the Arteries of the Brain and thereby insinuated into these of the Heart which opens to that Joy those dilated Spirits swell the Blood in the Veins which accompanies them so that not being containable in their own place the Veins and Arteries swell till they make a reflux in the Brain Diaphragme Lungs Face and all the parts of the Body where they cause the concussion and agitation observ'd in excessive Laughter and sometimes Tears by the compression of the Brain whilst it is not possible for any to check the eruption what ever respect be presented to them yea sometimes the Spirits are so rarifi'd that they evaporate whence follows sudden death as it befell Chrysippus of old who seeing an Ass eat figgs at the end of his table fell into so vehement Laughter that he dy'd immediately The Fourth said Laughter is a motion of the Body which follows that of the Soul Its Object is a sudden Joy surprizing us as a pleasant word after a serious discourse The scorn we make of any one causeth Laughter likewise because Contempt is a kind of Anger made up of Pleasure and Grief When the Pleasure happens to be greater then the Grief as it happens when our Enemy is so weak that we can be reveng'd on him when we list this contentment causeth us to laugh And hence it is that Sleighting is more offensive then Hatred alone Joubertus thinks Laughter is excited when Pleasure expands the Heart which by that dilatation gives motion to the Diaphragme and this consequently draws the Muscles of the Lipps Aristotle saith that by tickling a motion is caused in the Spirits which go and come to the place where the Man feels the Pleasure which Spirits passing and repassing light upon the Nerves who being too sensible and sollicited by the continual motion and agitation thereof endeavour to drive the same away and to that purpose contract themselves and draw unto themselves the parts into which they are inserted Hence in a great Laughter a Man is forc'd to compress himself and the sides ake with much laughing by reason of the tension of the Muscles and Nerves which are most agitated in that place Wherefore in my judgement Laughter is caus'd in this sort The sudden Pleasure or Titillation excites a motion of the Spirits which being very subtile are easily carry'd up to the Head there their agitation and motion importunes the Nerves and the Brain so that in the midst of this Pleasure there is caus'd a kind of Convulsive Motion And for that this agitation is chiefly inward therefore the internal parts first feel the effects of that gentle Convulsion the Diaphragme being more pliant and receiving more Nerves of the sixth Conjugation is agitated the most vehemently In profuse Laughter the Nerves of the whole Body sympathize with this disposition of the Brain their Common Original which being importun'd by those Spirits who though but natural are yet able to incommode the same by their too great agitation it contracts it self to be discharged of them attracting the Nerves to it self as much as it can whence proceeds this kind of Convulsion The Fifth said That the cause of Laughter is two-fold namely its Object which is of great latitude as good news unexpected joy which it is impossible to receive without laughing and its Subject which is indeed the Diaphragme for they who are wounded in that part seem to dye laughing as Hippocrates in the seventh of his Epidemicks observes to have befallen one Plychon for the same cause And this is no otherwise then as a certain kind of Ranunculus an Herb we call Crowfoot being eaten causeth loss of the Spirits and by the contraction of the Lips represents the Convulsion which is made during Laughter CONFERENCE XXV I. Of the Diversity of Countenances II. Whether Man or Woman be the more noble I. Of the Diversity of Countenances IDentity is so disagreeable that in all the objects of the Senses it displeases us Our Taste is glutted with alwayes eating the same Bread The most excellent Odour at length causeth the Head-ake To look too wistly upon the same object or to be too long together beheld by the same Eye fixed upon us is troublesome The Ear is tyr'd with twice hearing the same Tune and being continually struck upon by one and the same discourse how excellent soever it be The Touch the grossest of all the Senses is weary of one and the same temper of Air whence is drawn a certain consequence That the people under the Equinoctial or other Climate alwayes like to it self are sooner weary of living then others who have not leasure to be
of rivers not being sufficient alone to hinder it if the salt did not preserve it from corruption as it doth all other things and to the end that its waters being salt and by that means more terrene and thick might bear not onely Whales and other Fishes of enormous bignes but also the great Ships necessary for the commerce of distant Climates and the mutual transportation of commodities wherewith each Country abounds whereby the life of men is render'd far more delightful For experience teaches that an egge will swim in a Vessel of water sufficiently salted but sink in fresh And the Chirurgions have no surer way then this to know whether the Lixivium or Lee wherewith they make their potential Cauteries be strong enough Now the Ocean imparts its saltness to all Seas which have communication with it Whence the Caspian Sea is fresh because 't is separated from it And 't is no more strange that saltness is natural to the Sea then that many other bodies amongst Plants and Minerals have a measure of it The earth is almost every where salt as appears by Salt-peter Vitriol Alum and other kinds of Salt which are drawn out of pits little deeper then the surface and crust of the earth which is incessantly wash'd and temper'd with water And amongst Plants Sage Fearn and many other taste of salt which being augmented turns into the bitterness and acrimony which is found in Wormwood Spurge and many other Herbs all which yea every other body partake thereof more or less as Chymical operations manifest The Second said Being we are not to recur to supernatural causes unless natural fail us methinks 't is more fit to refer the Sea's saltness to some natural cause then to the first creation or to the will of the Creator I conceive therefore that the cause of this Saltness is the Sun who burning the surface of the earth leaves as 't were hot and dry ashes upon it which by rain are carried into the rivers and thence into the Sea Besides the Sun elevating continually from the Sea by its heat the freshest parts of it as being the lightest and neerest the nature of air the more terrestrial and salt remain in the bottom or else the Sea-waters gliding through the bowels of the earth to maintain springs leave thicker parts as those dry and acid ashes behind which by their mixture produce this saltness and bitterness in the Sea Nor is it to be wonder'd that the heavenly bodies draw so great a quantity of waters out of the Sea for though the Vessel be very large yet is the heat of the Sun able to heat it since it reaches so deep as to concoct Metals in the entrails of the earth And if it were not thus all the rivers disgorging themselves into the sea it would long ago have overflown the earth But to know how nature makes the saltness of the Sea let us see by what artifice Salt is made in our Pits 'T is made by the same activity of the Sun which draws up the sweet parts of the water and condenseth the salt Whereby it appears that it is but a further progress of the first action of the same Sun who dispos'd the Sea-water to become the matter of such Salt The Third said A thing may become salt two ways either by separation of the sweetest and subtilest parts and leaving only the earthy which come neer the nature of salt or else by mixture of some other body either actually or potentially salt The Sea acquires saltness by both these ways For first it hath two sorts of water the one subtile and light the other thick and terrestrial after the Sun hath drawn up in vapour the more subtile of these waters and by its continual heat concocted the thick and terrene remainder which having not been able to ascend by reason of its ponderosity remains on the upper part of the water and gives it that saltness which is again remov'd when the sea-water being strain'd and filtr'd through the earth or by other ways formerly mention'd in this Company in discourse concerning the original of waters comes forth in springs and rivers which no longer retain the nature of their source because they bring not along with them the earthy part in which the saltness consists Now that the salt part is more gross then the fresh appeares in that the former becomes thick and the latter not Thus the freshest things become salt by the fire whose heat separates the subtile parts from the thick As for the second way as the waters carry with them the qualities of places through which they pass whence they are mineral or metallick and as in a Lixivium fresh water passing through ashes becomes salt so the sea-waters acquire and increase their saltness by mixture of salt bodies such as are the Hills of salt as Cardan holds which are produc'd anew like Sulphur and Bitumen in burning Mountains Now this saltness is caus'd either by rains full of mineral spirits which abound in acrimony or by the cinereous parts of the earth scorch'd by the Sun or lastly as things pass'd through the fire taste always of an Empyreuma or turning-to so the subterranean fires likely to be as well in the bottom as in the middle and borders of the Sea as they are ordinarily impart bitterness and saltness to it For as for those who say 't is nothing else but the sweat of the earth they speak saith Aristotle more like Poets then Philosophers And this metaphor is more proper to explain the thing then shew its true cause The Fourth said That all secrets consisting in the salt if we believe the Chymists 't is not to be wonder'd if it be difficult to find the cause of it it being the property of secrets to be hid And to practise the Rule which injoyns to credit every expert person in his own Art I shall for this time be contented with this reason drawn from their Art They hold the Salt to be the balsam of nature the connecter of the body with the spirit for they alot spirits to all bodies so that every body lasts more or less according to the salt which it hath and the salt in like manner remains longer or shorter according as it is fix'd or volatile This being premis'd I should think that this great compounded body the World needing a great quantity of Salt answerable to its vast bulk Nature could not find any other sufficient receptacle for it but the Ocean II. Whether is the better Flesh or Fish Upon the second Point it was said The word Best is taken at the table and amongst food with reference to the Taste in Physick for most healthful or wholsome In Divinity for most conducible to salvation and proper to the soul In Policy for most commodious to the publick For as the word good is a Transcendent passing through all the Categories of substances and accidents its comparatives also do the like Leaving to Divines the
considerations which pertain to them in this matters in which they are much puzzled to apply a Rule to so many different Climates Seasons and Persons we may here make comparison of Flesh and Fish in the other three Cases In regard of the state of Physick and the Table All which have this common That it cannot be pronounc'd as to one of them which of the two is best Flesh or Fish because 't is requisite to have regard to places and persons To begin with Policy 'T is true a time must be left to fowls to lay their egges hatch and bring up their young to other animals to suckle theirs otherwise the earth and the air would soon be depopulated which time is usually the spring But being this season and all others follow the course of the Sun in the Zodiack which renders it various according to the diversity of Climates we cannot find a time equally and universally proper for that release of Animals Besides there are Countries as England and Holland so abounding with fish and persons addicted to fishing that nature offering them fish of her own accord and their land not producing enough of other food for its inhabitants the meaner people could not live of their industry unless they were oblig'd by political Rule to live a certain time with Fish and abstain from Flesh. As on the contrary there 's such a defect of fish in the middle parts of Spain that they keep fast with the least nutritive parts of Animals Feet and Entrails Wherefore a general political rule cannot be establish'd but as in most other things of the world we must make use of a leaden Rule and conform it to the stone Secondly for Physick the Case is much the same For by reason of the variety of Tempers fish will not only be wholsome but also appointed by the Physitians to some persons as to the Cholerick whose stomacks need refreshment True it is there are found more to whom Fish do's hurt then otherwise But this proceeds from satiety and too great repletion which would not be so frequent if we liv'd in the ancient Frugality For we see they who eat no supper receive less hurt from fish then others do But 't is always true that fish cannot be absolutely pronounc'd wholesome or unwholsome As for the goodness of Taste that is yet more controverted as depending on the several phancies of men The Second said That to judge this Question well the same conditions are to be observ'd as in Juridical Sentences in which alliances or friendships are allowable causes of exception and credit is not given to those whose converse and particular inclination to one of the Parties renders their judgements suspected No doubt he who had been fed with Stock-fish from his youth and lov'd it so much that being arriv'd to the Pontifical Dignity even then made his most delicious fare of it would have concluded for fish On the contrary most others whose stomacks agree not so well with fish will give the advantage to flesh 'T is true If it be here as 't is in petty Courts where he who cries loudest carries the Cause then fish to whom nature has deny'd the use of voice must lose it unless we maturely weigh their reasons 1. The value and delicacy of Meats is usually rated according to their rarity and the scarcity of getting them and therefore Heliogabalus never ate flesh but on the main Sea nor fish but when he was very distant from it Now Nature has separated fish from the habitation of men and divided the one from the other as much as the water is from the Earth 2. There 's no kind of taste upon land which is not found in the water nor any terrestrial animal but hath its like in the Sea But we cannot say the same of Fishes that there are terrestrial animals which have all their several tastes and this proceeds from the almost infinite number of Fishes good to eat whereas the Kinds of land-animals serviceable for man's food are very few To that we may answer such as ask whether there be more delicacy in Flesh or Fish as those who should ask whether Table is more delicious that of a Citizen cover'd only with his ordinary fare or that of Lucullus abounding besides with all imaginable rarities You have some fishes who have nothing of fish but the name having the consistence colour smell and taste of flesh and the Hashes and Bisques made of them differ not from others But you have no flesh which hath the taste of fish 3. Animals more subject to infirmities and diseases ought less to delight our taste and make us more afraid of them Now land-animals are more sickly then fish whose healthiness occasion'd the Proverb As sound as a Fish 4. Our taste is chiefly delighted in variety Now there is not only incomparably more sorts of Fishes then of other Animals but each of them is prepar'd after many more fashions then Flesh there being some Fish which is dress'd five several ways whereas when you have roasted a Partrich or made a hash Capilotade or the Cook is at the end of his skill 5. That which cloyes most is less delicate as we see the most delicious things are those which whet instead of satiating the Appetite presently Now Fish fills less then Flesh. 6. 'T is a more friable food and easier to be grownd by the teeth then the flesh of land-animals and consequently more delicate 3. The Third said There 's no flesh how delicate soever which comes neer the odour and savour of the little Pulpe the fish Spaga taken in Sicily the Tunny and Atolle of Phrygia of those little fishes call'd Cappes found in the stones in Marca d' Ancona and infinite others so esteem'd by the ancients that they reckon'd amongst their greatest Delights Ponds and Conservatories of Fish which they nourish'd even with the bodies of their Slaves to the end they might be more tender and delicate as 't is reported of Lucullus and Pollio who caus'd theirs to be devour'd by Lampreys Nor is fish less nutritive then flesh seeing there are whole Nations as the Ichthyophagi which have no other bread but fish of which dry'd in the Sun and reduc'd into powder they make a bread as nourishing as ours By which means Fish serves both for bread and for meat which Flesh cannot be made to do The Fourth said That the more affinity food hath with our nature the more agreeable it is to us it being the property of aliment to be like the thing nourish'd Now 't is certain there 's more resemblance between our bodies and those of land-animals then those of fish considering that the former breathe the same air with us and are nourish'd with the same things Besides aliment the more concocted and digested is also the more delicate raw flesh is not so delicate as dress'd nor boil'd as roast upon which the Fire acts more and the parts of animals neerest the heart
afforded before God had curs'd it and so inseparably connected man's labour with those fruits that now a days to express a hundred acres of Land we commonly say A hundred acres of Labour And as a place ceases to be the Court when the King is no longer in it so the Divine Benediction withdrawn from the Earth it ceas'd to be Paradise Yea Adam having ceas'd to be King of it and by his sin lost the Dominion which he had over all even the fiercest Creatures the Earth became no longer a Paradise to him But if I be requir'd to assign a particular place to this Paradise leaving the description of places which I never saw to the belief of Geographers I find none more fit for it then France Its Climate is temperate especially towards the East and South It hath four Rivers which bring into it Gold and all the other Commodities attributed unto Paradise by the first Historian It so abounds with all sorts of flowers that it hath taken three Lillies for its Arms And with fruits that it hath for it self and its Neighbours yea above any other it produces every Tree fair to look upon and good for food to use the Scripture-words One interpos'd That he should think 't was Normandie so fruitful of goodly Apples were it not that no Vines grow there whose fruit is so pleasant to behold The fourth said As there is no great certainty in the consequences drawn from Allegories so neither are Allegories very successfully drawn from Histories and substituted in their places I know not what History is if that of our first Father be not nor where to stop if people will subtilize upon the first circumstance of his Creation and what he did afterwards But if we find difficulty in according the Geographical Tables of the present time with the truth of that why do not we likewise make Allegories of the Creation and all its sequels which are so many Miracles If we see no Angel that guards the access to it no more did Balaam see that which stood in his way though visible to his Asse And being the space of the Garden of Eden is not determinately set down nothing hinders but that it might be of very vast extent and this takes away the scruple of those who object the distance which is between all those great Rivers Besides being Enoch and Elias were since Adam's fall transported into this Paradise where they must be till the coming of Antichrist 't is a certain Argument of its real subsistence II. Of Embalmings and Mummies Upon the second point it was said That the Ancients were much more careful then we not only to preserve the Images of their Fore-fathers but also to keep their Bodies which they variously embalmed The Grecians wash'd them in Wine mingled with warm Water and then put them them into oyl of Olives Honey or Wax The Aethyopians first salted them and then put them into Vessels of Glass In the Canary Islands they season them in the Sea and afterwards dry them in the Sun The Scythians place them upon Mountains cover'd with snow or in the coolest Caves Indeed every one knows there is a Cave at Tholouze which hath a particular virtue to preserve carkasses from corruption and in which is seen at this day the entire body of the fair Saint Baume and many others dead above 200 years ago The Indians cover'd them with ashes The Aegyptians conceiving that bodies corrupted rose not again and that the Soul was sensible of the Bodies corruption did not yield to any people in curiosity of preserving them they fill'd with Myrrhe Cinamon and other Spices or with Oyl of Cedar then they salted them with Nitre whose aerimony consumes all the superfluous humidities which cause putrifaction 'T is from these bodies that we have that excellent Mummie whose admirable effects I ascribe to sympathy But concerning what is affirm'd that being transported by Sea they cause tempests and strange agitations in the Ship 't is an effect which is to be attributed to a more occult cause The Second said Man is so admirable an Edifice that even his Ruines have their use His Fat is one of the most excellent Anodynes His Skull serves against the Epilepsic This liquor which is drawn from his Tomb hath several vertues and the reasons of the great and admirable effects imputed to it as the healing of inwards Ulcers and Contusions of Blood arriving to such as have fallen from on high seem to me imputable to three Causes a Spiritual a Celestial and an Elementary The first ariseth hence that so perfect a Form as the reasonable Soul having inform'd part of this Compositum which by the mixture of some Ingredients as Myrrhe and Aloes hath been preserv'd from corruption the same thing arrives to it which the Chymists say doth to their white Gold when they have extracted its Sulphur and Tincture For being re-joyn'd to other Gold it easily resumes the same form and is sooner and more inseparably combin'd with it then any other thing as having been of the same species So when you put Mummie into a body of the same species it takes part with the nature whence it proceeded and siding with it incounters the disease and its symptomes like Succour coming to relieve a besieged City with provisions and ammunition The Celestial cause is drawn from the Heavens for that the light and influence of superiour bodies act upon all the sublunary but by the consent of all none is so susceptible of their actions as man and if his soul be not subject thereunto yet his body is undoubtedly to each part of which each part of Heaven not only answers as some hold but the whole to all Whence is seen the diversity of disposition inclinations and manners such and so great that 't is a palpable mistake to attribute the same to the meer mixture of the Elements Now Mummie having receiv'd not only while it was animated but afterwards all the influences whereof the humane body is susceptible it becomes as it were the abstract of all the Celestial powers and better then Talismanical figures communicates the same to him that uses it The last reason drawn from the mixture of the Elements and their qualities might suffice alone without the preceding For Man being the abridgement of the world ought also to contain all the faculties of it and his Mummie being inanimate but having liv'd the life of a plant an animal and a man it contains all these natures eminently The Third said That Man affecting nothing so much as immortality because he fears nothing more then death and being unable to secure himself from it do's all that he can to perpetuate himself in some fashion since he cannot wholly The desire of supporting his Individual person and defending it from all inconveniences which may abridge his life makes him count nothing difficult In Propagation he seeks the eternity of his species And though he is assur'd by Reason of
his soul's immortality and by faith of his body's resurrection yet he seeks all ways he can imagine to render the memory of all his actions perpetual 'T is this desire of getting a death-less fame which causes us sometimes to dye immaturely by watchings and study and so cheerfully undergo hazards to eternize the memory of our names Anciently this desire of perpetuation was most visible in the care to keep the life-less body even amongst the vulgar and hence the Mummies of the Egyptians and other Nations remain to this day after three or four thousand years At present through the ignorance of Times this care is practis'd only amongst great persons and yet the effect answers very little to their intention For the Chirurgions do not Embalm a man now a days but only the bones and skin after they have taken away his principal parts the heart liver and brain which constituted him a man and not the rest the cause whereof must be attributed to defect of Invention and means fit to dry up the superfluous humidity which causes the corruption of body for that alone will keep them which can dry them with the moderation requisite to the preserving of their Colour and Figure The Fourth said There 's a resemblance of these Mummies in bodies struck with thunder which are free from corruption the Sulphur consuming the humidity and introducing dryness to resist putrifaction as Fire Salt Vitriol Nitre Chalk Alum Vinegar and Aqua-vitae do by their desiccative and astringing virtue Some poysons also do the same As Placentinus reports of a Venetian Lady who having been poyson'd her body became so stiff that it seem'd to be petrifi'd But the particular temper of every place is of great moment They who inhabit the Southern Countries are so dry that their bodies keep intire eight days after death And they have so little humidity that 't is no less a shame amongst them then of old amongst the Lacedemonians to spit or blow the Nose The Fifth said That the same natural inclination of men to preserve themselves the longest they can which heretofore instigated them to erect proud Mausolaeum's Pyramids and Marbles for eternizing their memory put them also upon the invention of Embalming their bodies which is a refuge after shipwreck a little way after death But as 't is a general law that all things which took their being by generation must lose it by corruption indeed by some artifice we may retard dissolution for a time but perfectly to hinder it is impossible For Heat determin'd to a certain degree by Cold is the Agent which mixes the Humid with the Dry and retains them in that mixture as long as it self remains intire and strong But if this Heat receive any diminution either being suffocated and inclos'd or or else drawn out by a greater Heat of the Air encompassing us the less Heat alwayes yielding and serving for Aliment to the greater this natural Heat being thus weakned presently the Humidity leaves the Dryness and carries away with it self that little Heat which remain'd whence this Humidity is heated it self and excites a stink and at last vanishing away the remainder turnes to powder Wherefore the moistest bodies are most easie to corrupt excessive humidity more easily extinguishing the Heat which retain'd it in its duty And the most solid bodies as Gold and Silver corrupt difficultly because they have very little Humidity and that little which they have is greatly incorporated and united with the Dryness But there are two sorts of Humidity One excrementitious and also alimentous which by the least defect of Heat is easily turn'd into putrefaction because it is not yet united and assimilated to the Body wherein it is found whence it is that foul Bodies Trees cut at Full Moon being full of their sap and Fruits gather'd before their maturity very easily corrupt The other is an Humidity already assimilated which links all the parts together and being substantial is not so easily corrupted as the other Wherefore they who would embalm Bodies well having two Humidities to repress must make use of several means The former Humidity must be absum'd by Hot Drugs amongst which Wormwood and Scordium hold the first place experience manifesting the one and Galen observing that the Bodies of the Graecians slain in a battel which touch'd Scordium were found intire many dayes after The latter Humidity must be preserv'd by Balsames Cold Dry and penetrating which may preserve the figure colour and consistence in the dead body CONFERENCE XXXI I. Whether the Life of Man may be prolong'd by Art II. Whether 't is better to be without Passion then to moderate them I. Whether the Life of a Man may be prolong'd by Art THe duration of a motion or action cannot be known unless the measure of it be known nor can they be measur'd unless they have known bounds Whence neither can it be known whether the Life may be prolong'd without knowing before-hand how long it lasts Now 't is impossible to know this duration For not to mention the long lives of the Fathers in the two first thousand years of the world God told Noah that the age of Man should be no more then but sixscore years Moses and David restrain it to seventy or eighty And yet as there are at this day some who come near a hundred so there are a hundred times as many who do not attain thirty And whereas no body can speak of Death by experience because they who speak of it have not felt it and they who have felt it cannot speak of it more the case is the same concerning Life Let a Man by good order or the use of remedies live as long as he will it will not be believ'd that his life ha's been prolong'd but on the contrary that his hour was not yet come Nevertheless 't is no less consistent with reason to say that he who would infallibly have dy'd of a Gangrene which invaded his Legg and thereby the rest of his Body hath had his life prolong'd by cutting off his Legg or that he who was wounded in the crural vein at which all his blood would have soon issu'd forth ha's been secur'd from death by the Chirurgion who stop'd the blood then to believe as we do that a Rope-maker lengthens his rope by adding new stuff to that which was ended that a Gold-smith makes a chain of Gold longer by fastning new links to it that a Smith causes his fire to last more by putting fresh coals to it And as in all this there is nothing which crosses our Reason so if a sick man who is visibly going to dye receives help and escapes do's he not owe the more glory to God for having not onely cur'd him by the hands of the Physitian or by spiritual Physick alone but also prolong'd his Life as he did to King Hezekias whose Life was lengthened fifteen years and of which our age wants not example If it be objected that this
