means of which some have without Art or Study spoke such subtle and surprizing things and yet true that were never before seen heard or writ no nor ever so much as thought of Plato calls this sort of Wit An excellent Wit with a mixture of Madness 'T is the same which Inspires the Poets with what is impossible for them to conceive says the same Divine Philosopher without Divine Revelation Whereupon he adds Well may a Poet be all in Flames and Raptures his Person being wholly Sacred he can sing nothing but what is full of God who agitates him transporting him beyond himself and above his own Reason But as for those of an unelevated Spirit they can never make moving Verses nor prevail in Prophesy It is not then from any humane Art Poets chaunt such fine things that thou O Homer breathest but rather from Transports Divine This third Difference of Wit adjusted by Plato is actually found among Men of which I am an Eye-witness and could also if need were with a Finger point out those that have it But to assert what they say to be by Divine Revelation and not to proceed from their particular Nature would be an apparent and manifest Abuse and ill-becoming so great a Philosopher as Plato and is to have recourse to Universal Causes without having before-hand made an exact Enquiry into Particulars Aristotle did better who being curious to know the Reason of those wonderful things pronounc'd in his time by the Sibyls said That it came not to pass by Distemper nor by Divine Inspiration but only by a natural Ill-Temperament The Cause whereof is evident in natural Philosophy for all the governing Faculties in Man the Natural the Vital the Animal and even the Rational require each their particular Temperament to perform their Functions as they ought without prejudicing or interfering one with another The Natural Virtue as digestive of the Food in the Stomach must have a due Heat that which gives Appetite Cold the Retentive Driness and the Expulsive of what is Nauseous or Superfluous a due Moisture Whichsoever of these Faculties possesses in a greater degree any of the four Qualities by which it operates will thereby become more powerful in that Point but not without impairing the rest because in effect it seems impossible that all the four Virtues and Faculties should be assembled in one and the same place since if that which requires some Heat becomes more Potent the other that operates by Cold cannot but be found more Weak Which made Galen say That a hot Stomach digested much yet had a bad Appetite that a cold Stomach digested ill but had a good one The same thing happens in the Senses and Motions which are Operations of the Animal Faculty Great Strength of Body shews abundance of Earthiness in the Nerves and Muscles for if those Parts are not sinewy hard and dry they cannot act steadily On the contrary to have a quick and lively Sense is a sign the Nerves are compos'd of more airy fine and delicate Parts and that their Temperament is hot and moist How is it then possible that the same Nerves should have the Temperament and natural Composition which is requir'd for Motion and for Sense at one and the same time seeing that for these two things there must be quite contrary Qualities Which is clear'd from Experience for whereas a Man that is very Robust of Body has infallibly the Sense of Touching rude and gross so when that Sense is very exquisite he is faint and if one may say so ravelled out The Rational Powers Memory Imagination and Understanding are under the same Rules The Memory to be good and tenacious requires some Moisture and that the Brain be of a gross Substance as we shall prove hereafter On the contrary the Understanding must have a dry Brain compos'd of very subtile and delicate Parts The Memory then proceeding to a pitch the Understanding must necessarily be lower'd and diminish'd as much But be it as it will I beg the curious Reader to Reflect upon all the Men he has known endued with an Excellent Memory and I am assur'd he 'll find as to the Operations belonging to the Understanding they are in a manner indiscernible The same happens as to the Imagination when it exerts its self For as to the Operations relating to it it produceth prodigious Conceptions and such as astonished Plato And when a Man endued with such an Imagination comes to concern himself in acting with Understanding one may bind him without doing him any Injury as a Lunatic and void of Reason Whence may be concluded that the Wisdom of Man must be moderate well tempered and not so unequal as Galen esteems those the wisest Men that are well tempered because they are not as it were intoxicate with too much Wisdom Democritus was one of the greatest Natural and Moral Philosophers of his Time though Plato said of him That he was a better Divine than Naturalist who arrived at so great a Perfection of Understanding in his Old Age that he entirely lost his Imagination insomuch that he both said and did things so extraordinary that the whole City