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
shew'd thereby that death is not the most terrible thing since they embrac'd it as a remedy to their misfortunes But that which renders our experience as well as our reasoning weak in this matter is that none can give account of it either before or after trial for while we live it is not yet and when it is we are no longer Nevertheless Plato in his Timaeus affirms that violent death caus'd by diseases or wounds is painful but not that which comes of old age which he saith happens by dissolution of the triangles which retain the Soul in the Body For the former being against nature is as troublesome to it as the other which following the course of nature is agreeable to it because the soul having finish'd its task begins now to resent some foretastes of beatitude and hence it begins also to have some knowledge of future things At least this sort of death is very little sensible being caus'd slowly and equally and by consequence without pain Yea if it be true that the Heart is the last part that dyes the brain losing sense before the Heart cannot communicate the same to the whole body which consequently feels not the pains of death but those which lead to it and which make their pangs more felt by those that bear up against them by reason of the resistance of their strength then when the strength is overcome and fails whence those that have Apoplexies endure no pain during the course of their malady And such as have been taken down half dead from the Gallows agree that they endur'd nothing but fear For which cause this kind of death is accounted very easie and without any sense the brain being depriv'd thereof by compression of the Carotides Arteries which carry the spirits to it and become apoplectical by the quantity of blood which is included in it as also the heart being stifl'd falls into deliquium and the principal parts are depriv'd of sense by the constriction of the Nerves of the sixth pair Those whom a Gangrene in the leg or arm parts more sensible then those within brings to their end affirm that oftentimes death comes upon them without pain Indeed since life ends as it begins and the soul goes out of the body after the same manner that it enter'd into it therefore as at its entrance it first exercises the vegetative operations afterwards the sensitive so the vegetative faculty remains last subsists in the dying creature when all the rest are extinct and is lost without sense in the same manner as in Plants For the convulsive motions of dying persons argue not their having of sense since those that are in an Epileptical fit suffer much greater without pain II. Of the Will Upon the second Point it was said That every created thing having a tendency towards its chief natural good hath also faculties whereby to attain the same This chief good is the supream perfection of its being And because that of man consists in knowing truth loving good and being united by enjoyment to both the one and the other he hath been likewise furnish'd with powers for this end two wherewith to know and as many to love according to the two sorts of goods whereof he is capable as compos'd of a sensitive part and an intellectual He knows sensible good by help of the Senses which gust the same in its whole latitude and honest good by the Understanding He loves sensible good by the sensitive appetite and honest good by the Will which is a rational desire of good For it loves not any good which hath not first been judg'd such by reason which serves it in stead of eyes being a blind faculty of it self that is without knowledge whence they say knowing must go before loving And 't is not necessary that this good be truly such of its own nature if it be apprehended as such this is sufficient to render it the object of our will Nevertheless being good but in appearance it only takes the will for a while but do's not satiate it as honest good doth towards which we have a natural inclination Whence it is that such as have deviated from it as soon as their understanding is rectifi'd resent an inward grief thereupon which is that dictate of Reason call'd Synteresis The Second said That the Will is the mistress of all the animal powers which it causes to operate and forbear as it pleases exercising its dominion too over the Understanding which it commands to take notice of and contemplate one object rather then another Nevertheless as the pores subject to it are disserent so is the empire distinct which it exercises over them For that which it hath over the loco-motive faculty is a despotical empire such as a Master hath over his servant that which it hath over the sensitive appetite and other faculties is Political like that of a Magistrate over his fellow Citizens who obey him so that yet they forbear not to do many things without him and even against his will The motions of the sensitive appetite being herein like those of the Celestial Spheres which follow that of their superior Sphere and nevertheless have a contrary one of their own And this Appetite is carri'd not only to its particular object without the command of the Will but also towards things wholly contrary to it and this for punishment of the sin whereby the will rebelling against God deserv'd that the appetite at first subject to it should become rebellious to it destroying the agreeable harmony which appear'd in the state of