may hold in violent deaths whereof the causes may be avoided but that 't is not credible that a decrepit old man who hath spun out his Life to the last can continue it the nature and Etymology of the radical moisture not admitting a possibility of restauration I answer that reasons taken from the original of words are not the strongest and that besides there are roots which endure more and others less according as they are well or ill cultivated And if the reason drawn from contraries be considerable being many poysons are so quick that they corrupt the radical moisture in an instant ought we to conceive Nature so much a step-dame as that she hath not produc'd something proper to restore it And that Humane Industry is so dull and little industrious in the thing which Man desires most which is long Life that it cannot reach to prepare some matter for the support yea for the restauration of that Original Humidity Considering that we are not reduc'd to live onely by what is about us as Plants and Plant-animals do but all the world is open and accessible to our search of Aliments and Medicines Moreover we have examples not onely of a Nestor who liv'd three ages of an Artephius who liv'd as many and many more and the Herb Moly the Nectar and Ambrosia of the Poets which kept their gods from growing old may well be taken for a figure of the Tree of Life which was design'd for separation of this Humidity but also of compositions proper to produce that effect Yea were it not actually so yet 't is not less possible and God hath not in vain promis'd as a Reward to such as honour their Superiors to prolong their dayes upon the earth The Second said If Medaea found Herbs as the Poets say to lengthen the Life of Aeson the Father of Jason the Daughters of Aelias miscarried of their purpose Indeed every thing that lives needs Heat for exercising its Actions and Humidity to sustain that Heat the duration of this Heat in the Humidity is Life which lasts as long as the one is maintain'd by the other like the lighted wiek in a Lamp Now Nature dispenses to every one from the Birth as much of this Heat and Moisture as she pleases to one for fifty to another for sixty seventy eighty years or more which ended the stock is spent Physick may husband it well but cannot produce it anew Aliments never repair it perfectly no more then Water doth Wine which it increases indeed but weakens too when mingled therewith The Third back'd this Suffrage with the opinion of Pythagoras who held that our Life is a strait line that the accidents which disturb it and at length bring Death constitute another and accordingly saith he as these two lines incline less or much towards one another Life is long or short because the Angle of their incidence and at which they cut which is our Death happens sooner or later and it would never happen if these two lines were parallel Now the meeting of these two lines cannot be deferr'd or put off The Fourth said 'T were a strange thing if Humane Art could repair all other defects of the Body and Mind excepting that whereof there is most need and all Ages have complain'd Brevity of Life For our Understanding hath much less need of an Art of Reasoning our tongue of an Art of speaking our legs of dancing then our Life of being continu'd since 't is the foundation of all the rest Besides Physick would seem useless without this For though it serv'd only to asswage the pains of diseases which is a ridiculous opinion yet it would thereby protract the time of Death to which pain is the way The Fifth said That for the preservation of Life 't is requisite to continue the marriage of Heat and moisture Death alwayes hapning immediately upon their disjunction and leaving the contrary qualities in their room Cold and Dryness Now to know how Heat must be preserv'd we must observe how 't is destroy'd And that is four wayes I. By Cold which being moderate fights with it but violent wholly destroyes it II. By suffocation or smothering when the Pores are stop'd and the issue of fuliginous vapours hindred Thus Fire dyes for want of Air. III. By its dissipation which is caus'd by hot medicaments violent exercise and immoderate heat of the Sun or Fire Whence proceeds a Syncope or Deliquium of the Heart IV. By want of Aliment without which it can no more last a moment then Fire without wood or other combustible matter All agree that the three first Causes may be avoided or at least remedied And as for the Fourth which is doubled of I see nothing that hinders but that as the spirits of our bodies are perfectly repair'd by the Air we incessantly breathe so Aliments or some Specificks as as amongst others Gold dissolv'd in some water not corrosive may in some manner restore the fewel of our Heat And seeing there are found burning Mountains in which the Fire cannot consume so much matter apt for burning but it alwayes affords it self other new which makes it subsist for many Ages Why may not a matter be prepar'd for our Natural Heat which though not neer so perfect as that which it consum'd for were it so an Animal would be immortal yet may be more excellent then ordinary Aliments and by this means prolong our Lives And this must be sought after not judg'd impossible The Sixth said That Life consisting in the Harmony and proportion of the four first qualities and in the contemperation of the four Humours there 's no more requir'd for the prolonging of Life but to continue this Harmony Which may be done not onely by a good natural temper but also by the right use of external things as pure Air places healthful and exposed to the Eastern winds Aliments of good juice sleep sufficiently long exercises not violent passions well rul'd and the other things whose due administration must prolong Life by the same reason that their abuse or indiscreet usage diminishes it The Seventh said That Life consists in the salt which contains the Spirit that quickens it and is the preservative Balsame of all compounds The vivifying Spirit of Man is inclos'd in a very volatile Armoniack Salt which exhales easily by Heat and therefore needs incessant reparation by Aliments Now to preserve Life long it is requsite to fix this volatile salt which is done by means of another salt extracted by Chymistry which is not onely fix'd but also capable to fix the most volatile For the Chymists represent this salt incorruptible in it self and communicating its virtue to other bodies Upon which account they stile it Quintessence Aethereal Body Elixir and Radical Balsame which hath a propriety to preserve not onely living bodies many Ages but dead from corruption II. Whether 't is better to be without Passions then to moderate them Upon the Second Point it was said
good examples who may innocently follow their inclination because it will lead them only to vertuous or at least indifferent things And for the vicious 't is certain the evil which they do not by reason of the repugnance which they have to it and the fear of punishment cannot be imputed to them for vertue nor consequently make them happy CONFERENCE XXXII I. Sympathie and Antipathy II. Whether Love descending is stronger then ascending I. Of Sympathy and Antipathy WHat a Father once said That the first second and third Point of Christian Philosophy was humility meaning that it all referr'd thereunto the same may be said of Sympathy and Antipathy which is the Similitude or Contrariety of Affections For the generation and corruption of all things is to be referr'd to them The sympathy of the simple qualities and the Elements wherein they are found are causes of the temperament of mixt bodies as the antipathy is of their dissolution 'T is they who unite and dis-unite those compound bodies and by approximating or removing them one from another cause all their motions and actions When these causes are apparent to us and may be probably imputed to qualities we recur to them as the most easie general and common But when we find bodies whose qualities seem alike to us and nevertheless they have very different effects we are then constrain'd to seek the cause thereof elsewhere and finding none we call it an Occult Propriety whose two daughters are Sympathy and Antipathy For Man being a reasonable creature is desirous to know the reason of every thing and when he cannot attain to it he becomes as much tormented as a Judge whose Jurisdiction is retrench'd and this through want of apprehending that what he knows hath no other proportion to what he ignores then finite yea very little hath to infinite And being unable to find the true reason of an infinite number of effects which ravish him with admiration yet resolving to have some one he feigns one under these names of Sympathy and Antipathy those two Hocus Pocus's to which he refers the cause why Corral stays bleeding Amber draws straw the Loadstone Iron which the Theamede rejects why the Star-stone moves in Vinegar the Cole-wort is an enemy to the Vines Garlick a friend to the Rose and Lilly increasing one the others ' odour why a man's fasting-spittle kills the Viper why Eeles drown'd in Wine make the drinker thenceforward hate it why Betony strengthens the Brain Succhory is proper to the Liver Bezoar a friend to the Heart and infinite others But because general causes do not satisfie us no more then Definitions whose Genuses are remote and the Differences common it seems we are oblig'd to a particular inquisition of their causes The Second said The Subjects in which Sympathies and Antipathies are found must be distinguish'd in order to assign their true causes For in things alike we may refer their effects to the similitude of their substances and accidents Thus the Lungs of a Fox are useful to such as are Phthisical the intestine of a Wolf is good for the Colick Eye-bright for the Eye Solomons's-Seal for the Rupture the black decoction of Sena for Melancholy yellow Rhubarb for choler white Agaric for Flegm Yet 't is not requisite that this resemblance be total for then a man's Lungs should rather be serviceable to the Phthisical then that of a Fox and the Load-stone should rather draw a Load-then Iron which yet do's not hold because there 's no action between things perfectly alike Antipathy also arises from the contrariety of Forms their qualities and other accidents Now we are much puzzl'd to assign the causes of this Sympathy and Antipathy in things which have nothing either of likeness or contrariety as when I see two unknown men play at Tennis the one with as good a grace as the other I have a kind of desire that one may rather win then the other Is it not rather chance which causes this Our will though free being always oblig'd to tend this way or that way and cannot chuse the worst or else all things being made by weight number and measure those affect one another most who have the same proportion in their composition or who had the same configuration of heaven at their birth Or every thing naturally affecting to become perfect seeks this perfection in all the subjects which it meets and when the same disposition is found in two several bodies or minds if they would arrive at that perfection by one and the same way this meeting serves for the means of union which is our sympathy and their different disposition or way the contrary The Third amongst sundry examples of Antipathy said That if we believe Apuleius the Look-glassing us'd by an incontinent woman spoils the visage of a chast that it is manifest between the horse and the Camel the Elephant and the Swine the Lyon and the Cock the Bull and the Fig-tree the Adder and a naked man the Ape and the Tortois the Serpent and the shadow of the Ash. For that which is observ'd amongst Animals who devour and serve for food to one another as the Wolf and the Sheep the Kite and the Chicken or amongst those who always offend and hurt one the other as Man and the Serpent deserve rather the name of Enmity whereof the causes are manifest But to speak truth all these effects are no more known to us then their causes are unknown He who endu'd them with Formes having annex'd Proprieties thereunto both the one and the other impenetrable to humane wit The Fourth said That for a lasting order amongst the creatures it was requisite that every one were naturally lead to its own preservation by adhering to what was conducible thereunto and eschewing the contrary Now to do this they needed instruments whereby to act which are their qualities either manifest which proceed from the Temperament and are either First or Second or else occult which proceed from every form and substance to which the Sympathies and Antipathies correspondences and contrarieties of all natural Bodies ought to be referr'd from whence issue some spirits bearing the character and idea of the form from which they flow These spirits being carried through the air just as odours are if their forces and vertues be contrary they destroy one another which is call'd Antipathy If the same be friendly they unite and joyn together the stronger attracting the weaker Hence Iron doth not attract the Load-stone but the Load-stone Iron So when a Wolf sees a man first the man loses his voyce or at least becomes hoarse because venomous spirits issue out the Wolfe's eyes which being contrary to those which issue out of the man inclose the same and by hindring them to flow forth hinder them from forming the voyce But when the man spies the Wolf first his effluvia being foreseen hurt less and have less power upon him because the man encourages himself against them The
Heroe illustrious in vertue of a vicious man or a wise man of a fool Nor doth it arise from riches which though the ornament yet are not the cause of Nobility For whereas a rich Yeoman is admitted to publick Offices rather then a poor Gentleman 't is because the former having more to lose then the latter hath also more interest in the preservation of the common good and consequently is presum'd more careful that all go well with it Ease and occupation are of no more moment For our first Father from whom we derive our Nobility and his Children were Labourers Noah was a Vine-dresser Saul and David Kings of Israel Shepherds and at Venice Florence Genua Luca and other places of Italy the Nobles are for the most part Merchants though in other Countries that imployment is derogatory to Nobility For as 't is not in our power to be born either of noble or mean Parents so ought not either be imputed to us as commendable or blame-worthy since praise and dishonour are rightly attributed to us only for what lyes in our ability as our good or evil actions do For being 't is no advantage to a blind man to have quick-sighted parents or to a gouty son to have a father of sound limbs why should it be any to a wicked son to have an honest man to his father on the contrary it ought to turn to his reproach that he hath not follow'd the way which he found already beaten For as good wheat is oftentimes chang'd into Darnel so the children of illustrious men are ordinarily lewd slip-strings witness the children of Cicero Aesop Cimon Socrates and Alcibiades On the contrary many times the greatest personages are the issues of the most infamous and abject Wherefore the seeds of Nobility namely our actions being in our selves the most certain way of acquiring is to do such as are good and vertuous True it is those of war are most in esteem because most persons are capable of them Yet excellent civil actions ought to be accompani'd with the good hap which may make them known and recommendable to the Prince otherwise they are as a light hid under a bushel But if all these conditions meet in any one whom the vertue of his Ancestors hath dignifi'd to be of an illustrious Family this excellency of descent renders his vertue more acceptable and this Gentleman's condition is like that of a child upon a Gyant 's shoulders who sees all that the Gyant sees and also over his head He hath all the Nobility of his Fore-fathers and besides that which is properly his own To conclude if the blood of our Ancestors is the body of Nobility our vertue is the soul of it CONFERENCE XXXV I. Of feigned Diseases II. Of regulating the Poor I. Of feign'd Diseases AS man is the most wilie of all creatures so he best knows how to dissemble and represent another personage then what he is indeed But external signs accompany and follow their effects as necessarily as they are preceded by their causes he cannot so artificially cover his duplicity but it will appear and his retentions betray themselves It is as difficult to him to dissemble fear anger hatred envy and the other passions when they are real as to counterfeit them when they are not The same may be said of Diseases as of the passions of the body As 't is almost impossible to dissemble a true Gout or a Fever so 't is very hard to feign a Disease when one is in perfect health They who counterfeit the same are of two sorts People of quality and Beggars Of the first order are many Generals of Armies who have feign'd themselves sick that they might surprize their enemies who supposed them in bed and such as cover with malady that of cowardize or do it to avoid being present at Assemblies Thus Demosthenes pretended a Quinzy that he might not plead against one accus'd of Defrauding the State by whom he was corrupted with presents Of the second sort are they who to avoid the labour common to others or to cause themselves to be pitied make semblance of having one a Leprosie another the Falling-sickness a third the Jaundies and infinite other maladies which they have not or having some light ones amplifie and continue the same Such was the invention of an Italian Souldier of late years who feign'd himself troubled with certain fits caus'd by the biting of a Tarantula crying out of extraordinary pain except when the Musitians play'd for then he fell to dancing after the same manner as he had heard those use to do who have been hurt by that creature Physick to which alone pertains the discerning of these feign'd Diseases imploys to that end this maxime of Geometry that a right line serves for a measure not only of straight things but also of oblique So the perfect knowledge of real Diseases enables us to find out counterfeit 'T was by this means Galen discover'd the imposture of a Slave who to excuse himself from following his Master in a long Voyage because he was loath to leave his Mistress who was at Rome made his cheeks swell with the root of Thapsia and pale with the fume of Cummin For Galen seeing no other signs agree with these two cur'd him only with a Refrigerative whereas a true defluxion requir'd other remedies The Second said Maladies of body or mind are feign'd by people to decline some burdensome charge and commission or some evident danger Thus Vlysses counterfeited himself foolish to avoid going to the Trojan war and David being pursu'd by Saul made himself appear distracted to King Achish The young wife mention'd by Martial being married to an old man counterfeited the Hysterical Passions which she found a way to deceive her jealous husband Such pretences are sometimes us'd to retard an execution of death or else in a civil matter to be freed from prison and many times those things which afford signs to the Physitians are so exquisitely order'd that the most subtle are over-reached One makes his Urine black with Ink or red with Oker or yellow with Saffron another applies the root of Ranunculus to his groyn or some other Emunctory to counterfeit a Carbuncle another provokes vomiting by some Emetick which by that means will cause extraordinary agitation in his Pulse and give appearences of a pestilential Fever or else make so streight a ligature on the upper part of his arm that his Pulse will not beat at all as Matthiolus reports an ancient Physitian serv'd to confirm the fraud of a Mountebank who us'd that trick to make people believe that being almost dead he was revived by his Antidote But the most ordinary impostures of this kind are those of Beggars some of whom fume their faces with Brimstone that they may appear pale Others rub themselves with the flower of Broom or the seed of Carthamus to seem yellow or else black themselves with Oyl and Soot to appear struck with
in the acquisition This pleasure herein resembling all other sorts which consist only in action and not in acquiescence or satisfaction But may not it also be thus because our soul being a Number always desires and aimes to perfectionate it self And as no number can be assign'd so great but that some others may be added to it even to infinity so our soul is capable of receiving new light and new notions to infinity Or else as every thing tends to its natural place so our soul being of celestial original aspire to the infinite knowledge of God by that of finite things The Fourth said That the reason why both young and old desire to know is because of the extream pleasure which they take in knowing things But if some be not inclin'd thereunto 't is in regard of the difficulties which abate indeed but cannot wholly extinguish their natural ardour This pleasure is apparent in that we take delight to know not only true things but such as we are conscious to be notoriously false yea sometimes we are more delighted with the latter then the former provided they have some pretty conceits as with Stories Fables and Romances For there is nothing so small and inconsiderable in nature wherein the mind finds not incomparable divertisement and delight The Gods saith Aristotle are as well in the least insects as in the most bulky animals and to despise little things is in his judgement to do like children For on the contrary as in Art the less place a Picture takes up the more it is esteem'd and the Iliads of Homer were sometimes the more admir'd for that they were compriz'd in a Nut-shel so in Nature the less volumn things are in the more worthy they are of admiration Now if there be so much pleasure in seeing the figures and representations of natural things because we observe the work-man's industry in them there is much more contentment in clearly beholding those things themselves and remarking in their essence proprieties and vertues the power and wisdom of Nature far transcending that of Art But if the knowledge of natural things affords us such great delight that of supernatural ravishes us in a higher measure and 't is also much more difficult because they are remote from our senses which are the ordinary conveyances of knowledge Wherefore there being pleasure in knowing both great things and small natural and supernatural 't is no wonder if man who usually follows delectable Good takes delight in knowing The Fifth said The Philosopher in the beginning of his Metaphysicks proves this Proposition 1. By Induction from the senses which are respectively delighted in their operations whence we love the sense of Seeing above all the rest because it supplies us with more knowledge then any one of the rest 2. Because Man being mindful of the place of his original desires to raise himself above Plants and the other Animals By Sense he advances himself above Plants by Memory above certain Animals who have none by Experience above them all but by the use of Reason from which proceedeth Science Men excel one another For there are Animals which have some shadow of Prudence but not any hath Science And as Seneca saith men are all equal in their beginning and their end that is as to life and death not differing but in their interval whereof Science is the fairest Ornament The cause of this desire of knowing proceeds then from the natural inclination which every thing hath to follow its own good Now the good of Man as Man is to know For as a thing exists not but so far forth as it acts the Rational Soul the better part of us cannot be term'd such saving inasmuch as it knows yea Action being the measure not only of being but also of the perfection of being whence God who is most perfect never ceases to act and the First Matter which is the most imperfect of all entities acts either little or nothing at all therefore the Reasonable Soul being the most noble and perfect of all formes desires to act and employ it self incessantly in its action which is the knowledge of things Indeed every thing strives after its own operation As soon as the Plant is issu'd out of the earth it thrusts forward till it be come to its just bigness The Eye cannot without pain be hindred from seeing Silence causes sadness And as we see the Boar and the Bull by an admirable instinct of Nature the one oppose its forehead the other its mouth against such as provoke them though the former as yet wanteth teeth and the latter horns so the reason and desire of knowing appears very early in children even before they are capable of much The Sixth said That the Intellect becometh each thing which it understands Hence Man the most inconstant of all creatures is carri'd so ardently to the knowledge of all things which finding not worthy of him he relinquishes till he be arriv'd at the knowledge of his Creator to whom conforming himself he desires to know nothing more but acquiesces contemplating in him as in a mirror all other things of the World The Seventh said All things were made for the use and behoof of man and therefore he has reason to desire to know every thing to the end he may make use of it The Eighth said We have the seeds and treasures of Knowledge hidden in our selves which longing to be exerted and reduc'd from power into act incessantly sollicite us to put them forth Hence comes the desire of knowing or rather awakning these species which are perfected in us by use and in time wholly display'd In which respect Teachers are with good reason compar'd to Mid-wives who do not produce the Infant in the Mother's womb but lend a helping hand to its coming forth For Teachers do not infuse knowledge into the children whom they instruct but only assist them to produce it out of folds and recesses of the mind in which otherwise it would remain unprofitable and like matter without form as the Steel doth not give fire to the Flint but elicits the same of it So those natural lights and notices being at first invelop'd with clouds when their veil is taken away and they are loosned as the Platonists speak from the contagion of the senses they extreamly delight those who bore them inclosed in their breast and needed help to exclude them II. Whether exchange be more convenient then buying and selling Upon the second Point it was said As Unity is the beginning of Numbers in Arithmetick and of causes in nature so community of goods was no doubt at first amongst men But because 't is the occasion of negligence and cannot continue long in regard some are better husbands more easie to be contented and need less then others hence arose the words of Mine and Thine which are more efficacious then Ours and Yours since even Monasticks take it for a mortification and children cry when any thing proper
by the Sun or regard several quarters of the world so the Comets have different shapes or figures which ought no more to astonish us then these of the Clouds which according to their conjunction together represent innumerable formes or at least then those of other fiery Meteors variously figur'd according to the casual occurrence of the matter which composes them Therefore Scaliger in his Exercitations holds that Comets are neither signes nor causes of the events which follow them and derides those who believe that they fore-shew the death of Great Persons or that destruction of Nations and Kingdomes alledging that many great Great Men have dy'd yea many Illustrious Families and States been destroy'd without the appearance of any Comet and on the contrary that many Comets have appear'd and no such accidents ensu'd The Fourth said That Comets are certain Stars whose motion is unknown to us and who being rais'd very high in their Apogaeum remain for a long time invisible This is of no unfrequent observation in Mars who as many Astrologers affirm is at some times lower then the Sun and at other times so high above the rest of the Planets superior to his sphere that his body remains hid when his opposition to the Sun ought to render it most conspicuous In like sort those Stars which God reserves as instruments of the greatest events which he hath fore-ordain'd to come to pass in the Universe remain a long time elevated in their Apogaeum till they come at length to descend towards the Earth from whence as soon as they begin to manifest themselves they attract great quantity of vapours which receiving the light variously according to the nature of the places whence they were rais'd represent to us sundry shapes of hairy and bearded Stars or in form of a Dart Sword Dish Tub Horns Lamps Torches Axes Rods and such others as it falls out And although those Stars incessantly act yet coming to be produc'd anew and being nearer the Earth their effects are augmented and become more sensible As the Fish ceases neither to be nor to move when it is in the bottome of the Sea yet it appears not to us to have either existence or motion unless when it comes near the surface of the Water The Fifth said that Comets must needs be some extraordinary things since they alwayes presignifie strange events especially in Religion Histories observe that of sixty six Comets which have appear'd since the Resurrection of our Saviour there is not one but hath been immediately follow'd by some disorder or division in the Church caus'd by Persecutions Schismes or Heresies That which Josephus relates to have appear'd over the Temple of Jerusalem and lasted a year contrary to the custom of others which exceed not sixty days was follow'd by the ruine of Judaism That of which Seneca speaks to have appear'd in Nero's time was the forerunner of the Heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion That of the year 1440 foreshew'd the Heresie of Nestorius That of the year 1200 the division caus'd by the Waldenses and Albingenses And lastly those which have been seen since the year 1330 have sufficiently manifested the truth of this effect by the multiplicity of Sects wherewith Christendom abounds at this day But especially the thirty Comets which have appear'd in France since the year 1556 four of which were in the same year namely in the year 1560 but too well witness the verity of their presignifications which as S. Augustine saith are ordinarily fulfill'd before the same are known by men The Sixth said That as in all things else so in Comets the magnitude demonstrates the vehemence and considerableness of the future event The colour signifies the nature of the Planet under whose dominion it is The splendor or brightness shews the quick and effectual activity thereof as its less lively colour testifies the contrary The Form is a Celestial character or hicroglyphick denoting an effect in the earth as if God spoke to us by signs or writ to us after the mode of China where the figures of things stand for letters not contenting himself to destinate to this purpose the combinations of the Planets with the other Stars which are the next causes of all natural effects here below The place of the Air or of Heaven namely the sign of the Zodiack wherein the Comet is serves to design the Country which is threatned by it and if it be in a falling House it signifies sudden death It s motion from West to East indicates some forreign enemy whose coming is to be fear'd If it move not at all 't is a sign that the enemy shall be of the same Land upon which the Meteor stops so likewise if it goes in twenty four hours from East to West because this motion is imputed to the first mover which hurries along withall the other Celestial Bodies Their effects also belong to the places towards which their hairs or tails incline Those which appear at day-break and continue long have their effects more sudden those of the evening and of less continuance later They are especially of great importance when they are found with any Eclipse and the Precept which Ptolomy and his Interpreters enjoyn principally to observe is that those are deceiv'd who believe that every Comet signifies the death of some great person but they only hold that as when the fiery Planets rise at day-break as so many attendants on the Sun he that is then born shall be a King so when a Comet is the fore-runner of the Sun at day-break it signifies the death of some great person The Seventh said That Comets do not so much foretel as cause Dearths and Famines Wars and Seditions burning Fevers and other diseases by the inflammation which they impress upon the Air and by it upon all other bodies and most easily upon our spirits For seeing twinkling and falling Stars are signs of great drought and impetuous winds when they shoot from several parts of Heaven how much more are those great fiery Meteors which we contemplate with such sollicitude and which act no less by conceit upon our souls then by their qualities upon our bodies Which being found to have place in those of delicate constitutions as great persons are occasion'd the opinion that those grand causes exercise their effects most powerfully upon people of high rank besides that the accidents which befall such persons are much more taken notice of then those of the vulgar But herein there is found less of demonstration then of conjecture II. Whether Pardon be better then Revenge Upon the second Point it was said That there is none but prizes an action of clemency and forgiveness more then an action of vengeance But all the difficulty is to distinguish what is done through fear from what proceeds from greatness of mind Thus when a Lyon vouchsafes not to rise for a Cat or little Dog that comes neer him but employs his strength only against some more stout creature