of Abdera took him for a Natural and accordingly dispatch'd a Courier to the Isle of Coa where Hippocrates lived to entreat him earnestly with offer of abundance of rich Presents to come immediately to Cure Democritus who had lost all his Senses Which Hippocrates readily complied with as being curious to see and confer with the Man of whose admirable Wisdom he had heard so much noise He departed that very instant and being arrived at the Place of his Abode which was a Desart where he lived on a Plain he fell to discourse him and upon asking him Questions in order to discover the Defects of his Rational Faculty found him the Wisest Man in the World and told them that had brought him thither That they themselves were Fools and void of Sense for having given so rash a Judgment of so Discreet a Person for as good Fortune would have it for Democritus the Matters treated on with Hippocrates at that time appertain'd to the Understanding and not to the Imagination which was disabled CHAP. II. The Differences amongst Men unqualified for Science ONE of the greatest Indignities that can be offer'd in Words to a Man arrived at the Years of Discretion is said Ariristotle to accuse him of want of Wit because all his Honour and Nobility as Cicero observes consists in his being favour'd with and having an Eloquent Tongue As Wit is the Ornament of a Man so Eloquence is the Light and Beauty of Wit In this alone he distinguishes himself from the Brutes and approaches near to God as being the greatest Glory which is possible to be obtained in Nature On the contrary he that is born a Blockhead is incapable of any sort of Literature and where there is no Wisdom there says Plato can neither be true Honour nor good Fortune insomuch as the
it will I would present to a Moral Philosopher a Luxurious Drunkard and a Glutton to manage him according to the Rules of his Art and to instill into his Soul the contrary good Habits of Chastity and Temperance by these means reducing him to act with all Moderation and Sobriety without introducing into his Constitution Cold and Driness and without correcting the over-ruling Heat and Moisture there was before let us see how he will go about it Without doubt the first thing he does will be to shew him the Sordidness of Luxury and to lay before him the Train of Evils it draws after it and in what danger his Soul would be if Death should happen to surprize him on a sudden without giving him respite to repent of his Sins After this he gravely admonishes him to Fast Pray and Meditate to Sleep but little to lie hard and without Delicacy to wear Hair Clothes and Discipline himself to fly the Company of Women and to give himself wholly to Pious Works all which are comprized in this fine Aphorism of St. Paul I keep under my Body and bring it into Subjection By means of these Austerities if he practises them long he 'll appear Meager Pale and much Alter'd from what he was insomuch that he who before hunted after Women and that plac'd all his Happiness in the Pleasures of Eating and Drinking will hardly have Patience to hear them spoke of The Moralist beholding the Lewd Man so changed will say and not without reason this Man has now acquired a Habit of Chastity and Temperance But because his Art reaches no further he vainly imagines these two Virtues are come I know not from whence to make him a Visit and to take up their Lodgings in his Rational Soul without having so much as part through his Body Instead of which the discerning Physician who knows whence his loss of Blood and Spirits proceeds and how the Virtues are Begot and the Vices Extinguished will be apt to pronounce that this same Man has now the Habit of Chastity and Temperance inasmuch as by means of these Austerities he has impair'd his Natural Heat in whose stead the Cold is introduc'd For if we reflect a little further we shall clearly see this new way of living is capable of cooling him more the Horror into which the Reprimand he received threw him and the awful consideration of the Pains of Hell prepared for him if he had died in mortal Sin had without doubt mortified and chil'd his Blood Whereupon Aristotle proposed this Question Why those who are in fear falter in their Speech tremble with their Hands and hang their Lips It is says he because this Passion is a defect of Heat which commences from the Parts above Whence comes the Paleness of the Face Abstinence likewise is one of the things which chiefly mortifies the Natural Heat leaving the Man cold For our Nature is supported says Galen by Eating and Drinking in the same manner as the Flame of the Lamp is fed by the Oil and there is so much natural Heat in the Body that has digested Flesh-meats that they afford him Nourishment in proportion to his Heat and if they should yield him less in quantity his Heat would insensibly diminish Which made Hippocrates forbid the letting of Children fast because their natural Heat Evaporated and Wasted for want of being fed The Discipline given if it