innocence Which contrariety is the greater in as much as the object of the will is honest which is commonly difficult and that of the sensitive appetite delectable which two being opposite draw it several ways and hence arise the conflicts of the flesh against the spirit yea the same man at the same time and for the same thing feels contrary motions in himself a certain evidence of their real difference The Third said 'T is the Will alone that makes us happy or unhappy since it makes us good or bad and nothing is such unless it be voluntary and free Hence it hath so great a power that it alone over-rules the Stars which govern all being capable of having inclinations contrary to theirs It is known as other faculties are by its actions which are either extrinsecal as commanding the animal faculties or within it self as willing or not willing pursuing or aversion joying or grieving For the property of man being to know his end as such if this end be good he wills it if evil he wills it not if absent he pursues it if present he enjoys it if the evil be absent he averts from it if present he is afflicted by it But before the will attain this end it proposes consults and deliberates of the means to arrive thereunto which it compares together in order to find which is most expedient and is carri'd to the
it is now straitned and takes less room then before Whence Water freezing in Vessels well stopp'd the same break for the avoidance of Vacuum Moreover Humidity is not one of its essential proprieties because it may be separated from it as we see in frozen water which is less humid then when it was cold It followes then that Second Qualities being Tokens of the First and the goodness of Water requiring that it have the least weight that can be as also that it have neither Taste nor Smell the most pure i. e. the Elementary of which we are speaking is without First Qualities having been created by God onely to be the band or tye of the other parts of a mixt body The Fifth said That the Scripture divideth the Waters into those which are above the Heavens and those upon the Earth as if to teach us that Water is the Centre the Middle and the end of the Universe Which agrees with the opinion of those who establish it for the Sole Principle of all things Those Supercoelestial Waters are prov'd by the Etymology of the word for Heavens Schamaim which signifies in Hebrew There are Waters Because 't is said that God divided the Waters from the Waters and placed them above the Firmament Which Supercoelestial Waters are also invited by the Psalmist to bless the Lord And lastly because it is said that at the time of the Deluge the windows of Heaven were opened The Sixth said That the gravity of those Supercoelestial Waters would not suffer them to remain long out of the place destinated to that Element which is below the Air And therefore it were better to take the word Heaven in those places for the Air as 't is elsewhere in the Scripture which mentioneth the Dew and the Birds of Heaven Since also the Hebrew word which there signifies Firmament is also taken for the Expansion of the Air and those Supercoelestial Waters for Rain II. Of Wine and whether it be necessary for Souldiers Upon the Second Point it was said That if we speak of Wine moderately taken the Sacred Text voids the Question saying that it rejoyceth the Heart Which it performeth by supplying ample matter to the Influent Spirits which the Heart by the Arteries transmitteth to all the parts and which joyning themselves to the private Spirits strengthen them and labour in common with them And so the Souldier entring into fight with a cheerful Heart is half victorious Yea the greatest exploits of War are atchieved by the Spirits which constitute Courage the Blood heated by them over-powring the coldness of Melancholy and Phlegme which cause backwardness and slowness of Action For it is with the Virtues as with Medicines which become not active and pass not from power into act but by help of the natural faculties So the Virtues do not produce their effects but by the Spirits But Wine taken in excess is wholly prejudicial to the Valour of a Souldier who hath need of a double strength One of Mind to lead him on valiantly to dangers and keep him undaunted at dreadful occurrences The other of Body to undergo the long toiles of War and not draw back in fight Now Wine destroyes both of these For as for the former Valour or Fortitude is a Moral Virtue which as all other Virtues its companions acteth under the conduct of Prudence which alone ruleth and employeth them and knoweth where and how they ought to act So that what assists Prudence assists Valour too and that which hureth the one hurteth the other also Now excessive Wine hurteth the former very much For by its immoderate heat it causeth a tumult and disorder in the humours it maketh the Brain boyle and work and consequently embroyleth and confoundeth the Phantasines which are imprinted in it as it happeneth in sleep or in the Phrensie and by its gross vapour it obstructeth all its passages So that the Understanding cannot take its Survey there having no free access to come and form its judgements and conclusions upon the Ideas and Phantasmes And although it should have its Avenues free yet the Phantasmes being in confusion like Images in stirred waters it would be impossible for it to judge aright and prudently to discern