their internal is unknown to us Now divers Minerals have the same proportion that Trees have and the cause why Mines are larger is because they are not agitated by winds nor in danger of falling as Trees are to whose magnitude for that reason Nature hath been constrain'd to set bounds and although Minerals grow much more then they yet it do's not follow that they have not certain terms prefix'd to their quantity If they bear neither flowers nor fruits 't is so too with some Plants upon which the Sun shines not as the Capillary Herbs which grow in the bottom of Wells and some others also as Fern. And the case is the same with this common Mother the Earth as with Nurses for as when they become with child the infant whom they suckle dyes so where there are Mines under the Earth nothing grows upon the surface The decaying and old age of stones is also a sign of their being vital as appears by the Load-stone which loseth its strength in time and needs filings of Iron to preserve its life All which being joyn'd to what Scaliger relates that in Hungary there are threds of gold issuing out the earth after the manner of Plants perswades me that Minerals have a particular soul besides that universal spirit which informs the world and its parts but this soul is as much inferior to that of Plants as the vegetative is below the sensitive II. Whether it be best to know a little of every thing or one thing perfectly Upon the second Point it was said Sciences are the goods of the mind and the riches of the soul. And as 't is not sufficient to happiness to have riches but the possesser must be able to preserve and enjoy them so 't is not enough to have a great stock of notions but they must be brought into the light and put in practice Now this is done better by him who understands but one single thing perfectly then by him who knows a little of all ordinarily with confusion which is the mother of ignorance This is what they call knowing a little of every thing and of all nothing For being our mind is terminated the object of its knowledge ought to be so too whence it is that we cannot think of two thing at the same time Thus of all the world mine eye and my mind can see but one thing at one time one single Tree in a Forest one Branch in a whole Tree yea perfectly but one single Leaf in a whole Branch the exception of the mind like that of the eye being made by a direct line which hath but one sole point of incidence And the least thing yea the least part is sufficient to afford employment to the humane soul. Hence the consideration of a Fly detain'd Lucian so long that of a Pismire exercis'd the wit of a Philosopher three and forty years That of the Ass sufficiently busi'd Apuleius Chrysippus the Physitian writ an entire volumn of the Colewort Marcion and Diocles of the Turnep and Rape Phanias of the Nettle King Juba of Euphorbium Democritus of the number of Four and Messala made a volumn upon each Letter Even the Flea hath afforded more matter to sundry good wits of this age then they found how to dispose of How then can man who is ignorant of the vilest things be sufficient to know all The Second said If the word knowledge be taken strictly for a true knowledge by the proper causes 't is better to know a little of every thing then one thing alone If for a superficial knowledge 't is better to know one thing solidly then all superficially that is a little well then all badly For 't is not barely by action that the Faculty is perfected but by the goodness of the action One shot directly in the mark is better then a hundred thousand beside it one single Science which produces truth is more valuable then all others which afford onely likelihoods and all conjectural knowledge is no more wherewith nevertheless almost all our Sciences overflow out of which were all that is superfluous extracted it would be hard to find in each of them enough to make a good Chapter as appears by the small number of Demonstrations which can be made in any Science yet those are the onely instruments of knowledge Hence it is that he who applyes himself to many Sciences never succeeds well in them but loses himself in their Labyrinth for the Understanding can do but one thing well no more then the Will can Friendship divided is less as a River which hath more then one Channel is less rapid and he that hunts two hares catches none Of this we have many instances in Nature which ennables the Organs to perform but one action the Eye to see and the Ear to hear and one tree brings forth but one kind of fruit In well govern'd Families each officer discharges but one employment In States well order'd no Artificer exercises above one Trade whereas in Villages one work-man undertakes five or six Mysteries and performes none well like the knife or sword of Delphos spoken of by Aristotle which serv'd to all uses but was good for none The Third said The Understanding being a most subtile fire a Spirit alwayes indefatigably moving and which hath receiv'd all things for its portion 't is too great injustice to retrench its inheritance to clip its wings and confine it to one object as they would do who would apply it but to one single thing not considering that the more fewel you supply to this fire the more it encreases is able to devour Moreover it hath a natural desire to know every thing to go about to confine it to one were to limit the conquests of Alexander to an acre of Land And as every Faculty knows its object in its whole latitude and according to all its species and differences the Eye perceives not onely green and blew but all visible colour'd and luminous things the Touch feels cold hot soft hard things and all the tactile qualities the Phancy is carry'd to every sensible good the Will loves all that is good and convenient In like manner the Understanding which is the principal Faculty of Man and though it be most simple yet comprehends all things as the Triangle the first and simplest of all figures containes them all in it self since they may be resolv'd into and proved by it ought not to be in worse condition then the others its inferiors but must be carry'd towards its object in the whole extent thereof that is know it If sundry things cannot be conceiv'd at a time that hinders not but they may successively Besides that the variety of objects recreates the Faculties as much as the repetition of one and the same thing tires enervates and dulls it The Fourth said All things desire good but not all goods So though Men be naturally desirous of knowing yet they have a particular inclination to know
not be made in the Eye but in the Air. CONFERENCE XLVIII I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have life II. Of Courage I. Whether every thing that nourishes an Animal ought to have Life EVery thing in the world is effected by an order and disposition of causes and means subalternate one to another God makes himself known to Men by the marvellous effects of Nature The immaterial and incorruptible Heavens communicate their virtues and influences here below first through the Element of Fire which is most subtile and then through the Air which is most pure in the upper Region more gross in the middle and in the lower infected by the vapours and exhalations of the Water and Earth and all compounds in the production whereof Nature observes such order as that she begins alwayes with the more simple and never passes from one extremity to another without a medium Thus the Plant springeth out of the ground like an herb becomes a shrub and then a tree The Embryo lives onely a vegetable life at first then arrives to motion and lastly is indu'd with reason Even in civil life too speedy advancements are taken ill whereas he who grows great by degrees do's not so much offend the Minds of others and provokes less jealousie Hence also the deaths and especially the violent astonish us more then the births of Men because they come into the world and grow up by little and little but are cut off in a moment So likewise the burning of Cities and overthrow of States cause the more admiration because sudden vicissitudes seem less conformable to the order of Nature then their progressive erections That which is observ'd in the composition and generation of bodies holds also in their nutrition for both of them proceed from the same Faculty and are almost the same thing For to nourish is to be chang'd into the substance of that which is nourish'd Nature makes no change from one term to another by a violent motion and progress but by little and little of a matter capable of being converted into the substance of the living thing as onely that is which hath life it being as impossible to make a living thing of that which never was such and consequently whose matter hath no disposition to become such as 't is to make a thing be which cannot be The Second said setting aside Cardan's opinion who extends life even to Stones as there are three orders of living things so there are three that have need of nutrition Plants Animals and Men. Plants are nourish'd with the juice of the earth Animals for the most part with Plants and Men better with the Flesh of Animals then with any other thing by reason of the resemblance of their natures The first order is not here spoken of because Plants must needs be nourish'd with that which hath not had life unless we will say that the universal spirit informing the earth gives it vertue to produce and nourish them The two latter are only in question and I think it no more inconvenient that what hath not had life may serve for aliment and be converted into the substance of a living creature then that the earth and water simple elements in respect of a Plant are assimilated by it and made partakers of vegetable life For as fire makes green wood combustible by exsiccating its humidity so an Animal may render such matter fit for its nourishment which was not so before Not only the Oestrich is nourish'd with Iron which it digests Pigeons and Pullen with gravel the stones of which are found in their crops smooth and round but also men may be nourish'd with bread made of earth And the Spaniards are much addicted to the use of an earth call'd Soccolante which they mingle with water and sugar its terrene consistence refuting their opinion who hold it to be the juice of a Plant. Yea some in Sieges have supported their lives with inanimate things as with bread of Slate as 't is reported of that of Sancerre And moreover 't is manifest that some sick people are nourish'd with water alone for many days together The Third said Nutrition is made by the help of heat which alters and divides the aliments and reduces them to a most simple substance capable of being converted into every similary part the property of heat being to separate heterogeneous things and conjoyn those of the same nature Hence things least compounded are more easily assimilated And as among Medicaments so among aliments the more simple are the best and make fewest excrements The air doth not only refresh the natural heat but serves for food and aliment to the spirits our best and noblest parts with which air alone as the common opinion holds the Camelion is nourish'd as the Grashopper with dew which is nothing but concreted air and the Jews were fed fourty years with Manna which is a kind of dew for the Scripture saith it vanish'd with the heat of the Sun yea the Manna which is found at this day in Calabria other places is capable of nourishing an animal and yet it never had life but fall's from heaven upon the stones from which it is collected The same may be said of hony which is a kind of dew too falling upon the leaves flowers of Plants and serving for food to Bees who only gather it without other preparation And a sort of Flyes call'd Pyraustae live with nothing but fire as many Fishes do of plain water Moles and Worms of simple earth Antimony and divers other Minerals purg'd from their malignant qualities serve for aliment and they who are expert in Chymistry make a kind of bread of them The Magistery of Pearls and Coral many precious Stones and Gold it self by the consent of all antiquity wonderfully repair our radical moisture by their fix'd spirits whence they are call'd Cordials The Fourth said If man were homogeneous and all of a piece he would be not only immortal according to Hippocrates but need no food which is necessary only for reparation of what substance is consum'd now nothing would be destroy'd in man were it not for the heterogeneous pieces of which he is made up Wherefore since we are nourish'd with the same things whereof we are compos'd and we are not compos'd of one pure and simple element but of four it follows that whatever nourishes us must be mix'd of those four Elements and therefore the more compounded it is as animate things are the more proper it is to nourish Otherwise were the aliment pure it could not be assimilated And although it could be assimilated yet it could not nourish the whole body but only either the terrestrial parts if it were earth or the humours if it were water or the spirits if it were fire or air The Fifth said The life of man cost Nature dear if it must be maintain'd at the expence of so many other animals lives If you say that being
as its cause and ceases when this fails contrary to other qualities which have a fix'd and permanent existence in Nature For the tingling of a bell which continues some while after the stroke is not one single sound but many the parts of the bell being put into a trembling motion by the blow and communicating the same to the parts of the Air contain'd in the cavity of the bell which Air is so long clash'd together till all the insensible parts of the bell be return'd to their first rest and therefore the laying of the hand upon it hinders this motion and consequently stops the sound And 't is for this reason that it resounds more when it hangs freely then when it is held in the hand and some bells have been seen to fly in pieces upon the application of a piece of Iron to them whilst they were trembling The cause whereof is this if while all the parts of the bell tremble and equally move from their place one part be check'd it becomes immoveable and so not following the agitation of the rest is separated from them The Second said Though sound the object of the Hearing containing under it Voice and Speech is oftentimes accompany'd with three things the body striking the body struck and the Medium resounding yet these three do not alwayes meet in all sort of sounds as we see in that which is made by our bellows the noise of a Petar Salt Chestnuts and other aerious and flatuous bodies cast into the fire because these flatuosities being rarifi'd require an outlet and therefore impetuously break forth out of their restraint which eruption striking the neighbouring Air produces a sound The same is seen also in the Voice which is form'd by collision of the Air in the Lungs against the Larynx the palate and the teeth So that the proximate cause of sound is not the shock of two bodies but the breaking of the Air when its motion is hindred A piece of cloth makes a noise in the tearing but not in the cutting because of the sudden separation of the parts of the Air which on the other side for fear of Vacuum are impetuously carry'd towards the place of their separation and the wind whistles by reason of the violent motion which it causeth in the Air sometimes driving the same before it sometimes pressing and wracking it or because it meets some other wind or body that opposes its natural motion The Third said A perfect sound cannot be made without the encountring of two bodies and Air between them for want of which there would be local motion but no sound in a Vacuum and the motion of those great celestial orbes is not audible Now these bodies must be hard and solid either of their own Nature as Copper and Silver or by the union and construction of their parts which makes them act and resist as if they were solid such are the Air and Water agitated Moreover that this sound be perfect 't is requisite that the bodies be large and smooth for if they be rough and scabrous the Air which is compress'd finds means to expand it self in the interstices of the higher parts if they be acute and pointed they cut and divide but do not break it So a needle striking the point of another needle makes no noise because it onely cuts the Air but do's not compresse it If these solid bodies be hollow and dry the sound is made the better and yet more if they be aerious Hence among metals Brass Silver and Gold resound more then Lead and Iron which are of a terrene nature Among Trees the Sallow and the Fig-tree have a sound and the leaves of Laurel crackle in the fire by reason of their aerious parts Lastly the bodies must be friable that is to say divisible at the same time into very small particles as Air Glass and Ice or in case they break not at least they must tremble in all their parts as bells do Therefore Water not being friable by reason of its tenacious humidity which keeps the particles together cannot be the subject of sounds that of running Water being made by the occurse of the Air upon its surface not in the Water it self in which no sound can be made although it may be somewhat confus'dly transmitted as 't is to fishes whom the noise makes to abandon the shore The Fourth said Hearing was given to Man to satisfie his natural inclination to understand the thoughts of his species by the utterance of words which would be useless to conversation if they were not receiv'd by this faculty whose dignity appears chiefly in the structure of its Organ the Ear both external and internal which is destinated to the reception of sounds Therefore the Philosopher derides Alcmaeon for saying that Goats respire at the ears The external is Cartilaginous and tortuous unmoveable in man alone always open on each side the head to receive sounds from all parts which are carri'd upwards in an orbicular figure The internal situate in the os petrosum or bone of the Temples hath four passages viz. the auditory meatus clos'd with a membrane call'd the Drum behind which is a cord fastned to the stirrup the anvil and hammer small bones as dry and big in children as in old men 2. That which incloseth the natural and immoveable Air the principal Organ of hearing 3. The Labyrinth 4. The Cochle or Shell-work But the passage which goes from the Ear to the Palate and the orifice of the Wind-pipe is most remarkable by which the inspir'd air doth not only refresh the Lungs but also the natural implanted air in the ear Hence ariseth that sympathy of the Palate and the Ears and to hear well we sometimes hold our breath for fear of disordering the species of sounds and those that gape or yawn hear little or not at all because the vaporous spirit which causeth oscitation so puts up the drum of the ear that it cannot well receive sounds and for the same reason they that yawn dare not pick their ears at that time for fear of hurting the inflated Drum which if it come to be touch'd the yawning ceaseth those that scratch their ears put themselves into a hawking or coughing And lastly 't is for this reason that such as are born deaf are also dumb because of the straight connexion of the auditory Nerve being of the fifth conjugation with the seventh which is at the root of the Tongue The Fifth said Sounds are carri'd to the ear in the same manner as they are produc'd namely by a fraction of the air adjoyning which hath a sphere of activity and is like that which is caus'd in the water by casting a stone into it but without any intentional species Otherwise sounds would be heard at the same time and in the same manner by those that are neer and those that are far off in regard the intentional species being spiritual is carri'd in an instant being caus'd by
a simple alteration which requireth not the time necessary to local motion whereby Hearing is perform'd and by this means distinguish'd from vision in which at the same time the medium and the Organ are both alter'd whereas in Hearing the Organ is not alter'd till after the medium Hence it is that the wind helps greatly to the carrying of sounds which would not be if they were only intentional species for visible things are seen as well in a contrary wind as in a calm air and that sounds seem weaker a far off then neer hand The Sixth said Among the objects of the Senses sounds and odours have alone had the honour to be dedicated to the Deity Melodie and Incense having always been employ'd in Divine Service either because the humane soul is most delighted therewith or for that either of them being somewise spiritual and corporeal God requires that we offer him both the body and the spirit whereas Daemons abhor nothing more then Harmony and Perfumes as ill suting to their irregular and infected nature And sounds have so great affinity with the soul that according to their cadence and their tones they excite compassion cruelty joy sadness courage fear lasciviousness and chastity whence it was said that Aegysthus could never debauch Clytemnestra till he had kill'd her Musitian Because all our actions and inclinations depending upon our spirits they are modefi'd and made like to the sounds which they receive by the ear So that if the sounds be tremulous grave sharp quick or flow the spirits become so too and consequently the Muscles which are instruments of voluntary motion having no action but by means of the spirits they impress upon them and make them follow such cadence as they like Hence it is that hearing others sing we fall a singing too without thinking of it with those that whisper we whisper too with those that speak loud we speak so also that the air of the Musitian stirs our members to conform to it and that our spirits are displeas'd with bad cadences as if the outward air had an absolute dominion over our spirits II. Of Harmony Upon the second Point it was said That Harmony is taken for any proportion and agreement but chiefly for that of sounds in which it is more perceptible and that even by the ignorant It s invention is ascrib'd to Tubal the first Smith upon his observation of the various sounds that the strokes of his Hammer made upon his Anvil which Pythagoras also made use of to find out the proportion of his musical numbers Of which having elsewhere spoken I shall only add here that Harmony presupposes many sounds for one alone makes but a Monotone and two an unpleasing reciprocation but six notes are requisite to perfect Musick industriously compriz'd in the Hymn VT queant LAxis REsonare fibris MIra gestorum c. This harmony is either vocal or instrumental the former whereof having graces and variations inimitable by instruments far surpasses the latter but their mixture is most agreeable The Second said Nature seems to have made a show of her goodliest effects to our Senses and conceal'd their causes from our knowledge Musical harmony aims at the instruction of men that of man's body is the admirable artifice of the Formative faculty which Galen calls divine but the harmony of the world puts our curiosity most to a non-plus 'T is the cause why water notwithstanding its fluidity gathers it self into a heap to leave dry land for the habitation of animals and that the earth which should settle about its centre by its equal gravity yet rises up in mountains The air is alter'd by all sort of qualities that it may give a good one to the earth The fire descends from its sphere to be captivated in Furnaces for our use and is imprison'd in cavities of the earth to promote the generation of Metals The Heavens move for the benefit of inferiour bodies in a place where they might enjoy eternal rest 'T is through this harmony that the water becomes thick at the bottom and contracts alliance with the earth while its surface resolves into vapours the rudiments of air whose highest region likewise approaches the nature of fire and this has somewhat of Aethereal and the constitution of the Heavens on which it borders and conjoyns with this inferiour world The cause of this chain and connexion is an universal vertue comprehended in the extent of each being besides the proper motive vertue destinated to content its appetite The necessity of this vertue is a certain evidence of its existence for since every thing conspires for the general good of the world and withstands the division of its parts Nature must have allotted them a power which may guide them to that end now this power is not extrinsecal since it resides in the subject it self Nor is it the motive vertue for this and that have two different objects and ends namely the publick and the particular good which are not always contain'd one in the other Besides 't would be a manifest contradiction to say that by one and the same vertue things expose themselves to the loss of their proper qualities for the publick good and keep them when only their particular is concern'd Wherefore there is one general law which having authority to force all things to contract amities not sorting to their inclination is above that vertue which leads things directly to their own good which is the cause of the excellent harmony observ'd in the whole world The Third said Indeed Harmony is every where between the Creator and his Creatures both spiritual and corporeal in the Hierarchies of bless'd Spirits one with another in the assistance of the motive Intelligences with their orbs between the great and the little world in the latter of which the Scripture sets forth to us a perpetual musick of the blessed in the the Empireal Heaven Plato a harmony proceeding from the motion of the Celestial bodies Daily experience makes us hear in the air a consort of winds the Sea beats a measure by its ebbing and flowing the Birds of the air perform the Cantus the Beasts the Base the Fishes the Tacet Man the Tenor who again in the structure of his body and soul is a perfect harmony In the body the temperature of the humours is so harmonical that their disproportion drives away the soul which Galen upon this account calls harmony In the soul so long as Reason holds the sovereignty and constrains the murmuring Appetite to hold its base there results from it a harmony delectable to God and Men. On the contrary if you would apprehend its discord do but imagine the disorderly uproar excited by choler and the other passions get the mastery over Reason Yea mans whole life is either a perpetual harmony or discord In Religion when one Head is acknowledg'd and every one submits thereunto for Conscience sake and keeps his station how beautiful are those Tabernacles of
Sion and how agreeable is this Church to its Spouse to those that behold it in this estate and to it self On the contrary in Schism and Heresie when every one abounds in his own sence and will not depend upon any other how unpleasing is this division even to those that foment it In the State when a just Monarch well counsell'd holds the Sovereignty the Church the Nobility and the third Estate the other parts nothing is impossible to him either within or without He may do every thing that he will because he will do nothing but what is just On the contrary represent to your self the horrible Tragedies of a Faction revolted against its Prince or of a furious Triumvirate and you will see the difference between harmony and discord whereof the difference and power is so notable as to all our actions that he shall speak truth who shall establish it for the cause of all that is either pleasing to us or disagreeable So the same materials of two buildings differently set together will render one beautiful the other deformed Of two countenances compos'd of the same parts the proportion of the one will invite love while there is nothing but hatred and aversion for the other Yea this Harmony extends its jurisdiction even to things incorporeal An injust action displeases though it do not concern us and the most peaceable man in the world can hardly forbear to interess himself when he sees a great scoundrel outrage some poor little child The disproportion which appears in the attire of another offends us as when we see a Porter's wife better cloth'd then a Counsellours of which the reason seems to me that our soul being a harmony is not pleas'd but with what resembles it self The Fourth said Effects the surest evidences of their causes so apparently speak the power of Harmony that Orpheus by the relation of the Poets recover'd his Euridice out of Hell by it Timotheus made Alexander leave his feast and betake himself to his Arms but changing his tune return'd him again to the Table Orators made use of it to regulate their gestures and voices and at this day not only the harmonious sound of Organs serves to enflame our zeal but that of Bells is successfully employ'd to drive away the Daemons of the air when they raise tempests in it CONFERENCE LVIII I. Of the Sight II. Of Painting I. Of the Sight AN ignorant Philosopher was he who pull'd out his eyes that he might the better Philosophize since on the contrary 't is by the sight that we have cognition of all the goodly objects of the world the ornament and agreeable variety of which seem purposely made to gratifie this Sense whose excellence and priviledge appears in that 't is free from the condition requisite to all the other Senses viz. that their objects be at a moderate distance for it discerns as far as the Stars of the Firmament knows more things then they there being nothing but has some light and colour which are its objects and that most exactly distinguishing even their least differences yea it hath this of divinity that it acteth in an instant being no more confin'd to time then place and much more certain then any of the other Senses And as if it alone were left in the free enjoyment of its own rights there 's none besides it that hath the power to exercise or not exercise its function as it lists the muscles of the eye-lids serving to open or close the curtain when it pleaseth whereas all the rest are constrain'd to do their offices when their objects are present Moreover man's noblest faculty the Understanding is call'd the Eye of the Soul because it performs the same office to it that the Eye doth to the Body which guides and governs And therefore in the dark which hinders the use of this sense the most daring are not without some fear which cannot proceed from the black colour as some hold but from our being destitute of our guide and conductor which serves for a sentinel to us to discover such things as are hurtful for in the same darkness we are pretty confident in case we be in the company of persons that can conduct us and supply the use of our own eyes The Second said Were it not for custom which renders all things common there would be nothing so admir'd as the Eye which as small as it is gives reception to all corporeal things of what magnitude soever yea every one is represented there in its own natural proportion though the species of an Elephant be no bigger in mine Eye then that of a Flye and nevertheless the Senses judge of their objects by the species streaming from them And the convex fabrick of the eye representing a mirror seems to argue that we do not behold objects in their true magnitude but very much smaller then they are For we see things so as they are receiv'd in the eye But they are receiv'd there as the visible species are in Looking-glasses which if plain represent the same in their true magnitude if spherical as the eye is render them much smaller And nevertheless we see things in their just proportion Whence 't is to be concluded that our Sight which is the most certain of all the Senses is in a perpetuall yea a general errour which consequently is no longer an errour since to erre is to deviate from rule which is a general law Moreover this too is wonderful in the Sight that all the other Organs make several reports to the Senses one accounts that hot which another judges cold or tepid one taste seems fresh to one which another thinks too salt they are of one opinion in odours and sounds and these are of another though their Organs be rightly dispos'd But that which appears black to one seems so likewise to every body else And if the Sight happen to be deceiv'd as when we judge the Moon greater in the Horizon by reason of the vapours of the earth then when she is in the Meridian or when a straight stick seems crooked in the water the same eye which is deceiv'd finds its own errour by comparison of other objects Hence ariseth the doctrine of the Parallaxes and the rules of Opticks Catoptricks and Dioptricks which are practis'd by the sight So that as he doth not perfectly delire who knows that he is in a delirium so the sense cannot be said altogether faculty when it discerns its fault Which the other senses do not The Third said The excellence of the Sight will be better understood by considering its contrary Blindness and the misery of the Blind their life being an image of death whilst they pass it in perpetual darkness Therefore the Civilians exclude them from publick Offices because say they they cannot perceive nor consequently esteem the badges and ensigns of their Magistracy Moreover the Egyptians thought nothing fitter to represent their Deity then the figure of the Eye which
