Age of fifty four Was he so much out of Love with his Life as to neglect the repairing those effluxes of his Machine whose Failures and Disasters he could so easily foresee Do you believe then returned he that M. Descartes is dead I know not said I how you understand it but methinks the Corps of a Man should not be buried unless he was dead before and all the World knows that in the Year 1650. M. Chersilier prefde Lett. de M. Descarâ—es the Body of M. Descartes was interred at Stockholm with great Pomp and Solemnity by the Care of M. Chanut his particular Friend and then Embassador of France at the Court of Sweden That since M. Dalibert hath ordered his Bones to be removed to Paris and to be disposed of in the Church of S. Geneve where his Epitaph is to be seen engraven upon a fair White Marble It seems to me once more That all this supposes a Man as dead as dead can be All these Particulars are true said my Cartesian but for all that it is false that M. Descartes is dead for that we call Death is when our Body becoming incapable of Vital Functions either by the Defailure of the Organs which are wore out in the Succession of Years or corrupted by some Disease or endammaged by some Hurt or Wound the Soul is oblig'd to quit her Habitation following the Laws of their Union establish'd by the Sovereign Master of the Universe But Cartesius's Soul was by no means separated from his Body after this manner Hear then the Matter of Fact About three or four Months after his Arrival in Swedeland where Queen Christina had invited him and did him the Honour to entertain him in her Library an Hour in a Morning every Day Pref. de lett de Deâ—cartes He was seized in the midst of Winter with an Inflammation of the Lungs seconded with a Giddiness in the Brain but the Fever having left his Brain there had been no great Difficulty in his Recovery Lett. de Descartes Himself had wrote a little Time before to one of his Friends That he had made some Discoveries in Anatomy that insur'd his Life for an hundred Years And 't is known that M. Descartes did not use to go by Guessing or advance any thing without a firm Assurance but an unseasonable Misfortune rendred his Prediction fruitless seeing he had not rested well that Night his Soul had a Mind to take a little Turn for Recreation-sake he takes his usual Dose of Snush and his Soul leaves his Body in the Bed By ill Luck the Physician contrary to his Custom came to visit him at Midnight the Noise he made in entring the Chamber did not awake his Body whose Senses were perfectly laid asleep by vertue of the Herb of which I spoke that was mingled with the Tobacco But having put to his Nose a Vial of extreamly Spirituous Liquor to fortifie the Brain it made a more quick and lively Sally upon the Organ of Sense than Hungary Water used to do which M. Descartes Soul made use of when she would re-enter the Body and conclude its Trance it caused it to open its Eyes and to give some Groans The Physician ask'd it how he did The Machine accustomed some Days ago to answer to that Question That he was very ill made still the same reply but to other Questions the Physician proposed since the Soul was not there to talk rationally and answer to the purpose the Answers were full of Extravagance and Delirium just as the Machine was determined by the Voice of the Doctor It talked eternally of the Separation of its Soul from its Body because the last Thoughts the Soul entertained in the Act of separating her self were those of that Separation which had left some Figures or Traces stamp'd upon the Brain answering to those Thoughts and determining the Tongue to a Motion requisite to pronounce such sort of Words These Symptoms enduc'd the Doctor to believe he was again transported with a Raving in his Head wherefore he is out of Hand blooded in the Foot Cupping-Glasses are apply'd and several other Violent Remedies which so exhausted and altered his poor Body that in a short Time it had spent all its Strength it 's natural Heat began to faint and lose itself by little and little a Deâ—luction of his Brain fell into his Breast and in a Word it became a meer Cadaver and unable to perform the Duties of Life and to receive his Soul Thus it happened so that you see a Man may truly say M. Descartes is not dead Assuredly Sir said I this is not to dye according to due Form and Method nevertheless the Swedish Physician would be held Guiltles before all the Faculties of Europe for he has followed the Rules of his Art he acted according to appearance and if he did but understand what you are teaching me That M. Descartes is not dead he might boast of the Greatest and most unprecedented Exploit that was ever known in Medicine I mean to have killed a Man without causing him to die But Sir I beseech you continued I acquaint me if you know What was the Destiny of M. Descartes Soul for according to the uncontroverted Principles of our Faith a Soul in leaving this World receives her Arrest for Eternity and either has her Portion in Paradice Hell or Purgatory for some Time That Question ruffled my old Gentleman And in the Name of God said he almost in a Passion rid your self of that Ridiculous Custom you have taken up in the Schools of introducing Questions of Religion in Matters purely Philosophical M. Descartes had