be dolorous and reach even to the fetching Blood every man knows it extreamly dissipates the vital and animal Spirits and from the loss of Blood the Man soon comes to lose his Hair and natural Heat As for Sleep Galen says it 's one of the things which most fortifies our Heat for by it's means that insinuates into the hidden recesses of our Bodies and Animates the Natural Virtues and much after the same manner our Food is assimilated and turned to our Substance Whereas Waking generates Corruptions and Crudities and the reason is because Sleep warms the inward Parts and cools the outward as on the contrary Waking cools the Stomach Liver and Heart which are the Vitals and inflames the external Parts the less noble and less necessary Hence he that does not Sleep well must needs be subject to many cold Diseases To Lie hard to Eat but once a day and to go Naked Hippocrates said was the utter Ruin of the Flesh and Blood wherein the natural Heat is plac'd And Galen giving the Reason why a hard Bed weakens and wastes the Flesh said That the Body was in pain and suffered deeply for want of Sleep and that by the uneasie changes of motion from side to side it was Harassed in the vain pursuit of restless Nights and how the Natural Heat decays and is dissipated by bodily Labour the same Hippocrates declares teaching how a Man may become Wise In order to be Wise a Man must not be oppressed with too much Flesh for that belongs to a hot Temperament which is the Quality that destroys Wisdom Prayer and Meditation cause the Heat to mount up to the Brains in the absence of which the other Parts of the Body remain cold and if the Intention of Mind be great they soon lose the sense of Feeling which Aristotle affirmed to be necessary to the Being of Animals and that the other Senses in comparison of that served only for Ornament and Well-Being For in effect we might live without Tasting Smelling Seeing and Hearing but the Mind being busied in some high Contemplation fails to dispatch the Natural Faculties to their Posts without which neither the Ears can hear nor the Eyes see nor the Nostrils breath nor the Taste relish nor the Touch feel insomuch as they who Meditate are neither sensible of Cold Heat Hunger Thirst nor any Weariness whatever And Feeling being the Sentinel that discovers to a Man the Good or Ill done to him he cannot be without it So that being Frozen with Cold or Burnt up with Heat or Dying away with Hunger or Thirst he is not sensible of any of these Inconveniencies because he has nothing to report them to him In such a state Hippocrates says the Soul neglects its Charge and whereas its Duty is to Animate the Body and to impart to it Sense and Motion yet nevertheless it leaves it wholly destitute and unprovided of any Succours They who are hurt in any Part of the Body and feel no Pain assuredly are distempered in Mind But the worst Disposition observed among Men of Learning and those that are devoted to Studies is a Weak Stomach because the Natural Heat required for Digestion is wanting that very Heat being usually carried to the Brain which is the cause the Stomach is filled with Crudities and Phlegm For which reason Cornelius Celsus recommends it to the Physicians care to Fortify that Part in Men of Meditation more than any others because Prayer Meditation and hard Study extreamly cool and dry the Body rendering it Melancholy For which reason Aristotle demanded Whence it is
are Valiant in another Cowards in this Deliberate in that Rash in one lovers of Truth in another Lyars according to that of the Apostle The Cretians are always Lyars evil Beasts slow Bellies And if we run through all the Variety of Meats and Drinks we shall find that some feed this Virtue and starve that Vice and others on the contrary nourish such a Vice and depress such a Virtue but in such a manner as the Man nevertheless still remains free to chuse as he pleases according to that He hath set Fire and Water before thee stretch out thy hand unto which thou wilt for there is no Constitution can do more than incite the Man without forcing him if he loses not his Reason and it is to be observed that in Studying and Contemplating things Man acquires another Temperament besides what belongs naturally to the Constitution of his Body for as we shall prove hereafter of the three Powers a Man has the Memory common Sense and Imagination the Imagination only as Aristotle has noted is free to frame what it pleases and by the Operations of this Faculty Hippocrates and Galen say the vital Spirits and the Blood of the Arteries are always set on Work and in Motion she dispatches them where it seems good to her and the Parts to which the Natural Heat flies become thereby more effectual to perform their Functions and other Parts weaker Hence Galen advised the Choristers of Diana not to deal with Women since by those means without attending the Consequences the Parts of Generation would be inflamed and as they once took Fire the Voice would appear more