as soon as they receive those for companions over whom they are to command The Fourth said That Reward and Punishment being the two Supports of all our actions but especially in War where there is not time to make all the inductions requisite to a good ratiocination neither of them can be well administer'd without the presence of the Chieftain who alone can judge of the merit of his Souldiers free from all passions especially envy and jealousie which are found amongst equals for want of which both the one and the other sometimes complain with good reason the meaner of not being seen and the great persons of not seeing but by the eyes of others And therefore the presence of the King hath been always of more value then twenty thousand men The Fifth said That in this as in all other moral Questions 't is impossible to give a definitive judgement because things of this nature depend not upon certain and infallible causes as natural things do but upon free causes which borrow their commendation or blame from the diversity of the circumstances of things of time place persons and other accidents which being infinite and consequently impossible to be known have no other rule but that of Prudence assisted by experience So that it cannot be determin'd absolutely whether the Chieftain of an Army ought to fight or not but we must distinguish the different occasions which oblige him thereunto or not When he understands himself weaker then his enemy and sees the courage of his Souldiers low if he cannot avoid giving battel he must animate his Souldiers by his own example as also when he is oblig'd by some notable surprizal to lay all at stake or when he undertakes such great matters that otherwise he can never accomplish them as when Alexander conquer'd the whole World his Father Philip all Greece and Caesar the Roman Empire In every other case 't is imprudence temerity and injustice in a head of an Army to esteem his own life no more then that of a common Souldier Yea 't is greater courage to render himself inflexible in the exact and rigorous maintaining of his orders then to engage himself in fight In doing which he notoriously argues his conduct of weakness since it hath suffer'd things to come to so ill a pass that he is reduc'd to this extremity of hazarding the loss of his victory which ordinarily follows the death of the General and is much more prejudical to his Army then the example is profitable which he gives to those few that are about him who are not always induc'd to imitate it Like those Empiricks who employ extream remedies to common diseases instead of reserving them only for the desperate CONFERENCE LXII I. Of Time II. Whether 't is best to overcome by open force or otherwise I. Of Time EVery thing that hath existence hath a duration If this duration hath neither beginning nor end such as that of God is 't is call'd Eternity if it hath a beginning but no end as that of the Heavens Angels and rational Souls 't is call'd by the Latines Aevum if it hath both beginning and end as the duration of all material and sublunary things 't is call'd Time which although in the mouth of every one is nevertheless difficult to understand the Vulgar improperly attributing this name to the Heaven or the Air saying 'T is a fair Time or Weather when the Air and Heaven are serene and clear For although Time be inseparable from Heaven yet 't is as different from it as the effect is from its cause And Pythagoras was deceiv'd when he thought that Time was the Celestial Sphere as well as Plato who held it to be the conversion of that Sphere and Democritus the motion of every thing Nevertheless Heaven and Time may be conceiv'd distinctly and a sunder because Time is the duration of the World the noblest part whereof is Heaven and the effects of Time are not known to us but by the motion of the Heavens and the Stars which make the Seasons Years Weeks Days and Hours with the difference of day and night The Second said That Time is a pure creature of our Phancy and hath no real existence in Nature since it hath no parts For time pass'd is no more the future is not yet the present is but a moment which cannot be part of time since 't is common to every part that being taken several times it composes and compleats its total which agrees not to a moment a hundred thousand moments added together making but one moment and therefore cannot make the least part of time no more then an infinite number of points can make the least line because it is not compos'd of points as time is not compos'd of moments For if you say Time is the flux of a moment as a line is the flux of a point this argues not the existence of Time because a point leaves something behind it as it moves but a moment doth not Yea if we believe Aristotle a moment is not in Time For either 't is one moment or many If one it will follow that what is done at present and what a thousand years ago were done at the same time because in the same moment If there be many moments in time they must succed one another one perishing as the next arises just as of the parts of time the pass'd perishes to give birth to the future But a moment cannot perish For it must perish either in time or in an instant Not in time for this is divisible but an instant indivisible Nor yet in an instant For either that instant would be it self and so it should be and not be together or it would be the instant before it which will not hold because whilst that preceding instant exists this other is not yet in being or lastly 't would be the instant after it and then this instant would be gone before Wherefore either Time is nothing at all or else but an imaginary thing And indeed it seems consentaneously call'd Number and Measure because neither of these hath other existence then in the mind For if you say with some that time is essential to things you may as well say that the Ell is of the essence of the cloath which it measures and number essential to the things numbred so that by this reckoning Measure and Number should be of all sorts of Natures because they are apply'd to all things The Third said That amongst real things some are momentary being made and perishing in one and the same instant which is the measure of their existence others are perdurable amongst which as there is something that hath always been and shall always be others that have not always been yet shall always be so there are some that have not been sometimes and sometimes shall be no more Again of these latter some have all their parts together others have them one after another The first are continuous
and their duration is their age the second are successive whose duration is time For duration follows the existence of every thing as necessarily as existence follows essence Existence is the term of production Duration is the term of conservation So that to doubt whether there be such a real thing in Nature as Time is to doubt of the duration and existence of every thing although the Scripture should not assure us that God made the day and the night which are parts of time Moreover the contrary reasons prove nothing saving that time is not of the nature of continuous beings but of successive which consists in having no parts really present This Time is defin'd by the Philosopher The Number of Motion according to its prior and posterior parts that is to say by means of time we know how long the motion lasted when it begun and when it ended For being Number may serve for Measure and Measure for number therefore they are both taken for one and the same thing Indeed when a thing is mov'd 't is over some space whose first parts answer to the first parts of motion and the latter parts of the space to the latter parts of the motion and from this succession of the latter parts of the motion to the former ariseth a duration which is time long or short according to the slowness or quickness of this motion And because by means of this duration we number and measure that of motions and of all our actions therefore it is call'd Number or Measure although it be onely a Propriety of Time to serve for a Measure and no ways of its essence The Fourth said That to understand time 't is requisite to understand the motion and two moments one whereof was at the beginning of that motion and the other at the end and then to imagine the middle or distance between those two extreams which middle is Time Therefore man alone being able to make comparison of those two extreams only he of all animals understands and computes time Hence they who wake out of a deep and long sleep think it but a small while since they first lay down to rest because they took no notice of the intermediate motions and think the moment wherein they fell asleep and that wherein they wak'd is but one single moment The same also happens to those who are so intent upon any action or contemplation that they heed not the duration of motions Now not only the motions of the body but those of the mind are measured by time Therefore in the dark he that should perceive no outward motion not even in his own body might yet conceive time by the duration of his soul's actions his thoughts desires and other spiritual motion And as Time is the Measure of Motion so it is likewise of rest since the reason of contraries is the same And consequently motion and rest being the causes of all things time which is their duration is also their universal cause The Fifth said That 't is ordinary to men to attribute the effects whereof they know not the causes to other known causes though indeed they be nothing less so they attribute misfortunes losses death oblivion and such other things to Heaven to Time or to place although they cannot be the causes thereof Hence some certain days have been superstitiously accounted fortunate or unfortunate as by the Persians the third and sixth of August in regard of the losses which they had suffer'd upon those days the first of April by Darius and the Carthaginians because upon the same day he had lost a Battle to Alexander and these were driven out of Sicily by Timoleon who was always observ'd to have had some good fortune upon his birth day Moreover the Genethliacks affirm that the day of Nativity is always discriminated by some remarkable accident for which they alledge the example of Charles V. whose birth day the 24th of February was made remarkable to him by his election to the Empire and the taking of Francis I. before Pavia Such was also that day afterwards solemniz'd in which Philip of Macedon receiv'd his three good tidings But as there is no hour much less day but is signaliz'd by some strange accidents so there is not any but hath been both fortunate and unfortunate As was that of Alexander's birth who saw Diana's Temple at Ephesus burnt by Herostratus and the Persians put wholly to the rout Yet the same Alexander as likewise Attalus Pompey and many others dy'd upon the day of their Nativity so did Augustus upon that of his Inauguration Wherefore 't is no less ridiculous to refer all these accidents to Time then to attribute to it the mutation oblivion and death of all things whereof it is not the cause although for this purpose Saturn was painted with a sickle in his hand with which he hew'd every thing down and devour'd his own children For Time as well as Place being quantities which are no ways active they cannot be the causes of any things The Sixth said Time is diversly taken and distinguish'd according to the diversity of Professions Historians divide it into the four Monarchies of the Medes the Persians the Greeks and the Romans and the States and Empires which have succeeded them The Church into Working-days and Festivals the Lawyers into Terms and Vacations the Naturalists consider them simply as a property of natural body Astronomers as an effect of Heaven Physitians as one of the principal circumstances of Diseases which they divide into most acute acute and chronical or long which exceed 40 days and each of them into their beginning augmentation state and declination as distinguish'd by the common indicatory and critical days II. Whether 't is best to overcome by open force or otherwise Upon the second Point it was said That Force being that which first caus'd obedience and admiration in the world the strongest having ever over-mastered others it cannot enter into comparison with a thing that passes for a Vice and even amongst Women as sleight and and subtlety doth and crafts in any action otherwise glorious greatly diminisheth its lustre So Hercules is more esteem'd for having slain the Nemaean Lion with his club then Lysimachus for having taken away the life of another by dextrously thrusting his hand wrap'd up in a piece of cloth into his open'd throat and so strangling him of which no other reason can be given but that the former kil'd him by his cunning and the other by plain strength Moreover General things are made of Particular duels and single fights are little pictures of battles Now every one knows what difference there is between him that overcomes his Enemy without any foul play and another that makes use of some invention or artisice to get advantage of him For though Duels are justly odious to all good men yet he that hath behav'd himself gallantly therein even when he is overcome gains more Honour then he that by some fraud
is so excellent that by its help Philosophers guided onely by the light of Nature have come to the knowledge of one Eternal God alone and of the dependance that all beings have upon one sole cause because every thing that is mov'd is mov'd by something else otherwise if it mov'd it self it should make it self perfect since every thing that moves gives perfection and that which is mov'd receives the same Now this cannot be because then one and the same thing should at the same time be both Agent and Patient have and not have perfection be and not be which is the greatest absurdity Wherefore what ever is mov'd 't is mov'd by some other thing and this by some other till you come to a First Mover who gives Motion to all things For otherwise there would be a progress into infinity which cannot be admitted into causes Likewise that all things depend upon a Supreme Cause is prov'd by Motion because every thing that is mov'd depends upon that which moves it Whereupon the Naturalists say that it is united thereunto by a Contact either of the Suppositum or of Virtue and therefore all things being mov'd by that First Cause depend wholly upon it and are united to it But as excellent things are most difficult and commonly the clearest are assaulted by the strongest objections so there have been some persons that have deny'd Motion as Parmenides and Zeno although it hath as true existence as Nature which is the principle of it because they could not answer the objections brought against it Others on the contrary as Heraclitus have conceiv'd that all things are in continual Motion although the same be never perceiv'd by our Senses But Aristotle according to his wont chusing the middle opinion hath affirm'd That there are some things which alwayes move others that alwayes rest and others that move and rest alternately That which alwayes rests is the First Mover That which alwayes moves is the Heavens whose never interrupted circular Motion comes very near infinity Things which move and rest at times are all other simple or compound bodies in which the Motion is either natural as in fire to mount upwards or in violent as in the same fire to descend downwards Both which kinds of Motion admit of rest too the natural when the body hath found its centre the violent at the point of reflection or when the virtue impress'd upon it by the Agent ceases The Second said The incessant mutation made in all things argues that there is no Rest since Rest is the abiding of things in one and the same state and nothing doth so Nor is there any Motion because if there were it should be made in an Instant But Nothing is chang'd in an Instant being all Mutation presupposes two termes one From which and another To which and there are no termes without a middle or medium nor can any thing pass from one terme to another through a medium but in time That Motion must be made in an Instant appears because there is nothing between the last point of that which is to be chang'd and the first of that which is chang'd For in Local Motion a stone begins to be mov'd at the same instant wherein it ceases to rest There is therefore no intermediate space between its motion and its rest And if two extremes which have no medium between them be together then things which are together are in one and the same moment This is yet further manifest in the other kinds of Motion For in Generation there is nothing between Not-Being and Being and in Corruption nothing between Being and Not-Being Otherwise there should be something that exists and exists not which is contrary to the first principle In Alteration as soon as the Air is illuminated the Darkness ceaseth and there is nothing between them In Accretion or Augmentation the Body is still in its first quantity till it receive a greater as likewise in Diminution 't is alwayes in the same magnitude till it be reduc'd to a less For we must beware of taking the dispositions or preparations to all these motions for the motions themselves The Third said 'T is easier to say what Motion is not then what it is since the Philosopher tells us that it hath more of Non-entity then of Entity Wherefore being things cannot be known but so far as they are true and they are not true but so far as they have Being 't is no wonder if Motion be one of the difficultest to be understood and 't is the more so because we must not confound with the other things that accompany it which are the Agent and Patient their action and passion it s two termes the extent of place time and the subject wherein it is caus'd Besides every thing that is known being so either by it self when it is real or by some other when it is not such Motion which partly is and partly is not can neither be known by it self nor by some thing else for it cannot be known by the Senses nor without their help by the Intellect there being in Motion a something before and something after and consequenly a correspondence which falls not within cognizance of the Senses Therefore to supply this defect the Philosophers have describ'd Motion of it self insensible by things that fall under sense saying that it is That which is included between the term From which and the term To which as the Physitians render the motions of life sensible by Dentition Puberty Stature different colours of the Hair in short by the vigor and inclination of actions and by such other sensible signes which notifie the diversity of Ages And the Astrologers those of the Sun and other Stars by the houses of the Zodiack their Oppositions and different Aspects as also by the dispositions of the Air which make the diversity of our seasons like those Travellers which distinguish the number of miles by Cities Villages Crosses and other visible signes Motion is therefore the passage from one term to the other And so not onely when my hand slides from one side of this paper to the other but also when of hot it becomes cold there is made a Motion II. Of Custome Upon the Second Point it was said That Right is divided into written and not written the former is the Laws the second is Custome which is of Right us'd of long time establish'd by little by the liking of every one and approv'd by the tacite consent of the whole people and therefore more grateful then Law which never equally pleases all and is oftimes form'd in an instant But Custome taking root by time is not establish'd except after long experiences 'T is of account among Physitians that Hippocrates commands that regard be had to it as well to the age the disease the country and the season yea he saith that all things accustomed although bad are yet less hurtful then those which are unusual although better in
of action as neglect of a salutation makes men go to the field Yea all the professions of the world borrow their praise or their blame from Phancy And who is there amongst us but would account it a grievance and make great complaints if that were impos'd upon him by command which his phancy makes him extreamly approve The studious person rises in the night to study the amorous spends it in giving serenades In brief the Proverb that saith None are happy or unhappy but they who think themselves so abundantly evidences the power of Imagination The Fourth said All Animals that have outward senses have also Imagination which is a faculty of the sensitive soul enabling them to discriminate things agreeable from the contrary Therefore those Philosophers who deny'd this power to Worms Flyes and other insects which they affirm'd to be carried towards their good by chance and not by any knowledge of it besides their derogating from divine providence were ignorant that the smallest animals cease not to have the same faculties as others at least confused as their Organs are which contain the more marvels in that they serve to more several uses Moreover Experience shews us that they well distinguish what is fit for them from what is not yea they have their passions too for choler leads the Bee to pursue the enemy that hath pillag'd its hive their providence or fore-cast since both that and the Pismire lay in their provisions and observe a kind of policy among them the former acknowledging a King which they could not do without the help of Imagination although the same be not so strong in them as in perfect animals among whom even such as have no eyes or want the use of them as the Mole are much inferior to others in Imagination which is chiefly employ'd about the Images whence it takes its name whereof the sight supplies a greater quantity then all the other Senses So that every animal being naturally lead to its own good needs an Imagination to conceive it such but all have not Memory which being given only to enable animals to find their abode again which they are oblig'd to quit for some time in quest of food those who change not their residence as Oysters or which carry it with them as Snails and Tortoises have no need of it The Fifth said That the Imagination is a cognition different from that of sense for it knows that which is not but the Sense doth not from Science and Intelligence because these are always true but that is sometimes true sometimes false Nevertheless 't is not opinion because opinion produces a belief in us which presupposes perswasion and this is an effect of Reason whereof brutes are not possest although all of them have more or less some Imagination It s object is of so great latitude that it goes beyond that of entity since that which is not as well as that which is the false as well as the true are under its jurisdiction for it composes divides and runs over all nature and what is out of nature herein almost like the Intellect which owes all its highest notions to it since it can know nothing without the phantasmes of the Imagination which on the contrary depends not any ways upon the Understanding in its operations The Sixth said The Imagination although very active and carri'd in a moment from the lowest stage of the world to its highest stories and to those spaces which it phansies above the heavens yet cannot comprehend where it self is lodg'd But the quality of the Brain most proper for it is heat For besides its great activity whereby it is necessarily alli'd to fire the phanciful persons are most subject to burning Fevers the cholerick excel in this faculty of which on the contrary the phlegmatick are worst provided Whence perhaps Poets who owe their best Verses to the Phancy heighten the heat of their Brain by drinking the best liquors Moreover 't is the strongest of all the Souls Faculties and involves every thing here below It disorders and quiets Nations making them undertake wars and desire peace it awakens and stills our passions and as if nature were not powerful enough to produce all things necessary to the perfection of the world it daily frames new ideas and makes other worlds to its curiosity 'T is this that blinded him of whom Pliny speaks who having dream'd in the night that he had lost his sight found himself blind when he wak'd 't is this that gave a voice to Croesus's son which nature had deny'd him which chang'd L. Cossutius from a woman into a man which made horns grow out of the forehead of Cippus after his dreaming of the Oxen whom he had seen fighting all the day before In brief 't is this that made Gallus Vibius become foolish by having mus'd too much upon the causes of folly But it acts not only within both upon the body and the soul it diffuses its power beyond its own mansion For to it is attributed that wonder of the Tortoises and Estriches which hatch their egges by the sight as also that of Hens which breed Chickens according to the colours laid neer their Nests and sometimes of the shape of a Kite if they have been frighted by that bird whilst they were hatching 'T is also to the power of Imagination that what my Lord Bacon affirms is to be referr'd namely That it is dangerous to be beheld by our enviers in extream joy as 't is reported that certain Scythian women murder'd only with a single aspect and possibly to this cause better then to any other the bleeding of a murder'd body in the murderer's presence may be imputed as also that the most vigorous have been found cold and impotent and other effects the cause whereof may be better referr'd to this Imagination and the connexion and coherence of this cause with those effects demonstrated II. Which is most powerful Hope or Fear Upon the second Point it was said That fear being of two sorts one filial mix'd with respect proper to the ingenuous the other servile arising only from the consideration of punishment it appears hence that fear is more effectual then hope which is not often found but in good persons whereas fear is found both in the wicked and the good The Laws seem also to decide this question there being none that encourages vertue to hope for any thing but all infuse an abhorrence of crimes by the fear of punishments Moreover both the Indies would not suffice the least Commonwealth if profitable rewards were to be given to every good action perform'd in it and honorable recompences being valu'd only for their rarity would be no longer so if they came to be common Therefore there is but one Treasurer of the Exchequer in office but Judges Counsellors Archers and Serjeants innumerable Moreover there is always more to be fear'd then hop'd For he who hath an estate and honour may more easily lose
and these being dissipated by age the species put forth themselves by little and little as Characters engraven on wood or stone cover'd over with wax appear proportionably as it melts off And therefore he term'd all our knowledge a remembrance but although he err'd herein yet reason'd better then Aristotle who admitted the Metempsychosis but deny'd the Reminiscence both which are necessary consequents one of the other The Second said That the operations of the Intellect are so divine that not being able to believe the same could proceed from it self it refers them to superiors For it invents disposes meditates examines and considers the least differences it compounds and divides every thing apprehends simple termes conjoynes the subject and the attribute affirms denyes suspends its judgements and alone of all the Faculties reflects upon it self yea by an action wholly divine produces a word For as in speaking a word is produc'd by the mouth so in understanding is form'd the word of the Mind Yet with this difference that the former is a corporeal patible quality imprinted in the Air and not the latter for intellection is an immanent operation Hence some have thought that all these divine actions were perform'd by God himself whom they affirm'd to be that Agent Intellect which irradiating the phantasmes produces out of them the intelligible species which it presents to our Intellect Others ascrib'd them to an Assisting Intelligence Some to a particular genius But as I deny not that in supernatural cognitions God gives Faith Hope and Charity and other supernatural gifts in which case God may be said to be an Agent Intellect I conceive also that in natural and ordinary knowledge of which alone we speak now no concourse of God other then universal is to be imagin'd whereby he preserves natural causes in their being and do's not desert them in their actions ' This then the Understanding it self which performes what ever it thinks surpasses its strength which it knows not sufficiently and the Agent and Patient Intellect are but one being distinguish'd onely by reason As it formes that species 't is call'd Agent as it keeps and preserves them Patient For as the Light causes colours to be actually visible by illuminating them together with the Air with their medium so the Agent Intellect renders all things capable of being known by illustrating the phantasmes separating them from the grosness of the matter whereof they have some what when they are in the Imagination and forming intelligible species of them Otherwise if these phantasmes remain'd still in their materiality the Understanding being spiritual could know nothing since that which is sensible and material remaining such cannot act upon what is spiritual and immaterial Besides the species of the Phancy representing to us onely the accidents of things it was requisite that the Intellect by its active virtue subliming and elevating those species to a more noble degree of being should make them representative species of their own essence Which it doth by abstraction of the individual properties of their subject from which it formes universal conceptions which action is proper to the Intellect This supreme Faculty being so noble that it ennobles all beings rendring them like to it self The Third said That the Intellect is to the Soul such as the Soul is to the body which it perfectionates And as it knows all corporeal things by the senses so it knows incorporeal by it self This Faculty serves for a medium and link uniting all things to their first cause and 't is Homer's golden chain or Jacob's ladder which reaches from Earth to Heaven by which the Angels that is the species and most spiritual notions ascend to the heaven of man which is his brain to inform him and cause the spirits to descend from thence to reduce into practice the excellent inventions of the Understanding Now as Reason discriminates men from brutes so doth this Intellect men amongst themselves And if we believe Trismegistus in his Pimander God has given to all men ratiocination but not Understanding which he proposes for a reward to his favourites Aristotle saith 't is the knowledge of indemonstrable principles and immaterial forms Plato calls it Truth Philo the Jew the chief part and torch of the Soul the Master of the little world as God is of the great both the one and the other being diffus'd through the whole without being mix'd or comprehended in any part of it The fourth said That the humane is a substance wholly divine and immortal since it hath no principle of corruption in it self being most simple and having no contrary out of it self Eternal since 't is not in time but above time Infinite since its nature is no-wise limited and is every thing that it understands changing it self thereinto not by a substantial mutation but as the First Matter is united with the formes remaining alwayes the same Matter the wax remaining entire receives all sort of figures So the intellect is not really turn'd into the things which it understands but only receives their species wherewith it is united so closely that it is therefore said to be like to them As likewise though it be call'd Patient when it receives them 't is not to be inferr'd that it is material since these species are material and acting upon the Intellect alter it not but perfectionate it Moreover it hath this peculiarity that the more excellent these species are the more perfect it is render'd whence after the highest things it can as easily comprehend the less An assured token of its incorruptibility and difference from the senses which are destroy'd by the excellence of their objects But as the soul being freed from the body hath nothing to do with sensitive knowledg because then it ratiocinates no more but beholds effects in their proper causes commanding and obeying it self most perfectly exempted from the importunity of the sensitive appetite so while it is entangled in the body it receives some impressions resulting from the parts humours and spirits destinated to its service being in some sort render'd like to them So the soul of one born blind is ignorant of colours the cholerick are subject to frowardness and the melancholy timerous by reason of the blackness of that humour The Fifth said All actions of men depending on the temper those of the Understanding so long as it is entangled in the bonds of the body are not free from it For as that of Plants gives them the qualities proper to attract concoct and convert their aliments and generate their like and beasts having a temper sutable to their nature are lead as soon as they come into the world to what is convenient for them without instruction So men are lead of their own accord to divers things according as their souls meet dispositions proper to certain actions yea they are learned without ever having learn'd any thing as appears in many phrantick and distracted persons amongst whom some although ignorant