once thought to renounce his Philosophy or at least refuse to publish his Works to save him the Trouble of answering those impertinent Objections which were made at every turn and upon all occasions I am giving you clear Matter of Fact and you desire me to Account for the Conduct of God But in brief have not I forestall'd all your Difficulties when I told you M. Descartes was not Dead And since he is not Dead why demand you if he has submitted to a Judgment the Dead are only concern'd in I beg'd his Pardon for my Imprudence and agreed with him That nothing was more unseasonable and inconvenient than such sort of occasional Questions to a Philosopher that had made a System without regard to any thing of that Nature And that likewise put me in mind of entreating my Readers to use the same Candor towards me That they will not wrangle with me upon the Point of separate Souls whole Shoals of which I meet with in my Voyage to the World of Descartes nor tye me to answer all the Scruples they might be able to raise on that Account For therein bottom the most agreeable Passages of my History with which I should not present the Publick but upon that Condition I would entreat them to remember the Priviledg these Cartesian Gentlemen take who when perplex'd
'll give you an Abbreviate of him This Little Black was formerly Valet to M. Diverses letters de Desâ—artes Regius the famous Professor of Physick in the Vniversity of Vtrecht who as is known was then the intimate Friend Disciple and Admirer of M. Descartes Upon these Accounts he meâ—ited the communication of his Secret for the separating the Soul and Body Since that they broke with each other in so much that M. Descartes thought himself oblig'd to Write against him Because he deprav'd his Doctrin and made it give Offence M. Regius who if Descartes's Character be true was none of the most Honourable and gentilest Gentlemen in the World to revenge himself and shew how he scorn'd and trampled on a thing Cartesius set so high a rate upon taught it this litle Negro One time above the rest he went to make use of it Returning one day from the Country where his Master had sent him much tir'd he sate himself under the shade of an Oak His Soul left his Body to its repose and rambled for Diversion I know not where Mean while some Highway-men kill'd a Man hard by him The Grand Provost who was near being advis'd of the Murder came speedily with his Sergeants The Noise they made was such that it awak't the Body of the Little Black And there happen'd something in the Adventure not unlike that I told you lately of Descartes For the Machine determin'd by the Noise and the strong Impression the Presence of arm'd Men made upon his Organ began to fly They pursue him overtake him and examine him He contradicts himself at every Word in his Answers which in the absence of his Soul were not likely to be very coherent The Grand Provost who was a little too expeditious in the Business took his Flight and the Astonishment that appear'd in his Countenance and his Words for an Evident convicton of the Crime and caus'd him to be hang'd upon a Tree as an Accomplice of the Murder'â— that was committed The Soul returning not long after found her Body hanging in that rascally Posture of a Malefactour Forc'd then as she was to seek a now Abode she was in a miserable condition The majority of separate souls which play in all the vast extent of the World being Souls of Philosophers and Souls of great Importance and having in a Convention held by the most considerable of them declar'd that Opinion of Philosophy true that holds an â—nequality in Souls of the same Species They would no ways admit that the Soul of an ignorant Negro should enjoy the same Priviledge as they and gave her chase througout the Universe In short her good Fortune would that she should attempt to pass our Vortex and arrive at the very place Descartes's Soul had pitch'd upon to Meditate He had Compassion on her and allow'd her the liberty to live with him Father Mersennus brought her hither in Case there should be occasion and we 'll leave her with your Body to take care on 't The Retail of a Story so well circumstanc'd induc'd me to credit what was said as true I intreated both the Spirits to excuse the Transport I was guilty of telling them that the Figure and Colour he made use of to appear in being the same the Devil â—urnishes himself with all when he would be visible had 〈◊〉 printed on my Mind that horrible Idea I desir'd them to give me some Instructions how I must be rigg'd to accompany them in that wondrous Voyage that they propos'd saying I hop'd to make infinite Advantage of the Favour they vouchsafed me and in their Society to return so choice a Treasure of Knowledge as would distinguish me from the rest of Mankind Three things say's Father Mersennus you have to do The first is To dismantle your Mind of all the Prejudices of Childhood and the ordinary Philosophy For 't is strange to see how the Prejudices the Soul sucks in but by the Senses should make so deep impression on the Understanding with Time and Custom which she chooses for the Rule of her Opinions In so much that Souls separated form their Bodies otherwise than by Death although during that separation they act independently on the Senses do yet think judge