what fear or what eagerness ought to be check'd and repel'd For all Fear is not to be rejected no more then 't is to be follow'd nor is the bridle to be let loose at all adventures nor alwayes restrain'd The strength of the Body is also impaird by Wine For though Galen and others will have it Hot and Dry yet it being so but potentially 't is as subject to deceive us as that Dutchman was who hearing that Cresses were hot commanded his Man to fill his Boots therewith to warm him For the truth is Wine is moist and vapourous and that to such a degree that by reason of its extreme humidity it cannot be corrupted with a total corruption For this happeneth when the external heat hath wholly drawn out the moisture of the corrupted Body and so dissolved the Union of all the dry parts which moisture keeps together So that the Elements flying away there remains nothing to be seen but Earth alone Which cannot come to pass in Wine by reason of the little dry substance in it and of its great humidity which cannot be wholly separated In which regard it is never corrupted but in part viz. when the external heat draws away the more pure substance and the better Spirits as we see when it grows sour thick or turbid Being then humid to such a degree and our parts partaking of the nature of their food if Souldiers nourish their Bodies excessively with Wine they must retain the qualities thereof viz. softness and weakness which follow humidity Whence possibly came the word Dissolute for such as addict themselves to this debauchery and the other which follow it Therefore the Souldier would be more robust if he never drank Wine because he would eat the more and produce the more solid substance which would make him more vigorous less subject to diseases and more fit to indure in sight and undergo the other toils of War The Second said That it belongs to the prudent States-man to weigh the benefit and the mischief which may arise from his orders So that he alwayes propose to himself that he hath to do with imperfect men and who incline rather to the abuse then the right use of things This holds principally in War Souldiers willingly aiming at nothing else but pleasure and profit Even in this Age wherein we are past the Apprentisage of War except some constant Regiments Souldiers are tumultuously chosen almost alwayes out of the dregs of the people of whom to require the exercise of Temperance in the use of that which ordinarily costs them nothing were to seek an impossibility Such is Wine that though it makes the Souldier sturdy yet it makes him unfit to govern himself much less others Whereunto notwithstanding he oftentimes
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
consequent of a servile spirit Hence the Persians were not contented to cause the children of their Kings to be instructed above all things always to speak the truth but they erected Temples and Altars to this Vertue as to a Deity and ador'd it under the name of Oromagdes which signifies the God of Truth And therefore 't is my judgement that truth ought always to be spoken although it be to one's own damage The Second said If it be necessary always to speak truth and that it be the conformity of our words with our thoughts mine is that it is not always to be spoken This Nature teaches us whilest she discovers to us only the surface of the earth but hath hid all the treasures of it as all the parts of man especially the more noble are conceal'd under the skin That which vilifies mysteries is the publishing of them call'd Prophanation That which hinders the effect of State-Counsels whereof secrecy is the soul is the letting of them be discover'd which is Treason That which takes away the credit from all arts and professions is the rendring them common And Physick amongst others knows the advantage of concealment whilst the welfare of the Patient many times depends upon his ignorance Would you see what difference there is between a wise man and a fool a Civil Man and a Clown it do's not consist in knowledge for they oftentimes have the same thoughts and inclinations but the Fool speaks all that he thinks the Wise man doth not as the Clown will declare by Gesture and if he can do every thing that comes into his phancie but the better bred man uses restraint upon himself The Comoedian therefore wanted not reason to say that Truth begets Hatred and the Scripture teaches us that God built houses for the wise Egyptian women who ly'd to Pharaoh when they were commanded to murther the Hebrew children at the birth but obey'd not For though some hold that God pardon'd them the lye in regard of the good office which they render'd to his Church and that 't was for this good office that God dealt well with them yet leaving this subtilety to the Schoolmen 't is evident that their dissimulation was approv'd in this case The Third said There 's great difference between Lying and not speaking all the truth which is expected from us the former being vicious the other not whence S. Athanasius being ask'd by the Arrians who pursu'd him whether he had seen Athanasius told them that he went that way a little while since but did not tell them that himself was the person And S. Francis being ask'd whether he did not see a robber pass by shew'd his sleeve and said that he did not pass that way The Fourth said As only weak and distemper'd eyes are unable to bear the light of the Sun so none