The contact above spoken of hath no difficulty nor yet the objection why other wounded persons residing in some intermediate place between the anointed Instrument and the Patient are not rather cur'd then he considering that the same thing is observ'd in the Load-stone which draws not the wood or stone laid neer it but the Iron beyond them and the Sun heats not the Sphere of the Moon and the other Heavens nor yet the two higher Regions of the air but only ours cross that vast interval of cold and humid air because he finds no congruency thereunto besides the not reflexion of his beams Wherefore the contact of the anointed Javelin and the Wound may as well be call'd Physical as that of the Sun and us which never stirs from his Sphere Besides that we have examples of many contacts made without manifest mediums as those of pestilential and contagious Fevers of blear'd-eyes of the Wolfes aspect causing hoarsness and the killing looks of the Basilisk And indeed if you take away all cures that are wrought by occult and inexplicable means there will be nothing admirable in Physick The Fourth said That in assigning the reason of effects men ordinarily mistake that for a cause which is not so The Rose is not cold because it is white for the Red-rose is so too Spurge is not hot because it hath a milky juice for so have Lettice Eudive c. which are cold Aloes is not hot because it is bitter for Opium which kills through its coldness is of the same taste They also erroneously attribute the cure of diseases to sympathy to the power of characters words images numbers celestial figures and such other things which have no activity at all and most extraordinary cures are effects of the strength of the Mind which is such that where it believes any thing firmly it operates what it believes and that with efficacy provided the subject on which it acts do not repugne But if it comes to have a firm belief of the effect then it follows far more easily For if the understanding is identifi'd with what it knows why shall it not make things like to it self To which firm belief I refer the magnetick cure of wounds and not to that sympathy of the blood on the weapon with that in the veins since if two parts of the same body be wounded the healing of the one will not suffice to the healing of the other and yet there 's more sympathy between the parts of the same body animated with the same form then they have with a little extravasated blood which hath lost all the dispositions that it had like the whole mass II. Of Anger Upon the second Point it was said That Nature has so provided for the contentment of animals that she has given them not only an appetite to pursue good and avoid evil when both may be done without difficulty but also a different one to give courage to the former and to surmount the difficulties occurring in the pursuite of that good and the eschewance of that evil term'd the Irascible appetite from anger the strongest of its passions which serves to check the pungency of grief as fear and boldness come to the assistance of flight and desire is guarded with hope and despair This is the opinion of Plato who makes three sorts of souls one which reasons another which covets and the third which is displeas'd the former of which he places in the Brain the second in the Liver and the last in the Heart Anger then is a passion of the Irascible Appetite caus'd by the apprehension of a present evil which may be repell'd but with some difficulty It s principle is the soul its instrument the spirits its matter the blood its seat the heart not the will as Cardan erroneously conceiv'd for the actions of the will not being organical make no impressions or footsteps upon the body It proceeds either from a temper of body hot and dry and easie to be inflam'd or from the diversity of seasons times ages and sexes Hence the cholerick and young persons are more inclin'd to it then the phlegmatick and aged because they have a temper more proper to this passion Women and children are easily displeas'd through weakness of spirit as 't is a sign of a sublime spirit not to be troubled at any thing but to believe that as every thing is below it self so nothing is capable to hurt it Which reason Aristotle made use of to appease the choler of Alexander telling him that he ought never to be incens'd against his inferiors but only against his equals or superiors and there being none that could equal much less surpass him he had no cause to fall into anger The Second said That the Faculties extending to contraries the eye beholding both white and black and the ear hearing all sort of sounds only the sensitive appetite is carri'd both to good and evil whether accompani'd with difficulties or not as the will alone is carri'd towards all kind of good and evil And as the same gravity inclines the stone towards its centre and makes it divide the air and water which hinder it from arriving thither so the sensitive appetite by one and the same action is carri'd to good flees evil and rises against the difficulties occurring in either Thus anger and grief are in one sole appetite yea anger is nothing but grief for an evil which may be repell'd For it hath no place when the offender is so potent that there is no hope of revenge upon him although 't is rare that a man esteems so low of himself as not to be able to get reason for a wrong done him or apprehended to be done him this passion as all others being excited by causes purely imaginary Thus a single gesture interpreted a contempt offends more then a thrust with a sword by inadvertency And this the more if the contemners be our inferiors or oblig'd to respect us upon other accounts Which makes the enmities between relations or friends irreconcileable For as a good not foreseen rejoyces more so the injury of a friend displeases us far above one done us by our enemies against whom he seem'd to have some reason who implor'd not so often the aid of Heaven because he said Nature taught him to beware of them as against his friends because he did not distrust them The Third said Anger may be consider'd two ways either according to its matter or its form In the former way 't is defin'd an Ebullition of the blood about the Heart In the latter a desire with grief to be reveng'd for an injury done to himself or his friends whom a man is oblig'd to uphold especially if they be too weak to avenge themselves Injury consists either in deeds or words or gestures The first is the most evident and oftimes least sensible for words offend more because being the image of thoughts they shew us the little esteem made of us
then the Sword as recover it according to the advice of the Arabians and other Physitians who all acknowledge intemperance for their best friend and are wont to prescribe Diet in the first place to which belong primarily Fasting then Medicaments and lastly Cauteries There is also a moral fast which is a vertue which in eating observes a measure sutable to nature and right reason for the taming of the sensual appetite and encreasing the vigour of mind which is enervated by plenty of meats A vertue which S. Austin calls the keeper of the memory and Judgement Mistress of the Mind Nurse of Learning and Knowledge But the Fast of Religion is the most excellent of all because it refers immediately to God who by this means is satisfi'd for sins because it abates the lust of the flesh and raises the spirit to contemplation of sublime things purifying the soul and subduing the flesh to the spirit but particularly that of Lent whose sutableness is manifest in that this time is the tenth part of the year which we offer to God as from all antiquity the tenths of every thing were dedicated to him Moreover 't is observ'd that Moses and Elias who fasted forty days the longest fast mention'd in Scripture merited to be present at our Lord's Transfiguration The Second said Fasting is an abstinence from food as to quantity or quality As to the first some have abstain'd long from all kind of food as Histories assure us and Pliny tells of the Astomi a people of India neer the River Ganges who have no mouths but live only upon smells But 't is abstinence too when we eat little and soberly and only so much as is needful for support of life such as were the abstinences of the Persians and the Lacedemonians with whom it was a shameful thing to belch or blow the Nose these being signs of having taken more food then nature is able to digest The Gymnosophists Magi and Brachmans rigorously observ'd these fasts In quality we abstain from some certain meats Thus the Jews abstain'd from all animals except such as chew'd the Cud and were cloven hoof'd And amongst them the Nazarites were forbidden by God to drink Wine or any inebriating liquor as the Essceans a Sect of Monasticks besides Wine abstain'd from flesh and women Pythagoras abhorr'd Beans as much as he lov'd Figs either because the first were us'd in condemning criminals or because they excited lust by their flatuosity None of this Sect touch'd fish out of reverence to the silence of this animal and they made conscience of killing other creatures in regard of their resemblance with us which was also observ'd by the first men before the Flood for 2000 years together the Law of Nature which then bore sway making the same abhor'd But this fast is much harder in our diversity of fare then when only Acorns serv'd for food to our first Fathers when the Athenians liv'd of Figs alone the Argians and Tirynthians of pears the Medes of Almonds the Aethiopians of Shrimps and the fruits of Reeds the Persians of Cardamomes the Babylonians of Dates the Egyptians of Lote as the Icthyophagi of Fish of which dry'd and ground to powder many Barbarians make bread at this day and their meat of the fresh For in those days people liv'd not to eat as many do in these luxurious times but eat to live The Third said That fasting is as contrary to the health of the body as conducive to that of the mind The best temper which is hot and moist is an enemy to the souls operations which require a temper cold and dry which is acquir'd by fasting hence choler being hot and dry gives dexterity and vivacity blood hot and moist renders men foolish and stupid and the cold and dry melancholy humour is the cause of prudence But this is to be understood of fasting whereby less food is taken then nature is able to assimilate not of that which observes a mediocrity always commendable and good for health Moreover the right end of fasting is to afflict and macerate that body by abstaining from the aliments which it naturally desires But as in drinking and eating so in abstinence from either there is no certain rule but regard must be had to the nature of the aliments some of which are more nutritive then others to that of the body to the season custom exercises and other circumstances so they who eat plentifully of ill-nourishing meats or whose stomacks and livers are very large and hot or who are accustom'd to eat much will fast longer then those that eat little but of good juice or who have not much heat and use but little exercise Growing persons as children though plentiful feeders yet oftentimes will fast more then those that eat less In Winter and Spring when the bowels are hotter and sleep longer fasting is more insupportable because the natural heat being now stronger then in Summer and Autumn consumes more nourishment Wherefore only discretion can prescribe rules for fasting If it be for health so much must be given Nature as she requires and no more the first precept of Hippocrates for health being Never to satiate one's self with food If 't is intended to purge the soul then 't is requisite to deny something to nature the sucking which is felt in the stomack serving to admonish reason of the right use of abstinence For temperance must not be turn'd into murder and fasting only macerate not destroy the body The Fourth said That by fasting Socrates preserv'd himself from the Plague against which we are erroneously taught to make repletion an Antidote when 't is manifest man's fasting spittle is found to be an enemy to poysons to kill Vipers and mortifie Quick-silver Moreover we may impute the false consequence which is drawn from the true Aphorisme of Hippocrates That Eunuchs Women and Children never have the Gout and the production of so many modern diseases to gluttony and the frequency of meals our fore-fathers being so well satisfi'd with one that Plato wonder'd how the Sicilians could eat twice a day CONFERENCE LXX I. Of Climacterical Years II. Of Shame I. Of Climacterical Years MAn's life is a Comedy whereof the Theatre or Stage is the World Men the Actors and God the Moderator who ends the Play and draws the Curtain when it seems good to him When 't is play'd to the end it hath five Acts Infancy or Childhood Adolescence Virility or Manhood consisting of middle age and old age each of 14 years which multiply'd by 5 make 70 years the term assign'd to humane life by the Royal Prophet These acts are divided into two Scenes of as many septenaries in either of which considerable alterations both in body goods and mind also are observ'd to come to pass For seeing many persons incur great accidents at one certain number of years rather then another and if they scape death fall again into other dangers at certain times and so from one degree
to another till they be come to the last step of the Ladder which is call'd Climax by the Greeks hence the name of Climacterical comes to be given to the years at which these changes are observ'd The most general opinion refers them to that number of seven though some have attributed them to the ninth others to every other second year but especially to the product of the one multiply'd by the other which is sixty three compos'd of nine times seven or seven times nine and therefore the most dangerous For seven and nine as Fermicus Maternus saith being very pernicious of themselves their malignity is conjoyn'd in that number of sixty three call'd upon this account the grand Climacterical as 7 14 21 28 35 41 49. very considerable amongst them for being the square of seven and 56. are call'd less Climactericals but 126. the greatest Climacterical of all because it contains the grand one twice being compos'd of eighteen Septenaries Now all these Climactericals are call'd Hebdomaticks because they go upon seven as those which are counted by nine are call'd Enneaticks amongst which the less are 9 18 27 36 45 and 54 the grand one is again 63 made also of nine multiply'd by seven the rest are 72 81 very notable too for being the square of nine 90 99 and so to the greatest Climaterical 126 made of twice nine Septenaries Amongst all which years 't is further observ'd that those are the most dangerous which ascend either by three weeks or three novenaries of years as 21 42 63 in the Hebdomaticks and 27 54 81 in the Ennecaticks The Second said That as the Septenary is considerable so is that of Nine for the number of the Hierarchies and Celestial Spheres together with the common number of moneths of womens pregnancy the time between the conception and the birth having a great resemblance with the remainder of Man's Life Likewise the Ternary proper to the Deity being multiply'd by it self must contain what ever wonder and efficacy there can be found in numbers since it belongs to innumerable things and nothing can be consider'd but with its three dimensions and its three parts beginning middle and end past present and future hence the assigning of three faces to Janus three names and three powers to the Moon according to its own that of Diana and that of Hecate together with the fiction of three Graces In brief as the three greatest changes came to pass in each of the three times of the world before the Law under the Law and after the Law so it seems just that this ternary number divide the actions of the less world as it hath done of the great The Third said That he accounted it more reasonable to make this division by the quaternary number comprehended in the ineffable name of four Letters the Elements and Humours to the contract or amity of which we owe our health our diseases death and all the accidents of our lives And the slowest motion of the dullest and most malignant of these humours is made in four dayes the reduplication whereof hath given ground to the error which attributes the Crises and indications of diseases to other numbers The fourth day is acknowledg'd the first of Natures motion and serves for a measure and foundation of all others The Crises of diseases are unanimously attributed to the Moon which hath but four quarters distinguish'd by as many faces which being denominated from the quaternary argue its power over that Planet and consequently over every thing that depends upon it And as there are four noble parts in Man comprehending with Galen those which preserve the species so there are four in the world East West North and South four parts of the earth Europe Asia Africa and America and four Monarchies But the considerableness of this number appears in that our Lord having been ask'd five questions namely of the time of his Death his Ascension the Calling of the Gentiles and the destruction of Jerusalem they were accomplish'd in the number of four times ten For he continu'd dead 40 hours he ascended into Heaven at the end of 40 dayes the vocation of the Gentiles typifi'd by the vision of unclean beasts offer'd by the Angel to Saint Peter to eat was at the end of 40 moneths which are about 3 years and a half so long also as Antichrist is to continue and the destruction of Jerusalem came to pass at the end of 40 years Whence some suspect that the end of the world which was another question made to him will probably happen after 40 times 40 years which added to the preceding would fall about the year 1640. Moreover the quaternary is not onely a square number but causing all others to be denominated such the cause of the change which happens in this number is for that a Cube cannot be vari'd and mov'd but with difficulty so that great causes are requisite to produce those changes which producing great effects become more sensible and remarkable then the ordinary ones which more easily cause variation in other numbers remote from the cubick figure The Fourth said That the Prince of Physitians having affirm'd that the Septenary is the dispenser of life and author of all its changes seven must be the true Climacterical For in seven hours the Geniture receives its first disposition to conception in seven dayes it is coagulated in seven weeks it is distinguish'd into members The Infant cannot come forth alive sooner then the seventh moneth and anciently it was not nam'd till after seven dayes being not accounted fully to have life till it had attaind that periodical day The Teeth spring out at the seventh moneth they shed and are renew'd in the seventh year at which time the Child begins to speak articulately and to be capable of Discipline At twice seven years it is pubes At twenty one the beard sprouts forth At twenty eight growing ceases At thirty five a Man is fit for marriage and the warrs At forty two he is wise or never At 49 he is in his Apogee or highest pitch after which he grows old and changes alwayes by Septenaries till he have accomplish'd the years of his life which Hippocrates for this reason distributes into seven Ages The virtue of this Number appears likewise in divine things God having sanctifi'd the seventh day by his own rest and ours and all Nations measuring their time by weeks But 't is not without mystery that Enoch the seventh after Adam was translated into Heaven that Jesus Christ is the seventy seventh in a direct line from the first Man that he spoke seven times upon the Cross on which he was seven hours that he appear'd seven times and after seven times seven dayes sent the Holy Ghost That in the Lords prayer there are seven Petitions contain'd in seven times seven words The Apostles chose seven Deacons All the mysteries of the Apocalypse are within this number mention being there made of seven seals
of the Book of seven horns of the Lamb and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent throughout all the earth of the seven heads and seven questions of the Dragon of the seven heads of the Woman which are seven hills of seven Kings seven Angels seven Trumpets seven vials seven plagues The Scripture makes mention of seven resurrections to that of our Saviours The 1. of the Widows Son of Sarepta by Elias The 2. of the Shunamite's Son by Elisha The 3. of the Souldier who touch'd the bones of that Prophet The 4. of the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue The 5. of the Widows Son of Naim The 6. of Lazarus And the 7. of our Lord. The Rabbins say that God employ'd the power of this Number to make Samuel so great as he was his name answering in value of the Letters to the Hebrew word which signifies seven whence Hannah his Mother in her thanks to God saith That the barren had brought forth seven Solomon spent seven years in building Gods Temple Jacob serv'd seven years for Leah and as many for Rachel The wall of Jericho fell down at the sound of Joshuah's seven Trumpets after the Israelites had gone seven times about it on the seventh day Nabuchadononosor did penance for his pride seven years amongst the beasts Moreover there are seven Penitential Psalms The Nile and the Danow have seven mouths There are seven hills at Rome Prague and Constantinople Noah entred into the Ark with seven persons and seven pairs of all clean Animals After seven dayes the waters fell from Heaven during seven times seven dayes On the seventh moneth the Ark rested upon the Mountain of Ararat The Ecclesiastes limits mourning to seven dayes There were seven years of plenty and as many of famine in Aegypt There were seven Lamps in the Tabernacle typifying seven gifts of the Spirit The Jews ate unleavened bread seven dayes and as many celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles They let their land rest every seventh year and after seven times seven had their Jubilee The strength of Sampson lay in seven locks of his Hair There are seven Sacraments in the Church as in Heaven seven Planets seven Pleiades seven Stars in the two Bears The Periodical course of the Moon is made in four times seven days at each of which septenaries it changes its face In brief there were seven miracles of the World and seven Sages of Greece There are seven Electors seven liberal Arts seven pairs of Nerves seven Orifices serving for gates to the Senses Natural sleep is limited to seven hours and this Number is by some justly esteem'd the knot or principal band of all things and the symbol of Nature The Fifth said It was not without cause that Augustus was so extreamly fearful of the Climactericals that when he had pass'd his 63d year he writ in great joy to all his friends but he dy'd in the second Climacterick after his 77th year consisting of eleven septenaries which was also fatal to Tiberius Severus T. Livius Empedocles S. Augustin Bessarion as the sixty third was to Aristotle Cicero who also was banish'd in his Climacterick of 49 Demosthenes Trajan Adrian Constantine S. Bernard the blessed Virgin and many others And the next Climacterick of 70 to three of the Sages of Greece to Marius Vespasian Antoninus Golienus David who was also driven from his Kingdom by his Son at his sixty third year and committed his adultery and homicide at his forty nineth both climactericals And as much might be observ'd of the fates and actions of other men were regard had of them Our first Father dy'd at the age of 931 years which was climacterical to him because it contains in it self seven times 133. Lamech dy'd at 777 years climacterical likewise as Abraham dy'd at 175 which contains 25 times seven Jacob at 147 consisting of 21 times seven Judas at 119 made of 17 times seven the power of which Climactericals many make to extend to the duration of States which Plato conceiv'd not to be much above 70 weeks of years The Sixth said That regular changes proceeding necessarily from a regular cause and no motion being exactly regular in all nature but that of the Heavens supposing there be climacterical years and not so many deaths and remarkable accidents in all the other numbers of days moneths and years had they been all as carefully observ'd as some of them have been their power of alteration cannot but be ascrib'd to the celestial bodies That which befalls us every seventh year arises hence as every Planet rules its hour so it makes every day moneth and year septenary beginning by Saturn and ending at the Moon which governs the seventh and therein causes all mutations which acquire malignity by the approach of Saturn presiding again over the eighth which is the cause why births in the eighth moneth are seldom vital II. Of Shame Upon the second Point it was said That the Passions consider evil and good not only absolutely but also under certain differences Desire hath regard to absent good not in general but in particular sometimes under the respect of Riches and then 't is call'd Covetousness sometimes of Honour and then 't is call'd Ambition sometimes of Beauties and then 't is an amorous inclination So grief looks upon present evil if it be in another it causes compassion in us if in our selves and apprehended prejudicial to our honour it causes shame which is a grief for an evil which we judge brings ignominy to us a grief so much the greater in that no offence goes more to the quick then that which touches our reputation It occasion'd the death of a Sophist because he could not answer a question and of Homer because he could not resolve the riddle of the Fishers and of others also upon their having been non-plus'd in publick For as nothing is more honorable then vertue and knowledge so nothing is so ignominious as ignorance and vice nor consequently that makes us so much asham'd being reproaches of our falling short of our end which is to understand and to will and so of being less then men but as Plato said Monsters of nature But amongst all the vices Nature hath render'd none so shameful as that of lasciviousness whereof not only the act but also the gestures and signs cause shame Hence an immodest or ambiguous word and a fix'd look make women and children blush whom shame becomes very well being the guard of chastity and the colour of vertue as it ill becomes old men and persons confirm'd in vertue who ought not to commit any thing whereof they may be asham'd The Second said That shame is either before vice and the infamy which follows it or after both In the first sence shame is a fear of dishonour In the second 't is a grief for being fallen thereinto Neither of the two is ever wthout love of honesty but lies between the two extreams or sottish and rustick
that two Spheres may be so contiguous as the Celestial are that there can be no air between them yet they might nevertheless be mov'd and heated yea much more then if there were air interpos'd between them The Third said As a form cannot be receiv'd into any subject without previous dispositions so when they are present they suddenly snatch the form to themselves Those of fire are rarity lightness and dryness of which the more bodies partake the more they will be susceptible of the nature of fire Therefore what is capable of being heated by motion must be dry not moist whence fire is never produced by water any more then of air agitated by reason of their excessive humidity perfectly contrary to the dryness of fire But that which is extreamly dry is half fire needing no more but to become hot as happens necessarily when it is rarefi'd and attenuated by motion and consequently inflam'd every substance extreamly tenuious and dry being igneous since in the order of nature all matter necessarily receives the form whereof it hath all the dispositions For there being a separation and divulsion of parts made in every sort of motion as is seen in water when it falls from on high it follows that they are render'd more rare and capable of being converted into fire The Fourth said That motion rarity and heat ordinarily follow and are the causes one of another Thus the Heavens by their rapid motion excite heat in all sublunary bodies and this heat as 't is its property opening the parts rarefies the whole Water receiving the rayes of the Sun is mov'd and agitated by them this motion produces rarity this heat which makes the subtilest parts ascend upwards as on the contrary heat being the most active quality is the cause of motion this of rarity by collision attenuating the mov'd parts So that motion is not more the cause of heat then this is of motion The Fifth said That heat and fire which is only an excess of heat are produc'd four ways by propagation union putrefaction and motion In the first way one way generates another fire a thing common to it with all other bodies in nature which is so fruitful that even the least things produce their like In the second manner when the Sun-beams are reflected by bellow glasses they burn in the point of union provided the matter be not white because whitenesse takes away the reason upon which they burn which is their uniting whereas white disunites and disgregates the rayes To which manner that of antiperistasis is also to be referr'd when external cold causes such a union of the degrees of heat that it becomes inflam'd The third cause of heat is putrefaction proceeding from disunion of the Elements amongst which fire being the most active becomes becomes also more sensible to us The last is motion by which bodies rub'd or clash'd one against another take fire by reason of the Sulphur contain'd in them which alone is inflamable as we see Marble and Free-stone yield not fire as Flints do whose smell after the blew seems sulphureous For if only the air be fir'd whence comes it that in striking the steel the sparkles of fire fall downwards contrary to the nature of fire which ascends besides the air would be turn'd into flames not into sparkles and two stones rub'd one against the other would cause as much fire as steel and the flint or other stones out of whose substance these igneous particles are struck Whence according to their differences they make different sparkles If the stones be hard and struck strongly they render a sprightly fire if soft they either render none at all or such as is less vigorous Moreover the observations of fire issuing forth upon the rubbing of a Lyon's bones as also Laurel and Ivy and Crystal with Chalcedon and that which comes from stroking the back of a Cat in the dark and from the casting a drop of rectifi'd oyl of Vitriol into cold water evidence that this fire is produc'd out of the bosom of the matter which is more dispos'd thereunto then any other not from the encompassing air But that which serves most to shew that 't is from the matter this fire of motion comes is the duration of the Heavens which being in all probability solid would have been set on fire were it not that they are not of a combustible matter nor apt to conceive fire for how little soever that heat were there would be more neer the Sphere of the Moon then at the Centre of the Earth and nevertheless the air is frozen while heat causes corruptions and generations upon the earth and at the centre of it and this heat having been always encreasing as is that of the motion would be insupportable II. Of Chastity Upon the second Point it was said That Reason regulates the inclinations of the appetite by the vertues amongst which temperance serves to moderate that of eating by abstinence and of drinking by sobriety as also the concupiscence of the flesh by chastity which is more excellent then the two former in that its business lies with more powerful adversaries which assail it without as well as within by so many avenues as there are senses amongst which the hearing and sight receiving the poyson of glances and words cause chastity to stagger and languish but it receives the deadly blow when the touch surrenders it self to the inchantment of kisses and the other delights which follow them Moreover the necessity of natural actions being the standard of pleasure and generation which concerns the general being more necessary then nutrition which relates only to the particular it hath also more pleasure and consequently being more hard to withstand chastity which surmounts it not only deserves Palmes and Triumphs in the other world but also in this hath been rewarded by God with the gift of Prophecy in the Sibyls and is honour'd by all even the most wicked for its rarity which made the Poet say that there was none in his time chaste but she that had not been tempted Now Chastity is of three sorts Virgineal Conjugal and that of Widows to which the Fathers attribute what is said of the grains of Corn which brought forth one a hundred other thirty and other sixty For Virgineal Chastity in either sex consisting in integrity of body and purity of soul and in a firm purpose to abstain from all sort of carnal pleasures the better to attend divine service is more worthy then the other two and prefer'd before any other condition by S. Paul who counsels every one to desire to be like him in this point Hence the Church hath chosen it and is so immutably affected to it to the end souls freed from worldly care might be more at leisure for divine things from which Matrimony extreamly diverts The chastity of Widows hath for pattern the Turtle and the Raven who having lost their mates live nine ages of men without coupling with