and reason conformably to their prejudice Without that Precaution you 'l make a fruitless Voyage and be but where you are at your return The second Requisite before our embarquing is That you give Orders to this little Spiritâ— after what Method he must treat your Body in your absence Whereupon it is advisable to let you know that when your Soul shall be in state of Separation all things will be carried on in the usual Road not only as to Natural Functions but as to those Motions caus'd by External Objects provided that you leave the Machine mounted in the same manner as it is at present So that if you us'd to wake and rise at the sound of an Alarm or at a certain Hour as soon as that Hour shall strike the Motion of the Timpanum of your Ears communicated to your Brain shall make way for the Animal Spirits to glide along the Muscles and to produce in your Legs and Arms and your whole Body such Motions as daily you your self produc'd for the taking of your Breeches then your Doublet and the rest of your Appurtenances after one an other and dressing you from Head to Foot It shall walk as it us'd to do traverse all the House upstairs and down It shall sâ—at it self at Table as soon as the voice of the Page crying Dinner Sir is ready shall strike upon its Ears It shall Eat shall Drink and in a word perform every Action it has been accustom'd to the Animal Spirits never failing to take their course towards certain parts of the Body at the presence of certain Objects and by consequence producing always certain Motions in the Body in certain Circumstances Now in all External Actions that we do there is nothing but Motion produc'd this way And hence it is that Beasts who are undoubtedly as Meer Machines as our Body seem to us at the same time to act both with Variety and Uniformity The only Mischief that you need to fear is in case a Friend should come to visit you Because the Body without the Soul would be incapable to maintain discourse and must answer very impertinent to the Thing in hand For betwixt our selves it is only by Discourse that we Cartesians know that those Bodies we commonly call Men are truly Men and not meerly Machines Let. 53. de Desc. Tom. 1. But herein it is this Little Negro will be serviceable M. Descartes hath taught him all the different Motions possible to be made upon the Pineal Gland and all the various Determinations of which the Animal Spirits are capable by its means And how the Words are form'd in the Mouth only by the motion of the Muscles that stir the Tongue the lower Jaw and Lips And how particular
was not fully Satisfy'd She was unacquainted with the way and means that led her into this Condition And she consider'd it was an hazardous Exploit and that being once united to her Body she might never for ought she knew be disjoyn'd again till Death should cause a final Separation She apply'd her self therefore seriously to consider the Nature of her Body and the disposition of all its Organs She found that the Nerves imploy'd in Sentation and those that serve for Natural functions as the beating of the Heart the circulation of the Blood c. were of a Nature quite distinct She saw that these were vehemently distended and she concluded it might be for the better communicating the Animal Spirits to the Muscles with which the Nerves are united and capacitating them to maintain and continue those natural Motions the Soul is not aware of when united with the Body and that on the contrary the Nerves made use of in Sensation and by whose Means the Soul received the Impression of Objects were almost all unbraced and lax which might prevent the Motion caused by the Impulse of Objects from being continued unto the Seat of the Soul The Difficulty was to find the true Cause why one should be taxed without the other and how she might bring it about to distend those that formerly were laxed Mean while the Snush-Box which I mention'd his Body held in its left-Hand made M. Descartes call to mind That before his Extasie he had taken Tabaccco-Snush and he could not tell but so extraordinary an Effect might have been produced by the Vertue of that Tobacco That which he took of was an unusual kind which a Merchant of Amsterdam had brought over from an Island near China and presented him It was extreamly strong and M. Descartes to mollifie it had mix'd a certain Herb in it dryed to Powder whose Name he never would acquaint me with nor the Place where it grew though he presented me with a great Quantity of the same He laid a sufficient Dose upon the Back-Side of his Hand and gave it his Body to take and at the same Time happen'd this prodigious Effect in his Brain for all the Vapours raised there since his last taking were dislodged and dissipated in an instant He observed it was only the Particles of the Tobacco that scattered the Fâ—mes of the Brain and that those of the Herb which he had tempered with it being not so fine and having very little Motion fastned themselves in the Nerves that cause Sensation and and made them looser than they were before Seeing that Effect he no longer doubted but concluded it to be the Herb which he mix'd with the Tobacco that caus'd his Trance and took away his Senses and that the Tobacco at the same Time unhar bouring all the Fumes that might benight the Brain left the