harsh and untuneable because as Hippocrates noted The Heat of the Testicles lays the Cough and so on the Contrary for let any be put to the Blush at an Offence taken the Natural Heat strait mounts up all the Blood flying to the Heart to fortify the Irascible Faculty and to depress the Rational But if we proceed to consider that God enjoins us to forgive Injuries and do good to our Enemies and to reflect a while upon the recompence attending it all the Natural Heat and Blood strait rises up to the Face to strengthen the Rational and debilitate the Irascible Faculty and so it being at our choice with the Imagination to fortify what Faculty we please we are justly Rewarded when we strengthen the Rational and disable the Irascible Faculty and as fairly Punished when we raise the Irascible and depress the Rational Faculty From which we may judge with how good reason the Moral Philosophers recommend to us the Study and Consideration of Divine Matters since by these means alone we might acquire the Temperament and Strength which the Rational Soul has use of as well as suppress the Inferior Part. But I cannot forbear adding one thing before I end this Chapter which is That a Man may Exercise all the Acts of Virtue without having that advantageous Constitution of Body required although not without great pain and difficulty Acts of Prudence excepted for if the Man be by Nature Imprudent nothing but God can Cure it with a Remedy the same is to be understood of distributive Justice and of all the Arts and Sciences acquir'd CHAP. VI. What Part of the Body ought to be well Tempered that the Child may be Witty THE Body of Man having so great a Difference of Parts and Powers each destin'd to its end it will not be impertinent but rather highly necessary above all things to know what Part Nature has contrived as the principal Instrument to dispose a Man to be Wise and Prudent For it is certain we reason not with the Foot nor walk upon our Head nor see with our Nose nor hear with our Eyes but each Part has its proper Use and particular Composition for the Office it is to discharge That the Heart is the chief Seat where Reason resides and the Instrument by which our Souls perform the Actions of Prudence Memory and Understanding was a received Opinion amongst the Natural Philosophers before Hippocrates and Plato were born The Heart is therefore stiled the Superior Part of Man in many places of Sacred Writ which accommodates it self to the way of speaking in use at that time But those two great Philosophers have given us to understand that this Opinion is False and with great Reason and Experience have proved the Brain to be the chief Seat of the Rational Soul and thus it was generally received Aristotle only dissenting who revived that old Opinion endeavouring by Topical Arguments and several Conjectures to make it probable for the sake of contradicting Plato in every thing Not to dispute which is the truest Opinion for in our days there is not a Philosopher but allows the Brain to be the Instrument by Nature design'd to make a Man Wise and Prudent it will only be requisite to lay down the Conditions whereby that Part is best Organized that the Youth may thereby become towardly and Witty That the Rational Soul may conveniently perform the Actions of Understanding and Prudence there are required four Qualifications of the Brain Good Configuration is the First Unity of Parts the Second That the Heat exceed not the Cold nor the Moisture surpass the Driness is the Third That the Substance of the Brain be composed of very fine and delicate Parts is the Fourth Four other things are comprized under the good Configuration A good Figure is the First 〈◊〉 Sufficient Quantity the Second That there be four separate and distinct Ventricles in the Brain each disposed in its proper place the Third That its Capacity should not be greater nor less than is convenient for its Functions the Fourth We are taught by Galen to know when the Figure of the Brain is good for in reflecting on the outward Form and Figure of the Head he declares it is as it ought to be if it resembles a Ball of Wax made exactly round and comprest gently on each side which is much the Turn of the Forehead and the Hind-part of the Head a little jetting out whence it follows that the Forehead and Hind-part of the Head very flat are a sign the Brain has not the Figure approved for a sharp Wit and Ability What is most to be admired is the Quantity of Brains the Soul has occasion to make use of for Reason and Discourse because not one amongst all the Brute-Animals has so much as Man Insomuch that if the Brains of two very large Oxen were joined they would not so much as equal the Brains of one Man though never so little and what is yet more observable is that amongst Brute Beasts those who approach nearest to Man in Wit and Cunning as the Monkey the Fox and the Dog have still a greater quantity of Brains than other Animals although the same Animals are much of greater bulk than these Which made Galen say That a little Head in Man was always defective because it wanted Brains as he