cloud by the inclos'd exhalation whence rain commonly follows it Fulgur is the exhalation inflam'd which impetuously breaks out at the sides of the cloud wherein it is oftentimes turn'd into a stone of the shape of a wedge the celestial heat then working the same effect in the cavities of the cloud that our common fire doth in crucibles in which equal portions of Sulphur Tartara and Antimony inflam'd turn into a very hard stone of the colour of the Thunder-bolt call'd Regulus Antimonii The Second said As fire is sometimes produc'd in the Air without noise and noise without fire so a great fire is made there with little noise as when what they call a Falling Star passes through a moist cloud in which it makes a hissing like that of hot Iron in cold water whence Winds proceed and sometimes a great noise with little fire as when an Exhalation inflam'd hollows and breaks the cloud which encloses it or else impressing a violent and rapid motion upon it makes it clash impetuously against other clouds For impetuousness supplies for hardnesse as is seen in Air which whistles when beaten by Winds there being some things which tension renders hard as Wind included in a foot-ball And what is reported of the Cataracts of Nile whose waters make so vehement a noise that it renders the people there abouts deaf is a sufficient evidence that two fluid bodies clashing violently together make as great a sound as two solid bodies mov'd with lesse violence The Third said That what is done below being the figure of what is done on high the one may be clearly explicated by the other Wherefore as Exhalation with vapor makes metals in the entrails of the Earth so in the Air it makes Thunder whither they ascend together the vapor being blended with the Exhalation or severally this latter being set on fire in the cold and vaporous cloud or being no longer containable there through its great rarity encounter'd by the coldness of the cloud and the Air it seeks some out-let which not finding 't is necessitated to hollow the bollow the belly of the cloud which obstructed it This rarity proceeds from its heat and drynesse which are commonly turn'd into fire by the sole motion of the Exhalation or by the rayes of the Sun or of some other Stars reflected by the smooth surface of an opposite cloud in the same manner as Burning-glasses set on fire such things as are plac'd at some convenient distance Which should be thought no more strange then mock-suns and mock-moons which are made in the same manner but in a flat or plain cloud not parabolical such as the figure of Burning-glasses must be Moreover fire may be excited by the Antiperistasis of the vehement cold in the middle Region of the Air which causes the degrees of heat to unite as those of other qualities strengthen one another in an enemy country and become flame Hence Thunders are more frequent in Southern then in Northern Countries in hot seasons then in Winter wherein the cold closing the pores of the Earth hinders the free issue of the Exhalations and the middle Region of the Air is found less cold But the most sensible example of Thunder is that of our Guns the powder being so suddenly inflam'd that it cannot reside in the barrel where it takes up a thousand times more room then it did whilst it remain'd in its terrene nature according to the decuple proportion of the Elements violently breaks forth and carries with it what ever resists it breaking the Gun unless the mouth be open though much stronger then a cloud whose spissitude nevertheless supplies for its rarity The Fourth said That the Nature of Thunder and Thunderbolts is so occult that all antiquity call'd them the weapons of Jupiter which he discharg'd upon the wicked as is testifi'd by their fables of the Giants Salmoneus Phaeton and some others Nor is there any so hardned in wickedness but trembles at the cracking of Thunder and Thunder-bolts which Socrates in Xenophon calls the Invisible Ministers of God And one Emperor acknowledg'd himself no God by going to hide himself in a cave while it thunder'd because Thunder-bolts are conceiv'd not to enter the Earth above five foot deep Others have thought that there is something supernatural in it and that Daemons have commonly a hand in it because its effects being unlike those of corporeal Agents seem to be produc'd by spirits who are able to move what ever there is in Nature and this the more easily being not ty'd to the conditions of the matter but mov'd in an instant and penetrating all bodies whatever For Thunder hath kill'd many who had no appearance of hurt upon them the Hair of some hath been taken off without other inconvenience it hath consum'd the Tongues of some or turn'd them downwards it hath melted the money in the purse and the sword in the scabbard without other mischief it sowres Wine in the vessel spoils Eggs under a Hen and makes Sheep abortive Moreover the Scripture tells us that God hath many times us'd Thunder either to punish or terrifie men as he did in Aegypt by the rod of Moses who calls Thunder-bolts God's swords as David doth his Arrows and the Thunder his voice The Law was given to the Israelites with Thunders and Lightnings and Saint John in his Revelation saith that Thunders and Lightnings proceed from Gods Throne Indeed nothing more visibly notifies his presence power and justice yet alwayes accompany'd with Clemency for he threatens by Lightning and speaks by Thunder before he strikes by the Thunder-bolt and the rumbling of this Thunder menaces a whole Region though commonly it carries the blow but upon one person or oftentimes none at all The Fifth said Fear which not onely sometimes made the Romans worship Famine and the Fever but makes it self an Idol in the Minds of the Ignorant has perswaded men that there is something Divine in Thunder because they dread the dismal effects of it and know not the cause although it be as natural as that of all other Meteors Hence some have had recourse to impertinent and superstitious remedies as to pronounce certain barbarous words to carry certain figures or characters about them and according to Wierus to lay a Thunder-stone call'd by the Greeks Ceraunium between two Eggs upon a Table in the house which you would preserve or hang an Egg lay'd on Ascension-day to the roof of the House and such other absurd and prophane means The Northern people were much more ridiculous who as Olaus reports shot Arrows up to Heaven when it Thunder'd thereby as they said to help their Gods who were assail'd by others The Thracians fell a howling against Heaven struck their shields with their swords and rung all their bells which latter is practis'd at this day to the end the vehement agitation of the Air may divert the Thunder-bolt from the steeples upon which as upon all other high places especially
same as in those who are blinded and hardned in vice sometimes it forces it to come over to its own side and back it exorbitance with Reasons In some others in whom Reason remains intire and there is a clear knowledge of the turpitude of an action yet the Will is so bound and charm'd by the vehemence of the Passions of the Concupiscible and Irascible Appetite that it follows their motions inspight of the remonstrances of Reason Such was Medaea who by reason saw the heinousness of her intended murther of her Children but rage and desire of revenge upon their Father Jason transported her So it was said of the Athenians that they knew indeed what was fit to be done but did it not The Fourth said They who hold that Virtues are not habits distinct from Sciences would not be of this opinion that we can know good and do evil for Divinity teaches us that there is no sin without ignorance and that as 't would not be in our power to sin if we had perfect knowledge of the turpitude of Vice so 't is impossible for a man to know the beauty of Virtue without loving her considering too that we have in us the seeds of Virtue to which we are naturally lead inasmuch as it conducts us to the supreme good seeds which would grow of themselves were it not for the depravation of our judgement which being imbu'd with the false maxims of the Imaginations which governs all our actions and judges not of the goodness of things but by sense and common opinion according to which glory follows vice and contempt poor Virtue this is the cause that these seeds of Virtue are stifl'd in the birth Whereunto greatly conduces the example of other vicious persons who are more numerous then the virtuous And as Vice is more sensible so it easily passes into habit this habit into custom which being another nature begets a kind of necessity to Vice which becoming familiar by degrees seems most agreeable in respect of the severe aspect of Virtue men having in this condition Appetites as irregular as those of Child-bearing women who prefer char-coal chalk and ashes before good Aliments The Fifth said That the contest between the Sensitive Appetite and Reason arises from the diversity of their objects unto which either of them endeavours to draw the Will Hence if it happen that Honesty the object of Reason be a sensible evil as to fast fight or indure any thing contrary to the sensitive Appetite whose object is delectable and sensual good there arises a combat between these two Faculties in which Reason is many times worsted for want of being well seconded But when the object of Reason and the Appetite is the same namely a sensible good there is no debate between them For Reason proposing it to the Will it spontaneously tends to it being also lead thereunto by the Sensitive Appetite Hence in Indignation Com-Passion and Emulation which are rational motions accompany'd with anger grief and self-love there is no fight between the Sensitive Appetite and Reason since in these virtuous motions Reason gives the bridle to those Passions which are the Emissaries of the Appetite As when the commands of a Master agree with the inclinations of the Servant he sets upon performing them cheerfully But being it very seldome happens that what is commanded by Reason agrees with the Passions of the Appetite but is commonly difficult and laborious 't is not to be wondr'd if this intestine war be frequent and the Appetite get the better of Reason Moreover what is in the Intellect being transmitted from the Senses equally revolted against this Faculty their Princess it still retains something of the grosness of Sensuality so that these notions of the Intellect oftimes taking part with the Senses and Sensitive Appetite Reason cares not to prevail over them it being also proper to inferiors to have some contrariety to the commands of their Superiors as is seen in the Celestial Spheres which have a motion opposite to that of the First Mover Besides that the Empire of Reason over the Appetite is not despotical or of a Master over a Servant but political such as that of a Magistrate over the Citizens and consequently half voluntary II. Whether Speech be natural and peculiar to Man Upon the Seond Poynt Plato's opinion was mention'd that the Gods having by Epimetheus produc'd all other Animals with some particular gift made man naked and weak destitute of all natural aids and subject to so many miseries that they pitied him and thereupon order'd Prometheus to give him Reason Speech and Hands the first to know and contemplate the marvells of the world the second to express his thoughts outwardly the last to put his words and thoughts in execution Reason not differing from Speech saving that it is internal whence 't is also call'd the word of the mind and the other external This external Speech is so excellent that though it consist but of wind which is Air striking against the Epiglottis modifi'd and articulated by the tongue lipps palate and teeth yet 't is the interpreter of the reasonable soul according to whose example 't is equally receiv'd into all the ears of the Auditors When this Speech is true 't is a sign of the mind's conception and as natural and peculiar to man as Reason it self one of whose goodliest priviledges it is Besides man being born to live in society needed not onely Reason to guide himself but also Speech to govern others which likewise hath more power over Souls inclining and turning them as it pleases The Second said Some Animals are perfectly mute as worms and Snails others render some sound as Flyes Grashoppers though 't is onely that of their wings and some have voice as all perfect animals amongst whom man hath the particular advantage of Speech For sound is a Collision of Air between two solid bodies Voice is a sound render'd by the mouth of an Animal to express its affections But Speech is a voice which signifies by institution and is call'd a verb if it signifie time otherwise a noun As it signifies by institution 't is distinguish'd from the voice which is a natural sign and hath some correspondence with the thing signifi'd So the hoarse voice of one angry perfectly represents the inundation and tempest of the Spirits in this Passion The lowness and mildness of a sad and afflicted mans voice represents the effect of sadness which is to compress the Heart and Arteries for these organs being coarcted the voice becomes more slender as appears in Women fat people children and eunuchs The Lover's interrupted speech betrayes the inequality of his mind But words are signes without any reference to the thing signifi'd depending onely on the Will of those who first gave names to things For if they were natural signes they would be understood by all the world and be every where the same But though 't is not natural but acquir'd by precepts
and jet burnt whence the Ancients being about to buy a slave made him snuff up smoak of brimstone to try whether he were not subject to this disease so many Antepileptical remedies cure it but that which proceeds by sympathie from the stomack or other parts more easily then that which is idiopathical and radicated in the brain As the shavings of man's skull not buried drunk with water of Teile-tre and Paeony so contrary to this evil that it cures the same by being hung about the neck II. Whether there be any Art of Divination Upon the Second Point 't was said That Man who alone understands the nature and difference of Time is more solicitous about the future then about the present which is but a moment or the past which concerns him only historically Hence arises his ardent desire of presaging to satisfie which he makes use of every thing in the world Which is an infallible argument of the vanity of this Art of Divination because effects cannot be fore-told by all sorts of causes but onely by those wherewith they have connexion and wherein they are potentially contain'd as leaves and fruits are in the seeds and 't is receiv'd a Maxime that when an effect may be produc'd by sundry causes none of them is the true cause since we cannot from such an effect proceed to the knowledge of its cause Now Divination is not taken here as Hippocrates speaks of it in his Prognosticks when he saith that nothing is makes Physitians more resemble Gods then the foretelling of what will befall and hath already befallen their Patients For there he speaks of the predictions of Physick but here to divine is to affirm an event whereof we see not any cause or probable sign For if by seeing a Rain-bow I prognosticate rain or that a tree will bear fruit when it is well blossom'd or that a sick person that rests ill the night before the seventh day will have a Crisis this is not Divination But if not knowing a prisoner nor his affairs I fore-tell that he will be set at liberty or not that an unknown person will be married and how many Children he will have or such other things which have no necessary nor yet contingent causes known to me this is properly to Divine Whereby it appears that there is no Art of Divination Art being a body of precepts tending to some profitable end whereas were Divination certain it would cause nothing but either despair or negligence and precepts being of things hapning necessarily or most commonly that whose cause we know not cannot be known by precepts And therefore all your Soothsayers Augurs Sorcerers Fortune-tellers and the like are but so many Impostors The Second said That Divination which is a prediction of future things remote from our knowledge is of three sorts Either from God as Prophecy from Devils as Conjuring or from causes purely natural which is Prognostication or Conjecture Prophecy is a divine inspiration whereby one fore-sees and declares remote things infallibly 'T was exercis'd at first by the Priests of the Law with the Vrim and Thummim which were twelve precious stones in the high Priests Ephod and afterwards by the Prophets instructed in dreams or visions whence they were call'd seers Diabolical Divination depends upon some compact either tacite or express with the Devil who being able to declare such things as have appear'd by some outward act as the authors of robberies things lost or such futurities as depend on natural and necessary causes but not such as proceed from causes purely free or contingent the Soothsayers his servants can know no more concerning the same then their Master This Divination is of two sorts The first is call'd Daemonomancy when the Devils themselves give answers out of Caves or Images sometimes by beasts men or most frequently by women rendring oracles by their mouths stomacks or bellies but for the most part ambiguous and doubtful for fear of being mistaken The other is call'd Mangania or Goetia the most detestable species of which is Necromancy which draws answers from the mouths of the dead Others more remarkable are 1. Hydromancy or Divination by water into which they pour drops of oyle or cast three little stones observing the sections of the circles which they describe 2. Lecanomancy by a basin of water at the bottom of which the answers are heard after casting thereinto some plates of Gold and Silver and precious stones engraven with certain characters 3. Gastromancy by glass bottles full of water in which a big-belly'd woman or an innocent child beholds images 4. Catoptromancy by Looking-glasses 5. Crystallomancy by crystal cylinders 6. Dactylomancy by enchanted Rings like that of Gyges 7. Onychomancy by anointing the nail of a child with oyle or tallow and holding it towards the Sun they see in it what they demand 8. Aeromancy by conjurations of the Air. 9. Coscinomancy by a sieve and sizzars All which species of Divination presume either an express or tacite compact with the Devil But there were three without compact 1. Aruspices who drew conjectures from the entrails and motions of beasts sacrificed from the figures made by melted wax cast into water call'd Ceromantie or Daphnomancy from the crackling of burning Lawrel Omphalomancy when by the knots and adhering to the navil and secundines the Mid-wives fore-tell how many Children the new deliver'd woman shall have afterwards Amniomancy foretelling the Childs fortune from the red or livid colour of the coat Amnios Parthenomancy to discover Virginity by measuring the neck or drinking powder'd Agat which she that is no Virgin vomits up again 2. Augures or Auspices who divin'd from birds beasts prodigies and accidents as Pliny reports of the Servilii that they had a piece of brass money which they fed with Gold and Silver and it increas'd when any good was to befall their Family and diminish'd upon some approaching evil 3. Unlawful Lots are Cleromancy which comprehends Homer and Virgil's Lots Alectriomancy by a Cock eating corns of wheat lay'd upon the Letters of the Alphabet Oniomancy by names Arithmancy by numbers Lastly Natural Divination which is Conjecture either taken from the Stars as Judiciary Astrology the Air and its several dispositions the Sea and Trees as when a Plague is fore-told by the flourishing of Roses or Violets in Autumn Animals also supply some presages as Mice running away from an house presignifie its downfall or burning and Sparrows delinquishing a Country denote the Pestilence and infection of the Air. The Third said That the Soul being immortal is also capable of knowing things after the manner of eternity which being a total and simultaneous possession of endless life knows all things at once things future and past as present which knowledge is like that of a man who beholds a whole Army at the same time from the top of a Mountain and that of time in which things are seen successively is like that of him who through a hole sees every
a good while And whereas the air kills fishes when they are long expos'd to it it cannot serve for the support of their natural heat which is very small Wherefore they respire with water which is more natural and familiar to them causing the same effects in them that the air doth in land-animals The Second said As the aliments ought to be sutable to the parts of the body which they nourish the soft and spungy Lungs attracting the thin bilious blood the spleen the gross and melancholy so the spirits of the animal must be repair'd by others proportionate thereunto and of sutable matter for recruiting the continual loss of that spiritual substance the seat of the natural heat and radical moisture Wherefore animals which have aqueous spirits as fishes repair the same by water which they respire by the mouth the purest part of which water is turn'd into their spirits and the more gross omitted by their gills But land-animals whose spirits are aerious and more subtile and whose heat is more sensible have need of air to serve for sutable matter to such spirits for which end nature ha's given them Lungs Yet with this difference that as some fish attract a more subtile and tenuious water to wit that of Rivers and some again a more gross as those which live in Lakes and Mud So according as animals have different spirits some breathe a thin air as Birds others more gross as Men and most Beasts others an air almost terrestrial and material as Moles and amongst those which have only transpiration flyes attract a thin air and Worms a thick The Second said That our natural heat being celestial and divine may indeed be refresh'd by the air but not fed and supported as the parts of our body are by solid and liquid food For food must be in some manner like the thing nourish'd because 't is to be converted into its substance Now there 's no proportion between the gross and impure air which we breathe and that celestial and incorporeal substance Nor can nutrition be effected unless the part to be nourish'd retain the aliment for some time to prepare and assimilate it but on the contrary the air attracted by respiration is expell'd as soon as it hath acquir'd heat within and is become unprofitable to refresh and cool This respiration is an action purely animal and voluntary since 't is in our power to encrease diminish or wholly interrupt it as appears by Licinius Macer and Coma who by the report of Valerius Maximus kill'd themselves by holding their breath The Fourth said That Respiration being absolutely necessary to life is not subject to the command of the will but is regulated by nature because it doth its actions better then all humane deliberations Nor is it ever weary as the animal faculty is whose action is not continual as this of respiration is even during sleep which is the cessation of all animal actions and wherein there is no election or apprehension of objects a necessary condition to animal actions yea in the lethargy apoplexie and other symptoms wherein the brain being hurt the animal actions are interrupted yet respiration always remains unprejudic'd The Fifth said That respiration is neither purely natural as concoction and distribution of the blood are nor yet simply animal as speaking and walking are but partly animal partly natural as the retaining or letting go of urine is 'T is natural in regard of its end and absolute necessity and its being instituted for the vital faculty of the heart which is purely natural animal and voluntary inasmuch as 't is perform'd by means of 65 intercostal muscles the organs of voluntary motion whereby it may be made faster or slower II. Whether there be any certainty in humane Sciences Upon the second Point 't was said That all our knowledge seems to be false First on the part of the object there being but one true of it self namely God whom we know not and cannot know because to know adaequately is to comprehend and to comprehend is to contain and the thing contain'd must be less then that which contains it To know a thing inadaequately is not to know it Secondly on the part of our Intellect which must be made like to what it knows or rather turn'd into its nature whence he that thinks of a serious thing becomes serious himself he that conceives some ridiculous thing laughs without design and all the longings of Child-bearing-women end where they begun But 't is impossible for us to become perfectly like to what we would know Thirdly this impossibility proceeds from our manner of knowing which being by some inference or consequence from what is already known we can never know any thing because we know nothing at all when we come into the world And should we acquire any knowledge it would be only by our internal and external senses Both both are fallacious and consequently cannot afford certain knowledge For as for the external the eye which seems the surest of all the senses apprehends things at distance to be less then they really are a straight stick in the water to be crooked the Moon to be of the bigness of a Cheese though 't is neer that of the Earth the Sun greater at rising and setting then at noon the Shore to move and the Ship to stand still square things to be round at distance an erect Pillar to be less at the top Nor is the hearing less subject to mistake as the Echo and a Trumpet sounded in a valley makes the sound seem before us when 't is far behind us Pronuntiation alters the sense of words besides that both these senses are erroneous in the time of their perception as is seen in felling of woods and thunder The Smell and Taste yea the Touch it self how gross soever it be are deceiv'd every day in sound persons as well as in sick and what do our drinkers in rubbing their palates with Salt and Spice but wittingly beguile it grating the skin thereof that so the wine may punge it more sensibly But the great fallacy is in the operation of the inward Senses For the Phancy oftentimes is perswaded that it hears and sees what it doth not and our reasoning is so weak that in many disciplines scarce one Demonstration is found though this alone produceth Science Wherefore 't was Democritus's opinion that Truth is hidden in a well that she may not be found by men The Second said That to know is to understand the cause whereby a thing is and to be certain that there can be no other but that the word cause being taken for principle Therefore when men know by the Senses by effects by external accidents or such other things which are not the cause they cannot be said to know by Science which requires that the understanding be fully satisfi'd in its knowledge wherein if there be any doubt it hath not Science but Opinion This scientifical knowledge is found in
no other discipline but Logick and Geometry in regard of the certainty of their principles which are so clear that they are alike known by all even the most ignorant who need only understand their terms to assent to their truth Such as these are every thing which is said of the Genus is also said of the Species and what is not said of the Genus is not said of the Species which they call Dictum de omni de nulle If to equal things you add equal things the remainder will be equal And if to unequal things you add unequal things the remainder will be unequal For whereas beasts have a natural faculty which is the common sense or estimative faculty whereby they judge of the convenience or inconvenience of objects the first time the same are presented to them Man beyond this natural power enabling him to judge of sensible objects hath a peculiar one which is the Intellectual by means whereof he is said to be every thing in power because it enables him to know every thing and to judge of the truth or falshood of universal things which are Principles And as the eye beholding white or black judges sufficiently what colour it is without seeking reasons thereof elsewhere then within it self so the Intellect discerns the truth of principles by it self without the help of any other faculty yea without the habit of any Science because these principles being before the Science whereof they are principles must be more clear and known then it whence Intelligence is defin'd the habit or knowledge of such first Principles Thus ask a Geometrician why the whole is greater then its part he can give you no other reason but that 't is a principle known of its own nature The Third said That Geometry being the knowledge of eternal truths by infallible principles is most certain And 't is an evidence of its certainty that it neither proposes nor demonstrates why a thing is such but only that it is such As 't is propos'd and demonstrated that in the same segment of a circle all the angles are equal but not why they are so because 't is a truth which comes to our knowledge by certain principles and propositions formerly demonstrated as certain as the principles themselves Hence this truth is demonstrated which nevertheless hath not any cause of its existence as frail and perishing things have no material being abstracted from all matter nor efficient for the agent is not any way consider'd therein nor formal an angle being of its own nature only the inclination of lines nor yet final this being not made to any intention In like manner 't is demonstrated that four numbers or four lines being proportional that is when there is such reason of the first to the second as of the third to the fourth the square of the two extreams is equal to the square of the two middlemost but not why 't is so this question occurring only in dubious things The Fourth said That knowledge being desir'd by all men who for this end are endu'd with an Intellect capable of all sorts of notions it must needs be found in some subjects otherwise nature should have given us a general desire of a thing which is not And since there are causes of every thing there must be a Science of those causes But the multitude of apparent causes is the reason that we are oftentimes ignorant of the right and take one for another the shadow for the body and apparence for truth Which argues not that there is no knowledge but rather few knowing persons For Socrates who said he knew nothing but that he knew nothing and the Pyrrhonians who doubted of every thing had even a knowledge of their ignorance Moreover the exact knowledge men have by the senses of particular things necessarily carries them to that of universals wherein Science consists As he that often experienc'd in divers persons that Sena purg'd their melancholy acquires of himself this general Notion that all Sena purges melancholy And on the contrary he who understands a general proportion in gross may of himself apply the same to all particulars so great a connexion there is between things universal and particular in which the fruit of Science consists The Fifth said Since all knowledge depends upon another prenotion which is what they call principles those which compose the Sciences must also distinguish the same Wherefore Sciences are to be term'd certain or uncertain according as the pre-existent notions whereupon they are founded are certain or not Now amongst those principles some are universal common to all Sciences as those of Metaphysicks in all things either the affirmative or the negative is true that which is not hath no propriety Besides which 't is necessary to have particular one 's proper to the Science which are true first immediate causes of the Conclusion preceding and more known then it The six conditions requisite to principles in order to a demonstration They must be true not false for that which is false exists not that which exists not cannot be a cause of that which exists nor consequently a false principle be the cause of a true demonstration First that is not proveable by others immediate so enjoyn'd with the attribute that there is nothing between them two to joyn them more neerly causes of the conclusion that is this principle must be the necessary cause of this truth and consequently precede and be more known then it As taking this for a principle that the interposition of an opake body between light and a body illuminated causes a shadow upon this body we conclude that as often as the earth is found interpos'd between the Sun which is the light and the Moon which is the body illuminated it will necessarily come to pass that there will be a shadow upon the body of the Moon which is its Eclipse The Sixth said 'T was the errour of Socrates that observing our Sciences depending on other preceding notions he apprehended that we learned nothing new but that Science was nothing but the remembrance of what the soul formerly knew before its being inclos'd in this body not considering that the knowledge of principles and notions is confus'd and not distinct and that the knowledge of them in gross is not sufficient to denominate a person knowing but that we must first draw universal conclusions from them then apply the same to particulars without which application those principles would be unprofitable and not produce any Science Thus the Divine applies this general principle that that which is contrary to the Law of God is evil to particular conclusions as to murder theft and perjury The Physitian who holds for a Principle that Contraries are cur'd by their Contraries draws these other conclusions from it that a cold distemper is cur'd by hot medicaments a hot by refrigerating obstruction by openers which he applies again to particular subjects The States-man from this general Principle