but weak and sickly minds cannot suffer the lustre of truth All men are oblig'd to speak it but particularly that which is dictated from God's mouth and we ought rather to choose Martyrdom then renounce the belief of it Less ought they to conceal it who are bound to it by their condition as Preachers and Witnesses provided they have regard to place time and persons Without which circumstances 'tis as inacceptable and absur'd as to carry a Queen to an Ale-house Yet in two cases particularly the telling of truth may be dispens'd with I. when the safety of the Prince or good of the State is concern'd for which Plato in his Commonwealth saith it is lawful to lye sometimes and the Angel Raphael told Tobias that 't is good to hide the secrets of Kings II. When our own life is concern'd or that of our Father Mother and Kindred against whom although we certainly know them guilty of a Crime we are not oblig'd to declare it provided nevertheless that it be with the respect due to the Magistrate and that we beware of speaking lyes whilst we intend onely to decline discovery of the Truth 'T is the opinion of the Civilians and amongst others of Paulus in l. 9. ff de Test. that a Father cannot be constrain'd to bear witness against his Son nor a Son against his Father except in the case of High Treason The Fifth said That these three things must not be confounded To lye To speak or tell a lye and to do or act one To lye is to go against our own meaning as when I know a thing and not onely conceal it but speak the contrary This action according to some is alwayes evil inasmuch say they as 't is never lawful to do evil that good may come of it According to others 't is qualifi'd according to the diversity of its end For he who tells a lye to save a Traveller's life who is pursu'd by Thieves seemes to do better then if he expos'd him to their Cruelty by his discovery The Physitian who dissembles to his Patient the danger of his disease and thinks it enough to acquaint his domesticks therewith do's better then if he cast him into despair by a down-right dismal prognostication and when he chears him up in fitting time and place by some pleasant made Story what he speaks can scarce be reckon'd amongst idle words But he who lyes for his Profit as most Trades-men do sins proportionably to the deceit which he thereby causes but he is most culpable who lyes to the Magistrate One may tell or speak a lye without lying namely when one speaks a false thing conceiving it to be true To do or speak a lye is to lead a life contrary to ones profession as he who preaches well and lives ill Whence I conclude that many precautions are requisite to lye without committing an offence that a lye is to be spoken as little as possible and never to be done or acted at all CONFERENCE XXXVIII I. Of the Period called Fits of Fevers II. Of Friendship I. Of the Fits of Agues A Fever is a Heat contrary to Nature kindled in the Heart and from thence sent by the Arteries and Veins into the whole Body with a manifest laesion or disturbance of the action It is so inseparable from the Heart in case of any injury that being we cannot dye without the Heart be mis-affected therefore many have thought that we cannot dye without a Fever though 't were of a violent death And for that there are three subjects which receive this Heat viz. the Parts the Humours and the Spirits thence ariseth the distinction of Fevers into three kinds the Hectick the Humoral and the Ephemera or One-day Fever The first is in the solid parts and is call'd Hectick or Habitual because it resides in the whole habit of the Body and is of very long continuance yea ordinarily lasts till Death The second call'd Humoral is when the Humours are enflam'd either through a bare excess of Heat without other alteration in their substance or with corruption and putrefaction which happens most frequently The third
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
blemish Cato's reputation by making him appear 46 times in full Senate to justifie himself from the accusations Envy had charg'd upon him made him more famous And the poyson which it made Socrates drink kill'd his body indeed but render'd his memory immortal The truth is if the Greek Proverb hold good which calls a life without envy unhappy Envy seems in some manner necessary to beatitude it self Whence Themistocles told one who would needs flatter him with commendations of his brave actions that he had yet done nothing remarkable since he had no enviers The Fourth said 'T is such an irregular passion that it seems to aim at subverting the establish'd order of nature and making other laws after its own phancy yea so monstrous that 't is not a bare grief for another's good or a hatred of choler or such other passion but a monster compos'd of all vicious passions and consequently the most mischievous and odious of all CONFERENCE LXXIV I. Whence comes trembling in men II. Of Navigation and Longitudes I. Whence comes trembling in men THe correspondence of the great to the little world requir'd that after the tremblings of the earth those should be spoken which happen to men some of which seize but one part of the body as the head lips hands or legs some the whole body with such violence sometimes that Cardan relates of a woman taken with such a trembling that three strong persons could not hold her 'T is a symptom of motion hurt in which the part is