befal both them and their Children 'T is certain he did this by the Spirit of God but if Holy Writ and our Faith had not assured us of it how should the Natural Philosophers know that this was the Work of God and that of the She Lunatic's telling those that came to see her their Virtues and Vices was a Work of the Devil since that in part it resembled Jacob's They conceive the Nature of the Rational Soul to be far different from that of the Devil and that its Powers the Understanding Imagination and Memory are of another kind much different In which they are mistaken for let the Rational Soul animate a well-organiz'd Body such as Adam's was it shall know no less than the most clear-sighted Devil and when it is separated from the Body it has as subtle Faculties as he Say now that the Devils discover what is to come by conjecturing and reasoning from certain Signs the Rational Soul can do as much when deliver'd from the Body or when it has that difference of Temperament which gives Man the Knowledge of Futurities so that it is as difficult to the Understanding to conceive how the Devil can know such elevated and hidden things of which the Knowledge is attributed to the Rational Soul It cannot enter into their thoughts that there can be Signs in Natural things whereby to foretel what is to come And I my self hold that there are some Indications subservient to us in the knowledge of the Past of the Present and that help us to conjecture at the Future nay and to guess at certain Secrets of Heaven For the things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made He that shall have the requisite Faculty to attain it may attain it and the other shall be such a one as Homer speaks of The Ignorant understand the Past but not the Future but the Prudent and Discreet is the Ape of God imitating him in many things and though he cannot do it to so great a Perfection yet nevertheless he can counterfeit it in some measure CHAP. VIII From these three Qualities alone Heat Moisture and Driness proceed all the differences of Wit observ'd among Men. AS long as the Rational Soul is in the Body it is impossible it should perform different and contrary Actions if to each it have its proper and peculiar Instruments This is clearly seen in the Animal Faculty which exercises divers Actions in the exterior Senses each having its particular and proper Organ the Sight has it after one manner the Hearing after another the Taste the Smell and the Touch after another and if this were not so there would be but one sort of Actions all would consist either in the Sight or in the Hearing or in the Taste or in the Smell or in the Touch because the Organ determines the Power to one Action only and not to more From what passes plainly through the exterior Senses we may collect what is acted in the Interior We Understand we Imagine and Remember by the same Animal Virtue But if it be true that each Action requires its particular Instrument there must necessarily be one Organ in the Brain to Understand another to Imagin and a third to Remember for if the whole Brain were Organized after one and the same Manner all would be either Memory or Understanding or Imagination But when we see such different Actions of necessity there must also be divers Instruments And yet if one should Dissect a Head to Anatomize the Brain all would seem composed after the same manner of the like substance without difference of Parts or diversity of Kinds I say that it seems so because as Galen has observ'd Nature has placed abundance of things in Man's Body that are compound which the Senses nevertheless judge to be simple because of the Subtilty of the Mixture Which may also happen in the Brain of a Man though to sight it seems no such thing Besides this there are four small Ventricles in the Cavity of the Brain of which Galen taught the use to him that would learn it of him But for my part I hold that the fourth Ventricle which is behind the Head has no other Function than to digest and refine the Vital Spirits and turn them into Animal Spirits enabling them to give Sense and Motion to all the Parts of the Body because we cannot find in Humane Bodies two such contrary Operations that interfere with each other so much as Reasoning and the Digestive Faculty The reason is that Speculation requires the Repose Serenity and Clearness of the Animal Spirits whereas the Digestion is made with noise and ferment and from that Operation arises many Vapours which infest and darken the Animal Spirits in such manner as the Rational Soul cannot well distinguish the Figures of things Nor was Nature so Inconsiderate to join in one place two Actions that are performed with so great a Repugnance and Contrariety Be it how it will Plato mightily commends the Providence and Care of him who made us for having separated the Liver at so great a distance from the Brain lest by the