to their conservation tutelary Angels being nothing but the organs of Divine Providence which embraces all things The Second said That the Genii produce in us those effects whereof we know not the cause every one finding motions in himself to good or evil proceeding from some external power yea otherwise then he had resolved Simonides was no sooner gone out of a house but it fell upon all the company and 't is said that as Socrates was going in the fields he caus'd his friends who were gone before him to be recall'd saying that his familiar spirit forbad him to go that way which those that would not listen to were all mired and some torn and hurt by a herd of swine Two persons formerly unknown love at the first sight allies not knowing one another oftimes feel themselves seiz'd with unusual joy one man is alwayes unfortunate to another every thing succeeds well which cannot proceed but from the favour or opposition of some Genii Hence also some Genii are of greater power then others and give men such authority over other men that they are respected and fear'd by them Such was the Genius of Augustus in comparison of Mark Antonie and that of J. Caesar against Pompey But though nothing is more common then the word Genius yet 't is not easie to understand the true meaning of it Plato saith 't is the guardian of our lives Epictetus the over-seer and sentinel of the Soul The Greeks call it the Mystagogue or imitator of life which is our guardian Angel The Stoicks made two sorts one singular the Soul of every one the other universal the Soul of the world Varro as Saint Augustine reports in his eighth book of the City of God having divided the immortal Souls which are in the Air and mortal which are in the Water and Earth saith that between the Moon and the middle region of the Air there are aerious Souls call'd Heroes Lares and Genii of which an Ancient said it is as full as the Air is full of flies in Summer as Pythagoras said that the Air is full of Souls which is not dissonant from the Catholick Faith which holds that Spirits are infinitely more numerous then corporeal substances because as celestial bodies are incomparably more excellent and ample then sublunary so pure Spirits being the noblest works of God ought to be in greater number then other creatures What the Poets say of the Genius which they feign to be the Son of Jupiter and the earth representing him sometimes in the figure of a serpent as Virgil do's that which appear'd to Aenaeas sometimes of a horn of plenty which was principally the representation of the Genius of the Prince by which his flatterers us'd to swear and their sacrificing Wine and Flowers to him is as mysterious as all the rest The Third said That the Genius is nothing but the temperament of every thing which consists in a certain harmonious mixture of the four qualities and being never altogether alike but more perfect in some then in others is the cause of the diversity of actions The Genius of a place is its temperature which being seconded with celestial influences call'd by some the superior Genii is the cause of all productions herein Prepensed crimes proceed from the melancholy humour the Genius of anger and murders is the bilious humour that of idleness and the vices it draws after it is phlegme and the Genius of love is the sanguine humour Whence to follow one's Genius is to follow one's natural inclinations either to good or to evil II. Whether the Suicide of the Pagans be justifiable Upon the Second Point 't was said That evil appears such onely by comparison and he that sees himself threatned with greater evils then that of death ought not onely to attend it without fear but seek it as the onely sovereign medicine of a desperate malady What then if death be nothing as the Pagans believ'd and leave nothing after it For we must distinguish Paganisme and Man consider'd in his pure state of nature from Christianity and the state of Grace In the former I think Diogenes had reason when meeting Speusippus languishing with an incurable disease who gave him the good day he answer'd I wish not you the like since thou sufferest an evil from which thou maist deliver thy self as accordingly he did when he returned home For all that they fear'd in their Religion after death was Not-Being what their Fasti taught them of the state of souls in the other life being so little believ'd that they reckon'd it amongst the Fables of the Poets Or if they thought they left any thing behind them 't was only their renown of which a couragious man that kill'd himself had more hope then the soft and effeminate The same is still the custom of those great Sea Captains who blow themselves up with Gun-powder to avoid falling into the enemies hands Yet there 's none but more esteems their resolution then the demeanor of cowards who yield at mercy This is the sole means of making great Captains and good Souldiers by their example to teach them not to fear death not to hold it with poltron Philosophers the most terrible of terribles And to judge well of both compare we the abjectness of a Perseus a slave led in triumph with the generosity of a Brutus or a Cato Vticensis For 't were more generous to endure patiently the incommodities of the body the injuries of an enemy and the infamy of death if man had a spirit proof against the strokes of fortune But he though he may ward himself with his courage yet he can never surmount all sort of evils and according to the opinion of the same Philosopher all fear is not to be rejected Some evils are so vehement that they cannot be disposed without stupidity as torments of the body fire the wheel the loss of honour and the like which 't is oftentimes better to abandon then vainly to strive to overcome them Wherefore as 't is weakness to have recourse to death for any pain whatsoever so 't was an ignominious cowardize amongst the Pagans to live only for grief The Second said That nature having given all individuals a particular instinct for self-preservation their design is unnatural who commit homicide upon themselves And if civil intestine wars are worse then forreign then the most dangerous of all is that which we make to our selves Wherefore the ancients who would have this brutality pass for a virtue were ridiculous because acknowledging the tenure of their lives from some Deity 't was temerity in them to believe they could dispose thereof to any then the donor and before he demanded it In which they were as culpable as a Souldier that should quit his rank without his Captain 's leave or depart from his station where he was plac'd Sentinel And did not virtue which is a habit require many reiterated acts which cannot be found in Suicide since we have
so And therefore there are more fools then wise happy For the latter discerning the meaness and vanity of the goods of the world account it no happiness to possess them but strain their wits to find others more solid which they will never find in this world whereas the former live contented and happy in the quiet enjoyment of their present goods beyond which they wish no others Moreover our happiness and contentment depends upon our selves that is upon our own imagination as appears in the Hospitals of fools who are so far from resenting the horror and misery wherein they really are that on the contrary they flatter themselves with their agreeable phancies of being Kings Emperors and very gods from which they take more pleasure then they give to others As also in that Athenian who imagining all the ships in the Piraean Haven to be his rejoyc'd for their return and su'd his friends at Law for curing him of this agreeable folly In fine according to the meer sentiments of nature the people of the world addicting themselves to all sorts of pleasures are more happy then those who deny the same to themselves in obedience to the counsels of the Gospel and yet in the judgement of God who is the rule of true wisdom these are wise and the other fools Lastly the Law is favorable to fools in the perpetration of great crimes their defect of will being their security For which reason we call them Innocents The Third said This Question is the harder to be determin'd because there is no judge but is a party But if we refer our selves to the wise as it belongs to them to determine things they will judge it to their own advantage And indeed to place felicity of the mind in the total alienation of the mind or in the several degrees of the same is no less preposterous then to place the pleasure of the body in pain or diseases For man's felicity or chief good consists not in opinion otherwise it were not true but only imaginary and so man alone amongst all the creatures could not be truly happy But this beatitude of man consists in his end this end is his action the action of man as man is that which renders him like to God by contemplation and vertue the two most perfect operations of the understanding and the will proceeding from principles to conclusions in the theory and from the means to the end in the practice of moral vertues which are not without prudence and reason because they consist in mediocrity which cannot be understood but by the comparison of the two extreams which is an action of the understanding Since therefore folly is a Laesion of the rational faculty whether this Reason be abolish'd deprav'd or diminish'd which are the several degrees of folly fools cannot be happy because they cannot live according to right reason in which the essence of this life's felicity consists As they are exempt from vices so they are incapable of vertues And if it be true that no man is happy but he that is contented and that contentment consists in the satisfaction we have in the enjoyment of some good which gives us rest fools cannot be happy since satisfaction of mind proceeds from its reflexion upon the excellence or goodnes of the thing which we possess Now reflexion is a most perfect act of the Intellect which returns upon its objects and it self So that what Civilians say of slaves that they cannot be happy in this world because they are not their own nor counted for any thing but reputed in the number of the dead the same may with much more reason be affirm'd of fools CONFERENCE XCII I. Which is most healthful moisture or dryness II. Which is to be preferr'd the contemplative life or the active I. Which is most healthful moisture or dryness THe Philosopher Thales had reason in affirming water to be the principle of all things whether he had learn'd out of the books of Moses that in the beginning the Spirit of God mov'd upon the face of the waters and so the water appear'd first of the Elements or else had observ'd in nature that no sublunary forms can subsist without moisture which Chymistry teaches us to extract out of the most acid bodies which neither can subsist without humidity tying and uniting their parts otherwise likely to fall into dust as it also serves to all generations those of Plants and Animals beginning always by humidity which is the cause why the Sea is more fruitful in Fish which likewise are more sound then the earth in its Animals of less bulk then the Marine For humidity is the food of their natural heat it also causes Leaves Flowers and Fruits to grow forth in Plants upon the earth and in the entrals thereof it forms Minerals the noblest of which are the most ductile and fusible which is a sign of their abundant humidity as the dryest and most earthy are the worst The dews of Heaven fertilize the earth whence God threatens his people to give them a heaven of brass and an earth of iron and when he promises great blessings he saith he will give dew in abundance which also was the blessing which Isaac gave his son Esau. The inundation of Nilus fattens the possessions of Egypt The Spring the most healthful and agreeable of all Seasons is moist Autumn on the contrary is the producer of diseases by reason of its drynesse Pearls are generated in the humidity of the Sea wherein also Venus was born Moisture is also the cause of plumpness and beauty which is never found in a lean face and a dry body and it hath so great an influence in our nature that we call a good one a good or pleasing humour The Moon governs all things by moisture upon which she hath a particular influence and the Planets are more benigne in moist Signs then in dry amongst which that of Virgo spoils the earth of all its beauties and of the Planets Mars and Saturn are the destroyers of nature by their drynesse In sine Humidity renders the Seasons Winds Places Ages more agreeable and Women more beautiful then Men. As Children who abound in humidity are more agreeable then dry old men And there 's no person but had rather live in a climate temper'd with humidity as between 40 and 50 degrees then in the sands and desarts of Libia more proper for the generation of Monsters then the habitation of men The Second said Although dry weather being the fairest and pleasantest hath more patrons then moist yet 't is more unhealthy The temperate Zones are pluvious and that Autumn which is commonly rainey is yet most unhealthy this proceeds from the inequality of its temperature and some other extraneous causes as the abundance of fruits which fill our bodies with crudities The Spring whose temperature is hot and moist is according to Hippocrates most healthy not subject to great diseases the matter whereof is evacuated
of Art which we learn'd from them for the most part but they have also virtues as Chastity Simplicity Prudence Piety On the contrary God as the Philosopher teaches exercises neither virtues nor any external actions but contemplation is his sole employment and consequently the most divine of all though it were not calm agreeable permanent sufficient proper to man and independent of others which are the tokens of beatitude and the chief good The Third said since 't is true which Plato saith that while we are in this world we do nothing but behold by the favour of a glimmering light the phantasms and shadows of things which custom makes us to take for truths and bodies they who amuse themselves in contemplation in this life cannot be said contented unless after the manner of Tantalus who could not drink in the midst of the water because they cannot satisfie that general inclination of nature who suffers nothing idle in all her precincts to reduce powers into act and dead notions into living actions If they receive any pleasure in the knowledge of some truths 't is much less then that which is afforded by action and the exercise of the moral virtues of the active life the more excellent in that they are profitable to many since the most excellent good is the most communicable Moreover all men have given the pre-eminence to civil Prudence and active life by proposing rewards and honours thereunto but they have punish'd the ingratitude and pride of speculative persons abandoning them to contempt poverty and all incommodities of life And since the Vice which is opposite to active life is worse then ignorance which is oppos'd to the contemplative by the reason of contraries action must be better then contemplation and the rather because virtuous action without contemplation is always laudable and many times meritorious for its simplicity on the contrary contemplation without virtuous acts is more criminal and pernicious In fine if it be true that he who withdraws himself from active life to intend contemplation is either a god or a beast as Aristotle saith 't is more likely that he is the latter since man can hardly become like to God The Fourth said That to separate active life from contemplative is to cut off the stream from the fountain the fruit from the tree and the effect from its cause as likewise contemplation without the vertues of the active life is impossible rest and tranquillity which are not found in vice being necessary to contemplate and know Wherefore as the active life is most necessary during this life so the contemplative is more noble and divine if this present life be consider'd as the end and not as the means and way to attain to the other life in which actions not contemplations shall be put to account Contemplation is the Sun Action the Moon of this little World receiving its directions from contemplation as the Moon of the great World borrows its light from the Sun the former presides in the day of contemplative life the second which is neerer to us as the Moon is presides in the darkness of our passions Both of them represented in Pallas the Goddess of Wisdom and War being joyn'd together make the double-fronted Janus or Hermaphrodite of Plato square of all sides compos'd of Contemplation which is the Male and Action which is the Female CONFERENCE XCIII I. Of the spots in the Moon and the Sun II. Whether 't is best to use severity or gentleness towards our dependents I. Of the spots in the Moon and the Sun THere is nothing perfect in the world spots being observ'd in the brightest bodies of Nature And not to speak of those in the Sun which seem to proceed from the same cause with those observ'd in our flame according as 't is condens'd or rarifi'd we may well give account of those in the Moon by saying with the Pythagoreans and some later excellent Mathematicians that the Moon is an earthly habitable Globe as the eminences and inequalities observ'd therein by the Telescope the great communications of the Moon with our earth depriving one another of the Sun by the opacity rotundity and solidty of both and the cold and moist qualities which it transmits hither like those of this terr-aqueous Globe since the same apparences and illumination of the Earth would be seen from the Heaven of the Moon if a man were carri'd thither And because solid massie bodies as wood and stone reflect light most strongly therefore the brightest parts of the Moon answer the terrestrial dense parts and the dark the water which being rarer and liker the air is also more transparent and consequently less apt to stop and reflect light This we experience in the prospect of high Mountains very remote or the points of Rocks in the open Sea which reflect a light and have a colour like that of the Moon when the Sun is still above the Horizon with her whereas the Sea and great Lakes being less capable of remitting this light seem dark and like clouds So that were this Globe of Ocean and Earth seen from far it would appear illuminated and spotted like the Moon For the opinion of Plurality of Worlds which can be no way dangerous of it self but only in the consequences the weakness of humane wit would draw from it much less is it contrary to the faith as some imagine is rather an argument of Gods Omnipotence and more abundant communication of his goodness in the production of more creatures whereas his immense goodness seems to be restrain'd in the creation of but one world and of but one kind Nor is it impossible but that as we see about some Planets namely Jupiter and Saturn some other Stars which move in Epicycles and in respect of their stations and those Planets seem like Moons to them and are of the same substance so that which shines to us here below may be of the same substance with our earth and plac'd as a bound to this elementary Globe The Second said That the spots of the Sun and Moon cannot be explicated without some Optical presuppositions And first 't is to be known that Vision is perform'd three ways directly by reflection and by refraction Direct Vision which is the most ordinary is when an object sends its species to the eye by a direct way that is when all the points of one and the same object make themselves seen by so many right lines Reflective Vision is when the species of an object falling upon the surface of an opake body is remitted back to the sight as 't is in our Looking-glasses Vision by refraction is when the species of an object having pass'd through a medium diaphanous to a certain degree enters obliquely into another medium more or less diaphanous for then 't is broken and continues not its way directly but with this diversity that coming from a thicker medium into a thinner as from water into air the species in breaking
incessantly assault it And if we compare it to other Sciences it overthrows most of their Principles by establishing the Mysteries of Faith This is it which made the wisest of men and who perfectly understood all Sciences to say That they were but vanity And were this union possible he hath so highly recommended sobriety of knowing that 't would be a kind of intemperance to desire to know every thing no less presumptuous by exceeding the bounds set by God to each of our capacities then ridiculous by attempting to make a necessary and infallible thing of many contingent and uncertain and not yet agreed upon The Third said That Unity which is one of the Transcendents co-eternal and co-essential to Good ought to be the attribute of all good things and consequently of Discipline which likewise being the good of the Understanding which is one cannot be comprehended by it but by their becoming conformable the one to the other If any reply That 't is enough that things enter into it successively and so need not be one which would be inconsistent with their nature I answer That the series and order which is found in those things belongs to one single Science otherwise they would have no conection together and by this means could not be made use of to purpose And since all our Notions depend one of another our Discourse being but a continual Syllogism whose Conclusions depend upon the Premises it follows That the Syllogism being the subject but of one Science they all pertain but to one Science whence Philosophy is defin'd the knowledge of things divine and humane that is to say of every thing Indeed since all moral Virtues are so connected together that 't is impossible to possess one without possessing all the Sciences which are the intellectual virtues must be streightly united likewise and the more for that they have but one most simple subject to wit the Uderstanding And since the means of Being are the same with those of Knowing every thing that is in the world having the same Principles of existence must also have the same principles of knowledg and so make one sole Science because Sciences differ only by reason of their principle all which too depend upon one Metaphysical principle namely That one and the same thing cannot be and not be which proves all others and therefore it follows That there must be one sole Science general comprehending all the rest For to say That every several manner of handling a thing makes a distinct Science is to imitate him who would make an Art of every Simple Lastly Nature would not have given us a desire of knowing every thing if this desire could not be accomplished But it is impossible to be so whilst the Sciences remain so diffuse as they are at present CONFERENCE XCV I. Of the diversity of Wits II. Of New-years Gifts I. Of the diversity of Wits DIversity is found in all things but no where more remarkably then in man for not to speak now of Bodies that of Minds is so great that none have been ever found to have the same inclinations or motions or that have been so much as like to themselves the Mind being an indefatigable Agent varying postures every moment according to the several occurrences of new objects to which it becomes like But though the division of Wits be so unequal and disadvantageous to some that there 's observ'd as great difference between one man and another as between some men and a brute yet all are well pleas'd with their lot and every one thinks he hath enough to spare and to govern and instruct others so conceited are we of what belongs to our selves Now the cause of this diversity of Spirits and Inclinations seems to be the various constitution of bodies whose temper the motions and inclinations of the Soul follow and this temper being incessantly mutable by causes internal and external not only in the four seasons of the year but also in the four parts of the day hence ariseth the diversity of the actions and inclinations of the Mind which is so great that the same thing pleases and displeases us in a little space of time The Second said That the Faculty which they call Ingenium or Genius cannot proceed meerly from the temperament of the four qualities For we see those that come nearest the temperament of man are the most stupid and Ages Seasons and Aliments changing those qualities continually should also incessantly change mans wits But 't is a quality or ray of the Reasonable Soul which finding the four qualities variously mix'd in every one makes use thereof in different operations and so this difference is only accidental not essential Moreover we see that whatever difference be conceiv'd in Minds yet their fundamental inclinations are alike the hatred and aversion of evil things and the desire and prosecution of good if the means imploy'd to these purposes be different this proceeds from a particular imagination caus'd by the constitution of the humours which makes this difference appear as through a colour'd glass So the choler of the Souldier puts him upon seeking honour and profit in Arms the Advocate is mov'd to seek them in the Sciences either by his more moderate temper or by the example and pleasure of his Ancestors Yet this Proportion cannot change the essence of Wits but only the appearance as a Painter out of the mixture of four or five colours makes infinite others which differ only in shew The Third said There are many partial causes of this variety and they may be various to infinity according to the various haps they meet with like the letters of the Alphabet diversly combin'd yet they may be referr'd to three principal Nature Art and Fortune The Nature of Man is the Soul and the Body Souls cannot differ specifically as some hold for then a species should be part of an individual since the Soul makes a part of man which is absurd because the species must be predicated of many individuals Yet I think there is some individual difference between our Souls not wholly depending upon the conformation of the organs or the temper of humours because excellent Souls have been found to lodg in ill-made Bodies as those of Socrates and Aesop and the contrary Art may also contribute much to this diversity especially in Youth when wits are more flexible some very dull ones having been incredibly improved by study So also may Fortune and Occasion amongst others the place of residence as the fertility of Palestine in Pasturage made the Jews Shepherds and the plains of Aegypt fitted for tillage by the inundation of Nilus made the Aegyptians Plow-men Those that inhabit the coasts of the Sea are Merchants in regard of the conveniency of transportation And necessity which forces our wits upon sundry things makes the Arabians who live in an unfertile soil for the most part Thieves as sterility has constrain'd others to make war upon their
neighbours The diversity of Climates Winds Waters Diets Exercises and generally all external and internal things making some impression upon the temper makes likewise some diversity in Wits The Fourth said That diversity of actions cannot proceed but from diversity of forms and therefore those of men must be unequal 'T is likely the Souls of Aristotle Socrates and the like great Philosophers were of another stamp then those of people so stupid that they cannot reckon above five And who dares say that the Soul of Judas was as perfect as that of our Lord Moreover the Wise man saith Wisd. c. 8. that he receiv'd a good Soul Plato distinguishes Wits into as many Classes as there are Metals And experience shews us three sorts in the world some few are transcendent and heroical being rais'd above the rest others are weak and of the lowest rank such as we commonly say have not common sense others are of an indifferent reach of which too there are sundry degrees which to attribute wholly to the various mixture of elementary material qualities is to make a spiritual effect as the action of the Understanding is depend upon a corporeal cause between which there is no proportion And 't were less absurd to ascribe these effects to the divers aspects of the stars whose influences and celestial qualities are never altogether alike The Fifth said That wit is a dexterity or power of the soul seated in the Cognoscitive rational faculty not in the Appetitive or Sensitive 'T is a certain capacity of the Understanding to know things which is done either by invention or instruction of others Invention requires acuteness of wit and judgement Learning docility and likewise judgement Memory serves as well to invent as to learn And thus three things are requisite to Wit namely Memory Acuteness and Judgement The first furnishes matter and sundry things without supply whereof 't is impossible to have a good wit The Judgement disposes things in order resolving the whole into its parts when 't is requisite to learn or teach and reducing the parts to their whole when 't is requir'd to invent which is the more difficult our mind finding it of more facility to divide things then to compound them Whence Inventors of Arts and things necessary to life have been plac'd in the number of the gods But because each of these three faculties require a contrary temperature Memory a hot and moist as in children Acuteness of wit a temper hot and dry as that of Poets and Magicians Judgement a cold and dry proper to old men hence it is that a perfect Wit which excells in all three is rarely found II. Of New-years Gifts Upon the second Point 't was said That the Poet who said that he who begins a work well hath already done half of it spake no less judiciously of humane actions then those who advise to have regard to the end For as this crowns the work so 't is not to be doubted but a good beginning makes half of this wreath and that both joyn'd together perfect the circle the Hieroglyphick of the revolution of years Hence we see antiquity contriv'd to begin them with some festival solemnities with intent thereby to consecrate their first actions to the Deity The Hebrews had their most remarkable feasts in the moneth Nisan the first of the year answering to our March and amongst others that solemn Passover when they invited their Neighbours to the feast of the Lamb. The Greeks began their Olympiads with Games and Sacrifices to Jupiter and the superstitious Egyptians not only took omens from what they first met every day but made it their god for that day And being next the divine assistance men value nothing more then the favour and good will of their friends 't is no wonder if after sacrifices and publick ceremonies they have been so careful to continue this mutual friendship by feasts and presents at the beginning of the year which some extended to the beginnings of moneths which are Lunar years as the Turks do at the beginning of each Moon of which they then adore the Croissant And if they who make great Voyages after having doubled the Cape of Good Hope or some other notable passage have reason to make feasts and merriment for joy of the happy advancement of their Navigation those who are embarqu'd together in the course of this life and whom the series of years which may be call'd so many Capes and Points mark'd in the Chart of our Navigation transports into new Countries ought to rejoyce with their friends for the dangers which they have escap'd and felicitate them for the future by presents and wishes in the continuation of this journey Or else considering the difference of years as great as that of Countries we renew our correspondencies by presents as hospitalities were anciently by those which they call'd Xenia which is still the name of our New-years Gifts since in respect of the great alterations hapning in those years we may be said to be new Guests or Hospites of a New-year The Second said That this laudable custome was founded upon reason and example our Druides being wont to gather with great ceremonies the Misletoe of the Oak which they consecrated to their great Tutates and then distributed to the people as of great virtue Whence our New-years Presents are still call'd in many places Guy-l'an-neuf But the first day of the year was not the same with all Nations some of our first Kings began it at Martin's day as appears by the dates of some old Ordinances and the yet continu'd openings of our Parliaments whence possibly remains the fashion of making good cheer on this day The Romans us'd this custom sometimes in March which was the first moneth of the year when the year had but ten moneths each of 36 days and afterwards on the Calends and first day of January which was added with February to the other ten by Numa And ever from the foundation of Rome Tatius and Romulus appointed a bundle of Verven to be offer'd with other presents for a good augury of the beginning year Tacitus mentions an Edict of Tiberius forbidding to give or demand New-years Gifts saving at the Calends of January when as well the Senators and Knights as all other Orders brought presents to the Emperor and in his absence to the Capitol Of which I observe another rise in the cense or numeration of the people which was made in the beginning of the Lustres or every five years and began under Ancus Martius at which time money was cast amongst the people as the Emperors did afterwards when they review'd their Armies at the beginning of each year honouring the most eminent Souldiers with presents Now reason too is joyn'd with this practise for as we take presages from the first occurrences of a day week or year so none are more acceptable then gifts which gratifie the more because they come without pains or expence The Third said