Soul with the entire Liberty of knowing and reflecting on it's self as she had then experienc'd After which he thought that Hungary Water was sufficient to brace the Nerves afresh that serve for Sensation since it is often used to recal those Persons that swoon away The Soul takes the Bottle I not long since mentioned and brings it in the Air from the far Side of the Chamber to his Body and therein consists exactly the Magick of which I then suspected M. Descartes guilty and moistens his Nostrils with it The subtile Vapour of that Liquor effected what he aimed at presently the laxed Nerves erect themselves and the Soul streight seats it self in the Pineal Gland and finds itself consederate with the Body as before It was in that instant I perceived Descartes to come to himself I told you he lock'd himself forthwith in another Room it was to make a second Experiment of his Tobacco and his Herb which succeeded to his Hearts Desire Since when it was a Business of nothing for his Soul to leave the Body and since his imparting to me the Secret his Soul and mine have made an hundred Expeditions together to instruct our selves of the greatest Curiosities in Nature As those that read the Works of M. Descartes are unacquainted with all that I have been relating they with just Cause are amazed at a thing which you will not startle at for the future I mean the Particulars he descends to in his Physicks concerning the Properties of his three Elements at how great soever remove from Sense they lie concerning their Figure their Motion their Rank and File in the Composition of his World and all particular Bodies concerning the Disposition of his Vortexes in which he proceeds so far as to observe the different size of the Balls of the second Element Part. 3. Princip of which they consist in their respective Places how those that come nearest the Centre of the Water are the least of all those that are a little removed are somewhat bigger increasing still in Bigness unto a determinate Distance after which they all are equal Concerning the Formation of their Parts chamfer'd in Fashion of a Skrew with which he explains the Nature and the different Phenomena's of the Load-Stone in a way so fine and easie Phoenomena's that till then had puzled and confounded all the Philosophers even those that had so ready a Method of explaining all things by the Assistance of their occult Qualities All this he saw intuitively and of himself and for me that speak to you is it possible to think That at the Age of seventy seven and being of so weak a Constitution as I am I say is it possible for you to think I should have lived to this and preserved my Health and Vigour as I do unless I had had a perfect Knowledge of the Machine of my Body Unless I had still filled and made-up the Breaches whereat Life leaks and runs out continually I mean not in applying the Remedies that Medicine prescribes whose conjectures are so very uncertain and from the Use of which Monsieur Descartes has so frequently dissuaded the Princess Elizabeth Lett. de Descartes But in the Practice of that Critical Knowledge my Soul has of my Body of which she perfectly is and can be instructed as often as she pleases by putting herself in the Capacity I have now been-speaking of I must acknowledg Sir replyed I then it is a most admirable Secret and of Infinite Use I am impatient till I learn it of you and as soon as I know it I am persuaded I shall improve it to as great a Benefit as Adam would have done the Tree of Life in Paradise if he had continued there And I doubt not but if Origen had known it he that looks upon the History of Scripture as Allegory he would have believed the Tree of Life to be nothing but this Mystery which God had communicated unto Adam But that which you was speaking of your Health creates one Scruple in me How Monsieur Descartes having to the Advantage of this fine Knowledg came to dye at the
has the Mass of Air which it ought to dismount to get into its Place And the Reason why it hath less Force to digress from the Centre is because it contains much more Matter of the third Element and much less of the second than the Mass of Air equal to it in Bigness Now the Matter of the third Element is dull and more unactive and unable to get rid of the Centre than the Matter of the second it must therefore descend Your Peripatetick Quality continu'd he and Democritus and Gassendi's Chains made of link'd Atoms are not worth a Straw in comparison of what I say and with that he cast a Stone on high to shew us by Experience the Truth of what he had been Teaching 1 The Figure of the Vortex of the Earth He made us forthwith acknowledg the Truth of all those Principles and Effects that naturally follow them for upon his placing the Moon perpendicular to the Equator of the Earth we immediately saw first the Sea press'd by that Matter to sink lower and its Waters thus press'd and crowded hurry towards the Poles and spread themselves successively on the Shores proportionably to their Distance from the Equator 2. The Terrestrial Globe rowling on his Axle from West to East we beheld the Pressure of the Moon to light on several Places after one another according to the Succession of Meridians 3. That successive Pressure of the different Parts of the Sea had this necessary