noise made by the Boiling and Concoction of the Food and by the Obscurity and Clouds cast on the Animal Spirits by the Vapours the Rational Soul should be discomposed in Reasoning However if Plato had not remark'd this from Philosophy we see it every hour by Experience notwithstanding the Liver and the Stomach are so very distant from the Brain yet none can set to Study immediately upon Eating or some time after What seems most true in this matter is that the Office of the fourth Ventricle is to digest and alter the Vital and resolve them into Animal Spirits for the end we have spoke of And for this Reason Nature has also separated the three other and has logded it like a little Brain by it self apart as is to be observed lest by its Operation the Speculation of the other should be disturbed For as to the three little Cells before it is not to be doubted but Nature has made them to Reason and Discourse it clearly appears in deep Studies and Musing which never fails to make that part of the Head ake which corresponds to these three Cavities The strength of this Argument appears if we consider that even the other Powers being Fatigued in performing their Office ever cause some Pain to those Organs with which they are Exercised As after gazing too long a time the Eyes water and after Walking too much the Soles of the Feet will ake Now the difficulty is to know in which of these Cells dwells the Understanding in which the Memory and in which the Imagination because they are so close and near Neighbours that one cannot well distinguish or know it by the Experience we even now spoke of nor by any other Token Moreover if we consider that the Understanding can do nothing
without the Memory be present to it to offer and represent to it the Figures and Species according to the Saying of Aristotle He that understands has no more to do but to reflect on the Images Nor the Memory again without being seconded by the Imagination according as we have elsewhere noted we may easily conclude that all the three Faculties are joined and united together in each Ventricle that the Understanding is not by it self in one nor the Memory by it self in the other nor the Imagination by its self in the third as the Vulgar Philosophers have thought This Union of Powers and Virtues uses to be made in Humane Bodies when one cannot act without the Concurrence of the other as appears in the four Natural Virtues The Attractive the Retentive Digestive and Expulsive which to be of use one to the other have by Nature been assembled in one and the same Place and not separated from each other But if all this be true to what end has Nature prepared those three Ventricles and to each of them joined all the three Rational Powers since any one of the three was sufficient for the Understanding and the Memory to play their parts To this may be answered That it is equally difficult to know why Nature has made two Eyes and as many Ears since in each of them the whole power of Seeing and Hearing resides and one may see with one Eye alone To this it may be said That how much greater the Number of Organs of the Powers appointed and established for the Perfection of the Animal is so much more assured is the Perfection and Possession of them because by some Accident one or two may fail and then it is convenient that there should be a Supply from others of the same kind which may be ready to Act. In the Disease call'd by Physicians the Resolution of the Sinews or Palsy of half the Body the Operation of the Ventricle that answers to the Sick-side is usually lost in such manner as if the two others remained not entire and unhurt the Man would be stupid without Reason And nevertheless from the want of this Ventricle alone he is observed to be very weak as well in the Actions of the Understanding as of the Imagination and Memory Even as he who uses to See with two Eyes would be at a loss in his Sight if one of them was quite out By which means it may be clearly understood that in each Ventricle all the three Faculties are found since from the hurt of one alone the other three are all weakned Say now that all the three Ventricles are composed after the same manner and that there is no Diversity of Parts to be found in them we cannot be at a loss if we take the first Qualities for the Instrument and so make as many differences of Wit as there be of the first Qualities For it is against all Natural Philosophy to believe that the Rational Soul being in the Body can exercise her Operations without the Mediation of a Corporeal Instrument to assist her But of the four Qualities that appear the Heat Cold Moisture and Driness all Physicians reject the Cold as of no use at all in the Operations of the Rational Soul And accordingly it is observed by Experience in all the other Powers of Man that where the Cold overballances the Heat they are blunted and retarded in their Offices insomuch as neither the Stomach digests the Meat nor the Parts of Generation produce effective