crowned Or. Holland Or a Lyon gules Bavaria fuselé argent and azure of twenty one pieces placed bendwise Ireland gules a Harp Or. CONFERENCE XCVIII I. Of the causes of Contagion II. Of the ways of occult Writing I. Of the causes of Contagion DIseases being accidents must be divided as other accidents by their first subjects which are the solid parts the humours and the spirits and by their several causes some of which are manifest others unknown the malignity of the causes which produce them and the manner whereby they act being inexplicable Which diversity of causes depends upon those of mixtions which are of two sorts one of the qualities of the elements which makes the difference of temperaments the other of the elementary forms which being contrary only upon the account of their qualities when these put off their contrariety by alteration the forms easily become united and as amongst qualities so amongst forms one becomes predominant the actions whereof are said to proceed from an occult property because the form which produces them is unknown to us So Arsenick and Hemlock besides the power which the first hath to heat and the second to refrigerate have a particular virtue of assaulting the heart and killing speedily by a property hitherto unknown Such also are contagious and venomous diseases some whereof are caus'd by the inspir'd air as the Pestilence because air being absolutely necessary to the support of our natural heat if when it is infected with malignant and mortal vapours it be attracted by the mouth or the pores of the skin it corrupts the mass of the spirits as a crum of bread or other extraneous bodies makes milk or wine become sowre Others infect by bodily contact as the Itch the Pox the Measles and the Leprosie A third sort proceed from a venomous matter either communicated outwardly as by poyson and the biting of venomous beasts or generated in the body as it may happen to the blood black choler and the other humours being extravasated The Second said That diseases proceed either from the corruption and vitiosity of particular bodies some of which are dispos'd to the Pleurisie others to the Flux others to the Colick call'd therefore sporadical or dispers'd and promiscuous diseases or else from some common vitiosity as of the air aliments waters winds or other such common cause whereby many come to be seiz'd upon by the same disease at the same time so after Famines bad nourishment gives a great disposition to the Pestilence These maladies are fix'd to a certain Country seldom extending beyond it as the Leprosie to the Jews the Kings Evil to the Spaniards Burstenness to Narbon the Colick to Poitou the Phthisick to the Portugals the Pox to the Indians call'd by them Apua and brought by the Spaniards into Europe and such other diseases familiar to some particular Country and call'd Endemial Or else they are Epidemical and not ty'd to a certain region but produc'd by other external causes as pestilential and contagious diseases which again are either extraordinary as the Sweating-sickness of England the Coqueluche which was a sort of destillation or ordinary which manifest themselves by purple spots carbuncles and buboes But as the causes of the Small-pox and Measles are chiefly born within us being produc'd of the maternal blood attracted in the womb and cast forth by nature when become more strong so though the seeds of contagious diseases may come from without yet they are commonly within our selves The Third said That Contagion is the communication of a disease from one body to another the most violent so communicable is the Pestilence which is defin'd a most acute contagious venomous and mortal Fever accompani'd with purple spots Buboes and Carbuncles 'T is properly a species of a Fever being a venomous and contra-natural heat kindled in the heart manifesting it self by a high frequent and unequal pulse except when nature yields at first to the violence and malignity of the disease and then the pulse is slow small and languishing but always unequal and irregular Oftentimes it kills the first or second day scarce passes to the seventh if it be simple and legitimate but when 't is accompani'd with putrefaction it reaches sometimes to the fourteenth It s malignity appears in its not yielding to ordinary remedies which operate by their first qualities but only to medicaments which act by occult properties an argument that the cause of these diseases is so too Now four things are here to be consider'd 1. That which is communicated 2. The body which communicates the same 3. That to which it is communicated 4. The medium through which the same is done A thing communicated against nature is either the disease or the cause of the disease or the symptom Here 't is the cause of the disease which is either corporeal or incorporeal The incorporeal in my opinion are the malignant influences of the Stars as of Mars and Saturn and during Comets and Eclipses For since their benigne influences preserve motion and life in all things of the world by the reason of contraries the malignity of the same aspects may be the cause of the diseases and irregularities which we behold in it The corporeal cause must be moveable an humour a vapour or a spirit which malignant evaporations kill oftentimes without any sign of putrefaction or if there be any it proceeds not from the corruption of the humours but from the oppression and suffocation of the natural heat by those malignant vapours and then the humours being destitute of the natural heat and of that of the spirits which preserv'd them turn into poyson There must be some proportion between the body which communicates this vapour and that which receives it but the same is unknown to us and this proportion is the cause that some Contagions seise only upon some animals as Horses Dogs and Cattle others upon Men alone Children Women old Men Women with Child and their burthens others seize only upon certain parts as the Itch is communicated only to the skin the Phthisick to the Lungs the Ophthalmia to the eyes and not to the other parts The medium of this communication is the air which being rare and spongy is very susceptible of such qualities which it easily transmits by its mobility And these qualities happen to it either extrinsecally as from faetid and venomous vapours and fumes exhal'd from carrion marshes impurities and openings of the ground by Earth-quakes which are frequently follow'd by the Pestilence or else they arise in the Air it self in which vapours may acquire a pestilential malignity of which a hot and moist intemperature is very susceptible The Fourth said That the Pestilence is found indifferently in all seasons climates sexes ages and persons which argues that its proximate cause is not the corruption of the humors and intemperature of the first qualities Otherwise the Pestilence should be as other diseases whereof some are hot others cold and be cur'd
countenance Yet besides this change of the natural colour which is red it hath divers other symptomes whereof the chief are a perverse appetite call'd Malacia or Pica Nauseousness Tension of the Hypochondres faintings and palpitations of the heart difficulty of breathing sadness fear languishing weakness and heaviness of all the members an oedematous humour or bloatiness of the feet and the whole face of which accidents those of the alteration of colour being the most perceptible and the pathognomonical signes of this disease have with the vulgar given the denomination to it This malady is not to be sleighted as people imagine being sometimes so violent that the peccant humours being carri'd to the head render the Maidens distracted and mad yea sometimes they dye suddenly of it the heart and its vital faculty being stifled and oppress'd by it For this symptome hurts not only the functions of one part or faculty but invades the whole oeconomy causing an evil habit which degenerates into a Dropsie especially that which the Physitians call Leucophlegmatia or Anasarca when the flesh like a spunge imbibes and attracts all the aqueous and excrementitious humidities The antecedent and prime cause of this malady is the suppression of the menstrual blood the conjunct and proximate is the collection of crude and vicious humours in all the parts of the body which they discolour Now when the blood which serves in women for the principle of generation becomes burdensom to nature either by its quantity or its quality which happens commonly at the age of puberty she expells it by the vessels of the womb which if they be stop'd that blood mingled for the most part with many other excrementitious humours which it carries along with it as torrents do mud returns the same into the trunk of the hollow Vein from thence into the Liver Spleen Mesentery and other Entrails whose natural heat it impairs and hinders their natural functions as concoction and sanguification and so is the cause of the generating of crude humours which being carried into all the parts of the body are nevertheless assimilated and so change their natural colour Of which causes which beget those obstructions in the Vessels of the Matrix the chief are a phlegmatick and viscous blood commonly produc'd by bad food as Lime Chalk Ashes Coals Vinegar Corn and Earth which young Girles purposely eat to procure that complexion out of a false perswasion that it makes them handsomer Yet this malady may happen too from a natural conformation the smalness and closeness of the aforesaid Vessels whence the fat and phlegmatick as the pale are are more subject to it then the lean and brown The Second said 'T is an opinion so universally receiv'd that the Green-sickess comes from Love that those who fight under his Standards affect this colour as his liveries But 't is most appropriate to Maidens as if nature meant to write in their faces what they so artificially conceal and supply for their bashfulness by this dumb language Whereunto their natural Constitution conduecs much being much colder then that of men which is the cause that they beget abundance of superfluous blood which easily corrupts either by the mixture of some humour or for want of free motion like standing waters and inclos'd air and infects the skin the universal Emunctory of all the parts but especially that of the face by reason of its thinness and softness And as obstructions are the cause so opening things are the remedies of this malady as the filings of Steel prepar'd Sena Aloes Myrrhe Safron Cinamon roots of Bryony and Birth-worth Hysope wild Mecury the leaves and flowers of Marigold Broom flowers Capers c. The Third said That the vulgar opinion that all Green-sickness is from Love is a vulgar errour For though the Poet writes that every Lover is pale yet hatred causes paleness too and the consequence cannot be well made from a passion to a habit Besides little Girles of seven and eight years old are troubled with this disease and you cannot think them capable of love no more then that 't is through want of natural purgation in others after the age of puberty for women above fifty yeers old when that purgation ceases have something of this malady Yea men too have some spices of it sometimes and yet the structure of their parts being wholly different from that of females allows not the assigning of the same cause in both Yea did the common conceit hold good that those who have small vessels and as such capable of obstruction are most subject to it yet the contrary will follow to what is inferr'd to their prejudice For they will be the less amorous because the lesser vessels have the lesser blood which is the material cause of Love to which we see sanguine complexions are most inclin'd II. Of Hermaphrodites Upon the second Point 't was said That if Arguments taken from the name of the thing be of good augury Hermaphrodites must have great advantage from theirs as being compounded of the two most agreeable Deities of Antiquity Mercury or Hermes the Courtier of the Gods and Venus or Aphrodite the Goddess of Love to signifie the perfection of both sexes united in one subject And though 't is a fiction of the Poets that the Son begotten of the Adultery of Mercury and Venus was both male and female as well as that of the Nymph Salmacis who embrac'd a young man who was bathing with her so closely that they became one body yet we see in Nature some truth under the veil of these Fables For the greatest part of insects and many perfect animals have the use of either sex As the Hyaena by the report of Appian one year do's the office of a male and the next of a female as the Serpent also doth by the testimony of Aelian and as Aristotle saith the Fish nam'd Trochus and 't is commonly said that the Hare impregnates it self Pliny mentions some Nations who are born Hermaphrodites having the right breast of a Man and the left of a Woman Plato saith that Mankind began by Hermaphrodites our first Parents being both Male and Female and that having then nothing to desire out of themselves the Gods became jealous of them and divided them into two which is the reason that they seek their first union so passionately and that the sacred tye of Marriage was first instituted All which Plato undoubtedly learn'd out of Genesis For he had read where 't is said before Eves formation or separation from Adam is mention'd That God created Man and that he created Male and Female The Second said That Natural Reason admits not Hermaphrodites for we consider not those who have onely the appearances of genital parts which Nature may give them as to Monsters two Heads four Arms and so of the other parts through the copiousness of matter but those who have the use and perfection of the same which consists in Generation For Nature having
this reformation was still imperfect Julius Caesar 670 years after him assisted by Sosigenes a great Mathematician corrected the defect adding three moneths to the year in which he made this rectification which was the 708th year of the building of Rome namely two moneths between November and December one of 29 days and the other of 30 and another of 30 days at the end of December to make up the days which were pass'd So that this year Debtors had three moneths respite Then he divided the year into 365 days for this cause call'd from his name the Julian year But because the Sun is neer six hours more in accomplishing his Period he added a day every fourth year after the twenty third of February which they call'd Sexto Calendas and because in counting it twice they said bis sexto Calendas this year truth thence retain'd the name of Bissextile attributed by the vulgar to sinister and unfortunate things And to confirm the moneths to the Lunations he was contented to observe that every nineteenth year the Moon is found in the same place which was the discovery of another Mathematician of Athens nam'd Meton And forasmuch as they mark'd this number of 19 in their Kalendar with a Cypher of gold thence it came to be call'd the Gold Number The Christians took up this Calculation as the best of all But because there wants eleven minutes every fourth year to make the Bissextile or Leap-year intire it was found that from the time of Julius Caesar to Gregory XIII the Lunations and Aequinoxes had anticipated ten days which render'd the Golden Number useless and remov'd Easter and other moveable Feasts out of their true place Therefore this Pope assisted by Doctor Lilio a Physitian retrench'd those ten days throughout all Christendom except in places who are not pleas'd with novelty unless so far as it displeases the Pope Which anticipation will always oblige future Ages to use a like reformation of the Julian year which we begin from the mid-night which precedes the first Sun-rise of the moneth of January But the most sensible knowledge to be had of the duration and beginning of the Solar year is obtain'd by observing the day on which the shadow of the perpendicular needle of a Quadrant is found longest at noon being a certain sign that the Sun is then most depress'd and consequently that we must there set down the end of the preceding year and the beginning of the next which is visible by the exaltation of the Sun whose shadow will not be found equal again till after the revolution of a just year II. Why the Load-stone draws Iron Had Stones life as Cardan held the solution of the second Question would be easie For the Load-stone's drawing Iron would be no more a wonder then an Animal's going to seek its food Now of those things which draw others some do it for eschewing of vacuity so water and other more ponderous bodies ascend air and other light bodies descend either of them against its proper inclination to prevent a vacuum Others do it out of desire to obtain what they need as their nourishment So Plants attract the juice of the earth the Gall-bladder Choler the Splene the Melancholy humour and every part blood Others do it by the mutual resemblance of the spirits issuing out of them such is the first motion of affection arising between two persons of the same humour and inclination But others are mov'd locally with out any manifest and corporeal cause so are the vapours and the dew drawn up by the Sun straw by Amber the womb by good smells the Load-stone by the North-star the Heliotrope and Selenotrope by the Sun and the Moon whose motions they follow Now in attraction it is requisite that the attractive vertue be stronger then the resistance of the body which is attracted The greatest resistance is from the ponderosity of a body the elevation of which without manifest cause is accounted miraculous and attributed by Divines to the Divine Power alone as when our Lord walk'd upon the water And so indeed would be the suspension of the gravity of iron attracted by the Load-stone if it were not ordinary the cause whereof may be ascrib'd to the meeting of spirits streaming out of the Iron and the Load-stone which being viscous and once joyn'd together are somewhat hard to be separated The Second said That as every body diffuses about it visible odorable and sonorous species which appear not to us unless they be reflected by some body proper to unite them the visible species by a Glass odours by heat sound by a hollow body such as makes the Echo In like manner the Load-stone and the Iron emit attractive species round about which are lost unless these of the one light upon those of the other for then their nature is so to conjoyn themselves that their union is indissoluble otherwise then by violence wherein there seems to be no greater marvel then in all other motions of natural bodies which act variously one upon another according to the disposition of the next matter So the fire acts upon combustible matter and not upon other the reason of these affects depending upon the determination of every particular cause the chain whereof is invisible and conceal'd from men The Third said The Superior bodies act upon the inferior and all motions here below proceed from those of the Celestial Bodies which are therefore purposely contiguous That of the Load-stone and Iron proceeds from the polar Stars which act so sensibly upon this Stone that being hung up in aequilibrio it spontaneously turns one part towards the Arctick and the other towards the Antarctick Pole unless in certain places where it varies between five and six degrees because 't is drawn by a stronger magnetick virtue proceeding from the Earth But this Stone draws Iron the more easily because 't is almost of the same nature with it self and the Magnet is easily turn'd into Iron in the Mines by a coction made by the virtue of the same stars For the liker things are the more inclin'd they are to unite together so Flame unites with Flame the drops of water joyn together a great Load-stone draws the less and Steel attracts the filings of steel The Fourth said As there is a civil converse between men for preservation of society so there is a natural one establish'd by God amongst the other creatures for the support of their common being consisting chiefly in their being mov'd one towards another Fire attracts unctuous exhalations and it self tends towards the Etherial fire the Air is drawn by the Lungs the Sea is drawn up by the Moon which causes its ebbing and flowing straw and dust by the Agate Iron by the Load-stone the virtue whereof together with the occult properties of all other bodies I attribute to that universal Spirit which carries every entity to its particular good The Fifth said If we would understand the causes of the
motion we must first discover their nature which is the principle of motion Now the particular nature of every thing is unknown to all men as well as the proportion of the mixture of their substances whereon their occult properties depend as the manifest qualities do on the mixtion of their first qualities which we are wont to call manifest not but that the reason of them is as difficult as of the rest but because they are more ordinary Which indeed has caus'd us to give them the name e. g. of lightness to the fire heaviness to the earth though no person has hither to assign'd the cause thereof Give but a name to this quality which the Iron hath of moving towards the Load-stone it will be as manifest as the motive virtue which carries a stone towards its centre We may indeed alledge the final cause of both and say in general that 't is the good of the thing mov'd that sets it in motion or on the contrary the good of the thing whereunto it tends that moves and attracts it but the formal cause which we here inquire is equally unknown The Sixth said That Iron is carri'd to the Load-stone as to its good and as the stone to its centre and hence it is that the Iron turns towards the North which is the native place of the Magnet For being a natural not a violent motion the motive faculty must be in the Iron which moves it self the goodness of the object attracting only by a metaphorical motion which supposes a motive faculty in the thing mov'd CONFERENCE LII I. Of a Point II. Whether other Animals besides Man have the use of Reason I. Of a Point IF it be true that there are more wonders in a Hand-worm then in an Elephant because all the faculties which are extended and have their manifest causes and instruments in the latter are found compendiously Epitomiz'd in the former and as it were independent of their organs there will be more wonders in a Point then in all the rest of the bodies which are compos'd of it Indeed there 's nothing so small as a Point and yet 't is the object of most Sciences Grammar treats of the Point of distinction Natural Philosophy of the Point of reflection and that which serves for the Centre of the Earth Astrology of the vertical points Zenith and Nadir and makes use of them to compute the motions of the Celestial Bodies Geography hath its four Cardinal Points All Sciences and Arts borrow this word to give some order to the things whereof they treat Lastly it serves for a principle to Geometry which begins its first Propositions with it And because if we believe Plato every beginning is divine a Point which is the principle of a line as this is of a surface this of a body an instant of time and an unite of number hath something of Divinity which Trismegistus for that reason calls a Centre or Point whose Circumference is no where and therefore they who hear us speak of a Point must not think that it is of an inconsiderable matter The Second said Although much is not to be argu'd from our manner of speaking in which the word Point with us French signifies a negation yet it seems to imply that if it be something it wants but little of being nothing For to speak truth a Point is the mean which is found between nothing and something 'T is not an accident for it doth not betide befall or arrive to a substance but is before and inseparable from the same Nor is it a substance since a substance is infinitely divisible but a Point is that which hath no parts that is to say is indivisible We cannot compare it to an instant in respect of time for the time past hath been instant or present and the future shall be so but a Point is not and never shall be a quantity nor to a Unite in regard of Number since Number is made of Unites and an Unite added to the greatest number whatever renders the same yet greater whereas a hundred Millions of of Points together make but a Point because that which hath no quantity of it self cannot give any Nevertheless 't is most probable that a Point exists really since 't is the foundation of all other quantities and two Spheres exactly round touch one another but in a Point The Third said As there is no mean between contradictories so neither can there be any between nothing and something Entity and Non entity Now a Point being the term of a line and every where in it must consequently be some thing Yea I maintain that it is a body and divisible by this argument One sole Being is not finite to wit the Creator all others to wit the Creatures and every part of them are finite Every finite thing is compos'd of parts being compos'd of ends or extremities and a middle For it would be as ridiculous to say that a thing is finite with out ends as to say that a thing is long without length or hot without heat A mathematical point is a finite thing Therefore 't is compos'd of parts To say that it is finite negatively and not positively cannot hold For as every mensurable solid is compos'd of and terminated by Mathematical surfaces these by lines and lines by points so a point is compos'd of and terminated by its ends which are its parts and extremities these again being compos'd of parts external and internal are also finite and consequently divisible to infinity Therefore a Point is not finite by negation which is nothing since nothing is not the term of a Point Neither is it terminated by it self since every thing is bounded by some term which is without it and if nothing cannot measure it self much less can it bound or perfect it self For 't is so true that every solid how small soever is divisible to infinity that the Naturalists maintain that if by Divine Omnipotence Humane and Angelical power being too short a grain of Millet should be divided into a hundred millions of parts every moment from the Creation to the end of the World the progression would never come to an Indivisible Point This is justifi'd by the Section of a Circle or Globe For if the Diametre of a Circle be divided into two equal parts the Centre of it which is a point will be semblably into two equal parts for it must not be all on one side otherwise the division would be unequal nor must it be turn'd into nothing since 't is not possible for any thing to be annihilated naturally But if those two Semidiametres were re-united as at first the two parts of the divided Point would be rejoyn'd into one point which would make the Centre again In like manner if a Globe perfectly round touch'd a perfect plain all agree that it would be in a Mathematical point which is not indivisible For the point of the plain hath parts since it hath
by expulsion of the noxious humours Moreover humidity revives Plants and Animals and Man Nature's perfectest work abounds most with it to which cause Cardan refers his greater sagacity And being life is nothing else but the Prime Humidity thence thirst comes to be the greatest bodily inconvenience and diseases caus'd by a dry intemperature are generally incurable Rheum is not so dangerous as an Hectick Fever and experience shews us that land too moist may be render'd fertile but there 's no remedy for the droughts of Africa humane Art being puzled to preserve a Garden during those of Summer Lastly Physick takes the opportunity of moist weather for purgations as most convenient for health The Third said That all the first qualities are active but heat and moisture more then the other two whence the air being imbu'd with humidity alters our bodies more sensibly then when 't is charg'd with dry exhalations For our radical moisture is aerious oyly and benigne and the extraneous moisture is aqueous maligne and pernicious a capital enemy to that balsame of life as extraneous heat is to our vital heat which is suffocated by abundance of excrements collected by humidity which stops the pores but dissipated by dryness which opens them Which made the Prince of Physick say Aph. 15. Sect. 3. that of the seasons of the year droughts are more healthy and less fatal then rainy and moist weather in which happen long Fevers Fluxes Epilepsies Apoplexies and divers others putrid maladies Though 't is impossible to determine the question absolutely because 't would be requisite to consider siccity and humidity separate from other qualities and in their own nature wherein they are not to be found being never separated from cold or heat which render their natures and consequently their effects various The Fourth said That the pleasure we take in a thing is the surest evidence of the good or hurt it does us Hence rain is always more grateful to us in droughts then the contrary Besides Death and old age which leads to it is nothing but a desiccation and dry diseases are most perillous because they are either conjoyn'd with heat which encreases them and makes them very acute or with cold which generates Schirrusses and other maladies accompani'd with obstruction which are not cur'd but by humectation Summer and Autumn are the sickliest and dryest seasons of the year but we are more healthy in Winter and the Spring And do's not the humidity of the night repair the loss caus'd by the siccity and actions of the day as in the morning the most humid part of the day our minds are more serene then all the rest of the day whence it was call'd the friend of the Muses The Brain the mansion of the soul and its divinest faculties is not only most humid but the seat of humidity as choler melancholy fear and all other passions common to us with beasts have their seat in the Gall the Spleen and the heart which are dry parts But although humidity seems more a friend to nature then siccity yet the question must be voided by the distinction of temperaments of which the melancholy and the bilious especially receive very great incommodity from droughts and benefit from moist seasons which on the contrary much torment the phlegmatick II. Which is to be preferr'd the contemplative life or the active Upon the second Point 't was said That man being born to live in society and employment the contemplative life seems incongruous to this end and our first Parent was plac'd in the earth to Till it and eat his bread in the sweat of his countenance not to live idly and look about him Moreover the end is more noble then the means which tend to it but we generally contemplate only in order to act In Divinity we consider God's Commandments in order to perform them In Mathematicks Lines Surfaces Solids Numbers and Motions to make use thereof for Fortifications Carpentry and the Mechanicks In Natural Philosophy its Principles and Causes to refer the same to Medicine In Law Right to apply it to Fact In Morality the Virtues in order to exercise them Consider what difference there is between the contemplation of an empty brain and solid action that is to say between theory and practice you will find the former only a chimera and the other a reality as excellent and profitable as the first is useless except to feed the phancy with vain imaginations and fill the mind with presumption there being none but thinks himself a greater master then others before he hath set his hand to the work and yet 't is by their works that our Lord tells us we shall know every one and not by their discourses which are as much below them as effects and things are more then words The Second said Contemplation is as much more excellent then action as the soul is then the body and to compare them together is to equal the servant with her mistress For not to speak of the raptures of an extasi'd soul nor of eternal blisse which consisting in contemplation that of this world must do the like in reference to natural things Nature alone teaches us that things which are for themselves are more excellent then those which are for others But the contemplation and knowledge of truth hath no other end but it self action the common uses of life Whence contemplation less needs external things then action which requires the help of Riches Honours Friends and a thousand other circumstances which hinder a contemplative person more then they help him who therefore delights most in Desarts and Solitudes Moreover the end is to be prefer'd before the means and the end of active life is to bring us rest as the military life is in order to establish and the civil to preserve peace therefore the rest of the contemplative life being the end of the turbulent active life it is much more noble then its means As appears also by its duration which is greater then that of transient and transitory action but contemplation is durable and permanent which is a sign of the Divinity of the Intellect that produces it infinitely more excellent then all the other inferior powers the principles of actions Contemplation being abstracted from matter and earthly things wearies not the body as actions do which require corporeal organs and therefore the pleasure of it is most pure and simple and constant in regard of its object those sublime things which wisdom contemplates whereas that of action is never intire by reason of the inconstancy of its object which are political things continually mutable The contemplative man finds full satisfaction in himself without going abroad to beg approbation and rewards from men without which virtues languish and are imperfect Moreover the pleasure of contemplation is peculiar to men and not competent to brutes who have not only external actions as well as we as Speaking Singing Dancing Fighting Spinning Building and other Works