otherwise mov'd then it ought being sometimes lifted up and sometimes cast down For in trembling there are two contrary motions One proceeds from the motive faculty endeavouring to lift up the member which is done by retraction of the muscles towards their original which by shortning themselves draw their tail to the head and at the same time what is annex'd thereunto This motive power serves also to retain the elevated member in the posture wherein we would have it continue the abbreviation of the Muscles not suffering it to return to its first situation The other motion is contrary to the will and to that of the motive power the member being depress'd by its own gravity From which contrariety and perpetual war of these two motions arises trembling one of them carrying the part as the will guides it and the other resisting thereunto which is done more speedily then the pulse and with such short intervals that the senses cannot distinguish any middle and makes us doubt whether there be two motions or but one as a ball sometimes returns so suddenly towards him that struck it that the point of its reflexion is not perceiv'd The causes are very different as amongst others the debility of the part and of the animal faculty as in decrepit old men impotent persons and such as are recovering out of long and dangerous diseases or who have fasted long the weakness of the Nerve the instrument of the animal spirits its obstruction contraction or relaxation the coarctation of the Arteries which send the vital spirits to the Brain there to be made animal spirits and proper for motion as in fear which puts the whole body into an involuntary trembling An Ague also do's the same the natural heat which resides in the arterial being carri'd to the relief of the labouring heart and so the outward parts particularly the nerves whose nature is cold and dry becoming refrigerated and less capable of exercising voluntary motion The Second said That the actions of the motive faculty as of all others may be hurt three ways being either abolish'd diminish'd or deprav'd They are abolish'd in a Palsie which is a total privation of voluntary motion They are diminish'd in Lassitude caus'd either by sharp humors within or by tension of the muscles and tendons or by dissipation of the spirits They are deprav'd in trembling convulsion horror and rigor or shivering Convulsion is a contraction of the muscles towards their original caus'd either by repletion or inanition Rigor shaking and concussion of all the muscles of the body accompani'd with coldness and pain is caus'd according to Galen by the reciprocal motion of natural heat and its encounter with cold in the parts which it endeavours to expell or according to some others by any sharp mordicant and troublesome matter which incommoding the muscles and sensitive parts the expulsive faculty attempts to reject by this commotion Horror differs not from Rigor but in degrees this being in the muscles and that only in the skin produc'd by some matter less sharp and in less quantity But trembling being a depravation and perversion of motion cannot be known but by comparison with that which is regular Now that voluntary motion may be rightly perform'd the brain must be of a due temper for supplying animal spirits and the nerves and parts rightly dispos'd Hence the cause of tremblings is either the distemper of the brain or the defect of animal spirits or the defect of animal spirits or the bad disposition of the nerves and parts A fitting temper being the first condition requisite to action every intemperature of the brain but especially the cold is the cause it cannot elaborate spirits enough to move all the parts But this defect of spirits comes not always from such bad temper but also from want of vital spirits which are sent from the heart to the brain by the arteries to serve for matter to the animal spirits These vital spirits are deficient either when they are not generated in the ventricles of the heart through the fault either of matter or of the generative faculty or are carri'd elsewhere then to the brain by reason of their concentration or effusion As in all violent passions these spirits are either concentred in the heart as in fear and grief or diffus'd from the centre to the circumference as in joy and not sent to the brain and in these cases the motive faculty remains weakned and uncapable of well exercising its motions Lastly the nerves being ill dispos'd by some distemper caus'd either by external cold or other internal causes or else being shrunk or stop'd by some gross humors not totally for then there would be no motion at all they cause tremblings which are imperfect motions like those of Porters who endeavouring to move a greater burthen then they are able to carry the weight which draws downwards and the weakness of their faculty which supports it causes in them a motion like to those that tremble The Third said That to these causes Mercury Hellebore Henbane Wine and Women must be added For they who deal with Quick-silver who have super-purgations use stupefactives and things extreamly cold and Venery in excess and Drunkards have all these tremblings according to the diversity of which causes the remedies are also different Gold is an Antidote against Mercury which will adhere to it Repletion against the second Heat Continence and Sobriety against the rest Galen saith that blood