Seed nor the Muscles duly move the Body nor the Brain duly Reasons and Discourses For which reason Galen said The Cold manifestly incommodes and retards all the Operations of the Soul Serving only in the Body to allay the Natural Heat and to hinder it from being inflamed But Aristotle is of a contrary Opinion where he says The thick and hot Blood renders the Man strong and robust and the thinner and more Cold of a more delicate Sense and Vnderstanding Whence it clearly appears that from Cold proceeds the greatest difference of Wit in Man viz. the Understanding Aristotle therefore enquiring why the Men inhabiting hotter Countries as Aegypt is are more Subtile and Ingenious than those who live in colder Climates makes Answer That the Ambient Heat being excessive draws forth and consumes the Natural Heat of the Brain leaving it cold which makes Men more sharp And that on the contrary the great Ambient Cold concentrates the Natural Heat of the Brain not suffering it to disperse And further they who have very hot Brains says he can neither Reason nor Discourse but are Volatile never fixing on one Opinion Galen as it seems alluded to this where he says the reason why a Man changes his Opinion every moment is because he had a very hot Brain and on the contrary he that has a cold Brain will be firm and steady in his Opinion But the Truth is there is no difference of Wit proceeds from this Quality neither could Aristotle mean that the Blood cold in excess made the Understanding better but only when it is less hot When a Man is fickle it is true it proceeds from too great a Heat that raises transient Figures in his Brain making them as it were to boil by which means the Images of many things represent themselves at once to the Rational Soul awakening and inviting it to a Consideration of them and to enjoy all she leaves some and Embraces others The quite contrary happens in Cold which renders a Man fixt and stable in an Opinion because it keeps the Figures fast locked up not permitting them to fly so fast so that it represents no other Image to a Man but what is called for Cold has this Peculiar that it retards the Motions not only of Corporeal things but also renders the Figures and the Species by Philosophers termed Intellectual immovable in the Brain but this firmness seems rather to be a certain Dulness than a Difference of Wit There is another kind of Steadiness which proceeds from the Understanding being closer and more compact and not from any coldness of Brain Driness then Moisture and Heat remain as Instruments of the Rational Faculty But not one Philosopher knew how to assign in particular to each Difference of Wit the Quality that serv'd it for an Instrument Heraclitus said That the sharpness of Wit was from a dry Light By which words he gives us to undestand that Driness is the cause of the great Prudence and Wisdom in Man but he has not shewn in what kind of Knowledge a Man was Excellent by means of this Quality Plato intended no less when he affirm'd That the Soul upon its entring the Body was very Wise but that the great Moisture it met there render'd it lumpish and dull till as that Moisture wears off in Age and the Body becomes drier the Soul discovers that Knowledge and Wisdom it had at first Among Brute Beasts Aristotle said those are more
the Species long all the Philosophers assert that hardness and driness are no less necessary as it appears in things from without for an impression in a soft Matter soon wears out but is never utterly effac'd if made on a dry and hard Body Accordingly we see many learn easily by Heart what they as soon after forget Of which Galen giving the Reason affirms That such from the abundance of Moisture have a fluid and no solid Substance in the Brain which occasions the Figure to wear out as soon as it would do should any pretend to Grave on Water On the contrary the other difficultly take any thlng but never lose what they have once learned Wherefore it seems impossible to have that Difference of Memory we have spoke of to learn readily and to retain long 'T is also no less difficult to understand how so many Figures can be imprinted together in the Brain without one effacing the other and that the same thing falls not out as we see in soft Wax on which if one imprints several Seals of different Forms some will force out the others there remaining only behind a promiscuous Confusion of Figures And what affords no less pain and difficulty is to know whence it arises that the Memory by constant Exercise is made more capable to receive the Figures since it is certain that the Exercise not only of the Body but even of the Mind dries and consumes the Flesh It is also as difficult to discern how the Imagination is contrary to the Understanding if there appear no other reason more pressing than to say the subtil Parts of the Brain are resolved and discussed by much Heat and that there remain behind the grossest and most earthy since Melancholy is allow'd to be one of the