effect viz. to cause it to swell and fall in several Places according to the plain and evident Rules of Staticks which gave us a most exquisite and natural Idea of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea consisting in this that by how much it is mounted by so much it is depress'd and as often as it mounts in one Place it is depress'd in another all these Motions going on regularly after each other and being set and punctual as to Space of Time Again since the Diameter of the Vortex wherein this little Moon must necessarily be in its Conjunctions and Oppositions was the least of all and on the contrary that in which it would be found in its quadratures the greatest it was evident to us that the depression and sinking of the Waters must be far greater in the Conjunctions and Oppositions than in the Quadratures and consequently that the Sea must flow with greater impetuosity and Vehemence towards the Shore or which is all one that the Tides be far greater in the New and Full Moons than at any other Time and in the Equinoxes than in the Solstices as it really happens in our World He next observ'd to us the particular Phenomena's of the Flux and Reflux founded on the same Principles and minded us especially of the Reason why we never see any Ebbing and Flowing in Lakes and Ponds let them be never so great unless they have some Communication with the Sea For if said he those Lakes and Ponds be beyond the Tropicks they are never at all press'd by the Moon and for those that are under the Torrid Zone within the Tropicks they take not up a compass of Ground enough to cause that one Side of their Superficies should be more press'd than the other by the Globe of the Moon Now that Inequality of Pressure is the only cause of that Vicissitude of Motions which we call the Flux and Reflux of the Sea I was wonderfully taken with this Explication and that way of solving the Flux and Reflux is so handsome that those that demonstrate to M. Descartes the Earth cannot have a Vortex at least an Oval one ought upon that Consideration to shew themselves a little merciful to him But these Philosophers are a very ungentile and brutish sort of Creatures and know not what it is to be generous towards their Adversaries Mean while all the other Motions were perform'd in the little World with all possible exactness Mercury Venus Mars and the rest of the Planets having once obtain'd their Post in the Vortex of the Sun were extraordinary punctual to their Courses He began to exhale Vapors and to form them into Clouds about the little Earth To say no more I was charm'd with all these Prodigies But we must now resolve on our Departure and 't was high Time we were a going It was well-nigh four and twenty Hours since we left the Earth and M. Descartes who as I have noted before disapprov'd of their Conduct that deserted their Body before Death and the Orders of the Sovereign Being had dismiss'd them advis'd us himself to defer the entire Satisfaction of our Curiosity till another Time I made him a courteous Acknowledgment and Resentment of his Favours assuring him of the vast Esteem I had both for his Person and Doctrin I beg'd the Favour of proposing to him the Scruples that might occur hereafter upon his Philosophy whenever I had an Opportunity of sending a Letter to him He express'd on his Part a World of Kindness for me exhorted me to a most sincere and hearty Love of Truth and presented me with two Hyperbolical Glasses to make me a Perspective Glass wherewith he assur'd me I might stand on the Earth and discover all the Curiosities of the Globe of the Moon and the Animals themselves Let. de Descart if there were any He hath demonstrated in his Dioptricks the Excellence of that Figure for the Glasses of a Telescope beyond all other He endeavour'd to have them made in Holland and contriv'd an Engine for that Purpose but he could not find Artists capable of accomplishing his Design and his Idea with that Exactness as was necessary He brought us on our Way as far as the second Heaven which is that of Stars and left Father Mersennus with us to conduct us Home Some distance from the Stars Aristotle's Embassadors meeting some Philosophers of their Country and Acquaintance desir'd us not to take it amiss that they accompanied them and took their Leave but indifferently satisfied with their Voyage and Negotiation Seeing we were in great haste we stay'd no where on the Road and avoided all Harangues and Disputes with every Person whatsoever though we met in diverse Places very many Spirits that would willingly have joyn'd Discourse with us Father Mersennus as we pass'd along made me observe the Disposition of the Vortexes and the situation of the different Elements that compos'd them and especially the Balls of the second Element that I had no Apprehension of so long as I was stock'd with Peripatetick Notions but that I saw take up the greatest part of the Universe since I was turned Cartesian In less than six Hours Time we arriv'd at my House where there fell out a most unfortunate Disaster for in pitching with a most violent descent and not considering the Glasses I had with me as I pass'd athwart my Chamber-wall and my Glasses in Bodily Quality could not enter they were stopt and dash'd in a thousand Pieces by the reason of the