grossest and earthiest Humors of the Body Yet Aristotle said That the Understanding received more Advantage from that than from any other The difficulty seems yet greater when we come to consider that Melancholy is a gross cold and dry Humor and that Choler is of a delicate Substance and of a hot and dry Temperament This appears repugnant to Reason because this last Humor promotes the Understanding by means of two Qualities and is contrary only to one which is Heat And Melancholy favours it by Driness alone and nothing else being contrary to it both in the coldness and grossness of the Substance which is what the Understanding most of all abhors For which reason Galen assigned more Wit and Prudence to Choler than Melancholy Dexterity and Prudence are owing to Choler but the Melancholy Humour is the cause of Integrity and Constancy Lastly it is demanded Whence it comes that the Application to Study and Assiduous Speculation renders many knowing and wise who at the beginning wanted the good Natural Qualities we have mentioned and yet nevertheless by the force of Intention of Mind they have attained the Knowledge of many Truths of which before they were ignorant when it appears they had not the requisite Temperament to arrive at it for if they had had it they needed not to have taken so much pains All these Difficulties and many more are opposite to the Doctrin laid down in the last Chapter because in effect Natural Philosophy has no such certain Principles to proceed by as the Mathematics in which a Physician and Philosopher who is also a Mathematician may always give some Demonstrations but in coming to Cure Diseases according to the Rules of Physic he will commit therein many Errors not always through his own fault since in the Mathematics he may be always sure but because of the Uncertainty of his Art Which made Aristotle say The Physician who uses all the Diligence required by his Art though he does not always Cure the Patient yet he ought not to be esteemed Vnskilful in his Profession But if the same man should commit the least Error in the Mathematics he would be without Excuse because if they employ what care they ought in this Science it is impossible to fail of being certain So that since there is no Demonstration to be given of our Doctrin all the fault is not to be attributed to Defect of Skill nor is it to be inferred from thence that what we have deliver'd is false To the first and main Doubt we Answer that it must be consider'd there are two sorts of Understanding in man one of which is the Power in the Rational Soul and that is as incorruptible as the Rational Soul it self without depending in the least upon the Body or its material Organs either for its Being or Preservation and Aristotle's Arguments have only place with regard to this Power The other sort of Understanding is all that which appears necessary in the Brain of man to the end he may understand as he ought 'T is in this Sense we use to say Peter has a better Understanding than John which cannot be taken for the Power lodged in the Soul because it is of equal Perfection in all but rather for some of the organic Powers which the Understanding makes use of in its Acts some of which it performs well and others ill not at all through its own fault but because the Powers it makes use of in some find good Organs and in others ill Which is to be understood in no other manner since we find by Experience not only that some men Reason better than others but even that the same Person Reasons and Discourses well at one Age and ill at another as we have already prov'd Nay there are some who lose their Judgment even as others recover it from certain Distempers of the Brain Which is particularly seen in the Hectic Fever better than in any other for when that once begins to reach the Brain the Sick Person begins also to Speak and Reason more Eloquently and Judiciously than he used and how much the deeper that Evil gets Root so much the more excellent are the Operations of the Understanding which was not consider'd by some of the Antient Physicians though this Knowledge be of so great importance in the first Appearance of the Disease when the Cure is easy But what these organic Powers are of which the Understanding makes use in its Operations has not yet been resolv'd or determin'd seeing the Natural Philosophers say that if one man Reasons better than another it comes from the Understanding's being an Organic Power and better dispos'd in one than another and not for any other Reason For all Rational Souls and their Capacities when separated from their Bodies are of equal Perfection and Knowledge Those that follow the Doctrin of Aristotle seeing by Experience that some Reason better than others have found out a seeming Colour saying That if one Man Reasons better than another it comes not from the Understanding's being an organic Power nor from the Brain 's being better disposed in one than in the other but because the Understanding so long as the